South Africa: Mchunu calls for solution to Maluti-a-Phofung water crisis Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has called for a lasting solution to the water crisis challenges plaguing the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality (MAP) in the Free State. The Minister made the call during a briefing on the water situation in the Municipality (MAP) on Monday. During the visit, the Minister also reiterated the need for all taps in South Africa to have water. Every tap in South Africa should be having water not just in certain towns and areas, said Mchunu. He was accompanied by Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo and Free State Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Mxolisi Dukwana. The department in a statement said among the issues raised were the municipalitys debt to the department, which amounted to half a billion rand, as well as sewage spillages that have engulfed the municipality. Vandalism, theft, and ageing infrastructure were also top of the list. MAP Local Municipality Municipal Manager Futhuli Mothamaha during the briefing said that the municipality had begun a programme of installing pre-paid meters in order to address the issue of non-collection of revenue. He indicated that the municipality would build capacity for maintenance as it appeared that there was a delay between damage to infrastructure and repair. The Minister was clear that sewage spillages are priorities and should be treated as such. A meeting should take place between DWS in the Free State as well as the municipality and Maluti-a-Phofung Water no later than 2pm on 5 October 2021, said the department. MEC Dukwana observed that there has been a rise in vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure especially leading up to the local government elections. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: President to host Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium President Cyril Ramaphosa will host the second Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA21) this week. The symposium, which is organised by the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency, will be held under the theme: Quality infrastructure for development, recovery and inclusive growth. The symposium will be held on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, the Investment and Infrastructure Office will hold a media briefing on Wednesday, which will unpack the thematic focus areas of the symposium and by extension the 2021 infrastructure pipeline. The briefing will be addressed by Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille and her deputy Noxolo Kiviet, Minister of Foresrtry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Barbara Creecy, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, the Minister of Human Settlements Mmamoloko Kubayi as well as the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana. Part B of the press briefing will be led by the Head of Infrastructure and Investment in the Presidency, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. He will be joined by the Executive Vice President of Energy Business for Sasol, Priscillah Mabelane, who will make an announcement on an investment made by Sasol into green hydrogen in South Africa. He will also be joined by the Head of the Infrastructure Fund, Mohale Rakgate who will unveil the Infrastructure Fund Pipeline. The infrastructure pipeline is geared to boost demand and ensure effective coordination of all infrastructure players. It will also formalise systematic engagement with all role players. It is envisaged that the pipeline will also contribute to building a resilient economy by accelerating the delivery of infrastructure, said the Presidency on Tuesday. The programme for SIDSSA21 can be viewed at https://sidssa.org.za SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: President Ramaphosa convenes SADCs summit on Mozambique This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, Dikeledi Magadzi, says the department will hasten the process of ensuring that the community of Ga-Malekana in Sekhukhune, Limpopo, has access to water. This follows complaints by the residents of Ga-Malekana village, that despite their proximity to De Hoop Dam, years after the completion of the mul... See more South Africa: Names of qualifying candidates for Chief Justice published President Cyril Ramaphosa has published the names of the qualifying candidates for the next Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa. In a statement on Monday, the President thanked members of the public for responding to his invitation to participate in the process of nominating the next Chief Justice. The process began on 16 September 2021 when President Ramaphosa called on South Africans to nominate suitably qualified candidates for this critical position as Head of the Judiciary of South Africa. This invitation was intended to promote transparency and enable public participation, the Presidency said. The submission process closed at midnight on 01 October 2021. In response to the call for public participation, the public made 148 submissions which consisted of 25 names. Some of these individuals featured in more than one submission. Of the 25 names, only eight nominations met the criteria as set out in the call by the President, the Presidency said. The eight names that qualified for nomination as set out in the criteria are, in alphabetical order: 1. Judge President John Hlophe 2. Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga 3. Justice Mandisa Maya 4. Dr Wallace Amos Mgoqi 5. Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane 6. Judge President Dunstan Mlambo 7. Adv. Alan Nelson, SC 8. Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo The biographies of the nominees are available on www.thepresidency.gov.za for inspection by the public. South Africans are now invited to submit in writing any objections they may have regarding the nominees to angeline@presidency.gov.za and OSewpaul@justice.gov.za by 5pm on Friday, 15 October 2021. The Nominations Panel, which is chaired by Judge Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, will consider objections before submitting a shortlist of three to five names to the President. The Panel is required to report to the President by Friday, 29 October 2021 and its Terms of Reference are also available on the Presidency website. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: President Ramaphosa to address National Teaching Awards This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, Dikeledi Magadzi, says the department will hasten the process of ensuring that the community of Ga-Malekana in Sekhukhune, Limpopo, has access to water. This follows complaints by the residents of Ga-Malekana village, that despite their proximity to De Hoop Dam, years after the completion of the mul... See more South Africa: Manhunt for police killers underway Police in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have mobilised the 72-hour Activation Plan following the attack on six police officers in separate incidents within 48 hours. The 72-hour Activation Plan entails the mobilisation of various disciplines of the SAPS including Crime Intelligence, Forensic experts, detectives, specialised tactical units as well as the Hawks in a bid to apprehend a group of suspects who were behind the attack on the police officers. In a statement, the SAPS on Tuesday said: In the latest incident which happened in the early hours of Tuesday, in Orange Farm, Gauteng, two police officials were patrolling in an unmarked police vehicle when they noticed an abandoned bakkie on the side of the road. As the police officers approached the abandoned vehicle to investigate, a group of suspects opened fire on them wounding both members. Sadly, a reservist constable died at the scene. SAPS spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe said another member survived the ordeal and has been hospitalised. The group of suspects fled the scene taking with them the keys of the police vehicle. She said a case of murder and attempted murder had been registered. KZN incident In Sydenham, KwaZulu-Natal, police officers were conducting patrols along Locksley Drive on Monday morning when they spotted a suspicious vehicle with three occupants. Mathe said as the vehicle approached, shots were fired by the suspects resulting in a shootout between the police and the suspects. A police officer was wounded and taken to hospital for medical attention. The suspects fled the scene on foot leaving behind an unlicensed firearm and a stolen vehicle which are now in police custody. A case of attempted murder has been registered, she said. Separate incidents in KZN Still in KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday evening, a police officer died and two others were wounded in two separate incidents in Greytown. In the first incident, two members were driving from Greytown to Tugela Ferry when they stopped alongside the road. An unknown motor vehicle stopped beside the police vehicle and shot both members. Both members managed to drive to a nearby hospital for medical care. Sadly, one of them, an SAPS constable, succumbed to his injuries and the other member is still receiving medical care at a local health facility in KZN. The motive for the incident is unknown. A case of murder and attempted murder has been registered. In the second incident, a member was walking alongside the railway line between Gugulethu and Nhlalakahle Location when he was accosted by two unknown African males. One of the males demanded cash and cellphones. The member surrendered his possessions and thereafter managed to draw his state firearm where he shot one of the male suspects. The other male suspect shot the member on the leg and managed to get away. The wounded suspect succumbed to his injuries on scene and was found in possession of the members stolen items. Two unlicensed firearms were also found next to the body of the deceased suspect. A case of attempted murder, inquest and armed robbery have been registered. National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole has condemned the attack and killing of the police officials and directed both the Provincial Commissioners of Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng to implement the 72 hour activation plan to hunt down the suspects in all cases. In the statement, Sitole conveyed condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased members and wished all injured members a speedy recovery. We appeal to anyone who may have information on these attacks to please contact the SAPS on 086 00 10111. Information may also be communicated via MySAPSApp, an application which can be downloaded on any iPhone or Android, said Mathe. All information, she said, would be treated with strictest confidence and callers may remain anonymous. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: Suspended Eskom senior manager ordered to pay back the money The Special Tribunal has ordered that suspended Eskom senior manager for Coal Operations, Petrus Mazibuko, pay back at least R11 million to the state after it was found that his company indirectly benefitted from a coal transportation contract from the power utility. This follows civil proceedings initiated against Mazibuko and his brother, Shadrack, at the tribunal by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). The tribunal found that Mazibuko improperly benefitted from contracts awarded to a company with links to a business ran by himself and his brother. Judge Thina Siwendu found that Petrus Mazibuko did not declare his business interests in terms of the Eskom Conflict of Interest Policy and had no permission to do the work. He acted, by failing to disclose, in a way that compromised the credibility and integrity of Eskom's supply chain processes, the tribunal said. The judgement also found that the Mazibukos company, Thephunokheja, concluded a joint venture agreement with Commodity Logistix Managers Africa (CLM) to supply and transport the coal just months before the Eskom contracts were awarded to CLM. Shortly after the contract was awarded, at least R11 million flowed from CLM to Mazibukos Thephunokheja. The suspended Eskom senior manager had also failed to disclose the close ties he had to CLM. Howeverthey had no experience no expertise in the coal business. Mazibuko's conduct was found to be an unauthorized gratification and in violation of Section 3 of the Prevention and Combating of the Corrupt Activities Act of 204 and section 4 of the Prevention of Organized Crime of 1998, the tribunal said. The Tribunal also found that the conduct of the Mazibuko brothers was against the law. Petrus and Shadrack Mazibuko as well as Thephunokheja accepted gratification, acted dishonestly, unauthorized, misused and sold information to advance their financial interests and that they knowingly embarked on the unlawful activities, the judgement found SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: Naledi Mayor's death a tragic loss for local government Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has expressed shock at the sudden passing of the Mayor of Naledi Local Municipality, Councillor Neo Skalk. Skalk tragically lost his life in a head-on collision on the N14 outside Vryburg on Sunday. In a statement, Dlamini Zuma described Skalks death as a tragic loss to the local government sector. I wish to convey my deepest condolences to the family of Cllr [Skalk], his colleagues, the people of Naledi and the North West province at the loss of this leader and servant of communities. She said the Mayors passing came during an election period, when South Africans were about to refresh the mandate of the local government sector. The Minister said Skalk was a true servant leader, who pledged to better to lives of communities in this municipality. As such we call on all the registered voters in Naledi Municipality to continue where he left off by going out in numbers to the polls to vote the leadership of their choice and make local government work for their development, said the Minister. He served as the Chief Whip of the Naledi Local Municipality between 2000 and 2006. In 2011, he was elected Speaker of the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District, a position he held until he was elected Mayor of Naledi Local Municipality in 2016. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. South Africa: Minister unveils four bridges in the North West Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has unveiled four bridges connecting the North West province with the Free State across the Vaal River. Addressing the launch of October Transport Month on Tuesday in Vermaasdrift, North West, the Minister said the first bridge is located on Road SD860, with a span of 180 meters and is located approximately 20km southwest of Klerksdorp. The second bridge is located on Road D836, with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Orkney. The third bridge is located on Road D642 also with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Stilfontein. The fourth bridge is where Road P89/2 crosses the Vaal River approximately 34km southeast of Potchefstroom and has a span of 246 meters, Mbalula said. The bridges will enable the farming communities to transport their various produce from the farms to the local markets. The four bridges forms part of the labour Intensive Shamba Sonke programme, aimed at addressing the maintenance backlog in the secondary network and contribute to sustainable livelihoods through job creation initiatives. The Minister said the initiative allows that national and provincial spheres of government work towards common road maintenance targets while augmenting funding through the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant. The conceptualisation of the SHamba Sonke Programme was premised on the reality that while South Africas national road network is in good to very good condition, this is not the case with our secondary road networks, or provincial roads. Over the medium term, the maintenance of provincial roads, largely funded through the provincial roads maintenance grant, is set to receive R37.5 billion over the MTEF period, Mbalula said. The Department of Transport will use the Transport Month campaign to showcase flagship projects intended to create more jobs in South Africa. The Shamba Sonke programme is one of the projects that will accelerate efforts to meet the governments target of creating 11 million job opportunities by the year 2030 as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP). SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Hong Kong: Law change to combat tax evasion The Government said it will make the legislative amendments to combat cross-border tax evasion. The European Union today announced the inclusion of Hong Kong in its watchlist on tax co-operation as it considered that the non-taxation of certain foreign sourced passive income in Hong Kong might lead to situations of double non-taxation. Responding to media enquiries on the announcement, the Government noted that Hong Kong has adopted the territorial source principle of taxation over the years, whereby offshore profits are generally not subject to profits tax in Hong Kong. It stressed Hong Kong will continue to adopt this taxation principle and will uphold its simple, certain and low-tax regime with a view to maintaining the competitiveness of the city's business environment. The Government noted that as an international financial centre, Hong Kong has all along been actively participating in and supportive of international tax co-operation. To support combating cross-border tax evasion, the Government agrees to co-operate with and has committed to the EU to amend the Inland Revenue Ordinance by the end of next year and implement relevant measures in 2023. The proposed legislative amendments will merely target corporations, particularly those with no substantial economic activity in Hong Kong, that make use of passive income to evade tax across a border. Individual taxpayers will not be affected. Financial institutions' offshore interest income is currently subject to profits tax under the ordinance and hence the legislative amendments will not increase their tax burden. The Government will consult the stakeholders on the legislative amendments and strive to minimise the compliance burden of corporates. The EU published the guidance on the foreign sourced income exemption regime in October 2019 and began corresponding assessment on the tax arrangements of a number of tax jurisdictions including Hong Kong. The Government has been in contact with the EU on its assessment and has been actively engaging with the EU on the follow-up work. It reiterated that Hong Kong enterprises will not be subject to defensive tax measures imposed by the EU as a result of being included in the watchlist on tax co-operation, adding that it will request the EU to swiftly remove Hong Kong from the watchlist after the relevant tax arrangements are amended. This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. RTHK: Russian crew to film first movie in space A Russian actress and director arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to begin a 12-day mission to make the first movie in orbit. The Russian crew is set to beat a Hollywood project that was announced last year by "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX. Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and film director Klim Shipenko, 38, took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan as scheduled. They docked at the ISS, behind schedule at 1222 GMT, after veteran cosmonaut and captain of their spacecraft, Anton Shkaplerov, switched to manual control. As the hatches opened, the Russian trio floated into the orbital station where they were greeted by two Russian, a French, a Japanese and three NASA astronauts. The crew travelled in a Soyuz MS-19 spaceship to film scenes for "The Challenge". The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centres around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut. Shkaplerov, 49, and the two Russian cosmonauts already aboard the ISS are said to have cameo roles in the film. "It was difficult psychologically, physically and emotionally... but I think when we reach our goal all the challenges won't seem so bad," Peresild who was selected out of 3,000 applicants for the role said at a pre-flight press conference. Shipenko and Peresild are expected to return to Earth on October 17 in a capsule with Novitsky, who has been on the ISS for the past six months. Ernst said that a film crew will document their landing, which will also feature in the movie. If successful, the mission will add to a long list of firsts for Russia's space industry. The Soviets launched the first satellite Sputnik, and sent the first animal, a dog named Laika, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into orbit. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. RTHK: Macron meets Blinken as US seeks to restore trust President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held talks with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his first meeting with an American official since the scrapping of a submarine contract with Australia plunged relations into crisis. Blinken, who has been seeking to patch up ties with France after Canberra ditched the deal as part of a security pact with the UK and US, did not originally have an appointment with Macron on the agenda for his two-day visit to Paris. The one-on-one meeting lasted around 40 minutes with "common agreement that we have an opportunity now to deepen and strengthen the coordination" even though "a lot of hard work remains to be done", a senior State Department official told reporters in Paris. The Elysee also confirmed the meeting with Macron, saying Blinken's visit would contribute to "restoring confidence" between the sides. Macron was furious last month when Australia scrapped a multibillion-dollar deal for French submarines, saying it would pursue US nuclear versions instead. His government called secret talks leading up to the cancellation "a stab in the back" and the French president recalled his ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. US President Joe Biden has since tried to make amends, with Karen Donfried, the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, admitting last week that "the September 15 announcement would have benefited from better and more open consultation among allies". Blinken earlier Tuesday met French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian for an hour in what Le Drian's spokeswoman had flagged as a chance to "identify stages that may allow a return of confidence between our two countries". He then drove to the Elysee Palace for a scheduled meeting with Macron's security advisor Emmanuel Bonne, but "then had a one-on-one with President Macron for probably about 30 or 40 minutes", the State Department official said. The mood of the encounter was "serious", the official said. "I don't want to characterise their emotions, but I would say, at least in the discussions we had, it was very cordial and amicable." A French diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said that the talks had shown that the American side was aware of the gravity of the situation. "This was not hours of cuddling to make things better and the Americans also don't think that cuddling is the right thing now or saying that 'we are the best allies in the world'," said the source. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. RTHK: Whistleblower urges regulation over Facebook 'crisis' A Facebook whistleblower told US lawmakers on Tuesday that the social media giant fuels division, harms children and urgently needs to be regulated, drawing pledges Congress would take up long-delayed action. Ex-employee Frances Haugen testified on Capitol Hill after she leaked reams of internal research to authorities and The Wall Street Journal, which has fueled one of Facebook's most serious crises yet. "I believe that Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy," Haugen told a Senate sub-committee. "Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help," she added. In her testimony, she noted the danger of the power in the hands of a service that is woven into the daily lives of so many people. "The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the US government and from governments around the world," Haugen's statement said. She spoke less than a day after Facebook, its photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp went offline for roughly seven hours, hitting potentially billions of users and highlighting global dependence on its services. "Here's my message for [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg: Your time of invading our privacy, promoting toxic content and preying on children and teens is over," said Senator Ed Markey. "Congress will be taking action... we will not allow your company to harm our children, our families and our democracy anymore," he added. Senator Amy Klobuchar said she sees the whistleblower disclosures as the long-needed push to get Congress moving. "I think the time has come for action, and I think you are the catalyst for that action," she told Haugen. US lawmakers for years have threatened to regulate Facebook and other social media platforms to address criticisms that the tech giants trample on privacy, provide a megaphone for dangerous misinformation and damage young people's well-being. Facebook has pushed back hard against the whistleblower revelations and attacked Haugen's knowledge on Tuesday. Haugen "did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook," tweeted Andy Stone, a spokesman for the company. (AFP) This story has been published on: 2021-10-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Loudoun County Teacher Tanner Cross to Speak on Education Panel at FRC and FRC Action's Inaugural Pray Vote Stand Summit NEWS PROVIDED BY Family Research Council Oct. 4, 2021 WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Family Research Council and FRC Action today announced speakers, including Leesburg Elementary School teacher Tanner Cross, for a panel titled "Power to the Parents: Virginia's Education Uprising" at the inaugural Pray Vote Stand Summit. Other confirmed and invited speakers on the panel, moderated by FRC Senior Fellow for Education Studies Meg Kilgannon, include Loudoun County High School teacher Monica Gill, ADF Senior Counsel and Director of the Center for Academic Freedom Tyson Langhofer, Executive Director of Fight for Schools Ian Prior, and Smart's Mill Middle School teacher Kim Wright. ADF CEO Mike Farris will also be speaking at the event. The Pray Vote Stand Summit builds on the groundwork laid by the Values Voter Summit and will address issues such as protecting the unborn, the importance of the nuclear family, domestic and international religious liberty, developments in our nation's education system, and others. The summit will be held at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia from October 6-8. Family Research Council and FRC Action president Tony Perkins commented: "Pray. Vote. Stand. These three verbs serve as both points of action and reflection for Christians in our time. The challenges in our culture make clear the need for us to pray for our nation, to consistently vote our biblical values and to stand uncompromisingly for the truth. Toward this end, Family Research Council and FRC Action are holding the first-ever Pray Vote Stand Summit in 2021. "The assaults on faith, family, and freedom have never been more pronounced and severe. From pronoun police, to indoctrination in our classrooms, to the lock-down of our churches, to the vaccine mandate in the workplace, the core values and ideals that birthed America are at risk of being overrun by political and cultural Leftists. "We recognize that while we contend for these ideals in the political arena, the hope for America is not going to be found in political elections. Politics is downstream from the culture, and the culture is downstream from the church. The PVS Summit is focused on equipping and encouraging Christians to live out their faith with boldness and courage in such a way that it impacts EVERY aspect of our society," concluded Perkins. WHAT: Inaugural Pray Vote Stand Summit WHEN: October 6-8, 2021 WHO: Confirmed speakers updated daily at prayvotestand.org/speakers. WHERE: In-person at Cornerstone Chapel (650 Battlefield Parkway SE, Leesburg, VA 20175) and online at prayvotestand.org/summit. To obtain media credentials for this event, please email media@frc.org. SOURCE Family Research Council CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Joshua Arnold, 866-FRC-NEWS or 866-372-6397 ASEAN Ministers examine community building efforts, East Sea issue ASEAN Foreign Ministers met virtually on October 4 to review the ASEAN Community building process, the blocs cooperation with its dialogue partners, the East Sea issue, and a number of issues of mutual concern. ASEAN Ministers discuss key important issues during their virtually held meeting on October 4. (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs). According to the ministers, maintaining ASEAN solidarity and unity is the key to ensuring the success of the ASEAN Community building process and promoting the blocs central role in the region. They agreed to continue to encourage ASEANs partners to make constructive contributions to the common goal of peace, security and stability in the region, support ASEANs central role, and get involved in regional cooperation through ASEAN-led mechanisms, in order to build an open, inclusive, transparent and international law-based regional architecture. They discussed and agreed on the mode of cooperation between ASEAN and the United Kingdom, the latest ASEAN dialogue partner. The two sides will then establish a joint committee to strengthen cooperation through meetings of their senior officials and Foreign Ministers, with Brunei working as the coordinator of the ASEAN - UK relations in the 2021- 2024 period. On the East Sea issue, the ministers emphasized the need to promote a sense of responsibility, have a common voice in issues related to regional peace, security and stability in the region, and enhance confidence building measures in order to settle disputes by peaceful means, in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Exchanging views on the situation in Myanmar, the ministers agreed to step up humanitarian support for the country in the face of the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They welcomed the September 15 delivery of the first humanitarian assistance package including medical equipment worth US$1.1 million, and requested that Myanmar facilitate the ASEAN Special Envoys activities, aimed at promoting dialogue and finding peaceful solutions to the situation. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA) Addressing the meeting, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son highly appreciated Bruneis role as ASEAN Chairman in maintaining regional cooperation during this difficult period. He affirmed that Vietnam has actively participated in implementing the priority issues for 2021 and will work closely with the host to ensure the success of the upcoming Summits. He welcomed the achievements recorded in the ASEAN Community building process, and suggested ASEAN further strengthen coordination and improve its capacity to address challenges such as COVID-19, climate change, and marine issues, so as to bring direct and practical results to ASEAN and its citizens. As Vietnam is one of the three ASEAN countries that are making efforts to independently research and produce vaccines, Son proposed that ASEAN improve its vaccine self-reliance through building a regional vaccine supply chain. Vietnam will coordinate with other countries to promote the early establishment and operation of the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases (ACPHEED), said the diplomat. He also underlined the need for ASEAN to focus its efforts on supporting groups of people and regions, including sub-regions, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as supporting industries in their recovery process. On this occasion, Son announced Vietnams plan to host the ASEAN Forum on Sub-Region Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth on November 30, 2021 in Hanoi. Regarding the East Sea issue, Minister Son reaffirmed the importance of promoting trust, exercising restraint, and peacefully settling disputes in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS. ASEAN should continue to closely coordinate with China to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the formulation of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law, he said Binh Thuan dragon fruit expected to get protected status in Japan Dragon fruit, a speciality of Binh Thuan Province, is expected to be awarded the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certificate in Japan. A farmer harvests dragon fruit in the coastal central province of Binh Thuan. VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Thanh PGI status identifies an agricultural product, raw or processed, of which the quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. The PGI applies to agricultural, agro-food and wine products. The application for PGI status in Japan for Binh Thuan provinces dragon fruit has undergone two appraisals and recently finished receiving third-party comments on September 21. Japan will soon make an official decision after an expert council meeting held at the end of September, inh Huu Phi, head of the National Office of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology, was quoted as saying by the Khoa hoc & Phat trien (Science & Development) online magazine. If the application was approved, Binh Thuan provinces dragon fruit would be the second fruit from Viet Nam to receive PGI status in Japan, he said. Luc Ngan lychees became the first in March. Phi said the approval of a PGI for Binh Thuan's dragon fruit had a great significance for the export of the dragon fruit, both to Japan and wider markets. Nguyen Phuong Thuy, a lecturer in Oriental Studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said the PGI in Japan meant that the farm produce was given trademark protection. Farm produce receiving the PGI often had a higher selling price and were popular amongst local people, she said. This is because consumers know that the farm produce is guaranteed by Japans Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. So, they will trust on the quality of the farm produce and be more willing to buy the farm produce, she said. Being granted a PGI in a market like Japan would contribute to improving the reputation of Binh Thuan provinces dragon fruit and create favourable conditions for the dragon fruit to enter other foreign markets, she said. More work to do Phi said getting the PGI was only the first step. It is important that we maintain the quality of the dragon fruit to meet the Japanese market's demand, he said. For example, after Luc Ngan lychee got the PGI in Japan, the Vietnamese exporter was required to maintain the quality of the lychee. The Japanese side also required the Vietnamese exporter to send a periodic report on the quality of the lychee, he said. Therefore, a set of regulations on management and control of the origin of the farm produce is required to ensure the quality of produce, once awarded the PGI, he added. Data from the National Office of Intellectual Property show that, as of December 31, 2020, Vietnam has received 101 PGIs for its farm produce, including six in foreign countries. The number of Vietnamese PGI's has increased rapidly; in 2007 there were only 10; 91 were awarded over the following 14 years. Binh Thuan Province is one of the provinces that produce the most dragon fruit in Vietnam. The province annually harvests nearly 700,000 tonnes of dragon fruit, from 33,482 hectares. The land used in growing dragon fruit has grown by nearly 24 per cent, while dragon fruit yield increased by nearly 35 per cent between 2016 and 2020. Currently, the consumption of dragon fruit by the domestic market only accounts for about 15 per cent of the total yield; 85 per cent of dragon fruit production is for export. There are five localities in the province growing dragon fruit that is applied for the PGI in Japan, including Ham Tan District, Ham Thuan Nam District, Ham Thuan Bac District, Bac Binh District and Phan Thiet City. Hanoi hospital evacuates over 1,000 patients amid Covid-19 outbreak The Hanoi-based Vietnam Germany Hospital on Monday evening moved over 1,000 patients and their caretakers to other hospitals in an effort to curb the Covid-19 outbreak here. More than 50 ambulances and buses were mobilised for the evacuation during the night. The patients were transferred to Thanh Nhan, Duc Giang, and Hanoi Medical University hospitals. The patients were carefully provided with protective clothing for Covid-19 prevention. Serious patients were transported on ambulances. More than 400 patients were transferred to Thanh Nhan Hospital. As of Tuesday morning, the Covid-19 cluster at the Vietnam Germany Hospital has reported 42 infections including 33 in Hanoi, four in Nam Dinh, two in Ha Tinh, and one each in Hung Yen, Hai Duong, and Nghe An provinces. Transport Police were sent to the hospital to assist in transportation. The Hanoi Health Department has also started to send about 1,000 people to quarantine areas for Covid-19 prevention after they had close contact with the newly-found patients at the hospital. Tourism operators reluctant on resumption plans Tourism firms in Vietnam are facing difficulties resuming operations now as different localities are applying different measures for Covid-19 prevention and control. A visitor at Phuoc Duyen Tower in Hue City. Tourist sites in Thua Thien Hue Province have re-opened from October 1 Travel restrictions Director of Flamingo Redtours Company, Nguyen Cong Hoan said that he had just attended a tourism fair on developing new products but was not sure how to organise tours now due to the travelling restrictions at many localities. "Vinh Phuc Province requires visitors from Hanoi to show a negative Covid-19 result using quick testing which is valid for 72 hours," he explained. "But the result is only valid for 24 hours in Tuyen Quang Province. However, Thai Nguyen Province only accepts a negative Covid-19 result using PCR testing. These different rules are making it impossible for tour operators to design tours to a place that must run through these provinces. So how to travel smoothly among localities is now the most difficult problem for tour operators in Vietnam." Risks from new outbreaks Speaking at a recent conference on resuming domestic tourism, CEO of Thien Phuoc Travel Company, Nguyen Van Hau, shared that many local firms are still not willing to invest in the industry if the pandemic is not completely brought under control. "After nearly two years hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, were not too optimistic about the opening announcements from some tourist destinations," he said. "The recent long and large-scale outbreak has forced us to close completely and well have to start up again from the beginning. We have to find new locations for headquarters and branches, recruit new staff members, and plan new promotional campaigns. Meanwhile, a new outbreak may occur at any time and all the destinations may close right after that. It's too risky for us." Hau added that even though some tour operators want to resume operations at some destinations, they will face various difficulties when many transport companies and restaurants and bars still close. And one of the biggest challenges is recruiting new staff as a report showed that over two million tourism staff members have turned to other sectors. Prices Hoan said that they don't have any budget for discounts to attract customers when resuming operations this time. "Weve offered lots of discounts when resuming operations after the three previous outbreaks but there wont be more discounts this time," he said. "Tour prices may even increase because we have to pay for some Covid-19 prevention activities including testing fees and protective devices. In addition, flight tickets may also increase due to the social distancing rules." Vice-chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association, Vu The Binh said that while some localities have already opened tourist sites, many others are still reluctant, fearing about possible virus spread. "Many provinces have well-controlled the pandemic but local officials are just too cautious," Binh said. "They may lose some good opportunities and lag behind others in recovering the tourism sector." HCM City agrees to open domestic flights HCM City People's Committee has just sent a document to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) on the resumption of flights routes to the city's Tan Son Nhat Airport which were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. HCM auhorities have propose to resume flights connecting Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports Russia's long-time UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin dies in New York Russia's long-time ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died "suddenly" in New York on Monday, a day before his 65th birthday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. GALLERY Moscow (dpa) - "A great diplomat, an extraordinary person," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a post on her Facebook page. "We have lost a loved one."Churkin, who had served in the post for more than a decade, died at work, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement."We express our deepest condolences to Vitaly Churkins family and friends," the Foreign Ministry said.Churkin, a career diplomat, had previously served as Russias ambassador to Canada and Belgium before taking up the post at the UN in 2006.s Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft says he was "absolutely devastated" at the news that his Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, had died. Churkin was a "friend and colleague," a "diplomatic giant and wonderful character," Rycroft writes on Twitter. Britains mission to the UN calls Churkin a pillar of the United Nations Security Council and sends its "deepest condolences to his family and colleagues," according to a post on Twitter.Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley offers her condolences on the death of her Russian counterpart. "Ambassador Vitaly Churkin showed himself to be a gracious colleague," Haley says. "We did not always see things the same way, but he unquestionably advocated his countrys positions with great skill," says Haley, who took up the post last month. The US ambassador says the United States sends its condolences "to lift up his family and to the Russian people."is grieving after learning of the death of Churkin. "The head of state highly valued Churkins professionalism and diplomatic talent," spokesman Dmitry Peskov says in comments carried by state media. The president expressed his condolences to Churkins loved ones, the Kremlin says in a statement on its website. German car bosses summoned to Berlin as diesel scandal widens The crisis gripping the German car industry has emerged as a new election campaign battleground, forcing Berlin to call auto bosses to an emergency summit on Wednesday to help restore confidence in the motor vehicle sector ahead of the September poll. GALLERY Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said ahead of the summit that the carmakers plans for updating the emissions-testing software could only be a first step. What was needed was a more comprehensive technical makeover of the vehicles, she said. Berlin (dpa) - The summit of government leaders, unions and industry chief executives to consider the future of diesel-powered vehicles comes in the wake of the emissions-testing scandal and claims that the auto sector has operated a secret cartel since the 1990s.The Berlin meeting also comes as Chancellor Angela Merkels conservatives come under fire for maintaining a too cosy relationship with the powerful carmakers and for their handling of the emissions crisis.The summit forms part of the build-up to the September 24 election.A survey drawn up by the pollsters Emnid and published in the weekly Bild am Sonntag found that Germanys carmakers, representing one of the nations key industrial sectors, were no longer trustworthy.Wednesdays National Diesel Forum - which will include the heads of Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Daimler, Fords German operations and Opel - comes after VW admitted in September 2015 to cheating on diesel emissions tests on more than 11 million vehicles around the world.Since then, the emissions scandal has widened with Daimler announcing this month that it was recalling in Europe more than 3 million diesel models of its luxury Mercedes-Benz brand to correct their emissions performance.VWs Porsche has also recalled about 22,000 of its popular Cayenne Diesel 3.0 TDI models across Europe, while VW luxury offshoot Audi is recalling 850,000 vehicles so pollution-testing equipment can be replaced.The premiers of the German states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, which are home to the nations key auto manufacturers, have also been invited to attend Wednesdays so-called diesel summit.Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said ahead of the summit that the carmakers plans for updating the emissions-testing software could only be a first step. What was needed was a more comprehensive technical makeover of the vehicles, she said.The summit is also likely to consider the call from the VDA car industry association and state governments for state-backed financial incentives to help commercial operators phase out older diesel models.About every third passenger vehicle in Germany is diesel-powered.Adding to the pressure on the carmakers, a Stuttgart court ruled last week that diesel cars failing to meet emission standards could be banned on certain days from the southern German city - possibly paving the way for other cities to follow.Both Britain and France are proposing to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered vehicles by 2040 as part of a drive for electric vehicles.In the meantime, Merkels main challenger in the election, Martin Schulz, who heads up the left-leaning Social Democrats, has called for the authority regulating the carmakers (KBA) to be removed from the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transport.The Minister for Transport, Alexander Dobrindt, who is a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian-based allies of Merkels Christian Democrats, has faced calls to resign over the emissions scandal from the environmental Greens.There is an "absurd cronyism" between the KBA and the auto industry, Schulz claimed in an interview with the Hanover-based media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. Greece plans VAT increases on food and services The Greek government is presenting new measures to raise value added tax (VAT) on food and services in order to save 1.8 billion euros as one of the preconditions set by international creditors for additional aid for the struggling country. GALLERY Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers his speech during a parliamentary debate on the draft bill for tax and pensions reforms in Athens, Greece, 08 May 2016. Athens/New York (dpa) - According to local media reports Monday, tax on food and drinks, including those sold in restaurants and bars, would rise from 23 per cent to 24 per cent under the new plan. The tax on tickets for local and long-distance travel is to rise by the same amount.Petrol and diesel would rise by 5 cents and 8 cents per litre, respectively.Other goods and services to face VAT rises would be cigarettes, fixed line telephone services and pay TV services. Stays in Greek hotels starting in 2018 would see added fees of 2 euros to 4 euros per night.The bill for the new measures is to be presented to parliament soon, with a vote expected as early as the coming weekend.Lefteris Kretsos, Greek secretary general of communications, who was visiting the UN headquarters in New York on Monday, told dpa that he was optimistic that the proposed plan would be passed."It will not be a problem. We are in a very good situation," Kretsos said."We are a government that is strong enough to deliver what it promised, so we will continue the same momentum of promoting reforms that help the economy." Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Monday expressed faith in local organizers ahead of the Rio Games and also defended the decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian athletes in connection with doping. Bach spoke at the formal opening of the 129th IOC Session at the Citade das Artes venue, with the working sessions running from Tuesday until Thursday. The Rio Games August 5-21 take place amid a deep political and economic crisis in Brazil which led to construction delays and financial constraints in the build-up. "It has been a long and testing journey to get to this point: for all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, for our Brazilian friends and for the IOC," Bach said, speaking of "challenging" final preparations but "unparalleled efforts" of Brazil. Looking at the Russia doping crisis, he said: "If proven true, such a contemptuous system of doping is an unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games. "Because of the seriousness of the allegations we could not uphold the presumption of innocence for Russian athletes. On the other hand, we cannot deprive an athlete of the human right to be given the opportunity to prove his or her innocence." Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Japan have set themselves an ambitious target of 14 gold medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but are already looking four years ahead to their home Tokyo Games in 2020. "Were looking at Tokyo 2020 as we compete in Rio and the efforts and achievements of Japanese athletes in Rio will have an affect on the 2020 Games," deputy chef de mission Yuji Takada told a news conference Monday. "Were looking to win 14 gold medals and 30 or more medals in total. These are the targets we have for Team Japan." Japans record haul of Olympic gold is 16, a mark reached at home in Tokyo in 1964 and matched at Athens 2004 and they have only twice (in 2004 and 2012) exceeded 30 overall. It is hoped swimmer Kosuke Hagino could set the gold rush rolling on the first competition day Saturday while the gymnast Kohei Uchimura, who won the all-round gold in 2012 and is a six-time world champion, will also be expected to deliver. Medals are also likely in judo and weightlifting while sports with an outside chance of success include badminton and athletics. The other deputy chef de mission, Yasuhiro Yamashita, praised the welcome received by the team in Rio but he too had an eye on what could be learned from this Olympics for the Tokyo Games. "At the airport we had a warm welcome from many Japanese people supporting us, children from a Japanese school in Rio," he said. "We were given a banner to cheer (for) us from these children and we felt like they gave us a lot of energy." "We certainly want to have a successful 2020 and theres no doubt the Rio Games will be very helpful. Wed like to make use of these Games so we can have a very successful Tokyo 2020 Games." Committee recommends stripping German right-wing populist of immunity A leading member of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party should be stripped of her immunity in order to allow a criminal investigation for suspected perjury, a state parliament committee said Thursday. GALLERY Prosecutors are looking into contradictory information given by Petry and AfD treasurer Carsten Huetter in a committee review of 2014 state elections. Dresden (dpa) - Frauke Petry has been under investigation for more than a year in the eastern state of Saxony, where she is an elected member of the state parliament.A local parliamentary committee voted to recommend that her legislative immunity be removed, less than six weeks before national elections.Prosecutors are looking into contradictory information given by Petry and AfD treasurer Carsten Huetter in a committee review of 2014 state elections.The allegations concern a registered party candidate, Arvid Samtleben, who was later removed from the list. He alleged that this was because he had not paid a loan to the party.Petry, who insists that she did nothing wrong, supported the committees decision to clear the way for a criminal investigation.AfD General Secretary Uwe Wurlitzer also welcomed the outcome, saying that Petry could now clear her name."I am very confident and absolutely sure that Frau Petry did not commit perjury," Wurlitzer said."Now the state prosecution service has to make clear why it was necessary to do this before federal elections. Although I think that every voter can see whats going on here," he added.The AfD, which is currently polling at around 8 per cent ahead of the September 24 vote, and looks set to enter federal parliament for the first time. It has been running a campaign centred on nationalism, anti-migration policies and the purported Islamization of Germany. China urges U.S. to stop supporting "Taiwan independence" separatist forces Xinhua) 08:56, October 05, 2021 The United States should stop supporting "Taiwan independence" separatist forces and take concrete actions to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday. Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks in response to a query about a relevant statement issued by U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price. Hua said Taiwan belongs to China and the United States is in no position to make irresponsible remarks. The relevant remarks by the U.S. side seriously violate the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques and send an extremely wrong and irresponsible signal. She said for quite some time, the United States has been making negative moves by selling arms to Taiwan and strengthening official and military ties with Taiwan, including the launch of a 750 million U.S. dollars arms sale plan to Taiwan, the landing of U.S. military aircraft in Taiwan and frequent sailing of U.S. warships across the Taiwan Strait. These provocative moves undermine China-U.S. relations and regional peace and stability. China is firmly opposed to them and has taken necessary countermeasures. Noting that the one-China principle is the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, Hua said on the Taiwan question, the United States should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the China-U.S. joint communiques rather than something cooked up by itself unilaterally. "Taiwan independence" leads nowhere, she said, adding that China will take all necessary measures to resolutely crush all attempts at "Taiwan independence" and China has firm resolve and will to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. "The United States should correct its mistakes, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues, stop supporting and emboldening separatist forces of 'Taiwan independence', and take concrete actions to safeguard rather than undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Hua said. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) Targeted COVID-19 containment allows China to enjoy Golden Week Xinhua) 10:03, October 05, 2021 A child waves the Chinese national flag while posing for photos on a bridge in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Oct. 2, 2021. Strict epidemic prevention and control measures have been imposed at the city's main shopping malls, tourist attractions and other sites where mass gatherings take place during the ongoing National Day holiday. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Pan Lili, a community worker in China's Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, is working through her National Day holiday from Oct. 1 to 7. Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has recently seen another COVID-19 outbreak. On Sept. 21, the provincial capital Harbin reported its first recent case of COVID-19, which was subsequently identified as the Delta variant. By Saturday, there were 83 local cases in Heilongjiang Province, the provincial health commission said. Community workers like Pan Lili are among the frontline staff battling the spread. Pan is responsible for assisting in epidemiological investigations, distributing materials for home-quarantined residents, and organizing nucleic acid testing. "At first, I felt fear and panic when the epidemic broke out. Now, with enough experience, I can handle it with great calm," Pan said. Cui Hongping, a nurse who also lives in Suihua City, is also working through the holiday. She and her team are responsible for Suihua's citywide nucleic acid testing campaign. The 100-member team has tested approximately 30,000 people in the course of each campaign. Though Cui's allergies caused her hands to rupture and swell with the frequent application of hand sanitizer at work, she did not lose her focus. She put on gloves and kept working. "My job as a nurse requires me to work to keep the people healthy and safe," she said. Mass nucleic acid testing is an important measure for targeted COVID-19 containment. By Oct. 3, Suihua had carried out four mass nucleic acid testing campaigns, with a total of over 8.61 million tests performed, local authorities said on Sunday. In Bayan County, Suihua City, and other regions of Heilongjiang Province that have been impacted by this outbreak, many medical workers, traffic police and volunteers are working through the holiday. Their efforts have helped control the outbreak to a limited scope. Through targeted COVID-19 containment measures, most Chinese people, including those in Heilongjiang Province, are able to enjoy a safe and jubilant National Day holiday. Some 16 million passenger trips were made by rail on Friday, the first day of the weeklong holiday, and 127 million trips are expected to be made over the full course the holiday, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. On Shanghai's Bund, a "zipper" wall of police has appeared again. Due to the large number of tourists, police formed a human wall, diverting tourist flows with a traffic light system to prevent the dangers that can occur in crowds. "A lively National Day holiday highlights the wisdom of China's COVID-19 management. Putting 'people first, lives first,' China is launching precise policies to minimize the impact of the pandemic on people's lives," said Qu Wenyong, a professor at Heilongjiang University. "Workers on the frontline of pandemic control have demonstrated the Chinese people's love for family and country, and the spirit of solidarity of the Chinese people," Qu added. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) Offshore drilling urged to stop after mass oil spill off California Xinhua) 10:07, October 05, 2021 Oil stains the Huntington Beach in Orange County, California, Oct. 3, 2021. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua) A group of U.S. House representatives and senators from the U.S. state of California on Monday called for the end to offshore drilling, two days after a major oil spill incident near Orange County left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated. Nanette D. Barragan, U.S. Congresswoman from California's 44th Congressional District, and Mike Levin, U.S. Congressman from the state's 49th Congressional District, made remarks after inspecting the pollution incident. "The devastation of the oil spill continues to spread off the coast of Orange County. @RepMikeLevin and I are joining the @USCG on an overflight to view the impacts of the damage," Barragan tweeted Monday noon, noting that "We must end offshore oil drilling." "This disaster is exactly why I'm leading the bill in Congress that would end all new offshore drilling along our Southern California coast. We need to get this done," Levin tweeted earlier. "If you agree it's time to pass my American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act." The spill, first reported Saturday morning, originated from a pipeline running from the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure till Monday caused roughly 126,000 gallons of oil to gush into the ocean, creating a slick spanning about 8,320 acres. The spill has left oil along long stretches of sand in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, killing fish and birds and threatening wetlands where many birds live. Oil from the spill, called by local officials as an environmental catastrophe, was moving south toward the sensitive coves around Laguna Beach on Monday. Long Beach is located in the 44th Congressional District, and the severely impacted areas in the incident, including Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach belong to the 48th Congressional District. The state's 49 Congressional District sits in the south. The two Congress members who called on an end to offshore drilling are Democrats, while Michelle Steel, the representative from the 48th Congressional District, is a Republican. She sent a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden requesting a major disaster declaration for Orange County, which would free up federal funds to help with the clean-up efforts. Even though she called the incident "a really serious disaster," Steel did not mention ending offshore drilling, which is a controversial topic in the country's polarized political system. Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democratic state assembly member representing the 74th Assembly District, which encompasses the coastal Orange County communities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, said she had "huge concerns" about the extent of the damage to the environment, communities and local economy. She told CNN the spill was a "call to action that we need to stop drilling off our precious California coast." In Washington D.C., many California Democrats called for limiting or halting offshore drilling in the wake of the incident, as the overall impact is hard to assess at this point. "The oil spill off the coast of Orange County reiterates the perils of offshore drilling," Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. "This spill highlights why we must also take action to prevent future spills, including passing the West Coast Ocean Protection Act." "Our bill would permanently ban oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington," she added. "We've seen time and time again how damaging offshore oil spills are to our coastal ecosystems as well as to our economy. We have the power to prevent future spills - that's why I'm committed to ending offshore oil drilling," Alex Padilla, another senator from the Golden State, wrote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Monday released a statement criticizing Steel had special relationship with "Big Oil." "While Michelle Steel aids and promotes Big Oil, Orange County beaches are devastated by one of the biggest oil spills in California history," a press release from the DCCC said. "Michelle Steel is no stranger to aiding and promoting Big Oil. Her campaign coffers are flowing with cash from Big Oil and fossil fuel donors. Her legislative record is littered with attempts to block clean water and air protections. It's no wonder why Big Oil and Michelle Steel have each other's backs." In response to the criticism, Steel's spokesperson Danielle Stewart was quoted by The Hill as saying that when Steel worked to help local communities affected by the incident, "DCCC staffers inside the Beltway are doing what they do best - sending political emails just to score points off of a tragedy in Orange County - pathetic." Offshore drilling was restricted in California after a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, 150 kilometers north of the Los Angeles downtown, that spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, creating a slick 35 miles long along California's coast and killing thousands of birds, fish and sea mammals. The Santa Barbara spill was the worst in the nation's history - until 20 years later, when the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. In Orange County, the latest mass oil spill incidents occurred on Feb. 7, 1990, when the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor in shallow water just about 2,200 meters off Huntington Beach. It spilled nearly 417,000 gallons of crude, killing many fish and about 3,400 birds. Oil production off California's coast declined sharply since its peak in the 1990s, after the state passed some strict environmental rules, such as the the California Coastal Sanctuary Act passed by the state legislature in 1994, which prohibited the state from entering into any new leases within state tidelands. In 2017, the California Senate passed a resolution opposing new oil or gas drilling in federal waters located offshore California. In 2019, when the Donald Trump administration planned to lease sales along the country's coast and vastly expand offshore oil drilling from coast to coast, California passed a law prohibiting new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as pipelines, within state waters if the federal government authorizes any new offshore oil leases. The state's current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said he would like to end oil drilling in the state by 2045. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) Chinese envoy urges Haitians to move forward political transition Xinhua) 10:48, October 05, 2021 Geng Shuang (Front), China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, addresses a UN Security Council meeting on the question concerning Haiti at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 4, 2021. Geng Shuang on Monday urged the Haitians to quickly move forward political transition and called on UN Security Council member states to provide aid to the people affected by the Aug. 14 earthquake. (Cia Pak/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) A Chinese envoy on Monday urged the Haitians to quickly move forward political transition and called on UN Security Council member states to provide aid to the people affected by the Aug. 14 earthquake. Addressing the Security Council briefing on Haiti, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the past four months has witnessed continued political volatility in Haiti. "Its security and humanitarian crisis has not improved in the slightest." "In fact, it has been going from bad to worse. We express our deep sympathy for the tragic plight of the Haitian people. The Haitian government and political leaders must, in the interests of the people and the country, desist from power struggle, discharge their responsibilities in good faith, and take action to put the country on a proper track of development," he noted. The envoy said that "we call on all parties in Haiti to act in the country's best interest and, in the spirit of mutual understanding and accommodation, show flexibility, move in the same direction, and reach agreement on the relevant arrangements without delay through broad political consultations, so as to ensure the elections can take place as early as possible." On humanitarian assistance, Geng said that the earthquake and the subsequent tropical storm in Haiti caused heavy casualties and property loss and an additional 650,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. "China calls on the international community to respond actively to the UN humanitarian emergency appeals totaling about 187 million U.S. dollars, and urges the Haitian government to work closely with the UN system to ensure that supplies reach people most in need and to avoid waste and embezzlement," he said. The envoy also called for efforts to "combat criminal gangs with full force," noting that the gangs in Haiti are "running amok," creating all sorts of egregious chaos in society, and responsible for the displacement of 19,000 people since June alone. "The Chinese delegation, in the previous Council deliberations, has repeatedly stressed that there is no external solution to the Haitian dossier, and that it is ultimately up to the Haitian people themselves to bring the country out of its plight," he said. "The international community's long standing assistance model that can be compared to blood transfusion and oxygen supply to Haiti has proven to be neither markedly effective nor sustainable. The UN's presence in Haiti should be improved and adjusted," Geng added. The envoy stressed that "regardless of what the UN is doing, what matters the most is for all the political parties in Haiti to reflect on the problems that exist, and genuinely shoulder their responsibility to the country and their people." Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) UN calls for open access to scientific information on COVID-19 Xinhua) 13:55, October 05, 2021 A United Nations official on Monday stressed the need for open access to scientific information, basic science research and innovation on COVID-19 to help reduce the spread of the disease in Africa. Hubert Gijzen, regional director for eastern Africa at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that all resources developed on COVID-19 should be made available in a transparent manner. "The open access to scientific information will empower journalists and the public with fact-checking tools on COVID-19," Gijzen said during the launch of COVID-19 health information portal for media practitioners in Kenya's capital Nairobi. Gijzen said that there was a need for information that is verified, relevant and reliable, but also in languages and formats that are easily understood. He said the platform should help tackle misinformation and disinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic online and offline through equipping media practitioners with safety and security mechanisms and fact-checking skills and competencies. Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health said the pandemic demanded effective and well-coordinated public communication to enhance public response and elicit cooperation. Kagwe noted the pandemic fight has been hampered by diffusion, misinformation and conspiracy theories revolving around its preventive measures. He said that correct and timely information needs to get to all segments of society in terms of the preventive measures and the roles and responsibilities of different players in curbing the spread of the virus. Joe Mucheru, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs said that the development of COVID-19 vaccines remains one of the notable achievements of the medical research field. Mucheru noted that researchers have saved millions of lives globally while urging African citizens to stop vaccine hesitancy. He said that Kenya has through various policy documents committed to the creation of an information society and a knowledge economy as its main priorities towards the attainment of the development goals as well as addressing matters of public interest. Mucheru noted that the launch of the information portal was timely as it will address the numerous challenges that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic with regards to the dissemination of accurate information. The portal will provide localized information to different audiences in English and native Swahili and will also extend to other local languages spoken in Kenya including Braille and sign language. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) Ex-bank governor accused of corruption repatriated to China Xinhua) 13:56, October 05, 2021 A fugitive criminal suspect who was formerly governor of the Liaoyang Rural Commercial Bank in northeast China's Liaoning Province was captured and repatriated to China on Saturday, an official statement said Monday. The ex-bank governor Jiang Dongmei was suspected of taking bribes and illegally granting loans, and she fled overseas in March 2021. Liaoning provincial supervisory authorities launched an investigation into Jiang's case in April and a red notice was issued for her via Interpol in July. Recently, through international law enforcement cooperation, China requested the capture of Jiang by foreign law enforcement agencies and her repatriation, according to the statement. China will continue to step up international judicial and law enforcement cooperation to crack down on transnational corruption and ensure fugitive criminals never go unpunished, according to an office in charge of fugitives and asset recovery under China's central anti-corruption coordination group. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) Chief administration secretary stresses HK schools' duties in national security education Xinhua) 13:58, October 05, 2021 John Lee, chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, talks with students at Clementi Secondary School in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 4, 2021. (Information Services Department of the Government of the HKSAR/Handout via Xinhua) Hong Kong schools are responsible for implementing national security education with an aim of nurturing law-abiding citizens with sense of national identity, said John Lee, chief secretary for administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government Monday. Lee visited Clementi Secondary School on Monday, attended its national flag-raising ceremony on the first school day after the National Day, and learnt about national security education and national education in the school. He encouraged the students to participate more in national education activities to enhance their understanding of the country, build up positive values and become citizens who are responsible, appreciative of Chinese culture, and committed to society and the country. He had exchanges with students, some of whom had a direct conversation and exchange in June and September with the country's aerospace experts and astronauts who were in space. Lee said the students have gained an invaluable opportunity, which shows the country's support for Hong Kong and the great importance attached to youth development in Hong Kong. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) "China role model for us to follow," says Bangladesh gov't minister Xinhua) 14:02, October 05, 2021 China's development is impressive and has set a role model for the world to follow, Bangladesh Planning Minister MA Mannan said. The minister made the remarks on Monday while speaking as the chief guest at a webinar marking the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The minister was joined by dozens of guests in the webinar, organized by the Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA). He thanked the Chinese government for allowing Bangladesh exports to China Duty-Free Quota Free access for 97 percent of its tariff lines from July 1, 2020, adding that he looked forward to further strengthening the Bangladesh-China relationship. Meanwhile, the minister refuted the claim that Bangladesh is falling into a Chinese "debt trap," saying China's loans only comprise a small fraction of Bangladesh's total global debt. "If we're in trap how our foreign exchange reserves are booming?" he said. "We think and we borrow. That's our decision. We borrow from friends for our developments," he added. Enable Ginger Cannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection or reload the browser Disable in this text field Rephrase Rephrase current sentence Edit in Ginger (Web editor: Kou Jie, Bianji) China has agreed to share fine dust forecasts for major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Tianjin with Korea this winter. From December, Korea will be able to take advantage of the data to make forecasts about and respond to air pollution here. The decision came in a trilateral environment ministers meeting between Korea, China and Japan in Kitakyushu, Japan on Sunday. In a bilateral meeting with Japan, Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae also urged his Japanese counterpart to disclose data about how Japan is treating contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. But the Japanese minister said only in principle that data will be released "on a scientific basis," while reiterating that no decision has been made yet about how to dispose of the contaminated water. China dispatched at least 56 fighter jets into Taiwan's air defense zone on Monday, the island territory claimed, as it scrambled its own air force for the fourth straight day to ward off the intruding aircraft. Self-governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own, has objected to Beijing's overflights for more than a year. But since Friday, when China celebrated its national day, it has dramatically ramped up the number of flights, often in the southwestern part of the Taiwanese air defense zone close to Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island, as was the case on Monday. Monday's mission included 34 J-16 fighters and 12 nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, Taiwan said. Monday night, authorities in Taipei reported that they had seen four more Chinese J-16 fighters over their airspace. The news was met with sharp words Monday from the White House. "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan, and we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. "Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region." Psaki said the administration has "been clear privately and publicly about our concern." But in response to a question from VOA, she said President Joe Biden had not spoken recently to his Chinese counterpart, but that "high-level" officials from Washington were in touch with Beijing. North Korea on Monday reconnected cross-border hotlines amid tentative signs of a thaw after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his willingness to restore them. But the official [North] Korean Central News Agency warned South Korea to "make positive efforts to put the North-South ties on a right track and settle important tasks... bearing deep in mind the meaning of the restoration of communication lines." The North unilaterally disconnected the communication lines in June last year but briefly restored them this July, only to stop answering calls again a month later. The Unification Ministry welcomed the development, saying that it "lays the ground for peace on the Korean Peninsula and bringing relations between the two Koreas back on track." The ministry made no mention of the North's recent spate of missile provocations Seoul hopes that the latest restoration of the hotlines will lead to a phone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and Kim and eventually another inter-Korean summit before Moon's term ends to boost his party's fortunes in next year's presidential election. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close A nurse does rounds to check on coronavirus patients in the intensive care unit at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa on Monday, July 13, 2020. MIKALA COMPTON | Herald-Zeitung 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 Your browser does not support the video tag. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Sorry for inconvenience! You have been redirected to this page due to the following reasons:-- Your session has expired. You have closed the browser, without logging out. If the problem persists, kindly remove all the temporary files and cookies from your browser. For IE - 1. Click on tools from the task bar of browser. 2. Click on Internet Options. 3. Click on "Delete temporary files." For Mozilla Firefox - 1. Click on tools from the task bar of browser. 2. Click on "Clear recent history." Aljabr Financing Corporation (AJFC), licensed by Saudi Central Bank (Sama), said that it has appointed Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) to ensure and enhance services of shariah audit and compliance. Mohammed Ibrahim Aljabr Member of the Board of Directors of AJFC said: "We are one of the pioneering Saudi companies specialized in providing productive assets finance, consumer finance, financial lease, for both SMEs & individuals. The company serves customers through branches across the Kingdom, focusing on serving both institutional and individual clients. Plans are underway to expand this business and broaden the range of financing services." Commenting on the newly assigned Shariah advisory firm he stated: They are a reputed Shariah advisory firm in the region, backed with years of experience in providing Shariah compliance solutions and audit assurances. Given their track record, we are proud to engage with an experienced team that helps us to focus on delivering more value and service to our customers." SRB is one of the largest Shariah Advisory and Audit service providers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 2004, it is licensed by Central Bank of Bahrain to provide Shariah advisory services from setting up Shariah Committees to providing independent Shariah audits and assurance programs to financial institutions of all nature. In Saudi Arabia alone, the firm is the Shariah Advisor for 37% of the Financing Institutions licensed by Sama, 32% of the Saudi Investment Companies licensed by the CMA, and 52% Cooperative Insurance firms listed on the stock exchange. From a humble beginning of providing Sharia audit to an Islamic bank 15 years ago, our firm has come a long way serving the regulatory needs of Islamic financial industry, said Yasser S Dahlawi Founder and CEO of Shariyah Review Bureau. Our Sharia compliance, advisory and audit services are well positioned to address the critical and complex Sharia control requirements of the regulated Islamic industry in which we operate. Our team is looking forward to supervising the financing and operational activities of Aljabr financing Corporation in light of Sama Shariah Governance standards, he added. TradeArabia News Service The UAE's Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has announced that 11,103 new residential units are currently being built under the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme across the country. Since its launch in 1999, the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, which is managed by the infrastructure ministry, has issued over 74,504 housing support resolutions, comprising loans and grants with a total value of AED41 billion ($11.1 billion). The programme has till date delivered 35,455 housing units to beneficiaries. A total of 2,538 housing units have been handed over to beneficiaries last year, while 2021 saw the delivery of 1,726 housing units in Dubai, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, stated the ministry on World Habitat Day, which was celebrated under the theme ''Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world" yesterday (October 4). The United Nations had designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of habitats, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The Day is also intended to remind the world that all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 with the theme Shelter is My Right. Nairobi was the host city for the observance that year. Speaking on occasion, Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, stressed that the ministry's housing projects are part of its urban development plan for the next 50 years, and will support the UAE's infrastructure system and help achieve the UAEs goal of ensuring the welfare of citizens. The year 2020 saw the announcement of directives to allocate land plots, housing loans and units, as well as to exempt retired citizens and families of deceased persons from paying loans, with a total value of AED15.5 billion, benefiting 13,626 citizens. This year too there had been an allocation of a AED65 billion budget to provide Emiratis with housing over the next two decades. The priorities of Abu Dhabis leadership include providing adequate housing to citizens, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Bahrain is likely to soon invite bids from potential investors for the development of a sea park and maritime museum complex which, despite achieving widespread acclaim, has languished on the pile of stalled projects, reported The Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. For further details visit https://www.gdnonline.com P&O Maritime Logistics, a Dubai-based marine solutions and logistics company, has completed a three-year long project supporting the development of the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan, an entire season ahead of schedule. In 2016, P&O Maritime Logistics entered a consortium with Blue Water Shipping to provide a unique class of vessel which meets the specific challenges of delivering oil production equipment through the Russian Inland Waterway System (RIWS) on behalf of its client, Tengizchevroil (TCO). The project saw the bespoke design and construction of 20 Multi-Carrying Vessels (MCVs), responsible for transporting heavy oil and gas modules from transhipment hubs in the Black Sea and Finland, to Kazakhstan. All 20 vessels were constructed within a total of 20 months due to the strong cooperation between P&O Maritime Logistics, its consortium partners and Vard Shipyards. P&O Maritime Logistics ensured the safe transportation of the modules through the RIWS, known for its series of narrow locks and passages using specialised new MCVs, which are designed to navigate complex conditions safely and efficiently. The MCVs carried approximately 200,000MT of cargo for the project through the RIWS in water passages only three metres deep. Once moved to the Tengiz site in Northern Kazakhstan, the modules were assembled to form a new production facility, which serves to enhance oil production capacity as part of TCOs Future Growth Project. Overall, P&O Maritime Logistics MCVs were able to deliver the modules 40% faster than would have been the case if a conventional tug and barge operation were used making the journey faster and more cost-effective for customers. In total, 222 modules were transported to Kazakhstan over the three-year course of the project and all module deliveries were completed one season ahead of the original delivery schedule, with the final delivery taking place in December 2020. Moreover, zero delays were experienced due to technical breakdown or navigational issues and no ELC incidents occurred. Beyond their superior performance in shallow and narrow waterways, P&O Maritime Logistics new MCVs are also equipped with world-leading Internet of Things technology, capable of transmitting real-time data from the vessel. This data enabled the move from a reactive maintenance model to a predictive maintenance model, making downtime more efficient, greatly improving its vessel uptime and boosting fuel performance. P&O Maritime Logistics MCVs make up one of the youngest, most efficient, and environmentally friendly fleets in the breakbulk market, and are available for new projects in 2021 and beyond. The vessels will be a top pick for leading companies aiming to improve performance without impacting a projects bottom line. Trading areas include the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Mediterranean Baltics, North Sea and RIWS, among others. Speaking on the projects successful completion, Martin Helweg, Chief Executive Officer, P&O Maritime Logistics said: The end of our work on the Tengiz oilfield project is a significant milestone for P&O Maritime Logistics as it demonstrates our ability to re-shape and push the boundaries of energy logistics, using innovation in a volatile global energy market. By understanding our customers specific needs, and by applying a craftsman-like approach in the construction of these unique MCVs, we have been able to implement solutions that led to measurable improvements in efficiency. Completion of the Tengiz oilfield, one of the worlds six largest oil fields, marks a new direction for P&O Maritime Logistics, as we continue to push boundaries and empower employees to better service clients in an ever-changing environment.-- TradeArabia News Service Embosal Steel Mills, a conglomerate family business established in the 1980s in UAE, plans to set up a AED250 million ($68.06 million) steel pipe plant in Ras Al Khaimah. It will specialise in the manufacturing of structural steel pipes and tubes, water transmission pipes and piling pipes. The project will have a workforce of over 450 employees, with a combined annual capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes of steel tubes and pipes. All products will be distributed to local projects within UAE and overseas. Embosal Steel Mills will soon be joined by three of its sister companies in its new 140,000 sq m land plot at Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (Rakez). Our relocation to Ras Al Khaimah is a strategic decision to support our long-term goal. Cost is one of the most important factors in our decision-making process, and Rakez was able to offer us cost-effective solutions, said John Thomas, Managing Director of Embosal Steel Mills LLC. Embosal Steel Mills is just the beginning of our journey with Rakez. Our sister companies operating in different emirates will also join us in the same location, improving our collaboration and efficiency, as well as for a more seamless distribution of our products to the rest of the region. Commenting on Embosal Steel Mills joining the economic zone, Ramy Jallad, Group CEO of Rakez said: It is always a pleasure to welcome large-scale industrial companies to Rakez such as Embosal Steel Mills LLC - the latest addition to the over 150 supply chain players in our zones. Over the years, we have been enhancing our industrial ecosystem through the continuous improvement of our offerings and overall infrastructure to fully support the operations of our industrial players - from their production and storing process to the easy flow of their goods to the region. In the macro, our efforts are geared towards further growing the manufacturing industry in the emirate and creating more opportunities for global talents. Once the relocation process is completed, Embosals production facility will also house Coremetal Industries LLC, which will run the fabrication, metal processing and machine shop, and CorePac Packaging LLC, which will manufacture and store packaging disposables and airline products. It will also include an on-site accommodation for its large manpower.-- TradeArabia News Service Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has declared 29 October as a day that honours coding and programming professionals, under the slogan UAE Codes. The date marks the launch of the first electronic government in the region by Sheikh Mohammed 20 years ago on October 29, 2001, reported Emirates News Agency WAM. Every year, October 29 will celebrate the role played by coding and programming professionals in advancing the nations vision for the growth and transformation of the IT sector. The move supports nationwide efforts to attract a new generation of programmers and coders to the country through initiatives such as the National Program for Coders, in line with the UAEs growth strategy and the Fifty-Year Charter. Sheikh Mohammed said coding and programming excellence represents a vital driver of innovation and creativity, technological and scientific excellence, economic growth and the nations future aspirations. The UAE is strongly focused on investing in the development of human capital and providing an environment for talent to thrive, he said. "Twenty years ago, we launched the regions first digital government, which was the cornerstone of our vision to build the best government in the world and create a new model of development that empowers people to turn their creative and entrepreneurial aspirations into reality. We want to honour the contributions of coders and programmers so that we can encourage future generations of technology professionals to participate in building the future of the UAE." The decision of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to honour the contributions of coders and programmers on October 29 will help promote the development of technology and artificial intelligence related skills among future generations. The initiative also provides a significant boost to achieving the objectives of the National Program for Coders to train and attract 100,000 programmers and create 1,000 major digital companies within five years. The Program also enables technology entrepreneurs, businesses and startups to participate in advancing digital transformation in various key sectors. In addition, it seeks to provide opportunities for fostering cooperation between government and private sector entities to turn promising ideas into full-fledged projects. The National Program for Coders focuses on five key pillars, which include: supporting coders, entrepreneurs, startups, large companies and the academic sector; developing a comprehensive platform for promoting engagement and linkages between coders and local companies and universities; launching skill development initiatives featuring international trainers aimed at developing local talent; attracting the best international coding professionals to the UAE; and recommending policies to foster the development of the coding sector in cooperation with various government entities. The UAE Space Agency has announced the commencement of a new Emirati interplanetary mission, designed to further accelerate the nations space engineering, scientific research and exploration capabilities and drive innovation and opportunity in the countrys private sector. We have set our eyes to the stars because our journey to development and progress has no boundaries, no borders and no limitations. Today we are investing in the generations to come. said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. With each new advancement we make in space, we create opportunities for young people here on Earth. Built on the knowledge and experience gained from the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), the new mission will involve significant participation from Emirati private sector companies. It is scheduled for launch in 2028, with the primary goal of exploring the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the source of most meteorites that impact earth. Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, said: This new mission tests and extends the capabilities of Emirati youth in achieving Zayeds ambition to explore space. We are certain that our talented local engineers, academic and research institutions, which have so far made quantum leaps in developing our space sector, are well equipped to take on this daring new challenge. The spacecraft will undertake a 3.6 billion-kilometre, five-year journey, which will see it perform gravity assist manoeuvres by orbiting first Venus, then Earth in order to build the velocity required in order to reach the main asteroid belt, located beyond Mars. Its trajectory around Venus will see it reaching a solar proximity of 109 million kilometres, requiring substantial thermal protection and a furthest distance from the sun of 448 million kilometres, requiring high levels of insulation and spacecraft operation with minimal levels of available solar energy. Through its journey, it will study seven main belt asteroids. It will be built using the substantial heritage and intellectual property (IP) acquired during the development of the Emirates Mars Mission and its Hope Probe, currently orbiting Mars and gathering unique data on Mars atmospheric composition and interactions. Sarah Al Amiri, Chair of the UAE Space Agency, said: Our goal is clear: to accelerate the development of innovation and knowledge-based enterprises in the Emirates. This cant be done by going steady-state; this requires leaps in imagination, in faith and the pursuit of goals that go beyond prudent or methodical. When we embarked on the Emirates Mars Mission, we took on a six-year task that was in the order of five times more complex than the earth observation satellites we were developing. This mission is in the order of five times more complex than EMM. The mission will make its first close planetary approach orbiting Venus in mid-2028, followed by a close orbit of Earth in mid-2029. It will make its first fly-by of a main asteroid belt object in 2030, going on to observe a total of seven main belt asteroids before its final landing on an asteroid 560 million kilometres from Earth in 2033. This will make the Emirates the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on an asteroid. The mission brings extensive challenges that go beyond EMM in terms of spacecraft design and engineering, interplanetary navigation and complex systems integration, requiring new levels of performance from its communications, power and propulsion systems as well as demanding intensive mission control. The precise science goals and instrumentation to be deployed on the mission are to be announced in mid-2022. The mission is to be developed in partnership with the Laboratory for Atmospheric Science and Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. LASP was the primary knowledge transfer partner for EMM, bringing over seventy years experience in spacecraft and instrumentation design and development and helping advise, train and develop the team of Emirati engineers, software developers and scientists who worked on EMM, many of whom will go on to work on this new mission. Five initiatives are being launched around the new mission by the UAE Space Agency to accelerate the development of the UAEs space sector: A fully funded program to establish Emirati space sector businesses. Priority access to contracts and procurement for the mission by Emirati companies. A vocational training program to train young Emiratis on component assembly and space subsystems engineering. A program to bring local and international universities and research centres together to work on the mission, including LASP and Emirates University. TradeArabia News Service The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that China Eastern Airlines will host the 78th IATA annual general meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Shanghai, China, from June 19-21, 2022. This decision was made by the 77th AGM and World Air Transport Summit in Boston, IATA said. This will be the third time China will host the global gathering of aviation's top leaders. The AGM was previously held in Beijing in 2012 and in Shanghai in 2002. Director General Willie Walsh said: We look forward to gathering the aviation industry in Shanghai for the 78th IATA AGM. China is a dynamic aviation market, with its domestic travel among the fastest to recover from the damage brought by Covid-19." China Eastern Airlines Chairman Liu Shaoyong said: We are excited to host the IATA AGM and to welcome our industry colleagues to our home city of Shanghai. In the 20 years since the AGM was last held in Shanghai, the city has completely changed. We look forward to showcasing our vibrant city and warm Chinese hospitality.-TradeArabia News Service The chief of Airports Council International (ACI) World has responded to statements made at the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) regarding airport charges. ACI World Director General Luis Felipe de Oliveira said: After a period that saw unprecedented collaboration and unity of airports and airlines in surviving this crisis and rebuilding passenger confidence, it is disappointing to hear this tone of statements coming from IATA. "Claims made about the airport industry are out of context and dont reflect the efforts made by airports to support the aviation ecosystem during the pandemic. Airports have also experienced enormous financial stress and had to make drastic cuts to keep afloat. And in many jurisdictions, airports did not receive the same level of support compared to air carriers. "To keep facilities running and safe to operate cargo and humanitarian flights during the pandemic, for example, airports incurred large costs. Fundamentally, airports will always remain infrastructure-intensive businesses this translates into a high ratio of fixed costs. In addition, despite these fixed costs that airports face, the industry has been supportive of the airline community during the crisis, which includes the following: - A recent survey of airport operators spanning all regions of the world and different airport sizes in terms of traffic levels showed that the majority of airports nearly 70 per cent had implemented some form of discount or incentives in their airport charging schemes to address the impacts of Covid-19 and support a recovery. Also, during 2020, many airport operators deferred or waived certain airport charges in support of their airline clients. - IATAs own data shows that at the depths of the crisis, there was actually a decrease in user charges as a share of airline costs. An analysis of charges, which contain both air traffic control and airport charges, shows that these charges are only approximately 5% of airline cost items in 2020, and this share decreased from pre-Covid 2019 levels. Overall, airports are also businesses in their own right that have suffered great financial stress during the Covid-19 crisis and the historic downturn of passenger traffic. In fact, this may be a moment to rethink the economic oversight of airport charges to something that is more reflective of market conditions allowing for risk to be shared across airlines and airports. "Airports will remain infrastructure-intensive businesses which means high fixed costs which must be maintained for the benefit of passengers and the communities that airports serve. We will continue to collaborate with our airline partners and other stakeholders to rebuild a sector that is resilient and sustainable but it needs to be fair for the entire aviation ecosystem.-TradeArabia News Service Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), a leading global professional services firm, has expanded its financial restructuring capabilities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with the hiring of James Dervin as Managing Director. Dervin will help further development of A&Ms business in the Middle East region and enhance the capabilities of the Financial Restructuring team across the UK, and Europe. Dervins arrival builds on A&Ms expanding financial restructuring offering in the region and marks the next step of the firms strategic development across EMEA. Concurrently, his appointment reinforces the firms recent growth in its financial restructuring business across France, Switzerland, the Nordics, Spain, Germany and Italy, in addition to its large UK team. Dervin brings more than 20 years of experience, advising and supporting financiers, borrowers and other stakeholders in stressed and distressed situations, in both developed and developing jurisdictions, with cross-border dimensions and tiered capital structures. Prior to joining A&M, Dervin spent 16 years with Deloittes Restructuring Advisory team, eight as a Partner/Managing Director. While there, he worked on high-profile European financial restructurings, often with gulf-dimensions. Following the Global Financial Crisis and completing several gulf related restructurings from London, he was seconded to Deloitte Middle East and led the Financial Advisory business in Abu Dhabi. While there, he worked with international and regional financial institutions, sovereign and government clients, and other eminent regional investors throughout EMEA and India, returning to the London office in 2017. Paul Kirkbright, Managing Director and Head of EMEA Financial Restructuring Advisory at A&M, said: James unique combination of expertise will help create value for our clients. Along with leading complex restructuring situations across EMEA, he has direct experience working in the Middle East and other developing markets. His in-depth knowledge advances our ability to meet increasing client demands, aligns with our operational heritage and extends our cross-border offerings. Over the next six months we will be looking at additional local hires across EMEA to best help clients navigate post-pandemic uncertainties. Richard Fleming, European Head of Restructuring at A&M, said, Jamess joining bolsters A&Ms capability to deliver high quality impactful multi-jurisdiction results, as demonstrated in the widely reported NMC restructuring. His arrival enhances our ability to fuse developed-market thinking with Middle East regional-market insights to deliver optimal outcomes for our local and international clients. Dervin commented: Im delighted to be joining a firm whose very DNA is Restructuring & Turnaround, with an established, match-fit bench across continents, and in the U.K. The absence of audit conflicts means A&M has the full service, rapid-response capability required in restructuring situations. I look forward to working with, and across from, new and old friends in our ever-evolving markets. TradeArabia News Service In order to provide one-stop, quality, and affordable aftersales solutions to a wider customer base, Al Masaoods AutoCentral has partnered with MySyara app to offer its premium car services all over the UAE. This collaboration marks AutoCentrals latest achievement in its cross-country expansion plan. Through the MySyara app, which can be downloaded on iOS and Android devices, customers can access specialised car maintenance and repair services depending on their brand and model. Services vary from quick lube, service repair and maintenance, body and paint collision repairs, MySyara will provide AutoCentral with its suite of digital tools and features to access a wider range of customers within UAE. Mirsad Nezirevic, General Manager, Aftersales, said: We are excited to bring our decades of auto service excellence to customers all over UAE through our strategic cooperation with MySyara. Through the mobile application, car owners will now have an additional avenue to receive first-class car repair and maintenance services straight from our experts. We are confident that working together with an innovative platform such as MySyara will provide us great synergy and mutual benefits, enabling us to maintain our reputation as one of the most reliable auto service providers in the country. Chirenj Chandran, CEO, MySyara, said: At Mysyara, we are reimagining the autocare consumer journey. Today, customers are looking for personalised experiences that are tailored to their specific requirements - one that is convenient, yet reliable. Traditional car care services simply cannot satisfy customer expectations anymore. We are digitally transforming the age-old automotive industry. Partnering with credible and reliable vendors like AutoCentral helps us realise that vision and offer world class and efficient autocare services to our customers. Aside from servicing car owners in the UAE, the partnership is focused to expand towards other aspiring automotive markets. Al Masaood AutoCentral focuses on providing high quality, one-stop solutions to customers across UAE at affordable rates in line with high dealership standards. AutoCentral offers periodic service maintenance and repairs, body collison repairs, window tinting, paint protection, value added services, tyres, batteries, and genuine spare parts for all automobile makes in market. Currently, the multi-brand repair centre has four branches in the UAE Abu Dhabi City, Mussafah Industrial Zone, Umm Ramool- Dubai, and Beda Zayed and expanding soon to other emirates. MySyara, which means my car in Arabic, is the first car maintenance application in the Middle East. Launched in 2019, MySyara offers the regions first car maintenance app, providing a one-stop-shop for complete car care solutions. The start-up has received $1.1 million in funding to date and has recorded 600% year-on-year revenue growth.-- TradeArabia News Service Bridgestone has been chosen by Ferrari as a tyre supplier for the Italian manufacturers latest GT car, the Ferrari Roma. With 620bhp and rear-wheel drive, Ferrari needed a tyre that suited the Romas performance in both the dry and wet. A collaboration with Bridgestone has seen the ground-breaking Bridgestone Potenza Sport evolved to match the Ferrari Romas unique requirements. The Bridgestone Potenza Sport, which delivers best-in-class performance in the dry alongside outstanding wet weather grip, was custom-developed by Bridgestone to optimise lateral and longitudinal grip and wet and hydroplaning performance. In order to achieve such challenging targets, Bridgestone developed a dedicated top tread compound and rear tyre pattern geometry-void distribution to retain the outstanding wet weather performance of the Bridgestone Potenza Sport, while retaining the tyres dry handling capabilities. Dedicated development ensured that Bridgestone Potenza Sport provides the dynamic performance characteristics required. This included tuning the tread pattern design on the rear tyres for optimal wet-weather performance. Bridgestones custom-engineered Potenza Sport is now available on the Ferrari Roma in 245/35ZR20 91Y and 285/35ZR20 (100Y) sizes. The tyre was developed and produced at Bridgestones EMIA Technology and Innovation Centre in Rome, Italy. The Rome plant is dedicated to the production of high technology, highly specialised tyres, enabling direct connection between the development team and production. The factory typically manufactures Bridgestone EMIAs prototype tyres, but the Ferrari Roma project has seen it produce for the first time OE tyres that will be directly fitted on the Roma as it takes to the roads. Commenting on the announcement, Steven De Bock, VP Consumer Replacement and OE at Bridgestone EMIA, explains: Working with Ferrari on the Roma has been a fantastic case study for collaboration. Weve worked together over a long, purposeful process to custom engineer an incredibly capable tyre, in the form of the Bridgestone Potenza Sport, to meet the Romas high performance demands. Were proud of the result, with the bespoke Bridgestone Potenza Sport offering performance and handling attributes that maximise the Ferrari Romas capabilities.-- TradeArabia News Service CARS24, one of the leading e-commerce platforms for pre-owned vehicles has announced that it is set to invest close to AED367 million ($100 million) in the UAE and GCC countries. The company will be utilising these funds to create one of the largest and sophisticated refurbishment hubs in the region, which will also help in creating more job opportunities in the UAE and other markets. We are delighted to deepen our roots in UAE, one of the most progressive and technologically advanced nations in the world. Technology is at the heart of everything that we do at CARS24, and the countrys tech-focused vision deeply resonates with us. The company aims to shoulder the governments vision of creating a state-of-the-art technology ecosystem, by taking the entire car-buying process online. This we believe is the future. A significant portion of these funds therefore will also be directed towards scaling up the organisations technological framework, stated Abhinav Gupta, CEO, Gulf Region, CARS24. Over the years the company has made car buying as easy and simple as shopping for clothes, books, or food online. A customer in the UAE can browse through an array of cars on the CARS24 platform, identify, and book their favourite car, complete the full payment and documentation process, and get the car home delivered. As a result, just within five months, the company was able to sell close to 1,000 plus cars and 100% of these transactions were conducted entirely online. Vehicles on the CARS24 platform undergo a 150+ point inspection check and are refurbished thoroughly. Furthermore, these cars are put through a stringent RTA test before being listed online. Every car bought from CARS24 comes with a 7 days return policy and 2 years warranty. With regard to CARS24s commitment to the market and the region, Gupta stated: UAE auto market is getting modernised and CARS24 is proud to say that it will continue to play a significant role in this transformation. We want to ensure that all the customers that purchase cars from us are completely at ease when they are making this investment online. We are present with them right through the journey and this relationship continues even after they have bought the car. Today, we have a massive assortment of cars and more importantly, we own these cars. Looking at our past growth curve since May this year and with our current investment plans, CARS24 is well poised to scale an even higher growth trajectory by the end of 2021, he said. Furthermore, consumers in UAE are known to change their cars within 3 to 4 years on an average as compared to the rest of the world, where people change cars every 8 to 9 years. Over the last few months, we have seen people replacing their cars with most customers looking for an upgrade through the pre-owned car market. As per published reports, a major percentage of consumers in the UAE market still preferred Japanese and Korean brands followed by American and European cars. Sedan remains the preferred choice for a more affordable segment which is below AED50,000. On the other hand, the demand for SUVs has grown much higher than pre-pandemic levels. Close to 40 percent of the market still remains under the AED50,000 budget, while the AED50,000 to AED100,000 segment has grown and now accounts for 30% share which is powered more by the demand for SUVs, concluded Gupta.-- TradeArabia News Service Acwa Power, a leading developer, investor and operator of power generation, green hydrogen and desalinated water plants worldwide, is showcasing its portfolio of renewable energy solutions at the 23rd Water, Energy, Technology and Environment exhibition (Wetex), which opened today (October 5) in Dubai. This year, in its 23rd round, Wetex is going to be more critical than ever due to the economic implications incited by the Covid-19 pandemic. Prioritising innovation today is key to unlocking growth and Wetex is the ideal platform that gathers stakeholders, governments and companies who are eager to explore and reciprocate insights and visions on forward-looking smart technologies and electrification solutions for a collective prosperous future. The event will address important topics on rapid changes and challenges in the energy, water and environment sectors in addition to exploring best practices and green solutions to counter environmental challenges. As a jubilee sponsor, Acwa Power aims to cement its role as a global accelerator of energy transformation at this year's event, said a statement from the company. The Saudi company will be exhibiting its record-breaking projects in the UAE that has played an instrumental role in lowering tariff levels in the global renewable energy and water desalination sectors and opened new opportunities in energy efficiency and water production. These include Shuaa Energy 1, (MBR Solar Park Phase II); Noor Energy 1 (MBR Solar Park Phase IV), Shuaa Energy 3 (MBR Solar Park Phase V); Umm Al Quwain IWP; and Taweelah IWP, the largest desalination project in the world, it stated. Chairman Mohammad Abunayyan said: "As always, Acwa Power is pleased to play a strategic role in one of the largest and most important global water, environment, and energy exhibitions being hosted by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa). We are honoured to have established a robust partnership with Dewa to develop and operate vital projects that promote the sustainable development of the UAE and fortify Dubais position as a global hub for sustainability." With a constantly evolving portfolio of clean energy plants, Acwa Power has been a prominent contributor to the development, investment, and operation of renewable energy plants internationally, with 77% of its current global portfolio utilising low carbon or renewable energy sources, he noted. Abunayyan also highlighted that Acwa Powers participation at this years edition will emphasise on the companys efforts to lead the energy transition globally to enable the economic, social and environmental sustainability plans for countries and communities. It is partaking in five leading seminars at the event with its Chief Portfolio Management Officer and Acting Investment Officer Rajit Nanda joining a session alongside industry experts to discuss the future of solar energy in the Middle East. Chief Technology Officer Bart Boesman will run a seminar on Disrupting, Emerging and Innovating Technologies in Energy, Water and Environment while its Chief Digital Officer Alvaro Perez will lead a robust session on how digitalisation is applied to decarbonisation and the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in renewables. Meriem Bellizem, Business Development, Senior Manager will run a session on empowering women to take leading role in the energy transition and finally Dr Andrea Lovato, VP and Head of Renewables Development will lead a session on renewable energy being a catalyst for rapid decarbonisation. Enoc Group, the official integrated energy partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, has extended its partnership with Etihad Esco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), to enhance energy saving across its operations in the UAE. Announced at Wetex, the partnership extension will enable Enoc to equip 10 of its old generation service stations with improved conditioning, automated lighting, and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, with an expected decrease of 40 per cent of its energy consumption in these stations over the next seven years. Expected to be delivered by the end of 2022, this project comes as an extension of a 2017 pilot agreement between Enoc and Etihad Esco, where the latter successfully refurbished an old generation Enoc service station within energy conservation measures , achieving an impressive 35 per cent saving since implementation. Enoc Group CEO Saif Humaid Al Falasi said: "Sustainability is an integral part of our groups DNA. We have been working consistently to deliver sustainable value and industry-leading performance for all our stakeholders." "Etihad Esco is a leader in energy efficiency and the extension of this partnership is a statement to our mutual commitment towards supporting the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to help generate 75 per cent Dubais total power output from clean energy by 2050," he noted. Earlier this week, Enoc announced that it has achieved AED 6.1 million savings from Energy & Resource Management (E&RM) projects in 2021; recording cumulative savings of AED108 million from innovative energy efficiency measures implemented across the Group over the last five years. Etihad Energy Services COO & Acting CEO Faisal Al Raisi said: "Making Dubai one of the most sustainable cities in the world is a mission we are proud to contribute to. Enoc have always been committed to becoming more sustainable and reducing their energy consumption." "As a leader in energy efficiency, we are delighted to support ENOC to make their service stations more sustainable," he added. Air Cairo has become the latest MENA-based airline to adopt TPConnects IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) and One Order- certified Offer and Order Management Solution (OfrMS) along with NDC agency portal and NDC-based internet booking engine for holiday bookings and mobile applications. Air Cairo is the first Egyptian airline to receive NDC Level 4 Certification from IATA - the initiative that provides airlines the flexibility and the capability to innovate and differentiate their services. TPConnects is also providing the carrier with an airlines agent platform (NDC Agency Portal), directly integrated to Air Cairos Passenger Service System and IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) that will enable travel trade (both IATA accredited and non-IATA travel agents) to book air tickets, ancillaries and related services with the NDC-certified airline. The Mobile App and Holidays Website being built by TPConnects for Air Cairo will be integrated with flights as well as air and non-air ancillaries. Travel trade partners will also be able to sell non-air products like hotel accommodation through the NDC Agency Portal in the near future, thus transitioning to a customer-centric retailer. TPConnects is the only IATA DUAL Level 4 certified IT provider and travel aggregator and the first IT provider to receive the IFG Solution Provider certification in the MENA region. The firm specialises in next-generation travel retailing with air and non-air ancillaries, NDC Offer & Order Management with customer-centric business rules and NDC-enabled distribution. Air Cairo CEO Hussein Sherif said: As a low-fare airline, it was vital for our business long-term growth plans to introduce cutting-edge technologies based on IATAs New Distribution Capability (NDC) and One Order standard. TPConnects advanced Customer Centric OfrMS and NDC Agency Portal will enable our customers to package, price and bundle air tickets along with air and non-air ancillaries as well as third-party products, tapping into the greater flexibility provided by IATAs NDC standard. "As the world is moving slowly towards a post-Covid-19 era, we want to provide more choices for our IATA and non-IATA travel agents to meet their customer demand through our participation in NDCMarketplace.com by TPConnects.-TradeArabia News Service Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, is inviting travellers to book its EY20 Sustainable Flight departing October 23 from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi, to celebrate the anniversary of the Etihad Greenliner Programme. Now in its second year, following its inception in 2019 the programme uses Etihads Boeing 787 fleet as a test bed for sustainability improvements in partnership with organisations across the aviation industry. In October 2019, Etihad and Boeing signed an agreement pledging to work collaboratively on sustainable aviation solutions in both the R&D domain and regular commercial flights. Since then the two companies have collaborated on areas including inflight product, airspace management, flight deck tools, sustainable fuel, and even brought in expertise from NASA to look at noise levels created by aircraft as part of Boeings ecoDemonstrator programme. Etihad Aviation Group Chief Operating Officer Mohammad Al Bulooki said: Since Etihad and Boeing signed the Greenliner agreement, the two companies have been focussed on delivering sustainability solutions for the aviation industry, despite the global pandemic. The Sustainable Flight on October 23 will be a celebration of everything that has been achieved in the past two years and guests will get to see what the future of commercial air travel looks like. "The fact that sustainability has stayed on the agenda during the pandemic is testament to just how important the topic is to Etihad - the sustainability challenges faced globally will still be around when Covid-19 is no longer an issue. With two years of ecoFlights trialling select improvements in sustainability completed as part of the Greenliner Programme, Etihad is operating this special flight to bring together the best of the past two years into a single flight. The flight from Heathrow will be operated with Etihads signature Greenliner aircraft, with a livery created to recognise the Greenliner Programme and its call to action for the aviation industry. Based on pre-flight estimations the flight will emit 72 per cent less CO2e in total, and 56% less CO2e per unit of payload than the equivalent flight operated in 2019, thanks to a suite of interventions that will be implemented before, during and even after the flight.-TradeArabia News Service Help India! A fact-finding team of APCR recently visited the Dholpur area of Darang district in Assam that witnessed the unfortunate incidents of forced eviction and police brutality last week. APCR said that the eviction drive needs to be seen in a broader political context of the Assam government under Himanta Biswa Sarma using the pretext of removing encroachment to target the states Muslim minority. TCN News Support TwoCircles New Delhi The police made unprovoked attacks and used excessive force against displaced people in Darrang district of Assam (on September 23), causing two deaths and many injuries, a fact-finding report by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has claimed. A fact-finding team of APCR recently visited the Dholpur area of Darang district in Assam that witnessed the unfortunate incidents of forced eviction and police brutality last week. The team comprising social activists, journalists and researchers collected the facts and eyewitness accounts in Dholpur. According to the report, the police and the administration, on its part, blamed a large mob for attacking them with sticks and stones. They said that following negotiations at the eviction site, the residents were assured rehabilitation and other alternate measures. Convinced with the assurances, they had started dispersing to collect their belongings before leaving the area. Suddenly, over a hundred people attacked the police party with sticks and stones. They rst red tear gas shells and rubber bullets to disperse them. When it didnt deter them, they red live bullets in self-defence, the fact-finding report notes. The report, quoting eyewitnesses, said that the majority of the residents contested the governments claim that they were given adequate warning. They said the eviction notices were served less than 24 hours before the government drive began. They also said that even though the people agreed to leave, the police got reinforcements and attacked the people who were evacuating their homes. The families of Moinul Haque and Shaikh Fareed, who were killed, as well as those who were injured, recounted that the police personnel started attacking them unprovoked, the report notes. The activists found that no representatives of the district administration or the state government have visited the aggrieved family as yet to console them and share their grief, leave aside oering a compensation. APCR said that the eviction drive needs to be seen in a broader political context of the Assam government under Himanta Biswa Sarma using the pretext of removing encroachment to target the states Muslim minority. This is evident from the fact that, since before the 2021 Assembly elections in Assam, Sarmas politics has involved a deliberate process of alienating and othering the states Bangla-speaking Muslims, APCR said in a statement. The report noted that while the government has issued permanent land titles in 2019 to indigenous people who have lived in a particular piece of government land for over three years at a stretch. But only indigenous families were eligible for this. However, the Muslim families that have been living in the riverine area of Dholpur since 1965 are still termed encroachers and Bangladeshis, it said. APCR demanded that the families of Shaikh Farid and Moinul Haque and all those who were injured in the eviction drive should be given compensation by the government. Action should be taken against the guilty police ocials involved in this operation including SP Darrang Susanta Biswa Sarma, APCR said. APCR has called upon the government to announce a comprehensive rehabilitation plan before any further eviction of a family or any person. The government should drop cases against the locals who were protesting against the eviction drive, the human rights organization said. The report was released at a press conference in the Press Club of India on Monday, where members of the fact-finding time spoke to media persons. Advocate Sanjay Hegde, a lawyer at the Supreme Court of India said the recent incidents show how the State is willing to use disproportionate force to quell the protest whether violent or peaceful. Rule of law is replaced by the rule of guns, he maintained. Autor and writer Farah Naqvi said the Assam incident shouldnt be seen in isolation. This is the manifestation of systemic injection of hate across the country. We have crossed the rubicon where acts of violence are from the state government itself not from any mob, she noted. Nadeem Khan, Secretary, APCR, pointed to a series of lapses in the due process that should have been followed prior to eviction, creating a frenzy panic situation that led to the tragic incident. We will approach the court for rehabilitation of the families evicted and the others who are on the verge of it, he said. Salman Ahmed, President of Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) said the government is trying to paint a picture of normalcy in Assam. The government is restricting the visit of people to the evacuation site. The situation is very deplorable and the government is shrugging away its responsibility of immediate relief work, he said. by Fady Noun Irans foreign minister is expected in the Lebanese capital on Thursday. The unexpected visit has no official schedule; meanwhile, the Shia party continues its attacks on Lebanese sovereignty. The cardinal slams the Meddling with justice and the investigation into the double explosion at the Port of Beirut. Beirut (AsiaNews) Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara al-Rahi on Sunday spoke out again against Hezbollah, a few days before an unplanned visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian to Beirut on Thursday. The unexpected visit, which had not yet been announced on Monday, comes in a political context marked by repeated attacks on Lebanese sovereignty by the Shia party, which included recent Iranian fuel imports into Lebanese territory through illegal channels controlled militarily by the party itself. Lebanon needs to free itself from deceivers and liars who exploit the goodness of the population through their honeyed speeches, engaging in corruption and embezzling public funds while the state collapses, the patriarch said in his Sunday homily, at the risk of making personal enemies within Hezbollah. Lebanon, said the head of the Maronite Church, can no longer continue to cut corners and reconcile law and lawlessness, sovereignty and subordination, murderer and victim. The country's Arab and international friends expect a clear policy, far from detestable duplicity, to support its economic and financial recovery. We cannot pretend to preserve Lebanese sovereignty while leaving illegal transit routes open, or not answer or react to odd positions that are detrimental to [the countrys] sovereignty. One cannot support legality and tolerate the presence of (illegal) weapons and contempt for institutions through the constitution of an army dependent on a foreign state, as a senior official of that state [recently] admitted, Patriarch Al-Rahi explained. The admission the head of the Maronite Church cited refers to a statement made a few days ago by Gholam Ali Rashid, a senior Pasdaran (IRGC[*]) official, who boasted that Tehran has set up six armies (outside its territory) to defend its interests, namely Hezbollah (Lebanon), al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraq), Houthis (Yemen), Bashar al-Assad's regime (Syria), and Hamas and Islamic Jihad (Palestine). It should be noted that the visit by Irans chief diplomat coincides with the renewal of Saudi disengagement in Lebanon, which is set to last, as evinced by a telephone conversation last Thursday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The kingdoms strongman apparently told his interlocutor that Saudi Arabias position towards Lebanon will remain the same as long as the country is subordinated to Hezbollah. We also know that the formation of the Mikati government, after 13 months of deadlock, was made possible by Franco-Iranian rapprochement, highlighted most notably by a telephone conversation on 5 September between Emmanuel Macron and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Al-Rahissi. In such a context, the visit by the Iranian foreign minister in Beirut raises several questions about the positions that Lebanese officials plan to take vis-a-vis their guest, particularly in terms of foreign policy, but also with regard to Iranian fuel imports to Lebanon. The affair quickly discredited the Mikati government since it did not elicit any official reaction among top government officials, even just a formal one, except for some complaints by the prime minister on CNN. In his interview with the US news channel, Nagib Mikati simply said that he was "saddened" by the violations of Lebanons sovereignty and fuel imports from Iran. For his part, the Maronite Patriarch on Sunday also called for an end to political interference in the investigation into the double explosion at the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020. He was referring to an infamous and suspicious visit by Wafiq Safa, a senior Hezbollah security official to the Palais de Justice, where he indirectly warned Mr Bitar, through some journalists present, that Hezbollah can oust him if he intends to question Shia party officials. No official dared open his mouth after such blatant interference by Hezbollah in the judicial process. Meddling with justice has direct consequences on the positions of friendly countries towards Lebanon and undermines the prestige of our justice system," the head of the Maronite Church warned on Sunday. It should be noted in this regard that the Court of Civil Appeal in Beirut on Monday rejected the petitions of legitimate suspicion presented by lawmakers Nouhad Machnouk, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter against Judge Tarek Bitar, who is in charge of the investigation; as a result, the latter can resume his work, which he had suspended pending the court ruling. [*] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. by Melanie Manel Perera A group of NGOs highlighted the issue on World Habitat Day, noting that poverty and land seizures are a main factor. About 800 families still live in IDP camps, laments the Rural Labour Society of Jaffna. Colombo (AsiaNews) Sri Lanka yesterday marked World Habitat Day, whose main theme was Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world. However, urban development is impossible if the government does not take care of homeless people, lament civil society groups. In Sri Lanka, at least 800,000 people do not have a home of their own and are considered homeless by the government, this according to Habitat for Humanity, whose director, Yu Hwa Li, spoke yesterday at an online event organised by a group of Sri Lankan NGOs via zoom. It is up to the government to find a solution to this problem, Yu said. None of the previous governments has ever drawn up plans to address the question. In Sri Lanka, low-income families who cannot afford their own home have to share often poor housing. Usually, such a situation is due to low-income earners who face economic hardships, said Subadra Kumari, a member of the Negombo People's United Organisation. When three, four families, about 10-15 people, live in the same house a host of other problems arise, affecting relationships and personal freedoms, Kumari added. According to the Negombo People's United Organisation, founded more than 40 years ago to address the problem of homelessness in Sri Lanka, something has been done over the years, but hundreds of thousands of people still do not have a home of their own. Nilanthi Sagarika, a woman who lives in Ja-Ela, explained that women can only rely on the head of the family because they do not receive any assistance from the government. I have a 19-year-old son who doesn't have the background to study and express his talent since we live without a permanent address, she explained. What is more, About 800 families still live in IDP[*] camps, noted Imbanayagam, president of the Rural Labour Society of Jaffna. Some 7,000 people are still waiting for resettlement and have to live either "in refugee camps, at relatives home, or rent, Imbanayagam told AsiaNews. The army is still holding large plots of Tamil land for the expansion of the ports of Miletty and Kankesanthurai and Palaly Airport, he added. Priyankara Costa, the coordinator of the People's Alliance for Right to Land, added his voice to the appeal. "Due to poorly thought-out development projects, thousands of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims are homeless, he said. In one case, The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa[] went so far as to forcibly seize four villages in Panama, Eastern Province, in order to develop the tourism industry. [*] Internally displaced persons. [] President of Sri Lanka between 2005 and 2015. by Vladimir Rozanskij State-run newspaper Minskaja Pravda asked to avoid publication of satirical articles against the Catholic Church. Intervention of the Apostolic Nuncio in Minsk, Monsignor Ante Jozic. Priests painted as Nazi collaborators; the memory of the martyrs of Rositsa besmirched. Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Belarusian Ministry of Information has asked the editorial staff of the state newspaper Minskaya Pravda to take measures to avoid the publication of material similar to the recent satire and violent criticism of the Catholic Church. On Sept. 7, the newspaper had placed on its front page an illustration with a scathing caricature of Catholic priests, depicted as collaborators with the Nazis, alongside an article titled "The mutation of faith, crosses can be varied," in which the Christian symbol was replaced by a swastika. The ministry submitted its request on Oct. 1. The management of Minskaya Pravda has assured the government that it will comply with all recommendations, the BelaPAN website reports. "The editorial staff held a meeting with the leaders of the regional administration, during which the necessary measures to avoid other similar cases were developed," the note reads. At the ministry, they also specified that the article in question was analyzed together with experts from the Commission for Religious Affairs and Nationalities, according to which "such a publication, in our unanimous opinion, does not allow for the preservation of interfaith harmony and peace in our country." After the protests of the Catholic bishops of Belarus, and an intervention by the apostolic nuncio in Minsk, Mgr Ante Jozic, a group of citizens asked the government to intervene. The request pointed out that "such publications directed against the representatives of the clergy are unacceptable, offensive and worrying not only for the Catholic priests, but for the whole Belarusian people. According to the petitioners, "such things appearing on a state-owned media seems to us an attempt to incite religious hostility towards the Catholic Church and its faithful". The authors of the petition demand the violation of the norms on freedom of conscience and religious association, and also the crime provided for in Article 130 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, which speaks of "incitement to racial, national and religious hatred and conflict". This crime is also covered by the Convention on National Security of the Republic of Belarus. The caricature primarily depicted priests Jurij Kasira and Antonij Lescevic, who were brutally murdered by the Nazis in the 1943 Rositsa massacre for refusing to abandon their parishioners. The Trinity Church in the village of Rositsa, in the Vitebsk region, is still the destination of continuous pilgrimages today. At that time, the Nazis carried out a demonstrative action against partisans hiding in the surrounding countryside, attempting to isolate an area of over 40 square kilometers, burning 300 trees on the Belarus-Russian border and also destroying settlements. German troops gathered the inhabitants of Rositsa in the church; the prisoners waited for five days for the "verdict" of the Nazi tribunal, supported by the two local priests, the only ones who could enter and leave the church and bring food to the faithful, as well as spiritual comforts. The Nazi occupiers sent the young men to the lagers, and then burned alive the elderly, the sick, children and pregnant women in the stables in front of the church. The priests could have saved themselves, but they decided to die burned alive with their parishioners. A total of 1,528 people died in Rositsa. Fr. Jurij and Fr. Antonij were canonized in 1999 as martyrs, and twice a year pilgrims gather, in February for the anniversary of the massacre and in August for the patronal feast, bowing to the large cross erected in memory of the fallen. The insult to the cross in the state newspaper was therefore very painful for the memory of Catholics. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Research News Morality demonstrated in stories can alter judgment for early adolescents A new UB study looks at how exposure to content featuring specific moral values care, fairness, loyalty and authority might influence the weight kids place on those values. By BERT GAMBINI Media can distinctly influence separate moral values and get kids to place more or less importance on those values depending on what is uniquely emphasized in that content. An important lesson in the moral education of children could be as close as the book in their hands. Stories matter. And they can play a role in shifting the importance of particular moral values in young audiences, according to the results of a new study. Media can distinctly influence separate moral values and get kids to place more or less importance on those values depending on what is uniquely emphasized in that content, says Lindsay Hahn, assistant professor of communication, College of Arts and Sciences. Hahn is first author of the new study, which adds critical nuance to a body of literature that explores how media content affects children. While many previous studies have focused on broad conceptualizations, like prosocial or antisocial effects that might be associated with specific content, Hahns study looks at how exposure to content featuring specific moral values care, fairness, loyalty and authority might influence the weight kids place on those values. Do children reading about particular moral characteristics absorb those traits as a building block for their own morality? The findings, which appear in the Journal of Media Psychology, suggest so, and further support how this indirect approach to socializing childrens morality can supplement the direct teaching of moral principles kids might receive through formal instruction. Parents, caregivers and teachers are often wondering how media can be used for good, says Hahn, an expert in media psychology and media effects. How can it be used for good things? How can it discourage bad habits? How can it educate? Answering those questions begins with a better understanding about how to use media. When parents are considering what media they might want to select for their children, they can take into account what particular moral value is being emphasized by the main character, and how the main character is treated because of those actions, she says. For the study, Hahn and her colleagues took the main character from a young adult novel and edited the content to reflect in each version the studys focus on one of four moral values. A fifth version was manipulated in a way that featured an amoral main character. Those narratives were shared with roughly 200 participants between the ages of 10 and 14. This is a favorable range for media research because its more difficult to introduce narrative comprehension in younger kids, while equally challenging to hold the attention of older adolescents, who become bored with rudimentary storylines, according to Hahn. The team then created a scale designed to measure the importance kids place on moral values to determine how participants might be influenced by specific narratives. Measuring these effects can be difficult, says Hahn. Thats why, in addition to testing our hypothesis, another purpose of this research was to develop a measure of moral values for kids. Nothing like that exists yet, that we know of. That measure, notes Hahn, can facilitate future research on media effects in young audiences. Paper co-authors include Ron Tamborini, Michigan State University (MSU) professor of communication; Sujay Prabhu, an MSU affiliate; Clare Grall, Dartmouth College postdoctoral researcher; Eric Novotny, University of Georgia postdoctoral researcher; and Brian Klebig, Bethany Lutheran College associate professor of communication. GHub: The new place to be for ice sheet scientists With NSF funding, ice sheet and computer scientists have created a new online platform that aims to reduce bottlenecks in research on ice sheets and sea level rise We want GHub to become the go-to site for resources for anything having to do with the science of ice sheets and sea level rise. Our goal is for this to become a community space that makes it easier for scientists to collaborate. Jason Briner, professor of geology University at Buffalo Science gateways are a bit of a democratizer. They allow people to access computing and data that they might not otherwise know about or be able to use. Jeanette Sperhac, scientific programmer at the Center for Computational Research University at Buffalo BUFFALO, N.Y. Glaciologists have teamed up with computer scientists to build an online portal for ice sheet science. The new science gateway is called GHub, short for Glaciology Hub, and it houses datasets, computational tools and educational materials about the science of ice sheets and sea level rise. The site seeks to centralize these resources. It also provides a space for collaboration. Users can browse datasets; contribute data; run, develop and share computational tools, including ones that leverage supercomputers at the UB Center for Computational Research (CCR); discover resources for teaching and outreach; and connect with one another. We want GHub to become the go-to site for resources for anything having to do with the science of ice sheets and sea level rise, says Jason Briner, PhD, an ice sheet researcher and geology professor in the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences. Our goal is for this to become a community space that makes it easier for scientists to collaborate. We want to reduce bottlenecks that are slowing scientific progress on important problems. The GHub team includes scientists, engineers and programmers from UB, Tufts University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research and NASA. The multi-institution effort is funded by over $4.2 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation, with Briner as the project lead. GHub is maintained by UB CCR and powered by the HUBzero Platform at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, located at the University of California, San Diego. For research projects that bring together large groups of ice sheet scientists, GHub is full of potential, says Sophie Nowicki, PhD, Empire Innovation Professor in the UB Department of Geology and UB RENEW Institute, and a GHub team member. ISMIP6, a major international ice sheet modeling collaboration that Nowicki launched and co-leads, has already leveraged GHubs capabilities. Bringing dark data to light, democratizing computational tools Science gateways are a bit of a democratizer, says Jeanette Sperhac, a scientific programmer at CCR and GHub team member. They allow people to access computing and data that they might not otherwise know about or be able to use. In a 2020 paper in the journal Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, Sperhac and colleagues at UB, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Tufts University outline GHubs objectives. With this new cyberinfrastructure, ice sheet scientists will gain integrated tools to quantify the rate and extent of sea level rise, benefiting human societies around the globe, the authors write. The machine room of the University at Buffalo Center for Computational Research (CCR), UB's supercomputing facility. GHub users can run, develop and share computational tools, including ones that leverage CCR's computing capabilities. Credit: Douglas Levere / University at Buffalo They explain that the ice sheet science community includes two broad groups of researchers: Those who use fieldwork, satellite observations and other data to learn about the past and current states of ice sheets, and those who develop computational models to forecast the future of ice sheets and sea level rise. The models used by the second group are validated against data collected by the first. However, These two groups are not well integrated, Sperhac and co-authors write. Better coordination between data collection efforts and modeling efforts is imperative if we are to improve our understanding of ice sheet loss rates. And this, says Briner, is the vision for GHub. The team plans to publish what Briner calls dark data thats of interest to modelers. As he explains, These are data on the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets that are not archived anywhere public, that are obscured, that are hidden in papers, all formatted differently. We want to put those in a database and make them available for everybody. The surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Credit: Jason Briner GHub already links out to a variety of datasets and houses others, with the project currently hosting about 15 terabytes of data at CCR for ice sheet research, including for ISMIP6. As Sperhac explains, Software we run at CCR enables researchers to easily transfer large datasets back and forth. This capability high-volume, secure data transfer and hosting is really an important piece of the solution. GHub also aims to provide access to computational tools that could serve a range of purposes, such as reformatting large datasets for use in ice sheet models, reformatting model outputs for comparison with observations, and facilitating analysis and visualization of complex datasets. In addition, the GHub team will help users build and share their own computational tools. Nowicki highlights the value of GHubs many capabilities, noting that, We plan to use GHub in ISMIP6 follow-on activities for so many things, from asking participating modelers to check the quality of their submissions prior to upload (thereby catching errors) to developing tools that reproduce figures from community papers (thereby allowing a modeler to see how a new model simulation compares to or alters published results). The possibilities are endless. The GHub team: The GHub team includes Jason Briner, Beata Csatho, Sophie Nowicki, Kristin Poinar, and Anton Schenk in the UB Department of Geology (Nowicki and Poinar are also part of the UB RENEW Institute); Jeanette Sperhac at UB CCR; Erika Simon at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Abani Patra at Tufts University; William Lipscomb and Katherine Thayer-Calder at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and Eric Larour and Justin Quinn at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Quinn is also owner of Tidbit Software). The GHub steering committee includes Andy Aschwanden at the University of Alaska Fairbanks; Shantenu Jha at Rutgers University; Ian Joughin at the University of Washington; Amanda Leon at the National Snow and Ice Data Center; Bette Otto-Bleisner at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; Joerg Schaefer at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University; Andrew Shepherd at the University of Leeds; and Lev Tarasov at Memorial University. You Colleagues Winikus receives SWEs Distinguished New Engineer Award Jennifer Winikus was recognized by the Society of Women Engineers with its Distinguished New Engineer Award in recognition of her outstanding technical performance and leadership in professional organizations. Photo: Sarah D'Iorio. By NICOLE CAPOZZIELLO I really like that this award allows me to contribute to the redefinition of what an engineer is, possible engineering career paths, and even what an engineer looks like. Since getting involved in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) in 2014, UB faculty member Jennifer Winikuss contributions have included committee work, various leadership roles and presenting research, all part of a journey that she says, has been filled with amazing mentors and encouragement. Now, SWE, an advocacy group for women in engineering and technology, has recognized Winikus for her many contributions to the organization by awarding her the Distinguished New Engineer Award. The award honors an individual in the first 10 years of their career for outstanding technical performance and leadership in professional organizations, including SWE. Winikus, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, will accept the award at SWEs annual conference, WE21, being held in Indianapolis, as well as virtually, later this month. Since joining UB in 2016, Jenn has shown an outstanding performance in both teaching and service, says Jinhui Xu, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). Jenn is a strong advocate for improving the diversity of our student population, and promoting women and other underrepresented people in engineering education. She has also provided exemplary outreach to local middle and high school students by organizing the annual CSE-xplore summer camp, Xu says. This award is a nice recognition for Jenns achievements, and our whole department is extremely happy for her. Winikus says the award provides validation of my identity as an engineer, and recognition that I am making a meaningful impact with my work. It also means a lot to see engineering education be recognized within the definition of outstanding technical performance, she says. I really like that this award allows me to contribute to the redefinition of what an engineer is, possible engineering career paths, and even what an engineer looks like. Rachel Morford, president of SWE, notes that the men and women recognized by SWE have lived and learned through significant contributions to the engineering community, and they continue to lead in their careers and personal lives. They are leaders paving the way to empower and inspire future women engineers across the globe. Winikus became involved in SWE in 2014, when a fellow graduate student at Michigan Technological University (MTU) encouraged her to give a technical presentation at the regional conference. In SWE, she found a supportive and inspiring community, locally and beyond, and has been a dedicated SWE member ever since. During her graduate work at MTU she became co-director of GradSWE, where she says she was fortunate to meet the groups faculty adviser who would become an impactful mentor and great friend and colleague after graduation. When Winikus joined the UB faculty, she became a member of two SWE society-level committees as a way to connect with more engineers and contribute to the society. She went on to join the WE (Women Engineers) Local Advisory Board, then moved into the chair-elect position, and is now serving as chair for the 2021-2022 academic year. She also recently became chair-elect of the Women in Academia Committee. At recent SWE conferences, she has given one individual talk and three collaborative ones, with two collaborative ones scheduled for the SWE conference this month. Winikus is also involved locally as vice president of the SWE WNY professional section and a leader on campus. Inspired by my previous faculty adviser, I became the faculty adviser to the UB student section, says Winikus. Right before the pandemic forced us online I was able to support the graduate students with the launch of the GradSWE part of the UB section, and they have become extremely successful in creating an environment that supports their professional development and social needs. In CSE, Winikus serves as diversity and K-12 outreach coordinator, as well as co-chair of the diversity subcommittee. Since 2017, she has been director of CSE-xplore, a camp aimed at broadening diversity in STEM that brings local K-12 students to campus for the chance to learn firsthand about a diverse collection of topics and applications in computer science and engineering. Winikus received BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Alfred University, and an MS and PhD in computer engineering from MTU. Her other honors include the Outstanding Service Award from UB CSE in 2019, and Outstanding Teaching Award from MTU in 2014. She is also a member of the American Society of Engineering Education and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which recently elevated her to senior membership. Sudan's General Intelligence Service (GIS) on Monday announced the end of a raid on terrorist cells south of the capital Khartoum, saying 4 terrorists were killed and 4 others arrested, while an officer was killed and three others injured. "On Monday afternoon, the joint forces raided two sites belonging to Daesh (Islamic State) at Jabra neighborhood, south of Khartoum," the GIS said in a statement. "The operation resulted in the killing of 4 terrorists and the arrest of two at the first site inside an apartment, while two other terrorists were arrested at the second site," it noted.An officer from the special forces was killed, while an officer and a commissioned officer from the GIS, as well as a commissioned officer from the police were wounded during the operation, it added. Earlier in the day, Sudanese security forces surrounded a site in a residential area south of the capital Khartoum. The security forces exchanged heavy gunfire for a few hours with the terrorist group which took shelter on the roof of a building in the area. On September 28, the GIS announced that five of its members were killed during a raid on a house accommodating a terrorist cell belonging to the Islamic State at two sites in the capital Khartoum. (ANI) Also Read: Pak talks about peace while its PM glorifies terrorists like Laden as martyrs: India in its Right of Reply at UNGA First Committee The Taliban have said that they will preserve the empty niches of the two giant Buddhas in Bamiyan, reported local media. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th-century monumental statues - locally known as Salsal and Shamama - that were carved into the side of a cliff in Bamiyan. The Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001, according to Ariana News. The Taliban said the move had a specific purpose, noting that now the niches of Buddhas would be safeguarded, aimed at promoting the tourism sector of the country. "As an Islamic Emirate's official in Bamiyan, I am trying my best to preserve these priceless and historical monuments of our province," Ariana News quoted head of Bamiyan's Information and Culture Directorate, Mawlawi Saif-ul-Rahman Mohammadi, as saying. Another Taliban member claimed that they destroyed the Buddhas based on religious ideology in 2001. "The Islamic Emirate did not make a hasty decision at that time [2001], it was reviewed and researched based on Islamic laws and then they destroyed them," he said, according to Ariana News. Earlier the Taliban had said that nearly 40 per cent of historical sites in Afghanistan's Herat province are in urgent need to be restored to prevent further damages. "40 per cent of our historical monuments are in urgent need of restoration and preservation. But, so far, unfortunately, the country's economy is not stable," Director for Herat's Information and Culture Department, Zalmay Safa said. Safa further emphasised that the concerns will be considered once the issues of governance are resolved. Herat Province has nearly 780 historical monuments including the famous Citadel, the Musalla complex, the Mausoleum of Gawhar Shad, and the Herat Great Mosque, reported Ariana News. (ANI) Also Read: Chinese tale of enslaving South Sudan of its influence and leading to economic depreciation Griffin, who founded Citadel in 1990 and built it into one of the largest hedge funds in the world, is worth a reported $16 billion. He has donated more than $1 billion to organizations such as the Art Institute, the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Science and Industry, which announced it would be renamed in honor of Griffin in 2019. McDonalds said it will work with the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, which includes cities, regions, investors and more than 3,000 businesses targeting net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, as well as the Science Based Targets Initiative. Instead, they decided, fingers of guilt point to Daniel Peg Leg Sullivan, who had implicated Mrs. OLeary. Another man, long deceased, said that he, Mrs. OLearys son, and several other boys were shooting dice in the hayloft when one of the boys accidentally overturned the infamous lantern, setting the barn afire. However, I feel worried some days where were not sure when well get more, Cleary said. For example, were down to, I think, five doses right now, and we could get more tomorrow or it might not be until next week. Thats one of the concerns we have living out here, is like, when are we going to get our next shipment? At this point, federal officials and some of the governments outside experts have accepted that they are making decisions with data that is less than perfect. As with the other vaccines, the data on Johnson & Johnsons efficacy is fragmented and to some extent contradictory, discrepancies that may be at least partly explainable by whether the highly contagious delta variant was dominant among the population being studied. Thomas said that about 90% of the companys COVID patients since December have been unvaccinated. According to a New York Times analysis in August, fully vaccinated people accounted for as much as 5% of hospitalizations in 40 states and Washington, D.C. One of Urbanspaces most fascinating concepts is Bhoomi, from the husband-and-wife team of Ajit and Sukhu Kalra. As Eater Chicago explained well, owner Ajit Kalra is the son of Jiggs Kalra, a deeply respected restaurateur and columnist of Indian cuisine. The couple had been operating out of a shared kitchen space, but now get the chance to showcase their love of Indian grilled meats. You can immediately see their distinctive style with the chicken on phulka roti ($8, $14 for 2). Each order comes with freshly cooked pieces of intricately spiced chicken topped with a wealth of crunchy vegetables, on a roti made with whole wheat. Honestly, it looks so beautiful, you can get lost staring at it for a few seconds. Hazelgrove and I talked about the history of Titanic fever, which we believe came in three distinct waves. The first arrived in the immediate aftermath of the sinking, as newspapers, of which there were plenty then, extensively covered the tragedy. In the face of the horrors and deaths of World War I, interest in the sunken ship waned and the next jolt did not come until the 1955 publication of A Night to Remember, in which writer Walter Lord gathered his interviews with 60-some survivors embellished by books, memoirs and articles. It was a huge bestseller and inspired a successful film of the same name. From there, screenwriter Johannsson, who cowrote Lamb with the poet and author Sjon,ventures into territory marked both by the deadpan comedy of underreaction and by sincere empathy for all species. That sentence makes the movie sound like an animal-rights polemic, but Lamb is more transporting than that. The cinematographer Eli Erenson takes fantastic advantage of the natural eeriness of the light and fog and mist. Johannsson, whose mentors include the Hungarian master Bela Tarr, served as executive producer on Lamb and Tarrs influence can be felt in the steadiness and patience of the camera gaze. I realize the guy was drinking, but it gets my goat that he didnt ask any of the many single women there to dance and instead went up to a woman who was obviously with someone. Thanks to changes in the law, patients now can print their own certificates, and can get lifelong certifications from a doctor, for a $50 fee every three years. Application fees were cut in half, patients may have up to three caregivers, and those 65 and over qualify for reduced fees, along with veterans and people with disabilities. The governor said he expected that the requirement which is contingent for each age group on full approval from the Food and Drug Administration would apply to grades seven and up starting in July, in time for the next fall semester. He added that parents could cite medical and personal beliefs to opt out of the requirement. The contract was extended based on the amount of time the system is operational in several South and West Side police districts, how accurate the system is in locating the source of gunshots and how quickly an alert gets sent out about a possible gunshot. The boy, who had not been identified Tuesday, was in a white Jeep Renegade as it traveled through neighborhoods including Horner Park and Lakeview. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the head where he was pronounced dead at 12:26 a.m. Tuesday. If we continue to see cases like at the rate where we are right now, and especially ... if everybodys vaccinated and youre gathering, go for it, in my opinion, Arwady said. I know its hard to not have that full answer, but it wouldnt be responsible of me to say, I know whats going to be happening for sure at the end of November or at the end of December. Well have a better sense in early November. Solk, like Kachinske, did nothing in response to the complaints, McGurren wrote in the EEOC complaint. Solk did not respond to a Tribune request for comment through entertainment company Audacy, where he is now vice president of programming and operations for its Chicago market. Kachinske, now with Cumulus Media in New England, also did not respond to a request for comment. We will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to ensure that the necessary work is done so that we may bring charges and ultimately secure a conviction for those that engage in the violence that we have seen across this city, Foxx said at a news conference. That is our mission. It is not to try cases in the media nor to play politics on the deaths of children, and veterans, and people in our community. Then their attention turns to the officers in front of them. The man in the white shirt appears to yell at one of the police officers, who approaches. Not all their words are clear, but as one officer and the man in the white shirt begin focusing on one another, the man in the white shirt appears to challenge the cop, suggesting the officer wont do anything. Then their attention turns to the officers in front of them. The man in the white shirt appears to yell at one of the police officers, who approaches. Not all their words are clear, but as one officer and the man in the white shirt begin focusing on one another, the man in the white shirt appears to challenge the cop, suggesting the cop wont do anything. Its like someone going on their dating profile and saying theyre 6-foot-3 with abs of steel when they look like me, attorney Steve Greenberg said in his opening statement in the terrorism-related trial of his client, Thomas Osadzinski. Hes puffing ... hes saying stuff, but its not enough. Prosecutors charged Lathem with first-degree murder in what they say was a vicious premeditated attack on his young lover, Trenton Cornell, in July 2017, saying he and accomplice Andrew Warren ambushed Cornell in Lathems apartment and then went on the lam. Warren testified last week that he and Lathem had plans to kill each other in a premeditated death pact, and that Lathem was speaking generally about killing others as well. Lathem began the attack on Cornell, then Warren ultimately joined in, he testified. All of a sudden Trent, he freezes, and a split second later he starts screaming his head is right next to mine screaming in my ear. Hes screaming in my ear, Lathem testified, with tears in his eyes. Its like this melee that follows, like Im getting smacked and getting hit and Im trying to block and defend myself because I dont know whats happening, I dont know what Andrew is doing to him. Black says his findings are all predicated on his belief that each person Rittenhouse shot wanted to take away his gun. Videos from that night show several people trying to disarm Rittenhouse after he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and ran away from the scene, but there is no clear image of an unarmed Rosenbaum trying to take the rifle. Given all these policies, how can Berggren even begin to do his job representing the United States without promoting the view that his writings are the opinions of the country and its State Department? Indeed, its been reported that he signed a letter in one blog post, as a Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State. How can he represent U.S. interests in Africa, the Middle East or Europe for that matter when he publicly degrades them, their governing ability or even their right to exist? In his wide-ranging speech, well worth a listen on YouTube, Griffin said that there was so much violent crime in Chicago that even his own security staff had been targeted by carjackers, who, he said a tad ominously, later regretted that particular choice of target. He also pointed out the dangers of Chicago streets for all the citys residents and said that he could no longer recruit staff by looking them in the eye and insisting to them that Chicago was a great place to raise a family. We cant live in a world where there is no accountability, Lightfoot said. When theres no accountability, meaning individuals who wreak havoc, who fire indiscriminately or fire at a target but without any regard for the sanctity of life and the health and well-being of others, if they do not feel like the criminal justice system is going to hold them accountable, were going to see a level of brazenness that will send the city into chaos. We cannot let that happen. The statement goes on to say that during an internal investigation into his actions, Gaines refused to cooperate with the investigation, ignored requests to be interviewed, and did not return to work. It was determined he had left his work assignment on other occasions as well. The sheriffs office denies that the investigation into Gaines conduct and his subsequent termination had anything to do with his age. I am very focused on the safety and security of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, Pritzker said. Ive increased significantly the resources, trying to build back from what Bruce Rauner did with the support of Ken Griffin to our state by increasing dollars to violence interruption, violence prevention programs, by investing in our communities. I personally have not heard of discipline issues being worse than in previous years, said Jamie Bonnema, district spokeswoman. If anything, Ive seen students more eager to participate in activities and get involved at their schools. I truly believe that students are just excited to be back in school and to have the ability to learn in person. We have also not changed any disciplinary policies or procedures. After getting out of his car, Friedmann is accused of yelling slurs at the victim and her daughter, Ruedig told the court. When the victim attempted to open her own door, Friedmann allegedly slammed her door shut and spit in her face, telling her he spit because he does not like Black people, Ruedig said. Giant cargo ship Ever Given that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly one week in March reached east China's coastal city of Qingdao for repairs on Monday. The vessel, which was mainly damaged in the bow, will undergo repairs for more than 20 days in a shipyard of Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. Authorities handled the ship's entry approval procedures and dispatched patrol boats to organize maritime traffic for its smooth berthing, said Zhang Zhigang, an official with the Qingdao Maritime Safety Administration. The Ever Given, owned by a Japanese company and operated by Evergreen Marine Corp. based in China's Taiwan, ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23 and jammed global shipping traffic until it was refloated on March 29 with the help of more than 10 tugboats. More than 10 social media influencers from overseas took part in a two-day trip to Taizhou, a coastal city in east China's Zhejiang province, for the "Daka China" global communication event. Pan Zhang Erika from Panama, Hojaboy Kurbonalzoda from Tajikistan and Pakhomov Viktor from Russia (from left to right) pose for a photo at Ziyang Ancient Street in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, during the "Daka China" global communication event, Sept. 30. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] The event invited foreign social media celebrities based in China to experience Taizhou's economic and cultural development through in-depth travel experiences. Participants visited various tourist attractions such as Ziyang Ancient Street, Donghu Park, and the City Wall of the Ancient City of Taizhou. They also toured orange groves and cheongsam workshops. Many of the participants have been studying, working or living in Zhejiang for years. They have developed a strong attachment to their "second home" and a deep love of Chinese culture. Georgia native Neli Akhobadze speaks at the opening ceremony of the "Daka China" global communication event in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Sept. 30. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] Georgia native Neli Akhobadze said, "over the past years, I have participated in various global communication activities like 'Daka China' and made many Chinese friends, who helped me a lot better understand the country." Akhobadze is currently a postgraduate student at Zhejiang University, studying modern and contemporary Chinese history. "I filmed my memorable experiences in Zhejiang and would like to share them with more people," she said at the opening ceremony of the event. American Nils Schwerzman speaks at the opening ceremony of the "Daka China" global communication event in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, Sept. 30. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] Meanwhile, American Nils Schwerzman, who has lived in Taizhou for eight years, recommended dozens of sites in the city and places to try authentic local cuisine. He works as an English teacher and enjoys playing Erhu, a Chinese two-stringed bowed instrument. Schwerzman said he enjoys the picturesque scenery, fresh air, and tasty seafood in Taizhou. "The city is developing rapidly. I have seen a lot of differences from when I first came here." The term "daka" has been a trending topic on Chinese social media in recent years. It translates to "punching a card" in Chinese, and refers to content shared by internet celebrities highlighting popular places, which others then flock to so that they too can share their own photos and anecdotes. "Daka China" is cultural exchange series aimed at bringing together foreign social media influencers, who share their experiences of China with the world in a unique and innovative way. Taizhou is the third stop of the series. Wenzhou and Jinhua, also in Zhejiang, were the first two stops. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory message to Fumio Kishida on his election as Japanese prime minister. Xi pointed out that developing a good-neighborly friendship and cooperation between China and Japan, which are separated only by a strip of water, serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples, and also contributes to peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world. China and Japan should abide by the principles established in the four political documents between the two countries, strengthen dialogue and communication, and enhance mutual trust and cooperation, in an effort to build a China-Japan relationship that meets the requirements of the new era, Xi added. On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also sent congratulations to Kishida. Li said in the message that the two sides should maintain political consensus, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, push for sound and stable development of bilateral relations along the right track and jointly welcome the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties next year. Flash China and a group of countries on Monday expressed their deep concern over the persistence of systemic racism, racial discrimination and increasingly serious hate crimes in some countries. Delivering a joint statement on behalf of the like-minded countries at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Ambassador Chen Xu, China's permanent representative to the UN Office at Geneva, noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA). The DDPA is a comprehensive and visionary document that embodies the world's commitment to tackle the scourge of racism in all its forms and manifestations, according to the UN human rights office. "While we acknowledge great efforts made by the international community to combat racism, it remains a prolonged and arduous task to eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," the joint statement said. The joint statement welcomed the adoption of Resolution "Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent" at the 47th session of the Human Rights Council and a number of other similar events. It said that these efforts will serve as guidelines for the international community to fight systemic racism and racial discrimination and protect the rights of Africans and people of African descent, Asians and people of Asian descent and indigenous people. It pointed out that slavery, transatlantic slave trade and colonialism are one of the root causes of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and their negative impact on the enjoyment of all human rights continues to this day. "We call on relevant countries to face up to history and their systemic racism and racial discrimination, and take concrete actions to fully and effectively implement DDPA and eliminate the legacies of slavery, transatlantic slave trade and colonialism, so as to achieve racial justice and equality and truly promote and protect human rights," the joint statement said. Flash Sudan's General Intelligence Service (GIS) on Monday announced the end of a raid on terrorist cells south of the capital Khartoum, saying 4 terrorists were killed and 4 others arrested, while an officer was killed and three others injured. "On Monday afternoon, the joint forces raided two sites belonging to Daesh (Islamic State) at Jabra neighborhood, south of Khartoum," the GIS said in a statement. "The operation resulted in the killing of 4 terrorists and the arrest of two at the first site inside an apartment, while two other terrorists were arrested at the second site," it noted. An officer from the special forces was killed, while an officer and a commissioned officer from the GIS, as well as a commissioned officer from the police were wounded during the operation, it added. Earlier in the day, Sudanese security forces surrounded a site in a residential area south of the capital Khartoum. The security forces exchanged heavy gunfire for a few hours with the terrorist group which took shelter on the roof of a building in the area. On Sept. 28, the GIS announced that five of its members were killed during a raid on a house accommodating a terrorist cell belonging to the Islamic State at two sites in the capital Khartoum. Flash A group of U.S. House representatives and senators from the U.S. state of California on Monday called for the end to offshore drilling, two days after a major oil spill incident near Orange County left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated. Nanette D. Barragan, U.S. Congresswoman from California's 44th Congressional District, and Mike Levin, U.S. Congressman from the state's 49th Congressional District, made remarks after inspecting the pollution incident. "The devastation of the oil spill continues to spread off the coast of Orange County. @RepMikeLevin and I are joining the @USCG on an overflight to view the impacts of the damage," Barragan tweeted Monday noon, noting that "We must end offshore oil drilling." "This disaster is exactly why I'm leading the bill in Congress that would end all new offshore drilling along our Southern California coast. We need to get this done," Levin tweeted earlier. "If you agree it's time to pass my American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act." The spill, first reported Saturday morning, originated from a pipeline running from the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure till Monday caused roughly 126,000 gallons of oil to gush into the ocean, creating a slick spanning about 8,320 acres. The spill has left oil along long stretches of sand in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, killing fish and birds and threatening wetlands where many birds live. Oil from the spill, called by local officials as an environmental catastrophe, was moving south toward the sensitive coves around Laguna Beach on Monday. Long Beach is located in the 44th Congressional District, and the severely impacted areas in the incident, including Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach belong to the 48th Congressional District. The state's 49 Congressional District sits in the south. The two Congress members who called on an end to offshore drilling are Democrats, while Michelle Steel, the representative from the 48th Congressional District, is a Republican. She sent a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden requesting a major disaster declaration for Orange County, which would free up federal funds to help with the clean-up efforts. Even though she called the incident "a really serious disaster," Steel did not mention ending offshore drilling, which is a controversial topic in the country's polarized political system. Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democratic state assembly member representing the 74th Assembly District, which encompasses the coastal Orange County communities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, said she had "huge concerns" about the extent of the damage to the environment, communities and local economy. She told CNN the spill was a "call to action that we need to stop drilling off our precious California coast." In Washington D.C., many California Democrats called for limiting or halting offshore drilling in the wake of the incident, as the overall impact is hard to assess at this point. "The oil spill off the coast of Orange County reiterates the perils of offshore drilling," Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. "This spill highlights why we must also take action to prevent future spills, including passing the West Coast Ocean Protection Act." "Our bill would permanently ban oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington," she added. "We've seen time and time again how damaging offshore oil spills are to our coastal ecosystems as well as to our economy. We have the power to prevent future spills - that's why I'm committed to ending offshore oil drilling," Alex Padilla, another senator from the Golden State, wrote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Monday released a statement criticizing Steel had special relationship with "Big Oil." "While Michelle Steel aids and promotes Big Oil, Orange County beaches are devastated by one of the biggest oil spills in California history," a press release from the DCCC said. "Michelle Steel is no stranger to aiding and promoting Big Oil. Her campaign coffers are flowing with cash from Big Oil and fossil fuel donors. Her legislative record is littered with attempts to block clean water and air protections. It's no wonder why Big Oil and Michelle Steel have each other's backs." In response to the criticism, Steel's spokesperson Danielle Stewart was quoted by The Hill as saying that when Steel worked to help local communities affected by the incident, "DCCC staffers inside the Beltway are doing what they do best - sending political emails just to score points off a tragedy in Orange County - pathetic." Offshore drilling was restricted in California after a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, 150 kilometers north of the Los Angeles downtown, that spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, creating a slick 35 miles long along California's coast and killing thousands of birds, fish and sea mammals. The Santa Barbara spill was the worst in the nation's history - until 20 years later, when the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. In Orange County, the latest mass oil spill incidents occurred on Feb. 7, 1990, when the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor in shallow water just about 2,200 meters off Huntington Beach. It spilled nearly 417,000 gallons of crude, killing many fish and about 3,400 birds. Oil production off California's coast declined sharply since its peak in the 1990s, after the state passed some strict environmental rules, such as the the California Coastal Sanctuary Act passed by the state legislature in 1994, which prohibited the state from entering into any new leases within state tidelands. In 2017, the California Senate passed a resolution opposing new oil or gas drilling in federal waters located offshore California. In 2019, when the Donald Trump administration planned to lease sales along the country's coast and vastly expand offshore oil drilling from coast to coast, California passed a law prohibiting new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as pipelines, within state waters if the federal government authorizes any new offshore oil leases. The state's current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said he would like to end oil drilling in the state by 2045. Recently I've stumbled across a podcast called 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill'. It was very insightful and challenging as the presenter delved into the toxic culture of a mega church called Mars Hill and how its impact continues to hurt many people even after it has finally closed its doors. As I reflect on each episode, I think I've come to understand two things. Firstly, we love to love a human figure which is why we have so many celebrity pastors in the West. And secondly, the cataclysmic rise of a celebrity doesn't usually just happen. There are always factors - intentional or unintentional, that propels the popularity and fame of an individual. From what I've learned from the podcast so far and from my own reflections, here are four factors which I think contributes to the 'Making of a Narcissistic Celebrity Pastor.' 1. SUPPORT THEIR VISION The reason why we're attracted to celebrity pastors is because they always have a very clear vision that inspires us to follow them. There's a dream or ideal that we want to be a part of and if we follow this pastor and join the church, we can be a part of it. There's something to live for, nay, there's something worth living and dying for. These pastors are usually quite charismatic because their eloquence in speech sells the vision well. It's simple and memorable and its spoken with passion and urgency. They often tap into a psyche that is targeted to Christians in that particular culture. It's great to be part of a vision that so many people support, and it's great to be a part of a vision that puts God's Kingdom in the centre of it all. But those are often futile words that promotes the 'spirituality' of the leader rather than God and God's Kingdom. 2. TURN A BLIND EYE The Bible talks about how we are like sheep and rightly so. We blindly follow others without considering carefully why we follow them. It's one thing for the church to follow a narcissistic pastor but it's another when leaders, who are held to a higher standard, turn a blind eye to the actions of the narcissistic celebrity pastor. In 'The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill', ex-leaders of the church contemplate on what happened and how it ended so terribly. One of the things they keep coming back to was that they didn't see how Mark Driscoll's actions were harmful because they saw lots of people getting saved. I don't wish to cast judgement on these ex-leaders because if I was in the same position I may have also fallen for the same thing but it shows how easily we can contribute to the making of a tragedy if numbers are important to us - or worse, if numbers are synonymous to success for a church. 3. GO ALONG WITH IT It's sad to see how often congregants (and not just in megachurches!) have blind faith in trusting their church leaders. In the podcast, I've heard many times ex-congregants and leaders reminisce that "Mark has a gift of preaching". They said it as if they were shocked that a 'gifted' preacher could be so abusive. As I listened to people recount their stories and their impressions of Mark Driscoll, a thought keep coming back into my mind: These people are theologically-uneducated! This was not just in Mars Hill but in my own experience and encounters with other Christians, I am baffled at how little Christians read the Bible and their lack of depth in thinking through God's Word. In the West, when someone says 'So and so have a gift of preaching', they're usually enamoured by their charisma. Anyone, even a non-Christian, can fool a church to believe he or she is a gifted preacher by having some charisma. This was so cleverly demonstrated in a 2014 movie called 'Believe Me'. I'm not blaming the people who naively hung on and believed every word that Mark Driscoll said. Rather, I feel so sad that their plight is a reflection of a bigger crisis Western Christianity faces. We have delegated the role of understanding God's Word to a few leaders or preachers in the church. Once upon a time people were not allowed to read the Bible for themselves because the Catholic church wanted power and control. Today, we have so much access and resources to read and understand the Bible but we trivially give that right away, making it even easier for power-hungry, charismatic narcissists to shape and manipulate our minds and devotion. 4. LET THEM USE THEIR WEAPON Fourth and finally, something that Christians uniquely use to ensure they'll never be challenged is taking out 'God' as their weapon. When a Christian says, "God told me this and that", it's hard to argue with that because we can't ask God for confirmation. Mark Driscoll, like so many other Christians (even non-pastors!), love this move. It's almost always a guarantee success. I've met people who broke up with their girlfriends because "God told me to" and I've met people who demanded a seat in leadership because "God told me to". No doubt, when someone uses this weapon to get their way, it'd be delivered in a way that makes the person seem 'spiritual' and 'humble' but it actually screams alarm bells and your guard needs to be up. I'm not doubting that God can speak to us in supernatural ways but I'm very cautious when I meet people who like to speak in that way willy-nilly. What we do know with absolute certainty, is that God speaks to us through the Bible. Let's start there. I am particular passionate about this subject matter because pastors and church leaders do have a strong influence over their congregants and if leaders abuse their power, the harm they cause can lead someone to eternal damnation. That's why the Bible also warns us: "Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly" (James chapter 3, verse 1). Space News space history and artifacts articles Messages space history discussion forums Sightings worldwide astronaut appearances Resources selected space history documents advertisements Barbie doll styled after ESA astronaut on sale for World Space Week October 5, 2021 The first Italian woman to launch into space is no longer a one-of-a-kind Barbie. Samantha Cristoforetti, an astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA), made her debut as part of the fashion doll line three years ago, but only as a couple of one-off models for display. Now, Cristoforetti's Signature Role Model Barbie doll is for sale and is raising funds for a scholarship in celebration of "Women in Space," the theme of this year's World Space Week that began on Monday (Oct. 4). "With STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] careers still underrepresented by women, Barbie is using its platform this World Space Week to show girls exciting and diverse roles and activity in space for them to explore their limitless potential," Isabel Ferrer, Mattel's marketing director for the Barbie line in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said in a statement. The new Cristoforetti Barbie comes dressed in a simplified version of the NASA extravehicular mobility unit, or spacesuit, that is used to perform spacewalks outside of the International Space Station. The white garment is adorned with the Italian flag on the doll's left shoulder, NASA's extravehicular activity (EVA) patch on the right shoulder and ESA's logo patch on its chest. The spacesuit also has red stripes, used to denote the lead spacewalker. The Barbie doll is similar in appearance to one of the two Cristoforetti models first produced for display, less a portable life support system (PLSS) backpack. The second display model had Cristoforetti in her blue flight suit used for training. The real Cristoforetti has yet to conduct any spacewalks, but may still do so on her next mission. In 2022, Cristoforetti will become the first European woman to command the space station after launching to the orbiting outpost as a member of Crew-4 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. To celebrate World Space Week, a Cristoforetti Barbie was flown aboard a recent ESA parabolic flight, exposing the doll to short periods of the same weightless environment that the real Cristoforetti experienced in training and during her first spaceflight in 2015. "Sometimes little things can plant the seeds of great dreams," said Cristoforetti. "Maybe the fun images of my doll floating in weightlessness will spark children's imagination and lead them to consider a career in STEM." The Cristoforetti Signature Role Model Barbie doll is now available across Europe and through select stores in the United States. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the $30 (34,99 ) doll will be donated to Women in Aerospace (WIA) Europe to support a new 5000 ESA x Mattel Bursary to be awarded for outreach projects fostering interest and motivation to take up STEM careers. Academic and nonacademic outreach projects are eligible to apply for the new scholarship, so long as they will be conducted in Europe and can be completed within 12 months. "The partnership between ESA and Mattel was initiated in order to foster ... diversity and inspire girls and women to take up careers in the aerospace sector. With the invaluable support of Women in Aerospace Europe we are very pleased that this partnership has yet another channel through which we can reach this goal," said Emmet Fletcher, head of the branding and partnership office at ESA. The Cristoforetti doll was the first Barbie to be modeled after a real astronaut and the second to go on sale to the public. In 2019, Mattel released the Barbie Inspiring Women Series Sally Ride doll, which was styled after the first American woman to fly into space. The company also created a Barbie for Anna Kikina, the only woman active in Russia's cosmonaut corps, but like the original Cristoforetti dolls, for display only. Mattel's new ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Barbie doll was sent on a zero-g parabolic flight to mark World Space Week and its theme this year of "Women in Space." (ESA/Mattel) Part of the proceeds from the sale of the Barbie Signature Role Model Samantha Cristoforetti doll support a bursary encouraging the next generation of scientists and explorers. (Mattel) European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti holds Mattel's new Barbie Signature Role Model doll that was styled after her. (ESA) ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti plans to take one of her new Barbie Signature Role Model dolls with her on her next expedition in 2022, when she will become the first European woman to command the International Space Station. (ESA/Mattel) 2021 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved. October 5, 2021 A Russian cosmonaut who suffered a cardiac arrest during a spacewalk at the International Space Station will receive the emergency surgery he needs to survive the trip back to Earth now that a surgeon has been launched to the orbiting outpost. Or rather that is the fictional plot line behind the real-life liftoff of Russian actress Yulia Peresild, producer Klim Shipenko and veteran cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov on a mission to film the first feature-length movie in space. The three crewmates launched Tuesday (Oct. 5) on board Russia's Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Riding atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket that was specially decorated for the movie, Shkaplerov, Shipenko and Peresild took flight at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT or 1:55 p.m. local time) on a fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous to the space station. The Soyuz is scheduled to dock with Russia's Rassvet mini-research module at about 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT). Update: Docking occurred at 8:22 a.m. EDT (1222 GMT) under manual control by Shkaplerov due to communication issues. About two hours later after pressure leaks are complete, the hatches between the spacecraft will be opened and Peresild, Shipenko and Shkaplerov will join the seven members of the Expedition 65 crew, including commander Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA); NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos. Peresild and Shipenko will spend 12 days on the space station filming segments for "" ("Challenge" in English), a joint production between Roscosmos, the Russian television station Channel One and the studio Yellow, Black and White. Peresild will play the surgeon, Zhenya, with Novitskiy, Dubrov and Shkaplerov taking a break from their real-life role as cosmonauts to play bit parts as the space station's crew in the film. Shipenko will fill several of the behind-the-scene roles, including director, make-up artist, sound editor and cinematographer. Most of the 35 to 40 minutes of filming will take place in Russia's Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module, but other areas of the complex may be shown as well. It is not clear if any of the other Expedition 65 crew members will appear in the movie. Peresild and Shipenko will return to Earth with Novitskiy aboard Soyuz MS-18 on Oct. 17 (Oct. 16 local time in Kazakhstan). To accommodate the film, Dubrov's and Vande Hei's stays were extended for another six months. They will land with Shkaplerov in March, after 365 days in space. Vande Hei will have completed the single longest spaceflight by an astronaut in U.S. history. Roscosmos first announced the film project in November 2020, after the news broke that actor Tom Cruise was in the early stages of working with director Doug Liman, SpaceX, Axiom Space and NASA to film a movie aboard the space station. Jumping at a chance to claim another first in space, Roscosmos quickly set about to cast the actress who would be the film's lead. Peresild, 37, was chosen from a pool of 3,000 applicants and 20 finalists in May. Together with her back-up, Alena Mordovina, Roscosmos said that the casting also tested a new model for selecting and training individuals for spaceflight under an abbreviated schedule. "It didn't come easy for me," said Peresild, referring to her training at a press briefing on Monday. "There are so many acronyms, and if you don't learn them all you won't understand anything else further on." An accomplished actress who has already achieved fame in Russia, Peresild has appeared in award-winning Russian movies and television series, as well as acted on stage at the Malaya Bronnaya theater in Moscow. Her launch coincides with World Space Week, which this year is themed around "Women in Space." Peresild is only the fifth Russian woman to fly into space out of the 67 total female astronauts worldwide. Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first in 1963. Shipenko, 38, is a film director, screenwriter, actor and producer. His earlier credits include the 2017 feature film "Salyut 7," which was loosely based on the real 1985 mission to the last of the Soviet Union's Salyut-class space stations. Shkaplerov, 49, has already logged more than 533 days in space having previously served on three International Space Station expedition crews in 2012, 2015 and 2018. When he returns to Earth in March, Shkaplerov will rank seventh in the world for the most time in space. Before "Challenge," Soviet-era cosmonauts filmed aboard Soyuz T-9 and inside the Salyut 7 space station for the Russian 1984 narrative film "Return from Orbit." Twenty-four years later, privately-funded astronaut Richard Garriott shot "Apogee of Fear," a short science fiction film set aboard the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-19 is Russia's 65th Soyuz spacecraft to be bound for the International Space Station since 2000 and 148th to fly since 1967. According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Optical Wavelength Services Market is accounted for $3.02 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $6.86 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecast period. Growing demand for high-speed internet and rising bandwidth-intensive applications are some of the factors fueling the market growth. However, less incremental bandwidth option is restraining the market growth. Optical Wavelength Services (OWS) help to connect the locations and streamline the flow of information with impressively high bandwidth speeds. OWS uses Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) to multiplex multiple wavelengths across a single strand of fiber optic cable to help to easily transport large files, apps and data sets between various facilities and your data centers. By Interface, Ethernet segment has a steady growth during the forecast period owing to it has the maximum number of installations and cost-effective option for server connectivity. Based on geography, Asia Pacific holds the largest market share during the forecast period due to it has large number of IT sector businesses located and growing demand for end-to-end wavelength services is high are some of the factors driving the market growth in this region. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/11294 Some of the key players profiled in the Optical Wavelength Services Market include Nokia, AT&T, Sprint, GTT Communications, Zayo Group, COX Communications, Centurylink, Jaguar Network, Colt Technology and Crown Castle. Interfaces Covered: Ethernet Optical Transport Network (OTN) Sonet Bandwidths Covered: More Than 100 Gbps 100 Gbps 40 Gbps Less Than and Equal to 10 Gbps Organization Sizes Covered: Large Enterprises Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Applications Covered: Long Haul Metro Short Haul Regions Covered: North America o US o Canada o Mexico Europe o Germany o UK o Italy o France o Spain o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o Japan o China o India o Australia o New Zealand o South Korea o Rest of Asia Pacific South America o Argentina o Brazil o Chile o Rest of South America Middle East & Africa o Saudi Arabia o UAE o Qatar o South Africa o Rest of Middle East & Africa Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/11294/Single What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Free Customization Offerings: All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options: Company Profiling o Comprehensive profiling of additional market players (up to 3) o SWOT Analysis of key players (up to 3) Regional Segmentation o Market estimations, Forecasts and CAGR of any prominent country as per the clients interest (Note: Depends of feasibility check) Competitive Benchmarking Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/11294 According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Mobile Power Plant Market is accounted for $1.34 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $2.18 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2017 to 2026. Some of the factors such as lack of power infrastructure in few areas and growing electricity in remote locations and high frequency of natural disasters boost the market growth. However, absence of fuel in remote areas is hampering the market growth. Moreover, capacity expansion by vendors and the Un Sustainable Energy for All Campaign provide opportunities for the growth of the market. Mobile power plants field-proven systems, completely packaged that can be delivered and installed speedily to provide faster, well-organized and cost effective online power. They can be easily transported through trucks via road, rail, sea or air. Mobile power plants can run on various types of fuel such as natural gas and diesel. They are built on versatile pre-engineered turbine suits to meet operational needs in various locations. By application, emergency power registered significant share during the forecast period attributed to increase in natural disasters in emerging economies such as Japan, China, US, and India are driving the emergency power market. Emergency power is an independent source of electrical power which supports important electrical systems on loss of normal power supply. Based on geography, Middle East & Africa dominated the market growth due to developments in oil and gas and growing investments in remote areas. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/11164 Some of the key players in this market include Metka, Ethos Energy, Siemens, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mapna Group, General Electric, Benchmarking, APR Energy, Solar Turbines, Meidensha, PW Power Systems, Turbine Technology Services, Vericor, Doosan, PortableElectric. Fuel types Covered: Diesel Natural Gas/LPG Other Fuel Types Power rating Covered: 2150 MW 1120 MW 110 MW Applications Covered: Oil & Gas Emergency Power Remote Area Electrification Other Applications Regions Covered: North America o US o Canada o Mexico Europe o Germany o UK o Italy o France o Spain o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o Japan o China o India o Australia o New Zealand o South Korea o Rest of Asia Pacific South America o Argentina o Brazil o Chile o Rest of South America Middle East & Africa o Saudi Arabia o UAE o Qatar o South Africa o Rest of Middle East & Africa Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/11164/Single What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Free Customization Offerings: All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options: Company Profiling o Comprehensive profiling of additional market players (up to 3) o SWOT Analysis of key players (up to 3) Regional Segmentation o Market estimations, Forecasts and CAGR of any prominent country as per the clients interest (Note: Depends of feasibility check) Competitive Benchmarking o Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/11164 According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Marine Engines Market is accounted for $12.91 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach $18.55 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2017 to 2026. Some of the factors such as increase in maritime tourism, growth in shipbuilding activities and rising usage of environment friendly LNG-fueled engines are favoring the market. However, strict environmental regulations coming into effect are hampering the market. Moreover, increasing demand for dual-fuel engines will provide ample opportunities for growth of the market. Marine engines are used to provide power to marine vehicles like ships, submarines and boats. They are the engines which are installed in the marine vehicles. These engines consist of different components including crankshaft, liner, pistons, bedplate and head. They are constructed with corrosion inhibiting materials and their seals & bearings are especially designed for sea operating environment. Marine vehicles can be either commercial, defense or for personal use. By Vessel, Commercial Vessel acquired significant share during forecast period due to rise in the international seaborne trade. The Bulk carriers in Commercial Vessels are used to transport loose dry cargoes such as ore, grains and cement. Based on Geography, Asia Pacific dominated the market growth due to increase in seaborne trade, rise in defense spending and flourishing shipbuilding industry. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/11163 Some of the key players in this market include Anglo Belgian Corporation, Dolphin Engines, Calcutt Boats Ltd, Caterpillar Marine Power Systems, Daihatsu Diesel Pro, Deutz Ag, GMT, IHI Corporation Ltd., Jason Engineering As, Scania, SIA Rigas Dizelis DG, STX Engine, GE Transportation, Cummins Inc. and Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG. Power range Covered: Above 20,000 HP 10,00120,000 HP 5,00110,000 HP 1,0015,000 HP Up to 1,000 HP Fuels Covered: Heavy Fuel Oil Intermediate Fuel Oil Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) Gasoline Gas Turbine Marine Gas Oil (MGO) Hybrid Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Other Fuels Types Covered: Two-Stroke Four-Stroke Other Types Vessels Covered: Commercial Vessel Inland Water Ways Offshore Support Vessel Other Vessels Ship Types Covered: Cargo Passenger Ship Engines Covered: Propulsion Engine Auxiliary Engine Generator Drive Engines Diesel Electric Engine Other Engines Uses Covered: Crew Vessel StandBy & Rescue Vessel Other Uses Technologies Covered: Low Speed Medium Speed High Speed Applications Covered: Commercial Vessels Offshore Vessels Recreational Navy Inland Waterways Vessels Tanker Special Carriers Pure Car Carrier Product Carrier Reefer Other Applications Regions Covered: North America o US o Canada o Mexico Europe o Germany o UK o Italy o France o Spain o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o Japan o China o India o Australia o New Zealand o South Korea o Rest of Asia Pacific South America o Argentina o Brazil o Chile o Rest of South America Middle East & Africa o Saudi Arabia o UAE o Qatar o South Africa o Rest of Middle East & Africa Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/11163/Single What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Free Customization Offerings: All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options: Company Profiling o Comprehensive profiling of additional market players (up to 3) o SWOT Analysis of key players (up to 3) Regional Segmentation o Market estimations, Forecasts and CAGR of any prominent country as per the clients interest (Note: Depends of feasibility check) Competitive Benchmarking o Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/11163 According to Stratistics MRC, the Global Nephrostomy Devices Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period. Factors such as growing incidence of kidney stone and rising incidence of ovarian cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer are propelling the market growth. However, alternative measures such as ureteral stenting is hampering the market growth. Nephrostomy catheter is the most important option for drainage of an obstructed urine collecting system. It is generally inserted under local anesthetic, which works by temporarily diverting urine from place of blockade. Hydronephrosis is the common indication characterized by blockade of one or both the ureters, for which nephrostomy catheters are used. By Product Type, Guidewires segment has a significant growth during the forecast period due to this devices are flexible and have other properties including kink resistance and pushability. Based on geography, North America has the largest market share during the forecast period due to the availability of highly skilled professionals and the occurrence of well-equipped healthcare infrastructure are some of the factors driving the market growth in this region. Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/11289 Some of the key players profiled in the Nephrostomy Devices Market include Boston Scientific Corporation , Teleflex Incorporated, Cardinal Health Inc., Medi-globe Corporation, Argon Medical Devices, Inc., Merit Medical Systems, Inc., Angiodynamics Inc, Cook Medical, Olympus Corporation, Coloplast Group, BD and Medtronic Inc. Product Types Covered: Sheath Dilators Nephrostomy Catheters Drainage Tubes Guidewires Other Product Types End Users Covered: Ambulatory Surgical Centers Specialty Clinics Hospitals Regions Covered: North America o US o Canada o Mexico Europe o Germany o UK o Italy o France o Spain o Rest of Europe Asia Pacific o Japan o China o India o Australia o New Zealand o South Korea o Rest of Asia Pacific South America o Argentina o Brazil o Chile o Rest of South America Middle East & Africa o Saudi Arabia o UAE o Qatar o South Africa o Rest of Middle East & Africa Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/11289/Single What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 9 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic analysis: Drivers and Constraints, Product/Technology Analysis, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis etc. Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Free Customization Offerings: All the customers of this report will be entitled to receive one of the following free customization options: Company Profiling o Comprehensive profiling of additional market players (up to 3) o SWOT Analysis of key players (up to 3) Regional Segmentation o Market estimations, Forecasts and CAGR of any prominent country as per the clients interest (Note: Depends of feasibility check) Competitive Benchmarking Benchmarking of key players based on product portfolio, geographical presence, and strategic alliances Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/11289 Technical textiles are class of specialized textiles, application of which is governed primarily by their functionality criteria as against aesthetics. Technical textiles differ from conventional textiles in terms of performance and functionality. For instance, technical textiles tend to exhibit relatively higher tensile strength and modulus, high resistance to heat, flame and to chemical agents. This versatility has been increasing adoption of technical textiles by various end-user industries such as construction, automobile and chemical. The global technical textiles market was pegged at around US$ XX Bn in 2018 and is expected to witness a steady growth, registering a CAGR of XX% over the forecast period 2018-2028. Factors influencing the global technical textiles market The large number of infrastructure projects being implemented in the Asia Pacific region along with the rising demand from the automotive, healthcare and aerospace industries has been driving the growth of the technical textiles market. Technical textiles manufacturers have recently has been receiving significant support from the various governments across geographical regions to manufacture high end, high value-added products in the technical textiles segment. This has been driving the growth of the technical textile industry. For more info, Get PDF at: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/3472 For instance, the Chinese government has been keen to start programs which are intended to enable the growth of the technical textiles industry. The Indian government has recently been endorsing the growth of its technical textiles industry. For instance, the government has been channelizing efforts towards implementation of tax benefits, special economic packages and permitting 100% foreign direct investment, among other things. However, relatively higher prices and manufacturing costs therein are expected to restrain the growth of global technical textiles market, especially in developing regions. Moreover, it has also been observed that there is a lack of awareness about the use of technical textiles among potential consumers, especially in the agriculture sector, in developing countries such as India and China. Key players dominating the global technical textiles market Some of the players reported in this study on global technical textiles market include Low and Bonar PLC, Ahlstrom Corporation, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, 3M Company, Avintiv, Milliken and Company, Arville, Dickson-Constant, Baltex and Freudenberg & Co. KG. Globally, manufacturers have been focusing on offering customized product offerings in order to meet the customers specific requirements in order to sustain and grow in ever-increasing competition in technical textiles market space. Get Discount on This Report: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/3472 Global technical textiles market segmentation and forecast The global technical textiles market is segmented on the basis of application, process type and region. On the basis of application, the global technical textiles market is segmented into Agrotech, Buildtech, Hometech, Indutech, Sportech, Packtech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Clothtech, Geotech, Protech and Oekotech. Based on process type, the global technical textiles is segmented into: nonwoven, composites and others. Key regions covered in the report include: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Global technical textiles market analysis, by application On the basis of application, Mobiltech segment of the technical textiles market is expected to account for a share of over XX% in the global technical textiles market value by 2028 end, thus expanding at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. This growth is attributed, primarily to the growth in demand from the automotive sector. The global automotive production is expected to witness a steady growth, registering a CAGR of around XX% in terms of volume during the forecast period. You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/checkout/3472/Single Increasing adoption in automotive light-weighting applications in order to adhere to stringent regulatory standards is expected to further drive growth of this segment during the forecast period. Oekotech segment is expected to register relatively faster growth owing to increasing efforts towards tackling environmental concerns. It is expected to register CAGR of XX% in terms of value during the forecast period. Besides the aforementioned segments, sportech, and Buildtech, among other segments are expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period. San Francisco, 5 Oct 2021: The Report Dental Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Dental Implants, Cosmetic Dentistry), By End Use (Hospitals, Dental Clinics), By Region (North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM, MEA), And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028 The global dental services market size is expected to reach USD 554.5 billion by 2028, based on a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2021 to 2028. The marketing efforts to commercialize dental practices including education camps and online campaigns are contributing to the adoption of dental services. The rapid urbanization around the world, constant economic growth, and the rising disposable income of people have contributed to the relatively steady growth of the market. In addition, per capita consumption expenditure on healthcare services is likely to significantly increase in the coming years. The market for dental services was severely impacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the clinics were closed due to the imposed social distancing. In March 2020, the American Dental Association (ADA) issued guidelines to postpone elective dental procedures. Only the emergency procedures were allowed to carry out during the early phase of the pandemic. In April 2021, Mills Administration in partnership with Northeast Delta Dental launched Maine Veterans Dental Network. It was launched officially in May 2021 and provides services to Mainess veterans who were not able to afford it. In July 2021, Geyer Dental Group updated their Dental Crown Repair/Cap Fitting Restorative Dentistry service for the people in Greater St. Louis. The practice offers periodontal, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry. Access Research Report of Dental Services Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/dental-services-market-report Dental Services Market Report Highlights Based on type, the dental implants segment dominated the market in terms of revenue in 2020 as they provide patients with functional options for teeth replacement procedures. With the R&D in this field, dental implants are available with better biomaterials, improved designs, and surface modifications The cosmetic dentistry type segment is likely to witness the fastest growth from 2021 to 2028 owing to the rising adoption of teeth appearance improvement procedures, such as teeth whitening, crowns, inlays and onlays, and veneers Based on end use, the dental clinics segment held the largest share in terms of revenue in 2020 and is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period. The majority of patients visit private practice dental clinics due to the availability of specialists, cost efficiency, and advanced technology In 2020, North America dominated the market in terms of revenue owing to factors including the presence of independent dental clinics, growing R&D activities in dentistry, and rising disposable income. The increasing government funding for dental programs is likely to contribute to the market growth Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth from 2021 to 2028 due to the growing number of dental clinics and rising awareness about oral care. The healthcare infrastructure in Asia Pacific is expanding with advanced technology and equipment List of Key Players of Dental Services Market Aspen Dental Management Inc. InterDent, Inc. National Health Service England The British United Provident Association Limited Apollo White Dental Abano Healthcare Group Limited Coast Dental Dental Service Group Axis Dental Access Press Release of Dental Services Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-dental-services-market Global Epilepsy Devices Market: Information By Product Type (Wearable Devices, Conventional Devices and Implantable Devices), Technology (Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS), Responsive Neurostimulation, Deep Brain Stimulation and Accelerometry), Seizure Detection And Prediction Devices (Electroencephalogram (EEG), Intracranial EEG, Surface Electromyography (SEMG), Electrodermal Activity (EDA), Electrocardiography (EKG), Video Detection Systems, Implanted Advisory Systems), End Use (Hospitals & Clinics, Neurology Centers, Home Care Settings) and Region (Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East & Africa) - Forecast till 2027 get free sample @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/10427 Epilepsy Research, UK (ERUK) launched a Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) Grant Scheme with the aim of capacity building of the UK epilepsy research environment. ERUK is currently inviting applications from research institutes to apply for multiple linked Ph.D. studentships to commence 2021-2023. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of the USS National Institutes of Health, had appropriated USD 154 million in 2017 for research on epilepsy. The appropriation rose to USD 188 million in 2019 and is estimated to reach USD 203 million by 2020. The notable studies and research institutes that NINDS has funded include The Epilepsy 4000 (Epi4K), The Center for SUDEP Research (CSR), The Epilepsy Bioinformatics Study for Antiepileptogenic Therapy (EpiBiosS4Rx), The Channelopathy-Associated Epilepsy Research Center (CAERC), and The Epilepsy Multiplatform Variant Prediction (EpiMVP). The Epilepsy Foundation awarded USD 200,000 to two of the finalists who competed in the 9th Annual Shark Tank Competition on August 27 at the 2020 Epilepsy Pipeline Conference, Maryland, US. This included a grant of USD 125,000 to a researcher for a medical-grade smart-mattress device known as Chorus to reposition individuals and stimulate them post-seizure to prevent Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). Similarly, National Institute for Health Researchs (UK) Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) program has awarded USD 6.6 million to fund a project investigating epilepsy in sub-Saharan Africa in February 2020. Segment Analysis Global Epilepsy Devices Market has been segmented based on Product Type, Technology, Seizure Detection and Prediction Devices, and End Use. On the basis of product type, the global epilepsy devices market is segmented into wearable devices, conventional devices, and implantable devices. The wearable devices segment is further segmented into watches, bracelets, camera devices, mattress devices, anti-suffocation pillows, and others. On the basis of technology, the global epilepsy devices market has been classified as vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, deep brain stimulation and accelerometry. On the basis of seizure detection and prediction devices, the global epilepsy devices market has been classified as seizure detection and prediction devices, electroencephalogram, intracranial EEG, surface electromyography, electrodermal activity, electrocardiography, video detection systems, implanted advisory systems, and others. On the basis of end use, the global epilepsy devices market has been classified as hospitals & clinics, neurology centers, home care settings, and others. Regional Analysis Global Epilepsy Devices Market, based on region, has been divided into the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. The Americas accounted for a larger share of the global epilepsy devices market. The large share is majorly attributed to the presence of key device manufacturers, increasing adoption of innovative software for detection of seizures, technological advancements, and high disposable income. Boost in the research funding in the European region, rising government initiatives, increasing number of patients suffering from epilepsy, an increasing number of manufacturers, improving economies, high disposable income per individual, and increased healthcare spending are resulting in the high the growth of the market in this region. The Asia Pacific region is anticipated to grow at a lucrative CAGR over the forecast period. A study funded by the Global Health Department of Sanofi and Grand Challenges Canada (grant number 032504) found that epilepsy affects more than 50 million people worldwide, 80% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). n Southeast Asia, the prevalence was moderate (6%). Around 1012 million people with epilepsy reside in India. A significant number of patients do not receive appropriate treatment, leading to a large treatment gap. A high prevalence and incidence of epilepsy has been reported in onchocerciasis-endemic regions in Central and East Africa. There is compelling epidemiological evidence suggesting that this high burden is caused by onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE). Key Players MRFR recognizes the following companies as the Key Players in the Global Epilepsy Devices Market Boston Scientific Corporation, Medpage Ltd (Easylink UK), Cerbomed GmbH (TVNS Technologies GmbH), Liva Nova (Cyberonics), Compumedics, Nihon Kohden, MC10, Empatica, Inc, Medtronic Plc, Neuropace, Inc, and Natus Medical Incorporated. Browse Full Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/epilepsy-devices-market-10427 RELATED REPORTS Global Wound Closure Device Market Research Report- Forecast to 2027 Contraceptive Pills Market Research Report- Global Forecast To 2027 Dermatology Diagnostic device Market Research Report- Global Forecast To 2027 Packaging solutions company chooses Centric Software to drive quality enhancement and brand development CAMPBELL, Calif., October 5, 2021 FunSunYoung, the packaging company, has selected Centric Softwares Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source and sell products such as apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, home decor, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals. Founded in 2008 in Hangzhou, FunSunYoung consistently upgrades and innovates packaging solutions with creative packaging planning, design, production, and sales. FunSunYoung is the owner of more than 300 original design patents and partner of over 200,000 businesses and more than 500 brands, including Huawei, Alibaba and Ping An. With constant brand expansion as well as market reshuffling, FunSunYoung faces the challenges of brand management and continuous product innovation. FunSunYoung decided to implement Centric PLM, based on Centrics flexible solution and deep expertise in business optimization. We hope to improve our business efficiency in storing, recalling, and collaborating with design files through the use of Centric PLM, says Mr. Wu, General Manager of FunSunYoung. The advanced concept of Centric will change our working habits and improve the way we think, thus driving quality enhancement and the further advancement of FunSunYoung. The project will significantly streamline FunSunYoungs product development, teamwork and corporate management. Expected benefits include improved data management, workflows, project tracking and risk control, extensive collaboration between teams and future suppliers, the ability to capture inspiration to drive creative product development and better rational decision-making based on accurate data. Working with FunSunYoung, Centric will systematically consider its corporate strategy, business model, operational characteristics, management system and system support in order to create suitable lightweight digital solutions. I look forward to a mutually fruitful and close cooperative relationship, concludes Mr. Wu. It is also my wish that FunSunYoung will open the doors for Centric to a new industry. We are very excited to announce our first partnership with a company in the packaging space, says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. Centric PLM is an extremely flexible solution, and FunSunYoung recognizes its unique capabilities to drive efficiency and innovation across their business. We look forward to working together to build a foundation for future success. Learn more about Centric PLM Request a Demo FunSunYoung (https://www.funsunyoung.com) Founded in 2008 in Hangzhou, FunSunYoung has consistently upgraded packaging solutions for companies through continuous innovation, remaining true to its focus on creative packaging planning, design, production, and sales. Since its establishment 13 years ago, FunSunYoung has earned admiration in the industry as the owner of more than 300 original design patents and partner of over 200,000 businesses and more than 500 brands. In addition, the company is well-established as a long-term provider of upgraded packaging solutions for several renowned brands, such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Ping An. Centric Software (www.centricsoftware.com) From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides a Product Concept to Consumer Digital Transformation Platform for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods including cosmetics and personal care and food and beverage. Centrics flagship Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform, Centric PLMTM, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, quality and product portfolio optimization innovations specifically for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB focuses on core tools and industry best practices for emerging brands. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (CVIP) offers highly visual digital board experiences for collaboration and decision-making. Centric Software pioneered mobility, introducing the first mobile apps for PLM, and is widely known for connectivity to dozens of other enterprise systems including ERP, DAM, PIM, e-com, planning and more as well as creative tools such as Adobe Illustrator and a host of 3D CAD connectors. Centrics innovations are 100% market-driven with the highest user adoption rate and fastest time to value in the industry. All Centric innovations shorten time to market, boost product innovation and reduce costs. Centric Software is majority-owned by Dassault Systemes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the world leader in 3D design software, 3D digital mock-up and PLM solutions. Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, including being named by Red Herring to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Centric also received various excellence awards from Frost & Sullivan in 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2021. Centric Software is a registered trademark of Centric Software Inc. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contacts: Centric Software Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com EMEA: Kristen Salaun-Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com APAC: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com Biobanking Market Research Report: By Product & Services (Equipment, Consumables, and Services), Sample Type (Blood Products), Storage Type (Manual Storage), Application (Regenerative Medicine) and End-User (Hospitals, Others)- Forecast till 2027 Biobanking Industry: The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases is expected to support the growth of the Biobanking Market at a CAGR of ~7.6% during the forecast period : also read @ https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/biobanking-market-growth-status-strategies-key-factors-comprehensive-analysis-competitive-landscape-and-forecast-2021-01-17 Biobanking Market Segmentation The global biobanking market is segmented by products and services, sample type, storage type, application, and end-user. On the basis of products and services, the biobanking market is segmented into equipment, services, consumables, and software. Equipment is further sub-segmented into sample transport equipment, sample processing equipment, storage equipment, sample analysis equipment, and others. Consumables are further sub-segmented into processing consumables, storage consumables, analysis consumables, collection consumables, and others. Services are sub-segmented into processing services, storage services, transport services, and supply services. By sample type, the biobanking market is segmented into biological fluids, blood products, cell lines, human tissues, nucleic acids, and others. Based on storage type the biobanking market is segmented into manual storage and automated storage. Applications of the market include life science research, regenerative medicine, and clinical research. By end-user, the Biobanking Market is segmented into research centers, hospitals, diagnostic laboratory, and others. Biobanking Market Regional Analysis Based on region the biobanking market is segmented into Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The Americas region is segmented into North America and South America. The Americas is the largest biobanking market due to heavy investments in research of theranostics and a large patient pool suffering from chronic diseases. Presence of large number of biobanks in hospitals in the U.S. can encourage growth in North America. On the other hand, South America can grow at a rapid pace due to increasing demand for advanced treatments for chronic diseases and technologically advanced diagnostic devices. Europe can also exhibit a stellar growth rate during the forecast period due to emphasis on research and development activities in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Collaboration between biobanks and pharmaceutical companies for encouraging research can drive the global biobanking market growth. On the other hand, APAC can be lucrative for the global biobanking market due to inclination towards drug discovery and scientific research. Biobanking Market Competition Outlook Tecan Trading AG, Qiagen N.V., Brooks Automation, Inc., VWR Corporation, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Promega Corporation, Hamilton Company, Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co., Ltd., Greiner Holding AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Chart Industries, Inc., Merck KGaA, and others are notable players of the global biobanking market. Browse More Details at: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/biobanking-market-5967 More Healthcare Industry Related Reports Orthopedic Braces Market Research Report - Global Forecast till 2027 Clinical Trials Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027 Digital Diabetes Management Market Research Report Global Forecast till 2027 Biobanking Industry News The Manchester Cancer Research Center biobank collects ovarian cysts samples from women afflicted with the disease. This sample can be used in the testing of new drugs and its efficacy for its future commercialization. About Market Research Future: At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services. LONDON, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Economist Impact is delighted to programme two hybrid panel sessions at the Kyiv International Economic Forum. Taking place on October 7th with a live audience in Kyiv, the sessions will also be available online, free of charge, to a global virtual audience. The first of these hybrid sessions, Emerging from the pandemic: Can developing markets fuel global recovery?,A sponsored by UFuture and programmed by Economist Impact, will convene economists and finance experts to examine the performance of emerging markets by country and sector, and identify which among them can fuel worldwide growth. Questions to be explored include: How has the covid-19 crisis impacted emerging-market economies in the short term, and what are the likely long-term ramifications? How did the response to covid-19 diverge across countries and regions, and how has it impacted rates of recovery? Who are the outstanding performers? Which markets have been most resilient and which have been hardest hit? What can be learnt from their experiences? What policies should emerging-market economies pursue to accelerate recovery? How are emerging-market economies contributing to global growth? To what extent will the growth be driven by China ? ? Are emerging-market economies poised to benefit from the "new normal" of business? Featured Speakers: Alvaro Santos Pereira , director, country studies branch, economics department, OECD , director, country studies branch, economics department, OECD Dalia Marin , professor, international economics, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich , professor, international economics, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Beata Harasim , senior investment strategist, BlackRock Investment Institute , senior investment strategist, BlackRock Investment Institute Nicholas Tymoshchuk , chief executive, UFuture , chief executive, UFuture Moderator: Robert Guest , foreign editor, The Economist For more information or to register your interest, visit https://bit.ly/3nIiRSB About Economist Impact Economist Events is now Economist Impact , empowering businesses, governments and foundations to catalyse change and enable progress. Uniting the expertise for which The Economist Group is known under a single brand, Economist Impact brings together policy research and insights, data visualisation, custom storytelling, events and media. Economist Impact combines the rigour of a think-tank with the creativity of a media brand, engaging an influential audience in the areas of sustainability, healthcare and globalisation. View our global events . About Kyiv International Economic Forum Kyiv International Economic ForumA (KIEF) is one of the largest international forums in Eastern Europe that brings together representatives of business, governments and society to discuss key economic issues and practical solutions for sustainable development. The mission is to promote Ukraine's integration into the global community as the most promising player. New Delhi: Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Tuesday said that disciplinary action will be taken against the IAF officer arrested for allegedly assualting his female colleague sexually. "We're well aware of the rules and all due action would be taken," Chaudhari said while addressing the media ahead of the 89th anniversary of the Indian Air Force. The said case pertains to a complaint filed by a female IAF officer against her colleague, alleging sexually assault by him. The accused IAF officer, Amitesh (29), was arrested by the Coimbatore police on September 25. The police said that the woman officer was not satisfied by the action taken by the IAF against Amitesh, so she decided a complaint with the police two weeks ago. The female officer also alleged that she was subjected to a two-finger test and was questioned about her sexual history by the IAF. The allegation later became a controversy. Countering her allegations, Chaudhari said that no two-finger test was done. "IAF law is very strict on any such incident. The two-finger test conducted on a woman officer is misreported. No two-finger test was not done," he said. According to the woman's police complaint, she had come to Coimbatore's Air Force College for training and the assault took place inside her room at the Air Force Administrative College in Coimbatore's Redfields. She got injured while playing a sport. After taking medication, she went to sleep in her room, and when she woke up she found that she had been sexually assaulted, the complaint said. The accused was arrested by the Coimbatore All-Women police after he surrendered before the district judge court. A native of Chhattisgarh, he was presented before the court on September 27 and his custody was extended for two more days. Police have said the issue of jurisdiction is being discussed. As Amitesh has been produced before the additional Mahila court, Magistrate Thilageswari will be hearing the case. The order further said that artists and members of cultural troupe will be given priority for conducting tests. (PTI Photo) Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has made a negative RT-PCR test report and at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine mandatory for officers and staff on duty and artists, who will perform during the world renowned Mysuru Dasara festival, commencing on Thursday. "It has been made mandatory for all those who are participating in the festival including government officers and the staff on the duty, artists, security and media personnel to have a negative RT-PCR test report which will be done after October 4 and have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine," Karnataka Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar said in his order. The order further said that artists and members of cultural troupe will be given priority for conducting tests. It also said that everyone attending and participating the event should wear mask, maintain social distancing and hand hygiene. Noting that there will be a live telecast of Mysuru Dasara festival, the government said the large entry of public to the venue has been prohibited to contain the spread of COVID-19. The state government has invited former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna to inaugurate the Dasara festival. The nine-day event will see a host of cultural programmes. The star attraction will be 'Jambu Sawari' when the caparisoned elephants will march in front of the imposing Mysuru palace. The festival attracts people from different parts of the world. The birds travel thousands of kilometres from Siberia to these sanctuaries every year on their winter sojourn. (Photo: Wikipedia) Nellore: Tragic death of as many as 29 Pelicans near Karijatha tank in Tada mandal has created heartburns among the denizens of Sullurpeta region. Thousands of migratory birds arrive at their winter homes, the Nelapattu and Pulicat Lake bird sanctuaries, from the first week of October every year. Nelapattu is a breeding ground while Pulicat Lake is a favourite feeding ground for the birds because of its rich flora and fauna. The birds travel thousands of kilometres from Siberia to these sanctuaries every year on their winter sojourn. Birds including Greater flamingos, Grey Pelicans, Little Egreat, Large Egreat, Painted Stork, Glosy Ibis, Pond Heron, Cattle Egreat, Eurasian Coot, Dab chick, Common kingfisher, Purple Swamp hen, Block Winged stilt and Seagulls besides scores of other birds reach the two bird sanctuaries from various parts of India apart from countries such as Siberia for breeding purpose. This time, around 2.000 birds including Grey Pelicans, little and large Egrets, and Painted Storks arrived in the region in September but are camping at Pulicat lake. There is hardly any water at Nelapattu tank, where Pelicans usually prefer to breed. The death of migratory birds came to light when some residents of the Karijatha village alerted the forest wildlife staff after they noticed the dead Pelicans and some dead fish near Karijatha tank on Sunday afternoon. In-charge DFO (Wildlife) Ravindra Reddy said several fish in the tank were found dead apart from 29 pelicans that ate the fish. Pollution from sewage dumps could be the reason for the mortality, he said. According to the officer, water is being supplied to Karijatha tank and nine other tanks from Nerrikaluva canal, which is connected to the Telugu Ganga canal. The canal passing through Sullurpeta town also carries with it highly polluted sewage from the town. Though other parts of the state received good rains in the recent past due to the Gulab cyclone, the rains eluded Nellore district. As the water levels in the tank came down drastically and it had a sizable quantity of fish -- locals closed the sluices from the canal to nine other tanks that were depending on it for water, and diverted the water flow into Karijatha tank. The water contained 90 per cent of sewage from Sullurpeta. Doctors from the veterinary department came and collected the samples and sent these to Vijayawada. Similarly, a team from the pollution control board also collected samples. Chief cconservator of forests D Sarvanan also inspected the spot where the dead birds were found. Bird-watchers and people living in the villages surrounding Nelapattu and Pulicat bird sanctuaries are grieving the death of the Pelicans. The villagers in the region treat the migratory birds with reverence, treat them as celestial beings, and accord them protection during their five-month stay. HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao made a strong pitch for undertaking caste-based enumeration across the country in the upcoming Census 2022 for identifying socially, economically and educationally backward communities to increase reservations proportionate to their population. Replying to a short discussion on Dalit Bandhu in the Assembly on Tuesday, Rao said, "The Centre must take up caste census. Why is the Centre objecting to caste census? The Centre has even filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court against the caste census. We will pass a resolution in the Assembly soon and send it to the Centre to take up caste-based census, he said. Rao stated that the Centre must continue with the aspirations of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and ensure justice to the SCs (Dalits) by increasing reservations for them. "The Centre has fixed SC reservations at 15 per cent at the national and state level, but the SC population has increased considerably across the country including in Telangana state," the Chief Minister said. Similarly, the reservations for BCs, STs and Minorities should also be increased proportionate to their population, he added. Rao stated that in several districts in the state Scheduled Caste people formed more than 20 per cent of the population but they were getting only 15 per cent reservations as prescribed by the Centre. Referring to the findings of the comprehensive household survey done by the Telangana government soon after the formation of state in August 2014, the Chief Minister said the state had about 1.03 crore, which included 18.22 lakh Dalit families or about 17.53 per cent. Dalit families could have increased now as this survey was conducted seven years ago," he said. The Chief Minister informed the House that the SC population was 25.64 per cent in Mancherial district, the highest, followed by 21.53 per cent in Jangaon district, 22.46 in Bhupalpally district, 20.44 in Karimnagar, 21.35 in Khammam, 22.27 in Nagarkurnool, 21 in Peddapalli, 21.37 in Ranga Reddy and 21.91 per cent in Vikarabad. Hyderabad had the lowest SC population in the state at 11.71 per cent. Countering BJP MLA M. Raghunandan Rao's criticism in the House that the TRS government had failed to deliver on its promise of "SC categorisation", Rao said, "I personally submitted over 25 representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but there has been no response. Telangana Legislative Assembly had even passed a unanimous resolution in this regard and referred to the Centre. What more can we do? I request the so-called great leaders of the BJP from the state to convince their leadership at the Centre and get SC categorisation done. We will arrange a grand welcome to them at Begumpet or Shamshabad airports and felicitate them in public if they achieve SC categorisation." Written by ACM *Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- Contrary to some False Appearances, pushed by a Misleading part of Establishment's Medias nowadays, Facts prove that the German People Never Voted for any Non-Existing "Socialist" Majority in these, 2021 Elections : Only for a Crystal-clear and Real Majority of the Right, But a New one, quite Different from that which had Attempted to Impose a Clumsy Establishment... First of all, it's Obvious that there is Not Any kind of real "Majority of the Left" in the Results of this Election : The Tiny + 1,5% Only Difference between the SPD and CDU/CSU, is ...an exceptional Drop in a Dry Desert, Unable to Change the Overall Fact that Everywhere Else in the present Political Landscape, All Kinds of "Left" have been UnDeniably Diminished or Disappeared, Partialy or Totaly, while, on the Contrary, Most Forces of the Right side have been Surprizingly Boosted, in one way or anOther, (as we shall see Infra) ! F.ex., the "Left" ("Die Linke") has practicaly Disappeared, for the 1st Time in History, Falling Lower than the Threshhold generaly required in order to normaly have MPs (i.e. Less than 5% : at about 4,8%), while, Also, almost Any Other, Pre-Existing, Grouplet at the "Left" Side of the Political Spectrum, (Even among various Small Parties usually withOut Any MP at the Bundestag), has curiously "Evaporated"..., (withOut Anything New, of this kind, even Attempting to appear Anywhere). In Addition, it's a Basic Fact that, Nowadays, Between the "Socialists" and the "ChristianDemocrats/EPP", there is No More Any Other clear Political Force than 2 Parties of the Right : the Rightists of the "AfD" Alternative, and the Center-Right of "FDP" Liberals, (Headed by the Same Leader who had Notoriously Refused to participate in Any Government which was Not as "Strict" as he Wished on Mass Non-European Immigration Problems, Already back on 2017)... For the Rest, Nowadays' "Greens" have Obviously become a Kind of Centrist Party, Able and Ready to Govern Both Together with the Right and the Left, according to Deals and Context, as it has Appeared Both on Coalitions at the Level of "Landers" (Federated States or Regions), and in Negociations for a Federal Government, Already Since 2010-2011 and Afterwards, Until Recently. This Clearly Starts with "Eurofora"s Pioneer Analysis, Political Contacts and Incitement, as Early as From 2010, (See, f.ex.: ... + ..., etc), and former Pope Benedict's Landmark Ideas around "Human Ecology", Highligheted during his Official Trip to Germany on 2011, (See, f.ex.: ... + ..., etc), in Large part Pursued Further,n Also by his Successor, the Current Pope Francis, particularly since 2013 and 2014, etc. The Natural ReNovation of the "Green" Party's Leadership, during Recent Years, (probably Also the inevitable Realisation of the Historic "Green" Movement's Roots), as well as the Social and Tehnological Realities of Our Era, apparently are doing the rest... But the New Realities are Not Limited just to a Big 45,9% of Votes towards the Right, against Only 30,6% towards the Left, respectively, (with a 13,8% of "Greens" in the Middle), as some Hasty Observers might think. Because, in Fact, there is Much More, and Even Dynamic enough, i.e. apparently Able to Forge the forseable Future, as Various but Converging New Facts, HighLight Today : - Indeed, a Spectacular Fact is that, Even among the Many Parties, for the moment located beyond the eligibility Thershhold (-5%), the Biggest of them : that of "Free Voters" ("Freie Weller"), has just Succeeded to ...Double its Forces, Winning not only about 750.000 as in the Past, But almost 1,5 Millions Votes, (i.e. Jumping from 1,5% to 3%). The "Freie Weller" Already have a vice-Prime Minister and a Finance Minister in Bavaria's Federated State's Government, who appear quite Popular Recently, Nationwide, Traditionaly Anchored towards the Right. + To this is Added also the Fact that, on 2021, the 2nd Biggest among Those Parties currently under-threshholdj, is a brand New one, called "Democratic BASIS", which Managed to get Immediately about 750.000 Votes (i.e. + 1 5%), Founded mainly on a Criticism of Career Politician Elites, and Pointing at Decisions due to be taken at Citizens' Grassroots level, (i.e. quite Near to "Freie Weller'"s center-Right Beliefs : Comp. Supra). => In Consequence, if those 2 Biggest such Parties, so Ideologicaly Close, and Both currently Booming in Votes, would get Together asap, (probably Also with Various Other "Citizens" Movements: See Infra), then, they Could Soon make Emerge a New Force of the Right, almost Equivalent in Volume as "Die Linke" for the Left, (i.e. about, or even More than 4,8 - 5%, etc), with Possibility to Elect several MPs at the Bundestag ! ++ And, at any case, the Nowadays' Addition of a Long Series of (New or Old) Various small Parties, in Great Majority Leaning towards the Right, and Attracting a Growing Mass of Votes, (in a Total of More than 8,7% Today, i.e. an Augmentation of +3,6%), Reveal a Massive Shift among Voters, and Obviously Might Trigger asap some very Interesting New Political Developments in Germany... This goes, f.ex., among others, also for the "Freie Welle" (1,5 Millions Votes), "The Basis" (750.000 Votes), "ODP" (Conservative Ecology : 152.886 Votes), "Human Environment and Animal Protection" (63.047 Votes), "Volt Europa" (78.201 Votes), "Bavarian Party" (36.798 Votes), SSW (Danish Minority : 34.979 Votes, with MPs), UNABHANGIGE (Independent Citizens' Democracy": 13,415 Votes), "Humanists" (12.727 Votes), "LKR" (ex-AfD Founder: 10.826 Votes), "Team Todenhofer" - New (5.699 Votes), "Bundnis Christians" (6.218 Votes), "Citizens' Movement" (1.556 Votes), "NPD" (1.089 Votes), etc. => I.e. a Total of about 2,6 Millions of Votes, representing a Percentage of around 5,5%, that would be Able to Elect many Dozens of MPs at the Bundestag, (f.ex. near the Size of Bavarian CSU) ! >>> Thus, in Fact, German People, in one way or another, at this Election of 2021, gave to the Right Side of the Political Spectrum, a net Absolute Majority of Votes : around 54% of the valid Votes casted, Against Only 30,6% to the Left, (and 13,8% to the "Greens" in the Middle : Com. Supra). At any case, Even if some too Hasty and Superficial Analysts might, Perhaps, Insist to Stick the "Greens" Always to the "Left", (something that we consider a Mistake : Comp.Supra), this could not go beyond a 54% - 44% Crystal-clear Absolute Majority of Votes to the Right... ---------------------------------- + But what is Also Clear is the Fact that German People Obviously Diminished the Votes given to the Current CDU Establishment's Candidate, (i.e. Armin Laschet, from NRW Region), this time, for about - 8% Less than Before ! It was, Naturaly, Predictable that the Planned Departure of Long-Time Chancllor Angie Merkel (16 Years : 2005 - 2021) Might Alter the Results, more or less. But some had Motivated that Change precisely by an Ambition for Better Results to the CDU/CSU than Back on 2017, (i.e. exactly the Contrary from what really hapened...). And, at any case, Nobody had Predicted, at the beginning, a So Big Loss of Votes by the Main Governing Party. Indeed, this was a Surprize, which was progressively Revealed Only towards the Last Steps of the overall Electoral Process. ++ And, in Fact, that Fall of the Current Governing Establishment's Candidates' Score is much More than it seems at First Sight : - F.ex., 49% of German People would be Opposed to Anyone among the 2 Main Establishment's Candidates for Chancellor, (Scholz for the "Socialists", or Laschet for CDU/CSU), according to recent Polls ! As for Laschet, about 39% of German Voters would reportedly Prefer f.ex. Marcus Soder, Head of the Bavarian CSU... - In Addition, More than Half a Million of German Voters gave an "InValid" Ballot, for a 2nd Time in a Row, Between 2017 and 2021, while, Also, a Satyric Party "Die Partei" (Ridiculizing the Current Political Establishment) ....Doubled, meanwhile, its MEPs at EU Parliament, from 1 to 2, since 2019, and ...More than Doubled its Number of Votes to the Federal Elections of 2021 now, Jumbing Up to Higher than a Half of a Million Voters this time (from 39 to 245, and Now 543 Thousands) ! - This was Extended even to a Doubling of "Free Voters"' Party, (Various Right), which Reached about 1,5 Million, i.e. 3% of Votes on 2021, Followed Also by the Emergence of a brand New, "Democratic BASIS" Party, (of a Similar Orientation), with More than 750.000 Voters, (Comp. Supra), etc. -------------------------------------------------------- => Why, then, all that Sudden Popular DisTrust to the Establishment's most prominent Candidate for Chancellor, added to an Obvious, desperate Quest of a way to Mark a wide Protest, and/or to Find anOther Way for the Right to Govern in Germany ? First of all, it's Interesting to note that the Rightists of the "Alternative" (AfD) curiously do Not Profit at all from all this Popular Disaffection vis a vis a Contested Establishment's Candidate : On the Contrary, "AfD" Even ...Loses itself about -2,3% Less of its Previous Votes ! The Reason seems Crystal-clear to "Eurofora" and to anyone else who might have really followed the main Developments concerning that Party : It's indeed, a Fact, that Those Rightists, Curiously, committed the Error to Not Even Try to Exploit All the Big Concessions that a CDU/CSU Establishment felt enclined to do vis a vis the "Socialists" a.o. in a prolonged "Gro-Ko" Sharing the Power for too Long, withOut any Democratically Healthy Political Alternance... Indeed, while they Notoriously did so as far as it concerns Non-European Mass Migration and/or Islamist Terrorism, etc., on the Contrary, they, Surprizingly, Abandoned (withOut any Clear Explicit Reason given to the People) almost All recent CDU/CSU Big Concessions to their "Left" on the Nowadays "Hot" and More Dangerous than ever Issue of Bio-Ethics ! F.ex., inter alia, the Current "AfD"'s Leaders, Already Since their Federal Congress at nearby Stuttgart, just a Few Years Ago, Curiously Droped, ...in catimini, (i.e. withOut Any clear Explanation at all), a series of Key BioEthical Amendments to their Draft Program, which had been Officially Tabled by their Most Faithful and Active Popular Basis near Dresden (former "East Germany"), particularly on the Protection of Human Embryo from eventual Genetic Manipulations, etc., (an Issue which had, on the Contrary, Shaken particularly the USA and several European or Other Countries until Recently). Astonishingly, this seems to have been done even withOut any Crystal-clear Vote, (f.ex. "Eurofora" being, Curiously, Unable to Find Any such Vote while Following "Live" the Work of that Exceptionaly Important Congress, and several AfD's Press Attaches, added Even to the Individual AfD Member charged by the People with the Duty to Present and Defend Orally such BioEthical Amendments, suddenly Not Giving Any Reply, whatever, to many Phone Calls, Texto Messages, E-Mails, and other Press Requests asking to Clarify that Congress' position on such an Important Issue and on the relevant Amendments Tabled then...) On the Contrary, that "AfD" Program only Adopted a Brief Mention ...pleading to Favour the Big-Pharma Technocracy in Germany, on the pretext that it would be a "National" Richness (sic !). + Moreover, "AfD" Recently Ommitted any Attempt to Sanction "CDU/CSU"'s Big Concession to the "Left", around 2017 Elections, about the Controversial and UnPopular Imposal of the so-called "Same Sex Marriage", Between Homosexuals, including the Nowadays more Dangerous than ever (Given the Notorious Recent Technological Breakthroughs into Geneticaly Manipulating Human Embryos Artificially Fabricated in Labos by Technocrats, Even with Mutations that can be Transmited to Next Generations, i.e. practicaly Creating Separate Races of Beings), because of Many Thousands of Children, either Subjected to the "Power" of Homosexuals, via a Pretext of "Adoption", or Fabricated in Labos for Naturaly Sterile Homosexual Couples... On the Contrary, such "AfD"'s Blunders (or Provocations) went Even as Far, in these 2021 Elections, as to entrust also the Leadership of their Candidate MPs to a Person which is a Notorious Lesbian "Married" to anOther Woman, and holding several Children under "her" Power ! ++ Apparently Exploiting a 2nd Desastrous "Clash" that Divided again "AfD"'s Leadership, Also on 2017, such Provocations against the Beliefs and Moral Values of Traditional Christian and European German People, who used to be Faithful to CDU/CSU, went so Far (particularly Under the Auspices of that Same Lesbian "her"shelf : Comp. Supra), that they Even Gave a Key Regional Leadership of that Party to an Obscure Individual who had Ostensibly ...taken the Name of his Wife's Family ...from Turkey (sic !). => In Consequence, those Few still Remaining Honest "AfD" Leaders who Strive to Defend some Key Values of the German People of the Right, do Not seem, at least Currently, able to Convince the Voters that such Party's Oportunistic "Zig-Zags" will Stop Before irreversible Harm is provoked by Destroying a much-needed Trust to Politicians who ask their Votes... ------------------------------ Nevertheless, Armin Laschet Obviously proved to be Unable on 2021 to Exploit that Recent Opportunism in Some among "AfD"'s Current Leaders (Comp. Supra), in order to Bring Back towards the Mainstream "CDU/CSU" those Numerous People who had Notoriously been Disappointed by that Party during Recent Years. In fact, Chancellor Angie Merkel had, Essentialy, Created a Positive Dynamic Momentum, already Since her 2005 Electoral Success vis a vis the Out-going former "Socialist" Chancellor Schroeder, who had been, then, Notoriously Blocked mainly by thorny Turkish Problems against Europe, particularly through a USA-Backed Ankara's Controversial and UnPopular EU bid, while an even Violent Cop-Bashing Joshka Fischer had, in the meantime, Provoked a real "Brain-Schock", followed by a "Black-Out", among the "Green" Party's Members, "Brain-Washing" them Out of Any Memory of their Historic Ideological Origins and Values, and Transforming them into a mere pro-Turkish and pro-LBBT Lobby, having Lost most of their Traditional and Natural Values about Human Ecology, Christianism, European Democratic and Cultural Identity, etc. => Thus, around 2009, Merkel Advanced politicaly with full and efficient Energy, towards Mainly Liberating Europe from that Heavy and Anti-Democratic Turkish Problem, (in Agreement and Alliance with French President Sarkozy, etc), Adding, towards 2010 Also the Famous "No Multi-Culti !", as far as Immigrants' Cultural Integration in Europe was concerned, (Backed, then, even by UK's new Prime Minister Cameron, as well as by France's Sarkozy, etc), with Result to considerably Strengthen CDU/CSU's Large Poliical impact accross the German People, Both in Federal and EU Elections. >>> So that, on 2013 Federal Election, Angie Merkel had arrived, in fact, at the Apogee of her Popularity, Notoriously Leaning towards an UnPrecedented in History ...Absolute Majority of German People's Votes, which would have allowed her to Govern, at last, with a fully-fledged, Autonomous CDU/CSU Team at the Head of the Country, since Most Polls gave her, for the 1st Time, a Clear Majority of MPs with a much Higher than +40% Score ! "Eurofora" had, then, Met with Merkel, Both during that Electoral Campaign in Germany, on August 2013, at Ludwigshaffen, (Near the Historic former Chancellor Helmut Kohl's Family Home), and on October 2013 in Brussels' EU Heads of State/Government Summit, shortly After that Vote : She was, then, Surfing accross a very Popular Line, including, particularly, a Demographic Policy based on Strong Natality of German and European Families, firmly Supported by the State, as well as a European Autonomy on Digital and Internet Technologies, able to Prevent from Foreign Spying, (particularly at the aftermath of Snowden's revelations, then), and to Boost Economic Production with Innovations. Later, towards December 2013, she Added even a Planned Trip to Russia, in order to Try to Settle the Emerging Ukranian Issue, mainly on the line of a Quest for a possible Pan-European Free Market, extending from Portugal up to Vladivostok (in Siberian Russia)... But, the Long Series of Exceptional Incidents, Leading straight to that "Annus Horribilis", that became 2015-2016 according to Merkel's own sayings, -including Wounding her Leg at a Swiss Touristic Ressort, (i.e. Canceling that Russian Trip), followed by the Bloody Ukranian Conflict which Divided Europe, an UnPrecedented Big "Tsunami" of +1,5 Millions Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants tresspassing through Turkey at EU's External Borders in Greece, parallel to a Series of Deadly Islamist Terrorist Attacks, mainly against Civilian People, throughout Europe, while Ankara was Blackmailing Europe by asking 3 Billions each Year in full Grants, "Free Visa" for 80 Millions Turks, an Even Wider Customs Union for its Exports, etc., in order to Limit that Irregular Mass Migration Flow, (Despite the fact that, Already, Hungary's PM Victor Orban, and Other EU Leaders had Started to almost make Disappear by themselves, through simply Building Defenses at their Borders). + To All that, was Added, Suddenly, at the Last Minute Before the 2017 Elections, a CDU/CSU Establishment Surprizing Acceptance to Let a Referendum (that it Opposed, until then) for the Controversial and UnPopular "Same Sex Marriage" Between Homosexuals, Including Even the Nowadays very Dangerous to Humankind possibility for Homosexuals to get and Control Children, Inevitably Fabricated Artificially in "Labos" by Technocrats, while Recent Technologies had Notoriously Eased most Genetic Manipulations on Human Embryos (already Since 2015)... The Pretext were Rumours that the "Left" (i.e. "Socialists", "Greens", and "Die Linke") would have brokered a Deal to form a "Red-Red" Government, with a Majority of Votes, After the Elections, according to Polls, in order to Adopt such a Legislation. So that the CDU/CSU promised to Vote Down that Referendum Now, and Lodge a Legal Complaint to the Constituitional Court, at nearby Karlsruhe, Soon After the Elections, in order to Cancel it. Indeed, 75% of CDU/CSU MPs Voted Against that Referendum Before the Election, But it Passed with a Slight Majority thanks Mainly to the Votes of the "Left". Scandalously, however, the CDU/CSU's Establishment did Not Lodge Any Legal Complaint at the Constitutional Court After that Election, Betraying such Pre-Electoral Promises ! ------------------------------------- => It's in such Circumstances that the New (then) Rightist Party "AfD" (alias "Alternative") Emerged and Developed Rapidly its Political forces, mainly around Fast-Growing Wins at the Federal Elections of 2017, and several Regional, subsequent, Elections at Federated "Lander", Pushing Merkel Out of the Top Political Arena, under Pretext that CDU/CSU would urgently Need a Big Change of Policy... But, did Armin Laschet represent that ? At the Beginning, it was Mainly Friedrich Merz who appeared Trustworthy, quite Fit for such a Task, as well as Popular enough inside the CDU//CSU, (including with an alleged Sympathy by Historic Heavy-Weight Wolfgang Schauble, current President of the Bundestag). But he was Pushed Out, by a Part of the Establishment, after Postponing 2 or 3 Times the Date Initialy Fixed for a Crucial Vote inside the Party, Added to a sudden Infection by the Virus, Curiously, at a very Crucial Moment for that Political Race, (around March 2020, at the Eve of a Decisive Party Congress due on April), and much More Loud Protests when, even towards December 2020, Also anOther CDU/CSU Congress was Canceled Again Twice, and its Format Changed towards Less Popular Contacts and Public Debate, with Merz Denouncing openly a "Plot" against his Election, and, Finaly, Losing Tightly the race, Later-on, in January 2021, at a comparatively Downgraded Web Vote in Distance by a Part of the Party's Basis... +As anOther Eventual Leader of the CDU/CSU Later Emerged Marcus Soder (CSU Chief from Bavaria), More Popular than Laschet to Polls, But reportedly Declined to seize that Challenge, at least Until Now. >>> So that Armin Laschet took the Responsibility of the outgoing Governing Party CDU/CSU in this 2021 Election, and made it Fall Down to -8% or -9% Less Votes, ByPassed by the "Socialists" (for the 1st Time After Decades...) who Won some +5% More Votes, Reaching the Top, and, even if Both the "Left" (Linke) and the Rightistrs (AfD) Lost some Votes, nevertheless, More than Half a Million of Votes were "Invalid", Added to a More than Doubling of a Satyric Party, Ridiculizing the Political Establishment ("Die Partei" : from 245.415 up to 542.804 Votes now), while Also ... largely Dispersing Voters of the Right f.ex. to Emerging or New Grassroots Democracy Parties, (such as "Free Voters" : Doubling Up to 3% with 1,5 Millions of Votes ; or "Basis", suddenly Jumbing Up to 734.861 Votes, Added to similar "Citizens' Movements", etc), Followed by Various other, Thematic small Parties, (such as "Conservative Ecology" or "Human Environment", "Humanists", "Families", "Christians", "Europe", etc: Comp. Supra). - Then, Why all this Mess ? What went Wrong in the Personal Candidacy of Armin Laschet, (Despite the Fact that a Majority of German People, also Confirmed their Belief to several Values of the Right, as we Saw Above) ? "Eurofora" doesn't attribute a serious Importance to some Laschet-Bashing, even by "Wikipedia" (English version), which Claims that he would have "Demolished" a Village (sic !), in order to Build a CO2-emmisions Factory there, a nd/or that he would be, personaly, too much aligned with Car and Coal Industries. It all looks at least Exagerated, and, at any case, Chancellor Merkel, (who Notoriously made her "Green" U-Turn as Early as since 2012) would Not, normaly, had left anyone of such a kind to take over the Heavy Responsibility of Heading the CDU/CSU. But more Serious appears to be anOther Lead, towards Foreign, Non-European Mass Migration, (including the "Hot" Issue of Turkey) : Laschet, who Notoriously was in charge also of "Integration" at the NRW Region, (one of the Most Affected by Massive Islamic, and particulary Turkish, Migration in Germany), is, Indeed, Repeatedly mentioned as Favoring Cultural "Diversity", Instead of "Integration" in German/European Values... Moreover, he reportedly Backs Turkey's Controversial 3 Billions per Year in full Grants EU Money, (Pretexting of Syrian a.o. Asylum Seekers Exploited by Turkish Business), that Ankara notoriously Usurpated from Merkel Back on 2016, during a brutal Blackmail, in a Deserted Brussels under Lock-Down after 2 Deadly Islamist Terrorist Attacks, at the Airport and near the "European" Quarter, while Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and others had just Succeeded into Stoping a "Tsunami" of 1,5 Millions Irregular Migrants from Turkey, by Defending their Borders). + The Worse point seems to have been reached when Laschet even Claimed (in support of the above-mentioned, Controversial View) a Dithyrambic picture of ...Ugur (sic !) Sahin, a Turkish Muslim Migrant from Iskenderum, (Ancient "Alexandreta", Founded by Ancient Greek King "Alexander the Great", later part of Syria and of the French Mandate by the Society of Nations, but Invaded and Occupied by the Turkish Army since 1931), Curiously Named by his Father (an American Ford Car Factory worker abroad) after the Notoriously Separatist Turkic Group (often Violent and even Brutaly Terrorist) at Western China, who had Even Occupied a Village (Emptied by ISIL Bloody Terrorists) inside Syria recently. - Laschet didn't say if he did that because Mr. Ugur Sahin's Trip and Education in Germany was, practicaly, Paid thanks to previous Violent Theft of Family Homes of Armenian Refugees, Greeks, or Christian Arabs, who were the Original, Lawful Inhabitants Alxandreta/Iskenderum during Centuries, Before they were Massively and Brutaly Chassed Away by that Turkish Military Invasion/Occupation since 1931... - However, it's a Fact that Sahin had a chance to Study Medicine in Germany, got a Small PhD (withOut any Master Degree previously), Later than usual there, (5 Years instead of 2 or 3), searched an Orientation by studying also ...Mathematics, and, Finally, found a Job in a Hospital of a City Notoriously Full of Growing Islamist, and particularly Turkish Mass Immigrant Population, to the point that Real German and other European People have been practicaly Obliged to Flee Elsewhere, leaving behind them Empty Houses, in what became a Famous Big Mosque's Host City, that many Call ..."the Turkish Capital of Germany" : Koln ! (I.e. precisely there where Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan used to make Controversial Mass Political Meetings in the Past, and where More than a Thousand of mainly Poor German Young Girls and Women were Notoriously Aggressed by Massive Mob Attacks, including Humiliating Sexual ill-Treatments, Violent Thefts, etc., by Bands of Cowards, during the Popular Evening of the New Year on 2016, right in front of an Historic Christian Cathedral, via an Aggressive Popuilace of Mass Islamic Irregular Immigrants just arrived from Turkey, who provoked a Row and Indignation accross Europe and the World, largely Condemned quasi-Unanimously, inter alia, Also by CoE's Parliamentary Assembly's late January 2016 (exceptionaly Long) Plenary Debate and Resolution, (See : ..., etc). - In such a Particular Context, Mr. Ungur Sahin practicaly ...Fabricated his own Jobs for himself, (during Decades), Mainly by Setting up a Series of Various SME's, Alone with his Wife, also a Turkish Immigrant from Iskenderum Village, (Comp. Supra), such as "KRON", "Ganymed Pharmaceuticals", "BioNTech", etc., always Presenting Himself as a so-called "Researcher against Cancer" (sic !), i.e. withOut Any Relation to the Virus "Sar-3" (alias "COVID-19"), Neither to Virology in general, Not even to Infectiology, etc... But, Despite his Pompuous Initial Declaration that "Cancer will be Defeated" (sic), and the Claim to have Invented at least a Secondary, symptoms-alleviating Drug there, Nevertheless, about 20 Years Later, ...Cancers are Notoriously Growing, almost Everywhere in the World, and that Maveric planned "Drug" had Not Even completed any Elementary "Phase 3" Tests, (Necessary Before being able to Simply submit it for an eventual Authorisation to Sell it into the Market) ! - Suddenly, Mr. Ungur Sahin, (who Claimed to Develop Novel Tools affecting the Human Genome, via m-RNA which allows "Individualized" Treatment, Special to "Each" Person, Group or Category in the Society), found a Strange Rich Pal, in Controversial Mr. Bill Gates, who Invests ...at least +55 Milions (extendable up to 100 Millions) in his Latest "BioNTech" SME, by a Coincidence, at the Same Moment that he Sponsors an Exceptional collective Event with Hopkins University Center predicting an "Epidemic" Global Healh Crisis, (September - October 2019 : "Event 201") ... [Gates Funded Also a Competitor, USA's "Moderna", almost at the Same Time, who was also Developing a Similar m-RNA Technology, under Various Pretexts too]. + Easy Money becomes of the Likes of Mr. Ungur Sahin, who Pockets more than ...+1 Billion $ in the Stock Market when Medias are told that he made a Cooperation Deal with USA's "Pfizer" Company (Famous for its ..."Viagra", etc), thanks to its Commercial CEO Mr. Bourla, - of Greek Origin and Pal of that Part of Millionaire Shipowner "Vardinogiannis" Family which leans to a "Socialist" Left, and mainly the Notoriously Corrupted "PASOK", with 2 Members being Alone to Flee the 1967-1974 Colonels' regime by allegedly Seeking "Freedom" to ... Turkey (sic !), while anOther Part Leaned to the Right. ++ In Addition, he gets, Later-on, Even More Easy Money, at the Autumn of 2020, thanks to anOther Press/Media Announcement that his "BioNTech" and "Pfizer" would Soon present "a 1st Vaccine in the World" against the "Virus COVID-19", emPocketing immediately More than +5 Billions $ again in the Stock Market, (which reportedly Made him one of the Richest 100 Individuals in Germany)... >>> It's true that, Meanwhile, Mr. Ungur Sahin had apparently Become a unique case of ....Psychic Soothsayer, capable of Predicting the Future, since he Notoriouisly Decided to Stop Any Other Activities, and Turn his SME Exclusively towards an Eventual Virus "COVID-19" Pandemic, as Early as ...Since the Beginning of January 2020 : I.e. When China had Just spoken to the WHO of a Strange "Pneumonia", at Wuhan Region, and presented a Genome plan on Jan. 10, Believing that it would be Transmissible "Only from Animals" to Humans, with "a 1st Death" being reported Only on January 11, and a "1st Infection Outside Chine", at Neighbouring Thailand, Only on January 13, But, on the Contrary, WHO just Started to Lean towards a "Virus' Transmission Between Humans" Only towards the End of January 2020 (Progressively from 21 - 23 and mainly Later on), as France Announced, Only on Jan. 24, of Four Cases of Virus COVID-19 (All Comming from China's Wuhan) as the First Infected Persons in Europe, (according to WHO's Official Timeline), to the point that Even the EU Parliament considered, then, as practicaly Useless to Hold at least a simple Committee Discussion on that in Brussels, Preferring to "Postpone" that for, Eventualy, Much Later-on ! - But, Did he realy had, Mr. Ugur Sahin, to push the button on his "Originality" as Far as to Even Require a so Heavy, Clumsy, Delicate and Cumbersome ...more than -75 Degrees Celsium Beneath Zero of Extra-Cold Temperature, just for the Same, practicaly, "Fake-Vaccine", as that of "Moderna", for whom, on the Contrary, a Normal Low Temperature, Easy to Find in Any Ordinary Fridge, is Notoriously Sufficient, (allowing, thus, All simple Doctors' Offices, DrugStores, etc., to have a practical Possibility to Stock and Use such m-RNA Novel Tools), Instead of Needing always Expensive, Fragile, and Rare Big Equipment in Special Installations, as "Pfizer/BioNTech" notoriously demand ? Or has Europe and some others, perhaps, Suddenly gone Dangerously ...Mazoschist ? - For the Rest, i.e. about the Alleged "Efficiency" of such a kind of "Fake Vaccine" (See, inter alia, Also, f.ex. : ... + ... + ..., etc), it's Certainly a Noteworthy Fact that, While Mr. Ungur Sahin's "BioNTech" and "Pfizer" Initialy Announced an Only 90% Efficacy to the American FDA, on the Contrary, just After Competitor "Moderna" Announced a "94,5" Efficiency against the Virus, ... then, Immediately, he Changed and, (in Only 1 Day's Time !), he Suddenly Claimed that an "Error" had been Committed, Modifying his "BioNTech/Pfizer" Vaccine's alleged Efficacy by considerably Upgrading it all the way Up to ..."95%", Back on December 2020 ! (But, it's Only Nowadays, i.e. After the Middle of 202, that "Pfizer" Finaly Acknowledged an Efficiency of Just about 91%, ...and that Only for a Few Months' Time : See Infra). - However, it's Obviously much More Grave that Mr. Ungur Sahin, Did Not Warn at all, at that Time, (i.e. When USA's FDA and EU's EMA were Considering, Back on December 2020, whether and in which Conditions to eventualy give an "Urgent" Authorisation for his Merchandise), that his "Fake Vaccine" might be Unable to Prevent Infections (by a Pseudo-"Vaccinated" Recipient) to Other People in the Society, (Contrary to what is Traditionaly done by All Other, Real Vaccines, during some 200 Years since European Louis Pasteur's Invention against All kinds of Viruses : 1821-2021) ! So that Both the USA and EU competent Authorities had Not been Warned about such a Big "Novel Risk" (See : ..., etc). In Consequence, Nowadays, (i.e. Later than Middle 2021), when such a Risk has Become, at last, Obvious throughout the whole World, throwing even Countries like the USA, UK, Israel, etc. into a Mess of Growing Massive Infections, it has Become Inevitably Too Late to fully Rectify things and Re-Start from scratch... The Dangers provoked by giving Credit to such Novel Tools Before any real Scientific Evidence on a so Crucial Point, can, indeed, have "Devastating" Effects, as also the Council of Europe clearly Warned (See : ..., etc) ! + In Addition, he did Not Warn Even on anOther Important Risk : that for all those Pseudo-"Vaccinated" Recipients of his "BioNTech/Pfizer" "Fake-Vaccine", to get later ...Infected Themselves ! So that when the current US President Biden was Surprized on 2021 to Find that Even several Pseudo-"Vaccinated" Staff ...in the White House had been Infected by the Deadly Virus, he didN't hesitate, among others, also, f.ex., to Block Also such Pseudo--"Vaccinated" Individuals' Entry into the USA by Crossing the Borders of Canada, Recently, as well as to Order "Mask-Wearing" also for them Even Inside their own Family Home's confined spaces, (etc)... While, in France, even an important New Region's President-elect, Despite the fact that he had been "Vaccinated" by such Novel Tools, Neverheless was Found severely Infected, soon After his Election, inevitably making his Mandate Difficult to serve, almost at the Same Time that simple Young Women were Desperately spreading Tears, Schocked by the Fact that they were ...Fired from their Jobs, Because they had been Hired with "Certificates" of being "Vaccinated", but Soon Found ...Infected by the Virus, Despite such "Fake-Vaccines", as those Sold (Expensively) by Mr. Ugur Sahin... ++ But, When his Merchandise had been Authorized, as an "Emergency" Measure, Back on 2020, he had Not Warned the People, Neither the Government Officials, No More, for anOther kind of Big Problem, Even More Heavy and still UnExplored in its Real Dimension, which Remains UnKnown : - I.e. that the Duration of such "Fake-Vaccines" was, in fact, very much Limited in Time, Because their alleged "Efficiency" was ...Evaporating too Fast, so that All Recipients would Soon have to take anOther, "3rd" "Boosting" Dose, even Before a Semester, (and withOut Excluding also the Possible Need, perhaps, for an Additional ..."4rth" Dose, Before the Year ends, as some Officials reportedly just Warned at Israel, under condition of Anonymity)... Medical Experts are Cited by Mainstream Press as Attasting that Such Problems have Never been seen Before in Any Vaccine in the World's History, (and "Doubt" whether the People would Accept to be Submitted in so Many "Doses" Each Year). - Shall People have to Suffer of Similar Bad "Surprizes" when it comes Also to a Longer than Expected List of Negative "Side Effects", progressively Revealed, one after the other, in Mr. Ugur Sahin's Merchandise ? *Already from the Beginning, Top Medical (pro-vaccine) Doctors in France had been reportedly Surprized, since 2020, according to Mainstream Press, by an Exceptionaly Long List of Side Effects in this case, to the point that they had Initialy Advised to Better leave such "Fake-Vaccines", at least for the Time being, withOut using them, in order to "Wait", rather, for some "Better Vaccines" than that, (with the Unique Exception of those Too "Fragile" People who Could Not take the Slightest Risk to Wait, Not Even a bit)... *But Others had Even gone Further, f.ex. Warning that Such kind of "m-RNA" Novel Tools Risked, inter alia, Particularly Also to, Sooner or Later, in one way or another, Reveal some Serious Problems against Human Health, concerning mainly "Hemorragies" and/or "Inflamations", with Dangers around "Thrombosis" and/or Heart Issues, as "MyoCardite", "PeriCardite", etc. Indeed, such kind of Dangerous Issues, (including, particularly, Even Young People, apparently in Good Health), seem to have been Multiplying, Recently, Even to the Point to Raise Life or Death matters, (as we shall See also Infra). * However, the Worse, may Still Remain to be Discovered Later-on : Indeed, in Addition to some Possible Syndroms of Facial or Arms' Muscles' Immobilisations, (sometimes Painful, for the latter), etc., at least in Medical Theory, it's not excluded a priori that Such "m-RNA" Novel Tools might, Eventualy, Trigger some "Toxic" Reactions "in X Years", certain Medical Experts warned, according to Mainstream Medias. +More Important Concern, at least from "Eurofora"s point of view : As "BBC" and Others have, Already, Warned, "Proteins", which Notoriously are the "Target" Number 1 of such "m-RNA" Novel Tools, have, Generally, a so "Complex" Molecular Structure, that it has to be Clearly Known and Seen, as Any Eventually erroneous or clumsy Change about them "might Provoke Catastrophes !" around the Human Genome... - It's True that some Health Ministers, (as f.ex. the French one), Recently Focused their Claims on Repeatedly supporting that the existing "m-RNA" "Fake-Vaccines", at least, would "Protect from Death or Heavy Hospitalisation up to 95%"... (F.ex., See, inter alia, Also Official Motivation in Text presented to the Highest Administrative Court, "Conseil d'Etat", in the Middle of 2021, etc). >>> But, then, What to say, f.ex., for China's "Classic" Vaccine "CinoVac", which Protects People's Lives or Health from Death or Heavy Hospitalisation reportedly for Up to ..."100%" Each (sic !), according to Official Data of the "WHO" itself, Published since the End of August 2021 ? (It may be true that, Aged People's situation wasN't, reportedly, Sufficiently examined yet in these cases. But, then, all Other Ages are, already, OK). - Last,; but not least, Something Fishy Seems to exist around the Precise Numbers of Deaths due to Side-Effects of Mr. Ugur Sahin's Controversial m-RNA "Fake Vaccines": Some Mainstream Medias cite about "5" Cases throughout all Europe, while Others, later, cite "6" Cases Only in France... But Official Sources are Also cited for alleged ..."386" (sic !)Deaths Questioned after taking a "Pfizer/BioNTech" "Fake Vaccine", Only in France, Just at the Beginning of 2021... However, Astonishingly, ..."Only 1" among them was reportedly Examined as, perhaps, due to those Controversial "Fake Vaccines" ! + Similar Inconsistencies also in USA's relevant Data : Some mainstream Medias (at close periods of Time) point at "Hundreds" of Deaths after taking such "m-RNA" Fake Vaccines, while Others speak of ...several "Thousands" ! Obviously, much More Clarity and Serious Criteria are Needed, in order to Ensure that there is Not any Hidden Massacre there... ---------------------------- Meanwhile, however, the Absolute Majority of Anti-COVID Virus' Vaccines having Reached the 3rd, Final Stage of Tests, are of a "Classic" Technology, similar to that of World-Famous Inventor Louis Pasteur, i.e. already Known and Tested during almost 2 Centuries : 1821-1921 (See : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/majorityvaccinesclassicbutnotyeteu.html), But None among them has Not been Yet Authorized by EMA inside the EU, (Not Even those which have been Authorized by the WHO, f.ex. as China's CINOVAC + CINOPHARM, etc ! And that, Despite even German CDU/CSU Health Minister Span's view that the Authorisation of, at least, Some "Classic" Vaccines, would Incite several Hesitant People to get Vaccinated... + Nevertheless (UPDATED), almost ALL 4 Fake-"Vaccines" authorized by EMA in the EU, with Controversial Novel Tools, very Different to those IOnvented and Tested since Pasteur's Times, were, Recently, in one way or anOther, at least "Suspended" in several Western Countries accross the World, mainly on Grounds of UnCertain Safety, given the Too Many Deaths by Side-Effects, etc : - Thus, After "Astrozeneka"'s Notorious Suspensions, (followed by Total or Partial Abandons) in Many Countries, it is, More Recently, the turn of Johnson Johnson's "Jannsen" jab to be Suspended in current EU President : Slovenia, after a Death, followed Also by a Suspension of "m-RNA" Technology "Moderna" (at least for Young People, because of Heart Inflamation problems), Both in Sweden and Denmark. Curiously, however, Even if Turkish-USA "BioNTech-Pfizer" Notoriously uses the Same Novel Tools, (i.e. "m-RNA"), with quasi-Identical, if not More Numerous such Problems, (Including Many More of such kind of Deaths, Both in France and in the USA, etc : Comp. Supra), however, Paradoxicaly, None of its Similarly Controversial Fake-"Vaccines" has Not Yet been Suspended for that reason, until now... But, at least, a North American Judge reportedly Ordered to Suspend a related Mandate which Imposed such Controversial Novel Tools to Some US Citizens, on the Reasoning that it Might Violate Christian People's Religious Beliefs against consuming Human Parts from Aborted a.o. Embryos... => Does it mean that Some, who appear to have become "In-Name-Only" "Christian Europeans", Might, Perhaps, have left Less Beliefs in Real Christian and Historic European Values, including Human Lives, than several American Christians apparently do still Fight for, (May be Due to certain too long shady exchanges with Turkish Ugurs, etc., here) ?... ----------------------------------------- => In Conclusion, Obviously, German People have a fundamental Democratic Right to a Government of their Choice, But Also to be Free to Choose the Political Represenatives that they Deserve and Want... Even if, sometimes, this practicaly Means to Innovate, in one way or another ! -------------------------------------------------------------------- (.../...) ("Draft-News") The Karahantepe discovery in the southeastern province of Sanlurfa in Turkey settlement is from 11,000 years ago. Showcased in the ancient remnants are artisan skills demonstrated by designs seen there. The site has similarities to Gobekli Tepe. They share specific artistic motifs found in the two settlements. Being built in the Neolithic period when a significant change in civilization happened, this time in history must be documented, especially between these two settlements. Ancient cultures tended to have such imaginary artworks imprinted in most places, cities, or any structures found worldwide. Karahentepe discoveries built by communal efforts It was built in the Neolithic period as one of the most important settlements with fantastic carved shapes of human shapes and heads in the site, reported the Daily Mail. Lying in ruins are 250 T-shaped megaliths with images of animals inscribed on them and several sculptures of three-dimensional human photos. In 2019, the excavations began on the uncovered 75-feet building, but builders dug it into the bedrock as deep as 18-feet. It was a communal effort to create these structures. State media Anadolu Agency said that Professor Necmi Karl, chief of excavations at the site, said Karahantepe has Similarities to Gobekli Tepe. The one called Gobekli Tepe is more ancient than Stonehenge by 6,000 years old. They have many 3D sculptures and human likeness added the archeologist. Read Also: Chankillo Observatory in Peruvian Desert Dates Back to 2,300-year-old, Used by Ancients To Track Yearly Seasonal Movements Sculptures, carvings among the stunning artworks in Karahentepe One of the sculptures at Karahantepe is an oddball rock-carved image of a man with a leopard carried on his back, but this type of animal attack is at the Gobekil Tepe. The scientist assesses that the artistry of this culture was in the Neolithic period was in their terms developing still. A drone took images over the site to features some of the megaliths seen at the excavation site. Some of the ancient art was taken and placed in an exhibition at the Sanlurfa Archaeological Museum. The Karahantepe complex is in the region called ' Tas Tepeler,' or Stone Hills, in an expanse of 124 miles. It is close to the Gobekli Tepe, which houses structures as old as the 10th millennium BC, maybe the oldest temple site to date. This site was dug up about twenty-five years ago, with pillars made of stone ten tons in weight, as some ancient discovery. Material for the megaliths are hill bedrock hewn manually, engraved on them were humans with folded hands and pelts like clothes, cited Archeology. Images seen in the complex are foxes, leopards, snakes, with vultures. One method, according to experts, is the hunter-gatherers were able to achieve the feat about 11,500 years ago was but carving them, the pulling huge blocks with ropes, wooden beams, and lots of manpower. A theory says it was a communal effort for many groups to achieve the feat, as ritualistic as holding a feast and separating. Sites like Karahantepe have similarities to Gobekli Tepe, which we cannot ignore because of the evidence their ancient culture has more than what we see. Related Article: 4,000 Year-Old Bull Geoglyph in Russia Outdates Other Ancient Monuments by Several Thousand Millennia Causing A Stir Among Scientists @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. After the communication between the two Koreas went dead for a while, Kim Jong-un opened a direct line with South Korea after he snubbed Biden's offer. The North Korean promised to restart a long stall peace process that ended a while. Hopefully, this process will yield a holding peace. A pivotal decision by the supreme leader should push the two Koreas in the peninsula to a better relationship. This seems to be a move by Kim is, as he said, a positive move in the right direction that will restore the rift that tore them apart in the Korea War. North Korea's noteworthy move to open communication with the South According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the North Korean leader ordered all the relevant agencies in Pyongyang to open the line to the Seoul government on October 4, at precisely 9:00 a.m. As he ordered in a prior report to have a negotiated peace outside of Joe Biden's administration, reported the Express UK. One statement said that Seoul should try to work to allow North-South ties to move in the right direction. Noteworthy is the emphasis on opening up the future and keep in mind what opening the lines of communication implies, cite FR24. He spoke a week ago in the NoKor parliament, and he said moving to restore hotlines of communication is to ensure peace for the two Koreas. Kim opens direct line with South Korea, and the decision is for the South to do what is needed to allow relations to flourish. He implied if the South truly wants peace, it knows what it has to do. Read Also: Kim Jong Un Allegedly Organizes Women by Force to Construct Border Wall With China Tale of Two Koreas The two capitals in the Korean Peninsula have been at odds and peace, but both have on and off attempted to forge a lasting peace. Both have been at war since the end of the Korean war but have to keep an uneasy truce. Seoul and Pyongyang have been attempting to rebuild ties between the two nations, even though the two countries are still technically in a state of war, noted New 7 Trends. For all accounts, the two Koreas have never buried the hatchet from 1950 to 1953 in an armistice. Pyongyang stated that both want peace, but it will be how the South conducts itself to ensure that. The US government supports Seoul, and that is where they have to decide. The South unification ministry informed that on Monday, so many months after the hotline was abandoned. One of the first calls after the August tumult last year. But the South Korean ministry says the Pyongyang-Seoul line has been severed many times, there is a need to study how to recover lost relations. A year ago, the North shut down all the communication with a line to both leaders were closed as well. It was not smooth sailing when it got hotter later, and Kim opened the communication in August this year. Kim Jong-un opened a direct line with South Korea after he deemed the US president not straightforward with his agenda. Related Article: Kim Jong Un Ignores Joe Biden's Offer To Restart Negotiations; Pyongyang Would Rather Talk to Seoul To Promote Peace @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. As abortion issues have assumed center stage, the Biden administration on Monday revoked former President Donald Trump's regulation prohibiting family planning clinics from making abortion referrals to patients. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its final regulation to complete the repeal of the Trump administration's rule that barred clinics from receiving Title X federal funding if they referred patients to abortion providers. Biden's regulation, which restores the Title X program to its 2000 and 2019 form, will effect on November 8. In a statement, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the rule is a step forward for family planning treatment, as per The Hill. Biden administration's decision to entice hundreds of care providers The Title X program, which has been in place for more than 50 years, provides funding to clinics that primarily provide low-income people with infertility treatment, contraceptive information and counseling, and breast and cervical cancer screenings. Direct payment for abortion treatment has always been forbidden under Title X. However, under the Trump administration's regulation, these clinics could not also refer patients for abortions, in what opponents and reproductive rights groups referred to as a "gag rule." According to the Guttmacher Institute, around a quarter of clinics that received Title X financing quit the program in reaction to the Trump-era change, costing them federal funds. Planned Parenthood, which left the program, formerly treated around 40% of Title X patients. Clinic advocacy groups believe that the Biden administration's decision would entice hundreds of care providers who left in protest of Trump's policies to return, therefore helping to stabilize a long-running program that has been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak on top of ideological disputes. Per USA Today, women's groups branded Trump's proposal a "gag rule," while medical groups said it violated the clinician-patient relationship. On the other hand, religious and social conservatives applauded the legislation for requiring a strong separation between family planning services and abortion. Clinics could not utilize government funds to pay for abortions under federal law. Read Also: Donald Trump's Mysterious Hospital Visit in 2019 Was To Get Colonoscopy, New Book Reveals Joe Biden vowed to lift limitations on family planning facilities In 2018, family planning clinics served around 3.9 million customers, but HHS believes that number dropped by roughly 40% due to the Trump policy. According to the agency, the disruption may have resulted in more than 180,000 unplanned births. Although President Joe Biden pledged to lift limitations on family planning facilities, abortion was not a major topic in the 2020 presidential election. It might become one in the midterm elections in 2022 to decide who controls Congress. The new regulation comes amid a pending Supreme Court lawsuit that some believe may weaken or even overturn Roe V. Wade. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization on December 1, which challenges a Mississippi statute that prohibits most abortions when "the likely gestational age of the unborn human" is greater than 15 weeks. The head of the Judicial Crisis Network, Carrie C. Severino, told The New York Times, "There are going to be people losing their minds over this case, whichever direction it goes." Related Article: Joe Biden's Border Failures Prompt American Children To Die as Drug Cartels, Mike Pompeo Claims @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Taipei says it is readying for a possible invasion by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) after as many 129 planes barreled into its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). China thinks the US cannot keep up with its commitments to defend the island, so PLA leaders are more confident than ever. It is a fact that Beijing intends to wear down the defense forces of the island enclave and periodically probe defenses. Usually, the number of aircraft is negligible and out, but more planes are buzzing in Taiwanese airspace, and Beijing is continually threatening to move in for the final blow. Mainland China claims Taipei part of its territory According to Xi Jinping, Taiwan is part of Chinese territory and could never become fully independent, to the point of using deadly force. Even prepping its forces via invasion drills by the PLA, reported the Sun UK. Seventy-seven jets of the PLAAF went into the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the weekend, a Chinese tactic to cow the islanders. Oct. 1 wasn't a good day. The #PLAAF flew 38 warplanes into #Taiwan's ADIZ, making it the largest number of daily sorties on record. Threatening? Of course. It's strange the #PRC doesn't bother faking excuses anymore. JW ( via @MoNDefense) pic.twitter.com/U2fHUwV5uK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) (@MOFA_Taiwan) October 2, 2021 On Monday, another squadron of 52 aircraft, but having nuke bombers in the group increases fear of a nuclear attack, all in one day even. Taiwan prepares for possible invasion Instead of making Taipei shake in fear, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu states the Republic of China will fight not to cower. He spoke to ABC Broadcaster of Australia, saying that defending Taiwan is in their hands and is their commitment. Taipei says it is readying for possible invasion and will not allow China an easy conquest. Read Also: Taiwan To Acquire Long-Range Missiles in Defense Against Chinese Invasion in the Future Wu added if China does attack them, they will fight to the last man, swearing by it. He made further remarks that if a war happens, assuring that Beijing will pay a high price for its ambition to subdue Taiwan. Beijing is accused of timing the invasive flights to happen in time with China's National Day. The CCP runs the Global Times newspaper, the propaganda component of the party, has declared that the islanders should be crushed. A newspaper statement said that Taiwan has thus turned itself into a block that the Chinese mainland must get rid of strategically. It further adds that Taipei is an evil force the mainland must crush. China deployed military aircraft includes 26 J-16s, 10 Su-30s, two Y-8s, and last, is one KJ-500 early warning and control. The ADIZ most visited by the Chinese air force is its mission to probe the Pratas Islands, where it has control. Earlier, a flight of 28 aircraft was considered the most entering Taiwan airspace during June. But, Beijing has gotten bolder as the US is suffering setbacks on the world stage courtesy of the current administration. A standard response is scrambling and sending up Taiwan air force F-16s, send out radio hails to the invading aircraft, and use the anti-air missiles to shoot down, but that has not happened yet, noted CNN. When the communists overran China, then Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters had to leave the People's Republic of China mainland after losing the civil war in 1949. Taiwan is an independent republic with 25 million citizens, which is a democracy and led by the current leader President Tsai Ing-wen. She wants complete independence, but Xi Jinping will not allow it. Taipei says it is readying for possible invasion due to increased military activity by the PLA and adds it will cost the communists dearly to attack them. Related Article: Taiwan Preps Against China's Threats of Invasion, Sets Budget to Buy New Jets Worth $1.4 Billion @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Suspected explosives were discovered in a car crossing the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, prompting officials to block the bridge, connecting the city to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, while conducting an investigation. According to authorities, Canadian border agents discovered the potential explosives at the secondary check area and notified Windsor police. There was no threat linked with the finding, and authorities think it was a one-time occurrence. Heavy traffic was encountered Monday morning, with vehicles idling around the bridge on both sides as traffic from both sides is now stopped. Traffic is being diverted to the Windsor Detroit Tunnel and Blue Water Bridge, USA Today reported. Read Also: North Korea Slams UN Security Council Over Missile Program, Accuses International Body of "Double Standards" Passengers urged to use alternative routes after bridge shuts down According to accounts from the site, Windsor police's explosives squad sent a robot to help with the investigation, and bridge workers were instructed to quit work. The Canada Border Services Agency stated in a statement to the Free Press that it urges passengers to use nearby ports of entry and continues to monitor the situation with emergency personnel. According to police, the driver of the involved car has been arrested, awaiting further investigation, and is presently in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). There are no additional people suspected to have been engaged in this incident, as per CTV News. According to officers, the area has been evacuated, and the bridge has been closed to incoming traffic from the United States. The Windsor Police Department's Explosive Disposal Unit is looking into the incident. The Ambassador Bridge Company said US-bound traffic "has always been accessible for travelers and will remain open for anyone seeking to cross into the United States." A CBSA notice stated that arriving travelers should explore alternative ports of entry to cross the border. The driver of the involved car has been arrested, awaiting further investigation, and is presently in the custody of the CBSA, according to police. There are no additional people suspected to have been engaged in this event. Ambassador bridge exits from nearby highway were closed Officers confirmed the area had been evacuated and the bridge had been closed to incoming traffic from the United States. The Windsor Police Department's Explosive Disposal Unit is looking into the incident. As bridge workers were instructed to quit work, the police's explosives squad allegedly sent a robot to investigate the situation further. Trade between the two nations is dependent on the bridge. Windsor police granted the international bridge the green light at 12 p.m. local time, but traffic was still being rerouted for safety and security reasons. Several dozen trucks were backed up the length of city blocks on the US side of the bridge early Monday afternoon. The bridge's exits from a neighboring highway were closed. Mustanfar Ahmed, a trucker from Windsor, claimed he had been waiting for more than three hours to return home after transporting peppers to Ohio. He stated that he had inquired several times but that no one could tell him when he would be permitted to pass, The Strait Times reported. Related Article: Power Crisis: China Urges Top Energy Firms To Secure Supplies At All Cost; Guangdong To Increase Electricity Prices @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Liz Truss, the UK foreign secretary, says that the snubbing of Joe Biden with the trade deal will cost Brexit nothing compared to what the US is missing on. This comes as the White House did not take the offer of British PM Boris Johnson for the two countries in a free trade deal. After the US president was not interested in a free trade deal (FDA), Truss made a statement saying one deal would benefit both countries, further pushing back America's closest ally to the end of the line. Instead, the UK has options, and the White House doesn't need to delude itself that it is the end-all and be-all for London. Other trade blocks available for the UK globally Miss Truss made it clear that many trade blocks are scattered internationally and would be willing to trade, reported the Express UK. These trade treaties are the Pacific Trace Block, Israel, India, and the Gulf states. She added all these mentions could be a sweet trade deal that the UK can sign on and not wait indefinitely for the White House to decide. When Conservative party members met in Manchester, they eased out the US for not dealing with the UK. Many have agreed with Liz Truss's relatively straightforward analysis, especially Biden's attitude of discounting the UK. When the US needs something, Biden will need to line up and wait as well. Some people gave their opinions over the US hesitancy to deal. The US snub will cost Brexit nothing, and it is their loss which the UK foreign secretary echoes. Read Also: UK Warns G7 Countries: China to Dominate Global Trade UK looks right partners for trade agreements Miss Truss mentioned that one foreign policy requires that the UK, US, and all allies consider is to trade with developing nations to keep them from falling into untoward hands, like authoritarian regimes. An example is how China used the Belt and Road to create economic links with developing nations globally. Even lending cash, they do not have to further their influence if they renege on the loans. She spoke in a podcast and gave the following statements, saying that the UK, Australia, and allies must reach out to countries developing as trade partners, noted the National News. If they fail to do and other authoritarian regimes take advantage of them, they will have other things in mind. Concepts of freedom and democracy will not be emphasized but fascism or radical political dogma. The UK foreign secretary made it clear that China is straight on how it plays its cards on the international scene especially. Saying one way to push against strongmen regimes is to combat them with strength. Setting up a sound infrastructure agreement with emerging countries will offset the expansion of countries like China, which has an ulterior motive to their deals, cited RTE. Another aspect is to find the right partners for trade agreements who agree on the same principles that benefit both parties. Truss added that China is an important trading partner but must follow the rules and no infringements or technology transfer for a deal to work. Disregarding the US snub will cost Brexit nothing, said the UK foreign secretary because the US is not the only trading partner. Other deals can be made with others in a beneficial relationship. Related Article: UK Foreign Secretary Called Joe Biden's Snub for Brexit Deal Waste of Time, Says Trans-Pacific Deal Could be Possible @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Biden administration has sent a warning to China about its escalating provocations towards Taiwan, a key flashpoint in Washington-Beijing ties. Dozens of Chinese Aircraft Enter Taiwan's Air Defense Zone In a recently published article in BBC News, on Saturday, Taiwan claims that 39 Chinese military aircraft flew into its air defense zone, marking Beijing's biggest invasion to date. According to the military ministry, the aircraft arrived in two waves, one during the day and the other in the evening. It comes after 38 aircraft entered the zone on Friday, including nuclear-capable bombers. Taiwan views itself as a sovereign state, whereas China sees democratic Taiwan as a renegade province. For more than a year, Taiwan has been protesting about Chinese air force operations near the island. The Chinese government, which is commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, has yet to make a public statement. However, it has previously been said that such flights are necessary to preserve Taiwan's sovereignty and to target "collusion" between Taiwan and the United States, according to a published report in Financial Times. Read Also: Chinese Warplanes: Fighter Jets, Nuclear Capable Bombers Enter Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone White House Released a Statement White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that they want Beijing to stop using military, political, and economic pressure and coercion on Taiwan; and they want peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. As a result, they will continue to help Taiwan in preserving an adequate capacity for self-defense. Since China's Nationalist government retreated to the island in 1949 after the Chinese Civil War, the U.S. has had a unique relationship with the island, offering military and other kinds of assistance. However, as part of accords with Beijing, the U.S. has refrained from establishing formal relations with Taipei, according to a published report in The Hill. Meanwhile, Taiwan regards itself as the legitimate government of the Chinese people while Beijing regards it as a renegade territory. Although there have been moments of reconciliation between Taipei and Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party has increasingly threatened reunification via military action. Psaki Describes the Commitment of the U.S. to Taiwan On Monday, Psaki called the U.S. commitment to Taiwan "rock solid" and said U.S. officials had been "privately and publicly" explicit about the administration's worries about China's conduct toward Taiwan. Psaki said, "We will continue to watch the situation very closely," according to a published article in Bloomberg. On the other hand, though the Military Department conducted two days of discussions on a variety of topics affecting the United States' defense relationship with China last week, the Pentagon did not reply to a request for comment on which defense officials had expressed concerns with China about its aggressiveness against Taiwan. Moreover, although the Biden administration claims it is not seeking a confrontation with Beijing, ties with China seem to be deteriorating on a number of fronts. Trade Between U.S. and China U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Monday that she would have direct discussions with her Chinese counterpart to push Beijing to comply with elements of the Trump-era "phase one" trade agreement. Tai said during a speech on Monday that their intention is not to inflame trade tensions with China. Related Article: Taiwan Reports Chinese Aircraft Entering the Island's Air Defense Identification Zone; Military Deploys Missile Systems To Monitor Them @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A former federal prosecutor said Brian Laundrie's parents may face obstruction and accessory charges if they gave law police false information. Chris and Roberta Laundrie have not been charged with any crimes as of yet. Critics, on the other hand, have been monitoring their every move and are dubious of their assertions that they have no knowledge of their son Brian's whereabouts. The family remained silent about Gabby Petito's disappearance, and it wasn't until last week that Dog the Bounty Hunter revealed that Brian Laundrie and his parents spent September 1-3 and September 6-8 camping at Fort De Soto Park. Protestors swarm on Brian Laundrie's home He went on to say that on the second visit, just the parents stayed. Even though Petito lived with the Laundrie family before she and Brian went to travel across the country and explore national parks, the family has been tight-lipped since her abduction. Brian Laundrie returned to his parents on September 1 without his former girlfriend Gabby Petito, who was in the van with him as they went around. Petito's remains were discovered in Grand Teton National Park on September 19 at a campsite where she slept in the van with Laundrie in late August by an FBI-led search team. Brian has only been referred to as a "person of interest" in the Petito case until now, as per Daily Mail. His lone accusation is that he used a debit card illegally to get more than $1,000 by allegedly using a bank card that was not his without authorization. As protestors continue to swarm on Brian Laundrie's home, his parents have been forced to receive their mail in the dark. Since Gabby Petito's corpse was discovered, Chris and Roberta Laundrie have received a barrage of criticism for their silence and actions regarding their son Brian Laundrie still missing. Chris can now be seen sneaking out in the middle of the night to get their mail while ignoring a reporter's inquiries, according to footage obtained by Fox News. But the reporter's queries are answered with silence as Chris returns to his home in North Fork, Florida, with his wife. Read Also: Minnesota Couple Who Starves, Beats 8-Year-Old Girl To Death in 2020 Sentenced To 40 Years in Prison Man claims to speak with Brian Laundrie Brian's parents allege that the last time they saw their lost son was on September 14 when he went missing from the 24,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Florida. But it wasn't until September 17 that the Laundries reported him missing. The FBI is looking for Brian, who is the lone person of interest after Petito's death, for using an illegal debit card and pin code to access two bank accounts on August 30 and September 1. Per The Sun, the teenage traveler and his parents, Chris, 62, and Roberta, 55, reportedly refused to assist with authorities who were urgently looking for Gabby Petito following a road trip with Brian when she vanished. The public has chastised his family for failing to assist in the search for Gabby, who was reported missing by her family days after Brian returned to Florida without her. Chris and Roberta Laundrie have "behaved strangely" since the death of their son's girlfriend; and authorities may use GPS to follow their car's travels, according to a forensics expert. On Monday, the Haywood County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina published a 911 call from a man who claimed to have talked with Brian Laundrie on the Appalachian Trail near the Tennessee-North Carolina border. Related Article: Hiker Claims He Saw Brian Laundrie Near Tennessee Border; Dog The Bounty Hunter Receives 20% Leads But Not Sharing Them With Cops @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. According to the White House, President Joe Biden intended to tell progressives on Monday that the final reconciliation package would be less than the initial $3.5 trillion. Biden To Meet Democrats Virtually In a recently published article in Newsweek, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the virtual conference was planned for Monday afternoon to discuss the way ahead, which includes acknowledging that the package would be less than initially suggested. Psaki also added that President Joe Biden wants to know what their objectives are and what their bottom lines are so he can help move things ahead in a positive way. Biden wants to unify the Democrats to adopt his proposed $3.5 trillion huge spending plan, which has been stalled due to some disagreements. Biden is also expected to meet with moderate Democrats later this week, according to the White House, as talks on the massive spending bill continue after Congress reached a stalemate last week, as per The Wall Street Journal reports. Read Also: House Ways and Means Committee Includes 5-Year Extension of Child Tax Credit in the $3.5 Social Spending Plan Importance of Reconciliation Process in the $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan Reconciliation would enable Democrats to execute most of Biden's "Build Back Better" program without having to wait for a 60-vote filibuster in the Senate. Expanding education, health care, and child assistance, as well as fighting climate change via increased infrastructure expenditures, are among the bill's top priorities. However, Democrats cannot afford to lose even one member of their caucus in order for the plan to succeed; and moderates like Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin have said that a $3.5 trillion price tag would not be acceptable, according to a report published in Yahoo News. Furthermore, Manchin has offered a $1.5 trillion topline, which has been rejected by progressives. Manchin's proposal, said to Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, "is not going to happen." Biden has proposed a $2 trillion ceiling for the reconciliation bill. Other Important Information of the $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan Senator Bernie Sanders told a news outlet over the weekend that he anticipates some "give and take" on the bill's price tag but that $3.5 trillion "should be a minimum." Progressives have vowed to derail a vote in the House on a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan that was previously approved by the Senate unless the reconciliation package is enacted. In a published article in CNBC News, in a letter to colleagues on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Congress and the White House must achieve an agreement on the contents of the funding measure "ideally within a matter of days, not weeks." By the end of October, Schumer said, the bipartisan infrastructure measure and the spending package must be on Biden's desk. He also said that none of this would be simple. Sacrifice, compromise, and finding common ground will all be required. Nobody will be able to obtain everything they want. He is sure, however, that they will be pleased with the final product, a law that will significantly enhance the lives of all Americans, not just now but for decades to come. Related Article: Rep. Pramila Jayapal Says Sen. Joe Manchin's Proposed $1.5 Trillion For Reconciliation Bill Won't Be Approved Because It's Too Low @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. As the group marched throughout New York City Monday against COVID-19 vaccination requirements, the demonstration became violent. New York City Department of Education's Vaccine Mandate The event started in Brooklyn at the New York City Department of Education's offices (DOE). Teachers had until this past Friday to get at least one dose of the COVID vaccination, or they would be barred from returning to work, according to the Department of Education's new employee requirement. Brendan Gutenschwager, an independent reporter, recorded video of the events as they occurred, as per Newsweek. It was predicted that rejecting the vaccination would result in the layoff of up to 8,000 DOE workers. However, according to Danielle Filson, press secretary for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said on Twitter that 95 percent of DOE employees had been vaccinated, this figure reflects the minority. Mayor de Blasio said, "Our parents need to know their kids will be safe. They entrust us with their children. That's what this mandate is all about. Every adult in our schools is now vaccinated, and that's going to be the rule going forward," according to a published report in Business Insider. Read Also: Vaccine Mandate: New York County's Chief Medical Examiner Refuses To Get COVID-19 Vaccine; Human Bodies Subject of Autopsies Relocated To Another Hospital Protest Turns Violent The huge throng then crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan; many holding anti-vaccine placards and banners while the demonstrations continued. Many could be heard shouting slogans like "wake up New York" and "We the People Will Not Comply" as they marched across the city. The protestors were also spotted jeering at restaurant patrons and putting stickers and placards on their tables. Patrons must provide evidence of vaccination to eat inside under a new city-wide requirement, according to a report published in Daily News. The demonstration became violent after that, with protesters knocking down different outdoor furniture. Protesters swarmed on a mobile COVID testing unit in Union Square, turning its tent upside down and smashing down tables and chairs, according to video. The tent and tables were able to be put back in place by the police. Demonstrators Moved Across Manhattan and Ended Up at the Office of the Australian Consulate in New York Following these events, the throng continued to move across Manhattan, ultimately arriving at the Australian embassy in New York. Australia has a reputation for having some of the strictest COVID restrictions in the world. While the number of cases is increasing throughout the country, the coronavirus has only claimed the lives of 1,346 people. Some protestors were spotted holding both American and Australian flags as they gathered outside the embassy building. "[The protestors] have so much free time now," one marcher with a megaphone said to the throng, "and we're going to be at schools, and we're going to be giving out flyers to the parents." No one from the consulate's office seemed to interact with the demonstrators. Meanwhile, Gutenschwager also recorded two FDNY firemen fist-bumping protestors outside a Manhattan firehouse, as well as a uniformed police officer applauding for the demonstrators on the steps of one of Manhattan's courthouses. Related Article: Group of Public School Teachers Ask US Supreme Court To Block New York City's Vaccine Mandate, Arguing It Could Result in Shortage of Teachers @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. New York businessman Andrew Yang announced his separation from the Democratic Party on Monday and changed his voter registration after his failed attempts of becoming president and mayor of New York. In a post on his website, Yang said that the process was an "emotional experience", which had him transitioning to independent after spending more than 20 years as a registered Democrat. He said that he had remained a "staunch Democrat" through his 20s and was glad he was able to befriend his colleagues and make confidantes in the party. Separation With the Democratic Party Yang explained that separating ways with his "Democrat" title was the "right thing" to do after he dropped out of the mayoral race in New York this year. Previously, the businessman launched his bid for presidency in late 2017. He is also known as a lawyer turned entrepreneur as well as the author of "The War on Normal People." The businessman appealed to his supporters by warning of the negative impacts and potential threats of technology, such as automation and artificial intelligence. Yang also had plans to pass a universal basic income called the "Freedom Dividend" that would have given $1,000 per month. His proposal served as the foundation for his plans to support a society that he argued was struggling against capitalism, NBC News reported. Read Also: Joe Biden Revokes Trump-Era Abortion Ban on Family Planning Clinics; President Remains in Support of Federal Funding In his statement, Yang noted that during his time as a Democrat, he, like many others, was drawn primarily to national races. He previously co-hosted a small fundraiser for John Kerry's campaign when he was 29, noting that he was able to raise roughly $3,000. Yang was also delighted when former United States President Barack Obama won in 2008 and his re-election in 2012. Yang also donated to Bernie Sanders' campaign in 2016 where he was inspired by the Democrat's words. The businessman later voted for Hillary Clinton against former United States President Donald Trump. Yang said that he believed Trump's election was a "red flag and call to action." Message to Supporters Despite reminiscing about his time campaigning for President Joe Biden and the number of friends he has made in the Democratic Party, he stood by his decision. While he himself left being a Democrat behind, he urged his supporters to not lose hope or change their affiliation. Yang said that it would "disenfranchise" someone if they resided in the regions that are either very red or very blue, Fox News reported. It was reported last month that Yang plans to form a third party after his views that both Democrats and Republicans have failed to address the needs of the American people. Yang is also scheduled to release the book titled, "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy" sometime later this week. The businessman's new priority will be on promoting the adoption of open primaries and ranked-choice voting. It is something that New York City and many other cities have implemented in recent years. Yang believes that the reforms would provide voters with more choices and make the election system more dynamic, Politico reported. Related Article: Facebook Whistleblower's Claims Cause Social Media Platform's Stock To Drop Nearly 5% Amid Global Service Blackout @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Several months before the first COVID-19 case was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2019, Chinese laboratories in Wuhan acquired an increased amount of coronavirus testing equipment. Increased Purchase of PCR Test In a recently published article in Newsweek, according to new statistics obtained by the Australian-American cyber security company Internet 2.0, the purchase of polymerase chain reaction testing equipment (PCR) increased by almost 50 percent in 2019. PCR tests are often used to detect whether a person is infected with COVID-19 because they enable scientists to amplify DNA samples in order to screen for illness or other genetic material. Based on the latest data, Wuhan laboratories awarded 135 contracts, including PCR equipment, in 2019, up from 89 in 2018 and 72 in 2017. Furthermore, from 2015 to 2019, Wuhan's financial expenditure on PCR equipment rose by almost 600 percent. The surge in purchasing started in May 2019 but peaked in July, just five months before the country reported its first COVID-19 case to the World Health Organization, according to the report of The Australian. Read Also: COVID-19 Patient Zero Infected by a Bat in Wuhan Lab; WHO Probe Team Reveals Chinese Authorities Might Be Aware of the Outbreak Earlier than December The findings may suggest that Chinese officials were aware of a COVID-19 outbreak before December or that Wuhan labs were focusing more on virological and pandemic research, according to a published article in Bloomberg. Cybersecurity analyst Robert Potter, who recovered the data, said that there was a significant rise in PCR procurement data beginning in May and continuing through December. Some of this may be harmless; but when taken together, it creates a pattern that calls into question the official narrative that the epidemic began in December. John Ratcliffe, the former head of US National Intelligence, also informed the news organization that the increasing acquisition of PCR equipment in Wuhan in 2019 is noteworthy. He believes this is another more convincing piece of evidence that will establish the virus's origin. Chinese Foreign Ministry Disputes the Findings China's Foreign Ministry rejected the findings on Monday, telling a news outlet that they were in the same category as previous erroneous assertions regarding the COVID-19's origins. Others argue that the Internet 2.0 study is insufficient to make such conclusions since PCR testing may be used to screen for other diseases prevalent in people and animals. The spokesperson said virus traceability is a significant scientific problem that has to be solved. China's anti-epidemic effort is transparent to the rest of the world; the situation is plain, the facts are obvious at a glance, and the campaign has stood the test of time and history. Since it was initially identified as an unknown pneumonia-like illness in late 2019, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a contentious topic. The virus has now spread to almost every corner of the globe, infecting over 235 million people and killing over 4.8 million. Until today, the origin of COVID-19 cannot yet be established because China did not allow WHO to investigate the Wuhan lab. Instead, the communist country said that it originated from a wet market in Wuhan and not in the Wuhan Laboratory. Related Article: Scientists, Activists Release Documents Linking Wuhan Lab to the Origin of the Global Pandemic @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. UN Security Council members agreed that Haiti's elections will be postponed until the second half of 2022, despite the nation's continuing political deadlock, resurgent kidnappings, and looming humanitarian catastrophe, shattering the aspirations of those hoping for a protracted transition to calm the country before voting. "Haiti needs a government with a clear mandate from its people," Mexico's permanent representative, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, said Monday, echoing the concerns of his other ambassadors. It was the council's first public gathering since Haitian President Jovenel Mose was assassinated in his private house in the hills above Port-au-Prince on July 7. It was also the first since an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 hit the country's southern peninsula a month later, killing 800,000 people. Haiti appeals to UN for assistance The earthquake killed nearly 2,200 people and left tens of thousands homeless, adding to the country's already long list of problems, Miami Herald reported. In Port-au-Prince, a nationwide strike was taking place as UN members demanded elections and the involvement of women and young people in the vote. Several transportation unions halted all operations Monday, citing gasoline shortages, the recent return of thousands of Haitian migrants from the US-Mexico border, and the continuous kidnappings by armed gangs who control vast sections of the capital. On Monday, Haiti's top diplomat appealed to the United Nations Security Council for assistance in combating gang violence and crime, saying that the existing UN political mission in the nation should be refocused on bolstering security and law enforcement agencies. In July, President Jovenel Mose was assassinated. In August, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck, killing nearly 2,200 people and damaging or destroying tens of thousands of houses. Per Times Union, the treatment of Haitian migrants massed at the southern US border by US border patrol officials caused outcry last month. Meanwhile, gang-related deaths, kidnappings, and turf conflicts have become increasingly common in Haiti. According to the United Nations, gang violence has displaced 19,000 Haitians in recent months, with many of them living in temporary shelters in filthy circumstances. Read Also: China's Choking Crackdown Continues to Rage On as Xi Jinping Tightens Control of The Internet, Media Giants Haiti's continuing political deadlock, humanitarian catastrophe The UN's Haiti ambassador, Helen La Lime, informed the council that Haiti's National Police had been trying to implement suggestions given by UN police specialists this summer. She did say, though, that the police is "overworked and under-resourced." Rockfeller Vincent was the ultimate insider in the investigation of the killing of Haiti's former president Jovenel Moise, who was brutally gunned down in his bedroom in July, until only a few weeks ago. He handled the vast presidential assassination inquiry as Haiti's justice minister, which has implicated a Haitian-American pastor, hundreds of Colombian hired soldiers, and elements of Haiti's own police force. The investigators then went out to Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was in office at the time. According to evidence of phone contacts between Henry and one of the alleged masterminds on the night of the assassination, the country's top prosecutor, Bed-Ford Claude, announced he will seek charges against the Prime Minister in connection with the murder. He also demanded Henry's presence in his office for interrogation. Vincent, who claims to have gone into hiding since his termination, told CNN on Friday from an unidentified location that he believed it should have been the other way around. Vincent accuses the Prime Minister of using the firings to "cover his tracks." Related Article: Haiti Crisis Deepens as Prime Minister Fires Top Prosecutor For Seeking Charges in President's Killing @YouTube @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Taliban responded and killed many militants during an assault on an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affiliate's base hours after a fatal explosion outside a Kabul mosque, the Taliban claimed Monday. Bombing Outside the Mosque In a recently published article in Newsweek, a roadside bomb murdered five people outside the Eid Gah mosque on Sunday. Despite the fact that no claim of responsibility for the assault was made, ISIS was suspected. Three individuals were detained, according to Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed Taliban troops stormed an ISIS operations center in the northern suburb of Khair Khana, where he was attending his mother's burial ceremony. Mujahid refused to say how many ISIS militants were killed or if any Taliban fighters were injured in the assault. ISIS has increased assaults against its enemies in eastern Afghanistan since the Taliban took control in mid-August; but recent moves indicate that ISIS may be moving closer to the capital, according to a recently published article in ALJAZEERA. Read Also: ISIS Claims the Explosion of Vehicles in Jalalabad Targeting the Taliban Fighters Security Is a Growing Challenge to the Taliban The blast highlighted the Taliban's increasing difficulties just weeks after they seized control of Afghanistan in a blitz assault that culminated in their seizure of Kabul on August 15. The Taliban used to carry out bombing and shooting assaults on a regular basis during the US occupation of Afghanistan, but they now have to contend with other armed organizations employing the same tactics. The Taliban is struggling to manage the nation without the enormous foreign assistance provided to the US-backed administration they destroyed, and the increasing security difficulties come at a time when the economy is in free fall, as per CBS News. Since the coup in mid-August, the ISKP has increased its assaults against the Taliban. It has a significant presence in Nangarhar's eastern province, where it has claimed responsibility for numerous murders in Jalalabad, the provincial capital. Attacks in Kabul have been uncommon so far, but ISKP has shown indications of extending its presence beyond the east and closer to the city in recent weeks. The Reemergence of ISIS-K in Afghanistan After being damaged by a massive US bombing campaign aimed against them in the eastern portion of the nation in 2019, ISIS reemerged in Afghanistan in 2020. They were held responsible for a terrible assault on a maternity facility in 2020, which claimed the lives of 24 people, including newborn infants. They were found guilty earlier this year of a horrific assault on a school in Afghanistan's mainly Shiite Dasht-e-Barchi district, which killed more than 80 children. ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosion outside Kabul airport on August 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 US military personnel. Thousands of civilians were attempting to get to the airport to flee Taliban control. Meanwhile, ISIS has a significant presence in Nangarhar's eastern region and considers the Taliban to be an adversary. ISIS has claimed responsibility for numerous assaults against the Taliban, including several murders in Jalalabad, the province capital. Related Article: Taliban Claim Bombing Outside the Main Mosque in Kabul Kills Several People @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Joe Biden has agreed to reverse a previous ruling regarding abortion that Donald Trump put in place during his administration. According to reports, Biden reversed a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics, also known as Title X. The taxpayer-funded program allots a $250 million budget for clinics to provide birth control and other primary healthcare services to low-income women. During Trump's administration, the Title X program was barred. And it prevented clinics from referring patients for abortion. This resulted in the mass exit of service providers that have ties with Planned Parenthood. POTUS's decision can help restore federal family planning program Following Biden's decision to reverse the ban, the Department of Health and Human Services said that the move could help restore the federal family planning program the way it was run during Barack Obama's presidency. At the time, clinics were able to refer women seeking help to get an abortion to a provider. "I have heard that almost everywhere in the country people have made the decision that conditions will be good for them to return to the program. My sense is that people have been waiting for the rule," Clare Coleman, president of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, said via the Huffington Post. Read Also: Women's Rights Still Violated Today From Afghanistan To US; Activists Turn To Social Media Texas law banning abortion after six weeks approved Before Trump banned abortion referrals, it was estimated that family planning clients served approximately 3.8 million. But this number dropped by 40 percent after the Trump policy was put in place. In other states such as Texas and Mississippi, there are fears that abortion may completely be banned and that law can overturn the 1973 Roe V. Wade decision to legalize abortion. The Supreme Court already allowed the Texas law to take effect, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Mississippi is also in the process of pushing for the same law that will ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Last month, Biden slammed the Supreme Court for refusing to block Texas's six-week abortion ban, according to Texas Tribune. The POTUS said that that law doesn't also allow exceptions for pregnancy due to rape or incest. As such, it could empower strangers and incentivize them to make with the prospect of making money. Illinois Democratic State Rep Kelly Cassidy fighting for TEXAS bill Following the new Texas law, Illinois Democratic State Rep Kelly Cassidy has filed a bill that, if approved, would allow women to sue men for unwanted pregnancies, according to Komo News. Cassidy said this is their response to Texas's highly restrictive abortion law, which they believe isn't fair for women who became pregnant due to sexual abuse or rape. If a case is won under The Expanding Abortion Services Act or TEXAS bill, half of the money they will get will be donated to a public stated fund to pay for abortions for residents of Texas and nearby counties. However, it will take some time before the TEXAS bill can go into effect. And Cassidy first needs the signature of the House, the Senate, and Gov. JB Pritzker. Related Article: Illinois Democratic State Rep Kelly Cassidy Files Bill That Will Allow Women To Sue Men For Unwanted Pregnancies @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Cumbre Vieja volcano has started to erupt more violently recently, putting residents, their homes, and livelihood at more risk. Last weekend, the Canary Islands government and Spain's Instituto Geografico Nacional released a joint statement saying that the volcano's activity continues to be intense. They also confirmed that a new crater was discovered and that the volcano is also throwing out millions of cubic meters of lava. This activity suggests that the eruption will most likely last for a couple more weeks before it will finally stop. Canary Islands to receive financial help and support following volcanic eruption But despite the ongoing eruption, Miguel Angel Morcuende, the technical director of the Canary Islands' emergency volcano response committee, said that the air quality in the affected areas has improved. This means that it can employ local stay-at-home measures. Additionally, new desalination plans will also be used to replace an irrigation link destroyed by the volcano. Once completed, this will ensure that residents on the south of the island will have enough water supply. Read Also: La Palma Residents Still Feeling The Effects Of Volcano Eruption; Urged To Lockdown As Lava Reaches The Sea Canary Islands President Angel Victor Torres also promised to help the 1,000 families that lost their homes, as well as the hundred others that lost their livelihood. "We recognize the anguish, but it's teaching us a lesson. Because when you approach somebody who's lost everything, they are always willing to tackle the situation. They're not giving up," Torres said via CNN. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also pledged $238 million to aid the island following the volcanic eruption. Sanchez said that the cabinet would approve a powerful series of measures that will make it possible to address problems with infrastructure, water supply, employment, agriculture, tourism, and fiscal benefits. Cumbre Vieja volcano won't stop erupting anytime soon The La Palma volcano first erupted on Sept. 19, and it has been spewing molten rocks at varying speeds. At the time, residents of La Palma were asked to evacuate from their homes. And those with disabilities and the elderly were transported out of their properties, according to the Washington Post. Following the evacuation of 5,000 individuals, Spain's Civil Guard predicted that they might have to evacuate 10,000 more residents due to the worsening conditions in the area. Days later, officials expressed their concern over the possibility of the molten hot lava bringing acid rain to the Canary Islands. And their fears were confirmed less than a week later when the lava finally reached the sea. To prevent themselves from getting sick, officials urged residents to seal their doors and windows to stop toxic gas from entering. Authorities also established an exclusion zone to protect residents from explosions and toxic gases. Unfortunately, the end is still nowhere in sight because predictions are that the volcano will continue to erupt for more weeks. Luckily, no casualty has been recorded as of press writing. However, some beachgoers are upset after one of the most famous beaches on the Canary Islands is washed out. Playa Nueva, a go-to spot for surfers, no longer exists after the volcanic eruption destroyed it, according to El Pais. Related Article: La Palma Residents Urged To Evacuate Following Massive Volcano Eruption; No Injuries Recorded @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Donald Trump just announced the new name of his super political action committee (PAC), and the moniker already received hundreds of criticisms. Earlier this week, Trump announced that his PAC will now be called "Make America Great Again, Again." Before the official announcement, Trump's Vice President Mike Pence tested out the moniker at the Republican National Convention last year. However, Trump's supporters and critics also became confused, according to the Huffington Post. Trump can't remove Lewandowski as a board member A reporter for the NY Times, Maggie Haberman, said that POTUS decided to rebrand his PAC to get around his former aide, Corey Lewandowski. The latter was recently accused of sexual misconduct after Trashelle Odom, the wife of Idaho construction executive John Odom, accused Lewandowski of touching her repeatedly. Odom also claimed Lewandowski said vile and disgusting things to her, and the longtime Trump aide also allegedly stalked her. According to Haberman, Trump couldn't legally replace Lewandowski from his role as one of the two board members of his first super PAC. So, they have decided to form a new group. On Twitter, several Trump critics made fun of his new super PAC name and said that it lacked originality. Others also called "Make America Great Again, Again" a parody and said that the shortcut is not MAGAA. Read Also: Corey Lewandowski, Former Trump Aide Accused Of Unwanted Sexual Advances And Stalked Female Victim Save America organization cuts ties with Corey Lewandowski Meanwhile, Trump's organization recently cut ties with Lewandowski amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump and Save America, released a statement saying that Lewandowski will move on to his new endeavors. He also thanked Lewandowski for everything that he contributed to the organization. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem no longer working with Lewandowski Other than Trump's organization, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also announced her decision to stop working with Lewandowski. The latter advised Noem ahead of her presidential bid in the 2024 election. "Corey was always a volunteer, never paid a dime (campaign or official). He will not be advising the Governor in regard to the campaign or official office," Ian Fury, Noem's communications director, said via USA Today. Lewandowski has not directly responded to Odom's allegations. His attorney David Chesnoff also said that they won't be responding to allegations that have not been filed until now. But Chesnoff noted that they would respond to the sexual misconduct claims when they feel it's appropriate, according to Politico. Trashelle Odom's complaints were not a first Other than Odom, multiple women also came forward with their allegations of sexual misconduct against Lewandowski. Four years ago, Joy Villa also accused Lewandowski of sexual misconduct. According to Villa, the former Trump aide slapped her buttocks twice while they were at an event in Washington. Following the first slap, Villa asked Lewandowski to stop and told him that she would report him for sexual harassment. However, Lewandowski slapped her buttocks again before reminding her that he works in the private sector. Her friends encouraged her to file a formal complaint against Lewandowski, so she spoke to the police on Christmas Eve of 2017. At the time, Villa said that she was initially scared to come forward with her complaint because she didn't want to embarrass Lewandowski, his family, and her family. Related Article: Republicans End Relationship With Former Donald Trump Adviser Corey Lewandowski But Won't Cut Ties With POTUS @ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] Space tourism may not be a vision exclusive to pioneers such as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk or Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. In fact, a Chinese company is following Musk and Bezos' lead in pushing a space tourism rocket to fruition. CAS Space, a commercial arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, showed mock-ups of those rockets that is apparently inspired by the creations of Musk's SpaceX and Bezos' Blue Origin. Chinese Rocket Resembles New Shepard, Starship The rocket's upper portion looks like Blue Origin's New Shepard, the mock-ups reveal, while its body resembles SpaceX's Starship, with those familiar side fins that would guide the spacecraft's descent. According to a Daily Mail report, CAS Space is looking at sending paying space tourists to suborbital space in 2024. In a press release, CAS Space said that the rocket will accommodate seven passengers, who will spend 10 minutes floating in zero gravity near the Karman line, which is the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space that is around 62 miles above the Earth's surface. Read Also: SpaceX Inspiration4 Launch Today: How to Track Historic Space Flight Online Once a childhood dream and an oft-repeated theme in most science fiction novels and movies, space tourism has become a reality, thanks to three business moguls pushing its boundaries. Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson have already ventured into suborbital space. While Musk has not reached space himself, his company SpaceX recently sent four civilians into orbit last month for a three-day space trip. China is now the next country to venture into space tourism, with a crew of civilians set for a mission in just two years. The Daily Mail report said the reusable rocket will undergo a series of tests ahead of its planned launch. These include a suborbital demonstration next year and an unmanned mission in 2023. Then, they target the actual suborbital manned space tourism flight in 2024. CAS Space Plans for Space Tourism Rocket Deemed Ambitious CAS Space's plans would seem more ambitious given its relatively small time frame, compared to the number of years the American aerospace companies spent in development of its spacecraft before actually launching tourists into space. Blue Origin made its first demonstration in 2015 and it took the company six years before sending a human crew into orbit. In the CAS Space press release, the company said the civilian crew will undergo short-term training before the launch, but it didn't mention any specific details about the type of training they would receive. SpaceX's Inspiration mission launched four civilians to space onboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, the crew lifted off on September 15 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Composed of Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux and Chris Sembroski, the civilian crew were strapped into the pressurized Crew Dragon cabin called Resilience. They were all wearing black-and-white suits as they embarked on their historic space journey. Before their mission, the team underwent centrifuge training to get ready for a mix of dynamic spaceflight situations, which includes launch, reentry, ocean splashdown and a possible in-flight abort scenario. Branson, Bezos' Historic Space Tourism Missions Branson was among the first non-astronauts to reach space with five other people orbiting 53 miles above the Earth last July 11. He and his crew spent eight minutes in zero gravity. Days later, Bezos made a similar trip with brother Mark Bezos and the 18-year-old Oliver Daemen--who was the first paying space tourist to book a seat on the space journey. They were also with the 82-year-old Wally Funk, who passed the NASA space program in the 1960s but never made it to space. Bezos' contingent traveled 66 miles above the Earth, which is 13 miles higher than Branson's. Blue Origin will have a second space tourism mission this month, with Star Trek icon and actor William Shatner onboard. Related Article: Jeff Bezos Space Flight a Success! Video Highlight, Crew Interview After Blue Origin Launch, Funniest Meme Reactions Tesla shocked the automotive world with its impressive third quarter delivery performance, producing up to 237,832 vehicles and delivering up to 241,300 vehicles. Analysts from Morgan Stanley explained the secret to Tesla's success in an investor note called "How Did Tesla Find Chips?" Interestingly, Elon Musk tweeted his thoughts on the topic. According to Teslarati, Tesla broke past the Wall Street consensus estimate of 222,700 deliveries for Q3 2021. Wall Street predicted this season would be Tesla's "strongest ever" sales performance, and Tesla surpassed all expectations. Among the 241,300 vehicles that Tesla delivered, a total of 9,275 units were Model S and Model X. The remaining 232,025 units were Model 3 and Model Ys. The numbers are overwhelmingly huge, especially since many of the current industries report chip shortages problems. Investors immediately got interested with Tesla's success story. Tesla Chip Shortage Resolved! A Huge Boost on Tesla Earnings Twitter user @SawyerMerritt tweeted Morgan Stanley's investor's note. The note was drafted by lead analyst Adam Jonas, who examined Tesla's ability to avoid public stoppages in vehicle production and even capture the best quarter in company history. Morgan Stanleys Jonas in $TSLA note: How did Tesla find enough semiconductor supply to beat expectations when the rest of the industry is seeing production schedules get crushed on shortages? Add this to the long list of evidence that proves Tesla is different from the rest pic.twitter.com/lJTWFrK6ii Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 4, 2021 Jonas said Tesla's success lies in four of the automotive company's unique traits: Vertical Integration, Sophistication, Negotiation, and Scale. Vertical Integration Tesla arguably has one of the most vertically integrated original equipment manufacturer (OEM) systems in the automotive industry. Because of this, the company easily identified and mitigated supply chain distribution. Tesla ensured no materials would get wasted on its automotive construction. Sophistication Aside from parts, Tesla automotive also boasts advance and unique technologies. Tesla has historically designed their own silicon, which also applies to the latest generation of processor technology on the vehicles. Again, this helps ensure a good resupply chain. Read Also: Tesla Autopilot Bug: Elon Musk Promises Bug Report Tool After Users Complain of Problematic Autopilot Negotiation Despite being vertically integrated on the market, Tesla maintained its relationship with suppliers for parts it doesn't make. This is because Tesla's culture is more ambitious and diverse than other OEMs. Scale While Tesla is advertised as the most iconic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, it has a relatively smaller OEM scale. This mitigates the scope of supply tightness. Jonas promptly called Tesla a "strategic" customer. In another report, Teslarati quoted Tesla's sentiments: "Our team has demonstrated an unparalleled ability to react quickly and mitigate disruptions to manufacturing caused by semiconductor shortages. Our electrical and firmware engineering teams remain hard at work designing, developing and validating 19 new variants of controllers in response to ongoing semiconductor shortages." Elon Musk Reveals Its 'Extremely Difficult' Infamously known for being highly participative with tweets, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a reply to Teslarati's reports. He said the whole process was "extremely difficult" and immediately acknowledged the efforts of Tesla's engineering, supply chain, production, and key suppliers. This was *extremely* difficult. Huge props to Tesla engineering, supply chain, production & key suppliers. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2021 Related Article: Elon Musk Hilariously Jokes 'Mad Max' Upgrade for Tesla Cybertruck: Guitar Flamethrower Coming? Honda, the ultimate Japanese car brand, seems to be extremely keen to preview their new 2023 Honda Civic Type R. Honda is giving utmost focus on the range-topping car model. The 2023 Honda Civic Type R release date has not been officially announced but is undeniably not far from the horizon. Some say that it will be released this 2022. The newly hatched member of the Honda family is about to get off the ground and head to Nurburgring for its testing phase. Before that, Honda decided to reveal and tease car enthusiasts with official photographs of the newly designed 2023 Honda Civic Type R camouflaged prototype. Both the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires and Brembo red brake calipers are easily noticed at first glance. 2023 Honda Civic Type R Specs and Features As reported by Autoevolution, the 2023 Honda Civic Type R features slightly larger upper and lower grilles, two air intakes covered by vinyl stickers in the bumper, muscular side skirts, and a redesigned back end. The massive wing and the three exhaust pipes built into the four-fin diffuser remain part of the design. It features Brembo brakes with red calipers and rides on black Y-spoke wheels with Michelin rubber. The huge plastic pieces at the back of the new Type R are gone, indicating fewer faux air vents than its predecessor. The center-mounted triple exhaust is still present, but the central point has grown in size and is now larger than the outside one. The center exhaust tip on the old model is smaller and acts as a resonator. The rear wing's position has also changed, as it now rests somewhat higher on the tailgate and has a flatter profile. Generally, the 2023 Honda Civic Type R specs design is more subdued than its predecessor, but the Fast and Furious aesthetic is still present. Also, one thing is for certain: it will not be mistaken for anything else. On a similar note, Honda has already announced that the new-generation Civic Type R will keep the front-wheel-drive configuration, six-speed manual transmission, and turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Read Also: 2022 Honda Civic Interior Boasts Redesigned Entertainment System: Specs, Release Date, and Other Features According to Motor1, similar to how the conventional 2022 Civic has a much cleaner design than its forerunner, the Type R does away with the old one's cluttered appearance. The front end appears more menacing with a wider lower air inlet flanked by what we hope are real vents hidden beneath the red and black camouflage. Compared to the conventional Civic Hatchback, the upper grille appears to be chunkier and has a subtly different honeycomb pattern. For the time being, Honda is keeping the technical details under wraps, but we do know that the Si and the 2023 Honda Civic Type R will only be available with a manual transmission, based on earlier claims. The hot hatch had been rumored to have a 400-hp hybrid powertrain and even AWD, but the latest information suggests it will be an advancement of today's 2.0-liter FWD recipe, with perhaps a bit of power. Related Articles: 2022 Honda Civic Leaked Photos Show Redesigned Exterior Ven. Jeong Nyum, center, head monk of Woljeongsa Temple, and Kolleen Park, right, director of the musical, pose during a recent press conference held at the headquarters of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, Seoul. Yonhap By Park Ji-won Audiences will be able to see a part of the musical, "Lepaka Muryang," inspired by Buddhism during the 18th Odaesan Mountain Culture Festival, an annual event held by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism to promote Korean Buddhist culture at Woljeongsa Temple in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province from Oct. 8 to 10. The temple is one of Korea's five biggest temples and a cultural relic built during the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.-A.D. 935), making it over 1,000 years old. The musical revolves around a stonecutter and the queen of a Buddhist country who wishes to build a stone pagoda. Queen Hyeryu, who seized power in an early age, decides to build the pagoda to help build her political power. "'Lepaka' means 'stonecutter' in Sanskrit The musical centers around the journey of Muryang, a young stonecutter who has an attachment to stone while undertaking difficult training in stone cutting from a teacher, in order to become the best craftsman, and then builds a pagoda (for Queen Hyeryu)," Kolleen Park, director of the musical, told reporters during a recent press conference. The full-length musical is expected to be completed in 2023. Up to six songs and highlights of scenes will be presented as a preview during the festival on Oct. 8. Actor Shin Sung-soo will play Muryang and actress Kim So-hyang will play Queen Hyeryu. Park, a renowned musical director, directed the piece, which was inspired by her childhood and a piece she wrote about 'tapdoli', the folk ritual of walking around a pagoda in a circle while playing instruments and dancing, praying for wellness. She added that she used to play in the yard of a Buddhist temple and tried to feature this memory in the piece. A range of programs, such as opening performances by samulnori (a Korean traditional percussion performance) musicians and b-boying dancers, a talk about environment issues, an exhibition of students' paintings of Odaesan, a calligraphy contest and a meditation session will also take place during the festival. "We organized the festival in Woljeongsa Temple, which has a cultural and historical legacy of 1400 years, to provide hope and comfort to the pandemic-hit world," Jeong Nyum, head monk of Woljeongsa Temple said. Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) CEO Kim Tae-hyun / Courtesy of KDIC By Park Jae-hyuk Kim Tae-hyun, the former Financial Services Commission (FSC) secretary general who has been appointed CEO of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC), said in his inaugural speech, Friday, that he will do his best to sell the state-run institution's remaining stake in Woori Financial Group. "I will make every effort so that the government can retrieve the maximum amount of funds it injected," he said on the first day of his three-year term. The government injected 12.8 trillion won ($10 billion) into Woori during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. More recently, it has announced that it would finish selling its stake in the financial firm by 2022, in accordance with a three-year roadmap. The KDIC plans to sell up to two-thirds of its remaining 15.13 percent stake in Woori by the end of this year. Kim also said it is time to consider improving the overall deposit insurance system in line with changes in the external environment, such as the growth of the economy and the diversification of financial products. The nation's deposit insurance coverage ceiling has been fixed at 50 million won per depositor for a long time, so financial consumers have been calling for the insurer to raise its coverage to at least 100 million won per depositor. Born in 1966, Kim graduated from Seoul National University and started his career as a government official in 1992. He served in various positions at the FSC, becoming its secretary-general in 2019. "Not only did he contribute to stabilizing the financial market amid the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2007 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, he also continued making efforts to protect financial consumers when he was serving as a government official," the FSC said in a press release, Wednesday, after FSC Chairman Koh Seung-beom asked President Moon Jae-in to appoint Kim as the new KDIC CEO. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki attends the parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap By Lee Kyung-min Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Tuesday that instability in the real estate market has continued despite government policies over the past few years, essentially acknowledging the failure of policies to ameliorate the high cost of real estate here. "It is regretful that the real estate market shows no sign of stabilization, despite the fact that the government has exhausted all policy measures," he said at the parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance at the National Assembly. However, he made it clear that no policy course correction will follow under the broad policy objective to stem speculation and provide stable housing arrangements via an increase in the housing supply. Data from KB Kookmin Bank states that the sales price of an apartment in Seoul averaged 1.19 billion won ($943,000) last month, up 22 million won from August. The figure rose 156.78 million won in nine months, from 10.42 billion won in December of last year. "The government has been consistent in imposing stern measures against those seeking illicit gains from real estate speculation. The government has been and will continue to be committed to cracking down on those who treat homes as a means of investment at the expense of ordinary people," he added. The current expansionary policy will continue through to next year, he added, to sustain a virtuous cycle of fiscal soundness for a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong reaffirmed South Korea's commitment Tuesday to contributing to a "resilient and inclusive" recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, his office said. Chung made the remark during the 15th ministerial session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), held via video links, stressing the importance of a "fair and equitable" distribution of coronavirus vaccines. "Minister Chung expressed the government's commitment to contributing to the preparation for a resilient, inclusive and sustainable post-COVID-19 era," the ministry said. The speech was pre-recorded. He explained Seoul's contribution to COVAX AMC and efforts to provide antivirus support to some 120 countries to help them with COVID-19 responses, it added. COVAX AMC is an international mechanism intended to provide COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries at low cost. Chung called for the strengthening of inclusiveness to alleviate inequality that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, vowing that South Korea will continue to provide support to help the vulnerable groups, such as women and irregular workers. He also introduced Seoul's efforts to expand the official development assistance (ODA) related to climate change and green growth, asking for the international community's support for its bid to host the next U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) in 2023. UNCTAD is an intergovernmental organization established under the U.N. to promote the interests of developing countries in world trade and investment. In July, UNCTAD upgraded South Korea's status from a developing country to a developed one. (Yonhap) Rep. Youn Mee-hyang / Korea Times file A lawmaker, who formerly headed a major civic group supporting women forced into wartime sexual slavery by Japan, has been accused of embezzling the organization's funds 217 times, mostly for personal purposes, such as paying at "galbi" or rib restaurants, an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday. Rep. Youn Mee-hyang, who led the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan until her election in 2020, spent over 100 million won (US$84,300) of the organization's funds for personal use from January 2011 until March 2020, Rep. Jun Joo-hyae of the main opposition People Power Party said, citing a copy of the indictment she received from the justice ministry. Youn made the transactions via debit card or bank transfers in amounts ranging from 1,500 won to 8.5 million won, according to the indictment. In March 2015, Youn spent 260,000 won at a galbi restaurant, while in July of that year she spent 26,900 won at a pastry store and 90,000 won at a foot massage salon. Other items included 52,000 won spent at a "samgyetang," or ginseng chicken soup, restaurant in August 2015 and bank transfers marked as "yoga instruction fee," "fine," and "Youn Mee-hyang's general income tax payment." The indictment also showed several money transfers from the council to Youn's daughter's bank account. The lawmaker, who has denied any wrongdoing, refuted the charges in a Facebook post, saying the cited transactions were made for official purposes and any that were personal were paid for herself, not using donations to the council. "The charges the prosecution has brought against me have clearly not been proven as crimes and I have faithfully been refuting them through my trial," she wrote. "I strongly demand a halt to the recent behavior of malicious reporting based on assumptions that the prosecution's charges amount to crimes. I will get through this unjust situation that has been brought about by the prosecution's forced indictment," she added. Youn was indicted in September last year on charges of fraud and embezzlement of funds meant for the elderly women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II. The victims are euphemistically called "comfort women." In a court hearing last month, a former accountant for the council testified that the group reimbursed the expenses of its staff upon receiving proper documentation and that Youn never asked to be reimbursed without submitting a receipt. The embattled lawmaker was elected on a proportional representation ticket of the ruling Democratic Party in April 2020. Last June, she was expelled from the party over allegations of illegal real estate dealings. (Yonhap) Defense Minister Suh Wook leaves the session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee's audit into the ministry in Seoul, Tuesday, as the inspection was suspended as rival parties clashed over a land development project involving Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung. Yonhap By Kang Seung-woo A lucrative, possibly illicit land development project involving the ruling party's leading presidential contender has been disrupting the National Assembly audit of government ministries and agencies, with the rival parties engaging in a war of words. The Assembly kicked off its annual audit into 745 ministries and agencies for a three-week run, Friday. The inspection, the last of its kind under the Moon Jae-in administration, comes as Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, who is likely to be the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) presidential candidate, has been under attack for his alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding the development project in the Daejang district of the city of Seongnam. The 56-year-old has been accused of having handed out business favors to Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, a key investor in the development project, in the past while serving as mayor of the city. In that respect, from the beginning of the audit last Friday, the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) did not waste time in finding fault with the Gyeonggi governor, with its lawmakers displaying placards demanding an independent special counsel investigation into the scandal at the audit venues. As a result of this, many of the audit sessions by seven standing committees slated for Friday had to be suspended. "The PPP is trying to transform the audit session into a political battleground," Rep. Park Ju-min of the DPK said, while Rep. Kim Jong-min, a fellow DPK lawmaker, said, "Such a political move in the parliamentary audit is inviting public misunderstanding and undermining the authority of the entire National Assembly." In response, Rep. Yoon Han-hong of the PPP said, "Lawmakers can ask questions in various ways, including video or PPT." The picketing campaign continued, Tuesday, with the sessions of several committees related to the scandal land infrastructure and transport, legislation and judiciary, and public administration and security being disrupted. The PPP staged the protests even at committees unrelated to the issue, such as national defense; agriculture, food and rural affairs; and oceans and fisheries, with their sessions also being suspended. "Lawmakers are entrusted with authority from the people to check on whether state affairs are running properly, but such actions by the PPP are compromising the Assembly's dignity," said Rep. Kim Kyo-heung of the DPK who belongs to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee. However, Rep. Park Seong-min of the PPP responded: "A scandal causing public outrage has occurred, and we want to confirm it via the parliamentary audit. What's the problem?" The audit sessions face becoming a battleground for the rival parties to take advantage of opportunities to defame each other's presidential contenders over other politically controversial issues ahead of the election scheduled for March 9, 2022. Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor general and front-runner presidential hopeful of the opposition, is caught up in a scandal alleging that he had tried to meddle in last year's general election by having one of his subordinates prod the PPP to lodge criminal complaints against critical ruling bloc figures and journalists while serving as chief prosecutor. By Kaushik Basu ITHACA Recent days have brought me a storm of emails and calls about the collapse of the World Bank's most widely watched annual report, Doing Business (DB), which ranks countries by how easily and efficiently small businesses can operate in them. On Sept. 16, the bank announced that it would discontinue the report after an independent investigation by the law firm WilmerHale revealed the Bank's sordid efforts, starting in 2017 (I left the Bank in 2016, I hasten to add), to manipulate data in order to improve China and Saudi Arabia's DB rankings. The Bank had suspended publication of the index last year, owing to "irregularities" in its data. As the head of the World Bank division that produced DB from 2012 to 2016, I found the WilmerHale report disturbing to read. Yes, countries have always lobbied and jostled to improve their rankings. But I never gave in to any of that pressure. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, did any of my predecessors. It was deeply disappointing to read about how this subsequently changed and what happened inside the Bank, including accounts of junior staff being "publicly threatened" and feeling "powerless to object to carrying out the data improprieties being requested by senior bank management." This is the kind of behavior one expects under an authoritarian government, not at a premier Bretton Woods institution. The World Bank deserves credit for commissioning such a transparent investigation, and now it has an obligation to act on its findings. Some senior officials will no doubt be shown the door. But this is also the time to take stock of the entire business of Doing Business. The bank's decision to stop publishing DB is an understandable initial reaction. But I would advise the organization to use this interruption to develop a better report, instead of ending it for good. I have a long and complicated relationship with DB. Many progressive economists have railed against it because of its admittedly neoliberal bias. But the index also highlighted important shortcomings in many developing countries, where cronyism among big business and government, along with high bureaucratic costs, crush individual enterprise and cripple small businesses. When I was the Indian government's chief economic adviser, I found DB's data useful for pushing reforms that would help the small players. At that time, I had no idea that I would one day be in charge of the division producing the report. During my transition, I felt like a restaurant patron who had suddenly been asked to run the kitchen. It was an eye-opening experience for me to discover how the DB economies were evaluated. I could see that there was room for improvement, but what truly impressed me was the transparency and integrity of the exercise. It was an expensive operation in which the Bank collected data meticulously from all the economies 189 at the time and then constructed the rankings without regard to who won or lost. We improved some of the data and the selection of items that we included in the index. But any such change would alter some of the rankings, giving the impression that some countries were doing better or worse than before, when in fact the shifts were entirely due to the changes in our criteria. For that reason, we had to hold back on many planned improvements. So, what might a new, improved DB look like? For starters, the bank should switch to collecting de facto data. Currently, the bulk of the DB ranking is based on countries' de jure laws the rules and regulations in the books rather than on what actually happens on the ground. My own back-of-the-envelope calculation was that two-thirds of the ranking depended on the de jure. This causes an obvious problem. Properly devised cross-country rankings, like the pre-2017 DB, spur competition among governments. But authoritarian governments in particular can change their rule books through top-down orders and thus improve their index score even if this makes little difference to people's lives. Gathering de facto data will require independent surveys and some randomized data collection, making DB more expensive to produce. But the World Bank can easily bear the additional burden. Second, DB currently does not include an indicator regarding labor laws and regulations (it did once have, but it was dropped). This is an unfortunate omission, which a revamped DB report should redress. Finally, every time the DB report came out during my years at the Bank, I would be at pains to explain that it was about doing business. Achieving a high ranking must not be an all-consuming goal, because the health of a country's economy also depends on fairness and social justice. But once such a game gets started, it is difficult to persuade countries that other things matter besides business. The World Bank now has an opportunity to correct this by creating a supplement to the DB report that ranks countries in terms of "Being Just." The BJ supplement would assess how fair and just a country's laws and regulations are. This can start as a small exercise, with a BJ ranking being published alongside the DB ranking. Such an initiative would be bound to generate interest among researchers to investigate the connections between being good for business and being fair and just. More importantly, it would create incentives for countries to excel in both areas. Last but not least, it would offer the World Bank an opportunity to rebuild its reputation for producing useful and impartial rankings. Kaushik Basu, a former chief economist of the World Bank and chief economic adviser to the government of India, is professor of economics at Cornell University and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate ( ). By Ahn Ho-young In the past six or so weeks since the fall of Kabul, Korean news media have been abuzz with the lessons Korea must learn from the incident. They ranged from warning that U.S. troops may one day depart from Korea suddenly to suggestions that Korea must seriously consider diversifying its foreign and security policy in view of the waning power of the U.S. Some articles expressed "dismay" that U.S. President Joe Biden, in spite of his trademark declaration that "America is back," seems to share the "America first" penchant of Donald Trump. Let me start by addressing this dismay. In the first place, there is no need for dismay. During the presidential election of 2016, the Republican Party used to provide opportunities for diplomats to meet with foreign policy advisers of candidate Trump. These advisers used to defend Trump's "America first" policy by saying that it is only reasonable for a U.S. president to put America first, as the head of any country around the world would do. I thought it was a smart point, and said to myself that in fact U.S. presidents, all the way from George Washington, must have done exactly that. At the same time, I think the real point is how a U.S. president tried to implement "America first" in a given situation. A U.S. president tried to do it in the middle of a world war by preparing for post-war institutions for peace and prosperity, based on the belief that such institutions will best protect U.S. national interests. That was Franklin Roosevelt's approach. Another U.S. president tried to do it through a "transactional approach" as Trump did. The objectives they pursued may have been the same. However, the different approaches they took made all the difference for the world. Several years ago, Stephen Sestanovich wrote a book titled "Maximalist: America in the World from Truman to Obama." As the title suggests, the book was an overview of the foreign policies of U.S. presidents starting from Truman all the way to Obama. The book was based on the observation that the foreign policies of successive U.S. presidents used to oscillate between maximalist and its opposite approach, depending on the time and on the president. There were over-simplifications in the book here and there, but I still found the book to be a helpful tool for understanding U.S. foreign policy. Reading through the book, I naturally thought a lot about what impact different approaches of different U.S. presidents brought on Korea. Truman, in Sestanovich's pendulum, was a maximalist president. On the very day that the Korean War broke out, he convened a meeting at Blair House and requested General McArthur's observation and recommendation. In only several days' time, Truman followed McArthur's recommendation and sent ground troops from the U.S., which arrived in Korea just in time to help defend the Pusan Perimeter and turn around the war from a total defeat to a counter-offensive. The Korean War could have ended in a very different place with a different president sitting in the White House. Nixon looked upon a re-orientation of U.S. foreign policy as his mission in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and was a minimalist president in Sestanovich's pendulum. Nixon's Guam Doctrine placed Asia's defense squarely on the shoulders of Asians. It was a heavy load for Korea at the time when the security situation was so precarious that many feared the start of a "second Korean War." Korea responded by embarking on an ambitious plan to modernize its military, start a large-scale military exercise with the U.S. called "Team Spirit" and agreeing with the U.S. to form the NATO-style Combined Forces Command. Fast forward to today, I think Biden is not so different from any of his predecessors in that his objective must be "America first" as well. What is encouraging about the incumbent U.S. leader is that he believes he can pursue it best by re-establishing U.S. leadership in cooperation with allies, based on the common values of liberal democracy, market economy, human rights and rule of law. This is not the time to question the capacity or sincerity of Biden's commitment to renewed U.S. leadership, as is becoming fashionable in the post-Kabul blame game. Rather, it is time to make the most of Biden's commitment and further strengthen the basis for Korea's security and prosperity. As for the suggestion of diversifying Korea's foreign policy, we must be clear about what we mean by diversification. Diversification in fact has already been an important pillar of Korea's foreign policy, which has been manifested in the form of the Northern Policy and Southern Policy, both of which have met with much success. In conceiving and implementing these policies, we have based them on the alliance with the U.S. for the simple reason that we share strategic interests and values with the U.S. Ahn Ho-young (hyahn78@mofa.or.kr) is president of the University of North Korean Studies. He served as Korean ambassador to the United States and first vice foreign minister. Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Chairperson Joh Sung-wook reports to members of the National Assembly's National Policy Committee on the first day of the annual National Assembly audit, Tuesday. Yonhap Antitrust regulator chief vows to complete HHI-DSME, Korean Air-Asiana Airlines reviews this year By Yi Whan-woo Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Chairwoman Joh Sung-wook on Tuesday dismissed the possibility of toughening regulations on big tech companies as a corresponding measure against them abusing their market dominance as platform operators. During this year's National Assembly audit on the country's top antitrust regulator, the KFTC chief explained that the government's antitrust regulations are based on the premise they do not hurt the market's innovativeness or dynamism. "And in that regard, I don't think regulations will solve everything," Joh said when asked if the KFTC was considering plans to enhance sanctions against big tech companies to the level that the United States does. "Countries can have differences over the method and level of the measures to be taken depending on their market situation. Given the role and significance of the big tech firms, it is too early to take strong measures as observed in the U.S." Many of the questions from the lawmakers were related to big tech companies pushing around customers or suppliers in their respective fields or behaving irresponsibly over complaints from consumers who purchase goods through the online platforms they provide. Among the companies mentioned were Google for mobile operating systems (OS), Coupang for online shopping, Naver and Kakao for electronic banking, Amazon for direct delivery from overseas and Danggeun Market for used goods commerce. Joh agreed with the lawmakers over the concerns on unfair business practices, saying, "Corresponding measures are of course needed for issues regarding platform and data businesses." She said the KFTC is therefore paying close attention to three types of unfair business practices happening on the platforms mistreatment of vendors by platform operators, mistreatment of customers by vendors and excessive competition among platform operators. "The KFTC is working to revise and legislate laws over those three issues, with a goal of creating an environment for joint prosperity of all involved parties so that they can continue being innovative and dynamic." The cases of unfair business practices brought up by the lawmakers included Google preventing mobile smartphone makers from developing or using modified versions of Google's Android OS to squeeze out competition in the OS market. The KFTC imposed a fine of 207.4 billion won ($174.6 million) on Google last month. Coupang was accused of prioritizing its own products on its website in search results while pushing other companies' products to the bottom and making them receive less exposure. Danggeun Market was accused of negligent handling of disputes between sellers and buyers over quality of used goods. Amazon, which launched its international direct delivery service recently in partnership with domestic online shopping site 11Street, was found unprepared to handle overseas purchases of products banned in Korea. HHI-DSME review to be completed by this year Regarding the detailed timeline for reviewing Hyundai Heavy Industries' (HHI) proposed acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Korean Air's acquisition of Asiana Airlines, the regulator chief said the KFTC plans to finish its review process for each case by the end of this year. "Yes, we will get these two cases completed within this year," she said. HHI is awaiting approval from antitrust regulators in five countries plus the EU, as the merger will have a major impact on the shipbuilding industries there. HHI submitted its takeover plan to the KFTC back in July 2018, but the commission only completed its first review as it is awaiting approval from the EU given the EU's significance in terms of market size. Out of the six HHI requested approval from, only China, Singapore and Kazakhstan have granted unconditional approval. The planned takeover of Asiana Airlines by Korean Air requires approval of the United States, the United Kingdom and China where the two airliners operate their flight routes. A Starbucks employee serves beverages in its limited-edition tumblers marking the company's 50th anniversary, at a Starbucks cafe in Seoul on Sept. 28, during a "reusable cup day" event. Yonhap By Lee Hae-rin Employees of Starbucks Korea are up in arms about their working conditions, particularly the frequent promotional events that have been increasing their workload significantly. They said they will hold rallies calling on the company to refrain from holding such events so frequently and improve their working conditions. This protest is the first collective action by the coffee chain's workers since its launch here in 1999, and it is being planned even though the company doesn't have a union. Starbucks Korea held a promotional event to mark the U.S. coffee chain's 50th anniversary on Sept. 28, for which it served grande-sized beverages, which are normally served in paper cups, in limited-edition plastic tumblers, for the cost of the beverages only. The event drew customers to line up for hours at its shops across the country. According to a social media post by an event participant, one Starbucks in Seoul handed out over 650 waitlist tickets. It took over three hours for Son Seung-hyun, 28, to receive her coffee in the reusable tumbler, after she casually dropped by a neighborhood Starbucks in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, after she saw images of the cups posted on Instagram. "The line was much longer than anticipated. Usually during this time of the day, around four cups are waiting at the pick-up table, more or less. I was glad to have received the free tumbler after a long wait, but felt terribly sorry for the workers who seemed extremely busy," Son said. After the Sept. 28 event, one employee wrote on Blind, an anonymous company review platform here, "Despite our repeated requests for better treatment, the headquarters continues to think of its workers as expendable." The workers have raised money to hang banners criticizing the heavy workload on Wednesday, as well as for holding demonstrations using buses displaying their demands in two Seoul locations from Thursday to Friday. During their protests, the employees plan to demand improved working conditions, salary increases and an end to the excessive promotional events. Employees of Starbucks Korea have repeatedly requested that the company raise worker salaries, as well as hire additional staff to deal with the high workload, particularly during these promotional events when stores are overcrowded with customers. Starbucks Korea has held these promotional events offering various limited-edition products frequently, and every time, they receive rave responses from customers, with many people buying dozens of drinks at a time just to get the promotional items, and some of them even reselling the goods on online secondhand markets. Even many customers are siding with the workers, posting online comments sympathizing with their need for collective action. "Every time there is an event, I can see that the workers are under great pressure due to the floods of orders. They should strike," an internet user wrote. "The company has held events providing free items too often," another wrote. In response, Starbucks Korea plans to conduct a survey and take follow-up measures to improve the employees' working conditions. "We value the important contribution that our partners make to Starbucks, and listen to any ideas and concerns that they share," the company said in its official statement in English. Meanwhile, Starbucks Korea is still planning to hold Halloween and Christmas seasonal promotional events, with the exact dates to be determined. Starbucks Korea has over 1,600 outlets and 18,000 employees in the country. An undated handout photo made available by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense on Oct. 4 shows a Chinese PLA Xian H-6 jet bomber, following the incursion of 52 Chinese PLA military aircrafts into Taiwan's ADIZ. EPA-Yonhap Taiwan urged Beijing to stop "irresponsible provocative actions" after 56 Chinese warplanes crossed into its air defense zone on Monday in yet another record incursion. The defense ministry said it scrambled aircraft to broadcast warnings after 36 fighter jets, 12 H-6 nuclear-capable bombers and four other planes entered its southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Four more fighters entered the zone in a night sortie, bringing the total to 56 planes, the ministry added. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top China policy-making body, accused Beijing of "seriously damaging the status quo of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait" with its recent string of incursions. "We demand the Beijing authorities immediately stop its non-peaceful and irresponsible provocative actions," MAC spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng said in a statement. "China is the culprit for causing tensions between the two sides of the (Taiwan) Strait and it has further threatened regional security and order," he added, saying Taiwan "will never compromise and yield" to threats. The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own air defense identification zone and even includes some of the mainland. Self-ruled democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. In the last two years, Beijing has begun sending large sorties into Taiwan's defense zone to signal dissatisfaction at key moments and to keep Taipei's ageing fighter fleet regularly stressed. Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes had breached Taiwan's ADIZ since Friday when Beijing marked its National Day with its then-biggest aerial show of force, buzzing the island with 38 planes. That was followed by another incursion by 39 planes on Saturday, sparking criticism from Washington. State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated Monday that the United States was "very concerned" by the "provocative" moves by Beijing. "This activity is destabilizing, it risks miscalculation and it undermines regional peace and security," Price told reporters. "We strongly urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan," he said, calling US commitment to the island "rock-solid". In this undated file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, two Chinese SU-30 fighter jets take off from an unspecified location to fly a patrol over the South China Sea. AP-Yonhap Japan aims to expand renewable energy as much as possible and restart nuclear power plants whose safety has been confirmed, its new industry minister said on Tuesday, to meet a 2030 target of a 46% cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2013 levels. Japan, which has pledged carbon neutrality by 2050, nearly doubled in April its target for emissions cuts to 46% by 2030, in response to pressure from the United States and some of its own firms. "I would like to promote the maximum adoption of renewable energy, thorough energy conservation and the restart of nuclear power plants with the highest priority on safety," the minister, Koichi Hagiuda, told his first news conference. He called for a concerted effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 as well as the reinforced 2030 target, adding that the ministry aimed to win cabinet approval of a new basic energy plan before the Oct. 31 start of a key U.N. climate conference. The comments show that the government of new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will continue the previous administration's energy policy. The industry ministry will keep up promotion of nuclear fuel cycle policy in line with the government's aim to cut high-level radioactive waste and make it less hazardous, Hagiuda Economy, Trade and Industry Minister added. In April, Japan decided to release into the sea more than 1 million tons of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant, a move China labelled "extremely irresponsible", while South Korea protested to the Japanese ambassador in Seoul. (Reuters) Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who stirred worldwide controversy in 2007 with drawings depicting the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog, was killed in a car crash near the southern town of Markaryd on Sunday, police said. Vilks, 75, who had been living under police protection since the drawings were published, was travelling in a police vehicle which collided with a truck. Two police officers were also killed. "This is a very tragic incident. It is now important to all of us that we do everything we can to investigate what happened and what caused the collision," Swedish police said in a statement on Monday. "Initially, there is nothing that points to anyone else being involved." Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive. Since the publication of the cartoons, Vilks had been living under round-the-clock police guard following threats against his life. He had a bounty put on his head and his house was fire-bombed. In 2015, one person was killed in Copenhagen, Denmark, at a meeting meant to mark the 25th anniversary of an Iranian fatwa against British writer Salman Rushdie, which Vilks attended. Vilks was widely seen as the intended target. Vilks had said that the cartoons were not intended to provoke Muslims, but to challenge political correctness in the art world. (Reuters) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours an exhibit on the Marshall Plan at the OECD headquarters in Paris, Tuesday. AP-Yonhap French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Tuesday to explore potential cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and other areas as the Biden administration moved to repair damage caused to relations by excluding France from a new security initiative. A senior U.S. State Department official said the two discussed possible joint projects that could be announced by Macron and President Joe Biden when they meet later this month in Europe at a date and specific venue that has yet to be decided. The official didn't elaborate on what those projects might be, but said they would likely involve the Indo-Pacific and Western efforts to blunt China's growing there and elsewhere, NATO and other trans-Atlantic objectives involving the European Union, and counterterrorism cooperation in Africa's Sahel region. The official said Macron and Blinken had agreed to use the spat as an opportunity to "deepen and strengthen coordination" and characterized the talks as "very productive," while allowing that "a lot of hard work remains ahead." The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks between Macron and Blinken at the Elysee Palace that hadn't appeared on Blinken's official schedule for the day. The roughly 40-minute, one-on-one meeting came amid French demands for the U.S. to restore trust that was ruptured with last month's announcement of a three-way Indo-Pacific agreement between Australia, Britain and the U.S., known as AUKUS. A French official, speaking under customary anonymity, said the "at length, face-to-face meeting" came immediately after Blinken had seen Macron's national security adviser Emmanuel Bonne. Bonne, the official said, saw Blinken "in order to study the ways of reengaging the relationship following the recall of the French ambassador, and to help restore confidence between France and the United States." U.S. officials have acknowledged that the announcement was handled poorly and could have benefitted from coordination with France and other members of the European Union, all of which were excluded. And, while they have also signaled a desire to make amends, they have suggested France's rage is an overreaction. France responded with fury to the announcement that also scuttled a multibillion-dollar submarine contract it had with Australia, and briefly recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra in an unprecedented display of pique. French officials called it a stab in the back by allies and expressed disappointment that it had happened after Biden had proclaimed "America is back" and pledged to restore and value trans-Atlantic relations that had soured during the Trump administration. The French have said repeatedly it will take much time and work to overcome the rift and that the incident underscores the need for Europe to develop its own security and defense plans as well as adopting a European strategy to counter growing challenges from China. Blinken is in the French capital for a two-day international economic conference that has been overshadowed by the AUKUS controversy that erupted on Sept. 15 with the announcement of the project. Ahead of his visit, his second to France as secretary of state but first since the rupture, Blinken met Friday with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by Macron. Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up and went to high school in Paris, has expressed disappointment that the France has reacted so harshly to AUKUS. He and others have suggested some degree of French anger is related to domestic French politics and the shifting dynamics within the EU, which will soon see Angela Merkel depart as the leader of Germany after 16 years in power. Blinken's visit follows a Sept. 22 phone call between Biden and Macron, who have agreed to try to calm matters. 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 is also attending the OECD talks, which are taking place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland. (AP) Chemical Addictions Recovery Effort, Inc (CARE) CARE is one of Floridas leading substance abuse agencies providing services to our community for over 40 years. CARE provides a stable work environment and the opportunity to grow within the agency. The following position is now open: RN or LPN - Part-Time & PRN positions. Are you looking for a new challenging opportunity in the nursing field? We have an opportunity for a RN or LPN on a part-time & PRN positions. The right person will provide nursing services in the Detox Unit of CARE, one of Florida's leading substance abuse agencies. You will direct the operations of the unit in absence of supervisor. Licensed + 1-year experience preferably in substance abuse treatment. Competitive Salary DOE. Competitive salaries and all full-time positions come with a Full benefit package (including 15 days vacation, 15-days sick leave, 10 paid holidays, health & dental insurance, retirement program with 401K option and more) REGISTERED NURSE - SUMMARY: Provides prescribed medical treatment and personal care services to the clients of the Primary Care (DETOX) unit by performing the following duties. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned. Supervises and coordinates nursing activities in Detox unit. Provides direct service and/or indirect client CARE oriented toward improving or maintaining health and preventing illness Performs assigned nursing duties. Performs physical assessments of clients, refers clients required for further evaluations to other health care facility. Completes Admission and Discharge Documentation Progress Notes, Nurses Notes, ASAM, etc. Completes IMS/Kardex with required signatures. Administers and charts prescribed medications, observing and reporting any reactions. Accurately completed daily time sheets. Average Supervision Required and Request supervision when needed. Develop, review and revise treatment plan and progress note using assessment documentation and according to CAREs policies and procedures. Completes required training in a timely manner. Properly document and justify diagnostic codes based on the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual. Provides referrals and coordinates case management services as required. Collect samples, urine, from patients for testing. Completes other duties as necessary and as assigned by the Director of Nursing or the Deputy Director of Nursing. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Supervises Medical Service Aides while on duty. QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE: Licensed as a Registered Nurse by the Florida board of Nursing. One year of full-time professional experience is required. CPR certification required. LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization. REASONING ABILITY: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form. CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS: Licensed as a Registered Nurse by the Florida board of Nursing. CPR certification. 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; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The employee must use Personal Protective equipment, as trained, to clean, disinfect, and dispose of biohazardous waste materials. WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. LICENSED PRACTICAL NURSE - SUMMARY: Provides prescribed medical treatment and personal care services to the clients of the Primary Care (DETOX) unit by performing the following duties. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned. Supervises and coordinates nursing activities in Detox unit. Provides direct service and/or indirect client CARE oriented toward improving or maintaining health and preventing illness Performs assigned nursing duties. Performs physical assessments of clients, refers clients required for further evaluations to other health care facility. Completes Admission and Discharge documentation Progress Notes, Nurses Notes, ASAM, etc. Completes IMS/Kardex with required signatures. Administers and charts prescribed medications, observing and reporting any reactions. Accurately completed daily time sheets. Average Supervision required and Request supervision when needed. Develop, review and revise treatment plan and progress note using assessment documentation and according to CAREs policies and procedures. Completes required training in a timely manner. Properly document and justify diagnostic codes based on the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual. Provides referrals and coordinates case management services as required. Collect samples, urine, from patients for testing. Completes other duties as necessary and as assigned by the Director of Nursing or the Deputy Director of Nursing. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Supervises Medical Service Aides while on duty. QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE: Licensed as a Licensed Practical Nurse by the Florida board of Nursing. One year of full-time professional experience is required. CPR certification required. LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization. REASONING ABILITY: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form. CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS: Licensed as a Licensed Practical Nurse by the Florida board of Nursing. CPR certification. 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; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The employee must use Personal Protective equipment, as trained, to clean, disinfect, and dispose of biohazardous waste materials. WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. EEO/DFWP/Drug and background screenings required Click "apply" to submit your resume today! recblid f23a89667uocbudx7807h7v1az9i0h Job Title: Manager, Benefits and Compensation Office: Office of Resource Strategy Date Posted: 10/4/2021 Salary Range: 1-5 / $92,748 - $104,655 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 Resource Strategy (ORS) is to align and manage resources across the organization to best meet the needs of our schools and create the conditions for district success. The Office is responsible for facilitating the successful financial and business performance of the district and integrating the district's business and financial interests to ensure an equitable distribution of resources that best serves all students. The Office provides financial strategy and leadership to implement strategic goals and objectives and gives direction to leadership toward the achievement of the District's philosophy, mission, strategy, annual goals, and (see application details) Office also is responsible for ensuring sound business and financial practices are followed in compliance with federal and state regulations, district policy, business policies and procedures, and other applicable financial and business standards and (see application details) Office supports employees throughout the district to ensure DCPS provides high-quality customer service and employee support for all district employees. ORS programs include the following: Employee Services: provide legally-compliant employee services related to benefits and compensation, manage workforce data and systems, and provide world-class customer service within 24 hours; Contracts & Acquisitions: Support schools and Central Office in purchasing goods in alignment with procurement law and regulation; and Finance: Ensure school and central office finances are allocated and expended in alignment with the district's strategic plan, in a manner that fosters transparency, maximizes funds, promotes equity, and ensures compliance with requirements. The Employee Services (ES) work group supports the work of all school-based and Central Office staff and is comprised of the following five teams: The Benefits and Compensation team is responsible for the following: administering and encouraging adherence to a consistent classification grading philosophy; ensuring that DCPS administers compensation policies consistently and pursuant to relevant legislation and collective bargaining agreements; providing support to units during reorganizations, RIFs, and other periods of hire, transfer, promotion, and demotion; conducting classification reviews, administering position audits, and approving position descriptions; offering retirement counseling, guidance, and advanced planning; and administering the agency's health, life, tax shelter, flexible spending, and supplementary benefits plans. The Employee Services Communication and Training (ESCT) team manages all Employee Services communications to the DCPS workforce, stakeholders, and external partners, as well as leads the development and implementation of resources, workshops, and events designed to support employee needs. ESCT also manages several customer service and central office performance initiatives for DCPS, including the Employee Services helpline, walk-in visitor reception, clearance compliance, employee onboarding and offboarding processes, licensure compliance, and central office employee performance evaluations. The HR Information Systems and Records Management team ensures systems data integrity, manages the data reporting function, processes personnel actions in PeopleSoft, provides position management support for schools and Central Office, provides time and labor support, and manages the personnel filing system for all DCPS employees. The team also serves as a key HR partner to external agencies like the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), the DC Office of Human Resources (DCHR), and the Office of Pay and Retirement Services (OPRS). The HR Systems Development team manages the design, development, and overall strategy of several technical applications managed by Central Office teams. This technical team ensures that data is accurate and integrated between systems. It seeks to use applications and their data to improve and fine-tune processes so that the agency can accomplish its work efficiently and DCPS employees are empowered to easily use these systems. The Strategic Staffing team is responsible for hiring for all positions in DCPS. The team provides budgeting support, works with principals and supervisors to develop their staffing plans and personnel budgets, and works with employees, principals, and hiring managers on staffing changes. The Manager, Benefits & Compensation is primarily responsible for ensuring that essential benefits, classification, compensation, leave of absence, and retirement functions are well executed to support unit effectiveness. The Manager will work with a broad cross-section of internal and external stakeholders to implement policies and procedures and provide technical assistance, guidance, and customer service to DCPS employees. The Manager, Benefits and Compensation will report to the Director, Benefits and Compensation. 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. Helps lead Benefits and Compensation strategy; creates clear, specific, and ambitious performance measures for multiple projects and operational priorities; and translates targets into individual work goals and deliverables for direct reports. Assigns, directs, and evaluates the work of direct reports; and guides and supports the professional development and training of reports. Identifies and systematizes successful operational and project management methods across the Benefits and Compensation team; and develops and strengthens resources for support. Assesses Benefits and Compensation workflow and implements workflow and systems improvements designed to improve stakeholder communications and support services for DCPS employees. Anticipates, identifies, and resolves complex obstacles to ensure success of Benefits and Compensation team. Helps determine and align Benefits and Compensation resources within context of broader DCPS strategy and initiatives. Builds relationships and liaises with various internal and external teams to drive collaboration and project success; communicates regularly and effectively with agency partners in a variety of forums, including phone, email, business operations meetings, HR Advisors meetings, and other standing inter-agency meetings. Manages the analysis and presentation of key Benefits & Compensation data, including but not limited to: benefits enrollment, retroactive payment status, retirement status and eligibility, and leaves of absence; communicates progress to key stakeholder groups; and incorporates their input. Stays aware of innovations and developments in Benefits and Compensation policies and research; and advises DCPS leadership on proposed legislation, policies, procedures, and directives affecting the Benefits and Compensation team, and Employee Services as a whole. Works closely with various DCPS central office teams and schools to ensure that Benefits and Compensation information is shared and accessible to eligible DCPS employees. Qualifications Bachelor's degree and four to six years of related work experience. Masters degree preferred. Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus. Data-driven leader with strong computer skills, including MS Office Suite, databases, and PeopleSoft. Availability to work occasionally, depending upon priorities and workload, before and after business hours and on weekends is essential. Strong oral and written communication skills, and ability to communicate effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization. Ability to multitask and work under pressure in a fast-paced environment. Takes initiative and uses a can-do approach to be flexible in spotting and resolving issues in a timely manner. Provides excellent customer service, and is skilled in dealing with difficult situations and personalities. Accepts constructive feedback, is cooperative, and has a strong willingness to learn. Tolerant of change and uncertainty. Skilled in establishing and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships, collaborating with others, and working in teams. Punctual and reliable; and shows self-awareness, self-monitoring, ability to course correct when improvements are necessary, and good judgment. 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. Assistant to the Registrar (Temporary) Registrar's Office Hourly Range: $12.32 - $14.50 Deadline: 11:59 p.m. October 17, 2021 Chesterfield County's Registrar's Office is seeking Assistants to the Registrar. Under general supervision, performs work of routine difficulty in a variety of clerical functions involving voter registration and the conduct of elections. Reviews and processes voter registration applications. Updates and maintains voter registration records. Assists with preparing and distributing election materials to polling places. Provides information to the general public concerning voter registration and election related issues. Assists with the conduct of local, state, and federal elections, as assigned, in accordance with state and federal election laws. Processes absentee applications, verifies and mails absentee ballots, conducts in-person absentee voting and works at early voting satellite locations. Provides clerical support to the Registrar and Assistant Registrars. Perform other work as required. Successful candidate will possess a high school diploma or GED; two years of clerical experience; or an equivalent combination of training and experience. Must be a registered voter in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Working knowledge of standard office practices and procedures, including filing; some knowledge of state and federal election laws preferred. Ability to learn, interpret, and apply specific federal, state, and local voter registration and election laws and regulations; to maintain confidentiality of records; to communicate effectively orally and in writing; to operate a personal computer and related software and other standard office equipment; to develop and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external customers. Ability to lift at least 50 pounds; sitting and standing for long periods of time are required. Pre-employment drug testing, FBI criminal background check, and education/degree verification required. A Chesterfield County application is required and must be submitted online by deadline. An Equal Opportunity Employer Committed to Workforce Diversity recblid d6vmulajxhphlb1aijtcfnfguvxedy Engineering Technician Austin , Texas , United States Hardware Summary Posted: Oct 4, 2021 Weekly Hours: 40 Role Number: 200293263 Do you want to join a team working on the critical path of the next generation of Mac portables and desktops? Mac System Quality is looking for test technician to support factory software readiness activities. We own the critical testing of 100's of units that are running tests 365/24/7. You will take charge of daily regression tests on a large pool of test units (manual & automated), coordinate with QA engineers to analyze the test data and run further experiments. We are a creative team of Mac engineers dedicated to keeping Mac innovation and reputation the highest in the industry! Come join us! Key Qualifications Requires experience in test or customer support related to Mac Ability to work with Mac system software and comfortable with hardware functions Thoughtfully take care of competing demands and planning priorities Work with diverse engineering teams to provide them comprehensive detailed test reports Strong documentation and interpersonal skills on technical subjects Experience working in lab environment, set up test equipment and working with automated tools and tests Description - Daily test execution following detailed test procedures. - Collect data from large number of devices under test, prioritize the findings and identify product defects - Preparing and documenting test results - Fixing test equipment, test setups and automated test Education & Experience - Associates Degree is a minimum, Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering is a plus, or equivalent work experience. Description GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES: Completes screenings, assessments and evaluations of high quality at Whitney M Young Jr Health Center. Works as a multidisciplinary team member in meeting the individualized treatment needs of patients. Recognizes and adheres to the professional license code of ethics. Actively participates in improving the quality of care whenever possible. Specific tasks assigned are aligned with the professional license possessed by the employee, and the knowledge, skills and expectations of the profession. Tasks are connected with helping patients, their family members, significant others and other persons in their lives deal with problems related to alcohol and other drug use. SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES: Performs a psychiatric evaluation on all patients assigned. Informs and educates patients about their diagnosis. Assists staff in identifying and meeting the treatment needs of patients as part of a multidisciplinary treatment team. Maintains and protects accurate and timely documentation in case records according to agency policy. Assists in providing a safe and respectful environment for treatment. Provides the expertise and assistance of the professional field for which the licensed employee is hired. Attends and participates in all assigned meetings and committees. Networks with other community service providers to provide the full continuum of care needs identified by the multidisciplinary treatment team. Provides referrals to other community service providers as appropriate with the assistance of the program nurse. Maintains a professional relationship with staff, other providers and the community. Continues to seek and develop professional growth and activities. Maintains personal health and position as a positive role model. Demonstrates excellence in both internal and external customer service. Understands and is able to effectively communicate HIPAA compliance, corporate compliance and client confidentiality. Ensures and/or remains in compliance with local, state, and federal regulation, i.e. DHHS HRSA and NYSDOH, and all accreditation standards (e.g. Joint Commission and NCQA-PCMH). Adheres to the National Patient Safety Goals as defined by the Joint Commission and Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center. Completes other duties as assigned. Requirements MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: NYS Licensed Psychiatrist in good standing and current registration. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Two years experience in the treatment of addictions; bilingual. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected status. recblid 31o9n862pqnuv2md8bb4etumfv0qwh Requirements None ssues such as a lack of mentorship for women in tech, the scarcity of investment into female-owned startups, and barriers to entry due to traditional gender roles all came under the spotlight at the solution-oriented Women in Tech webinar recently hosted by Cape Town / Stockholm Connect (CSC) . Opening the event, Lara Rosmarin, Head of Entrepreneur Development and Incubation at the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi), said: We know that there are various economic benefits to advancing female workplace equality, and although some improvements have been made to advance women in tech, more needs to be done. To change the way that talent is developed and deployed in todays world requires the undoing and re-learning of age-old thought processes, and the formation of new norms and values, especially in education systems and labour markets. Next up, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Trade and Nordic Affairs, Anna Hallberg, shared that it is crucial to increase female participation in a male -dominated sector like the tech industry where many new jobs are likely to appear in the future. Equality makes economic sense. We need to make it easier for women to establish fast-growing startups, gain access to financing, and start exporting. Representing the Directorate for Economic Opportunities & Asset Management at the City of Cape Town, Faith Kolala added: We support women in tech as well as women in business generally because we want to ensure equality, gender parity, and employment for women. We also want to ensure that women are taking part in the economies of the future. Providing a Swedish perspective, Michaela Berglund, CEO of Feminvest, revealed that only 1% of private equity is going towards female entrepreneurs in Sweden and that women globally typically ask for smaller rounds than their male counterparts when looking for funding. We need to put pressure on investment firms to increase these numbers. We also need education in schools to encourage both young women and young men early on to take risks. Sharing a South African perspective, Suraya Hamdulay, VP of Strategy at 2U, said that women must be at the centre of technology integration as they are the biggest beneficiaries of tech intervention. She added that women need to be paid adequately and equally, and should have proportionately more access to skills, knowledge and training, as well as access to opportunities for progression, within organisations. We need to put pressure on organisations and urge them to be far more thoughtful and deliberate about how they use existing programmes to actually advance women participation. On this point, Carolina Emanuelson, Partner Manager at Hack for Earth Foundation, noted that business leaders need to see inclusion as different competences, perspectives and skills adding value to their companies and that these can actually contribute to the rise of a company, especially in the tech sector. If Sweden is to continue being one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to innovation, we cant afford to exclude women from the tech scene. Inclusion should be a strategic choice for companies and organisations. With women entrepreneurs needing an enabling environment to thrive, Matsi Modise, Founding CEO of Furaha Afrika Holdings; Vice Chairperson of SiMODiSA; and Chairperson of the South African Startup Act Steering Committee, shared how a South African Startup Act could be beneficial. By influencing policy and engaging government stakeholders, this could remove some of the barriers that are currently inhibiting technology startups and make it easy for them to stay in South Africa. A highlight of the event was the panel discussion on The Importance of Role Models in Encouraging Young Women into the Tech Sector. During the discussion, Alison Collier, Managing Director of Endeavor South Africa, shared that, across Endeavors portfolio of 30 entrepreneurs, 80% of the jobs created over the last three years were by businesses led or co-founded by women. Theres a very active focus from these founders to invest in women and to upskill and train the females in their teams. We need to share these positive stories and shine a light on role models who are doing wonderful things in the market today. The event culminated with a panel discussion on Financing Female Startups The future of women in tech and how we get there. Dare Okoudjou, CEO & CO-founder of MFS Africa (and one of only two male speakers invited) shared: Would you, as a business leader, cut yourself off from half of the workforce? If you get women into leadership, they attract other women, who then attract other women, going all the way down the rungs of a business. Bringing the webinar to an official close, Rupa Thakrar Bagoon, Acting Country Manager for Business Sweden South Africa, said: This event is just the start of something bigger. It is envisaged that, in the long term, the discussions arising from the event will lead to intensified networking and cross-border collaboration between Swedish and South African female-owned startups and entrepreneurs. Diversity and the inclusion of more women in the tech industry cannot be part of a one-time campaign. To achieve this, continuous work needs to be done to develop, maintain and cultivate it. We must also celebrate female tech leaders, ensure that young girls have strong role models in the form of other successful women, and make sure that women have a seat at the table so they can engage men on the topic of gender equality, concluded Wesgros Acting CEO, Yaw Peprah. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Investors Help Home Prices Break Another Record CoreLogic reported another record rise in its Home Price Index (HPI) in August. The company said the 18.1 percent annual increase was again the result of demand in a supply-constricted market but was also exacerbated by an influx in homebuying activity from investors. The increase was the largest in the 45 year history of the HPI and was 0.1 point higher than the annual appreciation in July. On a month-over-month basis the HPI was up 1.3 percent. The rate of increase for detached properties was also record setting, a 19.8 percent annual gain. Prices for attached properties grew at a much more modest 12.0 percent. Single-family detached homes continue to be in high demand, said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. These properties offer more living space and distance from neighboring homes than that of attached properties. On average, detached homes have 28 percent more inside space compared to single-family attached properties and about twice as much space as apartments in multifamily structures. The booming home purchase market is unevenly affecting access for some buyers. The company says a recent survey of consumers found 59 percent of those in the market to purchase a home had annual household earning topping six figures. Home prices continue to escalate at a torrid pace as a broad spectrum of buyers drive demand for a limited supply of homes, said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. We expect to see the trend of strong price gains continue indefinitely with large amounts of capital chasing too few assets. However, CoreLogics forward looking HPI does anticipate a significant deceleration in price gains over the next year. The index expects the annual rate of appreciation will slow to 2.2 percent by August 2022 as affordability challenges deter some potential buyers. At the state level, Idaho and Arizona again led the way with the strongest price growth at 32.2 percent and 29.5 percent, respectively. Two relatively small metro areas in the Northwest posted the largest gains among cities. Prices in Bend, Oregon increased 37.2 percent and Twin Falls, Idaho, ranked second with year-over-year growth of 35.8 percent. National Chhattisgarh: Amid leadership change buzz 35 Cong MLAs return from Delhi RAIPUR, OCT 4 (PTI) | Publish Date: 10/4/2021 1:47:23 PM IST Amid speculation about a possible change of guard in the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, at least 35 MLAs of the party camping in Delhi for the last few days, returned to Raipur on Monday evening. Most of them said everything is fine in the state Congress after landing at the airport here in a special aircraft. One of the legislators said some of his colleagues are still staying in Delhi. After reaching Raipur, these MLAs were seen showing victory signs. When asked about the reason they said everything is fine in Chhattisgarh currently helmed by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Sources in Congress had said these MLAs had gone to the national capital to express solidarity with the Chhattisgarh chief minister. However, the majority of the legislators who returned on Monday maintained they had gone on a personal visit. We had gone (Delhi) for some personal work. When we all MLAs met there, we also tried to meet our state in-charge PL Punia but he was out of Delhi so we could not meet him, Keshkal MLA Sant Ram Netam told reporters at the Raipur airport. Rahul Gandhis tour of Chhattisgarh is in the pipeline. We all wanted to request him through Punia to visit our respective districts, he added. Netam added, everything is fine..we will keep visiting Delhi for our work and meeting our leaders. Mahasamund MLA Vinod Sevanlal Chandrakar said, all is well. There is nothing of sorts like the speculations in media about the leadership change in Chhattisgarh. The way the media is creating an uproar that the CM will be replaced; there is nothing like that. These things are projected by the BJP and RSS, he claimed. Talking to PTI, Chandrakar said 35 MLAs returned to Raipur on Monday evening while some legislators were still staying in Delhi. He said the MLAs trip to Delhi should not be given a political colour. Dharamjaigarh MLA Laljeet Singh Rathiya said he and other legislators had gone to extend support to the chief minister but refused to elaborate. Rathiya said the MLAs came to know from Punia that Rahul Gandhi would visit Raipur on October 7 to take part in the inauguration ceremony of the Ram Gaman Tourist Circuit in Chandkhuri village in the Raipur district. Political circles in Chhattisgarh have been rife with speculation about replacing the chief minister after the MLAs, considered close to Baghel, flew to Delhi on different days last week. The CM had said the visit by Congress MLAs to Delhi should not be seen through the prism of politics. Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo, who is apparently seeking to replace Baghel, too played down the visit by MLAs to Delhi saying it should not be made an issue. About the possible leadership change, Singh Deo had reiterated that the Congress high command had seized of the matter. The buzz about possible leadership change began after Baghel completed two-and-a-half years as chief minister in June 2021. The Singh Deo camp had claimed the Congress brass in 2018 had agreed to hand over the CMs post to him after he completed the half of his five-year term, apparently to prevent factionalism. State NPF legislator Khriehu inspects bypass road DIMAPUR | Publish Date: 10/4/2021 1:39:51 PM IST Khriehu Liezietsu, MLA, along with CE (R&B) additional CE, SE, EE and other officers surveyed Sithogei (Kohima-Dimapur NH-29) to IG stadium (Wokha road) bypass road on October 4. After the survey, chief engineer (R&B) Kahuli Sema while speaking at a small gathering with leaders and elders from T Khel council and Houriitsumia council (L Khel) Kohima village said that the road which was not pliable at the moment was important and would help ease traffic congestion in the capital town if upgraded and properly maintained. EE (R&B south division) Vizoto Seletsu who highlighted the project said the project was taken up under the erstwhile SPA scheme but could not be brought to a satisfactory conclusion till today Vizoto said that the road if completed would ease traffic in Kohima town by at least 15% by diverting the vehicles which are headed to NH-61 or Wokha road without being made to enter Kohima town. Meanwhile, Khriehu Liezietsu suggested that the road be repaired and made pliable at the earliest. He also said that he would discuss the matter with higher authorities as it would not only ease traffic but also help in expansion of Kohima town. Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-04 16:21:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close As China's National Day holiday kicked off on Friday, China watchers forecast a strong rebound in economic activity, with one expert at Switzerland's Institute for Management Development (IMD) saying that the country's new digital technologies and prosperity model are going to shape the world. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-04 22:06:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on Oct. 4, 2021 shows a hotel blockaded by police in Macao, south China. China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Monday reported three new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the SAR to 74, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of Macao. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka) MACAO, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Monday reported three new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the SAR to 74, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center of Macao. The SAR started the third round of mass testing late on Monday, which is scheduled to be completed within three days. The 72nd case, a 46-year-old housing decoration worker from the mainland, had stayed in Macao since Sept. 26 and the man had stayed at three hotels in Macao during the past days, the center said. The 73rd case was a 52-year-old male co-worker of the 72nd case. They had been working together recently, said the center. The 74th case was a 40-year-old Vietnamese man who had worked at the working place of the prior two cases. The source of the infections is unclear yet, the center said. Lo Iek Long, director of the Macao Health Bureau, warned against the risk of community spread of the virus, calling for residents to stay at home as much as possible. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 00:08:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Representatives of several African countries attend Abiy Ahmed's inauguration in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Oct. 4, 2021. Ethiopian parliament on Monday confirmed incumbent Abiy Ahmed as prime minister for a new five-year term. Abiy's Prosperity Party won a landslide victory in national elections held in June. He was sworn in as the country's prime minister Monday. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde) ADDIS ABABA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian parliament on Monday confirmed incumbent Abiy Ahmed as prime minister for a new five-year term. Abiy's Prosperity Party won a landslide victory in national elections held in June. He was sworn in as the country's prime minister Monday. While inaugurating the new five-year tenure of the HoPR, Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde outlined the East African country's major development priorities. She also conveyed her best wishes for Ahmed in his new five-year tenure in office. "I would like to congratulate the prime minister as well as speakers of the Ethiopian House of Peoples' Representatives and House of Federation for your appointment to serve our country. I wish you a successful and productive term," the president said during her opening address. "We only have one country and we have to work hard to make our beloved and illustrious country." Following his appointment, Ahmed is expected to form a new cabinet, which will form the new federal government structure. Various leaders and representatives of African countries as well as continental and regional organizations attended a ceremony organized later Monday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, in connection with Ahmed's swearing-in. They included Somali President Mohamed Farmajo, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, and Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Sama Lukonde Kyenge. In June's vote, Ahmed's Prosperity Party won 410 of 436 parliamentary seats that were contested, according to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. Ahmed was first appointed as the country's prime minister in April 2018. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 07:12:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Oil stains the Huntington Beach in Orange County, California, Oct. 3, 2021. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua) The spill till Monday caused roughly 126,000 gallons of oil to gush into the ocean, creating a slick spanning about 8,320 acres. Many California Democrats called for limiting or halting offshore drilling in the wake of the incident, as the overall impact is hard to assess at this point. LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A group of U.S. House representatives and senators from the U.S. state of California on Monday called for the end to offshore drilling, two days after a major oil spill incident near Orange County left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated. Nanette D. Barragan, U.S. Congresswoman from California's 44th Congressional District, and Mike Levin, U.S. Congressman from the state's 49th Congressional District, made remarks after inspecting the pollution incident. "The devastation of the oil spill continues to spread off the coast of Orange County. @RepMikeLevin and I are joining the @USCG on an overflight to view the impacts of the damage," Barragan tweeted Monday noon, noting that "We must end offshore oil drilling." "This disaster is exactly why I'm leading the bill in Congress that would end all new offshore drilling along our Southern California coast. We need to get this done," Levin tweeted earlier. "If you agree it's time to pass my American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act." The spill, first reported Saturday morning, originated from a pipeline running from the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure till Monday caused roughly 126,000 gallons of oil to gush into the ocean, creating a slick spanning about 8,320 acres. The spill has left oil along long stretches of sand in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, killing fish and birds and threatening wetlands where many birds live. Oil stains the Huntington Beach in Orange County, California, Oct. 3, 2021. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua) Oil from the spill, called by local officials as an environmental catastrophe, was moving south toward the sensitive coves around Laguna Beach on Monday. Long Beach is located in the 44th Congressional District, and the severely impacted areas in the incident, including Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach belong to the 48th Congressional District. The state's 49 Congressional District sits in the south. The two Congress members who called on an end to offshore drilling are Democrats, while Michelle Steel, the representative from the 48th Congressional District, is a Republican. She sent a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden requesting a major disaster declaration for Orange County, which would free up federal funds to help with the clean-up efforts. Even though she called the incident "a really serious disaster," Steel did not mention ending offshore drilling, which is a controversial topic in the country's polarized political system. Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democratic state assembly member representing the 74th Assembly District, which encompasses the coastal Orange County communities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, said she had "huge concerns" about the extent of the damage to the environment, communities and local economy. She told CNN the spill was a "call to action that we need to stop drilling off our precious California coast." In Washington D.C., many California Democrats called for limiting or halting offshore drilling in the wake of the incident, as the overall impact is hard to assess at this point. Oil stains the Huntington Beach in Orange County, California, Oct. 3, 2021. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua) "The oil spill off the coast of Orange County reiterates the perils of offshore drilling," Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. "This spill highlights why we must also take action to prevent future spills, including passing the West Coast Ocean Protection Act." "Our bill would permanently ban oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington," she added. "We've seen time and time again how damaging offshore oil spills are to our coastal ecosystems as well as to our economy. We have the power to prevent future spills - that's why I'm committed to ending offshore oil drilling," Alex Padilla, another senator from the Golden State, wrote. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Monday released a statement criticizing Steel had special relationship with "Big Oil." "While Michelle Steel aids and promotes Big Oil, Orange County beaches are devastated by one of the biggest oil spills in California history," a press release from the DCCC said. "Michelle Steel is no stranger to aiding and promoting Big Oil. Her campaign coffers are flowing with cash from Big Oil and fossil fuel donors. Her legislative record is littered with attempts to block clean water and air protections. It's no wonder why Big Oil and Michelle Steel have each other's backs." In response to the criticism, Steel's spokesperson Danielle Stewart was quoted by The Hill as saying that when Steel worked to help local communities affected by the incident, "DCCC staffers inside the Beltway are doing what they do best - sending political emails just to score points off of a tragedy in Orange County - pathetic." Workers drive heavy machinery to build a berm to prevent oil spill in Orange County, California, Oct. 3, 2021. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua) Offshore drilling was restricted in California after a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, 150 kilometers north of the Los Angeles downtown, that spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, creating a slick 35 miles long along California's coast and killing thousands of birds, fish and sea mammals. The Santa Barbara spill was the worst in the nation's history - until 20 years later, when the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. In Orange County, the latest mass oil spill incidents occurred on Feb. 7, 1990, when the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor in shallow water just about 2,200 meters off Huntington Beach. It spilled nearly 417,000 gallons of crude, killing many fish and about 3,400 birds. Oil production off California's coast declined sharply since its peak in the 1990s, after the state passed some strict environmental rules, such as the the California Coastal Sanctuary Act passed by the state legislature in 1994, which prohibited the state from entering into any new leases within state tidelands. In 2017, the California Senate passed a resolution opposing new oil or gas drilling in federal waters located offshore California. In 2019, when the Donald Trump administration planned to lease sales along the country's coast and vastly expand offshore oil drilling from coast to coast, California passed a law prohibiting new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as pipelines, within state waters if the federal government authorizes any new offshore oil leases. The state's current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said he would like to end oil drilling in the state by 2045. Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 07:54:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Israeli teachers sit in a room at a high school in Modiin, on Oct. 4, 2021. World Teachers' Day is held annually on Oct. 5 to celebrate all teachers around the globe. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua) Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 20:38:11|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BUCHAREST, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian coalition government led by Prime Minister Florin Citu collapsed on Tuesday, losing a censure motion initiated by main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) and supported by all oppositions in the parliament plus the second largest party in the newly-split ruling coalition. The motion was passed by 281 votes in favor, much more than the required minimum of 234, or 50 percent plus one in the 467-seat bicameral parliament. Thus, Citu's cabinet was toppled ten days after the prime minister was elected leader of the main ruling National Liberal Party (PNL) and less than ten months after the cabinet took office on Dec. 23, 2020. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 10:03:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly (L), the World Bank Maghreb countries director, and Peggy Serame, Botswana's minister of finance and economic development, sign the budget support loan agreement in Gaborone, Botswana, Oct. 4, 2021. Botswana signed with the World Bank a loan agreement worth 250 million U.S. dollars on Monday. It is the first budget support loan that Botswana has received from the World Bank, said Peggy Serame, the country's minister of finance and economic development, during the signing ceremony in Gaborone. The loan will help Botswana strengthen the development of the private sector and promote a resilient green recovery, according to Serame. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua) GABORONE, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Botswana signed with the World Bank a loan agreement worth 250 million U.S. dollars on Monday. It is the first budget support loan that Botswana has received from the World Bank, said Peggy Serame, the country's minister of finance and economic development, during the signing ceremony in Gaborone. The loan will help Botswana strengthen the development of the private sector and promote a resilient green recovery, according to Serame. Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, the World Bank Maghreb countries director, said that Botswana has a huge potential in the renewable energy sector in terms of both local consumption and export. Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has a population of more than 2.3 million. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 10:10:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WINDHOEK, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has recorded 27 veld fires countrywide in the last 14 days, causing massive destruction to properties, an environment official said on Monday. Veld fires, which have burned 59 farms covering 143,000 hectares of land and killed 135 head of livestock and 75 wild animals, continue to be a big challenge for the country, said Romeo Muyunda, spokesperson for the environment ministry, in a statement. "The ministry continues to monitor the outbreaks of forest and veld fires nationwide based on remote sensing and aerial surveillance techniques," he said. The main causes of the fires have been charcoal production operations, mechanical appliances such as graders, recreational and natural resource management activities such as hunting, honey production and thatch harvesting, the statement said. More than 2.5 million hectares of grazing land have been destroyed and over 635 animals have perished since May, according to data from the environment ministry. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 20:42:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Mining firms operating in Zambia on Tuesday called for a predictable business environment that will enable the sector to inject more investments in production. The Zambia Chamber of Mines, an organization representing foreign mining firms operating in Zambia, said a supportive environment, stable policies and exploration were key in the long-term future of the mining industry in Zambia. "There is great potential for the mining sector to play a large role in the global energy transition from fossilized energy sources to metals like copper. Copper prices will remain competitive in the foreseeable future so we need to take advantage and grow the industry in a sustainable manner," said Godwin Beene, the association's president, in a release. The official, who was speaking during a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, said while some immediate changes were needed to signal that Zambia was open for investment, other areas of mining fiscal regime will still require further analysis and discussions to determine the best way forward. While saying that the government's aspiration for the mining industry to reach 3 million metric tons in annual production was "music to the ears of the industry," the organization's leader urged the government to continue with the stability assurance thrust. Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane reiterated the government's plan to push for the economic recovery, stabilization, diversification and national prosperity agenda through a collaborative approach with all players. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 19:41:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Portraits of the 2021 Nobel laureates in Physics Syukuro Manabe (L), Klaus Hasselmann (C) and Giorgio Parisi are seen on a screen during the prize announcement in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2021. The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is shared by three scientists, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems," with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming," and the other half to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales." (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua) STOCKHOLM, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is shared by three scientists, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Tuesday. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems," with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming," and the other half to Giorgio Parisi "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales." In the telephone interview onsite, Parisi said he was very happy with the news and that he was not expecting this. He also emphasized the importance of to "act now" against global warming. Three Laureates share this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of chaotic and apparently random phenomena. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann laid the foundation of the knowledge of the Earth's climate and how humanity influences it. Giorgio Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes, according to a press release from the Academy. "The discoveries being recognised this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations. This year's Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems," said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, in the release. Syukuro Manabe, born in 1931 in Shingu, Japan, is a senior meteorologist at Princeton University in the United States. Klaus Hasselmann, born in 1931 in Hamburg, Germany, is a professor at Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany. Giorgio Parisi, born in 1948 in Rome, Italy, is a professor at Sapienza University of Rome. According to the Academy, this year's prize amount is 10 million Swedish kronor (about 1.15 million U.S. dollars), with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 21:43:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- German chipmaker Infineon expects a strong growth in revenue in its 2022 fiscal year, the company said on Tuesday. The company also plans to significantly increase its investments to around 2.4 billion euros (2.78 billion U.S. dollars), while still achieving a further margin uplift to around 20 percent. "2022 is shaping up to be a strong year; we are continuing our profitable growth journey and sustainable value creation," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Reinhard Ploss said in a statement, noting that "CO2 reduction and the desire to make things intelligent and securely connected are major trends across all industries." During fiscal 2021 that has just ended, the company increased revenues to around 11 billion euros with a margin of 18 percent, according to preliminary figures. Investments in property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and capitalized development costs amounted to 1.6 billion euros. Infineon was benefiting from a "sustained high demand for microelectronics," the company said when it opened a high-tech chip factory for power electronics on 300-millimeter thin wafers in Austria in mid-September. (1 euro = 1.16 U.S. dollar) Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 12:36:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said on Monday that the United States seeks "frank conversations" with the Chinese side on issues including implementation of the phase-one economic and trade agreement, and industrial policies. Tai made the remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on the Biden administration's approach to the U.S.-China trade relationship. "The U.S.-China trade and economic relationship is one of profound consequence," she said. "How we relate to each other does not just affect our two countries. It impacts the entire world and billions of workers." Tai said the Biden administration needs to "take a new, holistic, and pragmatic approach" to dealing with the trade relationship with China, while claiming that it will work with allies and like-minded partners towards building "truly fair international trade" and vowing to defend "American economic interests from harmful policies and practices" with old and new tools. "Our objective is not to inflame trade tensions with China," the U.S. official stressed, revealing that the Biden administration "will start a targeted tariff exclusion process." Tai also proposed a "durable coexistence" between the world's two largest economies. When asked about the U.S.-China economic decoupling, she said she didn't think full decoupling was a realistic outcome, adding that "the issue perhaps is what are the goals we're looking for in a kind of recoupling." The U.S. side is sending a signal that it is ready to hold talks and re-engage with the Chinese side on economic and trade issues, according to Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, which represents over 200 American companies doing business with China. "So that's good, in a way it's sort of an invitation to start dialogue, again, and I think that's important," Allen told Xinhua in response to Tai's remarks. "We would like to see a roadmap to engage between USTR and Chinese counterparts, to resolve issues and to get rid of the tariffs." Last week, Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said "the China-U.S. economic and trade relations are in essence mutually beneficial and win-win, and both sides stand to lose in a trade war." "We hope the United States will earnestly respect market economy principles and international trade rules, and work with China to strive for healthy and steady development of China-U.S. trade and economic relations," Hua added. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 15:46:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xinhua writers Yang Shilong, Hu Yousong WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The number of U.S. COVID-19 deaths reached 670,032 on Sept. 17 when visual artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg first opened her sobering memorial in Washington D.C. -- a sea of small white flags, each representing a life lost to the virus, illustrating the enormity of the pandemic in the country. That figure was last updated on Sunday to 701,133 by Firstenberg in oversized numerals on a billboard by the participatory installation titled "In America: Remember," which was stretched from the base of the Washington Monument to the World War II Memorial, covering more than 20 acres (around 8 hectares). Underneath the shadow of the Washington Monument, it took a team of 150 landscapers three complete days to install the sea of white flags, spaced 10 inches (25.4 cm) across in 60-foot (around 18.3 meters) grids. Never did the artist expect the COVID-19 death toll in America could rise to 700,000, which "was just an inexplicable number," Doug Firstenberg, Suzanne's husband, told Xinhua on Sunday afternoon as she was busy with her speech for the closing ceremony at sunset. "If you look right here, she only has room for another 5,000 to 10,000 flags on the 22 acres. It's a sad time to close, but it's the end of the installation. The number (of the COVID deaths) is just uncalculable, and it's so sad," said Doug. According to Doug, his wife first came up with the idea in August 2020, in large part to respond to Republican Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick who suggested in March 2020 that elderly Americans could be willing to succumb to the virus in order to preserve the U.S. economy. "She felt that she had to do two things: One, to help people understand the magnitude of the number (of the COVID deaths.) Two, she's been a long-time hospice volunteer and she wanted people to also understand each life mattered," said Doug. "That came her idea of planting a sea of white flags, but having one flag for every death, so that each person was being honored." Suzanne started planning in detail for the National Mall installation in late spring and early summer this year. At that point, the COVID-19 deaths were going down thanks to wide-scale vaccinations. "We're losing 100 to 150 people a day. So her original expectation was at the end of the installation, there would be no more than 610,000 to 620,000," said Doug. But Suzanne had reordered twice the number of the white flags as the U.S. COVID-19 death toll began to increase recently, surpassing the grim milestone of 700,000 on Friday night as the Delta variant drove a brutal surge across the weary nation. "One of our hopes is that this installation will bring people together and help heal the divide, such that we all everybody cares about each other. And if we do, then there's hope and then we work together. And We're better at solving our problems than arguing about them," he said. The United States "has changed," Doug lamented. "I mean there's a lot of division," he noted. "My wife and I talk about social media does a lot of good, but I think it also helps divide us. We seem to be divided on matters that we shouldn't be arguing about. And it's sad," he said. "We're allowed to disagree. That's about America. But hopefully on the important things we come together as a country." "And that's one of her biggest wishes out of this Installation. That is it'll help people think about coming together to really addressing big challenges and make the country better," said Doug. Many of those deaths could have been avoidable had the COVID-19 vaccine been taken, said the White House's top medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, on ABC on Sunday. "If you look at the people who get hospitalized, and the people who die, it is overwhelmingly weighted towards the people who are unvaccinated," said Fauci. The most important reason behind the U.S. botched response to the pandemic is "the influence of the (Donald) Trump presidency, when there was a long sequence of policy and communication failures and a refusal to use the resources of the federal government to control the spread," Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua. Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, agreed. He said that one of the reasons behind the high U.S. death toll is the mixed messages that were being sent out all through last year. "Public health officials were making recommendations about social distancing, masking, and so on, but these were simultaneously being undercut by Donald Trump and many in his administration," said Galdieri. Enditem (Xinhua correspondent Matthew Rusling contributed to the story.) Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 15:54:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- A class action lawsuit was filed late Monday against a U.S. company over the massive oil spill off the coast of Southern California, demanding monetary damages for the "environmental catastrophe." In a 13-page document filed in a Los Angeles federal court, the Houston-based Amplify Energy and its Beta Offshore division, which own the offshore oil production facility from which the oil spilled, were listed as the defendants. The document said the suit was brought on behalf of Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr. "individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated." Gutierrez Jr., who owns a disc jockey company that regularly performs along Huntington Beach, said that he lost and will continue to lose a substantial amount of his business due to the closure of the beach and other consequences of the spill. The plaintiffs demand monetary damages, injunctive relief, response costs and medical monitoring. At least 126,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the Pacific Ocean, causing an "environmental catastrophe," the document said. "Deceased animals were washing up covered in oil on the shoreline of the affected area and a large ecological reserve nearby had suffered tremendous damage," it added. The Orange County healthcare agency released a statement to the citizens of the affected area about the deleterious effects of the oil spill to human health and safety. The incident was the latest tragedy of the oil industry but it certainly won't be the last, Attorney Greg Coleman, who also helped file the suit, was quoted by the local NBC news channel as saying. "With this lawsuit we hope to help them clean up their beaches and force the fossil fuel industry to clean up its act," he said. Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said Monday that the city's famous beaches could remain closed for weeks or even months, leaving residents and business owners facing an ecological and economic disaster. The spill also prompted the cancellation of the final day of the 5th Pacific Airshow on Sunday, which drew hundreds of thousands of people to the shore on Saturday. California Governor Gavin Newsom Monday proclaimed a state of emergency in Orange County to support the emergency response to the oil spill incident, directing state agencies "to undertake immediate and aggressive action to clean up and mitigate the effects" of the spill. Justice Department officials and federal investigators are "investigating to determine if any criminal liability exists" in relation to the oil spill, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. Local media reported that records showed that the U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before the company reported a major leak in its pipeline. Enditem FORMER NetOne chief executive officer Reward Kangai has implored Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi to expedite prosecution of the US$4 million corruption scandal in the parastatal which involved former Information and Communication Technology minister Supa Mandiwanzira. Kangai is the State witness in the matter in which Mandiwanzira is being accused of interfering in the operations of mobile communication provider, NetOne, by allegedly corruptly handpicking a Chinese firm to investigate Huawei, with the investigating company set to be paid US$4 million. He claims that he is still being victimised by individuals involved in the scandal, adding that there was interference with the course of justice on handling the matter which he reported to authorities in 2016. On September 28, 2021, Kangai wrote to Hodzi informing him that he had approached several authorities, including the late former President Robert Mugabe, to have the culprits brought to book, to no avail. In the letter gleaned by NewsDay, copied to Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) chairperson Loice Matanda-Moyo, and Justice secretary Virgina Mabhiza, Kangai said Hodzi risked destroying public confidence in the justice delivery system if he allowed the culprits to escape from the long arm of the law. As prosecutor-general, you have been reported in the Press as lamenting about the existence of cartels that have seriously affected the justice delivery system in Zimbabwe in the fight against corruption , Kangai wrote. I am, therefore, surprised that you would miss such a golden opportunity to deal with the cartels in that system, slip through your fingers as the above subject matter is replete with corruption from the investigation stages to through trial, including victimisation of the whistleblower. I am, therefore, appealing to you sir to allow the justice system to run its course as the matter provides that rare opportunity to deal with the very cartels that you, His Excellency President (Emmerson) ED Mnangagwa, and Hon Justice Matanda Moyo lament about. Kangai said despite provision of all the necessary evidence for justice to prevail, the culprits had not been brought to book due to deliberate interference in the justice system, six years on. This is not a matter between the accused person and myself, but much to do with the collective interest of the Zimbabwean nation, that is, to effectively rid country of the corruption scourge , Kangai said. He said the countrys huge economic potential could never be realised when corruption was as deeply embedded in State institutions. After the US$4 million scandal was exposed, Kangai was fired from NetOne and later arrested by Zacc on corruption charges. Newsday The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Anxious Masuka has been fingered in a land scam after it emerged that he recently signed a land offer letter for Bornface Naison, a fugitive from the law who fled to South Africa 14 years ago. The allegations are contained in documents presented by Nhaka Yavatema, a co-operative of disabled people in a court case heard at Chiredzi Magistrates Court in May. The Mirror is in possession of the documents. The allegations are that Naison stole TelOne copper cables and was arraigned before the courts in 2007. Vandalising TelOne cables is a serious crime which attracts a 10-year-prison term. Recently the cabinet has been advocating for a 30-year jail sentence. Naison was released on bail and immediately skipped the country and has never been in Zimbabwe since then. It shocked many in the court when documents were produced that despite being a suspect in a serious case and running away from the law, Naison was actually offered what is supposed to be free land by the State. The 99-year lease signed by Masuka on December 11, 2020 is for 60 hectares at Sub Division 27 of the Hippo Valley North dry land. The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has been investigating a number of cases where senior Government officials including politicians were fingered in illegal land sales. The Government officials are accused of selling State land on a massive scale. The case emerged after Naison and a Chiredzi lawyer Dyson Chirima filed papers in court to evict Nhaka Yavatema Co-operative members who are using the same land that the two were offered. Naison is being represented in court by his wife Lorhinda Ingwani whom he gave the power of attorney. Nhaka Yavatema produced a letter in court which shows that the co-operative was given the same land by Chiredzi Town Council. The letter was signed by Edson Nyadenga, the councils Environmental Health Officer. Masvingo Mirror Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libyan Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Abdelhamid al-Dbaiba met members of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Commission in Tripoli on Monday with their discussions focusing on the mechanisms for the departure of mercenaries and foreign forces from the country If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here Investigators seek to extend detention of defendant in Kazan school shooting case RAPSI, Eugeny Varlamov 10:55 05/10/2021 MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI) Investigators have demanded to extend detention of Ilnaz Galyaviyev, who stands charged with a deadly shooting attack on a school in Kazan, the capital of Russias Republic of Tatarstan, in May, until January 11, RAPSI has learnt in the press service of Moscows Basmanny District Court. The hearing of the petition is set for October 7. According to investigators, on May 11, Ilnaz Galyaviyev, 19, broke into an education institution and started shooting. He shot dead 7 minors and 2 teachers. Over 20 persons were injured as a result of the assault. The attacker, who was arrested on the scene and identified, acted alone. Several years ago he graduated from this school. On May 12, he was placed in detention. In July, a psychiatric examination found Galyaviyev insane. Ex-Mayor of Russias Vladivostok put in detention in bribery case RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov 11:47 05/10/2021 MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI) A court in Russias Vladivostok on Tuesday put ex-city Mayor Oleg Gumenyuk in detention for two months as part of a bribery case, RAPSI was told in the press service of the Investigative Committees Investigations Directorate for Primorsky Krai. Graft charges have been already brought against the former official. According to investigators, between 2019 and 2021, the suspect regularly received bribes from the administration of Neropol funeral agency and through mediators for the common protection in the funeral service delivery. In total, he received over 19.5 million rubles (about $270,000), the statement reads. The investigation is ongoing. Genocide ruling as to Pskov civilians murders during WWII comes into force RAPSI 12:50 05/10/2021 MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI) A court ruling recognizing massacres of civilians committed in the Pskov Region by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War as genocide came into force on Tuesday, RAPSI was told in the press service of the Russian Prosecutor Generals Office. The Pskov Regional Court delivered the ruling in the genocide case on August 27. According to the ruling, the newly revealed crimes committed during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 on the territory of the Pskov and Velikiye Luki (from 02.10.1957 - Pskov) regions by unidentified persons from among the Nazi criminals and traitors against the civilian population and prisoners of war were war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Within the framework of the No Statute of Limitations project, in July - October 2020, mass graves of civilians and prisoners of war perished during the Great Patriotic War were discovered on the territory of the Pskov region. During the war, these areas were under German occupation. During the occupation of the Pskov region by the Nazis and their accomplices, 42,537 civilian Soviet citizens were shot, 776 were hanged, 7,629 people died as a result of torture or were burned alive, 329,455 Soviet prisoners of war were exterminated, the Prosecutor General's Office has noted earlier. Spain extradites Russian national charged with $5.3 mln embezzlement flickr.com/GonchoA 16:33 05/10/2021 MOSCOW, October 5 (RAPSI) The competent authorities of the Kingdom of Spain extradite to Russia the head of a contractor accused of embezzling 384 million rubles ($5.3 million) in the course of the construction of an Olympic facility in Sochi, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office reports. According to prosecutors, in the framework of a state targeted program the Main Construction Department of Russias Krasnodar Krai made a contract with Ivan Vandyshev's company, and in order to comply with the terms of this contract transferred to the company 1 billion rubles (about $14 million at the current exchange rate); 384 million rubles from this amount were allegedly withdrawn by the charged person. Vandyshev was put on the federal wanted list in October 2018 as he fled from justice. In February 2020, Spain informed Russian authorities that the man was apprehended on its territory. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office filed a request for his extradition, which was granted in September 2021, the body said in the statement. It is expected that Vandyshev will arrive to Moscow this Tuesday. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, on Monday said India is committed to curtail carbon emissions in the Antarctic atmosphere. "India has already adopted the green energy initiative by experimenting with the feasibility of wind energy production and installed moderate output of Wind Energy Generators (WEG) on an experimental basis. The choice of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) for Bharati station to reduce carbon emissions in the Antarctic also promotes India's pledge to protect the environment," Singh said as he addressed an international conference commemorating the signing of the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. The conference was attended virtually by Prime Minister of the host country Spain, Pedro Sanchez; Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern; Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison and ministers and delegates representing the different countries that are signatory to the Protocol. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed in Madrid on October 4, 1991 and entered into force in 1998. It designates Antarctica as a "natural reserve, devoted to peace and science". Singh said that India is looking forward to contributing to the evolving Climate Change Response Work Programme of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). He said, climate-induced Carbon Dioxide (CO2) uptake by polar oceans is causing acidification that destroys marine environments and ecosystems. "It is gradually affecting fisheries, and lastly, propelling disastrous biome shifts. It is one of the challenges for the next 30 years," the Minister observed and reiterated that India also anticipates tourism growth and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing as potential issues. India is committed to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems, and the designation of Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science, he said, adding, India also reaffirms its commitment to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Forty-two state parties acceding to the Madrid Protocol are a remarkable feat of sustainable manner of preserving the Antarctic environment, he added. India signed the Antarctic Treaty on August 19, 1983 and soon, thereafter, received consultative status on September 12, 1983. The Madrid Protocol was signed by India, which came into force on January 14, 1998. India is one of the 29 Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty. India is also a member of Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programme (COMNAP) and Scientific Committee of Antarctica Research (SCAR). All these representations show the significant position that India holds among the nations involved in Antarctic research. India has two active research stations; Maitri (commissioned in 1989) at Schirmacher Hills, and Bharati (commissioned in 2012) at Larsemann Hills in Antarctica. India has successfully launched 40 annual scientific expeditions to Antarctica till date. With Himadri station in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Arctic, India now belongs to the elite group of nations that have multiple research stations within the Polar Regions. There is increased Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force presence across eastern Ladakh but "it is not going to make much difference" to the Indian Air Force, IAF chief V.R. Chaudhari said on Tuesday. Addressing the annual press conference ahead of Air Force Day (October 8), Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said that Chinese PLAAF has increased presence at three airfields across the Line of Actual Control. "China is developing airfields with multiple aircraft but flying from high altitude is a weak area," he said. Replying to a query over punitive action against China, the IAF chief said that it is a national policy and India is capable of dealing with any scenario. About induction of S-400, he should it should be inducted within this year. India is procuring S-400 missiles from Russia for long range ie 400 km, and it was expected to be received by the Air Force by this year end. "S-400 delivery is on track. The first regiment should be inducted within this year," Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said. He also said that IAF is capable of dealing with a two-front war with China and Pakistan, but "the matter of concern is dissemination of western tactics and weapons from Pakistan to China". On China breaching Taiwan airspace, he stated it is matter between the two and he would refrain from making any comments. On theaterisation and integration, Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said: "Air force is fully committed towards integration and joitness to cater to future warfare. Strength and doctrines of each service needs to be taken into account." Taliban forces have unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Afghanistans Daykundi province after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed. The killings took place in Kahor village of Khidir district on August 30. Eleven of the victims were former members of the Afghan National Defence Security Forces (ANDSF), and two were civilians. According to witness testimony gathered by Amnesty International, the Taliban extra-judicially executed nine of the ANDSF members after they had surrendered, killings that appear to be war crimes. Two civilians were killed as they attempted to flee, including a 17-year-old girl was shot when the Taliban opened fire on a crowd of people. Amnesty International verified photographs and video evidence taken in the aftermath of the killings, and identified the location of Kahor village, where they happened. "These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General. "They repeatedly violate the rights of those they perceive as their adversaries, even killing those who have already surrendered. The Taliban say they are not targeting former employees of the previous government, but these killings contradict such claims. "The Taliban must immediately cease these cruel acts of revenge, and ensure employees of the former government and their families can live safely in Afghanistan. The new government must make clear that such grave violations will not be tolerated, and that those responsible will be prosecuted." Verifying human rights abuses committed by the Taliban since they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 has proven difficult, as the group have cut mobile phone service in many regions. Shortly after the fall of Kabul, Amnesty International documented how Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Ghazni province. The Taliban took control of Daykundi province on August 14. An estimated 34 former ANDSF members initially sought safety in Khidir district, and had government military equipment and weaponry with them. They then agreed to surrender to the Taliban as the group established its authority over vast swathes of the region. Mohammad Azim Sedaqat, who was leading the surrender, arranged to decommission the group's weapons in the presence of the Taliban. On August 29, the men negotiated to surrender fully to the Taliban. On August 30, an estimated 300 Taliban fighters arrived in convoy close to Dahani Qul village, where the ANDSF members were staying, some with family members. As the ANDSF members attempted to leave the area with their families, one vehicle remained stuck close to Kahor village. When the Taliban fighters caught up with them, they opened fire on the crowd and killed the 17-year-old girl, called Masuma. One of the ANDSF members then fired back, killing one Taliban fighter and wounding another. The Taliban continued to shoot as the families fled, killing two ANDSF members caught in crossfire as they were fleeing the scene. After nine more ANDSF members surrendered, the Taliban promptly took them to a nearby river basin and executed them. On August 31, the day after the killings, villagers took the bodies to Dahani Qul, where they were then brought to family plots for burial. Amnesty International reviewed and verified information confirming the locations of two of the graves, and the identities of the people buried there. The Taliban then told remaining family members that anyone who had fled should return, and surrender within three days. Interviewees told Amnesty International that one senior Taliban official warned: "I have killed people for the past 20 years. Killing is easy for me. I can kill again." On September 1, Sadiqullah Abed, the Taliban-appointed chief of police for Daykundi province, denied any killings had happened and instead only confirmed that a member of the Taliban had been wounded in an attack in the province. As per statements on Twitter, some Pakistan Army soldiers have surrendered to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed militia in Waziristan. "Keeping up 'parampara' (tradition) of surrender... Surrendered Pakistani Army soldiers paraded by terrorist org Tahrik-e-Taliban TTP in Mirali, Waziristan," Pakistani human rights activist Arif Aajakia said on Twitter along with an image. Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had said the government is in talks with some groups of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), seeking a reconciliation, the Dawn had 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 had said during an interview with the TRT World. When asked if the government was asking them to lay down arms, the PM had responded: "Yes, we forgive them and they become normal citizens." When the interviewer asked why the TTP was conducting attacks on Pakistani security forces when they were in talks with the government, Khan said that 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, the premier said: "Since the talks were taking place in Afghanistan, so in that sense, yes," the report added. For clarifications/queries, please contact IANS NEWS DESK at San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- An investigation was announced concerning potential securities laws violations by China Evergrande Group in connection with certain financial statements. Investors who purchased shares of China Evergrande Group (EGRNY, EGRNF), 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 focuses on whether certain statements by China Evergrande Group regarding its business, its prospects and its operations were materially false and misleading at the time they were made. China based China Evergrande Group, an investment holding company, primarily engages in the property development business in the People's Republic of China. On September 18, 2021, an article was published, titled: "How Beijing's Debt Clampdown Shook the Foundation of a Real-Estate Colossus: China Evergrande's looming collapse and its ripple effect on the economy will pose a test for the government's campaign to keep housing affordable for the masses." According to the article, "the party has ended. Years of aggressive borrowing have collided with Beijing's crackdown on debt, leaving [China Evergrande] on the brink of collapse." Shares of China Evergrande Group (EGRNY, EGRNF) declined from $19.00 per EGRNY shares on August 12, 2021, to $7.25 per share on September 21, 201, respectively from $1.6 per EGRNF share on June 8, 2021, to $0.28 per share on September 21, 2021, Those who purchased shares of China Evergrande Group (EGRNY, EGRNF) 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. Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- 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 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 in-depth TOC on "Content Marketing Software Market" 73- Tables 35- Figures 152- Pages 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 MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/content-marketing-software.asp Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- The global Creatine market is expected to surge at a steady CAGR in the coming years, states the latest QY Research report. The publication offers an insightful take on the historical data of the market and the milestones it has achieved. The report also includes an assessment of current market trends and dynamics, which helps in mapping the trajectory of the global Creatine market. Analysts have used Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to explain the various elements of the market in absolute detail. Furthermore, it also studies the socio-economic factors, political changes, and environmental norms that are likely to affect the global Creatine market. The research report is committed to giving its readers an unbiased point of view of the global Creatine market. Thus, along with statistics, it includes opinions and recommendation of market experts. This allows the readers to acquire a holistic view of the global market and the segments therein. The research report includes the study of the market segments on the basis of type, application, and region. This helps in identifying segment-specific drivers, restraints, threats, and opportunities. Request a Sample of this report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/1498804/global-creatine-industry The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Creatine Market Research Report: , AlzChem, Spectrum Chemical, Tiancheng, BM.PHARM, Gulang Xinmiao, Zibo Lanjian, Bao Sui, Jiangsu Yuanyang, Hubei Yuanhua Segmental Analysis The report has classified the global Creatine industry into segments including product type and application. Every segment is evaluated based on growth rate and share. Besides, the analysts have studied the potential regions that may prove rewarding for the Creatinemanufcaturers in the coming years. The regional analysis includes reliable predictions on value and volume, thereby helping market players to gain deep insights into the overall Creatine industry. Global Creatine Market Segment By Type: , AlzChem, Spectrum Chemical, Tiancheng, BM.PHARM, Gulang Xinmiao, Zibo Lanjian, Bao Sui, Jiangsu Yuanyang, Hubei Yuanhua Global Creatine Market Segment By Application: , Health Care Product, Pharmaceutical Product, Food & Beverage, Other Regions Covered in the Global Creatine Market: The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt) North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada) South America (Brazil etc.) Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.) Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia) The scope of the Report: The research report on the global Creatine market is a comprehensive publication that aims to identify the financial outlook of the market. For the same reason it offers a detailed understanding of the competitive landscape. It studies some of the leading players, their management styles, their research and development statuses, and their expansion strategies. The report also includes product portfolios and the list of products in the pipeline. It includes a through explanation of the cutting-edging technologies and investments being made to upgrade the existing ones. Enquire Customization in The Report: https://www.qyresearch.com/customize-request/form/1498804/global-creatine-industry Key questions answered in the report: What is the growth potential of the keyword market? Which product segment will grab a lion's share? Which regional market will emerge as a frontrunner in the coming years? Which application segment will grow at a robust rate? What are the growth opportunities that may emerge in the Creatine industry in the years to come? What are the key challenges that the global Creatine market may face in the future? Which are the leading companies in the global Creatine market? Which are the key trends positively impacting the market growth? Which are the growth strategies considered by the players to sustain hold in the global Creatine market? Get Full Report In your Inbox within 24 Hours at USD(): https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/7ca512a64bae2fbfc67b59edb506a75c,0,1,global-creatine-industry About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- The global Sex Hormones market is expected to surge at a steady CAGR in the coming years, states the latest QY Research report. 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This helps in identifying segment-specific drivers, restraints, threats, and opportunities. Request a Sample of this report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/2213745/global-sex-hormones-industry The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Sex Hormones Market Research Report: , Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Sanofi, Bayer, GSK, AstraZeneca, Cipla, Zizhu Pharma Segmental Analysis The report has classified the global Sex Hormones industry into segments including product type and application. Every segment is evaluated based on growth rate and share. Besides, the analysts have studied the potential regions that may prove rewarding for the Sex Hormonesmanufcaturers in the coming years. The regional analysis includes reliable predictions on value and volume, thereby helping market players to gain deep insights into the overall Sex Hormones industry. Global Sex Hormones Market Segment By Type: , Progesterone, Testosterone, Drospirenone, Others Global Sex Hormones Market Segment By Application: , Topical, Inhalation, Injection, Oral Regions Covered in the Global Sex Hormones Market: The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt) North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada) South America (Brazil etc.) Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.) Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia) The scope of the Report: The research report on the global Sex Hormones market is a comprehensive publication that aims to identify the financial outlook of the market. For the same reason it offers a detailed understanding of the competitive landscape. It studies some of the leading players, their management styles, their research and development statuses, and their expansion strategies. The report also includes product portfolios and the list of products in the pipeline. It includes a through explanation of the cutting-edging technologies and investments being made to upgrade the existing ones. Enquire Customization in The Report: https://www.qyresearch.com/customize-request/form/2213745/global-sex-hormones-industry Key questions answered in the report: What is the growth potential of the keyword market? Which product segment will grab a lion's share? Which regional market will emerge as a frontrunner in the coming years? Which application segment will grow at a robust rate? What are the growth opportunities that may emerge in the Sex Hormones industry in the years to come? What are the key challenges that the global Sex Hormones market may face in the future? Which are the leading companies in the global Sex Hormones market? Which are the key trends positively impacting the market growth? Which are the growth strategies considered by the players to sustain hold in the global Sex Hormones market? Get Full Report In your Inbox within 24 Hours at USD(): https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/655f2936a773cf9130aa844be1d15da9,0,1,global-sex-hormones-industry About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- The global Soft Elastic Capsule market is expected to surge at a steady CAGR in the coming years, states the latest QY Research report. The publication offers an insightful take on the historical data of the market and the milestones it has achieved. The report also includes an assessment of current market trends and dynamics, which helps in mapping the trajectory of the global Soft Elastic Capsule market. Analysts have used Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to explain the various elements of the market in absolute detail. Furthermore, it also studies the socio-economic factors, political changes, and environmental norms that are likely to affect the global Soft Elastic Capsule market. The research report is committed to giving its readers an unbiased point of view of the global Soft Elastic Capsule market. Thus, along with statistics, it includes opinions and recommendation of market experts. This allows the readers to acquire a holistic view of the global market and the segments therein. The research report includes the study of the market segments on the basis of type, application, and region. This helps in identifying segment-specific drivers, restraints, threats, and opportunities. Request a Sample of this report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/2145212/global-soft-elastic-capsule-industry The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Soft Elastic Capsule Market Research Report: , Catalent, Aenova, Nature's Bounty, Procaps, Patheon (Thermo Fisher Scientific), IVC, EuroCaps, Captek, Strides Pharma Science, Lonza (Capsugel), Soft Gel Technologies, Amway, Sirio Pharma, Baihe Biotech, Ziguang Group, Shineway, Donghai Pharm, By-Health, Yuwang Group, Guangdong Yichao Segmental Analysis The report has classified the global Soft Elastic Capsule industry into segments including product type and application. Every segment is evaluated based on growth rate and share. Besides, the analysts have studied the potential regions that may prove rewarding for the Soft Elastic Capsulemanufcaturers in the coming years. The regional analysis includes reliable predictions on value and volume, thereby helping market players to gain deep insights into the overall Soft Elastic Capsule industry. Global Soft Elastic Capsule Market Segment By Type: , Gelatin Soft Elastic Capsule, Non-animal Soft Elastic Capsule Global Soft Elastic Capsule Market Segment By Application: , Health Care Products, Drug, Other Regions Covered in the Global Soft Elastic Capsule Market: The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt) North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada) South America (Brazil etc.) Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.) Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia) The scope of the Report: The research report on the global Soft Elastic Capsule market is a comprehensive publication that aims to identify the financial outlook of the market. For the same reason it offers a detailed understanding of the competitive landscape. It studies some of the leading players, their management styles, their research and development statuses, and their expansion strategies. The report also includes product portfolios and the list of products in the pipeline. It includes a through explanation of the cutting-edging technologies and investments being made to upgrade the existing ones. Enquire Customization in The Report: https://www.qyresearch.com/customize-request/form/2145212/global-soft-elastic-capsule-industry Key questions answered in the report: What is the growth potential of the keyword market? Which product segment will grab a lion's share? Which regional market will emerge as a frontrunner in the coming years? Which application segment will grow at a robust rate? What are the growth opportunities that may emerge in the Soft Elastic Capsule industry in the years to come? What are the key challenges that the global Soft Elastic Capsule market may face in the future? Which are the leading companies in the global Soft Elastic Capsule market? Which are the key trends positively impacting the market growth? Which are the growth strategies considered by the players to sustain hold in the global Soft Elastic Capsule market? Get Full Report In your Inbox within 24 Hours at USD(): https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/f0e50a8a299ec75f0b2492e1674dcc3e,0,1,global-soft-elastic-capsule-industry About QYResearch QYResearch always pursuits high product quality with the belief that quality is the soul of business. Through years of effort and supports from huge number of customer supports, QYResearch consulting group has accumulated creative design methods on many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch has become the brand of quality assurance in consulting industry. Hong Kong, China -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/04/2021 -- Compliance is a necessity that is globally recognised and there are plenty of internationally accepted definitions of what it really means for businesses to be compliant. However, a unique set of challenges exists for those working within global organisations who also need to be aware of, and on top of, what is happening on local and regional levels within the business. This is when the issue of compliance often shifts from being less about law and regulation and much more about an enterprise's compliance culture and how this topic should be approached on an organisation-wide level. Given the diversity of the APAC region there are some very specific challenges on the compliance front for those operating in this part of the world, especially if other jurisdictions, such as North America, also need to be taken into account. As compliance recruiters in Hong Kong, the team at Selby Jennings are ideally placed to help companies find the right talent to make a positive compliance culture happen. Established in 2004, Selby Jennings has been building up a reputation as go to compliance recruiters in Hong Kong for almost two decades. The firm's expertise runs deep in this field - and also in the region. The team also has extensive experience in hiring for a broad range of different areas, including corporate and investment banking, risk management, quantitative research and trading, financial technology, investment management and sales and trading. With so much specialist experience and connections, Selby Jennings has also been able to establish a database of more than a million mid-to-senior professionals and create networks with a broad spectrum of enterprises, from agile start-ups to international brands. A combination of permanent, contract and multi-hire solutions enable the firm to support businesses in hiring for growth and innovation - and give individuals the opportunity to take career-defining next steps. Selby Jennings is part of an international workforce that numbers 1,000+ and this brings a unique global perspective to everything that the firm does as compliance recruiters in Hong Kong. The firm is also the recruitment partner of choice to hundreds of world-leading companies as part of the Phaidon International group, which operates across 6 countries. Vital to the ongoing growth of the firm is the investment consistently made in its people. Consultants at the firm receive regular training to keep standards high and all work with best-in-class recruitment technology and strategies. Selby Jennings understands the need to ensure that the recruitment process is a positive experience for everyone and to provide peace of mind that it is in safe hands. There are currently many different roles available via Selby Jennings, including Business Development VP, Investment Compliance [Asset Management], Open Banking Innovation Specialist and Blockchain Engineer. "Like for many sectors, 2020 marked a defining moment for recruitment. Challenged by uncertainty, but unwavering in our commitment to our clients, we have endured through 2021 with a sense of duty to clients and candidates", commented Andrew McNeilis, Managing Director at Selby Jennings. He went on to say, "as we reflect on the challenges of virtually securing and retaining talent, we're inspired by a team who have demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt and continue to help all our clients secure top talent on a global scale." To find out more information about Compliance recruiters in Hong Kong in Hong Kong visit https://www.selbyjennings.hk For any media enquiries please contact Gary Elliott at Iconic Digital 020 7100 0726. For all other enquiries please contact Selby Jennings: +852 3008 1901. For more information about Selby Jennings HK services, please go to https://www.selbyjennings.hk About Selby Jennings Selby Jennings creates a range of recruitment solutions that are designed to support the growth of organisations across the financial services sector. Transforming the way that hiring is handled is a tool that any business can use to build in resilience and potential even in challenging times. Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 10/05/2021 -- A leading workforce and recruitment expert, Volt Singapore offers recruitment process outsourcing solutions to help businesses create a great in-house team. Their recruitment services assist organizations in finding the right talent for critical roles in an efficient and cost-effective manner, reducing the burden on the internal administration team. For complex and diverse vacancies, the company adopts customized solutions best suited to the requirements of their clients, giving them a competitive edge and an opportunity to enhance their talent pool with highly skilled candidates. Investing in diverse methods to attract candidates, the company identifies both active and passive job seekers to meet the unique and specific requirements of the client. Their solutions offer a variety of services to businesses struggling to match their demands and allow them to focus more on business related responsibilities. Through their rigorous testing and screening processes, the global human resources recruitment agency manages to provide clients with qualified, professional, and suitable candidates even for the most critical roles and responsibilities. Volt Singapore is a well-renowned talent acquisition agency that specializes in utilizing the best strategies to identify talent and gain references across social media, recruitment sites, job portals, industry forums and online communities. Their dedicated team of experienced professionals delivers excellent results by understanding the unique needs and goals of an organization. They also provide several other services like life science recruitment, engineering recruitment, managed service programs, services procurement, total talent management and much more. When asked about their recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), a representative from the company stated, "Finding you the right people to fill your critical roles is our top priority. We work with you to understand your culture and talent strategy to give you a true competitive advantage. We focus on building your employee brand to promote you in the competitive market and attract the most qualified talent to fill your needs." About Volt Singapore An award-winning global workforce solution provider, listed on the NYSE and a Fortune 1000 organization, Volt Singapore propels businesses and careers forward with expert momentum. The company provides workforce management and talent acquisition solutions to businesses and job placement services. With many years of industry leadership and a growing global team of employment strategists, Volt strives to maintain an innovative and highly relevant sector-based portfolio globally. Volt's core values of Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Success, and Excellence are embedded in the company's code of conduct. More than a marketing slogan, Volt's values are reflected in the daily behaviour of the company's staff, its business practices, and its approach to client and candidate management. For more information, please visit: https://www.voltinternational.com.sg Contact Details 6 Temasek Boulevard, #25-05, Suntec Tower 4, Singapore 038986 E-mail: singapore@voltasia.com.sg Phone: +65 6701 1500 Paleontologists have described a new species of kiwi that lived during the mid-Pleistocene period on the North Island of New Zealand. Kiwi are an enigmatic and threatened group of birds, unique to New Zealand, with six living species recognized, said Dr. Alan Tennyson from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Dr. Barbara Tomotani from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology. Note that kiwi can refer to single or multiple birds because s is not used to denote plural nouns in the Maori language. While modern kiwi species are well represented in the Late Pleistocene/Holocene, the fossil record of kiwi remains extremely poor, they added. Until 1998, the oldest known kiwi fossils were only about 50,000 years old (from Tuarangi Cave, South Canterbury) and were all similar to modern kiwi species. Thus, the transition between the Miocene protokiwi and recent species remains unknown, they said. When the kiwi crown group emerged continues to be debated with recent genetic studies concluding that it was either within the last 3.85 million years or within the last 12-14 million years. The new fossil the kiwis tarsometatarsus bridges the gap between the Miocene fossil record and the modern fauna. The specimen was collected in 1998 at a site near Marton in the North Island of New Zealand. In the new study, Dr. Tennyson and Dr. Tomotani examined the fossil and compared it with 161 kiwi specimens. They found that it is very similar to the tarsometatarsi of living species, most closely resembling Apteryx rowi and Apteryx mantelli in size and shape, but has a unique morphology: it differs in being stouter, with proportionally narrower proximal and distal ends. The fossil is about 1 million years old (mid-Pleistocene period), making it the second oldest known record of kiwi. We can speculate that mid-Pleistocene kiwi were not only similar in size and appearance to modern kiwi but also lived in similar environments, the researchers said. The specimen represents a previously undescribed kiwi species, named Apteryx littoralis. Apteryx littoralis was probably restricted to a coastal region due to volcanic activity in the central North Island, they said. The teams paper was published in the journal Historical Biology. _____ Alan James Drummond Tennyson & Barbara Mizumo Tomotani. A new fossil species of kiwi (Aves: Apterygidae) from the mid-Pleistocene of New Zealand. Historical Biology, published online April 23, 2021; doi: 10.1080/08912963.2021.1916011 A new genus and species of chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur has been identified from skeletal fragments found in the Late Cretaceous rocks of the Hall Lake Formation in south-central New Mexico, the United States. The newly-identified dinosaur roamed the ancient island continent Laramidia some 72 million years ago (Late Cretaceous epoch). It had an ornate frill, short but massive brow horns, a 1.5-m (5-foot) long skull, and was about 4.6 m (15 feet) in length. Named Sierraceratops turneri, it belongs to a subfamily of ceratopsid dinosaurs called Chasmosaurinae. It was a sister species to the ceratopsid dinosaurs Bravoceratops and Coahuilaceratops, part of a group endemic to the southwestern United States and Mexico. It is also related to but predates the famous ceratopsid dinosaur Triceratops by some 6 million years. Sierraceratops turneri is most closely related to other ceratopsids from Texas and northern Mexico, said Dr. Nick Longrich from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and colleagues. These dinosaurs form a group that lived only in southwestern North America, different from the ceratopsid groups that lived to the north. This suggests that distinct and endemic dinosaurs may have inhabited different parts of western North America during the Late Cretaceous, 72 million years ago. Part of the reason dinosaurs became so diverse is that they would specialize on different habitats, just like modern birds or mammals, Dr. Longrich said. These are huge animals, and youd think they would be widespread. But in fact, its not the same species living everywhere. Different species probably adapted to the local climate, plants, predators, and diseases giving them an edge against invaders from outside. We have known of Cretaceous dinosaurs in New Mexico and the Southwest for more than a century, but for most of that time our knowledge of the diversity of this dinosaur fauna has lagged behind our understanding of the dinosaurs of the northern Great Plains from Wyoming to Alberta, said University of Pennsylvanias Professor Peter Dodson, who was not connected with the study. The partial skeleton of Sierraceratops turneri was found in the 1990s on the ranch of Ted Turner, founder of the Cable News Network (CNN). Sierraceratops turneri was collected from a layer of rocks that has been understudied as far as its fossils and dinosaur fauna, said Harrisburg Universitys Dr. Steven Jasinski. When we spend more time researching and collecting in understudied strata like this, we find that different rocks often have distinct dinosaurs, and these dinosaur communities are frequently unique, particularly if they are from different times or ages. According to the paleontologists, Sierraceratops turneri adds to the diversity and disparity of Chasmosaurinae in the Late Cretaceous and provides additional evidence for Laramidian endemism. Together with the new species, the Hall Lake Formation dinosaur fauna suggests that the latest Cretaceous of southern Laramidia was characterized by endemic clades and distinct community structures, they said. The findings appear in the journal Cretaceous Research. _____ Sebastian G. Dalman et al. Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico. Cretaceous Research, published online September 29, 2021; doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105034 The surface pressure on the dwarf planet Pluto is decreasing and that its nitrogen atmosphere is condensing, forming ice on the dwarf planets surface, according to a study presented this week at the 53rd American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting. On August 15, 2018, Southwest Research Institute researcher Eliot Young and his colleagues observed a stellar occultation which occurs when the light from a star is blocked by a foreground body (a planet, moon, ring, or asteroid) from reaching an observer by Pluto. They used the event to measure the overall abundance of Plutos tenuous atmosphere. They found compelling evidence that it is beginning to disappear, refreezing back onto its surface as it moves farther away from the Sun. Scientists have used occultations to monitor changes in Plutos atmosphere since 1988, Dr. Young said. NASAs New Horizons mission obtained an excellent density profile from its 2015 flyby, consistent with Plutos bulk atmosphere doubling every decade, but our 2018 observations do not show that trend continuing from 2015. The astronomers observed a phenomenon called a central flash, caused by Plutos atmosphere refracting light into a region at the very center of the shadow. When measuring an occultation around an object with an atmosphere, the light dims as it passes through the atmosphere and then gradually returns. This produces a moderate slope on either end of the U-shaped light curve. On August 15, 2018, refraction by Plutos atmosphere created a central flash near the center of its shadow, turning it into a W-shaped curve. The central flash seen in 2018 was by far the strongest that anyone has ever seen in a Pluto occultation. The central flash gives us very accurate knowledge of Plutos shadow path on the Earth, Dr. Young said. Like Earth, Plutos atmosphere is predominantly nitrogen, but unlike our home planet, its supported by the vapor pressure of its surface ices, which means that small changes in surface ice temperatures would result in large changes in the bulk density of its atmosphere. Pluto takes 248 Earth years to complete one full orbit around the Sun, and its distance varies from its closest point (30 to 50 AU) from the Sun. For the past quarter century, Pluto has been receiving less and less sunlight as it moves farther away from the Sun, but, until 2018, its surface pressure and atmospheric density continued to increase. Astronomers attributed this to a phenomenon known as thermal inertia. An analogy to this is the way the Sun heats up sand on a beach, said Dr. Leslie Young, also from the Southwest Research Institute. Sunlight is most intense at high noon, but the sand then continues soaking up the heat over course of the afternoon, so it is hottest in late afternoon. The continued persistence of Plutos atmosphere suggests that nitrogen ice reservoirs on Plutos surface were kept warm by stored heat under the surface. The new data suggest they are starting to cool. Even though the expanded CTC is a win-win for families and the economy, conservative Democrats are finding ways to oppose it. by Sonali Kolhatkar American families have struggled for decades to make ends meet with wages simply not rising as fast as the cost of living and a government social safety net that has been so deeply decimated that the U.S. now spends less on children than nearly any other wealthy nation. This year there was a small glimmer of hope that such a trend might be halted and even reversed. Democrats, using their razor-thin control of the Senate and marginal control of the House, passed an expanded child tax credit (CTC) in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan that not only increased the tax refund received by families with young children but also began sending them a monthly advance instead of making them wait until they filed their annual tax return. By any measure, the amounts are embarrassingly modest and only offer an increase of $1,000 to $1,600 over the entire year. Families whose incomes are low enough to qualify and have children aged 6 through 17 are now receiving $3,000 a year instead of $2,000, while those with children younger than 6 are getting checks that add up to $3,600 a year. Putting cash, however small an amount, into the hands of ordinary Americans is a win-win proposition for all but the most conservative pundits. As the 2020 CARES Act unemployment benefitsamounting to a $15 an hour wagedemonstrated, the economy as a whole is buoyed when people have more money in their pockets to spend on basic necessities. And, just as importantly, the benefits helped the most vulnerable, particularly Black and Latino workers, to stave off financial ruin. Now, the monthly CTC payments are already showing similar promise. The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University documented a notable drop in child poverty after just the first month of payments. Additionally, the benefits are particularly helpful for Black and Latino children, who the center estimates have twice the poverty rate of white children. Still, because the CTC relies on tax returns filed in the previous year, white children benefited more than children of color as their families were more likely to have filed taxes. The U.S. Census Bureau also found that after just one month of payments, food insecurity among vulnerable families dropped significantly, and families receiving checks also had less difficulty paying for weekly expenses. So convincing are the expanded CTCs proven benefits that nearly 450 economists wrote an open letter to Congress urging them to extend the program. The CTC payments benefit roughly 39 million American families who are currently receiving monthly checks of up to $300 per child per month. Meanwhile, the cost of child care in the U.S. is exorbitant, averaging at about $1,300 per month for infants and nearly $900 per month for preschool-aged children. For families with multiple children and parents in low-wage jobs, child care is simply out of reach, and the modest CTC payments dont even come close to covering the costs. At the same time, child care workers are so underpaid that in the wake of the pandemic, more than 120,000 have simply quit their jobs nationwide. Even the U.S. government is so concerned that the Treasury Department issued a report admitting that the existing child care system in the United States, which relies on private financing to provide care for most children fails to adequately serve many families. This is not a new problem. In a 2014 speech at the White House Summit on Working Families, former President Barack Obama acknowledged that, in 31 states, decent childcare costs more than in-state college tuition, and that there are other countries that know how to do childcare well. Child care is such an important factor for families with young children that the latest Harris Poll survey found that 76 percent of working parents felt that child care decisions were a major factor in their employment decisions. The cost of raising a child is estimated to be nearly a quarter of a million dollarsa sum that is wildly out of reach for low-income families. Combined with persistent wealth and income inequality, it is no wonder that, as per a recent CDC report, 2020 was the sixth consecutive year that the number of births [in the U.S.] has declined. One 2009 study concluded that cheaper child care is the key to reversing falling birth rates. There are two simple ways to make child care cheaper: heavily subsidize the child care industry (the U.S. government, after all, subsidizes fossil fuel and agricultural industries), or put more money into the hands of parents with children. Currently, the expanded CTC benefits are valid only for a year, and some Democrats want to make them permanent. But President Joe Biden wants them extended for only four years via a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill called the Build Back Better Act. And some conservative Democrats want to roll back the expanded benefit right away. Accountable.US identifies nine House Democrats and two Senate Democrats opposing the extension of an expanded CTC. Of these 11 naysayers, eight are millionaires. In spite of its clear benefits, the CTC is in very real political danger of being rolled back. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), who is one of its biggest proponents, said, Theres nothing bigger than this if you just want to look at the impact of a childs life, this is the biggest thing that were doing. Indeed, its hard to argue against helping vulnerable American children, but some Democrats like Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) are managing to do so as they stand in the way of the current iteration of the CTC. Manchin in particular has adopted a posture far closer to the Republican way of thinking: that benefits aimed at wealthy interests are good for the nation, while benefits to vulnerable individuals are effectively entitlements. Using Republican-favored buzzwords, Manchin recently said that while he supports the CTC in theory, anything that can be added should be means tested, and that it is important that the U.S. not turn into an entitlement society. One critic explained that Means testing is just a nicer way to say, We want people to jump through more hoops, so fewer people can get help. The West Virginia senator exudes such hubris in opposing his own party that in a New York Times interview earlier this year, he essentially dared Democrats to try to oust him, saying, What are they going to do, [are] they going to go into West Virginia and campaign against me? Please, that would help me more than anything. With friends like Manchin, Republicans can sit out the discussion and have no clear policy position on the matter. With many progressive Democrats going on the defensive to protect the expansion of the CTC, some are going on the offensive in trying to get money into the hands of low-income and middle-income Americans by other means. Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar in July introduced a guaranteed income bill that would ensure individuals making up to $75,000 a year receive $1,200 monthly checks. The SUPPORT Act, backed by progressive stalwarts such as Cori Bush (D-MO) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), includes running a pilot program initially to prove that monthly payments would have a positive impact on families. Such approaches embody the opposite of the trickle-down economic model long championed by many establishment economists in the face of progressive opposition. Now, the trickle-down model is so discredited that even Biden has explicitly rejected it. Rather than infusing the top tiers of society with money, tax breaks and subsidies, based on a fantasy that those riches will eventually reach the bottom tiers, policymakers are getting on board with direct benefits to vulnerable Americans. Whether or not the CTC survives Washingtons political wrangling remains to be seen, even as tens of millions of Americans rely on it. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of Rising Up With Sonali, a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. She is a writing fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute. On September 11, 2021, Saidmukarram Abdulqodirzoda, the head of Tajikistans Islamic Council of Ulema, condemned the Taliban as being anti-Islamic in its treatment of women and in its promotion of terrorism. by Vijay Prashad Afghanistan and Tajikistan share a 1,400-kilometer border. Recently, a war of words has erupted between Tajikistans President Emomali Rahmon and the Taliban government in Kabul. Rahmon censures the Taliban for the destabilization of Central Asia by the export of militant groups, while the Taliban leadership has accused Tajikistans government of interference. Earlier this summer, Rahmon mobilized 20,000 troops to the border, and held military exercises and discussions with Russia and other members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Afghan governmentZabihullah Mujahidtweeted pictures of Afghan troops deployed to Takhar province on the border of the two countries. The escalation of harsh language continues. Prospects of war between these two countries should not be discounted, butgiven the role Russia plays in Tajikistanit is unlikely. Panjshir Exiles On September 3, 2021, Afghanistans former Vice President Amrullah Saleh tweeted, The RESISTANCE is continuing and will continue. I am here with my soil, for my soil & defending its dignity. A few days later, the Taliban took the Panjshir Valley, where Saleh had taken refuge for the past fortnight, and Saleh slipped across the border into Tajikistan. The resistance inside Afghanistan died down. From 2001, Saleh had worked closely with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States and then had become the head of Afghanistans National Directorate of Security (2004-2010). He had previously worked closely with Ahmad Shah Massoud of the right-wing Jamiat-e Islami and of the Northern Alliance. Saleh fled by helicopter to Tajikistan with Massouds son Ahmad. They were later joined in Tajikistans capital of Dushanbe by Abdul Latif Pedram, leader of the National Congress Party of Afghanistan. These men followed the lead of the Northern Alliance, which had taken refuge in Tajikistans Kulob region after the Taliban victory in 1996. The personal ties between Ahmad Shah Massoud and Tajikistans President Rahmon go back to the early 1990s. In March 2021, Afghanistans ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad Zahir Aghbar remembered that in the early 1990s Massoud told a group of Tajik fighters in Kabul, I do not want the war in Afghanistan to be transferred to Tajikistan under the banner of Islam. It is enough that our country has been fraudulently destroyed. Go and make peace in your country. That Massoud had backed the anti-government United Tajik Opposition, led by the Islamic Renaissance Party, is conveniently forgotten. After the Taliban took Kabul on August 15, 2021, and just before Saleh and Massoud escaped to Dushanbe, on September 2 Rahmon conferred upon the late Ahmad Shah Massoud the highest civilian award of Tajikistan, the Order of Ismoili Somoni. This, the protection afforded to the Saleh-led resistance movement, and Tajikistans refusal to recognize the Taliban government in Kabul sent a clear signal to the Taliban from Rahmons government. Rahmon says that the main reason is that he is dismayed by the Talibans anti-Tajik stance. But this is not entirely the case. One in four Afghans are Tajiks, while half of Kabul claims Tajik ancestry. The economy ministerQari Din Mohammad Hanifis not only Tajik, but comes from the Badakhshan province that borders Tajikistan. The real reason is Rahmons concerns about regional destabilization. Tajik Taliban On September 11, 2021, Saidmukarram Abdulqodirzoda, the head of Tajikistans Islamic Council of Ulema, condemned the Taliban as being anti-Islamic in its treatment of women and in its promotion of terrorism. Abdulqodirzoda, the lead imam in Tajikistan, has led a decade-long process to purge extremists from the ranks of the mosque leaders. Many foreign-trained imams have been replaced (Abdulqodirzoda had been trained in Islamabad, Pakistan), and foreign funding of mosques has been closely monitored. Abdulqodirzoda frequently talks about the bloody civil war that tore Tajikistan apart between 1992 and 1997. Between 1990, when the USSR began to collapse, and 1992, when the civil war began, a thousand mosquesmore than one a dayopened across the country. Saudi Arabias money and influence rushed into the country, as did the influence of the right-wing Afghan leaders Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Rahmonas chair of the Supreme Assembly of Tajikistan (1992-1994) and then as president (from 1994)led the fight against the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), which was eventually crushed by 1997. The ghost of the civil war reappeared in 2010, when Mullah Amriddin Tabarov, a commander in the IRP, founded Jamaat Ansarullah. In 1997, Tabarov fled to join the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), one of the fiercest of the extremist groups in that era. The IMU and Tabarov developed close ties with Al Qaeda, fleeing Afghanistan and Uzbekistan after the U.S. invasion of 2001 for Iraq, later Syria. Tabarov was caught by the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani in July 2015 and killed. As the Taliban began to make gains in Afghanistan late last year, a thousand Ansarullah fighters arrived from their sojourn with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. When Darwaz fell to the Taliban in November 2020, it was these Ansarullah fighters who took the lead. Tajikistans Rahmon has made it clear that he fears a spillover of Ansarullah into his country, dragging it back into the war of the 1990s. The fear of that war has allowed Rahmon to remain in power, using every means to squash any democratic opening in Tajikistan. Regional Balm In mid-September, Dushanbe hosted the 21st meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of the Heads of State. Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan had several talks with Rahmon about the situation in Afghanistan. As the war of words escalated, Khan called Rahmon on October 3 to ask that the tension be reduced. Russia and China have also called for restraint. It is unlikely that guns will be fired across the border; neither Dushanbe nor Kabul would like to see that outcome. But both sides are using the tension for their own endsfor Rahmon, to ensure that the Taliban will keep Ansarullah in check, and for the Taliban, for Rahmon to recognize their government. This article was produced by Globetrotter. Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He is a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest book is Washington Bullets, with an introduction by Evo Morales Ayma. ARDC gives grant to help students Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is helping high school Computer Science students become Makers by providing a grant to purchase Raspbery PIs and Arduinos Sean Raser, the Computer Science AP Class teacher at California High School, in San Ramon, California, believes that a hands-on approach is the most effective way for students to truly learn and retain knowledge.This means encouraging students to invent their own systems using Raspberry Pi computers and Arduino microcontrollers. By combining these devices with sensors, motors, other electronics, and computer code, students have the opportunity to learn complex technical concepts in a very hands-on way. Rasers challenge has been acquiring enough hardware for all of the students in his class. With limited resources, his program has been limited to a small number of students. A $9,950 grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), a private foundation, is changing that. The grant will allow Raser to give all of his students the opportunity to participate. The funds will allow him to provide students with Raspberry Pis, Micro:bits, Arduinos and the other parts that they need to express their creativity and become makers. In addition, he is transforming part of his classroom into a makerspace that is accessible to all students at California High School. According to Raser, The results have been extraordinary. The students creativity and passion for learning truly thrive as a result of being able to bring their own ideas to life. One student, for example, is using a Raspberry Pi Zero and a variety of sensors to record flight data during a model rocket launch. Another has built an automated attendance taker using a Raspberry Pi and RFID sensors. Rasers hope is that these experiences will nudge these students into careers as engineers and scientists and change our world. Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is a California-based foundation with roots in amateur radio and the technology of internet communication https://www.ampr.org/grants/ Source Press Release https://www.pr.com/press-release/845577 ARISS contact is scheduled with students at various schools in the Prescott Unified School District, Prescott, AZ, USA Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS). This will be a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio between the ISS and students from a number of schools in the Prescott Unified School District based in Prescott, AZ. Students will take turns asking their questions of ISS Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, amateur radio call sign KG5GNP, during the ARISS radio contact. Appropriate local Covid-19 protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the ARISS radio telebridge station. ARISS team member Fred Kemmerer, using his call sign AB1OC in New Hampshire, will serve as the ARISS relay amateur radio station. The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 5, 2021 at 11:08 am MST (Prescott, AZ) (18:08 UTC, 2:08 pm EDT, 1:08 pm CDT, 12:08 pm MDT, 11:08 am PDT). The Prescott Unified School District is the host of this ARISS contact for students (about 4,500, grades K-12) in seven public schools in rural and suburban areas of the District. During the school year prior to this ARSS contact, the students studied various STEAM subjects and engaged in various learning activities that followed lesson plans developed by NASA, the ARRL, and ARISS. This year-long event, referred to as Prescott Radio & Space Science 2021 incorporated 10 linked programs, including 8 programs in the Districts class curriculum and two special community activities. The two activities, Community Radio Science Day and the ARISS Contact Day, were supported by many community organizations and agencies. Other supporting organizations include: World Genesis Foundation (coordinator of special activities), and the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC). Members of the YARC helped introduce amateur radio to students in addition to leading student study-groups for FCC ham license testing, and providing technical assistance in setting up an HF radio station. YARC members will also provide continued education in amateur radio to the students. View the live stream of the upcoming ARISS radio contact at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjieZD0zdvMt-k6Lf17dOkQ As time allows, students will ask these questions: 1) What do you do in your free time? 2) Why did you choose to be an astronaut? 3) My favorite thing to read about in outer space is solar tsunamis caused by solar flares. Have you ever studied or seen them and how they affect planet Earth? 4) After being in space with no gravity, what does it feel like to return to Earth with gravity? 5) Is this your first mission? What has been the best part of it so far? 6) Is your job hard? 7) Is it hard to sleep in space and how do you sleep? 8) Are there any games or activities that you do for fun in space? 9) Do you think you can apply what youve learned from living on the ISS to living long-term on the moon or Mars? 10) Can you describe the launch process and what is the best and worst part? 11) What kind of schooling/career path prep do you have to do to become an astronaut in space? 12) Have you ever cooked for your crew in space? 13) When you went up into space, were you scared? 14) What types of problems do you have to fix on the space station? 15) What are you studying right now or what experiments are you doing on the space station? 16) Do you get viruses (flu, cold) in space and what do you do when one of you gets sick? 17) Do you think there is another life form in space? 18) How far away are you from the earth? 19) What changes do you notice in your body when you arrive on the ISS and when you return home to Earth? 20) Do you ever feel homesick, scared, or nervous in space? If so, what do you do? 21) How much living space is there in the Space Station and do you have any privacy? 22) I am wondering about the five senses. Are there unique smells? What is the temperature in the station? What does the food taste like? ARISS Celebrating 20 Years of Amateur Radio Continuous Operations on the ISS About ARISS: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASAs Space communications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org. Media Contact: Dave Jordan, AA4KN ARISS PR Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Search on Amateur Radio on the ISS and @ARISS_status. Check out ARISS on Youtube.com. The BBC World Service has published its performance review covering the period of 2016 - 2020 During the period covered by this review, the total reach of BBC World Service has grown significantly, by 42 percent, from 246 million people on average each week in March 2016 to 351 million people in March 2020. In addition to supporting audiences across the world with trusted journalism, BBC World Service brings benefits to the UK. Its international expertise enhances the BBCs UK news services by bringing unique insights to coverage on world events, helping UK audiences to understand what is going on in the world. UK audiences agree that the World Service helps to inform UK audiences about international events and the UKs place in the world better than any other brand. Media Centre release here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/bbc-world-service-five-year-review Ham radio exams in Nieuwegein, Netherlands On October 2, the amateur radio Novice (equivalent to UK Intermediate) and Full exams were held in Nieuwegein. A day later, the Stichting Radio Examens (SRE) announced all the provisional exam results A translation of the VERON post reads: For the Novice (N) exam, the pass rate was above 90%, while for the Full (F) exam half of the candidates passed. The total number of exam candidates was 31. The VERON congratulates the successful and wishes the others every success in the second chance. For the F-exam, 10 candidates showed up. Five of them (50%) managed to give enough good answers to succeed. In the N-exam, the SRE had 21 candidates. Of these, 19 (90.5%) passed and will soon be able to register as a radio amateur with the Telecom Agency (AT) for the first time. Source VERON https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Netherlands In the Netherlands the Novice exam comprises 40 questions each with 3 possible answers and you need to get 35 correct. The Novice license permits 25 watts output in the 7, 14, 28, 144 and 430 MHz bands. The HAREC Full exam comprises 50 questions each with 4 possible answers of which 35 need to be answered correctly. There is no need to do the Novice first, it's the equivalent of the RSGB's proposed Direct-To-Full exam. The Full license permits 400 watts output. School for Deaf Children to talk to an astronaut on the International Space Station in a world first radio communication At 1212 hrs on 12 October 2021 Lloyd Farrington from the Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society (NADARS) will be calling the International Space Station using Amateur Radio equipment and callsign GB4MHN to enable ten deaf children to speak to NASA Astronaut Mark T. Vande Hei. The children at the Mary Hare School for deaf children in Newbury will be talking to the Astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbits above them at 17,500 miles per hour. The Society, who celebrate their 100th Anniversary in 2022 applied to make the contact on behalf of the school in 2020. An original date of April 2021 for the contact was sadly postponed due to Covid-19 but was then re-scheduled for this month. This is to be a world first, a group of deaf children will each ask a question to the astronaut who will then answer the question. The reply will then be interpreted into subtitles and sign language for the children to hear. The event is made possible by the world-wide organisation ARISS (Amateur Radio International Space Station) that heads up the radio contacts for space agencies NASA and ESA. The ISS has an Amateur Radio station on board and the Astronauts are also licensed Radio Amateurs. The ISS signal can be received on the 2 metre Amateur band and can be heard live all over the UK when the contact is underway using amateur radios or scanners. Radio Amateur and contact co-ordinator Lloyd Farrington from NADARS states: This is a truly exciting event for both the school and NADARS. Its a great privilege to be able to speak to an orbiting Astronaut and well have NASA and ESA watching and listening to us due to it being the first contact of this kind in the World! The event can also be watched live via an internet live stream: https://live.ariss.org Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has rightly undertaken to probe all Pakistanis named in the Pandora Papers. Hundreds of Pakistanis have reportedly been exposed for having offshore accounts by Prabath Sahabandu The Pandora Papers investigation into about 12 million documents leaked from financial companies around the globe has shaken the world. A large number of global elites have been exposed for their questionable financial deals that helped ring-fence their wealth and evade taxes with the help of offshore companies. Among them are some of the worlds most influential people including political leaders, billionaires and others. Journalists numbering more than 600 from 117 countries have been analysing the data obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC. The Pandora Papers investigation has already made many big names squirm and they include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Jordans monarch King Abdullah II. Russia has vehemently denied Putins involvement, insisting that neither he nor any member of his inner circle has been named. As for Sri Lankans, former Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa and her husband are among those named in the Pandora Papers for running shell companies and acquiring properties overseas; they have reportedly refused to answer questions posed by the ICIJ, but their alleged involvement in the controversy is sure to become a huge political issue here, given their links to the ruling family. This revelation could not have come at a worse time for the government facing multiple crises and various allegations. It is not possible to figure out the exact amount of funds stashed away in tax havens worldwide, and therefore we have to settle for ballpark figures. The ICIJ is of the view that the amount could range from USD 5.6 trillion to USD 32 trillion. The International Monetary Fund has said the losses that tax havens cause to many countries around the world could be as high as USD 600 billion a year. The existence of the offshore world aggravates global poverty and inequalities because it deprives the developing nations of some of their tax revenues. Besides tax dodgers and corrupt politicians who have amassed colossal amounts of ill-gotten wealth, criminals such as drug lords and terrorists have also benefited from tax havens, where they park their illegal funds. Strangely, none of the developed countries that promote transparency and fight against the scourge of black money, have taken any action against the tax havens. The practice of opening companies in tax havens is considered unethical rather than illegal! Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has been warned of the possibility of a money-laundering haven coming up off its west coast. In April, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Alaina Teplitz, cautioned that Sri Lanka might face the unintended consequences of nefarious actors who may try to misuse the Colombo Port Citys easy business rules as a permissive money laundering haven. Prejudiced as the US Ambassador may be, owing to Americas aversion to Chinese projects anywhere in the world, her warning should not be taken lightly, and extreme care should be exercised to prevent the Port City from becoming a tax haven like Monaco. Worries that the Pandora Papers probe has caused to those who possess enormous amounts of hidden wealth in tax havens are far from over. Journalists continue to sift through the leaked documents, and many more startling revelations are expected in time to come. Many wealthy Sri Lankans, especially politicians, must be having sleepless nights, fearing the prospect of their shady deals, too, being exposed. Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has rightly undertaken to probe all Pakistanis named in the Pandora Papers. Hundreds of Pakistanis have reportedly been exposed for having offshore accounts. Among them are some members of PM Khans Cabinet. Pressure should be brought to bear on the government of Sri Lanka to emulate PM Khan and conduct investigations. Transparency International Sri Lanka has already called for an investigation. It is up to the Opposition to pressure the government, but the question is whether the hands of its top guns are clean enough to do so. Whatever the governments or the Oppositions response may be, the Sri Lankan public are now in a position to guess where the money stolen from them has ended up. The writer, editor in chief of the Island, a Colombo based daily. Every Sri Lankan expatriate has a frustrating dream to see Sri Lanka on par with other attractive and well-run countries in the world that they have seen. by Helasingha Bandara At a time when Sri Lanka is sitting on the very bottom rung of the world ladder concerning every aspect of a modern society, there is a glimmer of hope for the future, thanks to the unsung work of a group of invaluable individuals who I call the Magnificent Seven. Despite the differences in their modus operandi, they all have the same honourable goal in mind: bring back Sri Lanka to its former and would-be glory through a change in personnel and the system of governance of Sri Lanka. Every Sri Lankan expatriate has a frustrating dream to see Sri Lanka on par with other attractive and well-run countries in the world that they have seen. This dream is born as a logical conclusion that it is possible to realise but in a hard-to-realise nightmarish environment. Our country has natural beauty, educated and intelligent people who love it, fertile soil, and other natural resources that can help develop the country in no time. The main reason for the country to remain at the bottom of the world ladder is that it did not have, educated, intelligent, honest, and good-hearted people to rule since independence. Although the leaders before 1977 were not efficient and knowledgeable to find a development path and a system of governance suitable for our country rather than following what the British dictated and what they copied from backward India, they did not steal from the people. With J.R Jayawardenes ascendance to power a curse was born and escalated for the worse until today. He learned from the British strategy of divide and rule and introduced the concept of impoverish and rule. Since then, the successive governments gave a free hand to their politicians and the cronies to misappropriate public funds and steal until the state coffers are empty. An impoverished nation is easy to rule. The best example is the most recent reciting of a poem by a person from the wedding organisers association or something to that effect, praising the government for allowing weddings and other ceremonies to go ahead. Impoverished people can be bought for a lunch packet and half a bottle of arrack. Politicians are so certain about this, and they demonstrate the belief by both words and actions. The strategy to impoverish and rule has brought devastating consequences for the country and the people, and it has so far shattered the dream of the well-wishers. The country is even poorer than Ethiopia and Bangladesh. All public services including education and health have hit rock bottom. On the quality-of-life index, Sri Lanka occupies 78th place out of 83 countries included. World economic rankings recognised SLs place as 65 while Pakistan and Bangladesh are ranked 40 and 43 respectively. On the happiness index SL holds 134th place out of 153 countries rated. University rankings that we have received is pathetic. Peradeniya University has fallen into the ranking category of 1001+. Some believe that people are responsible for their own downfall as they keep on voting those rogues in time and again. It is not fair to conclude that the general public are foolish because in 2015 they showed that they were not gullible by defeating the all-powerful and popular Mahinda Rajapaksha. Unfortunately, the power was transferred to two imbeciles who belonged to the same type of political clans. The effort that my protagonists are making is to raise awareness among the public that no politician whom this system has produced is suitable to rule this country . The magnificent seven are 1. Speal Amarasinghe the philosopher, 2. Tharindu Uduwaragedara the knowledge hub, 3. Sudaththa Thilakarathna, the rogue patriot, 4. Chameera Perera the orator, 5. Nagananda Kodithuwakku the lawyer, 6. Bharatha Prabhashana Tennakoon the logician, 7. Abhishaka Fernando the satirist. Among others, these seven are the most prolific political educators that Sri Lanka has at the moment, and it is the responsibility of the nation to save and nurture these people who are the best assets that Sri Lankans possess and the best hope to lead people towards a paradigm shift. Sepal Amarasinghe while believing that none of the current politicians have the knowledge, intelligence, skills, or desire to rule this country has been flexible enough to admit that there is a handful of politicians who can be rehabilitated to be good. His philosophy that the current political system does not suit our country has to be the top priority in the mindsets of Sri Lankans. Tharindu is the greatest informer among them. He informs the people about the current deals and political manoeuvres for people to be aware of. His knowledge and skill to find such information and his ability to accurately analyse them is incomparable. It is difficult to attach a value to this human asset. Suddaththa is my kind of hero. His slogan, no debt, no fear epitomises a hero bent on telling the truth. Once I said that both Sepal and Sudaththa enter the same swimming pool, Sepal from the deep end while Suddaththa takes the shallow end. Sudaththas end is comparatively more productive as the majority takes the shallow end anyhow. God bless his honest heart and boiling blood! Chameera is the best orator on stage in Sri Lanka at the moment. He spellbinds those who listen to him with his penetrative presentation skills and indisputable facts. Sri Lanka is blessed to have a son like him. I wish many more like him were born. Bharatha Thennakoon is logical. His logical presentation of facts and logical analyses of current affairs are a breath of fresh air. Last but not least, Abhisheka the satirist. Satire is a very strong medium to convey a message. She uses satire very effectively and is at the peak of her ability to achieve the desired outcome. Her beauty and sharp mouth combined can deliver an unfailing blow to the villains and achieve the honourable goal that the magnificent seven persevere to reach. Now then, what is the plan? Many people may have raised that question already. My personal view is that the country needs a more solid strategy to make the change beyond Sepals concept of NOTA and Nagnadas abstention concept. Apart from the collaboration between Sepal, Nagananda and Sudaththa, any other effort to collaborate with like-minded people seems absent. Individuals alone cannot achieve a collective goal. It is apparent that none of my heroes is interested in active politics, but they are determined to help the change happen. For the paradigm shift to take place a new front that can collect all progressive individuals has to be formed. The 2nd stage of your effort may be the forming of this front. There is no time to postpone this. I believe this is the right time to act. if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... By Elissa Carrasco Lanusse carrasco@grinnell.edu It was a single human foot that transformed March 27, 2006 from an average day in the city of Puente Alto, Chile to one that would be remembered, even 15 years later, all throughout the country. The first report of the case came in after a group of children playing in the streets saw a street dog carrying an odd object in its mouth. After further inspection, the kids realized it was a human foot and the authorities were called immediately. The evidence was taken and the community moved on to the rest of their days. Little did they know that within a day another disembodied part would be found in the form of a human head. There were two 9mm bullet holes, an extirpated nose and a haunting Glasgow smile that characterized the new findings. On March 29, a set of limbs were found in Puente Alto lacking feet or hands, the arms having distinct cuts that signaled the removal of four tattoos. The day after the other foot was found, followed by the final pieces on April 2 and 3, when two women ran into a trash bag with two disembodied hands and another one encountered a torso inside a trash bin. Within eight days, the police had in their hands a human body to reconstruct and a victim to identify. Some notable aspects were the lack of fingerprints, the removed tattoos (with the exception of a single cupid tattoo on one of the arms), the extraction of the glutes and entrails, and the treatment of the face. Two scars ran from the corners of the mouth to the cheekbones. Given the vicious conditions under which the body was found, the media soon baptized the victim as El Descuartizado De Puente Alto (The Dismembered Body of Puente Alto). Having identified the cause of death as two gunshots to the head, the police still needed to find out who the victim was and who killed and dismembered him. With a complete body, the forensic experts started their attempt at solving the mystery. Through DNA tests it was confirmed that all of the parts belonged to the same body. A picture of the cupid tattoo left on the victims arm was sent to penitentiaries around Chile where an inmate recognized the tattoo as his work and gave a name to El Descuartizado De Puente Alto: Hans Hernan Pozo Vergara. His identity was fully confirmed by reconstructing the fingerprints of the body and ten days after the gruesome discovery, the police confirmed that Hans had been born on July 2, 1985, and was known around as El Rucio (a term used to refer to an animal as having light colored fur). The 20-year-old had a single 3-year-old daughter, had been previously in jail for petty theft, was an occasional sex worker, and had a severe drug addiction. The conglomeration of conditions Hans lived under shocked the public, the feeling only amplifying after his family came forth. At only four years of age, Hans was abandoned by his mother due to being the product of a relationship prior to her current marriage. He spent most of his childhood jumping from one foster home to another and would often be singled out for his fairer complexion, light hair and green eyes (hence the nickname El Rucio). Eventually, he was taken in by his uncle Francisco Pozo, however, it did not last long. His time on the streets influenced his eventual drug addiction at 16 that led him to commit small crimes in order to fund his addiction. Soon enough it was too much for his family to deal with and he was out on the streets once more, engaging in criminal activities and sex work to maintain his habits. He once tried to find his mom in 2005 and upon doing so he was chased away with a knife by his stepbrother. Throughout the period where all this information was coming out to the public, a larger conversation about his status as a victim emerged. Being a homeless, convicted, drug addict who was rumored to be homosexual and who worked within the local red-light district, questions about marginalization and the role of the system in the protection of marginalized people emerged. As the investigation progressed a major suspect appeared, someone by the last name of Martinez. Authorities had come to the conclusion that the killer had refrigerated the body parts before delivering them around the city, and given the size of the body, this must have been done with an industrial freezer. Not only this but the bags in which the body parts were found seemed to be of an industrial rather than personal level. With these clues, the police looked into Jorge Ivan Martinez Arevalo, a municipal official and owner of an ice cream shop. It came out that Martinez had had relations with Hans. When the police went to question Martinez, a shot was heard inside the ice cream shop. The cops claimed that Martinez shot himself, yet his family is convinced that he was shot by an officer. With this, the main suspect was gone and unable to defend himself or confess. After Martinezs death, a letter was found in his personal belongings that explained how Hans had been extorting him because he believed he was his biological father. The letter confessed that in fear of his family learning about this, he contracted two unnamed officers to get rid of Hans. As the letter ended, he finally explained that he was being extorted by the killers and hence he had decided to end his own life. Although the veracity of the statement was never fully confirmed, traces of blood were found in the ice cream shop, leading cops to believe that this was the crime scene. Martinezs family claimed that they were being set up by the police to cover a murder they committed, however in court, it was determined that the recently deceased Martinez was in fact guilty of Hans Pozos murder. To this day, no one can actually confirm what happened. Whether Martinez acted alone or with help of his family or the cops, whether Hans extortion was true and even if the motivations outlined in the letter were the actual motivations remains unsure. The one thing that the nation of Chile has agreed upon is that if nothing else, the case of Hans Pozo goes to show the harmful effects of marginalization and the failures of the system as a whole. We may never know what actually happened to El Rucio, but we know that it was the constant failure of a system meant to protect lives like his that led him to his violent demise. Sources LOBAMBA Senator Mkhululi Dlamini has called for Senate to debate motions surrounding the events that led to the loss of lives of emaSwati during the political unrest and delivery of petitions to constituencies. This was before the tabling of portfolio committee reports in Senate yesterday. It is worth noting that Senator Mkhululi had previously moved a motion directed to the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Dlamini, seeking that he should detail the events leading to the loss of lives of emaSwati, allegedly at the hands of security forces. The report was later submitted by the PMs Office, but due to the various activities at Senate and that some events of the political unrest were still ongoing, it was only tabled and not debated. There are two reports whose motions were passed. One looked into the issue of how the delivery of petitions went and this one was not reported. I move that it should be debated and the time for it to be reported is now, the senator said. He added that the other one was about providing a detailed report on the condition of the unrest in the country. Senator Mkhululi mentioned that it required details on how many people were arrested and how. He reiterated that there was no better time to debate such reports than now. Senate President Lindiwe Dlamini acknowledged Senator Mkhululis submission. She admitted that she removed some motions, but the responses were provided. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, who was representing the PM, highlighted that he had not come with the report as he was unaware that it would be required. ambush It would be an ambush because we were not forewarned about it, Masuku said. The Senate president clarified that Senator Mkhululi did not mean for the debate to take place there and then, but eventually. Senator Mkhululi concurred and said he meant that these should be debated during the next sitting. Senator Mkhululis motion was adopted by senators. Recently, Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo declared that the Speaker, Petros Mavimbela, was no longer fit for office as he did not list some of their motions in the Order Paper despite having submitted them to his office. The motions were almost similar to Senator Mkhlululis. One of the motions which was to be moved by Khumalo was intended to call for the House to debate the petitions that were delivered in almost all constituencies in June 2021. Also, Khumalos motion sought the House to debate the issue of the people who were killed during the unrest, with individuals and organisations claiming that over 70 people were killed, allegedly by security forces, while governments official death toll was at 37. The other motion, which was reportedly supposed to be moved by Madlangempisi MP Sibusiso Scorpion Nxumalo and seconded by Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini, meant for the House to debate on the issue of a national dialogue on the political challenges faced by the country. However, Mavimbela did not allow Khumalo to move the motion because he claimed not to have seen or received it in order to apply himself to it. MP Nxumalo could also not move his motion as the Speaker is said to have also played the same card as he did with Khumalo. EZULWINI Change will happen in Eswatini, but people should not incite law enforcers. This was said by Dr Roger Koranteng, who is from the Commonwealth Secretariat. Dr Koranteng was speaking during the retreat for Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday on the topic of good governance. He said there would be no peace reached if people continued to burn and destroy structures. He said instead, calm should be first restored in the country and only then could talks be held, not while guns and burning was continuing. Dr Koranteng said at the end of the day, all key stakeholders had to gather at the roundtable. Even in South Africa, apartheid ended when two men sat down at the roundtable and reached an agreement, said Dr Koranteng. He had been asked by Lomahasha MP Ndumiso Masimula if it was possible to apply the five principles of good governance under an absolute monarchy. transparency Part of the five principles of good governance are transparency, accountability, predictability and participation. Dr Koranteng said this was achievable, especially if the people elected or appointed into government practised all of them. He said participation recognised that people were at the heart of democratic development. The facilitator said what was missing in this world and in particular with African countries, was patience. He said emaSwati needed to exercise patience and stop the protests so that in a few months there could be a dialogue, but emphasised that dialogue would not take place while there was still some unrest. There needs to be calm in the country, he said. Dr Koranteng said no one would be able to blow out the fire while standing in it. You will get burnt by the same fire, said the presenter. He said both parties should have peace and calm and that the protests should stop. On another note, the MPs were advised that they should be people of integrity instead of only being ethical. He said there was a difference between integrity and ethics, with the latter being an external system of rules and laws while integrity was an internal system which guided peoples behaviour. He said integrity could not be forced. MBABANE - A woman of Corporation in the capital city, who reportedly conducts a money lending business, was on Saturday robbed of a sum of E220 000 by two armed men. The two armed men are said to have broken into the womans house at 9:30pm where they tied her wrists together and ankles and covered her mouth with a duct tape. According to an impeccable source, they then locked her in her bedroom before proceeding to take the money which was inside the house. However,when they initially arrived, the robbers were said to have posed as police officers. Corporation is situated not too far from popular Msunduza Township. E30 000 of the money was for her money lending business while she wanted to use the remaining amount to purchase a car, said a source. The source also suspected that the robbers had knowledge that the woman was keeping a substantial amount of money in her house. Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the robbery. She said police were still investigating and so far no one had been arrested. There has been insinuations that with the festive season approaching, many such cases would be witnessed as people wanted to make a quick buck. In particular, it had been noted that during this time of the year, informal savings schemes, known as stokvels, become targets for such criminals. Stokvel Yesterday, this publication carried an article where it was reported that a businesswomans home was broken into by two thugs who stole stokvel money amounting to E218 000 and cellphones. The incident happened at Timbutini at around 10pm on Saturday. Timbutini is situated on the outskirts of Manzini. It is suspected that the money was stolen by people who knew the woman and her trade. The woman is in the business of wholesaling. It was gathered that the money, which belonged to members of a stokvel that the businesswoman was part of, was shared among members on a monthly basis. Each month, the members hold a meeting around the Manzini Police Headquarters to borrow and share dividends. According to a relative, the businesswoman was in her house together with a helper who was in another room, when two men carrying a knife and a pickaxe, stormed inside the womans bedroom. It was raining and due to the noise from the splatters of the rain, she could not determine that the men were breaking the sliding door, as she assumed it was the noise from the wind, said the relative. She further narrated that the men pointed the weapons at the businesswoman and demanded that she give them money. The relative added that the robbers noticed that there was someone else in the other room and soon went there and brought her to the businesswomans bedroom. It was mentioned that the businesswoman and her helper did not make mention of where the money was, and that was when they were covered with blankets as the armed robbers searched for the money. Businesswoman The men said they did not want to do any harm to the businesswoman and the helper, but simply needed the money as they knew that it was there, the relative said. She said the pair of armed robbers searched the room until they found the sum of money in a space behind the headboard. The relative stated that the men made a call and were heard informing the receiver to meet them with a car. The robbers then quickly left the house and they were nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, according to the Royal Eswatini Police Service report, Mafutseni police were investigating an armed robbery case where a 52-year-old woman of Timbutini was attacked by two unknown men armed with a knife and a pickaxe, and robbed her of money amounting to E218 000 and cellphones valued at E7 000 while at her home at Timbutini. The report stated that there had not been an arrest made yet and police were appealing to members of the public to help bring these suspects to book. Meanwhile, last Wednesday, E83 000 disappeared at OK Foods Logoba and its disappearance was discovered just before operations for the day came to an end. The money that went missing was said to be part of the daily sales. Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH), founded by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) to support the growth of the FinTech sector in Qatar, has released its first ever White Paper on the state of the fast-developing FinTech industry in Qatar and Mena. Titled "From Qatar to the World: A report on the state of FinTech in Qatar", the White Paper aims to provide a holistic review of the local and regional FinTech market, following the launch of Qatar's National FinTech Strategy by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB). The strategy aims to facilitate the set up and growth of local FinTechs, while creating a favourable business ecosystem to attract international ones and entice them to make Qatar a launchpad for their regional and global expansion. The national efforts to boost the local FinTech sector has begun to bear fruit. Evidently, Qatar is emerging as a potential new home for FinTech in the region with QFTH becoming the 2nd largest FinTech venture investor in Mena in Q1 2021. Such new status makes the White Paper a crucial and timely document for the global FinTech community, bringing entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders the insights and knowledge they need to identify gaps and possible market entry opportunities. The report identifies challenges and opportunities within the context of global industry trends, while detailing the forces promoting the rapid growth of FinTech in the country, such as access to opportunities, favourable regulations, access to talent, and access to capital. The country's FinTech capabilities, in comparison to leading FinTech hubs from the US, UK, Singapore, Australia, India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, indicate that Qatar is in a good position in terms of access to capital and focus on innovation. The government has facilitated access to capital through several venture vehicles, and where innovation is concerned, Qatar was found to be performing better than its peers. Nevertheless, the country can further reinforce emphasis on innovation by launching a FinTech innovation division and an inter-university FinTech body to develop talent and raise awareness. Abdulaziz Bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB and Chairman of QFTH Taskforce, said: "Qatar has been working hard to gain traction with globally trending technological developments and is shaping up as a technology-led economy. FinTech offers a significant opportunity to drive Qatar's economic diversification, one of the four pillars of Qatar's National Vision 2030. It also provides a massive opportunity for SMEs in GCC countries, particularly in Qatar, to gain greater access to funding, one of the major challenges they face globally." "Emerging technologies could play a significant role in the country's overall economic transformation, especially where digitization of services is involved, including government to citizen, business to consumer, government to business, and business to business services. This report spotlights a myriad of opportunities for the FinTech community to become part of our success story," he added. QFTH is also a platform where companies can enjoy access to a wide network of partners, mentors, and experts from across the globe, which has enabled it to succeed in conducting the first ever specialized FinTech incubation and acceleration programs, graduating 40+ FinTechs. QFTH was established by QDB in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030, and QCB's FinTech Strategy to build on Qatar's success in the financial sector and enhance the country's role in the field of financial innovation. The first wave of the program focused on Payment Technologies, whereas the second, which has recently graduated, centered around Emerging Technologies that address the challenges of financial institutions. The themes and solutions were curated in alignment with the Qatar FinTech Strategy, and in synergy with QCB - Sandbox. QFTH is currently getting ready to kick off Wave 3 under the theme "Embedded Finance and TechFin". TradeArabia News Service The Board of Directors at Bank Nizwa, Omans leading and most trusted Islamic bank, have pledged to donate RO250,000 ($649,352) to support families hit by Cyclone Shaheen in the various states and governorates of the sultanate. This support is accompanied by the participation of Bank Nizwa volunteer team "Masoliyati" in distributing food supplies and aid to the affected families in the North Al Batinah Governorate. Sheikh Khalid bin Abdullah bin Ali Al Khalili, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Nizwa, said: Social responsibility is an integral part of our integrated operations in the Bank, as we recognise it as an important means of giving back to the community we operate in, which is in line with the government direction of involving the private sector in the economic and social development of the country. As a part of the society, the Board of Directors decision came to contribute and help the communities effected by cyclone Shaheen, and we stand with the people in these challenging times. This is an embodiment of the principles of our religion, which affirms that the society, with its individuals and institutions, is like one body. Shaheen was classified as a Category 1 cyclone that caused widespread flooding, amid strong winds and heavy rain, leaving behind a number of deaths and extensive damage to buildings and streets. Sheikh Khalid added: On behalf of the bank we express our condolences and sympathy to the families who lost their loved ones due to the natural calamity and we ask Almighty Allah to grant them patience and solace. This initiative comes as part of a series of charitable initiatives launched by the bank to serve the community, effectively contributing to alleviate the damage caused by the climatic conditions in the Wilayat of Saham and Al Khaboura.-- TradeArabia News Service Jassim Transport & Stevedoring Company (JTC), a leading provider of ports and contracts logistics in Kuwait, has reported a revenue of KWD10.7 million ($35.4 million) and a net profit of KWD1.2 million for the first half of the year. Adel Kohari, Chief Executive Officer of JTC commented: The Company is going through a strategic move following the successful private placement and the plan to list its shares on Boursa Kuwait, which will reinforce our leadership position in the markets in which we operate. We are very pleased with the operational and financial results that we have achieved so far this year. In addition to healthy top line and bottom-line performance, we have won new contracts, commenced new projects, and implemented new businesses. We are pleased with the performance of our diversified portfolio of services with operations extending throughout the region, he added. The results, which have seen growth quarter on quarter, are in line with our expectations despite the market challenges we are still experiencing and the repercussions from the disruptions in economic activity. Our operations in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have shown significant growth, taking advantage of improving market conditions in these two geographies. We are well on our path to recovery in all our core business segments as travel restrictions are eased by the government and the economy shifts towards normalcy. Although we have many milestones to meet and market challenges to overcome until the end of the year, we are confident about achieving our overall growth objectives in the medium- to long- term. JTC has consistently distributed dividends year-over-year, totalling over KWD 28.7 million in payouts during the last five years (191fils per share), while maintaining a healthy balance sheet. Excluding the COVID-induced challenges in 2020, the Company has shown impressive top-line and bottom-line growth, growing by 7.7% and 14.6%, respectively, during the period from 2014-19. Furthermore, and despite the pandemic, the Company was resilient and reported net profit of KWD 4.1 million during 2020 and distributed a cash dividend of 20 fils per share. Despite the economic implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, JTC has reported growth in revenue and net profit for two consecutive quarters this year. Revenue for Q1 2021 was KWD 5.2 million, 2% higher than Q4 2020, and KWD 5.5millionin Q2 2021, 6% increase from Q1 2021. Similarly, net profits grew during the last two quarters to reach KWD0.60million in Q1 and KWD0.63millionin Q2 (up 5% from Q1). JTC enjoys a strong balance sheet with total assets of KWD52.7millionas of 30 June 2021, shareholders equity of KWD41.6million and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.1x. Since the beginning of the year, the Company initiated the execution of a new 3-year logistics contract with Kuwaits Ministry of Electricity & Water, in addition to signing new long-term strategic contracts with several oilfield services companies for power rental services in KOC oilfields. These contracts are expected to drive revenue growth over the next 7 years. Furthermore, the company commenced aggregate cargo handling services at Shuaiba Port in July 2021. The company has also awarded a contract for the construction of a new temperature-controlled warehouse at Mina Abdullah, which is expected to become operational in 2022, with plans to develop more similar warehouses in the coming years. TradeArabia News Service Enterprise software leader SAP has appointed Alaa Jaber as the managing director for its Qatar and fast growth markets (comprising Qatar, Oman, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, Yemen, and Sudan), with immediate effect. Based out of SAPs office in Doha, Alaa will report to Sergio Maccotta, Senior Vice President, SAP Middle East South. "Qatar's government-led digital transformation is a bellwether for the Middle East, and I am delighted to be able to contribute towards driving the exciting innovation agenda in the public and private sectors," commented Jaber. "SAPs customer-first solutions allow organisations to transform at their speed and on their digital terms. Supported by our partners, we will enable Qatar's organisations to run at their best. With this development, Mazen Raad has been promoted to Chief Innovation Officer, SAP Middle East South. In his new role, Raad will focus on cloud innovation and sustainable business to meet the acceleration of change across the region. "I want to warmly welcome Alaa. I am confident that his deep industry expertise and tenure in Qatar will benefit our customers and partners innovative digital transformation roadmaps in one of our most strategic markets" said Maccotta. "I also would like to thank Mazen for his leadership and congratulate him on his new role." -TradeArabia News Service The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the winners of the 2nd edition of the IATA Diversity & Inclusion Awards, sponsored by Qatar Airways. Each receives a prize of $25,000, payable to the winner in each of the categories or to their nominated charities. The award-winners are: Inspirational Role Model: Harpreet A. de Singh, Executive Director, Air India High Flyer Award: Lalitya Dhavala, Aviation Engineering Consultant, McLarens Aviation Diversity & Inclusion Team: All Nippon Airways (ANA) On behalf of the judging panel Karen Walker said: The calibre of this years nominations shows the determination of the aviation industry to address the challenges and embrace the opportunities of diversity and inclusion. And this has in no way been diminished by the Covid-19 crisis. "The work done by all the nominees is an inspiration for all advocates of diversity across the industry. The prizes are being awarded to three well-deserving recipients, but the true winner is the aviation industry. It grows stronger by the changes being driven by all the great work being done by the awardees and by all who submitted a nomination. IATAs Director General Achieving gender balance across the aviation industry is important. Congratulations to Harpreet Singh, Lalitya Dhavala and ANA for being recognised as leaders in driving change. Thank you for your leadership. "With these awards and the whole 25by2025 initiative we are making progress. There is still a huge amount of work to do to achieve gender balance. And I hope that these awards will inspire others to join the effort. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: It is crucial that we address the fundamental imbalances we see in the workforce, especially in the aviation industry. The IATA awards play an important role in celebrating the achievements of our colleagues who have tirelessly worked towards bridging gender inequities. "We still have work ahead to ensure more women are empowered to excel and grow in aviation careers; but when I see the recipients of this years award, I know that we have a bright future ahead for our industry. Nominations for the awards were adjudicated by a panel of four judges comprised of the previous winners of these awards; Christine Ourmieres-Widener, CEO, TAP Air Portugal; Fadimatou Noutchemo Simo, Founder and President, Young African Aviation Professional Association; and Christina Kennedy, General Manager, People, Operations and Employee Experience, Air New Zealand. Karen Walker, Editor-in-Chief, Air Transport World chaired the panel.-TradeArabia News Service Opec+ has decided to stay the course and maintain the tapering pace at 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), tempering market expectations of incremental supplies over the near term, said British multinational bank Barclays in a new report. The move likely reflects a lack of urgency within the group to ramp up output on expected surplus next year and limited capacity with key producers, said the banks latest Commodities Research. Key benchmark prices increased 2-3% on the news because some market participants had suggested that the group could increase the pace of tapering, given the tight inventory situation, and markets were therefore a bit cautious going into the meeting. The move looks a bit outsized given the ministers just reaffirmed the decision announced in July but it shows how tight the market is, reinforcing our view of asymmetric price action with risks skewed to the upside at these inventory levels. We maintain our above-consensus outlook for oil prices as the inventory situation is likely to remain tight in 2022 despite the expected surplus on improving demand and shrinking spare capacity, Barclays said in the report. No urgency to change the course on expected surplus and limited capacity: The decision to stay the course was likely made with an eye on the expected surplus next year. The supply deficit is expected to persist through Q1 22 but there should be a surplus for the rest of the year as supply catches up to recovering demand. For the full year, Barclays see a surplus of 0.5 million bpd and the Opec+ Joint Technical Committee sees a much larger surplus of 1.4 million bpd in 2022.2 The decision to continue tapering at a moderate pace is therefore likely in part driven by the intention to keep the inventory situation relatively tight next year even if that causes the market to overheat over the very near term, as it is less likely to weigh on demand, which is still largely being driven by a re-opening led recovery. In addition, we also see reduced urgency for the group's key members to push for higher targets as Saudi Arabia's output would be in line with the Q4 19 level (c. 10 mbpd) by the end of this year and Russia has limited capacity to ramp up crude output significantly above 10.5 mbpd, which we expect it to reach by the end of next year assuming 200,000 bpd aggregate monthly increments in targets starting January 2022, the report said. Expect slower tapering next year unless US output surprises to the downside: The risk to our view that Opec+ would slow the tapering pace next year is that US output recovery is slower than we expect. We forecast a 700,000 bpd Q4-to-Q4 increase in US oil production this year with L48 onshore activity driving most of the gains over July. Our Q4 21 US crude production forecast is 300,000 bpd and 200,000 bpd above the EIA's and IEA's latest estimates. If the recovery in US output is slower than we forecast, the year-end inventory situation would be even tighter and would also drive down surplus expectations for next year, all else equal, which could lead Opec+ to maintain the tapering pace into next year. However, such a scenario would only bring forward the market realization of the actual spare capacity in the system and keep prices supported, in our view, the report said. The next Opec+ meeting is scheduled for November 4 to discuss the plan for December. TradeArabia News Service Following the successful completion of the first year of operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company Limited (BTC) project, Optilan has been awarded an additional two-year contract on the project. Optilan has partnered with BTC on these assets since 2012, when Optilan was appointed to install enhanced security along the 1,076 km Turkey section on the pipeline and is delighted to assure the continued maintenance and enhanced security for the pipeline. Optilan, the leading telecommunications and security systems integrator, has successfully completed the first year of operation on the BTC pipeline project, resulting in the award of the continued Support and Maintenance contract for the system. The pipeline transports crude oil from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Optilan has partnered with BTC on these assets since 2012, when Optilan was appointed to install enhanced security along the 1,076 km Turkey section on the pipeline. The new contract will now focus on long term sustainable collaboration to ensure the effective maintenance of the systems installed, for which safety and efficiency will remain central to execution. This will cover maintenance for the following systems: Pipeline Monitoring, Perimeter Security and CCTV, installed along the Turkey section of the pipeline with Control Centre. The agreement is another example of Optilans capabilities and expertise in the pipeline sector. As a global leader, Optilan will deliver this project from its Turkish office as the main contractor on the project. This follows a string of project awards made recently in the region, including the Misurata Power plants by ENKA and the Jubail-Riyadh Water Transmission System by Limak, which highlights Optilans global footprint. Bill Bayliss, Chief Executive Officer of Optilan, commented on the award: We are exceptionally proud to be awarded the additional work for the BTC pipeline maintenance. Having installed the initial systems, it is great to continue our relationship with our client following the successful results on the project so far and I believe it is a testament of the hard work of our team to achieve this. This contract on the BTC pipeline will take our involvement in the project beyond a decade, which is a superb achievement that were proud of. Weve had an incredibly strong year with a number of significant contract wins on some world-leading projects. Were looking forward to continuing that for the final quarter of 2021 and into 2022.-- TradeArabia News Service New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) The Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen will pay a three-day state visit to India from October 9 for holding bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the two sides will review the progress in implementation of their unique Green Strategic Partnership. During her visit, Prime Minister Frederiksen will call on President Ram Nath Kovind, and also interact with think tanks, students and members of civil society. India-Denmark bilateral relations are marked by regular high level exchanges and are based on historical links, common democratic traditions and a shared desire for regional as well as international peace and stability, an official statement said. Life support ambulances handed over to Bangladesh Dhaka, Oct 5 (UNI) High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami handed over two life support ambulances to Bangladesh on Tuesday. These ambulances are part of the overall programme of supply of 109 life support ambulances announced by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi during his state visit to Bangladesh in March this year. The ceremony to handover the ambulances was held at the Osmani Medical College and Hospital in Sylhet. Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A K Abdul Momen was present on the occasion of the handing over ceremony. The brand new ambulances are fitted with modern, critical life saving equipment. It can be used by the paramedics and first responders to provide quality emergency care and trauma life support to patients en-route to hospital for treatment. Teleconsultation with doctors commences in HP 09 Oct 2021 | 6:49 AM Hamirpur (HP), Oct 9 (UNI) The HP government has started Teleconsultation to the people of the state with the government doctors through virtual teleconsultation on their mobile phone or at their nearest HSC or PHC Health and Wellness Center free of cost on all working days from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. An official spokesman said today that the Government of Himachal Pradesh had started the services of teleconsultation under the purview of GoIs Ayushman Bharat-HWC program during the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic so that the community could consult doctors for a general check-ups and various chronic illness follow-ups from their homes without risking the chance of getting infected. see more.. HP: Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner fixes dates of special Gram Sabha meetings 09 Oct 2021 | 6:44 AM Hamirpur (HP), Oct 9 (UNI) The Deputy Commissioner, Debasweta Banik has fixed different dates for the Panchayats of all the development blocks of the district for the special Gram Sabha meetings in the district. see more.. HP: Deputy Commissioner directs updating data of beneficiaries under National Food Security Act, 2013 across state 09 Oct 2021 | 6:40 AM Hamirpur (HP), Oct 9 (UNI) Deputy Commissioner Hamirpur, Debshweta Banik has directed the Department of Food and Supplies to update the data of ration card holders of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and General Category, brought under the National Food Security Act, 2013 across the state. see more.. R & D on promoting commercial crop like Pistachio may ease out agrarian distress: Agriculturists 09 Oct 2021 | 12:50 AM By Mohan Lal Verma Shimla, Oct 8 (UNI) The variable agro-climate zones of Himachal and other north Himalayan states are suitable for number of commercial crops as a World bank concept paper about diversification and promotions of new agriculture technology puts emphasis on the promotion of research and development of such high-value crop likely to help and ease out agrarian distress, Agriculturists, Social activists and crushder of Farmers agitation said here on Friday. see more.. New Delhi, Oct 5 (UNI) US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will be on a three-day visit to India, during which she will meet with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to review the India-US bilateral agenda and outcomes of Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent visit to the USA. During her India visit from October 5-7, the US Deputy Secretary of State will also call on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. In her meeting with Foreign Secretary Shringla on October 6, the two sides will also exchange views on regional issues pertaining to South Asia and the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global issues, a statement said. She will also participate on October 6 in a special session of the India-Ideas Summit organised by the U.S. India Business Council. Deputy Secretary Shermans visit will be a useful opportunity to continue the regular dialogue and further strengthen the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, the statement said. She will travel to Mumbai on October 7, for engagements with business and civil society. Her India visit comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modis US visit during which he held the first in-person bilateral talks with both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Both President Biden and Prime Minister Modi said the India-US relationship is set to get stronger and closer. The India-US joint statement issued after the Modi-Biden talks, said: "Reflecting shared values and principles, and growing strategic convergence, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi resolved to advance the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, and looked forward to what the United States and India will achieve together." Sherman will visit Islamabad from October 7-8. UNI/RN Vice President lays foundation for Meghalaya-Bangladesh extended road Shillong, Oct 4 (UNI) Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, through the virtual media on Monday laid the foundation for the Rs. 1,606 crore Shillong-Dawki road project that links Meghalaya with Bangladesh. Terming the project a "prestigious and important initiative of the Government of India" being executed with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency, Naidu said the road will provide better connectivity in the State and provide a key link within the North-East Region as well as with "our friendly neighbour, Bangladesh". "This road will also give a fillip to the tourism industry in the state and help in the overall development of Meghalaya," said Naidu, who arrived in Shillong this morning by road from Guwahati, even as he commented that Meghalaya was a "beautiful state with enormous tourism potential". UW, Partners Host Youth Contest to Share Vision for the States Future; Cash Prizes Available UW and state agencies are sponsoring an Imagining Wyomings Future: A Youth Vision for 2030 contest for a chance to win cash prizes. The deadline to enter is Oct. 17. (UW Photo) The University of Wyoming and state agencies are collaborating on a contest for Wyoming youth to share their vision for the Cowboy States future, with an opportunity to win cash prizes up to $700. The writing and multimedia narrative contest titled Imagining Wyomings Future: A Youth Vision for 2030 is now open for submissions with a Tuesday, Nov. 30 deadline. Young people in Wyoming -- born on or after Jan. 1, 2001 -- are invited to share their visions. Participants are asked to imagine life in Wyoming in the year 2030. UWs Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources; Wyoming Humanities; Wyoming 2030; the Wyoming Afterschool Alliance; and the UW Creative Writing Program sponsor the contest. Contest participants must share their vision of Wyoming in the year 2030 as a written essay or story; audio recording; short film; digital creation; artwork; or other narrative form. A panel of judges will review the submissions and award cash prizes to the most compelling entries. If all of your dreams for this state come true, what will that day look like? Be creative. Paint a picture of your ideal vision for your life in the state of Wyoming nine years from now, says Emilene Ostlind, communications coordinator in the UW Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and one of the contests organizers. Tell the story of what you wish for the future of Wyoming. Think about how you and your community fit within that future and what it will take to get there. Draw on your own experiences, values and imagination to respond to current challenges facing the state, and articulate your vision for Wyomings future. The purpose of this contest is to elevate young peoples voices in the discussion about Wyomings future direction. Winning entries will be published in an anthology and distributed to Wyoming communities and decision-makers. UW researchers will use qualitative methods to analyze entries and identify themes, and will publish in an academic article. The goal is to help leaders and policymakers better understand what Wyomings next generation wants for the future. For contest details and to submit a contest entry, visit www.uwyo.edu/haub/youth-vision.html. For more information, email Matt Henry, assistant instructional professor in the UW Honors College, at mhenry12@uwyo.edu or Ostlind at emilene@uwyo.edu. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Digital Skills Academy Engages With Private Sector Memorandum of Understandings have been signed by the Gibraltar Digital Skills Academy and with two technology providers, Comtact and Blands Group. Government says it believes it is essential for the Academy to foster meaningful partnerships with the digital sector which contribute so much to Gibraltars economy and growth. These MOUs will ensure they play an intricate and active part in developing the skills which the current job market requires. It is no secret that skilled individuals such as programmers and technical support are in high demand and initiatives such as these will have a major impact in delivering the much needed skills in this sector. Both companies are committing the following to the Academy and its attendees: Training plans, examinations and certifications. Tuition and support during training sessions held at the Academy Career advice Oversight into technology market updates and industry trends Access to the latest Cyber software solutions for test, R&D and training purposes Attack simulations Live environment training with hands-on practical use of services Opportunities (work placements and internships) for selected Academy graduates. Minister for Minister for Digital and Financial Services, the Hon Albert Isola, said: This Academy is a wonderful example of what Gibraltar can do when we work together in a Private-Public Sector partnership. We will upskill our youngsters into an area where there is much demand, and where more and more of our young people will be finding their careers in the future. Founding Trustee of the Gibraltar Digital Skills Academy, Stewart Harrison, said: We are thrilled to be signing these MOUs. Not only do they show the commitment from the private sector to help develop digital skills in our attendees, it also opens doors to experience and employment which is so valuable in the job market. The Academys vision has always been to find partners within the technology sector who can help close the skills gap. Indeed, it has been at the centre of our blueprint which has delivered so much success over the past seven years. Bland Group bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Academy in computer programming, a field well known to be hard to find people with the relevant skills. Having led CSS sessions last year, this year they will be delivering training sessions and certification in Python and JavaScript, two very common computer languages used throughout Gibraltars technology sector. Comtact bring their already established UK based Cybersecurity academy into ours. Offering training, certification and upskilling in Cybersecurity, we look forward to this exciting partnership. Comtact have already taken on one local student on as an intern, who will soon start his journey to acquiring professional qualifications and become a certified practitioner in the field, with Comtact supporting him at every step using the Academy as his training base. We will see more come through the Academy in the coming years. Having signed our first MOU this month with CyberSecurityChallange UK, it is the Academys intention to continue working with HM Government to facilitate more partnerships with the private sector who will help steer Gibraltar to meeting the skills needed and ensuring better jobs for our community. GHA Launches Breast Cancer Booklets for Breast Cancer Awareness Month October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The GHA has taken this opportunity to increase knowledge of the disease and encourage the public to be breast aware. This means being familiar with how your breasts look and feel so that you can spot any changes straight away. It is also an opportunity for the GHA to explain its services. Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women worldwide. 1 in 8 women will receive a breast cancer diagnosis. However, around 1 in 1000 men will also receive a breast cancer diagnosis. The GHA says it is aware that approaching your Doctor when you have discovered a change in your breast can be a very worrying time. The launch of the GHAs Breast Cancer booklets during this month will provide necessary information should the public ever have to see a doctor with a breast concern. The first booklet, Journey through the Breast Cancer Clinic, explains what to expect from the GHA when referred for a breast lump/breast concern and the path from a GP to Breast Clinic to investigation to diagnosis. The second booklet, Journey through Breast Cancer, explains what happens when you are diagnosed with breast cancer and what treatments you will have available at the GHA. The third booklet, Discharge, is about what to expect and look out for once you have completed your 5-year follow up with the breast team and are ready to be discharged back to the GP. The booklets will be available to patients in hard format and will also be available on the GHA website and social media. In order to raise awareness and promote the GHAs services, Miss Christina Macano, Consultant General Surgeon Specialising in Breast and UGI and the GHAs Lead in Breast Cancer Services, has organised an evening presentation on raising public awareness about Breast Cancer. This is a ticketed event and will be available only to those who have registered. Seats will be offered to the general public on a first come first served basis and those wishing to attend are to register by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The GHAs Breast Care team have organised an awareness campaign throughout the month of October. Updates will be posted on the GHA website www.gha.gi and the GHA social media platforms. Miss Christina Macano said: I am very pleased that we have the opportunity to provide these booklets aimed at the journey through Breast Cancer. The internet can be full of information, but most of what is out on the web is not relevant and can really scare our patients. I know that the better informed our patients are the better they can understand and cope with investigations, treatments etc. The unknown can be very distressing giving our patients knowledge allows them to get control and understanding, which is vastly important when they are going though such a stressful and life changing time in their lives. The Minister for Health, the Hon Samantha Sacramento MP, said: Early detection, often through screening, can catch the disease when it is most treatable so it is important that we create as much awareness as possible and educate the public on the health impact of breast cancer and the importance of taking personal responsibility for our health. Miss Macano was appointed the GHAs Breast Cancer Lead in January 2018, since which date there have been remarkable improvements in the development of the service and its coordination within the GHA. I am extremely grateful to Miss Macano and her team in bringing services to the next level and for organising such an important awareness campaign this year. Prime Minister Addresses Gibraltar Reception at Conservative Party Conference Gibraltar was represented at the Conservative Party Conference this year with an information stand and the traditional Gibraltar Reception, addressed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The Gibraltar Representative to the United Kingdom, Dominique Searle, gave an introductory speech on behalf of the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, who was unable to attend after testing positive for COVID-19 and needing to self-isolate in Gibraltar. The Chief Minister had also planned to attend the United Nations Fourth Committee in order to defend Gibraltars right to self-determination. The Chief Minister sent a personal message of thanks to the Prime Minister for his continued support and for the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations to the Rock. Mr Searle also reiterated the importance of the historic support of the Royal Air Force, who were recently conferred with the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said that he was proud that the UK was able to provide vaccines to British Gibraltar. The Prime Minister reiterated that the Conservative Party believe in the sovereignty of Gibraltar, the free independent spirit of the Rock, and Gibraltarians right to choose their destiny. The Prime Minister recognised that Gibraltarians have democratically chosen to be British and confirmed that the UK would stand rocklike and steadfast in its support. The Gibraltar Reception was also attended by Minister for Europe Wendy Morton, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Minister for Future Borders and Immigration Kevin Foster, representatives of the Canadian High Commission and the Australian High Commission, and the Chief Minister of Jersey John Le Fondre. The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, said: I am extremely sorry that I was unable to attend this years Conservative Party Conference. The Prime Minister is a long-time and good friend of Gibraltar and Id like to thank him for his continuous and steadfast support for British Gibraltar. I look forward to attending the party conference season next year. Care Agency Managers Complete Leadership Training As part of the Care Agency professional development strategy, the Care Agency management team recently took part in a leadership and training day for all its managers. This was delivered by Jo Abergel from Rock Learning. The training workshop identified areas of strength within the organisation and recognition where teams could improve on internal working arrangements. The activities covered were aimed at improving productivity, promoting better communication between departments and to encourage a management style that is conducive to a positive working environment and in so doing, continue to boost staff morale. Carlos Banderas, CEO of the Care Agency, said: It is well established that positive employee morale leads to an increase in productivity and efficiency in the workplace. When employees genuinely feel valued at work the atmosphere improves which in turn makes the staff feel motivated to work more efficiently and productively. This is the culture we have created at the Care Agency and the reason I encourage management to work closely with their staff to foster positive and professional relations within the workplace. The Minister for Health, Care, Justice and Equality, the Hon Samantha Sacramento, said: I would like to thank the Care Agency management for attending this valuable training and for their hard work during one of the most challenging times of their careers. I have seen the Care Agency grow into the organisation that it is today and I am proud of the unfailing efforts of every staff member for how they worked during this pandemic especially to safeguard and promote the wellbeing of their service users. It is highly beneficial for staff to spend time on practice situations during training and to identify areas of improvement. I wish to single out and thank Mr Carlos Banderas who was appointed CEO of the Care Agency just over a year ago for his leadership of this crucial department during the pandemic and for bringing the Agency together The Voice of Young People Meet Ministers for Youth and Equality The Voice of Young People (VYP) under the auspices of the Gibraltar Youth Service recently met with the Minister for Youth, the Hon Steven Linares and kindly invited the Hon Samantha Sacramento to attend as Minister for Equality. The meeting chaired by VYP allowed the young people present to discuss their issues of concern and learn about developments ranging from disability access for people with mobility issues, to access to gender neutral toilets. Minister Sacramento informed all present that she was very proud to be the first Minister appointed for Equality in Gibraltar and one of the main drives for their policy direction was to make Gibraltar a more inclusive and accepting community. On the subject of accessible toilets, she was happy to inform the group on the progress her department are making regarding the implementation of the RADAR Key Scheme. This scheme offers people with certain disabilities the freedom to use accessible toilets that are fitted with a special lock at any time after public toilets remain closed to the general public. Applications for RADAR keys are available from the Ministry of Equalitys website, https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/department-equality, or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . The VYP said they felt empowered at having their voices heard at a Ministerial level and as a result, a further meeting is to take place on Diversity Matters where VYP can research the issues that require addressing and discuss solutions going forward. Should you have an issue or concern and would like your voice to be heard please come along to our drop in sessions on a Tuesday evening from 4 6pm at the Youth Centre. For any general information about the Gibraltar Youth Service or future events please contact Mark Zammit, Principal Youth Officer on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 200 78637. Guatemalas Tax and Customs Service (Servicio de Aduana Tributaria, SAT), WCO pro-tempore regional Vice President for the Americas and Caribbean, organized on September 30th a workshop on ethics, transparency and integrity. Experts from the WCO Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme provided insights to WCO tools and instruments related to the fight against corruption. The regional Vice-Chair and Director General of SAT, Mr. Werner Ovalle, gave opening remarks, stressing the importance of integrity in Customs and emphasized on numerous occasions that the efficiency of Customs depends greatly of people and processes ethics and transparency. Attended by 53 Customs officials from Central America and Panama, the workshop kicked-off with a brief conceptual presentation on ethics, followed by an interactive break-out discussion about personal and corporate values. The final session addressed the transformational leadership in Customs and how this theory inspires people to perform beyond their perceived capabilities. The innovative and dynamic approach generated excellent discussion amongst the participants and speakers. The WCO Revised Arusha Declaration (2003) was highlighted as the central outline for an effective approach to promote good governance and integrity in Customs. Other important tools were presented such as: the recently enhanced Integrity Development Guide (IDG), the Model of the Code of Ethics and Conduct, the Corruption Risk Mapping and the Transparency and Predictability Guidelines. Inspired by the success of the workshop, SAT Guatemala, is planning a new event to celebrate the International Anti-Corruption Day (December 9th). The WCO A-CIP Programme will continue to support regional integrity initiatives and is conducting activities with eight partner countries in the region, including Guatemala thanks to funding from Canada. For more details, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 12:27:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's development is impressive and has set a role model for the world to follow, Bangladesh Planning Minister MA Mannan said. The minister made the remarks on Monday while speaking as the chief guest at a webinar marking the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The minister was joined by dozens of guests in the webinar, organized by the Association of Bangladesh-China Alumni (ABCA). He thanked the Chinese government for allowing Bangladesh exports to China Duty-Free Quota Free access for 97 percent of its tariff lines from July 1, 2020, adding that he looked forward to further strengthening the Bangladesh-China relationship. Meanwhile, the minister refuted the claim that Bangladesh is falling into a Chinese "debt trap," saying China's loans only comprise a small fraction of Bangladesh's total global debt. "If we're in trap how our foreign exchange reserves are booming?" he said. "We think and we borrow. That's our decision. We borrow from friends for our developments," he added. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 16:10:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SYDNEY, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland developed a smartphone app that could provide a new way to aid stroke survivors on their path to recovery. The app called LifeCHAT would put world-leading research and treatment methods at the fingertips of thousands of stroke victims, their carers and medical professionals. The project has almost 400,000 Australian dollars (about 290,000 U.S. dollars) in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund, a program announced by the federal government in June that funds "ground-breaking medical research projects around Australia." Co-investigator on the project Gopal Sihn first had the idea for the app while he was recovering from a stroke and had no way to track his recovery and recognize his progress. "LifeCHAT will allow stroke survivors to set goals, receive engaging therapy and monitor their own progress -- a bit like having a fitness tracker for communication," said Sihn. "We hope if stroke survivors can see and track their own improvements, they will be motivated to stick with their therapy." Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that as of 2018, 387,000 Australians had experienced a stroke at some time in their lives, and many survivors suffer from aphasia which causes difficulty speaking, understanding, reading and writing. Dr. Sarah Wallace from the University of Queensland's School of Health said the app would incorporate speech-to-text software that would allow stroke-affected users to communicate with family members and their speech pathologists. "LifeCHAT will use geo-location mapping to track how social interactions are going and daily questions will prompt responses about experiences and feelings," said Wallace. "This information will be used to produce visual graphs to link goals with progress." Once developed, LifeCHAT would first be trialled in the university's Queensland Aphasia Research Center "Tech Hub", a center that allows consumers and clinicians to trial technology solutions. Wallace told Xinhua that they would be co-developing the app with stroke survivors over the next 18 months, and trials were expected to begin in about six months, "In terms of implementing it, we will be looking at rehabilitation services around the country," said Wallace. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 16:45:13|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close PHNOM PENH, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Children and young people could feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and well-being for many years to come, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Cambodia said in a press release on Tuesday. UNICEF and its partners have run a COVID-19 Socio-economic Impact Assessment Study throughout the pandemic, tracking the wellbeing of Cambodians amongst many indicators, the release said. It added that 45 percent of surveyed adolescents (aged from 15 to 19) said they were worried about their safety during the pandemic, and 16 percent of them said they felt more anxious or depressed since the crisis began. In addition, a Joint Education Needs Assessment was conducted by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the Education Sector Working Group, and UNICEF after schools closed in 2020, surveying 15,000 Cambodians, including students, caregivers, educators and local authorities. It found that 58 percent of secondary school students were reported experiencing at least one mental health issue. In addition, 43 percent of all respondents believed boys would be at greater risk of violence, abuse and exploitation during school closures, while 36 percent believed the same was true for girls. "Children in Cambodia, like the rest of the world, have faced so many challenges during the COVID-19 crisis," said Foroogh Foyouzat, the UNICEF representative in Cambodia. "The closure of schools, the dramatic changes in social interactions and the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on Cambodian families have all come at great cost to the mental health of children and young people," she said. As COVID-19 heads into its third year, the impact on children and young people's mental health and well-being continues to weigh heavily, the release said, adding that the reports point that at least one in every seven children have been directly affected by lockdowns. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 18:30:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TASHKENT, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan has continued supplying electricity to Afghanistan without disruptions, the Uzbek Energy Ministry's press service said Tuesday. Afghanistan may face energy problems due to unpaid debts to electricity exporting countries, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, local Afghan media reported, saying Afghanistan's energy officials asked the power-exporting countries not to cut electricity and pledged to pay debts. The Uzbek side was fulfilling all its obligations to export electricity to neighboring Afghanistan, said the Uzbek Energy Ministry's press service, without mentioning any payment issues. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said last month that his country was ready for a dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan and would participate in projects that would strengthen peace in the country. In September, Uzbekistan also handed 1,300 tons of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, including food, medicine and clothing. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 19:11:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MANILA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday reported 9,055 new COVID-19 infections, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,613,070. The death toll remained at 38,828 as the DOH reported zero deaths due to technical issues. The caseload is the lowest since Aug. 10. "The relatively lower case count today is due to lower laboratory output (on) Sunday," the DOH said, adding that seven laboratories failed to submit data. The Philippines, which has around 110 million population, has tested more than 20 million people since the outbreak in January 2020. The country has administered more than 46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Almost 22 million people have been fully vaccinated. The government initially aimed to vaccinate up to 70 million people this year. However, Carlito Galvez, official in charge of the Philippines' vaccine procurement, said Monday night the government revised its target to 50-70 million people this year and ramped up to 80 to 90 percent of the targeted population in February 2022. Galvez said the Department of Finance (DOF) has started negotiating with multilateral financing institutions to procure additional COVID-19 vaccine doses next year. In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Galvez said the DOF is negotiating for 45 billion pesos (roughly 887 million U.S. dollars) funding for the purchase of more vaccines to inoculate the entire population. The negotiations with four to five vaccine manufacturers are also ongoing for the supply of 90 million vaccine doses early next year, he added. "We will recalibrate our vaccination program and modify our critical timelines because of the emergence of highly infectious COVID-19 variants," Galvez said. The Philippines has received more than 77.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different vaccine makers since February 28. China's Sinovac was the first to deliver and remains the biggest supplier of vaccines to the country. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2021-10-05 19:54:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bangladeshi government have signed an agreement for a 400-million-U.S. dollar loan for a highway project in the capital Dhaka. The assistance is the first tranche of a 1.78 billion U.S. dollars multitranche financing facility approved by ADB on Aug. 27 for the SASEC (South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation) Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Investment Project. Secretary of Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance Fatima Yasmin, and ADB's Country Director Manmohan Parkash signed the loan agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and the bank at a ceremony in Dhaka on Monday. Sylhet is a city some 240 km northeast of Dhaka. "The Dhaka-Sylhet Road will open up opportunities for the entire northeast region of Bangladesh, and act as a strategic corridor for subregional, regional and international trade," said Manmohan Parkash. "The region is well endowed, and the corridor, which is a part of the Asian Highway network, will connect upcoming economic zones in the Sylhet region, catalyze foreign direct investment, reduce transportation and trading costs, increase competitiveness, create employment, and stimulate economic development," said the ADB official. The Dhaka-Sylhet corridor, once completed, will support a new trade route that connects Chattogram port with India's northeastern states through the three Bangladeshi land ports of Akhaura, Sheola, and Tamabil, according to the ADB. Enditem Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein said the only viable solution to save the local dairy industry from total collapse appears to be restrictions on imported dairy products, this while responding to questions in the National Assembly last week. These restrictions, which would be implemented through the country's import and legislation, appear to be part of the limited options available to the local industry, which has lost at least 50% in production during the last four years, and where feed costs now account for between 70% and 85% of production costs. "This would safeguard the support of the local dairy industry, increase production support, value chain development and downstream value-addition. This is the domestic measure that can be imposed," Schlettwein stated. The agriculture minister added that relevant ministries and offices will consult on the implications in this proposed measure, and assured the nation and the dairy industry that all due processes will be followed before any implementation of import restrictions. More than a decade ago, government tried to protect the local dairy industry through the Infant Industry Protection (IIP) scheme between 2000 and 2007. However, according to Southern African Customs Union regulations, IIP can only be granted for the protection of smaller economies for a maximum of eight years. "While this intervention may provide some relief, I call upon the dairy industry to promote efficiency in their business operations to be competitive and innovative in the future to withstand the competition. In the long run, we believe the industry needs to be supported," the politician added. Among the short-term measures to rescue the struggling industry, as recommended by a task team assembled to investigate challenges presented by the Dairy Producers Association of Namibia (DPA) and formulate recommendations to rescue the industry, was the introduction of the government subsidy of N$2 per litre of raw milk. "This could have assisted to cover the utility costs incurred by the producers by stimulating investment by dairy producers to increase production. However, due to limited funding, this proposal could not be implemented. It needed a total amount of about N$40 million," Schlettwein explained. The task team, which deliberated on recommendations to rescue the industry, comprises representatives from the DPA, the agriculture ministry, the agricultural union, the agricultural trade forum and Namibia Dairies. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Namibia Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Meanwhile, Schlettwein observed that the ministry is aware of challenges the industry is going through and is considering various options to assist this crucial industry and significant job creator from collapsing. He said the industry and its subsequent value chain is included in the Harambee Prosperity Plan's comprehensive agricultural development programme as an important pillar that can contribute to the socio-economic wellbeing of Namibians, enhance household food security and nutrition, and create more employment. "This sector is very important to the Namibian government, and specifically in the agricultural sector. "After consultations with the DPA and dairy milk producers last year in October at the Super Farm in Mariental, they elaborated on difficulties faced by the industry such as high production costs, influx of cheap dairy imports, unfavourable exchange rates, regional and global competition and low prices for raw milk, recurring drought and poor economic situations in the country, which were further affected by the pandemic," said Schlettwein. Namibia's raw milk volumes are declining at a staggering rate. Average raw milk volumes between 2015 and 2018 were 24 million litres. In 2019, this dropped to 21 million litres, and in 2020 it fell even more to 17 million litres. The expected milk production estimate for 2021 is 12 million litres, which means the supply of milk to processors is at critically low levels. Tunis/Tunisia 103,196 text message invites had been sent on October 4, but only 45,718 people honoured their jab appointments, the Health Ministry said. 33,095 people were invited to get their first shots, but only 16,309 people got inoculated, and 70,101 people were invited to get their boosters and only 29,409 received their shots. 8,242,609 COVID-19 vaccine jabs have been administered so far, including 5,156,070 first shots and 3,086,539 boosters, the ministry added. The number of the fully vaccinated people have so far reached 3,929,697 and is as follows: 3,086,539 get two shots, 356,169 got one shot as the J&J/Janssen vaccine requires a single dose and a further 486,989 had one jab as they had been infected before. The number of people registered on Evax.tn platform reached 6,393,218 on this date. A UN report by human rights investigators in Libya details a number of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity against detainees and migrants in Libyan prisons. The investigators said that they now have a confidential list of suspects. "The investigations indicated that several parties to the conflicts violated [international humanitarian law] and potentially committed war crimes," according to the fact-finding mission, led by Mohamed Auajjar. From Russia with murder The report pointedly accused mercenaries employed by Wagner, a Russian security company, of shooting prisoners in September 2019. "There are thus reasonable grounds to believe that Wagner personnel may have committed the war crime of murder," it said. The investigators also found a computer tablet used by Wagner that was left behind, detailing where land mines were planted in 35 different places near civilian buildings. These mainly Russian-made mines had been maiming civilians since June 2020, when a number of people returned to their homes, according to the report. European Union accusations The European Union has been accused of complicity in crimes carried out by militias and others after it signed a migrant deal with Libya in February 2017. This deal outlines assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people in international waters and return them to Libya and detention centers. These #Libya #militias are responsible for holding #refugees & #migrants in poor conditions + #torture, & at the same time, the #EuropeanUnion & the member states are complicit,"says @saracreta, documentary filmmaker of "Libya: No Escape from Hell" #EU https://t.co/gBLsSY717Q - LauraAngela Bagnetto (@LA_Bagnetto) September 27, 2021 "It is quite clear that the [European Union] pushback policies at sea have led to huge violations of human rights...of migrants, leading to detention in Libya upon return," said panel member Chaloka Beyani. Worst perpetrator Some of the worst abuses, according to the UN investigators, were allegedly carried out by Mohammed al-Kani, a commander who the report said was killed in July during a raid by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). He reportedly orchestrated killings carried out by an armed group in the town of Tarhouna with victims buried in mass graves. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Libya Legal Affairs Migration By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "The scale of the atrocities in Tarhouna demand far more focused attention including forensic investigations," said panel expert Tracy Robinson. There has been no confirmation regarding his killing from Libyan authorities. Libya has been in a state of unrest since 2011, when a number of armed groups who rose up against Libyan strongman Moamer Khadafi have been fighting it out for power, weapons, and control and traffic of migrants there. The various factions have been supported by a number of countries, with Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates backing eastern forces, while Turkey supporting the government in the west. Combat has ceased since 2020 when a ceasefire was declared with elections slated for December. On Sunday, the Libyan foreign ministry said that some foreign fighters had left the country, adding that the unity government is asking for international help to push for the rest to withdraw. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli followed up the implementation of a number of ongoing projects in Cairo governorate, stressing that these projects along with projects carried out in the New Administrative Capital are on the top of the government's agenda. This came during a meeting on Monday with Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel Aal, Deputy Governor of Cairo Ibrahim Abdel Hadi and head of the Urban Development Fund Khaled Seddiq. During the meeting, Madbouli stressed the necessity of sticking to the projects' implementation schedule in order to complete all projects on time as per President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's directives. Regarding areas that will be developed in the coming phase of the Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo (URHC), the governor said that the coming phase will include the area surrounding Al-Hakim Mosque, one of the largest Fatimid mosques in Cairo, as well as Bab Zuweila, which one of three huge remaining gates of 11th Century Fatimid-era Cairo. The coming phase will also cover Sharia Al Khayamiya or the Street of the Tentmakers, Qasaba of Radwan Bey, which located directly south of the Bab Zuweila gate, in addition to other areas, the governor added. In July 2010, UNESCO-World Heritage Center (WHC) launched the Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo (URHC) in the framework of a larger program of technical assistance to the Egyptian Government concerning the management of the World Heritage property. URHC aims to prepare the planning and management tools necessary for the conservation of the aforementioned heritage values, in addition to the socio-economic revitalization and environmental upgrading of the property. MENA press release Tourism Month is the celebration of people, places and products. With people at the heart of its brand, South Africa boasts a wealth of diverse landscapes, with cities, small towns, townships and villages populated with an array of tourism products to suit every traveller's needs. The 27th of September was celebrated worldwide as World Tourism Day (WTD), under the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) theme: "Tourism for Inclusive Growth". The 2021 World Tourism Day was hosted by the Free State Province, where, as per norm, all nine provinces converged for the celebration of this important annual event in the tourism industry calendar. The global observance of World Tourism Day by the UNWTO aims to foster awareness of tourism's social, cultural, political and economic value. With the 2021 theme: Tourism for Inclusive Growth, the celebrations aimed to inspire and highlight the initiatives that are poised to drive tourism recovery, in a "new and better normal", post severe COVID 19 pandemic effects. The Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT) together with its agencies; the North West Tourism Board and the North West Parks Board had their hands full executing a Provincial Tourism Month Plan of activities. The Plan that was collectively developed comprised of tourism awareness and promotions activities which aimed for a heightened focus on the importance of tourism to the local economy, serving as an opportunity to promote domestic tourism by highlighting tourist attractions, showcasing tourism products and creating a culture of travel amongst South Africans. With one week in September dedicated to one district in the province, activities followed a similar pattern. The NWTB hosted four (4) Stakeholder Engagement Sessions whose purpose was to present the newly developed (draft) Provincial Destination Marketing Strategy and to seek inputs from each district's tourism players. The following 2 days were used as content build-ups for Tourism Fridays whereby, historical and heritage sites as well as tourist attractions in the regions were identified with the assistance of the districts. These sites and attractions were visited with the aim of gaining first-hand experience and engaging with owners who interpreted their products to a media partner who formed part of the visiting team. The exercise was aimed at empowering media with experience and information for marketing and promotions purposes but also to educate the public on a variety of hidden tourism gems. Tourism Fridays focused on bringing the Tourism Month Theme alive and thereby showcased a diversity of tourism products including dams and water sports, adventure, wildlife, heritage sites, museums, accommodation establishments and township lifestyle experiences. Tourism Fridays were complimented by other activities which ran parallel such as the Cultural Tourism Seminar, Social Tourism Programme and Tourism Walk aimed at inculcating a culture of travelling amongst the North West University students and community at large hosted by DEDECT Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Travel South Africa Environment By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Tourism Fridays began in the Dr R S Segomotsi Mompati District where the Tourism Month Media Launch was held, followed by Bojanala, Ngaka Modiri Molema with the finale at the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District. True to the Tourism Month theme, the MEC for DEDECT officiated the official launch of Seboka Game Lodge in Koster last week, which is the first woman owned game lodge in the North West Province. This project was spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, and could not have been realised at an opportune time than Tourism Month. In its entirety, it demonstrated Tourism for Inclusive Growth where the inclusion of a woman in a male dominated biodiversity management environment was realised. The owner, Ms Mpho Mathope is a seasoned tourism product owner, who has now added a new dimension to her business portfolio, whereby her experience in the management of accommodation and conference facilities will come handy. Geneva United Nations officials have received increasing reports of the use of children in armed groups and violations, including abduction and sexual violence by militant Islamist groups in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado region. In a part of the territory of northern Mozambique controlled by the militants, officials from the UN Children's Agency, UNICEF, consider that thousands of children are at risk, saying that despite humanitarian access improving gradually in Cabo Delgado, no abducted children have been released "As areas previously occupied by al-Shabab [the name locals use to describe the militants] become accessible, unverified video material secured by armed forces in an abandoned training camp shows abducted children as young as five years old handling weapons and being indoctrinated to fight," said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder. The railroading of children into the conflict has previously been reported by non-governmental groups such as Save the Children and Human Rights Watch. The Cabo Delgado province is the epicentre of the insurgency has seen the displacement of more than 800,000 people, the killing of more than 2,500 civilians and the threat of losing billions in gas projects run by multinational companies in the region. Mozambique has been battling the militants, who have been designated by the United States as Islamic State affiliates. Speaking at a UN press briefing, Elder said recent reports show that young boys and girls are being abducted from their families and villages. These match accounts told by family members to UNICEF's field staff and partners. Forcibly recruited "This is leaving little doubt that children are being forcefully recruited by this non-state armed group," said Elder. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Mozambique Conflict Children By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. After fighting broke out in March in the northern Palma district, humanitarian access to the district was completely blocked. Elder said it was only recently that UNICEF, the World Food Program and partner NGOs had been able to deliver humanitarian aid kits including hygiene materials, water purification tablets, food and shelter material to Palma's displaced population. It was "an extraordinary operation", finalized two weeks ago and built on the support of the Mozambique government, said the UNICEF official. The recruitment and use of children by armed groups expose them to incomprehensible levels of violence; they lose their families, safety, and their chance to go to school. UNICEF said that using and recruiting children as fighters is a grave violation of international law. "All feasible measures should be taken to ensure that children are demobilized, disengaged, or otherwise released, and provided with all appropriate protection services for their social reintegration," said Elder. It was exactly this period. The investigations continued during the first day of October 2000. Yahya Jammeh, former Gambian dictator was once again accused of "stealing millions of United States Dollars from proceeds of thousands of barrels of crude oil" reportedly supplied to the country by the former Nigerian military ruler, Sani Abacha. It was known as "The Crude Oil Saga". Both the local and international press revealed series of allegations and surreptitious dealings between the two military tyrants. Both Gambians and Nigerians as well as the diplomatic community were stunned and staggered. During the time, Yahya Jammeh was under intense media and diplomatic pressure. He finally decided to respond to the accusations. As usual, he invited the GRTS to refute the allegations against him. During his interview, he also aggressively threatened anyone involved in the accusations. But the opposition member in the National Assembly demanded an "official investigation" into the matter and further rubbished Yahya Jammeh's TV denial. Unfortunately for the opposition, the National Assembly massively dominated by the ruling APRC refused to appoint a Parliamentary Committee as directed to probe Yahya Jammeh's alleged involvement in the crude oil deal. But due to the huge amount of money involved, Gambians from all walks of life insisted that Yahya Jammeh should be investigated. Even his own party officials quietly demanded a probe. Nonetheless, thanks to his party National Assembly members whose allegiance was directly to Yahya Jammeh, categorically denied any form of inquiry. The opposition equally refused to drop the matter and decided to serve all MPs with papers regarding the alleged deal incriminating the Gambian leader. Soon the allegations were blown-out in Banjul like wildfires. Hence, a private meeting reportedly took place between Yahya Jammeh and his most influential MPs at his home village of Kanilai. The press was barred from attending - even though he spent most of his time in the village. During the private meeting with his selected MPs, he asked them to oppose an inquiry. Nevertheless, outside the National Assembly, the leader of the opposition UDP, Ousainou Darboe, publicly accused Yahya Jammeh of "diverting millions from the proceeds of the crude oil for his personal benefit". The opposition leader also said Yahya Jammeh's version with GRTS on the issue was "the most dishonest reaction to any allegation of corruption made against him". Darboe maintained that he was in "possession of enough evidence to implicate Yahya Jammeh" and further argued that the Gambia leader had not been "speaking to the nation in a transparent manner - and had not told the nation the truth about the crude oil deal". Darboe also told the press that it was necessary to expose Yahya Jammeh because he felt that "the Gambian leader has failed to vindicate himself from such a high-level corruption scandal, known nationally and internationally". They felt cheated. During a hastily organised press conference, and attended by this correspondent, the opposition distributed copies of contract documents - some dated August 23rd 1996. It was reportedly between Chantrils Commercial SA and The Gambia government relating to the lifting of crude oil. "Concession" was granted to the Gambia government by the Federal Republic of Nigeria under its former military ruler, Sani Abacha. The opposition declared that it had "no doubt that the "concession" was for the benefit of "the people of the Gambia and not for Yahya Jammeh as a person". The offer according to the opposition might have been politically motivated after the government took a pro-Nigerian stance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which called for Nigeria's suspension following the brutal execution of Nigerian human rights activists Ken Saro Wiwa and other important activists in 1995. In an affidavit reportedly signed by one D. P. Ford, in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court in London, disclosed that "he was a senior crude oil dealer employed by Glencore UK Limited". According to the signed documents, Chantrils' first business with the Republic of the Gambia was concluded with an agreement dated August 23rd 1996. The said affidavit mentioned another Samuel Sarr and Muhammed Jawara, both "protocol officers" to Yahya Jammeh as the negotiators. The revealing papers also disclosed that a payment of US$900, 000 was required for the first 4, 500, 000 barrels. It also disclosed that "Yahya Jammeh needed the sum to fund his 1996 election campaign". It was agreed that the first US$500, 000 be paid within three working days of August 23. The remaining US$400, 000 according to the documents were to be paid in to bank account number J3650-7C at the United Overseas Bank in Geneva on September 13, 1996. It again indicated that after the new terms were signed. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Gambia Governance Legal Affairs By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. In a "telephone conversation", Yahya Jammeh thanked them, stating that he expected to receive "another contract from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with more volume of oil which President wanted them to handle for him". The documents further revealed several bank transactions to that effect. A bank guarantee in favour of The Gambia and c/o Omni Group in Paris and the Credit Agricole Indosuez London branch were also indicated. The opposition leader suggested that a total of D38, 426,900.20 was allegedly diverted by Yahya Jammeh for his personal use. More depressingly, The Gambia also shouldered the burden of settling a legal fee of US$601, 625.32 with interest that was reimbursed to the complainant. Following the revelations, Yahya Jammeh was visibly upset and publicly issued threats to the private press by "eradicating them and turning them into beggars". The opposition by "burying them six-feet deep". For the business executive members who dared to involve in the inquiry. He scolded: "If you are a businessman and you are anti-government, which is the government of the day, you have nowhere to go. If a businessman wants to fight the government, within one minute, we can make you disappear from the map of the Gambia." Gambia Horticultural Enterprises (GHE) in partnership with International Trade Centre (ITC) recently donated food processing and horticultural equipment to forty (40) students, who completed a two-month intensive course in agro food processing and horticulture. In total, 100 students started the course, out which 40 were lucky to receive support to start-up their various businesses in agro-food processing and horticulture. In his presentation, Yusupha Keita, coordinator for the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) while commending GHE for the initiative, described the initiative as a step in right direction as far as youth empowerment is concerned. He thanked the participants for their cooperation during the training. He accordingly urged the beneficiaries to use the skills acquired during the training as well as the materials given to them by starting businesses in agro-food process and horticulture. "You have all the necessary things to start a business. Therefore, we need a competitive business in the society," he challenged them. He advised them to network within themselves and others so that they have more contacts. Haddy Ceesay, a representative of GHE lauded ITC for the enormous support to the beneficiaries through her institution. She appealed to the beneficiaries to make the best use of the training as well as the material given to them. Demba Bah, plant protection officer at the Plant Protection Service of the Department of Agriculture called on the young entrepreneurs to put the knowledge and skills gained into good use. "If you go back start business in spot, you have nothing to waste," he said. Ousman Ceesay, participant expressed gratitude to the GHE and partners for equipping them with the necessary skills to start a business. "This will go a long way in helping us to get self-employment and employ others." he said. analysis The newly-elected Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Moerane is geared to take up the baton to improve service delivery, specifically in regard to the reliability of power supply across all areas currently provided by Eskom in the city. Restoring the collapsed electricity infrastructure in Johannesburg has been part of the economic reconstruction and recovery plan for the year, first formally announced by late Mayor Jolidee Matongo. Matongo first announced the plans in his financial year's budget speech of 2021/2022 in his capacity as the City of Johannesburg's Finance Member of Mayoral Committee, as reported by CNBC Africa. Moerane, who was sworn in last week, says he is demonstrating his support to facilitating the service delivery commitments started by both late Executive Mayors, Councillor Geoff Makhubo and Councillor Matongo. For many years, the Johannesburg grid has edged closer to collapse as a result of outstanding bills payments, vandalism, cable theft, and irregular maintenance of ageing infrastructure. This has severely impacted residents in the form of frequent power cuts and has also disrupted crucial utility functions, such as water the provincial water supply, that depend on electricity. Moerane says the decision to migrate areas currently supplied by Eskom to the municipal power utility entity,... MINISTER for Agriculture Prof Adolf Mkenda has commended the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB), for its support on strategic crops including coffee, saying the task ahead was to increase the crop production. "I have seen many things in this exhibition including, good seedlings, coffee packaging has grown very good, and I thank our banks especially our Agricultural Development Bank (TADB) for sponsoring and participating in this Festival and please continue to touch coffee growers directly," Prof Mkenda said. Opening the Coffee Exhibition 2021 here, Pro Mkenda said TADB stood a better chance to spearhead transformations in agriculture and also could contribute significantly to growth and development of the sector in the country. TADB Bank has provided a total of 140.81bn/- to farmers in the country to support coffee crops, which includes pesticides, coffee machines, fertilizers, CPU stations, warehouse construction and seedling cultivation in Ngara. He said Tanzania was the only country in East Africa that produces instant coffee and that concerted efforts were needed to continue promoting Tanzanian coffee, so as to open up more markets in Africa. "I have talked to TADB and they have shown willingness to give money to farmers to change their productive seedlings so that they could increase coffee production in the country" the Minister explained. Speaking for the TADB Managing Director, Mr Frank Nyabundege, the Bank's Senior Business Development Officer, Mr Zakayo Mphuru said TADB was participating in this year's World Coffee Day exhibition knowing that TADB was a key player in the entire Coffee Value Chain. According to Mr Mphuru, the bank has been directly involved in enabling the industry to grow by reaching more than 150,000 beneficiaries in coffee. "Our presence at this important exhibition meant for our bank to prove our long time commitment to the growth and development of coffee. I take this opportunity call upon farmers to continue using TADB to improve and increase production," Mr Mphuru said. The Coffee Festival, which opened over the weekend and climaxed yesterday at Uhuru Park here in Moshi. THE security firm, SGA Tanzania has been commended for the efforts it has been putting in place to support the Police Force in its duties. Speaking during the launch of the partnership between the Police Force and SGA Security over the weekend, Kinondoni OCD, SSP Ally Wendo, highlighted the support received from SGA countrywide, calling on other security companies to emulate. He said Community policing is a concept of involving the communities in ensuring peace and security in their respective areas. "SGA has been one of the great partners to Tanzania Police Force, way before the concept of community policing came in, and we witness this across the country where they operate," said SSP Wendo. He noted that security companies play an important role because their officers are on the ground, and at the forefront in preventing crime. "We now want to empower the guards in various locations to participate in the reactive approach, in addition to the preventive role they are playing now", he added. The SGA Tanzania Managing Director, Mr Eric Sambu, explained that the company is celebrating its 37th anniversary in Tanzania and has witnessed tremendous growth, especially in the last 10 years, due to the revolution of their internal processes. AllAfrica publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us. El Canciller Oscar Maurtua, junto al ministro Ruben Ramirez de @MinamPeru, suscribio una Carta de Intencion de Cooperacion con el ministro britanico @ZacGoldsmith, por la cual el Peru accederia al financiamiento del Fondo de Paisajes Biodiversos de Reino Unido. pic.twitter.com/avdKXX28uC In a recent statement, INPE indicated that Fujimori had to be taken from Lima-based Barbadillo Prison to Centenario Clinic as it was certified that his health had deteriorated. Geriatrics and cardiology specialists at said medical facility decided to admit him to ICU, as well as to carry out a series of tests and analyses. Doctors told INPE that Fujimori "needs to undergo an invasive cardiac procedure that requires the availability of a bed in ICU." "As part of his private insurance coverage, inmate Fujimori will be taken to another local clinic, always complying with the safety protocols," it was reported. INPE stated that it would inform the relatives about the measures taken by the specialists, "in accordance with the regular procedures during emergency health evacuations of persons deprived of liberty." In addition, the penitentiary institution will take the necessary actions to ensure that the ex-president receives medical attention. As is known, Fujimori currently serves a 25-year sentence in prison for the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, which involved human rights abuses, in addition to the kidnappings of a journalist and a businessman in 1992. This sentence was then ratified by Peruvian courts, which determined that Fujimori was responsible for crimes such as qualified homicide, assassination, and serious injuries in the Barrios Altos, La Cantuta, and Army Intelligence Service cases. The sentence was unanimously confirmed by the Supreme Court on January 3, 2010. (END) FGM/JCR/RMB Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: Lo mas sagrado es la vida y la salud de las personas. Por ello, tenemos que trabajar por la atencion primaria y llegar a los lugares mas alejados del pais. pic.twitter.com/VWJsSa5LGz Presidente @PedroCastilloTe: En el Dia de la Medicina Peruana, expreso mi eterna gratitud y reconocimiento a cada uno de los que integran el sector salud. pic.twitter.com/SwJM2tLQBa The government official noted that he has mentioned more than once that the Second Agrarian Reform is not about expropriating and that the President himself has reiterated this point. "Its aim is basically to promote comprehensive development in rural areas of our country," he said in an interview with RPP radio and TV station. The Cabinet member emphasized that this Second Agrarian Reform is by no means expropriation. "It is not part of our proposal; that has been ruled out," he added. On the other hand, in statements to Canal N, Maita said that he believes the Government has to intervene in the rural sector to promote its comprehensive development, adding that five areas of work have been established to that end. He explained that this is because the issue of social gaps in those areas goes beyond the actual intervention of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri) "This is because the problems they face are many. It is not only about the productive issue, but also about competitiveness, health, education, chronic malnutrition and anemia, among other things," he commented. In this regard, the minister affirmed that the Government is willing to purchase produce from family agriculture in order to supply social programs. Credit Maita underscored that access to credit is key to support family agriculture in rural areas. "We have the Agroperu Fund, which is basically aimed at small-scale farmers, and can also be accessed by farming communities that were abandoned for decades. We also have FAE-Agrario (a business support fund for farmers)," he added. Support for women The head of Midagri remarked that a fund exclusively for rural women is being promoted as part of the Second Agrarian Reform. "This will help finance various business technical support and social programs in favor of over 700,000 women agricultural producers across the country," the high-ranking official remarked. (END) SDD/JJN/RMB YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. The talks between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee Yang Jiechi will take place in Switzerland this week, TASS reports citing the South China Morning Post. Chinas top diplomat Yang Jiechi will hold talks with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Switzerland this week, according to sources familiar with details of the meeting, the statement reads. The talks between the pair - said to be most likely to take place on Wednesday - will come less than a month after the telephone call between the two nations presidents, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, according to the newspaper. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has addressed a congratulatory message on the occasion of Teachers Day, his Office said. The message reads: Dear Teachers, Today, we celebrate your professional holiday, Teachers Day. We are celebrating it in difficult times, in a stressful and tense atmosphere when we need not only to combine our abilities and power to invest our experience and knowledge but also to learn and teach anew, never to stint to be a student and to learn from the Teacher in the broadest sense of the word. We, as a nation, know the place of the teacher in our system of values very well. Statehood is born and lives owing to education as well, which is the same as owing to an educated individual, society, and people. In those times when we did not have statehood, it was the teacher, who together with the clergy, kept the light of the Homeland, Faith and Language, i.e. the light of our identity, bright in us. Throughout our lives, we always have teachers, whether in the family or at school, around us, or at work. One way or another, they teach us to live and love, to have mercy and forgiveness, to fight and win, to be strong, to be wise and educated, to gain knowledge and experience. One of them teaches us to protect and preserve the Homeland and national values, the other to be brave and determined, the third to work and create, the fourth to be happy and compassionate, the fifth ... They all usually integrate into one image of a Teacher... School is the starting point from which, as well as from the family, the realization of our identity begins, owing to our parents, and our teachers, who often replace each other in different situations. That is to say, the future of the country begins with the teachers, the upbringing and knowledge they give, and their experience and advice passed on to us, which remain valuable and necessary at all times. We live in a world full of challenges, when unexpected, unforeseen and unpredictable changes occur more and more often, when the need for conscious, educated and creative people grows, who must not only create the future of Armenia but also participate in the building of the nearest future of the world. In today's world, the role of teachers is no longer limited to the provision of knowledge. One must be able to understand the deep essence of the changes taking place in the country, in the society, and in the world. We can build schools, and universities, but without qualified teachers there cannot be any results of quality. We must create all the conditions, dear teachers, for you to have the opportunity not only to educate worthy citizens but also to improve your skills and develop your knowledge so that you, your families and your students, their parents and relatives can all live in a strong, prosperous, safe, and healthy country. Dear Teachers, All of us were pupils at school. I remember my teachers with warmth and gratitude. Every one of us continues to be a pupil. I am grateful to my school teachers and all the people from whom I have learned and continue to learn something. I wish you that all of your students remember you with respect and love throughout their lives. I wish you all health, prosperity, and all the best. YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee Sasun Khachatryan met with US Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy. At the meeting the US Ambassador said the fight against corruption is the field where the cooperation of Armenia and the United States is close and constant, adding that now as well the US is ready to work with this new structure to deepen this cooperation. The Ambassador stressed the need of ensuring the independence and transparency of the activity of the Anti-Corruption Committee. Introducing the Committees upcoming actions and challenges, Sasun Khachatryan mentioned four main components which would enable to record substantive results in the fight against corruption. Those components, according to him, are the will, the hard work, the professional knowledge and the material-technical base. He highlighted introducing the positive experience of the United States in works relating to international legal mutual support. At the end of the meeting the sides agreed to make joint efforts to expand the cooperation in the fight against corruption. Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is completing its chairmanship at the International Organization of la Francophonie. On this occasion Secretary General of the Organization Louise Mushikiwabo visited Armenia to sum up the results of the chairmanship and has been hosted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the governments headquarters. Following their meeting, the Armenian PM and the OIF Secretary General delivered statements for the press. Pashinyan stated that Armenia attaches importance to its membership to the OIF and praised the countrys participation, role and level within this important international organization. As you know, in 2018 Armenia assumed the chairmanship in the Organization for a two-year term during the Francophonie summit held in Yerevan, however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic the 18th summit scheduled in 2020 was delayed, and during that time Armenia continues fulfilling its chairmanship. We assumed this important role with a great responsibility and willingness, however, I must regret over the fact that we had to cancel a large part of the programs approved during the summit in Yerevan which we were going to implement because of the pandemic. We attach importance to the proper organization and holding of the next summit of the Organization. As a chair country Armenia plans to participate in the event at the highest level and make active efforts for the drafting of documents to be adopted, Prime Minister Pashinyan said. During their meeting the Armenian PM and the OIF Secretary General have discussed a broad range of international and regional issues, particularly focusing on the topic of regional security and peace. We attached a special importance to the solution of humanitarian problems caused by the 44-Day war, in particular the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian captives, as well as we highlight the proper preservation of the Armenian historical-cultural and religious heritage, Nikol Pashinyan said, expressing gratitude on behalf of Armenia to the OIF Secretary General for the support provided in autumn 2020. We are grateful for the solidarity that you, Mrs. Secretary General, have shown to Armenia and the Armenian people, the PM said. Pashinyan also thanked the OIF chief for sending an observer mission to Armenia for the 2021 June 20 snap parliamentary elections. According to him, this was the first case when representatives of Francophonie family were visiting Armenia to observe the parliamentary elections. Armenia is ready to continue the large-scale cooperation with the International Organization of la Francophonie especially in the teaching of French language both in schools and universities, as well as among the Armenian public servants, he said, adding that Armenia also supports the reforms proposed by the Secretary General. The International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF/ Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) is an international institution established in 1970 and aimed at strengthening and promoting the French language and universal values. The organization has 54 full members, 7 associate and 27 observer states. In 32 of these countries, French language has the status of an official language or the second official language. The combined population of countries involved in the OIF is 900 million, of which 274 million are French speaking. The countries involved in the OIF are spread across the five continents. It should be noted, that more than one third of the UN Member states are members of this organisation (official website address: www.francophonie.org). Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, ARMENPRESS. During one month, the interns of the Russian "CBOSS" IT company: Andrey Dudnikov, Igor Zlobin, Daria Simakova, Dmitry Sidak and Anatoly Nosov had an immersive experience in the business activities of various divisions of Ucom. The visit was organized with the aim of professional development of the promising Russian youth, recruited through student internships at the Contest of Creative Intelligence, an innovative initiative by Andrey Morozov. "This is a fantastic opportunity for both our team and the young talents of our partner to meet, exchange experience and work together. I would like to note that our managers noted the very high learning ability of the students who visited us, and we might be considering the possibility of conducting such student internships for Armenian youth as well", said Ara Khachatryan, Director General at Ucom. "CCI student internships reveal the potential of Russian youth, and it would be very interesting for us to hold such an event in Armenia. I am sure that here we could, with the help of our technologies, find many promising guys who would have the opportunity to confidently and quickly start their professional career both at Ucom and other interesting companies. It works like a social elevator, or even a helicopter. Already now, those who are interested can submit their preliminary applications online, on the Internships 10 page (google it in Russian). The more such applications are submitted now, the sooner we, together with Ucom, will organize such an event in Armenia", said Andrey Morozov, CBOSS President. Igor Zlobin, an intern from the Finance Department at CBOSS, told us that durig his entire stay at Ucom he had visited various departments, among them Customer Care and Billing, and even acted as a designer in the Advertising division. In his words, "the employees of Ucom are friendly, open, and it is very easy to communicate with them; they keep things so simple in communication and business that one never feels the "superior-subordinate" relationship at all". It should be noted that CBOSS provides telecommunication companies with billing solutions that, according to experts, are quite functional, flexible, scalable and have a wide range of applicability. A billing system is an automated system that registers the type, volume, cost of services provided to a subscriber, calculates charges and payments of subscribers and produces generalized results, including those required for reporting. The disappearance of Facebook's DNS records could cause the services outage, Group-IB company specializing in cybersecurity told TASS. October 5, 2021, 10:07 Facebook outage could be caused by DNS records failure STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: According to the statement, the exact cause of the problem is not yet known, but the most likely cause is that the DNS records associated with Facebook services were removed from the global routing tables. "Such routes are part of the internet's Domain Name System, a key structure that determines where internet traffic needs to go. DNS translates an address like facebook.com to an IP address like 123.45.67.890. If Facebook's DNS records disappeared, apps and web addresses would be unable to locate it," Head of Special Projects at the companys Digital Risk Protection (DRP) department Vladimir Kalugin was quoted in the statement. On Monday, users around the world reported a massive disruption in the activities of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Facebook, which owns these social networks and the messenger, confirmed information about the problems and assured that they are working to fix them. On October 5, the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, left for Rome, Italy, to attend a conference devoted to religions and cultures in dialogue, and an inter-church prayer service, reported the Information Services of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. October 5, 2021, 11:43 Catholicos of All Armenians will meet with Pope Francis STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Catholicos will deliver an address at the conference, and deliver a sermon at the inter-church prayer service. During the visit, Karekin II will meet with Pope Francis. The talks between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee Yang Jiechi will take place in Switzerland this week, TASS reports citing the South China Morning Post. October 5, 2021, 10:54 China and US to hold talks in Switzerland this week STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: Chinas top diplomat Yang Jiechi will hold talks with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Switzerland this week, according to sources familiar with details of the meeting, the statement reads. The talks between the pair - said to be most likely to take place on Wednesday - will come less than a month after the telephone call between the two nations presidents, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, according to the newspaper. 50,000 doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine were handed over to Armenia in a ceremony at Vilnius Airport on Monday evening, LRT reported. October 5, 2021, 14:23 Lithuania hands over 50,000 Moderna vaccine doses to Armenia STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: The symbolic ceremony took place at Vilnius Airport as the Armenian delegation, led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, were leaving Lithuania after their official visit to Vilnius. The decision to donate the doses were announced by the Lithuanian government on September 30. Lithuania provided humanitarian aid in response to Armenia's request based on a bilateral agreement through the EU's vaccine sharing mechanism. The Lithuanian and Armenian health ministers signed a cooperation agreement during the official visit. This marks the first time that Lithuania has donated Moderna's vaccine. At the suggestion of Azatouhi Simonyan, Advisor to the President of the Artsakh Republic, Armenia's National Assembly "Hayastan" faction has transferred the bonus pays received by the fractions members in September to the account of the Caroline Cox Rehabilitation Center in Stepanakert. October 5, 2021, 17:06 Armenia's National Assembly "Hayastan" faction transfers over 10 million AMD support to Stepanakert Cox Rehabilitation Center STEPANAKERT, OCTOBER 5, ARTSAKHPRESS: The center informed Artsakhpress that 10.740.000 AMD was transferred by the faction, which will serve the purpose of acquiring new professional property and necessary medical supplies for the center. On this occasion, the employees of the center express their gratitude to the deputies of the "Hayastan" faction for providing that humanitarian aid. Australia has been accused of abandoning refugees in Papua New Guinea as the Morrison government prepares to end offshore processing agreements with the country. The program will end on December 31 under an agreement by the Australian and PNG governments. Australia says it will help people "voluntarily transfer" to Nauru before the PNG government assumes sole responsibility for those who remain from January. A joint statement by PNG and Australian ministers said asylum seekers who remained would be offered a pathway to permanent migration including citizenship. PNG would also support those awaiting transfer to a third country. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the government's border policies had not changed. "Anyone who attempts to enter Australia illegally by boat will be returned or sent to Nauru," she said. As of July, the federal government said 124 people remained in PNG and 107 on Nauru. Amnesty International Australia labelled the end to the offshore processing in PNG a step in the right direction. It wants the federal government to commit to resettling all refugees and asylum seekers detained in PNG and on Nauru and accept New Zealand's long-standing offer to take them. "While the decision to bring this sorry chapter in PNG to an end is welcome news, we need to see all those still stuck brought to safety," Amnesty's refugee advisor Graham Thom said "Now is the time to seal the deal. This suffering needs to finally come to an end." Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally maintained offshore processing was an important part of Operation Sovereign Borders. She urged the government to take up New Zealand's resettlement offer and find third-country solutions for others in PNG and on Nauru. "We can be tough on border protection without losing our humanity and it is long past time for (Scott) Morrison to resettle all refugees in third party countries," she said. Story continues The Refugee Action Coalition has accused the government of deserting and dumping refugees overseas. "The government is just shuffling the detention deck chairs," spokesman Ian Rintoul said. "The only just solution is to end offshore detention, and bring all those presently in PNG and on Nauru to Australia. The Medevac refugees should be freed." In 2016, the PNG Supreme Court ruled the detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island was unlawful and in breach of the country's constitution. Last month Australia signed a new memorandum of understanding to continue offshore processing with Nauru. The son of late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos has announced he will run for president in next year's elections. "Join me in this noblest process and we will succeed," Ferdinand Marcos Junior, 64, a longtime politician popularly known as "Bongbong", said in a speech streamed on social media on Tuesday. He has been involved in politics since his return in 1991 from exile following his father's 1986 overthrow, as provincial governor, congressman and senator. Marcos on Tuesday took an oath as chairman of a political party that had earlier nominated him as its presidential candidate. Marcos unsuccessfully ran for the vice presidency in 2016. A run for the top post would be a big step in a country where many are still healing from the 1970s martial rule era of the elder Marcos. His family has long sought to rebuild its image and has repeatedly denied allegations it plundered billions of dollars of state wealth when in power, which ended in a 1980s People's Power uprising. ALBANY A looming Oct. 7 vaccination mandate for New York home health workers is projected to have profound impacts on an industry that delivers medical services to frail seniors and disabled persons at their residences. The state mandate facing home health agencies mirrors one that kicked in Monday for hospitals and nursing homes. It provides no COVID-19 testing option as a way to bypass the dictate that nurses, therapists, home health aides and other staffers must show they have been inoculated to continue to work in the field.o There are approximately 1,500 home health agencies licensed in the state. The Home Care Association of New York reported that a survey of 189 of those agencies indicates that more than 12,000 of the staffers are refusing to be vaccinated and are thus willing to face termination from employment. Gov. Kathy Hochuls administration has signaled healthcare workers who are fired for refusing to abide by the vaccination order will be disqualified from collecting state unemployment benefits. The Home Care Association said the estimated number of staffers who could be forced out of their jobs is several times higher than the survey results found, given only a portion of the agencies were sampled, " " DUIs and DUI deaths could theoretically cease to exist if ignition interlock devices (in-car Breathalyzers) are mandated by law. Doug Menuez/Forrester Images/Getty Images In the United States alone, 30 people die every day in drunk-driving-related crashes. That equates to one person every 48 minutes. But simple technology to prevent and possibly even end drunk driving exists. So why aren't carmakers required to implement it? New legislation in the United States aims to do just that: require all new cars be equipped with alcohol detection systems by 2024. The Reduce Impaired Driving for Everyone Act of 2019, known as the RIDE Act, was introduced to Congress by Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who co-sponsored the Senate bill, and Representative Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in the House. The lawmakers believe the law could save 7,000 lives per year. "[Sen. Tom] Udall saw the success that ignition interlock technology had in reducing the number of alcohol-related driving fatalities in New Mexico and sees alcohol detection technology as a big part of the solution in preventing drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel," Ned Adriance, Sen. Tom Udall's communications director, says via email. Advertisement The Ride Act of 2019 The Ride Act doesn't just call for automakers to implement alcohol detection technology on their own. The bill also provides funding for research and development of "advanced alcohol detection software." The legislation will establish a pilot program of fleet vehicles equipped with the software, including those from federal, state and private partners, a press statement says. That means the technology will be tested on vehicles before being mandated for consumers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also partnering with automobile manufacturers to develop alcohol detection systems that can be installed in vehicles. The NHTSA will work with the private Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, as well as directly with vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and other interested parties, including institutions of higher education with expertise in automotive engineering to develop the technology. Once the pilot program is underway, results will initially be evaluated in the first 12 months, and again every 180 days. The target for implementing the federally mandated technology in all new vehicles will be no more than two years after the law is enacted. Advertisement How the DUI Technology Works As for how it will actually work? We can get some insight from current technology, though that doesn't necessarily reflect the future. An ignition interlock device (IID) is essentially a Breathalyzer connected to a car's ignition system. Once it's installed, the car won't start until someone breathes into the IID with an alcohol-free breath. Drivers also can't disconnect the devices without damaging the vehicle. It's possible for a driver to trick these devices by having someone else provide the breath sample, but the devices also demand "rolling samples" at regular intervals while the vehicle is in motion, making it difficult for anyone other than the driver to comply. And the statistics show they work. In May 2019, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) announced that in-car Breathalyzers stopped drivers who were drunk from starting their cars more than 3 million times since 2006. That's when MADD began pushing for ignition interlocks for every drunk driver. MADD collected its data from 11 ignition interlock manufacturers. The data found that IIDs stopped almost 348,000 attempts by drunk drivers in 2018 alone. LifeSaver, a provider of interlock devices and services, says on its website that false positives are possible, triggered by anything from mouthwash to fruit juice to pizza dough. In that case, a series of lockout periods are triggered before the driver can take another test, anywhere from five minutes on up, depending on the laws of the state. If a rolling sample triggers a failure, the vehicle must be stopped as soon as it's possible to pull over safely, and a failure on a subsequent test after a lockout period puts the vehicle in a service mode, where it must be taken to a service center to be reset. It's unclear if the laws for federally mandated built-in devices would use similar procedures. The RIDE Act bill does state that the technology will automatically use the blood alcohol content (BAC) cutoff for the jurisdiction where the vehicle is being operated. However, the bill does not specify if the development team is working with existing technology or what form the implementation will take. Advertisement Who Will Pay the Costs? Generally, when drivers are required to install an aftermarket IID after a DUI, they pay the costs for installation, monthly fees for the court-mandated monitoring period, and the removal fee at the end of their sentence. These costs can easily add up to thousands of dollars, which is not necessarily representative of the cost of the IID device itself. Since there are different suppliers of these IID devices in different areas, prices can vary and furthermore, the monthly fee also includes a monitoring service that records the results of each test to report back to the court, if necessary. LifeSaver, says their pricing is bound by the laws of the states in which they provide their services. It's unclear how (or if) the cost of these devices would be passed on to consumers if they become mandated as part of car equipment, though the text of Sen. Udall and Scott's proposal specifies that federal funding will help pay for development costs. (The federal government has already dedicated about $50,000,000 to the project.) "Some in the industry raised cost as an objection to other landmark safety requirements like seatbelts, airbags and backup cameras, but Senator Udall believes that years of federally-funded research have prepared this technology to be integrated into mass commercialization in the coming years," Adriance says. "While the cost projections are still developing, Senator Udall believes that widespread deployment in new cars can be done in an affordable way." For now, the proposed legislation is focused on providing resources for development, with details on implementation to follow. "At the moment, the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) Program, which is partially funded by the NHTSA, has developed technology that can detect alcohol in the driver's breath that they are testing in Virginia and Maryland," Adriance says. "Engineers are also developing devices to detect the blood alcohol level of the driver using touch sensors. Volvo has announced that it will be installing cameras in cars to detect if a driver is drunk or distracted, and Senator Udall hopes that the spirit of this completely voluntary initiative demonstrated by Volvo will set the standard for automakers selling cars in the United States." Now That's Interesting This exact type of advanced alcohol detection has been a key element of MADD's Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving since the campaign launched in 2006 and MADD organized a meeting to discuss ways car companies could build technology to detect whether a driver is drunk. AMSTERDAM Kiiroo, a leader in interactive pleasure, and UK based adult sex-tech brand, Hot Octopuss, announced they have partnered to debut the Pulse Solo Interactive Guybrator. Pulse Solo Interactive marks the next phase in the evolution of Hot Octopuss multi-award-winning, hands-free Pulse line. Thanks to Kiiroos connected technology, Pulse users can now enter a vast world of interactive content and intimate connectivity. We couldn't be happier than to have partnered with Kiiroo on Pulse Solo Interactive. Kiiroo is regarded as a world leader in interactive sex toys, and the integration of their technology into Pulse will be a real game changer, said Hot Octopuss co-founder & CEO, Adam Lewis. Our own focus groups have told us that our audience has been crying out for a connected toy. Now we have one with tried-and-tested interactive functionality that will open up a world of online and couples experiences for our customers. He added that the 100-percent waterproof Pulse Solo Interactivee is the most compact product to ever use the Kiiroo technology, and the versatile device is able to connect to all other Kiiroo products as well as compatibility with 2D, VR and webcam content. As long-time supporters of the gay market, we are also packaging up Pulse Solo Interactive as a world first penis owners Couples Pack. This means that two penis owners can either order the product to be sent to multiple addresses or as a presentation box with two units inside, with specific instructions on how to use Pulse Solo Interactive for penis-to-penis couples play. Toon Timmermans, CEO of Kiiroo, added, "We have been working hard on this co-branded product and we are sure that our users are going to enjoy this entirely new sensationinteractive oscillationwhen they play alone or connect with their partners or content." The Hot Octopuss Pulse Solo Interactive is now available for immediate purchase on kiiroo.com and from October 25 on hotoctopuss.com, priced at $179. LOS ANGELES Pineapple Support, the adult industrys leading mental health nonprofit, continues its Corporate Training Initiative with a training session to help staff at individual companies provide better support to performers in crisis. The training session, "You have identified a performer in crisis, now what?" will be led by therapist Nicki Line on October 6th at 1 p.m. EST. The first session of the initiative, led by licensed mental health counselor Rachael Wells, was designed to help employees recognize performers in crisis. The latest session covers the next steps employees should take when they encounter a performer in distress. "If you identify a performer that is in crisis, this course will equip you with a better understanding of the different interventions for various situations and the resources you can provide in order to help," says Line. "I'll also be available to participants after the session, who can contact me directly with any specific cases or questions via email and social media." 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 5000 adult performers to mental health services, including free and low-cost, therapy, counseling and emotional support. Were eager to continue to build a stronger support network for industry workers, says Tanit. In order to avoid more tragic losses in the adult industry, we need to teach the employees who work directly with performers how to provide effective crisis support. Its essential that we learn how to navigate these types of conversations when someone is in need. Were already planning to invite participants to gather and talk about the issues they've faced on their platforms so that we can better learn from each other. Sessions within the Corporate Training Initiative are available exclusively to the employees of companies that sponsor Pineapple Support. The interactive training will take place every two months and will be available to rewatch on a password-protected website. If you have a business and would like to find out how to become an official sponsor of Pineapple Support, view the available packages by visiting pineapplesupport.org/ sponsorship/. Shares in China property firm Evergrande suspended pending major transaction https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/04/shares-in-china-property-giant-evergrande-suspended-after-debt-payments-missed ... ... With liabilities equal to 2% of Chinas GDP, Evergrande has triggered concerns its woes could spread through the financial system and reverberate around the world. ... ... Evergrandes treatment of foreign investors contrasts with the way it manages its onshore liabilities. The two offshore payments, which bondholders said failed to arrive by their due date, come as the company, which has nearly $20bn in offshore debt, faces deadlines on US dollar-denomnated bond coupon payments totalling $162.38m in the next month. ... ... said the OCBC analyst Ezien Hoo. Im not sure this necessarily means that the company has given up on surviving, especially as selling an asset means they are still trying to raise cash to pay the bills. .... ... Peter Cai, a research fellow with the Lowy Institute, said the Chinese government had learned from its management of other recent big collapses including aviation and tourism group HNA. One missing piece is that the Chinese government is willing to let Evergrande go down, he said. They are more and more experienced and emboldened to let really large and over-leveraged companies go under. He said while Evergrandes liabilities were enormous the situation was different to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, where sub-prime mortgages had been packaged up and sold across the entire economy. Here we are talking about a highly leveraged Chinese property development firm, he said. Despite its size, I think its quite unlikely to cause the kind of systematic meltdown we experienced in 2008. Evergrande was also sitting on valuable land that it had so far refused to sell to meet its debts, he said. ... ... Cai said Chinas banks could absorb the losses. If you look at the banks theyre some of the most profitable in the world, he said. I think in terms of looking at how the restructuring process looks like in China, I think its likely the retail investors, especially people who have bought homes, they are the one who likely to have the highest preference. In terms of overseas [bond holders], they definitely will probably get a haircut. ... ... Cai said that impact would be felt most in third and fourth-tier cities. If youre looking at major cities in Shanghai, Beijing. Shenzhen, all these large cities, there is still actually a chronic shortage of housing, he said. Mo'men's explanation for the mysterious grayish wall finally came when our van passed a monument made out of an old Mig-21 fighter jet standing guard in front of a gate in the wall. Those are the barracks of the Second Army, he said simply. Where is the Third Army? I asked, half expecting Mo'men to pick up a topic about that army unit, infamous for getting surrounded by the Israelis at Suez during the October War of 1973 but famous for allegedly refusing Mubarak's order to fire on demonstrators in Tahrir Square. They are stationed further to the east, more on the Red Sea side, said Mo'men. We would have scored a much bigger victory during the Ramadan War but for U.S. support of the Israelis, you know. The Americans are just way too pro-Israel, Mo'men, head shaking, went on to say. Maybe because we were from the States and were his guests at the moment, and maybe because hatred for American foreign policy in that part of the world is always tinged with a love for American culture and technology, a complex the jeans on Momen and the iPhone in his hands testified loudly to, he did not launch into an anti-US rant, as one might have expected. Three and a half hours and a dearth of attractive view offered Mo'men the opportunity to cover many topics. We found ourselves in Egypt just when the newly elected Egyptian president, Morsi, was being challenged for being too much of a Islamist in his policies. Mo'men opined that Morsi was a good man and should be given more time to straighten out the countrys affairs. If Mo'men's narration about Egypt gave us broad hints at his political inclination, his comments on world affairs confirmed our inklings. He announced to us, for example, that 9/11 was no more than a CIA conspiracy and that Obama's Middle East policies were solely geared toward protecting Israeli interests. I would not explain Mo'men's being so loose-tongued by our groups being all Chinese; he knew we all presently lived in the States. In fact, I'm convinced that, intentionally or unintentionally, Mo'men said what he said to influence us, to do a bit of brainwashing, if you will. This was made especially clear when, later on, he gave us a most adulating version of Muhammad (ibn Abdullah)'s love life during our visit to the Alabaster Mosque. Remember Mo'men's announcement that there wouldn't be any stop on the way had sent me to the bathroom three times Well, it turned out that Mo'men wasn't being truthful: we made a stop on our way to Cairo at a fully functional rest area, when both the driver and Mo'men felt the need to go take a leak. What about the security concerns, about the convoy, you ask? I'll say more about the traffic condition on Egyptian highways later on; let's just say for now that the traffic was such that our long snake of a procession was soon dissected and slaughtered by wildly driven beasts of vehicles so that the buses and the vans so neatly woven into the convoy soon had to survive on their own. No sooner did the tour vehicles left the harbor than their drivers started concentrating on threading their own way out of Port Said and stopped paying any attention to keeping the convoy in formation. Long story short, we arrived in Cairo safely and began a new chapter of our Egypt adventure. You teach your kids not to take candy from strangers, yet you click all kinds of things online, potentially exposing personal information, credit card numbers, and other sensitive data to hackers. Whether you're surfing the net at your local coffee shop or behind closed doors at home, protecting yourself online is a big deal, and using a virtual private network (VPN) is a great way to protect yourself against predatory activity online. Luckily for you, these 10 stellar VPNs are all 40% off when you use the code VIP40 at check-out. Capable of providing protection for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Smart TV, and your router, this VPN gives you access to 350 high-speed servers from just about anywhere in the world. It also employs a strict no-logging policy that keeps your activity online completely untrackable, along with a NAT firewall, ad blocker, and anti-malware software. Plus, you can use it on up to five devices at once, making it great for families, roommates, and more. From its dependable, fast, and secure internet connections to its hundreds of accessible geo-restricted channels across the globe, it's easy to see why this VPN has such high ratings online. Using industry-standard encryption protocols, BulletVPN keeps you completely anonymous online, never hindering bandwidth or surfing speeds. That means it's great for protecting you when you're streaming content, playing games, and beyond. Praised in the New York Times, this award-winning VPN lets you browse online up to 44% faster as it blocks and disconnects trackers and malware across your device, using 39% less bandwidth and preserving battery life. Whether you're at home or on the go, you can expect complete online protection, never revealing your location or releasing personal data to companies, cybercriminals, or government entities. This VPN follows a very strict no-logging policy, meaning your data is encrypted by bank-grade 256-bit encrypted connections, which is about as secure as it gets. You'll have access to over 45 countries and will appear to come from that location, whether you're watching streaming content, paying bills online, or checking emails. And you can use it on any of your devices you log on with. Enjoy full security and anonymity online, protecting personal data, like banking info, contacts, passwords, and more, even when using public Wi-Fi. Named PCMag's Top VPN with thousands of high ratings online, KeepSolid VPN gives users over 400 VPN servers in more than 80+ locations around the globe, including the U.S., Canada, the UK, and more. Plus, it has 24/7 customer support, ensuring you're always in control and protected. Browse to your heart's content on all your devices, enjoying this VPN's advanced servers and lightweight apps that are easy on CPU and RAM. You can "teleport" to different locations and access blocked websites, enjoy speedy connections thanks to blocked ads, and stay completely anonymous as you surf the web. And since it has 21 servers in 8 countries around the world, you'll stay protected no matter where you live or travel. Unlike other protective networks out there that act as a third-party VPN, Hop enables you to turn your home into a VPN server, using it to connect to the web when you're miles away. Whether you're answering emails, shopping online, or paying bills, this VPN encrypts all of your info, never revealing where you actually are. And you can still easily access popular sites like Hulu, Netflix, Facebook, HBO Go without worrying about connection speeds. If you handle your banking online, you need real protection, and BelkaVPN ensures your business always stays private with military-grade AES 256-bit encryption, whether you're logging on at home or at your favorite coffee shop. Not only will you have access to over 120 servers in 25 different locations around the world, but you'll also enjoy better browsing thanks to features like trusted networks, ping tests, and favorite servers. The fastest-growing VPN in Asia, this 10-year subscription gives you complete online protection without restrictions or censorship on sites, worldwide, all will keeping you completely anonymous. Compatible with Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Android TV, Amazon Firestick, routers, and more, VPN.asia is great for all households, and the software will never slow down connection speeds. It's no wonder it earned an impressive 4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. Used by over 25 million people around the world, this VPN lets you hop online without ever worrying about leaking personal information, your location, or anything else. You can even use it on up to five devices simultaneously, always upholding a zero-logging policy on over 40 servers around the globe. Featured on USA Today, Forbes, Newsweek, and more, this VPN is one of the best out there, and its price tag is even more impressive. Sotheby's Boundless Space: The Possibilities of Burning Man auction is underway and I've wasted no time having a little fun with it from 3,000 miles awaywith the help of some friends. As you might remember, I am one of the artists whose work, specifically an "Eat Fuck Kill" lot, is being auctioned off. As one of the artists, I was invited to the opening festivities at Sotheby's in Manhattan. But I couldn't justify a weekend trip from California to New York. Believe me when I say, the FOMO has hit me hard. It started last Friday when I got namechecked in the Jack Rabbit Speaks, Burning Man's e-newsletter. I realized my mistake and started checking for cheap last-minute flights, without success. I told myself that I would have to live vicariously through friends who made the journey. I would have to just be at their mercy for photos. Thankfully, they didn't disappoint, as you'll see. So, Saturday morning rolls around and the gallery is officially open. I'm at home eating a bowl of oatmeal when the first text comes in. [7:22 a.m.] It's Friend "A," who shares this photo of my lot just sitting there on a table at Sotheby's SOTHEBY'S. This is absurd on many levels! I text back and forth a little with this friend, expressing sadness for not making the trip. Then I take a closer look at the photo and make an absolutely reasonable request: Needless to say, I'm not feeling too confident that Friend "A" will carry out my wishes. But that little sign had to be mine. It will make me feel better for not going, I'm sure of it. So when another person, Friend "B", sends me photos of my lot, I make the same request of them. [9:01 a.m.]: No immediate response. [9:10 a.m.] Another photo of the lot is texted to me by another friend, "C." I put out my plea to them, adding the "rolling on the floor laughing" emoji to raise the devious energy up a notch. Oh, now this sounds a little more promising. But there's no time to take chances on something so important, so I take it to Instagram. [9:something a.m.] I've heard that it's possible to manifest anything. We're going to do this. [9:32 a.m.] Friend "A" texts again, this time with some news: I GUESS SO!! My bet is on Friend "C," so I check their Facebook feed. Sure enough! At this point, I'm jubilant. Belly laughing that I've been able to pull strings from across the country for a little sign. I respond in the comments, "Fuck yeah!" and "Nice snatch job!" Friend "C" then comments on my Instagram, "If they didn't make multiples of that sign, then" Truth. [1:19 p.m.] Not knowing that I've already heard the news, Friend "B" tells me that the sign has been taken by Friend "C." We have a good laugh. At some point, Friend "A" tells me that they are sharing an IRL laugh with Friend "B." This is fun. It's been a long time since I've had this kind of fun. Friend "B" then posts this photo, writing, "Now look what you've done!! People are TOUCHING things!!!!" I might be dead now. It could have stopped there, sure. But I'm a Cacophonist, dammit, and I had an idea. An idea that would continue the fun. (For those who don't know, Black Rock City was born from a Cacophony Society event, a "zone trip" that moved Burning Man from San Francisco's Baker Beach to Nevada's Black Rock Desert. So, really, these shenanigans are in the spirit of those early days.) To continue the fun, I will first need to know who's staying past the weekend. I ping all three of my accomplices. Friend "B" says they'll be there all week. Great. I then ask if they will do a favor for me. Yes. They agree to help hatch my scheme, first by helping me locate the closest copy/print shop to the gallery. They find one two blocks away. Then I get to work. I spend the better part of my Sunday futzing around in Photoshop. I finish the project and send it off to be printed out on cardstock. I alert Friend "B" that it will be ready to be picked up on Monday morning. Then I wait. [11:26 a.m. Monday] Friend "B" sends a photo of them holding the FedEx Office envelope, "Brilliant! They should be installed shortly." It's ON! [10 minutes later]: The rest of the lot isn't missing, it's inside the box, I checked. The replacement sign I made is now in placephew! I no longer have to feel bad for pushing my friends to commit petty theft OR worry about some miscreant actually, you know, TOUCHING my unprotected work. Here's a closer look: Within the hour, Friend "C" has replaced each sign on the table with one of mine and it's just the most beautiful sight: Sotheby's estimates the value of the lot to be between $100 to $200. As of this writing, bidding is up to $300. Obviously, the addition of the "Do Not Touch" sign makes it a complete piece and more valuable. Priceless, really, haha. In fact, as the artist, I say it's not complete without the new sign. The work itself is a meme and memes, by nature, evolve. The playa's first meme has evolved awaiting the virtual hammer on October 8. Bid now, bid often. Oh, one last thing. In the spirit of untouchable art, I minted an NFT of the sign, pricing it high enough to keep it from being touched. images and screenshots via Cacophonists (all used with permission) Big thanks to Kim and Harleyso grateful to be part of this auction! When kids bring guns to school the natural first response should be to ban those awful backpacks. KSL.com: "Elementary schools will still be able to have backpacks," Pauley said. "We are doing this as a precautionary measure." This comes in response to an incident at Rigby Middle School Thursday morning, where an emotionally struggling 13-year-old girl was taken into custody after a gun was found in her backpack. Students are being asked to carry their books to the school and place them in their lockers. Teachers and administrators are planning to assist students where needed. School District Superintendent Chad Martin was unavailable for further comment but did make a plea to parents in a news release. "We ask our parents to partner with us in keeping all of our students safe. Please keep your firearms safe and inaccessible to students. If you notice changes in your student's behavior, attire, or personality notify us so we can help your student," he said. European Electric Car Market by Propulsion Type (BEV, FCEV, PHEV, HEV), Power Output (Less Than 100kW, 100 kW to 250 kW), End Use (Private, Commercial), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2028 Redding, California, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a new market research report titled European Electric Car Market by Propulsion Type (BEV, FCEV, PHEV, HEV), Power Output (Less Than 100kW, 100 kW to 250 kW), End Use (Private, Commercial), and Geography Global Forecast to 2028, published by Meticulous Research, the European electric car market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40.7% from 2021 to reach $855.17 billion by 2028. By volume, this market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 29.6 % from 2021 to 2028 to reach 11.9 million units by 2028. Download Free Sample Report Now @ https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5213 Electric cars use one or two electric traction motors for propulsion instead of a conventional transmission unit solely powered by an internal combustion engine. Traction motors are either powered by rechargeable battery packs or through an internal combustion engine that charges the battery pack of the vehicle. Such types of vehicles are known as hybrid electric vehicles. In battery electric vehicles, the battery pack is recharged by plugging into a charging station connected to the national power grid. Electric cars are increasingly used for private transportation and shared mobility services. The major factors driving the European electric cars market include supportive government policies and regulations, rising environmental concerns, and increasing adoption of electric mobility in Europe. Moreover, the growing adoption of autonomous driving vehicles and the increasing trend of shared mobility provides significant opportunities in this market. However, the range anxiety of electric vehicles obstructs the growth of this market to some extent. Also, the high cost of electric vehicles is a major challenge for the growth of the European electric cars market. Story continues The Impact of COVID-19 on the European Electric Car Market The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely hit many economies around the globe. To control the spread of this disease and avoid the related consequences, governments across the globe have announced partial or complete lockdowns, majorly impacting many manufacturing and service industries, including electric cars. In Europe, during the lockdown, manufacturing facilities, supply chains, and consumer demands were paralyzed in the first half of 2020. However, the European electric cars market is moderately affected due to the strong policy support as 2020 was an important target year for emissions standards. The government supported the automotive industry by regulating policies that benefitted both consumers and manufacturers. Incentives and subsidies were notably increased on purchasing an electric car in countries like Germany, the U.K., and Norway. Besides, the prices for batteries continued to reduce, which helped increase the adoption rate of electric cars in the region. In Europe, around 1,176,000 battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric cars were sold in 2020. The sale of electric cars doubled in 2020, as compared to the previous year. Developed countries such as Germany, France, the U.K., and Norway commanded most of the stakes in this sale. Thus, the market is anticipated to grow significantly in the forecast period. Speak to our Analysts to Understand the Impact of COVID-19 on Your Business: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/cp_id=5213 The European electric cars market is segmented based on propulsion type, power output, end use, and geography. The study also evaluates industry competitors and analyzes the market at the country level. Based on propulsion type, the hybrid vehicle segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021. The large share of this segment is mainly attributed to stringent automotive emission regulations, consumer demand for low fuel consumption vehicles, rising investments by automotive OEMs, and the low cost of hybrid vehicles. However, the fuel cell electric vehicles segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, as they offer several advantages such as fast refueling, increasing government initiatives and investments for commercially developed fuel cell technology, and zero tailpipe emissions. Based on power output, the less than 100 kW segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021. The large share of this segment is mainly attributed to the increasing demand for light electric cars in major cities across Europe, increasing implementation of electric cars for shared mobility services, decreasing battery prices, and increasing investments by electric vehicles startups. However, the 100 kW to 250 kW segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The rapid growth of this segment is mainly attributed to the increasing initiatives by leading automotive OEMs to launch more powerful electric cars and increasing regulations to reduce tailpipe emissions. Based on end use, the private use segment is estimated to account for the largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021. The large share of this segment is mainly attributed to increasing consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, various initiatives by the government to promote sales and manufacturing of electric cars, tax rebates, the decline in battery costs, and a rise in fuel prices. However, the commercial use segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Quick Buy European Electric Car Market Research Report: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/Checkout/44830492 Geographically, Germany is estimated to account for the largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021 by value as well as by volume. The large share of this country is mainly attributed to the increased government initiatives for increasing the adoption rate of electric cars, a growing number of charging stations, and increasing competition in the automobile market. Germany is one of the leading countries in Europe in terms of the manufacturing and adoption rate of automobiles. The German government has set the target to have 7 million to 10 million electric cars registrations by the end of 2030. In 2016, the government partnered with some of the top local car manufacturers and released an EV incentive scheme worth USD 1.1 billion. Under this program, consumers are offered a subsidy of USD 4,400 to purchase a fully electric car. Similarly, USD 3,300 subsidy is offered on PHEVs' purchases. France is estimated to account for the second-largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021 by value. The large share of this country is mainly attributed to the stringent government initiatives, tax exemptions for electric car manufacturers and consumers, and increasing charging infrastructure development. By Volume, the U.K. is estimated to account for the second-largest share of the European electric cars market in 2021. The large share of this country is mainly attributed to increased awareness among consumers regarding the environmental benefits of electric car adoption and growing government subsidies and incentives for consumers to purchase more electric cars than conventional cars. The key players operating in the European electric cars market are AB Volvo (Sweden), Alcraft Motor Company Ltd.,(U.K.), BMW Group (Germany), BYD Company Ltd. (China), Daimler AG (Germany), Ford Motor Company (U.S.), General Motors Company (U.S.), Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Japan), Hyundai Motor Company (South Korea), Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (Japan), Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan), Tesla, Inc. (U.S.), Volkswagen AG (Germany), Toyota Motor Company (Japan), and Groupe Renault (France) among others. To gain more insights into the market with a detailed table of content and figures, click here: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/european-electric-car-market-5213 Scope of the Report: European Electric Cars Market, by Propulsion Type Hybrid Vehicles Pure Hybrid Vehicles Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles Battery Electric Vehicles Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles European Electric Cars Market, by Power Output Less Than 100 kW 100 kW to 250 kW European Electric Cars Market, by End Use Private Use Commercial Use European Electric Cars Market, by Geography Europe Germany France U.K. Italy Spain Netherlands Sweden Switzerland Norway Denmark Austria Belgium Croatia Finland Greece Hungary Ireland Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Rest of Europe (RoE) Download Free Sample Report Now @ https://www.meticulousresearch.com/download-sample-report/cp_id=5213 Amidst this crisis, Meticulous Research is continuously assessing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on various sub-markets and enables global organizations to strategize for the post-COVID-19 world and sustain their growth. Let us know if you would like to assess the impact of COVID-19 on any industry here- https://www.meticulousresearch.com/custom-research Related Reports: Asia-Pacific Electric Car Market by Propulsion Type (BEV, FCEV, PHEV, HEV), Power Output (Less Than 100kW, 100 kW to 250 kW), End Use (Private, Commercial), and Geography - Forecast to 2028 https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/asia-pacific-electric-car-market-5215 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Market by Type (Plug-in, Wireless), Component (Hardware, Software), Bus Charging Infrastructure, Connector (CCS, CHAdeMO, GB/T, Tesla Supercharger), Installation, and End User- Global Forecast to 2027 https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/electric-vehicle-charging-stations-market-5078 Wireless Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Systems Market by Type (DWCS, SWCS), Component (Base Pads, Vehicle Pads), Technology (CWEVCS, PMWEVCS, IWEVCS, RIWEVCS), Power Supply (<11, 1150kW), Application (Commercial, Residential), Propulsion, and End UserGlobal Forecast to 2027 https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/wireless-electric-vehicle-charging-systems-market-5178 Electric Vehicle (EV) Market by Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicles, LCVs, HCVs, Two-wheelers, e-Scooters & Bikes), Propulsion Type (BEV, FCEV, PHEV, HEV), End Use (Private, Commercial, Industrial), Power Output, Charging Standard, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2027 https://www.meticulousresearch.com/product/electric-vehicles-market-5179 About Meticulous Research Meticulous Research was founded in 2010 and incorporated as Meticulous Market Research Pvt. Ltd. in 2013 as a private limited company under the Companies Act, 1956. Since its incorporation, the company has become the leading provider of premium market intelligence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The name of our company defines our services, strengths, and values. Since the inception, we have only thrived to research, analyze, and present the critical market data with great attention to details. With the meticulous primary and secondary research techniques, we have built strong capabilities in data collection, interpretation, and analysis of data including qualitative and quantitative research with the finest team of analysts. We design our meticulously analyzed intelligent and value-driven syndicate market research reports, custom studies, quick turnaround research, and consulting solutions to address business challenges of sustainable growth. Contact: Mr. Khushal Bombe Meticulous Market Research Inc. 1267 Willis St, Ste 200 Redding, California, 96001, U.S. USA: +1-646-781-8004 Europe : +44-203-868-8738 APAC: +91 744-7780008 Email- sales@meticulousresearch.com Visit Our Website: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/ Connect with us on LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/meticulous-research Content Source: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/pressrelease/433/european-electric-car-market-2028 CONTACT: Mr. Khushal Bombe Meticulous Research Direct Lines: +1-646-781-8004 (North America) +44-203-868-8738 (Europe) +91 744-7780008 (Asia-Pacific) Email- sales@meticulousresearch.com Visit Our Website: https://www.meticulousresearch.com/ Meticulous Research Blog: https://meticulousblog.org/ Connect with us on LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/meticulous-research Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, arrives to testify during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security hearing titled Children's Online Safety-Facebook Whistleblower, in Russell Building on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, arrives to testify during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security hearing titled Children's Online Safety-Facebook Whistleblower, in Russell Building on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. Credit - Tom WilliamsCQ-Roll Call/Getty Images While appearing before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook project manager who revealed her identity on 60 Minutes on Sunday, testified that the social media sites products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy, and that congressional intervention is needed. The hearing came in the wake of Haugen leaking tens of thousands of pages of company documents to senators showing that Facebook has failed to fix numerous problems that its long known about, and in some cases made them worse. The documents became the subject of a series of articles in the Wall Street Journal in September that detailed internal Facebook research and alleged that Instagram is toxic to teens, and specifically teen girls, mental health. Read More: The Facebook Whistleblower Revealed Herself on 60 Minutes. Heres What You Need to Know Heres what to know about Haugens testimony. Big Tobacco moment Following Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal opening the hearing by stating that Facebook, and Big Tech as a whole, is facing a Big Tobacco moment, Haugen repeatedly spoke to allegations that Facebook is prioritizing profit over people. Comparisons were made between the ways in which Facebook and tobacco are both addictive and profitable, but ultimately unhealthy for users. Blumenthal also referenced the tobaccos industrys history of hiding its own research on the harmful impact of its products in connection to Haugens allegations against Facebook. Eating disorder content from Instagrams algorithm Although Facebook announced on Sept. 27 that it was pausing the development of an Instagram for kids under 13 amid public backlash, Haugen testified that the company knows that Instagram causes severe harm to children and teens. Story continues Haugen said Facebook claims that it cant find underage kids on the platform because they lie about their age when they sign up, but testified to senators that is false. She stated that Facebook could employ the mechanisms it uses to analyze other types of audiences on the platform but just chooses not to do so. Read More: Heres How to Fix Facebook, According to Former Employees and Leading Critics In response to a question about how Instagrams algorithm plays a role in making body image issues worse for teens, Haugen said that Facebook has confirmed that Instagram users can be led by the algorithm to eating disorder content. Remedying the effects of negative social comparison that teens experience while using the platform will require larger measures than just removing likes, she said. Haugen also detailed how Facebooks algorithms heavy weighting of meaningful social interactions, i.e. content that generates strong reactions, has resulted in a system thats amplified divisive content on the platform, fostered hate speech and misinformation, and incited violence, including recent ethnic violence in Ethiopia. Facebook should not get a free pass Haugen spoke at length about how Facebook can change, but is clearly not going to do so on its own, imploring the legislators to act. She went on to urge senators to overhaul Section 230, which shields digital platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their users, specifically suggesting that Facebook and other tech giants be made legally liable for decisions about how to rank content in users feeds. They have a hundred percent control over their algorithms, and Facebook should not get a free pass on choices it makes to prioritize growth and virality and reactiveness over public safety, she said. Read More: Messenger Apps Signal and Telegram Benefit After Facebook Outage Haugen argued that Facebook could still be profitable if it changed its methods of amplification, such as by switching to a chronological ranking system rather than engagement-based, to eliminate the problematic aspects of its algorithm. She also proposed the development of a regulatory body that could synthesize requests for data that are privacy conscious so that Facebook can no longer stonewall its internal findings. Holding Facebook accountable Senators said they supported issuing subpoenas to get the full text of the internal Facebook research leaked by Hogan that the company previously refused to release. There was bipartisan agreement on this point, with senators from both parties speaking to the need for congress to take action to better understand whats happening at Facebook. I think were going to look back 20 years from now and all of us are going to be like, What the hell were we thinking, when we recognize the damage that [Facebook] has done to a generation, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said. Our children are the ones who are victims, Blumenthal added. Teens today looking in the mirror feel doubt and insecurity. Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror. Insiders Subscribed for 13% of the Financing THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES DENVER, October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HempFusion Wellness Inc. (TSX:CBD.U) (OTCQX:CBDHF) (FWB:8OO) ("HempFusion" or the "Company"), a leading health and wellness Company offering premium probiotic supplements and products containing CBD, is pleased to announce the closing of its previously announced private placement. The Company issued 11,770,000 units (the "Units) at the price of US$0.25 per Unit for gross proceeds of approximately US$2.94 million (the "Private Placement"). Each Unit is comprised of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant ("Warrant") with each Warrant exercisable to acquire one common share at a price of US$0.50 per common share for a period of four years from the date of issuance. Directors and officers subscribed for 1,600,000 Units at a purchase price of US$ 0.25 per Unit, including the Companys CEO, Jason Mitchell, N.D., Jon Visser, Chief Operating Officer and various members of the Board. Proceeds will be used for general working capital and marketing initiatives. The Company paid finders fee in the aggregate amount of US$30,275 to certain finders. The Company also issued an aggregate of 121,100 broker warrants in connection with the Private Placement, with each broker warrant exercisable for one Unit at the exercise price of US$0.25 per Unit for four years from the date of issuance. "Our recent acquisitions of Apothecanna and Sagely Naturals have helped to round out our CBD brand portfolio, bringing HempFusion increased access to the female and Baby Boomer demographics, a greater online presence, and outstanding leadership and product additions," said Jason Mitchell, N.D., HempFusions Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "The proceeds from this Private Placement further strengthens our balance sheet and allows us to accelerate the build-out of our online and wholesale businesses even faster. The participation of Company management in the financing should provide further confidence to investors in our ability to achieve our previously communicated revenue guidance for 2021 and 2022." Story continues "With our national retail footprint at more than 15,000 locations in the U.S. and growing, the continued build-out of our international business progressing as planned, and both our direct-to-consumer and private label businesses experiencing continued growth, I believe the proceeds from this financing round can help to extend our distribution reach even further," said Jon Visser, HempFusions Chief Operating Officer. "Our continued growth is not reliant on any major changes in the regulatory environment, however, with congress currently reviewing two hemp-related Bills, we are well positioned to experience additional growth should the situation change. In the meantime, we continue to build our product lines (including our new, popular gummy line) as well as increase our channel depth." Further, the Company announces that Nick Grafton has resigned as a director of the Company effective September 30, 2021. The board of directors of the Company expresses their appreciation to Mr. Grafton for his contribution to the Company. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described in this news release in the United States. Such securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and, accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States, or 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 promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements. ABOUT HEMPFUSION One of a select few CBD companies who are today fully prepared to meet or exceed expected FDA guidance, HempFusion Wellness Inc. is a leading health and wellness company whose family of premium consumer brands include HempFusion, Sagely Naturals, Apothecanna, and Probulin Probiotics, one of the fastest-growing probiotics companies in the United States according to SPINs reported data. Utilizing the power of whole-food hemp nutrition, the HempFusion family of brands product portfolio comprises 112 SKUs including USDA Organic Certified Tinctures, proprietary FDA Drug Listed Over-The-Counter (OTC) Topicals, probiotic supplements and skin care products, a Doctor/Practitioner line, a White Label division and more. With a strong focus on research and development, HempFusion Wellness has 43 products under development. Available from more than 15,000 US retail locations across all 50 states, HempFusion Wellness products are also available in China, Mexico, Ireland, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Canada and may be purchased online from each brands website, The Probulin Store on Amazon.com, Alibabas Tmall.com, the worlds largest cross-border online marketplace, and a multitude of additional e-commerce sites. For more information, visit www.hempfusion.com and follow HempFusion on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that relate to HempFusions current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook") are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the closing of the Private Placement, the use of proceeds from the Private Placement and the Companys other plans, focus and objectives. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond HempFusions control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the impact and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors set forth under "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the annual information form of the Company dated March 31, 2021, and available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. HempFusion undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for HempFusion to predict all of them or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005468/en/ Contacts Investor Relations Eric Balshin +1 437-826-9911 eric@sophiccapital.com Company Contact: Jason Mitchell, N.D. Chief Executive Officer and Director ir@hempfusion.com SYDNEY & LONDON, October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading Digital Marketing Group, Incubeta today announced their recent acquisition of analytic experts, Panalysis. The acquisition of the Sydney-based company will expand Incubetas global expertise, allowing them to continue driving growth for businesses across the world, while building upon the existing partnership Incubeta currently has with Google. Present in over 18 countries globally, Incubeta is a market leading specialist that uses the power of digital to unlock and amplify business growth potential through bespoke, localised digital solutions with global expertise. Founded in 2001, Panalysis specialises in Strategy & Design, Implementation, Data Quality & Support, Operational Support, Google Marketing Platform and Consulting services, gaining notoriety in 2006 as Googles first premium partner in Australia, and one of the first 15 globally. Panalysiss capabilities and business mantra complement that of Incubetas and with this acquisition Incubeta boosts its local expertise , and expands its capabilities to drive true business growth for its customers. Lars Lehne, Group CEO of Incubeta comments: "Expansions such as these are a key part of our global growth strategy, and having Panalysis join the Incubeta family fits squarely with our ongoing strategy of acquiring companies that complement our core business in digital marketing. Im excited for Incubeta to expand its existing business in Australia, and the acquisition of Panalysis will only bring us closer to our customers and contribute to our recognition as digital marketing experts". Rod Jacka, Managing Director of Panalysis, Australia comments: "Were proud to be joining the Incubeta team. After a comprehensive planning process to best position Panalysis for future growth and expansion, we are confident that the strength of Incubetas leadership, the alignment of our respective values and our combined passion for and experience in digital and analytics is a natural fit that will prove to be a long and successful relationship. Key to our decision was our focus on clients and the ability to serve them better. Through access to greater resources and an increased ability to attract world-class talent, Panalysis will extend the depth of our services to further support our clients goals and outcomes, all whilst maintaining our small by design, boutique, high touch approach to client service". Story continues Sam Shennan, Managing Director, Incubeta Australia comments: "Were thrilled to have Panalysis join the Incubeta family in Australia, and this acquisition is a fantastic opportunity for us to expand our existing best practices, using their analytical expertise and disciplines to champion growth for our clients and ultimately drive improved performance" ### About Incubeta Incubeta is a marketing partner built specifically to help businesses upgrade their growth. An international team of experts in marketing, technology, data and creative, Incubeta are a team of over 440 creators, thinkers, makers and doers. Present in 18 offices worldwide, Incubeta is a market leading specialist that uses the power of digital to unlock and amplify business growth potential through bespoke, localised digital solutions with global expertise. With 20+ years of experience in the digital space, Incubeta puts the ownership and control of the customer experience back in the hands of the advertiser. As the largest and longest established GMP sales partner in EMEA and APAC, Incubeta has proven through working with top-tier brands that they are leading specialists in helping advertisers tackle complex projects such as in-housing, dynamic creative, data activation, real 1:1 marketing, and industry-specific segmentation modelling. Incubeta is primed to help advertisers deliver complex use cases across Google's Maturity Framework and Menu of Services. About Panalysis The brainchild of Rod Jacka, Panalysis was born out of a deep desire to provide truly credible, accurate, and independent analytics to help drive better business and marketing decisions. First launched in Sydney, 2001, Panalysis quickly gained notoriety as Googles first analytics partner in Australia, giving them the clout (and credibility) to deliver best practice solutions. For over 20 years theyve built a solid foundation as expert advisors, facilitators and collaborators. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005072/en/ Contacts For more information please contact Matilda Moir matilda@incubeta.com In Iraq Kurdish town, many undertake smuggling route to Europe via Belarus Square decorated with flags of the Kurdistan Democratic Party ahead of election, in the town of Shiladze By Charlotte Bruneau and Kawa Omar SHILADZE, Iraq (Reuters) - Despite the risk of getting stranded in Europe or perishing on the way there, scores of people from a single town in Iraq's Kurdish region have opted to be smuggled into European Union countries via Belarus, local smugglers and officials say. One local Iraqi Kurdish smuggler said he had arranged the trip for about 200 people wishing to leave the town of Shiladze and the surrounding area - first legally by plane to the Belarusian capital Minsk, then illegally overland. He said his business took off in the late spring of this year when the number of migrants trying to enter the EU from Belarus surged, though admitted it was upsetting that people had died trying to cross into EU countries. "But they want to leave. What else can they do?" he said, asking not to be named. An Iraqi migrant died last month after crossing into Poland from Belarus, one of a number of recent deaths in the border area coinciding with a surge in illegal migration across the EU's eastern frontier. Poland, Lithuania and the EU have accused Belarus of encouraging migrants, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan, to cross their borders as a form of pressure on the bloc over sanctions Brussels has imposed on Minsk over human rights abuses. Shiladze, a town of some 40,000 people, is one of the major points of departure, according to local smugglers and residents. The town lies in the relatively stable autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. But problems such as low employment and pay, as well as geopolitical tension over Turkey's military sorties inside Iraq against Iraq-based Kurdish militants, have long been pushing people to seek refuge - and a better life - in the West. But the outflow has spiked since the Belarus route opened up, with migrants believing it offers a safer, faster way out. The former Soviet republic is one of the rare destinations for which Iraqis easily get tourist visas. Once migrants reach Minsk by plane, their ongoing journey is handled usually by smugglers on the ground. Story continues The Kurdistan regional government based in Erbil did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In Baghdad, Iraq's interior ministry said human trafficking was a crime and that steps were taken when this occurred, but did not elaborate in a response to a request for comment. $12,000 TO BE SMUGGLED TO EU The Shiladze smuggler said his partner in Europe is a man he met in neighbouring Turkey. "I've helped about 200 people leave for Europe in the last five months," he said, though it was not known whether all had made it to EU territory. He said he knew at least three other smugglers working in his area. Local officials could not give specific figures on the number of migrants. A local journalist said it could be up to 400 from Shiladze and other towns in the region since the spring of this year, and numbers were increasing. "Many of my relatives and friends have left that way. Many others want to do the same," said Abdullah Omar, a 38-year-old barber. "People have sold their homes or cars to afford it." The trips can cost up to $12,000 including flights and being smuggled overland once in Europe, according to the smuggler and local travel agencies involved in booking the air travel. Iraq suspended direct flights from Baghdad to Minsk in August under EU pressure. Migrants are now flying via Dubai or Turkey, according to smugglers, residents, travel agencies and the honorary Belarusian consul in Erbil. Iraqi analyst Amin Faraj said that while Kurdistan is more stable and viewed as more prosperous than the rest of Iraq, an ongoing economic crisis which has seen authorities unable to pay public sector wages has put a strain on many ordinary Kurds. Moreover, Shiladze residents live in a mountainous region near the Turkish border where security can be fragile. Turkey has carried out air strikes in northern Iraq against the Kurdish PKK militant group which uses the north as a base. The Kurdish government said this year that the chronic conflict had "resulted in a rise in insecurity and forced thousands of residents from hundreds of villages to flee their homes and lose their livelihoods". "Our area is besieged, it's in the hands of the PKK and the Turks. Our region is nice, but we are afraid and we don't trust in staying here," said Halkaft Mohammed, a Shiladze resident who added that his 19-year-old son reached Germany last month. "Our villages are deserted, we can no longer go to the orchards," said Ibrahim Mahmoud Ibrahim, a 27-year-old local security officer. He gets paid $400 per month - a fairly standard Iraqi salary for his grade and said he is also considering migrating. Aziz Abdullah, a shop owner and father of two, said he would migrate even if it meant ending up in a camp in Europe waiting for asylum status. Abdullah sells wedding dresses in the town market but said he gets virtually no customers. "Why spend $10,000 USD on getting married, when you can spend it on getting out?" (Editing by John Davison and Mark Heinrich) A UN report by human rights investigators in Libya details a number of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity against detainees and migrants in Libyan prisons. The investigators said that they now have a confidential list of suspects. "The investigations indicated that several parties to the conflicts violated [international humanitarian law] and potentially committed war crimes," according to the fact-finding mission, led by Mohamed Auajjar. From Russia with murder The report pointedly accused mercenaries employed by Wagner, a Russian security company, of shooting prisoners in September 2019. "There are thus reasonable grounds to believe that Wagner personnel may have committed the war crime of murder," it said. The investigators also found a computer tablet used by Wagner that was left behind, detailing where land mines were planted in 35 different places near civilian buildings. These mainly Russian-made mines had been maiming civilians since June 2020, when a number of people returned to their homes, according to the report. European Union accusations The European Union has been accused of complicity in crimes carried out by militias and others after it signed a migrant deal with Libya in February 2017. This deal outlines assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people in international waters and return them to Libya and detention centers. "It is quite clear that the [European Union] pushback policies at sea have led to huge violations of human rights...of migrants, leading to detention in Libya upon return," said panel member Chaloka Beyani. Worst perpetrator Some of the worst abuses, according to the UN investigators, were allegedly carried out by Mohammed al-Kani, a commander who the report said was killed in July during a raid by the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA). He reportedly orchestrated killings carried out by an armed group in the town of Tarhouna with victims buried in mass graves. Story continues "The scale of the atrocities in Tarhouna demand far more focused attention including forensic investigations," said panel expert Tracy Robinson. There has been no confirmation regarding his killing from Libyan authorities. Libya has been in a state of unrest since 2011, when a number of armed groups who rose up against Libyan strongman Moamer Khadafi have been fighting it out for power, weapons, and control and traffic of migrants there. The various factions have been supported by a number of countries, with Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates backing eastern forces, while Turkey supporting the government in the west. Combat has ceased since 2020 when a ceasefire was declared with elections slated for December. On Sunday, the Libyan foreign ministry said that some foreign fighters had left the country, adding that the unity government is asking for international help to push for the rest to withdraw. The Singapore Zoo is now on target to save 10% on total energy consumption through deploying smart water and energy meters using LoRaWAN CAMARILLO, Calif., October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC), a leading global supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, announced its collaboration with Sindcon (Singapore) IoT Technology Pte Ltd, one of the pioneering companies based in Singapore providing low power wide area network (LPWAN) Internet of Things (IoT) metering solutions. The collaboration brings smart consumption monitoring of energy and water at the Singapore Zoo alongside Electrique Energie & Metering Pte. Ltd. A challenge for the project was overcoming the forested terrain of the Singapore Zoo. Through integrating Semtechs LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard into the Sindcon water and energy meters, Sindcon was able to deploy 1,000+ devices in strategic locations throughout the three parks within the Singapore Zoo using the robust and reliable connectivity of LoRaWAN to transmit real-time metering data every 15 minutes. Additionally, by leveraging the power efficiency of LoRa devices, Sindcon was able to reduce the cost of power cabling, further reducing the cost and complexity of deployment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005374/en/ The Singapore Zoo is now on target to save 10% on total energy consumption through deploying smart water and energy meters using LoRaWAN (Photo: Business Wire) "The immense scale of this project was a challenge for radio signal transmission due to the Singapore Zoos expansive area and heavily forested terrain. LoRaWAN and Semtechs LoRa devices were the ideal solution to this problem, supporting the need of the project for low power data communication that allows smart meters to function for up to three years on a single battery while sending data uplinks every 15 minutes, relaying critical water and energy usage data in real time for the Singapore Zoo to monitor and lower its overall usage," said Deyu Chen, CEO and founder of Sindcon. "Sindcon and Semtechs collaboration highlights how LPWAN technologies are moving toward the future of a more energy-efficient and smarter world." Story continues Over the past three years, the 1000+ Sindcon water and energy meters with LoRaWAN connectivity have been successfully deployed throughout the Singapore Zoo with a data success rate of 97% according to Sindcon. The smart meters are located inside the switch rooms and are housed within electrical panels across the three parks within the Singapore Zoo. Each device monitors key consumption metrics like cubic meter (m3) throughput for water meters and kilowatt-hour (kWh), voltage, current and power consumption for electricity meters. "LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard deliver a cost effective and flexible networking solution for Sindcon, driving bottom line business benefits," said Marc Pegulu, vice president of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtechs Wireless and Sensing Products Group. "Enhancing the Singapore Zoo with Sindcon through the deployment of smart water and energy meters with LoRaWAN showcases how the Internet of Things is shaping the future of smart utilities." For more information on Sindcons smart metering solutions with LoRaWAN, please visit here. About Semtechs LoRa Platform Semtechs LoRa device-to-Cloud platform is a globally adopted long range, low power solution for IoT applications, enabling the rapid development and deployment of ultra-low power, cost efficient and long range IoT networks, gateways, sensors, module products, and IoT services worldwide. Semtechs LoRa devices provide the communication layer for the LoRaWAN standard, which is maintained by the LoRa Alliance, an open IoT alliance for Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) applications that has been used to deploy IoT networks in over 100 countries. Semtech is a founding member of the LoRa Alliance. To learn more about how LoRa enables IoT, visit Semtechs LoRa site. About Sindcon Sindcon is one of the pioneer companies based in Singapore focusing on One-Stop IoT Metering Solution from device to IoT platform based on Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology. The founder of Sindcon graduated from Nanyang Technology University of Singapore (NTU) with Ph.D degree and had more than 10 years semiconductor design experience in Broadcom before setting up Sindcon. Since Sindcon was established in 2015, Sindcon started implementing smart LoRaWAN meters (gas, water & electricity) as well as various IoT sensors commercially and providing IoT Platform service in various projects across Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Please visit the Sindcon website to learn more, www.sindcon.com.sg. About Semtech Semtech Corporation is a leading global supplier of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms for infrastructure, high-end consumer and industrial equipment. Products are designed to benefit the engineering community as well as the global community. The Company is dedicated to reducing the impact it, and its products, have on the environment. Internal green programs seek to reduce waste through material and manufacturing control, use of green technology and designing for resource reduction. Publicly traded since 1967, Semtech is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol SMTC. For more information, visit www.semtech.com. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements All statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements that use the words "designed to" or other similar words or expressions, that describe Semtech Corporations or its managements future plans, objectives or goals are "forward-looking statements" and are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results of Semtech Corporation to be materially different from the historical results and/or from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors are further addressed in Semtech Corporations annual and quarterly reports, and in other documents or reports, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov) including, without limitation, information under the captions "Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors." Semtech Corporation assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release, except as required by law. Semtech, the Semtech logo and LoRa are registered trademarks or service marks of Semtech Corporation or its affiliates. SMTC-P View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005374/en/ Contacts Linh Dinh Semtech Corporation (805) 250-1263 ldinh@semtech.com MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 4, 2021 /CNW/ - GSK today announced it has signed an agreement with the Government of Canada to supply 10,000 doses of Sotrovimab for injection, a COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy developed by GSK and Vir Biotechnology. GlaxoSmithKline Inc. Logo (CNW Group/GlaxoSmithKline Inc.) The agreement, negotiated with Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, will enable provincial and territorial healthcare systems to access sotrovimab starting in October 2021 to treat patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms who are at high risk for progressing to hospitalization or death. The agreement includes the option for the Government of Canada to purchase additional doses in 2022 based on emerging needs. Health Canada granted authorization for Sotrovimab for injection on July 30, 2021, under its Interim Order Respecting the Importation, Sale and Advertising of Drugs for Use in Relation to COVID-19 for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19, confirmed by direct SARS-COV-2 viral testing, in adults and adolescents (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg) who are at high risk for progressing to hospitalization and/or deathi. "With the emergence of variants of concern across the country, in particular the Delta variant, new therapies like sotrovimab are important to treating the disease in its early stages," said Ranya El Masri, Head of Government Affairs and Market Access for GSK Canada. "GSK is proud to partner with the Government of Canada to help ensure Canadians can access sotrovimab, particularly those who will benefit from this treatment the most such as older adults and individuals with certain chronic medical conditions that could put them at higher risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19." Please consult the Product Monograph at www.gsk.ca for complete safety information. The Product Monograph is also available by calling 1-800-387-7374. About GSK GSK is a science-led global healthcare company. For further information please visit www.ca.gsk.com. Story continues _____________ i Sotrovimab for Injection Canadian Product Monograph, July 2021 SOURCE GlaxoSmithKline Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/04/c2354.html Five years ago, in her home country of Belarus, Alena Golden had the idea of creating an app based on hip-hop - her favourite type of music. The first version of the app the co-founder and CEO of Rap Tech Studios came up with allowed people to record the lyrics they had written and hold "rap battles"', with other users voting to decide the winners. "I have always loved rap music," says Ms Golden, "and my co-founders and I were inspired by the 8 Mile movie, where Eminem tells the story of his life and how he became rap star. "We created 'Rap Battle Arena' for people who dream of becoming the next Eminem." The first round of fundraising proved to be a lot easier than the second tranche Relocating to London, she managed to raise 255,000 to develop her app further. However, she swiftly met with scepticism from prospective investors when she tried to raise another tranche of money. They doubted whether her app could ever attract a significant number of users. "We spoke with many different investors," she says, "both angels and institutional investors. From all of them, we kept receiving pretty similar feedback. They were all questioning how big it can get. How big is the market? "They pointed out that we were only targeting a sub-category of hip-hop enthusiasts - people who want to compete with each other." After two years of trying, unsuccessfully, to raise more money for the app's development and marketing, Ms Golden decided to rethink her business model based on the feedback she had already received from prospective investors. The app allows users to record their lyrics and get feedback from the community "At first, of course, we were a bit annoyed," she says. "We thought that investors just don't get it. They don't understand it. "But I think it's important to stay humble, and to look at your business not only as founders but also from the commercial perspective. Obviously, investors have a lot of commercial expertise in that!" She re-launched the app as "Rap Fame". It now caters not only to competitive rappers but also provides a platform for newcomers. They can record their lyrics onto backing beats, which the app provide,s and then post them for feedback from other users. Story continues "People can not only battle on this site," she says, "but they can collaborate, and find new friends on the platform. That's why the most important thing about the app is the community element." Rap Fame has now gained a large following: 800,000 people worldwide use it every month. It employs 20 people at its headquarters in central London. Recently, the site celebrated its first "Rap Fame baby". Two users who collaborating on a rap project struck up a relationship and now have a child. Rap Fame has 800,000 users every month Ms Golden says the main lesson she has learnt from her time starting up Rap Fame was to listen carefully to the feedback of investors to whom she was pitching and act on their advice. "I'm so thankful to our investors," she says. "Both to those who invested in us, of course, as well as to those who didn't invest in us. "The feedback we were receiving helped us be more critical about our business idea and as a result, we see now amazing growth." And her advice to young entrepreneurs is to regard the investors to whom they are pitching as allies - as opposed to adversaries. "My attitude to investors changed over time," she says. "Stage One: I was a bit afraid of them. I was trying to tell them things that they might want to hear. Stage Two: we became confident in our product, and we probably became a little bit overconfident. We didn't really take on board the advice from the investors. "But Stage Three, where I'm currently at," she adds, "is where I consider investors as really interesting people who've seen lots of businesses in their lives, and who look at the products from a commercial perspective. I consider them as advisers." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach will be one of the selection panel members for the upcoming Miss South Africa pageant, the beauty queen confirmed on Instagram. Some of the judges who will join her during the coronation night on Oct. 16 are reigning Miss Universe 2020 Andrea Meza of Mexico and Miss Universe 2018 1st runner-up Tamaryn Green of South Africa. Earlier, Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray also announced that she will be one of the backstage hosts and pre-show host for the said pageant. Wurztbach also sat as one of the judges in Miss Universe 2017. The Miss South Africa pageant selects the African nations representatives to the Miss Universe, Miss World, and Miss Supranational pageants. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) Filipina composer Denise Santos recently won the "Outstanding Music Composition" in this year's 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Santos shares her Emmy victory with writing partner Adam Lukas of Bleeding Fingers Music for their work on the BBC documentary series 'Primates.' "I am still processing all of this. I am still not over being nominated and having won it. It's a great feeling," Santos told CNN Philippines' New Day on Tuesday. "I can definitely feel the support from everyone back home that I've worked with in the past. It's validating. It's overwhelmingly comforting," she added. Santos, who is currently based in Los Angeles, shared that it took her three months to finish scoring for the nature series. "It was right around my wedding day so it was the most stressful three months of my life," she added. "With nature documentaries versus fictional shows, the main difference is these animals, these landscapes, there is no talking," Santos shared. "You really have to hone in on what the narration is saying depending on the research that they have done. That's what the big difference is." Santos graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a bachelor's degree in management. Two years after, she gained a professional certificate on music production at Berklee College of Music then studied film scoring at the University of California in Los Angeles Extension. Santos said working for Bleeding Fingers Music, a collective of young composers for film television and scores, has catapulted her into becoming a better musician, after working on her own for two to three years. "Once I found my people, I was able to truly become myself. As a composer, I think it is very important that you are comfortable with who you are, and you can make risks knowing that you are supported by a group of people," she said. Some of Santos' recent projects abroad include Discovery Channel's reality series 'Alaskan Bush People,' Amazon Prime's 'Making the Cut,' and Lifetime's documentary series 'Surviving Jeffrey Epstein.' She also scored Samantha Lee's Filipino independent films 'Baka Bukas' (2016) and 'Billie and Emma' (2018). Santos did not hesitate when asked whether she is willing to contribute to more Filipino projects in the future. "Things have slowed down because of the pandemic but I would never say no to a Filipino-born project," she said. "I think that's how I started and it has a very special part in my heart." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) The country will be focusing on future trials involving either a new platform or a new way of delivering the COVID-19 vaccine, or a different study population, the Department of Science and Technology said on Tuesday. DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development director Jaime Montoya said the Philippines will no longer accept new vaccine trial applications of existing platforms for the general population. The IATF also approved the proposal...to actually limit clinical trials to be done in the country to those vaccines that would be for new indications, said Montoya in a forum. For example, hindi na natin masyado tatanggap ng mga trials that will look at the usual age populations no, kasi marami na tayo noon [For example, we will not accept trials that will look at the usual age populations anymore, because we have so much of those already]. We are going to prioritize (studies) that will look at special groups, he added. For classic platforms such as the use of inactivated virus or MRNA, the focus of the study should be on special groups such as children, health workers and high-risk groups. A study on a new vaccine platform or way of delivering vaccines, meanwhile, may be conducted among the general population aged 18 years and older, said Montoya. Kapag sinabi ko na new platform, hindi na ito mga MRNAFor example, DNA vaccines is one, isa yan sa titingnan. Number two is route of administration. May bakuna na titingnan, hindi na by injection kundi by inhalation, through the nose. So medyo kakaiba, ito ang new ways na titingnan at new population na titingnan, Montoya said. [Translation: When I say new platform, these are not MRNAs anymore...For example, we are looking at DNA vaccines. Number two is route of administration. Theres a vaccine that could be delivered not by injection but through inhalation, through the nose. So these are the new ways and new population that we are looking at.] One of the new vaccine platforms recently developed is Zycov-D. Its the first human DNA vaccine against COVID-19 developed by Cadilla Healthcare based in India. The vaccine will be delivered through the skin, without the use of needles. It is already in phase 2 trials in India. READ: Sinovac vaccine's efficacy vs Delta 'wanes' after 6 months expert In the country, eight vaccine manufacturers have been approved to conduct local trials, all among the general population age 18 years and older: -IP Biotech -Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V. -Clover Biopharmaceuticals AUS Pty. Ltd. -WestVac Biopharma Co. Ltd. and West China Hospital of Sichuan University -Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co., Ltd. and Beijing Minhai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. -Livzon Mabpharm, Inc. -Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. -Department of Health/WHO (Solidarity Trial) Meanwhile, the following developers have pending clinical trial applications, still under the Food and Drugs Administrations review: -Sinovac Life Sciences Co. Ltd. -Clover Biopharmaceuticals AUS Pty. Ltd. -Yuxi Walvax Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co. Ltd. -Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co. Ltd. -SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. and International Vaccine Institute Among these, only Sinovac and Clover have proposed trials for special groups. Sinovac will test its vaccine among persons 6 months to 17 years of age. Clover will hold separate trials involving groups of 12 to 17 years old, and individuals with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Montoya also emphasized the importance of studying new generation vaccines. These have been developed to address the new variants, especially Delta. Recent studies show the waning efficacy of other vaccines against Delta, including Sinovac, six months after receiving the second dose. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) - The country logged 9,055 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the nationwide tally to 2,613,070. This is the first time since August 10 that the daily case tally was below 10,000. But the Department of Health (DOH) said the relatively lower count is due to lower laboratory output last Sunday. The latest DOH bulletin also showed active cases or people currently sick dropped to 103,077 - with 78.8% experiencing mild symptoms, 11.4% asymptomatic, 5.65% having moderate symptoms, 2.9% severe, and 1.2% in critical condition. Meanwhile, 12,134 more patients recovered, raising the survivor count to 2,613,070. The death toll stayed at 38,828 as no new fatalities were reported due to technical issues with the data repository system COVIDKaya. The DOH also said 25 duplicates were removed from the total case count, including 21 are recoveries. All laboratories were operational last Oct. 3, but seven laboratories failed to submit their reports on time. These laboratories contribute, on average, 1.9% of samples tested and 0.9% of positive cases. The daily positivity rate - or percentage of people who tested positive - stood at 19.3% based on 41,673 tests done on Oct. 3. The World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of below 5%, as bigger numbers may indicate high transmission. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) -- Senators on Tuesday criticized President Rodrigo Dutertes recent memorandum forbidding Cabinet officials from attending the Senate Blue Ribbon Committees hearing into the governments handling of COVID-19 response funds. Committee chairman Sen. Richard Gordon, who has been at the receiving end of Dutertes insults, said the chief executive is violating the Constitution with the issuance. Walang issue ng national security dito, walang executive privilege dito, walang diplomatic discussions, argued the lawmaker. [Translation: Theres no issue of national security here, no executive privilege, no diplomatic discussions.] Agreeing with Gordons remarks, Sen. Franklin Drilon questioned the nature of the Presidents order and noted it has all the red flags of constitutionality. It only covers the Senate. It only covers the Blue Ribbon, only this particular Blue Ribbon hearing. I cannot see any other memorandum as blatantly unconstitutional as what we have before us, said Drilon. Sen. Panfilo Lacson even quipped about what would happen to Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay, who testified during the hearing despite Dutertes order. Gordon, however, reminded his colleagues that this is no laughing matter and expressed disappointment over the issue. Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Pangilinan issued a warning to government officials intending to heed the memorandum. To those who are not present in todays hearing, we will see you in the budget hearings. We will raise these questions in the budget hearings, said the senator. In a statement, Dutertes spokesman Harry Roque confirmed the directive. The Philippines is currently in a state of calamity on account of COVID-19. Having said this, officials and employees should focus all their time and effort in addressing the challenges of the pandemic by performing their functions with utmost responsibility, integrity and efficiency, he said. Duterte has lambasted the Senate for probing the management of pandemic response funds, which included the awarding of billions of pesos in allegedly dubious contracts to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation. Kung galit ka sa isang tao, huwag mo gamitin ang pera ng gobyerno para bumanat ka nang bumanat at siraan natin ang Commission on Audit, siraan natin ang Senado, said Gordon, referring to Duterte. [Translation: If you are mad at one person, do not use government funds to relentlessly attack and badmouth the Commission on Audit and the Senate.] (CNN) Taiwan's Defense Ministry said 52 Chinese warplanes made incursions into its air defense identification zone on Monday, the highest number since the island began publicly reporting such activities last year. The previous record was posted on Saturday, when 39 Chinese military planes flew into the zone. In a statement, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry said the 52 Chinese aircraft included 34 J-16 fighter jets, 12 H-6 bombers, two SU-30 fighters, two Y-8 anti/submarine warfare planes and two KJ-500 airborne early warning and control planes. A map released by the ministry showed all the 52 incursions staying at the extreme southwestern part of Taiwan's ADIZ. In response, the ministry said radio warnings were issued and air defense missile systems were deployed to monitor the activity. In the radio warnings, the Taiwanese air force could be heard ordering the aircraft to "turn around and leave immediately" upon their entry into its ADIZ. All 52 incursions were made during daytime hours on Monday. The incursions did not violate Taiwan's sovereign airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from its coast. The US Federal Aviation Administration defines an ADIZ as "a designated area of airspace over land or water within which a country requires the immediate and positive identification, location and air traffic control of aircraft in the interest of the country's national security." Since the beginning of October, Taiwan has reported 145 incursions by Chinese warplanes into the ADIZ, statistics from the Defense Ministry showed. After Taiwan reported record-breaking incursions over the weekend, its air force released a promotional video on Facebook which said it is determined to defend its airspace. "When faced with our enemy's aggression and provocation, we will never compromise," the video said. "The determination to defend our sovereignty is unwavering." An article in China's state-run Global Times on Sunday said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was conducting "expanded drills" near Taiwan. The US State Department voiced concern over China's military activities near Taiwan on Monday. "The United States is very concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan," State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the US statement by criticizing what it described as "irresponsible remarks." "The relevant remarks from the United States have seriously undermined the One-China Principle," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was quoted as saying in a press release on Monday night. "In recent times, the United States has continued its negative actions in selling weapons to Taiwan and boosting its official military ties between the United States and Taiwan," she said. "These provocative actions have damaged Sino-US relations and damaged regional peace and stability. China firmly opposes this and takes necessary countermeasures." Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which the defeated Nationalists fled to Taipei. However, Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory -- even though the Chinese Communist Party has never governed the democratic island of about 24 million people. Chinese President Xi Jinping has refused to rule out military force to capture Taiwan if necessary. In the past, analysts have said the flights likely serve several purposes for China, both demonstrating the strength of the PLA to a domestic audience and giving the Chinese military intelligence and skills it would need in any potential conflict involving Taiwan. But even with the latest surge in Chinese flights near Taiwan, analysts say actual combat is unlikely. "China needs levers to deter Taiwan from taking undesirable courses of action, especially independence-leaning initiatives," said Lionel Fatton, a professor at Webster University in Switzerland. "For these levers to be potent, China must (1) have the (military) capabilities to activate them if needed, and (2) the threat to do so must be credible in the eyes of Taipei." "The recurrent air exercises are dedicated to send a clear message in this regard," Fatton told CNN on Sunday. "As long as Taiwan doesn't take irreversible steps toward independence/greater autonomous presence on the international scene," combat is unlikely, he added. This story was first published on CNN.com China sent 52 warplanes into Taiwan defense zone on Monday, Taipei says Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) The Commission on Audit (COA) has signed a memorandum to start looking into the transactions the government made with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC). I am pleased to learn about the prompt response of COA chairman Michael Aguinaldo to our call to audit the Philippine Red Cross, President Rodrigo Duterte said in his taped weekly address that aired late Monday night. He said the signed memorandum was dated Sept. 23, 2021. Under this, all concerned COA officials and offices are directed to submit to the agencys Fraud Audit office a compilation of their findings per sector on the subsidies and/or fund transfers received and utilized by the PRC from January 2016 to September 2021. They shall also submit a duly signed summary schedule of subsidies and/or funds received by PRC on the same period. Duterte has been criticizing senators, especially Sen. Richard Gordon, as they continue investigating the governments purchases of COVID-10 supplies. Gordon is the chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee conducting the probe, and the PRC. Earlier, Aguinaldo said COA has no power to audit the humanitarian agency despite the chief executives demand. He noted, however, that it can only scrutinize the payments delivered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) to the PRC. Meanwhile, Duterte also reminded COA of its constitutional duty to collect the 140 million worth of notice of disallowance issued against Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority during Gordons time as its chairperson in the 90s. Such amount of money can still be used to inject more funds to purchase more COVID-19 vaccines, he noted. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) A report on a global investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) alleged that Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade kept details of his investment in an offshore company out of his annual wealth declaration for several years while in public office. Tugade on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing. The "Pandora Papers" exposed the financial secrets of politicians and public officials all over the world. More than 600 journalists from 150 prestigious outlets spent two years investigating nearly 12 million confidential files a bigger cache of documents compared to 2016's Panama Papers. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and Rappler culled and verified the data that pertained to the Philippines. PCIJ reported Tugade has been keeping an offshore company while he served in the government during the Aquino and Duterte administrations, but he did not declare details of it in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN). Based on the Pandora Papers, it said Tugade has been listed as a director of British Virgin Islands-based firm Solart Holdings Limited since 2007. Tugade was named president of Clark Development Corp. in 2012. He was one of President Rodrigo Duterte's first appointees when he took office in May 2016. But he has not declared Solart Holdings Limited as a business interest in any of his SALNs during these periods, the report said. "He has disclosed 'offshore investments' worth P57 million as assets every year since 2012, but no details about these investments have been declared, except these were acquired in 2003," PCIJ said on Monday. All government workers are required annually to submit their statement of assets and liabilities, including businesses and financial interests, that comprise their net worth. "There are legitimate uses of offshore companies, and we do not intend to imply that all of the individuals or companies included in this page were in violation of the law," the report added. Tugade, DOTr respond Tugade said he has been transparent on his financial standing, saying the offshore investment organized by his family in 2003 has been disclosed in his 2012 to 2020 SALNs under "Personal Properties - Intangible", particularly, as "Offshore Investments." "In the said period, the account barely moved," he said in a statement on Tuesday. "Wala po akong tinatago, at sasagutin ko ang anumang paratang at katanungan [I am not hiding anything and I'm ready to answer allegations] in appropriate forums and manner." The Department of Transportation, meanwhile, issued a warning that a legal team will track down the source of what they referred to as a "malicious" and "well-oiled" report. It said the allegations against the secretary reek of black propaganda for the upcoming elections, where Tugade is seen to run for senator. "The imputation are clearly intended to besmirch the character of Secretary Tugade, and by extension, the Duterte administration. Consider this as a stern warning and an assertion that our lawyers will exert all necessary effort, to the fullest extent of the law, to find those behind the malicious and irresponsible publication of this report," it said. Tugade is one of the more than 900 Philippine-based individuals in the Pandora Papers, a collection of more than 11.9 million files leaked from 14 offshore finance providers. " " Edward Snowden speaks via video link to attendees of the MCI alumni and friends conference at the Congress Innsbruck on Oct. 18, 2018, in Innsbruck, Austria. Jan Hetfleisch/Getty Images There was a time when the idea that the U.S. government might spy on your web activity might have seemed like a far-fetched conspiracy theory. But that was before Edward Snowden. Back in 2013, Snowden, a former employee of a defense contractor for the National Security Agency, shocked the world by revealing the extent to which U.S. intelligence was able to conduct surveillance on the internet and electronic communications. Snowden's revelations, published in the U.K. newspaper the Guardian and other outlets, included the existence of a previously undisclosed NSA program called PRISM. The latter gave NSA direct access to the servers of various big U.S. internet companies, and enabled officials to collect information that included users' search histories, the content of their emails, file transfers and even live chats [sources: Greenwald and MacAskill,Gellman and Poitras]. Advertisement Snowden's documents and information also revealed that the NSA had secretly broken into the communications links between data centers across the world, allowing it to download data on internet communication more than 180 million records in one month alone and store it at the agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland [source: Gelman and Soltani]. The "upstream" surveillance program, as it was called, enables NSA to search the international online activity of Americans. The program gave NSA the ability to scrutinize anyone who sends emails abroad or browses a website hosted outside the U.S. [source: Gorski and Toomey]. Though the two online surveillance programs are authorized through a federal law that is designed to allow U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct surveillance upon foreigners, information about the activities of Americans are gathered up in the process as well. The revelations raised an outcry, but nevertheless, both programs were reauthorized by Congress in January 2018 [source: Hautala]. But though the NSA gathers vast amounts of data about online activity, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's spying upon vast numbers of ordinary Americans, which would be illegal. As this Q&A from the Director of National Intelligence explains, before the trove of data can be searched for a foreign intelligence target's online activity it requires an order from a special secret court that hears such requests. There also are procedures in place that require intelligence agencies to redact any communications from Americans that were captured accidentally in the surveillance. But having your search history scooped up by NSA's surveillance programs isn't the only way that the U.S. government might gain access to what you do on the web. We'll get into that in the next two sections. 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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 Airtel Africa plc, the provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, announced the appointment of Olusegun "Segun" Ogunsanya, as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from October 01, 2021. According to a press release from the Bharti Airtel-owned company, Segun was previously Managing Director and CEO of Airtel Nigeria and was responsible for the overall management of the operations in the Company's largest market. He has more than 25 years of business management experience in banking, consumer goods, and telecoms. Before joining Airtel in 2012, Segun held leadership roles at Coca-Cola in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (as MD and CEO). He has also been the Managing Director of Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (Coca-Cola Hellenic owned) and Group head of retail banking operations at Ecobank Transnational Inc, covering 28 countries in Africa. He is an electronics engineer and also a chartered accountant. Segun Ogunsanya, CEO, Airtel Africa, said: "I am looking forward to building on the solid foundations the Group has established for future sustainable growth across Africa. Moving forward, we will invest even more in our network and distribution channels to serve the communities where we operate. By doing this, we will continue to sustainably bridge the digital divide, expand financial inclusion and meet the evolving needs of our customers." Guyanas government has demanded that U-Mobile, which operates as Digicel Guyana, pay overdue fees totalling GYD1 billion (US$4.6 million). Kaieteur News Online reports that the government has hit Digicel with the demand as the operator faces investigation by Guyanas regulatory authorities. According to documents viewed by the news outlet, Digicel began using spectrum before receiving permission to do so from the countrys regulator. Earlier this year, Guyanas Telecommunicaions Agency (TA) confirmed plans to issue 700MHz licences to three of the countrys operators GTT (Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company), E-Networks and Digicel. However, the allocation has ostensibly not been completed, with approvals not yet confirmed. Additionally, TeleGeography notes that Guyana implemented regulatory reforms in October 2020 relating to spectrum management, which required operators to receive approvals before using the LTE-ready spectrum. Digicel however began using its spectrum just weeks after the reforms came into effect, without authorisation although its purpose for doing so has not yet been disclosed. In July, Digicel Guyanas CEO Gregory Dean was quoted by Stabroek News as saying that the operator was currently deploying an LTE network that would reach 83% of Guyanas population. Its unauthorised spectrum usage could relate to this, although Digicel has not revealed any plans for a commercial launch. Two Saudi companies have been given a green light to develop data centres in one of Saudi Arabias newest and possibly smartest cities. Permission was given by The General Authority of Competition in Saudi Arabia for the companies Neom and FAS Energy to develop and operate data centres in a planned Saudi city, also called, by no coincidence, Neom. The Authority tweeted this week that it had no objection to a proposed joint venture between Neom and FAS to develop, own and operate the next generation of sustainable ultra-large-scale data centres in the new city. Neom is to be built in the Tabuk Province of north-western Saudi Arabia. It is planned to incorporate smart city technologies and also to function as a tourist destination. Saudi Arabia aims to complete the first section of Neom by 2025. Construction on the new city is due to begin this year. The Neom company leading the project is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund. The aim, says the website Data Centre Dynamics, is to create a data-intensive, highly-automated smart city with a starting investment of $500 billion. However, there is already some controversy surrounding the project as it could mean displacing a tribe made up of some 20,000 people that lives in the area. Established in 2013, FAS Energy says its sole strategic focus is to develop and build utility-scale PV solar parks across the MENA region and globally. It is a subsidiary of the Fawaz Alhokair Group, the largest group of companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia focusing on retail and real estate business sectors. Hungarian ICT group 4iG announced it closed the acquisition of peer IT/network infrastructure solutions provider Invitech after the transaction was cleared by the Competition Office (GVH). 4iG, in an 'extraordinary announcement', called the acquisition "a significant step" in the implementation of its telecommunications market growth strategy. "In the construction of 4iG's telecommunications portfolio, Invitech's optical backbone network and other data transmission solutions, as well as business communication services, will provide outstanding synergy and growth opportunities," it said. "We consider Invitech, one of Hungary's leading telecommunications and telecommunications infrastructure service providers, to be a strategic investment. Based on the expertise of the company's employees and the company's professional services, we would like to continue to build on the domestic and international market in the future," said Gellert Jaszai, President and CEO of 4iG Plc. Invitech has a staff of over 600, some 5,000 clients, and the country's second-largest 11,000-kilometre-long optical backbone network, while operating 23,000 end-user IT devices and having five of its own data centers. Invitech's infrastructure services are used by all domestic mobile service providers. Nepal has seen widespread fixed broadband outages resulting from a clash between the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and several of the countrys ISPs. As reported by Nepalitelecom.com, the NEA has acted on its longstanding dissatisfaction with ISPs failure pay rental fees for its infrastructure by removing their internet cables from its utility poles. The state utility had set a deadline of 1st October for broadband, cable TV and telephone providers to pay their rental arrears or face having their cables cut. Several of the private companies have expressed their unhappiness with the substantial increase in rental fees that the NEA implemented earlier this year, complaining that the size of the hike offered them no choice but to raise consumer prices accordingly. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has hit out at NEA for its indiscriminate cutting of cables on the grounds that it is a punishable offence to block access to internet services under the Telecommunications Act of 1997. The regulator has called for negotiations between the sides to resolve the dispute. For its part, the NEA has agreed albeit temporarily to stop removing cables, but has refused to budge on its demand for payment. Canadian satellite communications company Telesat and Nelco, a company of Tata group, are all set to kickstart commercial satellite communications services jointly by 2024 in India. The rivals including US-based SpaceX, Amazon's Kuiper, and UK-based OneWeb are all set to launch in the country. According to a report by ET Telecom, the prime focus will be to offer an affordable tariff for business-to-business (B2B) customers in a developing market - India. In 2020, both Telesat and Nelco joined hands-on areas including terrestrial facilities, commercial distribution, and regulatory frameworks. Telesat would be providing services to the business-to-business segment, specifically large businesses. The two companies are in talks with the government to procure the required permissions and are in the midst of formulating a market strategy. As per ET Telecom, Nelco's managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) PJ Nath stated that they want to partner with Telesat. By the latter half of 2024, they will jointly provide Satcom services in India. Also, it was added that the prices of its Satcom services have not been finalised and they are discussing the same. As a part of the arrangement, the Mumbai-based company will offer Telesat low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite services in India alongside superior enterprise connectivity. Telesat plans to invest around $5 billion to set up a constellation of around 300 low-Earth orbits (LEO) satellites, said the report. On asking about the deal terms between the two companies, Nath said that there is still a long way to go for the service to be launched in 2024, and the business strategy is being worked out currently. SICO Technology, described as Egypts first smartphone maker, plans to get into the African electronics market assembling handsets for other companies, according to recent news reports. The companys well-known phone brand Nile X sells for as low as $80. SICO has also started to build smartphones for Indian and Chinese firms and has suggested that other electronic items like televisions, satellite receiver boxes and electronic payment devices (POS) will be next. According to Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Salem, quoted in a Blomberg report, international companies will benefit from the presence of a manufacturing centre away from East Asia. Big players like Tecno, Infinix and others may not agree. These names tend to dominate the affordable smartphone market and made-in-Africa brands have had difficulty taking on well-known and trusted foreign brands. Nevertheless the number of smartphone users in Africa continues to rise and there is clearly a strong market for such devices. If SICO seeks, as one reports suggest, to become the main contract builder of electronics bound for the rest of Africa there may be room for it. According to Bloomberg, SICO is 20 percent owned by Egypts Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It already sells its handsets and tablets in Gulf Arab countries, France and Rwanda, exporting 15,000-20,000 units a year. Tanzania, Liberia, Mauritania and Namibia are next on the list of export destinations. SICO aims to produce more than 2 million devices of various brands next year, up from 1.5 million in 2021. Some 45 percent of SICOs smartphone components are locally sourced. Egypt is Africas top manufacturer and keen to boost trade with sub-Saharan Africa. Young employees stay at their workplace at the Saigon Hi-tech Park in HCMC in October 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Chung Dang Proponents of removing the monthly overtime cap of 40 hours for workers say it will help enterprises recover post-Covid-19, but critics say it could be harmful to health. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is soliciting public opinion for a report it will submit to the government and then the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which will consider overtime-related proposals in it for approval. It seeks to scrap the overtime monthly cap of 40 hours but not the 200-300 hours annual limit. The proposals will be valid until the end of 2024. A Labor Law amendment limits overtime to 40 hours a month and 200 hours a year in most industries, and at 300 hours in a few sectors such garment and textile and footwear, agricultural processing, electricity generation and supply, telecommunications, oil refining, water supply and drainage, salt production, and electronics. Analysts and business executives point out removing the cap will benefit both employers and employees, with the former not having to expand their factories or hire more workers and the latter earning more. Le Duy Binh, managing director of consulting firm Economica Vietnam, said after the pandemic is curbed, enterprises need to accelerate production to ensure delivery of goods on time and regain customers trust, while many people would be willing to work extra hours to earn more, especially with the Lunar New Year coming soon. He said many industry trade associations and businesses support the removal because workers only work overtime in summer and around Christmas. Vu Minh Tien, head of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions, said many people currently work 26 days a month on average and do overtime, and, if the monthly cap is removed, would have little time to balance work and life. "In fact, working 10 hours or more per day reduces productivity and increases work-related accidents." He said the monthly overtime cap could be increased by 30 percent to a maximum of 52 hours. Phung Duc Tung, director of the Mekong Development Research Institute, said the monthly cap should be removed only in certain sectors such as garment and textile, footwear and construction that need speedy production for timely delivery. Besides certain employees like pregnant women, lactating mothers and workers with young children should not be obligated to work long hours. Some also criticized the three-year period during which the cap would be removed as too long. Tung said it should apply only until the end of 2022 since, if the pandemic is controlled soon, the economy is likely to recover fully by 2023. It could be extended if the recovery is delayed, he added. Shifting to online education has been a learning experience for several international schools in Vietnam. They are trying to make classes more interactive while organizing focus groups with strict rules. Before the school year started this September, Truong Hoang Minh, co-founder of the Metta Waldorf School in HCMC, faced two major problems. One was how to redesign a training program compatible with online learning during Covid-19 outbreaks. The other was finding ways to persuade parents to stay. What made the problems much more difficult was that the schools original motto was: no technology in studying. Truong Hoang Minh, co-founder of the Metta Waldorf School in HCMC, and her kids join an online class in September, 2021. Photo courtesy of Truong Hoang Minh Minh explained that her school, founded in 2014, was based on an international "tech-free model" created by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in 1919. He recognized the need for education to enable children to become free and autonomous human beings, able to find purpose and direction in their lives. Teachers taught without lesson plans. Before Covid's emergence in the country, Metta Waldorf had organized 11 small English classes outdoors for kids two to 12. Minh had seven teachers at peak time. She was able to arrange foreign trips for students to some countries in the region such as Thailand and Malaysia. But its operations were severely affected by regulations on social distancing and travel restrictions imposed since last March. It closed and re-opened several times since. The situation worsened in 2021, forcing Minh to return the schools kindergarten to the landlord. Minh had to accept that her school would have to turn to distance learning and the use of modern technology for long term survival. She also saw that teachers of other schools using the same system in other countries were open to using technology in teaching. She and her partner, Devin Bond, embarked on a new plan to restructure the training program and have started to win the support of a small number of parents. They are trying to have more parents on board. For this, they had to motivate the students to get interested in online studying through various activities that would limit the use of screens. This approach also helped convince some teachers to continue their jobs with the school. "We had to balance different people's needs, and it was not an easy task." In September, Metta Waldorf was able to open online classes with a small number of students. Bond and a part time teacher took charge of teaching. Others left Vietnam due to pandemic hardships. Students' feedback Dr Brenda Williamson, head of the Canadian International School (CIS), said that in an effort to keep their operations going, the school speeded up the interactive aspect of online learning. This was done so that teachers did not simply supply information but checked to see if the student had understood what was being conveyed, so that they could "adjust the students learning." Williamson said another important part of interactive learning was supporting the childs character and wellbeing, helping him/her grow emotionally. The school has also conducted workshops on student wellbeing for families, enlisting their support for after-school clubs and activities. Parent workshops take place periodically over the course of the school year and are free for families. Parents outside the school system can attend the workshops on social networks. International schools in Hanoi are also promoting online classes. A teacher and and her students at the International School Park City Hanoi join an online class in September, 2021. Photo courtesy of ISPH Rik Millington, principal of the International School Park City Hanoi (ISPH), said like all organizations and businesses, the school's operation has been impacted by the pandemic. In response, the school formulated clear rules for behavior during online lessons and meetings, helping make home-learning as close to "in-school" as possible. In parallel, lessons that do not require equipment are planned for each day. Books and a pack of home-learning materials are delivered to their homes. "Therefore students can have a wide variety of lesson activities away from the screen to ensure their health," he said. Nguyen Song Ha, a mother of two children studying at ISPH, said switching to online learning was a challenging time for her kids. However, they have well adapted to the new way of learning thanks to a variety of materials used by teachers, and the fact that the timetable is pretty much the same as what it was before Covid-19. Ha said her children were assigned some time during class hours to be physically active. They can dance, do experiments, discuss with their classmates, and they even have a meditation session. The activities help balance between learning and healthcare for the students in practical ways, she said. Millington said the school was also pleased to offer a hybrid model of learning wherein lessons are broadcast online for students who may be unable to physically attend school. This is very helpful for families quarantined or still stuck overseas after schools have been able to reopen. Notably, the school welcomed more than 50 new students and 13 new teachers this academic year, he said. At the St. Paul American School Hanoi, Dr. Myong Hwan Eiselstein, executive director and high school principal, said the school has worked with teachers to modify daily lessons to suit an online environment. "For example, students frequently move into smaller groups to provide a quieter, more focused environment." Furthermore, St. Paul families have been regularly consulted, and courses have been adapted to suit the changing needs of households in Vietnam, he said. This way, parents are frequently asked for their feedback about the online learning program. Some of them requested more live lessons with teachers, compared to offline/homework tasks, and that has been implemented. The HCMC - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway seen from above, April, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Minh It might cost over $572 million to enlarge an expressway connecting HCMC and Dong Nai Province, of which $446 million would be drawn from ODA. The proposal was put forward by My Thuan Project Management Board, which is authorized by the Ministry of Transport to expand part of the HCMC - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway, which runs 55 kilometers (34 miles) to connect Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbor Dong Nai. The expansion should cost VND13 trillion (more than $572 million) and 79 percent of the sum should come from official development assistance (ODA) provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the board wrote to the ministry recently. As proposed, the ODA loan would cover the costs for construction, equipment, technical design consultancy, supervision and contingency. The rest of the project investment, around $120 million, would come from the government's counterpart capital, to cover value-added tax related to construction and contingency costs, site clearance, and project management, among other items. As planned, the expanded section of the expressway will run 24 kilometers from An Phu Intersection in HCMCs Thu Duc City to Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway in Long Thanh District of Dong Nai, covering 11.7 kilometers in HCMC and around 12 kilometers in Dong Nai. The project will expand the section from four to eight lanes for vehicles to travel at 100-120 kph. For the two bridges on the section, Song Tac and Long Thanh, the board proposes enlarging them respectively to 10 and nine lanes. The rest of the expressway in Dong Nai, running 31 kilometers from Long Thanh District to Dau Giay Town of Thong Nhat District, will be kept unchanged with four lanes. As explained by My Thuan Project Management Board, JICA is now very interested in funding the expressway expansion. Previously, the agency had worked with the board and directly inspected the route. For now, the board proposes the Ministry of Transport to consider its proposal and send a document to the Ministries of Planning-Investment and Finance on the plan and report to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh later. Opened to traffic in 2015, the VND20.6-trillion HCMC - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway is a blood line between HCMC and the rest of the southeast region, as well as the Central Highlands. Given its crucial role, the route has repeatedly suffered heavy gridlock in recent years. The expansion project is expected to only improve the expressway's capacity but meet future traffic demand as Dong Nai's Long Thanh International Airport, shaped to be the biggest in Vietnam, enters operation in 2025. Outbreaks likely if HCMC drops guard in the 'new normal' People are out on the street in HCMC's District 1, October 3, 2021 as the city has entered the 'new normal' phase. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Kiet HCMC could suffer another Covid-19 outbreak if fully vaccinated people and Covid-19 recoveries do not follow pandemic prevention measures, experts warn. HCMC, the epicenter of Vietnams latest Covid-19 outbreak, entered its "new normal" phase on Oct.1, resuming almost all socio-economic activities after four months of various levels of social distancing. Pham Duc Hai, deputy head of the municipal Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, said a majority of the city people were "very excited" and the "bustling atmosphere" has returned to the city. However, many people are not following the pandemic prevention protocols like wearing masks, not forming crowds and maintaining a safe distance from each other. Meanwhile, street vendors have resumed operations even though they have not been allowed to do so, Hai said. There also have been cases where people who are not yet allowed to be on the streets have violated the rules, he said at a Monday meeting. At present, only Covid-19 recoveries and those who have got at least one vaccine dose 14 days earlier are allowed to be out and about. Le Quoc Hung, head of the Tropical Diseases Department at the citys Cho Ray Hospital, a major medical facility in southern Vietnam, said the fact that people have been gathering at street markets and even supermarkets in the past few days is very worrying for the health sector. HCMC still has 4-5 percent of people over 18 yet to receive any vaccine shot. A person who has received a vaccine dose is not immune to the virus and will still transfer it to others and therefore, gathering in crowds and failing to comply with prevention protocols may disrupt all anti-pandemic progress the city has made until today, Hung said. The fact that the city has partially opened up as part of safely adapting to the novel coronavirus does not mean people should rush to the streets and immediately return to normal, he stressed. For now, everyone should strictly follow the rules on pandemic prevention and one of the important factors is keeping a suitable distance from one another, Hung said. In several states in the U.S. where the vaccination rate has crossed 70 percent, infections have still increased after people failed to comply with Covid-19 prevention measures, he added. Hung suggested that the city not allow street markets to operate for now because this type of business is very hard to manage. Traditional markets should only sell essential products, he said. He also said that in the meantime, the city should wait for the vaccination rate to rise and the pandemic situation to be better controlled before opening up any further. "All the solutions applied to ease social distancing aim to serve the economic development. Therefore, everyone should abide by the Health Ministry's guidance on Covid-19 prevention to both develop the economy and control the pandemic so as to avoid the situation in which the next outbreak is stronger than the previous one." Nguyen Minh Tien, deputy director of the HCMC Children's Hospital, said supermarkets pose a high risk once somebody is infected as they are completely closed spaces, use air conditioners, and sell various types of products that attract many customers. Therefore, he suggested that only those that have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days or recovered from Covid-19 for as many days should visit supermarkets. In order to protect themselves, their families and the public at large, people visiting supermarkets at this time must wear masks and keep their distance, Tien said. Meanwhile, supermarkets need to closely monitor their employees and customers, allowing only those that have been vaccinated to work and shop. He also recommended that supermarkets disinfect their facilities at least twice a day, especially elevators and the cashier counters, and every supervisor should keep reminding others to comply with the safety rules. Tien also warned parents against taking their children out and visiting places like supermarkets, shopping malls or museums at this time because they have not been vaccinated and the city is yet to achieve herd immunity. He also reminded parents to carefully disinfect themselves after returning home to avoid any possible risk of infecting their children. In the ongoing Covid-19 wave that hit Vietnam late April, HCMC has recorded nearly 401,500 infections, accounting for almost half of the national tally, and spent more than 100 days under various levels of social distancing from late May to Sept. 30. To date, the city has lost 15,213 people to the pandemic. In a difficult situation for everyone, there are no easy solutions. But letting workers go back home will help them heal from the wounds inflicted by the pandemic. Truong Chi Hung Instead of seeing the reverse exodus as a problem, it can also be seen as a new opportunity for returnees to revitalize their hometowns. Here, in Long Xuyen Town of the Mekong Delta's An Giang Province, police cars sirens have been ringing loud for the past two days as they lead droves of migrants back to their hometowns. Weariness is writ large on the face of both parents and children as they make their way back. They remind me of a boy I once met here. I took a photo of him playing by a channel and sent it for a local photo contest. I still remember his plump face and muddy cheeks, his shiny forehead and threads of hair weighed down by beads of sweat. But what haunted me were his eyes: bright as marbles, yet tinged with sadness. I called him the "Child of the Plains." As I was taking the photo, a middle-aged woman came up. She was his grandmother, who said the boy's parents had left for Binh Duong Province to work. Wiping away the mud on his cheeks, she told the boy's story. His parents had been gone for about four years. The boy had only stayed with his parents for around six months before they were gone. Since then, every year, he only got to meet his parents for a few days during Tet. At four, he could only speak a few words like "mom" and "dad". The woman invited me in for some tea. Their house was seemingly patched together using mangrove palm leaves, with an old TV set on top of a wardrobe being the sole valuable possession. She said she had three children, all of whom got married and migrated to Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong for work. All their children grew up under their grandma's care. "All my children said they would try to save up for some dozens of millions of Vietnamese dong and would come back. But years have passed, and no one has returned. "It's okay if life's tough for adults. I pity the children," she added as she watched the boy falling asleep on a hammock as he waited for a call from his parents in Binh Duong. Last Tet, the couple gave the boy a phone so they could communicate every day. But they only got a few hours off at noon, and there was not much to say anyway: the boy could barely speak. The parents and child mainly watched each other through the phone screen. Sometimes, the mother could be heard softly weeping on the other side. In the Mekong Delta, there are so many families in the same predicament. Young parents in my hometown followed each other's footsteps to the big cities, leaving their children behind for the grandparents to take care of. In many cases, parents are almost always nowhere to be seen throughout their children's childhood. Some families leave everything behind for a new life in the city. Their ancestral houses are locked up, surrounded by barbed wires and robbed of human warmth. What's supposed to be a home is now a mere bus stop, as people spend most of their time in the city and only return to their hometowns for a few days, mainly to clean things up and light incense on the family altars and ancestors graves. The Mekong Delta is Vietnam's only region where the number of migrants exceeds those who decide to stay. A report by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) says 1.3 million residents of the Mekong Delta have migrated east over the last decade. They not only include manual laborers and other informal workers looking for jobs in workshops and industrial parks, but also intellectuals. The Mekong Delta has been experiencing a brain drain and a skills drain. When Ho Chi Minh City, the "promised land" for workers, was reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, its migrant workers wanted to, understandably, return home. But, after the situation has improved, why don't the workers decide to stay? They've had enough. Enough of the spectre of unemployment constantly haunting their sleep. Enough of anxiety about being able to ensure a good life for their families. Enough of the possibility of spending Tet far away from home, cooped up inside four walls during a lockdown. After going through this hell, the urge to get back is a search and quest for healing. Whatever comes next can wait. A family wait at a checkpont in HCMC to return to their hometown in the Mekong Delta's Soc Trang Province, Septemer 30, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran The dilemma This isn't the first time workers have tried to go back en-masse amid the pandemic, but Mekong Delta localities are apparently not ready to handle the influx of returnees. Many have requested the central government to not let people spontaneously return even after restrictions are lifted. Bac Lieu has outright refused any spontaneous returnees, while Kien Giang has asked its districts to erect checkpoints and persuade people to go back. An Giang has said that to return at the moment "would place a huge burden" on the province. Many localities have required returnees to pay their testing and quarantining fees. Both the migrants and localities are locked on the horns of a dilemma. Ho Chi Minh City and its neighboring localities may need all the workers they can muster to recover and localities may be insufficiently equipped to handle returnees at present. But I believe that one thing is clear. Everyone must be allowed to go back home. They've suffered enough. It's not impossible. Quang Nam, Phu Yen and Binh Dinh in central Vietnam have all managed to receive millions over the past few months thanks to careful management, and no outbreaks have been detected due to people returning. Whether Mekong Delta localities can do the same would depend on the local leaderships capabilities. To prevent one's own people from going back home isn't the wisest policy. People will find their way back, one way or the other. Besides cooperating with HCMC authorities to take back workers in waves, Mekong Delta leaders should work to find new jobs for those who return. They should see the return of migrants as an opportunity, not just a challenge. For instance, local industrial parks can be expanded with policies to promote investment and use of local labor. There's no shortage of workers in the Mekong Delta, only a lack of places to train and employ them. If environmentally-friendly companies can be fostered with appropriate policies to adapt to a "new normal," people would surely return and start their own businesses. The other side of the migration to bigger cities in search of livelihoods has not been looked at seriously enough. The images of vehicles flocking out of major cities these days are merely a symptom of a long-standing sickness. As parents continue to seek employment in big cities, their children are left behind to suffer. Families drift apart and as the family structure breaks down, so will a region's culture and traditions. For a long time now, we, the children of the Mekong Delta, have get tired of hearing this over-repeated refrain: that our land is an agricultural powerhouse etc. etc. We can grow in all areas as long as we get support from the government to work and run our business here. Then, we can stay here for as long as it takes and, most importantly, our families will get to stay together. *Truong Chi Hung is a writer. The opinions expressed are his own. HCMC among 5 localities to agree to restarting flights A Vietjet aircraft prepares to land at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City in June 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran HCMC and the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, and Dien Bien have said yes to resuming domestic flights. The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) had sought the opinions of 20 provinces and cities that have airports on gradually resuming flights from Tuesday, but so far only these five have agreed. Hanoi and Hai Phong cities and Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands have called for delaying the resumption. The CAAV has suggested operating 132 flights daily to HCMC, the countrys major commercial hub, 20 to Khanh Hoa, seven to Phu Yen, 11 to Binh Dinh, and two to Dien Bien. HCMC also wants flights to Hanoi route resumed. Amid a raging Covid-19 outbreak, in late August aviation authorities instructed airlines to stop selling tickets until further notice. In the fourth wave that began in late April the country has recorded over 809,000 Covid cases. International flights were stopped early last year and are yet to resume. The humanitarian situation for the Afghan people is dire: 600,000 people, half of them children, have been displaced by war and fear of violence; hunger is widespread, with more than one million children under age five in danger of starvation; the health care system is collapsing. Addressing the first high-level meeting on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan since the takeover by the Taliban, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, The people of Afghanistan need a lifeline. After decades of war, suffering and insecurity, they face perhaps their most perilous hour. Now is the time for the international community to stand with them. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda-Thomas Greenfield told the conference unequivocally, that the United States is committed to providing humanitarian assistance and supporting the Afghan people. She announced nearly $64 million in new humanitarian aid, to be dispensed through the United Nations and NGOs, which will bring the total U.S. assistance to Afghans this fiscal year to $330 million. This funding, she said, will help provide lifesaving food assistance. It will meet critical health and nutrition needs. It will address the protection concerns of women, children, and people who belong to ethnic, minority, and other religious groups. And it will help more children - including girls go back to school. And it will provide clean, potable water. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield insisted, however, this funding alone is not enough to support Afghans and the efforts of the UN and NGO partners. Afghans also need neighboring countries to open borders; experienced aid workers; oral and written commitments by the Taliban about operating rights of humanitarian agencies, and the treatment and rights of minority groups, women, and girls to be upheld. Words are not enough, said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. We must see action. She deplored reports that the Taliban are obstructing and interfering in aid delivery and protection efforts, including by prohibiting female staff from saving lives, and carrying out retribution against the recipients and providers of aid. That is frightening and unacceptable, she said. This is a moment for the international community to unite, declared Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. Let us commit today to meeting this urgent appeal for financial support. Commit to standing by humanitarian workers as they do their all-important work, and to stepping up humanitarian action in Afghanistan so that we can save the lives of Afghans in need. Hanois authorities have decided to remove 28 administrative procedures in the field of investment (Photo: VNA) Under Decision No.4324/QD-UBND by the municipal Peoples Committee, 33 new procedures are issued and 53 others related to the establishment and operation of enterprises, bidding and non-refundable aid are amended. The decision, which took effect on October 1, elaborates the issuance, amendment, supplementation and removal of administrative procedures in the establishment and operation of businesses in Vietnam. It touches on Public Private Partnership investment, bidding to choose investors, official development assistance (ODA) capital, preferential loans of foreign sponsors and non-refundable assistance. The establishment and operation of household businesses under the management of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment are also listed./. Photo taken on Sept. 28, 2021 shows Tibetan antelopes at a wildlife rescue center of the Sonam Dargye Protection Station in Hoh Xil, northwest China's Qinghai Province. In recent years, Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, a World Heritage Site in northwest China's Qinghai Province, has continuously strengthened its protection, effectively curbing the poaching of Tibetan antelopes. The population of Tibetan antelopes in the reserve has increased from less than 20,000 to more than 70,000, and the grand migration of Tibetan antelopes reappears on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (Xinhua/Xue Yubin) 4 1 Editor: JYZ A staff member introduces a book on Chinese geography to local students at the Riyadh International Book Fair, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 1, 2021. The Riyadh International Book Fair 2021 opened to the public on Friday with more than 500 books from China being exhibited. (Xinhua/Wang Haizhou) RIYADH, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Riyadh International Book Fair 2021 opened to the public here on Friday with more than 500 books from China being exhibited. On behalf of the Chinese publishing industry, the China Intercontinental Press is cooperating with its overseas partner, the Saudi Center for Research and Intercommunication Knowledge, participated in the book fair offline for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak. The books from China are written in Arabic, English, and Chinese, and were provided by more than 10 Chinese publishers, focusing on classic Chinese literature, social science, traditional culture, children's reading, and language learning. Some of them are Sino-Saudi Arabian Classics or the fruits of modern and contemporary literature translation and publication projects. More than 1,000 publishing houses from 30 countries participated in the event. The international book fair held by the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia, which runs through Oct. 10 on an area of more than 36,000 square meters, is considered the largest book fair in the history of Saudi Arabia and an influential cultural event in the Gulf and the Arab region. Editor: JYZ Anna Chubotina, CEO of Arricano The speed of change in the modern world is so rapid that it is difficult to keep up with it both in business and in other socially significant areas. Especially in education, where it is not so much about intellectual capabilities and achievements, but rather about the need and ability to adapt to new realities in order to confidently, competently and usefully fulfill their potential, make the most of new technologies both in online learning and in managing motivation and attention of students. We all understand the importance of school education, which gives a basis or an impulse in life, in acquiring the skills to study, knowledge, and often in choosing a profession. During this period, schoolchildren go through the most important stage of becoming themselves as a person. And along this way, together with the family, teachers give a key ideological orientation. Lockdown and the forced transition of education to an online format faced many difficulties, the main of which is the need for a new model of interaction between teachers and schoolchildren through gadgets and screens. Traditional school practices of interaction in the classroom have not always been effective in the distance format. Reflecting on this issue, at Arricano we came to the conclusion that if we strengthen the two components of online learning, we can significantly increase the efficiency of the entire cycle of the educational process at school. Both the first and the second components concern teachers, namely their computer skills and self-motivation to overcome difficulties, learn new things in order to transfer this competence of curiosity and adaptability to change to children. Therefore, as part of the corporate ESG policy of social projects, we have developed Teachers Self Upgrade that is a teacher training program meeting new challenges in the educational field. Since two of our shopping malls are located in the Desnianskyi district of Kyiv, the Prospekt shopping mall became a springboard for the implementation of our idea. Our team, which was engaged in the implementation of Teachers Self Upgrade, together with Desnianska district State Administration, conducted research among teachers of this district and found out what topics of courses are relevant for them, what additional questions and suggestions may appear. It is worth noting that we are able to hold memorable BTL events and negotiations, communicate with all stakeholders of the shopping mall brand, create a bright and motivating creative. But to develop a training program for teachers, external expertise was needed. We turned to the profile public organization "Osvitoriia", together with which a list of speakers and topics of lectures were proposed. This is an effective assessment of students' knowledge in a distance format, and a new role of a teacher for generation Z and Alpha, who have a new understanding of authorities, and digital technologies & life hacks, and the multiple intelligence of schoolchildren about how they perceive reality. I would especially like to mention the Meet&Talk discussion, during which teachers voiced the need for the formation of the teacher's brand as a profession and the interpretation of the elite of Ukrainian society. Personally, I completely agree that teachers are really the elite of our country. After all, all five characteristics of the elite are inherent in the pedagogical community, and these are responsibility, leadership, a stable community that controls the consciousness of a thousand schoolchildren, having common interests. We held a meeting with teachers in the style of a business conference. This gave the project and its participants additional value, motivation and status. Based on the responses, we realized that the teachers felt that their work, efforts, work and creative solutions were important. Teachers were not left alone with the new challenges of online. Society, business, and local authorities are ready to support them. About 150 teachers from the capital received a charge for self-motivation and acquired new skills for effective online classes. I want to thank all our partners who have joined the Teachers' Self Upgrade project in Prospekt shopping mall to conduct a unique social and educational project that has no analogues in the retail and development market. These are Multiplex, which has allocated a hall for a business conference, as well as FMCG, fashion, NGO and media brands:Desnianska district State Administration, "Osvitoriia", EBA, "Wikend u Kyievi", "Tyzhden",TV Channel "Kyiv", Ad.A.Agency, VOVK, COLIN'S, MAY Ukraine. For Arricano, educational projects have always been a priority in the social component. In our corporate portfolio there are projects for cooperation with students, schoolchildren, and now also with teachers. We also regularly conduct training for the company's employees - both on the basis of the platform of the European Business Association, and we attract corporate trainers. Employees independently develop and present their professional achievements to colleagues. We believe in the power, effective impact and necessity of education and self-education, motivation and self-motivation, the importance of developing new skills and competencies. And the Teachers' Self Upgrade social and educational project proved once again that a modern professional shopping mall is a flexible, sensitive social space for people, where you can get both consumer experience and implement socially important interactions with the community of the shopping mall, filling and developing certain aspects of public life. In this case education, adaptability and new pedagogical life hacks, without which it is impossible to imagine modern education. Ukraine does not plan negotiations with Russia on direct purchase of gas PM Ukraine does not plan to negotiate with Russia to conclude a direct agreement for the supply of natural gas, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said. "Such negotiations are not planned," he said in an interview to the lb.ua portal released on Tuesday. The prime minister said that over 18.5 billion cubic meters of gas have already been accumulated in the underground storage facilities (UGS) of Ukraine [already 18.7 billion cubic meters], the country also has its own gas production, which will allow the coming heating season to pass. According to him, one should not expect a significant re-export to the European market of gas owned by foreign traders, which is stored in the Ukrainian underground storage facilities. "In any case, the first proposal is always made to Ukraine. With a probability of 100%, gas that is in Ukraine will be used here," Shmyhal said. The Ukrainian authorities will seek to maintain gas transit through the Ukrainian GTS in the future. "Surely, we will insist on maintaining the current level of transit for at least 15 years," the head of government said. According to JSC Ukrtransgaz, as of October 1, 2021, foreign service customers store 2.8 billion cubic meters of gas in the customs warehouse mode, while resident companies some 800 million cubic meters. The European Union (EU) should ensure control over the import of round timber from Ukraine, and Ukraine should establish punishment for the smuggling of unprocessed timber into the EU, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna has said. "We want the EU, for its part, to ensure control over the import of relevant products and not close its eyes "on its part of the coast" regarding what goes to them as imports," she said during the Trade Wars: The Art of Defense conference held in Kyiv on Tuesday. "The negotiations are really difficult, and I am sure that this year, at the Ukraine-EU summit, this issue will receive a lot of attention," she added. According to the deputy prime minister, the moratorium on the export of unprocessed timber was a forced step, and the Arbitration Panel agreed with this. "It is quite easy to lift the moratorium, but we must create a transparent system that would make illegal logging impossible. And it is not easy. This issue will be discussed with the EU. In particular, we want to discuss how to make it impossible for European companies to buy illegal timber from Ukraine," the deputy prime minister said. As reported, the Verkhovna Rada on April 9, 2015 adopted a law, which banned the export of unprocessed timber and sawn timber (round timber) for 10 years. In 2018, parliament limited domestic consumption of unprocessed timber to 25 billion cubic meters per year. In January 2020, Ukraine and the EU established an arbitration panel to consider a dispute over Ukraine's ban on the export of raw timber. At the end of 2020, it issued a decision recognizing its right to restrict timber exports under certain circumstances, while at the same time recognizing the need to adjust the 2015 moratorium in cooperation with the EU. The Verkhovna Rada has registered bill No. 4197-1, which proposes to lift the ban on the import of unprocessed timber exclusively for EU countries after transparency in the domestic market is ensured. Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant has reached an agreement with the leading machine-building company Liebherr on a long-term cooperation involving the installation of diesel engines on locomotives operating in Ukraine, as well as carrying out a number of works on railway transport, the plant reported on its official Facebook page. The relevant agreements were reached during a visit by the plant management to the Liebherr production base in France and Switzerland. "Liebherr is the world's leading company in the mechanical engineering industry, and it was important for them to find a reliable partner in Ukraine in the field of locomotive modernization. Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant has been implementing the most modern technologies in this direction for several years, so our plant was invited to become such a partner," the founder of the enterprise, Yevhen Simchenko, is quoted in the message. As the plant's press service told Interfax-Ukraine, the main advantages that allowed Liebherr to make a choice in favor of the enterprise were the experience in modernizing diesel locomotives in Ukraine and the availability of highly qualified workers. "Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant has modernized more than 40 diesel locomotives with the installation of various diesel engines, such as Cummins, ABC and Caterpillar. Also, a great role was played by the fact that we have our own design bureau, which develops all modernization projects," the press service said. According to it, the share of modernization of locomotives in the company's total turnover is gradually increasing, and this year it is about 70%. "In Ukraine, only industrial enterprises [ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Ferrexpo, Metinvest] modernize the locomotive fleet. Ukrzaliznytsia has not yet decided whether it will follow the path of modernization, the effectiveness of which is shown by world practice, or will 'reinvent the wheel,'" the press service said. At the same time, the company stressed, modernization is becoming more and more important given the aging of equipment, and intensive wear of the main components that need to be replaced. "Since most of the locomotives were designed and built back in the USSR, now they are morally and technically outdated. In addition, the main components are of Russian origin. Therefore, we believe that today in Ukrainian realities the only correct and effective option is modernization of locomotives with the installation of modern systems and components, which are used all over the world," the plant notes. The agreement with Liebherr also provides for co-financing of projects in Ukraine, however, the company does not disclose details, citing confidentiality. Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant, established in 2010, specializes in maintenance, current and overhaul of diesel locomotives, as well as traction units (industrial electric locomotives). Established in 1949, the family-owned company Liebherr currently has 13 production areas (including refrigeration and freezing technology, construction, mining, transshipment equipment, port equipment and wind energy). It includes more than 140 enterprises all over the world and employs about 48,000 people. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has suspended Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from conducting plenary sessions of parliament for two plenary sessions. The relevant decision at the Tuesda meeting was supported by 240 MPs, of which 200 MPs were from the Servant of the People faction. The For the Future and Dovira factions gave 16 and 18 votes in favor, respectively, the Holos faction and the non-factional deputies gave three votes each. However, ten MPs from Holos, one MP from Dovira, six MPs from Servant of the People, some 18 MPs from Batkivschyna, some 24 MPs from the Opposition Platform - For Life, all 27 MPs from European Solidarity and nine non-factional parliamentarians voted against such a decision. First deputy head of the Servant of the People faction Oleksandr Korniyenko said during the consideration of this issue that this is due to Razumkov's refusal to put to the vote of the conciliatory council on Monday proposals on the agenda of the plenary sessions of October 5 to October 8. "We believe that by such actions, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov, neglected the right of parliamentary factions to submit proposals to the weekly agenda of plenary sessions, which is a gross violation of the rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The deputy faction of Servant of the People, For the Future and Dovira [...] make a proposal to remove the Verkhovna Rada chairman from the holding plenary sessions for two plenary days," Korniyenko said. Razumkov declared a conflict of interest and instructed First Deputy Chairmna Ruslan Stefanchuk to conduct the plenary session when considering this issue. As reported, Head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia sent a letter on behalf of the parliamentary faction recalling the chairman of the parliament. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the issue of Razumkov's tenure as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada "intra-factional." The regular meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) will be devoted to the problems of smuggling and the use of the country's subsoil, it will be held on October 8 or October 15, depending on the decision of the President of Ukraine, Secretary of the council Oleksiy Danilov has said. "The regular meeting of the National Security and Defense Council should be held either this Friday [October 8] or next Friday [October 15]. It depends on what decision the president of our country will make," Danilov told journalists at the Situation Center in the President's Office on Tuesday. According to him, the meeting will hear the situation on the state of affairs with smugglers in Ukraine. "Each responsible public agency will have to report on each person who has been sanctioned for smuggling," Danilov said. "The second situation will be related to the subsoil. We have almost finished the situation related to public with all the subsoil. It will be publicly available, and you will see all this after the NSDC meeting," the NSDC secretary said. According to him, "there will also be those licenses that, by the way, today many companies, as it turned out, are considered offshore." Danilov also announced the appearance in the coming days of a number of orders regarding the NSDC decisions related to the so-called "kingpins" and gangland. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine dated October 5 on the application of personal sanctions against 95 persons, citizens of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, involved in the elections to the State Duma in the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to the decree of October 5, No. 497/2021, published on the website of the head of state, indefinite sanctions were imposed on candidates to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, both self-nominated and on party lists. So, there are 95 people on the list. In particular, restrictive measures were introduced against the so-called members of "territorial election commissions" in Crimea, security officials of the FSB of the Russian Federation, including employees of the Institute of Forensic Science of the FSB and other services. In addition, Ukraine has imposed sanctions against one Korean citizen living in Kyiv region. The document states that the sanctions include blocking assets, restricting trade operations, limiting or stopping the transit of resources, flights and transportation through the territory of Ukraine, preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine; prohibition of participation in privatization, lease of state property by residents of a foreign state and persons who are directly or indirectly controlled by residents of a foreign state or act in their interests; termination of the issuance of permits, licenses for the import into Ukraine or export from Ukraine of currency values and the restriction of the issuance of cash by payment cards issued by residents of a foreign state; prohibition of transfer of technologies, rights to objects of intellectual property rights; deprivation of state awards of Ukraine, etc. It is noted that the proposals for the application of restrictive measures were made by the Security Service of Ukraine. In addition, the NSDC decision of October 5, enacted by a presidential decree, amended the previous NSDC's decision of May 14, 2021 (entered into force by presidential decree No. 203 of May 21) changes and clarifications have been made in the so-called sanctioned list of "thieves in law." The decree comes into force on the day of its publication. The ambassadors of the G7 countries stress the importance of the early adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the law on the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) without further amendments. "G7 Ambassadors reiterate the importance of the Verkhovna Rada adopting the SBU law as soon as possible without further amendments. The current draft, implemented successfully, provides the basis for transforming the SBU into a modern security service, enhancing security and prosperity," the UK Presidency of the G7 Ambassadors' Support Group in Kyiv said on Twitter. As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 3196-d on amendments to the law on the SBU on January 28. On September 22, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence approved draft law No. 3196-d on amendments to the law "On the Security Service of Ukraine" regarding improvements in the organizational and legal framework of the SBU. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has enacted today's National Security and Defense Council resolution which imposes sanctions on 95 Russians and Ukrainians involved in the illegal State Duma elections in Crimea. The indefinite sanctions were imposed against the Duma candidates in Crimea and in Sevastopol, both independents and those who ran on party lists, the presidential website said. Zelensky also signed a decree imposing sanctions against three Russian companies and one based in Singapore: Mayak, a ship lights manufacturer, Amursky Shipyard, Kazan Gunpowder Plant, and Zasshid PTE. LTD. Ayatollah Mahmoud Amjad member of the seminary in Qom, , warned on his Instagram page on Monday, January 4, that he intends to rise against the "corrupt" seminary and "the ungodly turbaned heads who have no conscience." In a copy of his handwritten text published on Instagram, Ayatollah Amjad shared, "Backed by God's blessing and divine power, and following Prophet Muhammad's footsteps; I have decided to launch a 'great jihad' to seek justice and reject illegitimacy, in a crystal-clear and transparent manner." The note also states that he would persevere regardless of the consequences of his "rebellion." A student of the Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Amjad reiterated that "I will revolt against this corrupt seminary and ungodly turbaned heads, come what may." Amjad previously supported Ruhollah Zam, the managing director of dissident website AMAD News, calling him a victim of oppression in an unprecedented video message. Iranian intelligence agents lured Zam, the Paris-based AMAD News administrator, to Iraq, where they abducted him, took him back to Iran and hanged him on December 12, 2020. Amjad insisted in his video message that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is personally responsible for "all killings" in Iran since 2009. "Mr. Khamenei must give up on his tyranny. All the blood that has been spilled and all the people who have been killed since [widespread uprising against the official outcome of the presidential election in] 2009 Mr. Khamenei, you are responsible! I hope that it is God's plan for you to repent. You know that we do not wish ill upon anyone rather, we want what is best for all," Amjad said in his video message. Amjad went further, calling for a change in the Iranian Constitution and blaming the clergy for their silence. "This country is full of crimes, and those who remain silent have no excuse. What are you afraid of? Nobody can kill you, be sure. And if they kill you, so they kill you is your blood worth more than the blood of Imam Hussein?" Firing back at Amjad's vitriolic message, the managing-director of the state-controlled Twelver-Shi'ite seminaries, mid-ranking white-turbaned clergy, Alireza A'rafi, accused him of "stupidity," naivete," and being "ostentatious." Amjad, formerly the Friday Prayer Imam in Nahavand and Khomeini's representative in Iran's district seven, is a renowned cleric whose sermons at Tehran's Imamzadeh Saleh attracted hundreds of audiences. Following Iranian security forces' attack on the University of Tehran's dormitory in July 1999, and especially after the controversial 2009 presidential election and the bloody repression of protesters, Amjad's critical views became more apparent. Amjad was also one of the prominent candidates disqualified in the Assembly of Experts elections in 2015. Facebook app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken (Photo : REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration) Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline for users across the globe, the social media giant said on Monday, as hours later it scrambled to restore the services after being hit by one of its longest outages. The outage began around noon Eastern time (1600 GMT) and service had yet to be restored more than four hours later. Advertisement On Sunday, a whistleblower accused Facebook of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation. The firm owns Instagram and WhatsApp. Shares of Facebook, which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, opened lower after the weekend whistleblower report and slipped further to trade down 5.3% in afternoon trading on Monday. They were on track for their worst day in nearly a year, amid a broader selloff in technology stocks on Monday. Facebook was inaccessible because users were not being directed to the correct place by the Domain Name System. Facebook itself controls the relevant settings, suggesting the problem was an internal one. Security experts said the disruption could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. DNS allows web addresses to take users to their destinations. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world's most popular sites would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique, security experts said. Facebook acknowledged users were having trouble accessing its apps but did not provide any specifics about the nature of the problem or how many were affected by the outage. "We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience," Facebook tweeted about 30 minutes after the first reports of the outage. One Facebook employee told Reuters that all internal tools were down. Facebook's response was made much more difficult because employees lost access to some of their own tools in the shutdown, people tracking the matter said. Multiple employees said they had not been told what had gone wrong. The social media giant, which is the second largest digital advertising platform in the world, was losing about $545,000 in U.S. ad revenue per hour during the outage, according to estimates from ad measurement firm Standard Media Index. The estimates were based on total Facebook and Instagram ad spending from major advertising agencies during January to August this year. Downdetector - which only tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform - showed there were more than 50,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook and Instagram. The outage might be affecting a larger number of users. WhatsApp, the social-media giant's instant messaging platform, was also down for over 35,000 users, while Messenger was down for nearly 9,800 users. Facebook has experienced similar widespread outages with its suite of apps this year in March and July. Several users using their Facebook credentials to log in to third-party apps such as Pokemon Go and Match Masters were also facing issues. "If your game isn't running as usual please note that there's been an issue with Facebook login servers and the moment this gets fixed all will be back to normal," puzzle game app Match Masters said on its Twitter account. Facebook again asks judge to dismiss U.S. lawsuit to force sale of Instagram, WhatsApp The Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile phone in this picture illustration taken (Photo : REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Illustration/File Photo) Facebook Inc asked a judge on Monday to dismiss the U.S. government's revised antitrust case that seeks to force the social media giant to sell Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook said in a court filing that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had failed to provide a "plausible factual basis for branding Facebook an unlawful monopolist." The company added it appears the FTC "had no basis for its naked allegation that Facebook has or had a monopoly." Advertisement The social media giant asked that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice, which would make it harder for the agency to amend the lawsuit. The FTC declined to comment. Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in June that the FTC's original complaint filed in December failed to provide evidence that Facebook had monopoly power in the social-networking market. The FTC's amended complaint, filed in August, added more detail on its accusation the social media company crushed or bought rivals and again asked Boasberg to order the sale of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC argued at length in its revised complaint that Facebook dominates the U.S. personal social networking market with more than 65% of monthly active users since 2012. Facebook filing said the FTC's complaint was "at odds with the commercial reality of intense competition with surging rivals like TikTok and scores of other attractive options for consumers." The FTC voted 3-2 along party lines in August to file the amended lawsuit and denied Facebook's request that agency chair Lina Khan be recused. In its motion, Facebook argued that the FTC vote to file the amended complaint was not valid because Khan participated. It included a long series of statements from Khan, made before she became chair of the FTC, which were critical of the social media giant. In a series of tweets from December 2020, she praises lawsuits brought by the FTC and state attorneys general saying "hopeful that it marks yet another step forward in the growing efforts to rehabilitate antitrust laws." Facebook also notes that the FTC is suing to undo mergers that it had approved: Instagram, which it bought in 2012 for $1 billion, and WhatsApp, which it bought in 2014 for $19 billion. "The FTC challenges acquisitions that the agency cleared after its own contemporaneous review...," the motion said. "The case is entirely without legal or factual support. This is as true now as it was before." Facebook also included a dissent from FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson, a Republican, who had voted to oppose filing the amended lawsuit because the FTC had raised no objections to the Instagram and WhatsApp deals. "The FTC's fictional market ignores the competitive reality: Facebook competes vigorously with TikTok, iMessage, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and countless others to help people share, connect, communicate or simply be entertained," a Facebook spokesperson said. "The FTC cannot credibly claim Facebook has monopoly power because no such power exists." A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photo : REUTERS/Ken Cedeno) U.S. Supreme Court justices took a step back toward normalcy on Monday on the first day of their new nine-month term as they conducted oral arguments in person for the first time in 19 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, holding a muted and polite session in a socially distanced courtroom. The court's term includes major cases in the coming months on abortion and gun rights. Advertisement Eight justices appeared in person, wearing their traditional black robes as they entered the ornate and sparsely populated courtroom and sat behind the mahogany bench. One justice, Brett Kavanaugh, participated remotely after testing positive for the coronavirus last week, with his questions audible via speakers in the courtroom. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wore a black face mask, while the court's other members present went maskless. Monday also marked the first time that the court's junior-most member, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, participated in an in-person argument. As is customary for a new justice, Barrett, appointed by former President Donald Trump last year to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, sat on the far right of the bench and was last to ask questions. The justices were joined by lawyers, court staff and journalists - all masked, except for the lawyers arguing the cases, and spread out among the rows of seats - in their spacious column-lined courtroom. No members of the public were present. In the first of two arguments heard on Monday, the justices expressed skepticism about Mississippi's claim that Tennessee is effectively stealing its water from an underground aquifer that runs beneath both states. The justices appeared to have learned some lessons from their pandemic-prompted experiment of holding oral arguments via teleconference. They seemed to use some elements of that more structured approach, with justices careful to wait their turn before speaking, in contrast with the previous rough-and-tumble format in which justices competed with each other to get a word in. At times, Chief Justice John Roberts, seated in the center of the bench, asked each justice in turn if they wanted to pose a question. Roberts also conferred with the justices sitting on either side of him: Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. Thomas, who famously almost never spoke during in-person oral arguments in the past, had regularly participated during teleconference arguments - and quickly asked the first question of the new term, indicating he will continue to be a vocal presence. Monday's second argument was a Georgia criminal case involving a man convicted of being a felon possessing a firearm. The court building has been closed to the public since March 2020 due to the pandemic. Another change embraced by the tradition-bound court is live audio of oral arguments, a practice it had rejected until the pandemic spurred its use in May 2020. That practice continued on Monday. Before hearing arguments, the court acted on some appeals. It cleared the way for New York https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-rejects-challenge-new-york-tax-opioid-companies-2021-10-04 to collect a $200 million surcharge imposed on opioid manufacturers and distributors, ended Oracle Corp's challenge to how the Pentagon awarded https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-rebuffs-oracle-challenge-pentagon-cloud-contract-2021-10-04 a now-canceled cloud computing contract and declined to hear a New Jersey case https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-rebuffs-new-jersey-police-shooting-qualified-immunity-case-2021-10-04 involving a legal defense that often protects police officers from accusations of excessive force. ABORTION AND GUN CASES The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has come under close scrutiny https://www.reuters.com/world/us/political-crosshairs-us-supreme-court-weighs-abortion-guns-2021-10-01 after on Sept. 1 allowing a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect. Among the cases https://www.reuters.com/world/us/abortion-gun-rights-religion-agenda-us-supreme-court-2021-10-01 the justices are due to hear during their new term is a challenge set to be argued in December to abortion rights involving Mississippi's bid to revive a Republican-backed state law banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Mississippi has asked the justices to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A few dozen people attended an anti-abortion rally outside the court. Father Frank Pavone, national director of a group called Priests for Life, led a prayer calling for the end of abortion He mentioned Trump's three conservative Supreme Court appointees. "All three, we are confident, will rule the right way," Pavone said. The justices are scheduled in November to hear a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association to New York state's restrictions on people carrying concealed handguns in public in a case that could further undermine firearms control efforts nationally. All nine justices, three of whom are over age 70, have been vaccinated against COVID-19, which has proven to be particularly dangerous among the elderly. They are being tested regularly, as well as others who attend the oral arguments. Although Kavanaugh tested positive https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-justice-kavanaugh-tests-positive-covid-19-court-statement-2021-10-01 for the coronavirus last week, the court said he had no COVID-19 symptoms. Written guidance for lawyers requires them to be tested for the coronavirus but there is no vaccine requirement. The logo and ticker for Eli Lilly and Co. are displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S (Photo : REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo/File Photo) A recently recalled batch of Glucagon Emergency Kits, Eli Lilly and Co's therapy for diabetic patients in crisis, was manufactured at an Indiana factory cited by U.S. health regulators this year for quality-control violations, including several involving that product, according to the company and a Reuters review of federal inspection records. Advertisement The Indianapolis-based company on Sept. 24 issued a voluntary U.S. recall of one lot of the kits whose key ingredient is Glucagon, a drug used to treat dangerously low blood sugar in diabetes patients. The company issued a voluntary recall in Canada the following day. Lilly's recall notices said that the company had received a report of a patient who experienced seizures even after being injected with the drug, a sign that the treatment was not potent enough to work. The company said the product failure might be related to its manufacturing process, without elaborating. In response to Reuters' inquiries, Lilly told the news organization that the affected kits were produced at a company facility in Indianapolis, and that the kit that prompted the recall had been distributed in Canada. As Reuters reported in May, the Indianapolis plant had been cited by U.S. health regulators https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/exclusive-lilly-hit-by-staff-accusations-fda-scrutiny-covid-drug-factories-2021-05-05 for substandard sanitation and quality control procedures. Separately, Lilly is facing a federal criminal investigation https://www.reuters.com/business/legal/exclusive-us-opens-criminal-probe-into-alleged-lapses-eli-lilly-plant-2021-05-27 into alleged manufacturing irregularities involving another of its U.S. factories in New Jersey, details of which were first reported by Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-elililly-special-report/special-report-insider-alleges-eli-lilly-blocked-her-efforts-to-sound-alarms-about-u-s-drug-factory-idUSKBN2B31K5 earlier this year. The recall of Glucagon kits made in Indianapolis is the first indication of potential patient harm due to recent manufacturing issues at the company's plants. "Lilly is deeply committed to manufacturing high-quality medicines for patients who need them-nothing is more important to us," the company said in a statement. "We take our obligations seriously and have rigorous quality systems in place to ensure compliance with stringent regulatory requirements." In all, roughly 66,000 Glucagon Emergency Kits were affected by the recalls, Lilly spokeswoman Kathryn Beiser told Reuters. She said about 19,000 of those were distributed to U.S. customers and nearly all the rest in Canada. She said the kits were produced at the Indianapolis plant around May 2020. Beiser declined to say whether Lilly has received other reports of adverse events related to the Glucagon kits. EMERGENCY KITS The recalled Glucagon Emergency Kit was designed for diabetes patients whose blood sugar is plummeting, and who need to raise it quickly to avoid complications that can include seizures or death. The kit consists of a vial, which is supposed to contain freeze-dried Glucagon powder, and a separate syringe filled with liquid. Normally, a caregiver inserts the liquid-filled syringe needle into the Glucagon vial in order to dilute the powder before administering it. Lilly's recall announcement said the vial used by the stricken patient contained liquid, instead of powder. The company's Indianapolis plant performs what is known in the industry as "fill and finish" - receiving raw drugs made at other facilities, putting them into vials and syringes, and shipping them to customers. U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspection records from March 2021 viewed by Reuters cited numerous quality-control violations at that plant, such as staff failing to properly monitor environmental conditions where the finished drugs are made and failing to establish appropriate procedures to prevent contamination. The FDA inspectors said they observed lapses in the manufacturing of the Glucagon kits as well as in Lilly's COVID-19 antibody therapy bamlanivimab and several other drugs, according to the inspection records, dated March 16. They concluded that Lilly must take steps to remedy the lapses but did not recommend regulatory action on the part of the FDA. Lilly spokeswoman Beiser said U.S. distribution of Glucagon Emergency Kits from the lot that was later recalled had ceased by March 25, a little more than a week after the FDA inspection report. Beiser said the distribution of the lot followed its regular process via wholesaler channels and was not related to the FDA report, adding that "any suggestion" it ended for other reasons is false. Meanwhile, emergency kits from that same batch continued to be distributed in Canada, Beiser said. Distribution of 44,000 kits in Canada began in February 2021 and continued through the middle of September, she said. The patient complaint that triggered the late September recall involved a kit that had been shipped to Canada, Beiser told Reuters. Beiser declined to comment specifically on why distribution of Glucagon Emergency Kits from the batch continued for another six months in Canada after distribution had ceased in the United States. She did not answer questions about whether the affected patient recovered. Health Canada, a regulatory agency similar to the U.S. FDA, declined to comment about Lilly's voluntary recall of the Glucagon Emergency Kits, or why kits from the batch continued to be distributed in Canada for months after they had ceased to be distributed in the United States. The FDA declined to comment on distribution of the kits, whether it had received other reports of adverse events, had re-inspected Lilly's Indianapolis facility or if it planned additional actions related to the recall. "It is important to note that this recall was a voluntary action taken by the company," FDA spokesman Jeremy Kahn said, without elaborating. "We have been closely evaluating this event and will continue to monitor the marketplace and manufacturing efforts to help ensure the availability of safe products for U.S. consumers." FEDERAL PROBE The recall comes as Lilly faces a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into alleged manufacturing irregularities and records-tampering at a separate factory in Branchburg, New Jersey, that produces bamlanivimab and other drugs. The Justice Department has not accused Lilly of any wrongdoing, and the company said earlier this year that it is cooperating in the probe. Lilly did not respond to a question from Reuters about the status of that investigation. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. Bamlanivimab, the COVID-19 antibody, manufactured at the Branchburg facility has been sent to the Indianapolis fill-and-finish plant to be put into vials and shipped. A group of FDA inspectors arrived at the Indianapolis plant in mid-February and stayed for more than two weeks, according to a redacted version of their report, which Reuters obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. In their report, the inspectors listed Glucagon as among the drugs where Lilly "failed to establish an adequate system for monitoring environmental conditions," and noted that Lilly failed to establish and follow appropriate written procedures "to prevent microbiological contamination of drug products purporting to be sterile." In addition, the inspectors said Lilly did not properly conduct quality-control sampling of glass components like vials and pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs including Glucagon, bamlanivimab and the cancer drug Cyramza. In Lilly's April 6 response to the FDA obtained by Reuters through an open records request, the company said it takes the inspectors' findings "very seriously" and is implementing actions to resolve concerns "on aggressive timelines." Lilly said it has established a comprehensive environmental monitoring program designed to assess microbiological control of manufacturing spaces, the redacted response said. The company did not respond to questions about the status of its efforts to rectify violations noted by the FDA at the Indianapolis plant. Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks after being welcomed by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., (Photo : REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz) The Czech prime minister, the king of Jordan and the chairman of a well-known Indian conglomerate were among global figures denying wrongdoing on Monday after the leak of what major news outlets called a secret trove of documents about offshore finance. India said it would investigate cases linked to the data dump, known collectively as the "Pandora Papers", while Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said officials named in the documents would be investigated - including himself. Advertisement The Kremlin said it had seen no evidence in the leak of hidden wealth among Russian President Vladimir Putin's entourage, after the Washington Post said the documents showed Putin's mistress had used offshore funds to buy a flat in Monaco. The dump of more than 11.9 million records, amounting to about 2.94 terabytes of data, was five years after the leak known as the "Panama Papers" exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a Washington-based network of reporters and media organizations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories. It did not say how the files were obtained, and Reuters could not independently verify the reports or the documents detailed by the consortium. The use of off-shore companies is not illegal or by itself evidence of wrongdoing, but news organisations in the consortium said such transactions could be used to hide wealth from tax collectors and other authorities. Jordan's King Abdullah, a close U.S. ally, was reported to have used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States. The royal palace said in a statement it was "no secret that His Majesty owns a number of apartments and residences in the United States and the United Kingdom. This is not unusual nor improper." In his first comments on the matter, Abdullah told tribal leaders: "The cost of these properties and all related expenditures have been personally funded by His Majesty. None of these expenses have been funded by the state budget or treasury." "There is nothing I have to hide from anyone but we are stronger than this and this is not the first time people target Jordan," the monarch told the gathering. DLA Piper, a London law office representing Abdullah, told the consortium of media outlets that he had "not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use." The U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States was reviewing the findings of the Pandora Papers but was in no position to comment on specifics. Addressing a specific query about Jordan, a significant recipient of U.S. aid, Ned Price said U.S. assistance to Amman was "in the direct national security interests of the United States." "We carefully conduct monitoring and evaluation of all of our programs to ensure they are implemented according to their intended purpose," he said. The Washington Post, which is part of the consortium, also reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who it said became the owner of a Monaco apartment through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2003 just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin, the newspaper said, citing Russian investigative outlet Proekt. The Post said Krivonogikh and her daughter, who is now 18, did not respond to requests for comment. The Kremlin said it had seen no evidence in the leak of hidden wealth among Putin's inner circle. "For now it is just not clear what this information is and what it is about," spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Asked about Putin's alleged relationship with Krivonogikh in November, Peskov said he had never heard of her. PAKISTAN OPPOSITION SEEKS RESIGNATIONS Days ahead of the Czech Republic's Oct. 8-9 parliamentary election, the documents reportedly tied prime minister Andrej Babis to a $22 million estate near Cannes, France. Speaking in a television debate, Babis, who was a billionaire before he entered politics, denied any wrongdoing. "The money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank," Babis said. Lebanon's former prime minister Hassan Diab said he had given up shares in a company he was linked to in the leak, and denied wrongdoing. A statement by his office said he had taken part in founding the company in 2015 and owned 17 shares, but that the firm had no activity since then and he had resigned and sold his stake. The Indian Express, part of the consortium, said the documents showed that businessman Anil Ambani and his representatives owned at least 18 offshore companies in Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and Cyprus. Set up between 2007 and 2010, seven of these companies had borrowed and invested at least $1.3 billion, the report said. In 2020, following a dispute with three Chinese state-controlled banks, Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, had told a London court his net worth was zero. Ambani did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment. An unidentified lawyer, on behalf of Ambani, told the Express: "Our client is a tax resident of India and has made disclosures to Indian authorities as required to be made in compliance with law. All required considerations were taken into account when making disclosures before the London court. The Reliance Group conducts business globally and for legitimate business and regulatory requirements, companies are incorporated in different jurisdictions." India's Finance Ministry said it would investigate cases linked to the Pandora Papers and take appropriate action, adding: "The government will also proactively engage with foreign jurisdictions for obtaining information in respect of relevant taxpayers/entities." Pakistan's opposition called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to order cabinet ministers and aides named in the leak to resign and face investigation. Finance minister Tarin, among the Pakistanis identified, told Geo TV everyone would be investigated, including himself. He denied wrongdoing. "If any wrongdoing is established we will take appropriate action," Khan said on Twitter. Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China (Photo : REUTERS/Aly Song) Top U.S. trade negotiator Katherine Tai on Monday pledged to exclude some Chinese imports from tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump while pressing Beijing in "frank" talks over its failure to keep promises made in Trump's trade deal and end harmful industrial policies. Tai said the United States would keep all options open as it continues to push China to stop pouring billions of dollars of state subsidies into its semiconductor, steel and other industries that Washington says harm U.S. companies. Advertisement Unveiling the results of a months-long "top-to-bottom" review of China trade policy, Tai said she will seek a meeting with Chinese vice premier Liu He in coming days to review China's failure to comply with the "Phase 1" trade deal launched in February 2020, including a shortfall of promised U.S. goods purchases. "Above all else, we must defend - to the hilt - our economic interests," Tai told an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "That means taking all steps necessary to protect ourselves against the waves of damage inflicted over the years through unfair competition." Washington was "prepared to deploy all tools and explore the development of new ones, including through collaboration with other economies and countries" as it charted a new course to change the trajectory of the U.S.-China trade dynamic, she said. Tai's remarks were broadly welcomed by U.S. trade groups, although they criticized the lack of a clear road map for ending tariffs on U.S. goods that have hit U.S. companies and consumers, and expanding trade opportunities for U.S. companies. "Our worry is that these tariffs will remain in place permanently and it will have a negative effect on the U.S. economy," said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council, which speaks for 200 firms doing business in China. TARIFF RELIEF Tai also said she would revive a "targeted" process of approving exclusions for certain Chinese imports from punitive U.S. tariffs, offering a measure of relief to U.S. industry, with additional exclusion processes possible in the future. Most previous tariff exclusions had expired at the end of 2020. However, she did not rule out starting fresh investigations under the Section 301 trade law, which could result in new tariffs, saying that would depend on China's actions. "We have a lot of work to do," Tai said. "For too long, China's lack of adherence to global trading norms has undercut the prosperity of Americans and others around the world." Tai said she expected to engage in frank conversations with her counterpart about China's performance under the Phase One Agreement, and shortfalls in its purchase commitments, but would also engage directly with Beijing on broader issues. She rejected the idea of separate "Phase 2" talks envisioned by Trump to tackle issues such as massive subsidies to domestic industries, saying they would be discussed in forthcoming talks. The two-year Phase 1 deal was crafted at the end of 2019, just as the coronavirus outbreak was emerging in China. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic caused the steepest drop in global GDP since the 1930s Great Depression, wreaking havoc on trade flows and global supply chains, which continue to struggle as demand recovers. China agreed https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-details-factbox/whats-in-the-u-s-china-phase-1-trade-deal-idUSKBN1ZE2IF to purchase $200 billion in additional U.S. farm and manufactured goods, energy and services over 2017 levels over the two years of the agreement, but has hit just 62% of the target, according to estimates https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/us-china-phase-one-tracker-chinas-purchases-us-goods by Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Tai said she had not spoken with Chinese officials thus far about factors that limited its purchases. The Trump-era trade deal, which help defuse a trade war that heaped tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from both countries, also called for China to improve protections for some U.S. intellectual property and market access for U.S. biotechnology and financial services firms. U.S. President Joe Biden kept in place the tariffs imposed by Trump as Tai conducted a top-to-bottom review https://www.reuters.com/business/us-trade-chief-expects-engage-china-near-term-phase-1-deal-2021-05-05 of China trade policy and Washington focused on rebuilding ties with U.S. allies to present a more united front to Beijing. Tai said the Biden administration would continue to invest in technology, education and stronger supply chains to boost U.S. competitiveness, while working with other major democracies to address China's "non-market" behavior. CHINA 'MAY NOT CHANGE' Tai ran through run through a history of China's failure to live up to its trade and reform commitments over the past two decades, from its accession to the World Trade Organization to the Phase 1 deal, and said it was increasingly clear that Beijing had no plans to address U.S. concerns. "We recognize that China simply may not change, and that we have to have a strategy that deals with China as it is, rather than as we might wish it to be," a senior Biden administration official said on Sunday. Asked about decoupling from China, Tai said it was not realistic for the world's two largest economies to stop trading with each other. "I think that the issue perhaps is, what are the goals we're looking for in a kind of 'recoupling.'" Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacts to onlookers as he departs after taking the stand to defend Tesla Inc's 2016 deal for SolarCity in a case before the Delaware Court of Chancery in Wilmington, (Photo : REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) A Delaware judge should order Elon Musk to repay $9.4 billion to Tesla Inc for the benefits he received by pushing the electric vehicle maker in 2016 to buy an ailing solar company he partly owned, according to Tesla investors in a court filing late Friday. The investors said a "simple and practical" way to undo the benefits they say Musk improperly received from the $2.6 billion deal for SolarCity would be to order the chief executive to return the Tesla shares he received for his stock in the rooftop solar company. Advertisement Musk received 2.4 million Tesla shares, which have grown to 12 million shares due to stock splits and are currently worth about $9.4 billion. The investors said Musk, one of the world's richest people, could also repay the value of the stock to the company. Tesla stock was up 2.5% in early Monday trading at $792.76 per share. The lawsuit was brought by union pension funds and asset managers. They allege in their post-trial brief that Musk did not recuse himself from the deal negotiations and never disclosed SolarCity was nearly out of cash. Musk said in his own post-trial brief filed late Friday that SolarCity was the culmination of a decade-long plan to create a vertically integrated clean energy company offering roof-top solar generation combined with Tesla's battery storage and vehicles. He said the deal was struck at a fair price and approved by 85% of Tesla shareholders. The briefs follow a two-week trial in July in Wilmington, Delaware. The judge, Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights, must still answer a key question that could determine the outcome of the case - whether Musk is a controlling shareholder despite owning a minority stake in Tesla. Slights has scheduled post-trial arguments for January and a ruling would likely take place months after that. Hundreds rally in Georgia to call for release of jailed ex-president Supporters of Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who called for post-election street protests and was arrested upon his arrival in Georgia despite facing imprisonment, hold a rally near a jail in Rustavi, Georgia (Photo : REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze) Hundreds of Georgians rallied on Monday to demand the release of hunger-striking ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was jailed last week after returning from exile and calling for post-election protests. Saakashvili, who was sentenced in absentia in Georgia in 2018 for abuse of power and concealing evidence when he was president - charges he called politically motivated, secretly returned home ahead of last weekend's municipal elections after years abroad. He was arrested on Friday. Advertisement It is not fully clear how the 53-year-old, pro-Western politician came back but investigating prosecutors have charged two men for driving him from the Georgian port of Poti to a village on Sept. 29, Interfax news agency reported. Saakashvili plans to keep up the hunger strike he declared the evening of his arrest until he is freed, TASS news agency cited his lawyer as saying. Georgia's president and government have made clear they have no plan to pardon or release him. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was following developments in Georgia closely and urged the country to ensure Saakashvili is treated fairly "in accordance with Georgian law, and Georgia's international human rights commitments and obligations." Some of Saakahsvili's supporters from the United National Movement party he founded gathered outside the prison holding him in the town of Rustavi, southeast of the capital, on Monday. They waved flags and chanted his nickname "Misha, Misha!" The politician who led the Rose Revolution in 2003 that ended the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze is a figurehead for some in the opposition, but derided as a clown by detractors in the ruling Georgian Dream party. Georgian Dream won 46.7% at the municipal elections over the weekend, compared with 30.7% for the party founded by Saakashvili, according to results released on Sunday with most votes counted. Royal Family: Queen Elizabeth's 'Serious Gamble' with Harry and Meghan's Future (Photo : REUTERS ) As Queen Elizabeth II prepares for her celebration for her Platinum Jubilee next year, she's warned of a plot about a "serious gamble" for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's future roles. The Queen, who is already 95 years old. Will become the first-ever British Monarch to be celebrating a Platinum Jubilee next year to mark 70 years sitting on top of the throne. Advertisement Throughout the year, members of the Royal Family, including Her Majesty, will travel all around the country, engaging in a multitude of tasks and engagements to make this momentous occasion. The Queen will be awarded the Platinum Jubilee medals to select members of the Royal Family to mark the occasion. Buckingham Palace has already confirmed that the medals will be awarded to some of her relatives. Including those who have not yet undertaken or who no longer do official engagements on Her Majesty's behalf. Prince Andrew, 61, is currently involved in a civil lawsuit in New York, as well his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are already part of the list to be awarded the medals in question. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also appear to be on the list of people receiving the award, as per the Daily Express's royal correspondent, Richard Palmer. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will both be receiving the prestigious medals by Her Majesty, despite stepping away from the monarchy early on in 2020. The "serious gamble" begins with journalist and royal commentator Daniela Elser, who argued that the Queen "not listening to her people" could backfire as Prince Harry and Meghan's popularity suffered a recent plummet in the UK. Elser says that the Queen's decision to "not rock the boat" would suffer a backlash. Elser wrote in the news saying that the Queen's decision to not cause any more friction and to cut what she did in 2012, rather than listening to her people's wishes, is pursuing a serious gamble. In recent YouGov polls, the Duke of Sussex has dropped nearly 10 percent in popularity, and overall positive opinions pertaining to the royals in Britain dropped 43 to 34 percent. Meghan Markle dropped in popularity as well from 29 to 26 percent. Despite the backlash, it doesn't seem that the Her Majesty would not change the members who will receive the medals anytime soon. Prince Harry and Meghan's New York Visit Lacked Attention (Photo : REUTERS ) Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle went on a recent visit to the United States and failing to make headlines all over the United States, questioning Prince Harry and Meghan's popularity in the United States of America. Advertisement Prince Harry and Meghan Markle failed to catch the attention of the people in the United States for their visit to New York. Royal Expert Rusell Myers said on the podcast Pod Save The Queen that he was really interesting to sort of traction is happening during the visit. And the only thing he has seen was around Twitter when the New York Post took a swipe at the couple as they rolled into town in a load of gas-guzzling vehicles, big old security detail. Myers doesn't think it did get a lot of traction in the United States. It was obvious to him that, yes, there was an audience for them, and we were covering it. However, it is unclear whether they are as adored in the United States as we were first thinking. Certainly, they do have potentially a lot more supporters in the States than here. He questioned whether they are adorned in the United States, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stayed for three days and attended series of official engagements. The Duke and The Duchess of Sussex seen their popularity fades after their decision to leave and step down from the Royal Family. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently ranked 13th and 14th most popular members of the monarchy with only a 32 percent approval rating based on YouGov. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, New York trip served as their first official joint tour after giving birth to their Lilibet Diana, their daughter, and after renouncing as senior working royals. Hey spent three days touring California and build up their public appearance at the Global Citizen Live concert. The two royal family members also visited the One World Trade Centre with Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Mayor of New York City. The Royal Couple also had a meeting with WHO ( World Health Organization ) and a primary school in Harlem. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were also visited by the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and joined the discussion on vaccine equity and climate change. The Royal couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's final visits were at Global Citizen Live Concert in Central Park, New York, where they went on to the stage and criticized "Ultra-wealthy pharmaceutical companies" for withholding their vaccine compositions. Original TV Anime Toshinki G's Flame To Premiere On Tokyo Mx In October (Photo : Toshinki G's Flame) An all-new original television anime, a science-fiction story, called Toshinki G's Flame (Ancient G's Flame) will premiere on October 12 at 7 PM on the Tokyo MX channel. The anime is set at the end of the 21st century when there has been a revolution in the Earth's economy due to the discovery of a new source of energy called "DG Energy", short for "divine grace energy". The economic revolution has allowed humans to colonize space. However, when an expedition arrives at Pluto, a mysterious, giant lifeform called "Nergal" attacks them. Advertisement The Earth Alliance Army creates an Ancient Girls Unit (AG Unit) to fight back and use ancient robot weapons excavated from archaeological sites the world over called the "G's Flame". The "Ancient Girls" are girls with special qualities who can pilot the robots to fight the Nergal. However, the first AG Unit suffers hits and casualties in the Jupiter Trojan campaign. Reiu Minamaya, the pilot of Unit 04, goes missing in action. Many years later, Reika Minamiya, who is the protagonist of the anime, becomes the pilot of G's Flame when she joins the anti-Nergal AG unit to search for Reiu who is her older sister. The anime is a coming-of-age story, which also revolves around friendship, where Reika is shown overcoming her turmoil and anxieties. The main characters and cast for Ancient G's Flame include Reika Minamiya voiced by Rie Takahashi, Luna Mariano Perez Rupiano voiced by Aya Suzuki, Jotis Pearl voiced by Kaori Ishihara, Alhena Hakim voiced by Hiromi Igarashi, Eyre voiced by Arisa Nakata, and Reiu Minamiya voiced by And Ayana Taketatsu. Osamu Yamasaki, known for his works Time Travel Girl, ACTORS: Songs Connection among others, has drafted the original story and is the series scripts' supervisor and composer. Hisayoshi Hirasawa is the sound director of the anime, while Toshiki Kameyama is the ADR director. The opening song "Sora," is being performed by Kuhaku Gokko and the ending song "Galactic Wind" will be performed by MARiA. The music has been composed by Shun Narita and ISAO. Ancient G's Flame will broadcast during the 7 PM slot on Tuesdays on TOKYO MX beginning October 12, and during the 11 PM slot on Sundays on BS NTV beginning on October 17. An official website and Twitter handle have also been published for the series. Russian and U.S. state flags fly near a factory in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, Russia (Photo : REUTERS/Anton Vaganov) U.S. Democratic and Republican senators urged President Joe Biden on Tuesday to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States if Moscow does not issue more visas for Americans to represent Washington in Russia. The suggestion from the leaders of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees - Democrats Bob Menendez and Mark Warner and Republicans Jim Risch and Marco Rubio - would mark a sharp escalation in an ongoing dispute over embassy staffing amid tension between Washington and Moscow. Advertisement Russia in August banned the U.S. embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except for guards, forcing the mission to let go 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said. That meant there are only about 100 U.S. diplomats in Russia, compared with 400 Russian diplomats across the United States, the senators said. "This disproportionality in diplomatic representation is unacceptable. Accordingly, Russia must issue enough visas to approach parity between the number of American diplomats serving in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats serving in the United States," the senators wrote in a letter to Biden. If Moscow does not do so, they said Biden should begin expelling as many as 300 Russian diplomats. The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab said that his country looks forward to establishing a real partnership with Egypt in the energy field, noting that several oil and gas exploration tenders would be announced in the coming period. It is a pleasant autumn evening in October. Seventy-year-old Medhat Mohieddin, a former soldier in the Egyptian army, is turning on his TV to follow the news and is somewhat taken aback to hear Sudanese officials defending a possible normalisation agreement between Khartoum and Tel Aviv. He is not completely surprised, however, because it has been happening for over a month now this would be the third deal in less than two months. I understand that things are going forward, but I am wondering if these normalisation agreements are fair to Arab rights or if Israel is getting too much in return for too little. Mohieddin, who nearly died during his participation in the October 1973 War between Egypt and Israel, says he cannot help but ask whether the current normalisation deals with Israel are doing justice to the huge sacrifices that Egyptian soldiers have made to defend Egyptian and Arab rights. I think of the many days and nights that we spent under Israeli siege in Kabrit, and I recall the brave men who died during this war, and I ask what they would say now if they were watching us. Would they say we were honouring their sacrifices, or would they say otherwise, Mohieddin asked. Mohieddin was a soldier in Battalion 603 that endured a harsh Israeli siege for over four successive months after the UN Security Council announced a ceasefire in the 1973 War on 22 October 1973, a little over two weeks after Egyptian soldiers crossed from the west side of the Suez Canal to the east side, where they brought down the Bar Lev Line that Israel had earlier claimed was invincible.The bravery and resilience of this battalion, part of Brigade 130, was shown in its mission to control crucial points around the Bitter Lakes, through which the Suez Canal runs. It was tasked with stopping the Israeli army from carrying out a counter-attack that could have stopped the crossing of Egyptian soldiers that started on the afternoon of 6 October.The crossing of battalions 602 and 603 of Brigade 130, planned almost two years ahead of 6 October, was successful. However, controlling the crucial points around the Bitter Lakes proved more difficult, and the Israeli army managed a counter-offensive that harmed Battalion 602. Battalion 603 was instructed to take an Israeli strongpoint at Kabrit.Taking over Kabrit was not an easy mission, because just as Battalion 602 had sustained considerable damage, we in Battalion 603 had suffered damage too, though not as bad, said Khalil Al-Mahdi, lead military engineer in Battalion 603.According to Al-Mahdi, now in his mid-70s, a man conscripted after getting his engineering degree, it was the dedication and resolve of the men of the battalion and the tough training they had received since the brigade was established in January 1972 that made it possible for Egyptian soldiers to take control of the strongpoint and to hold Israeli soldiers hostage.Like Mohieddin, Al-Mahdi credits the military skills and bravery and dedication of leader of Battalion 603 Ibrahim Abdel-Tawab for helping the two-thirds of the battalion that survived the Israeli attack to take control of the strongpoint on 8 October just as the crossing was being secured.However, as Al-Mahdi recalls, getting hold of the Kabrit strongpoint was one thing, and keeping it was quite another, because the Israelis were really determined to regain it in view of its exceptional strategic importance, he said.It was a tough war, and we were short on military equipment, but we never lost our morale or resolve, and we were willing to do whatever it took to keep in control of this strongpoint. We knew that our presence there was essential to curbing the counter-offensive of the Israelis or at least to limiting it if it had to happen, Al-Mahdi said.The resolve of the soldiers of Battalion 603 was not undermined by the news that they received from headquarters about a breach the Israeli army had made on 16 October, then managing to cross to the western side of the canal and to encircle the Third Army.Al-Mahdi, being in a leadership position, was informed through the chain of command. Mohieddin learned about it from the radio. The broadcaster was reading a statement from the Armed Forces, saying something to the effect that the Egyptian army was still in control of Ismailia. It was baffling I was not sure what to think or what to believe because of the sad experience of the false news that the radio had broadcast during the early days of the 1967 War, suggesting a victory for the Egyptian army when the situation was in fact disastrous, he recalled.However, neither Al-Mahdi nor Mohieddin were prepared to entertain the remotest thought of surrender. Not at all on the contrary, we were determined to prevail, and we knew that our resilience would help those officers and soldiers that had been encircled by the Israelis, Al-Mahdi said. According to the testimony of both men and that of Ahmed Ali, another soldier in Battalion 603 now in his early 70s, with Abdel-Tawab in charge demoralisation was not something they ever considered. Abdel-Tawab had taken control of the battalion after his senior officer Ahmed Shoeib was seriously wounded and had withdrawn from the line for treatment. Abdel-Tawab, Al-Mahdi said, knew that the battle was going to be long and tough, and he ordered the use of limited military resources to face up to possible Israeli attack. One mission that Abdel-Tawab assigned to Al-Mahdi was to decide the extent of the landmines that Israeli soldiers had planted around the strongpoint, organise the escape of the soldiers of the battalion by a miracle, and replant the mines in a way that could help the Egyptian soldiers to defend it. The plan worked when the Israelis sent in their tanks to regain the strongpoint, they drove into the landmines. This helped us considerably in fighting back, Al-Mahdi recalled. Demoralisation was not a possibility, not even when Israeli fighters bombarded the strongpoint with bombs, causing heavy causalties. We were committed to resilience. We would bury the martyrs, pray, and move on. There was no time to grieve and no time for us to think that we might also die soon. Even if we thought that death was near, our focus was not on how to live but on how to make sure the strongpoint was not lost to the Israelis, Al-Mahdi said. By 22 October, Al-Mahdi added, the Israeli army had sent in enough soldiers to make it difficult for the members of the battalion to move. There was little food and water, mostly taken from the strongpoint, and our military equipment was low. We were fully aware of the fact that at any minute things could take a disturbing turn, Al-Mahdi acknowledged. But somehow we did have the strong faith that we could prevail. We just thought that there was some power that was there for us, he said. Clearly, the power of God was on our side it must have been. How else could we have believed in the chances of survival for wounded soldiers that we had put on floating pieces of wood and put in the canal, hoping that the current would take their bodies in the direction of Suez where they would receive treatment, Al-Mahdi asked. For close to three successive weeks, the members of Battalion 603 continued their fight, while observing the Ramadan fast and hoping for some sort of breakthrough. However, when successive resolutions of the UN Security Council failed to give them a clear exit plan, they knew that their ordeal was going to be much longer than they had at first thought. The siege continued even after the signing of the first disengagement agreement between Egypt and Israel in Geneva on 18 January 1974. And the signing came just one day after Abdel-Tawab was killed in an Israeli attack. This is not a moment that any of us will ever forget, no matter how long we live. Anyone who was alive then and saw the death of Abdel-Tawab will always remember that moment, Ali said. Al-Mahdi and Mohieddin gave detailed accounts of the moment and recounted it with tears in their eyes. When the Israelis knew that they had got him, and when they saw that we had buried him, they fired 21 gunshots in honour of his exceptional military resilience, Al-Mahdi said. Mohamed Al-Dessouki, the chief of operations, took over the battalion until an agreement was reached to end the siege on 22 February when the soldiers and officers started to move back. Our hearts were broken to be leaving the bodies of the great men whom we had lost, but we were very proud that we had never lost control of the strongpoint, no matter the pressure and no matter the difficulties, Mohieddin said. When they got to Suez, the surviving members of the battalion took a train to Cairo and then on to Alexandria, the base of Brigade 130. At every single station that the train stopped at we were cheered and welcomed by the people and by military commanders there to salute us, Al-Mahdi recalled. He added that when they got to Alexandria and off the train, the drivers of the military vehicles could barely make it through the streets as people were crowding around to salute the heroes. When all the members of the battalion came together in Alexandria to be honoured by their commanders, they were pleasantly surprised to find that some of the wounded men that they had put on floating wooden boards had made it. They had been rescued by the Red Cross, but only some of them, unfortunately. Some had also died, Al-Mahdi said. We knew the details of the military situation when we got back. We had hoped that there would be no breach of the Canal, but we felt we had done everything we could to free our land that Israel had taken by military force, Mohieddin said. According to Ali, there was also an impression that there would be no more wars. Im not sure how, but it was very clear in my mind at the time, he said. Ali was also not really surprised by the later decision of late president Anwar Al-Sadat to pursue a visit to Jerusalem and start peace talks with Israel in 1977. I am not at all saying I expected this, or that I even thought it could happen, but Sadat was the king of surprises. He would always do the thing that nobody would think was going to happen, he said. When we went to war on 6 October 1973, we scarcely believed that it was happening because we had not believed it was going to happen, he added. Ali said that he had never had any resentment of the decision by Sadat to pursue a negotiated settlement with Israel to regain the remainder of Egyptian territories. We went to war to get Sinai back, and when we were held under siege for over four consecutive months we were only thinking that we are there to help to regain Sinai. That was everything to us, he said. Mohieddin is not willing to claim that he was neutral about Sadats decision to pursue a political settlement with Israel. However, he is willing to say that when all is said and done, it was Sadat who managed through war and through negotiations to bring back the land. When I compare the deal that Sadat made in the late 1970s after the October War with the normalisation deals that Israel has been getting from several Arab countries over the past few weeks, I have to say that Sadats deal was much better, Mohieddin said. The war was really very tough, and we had to prepare for it hard and long, Al-Mahdi recalled. It was not just tough for those on the front either, because we were there to die to get back the land. It was also very tough for the families of the soldiers and officers who were waiting and praying for their safety back home, he added. Al-Mahdi himself was on the front line along with two other brothers who were also doing their military service. For his wife, to whom he had just got married before the war started, and for his parents, every day of the four plus months was one of endless pain. Upon the return of the members of the battalion to Alexandria in February 1974, he said, there were families there waiting, hoping to see their loved ones even though they had already been notified that their sons had lost their lives during the war. *A version of this article appears in print in the 8 October, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: The exhibitions are running through the end of the month Egypt's museums are displaying military artefacts in a special exhibition to celebrate the October War victory, said Moemen Othman, head of the Museums Sector at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The exhibitions are running through the end of the month. The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir is displaying Tharus stelae panel, depicting a military leader during the reign of King Ramses II, the Kom Oshim Museum in Fayoum is showcasing a ship and tools used in combat, and the Mallawi Museum in Minya is displaying the statue of the goddess Sekhmet, the goddess of power and war. The Museum of Islamic Art has put on show a collection of daggers, and the Alexandria National Museum is exhibiting a statue depicting the King of War Thutmosis III in a sphinx shape. Search Keywords: Short link: The directive aims to ensure that women can access various positions and achieve success in all fields, according to a statement by the Ministry of Justice Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi directed on Monday Justice Minister Omar Marwan to coordinate with concerned bodies to allow women to become members of the State Council and the public prosecution, according to a statement by the Ministry of Justice. "On international Women's Day, President El-Sisi directed Minister of Justice Omar Marawan to coordinate with the head of the Supreme Judicial Council and the president of the State Council to utilise women in these two entities, to fully enforce the constitutional entitlement of [ensuring] equality and non-discrimination," said the statement. The directive aims to ensure that women can access various positions and achieve success in all fields, according to the statement. The Egyptian Ministry of Justice said it has already started communicating with both judicial bodies to put the presidents directives into force soon. Although there are a number of women occupying judicial posts, no women have ever been appointed as judges on the State Council, which refuses all applications filed by women. A number of appeals have been filed by women over the past several years over the matter. The council's stance aims to "ensure the proper functioning of the public body," according to a report issued in 2017 via the Commissioners Authority of the Supreme Administrative Court. The report, which was issued in response to an appeal filed in 2017 to allow women to apply to the council, said that the State Council has the freedom to choose [who occupies judicial positions], and that there is no explicit provision in the Egyptian constitution obliging the council to appoint women. The report added that the council's stance "does not represent any kind of discrimination against women." The State Council is a judicial body that looks at administrative disputes, disciplinary cases and appeals, and disputes pertaining to its decisions. It also reviews draft laws and decisions, and contracts to which the state or one of the public bodies is a party. President of the National Council for Women Maya Morsy thanked the president for his recent directives, saying they represent a political will that has always been fair to the Egyptian woman. Earlier on the day, President El-Sisi said that Egyptian women are the conscience of the nation. Women are the source of wisdom and the cornerstone of the familys unity, El-Sisi wrote on Facebook, adding that women are symbols of endless giving, security, and sacrifice. In a report published in 2019, the country's Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said that females represent 20.9 percent of Egypt's labour force, while males represented 79.1 percent. CAPMAS also said that the number of females in Egypt reached 47.5 million compared to 50.5 million males in January 2019. Search Keywords: Short link: The decision 'will contribute to achieving full equality between men and women in assuming judicial posts in all judicial bodies and authorities,' the presidential spokesman said Related Egyptian president calls for hiring women on State Council and public prosecution As per a presidential decision, Egyptian women can work at the State Council and the Public Prosecution for the first time in the countrys history starting 1 October, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in a meeting with top judicial figures on Wednesday. Several historic decisions were issued during the meeting, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said, noting that they will contribute to achieving full equality between men and women in assuming judicial posts in all judicial bodies and authorities. Although there are a number of women occupying judicial posts, no women have ever been appointed as judges on the State Council, which refuses all applications filed by women. This came to an end last March when El-Sisi directed Justice Minister Omar Marwan to coordinate with concerned bodies to allow women to become members of the State Council and the Public Prosecution. During the Wednesday meeting, El-Sisi said that 1 October of every year is to be considered Egyptian judiciary day. The meeting also approved a decision to equalise financial entitlements among persons of the same rank in the four judicial bodies and authorities of the State Council, the Administrative Prosecution, the State Lawsuits Authority and the judiciary. The decisions also aim at achieving equality in income among peers in every judicial body and authority automatically, so that there would be no need to file lawsuits to achieve this equality, the spokesman added. The decisions approved during the meeting also include briefing the State Lawsuits Authority of the reasons for rejecting any applicant for appointment in judicial positions. These reasons will be submitted to the relevant judicial authority. The decisions ensure that the secondment of a single judicial member is not repeated in more than one entity, except for the Ministry of Justice. A time limit for the secondment duration will also be set as per the decisions. The decisions also ensure that the names of those accepted for appointment are not repeated in different judicial entities. This latest decision is applied for those who graduated in 2018 or later for the State Council and Public Prosecution and for those graduated in 2013 or later for the Administrative Prosecution and the State Lawsuits Authority. These decisions will expand the opportunities of joining judicial positions after repetition in appointment is prevented, the spokesman said. He affirmed that these decisions allow transparency to know the reasons for excluding some applicants from appointment. Also, the transference to the Administrative Capital will be considered a breakthrough in terms of modern workplaces and the use of modern technology in the procedures, the spokesman added. The meeting was attended by head of the Supreme Constitutional Court Saeed Marie, head of the Supreme Judicial Council Abdullah Shoda, head of the State Council Mohamed Hossam El-Din, Public Prosecutor Hamada El-Sawi, and head of the Administrative Prosecution Essam El-Din Menshawi. In another meeting with Justice Minister Marwan on Wednesday, El-Sisi ordered enhancing the use of the latest electronic and technological means and techniques in the work system of the courts and litigation procedures. The president also ordered enhancing the implementation of electronic linkage among the courts nationwide during the coming period for the positive results it has yielded. Search Keywords: Short link: The following is a list of helpful questions and answers that spell out the new rules for entering the country Egypt has updated the anti-coronavirus safety measures for all arrivals from abroad, including those coming from countries struggling with new COVID-19 variants, according to a statement released by EgyptAir, the national flagship carrier, on Wednesday night. The measures are based on new directives issued by the countrys Ministry of Health, EgyptAir added. All passengers traveling to Egypt from anywhere should provide a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before departure, but based on the new measures, vaccination certificates could be provided instead of the nasal swab test. The following is a list of helpful questions and answers that spell out the new rules for entering the country: Q: Which countries has Egypt specified as affected by the new variants of the virus? The health ministry said the new rules are applied to all travellers coming from countries that are affected directly or indirectly by the new variants. The list includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Latin America.The list includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Latin America. Q: Can travelers coming from countries affected by the new coronavirus variants travel to Egypt? Yes, they are allowed. They must provide a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before departure, or they can provide an accredited COVID-19 vaccination certificate showing that they were fully vaccinated 14 days before arrival. Q: What does an accredited vaccination certificate mean? The certificate must be recognised by the health authorities at their countries of origin and include a QR Code. Certificates must not include deletion, alteration, or addition otherwise they will not be accepted. Q: Are travelers subject to other measures? Yes, they will be subject to a 15-minute molecular test, known as ID NOW. If the result comes back positive, a PCR will be performed at the arrival airport. Q: What if anyone tests positive? If the passenger is Egyptian, he/she will be transferred to a Fever Hospital or a designated hospital for coronavirus patients where the treatment protocol can be applied. In the event the passenger is not Egyptian and the ID NOW TEST and the PCR test are positive, the passenger will be deported. Q: What about foreigners coming from other countries? They must provide a negative PCR test performed 72 hours before departure, or an accredited COVID-19 vaccination certificate showing that they were fully vaccinated 14 days before arrival The certificate must be recognised by the health authorities at their countries of origin and include a QR Code, with no deletion, alteration, or addition in it. Q: Will they be subject to a rapid test or a nasal swab at arrival airports? No, they wont. Q: Do the aforementioned rules apply to all coronavirus vaccines? The rules apply to vaccines approved by the World Health Organisation and the Egyptian Drug Authority. Q: When can vaccinated travellers enter Egypt? At least 14 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sinovac, or Sputnik vaccines, or 14 days after receiving a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnsons Janssen vaccine. Search Keywords: Short link: Ahram Online has put together a guide for those who plan on travelling from Egypt Egypts Ministry of Health has recently launched 126 centres nationwide for issuing QR-coded certificates for those who wish to travel and need to document their coronavirus inoculation. Below is a guide for anyone looking to travel abroad from Egypt. If you have been vaccinated but have not received the new QR-coded certificates, which cost EGP 100 for Egyptians and $10 for foreigners, head towards any of the newly-launched 126 centres nationwide with a valid passport and your vaccination certificate. If you have already received the new certificate, check whether your QR code is working by scanning it. If you have not been vaccinated, check your destination countrys travel restrictions in addition to its approved vaccine list before registering for a vaccine. You can inquire about the nearest documentation or vaccination centre or about any related procedure by calling the ministrys hotline (105 or 15335), or send your inquiry to the WhatsApp number 01553105105. What you need to know Some countries allow entry with negative PCR tests or any type of vaccination, while others are less flexible and require travellers to be fully vaccinated using certain vaccines. Some countries even require travellers to be fully vaccinated two weeks before arrival. Not abiding by the destination countrys restrictions can result in denied entry or a days-long stay in quarantine. Egypt is currently using the WHO-approved British AstraZeneca vaccine, which is scarce at the moment due to increased demand from travellers. Egypt is also using the WHO-approved Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, as well as the Russian Sputnik V, which has not yet been approved. Meanwhile, those who wish to travel have priority for inoculation by the limited-but-available AstraZeneca shots at certain vaccination centres out of the 400 set up by the health ministry. Egypt is set to receive successive shipments comprising 20 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 35.6 million AstraZeneca doses and 2.4 million Pfizer doses before the end of 2021; part of which will be received within days. Search Keywords: Short link: Relations between Algeria and former colonial power France have hit a new low, with Algiers recalling its ambassador from Paris this week. On Sunday, Algeria banned French military planes from its airspace, which they cross to fly to the Sahel region where troops are helping to battle jihadist insurgents, the French army said. Here's an overview of what led to these tensions, just months ahead of the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence from France. What Triggered The Row? Algeria recalled its ambassador Mohamed Antar-Daoud from Paris over what the presidency late Saturday said were "irresponsible" remarks and "inadmissible interference" by French President Emmanuel Macron. The remarks to French daily Le Monde were widely picked up by Algerian media, and came during a meeting Thursday between Macron and descendents of figures from the 1954-1962 war of independence. Macron said Algeria was ruled by a "political-military system", Le Monde said. He also reportedly criticised what he called the "official history" which Algeria had written for itself, saying it was "not based on truths" but "on a discourse of hatred towards France". Macron said a French decision announced days ago to drastically slash the number of visas it grants to citizens of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia would have no impact on students or business figures. The move -- denounced by Algeria -- was aimed at "annoying people in leadership", he said. He also irked Algiers by describing President Abdelmedjid Tebboune as being "trapped in a system which is very tough". And he mocked the way Algerians consider France as the only colonial power to have ruled them, while forgetting Ottoman domination over North Africa between the 16th and 17th centuries. Were There Tensions Already? A row erupted in February 2005 after the French parliament adopted a law recognising "the positive role of colonisation". Although it was later abrogated, it led to the cancelation of a treaty of friendship between Algeria and France. Tensions rose again in May 2020 after French public media broadcast a documentary about the Hirak pro-democracy protest movement which had forced Tebboune's veteran predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power the previous year. At the time Algeria also recalled its ambassador for consultations. And in April this year, French Prime Minister Jean Castex scrapped a visit to Algiers after it had criticised the "small" size of his delegation, informed sources told AFP. Have Things Been Better? Before Macron's latest comments -- which Algerian media slammed as "vitriolic" -- relations between France and its former colony were not so bad. In November 2020, Macron had praised Tebboune's governance in an interview with the pan-African weekly news magazine Jeune Afrique. But he sparked the fury of Algerian civil society and expatriates when he added that he would "do everything possible" to help Tebboune deal with the Hirak protest movement. Earlier that year, however, France took two steps that were highly appreciated by Algeria. In July 2020, Paris returned to Algeria the skulls of 24 resistance fighters who had been shot and decapitated in the early years of the French occupation. Previously, in March, Macron had admitted that French soldiers had murdered top Algerian lawyer Ali Boumendjel in 1957 and then covered up his death. Algeria media on Saturday also noted that Macron had declared Algeria's colonisation a "crime against humanity" during his election campaign while visiting Algiers. In 2020, Algeria and France agreed to task experts to draft a report aimed at forging "reconciliation". In January, French historian Benjamin Stora handed to Macron his report, which made a series of recommendations including "symbolic acts" or reconciliation and the creation a "memory and truth commission". However, the French presidency said there was "no question of showing repentance" or of "presenting an apology" for France's colonial past. Algiers rejected the Stora report saying it was "not objective" and failed to proved an "official recognition by France of war crimes and crimes against humanity, perpetrated during the 130 years of the occupation of Algeria". In his report Stora said France and Algiers were locked in a "never-ending memory war" and competing claims of victimisation. Search Keywords: Short link: Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed announced on Monday that the government may soon vaccinate high school students with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as the country is currently studying lowering the 18-year age limit for COVID-19 immunisation. It is very likely we will inoculate youngsters and children under the age of 18 with Pfizer shots, especially since the president favours vaccinating secondary school pupils, Zayed said in a joint presser with the US Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen in Cairo. The press conference was held to discuss the details of using the recently received shipment of 1.6 million Pfizer doses from the US and the remaining 6.4 million that will arrive in Egypt by the end of October. The Pfizer vaccine, which is administered in two shots 21 days apart, is undergoing authorisation in the US and other countries for use in children aged 12-17. A decision regarding vaccinating children as well as offering a third (booster) shot to citizens who were inoculated at least 6-8 months ago will be taken within the week, Hossam Hosny, the head of the Scientific Committee to Combat the Coronavirus at the Ministry of Health, said in a statement released last week. Egypt has recently mandated coronavirus vaccination for all teaching staff, employees, and workers, as well as students who are 18 years of age or older at lower and higher education institutions. The government has also barred unvaccinated individuals from entering educational institutions in the upcoming academic year, which starts on 9 October. President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has recently stressed that the countrys vaccination campaign should target high school students whenever attainable. We seek to achieve high vaccination rates in a short period of time to achieve herd immunity, the president said during an event in September. The countrys vaccination campaign has recently shifted into high gears to cover students and staff in the educational sector. Egypt is now providing immediate vaccinations for university students at 270 youth centres countrywide without prior online registration. The government seeks to guarantee a safe academic year for all students and staff amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, particularly with the return of in-person classes at schools and universities. According to Minister Zayed, Egypt is witnessing a stable rate of infections and deaths during this new wave, which started in early August and is expected to last till November, due to the increase in vaccination rates among the public. We expect that if October passes without a spike in cases, the fourth wave will recede, the minister added. Zayed stressed that in the event the country witnesses an increase in infections in the coming period, classes at schools and universities will not be suspended since all students, workers and employees in the education sector will have been vaccinated by then. The minister noted that up to 70 percent of school staffers nationwide have already received the vaccine, with the rate in universities at 90 percent. She also announced that around 35 percent of university students have also received jabs. More Pfizer doses on the way On Thursday, Egypt received 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine as a donation from the United States via the COVAX initiative, a scheme that aims to equitably distribute vaccines worldwide. During the presser today, Zayed thanked the US government for the gift, explaining that the shipment is part of a larger designated package totaling eight million doses. The US is due to ship the remaining doses by the end of October, Zayed noted. US Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said that Egypt is a priority destination for Pfizer donations from the United States. Cohen also thanked Egypt for shipping medical supplies to the US in 2020 when the US was in need of such materials during its fight against the pandemic. An Egyptian military plane filled with medical aid and protective suits was dispatched to the US in April 2020 to help with the coronavirus as the infection and death rates were on an unprecedented upward trend in the first wave of the pandemic. We were and still are thankful for this gesture, Cohen added. He assured that President Joe Biden is keen that the US be an arsenal that supplies the world with vaccines, saying supporting Egypt with the vaccines is a confirmation to his speech. Search Keywords: Short link: At least 14 soldiers were killed and seven injured by extremists at the Yirgou military barracks in Burkina Faso's Sanmatenga province on Monday, the government said. The soldiers were targeted at 5 a.m. by a large number of heavily armed men and showed ``great combativeness,'' Minister of Defense Aime Barthelemy Simpore said in a statement. The government immediately launched an aerial and ground offensive, he said. Locals near the attack said they were shocked, given there had been an increased military presence in the area recently. ``We are totally devastated because of what happened,'' Abdoulaye Pafadnam, the mayor of nearby Barsalogho town, told the Associated Press by phone. ``Many defense and security forces were sent to cover the area, and it was very encouraging to see that. We did not think that such an attack would happen in our zone....But when 12 soldiers get killed and equipment is taken away, it creates a big fear,`' he said. Violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group is increasing across the once peaceful West African country. As of Saturday there were six explosives detonated within seven days killing eight people and wounding several others, according to a tweet by Menastream, a conflict monitoring consultancy. While attacks had previously been concentrated in the north and east, they're expanding across the country. At least three of the explosives last week occurred in the west and southwest including the first deadly explosive in the Cascades region, according to Menastream. Conflict analysts say the intensifying of attacks are due to some jihadist groups trying to consolidate gains before the rainy season ends, when violence typically increases and that the spike in explosives is a response to more airstrikes by the army, said Heni Nsaibia a senior researcher at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. ``One could assume that the explosives are both a response of choice to the airstrikes, and a way to deter movements by ground forces, in order to force them to become more static.'' he said. Search Keywords: Short link: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he hoped that tensions with Algeria could ease after a row over visas and critical comments by Paris towards Algiers. "My wish is for a calming down because I think it's better to talk and to make progress," Macron told the France Inter broadcaster, adding that his relations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune were "truly cordial". Algeria over the weekend recalled its ambassador from Paris and banned French military planes from its airspace, which France regularly uses to reach its forces battling jihadists in the Sahel region. That came after a bitter row over visas, followed by media reports that Macron had told descendants of Algeria's war of independence that the North African country was ruled by a "political-military system" that had "totally re-written" its history. Algeria said the reported remarks were an "interference" in its internal affairs. Algiers was also angered last week after France said it would sharply reduce the number of visas it grants to citizens of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Paris said the decision had been made necessary by the former colonies' failure to do enough to allow illegal migrants in France to be returned. The latest row came two weeks after Macron apologised on behalf of his country for abandoning Algerians who fought alongside France in their country's war of independence, which was waged on both sides with extreme brutality, including widespread torture. During his presidency, Macron has taken steps to defuse lingering tensions with Algeria linked to their colonial history, and face up to France's methods to retain control of its north African colony, which won independence in 1962. In 2018, he admitted that France had created a "system" that facilitated torture during the war and acknowledged that French mathematician Maurice Audin, a Communist pro-independence activist, was murdered in Algiers. In July last year, he tasked French historian Benjamin Stora with assessing how France has dealt with its colonial legacy in Algeria. "We've said things that are not easy to hear. I have not sugarcoated our own history," Macron told France Inter. More than 60 years since France started its nuclear tests in Algeria, their legacy also continues to poison relations between the North African nation and its former colonial ruler. Search Keywords: Short link: Two rival Libyan factions have again disagreed over legislation governing elections planned for December, raising further doubts Tuesday over whether the UN-backed polls can take place. In the latest dispute the equivalent of Libya's senate, based in the western city of Tripoli, said on Tuesday that it had rejected a law that eastern-based MPs adopted a day earlier on the planned legislative elections scheduled for December 24. The polls are supposed to help unify the country after years of conflict and division, but disputes over their legal and constitutional basis have again laid bare the extent of the split between the country's east and west. The Tripoli-based chamber "rejects ongoing violations by the parliament... the latest being the promulgation of what it called the 'electoral law of the parliament'," said Mohammed Nasser, spokesman for the body formally known as the High Council of State. On Twitter he wrote that a deal signed in 2015 requires parliament "to come to an agreement with the High Council of State on this law". Legislators would be held responsible for "any delay or disruption to the date of the elections due to unilateral actions", he added. The law passed on Monday by the eastern-based chamber in the city of Tobruk came less than a month after Aguila Saleh, speaker of that body which is known as the House of Representatives or parliament, signed off on legislation for a presidential election also to be held on December 24. Opponents said the move bypassed due process and favoured a run by his ally, the Libyan national Army leader Khalifa Haftar. The High Council of State also rejected the text covering the presidential poll. Libya has endured a decade of conflict since the 2011 fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising, which unleashed a complex civil war that dragged in multiple foreign powers. A landmark ceasefire between eastern and western camps last year, following a year-long military campaign by Haftar to seize Tripoli, paved the way for the United Nations-backed peace process. A new unity government took office in March with a mandate to lead the country to the December elections. The House of Representatives said on its website on Monday that "by passing the laws necessary for the upcoming elections", it had "ended one of the most dangerous phases in Libya's modern history". Search Keywords: Short link: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Tuesday with Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolay Patrushev bolstering bilateral cooperation and a raft of regional and international issues of mutual concern. Shoukry expressed appreciation for Russias resumption of flights to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada airports, Hafez said. The talks also addressed international and regional issues including the situation in Libya, the long-stymied Middle East peace process and Egypts efforts to support reconstruction and development in Gaza, as well as the Syrian crisis and the situation in Afghanistan. Search Keywords: Short link: In a comprehensive interview with Al-Ahram, Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, stresses that "there is no alternative" to the Suez Canal. In his interview with Al-Ahram, Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie reveals many details about this key global waterway and the unprecedented upgrading it has witnessed in recent years as part of the overall development plans in the country. This interview comes in conjunction with the celebrations of the anniversary of the 1973 October War victory, and deals with the details in the ongoing saga of the second crossing of the Suez Canal, which started with the building of the New Suez Canal a few years back. As a top Egyptian naval commander, how do you see President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis decision to begin his tenure with a giant project like the New Suez Canal? The decision was very bold and exhibited a great sense of responsibility. The peoples solidarity with President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi during the projects funding period was an indicator of its eventual success. We were initially considering taking a loan to finance the project of the digging of the new canal. But the president insisted that the canal belongs to Egyptians and that we will not resort to borrowing, and that Egyptians will finance the project themselves. We were greatly concerned about how to get the financing and the years it would take to get it. But the surprise was that Egyptians financed the project with LE64 billion in only eight days, when we needed to get only LE20 billion, and, therefore, some of these sums were directed to digging new tunnels under the canal. What is your view on the Ever Given lodging incident? The captain of the ship made a series of successive mistakes. It is true that the weather was not good and wind speed reached 40 knots. But, I would like to remind you that during the storm in Egypt - in which wind speeds reached 55 knots - we were able to conduct navigation on the canal and under more difficult circumstances than the ship faced. The salvaging of the vessel on the sixth day of the incident must have been an important moment in the life of the Suez Canal. In fact, the rescue operation resembled a surgical operation with a scalpel. There are usually losses incurred in rescue operations in the form of injuries to crew members, or the drowning of goods or the drowning of the vessel itself or opening of holes in the ships hull and so on. There were many possible scenarios for dealing with the crisis, including the option of unloading-the-cargo option. However, that option was very difficult to implement because the ship was about 52 metres high and we did not have a crane for such elevations. The ship was also carrying 18,000 containers with each container weighing between 10 to 20 tonnes. An unloading of cargo would have required a whopping six long months to complete! But, in the end, the ship and its cargo came out intact. The vessel worked using its own machinery. Turning now to the coronavirus pandemic, how did this crisis affect the Suez Canal, and what actions have been taken to minimize that effect? In 2020, during the first year of the coronavirus crisis, we were able to maintain the level of passage ships and dollar returns. This was the subject of a lot of praise from international organisations, including the Baltic Organisation, which said it is strange that while world trade retreated by 11.6 per cent and container ships retreated by 16 per cent, the movement in the Suez Canal increased by 6.8 per cent. They concluded that there is only one explanation: this was due to the success of the marketing policy adopted by the Suez Canal at a time when the Panama Canal suffered losses of 40 per cent of its revenues. What are the most important features of these flexible marketing policies adopted by the Suez Canal? There are many details and great efforts. For example, there was constant contact with the owners and customers. We were constantly monitoring for ships that took the route of the Cape of Good Hope and talking to them, and inquiring about the reasons why they did not use the Suez Canal. And after thorough studies, we negotiated to give them discounts. This led to their return again to cross the Suez Canal. These policies helped us not to lose any ship, which led to my selection among the top 10 executive personalities in the Middle East, where I got first place in the Middle East and 10th in the world as the best CEO. The Suez Canal has started implementing a giant project to develop the southern sector of the canal. How did the idea come about and how long will it take? The strategic plan to develop the channel through 2023, which was presented to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, included the development of the southern sector and this was scheduled to start next January. This plan also included the establishment of new garages for ships; the digital transformation project of 16 nautical guidance stations along the navigational course; and the upgrading of the dredgers fleet and the launches for the guides. However, after the recent entry of the two largest dredgers in the Middle East into service - the Mohab Mamish dredger and the Hussein Tantawi dredger, we opted to immediately start on the project of developing the southern sector instead of waiting until next January. We presented this to the president during his visit to the canal last May and he approved the decision to start implementation. What are the details of this project? The project consists of the development of the canals navigational course in the southern sector. It aims at creating a dual zone in the area from the canals 122km to 132km mark thus adding 10 kilometres to the New Suez Canal, increasing its length to 82 kilometres instead of 72 kilometres. The project also includes expanding and deepening the Suez Canals navigation from the canals 132km mark south of the Salty Lakes to the canals 162km at the Suez exit of the waterway. The new dual-lane project will improve navigation within the canal and increase its carrying capacity by another six ships. The new dual-lane will cover the equivalent of 25 per cent of the 40 kilometres stretch that has no dual lane in the south sector of the canal. It will include dredging work in the target area for duality at 45 million cubic metres of sand. The expansion and deepening of the remaining 40 kilometres would continue 40 metres to the east, and the deepening of the draft from 66 feet to 72 feet. All this will improve the process of the crossing of ships and increase the area of the waterway. The whole project will take 24-30 months to implement. Will the entire waterways draft be deepened to 72 feet after the completion of this phase? The deepening of the draft will start from a depth of 66 feet to 72 feet for a distance of 40 kilometres. After that the entire waterway will be deepened in stages to uniformly reach a depth of 72 feet. This will increase the crossing of the giant ships in the canal. Keep in mind that the Suez Canal can now accommodate 92 per cent of the size of an international fleet of ships. The canal can also currently accommodate the ships of the fourth generation at loads exceeding 240,000 tonnes. Last month, a 17.5-metre-draft, 240,000-ton vessel crossed the canal. Today, all ship designs in the worlds ship arsenals must conform to the Suez Canals specifications. Will the tunnels which have been built under the Suez Canal have an effect on the waterway? They will not affect the Suez Canal at all because they are built at a depth of 40 metres from the surface of the canal. The largest draft that crosses the canal at the present time is no more than 18-19 metres deep. We have made calculations for any future expansions in the canal and we are ready for them. In your point of view, how do the tunnel projects under the canal help in the development of the Suez Canal region? Of course, it helps a lot. For example, trucks used to wait for up to a week for their turn to cross through ferries to and from the east and west of the Suez Canal. But the situation has changed. Crossing between east and west takes place within a period ranging from 10 to 20 minutes. The tunnels are a genius idea and are not less important than the New Suez Canal project. However, they did not get their fair share of media coverage. And by the way, they are fully secure and operate 24 hours a day. The Suez Canal Authority manages and maintains the tunnels. Now you can get out of the Long Live Egypt tunnels to find the New Ismailia city facing you directly and without barriers! Competing channels and alternative roads are among the challenges facing the Suez Canal. What is your assessment of the danger these channels pose to the future of the canal? I always say that there are alternative channels, but they are not an alternative to the Suez Canal. We are constantly monitoring these canals - how they impact our canal and by how much, and we are studying how to attract back the ships that these competing canals took away. I cannot tell any country not to operate a channel; everyone is looking for their own interest. What are the possible effects of the Northern Sea Route on the Suez Canal? What is your assessment of these effects? The Northern Sea Route operates only four months a year, and only 58 ships pass through it in one year, while 65 ships pass through the Suez Canal as a daily average. The ships that pass through the Northern Sea Route have specific qualities and giant ships carrying 18,000 containers and loads of up to 240,000 tonnes cannot cross it. It only handles small vessels. In addition, the cost of crossing the Northern Sea Route is very high because every ship must be preceded by an ice-breaker. It is a costly affair and carries a lot of danger. Adding to these difficulties is the lack of continuity of maritime transport all year around. Moreover, this corridor mainly serves the inter-trade between the Russian cities themselves and between Russia and its neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan. These are not your regular customers of the Suez Canal. In addition to all that, ships that carry high-value goods such as electronic devices and medicines prefer fast and safe passages such as the Suez Canal. What is the danger represented by the Panama Canal and what is being circulated about alternative routes such as the Silk Road? At the outset, I would like to emphasise that the New Suez Canal has closed the door to any new canals that friends and enemies intended to establish to compete with the Suez Canal, especially after the canals rating has risen and after we have become number one in the world. As for the Panama Canal, it depends on the system of locks, which results in longer periods of time for any crossing. Any competitive waterway that depends on an interchanging system with railways will definitely not affect the Suez Canal. We have ships carrying 23,000 containers on board that cross the Suez Canal. Can you imagine how many trains these containers need to be transported? With regards to the Silk Road, it includes land roads, sea routes and railways. The Suez Canal is one of these sea routes. Silk Road ships will pass through the Suez Canal. What are your expectations for the volume of global trade during the coming period, given that the role of the Suez Canal as an important global player was confirmed during the Ever Given crisis? There are indications of its improvement, especially after the long lockdown that occurred in 2020. I expect an improvement in the movement of global trade in the coming years, based on the reports of the International Monetary Fund and ship building centres, especially the giant ones, because they give strong indications of the development in the volume of global trade. In addition, there is an improvement in the navigation movement starting from last April compared to the same months of last year. We achieved revenues that amounted to $5,844 billion during the year 2020. During the period from January to August 2021, we achieved revenues amounting to $4 billion, which means that this years revenues will exceed $6 billion - the highest revenue in history for the Suez Canal since its inauguration to global trade. It is also a good indicator that 87 ships crossed the canal on 29 September with tonnages of 4.8 million and we collected $22.8 million in revenues in one day. What is the Suez Canal Authoritys view of the Suez Canal Economic Zone? How could their integration benefit Egypt? There is already integration between the two sides, especially in promising areas such as East Port Said and Ain Sokhna. The important thing about the Suez Canal Economic Zone is the genius of its location. East Port Said enjoys the genius of a location and there are no barriers between it and Europe. It can now receive ships of the fourth generation with drafts of 17.5 metres. It has logistical areas to serve industry and trade, and the pharmaceutical and automobile industries have already started in it. This area will represent a vital addition to the prosperity of the Suez Canal because ships coming to the port will necessarily cross the canal, and those coming to it from the south will also reach it through crossing the canal. I am talking about granting reductions in transit fees for ships that enter East Port Said port and unload cargo there. It is worth noting that during the past year about 1.2 billion tonnes of goods crossed the canal but we did not benefit from a single tonne of this cargo and we did not add any added value to it. In addition, the port at the city of Port Said is qualified to carry out the distribution of goods in an area close to the ports of Europe, which will achieve revenues in the handling of cargo and the crossing of the canal. We will also grant a 50 per cent discount for cruise ships, provided that they remain in Egyptian ports for a period of not less than 48 hours. We have coordinated with the Ministry of Tourism to create programmes for tourists in Cairo. We are also thinking of organising tour programmes for the International Museum of the Suez Canal in Ismailia after its completion, in addition to organising visits for tourists of the monuments and churches in the governorate, and organising cruises on the canal where they can have lunch before completing their journey out of the canal. All this will achieve a great boom for this region of Egypt. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: The next German chancellor is unlikely to enjoy the same successes that outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel managed in her 16 years of rule. Without question outgoing German chancellor Angela Merkel has been among the most important world leaders of the past 50 years. Her leadership of Germany and her influence over the European Union have had a deep impact on both the country and the continent. Indeed, the EU owes a debt of thanks to Merkel, without whom it could be in a much worse state than it is today. Throughout her long rule as chancellor, Merkel has had to face a long list of crises, starting from her position with regard to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which she supported, accusing her rival, the former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder, of anti-Americanism. This position did not garner her much popularity, especially as the Iraq War then went from one disaster to another and tainted then US president George Bush along with allies such as former British prime minister Tony Blair. But Merkel managed to survive the criticisms that tarnished the reputations of these politicians and forged for herself a different sort of legacy. Germany, having Europes largest population and biggest economy, has been at the helm of the EU for decades and has been a useful instrument for a German leader regardless of his or her political affiliation, something that Merkel has managed to make apt use of. She has maintained the unity of the EU through carefully crafted policies that have the interests of the German state and those of the EU at heart. Unlike some of the European leaders of the past two decades, Merkel is a staunch believer in the EU and its declared tenets of freedom, democracy, a free market and a liberal economy. Merkel has also had no alternative but to like and fight for the EU, since Germany has been its greatest beneficiary since its foundation. According to a 2019 report by the German Bertelsmann Foundation, Germany has benefited most from the European single market to the tune of an increase in its economy of 86 billion euros. This significant boost has been paralleled by an increased boost in the annual earnings of German citizens. These have become an average of 1,046 euros richer, compared to other EU citizens who have averaged only 840 euros. Merkel has managed to resolve many of the political crises that have struck the EU over the past two decades, very often resulting from the fallout from EU policies. One of these crises was the Greek debt crisis of the last decade, which for a time threatened the integrity of the EU as well as its currency the euro. Thanks to hard negotiations, the EU reached a settlement with Greece to pay its outstanding debts through a series of bailouts and other austerity measures. Though the settlement did not add to Merkels popularity in Europe, whether about keeping Greece in the EU or allowing it to exit, her pragmatism was commended and helped avoid a fracture that could have led to its disintegration if countries such as Spain and Italy had followed suit given their dire economic conditions. Furthermore, through careful political manoeuvres she sustained the unity of the European bloc after the Brexit referendum led the UK to withdraw from the EU in 2016. This major blow to the European bloc and what followed in terms of other calls for withdrawal could have spelled the end of the EU. Merkel and other European leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron played a large part in maintaining order and in assuring that the future of the shaken EU was still bright. Moreover, they played a part in making sure that the Brexit was quite painful financially for the UK such that other members of the EU will not be encouraged to repeat it. Merkels share of crises has extended to her immigration laws, which have allowed many immigrants into Germany without vetting their identity, leading to a series of problems. A case in point was the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015 that followed the rapid gains made by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria in a country already battered by civil war. Merkel granted nearly one million Syrians refugee status in Germany, and while her humanitarian act was widely commended, there were security issues arising from the lack of proper investigation about the identity of the immigrants. As a result, her actions resulted in a security breach in the country followed by ongoing terrorist threats. The departure of Merkel from office will certainly leave a void in German politics after her 16 years of rule. Despite all the controversies surrounding her as chancellor, she still managed to shift events in her favour while maintaining a sense of unity and coordination with other parties, whether from the left or the right. It will be a hard task for any new German chancellor to maintain the same level of coordination between opposing sides. Merkels Christian Democrat Party (CDU) lost a lot of seats in the latest elections in Germany and suffered its worst losses in history, rendering it hard for Merkels policies to continue after her departure. The CDU is also suffering from internal power struggles that are likely to handicap it from restoring its dominance of the German scene for some years to come. This could be one of Merkels failures in failing to prepare a viable successor. Germany will continue to be an economic and political power to be reckoned with regardless of the identity of Merkels successor and despite the economic hardships imposed on Europe as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it is not clear that the next chancellor will be able to maintain the same successes that Merkel managed in her 16 years of rule. Candidates such as Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats (SPD), Armin Laschet of the CDU/CSU and Annalena Baerbock of the Greens will have an uphill battle in matching Merkels legacy despite the controversies that have surrounded it. *The writer is a political analyst and author of Egypts Arab Spring and the Winding Road to Democracy. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: The disintegration of the Forces of Freedom and Change bodes ill for Sudan. Twenty Sudanese parties and armed movements that split from the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) announced a new Charter of National Accord, breaking up the civil bloc behind toppling former president Omar Al-Bashir and his Islamist supporters. Prominent forces that signed the declaration include the Sudan Liberation Army led by Minni Arko Minawi, the governor of Darfur, and the Justice and Equality Movement led by Jibril Ibrahim, the minister of finance. Both are armed organisations that fought against the Al-Bashir regime during the bloody conflict in Darfur. Strangely enough, several forces and parties that took part in political life under Al-Bashir also signed the declaration, leading Jaafar Hassan Osman, the spokesman of the Federal Gathering, to accuse FFC leaders of a rapprochement with the former regime. The forces that split from the FFC are known as the Reform Movement, taking their name from the FFC Reform Committee that demanded the dismissal of the coalitions Central Council. When this did not happen they defected, creating the Charter of National Accord. The Central Council comprises 40 parties, including the National Umma Party, the Sudanese Congress, the Arab Baath, the Federal Gathering and the Professionals Association. Minawi accused these parties of having hijacked the FFC and monopolised speaking in the name of the people. Splits appeared in the FFC in April when the National Umma Party announced it was freezing its activities in the FFC. The Communist Party followed suit. In May, the FFC Reform Committee withdrew confidence from the Central Council, demanding the replacement of the civil components in the Sovereignty Council, which rules Sudan. During that time, a civilian member of the Sovereignty Council, Aisha Al-Said, resigned in protest of the marginalisation of civilians in the council, accusing some FFC members of working in the dark with various bodies to run the state away from the eyes of civilians. We signed a document in September to restructure the FFC and it was open to all parties, but members of the Reform Committee refused and signed their own charter, said Mohamed Mahdi Hassan, head of the National Umma Partys political bureau. Since the overthrow of the Al-Bashir regime in April 2019, Sudan has been governed by military and civilian members of the Sovereignty Council and transitional government. Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok proposed an initiative to unify the political incubator, but it was not well received, Fayez Al-Salik, a former government media adviser told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Reform Committee stated that the dispute between the components of the FFC has nothing to do with the military. On the other hand, the Central Council believes that the military intervened, escalating the crisis, Al-Salik added. Meanwhile, the cabinet released a statement warning that the country is about to run out of its stock of medicine, wheat and fuel, due to what it said were strikes in Port Sudan, which led to the closure of the key sea port for imports and exports in Sudan. The Council of Chiefs of the Beja tribes in eastern Sudan went on strike in protest of the marginalisation of their region. Sennar state, in the southern Blue Nile, on the border with South Sudan, is mired in its own conflicts. Furthermore, there are rising demands to dismiss the governor of the northern state, Amal Ezzeddin. Hassan told the Weekly that the dispute erupted over the comments of the Justice and Equality Movement on the issues of political weights and establishing a decision-making mechanism that does not depend on the majority. We were understanding, and we included these issues in the September charter to restructure the alliance, he added. There are many deviations in the Sudanese state and society which cannot be fixed in the short term, said Al-Salik. A source in the Justice and Equality Movement speaking on condition of anonymity told the Weekly that it is not true that the military intervened. There is a major crisis caused by the war in Darfur, which resulted in the displacement of the majority of the non-Arab farmers who resided there. The area was then inhabited by Arab tribes from Chad and Niger. This problem cannot be solved except through the army because it is the only solid force in the country. Led by the Vice President of the Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan, aka Hamidti, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) the majority of whose members belong to Arab Bedouin tribes in Darfur is known to have fought alongside Al-Bashirs government against the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army. The military want to restructure Sudans political scene, Al-Salik opined. They dont want to risk a coup. Rather they want to rule through a political incubator that accepts them. However, rapprochement between the armed movements in Darfur and the military could strain the latters relationship with the RSF, which will reflect negatively on the stability of a region that is open to conflict in Libya. Arab members from the area participated in the wars of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Chad during the 1980s, and after the killing of Chads strong leader Idriss Deby. That kind of rapprochement would heighten tensions in the capital Khartoum. The military want to support the tribes because they are demanding stability. Many observers believe this is a demand the military can fulfil, Al-Salik stated. According to a leader in the Professionals Association, our fear is to remain in the FFC with no other forces but the left and liberals while the rest of the FFC join the military. This has repeatedly happened in Sudan, which doesnt comprise a wide middle class base that can have the final say. The alliance that overthrew the first military government in the October 1964 Revolution was eventually isolated when its leaders joined the Umma and Ittihad parties. The same thing happened following the April 1985 uprising that toppled General Numeiris regime. The similar scenario might be repeated today, albeit with a military leadership, due to the absence of figureheads such as Al-Sadek Al-Mahdi who died last year of Covid-19. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: Two ancient Egyptian statues that were stolen and illegally smuggled out of Egypt were recovered earlier this week from Belgium. One of the statues is carved in painted limestone and depicts a standing man from the Old Kingdom. The second is a Late Period ushabti figurine made of faience. Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, supervisor of the Repatriation Department at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, explained that the recovery of the two statues began in 2016, when the Belgian authorities seized them from sale in an antiquities exhibition. Their alleged owner failed to prove his possession. In collaboration with the International Cooperation Department at the Egyptian prosecution-general and both the ministries of tourism and antiquities and foreign affairs, legal assistance was sent to the Belgian authorities, and the decision was taken to return the two statues to Egypt, Abdel-Gawad said. In a ceremony held in Belgium when the statues were handed over to Egypt, the Egyptian ambassador to Belgium expressed the importance of the event as a tangible step forward in relations and one paving the way for further coordination on joint cooperation, especially in recovering smuggled Egyptian antiquities. The ambassador invited Belgian citizens to visit tourist destinations in Egypt and learn more about the history of the ancient Egyptian civilisation that was built on the banks of the Nile and has long represented the achievements of science, culture, and art worldwide. Search Keywords: Short link: With discussion continuing about Syrias possible return to full membership of the Arab League, commentators have been pointing to many obstacles It has been ten years since Syrias membership of the Arab League was suspended, Arab diplomatic representation to Syria downgraded and Arab ambassadors recalled because the regime led by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had not upheld League resolutions and had rejected the Arab Initiative for peace in the country. Since then, there have been calls for Syrias membership of the Arab League to be restored, mostly to boost Arab regional security and in the interest of the Arab countries. But none of these have translated into tangible results thus far. The most recent move was a telephone call by Al-Assad to Jordanian King Abdullah II in early October, in which the two men discussed bilateral relations and ways to strengthen cooperation. The call came after earlier steps to improve relations between Jordan and the Syrian regime. In July, King Abdullah suggested easing the sanctions on the Al-Assad regime when he visited US President Joe Biden in Washington, together with a new approach to handling the Syrian crisis. He also asked members of the US Congress to intensify efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis that would safeguard the unity of Syrian territory and the safe return of refugees. In late September, Jordan announced it would reopen its border crossing with Syria after a meeting in Amman, the first in a decade, attended by Jordanian and Syrian cabinet ministers. Jordanian Airlines also decided to restart routes between Amman and Damascus, and earlier there was a meeting between the Jordanian chair of the joint chief of staff, Youssef Al-Heneiti, and Syrian Defence Minister Ali Ayoub in Amman to coordinate efforts at securing the border between the two countries. This was followed by talks between Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi and Syrian counterpart Faysal Al-Miqdad in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings. There have also been consultations on piping natural gas and electricity from Egypt via Jordan to Syria and Lebanon. Warmer relations between Jordan and Syria serve the interests of both countries. Jordan would benefit from much-needed economic opportunities, and Syria would reap political benefits to end its isolation, hoping to persuade other regional countries to follow suit. The Al-Assad regime believes this could rehabilitate its image abroad and on the home front, where it could be used to persuade its supporters that it has been victorious in the civil war. The rapprochement is possible because Washington has given the green light, since US sanctions against the Syrian regime, the Caesar Act, prohibit dealings with it. Saudi Arabia has been more hesitant than Jordan in re-establishing relations with Syria. Although Riyadh sent Saudi Intelligence Chief Khaled Humaidan on a visit to Damascus in May, such cooperation is not unusual and may not indicate a political rapprochement. Although the official Syrian media implied that the meeting was a shift in Saudi Arabias commitment to regime change in Syria, Riyadh does not want to reconcile with Damascus without the regime making significant changes. Saudi Arabias permanent representative to the UN, Abdullah Al-Moualimi, said in May that his countrys official position on Syria had not changed. He said that the Syrian regime should curb its attacks on rebel-held cities and refugee intimidation before Saudi Arabia would restore ties with the country. Syrias return to the Arab League would require a unanimous decision, he said, and most Arab countries remain hesitant about the situation in Syria. Saudi Arabias caution is due to its suspicion of Syrias relationship with Tehran, and it needs confirmation that Damascus would distance itself from Tehran and not be its proxy in the region. Egypt is also cautious about rebooting relations with the Syrian regime and is taking slow, deliberate and diplomatic steps in this direction. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri met with his Syrian counterpart at the UN in New York end of September, also the first such meeting for a decade, with some analysts viewing it as an exploratory meeting by Cairo. Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Damascus in the early years of the Syrian conflict and proposed initiatives to resolve the crisis that were turned down by the Al-Assad regime. Cairo has since taken a middle-of-the-road position focused on the need for peace, finding a political solution to the crisis, and guaranteeing Syrias unity and an end to terrorism. The Arab League itself says that the Arab countries disagree over Syrias return to the fold. Secretary-General Ahmed Abul-Gheit said in September that it is too early to talk about this matter, and his deputy Hussam Zaki said that we must look at the reasons why Syrias membership was suspended and then perhaps there will be a new approach in finding a way to restore Syrias seat. Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Sudan, the UAE and Bahrain support Syrias return to the Arab fold. Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said in August that the issue was on the agenda of the next Arab Summit meeting to be held in Algeria. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein has said that his country will continue efforts to bring Syria back to the League. The UAE and Bahrain restored relations with the Syrian regime in late 2018, while Oman appointed an ambassador to Damascus in 2020. The position of the US remains a key driver of events in Syria, even if these relate to inter-Arab relations. In late September, Washington declared it would not encourage others to normalise relations with the Syrian regime and that the US does not itself have plans to do so. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank, has published a report including recommendations submitted to the Biden administration on Syria. It cautions against normalising relations between the Arab countries and Syria and says that any Arab-Syrian rapprochement could harm US interests in the region, pointing to the alliance between Syria and Iran, the resistance camp in Iraq and Palestine, as well as Russia and China. Moscow supports the return of Syria to the Arab League as part of its support for Al-Assad and his return to the Arab stage. However, Russia is keeping the US position in mind and understands that without the green light from Washington Syrias return to the Arab League would be impossible. Although this is a strictly Arab issue, it cannot be discussed without consideration of Irans position. The Syrian regime has been using its closeness to Iran as leverage with some Arab governments. Al-Miqdad hinted as much when he proposed that his country could become a mediator between the Arab countries and Iran, saying that the Arab countries should respond with goodwill to Irans overtures. The Al-Assad regime is making great efforts to end its political isolation and ease the impact of sanctions and the economic boycott. It wants to erase the image of itself that has been promoted through the period of civil conflict, using any opportunity to highlight its legitimacy. But the normalisation of relations between the Arab countries and the Syrian regime will require many conditions to be met, most notably US approval. So far, this has not been forthcoming, and it is unlikely to emerge any time soon. Search Keywords: Short link: Predicting Egyptian-US relations and their future course could be a risky business in a fast-changing regional landscape and a changing world scene, at least in the foreseeable future. However, trying to discuss how to maintain and manage these relations, important for both Egypt and the US, is an intellectual exercise worth trying. On 29 September, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan paid a one-day visit to Cairo, his first since taking the job in January, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and then held a separate meeting with Sameh Shoukri, Egypts foreign minister. Sullivan was joined on his trip by White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk. According to a statement by Spokesperson of the US National Security Council Emily Horne, the discussions in Cairo with senior Egyptian officials related to how to support the Libyan elections and regional security, including in the Horn of Africa. The statement added that Sullivan would reaffirm the importance of human rights in the context of the overall strategic relationship between the two countries. The US delegation would also discuss Egypts role in promoting security and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians following the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to Sharm El-Sheikh and his meeting with the Egyptian president, the statement said. Sullivans visit to Cairo came in the context of a regional tour that took him to the UAE and Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt. The Egyptian side reaffirmed its intention to strengthen the strategic partnership with the US, which Egypt considers to be one of the pillars of security and stability in the Middle East. The scope of the visit from the US point of view was realistic as well as limited in scope, in the sense that the discussions centred around some of the most pressing challenges in the region, among them the situation in Libya, Egyptian mediation between the Israelis and the Palestinians as far as security matters are concerned and security in the Horn of Africa. Judging by the statement referred to above, human rights was an issue that the US administration considers to be important in the context of its overall strategic relations with Egypt, a position reiterated by Sullivan. It has been nine months since US President Joe Biden was sworn into office, and still the two countries have not had a major review of the nature and future of their strategic relations in a new regional context. These relations have stood the test of time over the last four decades, with various ups and downs, and they have proved their resilience in the face of very serious challenges in the Middle East and within Egypt, in particular during the second Bush administration (a Republican president) and the two terms of the Obama White House (a Democrat). The stumbling blocks, like with the Biden administration, have been over democracy, human rights, the freedom of expression and the leeway that Egyptian NGOs have or have not enjoyed. The Biden administration has made it clear that democracy and human rights will be guiding principles in how US foreign policy will be conducted worldwide. The question from an Egyptian point of view has been how to reconcile this position with the goals and principles that have guided relations with the US over the past 40 years. Another fundamental issue in the relations between Cairo and Washington is that the latter looks at its strategic relations with Egypt through the lens of Israeli interests and policies, whether with regards to the Palestinians or Israeli conduct in the region, and this does not always align with the Egyptian interest or point of view. From an Egyptian point of view, Egyptian-US relations should be seen and managed in a larger context than being Israel-centric or dependent on the way Washington sees the record of Egypt in terms of its respect for human rights, democracy and civil society. That does not mean that the two sides should refrain from bringing up these questions in their bilateral meetings, but it does mean that they should not be a way of exercising pressure on Cairo when political circumstances, from the standpoint of US interests, so demand. In this respect, Cairo understands that the US Congress has played a significant role in US policy towards Egypt when it comes to the question of human rights. But it also believes at the same time that the White House, be it under a Republican or a Democratic administration, wields an important influence in the field of formulating and carrying out US foreign policy. Last May, at the height of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, Biden called President Al-Sisi twice. In the first call, he thanked the Egyptian president for the role Egypt had played in negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli government. In the second call, the two presidents agreed on a set of priorities among which was to keep the lines of communication open between the two sides as far as the question of human rights was concerned. That positive attitude on the part of the US president was widely welcomed in Cairo. In other words, what is needed is that neither that the US administration overplays its hand in dealing with the issue of human rights in Egypt, nor that Cairo and the Egyptian media overreact to US criticism of the Egyptian record in respect of human rights. The two sides should be more realistic in dealing with their differences, with a marked willingness to work them out politically and diplomatically. In this respect, the media in both countries could play a more constructive role in covering these differences. Egyptian-US relations have played a significant role in preserving security and stability in the Middle East from the day Egypt signed its Peace Treaty with Israel in March 1979 at the White House. These relations have been the guarantor of peace and security in the region and are destined to play the same role across the Middle East. Over the last four decades, cooperation between the two strategic partners has not been limited to the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, but has also taken place beyond the region. It was interesting to compare the remarks of President Al-Sisi and President Biden before the General Debate of the 76th Session of the General Assembly of the UN in New York last month. The two men spoke of the two-state solution as being the only viable road to peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. They outlined the same challenges facing the world, more or less, including dealing effectively with the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. Looking at the future of bilateral relations between Egypt and the US, I guess there are more opportunities for cooperation on a wide-range of questions that go beyond security considerations in the Middle East. Moreover, there are challenges that come from within. The window of cooperation will ultimately prove to be enduring for the mutual interests of Egypt and the US. The last four decades have proven that their bilateral relations have been more resilient than many had predicted and that they have successfully weathered strong storms in the Middle East that could have impacted them negatively. It is to be hoped that Sullivans visit to Egypt on 29 September will also contribute to the deepening of strategic relations between Washington and Cairo. *The writer is former assistant foreign minister. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt reported 771 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total infection tally to 307,569 since the outbreak began in February 2020, said the health ministry in its daily coronavirus update statement. The ministry also reported 33 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total death toll to 17,469. The statement added that 700 patients have been discharged after recovering from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 259,647. Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed announced on Monday that the government may soon vaccinate high school students with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as the country is currently studying lowering the 18-year age limit for COVID-19 immunisation. On Thursday, Egypt received 1.6 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine as a donation from the United States via the COVAX initiative, a scheme that aims to equitably distribute vaccines worldwide. Egypt is expected to receive about 4 other Pfizer shipments from the United States. The remaining doses will be received by the end of October. The countrys vaccination campaign has recently shifted into high gears to cover students and staff in the educational sector. Egypt is now providing immediate vaccinations for university students at 270 youth centres countrywide without prior online registration. The government seeks to guarantee a safe academic year for all students and staff amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, particularly with the return of in-person classes at schools and universities Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt has inoculated over 7 million citizens with the full two-dose course against COVID-19, according to the latest official count, as the country increases efforts to reach its target of vaccinating 40 million of its eligible population by December. Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Tuesday that more than 13 million citizens have received the first shot. At the end of September, the health ministry recorded an increase in vaccination turnout of nearly 18.4 percent compared to the preceding months, Zayed said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The countrys vaccination campaign, which started earlier this year for those aged 18 and above, has recently shifted into high gears to cover students and staff in the educational sector, in addition to all public employees. State employees who are not vaccinated will not be allowed into workplaces unless they are jabbed with at least one dose or provide proof of negative COVID-19 testing more than once a week. In preparation for the start of the new academic year in Egypt, authorities have increased the number of youth centres where immediate vaccinations are provided for university students without prior online registration. The centres have been increased to 240 countrywide, according to Zayed. Safe academic year The government seeks to guarantee a safe academic year for all students and staff amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, particularly with the return of in-person classes at schools and universities after a year-and-a-half of the virtual education system. Hala Zayed said the health ministry is coordinating with the education and higher education ministries regarding preventative measures in the coming academic year. The measures, she noted, include raising health awareness for students and education sector staffers in order to maintain physical distancing, use personal kits, conduct periodic sterilisation, and make all medical supplies available, in addition to the means of handling any suspected case. Up to 70 percent of school staffers nationwide have already received the vaccine, while the rate at universities has reached 90 percent, according to previous statements by Zayed. Zayed also has said that around 35 percent of university students have also received jabs. During today's cabinet meeting, Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said that there is a plan for vaccinating students especially those from villages who failed to receive any shot during the summer break during the first days of the academic year. It is not yet clear whether those under 18 will be included in the country's vaccination drive. Egypt has so far obtained 60 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, the British-Swedish AstraZeneca, the Russian Sputnik V, the American Johnson & Johnson, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Zayed noted. The country will release an additional 7 million doses of the locally made Sinovac/VACSERA vaccine for public use this week, said Zayed. Egypt is planning to manufacture 40 million doses of the Chinese vaccine by the end of the year at VACSERA factories to meet local and regional needs. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt has reduced the cost of COVID-19 PCR tests for travellers, the Egyptian cabinet announced on Tuesday. The diagnostic test now costs EGP 900 instead of EGP 1,200 for Egyptians planning on travelling abroad, and EGP 1,200 instead of 1,600 for non-Egyptian travellers, the statement said. The cabinet said the step was taken due to the drop in the price of PCR test kits. Egypt also will provide for the first time a same-day COVID-19 test for EGP 1,600 for Egyptian travellers and EGP 1,800 for non-Egyptian travellers. A number of countries require a negative PCR test for unvaccinated people before allowing entry. In June, Egypt allowed travellers who are fully vaccinated with WHO-approved coronavirus vaccines to enter without taking a PCR test. However, arrivals from countries impacted by coronavirus variants are subject to a 15-minute molecular test, known as ID NOW, upon arrival, with a PCR test to be performed at the arrival airport if results come back positive. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypts Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad urged developed countries on Monday to commit to securing $100 billion annually to support climate action in developing countries. Developed countries in 2009 pledged to allocate $100 billion per year by 2020 to assist developing countries in tackling the climate crisis, a goal that has not yet been fulfilled. Addressing the second Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) ministerial meeting on environment and climate action hosted by Egypt, Fouad said that increasing funding for climate action and technology transference has become a necessity, a statement by the ministry said. This comes in parallel with the procedures to face climate change and the rising ambition to back developing countries to fulfill their relevant commitments, Fouad said. Ministers from the 42 member countries of the UfM attended the meeting, which was co-chaired by Jordan and the European Union (EU), on Monday in Cairo. According to a statement by the UfM, the ministers agreed on the need to enhance efforts in the Euro-Mediterranean region to address the regions numerous environmental and climate challenges. Fouad hailed the meeting for its importance in light of the environmental challenges facing the Mediterranean region at this critical time as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, she said. Fouad stressed the importance of cooperation among all countries to preserve the planet and ensure a brighter future for the coming generations. Egypt supports the UfM chief in his endeavors to equally divide funding allocated for adaptation and mitigation measures, the minister noted. Frans Timmermans, the European Commissions executive vice president for the European Green Deal, chaired the conference on behalf of the EU. Egypts projects going green by 2024 Meeting with Timmermans on the sidelines of the conference, Fouad said that Egypt is aiming to have 50 percent of the states projects go green by 2024. The two sides discussed the outcome of the UfM meetings; the Pre-COP, which was held in Milan, Italy, from 30 September to 2 October; and setting the stage for the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference. Over the past few years, Egypt has seen the need to integrate environmental considerations into development fields, the minister said, underlining the political leaderships great support for the process of restructuring the environment sector in the country. The minister also cited Egypts success in confronting the phenomenon of acute episodes of air pollution known as the black cloud. For his part, Timmermans said that Egypt pays great attention to the issue of climate change. He also stressed the importance of completing the discussions regarding the annual climate funding during the preparations for the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 27), which Egypt is looking forward to hosting on behalf of the African continent. Egypt has been selected as a nominee to host the COP 27, scheduled for November 2022, Reuters cited US Climate Envoy John Kerry as saying on Saturday. Search Keywords: Short link: Ahram Online looks back at the important milestones of the decade-long talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia that reached a deadlock six months ago and are soon-to-be resumed under the sponsorship of the African Union at an undisclosed date. Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry expected on Friday 1 October 2021 the GERD talks to recommence soon between the three parties after they reached a deadlock in the latest round of the AU-mediated sessions in April and later elevated the issue to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in July. Shoukry, however, criticized in a media statement the recent Ethiopian official statements, describing them as prevaricating and lacking in credibility. Sudan, from its side, made it clear in late September to US Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman that it would not participate in any future talks on the GERD if they do not include the filing and operation policies of the dam. Khartoum also refused to resume the talks with the same methodology used in previous talks, which has proven to be ineffective. Both Cairo and Khartoum are on the same page, however, demanding Ethiopia to sign a legally binding agreement on the filing and operation of the dam, which Addis Ababa has been building on the Blue Nile since 2011. The statements came as the UNSC issued a presidential statement in September calling for the resumption of talks between the three countries under the umbrella of the African Union within a timeframe to reach a legally binding agreement. On the other hand, Addis Abbas, which already has its own share of domestic woes from a civil war in the Tigray region to the recently-imposed international sanctions, has made it clear that it wont sign any agreement which potentially affects its future development. Below is a timeline in ascending order on the important milestones of the decade-long dispute from 2010 when the GERD was known as the Grand Millennium Dam, and until now. 2010: The Millennium Dams construction plan, Entebbe agreement May 2010: Ethiopia announces it will construct a multi-billion-dollar dam, the Grand Millennium Dam on the Blue Nile River. Nile Basin states sign the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement, AKA the Entebbe Agreement, except for Egypt and Sudan, which claim that the agreement does not protect their historic share of the Niles water. The Entebbe Agreement was meant to replace the 1929 and 1959 Nile Water agreements that allocated 55.5 billion cubic metres of water to Egypt and 18.5 billion to Sudan and gave them the right to veto any projects upstream. Egypt signs an agreement with Sudan to preserve their historical rights in the Nile water. June 2010: Egypt raises the issue to the United Nations and the African Union. November 2010: Ethiopia announces the dams designs are finished. 2011: A revolution in Egypt, dam construction begins February 2011: Hosni Mubarak steps down in February in the face of a mass uprising. March 2011: A day after the Millennium Dam project plan is made public, a $4.8 billion contract is awarded to the Italian company Salini Castratory. April 2011: The dams foundation stone is laid by Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi. In the same month, the Millennium Dam (originally Project X) becomes the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). May 2011: An Egyptian popular diplomacy delegation visits Ethiopia and the two countries agree to resolve their differences and widen cooperation. Ethiopia offers to share the dam plans with Egypt so that the latter could study how the dam would affect it. September 2011: Cairo and Addis Abba agree to form an international committee to study the impact of the dam on Egypt and Sudan. November 2011: The first meeting of the tripartite technical committee including the irrigation ministers of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia was held after a proposal from Ethiopias prime minister. An international panel of experts (IPoE) from the three countries, supplemented by four international experts, is established. The IPoE produces a report, based on agreed terms of reference, covering, among other things, the safety and stability of the dam, hydrological studies, and its environmental and social impacts. 2012: New Egyptian president, Cairo calls for cooperation July 2012: Egypts late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi visits Ethiopia to discuss African cooperation and the GERD. It was the first visit for an Egyptian president since 1995, as late President Mubarak never visited Ethiopia after the 1995 assassination attempt by Islamist extremists in Addis Ababa. According to analysts, the assassination attempt had already overshadowed Egyptian Ethiopian relations. August 2012: Ethiopias strongman PM Meles Zenawi, who ruled the country for two decades dies, and is succeed by foreign minister Hailemariam Desalegn a month later. 2013: Another revolution in Cairo, Addis Abba diverts the Nile March 2013: According to a statement by the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir tells the Ethiopian ambassador to Sudan that his country supported the GERD project. April 2013: Al-Bashir and Morsi meet in Cairo to affirm Egypt and Sudans alliance in the face of challenges posed by the Entebbe Agreement. May 2013: The committee assigned by the tripartite committee to study the impact of the dam on the downstream countries issues a report calling for more studies as Ethiopia announces that it began to divert the flow of the Blue Nile to build the GERD. June 2013: The Ethiopian Parliament ratifies the 2010 Entebbe agreement. At the end of the month, Cairo witnesses mass protests on 30 June demanding the ouster of President Morsi. 2014: New President for Egypt, Malabo Declaration, and selecting the experts March 2014: Ethiopia declares that 32 percent of the GERDs construction has been completed. June 2014: President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi sworn into office. The newly elected president meets with the Ethiopian prime minister and issues the Malabo Declaration in the form of a joint statement guaranteeing that Ethiopia can develop the dam while diminishing possible damages affecting Egypt. August 2014: Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia agree to implement the recommendations of the 2013 report and choose two consultancy firms to conduct the required studies. October 2014: The tripartite committee selects a French and Dutch consultancy firm to conduct the studies. 2015: The Declaration of Principles and Khartoum Document March 2015: The leaders of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia sign the Declaration of Principles on the Renaissance Dam, which included 10 basic principles. July 2015: In the seventh round of tripartite talks, held in Khartoum, the three countries agree on the principles governing the work of the consultancy firms. September 2015: The Dutch consultancy firm withdraws from the task, citing concern over the absence of guarantees the work will be impartial. December 2015: Foreign ministers from the three countries sign the Khartoum Agreement, restating their commitment to the Declaration of Principles. French Artelia Consultancy chosen in the meeting to replace Deltares to conduct the dams studies. 2016: Rejected dam holes suggestions, 60 percent of the dam completed January 2016: Ethiopia rejects the Egyptian proposal to increase water holes in the Renaissance Dam from two to four, saying that the dam doesnt need to be redesigned to increase the holes. May 2016: Ethiopia announces more than 60 percent of the dam is complete. September 2016: Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan sign the final contracts for the long-awaited technical studies on the impact on downstream countries of the giant dam that Addis Ababa is building. 2017: Failed negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia May 2017: French consultancy firms issue their preliminary reports after a delay due to disagreements over the baseline to be used to assess the GERDs impact. October 2017: Egypt accepts the preliminary reports but Sudan and Ethiopia express reservations. November 2017: The 17th tripartite technical committee meeting on the GERD at the ministerial level, held in Cairo, fails to reach an agreement on the adoption of an introductory report on technical studies of the GERD. Days later, El-Sisi publicly says that Egypt considers the Nile water a matter of life or death. 2018: Summit meetings as well as agreement and a regime change in Ethiopia January 2018: During a three-day summit visit to Cairo, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn rejects an Egyptian request to get the World Bank involved in the GERD talks as a technical party with an impartial view to decide on the differences in work of the Tripartite Committee. In the same month, President El-Sisi agrees with his Ethiopian and Sudanese counterparts on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Abba to resume tripartite negotiations. February 2018: Protests in Ethiopia lead to the sudden resignation of Desalegn, and the GERD talks are postponed. March 2018: Abiy Ahmed is appointed as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, replacing Desalegn. April 2018: The three countries hold the first nine-party meeting attended by the ministers of irrigation and foreign affairs and the intelligence chiefs of the three states. They discuss the impact of the dam on the water shares of Egypt and Sudan. The meeting concludes without an agreement. May 2018: A tripartite meeting takes place in Addis Ababa between the irrigation ministers of the three countries. During the meeting, the three countries submit their observations on the technical report issued by French consulting firms. Ethiopia is delegated to communicate feedback from the three countries on technical issues to the French consultancy BRL Group. The email is never sent. The three countries hold the second nine-party meeting in May in Addis Ababa. A document fixing the mechanism for organising future meetings is issued. The document establishes a National Independent Scientific Research Study Group (NISRSG) to discuss means of enhancing the levels of understanding and cooperation among the three countries through addressing equitable and reasonable utilisation of shared water resources while taking all appropriate measures to prevent the causation of significant harm. June 2018: Ethiopias PM Ahmed visits Egypt and reassures President El-Sisi that he wants only to aid development in Ethiopia without harming the Egyptian people. September 2018: The NISRSG holds a meeting in which Ethiopia proposes the timetable for filling the reservoir be determined by annual studies of the floods and rainfall in each year. After the meeting, Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati says the three countries have reiterated their commitment to continuing talks to reach a satisfactory agreement on the timing and method of filling the reservoir as per the Declaration of Principles. 2019: GERD goes to the UNGA then to Washington April 2019: Sudanese strongman Omar Al-Bashir and his regime are ousted following protests across Sudan. September 2019: New round of negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia on the filling of the GERD reservoir and its rules of operation is launched in Cairo at the request of Egypt after months of suspension. The negotiations fail after Ethiopia rejects Egypts proposal over the filing of the dam, saying that it puts its sovereignty in question. At the UNGAs 74th session on 24 September, Egyptian President El-Sisi and his Ethiopian counterpart Sahle-Work Zewde address the GERD problem. El-Sisi calls for international intervention in the GERD negotiations and emphasises that the Niles water is a matter of life and an issue of existence for Egypt. Zewde assures her countrys commitment to reaching a deal over the GERD. October 2019: During the first round of talks in Addis Abba, Ethiopia refuses to discuss Egyptian proposals to resolve the problematic issues of filling and operating the dam. Egypt declares that tripartite talks with Sudan and Ethiopia have reached a deadlock and calls for international mediation to help reach a fair and balanced agreement. The White House issues a statement calling the three countries to reach a cooperative, sustainable, and mutually beneficial agreement The second round of talks is held in Khartoum between the ministers of irrigation of the three countries. It, according to the spokesperson of the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Recourses, reached a dead end due to the intransigency of the Ethiopian side. The Donald Trump administration sends an invitation to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan to meet with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and president of the World Bank Group David Malpass to discuss the dam. The meeting is scheduled for 6 November. November 2019: The first Washington meeting issues a joint statement. The three foreign ministers set a timetable for meetings to resolve outstanding issues and stressed joint commitment to reach a mutually beneficial agreement on the filling and operation of the dam and to establish a clear process for fulfilling that commitment in accordance with the 2015 Declaration of Principles. They agree to hold four rounds of negotiations and set mid-January as the deadline for reaching an agreement. The first round of talks is held in Addis Abba. December 2019: The second and third rounds are held in Cairo and Khartoum. The three ministers head to Washington to attend the second Washington meeting and report to the US Treasury and World Bank on the progress thus far. 2020: A failed agreement in DC, first filling of dam, and Egypt seeks UNSC help January 2020: The fourth round takes place in Addis Ababa. All four rounds end without agreement. February 2020: Ethiopia pulls out of the final meeting, where a deal was to be signed calling for more time for internal consultations. After holding bilateral talks with Egypt and Sudan, the US releases a statement saying it believes an agreement has been reached. Sudan declines to formally consent to the text, leaving Egypt as the only country to sign the deal. March 2020: Sudan registers an official objection to a resolution proposed by Egypt to the Arab League supporting both Egypt and Sudan in the dispute on the grounds it was issued without consultation with Khartoum. The resolution passes without Sudans signature. April 2020: Ethiopian PM Ahmed announces that his country will start filling the GERDs reservoir during the coming rainy season in June-July or September. Ethiopian officials say the construction of the dam is 72.4 percent complete. Ethiopia offers a partial agreement to both Egypt and Sudan that only covers the first stage of the GERD filling, which both downstream countries reject. President El-Sisi and Sudanese PM Hamdok send letters to Ethiopias premier rejecting his proposal for a transitional agreement on the initial filling of the GERD in mid-July. May 2020: Egypt submits a 17-page letter to the UNSC protesting Ethiopias actions and demanding that it halt construction until an agreement is reached. Addis Ababa sends a letter to the UNSC saying Ethiopia has no legal obligation to seek Egypts approval to fill the GERD and blames Cairo for the deadlock in talks. June 2020: Ethiopia announces that it will commence the filling of the dam unilaterally in July with or without an agreement. Egypt seeks UNSC intervention, describing the situation as an imminent threat to international peace and security. Ethiopia responds in another letter to the UNSC, in which it avoids mentioning the earlier announcement of filling the dam without an agreement and criticizes Egypt for building the Aswan High Dam 50 years ago. After mediation from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, chair of the African Union (AU), the leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan speak by phone and agree to resume talks. Sudan and Egypt say Ethiopia agreed to hold off on filling the reservoir as negotiations continue, while Ethiopia makes no mention of a delay. July: Trilateral talks resume via videoconference under the AUs auspices. Observers from the EU, US, AU commission, and legal and technical experts attend the talks, but no consensus is reached at the technical and legal levels. Egypt wants clear policies about the filing of the reservoir during periods of prolonged droughts, while Sudan wants any binding agreement to have a comprehensive mechanism for resolving future disputes. Again, the talks reach a deadlock. December 2020: Military clashes erupt between Sudanese and Ethiopian forces and Ethiopian-backed militias over the Al-Fashaga border region. Tensions between the two countries increase. 2021: New US administration, New AU Presidency, back to the UNSC March 2021: Egypt supports Sudans suggestion to have a quartet mediation committee composed of the United Nations, European Union, US, and AU to mediate between the three African countries over the filling and operating of the GERD. Ethiopia rejects the suggestion. No one can take a drop of water from Egypt, President El-Sisi says in remarks over the continued deadlock in the negotiations with Ethiopia over the disputed GERD. If it happens, there will be inconceivable instability in the region that no one could imagine, the Egyptian president says, stressing that his message is not a threat. Ethiopias PM Ahmed announces that his country will go on with the second filing of the GERD in July 2021, the start of the rainy reason, adding that Ethiopia may lose USD 1 billion if it does not go with the second filing. April 2021: A new round of talks is held in Kinshasa between the three countries under the auspices of the AU and ends in a deadlock after Ethiopia rejects the suggested timeframes. US President Joe Bidens administration appoints veteran diplomat Jeffery Feltman as the special envoy for the African Horn, with the GERD pinned at the top of his agenda. May 2021: Ethiopia starts the second filing of the dam without an agreement with Egypt and Sudan. July 2021: The UNSC holds a meeting in New York to discuss the latest developments on the GERD at the request of Egypt and Sudan. Tunisia, the only non-permanent Arab member in the UNSC, presents a draft resolution to the 15-member council, calling on the three countries to finalise the text of a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD within a period of six months. September 2021: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the chair of the AU in 2021, presents to Egypt a vision and a plan to resume the GERD talks. The UNSC issues a presidential statement based on the draft resolution presented by Tunisia in July calling the three countries to finalise s settlement that is a mutually acceptable and binding agreement on the filling and operation of the GERD within a reasonable time frame under the umbrella of the African Union. Egypt and Sudan welcome the UNSCs resolution while Ethiopia rejects it, claiming it is not binding. El-Sisi says that Egypt is still committed to working to reach in the nearest time possible a fair, balanced, and legally binding agreement on the GERD in his speech in front of the 76th United Nations General Assembly meeting UNGA. The GERD file is among the central points Shoukry speaks about in his meetings with his counterparts and officials from around the globe on the sidelines of the UNGA meetings. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres affirms the importance of resuming dialogue on the GERD with a spirit of reaching a compromise in his meeting with Ethiopian foreign minister. October 2021: El-Sisi affirms Egypts continuous support for the DRC and its efforts to fulfill its vital responsibilities in overseeing African issues. *Based on previous reports of Amira Howiedy, Doaa El-Bey, and Sama Osama from Ahram Online and Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, most of them Afghan soldiers who had surrendered to the insurgents, a prominent rights group said Tuesday. The killings took place in the village of Kahor in Daykundi province in central Afghanistan on Aug. 30, according to an investigation by Amnesty International. Eleven of the victims were members of the Afghan national security forces and two were civilians, among them a 17-year-old girl. The reported killings took place about two weeks after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a blitz campaign, culminating in their takeover of Kabul. At the time, Taliban leaders sought to reassure Afghans that they had changed from their previous harsh rule of the country in the late 1990s. Meanwhile in Kabul, the Taliban said Tuesday they arrested 11 members of the Islamic State group, a rival and bitter enemy of the insurgents. The Islamic State group's affiliate _ based in eastern Nangarhar province _ has claimed responsibility for a spate of recent attacks targeting Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan and elsewhere. Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi posted on Twitter that the raid was carried out on Sunday night in the Afghan capital's Fifth Police District. He provided no further details. The raid came just hours after a bombing that targeted the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul, killing at least five people. IS claimed responsibility for the mosque attack late on Monday, saying in a posting on its media arm, the Aamaq news agency, that one of their suicide bombers targeted senior Taliban figures following a mourning service. Sunday's bombing was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with the chaotic departure of the last U.S. troops on Aug. 31. IS had also claimed responsibility for the horrific bombing on Aug. 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel outside the Kabul airport, where thousands of people were trying to reach the airport to escape Taliban rule. The world has been watching whether the Taliban would live up to their initial promises of tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities, among them the Shiite Hazaras. However, Taliban actions so far, such as renewed restrictions on women and the appointment of an all-male government, have been met with dismay by the international community. Hazaras make up around 9% of Afghanistan's 36 million people. They are often targeted because they are Shiite Muslims in a Sunni-majority country. Amnesty's secretary general, Agnes Callamard, said that ``these cold-blooded executions (of the Hazaras) are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan.`` Taliban spokespersons Zabihullah Mujahid and Karimi did not respond to calls from The Associated Press seeking comment. The rights group said Sadiqullah Abed, the Taliban-appointed chief of police for Daykundi, denied any killings had happened and only said that a member of the Taliban had been wounded in an attack in the province. The Taliban took control of Daykundi province on Aug. 14, according to the Amnesty report, and an estimated 34 former soldiers sought safety in Khidir district. The soldiers, who had government military equipment and weaponry with them, agreed to surrender to the Taliban. Mohammad Azim Sedaqat, who led the group's surrender, arranged to decommission the weapons in the presence of Taliban members. On Aug. 30, an estimated 300 Taliban fighters arrived in a convoy close to Dahani Qul village, where the security forces members were staying, some with family members, according to Amnesty's report. As the security forces attempted to leave the area with their families, Taliban fighters caught up with them and opened fire on the crowd, killing a 17-year-old girl named Masuma. One soldier fired back, killing a Taliban fighter and wounding another. The Taliban continued to shoot as the families fled, killing two soldiers, according to the report. After nine security forces surrendered, the Taliban took them to a nearby river basin and killed them, according to the rights group. Amnesty said it verified photographs and video evidence taken in the aftermath of the killings. Search Keywords: Short link: The 27 heads of state and government will meet at Brdo Castle in Slovenia, the country that currently holds the EU's rotating presidency EU leaders will have a hard discussion on Europe's place in the world at a summit on Tuesday, as they seek unity on how to deal with superpowers China and the United States. The 27 heads of state and government will meet at Brdo Castle in Slovenia, the country that currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. While no concrete outcome is expected, it is the first leaders meeting since June, one senior EU diplomat commenting that "with everything that has happened, that seems ages ago". The dinner takes place on the eve of an EU-Western Balkans summit in which countries to the bloc's east will seek assurances they will one day be admitted to the European Union. Leaders will have a "strategic discussion on the role of the Union on the international stage", according to an invitation letter sent out by EU Council chief Charles Michel. France is still smarting over a decision last month by Australia to cancel a French submarine deal worth tens of billions of dollars in favour of a US offer. With anger still raw, French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to again warn at the talks that Washington's close allegiance to Europe is no longer a given. "It would be a mistake to pretend that nothing happened," said a French presidency source. Although some EU nations have backed France, others like Baltic and Nordic countries are reluctant to criticise the US, which they deem their ultimate protector against Russia. US President Joe Biden stressed the bloc was a "fundamental partner" for Washington in a call on Monday with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, the White House said. An EU official said the call -- which covered China, EU defence efforts, and trade -- showed Biden wanted to "strengthen dialogue" with Europe. Next week, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will head to Washington for talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Afghanistan lessons The submarine row came weeks after the US withdrew from Afghanistan and the Taliban swept to power, catching the Europeans off guard. The Europeans had provided troops for NATO-led missions in the country and were major donors to the overthrown government. The collapse in Afghanistan and the submarine fallout has given fresh impetus to those pushing for the EU to develop a separate military capability, with France leading the charge. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the dominant EU leader for the past 15 years, will attend the summit as coalition talks rumble on in Berlin to come up with a government that will replace hers. Merkel's cautious, pro-US strategy has dominated Europe and her imminent departure will see leaders like Macron, Italy's Mario Draghi and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte seeking to make their mark. As leader of the EU's export powerhouse, Merkel has always encouraged close ties with China, but this has also proven harder to defend as Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership turns more centralised and hard line. The relationship with Beijing grew even more complicated when an EU-China investment deal wanted by Germany was put on indefinite standby after both sides exchanged tit-for-tat sanctions over the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Spain will highlight more immediate concerns, calling for a bold EU answer to focus on the sudden rise in energy prices, with France, Greece and Poland also seeking action. The issue is to be given more in-depth discussion by leaders at a summit in Brussels on October 21-22. Search Keywords: Short link: Azerbaijan has closed a mosque linked to Iran's supreme leader, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday, days after Tehran launched war games near their shared border in a move denounced by Baku. "The mosque and representative office of Seyyed Ali Akbar Ojaghnejad, representative of supreme leader (Ayatollah) Ali Khamenei in Baku, were sealed and closed today by order of the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Tasnim said, without giving further details. Ojaghnejad has held the post since 1996, according to the website of his office, which is located inside the mosque. Azerbaijan's interior ministry spokesman Eskhan Zahidov said in a statement that the move was necessary because of "a surge in Covid-19 cases in several locations in Baku" and that the mosque's operation had been "suspended temporarily". Iran's embassy in Baku said in a statement on Tuesday evening that it had followed up on the matter via diplomatic channels, adding that there had been no advanced warning of the move. Since mid-September, tensions have soared between the two neighbours, who share a 700-kilometre (430-mile) border. On Friday, the Iranian army's ground forces began manoeuvres near the frontier, a move criticised by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. "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 had told Turkish news agency Anadolu. Iran invoked its "sovereignty" to dismiss Azerbaijan's concerns. "Iran will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near our borders," foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, alluding to Iran's arch-foe Israel. Israel is a major arms supplier to Azerbaijan, which last year won a six-week war with neighbour Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan's foreign ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva said Monday that Iran's claims were groundless. "We reject the allegations of any third party's presence near the Azerbaijani-Iranian border, such allegations are totally baseless," she said. Another recent bone of contention was Baku's decision to impose customs taxes on Iranian trucks crossing its territory to Armenia. To avoid the route, Iran's roads ministry announced on Monday that it was sending a delegation to Yerevan to discuss the completion of a road that directly links Iran to Armenia. The statement said Azerbaijan "currently controls 20 kilometres of this 400 kilometre road that runs from Norduz (in Iran) to Yerevan". Iran was "ready to complete the remaining part of the road as soon as possible," said the statement, which called the road "strategic" for Iranian trade. Search Keywords: Short link: US President Joe Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, will meet this week in Europe with China's top diplomat, the White House said Tuesday. Sullivan and Yang Jiechi will meet in Zurich to follow up on a September 9 phone call between Biden and President Xi Jinping on how "to responsibly manage the competition" between the two countries, the White House said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the White House said the meeting would take place Wednesday. Sullivan's trip continues an uptick in contact between Beijing and Washington, as Biden argues for establishing "guardrails" for the growing contest between the two powers. On Monday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she would soon be talking to her Chinese counterpart, as a massive trade dispute rumbles on with no end in sight. After the Zurich meeting, Sullivan is due to visit Brussels and Paris, where he will also "debrief his meeting with Director Yang to our European allies and partners," the White House said. In his 90-minute call with Xi last month -- the second in his presidency -- Biden said he wanted to avoid "unintended conflict." Search Keywords: Short link: The organisers of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2021) met on Tuesday with members of the business community in Cairo to encourage them to attend the upcoming trade and investment event. Organised by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, the IATF2021 will take place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, from 15 to 21 November 2021. Benedict Oramah, president and chairman of the board of directors of Afreximbank, said the Intra-African Trade Fair should be the springboard on which Egyptian businesses expand their investments and trade with their counterparts from other parts of Africa. We have already shown the realisable benefits... let us build on the momentum created by the AfCFTA and the previous IATF-linked achievements by being fully represented at the forthcoming Trade Fair in Durban, South Africa, Oramah said in his opening remarks at the meeting. We also urge the Egyptian youth to take advantage of the continental platform to showcase their talents and innovation as part of the culture and creative, as well as the youth start-up segments of the Fair, Oramah said. Egypt will be hosting a pavilion of 882 square metres at IATF2021, which will be showcasing the goods and services of 41 Egyptian companies across numerous sectors, including banking services, cars, chemical industries, engineering industries, food, furniture, handicraft, leather, ready-made garments, spinning and weaving. Egypts exhibitors include the National Bank, which will be addressing issues related to financial transactions of trade between African countries, and the MCV, which is one of the most prominent companies in the automotive industry. Egypts Minister of the Public Business Sector Hesham Tawfik, who was present at Tuesdays meeting, said that we are revisiting the map of branches covering more African countries via a lesser number of effective hubs providing a wide range of services for traders across the continent. We have a new business model and we are relying on intermediation rather than trading, and providing logistical services bundled in a one-stop-shop. The human factor is very important to us and hence our branches will be led by each countries residents, who we believe know more about doing business in their societies. The minister noted that the main task for the branch managers would be to identify a network of wholesalers and agents in the hubs and the countries around the hubs. We are using advanced technology in running the business and we are having an e-catalogue which is constantly updated including Egyptian exportable goods and the import needs of raw materials and semi-finished products that can be traded with other African countries as well as global trading centres. Prior to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, Egypt already had free trade agreements with many African countries, conferring significant trade advantages and making Africa one of the most important markets for Egyptian exports. However, the volume of intra-regional trade between Egypt and Africa is very small compared to the opportunities available in the continent. In 2019, the volume of Egyptian exports to Africa was estimated at about $4.767 billion, equating to 16 percent of Egypts total exports, and less than 1 percent of the continent's total global imports. For observers, the AfCFTA agreement will open new markets for Egyptian exports, especially with West African countries, where there was no preferential framework between Egypt and those countries. The competitiveness of Egypts goods and services in these markets will increase significantly as a result of the AfCFTA. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt and Saudi Arabia awarded contracts to two companies on Tuesday for the implementation of a project to link their power grids and allow the exchange of up to 3,000 MW of electricity at a value of $1.8 billion. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) and Saudi Electricity Company were awarded the contracts in a ceremony attended by Egypts Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker and his Saudi counterpart Abdulaziz bin Salman. Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud witnessed in April 2016 the signing of numerous agreements, MoUs, and cooperation programs worth $590 million, according to Egypts international cooperation ministry. The agreements covered various fields, including electricity and development in Sinai. The power linkage project includes the establishment of three high-voltage substations, including the Badr station in eastern Cairo and two stations in Saudi Arabia, linked with overhead transmission lines and marine cables, the ministry said. In a statement on Tuesday, Egypts Orascom Construction said its consortium with Hitachi ABB Power Grids will execute all the work in Egypt related to the project as per an agreement the consortium signed with EETC. Orascom said the project works with the HVDC (high-voltage direct current) technology, and will provide power to over 20 million people. Hitachi ABB said 2.3 million Saudi households will also benefit from the project. The project also includes the establishment of a transition station in Taba, Sinai, Orascom said. Hitachi ABB Power Grids-Saudi Services for Electro Mechanic Works (SSEM) consortium will execute the related work in Saudi Arabia, said Orascom. The completion of the projects first phase is scheduled for 2024 with a total capacity of 1.5 GW, according to the Egyptian construction company. Saudi Electricity Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said the project involves the linkage of the regions biggest grids and will reinforce the stability of power supply between the two countries, according to the electricity ministrys statement. The Saudi minister said the project will also help the two countries exchange 3 GW of electricity. In light of the two countries ambitions to expand reliance on renewable energy, this linkage will constitute a safety valve for their two power grids to tackle the general unstable nature of renewable energy, the statement cited Abdulaziz bin Salman as saying. Search Keywords: Short link: Next weeks parliamentary poll in Iraq will determine not only the government of the country, but whether Iraq has a viable future as a state. After months of preparations, Iraqis go to polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament which will then choose the prime minister, president, and government. Voters will elect 329 members of the Council of Deputies in polls that were originally scheduled for next year but then brought forward after demonstrators took to the streets in 2019 to protest against rampant corruption, poor services, and a political class perceived to be interested only in enriching itself. The key question now is whether the vote will bring about a drastic change in Iraqs politics and sound the death knell of the forces entrenched in government and which have overseen the massive spread of corruption and mismanagement. There is a great deal at stake. For Iraq to escape its current political quagmire the entire political system needs to be rebuilt, democracy strengthened, the economy revived and the existing kleptocracy eliminated. Protecting Iraqs sovereignty and curtailing foreign interference in the face of rising Iranian influence and Turkish military incursions, will also weigh heavily on voters minds. Iraqs Shia political factions, which following Saddam Husseins fall maintained a more or less united front and succeeded in dominating the government, are hoping Iraqs majority Shia population will secure their political power. Yet deep differences between the various Shia groups mean they will be running separately in the election, opening the polls up to fierce competition. The Sadrist Movement, named after its leader, cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, is hoping to emerge as the largest faction in parliament and have a decisive say in the formation of the government. The Sadr-led Saeroon alliance won 54 seats in the 2018 election, making it the largest parliamentary grouping, and used its parliamentary sway to expand its control over vast swathes of the state. Al-Fatah Alliance, a grouping of the political wings of pro-Iranian Shia militias, came second in 2018 with 48 seats. It is headed by Hadi Al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organisation, and includes Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and Katab Hizbullah , both groups with strong ties to Tehran. Former prime minister Haider Al-Abadi, and the Hikma Movement of Shia cleric Ammar Al-Hakim, have joined forces to create the National State Forces Alliance. A bloc led by Al-Abadi came third in 2018, winning 42 seats, a performance he hopes the new alliance can surpass. Nouri Al-Maliki, leader of the Islamic Dawa Party and prime minister between 2006 and 2014, heads the State of Law Coalition which won 25 seats in 2018. The fact that Al-Maliki is widely blamed for fuelling corruption and failing to confront the Islamic State could impact on the coalitions chances at the polls. Sunni Arabs are fielding candidates in three main groups along with dozens of independent candidates. Parliament Speaker Mohamed Al-Halbousi leads the Taqaddum, while Khamis Al-Khanjar, a business tycoon, and former speaker Osama Al-Najafi, each lead a rival group. Widely seen as divided and weak the Sunni parties tend to appeal to tribal and clan loyalties they are unlikely to succeed in rivalling Shia power. Iraqs northern Kurds, who under Iraqs post-Saddam constitution form an autonomous region, care more about consolidating their position, and the mechanics of power and wealth sharing in the autonomous region, than who controls parliament or central government. The two main Kurdish parties, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which dominates the Kurdish government in the capital Erbil, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls areas along the Iranian border, are fielding candidates in the national election in hope of advancing their agendas. The KDP won 25 seats in 2018, the PUK 18, followed by a number of smaller parties. They will again retain the lions share of Kurdish votes, but under the new electoral law the Kurds may lose some of the 58 seats which they won in 2018. While much attention has been focused on younger voters, particularly those who took part in the 2019 anti-establishment protests, the consensus is that it is a demographic beset by apathy, and which has little hope the polls will result in changes in the way Iraq is governed. A number of protest leaders who wanted to stand in the election have been kidnapped or assassinated, forcing others to abandon the race and call for a boycott. Fears are now growing that the turnout will be low. In the face of a devastated economy, subdued campaigning by the same old faces, and a surge in coronavirus cases, voter apathy is running deep among the countrys 25 million eligible voters. As the deadline for receiving ballot cards ended this week, the High Election Commission reported that only 17 million biometric voting cards had been delivered, feeding concerns that a low voter turnout could trigger a crisis of legitimacy. Iraqs senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, has called for wide participation in the elections, saying that despite shortcomings voting remains the best way for Iraqis to take part in shaping their countrys future. He also urged voters to make a good choice in selecting candidates. Low turnout is one problem. Another will be ensuring the credibility of the results. The government has called for the UN and the European Union to play a role in monitoring the polls, and invited foreign embassies in Baghdad to observe the vote and certify the election is fair and free. But while the government thinks foreign observers can give the poll legal cover, large swathes of the public are sceptical about whether international observers have any objective way of validating the vote. The UN mission, in any case, provides technical electoral assistance, making it impossible for it to assume an observer role, while the EUs team has remained non-committal over whether its final report on the election process will be made public. As Shia rivals make claims and counterclaims over their shares of voter support there are mounting fears that the vote will be followed by accusations of irregularities and manipulation which could spill over into violence, and even lead to the collapse of the political system. The upcoming election clearly represents a turning point for Iraqs increasingly fragmented politics. Whatever the outcome, the election will bring extraordinary challenges that test the Iraqi state and society at a time when it is facing multiple political, social, and security problems and a raging pandemic. While the chances are that Iraqs political class will be able to overcome their bickering to form a new government, following the usual long drawn-out process, tensions between the entrenched elite and the pressing need for change triggered by the protest movement could easily be exacerbated. What does seem clear is that Iraqs political system is nearing the end of its course and needs a radical reinvention. If the election fails to hasten this process the political system will not be the only casualty. Ongoing conflicts, and the challenges of reconstruction and reintegration, will serve only to exacerbate sectarian tensions, and in a way that could herald the break-up of Iraq. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: There may now be little to prevent Yemen from becoming another Somalia, a country on the verge of disintegrating into fiefs controlled by rival warlords. As international frustration mounts over the inability to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Yemen, the battle for control over Marib has emerged as a major stumbling block. Much of the exasperation is directed at the Houthi rebels, who have so far refused to return to the negotiating table. What we see is full-on determination by the Houthis to take Marib, US Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy Lenderking told the Washington Post on Friday. A Houthi victory in the oil-rich province would deliver a major defeat to the internationally recognised Yemeni government and the Saudi-led Coalition that is backing its drive to regain control of the country. Lenderking has recently returned from the Gulf, during which he met the UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in Muscat and the resident Houthi delegation in the Omani capital. From the US envoys statements, it is clear that the talks made no progress. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan shares Lenderkings prognosis, saying in a joint press conference with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Sunday that Riyadh is in a very strong dialogue with Washington on how to end the war in Yemen. He said that the main obstacle to a ceasefire was the ongoing Houthi military offensive against Marib and targets inside Saudi Arabia. Borrell said that we know that Saudi Arabia is suffering attacks from ballistic missiles coming from Yemen, launched by the Houthis. Alluding to Iran, he added that it is certainly not they who are building these missiles, someone is providing them. The joint forces fighting for the internationally recognised government, which consist of the official Yemeni army and various contingents of Popular Resistance Forces, have claimed victories on various fronts in Jawf and Marib. However, military observers maintain that there has been no significant development that could enable either side to claim it has gained the upper hand. The main strategy of the joint forces is to check any Houthi advance. A joint forces military communique recently reported the downing of a quadcopter drone in southern Marib, with military sources describing it as an Israeli aircraft of the sort used in the last war against Gaza. If this is the case, the Houthis deployment of the drone may signify their resolve to win the battle at all costs. Hamas or Hizbullah militias may have captured such drones, or the Iranian Revolutionary Guards may have cloned it, passing it on to the Houthis. This type of drone is thought to be superior to some of the Iranian-made aircraft used in Yemen because of its range, surveillance features and capacity for explosive charges. The Washington Post article cited Sagheer Bin Aziz, chief of staff of the Yemeni army, as saying that ballistic missiles and drones were the biggest problem in the war. It said the interview had had to be interrupted when a Houthi drone was spotted overhead, forcing journalists and soldiers to scramble to a safe location. The Houthis are increasingly seen as the warlords of Sanaa, ruling by fiat from the Yemeni capital and their militias enforcing the imposition of de facto realities. They reportedly rely on structures bequeathed by the former regime of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, with specially tailored additions to the security apparatus such as the preemptive security agency and special female security branches inspired by Iranian military divisions. The situation in Southern Yemen seems equally intractable. Last week, the inhabitants of Aden were shaken by armed clashes near the central district of Crater. The accounts vary, but the common denominator is the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), the de facto authority in the South. The STC blamed the disruption on Imam Ahmed Abdo Al-Silwi (aka Al-Nubi), whom they described as a terrorist bent on inciting strife. According to some reports, Al-Nubis militia is a breakaway contingent from the STC. Other sources, including Houthi ones, held that the fighting was an outbreak of longstanding tensions between the STC and the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Reform Party (Al-Islah), which has a strong influence in Yemeni government ranks. It is not just the security that is deteriorating here. The greater problem is with standards of living and the deterioration of services to unprecedented levels, a source in Aden told Al-Ahram Weekly. He added that outbreaks of tension often occur when members of the officially recognised government return to Aden in the framework of the Saudi-sponsored agreement between the government and the STC, which has yet to be fully implemented. Reports of a southward Houthi advance have aggravated tensions in the South. In response, the STCs Security Belt forces released a statement affirming their readiness to counter any Houthi attempt to expand. Some sources have also reported that southern security forces have unearthed sleeper cells of Houthi militants in Abyan. Some weeks ago, Houthi forces drove back joint forces contingents in the Al-Bayda governorate, bringing them within closer reach of Aden. Such developments reinforce the image of competing warlords with various fiefs in the north and south. According to some observers, even the Yemeni army is essentially cobbled together from heterogeneous militia and/or tribal forces that have defied attempts to integrate them effectively. As a result, the army lacks cohesion and appropriate training, which is why it does not live up to the expectations pinned on it despite the huge support it receives. The Republican Guards under the command of Tarek Saleh, son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, is a semi-autonomous force. Primarily based on the west coast, it refuses to subordinate itself to a command that accommodates the militias of the Al-Islah Party. The eastern Hadhramawt governorate is stable by comparison, though this does not mean that the government has an automatic pass. The dominant influence in Hadhramawt is Saudi Arabia because of tribal overlaps. Despite the official accommodation between the official government and the STC, the trend in Hadhramawt is to reject any authority in Aden that includes the STC and to prefer autonomy. There have been reports of a possible visit by the new UN envoy to Aden to bolster the governments position in the countrys southern capital, according to sources speaking to the Weekly. Last weeks clashes may have thrown these plans into disarray. Yemen is now at the bottom of the Global Peace Index, not surprisingly given the complex and long-entrenched dynamics of conflict in the country. It could be another candidate for Somalisation, in other words, the disintegration of the country into fiefs controlled by rival warlords. There is no sign of a possible roadmap to a solution between the Houthis and the government. Even in the event of negotiations, the STC insists on having a place of its own at the negotiating table. A STC delegation made this clear during a visit to Germany last week, and in previous statements the STC has stressed its resolve to call for a referendum on the independence of the South after a five-year interim period. The Houthis insist that any ceasefire agreement must be based on current lines of control even if these fall in the middle of a province such as Marib. Despite UN and US appeals and EU intimations that the Houthis have violated international law, none of these powers holds sufficient leverage to impose a halt to the war, meaning there is little to prevent a Somalisation scenario. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Painter Khaled Al-Samahi talks about the impact his childhood memories of the October War have had on his art When the October War started in 1973, Khaled Al-Samahi, now an accomplished painter, was barely three years old. However, it was impossible for him to miss that something enormously important was happening, even at this very young age. There was the endless flow of neighbours continuously popping into his parents living room, where there was the only TV set in the entire apartment building, to follow the news of the war, for example. Al-Samahi also got caught up in the songs especially composed for the war that were being broadcast on the radio. His parents used to turn the radio on as soon as the TV broadcasts came to an end before midnight or between the news bulletins. Later in primary school Al-Samahi got to understand what had really been unfolding during those early years of his childhood. Through a few visits with his parents to Suez and Port Said, he got to see what the war had been about and what it had meant for all Egyptians. I will always remember my visit to Suez in 1977, when I saw houses that had been demolished by Israeli raids. Entire streets and neighbourhoods carried the imprint of the war, Al-Samahi remembers. In one building after another, I could see bare floors with beds and tables but no walls as these had been demolished during the Israeli raids, he said. He found empty cartridges from bullets in the streets. As a child I used to play with them, he recalled. These images provided a wealth of ideas for drawing classes at school for Al-Samahi and other children at the time. The October War was something that all art teachers asked their students to contemplate. But for Al-Samahi, it was not only in art class that the war inspired ideas. There were reminders of the war everywhere, he said. In class, we would draw tanks and cannons and the flag of Egypt, and at home, we would use scattered pieces of wood or metal to make guns and planes. When we played in the street, we would sometimes see someone crying as he could not get over the grief of losing his son in the war, he recalled. During his military service after graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1993, Al-Samahi got to meet some of the officers who had been at the front during the October War. I heard lots of stories about what it had really meant to be at the front in the midst of the hostilities and how the soldiers would just have to keep on moving after seeing one of them being killed because there was no time to cry over the dead, he said. For Al-Samahi, such stories and images ultimately meant one thing the resilience of the Egyptian people in the face of war. For him, it is this resilience that helped the nation and the army to move on beyond the 1967 defeat and to secure the crossing of the Suez Canal. It must have taken a lot of resolve and a lot of bravery to do it, he said. My generation is very lucky to have come into a world where the resolve and dedication of former generations have effaced the scar of the military defeat in 1967, he said. It was this resolve that came into Al-Samahis mind when he was looking for a graduation project and he saw some Egyptian peasants waiting to catch a train at a train station. For me, this resolve is inherent to our nature as Egyptians. Those who fought and won in 1973 were also peasants who prior to joining up had spent long days in the fields, Al-Samahi said. I think one of the songs that best reflects the war is the one in which Souad Hosni sings Salah Jahins beautiful words: those are the soldiers, the children of peasants, those are the ones that secured the victory of my country. However, it took Al-Samahi a few years before he decided to put this wealth of memories on canvas. In 2010, he produced his first major painting on the October War called The Crossing Boat. In this painting, he shows his profound fascination for the resolve shown by Egyptian soldiers in making the victorious crossing of the Suez Canal a dream came true. Today, it is on display at the Misr Public Library not very far from the house of late president Anwar Al-Sadat who led the war. Almost a decade later, Al-Samahi put a second groups of memories on canvas. And earlier this year, he exhibited 30 paintings that depict images of Israeli prisoners of war sent back to their country dressed in the typical Egyptian clothes of the time. In the early 1970s, there was particular pattern of striped Egyptian pajamas that almost everyone wore. They were very particularly Egyptian, and in a way, I thought they were the imprint that Egypt had put on the Israeli military after the crossing, Al-Samahi said. It was also, he added, a result of seeing disturbing videos of Egyptian prisoners in their undergarments after they had been captured by the Israeli army. Al-Samahi feels that the memory of the October War has since been receding, something he has difficulty with because he knows the sacrifices that were made to make the crossing a reality and the privations that Egyptians, both civilians and soldiers, had to put up with for many years. It is not just about the images he saw for himself, but also about the facts that he gathered from years of reading about the October War. Two particular Israeli attacks haunt Al-Samahi, and he is set to put them in his paintings. The first, the base of his next exhibition later this year or early next year, is the Israeli aggression against the primary school of Bahr Al-Baqar. On 8 April 1970, Israeli jet fighters hit a primary school in the village of Bahr Al-Baqar in Sharqiya governorate, killing 30 pupils and leaving 50 others wounded. Israel hit the building knowing it was a primary school. We have every reason to remember this as part of pain we had to endure, Al-Samahi said. For me, it is very significant that the school uniform of the children in this primary school was made of a similar khaki material to that the armed forces used to wear as uniforms at the front. Al-Samahi is also haunted by the story of the Israeli aggression on the Abu Zaable Steel and Metal Factory in 1970, a couple of months earlier. The attack on 12 February 1970 against the factory in the governorate of Qalioubiya killed 88 people and left 150 wounded. Al-Samahis biggest dream is to have a large oil painting find its place on the walls of the October Panorama in Cairo, the only big museum dedicated to the October War. Al-Samahi, it merits more attention from Egyptian painters, especially in relation to the October War. I think that in general we dont have enough artwork to commemorate this war not enough documentaries, not enough films, not enough paintings, and not enough artwork in general, Al-Samahi said. For him, this is a task that his generation has to undertake. *A version of this article appears in print in the 7 October, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Short link: Dupa inscrierea pe site-ul HotNews.ro, poti deschide sectiunea MyHotNews ca sa completezi sau sa schimbi profilul de utilizator. Atentie! Logarea pe site se face cu adresa de email, nu cu nickname-ul. Adresa ta de email va ramane confidentiala si nu va fi niciodata data unor terte persoane sau institutii. Inainte de a te inscrie pe site te rugam sa parcurgi termenii si conditiile atasate unui cont HotNews.ro. KYODO NEWS - Oct 5, 2021 - 14:04 | World, All The United States criticized Beijing on Monday over the intrusion of over fifty-six Chinese military planes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, saying it undermined regional peace and stability. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the United States urges China to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. "Our commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," Psaki said, responding to a question from a reporter. The incursion by the military planes, a one-day record since the self-governed island began disclosing such figures in September last year, brought to 149 the number of the planes that have intruded so far this month. Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Tuesday that the world has seen that China is violating regional peace and pressuring Taiwan, calling the Taiwanese people to come together as one and strengthen the island. It has been speculated that China's actions were in response to a joint training exercise held by Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force along with the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers Ronald Reagan and Carl Vinson, and the British Royal Navy's aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth in the waters southwest of Okinawa on Saturday and Sunday. China's latest actions also came after the U.S. State Department warned Sunday that its military activity near Taiwan risks miscalculation and undermines regional peace and stability. China's Foreign Ministry dismissed the U.S. concerns Monday and said they sent an "irresponsible" signal. China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province that should be reunified with the mainland, has ramped up pressure on Taiwan following its recent application to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen is stepping up its efforts to convince member countries, including Japan, to accept Taiwan as a TPP member. The incursions appear to also be a warning to the United States and Japan against further strengthening relations with Taiwan. Related coverage: Taiwan says China military plane incursions hit record 56 on Oct. 4, 2021 KYODO NEWS - Oct 5, 2021 - 19:27 | World, All Chinese President Xi Jinping has instructed the country's army to increase military pressure in the southwestern region of Taiwan, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Xi's instruction came at a recent meeting of the Central Military Commission, China's highest military authority, after six democratic nations including the United States and Japan carried out joint military drills near Taiwan earlier this month involving three aircraft carriers. A large number of Chinese military planes have entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone since last Friday, in an apparent bid to counter the military exercises conducted by Britain, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. Xi is believed to think that the military drills in waters southwest of Okinawa, Japan's southernmost prefecture, were designed to prevent China from unifying democratic Taiwan with the mainland and from gaining the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, claimed by Beijing. On Monday, the United States criticized the Communist-led government over the intrusion of 56 Chinese military planes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, saying it undermined regional peace and stability. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the United States urges China to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. "Our commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region," Psaki said. The incursion by the military planes, a one-day record since the self-governed island began disclosing such figures in September last year, brought to 149 the number of the planes that have intruded so far this month. The world has seen that China is violating regional peace and pressuring Taiwan, Premier Su Tseng-chang said Tuesday, calling its people to come together as one and strengthen the island. At the Central Military Commission, Xi, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said China should show that it is "always ready to fight," but in reality, the mainland wants to avoid a head-on confrontation with the United States, the sources said. In March 1996, then U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered two aircraft carrier battle groups into waters off Taiwan's southern coast to tackle China's threats against the island before its first presidential election. China and Taiwan have been separately governed since they split in 1949 as a result of a civil war. Their relations have deteriorated since independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's president in 2016. The mainland considers the island as a renegade province. KYODO NEWS - Oct 5, 2021 - 13:45 | All, Japan, Coronavirus Fumio Kishida got to work as Japan's prime minister on Tuesday, holding talks with foreign leaders, a day after taking office and forming a Cabinet to meet challenges including reviving an economy battered by COVID-19. "I have a sense of tension like the one I feel just after a playball announcement in baseball," Kishida told reporters at the prime minister's office after holding a teleconference with U.S. President Joe Biden. "I would like to speedily respond to various challenges," he said. In the talks with Biden and separate discussions with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison later in the morning, Kishida agreed with the two leaders to strengthen ties and work together to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific region. To revive the domestic economy, Kishida has vowed to implement a "new capitalism" that focuses on boosting economic growth and redistributing the fruits of that success to increase middle-class incomes. An economic package worth "tens of trillions of yen" is in the works to support people and businesses reeling from the pandemic, he has said. Kishida's Cabinet members held their first press conferences at their respective offices, breaking from a tradition of holding them on the night of the Cabinet launch. Trade and industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said at his press conference that he will "push forward with the restart of nuclear power plants while putting top priority on safety" as he noted the need to reduce carbon emissions. Hagiuda said he intends to seek Cabinet approval of a revised basic energy plan in time for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP26, to be held between Oct. 31 and Nov. 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. Kishida, meanwhile, will be looking to guide the Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition to victory in a general election that will take place Oct. 31. Kishida told a press conference Monday he will dissolve the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber of parliament, on Oct. 14, with the campaigning period to start on Oct. 19. A strong mandate from voters will give Kishida's Cabinet, which is full of fresh faces with 13 of its 20 members taking a ministerial post for the first time, greater freedom to pursue his policies. Kishida appointed Daishiro Yamagiwa as economic and fiscal policy minister, while putting Takayuki Kobayashi in a new post charged with economic security, including preventing a technology drain from Japan. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi were retained, while Shunichi Suzuki, a former Olympics minister, was named finance minister. Parliament convened an extraordinary session and elected Kishida as prime minister on Monday, replacing Yoshihide Suga who resigned amid criticism over his COVID-19 policies. Kishida is set to deliver a policy speech and answer questions from party leaders in the coming days before heading into the general election. Related coverage: New PM Kishida, Biden agree to strengthen Japan-U.S. alliance Biden administration to press China to meet trade deal commitments Biden says looks forward to working closely with new Japan PM Kishida KYODO NEWS - Oct 5, 2021 - 15:44 | All, Japan, Coronavirus Japan's new tourism minister said Tuesday he will consider when to resume the government's "Go To Travel" subsidy program for the promotion of domestic tourism that has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, following the full lifting of the COVID-19 state of emergency last week. "We will consider the situation regarding novel coronavirus infections and consider when to resume the program," said Tetsuo Saito. "It is a program crucial for the recovery of tourist sites and local economies." A day after assuming his ministerial post, Saito said he has been instructed by new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to help the battered tourism sector while maintaining anti-virus measures. While international travel is still largely limited due to the pandemic, Saito said the government will uphold its goal of attracting 60 million foreign visitors to Japan by 2030. In July last year, the government launched the Go To Travel campaign to subsidize up to half of travelers' expenses, but the program was suspended nationwide in December due to a resurgence of coronavirus infections. The overall discount was capped at 20,000 yen ($180) per person per night and 10,000 yen for a day trip. KYODO NEWS - Oct 5, 2021 - 04:55 | All, World The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden said Monday it will start talks with China soon to press the world's second-largest economy to comply with a bilateral trade deal signed by his predecessor Donald Trump, without ruling out the use of new tariffs. Following a months-long review of trade policy with China, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the "phase one" deal has not fully addressed concerns over China's unfair trade practices, while Beijing is falling short of some of its commitments included in the deal. "Our analysis indicates that while commitments in certain areas have been met, and certain business interests have seen benefits, there have been shortfalls in others," she told an event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Tai said she intends to have "frank" conversations with her Chinese counterpart "in the coming days," which will include discussions regarding China's performance under the phase-one agreement. Her remarks came ahead of a looming deadline for China to meet its promise to increase its purchases of U.S. goods, such as farm products, and services by at least $200 billion for the two-year period through the end of 2021, as compared to 2017 levels. China has also agreed to strengthen intellectual property protections and pursue financial services liberalization, while committing to address allegations of forced technology transfer and currency manipulation to boost exports. Tai said the phase-one deal "stabilized the market," especially for U.S. agricultural exports. "But the reality is, this agreement did not meaningfully address the fundamental concerns that we have with China's trade practices and their harmful impacts on the U.S. economy," she said. The pact, which took effect in February last year, led to an immediate rollback of some of the U.S. tariffs imposed on China amid their trade war, which the Trump administration started as it sought to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Beijing and rectify its concerns over intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and other issues. But the remaining punitive tariffs, affecting hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of Chinese products with a rate of up to 25 percent, have been left intact through the Biden administration. A senior U.S. official said earlier that the Biden administration's objective is "not to escalate trade tensions with China" or "double down on the previous administration's flawed strategy." Biden has been critical of Trump's unilateralist "America First" foreign and trade policy, which had undermined alliances and multilateralism while resulting in a bruising tit-for-tat tariff war between the United States and China. While pursuing phase-one enforcement, the Biden administration will start a "targeted tariff exclusion process," indicating it will allow an exemption from the duties for specific imports. Such a process was created by the Trump administration but has expired, according to U.S. media. U.S. officials said the Biden administration is not seeking a "phase two" negotiation, which the previous administration vowed to pursue to address more of the key U.S. concerns over China's economic practices, such as its extensive use of industrial subsidies. Tai said she is not expecting China to conduct "meaningful reforms," but emphasized that she has "serious concerns" with China's state-centered and non-market trade practices left unaddressed in the phase-one deal. "As we work to enforce the terms of phase one, we will raise these broader policy concerns with Beijing," she said, adding, "We will use the full range of tools we have and develop new tools as needed to defend American economic interests from harmful policies and practices." New Delhi: Hours after the united opposition's hopes of an grand alliance between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were dashed on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the grand old party has some secret understanding with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AAP president also expressed confidence over his party's victory in General Elections 2019, saying that the national capital is ready to fight against the "unholy" alliance between the BJP and the Congress. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal wrote, "At a time when the whole country wants to defeat Modi- Shah duo, Cong is helping BJP by splitting anti-BJP vote. Rumours r that Cong has some secret understanding wid BJP. Delhi is ready to fight against Cong-BJP alliance. People will defeat this unholy alliance". Kejriwal's statement came after former chief minister and Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit, early in the day, has "unanimously" turned down the idea of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which swept to power in Delhi in 2015. "A unanimous decision has been taken that there will be no alliance in Delhi," Dikshit said. The announcement by Dikshit came following a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Earlier, speculations had been rife that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party and the Congress have reached an agreement to forge an alliance in Delhi. However, senior AAP leader Gopal Rai later said that none of the parties have reached any agreement on the same. Early in the month, Arvind Kejriwal's AAP had declared candidates for six of Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats, saying there was no possibility of an alliance with the Congress. But the party was open to negotiations and had several seat sharing formulas ready. The AAP has fielded Atishi Marlena from East Delhi, Raghav Chaddha from South Delhi, Dilip Pandey from North East Delhi, Gugan Singh from North West Delhi, Brajesh Goel from New Delhi and Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat. The candidate for the seventh Lok Sabha seat - West Delhi - will be declared later as the party is yet to come with the most eligibale candidate for the constituency. New Delhi : The DMK has finalisedA the pre-poll alliance with the Congress and several other regional parties, includingA the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India a Marxist (CPI-M), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) a in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As per the electoral pact reached by the parties, the DMK will contest 20 seats, whereas the Congress will fight on just 9 seats. The remaining 10 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats have been given to other smaller allies. The Congress has also been given the only seat in the union territory of Puducherry. aWe have allocated 10 seats to our alliance partner Congress and other 10 have been given to our other alliance partners. DMK will contest on the remaining 20 seats. On 7th March, we will begin the identification of the seats for both DMK & alliance partners,a ANI quoted DMK President MK Stalin told reporters on Tuesday. DMK President MK Stalin: We have allocated 10 seats to our alliance partner Congress & other 10 have been given to our other alliance partners. DMK will contest on the remaining 20 seats.On 7th March, we will begin the identification of the seats for both DMK & alliance partners. pic.twitter.com/bZTiHMBEWR a ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2019 The smaller allies - the CPI, the CPI-M and the VCK would contest two seats each in Tamil Nadu, while one seat each has been given to the MDMK, IUML, IJK and KMDK. The MDMK has also been given one Rajya Sabha seat. The DMK president has already extended his support to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the Oppositionas candidate for the prime ministerial post. Earlier, the ruling AIADMk had finalised the alliance with the BJP for the coming Lok Sabha polls. As per the pact, the BJP will contest five seats in Tamil Nadu, while the remaining seats will go the AIADMK. The BJP will also extend its support to the AIADMK for the bypolls on 21 Assembly seats, which fall vacant after the disqualification of the rebel AIADMK MLAs. Tokyo: A Tokyo court on Tuesday granted ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn bail in a shock decision that could see the auto tycoon freed after more than three months of detention. The court set the bail at one billion yen ($9 million), but prosecutors are likely to appeal the decision and could even file additional allegations against Ghosn to keep him from leaving detention. was the latest twist in a case that has kept Japan and the business world gripped since the tycoon's shock arrest on November 19 over suspicions of financial misconduct. The court has previously said Ghosn's continued detention was justified because he posed a flight risk and could seek to tamper with evidence. Ghosn and his lawyers have argued that neither of those is the case, and he even offered to wear a tracking bracelet and hire guards to monitor his whereabouts, pledging to stay in Japan. The surprise decision came after Ghosn's new lead defence lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters he had filed a "convincing" application for bail that contained fresh elements. Hironaka, who has a reputation for securing acquittals for high-profile clients in a country where almost all court cases end in conviction, offered greater surveillance of Ghosn and a limit on his electronic communications to win bail. But the court had previously shown no inclination to end the lengthy pre-trial detention, which has drawn some criticism internationally and from rights groups. Prosecutors have defended his detention while they investigate three charges of financial misconduct, two involving alleged under-reporting of his salary and a third over a complex scheme in which Ghosn allegedly sought to transfer his losses to Nissan's books. And they are likely to appeal the bail decision, though the courts have previously ruled against the prosecutors when they sought to extend Ghosn's detention as allegations against him were being investigated. Under Japanese law, prosecutors can hold a suspect for up to 22 days while they investigate an allegation, and then can apply for repeated one-month stretches of pre-trial detention for each charge that is eventually levelled. That means prosecutors could effectively prevent Ghosn from leaving detention despite today's bail decision if they level new allegations against him, starting the 22-day detention clock. On Monday, Ghosn's family said in a statement they would appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The family slammed Japan for its "mediaeval rules", in a statement read out by a lawyer representing Ghosn's wife Carole, who has previously described her husband's detention conditions as "deplorable". The tycoon has denied all the allegations against him, and in an interview with AFP he slammed his continued detention. "Why am I being punished before being found guilty?" Ghosn asked, speaking to AFP and the Les Echos daily in January from his detention centre. The refusal to grant him bail "would not be normal in any other democracy", he said. Ghosn's new lawyer Hironaka, who has earned the nickname "the acquitter" for his court record and the "razor" for his mental sharpness, vowed a "completely new legal strategy" to obtain his client's release. Hironaka has also taken aim at Nissan, raising questions as to why the Japanese firm brought a case to prosecutors over incidents that allegedly took place more than 10 years ago. A towering figure once revered in Japan for turning around Nissan's fortunes, Ghosn also forged a successful alliance between Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and France's Renault. But his attempts to deepen the alliance caused resentment in some quarters, and Ghosn has claimed the allegations against him are part of a "plot" by opponents of greater integration between the three firms. Given the number of people involved in the complex case and their wide geographical spread, Hironaka said the case would run over a "very long time span". However, he said prosecutors had begun handing over some of their evidence prior to a potential trial. New Delhi: Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Tuesday warned that there are reports about terrorists being trained to carry out operations through the sea. Addressing a gathering of global experts at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue here, Lanba said the Pulwama attack was perpetrated by extremists that were "aided by a State" that seeks to destabilise India. Earlier, the Indian Air Force on February 26 conducted an air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistans Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. "We also have reports of terrorists being trained to carry out operations in various modus operandi, including through the medium of the sea," he said. The 26/11 attack was carried out by 10 sea-borne terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, who hijacked an Indian fishing trawler to reach Mumbai and unleash mayhem. ALSO READ | Pakistan not complete without Kashmir: Masood Azhar told cadres days before Pulwama attack The Navy chief said this part of the world had witnessed multiple forms of terrorism in recent years and few countries in the region had been spared. The global nature that terrorism has acquired in the recent times has further enhanced the scope of this threat, Lanba said. "We have seen how quickly terror groups evolve across the globe. A particular brand of terror can well become a global problem in near future," Lanba warned. India, however, faces a "far more serious" version of "state-sponsored" terrorism, he said. "We recently saw the horrific scale of the extremist attack in Jammu and Kashmir about three weeks ago. This violence was perpetrated by extremists aided and abetted by a State that seeks to destabilise India," the Navy chief said without naming Pakistan. On February 14, at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 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. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. highlights After Pulwama attack, IAF jets destroyed Jaish's terror camp. It resulted in worst tension between two nulcear powers. Pakistan has been denying any impact of teh airstrike.A New Delhi: Week after Indian Air Forceas combat jets adestroyeda Jaish-e-Mohammedas training camps in Pakistanas Balakot, a Reuters report suggest that the madrasa buildings are still standing with no visible impact of the aerial attack. The Reuters has the satellite images of Balakot, which were taken hours after the February 26 air strike. According to the report, the satellite images provided by Planet Labs Inc, the site in question has no craters, mounds or holes in the roofs of the buildings. The ruling BJP has claimed that around 300 terrorists were killed in the air strike. However, there has been no official sequenced of event or proof shared by the Narendra Modi government on the air strike. The San Francisco-based company has satellite images with high resolution. The images from Planet Labs, which show details as small as 72 cm (28 inches), offer a clearer look at the structures the Modi government said it attacked, the Reuters report said. According to the report, the siteas satellite images remain unchanged since 2018. aThe high-resolution images donat show any evidence of bomb damage,aA Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, was quoted as saying by Reuters. The report comes at a time when the air strike proofs have sparked a massive political battle in the election-bound nation. On Tuesday, Prime minister Narendra Modi had said that those demanding the proof of the surgical strike are like the aposter boysa of Pakistan. Though several details have surfaced in media regarding the aerial strike, but the government has not put out an official statement on the events. Earlier on Monday, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had said that the target was 'clearly hit' when the IAF jets struck Jaish-e-Mohammedas terror camp in Balakot on February 26. However, the IAF chief clarified that they don't count number of casualties and it will be given by the government. "We hit our target. IAF is not in a postilion to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not," he said while addressing a press conference in Coimbatore. This was the first press briefing by the Air Chief Marshal after the air strike across LoC in which around 250 terrorists were reportedly killed. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan has formally banned Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its subsidiary Filah E Insaniat Foundation by the Interior Ministry under Anti Terrorism Act 1997. The move came after reports suggested that the organisations were not banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch. According to the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), the list has been updated on Tuesday. Earlier they were under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997. On February 21, the Pakistan government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans. "This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said. The Pakistan government on Monday also put out another order saying it has frozen assets of all UN designated organisations like JuD, FIF. However, this is nothing but continuation of a decade-old fraud since both the organisations were put in the Schedule-II of the Pakistan's Anti Terrorism Act, 1997, another official said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: One terrorist was killed in a brief exchange of fire at Kralgund in Handwara. The search operation underway. At least two terrorists belonging to Hizbul-Mujahideen outfit were killed on Tuesday morning in an encounter that broke out between security forces and terrorists at Reshipora Tral area in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. After receiving specific inputs about the presence of terrorists, a joint operation was launched by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF and the Army. The security forces then cordoned off the entire area. Authorities have also suspended mobile Internet services in the town. Earlier, three CRPF jawans, two Jammu and Kashmir police personnel and a civilian were killed in an encounter at Babagund village of Langate, Handwara in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. Two terrorists were also killed in the gun battle. The civilian was killed during clashes with security forces following stone-pelting incident at the spot. Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation following information about the presence of terrorists there, the officials said. During the searches, the terrorists opened fire on the security forces, who retaliated, they said. There was a lull in firing several times during the day but the terrorists would resume firing as soon as the security forces advanced towards the house where the ultras were hiding, the officials said. Clashes between a group of youngsters and security personnel took place near the encounter site, leaving four persons injured, the officials. On February 14, at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed last month in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 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. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is likely to be arrested soon, according to Pakistan media reports. The reports added that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to sign an order for his arrest on Tuesday. The reports came hours after the arrests of 44 members, including Azhars son and brother, of the banned terror groups by authorities in Pakistan amid mounting pressure from the global community on Islamabad to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil. "We have taken 44 people in custody as part of crackdown on militant groups," Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said at a press conference in Islamabad. Ministry of Interior Secretary Azam Suleman Khan said Hammad Azhar and Mufti Abdur Rauf were among those arrested on Tuesday. Hammad is the son of Masood Azhar while Rauf is his brother. Khan said a dossier shared by India with Pakistan last week also contained names of Rauf and Hammad. "It does not mean that action is being taken against only those individuals who are mentioned in the dossier," he added. The crackdown came amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. India last week handed over the dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi last week admitted that the JeM chief is in Pakistan and is "very unwell", but said the government can act against him only if India presents "solid" and "inalienable" evidence that can stand in a court of law. "He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can't leave his house, because he's really unwell," Qureshi told CNN in an interview. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Gujarat Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if sources are to be believed. He will also directly get a ministerial berth, the sources added. However, the OBC leader and Congress legislator from Radhanpur in north Gujarat, denied rumours that he was preparing to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier in September 2018, Thakore had rubbished all rumours stating that he was going join the BJP. "I don't know who is spreading these canards at regular intervals but I want to state clearly that I am in the Congress and shall remain in the Congress," Thakore told reporters, flanked by state Congress president Amit Chavda and Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani. He had asserted: "I had joined the Congress after seeking the opinion of over 20,000 followers and today I am entrusted with national responsibility in the party, including in Bihar." There had been rumours of Thakore negotiating with the ruling BJP and that he might be accommodated as a Minister in the Vijay Rupani government. Political circles have also been speculating that he may vacate his constituency for former Minister Shankar Chaudhary. Thakore had courted controversy for raising his voice against the Congress and supporting the BJP govermnent's move to raise salaries for legislators in the state from Rs 70,000-plus to over Rs 1.16 lakh per month. highlights The BJP had won the seven Delhi seats in the 2014 election. Kejriwal had said he was tired of trying to persuade Congress. In 2013, Congress helped AAP take power, but Kejriwal quit after 49 days. New Delhi: Two days after the Aam Aadmi Party announced the candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, speculations are rife that Arvind Kejriwal-led party and the Congress have reached an agreement to forge an alliance in Delhi. News Nation has learnt that both the parties will contest on three seast each in Delhi. The National Capital has seven parliamentary constituencies. According to the arrangement, the seventh seat will go to former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. The ex-Union Minister is likely to contest the General Elections as an Independent candidate. He has reportedly met bothy party leaders in this regard. However, senior AAP leader Gopal rai has said that both parties have not reached any agreement. On Saturday, the Aam Aadmi Party had declared candidates for six of the seven seats for Lok Sabha elections 2019 in Delhi. The AAP has fielded its top leaders like Atishi from East Delhi, Raghav Chaddha from South Delhi, Dilip Pandey from North East Delhi, Gugan Singh from North West Delhi, Brajesh Goel from New Delhi and Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat. "We won 66 out of 70 seats in Assembly elections. We will try to make a similar presence felt during the Lok Sabha elections," the Delhi Employment Minister said. However, the candidate for the seventh Lok Sabha seat - West Delhi - will be declared later as the party was still discussing potential names, Rai said during the press conference. According to news Nations Opinion Poll, the recent defeats of the BJP at the hands of the Congress party in its traditional strongholds like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh may not affect the latters performance in Delhi for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha election. According to the opinion poll, the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to get 39 per cent of vote share whereas the Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party might end up getting 31 per cent of vote share. The Congress party may get 15 per cent of vote share. Mumbai: Three persons were arrested for allegedly attacking the 22-year-old son of a decorated former Army officer at a pub here, police said Monday. The pub is located in the western suburb of Bandra and the incident took place in early hours of Saturday, said an official. Gurnihal Singh, the college-going son of Shaurya Chakra awardee, Captain (retd) Bikramjit Singh, and his friend Saksham Jatia were attacked by a group of persons at the pub following an argument when the duo took to the dance floor, he said. The fight started when one of the men in the group began punching Jatia, the official said. When Gurnihal Singh and his friends tried to intervene, they were also attacked by the group members, he said. One of the attackers broke a liquor bottle and slashed Gurnihal Singhs throat with it, causing serious injuries to him, the official said. Gurnihal Singh was rushed to a hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable now, he said. A case was registered at the Bandra police station. Three alleged attackers were arrested separately on Sunday and Monday and charged with attempt to murder, among other offences, the official said. The police were also investigating whether more persons were involved in the attack, he said. For all the Latest Crime News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education has released the admit card for students appearing for class 10 and class 12 examinations. Candidates can download there admit cards from the official website-- rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in. Private candidates and schools can download the admit cards by providing the User Id and password in the required fields. Number of students appearing for the RBSE Exam This year more than 20 lakh students, from class 10 and class 12, are enrolled to appear in the Rajasthan board examinations that will be held in March. As many as nine lakh students in Class 12 and 11 lakh students in Class 10 will be appearing for the Board of Secondary Education (BSER) exams. Important dates of RBSE exams The Class 12 Board examination will begin from March 7 with English (Compulsory) paper. The Class 10 board examination will start from March 14, 2019. RBSE Board Exams 2019: How private candidates can download admit cards Visit the official website, rajeduboard.rajasthan.gov.in. Click on 'private students roll number' under 'news updates' Click on the link, you will be redirected to a new page Enter roll number, admit card will appear Download the admit card and take a print out of same for future references. Students appearing from regular mode can collect their admit card from their respective schools. All the exams will be held in morning shift (from 8:30 AM to 11.30 AM) New Delhi : Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, the government has given announced another bonanza to lure the middle class and enhanced the Income Tax Exemption for Gratuity to Rs 20 lakh. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made the announcement on his official Twitter handle. Jaitley said that this will benefit all the employees of the Public Sector Unit (PSU) who other employees who are not covered by the Payment of Gratuity Act. "Income Tax Exemption for Gratuity under Section 10(10)(iii) of the Income Tax Act has been enhanced to Rs. 20 lakh. Would benefit all PSU employees and other employees not covered by the Payment of Gratuity Act," the finance minister tweeted. Earlier in its last budget, the Narendra Modi government had announced full tax rebate for those earning up to Rs 5 lakh. "Individual taxpayers having annual income up to Rs 5 lakhs will get a full tax rebate. Individuals with gross income up to 6.5 lakh rupees will not need to pay any tax if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities, the acting finance minister Piyush Goyal had announced in his interim budget speech. The government had also decided to hike the gratuity limit from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and also announced a Mega Pension Yojana under which Rs 3,000 per month will given to unorganised sector employees. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that his government has given a clear message that terrorism will not be allowed and Indian Air Force (IAF) has already given a befitting reply of Pulwama attack by into terrorists home. He said that Pakistan knows the consequences it will have to face if it doesn't improve. He also targeted the Congress party saying it ruled the country for decades and is now questioning the ability of brave forces. The party which ruled our country for decades is now questioning the ability of our brave forces, especially a leader from MP, he said. Today he said Pulwama terror attack is an accident. This is their mentality, he is the same person who gave Pak a clean chit during 26/11, the prime minister said in an apparent dig to Congress leader Digvijay Singh. Singh, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, has targeted Modi-led government at the Centre saying the way PM Modi and his ministers were treating the airstrike was an insult to the forces who carried out the operation. He even went termed the Pulwama terrorist attack, which claimed lives of 40 CRPF jawans, an accident. Addressing Vijay Sankalp Rally at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, PM Modi said that opposition leaders are bringing down the morale of armed forces by asking for proof of air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammeds terror camp in Balakot. Today, when the country is fighting a decisive battle against terrorism, they want to mislead the country and weaken the fight, he said. Taking a swipe at attempts to cobble up a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) against the BJP, Modi said the opposition leaders are doing 'mahamilavat' (high adulteration) in Pakistan's favour. "These 'mahamilavati' persons have become poster boys of Pakistan by terming it as an ambassador of peace. They are misleading people of the country and trying to demoralise our armed forces by asking for proofs of the IAF air strike," PM Modi said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Cape Canaveral: SpaceX's sleek, new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station, acing its second milestone in just over a day. No one was aboard the Dragon capsule launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy. But that quickly changed once the hatch swung open and the space station astronauts floated inside. This beefed-up, redesigned Dragon is the first American-made, designed-for-crew spacecraft to pull up to the station in eight years. The next one coming up will have its own two-man crew. "A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of @SpaceX's Crew Dragon to the @Space_Station," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted. The space station's three astronauts had front-row seats as the white 27-foot-long (8-meter-long) capsule neatly docked. Two hours later, the station crew entered to take air samples, wear oxygen masks and hoods until getting the all-clear. If the six-day demo goes well, SpaceX could launch two astronauts this summer under NASA's commercial crew program. Both astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were at SpaceX Mission Control in Southern California, watching all the action. They rushed there from Florida after the Dragon rocketed into orbit early Saturday from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre. "Just super excited to see it," Behnken said minutes after the link-up. "Just one more milestone that gets us ready for our flight coming up here." Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday, when it undocks and aims for a splashdown in the Atlantic, a couple hundred miles off the Florida coast. While the private SpaceX has sent plenty of its Dragon capsules filled with cargo to the space station for NASA, crew Dragon is a different beast. It docked on its own, instead of relying on the station's robot arm for berthing. The capsule's nose cap was wide open like a dragon's mouth, to expose the docking mechanism. Behnken said that's the way it should work when he and Hurley are on board; they may push a button or two and will have the ability to intervene, if necessary. As part of Sunday's shakedown, the station astronauts sent commands for the Dragon to retreat and then move forward again, before the capsule closed in for good. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered and applauded as crew Dragon pulled up and docked at the orbiting lab, nearly 260 miles (400 kilometres) above the Pacific, north of New Zealand. The capsule's lone passenger for launch a mannequin wearing a white SpaceX spacesuit remained strapped into its seat as the station's U.S., Canadian and Russian crew removed supplies and photographed the spotless white interior. The test dummy or Smarty as SpaceX likes to call it is named Ripley after the lead character in the science-fiction "Alien" films. Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors to measure noise, vibration and stresses, and to monitor the life-support, propulsion and other critical systems throughout the flight. SpaceX aims to launch Behnken and Hurley as early as July. Next up should be Boeing, NASA's other commercial crew provider. Boeing is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August. NASA is paying the two private companies $8 billion to build and operate the capsules for ferrying astronauts to and from the space station. Astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets ever since NASA's space shuttle program ended in 2011. Russian Soyuz seats go for up to USD 82 million apiece. For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Binapani Devi Thakur,A Matua community matriarch who was popularly known as aBoro Maa (elder mother), died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. She was 100. Matuas are a religious refugee community from Bangladesh. BinapaniA suffered a multi-organ failure and breathed her last at 8.52 pmA at the SSKM hospital in Kolkata. She had been shifted to the hospital on Sunday due to an acute lung infection and high fever. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Boro Ma this February during his visit to Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district where he addressed a rally. Thakurnagar is the headquarters of the Matua Mahasangh, the organisation of the the community. Extending his condolence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Boro Ma Binapani Thakur was an icon of our times. A source of great strength and inspiration for several people, Boro Maas rich ideals will continue to influence generations. Her emphasis on social justice and harmony will never be forgotten." Last month, I had the honour of seeking the blessings of Boro Ma Binapani Thakur at Thakurnagar. I will always cherish the interaction I had with her. We stand in solidarity with the Matua community in this hour of sadness. pic.twitter.com/kiD1FC3HWc a Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 5, 2019 He added: "Last month, I had the honour of seeking the blessings of Boro Ma Binapani Thakur at Thakurnagar. I will always cherish the interaction I had with her. We stand in solidarity with the Matua community in this hour of sadness." Besides Modi, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled the death of the matriarch of the Matuas, a scheduled caste community and significant political force in the state. "She was in an 'extremely critical' condition, since last night. Her fever turned to pneumonia. Her lungs were infected. We tried our level best. Age was definitely a factor," an offical said. Banerjee, who shared a very cordial relation with Boro Ma described her demise as "a personal loss". "I have received support from her. It's a big loss to the Matua community. My condolences to her family and my brothers and sisters of the Matua community at this moment of grief," Banerjee told reporters at the SSKM. "She will be accorded state-funeral with gun salute. We are proud to have conferred the Banga Bibhusan on her. May her soul rest in peace," the chief minister said. Banga Bibhusan is the highest civilian award of the West Bengal government. Matua votes were considered a major factor in the Trinamool Congress' win in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly polls. Mamata Bala Thakur, a member of Boro Ma's family, is a Trinamool Congress MP. " The Matuas originally hail from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and began migrating to West Bengal at the beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution. With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, Matuas can influence results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in North and South 24 Parganas districts. A However, many of them are claimed to have still not got Indian citizenship. A In a statement, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi expressed his deep grief at the demise of Boro Ma and extended his heart-felt condolences to her family members and large number of followers.A (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: At least two terrorists belonging to Hizbul-Mujahideen outfit were killed on Tuesday morning in an encounter that broke out between security forces and terrorists at Reshipora Tral area in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. After receiving specific inputs about the presence of terrorists, a joint operation was launched by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF and the Army. The security forces then cordoned off the entire area. Authorities have also suspended mobile Internet services in the town. Earlier, three CRPF jawans, two Jammu and Kashmir police personnel and a civilian were killed in an encounter at Babagund village of Langate, Handwara in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. Two terrorists were also killed in the gun battle. The civilian was killed during clashes with security forces following stone-pelting incident at the spot. Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation following information about the presence of terrorists there, the officials said. During the searches, the terrorists opened fire on the security forces, who retaliated, they said. There was a lull in firing several times during the day but the terrorists would resume firing as soon as the security forces advanced towards the house where the ultras were hiding, the officials said. Clashes between a group of youngsters and security personnel took place near the encounter site, leaving four persons injured, the officials. On February 14, at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed last month in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 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. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chicago: A US high school student who had himself vaccinated despite his parents' objections is set to testify Tuesday before the US Congress about a surge in outbreaks of preventable diseases. Ethan Lindenberger says he grew up in an "anti-vax household," but decided to go against his parents' wishes to get vaccinated once he turned 18 and was able to legally make the decision for himself. The teen's decision generated international headlines at a time when health experts are warning of a global surge in measles cases -- preventable by vaccine -- brought on by conflict, complacency and the anti-vaccine movement. Lindenberger, who lives in Norwalk, Ohio, announced over the weekend that he was invited to testify at a Tuesday hearing in the US Senate over preventable disease outbreaks. He is scheduled to address the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, along with several health experts. There have been 159 measles cases so far this year in 10 US states, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). There were 372 cases in all of 2018. Parents in 17 states are allowed to opt out of vaccinations for their children because of their personal beliefs. Medical and religious reasons also can be cited to forego vaccinations. Disinformation spread on social media has helped fuel an anti-vaccine movement in the United States, with many so-called "anti-vaxxers" believing medically baseless claims that the innoculations can cause autism and other negative health effects. Experts insist vaccines are safe and necessary to protect the larger community from highly infectious diseases like measles. "My mom didn't believe that vaccines were beneficial to the health and safety of society, and believes that they cause autism, brain damage and other complications," Lindenberger said in a YouTube video posted over the weekend. Ninety-eight countries reported more cases of measles in 2018 compared with 2017. The World Health Organization said cases worldwide soared nearly 50 percent, killing around 136,000 people. The US outbreaks "are linked to travelers who brought measles back from other countries such as Israel and Ukraine, where large measles outbreaks are occurring," the CDC said. It then propagates among un-vaccinated people, who tend to live close to each other. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Prime Minister NarendraA ModiA on Tuesday laid theA foundation stone of Shikshan Bhavan andA Vidyarthi Bhavan at AdalajA in Gujarat. PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Gujarat. On Tuesday, he will also attend the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony, a ritual of consecration of an idol, at the newly-built temple dedicated to Maa Annapurna, the reigning deity of Leuva Patidars, a sub-group of the Patel community.A PM Modi on Monday Modi met his mother Hiraba in the Raisan village near here after addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad late in the evening. Hiraba Modi lives with the PM's younger brother Pankaj Modi in the village located close to the state capital Gandhinagar. Here are the LIVE updates: 13:42 pm: I want to get rid of corruption, they (Opposition) wants to get rid of me, says PM Modi. 13:37 pm:A aI am mazdoor number 1,a says PM Modi during launch of pension scheme. 13:31 pm: aTheya are busy in strike on Modi, Modi is working on strike on terrorism, says PM.A A 13.30 pm:A I dedicate the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan Dhan Yojana to the 42 crore labourers of my country, says PM Modi. 13.28 pm:A PM Modi launches pension scheme for unorganised sector, says this is an emotional moment for me. 12.35 pm:A Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the National Launching Ceremony of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Pension Yojana (PM-SYM Scheme 2019) for unorganised workers, in Ahmedabad. Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the National Launching Ceremony of Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Pension Yojana (PM-SYM Scheme 2019) for unorganised workers, in Ahmedabad. pic.twitter.com/Ka25meXt4t a ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2019 10.44 am: PM Modi lays foundation stone of Shikshan Bhavan & Vidyarthi Bhavan at Adalaj, Gujarat. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at Kalaburagi in Karnataka on Wednesday to launch various development projects. At Kalaburagi, the PM launched development projects in various sectors, including energy, health and education. PM Modi also interacted with the beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat at Kalaburagi. Here are the LIVE updates: 5.50 pm:A I urge to all to bless the NDA. Give us a chance to serve you and fulfill the dreams of the great freedom fighters who devoted themselves for the Nation: PM Modi. 5.48 pm: Now, one Congress leader talks of killing Modi. I am not bothered about their threats and abuses. I am here to do my work: PM Modi. 5.47 pm:A Modi hatred among the opposition is reaching at a new level. They have a competition, who will abuse Modi most: PM Modi 5.46 pm: What was Kamaraj Jias crime? His crime was that he spoke for the people and for democracy. A He challenged the corrupt and dictator-like practices of one family. A Because of that, he was insulted again and again: PM Modi. 5.45 pm: Congress has abused Article 356 again and again: PM Modi 5.43 pm:A The people of India are our high command. Our track record shows that the NDA is best placed to fulfill regional aspirations: PM Modi.A 5.42 pm:A NDA is a strong and united alliance that gives voices to regional aspirations: PM Modi. 05.40 pm:A Congress and its alliance can never fulfill the regional aspirations: PM Modi.A 05.40 pm: India is a diverse country, it will not develop if regional aspirations are ignored: PM Modi.A 05.39 pm: The careless conduct of the opposition parties on national security is very well known: PM Modi. 05.38 pm:A Today, the Member of Parliament from Kashi has come to Kanchi. Our bond is strong and unbreakable: PM Modi. 05.37 pm: The NDA government has released a subsidy of more than Rs. 7,000 crore to the weavers in the country: PM Modi. 05.34 pm: Almost nineteen hundred fishermen from Sri Lanka have returned home to Tamil Nadu: PM Modi. 05.33 pm: TheA Kancheepuram waiversA are the asset of the country and the central government is committed to helping them: PM Modi. 05.32 pm:A Whenever any Tamil person has faced a problem, anywhere in India or the world, we have been at the fore-front to help: PM Modi. 05.32 pm:A I am happy to share two things with you. We have decided to re-name the Chennai Central Station after the great MGR. We are also seriously thinking about ensuring that flights to and from Tamil Nadu have in-flight announcements in the Tamil language: PM Modi. 05.29 pm: 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' is our only motto, says PM Modi. 05.28 pm:A The culture and people of Tamil Nadu are remarkable. The beautiful language, Tamil, is one of the oldest classical languages in the world: PM Modi. 05.25 pm:A Bharat Ratna MGR was one of the most respectedA leaders of India, says PM Modi. 05.23 pm: A slew of projects were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. 05.22 pm: Our government is committed to the development of TamilA Nadu: PM Modi. 05.22 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally at Tamil Naduas Kancheepuram. 2.39 pm:A Kalaburagi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays the foundation stone for the resitement of BPCL Depot Raichur to Kalaburagi. 2.22 pm:A Karnataka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the beneficiaries of PMJAY- Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Yojana, in Kalaburagi. 1.15 pm:A Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is "remote-controlled CM", says PM Modi at Kalaburagi rally.A 1 pm:A With the expansion of the same pace of development, a project of about 1,000 crore rupees has been inaugurated, Lithoscope and localization today. It is being installed in Kalburgi to expand Raichuur Depot of Bharat Petroleum, PM Modi says. 12.59 pm:A Our government has completed development projects pending in Kalburgi and Karnataka, says PM Modi. 12.58 pm:A With the expansion of the same pace of development, a project of about 1,000 crore rupees has been inaugurated, Lithoscope and localization today. It is being installed in Kalaburagi to expand Raichuur Depot of Bharat Petroleum, PM Modi says. 12.56 pm:A Our government has completed development projects pending in KalaburagiA and Karnataka, says PM Modi. 12.36 pm:A PM Modi lays foundation stone for projects in Karnataka's Kalaburagi. Karnataka: Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for various development projects in Kalaburagi. pic.twitter.com/e6WSfg6zhA a ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2019 12.35 pm: PM Modi arrives at Bidar in KarnatakaA New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday again accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for playing politics over soldiers blood. You cannot win elections over jawans' blood. A jawan sheds his blood for the country. They serve the country, they do not indulge in politics. I strongly condemn those who play politics with martyrs, Mamata Banerjee said. Questing the centre over Pulwama attack, Mamata Banerjee said, I dont care if I am hanged for this. Why did the Pulwama attack take place? Why did so many jawans die and why politics surrounding jawans? Why was there no attempt to save lives? Launching a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mamata Banerjee said that PM Modi has made the party into private property. We are against Modi and BJP. Modi has turned the BJP into a private organisation. Whenever someone says something against Modi Babu, that person is branded a Pakistan supporter. My father was a freedom fighter, I will not learn patriotism from them, she said. Earlier, Mamata Banerjee cited foreign media reports that not much damage was done by the Indian Air Force's pre-emptive strike on terror camps at Balakot, she said, "The Force should be given an opportunity to come up with facts." "After the air strikes, we were told there were 300 deaths, 350 deaths. But I read reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post which said no human was killed. Another foreign media report said only one person was injured," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat. She said, "We have the right to know, people of this country want to know how many were killed (at Balakot). Where the bomb were actually dropped? Was it dropped on the target?" Government officials had said that in a pre-dawn strike, the IAF bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp at Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, killing over 350 terrorists, trainers and senior commanders. At a media briefing in the national capital on Thursday evening, Air Vice Marshal R G K Kapoor, assistant chief of Air Staff, said it was up to the political leadership to decide when and how to release evidence of the Balakot strike's success. He was responding to a question on the skepticism in some quarters about whether IAF fighters had hit the intended targets. Kapoor said there is credible information and evidence that "we hit the intended targets" and it was premature to assess the casualties and damage. Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said, "Every citizen loves the country and every citizen also has the right to know the truth." Apparently targeting the BJP, she alleged that an attempt was being made to reap electoral benefit from the Pulwama terror attack and the air strike at Balakot. "We don't want politics over the blood of jawans who guard our frontiers. I condemn this attempt by some to reap political dividends to get votes.... We don't want any war for the sake of elections, we want peace," she said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. highlights India said that the move won't have any significant impact. India's Commerce Secretary said the issue was being discussed. The GSP programme allows certain products to enter the US duty-free. New Delhi : India on Tuesday downplayed USA President DonaldA Trump's threat to terminate its preferential trade status, citingA New Delhi's alleged failure to assure America that it would provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets in numerous sectors. "Economic value of GSP benefits are very moderate. USA to terminate GSP in 60 days. Our assessment is that this will not have any significant impact on our 5.6 billion dollar exports to the US," ANI quotedA Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan as saying. The reaction from the commerce secretary came a day after TrumpA informed the US Congress about his intentions to terminate the designation of India and Turkey as a beneficiary developing country under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme. "I will continue to assess whether the Government of India is providing equitable and reasonable access to its markets, in accordance with the GSP eligibility criteria," Trump said in his letter to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, a copy of which was released to the press. Wadhawan asserted that all the issues related to trade were being discussed with the US and India will notA compromise on the affordability of medical devices. "Our effort was to balance the affordable prices of the medical devices without compromising on public welfare.A All the issues in the trade domain are on the table for discussions. We will not compromise on the affordability of medical devices," he said, adding that India has very deep-rooted ties with theA US. Under the United States GSP programme, certain products can enter the US duty-free if the beneficiary developing countries meet the eligibility criteria established by Congress. The GSP criteria include, among others, respecting arbitral awards in favour of US citizens or corporations, combatting child labour, respecting internationally recognised worker rights, providing adequate and effective intellectual property protection and providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Two Kashmiri vendors, who were selling dry fruits on a busy Lucknow road, were thrashed by a group of men belonging to a right-wing organisation. The perpetrators filmed the assault on their mobile phones. In a video shared by one of the accused, they are heard saying that they did it because they belonged to Kashmir. One of the accused has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police after the video of the incident went viral. The incident took place on Wednesday evening in Daliganj area of Central Lucknow when a handful of saffron-clad men started beating the traders. Seeing no police on spot, the bystanders came to the rescue of the traders and stopped the group from further assault. Later, the police registered a case of rioting and breach of peace and arrested one of the accused men. "A case has been filed in the Hazratganj police station. A search is on for the accused. An investigation will be done," police officer Amit Kumar said. However, the main accused, president of Vishwa Hindu Dal, has not been arrested yet and continues to post updates on social media. Following the outrage, the video of the incident has been taken down. After the February 14 Pulwama attack, there have been several reports of people from Kashmir being attacked by right-wing mob across the country. The attacks prompted the Supreme Court to issue directions to all the states and union territories to ensure the safety of Kashmiris. Police in all states must take prompt action to prevent "incidents of assault, threat, social boycott and such other egregious acts against the Kashmiris including students...," a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, had said in the order. After specific incidents brought to the top court's notice, notices were issued to 11 states - Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan has claimed to have detained close relatives of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar along with dozens of other terror suspects, according to news agency Reuters. Pakistan-based News Channel Dunya News reported that 44 members of banned terror outfits have been arrested as part of a new crackdown against terror groups. The channel has quoted the Pakistan Interior Ministry as saying. Mufti Abdur Rauf, brother of Azhar, and Hammad Azhar are 44 people arrested during the crackdown, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi said at a press conference Islamabad. He said a dossier shared by India with Pakistan last week also contained names of Mufti Abdur Rauf and Hammad Azhar. The crackdown on banned groups came amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. India handed over a dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists. The minister, however, said the action was not taken due to any pressure. He said the action would be taken against all the proscribed organisations under the National Action Plan. He said the crackdown will continue for two weeks and actions against the arrested members will be taken on the basis of evidence. The minister said his government's policy is that Pakistan's soil will not be allowed for terror activities against any one. The move came a day after Pakistan on Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations. Interpreting the order, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said the order means that the government has taken over the control of assets and properties of all banned outfits operating in the country. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi recently accepted on television that Masood Azhar was in Pakistan and that he was not well. Another report from Islamabad said the JeM founder was undergoing dialysis in a Pakistan army hospital. The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, terror motivator in several African countries and also known by many as the Pakistani cleric who brought jihad into the religious discourse at mosques in the UK, the official said. The JeM was reactivated in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, a year after the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The group had constituted a special 'Afzal Guru squad' to avenge his hanging. The influence of the 50-year-old overweight terrorist mastermind was so huge that, when he was released by India in exchange for freeing the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 on December 31, 1999, in Kandahar, Laden hosted a banquet for him the same night. (With PTI inputs) For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : Telecom operator Bharti Airtel has collaborated with Zoom Video Communications to launch unified communications solution for businesses. The collaboration aims to offer businesses "enhanced agility with ability to connect employees over video, audio and web over range of devices from any location across the world", Airtel said in a statement. "Bharti Airtel has teamed up with Zoom Video Communications, Inc., a modern enterprise video-first unified communications service, to launch India's first high-quality unified communications service offering, an integrated and secure platform for high-definition (HD) audio, video and web conferencing," it said. New Delhi : The government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that India needs Rafale jets to defend itself from Pakistans F-16 fighter planes that recently bombed us. "We need Rafale jets to defend our country from F-16 fighter planes that recently bombed us. Without Rafale how can we resist them," Attorney General KK Venugopal said in the Supreme Court while referring to the aerial combat with Pakistan last week. He also said that two squadrons of Rafale fighter jets are coming to India in flyaway condition and the first one will be in by September. "Because of the urgency (the need for fighter jets), negotiations started for Rafale. The first batch is to be supplied in September and 52 pilots are to be sent to France for two-three months training. It is to protect the security of the country. But we are attacked," the Attorney General said. "Rafale fighter jets are needed, although MIG-21 of the 1960s performed beautifully against the F-16," he added. Earlier, he told the top court that documents related to the Rafale fighter jet deal have been stolen from the Defence Ministry and threatened The Hindu newspaper with the Official Secrets Act for publishing articles based on them. Those who put documents on the Rafale deal in the public domain are guilty under the Act as also contempt of court, he said before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. While publishing articles based on stolen documents amounts to violation of the Official Secrets Act, entailing maximum punishment of up to 14 years, the contempt law attracts six months jail as also a fine of Rs 2,000. Unruffled by the Centre's stand, Hindu publishing group Chairman N Ram said nobody would get any information from the newspaper on the confidential sources who provided the documents. Ram said those documents were published in public interest as the details of the Rafale deal were withheld or covered up. "You may call it stolen documents...we are not concerned. We got it from confidential sources and we are committed to protecting these sources. Nobody is going to get any information from us on these sources. But the documents speak for themselves and the stories speak for themselves," Ram told PTI. An investigation into the theft is on, the attorney general said on a day the newspaper published another article on the fighter jet deal. The bench, also including Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a review of its December 14 verdict dismissing all the pleas against the deal procured by India from France. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had jointly filed the petition, alleged that the Centre suppressed crucial facts when the apex court decided to dismiss the batch of PILs. When Bhushan referred to an articles written by Ram, Venugopal said the write-ups were based on stolen documents. An FIR has not been registered so far into the theft of documents, he said. The first write-up appeared on February 8 and Wednesday's edition had another article aimed at influencing the court's proceedings which amounted to contempt of court, he said. The newspaper published the documents by omitting the word 'secret' on top, he said, seeking a dismissal of the review petitions and raising objections to Bhushan's arguments based on the articles. The bench sought to know from the Centre as to what it has done when it alleges that the stories are based on stolen material. On behalf of Sinha, Shourie and himself, Bhushan said the top court would not have dismissed the plea for an FIR and the probe, had critical facts not been suppressed. Venugopal said the documents relied upon by Bhushan were stolen from the Defence Ministry and an investigation into the matter was underway. The CJI said hearing Bhushan did not mean the top court was taking on record the documents on the Rafale deal. Justice Gogoi also asked Venugopal to tell the court what action had been taken on theft of documents on the aircraft deal. The AG submitted that the documents were marked secret and classified and are therefore in violation of the Official Secrets Act. He also told the Supreme Court that the Rafale case pertains to defence procurement which cannot be reviewed judicially. With PTI Inputs For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Pakistan on Tuesday said it will send a delegation to India on March 14 to discuss a draft agreement for setting up a corridor to facilitate visa-free visit of Sikh pilgrims to the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, a positive development that could help ease tensions between the two sides. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, who is also the Director General South Asia & SAARC, invited India's acting High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia at the ministry of foreign affairs to convey the decision, according to a statement. In January, the two countries floated proposals to host talks in order to give the final shape to the agreement. Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. "The Pakistan delegation will visit New Delhi on 14 March 2019, followed by the return visit of the Indian delegation to Islamabad on 28 March 2019, to discuss the draft Agreement on Kartarpur Corridor," the statement said. Both sides are yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the Gurudwara across the international border without visa. The corridor will facilitate the visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur. Faisal informed the Indian diplomat that Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Sohail Mahmood, will be returning to New Delhi after the completion of consultations in Islamabad. He also conveyed that Pakistan was committed to continue weekly contact at the Military Operations Directorates level. The positive development came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following a suicide attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad that killed 40 CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14. Pakistan on Tuesday detained 44 members of the banned militant outfits, including JeM chief Masood Azhar's son Hammad Azhar and brother Mufti Abdur Rauf, in a move seen as a step toward deescalating tensions. India and Pakistan agreed to open up a special border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev - to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, the first Gurdwara, was established by Guru Nanak Dev in 1522, where he is said to have died. Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Pakistan said the Mecca and Medina for the Sikhs and the country is opening up those sites for the minority community. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Delhi deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote a letter to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal over the suffering of thousands of guest teachers Sisodia accused LG Anil Baijal of not "owning up" his responsibility on the issue of regularisation of guest teachers and alleged that the delay in decision-making has impacted the education of lakhs of children. In a letter to Baijal, Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio, said the LG not discussing the issues of guest teachers has brought the government school system on the verge of collapse. Earlier, several guest teachers of Delhi government schools, whose contract ended on February 28, protested outside Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's residence on Friday. As many as 25,000 teachers are staring at uncertainty as their contracts ended on February 28 and they have not yet been informed whether their services have been terminated or their contracts will be renewed. According to Shoaib Rana, member of All India Guest Teachers' Association, "We are being asked to report for work when there is no assurance from the government on our salaries or the bills that we have submitted. Around 2,000 teachers protested on Friday and on Saturday around 5,000 teachers will be there for the protest." The guest teachers said that the Delhi government has been saying that the Services Department is not with them and their hands are tied in the matter. The Delhi High Court had earlier directed that guest teachers will continue till February 28 or till the time regular teachers were appointed. The court had given the direction while hearing a plea of an NGO against the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board over the appointment of permanent teachers. New Delhi : The Indian Air Force is equipping its Sukhoi-30 fighter jets with SPICE-2000 bombs which were used to destroy the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Pakistans Balakot. According to a report by news agency ANI citing sources, the Air Force is putting the Israeli SPICE-2000 bombs on Sukhoi-30s to enhance its firepower as currently, only Mirage 2000 fighter jets are capable of delivering these bombs. At the moment, the only aircraft which is capable of delivering the bombs on enemy targets is the Mirage 2000. But now, the Air Force is putting them on the Sukhoi-30 fighter jets as well to further enhance their firepower, the agency quoted government sources as saying. The sources said that Sukhoi-30MKI has already conducted several rounds of trials of launching the bombs at ground targets. India had purchased 200 SPICE bombs from Israel. The SPICE bombs have dual infrared IR/CCD-TV seeker algorithms and are capable of day, night and adverse weather capability. After a few more trials, the Sukhoi-30 fleet would be equipped with these bombs which rely on coordinates and satellite pictures of the target to home in and destroy the intended targets, the sources added. SPICE-2000 bombs The SPICE (Smart Precise Impact and Cost Effective guidance kit) is a forward and tail kit evolved from the proven Popeye missile intended to convert unguided bombs into smart guided air-to-surface munitions droppable from standoff ranges. This weapon has a day, night and adverse weather capability because of its dual infrared IR/CCD-TV seeker and advanced scene-matching algorithms. The bombs, which had an error margin of less than three metres, were loaded on Mirage-2000 combat jet at the IAFs Gwalior airbase. The SPICE bombs can be pre-fed satellite details for the accurate geographical details of the enemy target. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : The official website of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hacked by an unknown group on Tuesday. The homepage of the website displayed a meme of Prime Minister Narendra with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel. Following the attack, the website - https://www.bjp.org/ - showed Error 522 Connection Timed Out. The Error 522 means that the request was able to connect to your web server, but that the request didn't finish. The most likely cause is that something on your server is hogging resources. "The initial connection between Cloudflare's network and the origin web server timed out. As a result, the web page can not be displayed. If you're a visitor of this website: Please try again in a few minutes," a message displayed on the website suggesting it was taken offline. So far, no group has claimed the responsibility for the attack and the party was yet to release an official statement regarding the incident. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In a major breakthrough, doctors have reportedly cured an HIV Positive patient in London. According to latest media reports, the unidentified man was diagnosed with HIV in 2003 and started taking drugs to control the infection in 2012. Later, he developed cancer. But doctors convinced him for a stem cell transplant in 2016. This is the second time in the history of the AIDS epidemic that a patient has been cured of the virus. Before this, Timothy Ray Brown, a US man was treated in Germany. Known as the 'Berlin patient,' Brown is still free of HIV. The case report was published in prestigious journal Nature. Publicly, the scientists are describing the case as a long-term remission, a New York times report said. The case will be presented at an HIV conference in Seattle, a Daily Mail report said. This will inspire people that cure is not a dream, said Dr Annemarie Wensing, a virologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands was quoted as saying by NYT. Its reachable, she added. According to Daily Mail, Dr Gero Hutter, the German doctor who treated the Berlin patient, called the new case 'great news' and 'one piece in the HIV cure puzzle.' According to the daily, the unidentified London patient had developed Hodgkin lymphoma. The doctors were actually looking for the cure of the cancer, when they realised that with the right kind of donor, his doctors figured, the London patient might get a bonus beyond treating his cancer: a possible HIV cure the Daily Mail report said. Meanwhile, the Berlin pateint Brown has said that he would like to meet the London patient and would encourage him to go public. Meanwhile, in India, due to the ability of the Indian pharma companies to produce drugs at economical rates, the cost of HIV/AIDS treatment has gone down to $400 per year from USD 12,000. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had also hailed the country's "spectacular" contribution to global healthcare. Noting that India has since ancient times a very systematic, scientific and rational approach to treatment of diseases, he said the country it has now become the third largest drug manufacturer in the world. The Centre has taken up a number of initiatives to create an ecosystem that fosters manufacturing and have identified a few key areas with pharmaceuticals being one of those due to the immense scope for technology, innovation and research in it, he had said. India already has the second highest number of US FDA approved facilities, and labour costs in India are significantly lower than other manufacturing hubs and the Union Budget 2017-18 shows an increase of 23 per cent in the health expenditure that is likely to give further impetus to the pharma sector. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. highlights In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP won 12 seats in the state. The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 2014 Assembly polls. The Congress, the JMM and the JVM have already announced their alliance. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has finally sounded the poll bugle and declared the schedule for the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on March 10. The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11. The results will be declared on May 23. 91 constituencies will go for polls in the first phase on April 11, followed by 97 constituencies in the second phase on April 18. The third phase will be held on April 23 and fourth on April 29, fifth on May 6, sixth on May 12 and seventh phase on May 19. 115 constituencies will go for polls in the third phase, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. We are also gearing up for the elections and are coming up with a series: 2019 Lok Sabha Election Analysis: What happened in 2014 Lok Sabha Polls? What will happen this year? Now, let's look at the political scenario in Jharkhand. The BJP swept the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2014 and decimated all the opposition parties in the fray. Under Raghubar Das, the NDA formed its first majority government in the state after its formation (37: BJP and 5: AJSU). Later, the Babulal Marandi-led Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) faced a rebellion and 6 of its legislators joined the ruling BJP giving it the full majority in the 81-member Assembly. Marandi was the first chief minister of the state and deserted his parent party the BJP and formed his own outfit later. The BJP is likely to face a daunting task in 2019 as the Congress, the JMM, the JVM and the RJD have joined hands and established 'Grand Alliance' in the state. Let's discuss this in detail. Also Read: Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will you vote? Know poll dates of your seat here Lok Sabha Elections 2019: When will Jharkhand vote? Jharkhand will vote in the last four phases i.e. on April 29, May 6, 12 and 19. Chatra, Lohardaga and Palamu will go for polls on April 29. Khunti, Ranchi, Kodarama and Hazaribagh will vote on May 6 whereas polling will be held in Dhanbad, Giridih, Jamshedpur and Singhbhum on May 12. The remaining seats of Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda will be voting in the last phase i.e. on May 19. What happened in Jharkhand in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections? Jharkhand has 14 Lok Sabha seats. In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP won 12 seats and left only 2 seats (Dumka and Rajmahal) for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The Congress and the JMM had forged an alliance in the state to take on the BJP but the Grand Old Party failed to open its account. The 2014 election in Jharkhand was held in three phases on April 10, 17 and 24. The BJP received 52,07,439 votes with a vote share of 40.7 per cent and the JMM garnered 12,05,031 votes with a vote share of 9.4 per cent. The Congress received 17,24,740 votes with a vote share of 13.5 per cent. The JVM, the AJSU and the RJD received 15,67,655 (12.2%), 4,81,667 (3.80%) and 2,12,571 (1.7%) votes respectively. According to our analysis, the BJP was ahead in 56 Assembly segments on its own during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The JMM, the Congress and the JVM were ahead in 9, 3 and 4 seats respectively. The AJSU was leading on a single seat. In 2009, the BJP was successful on 8 and the JMM won 2 seats in the state. The JVM and the Congress were successful on 1 seat each. Some of the prominent winners in 2014 were Jayant Sinha (BJP-Hazaribagh), Ram Tahal Choudhary (BJP-Ranchi), Ravindra Kumar Pandey (BJP-Giridih), Shibu Soren (JMM-Dumka), Vijay Kumar Hansdak (JMM-Rajmahal), Pashupati Nath Singh (BJP-Dhanbad), Karia Munda (BJP-Khunti), Sudarshan Bhagat (BJP-Lohardaga), Nishikant Dubey (BJP-Godda) and Bidyut Baran Mahato (BJP-Jamshedpur). Hemlal Murmu (BJP), Babulal Marandi (JVM), Sunil Soren (BJP), Furkan Ansari (Congress), Nagmani (AJSU), Sudesh Mahto (AJSU), Subodh Kant Sahay (Congress), Bandhu Tirkey (AITC), Ajay Kumar (JVM), Chitrasen Sinku (Congress), Geeta Koda (JBSP), Anosh Ekka (JKP), Chamra Linda (AITC), Rameshwar Oraon (Congress), Kameshwar Baitha (AITC) and Bhuvneshwar Prasad Mehta (CPI) lost the elections. What was the result of Jharkhand Assembly Elections in 2014? The BJP emerged as the single largest party in the 2014 Jharkhand Assembly Elections and won 37 seats in the 81-member Assembly. However, along with AJSU's 5 seats, the party crossed the majority mark of 41 in the Assembly. This was for the first time that any party or the pre-poll alliance got the majority on its own in the state. The BJP contested on 72 seats in the state and left 8 seats for the AJSU. The saffron party received 43,34,728 votes with a vote share of 31.2 per cent and the AJSU, its ally, received 5,10,277 votes with a vote share of 3.7 per cent. The Congress, on the other hand, received 14,50,640 votes with a vote share of 10.5 per cent and won only 6 seats. The RJD was in an alliance with the Congress and fought elections on 19 seats. However, the party drew a blank with a vote share of 3.1 per cent. The JMM and the JVM received 28,32,921 (20.4%) and 13,85,080 (10%) votes respectively in the state. The JMM won 19 seats, while the JMM got 8. Later, six legislators of the JVM switched their loyalties and joined the BJP. In 2009 Assembly polls, both the BJP and the JMM won 18 seats each in the state. The Congress and the JVM emerged as the single largest block after the elections winning 14 and 11 seats respectively. The RJD and the AJSU were successful on 5 Assembly seats each. What is the current scenario in Jharkhand in 2019? The Congress, the JMM and the JVM have already announced their Grand Alliance in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The RJD is also a part of this alliance to take on the ruling BJP in the state. As per the pact, the Congress will contest seven seats in Jharkhand, leaving four for the JMM, two for the JVM and one for the RJD. Also, the Congress will take a backseat during the Assembly polls and agreed to work under the leadership of JMM leader Hemant Soren. However, there are murmurs of discontent among the partners as the JVM wants to contest from more seats. On the other side, the BJP has also faced the alliance trouble as the AJSU wanted to contest from Ranchi, Giridih and Hazaribagh seats in the state. It may be noted that all these seats are presently held by the BJP. However, the party managed to convince the AJSU to remain in the alliance and left Giridih seat for it to contest. The combined vote share of the 'grand alliance' parties during the 2014 Assembly polls indicates that it can mar the saffron party's chances in the upcoming elections. The JMM (20.4%), the Congress (10.5%), the JVM (10%) and the RJD (3.1%) received almost 44% of the total vote share, which was more than the vote share of the BJP and the AJSU together (almost 35%). Congress president Rahul Gandhi with JMM leader Hemant Soren. The Congress will take a backseat during the Assembly polls and agreed to work under the leadership of Soren. (File photo) The mood in the Congress party is upbeat after its victory in the recently held Kolebira bypoll in Jharkhand. Earlier, the BJP lost the Gomia and Silli bypolls at the hands of the JMM. In 2015 also, the Congress won the Lohardaga Assembly seat in a bypoll. However, the BJP had won all the five municipal corporations (Ranchi, Medninagar, Adityapur, Hazaribagh and Giridih) and registered comfortable victories in Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat polls. What is News Nation Opinion Poll verdict in Jharkhand? According to News Nation Opinion Poll, the BJP is likely to get 42 per cent of vote share in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The Congress-JMM-JVM-RJD grand alliance may get 34 per cent of votes, while the other parties are likely to secure 13 per cent of vote share. The NDA may win 10 seats, the UPA can win 4 seats in 2019. So, the NDA is projected to lose 2 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Jharkhand. According to a poll, the BJP-led NDA may not repeat its 2014 performance in Jharkhand but will remain the leading alliance whereas the UPA is not likely to take advantage of anti-incumbency in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a massive lead over Rahul Gandhi in Jharkhand also when the respondents were asked about their favourite Prime Ministerial candidate in 2019. Modi got the backing of 46 per cent people, while only 28 per cent chose Rahul Gandhi. New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Digvijaya Singhs remark on Pulwama terror attack has sparked a massive political controversy. In a series of tweets, Singh had asked Prime minister Narendra Modi to explain the casualties in the Balakot air strike. But what caused the row was him terming the February 14 attack as an incident. In his tweet, Singh had said that the airstrike after Pulwama durghatna or accident is being questioned by the Western media. The comment elicited angry responses from senior BJP ministers. With due respect, I would like to ask Digvijaya Singh Ji, was Rajiv Gandhi's assassination an accident or a terror incident," asked Union Minister VK Singh. Apart from Singh, another senior BJP minister had slammed Digvijaya Singh over the attack. Prakash Javadekar said that, I dont know what has happened to Congress? The party is going against nations sentiments. They are falsifying armed forces information. There is no such democracy, where people dont believe the armed forces. Another Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi slammed Opposition for demanding proof of the airstrike and said that the spirits of all the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists killed in Pakistan have entered the bodies of the party leaders. Thats why they are behaving in a strange way. Joining the chorus demanding airstrike proof, the CPI has questioned BJP president Amit Shah's claim of 250 casualties in the Indian Air Force's air strike on terror camps in Balakot. CPI leader D Raja said the Prime Minister cannot accused the Opposition for demoralising the armed forces as "it is him (Modi), the BJP and the RSS which are dragging the defence forces into 'dirty politics' and 'controversies'." Even as politics goes on over the February 26 air strike, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhars brother Maulana Ammar has blown the lid on Pakistans lie about Indian Air Forces air strike in Balakot. In an audio message, which was posted on Twitter by Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui, the Jaish terrorist brazenly admits that Indian jets hit a school of Jihad in Balakot. A Times of India report said that the voice in the audio clip is that of Maulana Ammar. He was reportedly addressing a gathering in Peshawar on February 28, two days after the surgical strike. The Jaish commander also said that by returning Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, Pakistan has turned its victory into defeat. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: We have some important news for the candidates who are preparing for the JAC class 11 examination. The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) has released the examination programme for class 11th board examination. According to the schedule released by the board, the examination will start on March 11, 2019, and end on March 19, 2019. The candidates must note that the examination will be conducted in two sittings every day. Along with the examination programme, the council has also released the admit cards for class 11th students. The admit cards are to be downloaded by the respective schools using the school login feature. For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the dates here: March 11, 2019 First sitting - English Core A (I.A.) Second sitting - Hindi Core A (I.A.) March 12, 2019 First sitting - English Core A (I.Sc. & I.Com.), Music (I.A.) Second sitting - Hindi Core A (I.Sc. & I.Com.), Psychology (I.A.) March 13, 2019 First sitting - Physics (I.Sc.), Philosophy (I.A.), Accountancy (I.Com.) Second sitting - History (I.A.), Geology (I.Sc.) March 14, 2019 First sitting - Home Science (I.A.), Economics (I.Sc. & I.Com.) Second sitting - Political Science (I.A.), Entrepreneurship (I.Com.) March 15, 2019 First sitting - Mathematics/Statistics Second sitting - Economics (I.A.) March 16, 2019 First sitting - Biology (I.Sc.), Anthropology (I.A.), Commercial Arithmetic (I.Com.) Second sitting - Computer Science (I.Sc. & I.Com.), Sociology (I.A.) March 18, 2019 First sitting - Elective Langauge for I.A., Additional Language FOr I.Sc. & I.Com. Second sitting - Geography (I.A.), Chemistry (I.Sc.), Business Studies (I.Com.) March 19, 2019 First sitting - Hindi Core B and Matribhasha Second sitting - Vocational Examination in first sitting will begin at 9:45 am and end at 1:00 pm. Examination in second sitting will begin at 2:00 pm and end at 5:15 pm. New Delhi: Revenge finds its own time and place and so was the case with this dastardly crime in which a 25-year-old woman was killed by a gang to frame a rival. The woman was made to write a note incriminating by a man before allegedly murdering her and disposing of the body in a sack, to frame a rival who had beaten the accused in Tihar Jail. The body was discovered in south-east Delhis Sarita Vihar on February 27. A note written by the woman, blaming the rivals for having filmed her nude, was found in her trouser pocket. The police arrested one of the main plotters, Dinesh, 25, who has nine cases of snatchings and burglaries against him. Dhirender, who was out on bail in a murder case and had been nursing a grouse against another criminal for thrashing him in jail, is still on the run. The accused has also confessed to having raped the victim, a claim that is yet to be medically corroborated. The woman was an easy bait as she was looking for a job. The accused posed as placement agency staffers and lured the victim to their Sangam Vihar apartment. After murdering her, they booked a self-drive car, packed the body in a plastic bag and dumped it near the railway tracks. According to DCP Chinmoy Biswal, a third man named Saurabh Bhardwaj, 19, was also involved in the crime. The gang also roped in two others, identified as Rahimuddin, 25, and Chander Prakash, 30, to help them dispose of the body. All but Dhirender have been arrested as reported by ToI. The victim was identified to be from a neighbouring locality where her family had lodged a missing complaint. The police collected her handwriting samples and got it analysed by experts who confirmed that the writing on the note was that of the girl. The girl had specifically mentioned the names of three people who were responsible for her death. The trio was detained and questioned, Biswal added. During the interrogation, Dinesh revealed that his friend, Dhirender, wanted to frame his rival, Aarush, who had thrashed him in jail, and thus plotted the murder. For all the Latest Crime News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged to "do whatever it takes" to guard Taiwan against invasion as she indicated that without help from the country's allies "authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy." Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes have breached Taiwan's airspace since Friday, including 56 jets on Monday in a dramatic increase in aggression. Taiwan has warned of "catastrophic consequences for regional peace" if China takes over the island after days of incursions by Beijing's warplanes, as per international media reports. Chinese President Xi Jinping has described the seizure of the self-governed democracy as "inevitable" and Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Tsai since she was elected in 2016 on a mandate of an "independent" Taiwan, the report said. Chinese state media has issued chilling warnings in recent days, including asking "whether Australia is willing to accompany Taiwan... to become cannon fodder" after its foreign minister reached out for help preparing his defences. Australia has been on the receiving end of Chinese wrath over the last few weeks after it signed a new security agreement with the UK and the US. As part of the deal, Washington and London agreed to share nuclear submarine technology with Canberra. This has infuriated Beijing as it will dramatically shift the power balance in the South China Sea. In an article published on Tuesday, Taiwan's President Tsai said: "They should remember that if Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system." "It would signal that in today's global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy." California Governor proclaims state of emergency due to massive oil spill Dominic Perrottet elected as the 46th premier of Australia's New South Wales China demolishing Uyghurs Mosque, demolished 16,000 mosques so far New Delhi: The fifth Annual Co-ordination meeting between Director General, Sashastra Seema Bal and 'Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) Inspector General will be held from today to Thursday (October 5 to 7) 2021 here in New Delhi. The Twelve-member Services Selection Board (SSB) delegation will be led by DG Kumar Rajesh Chandra while the 9-member Nepalese side will be headed by the APF's IG Shailendra Khanal. The meeting will focus on addressing and streamlining mechanisms on how to jointly curb trans-border crimes and timely sharing of information by both sides. During the three days meet, both forces will hold talks on border issues and to enable better coordination between both the Border Guarding Forces. "The DG level discussions are being held to review border-related issues and to enable better coordination between both Border Guarding Forces. The meeting will also focus on addressing and streamlining mechanisms on how to collaboratively curb trans-border crimes and timely sharing of information by both the border guarding forces," the SSB said here in a statement. The official also said that many important matters like the security situation along the border, coordination meetings at field level, sharing of information about crimes and criminals, training of armed police personnel and mutual visits by officers of two countries are on the agenda and that will be discussed in detail. Read more news: Manila City mayor Francisco Domagoso officially joins Philippine presidential race China renews blue alert for rainstorms Former Diplomat Fumio Kishida officially elected Japan's 100th prime minister Jaipur: In an attempt to steal, A case of murder of own relatives in Rajasthan has come to light. The incident took place in the Churu district of Rajasthan. On Monday, a relative man who had come to steal a house in Churu district late at night allegedly attacked the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law with a sharp weapon and allegedly killed her. The police have given information in this regard. According to police, the accused Shah Rukh Khan had entered the house of Bude Khan, a labourer in Qatar, with the intention of stealing, but Bude Khan's 50-year-old wife Raheesa woke up and caught the accused stealing valuables from the cupboard. Churu Superintendent of Police Narayan Togas said, 'After that, the accused Shah Rukh Khan stabbed Raisa with a knife.' Togas said Raheesa's 25-year-old daughter-in-law Yasmin had also got up during this time. The accused caught sight of Yasmin and also stabbed Yasmin. Both mother-in-law's daughter-in-law died on the spot in Shah Rukh's attack. He said that at the same time neighbours rushed to the women's house after hearing their screams, but by then the accused had fled after executing the incident. The Superintendent of Police said that the entire incident took place in front of Yasmin's 9-year-old daughter as she too got up during this time. The Superintendent of Police said, 'The accused has been arrested from a village in Churu border on Tuesday.' He said that Bude khan and his son and husband Sajid of deceased Yasmin both work in Qatar. Both have been informed about the incident. The bodies will be handed over to them after postmortem. Andhra Pradesh govt to provide free sanitary napkins to girl students Dominic Perrottet elected as the 46th premier of Australia's New South Wales Google released Android 12, these devices will get the update first Chennai: Nine fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadus Nagercoil, who were in an Iranian jail for the past 19 months, have been brought back to Chennai. The fishermen namely Albert Ravi, Dynas, Godwin Jon Weldon, Arockia Ligin, joseph Beski, Jesudas, Sahaya Vijay, Michael Adimai, and Wellington, were working for a Kuwait-based fishing group and while fishing, had been detained by the Iranian Coast Guard for entering its territorial waters. They had started from Fahaheel in Kuwait in three boats in the morning and were caught by the Iranian Coast Guard by evening. Their fate took a turn for the worse on January 16, 2020 when they were caught by Iran Coast Guard for allegedly trespassing into their territorial waters. Mary Mariam, a relative of one of the fishermen expressed joy over the release and said It has been 19 months that my brother is in an Iranian jail. We thank the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu government for having taken extra efforts to bring them back to India. They had gone to Kuwait for a better living Anyway, we are thankful to God that they are back to our country Gujarat CM sanctions Rs 74.70 cr for road maintenance work in Municipal areas Detained for 28 Hours, Priyanka Gandhi Tweets to PM Modi Govt announces imposing of curbs on export of syringes When Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (better known as Mingma G) announced that he was going to the true summit of Manaslu this autumn, everyone was sceptical. Why would not they be? No one had been there for the past 45 years. According to the Himalayan Database, the last people to reach the main summit during the autumn were Iranian Mohammad Jafar Assadi, Japanese Jun Kageyama and Nepali Passang Sherpa in 1976. Since then, many have tried, but no one had reached the mountains true summit. But on September 27, a team of highly skilled mountain guides led by Mingma G reached the true summit of the mountain as they became only the second team to reach it during the autumn season. Between these years, one team made it to the true summit in spring, but no one could in autumn. It means several dozens of Manaslu summits reported in the autumn season between 1976 and 2021 were not about the true summit but a lower point. Hence, Mingma G says all of them were controversial and his team ended that now onwards. However, other stakeholders including the government authority say they are not certain yet. The true summit vs fore summit This drone shot by photographer Jackson Groves shows the difference between the fore summit and the true summit. Photo: Jackson Groves. The Manaslu controversy has been plaguing Nepals mountaineering industry for years. Ever since I found out that the point where I stopped before was not the true summit, I wanted to get to the real one, says Mingma G, one of the climbers who created history by summitted K2 in the winter. This year I told everyone, from my team to my clients to others on the mountain that I was going to go to the true summit. Over 2,000 people have climbed Manaslu since it was first climbed in 1956. But, how many reached the mountains true summit has always been questionable. The Himalayan Database data suggest the last team to have reached the true summit in the autumn was the Japanese and Iranian team of 1976 while they say Guy Cotter who led his Adventure Consultants group was the last to reach the true summit in 2012 spring. Since then, many have claimed to have reached the mountains true summit, including popular mountaineers like Adrian Ballinger, Andrej Bargiel, Edurne Pasaban and Nirmal Purja among many others but it looks like that their attempts might have an asterisk put next to them as they might not have reached the true summit. Many people are unaware that there is a fore summit and a true summit. I hope Ive finally put this debate to rest and people will no longer stop at the fore summit claiming that its the true summit, says Mingma G. Following his tracks, other teams also got to the true summit, says Mingma G. Following Mingma Gs accent to the top, Pakistani climber Shehroze Kashif has said he will be coming back to Manaslu as he had not reached its true summit. Posting a video on Instagram, the 19-year-old said he did not know about the summit controversy and although he had received the certificate, he would not be counting this summit which is a part of his project to climb all 8000-metre mountains and said he would return to Nepal to reach its true summit. What Mingma G did was amazing and I hope I can get there and earn my summit certificate, said Kashif on Instagram. Hope of correcting a historic wrong Mingma G had lined up best of the best mountain guides Nepal had to reach the true summit of Manaslu. Photo: Mingma G But, why do not they fix the ropes to the true summit? Well, a few mountaineers say that fixers are lazy. As it has been the norm to fix ropes to a certain point, they stop there. The last part of the climb is quite tricky too as the final ridge is narrow and does not have good spots to put up anchors. I tried walking through the ridge, but I felt it was too dangerous. Only slip and the entire team would be affected, which is why I went down and traversed it diagonally and then climbed up, says Mingma G, adding it took him less than 20 minutes to reach the true summit from the fore summit. This moment has been beautifully captured by photographer and climber Jackson Groves where it shows Mingma G leading from the front while some members of his team are following him while some are waiting at the fore summit for his green signal. That was quite cool, no, he says. Mingma G at the summit of Manaslu. The Himalayan Database hopes that things will change from 2022 onwards as now they have all proof of what the true summit looks like. The institution is considered an authority across the world when it comes to Himalayan mountaineering. Billi Bierling, who leads the legendary institution, says the team will sit together and come up with a strategy on how to deal with future and past summits. What Mingma G has done is remarkable and impressive. Hopefully, this puts this debate to rest, says Bierling. She says it is likely that the organisation would only be taking Mingma Gs 2021 summit as the real summit. We cant change history, but what we can do is put up a note next to the old summits and say that these were considered summits until 2021. But, now thanks to Mingma G and technology, we have proof of the summit and the way to the summit and will likely only take his summit as the real summit. Apart from the database, the Department of Tourism that offers summit certificates to climbers to reach the top will also have to make changes. But, the departments director Meera Acharya says the department is not aware that Manaslu has two summits. She says the department had been giving certificates to everyone after confirming from the expedition organisers. This is news to us. Well discuss it among ourselves and expedition operators, says Acharya. More risk in more truth Video shows Mingma G fixing ropes to the true summit. In the meantime, Bierling admits there is risk in going to the true summit and the extent of the corniced ridge was previously not known. This is why Elizabeth Hawley, the founder of the Himalayan Database, gave leeway to climbers. She says that many commercial teams will still go to the fore summit and the database will record it as the fore summit and not the true summit. Meanwhile, Mingma Sherpa, the chairman of Seven Summit Treks, a leading expedition organiser of Nepal, says people cannot discount those who have reached the fore summit as the government has been recognising the summit. Its the same if you look at it, says Mingma Sherpa. If people want to go to the other summit, well take them, but be rest assured, if more people start going there, there will be more deaths and that is bad for Nepals mountaineering. Remember that almost 90 per cent of accents of this mountain have been until the fore summit, he says. But, Bierling says that the two summits heights are not the same and these claims are quite baseless. Mingma G, on the other hand, is hopeful this will change. Most people will demand to get to the true summit. Im sure things will change because like I said before, a summit is a summit. On September 1, photos and videos of Dhiraj Basnet of Morang and Aarthik Jung Basnet of Ramechhap getting married went viral on social media. Some congratulated the couple, while there were many who bashed them online as a large part of Nepali society still considers a bond between a man and a woman only to be natural as a marriage. A year ago, Aarthik had sent a friend request to Dhiraj on Facebook and he accepted the request. Then, they started their journey of love. With each passing day, along with every conversation they had, they deepened their relationship. In their first in-person meeting that took place in Kathmandu last August, the duo decided to tie the nuptial knot. Contrary to existing social norms, the number of people claiming to be homosexuals, marrying another person of the same sex, and going viral through social media has been increasing of late. Such videos and pictures of same-sex weddings have inspired many to reveal their identity which they have kept hiding. Yet, some have been embarrassed by the publicity, as claimed by stakeholders. They also say there are many underlying problems brought about by not legalising same-sex marriage. Social media aiding liberation Dhiraj, who is looking for a future in the modelling industry, had already revealed his identity as a gay three years ago. However, Aarthik, who works at a restaurant in Kathmandu, says he had not revealed his identity even with his family and close friends before his wedding. But still, he says that he dared to get married immediately after meeting Dhiraj. The couple share society is still not comfortable with homosexual relationships and Dhiraj is afraid of many people being hostile towards him. But, Aarthik opens up, Of course, family and society are a must, but more than that, I need someone who understands me. He continues, So, I got married without thinking too much about other things. We are planning to go to our home in Ramechhap this Dashain. Photo: Wikimedia Commons It was only after the video of his wedding with Dhiraj went viral that his family, relatives, and friends found out his real identity. Although some of his friends congratulated him, he feels everyone else was surprised and unhappy. His mother was saddened to hear that and said, You are my son, I thought you would bring home a daughter-in-law, but you have done this. Nonetheless, Pinky Gurung, the president of Blue Diamond Society, says social media have become a very important medium for the freedom of homosexuals just like in the story of Dhiraj and Aarthik. Corroborating Gurung, human rights activist Suman Lama, himself a transman, adds the number of people revealing their identity, getting married by following cultural rituals even if the law does not recognise them has increased, thanks to social media. Legal hurdles A decade and a half have passed since the Supreme Court ordered the government to enact a law on same-sex marriage. A bench of Justices Balram KC and Pawan Kumar Ojha issued the order on December 21, 2007, stating that after a person has identified their gender or sexual identity according to their own experience, their biological sex, what kind of sexual partner to choose, what person to marry should not be determined by another person, society, state or law. It is a matter of personal decision. Then, the Supreme Court had directed the Government of Nepal to form a high-level committee to study same-sex marriage and to enact laws as per the recommendations of the committee. Accordingly, the government formed a committee under the leadership of Kavi Raj Pathak. The committee comprising sociologist Chaitanya Mishra, advocate Hari Prasad Phuyal and representatives of Nepal Police and National Human Rights Commission had submitted a report to the Office of the Prime Minister in 2015 with a recommendation to recognise same-sex marriage. But, a 2017 act to amend some Nepali laws related to Muluki Air disappointed homosexuals who were hoping for a law to be enacted as recommended by the committee. Still, the Civil Code only recognises marriage between a man and a woman as it states that a man and a woman are considered to be married if they accept each other as husband and wife through some celebration, ceremony or other act. Subsequent problems Pinki Gurung says Nepals law has done injustice to couples who have same-sex marriage. Even though when a homosexual couple get married traditionally, their marriage is not recognised by law. Due to this, they have to face problems including a lack of property rights and not being able to have children. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Nepals law also gives the right to adopt children only to heterosexual couples. In the absence of legal recognition, if someone living together takes the property away, there is no place to complain. In the case of the death of a transman, his partner does not have property rights. There is a problem that the money of the transman, the property is taken by the family which does not give the status of a daughter-in-law to his partner. Activist Suman Lama exemplifies, A transman among a homosexual couple, who lived together for 25 years in Nepalgunj, died at the age of 53 and at the age of 50, his partner did not get any facilities as a single woman. He adds some couples living in same-sex marriage who gave birth to test-tube babies are frustrated as they could not register their childs birth. There are a lot of such problems. This community is being deprived of human rights because the government has not made necessary laws to manage them, says Lama. Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is the latest release from Samsung. It follows another 5G enabled phone, Galaxy A42 5G, released just a few days ago. You have seen a variety of releases from Samsung in almost every category on a regular basis these days. It also released its budget-range smartphone Galaxy A03s not long ago. M52 5G is one of the slimmest and lightest phones from Samsung. The company is marketing this phone as the leanest, meanest monster ever. Powered by a Snapdragon processor, this phone has a high refresh rate display of 120Hz, which means multi-tasking and gaming becomes better now. Yet, the relatively high cost and tough competition in the market may mean the phones future is quite uncertain in Nepal. Lets get into the details and know more about Samsung Galaxy M52 5G and how it might fare in the Nepali market. Specifications Display 6.7 inches Super AMOLED Plus Dimension Height: 164.2mm Width: 76.4 mm Depth: 7.4mm Weight: 173 grams Resolution 1080*2400 Camera Front: 32MP f/2.2 Rear: 64MP f/1.8 12MP f/2.2, 123 (ultrawide) 5MP f/2.4, (macro) OS Android 11, One UI 3.1 Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G (6nm) GPU Adreno 642L RAM 6/8GB Storage 128GB Battery 5000mAH, non-removable Li-ion 25W fast charging Sensors Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Connectivity Ai-fi 802.11, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC enabled, USB Type-C2.0 Sound Loudspeaker: Yes 3.5mm jack: No Colours Icy blue, blazing black, white Design and display Photo: Samsung Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is one of the leanest and lightest Samsung phones available in the market. Compared to its predecessor Galaxy M51, the new Galaxy M52 5G is 21% sleeker. Though having a big display, the lean phone should be pretty handy for the users. It weighs light at 173 grams only. Talking about the build of the phone, it has a glass front, plastic back and a plastic frame. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Photo: Samsung There is a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display on the phone with a maximum resolution of 1080*2400 pixels. The phones whopping 120Hz refresh rate makes the scrolling of apps and news feed smoother than ever. This higher refresh rate will allow the users to experience gaming and watching videos even better and smoother. Cameras Photo: Samsung Samsung Galaxy M52 5G has a triple camera setup on its back. The main 64MP camera is housed together with a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 5MP depth sensor. An LED flash is also housed with the cameras. On the front, there is a 32MP selfie camera confined inside the centred punch-hole. The 64MP camera can capture high-resolution photos and also the 12MP has a 123 FOV, which means it can capture some amazing wide landscape photos. For portraits, the 5MP macro sensors should just do fine. The rear camera can record videos in 4K at 30fps, 1080p up to 240fps, while the front camera is limited to 1080p at 30fps only. Performance and battery life Photo: Samsung Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G (6nm) chipset and runs on Android 11, One UI 3.1 on top. The graphics, meanwhile, are handled by Adreno 642L. This specification allows the phone to perform faster and smoother, making multitasking easier and the gaming experience incredible. Photo: Samsung Giving the power to Samsung Galaxy M52 5G is a 5000mAh non-removable Li-ion battery that supports a 25W fast charging. This should give users enough power to binge-watch their favourite shows or movies and can have a longer gaming session. With a 25W fast charger, the phone should get its power in no time. Storage and connectivity Samsung Galaxy M52 5G comes in two variants. The user has the option to choose between 6GB and 8GB of RAM whereas the internal storage is 128GB in both variants. The memory can be further extended with a microSDXC card. There is no dedicated slot for the microSDXC card though, which means you will have to sacrifice one of the sim card slots. For connectivity, it supports a 5G network (which is not available in Nepal so far, by the way), Wi-Fi 802.11, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC enabled and USB Type-C 2.0. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack on the phone. The price for Samsung Galaxy M52 5G in Nepal is Rs 48,999 for the 6/128GB variant and Rs 50,999 for the 8/128GB variant. Verdict Photo: Samsung There has been some significant change in terms of performance in Galaxy M52 5G compared to its predecessor Galaxy M51. The graphics are updated, there is a better chipset in M52 and it supports a 5G network. Also, M52 5G has a higher refresh rate display. Though the design looks almost the same, M52 is lighter and thinner and is easier to use. There are also some downgrades like the battery backup is reduced to 5,000mAh from 7,000. The quad-camera setup has been reduced to a triple camera setup on M52. Also, the front camera in M51 could record in 4K, whereas it is limited to 1080p in M52. The launch of M52 5G means it poses a challenge to the recently launched Mi 11 Lite 5G. Comparing these phones side by side, they go back and forth in specifications and features. The technical details are almost the same on these phones and they are sure to compete against each other as they fall under almost the same price category. These two can compete to be the best mid-range smartphone in Nepal. Phones these days are getting more expensive; the inclusion of 5G can be one of the most obvious factors. Having a phone that supports a 5G network can be really great, but then, there are no 5G network service providers in Nepal. This means people are paying more for the smartphone feature which they are not even able to use here. Even if the 5G network is made accessible soon in the coming days, the high cost can be a major issue on the use of the 5G network. Also, check the price of Samsung phones in Nepal. Workforce OPM director talks federal recruitment with students Kiran Ahuja, now OPM director, at her Senate confirmation hearing on April 22, 2021 Kiran Ahuja, director of the Office of Personnel Management, pitched federal employment to college students and talked about the agency's work during an event at George Mason University on Monday. The host of the event. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who heads a House subcommittee that conducts oversight of the federal workforce, framed the conversation against the backdrop of a potential retirement wave. A third of the federal workforce is eligible for retirement, he said, and only 8% of the workforce is under the age of 30, as opposed to 28% in the private sector. The federal government is looking at surging hiring during the Biden administration, Ahuja said. The Biden administration's fiscal year 2022 budget request asked for an increase of over 50,000 full-time equivalent civilian employees in the executive branch. "This is actually the moment to come into the federal government. There is a lot of hiring going on," she said. "Our appeal to you all today, what we will be doing I think for months to come, is that the federal government is actually a great place and a very cool place to work." The panelists, which also included Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), plugged the government's benefits package, pointing to the government's retirement Thrift Savings Plan and healthcare benefits. Ahuja also touted the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which offers loan forgiveness to public sector employees if they meet a certain number of on-time payments, are on certain repayment plans and have a specific type of loan. "I wish I had that when I was at the Department of Justice. It's a really amazing program," she said. Beyer also heralded the program, saying that "it's the best retention tool we have." That program, which debuted in 2007, is actually set to get a renovation from the Department of Education this week, according to reporting from NPR. It's long been subject to criticism for confusion over eligibility and mismanagement. The agency has been collecting public comments on the program since the summer. OPM priorities OPM is also working on is streamlining federal hiring, Ahuja said. For example, the agency issued regulations to ease the movement of former feds back into federal service. OPM has also been encouraging agencies to work together when recruiting for similar job openings. "We're trying to basically encourage agencies to post those positions and use the same candidate list," she said. "Let's say that you get 200 individuals on a candidate list. You can all pick from that particular list." When asked from a student in the audience about requirements for entry level federal jobs, Ahuja said that OPM is also looking at skills-based hiring. "Right now we're reviewing a lot of occupations to move towards skills-based hiring and removing the college degree requirement," she said. "It's actually really relevant in the tech and cyber space because people aren't necessarily getting their degrees, they're learning on the job." Ahuja also talked about her office's role in implementing Biden's executive order on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the federal workforce. One of the many deadlines for that order actually passed yesterday, when agencies' preliminary assessments of their own efforts were due. At OPM, "we're taking a very data-driven approach to this effort. We're doing right now a baseline study across the federal government to see where we rank, what the numbers look like in each agency," she said. "And then we're doing kind of across the board how we're trying to update and improve and really promote best practices around HR policies and practices on every single level." She also touched on telework, which OPM and the Biden administration have flagged as a long-term vision for the federal workforce post-pandemic. "My plan and my view, of course in part ship with all of you on the Hill and across all the agencies, is to really lean in to telework," she said." There are actually right now some limitations in the law of how we might you know that we'll need to kind of work through to really make it more expansive." Telework has seen resistance among Republican lawmakers, though, who have been calling for an end to maximum teleworking posture in the federal government. IT Modernization TMF awards still come with payback plans Federal CIO Clare Martorana testifies before a Senate subcommittee on Sept. 28, 2021 In the wake of $311 million in new Technology Modernization Fund Awards announced last week, Federal CIO Clare Martorana said that while payback flexibility is now part of the fund playbook, agencies still are projecting savings in their modernization plans. The seven awards were the first tranche to be made after a $1 billion plus-up to the fund made under the American Rescue Plan Act. As federal CIO, Martorana chairs the board that reviews and approves TMF funding requests. Speaking at FCW's IT Modernization Summit on Tuesday, Martorana said payment flexibility was a big part of the attraction of TMF for this round of proposers. She noted that when she served as CIO of the Office of Personnel Management, there was resistance to using the fund because "the CFO didn't really think that he would be able to commit to paying back the TMF loan." The new flexibilities brought in new applicants including OPM which won a $9.9 million award to focus on transitioning to zero trust. At the same time, Martorana said that agencies were including payback plans in their applications for at least some of the funding. "You know, everybody would love to come to TMF and pay nothing back, but we do have to remain a solvent as a fund," she said. "So we do have a minimal threshold for repayment, but what we're finding is a lot of agencies in doing their project plans recognize that in out years they are going to have significant savings." Martorana said that proposals are coming in with payback plans that include repayment at levels of up to 50% and 75%. "Not everyone is coming back at a very minimal repayment level," she said. Martorana also said the TMF board had put in a lot of time to examine proposals under an accelerated process following the $1 billion addition to the fund. "Board members were committing five, 10 hours a week," in addition to their full-time jobs as senior technology officials. "Reviewing over 100 proposals was really an extraordinary effort and we're still not done," she said. FCW Insider: October 5, 2021 After a few speed bumps and a bridge contract, the Department of Homeland Security awarded its Data Center and Cloud Optimization contract. Kiran Ahuja talked about streamlining hiring, implementing President Biden's executive order on diversity and more at a George Mason University event Leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee introduced legislation on Monday to update the Federal Information Security Modernization Act to clarify the role of CISA in defending federal networks. The U.S. government, will have to start regularly having hard conversations "country to country" on state-sponsored cyberattacks, according to a top Defense Department official. Quick Hits *** Civilian employees at the Department of Defense have until Nov. 22 to get fully vaccinated, per an Oct. 1 memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. DOD already mandated vaccination for U.S. military service members in August. Since then, the Biden administration has mandated vaccinations for executive branch feds, who are also under that Nov. 22 deadline, as well as contractors. New civilian employees have to be vaccinated either by their start date or Nov. 22, whichever is later. Employees should be ready to provide a copy of their vaccination record to the agency. *** The Naval Postgraduate School and AT&T will develop and test 5G and edge computing-based maritime solutions for potential use in national defense and homeland security. Read more on this story in GCN. *** The Information Technology Industry Council expanded its comments on the federal government's proposed zero trust strategy to suggest that policymakers take employee-owned devices used under bring-your-own-device policies into account. According to the trade group, federal employees who use their own devices on agency networks "may be required to consent to giving up some of the control over their personal device in exchange for working from a personal device." 2050 target is extension of Company's decades' long commitment to sustainability Environmental stewardship at forefront of Company's strategic direction OAKVILLE, ON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. ("Algonquin" or the "Company") (TSX: AQN) (NYSE: AQN) today announced its commitment to a net-zero by 2050 target. This target is rooted in Algonquin's purpose of sustaining energy and water for life and is a reflection of the Company's track record of being a leader in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Concurrently, Algonquin is releasing its 2021 ESG Report, which details Algonquin's progress with respect to environmental, social and governance ("ESG") matters. Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Logo (CNW Group/Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp.) "Algonquin started 33 years ago as a developer of renewable energy facilities, and today we own, operate, or have interests in over 4,000 MW of renewable capacity. We are also an early pioneer in building renewables into rate base," said Arun Banskota, President & Chief Executive Officer of Algonquin. "Today's announcement of our net-zero by 2050 target, together with our interim 2023 goals, reinforces our commitment to maintaining a leadership position on our sustainability journey." Throughout its history, Algonquin has prioritized being a good steward of energy and water assets, and has demonstrated significant emissions reduction results to date: Enterprise greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 31% 1 from 2017 through 2020. Algonquin's mid-west operations emissions were reduced by 33% from 2017 through 2020. Algonquin's California-based electric operations' emissions have been reduced by 38% through 2020. "The global call for climate action is accelerating and it's vital that companies like Algonquin demonstrate a clear commitment to responsible decarbonization in support of a resilient common future for all," Mr. Banskota said. "Net-zero by 2050 is a natural extension of our sustainability focus, and we're grateful to have the opportunity to continue working with our employees, communities, partners and peers to reach our ESG goals." Story continues Progress on Interim Goals In 2019, Algonquin announced nine ambitious goals for 2023, covering key ESG issues. One of these nine sustainability goals is to add 2,000 MW of additional low-cost renewable generation capacity from 2019 through 2023. The Company is currently on track to accomplish this goal, with 1,418 MW of new renewable generation having been completed since 2019. The early closure of the Company's Asbury Coal Plant in the U.S. mid-west and completion of approximately 600 MW of new wind generation has led to the early achievement of the Company's goal of reducing emissions by one million metric tonnes. In addition, Algonquin's renewable generation capacity represents over 60% of its total generation capacity, placing the Company on track to achieve its goal of 75% renewable generation capacity by the end of 2023. "We have demonstrated, through initiatives such as our Midwest Greening the Fleet and related closure of Asbury, that transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy solutions is not only possible, it's also a recipe for success," said George Trisic, Chief Governance Officer and Corporate Secretary. "By transitioning to renewables, we expect to reduce customer rates over time, reduce environmental impacts on the local and global environments, and achieve further sustainable growth in the coming decades." For more on Algonquin's net-zero plan, and to access a copy of the 2021 ESG Report, visit its website at www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com/sustainability.html. 1. Calculation includes preliminary base year emissions estimates for ESSAL (Chile) and Ascendant (Bermuda), each acquired in 2020. These annualized estimates are based on actual emissions data for these entities during the 2020 post-acquisition period. Formal base year recalculations for ESSAL and Ascendant are expected to be performed in connection with Algonquin's 2021 calendar year ESG disclosure. About Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. and Liberty Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., parent company of Liberty, is a diversified international generation, transmission, and distribution utility with over $16 billion of total assets. Through its two business groups, the Regulated Services Group and the Renewable Energy Group, Algonquin is committed to providing safe, secure, reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable energy and water solutions through its portfolio of electric generation, transmission, and distribution utility investments to over one million customer connections, largely in the United States and Canada. Algonquin is a global leader in renewable energy through its portfolio of long-term contracted wind, solar, and hydroelectric generating facilities. Algonquin owns, operates, and/or has net interests in over 4 GW of installed renewable energy capacity. Algonquin is committed to delivering growth and the pursuit of operational excellence in a sustainable manner through an expanding global pipeline of renewable energy and electric transmission development projects, organic growth within its rate-regulated generation, distribution, and transmission businesses, and the pursuit of accretive acquisitions. Algonquin's common shares, Series A preferred shares, and Series D preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQN.PR.A, and AQN.PR.D, respectively. AQN's common shares, Series 2018-A subordinated notes, Series 2019-A subordinated notes and equity units are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols AQN, AQNA, AQNB, and AQNU, respectively. Visit Algonquin at www.algonquinpowerandutilities.com and follow us on Twitter @AQN_Utilities. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements included in this news release constitute ''forward-looking information'' within the meaning of applicable securities laws in each of the provinces of Canada and the respective policies, regulations and rules under such laws and ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, ''forward-looking statements"). The words "will", "expects", "targets" and similar expressions are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Specific forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's sustainability and ESG targets, initiatives and goals, and the Company's expectations regarding the benefits, outcomes and impacts of transitioning to renewable energy. These statements are based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including assumptions based on historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Since forward-looking statements relate to future events and conditions, by their very nature they require making assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Algonquin cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. Material risk factors and assumptions include those set out in the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis for the three months ended June 30, 2021 (the "Interim MD&A"), each of which is available on SEDAR and EDGAR. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of their dates. Other than as specifically required by law, Algonquin undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/algonquin-power--utilities-corp-announces-net-zero-goals-and-2021-esg-report-301393379.html SOURCE Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. FHLB Dallas and BancorpSouth Provide Partnership Grant Program Funds TUPELO, Miss., October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BancorpSouth Bank (NYSE: BXS) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) awarded $78,222 in Partnership Grant Program (PGP) matching-grant funding to 10 nonprofits in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. PGP grants help qualified nonprofit organizations fund a variety of operational and administrative activities that are critical to serving their communities. The following organizations, listed in alphabetical order, received funding: Coalition of African American Communities, Gulfport, Mississippi, $6,000, offers youth development, financial literacy and small business training to minority and low-income residents of Gulfport, Mississippi. Hernando Desoto Habitat for Humanity, Hernando, Mississippi, $10,000, builds homes with volunteers, including future Habitat for Humanity homeowners, who are offered a no-interest affordable mortgage to buy the home they help build. Hope Downtown Network, Hope, Arkansas, $4,000, makes and promotes improvements to the downtown area of Hope, Arkansas. IN Affordable Housing, Little Rock, Arkansas, $1,117, creates and preserves affordable housing opportunities in targeted neighborhoods for families with limited incomes through training, financial education and advocacy. Mercy Housing and Human Development, Gulfport, Mississippi, $14,105, provides homeownership opportunities to families with low- or moderate-income. NOVA Work Institute of Northeast Louisiana, Monroe, Louisiana, $12,000, works as a job intermediary to identify and connect the workforce needs of employers with training entities and with the residents of Northeast Louisiana seeking employment. Restoration Home, Jackson, Mississippi, $10,000, offers transitional housing for men recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. Sacred Heart Southern Missions, Walls, Mississippi, $10,000, operates two Catholic elementary schools and related social services, including the areas only ministry to people with HIV/AIDS and their families. Story continues Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity, Starkville, Mississippi, $6,000, builds new homes with volunteers and provides no-interest mortgages to low-income homeowners Christmas in April Grenada Inc., Grenada, Mississippi, $5,000, makes home repairs for the needy and elderly. "With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the added impact of Hurricane Ida on many of these organizations, these funds will offer a safety net to address administrative and operational expenses that many grants often exclude from coverage," said BancorpSouth Northeast Mississippi Division President Mark Burleson. "We are pleased to join with FHLB Dallas in distributing this funding." For 2021, FHLB Dallas awarded $400,000 in PGP grants, and its members provided an additional $200,250 for an impact of more than $600,000 in its five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. "Donations to 10 nonprofits spanning three states demonstrates BancorpSouths strong commitment to improving the communities where it does business," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "Our partnership with BancorpSouth and the matching-grant nature of the PGP has enabled both banks to make a lasting impact on these nonprofits, some of which have received multiple rounds of PGP funding over the years." See the complete list of the 2021 PGP grant recipients. For more information about the 2021 PGP grants and other FHLB Dallas community investment products and programs, please visit fhlb.com/pgp. About BancorpSouth Bank BancorpSouth Bank (NYSE: BXS) is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, with approximately $28 billion in assets. BancorpSouth operates approximately 315 full-service branch locations as well as additional mortgage, insurance, and loan production offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in Illinois. BancorpSouth is committed to a culture of respect, diversity, and inclusion in both its workplace and communities. To learn more, visit our Community Commitment page at https://www.bancorpsouth.com; "Like" us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter @MyBXS; or connect with us through LinkedIn. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $58.6 billion as of June 30, 2021, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit our website at fhlb.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006170/en/ Contacts Corporate Communications Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas fhlb.com (214) 441-8445 - 44% quarter over quarter sales growth with record VINIA sales orders of USD 688K in Q3 - Successful VINIA pilot sales program in the U.S. market with USD 236K in sales orders in Q3 - Major progress towards the commissioning of the 20Tons/year VINIA new production facility before year end - Significant accomplishments in cannabis development program; commercialisation on track for H1 2022 - Closing of private placement and funds raised through exercise of warrants VANCOUVER, BC and REHOVOT, Israel, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- BioHarvest Sciences Inc. ("BioHarvest" or the "Company") (CSE: BHSC) today announced another strong quarter, fueled by strong growth of VINIA sales in Israel and the U.S. Q3 VINIA pilot sales revenues were USD 688K representing 44% growth over Q2 2021 and 1,198% growth over Q3 2020. (PRNewsfoto/BioHarvest Sciences Inc.) In Israel, the Company reports record sales orders of USD 452K during Q3 2021 for its flagship VINIA product. 10% growth over Q2 2021 and 768% growth over Q3 2020. The continued adoption of VINIA in Israel and the high percentage (55%) of revenue in Q3 from returning customers demonstrate the health benefits, efficacy, and overall loyalty to the product. Sales orders in the ongoing U.S. pilot program, which launched in May 2021, were USD 236K, representing 251% growth over Q2 2021, with sales orders in September 2021 exceeding USD 100K. With 90% of sales being subscription packages generating monthly recurring revenue, $80 average transaction spend and with 48% of customers being "repeat" customers, we are confident that we can build a scalable, sustainable, and profitable business. The metrics are a good predictor of future demand in the U.S. for VINIA. Supplying the anticipated demand growth requires our new manufacturing facility to be up and running before we add additional marketing layers and increase spending levels as part of the scaling of our U.S. business. To support the projected strong demand, primarily in the U.S., the Company made major progress towards the commissioning of a new 20 Tons/year VINIA manufacturing facility in Israel. Story continues The Company also made substantial progress on its Cannabis vertical in Q3. This includes the successful development of the Amalgamated Trichome Coral Structure (News Release dated August 19, 2021) and the scaling of the production to mid-size bioreactors (News Release dated September 1, 2021) This continues to pave the road for the first commercial availability of our Cannabis product by the end of H1 2022. With regards to the Company's financing activities, BioHarvest announced in its October 4, 2021, press release that it raised net proceeds USD 3,484,849 via private placement financing and received USD 4,407,455 through the exercise of warrants. This has provided the financing to support the Company's immediate goals. Ilan Sobel, CEO, said "I am very proud of our Q3 results fueled by strong growth in VINIA sales in Israel and the U.S. This increased demand, especially in our VINIA 'pilot phase' gives us confidence in building a scalable business in the U.S. This quarter's strong results and accomplishments, further validates our vision, strategy and leadership position in plant-based bio-technology." Q3 Shareholder Update We invite all interested investors and media to our next Shareholder Update, to be held at 11am PST, October 14, 2021. The online meeting will be hosted by the CEO, Ilan Sobel, and will feature a live Question and Answer session. If you are not available to attend live, please register and we can send you the session recording after the event. Register at: https://app.livestorm.co/st-financial/october-2021-bhsc-shareholder-update?type=detailed About BioHarvest Sciences Inc. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) is a fast-growing Biotech firm listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. BioHarvest has developed a patented bio-cell growth platform technology capable of growing the active and beneficial ingredients in fruit and plants, at industrial scale, without the need to grow the plant itself. This technology is economical, ensures consistency, and avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional agriculture. BioHarvest is currently focused on nutraceuticals and the medicinal cannabis markets. Visit: www.bioharvest.com. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Ilan Sobel, Chief Executive Officer About BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release includes forward-looking statements that are based on management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance that the Israeli market results will translate directly into the U.S. markets which may depend on different consumer preferences and more substantial marketing expenditures and resources. There is no assurance that strong sales metrics experienced to date will result in future demand or that proposed additional marketing expenditures will result in increased sales. Markets for nutraceuticals are unpredictable and subject to changes in consumer tastes and trends as well as economic factors beyond our control. Delays and cost overruns may result in delays achieving our objectives obtaining market acceptance, and regulatory approvals for geographic expansion is subject to risk and cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance of commercial availability of our Cannabis product by H1 2022. There is no assurance of the imminent commissioning of the superfruit facility or the conversion of the two tons VINIA facility to Cannabis production in the first half of 2022. These things are subject to construction and approval delays and uncertainties that may be beyond the control of BioHarvest. Projected sales of Cannabis will require the Company to obtain production and/or export licensing which cannot be assured. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and actual results may be affected by a number of material factors beyond our control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BHSC does not intend to update forward-looking statement disclosures other than through our regular management discussion and analysis disclosures. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1558310/BioHarvest_Sciences_Logo.jpg Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bioharvest-sciences-inc-reports-strong-q3-2021-results-on-all-of-the-companys-activities-301392851.html SOURCE BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c6093.html In a world where fintech is so hot right now, and investors are being swept up by their excitement for the space, Chime has managed to ride the wave to near perfection. The company has raised upwards of $2.6 billion, including a fresh $750 million just this year. The startup, playing in the fee-free banking space, now has a valuation of $25 billion. Sources told The Wall Street Journal that an IPO is on the horizon for the startup. So, we're more than thrilled to announce that Chime founder and CEO Chris Britt will be joining us on an upcoming episode of TechCrunch Live (formerly Extra Crunch Live). Britt will be joined by Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures, who led the company's Series C funding round back in 2018. TechCrunch Live is a free, weekly event that lets folks in the audience connect with founders and the investors who finance them to learn how to build better venture-backed businesses. We talk about what drew the investors to the company, how the founder chose to partner with those particular investors and how they work together, and scale the business, moving forward. In the latter half of each episode, founders in the audience are encouraged to jump on our virtual stage and pitch their products, receiving live feedback from our esteemed duos. TechCrunch Live is free for anyone who would like to attend live, but only TechCrunch+ members have access to the full library of TechCrunch Live content on demand. This episode of TCL goes down on October 13 at noon PDT/3 p.m. EDT. See you there! Daymak 1 Billion Dollar Pre-Order Goal Daymak secures $1 billion in pre-order commitments for Avvenire electric vehicle line up Daymak secures $1 billion in pre-order commitments for Avvenire electric vehicle line up Daymak secures $1 billion in pre-order commitments for Avvenire electric vehicle line up TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Daymak Inc. , a pioneer in personal light electric vehicles (LEVs), today announced the conclusion of its Avvenire pre-order campaign on Sept. 30, 2021, securing over $1 billion in pre-order commitments across six classes of LEVs. The Daymak Spiritus EV has generated significant interest for Daymak, with over 25,000 deposits and distribution orders placed ahead of the vehicles 2023 delivery date. Launched on March 23, 2021, the Avvenire pre-order campaign was centered around the Spiritus EV, which will make history as the worlds first EV to mine and manage cryptocurrency. The Ultimate version of the Spiritus will also be the worlds fastest three-wheeler, as well as the first EV to come with Ondata wireless charging . Ondata will also be available across all LEV tiers, from e-bikes to flying electric vehicles, which is unprecedented in the market. I want to thank everyone who placed pre-orders on our Avvenire vehicles. With your help, we proved that there is a market for our products, and have now solved one piece of the puzzle, ready to move to the next piece, said Aldo Baiocchi, President of Daymak. It is with your support that we enter the next stage of bringing our products to reality. Our next goal is to finalize financing to bring everything into production. We plan to build the best electric vehicles in the world. Coming off a successful pre-order campaign, Daymak is leveraging its proven retail and media interest, and is actively fundraising through private ventures and pursuing special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Daymak will utilize these investments to build a manufacturing facility in southeast Ontario, creating hundreds of jobs, and making history as the first Canadian company building electric vehicles locally in this category. Through Audit Firm Uk. Inc, Daymak was also able to value its Avvenire ventures at $220 million, marking an important milestone for the company. Story continues I am incredibly excited and proud of what Daymak has been able to accomplish. In 2001, I was told the Canadian market was not ready for LEVs, and now we are the largest developer and distributor of light electric vehicles in Canada, with an array of corporate clients and more than 150 dealers in 20 different countries, continued Baiocchi. After years of research and development, and through the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic, our historic Avvenire series is a $220 million CAD electric vehicle venture, with over $1 billion in pre-orders, and some of the most exciting IPs on the market. We do not take this responsibility lightly, and we are thrilled and ready for the rest of this journey. To celebrate the conclusion of the Avvenire pre-order campaign and Daymak hitting its billion-dollar milestone, the company will continue to offer special pre-order pricing and perk packages until Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021. Following this, prices of each Avvenire vehicle will go up, and perks will be dropped. Pre-order now at https://daymakavvenire.com . About Daymak, Inc. Daymak, Inc, founded in 2002 with headquarters in Toronto, is a pioneer in personal light electric vehicles (LEVs). Daymak has a world-class global distribution network including 150 dealers and big-box retailers like Walmart, Costco, and Best Buy. Daymak is the number one distributor and developer of LEVs in Canada with more than 100,000 vehicles sold, and is known for cutting-edge designs like the world's first fully wireless e-bike and Canadas first solar-powered, off-road e-bike. The Companys Daymak Avvenire Series is a comprehensive line-up of ground-breaking personal mobility vehicles including everything from electric cars to electric flying vehicles, set for production starting in 2022. Daymak Ondata, Daymaks patent-pending wireless charging technology, is a more compact, cost-effective, and scalable solution than any other wireless charging technology available on the market today. Daymak continues to redefine powered mobility, empowering individuals to make statements, not emissions, on their way to a connected, accessible future. To explore that future please visit https://daymak.com/ . The Daymak Avvenire series pre-order campaign is now live. To reserve your vehicle visit https://daymakavvenire.com/ . MEDIA CONTACT: Jeremy Ertl Skyya for Daymak jeremy@skyya.com INVESTOR RELATIONS: To request a copy of audited financials please contact: Aldo Baiocchi ab@daymak.com 416.658.3993 ext. 1114 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/224f9ba2-5f37-49f9-8c6e-b2a8df46878d A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e4585f4b-742b-49b7-bdd6-4a98a3b4c1c6 TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Deepa Rajagopalan has won the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Her short story Peacocks of Instagram, was chosen ahead of more than 130 submissions by jurors Donna Bailey Nurse, Kaie Kellough and Thea Lim. Deepa Rajagopalan. Photo credit: Ema Suvajac. (CNW Group/PEN Canada) The RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award supports and celebrates new Canadian writers. Unpublished writers are invited to submit short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry to a jury of distinguished PEN Canada members for a chance to win $3,000 and mentorship from a Canadian author. Previous winners include Claire Battershill, Laura Legge, Noor Naga and Em Dial. The jurors described Rajagopalan's story as "Painfully vivid" with "a rich nest of subcultures, traumatic past experience returned to haunt the present, and a protagonist both comical and tragic, whom we could not forget." "It takes skill, knowledge of craft, and insight to shape such a compelling figure, one who is immediately recognizable, but one who, as the author points out, we don't know as well as we think. With narrative confidence and considerable charm, the author beguiles us into accepting events at face value, and each time, undercuts our assumptions. Peacocks of Instagram not only questions our stereotypes about the immigrant past, but about the immigrant present as well. This is an original, dynamic voice poised to enrich the culturally varied field of Canadian fiction." "I'm honoured to have won this prestigious award and to have my work celebrated by an organization that has done so much for writers and members of the media," said Rajagopalan. "I want to tell stories about unapologetic characters who don't feel sorry for themselves. Characters you encounter often but fade into the background. I want to examine what it means to be racialized in a North American context and what it means to be marginalized in a more universal context. Fiction to me is about truth-telling, and I want to get as close to the truth as I can with the stories I tell." Story continues Rajagopalan is an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph, and a graduate of the Creative Writing program from the University of Toronto. She is an editor of Held magazine , and co-host and curator of the Emerging Writers Reading Series in Toronto. She is working on her first book, a collection of short fiction. The jury shortlisted the following entries. These authors will receive a complimentary PEN Canada membership for one year. So Indeed It Was by Poonam Dhir Moving between languages, exercising a rich sonority while nimbly shifting registers, from a lover's intimate address to trenchant cultural critique, these poems look at love, constructions of beauty, and culture in diaspora. Missing Teeth by Aila Omar In language both moving and restrained, Missing Teeth powerfully chronicles the fraught relationship between an aging father and his middle-aged daughter, a woman trapped between filial duty and the desire to pursue her dreams. Nesting Season by Anna Ling Kaye This ambitious story links together seemingly disparate strands, to show how its diasporic protagonist is always in more than one place at once, and to thoughtfully provoke the reader into considering our ethical responsibilities to the homes we have left. Smash the Headlights by Cassandra Myers This exciting series of poems uses language and imagery that is vibrantly strange, unsettling our sense of normalcy and liberating us to rage along with the speaker. About PEN Canada PEN Canada is a nonpartisan organization of writers that works with others to defend freedom of expression as a basic human right, at home and abroad. PEN Canada celebrates literature, fights censorship, helps free persecuted writers from prison, and assists writers living in exile in Canada. SOURCE PEN Canada Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c0834.html Meeting to be followed by virtual news conference tomorrow OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Tonight, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and the Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) are hosting an emergency COVID-19 summit to discuss the pandemic's devastating impact on Canada's health care system and health workers. The closed meeting is expected to bring together more than 30 national and provincial health organizations and will focus on identifying priorities for responding to the crisis. The CMA and the CNA will host a virtual news conference on Wednesday (Oct. 6) to provide a summary of the discussion. WHAT: CMA & CNA EMERGENCY COVID-19 SUMMIT: POST-MEETING DEBRIEF WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 at 11:00 am (ET) HOW: Zoom Webinar Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://cma-ca.zoom.us/j/86168015067?pwd=cUhiL1hFM3hnem4rcnF0L1dwbkg4dz09 Passcode: 007885 Or One tap mobile : Canada: 8557038985,,86168015067# (Toll Free) Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): Canada: 855 703 8985 (Toll Free) Webinar ID: 861 6801 5067 International numbers available: https://cma-ca.zoom.us/u/kbZozRnGB1 GUESTS: CMA President Dr. Katharine Smart CMA Quebec board member Dr. Abdo Shabah CNA President Mr. Tim Guest BACKGROUND: Rising numbers of COVID-19 cases have brought the health system to a breaking point in many parts of the country Vaccination rates are at a standstill and public health measures are now being reinstated in many areas Health workers are exhausted and demoralized, with many leaving the front line Significant backlogs of surgeries will affect the health system and quality of life of patients for years to come About the CMA The Canadian Medical Association is the national voice of the medical profession. Our focus is on creating strong and accessible health systems, fostering well-being and diversity in medical culture, and ensuring every person in Canada has equal opportunity to be healthy. In partnership with physicians, medical learners, patients and others, we advance these goals through advocacy, knowledge sharing and granting. Story continues About the CNA The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) is the national and global professional voice of Canadian nursing. We represent registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed and registered practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and retired nurses across all 13 provinces and territories. SOURCE Canadian Medical Association Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c0249.html CALGARY, AB, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Enbridge Inc. (TSX: ENB) (NYSE: ENB) (Enbridge or the Company) will host a conference call and webcast to provide a business update and review 2021 third quarter results on Nov. 5, 2021 at 7:00 a.m. MT (9:00 a.m. ET). The conference call format will include prepared remarks from the executive team followed by a question and answer session for the analyst and investor community only. Enbridge's media and investor relations teams will be available after the call for any additional questions. Enbridge will announce its financial results before markets open on Nov. 5, 2021. 2021 Third Quarter Earnings Webcast and Conference Call Details of the webcast When: Friday Nov. 5, 2021 7:00 a.m. MT (9:00 a.m. ET) Webcast: Sign-up Call: Dial-in (Audio only please dial in 15 minutes ahead): North America Toll Free: (833) 233-4460 Outside North America: (647) 689-4543 Conference ID: 9798691 A webcast replay, as well as a transcript which will be posted to Enbridge's website, will be available shortly after the conclusion of the event. About Enbridge Inc. Enbridge Inc. is a leading North American energy infrastructure company. We safely and reliably deliver the energy people need and want to fuel quality of life. Our core businesses include Liquids Pipelines, which transports approximately 25 percent of the crude oil produced in North America; Gas Transmission and Midstream, which transports approximately 20 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.; Gas Distribution and Storage, which serves approximately 3.8 million retail customers in Ontario and Quebec; and Renewable Power Generation, which generates approximately 1,766 MW of net renewable power in North America and Europe. The Company's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol ENB. For more information, visit www.enbridge.com. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Media Toll Free: (888) 992-0997 Email: media@enbridge.com Story continues Investment Community Toll Free: (800) 481-2804 Email: investor.relations@enbridge.com Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/enbridge-inc-to-host-webcast-to-discuss-2021-third-quarter-results-on-nov-5-301393319.html SOURCE Enbridge Inc. Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c9350.html If you can't access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or WhatsApp, you're not the only one. Starting at approximately 11:38AM ET, Downdetector began logging a spike in outage reports across all four Facebook-owned services. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for the company, said at 12:07PM ET that the company was working to resolve the issue quickly. The error page you see when trying to connect to the platforms suggests a Domain Name System (DNS) error is responsible for the outage. At 3:52 PM ET, CTO Mike Schroepfer, who's slated to leave the company next year, said Facebook was sincerely sorry for the outage but stopped short of offering an explanation of what caused it. As of late Monday afternoon, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp have started to come back online for some people. Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 4, 2021 It's not clear how widespread the issue was, but Downdetector showed more than 30,000 outage reports for Facebook alone at one point, with another 20,000 tied to Instagram. Per a tweet from the official Oculus Twitter account, the problem also affected the Oculus App, Store and website. It took Facebook much of the day to resolve the issue. According to The New York Times, the outage took out Workplace, the company's internal communications platform. Additionally, employees reportedly couldn't receive external emails at the moment. *Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) October 4, 2021 Per journalist Brian Krebs, Facebook's DNS records were withdrawn from the global routing tables sometime this morning."We don't know why this change was made," Krebs wrote in a tweet. "It could well have been the result of an internal, system-wide change or update that went awry. It's all speculation at this point why. Facebook alone is in control over its DNS records." Story continues Back in July, Akamai Technologies, one of the largest content delivery networks in the world, went through a similar outage, leading to a large section of the internet, including platforms like the PlayStation Store, TikTok and LastPass, becoming inaccessible. Akamai eventually fixed the problem later that same day. Update 3:04PM ET: Added context from Brian Krebs. Update 4:39PM ET: Added comment from Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer. Update 6:07PM ET: Added a note that Facebook and Instagram started coming back online. Update 6:48PM ET: Added a note that WhatsApp is also coming back online. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FEEL FOODS LTD. (the Company or Feel Foods) (CSE: FEEL) (OTC: FLLLF) is pleased to report a successful debut of its Vegan Food Truck at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody, BC on Sunday October 3rd, 2021. The Feel Foods Truck provided its first direct to consumer engagement and received overwhelming positive feedback, in-person and online on its social media platforms for its Plant-based meat products combined with its recently announced Black Sheep Vegan Cheeze products in ready to eat delicious, finished meals including: Plant-based Chicken and Beef burgers with Black Sheep Vegan Cheeze as well as Plant-based Chicken Nuggets and Chicken Strips. Future Feel Foods Truck events and locations will be announced on the Companys social media prior to each event. Follow Feel Foods Social Media: Instagram.com/feelfoodsco A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on the image or link below: Image 1: Debut of Vegan Food Truck In preparation for retail rollout into Western Canada, Feel Foods is completing the design of its retail consumer packaging for grocery and specialty stores as well as direct from its e-commerce website to launch shortly. The Company has also applied for Buy BC certification that assists in increasing sales in local BC markets and an effective way to communicate to consumers that a product is produced locally. Buy BC provides a trusted symbol to retailers and consumers to look for and identify products that are made in BC. A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on the image or link below: Image 2: Buy BC Benefits of Becoming a Buy BC Certified Product Expand market share and sales: Adding a Buy BC logo to your product packaging helps consumers to easily identify and purchase local products. Our research shows that B.C. consumers are looking for local products, and that a B.C. identifier can help them make informed purchasing decisions. Story continues Increase exposure: Your business and products will be promoted through a province-wide marketing and promotional campaign, which includes increased exposure through print, digital and social media channels. Build consumer awareness and appreciation for your products: Consumers feel good about supporting B.C. farmers, producers and the economy. The Buy BC logo gives consumers confidence that your products are grown, processed or made right here in British Columbia. The Debut of our Feel Foods Truck was a great success and significantly increased the Companys local presence. Feel Foods received positive feedback and numerous positive comments on our social media platforms. Food Truck participants experienced our stand-alone products as well as a finished, ready to eat plant-based meals that combined our plant-based chicken and beef patties with our Black Sheep Vegan Cheezes, states Feel Foods CEO David Greenway. As the company continues to grow, both organically and by way of acquisitions into new verticals we plan to add new and innovative offerings to our plant-based lineup while expanding our logistical and direct to consumer presence for everybody looking to introduce a plant-based lifestyle without compromise. The plant-based food market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2020 to 2027 to reach $74.2 billion by 2027.* The growth of this market is mainly attributed to the factors such as increasing incidence of intolerance for animal protein, growing urbanization with new consumer aspirations, increasing vegan population, and significant venture investments in this sector.* About Feel Foods Ltd. FEEL is an agri-food holdings company focused on innovative products and technologies in the food services industry including its wholly owned BE Good plant-based foods line of plant-based chicken, pork and beef products as well as is currently investing in the research and development of keto-friendly plant-based candy products. Company Contact: Mr. Joel T Warawa Corporate Communications E-mail: info@feelfoodsco.com Website: www.feelfoodsco.com Social: Instagram.com/feelfoodsco Phone: 604-235-0010 Statistics Reference: * https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-plant-based-food-market-report-2020-2027-rising-industry-concentration-with-growth-in-mergers-and-acquisitions-in-the-plant-based-products-space-301268737.html Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management regarding the Company. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, including with respect to: the entry of the Consulting Agreements, the completion of the Acquisition and the acceptance of the Acquisition and terms thereof by the CSE, and Feel Foods ability to finance and achieve North American-wide expansion of Black Sheeps products. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements, including risks related to factors beyond the control of the Company. The risks include the following: the unknown magnitude and duration of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the inability of Feel Foods to close the Acquisition and other risks that are customary to transactions of this nature. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. Feel Foods undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information or statements, other than as required by applicable law. This press release is not an offer of the securities for sale in the United States. The securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. 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 CSE (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Walk-in interviews will be held from 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Each of Food Lions more than 1,100 stores will host open interviews Tuesday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Similar hiring events Food Lion hosted in July and August resulted in the hiring of more than 16,000 associates. Similar hiring events Food Lion hosted in July and August resulted in the hiring of more than 16,000 associates. Each of Food Lions more than 1,100 stores will host open interviews Tuesday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Similar hiring events Food Lion hosted in July and August resulted in the hiring of more than 16,000 associates. Similar hiring events Food Lion hosted in July and August resulted in the hiring of more than 16,000 associates. SALISBURY, N.C., Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Each of Food Lions more than 1,100 stores will host open interviews Tuesday, Oct. 12, from 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Applicants can simply walk into their nearest Food Lion during one of these times and meet with a member of the store leadership team to discuss available opportunities at that store. Similar hiring events Food Lion hosted in July and August resulted in the hiring of more than 16,000 associates. The positions available vary by store; however, they may include a mix of full-time, part-time and seasonal positions in roles and departments across the store. The positions offer competitive wages and flexible scheduling opportunities. A list of all Food Lion locations can be found at foodlion.com/stores. Candidates unable to attend the hiring event and still interested in applying for a position at their local Food Lion can also visit foodlion.com/careers to view many of the available positions. About Food Lion Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., since 1957, has more than 1,100 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 82,000 associates. By leveraging its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations, Food Lion is working to own the easiest full shop grocery experience in the Southeast, anchored by a strong commitment to affordability, freshness and the communities it serves. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has donated more than 500 million meals to individuals and families since 2014, and has committed to donate 1.5 billion meals by 2025. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com or job applicants may visit www.foodlion.com/careers. Story continues CONTACTS: Food Lion Media Relations 704-245-3317 publicrelationsteam@foodlion.com Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7bc818a5-d8ed-402b-ab1d-3c6627a1637f https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ed0e46e0-c9ff-4c0a-b5f7-5d5f6411bef0 New Technology Enables Advanced Estimating and Total Loss Workflows WESTLAKE, Texas and TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- Solera | Audatex (Canada), a global provider of risk and asset management software and services to the automotive, fleet, and property ecosystems, announced that Gore Mutual Insurance Company (Gore Mutual) is the first Canadian insurer to rollout Qapter Estimating, Solera's revolutionary AI-based estimating platform. Solera Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Solera Holdings, Inc.) Joining insurance companies around the world, Gore Mutual is the first Canadian insurer to utilize Qapter to assess vehicle damage for improved customer service. Qapter is the Solera | Audatex (Canada) next-generation browser-agnostic estimating and total loss workflow platform for staff, repair shops, and independent appraisers. At its core, Qapter allows stakeholders to perform their jobs more efficiently, with an intuitive user-interface designed for the needs of modern repair and claims operations. "Qapter drives huge efficiency gains for our customers already using it around the world," said Michel Caron, vice president of sales, Solera | Audatex (Canada). "Those efficiency gains are mostly due to the accuracy of the estimate from quality data. Like other companies using Qapter, we know Gore Mutual and its collision repair partners are keenly focused on and desire both accuracy and efficiency. We are delighted to deliver them both." "As we continue to evolve our ClaimCareTM program, the customer has to be at the center of every decision we make. Qapter has allowed us to quickly and accurately assess the damage and communicate with our network of auto repair shops, brokers, and customers," said Neil Weir, vice president of claims, Gore Mutual. "Ultimately, we want to make the claims process as smooth as possible and get the customer back in their vehicle quickly. Qapter allows for that, particularly because the data flows seamlessly into our Guidewire Cloud system." Story continues "Qapter has world's most comprehensive database in the industry," added Caron. "It's no secret that Gore Mutual has big plans to grow its book of business and Qapter will allow Gore to manage that growth in claims volume for years to come." About Gore Mutual Built on a foundation of financial strength for more than 180 years, Gore Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada's first property and casualty insurance companies. Based in Cambridge, Ontario, we are a Canadian mutual company, with more than 500 employees focused on delivering outstanding insurance products and services to customers. In 2019, we launched our Next Horizon strategya 10-year planto transform Gore Mutual from a mid-size regional carrier to a national-scale insurer with over $20 million invested in talent and technology. We continue to strengthen Canadian communities through the Gore Mutual Foundation. Over the past 22 years, we have donated more than $10 million to over 790 charities. For more information, visit goremutual.ca or Gore Mutual's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages. About Solera Solera is a leading global data intelligence and technology solutions provider serving the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem. Through four lines of business - vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle solutions and fleet - Solera is home to many leading brands in the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, Dealersocket, Omnitracs, eDriving, Explore, cap hpi, Autodata, and others. Solera's innovative solutions empower smarter decision-making through software, enriched data, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence that come together to deliver insights to our customers and accelerate business outcomes. Solera serves over 235,000 global customers and partners in 100+ countries. For more information, visit www.solera.com. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gore-mutual-insurance-company-becomes-first-canadian-insurer-to-rollout-solera-qapter-estimating-platform-301393591.html SOURCE Solera Holdings, Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c9161.html NEW YORK, October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Graycliff Partners LP announced today that it has completed an equity investment and recapitalization of CHawk Technology International ("CHawk"), a manufacturer of precision plastic and metal components and assemblies for the semiconductor capital equipment, aerospace, and medical device industries. Based in Hayward, CA and founded in 2005, CHawk provides plastic and metal machining, fabrication, clean room assembly, and engineering services. The companys core market is semiconductor capital equipment, with a growing presence in aerospace, medical, and general industrial end markets. The company has facilities in California, Arizona, Singapore, Malaysia, and China. Graycliffs investment in CHawk follows its July 2021 acquisition of Gold Tech Industries, a provider of metal finishing and plating services for similar end markets. The businesses will be combined as a platform for continued growth within semiconductor and complementary markets. "The CHawk team is excited to be partnering with Graycliff," said Chase Zunino, CHawks CEO. "Graycliffs experience and track record for driving growth, particularly within the semicap space, makes them an ideal partner for CHawk. We look forward to leveraging Graycliffs resources to execute on our shared strategic goals." "CHawks capabilities are truly impressive. The companys dedication to quality and service, combined with its global footprint, has established CHawk as a trusted, scalable partner for its customers," said Dan Rubin, Graycliff Operating Advisor and co-investor. "We look forward to working with Chase and his team through this next stage of growth." "The CHawk team has done an impressive job growing the company and we are excited to partner alongside Chase and his team," said Duke Punhong, Graycliff Managing Partner. "We look forward to leveraging our past experience in the semicap space in building this new platform for continued expansion." Story continues CHawk is the fifth investment in Graycliffs fourth private equity fund, Graycliff Private Equity Partners IV LP. The current fund is a continuation of the firms strategy of making equity investments in lower middle market companies, with a focus on acquiring and/or partnering with founder and family-owned businesses in the manufacturing, business services, and value-added distribution sectors. About Graycliff Partners LP Graycliff Partners is an investment firm focused on making lower middle market investments, typically in manufacturing, business services and value-added distribution businesses. Through dedicated equity and credit funds, Graycliff provides capital for acquisitions, management buyouts, recapitalizations, growth and expansion. For more information about Graycliff Partners visit www.graycliffpartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005341/en/ Contacts New Opportunities: Duke Punhong (dpunhong@graycliffpartners.com, 212-300-2904); Ryan Supple (rsupple@graycliffpartners.com, 212-300-2931) Child holding 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar 24 GOOD DEEDS 24 GOOD DEEDS 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar 24 GOOD DEEDS 24 GOOD DEEDS TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The past two years have been a time unlike any other we have seen in history. We have all had to reimagine our day to day lives, and how we interact with one another. It has also been a time of reflection for many, and part of that is examining how we can give back to our communities and the world. We all want to give back, but many have lost their jobs or been forced to pivot their careers. Enter the 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar. Launched for the first time in Canada last year, 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar is a fundraising initiative unlike any other. Founded in Germany in 2011, it has put a charitable spin on the traditional advent calendar to do good within Canada and across the globe. Instead of the classic chocolate or candy, the calendar offers the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way, as well as an educational opportunity for donors to learn about various charities and their initiatives both locally and globally. Behind every door, there is a different charity and cause that you have supported with the charitable donation to 24 GOOD DEEDS. For just 24 dollars, you can help provide hope and renewal to friends and loved ones, and, indeed, the world. The COVID pandemic has hit us all very hard, says Ute Shaw, Canadian Head of 24 GOOD DEEDS. The advent calendar is a comforting and timeless tradition that can be used for good. Instead of chocolates or puzzle pieces revealed each day, you can know your money is going to a worthy cause. Its simple, easy, and the perfect solution to help out 24 Canadian charities without breaking the bank. For only one dollar a day over 24 days, we can make real change, Ms. Shaw continues. Thats three times less than the latte you buy in the morning. Or five times less than the fast food burger you may get for lunch. That one dollar can provide three breakfasts for Canadians in need, one day of schooling for a child in Africa, or 1 sq meter of Amazon rainforest protection. And the list goes on. Our first year in Canada was a great success and we cant wait to see what the future holds as we all think about getting back to normal while also thinking about how we can give back during the holiday season. Story continues New Nationwide Reach The calendar was launched in Canada just last year and was fully embraced by people wanting to make a difference, and this year it will support 24 Canadian charities in the mission to give back to the local and global community. Plus, 24 GOOD DEEDS will have even more impact with the introduction of a French edition, offering an even bigger opportunity to contribute to important social initiatives involving healthcare, the environment, education, nutrition, and more. This year, the 24 Canadian charities included in the calendar are: Africa Climate Action Initiative, ALS BC, Canuck Hospice, Canada Africa Partnership, Cheetah Conservation Fund, The Citizens Foundation, Edmonton Foodbank, Ethiopiaid, Fashion Takes Action, Hamilton Health, Hope for Malawi, The Hunger Project, INDSPIRE, LCS Foundation, Lifewater, MedicAlert, Nanny Angel Network, National Service Dog, PAAL, Save our Scruff, Second Harvest, SPCA Montreal, Vancouver Writers Fest, Wilderness International. One of the founding charities to partner with 24 GOOD DEEDS is INDSPIRE, a national Indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis people for the long term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada. Participating in the 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar last year has made a tangible difference for INDSPIRE. I am very pleased well be included in the second Canadian edition of the calendar, and am looking forward to seeing all the good deeds that will be done this holiday season deeds which will enable First Nations, Inuit, and Metis students to succeed in the pursuit of their post-secondary education and also provide Canadian schools with the education tools to learn more about indigenous history says INDSPIRE President and CEO Dr. Mike DeGagne. This holiday I wish for everyone to reconnect with loved ones and create new memories, concludes Ms. Shaw. And part of that can be the simple act of sharing the daily ritual of the 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar which can bring both joy and good to you and the world. About 24 GOOD DEEDS Canada 24 GOOD DEEDS raises funds for 24 social and environmental projects within Canada and around the globe through a Charity Advent Calendar. For a minimum contribution of $24 youll discover behind each of the calendars doors what your donation will achieve. Projects are carefully selected to ensure a long-term impact of the donations received by the organizations. The calendar originated in Germany in 2011. This years 24 GOOD DEEDS Charity Advent Calendar will be launched on October 5, 2021 and is available in English and French online at www.24gooddeeds.ca/. www.24gooddeeds.ca / @24gooddeeds Contact information: Anne-Marie Lamoureux Boily annemarie@zakcom.ca Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/716c18d4-dd24-4fee-8a01-903ba1b68b73 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/43b19962-eb95-452f-89c1-4d9ee71cea0c FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Contact and Allied Electronics & Automation, together, offer a range of charging technology components for electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers, charging infrastructure manufacturers and system integrators. With high-power charging products, charging cables, inlets, energy meters and more, Phoenix Contact aims to enable e-mobility trends for the near future and beyond. Allied Logo (PRNewsfoto/Allied Electronics & Automation) "With the EV charging ecosystem evolving, it's important for us to monitor market needs and develop products to enable trends that help with EV adoption," explained Lyndsey Walling, e-mobility product manager with Phoenix Contact E-Mobility, North America. "The CCS (combined charging system) 40A and 80A cables we just released in July are the smallest, lightest-weight CCS charge cables available on the market. These cables provide a real advantage for faster home and business-level charging." The design of Phoenix Contact's charge cables helps with charging station uptime. "Public charging stations need to withstand quite a bit of handling, and our charge cables and connectors are very robust," says Walling. "In the event a connector is damaged, we have repair kits that enable quick field replacement of the connector face and DC contacts rather than having to replace the entire cable, which would be much more costly and time-consuming." High-power charging (HPC) is another critical component for widespread EV adoption, potentially charging at voltages up to 1,000V and currents up to 500 amps. This voltage increase translates to increased power, doubling the amount of charge transferred to the vehicle in the same amount of time. In the near future, this type of charging will initially apply mainly to fleet vehicles such as electric buses and delivery trucks. HPC will have a significant impact on EV adoption and charging infrastructure as these innovations make their way into the consumer market. Story continues "Range anxiety and charge time anxiety are big reasons why many consumers hesitate to buy an electric vehicle. Especially in the US, drivers rely on going on long-distance trips for leisure and business," commented Vince Carioti, director, Phoenix Contact E-Mobility, North America. "HPC technology will enable the country to build out a charging infrastructure along our highway system where drivers can stop for a coffee or bio break and plug in. They'll get their coffee or lunch and come out to a car that is charged up and ready to go for another 200 to 350 miles or more, depending on the vehicle, battery size and capability to handle these larger currents and voltages," Carioti said. Coming innovations in charging and battery technology will enable consumer vehicles to take advantage of high-power charging for long-distance trips, as well as 80A charging in homes that can handle a circuit that big. Carioti adds: "Charging and e-mobility technology is really a race to drive the near-future of transportation. Our focus at Phoenix Contact is on designing and developing products that enable fast and safe charging, both on the vehicle and the infrastructure side." Phoenix Contact e-mobility products include charging cables, charging inlets, surge protection, power products, IPCs, HMIs, energy meters, terminal blocks and more, and most products are available on Allied's website. Allied helps engineers, plant managers, and other purchasers find the products they need quickly online, as an authorized distributor for Phoenix Contact products and many other brands. When searching for e-mobility products, buyers can filter their search quickly by appropriate standards (SAE, IEC, USCAR, Type 1, Type 2, GB/T), IP rating, AC or DC charging, current rating, voltage and more. Allied stocks Phoenix Contact's e-mobility products, as well as a full range of Phoenix Contact products for all industrial applications. For more information on Phoenix Contact's e-mobility products and innovations, see: About Phoenix Contact Phoenix Contact develops and manufactures industrial electrical and electronic technology products that power, protect, connect, and automate systems and equipment for a wide range of industries. Phoenic Contact GmbH & Co. KG, Blomberg Germany, operates more than 50 international subsidiaries, including Phoenix Contact USA in Middletown, Pennsylvania. For more information about Phoenix Contact or its products, visit www.phoenixcontact.com, call technical service at 800-322-3225 or e-mail info@phoenixcontact.com. About Allied Electronics & Automation Allied Electronics & Automation is a high-service distributor of automation and control, electronic, electrical, mechanical, and maintenance products from more than 550 world-class suppliers. With sales offices across the Americas, a focus on digital customer experience, 99 percent ship-to-order accuracy, and more than 3.5 million parts available for purchase online, engineers, designers, maintainers, and purchasers trust Allied to provide a wide range of solutions across the entire product lifecycle. Connect with us at www.alliedelec.com or via social media on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Media Inquiries: Karen Gavenda Allied Electronics & Automation Karen.Gavenda@alliedelec.com Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/high-power-charging-and-e-mobility-technology-available-through-allied-electronics--automation-and-phoenix-contact-301392824.html SOURCE Allied Electronics & Automation LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, members of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) have committed to a goal of net zero scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. This landmark commitment was made in an open letter signed by the CEOs of ICMM's company members. Solar panels at Gold Fields Granny Smith mine (Image Credit: Gold Fields) Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO, ICMM, said: "As the suppliers of the minerals and metals that are critical to decarbonisation and sustainable development, we have a particular responsibility to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment. ICMM members' collective commitment to net zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 is a pivotal moment in our history. We are speaking with one voice, representing approximately one third of the global mining and metals industry including more than 650 sites in over 50 countries so that we drive emissions reduction at a significant scale. "ICMM members have and will continue to set meaningful short and/or medium-term targets to build clear pathways to achieving this goal, while also accelerating action on addressing scope 3 emissions and enhancing disclosure. We encourage other mining and metals companies, suppliers and customers to join us in decarbonising commodity value chains so that we collectively accelerate climate action in our wider industry." Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion, said: "I welcome the leadership and joint ambition of ICMM members to commit to a goal of net-zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, and I strongly encourage companies to set scope 3 GHG emissions reduction targets by the end of 2023. The High-Level Climate Action Champions encourage members to strive to set the most ambitious science-based targets possible in line with the criteria of the Race to Zero campaign." Although we have individual decarbonisation targets which in some cases go beyond ICMM's collective commitment, this represents a joint ambition. The rate and nature of the ultimate decline in emissions will vary across the different commodities and geographies represented by our diverse membership. Yet our approach to individually setting and meeting targets will be consistent and include the following, no later than the end of 2023 where these do not already exist: Story continues Setting Scope 1 and 2 targets: we will build clear pathways to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, through meaningful short and/or medium-term targets. Accelerating action on Scope 3 GHG emissions: we recognise that Scope 3 is critical to minimising our overall impact and we will set Scope 3 targets, if not by the end of 2023, as soon as possible. Although all Scope 3 action depends on the combined efforts of producers, suppliers and customers, some commodities face greater technological and collaborative barriers than others. We will play a leading role in overcoming these barriers and advancing partnerships that enable credible target setting and emission reductions across value chains. Covering all material sources: our targets will cover all material sources of emissions, aligning to the GHG Protocol definition of organisational boundaries and materiality. Focussing on absolute reductions: for some operations, intensity rather than absolute targets may be more appropriate in the short and medium term. Where intensity targets are used, we will disclose the corresponding absolute increase or decrease in GHG emissions. Applying robust methodologies: we will use target-setting methodologies that are aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and disclose in detail the assumptions we use. Disclosing openly and transparently: we will report our progress on Scopes 1, 2 and 3 annually, obtain external verification over our performance, and report in alignment with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. These commitments are additional to and have been incorporated into an update of ICMM's Climate Change Position Statement which had several pre-existing commitments on performance and disclosure. Action on climate change is an integral part of ICMM's Mining Principles, representing the comprehensive commitment to a responsible mining and metals industry. Notes to editors This release has been translated from English by a third party. ICMM is not liable for any inaccuracies in this translation. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, French and Chinese versions of the open letter and ICMM's Climate Change Position Statement will be available on our website: The open letter is available here. ICMM's updated Climate Change Position Statement is available here. ICMM's CEO Rohitesh Dhawan will moderate a session at Reuters IMPACT with Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto, Hilde Aasheim, President & CEO of Hydro, Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF on 5 October at 16.30 BST to discuss how the mining and metals industry is making progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and how we can go further. Supporting assets are available to download from ICMM's media briefing pack (including quotes from several ICMM member CEOs and high res images from some of our company members that are available for publication with the piece please credit the source company). About ICMM ICMM is an international organisation dedicated to a safe, fair and sustainable mining and metals industry. Bringing together 28 mining and metals companies and over 35 regional and commodities associations, it strengthens environmental and social performance and serves as a catalyst for change, enhancing mining's contribution to society. Every ICMM company member adheres to its Mining Principles which incorporates comprehensive environmental, social and governance requirements, robust site-level validation of Performance Expectations and credible assurance of corporate sustainability reports. ICMM's 28 company members are: African Rainbow Minerals, Alcoa, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Antofagasta Minerals, Barrick, BHP, Boliden, Codelco, Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore, Gold Fields, Hydro, JX Nippon Mining & Metals, Minera San Cristobal, Minsur, Mitsubishi Materials, MMG, Newcrest, Newmont, Orano, Polyus, Rio Tinto, Sibanye Stillwater, South32, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Teck and Vale. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651343/ICMM_solar_panels.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651344/ICMM_Logo.jpg ICMM LOGO Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icmm-makes-landmark-climate-commitment-to-net-zero-by-2050-or-sooner-301391764.html SOURCE International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) MONTREAL, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Innodem Neurosciences announced today that it has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. (Novartis) to conduct a breakthrough clinical trial to help people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Innodem's AI-powered, patented, eye tracking software technology is embodied in a mobile application that turns a tablet into a device capable of capturing and analyzing Eye Movement Biomarkers (EMBs) and Gaze Mapping Biomarkers (GMBs) to assist a clinician's diagnosis and monitor MS disease progression. Digital EMB and GMB tests are non-invasive and can be completed in minutes in the clinic's waiting room or by the patient at home. Remote self-testing is a major advantage during a pandemic and for people living with MS residing in rural areas who cannot easily access a neurologist. "The financing from Novartis will fund a carefully designed cross-sectional and longitudinal MS study that will last until 2027. As a practicing neurologist, I'm hopeful that the study will validate just how Innodem's technology can assist clinicians in monitoring disease progression as early as possible to improve MS treatment and patient outcomes," said Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, cognitive neurologist, main founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innodem. "This partnership is the result of an ongoing collaboration that was architected over the past two years. It embodies our common goal and commitment to improving quality of care for people living with MS globally," added Marc Reeves, co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Innodem. "At Novartis, we are committed to innovation and becoming the leaders in the health tech space. After reviewing existing solutions, we selected Innodem's proprietary eye tracking technology and believe it to be the most promising and one that can easily scale due to its ease-of-use. We anticipate that the trial will confirm its relevancy so that more people living with MS and treating clinicians can have access to it in Canada and across the world," commented Andrea Marazzi, Country Pharma Organization Head, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Story continues Over the course of the trial, people living with MS will test twice a month and the data will be correlated with the current gold standard Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) scores to assist clinicians in detecting subtle changes indicative of disease progression and that may not show up using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Innodem management believes that the multi-year trial will demonstrate that novel digital EMBs and GMBs can measure these changes accurately, easily and cost-effectively. "A clinician whose patient shows objective signs of progressive MS may recommend a better adapted treatment which could, if detected early, prevent this individual from developing further disability. No practical companion diagnostic test currently exists to detect progressive MS, and I believe EMBs and GMBs can fill that important gap," added Dr. de Villers-Sidani. About INNODEM NEUROSCIENCES Founded in 2016, Innodem Neurosciences has developed patented mobile digital biomarking technology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders, Frontotemporal Dementia and related disorders and Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment ("chemo brain"). This novel eye-tracking and cognition testing technology is embodied in a HIPAA/PIPEDA compliant system consisting of an intuitive tablet application connected to a cloud-based AI infrastructure. The app is made up of a series of tasks that are completed in minutes, where a user's eye movement is recorded in data sets called Eye Movement Biomarkers (EMBs) and Gaze Mapping Biomarkers (GMBs). Innodem's core team, led by cognitive neurologist & CEO Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, is composed of an intersectional group of neuroscientists, software engineers, data scientists, healthcare professionals and serial entrepreneurs. The company's mission is to provide easier ways to do remote testing for all stages of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer-related cognitive impairment to improve quality of care and patient outcomes, at unseen levels of user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness for the global health system. For further information, please consult www.innodemneurosciences.com Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innodem-neurosciences-signs-a-strategic-partnership-with-novartis-pharmaceuticals-canada-inc-301392586.html SOURCE Innodem Neurosciences Cision View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c5423.html The International Space Station (ISS) crew members Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, film director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild pose after donning space suits shortly before the launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan October 5, 2021. Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. Filming is underway on the first feature-length movie to be shot in space after Russian actor Yulia Sherepild and director Klim Shipenko docked at the International Space Station. Their movie, The Challenge, will feature around 35-40 minutes of scenes filmed on the space station, according to The New York Times. The film is about a surgeon (Sherepild) who goes on an emergency ISS mission to save the life of a cosmonaut (Shipenko). Docking! Welcome to the International @Space_Station, @Anton_Astrey, Yulia and Klim! We have already prepared dinner for you)) pic.twitter.com/YBRf8dqtuM Oleg Novitskiy (@novitskiy_iss) October 5, 2021 The two cosmonauts who were already on the ISS captured a shot as Peresild (or her character) emerged from the capsule and entered the station. Sherepild and Shipenko will film scenes over the next couple of weeks before returning to Earth on October 17th. Other projects have been filmed on the ISS, including documentaries, virtual reality projects and a short called Apogee of Fear. Tom Cruise hoped to make the first feature film in space with the help of NASA and SpaceX, but the Russian team beat him to the punch. Russia's Roscosmos agency announced a plan to send an actor to the ISS soon after word emerged about Cruise's movie in May 2020. Time will tell whether The Challenge is any good. Regardless, the creatives behind the project have carved out their own little slice of history. The Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes for JDRF invites people across Canada to raise funds to support type 1 diabetes research TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- One of Canadas top fundraising events will be taking place on October 7, 2021. For the second straight year, the Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes for JDRF will be a virtual, high-energy corporate fitness event, bringing out the friendly, competitive spirit of Canadians. The event will offer a fun corporate team building experience with the goal of turning type 1 diabetes (T1D) into type none. This year is particularly special as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. While a historic milestone that changed the outcomes for millions of people with diabetes, it remains the only treatment for the disease and is not a cure. That is why JDRF is continuing to pursue the most promising T1D research to move us beyond insulin towards cures. Corporate Canada will move for a cure by spinning on a stationary bike, stretching with a yoga routine, or breaking a sweat at a fitness class during the hour-long virtual event. Participants will join their colleagues in an immersive experience featuring a dynamic opening show, industry fundraising challenges, networking lounges, sponsor booths and contests. Funds raised will help advance ground-breaking research that will make a positive difference for as many as 300,000 Canadians and their families touched by T1D. We are once again bringing the excitement and energy of our Ride to peoples homes and giving corporate Canada a unique way to come together to team build, enjoy a healthy break during the busy workday, and most importantly, bring us closer to a cure for T1D, said Dave Prowten, President and CEO of JDRF Canada. We are relying on the power of corporate Canada to help reach our $1.8 million goal, which will help us to accelerate the pace of T1D research. Sun Life has been a proud supporter of the Ride since 2017, and in 2019 they became the national title sponsor. Sun Life is committed to supporting the over 422 million people worldwide living with the disease. Story continues Millions of people are living with or at risk of developing diabetes. The discovery of insulin 100 years ago drastically changed the treatment, but there is still no cure. That is why the Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes is so important. The Ride raises funds for type 1 diabetes research, innovation and care initiatives, said Jacques Goulet, President, Sun Life Canada. Supporting organizations like JDRF is one way we are making a difference for people affected by diabetes and helping them live healthier lives. Since 2012, we have proudly committed more than $38 million globally in support of diabetes awareness, prevention, care and research initiatives. About JDRF Canada JDRF is the leading charitable organization funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. Our goal is to raise funds to support the most advanced international T1D research and progressively remove the impact of this disease from peoples lives until we achieve a world without T1D. JDRF collaborates with a wide spectrum of partners and is the only organization with the scientific resources, regulatory influence, and a working plan to better treat, prevent, and eventually cure type 1 diabetes. JDRF is the largest charitable funder of and advocate for research to cure, prevent and treat T1D in the world. For more information, please visit jdrf.ca. Sun Life in the community At Sun Life, we are committed to building sustainable, healthier communities for life. Community wellness is an important part of our sustainability commitment, and we believe that by actively supporting the communities in which we live and work, we can help build a positive environment for our clients, employees, advisors, and shareholders. Our philanthropic support focuses on health, with an emphasis on diabetes awareness, prevention, and care initiatives; and mental health, supporting programs and organizations with a focus on building resilience and coping skills. We also partner with sports properties in key markets to further our commitment to healthy and active living. Our employees and advisors take great pride in volunteering close to 12,000 hours each year and contribute to making life brighter for individuals and families across Canada. For more information: Vanessa Parent Bilingual Marketing & Communications Specialist at JDRF Canada C: (647) 459-7881 vparent@jdrf.ca The Kraft Heinz Company KHC is focused on accelerating its international growth strategy based around the Taste Elevation and foodservice platforms. In this regard, the company completed the previously-announced (on Jun 11, 2021) acquisition of sauces-focused business Assan Foods from privately-held Turkish conglomerate, Kibar Holding. Assan Foods, which sells a variety of offerings including ketchup, pasta and meat sauces, tomato paste as well as mayonnaise under brands like Colorado, Kingtom and Oba, has local production units in Balikesir and Izmir. Assan Foods has been a certified manufacturing partner for the company since 2019. This partnership has been aiding Kraft Heinzs foodservice and retail business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. All said, management believes that Assan Foods buyout will add another leaf to Kraft Heinzs international zones growth strategy and expand its brand presence across important growth markets. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Focused Growth Efforts In September 2020, Kraft Heinz laid out a new operating model that incorporates five key elements People with Purpose, Consumer Platforms, Ops Center, Partner Program and Fuel Our Growth. The Consumer Platforms comprise a portfolio of six consumer-driven platforms Taste Elevation, Easy Meals Made Better as well as Real Food Snacking among others. Kraft Heinz is leaving no stones unturned to accelerate its international growth strategy. Recently, the company signed an agreement to buy the Brazil-based condiments and sauces company Companhia Hemmer Industria e Comercio ("Hemmer"). The move will widen consumers taste options in Brazil and diversify Kraft Heinzs product portfolio. The buyout will further accelerate growth in the companys condiments and sauces category. Ops Center element will enable Kraft Heinz to establish an efficient, fast and integrated supply chain network. Management is on track to achieve $2 billion of gross productivity efficiencies through 2024. The Partner Program element is designed to create solid customer partnerships and develop new strategies. The Fuel Our Growth strategy is aimed toward investing in growth opportunities; solidifying its long-term market position as well as staying committed to boost shareholders returns. Also, this strategy will help the company manage its portfolio and accelerate its strategic plan, augment geographic presence, increase focus on growth areas as well as undertake sustainable pricing actions. Keeping this in mind, Kraft Heinz sold its nuts business to Hormel Foods Corporation HRL in June 2021. Management believes that the sale of the nuts portfolio is a step closer to achieving its objectives laid out in the transformation plan. The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companys shares have increased 6.4% so far this year compared with the industrys 1% growth. Story continues 2 Food Picks Darling Ingredients Inc. DAR, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 39.1%, on average. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Sysco Corporation SYY, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 13.3%, on average. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sysco Corporation (SYY) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Supports improved patient outcomes, additional insights into COVID-19 vaccine efforts, SDOH ad-hoc reporting for identifying at-risk members, and more MedeAnalytics Bora Bora 21.2 Release MedeAnalytics Bora Bora 21.2 Release MedeAnalytics Bora Bora 21.2 Release RICHARDSON, Texas, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MedeAnalytics, a healthcare analytics software-as-a-service (SaaS) leader, announced today the go-live of its latest release, Bora Bora 21.2. It includes key capabilities in response to the needs of its payer and provider clients to support improved patient outcomes and member health. "The new capabilities in our Bora Bora 21.2 release updated the COVID-19 Vaccine Overview dashboard for payers, providing them key insights into vaccination barriers and identifying costs associated with 'Long COVID,'" said Scott Hampel, president of MedeAnalytics. "This release is another milestone in our commitment to support our payer and provider clients who are continuing to battle COVID-19, empowering them with additional tools and resources to better understand their patient populations and create better outcomes." Here are additional details on a few of the new capabilities in the Bora Bora 21.2 release: For Payers The latest updates to the MedeAnalytics payer platform will enable organizations to leverage COVID-19 vaccine dimensions added in our Aruba 21.1 Release, proactively identify and analyze at-risk communities and enable care protocols to improve outcomes and quality of care, develop strategies to mitigate and minimize readmissions, and more. COVID-19 Vaccine Overview Dashboard provides actionable insights so that health plans and/or employer groups can eliminate barriers preventing or discouraging their members from getting vaccinated. It also captures the prevalence of 'Long COVID' cases and the costs associated with those cases. Payer Facility Dashboard gives the payers the ability to view the risks and costs associated with readmissions, excess length of stay (LOS), hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), and mortality rates for the provider/hospital. Story continues Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Fields allow users of the Value Based Performance Management (VBPM) and Healthcare Economics (HE) solutions to identify the social vulnerability of demographic locations where the at-risk patient/members reside. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) created the vulnerability index that uses census data to identify high-risk areas based on household composition, minority status, language, housing units, and transportation services. These dimensions, used in conjunction with the chronic conditions, readmission, HACs, mortality, utilization, and gaps in care, can assist to identify the most vulnerable, at-risk populations. Through this self-service capability, users can create analytics that identify patients/members who would benefit from outreach, education, individualized case management, and other services to improve their overall quality of care. MCO Overview Dashboard for public sector allows DOM's (Division of Medicaid) the ability to evaluate cost, utilization and enrollment trends of contracted MCOs, giving concrete data points on the overall quality of service each MCO provides. This aids in determining which MCO contracts should be re-bid and can support fraud investigations. Enhanced Chronic Conditions expands the ability to track long-term costs and outcomes for additional populations. By focusing on community-specific diseases, plans can support programs that aid in targeted treatment. Daily Usage Improvements analyzes preventive services utilization based on distance to determine if PCP reassignment could result in better outcomes. For Providers The most recent updates for providers will support patient care, create new efficiencies in reporting, reduce hospital stay, and more. Patient Profile allows users to gain insight into patient profiles to determine opportunities to capture potential missed/related HCCs, improving documentation, coding, reimbursement, and care management. Chronic Condition Tracking allows users to identify their top-billed chronic condition groups, view total payment for these groups, and additional financials associated with each group. Admit Type facilities can now see the admit type on their claims and compare this to the cohort data within Revenue Integrity. This allows users to run comparative analytics around length of stay and percent of claims. Cross Data-Set Functionality helps users to find out all necessary information in one detailed report, without the necessity to compare two data sets. This will help to drive significant efficiencies when searching for data related to specific accounts. PAI/Salucro Upgrade Integration allows flexible payment options and improves the overall patient experience while still ensuring collections are made. General Features The Export Dashboards to PowerPoint feature offers the ability to make dashboards 'Presentation Ready' in PowerPoint with full editing capability. Users can add images, change colors, add trend line charts, and self-service Narrative Insights quickly and easily, which saves time, expands reach, and is truly self-service. For more information or a demonstration, contact https://medeanalytics.com/request-demo. # # # About MedeAnalytics MedeAnalytics is a leader in healthcare analytics, providing innovative solutions that enable measurable impact for healthcare payers and providers. With the most advanced data orchestration in healthcare, payers and providers count on us to deliver actionable insights that improve financial, operational, and clinical outcomes. To date, we've helped uncover millions of dollars in savings annually. To learn more, visit www.medeanalytics.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, and The Impact Initiative: The MedeAnalytics Blog. Media Contact: Steph Gustafson Communications Specialist 720-838-6392 steph.gustafson@medeanalytics.com Related Images Image 1: MedeAnalytics Bora Bora 21.2 Release Latest release upgrades product capabilities for healthcare payers and providers. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Healthcare Leaders of New York (HLNY) announced Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as their 2021 Diversity Leader Award recipient. The award was presented at a recent panel discussion where leading healthcare executives directly addressed how organizations are tackling equity, diversity, access, and trust in healthcare. HLNY Hi Res Logo (PRNewsfoto/Healthcare Leaders of New York) Each year, HLNY awards a diversity leader who has proven a commitment to eliminate healthcare disparities and increase diversity in governance and leadership. These organizations have taken the national #123 for Equity Pledge and have prioritized advancing health equity for all, as well as expanding leadership opportunities for diverse employees in health management. MSK, this year's awardee, has not only taken the pledge, but has also implemented strategies and initiatives that are already making a meaningful difference. Within the past two years, MSK formed the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion governance group and council and has prioritized developing a strong social media presence, providing resources to targeted populations to improve access to healthcare for all, and offering ongoing cultural competency workshops to all employees. During the Pandemic, MSK established and developed continual collaboration with community partners to support vaccination efforts, including staffing vaccination clinics in Harlem and Nassau County. These are just a few of the amazing efforts MSK has undertaken to tackle issues around diversity and equity and restore trust in healthcare. You can learn more about their initiatives and resources here . "I'm really proud, honored, and humbled to receive this award on behalf of MSK," said Nicola Buchanan, Associate Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Memorial Sloan Kettering at the award ceremony. "The collective MSK team has diligently and intentionally pushed forward the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion agenda for the last few seasons and I am so proud of the initiatives that have been launched." Story continues "It's incredible to see how Memorial Sloan Kettering has committed to promoting diversity and inclusion through their current and future activities," said Sam Lin, President for Healthcare Leaders of New York. "The organization is executing on the vision to eliminate health care disparities and provide better access to healthcare for all." About HLNY HLNY is the local, New York Metropolitan, chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), an international professional society of more than 40,000 healthcare executives. We support high ethical standards and conduct and promote the mission of ACHE. Through HLNY, ACHE members have access to local professional development and networking events, mentoring, and career services which include a jobs data bank and resume support. Stay connected to industry trends from C-suite and executive leaders, health plans, entrepreneurs, academia, and healthcare professionals who advance healthcare leadership and management excellence through professional enrichment and continuing education of our members. Join one upcoming education and networking events by visiting us at www.HLNY.org. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-center-receives-healthcare-leaders-of-new-york-hlny-diversity-leader-award-301392344.html SOURCE Healthcare Leaders of New York Montreal Area Real Estate Market Residential Sales September 2021 Residential Sales September 2021 L'ILE-DES-SURS, Quebec, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has just released its residential real estate market statistics for the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for the month of September, based on the real estate brokers Centris provincial database. The slowdown in residential sales to a pre-pandemic level continued in September. A return to more normal economic activity resulting from the easing of health restrictions is not the only factor that explains this situation: in addition to high prices, the lack of properties for sale is still the main cause. We note, however, that an upturn in pre-sale activity in new constructions has helped divert a portion of the demand from the resale market in recent months," said Charles Brant, director of the QPAREBs Market Analysis Department. In these still very tight market conditions, prices continue to be under pressure but are starting to level off for single-family homes." September highlights In total, 3,671 residential sales transactions were concluded in the real estate brokers Centris system in September, a 28 per cent decrease compared to the record-setting month of September 2020, thereby reinforcing the downward trend in sales that began in early spring. In terms of year-to-date sales, they have increased by only 6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Sales on the Island of Montreal fell by 21 per cent compared to September of last year. For a fourth consecutive month, single-family homes registered the largest decrease in sales at 38 per cent. Similar to the previous month, sales decreased in all of the CMAs periphery areas, caused by a slowdown in single-family home sales: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (-35 per cent), Laval (-33 per cent) the North Shore (-33 per cent), the South Shore (-32 per cent) and Vaudreuil-Soulanges (-26 per cent). All three main property categories registered a drop in sales compared to September of last year. Sales of single-family homes fell by 37 per cent, while sales of condominiums decreased by 18 per cent. The decline in plex sales was slightly smaller, at 16 per cent. The supply of residential properties on the market continued to shrink in September with 11,182 active listings on the Centris system. This represents 20 per cent fewer properties than in September of last year. In terms of year-to-date statistics, the number of properties available for sale in the Montreal CMA also fell by 20 per cent, a phenomenon accentuated by low levels of new listings that have been ongoing for several months now. Median prices continued to rise sharply in September, reaching $504,500 for single-family homes (+17 per cent), $365,000 for condominiums (+15 per cent) and $690,000 for plexes (+13 per cent). However, there has been greater stability in their evolution in recent months. The Montreal real estate market is still showing significant overheating conditions, but the proportion of sales concluded above the asking price has weakened over the past five months and this is reflected in a reduction in the number of buyers making an offer on the same property. Additional information: Story continues Detailed and cumulative statistics for the province and regions If you would like additional information from the Market Analysis Department, such as specific data or regional details on the real estate market, please write to us . About the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) is a non-profit association that brings together more than 13,300 real estate brokers and agencies. It is responsible for promoting and defending their interests while taking into account the issues facing the profession and the various professional and regional realities of its members. The QPAREB is also an important player in many real estate dossiers, including the implementation of measures that promote homeownership. The Association reports on Quebec's residential real estate market statistics, provides training, tools and services relating to real estate, and facilitates the collection, dissemination and exchange of information. The QPAREB is headquartered in Quebec City and has its administrative offices in Montreal. It has two subsidiaries: Centris Inc. and the College de l'immobilier du Quebec. Follow its activities at qpareb.ca or via its social media pages: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. About Centris Centris is a dynamic and innovative technology company in the real estate sector. It collects data and offers solutions that are highly adapted to the needs of professionals. Among these solutions is Centris.ca, the most visited real estate website in Quebec. For more information: Marie-Rose Desautels Morin Relations Publiques media@qpareb.ca Image bank (credit QPAREB) available free of charge. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f1291be5-0205-4c89-9807-b4ead608e898 OAKVILLE, Ontario, October 05, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OTTO Motors, a leading provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and Siemens Canada, a leader in the global digital transformation in industry and a division of Siemens AG, have announced a new partnership. Together, the companies are breaking new ground in Industry 4.0 technologies, in areas ranging from high-performance collaborative mobile robot control to physical asset tracking using Real Time Location Systems (RTLS). RTLS is Siemens latest state-of-the-art technology which uses a scalable locating system specifically designed for industrial applications. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005296/en/ OTTO Motors and Siemens Partner to Implement Leading AMR Material Handling Solution (Photo: Business Wire) "Siemens global presence and breadth of product portfolio has been clear to us for as long as weve been in business," said Ryan Gariepy, CTO of OTTO Motors. "Using Siemens controllers to power OTTO fleets will allow our AMRs to achieve a new level of driving performance without compromising safety. For our customers, this means maximum productivity and better ROI." OTTO Motors provides autonomous material handling inside manufacturing facilities and warehouses. Instead of operators pushing carts or driving forklifts, OTTOs line of AMRs deliver materials safely, reliably, and efficiently. The combination of ease-of-use and a powerful software suite ensures that OTTO AMRs can deliver value in short order and easily scale to manage complex deployments. "Siemens RTLS systems will enable OTTO Motors customers to dynamically locate autonomous mobile robots and other assets with up to 30 cm accuracy," explains Joris Myny, SVP, Digital Industries, Siemens Canada. "The result is an optimized fleet and precise AMR routing as well as enhanced bottleneck and collision avoidance. Any asset or person with an RTLS transponder can be seen and tracked, which opens up additional asset tracking use cases beyond the AMR implementation." Story continues Most recently, Siemens customized its industrial controller development toolchain in a way that allows OTTO to develop, test, and deploy controls code to better align with the needs of mobile autonomous systems. This has permitted OTTO to develop, validate, and deploy everything from minor improvements to entirely new robots into production over four times faster than previously possible. About OTTO Motors OTTO Motors provides autonomous mobile robots for material handling inside manufacturing facilities and warehouses. With over 3 million hours of driving experience, OTTO is trusted for mission-critical deliveries in the most demanding of industrial environments. Seventy percent of OTTOs customers are Fortune 500 companies and include some of the worlds most recognized brands, including GE and Toyota. For more information, visit www.ottomotors.com. About Siemens Canada Since 1912 Siemens Canada has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, and reliability. The company is active across the country, focusing on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, to transform the everyday for billions of people. Through Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is helping shape Canadas passenger rail services. Through 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 with operations in Canada. As of September 30, 2021, the company has approximately 2,500 employees from coast-to-coast and 24 office and production facilities across Canada. Further information is available at www.siemens.ca. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005296/en/ Contacts Press Contacts: OTTO Motors Tim Smith Element Public Relations Phone: 1.415.350.3019 press@ottomotors.com Siemens Canada Laura Heidbuechel Phone: 1.289.952.1600 E-mail: laura.heidbuechel@siemens.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/siemenscanada KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-four (24) lifestyle and tourism experts from Malaysia lifestyle, travel and tourism industry including those from the United Kingdom, France and Germany have confirmed their participation as guests panelists at X-Change Malaysia '21, scheduled to take place on 21 October, 2021. Keynote Address by: Dato Haji Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, Director General, Tourism Malaysia The virtual programme will highlight keynote address by the newly-appointed Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Dato' Haji Zainuddin Abdul Wahab and a welcome speech by the Chairman of Global Chamber of Business Leaders, Mr Dejan Stancer. The programme's tagline, "Powering Ideas to Revive and Relaunch Malaysia" encourages the travel trade professionals to join and engage in inspiring and positive conversations, moderated by Dr Farizal Razalli, Research & Analytical Director, Ab & Artho. Guest panelists will exchange their thoughts, ideas on opportunities and challenges as the industry prepares to revive and relaunch Malaysia. There will be two (2) webinars, four (4) seminars and a virtual boutique travel shop showcasing about 50 Malaysian suppliers offering services ranging from accommodations, leisure attractions, transportations, health and wellness, sporting activities to bespoke experiences such as culture, nature, gastronomic trips and more. The first segment of the webinar will start at 10:00am Malaysian time (GMT+8) to discuss on topic: How Malaysia's global re-launch unveils immense opportunities (and challenges); the new motivations and aspirations that define the endemic/post-COVID19 travellers and how can products and services be refreshed and restyled to appeal to travellers; how sustainability is propelling the new way forward and discussion on how can we navigate the future via two indispensable enablers/catalysts - high quality human capital (talents) and robust tech mastery and facility. The afternoon webinar scheduled at 16:00pm Malaysian time (GMT+8), highlights topic: As global nomads look for exceptional travel experiences, personalisation is expeditiously re-inventing the codes of Malaysia's tourism. Get to know what influences travel decision of the inbound travellers, especially as Malaysia is gearing up towards the re-opening of her borders; how is Malaysia preparing towards the resumption of international travels. Story continues X-Change Malaysia '21 is curated by Ab & Artho Tourism Marketing & PR in solidarity with collaborators namely Nazsoft Tech, Traveloka, Global Chamber of Business Leaders (GCBL), Tourism Malaysia, PR Newswire and the Malaysian French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MFCCI). To register, please visit website www.xchangemalaysia.abartho.com or click here: Registration X-Change Malaysia '21 Follow us: Website: https://xchangemalaysia.abartho.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/X-Change-Malaysia-104115468661933 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xchangemalaysia/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/xchangemalaysia Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/x-change-malaysia-21 About Ab & Artho: Ab & Artho is a Malaysian boutique brand marketing and public relations agency, founded in heart of Paris in 2008, with networks in Paris, Cannes, Zurich and in Asia including Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong. Our extensive understanding and business insights of the European market, complemented by our solid roots in Asia, makes us the ideal bridge between East and West. The agency is powered by a diverse team of people that possess a wide range of expertise and skills as they drive for active and positive change. Ab & Artho works with companies spanning a diverse set of industries: Travel & Tourism, Hotel, Airline, Meetings & Incentive, Convention & Exhibition, Health & Wellness, Lifestyle, Retail, Government, Advocacy, Non-Profit, Creative and more. Ab & Artho is a member of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM), Global Chamber of Business Leaders (GCBL) and Malaysian French Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MFCCI) About Traveloka: Traveloka, Southeast Asia's lifestyle superapp, provides users access to discover and purchase a wide range of travel, local services, and financial services products. Traveloka's comprehensive product portfolio includes transport booking services such as flight tickers, bus, trains, car rental, airport transfer, as well as access to the largest accommodation inventory in Southeast Asia, including hotels, apartments, guest houses, homestays, resorts, and villas, making Traveloka a booking platform with the widest selection of accommodation and packages. Traveloka is also a key player in the local services category, offering reservations for a wide range of local attractions, activities, wellness and beauty clinics, culinary directories as well as food delivery. Traveloka also offers financing, payment, and insurance products to help Southeast Asian consumers fulfil their lifestyle aspirations. Traveloka provides 24/7 customer service in local languages as well as more than 40 different local payment methods. Traveloka lifestyle superapp has been downloaded more than 60 million times, making it the most popular travel and lifestyle booking application in the Southeast Asian region. About Nazsoft Tech: Nazsoft Tech, a digital transformation consultancy and software development company that provides cutting edge and powerful engineering solutions, helping companies and enterprise clients untangle complex issues that always emerge during their digital evolution journey. Majority of the team members, including the management are technically involved in project and product deliveries. This has developed the company's core to ensure that all expectations are met to the highest standard. Serving various clients from Government Agencies to Multinational Companies, local and abroad, Nazsoft Tech is equipped to deliver the services and solutions. SOURCE Ab & Artho Vancouver, British Columbia --News Direct-- Radius Gold Inc. Vancouver, British Columbia TheNewswire -October 5, 2021 Radius Gold Inc. (TSXV:RDU) is pleased to report final results from Holly drill holes HDD-21-017 through HDD-21-020 following receipt of the overlimit assays, and that the drill is again turning at Holly. Drilling at Radiuss nearby Banderas project will start during the month of October. The drill program is being conducted by joint venture partner Volcanic Gold Mines Inc, who can earn into 60% of the project by funding $7 million in exploration. Holly Highlights: HDD-21-017 from 134.25m to 143.08m returns 8.83m @ 8.81 g/t Au and 355 g/t Ag HDD-21-019 from 28.97m to 30.50m returns 1.53m @ 191.8 g/t Au and 539 g/t Ag And 171.90m to 178.42m returns 6.52m @ 11.72 g/t Au and 340 g/t Ag HDD-21-020 from 61.70m to 67.10m returns 5.40m @ 4.38 g/t Au, 350 g/t Ag Including 63.0m to 64.0m returns 1.00m @ 20.70 g/t Au and 1,616 g/t Ag And 131.0m to 134.20m returns 3.20m @ 255 g/t Ag Results from Holly continue to return high grade broad intercepts accompanied by high associated values in path finder elements such as Mercury and Antimony. It is managements belief that we are still high in the epithermal system and the next round of drilling continues to step down the Jocotan Fault Breccia testing this broader system at depth. Within the Pena vein hanging wall, splay veins are producing spectacular results as shown by the bonanza interval in HDD-21-019 returning 1.53m @ 191.8 g/t Au and 539 g/t Ag from 28.97m down hole. La Pena is one of many north-south veins that cross the regional east-west Jocotan plate bounding fault system. With growing understanding of the controls on mineralization at Holly, the program is consistently intersecting the north-south Pena vein system within the wide Jocotan fault breccia, where gold-silver grades are the highest. A major focus of the upcoming drilling will be to test the extensive breccia in the plate bounding Jocotan fault. Story continues Results are still pending from latest step out holes to the north and south. The initial step out hole to the north, HDD21-015, returned 15.55m @ 7.67 g/t Au and 615 g/t Ag, and HDD21-017 to the south of the Jocotan breccia (above) returned 8.83m @ 8.81 g/t Au and 355 Ag. Figure 1. La Pena Zone; Long Section: Click Image To View Full Size Note: Reported intervals are drilled width. True width is estimated at 80% of true width. Technical Information Bruce Smith, M.Sc. (Geology), a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is Radius Golds Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Smith has 27 years of mineral exploration experience and has prepared and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Quality Assurance and Quality Control Volcanic Gold follows industry standard procedures for diamond core drilling and analysis. Drilling is carried out using NQ and HQ size tooling. Drill core is cut in half using a rock saw with one-half of the core then taken as a sample for analysis. Sample intervals are generally 1m intervals, producing samples of between 2 to 9 kg. Half-core samples are delivered to the internationally certified Bureau Veritas Mineral laboratory facilities in Nicaragua where the samples are prepared. Assays are completed by Bureau Veritas certified laboratories. The samples are fire assayed for Au and are analyzed for Ag and multi-elements using method code ICP following a four-acid digestion. Overlimits are analyzed using an appropriate method. Multi-element geochemical standards and blanks are routinely entered into the drill core sample stream to monitor laboratory performance. Quality control samples submitted were returned within acceptable limits. Terms of Guatemala Radius Gold and Volcanic Gold Mines option Pursuant to an option agreement signed in May 2020 with Radius, Volcanic can earn a 60% interest in Radiuss Holly and Banderas projects by spending the cumulative amount of US$7.0 million on exploration of the properties within 48 months from the date of the agreement. An initial US$1M must be spent on exploration within the 12 months of receiving the required drill permits, which expenditure will include a minimum 3,000m of drilling on the properties. Following the exercise of the Option, Volcanic will enter into a standard 60/40 Joint Venture in order to further develop the Properties. Volcanic has also been granted an exclusive right to evaluate all other property interests of Radius in Guatemala with a right to acquire an interest in any or all other such properties on reasonable terms. Radius Gold Inc. Radius has a portfolio of projects located in Mexico, United States and Guatemala which it advances utilizing partnerships where appropriate in order to retain the Companys strong treasury. At the same time, management is seeking out additional investment and project acquisition opportunities across the globe. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Bruce Smith President and CEO Symbol: TSXV-RDU Contact: Bruce Smith 200 Burrard Street, Suite 650 Vancouver, BC V6C 3L6 Tel: 604-801-5432; Toll free 1-888-627-9378; Fax: 604-662-8829 Email: info@goldgroup.com Website: www.radiusgold.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward- looking statements and include, without limitation, statements about the plans for exploration work at the Companys Guatemala projects. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as estimate, estimates, estimated, potential, open, future, assumed, projected, used, detailed, has been, gain, upgraded, offset, limited, contained, reflecting, containing, remaining, to be, periodically, or statements that events, could or should occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations. 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 be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, whether the planned exploration work in Guatemala will proceed as intended; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Companys quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Companys stated goals and the planned exploration and development activities at its properties will be achieved; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/radius-drills-1-53m-at-191-8-g-t-au-and-539-g-t-ag-at-holly-project-guatemala-893267260 Bingqing Zhang Named Senior Director of Product Development SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebus Biosystems Inc, ("Rebus Bio", "Rebus"), an Illumina Ventures-backed life science technology company creating revolutionary tools to advance spatial omics research, today announced Danilo Tait as the newest member of its leadership team. Tait, who holds a PhD in molecular biology from the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics and an MBA from SMC University in Switzerland, will lead the innovative spatial omics company's commercialization drive across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Rebus Biosystems Inc, an Illumina Ventures-backed life science technology company creating revolutionary tools to advance spatial omics research, announced Danilo Tait as the newest member of its leadership team. Rebus Biosystems welcomes Danilo Tait as VP commercial operations, EMEA. "I'm so excited to be joining such a dynamic group of scientists and visionaries," said Danilo Tait, VP Commercial Operations EMEA, Rebus Biosystems. "Rebus offers the first commercially available automated instrument for spatial multi-omic analysis, delivering ultra-high subcellular resolution and I'm proud to be able to help the EMEA team expand their reach and bring this new technology to some of the world's top researchers." Rebus Bio, which provides automated platforms to deliver advanced molecular mapping with minimal hands-on time, also announced that Bingqing Zhang will be its new Senior Director of Product Development. "We're delighted to have Danilo and Bingqing on the team," said Paul Sargeant, PhD, CEO of Rebus Biosystems. "With so much business development experience within the genomics field, having headed up European operations for Advanced Analytical and been GM Europe and Africa for MGI, Danilo was a natural choice for our team. Plus, Bingqing is also a veteran of the industry, having developed and commercialized the suite of RNAscope products at Advanced Cell Diagnostics, and we know they will help our team of technologists put the right Rebus kit into the right researchers' hands, and together, we will truly advance science itself." Story continues The Rebus Esper spatial omics platform was launched earlier this year, and is already shipping around the world. This fully integrated, automated instrument delivers high-throughput, quantitative, single-molecule, single-cell data with spatial context and subcellular resolution by bringing together advancements in imaging, fluidics, chemistry, and bioinformatics. "Rebus will be launching new assay kits over the coming months, significantly increasing plex, adding FFPE and protein co-detection, all leveraging the same foundational Esper spatial omics platform and workflow," said Josh Ryu, Ph.D., CTO of Rebus Bio. "We have been actively working with our customers and look forward to the additional data from our partnerships appearing in scientific journals soon." About Rebus Biosystems Rebus Biosystems is a venture-backed Silicon Valley-based life science technology company creating revolutionary tools to enable spatial omics research without compromise. The company's first instrument, the Rebus Esper, is a fully integrated, automated spatial omics platform that delivers quantitative single molecule, single-cell data with subcellular resolution. Advanced imaging, on-system chemistry, and intuitive software have been combined to provide an end-to-end solution requiring minimal hands-on time. Rebus Biosystems provides all-inclusive assay kits to empower researchers with the resolution, scale and speed of the Rebus Esper for multiple applications. Learn more at www.rebusbio.com. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rebus-biosystems-welcomes-danilo-tait-as-vp-commercial-operations-emea-301392557.html SOURCE Rebus Bio DETROIT, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT) (the "Company" or "Rocket Companies"), a Detroit-based holding company consisting of tech-driven real estate, mortgage and financial services business including Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes and Rocket Auto today announced the early tender results as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 4, 2021 (the "Early Tender Deadline") of the previously announced tender offer (the "Tender Offer") of its subsidiary, Rocket Mortgage, LLC (the "Issuer"), to purchase for cash any and all of the Issuer's outstanding 5.250% senior notes due 2028 (the "Notes"). Rocket Companies is a Detroit-based holding company consisting of personal finance and consumer technology brands including Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Rocket Auto, Rock Central, Amrock, Core Digital Media, Rock Connections, Lendesk and Edison Financial. (PRNewsfoto/Rocket Companies) In connection with the Tender Offer, the Company also announced the results as of the Early Tender Deadline of its previously announced solicitation of consents (the "Consents") from holders of the Notes (the "Consent Solicitation") to the proposed amendments to the indenture, dated as of December 8, 2017 (the "Indenture"), which governs the Notes, to (i) eliminate substantially all of the restrictive covenants in the Indenture and the Notes, (ii) eliminate all events of default other than events of default relating to the failure to pay principal of and interest on the Notes, and (iii) shorten the minimum notice period under the Indenture for optional redemptions by the Issuer from at least 30 days but not more than 60 days to at least five business days but not more than 60 days (collectively, the "Proposed Amendments"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are described in an Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, dated September 21, 2021 (the "Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement"). The aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Deadline (the "Early Tender Notes"), as well as the percent of the aggregate principal amount of Notes outstanding constituting Early Tender Notes, is set forth in the columns entitled "Aggregate Principal Amount of Early Tender Notes" and "Percent of Outstanding Principal Amount Tendered," respectively, in the table below. The consideration being offered for any such Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation is also set forth in the table below: Story continues CUSIP / ISIN Title of Notes Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Aggregate Principal Amount of Early Tender Notes Percent of Outstanding Principal Amount Tendered Tender Offer Consideration (1)(2) Early Tender Payment (1)(3) Total Tender Offer Consideration (1)(2) Registered Notes: CUSIP: 74840LAB8 / U7467LAB7 ISIN: US74840LAB80 / USU7467LAB72 5.250% Senior Notes due 2028 $1,010,000,000 $941,436,000 93.21% $1,047.50 $30.00 $1,077.50 (1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. (2) Does not include accrued and unpaid interest that will be paid on the Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. (3) Included in the Total Tender Offer Consideration for Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will expire at Midnight, New York City time, at the end of October 19, 2021, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Issuer (the "Expiration Date"). No tenders submitted after the Expiration Date will be valid. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation, holders of the Early Tender Notes will receive the Total Tender Offer Consideration set forth in the table above, which includes the Early Tender Payment set forth in the table above. Holders of Notes tendering their Notes after the Early Tender Deadline and on or prior to the Expiration Date will only be eligible to receive the Tender Offer Consideration set forth in the table above, which is the Total Tender Offer Consideration less the Early Tender Payment. The Early Settlement Date (as defined in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement) for the Early Tender Notes is expected to be on October 5, 2021. Any Notes validly tendered and related consents validly delivered after the Early Tender Deadline may not be withdrawn or revoked, except as required by law. In addition, holders of all Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will receive accrued and unpaid interest on such Notes from the last interest payment date with respect to such Notes to, but excluding, the Early Settlement Date or the Final Settlement Date, as applicable. The Issuer's obligations to accept Notes and Consents on the Early Settlement Date or the Final Settlement Date, as applicable, are subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, including, among others, the Issuer consummating the New Debt Financing (as defined in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement) on terms satisfactory to it, and having funds available therefrom that will allow it to purchase the Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. In addition, because the Issuer received Consents in respect of a majority of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes then outstanding (excluding Notes held by the Issuer or its affiliates) (the "Requisite Consents") as of the Early Tender Deadline, the Issuer executed and delivered a supplemental indenture (the "Supplemental Indenture") to the Indenture giving effect to the Proposed Amendments. The Supplemental Indenture became effective upon execution, but provides that the Proposed Amendments will not become operative until the Issuer accepts for purchase the Notes satisfying the Requisite Consents in the Tender Offer. The Proposed Amendments are expected to become operative on the Early Settlement Date. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security. No offer, solicitation, or sale will be made in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is the dealer manager and solicitation agent (the "Dealer Manager") in the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. D.F. King & Co., Inc. has been retained to serve as both the depositary and the information agent (the "Depositary and Information Agent") for the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. Questions regarding the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation should be directed to the Dealer Manager at (800) 624-1808 or (212) 761-1057. Requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement and other related materials should be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at rocket@dfking.com (email), (800) 755-7250 (U.S. Toll-Free) or (212) 269-5552 (Banks and Brokers). None of Rocket Companies, its board of directors, the Issuer, the Dealer Manager, the Depositary and Information Agent, the Trustee under the Indenture and the Supplemental Indenture or any of the Issuer's affiliates, makes any recommendation as to whether holders of the Notes should tender any Notes in response to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are made only by the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are required to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will be deemed to be made on behalf of the Issuer by the Dealer Manager or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. About Rocket Companies Rocket Companies is a Detroit-based holding company consisting of personal finance and consumer service brands including Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Rocket Auto, Rock Central, Amrock, Core Digital Media, Rock Connections, Lendesk and Edison Financial. Since 1985, Rocket Companies has been obsessed with helping its clients achieve the American dream of home ownership and financial freedom. Rocket Companies offers an industry-leading client experience powered by our simple, fast, and trusted digital solutions. Rocket Companies has approximately 26,000 team members across the United States and Canada. Rocket Companies ranked #5 on Fortune's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2021 and has placed in the top third of the list for 18 consecutive years. Forward Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would" and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this release and are based on our management's current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, assumptions, beliefs and information. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control, and could cause future events or results to be materially different from those stated or implied in this document. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risk factors that are described under the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in other filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rocket-companies-announces-early-tender-results-of-cash-tender-offer-and-consent-solicitation-for-any-and-all-of-rocket-mortgages-5-250-senior-notes-due-2028-and-receipt-of-requisite-consents-301392352.html SOURCE Rocket Companies, Inc. NEW YORK, Oct. 05, 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 Cassava Sciences, Inc. ("Cassava " or the "Company") (Nasdaq: SAVA) from September 14, 2020 through August 27, 2021 (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas alleges violations of the Securities Act of 1934. If you purchased Cassava securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Cassava Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Rujul Patel toll free at (877) 779-1414 or rpatel@bernlieb.com According to the complaint, Cassava issued materially false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose adverse facts pertaining to the quality and integrity of the scientific data supporting the company's claims of efficacy for its Alzheimer's drug (simufilam), which were known to, or recklessly disregarded by, the Defendants as follows: (a) that Cassava and senior management claimed that results from an interim analysis of simufilam demonstrated that patients' cognition and behavior scores both improved following six months of simufilam treatment, and; (b) that Cassava touted an FDA meeting they stated supported green-lighting a Phase 3 trial beginning in the second half of 2021. On August 24, 2021, a citizen petition was submitted to the FDA asking the FDA to halt all ongoing studies with simufilam while the agency verifies data the company has submitted so far. The petition raises serious concerns about the quality and integrity of the laboratory-based studies surrounding this drug candidate. The petition further identified "errors and anomalies" in the data "of a sufficient frequency and magnitude to strongly suggest scientific misconduct." Story continues On this news, the price of Cassava shares fell almost 32%, declining approximately $37 per share per share on August 24, 2021. On August 27, 2021, before the market opened, Quanterix Corp. (Quanterix), an independent company, issued a statement denying the Companys claims, stating that it did not interpret the test results or prepare the data touted by Cassava. On this news, the Companys share price fell $12.51, or 17.6%, to close at $58.34 per share on August 27, 2021, on unusually heavy trading volume. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than October 26, 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 Cassava securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit https://www.bernlieb.com/cases/cassavasciencesinc-sava-shareholder-class-action-lawsuit-fraud-stock-435/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 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of The Boston Beer Company, Inc. ("Boston Beer" or the "Company") (NYSE:SAM). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Boston Beer and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On July 22, 2021, Boston Beer reduced its full year 2021 guidance, advising that it expected earnings per share between $18.00 and $22.00, down from a prior range of $22.00 to $26.00. 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, Boston Beer's stock price fell $246.54 per share, or 26%, to close at $701.00 per share on July 12, 2021. Then, on September 8, 2021, Boston Beer announced that it was withdrawing its 2021 financial guidance issued on July 22, 2021 as a result of a decrease in demand for its hard seltzer products. The Company further disclosed that it expects to incur hard seltzer-related inventory write-offs, shortfall fees payable to third-party brewers, and other costs associated with the drop in demand during the remainder of fiscal year 2021. On this news, Boston Beer's stock price fell $21.09 per share, or 3.77%, to close at $538.31 per share on September 8, 2021. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. Story continues SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/666950/SHAREHOLDER-ALERT-Pomerantz-Law-Firm-Investigates-Claims-On-Behalf-of-Investors-of-The-Boston-Beer-Company-Inc--SAM Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 5, 2021) - Solis Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: SLMN) (FSE: 08W) (OTC: WMRSF) announces that the nominees listed in the Management Information Circular for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders were re-elected. Accordingly, Jason Cubitt, Christopher Gale and Fred Tejada were duly re-appointed to the board of directors. In total, 8,382,572 shares were voted at the meeting, representing 25.6% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company. Shareholders passed an ordinary resolution to set the number of directors of the Corporation at five (5) for the next year. The setting of the directors at five is subject to the Corporation's proposed listing on the Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") as described in the Information Circular dated August 17th, 2021 and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company also announces that Ms. Chafika Eddine and Mr. Michael Parker were approved for appointment as independent board members subject to the Corporation's admission to the official list of the ASX. Michael Parker A mining geologist fluent in Spanish and French, Mike has extensive experience in exploration and project development, overseeing projects from discovery through construction to production. In 21 years with First Quantum Minerals (FQM), he held senior Exploration and Country Manager positions in DRC and Latin America. As an FQM Exploration Manager he was instrumental in two major copper discoveries, the Lonshi and Frontier mines in DRC. Chafika Eddine An ESG advisor with over 20 years of experience in corporate governance and sustainability. Chafika has worked and lived in the Americas and Europe, holding positions as VP Corporate Affairs for Bear Creek Mining, during the discovery of the Corani deposit, and Director Corporate Social Responsibility for Hudbay Minerals throughout the construction of the Constancia mine, both in Peru. She has also managed exploration offices for Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti and performed consulting work in Chile for the Candelaria Mine. Story continues Jason Cubitt, President and CEO stated, "We are thrilled to add two new additions of high caliber to the Solis team. Mike's deep operational and governmental experience in the region will be invaluable to Solis as we continue to expand our footprint in the region. Similarly, we're very fortunate to have Chafika returning to the Solis Board. Her range of professional experience from development to feasibility and mine construction stages will be integral to guiding and shaping our company." About Solis Minerals Solis Minerals is a Latin American focused mining exploration company. The Company has an option to purchase a 100% interest in the Mostazal copper project in Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the world's premier copper production jurisdictions. The Company also holds a 100% interest in a package of highly prospective IOCG and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt-source of nearly half of Peru's copper production. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: "Jason Cubitt" Jason Cubitt President and Chief Executive Officer Solis Minerals Ltd. jcubitt@solisminerals.com solisminerals.com Telephone: (877) 586-3840 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers 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 including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98672 TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Starlight Investments ("Starlight") and Alberta Investment Management Corporation, on behalf of certain of its clients, ("AIMCo"), announced today that they had completed the acquisition of a Class A, high-rise commercial building totalling approximately 156,000 square feet in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia (the "Property"). The Property, located at 1138 Melville Street, Vancouver, is 100 percent leased to the federal government of Canada with a remaining lease term of 7.2 years. The Property is situated in downtown Vancouver's primary business district. Surrounding the Property are well-established parks and neighbourhoods including: Stanley Park, the West End, Coal Harbour, Yaletown and Gastown. Major arterials for the downtown district include: Burrard Street, Hastings Street West and Georgia Street West. The Property also benefits from offering a point of ingress/egress to the North Shore from the Lions Gate Bridge through the Stanley Park Causeway, and is steps from the Sky Train, Sea Bus and other public transit. "We are pleased to add this prominent downtown Property to our portfolio. This strategic transaction further strengthens and diversifies our portfolio, while enhancing our presence in British Columbia's growing market," stated Leslie Veiner, Starlight's Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Commercial. "This acquisition represents an excellent opportunity for AIMCo's clients to acquire a transit-oriented, Class A building in Vancouver's Central Business District, one of the strongest property markets in North America," stated Tony Vadacchino, AIMCo's Vice-President, Real Estate. The Property 1138 Melville Street, Vancouver - The Property is an 18-storey office building with approximately 156,000 rentable square feet. It has 180 parking stalls over 4 levels of underground parking. The Property boasts eco-friendly, urban architecture, is BOMA BEST Silver certified and has received the Federal Government's Energy Efficiency Design Award. Story continues 1138 Melville Street, Downtown Vancouver (CNW Group/Starlight Investments) The acquisition of this Property demonstrates Starlight's commitment to investing in attractive markets with strong fundamentals. About Starlight Investments Starlight Investments is a privately held Toronto-based, full service, multi-family and commercial real estate investment and asset management company driven by an experienced team of over 300 professionals. The company currently manages over $20.0 billion of direct real estate as well as real estate investment securities. Investment vehicles include institutional joint ventures, True North Commercial REIT, Starlight U.S. Multi-Family Funds, the Northview Canadian High Yield Fund and Starlight Capital Funds. Starlight Investments' portfolio consists of approximately 70,000 multi-residential units across Canada and the U.S. and over 8.0 million square feet of commercial properties. Please visit us at http://www.starlightinvest.com and connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/starlight-investments-ltd About Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) AIMCo is one of Canada's largest and most diversified institutional investment managers with more than $120 billion of assets under management. AIMCo invests globally on behalf of 32 pension, endowment and government funds in the Province of Alberta. For more information on AIMCo please visit www.aimco.ca or follow us on LinkedIn SOURCE Starlight Investments Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c8929.html BeInCrypto Switzerlands first cryptocurrency stamp was created to bridge the gap between the physical and digital stamp world. Switzerlands postal service, the Swiss Post, has launched the nations first cryptocurrency stamp, according to a statement. The stamps will be sold as digital collectibles that are linked to a physical stamp issued by the Swiss Post. Each stamp will cost 8.9 Swiss francs (~$10). The stamps feature one of 13 different images with digital versions being stored in a blockchain. They can then be traded, collected, or exchanged online like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other digital collectibles. Like NFTs, the digital versions of the Swiss Post stamps will be tradeable on the OpenSea marketplace. This story was seen first on BeInCrypto Join our Telegram Group and get trading signals, a free trading course and more stories like this on BeInCrypto A year ago, we told you about the opportunity that former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan was chasing. His plan? To pull car dealers into the 21st century with a snazzy end-to-end automotive SaaS platform like the one he helped develop inside Tesla. Customers could use it to order a car to their precise specifications; dealers could use it to see in real time to understand their inventory and seamlessly check in customers for service appointments; OEMs could use it to see exactly which of their parts were where, relative to said dealerships. The list of ways the software would produce savings and improve efficiencies for both dealers and OEMs went on and on, as Vijayan explained it. His Pleasanton, California, company, Tekion, has gained meaningful traction since, too. According to Vijayan, the company's revenue has grown threefold over the last year; the number of states where dealers are using Tekion's software has grown to 39 from 28; and the company just began working with its first dealership in Canada as part of a plan to become an international outfit. Perhaps accordingly, the company is today announcing $250 million in Series D financing that bumps its valuation a year ago from $1 billion to $3.5 billion today, and its total funding from $185 million to $435 million. Alkeon Capital and Durable Capital co-led the round. Other investors include Hyundai Motor Company, several dealer groups across the U.S., and earlier backers Advent International, Index Ventures and FM Capital. Interestingly, the global chip shortage and other parts-supply disruptions that drove new vehicle sales down a whopping 26% last month, is only having a positive impact on Tekion, and a recent piece in Morning Brew suggests why. When the outlet talked with the president of an automotive group in Columbus, Ohio, he said that with inventory scarce, a sale that would have taken four hours to make before the chip shortage now closes in 52 minutes. That scarcity is also driving profits through the roof, with buyers paying more for both new and used inventory, and auto retailers benefiting from lower operating costs with less inventory. (A dealership in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told Morning Brew that its profits jumped 197% in Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020.) Story continues Courtesy of tech from Tekion and some of its legacy competitors, retailers are presumably also able to operate faster when it comes to servicing the consumers who are waiting out the shortage and hoping to make their cars last longer. "The supply is less but the demand is strong, so everyone is making a lot of money," Vijayan tells TechCrunch. "The dealers, the OEMs -- they're making a good amount of margin." Tekion, Vijayan adds, has been "very strong through that growth," but he anticipates that next year will be even better when he foresees that inventory will begin to catch up to demand. "I believe sometime next year there will be some level of correction in the market and that our technology platform will help both dealers and OEMs navigate the correction much more smoothly because it will continue to learn and evolve to provide insights on where they should focus their business." In the meantime, the growth of Tekion -- whose operations are split between California and Bangalore, India -- appears to be largely organic. Though the automotive world is known for spending lavishly on marketing and for aggressive sales tactics, just 17 of Tekion's now 1,350 employees work in sales. "We don't spend any money in marketing, or it's very negligible. [We're growing through] word of mouth," Vijayan says. A deal struck back in March with General Motors -- which is an early investor in Tekion, as is BMW and the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance -- is also surely helping. Though it's up to each franchise to opt in or out, GM dealers broadly are beginning to use Tekion's white-labeled dealer management software to make it easier for customers to purchase an Chevy, Cadillac, Buick or GMC brand electric vehicle. The platform reportedly operates similar to GMs existing Shop. Click. Drive. program, which allows users to search for certain GM vehicles at dealerships near them and complete a portion of the transaction online. It's a lot better, though. So said one Chevrolet VP in conversation earlier this year with Automotive News, who described Tekion's software as akin to GM's internal program "on steroids." SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UBX, UnionBank of the Philippines' fintech venture studio and fund, expands its operations in Singapore to further its vision of invisible banking in Asia. Since its launch in 2018, UBX has pioneered financial services solutions integrated into everyday activities of people and businesses. The new Singapore headquarters is the bridge for startups who would like to enter the Philippine market by partnering with UBX's award-winning ventures. UBX Logo "Expanding reach within Asia continues to be an important focus for UBX," Cyrus Cruz, who joined UBX Singapore as Country Head, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to further extend our presence in the region, starting with Singapore - known as the main regional fintech hub of upcoming start-ups and great talents in Asia. UBX has strategically set up an office here to contribute to, and benefit from the established ecosystem. This will not only expand our network, it'll also help us learn from different companies in the country," he added. UBX is fast-tracking its expansion because of the rapid growth of fintech with 2 out of 3 financial transactions being made online today. In 2020, $1.6 billion was invested in fintech startups in Southeast Asia according to a study by Dealrooom. UBX ventures are experiencing significant growth fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, SeekCap - UBX's digital lending platform in the Philippines - processed over USD 60 million worth of business loans for MSMEs just one year after its launch. While i2i , UBX's banking-as-a-service platform, had a 3000% monthly volume increase for its portable Mobile ATM services in 2020. For its impact on fintech and financial inclusion, UBX was recognized as the Fastest Growing Fintech Company in South East Asia 2021 by the Global Banking and Finance Review. As a leading venture studio in the region, it was only natural to open its 2nd headquarters in Singapore where the growth trajectory of the fintech industry has been steady and impressive. John Januszczak, the Chief Executive Officer of UBX reiterates "We aim to support companies who would like to enter the Philippine market through strategic partnerships leveraging both UBX's technological expertise and open finance footprint in the Philippines." Story continues UBX is the gateway to fintech in the Philippines UBX invests in early-stage startups that add strategic value to the UBX and UnionBank network. UBX's portfolio focuses on various in-demand solutions ranging from banking and payments to lending and eCommerce categories created for individuals and businesses. UBX's i2i is the Philippines' fastest-growing Open Finance and banking-as-a-service solution, bringing financial services to underserved communities through its network of financial services providers. To date, i2i connects hundreds of financial institutions and financial service providers, in addition to over 1,800 banking agents on the platform. SeekCap is the Philippines' first same-day approval, digital lending marketplace made especially for micro, small, medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) who need access to credit to run and scale their businesses. SeekCap has registered over 48,000 MSMEs and has processed over USD 60 million worth of business loans. SeekCap has partnered with digital communities such as Lazada and Foodpanda to further expand its MSME reach. Bux is an end-to-end payment gateway for businesses of all sizes. MSMEs can accept payment methods from over 50,000 over-the-counter locations including 7-Eleven and LBC, debit and credit card payments as well as wallet payments via GrabPay and GCash. With over 100,000 sign ups since its launch in 2019, Bux continues to make payments simple and easy with features like payment links, Universal QR code and Buy Now Pay Later. Sentro , a free eCommerce shop builder with pre-integrated payment gateway and delivery services, powers over 30,000 registered local merchants since its launch in 2019. UBX recently launched Sentro Build - the first multi-merchant marketplace builder in the Philippines bringing buyers and sellers together in one reliable site. QLABS is UBX's technology solutions venture that brings a business' digital initiatives to scale with its team of experts and industry leaders. QLABs developed PHX, the Philippine's 1st Central Bank approved Stable Coin that currently powers the i2i network. QLABS has helped "tech up" multiple businesses, such as developing PERA HUB's mobile application with features that allow customers to connect with, and pay, thousands of merchants. Assured , the Philippines' first and revolutionary embeddable insurance platform, is the latest venture of UBX. Assured recently partnered with insurtech Coherent and insurance giant Chubb to increase insurance penetration rate through embedded insurance, a protection cover presented as a value-added feature in everyday experiences like paying a bill or shopping online. Assured is led out of the Singapore office, paving the way for regional expansion. About UBX UBX is the financial technology venture studio and fund of UnionBank of the Philippines. UBX is predicated on a future where financial services are invisible: seamlessly embedded into the experiences and activities that truly matter to businesses and people. For more information about the company and this article, please visit UBX or contact agnescasal@ubx.ph . Media Contact Mr. Cyrus Cruz cyrus@ubx.ph +65 90688224 SOURCE UBX Three Year Contract Includes Initial Order To Be Delivered By January 2022 MONTREAL, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - VOTI Detection Inc. ("VOTI" or "the Company") (TSXV: VOTI), a leading-edge Canadian technology company that develops latest-generation X-ray security systems based on 3D Perspective technology, today announced that it has been awarded a three year contract with further options from Global Affairs Canada for the supply of X-Ray scanning systems to Canadian Embassy locations worldwide. VOTI Detection Inc. Logo (CNW Group/VOTI Detection Inc.) The three year contract with Global Affairs Canada includes an initial order which calls for the delivery of 20 scanning systems to be delivered by January, 2022. The order is for two sizes of X-ray machines. Global Affairs Canada has the mandate to provide X-ray machines for screening of threats at Global Affairs buildings in Canada and Canadian Embassies worldwide. "The Global Affairs Canada contract is a very important win for VOTI for a number of reasons," commented Rory Olson, President and CEO of VOTI Detection. "Firstly, the long term nature of the contract with as prestigious a client as Global Affairs Canada bodes well for our order book going forward and is the exact type of business and relationship that we have been working hard to build and nurture over the past few years. Secondly, the opportunity as a Canadian company to provide perimeter security for our Canadian Embassies around the world is something that we take great pride in. The fact that our disruptive X-ray scanning systems will be in use and on display around the world is a very significant opportunity for VOTI to showcase its technology and global servicing capabilities." About VOTI Detection VOTI Detection, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, is a leading-edge Canadian technology company that develops latest-generation X-ray security systems based on 3D Perspective technology. VOTI's technology produces remarkably sharp and more revealing X-ray images that are competitively superior while delivering enhanced threat detection capabilities and an improved user experience. Since its inception, VOTI has installed scanners in more than 50 countries and has consulted heavily with government agencies and security specialists worldwide to develop feature-rich and easy-to-use scanners that meet the sophisticated needs of modern security screening operations. www.votidetection.com Story continues SOURCE VOTI Detection Inc. Cision View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2021/05/c5040.html Microsofts (MSFT) Windows 11 hits the market on Tuesday. The first major operating system release for the tech titan in six years, Windows 11, which is available as a free upgrade for Windows 10 users, promises a variety of new features, along with an improved design, that make your PC feel more modern. The company seemingly did that by taking inspiration from the likes of smartphones, Apples macOS, and Googles Chromebook devices. Theres a new Home button and taskbar, improved multitasking capabilities, and, eventually, the operating system will have the ability to run Android apps. Windows 10 was already a solid operating system, and worlds better than the disaster that was Windows 8. And from the brief time Ive been using Windows 11, it feels like Microsoft has created an impressive, more touch-friendly version of Windows that doesnt force you to relearn the experience from the ground up. New Start button and taskbar The first major change youll notice when starting up Windows 11 is that the famous Start button and taskbar are completely new, and well, look sort of like what youd expect from Apples (AAPL) macOS. Everything is now center adjusted, with the Start button on the far left of the bar. Yes, you can change it back to be on the far left if that's your thing. The iconic Start button is now located in the center of the screen, and has a completely different look. (Image: Howley) Tap the button and youll be met with an entirely different Start experience than the Windows 10 button. Rather than the rotating, resizable app tiles of the prior operating system, apps are simply laid out in two sections: pinned at the top and recommended at the bottom. You can, of course, see all of your apps by clicking the All apps button. The look is far less cluttered than Windows 10s Start menu, and gives the operating system a more streamlined feel. The task bar also puts all of your open apps in the bottom center of the screen, making them much easier to access with either your mouse or using touch. Microsoft Teams is front and center Microsoft has been pushing its Teams app as the best way to communicate and collaborate with colleagues inside and outside of the office. With Windows 11, however, the company is bringing Teams, or at least one of its features, to everyday users. Located in the middle of the taskbar is a new app called Chat. Story continues Essentially a slimmed down version of Teams that lets you send messages to other Teams users or to your friends via SMS text messages, Chat can sync your Outlook contacts, or you can type in your contacts phone number to send texts. The Chat app, in the center of the taskbar, is a version of Microsoft Teams that allows you to chat with other Teams users or send messages as SMS texts to friends and family. (Image: Howley) There are some quirks, though. For instance, I received a link from my wife in a text, but couldnt click on it directly from the Chat window, and needed to copy it and paste it into a browser. Microsoft clearly wants Teams to be the go-to communication app for both businesses and consumers, hence the prime real estate its given the software. Still, it will be interesting to see if people actually take the bait, considering there are so many other chat apps already available. Multitasking gets an upgrade Multitasking is Windows bread and butter, and it gets a sizable upgrade in Windows 11 with Snap Groups and virtual desktops. Snap Groups are a way to organize your apps that youre using on screen into individual, well, groups. Snapping apps onto either side of the screen has been a feature of Windows 10 for some time. You simply drag the app you want to use to either side of the screen, and it will snap there. You can then choose the app you want on the other side by dragging it, or even separate your screen into four quadrants by dragging apps into the corners of the display. Windows 11 gets improved multitasking with the new Snap Groups option. (Image: Howley) A new Snap Layout feature, however, allows you to right click on the maximize button in your apps, and choose where you want your app to be snapped without having to drag it. Not every app is optimized for the feature, though. Gmails search bar, for instance, is impossible to click when my browser is snapped into place, meaning I have to open the app up to full-screen mode to do a quick search. Widgets Widgets make a welcome return to Windows with a refresh that allows you to swipe in from the left side of the screen to see the latest news from a personalized list of sources. Above that you can add widgets for the weather, traffic in your area, outlook, photos, esports, and more. You can adjust the size of the widgets and customize their content to a small extent. If youre not using a touchscreen device, you can also click the widgets icon at the bottom of the screen to bring up the widgets panel. Android apps One of the bigger changes coming to Windows 11 is the availability of Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Android apps. Microsoft announced the addition of the ability to run Android apps when it first debuted the operating system, saying that any Android app you can think of will be available on Windows 11 devices through the Microsoft Store. Unfortunately, the feature isnt available out of the box, but the company says it should be coming at some point in the near future. Apps like Instagram and TikTok are already available for the operating system, but those arent the Android versions. Instead, theyre versions of the apps that are specific to Windows. Gaming a centerpiece Windows is the go-to operation system for gaming outside of dedicated consoles. Apples macOS and Googles Chrome OS simply cant touch the massive library of games available on Windows. So naturally, Microsoft has made gaming a major part of Windows 11. Not only does the Xbox app come preinstalled, but you also get one month of free access to the companys Game Pass service, as well. As part of Windows 11, Microsoft is enabling DirectStorage, which allows your computers graphics card to basically speak directly with your specific types of solid-state drives (SSDs). Youll need an NVMe SSD to use the feature, but it should allow massive game worlds to load far faster than before, allowing for a better overall gaming experience. Microsoft is leaning further into gaming by including the Xbox app with Windows 11. (Image: Howley) Microsoft has also said that Windows 11 will ship with AutoHDR, which will implement bright colors in games that run on DirectX 11. You wont have to do anything to get the feature up and running, either. Itll just work on its own. I havent been able to use either of these upgrades, though, as my gaming machine is still running on Windows 10, and my Windows 11 test machine isnt exactly designed for high-end gaming. But seeing as how both DirectStorage and AutoHDR are technologies that come directly from Microsofts Xbox Series X, its safe to say theyll work well with Windows 11. A welcome upgrade If youre using Windows 10, youre eventually going to have to upgrade to Windows 11. Thats just how operating systems work. But the fact that Windows 11 is free, and feels as familiar as it is new, should mean that most users will appreciate the touches Microsoft has made to the OS. If youre buying a new computer, getting it with Windows 11 installed is a no-brainer. If youre doing the upgrading yourself, youll likely need to make some minor tweaks to the backend of your PC to ensure the OS works correctly. Its an annoyance, and something that less tech savvy users will likely find confusing, potentially making it difficult for them to upgrade. Microsoft has a support page to walk you through the process, but it would be more consumer friendly if it were as simple as clicking upgrade and getting on with things. Outside of that, the operating system itself is certainly impressive, albeit lacking one of its main features in Android apps. Still, it looks as though Microsoft has set itself up for another generation of success with Windows 11. Sign up for Yahoo Finance Tech newsletter More from Dan: Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com over via encrypted mail at danielphowley@protonmail.com, and follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. Amnesty International says Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, two weeks after the hard-line Islamist group toppled the internationally recognized government in Kabul in mid-August. The killings of two civilians and 11 members of the Afghan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) took place in the village of Kahor in the central province of Daykundi on August 30 as they attempted to flee ahead of the arrival of Taliban fighters, the London-based human rights watchdog said in statement on October 5. According to eyewitness testimony gathered by Amnesty International, nine of the Afghan national security forces were killed after they had surrendered themselves to the Taliban in what Amnesty said appears to be "war crimes." Amnesty said it had reviewed videos and photographs showing the corpses of 11 men lined up, with many showing bullet wounds to their heads. These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan," said Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard. She urged the Taliban-led government to make clear that such grave violations will not be tolerated, and that those responsible will be prosecuted. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed rejected Amnesty's allegations, telling RFE/RLs Radio Azadi: We completely reject this report that such an incident has happened somewhere." The Taliban has promised not to launch revenge attacks on those who worked with foreign forces or the previous Afghan government following the capture of Kabul on August 15. The mainly Shiite Hazara community is Afghanistan's third-largest ethnic group. It members have faced long-term discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan. In a report published in August, Amnesty International documented the killing and torture of nine ethnic Hazaras in the eastern province of Ghazni in July as the militants were taking control of the country in a lightning offensive. The Taliban was known for its brutal rule of Afghanistan that deprived women and ethnic minorities of their rights, before it was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001. French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants the Group of 20 (G20) major economies to set conditions for recognizing the Taliban-led government, including ensuring womens and girls' rights are protected. After it toppled the internationally recognized government in Kabul in mid-August, the hard-line group suggested it was now more moderate than during its brutal rule on Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, but the Taliban-led, all-male government has rolled back the rights of girls and women in recent weeks. Girls have been excluded from returning to secondary schools and the vast majority of women have been ordered not to return to work. Speaking to France-Inter radio on October 5 ahead of an extraordinary G20 summit on Afghanistan late this month in Rome, Macron said global powers should tell the Taliban: You must absolutely give young girls in your country a future, and that is one of the things that we will look at before recognizing you. Another condition for recognition should be that the Taliban allow continued humanitarian operations and refuse to cooperate with Islamist terrorist groups in the region, the French president said. Macron said it shouldn't be only Western powers setting such conditions but they should also convince regional powers, powers that dont necessarily have the same values as we do on all issues, to act together. At a meeting of G20 ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged his counterparts to unfreeze Afghanistans foreign assets and stop exerting political pressure on the Taliban. The G20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. With reporting by AP New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is thanking attendees of the New Mexico Oil And Gas Association's annual meeting for their contributions to the economy Calls are growing for an end to the financial secrecy and shell companies that have allowed many of the worlds richest and most powerful people to hide their wealth from tax collectors "It's time to Ovary-act" and "Ruth sent us" were just a couple of the numerous signs held by activists at the Women's March in Colorado Spring Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Need something to do on Wednesday night? Not just this Wednesday night, but the one after that. And after that. Heres a good option: A new local jazz band is playing a weekly residency at The Gold Room every Wednesday through Nov. 24. The idea formed after Matt Campbell played a gig at Icons, the gay piano bar in downtown Colorado Springs. In the audience was Evan Hooton, who owns the Gold Room and was impressed with what he heard. Hooton asked the musician on the spot about a weekly residency. Campbell said yes. The 23-year-old Colorado Springs native, who learned the drums at age 2, instantly thought of a list of names, a mix of old and new friends, that had never formally been in a band together. I really just wanted to play with some amazing guys Ive been playing with for years, Campbell said. I called them up and was like, Yo, this combination of people would really work together. One by one, they said yes. Along with Campbell, who serves as the drummer and music director, the band includes keyboardists Derek E. Greaves Jr. and Caleb Sutton, guitarist David Musante and bassist Jon Johnson. They make up The STNDRD and they got together specifically for this midweek tradition. Together, Campbell said he hopes they bring music that is really different than what was being done around Colorado Springs. The STNDRD is self-described as a group of eclectic Colorado musicians focused on jazz and modern R&B with a sound that is straight and clean and jazzier than jazz, with hints of neo-soul. The group has a strong collective background in gospel music and blends that knowledge with a passionate success. In their live shows, they play a range of songs made famous by Herbie Hancock and others by Earth, Wind & Fire or Chris Brown. Every other week, the main band invites a featured artist to play with. Campbell says each show offers a new sound. Its a vibe, he said. It really is. The band is part of his mission of helping build the Colorado Springs music scene, a scene that doubles as his home. After attending Rampart High School, Campbell moved to study music at University of Denver. When he came back here two years ago, he didnt see as many opportunities for a young jazz guy like him to perform. Hes seeing that change with gigs like the one at The Gold Room. Its really cool because you dont usually hear about artists in residence until theyve been around for years, he said. Being able to say I had my first one at 23 is a huge accomplishment. He has another weekly show on Sundays at CO.A.T.I. Between that and his teaching jobs at the Colorado Springs Conservatory, Campbells calendar is plenty busy. And for the next couple of months, it will include spending Wednesday night at The Gold Room. He hopes to see you there. People are always looking for something to do, he said. This just adds on what there is to do in the Springs. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Royal treatment at The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa | Such a Fine Sight to See The city of Colorado Springs is expecting a sizable bump of $56 million to its general fund budget next year, an increase that could boost wildfire mitigation, pay for city employees, spending on police and public safety, and new crisis response teams, among other priorities. The total general fund budget is expected to collect about $400.6 million in 2022 or about 16.26% more next year than this year. The general fund pays for many basic government services, such as police and fire protection and does not have the same spending restrictions as dedicated fees or taxes. For example, the city has a dedicated stormwater fee and trails open space and parks tax. The healthy budget is a reflection of the local economy's resilience, including its strong construction market, said Mayor John Suthers. It also reflects $10.8 million held over from the federal coronavirus relief payments. "The bottom line is Colorado Springs weathered the pandemic and is continuing to weather the pandemic as well as any large city in America, I can't imagine anybody doing a better job," he said. The revenue growth exceeds a growth cap put in place by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and so the city will ask voters in November to retain up to $20 million to fund a new wildfire mitigation fund. The money could be invested and drawn down a few hundred thousand at a time to allow city crews to mitigate wildfire inside and outside city limits. If the question passes, it would also allow the city to retain an additional $16.5 million expected to be collected in 2022 that could fund public safety investments like new fire and police stations, Chief Financial Office Charae McDaniel said. The Colorado Springs Fire Department is expected to need four more fire stations in the coming years, Fire Chief Randy Royal said previously. The city is also budgeting $424,000 to introduce a new model of crisis response to help those who would normally interact with a police officer but aren't posing a threat to others. Instead of sending a police officer, a behavioral health clinical navigator, similar to a social worker, and a paramedic would be sent to assist, said Lt. Andrew Cooper, with the community and public health division of the fire department. For example, if someone appeared to be talking to themselves on a street corner and passing residents' called 911, the new team of two could respond and help the individual get the proper mental health care, he said. The team could assist without involving the police at all, Cooper said. "The idea here is to fix these problems," he said. The city's current crisis response teams include an officer, an emergency medical professional and a licensed mental health specialist. Those teams will stay in place. The fire department expects to have two teams under the new model, one that would respond to calls coming in and another that would work with people on an ongoing basis, to help them find the right behavioral health care, Cooper said. The city's Law Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Commission Chairwoman Janice "JJ" Frazier said she was pleased with the inclusion of the teams in the proposed budget because they are in line with the commission's first recommendation to expand the city's crisis response. "I think they could make a huge difference especially for the lower acuity calls, people who are repeat callers," Frazier said. The absence of uniformed officers could also help situations from escalating, she said. The police department could also see a boost from the funds to increase the overall number of positions and salaries. The city expects to fund 17 new police positions to fulfill Suthers' commitment of funding 803 new positions by 2022. The city only employs about 703 officers right now and expects several large classes in 2022 of recruits to help fill new and open positions. Data provided by police show a class of 84 recruits is in training and two additional classes of 72 students are planned. The department doesn't expect all of those recruits to graduate or obtain employment. The city is combatting higher attrition among more senior officers who qualify for their pensions and are retiring a bit early, Suthers said. However, the city is seeing well-qualified applicants, an uptick in women applying and good racial diversity. "We don't need fewer police officers. We need more police officers. There's been a significant uptick in crime over the last couple of years," he said. In 2020, Colorado Springs saw 36 homicides, the highest number since at least 1985, the Gazette reported. Police and fire department employees will see raises as well next year. The city expects to set aside $9 million to fund cost of living and merit pay increases. Outside of public safety, the city expects to spend $14.4 million next year to fund new positions and raises the city phased in during June. The new positions included six new planners, five new lawyers, five new public works employees, three stormwater workers and 11 new Colorado Springs Airport employees, the city said previously. Raises are needed to stay competitive in a hot labor market, where skilled employees such as engineers and information technology professionals are in high demand, Suthers said. "Keeping our stormwater engineers and civil engineers is a challenge," he said. Some of the other budget highlights include: $5.4 million to reinstate spending from COVID-19 prompted cuts $2.2 million for facility maintenance - including work on police and fire headquarters, parks facilities, public works facilities, fuel island infrastructure, and the municipal courthouse $700,000 increased funding for animal law enforcement services $1.7 million of increased funding for city fleet and equipment replacement $500,000 of continued funding to support shelter bed operations for the homeless population $934,000 additional funding to Mountain Metro Transit for increased contract and other operating costs to sustain transit services The Colorado Springs City Council will review and approve the budget in the coming months. Gazette reporter Evan Ochsner contributed to this report. A couple said they are thankful to be alive after their RV burst into flames late Tuesday morning. The husband told 11 News he and his wife were traveling home to Florida in their RV and had stopped to fill it with propane at an Acorn gas station off Industrial Boulevard and Dynamic Drive in Pueblo before the long journey east. While checking the tires, the husband realized the vehicle was on fire and his wife was still inside. He tells 11 News reporter Jack Heeke that he pulled his wife out of the RV, grabbed what belongings he could, and they ran from the burning vehicle. FILE PHOTO: An experimental COVID-19 treatment pill called molnupiravir being developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, is seen in this undated handout photo released by Merck & Co Inc and obtained by Reuters May 17, 2021. Merck & Co Inc/Handout via REUTERS FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump displays his signature after signing the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul plan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst The GOP is in a nearly unprecedented position following two election cycles that saw Colorado voters reject the party across the board, with Democrats taking control of state government, including wins for every statewide executive office for the first time since the 1930s and majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. " " Two students hug in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were killed on Feb. 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Two surviving students committed suicide within a few days of each other in March 2019. Joe Raedle/Getty Images The soldier coming home. The teen who escapes a mass shooting at her school. The office worker who doesn't get laid off. The loyal caretaker sitting by his mother's deathbed. The driver who walks away from a fatal, multi-car accident. Devastating trauma happens to most us all, sooner or later. To an unfortunate number of us, that trauma is amplified by an emotion that, in many cases, seems entirely out of place. It's called survivor guilt, a subset of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And it can last for months, years, even an entire lifetime after the initial event. "Survivor guilt can happen in people even after a year, even after a few years," says Dr. Asim Shah, a professor and executive vice chair in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine in Waco, Texas. "Grieving is something that is different for everyone. You cannot put a time frame on grieving." Advertisement Pain, Grief and Survivor Guilt The recent suicides of three people connected with two notorious school shootings in the U.S. known in sad shorthand now simply as Sandy Hook and Parkland have brought new attention to the pain suffered by those who survive but still are affected by trauma. Dorothy R. Novick, a pediatrician in Philadelphia, explains in The Washington Post: [S]tories such as these remind us that trauma has far-reaching and devastating effects. It reminds us that the victims are not only the deceased but also the survivors. And not only the deceased and the survivors, but also each member of their families. And not only each member of their families but also every person who loves each member of their families. And so on. Those survivors often deal with crippling feelings of guilt. They may exhibit symptoms; becoming irritable, depressed, anxious, and fearful. They may suffer from a lack of sleep and nightmares, and can be crushed under a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. "The fear is enormous," Shah says. "The fear doesn't go away." According to Shah, survivor guilt is separated into three different categories: The first type is that in which a person who survives a potentially deadly trauma wonders: Why am I alive? The second, and what Shah calls the most prevalent, occurs when survivors feel guilty for not doing something at the time of the trauma that may have changed the outcome of the event. Tackling a gunman, for example. Holding a child back from school that day. Braking sooner to avoid an accident. Working harder so the company doesn't have to lay off people. Changing up a care program. The third is a feeling some have that in order to save themselves from the immediate trauma, they left others behind. Survivor guilt, as a medical concept, has been around since the 1960s and was associated with those who survived the Holocaust. At one time, the term was included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the main tool that mental health practitioners use to diagnose and treat mental illness. In the most recent DSM, survivor guilt was wrapped into the general heading of PTSDs, and is effectively placed under a related condition called "acute stress disorder." From the latest DSM: Acute stress disorder occurs in reaction to a traumatic event, just as PTSD does, and the symptoms are similar. However, the symptoms occur between three days and one month after the event. People with acute stress disorder may relive the trauma, have flashbacks or nightmares and may feel numb or detached from themselves. These symptoms cause major distress and cause problems in their daily lives. About half of people with acute stress disorder go on to have PTSD. Whatever the classification, survivor guilt is identifiable by health professionals and others and is widespread. According to the DSM, some 13 to 21 percent of car accident survivors develop acute stress disorder. And between 20 and 50 percent of survivors of assault, rape and mass shootings suffer from some sort of survivor guilt or acute stress disorder. Shah says that some studies say that top figure may be as high as 60 percent of survivors of life-threatening events experience some form of survivor guilt. Advertisement Surviving Survivor Guilt The National Institute for Mental Health says, to be diagnosed with PTSD (again: survivor guilt is considered a form of PTSD), adults must have all of these for at least a month: A re-experiencing symptom (a flashback to the event, a bad dream or bad thoughts) An avoidance symptom (staying away from reminders or thoughts of the event) At least two arousal/reactivity symptoms (being startled, angry, sleepless or on edge) At least two cognition and mood symptoms (feelings of guilt or blame, negative thoughts, trouble remembering details about the event, loss of interest in enjoyable events) To treat those with survivor guilt, Shah says, it's first critical to recognize the symptoms: the irritability, the lack of sleep, the depression, the anxiousness, the fear. "First of all, you need to be aware that you're suffering from survivor guilt, or your family or friends need to recognize it," Shah says. "You try to tell the person that you're not alone in this." Allowing time to grieve is important, Shah says. And you can't put a timeframe on that. "You need to grieve in a way you would like to grieve," he says. That said, taking the guilt and the grief and using them in a positive fashion educating people, say, or advocating for change is something that many find helpful, Shah says. Getting back to a normal routine as soon as possible can help with the healing. It's important, too, to assess whether guilt and grief is affecting the ability to function in the everyday world. If it is, that's time for professional help, which can involve psychotherapy and medications. How long can a person feel guilty or suffer through grief before looking for help? "The point is not related to timeframe," Shah says. "It's related to your function and capability." There is a danger, as with the recent suicides of a Sandy Hook parent and two Parkland students, that those grappling with survivor guilt may find the struggle too much to bear. It is trauma beget from trauma. "Please keep a watch on them, especially during those milestones [anniversaries of the event, birthdays, etc.] and if you see something ... that is the time to get them attention," Shah says. "You can save them." Learn more about survivor guilt in "Survivor Guilt: How to Survive It" by Braden Daniels. HowStuffWorks picks related titles based on books we think you'll like. Should you choose to buy one, we'll receive a portion of the sale. NOW THAT'S INTERESTING More than 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2017, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. But many more, some suffering with mental illnesses like PTSD and survivor guilt, attempt suicide unsuccessfully. In 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.3 million Americans survived a suicide attempt. If you or someone you know is in crisis, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is at 800-273-TALK (8255), or you can use the National Suicide Prevention Hotline chat here. The recently formed Tech Council of Australia wants to see one million people employed in the technology sector by 2025. Kate Pounder, CEO of the Tech Council, said the industry will need an extra 286,000 workers over the next four years. To meet this ambitious target, reskilling and upskilling workers must become the primary way tech jobs are filled. We believe with the right investment, training and regulation the tech sector will provide jobs, economic growth, and a pathway to secure employment for the next generation of Australian workers. According to data from Accenture, which the Tech Council commissioned to put together a report about Australias technology workforce when it formed in August, government policy reform will need to account for 93,000 of the new tech workers needed by 2025 while the rest are predicted to arrive through business-as-usual activities. The figures also estimate 147,000 people will leave the technology workforce in the coming four years. The Tech Councils has picked up 35 new member organisations in the two months since it formed, including the likes of Amazon Web Services, LinkedIn, REA Group, and Seek, and has quickly become a whos who of Australian tech companies and investment firms. As such, its motives are clear: make Australia a more favourable place for tech companies to do business. In a roadmap to one million jobs the lobby group unveiled on Monday, it offered three routes for getting the government to assist with its goal of reaching one million tech jobs over the next four years. First is the direct route, achieved by getting the government to adopt the Tech Councils jobs target, helping re-skill 60,000 early and mid-career workers, and through ongoing targeted skilled migration programs. More workers are needed to reach the Tech Council's targets. Image: supplied But then theres the money route. This is about encouraging more international firms to set up shop in Australia and, crucially, freely allowing money from foreign investors to flow into the sector. Today Australia ranks in the bottom third of OECD countries for domestic capital investment in technology across the economy, the roadmap says. Matching global peers would unlock $14 billion in economic contribution. Finally, theres the regulation route. The Tech Council wants government to take on a loose regulatory stance when it comes to technology in order to reap the economic gains. It proposes a set of principles for government technology regulation including that it have a bias to innovation and growth. Australia can be one of the worlds leaders in creating and adopting new tech products, the Tech Council said. To do this, we need a regulatory environment that is proportionate and predictable for investors, innovators and consumers, interoperable with other jurisdictions, and that consistently follows a set of best practice regulatory principles. Omicidio nella notte a Luserna San Giovanni, nel torinese. Intorno all1.30 un uomo e entrato in un bar e ha ucciso a coltellate una ragazza italiana. Altre due sono state ferite, a quanto si apprende, in maniera non grave. Sul posto sono intervenuti i carabinieri che hanno arrestato un uomo di origine marocchina, ritenuto il responsabile dellaggressione. Ancora sono di conoscono le ragioni del gesto. I carabinieri stanno verificando se i due si conoscessero da prima e se laggressore avesse fatto qualche avances alla vittima. In what the CSIRO describes as a first for the Southern Hemisphere, the breakthrough could support the suppression and potential eradication of Aedes aegypti worldwide. Published today in PNAS (Proceedings National Academy of Sciences of the United States) - the landmark trial involved releasing three million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Northern Queensland, sterilised with bacteria called Wolbachia, across three trial sites over a 20-week period during the summer of 2018. The CSIRO says sterile male insects search out and mate with wild females, preventing the production of offspring and scientists returned the following year and found one of the trial sites, Mourilyan in Queensland, was almost devoid of mosquitoes. CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said the organisation was proud to build on a 100-year legacy of protecting Australia and Australians. The creation of our Health and Biosecurity team back in 2016 meant we were prepared for COVID-19, and that preparation is paying off across other biosecurity threats like mosquitos which spread some of the worlds most serious diseases, Dr Marshall said. Over 40 per cent of humans suffer from mosquito-spread diseases, so its an opportunity for Australia to develop environmentally-friendly mosquito control tools to tackle current and future mosquito incursions. By working with Australian and international partners we can tackle two of Australias greatest challenges at once health and security with breakthrough research translated into effective global export solutions. CSIRO is leveraging great Australian science to create new technologies to make this approach more cost effective and suitable for the climates of less developed countries that suffer most from mosquito-borne viruses, strengthening and protecting our region. JCU Adjunct Professor Scott Ritchie said the Wolbachia trial was a successful international collaboration which saw contemporary science working together with cutting-edge technology, to help eliminate the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito. It was a hugely successful project. We reared the three million male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes needed for the trial in the insectary at James Cook University in Cairns, Prof Ritchie said. Verily Product Manager, Nigel Snoad, said community engagement was also essential to success of the project. It was a huge achievement by the joint team to setup and operate the mosquito rearing, sorting and release systems, and develop strong community engagement and support, Snoad said. We were proud of the work we were able to do in collaboration with the CSIRO, James Cook University and the local community. The ongoing suppression after releases stopped is an important result, indicating that sustained impact is feasible for this disease vector. CSIRO scientist and UQ Associate Professor, Nigel Beebe, said the trial demonstrates this technique is robust and capable of effectively suppressing mosquito populations. During the trial, we saw over 80 per cent of the mosquito population suppressed across our three trial sites, Associate Professor Beebe said. When we surveyed the sites the following year, we were very encouraged to see the suppression still in effect, with one of our most productive towns for Aedes aegypti almost devoid of this mosquito with a 97 per cent reduction across the following season. One year on, the mosquito population at the second trial site remained substantially suppressed, while the population fully recovered at the third site. We are currently investigating the differences observed in the following mosquito season as they are incredibly informative in further developing this technology and in modelling how we could remove this exotic virus-transmitting pest in other locations worldwide. 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. Vote View Results Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Actor to Plead Guilty to Running Hollywood Ponzi Scheme A Los Angeles actor who appeared in low-budget horror and science-fiction movies is expected to plead guilty today to running a $650 million Ponzi scheme. Zachary Joseph Horwitz, who used the name Zach Avery in film credits, allegedly bilked investors who thought their money would finance distribution rights for movies that would run on HBO and Netflix, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Horwitz, who lives in the Beverlywood area, has agreed to plead guilty to one federal count of securities fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars, court papers show. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also sued Horwitz and his firm, 1inMM Capital LLC, in civil court over the alleged scam, which involved the sales of film-licensing rights, primarily in Latin American markets. ADVERTISEMENT Horwitz, 34, operated 1inMM Capital as a Ponzi scheme, using victims money to repay earlier investors and to fund an opulent lifestyle, including the purchase of a $6 million Beverlywood home, federal prosecutors allege. The scheme allegedly began in October 2014, when investment firms began entering into a series of six- or 12-month promissory notes with 1inMM Capital based on Horwitzs statements. The funds supplied under each note were supposed to provide money for 1inMM Capital to acquire the rights to a specific film, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court. Prosecutors allege that to persuade investors he was legitimate, Horwitz provided fake license agreements, as well as fake distribution agreements with Netflix and HBO, all of which allegedly contained forged or fictional signatures. Despite Horwitzs claim of solid relationships with online platforms, representatives for Netflix and HBO deny their companies engaged in any business with Horwitz or 1inMM Capital, prosecutors said. Using his Zach Avery screen name, Horwitz had a bit part in The White Crow, a 2018 biographical drama written by David Hare and directed by Ralph Fiennes that chronicles the life and career of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. Avery also appeared in the little-known films Last Moment of Clarity and Farming, according to IMDB.com. Crews Race to Limit Damage from Major California Oil Spill Crews on the water and on shore worked feverishly Sunday to limit environmental damage from one of the largest oil spills in recent California history, caused by a suspected leak in an underwater pipeline that fouled the sands of famed Huntington Beach and could keep the beaches there closed for weeks or longer. Booms were deployed on the ocean surface to try to contain the oil while divers sought to determine where and why the leak occurred. On land, there was a race to find animals harmed by the oil and to keep the spill from harming any more sensitive marshland. An estimated 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude leaked into the waters off Orange County starting late Friday or early Saturday, when boaters began reporting a sheen in the water, officials said. The pipeline and operations at three off-shore platforms owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp. were shut down Saturday night, CEO Martyn Willsher said. ADVERTISEMENT He said the 17.5-mile (28.16-kilometer) pipeline that is 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) below the surface was suctioned out so no more oil would spill as the location of the leak was being investigated. Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said the beaches of the community nicknamed Surf City could remain closed for weeks or even months. The oil created a miles-wide sheen in the ocean and washed ashore in sticky, black globules. In a year that has been filled with incredibly challenging issues, this oil spill constitutes one of the most devastating situations that our community has dealt with in decades, Carr said. We are doing everything in our power to protect the health and safety of our residents, our visitors and our natural habitats. Some birds and fish were caught in the muck and died, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said. But by early afternoon Saturday the U.S. Coast Guard said there so far was just one ruddy duck that was covered in oil and receiving veterinary care. Other reports of oiled wildlife are being investigated, the Coast Guard said in a statement. Crews led by the Coast Guard-deployed skimmers laid some 3,700 feet (1,128 meters) of floating barriers known as booms to try to stop more oil from seeping into areas including Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre (10-hectare) wetland officials said. A petroleum stench permeated the air throughout the area. ADVERTISEMENT You get the taste in the mouth just from the vapors in the air, Foley said. The oil will likely continue to wash up on the shore for several days and affect Newport Beach and other nearby communities, officials said. The closure included all of Huntington Beach, from the citys north edge about 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) south to the Santa Ana River jetty. The shutdown came amid summerlike weather that would have brought big crowds to the wide strand for volleyball, swimming and surfing. Yellow caution tape was strung between lifeguard towers to keep people away. Officials canceled the final day of the annual Pacific Air Show that typically draws tens of thousands of spectators to the city of about 200,000 residents south of Los Angeles. The show featured flyovers by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. The leaking pipeline connects to an oil production platform named Elly, which in turn is connected by a walkway to a drilling platform named Ellen. Those two platforms and another nearby platform are in federal waters. Elly began operating in 1980 in an area called the Beta Field. Oil pulled from beneath the ocean and processed by Elly is taken by the pipeline to Long Beach. Huntington Beach resident David Rapchun said hes worried about the impact of the spill on the beaches where he grew up as well as the local economy. For the amount of oil these things produce I dont think its worth the risk, Rapchun said. He questioned whether drilling for oil was a wise idea along some of Southern Californias most scenic beaches, noting the loss of the final day of the air show could deal a blow to the local economy. We need oil, but theres always a question: Do we need it there? he said. The spill comes three decades after a massive oil leak hit the same stretch of Orange County coast. On Feb. 7, 1990, the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor off Huntington Beach, spilling nearly 417,000 gallons (1.6 million liters) of crude. Fish and about 3,400 birds were killed. In 2015, a ruptured pipeline north of Santa Barbara sent 143,000 gallons (541,313 liters) of crude oil gushing onto Refugio State Beach. The area affected by the latest spill is home to threatened and endangered species, including a plump shorebird called the snowy plover, the California least tern and humpback whales. The coastal areas off of Southern California are just really rich for wildlife, a key biodiversity hot spot, said Miyoko Sakashita, director of the Center for Biological Diversitys oceans program. The effects of an oil spill are wide-ranging, environmentalists said. Birds that get oil on their feathers cant fly, cant clean themselves and cant monitor their own temperatures, Sakashita said. Whales, dolphins and other sea creatures can have trouble breathing or die after swimming through oil or breathing in toxic fumes, she said. The oil spill just shows how dirty and dangerous oil drilling is and oil that gets into the water. Its impossible to clean it up so it ends up washing up on our beaches and people come into contact with it and wildlife comes in contact with it, she said. It has long-lasting effects on the breeding and reproduction of animals. Its really sad to see this broad swatch oiled. Distribution Problems, Hesitancy Slow Uganda Vaccination Bid The light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickered on and off, infuriating the technician in this remote Ugandan town as he checked the refrigerators filled with vaccine doses to confirm they were still working. If the power supply didnt stabilize, he said, he would have to requisition fuel and start the generator. It keeps going on and off, like a disco light, said the technician, Tony Elong. This is our biggest problem. If I am not here and power is off for many hours, we are likely to lose the vaccines. It needs a timely response. ADVERTISEMENT Power failures are rampant in northern Ugandas Gulu district. For Elong the problem is urgent; two fridges were destroyed by power outages this year. Its among the many logistical issues facing health officials as they expand COVID-19 vaccination into rural areas with the arrival of substantial doses in the previously vaccine-starved nation. Gulu, home to 325,000 people, has given out about 9,000 doses, with only 2,795 people fully vaccinated. The district had 30 AstraZeneca doses and 300 Chinese-made Sinovac ones as of Sept. 23, an artificial shortage in a country with a growing vaccine stock of millions of doses. In recent days, Uganda has received more than 2.2 million doses _ including Pfizer and Moderna _ from the United States, as well as 985,000 AstraZeneca shots from France, Belgium and Ireland. A total of 11,978,840 doses _ donations and purchases via the African Union _ are expected in Uganda by December, President Yoweri Museveni said last week. But Ugandas central storage facility near the capital, Kampala, can only hold 5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines requiring ultra-low temperatures, and some rural areas like Gulu arent equipped to handle either the Pfizer or Moderna shots. As supply grows, officials are trying to whip up enthusiasm for vaccines in rural districts where many, citing safety fears, would rather wait. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters last week that while some African countries such as Rwanda and Zimbabwe are doing well in rolling out vaccines, others like Uganda are struggling, and the agency will be looking to community and religious leaders for help. ADVERTISEMENT Health systems in Africa are among the poorest in the world, plagued by chronic shortages of essential supplies, corruption and an unmotivated workforce. In Nigeria, Africas most populous nation, those challenges are exacerbated by insecurity, with vaccine distribution in rural areas, especially in the countrys volatile north, crippled by the threat of violence. Only 3% of Nigerias 200 million people have received their first dose. In Uganda, an East African nation of 44 million, authorities have ramped up vaccination in the Kampala area, but efforts have largely stalled in rural districts such as Gulu, hampered by hesitancy as well as refrigeration and other distribution problems. Museveni said last week that officials face dismissal in rural areas, which now account for most of the countrys 268 COVID-19 hospitalizations, if vaccines expire under their watch. We are literally dancing around, said Dr. Misaki Wayengera, head of a committee advising Ugandas pandemic response, speaking of the slow vaccine rollout. The government rations doses to districts based on demand expectations, and supplies arent replenished until officials account for doses they previously received. As a result, shortages stemming from delays in reporting back vaccination data can occur. The demand is there, said Dr. Kenneth Canna. But right now what is bogging us down is availability of the vaccine, both in the urban setting and in the rural setting. Associated Press journalists reached a remote area of Gulu where a health center without running water had the districts last supply of 30 AstraZeneca doses. Because a vial contains seven doses that must be accounted for, vaccines arent distributed until seven people are in line. So people come and go without a getting a jab. You cant open the vial when the people are few. If people are few, you will be wasting the vaccine, said Okello Labedo, a clinical officer in charge of the Awach health center, speaking through a frayed mask. The turnout among the elderly is very poor. I think it is because of the distance. Amos Okello, a farmer who had waited several hours under a mango tree, expressed disappointment he would be going home without a shot after traveling many kilometers on a rented bike. They said, `If you come alone you cannot get the vaccine, Okello said. I cant go and force someone from his home to come here and get the vaccine. While its important for me to get the vaccine, tomorrow I might not be able to come back, he added. Patrick Okot, a commodities trader in Gulu who received his first AstraZeneca shot in May, said he considered traveling to another district for the second one, but is discouraged by the cost. You might go there and you find that they also dont have vaccines, he said. Ugandas goal is to vaccinate 4.8 million of its most vulnerable people _ including those age 50 and above _ but so far 348,000 are fully vaccinated, according to official figures. And only 37% of the countrys 150,000 health care workers are fully vaccinated, highlighting the slow rollout that led authorities to begin vaccinating students and others in a bid to prevent the expiration of doses. Authorities have warned schools wont reopen until all teachers and staff are fully vaccinated, a mandate that briefly caused lines at rural vaccination sites. Yet many came hoping there would be no doses, underscoring hesitancy in the aftermath of reports of rare blood clots in a small number of people getting the AstraZeneca vaccine. The pressure is now bringing them, said Lily Apio, a nurse in charge of immunization at the Aywee health center just outside Gulu town. Alfred Akena, a schoolteacher waiting to get the Sinovac vaccine, said he was compelled by the government mandate to get the shot but he urged his wife not to, citing safety concerns. They put pressure on us, so today I came to get vaccinated, he said. I told my wife, `Let me first go. When the worst comes to the worst, she will take care of my children. That view was echoed by college student Onen Richard, who spoke of vaccination as just like school rules and regulations that he didnt think were in his interest. That morning, after six men had signed consent forms, Apio informed them only five Sinovac doses were available. One of the men quickly stood up and left. Ethiopian PM Begins 2nd Term Saying War Exacts Heavy Price Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in Monday for a second five-year term running a country in the grip of a nearly year-long war against Tigray forces he described as hateful toward the nation, while a handful of visiting African leaders urged him to hold things together. The Tigray conflict has made us pay a heavy price, Abiy told a crowd in the capital, Addis Ababa. And he bristled at international pressure as concerns grow over the wars human toll, saying there are those who showed us their true friendship and those who betrayed us. He didnt name names. Abiys Prosperity Party was declared the winner of parliamentary elections earlier this year in a vote criticized and at times boycotted by opposition parties, but described by some outside electoral observers as better run than those in the past. ADVERTISEMENT The prime minister, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner for restoring ties with neighboring Eritrea and for pursuing sweeping political reforms, now faces major challenges as war in the Tigray region spreads into other parts of the country, deadly ethnic violence continues and watchdogs warn that repressive government practices are on the return. Abiy said the country will start an inclusive national dialogue that includes everyone who believes in a roundtable discussion, led by Ethiopians. The 11-month war is weakening Ethiopias economy, once one of Africas fastest-growing, and threatening to isolate Abiy, once seen as a regional peacemaker. Six African heads of state _ from Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and neighboring Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and South Sudan _ attended Mondays ceremony. Today, more than ever before, we hope to see an Ethiopian nation that is at peace with itself, Djiboutis president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, told the crowd. We all know how fragile peace is in our region. We remain certain that the Ethiopian nation is bigger and stronger than whatever ails her. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta added that Ethiopia is our mother. If our mother is not at peace, neither can the family be at peace. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, in a message shared by his information minister, expressed hope that the trajectory of his country and Ethiopia will be further enhanced and consolidated in spite of efforts by negative external forces of regression. The president, who has never allowed national elections since independence from Ethiopia, didnt attend Mondays events. ADVERTISEMENT Ethiopias government last week faced condemnation from the United Nations, the United States and several European nations after it expelled seven U.N. officials it accused of supporting the Tigray forces who have been battling Ethiopian and allied forces. The government is under growing pressure as people begin to starve to death in Tigray under what the U.N. has called a de facto humanitarian blockade. Last week the U.N. humanitarian chief told The Associated Press that the situation in Ethiopia is a stain on our conscience. The U.S. has threatened further sanctions if humanitarian access to Tigray isnt granted soon and the warring sides dont take steps toward peace. Thousands of people have been killed in the war waged between the Tigray forces who once dominated the national government and Ethiopian and allied forces. As Abiy faces another term, I think it will give the government the chance to renew its commitment to reform and to enhance the human rights situation in the country, Amnesty International researcher Fisseha Tekle told The Associated Press. They have a parliament which is dominated by one ruling party, so if they have the commitment, they also have the opportunity to do that. The results of a joint investigation into the conflict by the U.N. human rights office and the government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission will be released on Nov. 1, a few days before the wars one-year mark. L.A. Men to Plead Guilty to Federal Hate Crime Charge Guilty pleas are expected today from two Los Angeles men accused of attacking diners at a family-owned Turkish restaurant while shouting anti-Turkish slurs, hurling chairs at the victims and threatening to kill them. William Stepanyan and Harutyun Chalikyan both agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and a hate crime count. After they enter their pleas to the two felony offenses, the defendants will each face up to 15 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Turkey and Armenia have a long history of conflict, part of which has stemmed from Turkeys support of Azerbaijan in its border conflict with Armenia. When a new war broke out between Armenian and Azeri military forces in September 2020, tensions in Turkish and Armenian communities escalated worldwide, including in the United States. Numerous protests and counter protests, pitting individuals of Armenian and Turkish descent against one another, took place in Los Angeles County. ADVERTISEMENT According to his plea agreement, on Nov. 4 last year, Stepanyan, 23, who is Armenian-American and lives in Glendale, sent a text message saying that he planned to go hunting for Turks. Later that day, Stepanyan met with Chalikyan, 24, of Tujunga, and other Armenian-Americans to protest what they considered to be Turkish aggression against Armenians, express their contempt for Turkey and show their support for Armenia. Stepanyan, Chalikyan and various unindicted accomplices drove to the restaurant in Beverly Hills, where the defendants stormed inside. Stepanyan and Chalikyan, who were both wearing masks during the attack, flung chairs at the victims while shouting derogatory slurs about Turkish people, according to papers filed in Los Angeles federal court. Four of the five victims were of Turkish descent. At least one of the defendants threatened to kill the victims, shouting: We came to kill you! We will kill you! according to the DOJ. During the attack, multiple victims were injured, including one individual who lost feeling in their legs and collapsed multiple times due to the injury. Also, during the attack, Stepanyan ripped out the restaurants computer terminals and stole a victims iPhone, according to the DOJ. The restaurant reported at least $20,000 in damage and had to close temporarily, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost revenue. LA City Council To Consider Motion Aimed At Developing Public Bank The Los Angeles City Council today will consider authorizing the Chief Legislative Analyst to seek contractors or consultants to help the city create a public bank. The vote comes nearly two years after former City Council President Herb Wesson introduced a motion aimed at establishing the citys first public banking institution. That motion introduced on Oct. 11, 2019 was seconded by Councilmen Mike Bonin and Paul Koretz and passed 14-0 on Dec. 4, 2019. The council members proposed the motion soon after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 857, which allows statewide establishment of public banks. A public bank is a huge and essential step to building back better from the COVID crisis and from the recession, Bonin said in a statement to City News Service Monday. With a public bank, we can invest in our neighborhoods, promote affordable housing, help struggling small businesses, support a just transition to a green economy, and advance equity. This is an exciting opportunity to create a system that champions people and not special interests, and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss it with my friends, colleagues and neighbors. Public banks are intended to focus local investment by offering business loans and could be used to finance public supportive housing among other projects, according to proponents of the system. ADVERTISEMENT The motion advanced out of the Economic Development and Jobs Committee on May 11, with unanimous recommendations from the committee members. According to a report by the CLA, the city should seek voters approval before forming the bank, though it is not required by state law. In 2018, before AB 857 was signed into law, L.A. voters denied the city the authority to create a public bank in a ballot measure, with 44% voting in favor of establishing a public bank and 56% opposing. The motion, if approved today, would authorize the Chief Legislative Analyst to draft and release a request for proposals in 60 days to seek services needed to create a public bank serving Los Angeles. The selected consultant or subcontractor would have to have a history of working for and studying public banks or other mission-based financial institutions, as well as have experience facilitating community stakeholder consultations. The public banks business operations would include: credit access for small businesses, particularly those owned by or employing residents in neighborhoods deemed socioeconomically disadvantaged; affordable and social housing finance; climate change mitigation and green energy investment, governance and accountability; and transformative credit programs for preserving and developing economic growth and worker and tenant ownership. The CLA would also report back to the City Council on the timeline for establishing the public bank. The idea for a public banking system gained national attention in 2016 after activists at the Dakota Access Pipeline called for divesting from large banks that financed portions of the project. North Dakota has had state-run banks for the last 100 years. Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, who supported AB 857, said at the time that public banking was the one controversial issue hes seen where the publics voice was effective enough to sway the legislatures vote without a lobbyists involvement. Trinity Tran of Public Bank L.A. and the California Public Banking Alliance said in 2019 that divesting from public banks could keep the money within local communities. The city could also partner with credit unions, and the bank would be a government nonprofit organization overseen by an independent board of directors and managed by professional bankers. The California Bankers Association opposed AB 857s signing, saying public banks are risky and that they could undermine the financing of future municipal projects. Earlier this year, the association also opposed AB 1177, or the California Public Banking Option Act, which the Los Angeles City Council voted to support. ADVERTISEMENT The California Public Banking Option Act, which passed the legislature on Sept. 9, would explore creating a BankCal program to be the first statewide program in the U.S. to offer residents access to a no-fee, no-penalty bank account, including a debit card, automatic bill pay, direct deposit capacity and an infrastructure for the account holder to build credit. The bill was co-authored and introduced by Santiago. According to the states legislative information site, the bill was presented to Newsom but has not yet been signed. LAPD Chief Reports On `Alarming Rise in Auto Thefts Amid an alarming rise in auto thefts in Los Angeles that began when the COVID-19 pandemic started, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore today urged people to take precautions to protect their vehicles. Auto thefts in Los Angeles have risen 48% in 2021 compared to two years ago, with an additional 5,613 vehicles stolen this year versus 2019, Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission. The increase follows a decade of year-over-year auto theft reduction. Currently, were studying instances in which auto theft, which is typically a zero-bail booking process, of how many individuals are being re- arrested for new auto theft occasions and whether or not this bail and court operations, which are deferring arraignments and trials for months toward the future, is somehow facilitating or allowing this increase in auto thefts, Moore said. The Los Angeles Police Departments arrests of auto theft suspects have increased by 30% over a two year period, which is almost 700 additional arrests, according to Moore. The vast majority of vehicles stolen are recovered within three to five days, sometimes in the same area theyre stolen from and sometimes from areas outside the city, Moore said. He urged motorists to make sure they remove their keys from their vehicle when they park. He also told people who park inside a garage to not store their keys on a hook inside that same garage. ADVERTISEMENT That may appear to be common sense to many, but what were finding is that people are leaving keys for convenience so that other people can move their vehicles in and out of tandem operations and other types of locations where people are storing their vehicles, Moore said. Moore also informed the commission on increases in the citys number of homicides and shooting victims, which have also been experienced across the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So far in 2021, Los Angeles has seen a 25% increase in shooting violence compared to the same period last year, which represents an additional 223 victims. Homicides have increased 47% compared to the same period last year. Homicides across the country increased nearly 30% in 2020 and rose at a slower rate in 2021, the New York Times reported on Sept. 22. The newspaper noted that the reasons for the increase havent been fully understood, but experts have cited stress from the pandemic, strained relationships between the public and the police and an increase in gun ownership. Moore has also cited pandemic stresses and an increase in firearms as reasons for the increase in gun violence. Too many guns in too many hands, he told the Police Commission earlier this year. Marcus Delgado is The Director Who Can Do This From Day One Marcus Delgado is the rumored favorite of the Biden administration to be the nest director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO). Its time that President Biden made the nomination rumor a reality, so the Senate can swiftly confirm him. If youre wondering why I care enough to speak out about this highly technical, legal position that most Americans rarely, if ever, think about, its because Ive lived through the last year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic like you. I felt frustration and anger when our childrens homes were turned into their virtual classrooms, yet only 1 in 3 African American homes with school-aged children had high-speed internet. I worried about what life after the pandemic would look like for long-term medical treatments and technologies that might be out of financial reach for our poorest communities in the name of protecting pharmaceutical companies intellectual property and bottom lines. Issues like the digital divide, medication and medical technology pricing, and a host of others that affect all our lives land at the doorstep of the director of the USPTO. The USPTO protects and regulates all the intellectual property and new technology that we cant live without. Thats why I care who President Biden and the US Senate puts in that seat. You may not yet know Marcus Delgado, but in the world of patents and trademarks, hes an accomplished and respected household name. In fact, theres probably a piece of technology in your home or office whose patent history includes the name Marcus Delgado. What has Marcus Delgado done to earn my praise? Hes the proud son of a single mother educator, product of Chicagos South Side who taught himself computer programming before he was finished with elementary school. At every major turn in his life, he did what every successful African American in this country has had to do: when folks told him all the things he couldnt do, he said just watch me. When he was told that getting a degree in physics from Boston University then a JD from UCLA Law was beyond his capabilities, he got those degrees anyway. When he was discouraged from pursuing patent law one of the hardest specialties there is because it would be too much for him, he passed the California patent and trademark bar on his first try. The, for more than 20 years, he served as the chief intellectual property and patent counsel for Fortune 100 companies like AT&T and Cox Enterprises. But most importantly for me, Marcus Delgado lives what Ive been preaching my whole life: lift while we climb. For example, while he was at Cox Enterprises, he launched its first career pipeline program for African American college students. ADVERTISEMENT Ive been in this fight for equal representation and opportunity for more than seven decades. Ive seen too many talented and qualified African American men and women overlooked because they didnt fit the mold of those in positions of power and influence. Or they dont look like who preceded them. It wasnt just a shame for those who remained invisible to those in power; it was a loss for all of us for the leadership, innovation, progress, and solutions they couldve offered us. Mr. Delgado wants to lend his intellect, imagination, and experience to public service and thats an offer wed be foolish to turn down. Furthermore, the USPTO must earn the confidence of the titans of technology in this country and abroad, watchdog groups, and basement entrepreneurs with big dreams. Mr. Delgado is the Director who can do this from Day One. President Biden and US Senators: Marcus Delgado has earned and deserves our support not just because hell be the first African American director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office-but because hell be the director who will see the challenges we face as another opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. Dr. Hazel N. Dukes serves as the President of NAACP New York State Conference. She is a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors, NAACP Executive Committee, and a pioneering civil rights advocate. Nigerian Doctors Call off 2-month Strike Despite Pay Arrears Doctors in Nigerias government hospitals have suspended a two-month strike for payment of salaries owed to many and improved working conditions. The resident doctors, the mainstay of health care at government hospitals throughout the West African country, said they will resume work Wednesday after they achieved some positive results in talks with the government, Dr. Dare Ishaya, president of the National Association of Resident Doctors, told The Associated Press Monday. Although members owed salary arrears are beginning to get paid, some key demands that led to the strike have still not been addressed, said Ishaya. The outstanding demands include salary shortfalls and arrears, some owed for more than a year, failure to increase the 5,000 naira ($12) monthly health hazard allowance last reviewed in 1991, and failure of some states to implement the monthly national minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($73) for the resident doctors. ADVERTISEMENT However, even with their grievances not fully addressed, the doctors have decided to return to work because, the masses are bearing the brunt of the strike amid Nigerias battle with the third wave of the pandemic, Ishaya said. About 20 of our colleagues died as a result of the pandemic, he added. On Aug. 3, the resident doctors in Nigeria, Africas most populous nation with 206 million people, embarked on their fourth strike since the pandemic began, leaving government-run hospitals and COVID-19 treatment centers short-staffed. The doctors organization has 16,000 members, according to its immediate past president, making it one of the largest single groups in Nigerias health sector. The doctors have also urged the government to improve working conditions in hospitals and to provide adequate funding for the health sector. Nigerias minister of health has not yet responded to all the doctors demands but the problem of poor funding is not new in the health sector. According to budget documents reviewed by AP, Nigerias public health sector has not been sufficiently funded for years despite the country having one of Africas biggest economies. In 2021, for instance, funding for the Federal Ministry of Health was only 4% of the entire national budget, or 549.8 billion naira ($1.34 billion). An additional 70.2 billion naira ($171.6 million) was provided because of the pandemic but that allocation is still considerably lower than the African Unions recommendation that governments increase health care spending by 15% during the pandemic. Previous dialogues between the doctors and Nigerias federal government to address the challenges facing the health sector have collapsed and authorities have gone as far as threatening to replace the striking doctors if they do not resume work. ADVERTISEMENT On Sept. 17, a court granted an application filed by the government which ordered the doctors to call off the strike, and both parties continue to negotiate even as the case is still in court. The doctors rejected the court ruling and the governments posture in addressing issues raised. If we had sat on the table and agreed on these things from the beginning, the strike would not have reached even a week, Ishaya told AP. A new report shows how world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires and others have used secret accounts to hide property worth trillions of dollars. The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) brought promises of tax reform and demands for resignations and investigations. Explanations and denials from those targeted followed. The investigation, named the Pandora Papers, was published Sunday night. It involved 600 journalists from 150 media groups in 117 countries. The reporters examined accounts based in traditional island havens like the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Hong Kong and Belize. But, the investigation also found such accounts hidden in less expected places, including the U.S. states of South Dakota and Florida. Tax advisers helped the worlds wealthiest and most powerful people hide their ownership of the properties to avoid tax requirements. While many of the accounts are legal, they are ethically questionable. Critics say the property owners should have paid taxes on their sales and purchases. Sven Giegold is a member of the European parliament. He said: Global tax evasion fuels global inequality. Oxfam International is a British aid group. In a statement, it said the missing tax dollars result in fewer public projects, like hospitals and schools. This is where the pay-packets sit of all the extra teachers and firefighters and public servants we need, Oxfam wrote. Some of the owners published in the report include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and King Abdullah II of Jordan. Other names were Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Ecuadors president Guillermo Lasso and close contacts of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan. The report follows from an earlier investigation called the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers showed the true owners of secret bank accounts in places such as the American state of Nevada, the British Virgin Islands and Singapore. The ICIJ says the Panama Papers led many politicians to leave office and countries around the world to demand over $1 billion in unpaid taxes. After Sundays report, the European Commission said it will propose new laws that will make it harder for people to avoid paying taxes. The newest report covers activity from as long ago as the 1970s, but most is from the last 25 years. The ICIJ shows that King Abdullah created over 30 companies from 1995 to 2017 to secretly buy 14 homes worth more than $100 million. One is a $23 million property on the California coast. In a statement, the King denied any wrongdoing and said the secrecy was necessary for security reasons. King Abdullahs lawyers said he is not required to pay taxes under his countrys law. They also said most of the companies and properties are not connected to the King or no longer exist. They did not provide details, however. The report also detailed a purchase of a company by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He took over a building in London valued at almost $9 million. But instead of buying the building, Blair purchased a company that owned the building. The company was owned by a politician from Bahrain. The investigation showed this saved the Blairs more than $400,000 in taxes. The Blairs said they did not know who owned the company, which they said is now closed. Another property deal in Britain is being studied. The Pandora Papers report looked at a purchase of a building valued at $91 million by The Crown Estate, a property business owned by Queen Elizabeth. The Guardian, a British newspaper, said the purchase should be investigated for possible money laundering. The building was owned at the time by Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan. Aliyev has been accused of corruption during his term, which started in 2003. President Khan of Pakistan is not accused of any wrongdoing. However, officials close to him, including the countrys finance minister, Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, are accused of hiding millions of dollars in wealth in secret companies or trusts. In reaction, Khan said his government will investigate every Pakistani citizen named in the papers. The ICIJ report also showed Babis, of the Czech Republic, put $22 million into a company so he could buy a large home in southern France in 2009. He did not document the company or the home as required by law. Babis said he did nothing wrong and that the report came out just in time to hurt him before the Czech election later this week. Critics worldwide said weak laws that allow wealthy people to avoid taxes are the true problem. Cory Doctorow is a writer and activist. He wrote about the news on Twitter, noting: The legality is the true scandal, and called the companies that hold the costly properties a fiction. Gabriel Zucman, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley believes the solution is easy to understand: Ban corporations with no economic substance, whose sole purpose is to avoid taxes or other laws. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, said the laws as they are currently written permit wealthy elites to avoid paying their fair share while working families are forced to make up the difference. Im Dan Friedell. And Im Caty Weaver. Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by The Associated Press. Caty Weaver was the editor. Do you think people who avoid taxes be punished? Tell us in the Comments Section and visit our Facebook page. __________________________________________________ Words in This Story trust n. an arrangement in which someone's property or money is legally held or managed by someone else or by an organization (such as a bank) for usually a set period of time haven n. a place where you are protected from danger, trouble, etc. evasion n. the act of avoiding something that you do not want to do or deal with : the act of evading something packet n. a small envelope or package, informal money laundering n. moving money obtained illegally so that it looks like it was earned legally scandal n. an occurrence in which people are shocked and upset because of behavior that is morally or legally wrong fiction n. something that is not true sole adj. only or single elite n. the people who have the most wealth and status in a society : the most successful or powerful group of people American scientists say they have created a vaccine patch that provides greater protection against infectious diseases than traditional injections. A 3D printer is used to make the patch, which is smaller than the tip of a finger. Each patch which contains many small micro-needles can be put directly on the skin. The researchers said in a statement the experiments showed the patch provided an immune response 10 times greater than vaccines injected into arm muscles. And they reported it offered an immune response 50 times greater than vaccines injected under the skin. The tests were carried out on mice, with plans to expand the experiments to humans. The results were recently described in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The team was led by scientists from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. The researchers say the increased effectiveness happens because the patch releases substances directly into the skin, which is full of immune cells that are targeted by vaccines. The scientists say that in addition to the patch vaccine being better at fighting disease, it has several other advantages over traditional injections. The patch is painless, does not require cold storage and can be given by individuals themselves. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of vaccines as a way to control viruses in massive populations. But there are barriers that prevent some populations from getting the injections. One of these is the need to keep the vaccines in cold storage. Another is that it can be difficult for people in many parts of the world to get to a place that can administer the shots. The researchers developing the patch say they hope the method will one day help solve these issues and increase vaccine access to millions more people around the world. And because of how the patch works, a smaller amount of vaccine can be used. Shaomin Tian is a researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the UNC School of Medicine. She helped lead the study. She said in a statement that the team was able to overcome manufacturing difficulties that have hurt efforts in the past to create an effective patch vaccine that uses micro-needles. Tian said one problem with past methods was a reduction in needle sharpness from repeated manufacturing using patch molds. But the researchers new method permitted them to directly 3D print the patches. Which gives us lots of design latitude for making the best micro-needles from a performance and cost point-of-view, Tian said. The team says it is continuing to work on developing ways to include current COVID-19 vaccines - such as those from Pfizer and Moderna - for use in micro-needle patches for future testing. The method could be used for other disease vaccines as well. Other research has been done on the use of vaccine patches. Last year, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh announced they had developed a COVID-19 vaccine that could be delivered into the skin through a patch of 400 micro-needles. And in Australia, researchers from the University of Queensland reported in June they had created a vaccine patch that demonstrated extremely clear results in tests on mice. The scientists said the patches produced much stronger and more protective immune responses against COVID-19 than traditional vaccine delivery methods. Im Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stanford University, University of Queensland, University of Pittsburgh and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Susan Shand was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. Quiz - Scientists Say Vaccine Patch More Effective than Injections Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ____________________________________________ Words in This Story patch n. a small piece of material that is worn on the skin and contains a substance that enters the body through the skin needle n. a think, sharp, metal part of a piece of medical equipment used to take blood out of the body or put medicine in immune adj. if you are immune to a disease, you will not get it response n. a reaction to something advantage n. something (such as a good position or condition) that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others access n. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone mold n. a container that is used to make something in a particular shape latitude n. freedom to do what you want deliver v. transport something from one place to another Two American scientists have won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of how the body senses temperature and touch. The Nobel Committee in Stockholm, Sweden announced the winners David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian on Monday. In a statement, the committee said findings by the two scientists are being used to develop new treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain. Julius and Patapoutian separately identified receptors in the skin as part of their work in the field of somatosensation. The field explores the ability of specialized organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel. Julius used capsaicin, the active substance in chili peppers, to help identify nerve sensors that react to heat. Patapoutian discovered pressure-sensitive parts of cells that react to mechanical force on our skin. In announcing the winners, Nobel Committee Secretary-General Thomas Perlmann said, This really unlocks one of the secrets of nature. He added: Its actually something that is crucial for our survival. Julius is a 65-year-old professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Patapoutian was born in 1967 to Armenian parents in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles in his youth. He is a currently a professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. Julius said he hopes his work will lead to the development of new pain drugs. He explained that in his case, the study of biology behind everyday activities led to the important discovery. We eat chili peppers and menthol, but often times, you dont think about how that works, Julius said. Oscar Marin is the director of the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Kings College London. He told the Associated Press the choice of winners demonstrates how little scientists know about how our bodies react to outside forces. While we understood the physiology of the senses, what we didn't understand was how we sensed differences in temperature or pressure, Marin said. Knowing how our body senses these changes is fundamental because once we know those molecules, they can be targeted." Marin said the discoveries opened a whole new field in drug research. He noted that scientists are already working to develop medicines to target the receptors the two prize-winners identified. He predicted that new treatments for pain would likely come first. But he added that knowing how the body identifies changes in pressure could also one day lead to new drugs for heart disease. The two winners will each receive an equal share of the $1.1 million in prize money. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is the first to be awarded this year. Other prizes are given for work in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics. Some scientists had suggested this years prize for medicine might be awarded to those involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines. But others said such a choice was likely too soon. The mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and by Pfizer-BioNTech have revolutionized the fight against the coronavirus. They are produced quickly and have proven to be highly effective. "This technique will get the prize sooner or later, of that I am sure," said Ali Mirazami. He is a professor at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He added: "The question is when." Im Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. __________________________________________ Words in This Story chronic adj. an illness of problem that continues for a long time range n. a group or collection of different things or people that are usually similar in some way unlock v. to make something available for use mechanical adj. relating to or operated by machines crucial adj. extremely important or necessary profound adj. strong or extreme menthol n. a solid, white natural substance that smells and tastes like mint physiology n. the study of the way in which the bodies of living things work fundamental adj. forming a base from which everything else develops technique n. a way of doing an activity that requires skill Qatar has given scholarships to members of a female robotics team from Afghanistan, the nation's education and science organization said on Tuesday. The team has been called the "Afghan Dreamers" and includes young scientists from ages 14 to 17. Qatar has been helping with the efforts to take Afghans and foreigners who face risks in Afghanistan out of the country from Kabul airport. Those people include members of the robotics team. They are staying in housing at Doha's Education City area of schools and universities. In a statement, the Qatar Foundation said the young women will be able to continue their studies "through a partnership between Qatar Foundation and Qatar Fund for Development." The team of high school students has about 20 members, mostly in their teenage years. They are now living in several places with some in Qatar and some in Mexico. The young women were in the news in 2017 because they could not get travel documents to take part in a robotics competition in Washington D.C. They were permitted to travel when then-President Donald Trump urged the State Department to make it possible. Working to improve medical care Last year, they worked to build a low-cost medical ventilator from car parts. A ventilator is a machine that helps very sick people breathe. Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al-Thani is vice-chairwoman and chief executive of the Qatar Foundation. She said, "These talented, creative students have been living through a time of uncertainty and upheaval, and at Qatar Foundation we want to do whatever we can. By providing them with scholarships to study at Education City, their education can now continue uninterrupted." She added that the foundation was learning about the young scientists needs to decide on the right schools or pre-university programs for them. The Taliban's seizure of power has caused some people to flee the country. Many Afghans fear a return to the severe Islamic law the Taliban enforced during the groups rule from 1996 to 2001. An inspiration U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with several members of the team recently during a visit to Qatar. "You're famous around the world and a source of inspiration," he told them. Their story about the importance of women taking part in scientific work sends an important message around the world, well beyond Afghanistan," he added. Roya Mahboob is the founder of the Digital Citizen Fund, the parent organization of the team. She said the young women were "excited and grateful for this opportunity. Several other members of the robotics team have been moved to Mexico. They were not identified for security reasons. The Associated Press reported one team member saying the team was grateful to Mexico for saving our lives. She said thanks to Mexicos actions, our story will not end in a sad way because of the Taliban. Im Jill Robbins. Jill Robbins adapted this story from VOA News for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. _________________________________________________ Words in This Story scholarship n. payment for schooling talented adj. having a special ability to do something well : having talent upheaval n. a major change or period of change that causes a lot of conflict, confusion, or anger uninterrupted adj. not stopped or block; permitted to continue inspiration n. a person, place, experience, or the like that makes someone want to do or create something grateful adj. feeling or showing thanks What do you think of Qatars offer to help the robotics team? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. Examples of deep Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) overlay images. Maximum intensity projection (MIP) images are on left, and MIP images with the SHAP overlay are on right. Positive SHAP values (red) show areas that contribute to a high probability of lesion presence, negative SHAP values (blue) show locations with reduced probability. (A) Sagittal MIP images of contrast-enhanced breast MRI scan of an invasive ductal carcinoma in a 57-year-old woman with Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category 4. The deep learning (DL) model yielded a probability of lesion presence of 90%. Positive SHAP values (red) are shown to coincide with the location of the lesion (arrows). (B) Sagittal MIP images of contrast-enhanced breast MRI scan of a breast without lesions in a 53-year-old woman with BI-RADS 1 score. The DL model yielded a probability of lesion presence of 11%. Negative SHAP values (blue) are diffusely distributed in the breast region. (C) Transverse MIP images of contrast-enhanced breast MRI scan of a ductal carcinoma in situ in a 65-year-old woman with BI-RADS 4 score. The DL model yielded a probability of lesion presence of 32%the lowest probability value among all breasts with malignant disease in our study. Positive SHAP values (red) are shown to coincide with the location of the lesion (arrows). Credit: Radiological Society of North America An automated system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) can quickly and accurately sift through breast MRIs in women with dense breasts to eliminate those without cancer, freeing up radiologists to focus on more complex cases, according to a study published in Radiology. Mammography has helped reduce deaths from breast cancer by providing early detection when the cancer is most treatable. However, it is less sensitive in women with extremely dense breasts than in women with fatty breasts. In addition, women with extremely dense breasts have a three- to six-times higher risk of developing breast cancer than women with almost entirely fatty breasts and a twofold higher risk than the average woman. Supplemental screening in women with extremely dense breasts increases the sensitivity of cancer detection. Research from the Dense Tissue and Early Breast Neoplasm Screening (DENSE) Trial, a large study based in the Netherlands, supported the use of supplemental screening with MRI. "The DENSE trial showed that additional MRI screening for women with extremely dense breasts was beneficial," said study lead author Erik Verburg, M.Sc., from the Image Sciences Institute at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. "On the other hand, the DENSE trial confirmed that the vast majority of screened women do not have any suspicious findings on MRI." Since most MRIs show normal anatomical and physiological variation that may not require radiological review, ways to triage these normal MRIs to reduce radiologist workload are needed. In the first study of its kind, Verburg and colleagues set out to determine the feasibility of an automated triaging method based on deep learning, a sophisticated type of AI. They used breast MRI data from the DENSE trial to develop and train the deep learning model to distinguish between breasts with and without lesions. The model was trained on data from seven hospitals and tested on data from an eighth hospital. More than 4,500 MRI datasets of extremely dense breasts were included. Of the 9,162 breasts, 838 had at least one lesion, of which 77 were malignant, and 8,324 had no lesions. The deep learning model considered 90.7% of the MRIs with lesions to be non-normal and triaged them to radiological review. It dismissed about 40% of the lesion-free MRIs without missing any cancers. "We showed that it is possible to safely use artificial intelligence to dismiss breast screening MRIs without missing any malignant disease," Verburg said. "The results were better than expected. Forty percent is a good start. However, we have still 60% to improve." The AI-based triaging system has the potential to significantly reduce radiologist workload, Verburg said. In the Netherlands alone, nearly 82,000 women may be eligible for biennial MRI breast screening based on breast density. "The approach can first be used to assist radiologists to reduce overall reading time," Verburg said. "Consequently, more time could become available to focus on the really complex breast MRI examinations." The researchers plan to validate the model in other datasets and deploy it in subsequent screening rounds of the DENSE trial. Explore further For women with dense breasts, MRIs are cost effective for detecting breast cancer More information: Stefanie G. A. Veenhuizen et al, Supplemental Breast MRI for Women with Extremely Dense Breasts: Results of the Second Screening Round of the DENSE Trial, Radiology (2021). Journal information: Radiology Stefanie G. A. Veenhuizen et al, Supplemental Breast MRI for Women with Extremely Dense Breasts: Results of the Second Screening Round of the DENSE Trial,(2021). DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2021203633 Credit: Shutterstock Genomic testingthe ability to read an individual's genetic code and identify their risk of conditions such as cancerhas opened up huge possibilities in personalized medicine. But it has also introduced serious ethical challenges. Particularly, there is the danger of life insurance companies using such information to discriminate against those at higher risk of conditions. Canada, Britain and most European countries have already banned or restricted life insurers from using genetic test results. Australia's response so far has been mostly to leave it to industry self-regulation. But our research suggests most health professionals don't think this is enough. More than 90% of the experts we surveyed agreed more government oversight is required. Australia's regulatory approach Australia's federal Private Health Insurance Act (2017) prohibits health insurers from using genetic information to discriminate against customers. But there is no legal prohibition against life insurers using results to charge people higher premiums or deny them coverage altogether. This applies to death cover, total and permanent disability, critical illness/trauma and income-protection cover. In 2018 a joint parliamentary inquiry recommended a prohibition against life insurers using the outcomes of predictive genetic tests, at least in the medium term. It also recommended the government maintain a watching brief and consider legislation in future. The federal government did not respond to the inquiry's report, leaving it to the industry to self-regulate. In 2019 the financial services industry's peak body, the Financial Services Council, introduced a five-year moratorium on insurers using applicants' genetic test results up to certain financial limits. Life insurers can only ask for or use genetic test results for policies worth more than A$500,000 for death cover or total and permanent disability cover, A$200,000 for critical illness/trauma cover, and $4,000/month for income protection. Given the median yearly household income is about A$122,000, these thresholds are arguably too low to prevent insurers from using genetic test results in many cases. Our survey results With the moratorium now half over (it will end in 2024), we surveyed health professionals to gauge their views about Australia's approach. The survey was part of a federal government-funded research project to evaluate the moratorium. Of 166 respondents, 121 were genetic specialistsgeneticists and genetic counselors who help people make sense of and make decisions about genetic testing. There are 480 such specialists in Australia registered with the Human Genetics Society of Australasia. With genetic testing increasingly being offered outside genetics clinics, we also invited specialists such as oncologists to take part. Not everyone answered every question, so the following percentages are based on those that answered specific questions. While 93% agreed consumers are better protected under the moratorium, 88% remained concerned about genetic discrimination. The most common complaints were that the financial thresholds were too low, there was no certainty for patients beyond 2024, and the insurance industry couldn't be trusted to regulate itself. More than 90% said the Australian government should introduce legislation to regulate life insurers. Canada's legislation, for example, bans insurers and other service providers from using genetic test results to discriminate against applicants. The British government, meanwhile, has a hybrid regulatory model. This involves a Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance agreed to between the government and life insurance industry. In our survey, 95% said a similar approach is required for Australia. Safeguarding Australia's genomic future Genetic technology is transforming health care. Precision medicine relies on genomic testing to personalize therapeutic treatments. Genomic research is also critical to understanding disease, improving diagnostic methods and guiding the selection of the most effective drugs for treatment. To maximize its potential and ensure public trust in genomics, it seems clear more must be done to prevent genetic discrimination and ensure all Australiansparticularly those most at risk from genetic conditionscan benefit from the genomics revolution. Explore further Why New Zealanders are vulnerable to genetic discrimination in health and life insurance This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Thousands of demonstrators march outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the Women's March in Washington, Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. Credit: AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana The Biden administration reversed a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics, lifting a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Department of Health and Human Services said Monday its new regulation will restore the federal family planning program to the way it ran under the Obama administration, when clinics were able to refer women seeking abortions to a provider. The goal is to "strengthen and restore" services, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Groups representing the clinics said they hope the Biden administration action will lead some 1,300 local facilities that left in protest over Trump's policies to return, helping to stabilize a longstanding program shaken by the coronavirus pandemic on top of ideological battles. "I have heard that almost everywhere in the country people have made the decision that conditions will be good for them to return to the program," Clare Coleman, president of the umbrella group National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, said in an interview. "My sense is that people have been waiting for the rule." Planned Parenthood, the biggest service provider, said on Twitter its health centers look forward to returning. But the group criticized part of the Biden administration rule that allows individual clinicians who object to abortion not to provide referrals. The administration said that's "in accordance with applicable federal law." Known as Title X, the taxpayer-funded program makes available more than $250 million a year to clinics to provide birth control and basic health care services mainly to low-income women, many of them from minority communities. Under former President Donald Trump, clinics were barred from referring patients for abortions, prompting a mass exit by service providers affiliated with Planned Parenthood, as well as several states and other independent organizations. In this Aug. 21, 2019, file photo, pamphlets are shown in the clinic of Planned Parenthood of Utah in Salt Lake City. The Biden administration on Oct. 4, 2021, reversed a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics, lifting a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. Groups representing the clinics say they hope the rule reversal leads to the return of hundreds of service providers that left the program to protest the Trump administration's policy. HHS has estimated that the upheaval led to as many as 180,000 unintended pregnancies. The clinics provide birth control and basic health care mainly to low-income women.Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Women's groups labeled the Trump policy a "gag rule," and medical organizations called it a violation of the clinician-patient relationship. But religious and social conservatives praised the policy for imposing a strict separation between family planning services and abortion. Under federal law, clinics cannot use federal family planning money to pay for abortions. However, abortion opponents argue that birth control funding for organizations like Planned Parenthood, the leading provider of abortions, amounts to an indirect subsidy. On Monday, the National Right to Life Committee criticized the Biden administration for "supplementing the abortion industry through taxpayer funds." Title X family planning clinics served about 3.9 million clients in 2018, but HHS estimates that number fell by nearly 40% after the Trump policy. The upheaval may have led to more than 180,000 unintended pregnancies, the agency said. In all, more than one-quarter of the clinics left the program. Although several states stepped up with their own no-strings-attached funding, women in some parts of the country still lost access. Combined with service disruptions due to COVID-19 shutdowns, "this has just been a massive one-two punch to the system," said Coleman. Biden campaigned on a promise to overturn the restrictions on family planning clinics, but abortion was not a central issue in the 2020 presidential race. It may become one in the 2022 midterm elections to determine who controls Congress. Demonstrators rally to to demand continued access to abortion during the March for Reproductive Justice, Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, in New York. The first Women's March of the Biden administration sets its sights on the Supreme Court, part of nationwide protests demanding continued access to abortion in a year when conservative lawmakers and judges have put it in jeopardy. Credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer Restrictive state laws in Texas, Mississippi and elsewhere have prompted a mobilization by abortion rights supporters, who fear a conservative-leaning Supreme Court will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally. Hundreds of abortion-themed protests were held around the country Saturday, including one that brought thousands of abortion rights supporters to the steps of the court. The Supreme Court has allowed the Texas law to take effect, but has not ruled on the substantive legal questions behind that statute, which bans most abortions in the state. The justices will hear arguments Dec. 1 on the Mississippi law, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court now tilts decidedly to the right after Trump appointed three conservative justices. Twelve states have passed laws that would ban abortion entirely if Roe is overturned. "Given the attacks on abortion in Texas and across the country, it's more important than ever that patients can access their choice of birth control and other health care through Title X," Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement. The new abortion referral policy for family planning clinics will take effect Nov. 8. Explore further Administration pauses enforcement of abortion restriction 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The EU's medicines watchdog could start a review within days of an oral COVID drug produced by the US pharmaceutical firm Merck, a senior official said Tuesday. Merck said last week that its drug molnupiravir was shown to reduce hospitalisations by 50 percent, bringing closer the dream of a simple pill to treat the coronavirus pandemic. "What I can say is that indeed we will be considering whether to start a rolling review for this compound in the next days," Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccine strategy at the European Medicines Agency, told journalists. Cavaleri said the Amsterdam-based agency was aware of some "top-line results that are being communicated by the company" about its new drug. Merck said on Friday it planned to submit an application to the US FDA and other regulatory bodies worldwide for the drug. It said trial results on 770 patients showed there were no deaths among patients who received the drug compared to eight deaths in the placebo group. Under a rolling review, the EMA can speed up drug approvals by examining safety and efficacy data as they are released, instead of waiting until after a formal application for authorisation is filed by the manufacturer. Approval can take several months. The Merck pill has been hailed as a possible breakthrough because until now COVID therapeuticswhich treat the disease as opposed to vaccines, which prevent ithave so far been administered intravenously. The EMA meanwhile raised hopes that vaccine booster doses could offer a long period of protection against COVID. The agency on Monday authorised a third booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for people aged 18 and over, six months after their initial two jabs, amid fears that it offers diminishing protection. "What we're seeing at least with this vaccine is that the immune response is indeed much higher than what we've seen after the second dose," Cavaleri said. "Which means that potentially we will have quite remarkable amounts of neutralising antibodies, also for much longer than six months." Explore further EU set to decide on COVID boosters next month 2021 AFP Credit: Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity For the first time, researchers have found the influenza vaccine to be just as effective in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as it is non-Indigenous people. Published today in PNAS, the research team, led by University of Melbourne Professor Katherine Kedzierska, a laboratory head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute), studied the in-depth immune responses elicited by the influenza vaccine in 78 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and 84 non-Indigenous people. Dr. Luca Hensen, Doherty Institute research officer and co-author of the paper, said that while it's always been recommended that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders be vaccinated for the flu, it wasn't actually based on any scientific evidence until now. "Our group's previous work has identified the parameters of a good response to the influenza vaccine that includes antibody responses and the activation and increase in frequency of T-cells and B-cells. Both are crucial for memory responses so that if you were to encounter the virus, your immune system would be ready to respond rapidly," said Dr. Hensen. "We found robust antibody responses to influenza vaccination induced in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within four weeks after vaccination, together with strong activation profiles of key immune populations elicited as early as one week post immunization." Professor Kedzierska said this study provides the first in-depth evidence that supports current recommendations that Indigenous populations globally should get vaccinated to protect them from severe seasonal influenza virus infections and its subsequent complications. "Current recommendations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get vaccinated are based on data of the immune responses of non-Indigenous people, and may not be representative for Indigenous populations," Professor Kedzierska said. "We know from our research that Indigenous populations can be more susceptible to experiencing severe influenza disease, particularly when new viruses emerge. To now have evidence to back up the official recommendations is incredibly important." Menzies School of Health Research's Associate Professor Jane Davies said it was important to have a robust evidence base to support the use of the influenza vaccine in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. "It has been a pleasure working with Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and the Doherty Institute to conduct this extremely important work." she said. Explore further Towards a universal flu vaccine for Indigenous populations More information: Luca Hensen et al, Robust and prototypical immune responses toward influenza vaccines in the high-risk group of Indigenous Australians, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Luca Hensen et al, Robust and prototypical immune responses toward influenza vaccines in the high-risk group of Indigenous Australians,(2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2109388118 Provided by Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity Credit: Thomas Angus/Imperial College London A new low-cost ventilator design invented during COVID-19 could address the global shortage of ventilators for other respiratory diseases. The ventilators, which are required by patients in intensive care units (ICU) who are seriously ill with respiratory diseases like COVID-19, flu, and tuberculosis, are both simpler and cheaper to make than currently available ventilators. Now, the creators of the designs hope that their promising technology, initially developed for emergency short-term ventilators in response to the coronavirus pandemic, will help to address the shortage of mechanical ventilators in developing countries in the long term. In a new paper published in Frontiers in Medical Technology, the researchers behind the "RELAVENT' ventilator (previously known as JAMVENT), have demonstrated that the design achieves all of the performance requirements set out in ISO 80601, the international standard for critical care ventilators. The team also showed that the system performs equally well with a home-use oxygen concentrator as with pressurized gas supplies like those found in hospitals. The paper also sets out the designs of the prototype and details the rigorous testing required for regulatory approval. They hope that following funding and approval as a medical device, the ventilators can be used in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) and newly emerging economies (NEEs), which suffer from an historical long-term shortage of ventilators. Lead researcher Dr. Joseph van Batenburg-Sherwood, of Imperial College London's Department of Bioengineering, said: "ICU ventilators made by big manufacturers have always been too expensive and complex for developing countries to buy and maintain, so many of the less affluent parts of the world simply have minimal access to ventilators. In addition, most of the new ventilator designs created for COVID-19 were based on emergency short-term manufacturing and are not appropriate for long-term intensive care support, which is desperately needed in LMICs and NEEs." The next step towards approval as a medical device will be development from the advanced prototype stage to a mass-manufacturable medical device, which must be carried out under special regulatory conditions. To do this, they have launched a start-up, known as Phaedrus World Medical Limited alongside two experienced med-tech entrepreneurs. They are currently seeking investment to turn their designs into useable ventilators. Liz Hughes, CEO of Phaedrus World Medical Limited, said: "RELAVENT delivers simple yet high performance mechanical ventilation. Its versatility enables access to respiratory support across many different treatment areas, and has the potential to save many lives. This has only been made possible by the efforts of the amazing Imperial College engineering team alongside clinical input from our medical advisor who has firsthand experience in our target markets." The beauty of simplicity Co-author Dr. Jakob Mathiszig-Lee, of Imperial's Department of Surgery & Cancer, said: "In the UK we suffered a shortage of mechanical ventilators to treat our sickest COVID-19 patients, but such a shortage of reliable mechanical ventilation is the norm in much of the world. In LMICs and NEEs other respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and influenza result in more deaths every year than COVID-19." Dr. van Batenburg-Sherwood added: "Our ventilators are inspired by the beauty of simplicity. Rather than using the complex control valves used in most ventilators, we conceived a way to use simple on-off valves to provide the high-level performance required of ICU ventilators. This way, we have made the technology much cheaper and less expensive to make and maintain." Co-author Professor James Moore, director of translation for Imperial's Department of Bioengineering, said: "We are keen to bring our ventilator to as many hospitals as possible to combat serious respiratory diseases worldwide. We have the right technology to help address this unmet medical need and hope to attract investment to help take it further." Explore further Statement issued on use of anesthesia machines as ventilators More information: Michael Madekurozwa et al, A Novel Ventilator Design for COVID-19 and Resource-Limited Settings, Frontiers in Medical Technology (2021). Michael Madekurozwa et al, A Novel Ventilator Design for COVID-19 and Resource-Limited Settings,(2021). DOI: 10.3389/fmedt.2021.707826 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists have found that the psychedelic drug psilocybin, in development as an anti-depressive treatment, changes the emotional state of people listening to music. Psilocybin is the active psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms. Clinical trials of psilocybin generally use selected music playlists to support the drug-induced psychedelic experience, and this work shows that enhanced emotional processing may be a positive outcome of combining psilocybin with music, suggesting that music should be an active component of psilocybin therapy. This work is presented at the ECNP Congress in Lisbon. There has been considerable interest in the use of psychedelics in the treatment of hard-to-treat depression and other mental health conditions. Psilocybin, found naturally in several species of mushrooms, is the psychedelic most suitable for clinical development, in part because the psilocybin 'trip' can be contained within a working day, which is important for a supervised clinical treatment. In the treatment of depression, psilocybin is normally administered with psychological support, and with accompanying music. Previous studies have shown that the psychedelic LSD interacts with music, and in the 1960s, psychedelics were intimately related to the experience of music for many. Now, for the first time, a group of Danish scientists has shown that psilocybin affects the way that music elicits emotions. In the study, 20 healthy participants (50 percent women) were tested on their emotional response to music before and after given psilocybin; 14 of these participants were also tested after being given ketanserin (ketanserin is an anti-hypertension drug, commonly used to as a comparison in psychedelic experiments). Whether ketanserin or psilocybin was given first was randomly selected and each person was thus able to report on the changes effected by both psilocybin and ketanserin. At the peak of drug effects, participants listened to a short music program and rated their emotional response. The emotional response to the music was rated according to the Geneva Emotional Music Scale. The music used was a short program comprising Elgar's Enigma Variations No. 8 and 9, and Mozart's Laudate Dominum, together lasting around 10 minutes. Lead researcher, Associate Professor Dea Siggaard Stenbk, University of Copenhagen, says, "We found that psilocybin markedly enhanced the emotional response to music, when compared to the response before taking the drugs. On the measurement scale we used, psilocybin increased the emotional response to music by around 60 percent. This response was even greater when compared to ketanserin. In fact, we found that ketanserin lessens the emotional response to music. This shows that combination of psilocybin and music has a strong emotional effect, and we believe that this will be important for the therapeutic application of psychedelics if they are approved for clinical use. Psilocybin is under development as a drug to treat depression, and this work implies that music needs to be considered as a therapeutic part of the treatment. Our next step is to look at the effect of music on the brain while under the influence of psilocybin in data material we have already collected, using an MRI. "Interestingly, some of the music we usedElgar's famous "Nimrod' variation (the 9th variation) describes his close friend Augustus Jaeger. Jaeger encouraged Elgar to write the variations as a way out of depression, so we're pleased to see it used again to help understand more about mental health." Professor David J. Nutt, Imperial College, London, said, "This is further evidence of the potential of using music to facilitate treatment efficacy with psychedelics. What we need to do now is optimize this approach probably through individualizing and personalizing music tracks in therapy." Professor Nutt was not involved in this work. There is evidence that magic mushrooms have been taken by humans for over 6,000 years. Psilocybin was first isolated and synthesized in 1958 by the Swiss Chemist Albert Hoffman, the same man who first synthesized LSD. There was extensive early research into medical uses of psychedelics, but this became difficult after the U.S. introduced a ban on their use in 1970. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/end-the-ban-on-psychoactive-drug-research/ for background. Explore further Psychedelic spurs growth of neural connections lost in depression More information: M. Kaelen et al, LSD enhances the emotional response to music, Psychopharmacology (2015). M. Kaelen et al, LSD enhances the emotional response to music,(2015). DOI: 10.1007/s00213-015-4014-y The 34th ECNP Annual conference takes place in Lisbon and online from 25 October, see https://www.ecnp.eu/Congress2021/ECNPcongress . The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Latino individuals in the United States, causing more deaths by population size, both directly and indirectly, in these groups compared with white or Asian individuals. The findings, from a large surveillance study led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appeared October 5, 2021, in Annals of Internal Medicine. "Focusing on COVID-19 deaths alone without examining total excess deathsthat is, deaths due to non-COVID-19 causes as well as to COVID-19may underestimate the true impact of the pandemic," said Meredith S. Shiels, Ph.D., M.H.S., senior investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch in NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, who led the study. "These data highlight the profound impact of long-standing inequities." Scientists at NCI have a long history of tracking mortality trends in the United States, mainly focusing on cancer death rates. More recently, these investigators have been applying their expertise in analyzing national surveillance data to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess deaths by racial and ethnic group. In this new study, scientists from NCI, NIH's National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation used provisional death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, to compare excess deaths by race/ethnicity, sex, age group, and cause of death during March to December 2020 with data for the same months in 2019. Excess deaths are the number of deaths in a specific period of time over what would have been expected to occur based on deaths in the same months in previous years, after adjustment for population changes. Dr. Shiels noted that because the study period did not include a full year of data, the investigators could not present the number of excess deaths as a rate. Instead, they calculated the number of excess deaths in each racial/ethnic group according to each group's population size (i.e., deaths per 100,000 people). Roughly 2.9 million people died in the United States between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Compared with the same period in 2019, there were 477,200 excess deaths, with 74% of them due to COVID-19. The scientists found that, after adjusting for age, the number of excess deaths by population size among Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Latino men and women were more than double those in white and Asian men and women. Looking more closely at the excess deaths where COVID-19 was not listed as the cause, the scientists found that excess deaths by population were three to four times higher among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native men and women compared with white men and women. And Latino men and women had nearly two times the number of excess non-COVID-19 deaths by population, compared with white men and women. These data do not explain the reasons for the excess non-COVID mortality. "It is possible that fear of seeking out health care during the pandemic or misattribution of causes of death from COVID-19 are responsible for a majority of the excess non-COVID-19 deaths," said Dr. Shiels. Excess deaths during the pandemic have resulted in growing disparities in overall U.S. mortality, with the disparities in age-standardized all-cause deaths increasing between 2019 and 2020 for Black and American Indian/Alaska Native men and women compared with white men and women. For example, in 2019, total mortality by population among Black men was 26% higher than in white men, but in 2020 it was 45% higher. Similarly, in 2019, total mortality by population among Black women was 15% higher than in white women, but in 2020 it was 32% higher. "Our efforts at NIH to help mitigate these COVID disparities have been heavily focused on promoting testing and vaccine uptake through community-engaged research. However, vaccine hesitancy poses a real threat, so we are addressing the misinformation and distrust through collaborative partnerships with trusted community stakeholders," said study coauthor Eliseo J. Perez-Stable, M.D., director of NIMHD. More information: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Excess Deaths During the Covid-19 Pandemic, March to December 2020, Annals of Internal Medicine (2021). Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Excess Deaths During the Covid-19 Pandemic, March to December 2020,(2021). dx.doi.org/10.7326/M21-2134 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A recent scoping review, published online in the Journal of Aging and Environment, found that older adults with dementia or cognitive impairment who live in subsidized housing face complex challenges, that left unaddressed, threaten to exacerbate their health and ability to age in place. An examination of 69 articles on the topic revealed the scope of major problems that can lead to premature institutionalization and underscored the need for the development of an aging-in-place framework and increased support for future research. "This group of tenants encounters unique physical, mental, social, psychological and behavioral struggles that necessitate targeted services," says Helen Lam, lead author of the study and a recent graduate of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW). "Health care practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders should engage collaboratively to improve the quality of life and reduce the risk of health deterioration for these vulnerable tenants." The study's authorscomprised of a team of five Master of Social Work students in the gerontology field of study, now recent graduates from the University of Torontofound that prevalence of cognitive impairment among residents in subsidized housing was between 10% and 27%, while between 4% and 10% had dementia. Research has shown that residents with cognitive decline are at risk of premature placement in nursing homes. Older adult residents of subsidized housing with dementia are more likely to be admitted to hospital than all other low-income older adults and are seven times more likely than other community-based older adults to be placed into long term care. "Some symptoms of dementia, such as a decline in personal hygiene and paranoia, may be labeled as disruptive behaviors," says co-author Theodora Li. "Furthermore, those with cognitive decline may face challenges with managing the regular payment of rent, utilities and other bills. These problems dramatically increase their risk of being evicted from subsidized housing." Eviction may eventually lead to homelessness. Unfortunately, as the scoping review revealed, subsidized housing staff are not adequately trained to screen tenants for dementia or refer them to appropriate service. "Most subsidized housing facilities have not been designed with population aging in mind," says co-author Jeff Lee. "There is a need for more comprehensive services and onsite outreach programs to increase assessment and identification of these tenants." Many subsidized housing residents with cognitive impairment also were coping with serious physical limitations. More than two in every five cognitively impaired subsidized housing residents reported limitations in activities of daily living such as dressing, bathing and toileting. Cognitive impairment is exacerbated by physical impairments, such as vision and hearing loss, and seriously hinders verbal communication and accessing appropriate medical care. It may also jeopardizes medical compliance. "Dementia worsens social isolation and loneliness," says co-author Nisha Mendonca. "Loss of social networks, poverty, poor health and stigma about dementia all contributed to the lack of medical care and service utilization among this group of older tenants." Co-author Kelly Fleming pointed out the necessity to coordinate multidisciplinary services and fund assessments and programs to enhance the well-being of the tenants. "Financial investment in home-based services and retrofits is fundamental. Our study also suggested attention to the value of purpose-built dementia housing." The authors argue that future research needs to focus on evaluating the unique needs of this undervalued population. The study's findings have important implications for health care practitioners, policy makers and key stakeholders as well. "The adoption of a framework of aging in place, as well as collaboration and coordination among housing providers and government in the provision of supportive services, will help to achieve greater equity in the lives of subsidized housing tenants living with cognitive decline," says Helen Lam. Explore further Cognitive function maintained among elderly who feel good about life More information: Helen R, Lam et al, Challenges Experienced by Subsidized Housing Residents with Dementia or Cognitive Impairment: A Scoping Review, Journal of Aging and Environment (2021). Helen R, Lam et al, Challenges Experienced by Subsidized Housing Residents with Dementia or Cognitive Impairment: A Scoping Review,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/26892618.2021.1963387 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain One-third of recovered COVID-19 patients reported new or continuing symptoms two months after their positive tests, according to a study by graduate students in epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, in collaboration with the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services. Women, people over 39, people with preexisting conditions and Black/African American persons had enhanced rates of "long COVID" symptoms. The findings were presented Sept. 17 in Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control. Kyle Yomogida, a doctoral student in the Graduate Group in Epidemiology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, had gone to Long Beach at the beginning of the pandemic and was working in the city's health department. "During the summer of 2020, we were seeing reports of people whose symptoms were not resolving, so we decided to follow up," he said. Two other graduate students in epidemiology, Sophie Zhu and Francesca Rubino, joined to help design and run the study in collaboration with Wilma Figueroa, Nora Balanji and Emily Holman from the Long Beach health department. The department and nursing students from California State University, Long Beach, carried out phone interviews with a random sample of Long Beach residents over 18 who had positive SARS-CoV-2 tests between April 1 and Dec. 10, 2020. Long Beach is unusual in having a city health department, typically a county government function in California. That made for a better connection with the community, Yomogida said. The team found that 35 percent of people surveyed had at least one symptom two months after their positive tests. Their symptoms included fatigue, loss of taste or smell, muscle and joint pains, and breathing difficulties. People who originally had moderate or severe symptoms were more likely to have continuing symptoms two months later. Higher rates in women, minorities The rates of long-term symptoms were higher for women, people aged 40 or over, those with preexisting conditions, and Black/African American people. Women had nearly three times higher odds of experiencing symptoms at two months post-testing than men, after controlling for covariates. The same groups of people also had higher rates of multiple symptoms. "Black Americans were more likely to have multiple symptoms," Zhu said. This population also had higher odds of specific serious symptoms compared to white people, Rubino said. Post-viral syndromes are also known for other infections including other coronaviruses and influenza. So far, researchers have only been able to look at a few months of follow-up data for long COVID. "Understanding long COVID is going to take more time and bigger sample sizes," Yomogida said. In February, the National Institutes of Health announced an initiative to study long COVID, supported by an allocation of $1.5 billion over four years from Congress. The Long Beach study highlights the need to include diverse groups in studies of long COVID, the researchers said. Further work is needed to understand and remove the structural and socioeconomic barriers that lead to increases in risk among Black people, which may also further affect access to care for long COVID, they said. More information: Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Adults Aged 18 YearsLong Beach, California, April 1December 10, 2020. Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Adults Aged 18 YearsLong Beach, California, April 1December 10, 2020. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7037a2.htm Credit: CC0 Public Domain Six out of ten patients who show common "alarm" symptoms for cancer are not referred for urgent investigation, a largescale new study has revealed. The research, led by the University of Exeter working with University College London, and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that a significant number of the patients who were not referred went on to develop cancer within a year of their GP consultation. One in two people are affected by cancer in their lifetimes, and cancer accounts for nearly 10 million deaths each year worldwide. Early diagnosis is known to be a major factor in saving lives. Dr. Gary Abel, of the University of Exeter, who led the research, said: "Over the past decade we've made huge progress in improving life-saving cancer diagnosis in the UK, in part thanks to GPs. Our study showed that patients who are referred are much more likely to be diagnosed with cancer in the next year than those that are not referred, so GPs are clearly referring the highest risk patients appropriately. However, many patients did not receive an urgent referral within two weeks, contrary to guidelines. The number of patients who go on to be diagnosed with cancer when they are not urgently referred indicates that following the guidelines more strictly would have significant benefits." Lead author Dr. Bianca Wiering, of the University of Exeter, said: "Our research found that a number of patients go on to develop cancer after they were not referred for red flag symptoms. This could mean an opportunity to diagnose the cancer earlier was missed. We think this could be improved by stricter adherence to the guidelines and increased awareness of the groups of patients in whom symptoms are frequently missed, including younger patients. It's important to note that this issue does not just lie with GPswe also need to ensure the services to provide the tests needed on referral are well resourced, which we know is currently not always the case." Published today in BMJ Quality & Safety, the research team analysed records from nearly 49,000 patients who consulted their GP with one of the warning signs for cancer that should warrant referral under clinical guidelines. They found that six out of ten patients were not referred for cancer investigation within two weeks of the first visit. Of the 29,045 patients not referred 1,047 developed cancer within a year (3.6 percent). The researchers processed records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, as well as statistics on visits to hospital and cancer registration data between 2014 and 2015. They looked at patients who had reported cancer warning signs to their GP for the first time. The "alarm" symptoms included blood in urine, a breast lump, problems swallowing, iron-deficiency anaemia, and postmenopausal or rectal bleeding. The likelihood of a patient being referred within two weeks varied, depending on which symptom they showed. The lowest referral rate was for problems swallowing, at just 17 percent, and the highest was for breast lump, at 68 percent. However, more deprived patients were less likely to be referred for breast lump. Young patients, aged 18-24, were less likely to be referred than those aged 55-64, and people with more than one health condition were also less likely to receive a referral. Dr. Jodie Moffat, head of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said: "Working out who could have cancer from the hundreds or thousands of people a GP sees each year is a hugely difficult task. Referral guidelines, which give GPs advice on who might benefit from urgent cancer referrals or testing, are intended to help diagnose cancer earlier. So it's worrying if people with red flag symptoms aren't being referred. "These data are from a little while ago so we don't know what the situation is now, but with all the additional challenges of COVID-19, it's vital that GPs and practice teams are supported to deliver the best care possible. This includes making sure GPs have easy and timely access to diagnostic tests needed to identify cancer. This requires resources and without long-term investment in staff and equipment we won't meet Government ambitions to diagnose cancer early." The paper is entitled "Concordance with urgent referral guidelines in patients presenting with any of 6 'alarm' features of possible cancer: A retrospective cohort study using linked primary care records," published in BMJ Quality & Safety. Explore further Patients diagnosed with cancer after skipping appointment more likely to die within a year More information: Concordance with urgent referral guidelines in patients presenting with any of six 'alarm' features of possible cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked primary care records, BMJ Quality & Safety (2021). DOI: doi 10.1136/ bmjqs-2021-013425 Journal information: BMJ Quality & Safety Concordance with urgent referral guidelines in patients presenting with any of six 'alarm' features of possible cancer: a retrospective cohort study using linked primary care records,(2021). DOI: doi 10.1136/ bmjqs-2021-013425 Angie Cleary, a registered nurse, cares for Joyce Johnson-Albert as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemicthe Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River. But the battle against the coronavirus isn't over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nation's sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away. The COVID-19 surge is worsened by Alaska's limited health care system that largely relies on hospitals in Anchorage, the biggest city. It's where the state's largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, is overwhelmed with patients and was the first weeks ago to declare crisis-of-care protocols, meaning doctors are sometimes prioritizing care based on who has the best odds of survival. Since then, 19 other health care facilities in Alaska, including Anchorage's two other hospitals and Fairbanks Memorial, have also entered crisis care mode, something overtaxed facilities in other states have had to do, including Idaho and Wyoming. Joyce Johnson-Albert looks on as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer "Even though we live here, we're concerned about Anchorage and Fairbanks," said Alfred Jonathan, a Tanacross elder. "If somebody gets sick around there, there's no place to take them." While Alaska has contracted with nearly 500 medical professionals to help over the next few months, the ramifications are dire for those in rural Alaska if they need higher levels of carefor COVID-19 or otherwisebut no beds are available. Sometimes those patients get lucky and get transferred to Fairbanks or Anchorage. Other times, health care staff are on the phonesin some cases, for hourslooking for a bed or facility that can provide specialty treatments like dialysis. One patient who couldn't get dialysis at Providence died, hospital spokesperson Mikal Canfield said. Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, the hospital's chief of staff, said she knew a patient in an outlying community who needed cardiac catheterization and died waiting. Joyce Johnson-Albert receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Options in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, also are being overloaded. One rural clinic finally found a spot for a patient from interior Alaska in Colorado. Health officials blame the hospital crunch on limited staffing, rising COVID-19 infections and low vaccination rates in Alaska, where 61% of eligible residents in the conservative state are fully vaccinated. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, one in every 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29, the nation's worst diagnosis rate in recent days. Officials say medical workers are exhausted and frustrated with what feels like a no-win effort to combat misinformation about COVID-19 being overblown and vaccines being unsafe. Some say it could have long-term effectsfurther shaking confidence in vaccines and treatments for other illnesses and making the longstanding pre-pandemic challenge of recruiting health care workers to the remote state more difficult. A welcome to Tok Mainstreet Alaska sign is shown Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The state is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Medical workers "describe the emotions of: 'You hear a code is happening, someone is passing away,'" said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. "That is devastating. You never want to lose a patient. But in the back of your mind, you're thinking, 'OK, another bed is now available that is critically needed.' And how do you balance those emotions? It's gut-wrenching." In Tanacross, elders are encouraging people to get vaccinated, especially with facilities strained. The village is in a sprawling, sparsely populated region of eastern Alaska where the vaccination rate is under 50%. Jonathan, 78, tells villagers that COVID-19 is here, and like the delta variant, is going to develop in other ways. Those who "didn't get vaccinated? Gosh, we're afraid for them," said Jonathan, who recently led a crew clearing dead and dying trees to reduce wildfire fuel and provide wood to heat homes. Ice and snow covers the Alaska Highway Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. The state is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer His wife, Mildred, helped guard the gate into the community this year. Those restrictions ended this summer as the pandemic seemed to be improving. Now, she says she's tired of outsiders calling their friends in Tanacross to scare them, claiming there are problems with the vaccines. "I got both my shots, I'm alive and nothing's wrong with me," she said before piling bags of sanitizer, masks and nitrile gloves into her Prius to deliver throughout town. Alaska, hailed early in the pandemic for working with tribal health organizations to distribute vaccines widely and quickly, was 25th in the U.S. for the percentage of its total population inoculated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. At hospitals, care "has shifted," said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer. Angie Cleary, a registered nurse, cares for Joyce Johnson-Albert as she receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer "The same standard of care that was previously there is no longer able to be given on a regular basis," she said. "This has been happening for weeks." In rural Alaska, six Indigenous villages, including Tanacross, rely on the new Upper Tanana Health Center in the hub community of Tok, about a two-hour drive from the Canadian border. The staff treats who they can and moves those with more serious needs to Anchorage or Fairbanks, said Jacoline Bergstrom, executive director of health services for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan villages spread over an area of interior Alaska nearly the size of Texas. Emergency plans are in place to house people overnight if hospital beds aren't available right away, clinic director Joni Young said. They're usually flown because it's a three-hour drive from Tok to Fairbanks and about seven to Anchorage. Daisy Northway holds an undated photograph of her parents at her home Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Northway speaks from first-hand knowledge when advocating that people get vaccinated for COVID-19. Her family came from Healy Lake, located about 70 miles northwest of Tok. The small village's population was almost entirely wiped out by a smallpox epidemic in 1947. "My mother and dad had to bury my mother's parents and three of their children in a mass grave because they were so tired," she said. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer "If for some reason, we can't medevac out, we've been preparing since the beginning to help our patients if we need to," Young said. "We've got cots before, stored here, and we have another building that we lease that we could use to separate COVID patients." The staff is putting in overtime, with nurses taking COVID-19 questions from callers and working weekends. They need to hire two urgent care registered nurses, but few have applied. Joyce Johnson-Albert lay on a bed at the health center with an IV in her arm. She was vaccinated but got a breakthrough infection, she suspects from a hunting camp. "I just hope the next few days, I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert said as she received a monoclonal antibody infusion, given at the onset of COVID-19 to lessen symptoms. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." Herbie Demit, Tanacross Village Council president, walks through a cemetery Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Tanacross, a village of about 140 residents, has recorded only one death, and only about 20 residents contracted the virus during the pandemic. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Registered nurse Angie Cleary is grateful the clinic offers the infusion treatment. "However, I feel worried some days where we're not sure when we'll get more," Cleary said. "For example, we're down to, I think, five doses right now, and we could get more tomorrow or it might not be until next week. That's one of the concerns we have living out here, is like, when are we going to get our next shipment?" They're also battling misinformation about the pandemic. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has faced criticism for not mandating masks and not endorsing vaccines as fully as some would like. He has encouraged people to get shots but said it is a personal choice. Others have accused him of pushing vaccines and peddling fear. Providence hospital employees are having a hard time with the harsh rhetoric, Solana Walkinshaw said. One staffer got spit at leaving work, the chief of staff said. Daisy Northway holds an undated photograph of her parents at her home Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Northway speaks from first-hand knowledge when advocating that people get vaccinated for COVID-19. Her family came from Healy Lake, located about 70 miles northwest of Tok. The small village's population was almost entirely wiped out by a smallpox epidemic in 1947. "My mother and dad had to bury my mother's parents and three of their children in a mass grave because they were so tired," she said. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Homes are shown Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Tanacross, a village of about 140 residents, has recorded only one death, and only about 20 residents contracted the virus during the pandemic. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Angelique Ramirez, chief medical officer at Foundation Health Partners in Fairbanks, poses for a photograph in front of the emergency entrance at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ramirez, said the facility has paused certain elective procedures, converted some meeting space for patient beds if needed and is hiring temporary non-licensed positions to take some duties off the hands of nurses, such as taking calls and stocking carts with personal protective gear. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Samantha Ervin, left, a pharmacist at the Upper Tanana Health Center, administers the second COVID-19 vaccine shot to Maggie Roach Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Roach was at first hesitant to get the vaccine but changed her mind after contracting COVID-19 and nearly dying from it last summer. She now encourages other to consider getting vaccinated if they haven't. That's what she and her husband did. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Marilyn Paul stands in front of her home Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Herbie Demit, Tanacross Village Council president, looks on as boat sits near a landing Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Behind the boat is the Tanana River, which flows in front of the Alaska Range. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer A boat sits Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Tanacross, a village of about 140 residents, has recorded only one death, and only about 20 residents contracted the virus during the pandemic. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Tanacross resident 99-year-old Isabel John is shown sitting at her dining room table Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Her husband, 82-year-old Arthur John, was hospitalized for nearly 30 days and lost more than 40 pounds after contracting COVID-19 last winter. Most elders encourage their fellow Tanacross residents to get vaccinated, something especially important now as the statewide surge in cases is causing a strain on healthcare statewide. Credit: AP Photo/Rick Bowmer "We still have people who are COVID-denying as they're being intubated, or family members who are COVID-denying as they're saying on an iPad, saying goodbye to their loved one," she said. Daisy Northway of the Tok Native Association knows how hard it is to advocate for vaccinations, saying she's "talked till I'm blue in the face" trying to convince one of her sons. The Athabascan elder said she urges people to get the shots but in a way that lowers the political fervor. "We need to say, 'Get vaccinated' in such a manner that it's helpful and not being criticizing for their beliefs," she said. Explore further Alaska allows hospitals to ration care amid COVID spike 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Russia on Tuesday recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll as cases linked to the Delta variant spike amid a lacklustre vaccination drive and few anti-virus restrictions. A government tally reported 895 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a record in Russia since the start of the pandemic. The new figure brings total deaths from COVID-19 to 211,696the highest in Europe. Authorities have been accused of playing down the severity of the outbreak. The surging infections have come without any real pandemic restrictions to limit the spread. Russia, the world's fifth worst-hit country with more than seven million infections, has seen cases climb as vaccinations stall. Moscow, the epicentre of Russia's outbreak, has experienced a spike over the past few weeks, with officials warning of rising hospital admissions. Authorities say that the highly contagious Delta variant now accounts for all of the cases in the Russian capital. Free jabs have been available since early December, but authorities have struggled to convince a vaccine-sceptic population to get immunised. Independent polling shows that more than half of Russians do not plan on getting a shot. As of Tuesday, only 29 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated, according to the Gogov website, which tallies COVID data from the regions. Under a broader definition for deaths linked to the coronavirus, statistics agency Rosstat reported in August that Russia had seen more than 350,000 fatalities. Explore further Russia reports record daily coronavirus deaths 2021 AFP Cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), cannadivarinic acid (CBDVA), cannabidivarin (CBDV) and cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA) reduce seizures in a mouse model of intractable epilepsy. Credit: University of Sydney Research from pharmacologists at the University of Sydney provides new insights into how cannabis extracts may work to treat epilepsy. The study for the first time reports that three acidic cannabinoids found in cannabis reduced seizures in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, an intractable form of childhood epilepsy. The study has been published in the British Journal of Pharmacology. "From the early nineteenth century cannabis extracts were used in Western medicine to treat seizures but cannabis prohibition got in the way of advancing the science," said Associate Professor Jonathon Arnold from the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics and the Sydney Pharmacy School. "Now we are able to explore how the compounds in this plant can be adapted for modern therapeutic treatments." In 2015, Barry and Joy Lambert made an historic donation to the University of Sydney to advance scientific research on medicinal cannabis and cannabinoid therapeutics. Barry and Joy's granddaughter Katelyn suffers from Dravet syndrome, which features frequent seizures and causes delays in cognitive and motor development. Conventional therapies often do not provide adequate seizure control and patients have a reduced quality of life. The Lambert family say they witnessed a dramatic improvement in Katelyn's health using a cannabis extract and became ardent supporters of cannabis for therapeutic treatment. They also wished to better understand how cannabis works to treat epilepsy and other health conditions. "After using hemp oil for treatment, we got our daughter back. Instead of fearing constant seizures we had some hope that our daughter could have a life worth living. It was like the noise cleared from her mind and she was able to wake up. Today Katelyn really enjoys her life," said Michael Lambert, Katelyn's father. In 2015 the Lambert Initiative established a preclinical epilepsy research program to help understand how cannabis extracts, a mixture of hundreds of bioactive molecules, have anticonvulsant effects. Associate Professor Arnold said: "Our research program is systematically testing whether the various constituents of cannabis reduce seizures in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome. We started by testing the compounds individually and found several cannabis constituents with anticonvulsant effects." "In this latest paper we describe the anticonvulsant effects of three rarer cannabinoids, all of which are cannabinoid acids." Acidic cannabinoids are the cannabinoids that are biosynthesised in the plant and are found in artisanal cannabis extracts used to treat children with epilepsy. One of these cannabinoids, cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), is the "mother of all cannabinoids," Associate Professor Arnold said, as it is the precursor molecule to the creation of better-known cannabinoids, like cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). "The cannabinoid acids are abundant in cannabis but have received much less scientific attention. We are just beginning to understand their therapeutic potential," Associate Professor Arnold said. Lead author of the study, Dr. Lyndsey Anderson, said: "We found that CBGA was more potent than CBD in reducing seizures triggered by a febrile event in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome. Although higher doses of CBGA also had proconvulsant effects on other seizure types highlighting a limitation of this cannabis constituent. We also found CBGA to affect many epilepsy-relevant drug targets." The study involved University of Sydney researchers in the School of Psychology and the Sydney Pharmacy School in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Jennifer Kearney at Northwestern University (US). Dr. Kearney developed the genetic mouse model used in the study and mentored Dr. Anderson before she moved to Australia. The team is continuing their research hoping to develop a better cannabis-based treatment for Dravet syndrome. Many in the community strongly believe there is something uniquely therapeutic about the full spectrum of cannabis components working together. "We have assessed the cannabinoids one by one and now we are exploring what happens when you put them all back together. There remains a real possibility that all these individual anticonvulsant cannabinoids might work better when combined," Dr. Anderson said. Barry Lambert said: "We are very proud of the work done by the many researchers at the Lambert Initiative, which is a world-leader in cannabinoid research, and in particular welcome these recent results on 'the mother of all cannabinoids.'" More information: Lyndsey L. Anderson et al, Cannabigerolic acid, a major biosynthetic precursor molecule in cannabis, exhibits divergent effects on seizures in mouse models of epilepsy, British Journal of Pharmacology (2021). Journal information: British Journal of Pharmacology Lyndsey L. Anderson et al, Cannabigerolic acid, a major biosynthetic precursor molecule in cannabis, exhibits divergent effects on seizures in mouse models of epilepsy,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/bph.15661 Credit: CC0 Public Domain A wireless kit, comprising headphones, a microphone, and an app might be a cheap alternative to the usual treatment of the common temporary hearing loss in kids, popularly known as 'glue ear,' finds a small study, published in the online journal BMJ Innovations. It may avoid the need for surgery in many cases, and could cut down on clinic visits, by enabling parents to monitor their child's hearing remotely at home, say the researchers. Glue ear (otitis media with effusion), occurs when the middle part of the ear fills up with sticky fluid, usually after a cough, cold, or ear infection, causing temporary hearing loss in one or both ears. One in 10 children starting school in the UK or Europe will have some hearing loss caused by glue ear. Deafness in young children can interfere with speech development, language, communication, auditory processing, self-esteem, socialisation, listening and learning, say the researchers. Current solutions are far from ideal. A grommet, or T-tube, is a small tube designed to drain fluid away and keep the eardrum open, but it requires insertion under general anaesthetic. Around a third of children fitted with them will develop an infection as a result; and in a small percentage of cases, grommet insertion risks perforating the eardrum or permanent scarring. Hearing aids require several audiology appointments to adjust sound levels correctly, because the condition fluctuates. And hearing aids that enable sound to vibrate through the skull bone directly to the cochlea (inner ear bone), so bypassing the eardrum and middle ear, are very effective. But they are expensive. Bone conduction headphones, however, which are marketed to cyclists, allow sound from mobile phones to be directed straight to the cochlea while not blocking out vital sound from traffic, and are much cheaper. The researchers wanted to find out if the commercially available Bone Conduction Kit, comprising a wireless headset plus microphone, paired with the freely available Hear Glue Ear app, would enable children and their parents to manage glue ear effectively at home. The parents of 26 children diagnosed with glue ear and/or scheduled for grommet insertion in the local area during the first wave of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, were sent the kits and details of the app. They filled in an Otitis Media Quality of life questionnaire within 3 weeks of kit receipt to assess the impact of ear problems on their children with and without the kit. Progress was monitored via remote virtual or phone consultations over the subsequent 3 months. The children, who were all aged between 3 and 11, made up 82% of those on the local surgical list for grommet insertion. Their average level of hearing loss had been measured as mild. Twenty families set up the kit successfully straight away; four others waited for a call. After the initial set-up, four families required additional help to use the kit later on. In the 3 months before the kit was supplied, 19 sets of parents said their child's hearing had been poor or very poor. None of the parents reported this while using the kit, with 24 reporting it as 'normal' or only 'slightly below normal'. Twenty three parents reported that their child 'often' or 'always' had difficulty hearing in a group before the kit's arrival, compared with 22 out of 26 saying their child rarely or never had problems hearing in a group when using the kit. Two thirds (17) used the app at home, 8% (2) on car journeys, and 26% (7) didn't use it at all. Fifteen (58%) of the children took the kit to school or nursery. One family commented that the school took their child's hearing more seriously as a result; one parent said the headset was a visual cue to others that their child needed support. But three mentioned schools needed more support, or more resources, to use the kit at school. By the end of 2020, none of the children had had a grommet inserted. Three families said they would continue to use the kit rather than have a grommet inserted. All families chose to keep the kit at the end of the study, even if the child's hearing had improved. Most found remote management acceptable and thought their child had benefited. The researchers acknowledge that the study was short term, didn't include a comparator group, and only involved a small number of children. But remote management of glue ear in this way has many advantages, they point out, including improving children's hearing at an important stage of their development; reducing travel to clinics with small children; and enabling children to hear online learning more clearly. "Innovative use of bone conduction headphones, a microphone and the Hear Glue Ear app, sent through the post to patients, is a novel, new and effective approach to the management of glue ear and its resulting hearing loss, especially when families have reduced access to audiology or Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) services, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic," write the researchers. Further larger scale studies are needed to look at the cost effectiveness and clinical effectiveness at scale, they say. But they add that this option might avoid the need for grommets in many cases of glue ear, while enabling mild, fluctuating cases to be offered early hearing support. Explore further Oral steroids not effective for most children with glue ear More information: Early stage innovation report: Bone conduction hearing kit for children with glue ear, BMJ Innovations, innovations.bmj.com/lookup/doi bmjinnov-2021-000676 Early stage innovation report: Bone conduction hearing kit for children with glue ear, Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The World Health Organization's COVID-19 chief warned Tuesday "We're not out of the woods" in the fight against the pandemic, even if many people thought it was nearly over. Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for WHO's COVID-19, said last week 3.1 million known new cases were reported to the UN health agency, and 54,000 more deathsthough the true numbers would be much higher. "The situation is still incredibly dynamic. And it's dynamic because we don't have control over this virus," she said during a live presentation on the WHO's social media channels. "We're not out of the woods. We're very much in the middle of this pandemic. But where in the middle... we're not quite sure yet, because frankly we're not using the tools we have right now to get us closer to the end." She added: "What I really struggle with is in some cities we see ICUs (intensive care units) and hospitals full and people dyingyet on the streets people are acting like it's completely over. "You can't have it both ways." Because of the way the world had handled the crisis, COVID-19 would not be eradicated and was here to stay, she added. Misinformation killing The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4.8 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. Van Kerkhove said deaths now were largely happening among people who had not been vaccinated. "From the countries that are providing that information, the rate of hospitalisation and death is by far really among those who are unvaccinated," she said. Van Kerkhove also hit out at COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation circulating on the internet. "It is resulting in people dying. There is no way to sugar-coat that," she said. Van Kerkhove said the WHO was having discussions about the shape of the pandemic over the next three to 18 months. The US expert said she saw COVID-19 eventually coming under control. "But we will still have pockets of individuals who are not vaccinatedeither because they don't have access, they refuse, or they can't be vaccinatedand we can still see outbreaks," she said. Van Kerkhove said the virus was here to stay. "The possibility to eradicate this virus, or even eliminate this virus at a global level was lost early on," she said. "And it was lost because we didn't, at a global level, attack this virus as strongly as we could." Explore further Delta overwhelming other COVID variants of concern: WHO 2021 AFP You have encountered a possible error on our website. You may have entered an incorrect URL or may be using a URL that has recently changed. Alternatively it may be the case that you seek material which has been archived. On the 9th March 2011, the Government of Ireland changed. All posts published on MerrionStreet.ie prior to 9th of March 2011 have been archived at the following address: Archive.MerrionStreet.ie You have several options: We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you encounter any further difficulties using this site please let us know. Email the Editor. PRESIDENT RODRIGO Duterte who accepted the endorsement of his own political party, the PDP-Laban, for him to run as Vice President in next y... Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen accused the companys founder, Mark Zuckerberg, of putting profits over people despite allegedly knowing that his site is harming children and societies in general around the world during Senate testimony. She and senators at the hearing on Monday laid blame for issues stemming from the site at Mr Zuckerbergs feet, with Ms Haugen declaring: The buck stops with Mark. There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself." Speaking before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security, Ms Haugen stated that the American public now knows the truth about Facebooks destructive impact and added, we still have time to act, but we must act now. Until the incentives change, Facebook will not change, Ms Haugen told the subcommittee. Left alone, Facebook will continue to make choices that go against the common good our common good. Chairman Richard Blumenthal delivered stinging criticism of his own, aimed personally at the Facebook CEO, and demanded that he appear before the committee to answer questions. "Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror, and yet rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr Zuckerberg is going sailing," he said, adding, "Mr Zuckerberg, you need to come before this committee." The chairman added that the Facebook CEOs modus operandi was no apologies, no admission ... no action, nothing to see here. The former Facebook employee told 60 Minutes over the weekend that the companys own internal research says it is causing conflicts and exacerbating divisions across the world and urged Congress to act during the Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Her remarks have opened the company up to new criticism about its data practices, ability or willingness to keep young children off its platform, and success or failure with removing hateful speech and misinformation. Story continues The company now faces accusations that it enabled a genocide in Myanmar, amid other charges. On Tuesday, Ms Haugen noted that ethnic conflicts occurring in Ethiopia were likely impossible for the company to oversee on its own platform as a result of the countrys multiple spoken languages and persistent staffing issues at Facebook that she said led to the company being unable to address many problems on the platforms. Facebook spokespeople have been active on Twitter rapidly firing back at Ms Haugens assertions by pointing out that she did not work directly on many of the areas about which senators questioned her on Tuesday; the company has not responded yet however to the demand from subcommittee chair Richard Blumenthal for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify and answer the same questions. Mr Zuckerberg himself last testified before Congress in 2019, when he appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Appearing before that committee, he faced a brutal grilling at the hands of Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who questioned Mr Zuckerberg about what the standard was for taking down political ads that contained misinformation. During the widely panned 2019 appearance, Mr Zuckerberg appeared flustered by questions regarding whether Ms Ocasio-Cortez could pay for political ads accusing her opponents of supporting her own policies, thereby eroding their support among their own partys base, and was unable to answer whether such ads would be removed from the platform. Criticism about misinformation on Facebook has only grown following the deadly attack on the US Capitol and the continued prevalence of false claims regarding Covid-19 and vaccines on the platform. Read More Facebook whistleblower: Five takeaways from explosive Senate hearing on social media giant Why Facebook should be worried after bombshell whistleblower testimony Facebook whistleblower - Haugen called 21st century hero by Senate as Zuckerberg told toxic time is up Spain delays deciding on booster Covid vaccine for general population The European Medicines Agency has given the go-ahead for a third Pfizer vaccine to be administered to those over 18 in Spain The European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light on Monday October 4 to countries wishing to administer a third booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to healthy adult populations, but the Ministry of Health has insisted that Spain is in no immediate rush to roll out an extra jab to those over the age of 18. According to the latest report, the EMA has recommended administering a third dose of either Pfizer or Moderna to anyone with weakened immune systems after a comprehensive study showed that a booster shot given 28 days after the second vaccine increased the ability to produce antibodies against Covid in organ transplant patients. For healthy people aged between 18 and 55, a third Pfizer dose is recommended after six months. For its part, Spain has already begun offering boosters to older people living in residential services as well as certain populations with compromised immune systems , but Carolina Darias maintains that there is no imminent plan to extend this. While Spain has repeatedly vowed to adopt decisions that go hand in hand with the EMA, each country is free to issue its own official recommendations on the use of booster doses, and here in Spain, the issue will be debated as part of the national Vaccine Strategy based on the data available. According to the Ministry, given that 77.4% of the population have now been fully immunised against coronavirus , the decision relating to a booster dose is not as urgent as it might have been a few months ago and that an assessment of the need for a third dose will be made calmly in the coming weeks. Image: Archive Guam senators OK bills to take on more debt for prison, hospital Following more than a decade of delays, South Africas digital migration is set to be completed in the next four months. This plan was revealed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, during a recent update on the switching off of analogue transmitters across the country. Digital migration is key to unlocking valuable radio frequency spectrumnetwork capacity for 4G and 5G serviceswhich will allow telecommunications providers to offer better and cheaper data services. South Africa initially set a deadline to switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) by 2011 and later agreed to an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline of 17 June 2015. The country missed those targets following drawn-out political negotiations and court battles between broadcasters and stakeholders over the DTT technology standard, and whether digital TV signals should be encrypted. The analogue switch-off finally started in March 2021, with the communications department outlining a plan to turn off transmitters on a province-by-province basis. Ntshavheni revealed that Sentech had switched off 105 of the SABCs 288 sites since the process started in March 2021 over 36%. All of MultiChoices 84 analogue sites have been switched off, in addition to 4 of 95 E-tv sites. Despite significant progress in the last seven months, no province has wholly switched off its analogue transmitters. According to the original timeline, six of the provinces should have been completed by now. The minister said the approach did not work because some provinces with capacity had to wait for others to finish before starting their work. She reiterated that the department was working hard to ensure the target date of 31 March 2022, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation address this past February, would be met. To achieve this, the province-by-province strategy has been scrapped. We have shifted from staggered provincial approach towards a consolidated national approach, where set-top-box installations and analogue switch-off will happen simultaneously in all nine provinces of South Africa, although we anticipate different completion and migration dates, she said. The new switching-off dates for each province are as follows: Free State End of October or first week of November 2021 End of October or first week of November 2021 Northern Cape Between mid-November and the end of November Between mid-November and the end of November North West First week or second week of December First week or second week of December Mpumalanga End of December or first week of January 2022 End of December or first week of January 2022 Limpopo End of December or first week of January End of December or first week of January KwaZulu-Natal End of January End of January Eastern Cape End of January End of January Western Cape End of January End of January Gauteng End of January The chart below provides more details on this timeline, including how many sites remain to be switched off in each province. Ntshavhnis address came after a meeting of the Cabinet on 29 September 2021. A new managed integrated model for the digital migration was adopted that actively involves broadcast media players to contribute and ramp up set-top box installation capacity. These partners include MultiChoice, E-tv, Starsat, Telkom, and the SABC. As part of this, the minister also established a project-steering committee that includes broadcasting CEOs and technology executives that meets on a fortnightly basis to lead the migration process. In addition, she appointed a project manager to oversee the digital migration and analogue switch-off process. We will report to the Cabinet monthly and update the nation about the progress at least once a month, she added. Ntshavheni said a successful digital migration and analogue switch-off process would need to ensure that everyone who needs to migrate from analogue to digital is ready to do so and is not negatively affected by the Switch-Over from Analogue to digital. Several steps have been taken to help this process along: A scrolling message will be shown on all analogue broadcasts warning users of the switch-off dates. A list of supported TVs from Samsung, LG, Hisense, and Skyworth that will be able to receive digital signals will be published on several government websites from 11 October 2021. A Digital Migration Call centre has been established, the details of which will be made available this month. An app for registering for a free set-top box is under development. The government provides free decoder-like digital TV set-top boxes to households with a monthly income of less than R3,500, allowing them to access digital broadcasting on their existing TV sets. Registration for these households began in 2015, but the minister said uptake has been slow. To date, just over 1.18 million out of 3.75 million impoverished households had registered for a free set-top box. Given the low number of registered beneficiary households, Cabinet approved the last call for registration until the end of 31 October 2021. Ntshavheni assured that all qualifying households registered before this date would be connected to digital TV before the analogue switch-off. Registrations after this date will be connected with a digital set-top-box three to six months after switch off. MTN Group Ltd. is seeking a valuation of about $1.4 billion (R21 billion) for its unit in Uganda, according to people with knowledge of the matter, in what will be the nations biggest initial public offering. Africas largest wireless carrier plans to sell 20% of the unit raising about $280 million, one of the people said, asking not to be identified before a public announcement. The move by the South African company is aimed at ensuring broad-based ownership in its operating subsidiaries, according to a statement on Tuesday. MTN plans to invest $281 million in three years to expand its coverage in the East African nation. The IPO follows listings of MTNs units in Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda, which to some extent took place after pressure from government and local regulators. The creation of a Lagos-listed entity was part of a deal to settle a multi-billion dollar fine for being slow to disconnect customers without proper documentation. MTN is in the middle of a scaling back of the company, with the focus turning primarily to African telecom and mobile-banking services. The Johannesburg-based carrier abandoned its business in Syria and is looking to sell the Afghanistan and Yemen units. An upcoming initial public offering of IHS Holding Ltd. will allow MTN to reduce its stake in the pan-African towers company. The IPO, the first in Uganda since 2016, will be the biggest since Umeme Ltd. raised about $66 million selling shares in 2012. Investors in Uganda will be able to bid for MTNs IPO via their phones. Johannesburgs new mayor Mpho Moerane says they want to take over electricity provisioning in Soweto and other townships, but this is easier said than done. The Soweto electricity crisis has become a political hot potato for the ruling ANC who is facing a backlash from residents about the issue. President Cyril Ramaphosa faced protests during a recent ANC campaign in Soweto, where people complained about regular electricity outages. Following these protests, Ramaphosa promised Soweto residents their electricity issues would soon be resolved. Moerane has also entered the debate, saying they believe it is critical as the city is to address the electricity challenges people in Soweto are facing. They are also planning to improve the electricity supply in Orange Farm, Diepsloot, Finetown, and Ivory Park. We have entered into negotiations with Eskom to take over those areas. We are about to sign a memorandum of understanding for that takeover, Moerane said. Elaborating on these plans, Moerane told ENCA the discussions with Eskom started last year. These discussions involved minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, the late Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo, Moerane, and some councillors. Moerane said the problems started when Johannesburg councillors started to be attacked in townships because of a lack of service delivery by Eskom. Transformers were burning. Mini substations were burning. Residents turned violent and attacked our councillors, he said. The main purpose of the discussions was to ask Eskom to come on board and give the services required to Soweto residents. Moerane said the Eskom board approved the transfer of services in Soweto, Orange Farm, Diepsloot, Finetown, and Ivory Park to the City of Johannesburg. Obviously, taking over these areas is not something that will happen overnight, but we want to start with the process earnestly. Moerane said the memorandum of understanding is a guiding document between City Power and Eskom to transfer the network and customers to City Power. I am told the memorandum of understanding is ready and needs to be signed, he said, adding that it will help the city to deal with the Soweto electricity crisis. Eskom, however, highlighted that only exploratory discussions have taken place and that a lot must happen before any transfer. Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha told MyBroadband the City of Johannesburg had approached Eskom on this issue. Exploratory discussions between the parties are ongoing. At an appropriate time, and as discussions advance, Eskom will ensure that all relevant stakeholders are engaged and form part of the process, he said. Mantshantsha highlighted that any eventual handover of, or changes, in the distribution licence would also require numerous regulatory approvals. These approvals include the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and National Treasury, amongst others. Now read: Soweto residents want unlimited electricity for R200 per month The National Department of Health launched South Africas Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate System on Tuesday. Vaccinated people can retrieve their digital vaccine certificate by going to the website and selecting Get my vaccine certificate. From here, they will be required to enter their details, including an ID, passport, or refugee seeker number, and their Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) number. You must supply a Proof of Vaccination code and not the vaccine code you were issued when booking through the EVDS. Those who received the Pfizer vaccine would have received two Proof of Vaccination codes. After this is done, you must confirm your cellphone number registered on the EVDS. The system will send an OTP to that number which you must enter to proceed. One MyBroadband employee successfully retrieved their vaccine certificate, while two others struggled and were presented with network errors. The screenshots below show what the process looks like. The vaccination card contained personal details of the vaccinated person, what vaccine they received, and when it was administered. That was accompanied by a QR code which will presumably be used to verify the certificate as legitimate. The department states it will be readable using a QR code scanner specific to the Vaccine Certificate System that will be available at a later stage. The vaccination card can also be downloaded in a PDF that can be printed as a physical document. The screenshot below shows what the vaccination card looks like. Not included in the image is a notice that the vaccination card is only valid for three months from the issue date. President Cyril Ramaphosa previously announced the vaccine certificate would be a secure and verifiable proof of vaccination for South Africa. This certificate can be used to facilitate travel, [and] to access establishments, gatherings, and other forms of activity that require proof of vaccination status, Ramaphosa stated. Our approach on this matter is informed by World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and is in line with international best practice. Ramaphosa added that standardising a proof of vaccination would help relax international travel restrictions against South Africa. If the majority of our population is vaccinated, we can declare South Africa to be a safe destination and welcome tourists back over the summer season, Ramaphosa said. We can also resume sporting events and concerts, and lift restrictions on restaurants and bars and encourage people to return safely to their workplaces, shops, and public spaces. Update System still being tested Editor-in-chief at the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, Mia Malan, said the site was not officially live yet, but is currently being tested. Users may therefore experience intermittent issues when trying to use the site. Hisense is launching its new 100-inch 4K Laser TV in South Africa, and if you pre-order it now for just R79,999 you will get a soundbar worth R5,000 for free. This offer is valid until 15 October 2021 and is the best way to buy this amazing laser TV. Hisense L9G 4K Laser TV From just a few centimetres away from your display, the L9G casts a sensational 4K, 100-inch picture that gives you a cinema experience that is clear and vivid. A key contributor is the improved colour spectrum of the L9G, which has been enhanced to be far more accurate and natural than before opening a new window into reality. This is powered by the use of pure red, green, and blue lasers, which work together to offer over a billion colours. The 100-inch L9G also projects to 3000 lumens, meaning you get bolder colours, deep blacks, and breathtaking highlights. It supports the HDR 10 dynamic range technology, too, and has a 25,000-hour lifespan to give you years of amazing viewing. Hisenses VIDAA U operating system then makes your user experience a breeze thanks to a combination of an intuitive interface and smart and customisable features. VIDAA U also supports all the video on demand services you could hope for, including Netflix, YouTube, DStv Now, and Showmax. Hisense HS312 soundbar When you pre-order the Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Laser TV, you will get the HS312 soundbar at no extra cost. The HS312 offers 300W of powerful sound that will fill your entire room with rich audio. This impressive sound is driven by Dolby Atmos technology, which provides a cinematic experience by making individual sounds come from different directions filling your room with impressive clarity, richness, detail, and depth. Dolby Digital complements this with market-leading audio compression that optimises all sounds for a comprehensive, 360-degree experience. The Hisense HS312 soundbar supports important technologies like USB, Bluetooth, MP6, and WMA, too, making it an incredibly versatile device that can be used as the primary audio output in almost any situation. You can only get the HS312 soundbar for free if you pre-order the Hisense L9G 4K Laser TV before 15 October 2021 so dont delay. The Facebook whistle-blower who turned over internal company documents to U.S. securities regulators is set to share her story publicly in Congress on Tuesday, planning to testify that the company misled the public and shareholders about the harmful effects of its platforms. Facebook became a $1 trillion company by paying for its profits with our safety, including the safety of our children, Frances Haugen said in remarks prepared for a U.S. Senate hearing. I came forward because I recognized a frightening truth: almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook. The companys leadership keeps vital information from the public, the U.S. government, its shareholders, and governments around the world. The hearing comes the day after Facebook and its photo-sharing platform Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp experienced rare global outages, and two days after Haugen revealed her identity in an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes on Sunday evening. The companys shares fell 4.9% Monday, the most since November. Haugen, 37, a former product manager at the company, will appear before a panel of the Senate Commerce Committee to testify about internal Facebook research that she says shows the company prioritized profit, stoking division, undermining democracy and harming the mental-health of its youngest users. Haugen shared Facebooks internal research with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Wall Street Journal. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, chair of the subcommittee holding the hearing, on Sunday praised Haugens bravery in revealing terrible truths about one of the worlds most powerful, implacable corporate giants. Facebooks actions make clear that we cannot trust it to police itself, Blumenthal said in a statement. We must consider stronger oversight, effective protections for children, and tools for parents, among the needed reforms. The question for lawmakers now is how to craft and pass legislation to prevent the harm Haugen described. While there are numerous proposals to tighten regulations on internet companies, there has been little momentum so far to move bills through the process to become law. Haugen will tell senators that the starting point for effective regulation is full access to Facebook data so that the public has insight into the companys systems. Regulators today are blind to Facebooks problems and how to craft solutions, she said. As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one, she said. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good. Some advocates are pushing Congress to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law that would prevent social media companies from tracking users to expose them to more tailored and in some cases harmful content. Such a change would have huge implications for Facebooks business model, which depends on keeping people engaged on the companys platforms and delivering them more ads. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, the subcommittees top Republican, said a national consumer privacy bill is more than overdue, as well as an update to the 1998 childrens privacy law that prohibits online tracking of people under 13. She was among the lawmakers last week who cheered Facebooks announcement that it would pause plans for an Instagram service aimed at children. Some lawmakers favor changing the Section 230 provision of a 1996 law that shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content. There are several bills that would remove legal protections for certain kinds of speech, like civil-rights violations or cyber-bullying, but there are limits to what Congress can outlaw without running afoul of the First Amendments freedom of speech guarantee. Another approach would hold companies accountable not for the initial user posts, but for how their platforms disseminate content. One proposal from Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Doris Matsui of California, both Democrats, would force companies to be more transparent about how algorithms spread information and would impose safety standards. And there is a bipartisan push for stronger antitrust laws that would target large technology companies and impose restrictions on how they operate their platforms. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who chairs the Senate antitrust subcommittee, said Facebooks strategy of scooping up competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp robs the market of potential innovation that could come from alternative services. Obviously, we need privacy rules of the road and safety protections for kids, but you cannot neglect the issue of competition policy, Klobuchar said in an interview. We dont know the bells and whistles that Instagram could have developed on their own with privacy controls and kids, or what they would have done if they hadnt been bought by Facebook. Klobuchar also said the sheer size of Facebook means that the companys missteps become societal problems on a global scale. Forcing Facebook to be a better steward of its immense power will take a combination of all these legislative strategies, according to Rishi Bharwani, policy director for Accountable Tech, a group that advocates for reforms to social media. These companies are so large that no single legislative intervention will fully mitigate their societal harms, Bharwani said. All of these approaches represent things that Congress could pass by the end of this year, if they got their act together. Now read: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg loses R105 billion in a few hours Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 on Tuesday. The company says the new operating system offers several improvements over its predecessor, including faster performance, better multitasking capabilities, and a refreshed design. MyBroadband has been running preview builds of Windows 11 since the first version launched in the developer channel of the Windows Insider programme in late June 2021. Our overall experience of the OS has been largely positive. Slight refinements in design offer a cleaner interface, and multitasking features make window management much more straightforward. The few niggles we had at the start of the programme seem to have been resolved, and the preview build of the OS now feels just as functional as the latest version of Windows 10. Microsoft Middle East and Africa consumer category lead Fatih Bor, and Microsoft South Africa modern workplace and security business group lead Colin Erasmus recently spoke to MyBroadband about why consumers should upgrade to Windows 11. Bor said in his personal experience with the OS, the improved performance and security were standout features. Erasmus added that accessibility had been greatly improved, with the tuning of touch input, inking, voice control, and contrast making the OS better for school learners in particular. The pair highlighted several important details around Windows 11. Here is what they said South Africans should know about Microsofts new OS. What are the new features? On the visual side, Windows 11 boasts a modern design with rounded corners on windows and context menus, while the Start menu is now at the centre of the taskbar by default. There are also new sounds across the system for startup and various notifications. For better multitasking, Windows 11 offers Snap Layouts to arrange windows where you want them quickly. Snap Groups collects your apps so that they can be minimised together when you disconnect from a multi-monitor setup and restored when you re-dock. Creating and managing multiple desktops is also easier. Other noteworthy updates include: Chat from Microsoft Teams is integrated into the taskbar. Widgets provide a new personalised feed powered by AI. Enhanced gaming support with DirectX12 Ultimate, DirectStorage, and Auto HDR. Redesigned Microsoft Store that is faster to navigate. Accessibility improvements are built for and by people with disabilities. New developer tools and more open access to the Microsoft Store for developers. Optimisations for speed, efficiency, and better experiences with touch, digital pen, and voice input. Can my PC run it? Most PCs with processors from the last four years should run Windows 11 without any issues. Microsoft has prescribed the following minimum requirements for Windows 11: 64-bit processor with 1GHz or faster clock speed and two or more cores (Intel 8th gen or AMD Ryzen 2000 series or later) 4GB RAM 64GB storage space DirectX 12 graphics card with WDDM 2.0 driver UEFI, Secure Boot capable Trusted Platform Module (TMP) version 2.0 9-inch or larger display with 720p resolution, 8 bits per colour channel Internet Connection for Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Home in S mode You can check if your system is up to scratch by downloading and running Microsofts improved PC Health Check App under the Get Ready section of this page. When can I get it? Windows 11 will gradually be rolled out to compatible systems over the next few months via Windows Update. That means some might get the prompt to download it earlier than others. Microsoft said it plans to have the update available to all compatible PCs by mid-2022. Bor told MyBroadband that laptops with Windows 11 pre-installed should start becoming available in South Africa at the end of October and early November. If you are impatient and willing to risk releases less stable than the final builds, you can sign up to the Windows Insider Programme and join the Dev, Beta, or Release Preview channels to get the OS early. What will it cost? All genuine copies of Windows 10 can upgrade to Windows 11 for free. If you are still on Windows 7, you will have to upgrade to Windows 10 first before moving to Windows 11. As of 3 October 2021, it was still possible to upgrade to Windows 10 for free using the media creation tool to create a bootable Windows 10 installation. Microsoft said there would be no standalone versions of Windows 11 at launch. Those users who dont have a Windows licence yet can buy a copy of Windows 10 and then upgrade to Windows 11 when the update becomes available for their system. Microsoft charges R2,799 for a Windows 10 Home download from its website or R2,599 for the product key needed to activate when purchased through Takealot. Anchors on large ships can weigh 10 tons or more and are attached to hundreds of feet of thick steel chains. Whatever the anchor gets fouled on will come along with the ship, Browne said. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach. It then washed onto miles of beaches and a protected marshland. The beaches could remain closed for weeks or longer, a major hit to the local economy. Coastal fisheries in the area are closed to commercial and recreational fishing. On shore, animals rescuers have been pleasantly surprised to find few birds covered in oil. The time of the spill was still unclear Tuesday, and there was no indication whether investigators suspect that a particular ship was involved. Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter, a Democrat who chairs the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the panel would investigate the incident. We are going to make sure that we have answers as to how this happened, and to make sure that we hold the responsible party accountable, said Porter, who represents a district a few miles inland from the spill area. April Farnham of Napa is a historian by training, and a karate teacher by profession, and while the connection between the two may not be obvious to the casual observer, its there. The 49-year-old married mother of one is the sole proprietor and instructor of Shotokan Karate Academy of Napa, doing business as Sempai Aprils Dojo. The original owners were going to close for good, and the historian and karate devotee in Farnham couldnt let that happen, she said. I trained under Chela Morales-Placone and her husband Rick Placone, who have been my senseis, until they had to shut it down, partially for COVID, she said. I was already training to be an instructor, and had gotten my black belt in 2018. I took it upon myself to open my business in July 2021 as a way of regrouping the members of the dojo who were still practicing. 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! Pat Andress, 69, is one such member. A corporate wine buyer for Trader Joes company for 53 years, Andress describes himself as a karate student for life. Andress said hes been studying the Shotokan form of karate since 1975 most of that time in Napa under the tutelage of the Shotokan Karate Academy. He chose to stay on when Farnham took it over. 2337 Police received two loud music complaints on Fulton Lane. Officers told the listeners to turn it down. Saturday, Oct. 2 0349 Report of a possible drunk driver near Main/Elmhurst. Police stopped the car and determined the driver was not DUI. 0741 Report of a reckless driver running the flashing red lights at Silverado/Deer Park and passing other vehicles. The car was last seen on Highway 29. 0949 A caller said one of his male employees hit a female co-worker after a disagreement last night. The woman was reportedly afraid the man would come after her. Police took a report. 1253 Medical aid on Saint James Court. 1408 Report of a guest trying to fight another guest on a Main Street property. 1436 Report of a tour bus parked in a red zone at Main/Hunt. It was gone when police arrived. 1854 The red light was out at the Main/Mitchell intersection. Only the yellow and green lights were working. Caltrans was notified. 2118 Someone entered an unlocked trailer on Pratt Avenue. Nothing was missing. 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 ben 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. How to Clip Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue. Everything is on hold because of the pandemic, he said. This year we have a lantern-making event for everybody in the community -- not just Filipinos and we will be doing caroling as a fundraiser during the holiday season, going to peoples houses. And by next summer, we hope to bring a Filipino festival to American Canyon. Something like (Vallejos annual) Pista Sa Nayon. Weve helped with that every year. Its not a competition. We just want one to call our own. Oro has been a group member since 2017. I joined because Im a Filipino American living in American Canyon, and I saw the group doing social and community events and I thought it would be nice to be involved, he said. If theres a focus, I would say, for Anthony and his team, and why I joined, to encourage younger people to join and rejuvenate the club. Like anything else theres an opportunity to carry it forward. But, this mix of social and community service revolving around the shared Filipino American experience is important to share with the broader community Because America is a melting pot of many cultures, we should understand and celebrate them all, Oro said. Over the past several weeks, workers dug up the old pavement, located between two rows of Eucalyptus trees. Next, crews laid a thick layer of coal-black asphalt. I think its great, said part-time Napa resident Emma Steele. With the new surface, its a lot easier to walk on, she said. She likes to walk her dog on the Bay Trail, said Steele. She finds that Napas main dog park, Alston Park, can get really busy. This is a great alternative, said Steele. Hopefully people will use it, New Napan and cyclist Trisha Forman had one word to describe the new trail. Awesome. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} Its so much better than before, said Forman, who was riding her bike on the path this last week. Before, it was kind of scary because there were so many potholes. You had to watch where you were going, or you could crash, she said. Its definitely an improvement. In fact, Probably Ill use it more, now that its safer. Thats an argument never made against more aged male senators like J. Strom Thurmond or Daniel Inouye, while Feinstein has lately been reviled by her partys far left. They see as a negative her tendency to make things collegial rather than continually contentious. They see her getting along with Republicans like Iowas Chuck Grassley and South Carolinas Lindsay Graham as an extreme negative even though those connections helped her shepherd into law liberal items like desert protection and coastal oil drilling moratoria. But now Feinsteins performance beyond the press releases her office pumps out far more regularly than those coming from her far younger new colleague Alex Padilla is often perceived as lacking. Feinstein hasnt been seen in public much lately, goes one complaint, so how can anyone know if shes physically OK or mentally competent? Shes become even more friendly with Republicans, goes another gripe, even hugging Graham last fall and complimenting him on his conduct of hearings that confirmed the newest Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee. These complaints led Feinstein to allow Illinois Dick Durbin to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee where Supreme Court confirmations are staged, rather than taking the job that could have been hers. Elizabeth Alessio, candidate for Napa City Council and is just what the city of Napa needs and must have to press forward in the present and in the future. Her vision for the future of Napa is vitally encouraging for the future of every citizen. Elizabeth Alessio is a seven-day-a-week, dedicated, always involved community leader in the city and county of Napa. Her professional service in leadership with Napa Community Health and the outstanding leadership in the ongoing project Operation: With Love from Home, the organization and packaging of supplies for service personnel on active duty overseas. In addition to her and the staff she puts together to make this program moves forward is her inspiration spreading throughout the Napa community with the result of numerous outpouring of volunteers who come forward to help in the packaging effort. Her asking for help is a huge success currently existing volunteerism. Sri Lankan prosecutors Monday indicted the alleged mastermind of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings along with 24 men they say were co-conspirators in the island's worst single terror attack, AFP reported. Almost three hundred people including dozens of foreign nationals were killed in the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels, in a wave of killings targeting Sri Lanka's Christian community. Prosecutors have brought over 20,000 charges against the suspects, three of whom have already been accused of terrorism by the US Justice Department. Prosecutors told the court that US and Australian forensic experts assisted investigators in tracking down the backers of the eight-member suicide squad responsible for the attacks. Sri Lanka authorities have accused their ringleader, Mohamed Naufar, of being the mastermind of the deadly suicide bombings and of being a member of the ISIS group. Former police chief Pujith Jayasundara and top defense official Hemasiri Fernando are also being prosecuted separately for failing to act on repeated intelligence warnings of a possible ISIS attack. OSCE Minsk Group: Co-Chairs discussed possible de-escalatory and humanitarian measures Sergey Markedonov: What axis between Yerevan and Tehran? Armenia Parliament Speaker: It's very important to be able to turn the page over and establish peace in the region Legendary Armenian gymnast Albert Azaryan's daughter, teacher Zhanna Azaryan dies from COVID-19 Georgia citizens to hold rally in support of Saakashvili in central Tbilisi on Sunday Armenia sets up governmental commission for funeral of Ambassador Vigen Chitechyan 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 YEREVAN. Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: The NA [(National Assembly)] delegation headed by [NA speaker] Alen Simonyan has paid its first official visit to Russia. We had written that by the order of the NA president, only the pro-government MPs were included in the delegation. The NA president's spokesperson had said that this is a private invitation to the NA president, and he had decided with whom to leave [for Moscow]; he decided not to take anyone from the opposition. However, in the photos of the meeting yesterday we also saw Taguhi Tovmasyan, an MP of the [opposition] "With Honor" Faction. It turned out that [opposition MP] Ishkhan Zakaryan is also in the delegation. As to how the opposition MPs ended up in Moscow and why their names were not included in the order of the makeup of the delegation Tsovinar Khachatryan, the spokesperson of the NA president, said: "The issue is that regarding these and other visits, the [parliamentary opposition] Armenia and With Honor blocs were proposed to nominate the members to be included in the delegation. The blocs have always nominated MPs whose exit from the country is restricted by law enforcement agencies and have refused to replace them with other MPs. There was an invitation for the members of the "Armenia" bloc, but they refused to join the NA delegation. The invitation was accepted by the "With Honor" bloc, and they are represented in the delegation." We will continue the negotiation process, the peaceful struggle for the territorial integrity of Artsakh. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Arayik Harutyunyan stated this during a talk with the youth. "We must avoid warof course with dignity. For that, the peace agenda shall be a dignified peace agenda. The negotiation process continues, there is no change in the agenda, the right of nations to self-determination remains as the basic point. Our fight will be within its framework; that is, the right to self-determination is the main negotiating direction for us. I see the future of Artsakh through self-determination," he added. And referring to the Lachin (Berdzor) corridor, the Artsakh President said: "It is ruled out that there will be an Azerbaijani checkpoint at the corridor. The corridor is formed, and if there is a checkpoint, it is not a corridor, it is a monitored road. There is no such thing." The patrol teams of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) continue to monitor the situation on the border delimitation line between the parties, reported the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry. During the patrol, the presence of the Russian peacekeeping contingent is demonstrated, as well as the monitoring of the ceasefire and the prevention of provocative actions on both sides along the line of contact. Around-the-clock monitoring of the ceasefire is carried out at 27 observation posts of Russian peacekeepers. The third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, has replied to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyevs paranoiac remarks voiced in Mataghis village of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The respective statement reads as follows: The leader of Azerbaijan behaves like a teenager who after he has been beaten calls his father to help him and then bridles up behind his back. Why didnt you extend an invitation to visit Mataghis village of Martakert region in the Artsakh Republic some 3 or 10 years ago? You should have gotten on your high horse at the moment you complained that you were being pressured behind the closed doors to recognize the independence of Artsakh. Not surprisingly, after what happened three years ago, Aliyev took over the role of Capitulators [i.e., he means Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan] lawyer and defender. For a while now, they have joined forces and keep targeting me and my comrades-in-arms, most of whom are heroes of Artsakh. You are calling others deserters. That is just the pot calling the kettle black! Everyone knows where I was and where you yourself were during the first Artsakh war when your compatriots were being killed in deadly clashes with Armenian heroes as the latter were fighting for self-defense and Artsakhs liberation in their historic homeland. You were old enough to go to the battlefield. I know where you were. Speak up, let others know the truth. You have a good partner in Armenia now: he is just the one to be invited. Take your chance. Otherwise, I will come to Mataghis or any other settlement and region in the Artsakh Republic once you no longer have the Capitulator as your Armenian counterpart. Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development as well as Executive Director of the Construction and Development of Transport Infrastructures Company in Iran, Kheirollah Khademi, visited Armenia to get acquainted with the construction of the Tatev alternative road after Azerbaijan began to obstruct the movement of Iranian trucks to Armenia. This road will be used for Iranian transit trucks traveling from the Iranian border to Armenia. After Tatev, the delegation led by Khademi arrived in Armenias capital Yerevan. During the visit, the Deputy Minister will discuss the construction of this road with the collaboration and participation of Iran. Also, the Iranian official gave an interview to Pars Today in connection with the visit. "An engineering and technical delegation from Iran headed by me has arrived in Armenia. The purpose of the delegation is to study, with the relevant bodies of Armenia, the difficulties created for the Iranian truck on the Goris-Kapan road. Armenia has now started to build an alternative road in the Tatev region. We are negotiating with the Armenian side so that cargo and passenger transportation on that road can return to normal as soon as possible. The Iran-Armenia state road is of strategic importance for Iran. We have visited this road, and are ready to assist Armenia in building a new [alternative] road," he said. According to Khademi, Iran is ready to provide engineering and technical assistance to Armenia. "Armenia is also building the North-South road, which starts from the Iranian border and reaches the Georgian border. As far as I know, a lot of work has been done in the northern part, and I hope the work will start soon in the southern part as well. We are ready to collaborate with Armenia in this regard as well," Kheirollah Khademi added. At the National Assembly, the MPs once again debated on how to interpret the law "On the administrative-territorial division of Armenia." In particular, it is about determining the border with Azerbaijan. The secretary of the opposition "Hayastan" Faction, Artsvik Minasyan, asked Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Vache Terteryan to clarify the matter of the communities in the east of Syunik Province. "If the territory of Azerbaijan starts east of Shurnukh, Vorotan, and a number of other villages, does it mean that the state border of Armenia is determined by that law?" Minasyan asked. In response, Terteryan admitted that he had never heard any substantiation where it was said that the state borders are determined by the law on administrative-territorial division. "I hope you will not face administrative consequences for such an answer. Well, if these authorities are against such wording, then nothing prevented former Minister [and now deputy PM] Suren Papikyan from proposing addenda to that law in three years. But you did not do that. It turns out that you also agree with such wordings," said Artur Khachatryan, an MP of the "Armenia" Faction. Also, he drew attention to the fact that the aforesaid law does not state where the territory of Azerbaijan begins. "Moreover, there is no border delimitation agreement with that country yet," the opposition lawmaker added. At Tuesdays court session on the criminal case against second President Robert Kocharyan and former deputy prime minister Armen Gevorgyanwho is now an MP of the opposition Armenia Faction in the National Assembly, the court refused to give the new defense lawyer a couple of days to get familiarized with the case materials. The hearing started with Presiding Judge Anna Danibekyan stating that information was received from new defense lawyer Aleksandr Kochubayev that he could not attend todays session, as he was attending another court hearing. The other new defense lawyer, Lusine Sahakyan, asked the court to get acquainted with this message and publish it. Also, Kochubayev had informed that he asks to change the scheduling of these court sessions. The court informed that the case materials were sent to the two new defense lawyers. Sahakyan, in turn, stated that she had not received them by e-mail, but by regular mail, and moreover, only on October 1, and not all the materials. "It turns out that I was given [just] two working days to get familiarized [with these case materials]. [But] I do not have such 'talent,'" the lawyer added. The court objected stating that the case materials were sent by e-mail on September 28. "I can show my e-mail, I did not receive anything," the lawyer replied. The court argued that enough time had been allotted to get familiarized with the case file. Judge Danibekyan added that it was not necessary to get familiarized with the whole volume, but only about what concerns the defendant. The lawyer objected, saying that she has a law education and knows what she needs to get familiarized with. Lusine Sahakyan, the new defense lawyer of former deputy prime minister Armen Gevorgyanwho is now an MP of the opposition Armenia Faction in the National Assembly (NA) and a member of the NA delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), submitted a motion with the court to recognize his parliamentary immunity. The lawyer reminded that being a member of the delegation to PACE presupposes the parliamentary immunity of an MP, and in case of stripping off of this immunity, the respective consent of the PACE is also needed. Earlier, the court had prohibited Gevorgyan from leaving for Strasbourg, France, to attend the autumn session of PACE. The defense attorney added that Gevorgyan's parliamentary immunity as a member of the PACE delegation is recognized under an international treaty of Armenia. The presiding judge asked to clarify what actions are expected from the court in this regard. "You just have to fulfill the requirement of the treaty. Being a representative in the PACE means participating in [its] sittings several times a year," Sahakyan explained. "What does 'absolute immunity' mean?" the court asked. The lawyer replied that she could not cite all the respective international law. "Does the criminal prosecution fit into that framework?" the court asked. But the lawyer did not answer, noting that she perfectly knows what the court's next statement will be. "It is an international terminology, and Armenia has ratified the document," the lawyer reminded. There are fears that the Armenian authorities could fulfill all the demands of Azerbaijan. This is what deputy of the opposition Armenia faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Artur Ghazinyan told reporters today. According to him, the Armenian authorities actions are against the countrys national interests and pose a danger to the country. He added that holding meetings with Azerbaijans representatives and leading substantive negotiations over the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are inappropriate for the time being since Armenias positions in the negotiations are weak. It is necessary to stop the negotiations, settle the situation, bring those responsible to justice, restore the army, consolidate the people and increase effectiveness of state institutions. Only after this will we be able to talk about negotiations, Ghazinyan stressed. The opposition MP said Pashinyans statements on mine maps is absurd since the return of captives is enshrined in the trilateral statement signed on November 9, 2020. Aliyev is trying to sell us what he was obliged to give without preconditions. If we can change the situation in Armenia as soon as possible and form a powerful government that is in the interests of the nation, something can still be restored. The statement signed on November 9, 2020 contains risks and opportunities, and it all depends on the posture of the authorities, he said, adding that the authorities that came to power through the street must leave through the street as well. At Tuesdays court hearing on the criminal case against second President Robert Kocharyan and former deputy prime minister Armen Gevorgyanwho is now an MP of the opposition Armenia Faction in the National Assembly, Gevorgyan's new lawyer Lusine Sahakyan asked the court to give her time to study the case materials. "I do not have the 'talent' to get familiarized with 82 volumes of the case in [just] five daysbut in reality, in two days," the lawyer explained. Also, Sahakyan reminded that Armen Gevorgyan's other new lawyer, Aleksandr Kochubayev, had asked the court to change the scheduling of these court hearings, as he had other court sessions scheduled for Tuesdays. In addition, she recalled that Gevorgyan also had asked for the same earlierand based on his parliamentary duties. The defense attorney reminded that according to a precedent decision of the court, at least one day is provided for getting familiarized with each volume of the case file. To note, the prosecution had argued that it was not necessary for the defense to get acquainted with all the case materials, and therefore had provided only the ones that they deemed necessary for the defense lawyers to carry out their defense. Lusine Sahakyan, however, asked to provide all the materials submitted to the court. The presiding judge suggested that it be done after the hearing. To note, we are talking about 128 volumes. "I ask you to provide the remaining 46 volumes and give [me] time to get familiarized [with them]," the new lawyer said. The court, however, gave her just another week to study the case file. The lawyer replied that one week was not enough, but the court did not change its decision. In addition, the day of these court hearingsthat is, Tuesdayremained unchanged, and the next session was set for October 12. Its hard to expect anything good from the Putin-Aliyev-Pashinyan meeting. This is what secretary of the opposition With Honor faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Hayk Mamijanyan told reporters today. According to him, the alleged negotiators of the Armenian side need to be able to lead the negotiations in such a way that the status of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) is maintained and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled within the scope of the OSCE Minsk Group since the enemy is constantly trying to move these issues to other levels, and this is diplomatic suicide from Armenias perspective. The de-occupation of Shushi and Hadrut and the status of Artsakh must always be kept on the agenda, he stated. The deputy believes it is logical that Aliyev doesnt want to see shift of power in Armenia since his partners are in power, and only the two presidents of Armenia and several opposition MPs respond to his belligerent statements. There are very few pro-Armenian provisions in the agreement signed on November 9, 2020. The only provision that can be referred to as pro-Armenian was the return of captives, but this wasnt possible. Now the Armenian side is offering something else for the return of our compatriots. Nikol Pashinyan had the mine maps right from the start. Our compatriots were tortured in Baku, and some of them were returned as propaganda ahead of the elections. In response to Speaker Alen Simonyans statement that the reports of the Human Rights Defender are made up, I can only say that this is a real nightmare, he added. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has threatened Iran and advised not to pry its nose into Azerbaijans affairs. "We [i.e., Azerbaijan] are showing good will. However, this does not mean that we will accept baseless accusations against us. I say this here on the banks of the Araks River, I tell the Azerbaijanis and the whole world that the baseless accusations against us will not go unanswered. We deny these allegations and demand submitting evidence," he said. "Recently, one of the provincial mullahs in Iran accused Azerbaijan. I was informed about that, and I said that we should not pay attention. Who is he? Just dont pay attention to his words But then, unfortunately, the officials made baseless accusations against us. Allegedly, Azerbaijan brought Israel to those territories. We will not allow baseless accusations to be made against us. Azerbaijan is a country that pursues an independent policy; everyone knows about that. We build relations with our neighbors and other countries on the basis of independent policy. Let no one interfere in our internal affairs. At what level we build relations with the country is our internal affair. We do not make demands against countries that have friendly relations with Armenia. Look how many supporters Armenia has; the Karabakh war is the proof of that. What? Should we be enemies with those countries? We respect the sovereign rights of each country, and demand that they respect our rights and do not interfere in our internal affairs. Such attempts will be in vain. I declare once again that the accusations made against us must have evidence. Let them come, see if there are any foreign citizens in the given region. We have cleared the 130-kilometer-long Azerbaijani-Iranian border from the occupiers. It is necessary to investigate the processes that took place there. Or they say that Azerbaijan is not strengthening the Azerbaijani state there, but some foreign forces. This is an insult against us. We will never accept that. And everyone should know about that. From now on, Azerbaijan will plan its own foreign relations and internal affairs as it sees fit. Let no one pry their nose into our affairs," Aliyev added. The Iranian government has sent a notification through the official military channels to the leadership of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. According to the report, Iran has closed its airspace for the air force of Azerbaijan, which carries out military supplies to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, haqqin.az reports. Baku regarded this decision of official Tehran as another betrayal against Azerbaijan, taken at the instigation of the Armenian government. According to the report, Iran is actively using the territory of Azerbaijan as a transit for the implementation of the main transportation. First of all, we are talking about the North-South transport corridor. The betrayal of Iran will not cause tangible harm to Azerbaijan, since the military department of Azerbaijan in the matter of supplying military units located in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, gave prerogative to other routes. However, this political decision of Tehran is pushing Baku to unambiguous conclusions about the foreign policy guidelines of the Iranian government, the report says, the source cites. In regard to the mine maps, we need to ask Pashinyan what he and Aliyev have agreed on. This is what leader of the opposition Armenia faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan told reporters today. According to him, if the Azerbaijanis intended to return the captives, they would have returned them already since this is a requirement stated in the statement signed on November 9, 202, but Azerbaijan s keeping the Armenian captives in order to exert pressure on Armenia. Ohanyan noted that there hasnt been a specific evaluation of the military-political situation in the past year and there are no actions that are adequate to the strengthening of the security system. Armenia is delaying, and this is becoming a reason for pressure from Baku and Ankara. We need to act rapidly and adequately assess the war that took place last year, Ohanyan added. If the incumbent authorities had experience and relevant capabilities, they should have understood that the adversary wont cede positions in which it is carrying out engineering works. This is why they needed to become strong and then lead negotiations. There is no legal ground. There are no maps that would become a basis for delimitation and demarcation. In the current situation, concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan will mean recognition of its territorial integrity, which will deal a blow to Artsakh, Ohanyan emphasized. Greece has proposed a pan-European hedging mechanism against sharp fluctuations in gas prices. Gas prices have skyrocketed this year as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic and global demand is growing much faster than supply, Reuters reports. EU leaders will discuss this week whether price increases require a coordinated response. In a joint letter to the head of eurozone finance ministers, Greece's finance and energy minister Paschal Donohoe urged the European Commission to consider setting up a pan-European fund to hedge against surges in gas prices. The mechanism could raise funds from advance payments for carbon credits to be allocated to EU countries based on their heat and electricity consumption and their gross domestic product per capita, Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas said in a joint letter. Greece's proposal also includes an auction of additional carbon credits through the EU emissions trading system, which will bring additional revenues to EU countries to help them finance consumer compensation schemes during the winter season. What we see is an unprecedented spike in energy prices, Spanish Finance Minister Nadia Calvino told reporters on entering euro zone finance ministers talks in Luxembourg. This is not an issue that we can tackle at national level, we need a European coordinated response, she said, adding her country had prepared a paper on the possible options. Greece said European consumers could face additional electricity costs of 100 billion this coming winter. Later in October, EU leaders will discuss the idea of creating a strategic gas reserve in the EU and separating electricity prices from gas prices, said the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. 330,000 children have been victims of sex abuse in France's Catholic Church over the past 70 years, AFP reports, citing the country's first major report on the phenomenon. These include abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and others involved in the church, crimes that Catholic authorities have covered up for decades. The head of the conference of French bishops asked for forgiveness from the victims, about 80% of whom were boys. The bishops will meet on Tuesday to discuss next steps. The independent commission called on the church to take decisive action to condemn mistakes and silence. It also called on the Catholic Church to help compensate victims, especially in cases that are too old to be prosecuted. According to the head of the commission, nearly 60% of men and women who have been sexually abused face serious problems in their emotional or sexual life. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his speech, Dear Secretary General, I welcome you in the Republic of Armenia. I remember the Francophonie Summit in Yerevan in 2018 with great pleasure and joy, where you were elected Secretary General, and Republic of Armenia assumed the presidency of the Organization. I think that in that sense we had a very active and effective cooperation in 2019. Unfortunately, the coronavirus also affected the activities of our Organization and our presidency, and we had to cancel a number of events. Nevertheless, we take our participation and presidency in the OIF with great sense of responsibility , and I hope that in the near future, together with our other partners, we will be able to fill the gap caused by the pandemic. During our meetings, I have said and I want to emphasize again, that we fully support the course of the reforms you have outlined as Secretary-General, and of course, we will continue to support your reform course as much as we can after our presidency. I welcome you once again and I am glad to see you. OIF Secretary General Louise Mushikiwabo said, Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I am very glad to personally see you again. We had phone talk during the war and I felt very sorrow. Both the Organization and I personally take Armenia very warmly, and it was very difficult for us to follow that extremely difficult situation for Armenia, so I was glad to be able to talk to you then, and now I am glad for the opportunity to be personally present here now. Mr. Prime Minister, let me congratulate and thank you for two reasons. First of all, of course I did in a written form, but now I would like to personally congratulate you on your beautiful victory. That victory was very important for two reasons, first of all for you personally and for the Armenian people, who were able to clearly express their will in the not-so-favorable conditions for the elections. Therefore, this is a great victory for democracy and the Armenian people. Secondly, for us, for the International Organization of La Francophonie, which also has a political mission, in particular, to support countries in the path of democracy. We were glad to be invited to witness that process, we had the opportunity to observe the elections as part of our Organization's mission. This victory is very important, because it means certain tranquility today, a political consensus, which is very important, because you have much more difficult issues to manage for both the country and the region. The second reason to congratulate you, as you mentioned, was the presidency of Armenia in the International Organization of La Francophonie, which you carried out very well: both you and your representative, Ambassador Ter-Stepanyan in the sanitary conditions, which made the works quite difficult, and in the conditions of the Organization's transformation. You were able to participate in the decision making over a number of issues that were important for our Organization after your visit to Paris. Mr. Ambassador is also a member of the political committee, he participates in the analytical group, the aim of which is to predict the future of the Organizatio. So I can document once again that you have done that difficult job of the presidency with honor. The interlocutors exchanged views on international issues, regional security and peace. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the solution of the humanitarian issues caused by the 44-day war, in particular, the immediate release of Armenian prisoners of war, civilian hostages, as well as the proper protection of the Armenian historical, cultural and religious heritage and expressed gratitude to the OIF Secretary-General for the support and solidarity with our country and the Armenian people in autumn 2020. Louise Mushikiwabo reaffirmed the readiness of the OIF to continue the support aimed at the solution of the humanitarian crisis caused by the 44-day war. The Prime Minister highlighted the participation of the OIF in the observation mission for the first time in the parliamentary elections of 2021. The interlocutors referred to the activities of the Organization during the coronavirus pandemic and the emerging challenges. Issues related to the preparation for the forthcoming IOF summit were touched upon. The parties reaffirmed their readiness to deepen cooperation and discussed the activities in that direction. Both sides highlighted the deepening of French language teaching in Armenian schools, universities, among civil servants, the implementation of educational initiatives among the youth, which will be a link between the youth of the Francophone area. After the meeting, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Secretary General of the OIF issued a joint statement. Story Highlights Students with role models are more than 10 times as likely to show interest 53% of U.S. students say they have computer science role model Girls, rural, and Black students least likely to have such role models Editor's Note: The research below was conducted in partnership between Amazon and Gallup. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Newly released research conducted by Gallup, in partnership with Amazon Future Engineer, confirms long-held anecdotal and qualitative evidence that role models are important to inspiring serious student interest in a computer science career. The study finds that U.S. students in grades five through 12 who strongly agree that they have a role model in computer science are more than 10 times as likely as those who strongly disagree to say they plan to pursue such a career -- 73% vs. 7%, respectively. Students' interest in computer science, confidence that they can be good at it, and plans to engage with it in college and beyond are all strongly related to the presence of role models in their lives. Eighty percent of those who strongly or somewhat agree that they have a computer science role model are interested in learning about the topic, versus 43% of those who strongly or somewhat disagree. Are you interested in learning about computer science? Yes, interested No, not interested % % Students who agree that they have a role model in computer science 80 20 Students who disagree that they have a role model in computer science 43 57 Amazon Future Engineer/Gallup Student Study, 2021 These relationships between role models and computer science aspirations are consistent among students in each gender, race/ethnicity and household income group. Slim Majority of Students Agree That They Have Computer Science Role Models The June 2-20, 2021, study of more than 4,000 fifth through 12th grade students finds 53% of U.S. students agreeing that they have role models in the computer science field. Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I have role models in computer science. Strongly agree 26% Somewhat agree 27% Somewhat disagree 21% Strongly disagree 26% Amazon Future Engineer/Gallup Student Study, 2021 Sixty-one percent of those who have taken a computer science class at school say they have role models in that field, compared with 45% who have not taken a class. These findings are among more detailed insights available in the full report. Fewer Girls, Rural or Black Students Have Computer Science Role Models However, traditionally underserved populations, including rural students, Black students and girls, are less likely than their counterparts to report they have role models in computer science. The greatest differences are among rural students as compared with urban students. Just 15% of students living in rural areas strongly agree that they have computer science role models, compared with 46% of those living in large cities. This gap in access to role models is likely related to the corresponding difference in access to computer science classes, which are less common in rural schools, because teachers often act as these role models. Presence of Role Models in Computer Science, by Urbanicity Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I have role models in computer science. Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree % % % % Large cities 46 26 13 14 Suburbs 19 31 22 28 Small towns 14 25 28 33 Rural areas 15 21 26 38 Amazon Future Engineer/Gallup Student Study, 2021 Asian and White students are more likely than Hispanic students to strongly agree that they have computer science role models, and Black students are the least likely. Boys are 10 percentage points more likely than girls to report that they have such role models. Presence of Role Models in Computer Science, by Race/Ethnicity and Gender Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: I have role models in computer science. Strongly agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree % % % % White students 29 28 19 23 Black students 17 28 21 33 Hispanic students 23 26 23 28 Asian students 35 24 25 16 Male students 31 27 20 22 Female students 21 28 22 29 Amazon Future Engineer/Gallup Student Study, 2021 Bottom Line The Amazon Future Engineer/Gallup Student Study supports past research suggesting role models are important to inspiring students' interest in computer science. Role models provide a mirror in which students can see their current and future selves, as well as a window into the field that is crucial to helping them see the possibilities it can offer them. Although the importance of a computer science role model is clear, there are inequities in access to one. These imbalances track closely with other differences in access to and participation in computer science in rural areas, for historically underrepresented and marginalized students, and girls. More work remains to be done to provide students a vision for a career and to help them understand the practical applications of this in-demand field that lacks diversity in its workforce. Read the full report for more detailed findings about access to and interest in computer science. Learn more about the Amazon Future Engineer Program here. US trade envoy expects talks with China US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has signalled that she expects to resume trade talks with Beijing soon. File photo: AP The United States said it will soon have "frank conversations" with China on trade as Washington believes the Asian giant has not honoured its commitments under a 2020 agreement, but raising tensions between the economic powers is not the goal. "China made commitments intended to benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, that we must enforce," US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a speech on Monday. However the point of the negotiations in the coming days is "not to inflame trade tensions with China," Tai said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. She also warned that President Joe Biden's administration is "prepared to deploy all tools and explore the development of new ones" to "protect ourselves against the waves of damage inflicted over the years through unfair competition." Tai announced the launch of "a targeted tariff exclusion process" for exemptions from customs tariffs imposed on US$370 billion worth of Chinese goods a year implemented under former president Donald Trump. The punitive tariffs, imposed in retaliation for Chinese trade practices deemed "unfair," are criticised by many companies. In August influential US business groups urged Biden to reduce the surcharges, pointing out that American industries faced "increased costs" as the tariffs are paid by importers. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the tariffs "will remain in place" for the duration of the exemption procedure. Biden, who took office in January, asked Tai to conduct a comprehensive review of US trade strategy towards China and the tariffs initiated by Trump. "We continue to have serious concerns with China's state-centred and non-market trade practices" that were not addressed in the "Phase One" agreement signed early last year to calm a trade war between the countries, Tai said. "As we work to enforce the terms of Phase One, we will raise these broader policy concerns with Beijing." The deal signed by Trump and Tai's opposite number, Vice Premier Liu He, committed Beijing to adding an extra US$200 billion in purchases of US exports, including energy, agricultural and manufactured products through 2021. However, critics say this had not happened, although the Biden administration official did not specify the extent of the shortfall, while indicating that Washington is unsatisfied. "There are some commitments that have not been met and we think the results overall of the agreement have been mixed," the official said, while stressing the US objective "is not to escalate trade tension." Tai's speech highlighted the administration's strategy of teaming up with allied democracies in its competition with China. Trump, who rejected traditional US alliances, sparked worldwide market anxiety with his trade war. However, he ended up producing limited concrete results, let alone progress on the deep-seated problems that the United States and its allies say plague their trade ties with China. (AFP) Macron meets Blinken as US seeks to restore trust The one-on-one meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron lasted around 40 minutes. Photo: AFP President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held talks with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his first meeting with an American official since the scrapping of a submarine contract with Australia plunged relations into crisis. Blinken, who has been seeking to patch up ties with France after Canberra ditched the deal as part of a security pact with the UK and US, did not originally have an appointment with Macron on the agenda for his two-day visit to Paris. The one-on-one meeting lasted around 40 minutes with "common agreement that we have an opportunity now to deepen and strengthen the coordination" even though "a lot of hard work remains to be done", a senior State Department official told reporters in Paris. The Elysee also confirmed the meeting with Macron, saying Blinken's visit would contribute to "restoring confidence" between the sides. Macron was furious last month when Australia scrapped a multibillion-dollar deal for French submarines, saying it would pursue US nuclear versions instead. His government called secret talks leading up to the cancellation "a stab in the back" and the French president recalled his ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. US President Joe Biden has since tried to make amends, with Karen Donfried, the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, admitting last week that "the September 15 announcement would have benefited from better and more open consultation among allies". Blinken earlier Tuesday met French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian for an hour in what Le Drian's spokeswoman had flagged as a chance to "identify stages that may allow a return of confidence between our two countries". He then drove to the Elysee Palace for a scheduled meeting with Macron's security advisor Emmanuel Bonne, but "then had a one-on-one with President Macron for probably about 30 or 40 minutes", the State Department official said. The mood of the encounter was "serious", the official said. "I don't want to characterise their emotions, but I would say, at least in the discussions we had, it was very cordial and amicable." A French diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said that the talks had shown that the American side was aware of the gravity of the situation. "This was not hours of cuddling to make things better and the Americans also don't think that cuddling is the right thing now or saying that 'we are the best allies in the world'," said the source. (AFP) Parts of southern France were left underwater to start the week after a robust storm unleashed several months' worth of rain in just two days across the region. AccuWeather forecasters say torrential downpours targeted southern France Sunday and Monday. This triggered a deluge that led to significant travel disruptions, more than 1,000 emergency calls and at least one fatality, according to multiple news outlets in France. Videos showed harrowing scenes of cars stuck in raging floodwaters while aerial images captured swollen rivers inching toward the top of a bridge around the port city of Marseille. Some residents around the area were forced to evacuate. One person was killed on a highway in the Bouches-du-Rhone department when a truck and car collided during the adverse weather on Monday, according to La Provence. A screen shot taken from video footage showing the swollen Huveaune River surging through Marseille, France, and nearly breaching a bridge. The areas in the south of France that were in the bull's-eye for the worst impacts included the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. All three departments border the Mediterranean Sea. Marseille, located in the Bouches-du-Rhone department, recorded about three months' worth of rainfall in just two days. According to Meteo-France, the French meteorological service, Marseille received a staggering 7.64 inches (194 mm) of rain Sunday and Monday. To put that number in perspective, the city typically records about 3.33 inches (85 mm) of rain on average for the entire month of October. According to AccuWeather forecasters, the combined average rainfall for the area for the three months from September to November is 7.58 inches (193 mm). This amount of torrential rainfall in such a short period of time quickly overwhelmed nearby roadways, rivers and streams. [#MardiChiffre] 610 C'est le nombre d'interventions realisees hier par le #Sdis13. Une hausse considerable due aux #Intemperies et #inondations dans le @departement13. Comme toujours, les #Pompiers13, aux cotes des @MarinsPompiers, ont su s'adapter et faire face. pic.twitter.com/eSPDD1hlne Pompiers 13 (@Pompiers_13) October 5, 2021 Dozens of road closures forced traffic to come to a grinding halt across portions of multiple departments as some roadways were rendered impassible. In addition to road traffic, all Transport Express Regional (TER) rail lines passing through Marseille were shut down Monday afternoon, stranding hundreds of passengers, according to BFM TV. Story continues In the Bouches-du-Rhone department alone, 1,500 calls for help were relayed to the region's fire department, according to BFM TV. Of these calls, 610 rescues were carried out on Monday by the department's fire and rescue workers. No fatalities were reported. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP All schools in the Var, Bouches-du-Rhone and Alpes-Maritimes were closed on Monday when the scope of flooding issues became clear. Multiple schools in Marseille remained closed on Tuesday as damage assessments continued, according to La Provence. Even as floodwaters began to recede, many areas were left with what is likely to be a substantial cleanup period. Members of the Marseille firefighter battalion, the largest unit in the French Navy, were seen working to cleanse streets of a thick layer of mud left behind after floodwaters made roads unrecognizable. [ ALERTE ROUGE - #INTEMPERIES ] L'episode meteo n'est pas termine. Aucune victime n'est a deplorer. Plus de 60 #marins engages. Limitez vos deplacements Tenez-vous informes pic.twitter.com/NLh2lEmVI0 Marins-Pompiers de Marseille (@MarinsPompiers) October 4, 2021 The timing of the flooding rain could not have been worse for some portions of Marseille, with floodwaters arriving just days after local waste collectors ended a weeklong strike. According to EuroNews, there are fears that "catastrophic" waste can make its way into the ocean when floodwaters further recede. The storm that unleashed torrential rainfall across the south of France early this week was fueled by a deep layer of moist air over the western Mediterranean Sea. Winds at the lower and middle levels of the atmosphere essentially directed this moisture right at the southern coast of France. Drier weather is on the way, which should aid in cleanup efforts as floodwaters recede. Through the upcoming weekend, largely dry weather is in store for Marseille and the surrounding area as high pressure settles into place, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Tony Zartman. While the weather will remain largely dry, there is one thing that residents beginning to pick up the pieces left by the deluge will have to monitor. "It was rather windy Wednesday and Wednesday night as a storm strengthened over Italy, but those winds should start to diminish on Thursday," Zartman cautioned. For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, DIRECTVstream, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeatherNOW is streaming on Roku and XUMO. Three parakeets were stolen from a specialty pet store in New Jersey by a man, woman and child, Totowa police said. The theft occurred around 2 p.m. Saturday, when the trio entered Paterson Bird Store in Totowa with a dog and a cat, according to a Facebook post by the store. The three were told that the animals were not allowed near the birds, WABC reported. Surveillance videos from the store show the child and the man standing near some of the bird cages. In one video, the two look around for a moment before the man reaches into a black bird cage and gathers two birds with his hands. He appears to put the birds inside a duffel bag, one at a time. In a second video, the man is seen reaching into a white bird cage and grabbing another bird. He also put the bird into the bag. The theft happened quickly one of the videos is a minute long, and the other about 47 seconds. The store said in a Facebook post that the three individuals were only in the store from about 2:09 p.m. to 2:14 p.m. The birds taken are two rosy Bourke parakeets and one American Dilute Green Cheek Conure, a type of small parrot, WABC reported. All three of the birds are very young, but the conure is especially fragile, as it was still being hand fed with special formula, the store said in a post. Cheryl, a store employee who declined to give her last name, told McClatchy News that the conure may be dead by now, as he doesnt know how to eat on his own and is only an infant. The other two parakeets are also very fragile, she said. It was just devastating in here, and we all feel a lot of guilt for it happening so quickly and none of us helping, she said. Store owner Philip Jasper told WABC that the incident was the perfect storm, as the employees were all busy helping other customers or performing other maintenance and werent in the room the birds were stolen from. I feel violated for sure, Jasper said. I feel very upset. I feel bad for my staff. I wasnt here that day. They feel so bad about it, that they missed it. Story continues Altogether, the three birds are worth close to $2,000, WABC reported. The Totowa Police Department is investigating the incident and shared photos on social media of the three individuals. The store has asked anyone who may have information on the incident to call them at 973-785-0096 or to email them at patersonbird@gmail.com. Pet store customers response to mask request: Ill shoot you in the face In a win for animal advocates, Overland Park becomes latest city to lift pit bull ban Harrowing disappearance of 3 baby goats ends with mysterious return, NC rescue says Toronto, Ontario --News Direct-- AbraSilver Resource Corp. Separate Intersection of High-Grade Gold-Copper Sulphide Mineralisation: 3m at 5.1 g/t Au & 6.75% Cu Toronto - TheNewswire - October 05, 2021: AbraSilver Resource Corp. (TSX.V:ABRA) (OTC:ABBRF) ("AbraSilver" or the Company) is pleased to report new drill results from the latest diamond drill holes of the Companys ongoing Phase II drill program, on its wholly-owned Diablillos property in Salta Province, Argentina. Hole DDH 21-040 was a step-out hole drilled to test the northeast extension of the Oculto system approximately 150 meters beyond the open pit margin. Hole DDH 21-044 was a step-out hole testing a previously underexplored breccia zone along the northern edge of the Oculto system, and hole DDH 21-045 tested the southwest extension of the Measured Resource shell boundary along strike from the high-grade Tesoro Zone. Assay results from the key highlight holes are summarized in Table 1, with results from all additional holes included in Table 2 below. Table 1 Drill Results of Highlight Holes (Intercepts greater than 2,000 gram-meter AgEq shown in bold text): Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Type Interval (m) Ag g/t Au g/t Cu % AgEq1 g/t AuEq1 g/t DDH-21-040 168 177 Oxides 9.0 55.0 0.95 - 126.3 1.68 DDH-21-040 204 219 Oxides 15.0 179.8 0.68 - 230.8 3.08 DDH-21-040 Including 209 214 Oxides 5.0 494.3 1.81 - 630.1 8.40 DDH-21-040 272 275 Sulphides 3.0 79.0 5.12 6.75 1,157.3 15.43 DDH-21-044 55 67 Oxides 12.0 104.4 - - 104.4 1.39 DDH-21-044 101 143 Oxides 42.0 87.1 0.82 - 148.6 1.98 DDH-21-044 Including 112 133 Oxides 21.0 110.5 1.40 - 215.5 2.87 DDH-21-045 26 32 Oxides 6.0 18.1 0.97 - 90.9 1.21 DDH-21-045 108 172.5 Oxides 64.5 125.6 0.61 - 171.4 2.28 DDH-21-045 Including 111 115 Oxides 4.0 83.0 0.94 - 153.5 2.05 DDH-21-045 Including 119 131 Oxides 12.0 206.6 2.20 - 371.6 4.95 DDH-21-045 Including 162 168 Oxides 6.0 287.5 0.12 - 296.5 3.95 Note: All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Widths are drilled widths, not true widths. True widths are estimated to be approximately 80% of the interval widths. Story continues 1 AgEq & AuEq calculations for reported drill results are based on USD $20.00/oz Ag, $1,500/oz Au and $3.00/lb Cu. The calculations assume 100% metallurgical recovery and are indicative of gross in-situ metal value at the indicated metal prices. Refer to Technical Notes below for additional information. John Miniotis, President and CEO, commented, Our Phase II drill program continues to return strong grades over broad widths, confirming and expanding the known gold and silver mineralized zones. Hole DDH 21-045 reinforces and extends the higher grade mineralisation in the existing Measured Resource shell, while holes DDH 21-040 and DDH 21-044 demonstrate the extension of substantial mineralisation for hundreds of meters beyond the open pit boundary in the Oculto Northeast and North Zones. Figure 1 Drill Hole Location Map Click Image To View Full Size Discussion of Drill Hole Results Hole DDH 21-040 was a step-out hole drilled to test the extension of the Oculto system and intersected substantial high-grade silver, gold and copper mineralisation beyond the open pit in the northeast zone. The hole successfully intersected several zones of oxide and sulphide mineralisation, with 15 meters of oxide mineralisation grading 179.8 g/t silver and 0.68 g/t gold from 204 to 219 meters, including 5 meters grading 494.3 g/t silver and 1.81 g/t gold from 209 to 214 meters. The deeper portion of the hole intersected a high-grade sulphide intercept of 3 meters grading 79.0 g/t silver, 5.12 g/t gold and 6.75% copper from 272 to 275 meters. Hole DDH 21-044 was a step-out hole which tested a previously underexplored breccia zone along the northern edge of the Oculto system. This hole intersected shallow mineralization in oxides with 42 meters grading 87.1 g/t silver and 0.82 g/t gold from 101 to 143 meters, including 21 meters grading 110.5 g/t silver and 1.40 g/t gold from 112 to 133 meters. The encouraging results of this hole, opens a new area of potential mineralisation which will be systematically drilled in the near future. Hole DDH 21-045 tested the southwest extension of the Measured Resource along strike from the high-grade Tesoro Zone. The hole successfully intersected a broad interval of 64.5 meters grading 125.6 g/t silver and 0.61 g/t gold from 108 to 172.5 meters, including 12 meters grading 206.6 g/t silver and 2.20 g/t gold from 119 to 131 meters. These results reinforce and extend the high-grade mineralisation in the Measured Resource area towards the west. Figure 2 Cross Section (Looking East) with Highlighted intercepts in Hole DDH 21-040 Click Image To View Full Size Figure 3 - Cross Section (Looking East) with Highlighted intercepts in Holes DDH 21-044 and DDH 21-045 Click Image To View Full Size Table 2 Drill Result Highlights of Holes DDH 21-040 - DDH 21-045 Drill Hole Zone From (m) To (m) Type Interval (m) Ag g/t Au g/t Cu % DDH-21-040 Northeast 168 177 Oxides 9.0 55.0 0.95 - 204 219 Oxides 15.0 179.8 0.68 - 209 214 Oxides 5.0 494.3 1.81 - 272 275 Sulphides 3.0 79.0 5.12 6.75 DDH-21-043 Far East 26 28 Oxides 2.0 - 0.7 - 33 34 Oxides 1.0 - 2.2 - 39 42 Oxides 3.0 - 1.2 - 99.5 100.5 Oxides 1.0 - 0.7 - DDH-21-044 North 55 67 Oxides 12.0 104.4 - - 101 143 Oxides 42.0 87.1 0.82 - 112 133 Oxides 21.0 110.5 1.40 - DDH-21-045 Tesoro 26 32 Oxides 6.0 18.1 0.97 - 108 172.5 Oxides 64.5 125.6 0.61 - 111 115 Oxides 4.0 83.0 0.94 - 119 131 Oxides 12.0 206.6 2.20 - 162 168 Oxides 6.0 287.5 0.12 - Collar Data Hole Number UTM Coordinates Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth DDH 21-040 E720291 N7199605 4,263 0 -60 282 DDH 21-041 E721212 N7201689 4,149 0 -90 215.5 DDH 21-042 E721100 N7202023 4,145 0 -90 203.6 DDH 21-043 E721621 N7199940 4,438 0 -60 150 DDH 21-044 E720097 N7199449 4,239 0 -60 176 DDH 21-045 E720095 N7199237 4,228 0 -60 221 About Diablillos The 80 km2 Diablillos property is located in the Argentine Puna region - the southern extension of the Altiplano of southern Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile - and was acquired from SSR Mining Inc. by the Company in 2016. There are several known mineral zones on the Diablillos property, with the Oculto zone being the most advanced with approximately 90,000 meters drilled to date. Oculto is a high-sulphidation epithermal silver-gold deposit derived from remnant hot springs activity following Tertiarty-age local magmatic and volcanic activity. Comparatively nearby examples of high sulphidation epithermal deposits include: Yanacocha (Peru); El Indio (Chile); Lagunas Nortes/Alto Chicama (Peru) Veladero (Argentina); and Filo del Sol (Argentina) Table 3 - 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Oculto Deposit, Diablillos Project Category Tonnage (000 t) Ag (g/t) Au (g/t) Contained Ag (000 oz Ag) Contained Au (000 oz Au) Measured 8,235 124 0.98 32,701 259 Indicated 32,958 54 0.70 57,464 744 Measured & Indicated 41,193 68 0.76 90,165 1,002 Inferred 2,884 34 0.7 3,181 66 Effective September 8, 2021. The resource estimate is N.I. 43-101 compliant. Full details of the Mineral Resources are available in a Company news release dated September 15, 2021. The full technical report, which is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI-43-101) by Mining Plus, will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Companys issuer profile within 45 days of the news release dated September 15, 2021. QA/QC and Core Sampling Protocols AbraSilver applies industry standard exploration methodologies and techniques, and all drill core samples are collected under the supervision of the Companys geologists in accordance with industry practices. Drill core is transported from the drill platform to the logging facility where drill data is compared and verified with the core in the trays. Thereafter, it is logged, photographed, and split by diamond saw prior to being sampled. Samples are then bagged, and quality control materials are inserted at regular intervals; these include blanks and certified reference materials as well as duplicate core samples which are collected in order to measure sample representivity. Groups of samples are then placed in large bags which are sealed with numbered tags in order to maintain a chain-of-custody during the transport of the samples from the project site to the laboratory. All samples are received by the SGS offices in Salta who then dispatch the samples to the SGS preparation facility in San Juan. From there, the prepared samples are sent to the SGS laboratory in Lima, Peru where they are analyzed. All samples are analyzed using a multi-element technique consisting of a four acid digestion followed by ICP/AES detection, and gold is analyzed by 50g Fire Assay with an AAS finish. Silver results greater than 100g/t are reanalyzed using four acid digestion with an ore grade AAS finish. Qualified Persons David OConnor P.Geo., Chief Geologist for AbraSilver, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Technical Notes All results in this news release are rounded. Assays are uncut and undiluted. Intervals are drilled widths, not true widths. AgEq calculations for reported drill results are based on USD $20.00/oz Ag, $1,500/oz Au and $3.00/lb Cu. The calculations assume 100% metallurgical recovery and are indicative of gross in-situ metal value at the indicated metal prices. No metallurgical testwork has yet been completed on the recovery of copper. About AbraSilver AbraSilver is a well-funded silver-gold focused advanced-stage exploration company. The Company is rapidly advancing its 100%-owned Diablillos silver-gold project in the mining-friendly Salta province of Argentina, which has a Measured and Indicated resource base of over 160Moz on a silver-equivalent basis or 2.3Moz on a gold-equivalent basis. The Company is led by an experienced management team and has long-term supportive shareholders including Mr. Eric Sprott and SSR Mining. In addition, AbraSilver owns a portfolio of earlier-stage copper-gold projects, including the Arcas project in Chile where Rio Tinto has an option to earn up to a 75% interest by funding up to US$25 million in exploration. AbraSilver is listed on the TSX-V under the symbol ABRA and in the U.S. under the symbol ABBRF. For further information please visit the AbraSilver Resource website at www.abrasilver.com, our LinkedIn page at AbraSilver Resource Corp., and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/abrasilver Alternatively please contact: John Miniotis, President and CEO john@abrasilver.com Tel: +1 416-306-8334 Cautionary Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements that address future plans, activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur are forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. The Diablillos resource estimate is N.I. 43-101 compliant. Full details of the Mineral Resources are available in a Company news release dated September 15, 2021. The full technical report, which is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI-43-101) by Mining Plus, will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Companys issuer profile within 45 days of the news release dated September 15, 2021. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/abrasilver-intersects-171-g-t-ageq-2-3-g-t-aueq-over-64-5m-in-oxides-at-diablillos-568041512 An actor behind a Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $230 million with fake promises of film rights pleaded guilty Monday and faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said. The man, Zachary Joseph Horwitz, 34, of Los Angeles, used money from the yearslong scheme to buy a $6 million house and pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. He pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a statement. Horwitz told investors that their money would be used to secure rights for films that Netflix and HBO agreed to distribute abroad, officials said. Video: Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme impact But the money was not going to that, and the licensing agreements and deals with Netflix and HBO were fake, Horwitz admitted in a plea agreement. The companies said they never did business with him or his company, prosecutors said. The overall scheme raised at least $650 million and caused more than $230 million in losses. "Mr. Horwitz has accepted responsibility for his actions, and todays plea is an important step in that process," said his attorney, Ryan S. Hedges. The Ponzi scheme eventually collapsed, and 1inMM Capital began defaulting on promissory notes in 2019. Horwitz used the money coming in to pay off earlier investors and prop up the scheme, according to court documents. Horwitz used some of the stolen money to buy a $6 million house in Beverlywood, a Los Angeles neighborhood south of Beverly Hills, and paid off more than $300,000 in credit card debt, prosecutors said. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 2. According to his IMDb profile, Horwitz has 15 acting credits to his name. Four of them are for shorts; about half of them credit him as an unnamed extra. Once an influential lawyer, Farishta is now in hiding, fearing for her life Until August, Farishta was an influential prosecutor who exercised her power for a cause. She prosecuted criminals, Taliban militants, corrupt bureaucrats, and men who beat women and children. Today, 27-year-old Farishta is in hiding. Like a fugitive on the run, she changes her location often. For her safety, we have changed her name. Originally from Afghanistan's south-eastern Paktia province, Farishta was among those Afghan women who obtained professional success in the years after the Taliban was defeated, challenging the country's male-dominated and ultra-conservative society. Five years ago, under the previous government, she became a prosecutor in Afghanistan's Attorney-General's office. Part of her job was "prosecuting and getting sentences for those who committed rape, murder and domestic violence", she told the BBC from a safe house in Afghanistan. It was a "challenging but satisfying job", she said. But as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan in recent months, before seizing the country, they freed prisoners along the way, including thousands of hardened criminals and Islamist militants. Among those let go by the crusading Taliban was Mohamad Gol, who faced charges of planning suicide bomb attacks. Farishta had painstakingly gathered evidence against Gol and successfully prosecuted him, putting him behind bars for what should have been a 20-year sentence. Days after the Taliban took over Kabul, Mohammed Gol called her, Farishta said. "He said he was coming after me to take revenge, and I cannot hide anywhere." Since then, she has been on the move. With no salary, she is finding it difficult to make ends meet. Farishta and her colleagues say the Taliban are opposed to women working as prosecutors and judges and they want to keep most women away from the workplace, as they did during their rule through the late 1990s. One of the first things the Taliban did after seizing control was to release militants from prison Women like Farishta have good reason to be afraid. In January, two women judges of the Afghan Supreme Court were shot dead in Kabul - part of a wave of targeted killings widely blamed on the Taliban. And two legal officials who worked in the Afghan Justice Ministry have been killed in Kabul in recent weeks in what are believed to be revenge attacks. Story continues International rights groups including Amnesty and Human Rights watch have reported extra-judicial killings and abductions, despite an amnesty declared by the Taliban for government workers. Hundreds of women judges went into hiding as the group seized power in August. Some scrambled to leave the country during the US-led evacuation in August, others were left to face their fate in Afghanistan. "I personally received many phone calls and threats from Taliban and their associated members," said an Afghan woman judge from Parwan province, who was among those to get out. The judge, who joined the bench in 2018, is now living in the UK. She said her property, belongings and all others assets had been seized by the Taliban and her relatives were at risk of persecution from the Islamist group. "Female judges played a vital role to establish the rule of law and the fight against corruption inside branch," she said. "If they leave the country, it's a huge vacuum for the judicial branch." There are still about 230 Afghan female judges stranded in Afghanistan, all of them now in hiding. According to interviews with judges, and activists working on their behalf, former residences have been searched and ransacked and relatives threatened. "Their careers are over, their bank accounts have been frozen, and their future as women in Afghanistan is grim," said Judge Anisa Dhanji, a UK representative of the non-profit International Association of Women Judges, IAWJ. Once-influential female judges are now forced into hiding The IAWJ, which has trained several Afghan female judges in the past, stepped in to co-ordinate the evacuation of dozens of judges amid the chaos and violence at the Kabul airport after the Taliban take over. It was a complex operation involving several teams working through the night with maps and interpreters, coordinating intelligence reports about what's happening at the Kabul airport gates. Against the odds, around 40 Afghan women justices and their families were evacuated. Most are now in the US and Europe and some in Turkey, Tajikistan, Iran and the Gulf. But many more were left behind. One Afghan judge hiding in Kabul told the IAWJ that a man she sentenced on terrorism charges had not only been released, and threatened her, but had now been appointed as a Taliban judge. Another judge said she was due to give birth imminently by planned Caesarean section, but she was too afraid to go to a hospital and identify herself there. And beyond these shocking cases, the sudden disappearance of the judicial system has dealt a blow across the board for women seeking justice in Afghanistan. "As the courts are closed, women have no avenue to complain about rape or abuse by their husbands and other men," said Zainab, an independent lawyer running a legal firm in several Afghan cities, whose name we have changed. "No one is coming forward to discuss it, because there are no female lawyers anymore," she said. Farishta is hiding after warnings from convicts. "He said he was coming after me to take revenge," she said. All Zainab's offices have been shut down and her 15 staff have lost their jobs. She received her own threat, she said, from a man from Herat she prosecuted for sexual assault but who was freed by the Taliban. "He said, 'I will find you, even if you hide in Herat, and then I will hand you over to the Taliban'." A senior Taliban spokesman and minister denied responsibility for the threats and the ransacking of properties of female judges and other legal officials. "We reject these allegations, our fighters would never do such a thing," Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC. Asked whether the female judges and prosecutors will be allowed to return to work, Mujahid said, "A decision will be made and a framework is under process. Then everything will become clear." Campaigners say time is running out for the Afghan women lawyers and judges in hiding. "The urgency at present is in assisting those who wish to leave," said Justice Dhanji. "Their lives and the lives of their families are at risk. They are being hunted simply for having sat in judgement on men." Additional reporting by the BBC's Afghan producer Mahfouz Zubaide Vancouver, British Columbia --News Direct-- New Age Metals Inc. October 5, 2021 TheNewswire - Rockport, Ontario - New Age Metals Inc. (TSXV:NAM); (OTC:NMTLF); (FSE:P7J.F) (NAM or Company) is pleased to announce the release of an independent National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) updated Mineral Resource Estimate for its 100% owned River Valley Palladium Project (River Valley or the Project) near Sudbury, Ontario(Figure 1). Harry Barr, Chairman and CEO of NAM, said, We are very pleased to substantially improve on the previous Mineral Resource Estimates completed for the River Valley Palladium Project. At a CDN$15/t NSR cut-off, Pd+Pt+Au grades and total Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increased compared to the previous updated 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate. The presence of higher-grade mineralization for many kilometres of strike-length at River Valley at a wide range of cut-offs, within 100 km of the Sudbury mining and processing hub (see Figure 1), bodes well for the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study. In order to better highlight the potential for economic mining at River Valley, we graduated from a palladium metal grade equivalency used in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment to an NSR-based model in the 2021 updated Mineral Resource Estimate. An advantage of this change is that NSR less the cut-off NSR better showcases the potential positive economics of the River Valley Project. The predominant contribution of palladium to the NSR clearly demonstrates that River Valley is a true PGM deposit, which is very rare outside of southern Africa. In addition, ongoing and future exploration programs will target zones for converting Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources and new zones nearby with potential to expand the Mineral Resources. Click Image To View Full Size Figure 1. Location of the River Valley Palladium Property relative to the City of Sudbury and established road and rail infrastructure. Note that the Property is covered by two Mining Leases (red), which are surrounded by a buffer of mining claims (not shown). Story continues Highlights of the updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate are as follows: - At a cut-off of $C15 NSR/t, pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 2.25 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 89.0 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at $C47.6/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources of 1.59 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 92.7 Mt grading 0.53 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at $C31.1/t NSR. - At a CDN$25 NSR/t cut-off, pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 1.96 Moz Pd+Pt+Au within 60.1 Mt grading 1.02 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$60.5/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources contain 1.12 Moz within 48.4 Mt grading 0.72 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$41.5/t NSR. - Out-of-pit constrained Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contain 31,000 ounces Pd+Pt+Au within 642,000 tonnes grading 1.49 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$88.5/t NSR and Inferred Mineral Resources contain 62,000 ounces within 1.6 Mt grading 1.21 g/t Pd+Pt+Au or at CDN$68.1/t NSR, at a CDN$50 NSR/t cut-off. - Recommendations include in-fill drilling to convert Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources and exploration drilling down-dip/down-plunge of the mineralized zones to potentially expand the Mineral Resources along strike and at depth. The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate for River Valley, with an effective date of September 14, 2021, is summarized in Figure 2 and presented in Table 1. Click Image To View Full Size Figure 2. Distribution of pit constrained Mineral Resources at CDN$15/t NSR cut-off by mineralized zone at River Valley. Grenville, Huronian and Nipissing units not shown for clarity. Note that the Pine Zone is not exposed at surface. M&I = Measured and Indicated, Ind: = Indicated, Inf = Inferred, NSR = net smelter return. Click Image To View Full Size 1. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. 2. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. 3. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration. 4. The Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council. 5. The Mineral Resource Estimate is based on US$ metal prices of $1,850/oz Pd, $900/oz Pt, $1,600/oz Au, $3.00/lb Cu, $16/lb Co, $6.50/lb Ni, $8,000/oz Rh, $18.50/oz Ag. The US$:CDN$ exchange rate used was 0.75. 6. The NSR estimates use flotation recoveries of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 80% for Au, 85% for Cu, 25% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag and smelter payables of 80% for Pd, 80% for Pt, 85% for Au, 85% for Cu, 50% for Co, 90% for Ni, 80% for Rh and 65% for Ag. 7. The pit optimization used a mining cost of $2.25/t mined, combined processing and G&A costs of CDN$15/t, and pit slopes of 50. The out-of-pit Mineral Resources used underground mining, processing and G&A cost of CDN$50/t. At a cut-off of $CDN25/t NSR, pit constrained Mineral Resources are presented in Table 2.The Measured and Indicated MRE relative metal contribution to the NSR is presented in Table 3. The predominant contribution of Pd + Pt (88.4%) is particularly noteworthy, given the rarity of such true PGM deposits in secure and established mining jurisdictions globally. Click Image To View Full Size Table 3. Measured & Indicated MRE Metal Contribution to NSR at River Valley Metal Contribution (%) Pd 74.6 Pt 13.8 Au 4.0 Cu 4.2 Ni 0.8 Co 0.2 Rh 2.1 Ag 0.3 Total 100.0 Detailed sensitivities of pit constrained and out-of-pit Mineral Resource Estimates by mineralized zones at River Valley are provided in the Appendices. More detailed breakdowns of the NSR-based cut-off sensitivity analyses for the pit constrained and out-of-pit Mineral Resource Estimates are outlined in the Appendices. The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (Brampton, Ontario) (P&E) using the drill hole database provided by NAM. The drill hole database consisted of 723 diamond drill holes totalling 156,421 m, which were drilled in many exploration campaigns completed between 2000 and 2020. Comparison to Previous Mineral Resource Estimate In 2019, an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the River Valley Palladium Project were released. The updated 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate was completed by WSP Canada Inc. with an effective date January 9, 2019. The Mineral Resource Estimate with pit constrained and out-of-pit cut-offs 0.35 g/t PdEq and 2.0 g/t PdEq, respectively, is presented in Table 4. Table 41-7 River Valley Updated Mineral Resource Estimate Effective January 9, 2019 Class Cut-off Tonnes Pd Pt Rh Au Cu Ni Co PdEq PdEq (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (%) (g/t) Total Measured 0.35 56,025,400 0.54 0.20 0.013 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.94 2 71,300 2.33 0.75 0.036 0.09 0.12 0.02 0.002 3.38 0.35+2.00 56,096,700 0.54 0.20 0.013 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.94 Total Indicated 0.35 43,153,300 0.49 0.19 0.003 0.03 0.05 0.02 0.006 0.84 2 5,200 2.23 0.60 0.003 0.11 0.03 0.04 0 3.20 0.35+2.00 43,158,500 0.49 0.19 0.003 0.03 0.05 0.02 0.006 0.84 Total Meas + Ind 0.35 99,178,700 0.52 0.20 0.009 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.90 2 76,500 2.32 0.74 0.034 0.09 0.11 0.02 0.002 3.37 0.35+2.00 99,255,200 0.52 0.20 0.009 0.03 0.06 0.02 0.006 0.90 Inferred 0.35 52,306,000 0.31 0.15 0.012 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.001 0.63 2 - - - - - - - - - 0.35+2.00 52,306,000 0.31 0.15 0.012 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.001 0.63 1.CIM definition standards were followed for the Mineral Resource Estimate. 2.The 2019 Mineral Resource models used Ordinary Kriging grade estimation within a three-dimensional block model with mineralized zones defined by wireframed solids. 3.A base cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t PdEq was used for reporting Mineral Resources in a constrained pit and 2.00 g/t PdEq was used for reporting the Mineral Resources under the pit. 4.Palladium Equivalent (PdEq) calculated using (US$): $950/oz Pd, $950/oz Pt, $1,275/oz Au, $1,500/oz Rh, $2.75/lb Cu, $5.25/lb Ni, $36/lb Co. 5.Numbers may not add exactly due to rounding. 6.Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have economic viability. 7.The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration. The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate is based on all historical and 2020 diamond drilling, more conservative mineralized domain wireframing strategy and revised mineralized domain modelling, inverse distance grade interpretation methodology, and higher overall metal prices, particularly for palladium. As a result, Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increased compared to the previous Mineral Resource Estimate. At the CDN$15/t NSR cut-off, the pit constrained Measured & Indicated Mineral Resources total of 89 Mt grading0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.3 Moz) reported herein significantly exceeds the potentially mineable resources total of 78 Mt grading 0.79 g/t Pd+Pt+Au (2.0 Moz) reported in the 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment of River Valley. Pre-Feasibility Study Update A Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project was announced in a Company press release dated April 2021. At this point, fresh drill core samples from the Dana North, Dana South, Lismer North and Lismer Ridge Zones are being processed, prepared and assayed for mineral processing and metallurgical testwork at SGS Lakefield. The geomechanical drill programs are underway on the Lismer and Dana Zones and the geotechnical site investigation program is to start imminently by Knight-Piesold. Environmental baseline sampling during seasonal low water conditions will be carried out by Story Environmental in Q4 2021. Exploration Update Exploration in 2021 is focused on identifying opportunities for converting Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources and for expanding the known Mineral Resources. An induced polarization geophysical survey and four drill holes totalling 1300 m have been completed at Banshee Zone. Mineralization was intersected and assays are pending from the laboratory. A new trench has been excavated and more mineralization exposed to the east adjacent to the known mineralization at Dana South Zone. Mapping and sampling are underway and will be completed in Q4 2021. About River Valley The River Valley Palladium Project is located 100 road-km east from the City of Sudbury. The Project area is linked to Sudbury by a network of all-weather highways, roads and rail beds and is accessible year-round with hydro grid and natural gas power nearby. River Valley enjoys the strong support of local communities, like the village of River Valley, 20 km to the south.A fully executed Memorandum of Understanding is in place with a local First Nation. Environmental baseline studies re-commenced in 2020. The current Mineral Resource Estimate is the subject of this press release. At cut-offs of CDN$15NSR/t (pit constrained) and CDN$50NSR/t (out-of-pit), the Mineral Resource Estimate consists of: 89.9 Mt grading 0.54 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$47.58 NSR/t in the Measured and Indicated classifications; and 94 Mt grading 0.35 g/t Pd, 0.16 g/t Pt, 0.04 g/t Au and 0.06% Cu, or CDN$31.69 NSR/t in the Inferred classification. Contained metal contents are 2.3 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Measured and Indicated classifications and 1.6 Moz Pd+Pt+Au in the Inferred classification. The 2019 PEA results for the River Valley Palladium Project were announced in a press release dated June 27, 2019, and are based on the updated 2019 Mineral Resource Estimate. The 2019 PEA outlines a 20,000 t/day open pit mine and processing plant operation producing an average of 119,000 ounces of PdEq per year over a mine life of 14 years. Using base case metal prices of US$1,200/oz Pd, $1,050/oz Pt and $3.25/lb Cu, the PEA showed a pre-tax NPV5% of US$261 million and a pre-tax IRR of 13%. At a +20% palladium price of $1,440/oz Pd, the pre-tax NPV5% increases to $501M and the pre-tax IRR to 19%. The updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate will form a basis for the ongoing Pre-Feasibility Study of the River Valley Palladium Project. About NAM New Age Metals is a junior mineral exploration and development company focused on the discovery, exploration and development of green metal projects in North America. The Company has two divisions; a Platinum Group Metals division and a Lithium/Rare Element division. The PGM Division includes the 100% owned, multi-million-ounce, district scale River Valley Project, one of North Americas largest undeveloped Platinum Group Metals Projects, situated100 km from Sudbury, Ontario. The Company completed a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Project in 2019 and, is fully financed to complete a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in 2022. In addition to River Valley, the Company owns 100% of the Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni Project in Alaska, and has plans to complete a surface mapping and sampling program in 2022. The Lithium Division is one of the largest mineral claim holders in the Winnipeg River Pegmatite Field, where the Company is exploring for hard rock lithium and various rare elements such as tantalum and rubidium. Plans for 2021 include drone geophysics on at least five of the Companys seven projects and a maiden drill program on the Companys Lithium Two Project. On September 28, the Company announced a partnership with Mineral Resource Limited (MRL, ASX: MIN), the worlds fifth largest lithium producer to explore and develop the Companys lithium project portfolio. Our philosophy is to be a project generator with the objective of optioning our projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. The Company is actively seeking an option/ joint venture partner for its road-accessible Genesis PGM-Cu-Ni project in Alaska. Investors are invited to visit the New Age Metals website at www.newagemetals.com where they can review the company and its corporate activities. Any questions or comments can be directed to info@newagemetals.com or Harry Barr at Hbarr@newagemetals.com or Cody Hunt at Codyh@newagemetals.com or call 613 659 2773. Opt-in List If you have not done so already, we encourage you to sign up on our website (www.newagemetals.com) to receive our updated news. Qualified Persons Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., and an independent Qualified Person and Competent Person has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. The contents contained herein that relate to the scientific and exploration results for the River Valley Project is based on information compiled, reviewed or prepared by Dr. Bill Stone, P.Geo., a consulting geoscientist for New Age Metals. Dr. Stone is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. A Technical Report in support of this updated 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate for the River Valley Palladium Project will be prepared in accordance to NI 43-101 and filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days of this news release. On behalf of the Board of Directors Harry Barr Harry G. Barr Chairman and CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as continue, efforts, expect, believe, anticipate, confident, intend, strategy, plan, will, estimate, project, goal, target, prospects, optimistic or similar expressions. These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Companys ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Appendices Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size Click Image To View Full Size View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/new-age-metals-announces-updated-mineral-resource-estimate-of-the-river-valley-palladium-project-2-3-million-mandi-and-1-6-million-inferred-pd-pt-au-ounces-418792355 Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields online intermediaries such as social media platforms from civil liability for content users post, but also allows them to moderate illegal, lewd, or otherwise harmful content as they see fit. These dual protections afforded to internet-based companies have been credited for the innovation and growth of social media companies, but Section 230 is often criticized across partisan lines. Does Section 230 invite too much content moderation, or too little? And how, if at all, should Section 230 be reformed? Over the past year, our American Enterprise Institute programming has offered a number of different perspectives on Section 230 reform. On the latest episode of Explain to Shane, I was joined by Neil Fried to hear his argument for why Section 230 should be reformed. Below is an edited and abridged transcript of our talk. You can listen to this and other episodes of Explain to Shane on AEI.org and subscribe via your preferred listening platform. You can also read the full transcript of our discussion here. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review, and tell your friends and colleagues to tune in. Shane Tews: Neil, you were part of the team that helped implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attorney, so you witnessed the birth of Section 230 first-hand. Can you give us some background on why Section 230 was created? Neil Fried: There was this dial-up bulletin board company called Prodigy back when that was sort of the first consumer use of the internet that was building itself as a family-friendly bulletin board, so they were moderating their chats. If someone posted something profane or abusive, Prodigy moderators would take it down. And interestingly, in what was one of the first cases about online defamation, using common law before Section 230 was passed a court in New York said because Prodigy was moderating some content, it could be held culpable for all content on its site, even content it had not moderated. And because something allegedly libelous got through on one of the bulletin boards, a court said Prodigy could be held culpable for defamation. Story continues That case never went to complete fruition, so maybe Prodigy wouldnt eventually have been held culpable for defamation, but the precedent was alarming to Congress because here, Prodigy tried to moderate and to do the right thing, and was told, Youre going to be punished for doing the right thing. You could be held culpable. That got Congress very concerned, and is what prompted Section 230s passage. Congress wanted to encourage platforms to moderate, but the fear was that companies like Prodigy would learn not to moderate in order to avoid legal liability. The lawyers for Prodigy reasonably said, If we want to minimize our exposure to litigation, were going to stop all moderation. And thats the exact opposite result of what everybody wanted. At the time, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and former Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) were members of the House and saw this as a problem. They very reasonably and, I think, with the right intention, decided to pass legislation that said, Hold on. Lets change the common law standard so that you cant be held culpable just because youve chosen to moderate. And so Congress overwhelmingly and very quickly passed Section 230. And one provision in Section 230 specifically, Section 230 (c)(2) actually solves the Prodigy problem. That provision says platforms efforts to moderate cannot be used against that platform in terms of creating culpability for whats on the platform. So again, if what happened with Prodigy played out after Section 230 (c)(2) had passed, the court would have said the opposite: Prodigy did moderate, and the mere fact that they moderated doesnt expose them to liability. Talk a bit more about the difference between Section 230 (c)(1) and (c)(2). Many people who have concerns about Section 230 have concerns about (c)(1). We just talked about (c)(2), which says you cant be held culpable for all content just because you moderated some content. Section (c)(1) says you cannot be treated as the publisher of third-party content on your platform full stop, even if you do no moderating. In the way its been interpreted, (c)(1) essentially trumps (c)(2). According to the Internet Associations own study, 91 percent of Section 230 cases are decided under Section 230 (c)(1). And what that means is: You dont have to examine whether the platform does any moderating. If Congress was trying to encourage content moderation, (c)(1) doesnt do that. This means and this is where the concern comes up that if you are reckless in the way you facilitate illegal activity by your users, if you are negligent, if you know theres illegal activity on your platform, or if you do nothing, you are still immune from the way in which courts have interpreted Section 230. And that short-circuits Section 230s whole objective. If you want to encourage content moderation, but then you tell the platform theyre immune even if they do no content moderation, that removes the legal incentive to moderate because you cant be held culpable. That also actually creates an economic incentive not to moderate or to minimize moderation because moderation costs money. So unfortunately, the way (c)(1) has been interpreted creates the opposite effect of 230s founding intention. It eliminates the standard duty of reasonable care that ordinarily requires all businesses to take reasonable steps to prevent users from engaging in illegal activity. Do you think the FCC has a role or responsibility in interpreting Section 230? There was a bit of discussion about this at the FCC before the change in administration. Then-Chairman Ajit Pai actually sought comment on what that meant. And I think many commenters and the FCCs then-general counsel accurately concluded that because Section 230 was part of a bill that amended the Communications Act of 1934 and because Title II of that act gives the FCC its mandate to regulate wire and radio communications services, because other provisions of the act say the FCC may implement Title II, and because courts have held that they may implement things that are stuck in Title II the FCC could actually interpret what Section 230 (c)(1) and 230 (c)(2) should mean, and subsequent courts would have to follow the FCCs interpretations. Now, this doesnt mean the FCC actually regulates the internet, and thats the misnomer. All this says is that the FCC gets to say what that language means, then courts apply it. So were not talking about regulation. What the FCC under the prior administration concluded is: They could give a more rational reading of (c)(1) and (c)(2) to avoid these outcomes. But since it was at the end of an administration and took place around the election chaos, Pai ended up putting the pen down, and acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel has said she does not intend to move forward at this time on that proceeding. I believe theres a strong argument the FCC could construe this language. At the moment, it does not look like the FCC will do so, so its sort of back squarely in Congresss hands. And to be honest, thats usually the better result anyway. Its much better for Congress to explain what its legislative language means. And if changes are agreed upon, its much better for Congress to make clear its intention. So I still believe its better for Congress to reform Section 230, but everybody should keep in mind that there is an avenue for the FCC to do so if it chooses. So you think that legislation from Congress is the best solution? I do. It has the strongest footing. You want the duly elected representatives of the people to make as clear as possible what they want laws to do. When theres ambiguity and I think there is arguably ambiguity in the way this language has been applied courts fill in that ambiguity. But the better solution is to avoid the ambiguity in the first place and for Congress to make absolutely clear what it wants. I would just suggest that if we look at all the bills that are being introduced and all the acrimony we are seeing, there is consensus that Section 230 is not operating the way it should. Some say its not operating the way it was meant to; others say it is, but given what we know now, we want it to do something different. But either way, there is general consensus that 230 is not operating in a positive way. Now, the debate is: How do we change it? Ordinarily, if an entity were regulated, it would do what the regulators or the law says. If the entity were subject to judicial review, it would do what is necessary to be compliant with the precedent of the courts. Here, in a very unique situation, we have neither. So the internet platforms are not subject to regulation. And because of Section 230, theyre not subject to court precedent about negligent behavior either. Every other business is subject to negligence claims in court if they do something unreasonable. Brick-and-mortar companies are subject to a duty of care. If they act unreasonably, they can be sued. But with the same service now offered online by a platform, the platform is not subject to the duty of care and cant be sued for negligence. So we have negligent or worse behavior by platforms being immunized while their rivals still can be sued. That has two consequences. One, I would argue it makes people less safe online. As more of our economy moves online, were essentially taking people from a place where theyre protected from negligence related to third-party conduct to one where no such protection exists. Second, it also creates a competitive disparity where brick-and-mortar firms who will remain subject to the standard duty of care have a harder time competing against platforms who can, as the saying goes, move fast and break things. In its current form, 230 says if they break things via facilitating illegal activity, platforms cant be held culpable. Thats why companies like Facebook can do what they choose. I do give credit to any company that decides voluntarily to moderate, but I would suggest that if purely voluntary efforts were always enough, we would never need laws. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: Think Tanks Original Author: Shane Tews Original Location: An argument for Section 230 reform: Highlights from my conversation with Neil Fried TechCrunch Otto, a fintech startup which aims to allow people to tap into their vehicles equity for access to credit, has raised $4.5 million in a seed round of funding. The Dallas-based company is building a mobile platform that will essentially let people borrow against their vehicles at the same interest rate as standard credit cards. Users will be able remotely verify and collateralize their cars through Ottos mobile platform, which is set to launch in early 2022. With Congress deadlocked on the passage of climate change legislation contained in President Bidens 10-year, $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan, experts are warning that the cost of doing nothing will be much higher. In a 2019 report, the federal government estimated that the United States could lose 10.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), or total economic output, to climate change mostly because of more frequent and severe extreme weather events by the end of this century. But the same report found that concerted action to prevent catastrophic climate change could stave off those losses. If countries cut greenhouse gas emissions to match the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the U.S. might experience just a 1.1 percent loss in GDP per capita. Bidens Build Back Better agenda contains a host of other provisions, including prescription drug pricing reform and support for families with children, but environmentalists say its measures to encourage utilities to switch to clean energy and consumers to buy electric vehicles would put the U.S. on the path it committed to in Paris of halving its carbon emissions by 2030. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after a private meeting between the two of them on Capitol Hill on Thursday. (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images) The Democratic Party is currently embroiled in an internecine debate over the size of the spending package so bitter that activists are confronting Senate holdouts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who say the price is too steep at home and even in the bathroom. But climate change activists and experts ask, too steep compared with what? This year, after a summer of unprecedented heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes, the cost of damage from natural disasters will exceed $100 billion in the United States alone, surpassing last years record high of $99 billion. Those dollar figures dont account for the human toll dozens of lives lost. If you project out 50 or 100 years, the gap between where we could have been without climate change and where we are with climate change is enormous, probably equivalent to the size of the whole economy today, James Rising, a professor in the school of marine science and policy at the University of Delaware, told Yahoo News. Story continues The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that extreme weather events have become much more common in recent decades because of climate change. They will be even more common in the future if the world continues its reliance on fossil fuels, which will mean the costs of lost property and economic activity are expected to be far greater. One recent study in Science magazine found that if global temperatures keep rising at their current rate, a 6-year-old child today will experience twice as many wildfires, 1.7 times as many tropical cyclones, 3.4 times more river floods, 2.5 more crop failures and 2.3 times as many droughts as someone born in 1960, according to the Washington Post. The Blue Ridge Fire comes to Chino Hills, Calif., in October 2020. (David McNew/Getty Images) Extreme weather isnt the only way that climate change depresses economic activity. Heat waves and air pollution shorten lives and lower productivity, in part by forcing workers to take sick days. Droughts and floods will damage crop yields. Due to rising sea levels, valuable waterfront property from Miami Beach to New York Citys Financial District may be uninhabitable by the centurys end. According to a 2017 study in Science, if the world continues on its current course, climate change is likely to cost the U.S. 4 percent of its gross domestic product every year. Based on the total U.S. economys current size, that would be $840 billion annually, and it will go up in the future. Thats a relatively conservative estimate. The more up-to-date an estimate of climate changes toll is, the worse it gets. Thats because, with each passing year, scientists find that global warming is happening faster than expected and the negative effects of that warming, such as rising sea levels, are happening faster too. A paper published last month in the journal Environmental Research Letters updated previous climate models to account for those newer findings and predicted that without action to limit climate change, global GDP will experience a 37 percent loss, equivalent to a $300 trillion loss per year by 2100. The exposed lake bed of the San Gabriel Reservoir in Azusa, Calif., is the result of ongoing drought conditions. (David McNew/Getty Images) This is partly because some of those faster-than-expected effects of climate change contribute to making the process even worse. There are climate feedbacks in the system like the way the polar ice caps melt and the ocean absorbs more radiative energy that are happening faster than previously imagined, Rising, a co-author of the paper, explained. These losses will begin to accumulate long before the end of the century. The effects of climate change can be expected to shave 11 percent to 14 percent off global economic output by 2050 compared with growth levels without climate change, according to a report from Swiss Re, one of the worlds largest providers of insurance to other insurance companies, the New York Times reported in April. That amounts to as much as $23 trillion in reduced annual global economic output worldwide as a result of climate change. Those global losses wont be evenly distributed. Poor countries with warm weather and largely coastal populations places like Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and small island nations from the Caribbean to the South Pacific will be especially vulnerable. And while Americans in inland states might think that has little to do with them, they need only look at the destabilizing effects of refugee crises around the world to see what their future may hold when hundreds of millions of people have been displaced. President Biden touting the bipartisan infrastructure bill and his Build Back Better agenda in Howell, Mich., on Tuesday. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images) Of course, Bidens plans wont singlehandedly stop climate change in its tracks. The U.S. accounts for only 15 percent of current greenhouse gas emissions, and Biden already compromised with moderates in his party by limiting his proposed spending to far less than what scientists say is needed to eliminate American climate pollution. As HuffPosts Alexander Kauffman reported earlier this year, Most estimates say it would take more like 4-5% of GDP, or nearly $1 trillion per year over 10 years, to fully decarbonize the U.S. economy. But Bidens plan is meant to be only a first step to help secure global climate action. The successor to the 2015 Paris agreement will be negotiated next month at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The Biden administration hopes to arrive with strong U.S. actions to limit its own emissions in hand so that it can credibly call on other large economies, such as China, to do the same. So Bidens allies are trying to convince skeptics in their own party that cutting spending on clean energy is penny wise but pound foolish. As House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said to the Associated Press last week, The climate crisis is here, and the cost of inaction is already staggering. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: LOS ANGELES (AP) An aspiring actor pleaded guilty Monday to running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised at least $650 million from investors in phony Hollywood film licensing deals. Zachary Joseph Horwitz, 34, of Los Angeles, entered a plea to a federal charge of securities fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced in January, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. Prosecutors alleged that from 2014 to 2019, Horwitz secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for his film company, 1inMM Capital LLC, by falsely claiming the money would be used to buy distribution rights to movies that would then be licensed for distribution to streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Instead, Horwitz used some of the money to repay earlier investors in a classic Ponzi scheme and to support a lifestyle that included buying a $6 million home, prosecutors said. More than 200 investors, including three of Horwitzs closest college friends and their family members, lost about $230 million, authorities said. Horwitz had appeared in a number of movies, usually in small roles, under the name Zach Avery. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) The new government leader of Australias most populous state said Tuesday he would stick with a timetable of starting to reopen New South Wales next week. Dominic Perrottet was treasurer in Premier Gladys Berejiklians government when she announced last week she was resigning because she was under investigation by a corruption watchdog. He defeated Planning Minister Rob Stokes in a ballot of lawmakers in their conservative Liberal Party 39-5 on Tuesday to become the next premier. The leadership change comes at a critical time of the pandemic as New South Wales attempts to emerge from a lockdown that began on June 26. There was speculation that Perrottet, who is more conservative than his predecessor and an opponent of lockdowns, would lift restrictions early. Perrottet, who at 39 is the youngest premier in the states history, said he planned to reopen the economy to fully vaccinated people from Monday. We are a week away from opening up our state, Perrottet told reporters. Our focus is on one thing only thats keeping people safe, getting the economy open, getting people back to work, and getting businesses back in business, he added. New South Wales COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations peaked last month as vaccination rates rose to 67.5% of the population aged 16 and older. But infections and numbers of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital are expected to rise again as pandemic restrictions are eased. Berejiklian announced her resignation after the Independent Commission Against Corruption revealed on Friday it was investigating a five-year secret personal relationship she had had with former government colleague Daryl Maguire. ICAC, an independent state-based public sector watchdog, said it was investigating whether there was conflict between Berejiklians public duties and her relationship with Maguire, who resigned from Parliament in 2018. The relationship 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. Story continues Berejiklian will be investigated over government grants awarded or promised to community groups in Maguires electorate. Berejiklian has denied any wrongdoing, but said remaining in office while under investigation would be a distraction for the government at a critical stage of the pandemic. Berejiklians resignation was followed by the resignations of Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Transport Minister Andrew Constance. All three will be replaced at by-elections which have yet to be scheduled. Cleanup crews and environmental authorities are racing to contain the devastation linked to a large oil spill off the Southern California coastline as new concerns emerge over how the leak was handled in the critical hours after oil started spewing from a damaged pipeline. The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that about 4,000 feet of the pipeline had been displaced on the ocean floor. Divers found a 13 inch split in the structure, although they didnt identify a possible cause. No oil was seen oozing from the pipeline at the time of investigation, which noted the structure had been pulled like a bowstring. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) declared a state of emergency in Orange County late Monday, saying he was moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment. As California continues to lead the nation in phasing out fossil fuels and combating the climate crisis, this incident serves as a reminder of the enormous cost fossil fuels have on our communities and the environment, the governor said in a statement. The leak was first reported on Saturday off the coast of Orange Countys Huntington Beach by Amplify Energy, a Houston company that owns the pipeline. About 126,000 gallons of crude oil is estimated to have spilled from the 17-mile-long structure, which carries fuel from offshore platforms to land from about five miles off Newport Beach. That amount would fill about one-fifth of an Olympic-size swimming pool but is enough to leave a slick about 13 miles long. Its Californias largest oil leak since 2015 and has raised concerns for critical wetlands and coastal habitats. Authorities have reported some wildlife deaths, with oil-coated fish and birds washing ashore, although wildlife groups have said the effects on wildlife so far were much better than we had feared. Californias Department of Fish and Wildlife closed a swath of fisheries along the coastline due to the oil spill, saying the pollution was a threat to public health. The closure covers the area from Huntington Beach southeast to Dana Point, the agency said. Story continues Beaches in the region have been closed. In partnership with federal, regional, & local response entities, clean-up efforts are underway on an approx. 6 mile oil spill along our coast. Responsible party, Amplify Energy Corp, to assist with clean-up. For info about closures & volunteer ops: https://t.co/VN1y6N3Hltpic.twitter.com/1CfYrRvknX City of Huntington Beach (@CityofHBPIO) October 4, 2021 A worker in a protective suit cleans oil Monday in the Talbert Marsh wetlands after a 126,000-gallon oil spill off Huntington Beach, California. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images) An employee of California Department Fish & Wildlife examines a sanderling contaminated by the oil spill off Huntington Beach on Monday. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu via Associated Press) Martyn Willsher, chief executive of Amplify, said Monday that the company had likely found the source of the leak, suggesting to reporters a ship anchor may have hit the pipeline. The Coast Guard is still assessing if that may be the cause, and the agency is helping with cleanup efforts, using skimmers to contain the spill. There is no active leak that were aware of, Willsher said at a news conference. We are deeply concerned about what were seeing environmentally. Whatever needs to be done, we will take care of it. The New York Times reports, however, that some experts have expressed confusion about why Amplify wasnt able to determine its pipeline was leaking more quickly. The publication added that pressure sensors should have gone off when the leak began, and Reuters notes residents reported a sheen and a foul smell beginning Friday (Willsher said the company hadnt received such reports and notified officials immediately after company employees noticed an oil sheen early Saturday morning). Floating barriers known as booms are used Monday to try to stop further damage in Talbert Marsh after an oil spill off Huntington Beach. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu via Associated Press) Oil streaks Newport Beach on Monday. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu via Associated Press) We the boat noticed the sheen, immediately contacted the platforms, and the platforms instantaneously started the incident plan, Willsher said during the news conference. We instantly, you know, started notifying all the relevant agencies and getting the incident plan in place. It was within that 30 minutes-or-so timeframe. The Los Angeles Times added later Monday that state and federal officials had indications that oil was leaking into the sea on Friday evening, about 10 hours before Amplify reported the spill to authorities. The newspaper obtained documents showing the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a division of the states Department of Fish and Wildlife, was told of an observed sheen in the waters off Huntington Beach shortly after 10 p.m. Friday. The Coast Guard added Tuesday that it was aware of the reports on Friday night, although determinations about the spill were inconclusive until early the next day. Officials said the agency often receives such alerts and had followed standard procedure before a full-scale mobilization began. The incident is likely to prompt questions about the 40-year-old pipeline and how it was maintained and repaired, the Times said. The Orange County Register reports the incident could result in tens of millions of dollars in fines. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... The Biden administration has appointed a pro-critical race theory activist to join the U.S. Department of Education Tuesday, marking the latest development as parents, educators, and lawmakers debate what role the controversial theory should play in classrooms. Precious McKesson was selected as a special assistant in the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Department of Education's Office of Communication and Outreach, a position not subject to Senate confirmation. McKesson, a vocal advocate of CRT that teaches U.S. institutions are inherently racist, has criticized the Right for opposing the theory. "Republicans ... have made CRT a political boogeyman without actually knowing what it is," McKesson co-wrote alongside other NDP chairmen in an August op-ed. "Simply put, CRT examines social, cultural and legal issues as they relate to race and racism. Students would be taught about the systemic racism that still exists today and permeates our society." NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARD GROUP WANTS BIDEN TO USE THE PATRIOT ACT AGAINST PARENTS Jane Kleeb, chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party, supported the hiring of McKesson and said she would live up to the responsibility of being a presidential appointee. "Precious is a transformational leader," Kleeb told the Omaha World-Herald. "She will bring the same energy, excitement, and commitment to the people to the position at the Department of Education." McKesson, who previously worked as a staffer for the Biden campaign in Nebraska, cast the state's 2nd Congressional District's electoral vote in the 2020 election. She is the first woman of color to cast an electoral ballot in Nebraska and the first woman to cast an electoral ballot for a Democrat. McKesson still serves as the chairwoman of the Black Caucus for the NDP but will soon pass that role on to someone else, according to Kleeb. McKesson previously worked as the finance director and constituency director for the NDP. Story continues CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER CRT continues to divide the United States as some GOP-led states, including Texas, ban the theory from being taught at public institutions. Others, such as Illinois and New Jersey, have moved toward passing measures affirming or requiring instruction in CRT or related concepts. The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Education for comment. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Critical Race Theory, Identity Politics, Democrat, Nebraska, Department of Education Original Author: Misty Severi Original Location: Biden administration appoints critical race theory activist to Education Department WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Switzerland as the two countries find themselves at odds on a variety of issues, including Taiwan and trade. The meeting, set for Wednesday in Zurich, comes after the White House on Monday criticized Beijing over several days of sustained military harassment against the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The talks are to be a follow-up on Biden's call with President Xi Jinping last month as the administration continues to seek to responsibly manage the competition between the two countries, White House National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement. The White House this week raised concerns that Beijing was undermining regional peace and stability with its provocative action. In recent days, China has sent dozens of fighter planes toward Taiwan including a record 56 on Monday. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a speech on Monday she plans frank conversations with officials in Beijing about an interim trade deal aimed at resolving a tariff war. Tai said she did not want to inflame trade tensions with China. But her comments suggested that Biden will continue enforcing tough tariffs against China adopted by his predecessor, Donald Trump. The latest incursions occurred after Taiwan applied to join a major regional trade pact. Beijing vehemently opposes efforts by the West that offer Taiwan the appearance of sovereign nation status and has expressed its opposition to the application. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. It refuses to recognize the islands government and has increasingly sought to isolate the independence-leaning administration of President Tsai Ing-wen. Under longstanding policy, the United States provides political and military support for Taiwan, but does not explicitly promise to defend it from a Chinese attack. Asked about the recent surge in provocations by Chinese fighter jets, Biden on Tuesday noted that he has previously spoken to Xi about Taiwan and that his administration intends to abide by the Taiwan agreement. Story continues Biden has repeatedly called out China for what the administration sees as Beijing's coercive trade practices, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic that originated from the country's Wuhan province. At the same time, the administration has expressed hope that the two sides can work together on issues of mutual concern including climate change and preventing a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula despite the differences. Administration officials have expressed frustration that interactions with high-level Chinese officials in the early going of the administration have been less than constructive. In June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yang had a tense call, with Beijing saying it told the U.S. to cease interfering in its internal affairs and accusing Washington of politicizing the search for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sullivan and Blinken also had heated exchanges with Yang when they met in March with top Chinese officials in Anchorage. At that meeting, Yang accused the U.S. of failing to deal with its own human rights problems and took issue with what he said was American hypocrisy. The South China Morning Post first reported plans for the meeting between Sullivan and Yang. Sullivan will also travel this week to Brussels and Paris for talks with allies. Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed reporting. HOWELL, Mich. (AP) President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats edged closer to agreement Tuesday on how sharply to cut back his ambitious social spending plan, even as the president made a public case that the package will help keep the nation from losing its edge in global competitiveness. Biden went to Michigan to promote the proposal for expanded safety net, health and environmental programs, but after his speech he acknowledged the inevitable as Democrats focus on a now-$2 trillion top-line for the package to win support. I want to make sure that we have a package that everyone can agree on," Biden told reporters. "Its not going to be $3.5 trillion. Its going to be less than that. Were going to get it done. On Capitol Hill, strong signs emerged that Democrats were coalescing around Bidens push for a package in the $2 trillion range, a figure that seemed potentially acceptable to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and other centrists with reservations. With all Republicans opposed, Biden cant spare the support of a single Democratic senator. At the same time, new battle lines are being formed as Democrats decide which of the many programs they want to expand health, education, childcare, climate change will remain in the final proposal or be reduced or left behind. And in a signal of how much still may change before the bill makes it to his desk, Biden later suggested hed sign a bill that includes the so-called Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used for abortions in most cases. Manchin wants it in the final bill, while progressive Democrats oppose it. Id sign it either way, Biden told reporters. In his speech at a union training facility, Biden called opponents of his plan "complicit in America's decline, as he argued his spending plan is critical to Americas global competitiveness. He said he wanted to set some things straight about his agenda and cut through what he dismissed as noise in Washington. Story continues Americas still the largest economy in the world, we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world, but were at risk of losing our edge as a nation, he said. The president went on to spell out his plans in greater detail than he has in some time, after spending the past week deep in the details of negotiations on Capitol Hill. He highlighted popular individual parts of the plan, including funding for early childhood education and investments to combat climate change, rather than the expensive topline. And he emphasized that the trillions in spending would be drawn out over a decade and paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Polling suggests that elements in the social spending bill and a related $1 trillion infrastructure bill such as expanded child care opportunities and roads-and-bridges infrastructure projects are popular with large parts of the public. But even some of the White Houses closest allies have worried that the West Wing has not done enough to sell the spending. That brought Biden back on the road Tuesday, hitting the red-leaning district of Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin to sell his policies. These bills are not about left versus right or moderate vs progressive, Biden said. These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. Back in Washington, a more immediate problem was mounting as Senate Republicans are putting up hurdles to raising the nation's debt limit, a routine vote that's needed to allow more borrowing and prevent a devastating credit default. Biden said Democrats are considering changing the chamber's filibuster rules, which would lower the typical 60-vote threshold to 50, to do it. It's a real possibility, Biden told reporters at the White House. Meanwhile, negotiations continued on the pair of bills to boost spending on safety net, health and environmental programs and infrastructure projects. The $3.5 trillion price tag on the social services portion of Biden's agenda has long been the sticking point, with progressives demanding the funding for their priorities and moderates balking at the eye-popping number. But there was growing consensus which Biden has expressed privately to lawmakers, and acknowledged publicly Tuesday that the topline number will eventually shrink. In multiple private meetings, Biden has now floated $2 trillion as a figure for his signature package, including in a call late Monday with progressive House lawmakers, who still advocated for a higher amount, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Next to Biden, the Democrats with the most on the line over the shape and success of his spending plans are House members from swing districts whose reelections are essential if his party is to retain control of Congress. Many of those targeted moderates including Arizona Rep. Tom O'Halleran, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and nine other vulnerable Democrats joined Biden for a virtual meeting Tuesday. He held a similar session the previous day with a dozen progressives. And his Tuesday visit to Slotkin's district, which President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020, was aimed at giving moderates like her cover to support his spending package. While Slotkin backs the smaller, bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has passed the Senate, she prefers passing it in the House before negotiating the broader package of social programs. To be honest, it was hard for me to understand why leadership decided in the first place to tie the two bills together, Slotkin recently told The Detroit News. Thats not how we normally operate. Its not my preference. Washington was gripped with the drama last week as lawmakers grappled with the massive Democrats-only social spending bill that has been linked with the infrastructure bill. Progressives have balked at voting for the infrastructure bill if the other bill shrinks. Yet even as talk of that shrinkage increased, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a leader of the progressives, said Tuesday, Theres a lot of discussion going on, but Im confident at the end of the day its going to be a good agreement." This cannot ultimately be a bill that does 18 new things, but it could do four or five or six big bold new things, said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, an ally of the president. Lawmakers are considering cutting back some programs or limiting others to only people who qualify based on need. Bidens team huddled with the Democratic leaders late Monday at the Capitol as they rush to finish the latest draft in "days, not weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. One senator was moved to compare it all to dancing. The best image I know is a square dance: You come together, but then you go apart; you come together, but then you go apart, said Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, describing his fellow Democrats. Theres a rhythm there, we just got to make sure we stay in rhythm. Thats the challenge. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Householder in Howell, Michigan, and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. 11 Australian bee species closer to extinction after 'black summer' fires Embedded content: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203455001/B1CSR9sVf_default/index.html?videoId=6176317783001 Australia's devastating bushfires in 2019-2020 took a significant toll on the environment, scorching more than 20 per cent of the country's forests. They were also quite impactful on wildlife, particularly on several of its native bee species. A new study led by Flinders University says that the "black summer" bushfires, as they've been referred to as, resulted in the dwindling of 11 bee species -- with nine assessed as vulnerable and two as endangered. SEE ALSO: For the love of bees and their impact on Canadian ecosystems After examination, researchers found that the 11 species now meet the requirements to be added to the International Union for Conservation of Natures (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The two genera that fit IUCN's criteria for endangered classification are the Leioproctus nigrofulvus -- known as the solitary bee -- and Leioproctus carinatifrons, due to sizable areas of their native habitat that were severely burnt. Before the fires, just three Australian bee species were considered threatened. The disastrous fires burnt millions of hectares of Australias land area. Scientists say the casualties among bee fauna, other insects and invertebrates are evident after reviewing 553 species -- about one-third of Australias known bee species -- and the long-term environmental damage from the fires. L gracilipes bee L gracilipes bee(Ken Walker/Museums Victoria (iNaturalist Australia)) Our research is a call for action, from governments and policymakers, to immediately help these and other native populations most in danger, James Dorey, lead author and Flinders University PhD candidate, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Yale University Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, said in a news release. MORE GRIM NEWS The troubling news doesn't end there. The analysis also stated that the number of threatened Australian native bee species is expected to increase by almost five times as a result of the blazes, which destroyed thousands of homes and killed or displaced an estimated three billion animals. Story continues Published in Global Change Biology, the examination cautions that far-reaching wildfire fire damage isn't just limited to Australia. From North America and Europe to the Congo and Asia, the fires are bringing "catastrophic" impacts on biodiversity, as well as unexpected and distinct declines in population sizes of numerous species, according to the study. List of Australia native bees A selection of some of Australias hundreds of native bees. (James Dorey Photography) In these circumstances, there is a need for government and land managers to respond more rapidly to implement priority conservation management actions for the most-affected species in order to help prevent extinctions, said Dorey. Conserving insects and other less visible taxa should also be a factor in restoring and preserving some of the hundreds of bees that may not yet have been studied or recorded. The study puts together a foundation to review other taxa in Australia or on other continents where species are lack analysis and aren't registered on datasets or by IUCN's red list, Dorey said. Flinders University researcher Olivia Davies, one of the 13 authors involved in the study, said most people don't know "just how vulnerable our native bees are because they are not widely studied." Golden-green carpenter bee Closeup of a golden-green carpenter bee. (James Dorey Photography) The fact that no Australian bees are listed by the IUCN shows just how neglected these important species are," Davies added. The collective study includes researchers from Flinders Universitys Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics and Sociality, the South Australian Museum, University of Adelaide, Curtin University, University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Murdoch University and Charles Darwin University. Thumbnail courtesy of Ken Walker/Museums Victoria (iNaturalist Australia). Follow Nathan Howes on Twitter. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Tuesday confronted U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco over the Justice Departments new crackdown on the alleged harassment of school officials, saying it will unfairly target parents who oppose the progressive agenda. Blackburn caught up with Monaco as she was leaving a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked about the DOJs memo. The memo directed the FBI and U.S. attorney offices to hold meetings with federal, state and local law enforcement leaders within 30 days to discuss ways to combat what the DOJ described as an "increase in harassment, intimidation and threats of violence against school board members, teachers and workers in our nations public schools." DESANTIS SAYS AG GARLAND 'WEAPONIZING THE DOJ' AGAINST PARENTS C-SPAN cameras captured the confrontation between Blackburn and Monaco. The senator said the "implication" of the memo was that parents who do not adhere to the progressive agenda are to be considered by the state as "violent." Monaco attempted to protest, but Blackburn continued, "Its not always what you say, its what people perceive that you are saying. So, I think this is an incredibly dangerous precedent. "And this coupled with the lack of respect for these young women that came for the Larry Nassar hearing is something thats not very good for the DOJ right now," Blackburn added, referring to the FBI's mishandling of the sexual abuse of Olympic gymnasts. "The message that you are sending to parents, to individuals, is, You take everything that we say or were not going to be there to protect you. And I think thats a very dangerous place to be," the senator continued. "This memo last night looks as if you are second-guessing every parent who is asking the question about what is being taught." Monaco repeatedly offered to get Blackburn a copy of the one-page memo "right away," suggesting she hadnt read or understood it. Story continues "So, I hear you on the misperception, but I would ask you to look at the memo," Monaco said. Blackburn pushed back, saying, "the FBI has no business doing this anyway. Casting doubt on parents because they are going to question and trying to make certain how theyre being taught. I just think" "The FBI is not doing that," Monaco interjected. "The role of the Justice Department is to, as you well know, investigate crimes. Its about violence and thats it." Blackburn said she would follow up with the DOJ later on the issue but added that parents just want their kids to learn in school and not be "indoctrinated." The exchange occurred after Blackburn arrived at the hearing late because she had been attending the Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Blackburn told Fox News in a statement that the DOJ's message in the memo is clear: "Accept the progressive indoctrination of your children, or we will come for you." "I was shocked last night to see the Department of Justice announce that it is deploying the FBI against parents who have legitimate concerns about what is being taught to their children in public schools," the senator said, in part. "This announcementwhich came in direct response to the demands of teachers unionsis a blatant suppression tactic and a dangerous abuse of power. Under President Bidens watch, the Department of Justice is making the FBI an enforcement arm for progressive policies and using federal law enforcement to intimidate concerned parents into silence." The memo came four days after the National School Boards Association, which represents more than 90,000 school board members, called on the Biden administration and federal law enforcement agencies to assist school boards reporting an increase in violent threats in response to COVID-19 restrictions and critical race theory curriculum. PARIS (AP) France and the United States edged closer Tuesday toward rapprochement after the Biden administrations exclusion of Washingtons oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative ignited French anger. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Paris to explore ways to overcome the rift over the deal, which scuttled a multibillion-dollar French submarine contract with Australia and led Macron's government to take the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to the U.S. In a French television interview after the meeting with Macron, Blinken accepted a U.S. share of responsibility for the disagreement. "We could and we should have communicated better," Blinken said, speaking in French. We sometimes tend to take for granted a relationship as important and deep as the one that links France and the United States." Macron and Blinken explored potential U.S.-French cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and other areas in the roughly 40-minute one-on-one session, according to a senior U.S. State Department official. Shortly after their engagement, the White House announced in a statement that President Joe Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Bonne, in Paris later this week as part of our ongoing consultations on shared bilateral and regional interests. Macron and Blinken's meeting was the highest-level in-person contact between the two countries since the controversy erupted last month with the Sept. 15 announcement of a three-way agreement between Australia, Britain and the U.S., known as AUKUS, that pointedly left out France and other European nations. The State Department official said the two discussed possible joint projects that could be announced by Macron and President Joe Biden when they meet this month at a specific date and venue that has yet to be decided. Macron and Biden agreed to try to repair the damage in a Sept. 22 phone call. Story continues The White House statement said Sullivan and Bonne would further explore those projects in preparations for the meeting of President Biden and President Macron in Europe later this month. The State Department official didnt elaborate on what those projects might be, but said they would likely involve the Indo-Pacific and Western efforts to blunt Chinas growing there and elsewhere, NATO and other trans-Atlantic objectives involving the European Union, and counterterrorism cooperation in Africas Sahel region. The official said Macron and Blinken had agreed to use the spat as an opportunity to deepen and strengthen coordination and characterized the talks as very productive, while allowing that a lot of hard work remains ahead. The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks between Macron and Blinken at the Elysee Palace that hadnt appeared on Blinkens official schedule for the day. The meeting came amid repeated French demands for the U.S. to restore trust that was ruptured with the announcement of the AUKUS deal. A French official, speaking under customary anonymity, said the at length, face-to-face meeting came immediately after Blinken had seen Bonne. Bonne, the official said, saw Blinken in order to study the ways of reengaging the relationship following the recall of the French ambassador, and to help restore confidence between France and the United States. U.S. officials have acknowledged that the AUKUS announcement was handled poorly and could have benefitted from coordination with France and other members of the European Union, all of which were left out. They have also signaled a desire to make amends, although they have suggested Frances rage is an overreaction. France responded with fury and briefly recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra in an unprecedented display of pique. French officials called it a stab in the back by allies and expressed disappointment that it had happened after Biden had proclaimed America is back and pledged to restore and value trans-Atlantic relations that had soured during the Trump administration. The French have said repeatedly it will take much time and work to overcome the rift and that the incident underscores the need for Europe to develop its own security and defense plans as well as adopting a European strategy to counter growing challenges from China. Blinken is in the French capital for a two-day international economic conference that has been overshadowed by the AUKUS controversy that erupted with the announcement of the project. Blinken's first meeting in Paris was with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whom he counts as a personal friend. Ahead of his visit, his second to France as secretary of state but first since the rupture, Blinken met Friday with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by Macron. Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up and went to high school in Paris, has expressed disappointment that France has reacted so harshly to AUKUS. He and others have suggested some degree of French anger is related to domestic French politics and the shifting dynamics within the EU, which will soon see Angela Merkel depart as the leader of Germany after 16 years in power. The ostensible reason for Blinkens trip to France, which had been planned well before the AUKUS ruckus, was 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 is also attending the OECD talks, which are taking place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland. ___ Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester contributed to this report. 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 brotherafter the p LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's special envoy met Taliban leaders in Afghanistan to discuss the humanitarian crisis and ways to prevent the country from becoming an incubator for militants. Simon Gass, Johnson's high representative for Afghanistan, met Taliban leaders including Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Foreign Office said. They "discussed how the UK could help Afghanistan to address the humanitarian crisis, the importance of preventing the country from becoming an incubator for terrorism, and the need for continued safe passage for those who want to leave the country," the Foreign Office said. "They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls." Gass was accompanied by Charge d'Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha. (Reporting by William James and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kate Holton) A couple who says their dream home in the mountains of North Carolina is riddled with deficiencies and at-risk of being torn down decided to start an email blast and website to connect with other alleged victims of the custom builder that constructed it. But the company said its been more like a smear campaign. Schumacher Homes of North Carolina and regional manager Richard Smothers sued the couple, Keith and Dianna Buchanan, for defamation in federal court last week. They also filed motions seeking to prevent the Buchanans from reaching out to prospective clients and continuing to publish information about Schumachers business operations while the case is ongoing. Attorneys and a representative for Schumacher Homes declined to comment in a statement to McClatchy News on Friday. Jake Snider of Asheville Legal, which is representing the Buchanans, said they had their first court hearing Monday. He said a judge largely denied Schumachers motions but asked the couple to stop making direct contact with the builders customers. Snider said his clients are willing to comply with that request. I cant sell this house Schumacher Homes is one of the largest residential, custom home builders in the U.S., the companys attorneys said in court filings. Its based in Ohio with design studios in Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia. According to the complaint, the Buchanans contracted with Schumacher in 2018 to build a custom house in McDowell County, about 100 miles northwest of Charlotte. The house sits on a 187-acre family farm that Keith Buchanans grandfather purchased after returning from World War II, he told McClatchy News. It was a long-time dream he and his wife shared to build on the land. But it didnt take long after moving in to see there were problems, Keith Buchanan said. According to a signed affidavit and other court documents filed Friday, structural engineers recently told the Buchanans the homes foundation violated building code and was completely defective. Story continues As a result, Keith Buchanan said, there are cracks in the foundation and on interior walls, the floors are sagging, multiple doors wont open and close correctly and molding is pulling away from the walls all signs that the structure of our home is shifting and sinking with the defective foundation, he said. Keith Buchanan said theyll likely have to tear down the house and rebuild, resulting in more than $500,000 in damages. I cant sell this house and up and move and be done with it, he told McClatchy News. This was our dream for over 30 years and honestly I feel like it got destroyed. According to Schumachers lawsuit, the house was inspected by McDowell Countys building inspection department multiple times while it was under construction and after it was completed. Schumacher also made sure to correct the items on a punch list the Buchanans sent before they moved in, the companys attorneys said. When the Buchanans reported more issues after moving in, Schumacher reportedly sent a warranty representative. But the companys lawyers said that person wasnt given access to the Buchanans home, ostensibly because Thanksgiving was approaching. The couple was then accused of refusing to engage with a warranty representative even after the holidays, which prevented the builder from remedying the issues. Email campaign, advocacy website According to the lawsuit, the Buchanans still unhappy with the build got a hold of Schumachers client list earlier this year and sent emails that spread false and misleading information. The emails included allegations that Schumacher doesnt keep a general contractor at building sites, relies on unqualified labor, uses inferior building materials and has been banned from building in certain neighborhoods all of which is untrue, according to Schumachers attorneys. But Keith Buchanan said he stands by those statements. In the affidavit, he said he visited the home site many times while it was under construction and saw subcontractors who lacked direction without a representative from Schumacher. He said some of those subcontractors often did not know what to do or how to perform their work. Keith Buchanan also said they were promised cherry wood for the cabinets but received particle board instead and that some neighborhoods only work with certain approved builders because of problems with companies like Schumacher. In addition to the email campaign, the Buchanans started a website called Schumacher Victims that advertises itself as an Advocacy Group Site For Paul Schumacher Homes Victims. The website contains pictures of houses constructed by Schumacher Homes and links to file a complaint with the N.C. Licensing Board for General Contractors and the Consumer Protection Division of the N.C. Attorney Generals Office. It also connects to recent N.C. licensing board actions, Better Business Bureau complaints and recent Yelp reviews. Attorneys for Schumacher Homes said the characterization of their website as an advocacy group misleads the public by insinuating that there are numerous victims of Schumacher Homes, Inc. They said it was only created to further an apparent vendetta against the builder. Clearly the defendants motive is not for the lawful purpose of seeking redress for any alleged problems with their own home... and instead chose to encourage other customers not to do business with plaintiffs, attorneys said in the complaint. The Buchanans actions have cost Schumacher significant business as a result, the lawsuit states. According to court filings, Keith Buchanan said the websites primary purpose is to network with other homeowners who experienced similar problems with Schumacher and put the world on notice of the drastic shortcomings in Schumachers work so that others may protect themselves. He said at least 10 other homeowners have contacted them about similar negative experiences with Schumacher, and that the BBB has received dozens of negative complaints regarding the builder. Between the terrible BBB reviews and apparent poor employee ratings, I am at a loss as to how Schumacher can singularly blame me for any lost business when its poor reputation is so widely published and available on the internet outside of my website, Keith Buchanan said in the affidavit. The lawsuit makes claims for declaratory judgment, commercial defamation, tortious interference, unfair and deceptive business practices and civil conspiracy. Schumacher Homes is asking the judge to declare that the Buchanans claims were false. The company is also seeking damages and attorneys fees. Ousted vaccine chief in Tennessee didnt mail herself dog muzzle, Amazon says Hemp farmer accused of illegal growing had his crop destroyed in SC. Now hes suing Jerry Falwell Jr. says his reputation was tarnished and sues Liberty University TSA agent Pierre Tuble enjoys a quick vape on a break at LAX last year. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a new excise tax on electronic cigarettes. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) Amid concern over widespread teen vaping, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday approved a new 12.5% excise tax on electronic cigarettes to be paid by California consumers to boost public health and education programs. The aim of the legislation is to discourage vaping by minors and bring taxes on e-cigarettes more in line with levies on other tobacco products, said state Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas), who authored Senate Bill 395. Vaping has become increasingly popular despite the risks, Caballero said. "This is especially evident among our youth, and made worse by the availability of youth-appealing flavors such as gummy bears and cotton candy. The senator said making vaping devices more expensive will reduce the number of purchases by those younger than 21, which is the age at which people can legally use tobacco products. The new tax comes a year after the governor signed legislation to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including those used in electronic cigarettes, but that measure is on hold because the tobacco industry qualified a referendum on the law for the November 2022 ballot. The new vaping tax is supported by health groups including the American Cancer Society, American Lung Assn. and California Medical Assn. We know that vaping products are more likely to be used by teens and young people than other forms of tobacco, said Peter Bretan, a physician and president of the California Medical Assn. In 2020, e-cigarettes were used by 19.6% of high school students and 4.7% of middle school students a total of 3.6 million students, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The legislation is opposed by Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Assn., a trade organization for the e-cigarette industry. He noted that California already has a wholesale tax on vaping products charged at the distribution level. By signing SB 395 into law, Gov. Newsom will be the first governor to impose a double tax on California consumers who use less harmful vapor products, thereby driving more Californians to smoke deadly cigarettes, Abboud said. Story continues Newsom said the issue is personal for him. In proposing a vaping tax last year, the governor cited his concern as a parent of four children. It scares the hell out of me as a parent, hearing what I am hearing what is happening in middle schools, not just high schools and I think this vaping tax is long overdue, Newsom said last year when he proposed a levy on vaping products. The governor took action on the issue in 2019 when he instructed state regulators to reduce youth vaping consumption by finding ways to ban illegal and counterfeit vaping products. He also set aside $20 million for a public awareness campaign on the health risks of vaping, including signs placed at retailers and on advertising for e-cigarettes and accessories. The new tax is projected to generate $38.4 million by 2023, with money to be split among several programs, including early childhood education, public health education and grants to students from disadvantaged communities pursuing an education in the health field. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. By Jessica Resnick-Ault and Nichola Groom LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Reuters) -A section of the oil pipeline that burst off the Southern California coast was displaced 105 feet (32 meters) across the ocean floor, officials said on Tuesday, fueling speculation that a ship's anchor may have caused the environmental disaster. The revelation came as the U.S. Coast Guard and drilling company Amplify Energy Corp came under further scrutiny about the time it took to respond to the spill, amid reports that mariners first reported seeing oil in the water on Friday night, when official notification did not come until Saturday around midday. Roughly 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, soiling the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches in the cities of Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles. The oil appears to have leaked through a 13-inch (33-cm) gash in the pipe, which was "pulled like a bowstring" about 105 feet from where it should have been, Martyn Willsher, chief executive of Amplify Energy, told a news conference. Amplify owns the pipeline and connected rigs. In all a 4,000-foot (1.2-km) section of the 17.7-mile (28.5 km) pipeline was displaced laterally, as discovered by a remotely operated vehicles, U.S. Coast Guard Captain Rebecca Ore told reporters. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the accident underscored the risks of relying on fossil fuels in a state already suffering from drought and wildfires that experts link to human-caused climate change. "We need to grow up and grow out of this dependency," Newsom told a separate news conference in Huntington Beach, promoting renewable energy alternatives. A "good Samaritan" first reported an oil sheen on the water's surface to authorities on Friday night, but that information was "inconclusive," said Ore, the Coast Guard captain. Story continues Satellite imagery from the federal government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the presence of oil in the water hours later, Ore added. Tom Umberg, a state Senator who represents the coastal region, told a news conference that officials needed to explain why the response was delayed and whether the pipeline had been adequately inspected. "It's very difficult for us to understand how this could occur," Umberg said, joining a chorus of indignant elected officials and citizens. Huntington Beach, which advertises itself as Surf City USA, is one of the rare places in Southern California where oil platforms are visible from the beach. Willsher, the Amplify CEO, refused to speculate on the cause, a day after he suggested the pipeline may have been damaged by a ship's anchor. "I'm not here to speculate about the cause. There will be a full investigation," Willsher said. "Obviously the pipeline has been displaced. It's a 16-inch steel pipeline that's a half inch thick and covered in an inch of concrete. For it to be moved 105 feet is not common." The pipeline runs along the ocean floor from the Elly platform, about nine miles (14.5 km) offshore in 255 feet of water, then heads toward port. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation said the entire pipeline should remain shut until ordered to be reopened. If a ship's anchor did rupture the pipeline, it may have been a consequence of the global pandemic. COVID-19 led to an extensive decline in shipping, and then long delays as consumer demand rebounded. There were 63 container ships in San Pedro Bay waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. On Sept. 19, a COVID-era record 97 ships were backed up. Before the pandemic, there was typically no more than one container ship at anchor in the bay, according to Captain Kip Louttit of the Marine Exchange. An anchor strike is a plausible explanation, said two former Amplify employees who asked not to be named. They noted anchor strikes have dented or scratched offshore pipelines before. Environmental watchdog group SkyTruth said satellite imagery from Oct. 1, the day before the spill was reported, shows cargo ships anchored near the area where the pipeline runs, according to government maps. The closest, however, was about 450 meters from the pipeline, SkyTruth President John Amos said before the displacement was reported. "That seems like a comfortably long distance to separate that pipeline from that ship, but one thing I don't know is how accurate is this government data on exactly where this pipeline sits on the seafloor," Amos said in an interview. (Reporting by Nichola Groom, Jessica Resnick Ault, Lisa Baertlein and Daniel Trotta; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.) By Maiya Keidan and Shariq Khan (Reuters) - Ontario's largest electric utility, Hydro One Ltd, is seeking acquisitions worth up to C$500 million ($397 million) to boost its customer base and consolidate the fragmented industry, a spokeswoman told Reuters. The government of Ontario, Canada's most populous province, is eager to bring down electricity costs for customers. To achieve that, the province is encouraging Hydro One to obtain customers through acquisition, according to sources. "We believe this consolidation of our business benefits the community, Ontario and Hydro One as it makes the provincial grid more efficient, while reducing costs across the system," the Hydro One spokeswoman said. Dealmaking will mainly focus on expanding service areas and customers, replacing aging infrastructure and improving grid reliability, said one of the sources. Ontario's electricity distribution network is highly fragmented with 60 companies, 55 of which hold less than a 2% share of the industry, according to data from provincial regulator the Ontario Energy Board (OEB). Hydro One, which has a market value of C$17.9 billion, declined to say how much it plans to increase its customer base from the current 1.4 million. While the company has by far the largest market share in the province, with 35.5% of the industry total, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd and Alectra Utilities Corp are top competitors, with 21.8% and 18.1% of the market, respectively. LOWER BILLS Two of Hydro One's smaller deals, worth a total C$132 million, won regulatory approval last year, encouraging the company to hunt for more opportunities. "I think government over time has been trying to encourage consolidation," said Gavin MacFarlane, vice president-senior credit officer at Moody's. The company, which had over C$2 billion in net cash as of December 31, 2020, according to its last annual report, plans to fund acquisitions using its balance sheet, said the spokeswoman. Story continues Hydro One last month estimated spending of C$1.91 billion on capital investment for 2021, but the spokeswoman declined to comment on how much would be spent on mergers and acquisitions. Dealmaking in Canadian power companies has accounted for $2.3 billion this year to date compared with $4.3 billion for the entirety of 2020, with Hydro One making up 2% of deals, according to data from Dealogic. Hydro One most recently acquired the business assets of Peterborough Distribution Inc and Orillia Power Distribution Corp for a total value of C$104 million. Hydro One told Reuters that customers in Peterborough and Orillia saw a 1% reduction in the base distribution part of their bills after the acquisitions. "We believe there are further opportunities in Ontario for consolidation and we are open to pursuing these opportunities as they arise," said the spokeswoman. Hydro One, 47.3% owned by the government of Ontario, has been beefing up its mergers and acquisitions team by hiring experts from banks and other advisory firms, three sources told Reuters and the company confirmed. Among Hydro One's recent hires was new Vice President, Growth Matt Vines, an investment banker hired from Bank of Montreal in August who previously worked in M&A for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. While the spokeswoman for Hydro One said the company was "strengthening" its corporate strategy team, she declined to share the size of the current team with Reuters. ($1 = 1.2635 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Maiya Keidan in Toronto and Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Denny Thomas and Steve Orlofsky) The U.S. Capitol Police said it has a suspect in custody and intends to disrupt a "suspicious vehicle" that was located this morning outside the Supreme Court, which started its fall session yesterday. The Capitol Police issued a warning that it would blow up the car and a "loud bang" may occur in the surrounding area. The suspect was removed from his SUV and taken into custody, police said. The reports of a suspicious car mark the second incident in the area in under two months following the arrest of a suspect allegedly involved in an "active bomb threat" near the Library of Congress in August. NOW: We are investigating a suspicious vehicle in front of the Supreme Court along First Street, NE. Please stay away from the area. We will provide more information as soon as we can. pic.twitter.com/j129pfKIMG U.S. Capitol Police (@CapitolPolice) October 5, 2021 The Capitol Police provided an update on the situation, identifying the suspect as Dale Paul Melvin from Kimball, Michigan. This is a developing story and will be updated as soon as more information is available. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, U.S. Capitol Police, Supreme Court Original Author: Elizabeth Faddis Original Location: Capitol Police take suspect into custody after suspicious vehicle parked outside Supreme Court Chad's interim parliament took office on Tuesday nearly two weeks after its members were named by the military junta that emerged following the death of long-time ruler Idriss Deby Itno. The 93-member assembly, called the National Transition Council (CNT), approved Haroun Kabadi as its speaker through a vote by acclamation. Kabadi, 73, was speaker of the former National Assembly, which was dissolved after Deby was killed fighting rebels earlier this year and succeeded by his son, 37-year-old General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno. "Our goal isn't to oppose the government systematically but to look for the ways and means to create stability," Kabadi said in his acceptance speech. Parliament's main task is to "organise free and transparent elections in order to set down the institutional bases of a post-transitional Chad," he said. A former French colony in the heart of the arid Sahel, Chad has a long history of volatility, authoritarianism and entrenched poverty. None of the CNT's ranks includes any member from the Wakit Tama opposition alliance, which is campaigning for a return to civilian rule. Deputies were appointed on September 24, with numbers divided up according to a quota system -- at least 30 percent from the old National Assembly, 30 percent women and 30 percent young people. After taking power, the junta, comprising the younger Deby and 14 other generals, dismissed the government, dissolved parliament and rescinded the constitution. It promised to hold "free and transparent" elections within a timeframe of 18 months, renewable once. It also vowed to swiftly designate an interim parliament that would adopt a revamped constitution crafted by an "inclusive national dialogue." - Deadline in doubt - But doubts about whether the timetable will be met are growing steadily. It took the regime five months to name the interim parliament, and there has been no sign of movement on the "national dialogue". Story continues Nor has there been any visible progress on another junta initiative -- overtures towards rebel groups based in Sudan and Libya that have been a headache for Chadian rulers for decades. "The delay in setting up the CNT will have an impact on the declared timetable. It will be impossible to meet the 18-month deadline," said Chadian political analyst Ousmane Houzibe. "The CNT is an echo chamber -- there won't be any change," said Yaya Dillo, a veteran Socialist activist. "It will be no different from the old National Assembly, and that skews the much-expected dialogue," said Max Loalngar, Wakit Tama's spokesman and head of the Chadian League of Human Rights. The younger Deby himself said in June that he did not rule out an extension of military rule if the conditions for restoring civilian rule were not met. yak-dyg/ri/dl Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before a Senate panel Tuesday that the social media giant prioritizes profits over the safety of its users, including its youngest and most vulnerable. Yet Mark Zuckerberg had remained silent on the internal documents Haugen leaked to The Wall Street Journal. On Sunday when Haugen appeared on CBS News "60 Minutes," the Facebook founder and CEO posted a video taken with the company's new Ray-Ban smart glasses showing him sailing with his wife, Priscilla Chan. Late Tuesday, Zuckerberg broke his silence and said many of Haugen's allegations "dont make any sense. "At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being, Zuckerberg said. "That's just not true. Facebook whistleblower: Frances Haugen tells Senate that Facebook makes 'disastrous' choices, prioritizes profit Who is Frances Haugen? Everything you need to know about Facebook whistleblower And, he said, the argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. Zuckerberg may not get off the hook with a Facebook post. Congress still wants to hear from him. The top Democrat on the Senate panel that heard testimony from Haugen said he would call on Zuckerberg to testify. Facebook did not respond on whether Zuckerberg would appear before Congress. Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today, and yet, rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing, said Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. "His new modus operandi: 'No apologies, no admission, no action, nothing to see here,'" Blumenthal said. "Mark Zuckerberg, you need to come before this committee. You need to explain to Francis Haugen, to us, to the world and to the parents of America what you were doing and why you did it. Congress is demanding answers from CEO Mark Zuckerberg after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified Tuesday. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate subcommittee, tweeted: "If Facebook wants to discuss its targeting of children, come forward and testify." Story continues One Twitter user responded this way: "She made her statement under oath. Please feel free to do the same." If Facebook wants to discuss its targeting of children, come forward and testify. https://t.co/qIwrd3I05L Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) October 5, 2021 Haugen told lawmakers Tuesday that she believes Facebook won't change unless Congress forces it to. And, she said, the buck stops with Zuckerberg, who controls more than 50% of the voting shares. .@SenBlumenthal: "Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today. Yet, rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing...Mark Zuckerberg, you need to come before this committee." pic.twitter.com/LZ09t8VBuP CSPAN (@cspan) October 5, 2021 Blumenthal stopped short of saying he would subpoena Zuckerberg and asked that he appear before Congress voluntarily. He has a public responsibility to answer these questions, Blumenthal said after Tuesday's hearing, according to CNBC. Lawmakers are not the only ones looking for answers. The NAACP is demanding a sit-down with Zuckerberg. One internal Facebook study leaked by Haugen found that Facebook took action on as little as 3% to 5% of hate speech, according to "60 Minutes." Vaccine hesitation, political violence and white supremacy are rampant. We urged Mark Zuckerberg to address these issues over a year ago, but in our meeting, he simply danced around the severity of his company's failures, showing no interest in taking action, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zuckerberg breaks silence, says whistleblower claims don't make sense The Ukrainian president may have pledged to reform the country's corrupt system of politics, but the Pandora Papers tell a different story. Driving the news: Ukraine is the country with the highest number of politicians named in the leak of offshore data, which implicates hundreds of people linked to offshore companies including President Volodymyr Zelensky. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. Though offshore companies are not themselves illegal, they often help facilitate tax evasion or money laundering, writes the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the network of reporters and media organizations that obtained the records. Context: Zelensky had campaigned on cleaning up Ukraine's oligarch-dominated system. He'd pushed to set himself apart from politicians like incumbent Petro Poroshenko, who hid offshore assets, the Guardian notes. But the Pandora Papers revealed that Zelensky was involved with a network of offshore companies, which he co-owned with friends and business partners. Our thought bubble, via Axios' Dave Lawler: Zelensky is one of several politicians who campaigned on anti-corruption platforms others include Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan who will now be facing questions over undisclosed wealth tied to them or their close associates. By the numbers: Ukraine leads with 38 politicians named in the Pandora Papers. The top five are ... Ukraine: 38 Russia: 19 Honduras: 11 United Arab Emirates: 11 Nigeria: 10 More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! SALES PITCH: President Joe Biden is traveling to Howell, Michigan this afternoon to make the case for the bipartisan infrastructure bill and his larger Build Back Better agenda. The president will deliver a speech at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324 training facility. Expect Biden to tout the benefits of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which already passed the Senate, but is being held back in the House by progressives who want the measure linked with the reconciliation package. If the bill were to pass, Michigan should expect to receive $110 million over five years to support the expansion of an electric vehicle charging network in the state, the White House said in a memo issued to reporters. The state would also get $1.3 billion to improve water infrastructure, $1 billion to improve public transportation options, and would also benefit from a $50 billion national investment in resilience. Before he left for the trip, Biden was planning to meet with a group of centrist House Democrats this morning to determine how to pass his larger social and climate spending bill, recognizing that this package is going to be smaller than originally proposed," according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Yesterday, Biden met with a large group of liberal House Democrats to convince them to trim the package from $3.5 trillion to somewhere closer to $2 trillion. Party centrists Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have slammed the brakes on the plan in the Senate, calling for a lower price and major policy changes in exchange for their critically needed support. But liberal climate activists are warning Democrats to preserve the core climate provisions of the original package led by the Clean Electricity Performance Program and green energy tax credits and more, including a fee on methane, funding for electric vehicles, and creating a Civilian Climate Corps. Story continues Jamal Raad, executive director of Evergreen Action, a group with ties to the White House, referenced a memo released by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in August finding Democrats climate and infrastructure plans being pursued this fall have the potential to nearly fulfill Bidens Paris Agreement pledge to cut U.S. emissions in half by 2030 We need every piece to get to 45% or else President Biden will come to the U.N. climate conference in Glasgow empty-handed and not be the leader he needs to be on the global stage, Raad told me. There is no room for error. One way Democrats and the White House are reportedly considering shrinking the size of the package is limiting spending to a 5-year period, rather than 10. Raad said addressing climate change and meeting Bidens emissions reduction target for 2030 requires a 10-year spending commitment. Climate is not something you can shrink to paying over five years, he added. Welcome to Daily on Energy, written by Washington Examiner Energy and Environment Writer Josh Siegel (@SiegelScribe). Email jsiegel@washingtonexaminer.com for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and youd like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesnt work, shoot us an email, and well add you to our list. OIL PRICES HIT SEVEN-YEAR HIGH AS OPEC+ STANDS PAT: The benchmark U.S. oil price hit the highest level in seven years this morning after OPEC and its allies decided to reconfirm existing plans for a modest rise in production in November instead of feeding a tight market with more supply. Despite rising demand for energy across the world, OPEC+ said it would raise production by a modest 400,000 barrels a day next month, the same level agreed to under a deal reached in July. Oil prices have climbed on the news, with West Texas Intermediate leaping to about $79 a barrel and Brent, the international benchmark, approaching $83 per barrel. OPEC+, in a statement, did little to explain its rationale for keeping plans intact. But analysts said the group of oil producing nations has a more cautious outlook on the chances of demand outpacing supply in the months ahead due to uncertainty around the pandemic. Much uncertainty remains in terms of potential COVID-related demand destruction, power generation fuel switching to fuel oil due to high gas prices and the possible return of incremental supply from Iran and Venezuela, the research group ClearView Energy Partners said in a note. RISK OF HIGH ENERGY COSTS THIS WINTER? Homeowners in the United States might also be in for a costly winter, although not to the same extent as countries in Europe. Oil and natural gas prices continue to climb higher in the U.S. as supply struggles to keep up with demand, which will only increase as the temperatures begin to drop across the country and heaters begin to be switched on in houses, the Washington Examiners Zachary Halaschak reports in a story for our magazine this week. The price of natural gas used to heat homes across the country and produce electricity has skyrocketed over the past year, growing by about 180%. The oil price has also significantly risen, with the cost of crude more than doubling since this time last year. CHINA POWER SHORTAGE THREATENS SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION: The consequences of Chinas power shortages are leading to forecasts of additional obstacles to a global economic recovery, with the disruptions to the world's second-largest economy expected to raise prices and compound existing supply chain issues, the Washington Examiners Jeremy Beaman reports. China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index, an indicator of the general health of the sector, contracted to 49.6 for the month of September, the lowest since February 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was beginning. The country's largest industrial power users, especially manufacturing operations, were the first victims of rationing as supplying power to residences took priority, according to Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst for the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. China is a significant global producer of everything from machinery and plastics to earth metals, so any disruption to industry of this scale, especially one affecting its power sector, is of significant import to the world. "It will put pressure on prices and will affect the supply chains," Myllyvirta told Jeremy. Whats causing the shortage? The simple explanation is that the domestic energy supply has been unable to meet an uptick in demand fueled by the global recovery, but Myllyvirta implicated Chinese power regulators in particular for failing to be dynamic enough with price controls not a shortage of coal, on which the Chinese grid is heavily reliant. "Essentially, the regulator put pressure on coal mines to keep prices low with pressure on generators to generate at a low price, and that just made it uneconomic to keep purchasing coal and keep running the power plants," he said. "And now, when global energy prices have shut up, it just brought things to a head." CONSERVATIVE GROUP CAMPAIGN FOR NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS: The Conservation Coalition, the educational arm of the American Conservation Coalition, is launching an ad campaign to highlight the importance of natural climate solutions, including planting trees, restoring wetlands, and using sustainable farming practices. The Rooted in America campaign by the conservative youth environmental group includes a nearly $100,000 digital advertising buy. The group argues natural solutions are the most popular climate policy in America, with 90% of people supporting planting 1 trillion trees. The National Academy of Sciences has estimated that natural climate solutions can account for 37% of emissions reductions through 2030 needed to keep global warming below 2 degrees celsius. The Rundown RUNDOWN Bloomberg Kerry lines up pledges to scrub emissions from carbon-heavy industries Washington Post In California oil spill, pipeline critics find a way to push Biden New York Times How do thousands prepare for a climate summit? With difficulty. New York Times Energy prices spike as producers worry over pandemic and climate Calendar WEDNESDAY | OCT. 6 10 a.m. 406 Dirksen. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold an oversight hearing to examine the response by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Hurricane Ida. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: Energy and Environment, Daily on Energy Original Author: Josh Siegel Original Location: Daily on Energy: Biden traveling to Michigan to make case for legislation Daniel Craig had to take on an intense fitness regimen to play James Bond in "No Time to Die." Craig did more of his own stunts than any actor who previously played Bond, Men's Journal reported. This required grueling, year-long nutritional preparation, and workouts in between filming. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. British actor Daniel Craig might be the fittest 50-year-old on the planet, as his role as James Bond requires a grueling diet and training regimen. Craig, who reprised his role as Bond for the last time in the upcoming installment "No Time to Die," wanted to do more of his own stunts than any previous actor who played Bond, according to Men's Journal. In order to do so, he ramped up his training routine to the highest intensity its ever had for his last Bond performance. To get into "Bond shape," Craig has had to embark on year-long preparatory workouts and diets to get in shape for the role, and then engage in regular routines during the filming process. Craig's trainer, Simon Waterson, has been working with the star since his first performance as Bond in "Casino Royal" in 2005, and shared the grueling details about how he's transformed Craig into the stunt-happy Bond star he's been for the last 15 years in an interview with Men's Journal. Craig's trainer used his military background to design a 2-week bootcamp Waterson's experience as a special forces operative for the UK's 845 Naval Air Squadron helped him visualize how Craig should prepare to perform the physical feats of a secret agent. Waterson designed Craig's workout routine based on the film's script, and what he believed Craig would need to practice in order to perform the action sequences. Craig got a first-hand taste of Waterson's military training in the year leading up to "No Time to Die's" shooting, as he did a two-week bootcamp every month. The focus of the sessions was speed and agility training, and even included soccer and rugby drills. Story continues The workouts included 12 to 20 reps per session of these workouts: The NBA is now using methods found in spy novels. AP Each workout included recovery with a foam roller and protein shakes After working out, Craig's recovery methods involved stretching his arms out with light resistance bands to relieve chest soreness, rolling on a foam roller to relieve back and shoulder soreness, and using a percussive massager to relieve soreness in his legs and glutes. His post-workout recovery meals included plant-based recovery shakes with nut milk, plus protein and green vegetables. He also often had a shot of turmeric root juice and a probiotic shot. On set: 30-40 minutes of stretching, and black coffee When the crew began filming "No Time to Die" in April 2019, Craig's fitness and nutrition transitioned into focusing on injury-prevention and conditioning. Before each filming session, Craig spent 30 to 40 minutes doing stretching and muscle activation depending on what type of stunts he'd have to perform that day. Craig then ate his pre-shoot meal of eggs, rye bread, avocado, kimchi, turmeric shots, and black coffee 10 minutes before filming started. The routine paid off when Craig suffered a serious ankle injury while filming an action sequence, as he was right back in the gym the next week doing an upper-body workout with an aircast on his injured foot. "I am constantly impressed with him and his mentality," Waterson told Men's Journal. "Our goals for this last round weren't just about the film. We also made personal goals. And my goal was to help him be the fittest 50-year-old on the planet. I think we got there." Read the original article on Insider The Djiboutian Human Rights League (LDDH) has denounced the police for waging "a coordinated attack" against civilians that left several people dead in early August, according to a report seen by AFP on Thursday. The report alleged that both plainclothes policemen and uniformed officers took part in violent clashes that hit the capital's Afar-dominated neighbourhoods on August 1. The Afar, who straddle Djibouti's borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Issa are Djibouti's two main ethnic groups. "Plainclothes police aided by Issa civilians began to set houses on fire," the LDDH said in the report signed by its president Omar Ali Ewado and dated Tuesday. It said it was a "coordinated attack on defenceless civilians and wreaked havoc on Afar districts". "Men and women of the neighbourhood who wanted to put out the fire and stop the rioters were attacked by uniformed police, who fired live ammunition against these innocent people." Public prosecutor Lamisse Mohamed Said last week said three people had died in August 1 violence in Djibouti City, leading to several arrests, but did not say how. Witnesses had told AFP that about 10 people were killed in the clashes, which saw Issa and Afar houses burned. - 'Incredible repression' - On Sunday, Djibouti's Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed had condemned the unrest as "barbaric acts perpetrated by despicable individuaafarls acting under the cover of a pseudo communitarianism". But the LDDH rejected the government version of events. "Contrary to the statements of the government authorities, relayed by some media, this incident... is not intercommunal because the police were omnipresent and were at the forefront of the fighting against peaceful Afar citizens," it said. The rights group described an atmosphere of "incredible repression" in recent months in the country that has been ruled by President Ismail Omar Guelleh since 1999. Story continues It said 15 people had died in early August, mostly Afar, and 250 homes had been torched, triggering demonstrations in several towns, including the capital and the city of Tadjourah to the northwest. In late July, Ethiopia's Somali region saw clashes between the Afar and Issa communities near Djibouti's southern border. Flanked by Somalia and opposite Yemen, Djibouti has remained stable in a volatile neighbourhood, drawing foreign military powers such as former colonial ruler France, the United States and China to establish bases there. But the country has also seen an erosion of press freedom and a crackdown on dissent as it has courted foreign interest. Djibouti's GDP per capita income is about $3,500, higher than much of sub-Saharan Africa, but around 20 percent of the population live in extreme poverty and 26 percent are unemployed, according to the World Bank. md/amu/txw/gd Figuring out the laws around mental health challenges can make you feel like a chicken running on a treadmill, as in this illustration by Lawrence Rozner. We look to experts for advice. (Lawrence Rozner) If you struggle with mental illness, you like everyone have the right to make decisions about your own medical care. But often, there's fear, anxiety and stigma around the decisions people with serious mental health challenges make especially if they've been placed on an involuntary psychiatric hold. Could you make good choices? And even if you choose something your family, friends or medical providers don't agree with, is it ultimately better that it's your own choice? These can be complicated questions. "We strongly believe that people with mental health conditions should be given the autonomy to make decisions about their own treatments," said Anuja Kumaria, senior attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. She's a patients' rights advocate. California law requires each county to have patients' rights advocates who represent them when they are locked in a psychiatric facility for involuntary mental health treatment. "We understand that family are important; they are the support systems often," she said. "However, ultimately, when it comes to involuntary treatment, its the individual whose civil liberties will be jeopardized." But "when do you reach a point where thats not the best thing for the individual?" said Mark Gale, criminal justice chair of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Greater Los Angeles County. He helps families struggling with loved ones who won't engage with medical care. He said that putting his own son, who lives with schizophrenia, in a temporary conservatorship saved his life. Gale said he frequently works with patients' rights advocates to push for more mental healthcare resources and funding. But when it comes to their beliefs about when involuntary treatment becomes necessary, he's often on the side of compelling treatment. "We fight over the line," he said. How do involuntary holds work, and what can you do to protect yourself or a loved one with mental illness? Each person's situation will be different and full of nuance. Kumaria and Gale recommend focusing on what will lead to the best outcome and walk you through relevant laws and give advice on where you can go if you need help. Story continues What is an involuntary hold? You can be held in a psychiatric facility without consent if it's determined that you meet one of these three criteria: You're a danger to others. You're a danger to yourself. You're gravely disabled (unable to provide basic needs for food, clothing or shelter). Sometimes this happens when a person brings themselves to a mental health provider voluntarily and says or does something that makes the clinician think they meet one of the three criteria. Sometimes a person is causing a disturbance, the police or mental health providers are called and that process leads them to a mental health facility. Types of involuntary holds 5150 or 72-Hour Hold The 5150, which is the number of the section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code, gives psychiatric hospitals the legal right to involuntarily detain a patient with a mental illness for up to 72 hours if they meet one of the above criteria. This is sometimes called an observation period and colloquially referred to as: "Someone has been fifty-one fiftied." After 72 hours, the patient must either be released, sign in voluntarily or be put on a 5250 hold. 5250 or 14-Day Hold If the patient continues to meet the criteria for an involuntary hold after 72 hours, a psychiatrist can file for an extension of up to 14 days. At this point, the patient is entitled to a certification review hearing also called a probable cause hearing (PC hearing) which occurs at the hospital with a hearing officer. The patient gets a patients' rights representative who helps them decide whether they want to contest the hold. If you havent been through this process yourself or know someone intimately who has gone through the process, its hard to wrap your head around it, said Kumaria. Thats where patients' rights advocates come in, because were in this very specialized position to be able to inform individuals of their rights." After 14 days, additional holds can be placed if the treatment team believes the patient still meets the criteria, including an extra 14 days for danger to self (5260 hold), 30 days for grave disability (5270 hold) and up to 180 days if the patient is a danger to others (5301 hold). 5352 hold / Temporary LPS Conservatorship Referred to as a "T-con," this temporary conservatorship gives the conservator responsibility over the conservatee's mental health treatment and their finances. LPS stands for LantermanPetrisShort, the California law that regulates involuntary civil commitment to a mental health institution. It's worth noting that this is different from a probate conservatorship, which is what Britney Spears has and only gives the conservator rights over finances. 5350 hold / Permanent LPS Conservatorship A permanent conservatorship can be imposed for someone determined to be gravely disabled. Technically, no conservatorship is permanent, but it can be renewed yearly, and there's no limit to how many times it can be renewed. What about involuntary medication? Riese hearing One of your rights is to be informed about what types of medications a doctor wants to give you the reason, risks, benefits and alternatives. Patients can refuse medication, except in emergency situations. If it's not an emergency and the provider believes the patient lacks capacity to reason about their own treatment, they have to petition for involuntary medications. The result is a Riese hearing, named after the 1987 Riese v. St. Marys Hospital and Medical Center case, which was made into the movie "55 Steps," starring Hilary Swank and Helena Bonham Carter. If you disagree with the decision, you can appeal. Also, forced medication periods expire after each hold, so if your hold is extended, a new petition needs to be filed. Laura's Law Gale helped advocate for Laura's Law, a California law that allows involuntary treatment to be court-ordered for people whose mental illness has: Been a significant factor in his or her being in a hospital, prison or jail at least twice within the last 36 months. Resulted in one or more acts, attempts or threats of serious violent behavior toward self or others within the last 48 months. What can people with mental illness do to protect themselves? Learn about patients rights "A lot of people dont know that they still have specific rights even though theyre in involuntary hold or getting involuntary treatment," said Kumaria. "They think everything is hopeless and they have no recourse or solution to getting out of that situation." It's important to know your rights so you know if they're being violated and what to do. Understand whos allowed to ask for your records The federal law known as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act of 1996) protects individuals' medical records you control who your healthcare providers release your records to. "Families can provide outside third-party information about why they think somebody needs more treatment or a history of mental health," said Kumaria. "But [patients] don't have to willingly give out information to family, friends or community members just because they are in an involuntary hospital stay." Contact patients' rights advocates Patients' rights advocates represent you for hearings, but they are your representatives at any point of your mental health treatment, even if you're receiving outpatient care. "Contact us at any time," said Kumaria. Create a plan for self-care and support Kumaria said that when someone is hospitalized, they're always asked what their plan for self-care will be when they leave the hospital. She said it's important to actively work on that plan and reassess it based on changed circumstances or changed mental health symptoms. "Verbalizing that plan, talking about it with the staff there, really helps in the long run because the doctors might put more weight on the individual's plan if they can clearly articulate the steps theyd be taking if they were out in the community themselves," she said. Build trusted relationships with your healthcare providers It doesn't always avoid involuntary holds, but Kumaria said that it's important to engage with your psychiatrist or therapist, so that your choices and opinions are considered when making treatment plans. "More often than not, it does allow for best opportunities to make plan of care that could be acceptable to the individual," said Kumaria. Consider calling mental health lines before calling police "Historically excluded communities often have to face the challenge of 'Do we call the police when someone is having an issue, or what are the alternatives?'" Kumaria said. "Many times, families don't realize that when they involve the police, it could result in losing some of those autonomous rights." Consider calling mental health hotlines for Los Angeles County, the Department of of Mental Health provides help 24/7 at (800) 854-7771 or TYY for the Hearing Impaired at (562) 651-2549 or mental health providers first. See the department's website for additional helplines and resources. Make a psychiatric advance directive (PAD) Gale said that no matter what mental health advocates think about involuntary treatment, many believe a psychiatric advance directives are important. This is a document you put together when you are healthy to prepare for what might happen when you're not. Similar to a medical directive, created for when someone can no longer make decisions at the end of their lives, a PAD can stipulate who should be your substitute decision maker should you lose capacity to make your own treatment decisions. A PAD can also lay out which drugs you're willing to take versus which make you sick, give you side effects or make you suicidal. A lawyer can help you make a PAD, but you can also use a template. These are not yet legally binding, though there are advocacy movements to push for legal recognition of psychiatric advance directives. In the meantime, Kumaria recommends filing it with your local hospital, if you can, or keeping a copy of it in your wallet so it's always on you. Share your plan with family members and friends "Theyre the ones who these authority figures and medical providers will be contacting to figure out the next steps," said Kumaria. "Having had those conversations in advance will at least get that person on the same page to make decisions going forward." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A former Facebook employee has told US politicians that the company's sites and apps harm children's mental health and stoke division in society. Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former product manager turned whistleblower, heavily criticised the company at a hearing in the Senate. Facebook has faced growing scrutiny and increasing calls for its regulation. Founder Mark Zuckerberg hit back, saying the latest accusations were at odds with the company's goals. In a letter to staff, he said many of the claims were "illogical" and pointed to Facebook's efforts to fight harmful content. "We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health," he said in the letter, made public on his Facebook page. "It's difficult to see coverage that misrepresents our work and our motives." Facebook is the world's most popular social media site. The company says it has 2.7 billion monthly active users. Hundreds of millions of people also use the company's other products, including WhatsApp and Instagram. But it has been criticised on several fronts - from failing to protect users' privacy to not doing enough to halt the spread of disinformation. Ms Haugen told CBS News on Sunday that she had shared a number of internal Facebook documents with the Wall Street Journal in recent weeks. Using the documents, the WSJ reported that research carried out by Instagram showed the app could harm girls' mental health. This was a theme Ms Haugen continued during her testimony on Tuesday. "The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people," she said. She criticised Mark Zuckerberg for having wide-ranging control, saying that there is "no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself." Story continues And she praised the massive outage of Facebook services on Monday, which affected users around the world. "Yesterday we saw Facebook taken off the internet," she said. "I don't know why it went down, but I know that for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilise democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies." The answer, she told senators, was congressional oversight. "We must act now," she said. Mr Zuckerberg, in his letter, said the research into Instagram had been mischaracterised and that many young people had positive experiences of using the platform. But he said "it's very important to me that everything we build is safe and good for kids". On Monday's outage, he said the deeper concern was not "how many people switch to competitive services or how much money we lose, but what it means for the people who rely on our services to communicate with loved ones, run their businesses, or support their communities". Frances Haugen said the company repeatedly prioritised profits over its users safety Both Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday were united in the need for change at the company - a rare topic of agreement between the two political parties. "The damage to self-interest and self-worth inflicted by Facebook today will haunt a generation," Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said. "Big Tech now faces the Big Tobacco jaw-dropping moment of truth," he added, a reference to how tobacco firms hid the harmful effects of their products. Fellow Republican Dan Sullivan said the world would look back and ask "What the hell were we thinking?" in light of the revelations about Facebook's impact on children. In a statement issued after the hearing, Facebook said it did not agree with Ms Haugen's "characterisation of the many issues she testified about". But it did agree that "it's time to begin to create standard rules for the internet." "It's been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it is time for Congress to act," the statement read. Zuckerberg rattled Analysis box by James Clayton, North America technology reporter Mark Zuckerberg's blog is lengthy and thoughtful. He doesn't name Frances Haugen - but he has clearly been rattled. His main argument is that the research she leaked has been misrepresented by both her and the media. He argues that the negative internal research has been cherry-picked and positive conclusions brushed over. Interestingly, he thinks this episode could have a chilling effect on internal research in companies - worried that bad conclusions might one day be leaked. But there is of course a simple come back to this. Release the data. Facebook and other social media companies don't have to do internal research; they could let their data be analysed independently. To be fair to Facebook, the company does give researchers some access. However, only Facebook has the full spectrum of user metrics needed to fully analyse its effect on society. His arguments too are at times overly simplified. Why would we want to make people angry, he asks. I'm sure he doesn't. But it's been proven over and over again that social media that provokes any emotion, whether it be laughter, love or anger gets more engagement. Zuckerberg believes passionately that Facebook is a force for good. It's becoming harder and harder to find people on Capitol Hill who think that. Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union in Broward County, Fla., the second largest school district in the state, appeared on Don Lemon Tonight Monday where she called out Gov. Ron DeSantis for declining to apply for billions of dollars in funding for schools as part of President Bidens American Rescue Plan. Hes extremely reckless. Its definitely politics. Hes a governor thats come out real clearly that hes planning on running in [2024] against Biden, Fusco said. So theres some, you know, conversations that are happening. Its just a way to say that Im just gonna keep pulling back and doing my own thing to show that I can take charge and have total power. Florida is the only state in the country that has not applied for the funding, and Fusco believes DeSantis is failing the students. Hes just looking to defund public schools, Fusco said. When youre not looking to come up with a plan, meet a deadline for the hundreds of thousands of students across the state of Florida that are in public schools, that need to have, you know, lots of resources and actual physical bodies in the schools to take care of our students, it says a lot. Its just wrong. DeSantiss office responded to the Department of Educations request for a funding plan by stating that no school districts in Florida have requested additional funding, but it will reach out to the department if funding is needed in the future. But Fusco isnt buying it. I just cannot believe that no district has reached out and said that they need every dime to meet the needs of so many things that have just happened over this whole COVID era, Fusco said. It's just unbelievable. I would like to see proof. Don Lemon Tonight airs weeknights at 10 p.m. on CNN. Check out what the Facebook whistleblower had to say about the social media giant putting profits before public safety: 'A betrayal of democracy': Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. And check out our host, Kylie Mar, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that foreign tourists won't be allowed to visit the country until at least 2022, AP reports. Why it matters: Morrison announced last week that the government plans to lift its 18-month COVID-19 travel ban for fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents in November. It was unclear, however, when tourists would be allowed to visit the country. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free The big picture: Morrison said Tuesday that after reopening borders to fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents, the government would prioritize allowing skilled migrants and international students to return to the country, AP reports. We will get to international visitors as well, I believe next year, Morrison said, per AP. The other side: Tourism companies in Australia are angry there is no plan in place to bring back international visitors. Even if theyre not the first priority, wed like to see how this is going to be worked out. There are many businesses that are just hanging on, said Daniel Gschwind, chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council, per AP. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. PARIS (Reuters) - European states will, within days, announce measures to apply pressure on London to abide by Brexit agreements sealed with the bloc when Britain left the European Union, French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday. He did not say what those measures would be, but noted in an interview with the radio station, that Britain depends on energy supplies its receives from the continent of Europe. He said France felt exasperation at a decision by British dependency Jersey to refuse fishing permits for dozens of French vessels. "Enough already, we have an agreement negotiated by France, by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent. It isn't being," he said, referring to the EU's former chief Brexit negotiator, who is French. "In the next few days, and I talked to my European counterparts on this subject yesterday, we will take measures at the European level or nationally, to apply pressure on the United Kingdom." "We defend our interests. We do it nicely, and diplomatically, but when that doesn't work, we take measures," added Beaune. "For example, we can imagine, since we're talking about energy, ... the United Kingdom depends on our energy supplies," Beaune also said. "It thinks that it can live all alone, and bash Europe." (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Writing by Christian Lowe) President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held talks with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his first meeting with an American official since the scrapping of a submarine contract with Australia plunged relations into crisis. Blinken, who has been seeking to patch up ties with France after Canberra ditched the deal as part of a security pact with the UK and US, did not originally have an appointment with Macron on the agenda for his two-day visit to Paris. The one-on-one meeting lasted around 40 minutes with "common agreement that we have an opportunity now to deepen and strengthen the coordination" even though "a lot of hard work remains to be done", a senior State Department official told reporters in Paris. The Elysee also confirmed the meeting with Macron, saying Blinken's visit would contribute to "restoring confidence" between the sides. Macron was furious last month when Australia scrapped a multibillion-dollar deal for French submarines, saying it would pursue US nuclear versions instead. His government called secret talks leading up to the cancellation "a stab in the back" and the French president recalled his ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. US President Joe Biden has since tried to make amends, with Karen Donfried, the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, admitting last week that "the September 15 announcement would have benefited from better and more open consultation among allies". Blinken earlier Tuesday met French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian for an hour in what Le Drian's spokeswoman had flagged as a chance to "identify stages that may allow a return of confidence between our two countries". He then drove to the Elysee Palace for a scheduled meeting with Macron's security advisor Emmanuel Bonne, but "then had a one-on-one with President Macron for probably about 30 or 40 minutes", the State Department official said. Story continues The mood of the encounter was "serious", the official said. "I don't want to characterise their emotions, but I would say, at least in the discussions we had, it was very cordial and amicable." A French diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, said that the talks had shown that the American side was aware of the gravity of the situation. "This was not hours of cuddling to make things better and the Americans also don't think that cuddling is the right thing now or saying that 'we are the best allies in the world'," said the source. - 'Not only in words' - Blinken's trip to Paris had been scheduled before the submarines row erupted, and was to focus on a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a club of mostly rich countries. The fallout had been expected to hang over his two-day stay, with the US recognising that repairing ties "will take time and will take hard work and it will need to be demonstrated not only in words but also in deeds". But there were also signs that France had started softening its stance, after Biden spoke by telephone with Macron. Following that conversation, the French leader sent his ambassador back to Washington where he was given meetings with Blinken and also with Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser. Biden is now himself hoping to meet with Macron, according to US climate envoy John Kerry, also in Paris for the OECD meeting. Kerry told the BFMTV broadcaster late Monday that Biden had asked his opinion about the submarines spat, and that the president had not been fully aware of its impact on France. Macron is meanwhile still livid with Australia, and a long-planned round of Australia-EU free trade talks has been postponed by a month. Canberra announced the submarine decision as it joined a new alliance with Britain and the United States, dubbed AUKUS, one of a series of initiatives by Biden who views countering China as the paramount concern of the United States. While in Paris, Blinken will also co-chair a ministerial meeting for the 60th anniversary of the Paris-based OECD. The meeting will look at promoting a green economy, a month before high-stakes UN climate talks in Glasgow. burs-jh/sjw/adp/mbx Joseph Petito is determined to see his daughters death used as a catalyst to create greater awareness about domestic violence. Mr Petito has shared a never-before-seen image on Instagram and Twitter of his daughter Gabby Petito holding hands with two young boys, along with a call to do better. We have to do better. Changes are coming. Now is the time. Dont be silent. #gabbypetito #justiceforgabby #iamgabby #domesticviolenceawareness #domesticviolence . The Petito family have dedicated themselves to using the publicity surrounding the disappearance and death of Ms Petito, 22, to draw attention to missing persons cases and domestic violence. Theyve established the Gabby Petito Foundation to help reunite missing children with their parents. The foundation has begun accepting donations and plans are being made to hold a fundraiser on Long Island, New York, on 17 October. On Saturday, Mr Petito shared an image of his daughter to Twitter, along with a message that she was already saving lives. So many stories being sent to us about relationships being left with proper planning for safety, and people are being found due to her influence. We have much more work to do, but its a start. All four of Ms Petitos parents and step-parents, as well as Ms Petitos grandmother Mary Wickham, have recently become active on Twitter. The family have also suffered a second loss in recent days. On Monday, Ms Petitos stepfather Jim Schmidt announced his grandmother Dot had died three days before her 100th birthday. Read More Brian Laundrie update: Sister doesnt know if he killed Gabby Petito as she pleads for him to come home Gabby Petito: Police accused of cover-up over delay in releasing second officers bodycam footage Gabby Petito: Family set up foundation in honour of dead YouTuber Reuters North Korea's food situation remains perilous according to analysts and a United Nations expert who raised doubts this week about its harvest, and there are signs that it is receiving large shipments of humanitarian aid from China. North Korea has long suffered from food insecurity, with observers saying that government mismanagement of the economy is exacerbated by international sanctions, natural disasters, and now the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted unprecedented border lockdowns there. The country typically relies on imports and aid from China to make up for poor harvests, but its strict self-imposed border lockdowns aimed at preventing a coronavirus outbreak have slowed trade to a trickle and cast doubts on its ability to overcome food shortages. The villagers destroyed about 50 doses of the vaccine, officials say Anti-vaccine residents in a village in rural Guatemala have attacked nurses who were trying to administer Covid-19 jabs, holding them for seven hours, officials say. About 500 people blocked a road and vandalised the team's cars in Maguila, in the northern Alta Verapaz province. The 11 workers were released after police negotiated with the villagers, who destroyed about 50 vaccine doses. Authorities say online disinformation is feeding resistance to the vaccines. The nurses were "verbally and physically attacked" by the residents, who let the air out of the workers' tires and destroyed the cool boxes storing the doses, the health ministry said. "We were very scared because we had never been through something like this. We were just doing our duty," a nurse was quoted by the statement as saying. "We tried to explain a number of times that vaccination is voluntary and that we did not want to force anyone, yet they didn't let us [work]." Local media report that residents rejected the vaccine because a villager who received a dose had developed side effects, which were interpreted as being health problems linked to the jab. Experts say the most common side effects of the vaccines are pain or tenderness at the injection site. Some people have wider effects like fever, headache, nausea and fatigue, but they are usually mild and short-lived. Gabriel Sandoval, the director of the provincial health department, told the Associated Press officials had previously encountered communities that rejected vaccination teams, but that it was the first time they faced such physical resistance. "This was bound to happen," he said, citing false information about the vaccines being shared on social media. "A lot of people don't believe in the illness... There is a clash of cultures". Chart showing the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the highest average number of cases in the last week. Updated 4 Oct. In a televised address on Saturday, President Alejandro Giammattei urged people to "support and respect" health officials carrying out the vaccination campaign who were being "threatened, attacked and even kidnapped". About 2.5 million people, or 25% of the eligible population, have been fully vaccinated in Guatemala - one of the lowest rates in Latin America. To date, the country has confirmed more than 566,000 cases and 13,750 deaths. The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the June quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors experienced strong gains on the back of a strong market performance, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC). Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) was in 42 hedge funds' portfolios at the end of June. The all time high for this statistic was previously 36. This means the bullish number of hedge fund positions in this stock currently sits at its all time high. Our calculations also showed that EHC isn't among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q2 rankings). In the eyes of most stock holders, hedge funds are viewed as underperforming, outdated investment vehicles of yesteryear. While there are over 8000 funds with their doors open today, We look at the moguls of this club, around 850 funds. These hedge fund managers have their hands on most of all hedge funds' total capital, and by paying attention to their finest stock picks, Insider Monkey has determined a few investment strategies that have historically outrun Mr. Market. Insider Monkey's flagship short hedge fund strategy beat the S&P 500 short ETFs by around 20 percentage points annually since its inception in March 2017. Also, our monthly newsletter's portfolio of long stock picks returned 185.4% since March 2017 (through August 2021) and beat the S&P 500 Index by more than 79 percentage points. You can download a sample issue of this newsletter on our website. Story continues Billionaire Steve Cohen's Top 10 stock picks At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, artificial intelligence is one of the fastest-growing industries right now, so we are checking out stock pitches like this emerging AI stock. We go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. You can subscribe to our free daily newsletter on our homepage. With all of this in mind let's view the recent hedge fund action surrounding Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC). Do Hedge Funds Think EHC Is A Good Stock To Buy Now? At second quarter's end, a total of 42 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 17% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 33 hedge funds with a bullish position in EHC a year ago. With hedgies' sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions). Is EHC A Good Stock To Buy? The largest stake in Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) was held by JANA Partners, which reported holding $158.3 million worth of stock at the end of June. It was followed by Citadel Investment Group with a $92.5 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Healthcor Management LP, Polar Capital, and Point72 Asset Management. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position JANA Partners allocated the biggest weight to Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC), around 13.06% of its 13F portfolio. Iron Triangle Partners is also relatively very bullish on the stock, setting aside 4.53 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to EHC. Consequently, some big names have jumped into Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) headfirst. Jet Capital Investors, managed by Matthew Mark, initiated the most valuable call position in Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC). Jet Capital Investors had $15.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Andrew Rechtschaffen's AREX Capital Management also initiated a $4.5 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint Capital, Greg Poole's Echo Street Capital Management, and Gavin Saitowitz and Cisco J. del Valle's Prelude Capital (previously Springbok Capital). Let's now take a look at hedge fund activity in other stocks - not necessarily in the same industry as Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) but similarly valued. These stocks are Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC), AngloGold Ashanti Limited (NYSE:AU), Reinsurance Group of America Inc (NYSE:RGA), Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX), Tempur Sealy International Inc. (NYSE:TPX), Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE:PLAN), and PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH). This group of stocks' market valuations are closest to EHC's market valuation. [table] Ticker, No of HFs with positions, Total Value of HF Positions (x1000), Change in HF Position BC,38,1095771,-4 AU,12,372898,-2 RGA,28,414971,1 SKX,35,772836,6 TPX,35,1096506,-2 PLAN,52,2141802,-3 PVH,28,1759709,-6 Average,32.6,1093499,-1.4 [/table] View table here if you experience formatting issues. As you can see these stocks had an average of 32.6 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1093 million. That figure was $865 million in EHC's case. Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE:PLAN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand AngloGold Ashanti Limited (NYSE:AU) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE:EHC) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for EHC is 77.5. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. This is a slightly positive signal but we'd rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 22.9% in 2021 through October 1st and beat the market again by 5.6 percentage points. Unfortunately EHC wasn't nearly as popular as these 5 stocks and hedge funds that were betting on EHC were disappointed as the stock returned -5% since the end of June (through 10/1) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds as many of these stocks already outperformed the market since 2019. Get real-time email alerts: Follow Encompass Health Corp (NYSE:EHC) Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey. The latest blockbuster investigation from The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) shows that when reporters agree to work together and not to out-scoop one another, the impact of their work can be explosive. Why it matters: "It really in some ways is set up to subvert the traditional kind of foreign reporting that has dominated international journalism, where a western reporter parachutes into a country and comes back to write a story," says Michael Hudson, senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. The Pandora Papers project, the latest blockbuster report from ICIJ, exposes the vast network of offshore accounts and hidden riches from world leaders and billionaires across 91 countries and territories. Over 600 journalists from 150 news outlets globally, including The Washington Post, The Guardian, BBC, Radio France and others came together for the project, which took over two years to compile. The team obtained more than 11.9 million confidential files detailing the secret financial havens of prominent people around the world. It follows the 2016 Panama Papers report published by the group, which led to the resignation of world leaders in Pakistan and Iceland. How it works: The ICIJ, a nonprofit designed to bring journalists and newsrooms around the world together, has two major rules for its participating partners, Hudson says. All journalists must agree to hold their reporting and publish it simultaneously at an agreed-upon date. All journalists must commit to uploading whatever they uncover to an internal communications database in real-time so that they can share their findings and work collaboratively. The bottom line: We are competing to be the most collaborative, Hudson said. Were not racing to hide stuff from people. More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free The skipper of a stricken French trawler radioed "I'm capsizing, come quickly" as the vessel sank 17 years ago, a London inquest was told Tuesday as it probed whether the tragedy was caused by a submarine. Serge Cossec, who captained another French trawler, the Eridan, said he heard the call made by Yves Gloaguen on the Bugaled Breizh moments before the ship went down. The families of the five crew who died in the tragedy hope the three-week investigation will confirm their belief that the trawler was dragged down by a submarine. The Eridan was fishing around 14 nautical miles off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England on January 15, 2004, some three or four miles from the Bugaled Breizh. "At 13:25, I got a call from the skipper of the Bugaled Breizh telling me that she was capsizing without telling me why," Cossec told the court by video-link. Weather conditions at the time were fair, he said, recalling that Gloaguen said: "I'm capsizing, come quickly." Cossec told the court that he asked "what's going on?" but got the same response. Gloaguen's voice was "not like usual... he seemed to be wondering himself what was happening," he added. Cossec said he told Gloaguen to drop his life rafts and asked for his position, before warning his own crew the vessel was in trouble and to prepare for a rescue operation. - Submarine spotted - About a minute after the first call "I picked up the handset and it just crackled", remembered Cossec, saying the stricken vessel was no longer contactable. The Eridan arrived at the scene around 45 minutes after the sinking, finding a large slick of oil on the surface, debris and empty life rafts. The Eridan's captain and several crew members gave evidence through interpreters, saying that while searching for survivors they saw a submarine heading north with its tower above the water surface. They differed in their accounts of how far away the submarine was, with several saying around 400 metres and one saying it was more than a mile (1.6 kilometres) away. Story continues All five men on board the Bugaled Breizh, which operated out of Loctudy in the Finistere region of northwest France, perished in the tragedy. UK search and rescue teams recovered the bodies of Yves Gloaguen, 44, and Pascal Le Floch, 49, while that of Patrick Gloaguen, 35, was found in the wreck during a French salvage operation. The two others -- chief engineer Georges Lemetayer, 60, and Eric Guillamet, 42 -- have never been found. The families of the victims believe that the trawler sank after its nets were caught up in a submarine. NATO and Royal Navy exercises were taking place in the area at the time. But Britain's Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy deny any involvement, while a lengthy French judicial inquiry gave no definitive cause for the tragedy. The hearing before high court judge Nigel Lickley is being held only into Yves Gloaguen and Pascal Le Floch's deaths because UK authorities were involved. Inquests are held in England and Wales in the event of a sudden or unexplained death. The hearings establish the causes and circumstances on the balance of probability. They do not determine criminal or civil liability but set out facts in the public interest. In particularly sensitive or important cases, including matters involving national security, a judge can be appointed to oversee proceedings. pau-jwp-am/phz/tgb TOKYO (AP) Japan detected a submarine believed to be Chinese off a southern Japanese island, the defense ministry said Sunday, heightening Japans caution levels in the East China Sea as China increases its military activities. The submarine remained submerged, but the ministry said in a statement that it believes the submarine is Chinese because a Chinese Luyang III-class guided missile destroyer is near the submarine. The submarine moved northwest off the eastern coast of the Amamioshima Island, about 700 kilometers (420 miles) northeast of the disputed East China Sea islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by Beijing, the ministry said. The submarine on Sunday morning was heading west in the East China Sea. Neither the submarine or the ship entered Japanese territorial water. Under international law, submarines passing off the coast of another country are required to surface and show a national flag inside territorial waters. Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force sent three reconnaissance aircraft and two destroyers to the area for early warning and information gathering to analyze Chinas intentions. A submarine believed to be Chinese also was spotted in the area in June 2020. China has defended its maritime activities and says it has the right to defend its sovereignty, security and development interests. Japan, alarmed by China's growing naval activities in the East and South China seas, has been stepping up defense in the countrys southwestern regions and islands north of the disputed islands. Tokyo says it opposes China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the region, and regularly protests the Chinese coast guards growing presence near the disputed islands. Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats. TOKYO (AP) Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held his first talks since taking office with President Joe Biden and confirmed they will work to strengthen their alliance and cooperate in regional security in the face of growing challenges from China and North Korea. Kishida, who was elected by parliament and sworn in Monday, told reporters that Biden reassured him of the U.S. commitment to defend the Japanese-controlled East China Sea island of Senkaku, which China also claims and has escalated its coast guard activity in the area. Biden provided a strong statement about U.S. commitment for the defense of Japan, including ... Senkaku, Kishida said, adding that the two leaders also reaffirmed they would tackle together the challenges facing neighboring regions such as China and North Korea. Kishida supports stronger Japan-U.S. security ties and partnerships with other democracies in Asia and Europe, including the U.K., in part to counter China and nuclear-armed North Korea. Kishida has also pledged to beef up Japans missile and naval defense capabilities. Kishida on Monday acknowledged the need to continue dialogue with China, an important neighbor and trade partner, but said that we must speak up against Chinas attempt to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas. The two leaders confirmed their commitment to work together toward the (asterisk)free and open Indo-Pacific," a vision of partnerships among the regional democracies as a counterbalance to China's increasingly assertive actions, Kishida said. Holding his first talks as prime minister with the U.S. president serves a first step toward elevating the Japan-U.S. alliance to even higher levels," Kishida said. The 20-minute phone conversation Monday, proposed by Japan, started with Biden congratulating Kishida. The leaders agreed to call each other by their first names, and agreed to meet at an early date. While Kishida had a upbeat diplomatic debut, media surveys conducted over the last 24 hours showed support ratings for his new Cabinet were about 15 points lower than the initial high support his unpopular predecessor Yoshihide Suga enjoyed last year. Story continues In the Mainichi newspaper telephone survey published Tuesday, 49% of 1,035 respondents supported the Kishida Cabinet, compared to 64% Suga initially enjoyed, and 40% dissapproved of Kishida. The Nikkei newspaper phone survey showed 59% of 854 respondents supporting Kishida's Cabinet, also 15 points below Suga's. Many of those who disapproved of Kishida cited customary power broking by party heavyweights behind his victory. Later Monday, Kishida held online talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, agreeing to strengthen their security and economic ties bilaterally and as part of the Quad alliance, which also includes the United States and India, to promote the regional peace and stability, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Kishida expressed his support for a newly launched security partnership among Australia, Britain and the United States. He and Morrison reaffirmed their strong objection to what they see as China's policy of coercive economic measures and unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the regional seas, the ministry said. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her congratulatory message to Kishida, released Tuesday by her office: Germany is looking full of confidence toward working with you to further deepen the friendship between our people and stand up together for free trade, multilateralism, rules-based order and peaceful conflict solution. Kishida, 64, had been known as a moderate in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but won the party's leadership last week after a hawkish turn on security and taking a more conservative stance on gender equality and other issues. He succeeds Suga, who resigned after only one year in office after seeing his support plunging over his handling of the virus and insistence on holding the Olympics seen as high-handed and ignoring the public's concerns. ___ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. SheKnows Adele is officially back and what better way to make her grand return than with not one, but two historic Vogue covers showcasing the singers new era in full? For the first time in Vogues over-100 years running, the same star will cover both American Vogue and British Vogue for November 2021, and that star is London-born Adele, taking her first interviews [] Attorney General Merrick Garland has directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Attorneys Offices to combat what officials called a spike in harassment, intimidation and violent threats against education leaders as communities clash over schools pandemic response and lessons about systemic racism. Threats against public servants are not only illegal, they run counter to our nations core values, Garland wrote in a media release Monday. Those who dedicate their time and energy to ensuring that our children receive a proper education in a safe environment deserve to be able to do their work without fear for their safety. Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here for The 74s daily newsletter. The move comes less than a week after the 90,000-member National School Boards Association urged the Biden administration to act swiftly to protect public school leaders who face an immediate threat of violence as school board meetings nationwide grow increasingly volatile. The group cited more than 20 instances of threats, harassment and intimidation during board meetings in recent months amid tension over mask mandates and classroom instruction on critical race theory. The school board group referred to the violent threats as domestic terrorism. Related: An Immediate Threat: National School Board Group Calls on Biden to Combat Domestic Terrorism Toward Educators During Pandemic Turmoil In a memorandum, Garland called on the federal agencies to meet with local law enforcement in the next month to create a plan to combat the disturbing spike. The Justice Department also announced plans to create a new task force focused on prosecuting people who threaten school leaders. The task force will include the FBI and the Justice Departments criminal, security and civil rights divisions. Officials also said they would create training resources that help school boards and administrators understand behaviors that constitute threats, how to report dangerous conduct to police and how to preserve relevant evidence. Story continues Chip Slavin, the school board groups interim executive director, said in a media release that the Justice Departments response sent a strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting our public schools and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students and communities they serve. Related: Twitter Breaks, Meditative Walks, Security Guards: How School Leaders are Responding to an Unsettling Season of Public Outrage In one recent incident, police arrested an Illinois man for allegedly hitting a school official as he was being escorted out of a board meeting and, in another, an Ohio school board member received a letter in the mail warning we are coming after you, threatening that she would pay dearly for requiring students to wear masks on campus. While some speakers have used board meetings to spread conspiracy theories and hate speech, other critics who frequently clash with their school boards offered sharp rebukes to the national associations assertion that their actions constitute domestic terrorism. Among them is activist and former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani, who tweeted that the school board group should apologize to parents. I taped a message to the Natl Association of School Boards. I am what a domestic terrorist looks like? You owe parents an apology! Politely message them @NSBAPublicEd, 703-838-6722 info@nsba.org. Copy me. We reject violence. I am an #UnapologeticParent Like you! @defendingedpic.twitter.com/2cSqzDuj9C Asra Q. Nomani Domestic Terrorist (@AsraNomani) October 1, 2021 Conservative lawmakers and activists, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, were quick to accuse officials of trampling on the free speech rights of parents who speak up at school board meetings. On Twitter, Gaetz accused the Biden administration of using federal law enforcement to punish dissent from the ruling class. The Biden Regime is collapsing and they are using the power of federal law enforcement to punish dissent from the ruling class. https://t.co/gFhW6u8qVM Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 5, 2021 Read the Justice Department memo here: Related: Sign up for The 74s newsletter By Praveen Paramasivam (Reuters) - About 1,400 Kellogg Co cereal plant employees went on a strike on Tuesday, hoping to get the packaged foods maker to negotiate what a labor union called a "fair contract" for the workers. The Froot Loops cereal maker has been negotiating the payment and benefits terms of a new contract - the existing one expired at midnight on Monday - with union workers for a while now. Kellogg has demanded that workers give up quality health care, retirement benefits, and holiday and vacation pay, said Anthony Shelton, president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. Shelton said Kellogg has threatened to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept its proposals. However, Kellogg, which brings in about a third of its sales from cereals, said its compensation and benefits for U.S. cereal plant employees were among the industry's best. "We are disappointed by the union's decision to strike ... our offer includes increases to pay and benefits for our employees," Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said. The company also said it was implementing contingency plans to deal with supply disruptions, including internal and third-party resources. The workers went on strikes at plants in Battle Creek, Michigan, Omaha, Nebraska, Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Memphis, Tennessee. The union used what looked like an angry version of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot, Tony the Tiger, in posters asking people to join the picket. Pictures on social media showed several workers holding banners outside the facilities. "The company has a pretty good idea on how long they are willing to hold out and we are going to stand fast as long as we have to," said Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha, noting the strike had gone on for 18 hours already. (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) Hunter Biden hosted an art show in Hollywood on Friday for several California elites, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti was a national co-chairman of President Joe Bidens 2020 campaign and was nominated by the president to serve as the U.S. ambassador to India. Also in attendance was Shepard Fairey, creator of the Obama/Hope poster, and the musician Moby. HUNTER BIDEN STILL HOLDS 10% STAKE IN CHINESE FIRM Approximately 200 people reportedly attended the Hollywood event that took place in a large white room in Milk Studios, Mother Jones reports. Hunter Biden's gallerist, George Berges, is reportedly charging up to $500,000 per piece of artwork, the Atlantic reports. Critics argue the event presents a conflict of interest, with buyers writing large checks directly to the president's son. To address the ethical concerns, the White House partnered with the gallerist to lay down some ground rules. Hunter Biden, for example, must not know the identity of any of the buyers or discuss the sale of any of the pieces of art during the event, instead focusing the discussion on his creative process. Theres no mechanism for monitoring, no mechanism for notifying the public if confidentiality is broken, no mechanism for tracking if buyers get access to [the government]," said Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, expressed his concerns with the showing earlier this month. "There's a lot of red flags there with Hunter. Hunter is a national security problem," Comer told Newsmax. "I think the Biden administration knows that. That's why they constantly try to defer when they take questions about Hunter." Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Hunter Biden, Art, Los Angeles Original Author: Matthew Miller Original Location: LA Mayor Eric Garcetti among 200 people to attend Hunter Biden's art show COLUMBUS, Ohio A firefighter, college professor and a Cleveland-area city councilman were among 161 people arrested in a sex sting operation last week, described as the state's largest focused on human trafficking. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, law enforcement officials from multiple counties, social service providers and former human trafficking victims met in the Ohio Statehouse on Monday to talk about the initiative. Dubbed "Operation Ohio Knows," the weeklong sting was intended to create a deterrent for those who seek sex for pay or profit, Yost said. "We want to send a message to everybody in the country: Don't buy sex in Ohio," he said. Whistleblower to Senate: Facebook makes 'disastrous' choices, prioritizes profit 'Operation Ohio Knows' Law enforcement fanned out across the state, communicating with hundreds of men seeking sex. For every arrest made, officers contacted up to eight "johns" whose actions didn't meet the elements of any crime, said Chief Deputy Rick Minerd of the Franklin County sheriff's office. Three of the perpetrators were willing to pay to have sex with people they thought were minors. Ten minors reported missing were recovered during a simultaneous operation carried out by the U.S. Marshals Service. Fifty-one women, would-be victims, were provided assistance by social service advocates. It was unclear how many of the women were charged. Most of those arrested were charged with engaging in prostitution, a first-degree misdemeanor. Other charges related to drugs and firearms. A change in state law passed in the spring requires those convicted to undergo human trafficking education. "We cannot arrest our way out of human trafficking," Yost said, noting that arrests are nevertheless important as a deterrence. "If there are no buyers, there will be no trafficking." He wants people to know that it's not a victimless crime. Story continues "When you are the buyer, you have no idea who you're dealing with," he said. "The pimp, the trafficker, doesn't show up and sit in the corner watching you. The survivor doesn't tell you, 'I don't want to do this, but if I don't, I'm going to be beat' or 'He's going to withhold my drugs.' "Because we don't know, anybody in Ohio who purchases sex is assuming the risk that they're complicit in trafficking." Human trafficking survivor Mandie Knight spoke via Zoom about her former lifestyle and her gratitude at being arrested. Had I not been arrested, had I not gone to jail and had I not suffered some consequences for the decisions I was making, I wouldnt be here today, and I wouldnt be as successful in life," said Knight, a wife, mother and student in forensic criminology. More: Nobel Prize for physics rewards work on modelling complex systems, including climate Arrested city councilman: 'An enormous mistake' Mark Jessie, a councilman running for reelection Nov. 2 in Elyria, Ohio, a city roughly 30 miles outside Cleveland, was picked up in the sting. "I'm taking this very seriously and realize it's an enormous mistake," he told The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Monday. Jessie said he sought sex from someone he thought was selling it on a website. When officers arrested him, he said, "there was an immediate feeling of wanting to throw up and an immediate feeling of facing the consequences with my family and friends." Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree cautioned her colleagues not to rest on sting operations alone. "This is the beginning and not the end, and I think we have so much work to do across the state," she said. Follow reporter Dean Narciso on Twitter: @deannarciso More: DOJ reviewing decision not to prosecute former FBI agents in botched Larry Nassar investigation One penny: Navy sells USS Kitty Hawk, USS John F. Kennedy to shipbreaker for 1 cent each This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio human trafficking bust 'Operation Ohio Knows' nets 161 arrests NEW YORK (AP) A potential plea deal that would have averted a criminal trial for an associate of Rudy Giuliani never materialized despite talks, lawyers said Tuesday. A prosecutor told U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken at a final pretrial hearing to discuss trial ground rules that the talks with lawyers for Lev Parnas never reached the stage where a formal plea offer was put in writing. Jury selection at a trial for Parnas, a Soviet-born Florida businessman, and Ukraine-born investor Andrey Kukushkin, is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The men are charged with making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. politicians. Parnas and Igor Fruman, another Soviet-born Florida businessman, worked with Giuliani to try to convince Ukraine to open an investigation into President Joe Bidens son, Hunter, over his connection to a Ukrainian energy company. Giuliani has said he had no knowledge of illegal campaign contributions but acknowledged working extensively with Fruman and Parnas as he sought damaging information on Biden. Fruman, recently pleaded guilty to soliciting $1 million in contributions from a foreign national. Parnas was in court Tuesday while Kukushkin appeared remotely from San Francisco. Both pleaded not guilty to the latest version of the indictment, which was little changed from the previous one. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said plea discussions with lawyers for Parnas mostly occurred in the last nine months. While those conversations were ongoing for a period, they've ended, Roos said. He described the discussions as tentative and said there were talks at one point about a plea that would not involve every count in the indictment, but prosecutors decided that any plea close to trial would be to all counts. Attorney Joseph Bondy, representing Parnas, said his defense team was open to attempting to resolve this matter" and even engaged in a 10-hour proffer session in which Parnas discussed evidence with prosecutors. Story continues But he said the door that was open a few months ago where we might have been able to reap the benefits of a plea was shut when prosecutors more recently insisted we should eat every count of the indictment. Do you now choose to go to trial on the remaining charges? the judge asked Parnas. Absolutely your honor, Parnas responded. Attorney Gerald Lefcourt, representing Kukushkin, said he had sought a deferred prosecution agreement from prosecutors that would have likely spared his client from a conviction and possible prison time. That was not acceptable to the government. And there's been nothing else, Lefcourt said. Lefcourt and Bondy also urged the judge to question every potential juror to ensure they did not have reactions to ex-President Donald Trump and Giuliani, among others, that would affect their impartiality. Giuliani worked for Trump as a personal attorney when some alleged crimes occurred. Prosecutors said mention of Trump and Giuliani will primarily arise at trial when the government tries to show jurors that Parnus and Fruman touted their connections with the men by sending photographs of themselves with Trump and Giuliani to others. The judge rejected a request by Bondy to tell jurors that Parnas was brought to the United States when he was 4. Bondy said he wanted to counter the mistaken impression, enhanced by a skit on Saturday Night Live, that portrayed his client as a man with a foreign accent. I think of him as a guy from Brooklyn, Bondy said. The Detroit Red Wings did something theyve rarely done in the past couple seasons: Look dangerous on the power play. Their Monday contest against the Chicago Blackhawks at Little Caesars Arena was only an exhibition game, but for a team looking for confidence, seeing the puck go in three times was a good boost. MAILBAG: What crystal ball says about Red Wings' success in 2021-22 Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, recent first-round picks, were among those who converted in the 6-4 loss. Red Wings forward Bobby Ryan scores on Blackhawks goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period of the preseason game on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, at Little Caesars Arena. Seider and Raymond each had a goal and an assist. Seider is a lock to be in the opening night lineup, and Raymond is strengthening his case to be there, too. The Wings faced a lineup that featured Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Alex DeBrincat and Tyler Johnson, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Dylan Larkin, Filip Zadina, Pius Suter, Bobby Ryan and Robby Fabbri were among as good a lineup as the Wings have dressed through five exhibition games. The Wings fell behind, 3-0, in the first period, when poor defensive zone coverage led to goals by Tyler Johnson, Jake McCabe and Philipp Kurashev, but got back into it thanks to their power play. [ Why the Wings aren't worried about goalie Alex Nedeljkovic's rough preseason ] MacKenzie Entwistle had two goals and DeBrincat added an empty net goal. Power party Ryan strengthened his case for a contract with his second goal in three exhibition appearances (he also has a shootout goal, which doesnt count as an individual stat). Ryan got the puck from Raymond and glided to the net and slipped the puck behind Fleury. Seider snapped a shot from the blue line at six minutes after Ryans goal, and Fabbri converted at 12:58. Red Wings forward Filip Zadina tries to control the puck against the Blackhawks during a preseason game on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, at Little Caesars Arena. Seider, Raymond impress Seiders poise was noticeable on his goal; he got the puck and timed his shot perfectly. Hes only 20 but its easy to tell hes used to playing against men, having done so the past three seasons (in his native Germany, the AHL and Sweden). He has some defensive lapses here and there, but he looks like he'll be a force on the back end. Raymond, drafted No. 4 in 2020, earned his second point when he snapped the puck from the right circle early in the third period. Raymond leads the Wings in exhibition scoring with two goals and four assists in three games. Story continues HEY ROOKIE: Why the Detroit Red Wings adore Moritz Seider Still no Bertuzzi Jeff Blashill said Tyler Bertuzzi, who underwent neck surgery in April and hasnt played since January, is cleared to play, but hes running out of warm-up games. He was scratched again Monday. Hes returning to play coming off major back surgery, theres lots that go into that," Blashill said. "Part of that is just getting your body ready. He hasnt skated this hard in months. Well keep taking our time. Ultimately our goal is to have him ready for Game 1 against Tampa. He is cleared, but when you havent played in a long time, your hips feel different; when you have played in a long time, your groins feel different. Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lucas Raymond powers up Detroit Red Wings in 6-4 exhibition loss A wallet with money. (PHOTO: Getty Images) SINGAPORE When confronted about cash that was missing from her employers home, a domestic helper panicked and threw a bundle of them out of the condominium unit's window. The bundle of $50 notes fell to the ground beside a swimming pool where it was found by one of the condominiums residents. Aryani, a 25-year-old Indonesian who only goes by one name, was jailed eight months on Tuesday (5 October) after pleading guilty to one count of committing theft as a servant in the property of her employer, a Singapore permanent resident who operated a food-and-beverage stall at Serangoon North Avenue 5 with her husband. One charge of removing $3,000 in cash from the jurisdiction of Singapore was considered for her sentencing. The married couple would consolidate their weekly earnings in plastic bags before bringing them home. Each plastic bag would contain a sales report detailing the cash amount and the sales period. The bags would then be kept at the staircase in the condo unit or outside a safe in the office upstairs. Both areas were accessible to Aryani. While the victim would deposit the cash earnings in a bank, she stopped doing so since April last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stole 4 bags containing money from April to July 2021 Across four occasions from April to 29 July this year, Aryani stole four of the bags containing a total of $11,635.50 from the condo unit. She also stole $200 from the victims wallet in her handbag in March. Aryani spent the loot on luxury items for herself, such as clothes, bags, shoes and an iPhone 12 Pro 128 GB. She also $3,000 to her own bank account in Indonesia via Western Union. On 29 July, the victim started counting the bags of cash and noticed that there were four bags missing. She told her husband but did not confront Aryani, as she thought that they may have misplaced the bags. The next day, the victim searched the unit and their car but was still unable to find the missing cash. The couple then questioned Aryani, who repeatedly denied taking the money. Story continues On 2 August, the couple lodged a police report. That same day, Aryani threw a bundle of cash containing $2,650 out of the window when she found out that her employer was going to make a police report. She was afraid that they would discover the stolen money. The money fell to the floor beside a swimming pool and was noticed by a resident at about 6pm. The resident retrieved the bundle and found a bunch of $50 notes tied together with a Western Union remittance note. The resident turned over the bundle to the management office and it was later handed over to the police. Request for only one month's jail rejected by judge While Aryani has not made restitution, she said that she was willing to let the victim keep $2,272.39 of her salary, as well as the seized iPhone 12 Pro, which is valued at $1,290, as restitution. In mitigation, the maid asked for a lighter sentence as she needed a new job to support her siblings and pay for her mothers medical expenses. After she was sentenced to eight months jail, Aryani asked the judge to jail her for only one month but this was rejected by the judge. For theft as a servant, Aryani could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore A Kansas City man was sentenced to more than five years in prison in the arson of a metro area church last year. On Monday, Christopher A. Durant was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison without the possibility of parole after he admitted to starting setting a fire at Beyond Thee Four Walls Outreach Ministry, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys office in Kansas City. Durant, 39, was also made to pay more than $143,000 in restitution that will be distributed to the church, insurance company and owner of the church building to cover the cost of damages, according to the release. In the early hours of Aug. 26, 2020, firefighters responded to a fire that heavily damaged the churchs building at the north side of the road in the 5900 block of East U.S. 40 highway. Durant was arrested in August 2020 and pleaded guilty to one county of arson in April. Church staff told authorities that they recognized Durant from earlier in the month, according to Mondays news release. They said Durant approached them after the church was closed on Aug. 15, 2020, asking for water. When they did not give him any, Durant became angry, according to the release. Surveillance video from the night of the fire showed a unknown man, later identified as Durant, approach the building at about 12:54 a.m and throw several items, later identified as chunks of asphalt, at the front windows, court records show. The man then left the view of the camera. About four minutes later, the same man returned and lit an unknown object on fire and placed it through the mail slot in the front door, records show. He then lit a piece of paper and placed it through the mail slot before lighting another object on fire and placing it through the window broken by the asphalt. About 1:30 a.m., the man returned and lit paper on fire and placed it through the window. About two minutes later, he is seen walking up to the front window with an object in his hand and leaning into the window. A large flash is seen on the video tape. Story continues A police dog detected a flammable liquid in the area on the floor inside the church under the broken window. Fire investigators concluded that the fire had been intentionally set. Minister says he will pray for and forgive man who set fire to church After Durant was arrested and while he was being questioned, he allegedly said that he was in the area of the church on the morning of the fire, court records show. He also told investigators, It wasnt a hate crime. The arson was investigated by the Kansas City Fire Departments Fire Investigation Unit, the Kansas City Police Departments Bomb and Arson Unit and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 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 Oct. 5ST. PAUL Renville County must perform an environmental assessment worksheet before it can decide whether or not to approve a petition by landowners for an improvement project for County Ditch 77, which outlets into Limbo Creek. The Minnesota Court of Appeals issued the ruling in a precedent-setting decision Monday that could have implications for other waterways in the state. In its decision, the Court of Appeals agreed with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Protecting Public Waters that Limbo Creek is a public water and entitled to protection. The court found that the waterway meets the definition of a public water as being a "natural or altered watercourse with a total drainage area greater than two square miles." Its absence from a Public Waters Inventory developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in the 1980s is not reason for Renville County to treat it as not being a public water, according to the court. "Because the statutory definition of 'public waters' is clear, we conclude that the county committed legal error by deciding that the upper reach of Limbo Creek is not a public water because it was not included on the (Public Waters Inventory) list," stated the court in its decision. The court also agreed with the environmental groups that an environmental assessment worksheet is mandatory for a project in Limbo Creek. An environmental assessment worksheet is mandatory when a proposed project "will change or diminish the course, current, or cross-section of one acre or more of any public water," the court noted. The Renville County Board of Commissioners, acting as the ditch authority, approved a project in November 2020 to excavate a 5,560-linear-foot-channel into Limbo Creek at the outlet of County Ditch 77. Petitioned for by landowners in 2017, the project originally carried an estimated cost of $699,880. The commissioners rejected a request to perform an environmental assessment worksheet for the project as asked by the project opponents. Story continues Renville County Ditch 77 by West Central Tribune on Scribd At stake in the decision is protection for the last remaining, free-flowing waterway in Renville County and natural habitat along it, as well as the impacts that increased flow could bring to downstream landowners and communities, according to Elise Larson, attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. The decision gives the public an opportunity for input as an environmental assessment worksheet is prepared. "The whole purpose of this (environmental assessment worksheet process) is for the public and decision makers to know the environmental impacts before making a final decision," she said. Limbo Creek outlets into the Minnesota River in Skalbekken Park in Renville County. The environmental groups contend that the project would increase the load of sediment and farm chemicals reaching the river. The county has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. The county's lead attorney, Gerald VonKorff of the Rinke Noonan law firm in St. Cloud, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the West Central Tribune. The Court of Appeals decision could have implications beyond the Limbo Creek controversy. The DNR is currently evaluating whether to return 640 miles of waterways to the Public Waters Inventory waterways that were originally included in the state's Public Waters Inventory developed in the 1980s and then removed in 2017 by a commissioner's order. The upper reaches of Limbo Creek and three other small watercourses in Renville County and one in Pope County are among the first of these waterways to be considered as part of that process. While not directly addressed in this decision, the finding that Limbo Creek is a public water suggests that Renville County will need a permit from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a project in it. The DNR has repeatedly told Renville County it considers Limbo Creek a public water and that a permit would be required for work. Renville County has challenged the DNR on whether the state agency has the authority to require a permit, and that matter remains pending in the courts. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and co-litigant Protecting Public Waters were supported with court filings by Clean Up the River Environment, Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River, Friends of the Minnesota Valley, Izaak Walton League, Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance, the Minnesota Conservation and Federation and Sever Peterson. The Daily Beast The Washington Post via Getty ImagesMost of Trumps meetings with foreign business leaders that I attended were, like the episode in Kensington Palace, more about holding court than holding forth on issues of concern for American workers. Sometimes the president took bizarre turns into rambling monologues completely lacking in substance. It was becoming clear that this was how the man who had ridden into the White House on the grievances of ordinary Americans was going to fritter away his time i As Missouris department of health and senior services (DHSS) amended its rules this week to allow booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) predicted a possible immediate demand for 1.5 million boosters. About 2.9 million Missourians completed the vaccination. DHSS said it was following federal guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in amending the order. A DHSS media release stated Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots will be administered anywhere the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is available. Individuals do not need to get their booster shot at the same location they received their initial series. Missourians who received the Pfizer vaccine can receive a booster shot at least six months after their initial series based on CDC guidelines: people 65 years and older and residents in long-term care settings should receive a booster; people aged 5064 years with underlying medical conditions should receive a booster; people aged 1849 years with underlying medical conditions may receive a booster; and people aged 18-64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting (e.g. frontline medical workers, teachers, and first responders) may receive a booster. MHA evaluated Missouris recipients of the Pfizer vaccine by the date they initiated the series. It compared those dates to corresponding dates of the states distribution in late 2020 and early 2021. The due dates are predicted by adding 183 days to date each individual completed the series. Those not completing the Pfizer series were excluded from the analysis. The MHA report on Missourians stated: 97,695 initiated the two-dose Pfizer vaccine series during Phase 1A (beginning Dec. 14, 2020); front-line health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff were prioritized. 456,169 initiated during Phase 1B Tiers 1-2 (1B Tier 1 began Jan. 14, 2021, and Tier 2 began Jan. 18, 2021); adults age 65 and older, those age 18 and older with underlying medical conditions, first responders, emergency services personnel and public health workers were eligible. 187,080 initiated during Phase 1B Tier 3 (beginning March 13, 2021) for critical infrastructure workers. 148,682 initiated during Phase 2 (beginning March 29, 2021), for workers in disproportionately affected sectors and homeless individuals. 612,969 initiated during Phase 3 (beginning April 9, 2021) when access was open to all age 18 and older. DHSS stated Missouri providers will be ready to administer Moderna and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) booster shots after federal health experts determine when recipients may be eligible for a booster. Story continues DHSS also said individuals can get a flu shot at the same time they receive the COVID-19 booster shot. Flu vaccines are now available through various providers throughout the state and are recommended annually for everyone 6 months and older. Research shows all COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States continue to be highly effective at preventing severe illness and death, according to the DHSS release. Individuals should only get a booster shot when it is recommended, not earlier. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, State, Missouri, Coronavirus Original Author: Joe Mueller, The Center Square Original Location: As Missouri starts COVID vaccine boosters, hospital association estimates demand for 1.5 million shots Kayleigh Summers doesn't remember meeting her son for the first time five days after his birth. Courtesy of Kayleigh Summers Kayleigh Summers says she screamed "something is wrong with my heart" before collapsing during labor. Summers' condition, amniotic fluid embolism, is rare, but traumatic births are as common as 1 in 3. She's gone viral on TikTok for raising awareness of AFE and encouraging patients to listen to their guts. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Throughout Kayleigh Summers' pregnancy three years ago, she was "obsessed" with hemorrhaging during childbirth. The 31-year-old social worker in Philadelphia would "talk anyone's ear off" about her fear, texting her best friend and journaling about it too, she told Insider. Summers even decided to switch hospitals at the last minute so she could deliver somewhere with a neonatal intensive care unit, despite having a perfectly healthy pregnancy. And, while she doesn't remember it, her intuition kicked in again as she was getting ready to push: She screamed "something is wrong with my heart!" before going into cardiopulmonary arrest, ultimately needing 143 units of blood transfused. Each unit is about a pint. Summers has since gone viral on TikTok for sharing her experience with a rare complication called amniotic fluid embolism (AFE), saying "no one saw it coming except me." She hopes her voice won't scare laboring people but rather encourage them to trust their guts, and prompt clinicians to study up on AFE. "It's just really hard to survive something," she told Insider, "and then watch people die every other month and not be able to do anything about it." Summers was unconscious for days, and put on life support Summers doesn't remember entering the hospital, delivering her baby, or even meeting him five days later. But soon after clinicians told her what had happened: She'd passed out in the middle of labor, triggering a code blue emergency and the delivery of her son within six minutes via emergency c-section. Story continues "He didn't have anything really wrong with him, and he didn't have oxygen for six minutes, so that's amazing," Summers said. She was diagnosed with AFE, which happens when a laboring person has an allergic-like response to the amniotic fluid entering her system. It affects about 100 of the 4 million people who give birth in the US each year. Summers underwent a massive blood transfusion, a hysterectomy, and was put on life support. While covered in blood, her obstetrician told her husband: "We're doing everything we can to save her life." That included trying "every medication under the sun" before implanting an Impella, billed as "the world's smallest heart pump," which allowed her heart to regain enough strength to be extubated. "I don't like to use the word miracle, but at that point, it worked." The device was later removed, and Summers is now healthy, but continues to work through the experience - including that she can't conceive any more children naturally - in therapy. 1 in 3 moms say their birth was traumatic Summers is advocating for more research around AFE and more clinician awareness of the issue through her TikTok and work with the AFE Foundation. So far, she thinks it's working. She's heard from ICU nurses who watched her TikTok, decided to brush up on the condition, and saved a mom and baby who suffered from it just weeks later. "I will scare as many people, unfortunately, as I need to if it saves one person." Kayleigh Summers and her family celebrate their son's 2nd birthday. Courtesy of Kayleigh Summers Summers also wants to prompt discussions around "near misses" like hers. The US has the highest rates of maternal mortality of any developed country, and for every pregnancy- or childbirth-related fatality, there are 70 patients who almost die, NPR reported. Some research also suggests 1 in 3 moms say their birth was traumatic. "You can be really grateful that you lived through this, and still be really angry and sad that this happened to you," she said. "That was a really important lesson for me to learn ... like it was both the best and worst day of my life when my son was born." Read the original article on Insider Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is running for Senate, with Donald Trump's endorsement. (Photo: Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images) A Republican Senate candidate in Nevada wouldnt say whether he would vote to overturn the results of the next presidential election, an issue that more GOP candidates running for both state and federal office may be called on to confront. Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt dodged a question about certifying the 2024 results in Reno last week. Im not going to answer that kind of hypothetical, he told a KRNV interviewer during a campaign stop Oct. 1 when asked whether he would overturn the outcome. Pressed by the interviewer, Laxalt said, Its absolutely not a fair question four years from now, who may be in an office and who may be running. We stood for election integrity in 2020. I continue to think its a problem for our state. Former President Donald Trump has teased another White House bid in 2024, which could give Trump-aligned senators and House members another opportunity to vote against certifying the election results based on phony claims of election rigging. In both chambers, 147 Republicans voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results that declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential race. Like many Republicans running to swing control of the House and Senate next year, Laxalt has promoted the bogus narrative that widespread fraud was to blame for Trumps losses in six key battlegrounds. Looking to the midterms and beyond, his remarks signal the willingness of Republicans to project fraud on elections that havent even happened. And whether to certify election results has become something of a litmus test for GOP candidates. Last week, Kari Lake, Trumps choice for Arizona governor in 2022, told One America News Network that she wouldnt have certified her states election results for Biden had she been governor. A largely discredited audit of election results in Arizona still confirmed Bidens slim victory in the state. As Trumps pick for the Nevada seat and the perceived Republican front-runner trying to oust Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto Laxalt has already said hed support legal challenges to the midterm results, more than a year out from the election. Story continues With me at the top of the ticket, were going to be able to get everybody at the table and come up with a full plan, do our best to try to secure this election, get as many observers as we can, and file lawsuits early, if there are lawsuits we can file to try to tighten up the election, he told far-right radio host Wayne Allyn Root in August. Laxalt is following the same playbook as Trump and Larry Elder, the right-wing radio personality who unsuccessfully ran against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in Californias recall election. Before votes were even tallied, Elder launched a website that claimed to have detected fraud. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Laxalt has refused to say whether Biden was the legitimately elected president. I know you want to make this entire election about this. We have major issues going on in our country right now, he said. As the co-chair of Trumps campaign in Nevada a swing state that Biden carried by about 33,000 votes Laxalt was involved with the campaigns lawsuits challenging the states results, which were eventually all dismissed. Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavsks office reviewed alleged evidence of voter fraud compiled by the Nevada GOP and found no evidentiary support for the contention that the 2020 general election was plagued by widespread voter fraud. Laxalts campaign didnt respond to a request for comment. Laxalt was Nevadas attorney general from 2015 to 2019, leaving his post after losing a race for governor in 2018 to Democrat Steve Sisolak. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Another legal challenge to New York Citys vaccination mandate for Education Department staffers has fallen flat. Manhattan Federal Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil denied a request Tuesday for a temporary restraining order to overturn the Education Departments vaccine requirement, which took effect Monday. The emergency request was filed by a group of Education Department staffers who have opposed the mandate. Their lawsuit will get a full hearing later this month. The staffers argued that the citys process for granting exemptions to the vaccine mandate based on religious beliefs is too narrow and violated their First Amendment rights. Vyskocil noted that the procedures for approving religious exemptions were decided by an independent arbitrator overseeing a dispute between the city and the teachers union. In her decision to deny the temporary restraining order, Vyskocil said that the plaintiffs had failed to show a likelihood that their case would succeed, noting there is substantial legal precedent supporting vaccine mandates. She added that the staffers didnt demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable harm from the Education Departments vaccine mandate. Department staffers who refused to get vaccinated went on unpaid leave starting Friday. But Vyskocil ruled that the damages caused by unpaid leave dont qualify as irreparable. She added that the staffers decision to wait until after the mandate took effect to file for an injunction undercut their argument about the lasting harms of the inoculation order. Attempts by municipal labor unions and a separate group of city educators to overturn the mandate in state and federal courts have already proven unsuccessful. Last week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied an emergency appeal from a similar suit filed by a group of city teachers seeking to block the citys mandate. But Vyskocil conceded that the question of if, and how, to grant religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate may well raise substantial constitutional issues in future litigation. A bird feeds on a dead fish on the sand at the Santa Ana River Jetty. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) California and federal officials had strong indications of oil on the water off the Huntington Beach coast Friday evening, records reviewed by The Times show, more than 10 hours before the operator of an oil platform reported it to authorities. The documents raise more questions about how the massive leak was handled in its first hours, and why authorities did not alert the public and elected officials sooner. Residents have complained about the time it took to alert the public about the scope of the catastrophe and initial claims by government agencies that oil would not reach land. "We need to get to the ground truth as to when it was reported, to whom it was reported, and why if ... governmental agencies knew there was a spill Friday night or even Saturday morning, they failed to notify those of us who have a responsibility [to the public]," said state Sen. Tom Umberg, who represents a district where beaches have been hit by oil. The Office of Spill Prevention and Response, a division of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife charged with handling such emergencies, said in a report obtained by The Times that it was first notified of an observed sheen in federal waters several miles off the coast of Huntington Beach on Friday at 10:22 p.m., though the source and volume were unknown. That report was based on information provided to California authorities by the National Reporting Center, the designated point of contact for all oil and chemical discharges into the environment, which took a report about a possible spill earlier Friday night, according to documents reviewed by The Times. Records show that the National Reporting Center informed the state's Office of Emergency Services that a ship had reported a possible oil slick 4.5 nautical miles west of Huntington Beach Friday evening. Satellite imagery was used to take a closer look about 45 minutes after the report, measuring the spill at 2.8 nautical miles long and up to .7 nautical miles wide. While the satellite images could not definitively identify the substance as oil, the report said the overhead imagery allowed for high confidence that it was petroleum. The report also said the spill extended beyond the borders of the image and could be larger. Story continues Shortly after, federal and state authorities began to mobilize, forming a command center to handle the emerging crisis. But darkness likely prevented them from examining the slick up close. Nancy Kinner of the Center for Spills and Environmental Hazards at the University of New Hampshire said it is difficult and uncommon for authorities to work on spills at night. By early morning, more reports were coming in, according to the records reviewed by The Times, including one from the company that owns the oil platform. Brian Ferguson, spokesman for the Office of Emergency Services, which acts as the receiver for spill reports for the state, said his agency was notified by Amplify Energy the company that owns the aging infrastructure at 8:55 a.m. Saturday that a pipeline leak had occurred that morning at about 2:30 a.m. Martyn Willsher, Amplify's chief executive, said in a Monday press conference that the company did not know about the leak until Saturday. He said Amplify was unaware on Friday of reports from Orange County residents who reported smelling fuel that day. A storm rolls in as cleanup crews on Huntington State Beach spread out to begin cleaning up oil in the sand. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) We ... noticed the sheen, immediately contacted the platforms, and the platforms instantaneously started the incident plan, Willsher said. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating whether the oil company failed to notice a drop of pressure in the pipeline, resulting in a delayed response that allowed oil to flow for hours unfettered, a high-ranking federal official told The Times on Monday. That investigation is being handled as a potential negligence issue by Coast Guard criminal investigators, who operate separately from officials involved in the cleanup, said the federal official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing inquiry. Richard Charter, who has worked on offshore oil issues for 40 years and is now a senior fellow at the nonprofit Ocean Foundation, explained that whenever the pressure in a pipeline drops, indicating a possible leak or failure in the system, an alarm is supposed to be triggered. You don't have pressure drop in a pipeline and not know about it. And that raises the question: Why did the response kick in a day late? said Charter, who added that federal regulators should be making sure these alarms and emergency protocols are up to date. Somebody did nothing. ... You shouldn't have to wait until the oil's lapping up onto the shoreline to find out that you've had an oil spill. That's ridiculous. Other witnesses on Saturday morning also reported the sheen. Dylan Bartell, 17, who was out with his father on their fishing boat, said he was below deck around 9 a.m. when his father called him up to see oil surrounding their boat, the Babe Del Mar. Visibility was bad, but they were about nine miles offshore heading toward Catalina. We could see that it went on for miles, and there was just thick oil beneath us, Bartell said. He and his father radioed the Coast Guard but did not receive an immediate response, so the teenager googled how to report an oil spill and called it in to authorities. Later, a second radio attempt to the Coast Guard received a response, with authorities telling Bartell they had already received other reports, he said. Bartells report was forwarded to Cal OES Saturday at 9:17 a.m. Elected officials were not notified of the spill until Saturday afternoon, according to an email obtained by The Times and interviews with state legislators. Greg Boston of Newport Beach looks at large globules of oil in the sand at Huntington State Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Assemblywoman Janet Nguyen, whose district has been hit with oil on its beaches, said she did not receive word until after a public tweet from the Coast Guard on Saturday afternoon. Also Saturday afternoon, a Coast Guard official told The Times: We were alerted quickly. We really believe we will keep this to a small contained incident. But by Saturday night, oil was hitting the coast and polluting environmentally sensitive wetlands as well as the beach. The plume was moving south toward Laguna Beach on Monday. "Quite frankly these kinds of incidents should have been made known to us before they were made public because our constituents will have questions," Nguyen said. Monday night, California agency leaders held a briefing with elected officials, in which sources who participated said that officials continued to assert they did not know about the leak until Saturday, when it was publicly announced. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. An Oklahoma judge on Monday temporarily blocked two new abortion laws that were set to take effect next month, including a measure similar to Texas heartbeat abortion law. District Judge Cindy Truong said the two laws, which would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected and add abortion to a list of unprofessional conduct by doctors, are likely unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. However, Truong denied a request for an injunction for three other abortion laws that will take effect beginning November 1. The three laws that will be enforceable next month create new restrictions on chemical abortions and require all doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology. An attorney for the Center for Reproductive rights, which challenged the new Oklahoma laws, said the new board certification requirement would immediately disqualify more than half of the doctors providing abortions in the state. The group has vowed to appeal the judges ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Republican State Senator Julie Daniels, who sponsored four of the five abortion bills, said the laws are aimed at making abortions safer and noted that her ultimate goal has always been to save the life of the unborn child and return these decisions to the states where they rightfully belong. The chemical abortion restrictions include requirements that have been struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, including an admitting privileges requirement and an ultrasound requirement. The ruling comes as patients from Texas have flocked to abortion clinics in Oklahoma after a law took effect in the Lone Star State on September 1 allowing private citizens to sue providers that perform abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. While eleven Texans had abortions at the Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma City in August, before the heartbeat ban went into place, the number jumped to 110 in September, according to the Associated Press. More from National Review Oct. 5A woman was shot early Tuesday, and police were searching the area near Stanley Avenue and state Route 4 in Dayton. Emergency crews were called around 4:45 a.m. to the 1000 block of North Main Street on a report of a shooting and found a female victim, according to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center records. She was taken to Kettering Health Dayton, formerly Grandview Medical Center, records said. Police briefly pursued a suspect, but he bailed out of the vehicle on Stanley Avenue near Route 4. Officers called for a K9 unit to help search the area. The booms used to contain the oil spill off Huntington Beach can't prevent the ongoing damage of crude oil leaked into an ocean environment. (Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press ) Once again, the California coastline is inundated with oil. Since I began working on the history of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, every time crude oil sullies U.S. waters and beaches, I wait for the same sad, misleading official narrative. Over the past few days, we learned that a pipeline from an offshore oil platform off the coast of Huntington Beach spewed as much as 144,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. In response, industry and government officials touted technologys great potential to mitigate the damage and save the lives of fish, seals and shorebirds, just as Union Oil and the Nixon administration did in 1969. They know better. Oil has chemical properties that hinder its capture once it takes to water. Dedicated emergency spill responders will do their best, but the tools they have now have little more chance of succeeding than they did in the case of the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 or the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, or the spill in Santa Barbara more than 50 years ago. Oil containment booms have been in use since the 1960s; the only difference now is the type of absorbent they contain. Computational models of seaborne oil perform poorly and hamper progress. The booms in 2021 could not protect the rich ecosystem of Huntington Beachs Talbert Marsh from the encroaching oil last weekend, in conditions of calm seas, just as containment could not protect Santa Barbara in 1969. Government officials know this track record but go ahead with their false assurances anyway. Over the next days and weeks, oil will wash up on our beaches as it drifts along with the waves, currents and wind. As with other oil spills, it will float in sheens that break up or clump together to form tar balls; as I write this, ribbons of oil have been spotted as far south as Dana Point and into San Diego County, and oil could move northward to Long Beach as well. The sheens may stay away from the shoreline, out of view of most of us, but they will be no less threatening to life in the sea. As the oil shape-shifts, Amplify Energy, which owns the pipeline that leaked will explain how it stopped the flow but how quickly and how completely? It will investigate, and based on past experience, do what it can to avoid responsibility for the spills ugly damage. Story continues Rescuers and federal, state and local agencies will work to remove oil from the ocean, clean the beaches, save birds and sea mammals, and recover at least part of the cost of the spill. With the advent of wildlife rescue technologies introduced following the Exxon Valdez spill, dedicated workers will save many birds. Local residents and authorities will bring suits against Amplify Energy, or perhaps the shipping company that reports indicate may have had a role in the leak. Over the last few decades, the primary variations in this familiar narrative reflect changes in the oil industry, and not necessarily for the better. In the past, corporate giants such as Union Oil, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell, the original developer of the oil field off Huntington Beach, would have been nominally and to at least some degree financially responsible for the harms of a spill. But Big Oil has sold many of its offshore facilities to smaller firms with less capital and clout, and with lesser public reputations to protect. The platforms are still operating, oil production continues, but increasingly it is in the hands of less wealthy and recognizable companies such as Amplify Energy. These smaller companies may be unwilling to spend their limited capital on core safety requirements such as pipe replacement, inspections and regular testing to gauge the condition of their equipment. In 2015, the firm Plains All American Pipeline neglected a corroding pipe connected to offshore oil sources, failed to ensure adequate emergency leak shutoff technology and spilled 142,800 gallons of crude onto Refugio State Beach. The offshore platforms and pipelines that are the source of the oil now overwhelming our shorelines were built in the early 1980s. Other oil infrastructure in federal waters off the California coast dates back to the mid-1960s. We know we can expect more problems and failures with this aging equipment in the future. There is at least one hopeful change in the oil spill story an end to absolute power of fossil fuel. In 1969 the residents of Santa Barbara, appalled by the catastrophe they faced, called for a boycott of the oil companies. It didnt go far; oil and gas were Americas default energy source. But in 2021, industry and consumers have real alternatives, if we choose to pursue them. For those of us who make a study of oil spills, the long-term questions remain: When will we act to end the drilling, rather than perfecting our ritual responses to the results? How many more California beaches will be closed, how many birds will be killed, and how much more sea life and shoreline will we sacrifice to oil company profits? What will it take before we answer Santa Barbaras visionary call from more than 50 years ago? Teresa Sabol Spezio teaches environmental policy and justice at Pitzer College and is a practicing environmental engineer. She is the author of Slick Policy: Environmental and Science Policy in the Aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill. For the record: 6:31 p.m. Oct. 5, 2021: A previous version of this article mistakenly reported the years in which the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez spills occurred. They happened in 2010 and 1989, respectively. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. CHICAGO (AP) Opponents of a new Texas ban on most abortions filed a lawsuit in Illinois on Tuesday after weeks of being thwarted by courts elsewhere in their efforts to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law. The latest legal challenge came as the Biden administration waited for a federal judge in Austin, Texas, to rule on a request to halt the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions in Texas once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. A hearing was held Friday but there was no timetable on a decision. Although courts have blocked similar measures elsewhere in U.S., the Texas law has remained in place since early September because it uniquely leaves enforcement solely up to private citizens, who are entitled to at least $10,000 in damages if they prevail in a lawsuit against abortion providers. A San Antonio doctor who admitted defying the law in a Washington Post opinion column last month was quickly sued but not by anti-abortion advocates. He was instead sued by former attorneys in Illinois and Arkansas who oppose the law and are trying to force a court to weigh in. The Center for Reproductive Rights is now asking a federal court in Illinois to consolidate the lawsuits against Dr. Alan Braid and declare the law unconstitutional. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of the Texas law, but allowed it to remain in place. Ozy Media is being sued by one of its investors for fraud after a whirlwind week in which the digital media company announced both that it was shutting down and then opening back up. Driving the news: Lifeline Legacy Holdings, a Beverly Hills-based group, claims that Ozy misrepresented its business performance and interest from other investors, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in California. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free Lifeline claims that, at the time it was being solicited for investment, Ozy didn't disclose that Goldman Sachs had declined to invest after learning that an OZY co-founder Samir Rao had impersonated a YouTube executive during a due diligence call. It also says that Ozy failed to disclosed government investigations tied to that impersonation and that Ozy claimed "Alphabet or one of its Google affiliates" was leading a $30 million investment in Ozy in mid-2021. Google Ventures, which would be the most logical affiliate to invest in a company like Ozy, says it did not make such a deal. It is unclear from the lawsuit if Ozy was ever in talks with Google about an investment, or if an investment by Google was ever made. A source tells Axios that Google Ventures did have exploratory talks with Ozy Media about an investment prior to 2021, but it never made an offer to invest. Lifeline invested a total of $2.25 million into Ozy. Per the complaint: "In light of the short period of time between the public disclosure of Rao's fraudulent conduct and the decision to, first, wind down the affairs of the company, only later to reverse course, LifeLine suspects that additional illegal, improper or otherwise inappropriate conduct occurred at the company prior to when LifeLine made its investments and that were not disclosed to LifeLine." Read the lawsuit: More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free Reuters BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's executive called for an investigation on Thursday into illegal migrant pushbacks after a report by German media outlets Der Spiegel and ARD documented what they said were Greek and Croatian officials carrying out such operations. "Some of these reports are shocking," the EU's Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said, adding that she expected a thorough investigation of the issue. Johansson was due later on Thursday to meet the Greek and Croatian interior ministers, who are in Brussels for two days of talks with their EU peers, and would urge them to take the matter "very seriously". Oct. 5Honolulu police are investigating an alleged knifepoint robbery of a 63-year-old man in downtown Honolulu Saturday. The robbery occurred on Bishop Street at about 5 p.m. Police said a male suspect demanded money from the victim while another male allegedly pointed a knife at the victim and took his wallet. There were no injuries reported. Police said the alleged robbers remain at large. Yui Mok-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry is refusing to comment on a new Netflix musical that utterly traduces the life of his mother. Ignoring shows, books, and newspaper articles that dishonor and distort his mothers story is an entirely sensible response from Prince Harry under normal circumstances. But having signed a reported $100-million deal with Netflix, which is airing Diana: The Musical, his silence on this production is less straightforward. The princes spokesperson did not respond to queries from The Daily Beast asking if he felt there was any tension between his own deal with Netflix and the companys decision to stream a filmed version of the widely pilloried Broadway musical. The show is made up of entirely fictional scenes, including an opening sequence in which Diana, played by Jeanna de Waal, is encouraged to come and meet Prince Charles for the first time by his girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles. Celebrate the life and enduring legacy of Princess Diana live from the Broadway stage, only on @Netflix. @DianaOnBroadway debuts on October 1st before hitting the Broadway stage this fall. #DianaNetflix https://t.co/u8QryDTiMM Diana, The Musical (@DianaOnBroadway) September 9, 2021 The show ran for just a few days of previews on Broadway last year before having to close down after theaters went dark owing to the coronavirus pandemic. It is scheduled to re-open to a live audience in early November at the Longacre Theater on Broadway. The score is by Tony winners Joe DiPietro and David Bryan. The show whizzes viewers through Charles and Dianas engagement when she is chased through the streets of London by a pack of cockney paparazzi photographers who chant, rather bizarrely, Better than a Guinness, better than a wank / Snap a few pics, its money in the bank / Honey, you are money in the bank. Story continues After they get married, with Diana reminding herself, Time to get a grip, just hold your head up high and dont trip, Diana swiftly declares she is pregnant. Charles' reaction is to say, It would be rather helpful if it was a boy. Charles later sings to her as he holds William, Darling, I am holding my son, so let me say jolly well done. When Harry arrives he gets a similarly joyful serenade from his proud parents, with Diana, singing to him, Harry, my ginger-haired son / Youll always be second to none. But Charless jealousy soon gets the better of him, and he sings: Youve never once obeyed me, Diana, goddamn it, its all your fault. The royal family then rounds on Diana, with the queen ordering her son, Dont blame her, Charles, tame her, Charles, shes embarrassing the throne. A showdown in a London basement between Camilla and Diana ensues, with Camilla telling her rival, I love Charles for who he is / For his strength and the noble life he lives / You love Charles for who hes not / Some fantasy prince in a storybook plot. James Hewitt arrives in the story and declares, Theyll call me the randy stable boy. The production continues in similarly melodramatic style for almost two hours until it culminates, of course, with the decidedly grim reality of Dianas death in a Paris tunnel. Harry has previously tried to avoid the conflict between his Netflix payday and the streaming giants profiteering off his family with The Crown. Im way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife or myself, because its the difference between fictiontake it how you willand being reported on as fact because youre supposedly news. I have a real issue with that, he told his friend James Corden. Whatever you think of The Crowns approach to historical accuracy, it is, overall, an affectionate portrayal of a much misunderstood family. Diana: The Musical, on the other hand, is a crass attempt to cash in on the death of Harrys mother. Its hard to believe he really has nothing to say. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. The Queen's former piper Scott Methven. Scott Methven Former piper Scott Methven said the royals supported him when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Methven was at the Queen's Balmoral Castle home in 2017 when he received the news. He said the royal household "all mucked in" to look after his children and offer support. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Scott Methven was the Queen's official piper from 2015 until 2019, and was one of only 16 people to hold the position since 1843, he told Insider. His role involved playing the bagpipes for the Queen outside Buckingham Palace every morning, as well as accompanying the monarch at her royal residences across the UK and to official state events. The position is "one of the highest accolades available to a piper serving in the Armed Forces," a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace wrote on Instagram in 2016. The history of the post dates back to Queen Victoria, who first heard bagpipe music when visiting the Scottish Highlands with Prince Albert in 1842, according to the Instagram post. Methven told Insider that his role involved taking private jets with the Queen, meeting celebrities such as Tom Cruise and President Obama, and even informing the palace press office when former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned in 2016. The former piper had to abruptly pause his duties when his late wife was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer in September 2017. He told Insider about how the royal household stepped in to offer their support. The Queen helped Methven when he experienced a family tragedy in 2017 The couple had been staying on the grounds of Balmoral Castle with their two children shortly before they received the diagnosis. Methven said he had intended to go back to his duties, but was told by the Queen's equerry (who works as a personal attendant and representative to the monarch) to "put his family first." The equerry said that the royal household would take care of his children while he visited his wife in hospital. Story continues "It just so happens that Prince George was up at the same time," Methven told Insider. "There was loads of people that could look after them." Methven added that the royal staff members "all mucked in" to babysit and the children made sausage rolls with the royal chefs and played with the Queen's horses. "The Queen was on the ball. All the way through this, she was making sure there were no issues. It was really good. I think any employer that steps up and helps you, that's the key," he said. The Queen with Methven at Stirling Castle. Scott Methven. Despite being given only weeks to live at the time of her diagnosis, Methven's wife lived for another year, he told Insider. He ultimately resigned from his post in 2019 because he wanted to be able to spend more time looking after his children. When his wife died, his "love for the army died as well," he said. "Someone asked me a few weeks ago, 'What is your biggest regret?' I've thought about it, and I wish my wife knew Scott now," he said. "Because I think I'm a far better person now, I'm a better father now. When you're away doing your work, it's all about your work, but now I'm a more rounded person, and show more empathy." Read the original article on Insider Oct. 5NEW LONDON Residents have now had two weeks to review the city's proposed use of more than $26 million in federal pandemic relief funding, and it's clear not everyone is satisfied with the recommendations. Residents and representatives from local nonprofits spoke up at a public hearing on Monday, calling for revisions to the proposed spending plan and more transparency in the process while advocating for their own causes. The public hearing comes as the City Council looks to adopt a budget for the first half of the $26.2 million in funding. Much of the criticism came from advocates for FRESH New London, a group that during the pandemic led a successful food distribution program that reached hundreds of people in need. Nicolo Festa, secretary for the FRESH New London board, said the budget proposal suggests its creators are "out of touch with the needs of the community." "I don't know how they came up with the current allocations for particular projects, but in some areas, they appear to be tone deaf as to what New Londoners want as priorities," Festa wrote. FRESH New London is in line to receive $225,000 over two years under the city's proposal. It had requested $500,000 to fund a series of initiatives that include growing food to address food insecurity, building vegetable gardens and helping fund a large urban farm on Cottage Street. Others questioned the size of the more than $2.7 million allocation to the police department and advocated for more funds to the Black and Hispanic communities. Regina Mosley, president of the Board of Education but speaking as a private citizen, advocated for FRESH New London and urged the city to address racism as a public health issue. She also joined others to criticize the city's proposal to provide $1.98 million to New England Science & Sailing, saying the money is better spent on a New London-based organization. The funding proposal now being considered by the City Council will take two more votes before it passes. Story continues Mayor Michael Passero said there was "nothing hard and fast" about the proposals and allocations could change as the council makes adjustments with input from the community. Asked about why some requests were fully funded and others were not, Passero said hashing out how to divvy up the funding was complicated and came down, in some cases, to how detailed a proposal was. For instance, he said, $1.98 million in funding for summer and after school programs for middle school students builds on an existing partnership between the city's Recreation Department and New England Science and Sailing. Passero said other organizations requested funding for what appeared to be great ideas that were not ready to move forward. "I think we can all work deliberately together and take the greatest advantage of this opportunity that the federal government has provided us," Passero said. The $26.22 million in federal funding is expected in two installments from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. The city has broken the funding into five categories: public health, negative economic impacts, services to disproportionality impacted communities, infrastructure and administration. The city has proposed that a bulk of the funds, 40% or $10.4 million, be shifted to programs or services to disproportionality impacted communities. In comments to the council, resident Aaron Ide urged the council to invest and not spend the money on programs or initiatives that will burden the taxpayer when the funding runs out in 2024. "I would challenge the council to make the responsible decision that none of these funds be spent on recurring programs," Ide wrote in remarks to the council. g.smith@theday.com KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) An Illinois man who shot three people during a protest over police brutality in Wisconsin last year was justified because the men confronted him and two of them tried to wrestle his gun away, a use-of-force expert called by the defense testified at a pretrial hearing Tuesday. The expert, John Black, spent hours outlining the moments that led to Kyle Rittenhouse's decisions to shoot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz, offering a preview of the defense team's strategy when Rittenhouse's trial begins next month. Black testified that video shows Rosenbaum chasing Rittenhouse and reaching for the teenager's gun, Huber attacking Rittenhouse with a skateboard and trying to wrestle away his gun, and Grosskreutz running at him with a pistol in his hand. A citizen in that position, given those indicators, would it be reasonable for them to believe they were about to be assaulted? Black said. I would argue yes." Rittenhouse was 17 years old when he made the short trip from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, in response to a call from a Kenosha militia to help protect businesses from protesters. The city was in the throes of several nights of chaotic demonstrations sparked by a white police officer's decision to shoot Jacob Blake, a Black man, during a domestic disturbance. The shooting left Blake paralyzed from the waist down. Shortly before midnight, Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle in the parking lot of a used car dealership, killing him. Moments later, he shot Huber in the street, killing him as well. Seconds after shooting Huber he shot Grosskreutz, wounding him in the arm. Prosecutors have charged Rittenhouse with multiple counts, including homicide, attempted homicide and being a minor in possession of a firearm. Rittenhouse's attorneys say he fired in self-defense. His trial is slated to begin Nov. 1. Story continues Rittenhouse's lead attorney, Mark Richards, is trying to persuade Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to let Black testify at the trial. Schroeder allowed Black to speak at the hearing via Zoom in hopes that would help him make a decision. Black testified that he studied bystander video of the three shootings extensively. He noted that Rosenbaum was chasing Rittenhouse and threw a plastic bag at him before reaching for Rittenhouse's rifle. Now the firearm is a potential weapon for both parties, Black said. Now we have a potential wrestling match. Bystander video showed that after Rittenhouse shot Rosenbaum, he ran down the street. At one point he stumbled and a man came out of the crowd and kicked him in the face, Black said. Rittenhouse fired at that man but missed. A moment later Huber hit Rittenhouse in the neck with a skateboard and tried to grab Rittenhouse's rifle, prompting Rittenhouse to shoot him, Black said. Grosskreutz approached with his hands raised in an I surrender motion but he had a handgun in his right hand. He backed up before he stepped forward and lowered the pistol. Rittenhouse then shot him in the arm. Black said Rittenhouse maintained control of his rifle throughout and didn't just spray the crowd randomly with bullets. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger argued that Black is an expert in the use of force by police, not civilians. He also questioned whether Rittenhouse would have been justified in using lethal force if he hadn't had a gun. Black responded that he has taught civilian self-defense courses and that Binger was presenting a hypothetical situation. But if Rittenhouse hadn't been armed with a gun, he may not have been justified in using deadly force, Black said. Schroeder held off on deciding whether Black can testify at the trial until he hears testimony from a prosecution expert on the use of force. He scheduled an Oct. 25 hearing for that testimony. The judge began the hearing by denying a defense request to drop the weapons possession charge against Rittenhouse. Wisconsin law prohibits anyone under age 18 from going armed, but Rittenhouse's attorneys argued that statutes actually prohibit minors only from carrying short-barreled rifles and shotguns. The only other prohibitions on minors possessing firearms lie in hunting statutes, and all they say is that children under age 12 can't hunt with firearms, they said. Schroeder said he might revisit the question later, calling the statutes unclear. He also denied the prosecution's request to bar the media from broadcasting or publishing images of witnesses' faces during the trial. The prosecutor told the judge that some witnesses fear for their safety because it's such a high-profile and contested case. Richards said he didn't know which witnesses Binger was referring to, but he pointed out that one prosecution witness has boasted on his social media accounts about being subpoenaed in the case. Schroeder said he wasnt sure if he has the authority to censor the media. He added that he has presided over other cases that he described as more tense than the Rittenhouse proceedings. Many conservatives have flocked to support Rittenhouse, calling him a patriot for seeking to stop violent protests, making him a symbol for gun rights and raising $2 million for his bail. Others, including some liberals and activists, portray him as a domestic terrorist and say he made a volatile situation worse by bringing a rifle to the streets of Kenosha. Both the prosecution and the defense asked Schroder for permission to send questionnaires to potential jurors to detect bias, but Schroeder denied the requests last month, saying he's afraid most people won't fill them out and that recipients would discuss the case with family and friends and form opinions. ___ Richmond reported from Madison. Associated Press State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who has clashed repeatedly with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and his appointees over the state's response to COVID-19 in schools, said Thursday she will switch parties and run as a Democrat against him next year. A longtime Republican first elected in 2014, Hofmeister said the decision to switch parties and run for governor was a difficult one, but one she took because Kevin Stitt has hijacked the Republican Party here in Oklahoma." I'm switching parties in hopes of building the Oklahoma I've always known our state can be." A Russian director and an actor blasted off into space on Tuesday to film the world's first movie in orbit, AP reports. State of play: Director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild took off to the International Space Station along with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. They are set to stay in orbit for 12 days filming segments for their movie, "Challenge." Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. The movie will follow a surgeon, played by Peresild, who goes to space to save a crew member, per AP. Shkaplerov along with other cosmonauts already in the space station will have parts in the movie, Shipenko said. What they're saying: Shipenko and Peresild had to go through four months of training, which Peresild said was "psychologically, physically and morally hard," AP notes. "But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile," Peresild added. Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free. A Russian actress and director arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to begin a 12-day mission to make the first movie in orbit. The Russian crew is set to beat a Hollywood project that was announced last year by "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX. Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and film director Klim Shipenko, 38, took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan as scheduled. They docked at the ISS, behind schedule at 1222 GMT, after veteran cosmonaut and captain of their spacecraft, Anton Shkaplerov, switched to manual control. As the hatches opened, the Russian trio floated into the orbital station where they were greeted by two Russian, a French, a Japanese and three NASA astronauts. "Welcome to the International Space Station," Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky tweeted from the ISS. The crew travelled in a Soyuz MS-19 spaceship to film scenes for "The Challenge". The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centres around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut. Shkaplerov, 49, and the two Russian cosmonauts already aboard the ISS are said to have cameo roles in the film. Konstantin Ernst, the head of the Kremlin-friendly Channel One TV network and a co-producer of the film, said he spoke with the crew as soon as they docked. "They are in good spirits and feel well," Ernst told AFP. - 'It was difficult' - "It was difficult psychologically, physically and emotionally... but I think when we reach our goal all the challenges won't seem so bad," Peresild who was selected out of 3,000 applicants for the role said at a pre-flight press conference. Shipenko and Peresild are expected to return to Earth on October 17 in a capsule with Novitsky, who has been on the ISS for the past six months. Story continues Ernst told AFP that a film crew will document their landing, which will also feature in the movie. If successful, the mission will add to a long list of firsts for Russia's space industry. The Soviets launched the first satellite Sputnik, and sent the first animal, a dog named Laika, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into orbit. "Space is where we became pioneers, where despite everything we maintain a fairly confident position," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday. But compared with the Soviet era, modern Russia has struggled to innovate and its space industry is fighting to secure state funding with the Kremlin prioritising military spending. Its space agency is still reliant on Soviet-designed technology and has faced a number of setbacks, including corruption scandals and botched launches. Russia is also falling behind in the global space race, facing tough competition from the United States and China, with Beijing showing growing ambitions in the industry. - Russians 'lost interest' - Roscosmos was also dealt a blow after SpaceX last year successfully delivered astronauts to the ISS, costing Russia its monopoly for journeys to the orbital station. For political analyst Konstantin Kalachev, the space film is PR and a way to "distract" Russians from the "problems" that Roscosmos is facing. "This is supposed to inspire Russians, show how cool we are, but I think Russians have completely lost interest in the space industry," Kalachev told AFP. In a bid to spruce up its image and diversify its revenue, Russia's space programme revealed this year that it will be reviving its tourism programme to ferry fee-paying adventurers to the ISS. After a decade-long pause, Russia will send two Japanese tourists including billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to the ISS in December, capping a year that has been a milestone for amateur space travel. Last month, SpaceX completed the first all-civilian mission to space that took four untrained astronauts on a three-day loop around the Earth's orbit. The trip followed billionaire Richard Branson's several minutes in weightlessness in July, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos completing a similar mission days later. Later this month, 90-year-old actor William Shatner, known for his portrayal of Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, will fly to space on a mission with Bezos's Blue Origin. bur-ml-acl/emg/pvh MarketWatch A new report from Redfin (RDFN) examined what happened to home prices in the wake of the states most destructive infernos, based on the five largest fires that occurred between 2010 and 2020. In some cases, home prices actually rose more within the region affected by the fire than in the communities outside of it. Following the Camp Fire in 2018, the average home-sale price per square foot for areas within the perimeter has risen 37%, nearly double the appreciation for homes located outside the perimeter. Cardinal Peter Turkson, a close aide of Pope Francis, said the denial of Communion should only be reserved for extreme cases (Screengrab/Video) A top Vatican cardinal said US president Joe Biden should not be denied Communion because of his defence of abortion rights. The comments come amid a push by some conservative US Catholic bishops to deny Communion to Mr Biden. Catholics believe the communion bread is the body of Jesus Christ and the wine is his blood. Cardinal Peter Turkson, a close aide of Pope Francis, was asked about demands from US bishops to deny Communion to Mr Biden and other Catholic politicians for their support for legal abortion in an interview recently. The Eucharist should not in any way become a weapon, Mr Turkson said in an interview to news website Axios on Saturday. If you say somebody cannot receive Communion, you are basically doing a judgment that you are in a state of sin. When the interviewer asked whether this state of sin applied to Mr Biden, the Ghanian Cardinal who works closely with Pope Francis, replied with a no, adding that the denial of Communion should only be reserved for extreme cases. The comments from the key Vatican cardinal come after Pope Francis, without naming anyone, said the pastors should not go condemning everything, making the Vaticans position clear on a matter raised by the US bishops. What should a shepherd do? Be a shepherd and not going around condemning or not condemning, the Pope said. They must be a shepherd with gods style. And gods style is closeness, compassion and tenderness. A row over ousting Mr Biden only the second Catholic president in American history and a regular churchgoer started when some conservative Catholic US bishops demanded denying Communion to him. The bishops also pushed for denying Communion to other Catholic politicians, such as House speaker Nancy Pelosi, over their support for abortion rights. The administration of Mr Biden a liberal Democrat had recently urged the US Supreme Court not to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalised abortion in the country, concerning a restrictive Mississippi law. Earlier, the Biden administration sued Texas, seeking to block enforcement of a new law almost entirely banning abortion in the state. The US bishops are scheduled to vote on a new document on eucharistic coherence next month in response to the demands raised to deny Communion to Mr Biden and other Catholic politicians. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP A senior legal adviser in the state department has accused the Biden administration of deporting Haitians illegally through the use of a public health law. Harold Koh, a veteran of the Obama administration, had been due to leave government service to take up a teaching position at Oxford University. He wrote a letter to the state department leadership, lambasting the expulsions of thousands of Haitians in recent weeks. Related: Haiti deportations justified because of Covid, Biden homeland secretary says The 2 October letter reflects widespread unease in the state department at the recent treatment of Haitian migrants who had crossed the US-Mexico border and gathered in Texas seeking admission to the US but were summarily put on planes and flown back to the unstable country they had fled. Haiti has been rendered particularly dangerous of late by the July assassination of the president, Jovenel Moise, and a subsequent powerful earthquake. Theres a lot of discontent, an administration source said. His views are pretty widespread within the state department. Less than two weeks ago, the US special envoy for Haiti, Daniel Foote, resigned over the issue and sent a resignation letter excoriating the administration for its inhumane mass deportation of Haitian migrants and asylum seekers to what he said was a highly dangerous collapsed state. Joe Biden had continued using a mechanism introduced by Donald Trump, summarily expelling migrants, mostly from Haiti, under Title 42 of the 1944 Public Health and Service Act, a previously obscure piece of legislation that presented the Covid pandemic as a reason not to provide due process to asylum seekers from Haiti and Central America. I write first, because I believe this administrations current implementation of the Title 42 authority continues to violate our legal obligation not to expel or return individuals who fear persecution, death, or torture, especially migrants fleeing from Haiti, Koh wrote in his letter, first published by Politico. Story continues He referred to the countrys legal obligations under the Convention against Torture and a 1967 protocol on the status of refugees. Harold Koh wrote that use of Title 42 continues to violate our legal obligation. Photograph: Donald Stampfli/AP Koh pointed out that the chaos in Haiti had led the administration to extend temporary protected status to Haitians already in the US. There were no grounds therefore, he argued, to expel new arrivals and fly them straight into a life-threatening situation. The expelled Haitians are not screened for fears of persecution unless they assert those fears vocally, in what has come to be known as the shout test. In my legal opinion, as former state department legal adviser and as former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour, the shout test and the higher screening standard inevitably create an unacceptably high risk that a great many people deserving of asylum will instead likely be returned to countries where they fear persecution, death, or torture, Koh wrote. The state department said that the decision to use Title 42 was in the hands of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal health agency. Title 42 is a public health authority, not an immigration one, and that authority rests with the CDC, a senior state department official said. We defer to the CDC on decisions related to Title 42. The CDC has determined that the expulsion of certain individuals under Title 42 is necessary due to the risks of transmission and spread of Covid-19 in congregate settings, such as US Customs and Border Protection stations, as well as the threat from emerging variants. The United States remains committed to supporting safe, orderly and humane migration throughout our region, the official said. When the use of Title 42 was first used by the Trump administration, however, it was opposed by the CDCs own medical experts and forced on the agency by the then vice-president, Mike Pence. Olivia Troye, a former top Pence aide, resigned in protest and said the policy was authored by Stephen Miller, a Trump adviser who led that administrations anti-immigrant drive. I dont accept the notion that this is just a health issue unconnected to broader US immigration policy, said Michael Posner, a former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour. It seems to me that theres a relatively straightforward way to address it if somebody poses a health risk on arrival in the US, Posner, who now runs the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University, said. They can be quarantined, they can be treated medically. It doesnt mean that they need to be deported. The Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) has transferred 3,500 inmates and 1,500 staff to other facilities after closing three prisons because of a shortage of corrections officers. DOC Secretary Mark Inch is asking state lawmakers for $171 million to increase corrections officers starting salaries from $33,400 a year, or $16.70 per hour, to $41,600 annually, or $20 an hour, to fill 5,000 vacancies. But while theres bipartisan support for raising corrections officers salaries again lawmakers did so in 2020 and authorized a transition from 12-hour to 8-hour shifts this year Inchs request has drawn a fusillade of reproach from Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. We are not just going to write a bigger check because they think they need it. That is not going to happen. Theyre going to have to do the right thing. We are not going to waste the taxpayers dollars, Simpson told The News Service of Florida last week. Simpson said the DOC can save money by closing up to four of its 50 prisons many aging, some half-empty and using the savings to pay for salary hikes. He said prisons cost about $40 million a year each on average to operate. Are you going to tell me you cant shut four of those down, three of them down, four of them down, and generate $160 million a year of recurring revenue to pay down these expenses? Simpson asked. And the answer is, damn right you can. And when you do it, by the way, you will have better staffed prisons. The Senate president, running for state Agriculture Commissioner in 2024, has been a critic of the DOCs resistance to replacing old and dilapidated prisons and inability to resolve chronic staffing shortages and high staff turnover rates. I think theres a leadership crisis at the top, said Simpson, without directly naming Inch, alleging DOC has a lack of vision and myopia. The DOC is the state governments largest department and nations third-largest state corrections system. Its $2.9 billion budget is Floridas third-largest annual recurring expenditure, behind only healthcare and education. Story continues In March, the DOC was housing 83,000 inmates down more than 15,000 in two years and supervising 170,000 on probation at more than 140 sites, including 50 prisons, that employ 24,000, including 17,000 corrections officers. During their 2021 session, Florida lawmakers pondered eliminating one, and up to four, prisons to slash about $140 million from DOCs budget. Inch resisted, calling the proposal a shortsighted decision that could collapse the entire system, which he said is under-staffed and unraveling after decades of under-funding and needs more, not less, investment. The DOC ultimately prevailed. Lawmakers approved a $72-million increase in its budget that included $26.1 million to shorten guards shifts from 12 to 8.5-hours to alleviate DOCs turnover rate; 42% of new employees leave after one year, 57% after two. In late August, however, DOC announced 2,225 inmates and 1,200 staff at Baker and New River correctional institutions will be temporarily reassigned to a neighboring institution because they didnt have enough corrections officers to adequately man shifts. Cross City Correctional Institution its 1,300 inmates, 375 correctional officers elsewhere since an August flood was also temporality closed. The DOC did not directly respond to Simpsons criticism other than to reiterate measures implemented to address staffing, which include continuing transitioning from 12-hour to 8.5-hour shifts, $1,000 hiring bonuses, part-time positions and consolidating work camps, annexes into main institutions. The executive office of the governor is supportive of pay increases to ensure the Florida Department of Corrections can recruit and retain high-quality talent to serve Florida, DOC said. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Florida, State Original Author: John Haughey, The Center Square contributor Original Location: Simpson: Damn right way to raise Florida corrections officer pay is by closing prisons File: Former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-youl speaks during a press conference to declare his bid for South Korea's 2022 presidential election (Getty Images) A presidential contender in South Korea appeared with a Chinese character drawn on his palm during a live television debate, sparking a controversy over promoting ritualistic beliefs to win the race. Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate from the primary opposition party People Power Party, waved his hand while talking when viewers spotted the character wang, meaning king on his left palm, suggesting that he is relying on advice from a soothsayer, according to a local report. Similar spotting of the letter on his hand was made in previous debates, according to the report. The mysterious character on the opposition leaders hand triggered sharp criticism from his opponents and rivals who accused him of promoting regressive shaman practices by writing a talisman on his hand. Mr Seok-youls rival Hong Joon-pyo criticised the frontrunner for including a shaman in the presidential race. I was skeptical of the news I had heard that Yoon has a shaman helping him become president, but now that its been revealed that he wrote a talisman on the palm of his hand, all I can think is that this is just absurd, Mr Joon-pyo said. It was also slammed by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea for dubbing a public servant like the president as a king. The presidential contender had denied the allegations of hidden ritualistic meaning behind the tattoo on his hand and said that it was scribbled by some supporters on his hand and could not be erased on time. What shamanistic effect could a character written on his hand in marker have? In future debates, we will not erase any encouraging messages from supporters if they continue to write them on his palm, the leaders spokesperson said. Read More How Chinas incursions designed to intimidate Taiwan and test the wests resolve Taiwan warns of catastrophic consequences after Chinas record incursion Japans leadership: Kishida takes the helm, maintaining status quo Politicians have accused Yoon Seok-youl, the leading presidential candidate of the conservative opposition party People Power Party (PPP), of relying on shamanistic rituals after he was spotted bearing the Chinese character for King () on his left palm during a debate. The King mark: The 60-year-old former prosecutor general was spotted with the Chinese symbol when he waved his left hand during the live televised People Power Party (PPP) debate on Oct. 1,Korea Times reported. Pictures of him with the same mark on his palm from two other debates surfaced soon after. So conservative presidential candidate front-runner Yoon Seok-youl yesterday during a live TV debate seems to have had a "" character on the palm of his hand throughout. It means "king". People wondering whether it's shamanism, or that he has some king complex. pic.twitter.com/F5FcB4dkor Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) October 2, 2021 The King inscription can commonly be found on the palms of students taking exams or of those interviewing for jobs as a way to help them with their pronunciation and to give them courage, according to South China Morning Post. The marking is usually given under the advice of shamans and elders in South Korea. Due to the superstitious nature of the symbol, Yoons opponents contend that he is using shamanistic rituals to stay ahead in the election. The idea of a presidential candidate heeding the advice of shamans is particularly rife with scandal in South Korea due to the previous president, Park Guen-hye, infamously consulting a shaman for presidential decisions. Criticism: In a Facebook post on Sunday, Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the PPP, Yoons main rival in the race, said Yoons Chinese inscription was the first time he had seen someone use a talisman in a presidential election. Story continues I was skeptical of the news I had heard that Yoon has a shaman helping him become president, but now that it's been revealed that he wrote a talisman on the palm of his hand, all I can think is that this is just absurd, he added. Hong claimed Yoon was accompanied by a fortune-teller when he went out to a meeting with political veteran Kim Chong-in. He also called on Yoon to give up on talisman campaigning, explaining it was childish behavior that cheapens the level of politics. Yoo Seung-min, another member of PPP and the third in line in the partys candidacy after Yoon and Hong, also criticized the groups nomination race for being tainted by incantations and shamanism in a Facebook post. How could we win with a candidate who relies on superstitions? he added. The currently ruling Democratic Party criticized Yoon for incorporating superstition into politics as well. Lee So-young, a spokesman for the party, compared Yoon to the disgraced former president Park Geun-hye. People remember well what has happened when an unqualified leader made political decisions in accordance with superstitions and incantations, Lee said. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Partys top candidate, said he had a good laugh when he saw Yoons palm marking. The incident also reminded him of Choi Soon-sil, Parks confidante and friend who is now in jail for corruption along with the former South Korean president. I understand the depth of his desperation, the Democratic Partys candidate said. But it would have been better for him to have the inscription under clothes. His defense: Yoon explained to reporters that the marking was put on his palm by some older supporters while on his way to the debate. The politician admitted he should have removed the inscription before going on live TV. A spokesperson from Yoon's camp said they attempted to remove the marking with hand sanitizer before the debate, but they could not remove it in time. What shamanistic effect could a character written on his hand in marker have? In future debates, we will not erase any encouraging messages from supporters if they continue to write them on his palm," the spokesperson said. Featured Image via MBCNEWS Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! NY Real Estate Agent Fired After Reportedly Saying Asian Woman Has Coronavirus on Instagram Journalist Andy Ngo Says He Was Nearly Killed by 'Antifa' While Undercover at Oregon Protest Asian Powerlifting Champion Attacked by Hammer-Wielding Robber While Walking Dog in LA Identical Triplets Who Just Graduated From UCSD Ready to Embark on New, Separate Journey MADRID (Reuters) - Spain on Tuesday approved administering of third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are based on the same messenger RNA technology, for people aged 70 or over, the health ministry said. Spain has fully vaccinated around 78% of its population, and authorised the booster shot from six months after people receive their second jab, the ministry said in a statement. The campaign to administer the boosters will begin at the end of October. The country had already authorised booster shots for cancer patients, nursing home residents and other vulnerable groups. (Reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette and Nathan Allen; Editing by Alison Williams) Strip club manager sparks conversation about childcare after revealing she brings son to club (TikTok / @whatsuarez) A strip club manager has sparked a conversation about parenting and childcare after revealing that she brings her toddler son to work. Last month, Nini Suarez, who goes by the username @whatsuarez on TikTok, revealed in a video shared to the platform that she brings her young child to work with her, and that he loves it and is loved. In the clip, the toddler can be seen being held by various employees at the Arizona strip club where Suarez works, and sitting on the counter at the club. Suarez captioned the TikTok: When people get offended that your son is a strip club baby, but he loves it and is loved. The video, which has been viewed more than 1.1m times, has been met with a range of responses, with some viewers criticising Suarezs choice to bring her son to the strip club. However, the overwhelming majority of the comments have been positive, with numerous TikTok users expressing their support for Suarez. Being monitored, clean environment, fed, loved, dressed whats the issue exactly? one person commented. Another said: I see a strong mom surrounded by love and support doing what she has to do for herself and her child. It takes a village. Carry on! someone else added. Others defended Suarez from criticism on the basis that childcare can be expensive and difficult to secure, with one viewer asking a critic: Do you have kids? Do you know how much daycare or babysitting actually costs? The video also prompted many viewers to share their own experiences bringing their children to work, or growing up at their parents places of work. This was my baby 17 years ago. He had his first birthday at the club I worked at lol, one viewer wrote, while another said: I just want to say that I was raised exactly like this but in a dive bar and those people loved me endlessly and still love me endlessly. Story continues In the comments, Suarez confirmed that her son is not in danger and never will be while in the club, before explaining that he enjoys the music. Suarez, who revealed that she worked as a dancer during her pregnancy with her son, also acknowledged that 80 per cent of the women who work at the strip club are mothers themselves. While most of the comments were supportive, Suarez addressed some of the questions she received in a follow-up video, where she began by noting: For the haters, I really dont care to answer any of your questions. In the video, Suarez then explained that, when her son comes to work with her, he does not enter the actual club, where the dancers are and alcohol is served, but instead stays inside the clubs lobby. Suarez also said that her son is never at the club all night, and that when he does attend work with her, he is never out of her sight, before noting that he loves going into the locker room with the dancers because the ladies absolutely love him. The strip club manager also addressed concerns over drunk customers, reiterating that her son is never inside the club with customers and that any drunk customers are removed by security. One thing I also want to address is, strippers are mothers, Suarez continued. And they love hard like they love their own children. Suarez, who previously shared a video of her son crawling on to the stage after hours as a dancer practiced, concluded the video explaining she has no problem with her son being held by or around the dancers and that it shouldnt be anybodys business if she wants to work at a strip club rather than a desk job. The follow-up video was also met with praise for Suarez, with one viewer commenting: You dont owe anyone an explanation momma! while another said: Girl no explanation needed. You are a good momma taking care of your baby. A May survey conducted by YouGov found families across the US spend an average of $8,355 a year on child care for each child, according to CNBC, and that, on average, parents spend a little more than $750 per child per month during the school year, with the number increasing to an average of $834 for summer child care. The Independent has contacted Suarez for comment. Read More Parenting expert explains why children wont tell you how their day was, and how to encourage them to Reese Witherspoon reflects back on lack of support during early motherhood British working parents spend almost a quarter of their income on childcare Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat (Independent) Lt Col Stuart Scheller has been released from pre-trial confinement in a military prison as the US Marine Corps considers whether to charge him for criticising the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to reports. This is a developing story. It will be updated. (Getty Images) Donald Trump has been gone from Washington for nine months, but his chaotic legacy was in full force on Monday when the solidly conservative Supreme Court returned for in-person arguments, kicking off a term that could deliver judicial victories the right has long dreamed of. While the courts nine justices all of whom have now been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus have been meeting in person for their regular conference meetings since earlier this year, Mondays session was the first time the court convened for in-person oral arguments since May 2020. It was also the first in-person oral argument session since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had passed away in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election. With Ms Barrett having assumed the bench in the late Ms Ginsburgs stead, Mr Trump succeeded in presiding over a conservative reshaping of the Supreme Court that looks to be in full force as the justices take up a slew cases that could reward Republicans on a host hot-button issues, including abortion, gun rights, separation of church and state, and possibly even affirmative action in higher education all in the face of mounting criticism over how they handle cases they decide without holding oral arguments. Waiting for the right moment Since taking on the role of chief justice two decades ago, John Roberts has attempted to keep the courts reputation as a non-partisan, non-political actor intact. Perhaps to that end, the court postponed many of the hot-button cases now on its docket so they did not become part of the election-year politicking that accompanies a race for the presidency every four years. But with the 2020 election in the bag and a new, solidly conservative majority on the bench, the court could be poised to undo years of jurisprudence and give the conservative legal movement the payoff it has been awaiting for years. I think its full speed ahead, said University of Michigan Law School professor Leah Litman, when asked whether the new majority would shy away from upsetting established precedent in service of longstanding Republican aims. Story continues Theres no question in my mind that the court either invalidates the New York firearm restriction or says courts have to subject that firearm restriction to very rigorous judicial scrutiny; theres no question that the court modifies the standard that courts use to determine whether abortion restrictions are constitutional, Ms Litman said. No question about that, in that the court strikes down the main restrictions on funding religious education in Carson, and so in that sense, its very much full steam ahead. I dont see them changing course at all. Woe for Roe? For five decades, religious conservatives have dreamed of a supreme court that is willing to uphold state laws which forbid women from ending pregnancies in their first two trimesters something the high court has held to be a constitutional right since the landmark Roe v Wade decision and the 1992 case which upheld that ruling, Planned Parenthood v Casey. Yet the 6-3 majority of Republican-appointed justices may be poised to do just that. This term, the court will consider whether to revive a Mississippi state law which forbids abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In legal documents filed with the court, Mississippi has explicitly asked the justices to overturn the Roe legal precedent. Yet many reproductive rights advocates have noted that the new Trump-infused court has already effectively overruled Roe in Texas, after a 5-4 conservative majority of justices allowed a law which prohibits abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy to go into effect. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee, wrote that her colleagues had bur[ied] their heads in the sand by refusing to enjoin enforcement of the flagrantly unconstitutional law. This equates to a near-categorical ban on abortions beginning six weeks after a womans last menstrual period, before many women realize they are pregnant, and months before fetal viability, she wrote. Before Justice Ginsburgs death, the court had voted 5-4, with Chief Justice Roberts siding with the four Democratic-appointed justices, to block a Louisiana law that would have closed most abortion clinics in the state. But with Ms Barretts ascension to the highest court in the land, it appears that she may well join Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Alito and Thomas the latter two of whom have explicitly called for Roe to be overturned in allowing states to outlaw abortion. Gunning for gun control laws In 1991, retired Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger called the idea that the Second Amendment protects the individuals right to own firearms the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Yet that is exactly the view the court adopted in 2008, when then-Justice Antonin Scalia authored a 5-4 majority opinion in the case of District of Columbia v Heller, in which the court ruled for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and keep a firearm in the home for self-defence purposes, overturning the District of Columbias near-total ban on individual handgun ownership. Two years later, in McDonald v Chicago, the court went even further by finding that the right to bear arms was fundamental and was protected from state interference under the terms of the 14th Amendment. More than a decade later, the court may be poised to expand handgun rights by overturning a century-old New York state law which requires applicants for handgun carry permits to demonstrate proper cause before they can receive approval to carry a handgun in public. Such restrictions are commonplace in cities across the United States and in many so-called blue states, but in recent years pro-firearm activists have pushed state legislatures to enact laws which require authorities to issue handgun permits. Some GOP-controlled states have even gone so far as to permit the concealed carrying of handguns in most public places without the need for a permit. But when the court hears the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Corlett on 3 November, it could go so far as to throw out any and all handgun permitting laws that give state or local officials discretion to determine who can carry a concealed handgun in their jurisdictions. The court goes back to school The last time the Supreme Court rendered a verdict on whether colleges can use race as a factor in admissions was five years ago, when Justice Anthony Kennedys majority opinion upheld the University of Texas admissions policy. Since then, a number of lawsuits often backed by Republican activists have sought to give a far more receptive court a chance to overturn the 2003 ruling from Grutter v Bollinger, which allows schools to use race as a factor in admissions as part of an effort to assemble a diverse student body. One such case, Students for Fair Admissions v President and Fellows of Harvard College, is currently before the court. The suit seeks to have the court overrule Bollinger and find that Harvard is discriminating against Asian applicants in violation of the Civil Rights Act in their effort to assemble a racially diverse class each year. Another hot-button case, Carson v Makin, challenges Maines state Department of Education policy which prevents families who live in areas without public school systems to use public funds to send their children to explicitly religious schools. Read More Cressida Dick must go before we can end the Mets rotten culture | Diane Abbott Christian nationalists like Madison Cawthorn invoke the Jews to disguise antisemitism Ugandas new green energy project ahead of COP26 Opinion: Why Bidens promise of relentless diplomacy looks so hypocritical Defacing of George Floyd statue shows Americas disregard for Black bodies Editors Letter: Liverpool vs Man City shows what Super Sunday matches are all about STOCKHOLM (AP) Swedish prosecutors issued an international search warrant on Tuesday for a tenant in an apartment building in Sweden's second-largest city after an explosion and a fire left 16 people injured last month. The man is suspected of attempted murder, arson and general destruction, authorities said in a statement, adding that he should be extradited to Sweden if arrested. Investigators, however, aren't certain the man is abroad. Authorities in Sweden haven't named the suspect, who is a man in his 50s. Swedish media said he was born in Poland. In the early hours of Sept. 28, an apartment building in Goteborg was hit by a powerful explosion. Ensuing blazes spread to several apartments and hundreds of residents were evacuated. Four of the injured are in serious condition and at least 140 apartments were damaged. Swedish radio quoted an unnamed neighbor as saying the suspect had a lot of chemicals, either in the apartment or in the basement, given the smell. The property owner had been trying to evict the man and his mother from their apartment in the building, according to the Aftonbladet newspaper. Several Swedish media said an eviction was planned for the day the explosion occurred. Aftonbladet said police had already charged the man with several offenses a week before the blast. The paper also reported that after not being allowed to see his mother at a nursing home because of pandemic restrictions, the suspect harassed several people, including the owner of the building. A British artist creates a mural of George Floyd. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended giving a posthumous pardon to George Floyd, after it was found that his 2004 arrest in Houston involved a police officer who was later charged with murder and tampering a government record. Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in May 2020 after then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes. The incident was caught on camera, leading to worldwide protests against police brutality, and earlier this year, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter. In 2004, Floyd was arrested in Houston by Gerald Goines, then an officer in the Houston Police Department. Goines was involved in a deadly 2019 raid that was later determined to be based on false statements he made under oath, and he has since been indicted on charges of felony murder and tampering with a government document. In a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Goines was the "sole fact witness against Mr. Floyd in the alleged sale of a $10 crack rock," and Floyd was prosecuted "based on Officer Goines' testimony alone." Since Goines' indictment, at least two people convicted because of his testimony have been exonerated. Goines is "not credible," Ogg said, adding, "we do not support the integrity of Mr. Floyd's conviction and agree these circumstances warrant a posthumous pardon." It is now up to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to decide whether to grant this clemency. You may also like 7 painfully funny cartoons about America's endless vaccine fights Jimmy Fallon and Nicole Kidman almost make it through an interview without residual awkwardness from dating miss Justice Alito's political case for SCOTUS transcendence of politics A top Justice Department official told lawmakers Tuesday that the attorney general is reviewing the controversial decision not to prosecute FBI agents accused of botching and lying about the explosive case involving the sexual abuse of the U.S. gymnastics team. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who was personally criticized last month by victims of convicted sex predator and former team doctor Larry Nassar, said the DOJ is currently reviewing this matter after the department was ripped for not holding the FBI agents accountable. I do want the committee, and frankly, I want the survivors to understand how exceptionally seriously we take this issue. And we believe that this deserves a thorough and full review, Monaco, the Justice Departments second in command to Attorney General Merrick Garland, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. Monaco was slated to testify about efforts to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, but she was quickly grilled about the department's handling of the case against Nassar. The Justice Departments own watchdog in July found the FBI repeatedly ignored sexual abuse allegations against Nassar. The damning report showed that bureau officials didnt take the claims seriously, failed to alert local authorities, broke FBI rules, covered up their missteps, and lied to investigators. FBI Director Christopher Wray said last month that DOJ prosecutors declined prosecution against the FBI agents in 2020 and 2021. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told Monaco he was shocked at the decision not to prosecute the agents. What is your response to the criticism over the departments decision not to prosecute these FBI agents? Durbin asked. The query prompted Monaco to reveal that the assistant attorney general for the criminal division, Kenneth Polite, is conducting the review. She said it is a top priority. ANGER AT DOJ OVER NOT PROSECUTING FBI AGENTS WHO BOTCHED NASSAR CASE Story continues I think you could be assured there is a sense of urgency and gravity with the work that needs to be done, Monaco said. Gymnastic stars Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman condemned USA Gymnastics, the Olympic committees, and the FBI for ignoring, or helping cover up, sexual abuse allegations about Nassar during an emotional Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month. Maroney specifically called out Monaco for not showing up to testify. The Department of Justice refused to prosecute these individuals. Why? Maroney said. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco couldn't even bring herself to be here today, and it is the Department of Justice's job to hold them accountable. I am tired of waiting for people to do the right thing because my abuse was enough, and we deserve justice. USA Gymnastics conducted an internal investigation into sexual assault allegations leveled against Nassar, and USA Gymnastics CEO Stephen Penny Jr. alerted the FBIs Indianapolis Field Office in July 2015. But the FBI did little to follow up. Michael Langeman, the FBI supervisory special agent who interviewed Maroney in 2015 about her claims, was fired from the FBI ahead of last months hearing. Langeman had been a lead agent at the FBIs Indianapolis Field Office, and DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitzs July report concluded that he and former Indianapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott lied to the department watchdog. Durbin asked Horowitz last month whether the deliberate misrepresentations by Abbott and Langeman reached the level of criminal violations. "They violated criminal law sufficiently that what we do at that point is make the referral to prosecutors to assess them because thats who needs to make the assessment whether or not there will be charges brought," Horowitz said. On Tuesday, Monaco said she was outraged by the inspector general's report and apologized to the victims. "I am deeply sorry that, in this case, the victims did not receive the response or the protection they deserved," she said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to federal charges of child pornography and tampering. Combined with a guilty plea in Michigan state court to counts of sexual assault, that sets Nassar up to spend the rest of his life in prison. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Department of Justice, FBI Original Author: Jerry Dunleavy Original Location: Top DOJ official says decision not to prosecute FBI agents who lied in Nassar case under review Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mozzi at Wimbledon in July 2021 (AFP via Getty Images) Princess Beatrice paid tribute to her mother Sarah Ferguson when choosing a name for her newborn daughter, it has been revealed. The 33-year-old gave birth to a girl at 11.42pm on Saturday 18 September at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London. The couple named her Sienna Elizabeth and now, a family friend has explained the meaning behind the name. They were looking for an Italian name which started with an S for Sarah, to honour the Duchess [Sarah Ferguson], and also reflected the golden rust colour of both the Duchess's hair colour and Beatrice's, which the new baby shares, they told Hello! Magazine. And in keeping with tradition, the newborns middle name is Elizabeth, a nod to her great-grandmother the Queen. Sienna is the Princesss first child with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Edoardo already has a four-year-old son named Wolfie from a previous relationship with architect Dara Huang. In an announcement shared to Twitter, Beatrice posted a picture of Siennas footprints, writing: 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. Edoardo shared the same photograph on Instagram with the caption: Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi. Our life together has just begun, and I cant 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. He added: A massive thank you to the midwife and the amazing team at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Sienna is eleventh in line to the royal throne. In 2019, Edoardos father, Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi revealed that all of his sons future children will receive the title nobile donna. Story continues Edoardo, whose official title is Count, comes from a family that was part of the Italian nobility before the country became a republic in 1946. Beatrice and Edoardo married in a secret ceremony at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor in July 2020, less than a year after becoming engaged in September 2019. Read More Queens dressmakers private papers revealing royal wedding scandal up for auction Queens Platinum Jubilee pageant will be largest in British history Queen reflects on happy memories with Prince Philip in Scotland Prince William leads new BBC documentary on how to save the environment Prince Harry and Meghan Markle call for vaccine equity at Global Citizen Live event Nadine Dorries praises design of Queens Platinum Jubilee medal By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Having waited eight months for U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's promised "top-to-bottom" policy review of trade with China, some U.S. industries and experts were complaining over the plan's lack of specifics on negotiations or timing. Unveiling her plan on Monday, Tai, President Joe Biden's top trade official, pledged to hold talks with Chinese officials over their failure to meet the terms of former President Donald Trump's "Phase 1" trade deal, and to revive a process to grant exclusions from tariffs on Chinese imports. "She's going to re-engage with China and that's a good thing," said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University trade economist who attended Tai's speech in Washington. "But her whole plan seems to be, 'I'm going to have a conversation.'" Tai will leave in place most of Trump's controversial tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods as she launches discussions with her counterpart, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. She will raise U.S. concerns about China's industrial subsidies, but did not outline specific plans to tackle Beijing's policies that the U.S. believes undermine free trade. What happens next "depends on how the conversation goes," said Tai, the former top trade lawyer on the House Ways and Means Committee, who has promised to center the Biden trade policy around workers. She was unsparing in her criticism of Beijing on this front, accusing China's Communist Party government of continuing to "shape its economy to the will of the state, hurting the interests of workers here in the U.S. and around the world." Tai's speech, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, won support from Democratic lawmakers, unions as well as a former Trump administration trade official. "What you saw today is more evidence that there's strong bipartisan concern about the direction of our economic relationship with China," Stephen Vaughn, a former top USTR official under Trump who helped to develop the original "Section 301" investigation that led to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Story continues NEW TARIFF WORRIES However, industries that have suffered through more than three years worth of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports that cost billions of dollars, were hoping for details on which products might win tariff relief. Instead, Monday's speech left lingering concerns that Tai could launch new tariff actions after saying she will keep further "Section 301" investigations as options. The US-China Business Council said it feared tariffs might become permanent, given the lack of any clear road map. The National Foreign Trade Council called for a "robust" tariff exclusion process to provide some relief for companies hammered by the U.S.-China trade war. "Todays long-awaited announcement proved the Biden administrations trade strategy on China to be lackluster at most, and will further inflict unnecessary damage to the American economy and retail supply chains," said David French, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation. Tai said she would refrain from Trump's plans for a separate formal "Phase 2" negotiations with Beijing over structural issues such as China's massive subsidies to state enterprises, citing a "disinclination" to use the Trump administration's labels. How those discussions unfold depends in part on "how much traction we get with China and to what degree we have to take our own measures to defend our interests," Tai said. The United States pursued regular high-level economic dialogues with China for more than a decade until 2017 that produced little change in Beijing's policies. The Trump administration's Phase One deal was heralded as a breakthrough, but Beijing has fallen far short of commitments to buy U.S. goods. Tai's speech "didn't give us new goals, or new tools," said Derek Scissors, a China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "You say we have to have a worker-centric trade policy, and we can't tolerate the Chinese behaving like this anymore because it harms America, but we're going to talk to them about it," Scissors said. "When has that ever worked?" (Reporting by David Lawder, Andrea Shalal and Michael Martina; Editing by Heather Timmons & Simon Cameron-Moore) The UK government will launch an independent inquiry into "systematic failures" in policing, interior minister Priti Patel said Tuesday, after an officer serving in London kidnapped, raped and murdered a woman. The death of Sarah Everard at the hands of a police officer rocked the country and led to an outcry about the levels of violence against women and girls in Britain. It has also raised questions about police vetting, how forces handle complaints from victims, as well as wider calls to address sexism and misogyny in policing. "It is abhorrent that a serving police officer was able to abuse his position of power, authority and trust to commit such a horrific crime," Patel said at the ruling Conservative party's annual conference. "I can confirm today there will be an inquiry to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again." Wayne Couzens, 48, who served in London's Metropolitan police force, was jailed for life last week after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of Everard. He had falsely arrested the 33-year-old marketing executive as she walked home from a friend's, on the pretence that she had broken coronavirus restrictions in place at the time. In a separate case, another London police officer from the same diplomatic protection unit in which Couzens served was this week charged with rape and remanded in custody. Met Commissioner Cressida Dick said on Sunday she would announce "a high-profile figure" to lead a separate internal review of the Met. "They will look at our training, leadership, processes, systems and standards of behaviour, and examine cases where officers have let the public down," Dick said. Britain's low level of convictions for rape, which have fallen dramatically over the last decade, have also been thrown into the spotlight by recent events. Prime Minister Boris Johnson conceded Tuesday that people may have lost faith in policing nationwide because of Couzens' conviction and other cases of alleged or confirmed misconduct by officers, as well as criminal justice service delays and failures. Story continues "I want everybody to have that confidence and at the moment I have got to tell you that the answer to that is 'no', I don't think people do have enough confidence in the criminal justice system," he told Sky News. "And I don't think people have a feeling that the police are handling these issues fast enough either. "And that has, certainly, led to this feeling of fury, frustration, betrayal on the part of millions of people -- most of them women -- about what is happening." jj/phz/gd MANCHESTER, England (AP) The British government said Tuesday it will bring in tough new laws against disruptive protesters, after environmental campaigners blocked roads, highways and bridges to highlight climate change. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government would close down the legal loopholes used by protesters, whom she labeled criminals. She said freedom to protest is a fundamental right but it must be within the law. Patel said she would increase maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, create powers to stop some protesters traveling around the country and create a new offense of interference with key infrastructures such as roads, railways and the press. Insulate Britain, an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion group, has gridlocked traffic multiple times over the past month, with protesters sitting down in highways and gluing themselves to the pavement. The demonstrations have raised the profile of the group, which is calling for Britains aging homes to become more energy efficient. But they have also infuriated motorists and disrupted businesses. On Monday, broadcaster LBC captured footage of a woman imploring protesters to let her pass so she could visit her mother in hospital. Another broadcaster showed angry motorists dragging protesters out of a road. Patel, who is responsible for policing and immigration, is set to address members of the governing Conservative Party at their conference in Manchester, northwest England. A stern law-and-order conservative, Patel is a favorite of the partys traditionalist base. Shes also set to promised more efforts to stop people trying to reach Britain across the English Channel in small boats. Migrants have long used northern France as a launching point to reach Britain, either by stowing away in trucks or on ferries, or increasingly since the coronavirus pandemic disrupted international travel in dinghies and other small boats organized by smugglers. Story continues The British and French governments have worked for years to stop the crossings, without much success. More than 17,000 people have made the journey since the start of the year, double the number for all of 2020. Patel has raised the prospect of sending asylum-seekers to another country, remote from the U.K., while their claims are processed. But so far the plan has stalled amid legal hurdles and criticism from human rights groups. The Conservatives are also promising at their conference this week to do more to keep women and girls safe, amid nationwide shock at the death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman abducted, raped and murdered as she walked home from a friends house in London. Her killer was a serving police officer who handcuffed and falsely arrested her. KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has imposed sanctions on 95 Ukrainian and Russia citizens in connection with the holding of Russian parliamentary elections in annexed Crimea, Interfax Ukraine news agency reported on Tuesday. The United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, swept to victory in the September vote amid allegations of mass rigging by the opposition. Ukraine said it would retaliate with sanctions against dozens of organisers and participants involved in the elections that took place including in Crimea and territories occupied by Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. (Reporting by Matthias Williams; Editing by Edmund Blair) The US State Department published on Tuesday the number of nuclear warheads the country stockpiles for the first time in four years, after former president Donald Trump placed a blackout on the data. As of September 30, 2020, the US military maintained 3,750 active and inactive nuclear warheads, down by 55 from a year earlier and by 72 from the same date in 2017. The figure was also the lowest level since the US nuclear stockpile peaked at the height of the Cold War with Russia in 1967, when the total was 31,255 warheads. The numbers were released Tuesday amid an effort by the administration of President Joe Biden to restart arms controls talks with Russia after they stalled under Trump. "Increasing the transparency of states' nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts," the State Department said in a statement. Trump, who pulled the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia, also left another crucial pact, the New Start Treaty on the rocks last year before its scheduled expiration on February 5. New Start caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow, and letting it expire could have sparked a reversal of warhead reductions on both sides. Trump said he wanted a new deal that includes China, which only has a fraction of the warheads that the United States and Russia have. Biden, who came in to office on January 20, immediately proposed a five-year extension to New Start, which Russian President Vladimir Putin quickly agreed to. The deal caps at 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington. Last week Russian and US diplomats held talks behind closed doors in Geneva to begin discussions on a successor to New Start and also controls on conventional weapons. A US official called the talks "productive," but both sides said the mere fact of holding the talks was positive. Story continues According to a January 2021 tally by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which includes retired warheads -- not counted in the State Department's numbers -- the United States had 5,550 warheads, compared to 6,255 in Russia, 350 in China, 225 in Britain, and 290 in France. India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have together around 460 nuclear warheads, according to the institute. pmh/st Dr.Edward Jenner Vaccinating Young Boy Dr. Edward Jenner (1749-1823) performing his first vaccination on James Phipps, a boy of eight, on May 14, 1796. Painting by E. Board in the Welcome Museum, London. Credit - Bettmann Archive/Getty Images President Thomas Jefferson in 1806 wrote a letter to English physician Edward Jenner. Ten years earlier, Jenner had intentionally infected a boy with cowpox, in order to protect him against the much more terrifying smallpox disease. It worked. Jenner gathered more evidence, and two years later he published his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox. News traveled across the Atlantic, and Jefferson was among the first Americans to recognize the revolutionary potential of vaccination. He praised Jenner in lavish terms: Medicine has never before produced any single improvement of such utility. In fact, Jefferson foresaw an end to a disease that was then the most deadly and most feared affliction in much of the world. Future nations will know by history only that the loathsome small-pox has existed and by you has been extirpated. Jefferson was visionarybut too optimistic. Mortality from smallpox declined precipitously as vaccination spread, but progress stalled and at times reversed in the late 19th century. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, there were still thousands of cases of smallpox a year in the United States, and not until the late 1920s was the disease completely eradicated from the country. Globally, progress was even more halting. A massive global health crusade in the 1960s and 1970s finally realized Jeffersons vision of rendering the disease a thing of the past. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox occurred in 1977171 years after Jeffersons letter to Jenner imagined a world without the disease. The example of smallpox elimination is one of many that reminds us the control of infectious disease requires both technical and social adaptations. Jenners discovery of vaccination ranks as one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time. But technical solutions on their own are never enough. In the U.S., the spread of vaccination required an effective communication campaign, cultural acceptance of vaccines and, above all, changes in the nature and power of the state. Namely, the rise of public health boards, and their ability to mandate vaccination, were necessary to bring the disease completely to heel domestically. Story continues The COVID-19 pandemic has been a painful reminder that confronting the challenge of infectious disease requires both science and social adaptation. The development of multiple safe and highly effective vaccines against COVID-19 in under a year is a marvelous accomplishment. And yet the combination of vaccine hesitancy at home, and vaccine inequity abroad, has let the pandemic surge anew and linger, with no end in sight. Before COVID-19, the U.S. was ranked high on pandemic preparedness. And yet our response has been an embarrassment and a tragedyas well as a detailed map of our weaknesses, which our nations enemies are sure to be tracking in detail. Our science was ready, but our society was not. Read more: The History of Vaccines, From Smallpox to COVID-19 As a historian of infectious disease, who expected that we would face a destabilizing pandemic in our lifetime, I do not find this pattern surprising. But it is concerning that we are not absorbing the lesson. Last month, the Biden Administration released a preview of its future pandemic preparedness plan. The vision is admirably bold. It proposes a $65 billion investment over 10 years that will be managed with the seriousness of purpose, commitment, and accountability of an Apollo Program. The plan is motivated by the sober reality that another pandemic is inevitable. Indeed, as the plan states, There will be an increasing frequency of naturaland possibly human-madebiological threats in the years ahead. And, as it notes, the next one might well be worse. COVID-19 is a severe and deadly disease, but there is plenty of opportunity for a new pathogen that is equally contagious yet more virulent. President Joe Bidens proposed strategy offers much to like. It promises to make major investments in critical areas where we do not do nearly enough, from surveillance and early-warning systems to real-time tracking of viral evolution. It outlines a path towards even more rapid vaccine development and deployment, as well as fundamental improvements in the treatment of viral diseases. It proposes basic improvements in public health infrastructure domestically and globally. The problem, however, is that nearly all of the agenda focuses on technical solutions. There are only modest hints of an effort to understand how societies respond to the challenge of pandemics and how we can work to make ourselves more resilient. The plan calls for evidence-based public health communications, which is laudable, but otherwise there is nothing that matches its scientific aspirations with an equally ambitious call to prepare our society to handle the next threat with greater cohesion and strength. So, two cheers for the Apollo-like vision. But pandemic preparedness is a categorically different project than getting to the moon, because success depends on the behavior of more than 300 million Americans and 8 billion people globally. It is a disheartening fact that the experience of COVID-19 has rendered our society less ready for the future challenges. The tribalization of our response to masking, vaccines and other mitigation measures has been swift and extreme, and this represents a serious obstacle to preparedness. The reality is that public health is always political. But it is not always bitterly partisan, especially in a polarized society. If anything, we have taken a step backward. Compulsory vaccination, for example, allowed us to conquer smallpox and other menacing diseases, and it became part of our constitutional order and social fabric. In 1905, when a man from Massachusetts protested against a vaccine mandate, saying the requirement violated his individual liberty, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that mandatory vaccination was within the power of the states. The majority opinion held that there are manifold restraints to which every person is necessarily subject for the common good On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members. Some of the constitutional particularities have changed, but the fundamental issues have not. We are relitigating our sense of the common good, at a time when divisiveness and mistrust are at high tide. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter The sooner we grapple with that reality, the better prepared we will be. Evidence-based public health communication is a start, but it is far from adequate. A fully-fledged plan should establish an R&D agenda that draws from the social sciences and humanities; it should put in place the framework, resources and incentives to drive forward our knowledge of the determinants of successful public health initiatives. There is a huge amount of ongoing research that is trying to help us understand why countries (and even states) have responded to COVID-19 so differently. It is already evident what a complex question this presents, involving both apparently fixable variables like good leadership, but also much deeper, historically-rooted cultural factors. A plan to build resilience will have to confront the tensions between individualistic values and social cohesion, the decline of public trust in institutions, the poison of polarization, the role of social media in shaping attitudes toward health and medicine, and the structural inequalities that have been so apparent throughout the pandemic. In short, we need a bold, coherent agenda to advance our understanding of the human side of the equation. The Biden strategy as proposed earns an A on the technical front, but unless its shortcomings are redressed, it will fail on its social-behavioral agenda. We know all too well how that combination has worked both throughout history and in our present moment. The White House on Tuesday said President Joe Biden has confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, hours after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the central bank chief had failed as a leader amid fallout from financial trades made by top Fed officials last year. He does have confidence in Powell at this time, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One. Powell, a Republican, is awaiting word on whether he will be reappointed to a second term, a decision that's expected sometime this fall. He first joined the Feds board in 2012 as an appointee of former President Barack Obama and then was promoted to chair by former President Donald Trump in 2018. The question of whether he deserves to keep his job has split lawmakers and liberal advocates. So far, Warren is one of only a few Democratic members of Congress to publicly oppose Powell, while others in her party have endorsed him. The central bank has been rocked in recent weeks by revelations that Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren actively traded in stocks and real estate assets while the central bank was engaged in a massive rescue of financial markets. Both Kaplan and Rosengren announced their resignations last week. More recently, scrutiny has turned to Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, who moved between $1 million and $5 million out of a bond fund into stock funds in February 2020, just a day before Powell put out a statement signaling that the central bank might take action to cushion the economy at the onset of the pandemic. The Fed has said those transactions were pre-planned, before any emergency policy deliberations. Powell has vowed to tighten ethics restrictions at the central bank. On Monday, Warren called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into trading activities at the Fed, and on Tuesday, she took to the Senate floor to criticize Powell. Our nation does not need a go-along-to-get-along leader who doesnt know or doesnt care when, on his watch, people with great responsibility advance their own interests over those of our nation, or someone who drags his feet in dealing with problems that shake the publics confidence in the institution he leads, the Massachusetts Democrat said. Warren has been especially critical of the Fed's efforts to roll back bank regulations under Powell's watch. Asked on Monday whether the controversy should affect Powells reappointment prospects, Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said: Thats up to the president. The White House says it's helping Texas officials prepare for an incoming surge of an estimated 60,000 Haitian migrants. "As you can imagine, we're working with the leaders in the region on this issue of migrants coming to the border, but we do have a system in place that we're going to continue to follow," White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from the Washington Examiner's Katherine Doyle on Tuesday. "We continue to have the push factors in telling folks, 'This is not the time to come,' and we're going to continue to do what we've been doing in the past." TEXAS BRACES FOR SURGE OF 60,000 HAITIAN MIGRANTS Jean-Pierre explained that the Biden administration will continue to enforce Title 42 as a "public health authority" to prioritize that "families and single adults are expelled under the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] directive when possible." "The determination of who can be expelled or not is determined by a number of factors, including the makeup of the specific family unit and agreements with the country of origin or last residence," she continued. "As we have stated, those who cannot be expelled are placed into removal proceedings." Immigration experts and Texas officials believe that the next wave of incoming Haitian migrants could be four times as large as the 15,000-strong contingent that camped out at the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, in September. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently tweeted that the "Texas National Guard is gearing up at the border for increased caravans attempting to cross the border caused by Bidens open border policy." "Ive never seen this," Abbott claimed during an interview in late September. "We have multiple reports about different caravans coming to different regions across the border. And so what were going to do in response to it as we are preparing, as we speak, is exactly what you saw at the apex moment when people were coming across the river in Del Rio." Story continues CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER You can listen to Jean-Pierre's entire gaggle with reporters on board Air Force One below: Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Karine Jean-Pierre, Texas, White House, Immigration, Haiti, Border Crisis Original Author: Christian Datoc Original Location: White House says it is 'working' with Texas officials to prepare for surge of 60,000 Haitian migrants Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before the Senate on 5 October 2021. (AP) In Facebooks early days, its motto was "move fast and break things. Little did they know, the company would go on to break societies around the globe. This is a moment of reckoning for a social media giant with a user base the size of multiple nations. Its been compared to similar reckonings in Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and Big Pharma. Weve long felt Facebooks damaging impact on our society, democracy, children, and health. Now, in an unprecedented move, we have someone from inside Facebook with tens of thousands of documents laying Facebooks "moral bankruptcy" bare. A damning picture is coming into focus: Facebook knows exactly how destructive its products are and they arent doing everything in their power to fix them. These new allegations show that time and time again, Facebook executives choose the maximization of profit over the public good. On Tuesday, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen delivered bombshell testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. She initially joined Facebook as the product manager on Facebooks Civic Integrity team in 2019. Haugen has worked at other tech companies, from Google to Pinterest, but she claims she had never encountered what she saw at Facebook, leading her to become a whistleblower. After weeks of build-up through revelations in the Wall Street Journal and a 60 minutes interview, Haugen officially went on the record outlining Facebooks alleged corruption in no uncertain terms. Haugen began her opening statement with a claim that epitomises the problems at Facebook: "I believe Facebooks products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy. The companys leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but wont make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people." Haugens testimony and corroborating documents allege that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public, US government, and investors about its own research on how its products spread disinformation, foster anti-vaccine misinformation, foment hate speech, and impact the safety of children. Story continues Lets start with disinformation and hate speech. Haugen points to an algorithm change in 2018 that was intended to boost engagement, and as a result, made an already destructive platform worse. According to Haugen and the documents shes provided, Facebook ran a test where a user merely liked some political pages like "Donald Trump" and "Melania Trump. Within hours, they were being recommended QAnon content. Within days, they were being presented with other extremist content. Weve all known that Facebook works as a radicalisation machine, increasingly recommending more extreme and dishonest content. But now, its being alleged that Facebook knows this too. While Facebook has publicly stated they have made massive progress fighting disinformation and hate speech, Haugen has provided an internal document that highlighted a study indicating the opposite: We estimate that we may action as little as 3-5% of hate and ~0.6% of V&I [Violence and Incitement] on Facebook despite being the best in the world at it. Haugen went on to argue that this kind of hate speech proliferation has led to ethnic violence in countries like Myanmar and Ethiopia. And closer to home, weve seen other troubling results. Facebooks role in the disinformation campaigns executed in the 2016 and 2020 elections are widely acknowledged. What is now being alleged involves some of the behind-the-scenes decisions. Haugen claims that Facebook disbanded the Civic Integrity group she was working in immediately after the election and turned off safety measures that had been implemented ahead of the election. Haugen claims that this helped foster the environment that led to the 6 January attack on the Capitol. Haugen said that after the election, she thinks Facebook removed those safeguards because they wanted to boost engagement. In response to me tweeting about this assertion, Facebook Policy Communications Director Andy Stone responded : "Im glad you wrote thinks because the truth is we left a number of the measures on through Jan. 6, added additional measures following the violence at the Capitol, and made some of the changes permanent, like not recommending political groups." Whether Facebook kept some measures on while turning off others, or not, the results werent great. The 6 January insurrection was planned and promoted on a number of social media sites, including Facebook. The lies about the 2020 election spread like wildfire on the platform and years of radicalisation culminated on the Capitol steps . While I think their decision to ban former President Trump was a good move, some would argue that it was too little, too late. One of the main reasons this Facebook scandal is different than others is that it involves children. Mondays hearing largely focused on the testimony and documents Haugen provided regarding Facebooks research on its impact on teenage girls. Haugen has provided a study from Facebook that found "13.5 percent of teen girls say Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse, 17 percent of teen girls say Instagram makes eating disorders worse. Earlier this year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a congressional hearing that overall, the research that we have seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental health benefits. That runs contrary to the data Haugen has provided. That data hasnt stopped Facebooks desire to widen their reach among kids, which they call a "valuable and untapped audience. It wasnt until these documents were revealed that Facebook put their "Instagram for kids" project on hold. As we look at the totality of the revelations, this is really the bottom line: Its not just that Facebooks business model incentivises capturing attention at all costs, its that they take it to extremes. Its a choice. Some have given Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt or claim he doesnt truly grasp the damage his company has caused. But that excuse can no longer credibly be made. This is why calls for regulation are becoming increasingly popular. Haugen asked for this during her testimony: "The choices being made by Facebooks leadership are disastrous for children, for public safety, for democracy that is why we must demand Facebook make changes." Haugens call for changes to Section 230, increased transparency, and oversight of Facebooks engagement-based algorithm seemed to get widespread, bipartisan agreement among Senators. Facebook should be shaken by this hearing. It didnt have the usual partisan bickering or Republican senators pushing alternate realities. The senators mostly spoke with one voice. This was the most clarity Ive seen on whether or not Congress has the intention to regulate Facebook. While this is certainly a moment of reckoning, only time will tell if it will also be a moment of accountability. Read More Inflated egos are everywhere at Tory conference starting with Johnson | Tom Peck Why celebrate Black History Month? | Nadine White The Supreme Courts conservatives could threaten decades of precedent Levelling up? The Tories are only exacerbating poverty and inequality | Vince Cable The Tories are losing their grip as the party of law and order | Andrew Grice Opinion: Why Bidens promise of relentless diplomacy looks so hypocritical New York's largest health provider announced Monday it has fired 1,400 employees who refused the COVID-19 vaccine before the state's mandate deadline. The remaining 76,000 employees have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Northwell Health said in a statement obtained by the New York Times that no patient care has been disrupted, and it is currently hiring to fill the newly vacant positions. NEW YORK HOSPITALS FACE STAFFING SHORTAGES AS DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR UNVACCINATED WORKERS TO BE FIRED Northwell Health is proud to announce that our workforce the largest in New York State is 100 percent vaccinated. This allows us to continue to provide exceptional care at all of our facilities, without interruption and remain open and fully operational, Northwell said in its statement. Northwell has taken a rapid, aggressive approach to move successfully toward full vaccination compliance while maintaining continuity of care and ensuring that our high standard of patient safety is not compromised in any way. We thank the vast majority of our employees who did the right thing and got vaccinated. All employees were required to be vaccinated by Sept. 27 regardless of whether they interacted with patients. It is unclear what jobs the employees who were terminated held. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The state mandate requiring vaccination was passed in August, under then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. His successor, Kathy Hochul, has kept the mandate in place. Initially, the mandate said it would allow for medical exemptions and not religious ones. However, the statement was taken to court, and a federal judge filed a temporary halt on the order. The judge will rule on whether religious exemptions are protected under the Constitution on Oct. 12. Washington Examiner Videos Tags: News, Healthcare, Health, New York, New York City, Kathy Hochul Original Author: Misty Severi Original Location: New York's largest health provider fires 1,400 employees who refuse vaccine American Professors win Nobel Prize in Medicine USA, Tue, 05 Oct 2021 Supratik Mitra On Monday, American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries of temperature and touch receptors, which could pave the way for new painkillers, according to the award-giving body. The Nobel Assembly at Swedens Karolinska Institute said, Their findings have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us. This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain. the assembly added. The groundbreaking discoveries, which were made independently of one another, sparked a frenzy of study that resulted in a fast improvement in our knowledge of how our nervous system detects heat, cold, and mechanical stimuli, according to the assembly. The prize, which has been awarded for almost a century now, is worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.15 million). In the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel, the famous Nobel Awards for accomplishments in science, literature, and peace were established and sponsored. They've been given out since 1901, with the economics prize being given out for the first time in 1969. The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, which the two laureates received equally this year, is sometimes overshadowed by the Nobel Prizes for Literature and Peace, and it's sometimes more well-known winners. However, the COVID-19 epidemic has brought medicine into the limelight, and some experts have proposed that individuals who create coronavirus vaccinations might be rewarded this year or in the future years. The pandemic, on the other hand, continues to loom over the Nobel Prize ceremonies, which are normally drenched in old-world pomp and glitz. The banquet in Stockholm has been rescheduled for the second year in a row due to continuing concerns about the virus and foreign travel. Ardem Patapoutian is a Professor at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, has researched at the University of California, San Francisco, and the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. He was born in 1967 to Armenian parents in Lebanon and migrated to Los Angeles as a child. David Julius, New York-born, is 65, and a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, after earlier work at Columbia University, in New York. Mamata reclaims Bhawanipur and West Bengal's throne West Bengal, Tue, 05 Oct 2021 Supratik Mitra Another victory for Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress cementing their position in West Bengal politics. Mamta Banerjee won the Bhawanipur by-election by the highest-ever margin since 2011. It also represents a revival from the Nandigram loss, in the hands of BJPs Suvendu Adhikari. The BJP gave it their all, putting up a valiant battle against Mamata. Even though the BJP concluded, no one in the party would conceive of repeating April and making history. In Nandigram, the perception and reality were different. The party could rely on Suvendu Adhikari's grassroots connections and organisational abilities. However, BJPs hope to upset the TMC in the by-polls failed. Chief Minister Mamta polled 84,709 votes at the Bhabanipur constituency, while her BJP counterpart only polled 24,396 votes. The TMC led to winning the elections with a record margin of 58,832 votes. The TMC also won the other two seats having by-elections in West Bengal with Amirul Islam winning in Samserganj and Jakir Hossain winning in Jangipur. Since 2011, Bhabanipur has been a TMC stronghold. When Mamata deposed the Left in the 2011 Assembly elections, it gained this seat. Mamata also won the by-election that followed. In 2016, she easily defeated Bhawanipur for the second time. The TMC won seven wards in Bhawanipur in the 2015 Kolkata municipal elections, while the BJP only managed to win ward number 70. However, ward 70 BJP councillor Asim Basu eventually defected to the TMC. All of these councillors faced a difficult task in ensuring a landslide victory for the party's leader since anything less would have lost them their seats in the corporation elections. Firhad Hakim, a cabinet minister, faced a serious battle as well since he aspired to keep the coveted office of Kolkata Mayor. A unified Trinamool ensured that the party's core voters showed up at the voting stations. As a result, ward 77 had the highest voter turnout. TMC volunteers also secured the highest voter participation from slums across the assembly seat, where residents have remained loyal to the party due to the Mamata government's various social initiatives. In contrast, voter participation was noticeably low in three wards 63, 70, and 74 where the BJP was counting on a high number of non-Bengali votes. The BJP accused the opposition of voter intimidation and "fake voting." In a post-result press release, it said, Violence was perpetrated upon BJP workers by TMC cadres with support of TMC ministers, who were openly intimidating common people from coming out to vote. Sadly, the Election Commission did nothing to allay the fears of voters. The polls, particularly in Bhawanipur, were marred by rampant fake voting. However, BJP has not lost out on everything. Rather than risk placing a heavyweight against Mamata, the BJP selected Priyanka Tibrewal, whose tenacious legal struggle in the High Court resulted in a CBI investigation into the alleged post-election violence. The BJP intended to keep the post-election violence fresh in voters' minds throughout the campaign by using Tibrewal. This was a good strategy for the party since after the embarrassing loss in the Assembly election, it is important for the BJP to re-energise the ground force before next years municipal elections and Panchayat elections due in 2023, which in turn would be a prelude to the 2024 general elections. The EC which had come under fire from the incumbent TMC government, for its decision of conducting the 2021 Assembly elections in 8 phases amidst the pandemic, came under fire this time from the BJP accusing the EC of siding with Mamta. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Viewed of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Photo: Olaser/Getty Images Plane-on-animal violence has existed since the invention of aircraft. One of the Wright brothers struck a bird while flying over a cornfield in Ohio in 1905. The brother survived; no word about the bird, but we can assume the worst. In 1909, a mustachioed Frenchman named Louis Bleriot was preparing to fly across the English Channel when a farm dog ran into his planes propeller and was blended to death. In 1960, a turboprop in Boston taxied down the runway, took off, promptly ingested a flock of starlings, and crashed into Boston Harbor, killing 62 passengers. As the Boston incident demonstrates, plane-versus-animal warfare is not unidirectional. As the Boston incident also demonstrates, an airplane triumph of engineering, symbol of civilizations ambitions can be felled by a handful of short-bodied songbirds. Despite our machines, we are far from invincible. A glance at the data confirms this conjecture. Untold hundreds of people have perished as a result of interactions between airplanes and fauna. The record-keeping, especially prior to 1960, is murky, and the media coverage since then is spotty. Manufacturers like Boeing have plenty of incentive to downplay stories that reveal the death toll a lone duck can exact from a 90,000-pound airplane. Instead, it is the heroic tales that tend to rise to the surface, like the crisp winter afternoon in 2009 when a plane flying out of New York encountered a flock of birds, experienced engine failure, and was safely brought to rest on the Hudson River by a pilot who was later played in a movie by Tom Hanks. The dark side of avian-human relations came to my attention due to a friend of mine who works at the Museum of Natural History. Through him I learned that some of the taxidermied birds in the collection came from JFK Airport, where they had been killed in the 1990s by authorities responsible for controlling wildlife in and around the airport. I thought it considerate that the program had donated its victims to the museum. Yes, those birds had died so New Yorkers could fly to Orlando for a weekend, but in exchange they had obtained immortality in one of our great halls of education. It had also never occurred to me that my local airport was patrolled by sharpshooters scanning the skies for avian threats, but of course it was. JFK was built on marshland, and marshland attracts wildlife. When it comes to aircraft, wildlife is no different than engine failure or hijackers or extreme weather or negligent maintenance. It is a peril that must be addressed. Questions about the modes of address are what led me to the Federal Aviation Administration website, and ultimately to the 4-MB, 362-page PDF titled Wildlife Hazard Management at Airports: A Manual for Airport Personnel. The document, published in 2005, had been prepared by Edward C. Cleary and Richard A. Dolbeer. Two men possibly Cleary and Dolbeer themselves were featured on the cover standing on a patch of grass beside an airfield. Behind them, and at alarmingly close range, a commercial jet roared into the sky. The men appeared to be taking some kind of a measurement with sticks and wire. Photo: FAA/USDA Id originally planned to skim the PDF for details that I could store in my mental file cabinet for future reference but wound up reading it straight through, like a novel. This was an unexpected victory: In the weeks leading up to the PDF I endured a total attentional crisis as a result of spending too much time on my phone, and none of my attempts at rehabilitation had been successful. It wasnt until the PDF that my neurons started firing. The mind works in mysterious ways. Or perhaps not. Terror, after all, is a reliable stimulant. The stated objective of the FAA manual is basically this: Here is how to make an airport animal-proof so that everyone can fly safely. The conclusion I drew while reading it was quite different; something more like: Oh fuck, its pretty much impossible to make an airport animal-proof, but here is a mixture of disturbingly analogue and unbelievably complex systems and protocols that interlock in myriad ways and are subject to every form of human error imaginable. Best of luck. In fine government document form, the PDF features a pretable of contents acknowledging the existence, on the following page, of an actual table of contents which itself is broken down by chapter, section, and sub-section. An organizational dream. Chapter One kicks off with a dizzying photograph of a British Airways jet soaring over Hungary while surrounded by a cloud of birds, each animal endowed with the lethal potential of a surface-to-air missile. Throughout history, humans have been intrigued and inspired by the beauty of birds and their ability to fly, the report begins. The smaller animals, of course, have a critical chronological advantage: while birds took to the sky some 150 million years in the past, humans only ventured into airspace a little over a century ago. But according to Cleary and Dolbeer, time isnt a problem. The problem boils down to a simple syllogism: Air travel has increased in recent years and Animal populations near airports have increased, according to the manual therefore Animal-airplane conflicts have increased in recent years The first sentence is a no-brainer. Globalization has ramped up air travel, especially with the proliferation of budget airlines. (Got $30? You can fly nonstop from Philadelphia to Puerto Rico.) The second sentence may surprise you, unless youve been following urban and suburban environmental policy over the past few decades. But its true: Some wildlife populations have grown thanks to protections put in place to curb our gleeful destruction of the planet. Whats good for the biosphere, however, is bad for airports. According to the most recent data, wildlife strikes the FAAs term of art killed close to 300 people and destroyed more than 271 aircrafts worldwide from 1988 to 2020. Just this year, a charter flight carrying members of the Utah Jazz blew an engine when it hit a flock of birds. The impact was violent enough that some of the players onboard began texting family to say goodbye; eventually the blood-soaked plane was able to make a safe emergency landing. Across the nations tarmacs, wildlife flourishes. Florida is haunted by the menace of airplane-curious alligators. Feral dogs across the nation lurk beneath piles of airport construction debris, awaiting their chance to dart into the path of an oncoming 747. In New Zealand, earthworms wriggle en masse onto the runways after heavy rains, attracting gulls. Raccoons, rabbits, caribou, foxes, and cattle: all potentially death-causing, though the vast majority of incidents are bird-related. Scientists even have a special term for the anatomical goo that spatters across a plane after it strikes an animal: snarge. Right off the bat, it would seem to a layperson as though the FAA report were ignoring an obvious angle. Instead of blaming animals, why not blame the inadequacies of aircraft? After all, isnt it strange that nobody has figured out how to build a commercial jet capable of besting a pigeon? But aircraft design, of course, lies outside the purview of this federal agency the government doesnt build planes; private companies build planes. So instead, the FAA turns its gaze to taming, razing, and denuding the airport sphere of fauna. Habitat modification is what the manual calls it. In essence, habitat modification means making an airport as inhospitable to critters as possible. No trees, no standing water, no perching sites, no loafing sites (ledges, I-beams), no edible plants, no unattended dumpsters, no canals. A 10-to-12-foot fence topped with barbed wire should encircle runways. Drains may be introduced in areas of high earthworm density to prevent invertebrate invasions. Rapid drainage solutions should be incorporated to avoid the emergence of impromptu ponds following heavy rain. Exclusion techniques such as these, however, are mere table stakes when it comes to airport safety. And this is where the report gets creative. Photo: FAA/USDA Where fences fail and they do, they do active measures must be introduced. A cannon designed to mimic the sound of a shotgun blast may be scheduled to detonate at intervals throughout the day. An artificial grape flavor known as methyl anthranilate may be sprayed across turf. (Birds hate artificial grape flavor.) Woodchucks and prairie dogs may be gassed. A trained falcon may be deployed as an assassin to wipe out lesser birds. Deer may be shot with non-ricocheting bullets from a rifle equipped with a night-vision scope and silencer. (When practical, the manual adds, any deer meat should be donated to charity. How grateful those charities must be!) A taxidermied coyote may be placed in a strategic location to scare off geese though the report also notes that such effigies must be used sparingly and moved to various locations to prevent habituation because even the dumbest goose wont be fooled for long by a coyote that never blinks. Reading a government-issued handbook as a literary work is an act of reckless malpractice, but I dont think Edward C. Cleary and Richard A. Dolbeer will mind if I compliment them on the lucidity of their prose and the splendor of their euphemisms (the carcasses of strike-involved birds are politely referred to as safety investigation material; employees are supposed to spatula the snarge into an envelope and mail it to a Smithsonian lab in D.C. for identification). And after hundreds of suggestions about oral intoxicants and propane cannons and noose traps, the report ends on a philosophical note, with a photograph of a plane cresting a setting sun and the reminder that Birds and aircraft will always share the skies, and there will always be the risk of collisions. If you cant stand the risk, get out of the aircraft cabin. Isnt that building leaning dangerously to the right? Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Perhaps its just a coincidence that three members of the Supreme Courts dominant conservative bloc have complained publicly in recent weeks about criticism of SCOTUS for its increasingly partisan and ideological tendencies. After all, liberal-bloc stalwart Justice Stephen Breyer preceded Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Amy Coney Barrett in kvetching about media and activist incomprehension of the Courts high-minded, almost holy mission. But its possible the conservatives are anticipating some decisions in the term that began on October 4 which could ratchet up criticism of the Courts willingness to overturn precedents on behalf of a partisan or ideological agenda, and they are trying to discredit such criticism early and often. It could indeed be an epochal term. Voxs Ian Millhiser has identified no fewer than nine issues on which the Court could hand down a landmark decision. But as detailed below, there are three areas where the potential for a radical departure in constitutional law is especially high. In all three, moreover, the Courts rightward lurch reflects not just trends in conservative legal circles, but priorities of the Republican Party on matters in which the two major parties are almost completely polarized. The long-awaited reversal of abortion rights To cite the best-known example first, the conservative majority of the Court is poised to reverse or at least significantly undermine 47 years of precedents supporting a constitutional right to previability abortions in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, a case arising from a Mississippi law banning all abortions (including those resulting from rape or incest) prior to 15 weeks of pregnancy. As in other areas, the slow accumulation of conservative power on the Court has finally reached the point of sustaining a leap backward in time: Thomas and Alito have long telegraphed their contempt for Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. But its the addition of the three Trump justices, all of them carefully vetted by the Federalist Society, that has brought us to this juncture. Elections have consequences. If there was any doubt where the Court was going on abortion, it may have been signaled by the casual willingness of five conservative justices to let an even more radical Texas law take effect this September, on highly technical grounds involving the laws strange enforcement provisions. Its as though SCOTUS isnt even bothering to hide its path toward a decision in Dobbs that will truly roil the nation. Here comes Second Amendment absolutism Just as the 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller revolutionized Second Amendment jurisprudence by recognizing a personal individual right to bear arms, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen could sweep away governments power to regulate weapon possession and use. The accession of Kavanaugh and Barrett to the Court has brought the latter-day Second Amendment absolutism sweeping the Republican Party and the conservative movement right up to the brink of a landmark decision that could strike down a variety of gun-licensing requirements, extending gun rights beyond self-defense in the home to any number of other circumstances. The Court probably wont embrace the ultimate radical idea of the Second Amendment being designed to keep open the possibility of an armed revolution against the federal government, but constitutional law could be on that path. A large blow to agency regulatory powers could finally be struck There is probably no cause dearer to the hearts of conservative legal theorists than overturning Chevron deference, a long-standing precedent whereby federal courts give a wide berth to agency interpretations of mandates set out in congressional laws. This goal also meshes with Republican political priorities, since its chief target is the kind of regulatory powers exercised by specialized federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Labor, which many businesses resent and resist. This deference is endangered by a potential decision in American Hospital Association v. Becerra, which involves Medicare reimbursement rates for certain prescription drugs. As Millhiser says, if the Court overturns Chevron deference, it will represent an earthquake and a huge inducement to litigation challenging all sorts of critical federal regulatory powers. If SCOTUS issues sweeping decisions in all three of these areas, the term will go down in history as representing the most audacious burst of judicial activism since the Warren Court. Should it come to pass, the composition and direction of the Court will finally become as vital an election issue for Democrats as it has already become for Republicans. Three Steps to a Successful Safety Conference In-person events are back and after a year and a half, you might need to dust off your travel bags and be reminded of the steps to a successful event. In-person events are back! And while that is super exciting, it's also incredibly stressful for those who have not traveled in over a year and a half due to COVID-19. For those who are attending the in-person National Safety Council Safety Congress & Expo next week in Orlando, Florida, there are a few steps you might need to be reminded of in order to have a successful safety conference. Here's a few that have helped me in the past. Create a Schedule While this may seem like common sense, it is of the utmost importance to have a schedule at a safety conference where so much is going on and there is a lot offered to attendees. In order to ensure that you sit in on all the sessions you want to see, make a list of the top session topics that you wouldn't want to miss the chance to see liveand maybe even have the chance to chat with the speaker after the session. This will help you to narrow down the sessions that you definitely want to put in your schedule. When creating your schedule, don't forget to keep some time open to walk the expo floor, catch up with other safety professionals at the show and stop to eat lunch! (Yes! I definitely build this into my schedule so I make sure to eat!) Pack the Essentials When traveling anywhere, it is easy to forget the basics, so here's a good checklist for you when traveling to NSC's Congress & Expo next week. This video provides viewers with an understanding of full vehicle crash testing and how results impact future design and testing efforts. [NIOSH Pub. No. 2017-143-(2)] Inside the Washington, D.C., beltway, scientists and researchers at the Naval Medical Research Center work diligently to combat malaria for the American war fighter and the global population, as shown in this 2017 U.S. Department of Defense video. Nine in ten people breathe air that is not safe. Air pollution is an invisible killer that we may face on a simple walk home or even in our homes. In this 2017 video, the World Health Organization says, Help breathe life back into our cities and take action to protect our health and climate at http://BreatheLife2030.org. As European gas prices have continued their surge throughout the past couple of weeks, the role and importance of coal has sparked a new wave of discussion across the continent. The ideological split will drive a wedge between the European Union, a long-time champion of a coal phaseout, and corporate interests as market conditions favour gas-to-coal switching. The switching ratio has slid in coals favour in the last weeks of June 2021 and judging by the current futures structure, it will stay in place until at least Q2-2022. Thus, this winter might be coals last entry into limelight, presumably the last spark in the most polluting fossil fuels more than 200-year long history in Europe. Europes coal exports have been hovering around the 12 million tons per month mark for three months already, moving back to levels last seen in Q4 2019. With coal demand increasing across the planet, the supply tightness has seen European coal prices follow the global appreciation trend as of end-September, API2 Rotterdam coal futures have already breached the $230 per metric tonne threshold, up $80 per metric tonne in September alone. Rotterdam API2 coal prices for Calendar year 2022 have been trading around $170 per metric ton, more than triple of last years annual average, implying that the tapering off might be a lot more gradual than expected. On the other hand, TTF gas futures will slide back much quicker than coal over the second half of 2022, however that is a different story already. The recent allure of coal also showcases the deficiencies of the carbon pricing mechanism. Whilst the EUA ETS December 2021 carbon futures moved above 60 per metric tonne in early September and have hovered around 62 per mt since, the rise in coal generation in key European powerhouses such as Germany have overall failed to trigger a carbon price increase that would be substantial enough to disincentivize coal utilization. Instead, stagnant carbon prices have rendered coal increasingly profitable amidst runaway gas prices by now, for every megawatt-hour of energy that a standard German plant operator would produce, the difference between coal and gas as energy source is already around 40 per MWh. Moreover, up until early September electricity prices in most Northwest European countries have been slightly above coal generation costs, since then, however, coal is by far the most profitable fossil fuel to use. There are, however, limitations to gas-to-coal switching as countries like Germany could attest in those places that coal is a suitable replacement for natural gas, the switch has most likely already happened, yet utility companies would run into trouble by trying to ramp up coal utilization even above that. In Germany, the usual suspect when following coal-to-gas switching trends, coal is expected to gain some 10 GW of market share in the upcoming months, however, it cannot move higher because of overall installed capacity and because the country cannot just stop running on natural gas. For instance, Europes ammonia-producing plants (and more widely its fertilizer industry) needs natural gas and because of its overall dearth over the past couple of weeks, it was forced to curb production. Related: Gas Prices In Europe Are Now The Equivalent Of $205 Oil There are, of course, several factors, that might drag down the current coal hype. First and foremost, an impeding import boom to India and sustained buying from China will maintain enough upward pressure on coal prices for them to move even higher than they are currently. Second, unusually strong rainfall and COVID limitations have limited Indonesias production, meaning that the Asian global pull would get even stronger on the back of supply shortages. Third, carbon prices have so far not reacted as strongly as they could, but any drastic hike would impact coal much more than it would natural gas. Fourth, gas prices might finally decline amidst some sort of EU-Russia deal on increased pipeline supplies. All this might be a tangible factor for the future of coal in future, however as of today they are not despite coal having the lowest calorific value amongst fossil fuels and having an efficiency rate when burned that is some 10-15 p.p. lower than that of natural gas (with coal usually assumed to be around 35%). Given the natural limitations to further coal utilization, in Germany the main interaction in the upcoming weeks will be between coal and wind. Coal-fired electricity generation rose to multi-year highs in the first weeks of September when every single day saw wind generation only a fraction of its usual strength and speed. Now, the situation has changed somewhat as wind started blowing again, dropping hard coal generation to an average generation rate of 7.5-8 GWh, still some 30-35% higher than at this time of the year in 2020. Yet still, Germanys travails are far from over, especially with December looming large on the horizon. According to preliminary plans, that month alone three nuclear plants will stop operating in Germany Brokdorf, Grohnde and Gundremmingen with a combined (non-intermittent) capacity of 4 GW, representing the penultimate wave of nuclear phase-out closures before 2022 sees the last 3 reactors decommissioned. Such substantial capacity would need to be replaced with either coal or gas, with profitability skewed overwhelmingly towards the former. Judging by the public utterances of Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner for Climate Action, Brussels sees no future in coal and is hoping for a gradual disappearance of it, stating there will not be any significant mining industry in Europe beyond 2040. The current coal demand surge should force the European Union to reconsider its position on coal as polluting as it might be, it could still help alleviate energy crunches across Europe when the situation demands it. As things stand today, the upcoming four years would see at least seven countries phasing out coal: Portugal (2021), France (2022), UK (2024), Hungary, Italy, Ireland and Greece (all 2025). As Europe has seen nine consecutive year-on-year increases in aggregate coal burns, perhaps more switching flexibility and less bans could still be the way forward. By Gerald Jansen for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: The natural gas crunch has increased global oil demand by 500,000 bpd, the chief executive of Saudi Aramco said at this week's Energy Intelligence Forum. "There is higher demand," Nasser said, as quoted by Bloomberg. "There is some shift we have seen from gas to liquids, especially in certain markets in Asia." Energy Intelligence quoted the executive as saying that he expected oil demand to reach 99 million bpd by the end of this year and rise further to top 100 million bpd in 2022. This appears to have strengthened Aramco's resolve to boost its maximum sustained production capacity to 13 million bpd. "Our maximum sustained capacity from 12 to 13 million (bpd)... is not going to come to full capacity at 13 million bpd until 2027," Nasser said, however, as quoted by Reuters. Aramco also has plans to boost its oil trading business, Nasser said, from 5.5 million bpd currently to 8 million bpd in five years. Brent crude jumped to over $81 a barrel yesterday after OPEC+ said it will not add more barrels to its monthly production besides the 400,000 bpd already agreed upon earlier this year. While not surprising, the cartel's decision went against some expectations, or rather hopes, that it will step in to compensate for the strong rebound in demand for oil while supply globally remained tight. Goldman Sachs recently updated its fourth-quarter oil price forecast, now expecting Brent to reach $90 per barrel amid the energy crunch. Bank of America went a step further, warning that crude could hit $100 per barrel by year-end because of the energy crisis if the winter in the northern hemisphere turns out to be extra cold. BofA is bullish on oil not only in the near term, but in the longer term as well, due to the chronic underinvestment in new supply, driven by last year's crisis and the net-zero commitments of energy companies and governments. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Earlier this year, oil began to fall out of favor with traders as the focus on energy attention increasingly shifted towards renewable power and the energy transition. But then last month, an energy crunch squeezed Europe. It then spread to China and India, and now there are warnings that it may make its way to the U.S. And the price of oil has gone flying. Speculators Rush into Oil as Energy Crunch Worsens Reuters John Kemp reported in his latest weekly column on hedge fund oil buying that large oil speculators had purchased the equivalent of 42 million barrels across the most traded oil and fuel contracts last week, bringing the total for the last six weeks to 170 million barrels. This, Kemp noted, reversed more than half of net sales totaling 268 million barrels accumulated over the previous ten weeks. The buying is set to continue this week, too unless speculators decide to take profits, after yesterday OPEC+ decided to not add more barrels to its monthly production boost of 400,000 bpd despite calls to do so from the IEA and Washington. There had been reports OPEC+ might add 800,000 bpd in November and no barrels in December, but the group eventually decided to keep the rate of additions unchanged. Related: WTI Crude Oil Price Hits 7-Year High As a result, Brent crude ended trade on Monday at over $81 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at close to $78 per barrel. At the time of writing, both were still higher after dipping slightly following the first reaction of the market to the OPEC+ announcement. Demand for oil is set to continue rising in the months to come, not only because of the continuing global economic recovery but because of the energy crunch that has sent natural gas prices so high it is now cheaper for some utilities to switch to oil derivatives from gas to generate electricity. According to Aramco, this crunch could see additional oil demand of half a million barrels daily. Supply, meanwhile, remains constrained, and its not just OPEC+s fault. U.S. oil producers have shown remarkable restraint amid recovering oil prices as they prioritized shareholder returns over production growth. And this priority will remain, according to the chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources. Everybodys going to be disciplined, regardless whether its $75 Brent, $80 Brent, or $100 Brent, Scott Sheffield told the Financial Times. All the shareholders that Ive talked to said that if anybody goes back to growth, they will punish those companies. I dont think the world can rely much on US shale, he said. Its really under Opec control, he added. No wonder, then, that short positions on oil have fallen to the lowest since late 2019, Reuters Kemp reported, while new bearish positions added 41 million barrels of oil equivalent over last week. This may continue this week, too, as there are precious few bearish factors at play for oil right now. Related: The Real Reason OPEC+ Refused To Boost Production Further Its true that Britains PM has declared that all electricity in the country would be generated from clean energy sources by 2035 and that the European Parliament has urged the Commission to reduce the EUs dependence on Russian gas, but for now, these are both in the realm of wishful thinking rather than reality. Short-Term Outlook For Oil Prices Remains Bullish In other words, the short-term outlook for oil prices is rather bullish. A nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran could limit the upward potential for oil, but that deal is still far from certain as the two sides have yet to meet again for another round of negotiations. A change of priorities in U.S. shale would also have a bearish effect on prices but based on what Pioneers CEO told the FT, this is unlikely to happen, at least among the public companies in the field. Smaller, private independents could boost production to take advantage of the price trend but just how fast this would affect global prices remains to be seen. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: Unlike in previous years, the U.S. shale patch will not have a large say in where oil prices will be going in the coming months. Currently, control over the markets marginal oil supply and oil prices is firmly in the hands of the OPEC+ alliance as U.S. shale producers continue to stick to discipline in spending. Thats the belief not only of analysts and the largest oil trading houses in the world, but also of the largest U.S. shale operator itselfPioneer Natural Resources. U.S. oil producers are keeping a never-seen-before discipline in spending on new supply, preferring instead to reward shareholders and attract investors with higher dividends and healthier balance sheets. Even though the benchmark U.S. oil price, WTI Crude, has consistently traded above $60 a barrel for nearly six months now, the shale patch is not rushing into overproduction. Not again. The discipline in spending and new drilling activity is one of the reasons for a tightening oil market while demand is rebounding from the pandemic. Yet, unlike in previous boom-and-bust cycles, U.S. shale producers have very little control (or none at all) over where prices are going because American operators, especially the listed firms, have little interest in growing production. Their primary concern now is how to attract investors, how to access capital, and how to cope with the U.S. Administrations planned or proposed restrictions on the oil and gas industry. Everybodys going to be disciplined, regardless whether its $75 Brent, $80 Brent, or $100 Brent, Scott Sheffield, CEO at Pioneer Natural Resources, told the Financial Times. All the shareholders that Ive talked to said that if anybody goes back to growth, they will punish those companies, said the chief executive of the top operator in the Permian. According to Sheffield, U.S. shale producers will not reach, ever again, the record annual production growth of 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) seen in 2018 and 2019 just before the pandemic. For a couple of years, the shale patch may see annual growth at a maximum of 1 million bpd, Pioneer Natural Resources CEO told FT. Global oil supply cannot rely on U.S. shale production for significantly more production, Sheffield says, noting that Its really under Opec control. In the short term, American producers are not expected to add meaningful volumes to global supply, and the direction of oil prices is in the hands of OPEC+, the worlds top traders say. Expect no meaningful extra supply from the U.S. this winter, Mike Muller, the head of Asia for the largest independent oil trader, Vitol, said on Sunday during a webinar hosted by Gulf Intelligence. For this particular winter control over prices is pretty much in the hands of OPEC+, Muller said. The rig count is simply not there for production to catch up in a way that would be necessary if you needed extra oil, he added. The U.S. rig count is rising, but not at a fast enough pace to warrant much additional supply as higher drilling activity offsets production declines. The U.S. shale industry is showing very strong discipline. Oil prices are roughly double what they were a year ago and despite that were not seeing a huge increase in drilling, Ben Luckock, Co-Head of Oil Trading at commodity trading giant Trafigura, told Bloomberg in an interview last week. Oil production in Texas increased, but at a significantly slower pace, according to executives at exploration and production firms in the Q3 Dallas Fed Energy Survey. An executive at one producer said in comments to the survey: We are encouraged by the restraint shown by U.S. upstream operators. By restricting capital expenditure, we are healing historic overproduction of both oil and natural gas. We believe investors will be attracted back into the E&P space if, as an industry, we continue on this path for at least a year or two more to deleverage balance sheets and return capital to investors. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: Following the OPEC+ decision to maintain its production increases at 400,000 bpd per month, very few bearish factors remain in oil markets to keep prices from charging higher. Energy Chart of the Week - China is set for a tumultuous winter as a nationwide power crunch is eating into Chinese demand for commodities, compelling analysts to revisit their forecasts for its 2021 economic performance. - Two-thirds of the nationwide total, 19 provinces have introduced power rationing over September, mandating industry participants in refining and other segments to decrease production. - The ongoing global gas shortage, having already pushed spot Asian LNG prices to some 35 per mmBtu, and simultaneously surging coal prices, have been the prime suspects behind this, although the Communist Partys ban on electricity generators to increase bills for consumers also played a large part. - Chinese authorities seem to be open to relaxing safety rules in the countrys manifold coal mines so as to alleviate the energy crunch before the official winter heating season starts 15 November. Energy Market Movers French oil major TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) is seeking to sell a third of its 60% stake in Laggan Tormore, a major UK North Sea gas field, in a deal that is expected to generate $300 million. is seeking to sell a third of its 60% stake in Laggan Tormore, a major UK North Sea gas field, in a deal that is expected to generate $300 million. Qatar Petroleum placed an order with Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua for four new LNG tankers to be built for $760 million, the first batch of shipbuilding orders for the upcoming North Field Expansion. placed an order with Chinese shipyard Hudong-Zhonghua for four new LNG tankers to be built for $760 million, the first batch of shipbuilding orders for the upcoming North Field Expansion. US investment firm Stonepeak stated it would purchase shipping company Teekay LNG (NYSE:TGP) in a deal worth $6.2 billion Stonepeak offered an 8% premium over Teekays shares in a sign it expects LNG shipping to remain profitable for a prolonged period. Oil Prices Today, Tuesday, October 05, 2021 The October OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting brought no surprising announcements as all participating states agreed that sticking to the pre-charted course would be in the collective interest of the group. As a consequence, crude prices rose to their highest in 3 years (with WTI moving in close to a 7-year peak) as the December ICE Brent contract was already trading above $82 per barrel. Whilst there remain downside risks that could throw cold water on the price rally, most notably Chinas power crunch that could bite into October refining rates, it will take several days if not weeks until the market starts noticing those signs. Saudi Aramco Maintains Ambitious Plans. Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) expects to hit 13 million b/d production capacity by 2027, up 1mbpd from current levels of sustained output, largely by means of ramping up offshore production from the Marjan, Berri and Zuluf fields. Rosneft and Vitol Find One Another Again. Russias national oil company Rosneft (MCX:ROSN) has reportedly signed a new long-term supply deal with trading firm Vitol, stipulating supplies of 9 million tons per year, the first such deal since their 2013 contract. ExxonMobil Hopes to Stay Key Qatar LNG Partner. As Qatar Petroleum is getting closer to picking its partners in the 30 billion North Field Expansion development plan, US major ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) has been expressing its certainty that it would land that deal. Related: Rapid Demand Recovery Hints At Even Higher Oil Prices Mexico Wants Power Monopoly Revival. The government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador put forward a constitutional change proposal that would return Mexico to market conditions before 2014, i.e. providing the state utility company CFE with a 54% market share and preferential treatment. Gazprom Starts Nord Stream 2 Tests. Russian gas giant Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) has started filling up one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes for tests as Germany has reportedly asked the gas conduits operator company to provide assurances that it would duly operate the pipeline, in a sign that the regulatory approval might not be that far away. Chevron Buys into Europes Biofuel Market. Committed to ramp up its renewables-focused investments, US major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) has bought the entire base oil business of Finnish refiner Neste Oil (HE:NESTE), taking over all current operations along with a Bahraini subsidiary without specifying the price. Canada Escalates Line 5 Dispute with US. Canada formally invoked a 1977 pipelines treaty with the US to trigger political talks over the fate of Line 5, a 540kbpd crude pipeline operated by Enbridge (TSE:ENB) that runs from Wisconsin to Ontario, as the state of Michigan intends to shut down the pipeline over fears of potential leakage. Petrobras Pays Almost $1 Billion in US Fines. Brazils national oil company Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) stated it had paid $853 million to the US Department of Justice on the back of a protracted corruption probe started off by the Car Wash investigation, closing the probe for good. BHP to Supply Nickel to Toyota-Panasonic. Australian miner BHP (NYSE:BHP) will supply nickel sulfate from Australia to a battery-producing joint venture of Japanese firms Toyota (TYO:7203) and Panasonic (TYO:6752), its second strategic deal following a similar nickel supply deal with Tesla signed this summer. Phillips 66 Plans to Rebuild Alliance Refinery. Following weeks of speculation about a potential sale or even closure of the Hurricane Ida-damaged Alliance Refinery in Louisiana, US refiner Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) has reportedly decided to repair and restart the 255,000 bpd capacity refinery. European Coal Futures Skyrocket. Rotterdam coal futures, the European pricing benchmark, have risen to an all-time high this week as the 2022 API2 coal futures contract moved into $180 per metric ton as gas prices continue to increase. Petrofac Shares Bloom Following Bribery Ruling. Ironically enough, shares of UK-based oil services firm Petrofac (LON:PFC) surged this week following a London court ruling that ordered it to pay a $95 million penalty for making payments to agents in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to land prospective deals. Libya Wants to Build New Refinery. Libyas unity government and the National Oil Corporation have come forward with a joint declaration of intent on building a $600 million new refinery in Sebha, in the south of the country, reviving a project that was started in the 1980s only to come off the agenda afterward. By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The benchmark European gas prices continue their rally this week, surging to new record highs on Tuesday to an equivalent of $205 a barrel oil, amid a wider energy commodity rally driven by supply concerns ahead of the winter. The gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark gas price for Europe, soared on Tuesday to above 100 euro per MWh for the first time ever, as gas and coal prices rally in Europe and Asia and as nuclear power generation in France fell due to a strike. The energy crisis continues to worsen, and there is no immediate relief in sight, analysts say. "Everything looks set for another week of price climbs, as the fiercely nervous sentiment on the market continues due to fears of reduced supply during the winter. The most traded contracts on the important Dutch TTF hub once again climbed to all-time highs, and could easily continue the uptrend today," Energi Danmark said in a note on Tuesday. According to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, the Dutch TTF gas benchmark traded in the morning in Europe up 12 percent on the day at 106.3/MWh, equivalent to $36/MMBtu or $205 per barrel of crude oil. The market is concerned about energy supply this winter and shrugged off Monday's news from Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the controversial Russia-led gas pipeline, which started filling the first string of the pipeline with gas to get ready for the moment that German authorities grant it an operational license. With an uncertain start of Nord Stream 2, gas prices in Europe continue to surge, also due to forecasts of cold weather in north Europe and lower production of electricity from nuclear generation in France, due to a strike. "All energy prices - coal, oil, gas, power - are up. There doesn't seem to be any let up to the rallying," a gas trader told Reuters. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have boosted production recently, the other cartel members have all seen production fall this year There are now fears in the market that OPEC+ may not actually be capable of increasing production much further A year ago, the oil industry was struggling to stay afloat, with OPEC producers being told they were becoming increasingly irrelevant in a world set on a renewable energy path. Fast forward to today, and analysts are talking about crude oil reaching $100 before the year ends. Now, even if OPEC and its allies wanted to help those who find the current prices too steep, they may not be able to. Earlier this year, the cartel and its allies, led by Russia, decided to return 400,000 bpd to global supply monthly until their combined output level reached pre-pandemic daily averages. At the time, in early summer, it was widely believed that this would be enough to cap international prices. Forecasts about the death of oil demand were abundant even though oil demand was recovering faster than most earlier forecasts had anticipated. And then Europe cried it was out of gas. Inside a month, Brent crude went from $72 to $79, touching $80 a barrel briefly as the shortage of gas, which has spread from Europe to China, spurred even greater demand for oil with natural gas prices so high that oil became a cheaper alternative for power generation. Coal demand also soared sky-high, even in Europe, as utilities struggled to find raw materials to keep the lights on. Once again, OPEC was called upon to add more supply to the market. The most prominent call for OPEC to boost supply came from the United States. Despite rising oil prices, U.S. shale producers have maintained a strict drilling discipline, focusing on shareholder returns rather than production growth. That has kept U.S. oil production rising relatively modestly even while prices at the pump jumped. Then Hurricane Ida wiped out an estimated 30 million barrels of production. Russia became the second-largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States, and the Biden administration turned to OPEC. The cartel did not respond to Washingtons request for more oil, which suggests thats it may stick to the script and continue adding 400,000 bpd each month. Last week, several sources from OPEC told Reuters that the group could hypothetically frontload its production boosts, increasing production by 800,000 bpd one month and then no boost the following month. This would push supply higher, but the scheme would only have a short-lived effect. OPEC+ could have scored a few easy points and rub some noses in the fact the world still needs lots of oil by boosting production by more than 400,000 bpd at todays meeting. In the end, however, the group decided not to. One reason for this decision may have been that implementing such a boost would have been challenging, however. Vortexa reported last month that there is a considerable disparity in the export capacity of different OPEC+ members. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE raised their combined exports by some 1.9 million bpd over the three months to September, all other producers in the group have recorded export declines since the start of the year. The difference between oil production and supply is often neglected, but it is nevertheless essential. Supply can be kept higher than production for some time, making production rates less relevant. However, the Vortexa data suggests that most members of the extended oil cartel lack the means to boost their production and thus add to supply. It was no coincidence that OPEC Secretary-General Mohamed Barkindo said last week that the world cannot afford to underinvest in oil. However strong the green push of Europe, the United States, and more recently China, the recent energy crunch should be proof enough that the world still depends on fossil fuels. The energy crisis in Europe and many parts of the world is a wake-up call, Barkindo said, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal, adding, It all comes back to the issue of investment across the oil-and-gas industry. Yet a lot of OPEC members suffer from chronic underinvestment, aggravated by last years pandemic blow to demand. Banks, too busy making net-zero commitments, have also become less willing to finance oil and gas projects, and the companies normally responsible for these projects - the supermajors and other large oil and gas players - have themselves stepped on the net-zero path. Sure enough, they still invest in their core business with TotalEnergies, for instance, recently unveiling a massive investment plan for Iraq focusing on oil although also including building solar power capacities in OPECs number-two exporter. Yet overall, Big Oil is turning its back on what made it Big Oil. And thats bad news for production capacity. Without that production capacity, even the most West-friendly OPEC member would find it hard to deliver on requests for more oil once barrels in storage have been exhausted. Much of the world may be in for a difficult winter this year. China is sucking out whatever gas, oil, and coal is available to prepare for the cold months. However, even it may not be completely prepared. Europe is on the brink of blackouts unless it secures enough gas - and gas is tight. The U.S. is the safest thanks to its local production, but its not as safe - in terms of energy prices - as it could be. OPEC may come to the rescue, aware that if oil prices rise much further, it will be a problem for everyone. But how long will this rescue mission last if demand continues to rebound as strongly as it has been doing so far? By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Nearly three decades ago the Soviet Union imploded and ceased to exist, leaving the U.S. as the last standing superpower and victor of the Cold War. That, according to many scholars, heralded a new era in international relations, where liberal capitalist democracy and multilateralism under the leadership of the U.S. was the order of the day. Since then, communist China has emerged as not only a major economic power but a threat to U.S. global leadership and the liberal democratic capital free market system. Fierce competition between the worlds two largest economic powers is intensifying as the Communist Party of China uses its economic might to challenge U.S. hegemony and significantly bolster Chinas geopolitical influence. Beijing, to sustain its growth, is determined to secure the natural resources, including crude oil, that its economy requires. For this reason, China has emerged as the worlds top buyer of crude oil. During August 2021, China bought 10.49 million barrels of crude oil per day, an increase of 8% over July but still 6% less than the 11.18 million barrels per day imported for the same month in 2020. Growing fears within Beijing over securing access to the raw materials which are crucial to Chinas economic miracle have seen state-controlled enterprises expand their operations into many resource-rich developing regions. The need to secure access to various commodities, notably coal and crude oil, is being amplified by Beijings trade conflict with Australia and the restrictions it is placing on Australian imports. One region which is garnering considerable attention from Beijing is Latin America. Fiscally weak governments, resource-rich terrain, and a deep economic malaise exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic have created the ideal opportunity for Beijing to build greater regional influence. Former President Trumps decision to ignore Latin America coupled with Washingtons crumbling regional hegemony is amplifying Chinas ability to expand its regional footprint and influence. This comes with the added benefit of being able to directly challenge Washington in a region where it has traditionally enjoyed supremacy. State-controlled Chinese energy companies and miners are boosting their regional presence investing heavily in a wide range of operations, notably in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. This is causing geopolitical tensions in Latin America to ratchet up as many regional governments seek to cash in on the tremendous economic bounty offered by China while maintaining a viable relationship with Washington. Latin Americas third-largest oil producer Colombia is caught in a deep bind. Bogota, which was described by Joe Biden during last years election campaign as a keystone of U.S. policy in Latin America, is seeking a closer relationship with China. The Andean countrys dependence on commodity exports, with crude oil and coal being Colombias two most valuable legitimate exports, makes China a crucial market. This is because China is the worlds largest consumer of coal and importer of petroleum. The government of President Ivan Duque is desperate to reactivate the economy after it was severely impacted by the pandemic with gross domestic product declining by nearly 7% during 2020. Duques administration is facing a massive budgetary black hole with a 2021 budget deficit expected to be around 9% of GDP, sparking considerable desperation to fill the fiscal hole. Colombia Warms Up To China For those reasons, despite Colombia being Washingtons key Latin American ally, President Duque has actively sought closer ties with Beijing. This is because Colombia has pinned a key part of its post-pandemic economic recovery on mining greater quantities of thermal coal, with Bogota pinning its hopes on China receiving additional production despite falling coal consumption globally. In 2019 Duque visited China and then in June 2021 Colombias ambassador to China announced the country seeks to join Beijings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Data from DANE (Spanish), Colombias national statistics agency, shows China is responsible for 11% of the Andean countrys exports and 23% of its imports by value, making it Colombias second most important trading partner. Beijings growing influence in Latin America does not end with attempts to disrupt the long-standing alliance between Washington and Bogota, the authoritarian state is actively extending its influence in neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela. In late 2020 Beijing inked an oil-backed $1.4 billion loan with Ecuadors national government in Quito which essentially restructured around 200 million barrels of oil owed under existing arrangements. Chinese state-controlled oil producers hold a prominent position in Ecuadors onshore upstream petroleum industry holding interests in more than 11 blocks in the Andean countrys Amazonian oilfields. As a result, China is a major player in Ecuadors oil industry with the latest deal strengthening that position. China receives around 13% of the Andean countrys exports, primarily crude oil, making China Ecuadors most important trading partner after the U.S. These developments give Beijing considerable leverage within the South American countrys national government, particularly with crude oil being Ecuadors largest export and responsible for and over 6% of GDP. U.S. Sanctions Push Venezuela Closer To Russia, China and Iran OPEC member Venezuela, where despite possessing the worlds largest oil reserves of 304 billion barrels nearly 95% of the population lives in poverty, is also attracting considerable attention from Beijing. Strict U.S. sanctions, which prevent Caracas from accessing international energy and capital markets, have contributed to an accelerating decline of the petrostates once-mighty oil industry. OPEC data shows that for August 2021 Venezuela pumped on average a mere 523,000 barrels of crude oil per day, roughly a fifth of the more than three million barrels pumped per day during 1998 before Hugo Chavez became president in early 1999. Related: Is Chinas Digital Yuan The Death Knell For Crypto? The implosion of Venezuelas economic backbone, its oil industry, which has sparked the worst modern economic collapse outside of war forced Maduro to turn to Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran for assistance. This created an opportunity for those countries, who are ideologically opposed to the U.S. to strengthen their presence in Latin America, thereby challenging Washingtons regional hegemony. Russia, China, and Iran have established a significant presence in Venezuelas one-time mammoth oil industry securing control of various assets, including oilfields, thereby bolstering their geopolitical power and leverage over oil prices. This includes a voraciously energy-hungry China having made what is estimated to be over $50 billion in oil-backed loan deals to the regime of former President Hugo Chavez. By mid-2019, Moscow and Beijing were dialing down their direct dealings with Caracas and PDVSA because of tough additional sanctions imposed by former President Trump. During 2020 Beijing granted a grace period for the $3 billion of oil payments due 2020 because of the sharp impact of the pandemic and oil price collapse preventing Caracas from meeting its obligations. While Washington remains resolute in its application of sanctions, Beijing, sensing the opportunity created by a crumbling Venezuelan state and Maduros growing desperation, is boosting investment in Venezuela. By September 2021 state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation known as CNPC was sending engineers to an oil blending plant it operates with Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA. CNPC also requested that PDVSA boost production at five joint ventures it has with Venezuelas national oil company in the Orinoco Belt. Caracas is steadfast in its view that, with Chinas assistance, it can substantially lift its crude oil output and be pumping 1.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2021, although OPEC data shows this is highly unlikely. Can The U.S. Retain Its Influence In Latin America? If Washington does not act decisively soon, China will establish a stronger presence in Latin America undermining traditional U.S. hegemony while giving Beijing greater geopolitical influence and access to the regions vast natural resources. It will be difficult for governments in Latin America, with many significantly impacted by the pandemic, to resist Beijings overtures because of the considerable financial and economic rewards that exist to expand trade with China. If Beijing can substantially grow its influence in Latin American it would be a disaster for Washington which finds itself locked in an ever-expanding global tussle with China for world political and economic leadership. Latin America is fast shaping up as a crucial battleground in the clash between the U.S. and China, which has the potential to morph into another Cold War where an autocratic system is challenging the utility of modern free-market democracies. By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The last few days saw the first meeting of the new iteration of the Iraq National Oil Company (INOC), with the agenda being the five-year plan for the oil exploration sector, and interim and future production and export plans, according to the official notes of proceedings. In theory, having a national oil company is a good idea in that it can coordinate otherwise disparate and sometimes counter-productive development initiatives by a range of state entities. In practice, in Iraq, it remains a truism that the greater the concentration of power over oil and money in one place, the more monumental the scale of corruption becomes. This is not the first time that Iraq has created the National Oil Company, with the first iteration being in 1966 before it was incorporated into the Ministry of Oil (MoO) in 1987. In 2018, moves were afoot to re-establish the entity, with the legislation required to do so voted into the statute books on 5 March of that year until a legal challenge derailed the plan. The key reason for this legal challenge was the wide-ranging powers of the proposed INOC allied to the moral ambiguity apparently encouraged in the wording of the law that brought it into being. The powers under the law relating to the creation of the new INOC in 2018 and there is little difference to the law bringing the new 2021 version into being included: controlling all hydrocarbon revenues and determining what is passed to the national treasury; owning all upstream, midstream, downstream, marketing and tanker interests and the associated pipeline and export infrastructure; and being the only authority allowed to sign contracts with international companies investing in oil and gas and other parts of the energy sector. It further included: having the power to create a fund to distribute the profits to every citizen; controlling a new next generations, or sovereign wealth fund, and being able to control investments in strategic projects in areas of the country in which it operates and in industrial and agriculture projects on any land it owns. In this context, the language of the new law passed is highly concerning, given Iraqs history of endemic corruption in business, especially in that part of the business that accounts for around 90 percent of all of state revenues the oil sector. As highlighted back in 2018 by a former senior economist with Iraqs MoO, and now head of the Oslo-based Development Consultancy & Research, Ahmed Mousa Jiyad, Article 12 of the law relating to the establishment of INOC contained: The most ridiculous, disintegrative, destructive and unconstitutional aspects of this law [providing[ the legal cover for formalized corruption and kleptocracy by assigning the three funds [Citizens Fund, Generations Fund, Reconstruction Fund] at least 10 percent of the revenues of the oil exports at the discretion of the INOCs board of directors. The power of the INOC board of directors, though, could extend further, he added at the time, as under the 2018 version of the law, revenues generated from the export and sale of oil and gas will be considered as financial revenues for INOC. This is a flagrant violation of the Constitution, which states that oil and gas belong to the Iraqi people and not a financial return to one public company, said Jiyad. Again, the full scope of the powers of the new iteration of the INOC has not yet been formalized, which means in Iraq, that no constraints are in place. The sheer scale of theft of public money that can result from such structures in Iraq, based on previously recorded events, is in the truest sense of the word, mind-boggling. Even without an essentially organized graft mechanism such as the INOC actively in place, according to a statement made in 2015 by then Oil Minister and later Prime Minister of Iraq Adil Abdul Mahdi, Iraq lost US$14,448,146,000 (that is over 14 billion, not million) from the beginning of 2011 up to the end of 2014 as cash compensation payments to international oil companies and to other entities. To put this cash compensation into its mind-bending perspective: if this amount in single dollar bills was laid end to end then it would stretch from Earth to the Moon nearly six times over. The precise way in which such a staggering sum was lost is fully analyzed by OilPrice.com here, but in basic terms, it related to the way in which gross remuneration fees, income tax and the share of the State partner was deducted and accounted for in the compensation paid out relating to reduced oil production levels. This accounting factor used in calculations is solely related to expenses of various kinds that have never been disclosed or in any way clarified by the MoO but is key to the merging of public funds with private ones. It saw its true genesis in 2009 when IOCs in many cases were asked to make large upfront payments as part of their bid, which would supposedly be repaid at a later date. It is not for no reason that many of the worlds top oil companies from the West have pulled out of Iraq, despite the country still being awash in oil and with even much greater potential still to be discovered. As highlighted many times by OilPrice.com most recently here - news that U.K. oil super-major, BP, is working on a plan to spin off its operations in Iraqs supergiant Rumaila oil field into a stand-alone company was exceptionally reminiscent of the withdrawal of the U.K.-Dutch oil super-major, Royal Dutch Shell, from Iraqs supergiant Majnoon oil field in 2017 and also of its withdrawal from Iraqs supergiant West Qurna 1 oil field in 2018. Each of these announcements also bore a startling similarity to U.S. super-major ExxonMobils recent announcement that it too wants to get out of West Qurna 1 and to its withdrawal from Iraqs crucial Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP) some time ago. Related: WTI Crude Oil Price Hits 7-Year High Established major oil companies from the West basically just cannot afford the potentially massive reputational damage that could be done to them if they enter into some of these deals and the details come out, a senior oil industry source who works closely with the MoO told OilPrice.com last week. Even if a company is assured that everything is above-board and that the deal is fully approved by the government, there is still the deal is rotten and that any future government in Iraq will seek to embarrass its predecessor by exposing it, he added. Even on the crucial issue of its own security, Iraq is still unable to function as it should, as highlighted by local news reports. This resulted in a situation that hundreds of millions of dollars over the years given to Iraq by the West specifically to maintain its F-16 fighter plane fleet instead ended up in the bank accounts of all layers of management involved in the program locally. So much money was stolen that by the middle of 2020 only seven jets out of the fleet just 20 percent of the total were still able to fly without serious risk of crashing. As highlighted by the independent risk analysis firm, Transparency International in its Corruption Perceptions Index, in which Iraq is always ranked at or near the bottom, the country demonstrates: Massive embezzlement, procurement scams, money laundering, oil smuggling and widespread bureaucratic bribery have led the country to the bottom of international corruption rankingsand political interference in anti-corruption bodies and politicization of corruption issues, weak civil society, insecurity, lack of resources and incomplete legal provisions severely limit the governments capacity to efficiently curb soaring corruption. By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: Canada has invoked a 1977 pipeline treaty to seek bilateral negotiations with the United States over the future of the Line 5 oil pipeline, which has caused a bitter legal dispute between the state of Michigan and pipeline operator Enbridge. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the director of the states Department of Natural Resources revoked Enbridge's easement for the operation of the twin Line 5 pipeline last November, citing repeated violations of the easement and the need to protect the Great Lakes. Michigans notice required Enbridge to cease operations of the pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac by May 12, 2021. Enbridge ignored the notice and continues running the pipeline. The company says that only a court and the U.S. federal government have authority to order Line 5 shut down. Canada has been trying for months to engage the Biden Administration in talks over the pipeline, aiming to keep Line 5 a major outlet for Canadas oil producers into the U.S. open. Now, the Canadian government informed a Michigan court that it is invoking an article of the 1977 Treaty on transit pipelines by presenting to the United States, through diplomatic channels, a formal request for negotiations. That formal request notes that, under the terms of its Article II, the Treaty provides that No public authority in the territory of either Party shall institute any measures () which are intended to, or which would have the effect of, impeding, diverting, redirecting, or interfering with in any way the transmission of hydrocarbons in transit, a lawyer wrote on behalf of the Canadian government to Judge Janet T. Neff of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Enbridge and Michigan participated in a court-ordered mediation in the summer, with no result. After Michigans notice, Enbridge filed a federal complaint at a U.S. district court seeking an injunction to stop Michigans order for closure of the Line 5 pipeline, arguing that the states shutdown order violates U.S. federal law and the Constitution. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: Nord Stream AG has started feeding gas into the same-name pipeline to run tests as part of pre-commissioning preparations. "The first string will be filled gradually to build the required inventory and pressure as a prerequisite for later technical tests," said the Swiss-based company as quoted by Reuters. Meanwhile, in a separate report, Reuters revealed that Germany had approached Nord Stream 2 for assurances that it would meet all regulatory requirements when it enters into operation. This may be an indication that Germany is close to approving the politically charged piece of infrastructure. "The Federal Network Agency today requested Nord Stream 2 AG to provide information and, if necessary, evidence that all regulatory requirements will be met in the context of operating the pipeline," the German Federal Network Agencythe watchdog for electricity and gas markets, among otherssaid in a statement cited in the report. The controversy around Nord Stream 2, which initially centered on the fact that with it more Russian gas will bypass Ukraine, has now shifted to accusations that Moscow is usingand even causingthe energy crunch to force Germany into approving the new project. Gazprom has struck back, saying it is delivering exactly as much gas to the EU as is stipulated in their long-term contracts. The United States is also against the project, fearing a deepening EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels. In 2019, Washington slapped sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and threatened to sanction the European partners in the project. Since then, the tone has mellowed somewhat, but not a lot. Russian pipeline gas remains the biggest competitor for U.S. LNG, along with Qatari LNG. The 1,200-km, $111-billion pipeline will have the capacity to send 55 billion cu m of natural gas from Russia to Germany annually once it gets all necessary approvals. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: The required crude oil production from OPEC and its non-OPEC allies led by Russia is 39.694 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, OPEC said after the OPEC+ group decided to stick to the plan to ease the collective cuts by 400,000 bpd next month. During a short and uneventful meeting on Monday, the ministers of the OPEC+ coalition decided to proceed with increasing the groups overall production by 400,000 bpdthe minimum the market was expecting. As per the decision, the ten OPEC members bound by the pact should produce no more than 24.047 million bpd in November, while the non-OPEC producers will see their collective quota at 15.647 million bpd. The two leaders of the OPEC+ group, Saudi Arabia and Russia, will each have a ceiling of production of 9.913 million bpd. Saudi Arabia is sticking to the deal, while Russias case is more curious. Official Russian data doesnt discriminate between crude oil and condensate production, but condensates are excluded from Russias OPEC+ quota. Bloomberg estimates put Russian crude and condensate production in September at 10.7 million bpd. If condensate production was around 880,000 bpd, this would put Russian crude oil output at 9.83 million bpd, which would be 130,000 bpd above quota, as per Bloomberg calculations. Analysts say that Russia may have reached its capacity to produce oil, while several OPEC members of the pact such as Angola, and at times, Nigeria, have struggled to pump to quotas over the past few months. This is one of the key reasons for the over-100-percent compliance with the total cuts. The OPEC+ group of producers raised their compliance with the production cuts to 116 percent in August, up from 109 percent compliance in July, sources from the alliance told Reuters in September. Despite the higher production, OPEC was actually pumping at some 10 percent below its overall quota for the 10 members bound by the OPEC+ pact in August, due to outages and technical difficulties in countries such as Nigeria and Angola, Bloomberg noted last month. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads from Oilprice.com: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce this week that the government will target to have all the electricity generation in the country to come from zero-emission sources by 2035, as part of Britains pledge to become a net-zero economy by 2050, The Times reported on Sunday. The UK government plans an announcement for massive investment in renewable energy, as well as nuclear energy, in order to reduce its reliance on gas and oil amid a power crunch that has led to skyrocketing gas and power prices and pushed more than half a dozen suppliers out of business. According to The Times, Johnson will argue that with massive new renewable power generation, the UK would limit its exposure to the highly volatile prices of fossil fuels, especially gas. Last year, Johnson said that the United Kingdom would aim to become a global leader in offshore wind energy, powering every home in the country with wind by 2030. Renewable generation, as a percentage of generation, hit a record 43.1 percent in 2020, outpacing for the first-time annual fossil fuel generation, the government said in its annual statistics in July. Ten years ago, renewable generation was 6.9 percent of all power generation. Wind generation is a critical element of renewables performance, the government says, adding that wind power reached a record high 24.2 percent in 2020, up from 2.7 percent in 2010. Fossil fuel generation, on the other hand, reached a record low, dropping from 75.4 percent of generation to 37.7 percent over the last ten years. Although the share of coal has dropped at a record low, a lot of natural gas is still used for power generation in the UK. The whole of Europe, including the UK, is grappling with soaring natural gas and electricity prices ahead of the winter heating season due to tight gas supplies, very low gas inventories, and low wind power generation amid still weather. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Terrorism in the Richmond District in 1927 WNP member Paul Rosenberg did some research on a 1927 explosion on Balboa Street near 15th Avenue. "Jesse Brown Cook began as a San Francisco police officer and worked his way up to police chief (1908-1910) and, later, served on the police commission. His collection of photographs from 1895 to 1936 at the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library runs to about 8,000 images and about half are digitized and available online. I found this example of 'terrorism' in the Richmond District around the time of the Sacco-Vanzetti executions on August 22, 1927. "Although the photos are great, Mr. Cook was not the best caption person. His captions contain misspellings and other errors. He places the incident on August 30, 1927, but it actually took place around midnight July 30-31, 1927. He also got the name of the person killed in the explosion wrong. Such errors make follow-up in the newspapers of the time and the death records most challenging." Photos of the incident on the UC Berkeley Site: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf6c60095w&brand=oac/ http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/tf2w1007xb&brand=oac/ Transcriptions of newspaper articles about the incident: San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, July 31, 1927, Front Page: 1 KILLED, 1 NEAR DEATH AS AUTO EXPLODES; POLICE SUSPECT BOMBING Mystery Blast Wrecks Car, Mutilates Driver, Companion, Critically Injured, May Live One man was instantly killed and another was so horribly mangled that he may die in a terrific explosion---perhaps caused by a bomb---in an automobile on Balboa street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth avenues, just before midnight last night. The blast---no one yet knows what caused it---rocked the entire neighborhood, and all the windows in the houses on that block were blown out. The occupants of the car were not positively identified at an early hour this morning, but from insurance blanks found around the car it was thought that one of the men might be Angelo C. Luca, an insurance man, who lives at 1865 Green street and who drove a car similar to the one destroyed by the explosion. Clothes Blown Off Both men were found outside the car by people of the neighborhood who rushed to the scene of the explosion. They were terribly burned and mangled, and the clothes had been blown from their bodies. Wires overhead had fragments of garments hanging to them and the car itself, from the dashboard back, was utterly demolished. There were no witnesses to the explosion that the police could find last night. The first intimation of the tragedy was the deafening explosion, which was heard for a distance of fully a mile. Police rushed to the scene and after a first investigation declared that the blast was probably the result of dynamite, which, they said, must have been in the car. Body Blown 30 Feet One body was found beside the car, which may have been running at the time of the blast, or may have been parked on Balboa street. It was about two feet from the curb and heading in the proper direction. The other body was about 30 feet behind the machine, lying in the road. The man who was still living was taken to the Park Emergency Hospital, where it was found that both of his legs were broken and he was badly burned. There was scarcely any clothing on his body, and nothing to identify him. Mrs. Angelo Luca stated that her husband drives a car similar to that destroyed by the explosion. She said that her husband was out last night on insurance business but she did not know where he was. San Francisco Examiner, Saturday, August 27, 1927, Front Page SUICIDE, NEW BOMB THEORY A death plot against Captain of Detectives Duncan Matheson [later San Francisco Treasurer] was responsible for the bomb explosion on the night of July 30, according to information given the police last night. Dominick Caffodio was instantly killed when the bomb exploded and Angelo C. Lucca, 1865 Green street, with Caffodio, in an automobile, was seriously injured. The blast occurred at Fifteenth avenue and Balboa street. According to the story given the police by a war veteran and native of San Francisco. Caffodio was a member of an anarchist group, but was trying to escape the terrorists. He was selected by lottery to hurl the bomb, the police were told, but deliberately touched it off prematurely and ended his own life. The story told by the police informant came to him, he said, through his wife who, in turn, obtained the information from an Italian girl claiming to be Caffodio's cousin. The story is being investigated by the police. Contribute your own stories about western neighborhoods places! With the wide-spread use of mobile phone devices, the introduction of mobile Money (MOMO) in Ghana since 2009 has had quite a significant impact on the Ghanaian economy by reducing unemployment to some extent, developing the payment ecosystem, providing a means of savings for people without access to banks, timely completion of financial transactions, among others. More than a decade down the line and the importance of mobile money to the economy cannot be underrated especially during this pandemic where the risk of fomite transmissions through paper money can be reduced by using cashless payment systems. In 2020 alone, the volume of mobile money transactions was worth GHS 571.8 billion according to the Deputy Bank of Ghana (BoG) Governor, Mrs. Elsie Awadzi, thus surpassing all other payment platforms. The telecommunication companies have mobile money services offered at a little fee per transaction, yet mobile money merchants who aim to maximize their profits have made it costly by introducing unapproved charges. They do not comply with the rules of transaction stated by the telephone companies and thereby, discouraging consumer patronage to some extent. This is somewhat due to the poor education of the customer base and the laxity of telcos in monitoring the actions of merchants and enforcing compliance. Wow! Its free. Who wouldve imagined a charge-free mobile money transaction? I transferred a huge sum of money from my Vodafone Cash (VF Cash) wallet and it incurred no charges. Interestingly, this is a cross-network transaction that I have always known to incur higher transaction rates than transactions on the same network. Kudos to the Government for the Mobile Money Interoperability (MMI) initiative and to Vodafone Ghana for making all VF Cash transfers including those across the MMI platform free. This probably is a marketing strategy aimed at increasing the patronage of VF- Cash and thus, the customer base of Vodafone Ghana at large but ruminating on this makes me appreciate the reduction in financial burden on customers too. Its already a year and counting since Vodafone Ghana waived charges on mobile money transfers to all networks yet with the profit motive of most businesses, other networks still charge fees. Other telcos should learn, emulate and have Vodafones innovation continued even post-Covid. Why? Aside from drastically reducing the financial burden on customers, and frustrating hard cash transactions within the pandemic, waiving charges on mobile money transaction will tend to make the service more appealing to the ordinary Ghanaian and effect a rise in patronage, and impacting the incidence of robberies and loss of ones money. As unsafe as our communities and roads can be to move cash, mobile money provides a form of insurance to patrons since they do not have to worry about the risk of attacks by armed men on our highways. In cases of such attacks where mobile devices are lost, one could simply have their SIM cards replaced at almost no cost with their e-cash intact after meeting the requirements. As the world migrates to a digital economy, telecommunications companies must change their perspective from mobile money being a means of convenience to it being a necessary luxury, and hence, mobile money charges particularly on person to person (P2P) transactions should be phased out, or drastically reduced and applied increasingly on Person to Business (P2B), and Business to Business (B2B) transactions. It is worth noting that MTN has zero charges for transactions below GH100 However, more can be done. Telecommunication companies like other businesses are inclined to profit-making as they owe financial obligations to shareholders, employees, and the state. This could render phasing out charges on transactions an impossible feat but largely compensated for by considering how much revenue these telcos could be losing through the illegal practices of rogue merchants and developing robust measures to curb the illegality. That is not to disprove the loss of some revenue but as difficult as it might seem to sacrifice some percentage of the revenue generated from mobile money transactions, we learn from Vodafone that it is possible, and is a step in the right direction to reduce cash in circulation to some extent. Mobile money charges on cash withdrawals could have the rates revised to champion the course of a cash-lite economy. I believe this initiative can be taken up by the Government through the Bank of Ghana in the quest to develop a cash-lite economy, where a more effective and efficient monetary management of the economy can be done. Also, a proper national identification system aiding the registration of SIM cards would help reduce the incidence of money laundering through mobile money services since clients are known through the National Identification System. Telecommunication companies should develop robust measures in monitoring their merchants, thus, discouraging the dubious practices that their merchants use in ripping customers off. This would make the mobile money service appealing to many. Also, the Government and its regulatory agencies, particularly the Bank of Ghana, National Communications Authority, Economic and Organized Crime Office, etc. should force the hands of these telecommunication companies to work towards zero charges on mobile money transfers to champion the digital economy dream. Source: Contact: [email protected]; 0559766195 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Registrar Generals Department, RGD, has served notice to the Business Community and the general public that it has begun the delisting of dormant companies from the Companies Register. The delisting process is commencing with 3,100 companies being taken off the Companies Register. In a statement signed and copied to Citi Business News, the Registrar Generals Department said this would be the first batch of companies to be delisted this month out of the over 100,000 companies registered since 2011. It said the exercise has become necessary after the end of the three months validation process conducted by the Department from July to September this year to review the sampled group of Companies not in good standing with the Department. It said over 257,241 companies existing in the database had not filed their Returns or Amendments with the Department since 2011. The statement further noted that 670,282 Companies in the Legacy System (Old database) had not carried out the update of their data dubbed Re-registration as at March 2020. It, therefore, urged defaulting companies (whether in operation or not in operation) to take measures to regularize their business and update their records with the Department to avoid being delisted. The statement said any Company official with knowledge of the Companys non-existence or having no more interest in the Companys Name or willfully wanting to wind-up or dissolve the Company or being no more interested in the Companys Business Name should write to the Registrar-General indicating such intention. The Provision under section 289 of the Companies Act 2019 (Act 992) states that a Company can be stricken off the register due to the failure of the Company to file its Annual Returns on time or due to a change in the Companys Registered Office and Principal Place of Business without notifying the Registrar of Companies. The Act mandates the Registrar of Companies to wind up Companies whose office is known not to be in operation after notices and a moratorium have been given to such companies to file their Annual Returns and yet have not complied. A Companys status after the strike off at this period would be classified as being inactive and would not be able to be accessed for any business transaction for the next 12 years, except by a Court Order to the Department to restore it to a status of good standing in the Companies Register. It said the Department, in accordance with the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), made three publications on their website and the national dailies serving notice of the Departments intent to undertake its maiden clean up exercise of the Companies Register to make it accurate and credible. Two notifications were earlier issued on 12th May and 1st December 2020 with the final notice published on 19th March 2021, it said. The Department entreated defaulting companies to visit its website www.rgd.gov.gh, click on News and scroll down to find the first batch of Companies listed for deletion or find them in the National dailies. The statement said Company Officials, who find the name of their companies in the published list, could still file their Annual Returns with the Department to get their names off the list and avoid being delisted by the end of October 2021. It said the exercise of the sampled list of Companies to be delisted on their website would continue until the end of December 2021. The next batch of businesses to be sent notices to would be the Companies, Partnerships and Business Names in the Legacy Data from 1963 to 2011, who have still not updated their records with the Department dubbed Re-registration. The Department, therefore, urged defaulting businesses to file their Annual Returns, Renewals, Amendments or update their records dubbed Re-registration to avoid being delisted. It said the end of the exercise would ensure a credible, reliable and updated Register of Companies, Partnerships and Business Names that were carrying out business in compliance with the different Acts governing their operations. Source: citinewsroom Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Deputy Education Minister, Rev. Ntim Fordjour, has disclosed that government is still in discussions with the leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) over their claims for salary increment. According to him, they have met with them and that serious discussions are ongoing for them to reach a meaningful agreement over what they are demanding from government as an increment to their salaries. The National Executive Committee of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has indicated that its members will from Friday, October 8, lay down their tools. According to the Association, the decision was reached after the committee held its 20th Congress following discussions with the government on Monday, September 26, to discuss its wages and welfare packages. At the said meeting, it was revealed that government could not go beyond the Cedi equivalent of $1200 payable in 2024, an amount that was rejected by the Association in a previous meeting. UTAG, however, proposed a minimum of the Cedi equivalent of $250 per month for research allowance (plus a review of the 2024 implementation), and the implementation of the new Market premium by December 21, 2021. Failure of which the Market Premium was to be restored to 2013 Interim Market Premium value of 114% of the basic salary and be allowed to apply on every current basic salary. Following a lack of agreement with government, the Association has decided to resume its suspended strike after a statement by its National Executive Committee is released on October 4. The said release will contain the modalities of the strike action. But speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, the Assin South legislature explained that they are still engaged in discussions with the leadership of the association. We have met with the leadership of the group and hope that we will finally agree on something though discussions so far have not been fruitful. He pleaded with the leadership of the group to remain calm and give government some more time as they continue to dialogue on the matter. On Wednesday, August 18, UTAG signed a Memorandum of Agreement with government to call off the strike and continue negotiation, but on condition that all legal suits initiated by government against them are withdrawn. Watch video below Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected] 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 Members of the family of Kaaka, the social media activist allegedly killed on Monday, June 28, after being attacked by unknown assailants at Ejura in the Ashanti region, have expressed disappointment in the 55-page report released by the three-member committee that probed the Ejura disturbances. According to the family, they are baffled that the committee as part of its recommendations, noted that the death of Kaaka was not directly linked to his social media activism and that it was more probably a family feud. We will like to use this opportunity to state in clear and unambiguous terms, that the statement by the Committee that Kaaka was probably killed because of a family feud is obviously false, carelessly made, and very clearly disgraceful, they said in a statemen on issued on Monday, October 24. Investigations into death They explained that the Ejura Committee, by their own admission, had no mandate to investigate or establish why Kaaka was killed. They said the committee clearly reiterated that it had no business looking into the death of Kaaka, when Sahada Hudu, Kaaka's widow inquired about the mandate of the committee when she appeared before it. "The Committee still went ahead and made 40 per cent of their findings about the murder investigations into the death of Kaaka, they said. Ejura videos Further reacting to the committee's report, the family explained that the committee had suggested that videos submitted to them by a certain Abeewakas, did not contain threats to Kaakas life and that the videos appeared after Kaakas death. According to the family, the committee claimed that it was for these reasons it doubted the authenticity of the videos, and wondered how it concluded categorically that Kaakas death was not directly linked to his social media activism. What is curious is that a Committee which was sold to the public as a fact finding committee made no attempt to actually find out any facts of its own. Even though they received several witness statements that made reference to Kaakas role as a social media activist, they did not even try to take a look at Kaakas social media activism. How was it possible for the Committee to make 40 per cent of your findings about the death of a social media activist, and yet not even take the trouble to google the individual or go through his social media feed? they questioned. Next step The family said they will make a formal police complaint regarding an allegation of bribery and corruption against the mother of Kaaka and the Ejura Police, as well as a complaint against two other women for deliberate lies and attempts to deceive the police in the performance of their functions. The family said they will also petition the Inspector-General of Police regarding their displeasure with the investigations into Kaakas murder. We are also asking for the support of the public towards the welfare needs of Kaakas widow and five children who have been left behind; as well as to support our fight for justice. We would appreciate any help towards covering our legal fees, in this quest for justice. We hope that a fund will be established to honour Kaaka and to train upcoming citizen journalists, who understand the virtue of speaking truth to the establishment. We have made an appeal to the National Chief Imam to support us in this endeavour, they added. Background On Tuesday, June 29, 2021, two people were shot dead and four others sustained gunshot wounds when the youth of Ejura clashed with security personnel detailed to ensure peace and order following an attempted demonstration by the youth the previous evening. The deceased were Abdul Nasir Yussif and Muntala Mohammed. Macho Kaaka had been attacked on Saturday dawn by unknown assailants who laid ambush for him in front of his house at Dagomba Line, a suburb of Ejura. The assailants inflicted wounds on Kaaka and left him in a pool of his blood and fled the scene. He was rushed to the Ejura Government Hospital but later referred to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where he died on Monday, June 28, 2021. Following the news of his death, the youth of Ejura went on a demonstration to demand justice. The police, with the assistance of the military, managed to quell the demonstration. However, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, on their return from the burial of Kaaka, the youth were alleged to have started agitations in protest of Kaaka's death. The subsequent deaths and injuries were recorded in the course of the confrontation that ensued between the youth and the security personnel. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Tiger Eye Private Investigations says it is saddened about the alleged financial plight of the second wife and family of its slain employee Ahmed Hussein-Suale. In a statement dated Monday, October 4, 2021, the Tiger Eye PI reacted to alleged financial plight of the unnamed second wife after speaking to the family of the late Ahmed Hussein-Suale, stating that in 2019, it donated a lump sum of money to the family in the presence of the two wives. According to the statement the family disbursed the money equitably and that the two wives were settled. Tiger Eye PI added that it secured a business contract for the two wives and took the responsibility for the education of their four children. Mr Hussein-Suale was assassinated on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at Madina, Accra, allegedly by two unidentified gunmen on a motorbike while he drove home. Read the entire Tiger Eye PI statement below: Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Rev. Isaac Owusu Bempah, leader of Glorious Word and Power Ministries International and four of his members are expected to appear before an Accra Circuit Court on Tuesday to answer fresh charges. Prosecution had told the court that the Police should be given a week for the facts and charges preferred against Owusu Bempah and four others be amended. Rev. Owusu Bempah and the four other accomplices are: Mensah Ofori, Adu Berchie, Michael Boateng, Frederik Ohene and Nathaniel Agyekum are being held over offensive conduct to the breaches of peace. They have also been variously charged with threat of death and assault on public officers. Accused except Berchie have pleaded not guilty. Berchie was on September 29, this year arrested by the Police and has been additionally charged with possession of firearms without lawful authority They were accused of invading the premises of Evangelist Patricia Oduro Korenteng aka Agradaa house amidst threat on September 9, this year at Weija. The accused however did not meet her. They proceeded Agradaas second house at New Aplaku and threatened to her with words to wit We will kill you. Rev. Owusu Bempah were invited to the police, but he refused to accept the letter. On September 12, this year, the Police identified some of the young men including; Mensah Ofori, Associate of Pastor of Rev. Owusu Bempah as two of the people in a viral video threatening the complaint and brandishing a pistol. The police went to the church to arrest the accused persons. In the process, two policemen were injured. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ernest Johnson, a Missouri man convicted of killing three convenience store workers during a closing-time robbery nearly 28 years ago is set to be executed despite requests for mercy from the Pope Francis, two federal lawmakers and thousands of petition signers. Johnson, 61, is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday evening, October 5, at the state prison in Bonne Terre, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of St. Louis. It would be the seventh U.S. execution this year. "The state is prepared to deliver justice and carry out the lawful sentence Mr. Johnson received in accordance with the Missouri Supreme Court's order," Parson, a Republican, said in a statement about his decision not to reduce the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jeremy Weis, Johnson's lawyer, said he was "very disappointed" by the decision. "We believe we made a compelling case to him that it was the right moral decision and I guess he disagreed," Weis said. In a letter last week to Parson, a representative for Pope Francis wrote that the pope "wishes to place before you the simple fact of Mr. Johnson's humanity and the sacredness of all human life." Republican Gov. Michael Parson on Monday declined to grant clemency despite the urging of several people, including the pope. Johnsons attorney, Jeremy Weis, said executing Johnson would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits executing intellectually disabled people. On Monday, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. This is not a close case Mr. Johnson is intellectually disabled, the court filing stated. He said multiple IQ tests and other exams have shown that Johnson has the intellectual capacity of a child. He also was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and in 2008, he lost about 20% of his brain tissue to the removal of a benign tumor. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A Ugandan national identified as Suleiman Mayanja is currently being held in custody by Kenyan detectives over the gruesome murder of a 25-year-old woman. The man and the deceased never knew each other before meeting at a popular joint, where they had a few drinks. On their second meeting, the lady came to Ugandan national's rented apartment on Sunday October 4, before being killed around 3am on Monday morning. Her half-naked body was discovered by the apartments guard. Mayanja who arrived the East African country last month through the Busia border point, was said to have fled from the apartment. However on the evening of Monday October 5, he was arrested by detectives at Nyali Cinemax where he was hiding. It was gathered that he sent a runner to collect his belongings from the room which he had booked on September 30, when detectives pounced on him. Unbeknownst to the runner who is a cab driver, undercover cops had laid an ambush in the apartment. After few minutes of interrogation, he was whisked to a waiting police vehicle that sped towards the suspects hideout. The suspect is currently being grilled for more details relating to the incident, for the appropriate charges to be established before arraignment. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A Nigerian man has explained why he wants to use his parents for money ritual. The man who was questioned on his intentions, stated that even if his mum begs while he's about to carry out the act, he won't stop as her plea would only push him into killing her faster. When asked if he can use his father for money rituals, he said that his dad is the easiest option as he doesnt ''give a f*ck'' about him. Serving a response when asked if he would go ahead with the ritual if hes told he has only 3 months to enjoy the money, he stated that he is okay with such arrangement. He reiterated that if his parents gave a f*ck about him, they would have hustled to make him comfortable. Watch the disturbing video below... View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lindaikejiblog (@lindaikejiblogofficial) Source: LIB 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 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of governance think-tank, Atta Mills Institute, Samuel Koku Anyidoho says giving legal status to the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) as proposed by the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) will mean a breach in the 1992 Constitution. According to the former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition NDC, the establishment of the 1992 constitution enjoins the Electoral Commission (EC) to be autonomous in its operations as far as the elections of this country are concerned. Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Koku Anyidoho wondered about the essence of giving a legal backing to IPAC which was established based on the administrative decision of Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan who then the Chairman of the Electoral Commission with the intention to deepen the democracy and by picking ideas from the political parties that are stakeholders in the electoral process. He, however, assumed that giving legal backing to IPAC will mean abolishing the establishment of the Electoral Commission (EC) and give power to political parties to organize and supervise elections in the country. This has been the status quo since IPAC meetings started. IPAC fighting for legal backing to do what with it? If that should be the case, then we should abolish the establishment of EC and empower IPAC so that the political parties will themselves organize and supervise elections in this country, he argued. . . we have a 1992 constitution that talks about the independence of the Electoral Commission (EC), and the law is clear that no individual or a body can dictate to the EC to do things in the interest of a particular political party or a group . . . what extent will that legal status erode the 46 of the 1992 constitution? If article 46 has not been revoked from the 1992 constitution, and you are going to give IPAC legal status per whatever instrument, what happens to article 46?, he wondered. He was of the view that any attempt to give legal status to IPAC will compel someone to go to court on the basis of article 46 of the 1992 constitution as it will conflict with the provision of the constitution with regard to the mandate of the Electoral Commission (EC). Those few political parties cannot go to IPAC meeting to take a decision on behalf of the entire country, and if that should be the case, then all Ghanaians should be allowed to attend the IPAC meetings because not all the political parties sometimes attend the IPAC meetings regularly, he indicated. Watch video below Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The General Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party has stated emphatically that no person will be imposed on the party to lead the Elephant in the 2024 presidential election. According to him, the party at the right time will open nomination for a qualified person to apply for the position and contest. John Boadu was responding to claims that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is likely to force on the party his preferred candidate to help break the eight-year presidential cycle in 2024. Despite the wide speculation, the NPPs Chief Scribe has rubbished such a move by the president. He told NEAT FMs morning show host, Kwesi Aboagye that, President Nana Addo cannot impose a flagbearer on the party. Why would he do that, I don't think he will do that. To him, the governing party has a tradition of allowing candidates to be elected by the partys delegates. This is not a party that someone can impose a leader on us. Not at all, nobody can do that. We have a tradition, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie. Listen to interview Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/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 Scores of people home and abroad have taken turns to commemorate the 66th birthday of Trade Minister, Alan John Kwadwo Kyeremanten whose birthday was October 3. At home, the Minister's birthday was widely celebrated across the various regions of Ghana. Ardent followers and loved ones observed the day with various activities. The celebration which began on friday by supporters from Northern and Savanna which widely spread across other regions witnessed the love and faith people have in the Minister. Notable of the regions and group that celebrated the Hon. Minister in Ghana includes, Ashanti ,Greater Accra, Central, Savannah, Upper East, Upper West and Western Regions, expats in the UK, USA and France as well as support groups, Alan Special Ladies,The Queens, The Pearls, Alan 4.2.4, Grassroots Movement for Alan and Students for Alan Market women, private business owners groups and individuals were not left out as they showed their solidarity for him amidst the out pour of messages, which flooded the various social media platforms. The birthday celebration was characterized with numerous activities in honour of Mr. Kyeremanten which includes, prayer sessions, thanksgiving service at the Alive Chapel International Church as well as donations made to some orphanages in some regions. Amongst the donations made to some orphanages was the Echoing Hills Village at Madina in the Greater Accra Region from a group know as Alan Special Ladies. Well wishers of the Minister, who doubles as the brain behind the popular One District One Factory agenda, made donations of assorted items and food as well as cutting of cake in his honour. At the orphanage, the caretaker showed appreciation to the team for choosing to celebrate the man of the moment with them as well as for the gift items that were presented to the Home. The children also took turns to pray for Mr. Kyeremanteng to succeed in life. All these celebrations were held on the blind side of the Minister who is currently on a four working day tour in the Ashanti Region with the President. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he has no favourite in the flag bearer race of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP). My duty is in two folds: one is; first of all, to hold a balance to make sure there is a level playing field for all of them [flag bearer hopefuls] because the decision has to be the decision of the party and whoever the party elects as its flag bearer for 2024, that person is the one I will support and campaign for the person to become president, the president told a local radio station in Kumasi where he has been touring. A few days ago, there was a gust of laughter at the Manhyia palace on Friday, 1 October 2021, when President Akufo-Addo, while introducing his entourage, with whom he visited Asante monarch Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, threw in jovially the presidential ambitions of his Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Trade. I am here with the Minister of Transport, Minister of Works and Housing, the National Security boss, Chairman One Wontumi, the Food and Agriculture Minister, Owusu Afriyie, who wants to be President; I also have here with me someone who has long eyed the presidential seat, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten; a very hard-working man. All of them are doing a good job, the president said, which sparked laughter from the Asantehene and the whole palace. The president took the opportunity to express gratitude to the Asantehene and Asanteman for supporting the New Patriotic Party and his candidature in the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections. I am here to show my gratitude to you and Asanteman for your support in the last elections. You have supported the NPP since time immemorial, and in the last elections, but for your unshrinking support and that of Asanteman to me and the NPP, we would not have been in government, the President said. He continued, I am here to show you and the entire kingdom my gratitude for that solid support that has seen us in power. President Akufo-Addo, in explaining the rationale for his visit to the Region, indicated that he is in the Region to familiarise himself with the numerous developmental projects going on in the Region, and listen for himself the concerns of residents, the traditional authority and opinion leaders. The President also used the opportunity to assure the people of the Ashanti Region that he will not take their support for him and the NPP for granted, stressing that it is for this reason that several developmental projects have been done, with many still ongoing in the Region. There are many ongoing projects. We can all attest to the fact that Kumasi and Asanteman have not witnessed such massive road infrastructural projects in our political history. Other projects like the 1D1F, the ongoing Kumasi Airport construction which is 77% complete and by June next year, it will be completed after which its international status will be achieved he said. President Akufo-Addo also assured Otumfuo Osei Tutu II that, even though there were delays with respect to the Boankra Inland Port project, plans are far advanced for the project to take off. For his part, the Asantehene praised the President for his commitment to the development of the region and the country. He also praised the President for his tour of the country, adding that, if you stay in your office, your appointees will tell you what you want to hear. This tour will help you verify what you hear and know the truth. I know you and you do not disappoint. I trust you and I know you will honour Asanteman, the Asantehene said. Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The government has concluded documentation for the purchase of new buses for Neoplan Ghana Limited, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, has said. He commended workers of the company for their hard work and commitment over the years and gave them an assurance that his ministry would never supervise the collapse of the company. The minister was speaking when he accompanied President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to Neoplan Ghana in Kumasi during the Presidents four-day tour of the Ashanti Region. Retooling President Akufo-Addo said the government would retool the company through the injection of capital and equipment as part of the One-district, One-factory (1D1F) initiative. The workers had requested the government to add the company to the IDIF initiative to improve its capacity for growth. According to the President, the arrival of more buses would make the company viable. He said he was aware of the challenges facing the company, saying that was the reason the government was working towards improving its fortunes. Fixing challenges The Member of Parliament for Bantama, Mr Asenso Boakye, described the current situation of the company as unfortunate and said the government was committed to fixing the challenges. He urged the workers not to give up hope but believe in the commitment of the government to help scale-up production. The MD of Neoplan, Mr Malek Abi Saab, appealed to the government for more support, including tax waivers. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Samuel Kwabena Pyne, Metropolitan Chief Executive nominee for Kumasi has been confirmed with fifty five (55) yes votes out of a possible 58. Government appointees and Assembly members in the Kumasi metropolis voted Tuesday afternoon to approve the President's nominee. He is now the new Metropolitan Chief Executive for Kumasi. Assembly members threaten to reject Sam Pyne In four years, the KMA is said to owe its contractors and business allies over 50 million, a situation that has forced the Assembly to rely on common funds for payment for the past two years. Speaking on Asempa FMs Ekosii Sen, the presiding member of the Assembly, Stephen Ofori, said the Assemblys indebtedness has significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of Kumasi. In view of this, he threatened they will reject Mr Pyne if government fails to clear the debt which is swallowing the Assembly. President Akufo-Addo urged members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to withdraw its decision to reject his nominee for the MCE position, Sam Pyne. According to the President, it will be unfair to make Mr Pyne a victim of the past. His comment comes after assembly members threatened no individual will occupy the Kumasi Mayor position until government pays off a 50 million debt the assembly owes. The members indicated that the indebtedness has significantly contributed to the underdevelopment of Kumasi. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Managing Director of STC, Nana Akomea, has called for maximum support for the new Metropolitan Chief Executive for Kumasi, Samuel Kwabena Pyne. Sam Pyne was given a landslide victory during voting by government appointees and Assembly members in the Kumasi metropolis Tuesday afternoon, polling fifty-five (55) 'Yes' votes out of 58. He has been approved thereby making him the newly-appointed KMA Boss. However, before his approval, the Assembly members had threatened to reject his nomination over issues affecting the Assembly. In four years, the KMA is said to owe its contractors and business allies over 50 million, a situation that has forced the Assembly to rely on common funds for payment for the past two years. In an interview on Asempa FM, the Presiding Member of the Assembly, Stephen Ofori, stated the Assemblys indebtedness has negatively impacted Kumasi's development, hence threatening the members won't accept Sam Pyne if government fails to clear the debt. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Nana Akomea was optimistic of Mr. Pyne's hard work and commitment to develop the Kumasi metropolis. He believed, with Sam Pyne as the KMA Chief Executive, the Assembly's debt will be remitted. He urged the members and people in Kumasi to fully rally behind him saying, "they should look at Sam Pyne's work for the party and Kumasi. They should support him . . . they should rally behind Sam Pyne . . . as MCE look at how that arrears will be remitted". 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 Head of Linguistics at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Kofi Agyekum, has sent a word of advice to the newly-appointed Metropolitan, Municipal and Distrcit Chief Executives(MMDCEs) and those yet-to-be approved by their Assembly members. Some MMDCEs have received massive acceptance from their Assembly members whereas others are rejected and some still struggling to win the votes of their members. Among the MMDCEs who have been confirmed is the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive nominee, Sam Pyne. Prof. Kofi Agyekum, affectionately called Opanyin Agyekum, making his submissions on Peace FM's morning show ''Kokrokoo'', cautioned the MMDCEs not to portray an arrogant character towards people. Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi, he advised; "Those who have been confirmed and the ones on the way to be confirmed should be humble. They shouldn't be arrogant and pompous. They should be truthful and also stop discriminating." 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 " " Children hold up signs during a rally against critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools in Leesburg, Virginia, June 12, 2021. Critics there say CRT trains white children to see themselves as oppressors. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Surely by now you've heard the term critical race theory. Just in the last several months, U.S. state and local GOP legislators have enacted laws and introduced policies attempting to ban critical race theory from being taught in public schools. To date, 20 states have introduced bills limiting teaching critical race theory (CRT) in public schools and seven have enacted these bans. The latest is Arizona, whose governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2906 into law July 9, which prohibits CRT from being taught in Arizona public schools and other government entities. The term seemed to appear out of nowhere, so why is critical race theory suddenly part of the daily conversation (see sidebar) and what is it anyway? Advertisement What Is Critical Race Theory? "Critical race theory is a movement in legal thought," says David Miguel Gray, assistant professor of philosophy at the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Memphis. It's an academic framework that legal scholars use to critically examine the legal history of the United States, including everything from the U.S. Constitution to the Mayflower Compact, as well as legislation from the Supreme Court or lower courts, through a lens of racism. CRT was developed during the mid-1970s by a handful of legal scholars after they determined that, despite the gains of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, progress toward racial equality had been slow or in some cases was being rolled back. These scholars, in particular the late Derrick Bell and the late Alan Freeman, realized that a new conceptual framework was needed to better understand the complex relationship between race, racism and the U.S. legal system. In 1989, more than 20 like-minded scholars "who were interested in defining and elaborating on the lived reality of race, and who were open to the aspiration of developing theory" created the first CRT workshop in Madison, Wisconsin. The original purpose of CRT was to think about how the law contributed to racial inequality in the United States both in the past and present. The theory they developed, which is that racism is systemic in the institutions of the United States and that these institutions function to preserve the dominance of white people in society, has continued in academic inquiry through today. For instance, in the legal field and other disciplines, critical race theorists "address the role of racism in the law and the work to eliminate it and other configurations of subordination," Janel George wrote for the American Bar Association (ABA). As a theory, CRT provides scholars with a framework from which to review past and existing legal decisions. Before diving deeper into the principles of CRT, it is important to understand the purpose of academic theories like critical race theory. " " The late Derrick Bell was the first tenured African American professor of Law at Harvard University, and is largely credited as the originator of critical race theory. Neville Elder/Corbis via Getty Images Advertisement What Is an Academic Theory? Theories are used in both scientific and non-scientific research, and they are used to explain complex things in ways that others can apply the same ideas to another situation, according to researchers Scott Schneberger, Carol Pollard and Hugh Watson in their 2009 paper Theories: For Academics and Practitioners. Various academic disciplines engage with different theories, although many theories cross over into multiple disciplines. Anthropologists might use theories like structuralism, structural functionalism and postmodernism. Media scholars use theories like agenda setting, cultivation and framing. Not all scholars within a discipline utilize the same theories or even use them in the same way, which allows many viewpoints to discuss each discipline. Critical race theory is one such academic theory. It was initially developed within legal studies but is now discussed within many other academic disciplines. From the American Bar Association: CRT is not a diversity and inclusion 'training' but a practice of interrogating the role of race and racism in society that emerged in the legal academy and spread to other fields of scholarship. Kimberle Crenshaw, executive director of the African American Policy Forum, and the legal scholar who coined the term "critical race theory," explained it in a June 21, 2021, interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC. "Critical race theory is not so much a thing, it's a way of looking at a thing," she said. CRT, Crenshaw explained, is a way of looking at race to understand why after so many centuries since emancipation, patterns of inequality have endured for people of color and Indigenous people. The goal of CRT is to get everyone closer to the promises that are embedded in the Constitution. Advertisement Principles of Critical Race Theory Gray says many people have conflicting views about critical race theory, and others who support ideas around it some do not. However, it does include some basic fundamental views. Some of these basic views include the idea that racism is a part of American society, not just a flaw that can be easily fixed with laws. Gray says in the U.S. legal and governmental institutions, for example, racism isn't an anomaly or aberrant feature, it's just normal. While racism may be more present in some areas than others, it has existed throughout U.S. history and continues today. CRT focuses only on legal and other institutions in general, not on individuals. It attempts to learn how racism exists in society and where improvements can be made, as well as provide an analysis of what perpetuates racism in U.S. systems. The theory also maintains the idea that the foundation of the United States was based on doctrines that could be considered racist, for example, the Virginia laws about slavery and servitude. In other cases, though, race might not have been explicitly included but was nevertheless implied, like the three-fifths compromise. The agreement made during the 1787 Constitutional Convention determined that enslaved individuals counted as three-fifths of a person for both representation and taxation. As stated in Article I Section 2 of the Constitution: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons. Later and contemporary laws and policies about housing, voting rights, education and segregation can also fall into this category, Gray says. "[Critical race theorists] have argued that our country is largely founded upon doctrines that are in direct opposition with what we normally hear our country is all about," he says, ideas like liberty and equality. And in addition to just studying these discrepancies, critical race theorists also aim to change them. " " Demonstrators gathered outside the Texas State Capitol during a rally on the first day of the 87th Legislatures special session July 8, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called the legislature into session, asking lawmakers to prioritize his agenda items that include overhauling the states voting laws and critical race theory, among other issues. Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images Advertisement Critical Race Theory and Education Scholarship about education has taken up critical race theory by arguing that racism is entrenched in U.S. education practices and policies, Gray explains. That concern for pedagogy was embraced by education scholars who asked how the educational system might be unjust with respect to race. Even if there is no racist intent, certain practices might have different impacts on the community. For example, the late critical race theorist and Harvard law professor Bell explored the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Supreme Court ruling, which legally determined racial segregation of children in public schools unconstitutional. Bell asserted that the SCOTUS decision was based on improving the international image of the United States during the Cold War. Furthermore, the ruling was effectually limited "and the persistence of racial inequality following the civil rights era implicates the law in maintaining racial inequality." This is an example of the relationship between CRT and education; the theory is used to critically analyze the history and present state of education in the United States. Advertisement Is CRT Being Taught in Schools? However, there is little evidence that critical race theory itself is being added to the U.S. curriculum in K-12 schools. One reason CRT is not being taught in K-12 is children are unlikely to comprehend advanced academic theories. Structural functionalism and cultivation theory have also not been added to K-12 curriculum. Neither has stochastic calculus for that matter. On the other hand, some of the documents and court decisions CRT has critiqued are likely to be taught at various levels, such as the three-fifths compromise and the enduring effects of slavery. Critical race theory is a law school course. And the theory is used in university courses of other disciplines like philosophy and literary criticism, often at the graduate level. Nevertheless, CRT has received a lot of attention recently with people and politicians expressing concern that it is being taught in schools, including elementary schools. It has "become a catch-all phrase among legislators attempting to ban a wide variety of teaching practices concerning race," Gray writes in a separate article for The Conversation, "Critical race theory: What it is and what it isn't." However, the concepts being banned by proposed legislation under the guise of prohibiting the teaching of CRT aren't part of CRT principles. For example, in Tennessee, HB 0580 states that public and charter schools may not teach or use materials that assert one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex or that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual's race or sex. Critical race theory does not uphold these ideas either, Gray says. What seems to have happened is those opposing CRT have taken the fact that the theory is not colorblind because it recognizes the effects of race and racism and asserts that the only way to improve racism is to address it through legal and institutional changes and ascribed erroneous racist characteristics to the theory. In other words, many people are espousing that critical race theory is trying rewrite American history to convince white people that they are inherently racist. "It's a hot mess, to use a really good Southern phrase," he says. " " In Tennessee, legislators passed a law stating that public and charter schools may not teach or use materials that assert one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex or that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual's race or sex. Those are not the principles of critical race theory. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images Now That's Crazy So how did we get here? Many people credit Christopher Rufo, a senior conservative research fellow with the Manhattan Institute, with igniting the flames of the critical race theory fury in 2020. While researching diversity training for federal employees, Rufo said he found critical race theory was "pervading" all levels of government. He called on then-President Donald Trump "to immediately issue an executive order and stamp out this destructive, divisive, pseudoscientific ideology at its root" in a Fox News interview in September 2020, and well, it snowballed from there. " " According to an August 2020 Pew Research survey, only about 23 percent of Hispanics have even heard the term Latinx, and only 3 percent use it most of those are young people. Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images Shakespeare's "a rose by any other name" aside, names have always mattered. Even if we're all human beings underneath, you can't get around the fact that how people identify you what they call you has a huge bearing on how you're seen and how you're accepted. How you name yourself (how you self-identify) is critical, too. Latinos know this as much as any other group. Latinos have been known as Chicanos, Hispanics and Latinas, to drop a few names. Some even go with Latinx, maybe the newest identifier for people who, roughly speaking, trace their heritage to Spain or Latin America. "They're very important," historian Paul Ortiz, a professor at the University of Florida and the author of "An African American and Latinx History of the United States," says of the terms used to identify different racial and ethnic groups. "And I think people have the right of self-definition. I think that's kind of fundamental to the human condition." Advertisement What's In a Name? "Back in the day, in the '50s or earlier, generally [the] term, 'Chicano' was actually a term of derision. If you walked up to me and called me that term, there could be some trouble," Ortiz says. "It becomes a term of pride with the rise of the farmworkers' movement, the Mexican student movement in California and Washington. And so people began using that term, 'Chicano,' as a term of pride. As a term of self-respect. "It was kind of like the term Black for African Americans. Back in the day you would never use that term. But with the Civil Rights movement, 'Black was Beautiful.'" As with Blacks (who also have been named, among other terms, Negroes, Afro-Americans and African Americans through the years) and other groups, those of Hispanic heritage change how they identify themselves depending on a lot of factors, including which generation is doing the naming. By now, Chicano has generally fallen out of favor. (A short aside: Hispanic is the official term used by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to its definition: "Hispanic origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before arriving in the United States. People who identify as Hispanic, Latino or Spanish may be any race." It's a broad term. Anyone who says they're Hispanic or Latino is, according to the government. That was nearly 61 million people in 2019, about 18 percent of the American population.) Adding to the confusion is that different people in different areas of the country may prefer different terms. Most, according to the Pew Research Center, would rather identify themselves by their family's country of origin they're Guatemalan or Mexican or Honduran than by some "pan-ethnic" term like Hispanic, Latino or Latina. "Where I grew up," says Ortiz, who was born in 1964 and raised in California and Washington state, "Hispanic was not very popular. My elders would say, 'Hispanic is something that the government tries to call us. That's not who we are.' It is a census term. It is an official term that the government has for people like us. But in Florida, it's different. In Florida, Hispanic people have no problem with the term." Hispanic which, Ortiz says, used to refer (if not officially) mainly to people with a Mexican heritage gave way to Latino and Latina in the latter part of the last century as different groups from Latin America made their way to the U.S. and searched for a term that was more inclusive and less "Mexican." Latino now is used interchangeably with Hispanic, even by the Census Bureau. Latina (the feminine noun) is preferred by many. And, in the last couple of decades, yet another term has emerged. " " Latinx is a term that has cropped up recently to identify a wide-ranging and growing group of Americans whose heritage lies in Spanish-speaking and/or Latin American countries. HowStuffWorks Advertisement So What Is Latinx? Its pronunciation is somewhat contested Ortiz says "Latin x," sounding it like two words, though others say "lat-EEN-x" or "luh-TEEN-x," and Merriam-Webster, which added the term to its dictionary in 2018, suggests "luh-TEE-neks" but the term's meaning is not disputed. Latinx, based on an LGBTQ-inspired desire to go gender-neutral, is what the words Chicano and Latino and Hispanic all have tried to be, and what all have meant to different generations: It's an identifier for a wide-ranging and growing group of Americans whose heritage lies in Spanish-speaking and/or Latin American countries. "The book I wrote," Ortiz says, "the title was really picked by my students. At one point I was going to use the term Latina ... but they said, 'You know, Professor Ortiz, we really would prefer you use the term Latinx. We know, among your generation, it's still not too popular. But the world is changing.' "The cool thing is, they're not using the term as just a term of self-definition. They're using the term to try to create ridges of understanding between, say, Mexican students, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians ... It's kind of a bridge-building term." According to an August 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center, the term has a long way before it catches on, though. The survey found that only about 23 percent of Hispanics have even heard the term Latinx, and only 3 percent use it. And those who are using the term tend to be younger, born in the U.S. and predominantly English-speaking. NOW THAT'S INTERESTING If gender-neutrality is really what's behind the word Latinx, some people say the "Latine" is more appropriate, as it is more compatible with the Spanish language. " " People wait in line to hand in their ballots to election officials after voting at a YMCA in Chinatown during the Massachusetts State Primary on Sept. 1, 2020 in Boston. Political polling tries to determine how people will vote in an election. JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images The news cycle is jam-packed with polls. Flip on the nightly broadcasts or browse online news articles and you'll be bombarded by the latest "statistics" about the percentage of Americans who believe in God; the breakdown of dog-lovers versus cat-lovers; and how many people between the ages of 65 and 85 own a Nintendo Switch. When it's an election year, poll numbers are headlines in themselves: "Clinton Leads Trump Among College-Educated Voters;" "Republicans More Likely to Vote Than Democrats;" and even the occasional "Dewey Defeats Truman!" Sure, polls make great headlines, but how accurate are they? How much faith should we put in polls, particularly political polls that attempt to predict the outcome of an election? Who conducts these polls, and how do they decide whom to ask? Is it possible to achieve a representative sample of voters from randomly pulling numbers out of the phone book? Advertisement Political polling is a type of public opinion polling. When done right, public opinion polling is an accurate social science with strict rules about sample size, random selection of participants and margins of error. However, even the best public opinion poll is only a snapshot of public opinion at the particular moment in time, not an eternal truth [source: Zukin]. If you poll public opinion on nuclear energy right after a nuclear disaster, it's going to be much lower than the day before the disaster. The same is true for political polls. Voter opinion shifts dramatically from week to week, even day to day, as candidates battle it out on the campaign field. Political polling wasn't always so scientific. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, journalists would conduct informal straw polls of average citizens to gauge public opinion on politicians and upcoming elections [source: Crossen]. A newspaperman traveling on a train might ask the same question to everyone sitting in his car, tally the results and publish them as fact in the next day's paper. In the 1930s, the popular magazine "Literary Digest" conducted public opinion polls of its large subscribership by mail and phone, believing that a large sample size would automatically generate infallible results. The magazine failed to notice that its readership was wealthier and more likely to be Republican than the average U.S. voter, leading the magazine to erroneously predict a landslide victory for Alf Landon over Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 [source: Crossen]. Today, the top political polling organizations employ mathematical methods and computer analysis to collect responses from the best representative sample of the American voting public. But there's still plenty of "art" in the science of political polling. Even random responses must be adjusted and sifted to identify subtle trends in voter opinion that can help predict the eventual winner on Election Day. Let's start our examination of political polling with the most important indicator of accuracy: a representative sample. " " Coastal squeeze, or the collision between coastal development and rising seas, poses a threat to beaches, and the public's ability to enjoy and access them. David Ramos/Getty Images As Americans flock to beaches this summer, their toes are sinking into some of the most hotly contested real estate in the United States. It wasn't always this way. Through the mid-20th century, when the U.S. population was smaller and the coast was still something of a frontier in many states, laissez-faire and absentee coastal landowners tolerated people crossing their beachfront property. Now, however, the coast has filled up. Property owners are much more inclined to seek to exclude an ever-growing population of beachgoers seeking access to less and less beach. On most U.S. shorelines, the public has a time-honored right to "lateral" access. This means that people can move down the beach along the wet sand between high and low tide a zone that usually is publicly owned. Waterfront property owners' control typically stops at the high tide line or, in a very few cases, the low tide line. But as climate change raises sea levels, property owners are trying to harden their shorelines with sea walls and other types of armoring, squeezing the sandy beach and the public into a shrinking and diminished space. As director of the Conservation Clinic at the University of Florida College of Law and the Florida Sea Grant Legal Program, and as someone who grew up with sand between my toes, I have studied beach law and policy for most of my career. In my view, the collision between rising seas and coastal development known as "coastal squeeze" now represents an existential threat to beaches, and to the public's ability to reach them. Advertisement The Beach as a Public Trust Beachfront property law has evolved from ideas that date back to ancient Rome. Romans regarded the beach as "public dominion," captured in an oft-cited quote from Roman law: "By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind; the air, running water, the sea and consequently the shores of the sea." Judges in medieval England evolved this idea into the legal theory known as the "public trust doctrine" the idea that certain resources should be preserved for all to use. The U.S. inherited this concept. Most states place the boundary between public and private property at the mean high tide line, an average tide over an astronomical epoch of 19 years. This means that at some point in the daily tidal cycle there is usually a public beach to walk along, albeit a wet and sometimes narrow one. In states such as Maine that set the boundary at mean low tide, you have to be willing to wade. " " A private beach sign posted In Deerfield Beach, Florida. The state has been a magnet for beach access battles. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Advertisement Everybody In! Early beach access laws in coastal states were largely designed to ensure that workaday activities such as fishing and gathering seaweed for fertilizer could occur, regardless of who owned the beach frontage. Increasingly, however, public recreation became the main use of beaches, and state laws evolved to recognize this shift. For example, in 1984 the New Jersey Supreme Court extended the reach of the Public Trust Doctrine beyond the tide line to include recreational use of the dry sandy beach. In a pioneering move, Texas codified its common law in 1959 by enacting the Open Beaches Act, which provides that the sandy beach up to the line of vegetation is subject to an easement in favor of the public. Moreover, Texas allows this easement to "roll" as the shoreline migrates inland, which is increasingly likely in an era of rising seas. Recent litigation and amendments to the act have somewhat modified its application, but the basic principle of public rights in privately owned dry sand beach still applies. Most states that give the public dry sand access on otherwise private property do so under a legal principle known as customary use rights. These rights evolved in feudal England to grant landless villagers access to the lord of the manor's lands for civic activities that had been conducted since "time immemorial," such as ritual maypole dancing. Oregon's Supreme Court led the way in judicially applying customary use rights to beaches in 1969, declaring all the state's dry sand beaches open to the public. Florida followed suit in 1974, but its Supreme Court decision has since been interpreted to apply on a parcel-by-parcel basis. Like Texas, North Carolina, Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands all have enacted legislation that recognizes customary use of the sandy beach, and courts have upheld the laws, as the map below from the Conversation shows (data from the Surfrider Foundation). Advertisement Sand Wars in Florida Florida has more sandy beaches than any other state, a year-round climate to enjoy them and a seemingly unbounded appetite for growth, all of which makes beach access a chronic flashpoint. Along Florida's Panhandle, pitched battles have erupted since 2016, with beachfront property owners and private resorts asserting their private property rights over the dry sandy beach and calling sheriffs to evict locals. When beachgoers responded by asserting their customary use rights, Walton County no liberal bastion backed them up, passing the local equivalent of a customary use law. Florida's legislature stepped in and took away the local right to pass customary use laws, except according to a complicated legal process that only a few local governments have initiated. Critics argue that the law has made it harder for communities to establish lateral public access to beaches and has done little to resolve the ongoing disputes. Advertisement What About Just Adding Sand? Erosion is both an enemy and a potential savior of beach access. As rising seas erode beaches, pressure to harden shorelines grows. But armoring shorelines may actually increase erosion by interfering with the natural sand supply. Adding more sea walls thus makes it increasingly likely that in many developed areas the dry sand beach will all but disappear. And what once was the public wet sand beach the area between mean high and low tide will become two horizontal lines on a vertical sea wall. One alternative is adding more sand. Congress authorizes and funds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore beaches with sand pumped from offshore or trucked from ancient inland dunes. States must typically match these funds, and beachfront property owners occasionally collectively pitch in. But federal regulations require communities that receive these funds to ensure there is adequate access to nourished beaches from the street, including parking. And new beaches built from submerged shorelines must be maintained for public access until rising seas submerge them again. This requirement, along with more arcane property rights issues, led landowners in Florida's Walton County to fight a beach nourishment project that would have protected their property from erosion. They took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. Beach nourishment, too, is a temporary solution. Good-quality, readily accessible offshore sand supplies are already depleted in some areas. And accelerating sea level rise may outpace readily available sand at some point in the future. Squeezed between condos and coral reefs, South Florida beaches are especially at risk, leading to some desperate proposals including the idea of grinding up glass to create beach sand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can find the original article here. Thomas Ankersen is the legal skills professor and director of the Conservation Clinic at the University of Florida College of Law. He receives funding from the Florida Sea Grant through the National Sea Grant Program. Some girls return to high school in Afghan province Girls have returned to some secondary schools in a northern province of Afghanistan, but they remain barred from classrooms in much of the country (AFP/Hoshang Hashimi) Girls have returned to some secondary schools in a northern province of Afghanistan, Taliban officials and teachers said Tuesday, but they remain barred from classrooms in much of the country. Dozens of girls in black, some wearing white head scarves and others with black face veils, sat in chairs waving Taliban flags, in a video posted by the hardline group's spokesman Suhail Shaheen. "Girls are going to high schools in Khan Abad, Kunduz Province," tweeted Doha-based Shaheen, who has been nominated as the new Afghan government's permanent representative to the United Nations. But in Kabul, education ministry official Mohammad Abid said there had been no policy change from the Taliban's interim central government, telling AFP on Tuesday: "High schools still remain closed for girls." The Taliban, notorious for their brutal and oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, have faced international fury after effectively excluding women and girls from education and work across the country. Seven weeks after seizing power and pledging a softer version of their previous regime, the Islamist hardliners have incrementally stripped away at Afghans' freedoms. The Taliban permitted girls to attend primary school from the start, but have maintained that neither they nor their female teachers could return to secondary school yet. They have said girls can return to high school once their security and strict gender segregation under the group's restrictive interpretation of sharia law can be ensured. Last month Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference that work was "continuing over the issues of education and work of women and girls", saying schools will reopen "as soon as possible", without providing a timeframe. "More time is needed... instructions on how to deal with their work, their services and their education are needed because the system has changed and an Islamic system is in place." Story continues - 'No restrictions' - In the news clip shared by Shaheen, a reporter for Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) can be heard saying "schools are open for girls, and there are no restrictions". A Taliban member is then interviewed on camera saying girls and boys from grades seven to 12 are at school in the district, adding "there are not any issues for anyone so far". A headteacher in Kunduz city, the provincial capital, told AFP that girls in a high school in the Imam Sahib district had gone back to classes. Another teacher in Kunduz also said other high school girls had returned. "Our principal informed the Directorate of Education at Kunduz and requested them for instructions," the fourth grade teacher told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They replied that the ban on school girls is only applicable to other provinces, and not Kunduz." The Taliban have also restricted women's access to work. The group imposed an extreme interpretation of sharia law during their last period of rule and this time round have said progress in women's rights will be respected "within the framework of Islamic law". The revelation that some Afghan girls were returning to secondary school came on World Teachers' Day Tuesday. "For girls' education, female teachers play an even more important role in Afghanistan," the UN children's agency's country office tweeted, calling for the help, encouragement and protection of female teachers. bur-je/dc/nl/oho Hurricane Ida intensifying before landfall. Credit: Photo: College of Du Page At the end of August, category four Hurricane Ida ravaged Louisiana and caused enormous damage in the Northeast due to flooding. Many homes in both regions were destroyed and prolonged power outages occurred. As Ida moved north, it spawned tornadoes, record rainfall, extensive flooding, and resulted in 82 deaths. Is it possible to determine how much climate change influenced an extreme event like Ida? Today, as extreme weather events happen more frequently, people are routinely asking if they are caused by climate change. Ten years ago, scientists would have had a hard time answering this question. Today a new type of research called attribution science can determine, not if climate change caused an event, but if climate change made some extreme events more severe and more likely to occur, and if so, by how much. There have always been extreme weather events caused by numerous natural factors, but climate change is increasing the number and strength of these events. Now, it's possible to quantify climate change's influence more precisely, however, determining that climate change contributed to an event does not mean it caused the event. What can attribution science tell us? A 2004 paper entitled "Human Contribution to the European Heat Wave of 2003" is generally considered to be the first attribution science study. It modeled how much human-induced greenhouse gases increased the likelihood of the historic 2003 heat wave in Europe. Today, the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative, a collaboration of scientists around the world, does real-time analyses of extreme events right after they occur to figure out how much climate change played a role in them. Attribution science figures out the likelihood or severity of a particular event happening today compared to how it might have unfolded in an imaginary world that humans have not warmed. But because natural variability always plays a role too, even if an extreme event is found to have been made more likely by climate change, it doesn't necessarily mean that the chance of this type of event occurring each year will increase. How does it work? When there is an extreme weather event, scientists first determine how frequently an event of that magnitude might occur based on historical and observational data. Having good observational data that goes back a long way is important. WWA says the dataset should go back to the 1950s at least, ideally to the 19th century. Some types of extreme events can be more accurately analyzed than others. Those with long observational records that can be simulated by computer models, especially those connected to temperature, such as heat waves, deliver the most certainty in attribution studies. Attribution studies then run identical climate models under two scenarios. In the first, greenhouse gas concentrations are kept constant at some level from the past before humans started burning fossil fuels, and the climate model is run over, say, a 150-year period. This is called the "counterfactual world"the world that might have been. For the second scenario, the climate model goes back in time again, plugging in the actual greenhouse gas concentrations for each year as they increased over time. By comparing the results from the two modeled scenarios, scientists can estimate how much human emissions from fossil fuel activity have shifted the odds. Statistical methods are then used to quantify the differences in severity and frequency of the event. As an example, if the extreme event occurs twice as often in today's climate model as it does in the counterfactual climate model, then climate change is determined to have made the event twice as likely as it would otherwise have been in a world without human-induced emissions. The limitations of attribution analyses Because of natural variability, however, doing attribution analyses of extreme precipitation events like Hurricane Ida is more difficult, according to climate scientist Radley Horton, of Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "It's not easy to do attribution on extreme rain events like this, though people do it for sure," he said. "This is because the natural variability for extreme precipitation from one year to the next in any one place is much greater, making it harder to see the signal of climate change relative to the noise of variability." NASA Earth Observatory image of the June 2021 heat wave. Credit: NASA_Joshua Stevens Climate models are also less reliable for extreme precipitation because they work with grid boxes that cover large spatial areas; for example, 100 miles by 100 miles. For each grid box, there is one number that represents everythingtemperature, precipitation, and wind speedwithout differentiating between them. Extreme precipitation, however, often falls in relatively narrow geographical bands. The most extreme rainfall, for example, might occur in a band 40 miles wide, and in most climate models, the grid box is bigger than 40 miles. "The climate model cannot tell you anything on a finer spatial scale than its grid box, so it can't really capture extreme rainfall events," said Horton. He added, "At present, attribution results are more robust for heat waves, gradually changing conditions that cover a large area like sea level rise, global average temperature, or the extent of Arctic Sea ice. Trying to quantify how much climate change increased extreme precipitation is still challenging and is an area of active research." Climate models currently do not have fine enough spatial resolution to deal with the many aspects of extreme precipitation, largely because they lack sufficient computing power. In addition, they are limited by what scientists still do not know about the relationships between different components in the atmospheric system that climate change can alter in unpredictable wayskey processes that might interact to unleash new behavior as greenhouse gases increase and temperatures rise. In the future, however, attribution science will likely become more definitive. "Every five to 10 years, we have more years of data, so we're better able to estimate what the baseline risk is, because we're talking about very rare events," said Horton. "We will also have new data products like satellites that can help us look at cloud temperatures and help estimate rainfall in places where there may not be a lot of weather stations. But I think even more important will be that as our computing power grows, those grid boxes will get finer and smaller. We will have higher resolution models." While attribution studies are constrained when it comes to determining how much climate change affects precipitation events, the bottom line is that climate change has made many types of extreme events more common than they were in the past. And for any given storm, like Ida, there is strong potential for heavier rainfall since a warming atmosphere holds more moisture. Scientists are confident in their projections that extreme precipitation events are increasing, and that they will be a growing problem in the future because the observed trends have been so large in so many places. But there are still great uncertainties about how severe the upper extremes will be, which is critical for knowing how to plan, avoid economic damage, and save lives. Other factors, too, play a part in creating a natural disaster. According to the WWA, first are the meteorological conditions. Second is exposure to the eventhow many people and how much property are located in danger zones. And finally, vulnerabilitythe attributes and circumstances of a population or system that make it susceptible to the event's impacts. Sometimes attribution analyses find that extreme events have not necessarily been exacerbated by climate change, but rather by the exposure and vulnerability of the population. For instance, as more and more Americans build homes in areas at high risk for floods and wildfires, the catastrophic damage that occurs is due to a confluence of factorssuch as hotter drier summers that increase wildfire risk or a lack of governmental regulations for building in flood plains. Attribution science at work In July, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands experienced catastrophic flooding due to record rainfall during a storm that killed 220 people. According to the history of the region, there was a 1 in 400 chance of that much rainfall falling in any given year. But an attribution analysis by WWA found that human-induced climate change made the event 1.2 to 9 times more likely than it would have been 100 years ago. Warming temperatures also increased the amount of rainfall by three to 19 percent. The heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest in June brought temperatures higher than ever previously recorded in that region. The event was estimated to be a 1 in 1000-year event and might never have happened without climate change, according to the WWA. Idas hurricane cone. Credit: National Hurricane Center The heat wave was also found to be 2 degrees Celsius hotter than it would have been had it occurred before the Industrial Revolution. If the world reaches 2 degrees Celsius of global warming (it has currently warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius but is on track to hit 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040), this type of 1 in 1000-year heat wave could occur every five to 10 years. Two attribution studies found that climate change made Hurricane Harvey, which caused floods and over 100 deaths in Texas and Louisiana in 2017, three times more likely and increased the storm's rainfall by 15 percent. Unlike Hurricane Ida, Hurricane Harvey covered a large area with extreme precipitation falling over a longer period of time. Carbon Brief, a U.K. website reporting the latest developments in climate science, has mapped over 350 peer-reviewed studies of weather extremes around the world and analyzed the trends. Overall, extreme events have increased in the last 10 to 15 years. 70 percent of 405 extreme weather events were made more likely or more intense by human-induced climate change. 92 percent of 122 attribution studies of extreme heat found that climate change made them more likely or more severe. 58 percent of 81 rainfall studies found that human activity made them more probable or intense. And 65 percent of 69 drought events were also exacerbated by climate change. How else can attribution science be used? Attribution science is becoming sufficiently recognized and established enough to provide support in some legal disputes. In 2020, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory established the Climate Attribution Database. It contains 385 scientific resources organized by theme: climate change attribution, extreme event attribution, impact attribution, and source attribution. The database will help scientists understand how attribution research might be applied to laws and policies, enable lawyers to access the latest research to support their cases, and provide policy makers with resources that offer justification for their climate policies. A number of environmental impacts, such as sea level rise, melting permafrost or snowpack, extreme heat, and ocean acidification can quite confidently be attributed to climate change. And once an impact has been determined to be influenced by climate change, it's possible to figure out the proportion to attribute to a specific source of emissions. Lindene Patton, a partner at Earth & Water Law, told E&E News,"When the science changes, when a body of knowledge to which a responsible professional is expected to keep up with and understand and pay attention towhen that changes, it changes what they have to do to protect people. It changes the standard of care." Attribution science can thus potentially be used to defend climate regulations that are challenged as being too stringent or to establish standing to sue by showing that certain parties have been harmed by climate change impacts. It can help hold emitters liable and sue governments for not sufficiently regulating greenhouse gas emissions. According to Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, a Dutch court ordered Shell to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the combustion of its fossil fuel products 45 percent by 2030, using a form of "source attribution." And the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights determined that fossil fuel companies have a responsibility under a Philippines human rights law to reduce the emissions that result from their products and services. As yet, however, no fossil fuel or power company has been held liable for climate-related damages based on an extreme event or a gradual change in environmental conditions. But because attribution science is making it possible to quantify increased risks, it will likely result in more lawsuits in the future. Attribution science could also be used to help governments determine the right level for an emissions cap or a carbon tax, and eventually could even be used to predict extreme events. "Already, we're seeing attribution studies being conducted before an event has even happened," said Horton. "Let's say there's a hurricane in the tropical Atlantic. You're seeing that cone of uncertainty about where that storm might go in a week or 10 days. People can link those short-term predictions to models that give us the counterfactual world with no warming versus the world of today, so that before the storm even arrives, there's an estimate of how much more likely you are to get that event." Because the future is likely to bring extreme weather and impacts in areas that have not experienced as frequent or intense events in the past, attribution science could potentially also help with climate adaptation. For example, cities might decide to install more green infrastructure to absorb a projected increase in stormwater. Or if an area is aware that more extreme weather events will likely occur in the future, residents might be persuaded to relocate rather than rebuild. Attribution science is providing new insights into the impacts of climate change. As such, it has great potential as a tool to help educate, prepare, and influence global communities as they face the impacts of a warming world. "My personal feeling about attribution science," said Horton, "is that it's less a revolution in our understanding, and more a revolution in how we apply knowledge to attribute blame and apportion responsibility, and perhaps most importantly, to inform and motivate communities and stakeholders to take action." Explore further Attribution science says climate change to blame for some extreme weather events A dried up river bed in the al-Huwaiza Marshes, on the Iraq-Iran border.There has been around a 30 percent increase in the amount and duration of drought since 2000, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organization. More than five billion people could have difficulty accessing water in 2050, the United Nations warned Tuesday, urging leaders to seize the initiative at the COP26 summit. Already in 2018, 3.6 billion people had inadequate access to water for at least one month per year, said a new report from the UN's World Meteorological Organization. "We need to wake up to the looming water crisis," said WMO chief Petteri Taalas. "The State of Climate Services 2021: Water" report comes just weeks before COP26the UN Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12. The WMO stressed that over the last 20 years, the levels of water stored on landon the surface, in the subsurface, in snow and icehad dropped at a rate of one centimetre per year. The biggest losses are in Antarctica and Greenland, but many highly-populated lower latitude locations are experiencing significant water losses in areas that traditionally provide water supply, said the WMO. The agency said there were major ramifications for water security, as only 0.5 percent of water on Earth is useable and available fresh water. "Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes, leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, with a major impact on food security and human health and well-being," said Taalas. 'We cannot wait' Meanwhile water-related hazards have increased in frequency over the past 20 years. Since 2000, flood-related disasters have risen by 134 percent compared with the previous two decades. "We have seven percent more humidity in the atmosphere because of the current warming and that's also contributing to the flooding," Taalas told a press conference. Most of the flood-related deaths and economic losses were recorded in Asia, where river flood warning systems require strengthening, said the WMO. At the same time, there has been around a 30 percent increase in the amount and duration of drought events since 2000, with Africa the worst-affected continent. Taalas urged countries at COP26 to raise their game. He said most world leaders were talking about climate change as a major risk to the welfare of mankind, but their actions were not matching their words. "We cannot wait for decades to start acting," he said. "That's also a message for countries like China which has said that they would like to become carbon neutral by 2060 but they don't have a concrete plan for the coming decade." He said the top priority at COP26 was stepping up ambition levels in climate mitigation, but more work was also needed on climate adaptations, as the negative trend in weather patterns will continue for the coming decadesand the coming centuries when it comes to the melting of glaciers and sea levels rising. 2021 AFP Sentinel-1 carries an advanced synthetic aperture radar that works in several specialised modes to provide detailed imagery for Europes Copernicus programme. These data will be used for applications such as monitoring the oceans, including shipping lanes, sea ice and oil spills. It also provides data to map changing land cover, ground deformation, ice shelves and glaciers, and can be used to help emergency response when disasters such as floods strike and to support humanitarian relief efforts at times of crisis. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab This week marks seven years since the very first satellite that ESA built for the European Union's Copernicus program started delivering data to monitor the environment. The Sentinel-1A satellite has shed new light on our changing world and has been key to supplying a wealth of radar imagery to aid disaster response. While this remarkable satellite may have been designed for an operational life of seven years, it is still going strong and fully expected to be in service for several years to come. Launched on 3 April 2014 and delivering a stream of operational data by the beginning October 2014, Copernicus Sentinel-1A marked a new era in global environmental monitoring. Carrying the latest radar technology to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth's surface, this new mission not only raised the bar for spaceborne radar, but also set the stage for Europe's Copernicus program. Copernicus has been the largest provider of Earth observation data in the world for some years now. The suite of Sentinel missions in orbit delivering complementary data and the range of services offered through Copernicus help address some of today's toughest environmental challenges such as food security, rising sea levels, diminishing ice, natural disasters, and the overarching issue of the climate crisis. "It is with great pride that we see the first satellite ESA built for Copernicus pass its all-important seven-year operational life expectancy," said ESA's Director General, Josef Aschbacher. "We have another seven Copernicus Sentinel satellites currently in operation, all of which are surpassing expectations. With more missions in the pipeline and an ever-growing community using the Sentinel missions' free and open data, the approach of building a long-term reliable observing system is clearly paying off." Copernicus Sentinel-1C is the third Sentinel-1 satellite. The three satellites are identical, each carrying an advanced radar instrument to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earths surface. When deployed in space, the radar measures a whopping 12 meters. Because the radar is folded to fit into the rocket fairing for liftoff, the deployment mechanism must be thoroughly tested to ensure that all will be well once it is in space. To simulate this operation in as near realistic environment as is possible on Earth, the radar is hung from a structure that helps to mimic weightlessness. The deployment test not only enables the hardware needed for the deployment to be tested, but also allows for the antenna planarity and flatness to be measured when fully deployed. The tests were carried out at Airbus in Germany. Credit: Airbus ESA's Acting Head of Earth Observation Programmes, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, added, "The Copernicus program as a whole is going to be even more relevant as the climate crisis takes a tighter hold. Information from satellites is indispensable in measuring progress towards climate goals set by the UN and the EC's Green Deal." Mauro Facchini, Head of the Earth Observation Unit (DEFIS.C.3) at the European Commission, said, "The launch of Sentinel-1A has been historical for Copernicusthe start of the successful story of the family of Sentinel satellites serving Copernicus services and a huge number of users around the world with their data. The emphasis of the Copernicus program has always been on its operational nature, going far beyond the time frame of research activities. The fact that Sentinel-1A is exceeding its design lifetime in best health underpins that both, policy-makers and businesses can really rely on Copernicus data and information being provided continuously and in long term." The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission comprises two identical satellites orbiting 180 apart to image the planet with a repeat frequency of six days, down to a daily coverage at high latitudes to support operational sea-ice monitoring. Sentinel-1B was launched in April 2016. The mission benefits numerous services and applications, such as those that relate to Arctic sea-ice monitoring, iceberg tracking, routine sea-ice mapping, glacier-velocity monitoring, surveillance of the marine environment including oil-spill monitoring and ship detection for maritime security as well as illegal fisheries monitoring. It is also used for monitoring ground deformation resulting from subsidence, earthquakes and volcanoes, mapping for forest, water and soil management, and mapping to support humanitarian aid and crisis situations. Over the last seven years, the mission has, for example, tracked the huge A-68 iceberg that calved from Antarctica and had a near-collision with South Georgia, has been used in synergy with the Copernicus Sentinel-2 optical mission to map crop types and with ESA's CryoSat to map ice loss from ice sheets and diminishing sea ice as well as ice lost from the world's glaciers. This image is a mosaic based on Sentinel-1A satellite coverage of the Netherlands in three scans during March 2015. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south. Credit: Copernicus Sentinel data (2015)/ESA The mission has also been used to map subsidence and shifts in the ground following earthquakes, track surface wind speeds below tropical storms and hurricanes and been called upon through the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Services and the Disaster Charter to map floods at times of disaster. Sentinel-1 data have also formed the basis for countless scientific papers that shed new light on how our planet functions. The list goes on. With the mission designed to work as a pair of satellites, when the time does come for Sentinel-1A to retire, Sentinel-1C will take its place in orbit. The same goes for Sentinel-1B, which will eventually be replaced by Sentinel-1D. The latter two Sentinel-1 satellites will further improve performance and services with new instruments dedicated to marine applications. To ensure the provision of data over next decades, the same approach is taken for the other Sentinel missions. Looking even further ahead, it's all systems go as ESA and the European Commission are developing the next generation of Sentinels building on the newest technology developments. Not only will this ensure continuity of data that many users have come to rely on, but it will also lead to new users and applications. Dr Hoxhaj pictured hosting a research event at Chatham House based on his British Academy Rising Star Award on Challenges to the Rule of Law in the Western Balkans. Credit: University of Warwick The coronavirus pandemic has presented populist governments with a unique opportunity to implement authoritarian measures and to limit public scrutiny of their decisions and policies, argues Dr. Andi Hoxhaj of Warwick Law School in a new paper published in the European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance. In the paper, Dr. Hoxhaj and co-author Dr. Fabian Zhilla examine Western Balkans governments' approaches to introducing and enforcing COVID-19 legal measures, and ask whether the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of existing constitutional checks and balances in the six Western Balkans states. Dr. Hoxhaj was invited to present his conclusions at the re:constitution Workshop, Constitutionalism and COVID-19: Broadening the Lens, held from 30 September to 1 October in Rome, Italy. Explaining his findings, Dr. Hoxhaj said: "The COVID-19 pandemic crisis produced a golden opportunity for authoritarian forces to undermine the rule of law and the state of democracy in the Western Balkans. "Leaders have certainly made the most of itsilencing the media, suspending courts, using the full power of public office in their electoral bids, suppressing the opposition's ability to challenge the ruling parties, and restricting freedoms. "Through these actions, authoritarian leaders have further captured state institutions, acquired more unaccounted powers, and severely restricted parliamentary oversightand as a result, further eroded the already weak rule of law system in the Western Balkans." Hoxhaj and Zhilla divided the six Western Balkans governments into three categories to analyze how the COVID-19 crisis was exploited to consolidate power. These are: semiautocratic regime: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. volatile autocratic regime: Kosovo ethnic autocracy: Bosnia and Herzegovina Measures adopted by the governments included announcing a state of emergency by decree rather than by passing emergency laws through Parliament, delaying elections, deploying the police to break up public gatherings, instructing the courts to prioritize COVID-related trials, limiting opposition parties' access to media and communications, arresting people protesting on non-COVID issues for breaking coronavirus curfews, giving pre-election bribes disguised as emergency financial support, and in one case, police arresting an opposition politician on the pretext of breaking lockdown. Dr. Hoxhaj added: "Our conclusion from the individual country studies is that Western Balkans governance during COVID-19 not only resulted in the expansion of an authoritarian approach, but went further, by exploiting the pandemic as an opportunity to advance political agendas away from public scrutiny." The paper highlights that emergency laws can be seen as an indicator of the rise of totalitarian behavior of the leadership in emerging democracies: a legalized vacuum of checks and balance is quickly exploited by political elite to extend the state capture. In this context this paper draws attention to further research on situation like pandemics where the mushrooming of emergency laws may be viewed as a characteristic of autocratic governance. Dr. Zhilla commented: "Most of the emergency laws and measures were brought into force through decrees and announcements from government leaders, bypassing the parliamentary procedures, consultations and scrutiny from the media, civil society, academia and the courts which are the hallmarks of liberal democracy. That this happened in plain sight is of great concern." Dr. Hoxhaj and Dr. Zhilla urge the EU to make greater effort through its conditionality instruments to help empower civil society, media and other non-state actors to transform the Western Balkans's stabiliocracies and reaffirm the rule of law. Explore further As many state of emergency declarations during the first wave of the pandemic as in the preceding decade More information: Andi Hoxhaj, The EU Rule of Law Initiative Towards the Western Balkans, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2020). Andi Hoxhaj, The EU Rule of Law Initiative Towards the Western Balkans,(2020). DOI: 10.1007/s40803-020-00148-w Andi Hoxhaj et al, The Impact of covid-19 Measures on the Rule of Law in the Western Balkans and the Increase of Authoritarianism, European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance (2021). DOI: 10.1163/22134514-bja10024 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A third of Australian mothers experiencing disadvantage have suffered job or income loss as well as high rates of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found. The research, led by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in PLOS ONE, found mothers who had to self-quarantine, faced financial hardship, or were under stress from their children's at-home learning reported poorer mental health. The researchers stated unless the financial and social consequences of lockdown were addressed, the inequities arising from adversity would be exacerbated. The study involved 319 mothers living in adversity recruited across Victoria and Tasmania from the right@home trial who undertook a survey during the first 10 months of the pandemic. It found 20 percent of mothers had to self-quarantine, 27 percent experienced job or income loss and 40 percent faced family stress. A third of mothers reported being moderately to extremely worried about themselves or family members becoming infected and that changes in contact with family and friends had been moderately to extremely stressful for their child. Half felt their child's at-home learning often or almost always made their usual duties more difficult. But the report noted many also experienced resilience with 49 percent finding good ways of coping with the stress and 29 percent providing support to fellow families in their community. MCRI researcher Dr. Hannah Bryson said the financial and social impacts of Australia's public health restrictions have substantially affected families experiencing adversity and their mental health. "Financial hardship impacts parents' ability to pay for essentials and to care for and invest in resources for their children. Additionally, it puts families at greater risk of poor mental health, family violence and child maltreatment," she said. "Subsequently, poor parent mental health can negatively impact parents' own health, as well as their children's behavioral and emotional outcomes. "Closure of schools and transitioning to at-home learning also appears to be a key contributor to this." MCRI Professor Sharon Goldfeld said to recover from the pandemic, the economic and healthcare needs of women and children living in adversity must be prioritized with investment in income support and universal and equitable access to family health services. "As Australia emerges from lockdown and the pandemic, the disproportionate burden on women and children already living in adversity will need to be addressed with similarly disproportionate service system and economic policy responses," she said. Explore further Researchers use hair cortisol test to measure stress levels of families during COVID-19 More information: Hannah Bryson et al, Clinical, financial and social impacts of COVID-19 and their associations with mental health for mothers and children experiencing adversity in Australia, PLOS ONE (2021). Journal information: PLoS ONE Hannah Bryson et al, Clinical, financial and social impacts of COVID-19 and their associations with mental health for mothers and children experiencing adversity in Australia,(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257357 Faerlea assembli. Credit: AquaTT Researchers from the Swedish Museum of Natural History have identified a new species of marine worm living in the Basque region of Spain. Named Faerlea assembli, the worm is just 0.8mm long and was discovered as part of research conducted at Plentzia Marine Station. The new species belongs to an important group of worms known as the Acoelomorpha. These small, soft-bodied worms are abundant throughout many different types of marine sediment. They form a key part of marine food chains and studying their populations offers a way for scientists to monitor the overall health of different environments. Acoelomorphs are particularly sensitive to human impact and their diversity is reduced in areas such as beaches that are visited by many tourists. The new species, Faerlea assembli belongs to the Mecynostomidae family of acoelomorphs. This group is most abundant in shallow, sandy sediments and therefore they are particularly vulnerable to impacts by human activities. It is a fragile species with limited, localized distributions. Professor Ulf Jondelius led the research team that identified the new species. Commenting on the significance of the finding, he said "When it comes to understanding the diversity of marine life, we are still only scratching the surface. Small marine species such as this are often over-looked yet they play crucial roles in marine ecosystems. Identifying new species, such as Faerlea assembli, provides a first step in gathering the data needed for wider population studies to monitor environmental status." The findings were published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Explore further Study finds increase in Antarctic marine worm species More information: Sarah Atherton et al, Phylogenetic assessment and systematic revision of the acoel family Isodiametridae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2021). Journal information: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society Sarah Atherton et al, Phylogenetic assessment and systematic revision of the acoel family Isodiametridae,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab050 Provided by AquaTT Landscape view of Pico (foreground) and Faial (background) Islands. Credit: Santiago Giralt. An international team of researchers has found evidence that people lived on islands in the Azores archipelago approximately 700 years earlier than prior evidence has shown. In their paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of sediment cores taken from lakes on some of the islands in the archipelago. Due to the absence of other evidence, historians have believed that people first arrived in the Azores in 1427, when Portuguese sailor Diogo de Silves landed on Santa Maria Island. Soon thereafter, others from Portugal arrived and made the archipelago their home. In this new effort, the researchers found evidence that humans were living on some of the islands in the Azores approximately 700 years earlier. Looking to learn more about the history of the Azores, the researchers began collecting sediment samples from several of the lakes on the islands and studying them to see what they might reveal. Sediment samples can serve as historical evidence because material in the air that falls to the surface of a lake and then to the lake bottom is covered over by new layers of sediment as time passes. Analysis of the sediment cores showed an increase in 5-beta-stigmasterol in a core layer dated to a time between 700 CE and 850 CE, taken from Peixinho Lake. The compound is typically found in the feces of livestock, such as cows and sheepneither of which lived in the Azores prior to the arrival of humans. They also saw upticks in charcoal particles (suggesting large fires had been burning) along with a dip in native tree pollens. The findings suggest someone had burned down forest to provide more land for livestock. The researchers found similar evidence in cores taken from Caldeirao Lake, which is on a different island, though it appeared approximately a century later. And they found evidence of non-native ryegrass in the sediment taken from a lake on a third island. Lake Caldeirao inside the collapsed caldera of Corvo Island. Credit: Santiago Giralt. The findings present strong evidence of humans inhabiting the archipelago hundreds of years before the Portuguese arrived. The researchers theorize that they were likely Norse seafarers, noting their accomplishments in sailing up and down the coasts of many parts of Europe. Explore further Sediment cores from Dogger Littoral suggest Dogger Island survived ancient tsunami More information: Pedro M. Raposeiro et al, Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Pedro M. Raposeiro et al, Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times,(2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108236118 2021 Science X Network The fiery exoplanet WASP-76b a so-called hot Jupiter, where it rains iron may be hotter than previously thought. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser Considered an ultra-hot Jupitera place where iron gets vaporized, condenses on the night side and then falls from the sky like rainthe fiery, inferno-like WASP-76b exoplanet may be even more sizzling than scientists had realized. An international team, led by scientists at Cornell University, University of Toronto and Queen's University Belfast, reports the discovery of ionized calcium on the planetsuggesting an atmospheric temperature higher than previously thought, or strong upper atmosphere winds. The discovery was made in high-resolution spectra obtained with Gemini North near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Hot Jupiters are named for their high temperatures, due to proximity to their stars. WASP-76b, discovered in 2016, is about 640 light-years from Earth, but so close to its F-type star, which is slightly hotter than the sun, that the giant planet completes one orbit every 1.8 Earth days. The research results are the first of a multiyear, Cornell-led project, Exoplanets with Gemini Spectroscopy survey, or ExoGemS, that explores the diversity of planetary atmospheres. "As we do remote sensing of dozens of exoplanets, spanning a range of masses and temperatures, we will develop a more complete picture of the true diversity of alien worldsfrom those hot enough to harbor iron rain to others with more moderate climates, from those heftier than Jupiter to others not much bigger than the Earth," said co-author Ray Jayawardhana, Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University and a professor of astronomy. "It's remarkable that with today's telescopes and instruments, we can already learn so much about the atmospherestheir constituents, physical properties, presence of clouds and even large-scale wind patternsof planets that are orbiting stars hundreds of light-years away," Jayawardhana said. The group spotted a rare trio of spectral lines in highly sensitive observations of the exoplanet WASP-76b's atmosphere, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on Sept. 28 and presented on Oct. 5 at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. "We're seeing so much calcium; it's a really strong feature," said first author Emily Deibert, a University of Toronto doctoral student, whose adviser is Jayawardhana. "This spectral signature of ionized calcium could indicate that the exoplanet has very strong upper atmosphere winds," Deibert said. "Or the atmospheric temperature on the exoplanet is much higher than we thought." Explore further New ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet discovered More information: Ray Jayawardhana et al, Detection of Ionized Calcium in the Atmosphere of the Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2021). Journal information: Astrophysical Journal Letters Ray Jayawardhana et al, Detection of Ionized Calcium in the Atmosphere of the Ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-76b,(2021). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ac2513 Yellowtail scad are an example of the baitfish found in abundance around the artificial reefs surveyed by UNSW researchers. Credit: John Turnbull UNSW scientists have uncovered why artificial reefs attract more small foraging fish, or baitfish, than natural reefs. It's an important finding which could lead to more effective manmade reefs being built to help recreational fishers. Using a high-tech fish finder called a multibeam echosounder, the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences researchers gained a 3D picture of five natural and three artificial reefs off Sydney during the day and at night and under different conditions. They found that the tall vertical habitats provided by the 9-meter-high artificial reef allowed baitfish such as yellowtail scad and mado to spread out and feed much higher above the seafloor while still remaining close to the safety afforded by physical structures. Because they had a higher structure to protect them, these bottom-of-the-food chain fish also had more access to fooddrifting planktonthan they would receive on a low-lying natural reef. And thanks to the 'meal delivery service'the East Australian Currentconsistently delivering a conveyor belt of plankton as their food, these baitfish are eating more, with subsequent benefits for their predators, including the bluespotted flathead, one of NSW's most iconic commercial and recreational fish. Their study, which has been published in Marine Ecology Progress Series, has implications for the eight artificial reefs in New South Wales. "Zooplankton and these small fish support around half of the fish biomass," one of the study authors, Professor Iain Suthers from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences says. "The schools of these small fish are sometimes referred to as a 'wall of mouths' as they persist over a reef and peck the zooplankton from the tidal flow. "They connect plankton to the fishery and underpin the sustainability of bluespotted flathead and this has implications for the sustainability of coastal fishing near heavily urbanized areas because the flathead ambush these small baitfish." The study describes the so-called "pinch point" of the coastal food web and helps explain why reefs around Sydney can be such productive habitat for forage fish, despite a 50 percent decline in kelp, which itself supports coastal food webs and subsequently fish off the NSW coast. Lead author Matthew Holland, who conducted the research when he was a Ph.D. candidate at UNSW Science and is now a Research Fellow at University of Plymouth in the UK, says artificial reefs allow the fish to use space differently than they do in nearby natural habitats. "Across temperate and subtropical coastal areas, like the coast of Sydney, much of the seafloor is relatively flat and featureless," Dr. Holland says. "But rocky reefs or any form of hard structure on the seafloor is rare overall and fish tend to congregate on structures such as artificial reefs. "By building artificial reefs as 'skyscrapers' rather than 'single-story buildings," we can provide more usable space for the fish, which can travel up and down in the water column while remaining close to these structures for protection from predators." Dr. Holland says they were surprised by the huge quantity of plankton actually drifting over the natural and artificial Sydney reefs. "We collected zooplankton samples by towing nets behind the boat during our surveys," he says. "Based on the speed of the current, we worked out that 43 grams of zooplankton was delivered to each square meter of reef every hour during the day. "Based on the energy requirements of the fish we studied, each square meter of reef could potentially support up to 25 kilograms of fish feeding only on these tiny organisms." The eight artificial reefs in New South Wales are installed at South Head in Sydney, Port Hacking in South Sydney, Shoalhaven, Port Macquarie, Merimbula, Newcastle, Wollongong and Tweed Heads. Like artificial reefs, oil rigs off California have been found to be some of the most productive reef habitats. Prof. Suthers says the study justifies the decommissioning of old oil and gas pipelines or platforms in the Bass Strait and the North-West Shelf for use as artificial reefs. But Dr. Holland says that while the scientists demonstrated why artificial reefs can be more productive than natural ones, they aren't necessarily a replacement for natural reefs. "Natural reefs often have higher biodiversity because they contain a wider variety of habitats which can therefore support a wider variety of organisms," he says. "It is important that we preserve natural reefs as well to maintain this biodiversity." Now the scientists are keen to see their findings shape the design and location of future artificial reefs in the hope of enhancing coastal environments and improving opportunities for recreational fishers. Explore further Fish reef domes a boon for environment, recreational fishing More information: MM Holland et al, Fine-scale spatial and diel dynamics of zooplanktivorous fish on temperate rocky and artificial reefs, Marine Ecology Progress Series (2021). Journal information: Marine Ecology Progress Series MM Holland et al, Fine-scale spatial and diel dynamics of zooplanktivorous fish on temperate rocky and artificial reefs,(2021). DOI: 10.3354/meps13831 Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A huge slick of oil stalked the California coast Tuesday as officials frantically tried to protect ecologically sensitive shorelines and investigators probed whether a ship's anchor caused a pipe breach that sent tens of thousands of gallons of crude into the waters off Orange County. The oil continued to move south after fouling beaches and wetlands in Huntington Beach on Sunday. While much of it remained off the coast, some did wash up in Laguna Beach on Monday. The county on Tuesday announced that it had closed the Dana Point Harbor and Baby Beach, which is located within the harbor, as the oil spill continues to move south along the coast. A map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projecting the movements of the oil spill, reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, indicated the greatest threat to the shore remains in the area between Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach. Officials involved in the spill response believed that as of Saturday evening, the oil had reached San Diego County, according to materials obtained by the Times. The spill was initially estimated at about 126,000 gallons of crude, but late Monday, state and federal officials said that number could be closer to 144,000 gallons. Coast Guard officials are flying over the spill three to four times a day to map the oil's direction and compare it with tides, currents and winds to project the potential impact to beaches to the south. "It really is dependent on the prevailing weather conditions, but the oil continues to move in a southerly direction," said Capt. Rebecca Ore, commander of the USCG Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. Ore said the oil was detected as far south as Dana Point on Monday afternoon, but it was not a large mass. "I would characterize it as isolated ribbons of oil, or patches of oil. It's constantly changing," Ore said. "It's not one large slick of oil covering this large area of miles." Late Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County to help with cleanup efforts. The Orange County Board of Supervisors will also consider enacting a declaration of emergency response during its meeting Tuesday. If passed, it would allow the county to seek reimbursement for cleanup and other efforts from the entity responsible for the leak. Huntington Beach has been the hardest hit, with oil fouling some marshes and wetlands. Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said she took a flight over the affected area and it didn't appear the oil was encroaching as much as previously feared into the Huntington Beach area, but it could move as far south as the Mexican border. "As the ocean moves, so goes the oil," Foley said. Surveys also found the spill hasn't penetrated the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Fourteen boats are working in the waters along the coast to recover oil before it washes ashore. As of Monday afternoon, more than 4,100 gallons of oil had been removed from the water. Officials deployed 8,700 feet of oil-containment barriers, called boom, to protect the coast, according to the Coast Guard. On Tuesday morning, anti-pollution vessels were seen off the coast of Huntington Beach, south Laguna Beach and Dana Point. Officials in Laguna Beach hoped the skimmers would prevent more oil from coming ashore. "The entire city is a marine-protected area, which means we have sensitive marine habitat and wildlife here that is protected, and we need resources to protect this unique ecosystem," said Kevin Snow, chief of marine safety for Laguna Beach. The Coast Guard is investigating whether a large commercial ship set anchor in the wrong location, damaging an oil pipeline and causing the massive Orange County oil spill, an official familiar with the investigation told the Times on Monday. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. The anchor dragged the pipeline as much as 150 feet, the official said. Vessels are given anchor points in order to avoid pipelines. Coast Guard investigators are examining whether the ship's captain was aware of the dragging. Earlier Monday, Martyn Willsher, president and chief executive of the pipeline operator's parent company, said that a ship's anchor striking the pipeline was "one of the distinct possibilities" for the spill. "We have examined more than 8,000 feet of pipe, and we have isolated one specific area of significant interest," Willsher told reporters. "There's more information to come, but I think we're moving very closely to the source and the cause of this incident." The spill, first reported Saturday morning, originated from a pipeline running from the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure caused roughly more than 100,000 gallons of oil to gush into the Catalina Channel, creating a slick that spanned about 8,320 acres. It has left crude along stretches of sand in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, killing fish and birds and threatening ecologically sensitive wetlands in what officials are calling an environmental catastrophe. The oil will likely continue to encroach on Orange County beaches and environmentally sensitive habitats for the next few days, officials said. Explore further Has the oil leak been stopped? What we know about the origin of the massive Orange County spill 2021 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain St. Edward's University Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Carsten Andresen is shedding light on a controversial legal strategy, called the gay/trans panic defense, in what is believed to be the largest analysis of gay/trans panic defense murder cases in the social sciences so far. In his study, titled "Comparing the Gay and Trans Panic Defense," Andresen delves into the similarities and differences of 99 gay/trans panic defense cases, which took place from 2000 to 2019, where a criminal defendant sought to justify or excuse a murder using a gay/trans panic defense strategy. The study was published online on Aug. 27 in the journal Women & Criminal Justice. In analyzing these murder cases, Andresen is able to build a more detailed portrait of these often overlooked and heinous crimes. The study, which focuses on provocation and self-defense strategies, divides the cases into three categoriestotal gay/ trans murders, gay murders, and trans murders. It then highlights key aspects of the cases, including motivation, weapons used, demographics of victims and legal outcomes. Overall, his analysis found that most of the defendants who raised gay or trans panic defenses were charged and convicted of murder, but that's only part of the story, Andresen said. "There's a bigger picture to consider," Andresen said. "Gay men and trans women still remain vulnerable to fatal violence because of the gay and trans panic defenses. And the way these defenses play out in court infringes on a victim's civil rights." One of the inherent problems in self-defense gay or trans panic arguments is that it often flips the traditional scripted roles of the courtroom and directs suspicion toward the victims. "An allegation of sexual assault implies that these victims, who were gay or transgender, were sexual predators rather than victims," Andresen said. Behind the nmbers While most defendants analyzed in this study were convicted of murder, suggesting that justice was largely carried out, additional findings still merit more nuanced consideration and analysis, Andresen said. For instance, the gay/trans panic defense resulted in a reduction in charges from murder to manslaughter for 12 defendants (11.88%). In the future, Andresen would like to try to pinpoint what role the gay or trans panic defense played in the reduction of charges in these cases. Andresen also found that defendants were more likely to inflict lethal violence on their gay victims using weapons that involved close and personal contact, putting a spotlight on the brutality of these murders. These cases involved knives (42.65%), hands (35.29%), and/or objects (22.06%) such as crow bars, hammers, and tire jacks. For the 29 homicides of gay men that involved a knife, 25 out of 29 of the victims were stabbed multiple times; and at least 20 of these 29 victims were stabbed five or more times. The findings also draw attention to the greater risk of lethal violence faced by trans women of color. Of the 31 trans women where race/ethnicity information is available, the majority were people of color, with 21 (67.74%) of the victims African-American, 7 Latinx (22.6%), 2 (6.45%) Caucasian, and 1 Native American (3.23%). Andresen plans to further probe these cases to examine the role that the defendant, and possibly the justice workers and legal professionals, played in creating discriminatory gay and trans panic narratives. "There needs to be legal education and awareness of LGBTQI+ victims," Andresen said. "Prosecutors don't always know how to respond to tropes and stereotypes. Simply put, the blind spots in the criminal justice system make it harder for certain victims to get justice." Explore further Research aims to enhance justice experience of sexual violence victims More information: Carsten Andresen, Research Note: Comparing the Gay and Trans Panic Defenses, Women & Criminal Justice (2021). Carsten Andresen, Research Note: Comparing the Gay and Trans Panic Defenses,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/08974454.2021.1965067 Provided by St. Edward's University Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Low-income people were the least likely to reduce their local travel during the COVID-19 lockdown, probably because they still had to go to work, a case study in Columbus suggests. In fact, their average travel distances increased during the pandemic, as they were often forced to find work further away from their homes. Meanwhile, high-income people reduced their travel the most during the lockdown, most often leaving home for recreational and non-work purposes and taking shorter trips, The Ohio State University study showed. Researchers used cell phone location data to compare trips made by people living in high-, middle- and low-income areas of Columbus during the early days of the lockdown in Ohio (March 15 to April 30, 2020) with the same period in 2019. Results showed that people living in low-income areas reduced their travel 41% during the lockdownsignificantly less than the 51% reduction found for people living in high-income areas and 49% reduction for those from middle-income neighborhoods. The findings reveal the stark differences between people whose jobs allowed them to work from home with those mostly lower-income residents who worked in person for essential businesses, said Armita Kar, lead author of the study and a Ph.D. student in geography at Ohio State. "The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted which socioeconomic groups could work from home and limit their trips to stay safe and which groups couldn't avoid traveling to work," Kar said. Kar conducted the study with Huyen T.K. Le, assistant professor, and Harvey Miller, professor, both in geography at Ohio State. Their research was published yesterday (Oct. 4, 2021) in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers. The researchers used cell phone data that allowed them to see travel flow between specific Columbus neighborhoods and destinations around the city. They classified trips as originating in low-, middle- or high-income areas of the city based on U.S. Census data. Destinations were classified by the dominant business categories at each location, such as service jobs, arts and recreation, and accommodation and food services, among others. There wasn't just a change in the amount of travel during the pandemic lockdown, results showed. The nature of travel also changed, with the pandemic revealing how socioeconomic status affected where people needed to go or were able to go. For high-income people, trips became shorter as they didn't have to commute to work and they patronized businesses closer to home. They also showed increased travel during the lockdown to places like parks and outdoor recreation, which was not seen in the lower socioeconomic groups. "Now instead of traveling because they had to, higher-income residents were traveling more because they wanted to, for discretionary and recreational purposes," said Miller, who is also director of Ohio State's Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, which supported this project. "They had the work flexibility to seek stress relief at area parks and recreational facilities when they wanted to." In contrast, low-income people actually traveled greater distances during the lockdown than they did before. The results suggest that many residents in this category had to travel to multiple jobs to make ends meet during the pandemic, according to the researchers. "We believe their job opportunities became more scattered and so they had to travel more to get to their jobs," Kar said. Results showed that low-income residents traveled more during the lockdown to areas with concentrations of fast-food restaurants. That was probably both because they were more likely to be working at these businesses and they had to rely more on them for their meals, according to the researchers. Middle-income residents of Columbus didn't reduce travel as much as high-income people did during the lockdown, probably because they had a wider variety of occupations that couldn't work from home. Some of them may have been construction workers, the researchers said, since these workers were considered essential by the state of Ohio, as well as other states. The results of this study suggest that transportation planners and government leaders need to reconsider how they invest in travel infrastructure, Le said. "We need to focus travel infrastructure more in the lower-income areas of the city," Le said. "Lower-income residents are the ones that don't have a choice and will have to continue to travel to work when others can stay at home." Added Miller: "When we think of travel and travel demand, it is not one size fits all. Different social groups have different needs for travel and mobility. COVID-19 really exposed that." More information: Armita Kar, Huyen T. K. Le, Harvey J. Miller, What Is Essential Travel? Socioeconomic Differences in Travel Demand in Columbus, Ohio, during the COVID-19 Lockdown, Annals of the American Association of Geographers (2021). Armita Kar, Huyen T. K. Le, Harvey J. Miller, What Is Essential Travel? Socioeconomic Differences in Travel Demand in Columbus, Ohio, during the COVID-19 Lockdown,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2021.1956876 Credit: CC0 Public Domain Since the discovery of superconductivity in Sr 2 RuO 4 in 1994, hundreds of studies have been published on this compound, which have suggested that Sr 2 RuO 4 is a very special system with unique properties. These properties make Sr 2 RuO 4 a material with great potential, for example, for the development of future technologies including superconducting spintronics and quantum electronics by virtue of its ability to carry lossless electrical currents and magnetic information simultaneously. An international research team led by scientists at the University of Konstanz has been now able to answer one of the most interesting open questions on Sr 2 RuO 4 : why does the superconducting state of this material exhibit some features that are typically found in materials known as ferromagnets, which are considered being antagonists to superconductors? The team has found that Sr 2 RuO 4 hosts a new form of magnetism, which can coexist with superconductivity and exists independently of superconductivity as well. The results have been published in the current issue of Nature Communications. After a research study that lasted several years and involved 26 researchers from nine different universities and research institutions, the missing piece of the puzzle seems to have been found. Alongside the University of Konstanz, the universities of Salerno, Cambridge, Seoul, Kyoto and Bar Ilan as well as the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the Paul Scherrer Institute and the Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche participated in the study. So far not the right tool to find evidence "Despite decades of research on Sr 2 RuO 4 , there had been no evidence for the existence of this unusual type of magnetism in this material. A few years ago, however, we wondered if the reconstruction that happens in this material on the surface, where the crystal structure exhibits some small changes at the atomic scale level, could also lead to an electronic ordering with magnetic properties. Following this intuition, we realized that this question had probably not been addressed because nobody had used the "right tool" to find evidence for this magnetism, which we thought could be extremely weak and only limited to a few atomic layers from the surface of the material" states the leader of this international research study, Professor Angelo Di Bernardo from the University of Konstanz, whose research focuses on superconducting spintronic and quantum devices based on innovative materials. To carry out the experiment, the team used high-quality single crystals of Sr 2 RuO 4 prepared by the group of Dr. Antonio Vecchione from the Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Spin in Salerno. "Making large crystals of Sr 2 RuO 4 without any impurities was a big challenge albeit crucial for the success of the experiment, since defects would have given a signal similar to the magnetic signal which we were hunting," says Dr. Vecchione. The right tool is a beam of muons The special "tool" which the researchers used to unveil the new magnetism is a beam of particles called muons that are produced in a particle accelerator in Switzerland at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). "At PSI we have the only facility in the world to produce muons which can be implanted with a precision of a few nanometers. These particles, which can be used to detect extremely tiny magnetic fields, could be stopped very close to the surface of Sr 2 RuO 4 , which was crucial for the success of the experiment" says Dr. Zaher Salman who coordinated the experiment at the PSI muon facility. "It was a really nice experience to carry out measurements in an international beamtime facility like PSI and interact with such a large group of inspiring scientists from all over the world, since the very beginning of my doctorate in Konstanz" says Roman Hartmann, a doctoral researcher who equally contributed as first author to the study. The authors also developed a theoretical model suggesting the origin of this hidden surface magnetism. "Unlike for conventional magnetic materials whose magnetic properties originate from the quantum mechanical property of an electron known as spin, a cooperative swirling motion of interacting electrons, generating circulating currents at the nanometer scale, underlies the magnetism discovered in Sr 2 RuO 4 " states Dr. Mario Cuoco from the CNR-spin who developed the theoretical model along with Dr. Maria Teresa Mercaldo and other colleagues at the University of Salerno. New insights for basic and applied research As pointed out by Professor Jason Robison at the University of Cambridge, the results confirm that "physical properties can be dramatically modified at a complex material surface and at interfaces within thin-film heterostructures, and these modifications can be exploited for discovering new science for basic and applied research including the design and development of quantum devices." The co-authors of the project also include Professor Yoshiteru Maeno at the University of Kyoto, the scientist who first discovered superconductivity in Sr 2 RuO 4 in 1994 and who has contributed to some of the most important studies on this material reported over the last 30 years. "This finding not only resolves a long-standing puzzle and makes the iconic material Sr 2 RuO 4 even more interesting than before, but may also trigger new investigations which eventually help answering other striking open questions in materials science", says Professor Elke Scheer from the University of Konstanz, another of the leaders of the project and head of the Mesoscopic Systems research team. The new type of magnetism discovered in Sr 2 RuO 4 is essential to also better understanding the other physical properties of Sr 2 RuO 4 including its unconventional superconductivity. The fundamental discovery may also lead to the search for this new form of magnetism in other materials similar to Sr 2 RuO 4 as well as trigger new studies to better understand how such magnetism can be manipulated and controlled for novel quantum electronics applications. Explore further Spontaneous superconducting currents in strontium ruthenate More information: R. Fittipaldi et al, Unveiling unconventional magnetism at the surface of Sr 2 RuO 4 , Nature Communications (2021). Journal information: Nature Communications R. Fittipaldi et al, Unveiling unconventional magnetism at the surface of SrRuO(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26020-5 Contemporary macrocycles used for the synthesis of discrete polymetallic complexes: (a) concept, (b) chemical structures of representative polymetallic complexes. Credit: Kanazawa University 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 Ph.D. 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 C 9 H 8 O 3 , 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 magnetsmolecules 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 metalligandmetal 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 CH unit replaced by nitrogen). Pyridine-ring macrocycles offer high flexibility, and can be used to synthesize a variety of complicated multimetallic structuresthe 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. Explore further Pyrrole chemistry: Good things come in threes More information: Mark MacLachlan et al, Contemporary macrocycles for discrete polymetallic complexes: precise control over structure and function, Chemical Society Reviews (2021). Journal information: Chemical Society Reviews Mark MacLachlan et al, Contemporary macrocycles for discrete polymetallic complexes: precise control over structure and function,(2021). DOI: 10.1039/D1CS00225B The new moth has the longest tongue of any insect so that it can reach the nectar at the bottom of the Madagascan star orchid. Credit: Minet et al. 2021 A Madagascan hawkmoth, whose existence was predicted by Darwin and Wallace, has now been recognized as a new species. Known as Wallace's sphinx moth, the moth is famous for its enormous tonguethe longest of any insectthat uniquely can reach the bottom of the nectar tubes of the Madagascan star orchid. In 1862, when Charles Darwin was sent a specimen of orchid from Madagascar with its incredible nectar tube measuring a full 30 centimeters long, he exclaimed in a letter to a friend: "Good heavens, what insect can suck it!" Darwin speculated it would take a moth with an extraordinarily long tongue to reach the nectar that fills the bottom of these tubes. Five years later in 1867, Alfred Russel Wallace also considered this impressive orchid, predicting that the moth would be similar to a hawkmoth with a long proboscis found on the African continent. Wallace in turn wrote: "That such a moth exists in Madagascar may be safely predicted, and naturalists who visit that island should search for it with as much confidence as astronomers searched for the planet Neptune,and they will be equally successful." Finally he has been proven right. When the moth that pollinated these orchids was finally described by Karl Jordan and Lord Walter Rothschild in 1903, it was placed as a subspecies of Morgan's sphinx moth, which they then combined into their new genus Xanthopan, the type specimen of which from West Africa is in the collections. They called the Malagasy moth Xanthopan morgani praedicta, meaning "predicted moth," in honor of Wallace's prediction of its existence, not mentioning Darwin. Now a new study looking into the moth's genetic and physical differences has found that the Madagascan moth is not actually a mere subspecies of Morgan's sphinx moth, but instead a full species in its own right, now named Xanthopan praedicta. Wallace's sphinx moth is found right across Madagascar, suggesting that they can fly hundreds of kilometres. Credit: David Lees Dr. David Lees is a curator of moths at the Museum, and one of the authors on the paper by a team led by Prof Joel Minet and published in the journal Antenor. "Imagine my excitement as I unrolled and measured the proboscis of a male Xanthopan in the Madagascan rainforest, realizing that it was probably the global record holder," says David. "The taxonomic change we now propose finally gives long-deserved recognition, at the species level, to one of the most celebrated of all Malagasy endemics." Evolving in synch Wallace's sphinx moth is only found on Madagascar, and its life is intimately intertwined with the plants that live there. Evolving together over time, the moth and the star orchid have influenced each other's biology in a unique but still one-sided pollinator and plant co-evolutionary relationship. The tongue of the moth increased in length in step with the long nectar tube of the orchid until, eventually, the orchid became wholly reliant on the pollination services of the moths. The moths, however, are still able to pollinate other plants which also have long nectar tubes. Unrolling enormous moth tongues In the wild, the moth's tongue is so big it is too unwieldy to fly with it extended. Its extraordinary length also makes the moths vulnerable to predation as they feed as bats, and perhaps even lemurs, can snatch them out of the air when they home in on the orchids. To reduce this risk of being eaten, the moth unrolls the proboscis only when they approach the flower and as soon as it finishes it rolls it back up. When Wallace and Darwin looked at the flowers of the Madagascan star orchid, they both predicted that a moth with an extraordinarily long tongue must exist. Credit: Allan Hopkins / Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 While this strategy means that the moth is less likely to be predated on in the wild, it can make things a little tricker for those studying them in museums. When looking at the moth specimens held in museum collections, the researchers needed to unroll the long tongue. To do this, they dipped the head of the almost 100 specimens of the moth from Africa and the Comoros, or Madagascar, in a bath of water overnight to soften the proboscis and allowing the researchers to measure its length. In the field in Madagascar, David unrolled the tongues of another 30 specimens before marking and releasing them. Varying from 15 to 28.5 centimeters long, the moth proboscises were, however, too long to store extended in the existing drawers, so the researchers decided to roll them back in by placing the moth's head back in water. What makes the moth a distinct species? Making the decision to name something as a new species requires a careful look at how different it is from similar species. As life evolves, populations of organisms drift apart from each other and it's not always clear where one species ends and another begins. In fact, the concept of a species is a human construct, albeit a handy one when classifying life. A broadly agreed definition of a species is a group of similar individuals that can breed with each other to create viable offspring. Given that no one has tested if a hawkmoth from Madagascar and a hawkmoth from Africa can interbreed to make viable offspring, researchers examined the Madagascan moth in minute detail before they could make the decision to raise it to full species level. Wallace's sphinx moth right) differs from the African hawkmoth (left) in a number of ways, such as the pinkish colour on its underside. Credit: Minet et al. 2021 The team found 25 morphological differences (how its body looks) between the two moths, including significant differences in shape of male and female genitalia, wing shape and the color patterns especially underneath. "The underside of the hawkmoth from Madagascar is pinkish, while the underside of the hawkmoth from Africa is whitish or yellowish," says David, adding that Wallace's sphinx moth also has a unique configuration of black markings on the upperside of its forewings, probably adaptations for camouflage to sit on the bark of different trees. Perhaps the most striking difference though was in the proboscis, which on average were 6.6 centimeters longer in all the Malagasy moths the team measured than any of Morgan's sphinx moth from Africa and the Comoros. In addition to assessing how the moth looks, the researchers also studied the differences in the DNA, a technique called DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding has shown that the Madagascan moth is at least 7.6% divergent from the African hawkmoth. "This is much more than what you would expect between different species," says David. The research also found that there was no difference in DNA barcodes between all the Wallace's sphinx moths found across all of Madagascar. "The fact that I found one of these moths in a remote forest in the south-west of Madagascar suggests it can fly hundreds of kilometers," says David. Explore further New alpine moth solves a 180-year-old mystery Three eye-catching posters featuring the Deep Space Atomic Clock and how future versions of the tech demo may be used by spacecraft and astronauts. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech For more than two years, NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock has been pushing the timekeeping frontiers in space. On Sept. 18, 2021, its mission came to a successful end. The instrument is hosted on General Atomics' Orbital Test Bed spacecraft that was launched aboard the Department of Defense Space Test Program 2 mission June 25, 2019. Its goal: to test the feasibility of using an onboard atomic clock to improve spacecraft navigation in deep space. Currently, spacecraft rely on ground-based atomic clocks. To measure a spacecraft's trajectory as it travels beyond the Moon, navigators use these timekeepers to precisely track when those signals are sent and received. Because navigators know that radio signals travel at the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second), they can use these time measurements to calculate the spacecraft's exact distance, speed, and direction of travel. But the farther a spacecraft is from Earth, the longer it takes to send and receive signalsfrom several minutes to a few hourssignificantly delaying these calculations. With an onboard atomic clock paired with a navigation system, the spacecraft could immediately calculate where it is and where it is going. Watch this video explainer to learn why accurate timekeeping in space is essential and how NASAs Deep Space Atomic Clock will make future spacecraft less dependent on Earth to navigate autonomously. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the Deep Space Atomic Clock is an ultra-precise, mercury-ion atomic clock encased in a small box that measures about 10 inches (25 centimeters) on each sideroughly the size of a toaster. Designed to survive the rigors of launch and the cold, high-radiation environment of space without its timekeeping performance degrading, the Deep Space Atomic Clock was a technology demonstration intended to carry out technological firsts and fill critical knowledge gaps. After the instrument completed its one-year primary mission in Earth orbit, NASA extended the mission to collect more data because of its exceptional timekeeping stability. But before the tech demo was powered off on Sept. 18, the mission worked overtime to extract as much data as possible in its final days. "The Deep Space Atomic Clock mission was a resounding success, and the gem of the story here is that the technology demonstration operated well past its intended operational period," said Todd Ely, principal investigator and project manager at JPL. The data from the trailblazing instrument will help develop Deep Space Atomic Clock-2, a tech demo that will travel to Venus aboard NASA's Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy (VERITAS) spacecraft when it launches by 2028. This will be the first test for an atomic clock in deep space and a monumental advancement for increased spacecraft autonomy. This illustration shows NASAs Deep Space Atomic Clock technology demonstration and the General Atomics Orbital Test Bed spacecraft that hosts it. Spacecraft could one day depend on such instruments to navigate deep space. Credit: NASA Stability Is Everything While atomic clocks are the most stable timekeepers on the planet, they still have instabilities that can cause a minuscule lag, or "offset," in the clocks' time versus the actual time. Left uncorrected, these offsets will add up and could lead to large errors in positioning. Fractions of a second could mean the difference between safely arriving at Mars or missing the planet altogether. Updates can be beamed from Earth to the spacecraft to correct for these offsets. Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, for example, carry atomic clocks to help us get from point A to B. To make sure they keep the time accurately, updates need to be frequently transmitted to them from the ground. But having to send frequent updates from Earth to an atomic clock in deep space would not be practical and would defeat the purpose of equipping a spacecraft with one. This is why an atomic clock on a spacecraft exploring deep space would need to be as stable as possible from the get-go, allowing it to be less dependent on Earth to be updated. The Deep Space Atomic Clock is about 10 inches (25 centimeters) on each side, roughly the size of a toaster. Its compact design was a key requirement, and an even smaller iteration will fly aboard NASAs VERITAS spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech "The Deep Space Atomic Clock succeeded in this goal," said JPL's Eric Burt, an atomic clock physicist for the mission. "We have achieved a new record for long-term atomic clock stability in spacemore than an order of magnitude better than GPS atomic clocks. This means that we now have the stability to allow for more autonomy in deep space missions and potentially make GPS satellites less dependent on twice-daily updates if they carried our instrument." In a recent study, the Deep Space Atomic Clock team reported a deviation of less than four nanoseconds after more than 20 days of operation. Like its predecessor, the Deep Space Atomic Clock-2 will be a tech demo, meaning that VERITAS will not depend on it to fulfill its goals. But this next iteration will be smaller, use less power, and be designed to support a multi-year mission like VERITAS. The Deep Space Atomic Clock was launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of the Department of Defense's Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky "It is a remarkable accomplishment by the teamthe technology demonstration has proven to be a robust system in orbit, and we are now looking forward to seeing an improved version go to Venus," said Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations for NASA's Science and Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This is what NASA doeswe develop new technologies and enhance existing ones to advance human and robotic spaceflight. The Deep Space Atomic Clock truly has the potential to transform how we explore deep space." Jason Mitchell, the director of the Advanced Communications & Navigation Technology Division of NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) at the agency's headquarters agreed: "The instrument's performance was truly exceptional and a testament to the capability of the team. Going forward, not only will the Deep Space Atomic Clock enable significant, new operational capabilities for NASA's human and robotic exploration missions, it may also enable deeper exploration of the fundamental physics of relativity, much like the clocks supporting GPS have done." Explore further Deep Space Atomic Clock moves toward increased spacecraft autonomy Optical spectra at observed wavelengths of (from top to bottom): QSO B1312+7837 from the 6-m BTA telescope and from the 2.2-m telescope on Calar Alto, a combined SDSS quasar spectrum shifted to z=2 and a sky spectrum. Some prominent quasar emission features are marked. Credit: Minev et al., 2021. Using the Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) in Bulgaria, astronomers have performed long-term monitoring of the quasar QSO B1312+7837 and have detected a periodic variability of this source. The finding is reported in a paper published September 28 on arXiv.org. Quasars, or quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are active galactic nuclei (AGN) of very high luminosity, emitting electromagnetic radiation observable in radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. They are among the brightest and most distant objects in the known universe, and serve as fundamental tools for numerous studies in astrophysics and cosmology. For instance, quasars have been used to investigate the large-scale structure of the universe and the era of reionization. They have also improved our understanding of the dynamics of supermassive black holes and the intergalactic medium. At a redshift of about 2.0, QSO B1312+7837 is a quasar showing typical broad emission lines. Its mean magnitude is about 16.4 mag, which corresponds to an absolute magnitude of 30.1 mag. This is about 3.5 mag brighter than the mean absolute for quasars at the same redshift Previous observations of QSO B1312+7837 have detected no signs of short-term variability of this source. However, a team of astronomers led by Milen Minev of the University St. Kliment Ohridsky in Sofia, Bulgaria, now reports the detection of periodic variability of QSO B1312+7837. The finding is based on the data from a 15-year-long monitoring of this quasar using NAO's imagers equipped with standard photometric Johnsons-Cousins UBVRI lters. "We report here the rst results from a 15-year-long variability monitoring of the z=2.0 quasar QSO B1312+7837," the researchers wrote in the paper. The study found a variation in the apparent brightness of QSO B1312+7837, with a probable period of 2,214 days (about 6.13 years). These luminosity changes have an amplitude of about 0.2 mag, superimposed on a gradual dimming at a rate of approximately 0.55 mag per 100 years. The astronomers try to find mechanisms responsible for such variability. They assume that orbital motion of two supermassive black holes (SMBHs) as a result from a recent galaxy merger is the most plausible explanation. In general, SMBHs dominate the kinematic evolution of the central regions of galaxies, and affect the evolution of their stellar populations. The researchers added that further X-ray spectroscopic observations of QSO B1312+7837 are required in order to probe directly the orbit, mass ratio and the dominant orbital decay mechanism for this assumed SMBH binary. "The binary SMBHs evade detection for a number of reasons: because the velocity difference is smaller than the intrinsic width of the emission lines or because the offset nuclei are too close to be resolved with the existing instrumentation etc. Other techniques require competitive observing time at the few X-ray missions or moderately high resolution high multiplexity vast spectroscopic surveys," the authors of the paper explained. Explore further New extremely variable quasar discovered More information: M. Minev et al, Periodic variability of the z=2.0 quasar QSO B1312+7837. arXiv:2109.13817v1 [astro-ph.GA], M. Minev et al, Periodic variability of the z=2.0 quasar QSO B1312+7837. arXiv:2109.13817v1 [astro-ph.GA], arxiv.org/abs/2109.13817 2021 Science X Network US-Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe who has been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in physics. The Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to three scientists who sought to predict the long-term evolution of a complex system such as the climate by modelling variablesweather, human actionsthat create disorder within those systems. What is the link between the modelling of global warming, which earned Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann half the prize, and the work of the third winner, Giorgio Parisi, who focused on the underlying disorder of matter? All three study complex systems: large-scale climate or the behaviour of certain materials at an infinitely small scale. From the erratic fluctuations within these systems, the three physicists succeeded in teasing out simpler behaviours and reliable predictions. "We recognised that emerging phenomena sometimes require us to look at all the individual complicated physical mechanisms and knit them together to make a prediction," said Nobel Physics Committee member John Wettlaufer, on hand when the awards were announced in Stockholm on Tuesday. Climate "is THE complex system par excellence," said Freddy Bouchet, a physicist at France's National Centre for Scientific Research. A large number of variables, in other words, interactatmosphere, oceans, soils, vegetationrendering any reliable forecast beyond a few weeks elusive. But alongside and within this observable chaos there are also clear trends that can be linked to well-identified causes, such as long-term global warming attributable to human activity. Co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany. Hidden rules "In climate science, the random and the systematic overlap," said Bouchet. "The mathematical tools developed by Klaus Hasselmann have made it possible to separate the two in order to better understand the evolution of climate." Being able to tease out patterns in what is randomthe signal in the noiseis fundamental to understanding the evolution of extreme weather such as heat waves, storms and hurricanes. The models developed by the Japanese-American Syukuro Manabe have succeeded in cracking the signature code of climate subsystems. "These are the first models which made it possible to calculate the effect of the increase in carbon dioxide of anthropogenic origin on global warming at the core of contemporary climate models", Bouchet said. Giorgio Parisi, for his part, made a major contribution to the theory of these complex systems by revealing the hidden rules that govern them. "I started to lay the foundations of this sciencewhich did not exist at the beginning of the 1980sby studying nature through mathematics", the Italian researcher told Corriere della Sera newspaper earlier this year. It is a science that allows us, for example, to explain the changing form of a cloud of starlings in flight. Parisi provided the mathematical tools to understand how random processes can play a decisive role in the development of large structures, such as those governing climate. Today, they are applied in biology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Explore further Physics Nobel rewards work on complex systems, like climate 2021 AFP Credit: Ranko Maras, Shutterstock Aquaculture is the fastest growing animal food producing sector in the world. But in the past, it has lagged behind other food sectors in adopting more efficient information systems. Now, driven by the vision of sustainable development, the aquaculture sector is rapidly introducing technologies that will make greener, more efficient fish farm management a reality. One such area of innovation is precision aquaculture. This technology makes use of a variety of interconnected sensors to monitor fish farm conditions and help farmers make decisions that optimize fish health and economic returns, while also minimizing environmental impacts. In other words, precision aquaculture has the potential to transform the aquaculture industry. A recent article posted on the "Global Seafood Alliance" website focuses on the sustainable production of cultured bivalvesmussels and oystersusing this technology. The article is the fifth in a series published on precision agriculture with support from the EU-funded GAIN project. Following on the heels of four articles introducing precision aquaculture and its application in trout farming, the Mediterranean sea bass and bream industry and the salmon industry, this latest article deals with bivalve culture. Tackling the risks of bivalve culture The article discusses the novel precision aquaculture tools developed by the GAIN team to help predict water quality events that affect bivalve culture and result in site closures. "The production of cultured bivalves is reliant on optimum water quality conditions, often beyond the farmers' control. Specific water quality events, like algal blooms, nutrient upwelling or urban runoff can lead to regulatory closures of bivalve sites to prevent contaminated bivalves from entering markets, causing severe economic consequences for the farmers. The scale and intensity of these water quality events are difficult to predict because they are caused by complex combinations of multiple and interacting factors," the authors explain. To provide bivalve farmers with an early warning system and promote better prediction and management decisions, the team used machine learning-based tools to model environmental conditions. Data used for modeling included in situ environmental sensors, satellite and open ocean data, weather data, and temperature and current patterns, all of which are compared with data from past site closures. Data sources were integrated into a cloud-based platform that enables real-time monitoring of bivalve aquaculture sites. "The modeling and machine learning also incorporated requisite data for statutory requirements for state and EU legislation, including the Water Framework Directive ('good ecological status') and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive ('good environmental status'). Storing the data in a centralized cloud-based solution will also help farms attain sustainability certifications," the article states. The trials were conducted at the Sagres pilot site on the Algarve coast in south-west Portugal. However, the use of machine learning to form site-specific predictive models makes the technology easily adaptable to bivalve farms in other locations. The research identified huge variations in closure conditions "between sites, highlighting the need for modeling techniques and machine learning that use data specific to each site and its history to predict closure conditions." Based on semi-automated machine learning, the team's precision aquaculture tools "enable this level of accuracy." The GAIN (Green Aquaculture Intensification in Europe) team has now reached the stage of final product testing for the industry. Explore further Researchers scale up new blood test for stressed fish More information: GAIN project website: GAIN project website: www.unive.it/pag/33897/ Credit: DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2021.105306 A pair of space scientists, one with the University of Antioquia, the other the University of Salento, has found evidence of a swarm of large asteroids hidden in the Taurid complex. Ignacio Ferrin and Vincenzo Orofino have written a paper describing their findings in the journal Planetary and Space Science. Every year at the end of October, an event known as the Taurid meteor shower occurs, giving those who venture out into dark spaces the opportunity to witness a host of shooting stars. Prior research has shown that they are actually debris left behind by Encke's comet as it passes relatively close to the sun each year. In this new effort, Ferrin and Orofino claim they have found evidence of a swarm of large asteroids hiding in the Taurid complex. They further suggest that the asteroid swarm is part of a debris field left behind by a very large, as yet unnamed cometthe one that gave birth to Encke's comet. While studying the Taurid complex, the researchers found two asteroids that had not been seen before. Measurements of the two space rocks showed them to be 200 and 300 meters across respectively, which is too large to be simple debris from Encke's comet. That got them to wondering if there might be other large asteroids hiding in the complex. To find out, they scanned published papers on the Taurid complex and found mention of a total of 88 asteroids that appeared to be too large to belong to Encke's debris field. As part of their work, they also looked for measurements of reflected light from the asteroids which helped them compare the paths taken by the asteroids to see if they matched those of debris from Encke's comet. The data showed evidence of the large asteroids and Encke's comet (and thus, its debris) originating from a shared comet, and that both likely came into being approximately 20,000 years ago. The researchers also write that the large asteroids could pose a threat to Earth, noting that the Tunguska event has been linked to the Taurid complex, as has the disappearance of some early cultures during the Younger Dryas. Explore further Study investigates potential risk of Taurid meteor swarm More information: Ignacio Ferrin et al, Taurid complex smoking gun: Detection of cometary activity, Planetary and Space Science (2021). Journal information: Planetary and Space Science Ignacio Ferrin et al, Taurid complex smoking gun: Detection of cometary activity,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2021.105306 2021 Science X Network Researchers from The University of Tsukuba explore the microstructure of the ground beetle exoskeleton using microscopy. Credit: University of Tsukuba The striking colors of many creatures in nature result from their structures at a microscopic or even nanoscopic level. A good example of this is the metallic coloring of certain beetles. Researchers have paid increased attention to understanding what causes the effects found in nature, so that they can recreate these properties in so-called biomimetic materials. A team from The University of Tsukuba has taken a very close look at the ground beetle to see what we can learn from its micro/nano structure. Their findings are published in Micron. Nature provides us with thousands of examples of effective materials that have already been finely tuned to exhibit a wide range of properties from color to strength. It therefore makes sense for researchers to study real samples as inspiration for new developments rather than starting with a blank page. The eye-catching optical effects of certain species of butterfly and beetle, such as the ground beetle, are excellent examples of what is known as photonic structure. These effects are the result of microscopic regular patterns in the structure and are expected to be translated into interesting applications in materials science. The researchers used three different techniquespolarizing optical microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD)to get a close look at the exoskeleton of the ground beetle. "Our POM observations, where we simultaneously used transmitted and reflected light, revealed a particular effect known as a Maltese cross in the inner layer of the wing casing," explains study lead author Professor Hiromasa Goto. "The tiny cross pattern repeated many times indicated that the protein structure inside the wing casing has a cholesteric liquid crystal-like helical structure." The structures that provide these optical effects also stack to give high mechanical strength, which is another useful property that could be translated into functional materials in the future. The SEM observations showed that the exoskeleton had a layered structure with a regular hexagonal pattern on the top layer and needle structures on the underside. Synchrotron XRD supported the POM and SEM findings showing evidence for the helical middle layer and hexagonal and needle surfaces. "This is the first time this particular arrangement of the Maltese crosses has been observed for insects," says Professor Goto. "We hope that this new insight will contribute to the development of a variety of biomimetic materials with enhanced performance based on natural phenomena." Explore further A biological blueprint for tough color More information: Hiromasa Goto et al, Sequential micro-Maltese cross array in the ground beetle Carabus insulicola, Micron (2021). Hiromasa Goto et al, Sequential micro-Maltese cross array in the ground beetle Carabus insulicola,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2021.103136 Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, was selected out of 3,000 applicants for the role. A Russian actress and director arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to begin a 12-day mission to make the first movie in orbit. The Russian crew is set to beat a Hollywood project that was announced last year by "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise together with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX. Actress Yulia Peresild, 37, and film director Klim Shipenko, 38, took off from the Russia-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan as scheduled. They docked at the ISS, behind schedule at 1222 GMT, after veteran cosmonaut and captain of their spacecraft, Anton Shkaplerov, switched to manual control. As the hatches opened, the Russian trio floated into the orbital station where they were greeted by two Russian, a French, a Japanese and three NASA astronauts. "Welcome to the International Space Station," Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky tweeted from the ISS. The crew travelled in a Soyuz MS-19 spaceship to film scenes for "The Challenge". The movie's plot, which has been mostly kept under wraps along with its budget, centres around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the ISS to save a cosmonaut. Shkaplerov, 49, and the two Russian cosmonauts already aboard the ISS are said to have cameo roles in the film. Konstantin Ernst, the head of the Kremlin-friendly Channel One TV network and a co-producer of the film, said he spoke with the crew as soon as they docked. "They are in good spirits and feel well," Ernst told AFP. Russian actress Yulia Peresild has beaten Hollywood star Tom Cruise in the movie version of the space race. 'It was difficult' "It was difficult psychologically, physically and emotionally... but I think when we reach our goal all the challenges won't seem so bad," Peresildwho was selected out of 3,000 applicants for the rolesaid at a pre-flight press conference. Shipenko and Peresild are expected to return to Earth on October 17 in a capsule with Novitsky, who has been on the ISS for the past six months. Ernst told AFP that a film crew will document their landing, which will also feature in the movie. If successful, the mission will add to a long list of firsts for Russia's space industry. The Soviets launched the first satellite Sputnik, and sent the first animal, a dog named Laika, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, into orbit. "Space is where we became pioneers, where despite everything we maintain a fairly confident position," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday. But compared with the Soviet era, modern Russia has struggled to innovate and its space industry is fighting to secure state funding with the Kremlin prioritising military spending. Its space agency is still reliant on Soviet-designed technology and has faced a number of setbacks, including corruption scandals and botched launches. Russia is also falling behind in the global space race, facing tough competition from the United States and China, with Beijing showing growing ambitions in the industry. The plot of "The Challenge" centres around a female surgeon who is dispatched to the International Space Station to save a cosmonaut. Russians 'lost interest' Roscosmos was also dealt a blow after SpaceX last year successfully delivered astronauts to the ISS, costing Russia its monopoly for journeys to the orbital station. For political analyst Konstantin Kalachev, the space film is PR and a way to "distract" Russians from the "problems" that Roscosmos is facing. "This is supposed to inspire Russians, show how cool we are, but I think Russians have completely lost interest in the space industry," Kalachev told AFP. In a bid to spruce up its image and diversify its revenue, Russia's space programme revealed this year that it will be reviving its tourism programme to ferry fee-paying adventurers to the ISS. After a decade-long pause, Russia will send two Japanese touristsincluding billionaire Yusaku Maezawato the ISS in December, capping a year that has been a milestone for amateur space travel. Last month, SpaceX completed the first all-civilian mission to space that took four untrained astronauts on a three-day loop around the Earth's orbit. The trip followed billionaire Richard Branson's several minutes in weightlessness in July, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos completing a similar mission days later. Later this month, 90-year-old actor William Shatner, known for his portrayal of Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series, will fly to space on a mission with Bezos's Blue Origin. Explore further First Russian film in space an 'experiment': director 2021 AFP Credit: irabel8/Shutterstock Although it is widely used in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries worldwide, the breakdown of carminic acid (a natural red dye extracted from insects) in nature has remained unclear. Through a combination of biochemical and structural analyses, researchers from Japan have now provided insight into this puzzle. In a study published on October 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team led by the University of Tsukuba has discovered a soil microorganism possessing an enzyme that initiates the first step in breaking down carminic acid. Carminic acid is synethesized by cochineal scale insects, which are parasites of Cacti. This compound is a natural C-glycosidea unique compound in which a sugar is bound to a non-sugar (or aglycone) molecular group via a carbon-carbon bond. Although enzymes have been previously identified in intestinal microorganisms that initiate the breakdown of C-glycosides, the details of how this occurs in nature is not fully understood. Clarifying the enzyme structure and mechanistic pathway were key points that the research team aimed to address. "Carminic acid is very important as a natural 'red dye' all over the world, but its metabolic pathway in nature has never been identified," explains the senior author of the study, Professor Michihiko Kobayashi. "We screened and isolated a carminic acid-catabolizing microorganism from soil samples and found a flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent enzyme, that we termed CarA, that catalyzes the first step of C-glycoside-metabolism by oxidizing the C3 position of the sugar moiety." The researchers collected soil samples from around the University of Tsukuba and isolated microorganisms that could grow on an agar plate with only carminic acid as the carbon source. The team focused on one bacterial strain, named 5-2b, because the red coloring from carminic acid disappeared around colonies from this specific bacterial strain, strongly suggesting degradation of the natural red dye. Interestingly, although a similar overall pathway for the breakdown of carminic acid was demonstrated for both intestinal and soil microorganisms, the enzyme catalyzing the initial step completely differed between the two strains. "Our investigations suggest that the differences in the carminic acid metabolizing enzyme between soil and intestinal bacteria possibly arise from the adaptation to aerobic and anaerobic environments, respectively, because CarA needs oxygen for its enzymatic activity," explains the lead author Professor Takuto Kumano. Furthermore, the authors found that CarA could initiate the breakdown of some other types of glycosides as well, although not as well as for carminic acid. "Our findings now provide insight into the previously unknown biogeochemical circulation of carminic acid and C-glycosides in nature," says Professor Kobayashi. "Now that we have a crystal structure of a homolog of CarA, the next essential step is obtaining a structure that contains a substrate." Explore further Microbial production of a natural red colorant carminic acid (Left) A male of Lentipes armatus, which was previously the only known Lentipes species in Japan. (Right) A male of the new species, Lentipes kijimuna, observed in a stream in Okinawa, Japan. The species was described in a new study by Dr. Ken Maeda, a staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit. Credit: Ken Maeda A team of biologists from Japan and the Philippines have identified three new species of goby fish, belonging to the genus Lentipes. They were described in a study published today in the journal, Systematics and Biodiversity. One of the new species was found living in the Philippine archipelago of Palawan and has been given the Latin scientific name Lentipes palawanirufus, which translates as "red Lentipes goby of Palawan". The other two new species were found in Okinawa, a sub-tropical island in Japan, and have been named Lentipes kijimuna and Lentipes bunagaya. "The names were inspired by Kijimuna and Bunagaya, who are wood spirits in Okinawan folk mythology usually portrayed as having red hair or skin," said Dr. Ken Maeda, first author of the study and staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST). "Like their namesakes, these two new species have red markings on their body." Lentipes kijimuna was the first species discovered back in 2005, when Dr. Maeda found an unfamiliar-looking male goby fish while carrying out fieldwork for his Ph.D. at the University of the Ryukyus. "I was surprised by its fiery red head and lower body. The shape was similar to Lentipes armatus, which until now, was the only known Lentipes species in Japan, but the color pattern was completely different," Dr. Maeda recalled. The movie shows the goby, Lentipes armatus, and a similar fish with unique coloration, later described as a new species, Lentipes kijimuna, in a study by Dr. Ken Maeda, a staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit. Gobies live and reproduce in freshwater streams and are bottom-dwellers, typically eating algae. Their pelvic fins are fused together to form a suction cup to help them stay in place against river currents. Credit: Ken Maeda Color patterning is an easily observable characteristic but the relationship between body color and species is not clear-cut. In some cases, two different fish species can look identical in color pattern, but at other times, fish from the same species can show many variations in color pattern, with each variant of fish known as a color morph. To find out whether this fish was just a rare color morph of Lentipes armatus, or a new species entirely, the researchers needed to extensively examine its DNA. But first, they needed more specimens. It wasn't until 2010, after joining OIST as a researcher, that Dr. Maeda found three more male fish in Okinawa with the same unique red coloration and collected one of them for later study. And then in 2012, he made another discoverya second color morph, also male. This one had two bands of red on the lower body. Then, during surveys of freshwater fish in Palawan from 2015 to 2018 in a collaboration project between OIST and the Western Philippines University, Dr. Maeda found males that displayed a third variation in color, with a bright red head and a reddish-brown lower body. Left) A male of the new species, Lentipes bunagaya, observed in a stream in Okinawa, Japan. (Right) A male of the new species, Lentipes palawanirufus, found in a stream in Palawan, Philippines. These species were described in a new study by Dr. Ken Maeda, a staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit. Credit: Ken Maeda Having finally collected enough samples, Dr. Maeda and his collaborators unraveled the evolutionary relationship between the differently-patterned fish. First, they analyzed all the DNA in the mitochondria, and then looked at specific locations across the whole genome, including the nucleus. The researchers found no differences in the DNA from the mitochondria but found that tiny changes in DNA across the whole genome separated the fish into four distinct species, in line with their color patterns. "We think that these fish must have diverged recently, so the mitochondrial genes haven't had enough time to mutate," said Mr. Hirozumi Kobayashi, a Ph.D. student from the University of the Ryukyus who analyzed the nuclear DNA with his supervisor, Professor Kazunori Yamahira. Dr. Maeda also confirmed that the fish looked different in body form and color pattern from all 19 known species of Lentipes of the world. The team therefore reported three new species: L. kijimuna, L. bunagaya, and L. palawanirufus. DNA analysis looking at small changes throughout the whole genome sorted the Lentipes gobies into four different lineages that corresponded to the color pattern of the males. The gray, unfilled shapes represent females from the respective species. Unlike the males, the females all looked identical irrespective of species, with a dull color pattern. This analysis was carried out as part of a new study by Dr. Ken Maeda, a staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit. Credit: OIST The researchers believe that the different color patterns of the Lentipes males play an important role in maintaining their separate lineages. The team reported that during courtship, males displayed a more vivid color than normal and exhibited special behavior that highlighted their specific color pattern when approaching females. The scientists suggest that the female may not accept males of the other species with different color patterns, although further studies are needed to verify this. The scientists also hope to locate more specimens of Lentipes kijimuna and L. bunagaya on other islands in the South-East Asia region. Although Lentipes adults live and reproduce in small freshwater streams, the larvae are carried downstream into the ocean and can be transported by ocean currents to different remote islands. Courtship behavior of Lentipes armatus observed in a stream in Okinawa, Japan. A male (right) displays its sharp colorations to a female (left). This courtship behavior was reported in a new study by Dr. Ken Maeda, a staff scientist in the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit. Credit: Ken Maeda "Lentipes kijimuna and L. bunagaya are rarely seen in Okinawa," explained Dr. Maeda. "So we think that these species we encountered here were born somewhere else in Southeast Asia and transported to Okinawa when they were larvae." More intense evolutionary studies, as well as discovering the origin and geographic distribution of the gobies, could help shine light on how the larvae disperse. It could also help verify if female choice is one of the drivers for how these species have maintained their separate lineages and not interbred. Larval dispersal usually prevents new species from forming, as individuals from different populations have the chance to reproduce with each other. However, Lentipes gobies buck this trend, as they actually harbor a high level of species diversity. "This paper helps to reveal the mystery of these Lentipes gobies," said Dr. Maeda, "but there's still so much to find out." Explore further The making of mysterious mazes: How animals got their complex colorations More information: Ken Maeda et al, Do colour-morphs of an amphidromous goby represent different species? Taxonomy of Lentipes (Gobiiformes) from Japan and Palawan, Philippines, with phylogenomic approaches, Systematics and Biodiversity (2021). Ken Maeda et al, Do colour-morphs of an amphidromous goby represent different species? Taxonomy of Lentipes (Gobiiformes) from Japan and Palawan, Philippines, with phylogenomic approaches,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2021.1971792 Vent is a male Bonellis Eagle that was successfully released in the island, in this case, using the NestHack methodology. Credit: Sebastia Torrens Reintroducing species in new natural habitats is a strategy to help prevent the extinction of the most threatened organisms. However, this process is influenced by several factorswhich are not much explored in the scientific bibliographyand its global success ratio is still low. A study coordinated by the Conservation Biology Group from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona analyzes the efficiency of reintroduction strategies for the Bonelli's eagle in Mallorca. The study, carried out in collaboration with the Government of the Balearic Islands and the Wildlife Recovery Consortium (COFIB) within the framework of the European project LIFE Bonelli, provides new scientific knowledge in global ecology to increase the success options of reintroduction programs with the highest economic efficiency. Bonelli's eagle: From its disappearance to its reintroduction in Mallorca The Bonelli's eagle (Aquila fasciata), an emblematic bird of prey in the Mediterraneanis a declining species in the central and northern areas of the Iberian Peninsula. In Mallorca, it disappeared during the 1970s as a result of an intense human persecution, despite being a key species in the natural environment as predator of birds and mammals and as a control of the ecosystem's balance. In 2011, the Government of the Balearic Islands, with the support from LIFE project, started the process of reintroduction of the eagle in Mallorca. This plan has counted on the scientific collaboration of the Conservation Biology Group of the UB and IRBio, a team that conducted the demographical analysis to validate the most efficient strategies in the reintroduction plan. The initiative of the species reintroduction in the island has been a success and there are now about 40 eagles, including nine breeding pairs. The study, published in the journal Animal Conservation, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), examines the efficiency at a demographic and economic scale of the different strategies based on the release of birds of different ages and origins, that is, captive-born and wild-born species. Through a cost-benefit balancewith biological and economic indicatorsthe experts compared the reintroduction strategies: hacking based on captive breeding ("Capthack"), hacking based on chicks extracted from wild nests in natural populations ("NestHack") and the translocation of wild, non-juvenile birds from natural populations recovered from rehabilitation centers ("WildTrans"). "The successful reintroduction of endangered species in the natural environment depends on several factors such as the amount and the age of the reintroduced individuals, the quality of the destination habitat, the used reintroduction methods, the origins of the reintroduced individuals, and the biological and ecological features of each species," notes the lecturer Joan Real, head of the Conservation Biology Group of the UB and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the UB. Why is releasing non-juvenile eagles the most effective model? The non-juvenile eagle release system (WildTrans) would be the most successful strategy regarding the reintroduction of Bonelli's eagle in Mallorca. "This system enables us to release sexually mature and more experienced individuals. This makes it easier for them to reproduce and therefore the population grows faster during the first years of reintroduction, which is the most critical period of the reintroduction," notes Jaume Badia-Boher, member at the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the UB, and first author of the article. Regarding the economic and human resources, the non-juvenile eagle release is also the most economic strategy compared to the other alternatives. Also, it is the only option to ensure the persistence of the eagle population in the long run in the context of limitation of the assessed logistic resources. The island environment of Mallorca could have favored the results of such strategy. "The natural barrier of the sea, in this case, could have limited the tendency of the released eagles to return to their origin populations, which can happen in species with a high dispersal ability," notes the lecturer Antonio Hernandez-Matias (UB-IRBio). A species threatened by human action Apart from the mentioned factors, the complex equation to reach a successful reintroduction needs knowledge on biology and ecology of the species, apart from experience in the management and the resources to breed animals in captivity and release them afterwards. Like many diurnal raptors, these birds reach sexual maturity relatively late and lay few eggs (between one and two chicks per pair and year). The low annual productivity of chicks makes both wild and reintroduced populationswith a reduced number of individualsto carry out a slow growth. As a result, the populations of these birds of prey are sensitive to natural and human impacts. "All these factors make raptors one of the most endangered animal groups worldwide. Therefore, in order to get positive results, reintroductions of these species require years of sustained effort, persistence and releases," authors say. Mortality caused by human actionaccidents with power lines, persecution, accidental or provoked poisoning, etc. hardens the chances of survival of reintroduced eagles in the wild environment. "Therefore, before reintroducing a species, it is necessary to carefully assess whether the conditions are suitable, which may require the implementation of measures to reduce the magnitude of human-caused sources of danger," the team warns. Conserving and protecting biodiversity as a priority action Biodiversity is decreasing every day in different places of the world. In this context of biological crisis, improving natural habitats is the first strategy to conserve biodiversity. As a precondition, it is necessary to remove the factors that affect the viability of species (causes of mortality, availability of food, etc.). Animal release in a new environment is an ex situ conservation methodology that should be applied only when there are no in situ alternatives to protect the biodiversity. This environmental solution needs several requirements before putting it into practice. Among these is the fact that the species in question is extinct in the area where it originally lived, and that the reintroduction process does not alter or endanger native species or key ecological processes. One of the factors that makes it hard to assess the species reintroduction plans is the lack of short-term monitoring programs for reintroduced populations. Promoting these studies will be decisive for the understanding of population dynamics of new individuals, evaluating the effectiveness of the taken measures and determining the decisive elements in the success or failure of reintroductions in different scenarios. The study published in the journal Animal Conservation provides a new unpublished perspective to a field of ecology on which there are not many studies in the natural environment. "Based on our results, we consider this strategy to be more effective in species for which captive breeding is difficult, and in islands or with species without a high dispersal ability. However, the research is scarce in this field and science should be aimed to respond these questions," conclude the authors. Explore further Green turtle: The success of the reintroduction program in Cayman Islands More information: Jaume Adria BadiaBoher et al, Raptor reintroductions: Costeffective alternatives to captive breeding, Animal Conservation (2021). Jaume Adria BadiaBoher et al, Raptor reintroductions: Costeffective alternatives to captive breeding,(2021). DOI: 10.1111/acv.12729 Artistic reconstruction of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. in mosses. Credit: Original art created by Holly Sullivan Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are a diverse group of charismatic microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions. A famous example was a 2007 trip to space where tardigrades were exposed to the space vacuum and harmful ionizing solar radiation, and still managed to survive and reproduce after returning to Earth. Tardigrades are found in all the continents of the world and in different environments including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial. Tardigrades have survived all five Phanerozoic Great Mass Extinction events, yet the earliest modern-looking tardigrades are only known from the Cretaceous, approximately 80 million years ago. Despite their long evolutionary history and global distribution, the tardigrade fossil record is exceedingly sparse. Due to their microscopic size and non-biomineralizing body, the chance of tardigrades to become fossilized is small. In a paper published October 6 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B researchers describe a new modern-looking tardigrade fossil that represents a new genus and new species. The study used confocal laser microscopy to obtain higher resolution images of important anatomical characteristics that aid in phylogenetic analyses to establish the taxonomic placement of the fossil. The new fossil Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus is only the third tardigrade amber fossil to be fully described and formally named to date. The other two fully described modern-looking tardigrade fossils are Milnesium swolenskyi and Beorn leggi, both known from Cretaceous-age amber in North America. Paradoryphoribius is the first fossil to be found embedded in Miocene (approximately 16 million years ago) Dominican amber and the first fossil representative of the tardigrade superfamily Isohypsibioidea. Co-author Phillip Barden, New Jersey Institute of Technology, introduced the fossil to lead author Marc A. Mapalo, Ph.D. Candidate, and senior author Professor Javier Ortega-Hernandez, both in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. Barden's lab discovered the fossil and teamed with Ortega-Hernandez and Mapalo to analyse the fossil in detail. Mapalo, who specializes in tardigrades, took the lead in analyzing the fossil using confocal microscopes located in the Harvard Center for Biological Imaging. "The difficulty of working with this amber specimen is that it's far too small for dissecting microscopes, we needed a special microscope to fully see the fossil," Mapalo said. Generally the light transmitted by dissecting microscopes works well to reveal the morphology of larger inclusions such as insects and spiders in amber. Paradoryphoribius, however, has a total body length of only 559 micro meters, or slightly over half a millimeter. At such a small scale a dissecting microscope can only reveal the external morphology of the fossil. Left) Lateral view of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. viewed with transmitted light under streomicroscope (top) and with autofluorescence under confocal laser microscope (bottom). Right) Ventral view of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et sp. nov. viewed with transmitted light under streomicroscope (top) and with autofluorescence under confocal laser microscope (bottom). Credit: Marc A. Mapalo Fortunately, Tardigrade's cuticle is made of chitin, a fibrous glucose substance that is a primary component of cell walls in fungi and the exoskeletons of arthropods. Chitin is fluorescent and easily excited by lasers making it possible to fully visualize the tardigrade fossil using confocal laser microscopy. The use of confocal laser microscopy instead of transmitted light to study the fossil created degrees of fluorescence allowing a more clear view of the internal morphology. With this method Mapalo was able to fully visualize two very important characters of the fossil, the claws and the buccal apparatus, or the foregut of the animal which is also made of cuticle. "Even though externally it looked like a modern tardigrade, with confocal laser microscopy we could see it had this unique foregut organization that warranted for us to erect a new genus within this extant group of tardigrade superfamilies," said Mapalo. "Paradoryphoribius is the only genus that has this specific unique character arrangement in the superfamily Isohypsibioidea." "Tardigrade fossils are rare," said Ortega-Hernandez. "With our new study, the full tally includes only four specimens, from which only three are formally described and named, including Paradoryphoribius. This paper basically encompasses a third of the tardigrade fossil record known to date. Furthermore, Paradoryphoribius offers the only data on a tardigrade buccal apparatus in their entire fossil record." Dominican amber containing Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et. sp. nov. (in box), dime image digitally added for size comparison. The amber also contains three ants, a beetle, and a flower. Credit: Phillip Barden (Harvard/NJIT) Lateral image of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus taken under confocal microscopy. Credit: Ninon Robin (Harvard/NJIT) Lateral view of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et. sp. nov. viewed with autofluorescence under confocal microscope. Different colors represent different focal planes. Credit: Marc A. Mapalo. (Harvard/NJIT) Buccal apparatus of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et. sp. nov. viewed with autofluorescence under confocal microscope. Different colors represent different focal planes. Credit: Marc A. Mapalo (Harvard/NJIT) Claws of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et. sp. nov. viewed with autofluorescence under confocal microscope. Different colors represent different focal planes. Credit: Marc A. Mapalo (Harvard/NJIT) Lateral view of Paradoryphoribius chronocaribbeus gen. et. sp. nov. viewed with transmitted light under stereomicroscope. Credit: Ninon Robin (Harvard/NJIT) The authors note there is a strong preservation bias for tardigrade fossils in amber due to their small size and habitat preferences. Thus, amber deposits provide the most reliable source for finding new tardigrade fossils, even though that does not mean finding them is an easy task. The discovery of a tardigrade fossil in Dominican amber suggests that other frequently sampled sites, such as Burmese and Baltic amber deposits, could also harbor tardigrade fossils. Historically there is a bias towards larger inclusions in amber as inclusions as small as tardigrades are hard to see and require extremely good observational skills, as well as some specialist knowledge. "Scientists know where tardigrades broadly fit in the tree of life, that they are related to arthropods, and that they have a deep origin during the Cambrian Explosion. The problem is that we have this extremely lonely phylum with only three named fossils. Most of the fossils from this phylum are found in amber but, because they're small, even if they are preserved it may be really difficult to see them," Ortega-Hernandez said. Mapalo agreed, "If you look at the external morphology of tardigrades, you might assume that there are no changes that occurred within the body of tardigrades. However, using confocal laser microscopy to visualize the internal morphology, we saw characters that are not observed in extent species but are observed in the fossils. This helps us understand what changes in the body occurred across millions of years. Furthermore, this suggests that even if tardigrades may be the same externally, some changes are occurring internally." Mapalo and Ortega-Hernandez continue to employ confocal laser microscopy technology to study other tardigrades in amber in their hopes to expand the tardigrade fossil record. Credit: Wageningen University Converting seawater into fresh water is important in water-scarce countries. For that process, certain charged particlesknown as ionshave to be removed from the water. However, some ions are difficult to remove from water due to their chemical properties. Recent research by scientists from Israel and the Netherlands is helping to improve this ion-removal process. The researchers were able to predict the behavior of boron ions during water processing and thus simplify their removal. The study is available on-line at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Many harmful or valuable ions in seawater, brackish water or freshwater are amphoteric: their properties vary with the pH. "It is difficult to remove these particles from the water with standard membrane technologies," says Jouke Dykstra, Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental Technology at Wageningen University & Research. "You then have to add certain chemicals to control the pH. But we want to avoid that as much as possible: there is a strong trend to use fewer chemicals." Seawater desalination As an example of this ion removal process, Dykstra refers to the desalination of seawater. This is happening worldwide at locations with a shortage of fresh water. For example, many countries around the Mediterranean use desalinated seawater for irrigation. "But seawater also contains boron, which is toxic in high concentrations and it inhibits plant growth. Obviously, this is a problem for irrigation, and that is why we are looking for new ways to remove boron and other ions from sea water." Desalination is becoming increasingly important due to drought in many regions. Dykstra says that "new technologies are needed to continue to meet the demand for fresh water, not only in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, but also in the Netherlands." Wageningen researchers are working on this challenge together with colleagues from Technionthe Israel Institute of Technology, and from Wetsusthe European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology in Leeuwarden. Together they have developed a new theoretical model of the behavior of boron during a process known as capacitive deionisation. This is an emerging, membraneless technique for water treatment and desalination using microporous, flow-through electrodes When an electric current is applied, ions are adsorbed to the electrodes and hence removed from the water. Dykstra: "We are the first to develop a theoretical model that enables us to predict this behavior and use it to our advantage." Entirely new design The Israeli and Dutch researchers discovered that such systems require a completely new design. For example, they demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the water has to flow from the positive to the negative electrode, and not the other way around, as is now customary. "Our research has shown that a good theoretical model is essential to effectively control such complex chemical processes," concludes Dykstra. "This approach offers many interesting possibilities. You could also use this model for other challenges in waste water treatment, including removing arsenic or small organic molecules, such as drug residues or herbicides." Explore further Learning how boron evaporates will improve water desalination technologies Credit: Lilla Frerichs/public domain Almonds are big business in California, which grows 80 percent of the world's crop with a value of $5.62 billion. To get those almonds to grow, farmers need bees to pollinate their crop. And bee populations have been suffering sharp declines in recent years, part of a pattern of widespread loss of pollinator diversity and abundance. Now a UO biologist and former UO postdoctoral fellow have looked for ways to incentivize almond growers to adopt bee-friendly practices, such as planting cover crops, adopting permanent pollinator habitat and adopting best management practices for bees. They found no silver bullet, but they learned that the location of almond groves played a central role in the adoption of bee-friendly practices, as well as concern for future pollination services. Their findings suggest a regionally flexible conservation strategy focused on supporting honeybee colonies might have the highest likelihood of grower participation and adoption. The paper by Jennie Durant and Lauren Ponisio was published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems this summer. Ponisio is an assistant biology professor in the Institute of Ecology and Evolution in the UO Department of Biology. Durant was a postdoctoral fellow at the UO with the National Institute of Food and Agriculture when they conducted the study. She now is a science and technology policy fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The scientists brought an interdisciplinary approach to the study: Ponisio is an ecologist skilled at large data analysis, while Durant describes herself as an agricultural sociologist. Ponisio's main area of study is bee conservation and community ecology. She grew up in Fresno "in the middle of all these almonds," she said, and learned at an early age how important bees were to agriculture, notably when a frost killed flowers and bees. "We've been working on trying to understand how we can restore populations of wild bees in agriculture," she said. "There's a lot of science on how to do that and its effectiveness, but not much uptake by growers." Ponisio and Durant conducted an online survey of 329 California almond growers, both hired farm managers and owner-operators. The survey looked at the adoption of three types of bee-friendly practices: the adoption of cover crops, the adoption of permanent pollinator habitat, and the adoption of the California Almond Board's Honey Bee Best Management Practices, which generally focus on pesticide reduction. The results indicated that growers are more interested in growing cover crops than installing permanent pollinator habitat in their orchards. Cover crops may be more popular because they are perceived to require less water, attention, installation, and labor and maintenance costs than permanent pollinator habitat. They found growers' main incentive for adopting bee-friendly practices was to strengthen their honeybee colonies, followed by decreasing their rental fees for managed honeybee colonies. They were less concerned with native bee populations "We definitely saw growers are most interested in adopting bee-friendly practices to strengthen honeybee pollination during bloom, to increase their yield," Durant said. Where the growers are locatedwhether the drier southern regions of California, or the rainier northis the biggest indicator of whether and how they adopt these practices, she said. For instance, growers in the Sacramento Valley, where there is higher rainfall, were more likely to plant cover crops and permanent pollinator habitat than their counterparts to the south. "To me it suggests a regionally sensitive conservation approach might make the most sense," rather than a strict statewide program, Durant said. More information: Jennie L. Durant et al, A Regional, Honey Bee-Centered Approach Is Needed to Incentivize Grower Adoption of Bee-Friendly Practices in the Almond Industry, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (2021). Jennie L. Durant et al, A Regional, Honey Bee-Centered Approach Is Needed to Incentivize Grower Adoption of Bee-Friendly Practices in the Almond Industry,(2021). DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.628802 Three reporters with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Ukrainian Service investigative program, Schemes: Corruption in Detail, were awarded the top prize in Ukraines National Investigative Journalism Competition for their report "The American Dream of Victor Medvedchuk" (in English). The report, by Schemes journalists Maksym Savchuk, Liubomyra Remazhevska, and Oleksandr Chornovalov, was recognized as Ukraines best investigation of the year during a ceremony at the annual Mezhyhyria Fest International Journalism Festival on September 4, 2021. "The American Dream of Victor Medvedchuk" revealed that the family of Ukraines leading pro-Russian politician, Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk, has been selling refined oil products to the United States, despite sanctions placed against Medvedchuk by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2014 for his alleged role in Russias armed annexation of Crimea. Schemes journalists established that some of the output of the Novoshakhtinsk Petroleum Products Plant, owned by Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko at the time of the investigation, was being sold to one of the principal subsidiaries of ExxonMobil one of the largest oil corporations in the world via a Swiss-registered trader. The report resonated with audiences, and currently has more than 1.35 million views on Youtube. Mezhyhyria Fest has, since 2014, gathered Ukrainian and international journalists, anti-corruption/transparency activists, policymakers and media experts at the former estate of deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, for an annual investigative journalism conference. This years conference was organized by the Media Development Fund and the investigative reporting project Slidstvo.Info. Schemes: Corruption in Detail is a journalistic investigation program that exposes high-level corruption in Ukraine. Created in the wake of the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Schemes is a joint project of RFE/RL and UA: First TV channel. In total, Schemes journalists authored five of the 12 investigations short-listed for this years National Investigative Journalism Competition; Schemes reporters previously won top prizes in the competition in 2015, 2017, and 2018. A few days earlier on August 28, Schemes journalist Heorhiy Shabayev was named one of Ukraines "30 Under 30" young journalists who create the future of Ukrainian media. A joint project of the Georgy Gongadze Prize and the online magazine The Ukrainians, the list was compiled by a jury of prominent Ukrainian journalists and media experts. -- Michaela Roberts WWE RAW REPORT: THE DRAFT CONCLUDES (ALMOST), TAG TITLE MATCH, US TITLE MATCH, NEW FACES, SOME FACES WHO FORGOT THAT THE SWITCH DOESN'T HAPPEN FOR 18 DAYS, AND MORE We are in Nashville, Tennessee and your announcers are Byron Saxton, Jimmy Smith, and Corey Graves. Smackdown Women's Champion Becky Lynch makes her way to the ring. Becky looks around and she says the Man has come around to Raw. She says it has been a year and a half since she has been on this stage and it is good to be back. Becky says she is going to make some executives mad by jumping the gun. Becky says the first draft pick for Raw tonight is . . . Becky Lynch. She says this is her show now. She knows she is still holding the Smackdown title and she was the longest reigning Raw women's champion and I never lost that title. The person holding the title, we have gone back and forth. Since the last time I beat her, she hasn't been the same but since the last time Charlotte beat me, I have become better. It is time to be Becky Two Belts again. Charlotte Flair's music plays and she makes her way to the ring. Charlotte tells the people to stop chanting Becky Two Belts so she can say hello to her friend Becky. Before you met me, you were Becky pre-show. I made you famous. You really need to get over your inferiority complex. No matter what brand you are on, you will be looking up to me. It is good that you left Smackdown because we have unfinished business. Before we can hear from Becky, Bianca Belair's music plays and she makes her way to the ring. Bianca says she has some unfinished business with both of you. You must feel threatened because you both took cheap shots at me on Friday during and after my match. The way I see it, is that neither of you are ready for the EST of WWE who is going to become the EST of Monday Night Raw because she goes here now. Charlotte says that was really cute but she shushes Bianca and says the champions are trying to have a conversation. Bianca says she knows that Charlotte did not disrespect her. She says that Charlotte is standing here but technically, you don't go here any more. Bianca tells Becky to get her girl because she doesn't know her. Charlotte says she is no one's girl and she is not a girl. She is a woman. You won the Royal Rumble, you were Smackdown women's champion, and you main evented Wrestlemania. You have almost done as much as me. You should be asking me for my autography. Becky says that sounds disrespectful. If I were you, I would challenge Charlotte but I have beaten her so many time. What would happen if you two wrestled? Charlotte says she only hands out opportunities, not charities. Bianca goes after Charlotte but Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville come out to tell them to stop the bickering and they can have the right opportunity to settle this. Adam says this looks like a good main event. Sonya says that Charlotte will face Bianca Belair. Adam says that Tamina and Natalya will get their rematch against Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. Sonya says we are going to start off with a United States title match. Jeff Hardy makes his way to the ring. Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville are on the stage to announce the first set of draft picks. Adam Pearce announces that Becky Lynch goes to Raw. Sonya announces that Smackdown selects The Usos. We see the Usos and Paul Heyman in the back. Adam Pearce announces that Raw has selected Bobby Lashley. Sonya announces that Smackdown selects Sasha Banks. Match Number One: Jeff Hardy versus Damian Priest for the United States Championship They lock up and Priest with a hammer lock into a side head lock. Priest with a shoulder tackle. Hardy sends Priest against the ropes and Priest with a shoulder tackle for a near fall. Hardy with a sit out jaw breaker and kicks. Priest with forearms and a bicycle kick that sends Hardy to the floor. Priest goes for a choke slam onto the apron and Hardy with an elbow and then Hardy goes to the apron but misses a cross body. Priest gets back into the ring and Priest goes to the floor to stop the count and Priest with a cannonball off the ring steps. We go to commercial. We are back and Hardy punches Priest on the turnbuckles and Priest falls to the mat. Hardy with Whisper in the Wind for a near fall. Priest with a spinning heel kick and he sets for Reckoning but Hardy escapes. Priest avoids a Twist of Fate. Priest with a kick and Hardy with a clothesline and Twist of Fate. Hardy goes up top and hits a Swanton but Priest kicks out and rolls up Hardy for the three count. Winner: Damian Priest After the match, Priest shakes Hardy's hand. After the match, Sarah ambushes Jeff in the ring and asks him if he has anything to say to the WWE Universe after being drafted to Smackdown. Jeff says he has been to the highest of highs, but he has crashed down as well. Jeff says going to Smackdown might be the perfect opportunity to see a different side of Jeff Hardy. A different ego. For the next few weeks, he will be on Raw and he plans to make the most . . . Austin Theory comes to the ring. Austin says he got drafted to Raw and he is standing in the ring with the legendary Jeff Hardy. He grew up watching Jeff and Jeff motivated and inspired him. He says he does not mean to fanboy, but he asks to take a selfie with Jeff. Austin takes the photo and then he clotheslines Jeff and hits a TKO face buster. Austin takes another photo with Jeff. Kevin Patrick is in the back and he is with Randy Orton and Riddle. Kevin asks them about their match at Crown Jewel. Riddle says it is great that Randy is back. Riddle says that now that they are in action, they will get some revenge on AJ and Omos. Riddle says that Randy looks great after taking some time off. Randy says he appreciates the useless facts and he asks if he is done. Randy says they have the chance to shut up AJ and Omos but that is not until Crown Jewel. Randy says he has a proposition. Randy tells Omos that it is time you finally go one on one with the Legend Killer. We see Dana Brooke in the back as she gets ready to lose an arm. It is time for more draft picks. Adam says Raw selects Seth Rollins. Sonya announces that Smackdown selects Shinsuke Nakamura (and Rick Boogs) Adam announces that Raw selects Damian Priest. Sonya announces that Smackdown has selected Sheamus. Match Number Two: Shayna Baszler versus Dana Brooke They lock up and Dana works on the arm in the corner and connects with forearms. Dana chokes Shayna in the corner. Shayna with a back breaker. Shayna kicks Dana and sends her into the corner with a hard Irish whip. Shayna puts the arm on the mat and Shayana tries to stomp on it but Dana moves the arm. Dana with a rollup for a near fall. Shayna with a cross arm breaker into the Kirifuda Clutch and Dana taps out. Winner: Shayna Baszler After the match, Shayna saunters over to Dana and grabs the arm and kicks the elbow. Shayna moves the ring steps and it is time to see how Dana's arm will bend, but . . . Doudrop skips her way to the ring and she has some words for Shayna. Doudrop looks at Shayna and then Doudrop goes to check on Dana and Shayna punches Doudrop. The Usos walk in the back and they are with Paul Heyman and Kevin Patrick ambushes them. Paul says that Kevin is prettier than Kayla. He saya he is not just special counsel to the Tribal Chief, he is the warden of the Uso Penitentiary. Kevin asks if that is how Paul made sure that Brock Lesnar was a free agent. Jimmy and Jey look at Paul and then walk away. We go to commercial. Coverage Continues on Next Page If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here! If history repeats itself, the newly published Pandora Papers will for the most part remain no more than an interesting read for the public and serve as confirmation of their suspicions about various political leaders and tycoons. The new leak comes five years after the infamous "Panama Papers," which includes similar names on its list of names behind dubious financial dealings the world over. The Pandora Papers, a cache of some 12 million files, exposes the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state. It also includes information on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials, including government ministers, judges and mayors in more than 90 countries. The files were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and then shared with major news outlets who spent a year and half analyzing the data and just started publishing it. The documents and files come from 14 financial services companies in offshore financial centers and tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, Switzerland Some of the highlights include: Jordan's King Abdullah used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States. Through an offshore investment company, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis acquired a $22-million chateau in the south of France. Long accused of corruption, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is said to have transacted about $700 million in UK real estate deals. Self-proclaimed corruption fighter, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and six members of his family have been linked to 13 offshore companies. The leaks also link Russian President Vladimir Putin to secret assets in Monaco, though Putin does not appear in the files by name and only numerous of his close associates. The Pandora Papers represent the latest in a string of leaks over the past seven years, following the SwissLeaks, the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks. In 2016, some 11.5 million leaked documents from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm exposed wealthy people and politicians using offshore tax regimes to their benefit. There were links to 140 politicians and public officials, to 12 current or former heads of state and government and 60 of their relatives in the leaked documents. Aside from a few resignations, including the Islands Prime Minister, there is no evidence that any of them were charged or sanctioned for such. A data leak from a year before, the Swiss Leaks, revealed documents from private Swiss bank HSBC showing how it used the country's banking secrecy laws to help clients avoid paying tax. The bank helped its clients hide $100 billion in secret bank accounts from tax authorities. Back in 2014, the ICIJ leaked a total of 548 favorable tax rulings that multinational companies obtained in Luxembourg in the period from 2002 to 2010. At that time, in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) alleged that companies from all over the world "have channeled hundreds of billions of dollars to Luxembourg and saved billions of dollars in taxes. Former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet, the whistleblowers behind the Luxleaks scandal, were tried and sentenced for violating Luxembourgs secrecy laws. Deltour was given a six-month suspended sentence, while Halet was given nine months. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. " " A stroll through a forest in the fall shows a variety of colors in the leaves. But why is that? Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd/Getty Images Enthusiastic snowball fights in winter or lazy summer days at the beach notwithstanding, autumn might be the most beloved season of them all. Every year, people watch in awe as the trees begin their magical transformation from green powerhouses to veritable smorgasbords of color. In the northeastern United States, millions of "leaf peepers" come from all over the world to observe nature's fine art gallery [source: Haberman]. New England doesn't have a monopoly on the color-changing business, and those leaf peepers are far from alone in their wonderment. From Europe to Alaska, people revel in nature's annual opportunity to mix up the palette. Pity those who live in areas that get cheated out of these glorious displays of color; the lucky ones are left debating which hue they most favor -- brilliant yellows, fiery oranges or vibrant reds? Advertisement If you're partial to crimson, you might wonder why nature seems to go overboard with the red some years and forget it entirely during others. Native American lore explained the appearance of the magnificent colors as coming from above: After hunters killed the Great Bear in the sky, the story goes, its blood splashed down and turned the leaves red. And the yellow leaves? They get their tint from the bear's fat splashing out of the pot that it was being cooked in. If this explanation doesn't quite satisfy your puzzlement of why leaves change color, scientists have one of their own. Instead of hunters, bears and lard, theirs involves photosynthesis, pigments and sunlight. To fully understand the chemistry behind the color show, we'll need to revisit first-grade science class. " " Chief NASA 'sniffer' George Aldrich (right) has been part of the space agency's odor panel for nearly 50 years. NASA/WSTF Reed P. Elliott Every nut and bolt, every plastic zip tie, every container of Tang that is part of a manned space mission has to be thoroughly checked out before it gets blasted into the stars. It only makes sense, right? Space is no place for surprises. Testing these things all of them and how they'll act and react in potentially hazardous environments falls on a veritable army of professionals at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. One group there, the Materials Flight Acceptance workforce, analyzes the space-suitability of different materials to make sure nothing will surprisingly catch on fire, or put off some toxic gas, or act strangely in the vacuum of space, or that no fluids will react poorly with other materials onboard. All this is done with a never-wavering eye on the safety of astronauts. And then there's the testing area that has made the Materials group a sort of quirky star in the NASA solar system: The odor panel. What an astronaut smells in space, it turns out, is mission-critical, too. "If you don't like the smell of fish down here on the ground, you open a window and let it air out," says Susana Harper, the Materials Flight Acceptance standards testing manager at White Sands. "We don't have that option up in space." Advertisement Why Smell Is So Important in Space The potentially smelly halibut or farting co-pilot is bad, but NASA is concerned with way more than simple stinkiness. (After all, some smells, especially in the relatively tight quarters of, say, the International Space Station or Orion, just can't be helped.) "We want to make sure we're not creating an environment that is uncomfortable or bothersome to the astronaut, so they can be 100 percent focused on their mission," Harper says. But beyond the comfort of astronauts which is important NASA wants to keep unnecessary smells out of spacecraft for a more practical reason: Too many unfamiliar odors in a tiny space can mask odors that the astronauts need to detect. Like, perhaps, an ammonia leak. Or the smell of something burning. You can't have so many odors on board that the astronauts miss the important stuff. "Our first line of detection is our human sense of smell. So even though we have worked with companies, and there are certain types of detectors on board," Harper says, "in the end we know that the human sense of smell is our most sensitive detector for those hazardous smells." " " Every item on every payload sent to the ISS must pass the smell test, so astronauts like Jessica Meir (bottom) and Andrew Morgan (seen here in front of the hatch to the Space Dragon resupply ship on March 27, 2020) can detect serious odors, like an ammonia leak or smoke from a fire. NASA Advertisement NASA's Nose Knows Best NASA, through the Materials group, has an odor panel that evaluates what can go up into space and what's just too darn stinky. Five volunteers put their schnozzes to everything in the astronaut's habitable space. The smell is captured first in an air chamber, then the air is injected through a syringe directly into masks that each panel member wears. They then rank the smells (0 for least offensive, 4 for "get this outta here") to determine what's allowable and what should be grounded. (Another group first tests the materials for toxicity.) Any odor over 2.5 fails. The panel's most-decorated member is George Aldrich, a 64-year-old chemical specialist who has been sniffing around NASA for some 46 years. He's lent his proboscis to more than 900 different sit-down smell tests way more than anyone, ever which has earned him a bunch of cutesy names (he once called himself a "nasalnaut"), a few jaw-dropping media appearances (including one in which he made like a police dog and, impossibly, sniffed out a smidgen of drugs), and the admiration of astronauts (he was awarded the Silver Snoopy award). Though Aldrich has been doing this since he was a teen, his is not some cushy seniority post. He has to qualify for the panel every four months. To do that, NASA puts Aldrich and other volunteers through what is known as a 10-bottle test. They have to identify seven smells, and then point out the three bottles that have no smell. "As we age, eyesight is not always the first thing to go," Aldrich says. "The day I go up there and can't pass that 10-bottle test is the day that they're going to retire me from the odor panel." The seven smells in the test are what are often known as "primary" smells. "You want me to name them for you?" Aldrich says. "Musky, minty, floral, etherous, camphoraceous, pungent and putrid. I still got it." " " Susana Harper (left), the materials flight acceptance standards testing manager, and George Aldrich (right) place an item in an offgas chamber, which tests and identifies gaseous compounds items release into the atmosphere. NASA/WSTF Reed P. Elliott Aldrich does not, it should be pointed out, have a particularly prominent nose. "Size," he insists, "don't matter." He's generally unbothered by allergies, which he credits with helping his sense of smell. But he also constantly tests himself, often following a smell through a hallway to try to identify it and its source. "I always stay in tune to odors," he says. "From my perspective," Harper says, "I also feel that he has developed his sense of smell much like a weightlifter develops his muscles or a wine taster develops a sense of taste. He does smell so many materials, and he focuses on what those smells are like. I feel like he has been working that like a muscle and that it has become more sensitive over time." Aldrich was a member of the NASA fire department at White Sands when his boss told him about the odor panel. "I had no idea," he says now. "I just thought I was doing something great for the astronauts." Since then, the Materials group has kept him busy, constantly giving him and the other members of the odor panel all sorts of materials to work with, including some truly awful bits (he recalls the odor given off by undoing a Velcro strap as being particularly nasty). You'll get no complaints from Aldrich, though. For a near half-century, he's been proud to stick his nose in wherever he can, all in the name of science. NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Notwithstanding that occasional gaseous fellow astronaut, smells in a spacecraft are as controlled as they can be. What isn't controllable: the smell of space. Astronaut John Herrington, who caught a whiff on his suit after returning from an extravehicular activity known here on Earth as a spacewalk referred to it as a kind of burnt metal smell. Professor Angus Hin Lap Yip, Dr. Chaoliang Tan and Dr. Chun Kit Kwok presented an online lecture for the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study. Credit: HKIAS The field of chemistry brings us unique solutions that enhance our lives in innumerable ways. Thewas held both at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and online on 30 September 2021 (Thursday). In the talk, three promising young chemists featured their research results on the development of controlling the nanostructure of perovskite optoelectronic materials, the understanding of ribonucleic acid (RNA) structure, and the structural engineering of layered nanomaterials. Kicking off the lecture was Professor Angus Hin Lap Yip, a Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and School of Energy and Environment of CityU. He delivered a talk titled "Molecularly Engineered Interfaces in Metal Halide Perovskite Optoelectronic Materials and Devices". Over the past few years, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites have emerged as a new class of solution-processable semiconductors for many optoelectronic applications, such as solar cells and light-emitting devices (LEDs). Professor Yip discussed how to control the dimension and nanostructure of perovskites by introducing small molecules with tailored functional groups that can strongly interact with the perovskite crystals. Professor Yip's research is in the general area of solution-processed optoelectronic materials and devices for energy generation and energy saving. He started his academic career as a Professor in the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices and the School of Materials Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, in 2013. Since 2017, he has also served as the Director of Innovation Center for Printed Organic Photovoltaics in the South China Institute of Collaborative Innovation, Dongguan, promoting technology transfer and commercialization of new photovoltaic technologies. Dr. Chun Kit Kwok, an Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution of CityU, presented the second talk titled "A Renaissance in RNA Structure". Being a close cousin of DNA, the lesser-known RNA has received worldwide attention in the COVID-19 pandemic. In his presentation, Dr. Kwok reported his team's effort to explore and understand the folding status, structural features, and biological roles of an RNA structure, particularly a specific motifRNA G-quadruplex (rG4), and elaborated with specific examples. (From the left) Professor Huang, Professor King-Ning Tu, Chair Professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering of CityU, Dr. Tan, Professor Yip, Dr. Kwok, Professor Alex Jen, Lee Shau Kee Chair Professor of Materials Science of CityU, Professor Wenjun Zhang, Acting Head and Chair Professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering of CityU, Professor Hua Zhang, Herman Hu Chair Professor of Nanomaterials of CityU, and Professor Andrey L Rogach, Chair Professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering of CityU. Credit: HKIAS Dr. Kwok's current research focuses on exploring RNA structures and interactions in biology, mainly the functions of G-quadruplex structures/interactions and non-coding RNA structures/interactions in the mammalian transcriptome and their relevance to gene regulation, RNA metabolism, and diseases. To cultivate a stimulating learning environment for students and establish the RNA community in Hong Kong, Dr. Kwok co-founded the Hong Kong RNA Club in 2017 and regularly organized RNA seminars and symposium events. Concluding this lecture was Dr. Chaoliang Tan, an Assistant Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering of CityU. In his talk titled "Structural Engineering of Layered Nanomaterials by Lithium Intercalation Chemistry", he presented the recent progress in the structural engineering of layered materials by intercalation chemistry. Furthermore, he introduced the advantages of this discovery and pointed out its potential applications in different fields, including photothermal cancer therapy and aqueous Zn-ion battery. Dr. Tan's research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of semiconductors (2D materials or thin films) for next-generation of wafer-scale electronics (transistors and circuits) and optoelectronics (infrared photodetectors and imaging sensor systems). He was a Highly Cited Researcher from 2018 to 2020 according to Clarivate Analytics (Top 1%); he was listed in the Top 2% of the world's most highly cited scientists in the field of engineering by Stanford University in 2020. This lecture is supported in part by the Kwang Hua Educational Foundation. More information about the lecture, please click here. Provided by Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study SCOTUS releases first big order list of October Term 2021 ... with little of particular sentencing note | Main | REMINDER: This week for "Understanding Drug Sentencing" conference feature keynote with former AG Eric Holder and Piper Kerman As detailed in this new AP article, "Pope Francis has joined the chorus of people calling on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to grant clemency to a death row inmate who is set to be executed for killing three people during a 1994 convenience store robbery." Here is more: In a letter last week, a representative for Pope Francis wrote that the pope wishes to place before you the simple fact of Mr. Johnsons humanity and the sacredness of all human life, referring to Ernest Johnson, who is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre, about 50 miles south of St. Louis. Parson, a Republican, has been considering whether to reduce the 61-year-old Johnsons sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnsons attorney, Jeremy Weis, said executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits executing intellectually disabled people. He said multiple IQ tests and other exams have shown that Johnson has the intellectual capacity of a child. He also was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and in 2008, he lost about 20% of his brain tissue to the removal of a benign tumor. Racial justice activists and two Missouri members of congress Democratic U.S. Reps. Cori Bush of St. Louis and Emmanuel Cleaver of Kansas City have also called on Parson to show mercy to Johnson, who is Black. The Missouri Supreme Court in August refused to halt the execution, and on Friday, it declined to take the case up again. Weis and other attorneys for Johnson on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. This is not a close case Mr. Johnson is intellectually disabled, they wrote in their court filing. Johnson admitted to killing three workers at a Caseys General Store in Columbia on Feb. 12, 1994 manager Mary Bratcher, 46, and employees Mabel Scruggs, 57, and Fred Jones, 58. The victims were shot and attacked with a claw hammer. Bratcher also was stabbed in the hand with a screwdriver.... Johnson was sentenced to death in his first trial and two other times. The second death sentence, in 2003, came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing the mentally ill was unconstitutionally cruel. The Missouri Supreme Court tossed that second death sentence and Johnson was sentenced for a third time in 2006. If the execution takes place as scheduled, it would be the seventh in the U.S. this year but the first not involving either a federal inmate or a prisoner in Texas. The peak year for modern executions was 1999, when there were 98 across the U.S. That number had gradually declined and just 17 people were executed last year 10 involving federal prisoners, three in Texas and one each in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri, according to a database compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. REMINDER: This week for "Understanding Drug Sentencing" conference feature keynote with former AG Eric Holder and Piper Kerman | Main | "But What Does It Mean? Defining, Measuring, and Analyzing Desistance From Crime in Criminal Justice" October 4, 2021 Recent Jan 6 rioter sentencings showcase different judges with different sentencing perspectives The AP has effective coverage of the latest sentencings of January 6 rioters, and they highlight how different judges have different takes on how these unique offenders ought to be punished. From Friday: "Judge questions whether Jan. 6 rioters are treated unfairly." Excerpts: 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 nations 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 Doyles 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.... 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.... 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. From Monday: "Judge slams claims that Jan. 6 rioters are treated unfairly." Excerpts: A Texas man who joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6. was sentenced Monday to 45 days behind bars even though prosecutors werent seeking jail time, after the judge blasted comparisons between the riot that day and the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan called it a false equivalence to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights to the mob that was trying to overthrow the government. She said doing so ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riots pose to the foundation of our democracy.... Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said she flatly disagreed with the suggestion raised by some people that the Jan. 6 defendants were being treated unfairly. In fact, she said she believes those who joined the pro-Trump mob were being treated more leniently than many other defendants. Some of many prior related posts: October 4, 2021 at 10:43 PM | Permalink Comments "different sentencing perspectives"that's attempted humor, right? Posted by: kotodama | Oct 5, 2021 10:19:09 AM Wry on toast. Posted by: Joe | Oct 5, 2021 11:18:04 AM Is this now the point where Kyrsten Sinema dons her wry wig? (That joke from LGM still has me at a loss, to be honest.) Posted by: kotodama | Oct 5, 2021 12:13:39 PM This is just more evidence that the Jan 6th prosecutions have little to nothing to do with the law of justice. Posted by: restless94110 | Oct 5, 2021 2:07:36 PM Of course, these types of differences based on the "judicial" philosophies of judges were part of the motivating factors behind having sentencing guidelines -- namely that there is something wrong when the sentence depends on the judge assigned to the case rather than the facts of the offense or the character of the defendant. Posted by: tmm | Oct 5, 2021 4:46:44 PM I still don't know whether to the take OP seriously. He's admitted to trolling in the past. But either way, it doesn't even make sense to speak of "differing perspectives." That, to me at least, implies that you start with the same conduct X at issue in both cases, and the only "differing perspectives" have to do with how two different judges approach the sentencing. In this case though, you *don't even have the same conduct at issue*. So the whole thing collapses immediately. On the one hand, you have people who are *justifiably* upset about the *racist slaughter* of unarmed/unthreatening black folks, and engaging in *legitimate 1A activity* to protest it. On the other hand, you have fascist reactionaries being crybabies because they lost an election *fair and square*or even with an *undeserved leg up* from assorted voter suppression effortsand then having the temerity to commit an *insurrection* to try to *subvert U.S. democracy*. So yeah, this is about a far from "differing perspectives" as one could possibly get. And McFadden, not surprisingly, has made it very clear which side he sympathizes withthe insurrectionists. His attempts to bothsides the two sets of conduct would be incredibly sad and pathetic if they weren't so grotesque, disturbing, and offensive. Posted by: kotodama | Oct 6, 2021 12:25:01 PM Post a comment Pope Francis among those urging Missou Gov to grant clemency to offender scheduled to be executed tomorrow ... UPDATE: Gov denies clemency | Main | Recent Jan 6 rioter sentencings showcase different judges with different sentencing perspectives I flagged here a few weeks ago the conference organized by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and the Academy for Justice which is now only days away as it is set for October 7-8, 2021. This event formally titled "Understanding Drug Sentencing and its Contributions to Mass Punishment," and I will here note again the main event page and this overview: Join the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and the Academy for Justice October 7-8, 2021 to explore the myriad issues surrounding drug sentencing and its contribution to mass incarceration and mass punishment during this major symposium. In addition to academics, researchers, and advocates discussing sound drug sentencing policies, this event also includes judges, current and former prosecutors, defense attorneys, and justice-involved individuals sharing their perspectives on drug sentencing practices. The symposium will take place virtually. Discussion of the war on drugs frequently fails to examine precisely how drug offenders are sentenced and how they should be. Drug sentencing practices are implicated in many fundamental criminal justice issues and concerns. Research suggests incarcerating people for drug offenses has little impact on substance use rates or on crime rates more generally. And, despite reports of comparable use rates, people of color are far more likely to be arrested and incarcerated for drug-related offenses than white counterparts. Mandatory minimum sentencing statutes are applied commonly, but inconsistently, in drug cases and for persons with a criminal history that involves drug offenses. And while states have created specialty courts to handle the cases of low-level drug offenders, the efficacy and appropriateness of the drug court movement has long been subject to debate. Distinct state and federal realities complicate our understanding of the relationship between the drug war and punishment. Nearly all federal drug defendants get sent to prison and nearly 50% of the federal prison population is comprised of drug offenders; relatively few state drug offenders are sent to prison and less than 20% of state prisoners are serving time on drug charges. But data on arrests, jail populations, and community supervision highlight the continued, significant impact drug cases still have on state and local justice systems. The role of drug criminalization and sentencing contributes to mass incarceration, yet mass punishment can look quite different depending on the criminal justice system(s) and the drugs. Registration Separate registrations are provided for each days events. Attendees may register separately for each of the events on Thursday, for all Friday events, or both. See the Agenda page for details and registration links. Vishal Srivastava, Co-founder of Krazyfox New Delhi [India], October 5 (ANI/NewsVoir): India's leading multi-channel network, Krazyfox has announced its expansion in the markets of Bangladesh, UAE and the Middle Eastern region. The expansion is backed by the growing demand for appealing and entertaining content by brands across the globe to promote their businesses. After establishing itself in Indian markets, Krazyfox is planning to expand its operations in Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries of Middle-East Within a year Krazyfox signed up 1000+ creators and influencers It has offline network of 400+ college ambassadors to increase brand awareness and to run offline campaigns in more than 20+ colleges and universities of India Onboarded MOJ, one of the top short video apps in India as their exclusive clients The company has officially signed 1000+ creators and 200+ influencers in various parts of the world to deliver the best content and influencer marketing results to their customers. Besides, the strong offline network of over 400+ college ambassadors provides strength to the business. It helps brands to establish themselves between the youth belonging to different colleges and universities. Speaking about the growth of the industry Vishal Srivastava, Co-founder of Krazyfox says, "We are glad to announce that we are taking the Krazyfox globally. With this expansion, we aim to fully explore the potential of influencer marketing to engage customers across the markets of Bangladesh, the Middle East region, and India with regional content. We believe that Influencer marketing is not just a marketing tool but it is a journey of buyers from shortlisting to buying a product. With our established expertise, refined strategies, and AI-based monitoring software, we are committed to providing engaging content and enhancing the brand identity." As E-commerce and social media converge, GenZ is making their purchasing decisions after considering the reviews of the influencers they follow. Therefore, it becomes necessary for the brands to reinforce their brand and foster credibility through effective campaigns and content strategy. Krazyfox'is growing at a fast pace and has an ambitious goal of starting operations in Europe and the US markets in the coming 2-3 years. Story continues Vishal Srivastava, Co-founder of Krazyfox added, "This is just the beginning chapter for influencer marketing industry. As an established company in the industry, we believe that it will grow by 2000 percent in the coming 2-3 years. We are already working in the Bangladesh market with the leading short video platform Snack Video. Besides, we are collaborating with other internet companies as well." Commenting on the development, Ozair Yermal, Co-founder of Krazyfox says, "We are proud to share that from a small office, Krazyfox is expanding globally in a short duration of one year. We are opening our local offices in Dubai, Turkey & Bangladesh markets to offer better support to our existing and new clients. This industry was growing even before the pandemic but after the lockdowns, it has witnessed exponential growth. The brands registers the importance of video-based content to sell their product and they are separately focusing and allocating funds for it. Influencer marketing industry bolstering and creating brand awareness among people via various campaign and delivering the brand's idea directly to target customers. We as a brand alone onboarded more than 50 companies with us and run many successful campaigns. We believe that taking our business into different markets will help brands and startups to gain the trust of their target customers." The company has a long list of top Instagram and YouTube influencers and top-notch clients telling success stories of their business growth with influencer marketing strategies and campaigns. Krazyfox stands out in the Indian market with its multilingual influencer offering, which helps businesses to reach almost every corner of India including Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. It has a regional and local content creator base, which targets Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, and Tamil speakers. Krazyfox is India's fastest-growing multi-channel network. It creates and executes inspiring Influencer marketing strategies and campaigns for various brands. It helps creators and Influencers monetize their digital platforms by partnering them with various clients on the Influencer marketing campaigns. Krazyfox has a team of Influencer marketing experts to help clients to associate with influencers, bloggers, vloggers, and creators to target the right audience. It is an essential platform to establish brand engagement with users utilizing Influencer marketing and offline campaigns. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir) Beijing, China: Another Chinese homebuilder has hit financial trouble after it missed payments on debt obligations, adding to worries over the country's property sector as embattled giant China Evergrande teeters on the brink of collapse. Fears of contagion through the Chinese economy have grown as Evergrande, the most indebted of the country's private homebuilders, struggles with more than $300 billion in liabilities and heads towards a massive restructuring. Fantasia Holdings failed to repay a $205.7 million note Monday, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement. This came as property management firm Country Garden Services Holdings added that a unit of Fantasia had missed repayment on a 700 million yuan ($108 million) loan, saying it was likely Fantasia would default. The news comes as investors await news from Evergrande after it suspended trading of its shares Monday pending an announcement on a "major transaction", with reports saying Hong Kong real estate firm Hopson Development Holdings planned to buy a 51 percent stake in its property services arm. While Fantasia is a smaller player in the market than Evergrande, its struggles highlight investor concerns over companies' financial disclosures. Fitch Ratings downgraded Fantasia to "CCC-" on Monday, a move that points to default as a possibility. The ratings agency added in a statement that although media reports said Fantasia missed an earlier payment to bondholders, the bond "does not appear to have been disclosed in the company's financial reports". "We believe the existence of these bonds means that the company's liquidity situation could be tighter than we previously expected. "Furthermore, this incident casts doubt on the transparency of the company's financial disclosures," Fitch added. Separately, S&P Global Ratings has downgraded another Chinese property firm " Sinic Holdings " saying its "debt-servicing ability has almost been depleted". Story continues Sinic has been unable to service interest repayments, which could result in "accelerating repayments on Sinic's other debt obligations", S&P said on Monday. Fitch downgraded Sinic from "CCC" to "C" on Tuesday, reflecting its view that "a default-like process has begun" for the company. The boss of Shanghai-based Sinic hit the headlines last month when he lost more than a billion dollars in a market meltdown linked to fears about Evergrande. Zhang Yuanlin saw his net worth drop from $1.3 billion to $250.7 million on 20 September, according to Forbes, when his firm was forced to halt trading in Hong Kong following an 87 percent slump in its share price. China's real-estate sector has been under tightened scrutiny in recent months, with regulators announcing caps for three different debt ratios in a scheme dubbed "three red lines" last year. Beijing has stayed silent on the travails of Evergrande, but state media has trailed various responses in a nod to the mood towards a private company that grew on a debt binge in the boom years of Chinese real estate. Also See: Debt-ridden Chinese real estate developer Evergrande says it will make bond payment this week Trading of China's Evergrande shares suspended in Hong Kong China's real estate giant Evergrande is in a crisis but it is no 'Lehman moment' to trigger a global collapse Read more on Business by Firstpost. For all the controversy that electric scooters kicked up a few years ago when they debuted en masse across California, the buzzy two-wheelers have since become a fixture of urban life across the country. Cities like Seattle have gone from outright banning the tech over safety concerns to allowing more and more scooters in by the month. Beach towns like New Jerseys Asbury Park are warming to the scooters, while places like Portland, Oregon, have seen success promoting scooters as automobile alternatives that can reduce carbon emissions. Plenty of companies, including car manufacturers like Ford, are getting in the e-scooter gameboth the kind you can rent and the kind you can buy. Advertisement Cities are for scooters now. Except, until very recently, New York. When streets emptied out last spring, people everywhere found new (and less carbon-intensive) ways to use the road. Even as drivers have returned to the asphalt, the momentum for decarbonized transport is continuing, with more Americans buying cycles and e-bikes and electric cars and, yes, scooters. Those zippy little vehicles still arent entirely uncontroversialthey can be a danger to pedestrians when left scattered on sidewalks and can clutter public spaces when parked, for example. But manufacturers, officials, users, and others are adjusting, with added features like Google Maps integration, artificial intelligence to determine where best to distribute scooters, and turn signals to smooth out the experience. Plus, you dont even need a smartphone to use some of the rentable scooters on offer (like the ones from Lime and Veo), and wheelchair-accessible scooters are gradually rolling out. With such upgraded fleets, New Yorks crowded streets should also be able to handle the two-wheel toys at this point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But for years, the state and the city wouldnt allow them due to not-unreasonable public safety concerns. The pandemic changed the calculus. In April 2020, the New York State Assembly legalized e-bikes and e-scooters, and two months later, the New York City Council not only removed certain local restrictions on e-scooters and e-bikes, but also approved a yearlong pilot program for areas underserved by public transit, lacking options for last mile connections to transit stations, or underserved by existing dock-based bike share programs. Then, just two months ago, 1,000 brand-new Bird, Lime, and Veo scooters and mopeds appeared in a perhaps unexpected spot: the East Bronx. Starting smallinstead of dropping scooters everywherewas the idea. New York City Department of Transportation officials and scooter operators held dozens of meetings with community boards, local [business improvement districts], nearby medical facilities, and more, the agency explained to the local paper Norwood News. Why the Bronx? As a department spokesperson told me, the area provided a test opportunity to help connect over 570,000 residents across 18 square miles to major job centers, while not overlapping with Bronx neighborhoods targeted by CitiBike. (While bike share is available in other parts of the borough, the program hasnt reached the East Bronx yet because of an incomplete city-planned expansion program and community board opposition, as one local transit advocate told me.) There are also simultaneous, ongoing city plans to construct new transit and bike lanes within the borough. Plus, there are jobs to be created here, per the city DOT: dozens related to scooter operations and maintenance, and more to come regarding outreach and administration. Bird also committed to working with a local nonprofit in order to hire formerly incarcerated residents looking for stable jobs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a slower process for rolling out a new mode. But so far it seems to be workingby early September, city officials informed me, more than 48,000 rides had been taken just in the weeks following the launch. This cuts against the argument that transportation startups need to move fast and catch regulators unawares in order to get any traction, as Uber and scooter operators initially did. Id previously ridden Bird and Lime scooters in cities like Nashville, D.C., and East Lansing, Michigan, but I knew the East Bronxs new toys would be far different from the ones Id previously tried, and would be complementing a unique terrain. So on a recent weekend, I went and tried them. Advertisement The first thing I noticed were the intense safety features on each scooter brands app, of a nature I hadnt previously seen in other states. All had multichapter tutorials and quizzes on local rules of ridership, parking, and moreLimes had at least four mandatory videos and quizzes. While casual riders may find this annoying, at the very least it does help drill laws and regulations in your head and could help disincentivize troublemakers who want to use the scooters for harmful or impractical purposes. Advertisement After the evaluations, you can scan the maps on each of these apps to see where scooters and parking spots are available; Veos has a nifty feature also showing the battery life of its units. Taking any of the scooters requires a simple scan of the scooters code as well as verification, helped by your phones camera, that the scooter is coming from an authorized place; a slowed-down training mode option can be triggered if youd prefer it. And both the app and the scooter itself will make sure you stay within the borders of the approved scooting area: There were multiple moments where I (accidentally!) swerved outside the pilot map, causing my scooter to fully quit out on me until I trekked back to the allowed area. In theory, these geographic limitations will be adjusted accordingly when scooting expands citywide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I tried all three brands, which all mostly complete the same checklists. Veo has a scooter that lets you sit downnot like a bicycle seat but one you can lean back in. Meanwhile, Birds take a little while to accelerate, especially if youre trying to scale any upslope area, though once they get going, they get going, with the speed measured on each scooters handy screen. (I hit a peak of 25 mph downslope, but going up it was hard to surpass 8 mph.) Lime vehicles also have screens that alert you when youre heading into forbidden territory and notify you of potential technical issues. For me, the most important measurewhether the scooters made for stable, pleasurable rides, and whether I could easily take them where I wished to gowas accomplished by all three brands. The DOT says no one particular scooter company has been more popular than the others in terms of ridership. Advertisement While traveling, I saw Bronx residents of all stripes, from tall guys in suits to seniors in workout gear to twentysomethings in extremely casual wear. All were riding in friendly, unaggressive ways; I even got a smile and nod while riding near an elderly gentleman on a Bird. When I talked to some residents, they seemed less interested in the particulars than in the fact that there were scooters there at all. At a designated scooter parking area, a 40-year-old Bronxite who identified himself to me as A.P. told me he was happy that scooters provided options for people to go outside, get exercise, and explore their neighborhood. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because scooters are a last mile mode, they complement a part of the city where transit is sparser. Shawn Garcia, a lifelong Bronx resident who works with the advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives, described the long-running problems scooters could help solve: Growing up in the Bronx, it was harder to get to certain neighborhoods, and the train had unreliable service. Even today, it takes 20 to 30 minutes to get to a train station. There isnt consistency with bus service, he told me. Garcias group is helping implement the pilot by visiting the East Bronx and demonstrating the scooters for residents, who he says have been pleased to get the vehicles before the rest of the city. Advertisement Some have been skeptical, however. Earlier this summer, an environmental activist named Roxanne Delgado penned an op-ed about the issues with choosing the East Bronx for the scooter pilot: the frequency of vehicle crashes along nearby roads and the potential for clogging the few green pedestrian spaces available to locals, especially those who are differently abled or older. Days before the launch, Delgado led about a dozen protesters in a rally to oppose the program. Theres no regulation or enforcement, Delgado elaborated in an interview, explaining that police were not enforcing regulations, and showing me emails where DOT officials told her to send complaints directly to the scooter companies. Im not going to put myself at risk by telling someone they need to get their scooter off the greenway. Thats what the DOT should be doing. Delgado claims shes not against micromobility and alternatives to cars, but she is skeptical of the reasoning for placing scooters in particular in this low-income areaand suspects that the community happens to be a convenient dumping ground because scooter companies need the New York market and cant compete with programs like Citi Bike. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I relayed these concerns to Garcia, who said they were legitimate but also that its important to figure out solutions that dont involve cutting off access to these things. Its not that what Roxannes saying [regarding potential rider issues] is wrong, Garcia told me. But lets create more access, more availability. Like we did with the bike lane on the Hudson Parkwaywhich finally earned community approval this year after tireless advocacy from cyclistswe can do something similar on Pelham Parkway so that scooters and bicycles have their own spaces, hopefully leading to safer areas for all residents, no matter their preferred mode of transportation. Beyond pedestrians, theres another safety concern with the scooter rollout: drivers. Sometimes, too many cars on the road forced me to swerve onto the sidewalk; the scooter beeped but pedestrians seemed fine with my detour. On some busier roads, especially the business areas near the Bronxs many freeways, I made do riding along parking lanes, something that was only untenable when someone had double-parked. I asked the DOT about how it was planning to ensure scooter enthusiasts had ample room on the few unprotected bike lanescontroversially known as sharrowsavailable in the area, and wouldnt be blocked by cars; I didnt get any firm plans of action. Considering how many cars have fatally struck cyclists over the past few years and scared many New Yorkers from taking bikes or scooters or mopeds, its clear this remains a core problem, one that not only affects the citys already-active cyclists but also keeps more New Yorkers from trying an innovation like scooters. Advertisement Advertisement When I got off my Bird and Veo rides, I was congratulated by each app for playing a part in reducing transportation carbon emissions by taking these scooters instead of cars. Weve a long way to go before the humble e-scooter is adopted widely enough to put a real dent in greenhouse gases. The Bronx pilotwhile years late, compared with scooter use across the countryshows that its possible to put a new form of transit on the streets without pissing everyone off. The community engagement, from both enthused activists as well as concerned citizens like Delgado, is a good start; widely scaled safety and storage and tech-recycling features will have to come next; and eventually we may all have to get used to the upheaval of a transportation system that should no longer prize cars above all else. This will lead to growing pains. Still, the fact that scooters have finally come to New York Cityone of the most congested, car-heavy, dense, climate-damaging cities in existenceshows theres further promise for them yet. A previously obscure public health law known as Title 42 is quickly becoming a flashpoint in a struggle over the Biden administrations rapid expulsion of thousands of migrantsincluding Haitian asylum-seekersfrom American soil. On Monday, Politico reported that Harold Koh, a senior State Department legal official, is resigning from his position in the Biden administration because of its implementation of Title 42, which Koh called illegal, inhumane, and not worthy of this Administration that I so strongly support. Kohs public stance in a legal memo filed on Saturday captures the horror of the Trump holdover immigration policy that the Biden administration has bizarrely embraced. Advertisement The law is narrowly drawn and grants the government the power to prohibitwhere necessary for public healththe introduction of persons to the country if such introduction would increase a serious danger of the introduction of communicable disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Trump issuedon exceedingly shaky legal footinga 2020 rule expansively interpreting Title 42 and purporting to permit expulsions of asylum-seekers en masse. Despite promising to wind down its claimed use of Title 42, the Biden administration has continued to deploy the Trump-era rule to remove large numbers of migrant families and single adults from the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Last month, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the government from expelling family units under Title 42. Judge Emmet Sullivan handed down the order in a case filed in Washington by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations. The government, though, appealed the decision and last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit stayed Sullivans ruling, allowing the Biden administration to continue the mass expulsions. Advertisement Prior to the present contretemps, Title 42 had rarely been used since it was enacted in 1944. The short history of the Trump-era Title 42 policy should make even the most ardent of immigration hawks on the Biden team squeamish. Title 42 was something of a personal obsession for notorious xenophobe Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administrations harshest immigration policies. Miller and his allies frequently invoked the prejudiced trope of diseased migrants in private and in public. Miller also reportedly fulminated ad nauseam about his desire to use Title 42 to clamp down on the border, including in feverish monologues delivered to weary White House colleagues on late-night phone calls. The pandemic represented a victory of sorts for the White Houses hard-liner immigration restrictionists in the Trump era: During the coronavirus crisis, the Trump administration succeeded in effectively ending most legal immigration to the U.S.even as it dismissed public health measures such as masking and prematurely ended health screenings at airports. Advertisement Advertisement It would demand a vivid flight of fancy to believe, then, that the Trump administrations Title 42 policy was motivated primarilyor at allby public health concerns. Miller reportedly leaned on the CDC to publish the rule interpreting Title 42 and allowing for the flood of migrant expulsions; the policy was dubbed a Stephen Miller special by Olivia Troye, a senior administration official and aide to former Vice President Mike Pence. According to reporting by the Associated Press, the top CDC doctor overseeing orders such as the Title 42 rule initially refused to issue that order because it had no legitimate public health basis. The CDCs recalcitrance prompted Pence himself to intervene to instruct the CDC director, Dr. Robert Redfield, to follow through and produce the order. Advertisement Advertisement Since the Trump-era Title 42 policy was implemented, the government has used it to carry out more than half a million expulsions. The policy has produced a good deal of hemming and hawing from the Biden administration as to exactly how much it would cut back on expulsionsa potential tell as to the lack of real public health justification for the policy. The Biden administration ended the use of Title 42 to expel unaccompanied children but has continued to employ the policy to remove families and single adults. The administration expelled more than 16,200 families under Title 42 in August. Advertisement The administrations use of Title 42 to expel migrants appears illegal for several reasons. American asylum law grants the right for anyone arriving or physically present in the U.S. to apply for lawful refugee status. It is highly unlikely that Title 42 extinguishes that right. Title 42, which deals with the introduction of people into America, grants no express power to jettison individuals from the country once they are on American soil. The word expel appears nowhere in Title 42, and, as Sullivan has observed, the statutes text, structure, and history belie the governments claim that an implied expulsion power may be read into it. Because Title 42 refers to persons rather than noncitizens, the Biden teams logic would lead to the absurd proposition that Title 42 empowers the government to eject American citizens from the country to promote public health. Advertisement That should suffice to settle the matter. But other aspects of Title 42 also compel the conclusion that, legally speaking, the governments conduct is well out of bounds. Title 42s purpose and historyas well as the phrase introduction of personssuggest that Congress intended to regulate transportation entities moving people into the country rather than individuals. And Title 42s application to the introduction of diseases is ill-fitting for a situation where the relevant disease, COVID-19, is already running rampant in the country, where the U.S. is able to test migrants for COVID-19, and where many migrants hail from countries with lower COVID-19 incidence rates than America. (Haiti reported four COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people in the past seven days according to a Reuters tracker, whereas the United States reported 221 COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people in the same period.) The policy also violates Americas obligations under international law, though such obligations have little or no binding force on domestic soil. Advertisement Advertisement The likely unlawful use of Title 42 to expel migrants also opens the Biden administration to merited charges of hypocrisy. Democrats and progressives lambasted the Trump administration for propagating immigration policies with the flimsiest of pretexts. Among those plainly pretextual policies were the infamous Muslim bans that shut Americas gates to citizens of a number of Muslim-majority countries on the heels of a presidential campaign that peddled Islamophobia. The Biden administration now finds itself in the position of defending an apparently pretextual policyTitle 42whose stated public health objectives were condemned as baseless by top officials in Trumps CDC. The Biden administrations real reason for deploying Title 42 is likely that the government is simply struggling to respond to a chaotic situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Trump-era policy eases the burden on agencies and agents a bit. That reasoning certainly wouldnt justify illegally abrogating refugee rights guaranteed by domestic and international law and does nothing to abate the harms to expelled migrants who face cartel violence, human rights abuses, and hardships across the border. Sullivans order blocking the administration from expelling family units under Title 42 should have gone into effect last week. While that order is on hold, the government still has a choice: It can continue to buy time and defend a dubious policy in court or practice the compassionate immigration policy it occasionally preaches. Over the past few weeks, Nick Riccardi, a Western political reporter for the Associated Press, has been listening in on some conference calls in Colorado. The purpose of these calls has been figuring out figuring out what the states political maps should look like. Congressional districts get remade every 10 years, after the census comes out, so each state is going through a process like this right now. In most states, it is the state legislature that determines what a congressional map will look like, but that creates a political problemrepresentatives can work together to carve out districts to benefit their own party. Ideally, the districts they create are supposed to bundle people together based on shared interest and geography. But if you look at some congressional maps, you can see how lines get drawn to protect incumbents, and to pack opposition into one place or disperse it. And when theres gerrymandering, you can eyeball it. Nonpartisan redistricting commissions composed of ordinary citizens were supposed to be a solution to this problem. And it was Colorado conservatives who pushed this idea, which was then adapted by the state for this round. The new independent commission was supposed to make this whole process fairerbut fairer for whom? On Tuesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Riccardi about the problems this long-sought reform is facing. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nick Riccardi: The CEO of the dialysis company DaVita, Kent Thiry, pushed this ballot measure for an independent redistricting commission. He said, basically, Colorado is becoming a straight-line Democratic state. And thats not what Colorados all like. We want to have the redistricting process be nonpartisan. The Democratic Party hopped on it and said, That matches up with our general national message that we dont like gerrymandering. But theres no question that this hurts them more than Republicans, because its a state where otherwise they would be in charge. And if they could do whatever they wanted with redistricting, they could really draw some outrageous T-shaped congressional districts that would increase their number of seats in Congress. Advertisement Mary Harris: I wonder if youve talked to Democrats who are regretting their decision now. Oh yeah. Democrats are regretting this because a nonpartisan commission is basically the opposite of what their Republican colleagues around the country have been doing. The last time district lines were up for debate, Republicans were, for the most part, brutal. They gerrymandered without regret. Thats given the GOP the upper hand this time around. Ninety-five congressional seats that would have otherwise been drawn by Democrats are now being drawn by a nonpartisan commission. Theres a lot riding on what these commissions dotheir considerations are hyperlocal but have big national consequences. When it came time to decide, the 12 commissionersfour Democrats, four Republicans, and four independentswere on the line till past midnight, trying to find something eight of them could agree on. I know that there was a map you were texting a Democratic strategist about who thought, This isnt what we want. Advertisement Advertisement That was the last meeting on the very last night. Its like 11 oclock and somebody says, What about this map? I called it the chaos map. It was kind of what you would expect to come out of a nonpartisan redistricting process in that it would have thrown Democratic representatives together into one district, and there were going to be two swing districts in that part of the state. It was just crazy. No member of Congress would have been safe in that map, except for maybe the folks who represent Colorado Springs and Denver. So it would have been like three swing seats. They were actually coming a little close to it. But there was uncertainty, especially about who would win those seats, and in the end, the commission veered away from that. They didnt take the chaos map and they took this other map the commission staff had tweaked. That was fine, but did not put any incumbent at risk. Advertisement Advertisement If your argument is that you need to draw these lines so people have to compete, well, there would have been a lot of competition with the chaos map. I mean, it would have been insane. On the other hand, theres probably a good argument that you shouldnt decide a states political geography, and throw it all into chaos at 11 p.m. at night based on what 12 citizens are kind about on Zoom. If that had been implemented at the last minute, I think there would have been a legitimate line of criticism that these guys have just completely scrambled the state and literally decades worth of political lines because they were all tired. Advertisement In terms of the split of the map that Colorado settled on, its kind of a toss-up, right? Like, theres one new district and thats a swing district, and then its a little bit split between Republicans and Democrats, right? Advertisement The swing district is really evenly splitby the commissions metrics, its 1.3 percentage points more Democratic than Republican. It voted for Trump in 2016 by a percentage point and for Biden in 2020 by 5 percentage points. It voted for the Democrat in the U.S. Senate race by 1.7 percentage points in 2020. Its a very competitive area. Its the only one thats competitive. The rest of the state is kind of status quo. Youve got four Democrats who dont have a lot to worry about, and three Republicans who dont have a lot to worry about. In your article, you quoted a Republican strategist who said the party looked at this map as a gift from the gods because it didnt deserve it. Advertisement Advertisement Yeah, I mean, it is something of a gift for Republicans. I had a Republican reach out to me actually yesterday saying, This map isnt that much of a gift for us. We only lost the state by 13 points, not by 30 points. We probably should have at least a shot at splitting it evenly. You can make an argument, from a good government perspective, that a slight Democratic edge for safe seats compared with three safe seats and one toss-up seat is in the ballpark of what a state thats 13 points Democratic should look like. But its definitely a gift from the gods for Republicans because if Democrats had gerrymanderedand dont be misled, Democrats will gerrymander when they have the opportunity to, theyve done it before, and theyll do it again this cycle in other statesthey could have drawn a map that would have only had two Republicans, probably. Advertisement Advertisement Colorado raises all these questions about, what do we want out of these maps competitiveness, or representation of the whole state as a bloc? This is one of the great challenges in redistricting, right? Like, everybody knows gerrymandering is bad, but what should guide how these lines are drawn? Well, communities of interest kind of became the main priority here. You wanted to draw lines that linked places that had things in common. But weve all self-sorted nowadays. Democrats live with Democrats, Republicans live with the Republicans. If you keep communities of interest, you might not have competitive districts. You might just have the same extreme polarization that you have under gerrymanders. So maybe they should be competitive. Well, the chaos map was competitive, but like I said, it would hav broken up a lot of decades-old governmental relationships, where this county and that county just presume theyre going to be in the same congressional district forever and have money allocated in the same way. Theyve built water projects and roads and bridges together. And now suddenly they find its all scrambled because somebody decided theyd like competition. Advertisement Advertisement Not every state has a nonpartisan commission in place to handle redistricting. So in blue states, Democrats face a difficult choice: practice what theyve preached about the importance of an equitable map and risk Republican victories, or gerrymander the hell out of their state and protect their national power. Its a difficult calculus of principles vs. pragmatism. And in a lot of places, Dems are struggling to strike a balance without getting their hands dirty. Like in Oregon. Advertisement Advertisement Oregons great example, actually, because the Democratic speaker of the state House actually cut a deal with the Republicans. Democrats have a supermajority there, Oregons very blue, but they cut a deal with the GOP because Republicans were delaying bills in the state Legislature. So the speaker said, Look, guys, if you can agree to stop delaying these bills, we will actually give you a 5050 split on drawing maps. Advertisement Whoa. A lot of Democrats nationally were looking at that and kind of gnashing their teeth, saying, Were not ruthless enough. Were not tough enough. What is this? Its ridiculous. So then that committee, unsurprisingly, was unable to agree on a map: The Republicans wanted one map and the Democrats wanted another one. There was no middle ground to be had. So the Democrats said, fine, were dissolving the committee and were just going to implement it ourselves. And they just implemented their blue map and Oregon picked up a seat. Itll probably be a Democratic seat now. Democrats control the House of Representatives currently, but only by the slimmest of margins. And these maps will apply for 2022. Are there other states you think we should be keeping our eyes on that will give some indication of how the maps might change and whom they might benefit? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The big question, I think right now in redistricting, is New York. I dont think of New York as a gerrymandering place. Oh, New Yorks one of the biggest gerrymanders out there. But its not a gerrymander in the way people have been taught to think about it since 2010. For a long time, the New York state Senate was controlled by Republicans, and even as the state became pretty reliably Democratic in the 21st century, Democrats just could not take back that state Senate. One reason is because it was so heavily gerrymandered, and because they couldnt take back that state Senate, Republicans had a say in all the maps. So they kind of reached a detente where New Yorks maps were often drawn to preserve the incumbents of both parties. Advertisement Well, in 2018, Democrats finally took over the state Senate. No gerrymander can last forever if other trends are against you, and in New York, there was just no way it was going to hold. So now Democrats have, for the first time in a century, complete map-drawing power in New Yorkthe twist that back in 2014, when they didnt think they could get that state Senate, they decided to back a commission model. Now New Yorks got a commission, but its one of these soft commissions where the majority in the Assembly can overrule it. So the question is, will the Democrats in the state legislature overrule that commission? Im guessing they will, because its history shows. I mean, as Oregon shows, right? I also think Democrats are feeling a huge amount of pressure about the ability to control the House, and they know that this is a really good way to give themselves much better odds in 2022. New York could come in and eliminate five Republican seats, and Tennessee could eliminate one Democratic seat. Florida could gain a Republican seat and eliminate two Democratic seats. Montana could come in, and it has a commission, but maybe the commission draws the lines that creates a new Republican seat and suddenly, boom, youre at parity again. So there are a lot of different moving pieces, but Id say watch New York and Florida if youre really interested. Subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts Get more news from Mary Harris every weekday. The intellectual ringleaders of Donald Trumps failed coup are finally facing the threat of serious consequences for their integral roles in the legal plot to overturn the 2020 election. No lawyers did more than John Eastman and Jeffrey Bossert Clark to try to hand Trump an unearned second term. Eastman developed and promoted the theory that Vice President Mike Pence could reject Joe Bidens victory, then endorsed it at the Jan. 6 rally that fomented the insurrection. Clark urged his Justice Department superiors to pressure several legislatures into awarding their electoral votes to Trump even though Biden carried their states. Both men remain practicing attorneys. Advertisement Now, however, their ability to practice law is under threat. On Monday, a bipartisan group of lawyers, including two former federal judges, asked the California bar to investigate Eastman. One day later, a different bipartisan group of lawyers, including two top-ranking Justice Department officials under George H.W. Bush, asked the D.C. Court of Appeals disciplinary panel to investigate Clark. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read right now. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Forestalling a future assault on democracy will require a repudiation of the conspirators who tried to steal the last election. These requests could lead to the revocation of Eastmans and Clarks license to practice law, a critical first step toward stigmatizing the malignant theories both men pushed for months. Given that the conservative legal movement has refused to criticize their work as out of bounds, the complaints also provide a new opportunity for the mainstream legal establishment to confirm that a lawyer who tries to overthrow an election has proved himself unfit to practice law. Advertisement Both letters are supported by a remarkable roster of heavyweights. The Eastman letter was signed by retired judges on the state and federal level, state attorneys general, U.S. attorneys, and governors. It highlights Eastmans key role in the development of the theory that Pence could toss out Bidens victory on Jan. 6 when counting electoral votes. In two memos, Eastman laid out a putative pathway for Pence to unilaterally reject Biden electors from seven states, effectively disenfranchising tens of millions of Americans. He championed this idea at Jan. 6s Stop the Steal rally onstage with Rudy Giuliani (whose law license was later suspended). And he spread baseless conspiracy theories all the while, insisting that Trump lost due to widespread fraud of which there was no evidence. (On Jan. 6, he claimed that Democratic operatives hid Biden votes in a secret folder within voting machines.) Eastman also filed a brief on Trumps behalf asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election by nullifying millions of valid votes. Advertisement Here is John Eastman, chairman of a Federalist Society practice group, at the pre-insurrection rally spouting conspiracy theories about voter fraud. He concludes: Anybody that is not willing to stand up and [vote to overturn the election] does not deserve to be in the office! pic.twitter.com/auD2vXSjNE Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) January 13, 2021 Advertisement The Eastman letter, which was spearheaded by the States United Democracy Center, alleges that these and other unscrupulous actions violated both the California Rules of Professional Conduct and the State Bar Act. These rules prohibit attorneys from assisting a client in conduct that the lawyer knows to be fraudulent, illegal, or deceptive. They also bar lawyers from making any knowing or reckless false statement of material fact or law. Throughout his crusade, Eastman continually lied about both the facts and the law, alleging nonexistent voter fraud while asserting that Pence could throw the election through a laughably unlawful scheme. The letter asks the California bar to investigate this unethical legal work, a process that could lead to Eastmans disbarment. Advertisement Advertisement Like the Eastman letter, the Clark letter drew support from an all-star cast of lawyers across the political spectrum. Donald Ayer, deputy attorney general under George H.W. Bush, signed, as did his former colleague Stuart Gerson, who served as acting attorney general under Bush. The letter lays out Clarks corrupt efforts to throw the Justice Department behind Trumps plan to overturn the election. Although he joined the DOJ as an environmental lawyer, Clark ascended to assistant attorney general of the Justice Departments civil division in Trumps final months. In this capacity, he hatched a plot to coerce swing states legislatures into denying the legitimacy of Bidens victory and to award their electors to Trump instead. In a draft letter, Clark alleged that mass voter fraud had tainted the race, requiring legislatures to toss out the resultsexclusively in states won by Bidenand declare Trump the true winner. When acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to send this letter to seven state legislatures, Clark launched a conspiracy with Trump to oust Rosen and seize his position. Advertisement Advertisement Like Californias, the District of Columbias ethics rules forbid attorneys from engaging in dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. The courts have interpreted this prohibition to encompass conduct evincing a lack of honesty, probity or integrity in principle, as well as recklessly false misrepresentations of facts and law. D.C. law also bars lawyers from engaging in conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice. The Clark letter argues that Clark ran afoul of these rules by lying about nonexistent voter fraudthen using these lies as the basis to interfere with the election by persuading states to illegally certify Trump as the winner. Put simply, Clark tried to thwart the administration of justice by endorsing the presidents illicit conspiracy on behalf of the United States. Advertisement At this early stage, its impossible to say whether these letters will spur a serious investigation that culminates in the disbarment of either man. But the effort demonstrates that some attorneys in the U.S. will not tolerate coup abettors in their professional community. Its important to remember that Eastman and Clark were not obscure cranks, but established figures in the conservative legal movement. Both men led influential practice groups within the Federalist Society, and Eastman was a powerful figure within the organization. Despite the ample evidence that both tried to steal the election for Trump, they have faced little to no apparent backlash from fellow conservative attorneys. According to David Lat, the Federalist Society slow-rolled Eastmans departure from its practice group so it didnt look like they were reacting to pressure. Although he resigned from Chapman University, Eastman remains a senior fellow at the far-right Claremont Institute, filing briefs at the Supreme Court. Clark, meanwhile, landed a position as chief of litigation and director of strategy at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a law firm that battles the administrative state. (The groups most recent battle: fighting COVID vaccine mandates.) Advertisement Advertisement If conservative lawyers wont ostracize Eastman and Clark, the job falls on those officials responsible for protecting the practice of law from corruption. And it is an incredibly important job. Eastman, Clark, and their co-conspirators sought to bring fringe, anti-democratic theories into the legal mainstream. In doing so, they laid the groundwork for a much more organized attempt in 2024. Next time around, the conspirators will have shored up their bogus theories, dressing them in the garb of Federalist Societyapproved legalese. They will talk less about secret folders and more about the independent state legislature doctrine, as my colleague Rick Hasen has already warned. And they will assert that they are simply vindicating enduring constitutional principles that give a handful of politicians the power to decide presidential elections contrary to the will of the people. Forestalling such an assault on American democracy will require a full-throated repudiation of the conspirators who tried to steal the last election. That process begins with a formal acknowledgment that overthrowing an election is an illegitimate use of a law license. Disbarring Eastman and Clark wont solve the impending crisis. But it will at least put conservative attorneys on notice that such lawless behavior will not go entirely unpunished. This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech. From the Great Firewall of China to the huge fines Germany has levied against social media giants for hosting hate speech, governments around the world are tightening their grip on the internet. The island of Mauritius is now debating a law that would represent a drastic acceleration of this trend. If its not opposed, the momentum will buildand threaten an open, rights-respecting internet. Over the past several years, digital rights advocates have rightly worried over the implications of new social media laws in countries like Turkey and Vietnam. Supposedly designed to rein in disinformation and other harmful speech, these laws represent significant new intrusions on peoples rights to free expression and privacy. Oppressive laws are objectionable everywhere, but we expect them from autocratic regimes. Advertisement Mauritius, however, is a different story. It is a small country, with a population of just 1.3 million, but it has an advanced economy and is often held up among its fellow African Union members as a model democracy. Thats what makes the proposal from the countrys telecom regulator so worrying. It seeks to route all social media web traffic through government proxy servers, allowing it to be cached, searched, surveilled, and blocked. Malicious hackers often use a similar tactic, known as a man in the middle attack. In Mauritius case, the attack would be open, permanent, and sanctioned by domestic law. Prior to the Mauritian governments proposal, the only country to have explored a similar technical mechanism to control internet speech was Kazakhstan in 2019and under international pressure, that law was never implemented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Mauritian government argues that this intrusion on its citizens is merited because social media companies are not adequately responsive to their demands for content takedowns. It wants a government-appointed body to do the blocking while also spying on every post, message, and search. There is no reason to think that this is anything other than an authoritarian power grab. The ruling party in Mauritius has demonstrated itself to be all too willing to go after the opposition. During the 2019 general election, the state-owned Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation was credibly accused of violating neutrality and impartiality requirements. Election results were challenged in nearly half of the countrys electoral districts, but 18 months later the courts have yet to decide any single case. After the elections in 2014, the outgoing prime minister was arrested, but all 11 criminal charges against him were struck out. The authorities sought to arrest the director of public prosecutions, and when they failed due to the timely intervention of a Supreme Court judge, the government attempted to amend the constitution to provide for a Prosecution Commission that could overrule him. Over the past year, elected Members of Parliament have been suspended on multiple occasions. Advertisement Advertisement Moreover, this isnt the first time the states media authority has gotten involved. In 2018, the government amended the Information and Communication Technologies Act to criminalize messages that were obscene, indecent, abusive, threatening, false or misleading or were likely to cause annoyance, humiliation, inconvenience, distress or anxiety. The government has used this vague language to persecute its critics, arresting individuals for retweeting cartoons or video clips about politicians. Last year, the states media authority suspended the license of a popular private radio station, and an attempt at a second suspension following comments critical of the governments foreign policy was stayed by the Supreme Court. The proposed social media law would compound the governments ability to profile the opposition, limit open political debate, and blacklist citizens who have publicly criticized its activity from applying for public sector roles. Advertisement Advertisement The checks on this power are woefully inadequate. The proposal would establish an administrative body to define what speech would be blocked, the National Digital Ethics Committee. While earlier lawsfor example, in Germany and Franceimpose enormous fines on social media companies if they dont take down content quickly, their applicability is limited to relatively narrow categories of illegal content. By contrast, the National Digital Ethics Committee would exercise broad discretionlikely with influence from the executive branchto draw the boundaries of harmful speech well beyond what is already illegal. Advertisement Moreover, there will be no functional judicial oversight. Today in Mauritius, as a general rule the executive branch of government needs to obtain a court order to access private data. Under this proposal, the government-appointed committee would be able to obtain access to any information it judged to be social media without going before a judge. The draft also bypasses the free speech protections under the Mauritian Constitution. While Mauritius provides its citizens with an enforceable right to free expression, the language of the constitution allows a person to waive it. In this case, users would waive their free speech by installing the security certificate the government would require, or simply forfeit access to social media sites. Advertisement Just as the internet allows for trends to circle the globe in a matter of hours, so too have internet governance laws in one jurisdiction proved influential elsewhere. The German NetzDG, which imposes huge fines for failure to quickly remove illegal content, is a good example. Laws modeled on NetzDG, but in many cases more expansive, have since been considered or passed in at least 13 countries such as Venezuela, Kenya, Australia, Russia, India and Philippines. This is a concrete example of how limitations on users rights in one country give cover to other, sometimes less free regimes in other countries to pass laws that grant legitimacy to unlawful and disproportionate actions. A law that would allow the government the unchecked authority to block content it disapproves and to surveil its citizens by intercepting and decrypting their internet traffic has no place in a free society. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The appearance of Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen before the Senate Commerce Committee may prove to be the most important congressional hearing on the social media company to date. It didnt reveal much beyond what Haugen already leaked to the Wall Street Journal for its recent blockbuster series on Facebooks internal reports, which portray a company that is well aware of the various societal harms its systems propagate and is reluctant to do much about them. Instead, what was most revealing during Wednesdays hearing was the questioning. Whereas in the past, members of Congress have been largely split along partisan lines about what exactly the problems are with Facebookwith one side fixating almost entirely on conspiratorial ideas about anti-conservative biasthis time they appeared to coalesce around the idea that the companys algorithms actually seem to be causing damage to the companys users. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was in part thanks to Haugens disciplined and persistent messaging tying together the tens of thousands of internal documents she leaked to the press and regulators, articulated with the vocabulary of someone whos worked at four well-known technology companies. Her main underlying argument, which shes repeated religiously in her public appearances, is that Facebook puts profits before people. Put another way, a focus on growth always supersedes protecting the safety of users. There seemed to be a bipartisan consensus among the senators that this is a real issue that Congress should do something about. FULL OPENING STATEMENT: Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before Senate committee. https://t.co/E4LB9m28Zo pic.twitter.com/xiuqnnXWvZ NBC News (@NBCNews) October 5, 2021 Advertisement Advertisement In previous Big Tech hearings, its been all too common for lawmakers to hijack the proceedings to bang the drum for their own pet causes. In July 2020, for instance, the CEOs of four of the worlds largest tech companiesFacebooks Mark Zuckerberg, Amazons Jeff Bezos, Googles Sundar Pichai, and Apples Tim Cookcame before the House Judiciary Committee to testify about whether their companies engage in anti-competitive practices. Yet members of Congress like Greg Steube and Jim Sensenbrenner wasted the hearing with bizarre tangents about unfounded allegations of anti-conservative bias on social media, forcing their colleagues to waste more time trying to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand. Even going back to Zuckerbergs first appearance before Congress in 2018 to testify about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, representatives were generally confused about how Facebook works and asked off-topic questions on conspiracy theories that the company secretly records users with phone microphones and the supposed liberal leanings tainting operations at the company. (In fact, Facebook has repeatedly catered to conservative politicians; it took inciting an attempted insurrection for President Donald Trump to be banned.) Both parties do come up with their share of ill-informed questionsthe microphone question notably came from Democratic Sen. Gary Petersthough Democrats have more often focused on issues that tech experts and researchers have raised. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wednesdays hearing, though, saw senators on both sides of the aisle genuinely interested in what Haugen had to say and mostly sticking to the topics she was in a position to discuss. What seemed to bring the senators together was the fact that Haugens documents contained information about the companys impact on teens and marketing to children. Indeed, the revelation thats gotten the most publicity from Haugens leaks concerns research that Facebook conducted on its Instagram subsidiary showing that the platform is exacerbating mental health and body image issues in young users, especially teen girls. Relatedly, other documents indicated that Facebook has been forming teams to design products aimed at preteens, an initiative that was more extensive than what was publicly known. Advertisement Protecting kids online, which happened to be the title of the hearing, is a pretty uncontroversial goal in politics or otherwise. The top senators on the subcommittee holding the hearing, chair Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and ranking member Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, were on the same wavelength in their opening statements focusing on Facebooks internal research, which set the tone for the rest of the proceedings. Senators lined up to talk about their own children and expressed dismay that social media is adversely affecting vulnerable users like teens. Even Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, both known for harping on supposed anti-conservative bias on social media, focused their questioning on how Facebook targets harmful posts at certain users. (Cruz couldnt resist throwing in one question on bias toward the end of his time, almost as a wink to his conservative base, but he quickly moved on.) Advertisement The focus on children and teens allowed Haugen to segue to her larger point, which is that Facebooks financial incentives are at odds with users well-being. According to her, the algorithms fueling the companys platforms promote content based on the amount of engagement it gets, measured by likes and shares and comments. However, Facebooks own research has indicated that the content that gets the most engagement tends to elicit extreme reactions like anger. At the same time, though, more engagement means people are spending more time on the site, which increases profits from advertising. Facebooks ecosystem therefore encourages users to create, and the platforms to promote, more extreme content. Haugen claims that these algorithms not only hook young users on Instagram and serve them deleterious content, but also abet the spread of misinformation and politically divisive content, which tend to get more engagement as well. The Washington Posts Will Oremus suggested in July that it actually might be more productive to approach problems like anti-vaccine content with an eye toward the algorithms and structures baked into the platforms, partly because it somewhat avoids thornier questions around content moderation and free speech. Its not hard to imagine how a focus on removing and fact-checking posts could have reduced Haugens hearing to yet another fight over technology and the First Amendment. Algorithms that elevate and amplify content have less of a partisan edge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What will ultimately determine whether the hearing was actually as promising as it seemed is how successful Congress is in coming up with a solution. Mother Jones Ali Breland argues that the fixes Haugen proposed, such as establishing a federal oversight body and transparency policies within Facebook, fall short of addressing the deeper systemic issues she exposed. A number of senators also used some of the time to hawk their own bills on the matter. For instance, South Dakota Sen. John Thune talked up the PACT Act legislation hes co-sponsoring that would update Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey promoted the KIDS Act that hes co-sponsoring, which would ban manipulative marketing and harmful content aimed at young people. Overall, the senators mostly agreed on what the problem is, but it was unclear whether a majority would actually get behind one or more of the possible legislative solutions. The hearing was, at least, a start. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is a national security issue. After all, at the time of this writing it has killed more than 700,000 Americans. Nonetheless, the U.S. national security community remains perplexed by it. Even a year-and-a-half in we remain unsure of our proper roles and responsibilities in relation to COVID-19 specifically and pandemics in general. The reasons for this are many but one, in particular, stands out: We still dont know how to talk about it, to write about it, and hence to think about it. Advertisement Traditionally, the U.S. national security community (diplomatic, military, and intelligence) has thought about the world in highly Newtonian mechanical terms. We looked for centers of gravity against which we could apply pressure, exert force, and/or penetrate. For U.S. diplomats, this usually meant an identifiable leadership that could be reasoned with, deterred, persuaded, or threatened. For the U.S. military, it meant an identifiable command structure that could be decapitated, shocked and/or awed, as well as hardware that could be kinetically destroyed. And for the U.S. intelligence community, it meant secrets that could be stolen and intentions that could be discerned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The modern national security communitys formative experiencethe Cold Waroffered all of these things. But the COVID-19 pandemic? Not so much. It is not some mechanistic phenomenon that is centrally directed through a relatively static hierarchical construct. To the contrary, it is an organic phenomenon that is self-organizing, highly dynamic, and extraordinarily networked. Advertisement Oftentimes such challenges are referred to as complex. But complexity (defined by interconnectivity and interdependence) really just describes the conditions from which phenomena like the COVID-19 pandemic emerge. The true challenge is actually nothing less than emergence. Emergence refers to the unpredictable appearance and/or behavior of collective phenomena that rather than being centrally directed by any particular component(s) instead grow organically out of the whole. In the past 30 years, as the world has become more interconnected and interdependent, both physically and virtually, emergence has become the overarching national security challenge. Look todays most pressing strategic issues: climate change, globalization, urbanization; extremism, cyber threats, information warfare, financial contagion, sweeping political/social upheaval, and, of course, pandemics. All of them are exemplars of emergence. Advertisement And what about the enormous strategic challenge that is China? Well, the same holds true. China is so enmeshed in todays global networks that the greatest challenges it poses are likely to be the expansively emergent ones to which its behavior contributesnot its brute military capabilities. Indeed, this is already evident in Chinas obvious role in climate change and so many of the other emergent global phenomena I mentioned above. Advertisement While emergence defies prediction (that is, the projection of specific or precise outcomes), it can be anticipated (which means that we can imagine broad ranges of possibilities). Unfortunately, those of us in the national security community are usually so focused on making predictions about things that have already emerged that we often fail to anticipate emergence. In particular, we struggle to imagine the many ways emergence might play out, and to envision what might be doneas is appropriate or possibleto mitigate, amplify, or manage emergence and its effects. Advertisement Advertisement There are numerous contributors to these anticipatory failures. However, the most insidiousbecause language is subtly yet powerfully connected to thinkingare linguistic legacies rooted in the Cold War. These legacies, which profoundly distort our thinking about todays strategic environment, tend to manifest themselves in three entwined yet still distinct ways. The first legacy is the sloppy use of key terminology. Perhaps the best example of this is our tendency to carelessly interchange the terms complicated and complex. The Cold War was complicated, which is to say it was bounded, hierarchical and prone to mechanisticbroadly predictable behavior by clearly identified and distinct actors. In contrast, todays strategic environment is complex. It is unbounded, networked, and prone to emergenthighly unpredictablecollective behaviors. Again, see the list of major strategic challenges listed above. Advertisement Advertisement This tendency was particularly well displayed in the reporting on the Intelligence Communitys most recent Annual Threat Assessment. The threat assessment itself onlyand correctlyused the term complex. However, much of the widely shared commentary (which. if we are honest, is all that many people involved in the broader national security debate read) substituted the term complicated on the common but incorrect assumption that the terms are synonymous and hence interchangeable at will. Similarly, forecasting (i.e., the projection or extrapolation of already identified trends or developments) is blithely substituted for foresight (a much more imaginative activity). Prediction is interchanged with anticipation. And so on. All told, these crucial linguistic nuances too often go unrecognizedor worse, are knowingly discountedand the result is sloppy use of language and, consequently, sloppy thought. This pattern is readily seen in the use of the word prediction when discussing the future of climate change. That word unfortunately promotes a degree of certainty that does not comport with the inevitable uncertainty surrounding emergent phenomena. The unfortunate consequence of this is that too many people tend to be glibly dismissive of the sciencethough it is actually more anticipatory than predictivewhen the observed outcomes are at variance with said predictions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The second problematic linguistic legacy is the continued applicationnow misapplicationof complicated Newtonian mechanical metaphors to todays complex strategic challenges: inertia, momentum, tension, leverage, friction, and trajectory. Since research suggests that linguistic metaphors are powerful shapers of thought, such metaphors encourage us to think about issues as behaving in a mechanistic or predictable fashion. It thus comes as an unpleasant surprise when issues that we metaphorically characterized as complicated/mechanistic are actually complex/emergent. In 2020, the internet was awash in references to COVID-19s trajectory. This metaphorical language promoted unrealistic expectations of mechanistic predictability and fueled a repeated sense of bewilderment when the pandemicbeing an emergent phenomenondid not follow a predictable trajectory but rather spiked, mutated, reappeared, or dissipated in different places simultaneously. Another good example of this bad habit is the liberal use of the term leverage in the most recent National Intelligence Strategy. Throughout the document, that complicated/mechanistic linguistic metaphor serves to falsely imply a much greater degree of manageability and predictability than is warranted. This generous use subtly but effectively undercuts the larger documents attempts to accurately characterize the inherent uncertainty associated with the complex security environment. Advertisement The third (and perhaps most troubling legacy given the current state of relations with China) is the fact that we are yet to give a distinct name to the new, complex strategic eraeven though we are 30 years into it. Instead, we continue to refer to the current era primarily in terms of the former one (the Cold War). Hence, we make constant references to the wake of the Cold War, since the Cold War, after the Cold War, and, of course, the post-Cold War to describe the current era. This failure to find and agree on a completely new name falsely equates the complex present with the complicated past and minimizes in our mindswith genuinely harmful consequencesthe novelty of the new strategic era. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A perfect example of this false equivalence is found in our tendency to characterize todays great power competition as a Second Cold War. This widespread characterization is very dangerous in that it promotes the idea that the winning game planhighly militarized, economically decoupled, physical containmentis already known and proven. This is a highly delusional notion given the completely different character of todays strategic context. China, unlike the Soviet Union, is completely enmeshed in the worlds networksincluding some, like cyber/virtual networks, that dominate today but that barely existed during the Cold War. Put differently, todays great power competition is complex and not complicated like that of the Cold War. However, if our language does not make that vital distinction, neither will our thought. All together, these interwoven linguistic legacies help blur the distinctions between the strategic environments of the Cold War and today, contributing to the erroneous notion that things have not really changed. And this inability to accept and process just how much things have changed is stunting our ability to transform our thinking as demanded by fundamentally new and different strategic circumstances. The views expressed here are the authors and not necessarily those of the National Intelligence University, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. government, or any other component thereof. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. Illegal immigration in Spain grows by 51 per cent in 2021 The vast majority of migrants arriving in Spain have headed for the Canary Islands The Ministry of the Interior has published the latest data regarding the influx of irregular immigrants into Spain between the period of January 1 and September 30 this year, and the figures show that to date, 28,729 people have illegally crossed the borders into this country thats an increase of 51% compared to the same period in 2020, when 19,024 entries were recorded. Illegal migration slowed somewhat last year, due in part to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic where travel across the globe was severely restricted and so any unauthorised passages were highly conspicuous. Now that measures are being eased, entry via sea and land has skyrocketed throughout Spain in virtually every area, with the exception of the north African autonomous community of Melilla, where efforts have been made to reinforce border control Illegal entry by sea has increased by 53.8%, going from 17,641 people in the first nine months of 2020 to 27,136 this year, with experts attributing relatively calm seas and mild weather to the surge. The Canary Islands has been by far the most popular destination, accounting for 47% of all illegal immigration; thats an increase of 116% on last year. The remaining 13,320 migrants arrived on the coasts of mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands (18.8% more than 2020). The figures are somewhat different regarding Spains enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, with the former experiencing a 142% surge, similar to the Peninsula. However, arrivals by sea to Melilla have fallen by 73% this year. The situation is a little less clear when it comes to illegal entry into Spain by land, according to the Ministry of the Interior, and the figure of 1,593 crossings is purely provisional as the data is constantly undergoing analysis and treatment. This is as a result of the migration crisis in the city of Ceuta in May this year , which saw more than 6,000 people storm the border from Morocco. Image: Archive Tuesday October 12 is a national holiday in Spain: this is what you need to know The live TV parade for the Dia de la Hispanidad is back on this year as Spanish Covid restrictions ease up Next Tuesday October 12 is a national holiday in Spain , celebrated annually as Dia de la Hispanidad or Spain Day. Traditionally, people have the day off work and sometimes even a day either side for a long weekend, as is the case in some sectors this year. Because the festivo holiday falls on a Tuesday, some companies are also giving their employees the Monday off to make a long puente bank holiday weekend. Dont be surprised if businesses, schools and post offices are closed on Monday October 11 as well as the Tuesday, although this decision is generally left in the hands of local authorities. The Dia de la Hispanidad event on October 12 is normally marked with a military parade along the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, which is attended by the King and important high-ranking Spanish officials. This year, the parade is on once again after it was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid restrictions, when the commemoration was limited to a ceremony in the Plaza de la Armeria, presided over by the King, with a small parade on the ground by just over 500 soldiers. However, the celebrations will be reduced for 2021 due to health reasons, as confirmed on Monday October 4 by sources from the Royal Household. There will also be no official cocktail this year after King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia greet all the guests. This time around, celebrations for the national holiday will go ahead to the extent permitted by the new health regulations in accordance with the measures in force and with the need to avoid high concentrations of people indoors. It is still unknown whether Princess Leonor, the Kings daughter who is currently studying at a boarding school in Wales , will accompany her parents and sister to the parade as she did last year. Other guests this year include the current president of Spain and the four former living Spanish presidents, as well as personalities from the economic, social, sporting, educational, cultural and media spheres. In the last week, military aircraft, including fighters, transport planes and helicopters, have already been flying in the skies over Madrid in preparation for the event, which is televised live on Spanish TV. Image: Flickr From Hollywood to the Presidential Palace: American brings renaissance of the real to Slovakia Alan Craigs diverse skillset and hankering for adventure have led him down interesting paths in Slovakia and beyond. From kayaking in the python-infested Everglades to landing a role in a Slovak TV commercial because of a resemblance to Bruce Willis, one thing American artist Alan Craig hasnt done is lived a dull life. A resident of Slovakia for nine years now, the Pennsylvanian native has built himself a reputation as a jack-of-all-trades in the communications world. Craigs profession centers on the art of communication, and he provides voice-overs for video and audiobooks, copywriting and book editing and teaches business English part-time. As an artist, he has also produced hundreds of pen and ink illustrations of places in Slovakia, including one of the Presidential Palace, which is now part of the presidential collection. Related article. Related article. Bratislava Castle as a tattoo is a cliche, a Ukrainian tattooist says Read more The CEO of his own communications company since the age of 18, Craig is also a man of mottos. His assertion that life is like a book and an artist "illustrates the stories of special places" fuels his creative pursuits and life as a foreigner in Slovakia. Im actually disappointed that I havent done more with the time Ive been given, Craig, who is in his 50s, told The Slovak Spectator. Happy accidents 5. Oct 2021 at 7:00 | Anna Fay Numbering of trolleybuses in Bratislava will change The change is expected on November 1. Font size: A - | A + Dopravny Podnik Bratislava (DPB), the capital's public transport company, will make significant changes to the numbering of trolleybus lines. For the first time in forty years, trolleybuses will no longer bear three-digit numbers. DPB is preparing the unification of numbers for public transport vehicles to clearly distinguish it from suburban transport, DPB spokesperson Martin Chlebovec said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The change should be implemented on November 1. Chlebovec noted that it will be beneficial for passengers as they will no longer have to remember two different numbers for day and night connections that run in the same direction. More hybrid trolleybuses The transport company plans to further develop trolleybus transport in the capital. DPBs vehicle fleet will be soon widened with hybrid trolleybuses. They will be used for several bus lines, which will transform into trolleybus lines, Chlebovec said, as quoted by TASR. Hybrid vehicles will eliminate the difference between trolleybus and bus transport, which is why it will no longer be important to distinguish between bus and trolleybus lines, according to the spokesperson. A quarter of the trolleybus lines already bear two-digit bus numbers. These are lines 33, N44, N47 and N72. From November, other trolleybus lines will be added and the numbering will be the same for both buses and trolleybuses. Regional lines will get old numbers The main reason DPB is imposing the change now is so the three-digit numbers can be used for regional lines. Bratislava is testing one of the longest trolley buses in the world Read more In mid-November, new lines to Zahorie will be added to integrated transport, and they will use some of the old trolleybus numbers, Chlebovec noted. The transport company has set a six-month transition period, during which the trolleybus lines will be marked in the timetables and behind the windshield of the vehicles with both the old and new line numbers. 5. Oct 2021 at 11:03 | Compiled by Spectator staff Slovakia tops EU ranking in plastic waste, ministry calls for compostable alternatives Supermarket chains often offer their own ecological alternatives for customers. Font size: A - | A + The Environment Ministry is encouraging supermarket chains to replace single-use plastic bags with compostable alternatives. Slovakia currently belongs among the EU countries with the biggest use of plastic bags. While in some EU countries, one inhabitant uses, on average, four to ten such bags per year, one inhabitant in Slovakia uses seven to eight plastic bags per day, the SITA newswire reported. Plastic bags are offered as a primary package for unwrapped groceries, the press department of the ministry said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. There are hygienic reasons for their use, but they could be fully replaced with compostable bags. String bag as alternative Some supermarkets are already making an effort to lower the amount of plastic bags used. Lidl offers string bags for sale in their stores. The spokesperson of the company, Tomas Bezak, noted that the string bags have lowered the use of plastic bags in their shops by 30 percent, and some educational activities in Slovakia have helped reduce plastic waste too. The supermarket chain Billa also offers its customers string bags through a pilot project in select stores. Marek Kravjar, Billa's marketing and PR specialist, told SITA that the pilot project was successful so, in a short time, it will start offering string bags to its customers in all stores. Due to the pandemic, however, the customers themselves prefer packaged foods, and we also noticed this trend in pastries, fruits and vegetables, which led to a significant decrease in the use of bags made of plastic materials, Kravjar said for SITA. The savings in plastic was minimised, in part, by the increased use of disposable gloves, which almost tripled during the pandemic. 250 tonnes saved every year Kaufland spokesperson Lucia Vargova said that if all Kaufland customers used eco-net bags instead of plastic bags, the company would save 250 tonnes of plastic bags per year. Therefore, the company is trying to motivate customers to use alternative food packaging through campaigns. "Also, on our fruit and vegetable scales, we have introduced the option to choose from several weighing alternatives - without packaging in a plastic bag or eco-net. We believe that these steps will contribute to a lower use of disposable plastics and to a higher awareness among our customers," she told SITA. According to Peter Steigauf, Tesco's external communications manager, the company has been offering reusable bags made of organic cotton for a long time, suitable for packaging bakery products or fruit and vegetables. Addressing the repeated use of bags is the key to reducing the country's impact on the environment. In this way, customers can reduce the use of plastic and the total plastic waste generated as a result, he added. 5. Oct 2021 at 11:53 | Compiled by Spectator staff Politicians promise to curb electricity price increases for households Current electricity prices below last years level. Font size: A - | A + Soaring electricity prices have become a source of concern for Slovak households this autumn. The households that use electricity the most, including for heating, may pay up to 200 more for electricity next year. While the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (URSO) estimates that electricity prices will increase by up to 15 percent and the rise in the wholesale electricity price on international stock exchanges has already chased out of the country the biggest alternative seller of electricity, Slovakia Energy, the government promises that it can level the increase in prices for households. There is enough electricity as well as [natural] gas and the state can effectively dampen the current global turbulences on the markets, said Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) after he met Economy Minister Richard Sulik (SaS) and URSO head Andrej Juris to discuss the matter on October 1, amid opposition criticism that the government is being inactive vis-a-vis the prospect of the rising prices. While Sulik does not consider the increase in the price for households to be dramatic, his ministry has come up with strategies to tackle the problem, including special tariffs for households facing energy poverty, which may be up to one fifth of all households in Slovakia. Who decides the prices? The prices of electricity, natural gas and heat for households are regulated in Slovakia. At the end of every year, URSO sets the maximum prices distributors can charge clients the following year. 5. Oct 2021 at 14:16 | Jana Liptakova Several hospitals had to limit planned surgeries. Situation in Zilina is critical The hospital in Zilina even summoned a crisis staff to discuss potential solutions. Font size: A - | A + The Faculty Hospital in Zilina summoned a crisis staff meeting on October 4 to discuss the critical deterioration of the situation and the development of the health of patients with Covid-19. Our paywall policy The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope. The Faculty Hospital also asked other hospitals with departments of infectious diseases and pulmonology to help it deal with the placement of Covid patients. When there were not so many patients, the hospitals in Nove Zamky, Trnava, Banska Bystrica also helped us, said Igor Bizik of the hospital, as quoted by the TASR newswire. But the situation is deteriorating, and other hospitals in other regions may have to help as well. Limiting of planned surgeries Currently, 38 people are hospitalised in the Covid pavilion in Zilina, most in serious condition. Since several health professionals had to be moved to Covid patients, the hospital decided to scrap the planned surgeries. Births, urgent and oncological procedures will be kept, said the hospital's spokesperson, Lenka Zatekova. The shifting of several professionals, including those working at the department of anaesthesiology or at the intensive care unit, means that the staff performing surgeries will be significantly limited. We have no other choice than to limit the surgeries that can be postponed, said Bizik, as quoted by TASR. The Zilina hospital is not the first one to limit planned surgeries. This step was already taken by the hospitals in Nitra and Trencin, while the hospital in Liptovsky Mikulas cut the number of planned surgeries by half. Seven people have died in the hospital since September Zatekova said that the number of people admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 started to significantly increase last week. Since Friday, we have admitted 17 new patients, Zatekova said, as quoted by TASR. Three quarters of hospitalised patients are unvaccinated. The youngest hospitalised patient is 21 years old, unvaccinated, and without any other diagnoses. Since the start of September, seven people have died in the hospital, she added. She went on to say that most Covid patients are currently hospitalised in Zilina and Cadca. Neither hospital has any department of infectious diseases or pulmonology, she noted, as quoted by TASR, adding that this is why they have problems with staff in the Covid department. Read more about the Covid-19 developments in Slovakia: 5. Oct 2021 at 17:46 | Compiled by Spectator staff Hydrogen car premieres at the Dubai Expo Slovak pavilion is now open to the public, despite some initial problems. The Slovak pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai opened to the public on October 4, following some problems with its completion. The first to visit the site were Economy Minister Richard Sulik (SaS), Environment Minister Jan Budaj (OLaNO) and Slovak Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Michal Kovac. The first thematic week is dedicated to Climate and Biodiversity. One of the first products to be presented in the pavilion is the MH2 hydrogen car , which came into being due to the cooperation of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Technical University of Kosice (TUKE) and the Matador Group company. The car was presented by its chief-designer, Branislav Mauks, and Sulik. Visitors to the Slovak pavilion in Dubai can see the hydrogen car until the end of March 2022. Drop-shaped hydrogen car to represent Slovakia at the Expo in Dubai Read more Mobility and technologies The concept of the MH2 hydrogen car embodies the attributes listed among the main themes of the Slovak pavilion: the future of mobility and advanced technologies of the next decade. 5. Oct 2021 at 17:57 | Compiled by Spectator staff Ministers deal with increase in electricity prices. Slovak hydrogen car premieres at Expo Dubai. Good evening. The Tuesday, October 5, 2021 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes. We wish you a pleasant read. Zilina hospital asks for help Illustrative stock photo (Source: Archive of Sme) The current number of hospitalised patients in Zilina hospital has forced management to summon a meeting of the crisis staff, and scrap most planned surgeries. The hospital said that three quarters of Covid patients admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated. Its management has already addressed other hospitals in the region, asking them to consider the potential relocation of some of its patients. The hospitals with the most patients are currently in Cadca and Zilina. Meanwhile, several other hospitals across the country have started limiting planned surgeries. The situation in Bratislava is better. Currently, about half of the patients are hospitalised in Kosice, with half being inhabitants of the capital. Bratislava may even enter the green tier of the Covid automat alert system, since the region already passed the 75-percent vaccination rate threshold. Yet, regional hygienists decided not to switch to this tier, giving the situation in the neighbouring districts as their reason. Other coronavirus and vaccination news 1,242 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 11,509 PCR tests performed on October 4. The number of people in hospitals has increased to 664. 14 more deaths were reported on Monday. The vaccination rate is at 44.73 percent, 2,459,934 people having received the first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here. out of 11,509 PCR tests performed on October 4. The number of people in hospitals has increased to 664. 14 more deaths were reported on Monday. The vaccination rate is at 44.73 percent, 2,459,934 people having received the first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here. The central crisis staff will meet on Wednesday to discuss the pandemic situation in Slovakia. to discuss the pandemic situation in Slovakia. There will be no lockdown, neither restriction of movement in Slovakia , said Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee). He added that the third wave is unlikely to end before Christmas, and expects that, though the peak will be lower than in the second wave, it will last longer. (Markiza) , said Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee). He added that the third wave is unlikely to end before Christmas, and expects that, though the peak will be lower than in the second wave, it will last longer. (Markiza) The Zilina Self-Governing Region decided not to publish the planned routes of the mobile vaccination team given the protest events planned by anti-vaxxers, who have repeatedly obstructed people from getting vaccinated. From now on, we are only cooperating with municipalities to minimise the possibilities of further conflict, the region said. Gov't promises to curb electricity prices Slovaks may pay more for electricity next year. (Source: Sme) While the Regulatory Office for Network Industries (URSO) estimates that electricity prices will increase by up to 15 percent, the government promises that it can level the increase in prices for households. The rise in the wholesale electricity price on international stock exchanges has already chased the biggest alternative seller of electricity out of the country: Slovakia Energy. While Economy Minister Richard Sulik (SaS) does not consider the increase in prices for households to be dramatic, his ministry has come up with strategies to tackle the problem, including special tariffs for households facing energy poverty, which may be up to one fifth of all households in Slovakia. If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription. Thank you. Feature story for today From kayaking in the python-infested Everglades to landing a role in a Slovak TV commercial because of a resemblance to Bruce Willis, one thing American artist Alan Craig hasnt done is lead a dull life. His diverse skillset and hankering for adventure have led him down interesting paths in Slovakia and beyond. From Hollywood to the Presidential Palace: American brings renaissance of the real to Slovakia Read more Picture of the day The picture depicts the manor house and park in Malacky, with an alley of plane trees leading to the building. Different types of trees grow in the park, including oaks, beeches, spruces, chestnuts and various flowers. The place is open daily. In other news The ranking of the three richest Slovaks in Forbes magazine remains the same as last year. First place belongs to Ivan Chrenko, the majority owner of the HB Reavis developer, followed by co-founder of the Penta financial group Jaroslav Hascak, and Miroslav Trnka of security software developer ESET. in Forbes magazine remains the same as last year. First place belongs to Ivan Chrenko, the majority owner of the HB Reavis developer, followed by co-founder of the Penta financial group Jaroslav Hascak, and Miroslav Trnka of security software developer ESET. The Slovak pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai is now open to the public . The Slovak hydrogen car is among the first exhibited models. . The Slovak hydrogen car is among the first exhibited models. Any activities planned by the Hungarian government that are held in Slovakia or have an effect on Slovakia should be discussed in advance , said Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok (SaS nominee) at a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. He referred to several events that occurred earlier in Slovakia and involved Hungarian representatives. The two discussed several sensitive topics, and stressed that the relations between the countries are good. that are held in Slovakia or have an effect on Slovakia should be , said Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok (SaS nominee) at a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. He referred to several events that occurred earlier in Slovakia and involved Hungarian representatives. The two discussed several sensitive topics, and stressed that the relations between the countries are good. The Specialised Criminal Court sentenced Branislav Paska , nephew of the late ex-speaker of parliament, to seven years in prison for machinations in public procurement, which concerned the purchase of an overpriced ultrasound machines for Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Kosice in 2013. Branislav Paska was already been sentenced in another crime earlier this year. , nephew of the late ex-speaker of parliament, for machinations in public procurement, which concerned the purchase of an overpriced ultrasound machines for Louis Pasteur University Hospital in Kosice in 2013. Branislav Paska was already been sentenced in another crime earlier this year. The Specialised Criminal Court has issued European and international arrest warrants against Jan Kalavsky, former head of the National Criminal Agency's (NAKA) operation unit. In September, the Special Prosecutor's Office filed charges against Kalavsky related to corruption and the abuse of powers. against former head of the National Criminal Agency's (NAKA) operation unit. In September, the Special Prosecutor's Office filed charges against Kalavsky related to corruption and the abuse of powers. The city of Bratislava will buy original furniture for the Salvator Pharmacy on Panska Street for almost 1 million . The furniture, there since the building was constructed in 1904 but removed in the 1990s, ended up in the hands of private collector Erik Kovacs in Nove Mesto nad Vahom. He has now agreed to sell it to the capital. for the Salvator Pharmacy on Panska Street . The furniture, there since the building was constructed in 1904 but removed in the 1990s, ended up in the hands of private collector Erik Kovacs in Nove Mesto nad Vahom. He has now agreed to sell it to the capital. The Slovak Queer Film Festival is taking place in Bratislava between October 6 and 11. Farewell, Anca Anca Dragu (Source: Courtesy by A.D.) Anca spent the major part of her journalistic career as a member of the English section of the public-service Radio Slovakia International, where she covered all kinds of topics for 15 years, with a particular interest in health care and the life of foreigners in the country. For more than five years, she was kind enough to take the time to regularly contribute her opinions to The Slovak Spectator and was keen to develop cooperation between the two English-language media outlets. She passed away on Sunday in Bratislava. Slovakia was her home and she cared deeply about the country, while as a journalist she contributed to improving Slovakia as much as she could. Do not miss on Spectator.sk today Numbering of trolleybuses in Bratislava will change Read more Slovakia tops EU ranking in plastic waste, ministry calls for compostable alternatives Read more If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk. 5. Oct 2021 at 18:10 | Nina Hrabovska Francelova https://sputniknews.com/20211005/blinken-tells-macron-us-supports-european-defence-initiatives-in-first-talks-since-submarine-crisis-1089677863.html Blinken Tells Macron US Supports European Defence Initiatives in First Talks Since Submarine Crisis Blinken Tells Macron US Supports European Defence Initiatives in First Talks Since Submarine Crisis Last month, Washington, London and Canberra announced the creation of a new security pact known as 'AUKUS', with the US and the UK promising Australia American... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T11:09+0000 2021-10-05T11:09+0000 2021-10-05T12:33+0000 world /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089678275_0:0:3070:1727_1920x0_80_0_0_593033793cba1702c05430a4c9aca457.jpg US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured President Emmanuel Macron of France that Washington supports European security initiatives, with Macron in turn assuring the US top diplomat that regional security pacts should not come at the expense of the North Atlantic Alliance, a US official has told reporters.Macron and Blinken held a 40-minute closed-door meeting on Tuesday, with the talks the first face-to-face tete-a-tete of their kind following last month's spike in tensions over the AUKUS deal, which robbed Paris of a submarine contract with Australia worth the equivalent of tens of billions of dollars.The official did not specify the nature of these joint projects, and the time and place of the talks has yet to be announced.Elysee Palace released a statement on the talks, saying they would "contribute to restoring confidence" in relations between the two countries. The Elysee further indicated that Paris and Washington are "continuing their coordination on issues of common interest, whether it be EU-NATO cooperation, the Sahel, or the Indo-Pacific area."Blinken's visit to Paris has been characterised as an effort to smooth over tensions and discuss "confidence-building measures." Biden national security advisor Jake Sullivan reportedly did some "confidence-building" of his own with the French Ambassador to the US last week following the diplomat's return to Washington after being recalled last month.Sub Snub Saps ConfidenceDespite assurances by the US side that transatlantic relations were getting back to normal, French officials and media have continued to express their frustration with Washington, London and Canberra over the secret nature of the AUKUS negotiations, and the loss of the sub deal with Australia.Last week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers that "someone lied" regarding Australia's plans to ditch the sub contract immediately after joining AUKUS while continuing to assure Paris to the last moment that the agreement was still in place. "Something doesn't add up and we don't know what," he said.At the same time, Le Drian insisted that a resumption in dialogue between Paris and Washington was not an indication that the "crisis" in relations had ended. "It will continue, and in order to get out of it, serious actions will be needed, not words," he said. The diplomat also warned that France would be reviewing its relations with the UK, and that London should be aware "that it has violated its obligations, including under the agreement on trade and cooperation."Last week, Macron announced that Paris would be selling Rafale jets and three new frigates to Greece in a moved hailed as "an audacious first step towards European strategic autonomy," with the deal widely seen by observers as an explicit response to the perceived AUKUS snub.High-profile French opposition politicians have urged Paris to go further and to consider withdrawing from NATO altogether over the perceived "stab in the back" over the sub deal.Announced in mid-September, the AUKUS agreement promises Australia American and British assistance with nuclear reactor technology for a new class of nuclear submarines for the Australian Navy in exchange for potential new basing rights and other forms of cooperation in areas including defence, AI, cybersecurity and quantum technologies. The subs will be built in Australian shipyards, and the contract for their construction will replace the $66 billion agreement Paris signed with Canberra for 12 conventional attack subs which would have been built in France. https://sputniknews.com/20211001/eu-postpones-for-month-free-trade-agreement-talks-with-australia-amid-aukus-row-reports-suggest-1089568467.html https://sputniknews.com/20210928/macron-greece-to-buy-rafale-jets-three-frigates-from-france-in-deal-boosting-eus-independence-1089473519.html mandrake What blinken says is of no value since it is well known the morons will say anything to appear likable but the value of what they say is zilch! 3 Barros Blinken is a dirty clown. 3 8 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov world https://sputniknews.com/20211005/boris-johnson-rules-out-making-misogyny-a-hate-crime-tells-police-to-focus-on-real-crimes-1089674928.html Boris Johnson Rules Out Making Misogyny a Hate Crime, Tells Police to Focus on Real Crimes Boris Johnson Rules Out Making Misogyny a Hate Crime, Tells Police to Focus on Real Crimes Campaigners have called for misogyny to be made a hate crime in England and Wales. The Scottish government has already commissioned a working party to look... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T09:19+0000 2021-10-05T09:19+0000 2021-10-05T12:34+0000 boris johnson women metropolitan police sarah everard /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/03/1089621239_0:229:2561:1669_1920x0_80_0_0_edf13e8113339f0a5aedf27b7576d91b.jpg Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ruled out making misogyny a hate crime in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, which has unearthed widespread concerns about attitudes towards women in Britain.A hate crime is when the victim's race, religion, sexual orientation or disability is the motive for an offence. Ironically it is currently a hate crime to be abusive towards a transgender woman, but not to a woman who was born female.Johnson told the BBC he believed the criminal justice system would be overloaded if misogyny became a hate crime and he said: What you need to do is get police to focus on the very real crimes.The prime minister insisted violence against women was now the number one issue in policing and said the polices approach was just not working.But he ruled out making misogyny a crime and said: Rather than introducing new laws, what you need to do is enforce the existing laws. To be perfectly frank, if you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, youll just increase the problem.The prime ministers comments follows several days of high profile debate about violence by men against women and whether the police, especially in London, have lost the publics trust.On Thursday 30 September Wayne Couzens, who had been a serving Metropolitan Officer at the time of the attack, was given a whole life sentence for abducting, raping and murdering Sarah Everard.Another Metropolitan Police officer from the same unit - the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command - was charged with rape on Sunday.PC David Carrick, 46, appeared in court by video link on Monday and said he emphatically denies raping a woman he met on the dating app Tinder.On Monday, 4 October, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, announced a high profile independent figure would be appointed to conduct a wholesale review of culture and standards in the Met in order to regain the publics trust. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Chris Summers Chris Summers News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Chris Summers boris johnson, women, metropolitan police, sarah everard https://sputniknews.com/20211005/california-oil-spill-is-worst-in-decades-1089668586.html California Oil Spill is Worst in Decades California Oil Spill is Worst in Decades On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events, including the Pandora Papers revealing the... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 radio us sopranos democrats pandora papers fair housing act mek aoc the backstory /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089668559_0:0:640:360_1920x0_80_0_0_2b5f12b25650f8a4c4004de8bd575a2a.jpg California Oil Spill is Worst in Decades On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan and co-host John Kiriakou discussed current events, including the Pandora Papers revealing the finances of more than a hundred billionaires, former world leaders, and attorney Steven Donziger receives a six month prison sentence. GUESTTed Rall - Political Cartoonist, Syndicated Columnist | Progressives Role on Infrastructure Bill, Third Parties, and AOCWilliam Pruden - Attorney | Training Officers are Receiving on the Seizure of Money, People's Money Taken at Airports, and How Confiscated property is Funneled into Law Enforcement BudgetsIn the first hour, Lee and John spoke with Ted Rall about Bernie Sanders, progressives, and President Biden's influence on Democrats. Ted spoke on the progressives in Congress and the negotiation tactics in the infrastructure bill. Ted talked about Bernie Sanders and Bernie's stance on the Democrats changing over the decades.In the second hour, Lee and John spoke with William Pruden about asset forfeiture, minorities targeted in asset forfeiture cases, and lack of criminal cases in civil asset forfeiture cases. William talked about the laws enabling law enforcement agencies to seize American citizen's money. Willaim discussed the ways Congress can limit the laws on civil asset forfeiture.Also, some 126,000 gallons of heavy crude oil leaked from the pipeline offshore southern California over the weekend, making it one of the largest spills in California's history.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com us Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 John Kiriakou https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107587/24/1075872494_475:-1:1818:1343_100x100_80_0_0_5f29aff18491914c2428c30eddaa3bae.jpg John Kiriakou https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107587/24/1075872494_475:-1:1818:1343_100x100_80_0_0_5f29aff18491914c2428c30eddaa3bae.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 John Kiriakou https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107587/24/1075872494_475:-1:1818:1343_100x100_80_0_0_5f29aff18491914c2428c30eddaa3bae.jpg radio, us, sopranos, democrats, pandora, papers, fair housing act, mek, aoc, the backstory, , oil spill, california https://sputniknews.com/20211005/cannot-be-tolerated-france-accuses-uk-of-failing-to-respect-fishing-commitments-under-brexit-deal-1089683875.html 'Cannot be Tolerated': France Slams UK For Failing to Respect Fishing Commitments Under Brexit Deal 'Cannot be Tolerated': France Slams UK For Failing to Respect Fishing Commitments Under Brexit Deal Tensions are brewing between France and the UK over post-Brexit fishing rights. The situation has been exacerbated by the new technicalities of granting... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T13:25+0000 2021-10-05T13:25+0000 2021-10-05T14:21+0000 europe france fishing uk /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/07/1082825100_0:66:3401:1979_1920x0_80_0_0_6744b6375abffd107829917c279eb2dc.jpg French Prime Minister Jean Castex has accused the British of failing to respect their commitments on fishing under the Brexit deal, saying that London's "behaviour cannot be tolerated".Castex has urged stronger action from the European Union, warning that France could eventually seek an arbitration panel on the Brexit deal if necessary.The prime minister's statements come just days after the UK granted 12 licences from 47 bids for smaller vessels to fish in its territorial waters. The UK said it would consider further evidence to support remaining bids for fishing rights.The move was slammed by French Sea Minister Annick Girardin, who said: "French fishing must not be taken hostage by the British for political ends".Last week, France announced that it would quickly come up with retaliatory measures over fishing rights "towards the British and also our neighbours in Jersey".In total, Britain has granted 117 EU licences for its inshore territorial waters, and almost 1,700 EU vessels have been licensed to fish in the larger UK exclusive economic zone.The ongoing escalation in tensions was triggered by the new technicalities of granting licences to French vessels operating in Jersey's coastal waters. The paperwork is a necessary part of the section of the Brexit deal between the UK and the EU governing fishing, effective since 1 May after a four-month grace period.French fishermen have been struggling to obtain licences, allowing them to keep working in UK waters, including in Jersey, as they must now prove they have been fishing in these waters from 2012 to 2016 using GPS data, which some simply dont have. https://sputniknews.com/20210929/paris-threatens-to-retaliate-in-new-fishing-boat-row-with-uk-over-lack-of-licenses-1089527156.html See you in the ice Instead of concern that the oceans are being plundered, we see gov'ts, fishermen, citizenry mostly concerned about getting "their share" of the plunder. Could consume more lentils, eggs and less fish. Nope, plundering the oceans is still too cheap, tasty and "healthy" (is mercury toxicity the only thing that will save the fish?). 4 Albannach001 And England is getting fed up with the French, they can't control the immigration and let them buy boat's so they can go to England, sort out your mess you cheese eating surrender stinking people, and maybe we will let you fish in English water's, but maybe..... 2 8 france Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 europe, france, fishing, uk https://sputniknews.com/20211005/capitol-police-investigating-suspicious-car-outside-supreme-court-1089684695.html US Capitol Police Detain Man in Suspicious Vehicle Outside Supreme Court Building US Capitol Police Detain Man in Suspicious Vehicle Outside Supreme Court Building The police also announced a number of road closures in the area and said they will provide more information as soon as they can. 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T14:07+0000 2021-10-05T14:07+0000 2021-10-05T16:24+0000 us us supreme court police investigation washington dc vehicle /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089685805_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_f4eb60a7399e47f64911be00153c1681.jpg US Capitol Police are investigating a "suspicious vehicle" near the Supreme Court building and urged people to stay away."We are investigating a suspicious vehicle in front of the Supreme Court along First Street, NE," the police tweeted. "Please stay away from the area."In another tweet, the police also announced a number of road closures in the vicinity.The police added that they're continuing to investigate the matter and that they will provide more information when they can.Shortly afterwards, they tweeted that they are trying to talk to the driver, and again advised the public to avoid the area.Eventually, the US Capitol Police posted that they have managed to extract "the man" from the vehicle."The man is in custody. Everyone is safe," the tweet said.Deputy Police Chief Jason Bell has revealed that the US Capitol Police found no weapons in the vehicle."This time no weapons have been found. That is currently under investigation, and it's still an active crime scene," Bell said during a press conference. "We don't have motivation at this time."The suspect has been identified as Dale Paul Melvin. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 2 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 us, us supreme court, police, investigation, washington dc, vehicle https://sputniknews.com/20211005/china-pressures-taiwan-with-warplanes-1089658283.html China Pressures Taiwan with Warplanes China Pressures Taiwan with Warplanes On this episode of Fault Lines, host Jamarl Thomas talks about the instigating flights China is chartering through Taiwans territory, the all but dead Build... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T08:53+0000 2021-10-05T08:53+0000 2021-10-05T10:15+0000 joe biden bernie sanders radio us china sen. joe manchin (d-west virginia) pfizer taiwan big pharma fault lines /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/04/1089658101_28:0:640:344_1920x0_80_0_0_661ec0c684df8873d680272f6dc9c65b.png China Pressures Taiwan with Warplanes On this episode of Fault Lines, host Jamarl Thomas talks about the instigating flights China is chartering through Taiwans territory, the all but dead Build Back Better plan from Joe Biden, and the efficacy of the breakthrough COVID antiviral pills from various American companies. Guests:Carl Zha - Host of The Silk and Steel podcast | China Conducts Pressure Flights Into Taiwan AirspaceTed Rall - political cartoonist and syndicated columnist | Bidens Build Back Better Takes a Back SeatDr. Gene Olinger - Professor and principal science advisor for MRI Global Inc. | COVID Antiviral PillsIn the first hour, Carl Zha joined the show to talk about the warplane flights they are conducting in Taiwans airspace. Looking at the flight plans, it is clear these are not aggressive flights, but they are probing Taiwan.In the second hour, Fault Lines was joined by Ted Rall for a discussion on the last legs of Bidens Build Back Better plan. Will congress even be able to pass a Social Welfare Bill with Sen. Manchin and Sen. Sinema holding out?In the third hour, Dr. Gene Olinger joined the conversation to talk about the effectiveness of a COVID-19 antiviral pill. Will the public finally accept this as a method of protecting against coronavirus, or will the people holding out from the vaccine refuse all medicines?We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com us china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Shane Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/07/1082560782_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_c5b74c177011dbd114ddab0b2a2e1ab5.jpg Shane Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/07/1082560782_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_c5b74c177011dbd114ddab0b2a2e1ab5.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Shane Stranahan https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/07/1082560782_0:0:2048:2049_100x100_80_0_0_c5b74c177011dbd114ddab0b2a2e1ab5.jpg joe biden, bernie sanders, radio, us, china, sen. joe manchin (d-west virginia), pfizer, taiwan, big pharma, fault lines, covid-19, https://sputniknews.com/20211005/cia-urges-officers-not-to-underestimate-foreign-spy-agencies-as-informant-networks-collapse---1089691961.html CIA Urges Officers Not to Underestimate Foreign Spy Agencies as Informant Networks Collapse - Report CIA Urges Officers Not to Underestimate Foreign Spy Agencies as Informant Networks Collapse - Report The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) admitted in a rare agency-wide cable that its suffered a severe problem of losing informants in recent years, urging... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T20:13+0000 2021-10-05T20:13+0000 2021-10-05T23:30+0000 counterintelligence us informant cia john kiriakou /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/101342/36/1013423640_0:0:3383:1904_1920x0_80_0_0_2c577264c4bde8dbe757f6949263ce41.jpg The top secret cable, described to the New York Times by people familiar with the matter, warned that a large number of CIA informants had either been killed, arrested or otherwise compromised over the last several years.According to the sources, the cable accused CIA officers of placing mission over security by being too quick to trust new sources and moving too quickly to recruit them, while at the same time underestimating the spycraft of rival intelligence agencies. The Times noted Langleys cable gave a specific number of informants lost - a rare moment of transparency intended to highlight the seriousness of the situation.Biometric scans, facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence and improved hacking tools were all mentioned as new challenges for the CIA to overcome, which had made it easier to track the movements of CIA officers and to uncover their sources identities.According to Yahoo News, that system came crashing down between 2009 and 2013, after Iranian counterintelligence experts cracked the CIAs extremely simple internet communications system and figured out how to identify the websites the agency used to lure potential informants into contact with CIA officers. Using little more than a simple Google search, Tehran was able to destroy an entire CIA information network in the country. Once the information was shared with China, at least two dozen CIA operatives were killed.According to the Times, Iranian agents had been tipped off in 2009 by analytical deduction after then-US President Barack Obama revealed the US knew about the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, then a secret underground facility. By figuring out who had access to the information Obama had revealed, the Iranians figured out who the potential informants were, and through them gained access to the communications network.Some informants have also turned against the agency, feeding foreign governments valuable information about the CIA and feeding disinformation back to the agency, causing chaos in its single most valuable intelligence source.Several former agents have also become spies for other governments, such as Jerry Chun Shing Lee and Kevin Mallory, both of whom were charged by the US with spying for Beijing and given decades in prison.The CIA Became a Paramilitary OrganizationJohn Kiriakou, a former CIA officer who spent several years in a federal prison for exposing the CIAs torture program, told Sputnik on Tuesday that after the 9/11 attacks, the CIA became a paramilitary organization, where its primary goal was to disrupt terrorist attacks, to kill terrorists or alleged terrorists, rather than to recruit spies to steal secrets, which historically was the raison detre.And if youre not focused on that, on that counterintelligence, then somebodys going to make a mistake. And were not talking about people making a mistake in Vienna, or Rome, or London, were talking about them making a mistake in Pyongyang, and Moscow and Beijing and Tehran, where the stakes are very high, usually resulting in the loss of contact, which in many cases means death.Kirakou also said the CIA had made some well-publicized mistakes in the last couple of years that had tarnished its image, including the Iranians cracking the agencys communications code, as well as several defectors who leaked unknown amounts of information about CIA practices and tools. When you make mistakes like this, the costs can be incredibly high, he said.The former CIA officer told Sputnik that this tendency had made the collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul especially catastrophic for US intelligence, which for the last 20 years had relied on liaison intelligence-sharing, particularly by the Afghan Intelligence Service, instead of recruiting its own agents.However, with the Pentagon beginning a strategic shift away from the War on Terror and toward Great Power Confrontation with Russia and China, Kiriakou said the CIA would have to stop trying to do the jobs of the National Security Agency or the Pentagon and focus on human beings. anne00marie In other words, regime change scripts are no longer working. 7 Truth-Teller Despite the good efforts Iran makes in unmasking this spies and informants, Iran has a long way to go, cause there are still a lot of spies and informants for Israel in the country. I even think that they are also in the government. When Iran finds out who they are, they should be taking care of instantly. 6 9 us Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg counterintelligence, us, informant, cia, john kiriakou https://sputniknews.com/20211005/durhams-probe-hillary-clinton-sowed-dragons-teeth-by-peddling-trump-russia-hoax-analyst-says-1089679576.html Durham's Probe: Hillary Clinton Sowed Dragon's Teeth by Peddling Trump-Russia Hoax, Analyst Says Durham's Probe: Hillary Clinton Sowed Dragon's Teeth by Peddling Trump-Russia Hoax, Analyst Says The indictment of Michael Sussmann, 57, a former federal prosecutor and partner at the Perkins Coie law firm, for making a false statement to the FBI, has... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T16:30+0000 2021-10-05T16:30+0000 2021-10-05T16:30+0000 barack obama donald trump news world us opinion hillary clinton the clinton foundation democratic national committee emailgate /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/104704/39/1047043925_0:183:3500:2152_1920x0_80_0_0_ab76b98a242ab1b0d073e95036e02705.jpg Special Counsel John Durham issued a new set of subpoenas on 30 September, including to Perkins Coie, a law firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. The move followed the indictment of the firm's former partner Michael Sussmann for making a false statement to the FBI and could be an indication that Durham may be trying to build a broader criminal case, according to CNN.The allegedly false statement made by Sussmann relates to his meeting with FBI General Counsel James Baker on 16 September 2016 when the Perkins Coie lawyer shared his suspicions about supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organization and Russia's Alfa Bank. During the meeting, Sussmann provided the FBI with three "white papers" and data files allegedly confirming the existence of the aforementioned "back channel". However, the lawyer stated falsely that he was not doing this work on behalf of any client, making Baker believe that Sussmann was acting as a "good citizen", the indictment says. In reality, the lawyer acted on behalf of specific clients, including a US technology industry executive and the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign, the document emphasises.The Trump-Alfa Bank StoryHowever, it is not only Sussmann's alleged lie which is discussed in the indictment, but the entire research of supposed "secret communications" between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which was eventually debunked by the FBI as not holding water.The document has drawn attention to the fact that technical specialists and researchers who sought the traces of Trump-Russia "collusion" expressed doubts in their internal email exchange that their findings could back this story.The individual also admitted the group's bias against Donald Trump: "The only thing that drive[s] us at this point is that we just do not like [Trump]. This will not fly in the eyes of public scrutiny. Folks, I am afraid we have tunnel vision."Despite having doubts the researchers continued to mine data on Trump being directed to do this by their technical executive, who, according to the indictment, later claimed to have been offered a position in the Hillary Clinton government in the event of her victory.One of the researchers even suggested that to link the Trump Organization to Alfa Bank one could "'fill out a sales form on two websites, faking the other companys email address in each form,' and thereby cause them 'to appear to communicate with each other in DNS'."An American lawyer known by his nom de plume Techno Fog presumed in his/her op-ed that the group of technical specialists and researchers in question did nothing short of fabricating a Trump-Alfa Bank story to smear the then-Republican presidential nominee. "That describes a conspiracy," the lawyer believes.Hillary Clinton and Trump-Russia "Collusion"The Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign played a substantial part in the Trump-Russia "collusion" story, according to US independent journalist Glenn Greenwald.The indictment reveals that Sussmann billed the time spent on the Trump-Russia research to the Clinton campaign. Moreover, Sussmann shared his findings with ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele, the author of the "dirty dossier," who was also funded by the Clinton campaign through Perkins Coie.Not only did the Clinton campaign fund the anti-Trump research, but also promoted uncorroborated and fabricated Trump-Russia stories via US media, the journalist noted in his September op-ed.The indictment reveals that even before the FBI opened an investigation in response to Sussmann's September 2016 request, the Perkins Coie lawyer and individuals acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign started providing details of their Alfa Bank research that originated from July 2016 to the press.Although Sussmann's Trump-Russia story reeked of forgery, Slate, a liberal progressive online magazine, readily took it at face value, according to Greenwald. On 31 October 2016 nearly a week before the presidential elections the magazine published a story eloquently titled "Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?"On the same day, Hillary Clinton and her chief foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan issued statements insisting that Trump colluded with Russia. The journalist noted that Slate was the first to link Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin and insinuate that Trump's candidacy was a "Kremlin plot" in July 2016. Greenwald underscored that less than a month after that the Clinton campaign released a political ad which speculated about Trump's alleged links to Moscow under the headline "What is Donald Trump's connection to Vladimir Putin?"What Were Hillary Clinton's Motives?Intent is an element of just about every "crime" and Hillary Clinton definitely had a motive to fabricate and peddle Trump-Russia collusion stories, according to Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel.First of all, one should bear in mind that Steele's "dirty" dossier and the Trump-Alfa Bank story were compiled at the time when Hillary Clinton's was in damage control mode over her emailgate scandal and WikiLeaks' massive dumps of messages from her email server as well as those from DNC and John Podesta.She took this challenge seriously, according to the Wall Street analyst. On 26 July 2016, Hillary Clinton allegedly approved "a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service" as a distraction from the controversy surrounding her private email server, according to then-CIA chief John Brennan's memo. The memo was written after Brennan briefed President Barack Obama in late July 2016 on the intelligence the CIA received.Meanwhile, the publication of Slate's Trump-Alfa Bank "bombshell" came just three days after Comey gave shivers to Team Clinton by announcing the resumption of the Hillary Clinton email investigation on 28 October 2016 based on newly-obtained evidence.One of the Clintons' tactics is "gaslighting", i.e. accusing an opponent of behavior that they themselves have employed for many years, Charles Ortel points out.In addition to that, attacks against Trump were also aimed at distracting the public from "demonstrably provable charity frauds, still ongoing, involving Clinton 'charities'," Ortel says referring to the string of controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation.However, the problem is even bigger than that, according to the Wall Street analyst."To attempt the due administration of justice, Durham and his team must use their considerable power to understand why the Obama and Bush teams are so determined to hobble and then stop Donald Trump - the story goes way back to George H.W. Bush's project of forging a 'New World Order', in which proponents of unregulated globalism might thrive, while nationalists might be left behind, tending to much smaller projects and matters," he says.Ortel presumes that "the rush to embrace globalism made strange bedfellows in America." He draws attention to the fact that "Bill Clinton did not punish those who defied laws in the Iran/Contra scandal," while George W. Bush and Barack Obama "did not punish obvious and gigantic Clinton Foundation frauds as these continued and expanded from 2001 onwards".Given this, wealthy, nationalist Donald J. Trump was an existential threat to the previous three presidents before him since he could expose the scam, according to the analyst. anne00marie There is a good article, by John Helmer, over on Dance With Bears, concerning the story, specifically the Christopher Steele connection. One of the people he was working with and how she then went on to publish a book on the 'fake story'. Funny how the same crowd involved with events in Ukraine are all tied into the story. Now why is that? 6 Korz-53 Jail Hillary Clinton 2 4 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova barack obama, donald trump, news, world, us, opinion, hillary clinton, the clinton foundation, democratic national committee, emailgate, wikileaks, christopher steele, fbi, cia, fusion gps, russiagate, perkins coie, john durham https://sputniknews.com/20211005/ex-secretary-from-nazi-death-camp-released-from-custody-ahead-of-her-trial-1089689672.html Ex-Secretary From Nazi Death Camp Released From Custody Ahead of Her Trial Ex-Secretary From Nazi Death Camp Released From Custody Ahead of Her Trial A spokeswoman for the court reportedly insisted that the defendant will appear at the next appointed hearing. 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T18:56+0000 2021-10-05T18:56+0000 2021-10-05T18:56+0000 europe trial nazi secretary death camp /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107728/25/1077282541_43:0:1920:1056_1920x0_80_0_0_47fb399c0e854b0efdd852dade1e720d.jpg Irmgard Furchner, a 96-year-old former secretary at a WWII Nazi death camp, has been released from custody after she made an apparent attempt to flee.According to The Daily Mail, Furchner ended up in custody after being declared on the run when she failed to turn up in court on Thursday for the opening of her trial.On that day, Furchner went missing after she left her retirement home near Hamburg in a taxi that took her to a local train station.The police apprehended Furchner several hours later and put her in custody where she remained for five days. On Tuesday, however, the court in Itzehoe decided to release her under what the newspaper describes as unspecified conditions.While Milhoffer declined to elaborate on the conditions of Furchners release, the spokeswoman said that it is however assured that she will appear at the next appointment."Furchner is being accused of assisting in the systematic murder of the detainees at the Nazi Stutthof concentration camp where she worked in the camp commanders office from June 1943 till April 1945.The trial is expected to resume on 19 October. https://sputniknews.com/20200127/factories-of-death-concentration-camps-of-nazi-germany-in-numbers-1078148452.html Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Andrei Dergalin Andrei Dergalin News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Andrei Dergalin europe, trial, nazi, secretary, death camp https://sputniknews.com/20211005/fire-at-londons-westminster-underground-station-under-control-fire-brigade-says-1089682649.html Fire at Londons Westminster Underground Station Under Control, Fire Brigade Says Fire at Londons Westminster Underground Station Under Control, Fire Brigade Says LONDON (Sputnik) A fire at the Westminster underground station in central London has been put under control and the cause of the smoke that triggered the... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T13:06+0000 2021-10-05T13:06+0000 2021-10-05T13:06+0000 united kingdom fire london underground /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/106966/84/1069668421_0:103:1920:1183_1920x0_80_0_0_b4be06c3e6559e70186fe2298e7731dc.jpg "The Brigade was called at 1129 and the incident was under control by 1249. Fire crews from Lambeth, Euston, Old Kent Road and Soho fire stations attended the scene," the fire department said in a statement.Around 100 passengers left the station before the firefighters arrived, the London Fire Brigade added.Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were called after an electrical room within the basement of the station spewed a large amount of smoke in close proximity to the Houses of Parliament and Prime Ministers official residence at 10 Downing Street, and other government buildings. vanda sck I have chronic hepatitis B which leads to cirrhosis of the liver I was told there was not healing and it was recommended to use a lamivudine medicine that was not a complete cure for the virus and leads to hair loss and kidney problems. I came across Doctor Ahmed Ads on this blog site with a series of testimonials from former patients cured of hepatitis B, Erectile dysfunction, Kidney disease and c .. I placed an order for her product I received at my address via DHL - service within 4 days, and with his instructions I used the product for 21 days. The first week I discovered a huge difference in my health, and when I went for another test my result was negative with no trace of the virus on my blood. I recommend Dr Ahmed to anyone suffering from kidney stones, breast cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, Heart disease, fibrosis, herpes virus, erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer, low sperm count, lung cancer. Information; E-mail; drahmedusman5104@gmail.com WhatsApp +14436204203 1 united kingdom Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 united kingdom, fire, london underground https://sputniknews.com/20211005/from-restroom-to-airport-and-plane-dem-sen-sinema-hassled-over-opposition-to-bidens-spending-bill-1089677944.html From Restroom to Airport and Plane, Dem Sen. Sinema Hassled Over Opposition to Bidens Spending Bill From Restroom to Airport and Plane, Dem Sen. Sinema Hassled Over Opposition to Bidens Spending Bill Earlier, Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who has received a backlash for her staunch opposition to President Joe Biden's 'Build Back Better' agenda, was... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T11:33+0000 2021-10-05T11:33+0000 2021-10-05T11:33+0000 joe biden news us sen. joe manchin (d-west virginia) kyrsten sinema /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/18/1082165804_0:110:1033:691_1920x0_80_0_0_92c482816962d22c62543556ae263d9c.png Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., has again been confronted over her unwillingness to support legislation that provides a pathway to American citizenship for illegal migrants or vote for Democratic President Biden's "Build Back Better" infrastructure plan. Sinema was confronted over the 10-year $3.5 trillion legislation at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. and on an airplane. Democrats need the vote of all Democratic senators to pass the bill, however, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sinema both oppose the legislation due to its exorbitant cost. A video that merged on Monday showed the politician, who was in the middle of a telephone conversation, being approached by Green New Deal Network chief of staff Kunoor Ojha accompanied by a small group of other protesters. Others voices in the group hurtled questions at the senator on a variety of issues. Later, when Sinema was already on the plane, a recipient of the Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, by the name of Karina, confronted the senator over the pathway to citizenship for immigrants plans.Sinema appeared to mostly ignore the questioners. This comes as footage circulated on Sunday depicted immigration activists following Senator Sinema from the classroom where she teaches at Arizona State University to the restroom. A video posted on the Twitter account of Living United for Change in Arizona, (LUCHA), an immigration reform advocacy group, showed activists following Sinema into a bathroom demanding she support a "pathway to citizenship".The Arizona Senator denounced the incident over the weekend as unacceptable.The viral clip triggered diverse reactions from both sides of the political aisle, with some people claiming that the activists' demands are reasonable, while others insisted that Sinema was "harassed". Similar tactics have been employed against her colleague Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who was accosted by protesters in kayaks while on his houseboat in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. Slammed for not supporting Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill, Manchin was told by the protesters that the plan was an investment". When Joe Biden was asked his opinion of the tactics by activists to pressure the two senators over his two spending bills - a $1 trillion infrastructure package and a $3.5 trillion reconciliation proposal, he said, according to a White House transcript: The progressive Democratic faction demands that the larger reconciliation bill be greenlighted first, refusing to support the infrastructure proposal otherwise, while moderate Democrats have voiced concerns about the exorbitant $3.5 trillion bill. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko joe biden, news, us, sen. joe manchin (d-west virginia), kyrsten sinema https://sputniknews.com/20211005/horrible-scenes-at-kabul-airport-to-haunt-me-forever-ex-adviser-in-afghan-govt-says-1089683436.html Ex-Adviser in Afghan Government Says 'Horrible Scenes at Kabul Airport to Haunt Me Forever' Ex-Adviser in Afghan Government Says 'Horrible Scenes at Kabul Airport to Haunt Me Forever' WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Ekaterina Chukaeva - As the Taliban* were seizing Kabul, Sabur Shah Dawod Zai, ex-adviser to the Afghan government, found himself in the... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T13:17+0000 2021-10-05T13:17+0000 2021-10-05T13:20+0000 kabul asia & pacific afghanistan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/0d/1089045573_0:321:3071:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_b138bbc774ae191b127634a65e1986dc.jpg Before the collapse of the Afghan government led by Ashraf Ghani in mid-August, Dawod Zai served as an adviser with the deputy minister of interior affairs in Afghanistan. He was also a supervisor at the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan. Dawod Zai who is from the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan recalled that the country was developing very well.15 August, when the Taliban seized power, became one of the darkest days for Dawod Zai. After the group took control of Kabul, the civilian Afghan government collapsed and a number of high-ranking politicians, including Ghani, left the country. In September, the Taliban announced an all-male interim government, headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who served as the foreign minister during the previous Taliban rule and has been under UN sanctions since 2001.Dawod Zai was shocked and refused to accept the news until he saw the Taliban fighters with his own eyes.A week later, he decided to flee the Afghan capital to avoid persecution from the Islamist movement. Dawod Zai recalled that he was leaving with a heavy heart.However, what he saw at Kabul airport was horrifying thousands of people, including women and children, were trying to get out of the capital. Dawod Zai spent two days near the airport in the hope to flee."Forty-eight hours, with no food and no sleep, only one or two hours of sleep, but in the queue, we had only a few bottles of water and some biscuits," he recalled.After that, when he entered the airport, he tried to find the Polish army which agreed to help him with evacuating himself and his wife.They fled Kabul to Uzbekistan and then boarded a commercial flight to the Polish capital of Warsaw. He is now living in Warsaw with his wife.The US-led NATO troops were withdrawn by August 31, ending the nearly 20-year foreign military presence in the Central Asian country. Several days later, the Taliban announced the composition of its interim government.Dawod Zai recalls that a few people managed to flee the country.Yet, Dawod Zai is not planning to live in Poland forever and hopes to come back to Afghanistan one day and to begin his service to his people and his country again.*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. https://sputniknews.com/20210830/view-of-kabul-airport-ahead-of-looming-deadline-for-us-troop-withdrawal-1083750064.html See you in the ice Just words spoken to maninpulate the emotions of the kind, stupid and foolish. 1 vanda sck I have chronic hepatitis B which leads to cirrhosis of the liver I was told there was not healing and it was recommended to use a lamivudine medicine that was not a complete cure for the virus and leads to hair loss and kidney problems. I came across Doctor Ahmed Ads on this blog site with a series of testimonials from former patients cured of hepatitis B, Erectile dysfunction, Kidney disease and c .. I placed an order for her product I received at my address via DHL - service within 4 days, and with his instructions I used the product for 21 days. The first week I discovered a huge difference in my health, and when I went for another test my result was negative with no trace of the virus on my blood. I recommend Dr Ahmed to anyone suffering from kidney stones, breast cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, Heart disease, fibrosis, herpes virus, erectile dysfunction, prostate cancer, low sperm count, lung cancer. Information; E-mail; drahmedusman5104@gmail.com WhatsApp +14436204203 1 2 kabul afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 kabul, asia & pacific, afghanistan https://sputniknews.com/20211005/india-a-short-term-beneficiary-as-china-continues-to-boycott-australian-coal-analyst-1089678857.html India a Short-Term Beneficiary as China Continues to Boycott Australian Coal, Analyst Says India a Short-Term Beneficiary as China Continues to Boycott Australian Coal, Analyst Says India and China are among the worlds biggest coal producers but both Asian powerhouses are still forced to import coal due to massive demand for their power... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T14:16+0000 2021-10-05T14:16+0000 2021-10-05T14:16+0000 asia & pacific china australia india coal /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105071/60/1050716028_0:0:3067:1725_1920x0_80_0_0_69d2831ef68058689d7ec48b7227e4ae.jpg The trade war between Australia the worlds second biggest coal exporter and largest producer of high-grade coal and China the biggest global coal importer is benefitting India; for the first time in the latter's history, the country has become a net exporter of metallurgical coking coal, which is used in manufacturing iron and steel.In August, India exported 221,000 tonnes of met coke while importing nearly 167,000 tonnes, according to data from government and industry sources put together by Iman Resources FZ LLC, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based firm tracking the global trade in coal, coke, and minerals. In total, India imported 15.15 million metric tonnes (MMT) of coal and coke in August.Vasudev Pamnani, general manager (retail sales) at Iman Resources FZ LLC, told Sputnik that the reason Indian coke manufacturers are now exporting the product is because they are able to procure coal at very competitive prices from Australia.Pamnani, however, cautions that India can only expect to be a short-term beneficiary of the Australia-China trade war, as the Asian country doesnt possess the capacity to absorb all of the coking coal imported from Australia.India could absorb the thermal coal imports from Australian exporters as they seek to find other markets to make up for Beijings boycott of the coal from down under, he says. "But when it comes to cooking coal, the trend of being a net exporter will not continue beyond two to three months, reckons Pamnani.India's Power Ministry said this week that the country's thermal coal production capacity slowed in September due to heavy rains across the country, which has affected power generation.According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 80 percent of Indias coal-powered electricity plants had less than a weeks stock of thermal coal left as of 29 September, forcing them to look for options overseas. Pamnani notes that coal remains the biggest contributor in Indias energy mix, contributing about 57 percent.Met coke is a direct product derived from coking coal after it is processed to remove moisture to make it fit for use in steel industry furnaces. Met coke is mainly used to power the iron and steel industry, as per the World Coal Institute.As compared to met coking coal, thermal steam coal is used for power generation and in the cement industry, among others. Thermal and met coking coal are vital for the survival of the eight core sectors of the Indian economy including steel, cement, and electricity.Bloomberg reported on 1 October that Beijing has asked its coal importers to dispose of the stockpiled Australian coal throughout the country.Citing Indian industry sources, the publication reported that Indian businesses, including electricity and steel manufacturers, bought nearly two million tonnes of Australian coal from China at prices cheaper than $15 a tonne.Australia-China Trade WarThe boycott of Australian coal in China constitutes another chapter in the ongoing trade war between the two nations, triggered after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged the international community probe the origins of COVID-19 last December. The demand prompted tariffs and boycotts by Beijing on several Australian imports ranging from coal to lobsters."Maybe also the ordinary people will say why should we drink Australian wine or to eat Australian beef?" Beijings Ambassador Jingye Cheng said in a recent interview with the Australian Financial Review. https://sputniknews.com/20201013/trade-war-heats-up-as-china-threatens-to-cut-off-coal-imports-from-australia-1080759259.html https://sputniknews.com/20201216/indian-sailors-stranded-in-chinese-waters-amid-australia-china-trade-war-seek-govt-intervention-1081476002.html https://sputniknews.com/20210922/no-more-coal-fired-plants-built-by-china-abroad-xi-jinping-announces-1089294254.html china australia india Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Dhairya Maheshwari Dhairya Maheshwari News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Dhairya Maheshwari asia & pacific, china, australia, india, coal https://sputniknews.com/20211005/india-set-to-take-delivery-of-s-400-order-by-december-as-china-plants-air-force-at-lac-iaf-chief-1089679201.html India Set to Take Delivery of S-400 Order by December As China Plants Air Force At LAC: IAF Chief India Set to Take Delivery of S-400 Order by December As China Plants Air Force At LAC: IAF Chief The Indian Air Force (IAF) at present has 30 fighter squadrons against an authorised strength of 42 to fend off a perceived threat from China and Pakistan... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T16:18+0000 2021-10-05T16:18+0000 2021-10-05T16:18+0000 indian air force tibet xi jinping fighter jet border tensions rafale indo-tibetan border police (itbp) india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/0f/1081462412_0:158:3077:1889_1920x0_80_0_0_0d4778230345538843647b9ee394cdda.jpg Head of the IAF, Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, said on Tuesday that forces are fully prepared to deal with "any security challenge in eastern Ladakh".Chaudhari emphasised that the new infrastructure resulting from movements made by the Air Force of the People's Liberation Army across Line of Actual Control (LAC) would not affect India's combat readiness. He also repeated that the plan to take possession of the Russian S-400 air missile and defence system is on schedule.India signed a $5.43 billion deal with Russia in 2018 to receive five regiments of air missile defence systems by 2023.China has reportedly deployed the Russian S-400 missile defence systems in the Nyingchi airbase, 20km from the eastern sector of loosely demarcated LAC.Chaudhari also made it clear that it would be wrong to assume that having the S-400 air defence system would mean that the force could cut back its acute need of fighters, "since offensive and defensive capability cannot be compared."The shortage of fighter jets will be a problem for the IAF longer than expected as Chaudhari admitted the new orders would not reach 42 squadrons in even a decade.The IAF faces a shortage of 12 squadrons (16 to 18 jets in each) - as recommended by a parliamentary standing committee on defence - to counter purported threats posed by China and Pakistan. The IAF chief said the force is considering buying 114 fighter jets but he clarified that the French Rafale is not the preferred supplier despite what has been reported in certain sections of the media in the past.He underlined that the induction of Rafale fighter jet and Apache helicopter has greatly improved the force's combat capabilities.The IAF is planning new inductions over the next few years for some 300 jets, including deliveries of the indigenously developed Tejas Mark 1A, but at the same time several squadrons of MiG21, MiG29 and Jaguars will be phased out.India made the second squadron of Rafale combat aircraft operational this July in Hasimara airbase, located strategically near the border with China.India and China fought a violent face-off in Galwan River Valley in June 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers and four PLA troops were killed. The border tensions escalated into a face-off over border infrastructure. The two sides accused each other of encroaching upon lands in the eastern Ladakh. https://sputniknews.com/20211002/border-residents-in-indias-ladakh-demand-safe-shelter-as-face-offs-with-china-worsen-1089549939.html FeEisi India still hasn't received the rafale from France. This means India will have the S-400 before India finally receives all 35 Rafales. Russia is able to deliver military equipment very fast. 5 vanda sck Experience report on herpes treatment I have been diagnosed with genital herpes for 2 years and am looking for a cure. I read a testimony on this platform from a woman who was cured of diabetes with Doctor Ahmed Usman Herbal Medicine, after much discussion and some questions that he prepared herbal medicine and asked for my address. 3 days later I received the herbal medicine and with his bureau including the doctor's official email address. I contacted the doctor through his letter and drank herbal medicine for 21 days. After I finished herbal medicine, I went for a test and my IgG result was confirmed negative with no virus found in my blood. Contact Doctor Ahmed and let yourself be cured. email him at; drahmedusman5104@gmail.com or send him a WhatsApp SMS +14436204203. He has herbal remedies for diabetes, hepatitis, cancer, leukemia, fibrosis 2 tibet Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Rishikesh Kumar https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/08/04/1080055820_0:0:388:389_100x100_80_0_0_40018ee210946d65d49ffba4f4c008e1.jpg indian air force, tibet, xi jinping, fighter jet, border tensions, rafale, indo-tibetan border police (itbp), india https://sputniknews.com/20211005/indias-opposition-party-congress-to-hold-protest-over-lakhimpur-kheri-violence--1089670077.html India's Opposition Party Congress to Hold Protest Over Lakhimpur Kheri Violence India's Opposition Party Congress to Hold Protest Over Lakhimpur Kheri Violence On Monday, several leaders were detained and barred from entering Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri District after nine people died on 3 October when a convoy of... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T10:04+0000 2021-10-05T10:04+0000 2021-10-05T10:04+0000 bharatiya janata party (bjp) india uttar pradesh congress indian national congress congress priyanka gandhi india /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089675683_0:75:3077:1806_1920x0_80_0_0_145384b269ab260564570892b3b8a57e.jpg India's main opposition party Congress is set to hold a nationwide protest on Tuesday against the violence that took place in Lakhimpur Kheri District of Uttar Pradesh state and led to farmers' deaths and injuries. The party is also demanding the release of its key politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi was detained by Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday while trying to visit and meet the family members of the deceased farmers. "Congress will hold protests outside District Collectors' offices across the country in support of farmers," Manoj Lubana, Chandigarh Youth Congress president, told Sputnik over the phone. He also demanded action against those who were responsible for the killing of nine people in Lakhimpur Kheri.Demanding the immediate release of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, he said that she has been arrested without any official complaint. "[Prime Minister] Narendra Modi, your government has kept me detained for the last 28 hours without an order or FIR. But the person who trampled over these farmers has yet to be arrested. Why?" Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said in a tweet.Congress supporters on Monday gathered outside the state government guest house in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow where Priyanka Gandhi is detained and demanded her release.On Sunday, clashes broke out in the district's Tinsukia Village after vehicles in the minister's convoy allegedly ran over some farmers who had blocked the road as part of a protest against the federal government's three controversial farm laws.The protest ended after the farmers agreed to remove the road blockade on the assurances that the family of the bereaved farmers would be given an ex-gratia payment of INR 4.5 million ($60,500) along with a government job for one member.The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has also registered a case against the federal minister's son and assured that a retired High Court judge would investigate the matter. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 india uttar pradesh Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg bharatiya janata party (bjp), india, uttar pradesh, congress, indian national congress, congress, priyanka gandhi, india https://sputniknews.com/20211005/israels-fm-lapid-offers-to-rebuild-gaza-but-egyptian-source-says-his-plan-might-be-too-ambitious-1089669567.html Israel's FM Lapid Offers to Rebuild Gaza But Egyptian Source Says His Plan Might Be 'Too Ambitious' Israel's FM Lapid Offers to Rebuild Gaza But Egyptian Source Says His Plan Might Be 'Too Ambitious' The latest hostilities that ended in May have dealt a severe blow to the Gaza Strip, where dozens of government buildings, hospitals, police stations, roads... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T07:46+0000 2021-10-05T07:46+0000 2021-10-05T07:46+0000 israel gaza middle east /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/16/1082153832_0:157:3083:1891_1920x0_80_0_0_c7a014f263b435e60bfac98503742507.jpg The Jewish state has offered to help the enclave with reconstruction but made its assistance conditional upon a long-term quiet.In October, the Gaza Strip will start going through a process of reconstruction, just months after the recent round of tensions with Israel -- Operation Guardian of the Walls -- ended in late May.Severe Blow to GazaThe eleven days of fighting erupted following what was perceived by Gazans as Israel's violations in Jerusalem, which incited Gaza militants to launch a barrage of rockets towards Israeli towns and cities.Israel promptly retaliated, leading to the destruction of more than 1,500 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets, but the conflict has also dealt a severe blow to the enclave's infrastructure, causing millions of dollars in damage.Dozens of hospitals, police stations, residential buildings and roads have been fully or partially destroyed.Israel to the Rescue?In September, several months after Israel reached a truce with Hamas, the Jewish state promised that it would help to rebuild the enclave in exchange for a lasting quiet.Speaking at a conference at Reichman University in Herzeliya, Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said his country's policy that has been in place since 2005 and has involved strict measures towards Gazans, has not been working.He promised to change that approach in order to create "stability on both sides of the border".To reach that stability, Lapid has suggested a two-stage approach. According to his plan, Israel would first help to reconstruct the infrastructure of Gaza. It would set up a system of gas and electricity. It would establish desalination plants, boost the enclave's medical institutions and work on improving Gazans' living conditions.On the second stage, Israel would help to construct an industrial zone in the Strip, where thousands of Palestinians could be employed. It would work on connecting the enclave with the West Bank and even take part in the building of a port off Gaza shores.Foreign Help NeededBut the catch is that to fulfil these ambitions, Israel needs funds, and Lapid is counting on donations from Egypt, a number of Gulf states, Russia and the EU.In the UAE, authorities that have been approached by Sputnik refused to comment on the ambitious Israeli plans and on whether they will be willing to fork out a pretty penny to fund this initiative.In Egypt, however, an official source, who spoke to the agency on condition of anonymity, said Cairo will continue to invest money into the reconstruction of Gaza, just "as it has been doing from the very beginning, when the two sides reached a ceasefire".Egypt was one of the first states to offer significant sums for investment in the reconstruction efforts. Apart from pledging half a billion dollars, Egypt turned to its own companies to enter the Strip shortly after the brokered deal and started rebuilding what had been destroyed.However, the same official said that Lapid's plan might be "too ambitious".For now, Lapid keeps on trying. In recent months, he has been touring countries and speaking to regional and international players to convince them to allocate the necessary funds.In July, he spoke to Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Days later, he met with a number of European parliamentarians and in September he arrived in Moscow, where he also raised the Gaza issue.It is not yet clear whether those and other players will eventually agree to allocate the necessary funds. So far, donors like Egypt and Qatar have only managed to collect $1 billion. While it will certainly be enough to repair what had been damaged, the construction of an industrial zone and a port will require much more than that.And the Egyptian source says that even if Cairo does find the money for such a project, it will make sure that those funds do not reach the hands of Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, banned in Egypt and many other states. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Dang! Haha!! Yea right!! REBUILD GAZA FOR TGE ISRAELI'S!! WHO YOU FOOLING! THAT'S AFTER THEY EXTERMUNATE TGE PALESTINIANS!! that's called GENOCIDE!! 1 4 israel gaza Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Elizabeth Blade Elizabeth Blade News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Elizabeth Blade israel, gaza, middle east https://sputniknews.com/20211005/just-stick-to-the-facts-duterte-reveals-hes-begun-preparing-for-his-defense-in-icc-probe--1089668723.html 'Just Stick to the Facts': Duterte Reveals He's Begun Preparing for His Defense in ICC Probe 'Just Stick to the Facts': Duterte Reveals He's Begun Preparing for His Defense in ICC Probe The Hague-based court earlier announced in September that it had launched an official probe into the Filipino president's anti-narcotics campaign, which human... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T03:42+0000 2021-10-05T03:42+0000 2021-10-05T03:41+0000 international criminal court (icc) investigation philippines rodrigo duterte war on drugs /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/07/1b/1083469306_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_46173854a74ad147af565f6e8f0caa7b.jpg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has indicated that he is in the midst of preparing for his defense against a probe by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the officials' so-called "War on Drugs."Offering a fresh remark on the case, Duterte reportedly stated in a pre-recorded address late Monday that he has begun preparations, telling the public that he "will prepare for my defense."The commentary marks a 180-degree shift for the head of state, as he previously indicated that he would not cooperate with the tribunal.Duterte's past stance on the investigation was mostly negative, with the president issuing remarks that ranged from referring to the proceedings as "crazy" to writing off the entire effort and indicating that he would leave it up to Filipinos to judge his character.Tensions over the court's probe prompted Duterte to pull the Philippines from the ICC's jurisdiction over the court and the United Nation's repeated criticisms for his methods on brutally cracking down on illicit drugs. The ICC withdrawal became effective in March 2019, some 12 months after Duterte initially voiced his intention to part ways with the tribunal.The ICC issued a statement in mid-September reiterating that it had "reasonable basis" to proceed with its investigation as laid out by its "crime against humanity of murder" article.The ongoing case is specifically looking at alleged criminal behavior committed across the Philippines between July 1, 2016, and March 16, 2019, as well as the killings that took place in Davao from 2011 to 2016.Human rights groups have accused authorities in the Philippines of participating in the systematic killings of some 30,000 people, including children, under the guise of Duterte's "War on Drugs." Hess Over 30,000 deaths. It was mass murder of innocent people who opposed to Duterte violent regime.Drugs and "terrorism" were the convenient pretexts. Duterte should be hanged. 1 Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 2 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Gaby Arancibia Gaby Arancibia News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Gaby Arancibia international criminal court (icc), investigation, philippines, rodrigo duterte, war on drugs https://sputniknews.com/20211005/kishida-holds-1st-conversation-with-us-leader-since-taking-office-as-japan-prime-minister-1089669457.html Kishida Holds 1st Conversation With US Leader Since Taking Office As Japan Prime Minister Kishida Holds 1st Conversation With US Leader Since Taking Office As Japan Prime Minister TOKYO (Sputnik) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held the first telephone conversation since taking office with US President Joe Biden, during which the... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T04:18+0000 2021-10-05T04:18+0000 2021-10-05T04:18+0000 fumio kishida world us japan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/09/1d/1089517212_0:0:3073:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_1d16273eee7cfcff80496c3ed3163b58.jpg In addition, according to the Kyodo news agency, the Japanese prime minister said during the conversation that he intends to continue working on such global problems as coronavirus response, climate change, as well as complete denuclearization of the world.In turn, Biden reaffirmed US commitments to defend Japan.The parties also expressed a unanimous opinion on the need for further cooperation to resolve the problem of the Japanese kidnapped by the North Korean security services.Japanese lawmakers voted on Monday to approve former foreign minister Kishida, 64, to run a new government.Kishida received 311 votes out of 458. Key opposition leader Yukio Edano, the head of the Constitutional Democratic Party, received 124 votes, while the leaders of the Japan Innovation Party, Toranosuke Katayama, and the Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki, received 11 votes each. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Rus Hammer Head Dr Nelson is a fraudster and con man with many identities to defraud innocent people suffering from curable diseases!!! Do not be fooled by Dr Nelson testimonies!!! 0 2 us japan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 fumio kishida, world, us, japan https://sputniknews.com/20211005/lakhimpur-horror-watch-car-run-over-protesting-farmers-in-india-1089673761.html Lakhimpur Horror: WATCH Car Run Over Protesting Farmers in India Lakhimpur Horror: WATCH Car Run Over Protesting Farmers in India Violent clashes were reported on Sunday in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after four farmers were killed when a convoy of three speeding vehicles mowed down... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T11:59+0000 2021-10-05T11:59+0000 2021-10-05T11:59+0000 politics crime politics narendra modi farmers bharatiya janata party (bjp) india politics farmers indian national congress /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089679113_0:63:647:427_1920x0_80_0_0_a09c062f51235b0888ebfb2670a97ebe.jpg India's main opposition party Congress has shared a video on social media showing an SUV and jeep ramming a group of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, the largest district in India's poll-bound state of Uttar Pradesh.The incident took place in Tikunia Village on Sunday and left more than a dozen badly injured, in addition to the nine people who were killed. The car which is believed to have rammed the protesting farmers is the one in which Ashish Mishra, the son of federal Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra, was said to be travelling.The 27-second video shared on Congress party's Twitter page purportedly shows some farmers falling to the ground as an SUV hits them while another car comes from behind with sirens blaring."The silence from [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi's government makes them complicit," Congress said in the tweet in which it shared the video.The Uttar Pradesh Police have not yet confirmed the video's authenticity. At least half a dozen individuals can be seen lying on the side of the road as the two vehicles continue on their way. The video was shared by many politicians and activists criticising the action of the driver.Sanjay Singh, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, wrote: "Does anyone still need proof to understand what happened in Lakhimpur Kheri?"Feroze Varun Gandhi, a politician from Uttar Pradesh belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, also shared the video and added in Hindi: "This video of vehicles in Lakhimpur Kheri deliberately crushing farmers will shake anyone's soul. Police should take this video into account and immediately arrest the owners of these vehicles, the people sitting in them, and other people involved in this case."On Monday, federal Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra told a local news channel that stones were thrown at the vehicle, which led to the driver losing control and ramming the farmers.He also denied that his son, Ashish Mishra, was present at the accident. india Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Deexa Khanduri https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e4/0c/1e/1081607388_0:0:961:960_100x100_80_0_0_e9e931b8c1e18fb41f3074e2145d7a3a.jpg politics, crime, politics, narendra modi, farmers, bharatiya janata party (bjp), india, politics, farmers, indian national congress, congress, narendra modi, crime, crime, politics, india . 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You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. https://sputniknews.com/20211005/meghan-markle-reportedly-made-peace-offering-to-kate-middleton-after-flower-girl-dress-row-1089683034.html Meghan Markle Reportedly Made 'Peace Offering' to Kate Middleton After 'Flower-Girl Dress' Row Meghan Markle Reportedly Made 'Peace Offering' to Kate Middleton After 'Flower-Girl Dress' Row Reports in 2020 suggested that Meghan Markle, before she married Prince Harry - had got into a heated disagreement with the Duchess of Cambridge (the erstwhile... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T14:22+0000 2021-10-05T14:22+0000 2021-10-05T14:22+0000 prince harry kate middleton meghan markle duchess of sussex uk /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/04/1083522986_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_028b2538be89433dc4e848b0397f279c.jpg A recently updated book by a royal biographer claims to offer fresh insight into conflicting reports over the alleged row which erupted in April 2018 between Meghan Markle and her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, according to The Sun.It was claimed in 2018, six months after Meghan Markle had married Prince Harry, that Meghan left Kate in tears during a stressful fitting for the flower-girl dress intended for Charlotte, the daughter of the Duchess of Cambridge. However, later, during the bombshell post-Megxit interview with TV host Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made several sensational allegations, the Duchess of Sussex claimed it was the Duchess of Cambridge who had reduced Meghan to tears over the flower-girls' dresses ahead of the May wedding. It was suggested that Prince Williams wife had insisted the flower girls should follow royal protocol by wearing tights despite the hot weather a demand with which the former Suits actress ostensibly disagreed.A source had been cited by monthly glossy magazine 'Tatler' as saying in 2020: "It was a hot day and apparently there was a row over whether the bridesmaids should wear tights or not. During the Oprah Winfrey tell-all sit down, Meghan Markle had said: Describing Kate Middleton as a "good person", Prince Harrys spouse claimed that her sister-in-law had also sent her flowers to apologise.Now, royal biographer Andrew Morton, in the updated and re-released version of his book which was originally printed in April 2018, 'Meghan: A Hollywood Princess', claims that after their falling out, Meghan offered the Duchess of Cambridge a "peace offering".According to the author, who also wrote the New York Times bestseller, 'Diana: Her True Story', the jewellery - a 14-carat gold bracelet called the Kensington bracelet - was an elegant peace offering. He added that both women are professional enough to know that there was no gain in showing dissent or disdain." Jewellery designer Polny is a long-time friend of one of Meghans best friends, Benita Litt, and her jewellery has been a favourite of the former American actress.Meghan wore a pair of Zofia Day Dash Ear Studs for a Vanity Fair cover shoot in 2017. The latest claims come as Buckingham Palace is said to be bracing itself for more bombshell revelations with the arrival of a new book about the Royal Family, set for publication on 12 April 2022.According to British publishing house Penguin Books, 'The Palace Papers: Inside The House Of Windsor The Truth And The Turmoil' is "full of powerful revelations, nuanced details, and searing insight" that will "irrevocably change how the world perceives and understands the Royal Family". Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko prince harry, kate middleton, meghan markle, duchess of sussex, uk https://sputniknews.com/20211005/mike-pence-says-afghan-blunder-americas-greatest-foreign-policy-debacle-since-iran-hostage-crisis-1089677617.html Mike Pence Says Afghan Blunder Americas Greatest Foreign Policy Debacle Since Iran Hostage Crisis Mike Pence Says Afghan Blunder Americas Greatest Foreign Policy Debacle Since Iran Hostage Crisis The chaotic collapse of the Afghan government and security forces in mid-August sparked a firestorm of criticism against the White House. Last week, senior US... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T11:03+0000 2021-10-05T11:03+0000 2021-10-05T11:36+0000 afghanistan joe biden donald trump afghanistan mike pence /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/03/0f/1082341835_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_38e68d337895efff6bf906e8be3693d4.jpg Former vice president Mike Pence has accused the Biden administration of encouraging Americas enemies abroad while clamping down on Americans at home.Pence insisted that the Taliban peace deal signed at Doha by Trump in February 2020 allowed for the US to pull out of Afghanistan with honour, and that the debacle that played out in August with the Sunni militants takeover of Kabul while American troops were still evacuating could have been avoided.The president made it clear, and I was in the Oval Office when he was speaking to [Taliban chief negotiator Abdul Ghani] Baradar, that they would either keep the deal and to work with the Afghan government and not harm any American personnel in Afghanistan, and not be a safe harbour for terrorists, or we would hit them harder than wed ever hit them before. And as evidence that they took us seriously, we went 18 months without a single American casualty, Pence insisted.But weakness arouses evil, he added, claiming that the lack of a firmer US response to provide support to our cherished ally Israel during the May 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis sent a signal into Afghanistan that we would not respond.He went on to criticise the administration for abandoning Bagram Air Base in the middle of the night and for leaving behind American nationals and allies after the pullout was completed in late August.Characterizing Afghanistan as an example of what weak leadership means on the world stage, Pence suggested that the administrations foreign policy is such a contrast to the heavy-handed leadership of this administration at home. We have a president who is weak abroad but is very content to be lecturing the American people about vaccine mandates, and attempting to drive through the congress what would be not just the largest spending bill in the history of the country [but] the largest tax increase in the history of the country.Strenuous Relations With Former BossPences comments on Afghanistan echo those regularly being made by his former boss, Donald Trump, over the past month-and-a-half. Last week, commenting on the congressional testimony of senior Pentagon officials on the Afghan pullout, Trump suggested that the withdrawal was concocted by a childs mind, and claimed that it had nothing to do with him or past administrations other than [the fact that] we should not have been in the Middle East in the first place. He went on to accuse Biden of leaving $85 billion of US military equipment in the field for the Taliban to capture.Trump has recently hinted to reporters that he is certainly considering replacing Pence if he were to run again in 2024. The former president has criticized Pence after he rebuked him over his allegations that the 2020 election was stolen. Earlier this year, Pence told supporters that he would always be proud of certifying Joe Bidens victory in January, assuaged detractors by stressing that the vice president had no constitutional authority to challenge election results anyway. Trump remains convinced that he was robbed of victory in 2020 thanks to the unscrupulous use of mail-in ballots and voting machine manipulations in half-a-dozen swing states. American courts have refused to hear his campaign's allegations. https://sputniknews.com/20210928/us-reportedly-didnt-tell-afghan-army-of-plans-to-slink-out-of-bagram-due-to-fear-of-taliban-attacks-1089494913.html https://sputniknews.com/20211003/nyc-schools-proceed-with-covid-vaccine-mandate-as-scotus-justice-sotomayor-blocks-teachers-appeal-1089613733.html https://sputniknews.com/20210606/trump-refuses-to-confirm-pence-as-possible-running-mate-1083084505.html Eric Wolf person who keeps posting about the recovery from their Herpes should take heed to the fact that they have circumvented big pharma and the use of Valtrax. This goes against the grain of the protocol laid out to treat a virus that has been mandated by Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Black Lives Matter, Don Lemon, Anthony Fauci, Madonna, Lebron James, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Lockheed Martin and the United Nations. This Herpes treatment may be even worse than the insurrection of January 6, which was even worse than 9/11. In other words, the fact that you have taken it upon yourself to end the Herpes is basically what the Nazis did in World War Two. You likely will be charged with crimes against humanity and sentenced to prison for the rest of your life 0 Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 4 afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov joe biden, donald trump, afghanistan, mike pence https://sputniknews.com/20211005/nord-stream-2-ag-appeals-against-not-exempting-pipeline-from-eu-gas-directive-1089676970.html Nord Stream 2 AG Appeals Against Court Decision Not to Exempt Pipeline From EU Gas Directive Nord Stream 2 AG Appeals Against Court Decision Not to Exempt Pipeline From EU Gas Directive MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Nord Stream 2 AG has appealed against the Dusseldorf court decision not to exempt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from the European Unions... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T10:39+0000 2021-10-05T10:39+0000 2021-10-05T10:58+0000 world european union nord stream 2 /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/14/1082945548_66:0:3707:2048_1920x0_80_0_0_fb6fbdb8e1139ada4a2f11d9e49d15c0.jpg "We confirm that Nord Stream 2, in compliance with the deadlines, filed an appeal against the decision of the Supreme Regional Court of Dusseldorf of 25 August 2021 to the Federal Supreme Court of Germany," the pipelines operator company said.Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper, and Wintershall. The project is designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. On 10 September, Russia's Gazprom announced that the construction of the pipeline was completed.The pipeline is expected to supply up to 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas per year from Russia to Germany.The United States has opposed the project, promoting its liquefied natural gas in Europe. In July, Berlin and Washington struck a deal to pave the way for the completion of the pipeline, without the threat of US sanctions. Ladyshadow If this were a USA pipeline their would be no problem getting the exemption. 3 frank false flag Apparently, NS2 won't be pumping any gas until the EU amends its directive. If Russia doesn't increase the flow of gas through the Ukraine pipe, the price of gas could reach between $4,000 and $5,000 per whatever until Brussels acts. And the experts are predicting a colder than normal winter this year. 3 6 european union Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 world, european union, nord stream 2 https://sputniknews.com/20211005/pandora-papers-reveal-secret-owners-of-over-1500-offshore-held-uk-properties-worth-billions--1089673182.html Pandora Papers Reveal Secret Owners Of Over 1,500 Offshore-Held UK Properties Worth Billions Pandora Papers Reveal Secret Owners Of Over 1,500 Offshore-Held UK Properties Worth Billions The dossier of more than 11.9 million confidential files, the Pandora Papers, published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T08:21+0000 2021-10-05T08:21+0000 2021-10-05T08:21+0000 pandora papers news world uk /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107747/35/1077473517_0:189:2016:1323_1920x0_80_0_0_cfed458a25719a89c5bd8ddfb4af90cc.jpg Over 1,500 UK properties worth an estimated 4 bln are secretly owned by a succession of heads of government, foreign politicians, business tycoons and high-profile ruling families via 716 offshore companies, reported The Guardian. By cross-referencing UK Land Registry department data on properties held offshore with Sundays Pandora Papers leak of offshore financial documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Finance Uncovered and others claim to have revealed the identities of around 600 individuals behind foreign companies owning property in England and Wales.Most of the properties are in London, specifically, Westminster and Kensington boroughs. While the owners are said to hail from every continent, representing 78 nationalities, more than a quarter are British. All UK-based property buyers are legally required to reveal their identity via a non-ministerial department, the Land Registry and Companies House. However, those whose wealth enables them to do so hire teams of professionals to create offshore entities that enable them to keep the lid on their ownership. The offshore companies involved, according to the outlets, are traced to jurisdictions such as the Seychelles, Cook Islands, Jersey, but predominantly the UK Overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. While the process of acquiring property through offshore companies is itself legal, the UK government has been underscoring money laundering risks for the property market in cases where there are "difficulties in determining the ultimate beneficial owners", according to a Home Office report made last December. Offshore acquisition of property was also cited as a potential means of dodging the attention of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Business Tycoons Thus, among those whose identities have been revealed by the investigation are retail business tycoon Sir Philip Green. His wife, Tina, is revealed by the outlets to have secretly purchased in 2016 through anonymous companies based in the British Virgin Islands multi-million-pound London real estate ahead of the collapse of their department store chain British Home Stores (BHS). The property thus bought included a 15 mln apartment in Mayfair and a home for the Greens daughter near Buckingham Palace, worth 10.6 mln. Co-founder of PrivatBank, Gennadiy Bogolyubov, a Ukrainian billionaire currently under FBI investigation for money laundering, is revealed as the ultimate owner of a collection of UK properties worth around 400 mln, including a building on Trafalgar Square. Mr. Bogolyubov's assets are currently subject to a worldwide freeze, secured in court by PrivatBank in 2017. RoyaltyThe joint investigation of the UK media outlets and the ICIJ offers a glimpse at the UK property portfolio of the Qatari ruling family. The Al-Thani family is claimed to have acquired two properties overlooking Regent's Park in London, through offshore companies, eschewing millions of pounds in tax. The King of Jordan Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein is revealed to have spent more than 70 mln ($100 mln) on property in the UK and US since he assumed power in 1999. The property portfolio included houses in London and Ascot in the UK. World Leaders As for UK properties owned offshore by foreign leaders, according to revelations from the Pandora Papers the family of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta resorted to secretly owned offshore companies to buy an apartment in central London. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is also highlighted as having participated in a network of offshore companies, co-owned with friends and TV business partners, that held assets including apartments near London's Regent's Park, claimed The Guardian. UK Conservative Party DonorsQuestions have been raises as the investigation revealed that major Tory donors invested in properties through offshore companies. British businessman and philanthropist Mohammed Amersi, founder and chairman of the Inclusive Ventures Group, and chairman of QML Group, is a leading donor to the Conservative Party, who contributed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's campaign. Amersi bought two properties resorting to offshore companies, said the outlets, a townhouse in Mayfair and a country home in Gloucestershire. Mohammed Amersi recently found himself mired in a "cash for access" scandal around claims that high-spending Tory donors were able to gain regular meetings with the prime minister and chancellor. Amersi denies any wrongdoing. The current heightened scrutiny of foreign ownership comes as plans for a register of overseas companies possessing UK property were first announced in 2016 by then Prime Minister David Cameron, to ensure that "corrupt individuals and countries will no longer be able to move, launder and hide illicit funds through London's property market, and will not benefit from our public funds".After draft legislation was published, "progress" on amending the law was promised in the 2019 Queen's Speech. Earlier this year the government of Boris Johnson reiterated its commitment to create a public register of overseas entities who own UK real estate, with the law yet to be introduced to Parliament. See you in the ice Wonder how long until all the assets are seized? 2 justice_4u 9/11 collections, you are able to issue multiple papers after a short period to throughout specific faces, like anti-fascism for " World Order". These aren't all criminals just few faces. 1 10 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko news, world, uk https://sputniknews.com/20211005/pandora-papers-revelations-dominion-energy-whitewashing-facebook-whistleblower-speaks-1089667147.html Pandora Papers Revelations; Dominion Energy Whitewashing; Facebook Whistleblower Speaks Pandora Papers Revelations; Dominion Energy Whitewashing; Facebook Whistleblower Speaks Whistleblower claims Facebook puts profits over safety. Are the tech giants fortunes on the slide? 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 2021-10-05T08:52+0000 tax evasion ukraine corruption afghanistan facebook isis misinformation 60 minutes political misfits /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/04/1089667029_28:0:640:344_1920x0_80_0_0_b53ccb82f9fddb62c97bf308b5985948.png Pandora Papers Revelations; Dominion Energy Whitewashing; Facebook Whistleblower Speaks Whistleblower claims Facebook puts profits over safety. Are the tech giants fortunes on the slide? Dan Lazare, journalist and writer, joins us to talk about the revelations from the Pandora Papers, totaling between 12 million records from offshore companies, giving a glimpse into the ways the wealthy and powerful move, manage and hide their money. We talk about how this group includes over 330 politicians, 130 Forbes billionaires, members of royal families, and religious leaders, among others, and the implications for figures and governments who claim to be against corruption, but now find themselves enmeshed in this scandal. We also talk about whether these revelations will have a meaningful impact, considering the precedent of the Panama Papers, and whether the Biden administrations proposed changes to tax regulation will actually curtail offshore tax havens used by companies.Wyatt Reed, Sputnik Radio correspondent, joins us to discuss the revelations from a new report highlighting the lengths Virginia-based Dominion Energy went to make sure their dirty name appeared clean in the press, including how Dominion spent nearly $19 million in lobbying, advertising, market research, political payouts, and membership fees over the last four years, including direct payments to newspaper columnists and academic professors. We also talk about the similarities of this case to others at the national level, and how this is representative of a larger issue of institutionalized corruption.Ted Rall, award-winning political cartoonist, columnist, and author whose latest book is The Stringer, joins hosts Michelle Witte and Bob Schlehuber to discuss the fallout of the 60 Minutes interview with Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower who has revealed that Facebook has been putting profits over the well being of its users for a long time, how its algorithms promote misinformation, and even violence, and how higher-ups in the company turned a blind eye to these issues. We also talk about the bombing in Afghanistan that left many civilians dead in Kabul on Sunday, and the Western media coverage of the incident.We'd love to get your feedback at radio@sputniknews.com ukraine afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Michelle Witte https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/11/1082103644_0:1:240:241_100x100_80_0_0_aa1e89cc3422c54bfdeb46decb112e73.jpg Michelle Witte https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/11/1082103644_0:1:240:241_100x100_80_0_0_aa1e89cc3422c54bfdeb46decb112e73.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Michelle Witte https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/02/11/1082103644_0:1:240:241_100x100_80_0_0_aa1e89cc3422c54bfdeb46decb112e73.jpg tax evasion, ukraine, corruption, afghanistan, facebook, isis, misinformation, 60 minutes, political misfits, , mark zuckerberg, joe biden, radio https://sputniknews.com/20211005/russian-envoy-to-vienna-says-no-reason-to-think-tehran-unwilling-to-continue-jcpoa-talks-1089691668.html Russian Envoy to Vienna Says No Reason to Think Tehran Unwilling to Continue JCPOA Talks Russian Envoy to Vienna Says No Reason to Think Tehran Unwilling to Continue JCPOA Talks VIENNA (Sputnik) - Russia has no reason to think that Iran does not want to continue negotiations on reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T19:55+0000 2021-10-05T19:55+0000 2021-10-05T19:54+0000 us russia iran nuclear talks joint comprehensive plan of action (jcpoa) vienna talks /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/0c/1082609346_0:257:2731:1793_1920x0_80_0_0_8e4802369bc709fd382bb107ca69e2fa.jpg In late September, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Tehran would soon return to the JCPOA negotiations in Vienna."Participation in the #ViennaTalks is voluntary. It corresponds to the interests of all participants, including #Iran. We have no reasons to believe that #Tehran is unwilling to continue the process. The return to the negotiating table is a matter of time, not in a distant future," Ulyanov said on Twitter.In 2015, Iran signed the nuclear deal with the P5+1 group, which includes the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union. It required Tehran to scale back its nuclear program and severely reduce its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including the lifting of an arms embargo five years after the deal was inked.In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hardline policies against Iran, prompting the latter to largely abandon its own obligations under the accord.Since April of this year, the JCPOA joint commission has held sessions in Vienna, which also hosted several informal meetings designed to prevent the agreement from collapsing after Washington's exit. The sixth round of discussions ended on June 20. russia iran Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 us, russia, iran, nuclear talks, joint comprehensive plan of action (jcpoa), vienna talks https://sputniknews.com/20211005/some-30-russian-companies-to-participate-in-recs-business-mission-to-serbia-1089674076.html Some 30 Russian Companies to Participate in REC's Business Mission to Serbia Some 30 Russian Companies to Participate in REC's Business Mission to Serbia Moscow (Sputnik) The Serbian-Russian Business Forum opened in Belgrade on 4 October and launched the business mission of the Russian Export Centre Group... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T09:05+0000 2021-10-05T09:05+0000 2021-10-05T09:05+0000 serbia world russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105280/59/1052805988_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_f1083d64ef1d7d3922d1be7ef716a58c.jpg The first business mission to Serbia will be attended by 27 Russian exporters and more than 100 Serbian companies, the statement said.Nikita Gusakov, CEO of the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR), and Ksenia Tagirova, REC Managing Director for Non-financial Products and Foreign Network Development, attended the opening ceremony on behalf of REC Group. The ceremony was honoured by Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Russian Ambassador to Serbia, and Nenad Popovic, Minister for Innovation and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.The ceremony discussed prospective projects in Serbia that could involve Russian companies, as well as the use of Russian high-tech equipment within the framework of Serbias state programmes for development and the implementation of social projects. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 serbia russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 serbia, world, russia https://sputniknews.com/20211005/texas-parole-board-recommends-posthumous-pardon-for-george-floyd---district-attorney-1089674234.html Texas Parole Board Recommends Posthumous Pardon for George Floyd - District Attorney Texas Parole Board Recommends Posthumous Pardon for George Floyd - District Attorney MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended that George Floyd be posthumously pardoned for a 2004 drug conviction, Harris County... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T08:57+0000 2021-10-05T08:57+0000 2021-10-05T08:57+0000 us drugs george floyd /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/05/19/1082992615_0:161:3067:1886_1920x0_80_0_0_a8fa4e89adc9e6f6aa373fcbe495ab41.jpg "We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency for a 2004 conviction involving former Houston Police Department Officer Gerald Goines," the attorney said in the statement.Floyd, a 46-year-old African American died after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for nine minutes during an arrest on 25 May 2020.In February 2004, Floyd was arrested in Houston by former police officer Gerald Goines for selling $10 worth of crack cocaine in a police sting. Floyd pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in jail.In April, a posthumous pardon application was filed on behalf of Floyd and his family members.Ogg urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to follow the board's recommendation to pardon Floyd.Floyd's murder sparked mass protests against police violence and racial injustice across the United States and beyond. On 25 June, Chauvin was sentenced to 270 months in prison. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 us, drugs, george floyd https://sputniknews.com/20211005/the-day-facebook-disappeared--1089667860.html The Day Facebook Disappeared The Day Facebook Disappeared For nearly seven hours, the world was without its best friend. Facebook, along with Instagram, WhatsApp, and its messenger service, faced an outage that caused... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T01:19+0000 2021-10-05T01:19+0000 2021-10-05T07:13+0000 tech facebook mark zuckerberg whatsapp instagram /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/03/12/1082385699_0:208:2900:1839_1920x0_80_0_0_d0ed7289cf23aff18e5cb61f6afc12d3.jpg Facebook is the worlds most popular social media platform. With 2.8 billion active users as of July 2021, the only social media platform that comes close to rivaling it is YouTube at 2.3 billion active users. Facebooks dominance of social media is so complete that four of the top five social media platforms are either Facebook or owned by the company. Together, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook messenger, have a combined 7.5 billion active users.When Facebook and its cohort of platforms suddenly stopped working on Monday, October 4th, 2021 at around 11:30 a.m. EST, the internet found itself in uncharted territory. In a blink, the world reverted back to February 3, 2004, the day before TheFacebook launched.In the seventeen-plus years that Facebook has existed, the world has grown accustomed to using, interacting, and living on one of their platforms. With it gone, people, left out in the social media wilderness, were forced to wander their way to alternative forms of connection. In the wake of the Facebook exodus, one by one, websites and services experienced problems; Twitter, Amazon Web Services, Snapchat, Oculus, TikTok, Google, Telegram, Slack, Zoom, iMessage, Netflix, and Discord, almost none were completely spared.The culprit of the worldwide internet pandemonium was a simple Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) error. The BGP is responsible for routing users to a network, in essence, without a functioning BGP, Facebook had gone dark. However, the problems didnt stop at our web browser, it apparently crippled Facebook, the company, as well.Reports from The New York Times indicate that employees were unable to enter buildings as their badges werent working on access doors, and that their internal tools and platforms were also down. Facebook, one of the largest companies in the world, figured out a way to lock its customers and its employees out in one fell swoop.To solve the issue, Facebook reportedly had to physically send a team to save the day. The team was dispatched to their Santa Clara, California, data center in an effort to try a manual reset. Apparently, just like the rest of us, when Facebook runs into an IT problem, the golden goose is to turn it off and back on.Facebooks services have slowly been coming back on since around 7:00 p.m. EST. The problem, at least somewhat, has been resolved. A small BGP error caused one of the worlds richest men to lose $6 billion. A small BGP error caused the internet to come to a screeching halt like a rush-hour traffic jam. A small BGP error took Facebook offline. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 TruePatriot This propaganda piece makes me want to hurl. 1 2 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Nevin Brown Nevin Brown News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Nevin Brown tech, facebook, mark zuckerberg, whatsapp, instagram https://sputniknews.com/20211005/the-other-side-beijing-reportedly-feared-trump-might-goad-pla-into-attack-as-early-as-october-2020-1089667577.html The Other Side: Beijing Reportedly Feared Trump Might Goad PLA Into Attack As Early As October 2020 The Other Side: Beijing Reportedly Feared Trump Might Goad PLA Into Attack As Early As October 2020 After a new book on the Trump administrations final days revealed a top US general had contacted his Chinese counterpart about a potential US attack, a... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T01:07+0000 2021-10-05T01:07+0000 2021-10-05T01:06+0000 donald trump china asia-pacific mark milley /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/03/0a/1082303051_0:172:1908:1245_1920x0_80_0_0_7c2201df5ea4bff7af162a714b47ac05.jpg A source inside the PLA told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday that high-ranking PLA officials feared the US was trying to goad China into a military response in late 2020 by engaging in provocations.This was the time that US Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nations highest-ranking military officer, made his first of two phone calls to his counterpart in the PLA, Gen. Li Zuocheng, to reassure them that the US was not about to attack. According to a memorandum given by Milley to the Senate Armed Service Committee last month, the first call was made on October 30, 2020 - four days before the US presidential election.October SurpriseFor months before the election, then-US President Donald Trump had prepared the ground for a refusal to accept its results, particularly by denouncing plans to mail out an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots for safety reasons, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. However, some feared he might try to cling to power in other ways, as well.In mid-September 2020, the Washington Post reported that while Trumps hostility toward China had politically energized his anti-communist conservative base, it had left Chinese officials on-edge as the election neared.Shi Yinhong, a preeminent Chinese academic and international relations professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, told the Post that Trump ordering a limited attack on China, perhaps in the South China Sea, or something else extremely provocative, such as giving the Taiwanese government even stronger support, seemed plausible.These guys are crazy. Theres nothing they wont do to hurt China, to try to destroy China, even when it comes at a cost that previous administrations believed unacceptable to the US, Jia Qingguo, a professor of international studies at Peking University and Chinese government adviser, also told the Post.Other incidents also fueled Chinese anxieties. One incident in June 2020 reportedly saw US Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighters harassing a Chinese intelligence ship near the Miyako Strait with simulated dive-bombing maneuvers, which couldnt be resolved through typical military communication lines as Trump had cut most of them. Then in August, PLA troops in the South China Sea were explicitly directed not to fire the first shot during tense interactions with US forces.Then, the day before Milleys phone call, Chinese media picked up a story from the US military publication Air Force Magazine that the US was considering using MQ-9 Reaper drones to strike Chinese islands, interpreting this as an October Surprise and issued a fiery response. Their fears were only allayed when Sr. Col. Wu Qian, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of National Defense, said then-US Defense Secretary Mark Esper had made clarification through military and diplomatic channels that the report was false.The phone calls did help both sides to enhance crisis control of front-line troops, whose military professionalism might be affected by hostility amid the two great powers fierce competitions, Tian Shichen, director of the Centre for the International Law of Military Operations in Beijing, told SCMP.Taiwan Visit Spikes AnxietiesHowever, the situation continued to evolve. First, just days after the election, Trump fired Esper in what was widely perceived as a purge of figures who had disagreed with him, as Esper had the previous summer when it came to tolerating Confederate symbolism in the military. His replacement, Christopher Miller, was similarly seen as a yes-man. He was also the fifth Pentagon chief the Chinese had to deal with in four years.Later in November, as Trump openly defied the results of the November 3 election and claimed Democratic rival Joe Biden had only won via fraud, the sudden high-profile visit to Taiwan by Adm. Michael Studeman, the Pentagons Indo-Pacific intelligence chief, set off alarm bells across the PLA.To make things worse, Taiwanese media then began reporting that the US then-ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might also visit the island, SCMP reported. China considers Taiwan to be a rebellious province and regards US support for the Taiwanese government as interference in Chinas domestic affairs.The PLA needed to know whether Studemans Taipei visit implied that there were different voices in the Pentagon supporting Trumps possible plot. If the US insisted on doing that, then it would be war, the source added.The next few weeks brought more provocations, including another huge weapons sale to Taiwan was announced and several US warships purposefully violated Chinas claimed territorial waters with Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPS).Capitol RiotThe events of January 6, 2021, brought fears in China to a new high. Trump supporters had stormed the US Capitol Building and dispersed the national legislature in what seemed to be an attempted coup detat directed by Trump. By the end of the day, five people were dead, the Capitol looted and thousands of US troops were rushing to garrison the US capital city.In their book Peril, released on September 21, 2021, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa detailed the series of conversations between Milley and several other top administration figures, including the directors of major intelligence agencies and senior lawmakers, about interdicting any follow-up actions by Trump in the aftermath of the failed putsch.It was two days later, on January 8, that Milley reached out to Li for a second time. They spoke for 90 minutes, but even after Milley reassured Li that Trump would not attack China or attempt another power grab in Washington, Li remained unusually rattled, he told the Post journalists.My message again was consistent, Milley said. Stay calm, steady and de-escalate.According to Milleys memo, the PLA only began to reduce its operational readiness levels on January 30, ten days after Biden was sworn in as president under the protective aegis of 26,000 US troops in Washington, DC. Hess The PLA will sink the USA and remove it from the face of the Earth. It will be a blessing to Humanity. 9 Rus Hammer Head Yeah just like the sandal wearing goat herders of Afghanistan shit themselves with the might of the United States of Crap!!! 7 7 china asia-pacific Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg donald trump, china, asia-pacific, mark milley https://sputniknews.com/20211005/trumps-former-spokeswoman-recounts-ex-president-asking-who-was-tougher-xi-or-erdogan-1089693301.html Trump's Former Spokeswoman Recounts Ex-President Asking Who Was 'Tougher,' Xi or Erdogan Trump's Former Spokeswoman Recounts Ex-President Asking Who Was 'Tougher,' Xi or Erdogan WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham has revealed some tantalizing details about her work with former US President... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T22:20+0000 2021-10-05T22:20+0000 2021-10-05T22:19+0000 recep tayyip erdogan donald trump xi jinping tell-all stephanie grisham /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107648/83/1076488399_0:206:2908:1842_1920x0_80_0_0_75f10f464d2f8ae0d3c6ca8703ca5024.jpg Earlier in the day, the scandalous memoir from Grisham, titled "I'll Take Your Questions Now," shed light on the details of her work for the Trump administration. She insists that the book is expected to offer an honest account of what was going on behind the scenes in the Trump White House.Making Officials SquirmGrisham recalls that Trump had repeatedly said that Turkey "got screwed" during the administration of Barack Obama."Trump looked at our delegation, pointed to Erdogan, and said, 'This is no innocent baby, but he got screwed here,'" Grisham recalls in her book.She admitted that Trump enjoyed seeing his administration officials squirm when he noted Turkey in such a context, she admitted.Grisham recalled a situation when a Turkish delegation official asked for a private meeting with Trump and John Bolton, who served as the US national security adviser at that time.It was during that meeting when Trump addressed her with an unexpected question.After the meeting that day, Trump presented his verdict to Grisham on which of the world leaders was tougher.Trump's Amazement at India's Sanitary SituationAnother testy moment Grisham described was Trump's meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan when the former head of state mentioned a potential trip to India.As Khan kept pressing about India, Trump waved his hands and started saying that everything was boring."Doesn't seem appropriate to talk about trade now. Boring, very boring," Trump reportedly said.'Japan Said They Were Our Friends Right Before They Bombed Us'During a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Trump reportedly complained about Cairo buying Russian weapons, not the US ones, Grisham recalled.Sisi reportedly blamed the administration of Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, for the decision."Trump was insisted that he could get Egypt a great deal from the United States. 'I'll approve things myself, and you'll get everything very quickly,' he said. 'I don't want you paying billions of dollars to Russia,'" she recalled.'Frequently Said Insane Things to Foreign Leaders'Grisham recalled that she got so used to her boss' manners that she didn't see anything wrong with Trump's infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy back in 2019.According to the transcript of the talks, which was subsequently released by the White House, Trump had asked Zelenskyy to reopen the probe into Burisma and the activities of Hunter Biden in Ukraine. Concerns emerged that Trump allegedly expected this move to help him defeat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.The incident eventually resulted in the US president facing impeachment procedures as Democrat lawmakers accused him of soliciting the Ukrainian authorities to influence the course of the vote. Although he was formally impeached, a Republican majority in the Senate voted down a motion to remove Trump from office. danza \ 0 1 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 recep tayyip erdogan, donald trump, xi jinping, tell-all, stephanie grisham https://sputniknews.com/20211005/uk-prime-ministers-high-representative-for-afghanistan-meets-with-taliban-foreign-office-says-1089682519.html UK Prime Ministers High Representative for Afghanistan Meets With Taliban, Foreign Office Says UK Prime Ministers High Representative for Afghanistan Meets With Taliban, Foreign Office Says LONDON (Sputnik) - UK Prime Ministers High Representative for Afghan Transition Sir Simon Gass and the charge daffaires of the UK mission in Afghanistan... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T13:03+0000 2021-10-05T13:03+0000 2021-10-05T13:03+0000 united kingdom world afghanistan /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/0a/05/1089682469_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_85f49706330e9018a0a0468322e817ad.jpg "The Prime Ministers High Representative for Afghan Transition, Sir Simon Gass, and Charge dAffaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha, Dr Martin Longden, travelled to Afghanistan today to hold talks with the Taliban. They met senior members of the Taliban, including Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund and Mawlawi Abdul-Salam Hanafi," the Foreign Office said in a statement.According to the Afghan government press centre, Gass noted that the UK will continue to "play a constructive role in Afghanistan" and provide humanitarian assistance to the country through the UN and other international organisations. He stressed that special attention will be paid to issues related to Afghan women having access to higher education and the security of the country. Abdul Ghani Baradar, acting deputy head of the Taliban-appointed government, once again stressed that Afghanistan intends to build good relations with the whole world and Britain in particular, and also called on the international community to unfreeze Afghanistan's foreign assets.The British Embassy in Afghanistan was temporarily relocated to Doha in early September after the Taliban came to power.The Taliban seized the Afghan capital of Kabul in mid-August and the last remaining stronghold of resistance in Panjshir fell in early September. The movement then declared the all-male interim government, headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who served as the Afghan foreign minister during the previous Taliban rule.*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Preterist-ADSeventy The truth of Bidens blunder now comes out. it wasnt a blunder it was in the plans. 2 united kingdom afghanistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 united kingdom, world, afghanistan https://sputniknews.com/20211005/us-gop-senate-candidate-slams-twitter-for-banning-him-says-platform-messed-with-the-wrong-soldier-1089680931.html US GOP Senate Candidate Slams Twitter for Banning Him, Says Platform 'Messed With the Wrong Soldier' US GOP Senate Candidate Slams Twitter for Banning Him, Says Platform 'Messed With the Wrong Soldier' A previous post by retired Army Captain Sam Brown on 4 July, showing an image of him standing to attention in military dress to commemorate Independence Day... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T12:29+0000 2021-10-05T12:29+0000 2021-10-05T12:29+0000 twitter news us /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/03/01/1082224028_0:98:3295:1951_1920x0_80_0_0_a595b4e3e88822c90bb4fe01a4745f1b.jpg GOP Nevada Senate candidate and retired Army Captain Sam Brown has accused Twitter of waging an all-out attack on conservative voices, reported Fox News. The Purple Heart recipient who is running in the GOP primary and hopes to unseat Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in the 2022 midterm elections, slammed the social media platform for censorship after he discovered on Monday morning that his Twitter account had been suspended without any explanation or evidence as to which tweets had triggered the ban.While the account was later reinstated, with Twitter acknowledging its mistake, Brown, who suffered severe facial burns in an IED explosion in 2008 during a tour in Afghanistan, vowed decisive action against Big Tech. Deploring the fact that he had personally been targeted multiple times by Twitter's censorship, he was cited by the outlet as saying: Brown also wrote to the Washington Examiner to say: In a previous run-in with the platform, one of Browns tweets was labeled "potentially sensitive" when he commemorated Independence Day on 4 of July by sharing an image of himself offering a salute in uniform with the text "Freedom isn't free."Brown at the time responded with a scathing post, questioning Twitter whether it was his scars or the fact that I salute the flag? Regardless, neither are going away and neither am I." Twitter rejected the claim, with a spokesperson saying that such warnings can be enabled or disabled based on the individual user's account settings. Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko twitter, news, us https://sputniknews.com/20211005/us-national-security-advisor-to-meet-with-chinas-yang-jiechi-in-zurich-this-week-1089689019.html US National Security Advisor to Meet With Chinas Yang Jiechi in Zurich This Week US National Security Advisor to Meet With Chinas Yang Jiechi in Zurich This Week WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet with senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Zurich this week, National Security... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T17:39+0000 2021-10-05T17:39+0000 2021-10-05T17:39+0000 jake sullivan world us china /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/08/02/1083512342_0:0:2677:1506_1920x0_80_0_0_354c3d3d10baa9af4fbd0696d7f4c499.jpg "In Zurich, Mr. Sullivan will meet with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi," Horne said in a statement. "They will follow up on President Bidens September 9 call with President Xi [Jinping] as we continue to seek to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the Peoples Republic of China."After the meeting in Switzerland, Sullivan will then travel to Belgium and France, where he will inform European allies and partners about his meeting with the Chinese diplomat and discuss other issues, Horne said.Sullivan will also hold discussions with European officials on the issues of trade, technology and global economy, Horne said.In Paris, Sullivan will meet with his French counterpart Emmanuel Bonne to consult on bilateral issues, including preparations for the meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron in Europe later this month, Horne added. Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 china Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 jake sullivan, world, us, china https://sputniknews.com/20211005/us-senators-urge-biden-to-expel-300-russian-diplomats-amid-moscow-embassy-dispute-1089688242.html US Senators Urge Biden to Expel 300 Russian Diplomats Amid Moscow Embassy Dispute US Senators Urge Biden to Expel 300 Russian Diplomats Amid Moscow Embassy Dispute On Tuesday, 7 US senators sent a letter to US President Joe Biden urging him to threaten hundreds of Russian diplomats with expulsion in order to pressure... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T17:01+0000 2021-10-05T17:01+0000 2021-10-05T18:38+0000 world marco rubio russian embassy in us us embassy in russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/0f/1082636435_0:0:2831:1592_1920x0_80_0_0_3f1059b1fe02ec25ea1ffea62568088b.jpg The letter, addressed to Biden but also sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was written by US Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).In the letter, the lawmakers claim a "disproportionality in diplomatic representation" between Russian diplomats in the US and American diplomats in Russia. They say this disparity, which has led to 400 Russian diplomats in the US but just 100 Americans in Moscow, is caused by Moscow counting Russians who work at the US embassy as American diplomats. They also blame a new Russian policy barring Russian nationals from being employed at the US embassy in Moscow, claiming it "jeopardizes" the embassy's operations and undermines the ambassador's ability to defend US policy interests in Moscow.In other words, Russia must give 300 visas to American diplomats or the US would order 300 Russian diplomats out of the United States, if the senators got their way.The ministry added that it seems the senators seek the closure of US missions in Russia and should be conscious of the responsibility they hold.The new Russian policy took effect on August 1. However, it did not limit the number of diplomats the US could send to Moscow.However, the US government has been looking to restrict Russia's diplomatic presence in the US for some time. In early August, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov told Sputnik that some 130 Russian diplomatic workers and their family members had seen their visas expire without being given an extension. He noted that in recent days, 22 diplomatic visas had been given to Americans, but the Russians only received a single visa renewal in response.Another 24 diplomats were ordered to leave the country before September 3. "Almost all of them will leave without replacements because Washington has abruptly tightened visa-issuing procedures," Antonov told the US publication The National Interest on August 2.In December 2020, the US instituted a new policy of mandatory three-year limits on visas for Russian diplomats, which Moscow strongly protested as limiting to their diplomatic work in Washington, as well as its other consulates in the US. Alba1970 The Americans are hypocrites they started all this a few years back shutting down Russian consulates in American cities and the US took the hump when Russia reciprocated ... the Americans are hypocrites and liars 20 See you in the ice yeah, even if many Americans are decent and good, they are judged by the company they keep. 12 21 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Morgan Artyukhina https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/04/17/1082703728_0:0:800:800_100x100_80_0_0_0b6ce8daa7411284d60c8a0b6d84186d.jpg world, marco rubio, russian embassy in us, us embassy in russia https://sputniknews.com/20211005/wikileaks-turns-15-with-founder-assange-behind-bars-as-threat-to-powers-that-be-1089669002.html WikiLeaks Turns 15 With Founder Assange Behind Bars as Threat to Powers That Be WikiLeaks Turns 15 With Founder Assange Behind Bars as Threat to Powers That Be WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - WikiLeaks marks its fifteenth anniversary with founder Julian Assange jailed in the UK awaiting a US appeal to extradite him to the... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T03:56+0000 2021-10-05T03:56+0000 2021-10-05T03:54+0000 julian assange us anniversary extradition wikileaks /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/07e5/06/06/1083083770_0:160:3073:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_b2a80aaee858faed72513b070bc324af.jpg WikiLeaks was founded by Assange on October 4, 2006, but rose to prominence in 2010 when it began large-scale leaks of classified government information especially from the US.Assange was arrested in London in 2019 for jumping bail in 2012, and faces an unprecedented sentence on espionage charges. The US governments appeal to extradite him will be heard on October 27-28.Former National Security Agency Technical Director and eminent US whistleblower William Binney believes the attempt to lock up and silence Assange for the rest of his life reflects the fury and hatred of the US and other major governments at the success of his operations.When governments and their intelligence agencies, he added, control the mainstream media, they target other avenues that try to expose the truth to the public.Greatest AchievementsWikiLeaks rose to prominence most notably with regard to US human rights violations in Afghanistan and Iraq along with undisclosed civilian deaths. However, since then the site has also revealed the secrets of other governments and corporations worldwide.Coleen Rowley, a former FBI Special Agent and a Time Magazine Whistleblower of the Year, sees WikiLeaks as the best platform in modern times for moral officials in governments around the world to expose the crimes and abuses of the elite.Had WikiLeaks existed in 2000 and 2001, "there would have been decent government employees who would have shared their revelations with the public that could have prevented the 9/11 terrorist attacks" that took nearly 3,000 lives, Rowley said.Unfortunately, she added, the corrupt military-industrial complex as well as Big Pharma and other profiteers soon found ways to regain control over the media to prevent any truth from leaking out about their sordid activities.Global peace activist Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder and former head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility, said Assange used his technical expertise to advance the cause of freedom around the world.When Assange was a little boy, she explained, his mother used to take him to some of Caldicotts anti-nuclear lectures in Australia. Fast forward to 2021, she added, and look at Assanges impact on world affairs. Caldicott said he exposed organizations by publishing their secret documents which should, according to them, "never have seen the light of day."The recent revelations that the CIA and top Trump administration officials had seriously considered kidnapping or even killing Assange was consistent with how his fearless integrity had exposed and outraged them, Caldicott noted.Thomas Jefferson School of Law Professor Emerita and former National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn added that WikiLeaks 2010-2011 revelations of war crimes that the United States committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo were critically important to understand.It was the publication of CIA hacking tools known as "Vault 7" that incurred the wrath of former CIA director Mike Pompeo, who called WikiLeaks a "non-state hostile intelligence service," Cohn told Sputnik."But the recent revelations of Pompeos threats against Assange will hopefully shine a light on the dangers the national security state poses to investigative journalism," Cohn added. https://sputniknews.com/20210926/cia-was-ready-to-start-firefight-in-london-to-prevent-russia-from-busting-out-assange-media-claims-1089430835.html Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 Nevi'im We need Julian Assange out of Jail working on the Pandora papers! Locking up the truth is not progressing the world, it is degenerate corruption leading to Evil Empires. 1 2 us Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 julian assange, us, anniversary, extradition, wikileaks https://sputniknews.com/20211005/woman--outsider-ex-adviser-reveals-why-trump-did-not-regard-her-as-part-of-his-team--report-1089690749.html 'Woman & Outsider': Ex-Adviser Reveals Why Trump Did Not Regard Her as Part of His Team Report 'Woman & Outsider': Ex-Adviser Reveals Why Trump Did Not Regard Her as Part of His Team Report As Hill explained in her book, her academic and professional credentials, as well as her expertise, were simply irrelevant to Trump. 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T18:59+0000 2021-10-05T18:59+0000 2021-10-05T18:59+0000 donald trump us book adviser /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107705/09/1077050943_0:145:2815:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_522a948b2086426201a5852d3a23d386.jpg Fiona Hill, former adviser to the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump, has complained that her gender affected the fact that the ex-POTUS did not consider her a part of his team," Business Insider reports citing Hills new book, "There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century."According to the media outlet, Hill complained that she was never going to have any kind of sit-down with Donald Trump to talk about Vladimir Putin or Russia, with the major reason for that being a woman, and a completely unknown quantity at that.These two factors became critical in shaping my time in the NSC," wrote Hill, former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council during the Trump administration.Hill also mentioned how, during one meeting, Trump mistook her for a secretary and, when she paused, asked her Hey, darlin, are you listening? The Washington Post notes.Afterwards, a senior female official suggested to Hill to never wear that same outfit to a meeting with Trump, as he apparently always noticed what women were wearing, the newspaper adds. https://sputniknews.com/20210928/peskov-refutes-claims-putin-chose-attractive-interpreter-for-his-talks-with-trump-in-2019-1089490420.html anne00marie Wasn't she Theresa May's Special Adviser and helped lose many seats in the election, when Theresa May had a lot of support? Then she went over to the US, based in the UN. Wasn't she also involved in Hilary's 'Russia Gate' spin? No wonder Trump avoided her. Wise move. 3 Hampar Tokatlian Well if she wants to use the gender card, then, let me say that this bottom-feeding bitch was slightly to the right of Jon Bolton and Attila the Hun. Trump showed good judgement in keeping this shrill harpie muzzled. 2 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Andrei Dergalin Andrei Dergalin News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Andrei Dergalin donald trump, us, book, adviser https://sputniknews.com/20211005/worst-injustice-in-norway-lawyer-seeks-to-revert-400-year-old-witch-trials-1089670333.html 'Worst Injustice in Norway': Lawyer Seeks to Revert 400-Year-Old Witch Trials 'Worst Injustice in Norway': Lawyer Seeks to Revert 400-Year-Old Witch Trials In witch trials that took place across Europe between 1450 and 1750, about 100,000 people, mostly women, stood accused of witchcraft. About 45,000 were... 05.10.2021, Sputnik International 2021-10-05T05:56+0000 2021-10-05T05:56+0000 2021-10-05T05:56+0000 news europe norway scandinavia witch hunt witch witchcraft /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdnn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/106886/19/1068861940_0:0:2049:1153_1920x0_80_0_0_74ef5b1d1d27943c8e529033dcc9834a.jpg Lawyer Jostein Lken, a partner in the law firm Elden AS, has been fascinated by the historic witch-burning that took place in his native town of Elverum in the year 1625 and wants the trials resumed in court, the verdicts pronounced null and void and the victims acquitted.Lken sees the witch trial, in which local woman Ingeborg Knutsdatter kset, her son and sister were sentenced to death and burned alive for witchcraft, as arguably the worst injustice anyone has ever been subjected to in Norway and seeks to rectify it 396 years later, national broadcaster NRK reported.According to him, the victims deserve a completely different, humane and just trial.Ingeborg was turned over by her sister under torture. The same with Ingeborg's son. All three were subjected to atrocities. It has bothered me and I think we can not accept this.Lken views the bestial atrocities to which innocent women and a boy were exposed and ultimately burned at stake over a completely absurd accusation as a blemish on the Norwegian legal system.Lken already got in touch with descendants of Ingeborg Knutsdatter kset and her family and said that several have already signed up, including her nine times great-grandchildren.Historian and specialist in witchcraft and witchcraft trials in Norway Rune Blix Hagen argued that it is an exciting, but demanding, project. He emphasised that it was a matter of how well-preserved the sources are, since documents tend to be lost and timeworn at best in a matter of centuries.It can be a little difficult. My experience is that when we come down to the 17th century, it's a little bad with these kinds of sources. But it's not impossible at all, Blix Hagen mused.According to him, about 800 names of Norwegian wizards and witches put on trial are known, the majority of them being women. Over 300 of these were sentenced to death, which usually meant being burned alive at the stake. At that time, there was a duty to attend the burnings, which were meant to frighten the population.In Europe, witch trials took place between 1450 and 1750, with intensity peaking between 1580 and 1630. About 100,000 people, mostly women, went through the legal system due to alleged witchcraft. About 45,000 were executed. https://sputniknews.com/20211001/norway-digs-out-sensational-bronze-age-military-monument-near-modern-f-35-air-base-1089569666.html wtfud How about the same purge for bankers over 300 years. Better make that 400 years as there's a lot of those evil bastards. 1 Curtis James I was Suffering from herpes is a Terrible Experience which I suffered till I met a herbal doctor called Herbal Dr. Nelson. I tried all possible means to get cured but I never received a cure from any of the 7 hospitals I visited. Just July,21,2021 I saw a recent post of how Herbalist Dr. Nelson herbal medicine cured people & that he is a honest man to work with in the procedures on finding a cure, then i contacted him in trial & he sent me a herbal medicine with the full prescription on how to drink for two weeks & i exactly followed the guidelines that was given to me by Dr. Nelson to cut the long story short the herbal medicine flushed out my whole system & make the herpes virus inactive in my nervous system, All thanks to Dr Nelson who God is using to cure people of this terrible virus (herpes simplex virus) for anyone here that has herpes or other kinds of disease, should mail all his or her complain to Dr Nelson, Email;(drnelsonsaliu10@gmail.com) WhatsApp;+14436204203 1 12 norway scandinavia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2021 Igor Kuznetsov Igor Kuznetsov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Igor Kuznetsov news, europe, norway, scandinavia, witch hunt, witch, witchcraft Harness racing action returned to London, Ont. on Monday evening at The Raceway at Western Fair District hosted an 11-race card to kick off the fall proceedings at the half-mile oval. Pat Mcgarry A was a wire-to-wire winner in the added-distance feature in the finale for the trainer/driver duo of J.R. Plante and Brett MacDonald. The gelding rushed to the lead from Post 5 for MacDonald, and together they led the field through fractions of :28.2, :58.3 and 1:27.2 before drawing clear to win by 4-3/4 lengths over Press Time in a time of 2:04.1 for the 1-1/16 mile event. Partyintheshadows was third in the $9,500 affair. Sent off as the 1-5 favourite, the five-year-old son of Million Dollar Cam-Lady Pia Lombo won for the second time this season and for the first time on North American soil. The seven-time winner has banked over $37,000 to date. To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results The Raceway at Western Fair District. In August India ordered 120 of the new Israeli Skystriker loitering munition UAVs. This contract is worth $13.7 million. The Skystriker will be manufactured in India at a joint Israel-India owned plant. The Skystriker is basically a small (35 kg/77 pound), very quiet propeller driven cruise missile with a two hour endurance and capable of autonomous or operator controlled movement. Skystriker is launched from a catapult mounted on a vehicle. If Skystriker, with five to ten kg (11-22 pounds) of explosives on board, does not find a target it can return and land, using a small parachute, for reuse. In early 2019 Israel released a video from one of its Skystriker loitering missiles as it destroyed a Russian made Pantsir mobile anti-aircraft system in Syria. Earlier in the year an older Israeli loitering munition, the Harop (Harpy 2) had also destroyed a Pantsir system in Syria. India has been using similar Israeli loitering munitions for over a decade. In early 2018 India ordered another 54 Harop UAVs from Israeli firm IAI. India already had 110 of these and was obviously pleased with their performance. India purchased the first 110 of them back in 2009 for about $910,000 each, soon after Harop was introduced for SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) and other dangerous work. Skystriker was developed by Elbit, an IAI competitor. IAI also calls Harop Harpy 2 because it introduced the original Harpy in the 1990s. Harpy 2 (Harop) came along in 2006 and Skystriker in 2017. Pantsir is the latest Russian mobile anti-aircraft system. It was introduced in 2012 and offered to export customers as an effective defense against UAVs, helicopters and low-flying aircraft. Syria was where Pantsir first saw combat and losses to Harop and Skytriker were bad for sales but not a major boost for the Israeli loitering munitions because the Pantsir export customers were usually Moslem countries. Each Pantsir-S1 vehicle carries radar, two 30mm cannon, and twelve Tunguska missiles. The 90 kg (198 pound) Tunguska has a twenty-kilometer range while the Pantsir-S1 radar has a 30-kilometer range. The missile can hit targets at up to 8,400 meters (26,000 feet) high. The 30mm cannon is effective up to 3,200 meters (10,000 feet). The vehicles used to carry all the Pantsir-S1 can vary, but the most common one used weighs 20 tons and has a crew of three. Skystriker was designed to improve on the popular features of Harpy and Harop and do it at less cost per UAV. Its most direct competitor was Harop, which didnt see combat until early 2016. Harop is a small hybrid design UAV that can either be used for reconnaissance multiple times or once as a cruise missile. Harop is a conventional small aircraft with a cranked delta wing and its propeller in the rear. Harop is actually a UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) controlled by a remote operator and capable of flying more than 1,000 kilometers or loitering for up to 6 hours while carrying a 23 kilogram (51 pound) high explosive warhead. It can be launched from an aircraft or from a sealed storage/launch container mounted on vehicles or ships. Developed in 2005 from the earlier (1990s) Harpy, Harop improved on the original design by achieving better performance because it is a little longer with added outer wing extensions and a canard. Harop is 2.5 meters (8 feet, 2 inches) long, has a 3 meter (9 feet, 10 inches) wingspan and weighs 135 kg (298 pounds). Top speed is 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour. Harop was exported to India, Turkey and Germany. Unlike the original Harpy design, which was primarily designed to operate autonomously on SEAD missions, the Harop was designed to either operate autonomously (like many UAVs) or under remote control. When operating autonomously it cannot be jammed and it is sent out to detect and home in on radar signals from specific types of enemy air defense radars. In this respect it is like the classic HARM anti-radiation missile, using an anti-radar homing system to cripple enemy air defenses. Unlike Harpy, Harop can also be remotely controlled. This enables the operator to find and select static or moving targets using an onboard vidcam or FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) heat-sensing camera. While under remote control targets can be hit whether their radar is on or not. The remote control operation uses line-of-sight communications that are effective at up to 150 kilometers from the operator. That range can be extended using another aircraft or UAV to relay the control signals farther. Even when sent out with a warhead Harop can return and land if it did not find a target and be reused. Harop also has a stealthy design which, in addition to its small size and quiet engine, makes it very difficult to detect by radar or infrared (heat detecting) sensors. This stealth feature was meant mainly for SEAD missions because most air defense systems have sensors meant to detect approaching hostile aircraft. If these sensors detect an approaching unidentified aircraft the radar can be promptly turned off to avoid a HARM missile or other SEAD airstrike. Modern HARM missiles get around that by capturing the location of a radar signal and then homing in on where it came from, not the signal itself. The new government prefers to be called the IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) to differentiate itself from the elected government it recently replaced. That government now prefers to use its official name; IRA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). IEA formally requested that they be acknowledged by the UN as the government of Afghanistan and entitled to replace the IRA overseas ambassadors and diplomatic staff. The IRA government has now established itself in Tajikistan and is led by the senior vice president in the IRA Amrullah Saleh. Currently only Pakistan, China and Russia are still maintaining their embassies in Afghanistan. All the Afghan ambassadors, including the one in the UN, remain loyal to the IRA government the Taliban overthrew. Pakistan is counting on China and Russia to use their influence to change minds. Its not just foreign diplomats that have to be convinced, so do all the commercial firms that do business in or with Afghanistan. The Afghan economy has collapsed and is embarrassing for Pakistan, because most foreign trade with Afghanistan travels through two major border crossings in Pakistan. Traffic had dropped by more than half compared to the same time last year. The value of trade has declined even more. Part of the problem is that the Afghan banking system has collapsed and most foreign firms doing business in Afghanistan have shut down because of the banking collapse and the loss of many employees who are trying to flee Afghanistan to escape a purge of Afghans suspected of working for foreign governments. The Taliban cannot control many of its irregulars, young gunmen from the countryside who now claim the traditional Afghan reward of loot for the conqueror. The importance of loot in Afghan tribal tradition is often not appreciated by foreigners. The loot tradition is still alive and well. For example, during the initial 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan, which initially faced little armed opposition, urban Afghans were surprised at the attitude of many defeated Afghan tribesmen. As Russian armored vehicles rolled through Kabul in 1979, each one full of well-equipped, especially by Afghan standards, Russian troops, one tribesman from the countryside was heard (by a Western educated Afghan who soon got out and went to work in the U.S.) muttering, look at all that loot. The American Special Forces and CIA understood how this worked and expected many of the rural tribesmen hired to serve as hired guns for the Taliban and drug cartels are now looting wherever there is loot to be had. Foreign businesses and the homes of known IRA officials are prime targets. Taliban leaders ordered a halt to the looting, especially if it included attacks on women, which often involved forced marriages. The Taliban leaders are also trying to prevent attacks on Afghan Shia, which Iran has warned will not be tolerated. Getting the victorious young guns to comply will be difficult. Threatening or using lethal force will be difficult. Proper Islamic trials, no matter how brief and expedient, may still trigger a mutiny. Despite early assurances that education would not be disrupted, the Taliban soon banned women from attending higher education (high school and university). Women were banned from working outside the home without the presence of a male family member as a guardian. Those early assurances proved impossible to enforce because many Taliban gunmen, and the mid-level leaders who directly commanded them, enforced old school rules on women. A Poisonous Patron Another problem more visible now is the complicity of Pakistan in the drug trade and Taliban violence in Afghanistan. Currently many key Taliban leaders are recognized by the UN as sponsors of international terrorism. Pakistan is also widely recognized as a terrorism supporter. Pakistan believes there are as many as 9,000 foreign Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and is willing to help the Taliban eliminate those terror groups. That will be difficult because the majority (about 6,000) of these foreign terrorists are Pakistanis belonging to the TTP (Pakistani Taliban) who seek to impose a Taliban-like government in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban, despite their dependence on Pakistani support, are, like the TTP, composed of Pushtun tribesmen who have a long history of avoiding war with each other. Moreover, many Afghan Taliban believe Pakistan should have a religious dictatorship like Afghanistan now does. Pakistanis and Afghan understand how and why this absurd situation exists but many foreign nations do not. Those operating the Pakistani, Russian and Chinese embassies in Afghanistan appear to appreciate this problem and are seeking ways to make it less visible to the rest of the world. China, Russia and Pakistan believe they can make Afghanistan work to their advantage but understand this is not a sure thing. Russia got burned in the 1980s when they tried to support a communist government in Afghanistan that triggered a massive backlash from most Afghans. China sees economic potential in Afghanistan but has had a hard time doing business in Pakistan, where most of the hostile Islamic terrorists and rebel groups are kept under control. Afghanistan has no history of doing that but China sees a potential opportunity and pursues until it becomes obvious it wont work. At that point China will declare the Taliban hostile and concentrate on keeping their influence out of China and nations with heavy Chinese investments. Russia reacted by organizing and announcing joint military exercises between Russian forces and those of the three nations Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, that were part of the Soviet Union until 1991 and now border Afghanistan. There is also Kyrgyzstan, which borders China and Tajikistan. Russia has maintained close military, economic and diplomatic ties with the stans, who are suffering from the Afghan drug cartels that used their countries as markets for the drugs as well as a smuggling route to other parts of Eurasia. Now more Islamic terrorists from Taliban Afghanistan will be added. Russia and the stans also stand ready to support the armed opposition to the Taliban, just like before. That cooperation has apparently already begun, without any official announcements or consultation with China. Tajikistan allowed the IRA government in exile to base itself in the Tajik capital. In 2001, when the Americans intervened, they did so to assist the NA (Northern Alliance), which was largely Afghan Tajiks, Hazar and Uzbeks still holding out in the north on September 11, 2001. While Pushtuns, mainly in the south, are 40 percent of the population, Tajiks are 24 percent, Hazara ten percent, Uzbek nine percent and various other non-Pushtun minorities in the north are the majority in Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance contained some northern Pushtuns, but most of the combat leaders were Uzbek and Tajik. The NA was the only ones trying to protect the Hazara, who comprise most of the Shia Afghans and are considered heretics by the Taliban. Taliban members are frequently being attacked and killed by ISIL or Afghans who oppose the Taliban lifestyle and economic rule that are destroying jobs and the economy. This is the Afghan way of letting outsiders know they are not welcome. For most Afghans the Taliban takeover has been an economic disaster. Two decades of no Taliban rule has led to enormous growth in GDP, health, and longevity. Now the Taliban are destroying it all and assuring everyone that current difficulties will soon be fixed. October 4, 2021: The number of Afghans fleeing to Iran is increasing and many of them are Afghan Shia who offer personal accounts of how the Taliban attacks on Afghan Shia have resumed. Iran has kept its criticisms of the Taliban misrule to the Taliban private so far. But the renewed violence against Afghan Shia and collapse of the Afghan economy have put the Iranian support for the IEA government in danger. October 3, 2021: Outside Kabul a bomb went off at a Mosque entrance as people left a memorial service for the mother of a senior Taliban official. At least five were killed and 11 wounded. The casualties included Taliban and civilians. The IEA immediately sent its special forces to arrest the usual suspects in Kabul which resulted in gun battles at three homes where the inhabitants apparently believed arrest by the Taliban gunmen would not end well for them. Later ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) took credit for the attack. The IEA declared that Kabul international airport is again ready to handle international flights. There has already been some traffic from Qatar, Pakistan, and the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The IEA has made it a lot more expensive to fly in and out of the country. Airport used fees, as well as the cost of obtaining a visa or an airline ticket have gone up enormously. The IEA needs the money and this is one the few ways to get it, October 2, 2021: In the east some TTP crossed the Pakistani border into North Waziristan and ambushed a Pakistani patrol, killing four soldiers and one policeman. The TTP gunmen then fled back into Afghanistan. These attacks despite Pakistani and IEA efforts to work out a peace deal with the TTP. Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan repeated his belief that foreign nations, including the United States, would eventually have to recognize the Taliban IEA government and resume diplomatic and economic relations with Afghanistan. Thats a minority opinion in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kahn is taking a lot of heat from Pakistanis who have seen their incomes fall or disappear because of the collapse of the Afghan economy. Khan has been a longtime fan of the Taliban, earning him the nickname; Taliban Khan. October 1, 2021: Tajikistan confirmed that they had sharply reduced exports of electricity to Afghanistan and shifted those exports to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which is suffering a power shortage because a drought has provided less water for hydroelectric power plants. The IEA government in Afghanistan is unwilling or unable to pay for power imports from Tajikistan. The IEA is encountering similar problems throughout the country where many key personnel who operate and maintain new power, water supply, sanitation and medical infrastructure built in the last two decades leave their jobs or, in the case of women, are banned from continuing their work. Many of the male technicians fled because they feared being arrested as collaborators. The Taliban has declared the secular education system that produced all these managers and technical specialists was a waste and must be replaced by religious schools. Many Taliban officials disagree with this as it will hinder the IEA ability to function and the breakdown of this infrastructure is very unpopular with most Afghans. The Taliban conservatives currently have sufficient influence within the IEA leadership to enforce the policies that are damaging the economy. The NRF (National Resistance Front), the largest organized resistance force, is based in the north and is seeing the impact of these destructive Taliban policies and expects this to benefit the NRF while weakening the Taliban. This is similar to what happened in the late 1990s as the original Taliban, imposed similar policies which angered many Afghans and generated popular support for the Northern Alliance that drove the Taliban from the country after September 11, 2001 and the American intervention. Defeating the Taliban may take a little longer this time because the Taliban are financially stronger and better organized than last time and the Americans are not likely to intervene again unless future major terror attacks in the West are traced back to Islamic terrorists based in Afghanistan. September 30, 2021: The recent return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Afghanistan is also having an impact on the Syrian Civil War. Afghan refugee resettlement is a major domestic political issue in Turkey, which already has too many Syrian refugees. Economic stress from hosting Syrian refugees is a major reason for getting directly involved in the Syrian civil war since 2016. More Afghan refugees would bring more violence, from cultural differences and the threat of Islamic terrorists using refugee status as a cover. Turkey currently hosts over four million refugees. About 92 percent of them are Syrian. Over 200,000 Afghans were already living in Turkey when the Taliban returned to power in August. Many of the current refugees have been in Turkey since mid-2011. Refugees, legal and illegal, have put a major stress on the Turkish economy and many individual Turks. Over 500,000 Syrian school children attend Turkish schools and will get worse if more Afghan refugees get in. Some Turkish provinces are feeling the stress more than others. In southern Turkey, on the Syrian border, Kilis province has a population of 140,000 Turks and provides refuge for 105,000 Syrians. Fear of Islamic terrorism is another reason Turks are concerned about an Afghan refugee influx. Al Qaeda and ISIL have launched attacks within Turkey for years. Turkey is seen by smugglers as a gateway to Europe, especially for the lucrative business of smuggling people. Often the refugees fail to get into Europe and end up stuck in Turkey. All this puts more pressure on the Turks to end the Syrian Civil War and give many of the refugees an incentive to go home. September 29, 2021: In the United States senior military commanders were ordered to appear before the SASC (Senate Armed Services Committee). This is the only part of the legislature that can compel government officials to appear and testify about what advice the military gave the president. The military always insisted that their advice remained the same; keep a residual force of 2,500 troops to reassure Afghans and the elected government that they would have continued support if the Taliban made another major attack to overthrow the government. The Taliban tried that after all, except a residual U.S. force, foreign troops had left Afghanistan. After the Taliban suddenly overthrew the Afghan government in mid-August questions were asked and the answer from Afghans (including the Taliban) and Americans in or recently in Afghanistan was that they were always told the Americans would keep a residual force. Then the U.S. ordered a change in early 2021, apparently ignoring the advice of senior military commanders. In mid-April the May 1 departure date sent by the previous president, that included leaving the residual force, was changed to September 11, 2021. This new departure date was symbolic as it is two decades after the al Qaeda terror attacks in the United States that triggered the invasion of Afghanistan and hunt for al Qaeda leaders and Islamic terrorists in general. The departure might still be delayed or cancelled but it has been underway for over a year and it was noted that a residual force of 2,500 American troops in Afghanistan was also preparing to leave. The remaining American troops closed their bases and were living in Afghan bases until they left. After the mid-August Taliban takeover, the American president was asked if he had been told that his military advisors had informed about the need to keep the residual force. The president said he had never been told that. That raised questions about whether the military let the president known that withdrawing the residual force was not a good idea. None of those senior officials, including the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the American commander of all U.S. forces in the region (CENTCOM) would contradict the president unless called before something like the SASC, where lying is a crime. All three senior officials confirmed that the president had been told personally about the need to keep the residual force. In response to the SASC testimony the president said he didnt remember. September 28, 2021: The Taliban have finally formed a government and appointed those who will head government ministries. Two of those ministers; Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, were among those found to be Taliban leaders directly involved in running the heroin cartels. By 2012 the American Justice Department was ready to present the evidence in a court and call for indictments. Part of their case was that this approach had worked against the FARC (a similar rebel group in Colombia) in 2006 and the evidence against the Taliban was even stronger. The president put the indictments on hold because of his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban. Reminders that the same strategy and been tried and failed against FARC did not help, the peace talk efforts continued but never worked. FARC was defeated and ceased to exist because of the indictments. Its unclear if the Taliban learned anything from that. September 18, 2021: Chinese media claim recent American actions make it clear that China is now dominant in East Asia and that its power is spreading worldwide. China is openly dismissive of the ability of foreign governments, especially the Americans, to defy Chinese demands. China is flaunting its power in places like Afghanistan where everyone is discovering that China has the final say over who does what there now that the Americans have withdrawn. That is a dubious achievement as far as everyone else in the region is concerned. China is disrupting an ancient rivalry between Persians and Indians over who gets what inside Afghanistan. The economic basis of that rivalry was control over portions of the Silk Road trade routes between China and points west. The Silk Road was replaced by more efficient European ships, and their firepower, six centuries ago. In the 21st century China is reviving the Silk Road as an overland and maritime network through nations friendly towards trade with and investments from China. Iran and India see this as a threat while Pakistan sees it as an economic lifeline as well as an obligation to do what China wants. In Afghanistan China is willing to do business with whoever can provide a safe environment for Chinese investments and trade. There are doubts that anyone can do that and China is waiting to see what Iran and Pakistan can do about it. India and Russia are also cautious about doing business in Afghanistan; both currently consider the IEA a threat. Because of Pakistani control of the IEA, India is now banned from Afghanistan but still has valuable trade relationships with Iran that Iran does not want to lose. China and India are currently archenemies of each other. Finally, there are the Afghan-based drug cartels that supply most of the heroin to the entire planet. While universally hated throughout the region, cartel money is a major source of income for the Taliban and the Pakistan military, which is currently running the government in Pakistan. Although everyone regards China as a potential wealthy benefactor, the Chinese themselves are less confident. For a decade China has faced the growing prospect of a major financial disaster because of growing bad debts, a property bubble and corruption. Now a major Chinese real estate firm, sitting on over $300 billion of bonds that are as toxic as they come, threatens to trigger the long-feared financial crisis. China can avoid the bankruptcy of the real estate firm, but only for so long. As problems go, this one puts the Chinese interest in Afghanistan into perspective. September 15, 2021: The safety of Afghan Shia, now that the Taliban are back in control of Afghanistan, has become a major issue in Iran, a minor one for Syria and an uncertain one in the new Taliban controlled Afghanistan. The new IEA government, now more openly controlled by Pakistan, is not seen as an improvement by most Iranians or the 20 percent of Afghans that are Shia. Many of those Afghans served as Iranian mercenaries in Syria and some are still in Syria because they are the best, and most expensive, mercs. The new hardline Iranian government regards defending all Shia as one of its core functions. Doing that in Afghanistan and Pakistan, two nations that have been notorious for persistent anti-Shia violence, has been difficult, producing more empty promises and real solutions. Initially the IEA banned attacks on Afghan Shia. Iran believed that could change quickly and it did. The centuries old Sunni animosity towards Shia remains. As in the past, Iran will try to get what it can from the Taliban while remembering that many Taliban factions and individuals see tolerance for Shia as bad for Afghanistan. September 14, 2021: Afghan refugee resettlement is a major domestic political issue in Turkey, more so than in many other Western, Asian, and African nations. Economic stress from hosting Syrian refugees is a major reason. Afghan refugees would bring more violence, from cultural differences and the threat of Islamic terrorists using refugee status as a cover. Turkey currently assists over four million refugees. An estimated 3.7 million are Syrian refugees. Over 200,000 Afghans are living in Turkey. Many of them have been in Turkey since mid-2011. Over 500,000 Syrian school children attend Turkish schools. Some smaller Turkish provinces are particularly strained. In the south, on the Syrian border, Kilis province has a population of 140,000 Turks and it provides refuge for 105,000 Syrians. Fear of Islamic terrorism is another reason Turks are concerned about an Afghan refugee influx. Moslem majority nations have long been reluctant to accept Moslem refugees, much more so than any Western nations. Many of these refugees prefer to go to a non-Moslem country and Turkey has made a profit on that by demanding large payments from the EU (European Union) to keep Moslem refugees on the Turkish side of the border. During and after the Russian invasion most Afghan refugees ended up in Pakistan. Most of these refugees were Pushtuns and most of the Pakistani border with Afghanistan has Pushtuns on both sides of the border. This was not the case in Iran, which took far fewer Afghan refugees. This time Pakistan does not want any Afghan refugees but that is difficult to enforce because Pushtuns still live on both sides of the border and a new Pushtun movement calls for all Pushtun to oppose Pakistani oppression. Two-thirds of Pushtun live in Pakistan while most of the rest are in Afghanistan. September 8, 2021: The Russian national security advisor arrived in India to confer with his Indian counterpart and later announced that both countries agreed on the danger Taliban control of Afghanistan is to the region and called on Pakistan to halt its support for the Taliban and halt its support for other Islamic terrorist groups. Russia had tried to improve its relations with Pakistan but found China had a veto on who Pakistan could play with. China is better insulated from any Islamic terrorism the Taliban seek to export. China has also been more successful at keeping the Afghan heroin and opium out. The Taliban need support from Pakistan and especially China. Pakistan has become an economic vassal of China and gains powerful support in the UN and against international criticism for supporting Islamic terrorism. China is offering the same arrangement to the Taliban government but most Taliban factions oppose being in the pay of the Chinese. Up until now China had accepted Pakistani assurances that Pakistan would continue to control the Taliban leadership after the Taliban replaced the elected government. China was aware of the Taliban disunity over Pakistani influence and Pakistan sent the head of ISI to Kabul to deal with how this was interfering with the formation of a Taliban government. Pakistan needs a clear win in Afghanistan and they are not getting it. The ISI plan has become a shaky house of cards but the new Taliban government was dominated by pro-Pakistan Taliban. The anti-Pakistan Taliban leaders were denied positions in the government they believed they were entitled to. That risks the anti-Taliban factions resuming their violence against Pakistani interests in Afghanistan. If that happens, Chinese investments are not going to happen. Windows 11 has finally arrived, and the worlds most widely used operating system is getting its first major upgrade in six years. With Windows 11 release, Microsoft is giving the OS a fresh coat of paint, from the system elements like the Start Menu to the notification centre and the system apps. Users will also be able to run Android apps without installing emulator software and security and performance improvements will enhance user experience in general. However, many users who are waiting for Windows 11 to arrive on their PCs and laptops today might be in for a bit of a surprise. Microsoft has added stringent requirements that bar older devices from installing the update, which excludes millions of PCs. Even if you do have a compatible PC or laptop, Microsoft says that the rollout will be done in a phased manner, and some users may not see the update notification show up for weeks or even until 2022. Also read: Looking for a smartphone? Check Mobile Finder here. If you have a PC that meets Microsofts hardware requirements which include a recent processor from AMD, Intel or Qualcomm, Secure Boot, a TPM 2.0 module, ample RAM and storage, you can install Windows 11 ahead of the official rollout for your device. Yes, you read that right! Also read: Windows 11 review: An inside out makeover Heres how to escape the queue and install Windows 11 on your laptop or desktop computer right away. Step 1) Take a backup of all of your personal files on a different device like a large thumb drive or a hard disk, in case something goes wrong during the installation process. Step 2) Head over to the Windows 11 download page, then look for an option that says Windows 11 Installation Assistant this is the recommended installation method for Windows 11. Also read: Not seeing Windows 11 update yet? Wait for October 5 to begin plus more reasons Step 3) Download the Windows 11 Installation Assistant and open it on your PC or laptop. Step 4) The Assistant will ask you to run the Windows 11 PC Health Check App to verify compatibility. After this, users will have to click the Refresh button. Step 5) Now follow the steps to continue installing the Windows 11 update on your device. The new Apple iPhone 13 series has some of the most advanced phone cameras you can use today. Our reviews revealed a very potent camera system that could rival DSLR cameras. Hence, it would not be surprising to see an iPhone going to space and taking photos that rival some of the professional camera systems. Yes, on SpaceXs latest Inspiration4 mission, a photo shot on iPhone has wowed enthusiasts on social media. Jared Issacman, one of the crew members on the SpaceX Inspiration4 missions, has shared a photo of the Earth on his Twitter feed. The photo is claimed to be taken from an iPhone and he is in full awe of its quality. Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this. I really love the nosecone in the picture, Issacman said. iPhone goes into space, takes amazing Earth shot That photo wasnt the only thing his iPhone took. Issacman quickly followed it up with a video from the spacecraft shot on the iPhone. The video shows a view of Brazil from the orbit, panning around the window of the spacecraft. Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this. I really love the nosecone in the picture. pic.twitter.com/sz1UVx3pUE Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) October 3, 2021 We need to take far better care of our home planet and also reach for the stars, he added with that video. Another video followed from the iPhone moments later. It is obvious that a photo from an iPhone will struggle against a professional camera system that Nikon has sent onboard the spacecraft. Hence, subsequent photos from the missions could come out looking even better. However, an iPhone hanging around with professional space equipment and wowing the social media as well as the crew members with its quality is something to applaud. That said, Issacmans iPhone isnt the only Apple product onboard the SpaceX mnission. All tehc rew members wore an Apple Watch device to collect several health data parameters such as ECG, heart rate, sleep, rhythm, and blood oxygen saturation monitoring. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram outage: After an outage that lasted for over 6 hours, all the social media apps are back. Taking to Twitter, Facebook tweeted this message, To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us. However, Facebook did not immediately explain what caused the failure, the largest ever tracked by web monitoring group Downdetector, Reuters revealed. However, every user may not have got back access to their social media accounts, as is clear from this tweet. Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer tweeted, adding that it To every small and large business, family, and individual who depends on us, I'm sorry. He added, It may take some time to get to 100%." WhatsApp tweeted this to its users, Apologies to everyone who hasnt been able to use WhatsApp today. Were starting to slowly and carefully get WhatsApp working again. Thank you so much for your patience. We will continue to keep you updated when we have more information to share." Instagram, which too had gone down, tweeted this, Instagram is slowly but surely coming back now thanks for dealing with us and sorry for the wait! Several Facebook employees who declined to be named said that they believed that the outage was caused by an internal mistake in how internet traffic is routed to its systems. The failures of internal communication tools and other resources that depend on that same network in order to work compounded the error, the employees said. Security experts said an inadvertent mistake or sabotage by an insider were both plausible. "Facebook basically locked its keys in its car," tweeted Jonathan Zittrain, director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. What exacerbated the problem was the fact that Facebook's internal systems too had gone down. This made it impossible to do things at every level, eve entering the office building. There were reports that employees at work on the company's Menlo Park, California, campus had trouble entering buildings because the outage had rendered their security badges useless. But the impact was far worse for multitudes of Facebook's nearly 3 billion users, showing just how much the world has come to rely on it and its properties to run businesses, connect with online communities, log on to multiple other websites and even order food. News agency AP, quoted Kendall Ross, who is the owner of a knitwear brand called Knit That in Oklahoma City, as saying that he has 32,000 followers on his Instagram business page @id.knit.that. Almost all of his website traffic comes directly from Instagram. He posted a product photo about an hour before Instagram went out. He said he tends to sell about two hand-knit pieces after posting a product photo for about $300 to $400. The outage today is frustrating financially, he said. Its also a huge awakening that social media controls so much of my success in business. There is another worry too for users. So many people are reliant on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram as primary modes of communication that losing access for so long can make them vulnerable to criminals taking advantage of the outage, said Rachel Tobac, a hacker and CEO of SocialProof Security. They dont know how to contact the people in their lives without it, she said. Theyre more susceptible to social engineering because theyre so desperate to communicate. Tobac said during previous outages, some people have received emails promising to restore their social media account by clicking on a malicious link that can expose their personal data. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram outage: What happened Top social media apps WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram suffered a massive outage, leaving users unable to communicate with anyone. The service was down for several hours. All three have crashed and there is no sign of them reviving for as long as 7 hours, leaving users frustrated. Along with these three, Facebook Messenger and Oculus VR too went down. DownDetector is showing that all three sites are facing issues and users have taken to Twitter in droves to complain about it. The sites crashed approximately at the same time around 9 PM IST. These are three of the biggest social media platforms and when they crash, it affects billions of people. It also signals there is a common point that has been hit badly. Why WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram crashed In earlier such instances, a DNS server issue had been blamed. The error message on Facebook's webpage suggested a Domain Name System (DNS) error. What DNS does is allow web addresses to take users to their destinations. Facebook itself controls the settings. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. None of the three websites has so far said what the reason behind the outage is. Security experts said the outage was likely triggered by a configuration error that left directions to Facebook servers unavailable. That could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm Facebook and its sister sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique, Reuters reported. A WhatsApp user named Yuyrtsha, on Downdetector, vented frustration by posting this comment, "Oh come ON, I've been waiting for this damn app to start working from ages, somebody tell me when it starts working" Social media apps respond WhatsApp finally acknowledged the issue and tweeted this: "Were aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. Were working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible." If you try to go to Instagram website, it is showing a completely white page with "5xx Server Error" in big black bold letters right on top. Facebook website is showing this message on Chrome browser: This site cant be reachedCheck if there is a typo in facebook.com. If spelling is correct, try running windows network Diagnostics. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN" The same error message is being shown by WhatsApp Web too. This is Instagram reaction on Twitter: Instagram Comms@InstagramComms1h Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, were on it! Facebook too has taken to Twitter. It tweeted, "Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience." The number of users affected in India can be gauged from the official government data that was shared earlier this year. There are as many as 53 crore WhatsApp users, 41 crore Facebook users and 21 crore Instagram users in India. Facebook has experienced similar widespread outages with its suite of apps this year in March and July. Not just the direct users of these social media apps have been affected, others too are facing issues because as they use their Facebook credentials to log in to third-party apps. This was clear from what Match Masters, a competitive match-3 puzzle game, tweeted for its users, "Hold on tight! If you're game isn't running as usual please note that there's been an issue with Facebook login servers and the moment this gets fixed all will be back to normal! In the meantime - check our our latest Twitter competition - you may be a winner! #facebookdown." Facebook's Whistleblower Fiasco The outage comes a day after a whistleblower went on US television to reveal her identity after she leaked a trove of documents to authorities alleging the company knew its products were fueling hate and harming children's mental health. Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old data scientist from Iowa, has worked for companies including Google and Pinterest -- but said in an interview with CBS news show "60 Minutes" that Facebook was "substantially worse" than anything she had seen before. Twitter reactions While there is immense frustration among users, many have taken this as an opportunity for some light-hearted banter as is clear from their reactions on Twitter. Here are a few: A WhatsApp user, Sachin Rai (@Sachinraikadaba) took to Twitter and tweeted his disappointment this way, "Now everyone coming to Twitter Because Fb,Insta and wa are down." Another one, :Shahroz Makhdoom (@ShahrozMakhdoom) tweeted, "Everyone rushing to twitter to confirm if their wifi is slow or if zuckerberg is making fun of everyone again." Yadav Ji Blue heart (@sarcasmiclondaa) tweeted, Everyone going to Twitter & Telegram to see if instagram and whatsapp are down for everyone else Loudly crying faceFace with tears of joy." Ronoh Cornelius (Kipchumba) tweted, "Mark Zuckerberg is now number 5 in the billionaires Forbes chart, after losing $6,6 billion due to the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage. #facebookdown." In one of the day's most popular tweets, video streaming company Netflix shared a meme from its new hit show "Squid Game" captioned "When Instagram & Facebook are down," that showed a person labeled "Twitter" holding up a character on the verge of falling labeled "everyone." Inside a Facebook group for ad buyers, one member wisecracked after service returned that "lots of people searched today 'how to run google ads for clients.'" Back in the middle of 2021, Acer Swift X and Acer Nitro 50 were introduced but not in the Malaysian market until now. So today, Acer Malaysia has officially announced the two laptops' arrival from a starting price of RM4299 starting from 6 October 2021 onwards. To recap the tech specs, the Swift X is powered by up to AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti with 3rd Generation Max-Q technology. There are two variants - an AMD Ryzen 7 and AMD Ryzen 5 retailing for RM4999 and RM4299 respectively. The memory configuration is as impressive as well, with up to 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD. Weighing at just 1.39kg, it comes with a fast-charging 59W battery and offers up to 17 hours (results may vary depending on usage). The IPS display may be just 14-inches, but it supports a 100% sRGB colour gamut and 300nits brightness. To celebrate the arrival, any purchase of Acer Swift X from 6 October until 20 October 2021 at Acer Shopee Flagship Store and Acer eStore will be entitled to purchase a Logitech MX Anywhere 3 mouse for 50% off, at RM199. It will be available at all Acer official online stores and Acer authorized resellers nationwide beginning 15 October 2021. As for the Acer Nitro 50, it comes with either AMD Ryzen 7 and AMD Ryzen 5 with up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GPU. Although the default memory is 8GB of DDR4 RAM and 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, the laptop is upgradeable thanks to the additional memory slots. Coming with 3 years onsite warranty, it will be available at all Acer official and authorized reseller stores nationwide starting from 10 October 2021, in three variants: Acer Nitro 50 - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 - RM4299 Acer Nitro 50 - AMD Ryzen 7 5700G - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER - RM4999 Acer Nitro 50 - AMD Ryzen 7 5700G - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti - RM6499 Customers who purchase Acer Nitro 50 with AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors through Acer eStore or Acer Flagship Store on Shopee on 10 October 2021 will be entitled to receive gifts worth up to RM278, which include a Predator Galea 311 gaming headset and a Predator Gaming Urban Backpack. That's all, folks. Stay tuned for more local trending tech gadget promotions at TechNave.com. Netflix has released an update on the status of Squid Game season 2, commenting on the chances and timeline for the smash-hit Korean series getting a second chapter. While Netflix has had significant international success in the past with non-English shows like Lupin and Money Heist, nothing has compared to Squid Game, which is set to become the streamers biggest series ever. That level of success would seem to demand a Squid Game season 2, but will it happen? The end of Squid Game season 1 certainly leaves enough loose ends hanging to generate more story in a potential Squid Game season 2. Much of the lore and history surrounding the deadly competition is left shrouded in mystery, leaving some major storylines open for continuation in the future. However, Squid Games unprecedented popularity on Netflix couldnt possibly have been anticipated, so the plan for the franchises future surely looks quite different now than it did when Squid Game first aired. In a recent interview with Vulture, Bela Bajaria, Netflixs head of Global TV, discussed the likelihood and potential timeline of Squid Game season 2 and when it could arrive. Because Squid Games popularity has so drastically exceeded Netflixs expectations, the main question seems to be the availability of creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. He has a film and other things hes working on, Bajaria said, emphasizing that Netflix is trying to figure out the right structure for him. Its good that Netflix is deferring to Hwang and prioritizing his availability, but that also means that Squid Game season 2 may not be coming for a while. Still, its encouraging to hear that plans for Squid Game season 2 are in motion at Netflix. From the dystopic storyline and rich, taught atmosphere to the striking visual style and Squid Games cast of talented stars, there are a lot of reasons to love Hwangs series, and its great to see it catching on all over the world. Given how many characters die throughout the series, of course, Squid Game season 2 could be a good deal different than season 1, but that only means more opportunities for new and exciting storylines. Hwang has said that he wants to take some time away from Squid Game before jumping back in for season 2. Theres a chance that he could decide not to return to the franchise at all, which would lead to either a shift in creative oversight for future installments or Squid Game season 1 simply being all there is. For the story, the ending of Squid Game season 1 could easily serve as the end of the series as a whole, but its unlikely that Netflix would leave such a massively popular property undeveloped. Source: Vulture Fans of Strictly Come Dancing have taken to social media to praise the show for featuring its very first deaf contestant, Rose Ayling-Ellis. A few weeks ago, the show premiered the long-awaited season 19 and revealed all 15 celebrities and their dancing partners. Like last year, there are still some restrictions in place for the contestants to ensure that the show can continue on during the aftermath of COVID-19. This essentially means that all the celebrities were assigned their partners before the show even premiered. In the opening group number to Donna Summers "I Feel Love," the Strictly professionals gave fans insight into just what they can look forward to in the upcoming season, as well as reintroducing well-known presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, and judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, and Shirley Ballas. The new Strictly Come Dancing season also welcomed a brand new judge, a former professional dancer on the show, Anton Du Beke, replacing Dancing With The Stars judge Bruno Tonioli. While all of this is exciting for fans of the show, seeing new contestant Rose perform on the stage is something everyone is looking forward to. Rose, Strictly Come Dancing's very first deaf contestant, has already won over the British public, with many fans of the show taking to social media to praise her. Twitter user @TweetingCosplay stated, "Watching #StrictlyComeDancing. Rose Ayling-Ellis is very much succeeding at being the most amazing person on the planet! Everyone else is alright too I suppose." @ellajaytomlin showed her praise, saying, "Seeing everyone sign is making me so happy im actually tearing up! Youve got this Gi and Rose #Strictly." Rose stated that she wanted to use the show to demonstrate that the deaf community can still listen and dance to music despite their hearing impairment. Tess also explained to the audience that Rose will always have an interpreter present so that she can understand the judges' feedback, as well as the dancing instructions given to the contestants on the show. While the fellow competitors, professionals, and audience applauded Rose for her inspiring words, professional dancer Gorka Marquez went one step further to show his support by gesturing his arms with the applause sign in sign language, which was great for fans to see. It is wonderful to see that the show Strictly Come Dancing is making an effort to provide representation across the show. As stated before, this season features Rose, who is making history as the first deaf contestant, and this season also features its very first joint male pair, John Whaite and Johannes Radebe. It will be interesting for fans to watch this new season unfold and see how all of these contestants do in the competition. Sources: @TweetingCosplay/Twitter, @ellajaytomlin/Twitter In this May 16, 2012, file photo, the Facebook logo is displayed on an iPad in Philadelphia. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File A former Facebook data scientist has stunned lawmakers and the public with revelations of the company's awareness of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and her accusations of dishonesty in its fight against hate and misinformation. Now she is coming before Congress. Frances Haugen has come forward with a wide-ranging condemnation of Facebook, buttressed with tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebook's civic integrity unit. Haugen also has filed complaints with federal authorities alleging that Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest, but the company hides what it knows. After recent reports in The Wall Street Journal based on documents she leaked to the newspaper raised a public outcry, Haugen revealed her identity in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview aired Sunday night. She insisted that "Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety." The ex-employee challenging the social network giant with 2.8 billion users worldwide and nearly $1 trillion in market value is a 37-year-old data expert from Iowa with a degree in computer engineering and a master's degree in business from Harvard. She worked for 15 years prior to being recruited by Facebook in 2019 at companies including Google and Pinterest. Haugen is set to testify to the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection at a hearing Tuesday. The panel is examining Facebook's use of information from its own researchers on Instagram that could indicate potential harm for some of its young users, especially girls, while it publicly downplayed the negative impacts. For some of the teens devoted to Facebook's popular photo-sharing platform, the peer pressure generated by the visually focused Instagram led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research leaked by Haugen showed. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse. "And what's super tragic is Facebook's own research says, as these young women begin to consume this eating disorder content, they get more and more depressed," Haugen said in the televised interview. "And it actually makes them use the app more. And so, they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more." As the public relations debacle over the Instagram research grew last week, Facebook put on hold its work on a kids' version of Instagram, which the company says is meant mainly for tweens aged 10 to 12. The senators are eager to hear from Haugen. "I look forward to asking her follow-up questions about why Facebook hasn't taken action to fix problems on its platforms, even when its own internal research reflects massive problems," Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a member of the subcommittee, told The Associated Press on Monday. "I want to discuss how Facebook's algorithms promote harmful and divisive content, and how much Facebook really profits off of our children." At issue are algorithms that govern what shows up on users' news feeds, and how they favor hateful content. Haugen said a 2018 change to the content flow contributed to more divisiveness and ill will in a network ostensibly created to bring people closer together. Despite the enmity that the new algorithms were feeding, Facebook found that they helped keep people coming backa pattern that helped the social media giant sell more of the digital ads that generate most of its revenue. Haugen's criticisms range beyond the Instagram situation. She said in the interview that Facebook prematurely turned off safeguards designed to thwart misinformation and incitement to violence after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump last year, alleging that contributed to the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. After the November election, Facebook dissolved the civic integrity union where Haugen had been working. That, she said, was the moment she realized "I don't trust that they're willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous." Haugen says she told Facebook executives when they recruited her that she had asked to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation, because she had lost a friend to online conspiracy theories. Antigone Davis, Facebook's head of global safety, faced a barrage of criticism from senators on the Commerce panel at a hearing last Thursday. They accused Facebook of concealing the negative findings about Instagram and demanded a commitment from the company to make changes. Davis defended Instagram's efforts to protect young people using its platform. She disputed the way The Wall Street Journal story describes what the research shows. Facebook maintains that Haugen's allegations are misleading and insists there is no evidence to support the premise that it is the primary cause of social polarization. "Even with the most sophisticated technology, which I believe we deploy, even with the tens of thousands of people that we employ to try and maintain safety and integrity on our platform, we're never going to be absolutely on top of this 100% of the time," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of policy and public affairs, said Sunday on CNN's "Reliable Sources." That's because of the "instantaneous and spontaneous form of communication" on Facebook, Clegg said, adding, "I think we do more than any reasonable person can expect to." By coming forward, Haugen says she hopes it will help spur the government to put regulations in place for Facebook's activities. Like fellow tech giants Google, Amazon and Apple, Facebook has for years enjoyed minimal regulation in Washington. Separately Monday, a massive global outage plunged Facebook, Instagram and the company's WhatsApp messaging platform into chaos, only gradually dissipating by late Monday Eastern time. For some users, WhatsApp was working for a time, then not. For others, Instagram was working but not Facebook, and so on. Facebook didn't say what might have caused the outage, which began around 11:40 a.m. EDT and was still not fixed more than six hours later. 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Hundreds of millions of people were unable to access Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for more than six hours on Monday, underscoring the world's reliance on platforms owned by the Silicon Valley giant. But what actually caused the outage? What does Facebook say happened? In an apologetic blog post, Santosh Janardhan, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure, said that "configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this communication". Facebook explained Tuesday the outage was "caused not by malicious activity, but an error of our own making." Can you explain that in plain English? Cyber experts think the problem boils down to something called BGP, or Border Gateway Protocolthe system the internet uses to pick the quickest route to move packets of information around. Sami Slim of data centre company Telehouse compared BGP to "the internet equivalent of air traffic control". In the same way that air traffic controllers sometimes make changes to flight schedules, "Facebook did an update of these routes," Slim said. But this update contained a crucial error. It's not yet clear how or why, but Facebook's routers essentially sent a message to the internet announcing that the company's servers no longer existed. Why did it take so long to fix the problem? Experts say Facebook's technical infrastructure is unusually reliant on its own systemsand that proved disastrous on Monday. After Facebook sent the fateful routing update, its engineers got locked out of the system that would allow them to communicate that the update had, in fact, been an error. So they couldn't fix the problem. "Normally it's good not to put all your eggs in one basket," said Pierre Bonis of AFNIC, the association that manages domain names in France. "For security reasons, Facebook has had to very strongly concentrate its infrastructure," he said. "That streamlines things on a daily basisbut because everything is in the same place, when that place has a problem, nothing works." The knock-on effects of the shutdown included some Facebook employees being unable to even enter their buildings because their security badges no longer worked, further slowing the response. Is this unprecedented? Social media outages are not uncommon: Instagram alone has experienced more than 80 in the past year in the United States, according to website builder ToolTester. This week's Facebook outage was rare in its length and scale, however. There is also a precedent for BGP meddling being at the root of a social media shutdown. In 2008, when a Pakistani internet service provider was attempting to block YouTube for domestic users, it inadvertently shut down the global website for several hours. And the outage's impact? Between Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, "billions of users have been impacted by the services being entirely offline", the Downdetector tracking service said. Facebook, whose shares fell nearly five percent over the outage, has stressed there is "no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime". But even though it lasted just a few hours, the impact of the shutdown ran deep. Facebook's services are crucial for many businesses around the world, and users complained of being cut off from their livelihoods. Facebook accounts are also commonly used to log in to other websites, which faced additional problems due to the company's technical meltdown. Rival instant messaging services, meanwhile, reported that they had benefited from the fact that WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were down. Telegram went from the 56th-most downloaded free app in the United States to the fifth, according to monitoring firm SensorTower, while Signal tweeted that "millions" of new users had joined. And among the more curious side-effects, several domain name registration companies listed Facebook.com as available for purchase. "There was never any reason to believe Facebook.com would actually be sold as a result, but it's fun to consider how many billions of dollars it could fetch on the open market," said cyber security expert Brian Krebs. Explore further Facebook fights global outage and whistleblower revelations 2021 AFP Chairperson of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan (L) with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as they at the White House July 9, 2021 in Washington, DC. Facebook on Monday urged a federal judge to toss out a US monopoly lawsuit, arguing that the regulator behind it has "an axe to grind" and it lacks supporting facts. Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan cast the deciding vote in a decision to amend the case and try a second time, and she should have recused herself, Facebook said in the filing. FTC commissioners split 3-2 in the decision to refile. The FTC had denied Facebook's request to disqualify Khan, a long-time critic of Big Tech, who has called for more aggressive actions against the major firms. "Chair Khan's failure to recuse herself is also an ongoing due process violation that will taint all of the agency's litigation choices," Facebook argued. "Chair Khan's participation is even more concerning because her public statements regarding Facebook go well beyond the congressional report and reveal that Chair Khan has an 'axe to grind' against the company." The amended complaint presents no facts establishing that Facebook has monopoly power in what regulators have characterized as a Personal Social Networking Services market, the motion maintained. "The agency has to take this tack because no reliable data exists for its contorted PSNS market, which is a litigation-driven fiction at odds with the commercial reality of intense competition with surging rivals like TikTok and scores of other attractive options for consumers," the filing contended. The amended lawsuit filed in federal court in August in the US capital said Facebook used "anticompetitive acquisitions" of potential rivals such as Instagram and WhatsApp to protect its dominance. "Facebook lacked the business acumen and technical talent to survive the transition to mobile," acting FTC competition bureau chief Holly Vedova said at the time. "After failing to compete with new innovators, Facebook illegally bought or buried them when their popularity became an existential threat." The lawsuit, which could take years to go through the courts without a settlement, calls for the court to order "divestiture of assets," including WhatsApp and Instagram, to restore competition. The lawsuit comes amid a rising "techlash" against the largest US tech firms, which dominate key economic sectors and have become stronger during the pandemic as more people turn to online services. In June, US District Judge James Boasberg said in a 53-page opinion that the agency's initial lawsuit lacked evidence, notably in defining the market that Facebook was allegedly monopolizing. In the new lawsuit, the FTC argued that "personal social networking services are a unique and distinct type of online service," in an effort to counter Facebook's claim that people have numerous choices for connecting with people online. Facebook filed its motion as the internet titan was plagued by a large-scale outage of its dominant social network for seven hours, and a whistleblower's damning revelations. Explore further US antitrust enforcers revive monopoly case against Facebook 2021 AFP An excerpt from Brian Ferneyhoughs 1982 solo piano composition, Lemma-Icon-Epigram, reflecting the complexity of high-modernist music. Credit: University of Florida Art and Architecture Library, CC BY-SA In his autobiography, Miles Davis complained that classical musicians were like robots. He spoke from experiencehe'd studied classical music at Juilliard and recorded with classical musicians even after becoming a world-renowned jazz artist. As a music professor at the University of Florida, which is transforming itself into an "AI university," I often think about Davis' words, and the ways in which musicians have become more machinelike over the past century. At the same time, I see how machines have been getting better at mimicking human improvisation, in all aspects of life. I wonder what the limits of machine improvisation will be, and which human activities will survive the rise of intelligent machines. The rise of machine improvisation Machines have long excelled at activities involving consistent reproduction of a fixed objectthink identical Toyotas being mass-produced in a factory. More improvised activities are less rule-based, more fluid, chaotic or reactive, and are more process-oriented. AI has been making significant strides in this area. Consider the following examples: The trading pits of Wall Street, Tokyo and London were once filled with the vibrant chaos of traders shouting and signaling orders, reacting in real time to fluidly changing conditions. These trading pits have mostly been replaced by algorithms. Self-driving technology may soon replace human drivers, automating our fluid decision-making processes. Autonomous vehicles currently stumble where greater mastery of improvisation is required, such as dealing with pedestrians. Much live social interaction has been replaced by the sterile activity of carefully composing emails or social media posts. Predictive email text will continue to evolve, bringing an increasingly transactional quality to our relationships. ("Hey Siri, email Amanda and congratulate her on her promotion.") IBM's computer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, but it took 20 more years for AI to defeat top players of the board game go. That's because go has a far greater number of possible move choices at any given time, and virtually no specific rulesit requires more improvisation. Yet humans eventually became no match for machine: In 2019, former world go champion Lee Sedol retired from professional play, citing AI's ascendancy as the reason. Music becomes more machinelike Machines are replacing human improvisation at a time when classical music has abandoned it. Before the 20th century, nearly all of the major figures of Western art music excelled at composition, performance and improvisation. Johann Sebastian Bach was mostly known as an organist, with his first biographer describing his organ improvisations as "more devout, solemn, dignified and sublime" than his compositions. But the 20th century saw the splintering of the performer-composer-improviser tradition into specialized realms. Performers faced the rise of recording techniques that flooded consumers with fixed, homogeneous and objectively correct versions of compositions. Classical musicians had to consistently deliver technically flawless live performances to match, sometimes reducing music to a sort of Olympics. Classical pianist Glenn Gould was both a source and product of this state of affairshe despised the rigidity and competitiveness of live performance and retired from the stage at the age of 31, but retreated to the studio to painstakingly assemble visionary masterpieces that were impossible to perform in one take. Composers mostly abandoned the serious pursuit of improvisation or performance. Modernists became increasingly enthralled with procedures, complexity and algorithms, mirroring contemporary technological developments. The ultra-complex compositions of high modernism required machinelike accuracy from performers, but many postmodern minimalist scores also demanded robotic precision. A performance of the excerpt from 'Lemma-Icon-Epigram.' Metier335 KB (download) Improvisation ceased almost entirely to be a part of classical music, but flourished in a new art form: jazz. Yet jazz struggled to gain parity, particularly in the U.S., its country of origin, due in large part to systemic racism. The classical world even has its own version of the "one-drop rule": Works containing improvisation or written by jazz composers are often dismissed as illegitimate by the classical establishment. A recent New York Times article called on orchestras to open themselves up to improvisation and collaborate with jazz luminaries such as saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, who has composed many orchestral works. But college and university music programs have segregated and marginalized jazz studies, leaving orchestral musicians bereft of training in improvisation. Instead, musicians in an orchestra are seated according to their objectively ranked ability, and their job is to replicate the motions of the principal player. They are the machines of the music world. In the future, will they be the most disposable? Davis perfects the art of imperfection The march of AI continues, but will it ever be able to engage in true improvisation? Machines easily replicate objects, but improvisation is a process. In pure musical improvisation, there's no predetermined structure and no objectively correct performance. And improvisation isn't merely instantaneous composition; if it were, then AI would collapse the distinction between the two due to its speed of calculation. Rather, improvisation has an elusive, human quality resulting from the tension between skill and spontaneity. Machines will always be highly skilled, but will they ever be able to stop calculating and switch to an intuitive mode of creation, like a jazz musician going from the practice room to the gig? Davis reached a point at Juilliard where he had to decide on his future. He connected deeply with classical music and was known to walk around with Stravinsky scores in his pocket. He would later praise composers from Bach to Stockhausen and record jazz interpretations of compositions by Manuel de Falla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Joaquin Rodrigo. Yet there were many reasons to abandon the classical world for jazz. Davis recounts playing "about two notes every 90 bars" in the orchestra. This stood in stark contrast to the extraordinary challenge and stimulation of late-night jam sessions with musicians like Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker . He experienced the reality of racism and "knew that no white symphony orchestra was going to hire him." (By contrast, Davis regularly hired white players, like Lee Konitz, Bill Evans and John McLaughlin.) And he was the antithesis of a machine. But in jazz, Davis was able to transform his technical struggles with the trumpet into a haunting, iconic sound. His wrong notes, missed notes and cracked notes became wheezes, whispers and sighs expressing the human condition. Not only did he own these "mistakes," he also actively courted them with a risky approach that prioritized color over line and expression over accuracy. His was the art of imperfection, and therein lies the paradox of jazz. Davis left Juilliard after three semesters, but became one of the single most important musical figures of the 20th century. Miles Davis embraced the trumpet's squelches and wheezes. Miles Davis/YouTube1.19 MB (download) Today the ground has shifted. Juilliard has a thriving jazz program led by another trumpeter versed in both classical music and jazzWynton Marsalis, who has received two classical Grammy awards for his solo work. And while the narrative of "the robots coming for our jobs" is cliche, these displacements are happening quickly, accelerated greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are hurtling toward a time when actual robots could conceivably replace Davis' classical "robots"perhaps some of the 20 violinists in a symphony orchestraif only at first as a gimmick. However, we may soon discover that jazz artists are irreplaceable. Explore further Making music tunes up wellbeing during lockdown This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Warner's HBO sits of a back-catalogue gold mine, including the hit series "Friends" HBO Maxhome to cultural touchstones from Batman and Harry Potter to The Sopranos and Friendsdetailed the rollout of its streaming service across Europe on Tuesday. The company used the event to offer a teaser of Game of Thrones prequel, "House of the Dragon", which is due next year. It also announced that the follow-up to "Sex and the City", which is titled "And Just Like That", will air from December. As the streaming service for WarnerMedia, HBO Max will also get new Warner Bros movies 45 days after their release in cinemas, the company said. That is potentially controversial since filmmakers have sometimes reacted angrily to the increasing shift towards home viewing for new blockbusters. "Dune" director Denis Villeneuve has villified Warner for choosing to release his film simultaneously in theatres and on HBO Max in the US this month, saying it showed "no love for cinema, nor for the audience". Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for doing the same thing with her blockbuster "Black Widow" this summer, saying it cut into her profits. HBO Max launched in the US last year and has expanded across Latin America and the Caribbean. It will launch in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain and Andorra on October 26. It will then expand to 27 European territories in 2022. That will not include several key markets, including Britain, France, Germany and Italy, where HBO and Warner have distribution deals with local providers that have a few more years to run. But the company said it plans to expand globally to reach 190 territories by 2026. WarnerMedia owns the rights to a vast back-catalogue of films, including classics such as "Singing in the Rain" and "The Shining" through to blockbusters such as "The Matrix" and "Justice League". It also has some huge TV titles, including "Friends", "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men", which have proved perennial favourites on streaming platforms. Explore further Warner Bros to stream 2021 film releases as virus cripples theaters 2021 AFP This scanning tunneling microscope image of a graphene sheet reveals that a Wigner crystal a honeycomb arrangement of electrons, like an electron ice has formed inside a layered structure underneath. Credit: Hongyuan Li and Shaowei Li, courtesy of Nature More than 90 years ago, physicist Eugene Wigner predicted that at low densities and cold temperatures, electrons that usually zip through materials would freeze into place, forming an electron ice, or what has been dubbed a Wigner crystal. While physicists have obtained indirect evidence that Wigner crystals exist, no one has been able to snap a picture of oneuntil now. UC Berkeley physicists published last week in the journal Nature an image of just such an electron ice sandwiched between two semiconductor layers. The image is proof positive that these crystals exist. "If you say you have an electron crystal, show me the crystal," senior author Feng Wang, Berkeley professor of physics, told Nature. The Berkeley and Berkeley Lab team, involving physicists from the labs of Wang, Michael Crommie and Alex Zettl, developed a new technique for visualizing the crystals, which tend to "melt" when probed. By placing a graphene sheet over the semiconductor sandwich, the team was able to probe the Wigner crystal with a scanning tunneling microscope without melting the sample and demonstrate the crystalline lattice structure, as Wigner predicted. According to doctoral candidate Hongyuan Li and former postdoctoral fellow Shaowei Li, co-first authors of the paper, the study not only lays a solid foundation for understanding electron Wigner crystals, but also provides an approach that is generally applicable for imaging correlated electron lattices in other systems. "The technique is non-invasive to the state you want to probe. To me, it is a very clever idea," physicist Kin Fai Mak of Cornell University told Nature. The UC Berkeley researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope tip (top) to image a graphene sheet (pink) that, like photographic paper, recorded the positions of electrons (red) in the Wigner crystal, which formed between two sheets of semiconducting material (blue and green). Credit: UC Berkeley graphic courtesy of Feng Wangs lab Imaging electron clouds with graphene Electrons inside materials behave in many strange ways, but almost always zip around at high speed. Wigner predicted that if they could be slowed down, their natural repulsionparticles with the same electric charge repel one anotherwould allow them to assume a uniformly spaced arrangement, essentially a crystal structure. The team created the Wigner crystals making a sandwich of single-atom layers of two similar semiconductors: tungsten disulfide and tungsten diselenide. The researchers used an electric field to tune the density of the electrons between the two layers and then cooled the entire device to a temperature of about 5 Kelvin, near absolute zero. Their first attempt to measure the electron density in the two-dimensional crystal sandwich with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) destroyed the crystal. The team suggested covering the device with a graphene sheet, which acts like a sheet of photo paper to record the location of the electrons. The scientists used the STM to read the electron image on the grapheneas predicted, the electrons settled into a crystal arrangement with a separation nearly 100 times greater than the separation of atoms in the semiconductor sheets. Other co-authors of the paper are Emma Regan, Danqing Wang, Wenyu Zhao and Salman Kahn of Berkeley; Kentaro Yumigeta, Mark Blei and Sefaattin Tongay of Arizona State University in Tempe; and Takashi Taniguchi and Kenji Watanabe of the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan. Explore further A non-invasive way to image Wigner crystals directly More information: Hongyuan Li et al, Imaging two-dimensional generalized Wigner crystals, Nature (2021). Journal information: Nature Hongyuan Li et al, Imaging two-dimensional generalized Wigner crystals,(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03874-9 Law enforcement agencies have announced the arrest of two "prolific ransomware operators" in Ukraine who allegedly conducted a string of targeted attacks against large industrial entities in Europe and North America since at least April 2020, marking the latest step in combating ransomware incidents. The joint exercise was undertaken on September 28 by officials from the French National Gendarmerie, the Ukrainian National Police, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), alongside participation from the Europol's European Cybercrime Centre and the INTERPOL's Cyber Fusion Centre. "The criminals would deploy malware and steal sensitive data from these companies, before encrypting their files," Europol said in a press statement on Monday. "They would then proceed to offer a decryption key in return for a ransom payment of several millions of euros, threatening to leak the stolen data on the dark web should their demands not be met." Besides the two arrests, the international police operation witnessed a total of seven property raids, leading to the seizure of $375,000 in cash and two luxury vehicles costing 217,000 ($251,543), as well as the freezing of cryptocurrency assets worth $1.3 million. The suspects are believed to have demanded hefty sums ranging anywhere between 5 to 70 million as part of their extortion spree, and are connected to a gang that's staged ransomware attacks against more than 100 different companies, causing damages upwards of $150 million, according to the Ukrainian National Police. The identity of the syndicate has not been disclosed. One of the two arrestees, a 25-year-old Ukrainian national, allegedly deployed "virus software" by breaking into remote working programs, with the intrusions staged through social engineering campaigns that delivered spam messages containing malicious content to corporate email inboxes, the agency added. The development comes over three months after the Ukrainian authorities took steps to arrest members of the Clop ransomware gang and disrupt the infrastructure the group employed in attacks targeting victims worldwide dating all the way back to 2019. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. An Aranjuez taxi-driver is being treated for multiple stab wounds after a robbery attempt yesterday morning. Due to the swift work of residents of the area, as well as responding police, a suspect was held and is in police custody. I read in one of our dailies on Thursday that a second street will be named in honour of the late Ken Professor Philmore. This pannist, who was a tremendous person, brought joy and first-class entertainment to me on our treasured instrument, the pan. I have no problem with giving this man his recognition in this way. The United States is committed to defeating the COVID-19 pandemic and we will use every tool in our arsenal to achieve this collective goal in Vietnam, and around the world. Safe and effective vaccines are the best tool. Last Saturday, I was proud to see another 1.5 million Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Vietnam. These doses came directly from the Pfizer manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan and were delivered through COVAX. Vaccinate the world With this latest donation, the U.S. has provided a total of 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam. The U.S. Department of Defense has also provided 111 ultra-low temperature freezers that ensure any vaccines can be stored safely in all 63 provinces and cities. We are also working with U.S. vaccine manufacturers and our world partners to expand global vaccine production. The U.S. will continue to donate additional vaccine doses globally as supply becomes available. Save lives now The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have supported Vietnams response to COVID-19 with technical assistance and programmatic aid while helping the country procure oxygen support systems for critically-ill patients. USAID also partnered with the Vietnam Red Cross, using US$1million to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities. U.S. assistance is strengthening Vietnams health system so that it can better address the current crisis and build the capacity to detect, respond, and combat future pandemics. Build back better The U.S. and Vietnam have collaborated in health for three decades, with U.S. assistance to end HIV/AIDS, strengthen Vietnams global health security infrastructure, end tuberculosis, and expand health exchanges with our militaries enduring security cooperation programs. In August, Vice President Kamala Harris launched the new CDC Southeast Asia Regional Office in Hanoi during her visit, further demonstrating our commitment to improving health outcomes for the people of this region. This new U.S. CDC office enables a rapid and effective response to future cross-border disease threats that demand our joint efforts. The U.S. is committed to ending the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., in Vietnam, and around the world. Last month at the United Nations, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. is donating an additional half a billion Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the globe, with shipments starting in January 2022. This monumental commitment brings the total number of vaccines donated by the U.S. to over 1.1 billion doses. We do not share COVID-19 vaccines to secure favors or extract concessions. Our vaccines do not come with strings attached. We do this with the singular objective of saving lives around the world and supporting a healthy future for a strong, independent, and prosperous Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Social Business Creation (SBC) 2021 competition wrapped up in Canada with the first prize awarded to the Nanoneem project of two Vietnamese universities, its organizers announced on Sunday. The global final round of the competition took place on October 2 with the competition of the top five SBC 2020 and the top five SBC 2021, which brought together 265 teams of 80 universities from 24 countries around the world. Excellently overcoming their rivals, Vietnams Nanoneem project won the top prize (the Scotiabank Prize) and grabbed the 'Global Champion' title, thereby receiving a cash prize of CA$30,000 (US$23,770) and $4,200 (US$3,330) worth of scholarships from MOSAIC Summer School. The project was developed by Dr. Duong Nguyen Hong Nhung, a lecturer in the biotechnology faculty of International University in Ho Chi Minh City, her students, and some other students from the Foreign Trade University in the same city. Nanoneem introduces the application of nanotechnology to manufacturing safe plant protection drugs from herbs, toward clean and sustainable agriculture. As a unique project that provides a potential business model benefiting the social community, Nanoneem was highly appreciated by the judges and always held the top positions through the last competition rounds. The second prize went to the Argentinian team that presented a project on vocational training and job search for disadvantaged young people. The Mexican team won third place for its project to clean up the river ecosystem. The Vietnamese team could not attend the competition directly in Canada due to the epidemic situation, but they had to compete online through Zoom," said Nguyen Hong Nhung, the Nanoneem teams representative. "This was a disadvantage compared to its rivals from other countries, but our team tried to overcome it. This is the first time a Vietnamese team has grasped the top prize through the recognition of financial, investment, and startup experts in the world, Dr. Nhung said. I feel very happy, mixed with honor and pride, the team leader added. Next year, another project of the International University, Brain Analytics, will compete in the final round of the SBC 2022 competition in Canada. This project focuses on using artificial intelligence (AI) software in the diagnosis of Alzheimers disease through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results. The annual SBC competition has been initiated and organized by HEC Montreal University of Canada (HEC) and Professor Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, since 2016. This is a global competition and an innovative training platform through which participants learn how to use market mechanisms to solve social challenges. The first prize winner receives CA$30,000 in cash, the second prize CA$15,000 (US$11,880), and the third place CA$10,000 (US$7,920). Each of the top three teams also wins a CA$4,200 summer course in creative management from HEC. Since its inception, the contest has attracted the participation of various universities from many countries around the world, including Canada, France, the U.S., Japan, Germany, Argentina, and Mexico, among others. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnam will receive much more COVID-19 vaccines from COVAX Facility, a global vaccine-sharing scheme, as asserted by Aurelia Nguyen, whose father is Vietnamese. Nguyen, Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, granted Tuoi Tre News an interview late last month where she discussed challenges she and her colleagues have met while trying to deliver COVAX vaccines globally. She aired her opinions on countries' drives to administer booster shots amid a dearth of vaccines. Vietnam will receive far more jabs in the coming time and the country should give them "with as little wastage as possible," she underlined. As of September 19, Vietnam had received 12,578,110 doses of COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility, according to UNICEF, a delivery partner. The Southeast Asian country has so far obtained about 60 million doses from different sources. The COVAX executive added that diagnostics, therapeutics, and social distancing measures are key to tackling the pandemic besides vaccines. She also shared her dear memories of the visit to her father's country of origin, Vietnam. As the Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, we understand you absolutely have to oversee so many things relating to COVID-19 vaccines. But what are the biggest responsibilities in your opinion? Managing the facility is a big responsibility and every day I am humbled that I get to work with an incredible team who are all committed to our goal of global, equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. Yes, there are challenges. We have to work at a quick pace while maintaining strong communication with countries and partners to ensure their needs are met. And there have been many late nights trying to iron out how we can make our vision a reality but ultimately, I remain committed and inspired by the work we do. COVAX has delivered hundreds of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than 140 countries around the world, including Vietnam, but those are still extremely below COVAXs goal of securing at least two billion doses by the end of this year. Can you tell more what difficulties COVAX has faced to meet the goal? What is the biggest obstacle? As of today, we have delivered over 300 million vaccine doses to 142 countries around the world. We have proved that our model works, at scale, however, it is clear that many more doses are needed if the world is to end the acute phase of this pandemic. There are a number of reasons why not enough doses have been made available to lower-income countries: for one thing, by the time COVAX was able to begin raising funds in 2020 most of 2021s supply had already been reserved by wealthy governments. We have also had to deal with other challenges, for example, an export ban on vaccines from India, which dramatically affected our early supply. Global production has now increased significantly, as has the number of available safe and effective vaccines, so it is critical that COVAX now get the doses it needs to deliver on its goal. Many countries decided to provide booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine recently despite the shortage of doses, what is your opinion about this? While it is important that we continue to conduct research on boosters as they could offer enhanced protection, what we must realize is that if some high-income countries start offering boosters, it will affect global supply and there will be fewer doses available for the rest of the world. The world still needs to focus on making sure people receive their first doses, rather than focusing on boosters. Aurelia Nguyen, Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility, said her father was born in Vietnam. Photo: Gavi / Tony Noel Apart from getting some help from the COVAX Facility, what other measures Vietnam can take to be able to have enough COVID-19 vaccines for the nations mass vaccination program? Right now, we need the support of all governments to ensure we can get access to the doses we have procured from manufacturers. Countries participating in the COVAX Facility can all help us by advocating for COVAX to be prioritized in supply queues. Countries can also help by doing everything they can to ensure successful delivery. As a participant in the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, or AMC, Vietnam like other countries will soon be receiving a lot more doses and it is essential that these all get administered with as little wastage as possible. COVAX can help here, as can other bodies such as multilateral development banks like the World Bank that have made money available for delivery funding. Besides the vaccine, could you give Vietnam any piece of advice on a strategy of preparing for medicines that could treat COVID-19? Vaccines are a powerful tool, but we also must not overlook the important role that diagnostics and therapeutics can play in bringing the pandemic under control. COVAX is part of the ACT (Access to COVID-19 Tools) Accelerator, which seeks to ensure optimal strategies across these three interlinked solutions. In addition to this, we know that vaccines save lives and that measures such as social distancing, avoiding crowded areas, wearing masks, and regularly and thoroughly cleaning hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water are absolutely essential in helping limit the spread of this highly transmissible virus. If all three measures are adopted, we will be well-armed to tackle the pandemic. As an executive of the COVAX Facility, what are specific things that you can do in your capability and authority to help Vietnam in supporting COVID-19 vaccines? COVAX was set up to support all Gavi COVAX AMC participants, including Vietnam, and ensure doses reach those that need them the most. While we have faced challenges with supply, we believe we will have enough vaccines available to us by the end of the year to protect at least 20 percent of the population in 91 AMC countries, and enough by the end of March to protect nearly 40 percent. What is your point of view on Vietnam's strategy against the ongoing fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic? It is great to see that Vietnam is prioritizing vaccination and achieving high levels of coverage because as we all know when it comes to defending ourselves against the virus, nobody is safe until everybody is safe. This also means that all countries, including those that are more advanced in their vaccination strategies, need to stay vigilant and be prepared to take whatever public health measure is necessary in order to stem the spread of the virus. The only way that we will be able to defeat this virus in the long term and allow our societies and economies to truly open up again is by working together. Thank you so much! Aurelia Nguyen, Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility. Photo: Gavi / Tony Noel Who is Aurelia Nguyen? According to her profile on Gavi, a global Vaccine Alliance, Aurelia Nguyen was appointed Managing Director of the Office of the COVAX Facility in October 2020. She is in charge of leading the coordination of procurement and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines for 190 participating economies through COVAX. Until her appointment, Nguyen served as Gavis Managing Director for Vaccines & Sustainability, leading the end-to-end work of designing Gavis vaccine programs. She was also named by TIME magazine on the 2021 TIME100 Next list honoring the 100 individuals who are shaping the future of their fields and defining the next generation of leadership." My father is Vietnamese My father was born in Vietnam and has many fond memories of his childhood that he has transmitted to me when I was growing up. I was in my 20s when I had an opportunity to visit Vietnam for the first time and retrace the steps of his childhood, meet extended family members, and visit the tombs of my ancestors. It was a very emotional visit that connected me strongly to my country of origin. I saw all the things that had been described to me by my father and grandparents come alive: the beauty of its landscape, the delicious food, the incredible generosity, and also the great sense of humor of its people. Aurelia Nguyen talks about her special connection with Vietnam, which she calls her original country Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Children and young people could feel the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and well-being for many years to come, UNICEF warned in its flagship report on Tuesday. For the first time in its history, The State of the Worlds Children 2021; On My Mind: Promoting, Protecting, and Caring for Childrens Mental Health examines the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents, with a special focus on how risk and protective factors in the home, school, and community shape mental health outcomes. Against a backdrop of rising awareness of mental health issues and growing demand for action, the report argues that people now have a unique opportunity to promote good mental health for every child, protect vulnerable children, and care for children facing the greatest challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant concerns for the mental health of an entire generation of children and young people as well as parents and caregivers, according to the report. But the pandemic may represent only the tip of a mental health iceberg an iceberg that they argue has been ignored for far too long. The report demands urgent investment in child and adolescent mental health across sectors, not just in health. It argues for proven interventions in areas like health, education, and social protection, such as parenting and whole-of-school programs. And it calls for societies to break the silence surrounding mental health, by addressing stigma, promoting understanding, and taking seriously the experiences of children and young people. According to the latest available estimates, more than one in seven adolescents aged 10-19 is estimated to live with a diagnosed mental disorder globally. Almost 46,000 adolescents die from suicide each year, among the top five causes of death for their age group. Meanwhile, wide gaps persist between mental health needs and mental health funding. The report finds that about two percent of government health budgets are allocated to mental health spending across the world. It has been a long, long 18 months for all of us especially children, said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore. With nationwide lockdowns and pandemic-related movement restrictions, children have spent indelible years of their lives away from family, friends, classrooms, play key elements of childhood itself. The impact is significant, and it is just the tip of the iceberg. Even before the pandemic, far too many children were burdened under the weight of unaddressed mental health issues. Too little investment is being made by governments to address these critical needs. Not enough importance is being placed on the relationship between mental health and future life outcomes. Childrens mental health during COVID-19 Indeed, the pandemic has taken its toll. According to early findings from an international survey of children and adults in 21 countries conducted by UNICEF and Gallup which is previewed in The State of the Worlds Children 2021 a median of one in five young people aged 1524 surveyed said they often feel depressed or have little interest in doing things. As COVID-19 heads into its third year, the impact on children and young peoples mental health and well-being continues to weigh heavily. At least one in seven children globally has been directly affected by lockdowns while more than 1.6 billion children have suffered some loss of education, according to the latest available data from UNICEF. The disruption to routines, education, recreation, as well as a concern for family income and health, is leaving many young people feeling afraid, angry, and concerned for their future. For example, an online survey in China in early 2020, cited in The State of the Worlds Children 2021, indicated that around a third of respondents reported feeling scared or anxious. Cost to society Diagnosed mental disorders, including ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, depression, eating disorders, intellectual disability, and schizophrenia, can significantly harm children and young peoples health, education, life outcomes, and earning capacity. While the impact on childrens lives is incalculable, a new analysis by the London School of Economics in the report indicates that lost contribution to economies due to mental disorders that lead to disability or death among young people is estimated at nearly US$390 billion a year. Protective factors The report notes that a mix of genetics, experience, and environmental factors from the earliest days, including parenting, schooling, quality of relationships, exposure to violence or abuse, discrimination, poverty, humanitarian crises, and health emergencies such as COVID-19, all shape and affect childrens mental health throughout their lifetime. While protective factors, such as loving caregivers, safe school environments, and positive peer relationships can help reduce the risk of mental disorders, the report warns that significant barriers, including stigma and lack of funding, are preventing too many children from experiencing positive mental health or accessing the support they need. The State of the Worlds Children 2021 calls on governments, and public and private sector partners, to commit, communicate, and act to promote mental health for all children, adolescents and caregivers, protect those in need of help, and care for the most vulnerable, including: + Urgent investment in child and adolescent mental health across sectors, not just in health, to support a whole-of-society approach to prevention, promotion, and care. + Integrating and scaling up evidence-based interventions across health, education, and social protection sectors including parenting programs that promote responsive, nurturing caregiving and support parent and caregiver mental health; and ensuring schools support mental health through quality services and positive relationships. + Breaking the silence surrounding mental illness, through addressing stigma and promoting better understanding of mental health and taking seriously the experiences of children and young people. Mental health, like physical health, is a positive state it underlies the human capacity to think, to feel, to learn, to work, to build meaningful relationships, and to contribute to communities and the world, said Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative to Vietnam. There are specific steps and approaches that can be introduced in the family, in schools, and in the community that better promote, protect, and care for the well-being of children and adolescents. Our goal as a society must be to change the stigma around our mental health, to do more to nurture well-being, as well as to recognize the factors that threaten our mental health. The investment we make today in building a strong mental health foundation in every child pays off in the lifelong mental health of a nation. The creation of, and funding to, a national mental health strategy for children and adolescents is essential to build that foundation. Thailand's government is in talks with Merck & Co to buy 200,000 courses of its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 treatment, the latest Asian nation to scramble for supplies of the drug after lagging behind Western countries for vaccines. Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, told Reuters that Thailand is currently working on a purchasing agreement for the antiviral drug, known as molnupiravir. South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia said they are alsoin talks to buy the potential treatment, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes its domestic study would allow access to the treatment. They all declined to provide details on purchase negotiations. The rush to order the drug comes after data from interim clinical trials released on Friday indicated it could reduce by around 50% the chance of hospitalisation or death for patients at risk of severe disease from COVID-19. The molnupiravir pills, designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19. Many Asian countries want to lock in supplies early after they were hit by tight supplies in their vaccine rollouts this year, putting them behind wealthier countries which bought hundreds of millions of doses. "We are now working on a purchasing agreement with Merck that is expected to be completed by this week ... we have pre-booked 200,000 courses," Somsak said He said the pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills' approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Thai regulator. Representatives at Merck's Thailand office were not immediately reachable. Daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Thailand fell below 10,000 on Monday for the first time since mid-July. The country has administered 55.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far, fully inoculating about 31% of the population. Merck has said it expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021. It has a U.S. government contract to supply 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir at a price of $700 per course. The company has said it plans a tiered pricing approach based on country income criteria. In the Philippines, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a regular news conference on Monday that, "We see we can have more access to this medicine because we have this clinical trial counterpart." A spokesman for the European Commission said Brussels may launch a joint procurement of the therapy for the bloc, a similar strategy used to buy COVID-19 vaccines, but there was no particular information on Merck's drug. A German health ministry spokesperson said the government monitors the development of new therapies, but declined to comment on whether Germany plans to order Merck's pill. Here are todays leading news stories: Politics -- The 13th Party Central Committee opened its fourth session in Hanoi on Monday under the chair of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Delegates are slated to discuss COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control efforts and policies in the new situation. Society -- A woman and her son were killed on the way back to their hometown after their motorbike was hit by a truck along a mountain pass in the central province of Quang Nam on Monday. -- Authorities in the southern province of Dong Nai confirmed on Monday they were verifying a video clip in which three people in the uniform of militia officers are assaulting two residents. -- A woman who was forced to have her samples collected for COVID-19 testing at an apartment building in the southern province of Binh Duong last week has been fined VND2 million (US$88) for failing to undergo testing at the request of competent authorities. -- The Ministry of Public Security on Monday arrested and initiated legal proceedings against a 34-year-old programmer for hacking illegal gambling websites and extorting their operators. -- Three people were killed and two others injured after their car crashed into a truck and tipped over in the northern province of Bac Ninh on Monday. -- Police officers in Ho Chi Minh City have imposed fines worth more than VND1.2 billion ($52,600) upon violators of pandemic prevention regulations since the city loosened multiple COVID-19 restrictions last Friday. -- Vietnam has set a goal to plant 20,000 hectares of new forests, including 9,800 hectares of protection forests against waves and sea encroachment and another 10,200 hectares against wind and sand, by 2030. -- Four ward-level officials in the southern province of Dong Nai have been relieved of their positions over ineffective pandemic prevention and control efforts. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A woman and her son were killed on the way back to their hometown after their motorbike was hit by a truck along a mountain pass in central Vietnam on Monday. The accident happened on Lo Xo Pass in Phuoc Son District, Quang Nam Province, according to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Quoc Tuan, the districts police chief. Ha Thi Vuong, 43, was carrying her son, 16-year-old Nguyen Van Thanh, on a motorbike when they collided with a truck traveling in the opposite direction. Thanh was killed on the spot while Vuong was seriously injured and brought to the hospital for emergency treatment. The truck is pictured following the crash on Lo Xo Pass in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, October 4, 2021. Photo: Trong Y / Tuoi Tre However, the woman later succumbed to her wounds. Preliminary investigation showed that the truck was traveling in the wrong lane. Eyewitnesses said the mother and son were traveling from a southern province to their hometown in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa. Police in Quang Nam stated that many residents had been returning to the province and neighboring localities from southern localities over the weekend following the relaxation of COVID-19 movement restrictions. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Authorities in Vietnams Mekong Delta localities have discovered many COVID-19 transmissions among internal migrant workers who are fleeing Ho Chi Minh City and such southern industrial provinces as Dong Nai and Binh Duong after months being stranded by strict movement curbs. In Ca Mau Province, the provincial Center for Disease Control documented a record high of 30 COVID-19 cases on Monday, 27 of whom had just returned from virus-hit areas. Previously, 28 other returnees to the southernmost province from pandemic-hit areas also contracted the disease. More than 7,000 people came back to Ca Mau from such high-risk localities as Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Long An last Saturday and Sunday, according to the provincial Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Huynh Quoc Viet, the provincial chairman, asked relevant units to set up centralized quarantine facilities and COVID-19 field hospitals to handle the new infections and minimize the number of severe cases and deaths. In Bac Lieu Province, the provincial Center for Disease Control recorded 19 coronavirus transmissions on Monday, 14 of whom were returnees from pandemic-hit areas. All of the cases were sent to centralized quarantine. The center assessed that those new cases were unlikely to spread in the community. In Ben Tre Province, about half of 19 new coronavirus cases logged on Monday were returnees who had undergone COVID-19 tests at a checkpoint near the major Rach Mieu Bridge, according to the provincial pandemic control unit. In Dong Thap Province, authorities reported 70 coronavirus transmissions among over 19,000 returning migrant workers, including more than 8,000 arriving on Monday. Weve been overloaded by the surge of returnees while the pandemic situation remains complicated, said Doan Tan Buu, the provincial deputy chairman. In An Giang Province, the number of returnees approached 30,000, 30 of whom tested positive for the virus while 50 others were suspected of carrying the pathogen. The record number of returnees has been reported by Soc Trang Province, with about 50,000 people returning from high-risk localities so far. Of that, 35 were registered as COVID-19 patients by the provincial Department of Health on Monday. The waves of COVID-19-affected people coming back to the Mekong Delta localities began last Thursday, after the government loosened COVID-19 restrictions to pave the way for the countrys socio-economic operations after months of lockdown. The leaders of 13 Mekong Delta localities of Vietnam have filed a petition to the government proposing a suspension of this massive return, explaining that they need more time to prepare for the reception and pandemic prevention schemes. Vietnam has confirmed 809,375 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 hit the hardest with 400,003 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 216,853, Dong Nai Province with 51,364, and Long An Province with 32,784. The national tally has reached 813,961 patients, including 721,480 recoveries and 19,845 deaths, as recorded since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck the country early last year. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Police in Ho Chi Minh City have imposed fines worth more than VND1.2 billion (US$52,600) upon violators of pandemic prevention regulations since the city loosened multiple COVID-19 restrictions last Friday. Officers had inspected approximately 547,000 vehicles and nearly 233,200 people between October 1 and 4, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Thanh Giang, deputy chief of staff of the municipal Department of Public Security, said at a meeting on Monday evening. A total of 588 violations were recorded and fines totaling over VND1.2 billion ($52,600) were issued, Giang elaborated. Many patrol teams have been tasked with conducting random inspections along local streets over the past days. Officers would scan the QR codes on residents VNEID application to check their travel declaration and vaccination history. Those who do not use smartphones must present their IDs and certificates proving that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recovered from the disease. The latest directive of the municipal Peoples Committee requires residents to only go outside if they have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Giang explained. They must also remain home for 14 days after getting their first shot, he added. Those who have recovered from COVID-19 within the past six months are also allowed to go outdoors. Aside from checking these requirements, patrol teams are also authorized to book residents for violating pandemic prevention and control regulations. People who fail to wear face masks and keep a safe distance from one another will be fined VND1-3 million ($43-131), the official continued. Those who fail to comply with pandemic prevention and control measures at the request of competent agencies will be slapped with a fine worth VND5-10 million ($219-439). Vietnam had documented 813,961 COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday afternoon, with 721,480 recoveries and 19,845 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. The country has recorded 809,375 local infections in 62 out of 63 provinces and cities since the fourth wave began on April 27. Ho Chi Minh City leads the table with more than 400,000 cases and over 15,000 deaths. The city had implemented enhanced social distancing measures at various levels since May 31 and just loosened multiple restrictions from October 1 after vaccinating the majority of its adult population with at least one jab. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Ministry of Health logged 4,363 new COVID-19 cases throughout Vietnam on Tuesday, alongside 25,573 discharged patients and 134 deaths. Today saw the lowest daily COVID-19 case count in about 1.5 months, the government said on its verified Facebook account. The new cases, including 4,360 local and three imported infections, were documented in 42 provinces and cities, the health ministry said, adding a total of 1,769 patients were found in the community. Ho Chi Minh City recorded 1,491 of the latest cases, Binh Duong Province 1,107, Dong Nai Province 653, An Giang Province 172, Binh Thuan Province 149, Long An 84, Can Tho City 47, Ba Ria-Vung Tau 47, Khanh Hoa 39, Hanoi three, and Da Nang two. Vietnam had confirmed 5,382 locally-infected patients on Monday. The country has detected 813,735 community transmissions in 62 out of its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth and worst virus wave emerged on April 27. Ho Chi Minh City is on top of the list with 401,494 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 217,960, Dong Nai Province with 52,017, Long An Province with 32,868, Tien Giang Province with 14,231, Dong Thap Province with 8,396, Khanh Hoa Province with 7,999, Da Nang with 4,923, Hanoi with 4,250, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 4,237. Vietnam recorded only 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves. The health ministry announced 25,573 recoveries on Tuesday, bringing the total to 747,053. The toll has risen to 19,979 deaths after the ministry documented 134 fatalities on the same day, including 104 in Ho Chi Minh City and 15 in Binh Duong Province. Vietnam has registered 818,324 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first struck it early last year. Health workers have administered almost 47 million vaccine doses, including 1,432,631 shots on Monday, since vaccination was rolled out on March 8. Over 11.6 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. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Vietnams Ministry of Public Security has arrested a 34-year-old programmer for hacking an illegal gambling website and extorting its operator. A source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper confirmed on Monday that officers had apprehended and initiated legal proceedings against Nham Hoang Khang for appropriation of property. Police captured Khang in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and searched his house in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City to facilitate their investigation. The man was previously accused of hacking a gambling site and collecting data and evidence proving its illicit activities. Khang then told the operator of the website to pay him a large amount of money, otherwise he would submit the evidence to police officers. The programmer first demanded VND500 million (US$21,900), but later agreed to lower it to VND400 million ($17,500) following a negotiation. The money was then transferred to his account. Prior to his arrest, Khang lived and worked in Ho Chi Minh City and was quite well known in the field of information technology. He recently stole the limelight on social media after claiming he had obtained bank statements of individuals and organizations involved in charity work in the country. According to the Penal Code, appropriation of property is punishable by one to 20 years in prison, depending on the severity of the offense. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A ward leader from the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa on Monday apologized to a man who had been fined for visiting a local bank to perform transactions, which functional forces had considered as an unnecessary outdoor trip. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tuyet, chairwoman of Van Thang Ward in Khanh Hoas Nha Trang City, chaired a working session with Nguyen Viet Dung, a resident of Vinh Thanh Commune, on the same day. At the meeting, Tuyet and Ngo Tri Dung, deputy chairman of Van Thang Ward, both issued a public apology to Viet Dung for the previous decision to fine him VND2 million (US$88) for going outdoors without appropriate purposes. An officer of Van Thang Ward stopped Viet Dung, whose job is a deputy director at a local company, on his way home after he had traveled to a bank office in the same ward to perform transactions on behalf of his company on September 29. Although he presented relevant papers to prove the purpose of his trip was in line with the COVID-19 pandemic prevention regulations in Nha Trang City at that time, the officer booked the man for an administrative sanction and confiscated his motorcycle registration certificate along with his driver's license. Tri Dung was the one who signed and issued the sanction decision to Viet Dung, requiring him to pay the VND2 million fine, which he later appealed. At Mondays meeting, Tuyet handed over another decision, in which the chairwoman rescinded Tri Dungs fining order, to Viet Dung, citing inadequate administrative procedures as the reason. Tuyet also returned Viet Dungs motorcycle registration certificate and driver's license. Viet Dung withdrew his appeal shortly after as he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that deputy chairman Tri Dung had confessed to not reviewing the report on the case thoroughly before signing the punitive decision. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! A woman who was physically forced to take a COVID-19 test in Vietnam last week has been required to pay a US$88 fine for failing to comply with an epidemic prevention order. The penalty was exacted on Hoang Thi Phuong Lan, 38, who is living at Ehome 4 Apartment Complex in Binh Duong Province, said the Peoples Committee of Vinh Phu Ward, Thuan An City, where the complex is located. Lan was slapped with a VND2 million ($88) fine for her failure to undertake testing as requested by health authorities during an attempt to curb infectious diseases, as prescribed in a government decree issued in 2020. Vinh Phu Ward officials ordered Lan to pay the fine within ten days from her receipt of the decision, but she also has the right to file a complaint or take legal action against the decision. On Tuesday last week, Lan was teaching an online yoga class at her apartment when someone knocked on the door and requested that she provide a nasal swab for COVID-19 testing. Lan said she had already conducted a COVID-19 test by herself, adding that she did not want to come into contact with others and that she was in the middle of teaching a class. A group of officials, police officers, and members of the apartment complexs management board later forcefully opened the door of Lans apartment and took her to the buildings courtyard for nasal swab collection. A representative of Vinh Phu Wards steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control issued a statement the same day admitting to the use of force. The representative also noted that Lan had refused to be sampled on several occasions and that her apartment is on the ground floor and at very high risk, as infections were once detected in her block. Several videos of the incident went viral on social media, resulting in a working session between local officials and Lan on Wednesday. Vo Thanh Quan, secretary of the Vinh Phu Party Committee and head of the wards steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, issued a public apology to Lan for the use of force during her testing process. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Hes a fixer. Christopher Pyne becomes the latest former politician to front a show for SKY News. Global Focus with Christopher Pyne is a new ten-part series showcasing interviews with international heavyweights and experts as they discuss the importance of Australias relationships worldwide. The former minister for Industry Innovation and Science and Defence Industry will focus on one key topic each week, discussed with a special guest. In a world of headline grabbing 10 second sound bites, it will be different to take a vital subject and unpack it with one, well informed guest, he said. Guests include Joseph Wu, Taiwans Foreign Minister; Alastair Campbell, Commentator and former Campaign Director to Tony Blair; Zach Wamp, Former US Congressman; Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapores Minister for Foreign Affairs; Tom Tugendhat, British Conservative Party politician; Pamela Melroy, Deputy Administrator of NASA; Kirstjen Nielsen, Former US Secretary of Homeland Security and The Australians Paul Monk and David Kilcullen. Sunday October 10 at 5:30pm AEDT on SKY News. TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan hopes tension between China and Taiwan will be resolved peacefully through dialogue, Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said on Tuesday, adding that his ministry would keep an eye on the widening military imbalance between Beijing and Taipei. The comment came as Taiwan's premier said the island needed to be on alert for China's "over the top" military activities, a day after 56 Chinese aircraft flew into Taiwan's air defence zone in their largest such incursion. "It is Japan's consistent stance that we hope the issue surrounding Taiwan will be resolved through direct dialogue between the party involved," Kishi told a news conference. He retained his post in a cabinet formed on Monday by new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) Many real estate brokers lack professional knowledge and ethics and do hit and run business, causing losses to customers by giving wrong advice or even cornering the market and causing artificial land fever. The Ministry of Construction (MOC) is collecting opinions for its draft document on the amendment of the Housing Law and 2014 Law on Real Estate Business. In a report reviewing the Law on Real Estate Business, MOC pointed out that there are still many problems related to the general provisions on real estate business, houses to take shape in the future, transfer of real estate projects, real estate brokerage, and real estate trading floors. Regarding real estate brokerage, MOC said brokers are in excess, and the quality is problematic. Real estate brokers are unprofessional and unknowlegeable. They try every possible way to make a profit, dont respect clients, and cause losses to clients, leading to disputes, the report reads. Because of the lax regulations on real estate broker management, institutions and individuals can easily circumvent the laws and evade tax, MOC said. The problem is blamed on the easy requirements of institutions and individuals to provide real estate brokerage service. Real estate brokers dont have to show certificates on completing training courses to attend exams for real estate brokerage certificates. In many cases, they give wrong advice, thus causing losses to customers, and artificially create land fever to seek profit. Under the Law on Real Estate Business, individuals just need to have a practicing permit and register tax payment to be eligible to provide a brokerage service. The current laws dont require these individuals to report to state management agencies about their activities. They are free to practice anywhere. They tend to get information from real estate trading floors and work as collaborators or secondary brokers. They also seek information themselves through their relations and connect sellers and buyers for commissions. The brokers just try to sell products as quickly as possible, and dont take any responsibility before clients. MOC also believes that the punishment for the behavior of acting as brokers without practicing certificates is not heavy enough to deter violators (the fine is VND10-50 million). The ministry has planned a regulation that one must have a certificate on finishing a training course to be eligible to attend the exam for the practicing certificate. The most noteworthy feature of the draft law is that individuals will not be allowed to practice as independent real estate brokers. All institutions and individuals working as brokers must establish businesses and offices and obtain practicing certificates. Thuan Phong What's different about land fever in 2021? According to the Vietnam Real Estate Brokers Association, land prices have risen quickly, 10% a month on average. In some places, it has increased 2-3 times in just 1-2 months. Having struggled with Covid-19 for two years, Vietnam has step by step controlled the outbreaks. The reduction in the number of infections and deaths shows that the country is on the right track. January 23, 2021 marked the first anniversary of the first Covid-19 infection case found in Vietnam. However, the country effectively controlled the outbreaks, with the number of infections and deaths much lower than other countries. As of January 23, 2021, or after one year of the pandemic, the ratio of infections per 1 million people was at 16, while the ratio of deaths per 1 million people was 0.4. These were the lowest figures among the five countries with a population of over 90 million. This was an impressive achievement recognized by the world. During the first three waves, Vietnam changed the methods of fighting against Covid-19, depending on the new developments of the pandemic and the appearance of new coronavirus variants. Vietnam shifted from tracing positive cases to finding sources of infection, and imposing isolation to prevent the spread of virus on a large scale (throughout the country, provinces) to isolation on a narrower scale (hamlet, commune). While Covid-19 seriously affected socio-economic activities all over the globe and large economies faced the worst recession in many decades, Vietnam still maintained encouraging economic growth rates, while successfully controlling three pandemic waves. With the 2.91 percent GDP growth rate in 2020, Vietnam was one of a few economies that could maintain growth. The figure represented the lowest growth rate in 2011-2020, but it was considered a big success in the context of Covid-19. At an online conference on strengthening Covid-19 prevention and control held on April 16, 2021, the Minister of Health said a great political lesson from the victory in the third wave was the close, serious leadership of the Community Party and the mobilization of the entire political system, ministries, branches and people to implement the four on-the-site and fighting the pandemic like fighting enemies mottos. The devastation of Delta According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), there have been seven SARS-CoV-2 variants in circulation in Vietnam. In the fourth wave, two variants Delta and Alpha were recognized. Of these, Delta is 50 percent more contagious than Alpha, while Alpha is 60-70 percent more contagious than the previous one. Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long predicted that the fourth wave would last longer than the previous ones, causing large-scale impact and seriously affecting peoples life and socio-economic development. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), there have been seven SARS-CoV-2 variants in circulation in Vietnam. In the fourth wave, two variants Delta and Alpha were recognized. Of these, Delta is 50 percent more contagious than Alpha, while Alpha is 60-70 percent more contagious than the previous one. The current infection cycle is only 2 days, not five days as previously estimated, Long said. The Minister, at the Governments online conference with localities on the Covid-19 prevention and control, stressed that Delta can spread very quickly which may cause overloading to the healthcare system. Preparing the healthcare system to get ready for Covid-19 patient treatment was more urgent than ever. HCM City impact HCM City has been the biggest sufferer from Delta. On September 30, HCM City released Directive 18 on loosening activities and coming to the new normal, commencing from October 1, 2021. However, the decision was only released after it experienced more than 160 days struggling with the pandemic and several lockdowns where strict measures were applied. Because of the complicated developments of the pandemic, HCM City had to apply drastic measures. The city had difficulties because it is a large commercial hub with special economic, social and population characteristics, and close relations with neighboring provinces. The moves taken by the city not only aimed at protecting its citizens, but also determined the success of the countrys fight against the pandemic, especially the neighboring provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An. When HCM City was implementing the Prime Minister Directive 16, the municipal authorities affirmed that fighting the pandemic was the top priority, and that peoples health was the most important thing. When tightening social distancing, HCM City had to set up thousands of blockade points and isolate hundreds of residential quarters. It also established tens of concentrated quarantine places and field hospitals, treated Covid-19 patients in accordance with the five-floor treatment levels (which later turned into three-floor level) and set up many resuscitation hospitals to save severely ill patients. In the fight against the pandemic, HCM City received support from the central government, the healthcare sector, army, police and volunteers. However, the pandemic has had a big impact on peoples lives and the economy. According to the HCM City Business Association, more than 70 percent of businesses were affected by July 30. Many enterprises have had to suspend operation or close their doors. Most businesses reported that their revenue had dropped by 50-90 percent. Tens of thousands of workers have lost jobs and need support. The city has set up a welfare center which has delivered 2 million welfare bags to people and launched three support packages in cash to 10 million beneficiaries. With the effort of increasing vaccination coverage and strengthening the healthcare sector, the Government is now pursuing a strategy on safely adapting and effectively controlling the pandemic. PV PM requests stronger COVID-19 prevention and control nationwide Provinces and cities applying social distancing measures were requested to ensure enough food and essential services for residents, especially those of vulnerable groups. Vietnam is about to enter the motorization period when the market will boom and the air will become polluted. Policies on restricting the use of old-technology vehicles and encouraging green, clean vehicles are needed. According to the Vietnam Industry Agency, electrified vehicles, including hybrid, PHEV ( Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles), BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles) and FCEV (Fuel cell electric vehicles), are developing very rapidly around the world. However, experts point out that it will take a long time to shift from fossil fuel vehicles to BEV, or vehicles powered entirely by electricity. At present, Vietnams electricity generation depends largely on coal, about 35 percent, and electricity production generates much CO2. Only when electricity generation creates little CO2 will the use of electrified vehicles be effective. It would be better to conduct a gradual transformation with a roadmap to be able to reach an equilibrium in emission levels. In other words, the shift to electrical vehicles will be implemented depending on electricity generation sources' transformation pace. Vietnam has decided that electricity to be generated from coal would decrease to below 20 percent by 2045, and by that time, electric cars should be popularized. Electrical vehicle manufacturers also need to sell products at prices lower than traditional vehicles using petrol. Studies show that electric car production costs are 45 percent higher than for petrol-run cars. To sell electric cars at the same prices as petrol-run cars, manufacturers will accept losses. But only those with powerful financial capability and many different sources of revenue can offset the losses from electric cars. To develop electric cars, manufacturers need to have big resources to open charging stations throughout the country. This cannot be implemented in a short time. Infrastructure needs to be developed one step ahead. Analysts have noticed the rapid development of hybrid vehicles. Since these products dont require charging, and dont lead to users behavior changes, they are believed to be the transitional step from petrol-run to electricity-run cars. Reusing excessive energy is the biggest advantage of hybrid products. Thanks to hybrid technology, every time a car breaks down, the electricity engine will absorb the inertia force and convert it into electric current to charge the battery, which will be used to run the electricity motor, when the cars need to increase capacity. When the cars stop, the computer will regulate the electric motor to operate and the petrol motor will stop completely. Green cars The Hanoi University of Science and Technology in late 2020 assessed the effectiveness of hybrid technology in cars in Vietnam conditions. The car tested was Toyota Corola Cross. Scientists compared the version using hybrid technology and a version using petrol. The scientists after two months of testing said that the petrol consumed by the 1.8HV version (hybrid) was 57.4 percent lower in inner roads and 18.5 percent lower on roads than the 1.8V (petrol version). The emissions were also lower. The CO emissions of both versions were the same, nearly zero, while the CO2 emissions of the hybrid version were 18.5-57.4 percent lower. The lower emissions of HC and NOx were also reported for the hybrid version, especially at high speed. Le Anh Tuan, Head of the School of Transportation Engineering, said when running in the inner city, hybrid versions did not emit gas for two thirds of the distance, and when running on highways, it did not emit gas on one third of the distance, because only the electric motor operated. The car is very fuel efficient and has a low emission level. In Vietnam, non-rechargeable hybrid cars are still not popular. The products bear the same tax rates as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. The number of hybrid cars circulating in Vietnam is about 5,000. Tran Thuy Investment in charging stations needed for electric car industry Experts believe that electrified vehicles will be a trend in the worlds automobile industry, including Vietnam. Vietnamese are heavily reliant on Facebook as a communication channel, as was clear when Facebook had an outage Monday night. At 10 pm on October 4, serious trouble occurred with Facebook and Messenger. Facebookers reported that they could not access Facebook. The Facebook mobile app was accessible, but it was unable to download new information on bulletin board. Ha Ngan in Belgium told VietNamNet that she has had no access to the most popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram since late afternoon of October 4, local time. The same thing occurred with WhatsApp and Messenger and messaging could not be done. DownDetector showed that since late at night on October 4, Vietnam time, access to the most common social network platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger could not be implemented in the usual way. The most common problems were inaccessibility to the website and app, and disconnection with the servers of the platforms providing OTT (over the top) messaging services and social networks. The report of DownDetector showed that the trouble occurred all over the globe and in nearly all countries in Asia, Europe and America. Ngan told VietNamNet that the outage paralyzed her communications with friends. The only messaging tool I can use at this moment is Zalo. However, I can use Zalo to communicate with friends in Vietnam only, she said. Duc Manh from Osaka, Japan, told VietNamNet that he was unable to contact friends on Facebook. However, later, he could manage to resume contacts via other well-known social networks in Japan, such as Line and Twitter. Using the group chatting tool on Messenger for his work, Minh Huy in Cau Giay district in Hanoi is aware of the risk because he relies a lot on Facebook and Messenger. As a media executive, Huy has to keep contact with co-workers and managers. When the outage occurred with Facebook, Huy and his co-workers could not think of other solutions except telephone calls to maintain communications. According to Wearesocial, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are the most popular apps on the Internet in 2021. These platforms all belong to Facebook. In Vietnam, 91.7 percent of Internet users use Facebook. The figures are 75.8 percent for Messenger and 53.5 percent for Instagram. Of the 15 most popular apps in Vietnam in 2021, Zalo is the only Vietnamese app mentioned. Its estimated that 76.5 percent of Vietnamese Internet users use Zalo. Trong Dat Big Tech and opportunities for social networks of a new generation As the world is curbing the influence of tech giants, this presents an opportunity for Vietnamese social networks to create a foothold by finding their own directions. Nham Hoang Khang, a well known hacker, has been detained and prosecuted by the Criminal Police Department (C02) under the Ministry of Public Security for the behavior of taking property by force. Nham Hoang Khang The police found that Khang used his knowledge about IT to penetrate a computer network with gambling activities and extort VND400 million from the gambling ring. Appropriate agencies searched Khang's residence in HCM City and house in Can Tho City. Nham Hoang Khang is a well known name in Vietnam. He became better known after having a close relation with Nguyen Phuong Hang, the owner of the Dai Nam Tourism Complex. Hang is a famous businesswoman who recently has organized many livestreams, talking about the problems of showbiz and celebrities. Khang is known as the IT specialist who helped Hang obtain important information about showbiz and celebrities. Khang, 34, is a software developer. Khang is also well known in the IT community thanks to the ability of creating supporting software for iPhone and iPad. The coder usually provides services related to iPhone unlock. One of the achievements of Khang is inserting eSIM into locked iPhone (a kind of electronic sim integrated with many modern features, useful for smartphone users). In the past, locked iPhones, after the activation of ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier), would have nearly all features of the international version, but users still could not use eSIM. Khangs solution was creating a virtual server, and then connecting users to the server through the proxy to insert eSIM into the phone. Khang has been called a hacker as he recently has been involved in security cases. After Hangs livestreams, Khang had higher attention from the public. His Facebook page has seen the number of followers increase to 160,000. The relation between Khang and Hang was established after the owner of the tourism complex offered a reward of VND1 billion to the person who could find the name of an anonymous Facebook account who sullied her. Khang then helped the businesswoman find the account and receive the reward. Khang wrote on his Facebook that he received VND500 million only, while the remaining money was given back to Hang, who will do charity with that money. After that, Khang many times helped Hang find sensitive chat content of famous artists. He also got involved in a lot of scandals related to charity activities of celebrities. Khang once had a very close relation with Hang. However, the relationship has become worse because of conflicts. Khang has many times released information hinting about the wrong things Hang has done. Trong Dat Hackers intensify phishing activities, targeting bank, e-wallet transactions The demand for making transactions, payment and giving lucky money online has soared these days, giving hackers opportunities to increase their phishing activities. The European Commission will convene an online meeting with the Directorate of Fisheries on October 27 to review Vietnams efforts against illegal, unreported and undocumented fishing. A delegation from the European Commission (EC) will convene an online meeting with the Directorate of Fisheries on October 27 to review Vietnams efforts against illegal, unreported and undocumented fishing (IUU), said the directorate's Deputy General Director Nguyen Quang Hung. During a regular press conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on October 5, Hung said the Directorate of Fisheries already sent a report on Vietnams work to end IUU over the past years to the EC. Over the past nearly four years, Vietnam has implemented many measures from the central to local levels, with the involvement of ministries, agencies and the media, he said, adding that this year, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh , head of the National Steering Committee on IUU, convened a meeting on the implementation of such measures, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also chaired an online meeting on the issue. The official said with the drastic involvement of ministries and agencies, Vietnam expects to have the "yellow card" warning of the EC lifted by 2022-2023. Hung added that if communes deliver on their commitment of ending fishing vessels' violations in foreign waters by December 31, 2021, the country can focus on existing problems inside the country and solve them within 2022. In its draft project on IUU prevention and control, the Directorate of Fisheries also set the goal of having yellow card removed by 2022-2023. At the press conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said a meeting will be held in late October to focus on ways to intensify all four groups of measures. He also highlighted the important role of the media to raise public awareness of the issue, as well as the need for strict punishment of violations related to IUU./. Source: VNA Tens of thousands of people from southern provinces that are Vietnams pandemic hotspot are flocking to the Central Highlands provinces, posing great pressure for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic in these localities. Returnees take a quick test at a quarantine site in Hoa Phu commune, Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak. H'Yim Kdoh, Vice Chair of the Provincial People's Committee of Dak Lak, told VietNamNet that in recent days, the number of returnees from southern provinces has been huge, with 1,500 people on October 2 alone. It is predicted that the number of returnees will be larger in the coming days. According to H'Yim Kdoh, Dak Lak province has about 120,000 citizens who work and live in southern provinces and cities. If all of them return home, the province will face great pressure on the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic. To prevent the epidemic, the local government has worked out detailed plans to welcome returnees in the safest way. Accordingly, the citizens who have had fully vaccinated are allowed to quarantine at home. Those who have get one dose of vaccine will be quarantined at concentrated isolation zones managed by towns and districts. Those who have not been vaccinated yet will be quarantined at concentrated isolation sites managed by the provincial authorities. The people who are quarantined at concentrated quarantine centers will have to pay a daily quarantine fee of VND120,000 (over $5)/person. In Gia Lai province, the local Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control said that the province would welcome its citizens back in order of priority, such as disadvantaged people and those with urgent needs. Since May 28, the authorities of Gia Lai province have brought 469 citizens, including 241 pregnant women and 42 children who were in very difficult circumstances in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai back home. So far, about 58,000 people have traveled from the southern provinces to Gia Lai to avoid the epidemic. More than 32,000 people have been sent to concentrated isolation centers. Returnees account for over 80% of the province's total infection cases. For the disadvantaged citizens who have not been able to return home, Gia Lai province has given them VND1 million/person. As many as 573 people have received financial support. According to Phan Nhat Thanh, Chairman of Dak R'lap District People's Committee in Dak Nong Province, on the evening of October 2, about 1,000 people returned home. Most of them were workers and freelance workers. D. Nguyen PEOPLE Valiant hires new growth chief & realigns Valiant Integrated Services has hired nearly 25-year government market veteran and former Peraton executive John Hart as chief growth officer. Hart officially joined Valiant on Oct. 1 amid a realignment of the companys structure into two verticals after the acquisition of Alliance Technical Services in July. The reorganization was announced Monday. Valiant said it also promoted four-decade market veteran Kent Smith to lead the mission support vertical and 35-year veteran Hector Alvarez as head of training and readiness. Their appointments also took effect Oct. 1. Smith most recently led a retooling of Valiants operations and maintenance services in base operations support, health care, construction and other markets. His career includes senior roles at Fluor Corp. and Del-Jen. Alvarez joined Valiant from Lockheed Martin, where he led that companys special operations global sustainment support services business. His career also includes roles at one-time Lockheed subsidiary PAE, General Electric and the former Hughes Aircraft. Father Pavel and his Tiny Russian Village monastery project is a good thing. Svetochka and I support what is happening. At first we were conflicted, yet after all these years and seeing what is being done, the only way that TRV will survive is if the monastery rebuilds itself to actually that, a monastery again Before the village, before the school for the deaf, blind and dumb, before the monastery was destroyed in Soviet Times.there was a very special Female Monastery by itself upon our hill/mountain. Founded here because there was a natural water source and a holy water source nearby If I was a rich man? I would sink the millions of dollars that I dont have and drive the rebuilding of the monastery to its former glory. I would even push to return to the female monastery status. Yet, that will not happen. Yet, we will give what we can and hope that more and more gets done There are very few places in the world that God is present. Man has destroyed so much and so raped the world in so many places. Man has lost so much that has been freely allowed to him and with all that man has lost his spiritual way The Tiny Russian Village is a place where God still speaks/acts/motivates freely and all we have to do is listen/feel This is even after the almost total destruction of this monastery by some very bad individuals at the past times I can honestly say that the elder spirits are at peace now at the old village and God still has his hand on guiding the place. Humans are not always good at listening. They even found the cemetery finally.they had whom I called a Preacher Boy before Bishop Mathew and then Father Pavel and Preacher Boy brought set backs upon TRV that took many years to straighten out The importance of TRV to me is paramount for many reasons. Sometimes the reasons are not clear to me and life pushes me away from the goal. Yet, I see what is and what can be at the Tiny Russian Village with its very unique monastery WtR I posted this many years ago and decided to bring it forward, for while some of the information has changed, the time frames have changed, the needs and desire have not and most likely things will change a million times before they are done. The data given in the post is accurate and important The St. Nicholas Monastery boundaries shown above in red subsection located within the village called Sunrise (Dawn) of Freedom in the Sarajevo district of the Ryazan Region (white outline,) was founded in the late 19th century. Before the revolution, it was a female monastery. In 1918, was closed, and gradually over the years of Soviet occupancy it was destroyed Reopened in 2007 as a monastery once again and is currently being restored I have done the best I could and translated most of what has been written. This was written by a Orthodox priest and it was very hard to decipher at times for me In Russia (Soviet Union), a lot of monuments of pre-revolutionary architecture, which for many decades of neglect had led to a very deteriorated condition. In fact they are in a dilapidated condition. It is the duty of present and future generations to return these buildings back to life. Restored churches and monasteries, and renewed in their worship, it can become important tourist attractions and centers of Orthodox Culture in Russia and the places where they are located. This is a special class of monuments, with a special destiny in history and the future The Nicholas-Bavykinsky convent in our village also suffered a tragic fate as others in the Soviet times. Several buildings long gone, the remaining buildings, including the tower, are in a dilapidated condition. One of the photos we can see through the eyes of the territory of the modern artist Nicholas Bavykinskogo nunnery in its original form Today some experts say that the remaining dilapidated buildings could be saved by conducting restoration work and even these works have been started: make the roof and windows of the altar. This is certainly a drop in the ocean, but still a beginning that can be appreciated. Ryazan Eparchy of Russian Orthodox Church took under his wing the monastery (which is now in the process of transferring ownership of its buildings), and hopes that someday there will be a fully operate the Monastery back in the same spot as the original Moreover, the prayer room temporarily resides in a rehabilitated house of village called Dawn of Freedom. Vicar of St. Nicholas Monastery Abbot Bavykinskogo Guri, now resident in this home and conducts daily worship. The brethren of the monastery: monk Clement (Acting Rector of the church in a. Panic), Fr Paul (Acting Rector of the church in a. Sysoev), Fr Peter (the rector of the church with. Fighter, part-time cleric Nicholas Bavykinskogo Monastery) help him not only to conduct religious services, but also on other issues. With the help of a novice monk, Galina, does household care cleaning, laundry, cooking, and it is directly involved in the acts of worship Father Gury said that Galina is a good novice, and she has kept almost everything in the church by a lot of female labor Restoration of the monastery its not one year but many years, and it will require a huge expenditure. Unfortunately, there is no money in the monastery treasure. For the money and all assets have been stolen over the years. People, for the preservation of the Orthodox radeyuschih antiquity we have many, and a lot of sacrifice, but sacrifice a lot of money to churches one. Benefactors may exist for Nicholas Bavykinskogo monastery, but not sure when it will be A road to the temple needs a bridge over the river now, so people can at any time get here by normal transport. Road signs have already been acquired for the monastery. Today, people have to make a long detour through the village Borets, a settlement for the fish ponds. For this reason, not many parishioners here it is. Although they come to the monastery, even from other districts, to venerate the icon of the main temple an icon of St. Nicholas, revered by people of St. George icon, an image which, according to the abbot, was miraculously appear. When the icon was transferred to the monastery, it was all black, and that it is generally an icon, knew her former guardian so reminded When was the bridge was over the river, then the people came to worship more, and donations did increase. Diocese allocates funds to a house of worship, helping the Foundation of St. Sergius of Radonezh, but these funds, no matter how hard you try, is not enough. Indeed, even such a small temple still needs great in everything. Yes, and to continue to work at least to restore the roof, the monastery should be clear from the old collapsed debris, so that you can install the new wood. But this, as you know, needs money, as they are needed for the manufacture and design estimates To tell the truth, there is no room for eating in the rebuilt home for monks. Father Gury mentioned that supposedly promised to donate the local trailer for this purpose, but they do not hurry to do it. (Trailer has been delivered this summer!) Abbot, according to Galina novices and local resident Nina Ivanovna Frolova, doing everything to ensure that services were held here, as it should, so that more people come here to pray to God. His soul is going through worries when it moves forward. Id love to see in life, as here everything will change for the better, as there will flow the monastic life, said the priest. People are different in the world they live: and bad and good. And all the way to the temple of his own. In some it is shorter than in others longer. But from the standpoint of the spiritual, moral. We hope that the world is still more good people who are capable of real good things. There are people here in Russia, there is. They were always, always do good works. Is it not a good thing the restoration of St. Nicholas Monastery in Bavykinskogo Sarajevo area and construction of a bridge across the river? The most that on is good and the good work. We hope that such people exist, and they will respond and help in the reconstruction of this brilliant monument of the Orthodox culture in saraevschine. New bells are needed also for the tower! Post by Kyle Keeton Windows to Russia Related articles This week we're following two primaries, one for a State Senate special election in Rhode Island along with a mayoral primary in Durham, NC. There are four weeks until Election Day, 2021. Rhode Island State Senate District 3 Primary There are 38 State Senate districts in Rhode Island. The chamber is overwhelmingly Democratic; the party has 32 seats, the GOP holds just five. Senators serve two-year terms; the next regularly scheduled election is in 2022. The Providence area District 3 vacancy was created by the resignation of Democrat Gayle Goldin on August 17. She took a position in the U.S. Department of Labor. Goldin was first elected in 2012. She has faced only write-in opposition in this deep blue district. Despite the long odds, Republicans are fielding a candidate in the November 2 special election. Alex Cannon was the only qualifier, so there will be no GOP primary. Five Democrats are competing for the party's nomination. Polls close at 8:00 PM ET. Durham, NC Mayoral Primary Durham, North Carolina is the 75th largest city in the United States, with a population of just under 285,000. Tuesday's nonpartisan mayoral primary will select the two candidates that will meet in the November 2 general election. The mayor is Democrat Steve Schewel. He is completing his third two-year term and is not running for reelection. Seven candidates are looking to succeed Schewel. The frontrunners appear to be City Council member Javiera Caballero and former judge Elaine O'Neal. Polls close at 7:30 PM Eastern Time. Upcoming Low Emission Hydrogen and Carbon Sequestration Project Brisbane, Oct 5, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - State Gas Limited ( ASX:GAS ) announces its collaboration with Rockminsolutions Pty Ltd ('Rockminsolutions') to investigate the manufacture of low emission hydrogen with carbon sequestration in the west of its 100%-owned ATP 2062 Rolleston-West Gas Project.Highlights- State Gas enters into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rockminsolutions toinvestigate carbon sequestration and low emission hydrogen.- Hydrogen to be manufactured from gas, with carbon to be securely stored based on aproven process being implemented in Iceland and elsewhere in Europe.- Dissolved carbon dioxide to be pumped underground, to form solid-form carbonateminerals for long term, safe and stable storage.- Proposed project site on the western border of State Gas' 100%-owned ATP 2062Rolleston-West Project in Central Queensland.State Gas has entered into a MoU with basalt specialist Rockminsolutions to investigate the potential to sequester carbon dioxide in the Buckland Basaltic Sequence within and surrounding the western area of ATP 2062. The carbon mineralisation technique is based on a process currently being successfully implemented by Carbfix (www.carbfix.com) at the Hellisheidi power plant in Iceland. Carbfix has developed a novel approach to capturing and storing CO2 by its capture in water and injection of the solution into suitable subsurface basalts. The Hellisheidi carbon mineralisation project in Iceland has attracted high-profile investors including Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates.The western area of ATP 2062 contains a large portion of the Buckland Basaltic Sequence, an extensive area of Tertiary aged basaltic ignimbrites (volcanic ash deposits) up to 330m thick, having similarities with basaltic rocks at Hellisheidi in Iceland.Under the Carbfix process, carbon dioxide is dissolved in water and pumped into a favourable rock formation. The solution then reacts with minerals present in the rock to create carbonates such as calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. In these forms, the carbon is stable and safe and can be expected to remain so for thousands of years. In its trials in Iceland, Carbfix has found this process has resulted in more than 95% of carbon mineralising underground within two years.Basaltic ignimbrites such as those in the Buckland Basaltic Sequence within and adjacent to ATP 2062 are considered to have the greatest potential for the sequestration of carbon by this process. Basalt rocks are highly reactive and contain the elements needed for permanently immobilising carbon dioxide through the formation of carbonate minerals. When in the form of non-welded ignimbrites, the basalt is likely to be very permeable and porous, containing storage space for the mineralised carbon.Dissolving the carbon dioxide in water creates a stable solution which can be readily pumped into formations much shallower than those required for traditional carbon sequestration. The high porosity of the rock is expected to facilitate the retention of the carbonated water without the need for a geological seal. As a result, the Carbfix process has the potential to provide a more secure carbon storage solution at substantially lower cost than traditional processes.Should investigation of the project area confirm the potential of the Buckland Basaltic Sequence to store carbon dioxide, State Gas and Rockminsolutions envisage manufacturing hydrogen from gas, which may be sourced from State Gas' Rolleston-West or adjacent Reid's Dome Projects. Carbon dioxide created through the process would be stored within the Basaltic sequence underground, creating a safe and sustainable low emission hydrogen.State Gas Executive Chairman, Richard Cottee, said that the Company was very pleased to enter into the hydrogen and sequestration initiative with Rockminsolutions."While State Gas remains focussed on development of its Reid's Dome and Rolleston-West Gas Projects, the carbon mineralisation approach has the potential to be a game changer in the production of low emission hydrogen from gas", he said. "A combined gas and hydrogen portfolio would provide significant optionality for State Gas into the future.""State Gas is committed to reducing its carbon footprint whilst ensuring there are sufficient supplies of natural gas, and eventually hydrogen, to enable the transition to a lower carbon future. Hopefully this MOU will bring the technology forward to coincide with the development of the Rolleston-West Gas Project in Central Queensland", Mr Cottee said."With worldwide gas prices at decades' highs, State Gas remains focussed on bringing its Reid's Dome and Rolleston-West gas to the east coast market. Our gas projects are not restricted by domestic gas reservation requirements, providing even more optionality for commercial opportunities over the next few years."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About State Gas Limited State Gas Limited (ASX:GAS) is a Queensland-based developer of the Reid's Dome gas field, originally discovered during drilling in 1955, located in the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland. State Gas is 100%-owner of the Reid's Dome Gas Project (PL-231) a CSG and conventional gas play, which is well-located 30 kilometres southwest of Rolleston, approximately 50 kilometres from the Queensland Gas Pipeline and interconnected east coast gas network. Permian coal measures within the Reid's Dome Beds are extensive across the entire permit but the area had not been explored for coal seam gas prior to State Gas' ownership. In late 2018 State Gas drilled the first coal seam gas well in the region (Nyanda-4) into the Reid's Dome Beds and established the potential for a significant coal seam gas project in PL 231. The extension of the coal measures into the northern and central areas of the permit was confirmed in late 2019 by the Company's drilling of Aldinga East-1A (12 km north) and Serocold-1 (6 km to the north of Nyanda-4). State Gas is also the 100% holder Authority to Prospect 2062 ("Rolleston-West"), a 1,414 km2 permit (eight times larger than PL 231) that is contiguous with the Reid's Dome Gas Project. Rolleston-West contains highly prospective targets for both coal seam gas (CSG) and known conventional gas within the permit area. It is not restricted by domestic gas reservation requirements. The contiguous areas (Reid's Dome and Rolleston-West), under sole ownership by State Gas, enable integration of activities and a unified super-gasfield development, providing economies of scale, efficient operations, and optionality in marketing. State Gas is implementing its strategic plan to bring gas to market from Reid's Dome and Rolleston-West to meet near term forecast shortfalls in the east coast domestic gas market. The strategy involves progressing a phased appraisal program in parallel with permitting for an export pipeline and development facilities to facilitate the fastest possible delivery of gas to market. State Gas' current focus has been to confirm the producibility of the gas through production testing of the wells. High Grade Results Continue From New Kestrel Discovery Perth, Oct 5, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to announce further excellent drilling results from the 100% owned Kestrel discovery, part of the Binduli gold project area, located 13km northwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the heart of the Western Australian goldfields (Figures 1 and 2*).HIGHLIGHTS- RC drilling program comprising 31 RC holes for 3,245m completed at the new Kestrel discovery, part of the Binduli project area, located 13km northwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Western Australian goldfields- Thick zones of new, shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation intercepted with results received to date including:o 4m @ 24.27g/t Au from 92m (KRC21044)o 5m @ 13.22g/t Au from 101m including 1m @ 42.27g/t Au from 101m and 1m @ 1.15g/t Au from 109m (KRC21020)o 8m @ 4.80g/t Au from 64m including 1m @ 29.95g/t Au from 64m (KRC21022)o 2m @ 3.09g/t Au from 56m and 3m @ 10.52g/t Au from 80m including 1m @ 25.57g/t Au from 80m (KRC21010)- Confirmatory screen fire assays completed for discovery hole KRC21007 confirming and improving on previous assay results with an assay return of:o 23m @ 5.84g/t Au from 84m (previously reported as 15m at 4.66g/t Au)- High grade mineralisation remains open at depth and to the south with the strike length now extending to 650m- Two drill lines 350m - 450m south of Kestrel discovered additional (>1.0 g/t Au) mineralisation with KRC21034 intersecting four multiple, narrow ore shoots within another geologically different porphyry stockwork host (up to 7.59g/t Au). Similarities to the Coote-Crake style mineralisation are also noted which suggest the Kestrel area now hosts two mineralised porphyry systems- Two RC rigs completing a further 5,000m of infill and extension drilling with results expected in the current December Quarter 2021Commenting on the latest drilling results, Horizon Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:"These new high-grade results have confirmed and extended the mineralisation at Kestrel across a potential 650m strike length, and we are just scratching the surface with vertical depths to only 100m. The aim now is to test what lies beneath and infill along strike with two rigs running and further results expected in the current December Quarter. The Binduli project area is fast becoming a new and exciting production centre with Crake and Coote in the south and Kestrel and Honeyeater in the north."The drilling forms part of the 50,000m CY21 program testing high priority project generation and new discovery targets across the 1,100km2 portfolio. The aim of the program is to organically grow the project pipeline within a 75km radius of the proposed Boorara mill adding to the six core development projects under evaluation as part of the consolidated Feasibility Study.Project GeologyThe local geology at Kestrel is dominated by the Black Flag Group - a NNW trending sequence of intermediate and felsic volcanics, sedimentary rocks, and porphyry intrusives. The regional Janet Ivy Shear Zone cuts across the stratigraphy to the N-NW. Late-stage NE faults have created significant offsets.The gold mineralisation is typically found in cm scale quartz veins which can span from 1-15m width with minor pyrite and various amounts of silica-carbonate-sericite-chlorite alteration. The quartz vein structure appears to crosscut lithological boundaries and is more common in or adjacent to the porphyry host rock. Typically, the porphyry is a speckly black and white colour, different to the Crake pink porphyry. Some quartz veins observed to date are unmineralised.The saline environment and strong weathering profile at Kestrel has resulted in a 30m depletion zone from the surface. This was also observed at the nearby Jacques Find and Teal deposits 4km to the east. Many of the historic holes are now regarded as being too shallow and ineffective.Looking further south from the salt lake, historical drilling 350m south of Kestrel had also intersected minor amounts of anomalous gold in quartz from 30m depth. Six holes were drilled into this area, with high grade porphyry mineralisation discovered at depth in KRC21034 which also contained several narrow ore shoots (1-2m width) with an encouraging 1m @ 7.59 g/t Au from 100m depth. The mineralisation appears to be similar in style to the Coote-Crake mineralisation 7km south. Further drilling around this hole is warranted. Another 100m step out south of this drill line, returned anomalous quartz veining in KRC21038 with a maximum result of 1m @ 3.41 g/t Au from 49m. Collectively these six holes suggest there is strong potential to expand the Kestrel trend another 450m to at least 650m.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed. Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline. Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage. TUCSON, Ariz. Authorities said Monday that they are investigated a suspicious death southwest of Tucson. Pima County Sheriffs officials said a body was found in Three Points, a community of about 5,500 people. Sheriffs officials said the body hasnt been identified yet. No other information was immediately released. SANTA FE While climate change activists rallied outside, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday began her push to drum up support for a proposed legal framework for hydrogen energy development by urging New Mexico oil and natural gas executives to back the legislation during the 30-day legislative session that starts in January. The Democratic governor opened her remarks at the annual meeting of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association by asking the roughly 300 attendees to wear face masks to comply with a state public health order that requires face coverings in indoor public settings. Most people appeared to comply. She then devoted much of her 25-minute speech to the proposed hydrogen initiative, which was recently unveiled by the governor and which she vowed will be on the agenda for the coming legislative session. We believe that being the first state to have a statutory framework (that) puts us in the drivers seat when it comes to hydrogen, said Lujan Grisham, who described hydrogen as the transitional fuel of the future. The governors remarks, which drew somewhat tepid applause, marked the latest stanza in her delicate two-step with the extractive energy industry, which Lujan Grisham has both pushed to adhere to stricter environmental rules and defended as a key producer of revenue. Although details have not been released, the proposed Hydrogen Hub Act would create a statutory framework to regulate the new industry and incentivize public-private sector partnerships that can accelerate development. But some environmental groups have expressed misgivings about the proposal, saying a focus on hydrogen energy could slow the states push to expand wind, solar and other types of renewable energy projects. Meanwhile, the governors appearance at the oil and natural gas conference also drew a group of youthful climate change activists, who protested outside the downtown Santa Fe hotel where the governor was delivering her remarks, at one point chanting: Which side are you on? Seneca Johnson of Santa Fe, a member of Youth United for Climate Change Action, said Lujan Grisham has not done enough to address climate change since taking office in 2019. Weve been calling on her for meaningful climate reform for several years, Johnson told the Journal. We can see where her priorities lie. The Lujan Grisham administration has pushed in recent months for proposed regulations to address New Mexico oil and natural gas pollution that contributes to high ozone levels. However, the governor has also touted the extractive industrys economic heft, pointing out during her Monday speech that more than one-third of the states $7.4 billion budget is funded by the oil and gas industries. Its important we protect New Mexicans and our environment while driving our economy, the governor said. New Mexico recently overtook North Dakota to become the nations second-biggest oil producer behind Texas and natural gas prices have soared in recent months. Thats led to an increase in taxes and royalties collected from the extractive industries, prompting legislative and executive branch economists to project New Mexico will take in roughly $8.8 billion in revenue during the coming budget year a record. Lujan Grisham has said in the past that oil and gas companies could play a key role in the states transition toward a renewable energy economy, and she suggested Monday that could happen with the emerging hydrogen industry. All of us are responsible for advancing clean energy, Lujan Grisham said. It is here right now, and everyone is scrambling to be identified as that innovative leader. The governor also said hydrogen energy development could generate hundreds of billions in possible revenue over the coming decade. She said she discussed the initiative with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during Granholms visit to New Mexico over the summer. Hydrogen development could be at the forefront of a federal plan to help decarbonize everything from electric generation and long-haul shipping to heavy industrial processes such as steel and concrete production. The concept has bipartisan support in Congress, including a proposal for $8 billion in federal grants to build four initial hydrogen hubs around the country. The proposal is part of President Joe Bidens $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which is awaiting a final vote in the U.S. House. Lujan Grisham said Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Montana could be among the other states in the running, but said New Mexico is uniquely positioned to be a player in the national and international hydrogen market, due partly to its abundant natural gas reserves that can be used, at least at first, to derive the methane needed to produce hydrogen. Robert McEntyre, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Associations communications director, said some members of the industry group have already been looking into hydrogen energy development. Were always happy to collaborate with the governor and find inventive ways to maximize our resources, McEntyre told the Journal. Its an area that could hold a lot of promise in the future. SAN DIEGO Refugee admissions to the United States fell to a record low during the 2021 budget year, despite President Joe Bidens pledge to reverse the sharp cuts made by the Trump administration, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. A total of 11,445 refugees were allowed into the United States during the budget year that ended on Thursday, according to a person with access to the information who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the figure. That number does not include the tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the United States as American troops withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war there. Many of those Afghans were allowed into the country under a different legal status known as humanitarian parole, which is why they are not included in the refugee tally. Still the number highlights Bidens challenges in reversing the restrictive refugee policies set by former President Donald Trumps administration, which targeted the program as part of a broader campaign to slash both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. The U.S. president determines the cap on refugee admissions each budget year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Biden didnt take office until almost four months after the last fiscal year began. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the number. The 11,445 refugee admissions total falls far below the nations cap of 62,500 for the 2021 budget year that Biden set in May. Its also below the record-low ceiling of 15,000 that Trump had initially set for the year. Biden initially indicated he would not override the 15,000-person cap, saying in an emergency determination that it remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest. But that brought sharp rebuke from Democratic allies who criticized him for not taking the symbolic step of authorizing more refugees this year. The White House quickly reversed course and raised the cap, though Biden said at the time that he did not expect the U.S. would meet the new 62,500 ceiling with only four months left in the 2021 budget year, given the ongoing restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic and work the administration says is needed to rebuild the program. Refugee advocates said the record-low number reflects the damage done by the Trump administration to the program. Before the 2021 budget year, the lowest number of refugees allowed in was during the 2020 budget year when the number hit 11,814. The historical yearly average was 95,000 under previous Republican and Democratic administrations. The Biden administration has expanded the narrow eligibility criteria put in place by his predecessor that had kept out most refugees, among other steps. But critics say its not enough and that the Biden administration has moved too slowly. It remains to be seen whether refugee admissions will reach anywhere near the 125,000 cap that Biden has set for the current budget year, which started Friday. Krish OMara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine U.S. agencies working to resettle refugees, said efforts need to be accelerated to add personnel overseas, do more remote interviews and relieve the enormous backlog of refugee applications. She said that while the program was gutted by the Trump administration, it is now Bidens responsibility to revive it. If we are to reach President Bidens goal of welcoming 125,000 refugees, the administration must be aggressive and innovative in ramping up processing, she said in a statement. Mark Hetfield of HIAS, another resettlement agency, agreed that Biden should have done better. What this record low number really shows is that the administration needs to remove the red tape and other obstacles that hinder the resettlement program from effectively responding to emergencies like Afghanistan, he said. Biden, who co-sponsored legislation creating the refugee program in 1980, has said reopening the door to refugees is how we will restore the soul of our nation. ___ Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report. Critics of Mayor Tim Keller point to skyrocketing homicides, jumps in shootings and low police morale as proof of his failure to fight crime. Keller pushes back, noting that violent crime has shot up throughout the country during the pandemic, not just in Albuquerque. He points to drops in Albuquerques property crime as a measure of his success. And he says the initiatives launched under his tenure will make the community safer in the long run. The Community Safety Department will take thousands of calls off the shoulders of police, the Gateway Center will be a stand-in for jail cells and hospital beds for those experiencing homelessness and the Metro Crime Initiative will fix the broken criminal justice system, according to Keller. He wants voters to give him another four years to see through those projects to fight crime from all sides. Keller said his track record shows he can do it. He faces two candidates in the Nov. 2 election: Sheriff Manuel Gonzales and radio show host Eddy Aragon. Ive led our city during literally the toughest time in our modern history the crisis in policing, last summers calls for racial justice, nationally rising crime and COVID, he said. we still need a leader who can push us forward based on the foundation that I built. Keller said he has made strides in lowering overall crime through sizeable decreases in property crime, particularly auto theft. The Albuquerque-metro area, which includes Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance counties, dropped out of the countrys top spot for auto theft in 2019 and to sixth place in 2020. I think we have honored the commitment to fight crime in a real way. Thats not just about talking tough or doing roundups or something like that, were actually trying to address crime from all sides, he said. And we have done that. Had we not done that our city would be in a much, much worse place. Underlying issues Keller said Burquenos shouldnt expect a gazillion new crime fighting initiatives if voters give him another four years. He said his administration will instead focus on those already in play to address the underlying issues of homelessness, drug abuse, mental health and what he calls the revolving doors of the criminal justice system. Keller said his success in recruiting more officers and utilizing millions in recent technology upgrades will help APD tackle crime in the interim as he focuses on getting the Albuquerque Community Safety Department, or ACS, Gateway Center and Metro Crime Initiative up and running. Each program is in a different stage of implementation. The ACS was proposed in 2020 as an option for having social workers and trained professionals, rather than armed officers, respond to 911 calls related to homelessness, behavioral health and addiction. Keller said the new department will alleviate the drain on officers and will divert thousands of calls to other personnel, help those in crisis and avoid situations of escalation. Joshua Reeves, a city spokesman, said the program started a soft launch to test the process on Sept. 7. He said there are currently five behavioral health responders taking around eight calls a day 150 in the first month. Reeves said another 22 responders, including supervisors and outreach team members, are in the hiring and training process. The final goal, he said, is to have 54 personnel responding to calls. Reeves said the city also hired four mobile crisis team clinicians and one supervisor as ACS employees and they have been assisting officers on calls since March. Keller said devoting resources to address the needs of a growing homeless population will also put a dent in crime, calling the Gateway Center an alternative to the emergency room or jail. Proposed in 2020, the Gateway Center will be housed at the former Lovelace hospital on Gibson. The city has said it plans to use the 572,000-square-foot facility to shelter up to 100 individuals and 25 families. Neighbors in the area have repeatedly raised issues with the citys plan and have asked a zoning examiner to reject the idea as the examiner weighs the citys request to use the hospital as an overnight homeless shelter. Finally, Keller said the Metro Crime Initiative will have the city work with courts, legislators, law enforcement and others to tackle the flaws in the criminal justice system. The city recently unveiled a list of 40 items devised over five two-hour sessions to be checked off by local, state and federal law enforcement. The checklist includes creating a think tank to examine gun violence as a public health issue, increasing sentences when a gun is used in a crime, implementing creative restorative justice programs in schools, increasing capacity of addiction treatment centers and increasing pre-arrest diversion offers. Its either naive or disingenuous for anyone to think that our crime and drug problems are so surface level that they can just be fixed by being tougher, or by arresting people, Keller said. If it was that easy. I guarantee you, every chief that weve ever had, would have already done that. The department has struggled to reach its goal of 1,200 officers, something Keller campaigned on four years ago. The city currently has about 900 officers. Keller said the structuring of his pay raises to police in his first term allowed many to retire within three years. After the city faced a pandemic, the social justice movement and lags in criminal justice in 2020, Keller said he realized they lost a year of progress. Had I known that going forward, I would have structured the pay raise differently to build toward retention, he said. Thats something I really wish I would have done. But, I had no idea of predicting what would be down the road. Learning from mistakes Keller acknowledges missteps on the part of his administration, which include releasing faulty crime stats early in his tenure and more recently, backslides in police federally mandated reform efforts. As for the recent record spike in homicides and shootings, Keller and APD repeatedly attribute those to national trends. In December 2019 APD acknowledged flaws in crime statistics released by Kellers administration showing drops in every crime category between 2018 and 2019. The department eventually released revised numbers showing a much smaller, sometimes minuscule, decrease in crime categories. They hired a former university professor to review their data collection who found the department had an inaccurate method for tracking crimes, was using outdated systems and didnt have a way to track missing reports. Keller said, in the end, his administration owned up to its mistakes and the instance is a good example of them sharing information even when it doesnt look great. I think weve walked the walk on that one, he said. Since then, violent crime particularly homicides and shootings has increased significantly in the city. Albuquerque has already surpassed its homicide record of 81 in 2019, hitting 89 homicides so far this year as of the end of September. Three of those homicides are being investigated by State Police. Of those cases, according to Journal records, 26 have had an arrest or charges filed. There has also been a 15% increase in shootings across the city with 229 so far in 2021. There were 199 shootings by this time in 2020. More recently, the department has faced another hurdle: a backslide in reform. A report on the Department of Justice reform effort released in May found APD had taken steps backward in training officers on policies and holding them accountable for mistakes. The report said that, in some ways, APD was further from finishing the reform process than it was two years ago. The department entered into the Court Approved Settlement Agreement, or CASA, in 2014 after a DOJ investigation found officers had a pattern of using excessive force and violating constitutional rights following years of controversial police shootings. Keller said the six-month lag in reform reports put them at a disadvantage and, had he seen the results sooner, he wouldve asked former APD Chief Mike Geier to resign earlier. He said Geier, who was ousted in September 2020, did not do enough to help reforms and hampered the department in other ways. He said the department is now better situated to tackle reforms, particularly after hiring Sylvester Stanley as superintendent of police reform in March. Keller said consent decrees around the nation take anywhere from 10 to 40 years, and short-term reform is a fantasy. I know were going to be in a much better position if Im mayor than if theres another mayor because of what Ive learned through the process, he said. I think making predictions or guesstimating its hurtful to the process and its naive to think anyone can actually have a say in that. Geier has since endorsed Kellers opponent, Sheriff Manuel Gonzales, and blasted Keller as a mayor who was obsessed with his image and who micromanaged the department. Keller stood by his decision to replace Geier with Harold Medina, and said if any department is having trouble, I will manage them, and try and get them out of trouble. He said Medina is doing the best job he can with the resources and with the situation that were in and he will keep Medina as chief as long as the city is making progress on crime-fighting, police reforms and gaining the communitys trust. When you say yes to that job, you say goodbye to your family, you say goodbye to all your free time. And you literally bear the responsibility of keeping our city safe, he said. And thats something that he was willing to step up for from day one. And frankly, a lot of people arent. For his part, Keller said he had done the best he could. I think Ive provided the right kind leadership at the right time and in a difficult time. So that means that not everyone is going to be happy with you all the time. I think that says youre doing something right, he said. I think I have been balanced in that I make tough decisions when I have to, and I stand by them. But I also learned from my mistakes. Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal It was the shortest winning distance in the history of the Americas Challenge Gas Balloon Race. The team of Noah Forden and Bert Padelt traversed 356 miles, setting down at 7 a.m. Albuquerque time at the airport in Big Spring, Texas, and beating the second place team of Barbara Fricke and Peter Cuneo by just under 18 miles. Their flight lasted 36 hours and 22 minutes. The last Americas Challenge race in 2019, with nine teams competing, saw the winning team of Andy Cayton of Georgia, and Krysztof Zapart of Poland flying for 58 hours and 20 minutes, and landing in a remote area of Canadas James Bay, in Ontario. Forden, from Rhode Island, and Padelt, from Pennsylvania, reached altitudes of nearly 18,000 feet in their balloon, Across the Universe, as part of their strategy to take advantage of the strongest winds available to them. I dont like going slow and all the winds that we looked at were fairly slow, and certainly if you stayed low they were pretty slow, Forden said in a phone call after the race. We looked at a number of trajectories, which were dead-ends and if we took them wed get stuck, so that was the challenge not really being able to navigate and go as far as wed like. For Padelt, the biggest challenge in high altitude flight was its uncomfortable, he said. Youre on oxygen and its cold. But that being said, it was really beautiful and we werent agonizingly slow like our competitors were. We had a 14 knot (16 mph) wind for most of the flight. Flying at high altitude required that Forden and Padelt dump much of their ballast. And once you use that ballast up, you dont have control anymore, said Forden. So youve got to land probably a little sooner if you go high. Thats the trade-off we made with this race. Further, said Padelt, it would not have been safe to continue flying with the amount of ballast that we had remaining, so the logical thing was to land and hope that we went far enough so that no one was able to catch up to us. The No. 2 team of Fricke and Cuneo, flying Foxtrot Charlie, covered 338 miles, landing east of Pampa, Texas. They were airborne for 40 hours and 35 minutes. Fricke and Cuneo, both from Albuquerque, have previously won the Americas Challenge race four times. In third place were Mark Sullivan of Albuquerque and Cheri White, of Austin, who landed their balloon, Warsteiner, near Melrose, New Mexico, after 23 hours and 49 minutes and flying about 174 miles. The fourth place team of Brenda Cowlishaw and Brian Duncan, both from Texas, landed their balloon, Intrepid, near Pecos, New Mexico, after a flight of 15 hours and 1 minute, and covering a distance of about 60 miles . All distances are unofficial until certified, said race spokeswoman Kim Vesely. Even though it was a short race it was still difficult, exciting and strategic, she said. These pilots really had to think through how to use what little wind there was to try to get distance. Seven two-person teams had been registered to participate in this years race, but three were a no-show. They were either from Europe or had one member of the team from Europe, and with all the COVID and travel restrictions and the shipping issues, they just couldnt do it, Vesely said. Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal Albuquerque leaders have paved the way for speed cameras to help monitor the city streets. The City Council on Monday night approved a new automated speed enforcement ordinance, enabling a new technology-based program to identify lead-footed drivers and send them civil citations payable with $100 or four hours of community service. Sponsors say it will not eliminate the citys speeding problem but should at least alleviate it. Councilor Klarissa Pena called it a good step in the right direction. We still have a long ways to go. (But) this was something we could do more quickly in order to address some of the constituents concerns that weve been having, she said. A city spokeswoman said the program could begin later this fall. Pena co-sponsored the legislation with Brook Bassan, Isaac Benton and Lan Sena, who all voted for it, as did Cynthia Borrego, Diane Gibson, Don Harris and Trudy Jones. Only Pat Davis opposed it, saying in a written statement that he does not believe speed cameras are an effective deterrent. Getting a ticket in the mail three weeks later doesnt stop anybody from speeding in the moment, Davis said. Id rather spend more effort incentivizing officers to participate in overtime to target drag racers and dangerous drivers than create a surveillance state that polices for profit. Albuquerque previously had a camera-based traffic enforcement program, but the City Council repealed the enabling ordinance in 2011 after 53% of city voters came out against red-light cameras in an advisory ballot question that year. Benton who was on the council at the time and opposed the repeal reiterated Monday that he thought it was the wrong decision then to throw the baby out with the bath water. He said the city should not need such programs, but the reality is that it does. Weve got an increasingly aggressive group of people on the streets, and I think we need to face up to that, he said. Mayor Tim Keller also supports automated speed enforcement, saying it could reduce crashes and the burden on the Albuquerque Police Department. What we learned over the course of community input meetings and surveys is that residents are more than ready to implement this program as well, he said in a written statement. Unlike the bills original language, a substitute version passed Monday included a provision barring the city from paying the camera contractor based on the number of citations issued, stipulating the city would pay a flat fee for the service. The final version also included language requiring that the speed camera equipment undergo a calibration test by an independent, third-party lab at least once per year. APD would administer the program and verify every camera-recorded speeding violation before mailing citations. Burial site: The City Council also passed legislation recognizing the Albuquerque Indian School cemetery at the city-owned 4H Park as a historic and sacred burial site. The bill pledges undisclosed financial and personnel resources to implement recommendations for the site made by neighboring tribal and pueblo communities, the citys Commission on American Indian & Alaska Native Affairs and others connected to the site. The city is working with the community to determine how best to acknowledge the land where Native American boarding school students were believed to have been buried. I know it doesnt exactly bring justice to what has occurred, but I think its important we do acknowledge what has happened and the trauma that continues to be experienced by our indigenous communities, said Sena, who co-sponsored the bill with Borrego and Benton. Mayor Keller had initially proposed the bill to the council. Todays resolution marks another formal acknowledgement on behalf of the City of Albuquerque of the trauma that Indian boarding school policies have left over generations in Native American communities, he said in a statement. We are committed to following their recommendations and to working collaboratively to address these histories of trauma and racism. Also: The council on Monday approved a new TIDD, or tax increment development district, for the University of New Mexico South Campus. DEVELOPING... Story will be updated as new information can be verified. Updated 4 times HOWELL, Mich. President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats edged closer to agreement Tuesday on how sharply to cut back his ambitious social spending plan, even as the president made a public case that the package will help keep the nation from losing its edge in global competitiveness. Biden went to Michigan to promote the proposal for expanded safety net, health and environmental programs, but after his speech he acknowledged the inevitable as Democrats focus on a now-$2 trillion top-line for the package to win support. I want to make sure that we have a package that everyone can agree on, Biden told reporters. Its not going to be $3.5 trillion. Its going to be less than that. Were going to get it done. On Capitol Hill, strong signs emerged that Democrats were coalescing around Bidens push for a package in the $2 trillion range, a figure that seemed potentially acceptable to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and other centrists with reservations. With all Republicans opposed, Biden cant spare the support of a single Democratic senator. At the same time, new battle lines are being formed as Democrats decide which of the many programs they want to expand health, education, childcare, climate change will remain in the final proposal or be reduced or left behind. And in a signal of how much still may change before the bill makes it to his desk, Biden later suggested hed sign a bill that includes the so-called Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used for abortions in most cases. Manchin wants it in the final bill, while progressive Democrats oppose it. Id sign it either way, Biden told reporters. In his speech at a union training facility, Biden called opponents of his plan complicit in Americas decline, as he argued his spending plan is critical to Americas global competitiveness. He said he wanted to set some things straight about his agenda and cut through what he dismissed as noise in Washington. Americas still the largest economy in the world, we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world, but were at risk of losing our edge as a nation, he said. The president went on to spell out his plans in greater detail than he has in some time, after spending the past week deep in the details of negotiations on Capitol Hill. He highlighted popular individual parts of the plan, including funding for early childhood education and investments to combat climate change, rather than the expensive topline. And he emphasized that the trillions in spending would be drawn out over a decade and paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Polling suggests that elements in the social spending bill and a related $1 trillion infrastructure bill such as expanded child care opportunities and roads-and-bridges infrastructure projects are popular with large parts of the public. But even some of the White Houses closest allies have worried that the West Wing has not done enough to sell the spending. That brought Biden back on the road Tuesday, hitting the red-leaning district of Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin to sell his policies. These bills are not about left versus right or moderate vs progressive, Biden said. These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. Back in Washington, a more immediate problem was mounting as Senate Republicans are putting up hurdles to raising the nations debt limit, a routine vote thats needed to allow more borrowing and prevent a devastating credit default. Biden said Democrats are considering changing the chambers filibuster rules, which would lower the typical 60-vote threshold to 50, to do it. Its a real possibility, Biden told reporters at the White House. Meanwhile, negotiations continued on the pair of bills to boost spending on safety net, health and environmental programs and infrastructure projects. The $3.5 trillion price tag on the social services portion of Bidens agenda has long been the sticking point, with progressives demanding the funding for their priorities and moderates balking at the eye-popping number. But there was growing consensus which Biden has expressed privately to lawmakers, and acknowledged publicly Tuesday that the topline number will eventually shrink. In multiple private meetings, Biden has now floated $2 trillion as a figure for his signature package, including in a call late Monday with progressive House lawmakers, who still advocated for a higher amount, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Next to Biden, the Democrats with the most on the line over the shape and success of his spending plans are House members from swing districts whose reelections are essential if his party is to retain control of Congress. Many of those targeted moderates including Arizona Rep. Tom OHalleran, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and nine other vulnerable Democrats joined Biden for a virtual meeting Tuesday. He held a similar session the previous day with a dozen progressives. And his Tuesday visit to Slotkins district, which President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020, was aimed at giving moderates like her cover to support his spending package. While Slotkin backs the smaller, bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has passed the Senate, she prefers passing it in the House before negotiating the broader package of social programs. To be honest, it was hard for me to understand why leadership decided in the first place to tie the two bills together, Slotkin recently told The Detroit News. Thats not how we normally operate. Its not my preference. Washington was gripped with the drama last week as lawmakers grappled with the massive Democrats-only social spending bill that has been linked with the infrastructure bill. Progressives have balked at voting for the infrastructure bill if the other bill shrinks. Yet even as talk of that shrinkage increased, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a leader of the progressives, said Tuesday, Theres a lot of discussion going on, but Im confident at the end of the day its going to be a good agreement. This cannot ultimately be a bill that does 18 new things, but it could do four or five or six big bold new things, said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, an ally of the president. Lawmakers are considering cutting back some programs or limiting others to only people who qualify based on need. Bidens team huddled with the Democratic leaders late Monday at the Capitol as they rush to finish the latest draft in days, not weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. One senator was moved to compare it all to dancing. The best image I know is a square dance: You come together, but then you go apart; you come together, but then you go apart, said Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, describing his fellow Democrats. Theres a rhythm there, we just got to make sure we stay in rhythm. Thats the challenge. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Householder in Howell, Michigan, and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. DEVELOPING... Story will be updated as new information can be verified. Updated 4 times STOCKHOLM Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change. Syukuro Manabe, originally from Japan, and Klaus Hasselmann of Germany were cited for their work in developing forecast models of Earths climate and reliably predicting global warming. The second half of the prize went to Giorgio Parisi of Italy for explaining disorder in physical systems, ranging from those as small as the insides of atoms to the planet-sized. Hasselmann told The Associated Press that he would rather have no global warming and no Nobel Prize. Manabe said that figuring out the physics behind climate change was 1,000 times easier than getting the world to do something about it. He said the intricacies of policy and society are far harder to fathom than the complexities of carbon dioxide interacting with the atmosphere, which then changes conditions in the ocean and on the land, which then alters the air again in a constant cycle. He called climate change a major crisis. The prize comes less than four weeks before the start of high-level climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders will be asked to ramp up their commitments to curb global warming. The Nobel-winning scientists used their moment in the limelight to urge action. Its very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace in tackling global warming, Parisi said. He made the appeal even though his share of the prize was for work in a different area of physics. All three scientists work on what are known as complex systems, of which climate is just one example. But the prize went to two fields of study that are opposite in many ways, though they share the goal of making sense of what seems random and chaotic so that it can be predicted. Parisis research largely centers around subatomic particles, predicting how they move in seemingly chaotic ways and why, and is somewhat esoteric, while the work by Manabe and Hasselmann is about large-scale global forces that shape our daily lives. The judges said Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how human actions influence it. Starting in the 1960s, Manabe, now based at Princeton University, created the first climate models that forecast what would happen as carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere. Scientists for decades had shown that carbon dioxide traps heat, but Manabes work offered specifics. It allowed scientists to eventually show how climate change will worsen and how fast, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed. Manabe is such a pioneer that other climate scientists called his 1967 paper with the late Richard Wetherald the most influential climate paper ever, said NASA chief climate modeler Gavin Schmidt. Manabes Princeton colleague Tom Delworth called Manabe the Michael Jordan of climate. Suki set the stage for todays climate science, not just the tool but also how to use it, said fellow Princeton climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi. I cant count the times that I thought I came up with something new, and its in one of his papers. Manabes models from 50 years ago accurately predicted the warming that actually occurred in the following decades, said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the Breakthrough Institute. Manabes work serves as a warning to us all that we should take their projections of a much warmer future if we keep emitting carbon dioxide quite seriously. I never imagined that this thing I would begin to study has such a huge consequence, Manabe said at a Princeton news conference. I was doing it just because of my curiosity. About a decade after Manabes initial work, Hasselmann, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, helped explain why climate models can be reliable despite the seemingly chaotic nature of the weather. He also developed ways to look for specific signs of human influence on the climate. Meanwhile, Parisi, of Sapienza University of Rome, built a deep physical and mathematical model that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. His work originally focused on so-called spin glass, a type of metal alloy whose behavior long baffled scientists. Parisi, 73, discovered hidden patterns that explained the way it acted, creating theories that could be applied to other fields of research, too. All three physicists used complex mathematics to explain and predict what seemed like chaotic forces of nature. That is known as modeling. Physics-based climate models made it possible to predict the amount and pace of global warming, including some of the consequences like rising seas, increased extreme rainfall events and stronger hurricanes, decades before they could be observed, said German climate scientist and modeler Stefan Rahmstorf. He called Hasselmann and Manabe pioneers in this field. When climate scientists with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, some who deny global warming dismissed it as a political move. Perhaps anticipating controversy, members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, emphasized that Tuesdays was a science prize. What we are saying is that the modeling of climate is solidly based on physical theory and well-known physics, Swedish physicist Thors Hans Hansson said at the announcement. For a scientist who trades in predictions, Hasselmann said the prize caught him off guard. I was quite surprised when they called, he said. I mean, this is something I did many years ago. But Parisi said: I knew there was a non-negligible possibility of winning. The award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The money comes from a bequest left by the prizes creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. On Monday, the Nobel in medicine was awarded to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch. Over the coming days prizes will be awarded in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace and economics. ___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland. Associated Press journalists Frank Jordans and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, Ted Shaffrey in Princeton, New Jersey, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes. DEVELOPING... Story will be updated as new information can be verified. Updated 4 times KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistans Taliban leaders met Tuesday with U.K. officials for the first time since taking power, a move the group hopes will pave the way for the country to refill cash-starved coffers as it teeters on the brink of economic collapse. The Taliban said meanwhile they arrested 11 members of the rival Islamic State group. The Talibans meeting with British diplomats in the capital Kabul came a day after they met with an Iranian delegation another first since assuming the helm to discuss trade relations, a key driver of Afghanistans economy. The Taliban met with Sir Simon Gass, the British prime ministers high representative for Afghan transition, and Martin Longden, the charge daffaires of the U.K. mission to Afghanistan in Doha. The meeting marked Britains first diplomatic visit to the country since the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15, and took control of Afghanistan following the U.S. exit. After the meeting, Longden tweeted that substantial discussions were held with the Taliban leadership covering a wide range of topics, including the humanitarian crisis, terrorism and the importance for safe passage for U.K. and Afghan nationals, and the rights of women and girls. He fell short of recognizing their government officially, a Taliban wish, and described the meeting as a test. Its early days and unsurprisingly, there are points of difference between us. But such difficult challenges lie ahead for Afghanistan (and beyond), he tweeted. Its right to test if we can engage pragmatically and find common ground in the interests of both the UK and Afghan peoples. In a statement, the Taliban said it was committed to good relations with all countries. In return, we want the international community to return the cash capital of the Afghan nation to our nation, it said, referring to billions in Afghan assets frozen in U.S. accounts. The Taliban met Monday with a delegation from neighboring Iran to regulate trade between the countries, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said. They agreed to increase trading hours at the Islam Qala border crossing from eight hours per day to 24 and to better regulate the collection of tariffs and improve roadworks. Customs are a key source of domestic revenue for Afghanistan. Afghanistan, an aid-dependent country, is grappling with a liquidity crisis as assets remain frozen in the U.S. and disbursements from international organizations that once accounted for 75% of state spending have been paused. Meanwhile, Taliban officials said Tuesday they arrested 11 members of the Islamic State group, a rival and bitter enemy of the insurgents, in Kabul. The IS affiliate based in eastern Nangarhar province has claimed responsibility for a spate of recent attacks targeting Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan and elsewhere. Karimi posted on Twitter that the raid was carried out Sunday night in the Afghan capitals Fifth Police District. He provided no further details. The raid came just hours after a bombing that targeted the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul, killing at least five people. IS claimed responsibility for the mosque attack late Monday, saying in a posting by its Amaq news agency that one of its suicide bombers targeted senior Taliban figures following a mourning service. Sundays bombing was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with the chaotic departure of the last U.S. troops on Aug. 31. IS had also claimed responsibility for the horrific bombing on Aug. 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel outside the Kabul airport, where thousands of people were trying to reach the airport to escape Taliban rule. The world has been watching whether the Taliban will live up to their initial promises of tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities. However, Taliban actions so far, such as renewed restrictions on women and the appointment of an all-male government, have been met with dismay by the international community. Protests against the Talibans policies toward women continued Tuesday, with a demonstration in a Kabul private school by female teachers and students who held up signs saying Education is a right. The protest was held indoors to avoid backlash from the Taliban, who have recently outlawed demonstrations held without permission from the government. The U.N. continued to sound the alarm about the countrys dire economic situation, saying a humanitarian crisis is imminent. The world bodys childrens agency warned that half of Afghanistans children under age 5 are expected to suffer from severe malnutrition as hunger takes root amid serious food shortages. There are millions of people who are going to starve and there is winter coming, COVID raging, and the whole social system collapsed, said Omar Adbi, UNICEFs deputy executive director for programs, during a visit to a Kabul childrens hospital. At the hospital, a woman named Nargis sat with her 3-year-old child, who was suffering from severe malnutrition. She had come from Kunar province in the northeast, where fighting between the Taliban and the Islamic State group has deprived communities of accessing basic needs, including food. Nargis declined to give her full name. ___ Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Istanbul and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. ATLANTA Supporters of Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp are fighting back against Donald Trump and their own party leaders, angered by a rally last month in which the former president again attacked the states chief executive. Kemps proponents warn that a total embrace of Trump, his false claims about election fraud and his vendetta against the governor for not trying to overturn Trumps loss in Georgia last year could ruin Republican chances in 2022 in the narrowly divided state. Right now we are joined at the hip to Donald Trump, who doesnt share the same interests, said James Hall, a state Republican Party committee member from Savannah. He wants to torpedo Brian Kemp. Georgia is one of several states seeing Trump-driven infighting. The former president also continues to roil the partys internal politics in Arizona, where he has targeted Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, and Wyoming, where he is driving an effort to oust Liz Cheney, the states lone U.S. House member. Trump is endorsing primary candidates across the nation, continuing a drive to remake the Republican Party in his image. The moment that crystalized Kemp supporters discontent was when Trump, repeatedly calling Kemp a disaster, twice suggested he would prefer Democrat Stacey Abrams as Georgias governor. Abrams became a national Democratic superstar even though Kemp edged her out in 2018. Georgia Democrats strongly want her to run again for the governors office in 2022. Stacey, would you like to take his place? Its OK with me, Trump said at the rally in Perry, Georgia. Hall and others fear a replay of the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, delivering control of the U.S. Senate to their party. Turnout in that election fell more in Republican areas than in Democratic ones, and Hall blames Trumps false fraud narrative, saying it scares people away from the polls. Buzz Brockway, a former Republican state representative who lost a primary bid for secretary of state in 2018, agrees. Its a suicidal cult. Thats whats happening, he said. Its not hurting the Democrats. Others think harnessing the energy of right-leaning voters who are really dissatisfied with President Joe Biden will be more important in 2022 for the Republican party than distancing itself from Trumps damaging rhetoric. When President Trump says something tongue-in-cheek about Brian Kemp, I dont think anybody really cares, said Marci McCarthy, who chairs the GOP in the Democrat-dominated Atlanta suburb of DeKalb County. I think more people are concerned about their everyday living. Kemp partisans are particularly angry at state Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, who introduced the rally. Critics say Shafer violated party bylaws requiring him to not pick sides in primaries by appearing at an event during which Trump repeated his endorsement of several candidates. The state party also raised money for itself by selling VIP tickets to the rally. Shafer, who continues to echo Trumps false fraud claims and call for an additional audit of Georgias results, said Monday that it was Trumps event, not the partys. When we accept a contribution or sponsorship from a Republican candidate to speak at an event, that does not mean we are endorsing the candidate or agreeing with everything the politician says, Shafer wrote in a letter to state committee members after Hall and others complained. His critics say it was foreseeable that Trump would attack Kemp. But Shafer said hes focused on recruiting volunteers and raising money to support a unified party after the primary. My job is to emphasize the areas of agreement and not the areas of disagreement with other Republicans, Shafer said. We cant win divided. Weve got to pull everyone back together, and thats what Im going to do. With Trump loyalists flooding in at the grassroots and increasingly controlling party machinery, many Kemp supporters are out of power, and its unclear if their complaints will get any traction. Days after the rally, the local Republican Party in Cobb County a onetime GOP stronghold that has swung sharply toward Democrats in recent years censured Kemp for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration. Former Cobb GOP chair Jason Shepherd resigned from the county party committee after the resolution passed. The Cobb Republican Party, when it should be preparing to challenge Democrats, is instead fighting Republicans, said Shepherd, who lost a bid against Shafer this summer to lead the state party. More than a dozen county Republican parties have censured Kemp on some grounds this year, as did the 7th Congressional District GOP. The Cobb County Young Republicans released a statement condemning their county partys move and saying the group would support Kemp. Although Trump has endorsed Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor and U.S. Rep Jody Hice for secretary of state, he hasnt been able to line up a candidate for governor. Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones spoke at Trumps rally, but the former president hasnt given Jones the nod, despite Jones building his campaign around claims that Trump was defrauded in the 2020 election and courting Trump-aligned figures including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. Trump supporters over the summer talked up the possible candidacy of the obscure mayor of a small Georgia town. Trumps PAC later commissioned a poll that showed Perdue could beat Kemp in a Republican primary if Trump endorsed Perdue. The former president added fuel to that fire at his Georgia rally when he pointed out Perdue among a clutch of Republican Party leaders. Are you running for governor, David? Trump asked. Did I hear hes running? For now, though, Kemp remains the favorite to be the Republican nominee next year even though it appears equally likely that he will continue to be dogged by Trump. Kemp supporters, at least, are tired of indulging the former presidents taste for revenge. Were giving a huge microphone to a guy who is criticizing our people and thats how were going to slit our throats in 2022, Hall said. ___ Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy. BISBEE, Ariz. Bisbees deputy police chief has resigned after being arrested on suspicion of assault and resisting arrest charges accusing him of pushing and punching a man in the face and then kicking a Phoenix officer in the chest, authorities said. Christopher Joey Long, 40, resigned his Bisbee Police Department position on Sept. 27, four days after he was arrested by Phoenix police, The Herald/Review reported. A Phoenix police probable-cause statement filed in Maricopa County Superior Court said Long was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the incident occurred in front of a downtown Phoenix hotel. Online court records didnt list an attorney for Long who might comment on his behalf, and The Herald-Review said multiple attempts to contact Long since his arrest were unsuccessful. Native Americans continue to have a voice in New Mexico film. Joshua Zunie is at the helm of the short film, Rude Girl, which is filming in New Mexico through the end of the month. According to the New Mexico Film Office, production is taking place in Albuquerque and the film is being supported by the Senator John Pinto Native Filmmakers Memorial Fund. The program helps create and increase enthusiasm for film in the Native community and to open new doors into the film industry in New Mexico. Rude Girl pioneers and presents a heroic story about a current day Native American woman in the genre and universe of superheroes, Zunie said. The New Mexico Film Office, along with the Senator John Pinto Native Filmmakers Fund, has been a magnificent supporter in making the film shine. Rude Girl, stars Shawnee Pourier, David Midthunder, Joshua Horton, Zachary Wade and Jayde Martinez. It tells the of a half Native American and half white teenager dealing with identity issues who visits her grandpa Lee in the spiritual world, only to realize she is a superhero. Zunie is not only at the helm, but he wrote and will produce the project. Fellow producers include John Ward, Jhane Myers, B.A. Carter, Marisa Page, and Kelsey Landon, as well as Pink Gator Films LLC. The production will employ 40 New Mexico crew members, five principal actors, and five New Mexico background and extras. As a Native American from Zuni, and influenced by his tribes storytelling tradition, Joshua Zunie is part of the movement to push stories of Native culture onto the screen in an authentic way, including ensuring that Native cast and crew are integrated throughout the project, said Amber Dodson, New Mexico Film Office director. We are thrilled to see the results of the Senator John Pinto Program through the lens of this inspiring project. Copyright 2021 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE More than 9,000 New Mexicans got a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the first five days after federal authorities authorized booster shots for certain populations, state health officials said Tuesday. In all, about 195,000 state residents are eligible to get the booster shots under the current criteria, a group that includes people ages 50 to 64 with underlying health conditions, residents in long-term care facilities and those 65 and older. Only people who have received two Pfizer vaccine doses at least six months ago are eligible for booster shots, although approval for other types of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots could be granted in the next several weeks. However, the roughly 9,000 third doses the number has since increased to more than 10,000 doses administered from Sept. 24 to Sept. 29 also includes third doses given to adult New Mexicans with compromised immune systems, who had been able to get the extra shot even before the state began offering the booster shots. Thats because the states current tracking system does not distinguish between the booster shots and the third doses for immunocompromised individuals, Department of Health spokesman Matt Bieber said Tuesday. Meanwhile, younger front-line New Mexico workers will be able to start scheduling booster shots next week, as state health officials delayed their eligibility for two weeks to give a head start to elderly residents. New Mexico has one of the nations highest COVID-19 vaccine administration rates. As of Tuesday, 80.4% of state residents 18 and older had received at least one vaccine dose and 71.1% of adults were fully vaccinated. Most new cases and hospitalizations reported during a recent surge fueled by the delta variant of COVID-19 have occurred among unvaccinated residents, although some vaccinated individuals have also tested positive. State health officials reported 540 new cases in New Mexico on Tuesday a number thats less than the average of 590 new cases per day during a recent weeklong period. But 352 people were hospitalized in the state due to the virus up from 301 a week earlier. And the Department of Health reported seven deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the states death toll to 4,830 since the pandemic began in March 2020. An anchor hooking an oil pipeline may have caused the Southern California spill that spewed more than 100,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a notice to operation owner Amplify Energy. "The pipeline has essentially been pulled like a bow string. And so at its widest point is about 105 feet away from where it was. So it is kind of an almost a semicircle," Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said at a press conference Tuesday. There is no confirmation of a vessel above the site of the spill, but a response team is working with other agencies to determine whether a ship was in the area, said Capt. Rebecca Ore, the commanding officer at US Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. Earlier Tuesday, authorities said a 4,000-foot section of the pipeline was displaced laterally about 105 feet and had a 13-inch split that was likely the source of the spill. The discovery explains the likely source of a spill, widely reported Saturday, of as much as 144,000 gallons of crude oil about five miles off the coast of Huntington Beach. The spill has shut down prized beaches, damaged the environment and presented possible health hazards for local residents. Authorities investigating the leak also sought Tuesday to clarify the timeline of when authorities and the pipeline company learned about the spill and what they did in response. The Unified Command said the National Response Center first received a report of an unknown sheen of unknown source on Friday evening. "These types of reports are common and in many cases, the sheen reported can be natural seepage of oil or sheen that is never located," the Unified Command said in a press release. "NOAA satellite imagery was reported to agencies early morning reporting a possible oil anomaly." Crews from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response went to investigate before sunrise, but conditions were foggy and the crew returned to shore, authorities said. "The Coast Guard and Orange County Sheriff deployed at first light once fog lifted to investigate. A Coast Guard aircraft was diverted to support the investigation. On Saturday morning, the company confirmed a release of oil from a pipeline," the Unified Command said. The timeline confirms that California authorities were notified late Friday of reports of an oil sheen at the site of the spill, more than 12 hours before Amplify Energy Corp., the operator of the line, reported it to state and federal officials, according to documents reviewed by CNN. At a news conference Monday, Amplify's Willsher said a sheen was detected by company personnel Saturday morning, not Friday night. Willsher said while there is equipment to detect the leak without visibly seeing oil spills, there were no notices of a potential leak in the line before Saturday. The timing is important because of how many people were potentially impacted by the spill on Saturday, said Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley. "There were hundreds of boaters out on the Huntington Beach coast because we had an air show," Foley said. "There were hundreds of boaters coming back and forth from Catalina to Orange County." In a federal "corrective action order," Amplify Energy was directed to shut down the pipeline entirely, provide maintenance and inspection records, and complete a root cause failure analysis, among other requirements. Only then can it submit a plan to resume operations. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration wrote that the cause of the spill remains unconfirmed. Surfer says he was caught in the spill Saturday Nathan Avila found himself caught in the spill Saturday night when he arrived at a jetty near Newport Beach, one of his favorite surf spots. He told CNN he saw a lifeguard speaking with other surfers, but didn't think it had anything to do with him. Then he heard sirens and decided to get out of the water. "I look down at my hand and I see oil over it, so I knew right then ... this is an oil spill, this is, this is no joke," he said. Avila, who is from Long Beach, said he had dish soap with him to try washing the oil away, but it didn't work. "I was lucky enough that I was wearing a full wetsuit, so my wetsuit's pretty much trashed, it's like soaked into my wetsuit," he said. "The surfboard had oil all over it. There was specs on my face, it was all over my hands, my feet, but I was really lucky to be wearing a wetsuit." Avila wound up going to his house and using alcohol to wash the oil off. On Tuesday, Avila and his business partner, Elliot Lewis, ventured out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean to film the floating blobs of oil. They were eventually told to leave by the US Coast Guard. "The part that I was most surprised on is how thick the patties of oil were," Avila said. "You could pick them up in your hand and it was about two inches thick and just globs. And we were seeing these globs everywhere." Lewis told CNN the smell is what got to him. "It just smelled like death oil basically, like you were walking through a refinery and then we saw all these different patties of oil had floated to the top, some as big as a Frisbee and some five, six times greater than that and we were just right in the middle of it. It was just disaster of the worst kind," he said. Lewis added: "No way that an animal could survive in that water." Spill cleanup is underway Huntington Beach once had a a sign reading "Surf City USA." A new sign Monday read "Beach open, Ocean and Shore closed." On one beach section, workers in hazmat suits and rakes cleaned up tar balls from the spill, while beach-goers and their dogs ran between them. And a little farther south, teams in white hazmat suits worked to protect the fragile wetland ecosystem near the mouth of the Santa Ana River -- a crucial habitat for migratory birds that is now wrapped in shimmering oil ribbons. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency due to the spill. "The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment," he said in a statement. The spill, which stretches from Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach, is likely to move farther south based on wind and currents, the Coast Guard's Ore said. The spill is just the latest such incident to hit California's shores, including the 1969 spill of as much as 4.2 million gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara. Locally, Huntington Beach bore the brunt of a 1990 spill of about 417,000 gallons of crude oil when an oil tanker ran over its anchor and punctured its hull. The current spill's volume pales in comparison to the most serious oil spills in history, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska (11 million gallons) and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico (134 million gallons). As of Tuesday morning, about 4,800 gallons of oil has been recovered from the water and about 11,400 feet of boom -- a term for floating barriers designed to contain an oil spill -- has been deployed. Dead birds and fish have already washed ashore, according to Foley, who has been providing updates on Twitter. "This has devastated our California coastline in Orange County, and it's having a tremendous impact on our ecological preserves as well as our economics," Foley told CNN. "We need answers and the public deserves answers." Eight birds have been recovered from the oil spill, according to OWCN, including a brown pelican that was euthanized because of a wing injury. For some, this latest incident is a sign of a need for change to protect the environment. "As California continues to lead the nation in phasing out fossil fuels and combating the climate crisis, this incident serves as a reminder of the enormous cost fossil fuels have on our communities," Newsom said Monday. "Destructive offshore drilling practices sacrifice our public health, the economy, and our environment." Investigation into the cause Willsher, the Amplify executive, apologized Tuesday for the spill and vowed to clean the area up. "This is a terrible tragedy and we're extremely sorry this happened, obviously the cause of this still needs to be investigated. But regardless of the cause, we're going to do everything we can to make things right for all those impacted areas and individuals, as quickly as we can," Willsher said. Amplify is a small, Houston-based company with 222 employees as of the end of 2018, the last time it reported its staff size in a company filing. Its most recent financial report shows sales of $153 million, with year-to-date losses of $54.4 million through the end of June. Amplify's pipeline was due for an inspection at the end of this month, Gov. Newsom said Tuesday. An inspection is done on the pipeline every two years. An internal check was completed in October 2019 and an external inspection was done in April 2020. While there were no issues with the pipeline during the previous inspections, Newsom said they're going back to the details of those reports. The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement was assisting in Coast Guard-led response to the oil spill, the agency told CNN. Its role was to assist "in identifying the location and source of any spills and provide technical assistance to the Unified Command in stopping the spillage," it said Sunday in a statement. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified where Amplify's CEO made his remarks on when the oil sheen was detected. It was during a news conference. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden is urging Republican senators to "get out of the way" and let Democrats suspend the nation's debt limit. Biden, who made the comment Monday, wants action to keep the U.S. government from coming dangerously close to a devastating credit default as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to lend his party's help on the issue. McConnell is forcing Senate Democrats into a cumbersome process that could brush up against a deadline with little margin for error. But the Republican leader said Monday that the Democrats can deal with that. He said, "I suggest that our Democratic colleagues get moving." CHICO, Calif. - One man shared his frustrations and the city explained what it has in the works. "It gets to you after a while, that commute, Chico resident William Caput said. You know the three-and-a-half-hour flight is not so bad but you tag on that hour and a half drive at the end of it and it kind of wears on you." Caput lives in Chico but commutes to Dallas every two weeks for his job. "I decided Ill do this and suck it up and fly out here under the understanding work was being done to get the airport going again, Caput said. Mayor Andrew Coolidge addressed these airport concerns. "The city is looking and has hired a marketing firm and also a firm that will help us with the revenue guarantee funds, Coolidge said. So, you are going to see that revenue guarantee fund roll out in the 60 days." Coolidge said the city needs local companies to guarantee a million to a million and a half dollars in revenue. The goal is for people to be able to come to the Chico airport to hop on a direct flight to LAX. "Chico could have a couple of flights down to LA a day and we know with the number of travelers we have in the city that this will actually work and be financially feasible for an airline, Coolidge said. Caput said a flight between LA and Chico will bring more business opportunities to Chico. "I wouldn't start a business in Chico that required a high skilled person because how would they get there, Caput said. How would you do an in-person interview with people. Every time I have interviewed I fly in and then I fly out the same day. To get someone to Chico, they have to fly an hour and a half and a lot of people won't do that." If everything goes as planned, Coolidge said the city hopes to have flights up and running within the next year. Coolidge said the widening of Cohasset Rd. is part of the plan to attract an airline to Chico. The department of transportation's already guaranteed half a million toward that end as well. REDDING, Calif. - The woman accused of arson and setting the Fawn Fire was back before a judge Tuesday morning. The judge agreed to move back her preliminary hearing granting 30-year-old Alexandra Souverneva of Palo Alto more time because she has a new attorney. That attorney, former Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen, said she will be examined by doctors to determine her mental stability. RELATED: Woman charged with starting California's Fawn Fire while trying to boil water She does need to see and meet with one or two psychiatrists, Cohen said. She's being treated in jail right now with mental health concerns. Souverneva is facing a felony arson charge with enhancements because the fire started during a state of emergency. RELATED: Shasta DA: suspected Fawn Fire arsonist possibly connected to separate fire She could face up to nine years in state prison if convicted. Investigators said she claims to have been trying to boil drinking water when the fire sparked. She was arrested near where it started on Sept. 22. With Dussehra/ Durga Puja just a few days away, the country is in the throes of festive fervour. After no Dussehra/ Durga Puja celebrations last year due to the pandemic, consumers and brands are looking at a return to markets with a vengeance. With the vaccination drive gathering momentum and most of the COVID-19 restrictions lifted, there is a general air of optimism. Offices, market places, educational institutions, malls and cinema halls all have now opened, giving people a sense of return to normalcy. Like the rest of India, the East and North-East markets are in a resurgent mood. Durga Puja is the biggest festival in West Bengal and Tripura and is also celebrated extensively in Assam and other parts of the North-East. Markets are seeing the return of shoppers, and some marketers see a revenge shopping trend gaining precedence. Amid COVID-29 protocols, the shopping frenzy is just beginning and will only increase as the Pujo nears. Experts believe that this is not just revenge shopping, but also a re-assertion and reclaiming of a life that one was living before the pandemic struck. What are the content trends shaping OTT ecosystem? Find out at SCREENXX 2021. Register Now!Register Now! This festive season, Adgully turns the spotlight on the East and North-East markets and will speak to a cross-section of brands, marketers and market experts to gauge the mood of the shoppers and brand sentiments. As part of this initiative, Adgully spoke to Anand Narang, VP - Marketing and Consumer Experience, Bata India, to find out what the brand has planned for the festive season this year. What kind of sentiments do you see in the East markets during this festive season? Are these sentiments close to the pre-COVID-19 levels? Festive season is always big for us and now with reduction in COVID-19 cases and ease in restrictions, customers are getting more used to the idea of living with the pandemic, and are gradually getting back to their normal lives. Most people have started their Pujo shopping and we are witnessing an increase in footfalls across our stores in the East. Post pandemic, casualisation has been the dominant trend. We continue to witness increased traction for our casual and active wear range. Accordingly, we have realigned our focus as well. Primarily, we are looking at strengthening our sneaker range that includes performance (walking, running, fitness), outdoor, fashion, work sneakers and our casual portfolio, which includes 2-mile fashion-inspired floats, sandals, sliders and mules. This also includes semi-formal wear for office and other gatherings. Formal shoes will continue to be an important part of our portfolio, but with enhanced comfort factor. Our supply chain has been agile to ensure that respond to this changing environment with adequate inventory at point of sale. How are you planning your strategy for online and offline sales? What kind of footfalls are you expecting during this festival? We will continue to approach our customers through a robust omni-channel strategy. We have nearly 20 brands in Bata portfolio and all our brands are available on www.bata.in, marketplaces and our retail outlets. This includes a wide assortment of sneakers from for Power, North Star and Weinbrenner, our fashionable range Marie Claire and Bata Red Label and our casual styles Bata Comfit, Hush Puppies and Naturalizer. We have recently launched another channel called Endless Aisle for the convenience of our customers. It allows customers to scan in-store through QR code, select and order their favourite styles, and have it home-delivered later. This newly added service is already getting good response from our customers. We will also continue to reach our customers through Bata Chatshop, our WhatsApp enabled shopping platform, and Store on Wheels. Any specific campaign strategies planned for the festival season? Most importantly, will you be offering attractive discounts to woo customers? As the festive season has started in some parts of India, we are rolling out a new Step Ahead 360 campaign showcasing all the new autumn winter season styles, that come with comfort technologies, and various styles, designs and colours to cater to different occasions which consumers would want to indulge during festive times. Yes, we have attractive offers for customers to shop multiple products and get cashback and also offers from HDFC and PhonePe. (Edited and Additional Inputs by Shanta Saikia.) Indias one and only digital B2B fashion manufacturing company, Fashinza recently announced their global expansion program for the Middle-East, with the goal to enhance competitive positioning in the gulf countries, in partnership with a few apparel retailers and fashion commercial brands. Fashinza plans to invade the GCC markets with a focus on UAE, to solve some of the toughest apparel supply chain challenges in existence. The manufacturing platform will enable fashion brands to work directly with manufacturers in a transparent manner, with the help of their unique digitized supply chain. Notably, the expansion announcement closely followed the companys recent Series-A VC funding of $20million. To accelerate their ambitious international expansion plans, Fashinzas team has identified several potentially high-growth markets and theyre planning to add leadership teams of 15-20 members in the Gulf countries. Earlier this year, the company had established an office in New York City, with the goal of reinventing the $800bn global fashion manufacturing business for the e-commerce era. Fashinzas roster presently includes over 400 ethical production factories across India, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam and Sri Lanka and the company works with fashion brands from 10+ countries including Forever21, Ajio, Noon.com, Amaro, Clovia, Apparel Group, and Bewakoof.com. Fashinza Co-founder and CEO Pawan Gupta shared that they want to open up sourcing access for brands of all sizes in the Middle East countries. He claimed, This is the first time a cloud-based supply chain and product development platform is being offered in the market. We want to help fashion designers and brands breathe a little easier, which means a world where apparel manufacturing is smarter, easier, and sustainable. We plan to make sustainable products available to brands at low costs and low MoQs. We also want to offer other core benefits including reduced sample approval time, 8 weeks average production cycle, and 4 times faster supplier matching and pricing." Fashinza Co-founder and COO Abhishek Sharma, added, Our platform makes apparel sourcing as easy as placing an order on Amazon. Fashinza is a powerful and versatile platform carefully built to address and mitigate the pain points in the apparel industry. The said industry is largely fragmented, non-transparent, and rigid, and this causes delays across production schedules and delivery. Fashinza addresses these issues using a single dashboard interface - cutting down inefficiency, cost overruns, and redundancies. Fashinza Co-founder and CBO Jamil Ahmad further said, We are planning to set up a 15-20 member team in the UAE and we will be operative in apparel as well as home textiles market. Fashinza will also assign dedicated account managers to every brand as a standard practice, ensuring all their requirements are fulfilled with minimal hustle. Fashinza helps clothing brands with everything from designing and production to quality check and delivery, assuming end-to-end ownership for the process. The platform allows companies to track the daily progress of their orders on an AI-regulated dashboard, with live updates from the factory floor, eliminating the need to make a hundred calls and emails for follow-ups. It also helps brands to reduce wastage, inventory forecasting errors, and enables quick replenishment of bestsellers with a fast turnaround time. With the Festive period approaching, Godrej & Boyce, the Godrej Group's flagship company, stated that its company, Godrej Security Solutions, has came up with the concept of "Gifting the Promise of Security" for loved ones, since social interactions in private secure bubbles have increased. The Company has offered guaranteed rewards with the purchase of certain Home Lockers as part of this. The deal is valid nationwide until December 31, 2021.Consumers have gradually resumed spending as Covid-related restrictions have been lifted, strengthening demand. However, in light of the uncertainty, the Company has strategically concentrated its festive seasonal spending and touch points towards digital marketing, since on-the-ground interactions and freedom of movement remain restricted in some regions. What are the content trends shaping OTT ecosystem? Find out at SCREENXX 2021. Register Now!Register Now! As a result, Godrej Security Solutions is dedicating 60% of its spending to digital platforms and 40% to on-ground activations. With digital media being a major focus this festive season, the company intends to go all-out by reaching out to customers via all available social media and OTT platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Hotstar, YouTube Banners, MX player, and others. Additionally, its on-ground branding will be deployed at different retail shops, as well as through hoardings and print ads. Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice President, Godrej Security Solutions, said The ongoing festive season provides us with a great opportunity to propagate the concept of gifting the promise of health and security to consumers, across the country. The overall sentiment towards the festive season looks quite positive among consumers across metro cities as well as tier 2 and tier 3 towns. The epidemic has heightened consumer awareness of the necessity for home surveillance, not just to safeguard property but also to ensure the safety of their loved ones . With this in mind, the company just released the Spotlight', India's most secure home camera range. This unique device, designed and built in India, provides Indians with best-in-class data security, ensuring that a customer's home and personal data remain private. Given the growing popularity of connected gadgets in Indian homes, a home camera might be a perfect present for loved ones this holiday season to secure their safety at all times. Gozoop has won the integrated digital marketing mandate for the Indian business of Planet Smart City the global leader in the smart affordable housing segment. As part of the mandate, Gozoop will be handling Social Media Management duties as well as Digital Media Planning & Online Reputation Management. Planet Smart City is a leading global Proptech company that designs and builds Smart communities in countries with high housing deficits. Planet entered the Indian Market in 2020 and has active projects in Brazil, the United States, and Italy. The companys primary service verticals are real estate, smart infrastructure, property management, community management, and IoT advisory services. With an objective to build safe, socially inclusive, and liveable communities, Planets unique people-centric approach aims to enhance residents quality of life, offer new opportunities and to reduce their cost of living. Planet Smart City has worked extensively on a collection of more than 200 smart solutions for infrastructural, technological, and social innovation. The key differentiator is in their multi-disciplinary global teams and proprietary end-to-end control of the entire project from design to build and long-term community management. Planet Smart City has, amongst other projects, created and launched the Planet App - a digital platform providing access to high value-added services and facilitating communication between residents in Planet Smart Citys neighbourhoods. Through the App, residents can engage with each other and the neighbourhood, while observing and managing day-to-day utilities usage. Unlike many developers, Planet Smart City does not leave the community once completed. Instead, dedicated on-site community managers who help support and aid community cohesion are assigned to each local community. George Yaryura, CMO Planet Smart City group, said, India is set to be the worlds youngest country, with youth accounting for 35% of the total population and 64% of the working-age group. With the ongoing businesses across sectors have become digitally inclined including real estate. Considering the millennial drive and their willingness to adopt smart solutions for their daily activities, India is witnessing a digital first approach. In line with the changing dynamics, Planet Smart Citys emphasis will be in applying ourexpertise in proptech & IoT solutions for India. Our people-centric business model has led us to notable associations and partnerships that are challenging and redefining how people around the world use technology. Like-minded associations are important to us, and Gozoop is a valued partner that offers the expertise we need to elevate our vision. We are excited to embark on this partnership with Gozoop and their digital-first approach. Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, CEO & Co-Founder of Gozoop, said, With an integrated mandate that includes creative digital, performance marketing and online reputation management we look forward to #BreakingTheBox for Planet Smart City. Founded in 2015 by real estate experts Giovanni Savio the Global CEO, and Susanna Marchionni - CEO, Brazil, the Company is chaired by physicist and entrepreneur Stefano Buono and is headquartered in London, UK. Planets expertise is positioned to meet the needs of burgeoning city populations to empower residents with smarter services for a happier, healthier community experience. Indias leading pharmaceutical company Mankind Pharma has announced its association with Vijay Sethupathi, an Indian actor and producer who predominantly has contributed in the Tamil cinema. He is the finest actor in the industry and is referred as "Makkal Selvan", meaning "People's Treasure, by fans and well-wishers. Mankind Pharma is known for serving lives in India by providing affordable medicines and their CSR activities and Vijay Sethupathi is not only the biggest star but also a philanthropist at heart. The association is very well thought out and will prove to be a fruitful one as both Mankind Pharma and Vijay Sethupathi exhibit philanthropic deeds and activities. In lieu of this association and a part of the core DNA of Mankind Pharma, the company will be donating an amount of INR 31 lakhs to the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI). FEFSI is an Indian organisation consisting of technicians from the Tamil Film Industry in Tamil Nadu, India. The amount donated will help all those who are facing a slowdown due to the pandemic and will support the growth of the organization and its members. Vijay Sethupathi has won 15 awards in the category of Best Actor which includes Filmfare Award- Tamil, National Film Award, Vijay Award for Best actor and many more. Superstar Vijay Sethupathi on the partnership said, It is a pleasure to partner with Mankind Pharma as the brand ambassador and represent the brand in the southern market. The company perfectly justifies the true meaning of Mankind and the motto of Serving Life in the industry. I am honoured to be a part of the Mankind Pharma family and hope to serve the society together. Rajeev Juneja, Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Mankind Pharma said, We believe that Vijay Sethupathi is an ideal personality for us as a brand ambassador and has an emotional connect with the audience which is why people call him Peoples Treasure. Both Mankind Pharma and the superstar have a common synergy and thought process of serving life in the country, and we feel this mutual alliance will be a prolific one for both of us. We at Mankind Pharma always selflessly contribute towards the betterment of society and believe in serving life, we hope that the token amount donated to FEFSI will help provide assurance towards the growth of the company. Together we will continue to selflessly contribute towards the betterment of the society. Mankind Pharma aspires to aid the community in leading a healthy life by formulating, developing, commercializing, and delivering affordable and accessible medicines that satisfy urgent medical needs. Beverage brand Pepsi is gearing up to celebrate the finale of Netflixs globally loved series, Money Heist by hosting an ultimate virtual fan party. To be streamed live on YouTube on Saturday, 9th October at 7:30 PM, the fan party will be an exciting evening of fun, music, and dance for Pepsi and Money Heist fans. Last month, Pepsi had unveiled a limited edition set of golden cans and packs, inspired by Netflixs iconic series, which are also the golden ticket to join the highly anticipated fan party. Popular internet sensation, Yashraj Mukhate has also composed a special musical invite for the much-awaited fan party, making consumers even more excited. Unveiling the first look of the virtual fan party, Pepsi revealed the stellar line-up of celebrity performances along with special messages from Indias all-time favourite character, The Professor, and other characters from Money Heist. Nora Fatehi, Tanishk Bagchi and Vishal-Shekhar will be seen enthralling the audiences throughout the virtual fan party. Manish Paul, Indian television host and actor will be anchoring the show along with a beautiful instrumental piece played by the Symphony Orchestra of India. Money Heist fans in India are in for a treat as they will get a sneak peek into Volume 2 of the upcoming finale season on 3rd December on Netflix. There will also be a special section in the virtual fan party that will be a homage to one of the most loved characters from the series, Tokyo. Saumya Rathor, Category Lead, Pepsi Cola, PepsiCo India, on the upcoming virtual fan party, commented, Pepsi has always had a finger on the pulse of pop culture thus, weve been able to bring forth relevant and exciting experiences for the SWAG generation. Pepsi is a quintessential party starter, and we look forward to creating the ultimate party experience for our consumers. In the first half of this campaign, we had the entire nation crave for the beautiful golden packs, and we are sure that this party will also be a celebration that everyone remembers. Shilpa Singh, Director, Marketing Partnerships, Netflix India, said, At Netflix, we are always looking for innovative ways to engage with our fans. The upcoming virtual fan party with Pepsi is a powerful platform to celebrate the fandom for Money Heist. With celebrity performances, the virtual fan party will make for an unforgettable experience, just like the iconic series itself. Everyone can join the virtual party on YouTube by simply scanning the special QR code on the limited-edition Pepsi golden cans & other packs. Fans can also scan the Pepsi logo from anywhere pack labels including cans, packs, billboards, and on the internet through the Pepsi India Instagram filter to get their golden ticket to the fan party. The limited-edition cans and packs are available across all modern trade outlets and select e-commerce channels to mark the finale season of Netflixs globally loved series Money Heist. Marcos Segador Arrebola, Country Manager, Gi Group India Yesterday Gi Group had the opening day of the office after 546 days since we moved to Work From Home back in March 2020, finally together for a belated finally-in-person celebration of our closing results of 2020. The numbers of Gi Group India have improved every year since 2018, closing 2020 with the best results since the Gi Group entered the country, more than 10 years ago. For 2021 we forecast even a much better achievement, with a closing EBITDA versus 2020 of a whopping 747% improvement. That would mean our 2021 bottom line would be more than the past 10 years bottom lines put together. And all this, while significantly growing our market share in a challenging Staffing market scenario for the country (see the graph). What are the content trends shaping OTT ecosystem? Find out at SCREENXX 2021. Register Now!Register Now! What is the secret of this change in Gi Group India in the last years? First of all, a lot of great amazing work from all the team. People are in the centre of our company and the success and results are coming from their efforts and capabilities. But four or five years ago we had also great people in the team, a clear strategy and vision for the country then what else happened that activated all the potential of the organization? I believe what happened is a great example of the famous quote Culture eats strategy for breakfast. I do not mean that strategy is unimportant. It is essential indeed. But Strategy was clear for us for many years and we were not able to take off. Strategy started to work only when we were able to build a powerful culture to take the organisation on the path of success. A strong culture was especially key during the worst times of the COVID crisis. In fact, COVID has created a defining moment to test the culture of organizations. Some organizations have recognized the situation as a once-in-a-generation moment to apply their company values and culture, as an opportunity to give a long lasting imprint in the organization culture and values. It was a courageous investment, as many businesses were in financial stress but if we consider the long term and we are mindful of the effects of our actions on employee experience, the investment is definitely a right one. There is no magic recipe to create an organizational culture that translates a companys strategy to success. There have been three essential levers that worked for us: - Create a psychologically safe workplace: As a recent Harvard Business Review article mentions, if you see compassion and accountability as opposite sides of a coin, youre thinking about it wrong. Many managers believe they need to be tough to get people to produce, but the research doesnt support that. You may be able to extract labor from people in the short term, but over the long term, it has the opposite effect. In Gi Group India we have understood this and created an Employee Assistance & Work Life Services Program based on Physical, Mental and Social Wellbeing. As we discussed back in 2019 when we launched: It is simply crazy to think that a person that is not happy in his/her personal life can be engaged, adaptive and achieve his/her objectives in their work. - Routines & Protocols: The idea is to organize how the things are done here. And this include systems for setting and maintaining standards for finance and quality, reward and promotion systems, KPI systems, weekly meetings, etc. The objective is to determine whats supposed to happen in a particular situation, so everyone knows what is the path to follow. We need to be very cautious when creating these Routines & Protocols so as to avoid rigidity and lack of flexibility: the rules are made to create a framework of stability and momentum, not to be followed blindly. - Communication: We believe the organizations should be open, honest, and transparent in communicating the key aspects of the business strategy and vision. And it is not only important to communicate, but to do it in an accessible way that everybody understands and can relate to. Everybody should be involved, from General Manager to all business units. The French writer Antoine de Sainte-Exupery said There is no hope of joy except in human relations. Creating a Company Culture in an Organization is only about this: to invite people to create, nurture and develop fair healthy and productive human relations for a common objective. Lets enjoy together. We have never wanted to welcome anyone to our club. In any way. That said, it's gratifying to see eyes opening across the.... spectrum. Autism does not discriminate. Neither does imposition of mandates. Visit The Urban Global Health Alliance today. ### Dont Allow Them to Enslave Us: Black Americans Protest Against Vaccine Mandates in NYC BROOKLYN, New YorkA group of almost 100 people, mostly African Americans, gathered at The Brooklyn Bank in New York to express their opposition to vaccine mandates on Oct. 2. New York City has implemented vaccine mandates on healthcare workers, school staff, and all those who work or patronize restaurants, bars, nightclubs, catering halls, event spaces, gyms, fitness centers, pools, theaters, museums, aquariums, and zoos. According to recent NYC.gov data, blacks are the least vaccinated ethnic group, with 40 percent of them considered fully vaccinated. The meeting was vibrant, vociferous, and often involved talk of rallying spiritual power. It was hosted and organized by Angela Stanton King, founder of the American King Foundation, and Kevin Jenkins, CEO of Urban Global Health Alliance. Black Americans all across America are waking up! They realize modern-day slavery is upon them again, Jenkins told The Epoch Times. In black communities, they are starting to have serious dialogue and are strategizing on how to fight back! They are saying no to the vaccine/slave passport and no to segregation. We have a long, dark history with bigotry and exploitation, and we are asking the world to stand with us! Its time to fight back! Read more HERE. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 81 years old. For years now, a report every few months raises concern about his health. He has been described as ailing in many media reports, though there is no proof that the man who has been ruling Iran since 1989 is really in bad health. On Dec. 15, he made an appearance in front of cameras while receiving the family of late Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and a committee organizing commemorations for the first anniversary of the generals assassination Jan. 3 in Baghdad by US drones. A video showing Khamenei walking in what appears to be good health and several photos showing his face released by his office were probably aimed at refuting a rumor claiming he was ill and had passed his powers to his son, Mujtaba. The rumor made headlines during the first week of December based on one source on Twitter without fact-checking the source who broke the news about Khameneis deteriorating health on four previous occasions between 2013 and 2020. Khamenei made another appearance Dec. 20 when he delivered a televised speech on the occasion of National Nurses Day and the birth of the Prophet Muhammads granddaughter, Zeinab. The reports of Khamenei's health and his son possibly being next in line call to mind similar reports from a different era. In the last few years of Khameneis predecessor and mentor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, there were similar suggestions claiming that with Khomeinis health deteriorating the strongest candidate for his succession was going to be his son Ahmed Khomeini. His son was a mid-level cleric known to be his fathers confidant. At the time, articles cited the powers that the son enjoyed and his strong influence that made him one of the candidates for succession. Even after Khamenei was elected as a temporary supreme leader in June 1989 following Khomeinis death, speculation in the media continued to suggest a power struggle was ahead, putting out lists with as many names as possible, including Ahmed Khomeini once again. Those who suggest Mujtaba Khamenei is going to be Irans next [supreme] leader lack the basics of post-revolution Iranian politics, an Iranian Principlist cleric told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The cleric added, The Iranians wont accept to go back in history to the days when a ruler will bequeath the nation to his son, no matter who the father and the son are. According to the same source, those circulating these rumors are creating an atmosphere of skepticism over the process of succession that whenever the time comes it should be smooth and quick, given the fact that after 40 years the revolutions institutions are capable of managing transitions, and the number of candidates for such a role are more than enough for the members of the Assembly of Experts to choose from. As reported previously by Al-Monitor, the Assembly of Experts has a secret subcommission of three persons elected to put together a list of potential successors. The committee updates its list and keeps it classified until the day comes. In a recent interview with Fars News, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, a member of the Assembly of Experts, stressed that there are already three names on the list and they remain classified. He noted that being a member of the assembly is not a condition for being on the shortlist. Araki explained that the list will be reviewed and those who qualify for leadership will be registered in a secret and confidential manner, so that they can be presented to the Assembly of Experts whenever necessary. Another source, who leans more toward the Reformist camp, agreed that the idea of Mujtaba Khamenei succeeding his father is more of a dream to some radicals. He added, They are aware that in a country like Iran this is difficult, though it is known that the election of a successor will need the blessing of the current leaders strong son, the seminary in Qom, and the IRGC. The 1989 succession saw Ahmad Khomeini along with Hashem Rafsanjani emerging as kingmakers. The health of the supreme leader is always a topic of analysis in the media, with many thinking that Irans direction is decided based on who is chosen. This has prompted many to put out lists of candidates over the past years, with names such as late Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Ibrahim Raisi, Sadegh Larijani, Hassan Khomeini, President Hassan Rouhani, Ahmad Khatami, among others, scattered in the media; each had or still has the qualifications that makes them a contender for supreme leader. However, a very important factor is missing in these reports, i.e., the supreme leader is alive and isnt ailing, and if theres nothing from God he can just live as other clerics do, a source close to the house of the supreme leader told Al-Monitor. We know he is healthier than both [outgoing US President Donald] Trump and [President-elect Joe] Biden, and they will continue to spread rumors because this reflects their wishful thinking. However, some of those who have the qualifications and are potential candidates, or lobbies backing them within the establishment, seek to position themselves in a good place ahead of the anticipated battle. This is well portrayed in the political battles that are being fought on the sidelines of Iranian politics. Following the December 2017 demonstrations, despite the social and economic instigators, there were accusations aimed at the Principlists that they lit the first spark in an attempt to hit Rouhani hard and end any chance in the future of him seeking the top position. Rouhanis victory in the 2017 election over Raisi was also seen as a hurdle in the latters path to becoming the countrys supreme leader in the future. Some analysts also suggested the accusations of corruption aimed at one of Sadegh Larijanis aides are aimed at diminishing his chances of becoming Khameneis successor. Other candidates who arent known to the public, or not in the spotlight for the position, might rise to the scene as a surprise for observers, but they will be in the slow process of manufacturing Irans future leader. A look back at how Khamenei ascended to the highest post could be useful. Is partisan politics playing a role in the Stuart Scheller case? The facts in this case seem pretty clear. We all witnessed the events beginning with the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban followed by the chaotic noncombatant evacuation operation from Kabuls airport. It was a sad commentary on President Joe Bidens judgment because had he accepted the advice of his military chain of command (keep at least 2,500 service members in Afghanistan to stiffen the backbone of that government and security forces) this fiasco would not have happened. However, because Biden was evidently in a hurry to exit the Central Asian country (likely for crass political reasons), he rushed the exit process and a catastrophic situation emerged: the Taliban, our enemy of two decades, took over the country, now it will host a new wave of terrorism for years to come and the U.S. left Afghanistan with its tail tucked and lost international credibility. Just as that embarrassing situation emerged a Marine lieutenant colonel, Stuart Scheller Jr., at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina posted a public video on a social media website expressing criticism of senior military officials for their handling of the withdrawal and demanding they be held accountable. His superior officers immediately relieved him of command and then incarcerated and placed him in pretrial confinement. Although not officially charged, it appears the military laws he stands accused of are contempt toward officials, disobeying a superior officer, failing to obey lawful orders, and conduct unbecoming of an officer. The politics of this case are widely known. It is suspected the Marine Corps is punishing this young officer for speaking truth to power. After all, as yet no one from President Biden down the chain of command has been held accountable for the Afghan mess, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of most Americans. Thats understandable from a political perspective but not from a strict military viewpoint. The politics of this case arent lost on some members of Congress who wrote the secretary of Defense concerned that the charges brought against the Marine may be politically motivated and a possible attempt to silence future whistleblowers criticizing President Biden. Representative James Comer (R-KY) and Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) sent a letter to Defense secretary Lloyd Austin requesting information about the case. In the wake of a terrorist attack on U.S. forces and Afghan nationals that killed 13 service members, Lt. Col. Scheller posted a public video on a social media website expressing criticism of senior officials handling the withdrawal from Afghanistan and demanding they be held to account. They continued, It appears that these charges would also relate to his criticism of senior military officials for their actions in connection with the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Consider the hard facts surrounding this case. The Marine Corps is a military branch of the Defense Department charged with executing the orders of the president and enforcing the law. In this situation, politics aside, the Corps is fulfilling its legal obligation to charge the officer with a violation of the law. After all, Colonel Scheller had the opportunity to resign his commission and then speak out about the Afghan fiasco and no accountability. He chose a different course of action and for that reason, hes now in trouble and will likely pay a high price. Let me explain the stark reality facing this officer. Every officer in the armed services understands the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), especially a former battalion commander like Colonel Scheller, who studied the code and was a primary enforcer of the law among his Marines. All members of the military are subject to the UCMJ, a federal law, enacted by Congress in 1951 to establish a specialized legal system. The president, with the constitutional power of the executive and enforcement of the UCMJ, creates and maintains the Manual of Courts Martial (MCM), which is the mechanism for carrying out the enforcement of that congressionally prescribed law. It is to this system that Colonel Scheller, like it or not, must now submit. The purpose of military law is to promote justice, to assist in maintaining good order and discipline in the armed forces, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States. Its a unique law for a special group of people with a high calling to defend the United States and to do so requires that all uniformed members maintain apolitical obedience. Thats why, by law, military personnel on active duty are prohibited from engaging in partisan politics and criticizing senior officials which means they forfeit some of their civil liberties in order to serve. Colonel Scheller does appear, based on media reports, to be guilty of violating at least four UCMJ laws (Article 88 (contempt toward officials), Article 90 (disobeying a superior officer), Article 92 (failing to obey lawful orders), and Article 133 (conduct unbecoming of an officer). A courts martial will likely convene to determine whether the charges are correct and if he is found guilty by a jury of his peers, he will be punished. This may sound unfair and undemocratic, but thats the nature of military justice and whats required of an apolitical military. The military justice system depends on maintaining an apolitical foundation and the members of Congress who wrote Secretary Austin about the Scheller case smell a political motivation. That might be true, and if politics is found to be the reason behind the Marine Corps actions against Colonel Scheller, then thats tragic for our armed forces and for America. Unfortunately, there is some justification for believing politics are at play in this case. Last week in congressional testimony, General Mark Milley, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, said I am trying to stay apolitical and I believe I am. Thats part of my professional ethic, and Im trying to keep the military, the actual military out of actual domestic politics. I think thats critical, he added. Of course, given the revelations in the same congressional hearing about General Milleys participation in widely reported interviews with political book authors, some members of Congress and a growing number of Americans are suspicious about the generals claim that he has remained personally apolitical. Further, there is growing concern that others in the uniformed, hierarchy to include even some in the Marine Corps, might fall in the same category as General Milley, and that would be unnerving. Thats why more congressional oversight is constitutionally critical at this time to protect our military and the nation. Is the Scheller case really about enforcing the UCMJ and keeping our services apolitical? Or has ugly politics infected the ranks of those who oversee our armed forces, and thus for the good of the country, an emergency frontal lobotomy is necessary? Mr. Maginnis is a retired U.S. Army officer and the author of eight books. His new book, Give Me Liberty, Not Marxism, chronicles the Marxist threat and how the Democratic Party and China seek to radically transform America. Image: Public Domain To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Last weekend, I went to the theater to see the Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark. I watched with the kind of critical eye an astrophysicist might have brought to Star Wars. At the time of the 1967 Newark riot, the foundational event of the movie, I was a 19-year-old living in Newark with my siblings and widowed mother. My late father had been a Newark cop, and my Uncle Bob, also a cop, was in the thick of the riot from the initial assault on the Fourth Precinct to its bloody end 26 deaths later. Of note, too, Bob had married into a large Newark Italian family. As a kid, I spent considerable time in the family compound. I knew how that world turned. David Chase should have. An Italian American a few years older than I am, Chase created the stellar HBO series, The Sopranos, and was the creative force behind the movie. In the series, which ran from 1999-2007, there was scarcely a false note. In the movie, alas, scarcely a note rings true. Not surprisingly, given the times we live in, race is at the heart of the movies misfire. As Chase told a friendly interviewer, he was living in a Newark suburb when the riot erupted. Watching from afar, he and his suburban friends told each other, I hope they burn that place down, those motherf**kers. Corrupt, c**k-sucking white people. The white people Chase refers to here included not only my family and me but also -- to the detriment of the movie -- the characters who people it, cops and gangsters alike. In the scene that sets off the riot, a gangster compels a black cab driver to drive the wrong way on a one-way street. After the gangster leaves the car to attend to some business, two white cops gratuitously pull the driver from the car and beat him in the street. They do so for no apparent reason other than that he was driving the wrong way. In 1967, that didnt happen. When I was old enough to understand, my father talked to me in some detail about how and why cops exercised extralegal force and for whom it was reserved. He would have been appalled if he had seen the movie cops do what they did. This was Newark, not Birmingham. By 1967, the Police Department was 20 percent black. In three years, the city would elect a black mayor. My uncle would have been dismayed at just how much Chase gets wrong about Italian American life circa 1967. For starters, the gangsters would have long since left for the suburbs. My uncle and his in-laws had departed for nearby Union, where, as it happens, Bobs son started high school in the late 60s with one of the movies stars, Ray Liotta, who was himself born in Newark. When my family moved in 1953 to the block on which I would grow up, several black families already lived there, including a dentist with an office. That Johnny Soprano, Tonys father, would express disgust at finding a black doctor living on his urban block in 1967 makes no sense on any number of levels. By 1967, most stable families, black and white, were gone. My block had become unlivable. The momentum that created the Great Society was busily destroying families and leaving the financially immobile behind to deal with the wreckage, the most lethal symptom of which was a homicide rate nearly triple that of a decade earlier. Novelist Philip Roth knew the score. He set many of his novels in Newark, his hometown as well. Roths primary storyteller is Nathan Zuckerman, a successful novelist and Newarks best-known fictional native son other than Tony Soprano. Like the real-life Chase, Zuckerman watched Newarks implosion largely from outside. In Zuckerman Unbound, Alvin Pepler, a deranged fan from Newark, calls out Zuckerman for his elitism and ignorance, his failure to acknowledge the barbarian hordes and the Fall of Rome! What do you know about Newark? Pepler asks. After discounting Zuckermans nostalgic reminisces, Pepler spells out the reality circa the late 1960s: Newark is a n****r [actual word in the original] with a knife! Newark is a whore with the syph! Newark is junkies shitting in your hallway and everything burned to the ground! Newark is dago vigilantes hunting jigs with tire irons! Newark is bankruptcy! Newark is ashes! Newark is rubble and filth. By ignoring this evolving dynamic, Chase turns his protagonists -- the extended Soprano family -- into everyday racists. What made the HBO series watchable was that Tony and crew almost inevitably did battle with people who deserved pushback, not just other gangsters but also the petty tyrants and corrupt politicos that manage our institutions. Against our better judgment, we liked the Sopranos, and we rooted for them. In Many Saints, young Tony and crew seem poised to do battle with an emerging black gang to whom Chase gives a sympathetic back story. In that the plot unfolds like that of a series pilot rather than a stand-alone movie, a sequel is likely in the works. Chase and writing partner Larry Konner will use Tony Jr. to teach us lessons, I fear, much the way Norman Lear used Archie Bunker. In the Race-Pandering 20s, it cannot be otherwise. We had both grown up in that period and had what I guess would be called revolutionary consciousness at that time, said Chase of Konner and himself. We felt that people needed a refresher course. And it really turned out to be true. There were young, Black people who didnt know anything about the Newark Riots. We just felt that was wrong and people should know about it. The late Amiri Baraka, a New Jersey poet laureate and father of the current Newark mayor, went to my neighborhood high school, Barringer, the school the Soprano kin would have attended. In his 1984 memoir, The Autobiography of Leroi Jones, Baraka said of the white kids he lived among, I often wonder what these guys and girls carried away from that experience with us and what they make of it. He had cause to wonder. Although liberals have been keen to learn what the Newark experience meant to Baraka and other African Americans, the experience with us of Barakas white friends has gone largely undocumented. It remains thus. Chase and Konner blew their chance. As Alvin Pepler might have asked of them, What do you know about Newark? Jack Cashills latest book, Barack Obamas Promised Land: Deplorables Need Not Apply, is now widely available. See www.cashill.com for more information. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Joe Bidens nominee for Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. Treasury Department is Saule Omarova, a native of Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and graduate of Moscow State University, which she attended on a Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship. In a May 9, 2020 interview with Chris Hayes of NBC, Omarova revealed she was in an exchange program with the University of Wisconsin in 1991 when the USSR collapsed. The Lenin scholar remained stateside to pursue a Ph.D. in political science. Some of her views on economics emerged in 2019, nearly 30 years after the USSR collapsed. Say what you will about old USSR, there was no gender pay gap there, Omarova wrote, Market doesnt always know best. Contrary to the Lenin scholar, individuals know whats best for themselves and a free market empowers them to make choices that reflect those interests. In the old USSR, by contrast, an all-male Marxist-Leninist dictatorship planned the economy. This ran up against the knowledge problem F.A. Hayek outlined in The Road to Serfdom way back in 1944 during the Stalin era. Economic knowledge is fragmented and dispersed, so no group of people is able to plan an economy that will thrive for the benefit of all. Thats why Omarovas beloved old USSR was an economic basket case. Countries barren of liberties are also barren of groceries. The biggest country in the world, with abundant energy and natural resources, could not even feed itself. This was a matter of record, but Hayes failed to press the issue. Omarova knew that in the old USSR consumers waited in line to select, pay, and pick up the goods. That is how an economy planned by Communist Party bosses functions in practice, but theres more to it. In a Communist state like the old USSR, rulers must be willing to take drastic measures, so as Hayek put it, the worst always get on top. In the old USSR, those less than worshipful of the collectivization plan had to be liquidated as a class, as with the kulaks of Ukraine in the 1930s, when Stalin planned a famine that claimed millions of innocent lives. In their lengthy interview, Chris Hayes failed to ask Omarovara about those episodes, and the system of forced labor camps Solzhenitsyn wrote about in The Gulag Archipelago, and Anne Applebaum charted in the 2003 Gulag: A History. For her part, Omarova did not volunteer what she knew, when she knew it, and what she thought about it. In The Peoples Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy, released in 2020, Omarova set forth the vision of how democratizing access to central bank money would -- and should -- transform and democratize the entire financial system. The paper offers a blueprint for a comprehensive restructuring of the central bank balance sheet as the basis for redesigning the core architecture of modern finance. Her proposed reforms, Omarova claims, would make the financial system less complex, more stable, and more efficient in serving the long-term needs of the American people. Making independent banks non-depository lenders would change banking as we know it. Lenin scholar Saule Omarova, alum of Moscow State University, wants the Federal Reserve to control every Americans money. This is economic Lysenkoism, a belch from the old USSR, where the government set salaries, as Omarova explained, in a gender-blind manner and all women got very generous maternity benefits. Both things are still a pipe dream in our society! Many emigres from Communist dictatorships become ardent advocates of free markets and limited government. Not so Saule Omarova, but her defense of the USSR hasnt hurt her. During the administration of George W. Bush, Omarova served in the Treasury department as a special advisor on regulatory policy to the undersecretary for domestic finance. The Lenin scholar now holds forth as a law professor at Cornell. Under current conditions, Saule Omarova is even money to be confirmed as Comptroller of the Currency. In a close vote, the Senate recently confirmed Tracy Stone-Manning, linked with tree-spiking eco-terrorists, as director of the Bureau of Land Management. The same politicians could easily make way for the Lenin scholar who wants to change banking, and America, as we know it. Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California. Image: Picryl To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Chicago now is like Dodge City before Marshal Dillon arrived: a fatal shootout on its streets is no crime because both sides were shooting. The Windy City already is world-famous for shootouts on its streets, with an astounding 3,625 shootings so far this year, 623 of them fatal. (That death toll would be higher save for the citys superb medical care for gunshot victims, made possible by all the practice its trauma surgeons receive.) But how many more shooting matches will start now that the word is going out that you can escape charges in a gang shootout -- even if someone is killed -- if both sides are shooting? An escalating number of shootouts is the inescapable implication of the decision of the Cook County States Attorneys Office to release all five suspects arrested in a fatal shootout between rival gangs in the citys Southside Austin neighborhood, not too far from the Obama Monument. The head of that office, Kim Foxx, was elected with considerable financial support from George Soros, who has helped elect many soft-on-crime prosecutors across the US. Tom Schuba writes in the Chicago Sun-Times: Five men linked to a deadly gang-related shootout Friday in Austin were released from custody after prosecutors declined to charge each of them with a pair of felonies, including first-degree murder, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. The brazen mid-morning gunfight, which left one shooter dead and two of the suspects wounded, stemmed from an internal dispute between two factions of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang, according to an internal police report and a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation. The source said police sought to charge all five suspects with murder and aggravated battery. By Sunday morning, a Chicago police spokeswoman acknowledged the suspects had been released without charges. In a statement later Sunday, Cristina Villareal, a spokeswoman for the Cook County states attorneys office, explained that prosecutors had determined that the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges. Police officials agreed with the decision, Villareal added. While she wouldnt specify what other evidence prosecutors needed to file charges, the police report acknowledged that victims of the shootout werent cooperating with investigators. But the report also framed the states attorneys offices decision to decline charges in a different light: Mutual combatants was cited as the reason for the rejection. Mutual combat is a legal term used to define a fight or struggle that two parties willingly engage in. WGN-TV provides more details on the show the mutual combat shootout went down: Friday morning, residents in North Austin were surrounded by a heavy police and SWAT presence after officers were called to a home near the corner of West Potomac Avenue and North Mason Avenue. SWAT response to the shooting (YouTube screengrab) According to this account, SWAT already was there, and then: Two vehicles then pulled up, with occupants leaving the cars and firing shots towards a home. The people inside the home returned fire, eventually killing one of the gunmen from outside, with multiple other people being injured. So, if the people being shot at return fire, no charges? Even Lori Lightfoot, the citys equally eccentric Democrat mayor cant handle that. Craig Wall of WLS-TV: Mayor Lori Lightfoot and some West Side aldermen called on Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to reverse her decision on the case. "If they do not feel like the criminal justice system is going to hold them accountable, we're going to see a level of brazenness that will send the city into chaos and we cannot let that happen," the mayor said Monday. (snip) Lightfoot, herself a former prosecutor, believes there's evidence to make a case. "I think that there's evidence there. We've got videotape, we have a marked squad of uniformed officers who were on the scene observing it," she said. "At a bare minimum, the individuals who initiated the firefight must be prosecuted." "I think it goes beyond frustration, I'm furious about it," said 29th Ward Alderman Chris Taliaferro, who oversees the ward where the shooting took place. Elizabeth Matthews of Fox32 It happened in the 1200 block of Mason in Austin around 11 a.m. last Friday. The shooting was caught on a pod camera and police say more than 70 shots were fired. Two groups of gang members were shooting at each other. One of the alleged shooters died and two others were wounded. "She's got to explain to the public, why? Given that evidence, a pod camera right there that captured the entire thing and police officers on the scene in uniform, and a squad car there, why that isn't enough," said a furious Mayor Lightfoot. (snip) "If the bad guys that are out there that are picking up guns and shooting without any regard for the sanctity of life, do not believe that there's accountability for them, the brazenness will not end. It will escalate, it will continue and our communities will not be safe," Lightfoot said. Foxxs office is explaining that there is not enough evidence, but what about gunpowder residue tests on the hands of those arrested? Even if you cant prove that a specific individuals shot killed someone, firing a gun in a fatal shootout is a crime. If it is a felony, then the doctrine of felony murder should apply all who participated in a felony that resulted in a murder are equally guilty of murder. Less than a week ago, Foxxs office declined to prosecute another murder, this time with a knife, that was also recorded, where lack of evidence shouldnt have been a problem, because only two people were involved, and the attack was recorded. It was the same excuse: mutual combat: This is the same result that came from a deadly fight between two teens in Schaumburg last Tuesday. Manuel Porties Jr. died after being stabbed during a one-on-one fight that was recorded by bystanders. Porties Jr.s family told WGN that prosecutors declined charging the other teen, saying it was mutual combat. It looks a lot like the Foxx standard for prosecuting now is to let everyone off unless one side fails to respond to an attack by fighting back. Foxxs office is sticking to the lack of evidence story, blaming the police, but leaving the door open for future prosecution (just in case public pressure becomes irresistible?) The Cook County State's Attorney's Office released a statement in response to the mayor's calls, saying: As a former federal prosecutor, the Mayor knows of the ethical obligation of the prosecutor to only bring forth charges where the facts, evidence, and law support it. She is also fully aware that as a prosecutor we are obligated not to try cases in the media. It is unclear why she has chosen to make such statements, especially absent the full information that was presented to our office by CPD. The detectives reached out to our office on Friday and acknowledged at the outset that given the chaotic nature at the scene they were unable to determine how the events unfolded. We reviewed the evidence that was presented to us in consultation with the detectives and they agreed we were unable to approve charges based on the evidence presented. However, as always, as additional evidence is gathered we stand ready to bring charges when appropriate. Additionally, the facts the mayor presented today simply are not in line with what was presented to us by CPD, and not born out by the evidence we received. The staggering violence that is devastating our communities is horrific, however, we must still adhere to both our ethical and legal standards in evaluating charges. As a former prosecutor, she knows that. Better see what George Soros has to say. His prosecutors have been alienating a lot of voters lately. To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Joe Biden is known for his incompetence. Despite that, he's billed, both by himself and his press pals, as nevertheless a master legislator, a man who knows his way around Congress, a man whose decades of congressional experience makes him a president who can get things done. Turns out he's stupid there, too. His trillion-dollar "infrastructure" stimulus and its attendant $3.5 trillion "budget reconciliation" pork, which he considers central to his legacy, are hanging by a thread in Congress, as two Democratic senators hesitate. What does old Joe do about these two Democratic senators he needs to persuade to come on over to his side? Unlike normal people, who'd be very, very, nice to them in order to get them in his tree and then reach the desired goal, Joe goes and insults them. He spewed an amazing string of disgusting comments that could only be construed as insults against them yesterday. According to the New York Post: President Biden is dismissing Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinemas encounter with progressive activists who berated her and chased her into a bathroom as part of the process amid the debate to pass his multitrillion-dollar infrastructure package. Bidens response came after he was asked Monday whether the activists crossed a line by filming the Arizona senator as she entered a bathroom stall a day earlier at the university where she lectures. I dont think theyre appropriate tactics but it happens to everybody, Biden told reporters, before letting out a laugh. He was also asked about moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) being confronted by a group of activists on kayaks while he was on his houseboat in Washington, DC, last week. The only people it doesnt happen to are people who have Secret Service standing around. So its part of the process, Biden said. A video of the matter is here. Fox News's Peter Doocy, to his credit, asked Biden spokesweasel Jen Psaki whether Biden had ever been chased into a restroom by activists as part of this "process," and naturally, got a non-answer. DOOCY: "Has [Biden] ever been chased into a restroom by activists?" pic.twitter.com/V911pPThHk Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 4, 2021 What's amazing here is that Joe had a choice. He could side with the crazed illegal alien activists who broke into the Arizona State University campus where Sinema teaches a class, and then barked, chanted, and screamed like dogs at the classroom door where young adults were trying to get their education, and after that went beyond the pale by following the U.S. senator into the restroom, stalking her right up to her stall door where she was trying to go to the bathroom, and filmed her, as well as all the other young women identified as students there, and after that posted their 'product' on the internet amid revolting cackles of laughter. One of the trespassing dirtbags involved in this felony illegal breach of restroom privacy was actually male. Or, he could side with Sinema, the senator he needs to persuade to get his bill through, and publicly state that anyone who follows anyone else into a public bathroom should be scooped up by the cops and be made to "pay," (to use the word he used of the Border Patrol agents he falsely accused of "strapping" illegal aliens in the act of breaking into the U.S.) It would be a pretty mainstream, as well as presidential thing to say, but Joe Biden couldn't cut it. Instead of choosing Sinema, he chose the bathroom-breaching illegals with the pervy video. He wanted their good opinion way more than he wanted any goodwill he might have gotten -- on a no-brainer issue that disgusts the public -- from Sinema. His insults to Manchin, who got stalked and chased at what was de facto his home by these same kinds of crazies, were just as bad. This fool is supposed to be a master legislator, the king of civility, the great uniter, yet he's having a bad time living up to that claim as it is, given the trouble his porkulus is in. According to W. James Antle III, writing in the Washington Examiner: President Joe Bidens legislative acumen, a major selling point during his campaign for the White House, is being called into question as Democrats on Capitol Hill fail to advance his agenda. Biden leaned heavily on his 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president to argue he had the experience necessary to govern. He even argued his years on the Hill would allow him to forge bipartisan coalitions and lead by consensus. Now he goes and insults Sinema and Manchin on a no-brainer matter concerning activists who've acted like pigs. He chose...and chose poorly. Does this fool have any sense of focus on his legislative priorities and the mere two people he needs to get in his tree? Nope, not in the least. When a freak shows up, Joe Biden takes the side of the freak. That tells us a lot about this loser and his tin ear for politics. He's unfit, he's inept, he's incompetent -- and not just wrong on nearly every foreign policy issue, as Bob Gates has said, but politically incompetent even from his own perspective. With his insults to Sinema and Manchin, who tend to dig in any way when they want to go independent, the failure of Biden's porkulus now seems inevitable. Image: Twitter screen shot To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. It should come as no surprise that the institutions that gave us safe spaces to protect students from uncomfortable political beliefs have now embraced a form of therapeutic totalitarianism designed to keep students safe from COVID. Independent journalist Michael Tracy and Reason editor Robby Soave have each written at length about the permanent surveillance state being built by academia. Their findings are disturbing. For example: Columbia University has forbidden students from hosting guests, visiting residence halls other than their own, and gathering with more than ten people. Connecticut College has imposed a cautionary quarantine on its student body and restricted its students to socializing with a maximum of three students, outside, socially distanced, and wearing masks. At Georgetown, students may not remove their masks in class to ask questions or to drink water. At the University of Southern California, students may not eat or drink in the building. Brown University has announced that students are forbidden to gather in groups of more than five, whether indoors or outdoors. They are no longer permitted to eat in the cafeteria, and must instead pick up their meals and eat elsewhere, keeping a mask on at all other times. Even worse, a snitch culture, reminiscent of East Germany, has taken hold. The Dean at Connecticut College is reported as saying (on a zoom call) that Moving forward, none of you should be OK with people not having a mask on inside, or not having it properly worn. According to Tracy: Deans at Georgetown University and the University of Southern California have also been sending out these imperious injunctions for students to rat out the alleged violators among them, or as USC Law School Andrew T. Guzman put it in that typically manipulative style: non-compliant members of our community. Whats a non-compliant member of the USC community, exactly? Someone who engages in unsanctioned indoor hydration. No, Im not kidding. And bear in mind, all of these institutions require students to be fully vaccinated. Few population cohorts are safer from COVID than vaccinated 18-to-22-year-olds, yet these students are being told that they are at risk of dying if they engage in any amount of socializing or non-masking. Vaccination was never the gateway to normalcy it was presented to be, Tracy concludes, and the only option is apparently to instate Permanent Emergency protocols with no cognizable off-ramp in sight. Most disheartening of all is that the students appear to be accepting these infringements on their liberties with hardly a whimper (and are happily forking over $50,000 a year and up for the privilege). One might have expected students to rebel against these measures, Robby Soave writes. Many campuses contain a loud and active contingent of injustice-minded protesters. But if young people at Columbia, Harvard, and elsewhere are fed up with mandatory masking and social distancing, they certainly aren't saying so. In fact, some students seem to be eagerly reporting each other for COVID-19 noncompliance. And at campuses where the mitigation efforts are less militant, students have actually protested the lack of enforcement. University of Iowa students recently held a die-in to demand that the administration pause all non-essential in person events and implement a mask mandate. Many have seen parallels in this creeping authoritarianism to George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. But a closer analogy to our current predicament can be found in the novel Brave New World, written by Aldous Huxley, Orwells high school French teacher. Orwells novel presents an oppressive state ruled by terror and torture, whereas Huxleys novel, published 17 years earlier, envisions a subtler way of imposing repression. The world's rulers, Huxley predicted, will discover that conditioning and medication are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience. That appears to sum up the state of academia today: students loving the servitude to their health overlords (stay safe!). And, unfortunately, what happens at the colleges no longer stays there. As Andrew Sullivan famously wrote, We all live on campus now. By which he meant that, at one time, students left the cloistered world of academia and had to adjust to the wider world. Now, the wider world has to adjust to them. If recent history is any guide, Soave writes, we should be terrified that the current crop of college students might leave campus possessed of the notion that the most insane version of pandemic oppression is perfectly normal and desirable. If so, then the next stop is a full police state -- e.g., Australia. Image: Pixabay To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Imagine you are a Honduran. If you make the average Honduran per capita income of $2,405.70 a year, and suddenly learn from a relative up in el norte that Joe Biden is handing out $3,600 a year to anyone in the U.S., legally present or not, for nothing more than having kids, what would you do? According to the Washington Free Beacon: President Joe Bidens budget includes a provision that provides billions of dollars in cash to illegal aliens with children. ... Families, regardless of their legal status, would be eligible to receive checks of $3,600 per year per child. The Democratic bill would amount to a universal basic income for parents residing in the country. Under U.S. law, illegal immigrants are barred from enjoying the benefits of federal entitlements. Proportionally, that cash would be the equivalent of a $95,089.56 free ride, based on the U.S. average per capita annual income of $63,543.60. You'd weigh your options, and decide what your best ones were. One, you could be breaking your back to earn the $2,405.70 a year back in Tegucigalpa, assuming you were earning the average (and at least half the country earns less). Or two, you could go to the states illegally, get a federal tax I.D. and the $3,600 would be yours. And as a bonus, you'd qualify it the minute you broke into the country illegally, and you wouldn't have to lift a finger to work for it. All you'd have to do is bring the kids. You'd also get free health care, free education, other cash benefits for the kids, and this doesn't even include the benefits handed out by states such as California, such as free housing and cash transfers. You're also free to earn more if you wanted, legally or illegally since, under Biden, there'd be no possibility of deportation once you break in. What would you do? Seems like only a fool wouldn't hotfoot it over to the states and take the free stuff. That's what's set to come should Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion "budget reconciliation" somehow pass in Congress. The cost to U.S. taxpayers, according to the Washington Free Beacon, should be "between $2.025 billion to $2.43 billion" a year, assuming no one else comes. What's on offer here is an absolute magnet for illegal immigration from across the world, as if there weren't already enough such incentives already laid down by Joe Biden in what illegal migrants are reading as his invitation to come. I use the example of Honduras because there is so much illegal immigration coming in from that country already without the free cash from Biden. But there actually are 57 countries whose per capita income is less than that of Honduras, according to the World Bank, which makes the incentive to come even greater. Worldwide, there are 74 nations with per capita incomes below the $3,600 level. Another five nations have per capita incomes below $4,000, including migrant-exporting Ukraine and El Salvador, as well as very large Indonesia. Large numbers of these countries (Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Iran, Nigeria, Cambodia, Haiti, India, Sudan, Somalia ) have large family immigrant networks already settled in the states. For would-be illegals, it wouldn't be much trouble to come on over on a visit if not overland with the coyotes, situate with a relative, and then take the big gringo's free $3,200. The Beacon notes that the cash pretty much amounts to a universal basic income. Because many migrants can live on that amount, it may well be just that for the less motivated. But for the more motivated, there's the prospect of working in the U.S. illegally, papers or not, and the cash from Uncle Sam means they can take very low wage jobs --- lower than the minimum in fact -- to raise their standards of living. That amounts to downward pressure on American workers' wages as new competition comes into the job marketplace that can work for less. Sound like a good deal for American workers? It's not just a goody bag for foreign lawbreakers, it's a shiv to the side for the American worker. That's appalling, and one more reason why this $3.5 trillion monstrosity must be sunk to the bottom of the sea by Congress -- with cement shoes. Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Allow me to shed some light on the Lt. Col. Scheller and Trump situation. To fully understand where he's coming from and the dynamics in his head, one must be a Marine. "There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion." ~Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army As a full-time Trump supporter, sometimes Trump critic, and Devil Dog myself, I can help de-mystify the situation for everyone. To start with, calling him a NeverTrumper is not an instructive exercise. Lt. Col. Scheller is not a normal American or human being -- he's a Marine. "The United States Marine Corps, with its fiercely proud tradition of excellence in combat, its hallowed rituals, and its unbending code of honor, is part of the fabric of American myth." ~Thomas E. Ricks His mindset and worldview are unlike anything most people can understand. "You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth -- and the amusing thing about it is that they are." ~Father Kevin Keaney He looks up to no one. He is his own hero. And he will criticize anyone he damn well pleases. If he feels Trump is divisive, that's what he will say. His opinions are never going to be politically edited or hindered by what others may think of them. His political positions appear to lean to the right, but whatever the case may be, get used to him. He's going to be around for a while. It's impossible to put a Devil Dog back in the cage if the Hellhound is unwilling to return peacefully. "Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They're aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat." ~RAdm. "Jay" R. Stark Jarrad Winter is a dad, U.S. Marine, developer, engineer, whitehat hacker, and slayer of tyranny To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here. Lenovo wants to create the PS Vita of gaming phones, judging from leaked images of a new device called the Legion Play, which is essentially a gaming handheld. Though its not the same exact design as the Sony PlayStation Vita, its form factor is more or less what you get with the Vita. So it seems likely that Lenovo may have taken some inspiration from the handheld that left us too soon. Then again, there are a number of handheld devices out there which feature a similar design and appearance. So inspiration could have come from anywhere. The Nintendo Switch being one of those devices. For what its worth, a design like this is certainly popular with gamers, if Sonys PSP and the Switch are any indication. The Lenovo handheld is called the Legion Play, and its powered by Android According to Liliputing, the Lenovo Legion Play is a gaming handheld powered by Android. The intended function would be to provide gamers on the go with a device for cloud gaming. In one of the leaked images, you can see NVIDIAs GeForce NOW Android app. Advertisement The app is accessible from the homescreen alongside apps for a game store, and launcher icons for what appear to be installed games. You can also see app icons for the Play Store, YouTube, YouTube Music, Google Drive, and Chrome. While the physical design looks a lot like a PSP or PS Vita, the UI seems to take some inspiration from the Nintendo Switch. It has all the buttons you might need As for hardware, the Legion Play has what looks like two shoulder buttons up top. As well as dual joysticks that are offset diagonally. Theres also a d-pad because, well you always need a d-pad. Youll also find a home button, a Legion Y button, and four action buttons (the ABXY buttons if you prefer). Theres even two additional unknown buttons. Its not exactly clear what these do. For ports, theres a USB-C port and a headphone jack on the top. Advertisement Theres a mic up there as well. Which at the very least suggests that this device is intended to allow for mic input for something. Perhaps for voice chat without a headset or for making voice and video calls. Perhaps both. As for the specs, the pages on Lenovos site where the device was discovered state that it has a 7-inch Full HD display. Liliputing notes that the device popped up on Lenovos German and Japanese websites. Although its not directly displayed there. Instead you need to bring up the source code and search for the device to find images and a few details. The description of the device states that it also supports HDR 10, and it comes with dual stereo speakers, as well as a 7,000mAh battery. It also comes with a vibration feature and should be coming soon to select markets. Advertisement Lenovo hasnt officially announced this device yet. So theres no guarantee when itll arrive or if the company still plans to release it. Based on the information though, Lenovo had planned to announce this at Mobile World Congress 2021. Which obviously didnt happen for one reason or another. Rescued bear cub Wonder update 05 October 2021 Two weeks ago Animals Asia rescued a moon bear cub from the illegal wildlife trafficking trade in Vietnam. We nicknamed her Wonder, as we wondered what she had already been through in her short life and what would have happened if we hadnt reached her in time. We wanted to help her recover from her traumatic start and fill her world with wonder. Also her fur forms a W-shaped pattern on her chest. Tentative first steps During her first few days at Animals Asias Vietnam sanctuary, Wonder was understandably nervous and confused and displayed stereotypic behaviours often seen in captive animals. As with all bears we rescue and bring to our sanctuaries, Wonder was checked over by our veterinary team to make sure she was physically fit and to assess any immediate issues. Shaun Thomson, Senior Veterinary Surgeon said we didnt find anything of concern with Wonder, so well give her some time to grow before we bring her in for her initial health check. We moved Wonder into our quarantine area, where all new arrivals spend their first days at sanctuary to protect them and our resident bears from any potential infectious diseases. The all-important quarantine period As well as protecting them, the quarantine period is an essential part of the bears integration into sanctuary life. Because the bears we rescue have spent most of their lives in small cages, it is imperative that we dont shock or scare them by giving them access to lots of open space right away. So for Wonders first 45 days at sanctuary shell stay in a temporary cage where shell receive round-the-clock care including lots of healthy food and snacks, an abundance of enrichment items, and lots of love and attention! Building trust and confidence The quarantine period enables our bear care team space and time to provide Wonder with the physical, psychological and emotional care she desperately needs at this important stage of her life. It also allows them to closely monitor her behaviour and her reactions to new foods and enrichment. Perhaps most importantly of all, it gives Wonder uninterrupted time and space to get to know and trust her carers and develop a bond with them. Wonders patient, compassionate carers are essentially doing the job that her mother would be doing in the wild. Just like a child! After just a few days with us, Wonders curiosity got the better of her and she started to accept enrichment items from her carers. The carers relief and joy were palpable as they watched her dive in to investigate the wonderful new things around her. In no time she was throwing herself around with abandon as she delighted in the new tastes, sounds and textures of hessian sacks, banana leaves, tube feeders and - a moon bear favourite - the water hose! She also started to eat, drink and sleep better. However, one of her carers Phuong, who is a mum of two children, noted that Wonder is a typical child, she is much more interested in new toys than food! A hopeful future for Wonder and other trafficked cubs We are confident that Wonder will grow into a confident, happy and playful bear which is testament to the unwavering patience, love and dedication of her carers. But as with many rescues we undertake, Wonders was bittersweet. We know that there are wildlife traffickers still out there, snatching cubs from their mothers in the wild to be sold into uncertain, yet certainly terrifying, situations. The man who was arrested for trafficking Wonder was part of a trafficking ring. Although he will face the prospect of a fine and prison sentence, his wider network is still active. The Dien Bien police force who intercepted the trafficking operation and recovered Wonder is actively working to catch the gang responsible. Our amazing rescue team, Hiep, Ngoc and Tuan, developed a strong relationship with the police force and we are hopeful that they will contact us if and when they recover more cubs from this terrible, illegal trade. With your help we can rescue more trafficked cubs. Join our rescue team with a monthly donation to rescue and rehome these poor cubs and other bears who urgently need our help. Read more: Bear cub Wonder is rescued from illegal traffickers and arrives safely at Animals Asias Vietnam sanctuary (ANSA) - ROME, OCT 5 - Italian police on Tuesday smashed a Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia clan operating in the affluent northern region of Lombardy, around Milan. Arresting seven suspected mafiosi, police said the esce-Bellocco from Rosarno near Reggio Calabria was "particularly active in Lombard territory". Those arrested have been variously charged with mafia association, extortion, fraudulently transferring goods and valuables and aggravated illlicit appropriation aggravated by mafia methods, as well as fraudulent bankruptcy and money laundering, police said. Some of those arrested belong to other historic 'Ndrangheta families long established in the Lecco and Como areas, police said. 'Ndrangheta has grown into Italy's most powerful and richest mafia thanks to its control of the European cocaine trade. Its tentacles have spread to the whole of Italy and all over the world. Italian police have gradually been digging behind the wall of silence or omerta' that for 'Ndrangheta is even more impenetrable than that of Sicily's Cosa Nostra. The biggest ever 'Ndrangheta trial got under way at Lamezia Terme in January. The trial delves into the activities of the 'Ndrangheta clans in Vibo Valentia and their links to the political, institutional, economic and rogue Masonic worlds controlling all aspects of local life in Calabria. It is the biggest mafia trial in Italy since the so-called 'maxi-trial' of Cosa Nostra in Sicily from 1986 to 1992. The trial, which is expected to last around three years, has over 300 defendants who are facing over 400 charges. The defendants include local politicians, businessmen, police and other institutional figures accused of helping 'Ndrangheta hold sway over Calabrian life. In January 2015 police arrested more than 160 people in the biggest-ever operation against a northern business arm of 'Ndrangheta. The op showed how far the one-time southern kidnapping gangs - long poor relations to Sicily's Cosa Nostra but now grown plump on cocaine cash - had infiltrated the economy of Italy's most affluent regions, especially the thriving economy of Reggio Emilia around Bologna. Other probes have shown 'Ndrangheta infiltration in the region around Milan, Lombardy, the region around Genoa, Liguria, and the region around Turin, Piedmont. In February 2014 a major Italian-FBI bust showed that 'Ndrangheta was muscling in on the drug operations of one of Cosa Nostra's historic five families in New York, the Gambinos. Before that, in July 2010, a massive police operation netted the head of the 'Ndrangheta and 300 others. Domenico Oppedisano, 80, anointed the equivalent of the 'boss of bosses' in Cosa Nostra at a Calabrian shrine to the Madonna a year previously, was caught along with their reputed head in Lombardy, Pino Neri. 'Ndrangheta is so secretive that the replacement for Oppedisano is still not known. 'Ndrangheta (from a Greek word meaning 'heroism' or 'virtue') once lived in the twin shadow of Cosa Nostra in Sicily and the Camorra in Naples. While those two syndicates, notably the Sicilians, were feeding off the transatlantic heroin trade through operations like the infamous 'French connection', 'Ndrangheta was only just emerging from its traditional stock-in-trade of kidnappings in the Calabrian highlands. It has since become a highly sophisticated global network with a chokehold on the European cocaine trade and control over swathes of its home turf where police fear to tread, Italian officials say. As well as being the richest, 'Ndrangheta is also regarded as the most impenetrable of Italy's mafias, with its close-knit family-based organisation outdoing the Sicilian mafia in its ability to defeat police efforts to turn members into State witnesses. The European law enforcement agency Europol has identified the 'Ndrangheta mafia as one of the "most threatening" organized crime groups on the global level, due to its "enormous financial might" and "immense corruptive power," with a presence in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Colombia and Australia, where 'Ndrangheta turf wars have gained headlines. In Europe, 'Ndrangheta really only came into the public eye in 2007, when six clan members were gunned down on the midsummer Ferragosto holiday in the German city of Duisburg in a feud that began as a wedding spat in a small Calabrian coastal town, San Luca, in 1991. A string of 'Ndrangheta-linked businesses have been seized in the last few years all over northern Italy, and especially in the affluent Lombard belt around Milan, and a Lombardy regional councillor was placed under investigation for buying votes from transplanted clans. On the Italian Riviera, the town councils of Bordighera and Ventimiglia were dissolved for 'Ndrangheta infiltration in 2011 and 2012, the first non-Calabrian municipalities to be wound up because of such penetration. In Rome, the Calabrian Mob has laundered money in a string of plum properties, as attested to by recent seizures police say are only the tip of the iceberg. In November 2013 Grand Hotel Gianicolo, a former monastery converted into a four-star hotel for the Catholic Church's Jubilee in 2000, was seized from Calabrian businessmen linked to 'Ndrangheta. It is one of the swankiest properties on the hill, Gianicolo or Janiculum, that affords one of the most breathtaking views over Rome. Ten years ago a former Dolce Vita-era bar and restaurant on the storied Via Veneto, the Caffe' De Paris, turned out to be in the hands of the Calabrian Mob. More recently, gangsters involved in a hitherto-unknown Rome crime organisation that allegedly had fingers in a web of business and political operations were said to have links to other mafias including 'Ndrangheta. (ANSA). ROME - Migrant activist and Eritrean priest Father Mussie Zerai, who heads the agency "Habeshia", is calling on all Sicilian prefectures and towns that received the bodies of migrants to "let them rest in peace where they were originally buried". Zerai's appeal comes after the decision by some local cemeteries to move the bodies to mass graves, as in Sciacca. In that town, two women who came from Switzerland to visit the grave of their sister, who died in the Lampedusa shipwreck on October 3, 2013, found once they arrived that her body had been moved. Fr Zerai said 10 bodies are still unaccounted for, which were moved without informing any relatives. "The risk of losing bodies cast into mass graves is very high and it infringes upon the right of families to have a grave to cry on once the body of their deceased loved one is identified, even after many years," he said. "The relatives of dead migrants continue to call for their identification and even now DNA tests are taking place," he said. Once identified, the government's special commission for missing persons issues a document that indicates the original burial place. "The right for the dead to rest in peace without tossing them around, and the right of families to know that their loved one is buried safely without anyone profaning his grave, is sacred," Zerai said. BRUSSELS - The European Union will reiterate its "unequivocal support for a European perspective of the Western Balkans" based on "credible reforms by partners, on a fair and rigorous conditionality and on the principle of merit", ANSA has learned, in a copy it viewed of the draft declaration of the EU-Western Balkans Summit, planned for Wednesday in Slovenia. In recent weeks a group of EU member states led by France reportedly asked to eliminate the term "enlargement" from the text. The request was rejected in exchange for a particular emphasis, included in the draft, on the conditionality of the accession process. "EU support will continue to be connected to tangible processes regarding the rule of law and socioeconomic reforms, as well as partners' adhesion to European values, rules and standards," the draft said. On the other hand, the Slovenian government's request to insert a time limit, 2030, to complete the EU accession process of the six Balkan states (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo), still hasn't passed, at least for now. Slovenia, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU Council presidency, has made EU enlargement to the region one of its priorities. In addition, the draft makes reference to the EU's support to the Balkans in supplying vaccines so the region can "reach vaccination rates similar to the EU average by the end of 2021". Another point is that of the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans (EIP), a package of investments by the EU to stimulate the green, long-term socioeconomic recovery of the region. The EIP will mobilise about 30 billion euros over the next seven years, of which nine billion will be in the form of subsidies and 20 billion in investments. The draft makes no direct reference to the growing influence of third countries in the area, in particular China and Russia, but highlights "the EU is by far the region's closest partner, main investor and main donor" and the "unprecedented scope" of this support must be "fully recognised and communicated by partners in public debate". The draft also touches on the issue of migration. "Given the seriousness of the situation in Afghanistan, the EU will work in close contact with all its partners, including the Western Balkans, to face the evolving challenges and, if needed, joint responses". BRUSSELS - The European Commission is launching, for the first time in the history of European institutions, an ad hoc strategy to fight antisemitism and promote Jewish life in Europe, said European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas following the College of Commissioners meeting held in Strasbourg. The European strategy is composed of three actions: preventing and combating every form of antisemitism; protecting and promoting Jewish life in Europe; and education and research into memory of the Holocaust. "Antisemitism continues to be a current and frightening threat," Schinas said. "Antisemitism is not a problem for Jews, but for those who are anti-Semitic. It is incompatible with any European value and with human rights. We want to fight it in all forms," explained Schinas, presenting the Commission's proposal. The Commission's proposals also include implementing a battle against the "haters". The European executive's strategy is to support the establishment of a European network of Jewish 'content whistleblowers' and organizations to remove "any hate speech online". With the aim of preventing all forms of antisemitism, the Commission proposes to "cooperate with companies in the information technology sector to prevent the display and sale of symbols, memorabilia and literature linked to Nazism," said the proposal. The commission's proposal also plans to make 24 million euros available in 2022 to improve the protection of public spaces and spaces for the faithful. Brussels also set the goal of taking action to protect Jewish cemeteries in Europe and safeguard the legacy of Jewish culture in the Old Continent. The initiatives also include the creation of a European research centre on Jewish culture and contemporary antisemitism, and the launch of a network of young European ambassadors charged with promoting the memory of the Holocaust. PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron said he hopes that recent tensions in relations between France and Algeria can be mitigated, following recent friction over visas, symbols of the colonial past and critical comments made by the French government that culminated over the weekend in the recall of the Algerian ambassador from Paris. "My hope is that the situation calms because I believe it is better to speak and make progress," Macron said on a France Inter radio broadcast, adding that his relations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune are "truly cordial." At the weekend, the Algerian government recalled its ambassador to France "for consultations" and it banned French aircraft from Algerian airspace, which is regularly used by the French military to reach the areas of the Sahel where a war with jihadists is underway. The tension between the French government and its former colony rose when France announced that it planned to reduce the number of entry visas issued to citizens of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, countries that Paris said aren't doing enough to take back undocumented migrants from France. Further aggravating the situation are comments made by Macron, who said Algeria is governed by a "political-military system" that has "completely rewritten" its own history. Macron said he "trusts in" and has "truly cordial" relations with his Algerian counterpart, Tebboune. "I have the utmost respect for the Algerian people," he said on France Inter. He said the current tensions are due to the work of "memory" that France is doing on the Algerian War. The great scandal of mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses in Northern Ireland must be investigated by a public inquiry, an independent panel has recommended. The Stormont-commissioned experts also called for a non-statutory independent panel that would run in parallel to the inquiry and allow those who were sent to the institutions, and their families, to give testimony in a less adversarial format. The expert panel also urged immediate redress payments for survivors at the outset of the twin-track investigatory process. Legislation should also be passed to ensure access to the records of the institutions under scrutiny, the panel said. One of the panel members, Professor Phil Scraton, a Queens University academic known for his work investigating the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, said the pain of the survivors could never be assuaged. This is one of the great scandals of our time not just here in the north, but across Ireland and across England and Wales and Scotland, he said. Stormonts leaders welcomed the publication of the panels findings and pledged to give full consideration to the recommendations. First Minister Paul Givan said a decision on next steps was likely within weeks while deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said she supported all the recommendations and would be urging her Executive colleagues to formally endorse them. Clearly a full public inquiry is crucially important, she said. Earlier this year, a major academic research report was published outlining the scale of mistreatment endured by thousands of women and girls in the institutions. The research report on mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries (PA) The work, by Queens University and Ulster University, found that more than 14,000 girls and women went through the doors of mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and other institutions between 1922 and 1990. It found that women were mistreated, held against their will and forced to give up children for adoption. The findings prompted Stormont ministers to commit to a full investigation of what happened in the institutions. The expert panel was then commissioned to work with survivors to design the format of the investigation. Outlining the findings on Tuesday, the chair of the Truth Recovery Design Panel, Deirdre Mahon, said it was essential the recommendations were acted on without delay. For six months we have worked closely with victims-survivors and relatives who have shared their heart-breaking stories with us and we thank them for their dedicated and tireless pursuit of truth and justice, she said. Other measures recommended by the panel include the offering of public apologies from the State and all institutions involved; comprehensive funding for health and wellbeing services for survivors; funding for voluntary DNA testing; legal aid to access the courts or inquest system; citizenship for those who lost their entitlement due to removal from the jurisdiction as a child; and the provision of gravestones and memorials. Third panel member, Dr Maeve ORourke, a lecturer in human rights at National University of Ireland Galway, said the academic research contained clear evidence of gross and systemic human rights abuses in the institutions and related adoption system. She said those included arbitrary detention, degrading treatment, serious infringements of the right to respect for private and family life and discrimination. Victims and survivors continue to describe ongoing abuse, including the disappearance of family members and the denial of identity, she said. It is essential that the human rights of victims, survivors and relatives are at the heart of the forthcoming investigation. Human rights law also requires full access to records and urgent redress and reparation. Northern Irelands First Minister Paul Givan and deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill said they would announce next steps shortly (Rebecca Black/PA) Responding to the recommendations, Mr Givan said: I want to express my heartfelt thanks to the expert panel for their ground-breaking work, but most of all I want to thank all of the victims and survivors who came forward to share their moving and powerful testimonies. It is time to lift any burden of shame that may have been placed on your shoulders. This rightly lies on the shoulders of the state, church and wider society. The research published at the start of the year found that more than 10,500 women and girls entered the homes for unmarried mothers and their children over a 68-year period from 1922. The youngest was 12, and the oldest 44. However, a third were under the age of 19. They included victims of rape, incest or unlawful carnal knowledge. Girls and women were sent to the homes by their families or church leaders under a shadow of stigma, secrecy and shame, believing they had no other choice due to being pregnant out of wedlock. Survivors of the institutions claimed they were subjected to labour such as scrubbing floors during the final stages of pregnancy and were described as fallen. Around 4% of babies were either stillborn or died shortly after birth across the entire period. Around a third of infants were then sent to baby homes following separation from their birth mother. Others were fostered in todays terms and others were placed for adoption. Meanwhile, 3,000 women were sent to Magdalene laundries with numbers peaking in the 1930s. Some were referred to the austere institutions by their families, others by priests and some by state agencies, including the courts, police, probation, welfare and GPs. These included women who suffered with alcohol dependency, teenage girls described as having behaviour issues, some with learning difficulties, and some from the mother and baby homes to serve penance. Some women died in the laundries after spending the majority of their lives doing unpaid, strenuous labour. A further 707 women entered an industrial institution run by the Salvation Army at Thorndale in Belfast which was described as being used as an alternative to prison, like a probation home. Covid passes are to be introduced in Wales after the Welsh Government won a tight vote in the Senedd. The Welsh Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the single Liberal Democrat MS were branded grossly irresponsible for voting against the proposals. They had raised concerns about civil liberties and the details of the plan, which would see the NHS Covid Pass be mandatory for all adults wishing to enter nightclubs or attend certain large events. It will come into force from October 11 and it would mean all over-18s would need to have one to enter nightclubs, indoor, non-seated events for more than 500 people, such as concerts or conventions, outdoor non-seated events for more than 4,000 people and any setting or event with more than 10,000 people in attendance. People would also be able to show they have had a negative lateral flow test result within the last 48 hours. A lateral flow kit (PA) During a debate in the Senedd, health and social care minister Eluned Morgan said the public was on the Governments side. I want to be clear that the Welsh Labour Government has not suggested the introduction of this measure lightly, she said. It has been challenging for us because we wanted to think through very carefully, what were the practical, what were the legal what were the ethical implications of introducing a passport of this type. She said Wales was facing some of the highest infection rates since the beginning of the pandemic, particularly among young people, and the Government had to take action to prevent super-spreader events. Not supporting this measure today will be an act of gross irresponsibility when it comes to public health in Wales, she said. This measure will allow the facilities to stay open in the face and one of the most challenging winters that we are yet to face. The public is on our side on this, and they are watching you in this chamber today and I urge you to support this measure. Conservative health spokesman Russell George accused of the Welsh Government of a U-turn, having previously ruled out introducing them. I just do not think that we should become a checkpoint society by introducing a vaccine passport, Mr George said. There is a wide range of ethical, equality, privacy, legal and operational ramifications of Covid passports. There is a real risk here that the implementation of Covid passes could be a complete disaster. In Scotland, we have seen the rollout has been a disaster there and the Labour Party conference in Brighton was plagued with problems. Mr George said the introduction risked creating a two-tier society as some people were unable to be vaccinated for health reasons. Plaid health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said his party was not against the principle of Covid passes but took issue with the proposals in their current form, including the use of lateral flow tests. Were not being asked to vote on a principle, were voting on a specific set of regulations, and Im afraid that those regulations, at this point raise more questions than they provide answers, he said. Weve asked many questions and havent been given assurances that we have sought, and it is for that reason that we feel unable to support these regulations. Conservative MS James Evans said backing the proposals was an extremely slippery slope and undermined a liberal society. Freedoms and democracies are hard-won, and anything that erodes personal freedoms, I simply cannot support, he said. World history does not make pretty reading when you start to discriminate against people because of a single issue. I find this a terrible prospect, and not one that anybody who wants to live in a 21st century liberal democracy would support. The slippery slope is one that concerns me greatly. Of course, the Government will say this system will only be implemented for as long as Covid is with us, but governments of all colours and all political persuasions change their minds, and once introduced, regulations are very rarely repealed. Members of the Senedd voted 28-27 in favour of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations. One member, understood to be a Conservative, was unable to vote due to a problem with their Zoom link. The Night Time Industries Association Wales, which has opposed the introduction of the scheme, called for a fresh vote. It is a democratic outrage that one MS who wanted to vote, and who would have voted against the proposals, could not, due to a mere technical error, a spokesman said. This shambles will cause even more uncertainty for our businesses. There must be an urgent re-vote so that the will of the Senedd can be fairly expressed and businesses have some clarity about the future. An outage which has affected WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook is down to networking issues, experts have said. The sites have been down for several hours with users across the globe experiencing issues getting on to them. The platforms confirmed on Twitter that they were aware of issues and were working to resolve them after thousands of people reported outages shortly before 5pm on Monday. Security experts speculated the problem came following network changes, with the cause still unconfirmed by late Monday evening. Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021 Adam Leon Smith, of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and a software testing expert, said: The outage is caused by changes made to the Facebook network infrastructure. Many of the recent high-profile outages have been caused by similar network level events. It is reported by unidentified Facebook sources on Reddit that the network changes have also prevented engineers from remotely connecting to resolve the issues, delaying resolution. Notably, many organisations now define their physical infrastructure as code, but most do not apply the same level of testing rigour when they change that code, as they would when changing their core business logic. Tens of thousands reported issues within an hour of the outage (Dominic Lipinski/PA) However, cyber security specialist Jake Moore said there is a chance the issue could be related to a cyber attack. He told the PA news agency: There have been many reports and Im struggling to find out exactly what has happened- Im reading it could be DNS related, which means there is an issue with the connection not knowing where to go to your device. It could well be a human error or a software bug lurking in the shadows but whatever it is Facebook needs to do its best to mitigate the problem of causing more panic about this. The biggest problem is fears over a cyber attack but as we saw from Fastly in the summer I would hedge my bets on that not being the case as were talking about one of the biggest companies in the world, but theres always a chance. Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, were on it! #instagramdown Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021 The New York Times reported the issue likely stemmed from a misconfiguration of Facebooks server computers, which were not letting people connect to its sites like Instagram and WhatsApp. It said the problems appeared to be more complex and required some manual updating. Mike Schroepfer, Facebooks chief technology officer, said on Twitter: *Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible. *Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) October 4, 2021 Data on the web service monitoring platform DownDetector showed that almost 50,000 people had reported the outages on Facebook by just after 5pm. Most complaints cited issues with the website (72%), while others were linked to issues with the server connection and the app. Moe than 75,000 had complained about WhatsApp, with 43% reporting issues with the app itself, while 28% cited the server connection and 28% relating to sending messages. More than 30,000 Instagram users also had similar complaints, with 51% relating to the app, 26% over the server connection and 23% citing the website. A graph on the DownDetector website showed a clear spike from after 4pm. (Lauren Hurley/PA) Facebooks share price plummeted 4.9% amid the outage, which also came the day after a whistleblower claimed in a US interview that the company prioritises its own interests over the public good. The platforms were affected by outages in 2019- in an incident which saw #FacebookDown, #instagramdown and #whatsappdown trending worldwide on Twitter. A few months prior, users of Facebook and Instagram reported being unable to open pages or sections on the apps. Whatsapp said in a statement: Were aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. Were working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience. Were aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. Were working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience! WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) October 4, 2021 Instagram said: Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, were on it. A Facebook company spokesperson said: Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience. The issue also affected other platforms such as Twitter amid an increase in traffic on its website and app. Twitter Support tweeted: Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter. We prepare for these moments, but today things didnt go exactly as planned. Some of you may have had an issue seeing replies and DMs as a result. This has been fixed. Sorry about that! Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter. We prepare for these moments, but today things didnt go exactly as planned. Some of you may have had an issue seeing replies and DMs as a result. This has been fixed. Sorry about that! Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 4, 2021 It had earlier joked: Hello literally everyone. WASHINGTON A former Facebook employee on Tuesday gave devastating testimony to Congress alleging that the social media giant has placed profit ahead of the public good, and she urged the government to take action to reform the company. I saw Facebook repeatedly encounter conflicts between its profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved these conflicts in favor of its own profits. The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat, said Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager at Facebook from 2019 until resigning earlier this year. This is about Facebook choosing to grow at all costs buying its profits with our safety, Haugen told a Senate Commerce subcommittee, saying the companys problems are solvable. In addition to its flagship project, Facebook also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, two wildly popular apps around the world. Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Tuesday. (Drew Angerer/Pool via AP) Haugen has been speaking out as a whistleblower in a series of Wall Street Journal stories that began appearing in that publication about three weeks ago. This past weekend she revealed her identity prior to her scheduled testimony on Capitol Hill, and she sat for an interview with CBSs 60 Minutes. During the testimony, she gave confident answers in response to the senators questions but also declined to answer certain questions when they strayed beyond her areas of expertise. Before joining Facebooks civic integrity team in June 2019, Haugen worked for Google, Pinterest and other tech companies. She discussed the ways that Facebooks own attempts to reduce the harm created by its platform are undone by the teams designed to increase the companys user population and the amount of time those users spend on Facebooks platforms. The harm, she said, is known to Facebook because of its own internal studies and documentation, some of which Haugen provided directly to the Wall Street Journal. But the company does not share its internal information, which has to change, she said. For example, Haugen said, Facebook knows they are leading young users to anorexia content. And she said the company actively seeks to attract children to its platforms, especially Instagram, because they understand the value of younger users for the long-term success of Facebook. Haugen at Tuesday's hearing. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Haugen also pointed to escalating rates of suicide and depression among teens. Facebook has continued to seek higher rates of engagement from teens despite a broad swath of research that usage of social media amplifies the risk for these mental health harms. Facebook's own research shows that. Kids are saying, I am unhappy when I use Instagram, and I can't stop, Haugen said. She said the platform is designed to essentially be addictive despite these detrimental effects. Haugen also cited real-world violence, both around the globe and in the U.S., that has been linked to the flood of disinformation on social media platforms. She pointed to bloodshed in Myanmar and Ethiopia that is allegedly being exacerbated by Facebooks design. The violence in those countries, she said, is the "opening chapters of a story so terrifying no one wants to read the end of it. Haugen said she was prompted to speak out publicly, ultimately, when civic integrity was dissolved following the 2020 election, a reference to former President Donald Trump's aggressive pushing of conspiracy theories about the election he lost, leading to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Protesters on Jan. 6 at Capitol Hill. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Haugen noted that Facebook changed its settings in the weeks before the 2020 election because they knew they were dangerous by allowing misinformation and conspiracy theories to spread widely and quickly. But the company removed those controls after the election because it reduced the amount of time that Facebook users were spending on the platform, she said, only to have to turn them back on after Jan. 6. On Sunday, Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president of global affairs, argued on CNNs Reliable Sources that Haugens claims were misleading. "We can minimize but not eliminate it, Clegg said of harm to children who use the companys platforms. And that's what we do; that's why we commission the research, and we've always been very open about it. Of social polarization spurred by Facebooks content, Clegg said: Even with the most sophisticated technology, which I believe we deploy, even with the tens of thousands of people that we employ to try and maintain safety and integrity on our platform, were never going to be absolutely on top of this 100 percent of the time. But Haugen said during Tuesday's hearing that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg could take direct steps to address the companys problems, especially since he controls 55 percent of its voting shares. Zuckerberg, she said, claims that metrics make the decision about how the platform works. But that design choice itself is a decision, and Zuckerberg is responsible for that decision, she said. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) Haugen called on Congress to establish an independent oversight agency that would pull Facebook out of what she called a feedback loop that they cannot get out of. Facebook should be required to become far more transparent, she said, and there are also soft interventions that can be made to the companys design to stem the rapid spread of false and harmful information. She said the company needs to declare moral bankruptcy. They need a process where they admit they did something wrong but we have a mechanism where we forgive them and we let them move forward, Haugen said. They have been hiding this information because they feel trapped. They need to admit they did something wrong and that they need help to solve these problems. Thats what moral bankruptcy is. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Haugens decision to speak out was a Big Tobacco moment a moment of reckoning, similar to when the major cigarette companies were exposed as having known their products were addictive and harmful. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said he appreciated Haugens use of the moral bankruptcy idea, and said that years from now the detrimental effects from social media that were allowed to go on would be shocking to anyone looking back on this present moment. All of us are going to be saying, What the hell were we thinking? Sullivan said. ____ Read more from Yahoo News: By Brad Brooks CROZIER, La. (Reuters) -Bruce Westley stood outside his wrecked mobile home, pointing to a small lime green tent, two patio chairs and a 30-quart aluminum pot atop a single propane burner. "For more than a month, that's been our bedroom, our living room and our kitchen," said the 65-year-old disabled Navy veteran. He and his wife Christina are among thousands of southeast Louisianians struggling more than a month after Hurricane Ida swept through the heart of Cajun country. Reuters traveled the bayous of hard-hit Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes in recent days, speaking with more than 40 residents. All said they felt abandoned by state and federal officials. A few said they had not received any type of support from any level of government. "We can't keep living like this," Westley said. "We just need any damn thing to get off the ground, man." In most areas it looked as if Ida rolled through only a day or two ago. Old timers who say they've seen it all swear they have never witnessed a more destructive storm. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spokesman said the agency was working as quickly as possible. Louisiana's Governor John Bel Edwards on Monday announced a temporary sheltering program supported by FEMA that he said would start bringing trailers into the hardest-hit areas to alleviate housing shortages. The human misery and the piles of debris testify to the massive strain on public and private resources in a hurricane-prone area. The scenes also raise questions about how the United States will cope as climate change creates a new, more destructive normal. Reuters saw no heavy equipment, trucks or workers helping people clear the rubble and recover their belongings. The only government presence was in the form of law enforcement officers and staff at FEMA mobile centers processing disaster claims. Residents said it has basically been that way since Ida made landfall on Aug. 29 and killed 26 people, though roadways in the area were largely cleared of debris. Hundreds of people, many of them elderly and children, were in tents. Others were in homes that clearly have severe structural damage and where mold, which can impact respiratory health and cause severe allergic reactions, was spreading. Grocery stores, most restaurants and other businesses remain closed. Power is still out for thousands of people and many have no water or sewage services. Despite the difficulties, communities are trying to band together. Outside the Howard Third Zion Travelers Baptist Church just two blocks down from where Westley and his wife are camping, volunteers say they have been handing out meals to 1,000 families daily. Ida destroyed the church's south-facing wall. "You want to know what's been going on to help these people? Pretty much nothing," said Talisa Clark, a community activist for the historically Black area who has been helping coordinate the food distribution. "There are no state or federal boots on the ground to help. It's looking like a Third World country's efforts down here." Clark was forced out of her badly damaged home near Houma and has been staying with relatives. Parish officials for Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson and Plaquemines did not respond to a request for comment. DIFFICULT CHOICES John Mills, a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spokesman at a support site in Golden Meadow, Louisiana, said he understood the frustrations of those who survived Ida. "Families and communities will have to face difficult choices about how to rebuild - and whether to rebuild here at all," he said. FEMA is distributing money so people can rent housing for at least two months. In addition, as of Monday FEMA said it was paying hotel costs for nearly 8,000 families. In total, it estimates it has spent at least $30 million in hotel costs. "That plan probably works under most circumstances. But the breadth of Ida's damage is so huge, that there's no housing stock, there's no hotel rooms available," said Tanner Magee, a state representative whose district includes Terrebonne parish. State and parish governments have contracted out the task of picking up debris, but have struggled with even deciding on where they will put it, Magee said. He said far more workers and trucks were needed in hard-hit areas. Magee and his family, who live in Houma, are staying in his Ida-damaged home. "If you see this destruction around you constantly and it's not going anywhere, it beats down on people," Magee said. "I'm really worried about the mental health of people." Magee and others say they need temporary FEMA trailers. FEMA says that takes several weeks, and is complicated by federal and state regulations that make it difficult to bring in temporary shelters during hurricane season. FEMA, along with the Small Business Administration, has paid out over $1.1 billion for Ida damage so far, mostly through grants to homeowners, along with FEMA's national flood insurance program. Uninsured damage estimates are upward of $19 billion, according to the property data and analytics company CoreLogic, with 90% of those losses along Louisiana's coast, and the rest in Alabama and Mississippi. There could be another $21 billion in damage to insured properties. STAY RIGHT HERE In Galliano, Maria Molina handwashed shirts and shorts for her 7-year-old daughter Julia and grown son Leonardo; she then hung them out to dry. "I'm out of work, I'm out of money and we're out of food. We don't have anywhere to go, even though this trailer seems unsafe," she said of her blue mobile home, which was now akilter with a damaged roof and foundation. Molina was awaiting word on whether she'll qualify for any FEMA aid. Down the road in the town of Golden Meadow, Rosie Verdin, 73, stood on the tilted porch of her home behind the tribal headquarters of her United Houma Nation. Verdin said Ida's destruction was the worst she'd seen. Some three-fourths of her tribe's 19,000 members saw their homes destroyed or left uninhabitable. "But there is nothing that will drive us off this land," she said. "With or without help, we'll rebuild and stay right here." (Reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Donna Bryson and Aurora Ellis) HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) Some residents, business owners and environmentalists questioned whether authorities reacted quickly enough to contain one of the largest oil spills in recent California history, caused by a suspected leak in an underwater pipeline that fouled the sands of famed Huntington Beach and could keep the beaches there closed for weeks or longer. Booms were deployed on the ocean surface Sunday to try to contain the oil while divers sought to determine where and why the leak occurred. On land, there was a race to find animals harmed by the oil and to keep the spill from harming any more sensitive marshland. People who live and work in the area said they noticed an oil sheen and a heavy petroleum smell Friday evening. But it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that the Coast Guard said an oil slick had been spotted and a unified command established to respond. And it took until Saturday night for the company that operates the pipeline believed responsible for the leak to shut down operations. Rick Torgerson, owner of Blue Star Yacht Charter said on Friday evening people were emailing, and the neighbors were asking, do you smell that? By Saturday morning boats were returning to the marina with their hulls covered in oil, he said. Cleanup contractors unload collected oil in plastic bags trying to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. One of the largest oil spills in recent Southern California history fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) Garry Brown, president of the environmental group Orange County Coastkeeper, decried a lack of initial coordination among the Coast Guard and local officials in dealing with the spreading oil slick. By the time it comes to the beach, its done tremendous damage. Our frustration is, it could have been averted if there was a quick response, said Brown, who lives in Huntington Beach. An estimated 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude leaked into the water and some washed up on the shores of Orange County. The city and state beaches at Huntington Beach were closed, and late Sunday the city of Laguna Beach, just to the south, said its beaches also were shuttered. Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said the beaches of the community nicknamed Surf City could remain closed for weeks or even months. The oil created a miles-wide sheen in the ocean and washed ashore in sticky black globules. In a year that has been filled with incredibly challenging issues this oil spill constitutes one of the most devastating situations that our community has dealt with in decades, Carr said. We are doing everything in our power to protect the health and safety of our residents, our visitors and our natural habitats. Patches of an oil spill wash off the beach south of the Pier in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. The closure stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier nearly 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south to the Santa Ana River jetty amid summerlike weather that would have brought beachgoers to the wide strand for volleyball, swimming and surfing. Yellow caution tape was strung between lifeguard towers to keep people away. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) Some birds and fish were caught in the muck and died, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said. But by early afternoon Saturday the U.S. Coast Guard said so far there was just one ruddy duck that was covered in oil and receiving veterinary care. Other reports of oiled wildlife are being investigated, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The leaking pipeline connects to an oil production platform named Elly, which in turn is connected by a walkway to a drilling platform named Ellen. Those two platforms and another nearby platform are in federal waters and owned by Amplify Energy Corp. Elly began operating in 1980 in an area called the Beta Field. Oil pulled from beneath the ocean and processed by Elly is taken by the pipeline to Long Beach. Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said the pipeline and three platforms were shutdown Saturday night. The 17.5-mile (28.16-kilometer) pipeline that is 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) below the surface was suctioned out so no more oil would spill while the location of the leak was being investigated. Crews led by the Coast Guard-deployed skimmers laid some 3,700 feet (1,128 meters) of floating barriers known as booms to try to stop more oil from seeping into areas including Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre (10-hectare) wetland officials said. A petroleum stench permeated the air throughout the area. You get the taste in the mouth just from the vapors in the air, Foley said. Crews deploy skimmers and floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday., Oct. 3, 2021. One of the largest oil spills in recent Southern California history fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) The oil will likely continue to wash up on the shore for several days and affect Newport Beach and other nearby communities, officials said. The closure included all of Huntington Beach, from the citys north edge about 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) south to the Santa Ana River jetty. The shutdown came amid summerlike weather that would have brought big crowds to the wide strand for volleyball, swimming and surfing. Yellow caution tape was strung between lifeguard towers to keep people away. Officials canceled the final day of the annual Pacific Air Show that typically draws tens of thousands of spectators to the city of about 200,000 residents south of Los Angeles. The show featured flyovers by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Huntington Beach resident David Rapchun said hes worried about the impact of the spill on the beaches where he grew up as well as the local economy. For the amount of oil these things produce I dont think its worth the risk, Rapchun said. He questioned whether drilling for oil was a wise idea along some of Southern Californias most scenic beaches, noting the loss of the final day of the air show could deal a blow to the local economy. We need oil, but theres always a question: Do we need it there? he said. The spill comes three decades after a massive oil leak hit the same stretch of Orange County coast. On Feb. 7, 1990, the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor off Huntington Beach, spilling nearly 417,000 gallons (1.6 million liters) of crude. Fish and about 3,400 birds were killed. Lifeguards ready to post signs warning that water contact may cause illness, as they close the beach after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday., Oct. 3, 2021. The closure stretched from the Huntington Beach Pier nearly 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) south to the Santa Ana River jetty amid summerlike weather that would have brought beachgoers to the wide strand for volleyball, swimming and surfing. Yellow caution tape was strung between lifeguard towers to keep people away. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) In 2015, a ruptured pipeline north of Santa Barbara sent 143,000 gallons (541,313 liters) of crude oil gushing onto Refugio State Beach. The area affected by the latest spill is home to threatened and endangered species, including a plump shorebird called the snowy plover, the California least tern and humpback whales. The coastal areas off of Southern California are just really rich for wildlife, a key biodiversity hot spot, said Miyoko Sakashita, director of the Center for Biological Diversitys oceans program. The effects of an oil spill are wide-ranging, environmentalists said. Birds that get oil on their feathers cant fly, cant clean themselves and cant monitor their own temperatures, Sakashita said. Whales, dolphins and other sea creatures can have trouble breathing or die after swimming through oil or breathing in toxic fumes, she said. The oil spill just shows how dirty and dangerous oil drilling is and oil that gets into the water. Its impossible to clean it up so it ends up washing up on our beaches and people come into contact with it and wildlife comes in contact with it, she said. It has long-lasting effects on the breeding and reproduction of animals. Its really sad to see this broad swatch oiled. FILE PHOTO: Tablets of the opioid-based Hydrocodone at a pharmacy in Portsmouth By Lawrence Hurley and Nate Raymond WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for New York to collect a $200 million surcharge imposed on opioid manufacturers and distributors to defray the state's costs arising from the deadly epidemic involving the powerful painkilling drugs. The justices declined to hear an appeal by two trade groups representing drug distributors and generic drug makers and a unit of British-based pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt Plc of a lower court's decision upholding the surcharge. The law's challengers included the Association for Accessible Medicines, whose members include drugmakers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Plc and Mallinckrodt, and the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, which represents wholesale distributors. The alliance's members include the three largest opioid distributors in the United States, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health. They proposed in July paying $21 billion to resolve lawsuits accusing them of fueling the epidemic. Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 and has been seeking to finalize a similar, $1.7 billion settlement. The payments to New York were owed under the Opioid Stewardship Act, which Democratic former Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law in 2018 to address the costs the epidemic imposed on the state. The law marked the first time a state had sought to impose a tax or fee related to the epidemic on opioid manufacturers and distributors. Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island have since adopted their own taxes. The Association for Accessible Medicines and the Healthcare Distribution Alliance in separate statements expressed disappointment in the Supreme Court's action. The alliance said it is evaluating its options and next steps. Opioids have resulted in the overdose deaths of nearly 500,000 people from 1999 to 2019 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of an ongoing public health crisis. The New York law envisioned collecting $100 million annually from prescription painkiller manufacturers and distributors based on their market shares from 2019 to 2024, or $600 million in total. A federal judge in 2018 ruled that a provision barring the companies from passing on the costs of making the payments to consumers was unconstitutional and could not be severed from the rest of the law. The state appealed, but following that ruling New York enacted a new tax law that did not include the pass-through prohibition, limiting the case to $200 million in payments owed based on 2017 and 2018 market shares. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020 handed a victory to the state, ruling that the judge lacked authority to strike down the law. The challengers then appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices acted on the case on the first day of their new nine-month term. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Nate Raymond; Editing by Will Dunham) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meets with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A New York mother and son have been charged with theft in aiding the disappearance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis laptop during the Jan. 6 insurrection after the FBI initially raided a home 4,500 miles away in Alaska, looking for the computer. The FBI on Friday arrested Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, of Watertown, New York, in connection with the stolen laptop, according to court documents. Both also face other charges related to the riot at the Capitol. Rafael Rondon also faces possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun charge Both appeared in federal court Friday in Syracuse, New York, and released pending further proceedings, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York. A message left at a listing for Mooney-Condon in Watertown was not immediately returned Monday. Attempts to locate Rafael Rondon were not immediately successful. The Capitol riot was well documented by those who took part. Law enforcement used photos from the social media accounts of those who took part to search for the suspects. A tip to the FBI led them to the mother and son, according to a statement of facts documented by an unnamed FBI special agent. Supporters of former President Donald Trump climb the walls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. (AP) Mooney-Rondon allegedly admitted to being in both the Capitol the day of the riots and Pelosis conference room, the document says. She allegedly provided gloves or a scarf to a man to steal Pelosis laptop without leaving fingerprints. He asked, he said, give me I dont know if it was gloves or a scarf I was wearing and like I said he scared me, the documents quotes her as saying. There was an ethernet connected to the computer, her son told FBI agents. If I recall, the guy was going to yank it out. Im like, dude, dont do that, I mean thats, I mean just the computer, you cant pull the cables out, itll ruin everything, Mooney-Rondon said, according to the document. Mooney-Rondon then said she believes she saw the man put the computer in his backpack. Her son told investigators that be thinks he might have pushed the computer in his bag a little bit using a glove cause he didnt want to get his fingerprints on it, the document says. So I assisted him a little bit, and that was probably stupid of me, he's quoted in the document as saying. She and her son then went to the Senate Gallery and then left the building when they saw it was overrun with protesters. Rafael Rondon told officers that he and mother took the metro into Washington on Jan. 6 because Im not taking my car into the city which, the Capitol building Im about to break into, the FBI agents statement alleges. Both mother and son admitted they were the ones depicted in the photos taken at the Capitol during the riots and distributed by the FBI, the document says. In late April the FBI raided the Homer, Alaska, business owned by Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who were in the Washington for then-President Donald Trumps rally that preceded the breach at the Capitol but said they didnt take part in that. Marilyn Hueper told reporters it was a case of mistaken identity. Photos of the two women showed they had similar hairstyles and wore a similar black coat that day. Hueper said when an FBI agent arrived at the boutique resort, they said they were looking for Nancy Pelosis laptop. That still doesnt explain why youre in my home. Or in Homer, Alaska, Hueper told agents, she later recalled to The Associated Press. Security agents and lawmakers barricade the door to the House chamber as a violent mob loyal to former President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington on jan. 6. (AP) In the FBI statement filed in the case of the New York residents, it notes that a search warrant was obtained for the Alaska residence based in part on evidence showing that residents (a married couple) trespassed on the ground of the U.S. Capitol. It also says two people in Homer identified Marilyn Hueper as being the person seen in photos taken inside the Capitol during the riot. However, the document states, the FBI now says there is probable cause to believe the mother and son are the two people shown in the photographs, plus their alleged admissions to being there and other evidence. "I feel like a cloud has lifted for sure," Hueper said in a text message to The Associated Press. However, she said she remains concerned about the freedom that the FBI and others seem to have to run amuck over peaceable people, and are without concern for how their poor investigative skills and super aggressive tactics are causing harm while theyre on their noble cause quests. A message sent to the FBI Anchorage office seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday. Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders have been in detention beyond 24 hours and a drone camera is monitoring her Sitapur: Why has the person behind the killing of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri not been arrested while she has been under detention for 28 hours without an FIR, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi asked on Tuesday as her colleagues alleged that she was not being allowed to meet her lawyers. Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders have been in detention beyond 24 hours and a drone camera deployed over the 2nd Battalion PAC guesthouse in Sitapur where they have been kept, Congress office-bearers claimed. "She is not being allowed to meet her lawyers and the administration is not telling her reasons for her detention," Congress media and communication vice chairperson Pankaj Srivastava said. Besides Priyanka Gandhi, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, national secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, Youth Congress national president BV Srinivas, party MLC Deepak Singh are also under detention, he said. The Congress general secretary was detained in Sitapur on Monday on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died and several others were injured on Sunday in the bloodiest clash since the farmers' protest over the Centre's agri laws began last year. On Tuesday, she shared a video on Twitter purportedly showing a group of protesting farmers being mowed down by an SUV. "@narendramodi ji your government has detained me for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR. Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?" she said in a tweet in Hindi. Her party colleague Gurjar shared another video on the microblogging site showing a drone, which he claimed was flying above the guesthouse where Congress leaders have been detained. The government is so scared of Priyanka Gandhi that even after keeping her under detention, it is using a drone to keep an eye on her, he tweeted in Hindi. As several Congress leaders took to social media, party workers staged demonstrations till late Monday night and slept on the pavement outside the PAC battalion complex. The crowd of Congress workers and supporters was thin on Tuesday morning but started to swell after 10 am as more party activists from all over the state thronged Sitapur and occupied all hotels in the vicinity. District officials said the law and order situation was in control. According to Srivastava, the illegal detention of party leaders has led to anger among Congress workers. "The prime minister is coming for a celebration in Lucknow while the farmers of Lakhimpur are waiting for justice," he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate a programme of the 'Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav' celebrations. Four of the eight dead in Sunday's violence were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area. The others were identified as BJP workers and their driver, allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and then lynched by the protesters. The Uttar Pradesh Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish but no arrest has been made so far. Of the 263 deaths in the last 24 hours, as many as 149 deaths were from Kerala A health worker prepares a dose of the Covishield vaccine against the Covid-19 coronavirus, at a vaccination centre in Rajawadi Hospital in Mumbai. (Photo: AFP) New Delhi: India recorded 18,346 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, of which 8,850 new cases were reported in Kerala, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday. Further, the ministry informed that of the 263 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours reported in India, as many as 149 deaths were from Kerala. The active caseload of the country stands at 2,52,902; accounting for less than 1 per cent of the total cases. Notably, the Indian states with the highest recorded active cases of COVID-19 are Kerala with 1,29,324 cases, followed by Maharashtra (37,222), Tamil Nadu (16,864), Mizoram (15909), and Karnataka (12021). As per the ministry, the recovery rate of India is at its highest since March 2020 and currently stands at 97.93 per cent. As many as 29,639 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 3,31,50,886. The ministry also informed that, under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive, India has administered 91.54 (91,54,65,826) crore vaccine doses, of which 72,51,419 were administered in the last 24 hours. A total number of 57,53,94,042 tests have been conducted so far. The CJIs observation comes against the backdrop of considerable difficulties being faced by litigants and many lawyers A few days ago a Supreme Court bench gave expression to its ire during the mentioning hour in the morning when a senior advocate sought to mention the case of a corporate entity for an early hearing. (Photo: PTI/File) During the 2020 American presidential election campaign, Donald Trump tried to belittle challenger Joe Biden about his education. Mr Biden had gone to the University of Delaware, which is a very affordable state university. Mr Trump said he was not smart because of that. He began referring to him as Dumb Joe! It was Mr Bidens good upbringing that he didnt bring up the matter of Mr Trumps SAT scores, which his sister had said was taken by a stand-in. Mr Trump obviously thinks his chicanery makes him smart, and the fact that he finally went to the elite Wharton School at the University of Pennsyl-vania, even though it was a mid-term transfer from Fordham University. People who study at social elite institutions such as the Doon School in India or at Eton in England or Exeter in the United States assume certain airs and generally look down on others without rich or well-connected parents. Rajiv Gandhi went to Doon School and liked to flaunt it, though he may not have needed that to qualify as a commercial pilot. As Prime Minister he surrounded himself with fellow Doscos like Suman Dubey, Arun Singh, Vivek Bharat Ram, Romi Chopra, Aroon Purie and of course Mani Shankar Aiyar. There were other well-placed Doscos also like Kamal Nath and Naveen Patnaik. Most of them do well in life, because of the perfumed network that is forged by schooling and rooming together. Mani Shankar Aiyar gave Narendra Modis souped-up rags to high office story a lasting burnish by sneeringly referring him as a chaiwalla only fit to run a canteen at the AICC office at 24 Akbar Road. This only egged on Prime Minister Modi to further embellish his story by self servingly suggesting that his mother washed dishes in neighbouring households to support the family. These have as much credibility as his claims to higher education. But it took a lowbrow comment from a Doon School, St. Stephens College, Cambridge University and IFS alum to give it credence. What people can believe often depends on who says it! What makes our social elite such a self-congratulatory lot? Shamus Khan, the chair of the sociology department at Columbia University, is the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Pauls School, in which he writes: What makes schools (like Yale) elite is that so few can attend. In the mythologies they construct, only those who are truly exceptional are admitted precisely because they are not like everyone else. Yale president Peter Salovey, for instance, has welcomed freshmen by telling them that they are the very best students. To attend these schools is to be told constantly: Youre special, youre a member of the elect, and you have been chosen because of your outstanding qualities and accomplishments. When I joined the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, dean Graham Allison, welcoming the incoming class, advised us to choose your friends intelligently as they will be the ones who will climb the mountain with you. These institutions often quite openly affirm the idea that, because you are better, you are not governed by the same dynamics as everyone else. They celebrate their astonishingly low acceptance rates and broadcast lists of notable alumni who have earned their places within the nations highest institutions, such as the US Supreme Court. This narrative of the exceptional student rests on a fiction with pathological consequences: Harvard economist Raj Chetty has shown that children whose parents are in the top one per cent of earners are 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League school than are the children of poorer parents meaning that, in cases like this, admission is less about talent and more about coming from the right family. In that way, privilege casts inherited advantages as exceptional qualities that justify special treatment. No wonder that, when the poor lie, theyre more likely to do so to help others, according to research by Derek D. Rucker, Adam D. Galinsky and David Dubois, whereas when the rich lie, theyre more likely to do it to help themselves. According to Stanford Business Schools Prof. Jeffrey Pfeffer, the ability to lie can be very useful for getting ahead. Skill at manipulation, writes Pfeffer, is a foundation of social power. In fact, he says, there is a reciprocal relationship between power and lying: The powerful deceive more often, and the ability to deceive effectively creates social power. Such selfish tendencies extend well beyond the way the privileged use untruths to their advantage. According to research by psychologists Paul Piff and Dacher Keltner, the elites sense of their own exceptionalism helps instill within them a tendency to be less compassionate. This may have its roots in the fact that there seem to be two different sets of consequences for the rich and the rest. This sense of exceptionalism makes itself felt in all walks of life, when the rich and well connected expect to be attended to first, before the people who are queued up. A few days ago a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli gave expression to its ire during the mentioning hour in the morning when a senior advocate sought to mention the case of a corporate entity for an early hearing: How can all these corporate people come and start mentioning their matters? There are pending criminal appeals and other cases, too. We have to give priority to other people, particularly the weaker sections. The CJIs observation comes against the backdrop of considerable difficulties being faced by litigants and many lawyers because of the pandemic-induced freeze on physical hearings. Several lawyers are peeved that the Covid-19 pandemic crisis has turned out to be a boon for some select law firms and senior advocates, including those who have relocated themselves to London. In the end, it is impossible to separate success from class. One time in the course of a discussion my political guru, the late Chandrashekharji, who liked to flaunt his humble rural origins, in an exasperated tone had asked me: What did you learn at Harvard that you couldnt have learned here? I replied nothing, but one thing I do know is that a degree from Harvard made important people like him think well about me. He laughed and said: On that I agree with you! As Peugeot and Citroen have reportedly given up on the city car segment, the next generation Aygo will bear Toyotas signature only. The 2022 Aygo X is unique in the small car/A-segment, the automaker claims, and will be built around the TNGA-B platform.If that sounds familiar, youre not wrong, because the construction is otherwise shared with the latest Yaris and Yaris Cross ( GR Yaris uses a mix of the GA-B and GA-C). The new Aygo X, however, with the X in its name being pronounced cross according to Toyota, will not step on its bigger siblings toes, as it will be smaller and more accessible.Planed, designed, and produced in Europe for the local market, the 2022 Aygo X will officially enter production at the brands Kolin plant in the Czech Republic. It is expected to use the companys familiar powertrains, some of which could be shared with the slightly larger models. Previous reports have spoken of a self-charging hybrid, in addition to the usual gasoline offering(s). The small crossover will not go down the battery-electric route, though, not at first anyway.Serving as the successor of the second-generation Aygo, which has been around since 2014, together with its C1 and 108 cousins from Citroen and Peugeot respectively, the 2022 Aygo X will remain their most affordable product. In terms of rivals, it will continue to take on the likes of the VW Up!, Skoda Citigo, SEAT Mii, Hyundai i10, Suzuki Ignis, and other such models, albeit with a slightly increased ground clearance. In 2018, in preparation for that years edition of the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) summit, the Papua New Guinea government decided to welcome attending leaders in style. Despite the poor quality road infrastructure and the difficult road conditions that sometimes require the use of a 4x4, they decided to splash out on Maseratis. No less than 40 of them, for a total expenditure of almost $6 million.The decision was widely criticized at the time, and with good reason. That the PNG is not a rich country is perhaps the most important one.Officials said that, after the summit, the cars would sell to third-parties because there was high demand for them. In reality, there is no Maserati dealership in the country, which would have made any potential owner dread the possibility of the smallest issue with the car and regular servicing. So unless someone bought the car for display purposes, it was simply not a wise purchase.As a result, of the 40 Quattroportes purchased and brought into the country via jumbo charters, only two sold in the three years that have passed, The Guardian reports. The rest of them are now going on sale at a discounted price, and officials finally own up to the obvious: buying the luxury sedans was a mistake in the first place.If we had any foresight, the Maseratis would not have been purchased in the first place, finance minister John Pundari said. We made a terrible mistake. If you have got no dealers of Maseratis in PNG, there was no reason to buy Maseratis.PNG officials paid K500,000 ($142,000) for a Quattroporte in 2018, but theyre now slated to go on sale at K400,000 ($114,000). Clearly, officials still hope to recoup a big chunk of this massive loss. In addition to the Maseratis, officials are also said to have bought three Bentley Flying Spurs and dozens of Toyota Land Cruisers, Mazdas, Fords, and Mitsubishi Pajeros, all of which have mysteriously disappeared. HP What would be even better than going on a personal adventure cruising journey n remote areas close to the Arctic? A possible answer could be to do so while enjoying a jacuzzi or a private, deluxe hot tub. You can have them both on board the majestic Tranquility, a 300-foot (91.5 meters) yacht built by the renowned Dutch brand, Oceanco. Delivered in 2014, this aptly-named superyacht is now available for sale at Burgess Yachts What makes this superyacht stand out is that it seamlessly blends the capabilities of an ocean-going world explorer with the sumptuous, refined accommodation of a billionaires yacht.On the one hand, its rugged and powerful: the ice-classed hull can withstand long travels in the Arctic region and high speeds of up to 18.5 knots. Powered by 4,800MTU20V4000 M73 diesel engines, this massive explorer can travel for 5,000 nautical miles, at 14 knots, without depending on external support.On the other hand, Tranquility reveals a stunningly lavish interior. The Asian-inspired interior was created by Winch Design and is based on rare, luxurious materials, such as bamboo, bleached oak, Travertino Velluto marble, and gold leaf. A giant, 215 square feet (20 square meters) pool and generous sun lounging area welcome guests on the upper deck. This is also where the master suite is located, featuring a lounge, a study, and a private, premium hot tub. A private door leads straight to the jacuzzi.On the lower deck, guests can relax at the beach club, big enough to include a bar and a lounge area, or at the special wellness area that offers not just a sauna, hammam, and fully-equipped gym, but also a plunge pool and experiential showers.The flexible layout can be adapted according to the owners preferences for enough room to accommodate up to 22 guests in 11 cabins.A giant, Asian-style oasis at sea, Tranquility was made for supreme pampering while exploring the world. But be ready to part with $174 million (149.9 million). ICE We had a very strong first half in 2021. We do expect a much weaker second half. We really have trouble, said Audi CEO Markus Duesmann in an interview with Reuters . He then goes on to call this situation a perfect storm.He is however happy with the way his company has been dealing with the issue, adding that the VW Group, in general, is seeking closer ties with chipmakers as a solution, while emphasizing his belief that the German carmaker will emerge stronger from this crisis.Right now though, its a day-to-day troubleshooting process, he said.Despite lower sales, Audi managed to soften those blows through price increases. Back in July, the carmaker saw its profit margin surge to 10.7%, even surpassing the 8% in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic.Audi, which accounted for more than a quarter of VWs first-half operating profit, is also making the shift towards battery-powered vehicles, with all new models released from 2026 onwards to be fully electric.This means that production of internal combustion engines will be slowly phased out sometime before 2033. Furthermore, the companys CFO stated recently that it would only take 2-3 years before electric vehicles become just as profitable as internal combustion engine cars. Duesmann is even more optimistic.The point where we earn as much money with electric cars as with combustion engine cars is now, or next year, 2023. They are very even now, the prices.The thing is, EVs need chips just as much as-powered cars do, if not more. Which is what makes this ongoing shortage so difficult to handle. A CNN Business report on Monday detailed how recent announcements by GM, Stellantis (owners of Chrysler), and Honda despairing over plummeting sales over the last three months had failed to even make a dent in their stock value. In stark defiance of an industry seemingly on the brink of collapse.Experts say this unexpected surge in car stocks comes from massive investments in the industry in all-electric drivetrains, technology that investors believe has huge potential for future growth post-chip-shortage.Automakers from the U.S, to Germany and Japan , have all pledged to invest tens of billions into electric vehicle research and development in the last year alone. Its a direct influx of cash that at least in the short term is keeping the auto industry stocks from entering an uncontrolled freefall.What happens after this direct investment into the industry runs out can not be said for certain. Investors can and have funded their way out of slumps in the past, most notably during the two most recent recessions.But with no clear path out of the chip shortage at least until the end of next year, the more time wasted is more money hemorrhaging from carmakers whove seemingly run out of solutions, or at least thats the public perception.At days end, automakers exist for one purpose: to sell people like us vehicles we want to buy. Without some solution to the chip shortage that isnt just a short-term band-aid job, its more than likely this sustained stock growth of recent is bound to come crashing down. The only question is when. Take for example Nicolae Ceausescus 1974 Paykan Hillman-Hunter limousine , which only found a buyer this year, after two separate listings at auction.Ceausescu, for those unfamiliar with the name, was the leader of the Communist Party in Romania and the countrys President (cough, cough) between 1974 and 1989, when he was overthrown in a bloody revolution. He was fond of airplanes , cars (even though he never had a driver's license), art pieces of all kinds and, legend has it, gold fixtures in all bathrooms because his number two did not stink, to paraphrase a common saying.No wonder, then, that his Paykan limo failed to attract too much attention the first time it listed. On its second outing, despite the fact that it was offered in impeccable condition, it was estimated at a measly 4,000, which is under $4,700 at the current exchange rate. After a fierce bidding war that topped at 95,000 ($110,300), it found a new owner, and theyre choosing to turn this dreaded symbol into a beacon of hope.Some context is needed first, though. The limo was a present from the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, often referred to simply as The Shah, during an official visit to Romania in 1974. The Paykan was the first automobile produced in Iran, and it was based on the 1967 Hillman Hunter built in the UK by the Rootes Group.The buyer of the limo is a non-profit, non-partisan organization named PaykanArtCar. It has commissioned Iran-born artist Alireza Shojaian to paint it in such a way as to become a symbol of human rights in Iran. Because Shojaian is now living in Paris due to the fact that it would have been unsafe for him to continue living in his home country, he chose to dedicate the initial works to the issue of LGBTQ+ rights, including three paintings inspired by the Shahnameh (Book of Kings).The Paykan art car was introduced to the public at the Human Rights Foundations Oslo Freedom Forum in Miami and will continue to travel the world once the exhibit ends, arriving next in Paris for the art fair Asia Now. When the current tour is over, the wrap will be removed and the non-profit will ask other Iranian artists to contribute with works, using the space on the body of the car as canvas In the past quarter, Stellantis North America delivered no fewer than 13,994 examples of the breed. Thats not exactly a lot, you may be thinking, and youre definitely right because the Q3 2020 sale volume was 14 percent better. However, its selling much better than the Stang and Camaro.Ford reported 9,115 units and Chevrolet couldnt do better than 5,203 units, which is rather unnerving. On the one hand, the Mustang Mach-E is catching up to the internal combustion-engined pony car. And secondly, GM could very well discontinue the Maro for these awful results. Hearsay suggests the inevitable will happen in favor of a four-door electric sedan, but in the meantime, take such rumors with a spoonful of Himalayan salt.There are two more reasons for these figures. The ongoing chip shortage is wreaking havoc across the automotive industry, but more importantly, sporty cars arent popular anymore. Just about everybody and their dog wants a utility vehicle, regardless of segment and drivetrain. Even worse for muscle and pony cars, the sport adventure vehicle segment represented by the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick is gaining traction fast.Its a pretty sad outcome for some of the most iconic nameplates from North Americas vast automotive legacy, but nevertheless, things will work out.Stellantis North America intends to preview its electric muscle car next year in the guise of a concept alongside a plug-in hybrid production model . Also worthy of note, the S550 Stang will make way for the long-awaited S650.Officially confirmed by a job listing , the seventh-generation Mustang will be launched in 2022 for the 2023 model year. Ford will manufacture the newcomer in Flat Rock with a familiar stable of powertrains. The senior designer in charge of the S650 is Aiden Chang-il Lee, whereas the chief program engineer is Michael Celentino, who headed the teams responsible for the Taurus/SHO, Lincoln MKS, and tenth-generation Continental. Electra has recently signed purchase agreements with air service providers and infrastructure developers in multiple countries, for its hybrid-electric ultra-short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. Flapper is a well-known charter flight reservation platform in Latin America, Skyportz is an innovative infrastructure developer in Australia, and Bristow Group is a European vertical flight operator.Combined, Electras deals with these companies, for 180 aircraft, are worth more than $500 million. According to the companys founder and CEO, John S. Langford, these agreements cover more than the aircraft manufacturing, focusing on the entire ecosystem required for operation, from infrastructure to customer support.Flapper will operate Electras eSTOL for its five-plus seat regional air services, and the two companies will also develop new route networks. The charter flight company expects to obtain 40% savings in operational costs, by transitioning to sustainable aircraft. Considering that Sao Paolo, operates the largest passenger helicopter fleet in Brazil, switching to eSTOLs will help save an impressive amount of fuel (70%), compared to helicopters.Australian Skyportz wants to connect city centers with dispersed logistics facilities and to help deliver cargo to remote regions, by creating an innovative infrastructure network. The two companies are interested in early trials possibilities in Australia, for Electras full-scale demonstrator, with the hope that the aircraft will soon be used for intra-city passenger flights, logistics, and medical transport.Electras fixed-wing aircraft can carry up to seven passengers plus the pilot, or 1,800 lbs (816 kg) of cargo, with a range of up to 500 miles (804 km) and in-flight battery recharging. The full-scale demonstrator will begin flight testing in the U.S. in 2022. EV Being the second-largest real estate firm in all of China , Evergrandesdivision had accessed a large financial backing when the company strangely decided they wanted to challenge Tesla for the title of the worlds top EV.Initial investments looked promising, spearheaded by their acquisition of 51% of NEVS, the Swedish holding company for the assets of the recently bankrupted Saab. In 2020, the company announced a daring plan to introduce a fleet of as many as six different EV models from coupes to sedans, minivans, and of course, SUVs.The company made lofty claims of having interiors that rivaled aerospace vehicles in their quality and the ability to endure extreme changes in hot and cold temperatures.Aspirations to begin production as early as 2021 brought keen interest from investors. At one point, Evenrgrandes valuation surpassed that of even GM and Ford. The optimism was not to last. As of October 2021, Evergrande EVs has failed to sell a single car, let alone mass produce one.As its parent real-estate company faces a debt crisis totaling over a quarter of a trillion (yes, trillion with a T) dollars, it should be no surprise that company stocks cratered to 96% since their peak just six months ago.As its turning out for Evergrande, and like us, gearheads have known all along, manufacturing a passenger vehicle is a lot more complicated than just throwing gargantuan amounts of money at your problems. You need legitimate engineering prowess to get the job done. Thats why Elon Musk gets paid the big bucks. Its not like hes exactly poor himself, mind you. As the U.S. Air Force ( USAF ) has proven time and again over the years, its personnel is not only talented at shooting guns at enemies, but also gifted when it comes to shooting photos.The one were bringing you today in our Photo of the Day section was taken at the end of August by a Senior Airman. It shows the nose and underbelly of an F-16C Fighting Falcon as it takes off from the Atlantic City Air National Guard Base in New Jersey. And it also shows the plane in perfect detail.The one youre looking at here is of the 16C variant, the most advanced of the family. It is deployed with the 177th Fighter Wing housed by the said base, and it looks perfectly ready to do combat: it has missiles attached to the wingtip hardpoints, but also two large drop tanks closer to the main body.To each side of the massive air intake, we get to see the planes colorful navigation lights, and if you strain your eyes just the right way, you may even get to see the pilot inside the cockpit.What we dont get to see is the afterburner of the single-engine that powers the plane . When fully on, it can shoot the F-16 to speeds of up to Mach 2 (1,535 mph/2,470 kph) and can take it to distances of up to 2,620 miles (4,217 km).With over four and a half thousand of them made to date, Fighting Falcons are some of the most widespread fighter planes in the world. Over the years, they amassed over 13 million sorties and 19.5 million flight hours. EV This director of Battery Systems and Electrification died in 2018 but is considered by GM as a crucial piece in building the companys current competencies in cells. Wallace helped to develop the battery packs for the two generations of the Chevrolet Volt.On the other hand, he also worked on the Boltand pioneered GMs relationship with LG Chem R&D. The battery supplier changed its name to LGES (LG Energy Solution) and got involved in two massive recalls for battery defects. It made the batteries for the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Chevrolet Bolt EV. The company is also a supplier to the Volkswagen ID family and the Ford Mustang Mach-E.The Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center is currently under construction. The plan is to complete it by mid-2022 and to have the first prototype cells made there in Q4 2022. Currently, GM already has more than 2,000 patents related to batteries, granted or pending. The companys primary goal is 60 percent lower battery costs with the next generation of Ultium, but it also mentioned some other interests.GM disclosed that the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center should accelerate new technologies like lithium-metal, silicon, and solid-state batteries. Curiously, solid-state batteries seem to be closely related to lithium metal as an anode. Apart from that, the company did not mention promising chemistries such as LFP (lithium iron phosphate) and Li-S (lithium-sulfur).Most carmakers want to improve LFP for its low cost, which should make electric cars more affordable. Tesla and BYD already use it, and Volkswagen announced that it plans to adopt it for entry-level vehicles. GM may have avoided mentioning them to keep its studies under the radar. Another possibility is that it just does not believe in these cells. Future news coming from the Wallace Battery Cell Innovation Center may help clarify that. The Gucci mania has now extended to the artistic toy universe: an unexpected collaboration between Hot Wheels and the extravagant Italian fashion brand resulted in a one-of-a-kind toy thats sure to delight both fashion and car enthusiasts. This event marks a premiere for both brands, as Guccis first official collectible and Hot Wheels first dabble into the fashion world, and is part of the Italian brands 100-year anniversary celebration.Some might not know it, but Gucci and GM collaborated back in 1970 when the Italian luxury brand added its unique spin to the Cadillac Seville. Gold Gucci emblems on the wheels, a gold Gucci hood ornament, and Guccis recognizable stripes across the trunk were just some of the extravagant touches added to the car, with a unique vinyl top covering only the C-pillar. In the 80s and 90s, this special Cadillac was further shaped by the Radwood festival spirit.This collectible is a 1982 Cadillac Seville 1:64 replica, with a metal die-cast body and chassis, plus Real Riders tires. Boasting the classic Gucci logo and interlocking GG pattern, this exquisite model even included the golden piping on the seats, showing remarkable attention to detail.Since its all about luxury, this rare collectible even comes in a Gucci-designed packaging. The miniature vehicle is encased in an acrylic display, packed in an authentic Gucci box and slipcover, with the Italian brands signature green paper. Hot Wheels die-cast designers, Bryan Benedict and Ralph Benitez, were thrilled to create such a stunning model , with a high level of accuracy.If you would like to be the proud owner of this Hot Wheels x Gucci 1982 Cadillac Seville, get ready for the official launch on October 18 on the Mattel Creations and Gucci platforms. This $120 limited-edition jewel will also be available at Gucci selected stores. Starting October 1st, Joaquin Garcia and Alister Whelan will be a part of the NIO design team. They will both report to Kris Tomasson, the vice president of NIO 's design department. The two senior designers will join Colin Phipps (former GM designer) and Andreas Nilsson (from Geely), another pair of designers hired by the Chinese company.Unlike Chris Bangle or Frank Stephenson , the names of the latest additions to NIO's design team may not be known to all petrolheads, but that does not minimize their experience. Joaquin Garcia has joined the Chinese brand after a five-year stint at Seat and Cupra, where he was the lead exterior designer for all production and show cars.Garcia joined the VW Group in 2010, and he previously worked in other European automakers (Skoda, Ford, and Renault) in their centers in Cologne, Valencia, and Paris. He stated that it is an exciting moment to join Neo and contribute to the next generation of the brand's cars. Garcia also stated that he appreciated NIO's design philosophy and identity, Car Design News reports.Meanwhile, the second new team member in the design department is Alister Whelan. You may recognize his name if you appreciated the interior of the Jaguar I-Pace, but also the cockpit of the F-Pace and the F-Type . What makes the move even more interesting is that Whelan had been with Jaguar Land Rover for 21 years, almost the same as Julian Thomson, another former Jaguar designer who left the company earlier this year.NIO has recently launched their ES8 SUV on the European market, and they will offer a sedan called ET7 starting next year. With that in mind, NIO has a five-model range now, but the company must already plan its next steps, so it makes sense to hire new designers to spearhead the development of new models. That is, according to John DeLoreans son, the one you probably knew nothing about until this moment.In Newquay, Cornwall, UK, lives a man named Tyler DeLorean, and hes been claiming to be DeLoreans son for a very long time. As of this year, hes doing a little more than just tell tall tales: hes also gotten into designing and building DeLorean DMCs that have only three wheels instead of four. He calls the vehicle a DeLorean DMC 21, and proudly states that it is the future.Speaking with CornwallLive in a recent interview, Tyler DeLorean claims that his car is based on original plans from 1981 and that, had it gone into production back then, it would have probably saved the company from ruin. He also calls the car a pure DMC, the new DMC, which makes it sound as if its built from the ground up. It is not.The so-called DMC 21 is a Reliant Rialto in poor disguise. The Rialto is a three-wheel vehicle that was introduced in 1982 and continued in production in various forms up until 1998. Legally a tricycle in its home country, it was and is the butt of many jokes, like countless other three-wheelers that popped up in that era and brought with them severe quality, safety and handling issues.To DeLorean junior, its the perfect base for the car of tomorrow. After two years of tinkering with Rialtos and developing no less than five prototypes (one of which was called, at one point, the Rialto DeLorean, by the way), he believes he discovered the perfect, scaled-down DeLorean vehicle . It comes with a brushed aluminum finish, remote-controlled gullwing doors, waterproof stereo, a mini flux capacitor , DMC courtesy lights on the doors, and DMC branded carpets, steering wheel, gear knob and wheels. Lots of DMC branding, lest you forget what youre driving.Power comes from a 3-cylinder 850cc engine that takes the three-wheeler to a top speed of 100 mph (161 kph). At 88 mph (142 kph), things are gonna start happening anyhow, DeLorean says laughing, in reference to the Back to the Future movies . But at least you know for a fact that you can hit that speed with no problem.DeLorean took the three-wheeler on display at the British Motor Show in August, where he claims it was met with such warm feedback that organizers asked him back with three more cars at the next edition. Meanwhile, hes taking pre-orders on the vehicle and has plans to start a production line. He will ship internationally, too, so the price is either $25,000 or 20,000, depending on the area of delivery.If only there wasnt this tiny but pesky issue of copyright infringement.The DeLorean Motor Company , once based in Northern Ireland, where John DeLorean supposedly had a one-night hookup with DeLorean juniors mother, still exists. Its now based in Texas, where Liverpool car mechanic Stephen Wynne moved after he bought off all DMC trademarks and remaining inventory. He never gave up hope of bringing DMC back and, as we speak, there is serious indication that the iconic vehicle is poised to return , in some form of another.Whatever form it will take, it wont be that of a three-wheeler, let alone one based on the much-ridiculed Rialto. So the actual DMC has sued the alleged lovechild and his replica DMC for copyright infringement and passing off. He is free to claim to be the son of whoever he wants to be, attorneys for the company say, but he cant take trademarked elements and used them on his products as if he owned them.DeLorean junior says he will fight the DMC in court and win, so plans for an electric version of the DMC 21, a hot tub DMC 21 (you read that right), and a drone-operated DMC 21 still stand. Plus, every pre-order gets a free hoverboard, can you believe your luck?! Meanwhile, hes launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for his legal expenses and, because he tells such a convincing story, hes gotten exactly zero backers as of the moment of press.Everyones game for innovation , until you shamelessly rip off a classic to get there. Thats where the fun stops. The Advanced Hypersonic Strike Production Facility, soon to be officially christened Missile Assembly Building Four (MAB 4), will manufacture the US Air Forces GM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). It will do that with accompanying infrastructure for hypersonic systems for the Army and Navy, with technology intended to be shared between multiple military branches.Additionally, according to direct sources, the facility will produce the Armys Long Range Hypersonic Weapon and the Navy s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missile. Both systems utilize shared significant components, like the hypersonic glide vehicle, which can deliver ordinance at speeds not attainable by other methods. The vehicle has the potential to launch from a number of different bases and vehicles, including from ships and from B-52 jet bombers.The new facility located in Courtland, Alabama, adds to Lockheed Martins impressive repertoire of state-of-the-art manufacturing plants. Including their facility dedicated to building the worlds fleet of F-35 Lightning II multirole jet fighters, which is part of the most expensive military project in human history.The Courtland plant is one of four so-called intelligent factories that Lockheed Martin will open this year. All new facilities will work closely with the US Department of Defense to maintain manufacturing deadlines. Lockheed Martin's top brass seems confident the new 65,000 square foot facility is up to the task.Its been over 50 years since the first hypersonic human-crewed aircraft shattered every speed record ever put on paper in the X-15. The intellectual property of North American Aviation, the company that designed and built the famous rocket plane, is now owned by Lockheed-Martin. And so, the next chapter is ready to unfold in the story of hypersonic flight. It will take a while before hybrid and fully electric aircraft can operate on a large scale, across the globe. Until then, SAF is the most reliable alternative to conventional fuel, and several major players in the aerospace industry have already been promoting it for a few years now. One of them is Lufthansa Group , which has been involved in the research and use of SAF for many years.The German operator recently announced a new project that will take the transition towards a green aviation one step further. This pioneering project is the first industrial plant in the world that produces carbon-neutral synthetic kerosene, based on electricity. The plant is located in Emsland, Germany, and its operated by atmosfair, a climate protection organization.Lufthansa is a partner in the project and has agreed to purchase at least 25,000 liters (6,605 gallons) of e-kerosene per year, over a period of five years. Plus, the company initiated a partnership with logistics brand Kuehne+Nagel, which will promote SAF-based shipments globally Unlike biogenic SAF thats made from agricultural waste or used cooking oil, synthetic kerosene is made from water, CO2, and renewable electricity, which gives it unlimited availability. Electricity-based fuels, also known as power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels, are still in the first development stages. Until now, e-kerosene was only available in small, laboratory quantities. This is why this new project is revolutionary. For the first time, an innovative fuel that could be even better than SAF will be produced on an industrial scale.The future success of the Emsland plant will lead, perhaps, to more electricity-based kerosene plants in other parts of the world, as well. For now, a big step for PtL production in Germany has been taken. Developed by Croatian Albert Gajsak for the CircuitMess platform, the mini Batmobile is a smart robot car that comes with autonomous driving capabilities, object tracking, WiFi connectivity, and more. CircuitMess specializes in creating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) kits.Back to our Batmobile, it is a great device that lets you play with technology, whether you are an adult or a kid, as CircuitMess describes it as suitable for children aged 7 and 107. The Batmobile comes with a dual processor, a camera with a 1600x1200 resolution, a 2W speaker, LED lights, and a 1300 mAh rechargeable battery.CircuitMess also includes a controller in the package and your robot car can connect to it wirelessly and transmit live video to it. Theres an LCD display on the controller, buttons, and this one has a CPU as well. Since its shaped like your regular game controller, it also comes with four pre-installed games: Snake, Bonk, Space Invaderz, and Space Rocks.Because the purpose of the Batmobile is to help you learn robotics, electronics, and programming, the car comes as a disassembled kit, so you have to build it yourself following specific instructions.Once you do that, the real fun begins, as you can connect the robot car to your computer and program it for various applications, using the C++ programming language or CircuitBlocks. The Batmobile can drive autonomously using AI and machine learning. You can also program the robot car to turn its lights on, play cool sounds, or track objects.The CircuitMess Batmobile is the subject of a new Kickstarter campaign and its already exceeded its $15,000 goal, with over $47,000 being raised so far. There are almost two months left in the campaign. pledge of at least $99 will get you your very own Batmobile, with the estimated shipping date being July 2022. If the Stuttgart-based automaker were to revive the 928 for the 2022 model year, Marouane Bemblis rendering should be the starting point for the design process. The pixel artist known as The Sketch Monkey keeps it clean and simple without going overboard with the retro styling cues, but nevertheless, his V8-engined land missile isnt meant for this day and age.You see, rumors of a two-door Panamera date back to when the Panamera was brand-spanking new in the lineup. Its also worth mentioning that Porsche is fully committed to electric vehicles, just like the rest of the Volkswagen Group, and that coupes are a hard sell today.Glance over the Q3 2021 sales figures of the Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang, and Chevrolet Camaro, and youll understand why the German automaker still refuses to give the stamp of approval for this project. And whats more, the Neunelfer already is a fine grand tourer as long as you stay clear of the GTS, GT3, and GT2. Those variants of the 911 feature very firm suspension tuning, which isnt particularly adequate in daily-driving scenarios.Unfortunately, those hoping to see a modern 928 in dealership forecourts will have to swallow the blue pill or remain ignorant by taking the red pill.Over the course of its production life, the 928 sold just over 61,000 units worldwide. Thats two years of 911 sales, which goes to show that some things are better left as is. Be that as it may, 928 values have been steadily increasing over the past decade. The 1979 model driven by Tom Cruise in Risky Business stands out as the most expensive 928 ever sold at auction, going for an insane $1.98 million at Barrett-Jacksons Houston auction. John Wes Townley died after during a double-shooting in Athens, Georgia on October 2nd According to ACCPD spokesperson Lt. Shaun Barnett, police were called to a domestic disturbance at 240 Morton Ave, in Athens around 8:50pm on the 2nd of October, where they found both parties injured. John Wes Townley died after during a double-shooting in Athens, Georgia on October 2nd reports the Banner-Herald . His ex-wife was also shot during the incident and, although her injuries are serious, they are less severe and she is considered stable currently.According to ACCPD spokesperson Lt. Shaun Barnett, police were called to a domestic disturbance at 240 Morton Ave, in Athens around 8:50pm on the 2nd of October, where they found both parties injured. The Townleys had just finalized their divorce this past week. The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has issued a statement that clarifies some of the details of the incident. In it they report that some time before the call Mr.Townley arrived at the house and became involved in an altercation with a third individual at the scene, a Mr. Zachary Anderson. That altercation involved Mr. Townley brandishing a hatchet and attacking Mr. Anderson, 32, before Mr. Anderson fired several shots from his firearm. Early reports suggest that Ms. Townley was accidentally struck by the gunfire. kW In the ongoing race for better range, automakers constantly strive to stay creative and find new ways to get more miles on a single charge. Japan-based Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo, the latter being a joint venture between Hitachi and Honda Motor, developed a new direct drive that promises to bring several improvements to electric vehicles.The two companies, which founded Hitachi Astemo earlier this year, came up with an in-wheel drive system for EVs, which is compact and lightweight. It combines the motor, inverter, and brake into a single unit, with the entire system being installed directly into the wheel. This system would lead to a reduction in energy loss by 30 percent and an increase in the range per charge, compared to conventional electric cars.According to Hitachi, this new type of drive wouldnt cause any significant changes in the configuration of the suspension and other components. One of its main advantages is the reduced weight, as parts such as drive shafts and other indirect mechanisms that were included in the previous suspension design, would no longer be required.Another benefit of the system is that it uses direct-cooling technology, which further reduces the required space for installation. Hitachi explains that with this technology, high-insulating cooling oil directly cools the power semiconductors and is cycled to the motor to directly cool the coils.As far as numbers are concerned, Hitachi claims the unit would fit a 19 wheel size and the power density of the motor would be 2.5/kg. The maximum output would be 60 kW and the maximum torque produced would be 960 Nm.Hitachi and Hitachi Astemo plan to present their new technology at the Aachen Colloquim in Germany, which takes place in Aachen between October 4 and October 6.Hitachi Astemo is headquartered in Tokyo and describes itself as an automotive and transportation components developer, manufacturer, and seller. NHTSA The petition was filed on September 17, 2019. In that petition, Edward C. Chen asked the agency to verify why Tesla released the software updates 2019.16.1 and 2019.16.2. The attorney that was responsible for the lawsuit about the same updates accused the company of using them to hide issues with its battery packs that could lead to fires.On November 2, 2019,agreed to proceed with a preliminary evaluation. After almost two years, it denied it on September 28, 2021. The agency said it would not verify the software updates because of the absence of any incidents in the United States related to fast charging, and the absence of any such incidents globally since May 2019. Which is incorrect.Chen made his petition to NHTSA based on his lawsuit, which reported five fires with the Model S. They happened in Los Angeles on June 16, 2018, in Shanghai on April 21, 2019, in San Francisco on May 3, 2019, in Hong Kong on May 12, 2019, and in Ratingen, Germany, on July 30, 2019. The agency refers only to these fires to state the absence of any such incidents globally since May 2019.The problem is that many more fires have occurred with Model S and Model X units since then. On May 22, 2020, a Tesla Model S caught fire in Kaysville, Utah, damaging a Porsche Boxster parked right to its left. On July 8, 2020, a Tesla Model S burst into flames in Coral Gables. On November 24, 2020, a 2015 Tesla Model S caught fire in Frisco, Texas. And theres more.On December 30, 2020, two Model S units turned into a massive blaze in San Ramon, California. Only one of them started the incident, according to the firefighters. On June 29, 2021, a brand-new Tesla Model S Plaid burst into flames in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Although it probably did not have the voltage-capping software, it has the same battery pack as the affected vehicles.Last August 22, a Tesla Model S caught fire in Guangzhou, China. On August 28, the same happened to a Model X in a Tesla Service Center in Luxembourg. Finally, on September 27, a Model S demanded firefighters attention in the back of the Tesla Service Center in Marietta, Georgia. These are only the cases we have covered: there might be more that nobody talked about.According to NHTSA, the software updates 2019.16.1 and 2019.16.2 were a voltage limiting firmware with a dynamic algorithm that is enabled in vehicles with high Supercharging use histories, which contributes to high usage stress to the high-voltage (HV) battery. Considering the agency requested a lot of information from Tesla, this is probably what the company told it about its OTA updates.Due to how they would work, these updates would have been enabled in approximately 2,062 vehicles. NHTSA received 59 complaints about range reduction (52) and lowered charging speeds (7) through December 2020. Of these 52 complaints about less range, only 58% (30 of 52) would have been caused by the voltage-capping update. NHTSA did not disclose what caused issues on the other 42% probably because Tesla did not inform the agency about that.We have asked NHTSA nine questions about the situation. It is not clear why it did not investigate cases that emerged after the petition and stuck only to the five incidents the lawsuit presented. In two of these five cases, the agency said that the origin of the fire was external to the HV battery. The one in Germany would be among the two, but NHTSA did not state where that information came from.NHTSA also said that the vehicles that caught fire had histories of high-stress usage for the HV batteries, a piece of information that probably came from Tesla. This high stress came from high Supercharging use histories. By denying the investigation, NHTSA decided to ignore the effects this high use could have on battery packs. We also asked it why. It told us it had no further comment beyond the closing resume Although NHTSA said that the decision does not foreclose the agency from taking further action, this is not what affected customers expected to hear. The investigation it denied would be the last hope to understand what happened in these multiple fire episodes. Tesla did not explain why it released the voltage-capping updates, and it has no plans to do that in court. The company is currently trying to settle the lawsuit started by Chen by offering compensation to the plaintiffs. If they accept it and theres a good chance they will the money and NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) Tesla will want them to sign will bury the subject for good, regardless of new blazes that may still happen. As useless as that now seems to be, well keep reporting them. Put through its paces in the first IROC season by none other than F1 champ Emerson Fittipaldi , hence the stickers; it then made its way to the United States under Roger Penskes ownership, who sold it to John Tunstall. In his possession, it was raced again in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.Subsequently, Tunstall sold it to Pablo Escobar , who treated it like a true racing animal in Colombia with the bodywork of a 935. After that, it returned to the United States in the early 1990s, getting its original bodywork back. In 2010, it was restored to its factory specification after four years of work, so it uses the correct 3.0-liter flat-six engine that drives the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission.Believed to be one of only 15 IROC RSRs built in 1974, it has a bespoke rear decklid and original Sahara Beige paint finish, with manufacturer and sponsor decals. Other special touches include the big rear wing, matte black headlamp covers, quick-release hood, Fuchs alloy wheels, fire extinguisher switch, and spartan cockpit with bucket seats and racing harnesses.As 11 years have passed since it was fully restored, the vendor states that it has no significant bodywork damage nor rust, and the interior is in great condition, as you can see in the image gallery. Moreover, it won several awards and was displayed at the Rennsport Reunion IV at Laguna Seca in 2011.Now, this special classic 911 racer, which has lived a very tumultuous life, is in search of a new home. It is currently located in Boca Raton, Florida, and CollectingCars has it listed for an ongoing auction. At the time of writing, 17 bids have raised the price to $850,000, and with the online event ending on Friday, at 1:00 a.m., it could end up going for a seven-digit sum. Folks, Studio F.A. Porsche have been known to dabble in all sorts of projects. From sunglasses to pens and even office and residential buildings, it would seem this team has done it all. However, upon searching the diverse projects that this crew has put into the world, one in particular drew my attention, the Morita Signo T500 dental unit No joke. This is a real dental unit into which the design values and styling of Porsche has been poured, and because its so unbelievable is why I chose to bring this project to light. Can you imagine what your dental experience may be like now? Well, lets see if Porsche is the team that will possibly make your dental appointments that much better.Just so were on the same page here, Porsche doesnt have anything to do with dentistry. I understand that may have been very clear from the start, but you never know. That being said, it should help to know that this project was one in which Studio F.A. Porsche worked alongside Morita, a Japanese group known for creating precision dental and medical equipment.Now, as odd as this whole ordeal may seem, this design has even won the 2019 Red Dot Award for Best of the Best, and in its entire glory, includes five variations or models with which to aid dentists and patients alike. Just think how nice it must be to lay back on a chair thats been touched and toned by the same lines you may find in the Targa or Taycan.However, Studio F.A. Porsche does mention that this unit has been designed around efficient synergies which are meant to help both doctor and patient manage the entire ordeal. First off, for the comfort of the patient, the visual aesthetics of the unit is one in which both Porsche and Morita banked on helping patients lose some of the fear of getting in the chair.This effect on a patient is achieved by a concept that Porsche calls Clean Precision. With this methodology , the team worked on achieving a functional symmetry to the station. Why symmetry? Simple, most peoples brains just love symmetry.Beyond this visual symmetry, the station is also one that allows a doctor to perform his or her duties from nearly any angle, including working while seated or standing. This is achieved by the fully mobile and modular workstations and the patients headrest. With these three elements, a dentist can move freely around the patient, while that adjustable headrest wont lead to any cramped neck muscles.Once you really get to know this design , youll notice that absolutely every component has been designed with mobility in mind and is able to shift positions, even the sink includes this feature. What this also allows a dentist to do is, as bad as it may sound, hide his or her tools behind the backrest. This last idea should be one that helps most people ease into the dentistry experience as you arent stared at by sharp tools and drills of every kind.The final aspect that was taken into consideration is that of being able to service the unit in case anything was to break down. Underneath the sink, a small cabinet offers access to the only serviceable components the unit contains. Just open the hatch and get to fixing.Now, if youre like me and fear the whole dental experience the way the devil fears holy water, then Porsche might be one of those angels that shows you some sort of hope for a better and less painful experience. Heck, if I walked into a dentists office and saw Porsche stamped on the side of the chair, Id break into an all-out smile. The bike well be looking at today is a numbers-matching 1966 Triumph Bonneville T120R thats been subjected to an extensive overhaul. For starters, Bonnies single downtube skeleton and fuel tank were enveloped in a pristine layer of youthful paintwork, while its two-up saddle has been reupholstered using a mixture of black and white vinyl.We find stainless-steel spokes and grippy K70 tires from Dunlop replacing the standard units in the footwear department. As you glance at the cockpit, you'll be greeted by new Smiths instrumentation, aftermarket levers, and a top-shelf steering damper. To keep things looking nice and tidy, T120Rs telescopic forks were fitted with new tubes under current ownership.Furthermore, the machines twin-cylinder powerplant has been refurbished inside out, receiving an electronic ignition setup and a modern set of Premier 930 Concentric carbs from Amal. Last but not least, Bonneville s constant-mesh gearbox was treated to new seals and bearings for good measure. Otherwise, Triumphs 66 MY head-turner retains its stock configuration.The predators steel framework hugs a four-stroke 649cc parallel-twin powerplant, with a respectable compression ratio of 8.5:1. At about 6,500 rpm, this bad boy will go about delivering 46 hp to a four-speed transmission, which spins the rear 18-inch hoop by means of a chain final drive. Ultimately, the end result is a top speed of 115 mph (185 kph), which is quite remarkable for a motorcycle thats been produced back in the mid-sixties.Right, let's skip the other technical details and get straight to the point. Suppose you're digging this creature as much as we are. In that case, you'll definitely want to visit the BaT (Bring A Trailer) website before Friday afternoon (October 8) because the 1966 Bonneville T120R is going on the block at no reserve! For the time being, you'd only need about six grand to surpass the current bid, which is placed at a modest $5,800. DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, and it is in fact a spacecraft that will travel to space and then turn into a projectile meant to slam into an asteroid. With it, the American space agency plans to prove the idea that given enough mass and speed, we could, if need be, alter the trajectory of a rock hurtling toward our planet.Weve covered DART extensively over the past few years, but now we get word the mission is entering its final pre-launch stages. At the beginning of this month, DART was fitted with the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids (LICIACube) the piece of technology that will monitor the spacecraft's final maneuver and impact with the asteroid.We also got word of the launch date having been set. If the weather helps, DART will depart our planet on November 23 at 10:20 p.m. PST. Taking the thing to orbit will be a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will take off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.DARTs target is a binary asteroid called Didymos, which has a main body of 780 meters (2,560 feet) across, and a smaller, 160 meters (525 feet) across one that spins around it. Its the smaller piece of rock DART plans to smash into at speeds of 15,000 mph (24,140 kph).The test would prove successful if the speed and orbit of the smaller body change by at least a fraction of one percent it may seem insignificant, but such a change translates into an orbital period of several minutes.Proof that we humans can damage the space around us has been around for a while. In 2019, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) used the Hayabusa2 spacecraft to fire a high-speed slug into the surface of asteroid Ryugu, causing a crater 2 meters in diameter (6.5 feet).Although they may seem quite violent, these experiments are required because they may open the doors to planetary defense technologies we badly need. The latest NASA simulation about an asteroid impact proved there would be nothing we can do about it at the moment, not even if we got six months advance warning. Tesla policy is never to give in to false claims, even if we would lose, and never to fight true claims, even if we would win. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2021 The decision was taken by a jury held in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The amazing sum means that if Tesla does not appeal the decision Diaz will get $6.9 million for emotional distress and $130 million in punitive damages. Also called exemplary damages, they are meant to punish a defendant for negligence. In other words, so that any company will think twice before ignoring the subject that caused it to be convicted in the first place.Workman watched the trial and the email message was to share what she saw. According to the executive, no witnesses confirmed anyone called Diaz a "nigger" a slur that is deemed so depreciative that people dont even dare to write it anymore. They prefer to refer to it as the n-word. At the same time, you often hear it in rap songs and in movies, in which afro-american characters call others nigga or my nigga. This is something Workman mentioned witnesses said: that afro-american employees at Tesla often used the word in a friendly manner between themselves.Teslas VP of people also said that the company took measures all three times in which Diaz complained about racism to the company. She also admitted that he has made written complaints to the contractor that hired him and stressed that he was a contract employee, not part of Teslas staff. She also wrote that he didnt make any complaints about the n-word until after he was not hired full-time by Tesla and after he hired an attorney.Her last description of what she saw at the trial was this:Even though Mr. Diaz now complains about racial harassment at Fremont, at the time he said he was being harassed, he recommended to his son and daughter while they were all living together in the same home that they work at Tesla with him.The executive then wrote that they strongly believe that these facts dont justify the verdict reached by the jury in San Francisco. She probably failed to mention the testimonies and other pieces of evidence that made a compelling case to prove all that Diaz claimed to have gone through in his days as an elevator operator in Fremont.Although Tesla did not mention anything about that, Workmans text shows that the company intends to appeal the decision. That will put a recent Elon Musk tweet to the test. The Tesla CEO said that its policy is never to give in to false claims, even if we would lose, and never to fight true claims, even if we would win.The verdict also puts Teslas mandatory arbitration policy in the limelight. According to Bloomberg , there have been 90 arbitrations with former employees from 2016 up to March 2021. Only 12 were judged. Tesla won 11 and lost only one: another racism-related case. Tesla paid Melvin Berry $1 million.Although Workman said that slurs will not be tolerated at Tesla independently ofthe company does not seem to be willing to treat that in a more transparent way.In its DEF 14A form submitted to the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), Tesla makes its vote recommendations for proposals presented for its next Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be held on October 7, 2021. The company asked them to vote against all the proposals made by shareholders, including additional reporting on human rights, employee arbitration, and diversity and inclusion efforts. In theory, Android Auto for phones was just the perfect way to convert a mobile device into an ad-hoc head unit, as it provided users with a car-optimized experience similar to the one available in the fully-featured version of Android Auto.Google, however, has decided to give up on Android Auto for phones and replace it with an all-new driving mode bundled with Google Maps and powered by Google Assistant.At some level, the whole thing makes sense, though for some users out there, this change of plans only causes more confusion especially because the driving mode is clearly based on Android Auto for phones in all regards.But with the driving mode, Google can offer a new-generation experience adapted to the modern driver as a native feature without the need for any other configuration or download. By bundling the driving mode with Google Maps and Google Assistant, the only thing users need to do is to just say Hey, Google, lets drive, with the app to then launch automatically on their mobile devices.The migration from Android Auto for phones to the new driving mode will take place with the release of Android 12, and Google itself confirmed the launch of this feature will happen in the coming weeks.However, not everybody will be getting the new driving mode, as itll only be available in a handful of languages and countries.First of all, theres the obvious English support, with the driving mode to go live in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Then, Google says itll support the driving mode in German, Spanish for users in Spain and Mexico, French, and Italian.No other languages would be supported, or at least, not at first, though Google didnt say anything about a possible expansion to other countries at a later time.In other words, if you plan to use the driving mode in a different language or country than the ones mentioned above, youre pretty much out of luck. And heres where the confusion is getting worse.Will Android Auto for phones continue to be available in these countries? This is highly unlikely, so in theory, it looks like users who want to use the driving mode in another region would just have to stick with English (or any other supported language mentioned above) and therefore get this feature on their devices. Otherwise, the driving mode wont be supported.This isnt necessarily the most convenient solution if you want a native and localized experience, but on the other hand, its no different from what happened in the Android Auto world until recently.The fully-featured version of Android Auto has initially been offered only in a handful of countries, and users elsewhere turned to the standalone APK installer to get the app on their devices, obviously using it in English. Google eventually changed its mind and officially launched Android Auto in many other regions across the planet, so hopefully, the same will happen with the driving mode as well.For the time being, the driving mode is still available as a preview in many of the countries mentioned above, so you can try it out on your device before the official launch.Google has recently announced the driving mode is getting tappable cards for more straightforward navigation, and without a doubt, more and more features would be added at a later time after the official launch takes place for users in the supported countries. After ending an 11-year partnership with Ford back in January, the famed rally driver didnt spend time as a free agent for long as he just announced a new deal with German powerhouse Audi. His first assignment: drive two amazing rally classics from the manufacturer's private collection. One was the legendary Sport Quattro S1 that every car enthusiast immediately recognized, while the other, a white bulb-shaped little thing with a huge rear spoiler, was met with raised eyebrows.To understand how this enigmatic machine was developed, we have to take a trip back to 1980. That was the year when the German carmaker introduced the mighty Quattro to the world of rallying. The car was extremely successful and so innovative that it fundamentally changed the sport.However, it wasnt perfect with drivers reporting high-speed stability issues and painful understeering through slow corners. While engineered attempted to patch up these issues as best as they could with the A2 evolution, the problems persisted so the head of Audi Sport at the time, Roland Gumpert, came up with a drastic solution: move the engine to the middle of the chassis.He revealed the plans to Audis chief Ferdinand Piech who was intrigued by the idea but ultimately dismissed it. At the time, the road-going Quattro was a success in terms of sales, and the rally version, with all its shortcomings, was among the best cars in the sport. Moreover, Group B homologation rules required a limited number of units to be made available to the general public to homologate a car for the competition, so Piech saw no reason to invest time and resources into the development of such a fundamentally different machine.Disappointed but not discouraged, Gumpert and his team went for a compromising solution and shortened the wheelbase of the original car, giving birth to the 1984 Sport Quattro.Although it was a significant improvement, the idea of a mid-engine variant never left the German engineers mind. Firmly convinced that it would result in a far better vehicle, he decided to take matters into his own hands and assembled a team who secretly worked on this clandestine project for the following months.By the end of 1984, they successfully managed to redesign the chassis, move the epic turbocharged inline-5 to the middle, and subtly modified a Sport Quatro body so that nobody would notice what it hid underneath.In the months that followed, the team tested the car in complete secrecy in Czechoslovakia and the results were more than encouraging. It handled extremely well and all the issues that plagued its front-engine sibling seemed to be a distant memory. At some point, the plan was revealed to Walter Rohrl , Audis star factory driver at the time, who took the car for a spin and fell in love with it within minutes.Unfortunately, a photographer managed to snap a shot of the prototype, and Gumperts well-kept secret was revealed to the world in an Austrian magazine. Piech was furious with the revelations, ordering - and personally overseeing - the destruction of the mid-engine Quattro.By this time FIA proposed a new set of rules that would transform Group B into Group S and allow manufacturers more freedom to develop innovative race cars. Little did Piech know that apart from the mid-engine Quattro, Gumpert and his team also managed to develop a groundbreaking Group S prototype.One of the best-kept secrets in the history of motorsport, the RS 002 was based on the short-wheelbase chassis of the Sport Quattro and featured the same 2.1-liter turbocharged engine. However, the unit was so heavily upgraded that it was capable of delivering up to 690 hp.The body was completely redesigned and looked more like a compact Le Mans prototype than a 1980s rally car. Because of its lightweight construction and advanced aerodynamics, the RS 002 had a curb weight of just 2,205 lbs (1,000 kg) and could reach a top speed of 186 mph (300 kph).To this day, details about its development are still shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that three of them were built and the one that Ken Block got to drive is the only surviving unit.Because FIA abruptly decided to cancel both Group B and upcoming Group S after the tragic events of the 1986 season, two of the cars were scrapped and the third remained in hiding for several years. When it finally emerged, it was placed by Audi in an Ingolstadt Museum where it remained untouched until 2016. That year, the carmakers Tradition department which specializes in restorations brought it back to working condition and had it running at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.To celebrate the new partnership with Block Audi invited the rally driver to Germany where he got the opportunity to take it to the track. If you havent done it by now, you can watch the run in the video below. Over 15,000 industry experts will present their ideas during the 2021 edition of the ITS World Congress, which is going to take place in Hamburg, Germany, between October 11 and October 15. One of the many projects will be Continentals collision warning system, and visitors will get the chance to experience it first-hand.The collision system is being developed by Continental in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, Vitronic (a company that specializes in industrial image processing), and the City of Hamburg. Collision warnings are offered in real-time to road users using a smartphone. Users have to have a corresponding T-Systems app on their phones.As explained by Continental, its system calculates the route over the next five seconds using GPS and speed data from cars and smartphones in a Telekom cloud computer in the immediate vicinity. Drivers can be almost instantly warned about imminent accidents as the system is integrated into the cars functions.Cloud connectivity is more effective in reaching and protecting a larger number of road users as the sensor technology used by Continental in previous stages of development didnt manage to capture all the people around the car. Continental calls its collision warning system a digital guardian angel, and it is meant to protect traffic participants that are more vulnerable, such as pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, and motorists. It aims to fulfill the companys Vision Zero goal of achieving zero road accidents.The solution is currently still in live tests as part of a pilot project in Hamburg. However, because it doesnt require dedicated hardware, the solution can easily be integrated into urban mobile apps such as city transport providers.Continental hopes its collision warning system will be available for mass roll-out starting with 2024. Sometimes you have to take a look at that old car abandoned on the side of the road and make a call. But not to your buddy who has a tow truck and helps you get that relic into your barn (that would be a costly mistake), but to the police and tell them about it. Sure, it might be an interesting project for you, but who knows? Maybe one day it'll pop out at a public auction, and you'll be able to get it. But those from Louisiana have to have a huge load of patience to claim a car.While in other states police declare a car abandoned after 24 hours of sitting on the side of the road, the Kentucky government decided to try more relaxed laws. They will give three days for the owner to come and pick up their car from the side of the road or any other public place. After 72 hours, the police will ask an authorized towing company to remove the relic and take it to storage. But things won't stop there. The owner will be looked for and called to collect their vehicle. If that's not happening, the tow company can claim a title after following a specific procedure, and then sell it at a public auction. So, if you see an abandoned Pinto that fired up (pun intended) your childhood dreams, the best choice is to have the vehicle removed, and wait for the towing service to post it online for sale.Kentucky is one of the few states that doesn't emit a bonded title for a car. So, if you want that, change the state. Even though you find an abandoned vehicle in your barn, that's not yours to keep. You have to call the police, and the boys in blue will get that relic from you. But you might have a second chance if you put a lien on the car, asking for a storage fee. It is a state where it's worth spending some time tracking down old Corvettes , since GM built them there.Another option to get the title for a vehicle abandoned on your property would be to file a declaration of judgment suit in your county. If you can prove that the previous owner left the car and can't find them to ask for papers, the court may declare the landlord as the vehicle's owner, since they had it on their property. Yet, that procedure is not advisable to be made by an individual without a legal advisor or a lawyer. Sometimes things can go from average to bad in a blink of an eye. So, be prepared to look for the previous title holder after getting a certified mail address from the police. Firstly, though, run a search for a stolen vehicle. It doesn't matter that you found a '60s car that sat there since the '80s.As you might know, Louisiana is one of few states without counties. Instead, it has parishes, and they are, well, counties, just named differently. With their Mardi Gras event, you'd expect the people from New Orleans to be more relaxed with the laws regarding abandoned cars. Yet, they are not. Suppose you find a car, motorcycle, or any other vehicle you want to title. In that case, you have to prove that it has been continuously in your possession for ten years , if there is no bill of sale or other acquisition documents.There might be another way, by getting a Judgment of Ownership, but that should be the last resort. The OMV (Office of Motor Vehicles) might ask the applicant to make additional efforts to contact the previous known buyer by certified mail. If the car has a lien on it, it won't move an inch without a lien release. These things might be more manageable if the vehicle is worth less than $5,000. Just be aware that there might be a lot of taxes and penalties involved, especially if the vehicle's taxes were unpaid for the last decade or so.Considering all of the above, it is easier for a towing company to claim a vehicle and have a title issued on its name in Louisiana. That's why many people who found cars in their barns but couldn't get the old title in their hands prefer to have the vehicle removed from their property with the help of a tow car. White House National Security adviser Jake Sullivan is planning to travel to the Middle East next week, including a stop in Saudi Arabia. He would be the most senior Biden administration official to visit the kingdom. Why it matters: Sullivan's first trip to the region since taking office is expected to include stops in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, sources briefed on the plans tell Axios. All three countries are longtime U.S. partners who have faced some early tensions with Biden. Relations between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are particularly difficult after Biden vowed on the campaign trail to make them the pariah that they are." After taking office, Biden published a CIA report which held Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman responsible for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and stopped arms deals with the Saudis over human rights violations in Yemen. More recently, the U.S. pulled a Patriot missile defense system out of Saudi Arabia. Secretary of defense Austin cancelled a recent trip to Saudi Arabia last minute citing scheduling issues." U.S. relations with Egypt are also strained, particularly after the State Department froze $130 million of the annual U.S. military aid to Egypt over President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's human rights record. The U.S. did allow $170 million in military aid to go through, though, and has been working with Egypt to prevent another flare-up between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The Egyptians are also seeking U.S. support in their dispute with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a project which Egypt views as an existential threat to its water supply. Secretary of State Tony Blinken is also expected to meet his Egyptian counterpart on Thursday in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The UAE has managed the transition from Donald Trump to Biden without as significant a strain in the relationship. The Biden administration has supported the UAE's engagement with Israel under the Abraham Accords, and allowed a controversial arms deal, signed by the Trump administration in the context of the Israel deal, to go through. Iran will likely be a major focus of Sullivan's visit. The Emiratis want to see the U.S. take a stronger position against Iran's regional activities. One source said discussions were ongoing to see if the schedule would allow for a stop in Israel as well after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett returns from the UN General Assembly late next week. The big picture: Biden wants to focus less U.S. attention on the Middle East and more on China, and there have been concerns in all three countries Sullivan will visit about what the withdrawal from Afghanistan means for U.S. engagement in the region. Axios on facebook Axios on twitter Axios on linkedin Axios on email Minnesota Republican Party delegates elected former state Sen. David Hann as the party's new chair on Saturday, capping a tumultuous two months of controversy for the state GOP and its leaders. Why it matters: A series of internal and external crises since late summer have created a distraction and a PR problem for the state party as leaders and gubernatorial candidates gear up for the 2022 midterm election. Yes, but: With little cash in the bank and a weakened infrastructure, candidates and independent political committees will likely have a bigger influence next year. How we got here: The party's former leader, Jennifer Carnahan, resigned in late August amid questions about her relationship with GOP donor Anton Lazzaro, who was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges earlier that month. Carnahan's decision to step down also followed mounting complaints about her alleged personal and professional misconduct. The ousted leader, who is married to U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, has denied wrongdoing. She says she was unfairly pushed out by her political detractors. Bio in brief: Hann, a former Senate minority leader, represented a suburban Twin Cities district for 14 years. He was narrowly defeated by a Democrat in 2016. In announcing his candidacy for chair, he pledged to "restore the integrity and credibility of our party, not only among our members, but in the eyes of the citizens of Minnesota." What's next: The MNGOP executive board previously approved an audit of the party's finances and an independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations that surfaced at the end of Carnahan's tenure. The opposition Hayastan and Pativ Unem blocs demanded such a discussion immediately after Azerbaijani authorities began levying hefty duties from Iranian vehicles passing through an Azerbaijani-controlled section of the main highway connecting Armenia and Iran. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian accepted the demand, saying that Armenias defense minister, National Security Service (NSS) and other officials will soon brief the National Assembly on Yerevans response to Bakus actions. The discussion has still not taken place, however. Representatives of the two parliamentary opposition forces reminded the pro-government majority of Simonians promise as the parliament was about to discuss other matters on Tuesday morning. They said transport links with Iran are vital for Armenias national security. Deputy speaker Ruben Rubinian, who presided over the session, countered that Simonian is currently visiting Russia and urged the opposition to wait until he returns to Armenia. Opposition deputies again condemned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians government for handing over a 21-kilometer section of the highway passing through Armenias southeastern Syunik province to Azerbaijan shortly after a Russian-brokered ceasefire stopped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh last November. Pashinian said at the time that the road section is located on the Azerbaijani side of Armenias Soviet-era border with Azerbaijan, a claim disputed by his political opponents. He has also claimed that Armenias former leaders challenging him now themselves recognized that border with a law enacted in 2010. The Azerbaijani roadblock and its resulting negative impact on cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran was high on the agenda of talks held by the foreign ministers of the two states in Tehran on Monday. Armenias Ararat Mirzoyan briefed his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the ongoing reconstruction of an alternative road in Syunik that will allow Iranian trucks to bypass the Azerbaijani checkpoint. He said it will be completed soon. Amir-Abdollahian seemed satisfied with these assurances when he spoke at a joint news briefing held after the talks. Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Kheirollah Khademi said Armenian roads leading to the Iranian border are of strategic importance to his country. An official Iranian delegation headed by him arrived in Yerevan on Monday amid continuing disruptions in cargo traffic between Armenia and Iran resulting from an Azerbaijani roadblock set up on September 12 on the main highway connecting them. Khademi said the purpose of the trip is to discuss with Armenian officials the transport hurdles and the ongoing reconstruction of an alternative road which also passes through Armenias Syunik province bordering Iran and Azerbaijan. We are negotiating with the Armenian side so that cargo and passenger traffic through that road gets on track as soon as possible, he told the YouTube channel Armenia-Iran Friendship. We are ready to assist Armenia in the construction of the new road, he said. Iran is ready to share its technical and engineering capacity with Armenia. The Islamic Republic, Khademi went on, can also provide similar support for the Armenian governments plans to build or refurbish other Syunik roads leading to the Iranian border. Armenia is also building the North-South highway which starts from the Iranian borders and stretches to the Georgian border We are ready to cooperate with Armenia on that as well. Iran has extensive experience in road construction, and our contractors are ready to share their experience with Armenia, he said. The official Iranian IRNA news agency reported that Khademis delegation will explore in Armenia Irans possible involvement in the bypass road construction. It said the Syunik roads also connect the Islamic Republic with Russia and Europe. The delegation flew to Yerevan as the Armenian and Iranian foreign ministers met in Tehran for talks that focused on transport issues. Echoing statements by other Armenian officials, Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan assured his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that work on the alternative Syunik road will be completed before the end of this year. Azerbaijan gained control over a 21-kilometer section of the existing main Armenia-Iran highway last December following an Armenian troop withdrawal from border areas along Syunik. Azerbaijani officers deployed there began taxing on September 12 Iranian trucks delivering goods to and from Armenia. Many truck drivers have refused to pay the road tax reportedly worth $130 per trip. Tensions between Tehran and Baku have risen since then, with the Iranian military starting large-scale exercises along the Islamic Republics border with Azerbaijan last week. Iranian officials have accused Baku of harboring Middle Eastern terrorists as well as Israeli security personnel in the area. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denied the accusations on Monday. Earlier on Monday, a senior Iranian parliamentarian reportedly accused Aliyev of trying to cut Irans access to Armenia with the help of Turkey and Israel. Iran already offered to help Armenia upgrade its strategic highways in Syunik months before the latest crisis. The two governments set up this summer a joint working group tasked with looking into Iranian companies possible participation in the multimillion-dollar transport projects planned by Yerevan. Armen Gevorgian is the sole full-fledged opposition member of the Armenian parliaments delegation in the PACE. He is affiliated with the Hayastan alliance led by former President Robert Kocharian. Kocharian and Gevorgian face bribery charges, strongly denied by them, in an ongoing trial that began more than two years ago. They both were banned from leaving Armenia without the courts permission. Anna Danibekian, the judge presiding over the trial, refused last month to let Gevorgian participate in the PACEs autumn session held on September 27-30. Two other opposition lawmakers, who have the status of substitutes in the 8-member delegation in the Strasbourg-based assembly, boycotted the session out of solidarity with him. During the latest court hearing on the high-profile case, Gevorgians lawyer, Lusine Sahakian, petitioned Danibekian to lift the travel ban, saying that it is unjustified. The trial prosecutors objected to the request. The judge did not grant it while leaving open the possibility of allowing Gevorgian to travel abroad later on. She said she will consider such permissions on a case-by-case basis. Gevorgian, 48, is also the chairman of the Armenian parliaments standing committee on regional and Eurasian integration. He was an influential aide to Kocharian when the latter ruled the country from 1998-2008. Gevorgian also served as deputy prime minister from 2008-2014 in the administration of then President Serzh Sarkisian. Earlier in September, Danibekian refused to allow Kocharian to visit Moscow at the invitation of Russias ruling party. Hayastan condemned her decision, saying that it was made under strong government pressure. The judge had repeatedly given Kocharian permission to travel to Moscow before the June 20 parliamentary elections in which the ex-presidents bloc finished second. The 50,000 doses of the Spikevax jab manufactured by the U.S. company Moderna were delivered to Yerevans Zvartnots airport and handed over to the Armenian Ministry of Health. The ministry thanked the Lithuanian government in a statement that announcement the shipment. The Baltic state already provided 25,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Armenia in early September. The Moderna shots donated by it are the first American vaccines that will be used in Armenia. Gayane Sahakian, the deputy director of the Armenian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said they will be distributed to all policlinics and other vaccination centers across the country and made available the population by the end of this week. Armenians have until now been inoculated with vaccines developed by Russia, China as well as Oxford University and the Anglo-Swedish company Astra Zeneca. Health Minister Anahit Avanesian said in July that Armenia will receive this fall 50,000 doses of Johnson & Johnsons single-dose vaccine and 300,000 doses of the Novavax jab. Shortly afterwards the Armenian government allocated funds for the purchase of 300,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. None of those vaccines have been imported yet, however. We will have Pfizer vaccines, but I dont know when, Sahakian told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. According to the Ministry of Health, just over 517,000 vaccine shots were administered in the country of about 3 million as of October 4. Only about 165,000 of its residents were fully vaccinated. The government has taken administrative measures to try to accelerate the slow pace of its immunization campaign launched in April. A recent directive signed by Avanesian obligates virtually all public and private sector employees refusing vaccination to take coronavirus tests twice a month at their own expense. The requirement took effect on October 1. The daily number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in Armenia has slowly but steadily increased since June. The Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday morning 891 new cases and 24 coronavirus-related deaths. Facebook-Recognized Entity Girls Who Travel Rebrands, Changes Name To Her Adventures Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Rain showers early with some sunshine later in the day. High 66F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Clear skies. Low around 50F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Beached Sailboat on N. Oregon Coast: Two Bodies Found Published 10/05/21 at 12:56 AM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Rockaway Beach, Oregon) Crews from Tillamook County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) and the US Coast Guard responded to Rockaway Beach Sunday, after a sailboat was found stranded in the sand near Nedonna Beach, at the north end of town. (Photos by TCSO Marine Deputy Kelly Awe) Two bodies were eventually found. North Oregon coast authorities say it was a married couple: their names are not being released as of yet. Also responding to the scene were Rockaway Fire-Rescue, Garibaldi Fire-Rescue, Nehalem Bay Fire-Rescue and Tillamook Ambulance. Numerous calls began coming in about 6:50 p.m. Sunday regarding a sailboat getting tossed around the surf near Rockaway Beach. A Coast Guard helicopter was sent and found the ship wrecked in the sand by the time it arrived. Tillamook County Sheriffs arrived on the scene at 8:20 p.m., and fire personnel soon located a female lying on the beach, near a dinghy She was not breathing. Rescuers attempted CPR but she could not be resuscitated. Rescuers also located the male lying underneath the boat he was deceased as well. Meanwhile, US Coast Guard crews continued searching the nearby waters of the north Oregon coast town but found no one else. The married couple is believed to be the only people onboard. Thanks to the efforts of Tillamook 911 Dispatchers, the victims were identified and immediate family has been notified. This investigation continues, the sheriff's office said. According to the US Coast Guard, the 42-foot sailing vessel was called the Bagheera, and had left from an undisclosed location to sail to California. It was registered out of Astoria. MORE PHOTOS BELOW MORE PHOTOS BELOW MORE ON NEDONNA BEACH: More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted The corporate developer of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline system that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia was charged criminally on Tuesday after a grand jury concluded that it flouted Pennsylvania environmental laws and fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles. Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the sprawling case at a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown, where Sunoco Pipeline LP spilled thousands of gallons of drilling fluid last year. The spill, during construction of the troubled Mariner East 2 pipeline, contaminated wetlands, a stream and part of a 535-acre lake. Energy Transfer, Sunoco's owner, faces 48 criminal charges, most of them for illegally releasing industrial waste at 22 sites in 11 counties across the state. A felony count accuses the operator of willfully failing to report spills to state environmental regulators. Shapiro said Energy Transfer ruined the drinking water of at least 150 families statewide. He released a grand jury report that includes testimony from numerous residents who accused Energy Transfer of denying responsibility for the contamination and then refusing to help. The Texas-based pipeline giant was charged for illegal behavior that related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline that polluted our lakes, our rivers and our water wells and put Pennsylvanias safety at risk, said Shapiro, speaking with Marsh Creek Lake behind him. Messages were sent to Energy Transfer seeking comment. The company has previously said it intends to defend itself. The company faces a fine if convicted, which Shapiro said was not a sufficient punishment. He called on state lawmakers to toughen penalties on corporate violators, and said the state Department of Environmental Protection which spent freely on outside lawyers for its own employees during the attorney general's investigation had failed to conduct appropriate oversight. In a statement, DEP said it has been consistent in enforcing the permit conditions and regulations and has held Sunoco LP accountable. The agency said it would review the charges and determine if any additional actions are appropriate at this time. Residents who live near the pipeline and some state lawmakers said Mariner East should be shut down entirely in light of the criminal charges, but the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has long ignored such calls to pull the plug. The August 2020 spill at Marsh Creek was among a series of mishaps that has plagued Mariner East since construction began in 2017. Early reports put the spill at 8,100 gallons, but the grand jury heard evidence the actual loss was up to 28,000 gallons. Parts of the lake are still off-limits. This was a major incident, but understand, it wasnt an isolated one. This happened all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said Shapiro, a Democrat who plans to run for governor next year. He said that spills of drilling fluid were frequent and damaging and largely unreported. The pipeline developer continued to rack up civil violations even after Mariner East became one of the most penalized projects in state history. To date, DEP said Energy Transfer has paid more than $20 million in fines for polluting waterways and drinking water wells, including a $12.6 million fine in 2018 that was one of the largest ever imposed by the agency. State regulators have periodically shut down construction. But environmental activists and homeowners who assert their water has been fouled say that fines and shutdown orders have not forced Sunoco to clean up its act. They have been demanding revocation of Mariner Easts permits. Carrie Gross, who has been living with the roar of Mariner East construction in her densely packed Exton neighborhood all day, six days a week, for much of the last four years, fears that criminal charges will be just as ineffectual as DEP's civil penalties. I would say this is just another example of Energy Transfer paying to pollute, and thats part of their cost of doing business. Until somebody permanently halts this project, our environment and our lives continue to be in danger, Gross said. The dental hygienist lives about 100 feet from the pipelines and works about 50 feet from them. She said she worries about the persistent threat of sinkholes, a catastrophic rupture or an explosion even after construction is over. Shapiros news conference was originally rescheduled for Monday, but was abruptly postponed after the state environmental agency provided last-minute information to the attorney generals office. The new information led to the filing of two additional charges, Shapiro said. Energy Transfer acknowledged in a recent earnings report that the attorney general has been looking at alleged criminal misconduct involving Mariner East. The company said in the document it was cooperating but that it intends to vigorously defend itself. The various criminal probes into Mariner East have also consumed DEP, which has spent about $1.57 million on outside criminal defense lawyers for its employees between 2019 and 2021, according to invoices obtained by The Associated Press. The money was paid to five separate law firms representing dozens of DEP employees who dealt with Mariner East. Together, the firms submitted more than 130 invoices related to Mariner East investigations, performing legal work such as reviewing subpoenas and preparing clients to testify, the documents show. When Mariner East construction permits were approved in 2017, environmental advocacy groups accused the Wolf administration of violating the law and warned pipeline construction would unleash massive and irreparable damage to Pennsylvanias environment and residents. If we have a system where ... the punishment, the fines, are basically seen as just a price of doing business, then well continue to have violations in the commonwealth, said David Masur, executive director of Philadelphia-based PennEnvironment. State officials have a huge stick they could wield," he added. Maybe they just have to stop hesitating and use it. The Mariner East pipeline system transports propane, ethane and butane from the enormous Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale gas fields in western Pennsylvania to a refinery processing center and export terminal in Marcus Hook, outside Philadelphia. Energy Transfer also operates the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which went into service in 2017 after months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others during its construction. The Rev. Luis Urriza, O.S.A., pastor of Cristo Rey Catholic Church and founder of the parish in Beaumont in 1951, is returning to his native Spain to live and work with his religious order, the Order of St. Augustine, according Bishop David Toups, who leads the Diocese of Beaumont. Father Luis, as he is called, reached 100 years old in August. He joined the Augustinians in Spain 85 years ago. I am grateful and humbled for his service, Toups said Monday, after announcing to the diocese this past weekend that Urriza will return to Spain to live with his order. The Diocese of Beaumont will celebrate Mass for Father Luis at Cristo Rey at 6 p.m. Oct. 17, Toups said. That is so we can thank him and give the people he has ministered to a chance to say goodbye, Toups said. The Rev. Mchael Minifie, CC, will take up administration of the Cristo Rey pastorate in the meantime, Toups said. Minifie joins the Diocese of Beaumont from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He also belongs to a religious order called Companions of the Cross. Father Michael is bilingual (in Spanish, as is Toups). He has a wonderful shepherds heart, Toups said. The diocese will continue Cristo Reys ministry. Upon retirement, a priest from a religious order, such as Urriza, will rejoin a community of that order. A diocesan priest, conversely, will continue to live with the diocesan community upon retirement. Before arriving in Beaumont to become bishop of the Diocese of Beaumont, Toups was a member of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida. As a diocesan, Toups now belongs to Beaumont, he said. A friend of Urriza offered to bring him to an Augustinian community in Spain to live and minister to a parish there instead of having to carry out administrative duties, Toups said. He was sent to the United States specifically to Southeast Texas, Toups said, where Urriza founded Cristo Rey 70 years ago. Beaumont then was a diocese in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston before receiving a designation as its own Diocese of Beaumont in 1966. Urriza already had 15 years experience at Cristo Rey at that point. Every priest at 75 years old submits his resignation and stays on year-to-year after that, Toups said. For Urriza, that was in 1996. Toups ultimately accepted his resignation this year after being in dialogue with Urrizas order one of the oldest in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1244. Toups did not directly answer whether Urriza asked for his release from the parish. Urriza said he was told that St. Peter, one of the founders of the Roman Catholic Church and an apostle of Jesus Christ, said he had to retire given his age. Its news that neither he nor his parishioners wanted to hear. People are really crying and crying. They are worried, he said, adding, Im really sorry to have to leave. I dont want to retire. This is my home, but theres nothing I can do. Though he is sad to be leaving his house at Cristo Rey in the final chapter of his life as a priest, Urriza said, God will be with me that I know for sure. Augustine of Hippo, a Roman African who died at 75 years old in 430, is the namesake for the order. Augustine gained fame for his imagining of the City of God as a concept to differentiate from earthly, material cities, which in his time referred to the disintegration of the Roman Empire. Pope Innocent IV created the Order of St. Augustine in December 1243, about a century after the original religious orders such as the Benedictines and Cistercians were founded. The Domincans and Franciscans were founded earlier in the 1200s. The Enterprise plans to publish a profile of Urriza in an upcoming Art of Living section, which was planned ahead of Toups announcement of Urriza retirement. Kim Brent contributed. Dan Wallach is a freelance writer. A new monument was unveiled this past Saturday in honor of Gold Star Mothers. This was done in conjunction to the Webb County Proclamation designating September 2021 as Gold Star Families Month. Its an honor to keep working with your families, Sgt. Gilberto Gonzalez, Vice Commander VFW Post 9194 said. I know its an honor to all these people to make this possible. We as a community get together to celebrate you, celebrate your loved ones life, and we will continue doing that. Alyssa Cigarroa, District VIII councilmember said that freedom was not free, and it is often forgotten that waking up, working and having a family comes at a price paid by service members and veterans. Today we honor the mothers of fallen soldiers at war. They paid the ultimate price, the loss of their son or daughter. They carry that terrible pain that only mothers who have lost a child can imagine, and for the rest of their lives, they walk through life with a heavy heart, Cigarroa said. It is not Gods plan for a mother to lose a child, and to each one of you, our country is at peace and safe because of your beautiful son or daughter. We will never forget your loss. We mourn with you, and we will honor your child by respecting our country and raising our children to honor them and respect them. The monument unveiled was showered in golden flowers by attendees. The large and seemingly indestructible dark slab is adorned with a plaque honoring mothers and families who have lost a son or family member during an armed conflict. A tribute to honor the sacrifice made by Gold Star Mothers and Families whose sons, daughters and loved ones paid the ultimate price defending our freedom, the plaque reads. It was a long overdue monument that should have been erected decades ago, Webb County Veterans Officer David Garza said. He added that he has seen that the recent loss of Lance Cpl. David Lee Espinoza has brought the community together and pledges that with the support of the attending and surrounding Gold Star families to have a service honoring their childrens sacrifice every year. Espinoza died on August 26, 2021, in Kabul, Afghanistan during an attack that killed 12 other service members as the U.S. mobilized to exit the country and the long-time conflict in the middle east. He was an LBJ alumnus and Laredoan who during his time here lived the way other Laredoans live each day. In light of this, Rep. Henry Cuellar agreed with Garza over honoring the Gold Star families as he mentioned his meeting with many servicemen over his time as a congressman. The event was a somber one, who saw families gather alongside other members of the community to honor their sons, daughters and all the servicemen and servicewomen over the years. As the new monument stands next to World War II and Korean Conflict memorial, there is an opportunity to give thanks and remember the sacrifices over the years. According to the U.S. Army, the country began observing Gold Star Mother's Day on the last Sunday of September in 1936. The Gold Star Wives was formed before the end of World War II, and the Gold Star Lapel Button was established in August 1947. The strength of our nation is our Army. The strength of our Army is our Soldiers. The strength of our Soldiers is our families. The Army recognizes that no one has given more for the nation than the families of the fallen, the U.S. Army wrote. Last Friday, Webb County Commissioner Cindy Liendo proclaimed September 2021 as Gold Star Families month. This was to bring more awareness to these families and the support they may need from their community, friends and families. It is important to me to honor the families of fallen service members to let them know they are in our thoughts and in our prayers and to extend our most sincere gratitude for the sacrifices their servicemembers and they as a family have endured to protect the sacred freedoms we enjoy in this country, Liendo stated. On Saturday, she said that these fallen men and women have inspired others to serve the country and there are no words that can truly express the gratitude toward them. There, Garza explained the overwhelming responsibility and circumstances surrounding the act of informing families about the loss of their child. The Gold Star mothers, fathers and spouses are notified about the loss at the exact same time, Garza said. This is also the case in divorces where three service members are deployed to ensure that all immediate loved ones are notified. The servicemembers in charge of notification casualty assistance officers have the difficult task of informing families and take the initial wave of emotions from the family. Garza said that they are trained to expect a slap to the face, a hug or a cry, all while maintaining their military bearings. I personally never had that detail, and Im glad I never did, to be honest with you, because its a very hard detail, he said. This ultimately results in new Gold Star Families. cocampo@lmtonline.com The City of China and a local developer are asking to use $10.2 million in county coronavirus funds to construct a new sewer plant. Mike Doguet, a land developer who has properties in Beaumont and plans to build in China, and city officials last month formally made their request to the Jefferson County Commissioners Court. Chinas sewer plant is fully over 40 years old, and its been through several hurricanes and several floods that really got them stuck in a bind with (the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality), Doguet said. We had several meetings with the (Texas General Land Office), the Texas Regional Development Board, and our commissioner Vernon Pierce, and we came up with the idea that maybe we could do a regional sewer plant. This plant would replace Chinas old system and clear the way for new real estate development across western Jefferson County. In addition to restoring the plant for residents it already serves, Doguet said he believes the investment will pay dividends in the long run. If they put up the $10 million to build this plant, in about five years it would be paying well over the $10 million they invest today, he said. It would be paying multiples of that over the next 50 years. He estimates that the land a new plant could open for real estate development would result in an influx of about $20 million annually in taxes. Commercial property would generate even more revenue. But whether this project or any of the many others being considered for funding by the relief bill moves ahead depends on the technicalities of the American Rescue Plan. Jefferson County officials said they want to carefully observe federal regulations so the county doesnt have to pay back any misallocated funds. China and anybody else who wants part of the rescue act funds are going to be required to go through (an) administrator and make an application for that funding so that the administrator can make sure that the funding request is in line with the eligibility guidelines that are set down by Congress for the allocation of those funds, said Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick. Branick said he expects applications will open before the end of the year. Beyond that, he does not have any further information. I dont have any more definite timeline right now, he said. rachel.kersey@beaumontenterprise.com twitter.com/ontheREKord STOCKHOLM (AP) Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change. Syukuro Manabe, originally from Japan, and Klaus Hasselmann of Germany were cited for their work in developing forecast models of Earths climate and "reliably predicting global warming. The second half of the prize went to Giorgio Parisi of Italy for explaining disorder in physical systems, ranging from those as small as the insides of atoms to the planet-sized. Hasselmann told The Associated Press that he would rather have no global warming and no Nobel Prize. Manabe said that figuring out the physics behind climate change was 1,000 times easier than getting the world to do something about it. He said the intricacies of policy and society are far harder to fathom than the complexities of carbon dioxide interacting with the atmosphere, which then changes conditions in the ocean and on the land, which then alters the air again in a constant cycle. He called climate change a major crisis. The prize comes less than four weeks before the start of high-level climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders will be asked to ramp up their commitments to curb global warming. The Nobel-winning scientists used their moment in the limelight to urge action. Its very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace in tackling global warming, Parisi said. He made the appeal even though his share of the prize was for work in a different area of physics. All three scientists work on what are known as complex systems, of which climate is just one example. But the prize went to two fields of study that are opposite in many ways, though they share the goal of making sense of what seems random and chaotic so that it can be predicted. Parisis research largely centers around subatomic particles, predicting how they move in seemingly chaotic ways and why, and is somewhat esoteric, while the work by Manabe and Hasselmann is about large-scale global forces that shape our daily lives. The judges said Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how human actions influence it." Starting in the 1960s, Manabe, now based at Princeton University, created the first climate models that forecast what would happen as carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere. Scientists for decades had shown that carbon dioxide traps heat, but Manabe's work offered specifics. It allowed scientists to eventually show how climate change will worsen and how fast, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed. Manabe is such a pioneer that other climate scientists called his 1967 paper with the late Richard Wetherald the most influential climate paper ever, said NASA chief climate modeler Gavin Schmidt. Manabe's Princeton colleague Tom Delworth called Manabe the Michael Jordan of climate. Suki set the stage for today's climate science, not just the tool but also how to use it, said fellow Princeton climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi. I can't count the times that I thought I came up with something new, and it's in one of his papers. Manabe's models from 50 years ago accurately predicted the warming that actually occurred in the following decades," said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the Breakthrough Institute. Manabe's work serves as a warning to us all that we should take their projections of a much warmer future if we keep emitting carbon dioxide quite seriously. I never imagined that this thing I would begin to study has such a huge consequence, Manabe said at a Princeton news conference. "I was doing it just because of my curiosity. About a decade after Manabe's initial work, Hasselmann, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, helped explain why climate models can be reliable despite the seemingly chaotic nature of the weather. He also developed ways to look for specific signs of human influence on the climate. Meanwhile, Parisi, of Sapienza University of Rome, built a deep physical and mathematical model that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. His work originally focused on so-called spin glass, a type of metal alloy whose behavior long baffled scientists. Parisi, 73, discovered hidden patterns that explained the way it acted, creating theories that could be applied to other fields of research, too. All three physicists used complex mathematics to explain and predict what seemed like chaotic forces of nature. That is known as modeling. Physics-based climate models made it possible to predict the amount and pace of global warming, including some of the consequences like rising seas, increased extreme rainfall events and stronger hurricanes, decades before they could be observed, said German climate scientist and modeler Stefan Rahmstorf. He called Hasselmann and Manabe pioneers in this field. When climate scientists with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, some who deny global warming dismissed it as a political move. Perhaps anticipating controversy, members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, emphasized that Tuesday's was a science prize. What we are saying is that the modeling of climate is solidly based on physical theory and well-known physics, Swedish physicist Thors Hans Hansson said at the announcement. For a scientist who trades in predictions, Hasselmann said the prize caught him off guard. I was quite surprised when they called, he said. I mean, this is something I did many years ago. But Parisi said: I knew there was a non-negligible possibility of winning. The award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The money comes from a bequest left by the prizes creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. On Monday, the Nobel in medicine was awarded to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch. Over the coming days prizes will be awarded in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace and economics. ___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland. Associated Press journalists Frank Jordans and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, Ted Shaffrey in Princeton, New Jersey, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes. avid_creative, Contributor / Getty Images A Vidor ISD student was arrested last week after authorities received the report of a firearm threat. Just after 6:30 a.m. Friday, authorities arrived made contact with a 17-year-old student before he entered the school. The student was unarmed, but arrested for exhibition, use or threat of exhibition or use of firearm. The Chinese survey ship that had been criss-crossing the North Natuna Sea is back in Indonesias exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after a weeks retreat, ship-tracking data shows. Indonesia played down the presence of the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 10, like it did when the vessel was operating in the area for almost the whole month of September. But the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was seen being escorted by a Chinese coastguard ship and appeared to be carrying out unlawful research activity in Jakartas EEZ, said Imam Prakoso, a researcher at the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI). Its unlikely it was not conducting research activities, especially since theyve been in and out of the area for a month. If you look at the pattern, they are likely to be active for a whole month, Imam told BenarNews. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires governments to seek permission in advance for marine scientific research in another states EEZ, a requirement China often ignores. There must be firm action. Do they have permission or not? If not, its clearly illegal because we have clear rules regarding scientific research activities at sea, Imam said. The Chinese research vessel committed no violations, according to Lt. Col. Laode Muhammad, spokesman for the Indonesian Naval Fleet Command 1. The North Natuna Sea is the entrance to the ALKI [Indonesian Archipelagic Lanes] and the Singapore Strait. All foreign ships are allowed to pass, not only Chinese ones, Laode told BenarNews. As far as international relations are concerned, we must avoid conflict and exercise restraint. If we insist on boarding their ship, they wont accept it and there will be tremendous consequences, Laode said. On Monday, the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was spotted reentering the area near the Tuna Block, an important oil and gas field where a submersible rig contracted by Indonesias exploration partners is drilling appraisal wells. By mid-day on Tuesday, the vessel was firmly back in the lawn-mowing grid it created last month while surveying the North Natuna Sea. This area lies within Indonesias EEZ but overlaps with the so-called nine-dash line that China draws to claim most of the South China Sea but is not recognized by international law and disputed by Chinas neighbors. The Haiyang Dizhi was operating in the area for almost the whole of September but left for resupply in Fiery Cross Reef that China has reclaimed and developed into a flagship outpost. Chinese ship didnt just pass Adm. Dato Rusman, commander of the Marine Combat Group, told President Joko Jokowi Widodo in a video conference that Chinese and U.S. ships were detected in Indonesian waters but they were conducting innocent passage. Everything is safe and under control, he added. Indonesian authorities have constantly played down the presence of the Chinese ship, analysts say, prioritizing a diplomatic approach and behind-the-scenes negotiations. For instance. Indonesia said last month that the Haiyang Dizhi 10 had not violated shipping rules. But, analysts had said, the Chinese vessels movement in a grid pattern showed that it was clearly engaged in research activities. Similarly, IOJIs Imam didnt seem convinced by Rusmans explanation on Tuesday about the latest Chinese incursion. The ship [Haiyang Dizhi 10] didnt just pass [by], Imam noted. It formed a grid pattern that covers part of the North Natuna Sea, which is within the nine-dash line that they [China] claim. The Haiyang Dizhi 10s activities last month brought media and public attention, prompting Indonesian officials to send warships as well as conduct an air patrol. On Tuesday, Indonesias Armed Forces Day, the navy held a combat readiness exercise in the North Natuna Sea. Six naval vessels, a maritime patrol aircraft, and a helicopter took part in the event. Indonesia has also deployed a hydro-oceanographic research vessel, the KRI Rigel, to the area. President Jokowi reportedly quizzed his staff about the presence of foreign ships off the Natunas and called on the armed forces (TNI) to be ready to deal with a range of threats. I call on the TNI to be constantly prepared for a wider spectrum of threats, including violations of sovereignty, theft of natural resources at sea, radicalism and terrorism, as well as cyber, biological threats, Jokowi said. Governments in countries bordering the South China Sea are facing growing domestic pressure to defend national interests amid Chinas assertive activities. On Monday, Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to convey its position and protest against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysias EEZ off the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak. A young man (right) reacts after picking a red ballot confirming his conscription into the Thai armed forces during the annual military draft in Bangkok, July 23, 2020. A military court has charged a former army officer and eight of his subordinates with third-degree murder in a decade-old case involving the alleged torture and death of a private at an army camp in Thailand's restive Deep South, a lawyers group and the victims niece said. The court ordered the defendants three of whom were dismissed from the military, according to the niece of victim Pvt. Wichian Peuksom to submit their pleas at a hearing set for Nov. 25, according to a lawyer at the Muslim Attorney Center Foundation (MAC). On Sept. 30 the military court for the 46th Military Circle indicted [the-then] Lt. Puri Perksopon and eight of his subordinates for malfeasance, disobedience of superiors and third degree murder, lawyer Zakiman Benjadecha told BenarNews. Zakiman said he and Wichians niece, Narisalawan Kaewnopparat, went to the court but were not allowed to attend the hearing. The charges stem from an incident in early June 2011. Wichian, who was 26, was slapped in the face, forced to eat chili, dragged on the floor, had salt poured in cuts, stomped on the chest and beaten with a bamboo stick by his trainers in a camp in Narathiwat province, Narisalawan told BenarNews. Wichian was pronounced dead on June 5, 2011, a day after being admitted to a hospital while suffering from kidney failure and muscle lethargy, Narisalawan said, adding that drill instructors beat him after allegedly accusing him of attempting to escape. No autopsy details were released. She said three of the nine who were charged have been dismissed while the others were discharged after their terms ended. As far as I know, three of them were fired Capt. Puri, a sub lieutenant, and a sergeant the rest were discharged ending their conscription term, Narisalawan said, referring to the officer who was a lieutenant at the time of the attack. Col. Kiatisak Neewong, spokesman for the militarys command in the Deep South, said he could not respond to BenarNews questions because he did not have information. Zakiman said the military court does not reply to questions from civilians. Thailand lacks law against torture Wichians survivors have spent years seeking justice. Narisalawan said she and her family filed several petitions against Puri and his subordinates with then-Army Chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, but to no avail. Three years after the 2011 incident, Prayuth led a coup to overthrow the democratic government of Yingluck Shinawatra and replace her as prime minister. In 2018, Narisalawan successfully filed a petition with the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, which is authorized to conduct an initial investigation into misconduct by government officials. That investigation determined charges could be brought against Puri and the others, she said. This year, a military court prosecutor started an investigation which led to indictments last week. The military lawyer acts as plaintiff when prosecuting the case while Wichians survivors have no role in the case and can be observers only, Zakiman said. The delayed indictment shows how difficult it is to prosecute officials, according to the Cross-Cultural Foundation, an NGO assisting the family. Because Thailand lacks a law against torture and enforced disappearances, it results in difficulty in prosecuting government officials, particularly in regard with the two alleged crimes, noted Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, the foundations director. In September, the Thai parliament accepted four draft bills on torture and enforced disappearances which have been sent to a lower House committee for review. Abuse allegations Pornpen said that in more than 10 years, no one has been punished for their alleged roles in Wichians torture and death. [A] soldier was sentenced to six months in jail in 2012 for beating up a 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old-boy in Yala, but the sentence was suspended, she told BenarNews on Monday while discussing a similar case. Thailand has seen other abuse cases in the more recent past. In 2017, the family of a first-year cadet who died on campus at the nations most prestigious military preparatory school asked the government to explain why their own autopsy revealed some of his vital organs were missing. Officials listed the cause of death as heart failure for Pakapong Tanyakan, an 18-year-old cadet who died on Oct. 17, 2017, at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School in Nakhon Nayok province. His parents, Pichet and Sukanya Tanyakan, contracted for their own autopsy which found that his brain, heart, stomach, bladder, a lung and kidney were missing and he had a broken rib. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2020, file photo, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a press conference in Phoenix. In the summer of 2021 Ducey signed into law several measures that restricted the power of local governments to enact COVID-19 protection measures. On Monday, Sept. 27 a judge struck down Arizona laws prohibiting public school districts from imposing mask requirements, colleges from requiring vaccinations for students and communities from establishing vaccine passports for people to show they were vaccinated. An assessment or critique of a service, product, or creative endeavor such as art, literature or a performance. 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. Lawmakers have billions to spend, but say they don't want to overlap with an uncertain federal infrastructure bill The thousands of marijuana plants seized at a Savoy house last year are one thing to police and prosecutors: Grounds for felony trafficking charges. To lawyers for two New York men charged in the case, those plants are something else: fruits of an illegal search. In August 2020, state police arrested Yebin Mai and Bin Huang in what they described as a large-scale illegal cannabis-growing operation, after authorities seized 3,598 plants that they said would be worth $3 million on the street. Defendant in $3 million Savoy cannabis bust says troopers went too far SAVOY It was a year ago this coming week that utility workers happened upon odd doings in a house up a long driveway in Savoy. This summer, Mais attorney, Russell L. Chin, filed a motion in Berkshire Superior Court to suppress evidence and statements by his client. A hearing on that motion, and other issues related to the case, is set for 2 p.m. Nov. 3. The defendants also are seeking to have the case separated into two. Chins motion claims that troopers did not have grounds to search the 72 Jackson Road homes yard on the day of the response. He also wrote that the search warrant police later obtained is invalid, because it was based on an initial search that was illegal. Huang is now represented by attorney Neil F. Faigel, according to court records. Both defendants had to give up their passports. They will be provided with Mandarin interpreters in court. The eventual jury trial in Berkshire Superior Court is expected to run two to three days, court documents say. The felony charge is based on the assertion, by state police working out of the Cheshire barracks, that the crop produced in Savoy would have amounted to more than 100 pounds of cannabis but less than 2,000 pounds. The plants seized weighed 560 pounds, according to state police. Reporter Heather Bellow, a member of the investigations team, joined The Eagle in 2017. She is based in the South Berkshire County bureau in Great Barrington. Her work has appeared in newspapers across the U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., spoke recently before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform about getting an abortion after surviving a rape. All of this testimony came at a time when Congress is debating codifying Roe v. Wade as means of protecting it from Republican assaults, but for me these testimonies were powerful in another way, writes New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow. They once again underscored just how difficult a decision this is for many women and the degree to which others feel empowered to intrude on the decisions they make. MECOSTA, OSCEOLA COUNTIES Staff at Big Rapids and Reed City libraries have pulled out all the stops to celebrate fall fun. Big Rapids Community Library, 426 S. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids, kicks off October with a spooky scavenger hunt. Mr. Bones needs help. His friend, Skelly-Ton, has lost his bones. All month long, children can help find Skelly-Tons bones, which have been scattered throughout the library. While at the library, kids can pick up a bat coloring sheet to decorate. Use your imagination, library staff said in a news release. It can be as realistic or as batty as youd like. Return it by Oct. 16 to be enter into a contest. The winner will receive a fang-tastic prize. Contest is open to ages 12 and younger. In addition, BRCL will host three Spooktacular events at the Anna Howard Shaw Memorial Park outside the library. In case of inclement weather, check for cancellation notifications at www.facebook.com/BigRapidsCommunityLibrary. Magic for Beginners: 4-5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19. Budding magicians ages 9-13 will get a magic lesson with magician John Dudley. Registration is required for this event. Call the library at 231-796-5234 or email Sarah Welch at swelch@bigrapidslibrary.org. Paranormal University, Ghost Hunting 101: 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22. Members of the Michigan Area Paranormal Investigation Team will teach the basics of ghost hunting. See evidence of paranormal activity collected from around Michigan including in Big Rapids and at Ferris State University. Bring your own chair. Fall Festival Events: 3-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. Join Mr. Howard for crafts, a cookie-walk and more beginning at 3 p.m. Then, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a family friendly movie. Attendees will receive a treat and a book to keep, while supplies last. REED CITY LIBRARY GOES CLASSIC For classic chills, check out the weekly creature feature at Reed City Area District Library, 829 S. Chestnut St., Reed City. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 5, it will show the original Dracula from 1931, followed by the 1950s sci-fi flick, Creature from the Black Lagoon. Not into Halloween? How about making an autumn wreath frame? From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, the library will host a workshop geared towards adults. Class size is limited to 20 crafters, so registration is required. For the kids, Ms. Cyndi will feature falling leaves, pumpkins and ghosts during story hour Oct. 20 and Oct. 27. Story Hour happens at 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday, and includes stories, crafts, games and more for preschoolers. For more events, check out the Beyond Books library calendar on Page 6A or call your local library. Off-road vehicle and snowmobile riders who are claustrophobic would not have to wear a helmet if a series of bills are passed by the Legislature. A doctors note would give a get-out-of-jail-free card to Michigan outdoor enthusiasts who have certain medical conditions and use off-road vehicles (commonly known as ORVs) and snowmobiles for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. An Upper Peninsula senator sponsored the bills after a constituent asked why he couldnt get a doctors excuse to not wear a helmet when people could get them for not wearing seatbelts. He himself has a number of special needs, including body shape development of his head, that are not typical, and it makes it impossible or very painful for him to wear a helmet, Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, said at a hearing that resulted in the bills being passed in the Senate this spring. Doctors notes could also include nonphysical conditions. Theres also the reality that some of the individuals Ive talked to, as Ive worked on this piece of legislation, their medical condition that impairs their wearing a helmet is not necessarily physical, McBroom said. Claustrophobia is a particular ailment, and I talked to an individual who has panic attacks. Allowances may need to be made in these types of circumstances, said Karen Middendorf, the executive director of the Michigan Snowmobile & ORV Association. We all know helmets are worn for safety, and it is safest to have one on while riding. However, if you have an incapacitating condition that does not allow you to cover your head, this becomes a very personal decision. An exception may be needed, she said. McBroom said the bills are not linked to what others consider the main issue: that motorcyclists arent required by law to wear helmets, yet snowmobile and ORV riders are. In this bill package, we are not dealing with that larger issue of is mandating helmets for everybody right or wrong in the first place, he said. But some snowmobile and ORV riders say the larger issue is personal choice. The doctors note should not be part of anything like this that is truly ridiculous, said Chris Bovee, a longtime snowmobile rider and resident of Harbor Springs. While I would always ride a motorcycle or snowmobile on trail with a helmet, it being a law isnt right, Bovee wrote in an email. At the very least, if I am on private property, piss off. The decision to wear a helmet or not is something I am very capable of making Dont need a law for it. Paul Anderson, the owner of Sled Solutions in Acme and a longtime snowmobile rider, agreed it should be the choice of the rider, not the government. But the government is involved, and helmet-wearing exemptions are presenting as partisan issues. The bills passed the Senate mainly along party lines. The Department of Natural Resources and the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer administration are against it, McBroom said. Frequently the party that is the same as the administration decides to support the governor and departments and divisions, those kinds of things, he said. The bill would have attracted more Senate Democrats, McBroom said, but the department and current administration opposed it. John Pepin, the Department of Natural Resources deputy public information officer, said the agency had no comment. McBroom said he hopes to gain support from both sides of the aisle before the bills come up for a vote in the House. I certainly have some good connections with Democrats and Republicans in the House that I hope Ill be able to utilize to get bipartisan support, he said. Dr. Alistair Chapman, a Spectrum Health trauma surgeon and director of the Spectrum Health Trauma Research Institute in Grand Rapids, said the bill should neither be partisan nor an issue in the first place. I am disappointed that legislators are again exploring helmet exemptions. A helmet is a common-sense safety mechanism. Wearing one is smart and safe, he said. Anderson said he plans to continue on as he has been: I wear a helmet on my snowmobile not because Im required to but because I want to. Getting rid of the ORV/snowmobile helmet law as a whole wouldnt make that much of a difference in peoples behavior, he said. If you took a poll of how many people would opt out of wearing a helmet on a snowmobile if the law didnt require it, youd find most would still wear it, Anderson wrote in an email. Why? Because its cold without one! The rates of some packages have been increased by 20% The National Health Authority (NHA), the apex body for implementing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) has revised the Health Benefit Package (HBP) Master under the scheme. In the revised version of Health Benefit Package (HBP 2.2), rates of some health packages have been increased by 20 percent to 400 per cent under PM-JAY. Around, 400 procedure rates have been revised and one new additional medical management package related to black fungus have also been added. According to the NHA, rate revision has been done in the following categories: (i) radiation oncology procedures, (ii) Medical Management procedures like procedure for dengue, acute febrile illness etc, (iii) surgical package treatment for black fungus, (iv) other procedures like Right/left heart catheterization, PDA closure, Arthrodesis, Cholecystectomy, appendicectomy etc. Under medical management procedures, rates for ICU with ventilator has been revised by 100 percent, rates for ICU without ventilator by 136 percent, rates for HDU has been revised by 22 percent while prices for routine ward has been revised by 17 percent. The HBP 2.2 is expected to be rolled out from November, 2021. Currently, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY has 1669 treatment procedures out of which 1080 are surgical, 588 medical and one unspecified package. With three vaccines already in India, what is the need for this single-dose vaccine India is steadily moving towards universal vaccine coverage as it recently crossed the landmark of 84.23 crore doses including 21.2 crores fully vaccinated, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. On other hand, India has already exported 663.7 lakh doses of India made COVID 19 vaccines to 95 countries. This drive is riding on the backbone of three vaccine candidates, Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V. You have an option to go for either of the three vaccines. Briefly, Sputnik V is a two-vector vaccine against coronavirus. Also known as Gam-COVID-Vac, the vaccine uses a heterologous recombinant adenovirus approach using adenovirus 26 (Ad26) and adenovirus 5 (Ad5) as vectors for the expression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein. The use of two varying serotypes, which are given 21 days apart, is intended to overcome any pre-existing adenovirus immunity in the population. Among the major COVID vaccines in development to date, only Gam-COVID-Vac uses this approach. Around 43.5 lakh doses of Sputnik V are already administered. In the recent event, the committee, which examines COVID-19 related proposals under an accelerated approval process, at its meeting on September 16, 2021, recommended to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) that Hetero Biopharma be allowed to manufacture the vaccine. The panel's decision, which will help enhance the availability of the vaccine, followed a proposal from the Hetero group firm that included interim safety and immunogenicity results from the Phase III clinical trial it had conducted. Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine that is developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International in collaboration with ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and the National Institute of Virology, Pune. It is based on a tried and tested platform of dead viruses. The vaccine is developed using a whole-virion inactivated Vero cell divide platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are likely to revert and cause pathological side effects. They contain dead viruses that are incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection. Around 9.6 crore doses of COVAXIN are already administered. Covishield is based on a viral vector platform, a chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOx1 (the vector), that has been modified to carry the corona virus pipe protein into human cells. While the injected cold virus is harmless it serves as an instruction manual for the body on how to fight against similar viruses. This virus is used for infections like Ebola. Being majorly used, 74.9 crore doses of Covishield are already used in India. Recent conversations bring to notice another vaccine part of the Sputnik family- Sputnik Light. Sputnik Light is the first component of Sputnik V (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26)). The single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrated 79.4 per cent efficacy according to analysed data taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russias mass vaccination programme between December 5, 2020 and April 15, 2021. An efficacy level of almost 80 per cent is higher than that of many two-dose vaccines. The Sputnik Light vaccine elicits the development of virus neutralising antibodies in 91.67 per cent of individuals on the 28th-day post-immunization. A recent study published in The Lancet showed that Sputnik Light showed 78.6-83.7 per cent efficacy against COVID-19, significantly higher than most two-shot vaccines. The study was conducted on at least 40,000 elderly people in Argentina. The question now remains that with three vaccines already in India, what is the need for this single-dose vaccine. We must not falter and continue our fight against the virus by ensuring everyone gets vaccinated and does not become careless as the world tries to resume normalcy. Moreover, vaccines such as Covishield and Sputnik V are fit for Indian terrain since they can be stored between +2 degrees and +8 degrees in contrast with the mRNA vaccines which require an extreme temperature regimen of -70-20C for storage. Interestingly, Sputnik V vaccine has already been approved by several countries across North and South America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa, the recent ones being Mexico and Egypt. With this, it is now approved for use in more than 35 countries making it one of the worlds top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals issued by the regulatory authorities. Here, it is important to note that India is likely to allow the export of domestically produced doses of Russia's Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine this month, as stocks are available. There's pressure on the government to export. In the fight against a virus that brought the world to a standstill, it would be important to collectively find a conducive solution to reach the endpoint. India not only needs to continue the fight against the pandemic but also win it along with other countries of the world by adopting a pragmatic approach and think beyond nationalism. Dr Gajendra Singh, Public Health Expert and and Dr Anuja Gupta, Microbiologist Professor Stephen Brown, principal specialist in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), and his team are taking life-saving medical care to young patients in the rural parts of the Free State. Prof. Stephen Brown Paediatric heart specialists hope that an outreach initiative started back in 2016, allowing them to travel to rural areas in the Free State to diagnose heart defects in babies early, would grow and expand to other rural areas and provinces.Every year, more than 40 babies in the rural areas of South Africa may die as a result of an undiagnosed heart lesion, because everyone assumes that they have respiratory problems when they actually have critical congenital heart disease up to 85% of which is curable, says Prof. Stephen Brown , principal specialist and head of the Division of Paediatric Cardiology in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).Prof. Brown, who is also a paediatric cardiologist at the Universitas Academic Hospital, says a life-saving collaboration initiative between the UFS, the Mother and Child Academic Hospital (MACAH) Foundation , and the Discovery Fund started five years ago to help curb the death of young patients due to congenital heart disease, and to make services more accessible to rural communities.We initiated an outreach programme due to the fact that some patients found it difficult to get transport to our central hospital. Since the Free State is considered rural, there are long distances to travel. Our concept was that we should take the service to grass-roots level to make it more convenient for the parents and caretakers.We partnered with MACAH, and since early detection of congenital heart disease makes a big difference, it fits in nicely with MACAHs first 1,000 days drive. Due to the hard work of Mrs Tertia de Bruyn, we were given the opportunity to come into contact with Discovery. Dr Daniel Buys (UFS Department of Paediatrics and Child Health) and Mr Rudolph Pretorius (echocardiography technician) did a lot of the initial paperwork and motivation, says Prof. Brown.According to him, a mobile echocardiography apparatus was donated by the Discovery Foundation via MACAH, which is crucial for doing this outreach work. The machine looks like a laptop and can be transported in a carry case.We see 170-250 patients on an annual basis. The service is obviously confined to secondary hospitals, and we started doing the Mofumahadi Manapo Mopeli Hospital in Qwaqwa and the Bongani Regional Hospital in Welkom. It has since expanded to the Dihlabeng Regional Hospital (Bethlehem) and the Pelonomi Secondary Hospital in Bloemfontein. Since initiation in 2020, Pelonomi has seen on average 40 children per month receiving a heart sonar. Covid-19 has had a major impact on our work, says Prof. Brown.Prof. Andre Venter, chairman of the MACAH Foundation, says one of the main commitments of the MACAH Foundation in central South Africa is their passionate belief that the first 1,000 days in any childs life determine their trajectory for life. Says Prof. Venter: We should do everything in our power to ensure that this 1,000-day journey is as optimal for each child, including conception, pregnancy, birth, and health during the first two years of life.As chairman of the MACAH Foundation, I am sincerely grateful to pioneers such as Prof. Brown and his team in Paediatric Cardiology for their excellent outreach initiative, but also to the Discovery Fund who shared our vision and that of Prof. Browns team and was willing to make this very generous donation. I am so proud of and so grateful to all of you, says Prof. Venter.According to him, this has not only helped to make infant cardiac screening in the rural areas a reality, but also to make it a world-class service.Prof. Brown says in his experience, this initiative is greatly appreciated, as he and Dr Buys do the clinics and heart sonars personally. The families find this fantastic, since they can have direct interaction with their cardiologist, which allows for better communication and adds a personal touch. When they come to Bloemfontein for further assessment their faces light up when seeing a familiar face.It also helps with treatment and management at their local institution. I also find that the doctors in the hospitals appreciate it tremendously they find it easier to phone and ask for advice. It brings the fancy tertiary physicians to a human level with whom they can interact. It also alleviates a lot of stress for the physicians, and they can show/ask advice re difficult cases, says Prof. Brown.By doing outreach, Prof. Brown concludes, they have learned so much about the communities and the importance of being accessible, as patients appreciate having direct interaction with the professor. The doctors and staff have also been enthusiastic and supported them tremendously at all the hospitals. The students from Cuba have joined Prof. Brown and his team when visiting their hospitals, and they can spend some dedicated clinical teaching time together. Account Executive Remuneration: negotiable to be discussed Location: Cape Town, Claremont Education level: Diploma Job level: Junior Job policy: Employment Equity position Type: Permanent Company: Brand Innovation Job description Build customer relationships with all existing clients through contact (either through GIT or LCOs) on a regular* basis. Ensure that the sales process is followed accurately and in detail. Look for creative ways to add sell or upsell during the quoting process. Identify 3 VIP,2 VIP and 1 VIP customers on your dashboard. Attend ongoing product knowledge training sessions for new stock/ranges Identify customers who would benefit from receiving a new/updated catalogue and ensure these are sent, specifically for work wear and new product lines as part of a GIT action. Ensure that logo/storyboard/presentation design work is generated and given to the designer daily. Ensure that samples are returned within 4 working days. Ensure that a funds available check is done with the accounts department, before an order is placed with a supplier. Assist with quotes, invoicing and management of orders from start to finish. Communicate with clients via email and telephonically. Arrange collections and deliveries. Follow-up with clients on quotes sent out. Achieve individual bi-annual and annual sales targets which are set based on forecasted sales and overall performance against job profile. Ensure that the correct quote, order and invoicing procedure is followed for every order processed. Above average typing skills in terms of speed and accuracy Computer literate - to enable Order Easy package learning is easier. Sales skills are a plus but not compulsory. Attention to detail and very organised Strong organisational skills. Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritise work. Attention to detail and problem-solving skills. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Comfortable talking to clients and suppliers on the phone. Proactive and self-motivated. Ability to focus on one task at a time. Team player. Good email and phone etiquette. Honesty and integrity. Initiative and work ethic. Studying/or completed diploma in marketing and sales, business administration, public relations, or related fields. Company Description to manage the sales and order process from start to finish by managing the existing client, staying in touch with client regularly via telephone and email. Manage the customers expectations in terms of delivery, support, turnaround times and accuracy of order.Please note that should you not hear from the company within 2 weeks of applying for the position that your application was unsuccessful.South Africas Premier Supplier of branded corporate clothing, corporate gifts and promotional items. Posted on 05 Oct 15:27, Closing date 4 Dec So there is another 'leak' of papers about tax saving offshore investments by people the U.S. doesnt like: The secret deals and hidden assets of some of the worlds richest and most powerful people have been revealed in the biggest trove of leaked offshore data in history. Branded the Pandora papers, the cache includes 11.9m files from companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. ... The files were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington. It shared access to the leaked data with select media partners including the Guardian, BBC Panorama, Le Monde and the Washington Post. More than 600 journalists have sifted through the files as part of a massive global investigation. The Pandora papers represent the latest and largest in terms of data volume in a series of major leaks of financial data that have convulsed the offshore world since 2013. The papers are said to come from a total of 14 offshore providers of legal vehicles which allow people to hide their money and to avoid tax payments. There is however not hint of how these papers were acquired. Who had gained access to them? How? What was the chain of custody for these? Are these the complete files of those 14 companies or were some removed before publishing? Which ones? Are all of those files authenticated and verified or is some forged material mixed in between them? Unfortunately none of the reports about the 'leak' I have read has covered those questions. But there are at least two big hints that these 'Pandora papers are, like the 'Panama papers five years ago, and the 'Paradise papers four years ago, part of an 'information operation by the usual 5-eyes suspects, the secret services of the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. On June 3 2021 the White House held a Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the Fight Against Corruption: SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great. Thanks. Hi, everybody. Good morning and thanks for joining the call today. I am really excited to be speaking to all of you about the Presidents anti-corruption agenda in advance of our rollout later this morning of a national security study memorandum thats NSSM on the fight against corruption. ... So, with the memorandum, President Biden is formally establishing the fight against corruption as a core national security interest of the United States. That was a commitment that he made during the campaign. And his pledge was that he would prioritize anti-corruption efforts and bring additional transparency to the U.S. and international financial systems. The memorandum in question is available here. It is quite short. Under "Section 2: Strategy" there are several interesting points: (c) Hold accountable corrupt individuals, transnational criminal organizations, and their facilitators, including by, and where appropriate, identifying, freezing, and recovering stolen assets through increased information sharing and intelligence collection and analysis, criminal or civil enforcement actions, advisories, and sanctions or other authorities, and, where possible and appropriate, returning recovered assets for the benefit of the citizens harmed by corruption; ... (e) Support and strengthen the capacity of civil society, media, and other oversight and accountability actors to conduct research and analysis on corruption trends, advocate for preventative measures, investigate and uncover corruption, hold leaders accountable, and inform and support government accountability and reform efforts, and work to provide these actors a safe and open operating environment domestically and internationally; (f) Work with international partners to counteract strategic corruption by foreign leaders, foreign state-owned or affiliated enterprises, transnational criminal organizations, and other foreign actors and their domestic collaborators, including, by closing loopholes exploited by these actors to interfere in democratic processes in the United States and abroad; With yesterdays 'leak' we see a first implementation of that strategy. The U.S. is using its intelligence capabilities, i.e. to hack into the systems of offshore service providers, and selectively releases whatever it might find useful for its aim to the 'civil society and media who publish (or not) whatever dirt they are given. In the Q&A of their background briefing the 'senior administration officials confirmed that was exactly what they were planning to do: Q Thank you for doing this. As you know, anti-corruption activists periodically urge the U.S. government to use its various assets and capabilities, including the intelligence community, to expose specific cases of corruption overseas, to name and shame corrupt officials and the arguments they make are familiar but also include not only, you know, a deterrent to corruption, but also a possible contribution to the promotion of democracy. Does the does the memorandum does the program include any component that connects with that? SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: What I can say on that front is that the memorandum includes components of the intelligence community. So, the work on that front, in part, remains to be seen, but they are included the Director of National Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency. And so were just going to be looking at all of the tools in our disposal to make sure that we identify corruption where its happening and take appropriate policy responses. And Ill take the opportunity to mention that were also going to be using this effort to think about what more we can do to bolster other actors that are out in the world exposing corruption and bringing it to light. So, of course, the U.S. government has its own internal methods, but, largely, the way that corruption is exposed is through the work of investigative journalists and investigative NGOs. The U.S. government to my point earlier, in terms of the support were already providing in some instances provides support to these actors. And well be looking at what more we can do on that front as well. Q What does the word support mean in that context? SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, sometimes it boils down to foreign assistance. There are lines of assistance that have jumpstarted investigatory journalism organizations. What comes to my mind most immediately is OCCRP, as well as foreign assistance that goes to NGOs, ultimately, that do investigative work on anti-corruption, as well. The allegedly independent Organized Crime And Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is funded, like the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), through various 'western' foundations and 'western' governments. As the 'senior administration official admits it was 'jumpstarted' by the U.S. (and British) government. The U.S. has copied the model of WikiLeaks. In 2017 the Trump administration designated WikiLeaks as a non-state hostile intelligence service for publishing secret government papers given to it by whistle-blowers who exposed murder, hacking and other misdeeds by the U.S. government. The U.S. has for many years propped up competition to Wikileaks by founding and/or supporting OCCRP, ICIJ and similar organizations who are fed with materials provided by 5-eyes intelligence agencies. These organizations are "non-state friendly intelligence service for publishing private papers of people the 5-eyes dislike. A lengthy recent Yahoo piece on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks (see corrections to its 'Russiagate' nonsense here) explicitly made that point: Were kind of post-WikiLeaks right now, said a former senior counterintelligence official. Yet spy services are increasingly using a WikiLeaks-like model of posting stolen materials online. In 2018, the Trump administration granted the CIA aggressive new secret authorities to undertake the same sort of hack-and-dump operations for which Russian intelligence has used WikiLeaks. Among other actions, the agency has used its new powers to covertly release information online about a Russian company that worked with Moscows spy apparatus. The program was not launched under Trump but is, like the Biden memorandum above, just an extension of a program that has existed for years. OCCRP was founded in 2006 and at first hit only at eastern European governments. The 'Panama papers came out in 2016. The new 'Pandora papers are just a new variant of these. A main purpose of these releases of stolen data is propaganda. Just look at the picture the Guardian put on top its story about them: A day before the provinces new pandemic restrictions were set to kick in, public health officials announced that two more Manitobans had died from COVID-19, with 83 new cases being identified at the same time. Advertisement Advertise With Us A day before the provinces new pandemic restrictions were set to kick in, public health officials announced that two more Manitobans had died from COVID-19, with 83 new cases being identified at the same time. According to Mondays COVID bulletin from the province, both of these fatalities involved men in their 70s from the Southern Health region, whose deaths were linked to an unverified variant of concern. This brings the provinces COVID death rate up to 1,213 people since the pandemic began. Otherwise, the 83 new cases announced on Monday could be found throughout all five health regions: four new cases in the Interlake-Eastern health region (one not fully vaccinated) 12 new cases in the Northern health region (10 not fully vaccinated) 15 new cases in the Prairie Mountain health region (nine not fully vaccinated) 29 new cases in the Southern Health region (25 not fully vaccinated) 23 new cases in the Winnipeg health region (14 not fully vaccinated) As of Monday, the province is reporting a five-day test positivity rate of 3.7 per cent provincially and 1.5 per cent in Winnipeg, with 98 Manitobans being hospitalized due to COVID-19. These numbers were released a day before public health officials stepped up their COVID enforcement by moving the province from threat-level yellow (caution) to orange (restricted). This means Manitobans who havent been fully vaccinated yet will now be limited in their ability to gather publicly. For example, the province is reducing indoor public gathering group sizes to 25 people or 25 per cent capacity, whichever is lower, for unvaccinated people who are eligible to be immunized. Indoor group sizes for faith-based gatherings are also being limited to 25 people or 33 per cent capacity. Fully vaccinated individuals will largely be unaffected by these new health orders, although all outdoor public gathering sizes will be reduced to 50 people, with retail capacity in the Southern Health region being limited to 50 per cent. Manitoba schools wont be impacted by these new changes, with health officials recommending a school-specific approach when risk is identified. During Mondays COVID briefing with reporters, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin emphasized, once again, that these new rules are necessary to soften the impact of the fourth wave of the pandemic. "Numbers will continue to climb unless Manitobans step up, follow these restrictions and get vaccinated," he said. The provinces vaccine uptake for eligible Manitobans currently sits at 85.2 per cent for one dose and 81.1 per cent with two doses. Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the provinces vaccine implementation task force, also used Mondays news conference to remind the public they are now allowing COVID-19 vaccines to be given out at the same time as other immunizations. Before Monday, Manitobans werent allowed to receive other vaccines for the flu, hepatitis B, whooping cough, etc. 28 days before or 14 days after their COVID-19 shot. While this standard was put in place by Canadas National Advisory Committee on Immunization when the COVID-19 vaccine was first being administered, evolving evidence surrounding the vaccine suggests that such an approach is unnecessary. "So this will make it easier for people who want to get one or more vaccines," Reimer said on Monday. "For example, if you get a seasonal flu shot and you need a [COVID-19] vaccine, you will be able to do that at the same visit." Reimer also mentioned that this new standard will help children catch up on their routine immunizations, which have been disrupted over the last year and a half due to the pandemic. "We know that there are still many youth and children who have not received all of their routine immunizations," she said. "So the reminder is really just to try to get the numbers as high as possible to avoid any additional outbreaks." kdarbyson@brandonsun.com Twitter: @KyleDarbyson Close to 40 people marched through the streets of Brandon Monday afternoon to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls as part of the Sisters in Spirit walk. Advertisement Advertise With Us CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Cyndi Price releases flower petals into the Assiniboine River at the Brandon Sisters in Spirit walk in support of MMIWG Monday. Close to 40 people marched through the streets of Brandon Monday afternoon to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls as part of the Sisters in Spirit walk. Grandmother Debbie Huntinghawk said it remains essential for Canadians to address the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) crisis in the country, as little has changed since the document "Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls" was released more than two years ago. "The reason I do these [walks] is because of my kids. I dont want them to be missing or murdered," Huntinghawk said. CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Flower petals are dropped into the Assiniboine River for the Brandon Sisters in Spirit walk in support of MMIWG Monday. The purpose of the Sisters in Spirit walk is to draw public attention and education to the pervasive problem of violence against Indigenous women across Canada. There are believed to be between 2,500 and 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across the country. However, "Reclaiming Power and Place" says it is unlikely the true number can ever be quantified. The MMIWG crisis should lie close to Brandonites hearts, Huntinghawk said, because those affected are community members who have lived through the loss of a loved one. It can be shocking learning about the experience of those affected by the crisis, but it is a discussion that needs to take place in Canada. CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN In a Good Way co-ordinator Charlena Thies, left, hands out flower petals to drop into the Assiniboine River at the Brandon Sisters in Spirit walk in support of MMIWG Monday. MMIWG can be a challenging conversation to have, but the community needs to work together to ensure the most vulnerable in Westman are not left behind, she said. "We have to talk about [it] and we have to do the walk. If we dont, no one knows about it," Huntinghawk said. In 2020, The Canadian Press reported the Native Womens Association of Canada conducted a series of nationwide, grassroots consultations with local member offices and with Indigenous women to determine how COVID-19 has been affecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis women in Canada. A survey of more than 250 Indigenous women found one in five reporting they were a victim of physical or psychological violence in the past three months. Preliminary results of the survey and two additional consultations suggest more of these women are concerned about domestic violence during the global pandemic than they are about the COVID-19 virus itself. Huntinghawk stressed the need for all Canadians and all levels of government to address the crisis and push for active change in the country. She hopes conversations about MMIWG inspire Canadians to remain engaged and push for lasting and systemic changes that can help bring the crisis to an end. "It happens every night in our community. But its so hushed," Huntinghawk lamented. "We have to do something." ckemp@brandonsun.com, with files from The Canadian Press Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp OTTAWA - Canada is formally invoking a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States in a bid to prevent Michigan from turning off the taps to Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. Fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the pipeline near St. Ignace as Enbridge prepares to test the east and west sides of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Mich., on June 8, 2017. Canada is formally invoking a treaty on pipelines with the United States in a bid to prevent Michigan from turning off the taps to Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Detroit News - Dale G Young, *MANDATORY CREDIT* OTTAWA - Canada is formally invoking a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States in a bid to prevent Michigan from turning off the taps to Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement Monday that the transit pipeline treaty "guarantees the uninterrupted transit of light crude oil and natural gas liquids between the two countries." Line 5 carries 540,000 barrels of light crude and natural gas liquids between Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ont., which the company and other proponents say are a critical energy source in the U.S. Midwest, as well as Ontario and Quebec. But almost a year ago, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked an easement granted to the pipeline in 1953 which had allowed it to run through the Straits of Mackinac, a water body connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Citing potential catastrophic environmental consequences if the aging pipeline ruptures, Whitmer gave Enbridge six months to shut off the flow. Enbridge challenged the order in court, and the two sides have been engaged in court-ordered mediation talks for months. Those talks are now at a standstill, with Michigan indicating last month it had no desire to continue. Canada had already argued in a brief submitted to the court last spring that the case should be set aside to allow Canada and the United States to negotiate a solution under the transit pipeline treaty. With the mediation talks now not moving, Canada has formally requested the dispute process of the treaty to begin, and its lawyer asked the U.S. federal judge to halt further court proceedings pending the outcome of the treaty talks. "In response to Michigans efforts to shut down Line 5, Canada has raised its significance for Canadian economic and energy security at the highest levels of the U.S. federal government," Garneau said. "We have also stressed the importance of fully respecting and implementing the international agreements that are in place between our two countries." The dispute mechanism first calls for negotiations between the two federal governments. If those fail, either side can request binding arbitration, a process that could take six months just to get the arbitrators in place. Whitmer said in a statement she was "profoundly disappointed" by Canada's move, and asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reverse the decision. She said she expected more from Canada, "a nation that prides itself on its commitment to environmental protection" and accused it of bowing to the bidding of the company responsible for the 2010 oil spill in the Kalamazoo River. That rupture of Enbridge's Line 6B spilled more than 3.8 million litres of diluted bitumen into the river in one of the largest inland oil spills ever seen in the U.S. "I remain confident that Michigan will prevail in its legal efforts with respect to Line 5, regardless of todays action, and I will continue to fight to get the pipelines out of the water," said Whitmer. Canadian environmental groups were on Whitmer's side. Michelle Woodhouse, the water program manager at Environmental Defence, said the pipeline "poses an unacceptable threat to the Great Lakes," including to the way of life of Indigenous Peoples in the region. She also said Canada has not done the research to prove the true importance of the pipeline to Ontario and Quebec. "Yet Canada seems to be accepting Enbridges claims about this dangerous pipeline unequivocally, while downplaying the risks posed to the Great Lakes and to climate," she said. "We know alternatives exist an independent analysis shows the existing pipeline system has capacity to meet most of the regions energy needs without Line 5." Ontario Premier Doug Ford backed the Canadian move, as did Enbridge. In a statement the company said the pipeline has operated safely for 68 years and provided a "much needed source of energy." "To have that threatened by a single governmental entity creates concerns about energy security as winter approaches and the economy as the region looks to re-emerge from the pandemic," the company said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021. QUEBEC - A fringe Quebec City municipal party's platform describes Islam as a cancer," and the province's elections commission says it doesn't have the power to do anything about it. QUEBEC - A fringe Quebec City municipal party's platform describes Islam as a cancer," and the province's elections commission says it doesn't have the power to do anything about it. Quebec will hold provincewide municipal elections on Nov. 7. Elections Quebec, the agency that is overseeing the campaigns across the province, said Monday there is no Quebec law that addresses the content of political platforms. The office doesn't have the power to ban a party or candidate over alleged hate speech, spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud said in an interview. A voter casts their ballot for the Quebec provincial election, in L'Assomption, Que., Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz "We do not look at the ideas of the parties; we act impartially," St-Arnaud said. "There is nothing in our laws that says if a person makes statements of such nature, his candidacy is withdrawn. It is up to the voters to make their choices when the time comes on the ballot." Alongside policy on drinking water and transportation, the political platform of Alliance Citoyenne de Quebec calls Islam a "cancer that is slowly growing inside Quebec society" and a religion that is "contrary to the fundamental values of Quebec." Party head Alain Giasson said Monday there is no place for a law in Quebec that would censure such comments. His predecessor, Daniel Brisson, received 0.61 per cent of the vote for mayor in the 2018 Quebec City municipal election. "It's a legitimate debate but unfortunately, people are afraid to talk about it," Giasson said about Islam. Benoit Charette, the Quebec minister responsible for fighting racism, said Tuesday through a spokesperson, "We cannot tolerate this type of speech, especially when it comes from a political party." Andree Laforest, Quebec municipal affairs minister, said through a spokesperson that the comments about Islam in Giasson's platform "don't have a place in our society." Giasson said he added a section on Islam to his platform after he learned a major party in the election is running Boufeldja Benabdallah, the co-founder of the city's Islamic cultural centre, for city councillor. Benabdallah is with the team of Marie-Josee Savard, who is a front-runner in the race and has described outgoing Mayor Regis Labeaume as her mentor. Benabdallah has been an important figure in the Muslim community in Quebec City, where four years have passed since a gunman stormed his mosque on Jan. 29, 2017, shooting dead six men and seriously injuring 19 people. In an interview Monday, Benabdallah said Giasson should take down the offensive section of the platform and apologize. But, he said, he wasn't planning on exerting too much effort to make that happen. "They insulted me and my religion," he said. "I asked them to issue an apology and to remove the section but if they dont want, thats how far I will go." "We need to create programs to live together," he added. "Concrete actions that will bring people together. Cultural, intellectual activities, sports, conferences. But it wont happen by itself. I agree that we need to regulate and slow down hate speech, but we need funding for people to work together and listen to each other. It cannot just be laws, we need concrete actions." Lara Emond, spokeswoman for Savard's party, said Monday the fact people are accusing Benabdallah of imposing his religion shows there is still work to be done to make the province's capital more inclusive. "Mr. Boufeldja Benabdallah does not intend to turn his back on his religion, but neither will he impose his point of view," Emond said in a statement. By Virginie Ann in Montreal. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 5, 2021. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated that Elections Quebec had confirmed it received a complaint against the party platform. MONTREAL - It's too soon to say what caused a plane pulling a marriage proposal banner to crash near Old Montreal over the weekend, but there are "certain dangers" that come with towing banners by air, an ex-pilot said Monday. A member of the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) inspects the wreckage of a plane at a crash site in Montreal, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. The small plane crashed on ile Sainte-Helene, near Montreals Old Port on Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes MONTREAL - It's too soon to say what caused a plane pulling a marriage proposal banner to crash near Old Montreal over the weekend, but there are "certain dangers" that come with towing banners by air, an ex-pilot said Monday. Julien Placa, who still flies recreationally, said in an interview from Montreal that most crashes are due to a "combination of factors," adding that there's rarely one single reason why a plane goes down. Flying, he said, relies on two factors: power from the engines and lift from the wings. Towing banners, he explained, means engines have to work harder to maintain minimum speeds, putting them at risk of losing lift and stalling, and because the planes fly low, there is little time to react if things go wrong. "We're within speeds that are very low, so we're always at the limit of what we call a plane that can stall, that's not flying fast enough," he said. A passenger died and the pilot was seriously injured in Saturday's crash, which occurred around 6 p.m. near Old Montreal and near the site of a busy music festival. The Transportation Safety Board said Monday the plane's engines would be sent to a lab in Ottawa for analysis, adding that it was still too soon to determine what caused the crash. While Placa said towing banners is safe under "well-managed" conditions, he said it's still riskier than flying the plane alone. Without knowing the circumstances, he said a number of things could have caused the plane to get into trouble: too much humidity in the air, which can cause ice to build up in the carburetor; engine trouble; human error; too much weight in the plane; or a low cloud cover, which would require the aircraft to fly closer to the ground to make the banner visible. "Accidents happen, and they happen from a combination of circumstances," Placa said. "It's rarely just one reason that causes an accident." Montreal La Presse and other media outlets have identified the pilot as Gian Piero Ciambella, owner of the aerial advertising company Aerogram. Placa said Ciambella was the one who taught him to fly planes pulling banners about 15 years ago, and he said his former mentor has decades of experience and was always safety conscious. "The way he taught me about banners, it was always in terms of safety above all, and also thinking about the safety of people on the ground," he said. While the two haven't spoken in close to a decade, Placa said Ciambella has an "excellent" reputation among pilots. But accidents can happen, especially when it comes to the added challenge of towing, he said. "It's still a flight with certain dangers," he said, adding that the first thing pilots learn when something goes wrong is to detach the banner they are pulling. The plane involved in the crash was a Cessna 172, which Placa described as a popular plane that is very easy to fly. He said that in all his years of flying, with and without banners, he's never had to make a forced landing unlike Ciambella, who made headlines in 2006 when he was forced to land a plane on a busy Montreal street. Despite the risks, Placa maintains that flying is a safe activity "safer than crossing the road on foot or taking a car," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021. MONTREAL - Friends and family of a Montreal lawyer who died in a plane crash in Italy are remembering him for his career success, his passion for politics and his love of the outdoors. MONTREAL - Friends and family of a Montreal lawyer who died in a plane crash in Italy are remembering him for his career success, his passion for politics and his love of the outdoors. Julien Brossard, 35, was one of eight people who died when a private plane crashed in Milan on Sunday, killing all aboard. Julien Brossard is seen in an undated handout photo. Brossard, 35, was one of eight people who died when a private plane crashed in Milan on Sunday, killing all aboard. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Simon Leger, *MANDATORY CREDIT* His father, Michel Brossard, said his son was accomplished in business and had a passion for Canadian politics. "He was on top of the world and that was all taken away," Brossard said in an interview Tuesday. "But I can't be unhappy for him. I am happy for him; I have to just be strong enough to continue on those values for a great man." Julien Brossard, who graduated from a combined MBA and law program at Universite de Sherbrooke, was a vice-president at insurance company Liberty Mutual in Montreal. His father said Brossard had a deep knowledge of Canadian constitutional law and politics. "Whenever I would talk politics with Julien, I had to be very well prepared," Brossard said. While he said his son was very liberal, Brossard said he was always open to listening to other opinions. Julien Brossard was travelling to the Italian island of Sardinia with his partner, Dan Stefan Petrescu, who also died in the crash. The two had met while Petrescu was pursuing his doctoral studies at McGill University. Michel Brossard described Petrescu as a "gentle, exceptional man" who impressed his son with his intelligence. Petrescu's father, Dan Petrescu, a Romanian billionaire, was flying the plane when it went down. Brossard said Petrescu was an accomplished pilot. He said he was in contact with authorities in Italy and he wanted to receive his son's death certificate but was less concerned about the results of the investigation into the crash. "Whatever the actual cause of that mechanical failure is, my son is gone," he said. "It doesn't give me anything." Marwah Rizqy, a Liberal member of the Quebec legislature, remembered Brossard as an extraordinary friend who never spoke ill of anyone and who gave his friends an education on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and on Quebec history. Rizqy, who met Brossard at Universite de Sherbrooke, said he took time off work to manage her campaign for elected office in 2018 and was her best man at her wedding in September. "He's my best friend, he's my psychologist, he's my adviser," she said in an interview Tuesday. "It's with him I had the biggest laughs in my life; he was the one who always cauterized my wounds." Simon Leger, a friend of Brossard's since childhood, said Brossard loved the outdoors and that every weekend he tried to find new places for activities including skiing, biking and jogging. Leger described Brossard as someone who valued justice, equality, inclusion and respect. "His sensitivity and empathy, even for people far from him, were legendary," Leger wrote in a text message Tuesday. Rob Marsh, president of Liberty Mutual Canada, expressed his condolences to Brossard's family and friends in an emailed statement. We are devastated to learn of the tragedy involving our beloved colleague, Julien," Marsh said. "He was a cherished friend and leader within our Liberty family who greatly touched our lives. We are heartbroken over this shocking loss. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. With files from The Associated Press. This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship. MIRAMICHI, N.B. - Rodney Levi, an Indigenous man killed by the RCMP in 2020, said police would have to shoot him if they wanted him to drop his knives, an officer testified Monday at a coroner's inquest. MIRAMICHI, N.B. - Rodney Levi, an Indigenous man killed by the RCMP in 2020, said police would have to shoot him if they wanted him to drop his knives, an officer testified Monday at a coroner's inquest. RCMP Const. Scott Hait, who shot and killed Levi on June 12, 2020, was the first officer on the scene in Sunny Corner, N.B., after police received a complaint about a disturbance in a home. Hait told a coroner's jury in Miramichi, N.B., that while driving to the scene, he was told there was an unwanted person at the residence who had knives and that so far, no one had been hurt. A picture of Rodney Levi sits at the front of a conference room in Miramichi, N.B., on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, where a coroners inquest is underway into his death. A coroner's inquest into the RCMP fatal shooting of an Indigenous man in New Brunswick has heard the 911 calls and police transmissions from June 12, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Bissett Hait said he was also told the unwanted person was Levi. Hait said he had not met the man prior to that day but had recognized the name because Levi had been involved in a recent case about a break and enter. The officer said when he arrived, Levi, 48, was standing on a deck at the home wielding two knives. He said he asked Levi if he wanted to harm himself or was suicidal. "He said yes," Hait told the five-member coroner's jury. The officer said he told Levi he would be able to get him some help and told him to surrender the two knives. He said Levi responded that he had found the knives on the side of the road. Hait said Levi was responding to his questions, but that every time the conversation moved to the knives, Levi stopped answering. A second officer, Const. Justin Napke, arrived to the scene and also instructed Levi to drop the knives. Hait said the man refused. He said Napke deployed his Taser, but it had no effect. Hait said Napke tried to electroshock the man again. Hait said he drew his pistol, and he said Levi began holding the knives in front of himself. He said Levi then blurted, "You're going to have to put a bullet in me." Levi was given a third jolt from the Taser, Hait said. The man flinched, dropped one knife, then picked it up and started to hold both of them in a threatening manner, Hait said. "He started to step toward me," Hait told the inquest. "I was fearful for my life and those of the people around me." Hait said he fired two shots, three to five feet away from Levi. Testimony from a coroner last week said those shots were fatal. Napke told the court he was badly shaken by the incident and only returned to active duty two weeks ago. Neither officer was wearing a body camera. Earlier Monday, the inquest heard the 911 calls and police transmissions from the day of the shooting. Two members of the MacLeod family, who lived at the home where the shooting occurred, are heard telling a 911 dispatcher that Levi appeared to be under the influence of something and was armed with two kitchen knives. The inquest also heard police radio transmissions of an officer saying "shots fired, shots fired" and "we need medics here now." The shooting was investigated by Quebec's police watchdog, the Bureau des enquetes independantes, which submitted a report to New Brunswick prosecutors in December. The BEI probed the killing because New Brunswick doesn't have an independent police watchdog. New Brunswick prosecutors determined the officers on the scene believed Levi was using force against them and were justified in shooting him. On Monday, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia announced they had reached an agreement in principle that would allow Nova Scotias Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) to act as the police oversight body for both provinces. SiRT is an independent agency that has a mandate to investigate matters such as death, serious injury and sexual assault involving the police. Levi's killing came days after an Edmundston, N.B., police officer fatally shot Chantel Moore, a 26-year-old Indigenous woman, during a wellness check. The two killings sparked anger in the province's Indigenous community. A coroner's inquest does not assign blame but issues recommendations intended to help prevent a death under similar circumstances in the future. The inquest is expected to wrap up Thursday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021. TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - Joyce Echaquan's family said Tuesday it would launch legal action against the hospital where she died, hours after a Quebec coroner said a combination of "undeniable" systemic racism and health-care system failings contributed to her death. Carol Dube, husband of Joyce Echaquan, reads a statement next to his daughter Wassihna during a memorial marking the first anniversary of the death of his wife in front of the hospital where she died in Joliette, Que., on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. - Joyce Echaquan's family said Tuesday it would launch legal action against the hospital where she died, hours after a Quebec coroner said a combination of "undeniable" systemic racism and health-care system failings contributed to her death. Lawyer Patrick Martin-Menard was flanked by Echaquan's husband, Carol Dube, as well as other members of the family as he announced the civil suit. Martin-Menard told reporters in Becancour, Que., that Echaquan was the victim of negligence "at several levels" and said her death was "triggered by a combination of deficient health-care and racist prejudices and misconceptions." Details of the civil suit would be announced in the coming days, he added. Dube, who was joined by one of his daughters, spoke quietly and kept his head bowed as he once again called for changes to a system that he said discriminated against Indigenous families and judged his wife for having had multiple children. "Joyce is dead because she was Indigenous," he said. "A woman with seven marvellous children what she had that was most beautiful was used against her in a system that still allows this kind of tragic situation to happen." Earlier Tuesday, coroner Gehane Kamel said that from the moment Echaquan entered the hospital in Joliette, Que., in 2020, she was falsely labelled as a drug addict and a "difficult" patient a label that would impact her care until her death two days later. Kamel's report into Echaquan's death found that her demise was accidental, but avoidable. As she presented her report on Tuesday, Kamel said the 37-year-old Atikamekw woman would likely still be alive if she were a white woman. the family of Joyce Echaquan, Carol Dube,left, husband,Michel Echaquan and Diane Dube,her parents, and their daughter, Marie-Wasianna Echaquan-Dube, arrive to comment on the coroner report on the death of Joyce Echaquan Tuesday, October 5, 2021 in Becancour, Que..THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz The coroner reiterated her recommendation that the government should recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it out of institutions something the Legault government has steadfastly refused to do. We have witnessed an unacceptable death, and we must ensure that it is not in vain," Kamel told reporters. "It is unacceptable that large sections of our society deny such a well-documented reality." In Quebec City, Premier Francois Legault told reporters he agreed that Echaquan was subjected to prejudice, discrimination and racism at the hospital northeast of Montreal. But he maintained that systemic racism does not exist in the province, blaming what happened to Echaquan on a few health-care employees and quoting a definition of "systemic" from the dictionary to back up his position. "Is the entire education system, or health system racist? I believe the answer is no," Legault said. "But its possible that at certain places, there are employees, groups of them who have discriminatory approaches. But to say that the entire system is racist, I cant accept it." Echaquan 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 the Joliette hospital. The video of her treatment went viral and drew outrage and condemnation, and the coroner's final report into her death concluded her initial diagnosis was based on prejudice and she wasn't properly monitored before finally being transferred to intensive care. Echaquan died of a pulmonary edema that was linked to a rare heart condition. Kamel said she wouldn't get involved in a political debate, but maintained that systemic racism was "undeniable" in Echaquan's case. "From the first minute she entered the hospital, a label was placed on Ms. Echaquan," she said. Kamel said medical staff, who assumed Echaquan was experiencing opioid withdrawal, failed to properly evaluate the medications she was taking and ignored the symptoms she described, including heart palpitations. Later, after Echaquan became agitated and fell from bed twice, she was branded "theatrical" and strapped down. Health-care workers didn't explore alternatives to calm her down or reassure her, such as calling the hospital's Atikamekw liaison officer, Kamel said. But while she maintained that racism played a part in Echaquan's death, Kamel noted that it wasn't the only factor. She said emergency room overcrowding and a lack of trained staff on the floor meant there weren't enough people to supervise Echaquan once she was restrained. There was also was a failure to notice and react quickly enough when her condition began to deteriorate, the coroner added. She urged decision-makers to give equal weight to her other recommendations, which include better staff-to-patient ratios, improved communication between health authorities when it comes to patient medication, and more training for staff on racial sensitivity and standards of care. Kamel became emotional when she thought about Echaquan's daughter trying to comfort her dying mother at her bedside, and she said her hope is that her report will be an invitation to a discussion and reconciliation with Indigenous groups. "In the name of her partner, her children, for this Indigenous nation, let's come together to extend a hand," she said. Martin-Menard said that in addition to the civil lawsuit, he would also be filing a complaint against Quebec's order of nurses and the order of physicians, asking them to review the entirety of her care. He said he would also file a complaint with the province's human rights commission. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. OTTAWA - The Supreme Court is being asked to determine whether Canadas military judges are truly independent. Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance responds to a question during a news conference Friday, June 26, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - The Supreme Court is being asked to determine whether Canadas military judges are truly independent. The request filed on behalf of several service members whose criminal cases are on hold represents the latest and possibly last twist in a landmark legal battle whose genesis dates back to 2018, when Canadas chief military judge was himself charged. While the fraud case against Col. Mario Dutil was eventually dropped last year, it nonetheless set off a series of events that included a standoff between the rest of the militarys judges and then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance. That included the four military judges ruling in several cases since put on hold that they were not independent because Vance had issued an order placing responsibility for their discipline under another senior officer. While that position was rejected by the Court Martial Appeal Court in June, the militarys top defence lawyer argues in his submission to the Supreme Court asking it to hear the matter that the military appeal court erred on several counts. Cmdr. Mark Letourneau, the director of defence counsel services, accused the appeal court of having based its decision on a 30-year-old Supreme Court decision that, in his opinion, all but ignored how the system and military have changed over the intervening decades. He also argued that it ignored the findings of retired Supreme Court justice Morris Fishs recent review of the military justice system, whose first recommendation was the appointment of civilian judges to oversee courts martial and end concerns about the judiciarys independence. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjans office has previously said the government has accepted all 107 of Fishs recommendations in principle. But the call to civilianize military judges is not one of the 36 that it has committed to implementing immediately, despite Fish having reported that senior military commanders were supportive of such a move. The office of the director of military prosecutions is due to file a response to Letourneaus request with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court does not have to hear the matter, and can simply dismiss the appeal without giving any reasons. But in asking it to hear the case, Letourneau argues the legitimacy of the entire system is facing a crisis, as evidenced by sexual misconduct allegations against several senior officers, with the current situation undermining the confidence of Canadian troops and the public. Military judges now seem more than ever at the mercy of the disciplinary powers of the chain of command while the officers at the top of it appear to be rather exempt, Letourneau says in his submission, which is written in French. On the one hand, the chief military judge was the subject of an abandoned military prosecution while top CAF officers are the subject of allegations of serious sexual misconduct, publicly described in detail by the complainants without any military prosecution being brought. Letourneaus leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is the latest test to Canada's military justice system, which has been subjected to several largely unsuccessful challenges over its constitutionality. Dutils case was also seen as a major test before it fell apart in March 2020 after his deputy, Lt.-Col. Louis-Vincent d'Auteuil, recused himself and refused to name another military judge to take over, saying two of them had conflicts of interest and the third wasn't bilingual enough. The chief military judge quietly retired nine days later and the Liberal government has yet to name a replacement. Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour is conducting her own review on how to stop sexual misconduct in the military, which will also include a review of the court-martial system. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021. Introducing Mona Fenner, 'Troubles Don't Last Always' Debut Gospel Radio Single | The Bellamy Group Madontrenique "Mona" Fenner's true love is singing! At an early age, Mona knew she had an extraordinary gift from God. Not taking her gift for granted, she is sharing her voice with the world. Mona has sung background vocals and has opened for Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Sapp, Donald Lawrence, Bishop Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Richard Smallwood, Hezekiah Walker, and Darryl Coley. Her voice has carried her around the United States and to Stockholm, Sweden, to perform at the Stockholm Gospel Festival. This summer, Mona released her debut single "Troubles Don't Last Always" via EMG Alliance. Her robust vocal and evangelical delivery of the encouraging lyrics create a powerful song of inspiration. "Troubles Don't Last Always" is written by James Jackson and is available on all digital music outlets. The song is produced by Ivan Johnson (for Yibro Music Group) and features legendary guitarist Jonathan Dubose. The single is impacting Gospel radio now. "This song is one of my many testimonies of a season of trouble and darkness in my life," Mona shares. "But it also represents a period of preparation for my current journey." She continues, "God does some of his best work in some of our darkest places. He is still working and will work things out on your behalf. That is the encouragement I want to give through this song." Mona has answered Gods call on her life and is walking into her season of music and ministry. "Troubles Don't Last Always" is the precursor to Mona's forthcoming debut album I'M STILL HERE. Sanjay Joseph had just bought a property in Sydneys North Kellyville when he received an email from what appeared to be his conveyancer asking him to transfer almost $100,000 to complete the purchase. The email was branded with the correct companys details and showed the exact amount owed, so Mr Joseph thought nothing of it and transferred the money immediately. However, in a phone conversation a few days later, it emerged no amount had been requested or received. The conveyancing system used by the seller had been hacked and Mr Joseph had been scammed. Sanjay Joseph says NAB needs to live its know your customer processes to prevent financial crime. Credit:Louise Kennerley The 32-year-old discovered the money had been sent to a UBank account. UBank is owned by the National Australia Bank. Alarmed, he marched into NABs branch in Sydneys Castle Hill branch asking for help. Qantas boss Alan Joyce says home quarantine should be a short-lived solution to opening Australias international border, and the country should lift all isolation requirements as soon as possible to restart tourism and business travel. In Boston for a global meeting of airline bosses, Mr Joyce on Tuesday also revealed that Qantas will place a multibillion-dollar order for more than 100 new aircraft by the middle of next year to replace its ageing domestic fleet, as well as for new long-haul aircraft to fly non-stop to London and New York. Qantas will make an order to replace its domestic fleet by the middle of next year. Credit:James Brickwood Qantas is preparing to restart regular flights from Sydney to London and Los Angeles on November 14 after the Morrison government said it would let inbound vaccinated Australians isolate at home for seven days, rather than spend two weeks in hotel quarantine. Mr Joyce said that while people returning home or visiting family may tolerate home quarantine, other business travellers and tourists would not. We need to move, hopefully, quite rapidly away from the seven days [quarantine], he said during a press conference from the sidelines of the International Air Transport Associations (IATA) annual meeting in Boston. Opus Dei provide a chaplain, who is a priest of Opus Dei who provides chaplaincy services [to the school], and thats where the relationship ends, said Richard Vella, the spokesperson for Opus Dei in Australia. The chaplains involvement at school includes leading mass, confession or offering students spiritual guidance. Mr Vella said parents who sent their children to its schools may be Opus Dei members but any overlap would be a personal interest in [Opus Deis] message. The Opus Dei message is simple and has a very wide appeal: work, family life, and the events of each day present an opportunity for becoming close to Christ and making him known, he said. Thats a very basic common message about Christianity. Loading Former students who attended Redfield and Tangara throughout the 2000s and 2010s and who spoke to the Herald said the portion of their peers with some sort of connection to Opus Dei ranged between a quarter and half of the school population, but they were not the majority. For those who were connected to Opus Dei, normally their parents were supernumeraries, or married members. They said the schools were also more ethnically diverse than people would think, noting a number of Filipino and Middle Eastern families choose the schools, very few with Opus Dei connections. According to MySchool data, just under a third of students come from a non-English speaking background. Parents who have children at the schools say they are drawn to the strong sense of community, advocacy of parental involvement and support for family relationships. Tangara and Redfield also run a unique one-on-one mentoring program, where each child meets with a staff member once a fortnight to check on their academic, social and moral development. Parents are invited into that process once a term. The schools proponents point out the mentoring program as well as comparatively lower private school fees relative to HSC results are an attractive prospect to families who may not be devout. Fees reach $9700 for year 6 and $17,300 for year 12; Tangaras HSC scores ranked 25th in the state last year. Tangara and Redfield are sibling schools both run by PARED, which emphasises parents role in their childrens education. Credit:Kate Geraghty But many students will also attend after-school or holiday study camps operated by the not-for-profit Education Development Association, an organisation founded by Opus Dei members whose first operation was UNSWs conservative Catholic Warrane College in the 1960s. (The Premiers brother, Alex Perrottet, is dean of Warrane). Mr Vella said the study centres, which include separate sites for men and women at Pennant Hills, had a closer relationship with Opus Dei than the schools, with members living on-site. But he said any relationship between the study centres and the schools which sometimes advertise the study centres and camps in their newsletters comes from a personal affiliation. Definitely, the operations are different, Mr Vella said. However, others said the majority of school staff were at times involved with the study centre and that the Opus Dei numeraries, who are celibate members, had a presence at the school. The lines between the religious order of Opus Dei and the school are intentionally blurred, a former student who graduated from Tangara in the late 2000s said. She requested anonymity because her family members are involved with the community. Your science teacher can be a numerary, and you can go from class with her, to being driven to [Opus Dei womens study centre] Eremeran by her, for her to then deliver a circle with reflection on religious passages and prayer before she helps you with your science homework. Another student who attended at the same time said that although her family was not in Opus Dei and attendance at PARED schools did not automatically make someone a member, she would describe Tangara as an Opus Dei school and students who showed an interest in the faith could be encouraged by teachers who were numeraries to join. Loading Dr Mullins, Redfields longest-serving headmaster, accepted religion was very integrated in the school. To me, it doesnt make sense if religion is just some formality that you stick in a corner, I think it needs to be integrated into your life in some way, he said. And I think it has to be personal. I think thats what attracts people to the school because they have those values in their family. There is so much emphasis on character and personal responsibility. If a person doesnt like that, thats fine, no ones sitting in judgment. But many people like it, thats why they send their kids there. The school is an initiative of parents; thats the way it works. Dr Mullins said his tenure at the school between 1996 and 2010 emphasised service and civic life. He would take students on excursions to NSW Parliament House and often invite politicians, business people and families to speak. Loading He said those speakers included former Labor premier Bob Carr, NSW Liberal Party president Phillip Ruddock, Labor politician Tony Burke and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Johno Johnson, the [former] Labor president of the Legislative Council, he would always tell our students: join the political party of your choice. It was a real mantra he put in front of them. Dr Mullins said Mr Perrottet and his peers would have been exposed to that message. Were seeking to give kids the best preparation for adult life and responsibility for whats going on in our world as part of that, he said. PARED students have had a significant presence in university student politics, producing Conservative Club presidents and Young Liberal candidates. Speaking at Tuesdays media conference, Mr Perrottet said he would stick to the national road map out of the pandemic, which allows for targeted restrictions during COVID outbreaks. But he said NSW ultimately had to live with the virus and should not go backwards. This virus is not going away. It will be with us. Its part of life, he said. Will there be a cabinet reshuffle? As it stands, there are just two women in NSWs cabinet. Mr Perrottet conceded there needed to be more women in cabinet, but said now was not the right time to make changes. Loading I want a diverse cabinet. And Ill make those changes at the appropriate time, he said. More diversity leads to better government. And thats something Ill focus on. Im just not focusing on it now. Mr Perrottet said he would not conduct a cabinet reshuffle until later in the year after the state has emerged from lockdown. This is an important time. This is not a time for people to be focusing on themselves. The people of NSW need us to be focused on them and that is what we will do, he said. What role will his faith play? Mr Perrottet said he was very proud of his Christian faith and criticism of it had been unfounded. We live in a very diverse society ... diversity should be celebrated, it should not be criticised, he said. People should judge people on who they are and what they say, not based on some, not based on some religious element, and I am very proud of the fact that I have a strong Christian faith. The Premier voted against the decriminalisation of abortion in 2019 but says he supports conscience votes on issues of that nature. Loading Independent MP Alex Greenwich plans to introduce a bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying to Parliament this month, with Mr Perrottet indicating he supported the idea of a conscience vote and would approach the issue delicately. Climate change and conservatism In a 2016 Facebook post following the election of Donald Trump, Mr Perrottet called for a conservative spring. If you question man-made climate change, you are not a sceptic, he said. If you support stronger borders, you are not a racist. If you want a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, you are not a homophobe. Questioned by reporters about his current views, Mr Perrottet maintained he was committed to the governments net zero carbon emissions target. When it comes to climate change and the environment, I believe our government is not just nation-leading but world-leading in that space and I am very proud to be a part of the government, he said. We have got, I think, the most active and passionate Environment Minister in the country, if not the world. Mr Perrottet, who has been described as the most conservative Premier since World War II, was asked by reporters if he would live up to that title. He said that was for other peoples judgments, saying he would serve for everyone. I have served diligently in my roles as finance minister and treasurer of the state, he said. I am incredibly passionate, hard-working, and I, as Premier, will serve every single person across the state, regardless what your beliefs are and what your religion is. Tax reform Mr Perrottet says he remains committed to stamp duty and GST reform, saying the government would place a real focus on housing affordability. We are facing a challenge when it comes to generational equity where many young people today cannot get the keys to their very first home, and we have a duty to ensure that generations that come after us have greater opportunity and prosperity than we have, and in order to do that, reform is key, he said. Queensland has reported two new local cases of coronavirus as authorities are yet to link the case of a COVID-positive masseuse to any known outbreaks in the state. One of the new cases on Tuesday was a three-year-old girl who was a household contact of a person related to the aviation training cluster and was detected in home quarantine, with Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young saying she was confident everyone who was at risk from that outbreak was now in quarantine. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk predicted 70 per cent of eligible Queenslanders would have received their first dose of a vaccine by the end of this week. Credit:Dan Peled/ Getty Images The other case was a 19-year-old woman who usually lives in Queensland but travelled to Victoria and was given an exemption to return and go into hotel quarantine. The woman received a notification on the flight from Melbourne that she was a positive confirmed case, with Queensland Health meeting her at the airport and taking her to hospital. Face masks should be mandatory for all Victorian schoolchildren once they return to classrooms, scientific and medical experts say, citing international evidence that schools without universal mask wearing are 3 times more likely to experience a COVID-19 outbreak. Scientific lobby group OzSage argues Australian schools should follow the example of some US cities, where children as young as three must wear a mask inside schools and kindergartens. Primary school students at Northeast Lauderdale Elementary in the US, where students are required to wear masks. Credit:AP International experience shows that schoolchildren are able to wear masks, the group argues in its report, Protecting children from COVID-19 and making schools and childcare safer. For instance, all children over two years of age in San Francisco and New York City are required to wear masks at school. We recommend that masks should be mandated for primary and high school students and staff. Like tens of thousands of year 12 students, Joseph Folwell returned to school on Tuesday for a test and plenty of elbow bumps. Joseph said he had done so much remote learning, hed almost forgotten what it was like to be at school. Seeing my best friends today was the best thing, the fully vaccinated 17-year-old said. It felt so good to have some normality back in my life, even if it was just a test. Glen Eira Secondary College year 12 students Alex Leathley, Aimee Harris, Joseph Folwell and Alannah De Jesus as they return to school to sit their General Achievement Test. Credit:Joe Armao Fellow Glen Eira Secondary College student Aimee Harris said while record high COVID-19 cases were concerning, she hoped to get through a final fortnight of classes and even experience schoolies. The court heard on Tuesday experts were expected to be called for evidence on both sides. The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission was still considering whether it wished to intervene under the states Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, the court heard. Sarala Fitzgerald, the lawyer acting for the government and health officials who are the respondents to the lawsuit, told the online hearing it was an incredibly pressured period for health officials trying to allow Victorians to have 30 people in their homes for Christmas. There is legally a lot on all of these health experts plates, and I would just ask the court [to remember] that all of the peoples time I will be demanding over the next few weeks are also trying to do something incredibly important, the barrister said. Loading But Justice Richards said those officials would already have evidence at hand to justify their decision to enforce the vaccine mandate. If they were starting from scratch then you would have a very big problem, Justice Richards said. The Cetnars claim compulsory vaccination was not legally or ethically justified, undermined the rule of law and was inconsistent with their human rights. They list various human rights provisions and laws they say the policy contravenes, including the constitution, the Biosecurity Act, the Fair Work Act and the Nuremberg Code. Justice Richards told the Cetnars an experienced lawyer would help refine their argument. Ms Cetnar told the court she was also seeking to establish whether the mandate was considered by the parliamentary scrutiny committee before the directions were made under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act. A queue for COVID-19 vaccinations at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in June. Credit:Eddie Jim Justice Richards said directions under the act were made by the Chief Health Officer, with very broad application in the exercise of his emergency power. The case was adjourned until October 25. On Tuesday morning Premier Daniel Andrews took a swipe at teachers who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying: For heavens sake, our kids cant get vaccinated. Why [anyone would] want to be in a school community contributing to the spread of this virus makes no sense to me, he said. Mr Andrews said a survey completed by the Department of Education showed almost 99 per cent of school staff in the state have had at least one dose of a vaccine, which was the good news. Everybody [working in schools] who can, needs to be [vaccinated] to keep [children] safe. Thats a pretty simple thing, for me anyway, the Premier said. Loading Aged care worker Charmaine Paras-Henderson last month filed a wrongful termination suit against nursing home chain TLC Aged Care, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed after refusing to be vaccinated in April. Ms Paras-Henderson is seeking more than $2.5 million in damages, including $1 million in compensation over loss of esteem, pain and suffering, anxiety and emotional stress, and a declaration from the court that she was discriminated. Though The Age was unable to establish which schools Ms Cetnar most recently worked at, Mr Cetnar is a horticulturist for Crest Education, which runs schools in Melbournes south-east including Hillcrest Christian College and Rivercrest Christian College. Crest Education executive principal Brendan Kelly said on Monday the legal action was taken in a private capacity and was not associated with the school. The college has encouraged staff to be vaccinated and will be complying with all government requirements and public-health directions, Mr Kelly said. The Victorian government announced almost a fortnight ago that vaccines would be compulsory for all staff at schools and early childhood centres, starting with first doses by October 18, and Mr Andrews last week widened the mandate to all authorised workers. Deputy Premier James Merlino said when the mandate was announced on September 22: This protects staff, it protects students, it protects our childrens families. There have been legal challenges against similar mandates in other jurisdictions. In NSW, a legal challenge came from multiple plaintiffs, including an aged care worker, paramedic, high school special education teacher and a construction worker. I was seven when I first saw The Lion King at the cinema. By then, as a disabled child, I had already noticed that bad guys in books and films often had disfigurements. It was impossible not to notice; it was pretty much the only representation of myself that I saw. Its Scars name, too, of course, lest we forget. This disfigurement-villainy trope is even older than the Bible. Its tied up with religious messages: if youre good, youll be healed, if not then you wont be. The evil character of Scar in the Lion King. Disability as punishment had its heyday in Victorian novels, but its still everywhere in modern literature and cinema. An old-fashioned idea we dont even believe in any more; we just keep recycling it, badly. Horror films, crime novels, childrens books, Disney films, comic book villains the list goes on. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but those dont yet break the rule, and James Bond is a repeating offender. Melbourne today claimed the title of worlds most locked-down city, passing Buenos Aires record of 245 days. The fatigued city also marked another record: 1763 new cases and another four deaths, the highest daily number of cases in any state since the virus arrived in Australia last year. By the time restrictions lift, if they lift on the target date of October 26, Melbourne will have spent about 267 days in lockdown. Why arent our extended lockdowns driving case numbers down? And how much worse would it be if Melbourne wasnt in a strict lockdown? Australians infected with the coronavirus will be asked to rely on community care at home to get through the illness under a plan presented to national cabinet amid a dispute over state demands for more federal cash to prevent hospitals being overwhelmed. The advice to national cabinet, presented last Friday but not released to the public, says that community care will be the mainstay when treating COVID-19 as the nations growing vaccination rate eases pressure on hospitals. With hospitals under pressure, the federal government is working on ways to expand community care. Credit:Kate Geraghty Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for more federal money for public hospitals and suggested the state might not open up if the load on the health system was too great, while the Australian Medical Association has also called for more federal cash. But Health Minister Greg Hunt stared down the demands on Tuesday by saying states were responsible for dealing with a case load they had always known would come. Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet arent hiding their combative past. Rather, theyre embracing it. Just months ago the pair a Liberal prime minister and a Liberal state treasurer were at loggerheads over federal financial support for their home state of NSW. Dominic Perrottet says he shares a very constructive relationship with Scott Morrison, despite the tense recent history between them. Credit:Wolter Peeters A tired and cranky Prime Minister, as columnist Niki Savva told the story, had become increasingly belligerent with Perrottets questioning about elements of the package and hurled an F-bomb in his direction during a video hook-up. Morrison was angered by Perrottets public interventions over the pandemic response, including calling for the reinstatement of JobKeeper, which he felt was undermining the federal government. The then-NSW treasurer had clearly pushed him to the limit. The new federal agency meant to crack down on corruption has been blasted as the weakest watchdog in the country after an independent analysis found it would not have enough power to investigate major scandals over the misuse of public money. The first detailed study of the proposed agency, to be debated in Parliament within weeks, found the proposed commonwealth integrity commission would not be able to launch its own investigations, hold public hearings, issue public findings or examine breaches of ministerial standards. Prime Minister Scott Morrison doesnt want to create a national corruption commission with the same powers as the NSW version. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Centre for Public Integrity, an independent group led by former judges and anti-corruption experts, also said the draft laws to create the agency block it from investigating big decisions such as the $100 million spent on sporting facilities in key seats before the last election. It would hide corruption, not expose it, said Stephen Charles, QC, a former judge of the Victorian Court of Appeal and a director of the Centre for Public Integrity. Opposition Leader Matthew Guy threatened to expel MPs who post controversial comments online from his party room, staring down outspoken conservative Bernie Finn at a meeting on Tuesday. Two Liberal sources confirmed to The Age that Mr Guy was forceful at Tuesday mornings party room about recalcitrant MPs within his team who displayed bad behaviour on social media, in a direct swipe at Mr Finn who was publicly repudiated by his colleagues just last week. Liberal MP Bernie Finn lashed out at his colleagues over the partys commitment to laws banning gay conversion therapy. Credit:Jason South There has been deep internal unrest about Mr Finn for several years. Although a conservative, Mr Finn, a backer of former opposition leader Michael OBrien, has been associated with the partys Moderate faction. Colleagues last month criticised Mr Finn over social media comments likening Victoria Police to the modern incarnation of the Despots militia. And on Friday morning, after the partys new leadership confirmed it would not change laws banning gay conversion therapy if elected, Mr Finn posted on his social media: Given the choice of Labor and Labor Lite, Victorians will invariably vote for the real thing. Singapore: A controversial foreign interference law has been introduced in Singapore after the government cited the Chinese donation scandal centred on former Australian Labor senator Sam Dastyari. The city-states ruling Peoples Action Party on Monday night used its overwhelming majority to push through the new powers, which include allowing authorities to order internet and social media providers to hand over user information, block content and remove apps. Former senator Sam Dastyari. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The new legislation has raised concerns among media companies, human rights campaigners and opposition politicians because of its wide-ranging scope. However, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs government argues foreign meddling through hostile information campaigns needed to be tackled because it poses a serious threat to our political sovereignty and national security. The government of the multi-ethnic south-east Asian nation said its racial and religious mix made it vulnerable to foreign manipulation. Brdo, Slovenia: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) he would meet his US counterpart Joe Biden in Rome at the Group of 20 summit at the end of October to re-engage. The two countries will seek to patch up differences after the AUKUS military pact announced last month between the US, UK and Australia stunned and infuriated France. We will catch up during the G20. I think it is the right occasion to see how we can re-engage ... it is about facts and what to do together, Macron said as he arrived for a summit dinner in Slovenia. Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron pictured at the G7 summit in June. Credit:AP Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Paris to explore ways to overcome the rift over the deal, which scuttled a multibillion-dollar French submarine contract with Australia and led Macrons government to take the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to the US and Australia. Parisi, 73, built a deep physical and mathematical model that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. His work originally focused on so-called spin glass, a type of metal alloy in which the atoms are arranged in a way that changes the materials magnetic properties in apparently random ways that baffled scientists. Parisi was able to discover hidden patterns that explained this behaviour, theories that could be applied to other fields of research, too. After the announcement, Parisi said that its very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace in tackling climate change. Its clear for future generations that we have to act now, he said. Syukuro Manabe, pictured in 2017, has won the Nobel Prize in Physics with two other scientists. Credit:AP Hasselmann, for his part, expressed bewilderment. I do not really understand it, but it feels fantastic, he told the Swedish news agency TT. I heard it just five minutes ago. Im still trying to understand it. I do not think I have done too much research in my life, but I have had a lot of fun doing it with my colleagues, he continued. It is enough for me that my research shows that humans have actually affected the climate. The winners were announced Tuesday by Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Manabe is now at Princeton University in the US, Hasselmann at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Parisi at Sapienza University of Rome. In their work, the physicists used complex mathematics to explain and predict what seemed like chaotic forces of nature in computer simulations, called modelling. That modelling has given scientists such a solid understanding of those forces that they can accurately predict weather a week out and warn about the climate decades in advance. Some non-scientists have attacked and ridiculed modelling, but it has been key to the way the world tackles one of its biggest problems: climate change. Loading Physics-based climate models made it possible to predict the amount and pace of global warming, including some of the consequences like risings seas, increased extreme rainfall events and stronger hurricanes, decades before they could be observed. Klaus Hasselmann and Suki Manabe were pioneers in this area and personal role models for me, said German climate scientist and modeller Stefan Rahmstorf. We now witnessing how their early predictions are coming true one after the other. When climate scientists and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, some non-scientists who deny global warming dismissed it as a political prize. Perhaps anticipating controversy, officials who spoke at the announcement emphasised that Tuesdays was a science prize. Its a physics prize. What we are saying is that the modeling of climate is solidly based on physical theory and well known physics, Swedish physicist Thors Hans Hansson said at the announcement. It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize. The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (more than $1.5 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prizes creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize in physiology or medicine to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch. Electric vehicle company has been ordered by a federal court to pay nearly $137 million as damages to a former employee who allegedly encountered racist abuse, discrimination and harassment at the company's plant in Fremont, California, media reports say. Owen Diaz, an elevator operator who worked for the company between June 2015 and May 2016, sued the carmaker, alleging a hostile work environment and racial harassment, and said "daily racist epithets" such as the n-word were used in the factory, where his son, Demetric, also worked, the Washington Post reported. The initial suit by Diaz, who is Black, alleged that workers encountered a scene "straight from the Jim Crow era", where workers were subjected to frequent racist harassment and supervisors took no action. "It's a great thing when one of the richest corporations in America has to have a reckoning of the abhorrent conditions at its factory for Black people," Diaz's lawyer Lawrence Organ, of the California Civil Rights Law Group, was quoted as saying by the New York Times. The jury has also asked to pay an additional $6.9 million for causing Diaz emotional distress. "It took four long years to get to this point. It's like a big weight has been pulled off my shoulders," added Diaz. Diaz said a supervisor and other colleagues repeatedly referred to him using racial slurs. He added that employees had drawn swastikas and scratched a racial epithet in a bathroom stall and left drawings of derogatory caricatures of Black children around the factory. Despite repeated complaints, the company did little to address the behaviour, he was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, Tesla's vice president of people, Valerie Capers Workman, in an internal email late on Monday that the company subsequently published in a blog post on its website downplayed the allegations in the lawsuit. "Diaz never worked for He was a contract employee who worked for Citistaff and nextSource. Diaz worked as an elevator operator at the Fremont factory for nine months, from June 2015 to March 2016," read the blog post titled "Regarding Today's Jury Verdict". "In addition to Diaz, three other witnesses (all non-Tesla contract employees) testified at trial that they regularly heard racial slurs (including the n-word) on the Fremont factory floor. "While they all agreed that the use of the n-word was not appropriate in the workplace, they also agreed that most of the time they thought the language was used in a 'friendly' manner and usually by African-American colleagues," Workman wrote. Diaz sued Tesla alongside his son and another Black former employee, but only the elder Diaz's claims made it to trial. It was not immediately clear whether Tesla planned to appeal the decision, the Post said. --IANS rvt/pgh (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Byju's on Tuesday announced the launch of Byju's Lab, an innovation hub to incubate new ideas, provide cutting-edge technologies and deliver breakthrough solutions across the edtech major's ecosystem of learning products. The company said it is also looking at hiring a diverse set of candidates in the UK, the US and India. "By assembling a powerful team of high-calibre individuals, Byju's Lab aims to make technology transparent for the user and harness it in a way that tech-enabled education can reach the largest number of people. "Creating new jobs, Byju's Lab will create an exciting and fulfilling environment for (ML) and AI professionals, both experienced as well as new graduates," according to a statement. It added that Byju's Lab will also help create genuine intellectual property and cutting-edge research. "The role of online learning is not just to replicate offline classes in digital space but also to make it more interactive, engaging, and personalised. "By combining the ability of computing, technology, and data, we at Byju's Lab, want to explore the power of information and technology to create a more personalised, enhanced and democratised learning," Byju's Chief Innovation and Learning Officer Dev Roy said. He added that the hub will have more than 100 resources over the next few years. He said that as a global company, the company is looking at harnessing a global talent pool to build innovative tools and leverage new technologies to positively impact the learning experiences of children across the world. "As we continue to grow and experiment, we will operate at the intersection of business and technology to make innovation real and relevant for our end-customers. We are looking at strengthening our team and look forward to working with bright and curious minds to transform the way children learn," he added. Byju's, which has over 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers, is backed by marquee investors, including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Silver Lake and Tiger Global. The edtech space has seen strong growth globally, including in India, with the COVID-19 pandemic serving as an inflexion point. Many offline classes went online to ensure continuity of education while adhering to social distancing norms. (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.) State-owned on Tuesday announced a performance-linked reward of Rs 72,500 per employee to all its non-executive cadre workforce for financial year 2020-21. The payment of performance-linked reward (PLR) would be made on or before October 11, 2021. "Non-executive cadre employees of Ltd (CIL), its subsidiaries and Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) will get an amount of Rs 72,500 as PLR for financial year 2020-21," the Maharatna firm said in a statement. The decision was taken on Monday in a bipartite meeting of representatives of Central Trade Unions (CTUs), who are members of the standardisation Committee of JBCCI-X and management of CIL and SCCL held at CIL Office in New Delhi, the statement said. "Govt under PM @narendramodi ji is committed to the welfare of #CoalWarriors. In recognition to their nation-building efforts, performance-linked reward has been increased from Rs 68,000 to Rs 72,500 per person, this year. @CoalIndiaHQ @PRO_SCCL," Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a tweet. The company said that 2,50,052 manpower will be benefited from the move, the statement said. Notably, non-executive cadre employees of CIL, its subsidiaries and SCCL had received an amount of Rs 68,000 as PLR last year. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output. (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.) Financially troubled, and Texas-based convenience store chain, have today decided to mutually terminate their franchise agreement after the Kishore Biyani company failed to meet the target of opening stores and payment of franchise fees. In a statement to the stock exchanges, said no financial or business impact on the company is expected as the arrangement was at the subsidiary company level. In February, 2019, both had signed the franchise agreements for developing and operating branded stores within India. Future group was planning to set up convenience stores all over India to sell soft drinks to grocery items. The Future group already owns Nilgiris branded stores but 7-Eleven is known for its 24-hour accessibility format and offering extras to its customers. 7-Eleven has close to 71,000 in 70 countries as of July last year. The 7-Eleven project failed to take off as Future group financial condition started deteriorating due to rising debt both at the holding level and at the operating level since mid-2019. In March 2020, the Corona pandemic further impacted sales and profitability of For the fiscal 2021, Future Retails sales fell 62 per cent to Rs 6,261 crore while it made a loss of Rs 3,180 crore. The group had to seek a one time debt restructuring to avoid a collapse. In August last year, the Future Group decided to merge all the group's listed companies into Future Enterprises and then sell the underlying businesses and debt to for a total consideration of Rs 24,700 crore. The transaction is currently on hold due to a litigation with American retail giant, which had bought 49 per cent stake in a holding company of Future Retail Ltd. . As on June 30, 2021, Future Coupons held 9.82 per cent stake in Future Retail, according to BSE. Overall, promoter group held 19.86 per cent in Future Retail. says it had signed a non-compete agreement with Future group and has the right of first refusal over Futures stake in the holding company and hence its transaction with RIL is invalid. The matter is currently pending in the Supreme Court which has asked both parties to wait for the final order of Singapore arbitration court. The government has asked state-owned (CIL) to diversify its business and explore prospects in areas like and charging pods. "CIL must diversify its business and explore prospects in sunrise industries electric charging pods, EVs etc," according to Coal Ministry's agenda for 2021-22. It further said that CIL has plans to diversify considering the future restriction on carbon emission which is inevitable. CIL has chosen new business area for diversification where carbon emission is minimum. The business areas for diversification considered includes solar wafer manufacturing, solar power generation, surface coal gasification and coal bed methane, among others, it said. accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output. The PSU is eyeing one billion tonnes of coal output by 2023-24. The firm will pump in over Rs 1.22 lakh crore on projects related to coal evacuation, exploration and clean coal technologies by 2023-24, to achieve 1 billion tonnes of fuel output target, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had earlier said. Out of the proposed spend of over 1.22 lakh crore, has planned to invest Rs 32,696 crore on coal evacuation, Rs 25,117 crore on mine infrastructure and Rs 29,461 crore on project development by 2023-24, the minister had said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India's coal ministry has asked state-run to diversify its interests to areas such as and charging stations, according to an agenda document on the ministry's website. " must diversify its business and must explore prospects in sunrise industries electric charging pods, etc," the coal ministry said in a document titled "Ministry of Coal's agenda for 2021-22". is the world's largest coal mining company by production and accounts for over 80% of India's output of the fuel. India is the second-largest importer, consumer and producer of coal, and has the world's fourth-largest reserves. It mainly imports from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa. The federal government-controlled miner has already announced plans to invest in solar wafer manufacturing and power generation, coal gasification, extraction of coal bed methane and setting up aluminium smelters. India has also asked the miner to consider participating in foreign tenders seeking coal after meeting domestic demand. "Traders/coal consumers of the neighboring countries can also participate in the Special Spot e-auction / Spot e-auction windows of Coal India," the document read. The ministry also said a "robust media campaign" was needed for "perception management in the coal sector," adding that plans submitted by Coal India and its units were being finalized. Indian utilities are currently scrambling to secure coal supplies as inventories hit critical lows after a surge in power demand from industries and sluggish imports due to record global prices push power plants to the brink. (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Andrea Ricci) (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.) Licious, Indias largest technology (tech)-first full-stacked direct-to-consumer (D2C) fresh meat and seafood brand, has raised $52 million in a funding round led by IIFL Asset Managements (AMC's) late-stage tech fund. The funding has made it Indias first such D2C unicorn or a start-up with over $1-billion valuation. Avendus Future Leaders Fund has also invested in this round. Avendus Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to for the transaction. is now the 29th unicorn to emerge out of India in 2021 amid a funding boom. The funding will help it to compete better with players such as FreshToHome, Zappfresh, as well as large players, such as BigBasket and Swiggy. Vivek Gupta and Abhay Hanjura, co-founders of Licious, said that in the years to come, will work towards building a sustainable, responsible business that will reimagine the animal protein category in India through an optimal mix of global influence and products curated for the Indian palate. But most of all, you will see us championing the cause of fresh meats and seafood as we continue to put it in the front row of consumer businesses in India, chimed in Gupta and Hanjura. Even though the funding for the D2C sector has grown significantly, fast-moving consumer goods is still not considered the most attractive category. We expect Licious' unicorn status to change that, said Gupta and Hanjura. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Licious is 29th unicorn to emerge out of India in 2021 The latest funding would help it compete better with players such as FreshToHome and Zappfresh, as well as large players like BigBasket and Swiggy Licious serves over 1 million orders every month Fresh meat and seafood is still an underserved and unorganised sector that holds an opportunity of $40 billion The fresh meats and seafood sector holds a vast opportunity of $40 billion. As category leader, Licious aims at paving the way for the second wave of young start-ups that can join hands in fully harnessing the potential the industry has to offer. The firm said it will continue to build the category through investments in tech for supply-chain excellence, product innovation, talent, and vendor-partner upgrades. The D2C market in India is at an inflection point and expected to attain a size of $100 billion by 2025. The pandemic has played a major role in accelerating growth for the sector. Despite this, the sector failed to produce a unicorn until Licious. D2C has the obvious advantage of direct consumer connect that helps it identify gaps and position products accordingly. However, it must also go through the rigours of building a robust infrastructure that can sustain growth and enable quick scale-up. This needs a bottom-up approach and discipline from Day 0 - a rare accomplishment Licious was able to unlock. The company said the achievement of its unicorn status is expected to not only further the journey of the brand, but also unlock the next level of opportunity for the animal protein sector. This will be through an inflow of investment, talent, and the emergence of more start-ups that will help raise the bar in all aspects. Chetan Naik of IIFL AMC said Licious has disrupted the meat and seafood category, which has largely been unorganised and underserved. He said Licious has demonstrated high levels of customer-centricity and an unparalleled focus on supply chain necessary for a perishable product. Licious focus on product quality, freshness, and innovation has created a strong brand, making it the undisputed category leader, said Naik, adding, Today, Licious is amongst the fastest-growing D2C brands and is one of the few consumer businesses in India with very strong revenue-retention metrics. Earlier this year, Licious allocated employee stock ownership plans to over 1,000 employees, including the blue-collar workforce. This was followed by a buyback worth Rs 30 crore in August. The company also recently announced its pledge to comply with the global environmental, social, and governance standards, setting new benchmarks for sustainability and governance. Spread across 14 Indian cities, the company experienced unprecedented growth of over 500 per cent last year. Licious has successfully delivered to more than 2 million unique customers to date. In July, Licious raised $192 million in a Series F funding round, led by Temasek and Multiples, making it the highest-funded company in the fresh animal protein business category. Brunei Investment Agency also participated in the round, along with existing investors, 3one4 Capital, Bertelsmann India Investments, Vertex Growth Fund, and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. Licious was founded by Hanjura, a Bangalore University science graduate, along with Gupta, a chartered accountant, after a poor meat-buying experience. After successfully testing its tech and business model, Licious launched its service in 2015. The same year, it received an undisclosed investment from former Infosys executive T V Mohandas Pai, along with Kanwaljit Singh, co-founder of venture capital firm Fireside Ventures. The venture enabled customers to place the order through an application, web, and telephone call. Licious now serves over 1 million orders every month, with over 90 per cent repeat consumption across markets. It is now a 3,500-member strong team, with employees across different disciplines and functions. It is present in raw and fresh meat and seafood, marinades, and ready-to-eat categories. Licious said it is set to disrupt every food category. In a highly underserved market, which is estimated at $40 billion today, Licious said it has been able to solve the prevailing customer pain points of quality, hygiene, freshness, and convenience in a sustainable manner. Built on the farm-to-fork business model, Licious controls the entire back-end supply chain, powered by stringent cold chain control to maintain the quality and freshness of each product. This starts from the time of procurement, processing, storage to the time it reaches the end-consumer. In five years, the firm has witnessed 300 per cent growth and has served over 3 million packs of world-class meat products to consumers across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, National Capital Region, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Kochi, Puducherry, Vizag, Vijayawada, and Kolkata. on Tuesday said it has acquired geospatial services provider GeoSpoc, a move that will help the ride-hailing platform develop technologies to make mobility accessible and convenient across shared and personal vehicles. Chairman and Group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, in a tweet, said: "New Mobility will require better, newer maps and geospatial services. We're taking the first step to building these by acquiring @GeoSpoc. Look forward to working with @DhruvaRajan and team to build the future of location services!" He, however, did not disclose the financial details. In a blogpost, he said enhanced geo-spatial services will also go a long way in improving urban planning including road networks, better public transportation and pre-empt congestion spots. "Dhruva and his team of Geospatial scientists and engineers will be joining to develop technologies which will make mobility universally accessible, sustainable, personalised, and convenient, across shared and personal vehicles," he added. While the did not disclose the number of employees, GeoSpoc is estimated to have over 80 employees. Aggarwal explained that as shared and personal mobility penetrate deeper to cover 50-100 per cent of India's population in the coming years, maps will need to improve in a variety of ways. "Multi-modal transportation options will need geospatial intelligence to understand the unique benefits of each option and provide suggestions accordingly. Maps will need to consider a three dimensional view of the world as aerial mobility models such as drones become more mainstream," he said. Aggarwal stated that accurate and rich maps with high user context should be available to the population beyond the first 100 million users. He added that near real-time satellite imagery should be incorporated in maps to provide a better understanding of road quality, as well as improvements such as avoiding poorly lit streets at night for safety even if it is a faster route. Besides, autonomous driving will need HD and 3D maps which will offer superior visualisation, dynamic real-time updates based on road, traffic and weather conditions. "We have the data and the expertise to build this utilising our deep understanding of consumer movements as well as our massive network of 2, 3 and 4Ws that provide unprecedented geo-spatial details. "We can layer this data with new sources such as satellite imagery and visual feeds from our network on-ground to build 'Living Maps' that embody the changing landscape of our world," Aggarwal 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.) Kunal Kashyap, named as part of a global investigation of offshore entities, has no influence over the trust linked to biopharmaceutical company Biocon, according to a company statement. The statement said that the Deanstone Trust, which was mentioned as part of a leak of offshore tax haven files called the Pandora Papers, was set up for philanthropic endeavours. Additionally, it was part of the estate planning for companys executive chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and her United Kingdom national husband John Shaw. John Shaw set up Glentec International which established the trust, according to an exchange disclosure from the company. Kunal Kashyap is an advisor to John Shaw and Glentec. In his capacity as an advisor, he is in no position nor has the legal authority to either control or influence the trustHe is neither a settlor, trustee, beneficiary nor a protector of the trust, it said. The statement added that the offshore trust was established to benefit family members who are not Indian nationals. Both John Shaw and I are neither trustees, nor settlors, nor beneficiaries of this trust Beneficiaries of this trustare family members are foreign nationals and not resident Indians, it said. The statement went on to add that John Shaws Indian tax returns reflect his ownership of Glentec, whose income from India is largely in the form of dividends, according to the company. John Shaw had set up Glentec in 1999 to acquire Unilevers stake in the company, and his real estate and public market investments. It is registered in Mauritius and is disclosed to both the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said the company. The RBI regulates banks and foreign investments, while Sebi is the stock market regulator. Kashyap and Biocons names surfaced as part of an Indian Express story on the Pandora Papers. It also talked about the fact that Sebi had penalised Kashyap for insider trading in shares. The order was subsequently appealed against in the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT). Exchange disclosures show that Glentec owns a 19.76 per cent stake in Kashyap was sought to be given powers to appoint and remove the trustee, according to the report published on Monday, as evidence of his involvement with the entity. I would like to assure you that no Indian resident holds the key to this offshore trust as alleged in these stories, said the company statement. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Govt amends rules to allow 50% sale of from captive mines The government on Tuesday said it has amended rules with a view to allow 50 per cent sale of from captive mines. The move is likely to benefit over 100 captive and lignite blocks with over 500 million tonnes per annum peak rated capacity as well as all coal and lignite bearing states. Read more Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta eyes buying govt's stake in Hindustan Copper Mining giant Vedanta Group will look to bid for buying the government's stake in Ltd as and when the state-owned firm is put up for privatisation, its billionaire founder Anil Agarwal said. He said that the company is doing its due diligence for the same. Read more Tribunal order on spectrum dues: Telecom dept says its reconsidering appeal The department of telecommunications (DoT) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday it is reconsidering its decision to proceed with an appeal filed against a tribunal order in April 2019 on the issue of recovery of one-time spectrum user charges (SUC) from to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore. It requested the court to give the government four weeks so that it can take an informed decision whether to proceed with its appeal against an order by Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. Read more Lakhimpur Kheri: Order CBI probe under SC supervision, UP lawyers urge CJI Two lawyers have written to the Chief Justice of India seeking a CBI probe, under the supervision of the top court, into the events at UP's Lakhimpur Kheri, where farmers were allegedly mowed down by a car. The letter also sought punishment for ministers allegedly involved in the ghastly incident. The letter by advocates Shiv Kumar Tripathi and C.S. Panda said: "Having regard to the seriousness of the killing of the farmers at district Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, it is incumbent upon this Hon'ble Court to intervene in the matter as flashed in the press." The lawyers claimed of late, violence has become the political culture in the country. Read more Moody's upgrades India's rating outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday changed the outlook on India's sovereign ratings to 'stable' from 'negative'. However, it retained the ratings, both of foreign and domestic currencies, at the lowest investment grade. "The decision to change the outlook to stable reflects Moody's view that the downside risks from negative feedback between the real economy and financial system are receding. An economic recovery is underway with activity picking up and broadening across sectors," said Moody's. Mark Zuckerbergs personal wealth has fallen by nearly $7 billion in a few hours, knocking him down a notch on the list of the worlds richest people, after a whistleblower came forward and outages took Inc.s flagship products offline. A selloff sent the social-media giants stock plummeting around 5% on Monday, adding to a drop of about 15% since mid-September. The stock slide on Monday sent Zuckerbergs worth down to $120.9 billion, dropping him below Bill Gates to No. 5 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Hes lost about $19 billion of wealth since Sept. 13, when he was worth nearly $140 billion, according to the index. ALSO READ: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp partly reconnecting after six-hour outage On Sept. 13, the Wall Street Journal began publishing a series of stories based on a cache of internal documents, revealing that knew about a wide range of problems with its products such as Instagrams harm to teenage girls mental health and misinformation about the Jan. 6 Capitol riots while downplaying the issues in public. The reports have drawn the attention of government officials, and on Monday, the whistleblower revealed herself. In response, has emphasized that the issues facing its products, including political polarization, are complex and not caused by technology alone. I think it gives people comfort to assume that there must be a technological or a technical explanation for the issues of political polarization in the United States, Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president of global affairs, told CNN. Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari (pictured) on Tuesday said the is still present in three air bases in Addressing the media five days into his tenure as the chief of the (IAF), Chaudhari painted a reassuring picture of an air force that, despite being low on numbers, is equipped, trained and poised to handle Chinese aggression on the borders. Chinese air force Indicating that the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) continues to pose a threat to Indian forces and territory in Eastern Ladakh, the air chief said: The situation is that the is still present in three air bases on their side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC). We are fully deployed and prepared on our side. When asked about the PLAAFs operational disadvantage in having to take off from high-altitude air bases in Tibet, with consequently less weapons and fuel payloads, he agreed that Chinas capability to launch multiple, high altitude missions would remain weak. Chaudhari played down the threat from airfields in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. We dont need to be alarmed as they are small strips capable of taking a few helicopters. The one towards the Afghan border is probably for rescuing their own people from Afghanistan, Chaudhari said. On the possibility of India facing a two-front war against and Pakistan acting jointly, Chaudhari said that there is nothing to fear from this partnership, except for western technology passing from Pakistan to China. The future fleet Chaudhari said the IAF, which operates barely 30 fighter squadrons against its authorisation of 42 squadrons, would remain short of numbers all through this decade. After the four remaining MiG-21 squadrons retire in the next three to four years, numbers would rise to about 35 fighter squadrons by 2030. Making it clear that the IAFs three squadrons of Mirage-2000 fighters would remain in service for the foreseeable future, the chief revealed that retired Mirage-2000s were being acquired from France to cannibalise spare parts to keep the Indian Mirages flying. Around the turn of the decade, numbers would start swelling with the induction of two new fighters: the indigenous, fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA); and the Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) that would be built in India in partnership with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Our 5th Generation fighter aircraft requirement would be met by the AMCA and would match the capability across the (Sino-Indian) border, Chaudhari said. We hope to start inducting AMCA by early years of the next decade. We are waiting for movement on the MRFA case after responses to our Request for Information were received, said Chaudhari. Another enormous capability boost to the IAF will come from the impending delivery by Russia of the first of five S-400 air defence missile system units. has already bought S-400 units from Russia and has deployed one unit in Ladakh in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector. We will get the S-400 on schedule within this year, said the IAF chief. It remains to be seen whether the US, which has threatened to impose sanctions on countries that buy significant weapons systems from Russia, provides India with a waiver, or goes ahead and imposes sanctions. The effect The IAF chief talked up the capability boost from the acquisition of several new aircraft for the IAF. The induction of the and the Apache (attack helicopters) have significantly added to our combat potential, he said. Chaudhari declined to be drawn on the question of whether the IAFs purchase of 36 fighters in 2016 had placed the French fighter in pole position in the tender for 114 MRFAs. I can't say if Rafale will be a lead contender I can say we are very happy with the Rafale, he said. Chaudhari made it clear that one of the key features the IAF was looking for in the MRFA is the integration of 5th and 6th generation technologies. Joint theatre commands Rejecting the notion that the IAF is opposed to the creation of integrated theatre commands, Chaudhari said: The IAF is keen on integration among the armed forces. The joint planning and execution of operations by the three Services will result in a maximum increase in our net combat capability. Providing interesting statistics on the role of the IAF in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, Chaudhari stated that the IAFs transport fleet had flown relief materials and oxygen to and from 18 countries, flown 2,600 hours in India alone and covered over 27 lakh kilometres during the pandemic. Having successfully participated in the multinational Exercise Desert Flag in the UAE in March, an IAF team will be going to Israel later this month for the prestigious multinational Exercise Blue Flag. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested seven more persons, including four "high-profile organisers" belonging to a Delhi-based event management company, in connection with the seizure of banned from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan is one of the accused, an official said on Tuesday. With the arrest of the seven more persons, the number of people arrested by the anti- agency so far reached 16, he said. The Delhi-based firm was tasked with the management of the event onboard Cordelia Cruises ship, which was supposed to take place from October 2 to October 4, an NCB official had said. The four organisers belonging to the event management firm who are arrested by the NCB are identified as Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora, the official said. The anti- agency had earlier arrested nine people, including Aryan Khan, after raiding the Goa-bound ship on Saturday. After the raid, the NCB's Mumbai zonal unit started a crackdown on drug peddlers connected with the arrested persons. The agency sleuths also brought some suspects, including from the cruise ship, to the NCB's office here for questioning, the official said. During the questioning of suspects, the role of few more persons had come to light, following which they were placed under arrest, the official said. Earlier in the day, the anti-drugs agency said it had arrested two more persons in connection with the seizure of drugs from the cruise ship. In an operation conducted on Monday and Tuesday, the NCB arrested Shreyas Nair, Manish Rajgaria, Avin Sahu, Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora, the NCB said. Apart from Aryan Khan, the NCB has so far arrested Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra, Vikrant Chhokar and a drug supplier from suburban Juhu. Based on the preliminary interrogation of the accused Mohak Jaswal, a team of NCB conducted a raid at Jogeshwari in Mumbai and intercepted one person with 2.5 gm of ecstasy and 54.3 gm (commercial quantity) of Mephedrone in his possession. On the information provided by another arrested accused Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Shreyas Nair was arrested from suburban Goregaon with a small quantity of Charas, the NCB said. Manish Rajgaria, who was invited as a guest on the ship, was arrested with a small quantity of hydroponic weed multi-strain cannabis. Avin Sahu, who sailed in the cruise ship, was arrested on the consumption charges, the NCB said. Earlier on Tuesday, additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar remanded Abdul Qadir Sheikh (30), Shreyas Nair (23), Manish Rajgariya (26) and Avin Sahu (30) to the NCB custody till October 11. The court on Monday remanded Aryan Khan (23) and seven others to the NCB custody till Thursday. Meanwhile, when asked about the seizure of drugs from the cruise ship, a Mumbai Police official said on Tuesday that they are ascertaining whether necessary permissions were obtained from the DG, Shipping, and other authorities. The NCB on Monday claimed before a city court that "shocking and incriminating" material recovered in WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan and two others arrested in connection with the case showed international drug trafficking. The Narcotics Control Bureau, which got the remand of Aryan Khan (23) and the other eight accused from the court till Thursday, also claimed that in the WhatsApp chats he is discussing modes of payment to be done for procurement (of drugs) and that several code names are being used. Aryan Khan's lawyer had claimed no drugs were recovered from his client's possession. The NCB on Sunday said they had seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of Ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh. Meanwhile, family members of the arrested accused gathered outside the NCB office in south Mumbai on Tuesday. Aslam Merchant, the father of Arbaaz Merchant, told media persons that his son and Aryan Khan are innocent. "Aryan and Arbaaz are close friends for the last 15 years. They are innocent. My son was falsely implicated in this case. He and Aryan had not even boarded the cruise ship. Aryan was invited on the ship as a celebrity while Arbaaz accompanied him as his friend. Aryan had asked Arbaaz to accompany him," Aslam Merchant claimed. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Tuesday reported a net reduction of 11,556 in active cases to take its count to 252,902. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 1.4 per cent (one in 71). The country is eighth among the most affected countries by active cases. On Monday, it added 18,346 cases to take its total caseload to 33,853,048 from 33,834,702 an increase of 0.1%. And, with 263 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 449,260, or 1.33 per cent of total confirmed infections. With 7,251,419 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Monday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 915,465,826. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 33,150,886 or 97.93 per cent of total caseload with 29,639 new cured cases being reported on Tuesday. Now the eighth-most-affected country by active cases, third by deaths, second by total cases, and first by recoveries, India has added 155,467 cases in the past 7 days. India now accounts for 1.4% of all active cases globally (one in every 71 active cases), and 9.32% of all deaths (one in every 11 deaths). India has so far administered 915,465,826 vaccine doses. That is 2704.23 per cent of its total caseload, and 65.61 per cent of its population. Among Indian states, the top 5 in terms of number of vaccine shots administered are Uttar Pradesh (115606022), Maharashtra (88864282), Madhya Pradesh (66894003), Gujarat (65607849), and West Bengal (63486022). Among states with more than 10 million population, the top 5 in number of vaccine shots per one million population are Kerala (1082615), Delhi (1038320), Gujarat (1027171), Uttarakhand (992765), and Jammu and Kashmir (935978). Backwards from here, the last 1 million cases for India have come in 34 days. The count of active cases across India on Tuesday saw a net reduction of 11,556, compared to net addition of 6,099 on Monday. States and UTs hat have seen the biggest daily net increase in active cases are Mizoram (6391), West Bengal (17), Delhi (12), Assam (10), and Arunachal Pradesh (6). With 29,639 new daily recoveries, Indias recovery rate stands at 97.93%, while fatality rate remained unchanged at 1.33%. The Indian states and UTs with the worst case fatality rates at present are Punjab (2.75%), Uttarakhand (2.15%), and Maharashtra (2.13%). The rate in as many as 16 is higher than the national average. Indias new daily closed cases stand at 29,902 263 deaths and 29,639 recoveries. The share of deaths in total closed cases stands at 0.87%. Indias 5-day moving average of daily rate of addition to total cases stands at 0.1%. Indias doubling time for total cases stands at 1278.7 days, and for deaths at 1183.7 days. Overall, five states with the biggest 24-hour jump in total cases are Kerala (8850), Maharashtra (3165), Mizoram (1681), Tamil Nadu (1467), and West Bengal (601). Among states with more than 100,000 cases, the five with worst recovery rates at present are Kerala (96.73%). India on Sunday conducted 1,141,642 to take the total count of tests conducted so far in the country to 575,394,042. The test positivity rate recorded was 1.6%. Five states with the highest test positivity rate (TPR) percentage of tested people turning out to be positive for Covid-19 infection (by cumulative data for tests and cases are Dadra & Nagar Haveli-Daman & Diu (14.74%), Kerala (13.28%), Goa (12.9%), Sikkim (12.38%), and Maharashtra (11.05%). Five states with the highest TPR by daily numbers for tests and cases added are Mizoram (109.94%), Kerala (11.82%), Sikkim (7.02%), Meghalaya (7%), and Manipur (5.12%). Among states and UTs with more than 10 million population, five that have carried out the highest number of tests (per million population) are Delhi (1490248), J&K (1105805), Kerala (997584), Karnataka (712231), and Telangana (674302). The five most affected states by total cases are Maharashtra (6562514), Kerala (4729056), Karnataka (2978286), Tamil Nadu (2669962), and Andhra Pradesh (2053192). Maharashtra, the most affected state overall, has reported 3165 new cases to take its tally to 6562514. Kerala, the second-most-affected state by total tally, has added 8850 cases to take its tally to 4729056. Karnataka, the third-most-affected state, has reported 397 cases to take its tally to 2978286. Tamil Nadu has added 1467 cases to take its tally to 2669962. Andhra Pradesh has seen its tally going up by 429 to 2053192. Uttar Pradesh has added 16 cases to take its tally to 1709873. Delhi has added 34 cases to take its tally to 1439000. The mortal remains of three of the farmers, who were mowed down by a vehicle during a protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, were cremated at their native places on Tuesday, while the family of the fourth one demanded a second post-mortem. Bahraich Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ashok Kumar said that "a decision on the demand for a second post mortem could be taken only by senior officials". Among the killed in the Sunday incident, two each were from Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich and the bodies were handed over to their families after a post mortem on Monday. The families of Lavpreet Singh (19), Nachattar Singh (65)and Daljeet Singh (42) agreed to the cremation after hours of negotiations involving police officials and farmer leader Rakesh Tikait. Tikait was present when Satnam Singh performed the last rites of his son Lavpreet Singh in the family's agricultural field in Palia tehsil in Lakhimpur Kheri late in the afternoon. But the family of Gurvinder Singh (22) of Matera tehsil refused to cremate him till a second autopsy is done and alleged that he was shot dead. "We don't want to conduct his last rites after a false post-mortem report," a relative said. Punjabi actress Sonia Mann, who has been actively supporting protests against the three central agri laws, also reached Gurvinder Singh's village and supported his famil's demand. Gurvinder's family said that Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is under detention in Sitapur, talked to his father over the phone. Maan accused the UP government of creating "pressure" through the district administration on the family. "The body will not be sent for last rites till a second post mortem is performed in Delhi," she said. The mortal remains of Nachattar Singh of Dhaurahra tehsil in Lakhimpur Kheri were consigned to flames by his son Mandeep Singh, who is posted in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). In Bahraich, the family members of Daljeet Singh performed his last rites. The UP government is facing massive flak after eight people were killed in violence during a protest against the farm laws in Lakhimpur Four of the dead were who were allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers. The others were BJP workers and a driver who were allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and lynched by the protesters. The UP Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son but no arrest has been made. Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar announced on Monday that the government will order a probe headed by a retired high court judge and give compensation of Rs 45 lakh each to the families of the dead Their kin will also get a government job. The injured will get Rs 10 lakh. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A group of protesting blocked Delhi-Amritsar highway at Shambhu toll plaza late on Monday following the detention of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni. Chaduni was detained on Monday, while he was on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri. He was later released from Meerut's Kithore Police Station. also gathered and protested outside the police line where the Haryana BKU chief was detained. Meerut Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Prabhakar Chaudhary while speaking to media, said, "Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni was on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri through Meerut. His visit to Lakhimpur Kheri might have affected the law and order situation as Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been imposed in Lakhimpur Kheri." "Gurnam Singh Chaduni was detained under section 149 of CrPC. He has been released now," he added. As many as eight people were killed on Sunday in Lakhimpur Kheri following violence that broke out after a car hit protesting Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of several farmer unions, had issued a statement on Sunday regarding the incident claiming the death of four farmers and alleged that one of the four farmers was shot dead by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni's son--Ashish Mishra, while the others have been allegedly run over by the vehicles of his convoy. However, Ashish Mishra refuted SKM's allegations and said he was not present at the spot where the incident took place. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India recorded 18,346 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the lowest in over 6 months, the Union informed on Tuesday. With this, the active caseload of the country stands at 2,52,902; accounting for less than 1 per cent of the total cases. As per the ministry, the recovery rate of India is at its highest since March 2020 and currently stands at 97.93 per cent. As many as 29,639 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 3,31,50,886. A total number of 57,53,94,042 tests have been conducted so far. (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 of India on Tuesday expressed shock at the death of Raman Kashyap, a TV journalist who was reporting on Lakhimpur Kheris farmers' protest on October 3, and demanded an SIT probe. Kashyap was killed along with eight others, in the violence that erupted after some vehicles were driven through the protesting farmers, allegedly under the instructions of Ashish Mishra, son of union minister of state, Ajay Mishra Teni. "There are competing versions about Kashyaps death including a version that claims he died of bullet wounds. What is clear is that Kashyap was reporting on the events of the day when the horrific incident of the convoy running through protesting farmers happened, killing some of them. An independent inquiry is therefore needed to establish the cause of Kashyaps death," said of India. "In what is clearly a terror attack meant to spread fear amongst the farmers, the killing of Kashyap raises many questions. The demands that the death of Kashyap be separately probed by a Court-led special investigation team to ascertain the circumstances of his death and also attempt to recover and use the footage of his camera to build the sequence of events leading to his death. EGI is concerned about the varying versions of the incident in different sections of the media. It is imperative for the media to report the facts and not versions," added Editors Guild of India. Kashyap was a resident of Nighasan tehsil of the Lakhimpur Kheri district. Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishras village, Banbirpur, falls under this tehsil. Kashyaps family said he is survived by his wife and two children, a son and a daughter. A man, who allegedly committed around 500 burglaries over 39 years across the country, was arrested in Odisha's Cuttack, police said on Tuesday. Heman Dash, known as the "crowbar man", was arrested on Monday after being identified as a suspect in three cases in Bhubaneswar, they said. After being arrested, Dash confessed to the crimes, police said. Dash started as a burglar in 1982 when he was in college after meeting his 'guru' in jail as he was imprisoned for some time over a clash between two groups of students, they said. He used to stay in rooms next to rich men in luxury hotels across the country, and rob them, police said. Dash told police that he used crowbars to break locks and safes, earning him the nickname. Though he started along with his 'guru' after getting out of jail in 1982, for the last 34 years, he operated alone, police said. He splurged most of his ill-gotten money, estimated to be around Rs 5 crore, on liquor and call girls, police said. "I operated alone and took women from Kolkata during tours to other cities. I frequently visited Mumbai, Chennai and other cities and booked rooms in star hotels," Dash told reporters at a press conference here. He said his main target has always been cash and not gold as he feared that stealing valuables may lead to his arrest. Bhubaneswar's Deputy Commissioner of Police US Dash said they were tracking him after he was found to be a suspect in three cases of in the Bhubaneswar. He was caught in CCTV in two of these incidents. More than 100 cases are registered against him in the Bhubaneswar alone, police said. He was arrested in 2018 and sent to jail. After being released, he did not go home despite having a family, they said. Dash was again caught last year and sent to jail in Puri. He was released from the jail in July, and three burglary cases were reported from different areas of Bhubaneswar thereafter, police said. "I am 59 years old and now I retire from all such activities. I appeal to all my brothers to quit the act of burglary, taking my instance. I earned a lot but now a pauper," he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister on Tuesday stated that the Centre has sanctioned 17.3 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and over 8.8 lakh beneficiaries have been given houses so far. Speaking at 'Azadi@75 - New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' Conference-cum-Expo, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs said: "Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has sanctioned 17.3 lakh houses. 8.8 lakhs beneficiaries have been given houses so far. More will be given today by the Prime Minister." "From 2004 to 2014, Rs 1.57 crore was invested in the urban development under central schemes. In the last 6 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the investment in urban development has been increased to seven-folds. Today Rs 11.83 crore has been invested," Puri said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will digitally hand over keys to beneficiaries of the central housing scheme to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. He will also flag off 75 buses under FAME-II for seven cities including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, and Ghaziabad. The Prime Minister will also release a Coffee Table Book encompassing 75 projects implemented under various flagship missions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The exhibitions will showcase the achievements so far under various Flagship Urban Missions of MoHUA. The Conference-cum-Expo will be open for the public for two days - on October 6 and 7. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister inaugurated 'Azadi@75 -New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' conference-cum-expo on Tuesday and digitally handed over keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries. After arriving at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, Modi, along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Governor Anandiben Patel, walked through the three exhibitions being set up in the expo. He also inquired about the Ayodhya development masterplan. Modi digitally handed over keys of PMAY-U houses to the beneficiaries and interacted with them. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister will visit Rishikesh on Thursday, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Tuesday. During his visit, the prime minister will inaugurate, among other projects, an oxygen plant in AIIMS-Rishikesh, he said, without elaborating on other projects. Dhami also expressed happiness that the prime minister will be visiting on a day when he completes 20 years of his service as a constitutional dignitary since he took oath as Gujarat chief minister in 2001. Prime Minister Modi had been the chief minister of Gujarat for 13 years before becoming the Prime Minister of India. Expressing his happiness over the PM's visit to Uttarakhand, Dhami had earlier told a TV news agency that the prime minister has a special attachment to the state, which has seen unprecedented progress under the present dispensation at the Centre. "Prime Minister Modi is the world's tallest leader today. His coming to the 'land of gods' (devbhoomi) is a good sign. We had been waiting for this very moment," said Dhami, whose state will go to the polls next year. Prime Minister Modi was also earlier reported to be visiting Kedarnath too on October 7. But Dhami refused to confirm the PM's reported programme to visit Kedarnath. As of now, he is slated to visit Rishikesh only, he said. Dhami, however, added that earlier during the day, he visited Kedarnath to supervise the ongoing reconstruction work and hoped that after the High Court order, the 'chardham yatra' will be conducted more smoothly. He told reporters that reconstruction works worth Rs 708 crore were in progress for the development of all four pilgrim centres Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. The works are in their final stages, he said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister must sack Union minister Ajay Mishra over the violence here which left eight people dead, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief demanded on Monday after meeting families of the victims in the village. Chaudhary also claimed the villagers told him during the meeting that the violence appeared "pre-meditated" and hoped the government led by Yogi Adityanath "does not prosecute farmers". The violence had broken out on Sunday during an anti-farm laws protest ahead of UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to Banbirpur, the native village of Union Minister of State Home Ajay Mishra. Mishra's son Ashish and BJP supporters are accused of running over farmers in their SUVs, while the minister claims his son was not present there during the incident. The RLD president met the family of Gurvendra Singh (18) at their village in the Tikonia area here around 6 pm, after a gruelling 13-hour-long journey from Delhi that forced him to change routes, vehicles and even walk on foot amid heavy police security along the way that was put to prevent politicians from reaching here. "I visited the family of Gurvendra Singh. He was just 18 years old. The family is impoverished, his father is a construction worker. I met his two sisters who told me they would serve their parents. It was such a bold thing for them to say," Chaudhary told PTI over the phone. "I spoke to the other villagers also and was told that the SUVs which ran over the farmers had sticks attached to their front portion and it was done to enhance the impact of the collision. This proves it was a pre-meditated, inhuman and depraved act of crime that we have witnessed in Lakhimpur Kheri," the former Lok Sabha MP alleged. He urged Modi to sack the Union minister from his Cabinet and ensure strictest action against him, his son and others who are proved guilty. Chaudhary also hit out at the UP government for preventing political leaders from meeting the families of the violence victims. "We are beholden to serve the people as public representatives. The UP government's orders are against the rules," he said, even as leaders of the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party made failed bids to reach Lakhmipur on Monday. The RLD leader, a vocal critic of Adityanath and supporter of farmers demanding the repeal of three contentious central farm laws, said he hoped the UP government "does not start prosecuting farmers" in the wake of Sunday's violence. Chaudhary said by the time he reached Lakhimpur, a panchayat of villagers was also convened locally to discuss the matter. "I hope the state government honours the commitment it has towards the people and meets the demands of the villagers and families of the victims of the violence," he added. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI, which is probing cases of post-poll violence in Bengal, has arrested Ravi Baske, a local leader in Birbhum district, in connection with its investigation into the of worker Gaurav Sarkar, sources in the agency said on Tuesday. Sazlul Rahman, the TMC's Illambazar block president, has confirmed that Baske is a member of the state's ruling party and that he has been apprehended. According to Siddhartha Chatterjee, Baske's lawyer, the leader was on Tuesday produced before Bolpur court, which sent him to custody for three days. He was apprehended from Illambazar area on Monday night. Earlier, in September, another leader, Dilip Mirdha, was arrested from Hooghly for his alleged involvement in the case. Sarkar was killed on May 2, following the declaration of assembly poll results. The Calcutta High Court had in August handed over probe into "heinous" cases of post-poll violence, involving rape and murder, to the The has alleged that many of its workers were attacked and killed by members of the ruling TMC in the aftermath of the state elections. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress general secretary Vadra asked Prime Minister on Tuesday why the person behind the killing of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri has not been arrested yet while she has been under "detention for the past 28 hours" without any order or FIR. She was detained in Sitapur on Monday on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died and several others were injured on Sunday in the bloodiest clash since the farmers' protest over the Centre's agri laws began last year. on Tuesday shared a video on Twitter, which showed a group of protesting farmers being mowed down by an SUV. "@narendramodi ji your government has detained me for the past 28 hours without any order or FIR. Why the person who ran over farmers has not been arrested yet?" she said in a tweet in Hindi. Congress media and communication vice chairman Pankaj Srivastava said the party general secretary, who was detained at 4.30 am on Monday, has been in detention for the past 28 hours. "She is not being allowed to meet her lawyers and the administration is not telling her reasons for her detention," he said. Besides Priyanka Gandhi, state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, secretary Dheeraj Gurjar, Youth Congress president BV Srinivas, party MLC Deepak Singh are also under detention, Srivastava said. He said there is anger among Congress workers due to the illegal detention of party leaders. "The prime minister is coming for a celebration in Lucknow while the farmers of Lakhimpur are waiting for justice," he added Four of the dead were farmers, allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to an event in the area. The others were BJP workers and their driver, allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and then lynched by the protesters. The UP Police has lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son but no arrest has been made so far. (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.) mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday criticised the government over sealing the district borders and stopping the opposition leaders from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri, where 8 people, including 4 farmers, died on Sunday. "Yogi-government sealed the borders of Lakhimpur Kheri, arrested Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on her way to the site of the incident. MP Hooda was also ill-treated during his visit. Akhilesh Yadav was also put under house arrest," the Saamana editorial alleged. "If the India-China border at Ladakh be sealed the way the border of Lakhimpur Kheri has been sealed, there would have been no infiltration by Chinese soldiers," it said. Further hitting out at the Centre, the editorial questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. "Our dear Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very sensitive and emotional person. There are many occasions, the Prime Minister is seen getting emotional over the issues of the poor. It is shocking that PM Modi has not expressed their condolences to the who have been killed in the incident," the editorial said. The editorial also slammed media persons for focusing on the arrest of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the drug case over the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. "For media, Shahrukh Khan's son is more important than a Union Minister's son killing during their protest. The media is trying to shift the focus from the brutal murder of of to Shahrukh Khan's son," it added. An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2 night. Eight persons were detained for questioning by the NCB in connection with the drug seizure on the cruise ship. All of the eight persons were later arrested on October 3. (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.) sales across Metropolitan Region (MMR) during the January-August period have risen more than three times to Rs 1.33 lakh crore, according to a joint report by CREDAI-MCHI and CRE Matrix. During January-August 2020, the MMR saw sales of Rs 41,353 crore only because of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry body Credai MCHI in association with data analytics firm CRE Matrix on Tuesday released a report titled 'MMR Report 2021' and highlighted that the current calendar year could be the best in the last five years. According to the report, sales in the MMR stood at 1,71,165 units, valuing Rs 1,33,015 crore till the month of August this calendar year. Housing sales stood at 64,101 units, valuing Rs 41,353 crore during January-August last year. As per the report, sales in both volume and value terms till August this year have already exceeded the full-year numbers of 2020. During the last calendar year, the sales of residential properties stood at 1,58,328 units valuing Rs 1.12 lakh crore. In 2019, total sales stood at 2,01,625 units valuing Rs 1,28,448 crore. Deepak Goradia, President, Credai-MCHI, said, Positive policy amendments like reduction of stamp duty, reduced home-loan rates, various financing and other offers run by developers and increase in the importance of owning a house due to pandemic have contributed to this trend." The industry is finally seeing green shoots of revival after a flat growth for half a decade, he added. Goradia expressed confidence that the trend would continue till the end of this year given the upcoming festive season. Maharashtra government had reduced stamp duty from September 2020 till March 2021 to boost housing demand. Abhishek Kiran Gupta Chief Executive Officer, CRE Matrix, said, "The year 2021 is on its way to become the best year in all aspects, be it unit sales, area sales, and value sales in the last 5 years, clearly putting the pandemic blues behind." He also noted that there is an upward movement in the MMR Housing pricing which was more or less stagnant since the last half-a-decade. "This indicates that Housing real estate which was slow-moving till before the pandemic would finally witness turn-around," Gupta 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.) Union Agriculture Minister on Tuesday said the northeastern states will turn into an oil palm hub of the country with the central government's major intervention with an outlay of Rs 11,040 crore for the next five years. Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy urged investors and industrialists to invest in the northeastern region which has immense potential for the agricultural sector, especially In August, the Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) with a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore to promote the domestic cultivation of oil palm in the next five years and reduce the country's dependence on edible oil imports. The decision came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the new central scheme on August 15 during his Independence Day speech at Red Fort. Addressing a business summit, Tomar said, "The government's decision for making major intervention in northeastern states for the oil palm promotion will turn northeastern states into oil palm hubs of the country." The Union minister emphasised playing an equal role for the development of the crop and assured to make major investments for seed nurseries, drip irrigation, technical backup, setting of mills, purchase centres, and training of farmers. "A special package and assistance for northeastern states will change the socioeconomic status of the farmers and will open employment opportunities in the established oil palm mills along with infrastructure development," an official statement quoted Tomar having said at the event. The business summit has been aimed to explore the target of area expansion, seedling requirements fixed for different states through processors, details of viability gap payment, interventions and assistance under the mission, he added. Thanking the Assam government for providing logistical support, Tomar said the new scheme will definitely pave the way towards self-sufficiency in edible oils and put India on a road of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said it was time for investors to come and invest in the North-East in a big way to develop the agriculture sector, taking advantage of fertile lands and climate. " holds special significance as its cultivation can open up untapped avenues of earning for farmers in the North-East," he said. Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said that currently, farmers in two districts of Assam-Goalparaand and Kamrup are engaged in oil palm cultivation, while there is a plan of bringing 1,500 hectares of land in another 17 districts under cultivation. Union Ministers of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary and Sobha Karandlaje and senior officers were present at the event. (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.) Sa-Dhan, a self-regulatory organization for (MFIs), has written to Finance Minister seeking allocation of additional Rs 7,500 crore for the credit guarantee scheme for micro lenders. We would like to take this opportunity to request you to approve an additional amount of similar extent viz. Rs 7,500 crore for the credit guarantee scheme for The additional amount will support the funds flow for with lower grading, which are smaller and cater to poorer sections and remote areas, the letter noted. Sa-Dhan has issued a press release basis the letter written to the Finance Minister. The letter said banks are accounting for this (MFI) portfolio under NBFC category and once the exposure limit under NBFCs is reached, banks are unable to approve more funding for micro financiers. We sincerely request that banks could be instructed to book this portfolio under separate head of with suitable exposure norms, the letter read. Sa-Dhan said Ministry of Finance has been keen that the credit guarantee scheme is widely used by all MFIs across the country and not limited to a select few. In its letter to Sitharaman, Sa-Dhan has noted that data aggregated from MFIs and communicated to Department of Financial Services in the finance ministry indicates that MFIs have applied for Rs 18,500 crore from 44 banks. We have been coordinating with Ministry of Finance on disbursement of funds and beneficiaries. Ministry of Finance has been eager to track the Credit Guarantee scheme and understand the overall impact, Sa-Dhan Executive Director P Satish said in the release. Sa-Dhan has 229 members reaching out to 33 states/UTs and 593 districts. It includes SHG promoting institutions, MFIs (for profit and not for profit), banks, rating agencies, capacity building institutions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday told the it was reconsidering its decision to proceed with an appeal filed against a tribunal order in April 2019 on recovering one-time spectrum user charges (SUCs) of Rs 40,000 crore from companies. It asked the court to give the government three weeks so that it could take an informed decision whether to proceed with its appeal against an order by the Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. The adjourned the hearing for November 19. After the had cancelled 2G spectrum licences, the DoT after 2012 sent notices to operators, demanding charges for the spectrum allocated under administrative pricing. It had two components -- one, retrospective demand from July 1, 2008, to December 31, 2012, for any spectrum held beyond 6.2 MHz; and two, prospective demand from January 1, 2013, to the expiry of spectrum beyond 4.4 MHz. The TDSAT, in July 2019, cancelled the retrospective demand the DoT had made. However, it allowed the DoT to levy one-time beyond 6.2 MHz on a prospective basis. The DoT appealed against the order and subsequently the Supreme Court said the status quo be maintained regarding the demands in December 2020. ALSO READ: DoT amends telecom licence norms to relax penal provisions The DoTs move is significant because this is the first straight attempt by the government to clear the backlog of the huge number of pending cases in courts between it and companies (telcos), involving a substantial financial impact. According to sources, the number of cases in the Supreme Court is more than 200. A DoT assessment in 2018 said the number of cases pending in the Supreme Court and high courts was over 2,800. They concerned financial demands made by the DoT, disputes on interpretations of notifications, and the law and appeals reversing decisions of lower courts. The DoT, in an affidavit before the Supreme Court, said it had taken this decision considering the sectors financial crises. It told the court the cabinet in September had cleared a telecom package to ensure the viability of companies and prevent a monopolistic situation in the sector. It also pointed out the Indian Banks Association had conveyed to the government any adverse developments in the telecom sector might lead to a duopoly, shrinking competition, and an adverse impact on the banking system, which has a huge exposure to the sector. KEY ISSUES UNDER LITIGATION Alleged violation of electromagnetic fields by telcos Enhanced microwave charges imposed by DoT Penalty notices on violation of conditions of ILD (International Long Distance) service licence Issues arising out of transfer and merger guidelines Broadband wireless access spectrum user charges floor price Subscriber verification-related penalties Officials who have worked in the say earlier no attempt was made to redress the issues through an out-of-court settlement. Lawyers involved in the cases are of the opinion that the departments approach was adversarial. But former DoT officials who worked during that time say with the ministry hit by scams, there was the fear that any out-of-court settlement could come under the scrutiny of the Comptroller and Auditor General or other government agencies. Shifting from its earlier stance, the DoT is now considering a scheme akin to Vivad Se Vishwas for resolving such cases. That move, many say, could be a fundamental change in resolving this growing contentious issue, said Sameer Chugh, partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Adds Tony Verghese partner in J Sagar Associates: "Ultimately the DoT will need to provide the SC with a sufficiently reasonable proposal which takes care of the public interest and only upon satisfaction of the said proposal , would I think such a proposal will be allowed by the SC." Matters came to a head with the Supreme Court directing the telecom companies to pay adjusted gross revenue dues with interest as well as penalties on interest. That decision virtually crippled many telecom companies because they had to fork out around Rs 1 trillion. It is one of key reasons why the government has had to offer a telecom package aimed primarily to provide the companies more breathing space by giving them a moratorium of four years. A senior executive of a telecom company said: We do not want such a thing to happen again and would welcome any move to settle the case out of court. The DoTs decision to reconsider its plan to proceed with the appeal against the TDSAT order seems yet another step to rectify past anomalies. The telecom sector, which has been extremely litigious, will see a decline in litigation and pave the way for more focus on business. The has received over 47,291 applications for admission under the first cut-off list with 7,167 students completing the process by paying the fees. As many as 9,114 applications have been approved by principals across colleges. The university released its first cut-off list on October 1 and the admissions to nearly 70,000 seats commenced on Monday. At Hindu College, most of those who took admissions to Political Science(Honours) is from Kerala State Board. There have been 70 approved admissions to BA (Honours) Political Science which has a cut-off of 100 per cent for the unreserved category, including three to four admissions under the EWS category, 11 under the OBC category and six to seven under the SC/ST category. "It's the same story every year. If you have 100 per cent (cut-off), then also you have over-admissions. We will have to work on how to engage more teachers and maintain a good teacher-student ratio," principal Anju Srivastava said. Last month, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had directed central universities to fill up 6,200 vacancies of professors. At Miranda House, the unreserved seats for Political Science (Honours) course have been filled and there is a possibility that in the second list, only be seats available under the reserved categories will be available. Many full marks scorers have applied for admission. At Ramjas College, 350 applications have been received till now and nearly 200 have been approved. As many as 62 students have paid the fees. At Deen Daya Upadhyaya College, of 650 applications received, 110 have been approved. Certificates of 50 students are pending verification while the admission of 250 students has been rejected. The college has received maximum applications for the BA programme at 100 while there have been zero admissions to BSc (Honours) Computer Science for which the cut-off has been pegged at 100 per cent. Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College has not received eligible applicants for the BCom programme for which the minimum marks required for admission are 100 per cent. "We have 30 seats for the course and we kept the cut-off at 100 per cent so that students who do not have mathematics can apply for the course. Till now, we have had applications, but they were not found to be eligible," said college principal Dr Jaswinder Singh. Aryabhatta College has received 569 applications of which 341 have been approved. The college has had 100 admissions for 60 seats in BA (Honours) Political Science, including 70 from the unreserved category. Even for the BA programme for the combination of political science and history, there have been 100 admissions to 60 seats available under the course, said convener(admissions) Rajesh Dwivedi. "When there are over admissions, it poses a problem. Our classrooms can accommodate 68 students so we will have to create two sections. In online classes, teachers can teach any number of students but whenever physical classes resume there will be a problem. Teachers will be stretched," he said. However, many students who are yet to pay the fees. The deadline for paying the fees is Friday evening, so colleges will get to know the exact status on Saturday morning. "In case there are over admissions to the unreserved seats, the colleges are mandated to proportionally increase seats under the SC/ST and OBC categories. We will wait and watch the situation till the second and third lists and then decide," he said. Hansraj College has had 132 admissions in BSc (Honours) as against 758 seats while 148 admissions have taken place against 956 seats for BA (honours) and BA programmes. At Atma Ram Santana Dharma College, 215 applications have been approved with maximum admissions happening BA programme, Hindi (Honours), Economics (Honours) and BCom programme. In Rajdhani College, 189 admissions have taken place against a total of 1,194 seats available in the college. (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.) Global airlines agreed on Monday to step up plans to tackle as they face mounting pressure from regulators and environmental groups over the impact of billions of extra passengers expected to take to the skies in coming decades. The Air Transport Association, which groups 290 airlines, including dozens of state carriers, committed to "net zero" carbon emissions by 2050 in a move that ties the sector's climate action to the 2015 Paris accord for the first time. It also accelerates a 12-year-old pledge to halve emissions from 2005 levels by 2050 and involves tackling an extra 300 million tonnes of carbon through measures such as bio-based sustainable aviation fuels or hybrid-electric technology. But the moves sparked a backlash from Chinese airlines, mirroring differences between Beijing and the West over environmental policy weeks ahead of new global talks in Glasgow. Eastern, one of China's "big-three" state carriers and the world's fourth-largest domestic operator, said airlines should recognize specific challenges for developing countries - a thorny and recurring issue in global climate negotiations. IATA Director General Willie Walsh acknowledged the goal would be "an additional challenge at a very difficult time," but appealed for unity. "For aviation, net zero is a bold, audacious commitment. But it is also a necessity," he told IATA's annual meeting. Airlines adopted the target as their leaders gathered for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis, which is piling up an estimated $200 billion of losses between 2020 and 2022. IATA projected a drop in industry losses next year to $11.6 billion from a steeper-than-expected $51.8 billion loss in 2021. briefly overtook the United States as the world's largest domestic aviation market during the pandemic and is expected to regain the top spot by the end of this decade. Under the Paris accord, countries agreed to limit the rise in global temperatures from pre-industrial levels to 2 degrees Celsius and preferably to 1.5 degrees. To do that, scientists say the world needs to cut emissions to net zero by 2050. GOALS More than 130 countries have set or are considering a target of reducing emissions to net zero by mid-century, the United Nations says. aims to be "carbon neutral" by 2060. "Carbon neutral" involves achieving reductions partly through measures such as offset schemes, transferring reductions to other industries, which critics say delays effective action. "Net zero" carbon means reducing emissions and offsetting as a last resort. The says it must use offsets heavily at first, pending progress on new fuels and technology. Environmental groups have attacked the reliance on a global industry offset scheme and say the priority should be to ensure that carbon stops reaching the atmosphere in the first place. In total, pledges would involve removing or compensating for 21.2 gigatons of emissions over the next 30 years at an expected total cost of $1.6 trillion. "Big announcements mean nothing if they're not backed by credible policy," said Jo Dardenne, aviation manager at Brussels-based T&E. Airline leaders say they have been under pressure to strengthen targets to keep a seat at the table amid what scientists describe as growing risks posed by Air travel accounts for about 3% of global emissions. "There is a change in society going on and airlines are a reflection of their societies," KLM Chief Executive Pieter Elbers said. Manufacturers immediately matched the airline pledges as aviation seeks a common front, though planemakers differ on the priorities for reaching the goals, with Airbus placing a higher focus on hydrogen despite skepticism from Boeing. The meeting also exposed friction between airlines and governments over ageing air traffic systems, which airlines say cause delays and blunt efforts to tackle emissions. Other disputes resurfaced as Walsh - a former British Airways CEO with a reputation as a bruiser in dealing with unions and suppliers - tore into high airport charges, including what he called London's "off the charts" Heathrow. (Additional reporting by Nina Chestney and Allison Lampert; Editing by Gareth Jones, Mark Potter and Dan Grebler) (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.) continues to remain in deep crisis and will be just 22 per cent in 2021 as compared to the 2019 levels, said Conrad Clifford, Deputy Director General of global airlines body on Monday. "The lack of harmonised border measures, restrictions and procedures is a major cause of the failure to restart (international) travel," he said during a media briefing here at the 77th annual general meeting of Air Transport Association (IATA). According to sources, just around 20 per cent of pre-Covid flights are being operated from India right now. Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the pandemic. However, special flights have been permitted under "air bubble" arrangements that India has formed with approximately 28 countries. Under an air bubble arrangement, airlines of one country are permitted to operate limited International passenger flights to the other's territory with specific restrictions. When analysed the entry restrictions of the top 50 markets of the world, it was observed that seven countries have no restrictions, five have no entry restrictions but you might still have to quarantine, Clifford mentioned here. "Meanwhile, 38 have restrictions of the bewildering variety," he stated. For example, out of the 38 countries where restrictions are still in place, 24 differentiate based on some sort of country risk categorisation, but there is little consistency in the risk categorisation, Clifford said. "The same country may appear on one state's green list, another state's amber list, and another state's red list," he added. On Sunday, Lufthansa group's CEO Carsten Spohr had said here that restricting air traffic between India and Germany is hurting both the economies and the airline group is eagerly waiting for the Indian government to allow more flights between the two countries. Indian aviation regulator DGCA currently allows Lufthansa to operate just 10 weekly flights from India to Germany, after it had accused the airline in September 2020 of being beneficiary of "inequitable distribution" of traffic. (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.) Chipmaker Inc and SSW Partners have reached an agreement to buy Swedish automotive technology group Veoneer for $4.5 billion, Veoneer said on Monday. Veoneer's expertise in making advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) made it an attractive takeover target for both and Canada's Magna. in August offered to buy Veoneer at an 18.4% premium to a July bid worth around $3.8 billion by Magna that had already been accepted by Veoneer's board. Qualcomm's bid came after it signed a collaboration deal with Veoneer to develop a software and chip platform for driver-assistance systems called Arriver in January 2021. Qualcomm and SWW Partners, a newly-founded investment firm based in New York, will buy Veoneer for $37 per share in cash, Veoneer's statement said. The unusual deal structure allows SSW Partners to buy all outstanding shares of Veoneer, after which it will lead a process to look for a strategic buyer for Veoneer's Tier-1 supplier businesses, including the restraint control systems (RCS) and active safety businesses, while selling the Arriver business to Qualcomm. "This transaction structure facilitates the long-term success of all Veoneer's businesses," Veoneer said. Magna had a similar interest in buying Veoneer, as it tries to compete with ADAS makers such as Aptiv, Bosch and Continental. Veoneer said it had terminated its prior acquisition agreement with Magna. In a separate statement, Magna said Veoneer will pay a termination fee of $110 million to Magna. Stockholm-listed shares in Veoneer, which was spun off in 2018 from air bag and seatbelt maker Autoliv, rose 4.33% to trade at 313.4 crowns ($35.91) at close. (1 Swedish crown = $0.115) (Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Helena Soderpalm and Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Ed Osmond and Christian Schmollinger) (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 son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was toppled in a 1986 revolt, announced Tuesday that he would seek the presidency in next year's elections in what activists say is an attempt to whitewash a dark period in the country's history marked by plunder and human rights atrocities. Former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. said in a brief Facebook video that he would unite Filipinos to be able to overcome the coronavirus pandemic that has destroyed lives, battered the economy and brought widespread misery. Issues surrounding the Marcoses, however, continue to stoke political divisions more than three decades after the dictator's downfall. We must face the challenge as one as one country, as one people, Marcos Jr. said. I will bring that form of unifying leadership back to our country. Loretta Ann Rosales, a former chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights and a political detainee who was tortured and molested during the Marcos era, said his presidential bid "seeks to institutionalize the dark, corrupt and tyrannical legacy of his father and sabotage our efforts to exact full accountability from his family. We must not allow him to use his family's ill-gotten wealth to fund his presidential ambition, whitewash their crimes against the people and complete their quest for historical distortions," Rosales said. Marcos was ousted in a 1986 army-backed people power uprising and died in exile in Hawaii three years later without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he and his family amassed an estimated USD5 billion to USD10 billion while he was in power. Marcos placed the under martial rule in 1972, a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress, ordered the arrest of political rivals and left-wing activists and ruled by decree. A Hawaii court found Marcos liable for human rights violations and awarded USD2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Marcos Jr., 64, is the latest to express his intention to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses who has been in the crosshairs of human rights groups himself. Marcos Jr. is one of at least eight politicians and celebrities who said they'll run for president or lower posts, including Vice President Leni Robredo, who leads the opposition. Marcos Jr. narrowly lost to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race and then unsuccessfully contested alleged elections irregularities. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A federal jury on Monday has ordered Inc (TSLA.O) to pay more than $130 million in damages to a Black former worker, finding he was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, the Wall Street Journal reported. The jury determined that the company failed to take reasonable steps to prevent Owen Diaz, a contract worker who was employed as an elevator operator at Tesla's Fremont factory in 2015 and 2016, from being racially harassed, the newspaper said. In a message to employees that posted on its website, the automaker noted the trial concerned racial slurs heard on the factory floor and racist graffiti in the bathrooms. It also said the three times that Diaz complained about harassment, stepped in and made sure action was taken by staffing agencies. The jury awarded Diaz $6.9 million in compensatory damages and $130 million in punitive damages, according to the newspaper. "While we strongly believe that these facts don't justify the verdict reached by the jury in San Francisco, we do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect," Tesla said. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters query asking if it would be appealing the verdict. Diaz's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Before the trial began, presiding judge William Orrick rejected efforts by Tesla to exclude one juror from the jury, saying he believed the attempt was based on race and "purposefully discriminatory." Tesla said in its blog post that since Diaz worked at the Fremont factory it had made changes including the establishment of teams dedicated to investigating employee complaints and to ensuring employees had equal opportunities at the company. Last year, the electric carmaker disclosed in its first U.S. diversity report that Black employees make up just 4% of Tesla's American leadership roles and 10% of its total workforce in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Japanese-born American Syukuro Manabe, German Klaus Hasselmann, and Italian Giorgio Parisi won the 2021 for Physics on Tuesday for work that helps understand complex physical systems such as Earths changing climate. In a decision hailed by the UN weather agency as a sign of a consensus forming around man-made global warming, one half of the 10-million Swedish crown ($1.15-million) prize goes in equal parts to Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, for modelling earths climate and reliably predicting global warming. The other half goes to Parisi for discovering in the early 1980s hidden rules behind seemingly random movements and swirls in gases or liquids, which can also be applied to aspects of neuroscience, machine learning and starling flight formations. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how humanity influences it, the Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement. Giorgio Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes. Hasselmann, who is at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, told Reuters from his home that he did not want to wake up from what he described as a beautiful dream. The Academy said Manabe, who works at Princeton University in the United States, had laid the foundation in the 1960s for todays understanding of Earth's climate. Hasselmann, it said, had developed models about 10 years later that became instrumental in proving that mankind's carbon dioxide emissions cause rising temperatures in the atmosphere. Parisi, who dialled into the media briefing, was asked for his message to world leaders due to meet for UN talks in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31. "I think it is very urgent that we take real and very strong decisions and we move at a very strong pace, said the 73-year-old laureate who works at Sapienza University of Rome. India, and are helping to lead the expansion of markets in central and southern Asia, according to Chainalysis. Indias market grew 641% over the past year and Pakistans 711%, a report from Chainalysis showed, using a metric that estimates the total received by a country. India has a 59% share of activity taking place on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, with at 33%, the report said, adding theres been a significant increase in cryptocurrency-related entrepreneurship and venture capital investment in the region. ALSO READ: CoinDCX picks Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador to aid crypto awareness Large institutional-sized transfers above $10 million worth of represent 42% of transactions sent from India-based addresses, versus 28% for and 29% for Vietnam, the report said. Those numbers suggest that Indias cryptocurrency investors are part of larger, more sophisticated organizations. The past year has seen a number of twists and turns for Indias crypto market, including on the regulatory front, with some reports that the country might try to ban or otherwise restrict crypto. However, Chainalysis noted, more recently it looks as though the government may simply favor taxation. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has regained its Rs 2-trillion market capitalisation (market-cap) mark as the stock rallied another 8 per cent to Rs 159.75 on the BSE in Tuesdays intra-day trade on the back of higher crude oil prices. The stock of the state-owned oil exploration & production (E&P) company was trading at its highest level since November 2018. The rising domestic gas supply and improvement in oil and gas realisation should drive upstream companies' earnings growth and valuations. At 10:57 am; was trading 7.5 per cent higher at Rs 158.60, with a market of Rs 199,523 crore, the BSE data shows. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.09 per cent at 59,246 points. In past one month, the stock has surged 31 per cent, as against a 2 per cent rise in the benchmark index. The crude prices hit three-year high after Opec and allies decided to continue with their oil supply plan in their latest meeting. Opec+ agreed to increase oil supply by 400K bpd in November as per the earlier plan. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and their allies, known as OPEC+, have faced calls from big consumers, such as the United States and India, for extra supplies after oil prices surged more than 50 per cent this year. Brent crude roared above $81 a barrel on that the group would stay with its plan for gradual additional production, rather than offering more supply to the market, the Reuters reported. Brent crude price is currently at >USD 75/bbl, up 47 per cent YTD, driven by recovery in global demand with opening up of economies. The US was hit by Hurricane Ida in July end, which has resulted in disruption of production from Gulf of Mexico (GoM) of ~1.7mb/d in August. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects supply from GoM to normalise by Q4CY22. With crude oil and product inventory in lower half of the five-year range and EIA estimating global crude oil supply growth to lag demand growth in 2021 as global recovery continues to gather pace, we see an upside risk to crude oil prices, HDFC Securities said in sector update. We expect, in FY23E, (standalone) to produce 23.0 mmt of oil and 24.8 bcm of gas, and to produce 3.2 mmt of oil and 2.6 bcm of gas. Increasing gas prices and rising Brent crude oil price should improve realisation and in turn drive earnings CAGR of 30-54% over FY21-FY23E for and OIL. ONGC should also benefit from increase in gas production by up to 12mmscmd over FY21-25E as production from its KG basin blocks, the brokerage firm said. Shares of were locked in the lower circuit filter of 5 per cent at Rs 8.17 on the BSE in Tuesday's session after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday superseded the board of the company, which will be taken for insolvency proceedings owing to governance concern and payment defaults by them. The stock of the non-banking finance company (NBFC) has slipped 56 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 18.39 touched on June 23, 2021. It had hit a 52-week low of Rs 5.01 on March 31, 2021. The trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled, with a combined 885,925 equity shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE till 10:35 am. There were pending sell orders for a combined 6.47 million shares on both the exchanges, the data shows. Currently, is trading under the T group on the BSE. In the T2T segment, each trade has to result in delivery and no intra-day netting of positions is allowed. As on June 30, 2021, the promoters held 60.80 per cent stake in While, of the 38.24 per cent public holding, individual shareholders held 28.06 per cent holding in the company, the shareholding pattern data shows. The Reserve Bank has today superseded the Board of Directors of SREI Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and SREI Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), owing to governance concerns and defaults by the aforesaid companies in meeting their various payment obligations, said on Monday, October 4, 2021 in press release. The Reserve Bank also intends to shortly initiate the process of resolution of the above two NBFCs under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2019 and would also apply to the NCLT for appointing the Administrator as the Insolvency Resolution Professional, the press release said. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 45-IE (1) of the Act, 1934, has issued an Order / Press Release w.r.t. the Supersession of the Board of Directors of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited as well as Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL), wholly owned subsidiary of the Company with immediate effect, Srei Infrastructure Finance said in an exchange filing. The has appointed Shri Rajneesh Sharma as its Administrator under Section 45-JE (2) of the RBI Act, 1934 with immediate effect, it added. CLICK HERE FOR FILING Watch Video Shares of Patel Engineering, a civil construction company specializing in the hydropower sector, were locked at the 20 per cent upper circuit, and in the process also hit a fresh a 52-week high at Rs 28.85 on the BSE on Tuesday amid heavy volumes. The trading volumes at the counter jumped nearly four-fold, with a combined 33.74 million shares changing hands and pending buy orders for 2.54 million shares on the NSE and BSE at 01:44 pm. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.44 per cent at 59,561. In past seven trading days, the stock of construction & engineering company has zoomed 75 per cent from a level of Rs 16.50 on September 24, 2021. Currently, the stock trades at its highest level since March 2019. has a strong presence in tunnels and underground works for hydroelectric and dam projects. The company has a consistent track record in execution of projects in domestic and international arena. The company has completed over 85 dams, 40 hydroelectric projects and more than 300 km of tunneling for clients which are mostly central public sector undertakings (PSUs) or state government organizations. On September 27, 2021, announced that it had bagged a Rs 1,251 crore, Lot II Civil Work contract for 500 MW Teesta-VI Hydro Electric Project, Sikkim from Lanco Teesta Hydro Power Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NHPC Ltd. The project is located at South Sikkim District in Sikkim, India. The package includes balance civil works for underground power house & transformer cavern, part of HRT-I & HRT-II, surge shafts, pressure shafts & adits, TRT and other associated structures etc. of 500 MW Teesta-VI Hydro Electric Project located near village Subin Khore, South Sikkim, India, which is about 67Kms from Siliguri, the nearest major town, the company said in a press release. in the financial year 2020-21 (FY21) annual report said that, with implementation of one-time restructuring (OTR) by lenders where additional working capital limits have been made available, the company expects to improve its order book further going forward. The company focuses on bidding for projects with reputed clients with well-funded projects which can be funded from Client Advances and hence results in efficient working capital management. Meanwhile, the company has plans to merge 14 of its subsidiaries with itself, which will reduce various costs incurred for compliance for these subsidiaries and ensure that we get synergies of operations throughout with no duplication post-merger. The company has continued to focus on monetization of non-core assets to reduce debt and further increase liquidity. It also continues to receive further funds against arbitration awards by submission of bank guarantees under NITI Aayog initiatives and expects to receive more funds going forward, which shall reduce the debt burden. Also, continuous monetization of real estate remains one of the top most priorities of the management, the company said. Chief Minister will take oath as an MLA on October 7 and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar inviting him to administer the oath of office to the party supremo at the State Assembly instead, informed Partha Chatterjee, General Secretary of Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday. Speaking to ANI, Chatterjee said, "We suggested and requested the Governor to come down to Assembly and administer the oath of office on October 7." However, Dhankhar said he will wait till the official gazette notification on the Bhabanipur by-poll result is issued. "Raj Bhawan response on the administration of Oath/Affirmation to the Members elected to the WBLA in bye-election from 159-Bhabanipur A/C, and the adjourned poll in 56-Samserganj and 58-Jangipur A/Cs held on 30 September 2021. Once Gazetted Governor would take call," tweeted the official Twitter handle of the Governor. Earlier on October 3, following TMC's poll victory in Bhabanipur, Jangipur and Shamsherganj, a request was made to the Governor by the state that the Bengal assembly speaker be given the responsibility to administer the oath to the newly-elected MLAs on October 4. Responding to a question on the Governor's decision to conduct the oath-taking ceremony in the Governor house, Chatterjee said, "It is our desire and request to the governor that the oath-taking be conducted in the Assembly." Answering a query on TMC and other opposition leaders not being allowed in the Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh following violence that broke out after a car hit protesting farmers, Chatterjee said, "This is their (BJP) culture. They are scared of TMC and " Bhabanipur gave its verdict for Trinamool Congress chief as she won the assembly constituency by-polls with a margin of over 58,000 votes. According to the Election Commission of India, Mamata Banerjee secured 85,263 votes which are around 71.90 per cent of the total votes connected in the by-elections. Banerjee's main competition, BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal got 26,428 votes and CPI (M) candidate Srijib Biswas secured 4,226 votes. (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.) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is quoting at Rs 442.2, up 1.46% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 25.61% in last one year as compared to a 52.19% gain in NIFTY and a 59.27% gain in the Nifty Energy index. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is up for a third straight session in a row. The stock is quoting at Rs 442.2, up 1.46% on the day as on 12:54 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.33% on the day, quoting at 17748.85. The Sensex is at 59474.05, up 0.29%. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has dropped around 9.9% in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is a constituent, has dropped around 13.47% in last one month and is currently quoting at 23334.6, up 2.16% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 50.26 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 78.03 lakh shares in last one month. The benchmark October futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 443.65, up 1.42% on the day. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is up 25.61% in last one year as compared to a 52.19% gain in NIFTY and a 59.27% gain in the Nifty Energy index. The PE of the stock is 7.23 based on TTM earnings ending June 21. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nucleus Software Exports announced that Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF)has gone live in Spain with the company's flagship lending product, FinnOne. Spain becomes the 9th European country for OVF to go live with FinnOne. While FinnOne has been supporting businesses for Opel Vauxhall Finance in Europe since 2006, Spain is the latest country that will run OVF business using FinnOne. The OVF FinnOne partnership began in Italy and then moved on to Belgium, Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The OVF portfolio includes a wide range of auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister was stopped at the airport on Tuesday by the local administration. This is probably the first time that a Chief Minister has not been allowed to move out of an airport. Senior Congress leaders Pramod Tiwari and P.L. Punia, who had gone to the airport to receive him, were denied entry. Baghel, who is also the Congress observer for Uttar Pradesh, was scheduled to go to Sitapur to meet Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is under detention since Monday. "I have come here to meet my leader but these people are not allowing me to come out of the airport. I am sitting here and will not go back without meeting my leader. I am not going to Lakhimpur but Sitapur," he said, squatting on the floor at the airport. "I came to to proceed to meet Priyanka Gandhi ji at Sitapur. But I am not being allowed to leave the airport, says CM and Congress leader pic.twitter.com/0xBubvHVxm ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 5, 2021 --IANS amita/vd (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.) leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Tuesday claimed that he has been under detention for the last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur. "Today after 24 hours have passed, we are still in custody like criminals for the second day, and those who crushed the are free. The land of Lakhimpur was turned red with the blood of farmers, but every drop of this blood will write the story of the coming revolution. Police Line Sitapur, from police custody," Hooda tweeted. Earlier today, leader Priyanka Gandhi claimed that she has been detained for the last 28 hours without any order or FIR. The General Secretary demanded arrest of the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, where 8 people, including 4 farmers, died on Sunday. "Narendra Modi sir, your government has kept me in detention for the last 28 hours without any order and FIR. But the person who crushed the has not been arrested yet," she tweeted in Hindi. Congress has alleged that she was arrested yesterday while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri. Meanwhile, Congress supporters continue to protest outside the PAC guest house in Sitapur where the party leader is allegedly detained. As many as eight people died in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday, said police. "Four and four others have died (in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident). Probe underway. It's an unfortunate incident, should not be politicised," Lakhimpur Kheri District Magistrate Arvind Kumar Chaurasiya told reporters. Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) issued a statement regarding the incident claiming the death of four farmers and alleged that one of the four farmers was shot dead by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni's son, while the others were allegedly run over by vehicles of his convoy. Meanwhile, refuting SKM's allegations, MoS Teni said that his son was not present at the spot, adding that some miscreants merged with protesting farmers and pelted the stones on the car which lead to the 'unfortunate incident'. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Prime Minister on Tuesday thanked the people of after the comprehensively won the local body polls in the state, and said the results reaffirm the deep-rooted bond between them and the "Results of the local body polls across and Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation reaffirm the deep-rooted bond between the people of and Gratitude to the people for repeatedly blessing us. Kudos to all @BJP4Gujarat Karyakartas for working hard at the grassroots," he tweeted. In his reaction, BJP president J P Nadda said the win highlights people's continuous faith in Modi's leadership and the BJP's pro-people policies. The ruling BJP retained the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) and won in two other civic bodies in Gujarat, while the Congress wrested the Bhanvad municipality in Devbhumi-Dwarka district from the saffron party. (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.) International bodywear brand Sloggi has forayed into the Indian market and plans to expand its retail presence through franchise partner Solar Group. Sloggi, a brand from the house of Swiss undergarment maker Triumph International, eyes to achieve 10 per cent market share in the next two years, a statement said. It has plans to open 10 stores pan India by 2022. As per its strategy, it will focus on tier-2 cities along with key metros. Commenting on the launch Triumph India and Sri Lanka Commercial Director Santhosh Sivaramakrishnan said by expanding its operations, the company aims to explore the potential of this market segment in India. We have already witnessed exponential growth here with our parent brand Triumph, he added. Sivaramakrishnan further said, Going forward we are taking a page from the Triumph's retail book and are looking at 1,000 plus consumer experience (POS) points to start within the first two years. We have leveraged our strength in MBO (Multi-Brand Outlet) partners after which we plan on expanding into LFS (Large Format Stores) stores as well. We also plan to open 10 exclusive retail stores by the end of next year. Sloggi will open its stores in Navi Mumbai and Pune between October and December this year, with the support of its franchisee partner Solar Group. (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.) Inc.s worldwide crash exposed the risks of relying on its social networking products, bolstering European regulators drive to contain its reach just as a U.S. whistle-blowers testimony threatens to attract more unwanted scrutiny at home. While Europe awoke to find Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger services back online, the scale of Mondays blackout quickly led to criticism. The European Unions antitrust chief and digital czar, Margrethe Vestager, said the failure would focus minds on the companys dominance. Its always important that people have alternatives and choices. This is why we work on keeping digital markets fair and contestable, Vestager said. An outage as we have seen shows that its never good to rely only on a few big players, whoever they are. The networking problem that brought down services used by more than 2.75 billion people couldnt have come at a worse time. After a U.S. television interview on Sunday, whistle-blower Frances Haugen will appear before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday and will tell lawmakers what she calls the frightening truth about Haugens accusations that the company prioritizes profit over user safety were still making headlines as Facebook services were down. The revelations prompted U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to highlight the risks faced by countries that rely on the services for communication. Facebook climbed as much as 1.3% to $330.33 in New York, paring a 4.9% slump Monday. Facebook already faces numerous antitrust and privacy investigations across Europe as well as intense scrutiny of even small deals, such as its planned takeover of a customer-service software provider. The company was fined 225 million euros ($261 million) last month over WhatsApp data failings and faces separate antitrust probes from the European Commission and German competition watchdog Bundeskartellamt. EU lawmakers will in coming months vote on new laws that would curb the ability of powerful Internet platforms such as Facebook to expand into new services. The services disruption showed the serious consequences of dependency on one company for key communication channels, and that Facebook should never have been allowed to buy Instagram and WhatsApp, said Rasmus Andresen, a German Green member of the European Parliament. Everyone in the European Union as well as in the U.S. must realize now at the latest that we need strong regulations against quasi-monopolies, Andresen said in a statement. We need close transatlantic cooperation. Political Fallout The event spurred calls for a new digital order by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a man with little tolerance for political criticism on social media. The hours-long shutdown showed how fragile social networks are, said Fahrettin Altun, his presidential communications director, urging a rapid development of domestic and national alternatives. The problem we have seen showed us how our data are in danger, how quickly and easily our social liberties can be limited, Altun said in a series of Twitter posts. The nationalist Alternative for Germany party welcomed the disruption, with lawmaker Beatrix von Storch saying that she hopes competitors will benefit. In Nigeria, the blackout silenced President Muhammadu Buharis communications team, government officials and governors in 36 states for six hours. The government has increasingly relied on Facebook to inform the public after Twitters services were blocked in Africas most populous country on June 5. A spokesman for the presidents office declined to comment. Hungarian opposition politicians who use Facebook products to circumvent state-owned media outlets lamented that the company couldnt be relied on as they campaign against Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Facebook is for us opposition politicians one of the last media outlets where we can talk to you and which isnt totally dominated by Fidesz, Orbans political party, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony said in a video posted on Tuesday. Problems with the platform threaten the ability to disseminate information, he said. The outage forced some phone companies to take action. The Polish Play unit of Paris-based telecommunications company Iliad SA recorded an eightfold increase in the number of calls to its customer service between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. local time, it said in a blog post on its website. It had to reconfigure its network to prevent an overload. This outage does show the over-dependence we have on a single company, and the need for diversity and greater competition, Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group in London, said in an interview. Their reliance of data-driven, attention-optimizing products is dangerous and needs to be challenged through interventions enabling greater competition. Hit by a revision in payment norms by the RBI, online merchants like Netflix, Facebook and Future Generali on Tuesday announced the formation of a grouping to take up common causes. The changes on e-mandates effected by the from October 1 are intended to make the ecosystem more robust but with only six banks complying with the revised norms, the preparedness of the banking sector is questionable and there is bound to be value erosion in the merchant-customer relationships as the latter face inconveniences, as per an official statement from the body. The Merchant Alliance of India (MPAI), which also has other members including Disney+Hotstar, Bookmyshow, Microsoft, Spotify, Times Internet and Zoom, will work towards such causes by addressing and constructively engaging with the regulator and industry. "The MPAI sees itself as a collective, using the operational experience of merchants, to engage on policy matters such as the e-mandate issue, which will help reduce transaction-related frictions and improve the efficiency of digital markets," Vivan sharan from its secretariat, said. The alliance will enhance the value of India's digital markets, provide public interest research and thought leadership on digital payments, and build consumer awareness, the statement said. The MPAI statement said it also aspires to become a resource platform for merchants and the ecosystem to contribute to policy conversations involving matters that help reduce transaction-related frictions and improve digital markets' efficiency" while ensuring data protection and fraud prevention. "The group's purpose is to be a collaborator to the digital payments policy discourse and Microsoft is excited to be part of this initiative, the American tech giant's Vishal Mehta said. The alliance is open for memberships to merchants that use digital payments and align with the alliance's vision in India, the statement said. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) V-Mart Retail Ltd V-Mart Retail Ltd retails readymade garments accessories etc. and is engaged in the business of 'Value Retailing' through the chain of stores situated at various cities in India. The company operates its retail stores under the V-Mart brand.V-Mart is one of the pioneers in setting up stores across various small Indian towns and cities including Sultanpur Ujjain Motihari. The company primarily oper...> More The first-of-its-kind car rally in the country flagged off by Aaditya Thackeray and Jeet Adani of the Adani Group Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 5 (ANI/Hunk Golden and Media): Thirty fully electric vehicles surged silently through the green lungs of Mumbai on Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti dated Saturday, 2nd October 2021 as part of the historic Green Mumbai Drive 2021 organised by Autocar India and Adani Electricity. The first of its kind electric car rally in the country was flagged off from the Mahalaxmi Race Course by Aaditya Thackeray - State Minister for Tourism, Environment, and Protocol - along with fellow chief guest Jeet Adani of the Adani Group. The biggest electric car rally wowed Mumbai. For the first time ever, every electric car brand came together for a drive through the green zones of Mumbai. The Green Mumbai Drive 2021, which featured every electric car model sold in the country, saw participation from both EV owners and senior automotive industry executives. The EVs in the Green Mumbai Drive 2021 rally included the Hyundai Kona, MG ZS EV, Tata Nexon EV, Mercedes-Benz EQC, Jaguar I-Pace, Audi e-tron, Tata Tigor EV, Volvo XC40 Recharge, and Tesla Model X. Senior industry executives who took part in the drive included Balbir Singh Dhillon, Audi India brand head; Santosh Iyer, head of marketing and sales at Mercedes-Benz India; Rohit Suri, Jaguar India CEO; Amit Jain, sales and marketing head of Volvo India; and Vivek Srivatsa, marketing head of Tata Motors. Participants drove in a convoy from the Race Course to the Kanheri Caves at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Aarey Colony, the Adani Electricity Management Institute off JVLR, and along the Vikhroli mangroves. The 110-km drive culminated at the Vikhroli Social restaurant. Speaking at the event, Aaditya Thackeray said: "It is a great beginning to bring EVs into the limelight. Events such as these can clear doubts in the minds of people regarding electric vehicles. I look forward to more such events being organised between Mumbai and Pune, or Mumbai and Kolhapur to bust myths regarding EVs and encourage people to drive electric cars." The environment minister's enthusiasm for EVs was evident in the way he jumped into the driver's seat of a Tesla Model X after flagging off a few cars and drove part of the route himself. "Adani Group is committed to sustainability. We have announced our plans to invest in green energy. Electric and fuel cell electric vehicles are the future of mobility," said Jeet Adani. The Green Mumbai Drive 2021, which will adhere to strict COVID-19 regulations and protocol, is aligned with both central and state governments' commitment to addressing climate change. "Close to 30 percent of our carbon footprint comes from transportation, and as Mumbai's largest electric utility, Adani Electricity aims to lead the way in powering Mumbai's transition to electric mobility with a goal to drastically reduce carbon emissions," said Kandarp Patel, MD, and CEO, Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd. What made the Green Mumbai Drive rally unique is the special access it afforded participants within Mumbai's green zones. Participants were given special permission to drive on a restricted road inside the Sanjay National Gandhi Park, which is otherwise off-limits for cars. Passing silently through the thick forest, the convoy of EVs presented an impressive sight and was a special experience for customers. "Normally, we would never have been allowed to drive all the way to Kanheri Caves - this drive was truly a magical experience. We couldn't believe we were in Mumbai," said Dr Vishal Shinde, who owns a Hyundai Kona and uses it daily. The Vikhroli Mangroves, which have been carefully preserved by Godrej & Boyce, provided a fitting end to the event. Again, this eco-sensitive area is not open to the public, but to promote EV awareness, Godrej & Boyce provided special access for the Green Mumbai Drive participants to drive through secluded roads that cut through the mangrove forest. "You felt like you were in a sanctuary, just listening to the bird calls and songs. The way Godrej & Boyce have preserved this natural haven in the midst of a concrete jungle gives you hope that if there is a will to save the environment, it can be done. We need more corporates like this to help save our planet," said Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor, Autocar India. The entire 100km drive, which took around five hours, also demonstrated how electric cars are best suited to the cut and thrust of city traffic. This story is provided by Hunk Golden and Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Hunk Golden and Media) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chemie-Tech has been awarded an Engineering, Procurement, Construction & Commissioning contract from HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL) for Cryogenic Double Wall Storage Tanks (DWST) and associated facilities - Package 7 (Part-A) at HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd in Rajasthan, India. Chemie-Tech will execute 4 Double Wall Storage Tanks of 45 m diameter with a combined capacity of 96000 m3 to store Refrigerated Ethylene and Propylene for the refinery complex along with Vaporization system, BOG compressors, heating packages, etc. The scope of the contract involves Project Management, Residual process design, Detailed Design and Engineering, Procurement, Construction, pre commissioning & commissioning with Single point responsibility of above ground, flat bottom, vertical, full containment type double wall storage tank (outer tank with RCC post tension wall & inner tank 9% Ni Steel) with Packages such as BOG Compressor, Ethylene Vaporisor, Propylene Heating, Glycol Makeup, Cold-Blowdown system, In-tank pumps, etc. complete with pile foundations, civil, mechanical, piping, electrical, cathodic protection, instrumentation, firefighting system and associated accessories with statutory approvals. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New Delhi [India], October 5 (ANI/Mediawire): (https://www.simplilearn.com/?utm_source=Economictimes & amp;utm_medium=affiliate-cpm & amp;utm_campaign=mb-IN-economictimes-PR-Sept2021) Simplilearn, the world's #1 online Bootcamp for digital economy skills training, which launched the (https://www.simplilearn.com/java-full-stack-developer-certification-training-course?utm_source=Economictimes & amp;utm_medium=affiliate-cpm & amp;utm_campaign=mb-IN-economictimes-Software-PR-Sept2021" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Full Stack Development Job Guarantee Program in June 2020, has seen 200% growth year on year in India. Given this growth, Simplilearn has launched a three-pronged approach to take on the goal of training and placing 10 lakh programmers in India by 2023. The core focus areas are: 1. Doubling down on its model of live interactive and hands-on Bootcamp at scale with multiple monthly batches to ensure a steady stream of graduates of this program are job-ready 2. Partnering with 50 top companies in the IT industry to ensure placements for learners graduating from this program 3. Building awareness of the career opportunities in the tech space for graduates with the right qualifications to pursue and achieve extremely rewarding careers On these goals, so far, Simplilearn already has more than 20 companies hiring graduates of this program. 80% of graduates who have completed the (https://www.simplilearn.com/java-full-stack-developer-certification-training-course?utm_source=Economictimes & amp;utm_medium=affiliate-cpm & amp;utm_campaign=mb-IN-economictimes-Software-PR-Sept2021 ) java online course have been successfully placed across these companies. The goal is to expand these partnerships to the top 50 companies by March 2022 and develop deeper platform integration of assessments with large IT companies looking at recruiting in substantial numbers from this program. Speaking about the program, Kashyap Dalal, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, Simplilearn, said, "If there is one thing that's certain about the future, it is that it will be 'tech' enabled. The IT industry is already the largest private-sector employer of white-collar jobs. The rapid growth of tech start-ups promises an even brighter future for this space. It is estimated that the IT industry employs about 40 to 50 lakh people today, which will double in the next five years. There will be a need for lakhs of new programmers to support this growth, making this one of the biggest opportunities in the skilling and education space. This will be a key investment area for us to help deliver the tech talent needed for India's IT growth." The program is a six-month rigorous bootcamp where learners master coding and build their own projects, apps, websites, and backend systems. It also focuses on creating awareness about new-age technologies like Cloud, DevOps, and Cybersecurity. It is best suited for aspirants seeking to start a career in software development and provides a Job Guarantee to learners upon successful completion of the (https://www.simplilearn.com/java-full-stack-developer-certification-training-course?utm_source=Economictimes & amp;utm_medium=affiliate-cpm & amp;utm_campaign=mb-IN-economictimes-Software-PR-Sept2021) software development program. To register, graduates need to take a short aptitude test prior to enrolment. To know more, click on the link here: (https://www.simplilearn.com) Simplilearn Website This story is provided by Mediawire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Mediawire) DISCLAIMER (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) SPAC is the new buzzword in the deal-making space. It stands for a special-purpose acquisition company and it is a new way for a company to list in public markets. It is becoming very popular with founders in India and abroad. So, what is a SPAC and how does it work? Lets dive in. A SPAC is essentially a shell company set up with the sole purpose of raising money through an IPO to eventually acquire another company. Usually a SPAC is created, or sponsored, by a team of institutional investors, hedge fund managers, and high-ranking CXOs. SPACs are a way for to become publicly traded in a way thats often less complicated than initial public offerings, or Going public by agreeing to be purchased by a SPAC reduces the red tape and costs associated with a traditional IPO. The latter involves banks that underwrite the deal, roadshows for potential investors and high levels of financial statements. SPACs generally have two years to search for a private company with which it merges or acquires it. If a SPAC hasnt merged with a company within two years, the money is returned to shareholders. This hypothetically makes SPACs less risky than traditional SPACs are particularly popular in the US. Virgin Galactic, DraftKings and Nikola Motor have all entered public markets by merging with SPACs. WeWork and Buzzfeed are also considering doing that. In fact, roughly 200 SPACs went public in 2020, raising about $64 billion, nearly as much as all of last years in the US. In India, Renew Power became the first company to list on a stock exchange in the US through the SPAC route. It merged with RMG II and began trading on August 24th. Several other local start-ups are also said to be considering this route. Indias benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended 2020-21 with gains of around 70%, the most in 11 years. Indias market capitalisation climbed over 80% during the year by Rs 91 trillion to Rs 204 trillion. The stock market performance translated into profits for some of the top cabinet ministers in the government, too, reveal declarations submitted with the Prime Ministers Office. Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation Amit Shahs net worth grew 32% to almost Rs 38 crore in FY21. This was mainly due to a 74% jump in the value of shares held by him. He declared the total value of his securities at Rs 24.5 crore as of March 31, 2021, compared with Rs 13.5 crore the previous year. His portfolio includes Rs 19.7 crore worth of inherited securities and Rs 3.78 crore worth of purchased securities. According to the affidavit submitted by Shah to the Election Commission in 2019, his listed equity portfolio consisted of more than 190 stocks. His top holdings include Reliance Industries, L&T Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti Suzuki and ITC. The value of stocks in Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyals portfolio grew by 96% to Rs 5.33 crore from Rs 2.72 crore in FY20. Among the richest ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modis Cabinet, Goyal also saw his net worth increasing by Rs 2.8 crore, or 10%, to Rs 30.26 crore. Meanwhile, the Franklin Templeton Credit Crisis impacted Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puris assets. His disclosure shows investments worth Rs 18.6 lakh in Franklin Credit Risk Fund, one of the six schemes voluntarily wound up by the fund house last year. The scheme had marked down the value of its exposure to YES Bank and Vodafone Ideas debt after creating segregated portfolios. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet in July held three listed stocks Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals, L&T and Vedanta which together had a value of Rs 6.23 lakh. Another new face in the Union Cabinet, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, has declared mutual fund investments to the tune of about Rs 11 lakh. His MF holdings account for a minuscule portion of his total assets of Rs 35.4 crore. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister have no exposure to the stock market, and they have seen only marginal increase in their net worths. While the value of Sitharamans assets were almost unchanged from Rs 1.4 crore in her FY20 disclosure, Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs total assets fell marginally from Rs 5.21 crore to Rs 4.93 crore. And, finally, the latest declaration made by Prime Minister shows his net worth as of March 31 at Rs 3.07 crore. This is up by nearly Rs 22 lakh from Rs 2.85 crore last year which is a jump of 7%. PM Modi has no stock market or mutual fund investments. His assets have mainly increased due to receipts from bank fixed deposits. 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 As flu season approaches, the HSE is asking people to come forward and get their free flu vaccine if it is recommended for them. The HSE says the flu vaccine will help protect those most at risk of serious illness from flu. It added that this year the free flu vaccine is recommended for you if you are in one of these groups: Aged 65 and over A health care worker A child aged 2 17 At any stage of pregnancy People with certain medical conditions which put them at increased risk from the complications of flu. For a full list of recommended groups visit hse.ie/flu "If youre 65 or over you are at higher risk of serious illness or complications such as pneumonia if you get the flu," the HSE said in a statement. This 2021-2022 flu season the flu vaccine being offered to people aged over 65 is called Fluad Tetra*. "This is an adjuvanted vaccine. That means it contains an ingredient that stimulates the immune system, making it more effective against flu in people in older people. It is being offered in Ireland for the first time this year, but a similar vaccine has been used for several years in various countries including the UK and USA," the HSE statement added. Those aged 65 years and over can contact their GP or local pharmacy to make an appointment. People aged 65 year and over who live in long-term residential care facilities will be offered this vaccine where they live. If youre a healthcare worker, the HSE says flu vaccination is important to protect yourself and to prevent the spread of the flu to colleagues, families and patients. The majority of healthcare workers are being offered their flu vaccine at work or through some GPs and pharmacies. Healthcare workers aged 65 or over can go to their GP or pharmacist to get the vaccine that is recommended for them. Dr Aparna Keegan, Specialist in Public Health Medicine and Flu Lead, HSE National Immunisation Office, said: Flu is a serious illness. Although the severity of the flu season can vary, we know that people aged 65 and over are most likely to impacted and have an increased likelihood of severe illness, being admitted into hospital or dying from flu when compared to the general population. The flu vaccine is the best protection against flu this winter. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, said: As we emerge from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital to remember that there are other viruses that can take an enormous toll upon the most at-risk in our society, as well as those working in our healthcare system. Flu is an unpleasant illness for the majority, but for some it is life-threatening, resulting in serious illness and hospitalisation. Regrettably, up to 500 people in Ireland die from this disease every year.** This is why it is so important that, if you are eligible to get a flu vaccine, you do so as soon as it is offered to you. A flu vaccine will protect those aged over 65 from the very worst effects of flu. For healthcare workers, getting vaccinated means protecting themselves, their patients, and their families. Last year we saw encouraging uptake among healthcare workers and my hope is that this trend will continue this year. The flu vaccine doesnt protect against Covid-19. It is important to get both the flu vaccine and the Covid-19 vaccine. This is because flu and Covid-19 are caused by different viruses. Some people are being offered an additional Covid-19 vaccine or booster at this time too. Additional doses are being offered to people with weakened immune system. Booster doses will shortly be offered to those over 65 living in residential care or those over 80 living in the community. Covid-19 vaccines and the flu vaccine can be taken separately or together. It is safe to get a Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as the flu vaccine. ** In Ireland, between 200 and 500 people, mainly older people, die from flu each winter. Every year around the world, flu causes between 3 and 5 million cases of severe disease and up to 646,000 deaths. Visit hse.ie for more information. Berihun Takele wants to do everything he can to help his community in Ethiopias Amhara region to thrive. Not only is he a kebele leader (similar to a village chief), but he also leads a team of volunteers who protect the village, called Wudi Gemzu, against river blindness by distributing medication and education and catching black flies for testing for the disease. I'm happy to serve my people, he said. River blindness is a parasitic disease that can cause intense itching, skin discoloration, rashes, and eye disease that often leads to permanent blindness. It can be economically disastrous to individuals, families, and entire communities. The parasite is spread by the bites of infected black flies that breed in rapidly flowing rivers. To monitor progress against the disease, scientists need to test flies for indicators of the parasite. But first the flies must be caught. Volunteers trap black flies for research along a river near Wudi Gemzu village in Ethiopias Amhara region. Wudi Gemzu is a hot spot for river blindness. The process of catching flies is as tedious as it is important. Takele and two other volunteers set out very early in the morning for the riverbank. Then they roll up their pantlegs or skirts and wait often for hours for the black flies to come land on them. When one does, the volunteer traps it in a plastic tube, sets it aside and records the catch in a notebook. The captured flies will be sent off to a laboratory, where Carter Center-supported scientists will test them. The wait can be punctuated by excitement at times. There was the time a man became too animated while telling a story and fell over backwards into the river, and the time a woman lost both shoes while trying to wade across. And, of course, the river is full of crocodiles. There are many crocodiles in the river, Takele says, but we are not afraid of them. In recent years, fewer and fewer captured flies have tested positive. Thats because the elimination program is working: Mass administration of the drug Mectizan (donated by Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA) to humans has reduced the number of infected persons, so that when flies bite, they dont pick up pathogens (called microfilariae) to pass on to other humans via subsequent bites. The drug ivermectin, produced for human use under the name Mectizan and donated by Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA, is an effective treatment for river blindness. Photo: The Canadian Press Olivier Savignac, President of "Parler et revivre" (Speak out and live again) victims association. An estimated 330,000 children were victims of sex abuse within Frances Catholic Church over the past 70 years, according to a major report released Thursday that is Frances first major reckoning with the devastating phenomenon. The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and other people involved in the church wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a systemic manner, according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauve. The head of the French bishops conference asked forgiveness from the victims. The group is meeting Tuesday to discuss next steps. The commission urged the church to take strong action, denouncing faults and silence." It also called on the French state to help compensate the victims, notably in cases that are too old to prosecute via the courts. About 80% of the victims were boys. The consequences are very serious, Sauve said. About 60% of men and women who were sexually abused encounter major problems in their sentimental or sexual life. The 2,500-page document prepared by an independent commission comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up. Victims welcomed the report as long overdue. Olivier Savignac, head of victims association Parler et Revivre (Speak out and Live again), who contributed to the probe, told The Associated Press that the high ratio of victims per abuser is particularly terrifying for French society, for the Catholic Church. He assailed the church for treating such cases as individual anomalies as opposed to a collective horror. He described being abused at age 13 by the director of a Catholic vacation camp in the south of France, who also was accused of assaulting several other boys. I perceived this priest as someone who was good, a caring person who would not harm me, Savignac said. But it was when I found myself on that bed half-naked and he was touching me that I realized something was wrong. ... And we keep this, its like a growing cyst, its like gangrene inside the victims body and the victims psyche. The commission worked for 2 1/2 years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and press archives starting from the 1950s. A hotline launched at the beginning of the probe received 6,500 calls from alleged victims or people who said they knew a victim. Sauve denounced the churchs attitude until the beginning of the 2000s as a deep, cruel indifference toward victims. The report says an estimated 3,000 child abusers two-thirds of them priests worked in the church during that period. Sauve said the overall figure of victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics. Sometimes church officials did not denounce (sex abuses) and even exposed children to risks by putting them in contact with predators, Sauve said. We consider ... the church has a debt toward victims. The President of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, said Tuesday we are appalled at the conclusions of the report. I wish on that day to ask for pardon, pardon to each of you, he told the victims. Sauve said 22 alleged crimes that can still be pursued have been forwarded to prosecutors. More than 40 cases that are too old to be prosecuted but involve alleged perpetrators who are still alive have been forwarded to church officials. The commission issued 45 recommendations about how to prevent abuse. These included training priests and other clerics, revising Canon Law the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the church and fostering policies to recognize and compensate victims, Sauve said. The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He acknowledged abusing more than 75 boys for decades. One of Preynats victims, Francois Devaux, head of the victims group La Parole Liberee (The Liberated Word), told The Associated Press that with this report, the French church for the first time is going to the root of this systemic problem. The deviant institution must reform itself. He said the number of victims the report identifies is a minimum. Some victims did not dare to speak out or trust the commission, he said. Photo: Glacier Media A woman who was violently attacked by an assailant as she sat in her wheelchair on a Prince George sidewalk is recovering in University Hospital of Northern B.C. with unspecified injuries. The attack happened just before noon Sunday along Queensway between Fifth Avenue and Patricia Boulevard. Police are investigating a violent assault that happened there, confirmed Prince George RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Cooper. Cooper said police are not releasing any other details about the incident at this time. Anybody who might have witnessed the attack or has information about the incident is asked to call RCMP at 250-561-300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-22-TIPS (8477). Photo: The Canadian Press the family of Joyce Echaquan, Carol Dube,left, husband,Michel Echaquan and Diane Dube,her parents, and their daughter, Marie-Wasianna Echaquan-Dube, arrive to comment on the coroner? report on the death of Joyce Echaquan Tuesday, October 5, 2021 in Becancour, Que..THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Joyce Echaquan's family said Tuesday it would launch legal action against the hospital where she died, hours after a Quebec coroner said a combination of "undeniable" systemic racism and health-care system failings contributed to her death. Lawyer Patrick Martin-Menard was flanked by Echaquan's husband, Carol Dube, as well as other members of the family as he announced the civil suit. Martin-Menard told reporters in Becancour, Que., that Echaquan was the victim of negligence "at several levels" and said her death was "triggered by a combination of deficient health-care and racist prejudices and misconceptions." Details of the civil suit would be announced in the coming days, he added. Dube, who was joined by one of his daughters, spoke quietly and kept his head bowed as he once again called for changes to a system that he said discriminated against Indigenous families and judged his wife for having had multiple children. "Joyce is dead because she was Indigenous," he said. "A woman with seven marvellous children what she had that was most beautiful was used against her in a system that still allows this kind of tragic situation to happen." Earlier Tuesday, coroner Gehane Kamel said that from the moment Echaquan entered the hospital in Joliette, Que., in 2020, she was falsely labelled as a drug addict and a "difficult" patient a label that would impact her care until her death two days later. Kamel's report into Echaquan's death found that her demise was accidental, but avoidable. As she presented her report on Tuesday, Kamel said the 37-year-old Atikamekw woman would likely still be alive if she were a white woman. The coroner reiterated her recommendation that the government should recognize the existence of systemic racism and make a commitment to root it out of institutions something the Legault government has steadfastly refused to do. We have witnessed an unacceptable death, and we must ensure that it is not in vain," Kamel told reporters. "It is unacceptable that large sections of our society deny such a well-documented reality." In Quebec City, Premier Francois Legault told reporters he agreed that Echaquan was subjected to prejudice, discrimination and racism at the hospital northeast of Montreal. But he maintained that systemic racism does not exist in the province, blaming what happened to Echaquan on a few health-care employees and quoting a definition of "systemic" from the dictionary to back up his position. "Is the entire education system, or health system racist? I believe the answer is no," Legault said. "But its possible that at certain places, there are employees, groups of them who have discriminatory approaches. But to say that the entire system is racist, I cant accept it." Echaquan 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 the Joliette hospital. The video of her treatment went viral and drew outrage and condemnation, and the coroner's final report into her death concluded her initial diagnosis was based on prejudice and she wasn't properly monitored before finally being transferred to intensive care. Echaquan died of a pulmonary edema that was linked to a rare heart condition. Kamel said she wouldn't get involved in a political debate, but maintained that systemic racism was "undeniable" in Echaquan's case. "From the first minute she entered the hospital, a label was placed on Ms. Echaquan," she said. Kamel said medical staff, who assumed Echaquan was experiencing opioid withdrawal, failed to properly evaluate the medications she was taking and ignored the symptoms she described, including heart palpitations. Later, after Echaquan became agitated and fell from bed twice, she was branded "theatrical" and strapped down. Health-care workers didn't explore alternatives to calm her down or reassure her, such as calling the hospital's Atikamekw liaison officer, Kamel said. But while she maintained that racism played a part in Echaquan's death, Kamel noted that it wasn't the only factor. She said emergency room overcrowding and a lack of trained staff on the floor meant there weren't enough people to supervise Echaquan once she was restrained. There was also was a failure to notice and react quickly enough when her condition began to deteriorate, the coroner added. She urged decision-makers to give equal weight to her other recommendations, which include better staff-to-patient ratios, improved communication between health authorities when it comes to patient medication, and more training for staff on racial sensitivity and standards of care. Kamel became emotional when she thought about Echaquan's daughter trying to comfort her dying mother at her bedside, and she said her hope is that her report will be an invitation to a discussion and reconciliation with Indigenous groups. "In the name of her partner, her children, for this Indigenous nation, let's come together to extend a hand," she said. Martin-Menard said that in addition to the civil lawsuit, he would also be filing a complaint against Quebec's order of nurses and the order of physicians, asking them to review the entirety of her care. He said he would also file a complaint with the province's human rights commission. HeidelbergCement divests Spanish assets to Cemex 05 October 2021 HeidelbergCement pushes forward its portfolio optimisation programme, and has signed agreements to sell its regional aggregates and ready-mixed concrete businesses in the regions of Catalonia, Madrid and Asturias as well as its ready-mixed concrete business on the Balearic Islands to different buyers. The assets acquired by Cemex from HeidelbergCement include a limestone quarry with a waste management operation serving Madrid and three concrete plants in the Balearic islands. Divesting these assets for HeidelbergCement in Spain is part of the portfolio optimisation and margin improvement programme within HeidelbergCements Beyond 2020 strategy. Meanwhile, Cemex is enhancing its vertically-integrated operations in high-growth urban centres. HeidelbergCement will continue to supply customers in the remaining Spanish regions with products from all three business lines cement, aggregates and ready-mixed concrete. All transactions are subject to some conditions precedent before final closing. Published under JK Lakshmi Cement halts production at its Durg plant 05 October 2021 Indias JK Lakshmi Cement has suspended production at its 2.7Mta Durg plant in Chhattisgarh, due to a strike called by the states Cement Transport Association. Dispatches from the facility, which were substantially reduced from 19 September, have now been completely stopped, according to the company. However, industry-wide negotiations are being held with the state government and the company is hopeful of an amicable solution soon. Published under Kelley Jones Veazey, 72, of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, passed away on Friday, October 1, 2021, at a local hospital. She was the daughter of Raymond Jones and Frances Walters and was preceded in death by her son, Matthew Veazey. She was a graduate of Red Bank High School, a member of Second Presbyterian Church, and retired as a departmental secretary at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Throughout her life she was an advocate for the environment and animals. She campaigned against roadside littering in the Chattanooga area and was a member of the local chapter of the Sierra Club for many years. She also provided a loving home for so many rescue dogs over the years. After the loss of her son, Matthew, she turned her grief into a comforting force for others who had lost their loved ones too soon. Survivors include her husband, William Veazey of Signal Mountain, brother, Dan (Reta) Jones of Jefferson City, TN, son, David Veazey of Ringgold, GA, and grandsons, Beckett Veazey and Bly Metcalfe. Memorial services will be held at future date. In lieu of flowers, please consider going to your local shelter or rescue organization and adopting a pet in her memory. County Commission District 5 candidate Greg Beck said officials should move forward now with a Victims Memorial paying tribute to homicide victims of violence in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. He said, "We are recommending that a certain amount of acreage be set aside for a park that would consist of a wall of names and dates of these victims. "The park would also have an amphitheater for annual programs,a large seating area, a fountain and would be located in an accessible area for public viewing and ample parking for public participation. "Presently, there are two sites that have been identified as a possible location for the park." Chris King, chairman of the Beck campaign, said, "Now is the time for the Memorial to be established at least in the minds and hearts of the families who have lost loved ones to homicide in the area. "The burden of creating such a park should be shared by the whole city and county and possibly the state of Tennessee. This is a unique opportunity to let families know that we care and we share their grief. The victims of violence are mostly young people that could have been CEOs, clergy, politicians, and a whole host of community servants had they made the right decisions or been in the right place at the right time. "Over the past 10 years, there has been a total of 274 homicides in the city and county and we should not forget our victims and their families should know that we will never let their names fall into oblivion. "The park would be a solemn place where families could come and reminisce over the lives of their loved ones, and possibly comfort other families who have met the same fate." Mr. King said, "It is more than a notion to create such a park so it would require a number of partners to come to the table. Acquisition of property, renditions of the park, architects and greatest of all - donors - must be a part of the conversation. "If you would like to be a part of this effort, please contact us at Greg Beck campaign, PO Box 25497, Chattanooga, TN 37422. Police responded to a Rossville Boulevard call on Friday and were told Walker County deputies were pursuing a black Dodge that had crossed the Tennessee border. Dispatch later told Chattanooga Police that the vehicle had crashed on Rossville Boulevard. A Walker County deputy took the driver, Jesse Brandon Marler, 38, into custody. Police said they observed damage to both Marlers vehicle and a sheriff deputys vehicle. Police said the deputy told them that Marler acted like he was going to pull over three different times during the chase, and at one point ran his vehicle into the deputys vehicle. Police said they found a bong, a syringe, a rifle scope, and a bag of mushrooms in the vehicle. Marler is charged with aggravated assault on police, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, and simple possession of drugs. An employee at McAlister's Deli, 2288 Gunbarrel Road, told police that 10 people left without paying their $456 tab. Officers watched video, but could not get a clear picture to possibly identify the people. * * * An abandoned auto was reported at 201 Georgia Ave. Police found the vehicle in the travel lane on the Veterans Bridge northbound at the on-ramp to Riverside Drive. No one was around the vehicle and no contact could be made with the owner. The vehicle was run and found to not be stolen. The vehicle was towed by Ault Towing for being a traffic hazard. * * * Police were dispatched to an apartment fire at 1112 Grove St. While the Fire Department was clearing the apartment, they found $159 in cash inside the apartment. The Fire Department turned over the found property to CPD officers. The found property was transported to CPD Property. * * * A man on Carriage Parc Drive told police someone damaged the driver's side of his vehicle. He said the damage is from the front driver's door all the way to the back of the vehicle. He last saw his vehicle around 7 p.m. the evening before. He said he needed the report done for insurance purposes. * * * While on patrol at 700 Market St., police observed a white female known to police sitting at a bus stop with an open beer can. Police spoke with her and she offered to pour out the beer. Police did not observe any signs of intoxication that would prevent her from taking care of herself. Police gave her a warning for the open container. * * * A shoplifting was reported at CVS Pharmacy, 1816 Gunbarrel Road. An employee told police the suspect entered the store, selected merchandise and took the items past the point of sale without rendering payment. The employee said they stopped the suspect at the front door and recovered the items. The thief was not present when police arrived on scene and was not detained in the loss prevention office, however the employee was able to identify the suspect, who has multiple warrants for shoplifting. The approximate amount for the recovered items was $1,056.26. The employee said they only needed a report. No warrants were needed. * * * A woman called police from the Circle K at 3743 Cummings Hwy., saying that a maroon GMC Sierra was driving recklessly on the interstate; driving on the shoulder, speeding and cutting other vehicles off. The caller said they then both pulled off into the Circle K on Cummings Highway and entered into a verbal disorder. The caller said the reckless driver took off from the gas station and ran a red light. The caller just wanted police to know what happened. * * * Police noticed that a tan Honda CRV (TN tag) has been parked on South Hawthorne next to the building at 1728 Bailey Ave. since late June. The vehicle had not moved from this exact parking spot since that time. The vehicle was found to be stolen and involved in a hit and run incident. It was recovered and removed from NCIC. * * * A woman at Miller Park, 928 Market St., called police and said a man was harassing her. She said he walked in the direction of Patten Towers. The man walked straight up to police. He did not walk away toward the direction of Patten Towers. He told police he had gotten out of the bathroom and the woman started harassing him. Both left the scene and were told not to engage with each other. * * * A disorder was reported at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, 2412 McCallie Ave. Police approached a man who was sleeping on the bench in the back entrance of the facility. While talking to him, he caught attitude with the police and he was detained. Police also spoke with the woman caller and she said that there was a black man sleeping in the back by the dumpster and he always gets mean with the employees when they come to work in the morning. The man police found asleep was a white man. Due to lack of identity, the man was told by police to leave the area because he was not allowed to sleep on the property. He also was told by police that if he comes back he will be arrested for trespassing. * * * A shoplifting was reported at the Speedway at 1330 E 3rd St. Police spoke with the manager who said that a man she recognized as having been trespassed from the property for stealing had been stealing again that night. She said that this man had stolen several packs of cigarettes sometime before 3 a.m., while she only had one clerk working. She attempted to pull camera footage of the incident, but was unable to do so due to camera issues. She said she would call back in once the camera issue was corrected. She was unable to provide ID information for the man, just that she is familiar with him. She said she caught him stealing the day before, and she trespassed him yesterday. * * * Police were sent to 801 Broad St. in reference to a disturbance at West Village. The property manager told police that a man was on the property prior to their arrival and he wanted the man trespassed from West Village. Police attempted to locate the man, but were unable to. * * * Two men told police that someone broke into Lakeside Academy of Math & Science, 4850 Jersey Pike, which is under construction, and took several pieces of construction equipment that included power drills, a generator, ladders, power hand tools and electrical equipment. One man said the suspect(s) loaded all the items on his dual trailer and left with them, including the trailer. The man said he did not know the tag information on his trailer, but would notify police once he obtained the information. Later the men called police and said the suspect(s) also vandalized one of the equipment trucks by busting out the driver's side window and front windshield. They also provided the serial number for the 1998 dual Cronkite 270 trailer that was stolen. The trailer was entered into NCIC as stolen. * * * The owner of Chattanooga Concrete, 4180 S Creek Road, told police that the morning before, one of his employees called him and said the window of one of the vans parked in his business was busted. When the owner came to the workplace, he also noticed there was another pickup truck in the lot and the doors were unlocked. He said someone stole a Milwaukee tool box, jumper cables and some other tools that were inside the truck. The owner and his employees proceeded to look at the security video camera footage, but they were unable to make a positive identification. The employees also mentioned it could be one of the former employees who committed the theft. Due to lack of evidence, no charges were filed. * * * A caller reported a suspicious vehicle at a residence on Windsor Court. Police spoke with two contractors who were doing work on the home. Police also spoke with the property manager, who said both men had permission to be there and do work on the home. * * * A suspicious person was reported near the businesses at 7011 Shallowford Road. A caller told police that a white male was underneath the stairs and he had asked the man to leave. He said the man told him he was not going to leave. When police arrived, the man had already left. Police spoke with the caller and he said that he just wanted to report the incident. * * * A man on Center Street told police that overnight someone broke out the passenger side window of his vehicle and took several of his belongings. * * * A man on Randolph Circle told police that when he woke up that morning, he noticed that his truck was gone. He said that he came home around 7 p.m. the night before and parked the vehicle in the driveway. He believes that he left the vehicle unlocked with a spare key inside. The 2016 dark gray Toyota Tundra bearing a TN tag, was entered in the NCIC system as stolen. The vehicle has tinted windows and a white sticker on the back window that says "MASTERCRAFT." The man told police that the vehicle has a GPS and he was going to call Toyota to track the vehicle. There is no suspect information. Police spoke with the man on the phone later and he said that Toyota can't track the vehicle for some reason. * * * The owner reported a vandalism at White's Auto Repair Center, 4165 Bonny Oaks Dr. He told police that on the past Sunday around 1:45 a.m., four white males were seen inside his property looking inside the vehicles in the parking lot. He said that in order to get inside the property, they had cut a hole on the side/front fence. The surveillance camera system shows all four men with their faces and heads covered. One of the men appeared to be a Caucasian male, but police couldn't verify the races of the other three men, due to low light conditions. * * * A man in an apartment on Riverside Drive told police that a T-shirt had been thrown onto his balcony for the second time within a week. The man said that he believed it was the people in the unit directly above him. Police called the courtesy officer at One Riverside Apartments to see if he could handle the call. The officer met with the man in his apartment. The man said he thinks the upstairs neighbors are intentionally throwing T-shirts onto his balcony since he has been making noise complaints about them. The officer went and spoke with the people in the apartment above the man. They said that they have been hanging wet clothes from the pool on their railing to dry. They said they did not throw the T-shirts over the railing, and they must have blown off. We all agree: downtown needs help. It is a shadow of its former self. Multiple buildings are completely empty, panhandling is commonplace, COVID-19 has reduced the number of tourists and weekday employees visiting restaurants, and there have been no signature improvements or additions in many years. The Business Improvement District is a great idea to re-energize downtown. This partnership between local governments and the business community is a strategic way to restore downtown to become an inviting and thriving district. I am the founder and managing director of Roundtree, a donor-focused marketing agency based in Chattanooga that serves nonprofits around the country. Roundtree formerly leased office space in the heart of downtown before converting to a remote model with employees spread around the country. I am passionate about nonprofits and see the great work they do in communities across America. They are the backbone of cities like Chattanooga. The Downtown Chattanooga Alliance is the organization tasked to improve Chattanoogas downtown. It is primarily led by those who own commercial real estate in the district who have a keen interest in seeing businesses and visitors return downtown. The alliance is financed by taxing property owners in the district, whether they are for-profit or nonprofit churches included. (Technically, the fee is referred to as an assessment, not a tax, but legal and financial penalties for failing to pay it are the same. According to the city of Chattanooga website, the district is recognized by the state as a special assessment district and does not permit property owners to opt-out of the assessment. A mandatory assessment enforced by the government is a tax.) So what about nonprofits? They are legally exempt from taxes. But the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance insists they are not exempt from assessments. This is wrong, morally and legally. Why is it morally wrong for nonprofits to be taxed? There are a number of practical and historical reasons for nonprofits to be exempt from ordinary fees assessed to other businesses: First, the Downtown Chattanooga Alliance is taking donor money when it assesses nonprofits. They are literally taking money out of the offering plates of churches and reducing the grants United Way can make to worthy causes across the city. The intent of the donor was to support the work of the organization, not improve the market for commercial real estate. Second, it is treating all entities as equal. A for-profit restaurant can pass on the assessment to their customers in the form of price increases. A nonprofit such as a local church cannot pass along the fee to its members who contribute voluntarily. The assessment ignores the unique nature of nonprofits. Third, nonprofits play a unique role in the community landscape. Nonprofits have been improving Chattanoogas business district for years! For decades, theyve been voluntarily organizing and implementing activities to help downtown thrive from caring for the homeless to improving physical spaces. Fourth, these nonprofits are being taxed at the worst possible time. Due to the ongoing pandemic, many churches and organizations have gone over a year being physically disconnected from their donors. Fifth, the alliance is unclear. It will argue the assessments are mandatory due to state law while also waiving assessments when requested. These fees are either mandatory or they are not. Certain organizations can be exempted or they cannot. Right now, the alliance is saying one thing while doing another. Finally, the alliance is bullying the little guy. Nonprofits are too busy serving the poor and caring for others to lobby and plead their cause. They are servants who are happy to go unnoticed. It is easy to extract revenue from them because nonprofits wield so much less power than other property owners. Chattanooga can do better. We can build a great downtown without crushing the organizations that have been serving our city for decades. We need Mayor Kelly and the City Council to speak up on behalf of these nonprofits and permanently waive this immoral and unwise tax on local nonprofits. Andy Jones Founder and Managing Director of Roundtree The Hamilton County Health Department will no longer require appointments for the Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot at the Tennessee Riverpark beginning Monday. Boosters will also be available without an appointment at the Sequoyah Health Center and Birchwood Health Center locations. To view a calendar of Health Department vaccination locations and clinics offering the Pfizer vaccine, visit vaccine.hamiltontn.gov and scroll to the online calendar.Booster appointments are available at the Tennessee Riverpark for the remainder of this week.To make an appointment, visit vaccine.hamiltontn.gov and click the Pfizer Booster Shot Appointment tab. For those who want to make an appointment over the phone, a call center is available at 423-209-5398 (English) and 423-209-8383 (Spanish).For a complete list of individuals eligible to receive a Pfizer booster shot, visit vaccine.hamiltontn.gov and click the COVID-19 Booster Eligibility tab.Beginning Monday, Oct. 11, our vaccination sites will have the capacity to administer both the Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot and primary series doses without an appointment, says Hamilton County Health Department Interim Health Officer Dr. Fernando Urrego. This means that those who are eligible may come to the Tennessee Riverpark vaccination site, the Sequoyah Health Center or Birchwood Health Center during their business hours and receive the vaccine without an appointment, when it is convenient for them. This service is free and we do not ask for your insurance information.The CDC has not approved a booster shot for Moderna or Janssens J+J vaccines at this time. As this is a quickly evolving situation, the Health Department will notify residents when a booster shot for these manufacturers becomes available.Officials said, "It is time to receive your annual flu vaccination. The flu vaccine is recommended for everyone six months and older and is available through most primary care providers, local pharmacies and some grocery stores."Per the CDC, the flu vaccine and the COVID-19 vaccine may be administered simultaneously, provided that the individual is eligible to receive both. If you require assistance locating a flu vaccine provider or have questions, contact the COVID-19 hotline at 423-209-8383.Additional Resources Pfizer COVID-19 booster shots are available at pharmacies, doctors offices, and other locations throughout Hamilton County. Visit https://www.vaccines.gov/ to find a location near you. Test kits are currently available for ages 2+ at the Health Department Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.3 p.m., while supplies last. For more information, visit testing.hamiltontn.gov. Call the Health Departments COVID-19 hotline at 423-209-8383 if you have questions about vaccines, locating testing or if you seek isolation or quarantine guidance. For information in Spanish, visit the Health Departments Spanish Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SaludHamiltonTN. Retired naval captain Mickey McCamish and Wreaths Across Chattanooga want to honor every veteran buried at Chattanoogas National Cemetery. Mr. McCamish personally thanked over a dozen speakers who, along with their donation programs and companies, are helping to put a wreath on each of the 48,000 gravestones at the cemetery.Our mission is to place a wreath on each of the gravestones here at the cemetery, Mr. McCamish said. The purpose of our media event today is to meet some of the businesses and organizations that are going to help make that happen.He said the Wreaths Across Chattanooga committee meets every month, and working toward completing that goal by Dec.18. In 2020, the committee placed 14,994 wreaths on gravestones. Charles Alsobrook, Hamilton Countys Veteran Services Officer, proclaimed Dec. 18 as Wreaths Across Chattanooga Day for Hamilton County on behalf of mayor Jim Coppinger.I urge all of Hamilton County to support Wreaths Across Chattanooga by donating to chattanoogawaa.com, Mr. Alsobrook said. The purpose of this mission is to remember all Hamilton County veterans who served our country and to honor those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice. This is an ideal opportunity to connect the greatest generation with the generation of hope.Pipan Wilson presented Mr. McCamish and the WAC campaign with a $10,000 check from Unum. Other organizations, such as the Board of Realtors, Patriot Guard, BlueCross BlueShield, Daughters of the American Revolution, TVA and others also made donations and contributions.The funds that were raised when the Daughters of the American Revolution were in Hixson was $2,800 dollars, a spokeswoman said. The ability to have the local education unit in this area is tremendous, because they offer so much education about what the local Wreaths Across America initiative is, and they work hard to inform others and raise awareness.She said wreaths are paid for only by private donations. She said the Sequatchie Valley Area Softball League also raised over $1,600 in one day through concession sales and entry fees.Anyone interested in donating to Wreaths Across Chattanooga can sponsor a wreath for $10. The website can be accessed here Governor Bill Lee unveiled the states next standard license plate chosen by Tennesseans through a statewide vote Governor Lee said, In our 225th year of statehood, we invited Tennesseans to cast their vote and help select the states next license plate. Im proud to announce the winning design that will represent our unique grand divisions and take its place in Tennessee history. More than 300,000 Tennessee residents cast a vote, with 42% voting for the winning design. New plates will be available online and in-person beginning January 3, 2021 as residents complete their annual tag renewal. Up to 100,000 plates per week will be produced to meet initial inventory demands. Per Tennessee statute, the plate is redesigned every eight years if funds are approved in the General Assemblys annual budget. Statute also requires the display of Tennessee, Volunteer State and TNvacation.com on the plate, as well as county name and expiration year decal locations. Statute provides that Tennesseans may select an In God We Trust plate option. This new license plate design will replace the current plate that launched in 2006 with modifications in 2011, 2016 and 2017. When most people hear real estate, they automatically picture a home with a for sale sign in the yard. But theres another equally important component to the overall market commercial real estate. In fact, in Greater Chattanooga, we have 430 realtors who subscribe to our commercial multiple listing service, with nearly 80 of those 430 realtors, specializing in commercial real estate only. After all, it isnt easy to have office or market space if everyone is working remotely. Its a side of real estate that definitely has had its challenges of late. Nationally, the commercial real estate market has taken a big hit from the pandemic.After all, it isnt easy to have office or market space if everyone is working remotely. Its a side of real estate that definitely has had its challenges of late. But thats turning around. At the National Association of Realtors (NAR) inaugural C5 Commercial Real Estate Summit, it was reported that since the second quarter of 2020, vacancy rates have fallen for apartments and multifamily units, industrial, and retail properties. The conference brought together commercial investors and industry leaders, realtor associations, economic development corporations, and government officials. During the conference, NAR released their Top 10 Commercial Office Markets for 2021 Report, and in it they named Chattanooga. For the report, NAR analyzed 390 commercial real estate markets to identify those with the most robust recoveries, including positive net absorption and strengthening rents across the multifamily, industrial, and retail sectors. Even as the economy makes a steady recovery, the one sector still lagging behind has been the office market, said Lawrence Yun, NARs chief economist. Work-from-home flexibility looks to be the defining shift in the new post-pandemic economy. Despite the overall challenges, however, some local markets are bucking the trend with more office occupancy and rising rents. A combination of strong in-migration and relatively lower cost of doing business is driving these growth markets. So it looks like commercial real estate is on the upswing, and our area is poised to recover and lead better than most. Theres no one better to help you than a realtor who specializes in commercial real estate. Realtors have the tools and information to make sure that you get the most for your investment, whether its for your business or for your home. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officials along with leading agencies in habitat restoration efforts met with concerned residents from White County and beyond on Monday at the Sparta Civic Center. Over 200 were in attendance, taking part in an agenda that included public comments and questions as well as a presentation on the management proposal to the Bridgestone Firestone Centennial Wilderness Area, a Wildlife Management Area, from Assistant Chief of Wildlife and Forestry Division, Wally Akins. While the surrounding plant communities will change, no trails will be removed from the WMA. Proposed changes will not impact the watershed and harvest operations will meet all requirements specified in The Guide to Forestry Best Management Practices in Tennessee. The area was chosen for restorative work due to its size and proximity to previous reclaimed habitat. This work directly correlates with the mission of the TWRA, which is to preserve, conserve, manage, protect, and enhance the fish and wildlife of the state and their habitats for the use, benefit, and enjoyment of the citizens of Tennessee and its visitors. Restoration has been proven on other projects across the state including Catoosa, Yuchi, Foothills, Cheatham, Wolf River, Bark Camp and White Oak WMAs. Additionally, in the past 200 years over 90 percent of this endangered ecosystem has been lost on the southern landscape. This translates to over 110 million acres in the southeast and over 1.9 million acres on the Cumberland Plateau. The first phase of habitat management was completed on the WMA in 2020 where approximately 380 acres were converted from loblolly pine forest to grassland/shrubland habitat. The proposed project will create an additional 230 acres of pine/oak savannas. This initial 230-acre project is the first effort to connect existing and already completed habitat work in order to reach a suitable sized area of early successional plant communities necessary to sustain grassland/shrubland dependent species. Many associated grassland/shrubland dependent species (quail, dickcissel, prairie warbler, field sparrow, loggerhead shrike, yellow-breasted chat, indigo bunting, blue grosbeak, eastern cottontail, etc.) have been in decline for decades due to significant habitat loss. The northern bobwhite is an imperiled species in most of the eastern U.S. Management proposals will provide for these wildlife species while increasing imperiled habitat. Resulting plant communities from the proposed management will also enhance habitat for popular game species, especially white-tailed deer and wild turkey. Within recently created savannas, deer forage availability increased an average of 90 percent and will likely lead to increased antler growth, as the responding plants provide the nutrition deer require for antler growth and development during the spring and summer months. With the vast acreage of oaks (current and remaining), acorn production as a fall food source would not be limited. Furthermore, restoration of the pine/oak savanna ecosystem will greatly enhance nesting and brooding cover for wild turkeys. Hunters should expect increases in harvests. Foothills WMA in Blount County saw extreme increases. Deer harvest increased by 250 percent, turkey harvest by 445 percent and bear harvest by 680 percent. Find more about Wildlife Management Areas at tnwildlfie.org. Guests from Chattanooga and beyond gathered on Monday for the 16th Annual Moccasin Bend Lecture Series to learn about the unique friendship formed between Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington and the incredible accomplishments of the Rosenwald Schools program that they created. National Park Partners hosts the annual Moccasin Bend Lecture Series, sponsored by Tennessee State Rep. Greg Vital. Mondays event brought together over 150 guests, attending live and virtually, to learn how the Rosenwald Schools changed lives, fostered community growth and altered the landscape of philanthropy. Dorothy A. Canter, Ph.D., president of the Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign Board of Directors, delivered a presentation about visionary Julius Rosenwald. The son of Jewish immigrants, Mr. Rosenwald became the successful co-founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company, but was also a philanthropist who, in the early 20th century, worked with Booker T. Washington to fund more than 5,000 schools for African American students across 15 states. Eight of these "Rosenwald Schools" were once located in the Tennessee Valley, including Bakewell School, Booker T. Washington, Chickamauga School, Georgetown School, Hixson School, Roland W. Hayes, Summit School and Washington School. None remain standing today. Rosenwald Schools required matching funds from white school boards in addition to self-help and construction funds from African American communities. The unique model empowered communities as the driving force defining what the school and education meant to them. Built during a time when segregation was widespread and inequity was the norm, former students of the Booker T. Washington School recalled that within those walls we were assured that we could do and be anything that we desired. We were inspired by teachers who cared about the students well-being as much as the teaching material. In addition to the regular courses, Chattanooga schools also offered courses developed with the two-fold purpose of preparing the student for furthering education and training them to become well-rounded people empowered to perform to the best of their ability in society. Researchers suggest the Tuskegee curriculum helped students achieve a sense of personal and collective efficacy, concluding that the curriculum provided an opportunity for the empowerment of African American students. Built during a time when communities were split by segregation and divided by color, these schools began a tide of change. Rosenwald School alums became thought leaders, change-makers and social justice icons. Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Congressman John Lewis and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. are just a few who learned from the institutions supported by Sears magnate Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington. Chattanooga was home to at least eight Rosenwald Schools and many in Mondays audience were alums of these schools, including Bakewell, Booker T. Washington, Chickamauga, Eastdale, Georgetown, Hixson, Roland W. Hayes, Summit and Washington School. National Park Partners and The Chattanooga News-Chronicle are spearheading a local effort to preserve the stories of alumni who once attended these schools. Individuals who are willing to share information or stories of their own can email jennifer@nppcha.org. Dr. Canter, who has been a volunteer for the National Parks Conservation Association for 34 years, spoke on the importance of establishing a multi-site national park in Rosenwald's honor, which would include a visitor center based in Chicago. Mondays event, The Legacy of Julius Rosenwald and the Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign, can be viewed online here. National Park Partners protects and preserves the history of Chattanoogas six National Park Service sites and supports the work of the Rosenwald Parks Campaign. Executive Director Tricia Mims reflects that creating a new National Park takes more than a compelling story. The work that we did to advocate for the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District required patience, perseverance and persuasiveness. From what we learned last night, it is clear that Dr. Canter and her team are well on their way to achieving the goal. Rep. Robin Smith, a guest at the event, said, The Rosenwald School story inspires us all to work alongside another to better our communities, commenting that this tremendous story demonstrates the power of working together instead of in constant opposition. I look forward to supporting this effort in our state. The National Park Partners team invites interested nonprofits to join them in signing the petition of support for the park online at www.rosenwaldpark.org. Rep. Vital, a staunch supporter of the National Park Service and sponsor of the Moccasin Bend Lecture Series, invites alums of local schools to join National Park Partners in honoring Chattanoogas role in the Rosenwald Schools. This annual series celebrates the critical roles that Chattanooga has played in Americas rich history. Last nights event powerfully demonstrated how we are all connected, despite our differences. We encourage anyone who attended a Chattanooga area Rosenwald School to share your story with my friends at National Park Partners. Alumni of Chattanooga area Rosenwald schools are invited to contact Jennifer Crutchfield at jennifer@nppcha.org to share their stories. CBS hit TV comedy Bob Hearts Abishola continues to provide heartwarming laughter. The series is in its third season, and as seen last week, a big event occurred for the title couple. Bob Wheeler (Billy Gardell) and Abishola Adebambo (Folake Olowofoyeku) married in a vibrant Nigerian ceremony. So whats next for the newlyweds following their nuptials? Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku I Michael Yarish/CBS via Getty Images Bob Hearts Abishola newlyweds spend night in their own beds Episode 3 kicks off with Bob and Abishola returning from Nigeria. Theyre in a cab on their way home, reminiscing about their wedding. Bob mentions Abisholas father hugging him, and she jokes thats more affection than he ever gave her. With the newlyweds tired, theyre ready to get into bed. Bob comes up with a solution; theyll spend the night in their old beds for old times sake. The next morning Olu and Tunde (Shola Adewusi and Barry Shabaka Henley) find Abishola in their kitchen. They worry the couple is already fighting, but Abishola assures them everythings fine. Olu and Tunde tell their niece that they love her, but its time she moves out. The couple adjusts to their new living arrangement Abishola moves into Bobs house and is welcomed by her mother-in-law Dottie Wheeler (Christine Ebersole). Yet, the warm moment is interrupted when Bob and Dottie bicker. Later Abishola and Bob go furniture shopping, and the couple disagrees over decorating. The couple that successfully shops for furniture together, stays together. An all-new #BobHeartsAbishola comes to a couch near you this Monday at 8:30/7:30c. pic.twitter.com/DwL89BGrrl BobAbishola (@BobAbisholaCBS) October 1, 2021 Abishola wants to buy a Moroccan couch, which brings back fond memories. However, Bob has his eyes set on a leather massage sofa. Abishola wins the furniture debate and decorates the house to fit her style. Bob asks his employees Goodwin Olayiwola (Bayo Akinfemi) and Kofo Olanipekun (Anthony Okungbowa) to move the old furniture into the garage. Goodwin and Kofo are upset about not going to the wedding, and Bob invites them to the housewarming party. Housewarming party is a dud Bob and Abishola invite their family and friends for a party, which doesnt go over well. As the guests mingle, all they can talk about is the horrible decor. Bob and his brother Douglas Wheeler (Matt Jones) sneak away to the garage to discuss Abisholas decorating. Bob admits hes not a fan of the furniture but wants Abishola to be happy because he loves her. RELATED: Who Plays Abishola on Bob (Hearts) Abishola? Later the other guests converge in the garage, but Abishola breaks up their get-together. As the party-goers leave for the hot tub, Abishola and Bob chat. She says the party is a dud and blames herself. Bob says its his fault too, and one of the key rules of marriage is blaming the spouse. They discuss the furniture, and Bob says the only thing that matters is she loves it. Abishola says she wants to make one change by adding a TV, which has Bob saying, I love you. The ending has, Bob takes Goodwin and Kofo to the furniture store. He wants to buy them the massaging leather sofa as a gift for looking after the warehouse in his absence. At first, the men refuse, but they change their minds when they sit on the couch. Next weeks episode will be more chaotic for the couple. According to IMDB.com, the fourth episode is titled Old Strokey, and odds are it will center on Dottie. Viewers can see what trouble Dotties causes for the newlyweds on Oct. 11. Britney Spears fiance Sam Asghari couldnt help but mic drop on her celebratory post that her conservatorship under her fathers control is coming to an end. Spears made an emotional statement on Instagram, thanking her fans for loosening her fathers control and giving her back her life. She added, I cried last night for two hours cause my fans are the best and I know it I feel your hearts and you feel mine that much I know is true. Asghari is right there with her and added to the thread. Britney Spears fiance Sam Asghari cheers along with fans Asghari added, From a scale of 0-Britney how free are you? The comment generated a slew of remarks from fans, many thanking him for his love and support of Spears. Thank you Sam for your dedication and your love towards Britney, one fan replied. Another fan wrote, I love how much you love and support Britney, Sam! Keep making her mind numbingly happy! Britney Spearss fiance Sam Asghari celebrates Free Britney | Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic Others flooded the post with heart emojis and exclamations like, BRITNEY!!!! But fans heaped praise even on an unrelated post on Asgharis page. Thank you for watching Britney for us, a fan wrote on one of his photos. You were heaven sent to her as she was to you. blessings and light and love sam! Days earlier he reposted a comment from one of Spears fans, begging him to take care of her. He replied, I GOT YOU AMERICA The couple is making big plans for the future Asghari and Spears now may be gearing up for a house hunt, a source close to Britney told TMZ. Spears hasnt publicly made a statement she planned to move, but the source believes that once Spears finally has control over her money, the couple may consider moving. The couple wants to move because of the years of bad memories Spears has had in her current home and the feeling of being held captive. #FreeBritney movement I have no words because of you guys and your constant resilience in freeing me from my conservatorship my life is now in that direction !!!!! I cried last night for two hours cause my fans are the best and I know it pic.twitter.com/7OpsOKoHNc Britney Spears (@britneyspears) October 4, 2021 RELATED: Kristinia DeBarge Witnessed Strict Controls Placed on Britney Spears and Was Shocked She Got To Talk To Her Spears is also focusing on wedding plans and hopes to marry Asghari before she turns 40. They [are] planning a big party. It will be the first time in years Britneys been allowed to let her hair down with friends, a friend told The Mirror. Britney and Sam would love to get married in Hawaii, its where they feel the most happy. Britney would love to do it on or before her 40th, on December 2. The source also said Spears hopes to start a family with Asghari too. Where should the couple get married? Spears also recently posted a video alongside Asghari with a question. OK guys I have a really big predicament, she said. I dont know where I want to get married. We dont know if we want to get married in Itay, or Greece, Australia. Or New York City. Asghari suggested, Why dont you ask the fans? Getting back on my feet after my trip to French Polynesia !!!! Such a cool place !!! pic.twitter.com/qU92oXeMwd Britney Spears (@britneyspears) October 4, 2021 Maybe I should ask the fans where we should get married, I think that is a very good idea, she remarked. Her next video shot is from a location in France. Were at this beautiful place in France. Were in the French Polynesia. My children had to tell me, Mommy youre in France. I thought the French Polynesia was a different type of place. Fans weighed in on where Spears and Asghari should marry and there was no huge consensus. From the US to Greece and some suggesting Hawaii, Spears and Asghari still have a big decision to make. RELATED: Britney Spears Got an Apology From Perez Hilton, but Did She Ever Respond? The BTS members are often sharing their support for Coldplay and songs like Fix You. This year, the K-pop group collaborated with Chris Martin. Together, they created the uplifting and upbeat single, My Universe. Heres what we know about the meaning of this song, according to BTS vocalist and dancer, V. BTS attend Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2020 | Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions Coldplay and BTS collaborated for the original song My Universe BTS is known for its chart-topping collaborations. Recently, they partnered with Megan Thee Stallion for the Butter remix. For Map of the Soul: Personas Boy With Luv, the group appeared alongside Halsey. This award-winning K-pop group also performs songs originally written by some of their favorite artists. As fans of Coldplay, BTS even covered the song Fix You in conjunction with their MTV Unplugged performance, earning praise from fans across the globe. After practically speaking it into existence for years, these Martin traveled to South Korea to write and record a song with BTS. That was My Universe, a single released in 2021, complete with a colorful, space-themed music video and instrumental and acoustic versions already available on the streaming platform Spotify. BTS V shared some of the meaning behind My Universe During the My Universe YouTube documentary, fans got an inside look into the creative process. Some members also shared their thoughts on this song, with J-Hope saying he hopes itll have a positive impact on people. V also shared his interpretation of the meaning behind My Universe. This song is all about us creating something together, V said, according to a translation on the video. Thats why Chris came here in person and recorded with us, as well. I really love the theme not alone, but together. Chris Martin shared his thoughts on the theme of My Universe My Universe was the first time that Martin and BTS met in person, making this collaboration even more special. This friendship (and each artists relationship with their fans) influenced this song and its meaning, according to Martin. Well, this song is about how to power of love transcends all things borders, and rules, and genders and race and every sexuality, Martin said. If you look at people right now who are divided by a border or cant be together, thats what this song is about. About how nothing can really stop people loving each other. Both artists paused live performances amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, citing safety concerns as the primary reason. However, this year brought new opportunities for both groups. Coldplay appeared in person at the Global Citizen Music Festival in New York City. BTS plans to perform live in Los Angeles later this year. My Universe by BTS and Coldplay is available on most major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. The music video for this single is available on YouTube. RELATED: BTS: J-Hope, Jimin, and Jungkook Filmed a New Choreography Video for the Butter Remix With Megan Thee Stallion Duggar family followers have spent more than a decade watching the Duggar kids walk down the aisle. Over the years, TLC cameras have captured more than half a dozen Duggar weddings. Ardent followers may have noticed that most of those Duggar weddings occurred during non-traditional times of the year. Do you know what the familys most popular wedding month has been so far? What is the most popular month for weddings? Marriages happen year-round in the United States, but some seasons are more popular than others for weddings. According to Brides, the typical wedding season begins in the late spring and runs through early fall. The most popular months to say I Do are June and September. According to several sources, about 16% of all weddings happen in September, and 15% of engaged couples plan their nuptials for June. The weather seems to be a significant factor in planning a wedding, but not the only one. June and September are the most popular wedding months, even in parts of the country that dont experience huge temperature swings. Heavy demand also means marrying during peak season comes with a hefty price tag. Off-season weddings generally are much cheaper to pull off. So, when is the cheapest month to get married? According to Bride Box, couples looking to take advantage of steep discounts should plan their wedding for November, January, or March. The Duggar familys most popular wedding month is off-season While most people choose to get married between May and September, the Duggar family prefers off-season events. The most popular month for Duggar weddings is November. Three out of the 10 weddings that have happened so far took place in November. Two more occurred in other off-season months. Jessa Duggar, Jinger Duggar, Jill Duggar, and Jana Duggar | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra Jessa Seewald married Ben Seewald on November 1, 2014. The couple now has four children. Two years later, Jinger Vuolo married Jeremy Vuolo. Their November 5, 2016 nuptials drew a massive crowd. Most recently, John David Duggar wed Abbie Burnett on November 3, 2018. The couples reception was held in an airplane hangar. The Duggar family visits Extra at their New York studios | D Dipasupil/Getty Images for Extra November isnt the only off-season month that has seen a Duggar wedding. Justin Duggar married Claire Spivey in February 2021, and Jedidiah Duggar married Katey Nakatsu on April 5, 2021. TLC filmed neither Justin nor Jedidiahs weddings. While several Duggars have enjoyed the benefits of off-season weddings, others have chosen to get married during more traditional months. Josh Duggar and Joseph Duggar both picked September wedding dates. Jill Dillard and Josiah Duggar both planned June weddings, and Joy-Anna Forsyth had a May ceremony. When will the next Duggar wedding be? Its safe to assume that TLC will not be filming any more Duggar weddings. The Duggars spent nearly two decades working with the network, but Josh Duggars arrest was the final straw. TLC cut ties with the family in June 2021, two months after federal agents arrested the eldest son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. While TLCs cameras wont be rolling, more weddings are sure to come. So, which Duggar wedding will family followers see next? Its anyones guess. For months, there has been speculation that Jeremiah Duggar and Jana Duggar might be dating siblings. The brother and sister were seen regularly in Nebraska and were photographed with the Wissmann family several times, most notably during the holiday season. While the siblings may be dating siblings, it seems more likely that one Duggar is serving as a chaperone for the other. Family followers initially had high hopes that Jana had finally found the one. At 31, she is the oldest, unmarried Duggar. Hope is fading fast, though. Some followers believe that Jana was dating Stephen Wissman at one point but has since ended the relationship. Instead of a Jana wedding, followers think Jeremiah will be the next one to wed. That likely wont happen in the next couple of months, though. Josh Duggars trial begins in November, so the Duggar family will probably put all family celebrations on hold until that is sorted out. A popular Spanish Netflix series and Korean dramas are melding together into perfect unison. There is a handful of K-dramas that are remakes of popular series. In November 2020, industry representatives confirmed the hit Spanish series Money Heist is getting a K-drama remake. The K-drama has an impressive official cast list and has piqued fans interest. During Netflixs Tudum event in Sept., fans might have missed the special crossover between Money Heist and the new K-drama remake. The event gave fans a small sneak peek of the Professor, played by South Korean actor Yoo Ji-Tae. The Korean Professor and the original discuss a secret mission. Actor Yoo Ji-Tae and Park Hae-Soo for Money Heist K-drama remake | via Netflix Money Heist K-drama remake takes place in the Korean peninsula Netflix acquired the global streaming rights to Money Heist in 2017. The series was meant to be a limited series until Netflix cut its original 15 episodes into 22 to make its first season. The global success of Money Heist led to more season installments. There is even talk of a possible spinoff. A secretive character named The Professor (Alvaro Morte) recruits thieves to help rob the Royal Mint of Spain. In 2020, Netflix announced a Money Heist K-drama remake with the same storyline but in a different setting. Actor Yoo Ji-Tae will play the leading role of the Professor while the rest of the cast follow the originals series with its character named after cities. Squid Game actor Park Hae-Soo will star as Berlin, the Professors right-hand man, and older brother. According to Soompi, the K-drama remake also stars actors Jeon Jong-Soo, Lee Won-Jong, Kim Ji-Hoon, Jang Yoon-Joo, Park Jung-Woo, and more notable actors. To fit the K-drama storyline, the characters will plan a heist in the Korean Peninsula. The Professor asks for help from the Professor in Netflixs Tudum crossover RELATED: My Name: New Main Trailer for K-Drama Has Ji-Woo Live a Double Life In the first minutes of Netflixs Tudum event, the special guests and actors go into a frenzy when Netflixs tudum sound disappears. They have hours until the special event premiere, so they enlist help from the Professor. Even the Professor needs some assistance and makes a special call to assemble a team. This is where the Money Heist K-drama remake makes its grand feature. The Professor is in his hideout in Spain and calls the Professor from the K-drama remake. In a secret location in Seoul, South Korea, fans get a first-time look at Yoo Ji-Tae in the main role. Yoos version has the same feel and look, adorned in a brown leather jacket, button-up shirt, and tie. The character also wears glasses surrounded by a dimly lit computer room. The K-drama remake Professor assures he has the right team for the job and speculates a master of deception stole the tudum. The screen splits to show both Professors side by side as they agree to work together. This crossover is the first time fans get a taste of what can be expected from the Money Heist K-drama remake. What else did the Tudum event reveal to K-drama fans? RELATED: Everything We Know About Netflixs Upcoming Korean Reality/Variety Shows The Tudum event had a special Tudum: Korea Spotlight hosted by K-Pop idols Kai and Kim Hee-Chul. K-drama fans got tidbits and special never-before-seen trailers of what Netflix has in store for the rest of the year and 2022. The streaming platform has an array of original Korean variety/reality shows like Paiks Spirit and New World. Above all, the event released the trailer for the anticipated Hellbound. The webtoon-based K-drama is the first to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and fans have high expectations. The first trailer explained the general storyline and its main cast. Netflix is also ready to premiere the most-talked-about revenge-crime thriller, My Name starring Han So-Hee. Fans got to see an exclusive cut of Han as Yoon Ji-Woo taking down a gang of thugs. ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS The NCIS: Hawaii team has to go undercover Jane Tennant is doing the mom thing while leading her team Kai and Jesse have a better relationship after Recruiter Alex Tarrant as Kai Holman, Vanessa Lachey as Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant on NCIS: Hawaii | Zack Dougan/CBS via Getty Images NCIS: Hawaii fans are still getting to know Jane Tennant (Vanessa Lachey) and her team in these first few episodes. In the latest installment, they got even more character development. While the newest team in the NCIS universe worked the best case of the series so far. Heres a recap of NCIS: Hawaii Season 1, Episode 3 Recruiter. The NCIS: Hawaii team works the case of a murdered Navy officer After fans witness this weeks crime, the episode begins inside Janes home. Where she is preparing to hand off her two kids Alex (Kian Talan) and Julie (Mahina Napoleon) to their dad. Meanwhile, Petty Officer First Class Miles Hayward a Navy recruiter on the Hawaiian Islands is found murdered in the empty parking lot of the abandoned Aloha Stadium. Jesse (Noah Mills) and Kai (Alex Tarrant) start working the case together, despite the fact that these new co-workers dont really get along. Only in Hawaii The investigation leads the Hawaii team to a beach gang known as the Oania Boys. But in order to get close, Jesse and Kai have to go undercover as surfers. The islands have been a huge part of NCIS: Hawaii from the first minute of the pilot. And that theme continues in episode three. Jesse and Kai are both experienced surfers, but white US military men arent popular with the locals. Hawaii native Kai uses this to his advantage and punches Jesse on the beach to prove to the Oania Boys that hes just like them, and can be trusted. This gets him closer to the group. Jane Tennant is doing the mom thing on NCIS: Hawaii As the team works their case, Jane puts her single mom powers into action when talking with the mother of a suspect, Andrea Pacheco. She tries to convince the woman to persuade her son to do the right thing, which Jane believes is talking to NCIS and helping with their case. At home, Jane is doing the mom thing when she finds her son Alex is there even though hes supposed to be at his dads. Somethings up, and Jane knows it. But its just another day in the life of a mom with a teenage son. As she get backs to work, Jane discovers that someone has confessed to Officer Haywards murder. This takes her to the state penitentiary, where she comes face to face with island crime boss Sunny Oania. Recruiting at the wrong beach Sunny confesses to the murder, even though hes in prison. But he knows details about it that only the killer would know, so its obvious hes covering for someone. As Jane and her team continue their investigation, they discover that Officer Hayward was trying to recruit some of the Oania Boys into the Navy. Including the son of Sunny Oania, Brad Pacheco. The root cause of the crime is eventually discovered after the NCIS team finds a gun hidden at Haywards home. He was holding it for Brad, who was supposed to get rid of it after his half-brother Lee used it during a violent crime. But instead, Brad gave it to Hayward so he could turn it in to the police. To save himself from getting caught, Lee killed Officer Hayward. Or did he? Jane Tennant shows off her fighting skills on NCIS: Hawaii As Kai talks to Lee in an interrogation room, Jane heads back to Andreas house to tell her the results of the investigation. But as she tells her theyve arrested Lee, Jane gets a message from Kai. He tells her it was Andrea who killed Officer Hayward. As it turns out, she didnt want her son Brad joining the Navy. She didnt want anyone taking her son away and leaving her alone. Andrea realizes that Jane knows the truth, which leads to a physical mom fight. Jane comes out on top and sends the other mom to prison. This leaves Brad free to join the Navy and pursue a better future away from the Oania Boys. The episode ends with Jane and her son having a talk after she realizes he lied to avoid his dad, dads new lady, and the nursery they are putting together for their new baby. Kai and Jesse also have a better relationship after this episode because they finally had the chance to bond. New episodes of NCIS: Hawaii air Monday nights on CBS. RELATED: NCIS: Hawaii Is Already Making History and Fans Have Only Seen 1 Episode Princess Diana was known and loved the world over. Princess Dianas death anniversary falls on August 31, when the beloved Princess was killed in a 1997 car crash in France. After her marriage troubles with Prince Charles were highly publicized, she and her husband divorced. That divorce was finalized in 1996. Diana went on to find love with filmmaker Dodi Al-Fayed. Al-Fayed was also killed in the crash, as was the driver, Henri Paul. It was generally accepted that Paul was speeding to outrun the paparazzi when he lost control of the car, but there have always been some questions. Whatever caused the deadly crash, Dianas death sent shockwaves all around the world and devastated her family. Princess Dianas funeral was watched all over the world Diana, Princess of Wales | Jayne Fincher/Getty Images Princess Dianas funeral was televised, and people from all over the world watched the funeral. There are images burned into the public consciousness from that day, including Princes William and Harry in the procession and the moving eulogy by Dianas brother, Charles Spencer. His moving eulogy sparked both tears and applause the world over. The Earl of Spencer spoke highly of his older sister. USA Today has a text of the eulogy. In it, Spencer spoke of Dianas efforts toward good, her mothering instinct, and her difficulty in navigating the criticism that she got. Spencer said: Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected. He also said that she was, at her heart, a childlike and insecure person. She attempted to do good not just because it felt good, but to overcome what she thought of as her own inherent unworthiness. But, he said, fundamentally she had not changed at all from the big sister who mothered me as a baby. He ended the eulogy by speaking directly to Princes Harry and William. He spoke of Dianas love and protectiveness toward her children and promised them that, while he would never know the depth of their grief, they would always be loved. What were Princess Dianas last words? It wasnt until 20 years after the accident that Princess Dianas last words were made public. One of the firefighters who was first on the scene of the tragic accident tended to the injured woman. Sergeant Xavier Gourmelon said that he honestly thought that Diana would survive the crash. Her only visible injury was her shoulder, he said, according to The Independent. On the twentieth anniversary of Princess Dianas death, Gourmelon said that she uttered her last words. Diana said: My God, whats happened? Gourmelon also said that neither Princess Diana or Dodi Al-Fayed, the other passenger, were wearing their seatbelts. The family said that that was uncharacteristic of Diana. Princess Dianas death has left a tragic legacy Princes William and Harry have been outspoken about what they felt led to their mothers tragic death. Princess Dianas last photo with son Prince William saw her laughing and smiling, a reminder the young Princess had a close relationship with her sons. The most famous interview, and perhaps most infamous as well, that Princess Diana gave was in 1995. In that interview, BBC journalist Martin Bashir gained one-on-one access with Diana, and she spoke of the marital issues with Prince Charles, his affairs, her depression, and her bulimia. It was an interview that changed how the world perceived not only Princess Diana, but how they viewed the entire royal family as well. Princes William and Harry have both accused Bashir and the BBC of lying and manipulation to get Diana to speak as she did, according to NPR. They both said that the fallout from that interview directly influenced what happened later. Prince William called learning of his mothers death his saddest memory. He was at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when he learned of the tragedy, says People. Prince William said that he found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors and that, as a result, he feels a deep connection with Scotland. Prince Harry had a more volatile reaction. NBC tells us that he felt angry about what had happened and that there had been no justice. During his interview with Oprah, he said he fell into alcohol and drugs in the wake of his mothers death and felt completely neglected by the royal family. RELATED: Surprising Princess Diana Secrets We Never Knew Until Now Shes known for more than Legally Blonde; Reese Witherspoon has expanded her acting career through countless movies and television productions. From her highly praised role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line to her new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, Witherspoon continues to raise the bar. But she recently announced she would return to her romantic comedy days. Only Witherspoons true fans will recall her rom-com flicks. Now, shes starring alongside Ashton Kutcher in Your Place or Mine. Reese Witherspoon | Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Turner Reese Witherspoons other rom-com movies Although there are many, some of the most well-known Reese Witherspoon rom-com movies include Sweet Home Alabama, Just Like Heaven, Four Christmases, and This Means War. Sweet Home Alabama follows ex-childhood sweethearts Jake and Melanie. The two have been in a long-term divorce, as Jake hasnt finalized it. She left her Southern lifestyle for a successful fashion career in New York City. Now, Melanie is engaged to Andrew. She has to return to her small Alabama hometown to convince Jake to sign the divorce papers, but Melanie discovers more about herself in the end. Next, Witherspoon played a ghost in Just Like Heaven opposite Mark Ruffalo. Her character, Elizabeth, a hard-working emergency physician, was in a car accident. Now David (Ruffalo) lives in Elizabeths apartment a few months after the accident. She haunts the apartment and denies that shes dead. But as the two bond, David uncovers the truth behind Elizabeths ghostly situation. In 2008, Witherspoon starred with Vince Vaughn in Four Christmases. The film focuses on a couple who is delayed from their lavish Fiji trip and ends up visiting their families. Both dont want to get married or have kids because of their so-called dysfunctional families. Nevertheless, they learn more about what they want in their relationship. This Means War follows two best friends (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) working for the CIA. Both accidentally end up dating the same woman (Witherspoon). In a comical turn of events, the best friends find themselves fighting over her. Nevertheless, its ultimately her choice. Details on Your Place or Mine In an Instagram post, Witherspoon shared an on-set photo of herself. She wrote, Heading back to my rom-com roots, referring to her new Netflix film. The actor will star alongside Ashton Kutcher in Your Place or Mine. Kutcher has also appeared in many rom-coms, such as No Strings Attached and What Happens in Vegas. According to IMDb the plot follows two long-distance best friends change each others lives when she decides to pursue a lifelong dream, and he volunteers to keep an eye on her teenage son. Some viewers immediately recognized the home-swap plot from 2006s The Holiday. Ashton Kutcher will star opposite Reese Witherspoon in YOUR PLACE OR MINE, a new romcom from Aline Brosh McKenna (who will also make her feature directorial debut) following two best friends on opposite coasts who see their whole lives change when they swap homes for a week. pic.twitter.com/QZO4aII5Sw NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) August 3, 2021 Netflix has not determined a release date yet for Your Place or Mine. Also, it hasnt released additional casting information. RELATED: Legally Blonde: Reese Witherspoon Wasnt the First Actor Considered for the Role of Elle Woods Since Ryan Reynolds performance as Deadpool, he has been everywhere. His movies continue to do well, hes tearing it up on social media, and hes even branched out into business ventures. Reynolds is quirky and funny in his interviews and a delightful troll on social media, but many fans wonder if hes like that in real life? How much of that delightfully quirky troll is actually Reynolds, and how much of it is a carefully crafted persona? Reynolds is a jokester on social media Ryan Reynolds | Getty Images You almost cant scroll through social media without coming across something that Reynolds said or did on his page. He is poking fun at friends more often than not or trolling his wife, Blake Lively. The trolling isnt mean-spirited, but Reynolds does tease. Its meant for laughs above all else. Usually, whoever hes trolling gives it right back. Reynolds and Livelys public social media conversations are filled with back-and-forth bantering, and his feud with Hugh Jackman is well-documented. In interviews, Reynolds is quirky, funny, and pleasant. Even when hes teasing, it doesnt go over the top or get mean. His interviews are often hilarious. Reynolds leans fully into the character of Deadpool, and fans love it. It also has fans wondering if hes that nice in real life. What has Reynolds said about it? Of course, since fans have asked about it and hit up social media thinking about it, interviewers started asking Reynolds about his nice-guy persona. Reynolds was unexpectedly a bit profound in his answer to it. According to ET Canada, he referenced an old saying in a Mens Health interview. If you cant find the asshole, its you, he said. Keeping that in mind, Reynolds said that he likes to try to include everyone. He goes out of his way to listen to whatever idea anyone else might have. He said, that means if the caterer has a good idea, you want to hear it. It sounds like Reynolds genuinely doesnt want to be the asshole on set, but he does say that hes glad that he has a bit of a reputation for being a troll. It makes it easier to drop a few curse words or saying something over the top on social media. He can make jokes without worrying too much about how people might react. Theres some intent in delivery, too. I love a good compound swear, he says. It changes the wording just enough to drive the point home while being funny at the same time. This part is shitty isnt nearly as effective as This party is a total shit symphony,' he says. While Reynolds is talking up his swearing technique, though, he is also giving to charity. CNN says that Reynolds and Lively donated another million dollars to food-related charities in February 2021. They gave $500,000 each to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada. The couple wrote in a joint statement that they were honored and privileged to be able to continue our support of the two charities. Hello! detailed another donation to Hope for Haiti after a devastating earthquake this summer. Reynolds and Lively donated $10,000 after an earthquake caused over 2,000 deaths and injured 12,000 more people. The charitable donations speak more to Reynolds character than his interviews. Reynolds and Lively didnt announce the donation to Hope for Haiti; the organization did in a thank-you message. Reynolds co-stars have a few things to say, too Reynolds new movie, Free Guy, was released in August 2021. With a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, its safe to say that viewers, by and large, love the movie. Co-star Joe Keery had praise for Reynolds. He noted that Reynolds just thought directorially. Reynolds would have lines written or ready to be delivered in different ways, and that there was a lot of improvisation set. Most importantly, though, was that Keery said that Reynolds wants to make people feel comfortable so theyll do their best work on set. Keery continued by stating, Hes been incredible. From the evidence that can be gathered, it seems that Reynolds is that likable guy persona. RELATED: Spirited: Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds Join Forces for Upcoming Apple TV+ Christmas Musical The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 returns to E! and Terry Bradshaw has his hands full once again. But this time being at home gives Terry even more time to worry and get a little too involved in his daughters business. From giving sex advice to Celebrity Family Feud, reality show The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 hits all the right notes. Still to come this season The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 has hula moves and Family Feud Terry takes a lay of the land, sort of. The tractor doesnt work and who does he call? Tammy! Terry yells to his wife. I need some jumper cables! So much for the lawn. The family doesnt mess around, heading to a Medieval Times restaurant and learning to hula dance. Ive got moves, Terry insists. Indeed, he does, which also includes zooming around the homestead on an ATV, dogs chasing after him. The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 huddles up on Celebrity Family Feud | Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images The family also gets a unique opportunity to appear on Celebrity Family Feud. Rachel Bradshaw steals the show with her answer to the question: If you dared, name something about Superman you might make fun of. Terry answers the question: his hairstyle. But Rachels mic drop answer: his mask? Terry cringes and covers his face. Terry Bradshaw gets slimy with the grandkids Terry and Rachel also perform a duet at the Grand Ole Opry. But amid the fun and games are some real discussions. My oldest girl, Rachel, she is living the single girl life, Terry says. My step-daughter Lacey and her husband Noah are splitting time between Texas and Hawaii, Terry adds. Thankfully Terry is getting plenty of playtime with the grandchildren. He even sets up a slime stand with his granddaughter Zurie. Were just a couple of slimeballs, they say to each other in unison. But Terry still hopes for another grandchild. Oysters do something to your body that stimulates your reproductives, Terry says to Erin. Her response? Dad! But Terry is ready to add more grandchildren to his family. Erin just might finally get pregnant. Terry also asks Erins husband Scott Weiss if his father ever had the birds and the bees talk with him in the past. Will Erin Bradshaw (finally) fulfill Terrys grandbaby wish? So, did the oysters work? For the past five years, the first question [Terry] asks my husband and I every time he sees me is, Are you pregnant? Are you pregnant?' Erin told E! News. If I just get sick or have a sniffle, Are you pregnant? He has wanted me to have a baby for so long, and Ive just always told him in due time. It definitely took a little longer to get on the bandwagon, just owning and operating a big horse business like we do, it just takes up so much of our time, she added. But said her father has a huge heart even if sometimes he is a little over the top. Hes above and beyond, and he definitely offers his advice and opinions quite a bit which is super funny to see and watch play out. Were super excited, she dished. She also revealed that The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 will give viewers more of a peek at the familys personal life. what we do on the day to day, seeing us traveling and having to go out more, being out and about and doing a lot more things, which is a lot more exciting, she said. Buckle up for fun because The Bradshaw Bunch is back. The Bradshaw Bunch Season 2 premieres on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. on E!. Over three decades ago, ABC brought a different sort of medical drama to its lineup. Doogie Howser M.D. was about a boy genius who just happened to be a doctor. The series was canceled without warning, and for a long time, fans wished they would bring it back. Now their wishes are coming true, with a reboot of the show that has been updated for the new millennium. Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. has added some details to the original story to keep it fresh, and one of them is its new and beautiful setting. The original Doogie Howser M.D. I have a feeling Doogie Howser is going to kill it tonight. #Oscar2015 pic.twitter.com/232rWEJsNF (@ryanvaughan) February 23, 2015 The first Doogie was a character that defied belief. According to Distractify, a very young Neil Patrick Harris played the main character, a 16-year-old super genius who was also a doctor. He was so smart, in fact, that he passed the SAT with perfect scores when he was only six years old. The boy wonder decided to be a doctor after being diagnosed with leukemia as a child. His father, who was also a doctor, treated him and saved his life. The experience inspired him to follow him into the medical profession, so he could help people too. In the show, he detailed his thoughts in a diary that he kept on his computer. Doogie Howser M.D. was canceled abruptly after four years on the air, when the shows ratings started to decline. Because the decision was so sudden, the writers never got a chance to give fans a satisfying ending. But now they get another chance, with a modern take on Dr. Doogie. A reboot for today Peyton Elizabeth Lee | FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images On September 8, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. premiered on Disney+, and according to EW, the reboot has a lot to recommend it. The new Doogie is also a 16-year-old genius doctor who is in a residency program, but this time shes a young woman. Lahela Doogie Kamealoha is also biracial, the daughter of a Native Hawaiian dad and a white mom. Peyton Elizabeth Lee plays the lead character, who struggles to balance the demands of life as a doctor along with typical teen issues. To help Lee get the medical terminology and actions right, there was a doctor on set whenever filming took place in the hospital. These details are very similar to the issues that the original Doogie faced, but in the new version, the young doctor also grapples with sexism, and also potential issues of racial identity. Where was Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.filmed? The original Dr. Doogie lived in L.A. Not bad, but according to Newsweek, the new show takes the location up a notch. Its set in Hawaii, against the backdrop of stunning island views, beautiful beaches, and endless sunshine. And the setting isnt just a sound stage. The series really is filmed in Hawaii, on location in areas such as Waimanalo, with its stunning beach, and Waikiki. You can see famous Hawaiian landmarks, including Iolani Palace, which is nearly 150 years old, and where the royalty of the Kingdom of Hawaii live. You can also spot the statue of Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarch to live in the palace until the Kingdom was overthrown in 1893. As beloved as the original series was, the new Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. is a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. With its beautiful setting and fresh take on the popular storyline, it could be a show that quickly draws new fans. It could also be an opportunity for fans of the original series to revisit the storyline they miss. RELATED: Doogie Howser, M.D.: When Did Doogie Lose His Virginity? Sigma Laboratory Centrifuges is a worldwide leading manufacturer of laboratory centrifuges. Centrifuges are standard equipment in every laboratory and are used intensively to separating components with different densities from liquids, for which they are virtually indispensable. Sigma offers a broad spectrum of laboratory centrifuges, fixed-angle and swing-out rotors and accessories. All of our products meet high standards of reliability and safety. The application areas include pharmaceutical research, biotechnology, medical analytics, environmental analytics, petroleum analyses and many other areas. Martin Christ Sr started producing centrifuges in 1948. In 1975 he founded the company Sigma Laborzentrifugen. Sigma gained worldwide recognition with a new maintenance-free drive system for laboratory centrifuges, and the company grew rapidly. The company culture of the family-owned business is based on flat organisational structures with short communication paths, sustainable business operations, and close networking with international representatives and dealers. Tosoh's EcoSEC GPC systems for room or high temperature polymer analysis operate 50% faster than many other GPC systems. more MALS detector Direct characterization of macromolecules down to 2 nm Rg Highly sensitive thanks to green laser Can be coupled with HPLC and UHPLC more More efficiency for the analysis of biomolecules and macromolecules on any (U)HPLC system The right column for every separation problem - wide selection of stationary phases Application notes for a variety of biopharma and polymer applications Training and technical support from our team of experts more Microbial production of methane from organic material is an essential process in the global carbon cycle and an important source of renewable energy. This natural process is based on a cooperative interaction between different types of microorganisms: the fermenting bacteria and the methane-producing archaea. The former converts so-called primary fermentation products from biomass decomposition, including fatty acids into intermediate products such as acetic acid, formate or H2. Specialized archaea can then form methane from them. The syntrophic interaction of fermenting bacteria with methanogenic archaea is crucial for the globally relevant conversion of biomass into methane. However, scientists have not yet been able to clarify how the oxidation of saturated fatty acids can be coupled with the thermodynamically extremely unfavorable reduction of CO2 to methane and how such a process can enable the growth of both microorganisms involved. A research team from the University of Freiburg, the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Bern in Switzerland led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Boll from the Institute of Biology II at the University of Freiburg has now been able to uncover a crucial step in this process: they found the missing enzymatic link and its function, which makes methane formation from fatty acids traceable from an energetic standpoint. Study on oxidoreductase The scientists investigated a previously uncharacterized membrane-bound oxidoreductase (EMO) from the fermenting bacterium Syntrophus aciditrophicus. They provided biochemical evidence that the heme-b cofactors of this membrane-bound oxidoreductase and a modified quinone with perfectly matched redox potentials are the main players in this microbial process. Bioinformatics analyses also suggest that these oxidoreductases are widely distributed in prokaryotes, organisms such as bacteria and archaea whose cells lack a nucleus. The results not only close our knowledge gap on the conversion of biomass to methane, Boll explains. We may additionally identify EMOs as previously overlooked key components of lipid metabolism in the vast majority of all microorganisms. 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 DESYs 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 fertiliser 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. Thats 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. 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 labelling 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 labelled one specific particle, says co-author Thomas Keller from DESY NanoLab and in charge of the project at DESY. The diameter of the labelled particle is around 100 nanometres, and it is similar to the particles used in a cars catalytic converter. A nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre. 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 favoured. 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). Crucial step towards analysing industrial catalyst materials 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 analysing 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 DESYs 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. It took three weeks of scheduled meetings, at least three law firms, dozens of statements, hours of closed-door briefings, and extensive back-and-forth debates across boardrooms, social media, and Zoom calls for the Southern Baptist Conventions Executive Committee (EC) to agree to the terms of a third-party investigation into its response to abuse. But on Tuesday, it did. The EC voted 4431 in favor of waiving attorney-client privilege in the investigation, after a half dozen members resigned and several switched their position in favor of the waiver. For a moment, it felt like the conclusion of a long and heated process, though the decision is only the start of a long investigative process. EC chairman Rolland Slade, who oversaw the proceedings, expressed his relief after the tally was announced. Then he remarked, I want to express sorrow over the conduct we have displayed as Southern Baptists. For the ECthe denominational body tasked with Southern Baptist business outside the annual meetingthe debate pitted the desire to open fully to the investigation against concerns that such transparency would threaten its financial solvency, insurance coverage, and other fiduciary duties to protect the entity. As the clash played out, Southern Baptist voices including seminary presidents, state convention leaders, and thousands of pastors spoke out to put pressure on the EC to comply with the requirement to waive attorney-client privilege, which had been approved when the denomination called for the investigation at its annual meeting in June. Taking steps towards honesty, transparency, repentance, those are great things. Those are worthy of celebration, said Georgia pastor Griffin Gulledge, who hosted hundreds of SBC leaders and onlookers in Twitter discussions around the EC proceedings. It is huge to see this vote go from losing by a large margin to ultimately passing by a large margin. But lets recognize that the result of this is that the Southern Baptist Convention will never be the same. The recent vote authorizes a contract with Guidepost Solutions, an independent firm tasked with reviewing how EC staff and members responded to abuse allegations and victims over a 20-year span. Guidepost is slated to make its report public prior to the annual meeting in June 2022. Its a baby step. Theres a long road ahead, said Jules Woodson, who shared her story of clergy sexual abuse in the start of the #MeToo era and has rallied groups of SBC survivors. Im so glad people are finally paying attention. Nobody has listened for years. But survivors like Woodson also see how much work it took for the EC to agree to the terms of the investigation and worry the SBC is still divided over its responsibility to respond to the abused and vulnerable. The motion to comply with the Guidepost investigation, which is being overseen by a sexual abuse task force appointed by SBC president Ed Litton, came from Texas pastor and EC member Jared Wellman, who has led the charge for the EC to open up and adopt the terms set by the messengers. The messengers have spoken very clearly that this is what they want, and weve exhausted every avenue trying not to do this, said Wellman, whose motions failed in two previous meetings. Outspoken Southern Baptist leaders believed that the ECs refusal to comply with the terms of the investigation could disrupt denominational polity, where messengers at the annual meeting direct the actions of the committee, rather than it holding top-down governance. Sarah E. Merkle, an attorney and professional parliamentarian, said the ECs discussion over how or whether to follow the messengers directive offers a lesson for organizations in how governing documents and motions matter. An Executive Committee vote contrary to the will of the Messengers would have been a drastic reversal of the longstanding position that local churches and their messengers control the SBC, and that the Executive Committees powers are limited, said Merkle, who serves as an advisor with CTs ChurchLawAndTax.com. Todays vote communicates that a majority of the Executive Committee is willing to follow the established governance structure even when doing so may come at a cost. Opponents to waiving attorney-client privilege repeated their concerns in Tuesdays gathering, which was held over Zoom. Joe Knott, EC member and former EC secretary, suggested the decision would create chaos rather than following God-given law and order. Mark Elliott said hed be forced to resign if the EC waived privilege, since itd be the opposite of what our attorneys advised us to do. At Tuesdays meeting, the EC brought in insurance recovery attorney Jim Murray of Blank Rome LLP to discuss possible insurance ramifications to waiving privilege in executive session. The EC also hired a pair of Dallas attorneys from Locke Lord, which came on in addition to the ECs counsel. Much of the previous debate had focused on finding a compromise option that would allow the EC to reduce liability and maintain some oversight while the investigation moved forward. But as EC member Dave Bryan stated, there wasnt a good third option to be found. Its hard to make a right decision when you dont feel like you have good options, the Oklahoma pastor told the group, announcing that he had switched to support the waiver. As 1 Peter says, if were going to suffer, lets suffer for doing the right thing. Both victims and advocates see the move to waive privilege as promising but also only a small step, especially as the SBCs divides over the investigation and the denominations role in responding to abuse are put on full display. The investigation will require participation from current and former EC members and staff as well as victims in order to generate a substantial report. EC president Ronnie Floyd, who had opposed the waiver of privilege, said in a statement, I appreciate the statement of our Chairman Rolland Slade at the end of the meeting including his call to come together now to serve Southern Baptists. Now that the Executive Committees Board of Trustees have made their decision, the leadership and staff of the Executive Committee will provide support to Guidepost on implementing next steps to facilitate their investigation. We thank all of the Trustees for their diligence in addressing complex questions brought to bear by this process. Task force chairman Bruce Frank said, the task force is pleased with the strong vote today by the Executive Committee to abide by the moral imperative as directed by the messengers, seminary presidents, state leaders, and many, many more and that Guidepost will begin its work immediately. (In a previous vote, the EC had authorized the funding for the inquiry.) Both sides in the debate over privilege claimed to have legal backing for their positions. Some EC members said they feared, based on their own expertise or legal counsel, that waiving privilege for the investigation could increase the ECs liability and put the entity at risk; the sexual abuse task forces attorneys said that declining to waive privilege could actually increase individual liability. The privileged information sought for the investigation is limited to EC decisions related to abuse and victims during the 2000-2021 time period. Decisions like this one arent uncommon, said Adam Plant, a Birmingham attorney who was not involved in the EC process but has represented clients in cases involving outside investigations. Limited-scope privilege waivers can ensure individual wrongdoers are held responsible for their own misconduct, rather than the corporate entity being prosecuted for the misconduct of individual bad actors. The investigation follows years of concerns over the Southern Baptist Conventions response to abuse brought up by victims, the media, and leaders within the denomination. The EC became the subject of the investigation following documents leaked earlier this year that suggested that its leaders downplayed abuse response efforts and intimidated victims. Litton, who beat out former EC chairman Mike Stone to become president of the SBC, said he was grateful that a full, transparent, and unimpeded investigation could now begin. He prayed to conclude Tuesdays meeting. We have all faced a very difficult and challenging time. May it not continue to divide and separate brothers and sisters, he said. We pray for your will to do be done, what needs to be exposed exposed, and healing begin for many. Biden admin. rescinds Trump-era rule barring abortion clinics from receiving Title X funding Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Biden administration has reversed a Trump administration rule that prevented federal tax dollars from funding family planning organizations that refer their patients to abortion counseling, drawing criticism from pro-life organizations and praise from the abortion lobby. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule, "Ensuring Access to Equitable, Affordable, Client-Centered, Quality Family Planning Services," Monday. The rule is slated to take effect Nov. 8 and will allow "Title X providers to provide truly nondirective counseling and refer their patients for all services desired by the client, including abortion services." The final rule rescinds a 2019 Trump administration policy labeled by critics as the "gag rule." The Trump-era regulation prevented "the use of Title X funds to perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning." Under the current rule, companies that wish to provide both abortions and Title X family planning services are required to establish a "strict physical and financial separation between abortion-related activities and Title X project activities." Since 1970, Title X family planning clinics have received millions in federal funding to provide low-income and uninsured individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. In a statement, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra described the new rule as "a step forward for family planning care as it aims to strengthen and restore our nation's Title X program." "Our nation's family planning clinics play a critical role in delivering health care, and today more than ever, we are making clear that access to quality family planning includes accurate information and referrals based on a patient's needs and direction," Becerra said. Advocacy groups on both sides of the abortion debate weighed in on the new rule. Pro-life activist groups were quick to condemn the Biden administration for reversing what they refer to as the "Protect Life" rule. "Abortion is the destruction of innocent human life, not 'family planning,'" Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life lobbying organization Susan B. Anthony List, said in a statement. "The strong majority of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion on demand. The Protect Life Rule respected their will, as well as the plain statutory language of Title X - yet from day one, Joe Biden and his administration have worked to pay back the abortion lobby that spent millions to elect them." Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life, agreed that "Taxpayer funds should not be used to subsidize an industry that preys on women and their unborn children." "The vast majority of Americans believe that using taxpayer funds to pay for abortion is wrong," she said. "Supplementing the abortion industry through taxpayer funds is offensive to tens of millions of Americans," Tobias added. "Far from uniting this nation, the Biden administration has done everything it can to divide it by facilitating abortion on demand." Overall, abortion rights advocacy groups reacted favorably to the new rule. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider which backed out of the Title X program in response to the Trump administration rule, praised the Biden administration for "ending the gag rule." However, the organization suggested that the new rule does not go far enough. In a tweet, Planned Parenthood lamented that "this new rule still allows Title X grantees to refuse to counsel pregnant patients about abortion as a health care option." Characterizing conscience protections in the rule as "unnecessary and harmful," the abortion provider asserted that a "provider's personal beliefs shouldn't stop patients who deserve full information about health care options." Unfortunately, this new rule still allows Title X grantees to refuse to counsel pregnant patients about abortion as a health care option. This is unnecessary and harmful: a provider's personal beliefs shouldnt stop patients who deserve full information about health care options. Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) October 4, 2021 The pro-abortion research organization Guttmacher Institute issued a statement on Twitter cheering the reversal of the "Trump-era 'domestic gag rule' that devastated the #TitleX National Family Planning Program" as "a crucial step toward restoring a vital source of care for millions of people in the US!" BREAKING: The Biden-Harris administration just finalized regulations to overhaul the Trump-era domestic gag rule" that devastated the #TitleX national family planning program. This is a crucial step toward restoring a vital source of care for millions of people in the US! Guttmacher Institute (@Guttmacher) October 4, 2021 The new HHS rule is not the first time the Biden administration eliminated a pro-life policy implemented by the previous administration. Shortly after taking office earlier this year, President Joe Biden rescinded the Mexico City Policy, which prevented the funding of nongovernmental organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas from receiving U.S. taxpayer dollars. Additionally, the Biden administration's Food and Drug Administration lifted the requirement that women wishing to have chemical abortions receive the abortion pill in person. The in-person dispensing requirement was the subject of litigation last year, as pro-choice activists argued that visiting a doctor during the coronavirus pandemic put women at risk of exposure to COVID-19. Christianity grows by nearly 1% in Muslim-majority Indonesia Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The latest data released by the government of Indonesia suggest that the number of Christians in the Muslim-majority archipelago has slightly increased, a U.S.-based group has noted. The Southeast Asian country, which is home to the worlds largest Muslim population, now has 20.4 million Protestants and 8.42 million Catholics, who together comprise 10.58% of the total population of 272.23 million, according to data from the Directorate General of the Department of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, International Christian Concern said, adding that the 2010 census data showed that 9.87% of the population was Christian. Among Indonesia's population, 236.53 million (86.88%) identify as Muslim. Geographically, there are 30 Muslim-majority provinces. Only in four provinces is Islam a minority religion or below 50%, including West Papua. Indonesias Constitution is based on the doctrine of Pancasila five principles upholding the nations belief in the one and only God and social justice, humanity, unity and democracy for all. However, there are many extremist groups in Indonesia that oppose Pancasila. Churches often face opposition from groups that attempt to obstruct the construction of non-Muslim houses of worship. Human Rights Watch previously said that more than 1,000 churches in the archipelago had been closed due to pressure from such groups. Indonesia is ranked No. 47 on Open Doors USAs World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most extreme levels of persecution. The Christian minority in Indonesia attended this years Easter service under heavy security following a suicide bombing outside a church carried out by a married couple affiliated with a homegrown terror network that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Two days before Good Friday, police had shot dead a 25-year-old woman, identified as Zakiah Aini, who pointed a gun at police officers at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta and fired at least six shots, Jakarta Globe reported at the time, adding that Zakiah was a university dropout who supported ISIS. On Palm Sunday, a 26-year-old man, identified as Muh Lukman, and his wife, Yogi Sahfitri Fortuna, a.k.a. Dewi, blew themselves up in front of the gate of the Cathedral Church in the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province at about 10:30 a.m. as the church was preparing for its third service. Police have said many of the suspects and the two suicide bombers had been part of a homegrown terror group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, or JAD, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to ISIS. The JAD, Indonesias most active terror cell for the last two years, was also behind coordinated attacks on three churches Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church, Indonesia Christian Church and Surabaya Central Pentecost Church in Surabaya on May 13, 2018, which killed at least 13 people. Nurse punished for refusing to hide cross necklace sues London hospital: 'Attack on my faith' Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Christian nurse claims she was discriminated against, bullied, pressured and eventually coerced into resigning from her job because she wouldn't comply with a policy to either remove or cover up her cross necklace while on duty. London resident and nurse practitioner Mary Onuoha, 61, has filed a legal complaint against Croydon Health Services NHS Trust. She alleges that she was told that a small gold cross she wore around her neck for over 40 years as a symbol of her devout Christian faith was a safety risk and "must not be visible." A hearing was held before the Croydon Employment Tribunal Tuesday. Onuoha, who has worked as an NHS theatre practitioner for Croydon University Hospital in South London for the past 18 years, is alleging that she had to endure a two-year-long investigative process headed by her superiors for her continued refusals to remove the pendant. The nurse claims that she was eventually suspended from her clinical duties and demoted to working as a receptionist because she would not stop wearing the necklace, which she said gave her no other choice but to resign from her job. She claims she was moved from one administrative role to the next until she resigned in August 2020. She further claims that other clinical staff members at the hospital were allowed to wear jewelry, saris, turbans, hijabs and other religious adornments and that only the cross was subject to specific rules. She is represented by lawyers from the Christian Legal Centre. "This has always been an attack on my faith," Onuoha said in a statement. "My cross is part of me and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm. At this hospital, there are members of staff who go to a mosque four times a day and no one says anything to them. Hindus wear red bracelets on their wrists and female Muslims wear hijabs in theatre. Yet my small cross around my neck was deemed so dangerous that I was no longer allowed to do my job." A spokesperson for the Croydon Health Services NHS Trust told media outlets that the entity could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. On Aug. 21, 2018, the lawsuit claims that Onuoha was interrupted by the head of the hospital department and asked to remove her cross while she was in an operating theatre caring for a patient under anesthetic. Onuoha said the patient's life was put at risk and that she was ordered to leave the operating theatre to put on another scrub so that it would cover up the cross. She again refused. She claims that at the same time, her manager ignored a blue pendant and earrings being worn by another healthcare worker in the operating theatre. According to the lawsuit, this was one of many similar incidents in theatre and wards where Onuoha said she was concerned about patients' safety. "I was astonished that senior staff were prepared to potentially endanger a patient's life in order to intimidate me to remove it," Onuoha said. "Patients often say to me, 'I really like your cross.' They always respond to it in a positive way and that gives me joy and makes me feel happy. I am proud to wear it, as I know God loves me so much and went through this pain for me." Growing up in Nigeria, Onuoha said that she always felt naturally drawn towards caring for people because it was in her blood from a young age. She said she was determined to become a nurse after one of her brothers tragically died from measles due to a lack of medical provision. In 1988, she immigrated to the United Kingdom and fulfilled her ambition by beginning work at Croydon University Hospital, where she remained for nearly two decades. During that time, she reports wearing her religious pendant without any complaints or health and safety concerns from colleagues or patients. But beginning in 2015, things changed when a succession of line managers allegedly asked Onuoha to either remove her cross, conceal it or face "'escalation.'" Each time, Onuoha said she "politely" declined the requests and explained that her necklace is a symbol of her deeply held Christian faith. But in August 2018, bosses at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust reportedly ordered her to remove the cross because it was "a breach of the Trust's Dress Code and Uniform Policy" and, therefore, a health risk to herself and patients. Onuoha argues in the lawsuit that NHS management was violating its own dress code, which states: "The Trust welcomes the variety of appearances brought by individual styles, choices and religious requirements regarding dress; this will be treated sensitively and will be agreed on an individual basis with the Manager and Trust and must conform to health, safety and security regulations, infection prevention and control and moving and handling guidelines. The wearing of saris, turbans, kirpan, skullcaps, hijabs, kippahs and clerical collars arising from particular cultural / religious norms are seen as part of welcoming diversity." Contrary to the policy, the lawsuit alleges that Onuoha was required at all times to wear several lanyards that did not have anti-strangle clasps. While at the same time, the Trust claimed wearing items from the neck posed a "risk of injury or infection." "All I have ever wanted is to be a nurse and to be true to my faith," Onuoha explained. "I am a strong woman, but I have been treated like a criminal. I love my job, but I am not prepared to compromise my faith for it and neither should other Christian NHS staff in this country." In a letter addressed to Onuoha on Aug. 9, 2018, her line manager and clinical lead practitioner wrote: "I offered you a compromise of using a longer chain so your necklace was out of sight, but you refused." "Please note that the necklace is not only a breach of dress code policy but also a health and safety risk to patients and yourself," the letter stated. "I understand that you wear the necklace due to religious belief. I am prepared to offer you a compromise in that you can wear a high-necked t-shirt so that the necklace is out of sight, below the v of your scrubs and out of reach of potential angry or agitated patients. I am also writing to offer you another compromise in that you can wear a high-necked t-shirt/vest top under your scrub top to cover the necklace." "I do hope you will see that I have tried to support your religious beliefs by allowing you to wear your necklace, but it cannot be visible when you are on clinical duties," the letter added. "This is both to adhere to Infection Control guidelines and to protect you from possible injury if confronted by angry patients or carers." Christian Legal Centre is challenging Croydon Health Services NHS Trust on the grounds of "harassment, victimisation, direct and indirect discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal." Onuoha's lawyers will reportedly argue that the dress code was "applied inconsistently, with other nurses and members of staff frequently wearing various types of jewelry, hijabs, saris, turbans and religious bracelets in wards and theatre without being asked to remove them." Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that Onuoha's case is about "one or two members of staff being offended by the cross." "It is upsetting that an experienced nurse, during a pandemic, has been forced to choose between her faith and the profession she loves," Williams said. "Why do some NHS employers feel that the cross is less worthy of protection or display than other religious attire?" "How Mary was treated over a sustained period was appalling and cannot go unchallenged," she added. "Mary's whole life has been dedicated to caring for others and her love for Jesus. We are determined to fight for justice." Progressive pro-life group ready to wage battle with Biden, Democrat Party to save lives Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment WASHINGTON A pro-life activist has launched a new organization seeking to reclaim progressivism for life as the abortion movement continues to hold immense power and influence in the Democratic Party and the progressive movement. Terrisa Bukovinac, the former president of Democrats for Life of America who also serves as founder and president of Pro-Life San Francisco, launched the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, also known by its acronym PAAU, on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Friday night. The event took place the evening before pro-abortion protesters descended on the District of Columbia and cities across the country for the far-Left Womens March. Bukovinac addressed a crowd of dozens of pro-life activists, most of whom identified as Democrats and progressives, though conservative pro-lifers were also at the event. She made the case that contrary to what abortion activists claim, the pro-life position aligns with other priorities that progressives hold near and dear to their hearts. To be progressive, you must stand with the oppressed, never the oppressor. To be progressive, you must be in solidarity with low-income people and trust that they know their own needs. And to be progressive, you must stick up for the marginalized. But the abortion industrial complex twists all of that on its head, she said. Theyll tell you that to be progressive, you must advocate for mass acts of violence against children in the womb who are utterly incapable of defending themselves, Bukovinac added. Theyll tell you that to be progressive, you must ignore the voices of low-income people who are more anti-abortion than the wealthy by huge margins. If it were up to those who make less than $40,000 a year, Roe v. Wade would be in the ash heap of history. In this twisted version of progressivism, its the rich who know best, she continued. And theyll tell you that to be progressive, you cannot, under any circumstances, advocate for the most marginalized among us. Bukovinac also accused corporate America of engaging in pro-abortion activism in an effort to advance their economic self-interests. When I see giant corporations signing onto pro-choice letters, I have to wonder, what are their parental leave policies really like? How much are they counting on abortion to save them a buck and pad their bottom line? she asked. Abortion is not progress, she asserted. Abortion is a regress to the pseudo-morality of might makes right and as progressives, we will not stand for it. We are reclaiming progressivism for life, Bukovinac declared. The launch of PAAU followed by the Womens March on Saturday come as the implementation of a pro-life law in Texas that bans abortions after a baby's heartbeat can be detected is spurring outrage in progressive circles. The Supreme Court declined the request of abortion providers to block the law, which has now been in effect for over a month. The justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization on Dec. 1. In this case, the court will rule on the constitutionality of Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. A ruling in favor of the state of Mississippi, which is seeking to uphold the ban, would significantly weaken the precedent set by the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and affirmed by the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. A decision is expected sometime next year, most likely by the end of June 2022. In the aforementioned cases, the court determined that states cannot prohibit abortions before the point of viability, where the unborn baby can survive outside the womb. Courts at all levels have frequently used those Supreme Court decisions when justifying the invalidation of states' pro-life laws regulating abortions or implementing health and safety standards at abortion clinics. CP interviewed some of the PAAU launch attendees to ask why they felt called to attend the rally and to share their views on the pro-life movement in the U.S. Michael New, a research associate at the Catholic University of America and a scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, spoke at a Democrats for Life of America rally earlier this year that Bukovinac also attended. He went to the launch of PAAU to show solidarity with Bukovinacs efforts. I think what shes doing is very important. I think the pro-life movement needs to leave no stone unturned. I think that there are a lot of people out there who are politically liberal, who are pro-life, and I think her efforts to amplify and highlight those voices is a great project and Im happy to support her. Caroline Smith of Grand Rapids, Michigan, a pro-life Democrat who works with the group Protect Life Michigan, told CP that its important to show the world that being pro-life is not equal to and always just being conservative. I think its important to show that theres a lot of diversity in the pro-life movement and we need to acknowledge that and be able to accept everybody who believes abortion is wrong. Characterizing abortion as the most important issue of our day, Smith reflected on the crucial moment the pro-life movement finds itself in: Im feeling excited but also nervous because I know that theres going to be a lot of work to be done. Whatever happens next, weve got to keep pushing and fighting for the unborn. Smith briefly spoke at the event, detailing how she drove over 11 hours to take advantage of the opportunity to expand the pro-life movement and make some noise for the unborn. Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, added: I have, for a long time, stood side-by-side with people who are of different political persuasions, religious persuasions and all kinds of philosophical persuasions to stand against the killing of babies because Im convinced ... one criterion alone is needed to be pro-life and that is to be alive. Pavone, who traveled to the nations capital from Florida, shared his desire to support any of the efforts in the pro-life movement to show how diverse it is. During his speech, Pavone slammed President Joe Biden as the most pro-abortion president ever and a sign of the problem that PAAU is proudly standing against. He also accused Democratic leaders of having abandoned the people that they claim to represent on this issue. Braedon Eckert from Indiana, one of many young activists who spoke before the crowd, told CP it was important for him to attend the event as a self-described pro-life feminist and someone who believes in the right to life from conception until natural death. Speaking about the state of the pro-life movement, Eckert contended that the pro-life movement is ... almost like a cup of tea. Its like brewing right now and were ready. ... Were just waiting for that moment when we just know its time to take action. We are taking action. Eckert characterized the national Democratic Partys overwhelming pro-abortion bent as an example of how members of the party dont even stand for their own Democratic views. Maintaining that every party does something to violate the right to life, he contended that both the Republican and the Democratic Party violate human beings in some way. [For] the Republican Party, its the dehumanization of immigrants in ... some cases. [For] the Democratic Party, its abortion. Bukovinac also spoke with CP, elaborating on what motivated her to start the new organization and shared her thoughts about the state of the pro-life movement: Pro-abortion Democrats control the presidency, the Senate and the House, and I felt like its the right time that we ... have lost every Democratic pro-life member of Congress and that we need real direct action in this movement on the Left to address this extremism. Were in a position of strength, she added, expressing optimism about the pro-life movement. "Weve known all along that the abortion industry was going to come after us once they felt truly threatened. I think that were seeing that happen. But what were seeing in the stats is that people are just as anti-abortion now as they were before the Texas law and that they will continue to be anti-abortion. PAAU is coming for the Biden-Harris administration and those that enable that kind of discrimination, she warned. This discrimination is lethal for a million human children every year and we recognize that the issue is between the Democratic establishment and the abortion industry, and our intention is to break that relationship. The relationship between the Democratic establishment and the abortion industry, specifically abortion provider Planned Parenthood, was a major focus of Bukovinacs remarks. She vowed that Wherever you find fake progressivism bought with blood money, we will be there and we will be loud. It is time for a progressive anti-abortion uprising! People matter more than profit! Bukovinac exclaimed. Human lives matter more than money. That is the heart of progressivism. Against the backdrop of the sun disappearing below the horizon, Bukovinac remarked that the sun is setting on the American abortion industrial complex and the world is watching. She assured the crowd that PAAU is taking our message to every blue city in America, every Democratic leader in Congress and to the Biden-Harris administration and ultimately, to the Democratic National Convention. Randall Terry, founder of the pro-life group Operation Rescue, who also spoke at the event, had a few choice words for Planned Parenthood. After telling the crowd to have a reaction that is equal to the crime, he insisted that you must set out to create social tension. Pointing to Martin Luther Kings Letter from the Birmingham Jail as a source of inspiration, Terry recalled that he, himself, spent time in jail because he created the social tension that helped give birth to a revitalized pro-life movement that helped bring about political change that helped give birth to crisis pregnancy centers. Lamenting that we still have not prevailed, he declared: I do not want a place at the table with Planned Parenthood. I want to take their table and turn it into firewood. The firewood reference caused the crowd to erupt into applause. Terry doubled down on his remarks, restating his desire for total, unequivocal victory. He stressed that if abortion really is murder, if it really is the destruction of an innocent human life, if someone was going to be killed standing right next to you, you wouldnt say Oh wow, can we dialogue about this? Terry suggested that rather than engage in dialogue in such a scenario, it would make more sense to scream bloody murder. Another speaker, Catherine Glenn Foster, the president and CEO of Americans United for Life, cited the formation of PAAU as evidence that we are coming together in solidarity to end legalized abortion. We are coming together to make the Congress and the court stand for life, she continued. We are coming together to end a discriminatory, ageist, ableist, racist, sexist regime that tells us that for us to be equal in society, that we have to resort to legalized abortion, to killing our own children. Echoing Fosters rhetoric about the pro-abortion narrative, Bukovinac emphasized that her organization was about speaking truth to power, not destroying the powerless and about investing in families and children and not telling women and people who can become pregnant that they have to kill their babies to succeed in a cis-mans world. Top Vatican official says Biden shouldn't be denied communion over abortion Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A prominent Vatican official has stated that President Joe Biden should not be denied communion over his pro-choice views and public policy stances in support of legal abortion. While there's been much debate this year in the Roman Catholic Church over whether politicians who support legal access to abortion should be denied communion, the head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development told AXIOS on HBO that Biden's policy stance on abortion shouldn't prevent him from receiving the Eucharist. "The Eucharist should not in any way become a weapon," Cardinal Peter Turkson said in an interview that aired on Sunday. "If you say somebody cannot receive communion, you are basically doing a judgment that you are in a state of sin." Turkson was asked directly if a judgment of being in a "state of sin" applied to Biden. He said "no." Biden is the second Catholic to become president of the United States, drawing ire from some within the church who feel his policies and support for codifying abortion rights into federal contradict the Catholic Church's teaching against abortion. Turkson, a native of Ghana who has led the dicastery since its creation in 2017 and has been a close aide to Pope Francis, explained that communion should be denied only under "extreme cases." As an example, he said it would be acceptable deny communion to a known murderer. In October 2019, then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden was denied communion while on the campaign trail in South Carolina by a Catholic priest named Father Robert E. Morey. "Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church," Morey told S.C. Now. "Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching." Since then, other Catholic Church officials in the U.S. have supported denying the sacrament to Biden and any other pro-choice Catholic politicians. "This whole matter is not a question of politics it is a question of the moral law," stated Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke in an interview with The Wanderer in January 2020, calling Morey's actions "right and just." "If one is ignorant of the truth and promotes abortion legislation, that is one thing. But if one is a professed Roman Catholic who has been admonished that he (or she) cannot support legislation against the natural moral law, he (or she) is bound to be obedient to that law." Others, including Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, have stated that they object to refusing to administer the sacrament to pro-choice Catholic politicians. "I do not see how depriving the President or other political leaders of Eucharist based on their public policy stance can be interpreted in our society as anything other than the weaponization of Eucharist," stated McElroy in February, as reported by CRUX Now. Reports earlier this year indicated that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was considering a draft document during its meeting in June that would have advised Catholic politicians who support abortion not to receive communion. A week after voting to approve a "Document on the Meaning of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church," the USCCB clarified that the vote would not lead to a blanket ban on pro-choice politicians receiving communion. In July, however, a Democrat state lawmaker in New Mexico was denied communion for voting in favor of a bill to codify abortion rights into state law. Pat Robertson steps down from 'The 700 Club' to focus on teaching at Regent University Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment One of America's longest-standing television hosts, televangelist Pat Robertson is stepping down as the host of the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club." In an announcement Friday, the 60th anniversary of the first live CBN broadcast, the 91-year-old founder of the network said he will focus his efforts teaching students at Regent University, the evangelical university he founded in 1977. Robertson is widely known as a political commentator, former Republican presidential candidate and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson announced that his son, Gordon Robertson, who has served as co-host of "The 700 Club"for the past 24 years, will become the full-time host of the news-based program that has been around since 1966. "Today's show will be my final, as host," Robertson declared. "My replacement will be my very capable son." "'Good and faithful' doesn't even begin to describe my father's service to C.B.N. for 60 years," Gordon Robertson, who has two decades of experience as executive producer for "The 700 Club," said in a statement. Despite no longer being the host, the elder Robertson will not put "The 700 Club" entirely behind him. He plans to make occasional appearances starting in October 2021. Every month, Robertson will be featured in interactive episodes to answer viewer emails. Additionally, he will occasionally serve as a senior consultant on international news affairs for the program. CBN has studios in Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Jerusalem and broadcasts reach 174 countries and territories in 70 languages and dialects. "The 700 Club" has premiered various interviews with numerous world leaders, cultural influencers, religious leaders and celebrities. Over the years, Robertson has interviewed U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. To commemorate its 60th anniversary, CBN released a nearly two-hour documentary narrated by Kevin Sorbo showing the network's transformation and global impact through the years. Robertson said he will now focus on "serving, training and equipping" the 11,000-plus students at Regent University. "His legacy and the example of his prayer life will continue to lead The 700 Club in the years to come," his son said. "And the best part is, he is just going across the street to Regent University and will be on The 700 Club regularly in the future." According to Regent University's website, the 70-acre campus in Virginia offers associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from a Christian perspective in more than 150 areas of study. Regent University placed as one of the top colleges in Virginia on different occasions. The school is also ranked among top national universities by the U.S. News & World Report for two consecutive years: 2019 and 2020. Clergy won't be forced to perform gay weddings if UMC changes its stance, pastors panel says Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment 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. 100 Terrorists Meet Mangled Survivors, Victims' Families at Indonesia Event Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Some 124 convicted terrorists met 51 survivors of terror attacks and family members of victims over a three-day first-of-its-kind event in Jakarta, Indonesia, aimed at reconciliation, though some said they were too upset to attend. "This is the first event of its kind. We want to develop a spirit of reconciliation," National Counterterrorism Agency Chief Suhardi Alius told Catholic news agency ucanews.com. The rehabilitated prisoners included those who played a part in various terror acts over the past decades, including a former Islamic radical named Mokhtar Daeng Lau, who in December 2002 killed three people at a McDonald's in Makassar, South Sulawesi. "I have repented and I will help the government educate others not to follow a radical path as I did," Lau said at the event last week. A man identified only as Sumarno, who took part in bombings in Bali, stated, "I deeply regret what I have done. I did not expect that so many victims were our brothers and sisters." "It's hard and saddens me to see survivors who are now suffering from permanent disabilities," the former militant continued. "I had not imagined the impact would be like that. I am sorry and have apologized to them." Still, AFP reported that a number of survivors and relatives boycotted the event, saying that the face-to-face meetings would have been too much. "There are so many of them (former convicts) in the room. We're not ready psychologically," said Ni Luh Erniati, an adviser to the Indonesian Survivors Foundation, a group which decided not to attend. "We have forgiven them but we cannot predict what would happen if our emotions were ignited." Erniati, who lost her husband in the 2002 Bali bombings when Islamic radicals killed more than 200 people, said that previous smaller-scale events were difficult to pull off successfully. "Some survivors were so emotional and they became furious at the former militants," she recalled. Victims who were able to attend the meeting talked about the importance of forgiveness. "If I succumb to my resentment, I would not be any different from them," said Febby Firmansyah, a survivor of the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing who was left with a mangled hand and permanent burn scars. "I cannot force other survivors to forgive them as quickly as I did ... so I warned them: don't come if you are not ready," he added. Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim country, saw an increase in arrested terrorists last year, jailing 172 suspects, slightly more than the 163 taken in by authorities in 2016. Christians have been targeted in a number of terror attacks, including at Lidwina Catholic Church in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Feb. 11, when an Islamic radical injured four people at Sunday mass, including 81-year-old German priest Karl Edmund Prier. The man, who was shot by police, beheaded a statue of Jesus Christ in his sword attack. Police later found that he had made an attempt to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria. Andy Mineo Loses Mom to Cancer, Asks Fans for Prayers and Privacy Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Rapper Andy Mineo says his mother's battle with cancer has come to an end. "This past Tuesday my mother, Fran Mineo, passed away," he wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of his mother taken before her cancer diagnosis. Mineo, who has been a popular name in Christian hip-hop for a decade, added, "She battled leukemia this past year and was on the upswing after her stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, there were complications and she went home to be with the Lord." The 30 year old revealed that he had the gift of "sitting by her bedside as she passed" in Chicago last week. He recalled holding, praying for her and reading her scripture before she died. "My family and I have been grieving her loss this week together in Chicago. We've wept from our souls. We have laughed remembering her, told countless stories, looked at pictures and held each other when we needed it," Mineo continued. "Franny always made it happen. Working the night shift, raising kids on her own, shopping at garage sales so we could have the best clothes and sneakers. She lived so much of her life like Jesus. It was hard to not be impacted by her, even if you only met her once." A post shared by Saint Andrew (@andymineo) on Aug 27, 2018 at 1:32pm PDT Mineo concluded his post by asking his fans to give his family time to heal as they grieve. "I appreciate the space people have given my family and I in this time. I've had new music getting ready to come out and a fall tour in motion my team will be running my socials for a while to keep you guys updated about those things while I take time to grieve. I appreciate all of you," he ended. In June, Mineo disclosed on Instagram that he first found out about his mother's cancer in November 2017. Although the Reach Records artist is active on social media, he kept his mother's battle with leukemia private during that time. The death of his mother comes at a trying time in Mineo's life, as he's been struggling with depression and doubt, which he shared on his EP, The Arrow. "If you wondered where I've been these last few years, I can only describe it as a profound sense of being lost. Lost in my own mind, in depression, anxiety and doubt," Mineo wrote in a post on Instagram in April just days after his 30th birthday. The rapper said that his despair led him on a quest to unpack his faith. "In my search for clarity, I began to deconstruct and reconstruct much of what I believed. Unlearning is scary because you don't know what you'll be left with," he noted. Mineo, who's been married since 2014, said he's sharing where he is because he knows others can relate to his struggle. Canadian tribunal rules that using wrong pronouns violates human rights, awards $30K to trans-identified woman Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A Canadian human rights tribunal has ruled that a restaurant wrongfully fired an employee who demanded that the business use nonbinary pronouns, awarding the ex-employee $30,000. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal released a ruling last week in favor of Jessie Nelson, a former employee of Buono Osteria who prefers the pronouns of they/them. At issue was the restaurant using female pronouns for Nelson, with the business firing her and claiming that she had become too militant in the demand to be identified as nonbinary. Tribunal Member Devyn Cousineau authored the opinion, concluding that the refusal to use Nelson's preferred pronouns amounted to discrimination. All employees have the right to a workplace free of discrimination. Trans employees are entitled to recognition of, and respect for, their gender identity and expression. This begins with using their names and pronouns correctly, wrote Cousineau. Like a name, pronouns are a fundamental part of a persons identity. They are a primary way that people identify each other. Using correct pronouns communicates that we see and respect a person for who they are. The decision contrasted the actions of someone who uses a correct pronoun at first before accommodating a person by using the individual's preferred pronoun and someone who intentionally refuses to use the preferred pronouns of an individual who identifies as nonbinary. I order Buono Osteria to include a statement in its employee policies that affirms every employees right to be addressed with their correct pronouns, continued the tribunal. I also order Buono Osteria to implement mandatory training for all staff and managers about human rights in the workplace. This training should be no less than two hours. I understand that Jessie Nelson has recommended a wellregarded training provider and I encourage the restaurant to avail itself of this option. Tanner Hnidey, a Christian writer from Alberta, penned a column on his website denouncing the ruling as a rejection of objective truth and a disturbing restriction on free speech. Now its one thing for a person to think they are a different gender than they actually are. Its one thing for a man to believe hes plural when hes singular in reality, wrote Hnidey. Its quite another thing to force us to believe what another believes; coercing us to say what others want us to say. And thats precisely what the BC Human Rights Tribunal ruled. Christian teen brothers charged with attempted murder of mother, church praying for all involved Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A 16-year-old homeschooled Christian boy and his 13-year-old brother were arrested in Elverta, California, last Monday for attempting to murder their mother and 10-year-old brother, who have been hospitalized and are in critical condition, police say. Limited details on the attack, which has left the familys church and neighbors in shock, have been released by police because of the suspects' ages. Deputies received their first call about the attack about 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 27 from one of the brothers. A recording of the call published by CBS13 revealed shocking details about what happened. a male says he 187d somebody and he wants to turn himself in the dispatcher said. then said he hurt his mother and she was losing a lot of blood the male gave the phone to a female who said her son stabbed her and beat her in the head and she has to go to the hospital the dispatcher further noted. The mother was transported to Mercy San Juan Hospital and the brother to UC Davis Medical Center after the attack, the sheriffs office said. The mother, who has five children, was at home with three of her sons at the time of the attack. Neighbors told CBS 13 that her oldest child, a son, was away at college and the father was off at work with his daughter. Its so hard to tell what the triggering episodes are or what the problem is. Its just devastating that this kind of thing happens that we have kids who are troubled enough to be violent in their homes, neighbor Linda Hargreaves told the news station. Hargreaves said she saw the father and his young daughter pull up to the crime scene in his semi-truck then quickly left in a car. He just jumped out, the little girl jumped out the same side, they ran back to a car and got into a car, she said. [Its] devastating that something like this happens anywhere, but also in our quiet neighborhood here. The 16-year-old son, who was identified by CBS13 as an award-winning pianist, was also active with his family at Grace Valley Christian Center in Davis, as well as a Christian home school speech and debate club. He reportedly messaged a member of the debate club about the attack on his mother on the morning it happened. The father of the debate club member then called the familys church. Grace Valley Christian Center did not immediately respond to a request for an interview on Monday, but the Rev. Gregory Broderick, an ordained minister with the church who's also an attorney, told CBS13 that the church is praying for everyone involved. Like many in the community, we were shocked and heartbroken to learn of this terrible tragedy. We dont yet know what happened, but we are praying for everyone involved, and especially for the full recovery of mother and son, he said in a statement. Grace Valley Christian Center is described on its website as a church where God is moving in the power of the Holy Spirit and transforming the lives of young and old alike. We proclaim the orthodox faith of the Holy Bible, in the Reformed tradition of the apostle Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and others. In the wake of the attempted murder charges against the two brothers, former members of the church told The Davis Vanguard that they believe the church is a cult. Several hundred people are said to attend the church weekly, and many are connected to an elementary school, a middle school and an online high school operated by the church. The church was reportedly founded by Indian-born senior minister P. G. Mathew and a group of college students in the 1970s. It was originally part of the Shepherding movement, created in response to concerns that American churches were straying from tradition and lacking discipline. Unidentified ex-members told the Vanguard that the church has devolved into a movement of abuse. Former members of GVCC detailed stories of authoritative control, verbal harassment of adults and children, sexual assault, emotional manipulation, and drug abuse. Multiple people referred to it as a cult and one referred to it as a dictatorship with Pastor Mathew at the center of it all, the publication added. Among the methods of control reportedly employed by the church is a requirement of weekly reports from members on intimate details from their daily life. They keep a filing system on everybody. One of the moms told me that her daughter was having a horrible period, and she talked about it in a report and the elders spoke about it in a meeting, one unidentified source said. Every week I was supposed to report on how my week went, what I struggled with that week. They would give me feedback or tell me what to do. If I didnt do it I would get in trouble and they would talk to my parents, another added. At a recent court hearing, an attorney for the 16 year old called for a December delay to give doctors time to evaluate his fitness to stand trial. Sacramento Juvenile Court Judge Michael Kenny and prosecutors agreed to suspend criminal proceedings against him, but are pushing for his case to be moved into adult criminal court. The 13-year-old brother will face juvenile court hearing on Oct. 29. The brothers remain in the custody of Sacramento County juvenile hall. Indonesia steps up security at churches for Easter after suicide bombing attack Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment The Christian minority in Indonesia, home to the worlds largest Muslim population, will attend Easter service under heavy security following last weeks suicide bombing outside a church carried out by a married couple affiliated with a homegrown terror network that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The southeast Asian archipelagos National Police spokesman, Rusdi Hartono, told media that all police departments have been asked to be prepared for potential terror attacks against churches during Easter celebrations, according to APF, which also reported that services for Good Friday were held under heavy security. Two days before Good Friday, police shot dead a 25-year-old woman, identified as Zakiah Aini, who pointed a gun at police officers at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta and fired at least six shots, Jakarta Globe reported, adding that Zakiah was a university dropout who supported the IS. On Palm Sunday last week, a 26-year-old man, identified as Muh Lukman, and his wife, Yogi Sahfitri Fortuna, a.k.a. Dewi, blew themselves up in front of the gate of the Cathedral Church in the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province at about 10:30 a.m. as the church was preparing for its third service. The couple, natives of South Sulawesi, had been married for six months. Police disclosed that at least 20 people were wounded in the incident, according to The Associated Press. Three female suspects are in custody on charges of knowing in detail about the bombing plot and motivating the couple to carry out the attack, the Globe reported, which said the couple blew themselves up after being denied entry by a security guard at the church. The guard, identified as a 52-year-old man named Kosmas, is recovering from burns to his head and abdomen. There have been many arrests between January and the [church] bombing. Counterterrorism squad Detachment 88 has arrested at least 94 terror suspects in pre-emptive strikes since January, National Police spokesman Chief Comr. Ahmad Ramadhan was quoted as saying. Police have said many of the suspects and the two suicide bombers had been part of a homegrown terror group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, or JAD, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The JAD, Indonesias most active terror cell for the last two years, was also behind coordinated attacks on three churches Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church, Indonesia Christian Church and Surabaya Central Pentecost Church in Surabaya on May 13, 2018, which killed at least 13 people. According to the United Nations Security Council, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah "participates in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" in conjunction with groups like the IS and al-Qaida. The group was established in 2015 as an umbrella organization for over two dozen Indonesian extremist groups that pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Indonesias Constitution is based on the doctrine of Pancasila five principles upholding the nations belief in the one and only God and social justice, humanity, unity and democracy for all. However, many extremist groups in Indonesia, including the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, oppose Pancasila. Indonesia, where Christians form about 10% of the population, is ranked No. 47 on Open Doors USAs World Watch List of countries where Christians face the greatest levels of persecution. Open Doors Lists Top 10 Persecutors of Christians Worldwide Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment Over 215 million believers are persecuted with intimidation, prison, and even death for their faith in Jesus Christ across the world, Open Doors USA says in a report, listing the top 10 persecutors of Christians. The report, released this week, notes that hostility against Christians is particularly intense in some areas "due to the focused efforts of either one person or a larger system bent on smashing or squeezing out Christians in the region." Half of the top 10 human rights offenders toward Christians are Islamist terror groups, including the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh. The brutal and targeted attacks from ISIS have driven many Christians to flee countries like Iraq, where Christianity has had a presence for nearly 2,000 years, the report says. "Ten years ago, there were nearly 1 million Christians living in Iraq, with a large majority of the population living in Mosul. Today, ISIS has been driven out of Iraq and Syria for the most part, but now they are spreading to Southeast Asia. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the current leader of ISIS in western Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan," it notes. While Islamic State was listed as No. 1, the list is not comprehensive or in particular order, the ministry notes. The second persecutor of Christians listed is the al-Qaeda terror group, which has not been in news much but "has continued to fight in countries throughout the Middle East, often marking Christian communities as specific targets." The report mentions particularly Yemen, where Christian converts from Islam are particularly at risk as they are already treated as outcasts by their own communities. "As Al-Qaeda takes advantage of distracted governments, Christians in their path experience intense persecution. Ayman al-Zawahiri, is the current leader of Al-Qaeda." Third on the list is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met with President Donald Trump at a summit in Singapore earlier this month for an agreement on denuclearization. North Korea continues to be the most hostile place in the world to be a Christian. According to Open Doors, anywhere from 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are suffering in labor camps in that country. In 2016, a report by the U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide revealed the gruesome methods the communist government in North Korea has used to torture and kill Christians. "Documented incidents against Christians include being hung on a cross over a fire, crushed under a steamroller, herded off bridges and trampled underfoot. A policy of guilt by association applies, meaning that the relatives of Christians are also detained regardless of whether they share the Christian belief." Hindu nationalists, "whose mission is to make India a complete Hindu nation by 2021," are also listed as a top persecutor of Christians. "The far-right Hindu nationalist movement" seeks to wipe out any religious expression, including Christianity, that falls outside of the Hindu faith, the report says. It mentions the Hindu nationalist association Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, which "has created a culture war and made it very dangerous and difficult for many Christians living in the region who are often forced out of villages, beaten and arrested for believing in Jesus." The governing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in India is seen as the political wing of the RSS. Fifth on the list is the al-Shabaab terror group, which is "in many ways the Eastern African version of al-Qaeda." "Al-Shabaab has terrorized the country of Somalia for the past decade and is recently focusing its attacks on the neighboring country of Kenya. In 2015, a Kenya college campus faced an attack where Christian students were specifically targeted, killing 148 in total. Any place al-Shabaab controls operates under Sharia law, which includes the slaughtering of anyone who identifies as Christian." Another top persecutor is the Boko Haram terror group in Nigeria, "whose belief is that any sort of Western influence is heresy, especially Christianity." "Boko Haram has conducted raids, bombings and assassinations against any target it deems Western, especially churches and schools. They have taken out contracts on influential Christian leaders and are also at war with the Nigerian government," says the ministry. Next on the list are Muslim Fulani herdsmen in northeastern Nigeria, who have been accused of aligning with Boko Haram. The 2017 Global Terrorism Index described the herdsmen, who attack Christians regularly in southern Adamawa, as terrorists in 2014. According to the index, the Fulani are responsible for as many as 60,000 deaths since 2001. This week, Nigerian Christian leaders warned that if the current rate of massacres continue, with hundreds of believers being killed each month, Africa's most-populous nation is on the brink of decimating its Christian population by 2043. Open Doors further identified as a top persecutor radical Islam, which continues to spread, "aiming to bring many parts of the world under Sharia Law." "The movement, which often results in Islamic militancy and persecution of Christians," is expanding in Asia, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and in African countries like Egypt, Nigeria and Somalia. Also making the list are drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico. "On top of the danger that these groups bring to ordinary citizens, Christians are specifically targeted," the report says. "A soul won for Jesus is a soul lost for them," it quotes a pastor from Colombia as saying. "They know that too." "For this reason, Christian evangelists are particularly targeted. Drug cartel leaders know that they are the greatest threat to their way of life." Rounding out the top 10 on the Open Doors list is "the ultimate enemy," or Satan. "It's easy to read this list and feel hopeless in the face of so much evil. However, in Ephesians 6 we're told our war isn't a physical war, it's a spiritual one. Behind all of the atrocities listed above is Satan, who prowls this world as a roaring lion," the ministry explains. "We are also told that God's kingdom is forcefully advancing, and that in the end, Satan is overthrown and all things are made new." Open Doors said it published the list because "Jesus commanded us, directly, to pray for our enemies." "Pray that God would stop their actions, change their hearts and shine the brilliant light of the gospel onto their path." The latest moral outrage from California Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment With so much happening in the news every day, from the congressional hearings on our withdrawal from Afghanistan to the budget crisis and more, its easy to overlook some of the truly horrendous things taking place in our nation. But what Californias Governor Newsom recently signed into law cannot be overlooked. It is nothing less than a frontal assault on parental rights, also hurting the very children it claims to protect. Although there were two controversial bills Gov. Newsom signed last week, well focus here on AB 1184. As reported by California Family Council, this bill prohibits insurance companies from revealing to the policyholder the sensitive services of anyone on their policy, including minor children, even though the policy owner is financially responsible for the services. These sensitive services include abortions, sexual assault treatment, drug abuse and mental health treatment, cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and sex-change operations. In California, minors can consent to all of these sensitive treatments, except for sex-change surgeries, after the age of 12 under certain conditions, and consent to abortions at any age. Perhaps you want to read that again? Not a word is exaggerated or misreported. This is exactly what this bill entails. Yet for Newsom and other California leftists, this is a cause for celebration. Talk about turning the world upside down. Talk about calling good evil and evil good. Talk about undermining families. But lets not think in abstract terms. Lets be concrete and specific. Not only can your 13-year-old child make radical, life-altering decisions, such as having an abortion, without your knowledge or consent. That would be bad enough. But your child can use your family insurance policy to pay for that abortion, and when your insurance statement comes, there will be no explanation of services. In fact, your insurance provider will be prohibited from disclosing to you what your own child has done and what your policy has covered. And this is now the law in California. Should we feel anything less than outrage? And who gave the government such intrusive, potentially destructive powers? Your minor child can actually choose to get treated with cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers, drugs which can have disastrous lifelong consequences, without possibly being able to understand the implications of what theyre doing, and by law, you cannot find out about it. Your child doesnt have to tell you. The doctors dont have to tell you. And your insurers dont have to tell you. To say it again, this is an absolutely indefensible outrage. Listen to the words of Grace Lidinsky-Smith, writing in Newsweek June 25. In my early 20s, she says, I became depressed and gender dysphoric after years of obsessing over identity issues. Finally, I thought I saw my route forward: the total transformation of medical transition, to live as a man. And note carefully: she was in her early 20s when she made these fateful decisions, not a teenager, let alone a 12-year-old. She continues, I had the most supportive possible environment for transitioning: easy access to hormones, an affirming community and insurance coverage. What I didn't have was a therapist who could help me scrutinize the underlying issues I had before I undertook serious medical decisions. Instead, I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and given the green light to start transition by my doctor on the first visit. Stories like this are all too common these days, leading to a growing number of detransitioners and a growing pushback against the rush to transition young people. Lidinsky-Smith then describes the process: I started my transformation with cross-sex hormones injections. Four months later, I had my breasts removed in the masculinizing surgical procedure known as top surgery. The day I got my first testosterone shot, I wept with joy. I thought I had discovered my path to self-actualization as a transgender man. One year later, I would be curled in my bed, clutching my double-mastectomy scars and sobbing with regret. And, she says candidly, I wondered desperately how I could have been so wrong about something so important. I knew people who were very happy with their changes. But it all went wrong for me. My gender dysphoria, which I had taken as proof that I was truly meant to live as male, turned out to stem from other mental health issues. My change had been a brutal mistake, and I would have to live with the consequencesnumb scars, no breasts, a deepened voicefor the rest of my life. Tragically, she is now one of many young women with similar stories. (Many young men have their horror stories too.) Yet now, in California, she could have embarked on this self-destructive journey as a young minor, starting with puberty blockers and/or cross-sex hormones, completely cutting her parents out of the process, with the law on her side. And when her parents began to wonder what was happening to their daughter, there was no way they could find out by law. And if she decided to have her breasts irreversibly removed at the age of 19, California, with the help of your own insurance company, would have her covered. Parents, you could be in for a very big surprise one day! And lets not forget about other sensitive services, such as sexual assault treatment, drug abuse and mental health treatment. Here, too, it is utterly outrageous for parents to be locked out of such critical situations, yet it is now the law, and Gov. Newsom and his colleagues are celebrating. I urge every parent in California to get as involved in their childrens lives as you possibly can. I mean this in the most positive, helpful, and healthy ways, not in oppressive and overbearing ways. I encourage you to cultivate honesty and transparency. To make your kids feel safer with you than with any of their peers or other elders. And to work tirelessly until this legislation is overthrown. The light can still drive out the darkness. Democrats' $3.5T spending bill creates 'harmful penalties for marriage,' Republicans argue Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment 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 Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment 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." Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment When announcing his nationwide vaccine mandate, President Joe Biden declared, This is not about freedom. But for Americans who live outside the Beltway, it is absolutely about freedom, because America is about freedom. Yes, the coronavirus is still with us. Yes, it is still potentially dangerous, particularly to vulnerable Americans. But the need long since has passed for extraordinary measures such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and other restrictions on American liberty. In a country with competent leaders, all such measuresmost especially the forced vaccinations for COVID-19 recently ordered by Bidenwould be repealed, and Americans would be allowed to return to their normal lives. Aggressive measures made sense in early 2020, when I served as chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Back then, scientists understood precious little about the virus and hospitals were rightly concerned about the possibility of running out of bed space for COVID-19 patients. But 18 months later, we have three safe and effective vaccines thanks to the Trump-Pence administrations Operation Warp Speed, and over 77% of American adults are at least partially vaccinated. I chose to get vaccinated, and so did my family. But thats a choice that every American should be free to make for themselves. The good news is, today we know a great deal about the coronavirus and the threator lack thereofthat it poses to American citizens. Most importantly, we know that the virus does not affect populations equally, which is why one-size-fits-all mandates make absolutely no sense. For example, young, healthy people with no preexisting conditions typically experience only mild symptoms from the virus. In fact, nearly 98% of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States have occurred in those over 40. Meanwhile, people who are obese or overweight face a much higher risk of severe symptoms and hospitalization. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 80% of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 were overweight or obese. Yet, in his sweeping vaccine mandate on 80 million Americans, Biden and his public health bureaucrats make no distinction between groups based on age, overall health, or any other known risk factors. Nor do they consider the 1 in 3 Americans who already have contracted and recovered from the virus, and thus have developed natural immunity which multiple studies have shown is far more effective and longer-lasting than the immunity achieved by vaccination. Why should those who are naturally immune be penalized for refusing a vaccine that, for them, is probably medically unnecessary? Likewise, thousands of American military personnel face a less-than-honorable discharge if they choose not to get vaccinated under Bidens order. Our troops mostly are young and in excellent physical condition, and thus have weathered the pandemic better than almost any other group of human beings on the planet. We have experienced just 26 known deaths out of more than 200,000 coronavirus cases in the U.S. armed forces. Why exactly does Biden want to fire thousands of our nations finest patriots simply for refusing a shot that all evidence suggests most of them do not need? The presidents absurd, unscientific, unnecessary, and unlawful vaccine mandate is now being echoed by left-wing politicians across the nation. In New York, after announcing that God wants people to get vaccinated, the new Democrat governor began firing nurses and health care workers who declined the vaccine. In what world does it make sense to fire nurses in the name of public health? Likewise, the Biden administration is threatening to fire thousands of unvaccinated Border Patrol agents. On the other hand, the record number of illegal aliens streaming across the border are exempt from the tyrannical rules American citizens are forced to live under. In fact, the Biden administration knowingly has released thousands of COVID-19-positive illegal immigrants into American communities. The president and other liberal politicians continue to move the goalposts every time someone has the audacity to ask when we can have our liberty back. If Americans distrust the administration, its because of statements such as this by Dr. Anthony Fauci: When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75%, he said. Then, when newer surveys said 60% or more would take it, I thought, I can nudge this up a bit, so I went to 80, 85. If Biden and Democrats have their way, the pandemic-induced panic will never end. The coronavirus has given the radical left the perfect opportunity to create the utopia they have dreamed about for ages: a world of absolute conformity, where all dissenting opinions and the people who hold them are ostracized from polite society. For the radical left, this is not even about the virus, or about public health. Its about power, control, and forcing the American people to submit. But the American people never have submitted to tyranny, and never will. Vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans, Republicans, and Democrats, young and old, should stand together against Bidens unlawful mandate and state-sponsored discrimination against those who choose to make their own health care decisions. When Americans speak with one voice and demand the restoration of liberty, then and only then will the pandemic panic truly be over. Originally published at The Daily Signal. Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment In a recent article for the leftist Religion News Service, Mark Silk, professor of religion in public life at Trinity College and contributing editor of RNS, advocates the use of "they" for God. His proposal comes at the junction of the efforts to change the general usage of the English language and the push to neuter specific language about Godboth agendas driven by the sexual revolution. The article shows the usual progressive rejection of Gods authority in favor of our own ideologies. Masculine language for God, even the title Father, is deeply problematic for liberals (whether ostensibly Christian or, like Silk, Jewish). On the contrary, for orthodox Christians, it is a title of adoration and of wonder when we reflect that in Jesus Christ, God the Father reaches down and offers to become our Father. Silks modest proposal is part of a movement destructive to spiritual life and defiant towards God Almighty. As Albert Mohler Jr. observes in his reflections on Silks article, It is a denial of God to refuse to use his name, the name that hes revealed to us. But what I find particularly striking is how Silks proposal fails even on its own terms. Within the narcissistic and absurd world of "preferred pronouns," the whole point is that the pronouns are the ones preferred by the person to whom they refer. Its all about self-identification, self-designation, the doctrine that my identity is either determined by me or known only to me, and in any case unknown to you until I reveal it; and, when I reveal it to you, there can be no appeal to objective factors between us, and certainly not to your opinions, in defiance of my revealed identity. So it cuts directly against the whole idea of "preferred pronouns" to say our preferred pronoun for God should be this or that. At the same time, it has a certain consistency with the underlying agenda, in elevating man above God: just as they refuse to let God tell them who they are, likewise they refuse to let God tell them who He is. Everyone gets to designate their preferred pronouns except God. Humans are entrusted to define their own identity, and their revelation is to be received without question, but Gods revelation of Himself (and of ourselves) is to be rejected in favor of our preferences. This underlines the whole inversion of reality that sin attempts to bring about. We try to take the place of God, and by our language to reorder the world according to our designs. Instead of acknowledging with wonder that we are made in the image of Godmale and female (Gen. 1:27)we not only try to define ourselves but to define God in the image of our own imaginings. But there is something very important to notice here, a word of invincible hope against the darkness. Sin can only attempt to invert reality. Our words are descriptive and communicative, not ultimately creative. Our lies have the capacity to change perceptions, to obscure reality. But our lies cannot truly and fundamentally reorder creation. By contrast, Gods Word is powerful. Gods Word is creative. God speaks, and things come into being. The final failure of the liberal theological project has always been a foregone conclusion and is assured by the simple fact that we are not God. The Lord alone is God. God has spoken, and the glory of true theology is that by humble attention to Gods Word we can know Him as He truly is, find our identity in Him, and delight in His majesty as His redeemed people. The way forward is through humble submission to the Lordship of Christ. We must let God tell us not only who He is, but who we are. Our speech should reflect the truth about God and His world, and resist the deceitful spirit of the age. But even more, our knowledge of God can be personal and transformative. Turning to Christ in faith, we can know not only who we are, but who we are to be. Found in Christ, we can know God the Father as our Father. Christian boy severely injured in acid attack dies after 46 days in hospital Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment A 16-year-old Christian boy from Indias Bihar state, who suffered burns to 65% of his body in an acid attack by suspected Hindu nationalists last month, succumbed to his wounds in the hospital this week. Nitish Kumar died at Apollo Hospital in Patna city on Sunday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern reported Friday. The doctors have tried every possible way to revive Nitish, a local pastor, who helped the family, was quoted as saying. Every alternative day, the doctors gave one unit of blood and had regular dressing changed on almost the entire body. We hoped that he would bounce back to life, but we know God has His way and time. After Nitish Kumar was attacked, the family said Hindu nationalists were behind it because the boy was a leader in a local church and the area they live in had anti-Christian sentiments. The boy was attacked with acid after he left his house in a village to go to the market in the early morning on Aug. 11. Drenched, Nitish Kumar initially thought they had mischievously thrown water on him, the victim was quoted as saying. But soon, my skin began to burn. The burning sensation increased with every passing second. I dropped the basket and ran toward my house [820 yards away] screaming and howling. The attackers' motorbike did not stop, and in his pain he couldnt see its license plate, he added. The acid burned 65% of his body, with 15% being deep burns, Sushma Sharma, a hospital volunteer treating the teen's wounds, was quoted as saying. The victims 17-year-old brother, Sanjeet Kumar, previously said: A month before the attack, some extremists spread word in the village that they would expel all the people who follow the Christian faith from the village. We also heard about it, but it did not deter us from our faith. And suddenly this attack took place. In December, Hindu extremists blocked the roads going to Sunday services and questioned Christians, he said. They would question everybody as to why do they go for prayer. They used to ask us if we had been given money or other allurement to attend the meetings or were we forced to do so. So all of us clarified that nobody asks us to come to church. We all go to church of our own will, and we go there for the Lord. The family, which regularly holds Christian gatherings in their home, converted to Christianity two years ago after being delivered from an evil spirit, and the victim and his brother were active in the church and participated in daily prayer gatherings. Christians make up about 2.5% of Indias population, while Hindus comprise 79.5%. India ranks as the 10th worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA's 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the U.S. State Department to label India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations. Open Doors USA warns that since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased. The group reports that Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences. Over 2K sign petition demanding release of pastor imprisoned by Cubas communist regime Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment More than 2,000 people have signed a petition demanding the release of a Protestant pastor who's been imprisoned by Cuba's communist regime without trial for participating in peaceful protests that emerged across the country in July. The U.K.-based Christian group Christian Solidarity Worldwide submitted the petition with 2,070 signatures to Cuban Ambassador Barbara Montalvo Alvarez at the country's embassy in London on Thursday. The petition calls for the release of Pastor Rosales Fajardo, who has been detained without trial for over two months following the protests on July 11, which were said to be the largest in decades amid ongoing shortages of medicine and food during the COVID-19 pandemic. State Security officers arrested Fajardo in Palma Soriano. Later, they transferred him to the Boniato Maximum Security Prison outside the city of Santiago de Cuba in August. Hours after the protests erupted, President Diaz-Canel addressed the nation on national television, urging government supporters to confront the protesters on the streets. He also accused the U.S. of causing the crisis in Cuba by imposing sanctions. Fajardo, a pastor for 20 years who leads the Monte de Sion church, faces charges including disrespect and public disorder, punishable with an imprisonment between three and 20 years and has been held incommunicado for most of his detention. CSW continues to stand with the family of Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo as they wait for this husband and father to be returned home, CSWs head of advocacy Anna-Lee Stangl said, saying her group hopes the petition will send an important message to the Cuban authorities that the world is watching them and that their treatment of Pastor Rosales Fajardo is wholly unacceptable. Prison authorities havent allowed even his wife, Maridilegnis Carballo, to visit him. He can speak to his family only on a few three-minute phone calls, according to the CSW. Authorities have warned Carballo that their 17-year-old son, who was arrested with his father but later released, will face repercussions if she continues to speak out about her husbands plight. She has also been threatened with imprisonment herself for speaking to international human rights organizations about her husbands unjust detention, the group added. Fajardo has a history of enduring persecution from the communist regime. In 2012, for example, the government confiscated the pastors church property. The pastor has now spent over two months in prison in horrible conditions simply for participating in peaceful protests, CSWs head of campaigns, Dave Mance, said in a previous statement. According to the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, about 59% of Cubans are Christian. Cuban Christians face constant government surveillance and infiltration even though the faith is growing in the island country. The Cuban government amended its Constitution in 1992, declaring it a secular state, instead of an atheist state, partially allowing religious activities. Since then, the percentage of the country's population that identifies as Christian has grown. However, the communist regime of Cuba continues to persecute Christians. A new constitution was adopted in 2019, which also lists the country as a secular state. Cuba has been a one-party state under the Communist Party of Cuba since the late dictator Fidel Castro overthrew the United States-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. In 2008, Castros brother, Raul Castro, was elected president, followed by Miguel Diaz-Canel in 2019. Todd Kirkland | Getty Images Mark Cuban, a billionaire who owns the Dallas Mavericks and is known for his role on Shark Tank, spoke out against Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Monday, criticizing her messaging about wealthy Americans. During an appearance on Fox Business Network, he said, I dont think Elizabeth Warren knows at all what shes talking about when she deals with this. I think she just likes to demonize people that are wealthy and thats fine. Click here to read the full article. A missive arrived Monday from the outer reaches of the Trump Expanded Universe heralding the formation of Make America Great Again, Again!, a new political action committee approved by former President Trump. In reality, MAGAA is simply a rebrand for MAGA Action, the super PAC helmed by former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski until he was jettisoned from Trumps orbit last week after a donor accused him of sexual harassment. This particular universe is used to such scandal-based reshuffling. Another tidbit from reality: Trump very much seems like he is running for president in 2024, which according to campaign finance law should prohibit him from coordinating with super PACs like MAGAA, or his leadership PAC Save America, which together brought in north of $80 million in the first half of this year. Trump is able to coordinate with those PACs, though and use their money to finance his travel, his campaign-style rallies, his God knows what else because he hasnt yet officially declared his candidacy. The former president is then, in essence, running what appears to be a shadow campaign designed to skirt campaign finance regulations while holding the still-distant race for the Republican nomination hostage. In other words, Trump is back in the spotlight, and back to his old tricks. Hes in this unique situation where he is trying to exert influence in the political arena, trying to raise money in advance for a race, and trying to freeze out other candidates more than three years out, says Noah Bookbinder, president of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Hes trying to get all those benefits of being in the race while also getting the benefits of not being in the race, and you could certainly imagine that he will try for the next year-plus to have his cake and eat it, too. The Washington Post on Monday pulled back the curtain on this early wink-and-nod campaign strategy Trumps advisers convinced him to adopt after he raised the prospect of declaring his candidacy following the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He was told it would be best to hold off announcing because, A) He doesnt want his candidacy blamed for a poor Republican showing in the 2022 midterms, and B) All of the aforementioned financial activity that could help Trump both personally and presidentially in ways that might not be possible or would at least be more difficult were he to declare himself a candidate. Trump agreed, and it appears he will continue to say hes running for president without actually saying hes running for president (and in some cases, actually saying it). The Post reported that of 13 current and former advisers surveyed, 10 said they believed he will run in 2024, and that Trump has been regularly telling people, Im running, another, uhh, pretty solid indication that hes planning to run. So is the fact that Rolling Stone reported in July that Trump had spent the spring telling his friends he was running. So is the fact that Save America PAC is hiring people with ties to Iowa. So is the fact that Trump is holding campaign-style rallies again, including one this Saturday in you guessed it Iowa. So is the fact that late last month he said only a bad call from a doctor would keep him from running. So is the fact that a few weeks earlier he explicitly told Fox News that he cant announce anything because campaign finance laws are extremely complicated and unbelievably stupid, adding only that people are going to be happy. As long as Trump doesnt explicitly announce hes running for president, he can essentially raise as much money as he wants from whomever he wants, and spend it unfettered by the restrictions or transparency requirements imposed upon actual candidates. Right now hes just a citizen, a pre-declared person, says Nick Penniman, CEO of the political reform group Issue One. He is a free agent. He can do whatever he wants in the same way that any CEO could, or a minister, or whoever. He can show up for whatever he wants without stumbling across any kind of campaign finance laws. Its worth mentioning that what Trump is doing here is nothing new. Penniman notes how Jeb Bush raised tens of millions of dollars for an allied super PAC before officially declaring his candidacy in 2015. Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, cites how Marco Rubio went on a book tour through early primary states before declaring his candidacy the same year. The problem is the lack of contribution limits and the lack of a ban on corporate and union money, Holman says of the financial leeway potential candidates have before they declare. They can accept unlimited funds for their super PACs or any electioneering nonprofit group that theyve set up. They can accept corporate money to fly out on a book tour thats really nothing more than a campaign rally. The way to look at the super PAC is as a giant slush fund for Trump to do whatever he wants with, adds Fred Wertheimer of the reform nonprofit Democracy 21, who points to Trumps own efforts to collect donations from foreign individuals in 2016 as an example of how easy it is to violate campaign finance law with little to no consequences. Unlimited secret money is the most dangerous money in American politics. The ability to skirt campaign finance law, which holds even that those testing the waters of a run for office subject themselves to restrictions, was enabled largely by the man to whom much of democracys degradation can be traced: Mitch McConnell. The Senate minority leader has fought campaign finance reform for years. His biggest blow came in 2008, when he was able to turn the Federal Election Commission against itself by installing Don McGahn as a commissioner. McConnell realized that he couldnt convince Congress to repeal campaign finance laws, and he certainly couldnt get the public to support repealing the campaign finance laws, but what he could do was appoint people to the Federal Election Commission who dont believe in the campaign finance laws, Holman explains. McGahn, who would later serve as the White House lawyer under Trump, sabotaged the commission from the inside by rallying his fellow Republican commissioners to oppose anything resembling real regulation. This paved the way for pre-campaign financial free-for-alls. Bush, Rubio, and others were happy to take advantage of an FEC that wasnt able to enforce its own laws, but there are few entities in the history of humankind who are more keen to exploit lax financial oversight than Donald Trump. Its unclear exactly if and to what extent Trump will use this potential pre-campaign campaign to enrich himself personally. It might not differ too much from how he enriched himself when he was a declared candidate, or when he was a sitting president. He has at every step found ways to funnel money into his own pockets, toeing the line of whats legal and bulldozing past any ethical considerations. The lack of contribution restrictions, disclosure requirements, and oversight that access to PACs affords him certainly figures to at least make it easier, though. The opportunity for self-dealing with leadership PACs is really extraordinary, Penniman says. [They] are pretty much used for lifestyle. If, for instance, Trump were to hold some kind of an event at Mar-a-Lago, he could reimburse that event out of his leadership PAC. This could very well end up just being a way for him to inject money into Trump, Inc. The landscape may also be ripe for Trump to cash in because of the nations collective inability to accept that despite losing in 2020, he is very much poised to reclaim his place at the forefront of American politics. I think both politicians and people are sort of relying on a belief that Donald Trump is gone from the political scene and is not going to run again, and so accountability and dwelling on the abuses of the Trump era is not necessary, Bookbinder says. Republicans can support his election claims and say that its not that serious because hes gone. So there are all these kinds of things happening based on this false idea that hes gone off the landscape. His burgeoning shadow campaign, complete with media appearances and rallies and public displays of dominance over his competitors, is the loudest siren yet that Trump is very much not gone, and neither is his unfathomably brazen corruption. All of that crossing of lines between politics, business, and public life is going to come roaring back like acne, says Penniman. All this stuff that we just cringed at is just going to be happening again. Click here to read the full article. Since the 1980s, the number of people in urban areas exposed to extreme heat events has skyrocketed, tripling between 1983 and 2016. Scientists warned in a new study published Monday that urban population growth paired with warmer temperatures due to climate change have contributed to increasing numbers of people experiencing extreme heat, the number one weather-related cause of death in the U.S. The researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the problem of urban heat is even worse than we thought because earlier studies underestimated extreme heat exposure, particularly in areas experiencing rapid population growth. Using thermal infrared satellite data combined with daily temperature measurements on the ground, the researchers identified extreme heat events meaning a wet-bulb temperature of 86 degrees Fahrenheit or more in 13,115 cities around the world. The scientists then counted person-days of heat, meaning the number of days of extreme heat multiplied by the number of people in cities who experienced it. While 1983 saw 40 billion person-days of heat per year, 2016 had 119 billion, a 200 percent increase. The researchers also found that in 2016, 1.7 billion people, making up 23 percent of the global population, had seen higher levels of urban heat exposure that year. They attributed one-third of the increase in heat exposure to increased temperatures caused by climate change, but most of the growth is because more people are moving to urban areas. Heat in cities is particularly dangerous because of the heat island effect, where pavement, buildings, and other infrastructure absorb and emit heat from the sun. Lack of greenery in cities contributes to this effect. In the wake of a deadly, historic heat wave this summer in the Pacific Northwest, the White House in September launched an all-of-government effort to reduce the number of deaths from extreme heat. Six federal agencies will collaborate to protect workers, children, seniors, and at-risk communities. While there are solutions for urban heat such as building green roofs and planting trees and vegetation the problem of global warming will only continue to get worse unless we take drastic action to cut global carbon emissions that cause rising temperatures. A recent climate report from the United Nations, which the U.N. secretary-general called a code red for humanity, warned that extreme heat events that once happened every 50 years are five times more common at current warming levels. And as warming levels rise, so will the frequency of deadly extreme heat events. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center Houston can help save countless birds from a sudden and violent death all with the flip of a switch. Migratory birds heading south for the winter are becoming disoriented and dying in mass mortality events due to bright city lights, according to BirdCast.coma website dedicated to tracking and providing public information on bird migration. Year after year, migratory patterns are disrupted by light pollution, akin to driving toward someone with their high beams on, only hundreds of feet in the air. The fix is easy, advocates with the National Audubon Society say: If we all turned off non-essential lights at night, birds will migrate more easily. STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) Alan Kalter, the quirky, red-headed announcer for David Letterman for two decades who frequently appeared in the show's comedy bits, has died. He was 78. Kalter died Monday at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut with his wife, Peggy, and their two daughters at his side, said Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El, the synagogue Kalter attended. The cause of death was not announced. Whatever else, we always had the best announcer in television, Letterman said in a statement. "Wonderful voice and eagerness to play a goofy character of himself. Did I mention he could sing? Yes he could. He enthusiastically did it all. A very sad day, but many great memories. Kalter was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 21, 1943. Nicknamed Big Red for his hair, he provided the opening introductions on the Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS from September 1995 until Letterman's last episode on May 20, 2015, having taken the mantle after Bill Wendell's retirement. As Letterman would walk and run onto the stage, Kalter would introduce him with a sarcastic flair as the king of unsocial media, nocturnal rainforest mammal and other monikers. Before Letterman, Kalter was the voice of the Michelin Man and the USA Network and the announcer for Commander USA's Groovie Movies" on the USA Network. He also was the announcer for New York-based game shows, including To Tell the Truth" and The $10,000 Pyramid." Kalter taught high school English on Long Island in the late 1960s before moving into radio broadcasting. He lived in Stamford and was active in Temple Beth El. Beyond his fame and his golden voice, Alan was a past president of TBE and a true mensch, who was deeply committed to Jewish values and the Jewish people and was especially devoted to this, his home community, Hammerman said in a statement. A private funeral will be held at the Stamford synagogue on Wednesday and will be livestreamed. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) The Albuquerque City Council has adopted a resolution that acknowledges ongoing generational trauma caused by U.S. Indigenous boarding school policies and formalizes a commitment to work with Indigenous communities toward reconciliation and healing. Councilors voted in favor of the measure during a meeting on Monday. Mayor Tim Keller is expected to sign the resolution on Indigenous Peoples Day. The city has been researching the history of a public park where students of the former Albuquerque Indian School were believed to have been buried more than a century ago. Ground-penetrating radar will be used to study the site and another meeting was planned later this week to talk about how to keep moving forward. It really is kind of a first step for us as a city to move forward toward healing and also to be inclusive of all of our communities in Albuquerque and to understand some of the pain that people have lived with over the years of not knowing, Council President Cynthia Borrego said during the virtual meeting. Indigenous activists became concerned earlier this year when a plaque memorializing the students from the former school vanished. They established a makeshift memorial of flowers and other offerings and demanded an investigation. Nationally, the U.S. Interior Department is in the middle of its own investigation. The agency announced last week that it would begin tribal consultations as the next step of its review of the boarding school legacy. The feedback will help lay the foundation for future work to protect potential burial sites and other sensitive information. "Tribal consultations are at the core of this long and painful process to address the inter-generational trauma of Indian boarding schools and to shed light on the truth in a way that honors those we have lost and those that continue to suffer trauma, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. In Albuquerque, orange flags have been placed at the city park to signify the importance of the site as more permanent plans are worked out. Orange is the color used to symbolize the movement that is bringing more awareness to the troubled legacy of the boarding school system that sought to assimilate Indigenous youth into white society over many decades. The Albuquerque Indian School was started in 1881 by the Presbyterian Church and came under federal control a few years later. The school closed in the 1980s, and the property was put into trust for New Mexicos 19 pueblos. The buildings eventually were torn down, and a tribal development corporation worked to make it a commercial hub. The park is several blocks away. Only part of it is believed to contain human remains, and city officials said survey work done decades ago during a road construction project are the only maps they have that detail the boundaries of the former school's cemetery. Dawn Begay, the city's tribal affairs coordinator, said during Monday's meeting that research into the site so far has determined that Navajo, Apache and pueblo students plus students from tribes in Arizona were probably buried at the site. She noted that many records were lost over the years and one of the effort's goals is to identify the students and their tribal affiliations. The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the states federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates. In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department said the grant programs are not a permissible use of the federal funding. Its the latest attempt by the Biden administration to push back against Republican governors who have opposed mask mandates and otherwise sought to use federal pandemic funding to advance their own agendas. Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August to put pressure on school districts that have defied the states ban on mask mandates. He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. He also established a $10 million program that offers vouchers to families at public schools that require masks or that tell students to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure. In the letter, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the conditions undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. He asked the state to explain how it will remediate the problem within 30 days. C.J. Karamargin, a spokesperson for Ducey, said it's baffling why anyone would oppose the grant programs. Following the challenges during the 2020 school year, everyones primary focus should be equipping families with the resources to get their kids caught up. Thats exactly what this program does giving families in need the opportunity to access educational resources like tutoring, child care, transportation and more, Karamargin said in a statement. He said the governor's office is reviewing the letter and plans to respond. Arizona is one of at least eight states that have laws or executive orders banning mask requirements in public schools. The Education Department in August opened civil rights investigations into five Republican-led states that forbid mask mandates in schools, saying such actions may violate the rights of students with disabilities. The agency later added Florida to the list of states under investigation. It said it was watching several other states in case it needed to take action, including in Arizona. The Education Department separately promised to repay school districts who have state funding withheld for defying bans on mask requirements. Last month, the agency sent nearly $150,000 to the School Board of Alachua County in Florida after the state withheld pay for school board members because the district requires masks. Education advocates have filed a lawsuit over Arizonas ban and several other state laws that restrict the power of local governments and school districts to impose COVID-19 requirements. Those policies conflict with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends universal mask wearing for students and teachers in the classroom. The CDC issued the guidance in light of the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19. With an increase in demand for COVID-19 vaccine, the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department is requesting those interested in attending a vaccination clinic to schedule an appointment online or call the Michigan COVID-19 hotline at 888-535-6136. We are very pleased with the increased interest in getting vaccinated against the coronavirus either due to the more rapidly spreading Delta variant or to receive a booster or third shot and we are no longer able to accommodate walk-ins at our clinics, said Lisa Peacock, health officer. To assure we have the right balance of staff and vaccines to accommodate our clients, we are asking everyone to schedule a clinic appointment by either visiting our website or calling the Michigan COVID-19 hotline. To schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 clinic that offers Pfizer, Moderna, or the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, visit the health department website at www.bldhd.org or call 888-535-6136 to speak to a worker to answer any questions and schedule an appointment. Questions have been asked regarding the difference between a third dose and a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and how to obtain the additional dose. To clarify the latest recommendations, the health department is providing the following information. Booster dose: a single booster dose, to be administered at least six months after completion of the primary series for individuals that have received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination only. Third dose: an additional dose administered to persons who are immunosuppressed due to underlying medical conditions or immune-suppressing medications. For immunocompromised individuals a third dose of an mRNA vaccine should be given anytime 28 days after completion of their primary series. The third dose is available to individuals that completed their Pfizer or Moderna vaccine series. At this time, no additional or booster doses are recommended for people who received a J&J shot. Vaccination is our most powerful tool. Everyone is welcome at all health department clinics, including residents and nonresidents. All three COVID-19 vaccines are available at every clinic. Minors must be accompanied by a parent/legal guardian. Public health nurses are on-site at these events and able to answer any questions about the vaccines. All clinics require appointments due to an increase in demand for additional doses and boosters. Appointments can be scheduled by visiting bldhd.org. Oct. 5. Suttons Bay Middle School Gymnasium, 310 S. Elm Street, Suttons Bay, MI 49682 Time: 1 - 5 p.m. Vaccine: Moderna, J&J Janssen, and Pfizer (open to 12 or older, parent/guardian must accompany minor) To schedule an appointment visit bldhd.org. Oct. 6. Crystal Cafe, 1681 Benzie Hwy, Benzonia, MI 49616 Time: 1- 5 p.m. Vaccine: Moderna, J&J Janssen, and Pfizer (open to 12 or older, parent/guardian must accompany minor) To schedule an appointment visit bldhd.org. COVID-19 Case Counts The health department is offering free COVID-19 testing with the support of HONU lab. The test is free, and no doctors order is required. Pre-registration is not required, but it is recommended to reduce time spent at the testing clinic, and walk-ins are welcome. Testing is available: On Monday and Thursday, from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. at the Suttons Bay Old Middle School. To register visit honumg.info/OldSuttonsBayMS On Tuesday and Friday, from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. at the Crystal Cafe in Benzonia. To register visit honumg.info/CrystalCafe COVID-19 Case Counts The Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department is reporting the following case information: Oct. 1, 7 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Benzie (3), and Leelanau (4). Oct. 2, 13 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Benzie (6), and Leelanau (7). Oct. 3, 8 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Benzie (5), and Leelanau (3). Oct. 4, 16 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Benzie (7) and Leelanau (9). As of 4 p.m. today, the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department is reporting: Total COVID-19 cases in the following counties: Benzie 1,490, Leelanau 1,537 Active COVID-19 cases in the following counties: Benzie 143, Leelanau 137 Recovered COVID-19 cases in the following counties: Benzie 1,313, Leelanau 1,381 Confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the following counties: Benzie 34, Leelanau 19 Hospitalized: 190 total; 3 currently Visit the COVID-19 Data Dashboard at www.bldhd.org/coronavirus-covid-19 for the latest local information including recovered data and contact tracing. Additional and updated information can be found at www.bldhd.org and Facebook or by calling (231) 882-2197. People with COVID-19 related questions can fill out a quick survey and email questions to hotline@bldhd.org. WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Switzerland as the two countries find themselves at odds on a variety of issues, including Taiwan and trade. The meeting, set for Wednesday in Zurich, comes after the White House on Monday criticized Beijing over several days of sustained military harassment against the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The talks are to be a follow-up on Biden's call with President Xi Jinping last month as the administration continues to seek to responsibly manage the competition between the two countries, White House National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement. The White House this week raised concerns that Beijing was undermining regional peace and stability with its provocative action. In recent days, China has sent dozens of fighter planes toward Taiwan including a record 56 on Monday. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a speech on Monday she plans frank conversations with officials in Beijing about an interim trade deal aimed at resolving a tariff war. Tai said she did not want to inflame trade tensions with China. But her comments suggested that Biden will continue enforcing tough tariffs against China adopted by his predecessor, Donald Trump. The latest incursions occurred after Taiwan applied to join a major regional trade pact. Beijing vehemently opposes efforts by the West that offer Taiwan the appearance of sovereign nation status and has expressed its opposition to the application. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. It refuses to recognize the islands government and has increasingly sought to isolate the independence-leaning administration of President Tsai Ing-wen. Under longstanding policy, the United States provides political and military support for Taiwan, but does not explicitly promise to defend it from a Chinese attack. Asked about the recent surge in provocations by Chinese fighter jets, Biden on Tuesday noted that he has previously spoken to Xi about Taiwan and that his administration intends to abide by the Taiwan agreement. Biden has repeatedly called out China for what the administration sees as Beijing's coercive trade practices, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic that originated from the country's Wuhan province. At the same time, the administration has expressed hope that the two sides can work together on issues of mutual concern including climate change and preventing a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula despite the differences. Administration officials have expressed frustration that interactions with high-level Chinese officials in the early going of the administration have been less than constructive. In June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yang had a tense call, with Beijing saying it told the U.S. to cease interfering in its internal affairs and accusing Washington of politicizing the search for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sullivan and Blinken also had heated exchanges with Yang when they met in March with top Chinese officials in Anchorage. At that meeting, Yang accused the U.S. of failing to deal with its own human rights problems and took issue with what he said was American hypocrisy. The South China Morning Post first reported plans for the meeting between Sullivan and Yang. Sullivan will also travel this week to Brussels and Paris for talks with allies. Associated Press writer Alexandra Jaffe contributed reporting. HOWELL, Mich. (AP) President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats edged closer to agreement Tuesday on how sharply to cut back his ambitious social spending plan, even as the president made a public case that the package will help keep the nation from losing its edge in global competitiveness. Biden went to Michigan to promote the proposal for expanded safety net, health and environmental programs, but after his speech he acknowledged the inevitable as Democrats focus on a now-$2 trillion top-line for the package to win support. I want to make sure that we have a package that everyone can agree on," Biden told reporters. "Its not going to be $3.5 trillion. Its going to be less than that. Were going to get it done. On Capitol Hill, strong signs emerged that Democrats were coalescing around Bidens push for a package in the $2 trillion range, a figure that seemed potentially acceptable to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and other centrists with reservations. With all Republicans opposed, Biden cant spare the support of a single Democratic senator. At the same time, new battle lines are being formed as Democrats decide which of the many programs they want to expand health, education, childcare, climate change will remain in the final proposal or be reduced or left behind. And in a signal of how much still may change before the bill makes it to his desk, Biden later suggested hed sign a bill that includes the so-called Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used for abortions in most cases. Manchin wants it in the final bill, while progressive Democrats oppose it. Id sign it either way, Biden told reporters. In his speech at a union training facility, Biden called opponents of his plan "complicit in America's decline, as he argued his spending plan is critical to Americas global competitiveness. He said he wanted to set some things straight about his agenda and cut through what he dismissed as noise in Washington. Americas still the largest economy in the world, we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world, but were at risk of losing our edge as a nation, he said. The president went on to spell out his plans in greater detail than he has in some time, after spending the past week deep in the details of negotiations on Capitol Hill. He highlighted popular individual parts of the plan, including funding for early childhood education and investments to combat climate change, rather than the expensive topline. And he emphasized that the trillions in spending would be drawn out over a decade and paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Polling suggests that elements in the social spending bill and a related $1 trillion infrastructure bill such as expanded child care opportunities and roads-and-bridges infrastructure projects are popular with large parts of the public. But even some of the White Houses closest allies have worried that the West Wing has not done enough to sell the spending. That brought Biden back on the road Tuesday, hitting the red-leaning district of Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin to sell his policies. These bills are not about left versus right or moderate vs progressive, Biden said. These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. Back in Washington, a more immediate problem was mounting as Senate Republicans are putting up hurdles to raising the nation's debt limit, a routine vote that's needed to allow more borrowing and prevent a devastating credit default. Biden said Democrats are considering changing the chamber's filibuster rules, which would lower the typical 60-vote threshold to 50, to do it. It's a real possibility, Biden told reporters at the White House. Meanwhile, negotiations continued on the pair of bills to boost spending on safety net, health and environmental programs and infrastructure projects. The $3.5 trillion price tag on the social services portion of Biden's agenda has long been the sticking point, with progressives demanding the funding for their priorities and moderates balking at the eye-popping number. But there was growing consensus which Biden has expressed privately to lawmakers, and acknowledged publicly Tuesday that the topline number will eventually shrink. In multiple private meetings, Biden has now floated $2 trillion as a figure for his signature package, including in a call late Monday with progressive House lawmakers, who still advocated for a higher amount, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Next to Biden, the Democrats with the most on the line over the shape and success of his spending plans are House members from swing districts whose reelections are essential if his party is to retain control of Congress. Many of those targeted moderates including Arizona Rep. Tom O'Halleran, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and nine other vulnerable Democrats joined Biden for a virtual meeting Tuesday. He held a similar session the previous day with a dozen progressives. And his Tuesday visit to Slotkin's district, which President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020, was aimed at giving moderates like her cover to support his spending package. While Slotkin backs the smaller, bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has passed the Senate, she prefers passing it in the House before negotiating the broader package of social programs. To be honest, it was hard for me to understand why leadership decided in the first place to tie the two bills together, Slotkin recently told The Detroit News. Thats not how we normally operate. Its not my preference. Washington was gripped with the drama last week as lawmakers grappled with the massive Democrats-only social spending bill that has been linked with the infrastructure bill. Progressives have balked at voting for the infrastructure bill if the other bill shrinks. Yet even as talk of that shrinkage increased, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a leader of the progressives, said Tuesday, Theres a lot of discussion going on, but Im confident at the end of the day its going to be a good agreement." This cannot ultimately be a bill that does 18 new things, but it could do four or five or six big bold new things, said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, an ally of the president. Lawmakers are considering cutting back some programs or limiting others to only people who qualify based on need. Bidens team huddled with the Democratic leaders late Monday at the Capitol as they rush to finish the latest draft in "days, not weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. One senator was moved to compare it all to dancing. The best image I know is a square dance: You come together, but then you go apart; you come together, but then you go apart, said Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, describing his fellow Democrats. Theres a rhythm there, we just got to make sure we stay in rhythm. Thats the challenge. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Householder in Howell, Michigan, and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. VARADERO, Cuba (AP) Little by little, vacationers are returning to one of the Caribbeans most iconic beaches, which has been a nearly abandoned strip of glittering sand and turquoise seas for more than a year. Varadero, the surfside star of Cubas crucial tourism industry, is slowly getting ready for Cubas planned Nov. 15 formal reopening to global visitors. A handful of tourists, largely from Russia or Canada, have strolled across the 22-kilometer (13-mile) swath of sand in recent days, hunting out the scattering of restaurants that have reopened, dawdling over handicrafts at the few stands that have reappeared. Medical personnel scan hotel visitors for signs of fever. Waiters, desk clerks and sellers of trinkets wear doubled masks as they cater to unmasked visitors in bathing suits. Largely empty tour buses run down the main boulevard. At least some of the 60 or so hotels in Varadero remain closed, or pressed into service as quarantine centers. But others are already running. About 100 people were staying at the 386-room Iberostar Selection Varadero on one day last week. Juan Carlos Pujol, Cuba operations manager for the Spanish hotel chain, said the company had taken advantage of the pandemic closure to update restaurants or make adjustments for health measures, such as moving tables further apart or extending the reach of wi-fi to broader open expanses. We are very content and hopeful because now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel and we want to resume operations how and begin to recover what we had always had, he said. The pandemic was a terrible blow to tourism in Cuba, which depends heavily on the industry, especially after a series of ever-tighter embargo measures imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump and that have not been significantly relaxed under his successor, Joe Biden. I've had many months without work, feeling horrible," said Lizet Aguilera, a 55-year-old weaver who recently reopened a souvenir stand that had been closed for 16 months. Even so, she said she worries that she could be infected with COVID-19 while at work and bring it home. When I reach my house, before greeting anybody I take a bath, she said. Another vender, Richard Martin, estimated that only about 50 of the resort's 5,000 artisans so far have returned to sell after months of hardship. It was very difficult, he said. The need, the fear, the scarcity. We have confidence in the vaccine. What remains is to open, to show that it functions. Cuba says it plans to have vaccinated 90% of its eligible population by the end of November taking advantage of its unusually advanced biomedical industry to create the only locally developed COVID-19 vaccines in Latin America. That has allowed officials to plan a gradual reopening to visitors, particularly in Varadero, some 150 kilometers (95 miles) east of Havana. The town itself has only about 6,000 residents, but it provides thousands of jobs for people in nearby Cardenas, Boca de Camarioca and Matanzas and has some 20,000 hotel rooms as well as a number of private residences that host visitors. In 2019, Varadero received about 1.5 million of the 4.3 million tourists who came to Cuba a number that collapsed when the pandemic hit and Cuba largely closed itself off to visitors. The reopening will pose challenges: Cuba's weak economy and U.S. sanctions complicate obtaining products to sell to tourists. A new monetary policy means many services must be paid for using foreign bank cards though none that depend on U.S. banking institutions. Rafe Swan/Getty Images/Cultura RF YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) A man who ran over and killed a 17-year-old girl working in a Lower Valley field on the Yakama reservation pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in U.S. District Court. Joshua Sampsons guilty plea comes after more than two years and five trial postponements, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported. Sampsons initial plea was innocent, but he changed that during a status hearing last week. WALTON, N.Y. (AP) A village police officer fatally shot a 66-year-old man in upstate New York while responding to a mental health call, according to state troopers. Paul J. Weeden was shot at about 3:30 a.m. Monday by an officer at a residence in Walton, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Binghamton. Weeden pointed what appeared to be a gun at the Walton Police Department officer as they spoke, according to state police. NEW YORK (AP) Federal agents raided the offices Tuesday of a New York City police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Long Island home of its bombastic leader, who has clashed with city officials over his incendiary tweets and hard-line tactics. FBI spokesperson Martin Feely said agents were carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation." Agents were seen carrying boxes out of the unions Manhattan headquarters and loading them into a van. The FBI also searched union president Ed Mullins' home in Port Washington, Long Island, Feely said. Mullins resigned as the unions president Tuesday night, according to a message the union's board sent to members. The board said he did so at its urging. The union represents about 13,000 active and retired NYPD sergeants and controls a $264 million retirement fund. The nature and scope of this criminal investigation has yet to be determined. However, it is clear that President Mullins is apparently the target of the federal investigation," the board's message said. "We have no reason to believe that any other member of the SBA is involved or targeted in this matter." The unions board said that while Mullins is presumed innocent, it asked him to step aside to ensure the unions day-to-day operations continue unimpeded. The board said the union was cooperating with the investigation. Messages seeking comment were left with Mullins and the union. Calls to Mullins cellphone went to a full voicemail box. Mullins, a police sergeant detached to full-time union work, is in the middle of department disciplinary proceedings for tweeting NYPD paperwork last year regarding the arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasios daughter during protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. Mullins department trial began last month but was postponed indefinitely after one of his lawyers suffered a medical emergency. Mullins lawyer denies he violated department guidelines, arguing arrest papers with Chiara de Blasios personal identifying information, such as her date of birth and address, were already posted online. Mullins is also suing the department, claiming they were trying to muzzle him by grilling him and recommending disciplinary action over his online missives, which have included claims that officers were at war with city leaders. Responding to Mullins' union resignation, Mayor de Blasio tweeted: Ed Mullins dishonored his uniform, his city and his union more times than I can count. It was just a matter of time before his endless hatred would catch up with him. That day has come. The Sergeants Benevolent Association runs a Widows and Childrens Fund, a scholarship fund for members children, and Blue Christmas, which distributes toys to needy children. Mullins, a police officer since 1982, rose to sergeant, a rank above detective but below captain and lieutenant, in 1993 and was elected president of the sergeants union in 2002. Under Mullins' leadership, the union has fought for better pay with contracts resulting in pay increases of 40% and staked a prominent position in the anti-reform movement. Though he's a full-time union chief, city law has allowed Mullins to retain his sergeant's position and collect salaries from both the union and the police department. Last year, Mullins made more than $220,000 between the two, according to public records: $88,757 from the union and $133,195 from the NYPD. The NYPD referred questions about Mullins to the FBI. Along with Mullins' periodic appearances on cable networks like Fox News and Newsmax including one in which he was pictured in front of a QAnon mug perhaps the unions most powerful megaphone is its 45,000-follower Twitter account, which Mullins runs himself, often to fiery effect. In 2018, amid a rash of incidents in which police officers were doused with water, Mullins suggested it was time for then-Commissioner James ONeill and Chief of Department Terence Monahan to consider another profession and tweeted that OKNEEL must go! ONeill retorted that Mullins was a bit of a keyboard gangster who seldom showed up to department functions. Last year, Mullins came under fire for tweets calling the citys former Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, a b and U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres a first-class whore. Mullins was upset over reports Barbot refused to give face masks to police in the early days of the pandemic and angry with Torres calls for an investigation into a potential police work slowdown in September 2020. Torres, who is gay, denounced Mullins tweet as homophobic. On Tuesday, Torres referenced that tweet in reacting to the news of the raid, writing: Ed Mullins, who famously called me a first-class whore for daring to ask questions about the @SBANYPD, just got a first-class raid from the FBI. In 2019, it wasnt tweets that got Mullins in trouble, but rather comments he made in a radio interview suggesting that slain Barnard College student Tessa Majors had gone to the park where she was killed to buy marijuana. Police later arrested three teens, saying shed been stabbed during an attempted robbery. Majors family called Mullins remarks on the radio show deeply inappropriate victim blaming and urged him not to engage in such irresponsible public speculation. ___ Associated Press reporters Karen Matthews and Tom Hays contributed to this report. Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak GUATEMALA CITY (AP) One of Guatemalas most prominent judges faces the possibility of losing his immunity from legal action in a case that he claims is meant to intimidate the independent judges in a country whose judicial system is widely seen as under attack. Guatemalas Supreme Court on Wednesday was expected to receive an investigator's report on a 2019 traffic confrontation between Judge Pablo Xitumul and a police officer, both of whom accuse the other of abuse of authority. The court could remove the immunity from prosecution granted to judges, opening Xitumul to legal action by people he has sentenced to prison a group that includes numerous powerful figures, including former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and former Vice President Roxana Baldetti. The Supreme Court often decides such cases on the day they are submitted. The judge received threats following an 80-year sentence for genocide he imposed in 2013 on Rios Montt which was later overturned by the country's Constitutional Court.. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the government take measures to protect Xitumul and other judges on Guatemala's High Risk court division. He claims opponents are seizing upon the 2019 traffic incident to send a message to other officials who act against the corrupt and powerful. Police had stopped Xitumuls vehicle in front of his home, saying it seemed suspicious, and told him to get out so they could search it. The judge, who had his family inside the vehicle refused, saying he had done nothing wrong. The disagreement led to to insults and a struggle, in which an officer grabbed Xitumul by the neck. Following the incident, Xitumul reported the officer for abuse of authority and the police reported the judge for the same, and for obstructing an officer. Prosecutors pursued the police claim against Xitumul while seeking to dismiss the judges claim against police. Guatemalas Observatory for Judicial Independence, a watchdog group backed by the international group Impunity Watch, issued a statement Tuesday calling the case against Xitumul malicious. It said the investigative judge whose report the Supreme Court will base its decision on never interviewed Xitumul. The Supreme Court of Justice has the responsibility to protect the independent exercise of the high-impact judges, watching out so they arent victims of spurious persecutions that only seek to undermine the fight against impunity and corruption, the organization said. The case comes at a moment when Guatemalas justice system appears to be under attack from within its own ranks, as well as from other elements of the countrys political and economic elite. Human rights groups and the U.S. government have expressed concern about attempts to interfere with anti-corruption efforts and to place compromised figures on the country's top courts. Guatemala's government in 2019 forced out a U.N.-organized anti-corruption mission that had helped prosecute numerous powerful figures. Since then, prosecutors who had worked with the commission and judges who heard its cases have faced growing pressure. Juan Francisco Sandoval, former head of the Special Prosecutors Office Against Impunity, fled to the United States in July after being removed from his post by the attorney general. He had been investigating corruption allegations involving the president, and like Xitumul, had faced a barrage of complaints filed by those he prosecuted. Xitumul said he believes high-ranking officials including some members of the Supreme Court want to strip his immunity to punish him for going after corruption. Its revenge, Xitumul said, as well as a message for the High-Risk judges for being objective, impartial and independent. Xitumul said that he has been sued more than 30 times. If he loses his immunity, there is a long line of people coming for him. BOISE, Idaho (AP) With Idaho Gov. Brad Little out of the state on Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin issued an executive order involving COVID-19 vaccines. Oh no you don't, said Little, who promised to rescind it in quick order. The maneuvering of Idaho's top leaders came while Little was in Texas meeting with nine other Republican governors over concerns on how President Joe Biden is handling border issues. McGeachin, a far-right Republican, is running for governor. In Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor dont run on the same ticket. McGeachins executive order issued Tuesday afternoon seeks, among other things, to prevent employers from requiring their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. Most mainstream Republicans prefer to stay out of the employee-employer relationship. I am in Texas performing my duties as the duly elected Governor of Idaho, and I have not authorized the Lt. Governor to act on my behalf, Little said in a statement shortly after arriving in Texas on Tuesday. I will be rescinding and reversing any actions taken by the Lt. Governor when I return. Little was expected to be back in the state Wednesday evening. Also on Tuesday, McGeachin was rebuffed by Major General Michael J. Garshak in a query about activating troops and sending them to the U.S.-Mexico border. As of Wednesday, my constitutional authority as Governor affords me the power of activating the Idaho National Guard, McGeachin wrote to Garshak in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. As the Adjutant General, I am requesting information from you on the steps needed for the Governor to activate the National Guard. Garshak replied with one paragraph on Tuesday afternoon. I am unaware of any request for Idaho National Guard assistance under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) from Texas or Arizona, Garshak wrote, in part, to McGeachin. As you are aware, the Idaho National Guard is not a law enforcement agency. Little in June sent a team of Idaho State Police troopers to the border to help with intelligence gathering and investigative work to stop drugs from coming across the border. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona had requested the help under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact that empowers states to help other states in times of disasters or emergencies. On Sept 24, I spoke to my counterpart in Texas, Lt Gov. Dan Patricks office, and they affirmed the need for additional resources in helping the situation on our southern border, McGeachin told Garshak. McGeachin's office on Tuesday didn't respond to a request for comment. Attempting to deploy our National Guard for political grandstanding is an affront to the Idaho constitution and insults the men and women who have dedicated their life to serving our state and the country, Little said in a statement. In May when Little was out of state, she issued an executive order banning mask mandates that Little eliminated when he returned, saying mask mandate decisions were best left to local officials. Little has never issued a mask mandate. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Israel's president arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to honor the victims of the Babi Yar massacre eight decades after one of the most infamous Nazi mass slaughters of World War II. Nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in Babi Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital, when Kyiv was under Nazi occupation in 1941. SS troops carried out the massacre with local collaborators. It is imperative to keep speaking about this horrific event and learn its lessons, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said before arriving for the first state visit of his presidency. The only way to build a present and future in which atrocities and crimes against humanity can find no foothold is to study the past, including the Holocaust and persecution of the Jewish people, Herzog said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after meeting with Herzog, The memory of these victims is sacred for us, for each Ukrainian. Zelenskyy, Herzog and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are set to attend a ceremony Wednesday to remember the victims of the massacre. The three are also scheduled to inaugurate a memorial center, still under construction, dedicated to the stories of Eastern European Jews who were killed and buried in mass graves during the Holocaust. Of the 2.5 million Jews, 1.5 million died in Ukraine alone. Speaking Tuesday at a conference in Kyiv about the Babi Yar massacre, Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israels national Holocaust memorial, noted the importance of an uncompromising look and complete acceptance of all the painful facts of the past for Ukraine. It is extremely important to memorialize the Jewish victims of the Nazis, he said. "Nevertheless, it is also necessary to recognize and teach about the role of local collaborators in Babi Yar as well as in other places during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem marked the anniversary of the massacre by uploading a new online exhibit featuring photographs of Jews murdered in Babi Yar, which the World Holocaust Remembrance Center has collected over the years. This moving exhibit serves as an eternal remembrance and silent testimony to the persecution of the Jewish people, and specifically the Jewish community of Ukraine, Dayan said. During the fateful massacre between 29-30 September 1941, 33,771 Jews were brutally murdered, whole families destroyed in matter of hours or days, sometimes four generations, at Babi Yar. In many instances, these images are all that remain to remember their very existence. KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A Kansas City, Kansas, man has been charged with murder and domestic battery in the shooting death of his older brother. Ricky Salazar, 34, was arrested last week and charged with second-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Ricardo Salazar, according to police in Kansas City, Kansas. He also faces separate charges of aggravated robbery, being a criminal in possession of a weapon and cocaine possession, police said. On Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, District IV Councilmember Alberto Torres Jr. was a guest at the swearing-in ceremony of Samuel Garcia Sepulveda, the incoming governor of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, as he initiates his 2021-27 term. During the ceremony held at the Teatro de la Ciudad in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Torres witnessed the commitment Gov. Garcia expressed to his community with a proposal for all to unite in the new beginning for the entity. Additionally, during his gubernatorial address, Garcia made clear his intentions of working closely with the state of Texas, for the betterment of both states. Torres joined dignitaries, governors and senators of Mexico, as well as Mayor Javier Villalobos of McAllen, Texas, and Mayor Sergio Coronado of Hidalgo, Texas at the ceremony. Garcia has made his commitment to strengthening the Laredo and Nuevo Leon relations a priority because of the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge. Garcia visited the City of Laredo recently, making it his first international visit to make clear the priority he is giving Nuevo Leon and Texas infrastructure and economic development projects, such as La Gloria Road. Through the leadership of Torres, Garcia will have an official government office within the City of Laredo to facilitate international relations and economic development, becoming the first Republic of Mexico Governor to enter into such a partnership with the City of Laredo. Garcia will also establish international offices in Austin as well as California. Most recently, the Nuevo Leon government has vaccinated thousands of Nuevo Leon citizens by transporting them to the U.S.-Mexico border. Laredo is fortunately geographically situated to share the border with two Mexican states, Nuevo Leon being one of them, Torres said. Nuevo Leon is ready to work with Texas and the City of Laredo to strengthen the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge so that Laredo can remain as the No. 1 inland port along the US-Mexico border. The City of Laredo and members of council congratulate Garcia and reiterate their continued support for all projects that will benefit both of our communities, including economic development, trade and pro-health initiatives, among others. PARIS (AP) Victims of abuse within Frances Catholic Church welcomed a historic turning point Tuesday after a new report estimated that 330,000 children in France were sexually abused over the past 70 years, providing the country's first accounting of the worldwide phenomenon. The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and an unknown number of other people involved in the church wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a systemic manner, according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauve. The 2,500-page document was issued as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up. Victims welcomed the report as long overdue and the head of the French bishops conference asked for their forgiveness. The report said the tally of 330,000 victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, and the rest by church figures such as scout leaders or camp counselors. The estimates are based on a broader research by Frances National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of children in the country. The studys authors estimate 80% of the church's victims were boys, while the broader study of sexual abuse found that 75% of the overall victims were girls. The independent commission urged the church to take strong action, denouncing its faults and silence." It also called on the Catholic Church to help compensate the victims, notably in cases that are too old to prosecute via French courts. We consider the church has a debt towards victims, Sauve said. Francois Devaux, head of the victims group La Parole Liberee (The Liberated Word), said it was a turning point in our history. He denounced the coverups that permitted mass crimes for decades. But even worse, there was a betrayal: betrayal of trust, betrayal of morality, betrayal of children, betrayal of innocence, he added. Martine, 73, and Mireille, 71, were sexually assaulted by a priest when they were teenage girls in high school. They both declined to give their last name due to privacy reasons, in part because some family members were not aware of the abuses. It brings on such terrible thoughts," Martine said. For me, personally, I had to wait for my parents to die because otherwise she said it was not possible to speak out. I think that each victim experienced it as if they were the only one (victim), and thats part of this phenomenon involving control and secrecy," Mireille said. We are in a condition of submission ... in a mental captivity. So, we follow this person who suddenly takes power over us ... We are caught in a spider web. A recognition of the fault is essential, she said, and financial compensation is really symbolic ... it won't fix things but it means it will also cost them something." Olivier Savignac, the head of victims association Parler et Revivre (Speak Out and Live Again), contributed to the investigation. He told The Associated Press that the high ratio of victims per abuser was particularly terrifying for French society, for the Catholic Church. Savignac assailed the church for treating such cases as individual anomalies instead of as a collective horror. He described being abused at age 13 by the director of a Catholic vacation camp in the south of France who was accused of assaulting several other boys. I perceived this priest as someone who was good, a caring person who would not harm me, Savignac said. But it was when I found myself on that bed half-naked and he was touching me that I realized something was wrong ... Its like gangrene inside the victims body and the victims psyche. The priest eventually was found guilty of child sexual abuse and sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison, including one year suspended. The commission worked for 2 1/2 years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and news archives starting from the 1950s. Sauve denounced the churchs attitude until the beginning of the 2000s as a deep, cruel indifference toward victims. Sometimes church officials did not denounce (the sex abuses) and even exposed children to risks by putting them in contact with predators, he stressed. The president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, said French bishops are appalled at the conclusions of the report. I wish on that day to ask for pardon, pardon to each of you, he told the victims. No one expected such a high number (of victims) to come out of the survey and that is properly frightening and out of proportion with the perception that weve had on the ground," he told the AP. Luc Crepy, the bishop of Versailles who heads an office fighting pedophilia, said this is more than a shock. It is a deep feeling of shame. Crepy said a process was underway to put together funds and create an independent commission to handle church compensation for the victims. The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He admitted abusing more than 75 boys for decades. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis learned about the reports findings with sorrow. His thoughts go in first place to the victims, with a profound sadness for their wounds and gratitude for their courage to speak out, he said. Francis issued in May 2019 a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities. In June, Francis said a process of reform was necessary and every bishop must take responsibility for the catastrophe of the sex abuse crisis. The shocking estimate of more than a quarter million potential victims dwarfs numbers released by other countries that have also faced national reckoning with church sexual abuse. But each country has investigated the problem in different ways. Instead of limiting itself to specific cases, Frances report made an estimate of the overall scale of the problem, extrapolating the number of victims based on study of specific incidents and nationwide surveys. ___ Masha Macpherson contributed from Paris and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny contributed from Lyon, France. MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) A man was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in prison for his role in the death of his girlfriends 6-year-old son, who authorities say died when his mother tried to abandon the child and his two older siblings at an Ohio park. James Hamilton, 43, must also register as a child victim offender and a violent offender. He had pleaded guilty in August to kidnapping, gross abuse of a corpse and two counts of child endangerment in the death of 6-year-old James Hutchinson in February. 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. NEWTON, Miss. (AP) A first grade student in Mississippi will spend weeks in a wheelchair after he was shot when another child was playing with a gun at school. Tylin Parker was shot last week at Newton Elementary School in Newton, then airlifted to a Jackson hospital. His mother, Antoinette Evans, told WJTV-TV that her 6-year-old son had two surgeries. WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) The Navajo Nation on Monday reported 29 more COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths for the fifth consecutive day. The latest numbers pushed the tribes totals to 34,172 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the virus since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The known death toll remains at 1,447. ELKHART, Ind. (AP) Police in a northern Indiana county are seeking the public's help as they investigate a string of fires that have destroyed or damaged eight barns since last spring. Monday's request from the Elkhart County Sheriffs Office came after two fires about one mile apart destroyed two barns in the southern part of the county last Friday. SMITHFIELD, R.I. (AP) One of a small number of bald eagles in Rhode Island was found sick Saturday and was rescued by officials who say the young male's eyes are infected. Trained staffers from the state's Department of Emergency Management responded to the shore of Stump Pond in Smithfield in response to a call to a hotline, the Providence Journal reported. They captured the bird. An Andrews man was awarded $5.5 million on July 27 after he filed a civil suit against La Fogata Mexican Grill, claiming the restaurant and bar was negligent when they overserved him alcohol, which he alleges later caused him to be injured in an altercation with another customer. Daniel Rawls filed a lawsuit through his attorney, Odessa-based Lane Haygood, on May 17 regarding an incident at the 708 E. Broadway St. restaurant (in Andrews) that occurred in May of 2019, according to court records. Rawls was awarded a total of $5.5 million for five claims, including premises liability, negligence and damages arising from foreseeable criminal conduct. The Andrews County 109th District Court ruled in Rawls favor in a default judgment, meaning the owner of La Fogata did not respond to the suit or attend the hearing. The court did not rule on whether Rawls claims were true. After drinking at La Fogata on May 21, 2019, Rawls was in an altercation with another customer, Robert Henrickson, in the parking lot of the restaurant, according to a copy of the lawsuit. Rawls alleges he sustained a head injury during the argument with Henrickson, who had also been drinking heavily. The lawsuit states La Fogata, its owner Lourdes Galindo and an unknown bartender are responsible for the injury because they allowed the two men to drink excessively and leave the restaurant together. The restaurant was also negligent by not calling an ambulance after Rawls was injured, according to the suit. The bartender, identified in the suit as John and/or Jane Doe, was not adequately trained by Galindo to detect when patrons had been overserved, according to the suit. Rawls also alleges that Galindo failed to ensure the parking lot didnt include obstacles that would pose a tripping or falling hazard to intoxicated patrons. Rawls sustained a serious and debilitating head injury after he was assaulted by Henrickson and fell over an uneven parking lot, according to the suit. La Fogata has 30 days to file a notice of appeal if they intend to seek a new trial, according to the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. Rawls allegedly has a history of excessive drinking. Andrews jail records show he was arrested twice, in February 2019 and May of this year, on charges of public intoxication. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Joel Greenberg, the friend of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz who pleaded guilty earlier this year to sex trafficking, asked a judge on Tuesday to postpone his sentencing until next year so he can continue cooperating with federal authorities. Greenberg asked the federal judge in a court filing to move his sentencing date from mid-November to next March. The extra time will give the former local tax collector from an Orlando suburb more time to sit for interviews with federal investigators, the filing said. Indeed, Mr. Greenbergs ongoing cooperation, which will not be completed prior to his current sentencing date, could have an impact on his final sentence," according to the court filing, which said the extension was unopposed by federal prosecutors. Greenberg is facing up to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty last May to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Greenberg's plea agreement with prosecutors requires continued cooperation with an ongoing probe into sex trafficking. Gaetz, a Republican who represents much of the Florida Panhandle, was not mentioned in Greenbergs plea agreement. But Greenbergs cooperation could play a role in an ongoing investigation into whether Gaetz paid a 17-year-old girl for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. Orlando criminal defense attorney David Hill, who has no connection to the case, said extra time is sometimes needed in federal probes so that investigators have time to chase leads and verify what a cooperating defendant is telling them. If this is potentially going to take down a big fish, and the government thinks there is something to it, they want time to get as much information and verify it as well, Hill said. Meanwhile, in Pensacola, a man accused of orchestrating the extortion plot linked to Gaetz's federal sex investigation pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court. The trial of Stephen Alford, 62, is now scheduled for Dec. 6. Authorities said Alford was part of a scheme to get $25 million from a person identified in court records as D.G." In exchange, Alford said he could secure a pardon from then-President Donald Trump for a family member or get the Department of Justice to drop an investigation into the family member, as well as fund the release of a someone identified as R.L. Matt Gaetz's father is Don Gaetz, a former president of the Florida Senate. Others who approached Don Gaetz have said in news reports that they wanted to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran more than a decade ago. An attorney for Alford did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment. According to court records, Alford has previous fraud convictions, including a 2006 judgment where he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. MARTINEZ, Calif. (AP) Prosecutors and defense attorneys have presented competing narratives in the trial of a California police officer accused of shooting and killing a mentally ill man, alternately asking the jury to sympathize with the officers need to make split-second decisions or the troubled victim whose only crime was not stopping for police. The two versions emerged as prosecutors opened their case on Monday against Officer Andrew Hall, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Hall is on trial on two felony counts of voluntary manslaughter in the November 2018 death of 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda, an unarmed Filipino man who was slowly driving away from police when Hall shot him nine times. The fatal shooting in the wealthy San Francisco suburb of Danville cast a spotlight on what criminal justice activists call a case of delayed justice and its deadly consequences. Felony charges were announced against Hall two-and-a-half years after Arboleda was shot. During that period, Hall fatally shot another man, Tyrell Wilson, who was homeless and mentally ill. On Monday, prosecutors focused on the shooting of Arboleda. Ten shots, prosecutor Colleen Gleason said, as she presented dashboard and bodycam footage showing Hall jumping out of his car, running up to Arboledas vehicle and firing repeatedly into the car's windows. All but one of the shots hit Arboleda. Gleason added: The defendant fired 10 shots into the slow-moving vehicle of a mentally ill man. Arboleda had periodically shown signs of depression, but began displaying concerning behavior in the months before his death. Just months before his encounter with Hall, Arboleda was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital for three weeks and prescribed medication for psychosis and schizophrenia, his family has said. The events unfolded on Nov. 3, 2018 when a resident called 911 to report that a man later identified as Arboleda was knocking on doors and lingering outside homes in a Danville cul-de-sac. When officers arrived, they saw Arboleda get into into his car and drive away. Arboleda led officers on a nine-minute slow-speed chase. Hall was not involved in the initial pursuit but stopped his vehicle at an intersection to block Arboledas car. Police video footage shows Hall stepping in the path of Arboledas vehicle and firing a volley of shots into the windshield and passenger side window. Life and death situations are part of an officers job, Gleason said, but added: This was not one of those times. She told the jury, You will find his response was excessive, unreasonable and unnecessary. The defense also played video footage of the incident Monday from different angles. Defense attorney Nicole Pifari emphasized the quick life-or-death decisions Hall had to make. She zoomed in on the right front tire of Arboledas vehicle in the moments before the shooting, to show it was pointing toward Hall. Really this comes down to about a two-second window, defense attorney Harry Stern told reporters outside the courthouse. Thats what this case is all about. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton spent more than two years reviewing the case and filed charges on April 21, 2021. The announcement of charges came a day after a jury convicted Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin of killing George Floyd. It also came six weeks after Hall, who is white, shot and killed Tyrell Wilson, a Black man. The shooting of Wilson remains under investigation. Hall is still employed by the Contra Costa Sheriffs Office, which has a contract to provide police services to Danville. The sheriffs office had cleared Hall of misconduct after a nine-month investigation into Arboledas shooting. Hall has been on paid administrative leave since the second fatal shooting. ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) The president of the University of Michigan said Tuesday that he will step down in June 2023, a year before his contract expires. Mark Schlissel, 63, has been president of the school since 2014. This is the eighth year of my presidency and an important time to strategically consider the future of our university, he said in an email to the university community. We are emerging from an historic global pandemic and adjusting to new and still evolving ways of working, learning and living, both as individuals and as a university," said Schlissel, who has a base salary of $927,000 a year. He said the university's next priorities will require leadership that extends into the next decade and beyond. The announcement came two weeks after the Detroit Free Press, citing unnamed sources, reported that Schlissel's relationship with the university's Board of Regents had eroded, especially over communications about big projects. For more than 18 months, the university has been dogged by a scandal involving a campus doctor who is accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of people over decades. Robert Anderson died in 2006, long before Schlissel arrived, but the lawyers are still meeting with a mediator and the financial liability is still hanging over the school. Schlissel was praised by regents for the Go Blue Guarantee, which offers free tuition for students from families with incomes of less than $65,000. The university has never been stronger and that is a result of President Schlissels strong, steady leadership during extraordinarily challenging times," Mark Bernstein, a member of the governing board, said in a statement. Schlissel was provost at Brown University before moving to Michigan. His plan to step down was announced a day before his annual leadership address to the community. The university's Ann Arbor campus is the most selective in Michigan; nearly half of the 31,000 undergraduates are from outside the state. There also are campuses in Dearborn and Flint. MANCHESTER, England (AP) The British government said Tuesday it will bring in tough new laws against disruptive protesters, after environmental campaigners blocked roads, highways and bridges to highlight climate change. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government would close down the legal loopholes used by protesters, whom she labeled criminals. Freedom to protest is a fundamental right but it must be within the law," Patel told delegates at the Conservative Party's annual conference. Patel said she would increase maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, create powers to stop some protesters traveling around the country and create a new offense of interference with key infrastructures such as roads, railways and the press. Insulate Britain, an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion group, has gridlocked traffic multiple times over the past month, with protesters sitting down in highways and gluing themselves to the pavement. The demonstrations have raised the profile of the group, which is calling for Britains aging homes to become more energy efficient. But they have also infuriated motorists and disrupted businesses. On Monday, broadcaster LBC captured footage of a woman imploring protesters to let her pass so she could visit her mother in hospital. Another broadcaster showed angry motorists dragging protesters out of a road. Patel, who is responsible for policing and immigration, is a stern law-and-order conservative and favorite of the partys traditionalist base. In her speech, she promised more efforts to stop people trying to reach Britain across the English Channel in small boats. Migrants have long used northern France as a launching point to reach Britain, either by stowing away in trucks or on ferries, or increasingly since the coronavirus pandemic disrupted international travel in dinghies and other small boats organized by smugglers. The British and French governments have worked for years to stop the crossings, without much success. More than 17,000 people have made the journey since the start of the year, double the number for all of 2020. Patel has raised the prospect of sending asylum-seekers to another country, remote from the U.K., while their claims are processed. But so far the plan has stalled amid legal hurdles and criticism from human rights groups. Patel also promised to do more to keep women and girls safe, amid nationwide shock at the death of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman abducted, raped and murdered as she walked home from a friends house in London. Her killer was a serving police officer who handcuffed and falsely arrested her. She said the government would hold a public inquiry into the killer, Wayne Couzens, and the police forces that recruited and employed him. Patel said the case had exposed unimaginable failures in policing. "The public have a right to know what failures enabled his continued employment as a police officer and an inquiry will give the independent oversight needed to ensure something like this can never happen again," she said. SANAA, Yemen (AP) The U.N. special envoy for Yemen met Tuesday with the prime minister of the countrys internationally recognized government in the port city of Aden, officials said. Hans Grundberg landed in Aden in his first visit to the war-scarred country since taking up his post last month, according to the U.N. mission in Yemen. He met with Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed in Mashiq Palace, the mission said in a tweet. Aden serves as interim capital since the civil war erupted seven years ago. They discussed the latest political developments, and the U.N. envoy reiterated the importance of the Riyadh Agreement, which ended the fighting between government forces and United Arab Emirates-backed southern separatists, the mission said. Grundberg also met with Aydarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the separatists Southern Transitional Council, according to the council. Saeed said the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi supports ... any political settlement ending the suffering of Yemenis, according to Yemens official SABA news agency. The Prime Minister accused the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of undermining a political settlement with military escalation and targeting civilians and displaced people," SABA reported. Grundberg met last month with Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam in Omans capital, Muscat. It is imperative that all efforts are directed towards revitalizing a political process that can produce lasting solutions that meet the aspirations of Yemeni women and men, Grundberg said at the time. The U.N. envoy's efforts come amid an escalation in fighting around the crucial city of Marib, which the Houthi rebels have been trying for months to capture from government forces. Yemen has been convulsed by civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital of Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing Hadis government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 backed by the United States to try to restore Hadi to power and threw its support behind his internationally backed government. The war has killed more than 130,000 people and spawned the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Law enforcement authorities clamping down on the exploitation of agricultural workers raided hundreds of vineyards and farms across Europe last month, the European Union police agency Europol announced Tuesday. Eight suspects were arrested in France and four in Spain; a total of 54 suspected human traffickers were identified in France, Italy, Spain and Latvia; and authorities found more than 250 possible victims of exploitation in the raids between Sept. 9-16, during the European harvesting season, Europol said in a statement. The police agency helped coordinate the inspections. SEATTLE (AP) Washington state health authorities say a woman in her late 30s has died from a rare blood-clotting syndrome after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Public Health Seattle & King County said Tuesday the woman was the fourth person in the United States to die due to blood clotting issues following the J&J vaccine. Three deaths were reported before federal authorities temporarily halted J&J vaccinations in April. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the agency is aware of, and is looking into, additional reported clot deaths since then, including the one in Washington state. The King County woman received her shot on Aug. 26. She died on Sept. 7. Blood clots are a very rare complication associated with J&Js vaccine. According to King County authorities, 12.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered as of July 8, 2021, with 38 people having confirmed cases of the unusual type of blood clot. The majority of these people have recovered. U.S. health officials have concluded the benefits of J&J's single-dose vaccine outweigh the rare risk of blood clots. Administration of the vaccine was halted for 11 days in April over the clots. After the shots resumed, J&J vaccine recipients were warned of the symptoms to watch for and health care workers were given guidance on how to treat the clots. We send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones, Washington state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said in a statement about the womans death. Losing a loved one at any time is a tragic and difficult pain thats become all too familiar in the last year and a half of this pandemic. WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Police have shot and wounded an armed woman at a Wichita grocery store, authorities say. Officers rushed to a Whole Foods store after receiving a report that someone was in the parking lot with a gun, police said. They spotted the women crouched in the store entrance with the firearm upon arriving and fired shots at her, The Wichita Eagle reported. Police said the woman then retreated inside the store, with officers following her. She was shot at least once. Police described her injuries as non-life threatening. Police said there were more than a dozen shoppers and staff inside of the store when the shooting happened, but none were harmed. LONDON (AP) Activists seeking compensation for Black people whose right to live in Britain came under question expressed disgust and disappointment Tuesday after they were blocked from freely attending the governing Conservative Party's annual conference despite being accredited for the event. Anthony Brown of the group Windrush Defenders said he was denied unfettered access to the conference in Manchester unless he agreed to be escorted by one of Prime Minister Boris Johnsons advisers. Another campaigner who works with families affected by what has become known as the Windrush scandal was allowed in Sunday but not Monday. Both were accredited to attend the event after paying a 225-pound ($307) fee each for the chance to network with delegates from around the country and to lobby for their cause, Brown said. Brown said he briefly entered the conference hall on Monday after being met by a member of Johnsons staff who insisted on accompanying him. He said he left after about an hour when it became clear the aide was trying to manage the whole situation. I cant figure out why I would be such a problem to the party machine. Why would a couple of people who want to talk about the Windrush scandal be such a problem?'' he said. We shouldnt be surprised when weve seen such disgusting headlines about grandmothers being detained and not getting compensation. The Windrush scandal has rocked Britain since 2018, when the Guardian newspaper and other local media published reports about the troubles of long-term legal residents from the Caribbean who were caught up in a crackdown on illegal immigration starting several years earlier. Thousands lost jobs, homes and the right to free medical care, many because they arrived as children and couldnt produce paperwork proving their right to live in the U.K. Some were detained, and an unknown number were deported to countries they barely remembered. The scandal draws its name from the Windrush generation of immigrants who came to Britain from its former colonies to help rebuild the country after World War II. The Empire Windrush was the ship that brought the first large group of migrants from the Caribbean to Britain. The government has apologized for the treatment of Windrush immigrants and set up a program to compensate victims of the scandal. But activists have criticized authorities for moving too slowly and are demanding that the government pass legislation that recognizes their rights to citizenship. Parliaments Public Accounts Committee earlier this year said the compensation program was overly complex and too slow in handling claims. Brown said campaigners are seeking to have the compensation program declared unfit for purpose at a High Court hearing set for Nov. 18. He thinks that might have influenced the Conservative Party's actions at the conference. The party did not respond to requests for comment. SURF CITY, N.J. (AP) A Pennsylvania woman was charged Tuesday with killing her 87-year-old father and his girlfriend at his home at the New Jersey shore. Authorities in Ocean County announced they arrested 55-year-old Sherry Lee Heffernan in Landenberg, in southeastern Pennsylvania, on Monday. Heffernan faces two murder counts and two weapons counts and was being held in Pennsylvania pending extradition to New Jersey. ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) A woman convicted as a teenager in the murder of her mother 6 1/2 years ago has returned to an eastern Pennsylvania courtroom seeking a new trial. Now-20-year-old Jamie Silvonek was sentenced to 35 years to life after pleading guilty in Lehigh County to first-degree murder and other charges in the slaying in March 2015, when she was 14 year old. Caleb Barnes of El Paso, Texas, a Fort Meade, Maryland soldier, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole plus 22 to 44 years. Silvonek testified that she plotted the murder of 54-year-old Cheryl Silvonek in Upper Macungie Township and urged Barnes in texts to carry it out. Authorities said Barnes stabbed the victim in her car in the driveway after Barnes, Cheryl Silvonek and Jamie Silvonek returned home from a concert. Authorities said the defendants then buried the victim's body and submerged her car in a South Whitehall Township pond. They were arrested within hours of the slaying. Prosecutors said the woman had threatened to report Barnes, then 21, to police for having sex with her underage daughter. Jurors rejected Barnes argument at trial that the girl killed her mother and he only helped dispose of the body later because she said she was pregnant. Silvonek previously lost her appeal to have her case sent back to juvenile court on the grounds that she has mental health issues. She now seeks a new trial, arguing that her previous attorney was ineffective and that her guilty plea in February 2016 was not knowing and voluntary. Her previous attorney has defended his representation, saying he called three expert witnesses seeking to have her tried as a juvenile, but once the judge ruled against that his options were limited. This Dia de los Muertos, aka Day of the Dead, the U.S Postal Service is honoring the everlasting legacy of our loved ones with commemorative Forever stamps. The stamp sheet of 20, aptly released for the month of October leading up to the November 1 holiday, are now available for purchase at your neighborhood post office and at USPS centers of correspondence throughout the nation. Designed and illustrated by artist Luis Fitch, with art direction by Antonio Alcala, each of the pane's five rows depict colorful sugar skulls. Each skull, which traditionally represent family members who have died, is accompanied by marigolds and a candle (a symbolic lighthouse to the deceased as they make their annual journey back to the land of the living). Courtesy of USPS Celebrating the lives of deceased loved ones is a traceable tradition in Latin American dating back 3,000 years. Hybridizing indigenous tradition with the Catholic Spanish settler tradition of All Souls Day, Dia de los Muertos has persevered as a wildly popular occasion, particularly in areas with strong Mexican and Central American communities. The holiday as it presents today caught fire in the 1970s, when Chicano artists worked to uplift these preexisting rituals. In recent decades, Day of the Dead has caught on in the United States as a festive celebration for all ages, said Michael J. Elston, secretary of the USPS Board of Governors. These new stamps from the U.S. Postal Service provide a wonderful way to commemorate this colorful and life-affirming holiday. The stamps are likely to be a hit in San Antonio, which hosts one of the largest public Day of the Dead celebrations in the country. This year, Muertos Fest participants can enjoy live music, food, and colorful skeletons at Hemisfair from Saturday, October 23 through Sunday, October 24. A dedication ceremony for the stamps was held at Centro Cultural Aztlan in San Antonio on Friday, October 1. Earlier, a similar ceremony was held in El Paso at the Museum of Art. Stamps are available at the post office or you can now order a sheet of 20 stamps online for $11.60. A Texas man who joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6. was sentenced Monday to 45 days behind bars even though prosecutors weren't seeking jail time, after the judge blasted comparisons between the riot that day and the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan called it a false equivalence to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights to the mob that "was trying to overthrow the government." She said doing so ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riots pose to the foundation of our democracy." The judge's remarks in the case against Matthew Mazzocco of San Antonio came days after another judge in Washington's federal court suggested that the Justice Department was being too hard on the Jan. 6 defendants when compared to the people arrested during the protests after George Floyd's murder. Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, questioned Friday why federal prosecutors had not brought more cases against those who had taken part in the 2020 summertime protests and said the Justice Department would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in this city. He sentenced Danielle Doyle of Oklahoma to probation even though prosecutors had recommended two months of home confinement. Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said she flatly disagreed with the suggestion raised by some people that the Jan. 6 defendants were being treated unfairly. In fact, she said she believes those who joined the pro-Trump mob were being treated more leniently than many other defendants. She noted the vast majority of rioters were not arrested on Jan. 6 but were allowed to return home and that many defendants, like Mazzocco, were charged only with misdemeanors despite what she called the "premeditated decision to come to the District to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Some Jan. 6 defendants and their Republican allies have claimed that the Justice Department has treated the Capitol rioters harshly because of their political views, while those who caused violence in the wake of Floyd's killing were given leniency. But an Associated Press analysis of court documents in more than 300 federal cases stemming from the racial injustice protests showed that dozens of people have been convicted of serious crimes and sent to prison. Prosecutors had been seeking three months of home confinement for Mazzocco, who pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of demonstrating in the Capitol. Mazzocco spent 12 minutes inside the building and posted a selfie on Facebook after the riot with the caption: the capital is ours!" Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberley Nielsen noted that he was among the first 10 Jan. 6 defendants to accept responsibility for his actions. In a letter Mazzocco's attorney read to the judge, he called his decision to enter the Capitol one of the most foolish and impulsive decisions of his life. He told the judge his actions have taken a massive toll on him and that he has received countless death threats. Since that day, Ive lived with the feeling of shame, sorrow and remorse, not because Im going through legal troubles, but because Im seeing the country I love so dearly divided like never before," Mazzocco wrote. The judge said Mazzocco's participation in the riot warrants time behind bars even though he didn't steal or destroy anything or hurt anyone at the Capitol. She said that the rioters who committed violence that day did so because they had the safety of numbers," thanks to those like Mazzocco. Mr. Mazzocco did not go to the United States Capitol out of any love or support for our country, he went there to support one man who he viewed had the election taken from him," she said. About 90 Jan. 6 defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to low level misdemeanor charges, but only a handful have received their punishments so far. Two other defendants, who pleaded guilty to a different misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, were also sentenced last week to 45 days behind bars. Gov. Greg Abbott hasn't been shy about issuing disaster declarations for the state of Texas this year, but the Republican leader's use of emergency powers is now being called into question. In September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied a request from the governor for a federal emergency declaration addressing migrant crossings at Texas' southern border. Abbott has since appealed the judgement, but as noted by University of Texas at San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor, the governor isn't likely to receive the redress he's looking for due to the intended use of federal disaster funding. "This isn't a natural disaster," Taylor wrote in an email interview. "It's a political and humanitarian disaster. These factors will play a key role in Texas' appeal with FEMA." Approval of the declaration would have provided Texas $5 million in federal assistance, according to FEMA's website. But the usage of such measures likely stands in opposition to the letter of the law regarding disaster proclamations in Texas. "Conservatives and liberals alike have claimed that the governor has abused both the spirit and intent of the Texas Disaster Act and have filed lawsuits and legislation to reign in the governor's emergency powers with relatively little success," Taylor writes. In June, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, told KXAN he disagreed with Abbott labeling the border crisis a disaster. "I do not think that this is a disaster," Cuellar said. "This is a state version of [former President Donald Trump] declaring a border emergency. I disagree with that." In an effort to check Abbott's power during the pandemic, GOP House Speaker and Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan sought to create a legislative oversight committee that would have the authority to terminate a pandemic disaster declaration by Abbott, according to the Texas Tribune. Under the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, temporary emergency powers are granted to the governor and local officials to respond to crises, if they meet disaster requirements.The act defines a disaster as the "occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man-made cause." In his appeal to FEMA, Abbott argued migrant border crossings are a man-made disaster caused by President Joe Biden and his administration. "Biden has turned his back on Texans living along the border, and FEMA's refusal to declare a federal emergency at the border puts their health, safety, and property at risk," Abbott wrote in a statement. "The State of Texas is appealing this detrimental decision by FEMA because the Biden Administration's refusal to solve the crisis at our border has led to a strain on local, state and federal resources." As it stands, Abbott estimates his "catch and jail" program has placed "thousands" of undocumented immigrants in Texas prisons. Hundreds of these prisoners have since been released after being unconstitutionally held without charges or legal representation, as noted by the Texas Tribune. The Republican leader also recently signed security funding bills to increase state border security funding by nearly $3 million, a portion of which will be used to expand the border wall started by Trump, the Texas Tribune reports. Taylor notes that the governor's strategic use of disaster declarations may ultimately serve as a high profile advertisement for his 2022 reelection campaign. "A humanitarian crisis that turns into a security crisis could improve Abbott's chances of winning an appeal with FEMA as well as his prospects for re-election," Taylor writes. "Winning by losing an appeal with FEMA is also something to consider here." Ted Cruz is blasting Facebook for its "brazen disregard" in its role in online misinformation. The Wall Street Journal recently reported Facebook has been conducting its own research into how Instagram, which the company bought in 2012, affects users. Evidence shows Facebook knew Instagram was worsening body-image issues among girls and that it had a bigger vaccine misinformation problem than it let on. On Tuesday, October 5, the Texas Senator joined CNBC's Squawk Box to discuss the topic, in which Cruz said Facebook's refusal to accept responsibility for their "consistent misconduct" is really stunning. "I think that is horrific. I say this as the father of two girls. I think we are going to see very serious scrutiny to Facebook, and I'm sure litigation will follow," Cruz said. "That kind of brazen disregard...for human life. We ought to expect better from our businesses." The interview with CNBC comes at the same time Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is testifying before a Senate panel on Tuesday. She told lawmakers they must intervene to solve the "crisis" created by her former employer's products, according to the New York Times. On Sunday, October 3, Haugen unmasked herself as the source behind the leaked documents at the core of the revealing of the Wall Street Journal series in a 60 Minutes interview. Haugen told the news program that the problems she saw at Facebook were worse than anywhere else she'd worked, which includes Google, Yelp, and Pinterest. "I saw that Facebook repeatedly encountered conflicts between its own profits and our safety," Haugen said. "Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favor of its own profits. The result has been a system that amplifies division, extremism and polarization, and undermining societies around the world." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also reacted to the subject, announcing his joining of a coalition to stop Facebook from exploiting children on Tuesday. "Facebook is exhibiting a disturbing trend of targeting young children for profit," he tweeted. "We must protect our children." The coalition, which includes 52 attorneys general from across the U.S. and its territories, expresses strong support for the hearings being conducted by the subcommittee on Facebook's "disastrous plans to increase user engagement by targeting our nation's youth." Charges have been dropped against 11 migrants arrested under Gov. Greg Abbott's border security initiative after the men told attorneys they were marched for about 20 minutes to a fenced ranch by law enforcement, then arrested for trespassing. Without video evidence or a written report of the August incident from U.S. Border Patrol, Val Verde County Attorney David Martinez Monday dismissed the trespassing charges after the men had spent nearly two months in state prison. The men had fled on foot after a highway traffic stop by Border Patrol agents, according to an arrest affidavit. The migrants later told attorneys that when found near the highway, officers made the migrants walk for about 20 minutes and climb, hands zip-tied, over a nearly 10-foot fence onto a ranch before they were arrested for trespassing by state troopers. The migrants also said officers cut the Val Verde County landowners fence so a police dog could get onto the ranch property, a defense attorney and prosecutor told The Texas Tribune. A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson said the migrants claims were inaccurate, stating the fleeing men jumped a fence onto private property. A Border Patrol spokesperson said any suggestion that officers led migrants to private property so they could be arrested for trespassing is absolutely false. But the muddled situation is just one instance in which Martinez, a Democrat elected to prosecute misdemeanor cases, said he felt compelled to drop charges because of uncertainty whether DPS arrests pass legal muster. In September, a Venezuelan man crossed the Rio Grande near Del Rio with a married couple and walked up to an open gate attended by state troopers, Martinez said after his office reviewed body camera footage of the encounter. The officers moved aside to let the migrants walk through and then arrested the single man for trespassing. The couple was referred to Border Patrol. The troopers could have easily said, Hey, this is private property, you cant come on. But they moved out of the way seemingly as an invitation, Martinez said. Martinez rejected the case Monday. DPS declined to comment on the arrest. The cases are examples of the more than 100 trespassing arrests under Abbotts "catch and jail" border security directive that have been dismissed or rejected by Martinez. The prosecutor has tossed 123 of 231 trespassing cases brought before him by DPS since July, Martinez said at a legislative hearing Monday. So far under his prosecution, 58 men have pleaded guilty to trespassing and been sentenced to 15 days in lockup. Typically, men whose cases are dropped are released to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for immigration processing in Del Rio. Others who are convicted of trespassing are taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, having already served their 15-day state sentence. In both situations, federal authorities can deport the men or release them into the United States pending asylum hearings. Since Abbott ordered state police to begin arresting migrants suspected of having crossed the border illegally for the state crime of trespassing on private property, DPS has arrested about 1,300 migrants on the charge, the agency director reported. The men, almost exclusively picked up in Val Verde and Kinney counties, are jailed in state prisons retooled as immigration jails. The quickly assembled system of arrests, detentions and releases of migrants has been plagued by missteps since its onset, including families being improperly separated, violations of due process and a lack of coordination between federal, state and local officials. In a legislative hearing called out of concern over legal blunders in Abbotts arrest initiative, DPS Director Steve McCraw told lawmakers Monday that the people his officers arrest for criminal trespassing are trying to avoid law enforcement, not seek asylum. When we talk about criminal trespass, its that theyre paying coyotes, theyre paying cartel operatives, smugglers to move around and through to avoid being detected, McCraw said. In Kinney County, a rural conservative region next door to Val Verde, many of the hundreds of migrants jailed for allegedly trespassing are arrested at a remote depot as they arrive on train cars from the border. In Val Verde County, home to Del Rio, however, Martinez said the vast majority of the cases he tosses out are those in which he learns that the arrested migrant had credible asylum claims and was looking for law enforcement to turn themselves in. He has said he began dropping such cases after he heard McCraw tell lawmakers in August that police arent looking to arrest asylum seekers, but instead targeting dangerous criminals. Other times, Martinez has thrown out trespassing charges for insufficient evidence or questionable circumstances surrounding the arrests, like the cases he tossed Monday. A defense attorney told lawmakers on Monday that the incidents are not unique. We have heard reports and several of our clients have recounted that they are actually called over onto the river onto private property, said Kristin Etter, whose organization, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, represents hundreds of the arrested migrants. In the case of the 11 men who said they were escorted to another property and made to climb the fence onto a ranch, Martinez said he didnt have a report from Border Patrol officers, who reportedly initiated the stop and apprehended the men after they fled. Without it, he wasnt sure if the property where the men were first apprehended was the one listed in the report provided by DPS. If the cases moved forward in court, he said, DPS would be unable to testify where the men were first detained. I did not have any way to prove where these people were apprehended because we did not have a supplemental report from Border Patrol, so there was a lack of evidence, Martinez said. According to a DPS arrest affidavit, the men fled Border Patrol officers during an August traffic stop and jumped a fence onto a local ranch whose owner previously agreed for state police to arrest people for trespassing on the property. At least one of the men was found by a Border Patrol dog handler, the affidavit said, and DPS responded to the chase and arrested the men. Border Patrol reported on Tuesday that after more than a dozen men fled on foot from a highway traffic stop into private property, federal agents took custody of the driver and two other people, while DPS arrested the other 11 men. Martinez and Etter, who represents the men, said the migrants told them the fleeing men had hopped over a small fence bordering the highway, but, when found, were zip-tied and escorted by law enforcement to another property and made to climb a fence. Martinez said he was told that Border Patrol led the men onto the other property, and DPS requested the men be brought back over the fence again where they were arrested. Etter said it was unclear if the land the men were originally found on was public land or not. With their cases dismissed, the men were expected to be sent back to Val Verde County and handed over to CBP officials for processing, Etter said Tuesday. The Venezuelan man whose case was rejected by Martinez Monday is also expected to be transferred to CBP. The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Canada landed almost 38,000 new immigrants in August 2021 New IRCC data shows Canada had another strong month for new permanent resident landings. Canada landed almost 38,000 new immigrants in August 2021 New IRCC data shows Canada had another strong month for new permanent resident landings. Canada landed almost 38,000 new immigrants in August 2021 New IRCC data shows Canada had another strong month for new permanent resident landings. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Canadas new immigrant landings remain high. CIC News has obtained new data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada that shows Canada landed some 37,780 new permanent residents in August. This marks the third month in a row that Canadas immigration levels were higher than usual. Canada landed nearly 40,000 new permanent residents in July, and nearly 36,000 in June. Prior to the pandemic, Canada welcomed between 25,000 and 35,000 new immigrants in a given month. Immigration levels fell significantly beginning in April 2020 following the implementation of COVID-19 public health measures in Canada. Up until June of this year, Canadas new permanent resident landings were short of the pace needed to achieve the countrys immigration target for 2021. Under the Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023, Canada aims to welcome at least 401,000 new immigrants annually beginning this year. Between January and August, Canada has landed about 222,000 immigrants. This means it will need to welcome some 179,000 new immigrants, or an average of 45,000 per month for the rest of 2021 to achieve its levels goal for this year. The goal remains lofty, but it is achievable for the following reasons. Find Out if Youre Eligible for Canadian Immigration In the first half of the year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) took significant steps to support Canadas ability to achieve the goal. This included holding by far the largest Express Entry draw in history on February 13, 2021 when it invited 27,332 candidates to apply for permanent residence. IRCC estimates some 90 per cent of these candidates are living in Canada amid the pandemic. Express Entry is the main way Canada welcomes skilled worker immigrants. This draw was nearly six times larger than the previous Express Entry invitation record. Express Entry draws remained large throughout the first half of the year, with IRCC focusing on Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program candidates, given they are mostly in Canada right now and hence, are less likely to see their immigration process interrupted due to the pandemic. In addition, in May, IRCC launched six temporary immigration streams that will allow some 90,000 candidates currently living in Canada to transition to permanent residence. An internal IRCC memo obtained by CIC News via an access to information request to the Canadian government reveals such significant steps by IRCC are unsurprisingly part of a coordinated effort to land 401,000 immigrants this year. The Canadian government argues that high levels of immigration are key to supporting the countrys post-pandemic economic recovery. There are other key reasons to believe Canada will at least come close to achieving its levels goal for 2021. In addition to the aforementioned steps being taken by IRCC, the lifting of travel restrictions in recent months will enable more new immigrants from overseas to move to Canada. In June, Canada lifted its travel restrictions on all approved permanent residents who have the necessary documentation in hand. In late September, Canada lifted its flight ban on India, by far its leading source country of new immigrants. Even if Canada does fall short of the goal, it has flexibility within its Immigration Levels Plan to increase its newcomer intake in 2022 and 2023 to compensate. The levels plan features a range that allows IRCC to adjust its targets lower or higher based on policy and operational considerations. Find Out if Youre Eligible for Canadian Immigration CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options. Canada offers about 120 different immigration pathways for economic class candidates. Here are the most popular options. How to Immigrate to Canada Canada offers about 120 different immigration pathways for economic class candidates. Here are the most popular options. How to Immigrate to Canada Canada offers about 120 different immigration pathways for economic class candidates. Here are the most popular options. How to Immigrate to Canada Canada offers about 120 different immigration pathways for economic class candidates. Here are the most popular options. Daniel Levy Gabriel Dumitrascu Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Do you want to immigrate to Canada as a skilled worker? In 1967, Canada introduced the worlds first ever objective points system to assess whether immigration candidates could successfully integrate into the Canadian labour market. This was done through the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) which continues to be one of Canadas most prominent immigration pathways. What has changed since 1967, however, is the number of additional Canadian immigration programs now available to skilled workers. Today, Canada offers some 120 different economic class immigration streams. The reason for this is the Canadian Constitution defines immigration as a shared responsibility between the federal government and Canadas 10 provinces and 3 territories. Discover if Youre Eligible for Canadian Immigration Given how large and diverse the country is, the federal government and provinces operate many different skilled worker streams to address Canadas diverse economic and labour market needs. This means that Canada has broad immigration programs that select the highest-scoring candidates, and also operates more targeted programs that select immigrants based on their occupational backgrounds. Canada is guided by its Immigration Levels Plan. It is seeking to welcome the highest levels of immigration in its history, over 400,000 new immigrants per year. About 60 per cent of these new immigrants will arrive to Canada under the economic class as skilled workers and business immigrants. About 25 per cent will arrive through family sponsorship, while the remaining 15 per cent will be welcomed as refugees. Here is an overview of the most prominent options available to skilled workers. Express Entry Express Entry is the main way that Canada, through the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), manages and welcomes skilled workers. IRCC is now aiming to welcome some 110,000 new immigrants through Express Entry each year. The first step to immigrate to Canada through Express Entry is by ensuring you are eligible under one of the three programs managed by Express Entry. The three programs are: If you meet the criteria of one of these programs, you are eligible to create an Express Entry profile on IRCCs website. IRCC will ask you to enter key information such as your age, relationship status, education, work experience, and English and/or French language skills. IRCC will give you a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score based on this information. Calculate Your Express Entry CRS Score Approximately every two weeks, IRCC holds Express Entry draws. It issues invitations to apply (ITA) for permanent residence to candidates with the highest CRS scores. With an ITA in hand, you can then submit your permanent residence application to IRCC and become well on your way to moving to Canada. Note that if you have not lived in Canada before, chances are the FSWP will be the best way for you to become eligible for Express Entry. You are encouraged to enter the Express Entry pool once you confirm your eligibility to give yourself a chance to secure an ITA. Being in the Express Entry pool also gives you a chance to gain additional CRS points by securing a provincial nomination (600 extra CRS points) or a valid job offer (50 or 200 extra CRS points). Get a Free Express Entry Assessment Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) Nearly every province and territory operates their own Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). This means they nominate skilled worker candidates that meet their local labour market needs. Once you receive a provincial nomination, you can go ahead and submit a permanent residence application to IRCC. All told, Canada looks to welcome over 80,000 immigrants each year through the PNP. Many provinces also operate PNP streams that align with Express Entry. If you are eligible for both Express Entry and a PNP stream, a province can issue a provincial nomination invitation to you while you are in the Express Entry pool. You would then receive an additional 600 CRS points should you accept the invitation. This virtually guarantees you will receive an Express Entry ITA. In addition, you can apply to a PNP stream directly. This entails conducting research on the Canadian province or territory that you wish to live in, and then following their PNP application procedures. Explore the Canada PNP Finder Quebec The third most popular way to immigrate to Canada as a skilled worker is by applying directly to the province of Quebec. Quebec has special status in Canada as the countrys only Francophone province. As such it operates its own immigration system and now seeks to welcome over 25,000 economic class immigrants each year. If Quebec approves your application, it issues you a Quebec Acceptance Selection Certificate. You then use the certificate to support the permanent residence application that you submit to IRCC. Other Federal Programs In recent years, IRCC has expanded the number of skilled worker programs that it operates to address regional and occupational needs. If you wish to immigrate to an Atlantic province (Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia), you may wish to consider the Atlantic Immigration Pilot. IRCC looks to welcome over 6,000 immigrants per year through the AIP. As another example, IRCC operates the Agri-Food Immigration Pilot which accepts up to 2,750 applications per year. The pilot exists to find skilled workers who can help meet the labour market needs of Canadas multi-billion dollar agriculture and agri-food industry. Find the best path for you Immigrants are vital to Canadas economic success which is why the country is increasing its immigration levels and the number of immigration programs that it offers. If you are looking to immigrate here, you have no shortage of options as Canada operates the most number of economic class pathways in the world. Rather than overwhelm yourself by conducting research on all 120 or so of Canadas economic class streams, you may wish to simply complete a Canadian immigration eligibility assessment to find the best path for you. Complete a Free Canadian Immigration Eligibility Assessment CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options. IRCC announces it has completed the process of issuing some 30,000 invitations to PGP 2021 sponsors. IRCC: Parents and Grandparents Program 2021 immigration lottery is complete IRCC announces it has completed the process of issuing some 30,000 invitations to PGP 2021 sponsors. IRCC: Parents and Grandparents Program 2021 immigration lottery is complete IRCC announces it has completed the process of issuing some 30,000 invitations to PGP 2021 sponsors. IRCC: Parents and Grandparents Program 2021 immigration lottery is complete IRCC announces it has completed the process of issuing some 30,000 invitations to PGP 2021 sponsors. Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Canadas PGP 2021 lottery has been completed. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has confirmed on its website that it finished the process of issuing 30,000 invitations for this years lottery yesterday. The lottery took place between September 23 and October 4. The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) 2021 lottery was the largest ever, due to a technicality. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, IRCC planned to invite 20,000 sponsors in 2020 and another 20,000 this year. Pandemic-related disruptions caused IRCC to invite 10,000 last year and then 30,000 this year. Get a Free Legal Consultation if you Received a PGP 2021 Invitation Only those who completed an interest to sponsor form on IRCCs website in October and November 2020 were considered for the PGP 2021 lottery. If you received a PGP 2021 invitation you will want to confirm you are eligible before submitting your application. You have 60 days to submit your application from the date of your invitation. PGP lottery invitations are highly coveted. Demand to sponsor far exceeds the number of application spots available. In a recent meeting with immigration representatives such as the Canadian Bar Associations Immigration Law Section, IRCC revealed it received over 200,000 interest to sponsor forms in October/November 2020. This means sponsors had a roughly 1-in-5 chance of receiving a sponsorship invitation for the 2020 and 2021 PGP lotteries combined. Sponsored parents and grandparents obtain Canadian permanent resident status and associated benefits such as access to universal healthcare and a pathway to citizenship. Get a Free Legal Consultation if you Received a PGP 2021 Invitation What will the PGP 2022 look like? IRCC has yet to provide details on the structure of the PGP 2022. IRCC is looking to welcome 23,500 parents and grandparents to Canada each year under its Immigration Levels Plan 2021-2023. This suggests that we should expect the number of PGP 2022 applications IRCC will process to be similar in nature to recent years (an average of 20,000 new applications per year). Prior to COVID, updates on the PGP typically came out around January of each year. Consider the Super Visa The Super Visa is an alternative you may want to pursue to reunite with your parents and grandparents in Canada. Canadian citizens and permanent residents are welcome to submit Super Visa applications to IRCC that enables their parents and grandparents to enter Canada multiple times over a 10 year period. Learn More about the Parents and Grandparents Super Visa CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options. AWS connectivity services allow customers to create and run different network architectures in their accounts. VPCs have been instrumental in allowing organizations to scale application deployments and allow for secure design patterns when it comes to migration of their on-premises services to the cloud. A key factor is the ability to provide connectivity in a scalable fashion between applications running in the cloud and on-premises data centres. Before Transit Gateway, customers used VPC peering or Transit VPCs (which also require extra network devices) to create a mesh topology. Neither solution was scalable and this limited the ability to provide connectivity to on-premise data centres, especially as the number of VPCs grew. Using Transit Gateway, customers can enable connectivity between different VPCs across different AWS accounts and on-premises via AWS Direct Connect or VPN. Transit gateway is a fully managed network hub that allows customers to interconnect VPCs and on-premises networks. Transit Gateway Overview Transit Gateway is an easy-to-setup network hub that interconnects VPCs and on-premises networks. Transit Gateway supports different attachments: VPC AWS Direct Connect Gateway VPN connection SD-WAN network appliance Another Transit Gateway through Transit Gateway Peering Lets go through some of the features and configurable options of a Transit Gateway deployment. Availability Zone A VPC attachment to the Transit Gateway results in the creation of a network interface (ENI) in the subnet selected in the Availability Zone. Once an AZ is enabled, any subnet in the AZ can route traffic through the Transit Gateway. Routing Multiple routing tables can be defined on a Transit Gateway to manage complex routing options. Routing tables can have dynamic and static routes in order to evaluate the next hop. Routes can be dynamically propagated to the routing tables based on the attachments. You can also add static routes and blackhole routes in case you want to isolate attachments from each other. The most specific routes are always used in the Transit Gateway. If there is overlap in the routes, they are evaluated in a specific order: Static routes VPC-propagated routes Direct Connect Gateway propagated routes Transit Gateway Connect propagated routes S2S VPN propagated routes Transit Gateway for Cross Account Connectivity The AWS Resource Access Manager is used to share a Transit Gateway between accounts for VPC attachments. The owner of the Transit Gateway can control the communication between these VPC attachments and other attachments based on the routing tables and the routes added to the routing tables. Transit Gateway for Inter Region Peering Transit Gateways in different regions can be peered with each other using an Inter Region peering attachment. In this way customers can create truly global network topologies for their applications. This allows customers to utilize the AWS Global Networking backbone for low-latency communication between their application resources hosted in different regions. On-Premises Connectivity to Transit Gateway By using a Direct Connect Gateway customers can connect from their on-premises enterprise data centres to the Transit Gateway. Redundant connectivity can also be implemented by having multiple Direct Connect connections to a Direct Connect Gateway. S2S VPN connection from a Transit Gateway can provide a backup. Multicast Communication Multicast protocols deliver a single stream of data to multiple receiving hosts simultaneously. It is extremely beneficial for customers running applications supporting video transcoding, financial trading systems and multimedia broadcast systems. In 2019 AWS announced support for multicast in AWS Transit Gateway becoming the first public cloud provider to offer such a service natively. Previously customers had to implement complicated overlay networks in order to migrate applications designed to use multicast. Types of Transit Gateway Network Topologies Here are some of the types of network topologies you can implement with Transit Gateways: Centralized Router In this topology the Transit Gateway acts as a centralized router. The Transit Gateway connects all the attached VPCs, Direct Connects and S2S VPN sessions. All attachments can route packets to each other. This supports transitive connectivity (VPC A to VPC C for example.) Isolated VPCs In this topology different VPCs are able to route to the on-premises environment via the Direct Connect or S2S VPN attachment but are isolated from each other. Here the transit gateway acts as multiple isolated routers by having different routing tables for the attachments. AWS AWS Isolated VPC with Shared Services This topology is similar to the previous one with the addition of the Shared Services VPC. Each VPC attachment can route to on-premises and the Shared Services VPC but not each other. This pattern is quite common in production scenarios. AWS Peering Transit Gateways In this topology Transit Gateways in different regions are peered together to create a global network backbone that allows VPCs in different regions to route traffic between each other. It also allows customers to route traffic from their on-premises environments to VPCs hosted in different regions. Centralized Outbound Routing In this topology, you can set up all outbound internet routing to go through a central VPC with an Internet Gateway attached, and thus none of the other VPCs need an Internet Gateway or public subnets. This is sometimes a requirement for enterprise-grade deployments. AWS Appliance Shared Services VPC This topology allows you to host Shared Services appliances (such as a security appliance) in a VPC and have all traffic from other attachments routed via this appliance. The appliance can be used to inspect all traffic that passes through it. Deloitte Using Transit Gateway to Simplify Spoke Accounts VPCs Deployments Deloitte Continental Europe (DCE) has implemented a networking solution based upon the AWS Transit Gateway service using the Appliance Shared VPC design. Transit Gateway is a key component that allows Deloitte to scale the deployment of their service to their customers in a cost-effective manner. By peering with other AWS Transit Gateways in identical or other regions the connection is rapidly globally enabled and available between Deloitte member firms and customers VPCs. It also makes the overall customer solutions global by default. In this architecture the Transit Gateway acts as the central point to connect to another internal Service Hub which provides applications VPCs with a number of services like service publishing, ISP, North/South filtering, IDP, DNS. Customer spoke VPCs are attached to the Transit Gateway in a multi-account setup. The whole solution uses infrastructure as code to provide automation and thus teams can support a large number of clients with diverse connectivity requirements. AWS Transit Gateway allows the above architecture to be implemented in simplified manner with connectivity centrally managed between the different service VPCs and also on-premises. For Deloitte DCE the AWS transit gateway is used to interconnect core networks, spoke accounts as well as some shared services the likes of DNS and network inspection services. Using multiple routing tables, Deloitte DCE can segregate traffic and enforce traffic inspection, especially East-West traffic. The AWS transit gateway fulfils connectivity needs both inter- and intra-AWS regions. With transit gateway peering (at the moment inter region) Deloitte DCS has built a backbone of pan-European network connectivity between the Deloitte internal networks and pre-existing edge networks. This allowed Deloitte to deploy within weeks a backbone of core European connectivity on the top of the AWS global infrastructure over multiple AWS European regions. The use of the AWS Transit Gateway product allows Deloitte to offer a network deployment process for new spoke accounts which is repeatable, automated and scalable. AWS Transit gateway also allowed Deloitte to deploy spoke VPCs efficiently and in a scalable way. By using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Deloitte can deploy a security vetted and pre-configured multi-AZ network topology inside a VPC in a spoke account, and attach the VPC to the AWS transit gateway, giving a spoke account access to Deloitte services in a matter of minutes. Conclusion This blog post shows how you can use Transit Gateway to implement different network topology that can be crucial to your application design. It also shows an example of how Deloitte has used the Transit Gateway as a key central component of our global architecture. AWS CLEVELAND (AP) Opening statements are scheduled for Monday afternoon in Cleveland in a federal court trial to determine whether retail pharmacy chains created a public nuisance in how they dispensed addictive painkillers in two Ohio counties where the opioid crisis continues to rage. One of the attorneys representing Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland has said the cost of abating the ongoing crisis in each county is $1 billion. This will be the first time pharmacy companies, in this case CVS, Walgreens, Giant Eagle and Walmart, have gone to trial to defend themselves. The trial, which is expected to last around six weeks, could set the tone for similar claims against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S. going forward. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster will preside over the trial. Close to 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal courts have been consolidated under Polsters supervision. Plaintiffs attorneys say around 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County between 2012 and 2016, 400 for every county resident and 61 million pills were dispensed in Lake County during that five-year period, 265 pills for every resident. Attorneys for the pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle, say the companies didnt manufacture the drugs and their pharmacies were filling prescriptions written by physicians for patients with a legitimate medical need. Rite-Aid settled with the two counties for an undisclosed amount in August. Pharmacy attorneys also argue the companies followed and exceeded guidelines established by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the state of Ohio in how their stores were supplied with pain pills. CVS in a statement said licensed wholesalers, not the company, distributed painkillers to its pharmacies and that its a leader in the fight against prescription opioid abuse. The company also shifted blame for the crisis. Since 2013, the DEA has refused to share with pharmacies the names of any doctors whose opioid prescriptions it believes are problematic, the statement said. Many of these doctors continue to be licensed by the DEA to prescribe opioid medications. Attorneys for Illinois-based Walgreens, say the Lake and Trumbull counties are using confused and contradictory legal theories against other defendants before they landed on the idea to sue retail pharmacy chains. Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle in a trial brief said the company not only complied with all laws and regulations designed to prevent diversion, it actively assisted law enforcement in their efforts to prevent diversion. Attorneys for Walmart said their stores dispensed only a small percentage of the pain medication prescribed in Lake and Trumbull and said the lawsuits fail to distinguish legitimate from potentially illegitimate prescriptions. The trial will be the fourth in the U.S. this year to test claims brought by governments against part of the drug industry over the toll of prescription painkillers. Verdicts or judgments have not been reached in the others thus far. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association is urging insurers to hold off on sending homeowners policy renewals until state regulators decide if they will approve a surcharge on premiums to help cover more than $168 million in claims left from two carrier insolvencies this year. With thousands of notices for 2022 policy renewals set to go out in the next few weeks, some insurers have begun to ask what they should do while the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation deliberates on the requested 0.7% increase in premium assessments Weve had a lot of calls about it, said Tom Streukens, executive director of the guaranty association, known as FIGA, which handles insurer insolvencies. Weve reached out to member companies and have asked them to stand down for now. Streukens said Friday that he expects the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, headed by Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier, to make a ruling on the assessment in the next two weeks. We havent heard much about it. Everyones just waiting on OIR right now, said William Stander, director of the Florida Property and Casualty Association. FIGA requested the increased assessment in late August, after it became clear that more than 1,300 unpaid claims for the insolvent carriers would leave FIGA with a mounting deficit. This is the first time since 2012 that FIGA has had to raise the surcharge. But with a property insurance market that has been buffeted by hurricanes and what insurers have called fraudulent assignment of benefits claims and excessive litigation, two carriers were liquidated this year: American Capital Assurance Corp., known as AmCap, and Gulfstream Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Those followed two other significant insolvencies in 2020. In most insolvencies through the years, FIGA has been able to pay off claims without raising the surcharge, utilizing revenue from the liquidation of the carriers assets, from investment income, and from the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, FIGAs annual report explains. This year, though, with two major carriers in trouble, and perhaps more on the way, FIGA staff have warned that insolvent carriers assets werent enough to pay the bills, and the association could run out of cash by this time next year, according to Florida news reports. The FIGA board of directors approved the 0.7% assessment increase Aug. 26, but little has been heard from Altmaier, the governor or cabinet members, who could delay or veto the assessment altogether. The OIR did not respond to a request for comment by Friday afternoon. But if recent history is a guide, it would not be out of character for Altmaier, Floridas insurance commissioner since 2016 and current president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to ask for a smaller surcharge. In workers compensation insurance rate decreases, for example, Altmaier has bucked the National Council on Compensation Insurance on three of the last four filings, forcing NCCIs actuaries back to the drawing table to produce larger rate cuts. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has shown a willingness to block relatively minor spending increases, even when funding does not come from taxpayers. In 2020, DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have raised workers compensation judges salaries for the first time in two decades. The revenue would have come through a small fee on insurers. For now, Florida insurers and agents have little choice but to wait and see if OIR approves the fee increase with whats known as a levy order. We appreciate everyones patience and understand the time sensitivity for system changes required to implement FIGAs proposed assessment in advance of processing January 2022 renewals, FIGA posted on its website last week. Streukens said its unclear what might happen if insurers start renewing policies without the assessment fee increase if carriers could add the charge later in the policy year. With many homeowners premiums paid through escrow funds, that could get complicated, he added. FIGA will provide members with special instructions at a later date for how to address impacted policies issued without the surcharge before the levy order was approved, FIGA wrote. The rest of 2021 and 2022 may not be much easier for FIGA and some Florida property insurers. At a Sept. 22 Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee hearing, Altmaier said that his department is watching several carriers that may be in financial trouble. Two, in particular, were keeping a very close eye on, the commissioner said. FIGA officials are not looking forward to more insolvencies. I hope the next one is the last one, Streukens said. But I said that about the last one. BILOXI, Miss. (AP) A military manufacturer and a contracting company are being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly ignoring claims of sexual assault by staff members on Coast Guard ships in Mississippi, a news outlet reported. Huntington Ingalls Industries and NSC Technologies are both accused of ignoring pleas for help from women on a cleaning crew who claimed that a supervisor on a Coast Guard ship in Mississippi assaulted them and coerced one of them into having sex, the Sun Herald reported. The EEOC lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Alabama and accuses the two companies of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace or retaliation against those who report it. According to court documents, both companies were notified of the lawsuit in May 2021. Huntington Ingalls Industries is the largest military shipbuilding company in the nation and NSC Technologies is a staff contracting company. Both are based in Virginia. The women in the lawsuit worked for NSC on the Coast Guard ship at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. According to local news outlets, they accused a Huntington Ingalls supervisor of assaulting and harassing them over the course of several months. The lawsuit does not indicate how many women were harassed but details specific cases of two women and others on the cleaning crew of a Coast Guard ship at Ingalls. The EEOC is asking the U.S. District Court judge to order the companies and their employees to halt sexual harassment and retaliation, and begin training programs that will prevent further abuse. The federal agency also asked the court to punish the companies for malicious and reckless conduct, back pay and compensation for the womens financial losses and emotional suffering. According to the lawsuit, the supervisor sexually harassed and abused the women multiple times from September 2017 until May 2018 by groping them, making vulgar comments, and masturbating in front of them. He forced one woman to have sex with him on a ship in November 2017 by threatening her job, court documents say. The womens immediate supervisor at NSC was well aware of the harassment, the lawsuit says. The NSC supervisor reported the complaints to an NSC branch manager who took no action and later said his concern was with keeping the companys contract with Huntington Ingalls, the lawsuit says. In April 2018, a second woman was fired after she refused to have sex with the Huntington Ingalls supervisor. The woman then reported the harassment and termination to an NSC recruiter. (The recruiter) acknowledged that she knew other female employees had made similar complaints but that there was nothing she could do and emphasized that (the woman) should not do anything that would cause NSC to lose its contract with HI, the lawsuit says. The supervisor accused of harassment threatened one women, saying she would lose her life if he lost her job after she and several others called the Huntington Ingalls hotline in April 2018. Huntington Ingalls permitted (the supervisor) to continue to work around . . . female employees, which allowed him to continue harassing them and gave him the opportunity to threaten (one womans) life, the lawsuit says. NSC closed its office in Mobile this week, a company branch manager told the Sun Herald. Neither NSC nor Ingalls Shipbuilding has responded to requests for comment from the Sun Herald. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) Former senator Bongbong Marcos, son of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, is running for the countrys highest post in 2022. Marcos officially declared his presidential bid in a social media video on Tuesday. In his virtual speech, he cited challenges faced by the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. I know that it is this manner of unifying leadership that can lead us through this crisis, get our people safely back to work, for all of us to begin to live our lives once again, Marcos said. And that is why, I am today announcing my intention to run for the presidency. I will bring that form of unifying leadership back to our country. Hangad kong ibalik ang mapagkaisang paglilingkod na magbubuklod sa ating bansa (I aim to bring back the united service in our country), he added. Marcos announcement comes on the same day he joined the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas. He assumed the party chairmanship after taking his oath, according to his camp. The former lawmaker said he accepted the partys endorsement as standard bearer for next years elections after consultations with grassroots leaders. Last month, Marcos was also nominated as the presidential bet of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, a party founded by his late father. At the time, Marcos said he was still on the final stages of deciding which national post he would vie for. Marcos ran for vice president in the 2016 election but lost to Leni Robredo. He filed an election protest against Robredo, but the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed it. He also previously served as a congressman representing Ilocos Norte, and had also held the governor and vice governor posts in the province. Marcos has yet to announce when he will be filing his certificate of candidacy for the presidency. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) President Rodrigo Duterte said he will return to his hometown when his term ends to prepare for the investigation of the International Criminal Court into the alleged crimes against humanity committed under his administration. "Gusto nila umuwi na ako sa Davao at maghintay ako sa maraming si dada nang dada diyan ng kaso. Hintayin ko kayo. I will prepare for my defense na 'yung ICC na 'yan," he said in a speech on Monday. [Translation: They want me to go home to Davao. I will wait for those who keep talking about the case. I will prepare for my defense in the ICC.] Duterte, who is set to retire from politics in 2022, previously said he would rather be dead than face the ICC. The International Criminal Court's pre-trial chamber in September authorized the start of the investigation into the Duterte administrations controversial "war on drugs" national campaign and similar crimes allegedly done in the Davao region when he was still mayor including the deaths in the vigilante group "Davao Death Squad." While Duterte reiterated that the international body does not have jurisdiction over the Philippines, claiming the judicial system is working in the country, he appealed for a fair trial. He said the death toll shouldn't be padded just to have evidence against him. "Huwag lang kayong magsinungaling. Totoo lang, tutal may record naman. Huwag kayong mag-imbento na 'yung namatay ng malaria diyan, icha-charge ninyo sa akin," he said. [Translation: Just don't lie. Base it on the truth according to the records. Do not manipulate the death toll or add those who died of malaria to my charges.] RELATED: DOJ: Police officers involved in 50 drug war cases may be criminally charged The administration said it will not cooperate with the ICC, but former ICC judge Raul Pangalangan said there is no stopping the court from gathering evidence so the investigation can proceed even with the government's refusal to cooperate. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) The PDP-Laban faction of Sen. Koko Pimentel has closed its doors to a possible reconciliation with the rival group of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi. Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday, Pimentel said he is not interested in unity talks with the Cusi faction, which recently expelled Sen. Manny Pacquiao for filing his candidacy for president under the PROMDI political party. "I am not interested anymore because I have learned my lesson. I only want to be associated with people I can trust," Pimentel said. "Anyway, being in a political party is an exercise of your right to association." "That's one of our appeals to those who are illegitimately claiming the name 'PDP-Laban.' why don't you just form your own group, invent your own name instead of hijacking an existing political party? But maybe dahil election na (maybe because it's elections season), it serves a purpose for them thats why they are doing this." The Cusi wing earlier accepted the candidacy of Sen. Bong Go for vice president, replacing party chair and President Rodrigo Duterte who then announced his retirement from politics after his term. But the group is now left with no standard bearer, after its months-long political rift with Pacquiao and Pimentel. Meanwhile, Pimentel repeatedly stressed that Pacquiao's PROMDI candidacy is valid under the constitution which he himself drafted. READ: Pimentel: Pacquiao's PROMDI candidacy meant to solidify bases Opposition unity talks still possible? As for talks with other presidential aspirants from the opposition, Pimentel left the decision to the boxer-turned-politician. "I will leave that to our presidential candidate because that is a very important decision, because he has already filed," Pimentel said, when asked whether a dialogue will resume between presidential aspirants Sen. Ping Lacson, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, or even possible contender Vice President Leni Robredo. The senator said Pacquiao may still be open to resume dialogue, but it might pose grave implications to the alliance partners, grassroots organizations and movements supporting the formalization of his bid. Pimentel also dismissed the possibility of reassessing the party's presidential and vice presidential bets if Pacquiao and his running mate BUHAY party-list Rep. Lito Atienza fail to top the list. "No survey can declare the official winner. The survey will be the election itself with around 60 million people casting their votes. A survey is around 1,800 lang yata 'yan (only)," he said. Pacquiao has placed fourth in the latest Pulse Asia survey of preferred presidential bets. Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, who has again topped the list, filed her candidacy for reelection. The week-long filing of candidacy for the 2022 polls will run until Oct. 8 but aspirants seeking to substitute those withdrawing from party tickets can file their COCs until Nov. 15. If the reason is due to death or incapacity, substitution will be allowed until midday of May 9. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) - Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Tuesday urged aspirants to prevent fiesta-like crowds from gathering inside and outside the designated areas for the filing of their certificates of candidacy (COC). "Kahit nag-oobserve ng physical distancing, eh wag na nating gawin na napakaraming supporters at iwasan na mala-fiesta na filing nitong COC natin," Eleazar told reporters in front of the Philippine International Convention Center, where supporters of aspirants are allowed to assemble. [Translation: Even if they observe physical distancing, let's not allow in too many supporters and make the COC-filing like a fiesta.] For the first four days, the COC-filing had been generally peaceful as per reports of unit commanders, Eleazar added. The PNP chief also pointed out that among the additional measures the police took to implement a safe COC-filing week is the creation of a health management task group which ensures that public health standards are maintained. He also announced that the gun ban will be lifted on Oct. 9 at 7 a.m.. Eleazar said he is confident that the measures to protect the public will continue until the May 2022 elections when he is no longer the PNP chief. Eleazar is set to retire in 40 days. "Sa PNP andiyan na ang mga policy, andiyan na ang mga programa na iyan ay inuupdate, rinerevise pinapaganda. Kahit sino umupo, sa tulong ninyo sa operasyon ng lahat, kayang kaya natin," said the police chief. [Translation: In the PNP, the policies and programs are there and are being updated revised, and improved. Whoever takes the lead, with your help in every operation, we can do it.] Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) Actor Robin Padilla will run for senator under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) faction headed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, its secretary general Melvin Matibag said. In a statement, Matibag said Robin took his oath as PDP-Laban member on Tuesday, along with his brother Rommel who is eyeing a congressional seat as representative of the 1st District of Nueva Ecija. Photos released by the PDP-Laban group showed Cusi administering the oath. In the 2016 national elections, Robin campaigned for then-presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, who later that year granted him absolute pardon in connection with his illegal possession of firearms conviction in 1994. In 2019, the actor also supported the ultimately successful senatorial bid of Duterte's longtime aide Christopher "Bong" Go. The Cusi-led PDP-Laban wing earlier bared its initial senatorial slate for the 2022 polls, which includes Cabinet members and some House lawmakers. READ: LIST: PDP-Laban faction's initial Senate slate for 2022 polls Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) - Vice President Leni Robredo, who has yet to bare her decision for the 2022 elections, will make an "important announcement" on Thursday, Oct. 7, according to her spokesperson. On Tuesday, Atty. Barry Gutierrez said the announcement will be made at 11 a.m. at the Quezon City Reception House. Last week, opposition coalition 1Sambayan endorsed Robredo as its presidential bet for next year's polls, but she has neither accepted nor declined the nomination. Over the weekend, Robredo's spokesperson also appealed for the public's patience as she finalizes her decision. Once the Vice President makes a commitment, she will remain firm with it, Gutierrez added. The deadline of the filing of certificates of candidacy is on Oct. 8. Robredo earlier told CNN Philippines she is looking at bigger factors besides just numbers in deciding on her election plans. She had also engaged in talks with other potential candidates in a bid to unite the opposition. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 5) Filipinos love drama, and some politicians know just how to play it. Existing election rules allow last-minute political aspirants to join the race through substitution, which was how then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte became one of the presidential candidates in 2016. However, two political analysts said a similar maneuver might not work this time, adding that the option to substitute should now be removed. "I'm not so sure if people will still buy it because it's no longer fresh. It has been used by Duterte in the 2016 elections," Dr. Jean Encinas-Franco, associate professor at the University of the Philippines' political science department, said in an interview. "There's a guessing game behind it pero [but] as to whether it will lead to votes, I don't know." There are only three days left for aspiring candidates in the May 2022 polls to submit their certificates of candidacy (COCs) before the Commission on Elections. However, the list of bets will not be final until after Nov. 15 due to possible substitutions. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said there are two types of substitution. First is voluntary substitution, where an aspirant who previously filed a COC withdraws his intent to run to give way to a fellow party member aiming for the post. Jimenez told reporters on Monday that the substitute candidate must be a member of the same political party and not just of a group that's part of an alliance. He added that the poll body has not received applications from party coalitions for the 2022 elections. Meanwhile, there's also involuntary substitution, for when a candidate dies or is disqualified from the race before May 9. Rules allow for a relative who shares the same surname to jump in until noontime of election day, and votes cast will be counted in their favor. Lawyer Tony La Vina, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said another substitution may be in the works. He added that Senator Bong Go could just be a placeholder for the President in the vice-presidential race -- the same tactic employed by PDP-Laban member Martin Dino for Duterte in 2015. Duterte earlier said he intends to run as vice president for continued immunity from lawsuit, although Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and legal experts have said that it is only the sitting president who enjoys such a perk. La Vina added that the system is deceptive and should already be removed. "It's already an outdated provision because it is based on the idea that political parties are the way we organize our politics. It's simply not true in Philippines now," he told CNN Philippines. "This is an old trick, and an old trick needs to be retired. We need to have more mature politics in this country, our politics has been hijacked by personalities and by families." For La Vina, replacements through involuntary withdrawals from the race are "justified." However, voluntary switch-ups should not be allowed. "You are fooling the people, you are lying to the people," he added. "From the very beginning you already know what you want to do...then you just pretend that you changed your mind." Eric Alvia, secretary general of the poll watchdog National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), said separately that substitutions should only be allowed "for death or mental/physical incapacity" of the original filer of candidacy. "While not illegal, we view this as an opportunistic tactic to extract a competitive advantage of 'reserving' or 'parking' a candidate slot for a position," Alvia said. "Feigning to run or not to run for a post reveals to what extent a candidate or political party will go to extract a win or advantage. Sadly, that's part of the game." Franco pointed out that changing a candidate in the middle of the game gives a sense that aspiring leaders are not really serious about serving the people. "The fact that we have that (substitution) creates so much uncertainty. How can you even begin to ask about platforms if they don't know who's running for which position?" she added. La Vina said a new law is needed to do away with the substitution scheme. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 6) The Philippine National Police (PNP) is asking Congress for more funds to buy additional body cameras for police personnel nationwide. The Supreme Court recently required law enforcers to wear body cameras or alternative recording devices during arrests. The PNP, so far, was able to distribute only 2,696 units or a mere 8.42% of its 32,000 personnel nationwide. PNP Chief General Guillermo Eleazar admitted these were provided only to police stations in cities, while more than 1,500 municipal police stations have not yet been issued with such equipment. Support units like the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEG) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) also have no body cams, he added. Eleazar was not able to provide the exact amount the police force needs for the purchase of body cams. He noted, however, that every set consisting of 16 body cameras -- four of which have live streaming capabilities -- would cost 2 million. "So we seek your support, the Senate and the House of Representatives, kung puwedeng madagdagan 'yung pondo, mabigyan kami [if we can be given additional funds] so that we can procure more body worn cameras and systems to be distributed to other police units, Eleazar said on Tuesday during the Interior departments budget hearing at the Senate. Senator Bato dela Rosa, who is also a former PNP chief, agreed the agency should be given sufficient budget to buy body cameras. "Paano yan? Hindi na makapag-execute ng search warrant o makapag-implement ng warrant of arrest 'yung ating mga municipal police stations dahil walang body worn cameras?" Dela Rosa said. [Translation: So, what will happen now? Municipal police stations cannot execute a search warrant or implement an arrest warrant because they do not have body worn cameras?] 125,000 for a GoPro-like camera? Some senators, however, questioned what appeared to be expensive body cameras the PNP had bought for their operations. Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, estimated that every unit would cost 125,000 if the entire set is priced at 2 million. "Kasi ang concern natin dito [our concern here] is 'yung [the] cost-effectiveness diba," Angara said. "How much is a GoPro camera that records very accurately." Senator Win Gatchalian pointed out that the most expensive GoPro camera set being used in sporting activities is 30,000. Eleazar clarified that the 2 million package already includes the system in the command center that works with the 16-camera set. Angara asked the general whether or not there is really a need to buy an entire system for every camera set. The PNP chief answered yes, saying the system ensures integrity to make sure the recordings will not be tampered. "Naging concern din kasi 'yan bakit sinasabi napakamahal (the body cameras)," Eleazar explained. "But these passed through the procurement process and napakatagal nga ng pinagdaanan and eventually na-procure na natin siya." [Translation: It was a concern why the body cameras are so expensive. But these passed through the procurement process. It took quite some time, and eventually we were able to procure them.] The senators then clarified they are not prejudging the purchase of cameras based on the price of every unit. They eventually told Eleazar to submit documents that will justify the price. Senator Francis Tolentino, meanwhile, urged the police general to clarify with the Supreme Court the definition of "back up devices." The High Court earlier said that a law enforcer can use alternative devices in the absence of a body camera during an arrest. Southwest Colorado's San Juan County can boast that 99.9% of its eligible population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, putting it in the top 10 counties in the nation, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year our dine and drink business locations throughout the Gorge have suffered with closures. You can help support your favorites by purchasing take out and gift cards. Many of these business will offer curb-side delivery and some will deliver to your home. Lets keep the Gorge going strong! Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label. Dobleamarilla.com scored 58 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 3/5.0 Stars by Social Team This CoolSocial report was updated on 12 Apr 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. The total number of people who shared the dobleamarilla homepage on StumbleUpon. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the dobleamarilla homepage on Twitter + the total number of dobleamarilla followers (if dobleamarilla has a Twitter account). The total number of people who shared the dobleamarilla homepage on Delicious. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the dobleamarilla homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if dobleamarilla has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the dobleamarilla homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. Basic Information PAGE TITLE dobleamarilla.com - Le migliori risorse e informazioni sul tema: doble amarilla. 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High values are a sign of site importance over the web and on web engines. Facebook link FACEBOOK PAGE LINK NOT FOUND The description of the Facebook page describes website and its services to the social media users. The type of Facebook page. The total number of people who like website Facebook page. The URL of the found Facebook page. The total number of people who tagged or talked about website Facebook page in the last 7-10 days. Facebook Timeline is the new layout of Facebook pages. A Facebook page link can be found in the homepage or in the robots.txt file. Twitter account link TWITTER PAGE LINK NOT FOUND Croda International Plc. has donated 1,000 SunPower solar panels to three non-profit organizations for use in low-income housing and crop generation. Event alert: Croda Addresses Inclusive Hair Care Strategies at Beauty Accelerate Virtual After relocating its North American headquarters and innovation center from Edison, New Jersey, to Plainsboro, New Jersey, Croda partnered with Decom Solar to donate solar panels it could no longer use at its new facility. The non-profit organizations receiving the solar panels are The Milestone Cooperative Associations in Holmes County, Missouri, and The Jackson Resource Center and Kinead Housing Foundation, both in Jackson, Mississippi. The organizations will use the donated panels to power hydroponics systems and homes. The donated solar panels include 1,000 305W SunPower modules and one Satcon Power Gate Plus 375kW Central Inverter. These modules are estimated to still produce up to 335,843 KWh per year, which is equivalent to saving 263,187 lb of coal burned, enough to power 28.7 homes per year or preserve 292 acres of U.S. forests in one year. David Shannon, president of consumer care at Croda Inc., says, Once we became aware the solar panels could not be utilized at our new site, finding organizations that could benefit from the panels long term was essential. Kao Corporation has announced the opening of a flagship store for Kanebo Cosmetics Sensai brand in mainland China and the launch of Sensais Silk Skin Checker, an AI-powered skin analysis tool on its website. The new store sells Senai products on Tmall, Chinas largest B2C online shopping mall. Kao Corporation intends to expand Sensais consumer base into China after the success of the Japanese brand in Europe. Along with the new store, Kao launched a pop-up called the Experience Room in Shanghai for the month of September to promote awareness of the newly arriving brand. Related: Kao to Open Duty-Free Cosmetic Counter in China The company plans to install future pop-up spaces to continue to promote the brand through a multisensory experience. Kao also announced intentions to open Sensais first downtown store in China by 2022. During a press conference at the pop-up display in Shangai, Xu Jingbo, a professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at Fudan University, gave a lecture on Japanese aesthetics. The cultures of China and Japan are joined by an essential and inseparable connection, Jingbo said. It is especially important to remember the strength of this connection as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan. In addition to a growing presence in China, Sensai is expanding its virtual counseling offerings with the AI-powered Silk Skin Checker. This launch follows Sensais virtual make up and foundation finder options. The Silk Skin Checker tool uses data collected by the users smartphone camera or webcam to measure the skin condition in five categories: moisture, spots, wrinkles, texture and dark circles. It applies a score for the three properties that Sensai defines as an ideal silk skin: radiance, firmness and fineness. The tool then proposes a skin care routine with supplementary items according to the users current skin care habits and silk skin score. A tutorial movie included demonstrates the correct ways to use the proposed products. Yoshiko Sakurai, senior marketer at Sensai, says, When developing the Silk Skin Checker, we stayed faithful to the elegant brand style to express a Sensai worldview that customers will enjoy. Technologically, Sensai has unique abilities to measure moisture, a property that can be difficult to measure visually. With the elegant interface and sophisticated AI analysis behind it, we can provide more personalized communications and optimal care and product suggestions for every customer. The story of the Israelites entering the promised land is one of hope and victory. It is a reminder of how faithful God is to keep his promises. There are many lessons that can be taken from this story, but I want to offer you five lessons from Joshua and the promised land. Lesson #1 The enemy is really worried about you. Before Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land, he sent out spies to survey the land. Word got out that there were spies in the land and the order was given to capture them. Rahab hid the spies and after keeping them hidden from the Jericho police this is what she told the spies. Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyones courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Joshua 2:8-11 When it comes to your walk with God, there is one thing you must remember. The enemy is worried about you. I know we often think about a devil that is out to get you and while this is true, the devil is really worried about you. He is concerned because he knows what or rather who is in you. He is afraid and worried that you will finally understand who you are in Christ because when you fully grasp that revelation and begin to live in it, then you become a threat to him. Thats why he will use any means necessary to keep you from understanding who you are in Christ. When you begin to truly walk with the power of the Holy Spirit flowing in your life, you are a threat to his kingdom and you have become his worst nightmare. He knows it and you must know that too. Lesson #2 Sin delays and defeats the plan of God for your life. If there is a lesson from Joshua and the promised land you should take to heart is the impact sin has in your life. As powerful as you are in Christ, which we mentioned above, sin will delay, defeat, and derail the plan of God for your life. In fact, sin is the only thing that can do this. After defeating big, bad Jericho noticed what happened to the Israelite army when they faced little old Ai. But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So, the Lords anger burned against Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, Go up and spy out the region. So, the men went up and spied out Ai. When they returned to Joshua, they said, Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there. So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water. Joshua 7:1-5 What was the difference between Jericho and Ai? One wordsin. The reason you are a powerhouse is because God is with you. If you remove him from the equation, then you are a threat to no one and certainly not to the enemy. When there is willful, unrepentant sin in your life it nullifies Gods ability to use you and it defeats the plan of God for your life. If you should fall into sin, repent quickly, and dont allow it to linger in your heart because by doing so you will cause delay, defeat, and derailment in your life. Photo Credit: GettyImages/greenaperture Lesson #3 Find a way to mark Gods faithfulness. So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, What do these stones mean? tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. Joshua 4:4-7 To get to the promised land Joshua and the Israelites had to cross the Jordan River. However just like they crossed the Red Sea when God held back the waters, they did the same at the Jordan River. To remember this event God asked them to get some stones as a memorial. What are you doing to mark the faithfulness of God in your life? I am not saying you have to get a stone, but you should get something or do something that will be a reminder to you and those who come after you of Gods faithfulness. This will be a way to teach future generations of how wonderful God has been. Get a journal, get a picture, create a video, do something to tell the story of who God is and what he has done in your life. Lesson #4 God will give you the victory, but you still have to fight. When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in itmen and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. Joshua 6:20-21 Another lesson from Joshua and the promised land that we need to remember is that yes God has given us the victory, but we still have to fight. In other words, we still have a role to play in the battle. We do have the advantage because we have God on our side, but it will require something from youyou must show up. It is proper to pray and ask God for victory but once you have done that then you must take up your weapons and go walk in the victory God will give. Lesson #5 Even in the promised land there are battles to fight. The final lesson from Joshua and the promised land I want to remind you of is that even in the promised land there are battles to fight. You would think the promised land would be a place where there are no enemies, and everything would be easy. However, that was not the case because there were enemies left to conquer in the land that God had promised to give them. This is a reminder that as you walk into the things that God has promised, it is not always going to be smooth sailing. You may face opposition. You may face threats. You may face things that will try to get in the way of you obtaining what God has promised. Should this happen because it comes with the territory? The difference is when you operate in the promise of God, the outcome is already secured and guaranteed. If you follow God, you will arrive at the promise just be prepared because there will be battles to fight along the way. Final Thought The lessons of Joshua and the promised land are one great reminder that God is faithful to do what he has said. From the moment the Israelites went up to Egypt until the time they entered the promised land was over 470 years, but no amount of time will cancel out whatever God has promised you. The same God who was faithful to Israel is the same God who will be faithful to you. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Joshua Earle DETROIT (AP) Aretha Franklin was given a bit of posthumous R-E-S-P-E-C-T on Monday when a post office in her hometown of Detroit was named after the late singer. Members of Franklins family as well as postal and elected officials visited the former Fox Creek post office to celebrate the name change honoring the Queen of Soul. Her legacy lives on in her music, in her family. But we have added to that list of her legacy: A post office with her name on it, said U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, a Michigan Democrat and longtime postal service worker. Lawrence also was a friend of Franklins and introduced the bill in Congress that resulted in the name change. That legislation, which was signed by President Donald Trump in January, sailed through Congress, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters said. Sometimes people wonder if Congress can come together," the Democratic senator said to laughter during the dedication ceremony Monday. "Congress can come together when it comes to standing up and recognizing this amazing person. The post office is located about five miles east of downtown and not far from a concert amphitheater on the Detroit River that also is named for Franklin. It now will be known as the Aretha Franklin Post Office Building. Franklin died in 2018 at age 76 in her Detroit home. A number of the songs she recorded during a legendary career, including Think, I Say a Little Prayer and Respect, are considered classics. About twice a week, 6-year-old Eli Galaise goes out hunting for wild mushrooms. Eli, who lives in Falls Village, is enthusiastic about mushrooms. So much so that he, with some encouragement from his mother, started a YouTube channel where hes known as the Little Mycologist. Maybe a year ago or so, we were going on hikes constantly during the pandemic. Thats how we handled it. Every single day, we were outside, his mom, Carla Galaise, said. Eli would stop every person wed walk by and show them mushrooms and teach them about mushrooms. In the videos, Eli is visibly excited about every mushroom he encounters. Im never gonna get tired of it, he said during a recent interview. He knows most of the Latin and common names of each, and though hes interested in the edible mushrooms, Elis also interested in the odd ones, as well as the poisonous ones. I have a bleeding tooth in my yard, he said. Its this really cool one that looks like its bleeding this red or sometimes orange watery stuff. Its cool. More mushrooms and more foragers On the whole this has been, according to Bill Yule, one of the better mushroom hunting seasons in recent memory. Yule has been foraging for mushrooms in Connecticut for the past 30 years or so. The Haddam resident was a science teacher and environmental educator before retiring two years ago. But mushrooms have been and remain his passion. What made this year so good for mushrooms was the rainfall. Experienced foragers, he said, spend a lot of time looking at rainfall maps. If you look at Connecticut as a whole, and southern New England as a whole, this was an excellent mushroom season, Yule said. You have to follow the exact rain patterns to figure out where the mushrooms are. Its also been a banner year for mushroom hunters. There are more foragers out in the woods now than Yule has ever seen before. In the past three years, the popularity of this hobby has exploded in ways no one could have predicted, he said. There are two kinds of mushroom hunters. There are foragers, who primarily look for edible mushrooms in the wild, and there are amateur mycologists, who, Yule said, are more interested in cataloging biological diversity and preserving ecology. For the first group, Connecticut is home to some well known and tasty mushrooms. There is the so-called chicken of the woods, which has a yellow, orange appearance and grows on trees. There are maitake mushrooms, sometimes called hen-of-the-woods, as well as chanterelles and button mushrooms, and many more. Just now were going into the fall season and people are starting to collect the hen-of-the-woods, the honey mushrooms and the yellow footed chanterelles, he said. They are the best edibles. Many foragers search for mushrooms for personal use but there is, Yule said, a whole shadow economy going on. Though its technically illegal to sell wild mushrooms, Yule said foragers often sell the mushrooms to brokers from out of state, or on the back steps of restaurants. The destroying angel and the death cap There are many thousands of types of mushrooms growing wild in Connecticut, Karen Monger, the newsletter editor for the North American Mycological Association and membership coordinator for the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, We have an incredible diversity of mushroom species, she said. That is due partly to the fact that we have such a diverse group of trees. It can be difficult, sometimes, to tell the difference between edible mushrooms and the ones that can kill you. The so-called destroying angel, for example, looks like an innocent button mushroom when its young, but eat enough of it and you may need a liver transplant. In the best of cases, a toxic mushroom might send you to the bathroom for a couple hours, Monger said. Other mushrooms might require a trip to the emergency room for intravenous fluids from your fluid loss from vomiting and diarrhea. In the worst cases, You may need a liver replacement because youve eaten the wrong mushroom and the toxins in that particular mushroom have destroyed your liver, Monger said. So you know, you dont gamble with wild mushrooms if youre going to eat them. The destroying angel is common across Connecticut. Julie OGrady, a Westport forager, said she often sees them in town. I see them every day, OGrady said. I mean, every day, every time I go out, we see one somewhere. The sad thing is that its an awful death, because what it does is it makes you really sick for a day or two, and then you feel better, she said. And then it attacks your liver. You have to have a liver transplant to survive, or it kills you. Yule cautions that proper identification is key. There have been about 80 calls so far this year to Connecticuts Poison Control Center for exposure to potentially poisonous mushrooms. Thats about on par with last year, when there were 105 calls, and far higher than the 53 mushroom-related calls there were in 2019, perhaps due to the weather conditions and increased number of foragers. But even edible mushrooms are not always tolerable. Yule is often called to identify which mushroom an ill patient has ingested. Sometimes, its a destroying angel or, less often, the toxic death cap mushroom. But most of the time, its because a mushroom has not been prepared well, or because an individual was susceptible in a way another might not be. People think that they can lightly saute some mushrooms and eat them, and you cant, Yule said. Thats what the major poison control issues are about. Identification Monger, from Norwich, said it can be difficult to make a precise identification. You cant kind of say, Oh, I wish I could find this mushroom, and I find something that kind of looks like it, but this feature doesnt match up, but Im gonna overlook that fact, she said That could be a very bad mistake. Monger said to correctly identify a mushroom, a forager needs to pay attention to any number of factors. Is it growing on the ground? If its growing in the ground is it associated with a bunch of conifer trees or hardwood trees? How a mushroom looks, its morphological features, are perhaps the first thing to note, Monger said: Are you looking at the colors of the mushroom? You see if it has gills, pores, teeth, a smooth underside, does it have a stem? Does it not have a stem? Are you looking at features on the stem? Is there a ring? Are there leftover pieces of a cortino, a waxy substance? You look at the base of the mushroom, is there a bulb, is there a vulval sack? But smell is also an important factor. You can pick up different odors that are an identification clue for the mushroom, Monger said. Taking a spore print is a more ambitious way to identify a mushroom, Monger said, but it is a helpful way to identify one. Taking a spore print is pretty easy, said Matt Pulk, of Storrs, who is an administrator of several mushroom identification Facebook pages. Generally, you just put the spore bearing surface, facedown. Usually, depending on the mushroom, some of them will let you know in 10 minutes whereas, other ones, you might leave for 24 hours just to have more of a dense spore collection. Its best, Pulk said, to abstain from eating a mushroom until youre sure. I tell people, unless you can identify for yourself, unless youve done your research, unless youve consulted with other people who you trust and consider to be as close as an expert in that scenario that can be, then thats basically the only time you want to eat a mushroom, he said. 2 percent of whats out there There are, in fact, so many species of fungi in the world that its possible to discover new ones. We probably only know about 2 percent of the species on this planet, said Rachel Koch, a research assistant professor at the University of Connecticut and an expert in mushroom evolution and mushroom diversity. So its very possible that when people are collecting mushrooms that they might have a new species that hasnt been described yet, just because morphologically, theres not a lot of factors that differentiate them. Koch said fungi have been on the planet longer than complex plant or animal life. In fact, she said fungi make plant life possible, either through associating with them, or returning the nutrients to the soil again, fungi were what allowed plants to come on to the earth really, to evolve. Plants wouldnt exist if it werent for the fungi, she said. Interestingly, Koch said fungi are more closely related to human life than they are to the trees on which they often live. If you just look at all of the big groups of organisms out there like plants, bacteria, fungi, animals animals and fungi are going to be more closely related than if you were to look at fungi and plants, she said. There are just more similarities between fungi and animals than there are between fungi and plants. Science vs. food There are those foragers, like Yule, Pulk and 6-year-old Eli, who are more interested in the science. There are also those foragers, like OGrady and Monger, who are interested in mycophagy. Mycophagy is the study of eating mushrooms and cooking mushrooms, OGrady said. OGrady is the chief mycophagist for the Connecticut-Westchester Mycological Association, one of several mushroom-focused groups in the region. So when the group has a gathering, what they call a foray, she makes a mushroom-related meal. I cooked dinner for 80 people thats all mushroom related and we buy a lot of cultivated mushrooms just because we dont find enough food for 80 people, she said. Monger also runs a wild mushroom-related business with her husband and daughter. Theyre called The Three Foragers. My husband is more concentrated on just pure identification collecting specimens he sends in for DNA analysis, she said. He believes hes found at least two new species this particular year that have not been previously recorded. But they all have one thing in common: Though theyre excited about mushrooms, they try to keep the best spots to themselves. They may share it with friends and family, but Yule said there are too many foragers and not enough public land on which to forage. For the first time this year in my life hunting wild mushrooms, Ive seen professional foragers. They work together to forage for edible, saleable mushrooms, he said. You can recognize them because they dont have a nice, wicker basket, they have four-gallon buckets. 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. GUILFORD An effort to disentangle some of the more than 300 pages of rules that govern building in this Shoreline town appears to be nearing its end after a two-year process, officials said Monday. The undertaking a complete rewrite of Guilfords zoning code is now headed toward a period of review by zoning officials and the public, where it could spark debate over weightier aspects of the project that touch on the longstanding issues of affordable housing and denser development. The towns current zoning code dates back to 1978, according to Town Planner George Kral, and numerous additions in the decades since have ballooned the code into a hodgepodge of overlapping rules, contradictory regulations, and numerous special planning districts. It was added on to, amended, and whatever, many, many, many times over the years since then, Kral said. It led to confusion, not so much on the part of the Planning and Zoning Commission, but on the part of the users of the code, builders, developers, property owners, architects, et cetera finding what the current rules actually were and making sense out of it. The efforts to revise and streamline the code began in 2019. They were intended to be a mostly editorial and noncontroversial process, Kral said, that included updating references, fixing errors, and moving around various sections of the code so that similar topics are addressed together. Along the way, however, Kral said it was an inevitability that officials would address weightier topics. We would find things that appeared to be hot issues right now and we tried to address them, Kral said. We tried to minimize major changes, but weve definitely identified substantive changes, issue areas that are controversial right now. The town budgeted $100,000 for the project and hired an outside consultant, Glenn Chalder of Avon-based Planimetrics, to help officials complete a page-by-page review of the code. Im kind of like a doctor, they ask me to come in and do an examination of the regulations and diagnose some issues, and Im trying to help them sort of solve those problems, Chalder said. Chalder, Kral, and the towns former zoning enforcement officer, Erin Mannix, met monthly for much of the last two years to discuss the project, Kral said. Eventually, the group developed a rough draft of new regulations to submit to the Planning and Zoning Commission. While a formal draft has yet to be submitted, members have discussed its contents in a series of public, informal meetings this year. Among the substantive issues likely to be addressed in the final draft are the development of multifamily housing, and regulations related to accessory dwelling units, more commonly known as granny pods. Kral said that the revised code will likely remove any remaining restrictions on multi-family housing in commercial areas that limits such units to senior housing. Those regulations have been removed on a piecemeal basis for years in commercial districts, which are generally open for denser development, he added. In addition, Kral said the draft will likely address a new state law intended to spur the development of granny pods, by removing the need for the owners of those units to seek permission from zoning officials in some circumstances. Neither Kral nor Guilford First Selectman Matthew Hoey anticipated that the changes would prompt intense pushback, despite the relative amount of controversy surrounding the issues. Hoey said Monday that the overall public interest in the code revision project has been benign. Guilford, like many other towns in Connecticut, has struggled to provide enough affordable housing for lower-income residents. Less than 3 percent of the towns housing stock was considered affordable last year, according to a list maintained by the state. Building denser and smaller units, such as granny pods, would help alleviate some of the lack of affordable housing, Hoey said. He noted that the areas high median income likely means that, under the states definition of affordable, the cost of such housing would still be high. In Connecticut, affordable housing means that households that earn up to 80 percent of the area median income are spending no more than one-third of their incomes on housing. Guilfords area median income is $111,000. We want to be an open and inviting community that allows folks of multiple backgrounds and socioeconomic status to afford to live here in town, Hoey said. Once zoning officials complete their review of the new draft codes, Kral said the documents will be put forward for a public comment period that could begin around the start of the new year. It was only a few years back, in the middle of my morning radio show on 960-WELI, when I made a reference to American bread and my producer at the time about 15 years younger than me called me out on it. Why do you call it that? he asked. Call what what? was my response, as if we were performing some scripted Abbott & Costello routine. Ive never heard anyone call white bread American bread before, he said earnestly. It was an interesting moment. I still cant decide if it was Gen X/Millennial or Italian/Latino thing that caused the confusion. When I was growing up Wonder Bread was referred to as American bread, in large part due to the fact that there was always a loaf of Italian bread to be found in our house. We ate a lot more Italian bread than any other kind and even prepared our sandwiches with it, then stuffed them into our superhero lunchboxes. And that Italian bread was Apicellas. In 2022, Apicellas will mark its 95th year serving the Greater New Haven area if not beyond; a bread perfected in a garage in 1927, and then delivered get this via horse and buggy. The story goes that a Jeremiah Apicella (yes, Jeremiah) emigrated to New Haven from Italy and immediately began working in Cusanos Bakery. In 1927 he decided to make a go of it with his brother-in-law, both of them baking their own variation of Italian bread, in his garage on Houston Street. If Im to understand correctly, that garage became Apicellas Bakery and remained on Houston all the way until 1980, when it was relocated to Grand Avenue, where it has proudly stood and served much more than just Italian bread ever since. Apicellas was a staple on my dinner table growing up, and the fresher it was, the better. It was a treat to cut off the freshest of heels (what my old man referred to each end of the loaf as), slap some butter on it and nosh away. He liked to use the heel to wipe up every last bit of tomato sauce on his place with, which my sister Julie and I simply could not watch. But thats another story. If we had guests, they brought a loaf of Apicellas with them, and sometimes wed end up with three loaves on the table. In many homes in my neighborhood, growing up, the Apicellas was simply not allowed to even inch towards going stale. But in my house this was not the worst thing that could happen. My father was a wizard with leftover Italian bread. Homemade pizzas were made with it in the toaster oven, along with the greatest of open-faced grilled cheeses (thats just a slice on the top, to bubble up and brown especially good when provolone cheese was used), and even French toast. (French toast made with Italian bread what a multicultural kitchen it was!) Other times my father would simply pop the last few pieces into the toaster oven with a slice of tomato on it, and his four children would devour them. Little did we know this would later get named Bruschetta and cost a pretty penny as an appetizer at many of the great Italian restaurants in and around the Elm City. The Apicellas was never to be wasted, but he knew there was life the next day especially if tied up right, in the paper sleeve it came in and plopped into a plastic bag. My mother was caught once tearing up pieces and tossing them off the back porch, for the birds to feast on. That was an ugly morning. So, the next time that you gleefully spend 14 bucks for some Challah bread French toast at a hot brunch spot, remember what you are reading here, and that while Challah bread sure is tasty Italian bread gets that job done too. Delightfully. Jeremiah Apicellas story is an inspiring one. It surely was then, all the way back in 1927, and some may find it so in this entrepreneurial and challenging day and age. Some of the story was told to me when I called Apicellas one day. I didnt know who the gentleman was on the other end of the phone. I asked at one point if I was speaking to the owner, to which he replied, No, Al Cimino bought the place from the Apicellas. No further elaboration. But we did have a laugh about an Italian named Jeremiah and loaves of Italian bread being delivered right to your door by him, by way of a horse and buggy. Now that I think about it, that could be a fantastic business venture: Horse & Buggy Bread. In this curbside/Uber Eats era, where novelty meets history could lend itself to a heck of a trend. Just so long as the bread is Apicellas. Now thats branding. BEIJING (AP) A midsize Chinese real estate developer failed to make a $205.7 million payment due to bondholders Tuesday, adding to the industry's financial strain as one of China's biggest developers tries to avoid defaulting on billions of dollars of debt. Fantasia Holdings Group announced it missed the payment in a statement issued through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It gave no explanation but said it had asked for trading of Fantasia shares to be suspended. Some Chinese developers are struggling to repay debt after regulators tightened limits last year on their use of borrowed money. That is fueling fears about possible defaults and turmoil in financial markets. Investors are worried Evergrande Group might collapse with 2 trillion yuan ($310 billion) of debt. The company has missed at least one payment to bondholders abroad but has yet to be declared in default. Economists say Beijing can prevent a broader credit crunch if Evergrande defaults but wants to avoid bailing out the company or its creditors as a warning to other borrowers and lenders to be more disciplined. Fantasia, valued by the stock market at $415 million, reported a 153 million yuan ($24 million) profit for the first half of 2021 and said revenue rose 18.5% over a year earlier to 10.9 billion yuan ($1.7 billion). Fantasias missed payment highlights its strained liquidity, despite its reported sufficient cash on hand, said S&P Global Ratings in a statement. Fantasia said it had 27.1 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) in cash as of June 30, according to S&P. As funding conditions worsened, its likely that the cash was utilized for other repayments or was not accessible, S&P said. Asset disposals have been slower than we expected, failing to bring in liquidity sources in time. The failure to pay is likely to trigger cross defaults on other Fantasia bonds, accelerating repayment on other debt, S&P said. Hundreds of smaller Chinese developers have gone bankrupt since regulators began tightening control over the industry's financing in 2017 amid concern about rising debt and the possible risk of a financial crisis. In March, another developer, Fortune Land Development Co. said it missed interest and debt payments totaling 5.3 billion yuan ($813.5 million). Tara ONeill / Hearst Connecticut Media BRIDGEPORT More than 2,000 utility customers are without power in Bridgeport and Trumbull on Tuesday afternoon after a transformer explosion in the city, according to officials. Around 1:30 p.m., first responders were dispatched to the area of Main Street and Old Town Road. STRATFORD East Hartford. Waterbury. Ansonia. Stratford? For the second straight year, the town has joined other struggling communities on a list of the most distressed in Connecticut, a measure of the states most fiscally and economically distressed municipalities used by the Department of Economic and Community Development to target funds for things like housing, insurance, open space, and brownfield remediation. As the campaign for mayor and Town Council enters its last month, the towns Democrats are harping on the listing as evidence that incumbent Republican Mayor Laura Hoydick and the GOP majority on the council should be voted out. Republicans countered that the Democrats are making up for a lack of original ideas with alarmism. Distressed municipality is a dry term, but buried underneath it is real human suffering, Immacula Cann, the Democrats nominee for mayor, said in a prepared statement. Mayor Hoydick has done a very good job of talking around its significance, and all too poor a job of getting us out of this mess. The DECD uses several criteria such as tax base, residents income, and demand for public services to compute a score indicating how distressed a municipality is. Stratford is far from the top of the list 24th out of the 25 most distressed of the states 169 towns and cities. But the town has made the list two years running after not appearing since 2012. The distressed designation diminishes potential investment, deters business from relocating, and ultimately leads to a cycle of decline that becomes harder and harder to reverse, the Democrats said in their campaign broadside. Its significance is far too often lost on the voting public, and can ultimately lead to a state takeover, creating crushing tax burdens and crippling unions. The Dems announced a voter education initiative around the towns placement on the list, saying theyve knocked on thousands of doors and will continue educating voters that distressed municipality isnt meaningless jargon. It means fewer jobs, diminished town services, and higher taxes. Each year Stratford loses more small businesses, and when they go, they take jobs and dreams with them, Cann said. Im concerned shell welcome a state takeover to bail herself out on the backs of our most vulnerable. Asked if the mayor or her campaign had a response, Michael Downes, Hoydicks chief of staff, said it is completely ridiculous, desperate and deceitful that a candidate for mayor would attempt to alarm the public over a state financial takeover when Stratford doesnt even qualify under any of the criteria for the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) program. Currently, the only municipalities referred to the Municipality Accountability Review Board are West Haven, Hartford, and Sprague. Several others satisfy some of the criteria used by the state to determine whether stricter supervision of municipal decision-making is necessary so-called Tier Status according to the most recent available data, including many distressed municipalities. But Stratford has not, Downes pointed out, saying Hoydick and Republicans have provided a positive reset for Stratford. We have lowered taxes and the mill rate, making Stratford a much more attractive place for the businesses we have to remain, for businesses to start up here, and for businesses to relocate here from other towns, he said. Though the mill rate has been reduced for every year Hoydick has been in office, property taxes for many are higher after a town-wide revaluation of real estate particularly in the heavily Democratic south end of town. And the mayor has welcomed a bevy of new businesses more than 500 new businesses were registered with the Secretary of the States Office in 2020 alone but Democrats counter that the town is lagging behind neighbors. Data compiled by the CT Data Collaborative and Advance CT, a nonprofit with a goal of retaining and recruiting businesses, indicates that Stratford is far behind most bordering municipalities in terms of economic development. According to the 2021 Town Profiles compiled by the group, the towns equalized net grand list of taxable property is 82 percent of the state average on a per capita basis. By comparison, Trumbulls is 128 percent, Milfords is 112 percent, and Sheltons is 105. Bridgeport, the states 11th most distressed municipality, comes in at 42 percent. Downes said the town would be better off if not for the coronavirus pandemic and noted the towns grand list increased last year, saying Democrats are doing nothing more than engaging in a disinformation campaign in an attempt to scare people for votes. Since Mayor Hoydick has been in office, the Towns bond rating has improved, the Towns fund balance has increased and the mill rate has been reduced four years in a row without layoffs or cuts in government services, he said. Election Day is Nov. 2. BRDO CASTLE, Slovenia (AP) European Union leaders met for the first time Tuesday since the messy Western troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and France's loss of a multibillion-dollar submarine deal with Australia, events that they argue have exposed Europe's need for more autonomy on defense. With the 27-nation trade blocs tense relationship with China and rising energy prices also on the agenda, they had plenty to discuss during their dinner at Brdo Castle in Slovenia. They have a summit with leaders from neighboring Balkans countries scheduled Wednesday. The informal talks were intended to prepare the ground for an EU summit later this month in Brussels and a March meeting focusing on European defense. The dinner focused on the role of the European Union on the international scene in light of recent geopolitical developments, including the situation in Afghanistan and the AUKUS submarine deal. Drawing the lessons of recent crises, we are committed to consolidating our strengths and strengthening our resilience by reducing our critical dependencies," EU Council president Charles Michel said after the meeting. To become more effective and assertive on the international stage, the European Union needs to increase its capacity to act autonomously." The Talibans takeover of Afghanistan and the rushed airlift operation that followed the U.S. decision to pull out have laid bare the EUs dependency on its ally. Without American support, European countries wouldnt have been able to guarantee the safe exit of their citizens or even their troops this summer. The Indo-Pacific defense deal between the U.S., Australia and Britain that led Australia to cancel the contract for diesel-electric French submarines has contributed to more frustration in the EU camp over the U.S. unilateral moves. Australia is acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered vessels instead of the French submarines. The Australian government's move has infuriated France, which is seeking clarification from Washington about its commitment to European allies. Several EU member countries have expressed solidarity with France. French president Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden have discussed the rift over the phone to ease tensions, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Macron in Paris on Tuesday to try to restore the French government's trust. The chief of the EU's executive branch, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Biden by phone on the eve of the summit. Von der Leyen said they discussed climate change, defense, trade, the western Balkans and other geopolitical issues. Macron is now calling on France's EU allies to use the bloc's shortcomings in Afghanistan and the fallout of AUKUS as a springboard for developing European capabilities while at the same time strengthening ties with the U.S. On the technological and industrial, economic, financial, but also military levels, we must build the terms of a stronger Europe, Macron said. You know that this is what I deeply believe. A Europe that can take its share (of responsibilities) for itself and which can choose its partners and work closely with its historical allies. And I think its important that we can discuss this tonight in a geopolitical context that is increasingly in turmoil. Michel also advocates more strategic autonomy through a partnership between the European Union and NATO. NATO is a security pillar on which we rely, and at the same time we see that we need to be able to act more autonomously to make our alliances stronger," Michel said. Strong allies make strong alliances." The 27 leaders also discussed their relation with China, a theme they have not tackled as a group for over a year. Since their last talks, the bloc adopted a massive investment deal with Beijing but also approved sanctions against Chinese officials over human rights abuses in the far western Xinjiang region. We will also pursue our own interests, in particular vis-a-vis China, which we consider as a competitor, a partner and a systemic rival," Michel said. Hours before the leaders dinner, police fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Slovenias capital, Ljubljana, located about 30 kilometers away. Hundreds of protesters showed up to oppose the Slovenian governments pandemic restrictions. The demonstration was not directly linked to the EU summit, but protest leaders apparently sought the opportunity to get more media attention from foreign reporters covering the event. At the Renaissance-style fortified palace that was used by the late Yugoslavia President Josip Broz Tito as a summer residence, leaders enjoyed a full-course dinner with trout, gnocchi filled with white cheese and beef cheek. ___ Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Ljubljana, Slovenia, contributed to this report. LAS VEGAS (AP) Casino industry leaders and vendors riding a resurgence of gambling following coronavirus closures are gathering in-person for an annual conference this week in Las Vegas amid strict coronavirus mask and vaccination rules after meeting virtually a year ago. We are thrilled to be back here, live, in Las Vegas, American Gaming Association chief Bill Miller said Tuesday as he greeted about 500 people in a ballroom. Chairs were spaced apart in groups of two, three and four at the Global Gaming Expo at The Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip. I mean, theres nothing like getting back together in person, Miller said, calling four days featuring an expansive trade show, breakout meetings and keynote speeches a lot better than being on a Zoom (videoconference) call. A year ago, this hall was empty, he said. The event at The Venetian Expo center has drawn up to 27,000 attendees in recent years. Gaming association spokeswoman Allison Nielsen said current attendance figures wont be known until later this week. Attendees submitted proof of vaccination, many through the cellphone app Clear Health Pass, and were issued green wrist bands to show they complied. Nonsmoking advocates, in a separate event at the expo, highlighted successes theyve had convincing lawmakers in some states and administrators of tribal lands around the country to make casinos smoke-free, and outlined efforts to get smoking banned in casinos in Nevada and, again, in New Jersey. Workers should never have to choose between a paycheck and their health, said Cynthia Hallett, head of Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. In Nevada, casino giant MGM Resorts International reopened the renovated Park MGM hotel, formerly the Monte Carlo, a year ago as the first smoke-free venue on the Las Vegas Strip. Many hotels ban smoking in rooms. But casinos are exempt under state law from public smoking restrictions. In New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy allowed a temporary casino smoking ban enacted amid pandemic rules to expire in time for the Fourth of July holiday. I couldnt believe that after a year of fresh air, the smoke was coming back, LaMont White, an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino dealer for 36 years, told reporters Tuesday in Las Vegas. He said lawmakers should think of pregnant casino workers forced to feed her unborn child secondhand smoke every day to make a living. I think they see us as numbers on a bill or a bottom line, White said, not as human beings with families that love and depend on us. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat who ordered Nevada casinos and most other businesses closed from mid-March to June 2020, and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, whose home district includes the Las Vegas Strip, were the mornings featured speakers, talking about Nevadas accelerating recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevada casinos in August recorded more than $1 billion in house winnings for a sixth straight month, as gambling statewide continued to return to pre-pandemic levels, state regulators reported last week. Tourism officials tallied nearly 3 million visitors during the month, up 95% from August 2020 but down just 16% from August 2019. Nationally, Miller reported last month that casinos had their best second quarter in history in April, May and June, taking in $13.6 billion and putting it on track to eclipse its best year ever: $43.6 billion in 2019. Titus, a Democrat, the longest-serving Nevada lawmaker in Washington and a member of the Congressional Gaming Caucus, noted that hotel and casino closures in tourism-dependent Nevada drove the unemployment rate in the state to more than 30% in April 2020, the highest in the nation. We have come back, she said of a figure that is now 7.7% but still higher than the national average. Titus also credited businesses and casino owners who have required employees to be vaccinated or receive regular COVID-19 tests with helping to ensure that tourists, gamblers and conventioneers can visit her hometown and remain healthy. If they come here, thats the thing I think that we have to really recover, she said. ____ This story version corrects the last name of the gaming association spokeswoman to Nielsen, not Nielson. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A Missouri judge ruled Tuesday that Kansas City officials violated state law when they moved toward shifting 18% of the police department's budget into community services. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Campbell sided with a five-member state board overseeing the police department's budget and operations. The board sued over funding, arguing that once the City Council determined in March how much to allocate to the department, it couldn't change it later under state law, The Kansas City Star reported. PHILADELPHIA (AP) A man faced murder and other charges Tuesday in the shooting death of a colleague at the Philadelphia hospital where they both worked and the subsequent wounding of two officers in an exchange of gunfire near a school. Stacey Hayes, 55, was charged with murder, attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, assault on law enforcement, firearms crimes and related offenses in the attack that killed Anrae James, 43, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in downtown Philadelphia, police said. Its unclear whether Hayes has an attorney who could respond to the charges; telephone numbers listed in his name werent functioning Tuesday. Hayes was wearing scrubs when he shot James, of suburban Elkins Park, on the ninth floor of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital just after midnight Sunday, authorities allege. James, a nursing assistant, was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m. Monday. Early media reports said Hayes was a nurse or nursing assistant, but the hospital has not confirmed his job description. The gunman fled in a box truck, and just before 1:30 a.m. Monday police responded to a report of gunfire in west Philadelphia's Parkside neighborhood near the School of the Future on the edge of Fairmount Park. Police found the suspect in body armor and with weapons including a rifle and a handgun, police said. He opened fire, and four officers returned fire, critically wounding him in the upper body and neck, police said. Police said one of the wounded officers had an elbow injury requiring surgery, while another was grazed on the nose. Chief Inspector Frank Vanore told The Philadelphia Inquirer that it's unclear whether Hayes was supposed to have been working at the time, but detectives believe he used an employee entrance. Investigators are still trying to find out why he might have targeted his co-worker, he said. We have not discovered any hostility between them, or any issues that we can point out, Vanore said. James, also a part-time barber, was described as a family man who worked two jobs to support his three kids, and as a jokester with a talent for bringing people together around his barbers chair, the Inquirer reported. Jefferson Health issued a statement Monday afternoon saying weapons are barred from its campuses and vowing a thorough review" of safety protocols. Counseling will be available to employees and patients, the company said. BRIDGEPORT A man was in critical condition at the hospital on Tuesday after suffering third-degree burns when he came into contact with overhead lines of Metro-North Railroad on Monday, according to officials. First responders rushed to the 1900 block of Fairfield Avenue around 12:30 p.m. Monday after Metropolitan Transportation Authority personnel reported to Bridgeport authorities a possible electrocution, said Scott Appleby, the citys director of emergency communications and emergency management. Appleby said the person was burned by a catenary wire. Catenary wires are overhead lines on a trains electrification system. The individual was taken to Bridgeport Hospital to be treated, but the extent of his injuries was not available Tuesday morning. Appleby said Metro-North took over jurisdiction of the incident. MTA officials on Tuesday confirmed the individual was transported from the scene. Officials said the 47-year-old man was in critical condition at the hospital with third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body. His name has not yet been released. Officials said investigators found bolt cutters at the scene. Its still an ongoing investigation. Shortly after 1 p.m., Metro-North reported its New Haven Line was delayed because of police activity. The New Haven Line was temporarily suspended between Greens Farms in Westport and the Milford station as crews investigated the Bridgeport incident. Diesel equipment was brought in to move the riders out of the area about an hour after the reported incident. At about 5 p.m., Metro-North said its New Haven Line was operating on or close to schedule again following the Bridgeport incident. Its unclear how common it is for someone to be shocked by overhead lines, but this isnt the first time it has happened in Connecticut or on a train headed to Connecticut. In June 2020, a 16-year-old was burned head to toe after he stood on top of a Metro-North train car in Bridgeport and came in contact with an overhead line and was burned, Appleby said at the time. An MTA official said the teen was trespassing on a stationary work train when he came in contact with the line, which was charged with 13,000 volts of electricity. In September 2018, 24-year-old Michael Vigeant, of Hudson, N.H., was killed when he tried to get on top of a New Haven-bound Metro-North train that was stopped in New York, and came in contact with catenary wires and was electrocuted. In November 2014, 21-year-old Brian McClellen was killed after being on top of a Metro-North train, stopped in Greenwich after losing power. McClellen was electrocuted and set on fire after a pantograph fell on him. A pantograph collects power through an overhead line. Spencer Woodman The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Leaked records reveal a set of secret New Zealand trusts holding nearly $300 million in assets devoted to the Legion of Christ, Roman Catholic order caught in an international pedophilia scandal. As the secret trusts' investments expanded, victims of sexual abuse by Legion priests were seeking financial compensation from the order through lawsuits and through a commission overseen by the Vatican. In response to questions about whether the Legion disclosed the trusts to the Vatican, the order told ICIJ that "religious institutes do not have an obligation to send detailed information to the Vatican regarding their internal financial decisions." The trusts used a shell company to invest heavily in U.S. rental properties, including in apartment complexes where tenants were evicted during the coronavirus eviction moratorium. October 5, 2021Key FindingsIn January, Carlos Lomena, a truck driver in suburban Miami who lost his job during the coronavirus pandemic, begged a judge to stop his landlord from evicting him.The 37-year-old Lomena hoped to get a fair shake in court. He'd emigrated from Venezuela after high school with a sense that the U.S. had a more just legal system.In a letter to the Florida judge, he pointed to a recent extension of the nationwide moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus outbreak and asked for more time to pay his overdue rent."I do not have a place to go," Lomena wrote, "nor the money to move into a new apartment."His landlord a holding company formed by real estate firms in Miami and Iowa wasn't moved by his pleas; it had investors to satisfy. The company pressed the court to evict him and, in early February, the judge ruled that Lomena hadn't filed the right form to prevent his eviction. Within days, during the height of the pandemic, the Broward County Sheriff's Office posted a large notice in bold red letters on his door ordering Lomena to vacate his home within 24 hours or be arrested for trespassing.Lomena isn't alone.Tenants across the country have faced aggressive tactics including evictions during the pandemic from a growing number of massive corporate landlords that draw on pools of money from wealthy investors around the world.A trove of leaked documents reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 150 media partners provide an unprecedented view of global financial maneuvers that turn rent payments into big profits that are often hidden in accounts owned by shell companies controlled by anonymous investors.The investors revealed in the leaked documents include offshore trusts holding hundreds of millions of dollars for the Legion of Christ, a wealthy Roman Catholic order disgraced by an international pedophilia scandal.The confidential records show that the trusts became a secret partner in the ownership structure of Lomena's apartment complex, working with the landlord to invest $2 million in the complex in 2015. The trusts invested millions more in other modest residential buildings in Florida, Texas, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois.Soon after the Vatican announced in 2010 that it would seize the operations of the troubled order and launch a new investigation, high-profile Legion of Christ operatives began quietly setting up one of a trio of New Zealand trusts designed to hold money for the Legion, according to leaked records.Two of these trusts, formed shortly after, secretly moved millions of dollars around the world. This included more than $14 million funneled into investments in apartment complexes that Pensam Capital, the firm that owned Lomena's building, was acquiring across the United States. In comments to ICIJ, Pensam said it has not received information indicating it has received investments from the Legion.These two trusts would come to hold nearly $300 million in assets devoted to the Legion of Christ, according to leaked records, at a time when victims of sexual abuse by its priests were seeking financial compensation from the order through lawsuits and through a commission overseen by the Vatican.In response to questions about whether the Legion disclosed the trusts to the Vatican, the order told ICIJ that "religious institutes do not have an obligation to send detailed information to the Vatican regarding their internal financial decisions or organization."In statements to ICIJ, the Legion acknowledged it had set up one of the three trusts, but distanced itself from the other two, which held the majority of the funds designated for the Legion. The Legion said it had no knowledge of the other two trusts' operations. The two trusts were funded by scions of a prominent industrialist family in Mexico, including Father Luis Garza Medina, one of the Legion's top leaders. A spokesperson responding to ICIJ's questions for Father Garza said that Garza has no control over the trusts.A review of leaked documents by ICIJ shows deep connections to the Legion in all three trusts, which share the same New Zealand address and have the same trustees managing them.The spokesperson for Garza said the secret trusts were strictly charitable and devoted to the support of elderly priests and other Catholic causes, and that the trusts have only made charitable distributions.The leaked documents are part of the Pandora Papers, the millions of secret files at the heart of a global investigation by ICIJ and its media partners, including the BBC, the Washington Post, L'Espresso in Italy, El Pais in Spain and the Mexican publications Quinto Elemento Lab and Proceso. The records involving the Legion of Christ come from Asiaciti Trust, a Singapore-based corporate services provider that helped administer the New Zealand trusts.The trove contains large amounts of data on various wealthy investors who used offshore entities to channel money into real estate.They are part of a growing class of international investors in real estate ventures that often use hardball tactics to maximize the rate of return from properties occupied by low- and mid-income renters.Dozens of current and former tenants at Pensam-owned buildings interviewed for this article described problems with their units, including flooding, mold or mildew, broken appliances and dangerous elevators. Pensam routinely partners with Iowa-based BH Management Services, which takes on the day-to-day administration of its buildings.A review of more than 100 court cases in Florida showed that the property managers added steep penalties on late rental payments and pursued rapid evictions of tenants unable to pay their rent. Tenants said customer service was difficult to reach and eviction notices appeared to be a go-to tool to manage tenants. In a statement, BH Management said it coordinates rent collection "under strict adherence of lease agreements and the law, including the CDC order on evictions."The kids asked: 'How are we going to tell people we live in a hotel?' The whole thing is devastating for a family. Collette NorthropThe high returns that financial firms promise their wealthy investors inevitably lead to vulnerable renters being squeezed, according to Jim Baker, the executive director of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit organization that monitors private equity firms and other large investors."This is the problem of growing global wealth inequality crystallized in one industry," Baker said.In 2013, Pensam and BH Management evicted Collette Northrop and her children from a Dunedin, Florida, apartment after the family missed an $895 payment, according to court records. Just months before, the trusts holding money for the Legion of Christ had secretly invested at least $1 million toward Pensam's purchase of the apartment complex. Northrop said that the family moved into a motel and that her children switched to a new middle school. "We were homeless at that point," Northrop said. "The kids asked: 'How are we going to tell people we live in a hotel?' The whole thing is devastating for a family."'The millionaires of Christ'In 1941, a charismatic Mexican priest named Marcial Maciel founded the Legion of Christ, a Catholic order that would become known for its intense focus on courting wealthy patrons. Some would come to call Maciel's order "los millonarios de Cristo" "the millionaires of Christ."Over six decades, a cult of personality grew up around the group's founder. Members of the Legion were taught that Maciel was a "living saint." His creation grew and became a global force as it cultivated ties to Vatican officials, very wealthy Catholics and conservative Republican luminaries in the U.S. such as Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.Maciel became "the greatest fund-raiser of the modern church" and "its greatest criminal," according to Jason Berry, an investigative reporter who delved deeply into the Legion and its leader.In early 1997, Berry and a reporter at the Hartford Courant wrote a front-page story that exposed Maciel's decades of sexual predation, reporting that nine men had come forward to accuse him of sexually abusing them when they were boys or young men training to be priests.Before the story was published, Berry later reported, one of Maciel's confidants, the Rev. Luis Garza, "traveled to Legion houses in several countries to warn of the forthcoming article, claiming it would be based on lies and telling Legionaries not to read the report should they see a copy."In 2006, after being plagued for years by accusations against the Legion's founder, the Vatican investigated nearly 100 abuse allegations against Maciel and removed him from ministry with an order that he adopt a "life of prayer and penitence."When Macial died in 2008, the scandal didn't die with him. Revelations that he'd fathered several children with different women brought more negative attention to the Legion of Christ. The Legion was increasingly viewed as a liability to the Vatican.Amid the continuing scrutiny, much of the order's leadership passed to Garza, known as an architect of its complex finances. Garza came from the family that has controlled Mexico's Alfa conglomerate for decades. Garza joined the Legion after graduating from Stanford University, and he quickly rose through the ranks to become one of Maciel's most trusted lieutenants.On May 1, 2010, the Vatican announced that it would seize control of the Legion's operations, the church's most dramatic action against a Catholic order during the global abuse scandal. The Vatican would examine the Legion's finances and possible sex crimes and establish a commission to compensate its victims.The following month, one of Maciel's sons filed a high-profile lawsuit against the Legion, alleging that the order had knowingly allowed Maciel to abuse him and other children.In July 2010 two days before the Vatican-appointed official took the reins of reforming the Legion Luis Garza quietly helped to establish the first of the three secretive trusts in New Zealand that would hold money for the Legion.The Vatican did not directly respond to questions about the trusts, but said that its effort to reform the Legion was mostly focused on issues around its founder and its structure.During its investigation, the Vatican appeared to be operating on the belief that the Legion was low on money. The Vatican overseer of the Legion, Cardinal Valasio De Paolis, wrote in September 2011 that the Legion's financial situation was "serious and challenging" and that some victims were asking for "enormous sums that the Legion absolutely cannot afford," according to a 2014 book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi based on leaked Vatican sex abuse records.At the time the trusts were established, New Zealand was a popular destination for people seeking to hide money offshore using trusts. The trusts holding money for the Legion maintained four Swiss bank accounts, including one at a Geneva-based bank, Lombard Odier, that the U.S. Justice Department later found had helped American clients conceal assets from U.S. tax authorities.Garza's sister, Roberta Garza, who left the Legion's lay branch after high school, told ICIJ that historically the Legion used offshore structures to divert religious and charitable money to more self-serving purposes, including Maciel's lavish lifestyle, his secret children and his drug habits. "A lot of their money was held outside the Legion by their financiers, by people with power of attorney who are completely faithful to the Legion," Roberta Garza said. "So you're never going to find it.""We are not aware on what bases Roberta Garza makes her affirmations," Father Aaron Smith, a spokesperson for the Legion said in response. "We have found no proof of use of offshore structures to divert religious and charitable money from the Congregation to finance what we know about Maciel's double life."As the New Zealand trusts quietly built their investment portfolios, the Legion faced legal threats on multiple fronts.In civil litigation that began in 2011, Luis Garza and other Legion members were accused of defrauding an elderly Catholic woman out of $60 million in charitable donations to the order. According to The Associated Press, Garza was one of the Legion leaders responsible for distributing money from the woman's trusts, although he was not a defendant in the case. The Legion at the time said that it did not unduly influence the widow. The case was later dismissed by a Rhode Island judge who said the woman's niece did not have standing to sue.Police in Milan opened a criminal investigation in 2013 into whether senior Legion clergymen offered a bribe to induce an Italian sexual abuse victim to recant testimony he had given prosecutors. Four Legion members were charged with attempted extortion and obstruction of justice. The case is pending.Garza was himself accused of child molestation in a 2016 suit that attracted media attention, but it was withdrawn in 2019. At the time, a spokesperson for the Legion said Garza "categorically denies his involvement in this or any other abuse." The Legion's own internal investigation cleared Garza. In May, lawyers for the alleged victim told L'Espresso, an ICIJ partner in Italy, that they are exploring ways to refile the suit.In November 2017, L'Espresso published an investigation into a portion of the Legion's offshore finances, revealing that $300 million had moved through a Legion-owned company in Bermuda more than a decade before. Although the New Zealand trusts were active when this information became public, they remained a well-kept secret. Responding in 2017 to disclosures of its financial activities in Bermuda and other tax havens, the Legion declared that it "does not own offshore companies, nor does it own resources in offshore companies."The order characterized the offshore accounts as a relic of Maciel's bygone reign.In February 2020, Pope Francis told the Legion that the order had been tainted by the cult of personality surrounding its founder, and, even after a decade of heightened supervision from the Vatican, the order was still not fully reformed.'Spiritual projects'Pensam Capital is part of a wave of new investment firms that have plowed billions of dollars into the global real estate market in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis a trend that has raised fears of a financial industry takeover of housing.In 2017, a United Nations-backed research paper warned that the "expanding role and unprecedented dominance of financial markets and corporations in the housing sector" were contributing to increases in poverty, evictions and homelessness around the world.On its website, Pensam Capital boasts of investing more than $3.5 billion in rental properties since 2009, and advertises, among its services, "direct investments" in real estate.Although Pensam focuses on apartment rentals, other investment firms, including some private equity investors, dramatically increased purchases of single-family houses after 2008. Among these firms are some of the largest and best-known, such as Blackstone and Colony Capital. Blackstone has bought more than 80,000 single-family homes across the country over the past decade.One of the biggest players in single-family homes is Pretium Partners, a private equity firm that quickly rose to prominence in the field after its founding in 2012, and shot past many of its rivals to become one of the largest owners of single-family homes in America. Often known as Progress Residential, the firm owns more than 55,000 houses across the country.The Pandora Papers include records revealing the complex offshore workings of Pretium's original investment fund. A U.S. House committee is investigating the many evictions of Pretium tenants during the pandemic. In response to questions from ICIJ, Pretium said that it "always complied with the CDC moratorium" and that "no resident covered by a CDC declaration has ever been evicted from Pretium's homes for non-payment of rent."While Pensam Capital has kept a lower profile than Pretium, both companies attracted investors who used offshore financial arrangements.As scandal swirled around the Legion of Christ, assets from two of the New Zealand trusts were being shuttled around the world and into various U.S. rental properties.Through Pensam Capital, the trusts invested in at least eight apartment complexes in Florida, Texas, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. In leaked documents obtained by ICIJ, Pensam pegged its target rate of return at about 15% annually from its rental properties, a yield that would comfortably outpace normal stock market returns.The trusts made dozens of other investments, including stakes in a chain of rehab facilities, a Texas-based medical device company and a Mexican nutritional supplements company.The structure the trusts used to make investments appears designed both for secrecy and to allow the Legion to legally distance itself from the vast stores of money."Trusts allow you to enjoy things when it's the right time but not have the downsides of technically owning the money," Andres Knobel, a researcher at the Tax Justice Network who has studied trusts extensively, told ICIJ. "On paper, they can say: 'I have nothing to do with this.'"The New Zealand trusts were not required to make public filings that would link them to Legion leaders.Leaked Asiaciti documents from 2004 to 2017 describe New Zealand as "providing advantages of an established offshore jurisdiction" without the stigma of a well-known tax haven. The documents claim that the New Zealand trusts do not have to be registered with any government entity in New Zealand and that they are ideal for those seeking to protect their assets from creditors and tax collectors. (In 2017, after ICIJ reporting partners revealed New Zealand as a popular destination for wealthy people to hide their assets, the country strengthened its regulation of trusts.)To carry out investments in the U.S. the New Zealand trusts used a Delaware shell company called Lowndes Holdings Inc. Lowndes' public filings contain no trace of its relationship to the trusts or the Legion.The Legion and its leaders were under no sanctions and were involved in no criminal proceedings in the U.S. But the investments still suggest how easy it is to plow millions of dollars into U.S. real estate while keeping a low profile. Experts blame lax federal regulation for permitting secrecy that makes U.S. real estate investment appealing for those seeking to hide money.Pensam said in a statement that it "adheres to a comprehensive 'know your customer' compliance program when analyzing whether to accept a new investor or continue a relationship with an existing investor." It said that it "did not, and has not, received any information that would lead Pensam to believe that any of its investors have been or are currently governed or managed by the Legion of Christ."In comments to ICIJ, the Legion acknowledged that it had created one of the three trusts the Retirement and Medical Charitable Trust in order to receive donations that would fund the lives of elderly priests. The Legion said it had no knowledge of the operations or the terms of the two trusts holding most of the money the AlfaOmega Trust and Salus Trust. These two trusts hold hundreds of millions in assets devoted to the Retirement and Medical Charitable Trust. The two trusts were separately funded by Garza and two of his siblings, and a spokesperson said the Garzas have no control over the trusts.A Legion spokesperson said it would be wrong to "attribute any decisions, investments, or activities" of the two trusts to the Legion. But the spokesperson acknowledged that the Legion sometimes requested "donations" from the two trusts, "which are free to grant or deny these requests."Yet a review of numerous leaked records shows that all three trusts are extensively linked to the highest levels of the Legion.Prominent Legion officials help to govern all three trusts. The three trusts have the same addresses, the same trustees, are administered by the same trust company, and have accounts at the same Swiss banks. A Legion financial operative named Alejandro Paez Aragon is the AlfaOmega and Salus trusts' "protector" a position giving him extensive influence over the trusts. Around the time the trusts were established, Paez Aragon was the director of the Legion's foremost private investment vehicle, Grupo Integer. Paez Aragon also is Luis Garza's brother-in-law.In a leaked 2016 memo, a New Zealand tax lawyer analyzing the three trusts called the AlfaOmega and Salus trusts "essentially conduits to the" Retirement and Medical Charitable Trust.The trusts' managers hoped they would qualify as purely "charitable or religious" for the purposes of gaining benefits of New Zealand's tax treaty with the U.S. But the lawyer's memo warned that the AlfaOmega and Salus trusts had "no express prohibition on the appointment of non-charitable beneficiaries."The lawyer recommended restricting the trusts to strictly charitable purposes by removing the possibility of specific individuals becoming beneficiaries. It is unclear whether this change was ever made.In statements to ICIJ, a spokesperson for the AlfaOmega and Salus trusts said that the trusts were intended to "help elderly priests and consecrated individuals as well as supporting social, charitable, and spiritual projects based on Catholic teachings." The charitable giving for elderly members includes "providing funding for living expenses such as accommodation, food, and medical needs," the spokesperson said, adding that the trusts had opened Swiss bank accounts because "the financial industry in that country is well advanced, and allows for open investment architecture, where banks have access to many financial products, and have the competence to understand and recommend them."A spokesperson for the trusts said that the trusts were formed in New Zealand because the country is "professional, reliable, cooperative and serious," and said that the trusts remained there after the new regulations to "take advantage of the country's stricter legal and transparency laws rather than move to a country with less stringent laws."The spokesperson said the trusts can change their intended recipients at any time.In an undated filing to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service obtained by ICIJ, the Retirement and Medical Charitable Trust claims a tax exemption as a purely charitable or religious organization.A spokesperson responding to questions for Garza said that "the trusts have provided an average of $1.0 million annually to provide food, housing and healthcare to a large number of retired and aging priests, nuns, and consecrated individuals."'Living in a nightmare'In early September 2015, the New Zealand trusts used Lowndes Holdings to invest $2 million in the complex where Carlos Lomena would live in Plantation, Florida. According to its website, Pensam would add value to its investment by upgrading the apartments' exteriors, changing the landscaping and making other improvements. Pensam told ICIJ that it invested millions in renovations to the complex.The complex was legally owned by a holding company called PBH Plantation LLC an apparent nod to the partnership between Pensam Capital and BH Management.ICIJ visited the buildings in late June, just after Pensam reportedly sold the complex for $46 million to a Miami-based property management company.The facades of the four-story buildings are attractive, with modern glass handrails on apartment balconies and earthy colors that go well with the tropical landscaping. Beyond the facades, outdoor walkways show signs of water damage and mildew covers apartment doors. A large eviction notice lingered on the door of a former resident who had been expelled in May.Tenants who rented from PBH Plantation said management was quick to hit them with painful late fees."If you're three days past rent day, you get a $100 late fee. If you're three days past that, you get a letter talking about eviction," said a former PBH Plantation renter, who left the apartment complex because of a rent increase and who asked to remain anonymous.Earl Walker, a renter in the Plantation complex, said PBH Plantation took months to address water damage and leaks in his unit but was quick to punish him when he paid rent slightly past the three-day grace period. "I had a leak here, and they took months to come and fix this. But I'm late by a couple hours, and they're sticking to their guns this way," Walker said of the late fee. "That's not really fair."Mariya Vazhelyuk, a mother of two, said that her third-floor apartment has had extensive leaking during rainstorms and that her children developed breathing problems during their first months there a reaction, she believes, to mold or mildew. She said that several months before Pensam sold the building, an elevator door closed on a stroller with one of her children in it. The child was unharmed, she said, but the stroller was pinned between the doors.According to public records, Broward County inspectors found 40 violations involving the complex's three elevators between February 2018 and April 2021, including expired permits, broken mechanisms to keep elevator doors from opening between floors, broken emergency phones and alarms, and expired fire extinguishers.In August 2019, the city of Plantation issued a citation for "excessive mildew" on the stairs and walkways throughout the complex, as well as an "odor nuisance" from garbage.Several former tenants at Pensam-owned buildings complained about court costs and other fees attached to eviction proceedings.A 2017 eviction filing from one of Pensam's Florida apartment complexes, for example, showed the firm's property manager charged a renter, who owed $1,960 in back rent, an additional $662 in attorneys' fees and court costs, $203 in late fees and about $175 in "other charges" bringing the total to $3,000.02. This building was also overseen by BH Management."These companies see late fees and court fees as an important way to increase their revenue," Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, told ICIJ. "This process is meant to extract the most money from the poorest tenants."What bothers Lomena most about his ordeal was PBH Plantation's unwillingness to work with him, even during the pandemic eviction moratorium. In his January letter to the judge, Lomena noted that he had just started a new job, although he had not yet received his first paycheck.The eviction proceedings dragged on for weeks, during which Lomena sold nearly all of his furniture on Facebook Marketplace so that he'd be able to leave on short notice if he lost his case. "I sold everything," Lomena said. "Being there was like living in a nightmare."A spokesperson for BH Management Services said it is "responsible for coordinating rent collection from tenants, which we do under strict adherence of lease agreements and the law, including the CDC order on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic."Lomena had called lawyers for help, he said, but none offered a rate he could afford. So he attempted to fight the case himself. Because he had not filed the necessary federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention form for eviction protection he had only invoked the CDC moratorium in his letter to the court the judge approved the eviction on Feb. 4.In a statement to ICIJ, Pensam said that BH Management was "committed to not removing any resident for the non-payment of rent when a valid CDC declaration was submitted." Pensam said that "late fees and legal fees are stated in every lease agreement" and "are consistent with industry standards, and comply with federal, state, and local laws."A week after the judge's ruling, Lomena came home to two eviction notices from the sheriff's office on his front door. Lomena hustled to find a place to live, and rented a room for $700 a month in the house of an elderly woman.Lomena said his new landlord allows him to use the kitchen only on Sundays, when he cooks food for the rest of the week. He said he struck a deal with PBH Plantation to pay off his debt a mix of rent, late fees, attorneys' fees and other charges in installments of about $300 a month.Lomena said he hopes to move into his own apartment again but is concerned that no landlord will take him because of his eviction a major long-term consequence of eviction, according to housing advocates."I don't feel like I can keep afloat here," Lomena said. "I want to move forward, save some money, and be happy."Contributors: Mathieu Tourliere, Andrea Cardenas, Georgina Zerega, Leo Sisti, Mike Hudson, Dean Starkman, Kathryn Kranhold, Margot Gibbs, Brenda Medina, Agustin Armendariz, Emilia Diaz-Struck. Cor, dunno about you lot but I sure wouldnt mess with her. Priti Patel, Home Secretary and pint-sized pocket piranha, walked imperiously into the conference auditorium, her high-heeled clackers practically piercing the stage. Sorry, did I say walked? Marched more like. Hup two, hup two. A wave, a glare, a flex of the cheekbones. She was decked out in bling-bling earrings and a dazzling white dress but there was nowt angelic about the words which tumbled from those pursed lips. Home Secretary Priti Patel speaks with Lissie Harper, the widow of PC Andrew Harper, after making her keynote address to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Tuesday October 5, 2021 Miss Patel was doin what she liked to do best. Roundin up suspects and lockin up bad guys. Not so much Iron Lady as Dirty Dan laying down the law. Actually, I could quite see Priti playing the angry cop. That desk of hers in the Home Office has probably had a fair few facelifts these past two years. One sweep of those arms whoomf! Papers flying everywhere. The conference audience? Lapped it up, natch. The crowd here love all that hang em and flog em stuff. To deprive the blue-rinse meanies of their pound of flesh would be like the Stones leaving (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction off the set-list. Oh, and they like Priti, these grassroots types. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is very much the Man Who Will Be King among his parliamentary colleagues. But in a straight shoot-out with gritty Priti decided by the party membership? Hmmm. I wouldnt be so sure. The big reveal of the speech was that she was ordering a public inquiry into the murder of Sarah Everard. The case had revealed unimaginable failings in policing, she said. As a woman and a Home Secretary she would be redoubling her efforts to ensure girls and women felt safer. Bang! Bang! A couple of warning shots whistling past Met chief Cressida Dicks earlobes. While Pritis words packed a wallop, the delivery remains a bit of a problem. She kept stopping mid-sentence, dampening their impact. HENRY DEEDES: Miss Patel was doin what she liked to do best. Roundin up suspects and lockin up bad guys. Not so much Iron Lady as Dirty Dan laying down the law It suggested to me she doesnt write this stuff herself. Or perhaps the autocue man wasnt being fast enough on the draw. Probably paralysed with fear. The phrases she relished the most were the sorts you expect to hear from an Army-fatigue-wearing comandante brandishing an AK-47 and chewing on a giant cheroot: Not under THIS Home Secretary; This Home Secretary will ALWAYS put the rights of the victim first; Not under MY watch etc. Terrifying. There was a warning to the so-called eco-warriors from Insulate Britain. Protesters? Pah. These idiots were criminals, plain and simple. She was passing laws which will ensure theyre all locked up in chokey. Shed probably have been happier sending in the tanks but the drips in the Civil Service would never have it. As for the hordes of immigrants arriving here in boats, she had tough words towards her counterparts across the Channel. They needed to be responsible doorkeepers. She mentioned something about increased sea tactics to combat the problem. Eek. What would this involve? Torpedoes? Releasing sharks into the Solent? Whatever she meant, itll have set many a human rights lawyers ears wiggling. And thats not all, she thundered. Gasps of ooooooh from the audience. She was going after the human traffickers helping to arrange those crossings. At the moment they faced a maximum jail sentence of 14 years. We are changing that to LIFE, she slammed. Hear, hear gurgled a Julian Fellowes lookalike in spiffing tweeds next to me. Which all sounded good. Trouble is, Pritis been saying this for the past 18 months. Then whenever theres a clear day in Normandy, another inflatable flotilla sets sail. Its a bit like that wretched Human Rights Act. I cant remember the last Tory conference when a minister didnt claim to be doing something about it. Before Priti arrived, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab informed the hall he was planning to reform it in such a way that foreign criminals couldnt wriggle out of deportation by spouting the usual hokum about the right to a family life. Lets just say well believe it when it happens, Mr Raab. A tour guide who was forced to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover has shared harrowing details of his last-minute escape from Kabul, hours before a suicide bomb rocked the airport. Before Islamist militants seized control of the country in August, Noor earned a living showing some of the world's top travel bloggers around his homeland. One of them was American YouTuber, Drew Binsky. In a video shared with his 2.77 million subscribers on September 9, a visibly relieved Drew revealed his friend is now safe in Melbourne with his wife and two young children thanks to the help of an Australian senator who secured their visas. After fleeing with little more than the clothes on their backs, the family was among the lucky few to catch one of the final military evacuation flights from Hamid Karzai airport before an ISIS-K attack killed 13 US troops and at least 60 Afghan civilians on August 27. 'It was like a miracle,' Noor said. Scroll down for video Before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August, Noor (left) earned a living showing some of the world's top travel bloggers around his homeland. One of them was American YouTuber, Drew Binsky (right) Taliban fighters are seen on the back of a vehicle in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after sweeping into the capital virtually unopposed and declaring the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the desk of ousted President Ashraf Ghani After the Taliban captured their hometown of Mazar-i-Sharif, in the country's north, Noor and his family holed up at a cousin's house in Kabul as they anxiously awaited news of evacuation. He said the usually bustling city was deserted save for Taliban gangs stalking the streets, trying to track down locals accused of helping Western forces during the Afghan War and subsequent 20-year intervention from the US, Britain, and Australia. Chilling reports trickling out of Kabul at the time claimed extremist groups were marauding the capital hunting girls as young as 12 for sex slaves. After failing to secure visas for India, Turkey or Pakistan, Noor was running out of options until he was contacted by a woman named Sharon through his Facebook page, Let's Be Friends - Tourism in Afghanistan. He said she petitioned an Australian senator on his behalf and within 24 hours, the family were granted entry visas. Chaos descends on Kabul as thousands of Afghans rush to Hamid Karzai International Airport as they try to flee the Afghan capital on August 16, 2021 Noor said usually bustling Kabul was deserted save for Taliban gangs stalking the streets, trying to track down locals accused of helping Western forces during the Afghan War and subsequent 20-year intervention from the US, Britain, and Australia Together with 11 others, Noor and his family raced to Kabul airport where they found 'thousands and thousands of people' scrambling to get inside the northern gate. 'Everywhere was controlled by Taliban and there was shooting, when people were trying to rush they were just shooting,' he said. The chaotic scene was captured in a series of mobile phone videos, which show panicked crowds clambering over walls as gunshots ring out in the background. Noor said he left his wife and kids in their car while he waited for almost 24 hours without food, before the terror group opened the gates and the crowd surged in. In the wake of the stampede, he said he saw two bodies lying on the ground, surrounded by a sea of discarded passports and phones. 'At this point I was asking God why is he doing this to our people,' he recalled. Noor (pictured in hotel quarantine in Melbourne) is now safe with his family in Australia, but others were not so lucky Thousands of Afghans rushed onto the tarmac at the airport, three so desperate to escape the Taliban capture of their country that they held onto this US Air Force jet as it took off and plunged to their deaths Noor said he spent at least 12 hours fighting his way through the crowd to speak to soldiers and delegates from the Australian embassy, only to be told he would need to go back and fetch his family and start the process all over again. The family spent almost three days waiting at the airport before their documents were approved, giving them the green-light to board one of the last evacuation flights to Dubai, UAE, then on to Australia. Noor said he was astounded by the speed of the Taliban takeover, which saw militant forces seize control of Afghanistan in little more than a week. 'I was in shock, just totally in shock. It was unbelievable,' he said. Taliban militants and villagers attend a gathering as they celebrate the peace deal and their victory in the Afghan conflict on US in Afghanistan, in Alingar district of Laghman Province on March 2, 2020 His final shred of hope vanished when he learned President Ashraf Ghani had fled Kabul on August 14. 'That was the moment I thought, okay, we need to get out of here,' he said. Drew, who calls Noor 'one of the most sincere and down to Earth people' he has ever met, said his decision to leave illustrated the gravity of the situation because he had always sworn he would never leave his country. Before leaving, the brave tour guide even risked his life to check in on Zablon Simintov, an Afghan Jewish carpet trader and restaurateur who was widely known as the last Jew living in Afghanistan before his evacuation on September 7. Noor's harrowing account, which has been viewed 417,050 times since it was uploaded online on September 9, was quickly flooded with messages of support. YouTuber Drew Binsky chats to Noor over Zoom after his escape from Afghanistan 'Very happy Noor made it out alive!' one man wrote, in a comment that has racked up 1,700 'likes'. 'I got this notification and immediately felt relief, I know so many people are suffering but I remembered Noor and have been thinking about him,' said a second. Meanwhile a third added: 'This guy is going to be in a TED talk soon. So much courage to start from scratch in a new country. Wish you and your family the best.' Others begged Noor to launch his own YouTube channel to document his life in Australia. Since his escape, violence has become a regular fixture across the Afghan capital. On Sunday, a bomb which targeted the entrance of a mosque in Kabul on Sunday left a 'number of civilians dead', according to a Taliban spokesman. Taliban fighters walk at the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque after the bombing, which cause little damage to the mosque but killed several civilians. Damage to the mosque gates and archway can be seen above Taliban fighters were not harmed in the attack according to spokesman Bilal Karimi, who stated the casualties were civilians standing outside the mosque. Taliban guards are now stationed outside the mosque and emergency rooms The bomb targeted the Eidgah mosque where a memorial service was being held for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahi and represents the first major attack of its kind in Afghanistan since the departure of US forces. The Taliban said five people were killed and 10 injured, but medical sources put the death toll at 10 with over 30 injured, according to Al-Jazeera. Taliban fighters were not harmed in the attack according to spokesman Bilal Karimi, who claimed the casualties were civilians standing outside the mosque. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by ISIS-K, the Islamic State affiliate in Khorasan Province. Attacks against the Taliban by IS militants have increased since the Taliban swept to power in mid-August. With the spring picnic season upon us, Australian shoppers have voted for their favourite supermarket dip brands. Consumer review website Canstar Blue asked more than 1,400 consumers to rate the food dips based on taste, texture and consistency, range variety, value for money, packaging appeal and overall satisfaction. Of the brands tested, Yumi's was crowned the best after earning five-star ratings for taste, texture and consistency, range variety and overall satisfaction. With the spring picnic season upon us, Australian shoppers have voted for their favourite supermarket dip brands of 2021 Yumi's (left) has been crowned the best brand of dips, followed by Aldi's Deli Originals (right) Australia's favourite dip brands 1. Yumi's 2. ALDI Deli Originals 3. Chris' Dips 4. Black Swan 5. Obela 6. Ritz 7. Coles Advertisement The homegrown brand, which started in Melbourne before expanding across Australia, landed on four stars for value of money and packaging design. Offering a wide variety of flavours ranging from classics to Mediterranean, the products are priced between $3.50 to $4 for 200g or $8 for a 1L tub of hommus. Runner-up Deli Originals, which is one of Aldi's exclusive brands, was the only brand to receive five stars for value for money. The German supermarket scored four stars for taste, texture and consistency, range variety, packaging design and overall satisfaction. Offering classic and gourmet flavoured dips, prices range between $1.79 for 200g to $4.99 for a 1kg tub. In third place, Chris' Dips ($3.50-$8) and Black Swan ($3.50- $4.30) tied with five stars for having the best range variety, while Obela ($3.50 to $7) also scored top marks for taste, texture and consistency, range variety and packaging design Ritz ($2.75) scored three stars across all categories while Coles rounded out the top seven with four stars for value for money In third place, Chris' Dips ($3.50 to $8) and Black Swan ($3.50 to $4.30) tied with five stars for having the best range variety. Both brands received four stars for the rest of the categories, including taste, texture and consistency, value for money and overall satisfaction. Obela ($3.50 to $7) also scored top marks for taste, texture and consistency, range variety and packaging design. It received four-star ratings for value for money and overall satisfaction. Ritz scored three stars across all categories while Coles ($2 to $5) rounded out the top seven with four stars for value for money. Whittaker's new limited edition peanut butter and jelly chocolate block has officially launched in Australia. The innovative 250g block offers chocolate lovers a unique experience as the flavours can be enjoyed separately or together to make a peanut butter and jelly 'sandwich'. The flavoursome treat is filled with the smooth, salty taste of Pic's Peanut Butter on one end and sweet boysenberry jelly on the other, all covered in Whittaker's 33 per cent cocoa milk chocolate. The new product can be purchased from Coles supermarkets for $6. New Zealand's Whittaker's has launched a new limited edition peanut butter and jelly chocolate block in Australia (pictured) The innovative 250g block offers chocolate lovers a unique tasting experience as the flavours can be enjoyed separately or together to make a peanut butter and jelly 'sandwich' (right) Whittaker's co-Chief Operating Officer, Holly Whittaker said this is the first time the company has incorporated two flavoured into one chocolate block. 'Whittaker's Chocolate Lovers can enjoy the delicious taste of either the peanut butter or boysenberry jelly filled pieces, or stack them together to make their own peanut butter and jelly "sandwich",' she said. 'With different flavours at each end of the block, there's a fun element of discovery for those who like both of the flavours or the combination of them together, or for sharing between people who have different flavour preferences.' Like all Whittaker's chocolate, the Peanut Butter & Jelly Block is made from 'beans-to-bar' at Whittaker's one factory in Porirua, New Zealand. The company also prides itself in sourcing key ingredients for the fillings made locally. The flavoursome treat is filled with the smooth, salty taste of Pic's Peanut Butter on one end and sweet boysenberry jelly on the other, all covered in Whittaker's 33 per cent cocoa milk chocolate After launching in New Zealand earlier this year, foodies praised the product and hope it stays on shelves permanently. Food blogger Tabitha, who runs the Instagram page 'Fat Lab', couldn't get enough of the classic flavour combination and shared an Instagram video with her 9K followers. As the chocolate is a limited edition product, customers should visit their local supermarket to get their hands on the popular buy before stock sells out. Thrifty fashionistas are comparing a Kmart shopping bag to one of the world's most iconic designer totes. The Australian retailer's $18 Canvas Carry Tote looks somewhat similar to the wildly popular Dior 'Book Tote', a large canvas bag emblazoned across the middle with the founder's name: 'Christian Dior'. But with prices starting from an eye-watering $4,700, the on-trend accessory is thousands out of most shoppers' budgets. Brisbane fashion blogger 'Kmart Fever' was the first to share an Instagram post about the bargain dupe, saying it reminded her of 'that super high-end bag' from the prestigious Parisian fashion house. Thrifty fashionistas are comparing a Kmart shopping bag (left) to one of the world's most iconic Dior totes (right) Brisbane fashion blogger 'Kmart Fever' (pictured) was the first to share an Instagram post about the bargain dupe, saying it reminded her of 'that super high-end bag' from the prestigious Parisian fashion house 'It has an awesome feel to it and can be styled well with anything. It's a great size too - perfect for work or uni, or even a trip to the markets!' she wrote. 'My laptop fits in it and it's durable, which is what I always look for.' Photos of the affordable alternative, which is available to order from Kmart's website, quickly sparked delighted responses. 'Obsessed with this bag!' one woman replied, while a second simply wrote 'wow'. A third said she loved the piece but wishes there was a smaller version which would be more versatile for dinners out and nights on the town. The Australian retailer's $18 Canvas Carry Tote (left) looks somewhat similar to the wildly popular Dior 'Book Tote' (right), a large canvas bag emblazoned across the middle with the founder's name: 'Christian Dior' Others called it the perfect buy for spring and summer. And it's not the first time an Australian discount store has been hard on the heels of the hottest designer trends this year. Last month, Best & Less launched a stylish spring dress that looks remarkably similar to a frock four times the price. The $28 floral peasant dress is a bargain dupe of a tunic from upscale label Spell, which is currently reduced from $229 to $115. The $28 floral peasant dress from Australian discount store Best and Less (left) is a clever dupe of a $115 tunic dress from upscale label Spell (right) Byron Bay label Spell is a favourite of Chris Hemsworth's wife, Elsa Pataky (pictured in the brand) The actress (right, in a Spell skirt) is a fan of Spell's floaty bohemian designs Both dresses have three-quarter length ruffle sleeves and a loose-fitting silhouette that's perfect for warmer weather, but at less than a quarter of the price it's hard to look past the Best and Less version. Spell, a favourite of Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky, has already sold out of its tunic in every size except XXS, while Best and Less still have stock of sizes 8 to 16. The website is filled with a range of trendy bohemian print pieces ideal for spring, including a $35 floral maxi-dress with a tiered skirt and dainty straps that lace up over the shoulders. There's also a chic gingham print dress with a sweetheart neckline and a slit up one leg for $28, a style that could easily take you from a casual day at the park to an evening at a bar once lockdown is lifted. Parents have hailed the unbreakable bond between their identical baby twins, saying that cuddles from his brother are helping their premature son who was born weighing 1lb to thrive. Chester Graves was born prematurely at 28 weeks on 15 July this year weighing just 1lb 1oz, alongisde his brother Otis who was three times the size at 3lb 7oz. After six weeks Otis was discharged and now weighs 6lb 3oz, but tiny Chester has fought for his life since his birth and still now only weighs 3lb 6oz. Doting parents, Kelly Graves, 32, and husband, Billy, 35, from Benfleet, Essex, say they have no doubt that Chester's miraculous fight for survival is down to the bond he shares with his identical twin, Otis. 'I have no doubt that cuddles with his twin has helped him keep fighting,' Kelly said. Otis Graves cuddling his brother Chester in hospital. The identical twins were both born prematurely at 28 weeks on 15 July this year, but Chester was much smaller due to Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction A family photo at Kelly and Billy's wedding. In addition to the twins, the couple have three older children (left to right) Phoebe, Florence and Albert 'The twins finally met for the first time since being born on September 22, which was incredibly emotional. 'It was everything I was waiting for, and although Otis was asleep, Chester was obsessed with him and couldn't take his eyes away from his brother. Touching photos show the pair lying side by side during family visits to Chester in the neonatal unit at Southend Hospital, where he will likely remain for another two months. Kelly said: 'Since the day my waters broke at 28 weeks we've lived in a whirlwind. Doting parents say they have no doubt that Chester's miraculous fight for survival is down to the bond he shares with his identical twin The difference in size between the two brothers was due to a condition called Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction Chester's health problems first became apparent at Kelly's 16-week scan, where she was informed the babies differed in size by 25 per cent - something that concerned the doctors. 'But we are so lucky that Chester is a fighter and despite everything he has been through, he is still fighting in order to come home and be with his parents, Otis and the rest of the family. 'He is still being incubated and kept on high flow oxygen since being transferred back to our local hospital in Southend.' 'We cannot wait to finally get Chester home. We are hoping to bring him back in November.' Chester, inside of Kelly's cardigan. Chester didn't receive the required nutrients from the placenta, halting his growth At 19 weeks, Kelly was admitted to the Kings College Hospital in London for laser surgical treatment. Pictured: Baby Otis receiving Oxygen at 8 weeks old Chester's health problems first became apparent at Kelly's 16-week scan, where she was informed the babies differed in size by 25 per cent - something that concerned the doctors. The difference in size between the two brothers was due to a condition called Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction, which results in Chester not receiving the required nutrients from the placenta, halting his growth. At 19 weeks, she was admitted to the Kings College Hospital in London for laser surgical treatment After the surgery, Kelly and Billy were told Chester was still only growing around 25g a week, whereas Otis was growing roughly 100g a week. Chester holding Kelly's finger Chester following his birth. Kelly was being told at every scan that her infant son may not survive Chester's nappy next to a hospital styrofoam cup. He was born weighing only 1lb due to complications She explained: 'They informed us that there was absent flow of nutrients to Chester was the reason why he wasn't really growing. 'I had to have endoscopic laser surgery whereby they enter the womb through the side of your body in order to reach the placenta kill of the blood vessels connecting the two babies. 'The surgery was performed to separate the babies in the womb so that if Chester hadn't survived it would have protected Otis from dying or being left with lasting brain damage.' A C-section was performed, and Otis was immediately ventilated, but Chester had to first be stabilised as he had become very weak during the birth L-R Albert, Florence and Phoebe excited about the news of the twins. Meanwhile Kelly was eating around 200g of protein per day to help him grow and was drinking around five litres of water Baby Otis reciving oxygen at 8 weeks old. Kelly was told Chester's heart rate kept dipping and that the chances of survival from the caesarean would be low After the surgery, Kelly and Billy were told Chester was still only growing around 25g a week, whereas Otis was growing roughly 100g a week. She added: 'I was being told at every scan that he may not survive which was heart-breaking. 'I went away and was eating around 200g of protein per day to help him grow and was drinking around five litres of water to try and get Chester's water levels up because they were also low. 'This was not in any way proven to help, but I tried everything I could to replenish his levels and keep him fighting.' Kelly during her pregnancy. A C-section was performed, and Otis was immediately ventilated, but Chester had to first be stabilised as he had become very weak during the birth Prematrue Chester at 2 weeks in the hospital. When Chester came out, they found a knot in his cord which also halted his growth Chester's condition stabilised but at 28 weeks, Kelly's Waters broke, and she was blue lighted to go to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. She explained: 'At this point Chester was 485 grams which was close to being deemed viable, but we were told his heart rate kept dipping and that the chances of survival from the caesarean would be low. 'We just had to hope that he would keep fighting.' A C-section was performed, and Otis was immediately ventilated, but Chester had to first be stabilised as he had become very weak during the birth. Kelly added: 'Otis came out first and he was put into the incubator. Tiny Chester has fought for his life since his birth and still now only weighs 3lb 6oz. He also had a hole in his heart which was discovered afterwards which has now closed The couple are also parents to Phoebe, 10, Florence, 8 and Albert, five, who the couple have said all been incredibly supportive. 'When Chester came out, they found a knot in his cord which also halted his growth, and the consultant was desperate to get him incubated as soon as possible to help him survive. 'Thankfully they were able to ventilate him and ever since he has been fighting multiple issues such as Necrotising Enterocolitis, or NEC, which is a serious condition where tissue in the bowel becomes inflamed which Chester caught after nine days. 'He also had a hole in his heart which was discovered afterwards which has now thankfully closed and also eye surgery.' People kept asking the family they did it, but they had no choice, they said they went into survival mode and just kept going Chester being held in the hospital. Chester's life clung in the balance as he weighed just 1lb 1oz compared to his brother who weighed 3lb 7oz L-R Twins Otis and Chester. The family say they have no doubt that Otis's miraculous fight for survival is down to cuddles with his identical twin L-R Twins Otis and Chester. After six weeks Otis was discharged and now weighs 6lb 3oz TYPES OF SIUGR SELECTIVE INTRAUTERINE GROWTH RESTRICTION (SIUGR) sIUGR has been classified into three types based on specific blood flow patterns in the umbilical artery of the growth-restricted twin. Type 1 Consistent forward flow in the umbilical artery of the growth-restricted twin Average age at delivery is 34-35 weeks gestation Type 2 Either persistent absent blood flow or persistent reversal of blood flow in the umbilical artery of the growth-restricted twin Average age at delivery is 26-28 weeks gestation Type 3 Unpredictable pattern of intermittent blood flow in the umbilical artery of the growth-restricted twin (forward, absent and reversed) Average age at delivery is 30 weeks gestation In up to 15 percent of cases, the growth-restricted twin may not survive, which can also impact the neurodevelopment of the normally growing twin Advertisement Kelly and Billy were able to bring Otis home after 46 days spent between Addenbrooke Hospital and their local hospital of Southend, but Chester has had to stay put on high flow oxygen and incubation. She explained: 'At first, every day we were driving from Cambridge to Southend to visit both babies, and then back to home to visit my other kids which took around three and a half hours. 'People kept asking how we did it, but we had no choice, we went into survival mode and just kept going.' 'The worst thing was that this was all happening over the school holidays, so we were barely able to spend any time with the kids who had to stay with other family members'. The couple are also parents to Phoebe, 10, Florence, 8 and Albert, five, who the couple have said all been incredibly supportive. Kelly added, 'The kids have been incredible, they are so young but are just as desperate to get Chester home as they haven't been able to even really meet him yet due to covid.' Chester was able to be transferred to Southend Hospital, where Kelly visits him every day. She said: 'It is very bittersweet because we have Otis at home now and everyone says how nice it must be, but it's also horrible because we can't feel complete until both babies are back together. Chester has now tripled his birth weight, currently weighing 3lb 6oz, and Kelly and Billy are desperate to get him home. She added: ' He has to gain a further 255 grams still and will most likely be on low flow oxygen when he's home, but we are hoping in around a month or two he can finally meet the rest of the family.' To read more, visit @miracletwins_plus3 on Instagram. A newlywed who discovered her breast cancer while on honeymoon has spoken of her upset after Covid rules meant she had to attend dozens of appointments alone - including her mastectomy surgery. Charlotte Dudeney-Tucker, 27, from Hornchurch, east London, says she owes her life to the NHS but argues that some rules felt too strict considering the seriousness of her illness. She had to have fertility-preserving IVF treatment - including an egg collection - on her own and even had her right breast removed with no family there due to virus rules. And she says she is now worried about how many people are putting off getting their symptoms checked out because they cannot get a face-to-face GP appointment. She believes no-one else should have to go through such stressful treatment without a hand to hold. Charlotte Dudeney-Tucker, 27, from Hornchurch, east London, says she owes her life to the NHS, but has hit out at Covid restrictions that meant she had to go through difficult appointments and treatments on her own Charlotte Dudeney Tucker and her husband Cameron on their wedding day in Texas, after holding a scaled-back ceremony due to Covid She said: 'I don't understand why Covid has been deemed more important than cancer treatment. 'All of the restrictions in the hospital were purely due to Covid. 'It was really tough at times, especially during all the fertility stuff when I just wanted my husband with me. And I was alone for about 24 hours after my mastectomy. 'I feel really strongly about it. I've had to receive difficult and upsetting news completely on my own and I've had to have most of my treatments on my own. Charlotte, pictured during treatment in hospital, had to go through eight-hour-long chemo sessions by herself, as well as IVF treatment to preserve her fertility 'Having cancer is hard enough, let alone during a pandemic when you have to face it on your own.' Charlotte met her American husband Cameron Tucker, 25, when she was travelling the US four years ago. They had planned their wedding in Austin, Texas, for last April and she had travelled there in February 2020 to finalise the ceremony. But in March, Covid struck and she ended up stranded in the US with their large-scale nuptials cancelled in favour of a courthouse wedding with just the bride and groom and immediate members of his family. Charlotte had planned to return to the UK to apply for her spousal visa, but since she was stuck in the US due to Covid-related travel bans, a solicitor told her to apply from within the country. Charlotte with her husband Cameron, who she met while travelling around the US five years ago As 2020 went on and US domestic rules relaxed, Charlotte and Cameron decided to take a trip to New England in September as a low-key honeymoon. But while they were there, Charlotte discovered a lump in her breast in the shower and immediately began to panic. 'As soon as I felt it I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I'd never had any lumps and bumps before and I knew it wasn't normal for me,' she said. 'I instantly thought it was something bad but everyone else thought I was mad. 'My husband could feel it but he told me not to panic and we'd monitor it. Charlotte, pictured in hospital, has revealed how Covid rules meant she had to attend dozens of appointments alone - including her mastectomy 'I couldn't shake the feeling it was something ominous. 'Two days later I was worried sick and wanted to get it checked out for peace of mind.' Because Charlotte was in between being a tourist with travel insurance and a resident with healthcare, she struggled to get anyone to take a look at the lump on her right breast. She was turned away from five clinics due to her not being a US resident and being unable to pay via insurance. Eventually she found an urgent care centre that said the lump should be further investigated, but specialist clinics said because of her age - then just 26 - they couldn't see her until late November as she wasn't a priority. Charlotte Dudeney-Tucker, 27, before her cancer diagnosis. When she felt a lump in her breast she immediately panicked because she knew it wasn't normal for her She managed to secure an ultrasound and was then told she should have a biopsy, with the total bill for her US treatment coming to more than $4,000. A few days after the biopsy on November 6, she was told over the phone that she had cancer. Charlotte said: 'The doctor said she was hoping that because of my age it would come back clear, but it hadn't and she said 'You do have cancer.' 'In a way I felt vindicated as I knew I was right. My husband was devastated. I then had to call my mum and that was the hardest conversation I have ever had in my life.' Charlotte immediately booked a flight home to the UK but was frustrated when she was made to quarantine for a fortnight despite repeatedly supplying negative Covid tests. 'The most frustrating part was having to quarantine for two weeks despite having negative tests,' Charlotte said. The newlywed, pictured before her cancer diagnosis, said she was terrified when Covid delayed her cancer treatment because she feared it would spread while she was waiting 'I wanted to start my treatment as I was worried it was spreading. 'There was one part of me that thought, "Maybe I'll be back in Texas by the New Year" and another that thought I'd be dead by Christmas.' After another mammogram and biopsy, Charlotte was diagnosed with stage 2a invasive ductal carcinoma, despite being just 26, having no cancer in her family and no genetic susceptibility. After Christmas, she began fertility treatment at St Bart's Hospital in London, but had to do all scans and an egg collection - where you are heavily sedated - alone. At a second egg collection in January her husband was allowed in briefly but couldn't stay. Between February and June this year, Charlotte had seven rounds of chemotherapy at Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex, as well as immunotherapy to shrink the tumour. Some of her chemo infusions were eight-hours long and she was, again, alone. And in August at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford she had her right breast removed with no family there to see her into surgery. In fact, it was 24 hours before anyone was allowed in to visit her due to pandemic restrictions. Even more frustratingly, she had received both doses of the vaccine by that point, the first in February and the second in May. She has now been put into a chemical menopause and will be on hormone blockers for ten years, but as the couple made seven healthy embryos during their IVF treatment it is hoped that she will be able to have children when she is older. Charlotte will need to stay in the UK for at least a year because she is due to have more low dose chemotherapy and will be on immunotherapy until spring 2022. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated? What is breast cancer? Breast cancer develops from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts. When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding breast tissue it is called an 'invasive' breast cancer. Some people are diagnosed with 'carcinoma in situ', where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule. Most cases develop in women over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men though this is rare. Staging means how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body. The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast growing. High grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated. What causes breast cancer? A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply 'out of control'. Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance of developing breast cancer, such as genetics. What are the symptoms of breast cancer? The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most breast lumps are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign. The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit. How is breast cancer diagnosed? Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours. Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under the microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer. If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest x-ray. How is breast cancer treated? Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used. Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour. Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focussed on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops cancer cells from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery. Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the 'female' hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer. How successful is treatment? The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure. The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 mean more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage. For more information visit breastcancercare.org.uk, breastcancernow.org or www.cancerhelp.org.uk Advertisement She was told a fortnight ago that she is currently cancer free. Now she has urged anyone with concerns to book a GP appointment as soon as they can. She said: 'I worry about how many people - not just young people - are putting off going to the doctors to get a symptom checked out. 'They could be living with undiagnosed cancer.' Only four per cent of people are diagnosed with breast cancer under 40. The Royal College of General Practitioners recently said it was a myth that people could not secure face-to-face GP appointments, with chair, Professor Martin Marshall, saying general practice was open for business. But figures show just 57% of people needing appointments had them face to face in July, compared with 80% before the pandemic. Charlotte is supporting the charity Breast Cancer UK this October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month - to raise awareness of the Breast Cancer UK Prevention Hub; to encourage people to make some simple lifestyle changes that can help lower the risk of developing breast cancer. A spokesperson for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Broomfield Hospital, where Charlotte had her mastectomy, said that visitors to the hospital were still restricted. She added: 'We understand the importance of being able to see loved ones while in hospital, which is why we are doing all we can to support people to keep in contact while under our care. 'The safety of our patients and staff is our main priority and where it is not possible to have visitors due to the risk of infection, this is explained and patients are given the opportunity to speak with family or friends in other ways, such as through the use of video calls.' For more information on the early signs of breast cancer and how to check your breasts visit: breastcanceruk.org.uk Princess Margaret refused to speak to Princess Michael of Kent after she joined the royal family, a new documentary has claimed. Speaking on Channel 5's documentary The Controversial Princess airing Saturday, royal commentator Viscountess Hitchingbrooke claimed Margaret, who died in 2002, didn't speak to her first cousin's wife because she was a Roman Catholic. Born Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, Princess Michael of Kent, now 76, tied the knot with Prince Michael in 1978 with the Queen's blessing following the annulment of her first marriage to Thomas Troubridge. Margaret, was also reportedly 'furious' that a foreign-born divorcee had been allowed to marry into the royal family, particularly after she had been prevented from marrying divorced RAF officer Peter Townsend in 1953. The documentary also claims the Queen's daughter Princess Anne, now 71, deemed Princess Michael of Kent difficult and coined her nickname 'Princess Pushy.' Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, refused to speak to Princess Michael of Kent because she was a Roman Catholic and a divorcee, a royal commentator claimed in a new royal documentary (pictured: Princess Margaret in 1990 in London) Ironically, Margaret herself flirted with Catholicism later in life having struck up a close friendship with a Catholic priest named Derek 'Dazzle' Jennings in 1981 - although she never publicly converted. Dazzle was a civil servant in the government's Department of the Environment, who shocked his friends by quitting his job to take Holy Orders, aged 38, after first converting to Roman Catholicism when he was still a student. Speaking of Prince Michael's marriage to Marie-Christine, Viscountess Hitchingbrooke said: 'You can imagine this did not go down well with Princess Margaret, who was told by her own sister, Queen Elizabeth, that she couldn't marry a divorcee. 'In fact she was said to be furious,' she added. Prince Michael of Kent, left, was allowed by the Queen to marry his wife, born Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, right, in a civil ceremony in 1978, in Vienna, and later in a Roman Catholic ceremony in London in 1983 Meanwhile, royal expert Bidisha Mamata claimed Princess Anne, who was 28 when her mother's cousin married Princess Michael, was the first one to call her 'Princess Pushy.' Prince Michael of Kent was allowed to marry his choice of wife in 1978, in a civil ceremony in Vienna just a month after the annulment of the bride's first marriage. They received Pope John Paul II's permission to marry and had a Roman Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop House. To marry Marie Christine, Prince Michael, who was 15th in line for the throne at the time, renounced his succession right, in accordance with The Act of Settlement 1701, which prevents members of the royal family marrying Roman Catholics. He retrieved his rights of succession in 2013 thanks to the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. Both their children, Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Kingston are members of the Church of England. A quarter of a century earlier, Princess Margaret's wish to marry a divorced man herself caused a constitutional crisis, the biggest upset in the royal family since the abdication crisis involving her uncle Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Marie Christine, pictured in 1983, had already been married once, to English banker Thomas Troubridge, before she tied the knot with Prince Michael of Kent Margaret and Peter Townsend became romantically involved following the death of King George VI in 1952. Their wish to marry sparked tumult involving the Palace, the Church of England, public opinion and Sir Anthony Eden's Government, which threatened to strip the Princess of royal privileges if she insisted on the union. However, a series of letters revealed that it was not the Queen who blocked the marriage but Margaret herself, who simply got cold feet. The letters, part of a dossier of recently declassified Government documents, were written to and from Prime Minister Eden, and feature in a Channel 4 documentary which aired in March. In the first, dated August 15, 1955, Margaret admitted her doubts about the relationship to Eden himself. 25 years before Michel of Kent was allowed to marry Marie-Christine, Princess Margaret's wish to marry RAF officer and King's equerry Peter Townsend created a constitutional crisis (pictured during a royal tour in South Africa in 1947) 'I have no doubt that during this time - especially on my birthday - the press will encourage every sort of speculation about the possibility of my marrying Group Captain Peter Townsend,' she wrote. 'But it is only by seeing him that I feel I can properly decide whether I can marry him or not.' In a second letter, dated two months later, Eden told Commonwealth leaders that 'Her Majesty would not wish to stand in the way of her sister's happiness'. Royal author Penny Junor said: 'I think this throws a whole new light on the affair. We've always believed that she didn't marry Townsend because she was prevented by the Government, by the Church of England and by her sister. But this very much suggests that she didn't love him enough.' In fact, the documents also show 'how hard the Queen tries for Margaret,' according to historian Kate Williams. 'It gives us a different view of the Queen as someone who did try to put her sister's happiness as a top priority,' she said. It was at the Queen's Coronation, on June 2, 1953, that Margaret, then 22, inadvertently confirmed her relationship with the former Battle of Britain RAF pilot, who had been an equerry to her late father. At a party after the ceremony, she was seen to casually brush a bit of fluff from Townsend's jacket - an intimate gesture which raised eyebrows. In tackling the potential ramifications of the relationship, the Queen faced an unenviable decision: compromise her position as head of the Church of England, which did not sanctify divorce, or deny her sister's future happiness. In 1953, Princess Margaret, pictured, announced she would not be marrying Captain Peter Townsend 'She was still very new in the job and she was being asked to make a choice between duty and family,' Junor said. Unable to sanction the marriage, the Queen stalled. 'She could see there was a loophole,' she added. 'When Margaret reached the age of 25, she no longer needed the Queen's permission to marry. So I think she urged her sister to wait.' Townsend, in the meantime, was posted to Brussels. Two years later, as Margaret's 25th birthday approached, it was decision time and the couple needed permission from the Government if the marriage was to go ahead. According to the documents, the Prime Minister struck a deal in which Margaret could keep her title and civil list allowance but lose her position in the line of succession. Some have queried whether that compromise was enough for Margaret. It certainly did not persuade her that she wanted to marry him. On October 31, 1955, after reuniting with her fiance amid a press frenzy, Margaret announced: 'I have decided not to marry Group Captain Peter Townsend. 'Mindful of the Church's teaching that Christian marriage is indissoluble, and conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth, I have resolved to put these considerations before any others.' Margaret first explored Catholicism after she split from Roddy Llewellyn in 1981 and in Noel Botham's 2002 biography Margaret: The Last Real Princess, the author spoke with one of Dazzle's colleagues who said he was a 'great comfort to Margaret'. 'But she was clearly attracted to him in other ways, too. She became besotted by him. That was the only way to describe her behaviour. She used any excuse to place herself near him, and used a variety of unsubtle ploys to let him know how impressed with him she was. She positively simpered at him. 'For various reasons, which of course she well understood, he felt unable to respond to her in that way. But he was able to answer her many questions about the Catholic Church, for he was always a superb teacher. And she was an excellent pupil. 'Like other members of the Royal Family before her, she was extremely attracted to the Catholic religion.' Hunted star Peter Bleksley has claimed he has a 'raft' of information on the whereabouts on Britain's most wanted man Kevin Parle. The former Scotland Yard undercover officer has been hunting for Parle for two and a half years. Parle is wanted in connection with the murders of 16-year-old Liam Kelly and 22-year-old mother-of-three Lucy Hargreaves who were gunned down in Liverpool in 2005. Bleksley, who rose to fame hunting celebs and fake fugitives for the Channel 4 show Hunted appeared on This Morning today, where he told hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that he's been researching the case of Parle and writing a book on his findings. Bleksley said he has a 'raft' of information on the fugitive's whereabouts and claimed people have come to him with tips because officers in the Merseyside Police and the National Crime Agency believe rumours Parle is dead. He added he will not give up on finding Parle, in spite of receiving chilling threats from online trolls trying to throw him off trail. Former detective Peter Bleksley was on This Morning today, where he claimed some Merseyside Police officers 'choose to believe' that Britain's Most Wanted fugitive Keven Parle, who vanished 16 years ago, is dead 'The crimes speak for themselves: The brutal gunning down of 16-year-old boy Liam Kelly,' Bleksley told Phil and Holly. 'Now, nobody has described Liam to me as a model student but nor was I when I was 16, and he was denied the opportunity to grow, to mature, to enter manhood, to find a life partner and to provide for a family, he was denied all of that,' he added. 'And then Lucy, the victim of the second crime for which Kevin is hunted, a 22-year-old mother of three young children. And everybody that I've met who knew Lucy described her to me as being as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside,' the investigator said. 'Kevin Parle isn't convicted of these crimes but he is very much wanted for them,' he added. The Hunted star added people have come to him with tips, because high-ranking members of the police allegedly believed Parle was dead. 'I happen to know, courtesy of courageous police officers, both former and serving from Merseyside Police and National Crime Agency that have confidentially spoken to me,' he said. Parle, pictured, is wanted by police in relation to the murder of Liam Kelly, 16, in 2004 and the murder of Lucy Hargreaves in 2005 The former detective said he had received information that Parle has been in Thailand and Spain while on the run and claims there were 'strong indicators' he has been in Dubai and Australia Lucy Hargreaves, a mother-of-three, left, was shot and set alight at her home in 2005. Liam Kelly was gunned down a year before Who is Britain's most wanted man Kevin Parle? Parle has been on Britain's Most Wanted list since 2005, following the murder of Lucy Hargreaves in 2005. Kevin Thomas Parle, 35, fled Liverpool, more than a decade ago after he was arrested in relation to the murder of Liam Kelly, 16, who was shot twice as he tried to escape two armed men in the streets in 2004. Parle, who has been the target of a global man hunt, is also suspected of killing mother-of-three Lucy Hargreaves in 2005 - a year after the death of Mr Kelly. The 22-year-old woman was shot at her home in Walton before her body was set alight as her partner, the suspected target of the fatal attack, and her two-year-old daughter escaped out a window, the Liverpool Echo reported. While Parle was thought to be holed up in the Torrevieja area of Spain's Costa Blanca coast, there have been sightings of him thousands of miles away in Australia. Police have warned that the 35-year-old is considered highly dangerous and have urged the public not to approach him and instead contact the authorities immediately. Parle is white with blue eyes, a broad build and a one inch scar on the left side of his head. He is around 6ft 1 inches tall and was known to have cropped ginger hair, but the style and colour may have changed over time. Advertisement 'There are certain bosses within Merseyside Police that choose to believe the convenient rumour that Kevin Parle is dead, whilst not producing one shred of evidence to support that. 'And I've spoken to the man who's responsible for spreading that rumour, four days after he got out of prison,' he added. 'I have considerable amount of evidence that categorically state that he is alive,' Bleksley added. The investigator and author added he has experienced 'unpleasantness' since looking into the Kevin Parle case. 'In the last two-and-a-half years hunting for Kevin Parle, yes, there's been unpleasantness come my way,' he added. 'People have trolled me and abused me online. In fact, on a couple of occasions, people have posted people of my house and on one occasion, with an accurate description of the bedroom I sleep in. 'So clearly there are people out there who want to throw me off the trail, but they are failing,' he said. Bleksley added a 'considerable' amount of people have come to him with information about Parle. 'I have been been given a raft on information, some maybe accurate, some less so,' he said. 'But I am continuing to research that,' he added. The former detective said he had received information that Parle has been in Thailand and Spain while on the run and claims there was 'strong indicators' he has been in Dubai and Australia. Viewers were impressed with Bleksley's interview, and said they admired the former Scotland Yard detective. 'Gotta admire this guy Peter Bleksley,' one fan said. 'Loving that Peter Bleksley is on This Morning today, his hunt for Parle needs more publicity. His podcast is incredible and I'm so invested in this story,' another wrote. 'Peter Bleksley is amazing; such a good detective. He was brilliant on @Jaacks Happy Hour,' one said. Bleksley said he won't let international trolls throw him off rail, and added he has 'a raft of information; about Parle's whereabouts A North Carolina woman has revealed how a wedgie from a pair of tight jean shorts caused a painful bacterial skin infection, which ultimately developed into life-threatening sepsis that left her in the ICU for a week. Sam, 25, shared her unlikely medical emergency is a viral TikTok video that's been viewed over eight million times, recounting how she wore the cutoff shorts on a day-long date with her now-boyfriend three-and-a-half years ago. Because she was having so much fun, she didn't think much of the wedgie she had to keep picking until she discovered a bump on her backside later that night, which over the next few days grew so painful that her mother rushed her to the ER. 'If I hadn't gone to the hospital when I did, I could've easily died,' she told BuzzFeed, explaining that her skin was so badly infected that she spent several days in the ICU, where doctors debated surgery to remove some of the severely infected tissue. Whoops! A North Carolina woman has revealed how a wedgie from a pair of tight jean shorts gave her a painful bacterial skin infection that ultimately turned to sepsis The look: Sam, from North Carolina, went on an eight-hour date three-and-a-half years ago and wore a pair of tight shorts with boy short underwear All good: She was having such a good time with the guy, whom she'd been dating for two weeks (pictured with her in hospital), that she ignored the discomfort Sam was feeling fantastic in 2018 when she bought a pair of One Teaspoon Bandits shorts, which she'd bought on sale. 'I thought they were the coolest shorts ever, and of course, my whole a** was out,' she said. She liked how they looked enough to wear them on an early date with a guy she'd been seeing for about two weeks at the time. The date was clearly a success, lasting eight hours from brunch until dinner and a comedy show that night. In fact, she was enjoying herself so much that she didn't make a fuss about the fact that her underwear and shorts were causing an uncomfortable situation. 'I was wearing boy short underwear, and the material kept clumping up and I kept picking my wedgie so... I kept picking it. It just kept happening,' she said. Though she didn't let it bother her during the date, when she was home that night, she realized she was in pain. Flashback: Since the health scare, she admitted she no longer likes to wear denim shorts, and prefers to wear looser cloth shorts instead Ouch: She developed a 'bump' where the fabric had been chafing, and grew increasingly painful over the next few days Help! It became 'the worst stabbing pain' and her mother rushed her to the ER, where she was admitted to the ICU and stayed for a week 'That night, I noticed that I had a large bump where the chafing had occurred, and as time went on, it started becoming more painful,' she told BuzzFeed. 'The pain was isolated to one spot and it felt like a throbbing, stabbing pain.' She said her backside was 'sore' for several days afterword. 'After a few days, [I] started to feel sick and went to the doctor. They gave me antibiotics for a possible "skin infection" in my a** crack,' she wrote. But the next day, she was feeling 'awful,' with 'the worst stabbing pain.' It was so bad that her mother went to the emergency room, where she learned she was in septic shock. 'I was shivering, very breathless, could not walk and had extreme body aches. They admitted me to the ICU, and that's when I realized this was a bit more serious that I had anticipated,' she said. That's when doctors diagnosed her with sepsis and cellulitis. Cellulitis is a common bacterial skin infection, which can be caused when a wound like raw, chaffed skin is exposed to bacteria. Symptoms include redness, swelling, and pain. Thankfully, she didn't end up needing surgery, but she 'did endure trauma of my mother taking selfies of me while I [was] asleep in the hospital bed' Viral: Sam is healthy now, and sees the whole incident as a funny story and TikTok viewers clearly agree If it gets bad enough, it can cause sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection. Sam spent four days in the ICU, with doctors telling her that they may need to perform debridement surgery, which is involves removing all infected, necrotic, or dead tissue from her rectum. She recalled 'constantly having to show my a** to doctors every day.' Thankfully, she didn't end up needing surgery, but she 'did endure trauma of my mother taking selfies of me while I [was] asleep in the hospital bed.' She also got a visit from her date, whom she is still with three-and-a-half years later. She said it was the first time he had met her family, but he was 'literally the nicest person in the world' and came to stay with her so her mother could go home and rest. 'He put my hair up for me, he brushed my teeth, he took out my contacts. He was literally the nicest person ever,' she said. 'It's kind of mindblowing, but we're for sure telling this at our wedding one day,' Sam said She went on to spend the rest of the week in the hospital recovering, and needed a whole month of rest at home afterward. While the sepsis cleared up, her cellulitis came back a month later, requiring another short trip to the ER for antibiotics. Sam is healthy now, and sees the whole incident as a funny story and TikTok viewers clearly agree. Since the health scare, she admitted she no longer likes to wear denim shorts, and prefers to wear looser cloth shorts instead but she's still held onto the those particular denim shorts as a sort of keepsake. TikTokers were also delighted that she is still with her date years later. 'It's kind of mindblowing, but we're for sure telling this at our wedding one day,' Sam said. First Daughter Ashley Biden is proving that variety really is the spice of life during her trip to California, where she was seen picking up some drinks at a local gas station - just one day after enjoying a designer shopping trip. The 40-year-old, who is the only child of Joe, 78, and First Lady Jill, 70, was pictured making her way out of a Shell gas station in Malibu on Monday, putting on a very low-key display in a pale pink tank top, dark grey jeans and sneakers. Ashley, who is married to Philadelphia-based surgeon Dr. Howard Klein, looked as though she was trying to go incognito during the outing, for which she sported dark sunglasses and a khaki-green evolvetogether face mask. She accessorized her casual ensemble with a black fanny pack, colorful sneakers, and plenty of jewelry - including large hoop earrings, a stack of bangles, and several chunky rings - although she chose to go without her wedding band. Ashley was accompanied by a burly-looking Secret Service agent as she emerged from the gas station, clutching a brown paper bag containing her purchases. Under the radar: First Daughter Ashley Biden put on a very low-key display as she picked up some drinks at a gas station in California on Monday Low key: The 40-year-old looked very casual in a pale pink tank top, a pair of dark grey jeans, and some colorful sneakers, and she kept her face covered with sunglasses and a face mask Ashley flashed a tattoo on her forearm as she emerged from the gas station, sporting a black fanny pack around her waist and a stack of bracelets on her left wrist Her gas station trip came just one day after she was pictured doing some much more high-brow shopping during an outing to outdoor shopping mall Malibu Country Mart on Sunday. Ashley stopped into several stores during her shopping excursion, including jewelry brand Gorjana, and high-end fashion boutique Ron Herman - from which she was seen leaving with a large carrier bag in tow. The store offers a variety of designer clothing and jewelry from a range of brands, including pricey accessories label Spinelli Kilcollin and fashion favorite Acne Studios. Prices on the store's website - which includes both men's and women's offerings - range from $35 for a simple pair of socks to a staggering $12,800 for a chain link necklace. Ashley seemed keen to remain under the radar during her shopping trip, throughout which she kept her green face covering on as she browsed in the stores, and spent some time lining up for one of the public restrooms at the mall. She was joined for the outing by a male pal, who was seen sitting outside of the bathroom waiting for the First Daughter to emerge, before helping her with her shopping bag. The unnamed gentleman looked relaxed and casual in a pair of turquoise pants and a simple blue T-shirt, which showed off several large tattoo designs on his arms. Ashley and her companion were also accompanied by a member of the First Daughter's Secret Service protection, which she will have throughout her father's time in the White House. The activist was accompanied on her outing by a Secret Service agent, who walked a few steps ahead of her as she emerged from the Shell gas station Ashley, who is married to Philadelphia-based surgeon Dr. Howard Krein, wore plenty of chunky rings but went without her wedding band Her latest outing comes one day after she was pictured doing some designer shopping with a tattooed male friend during a trip to the Malibu Country Mart on Sunday The agent, kept a respectful distance from the duo and was seen standing several paces behind them, wearing a blue plaid shirt and beige pants, with a telltale ear piece peeking out as he kept a watchful eye on Ashley. Her shopping trip came just hours before her parents were pictured returning to the White House on Monday morning after spending the weekend in the family's home town of Wilmington, Delaware. Following his arrival back in D.C., President Biden wasted no time in hammering the Republicans for refusing to raise the debt ceiling, while admitting that he cannot guarantee that the US won't default on its debt. 'I think quite frankly it's hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful,' Biden said. 'Their obstruction and irresponsibility knows absolutely no bounds, especially after we're clawing our way out of this pandemic.' After averting a government shutdown last week, lawmakers' next important deadline is October 18, which will be when the U.S. will no longer be able to pay its bills if Congress doesn't lift the debt ceiling. But while her father was dealing with a crisis in D.C., Ashley didn't appear fazed - in fact she looked incredibly relaxed during her weekend shopping trip. It is not known why exactly Ashley is currently staying in California, however it may be that she is paying a visit to her half-brother Hunter, 51, who relocated to Malibu earlier this year from his $5.4 million rental home in Venice Beach - reportedly over concerns about a lack of privacy. Family first? It is not known why exactly Ashley is visiting California, however it may be that she is spending time with half-brother Hunter, 51, who relocated to Malibu earlier this year The First Daughter looked ready for an active day in her chunky sneakers and tank top R&R: She was later seen cooling off with a cold bottle of water while perched outside a store in the area Hunter is understood to have moved into a $20,000-a-month property ahead of the summer, along with his wife Melissa Cohen and their young son Beau, who was named after Hunter's late brother. And while he was not pictured with his half-sibling during her shopping trip, there is certainly plenty of room for her to stay in Hunter's new home - which boasts 3,000 square feet of space, including four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean. Ashley - who, unlike former First Daughter Ivanka Trump, has always shied away from the public eye - is known to have a close bond with her older half-sibling, who is the son of President Biden and his late wife Neilia Hunter. Private life: Ashley is married to Dr. Howard Krein, an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and a founding partner and co-director of Jefferson's Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Center Like her older sibling Hunter, Ashley has had several public brushes with the law. She was reportedly arrested in 1999 for possession of marijuana, and again in 2002 for obstructing a police officer. In recent years, however, she has turned her life around, focusing on building a career in social work and social justice. Hunter however has continued to come under a great deal of scrutiny over his colorful personal life, including his drug addiction, for which he has been admitted to rehab on several occasions since 2003. In 2018, he hit the headlines again when it was revealed that he had fathered a child with Arkansas-based stripper Lunden Roberts. In October 2020, just days before the election, Hunter sparked furious scandal once again when the New York Post published emails and documents that were allegedly taken from the hard drive of a laptop that he had left at a Delaware computer store. The Post was given a copy of the hard drive by President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. The laptop contained a series of emails, as well as personal photos, including several of a sexually-explicit nature, according to the Post. Then, in December of last year, Hunter confirmed that the US Attorney's Office in Delaware was investigating his tax affairs. Controversy continues to cloud the President's son - with a pair of emails published on September 23 revealing that he offered to help former business associates unfreeze Libyan assets in exchange for a $2 million retainer plus 'success fees'. The email exchanges were between mid-level Democratic donors Sam Jauhari and Sheikh Mohammed al-Rahbani, who in 2015 were both working on behalf of the new Libyan government to free up $30billion in state foreign assets. They had been frozen by the Obama administration under the deposed Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011. The emails - which were obtained by Business Insider - are unrelated to those on his laptop, which outlined a number of his other business dealings. Prince Charles enjoyed a dram of whisky as he sported a kilt during a trip to Aberdeen today. The Prince of Wales, 72, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, visited Amity Fish Company Ltd in Peterhead and Glen Garioch in Oldmeldrum, one of the country's oldest distilleries. Clearly a taste for whisky, the future king later added a tot of whisky to his tea on a visit to a kilt shop in Aberdeenshire. Charles was given the cuppa and dram at Gibbs - Gentlemen's Outfitter in Inverurie and decided to mix the two. The store, which sells designer brands and formal wear for hire, including kilts, hosted the royal visitor as he toured local shops and the town's farmers' market on Tuesday. Earlier, Charles met one of the stars of the BBC's series Trawlermen during a visit to Amity Fish Company Ltd in Peterhead. Prince Charles enjoyed a dram of whisky as he sported a kilt during a trip to Aberdeen today. The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, with volunteer and organiser Ron Reid (right) during a visit to Inverurie Farmers Market and local shops around the town centre in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire Charles is pictured during a visit to Aberdeenshire's rora dairy at their organic farm at Middleton of Rora near Peterhead Today the royal was without his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who he lives with at Clarence House in London. Wearing a red and green kilt and a tweed three-piece jacket, the Duke wrapped up for the Scottish autumn clutching onto an umbrella while in traditional Scottish dress. He also met one of the stars of the BBC's series Trawlermen during a visit to an award-winning seafood company in Aberdeenshire. The company is headed by renowned skipper Jimmy Buchan, who starred in the Bafta award-winning series. Mr Buchan said: 'We were proud to host a walk-through of our supply chain operations where we explained our desire to improve on our sustainability footprint and how we are working to improve the integrity of our products during transit to customers.' Charles also learned about the challenges to the business from Covid-19 and lockdown. On Tuesday, Charles also visited Rora dairy which produces a range of Scottish yogurts on an organic family-run farm near Peterhead. Keeping sheltered! The Prince of Wales met members of the public as he visited local shops in the town centre Charles is seen in a red kilt and matching socks at rora dairy at their organic farm at Middleton of Rora near Peterhea Bruce and Jane Mackie welcomed him to their farm, which has been selected to supply November's Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow. Mrs Mackie said: 'This year has been tremendously exciting for us all at Rora and we were delighted to welcome Prince Charles to the farm to show him the results of our work to improve biodiversity and sustainability here. 'Our organic certification and selection for Cop26 is recognition of our efforts and, like so many of our customers, we really feel that the prince, who is a farmer himself, understood and appreciated this.' Cheerful Charles! The Prince sported a jacket and traditional Scottish dress for the day out Charles pours some whisky into his cup of tea at Gibbs Gentlemen's Outfitters during a visit to Inverurie Farmers Market and local shops around the town centre Charles is pictured with a bagpipe player during a visit to Inverurie Farmers Market and local shops around the town centre Glen Garioch in Oldmeldrum, one of the country's oldest distilleries, is also welcoming Charles during his royal tour in the North East. It is being renovated and upgraded following a 6 million investment from American drinks company Beam Suntory to reinstate more traditional production processes and reduce the distillery's carbon footprint. The Duke of Rothesay's tour also includes a visit to Inverurie where he will meet with traders at the town's farmers' market and visit the Garioch Heritage Centre, home to collections highlighting the history of the area. Charles will also meet with the Inverurie Community Allotment and representatives from Grampian Opportunities, an organisation which promotes learning, volunteering and employment opportunities, and offers support for disabled people and people with mental health problems. The Duke of Rothesay's tour also includes a visit to Inverurie where he will meet with traders at the town's farmers' market and visit the Garioch Heritage Centre, home to collections highlighting the history of the area. He is pictured meeting lovals The Duchess of York cut a glamorous figure today in a green blazer and black slip dress as she arrived at the star-studded Inspiration Awards. Sarah Ferguson, 61, donned an emerald gem encrusted jacket, buttoned over her simple dress and paired with black tights and flat black pumps as she attended the lavish event. The award ceremony, held at central London's Corinthia Hotel, aims to celebrate celebrities and real-life heroes who have inspired other people over the last year. The royal posed on the red carpet with ITV host Lorraine Kelly, who opted for a blue and white maxi dress paired with nude suede heels. The Duchess of York cut a glamorous figure today in a green blazer and black slip dress as she arrived at the star-studded Inspiration Awards The royal posed on the red carpet with ITV host Lorraine Kelly, who opted for a blue and white maxi dress paired with nude suede heels Sarah, who recently become a grandmother for the second time after Princess Beatrice welcomed daughter Sienna Elizabeth, appeared in high spirits as she stepped out for the event. The royal wore her red tresses loose around her shoulders and accessorised with pearl earrings, while keeping her make-up look light with a touch of light bronze and blush. She was joined at the event by the likes of Elizabeth Hurley, Alesha Dixon and Giovanna Fletcher at the swanky event - hosted by Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani with Hello! Editor Rosie Nixon. Both Rosie and Anita served on the awards judging panel alongside Lorraine, Vick Hope and Kate Silverton. Sarah Ferguson, 61, donned an emerald gem encrusted jacket, buttoned over her simple dress and paired with black tights and flat black pumps as she attended the lavish event The royal wore her red tresses loose around her shoulders and accessorised with pearl earrings, while keeping her make-up look light with a touch of light bronze and blush The event comes after Sarah's daughter Beatrice, gave birth to a baby girl weighing 6lbs 2oz at 11.42pm on Saturday 18 September at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in London. On Friday, The Queen's granddaughter, 33, and her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi posted an image of the newborn's footprints while announcing they had decided to call her Sienna Elizabeth, in a touching tribute to the Queen. But a family friend told Hello! the Italian name Sienna was chosen in honour of Sarah, explaining that Beatrice wanted to pick a title beginning with S and one which reflected the 'golden rust colour of the Duchess's hair, which the new baby shares'. Posting an image of the baby's footprints on Instagram on Friday, 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. On Friday, Beatrice and her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi posted an image of the newborn's footprints (pictured) while announcing they had decided to call her Sienna Elizabeth, in a touching tribute to the Queen But the Italian name Sienna was chosen in honour of Sarah (pictured with her family), a family friend told Hello! , explaining that Beatrice wanted to pick a title beginning with S and one which reflected the 'golden rust colour of the Duchess's hair, which the new baby shares' '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.' 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. A protester stormed a Louis Vuitton fashion show at Paris Fashion Weektoday, walking down the catwalk to condemn the impact of excessive consumption on the planet,. The activist from the Amis de la Terre France [Friends of the Earth] campaign group carried a banner reading 'Overconsumption = extinction'. Audiences at the Paris Fashion Week show appeared unbothered by the action until the female protestor was wrestled to the ground by security before being led away. Her banner also included a logo for Extinction Rebellion France amid other climate activist groups. A protester stormed a Louis Vuitton fashion show in Paris on Tuesday, walking down the catwalk to condemn the impact of excessive consumption on the planet, The protester from the Amis de la Terre France [Friends of the Earth] campaign group carried a banner reading 'Overconsumption = extinction' The female protester, who was wearing all black and face mask, was wrestled to the ground by security before being led away. The group recently tweeted their objections to 'excess' in the fashion industry writing that French President Macron needed to 'act now'. 'It is urgent to ACT to reduce our carbon emissions! 'The fashion industry accounts for up to 8.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 'Now the @Gouvernement had opportunities to adopt ambitious regulations on this sector...but did nothing,' they said. The protest comes as environmental activists have caused havoc in the UK blocking major roads. More than 100 Insulate Britain activists have been served with an injunction against road-blocking protests, the High Court heard today as members of the group held banners and demonstrated outside the building. Protesters from the Extinction Rebellion offshoot have blocked major roads including the M25, M1 and M4 over the past three weeks, and three court injunctions have now been put in place but demonstrations have continued. Audiences seemed unfazed by the protestor at the show inside the Lourve in Paris The protest (pictured) comes as environmental activists have caused havoc in the UK blocking major roads. The original injunction, granted to National Highways on September 21, banned the demonstrations on the M25 and was followed by a second approved on September 24 which restricted protests around the Port of Dover. A third injunction was granted on Saturday, banning them from obstructing traffic and access to motorways and major A roads in and around London but this has not stopped the protests which again caused chaos yesterday. The group, which is calling on the Government to insulate all homes across the UK by 2030 to help cut carbon emissions, has mostly focused on blockading the M25 but has sat down on other London roads since last Friday. They have not yet carried out any road protests today, but their campaign of roadblocks caused fresh misery yesterday, as activists targeted three major sites of the Blackwall Tunnel, Wandsworth Bridge and Hanger Lane. An activist walks on the ramp with a banner that says "Overconsumption = Extinction" as she crashes the Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes The protester was quickly tackled by security - her sign read 'Amis de la Terre France' or 'Friends of the Earth' Another 38 protesters were arrested yesterday, and it comes as GB News presenter Patrick Christys said Insulate Britain were 'a mentally unwell group of people who should be classed as a banned terror organisation'. He quoted the Crown Prosecution Service's definition of terrorism, which says: 'Terrorism is the use or threat of action, both in and outside of the UK, designed to influence any international government organisation or to intimidate the public. It must also be for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.' He said: 'So Insulate Britain are terrorists then, in my opinion. The police need to step in, not just to uphold basic law and order and make sure that the ordinary man and woman on the street doesn't have their day massively disrupted, but actually I would argue to save Insulate Britain. I'm amazed none of them have been seriously hurt.' Prince Albert of Monaco made another solo appearance tonight as he headed to the Sportel Awards Ceremony in Monte Carlo while his wife Princess Charlene stayed in South Africa. The royal, 63, sported a blue and black patterned tie as he was joined by his nephew Louis Ducuret. His Serene HIghness is the Honorary President of the awards which are held every year in Monaco. Louis, 28, is the son of Albert's sister Princess Stephanie and her former bodyguard Daniel Ducruet. Prince Albert was seen without his wife again, who is currently in her native South Africa recovering from an ear, nose and throat infection. Prince Albert of Monaco made another solo appearance tonight as he headed to the Sportel Awards Ceremony in Monte Carlo while his wife Princess Charlene stayed in South Africa The royal, 63, sported a blue and black patterned tie as he was joined by his nephew Louis Ducuret Princess Charlene, 43, has not been seen in Monaco since January. The mother-of-two missed her 10 year wedding anniversary and is expected to return to the principality later this month. She underwent a 'four-hour operation under general anaesthesia' in August - although it was not made clear whether this was linked to the sinus infection. Charlene and Albert reunited shortly after for the first time in months after the monarch and their children flew to South Africa, but photographs of the pair embracing were branded 'awkward' by a body language expert, In his first interview since returning from visiting his wife in South Africa, Albert told People magazine of Charlene: 'She's ready to come home.' Despite Charlene being admitted to hospital after a 'sudden collapse' rumours are rife that a rift with Prince Albert, rather than health issues, is what's keeping her away from Monaco. Last week, Prince Albert was joined on the red carpet by actress Sharon Stone, 63, for a first look at the eagerly anticipated James Bond release - Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as the iconic secret agent. Princess Charlene (pictured), 43, has shared a photograph of herself smiling in front of what appears to be a bible in her first snap since being discharged from hospital following her health scare in South Africa one month ago It was their second joint appearance in less than a week, with both having previously attended the 2021 Monte Carlo Gala for Planetary Health on September 23. Charlene was noticeably absent from the event. It comes just weeks after Prince Albert hit back at rumours of a rift in his marriage - insisting Charlene 'didn't leave in a huff' and remains in South Africa only because of 'medical complications' following a 'severe ear, nose and throat infection'. The royal told People that the speculation over the state of his relationship with the Olympic swimmer has 'affected' them both, but that he didn't address it early because he 'was concentrating on taking care of the kids' Yesterday, she shared a photograph of herself smiling in front of a bible in her first snap since being discharged from hospital following her health scare. On Friday 29th September, Prince Albert (pictured right, with Sharon Stone), 63, attended a charity screening of the new James Bond film at the Monte Carlo Opera, in his latest in a string of public appearances without his wife Charlene, who was last seen in Monaco in January, shared professional photographs of a reunion with her family on Instagram last month (pictured How Charlene and Albert made solo outings in South Africa and Monaco during nine months apart January 27 - Charlene is pictured with Albert for the Sainte Devote Ceremony in Monaco. March 18 - Charlene is pictured at the memorial for the late Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini at the KwaKhethomthandayo Royal Palace in Nongoma, South Africa April 2 - Charlene posts an Instagram picture of herself, Albert and their twins Jacques and Gabriella for Easter. It is unknown where the image was taken. May 8 - Albert, Jacques and Gabriella attend a Grand Prix event in Monaco without Charlene May 10 - Albert attends Monaco Gala Awards in Monaco without Charlene May 18 - Charlene shares her first picture from her conservation trip in South Africa June 1 - Prince Albert II, Jacques and Gabriella attend event at Oceanic Museum in Monaco June 3 - New photos emerge of Charlene on her conservation trip June 5- Charlene puts on a united front as she shares a photo with her family to mark her niece's fifth birthday with her brother's family and Albert and the twins in South Africa June 7 - Albert and the twins attend the World Rugby Sevens without Charlene June 17 - Prince Albert attends Red Cross Summer concert in Monte Carlo with his sister Princess Caroline of Hanover June 18 - Prince Albert appears alone Monte Carlo TV Festival June 24 - Charlene's foundation releases a statement saying the royal is unable to travel and is undergoing procedures for an ear, nose and throat infection July 2 - Charlene and Albert mark their 10th anniversary separately. 'This year will be the first time that I'm not with my husband on our anniversary in July, which is difficult, and it saddens me,' Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene said in a statement. July 3 - Albert appears with glamorous niece Charlotte Casiraghi at the 15th international Monte-Carlo Jumping event, which is part of the Longines Global Champions Tour of Monaco, July 27 - Prince Albert attends Olympics alone in Tokyo August 13 - Charlene undergoes a four-hour operation. The reason is not announced August 25 - Charlene shares photos of Prince Albert, Gabriella and Jacques visiting her in South Africa August 31 - Speculation mounts in the media about couple's relationship September 1 - Charlene is admitted under an alias to the Netcare Alberlito Hospital after suddenly 'collapsing' September 2 - She is discharged, with a statement from the Palais Princier reading: 'Her Highness is closely monitored by Her medical team who said that Her condition was not worrying' September 23 - Prince Albert attends the 2021 Monte Carlo Gala for Planetary Health September 29 - Prince Albert is joined on the red carpet by actress Sharon Stone for a first look at the eagerly anticipated James Bond release September 30 - Charlene releases a stylish video promoting her anti-poaching campaign from her South African bolthole October 3 - Princess Charlene shares a photograph of herself smiling in front of a bible in her first snap since being discharged from hospital following her health scare October 5 - Prince Albert attends Sportel Awards Ceremony in Monte Carlo with nephew Louis Ducruet Advertisement In the snap, which was shared to Instagram on Sunday, the former Olympian, 43, can be seen putting on a casual display in a black jumper and rosary bead necklace as she sits at a wooden table. The wife of Prince Albert was admitted under an alias to the Netcare Alberlito Hospital on Wednesday 1 September after a 'medical emergency' caused by complications from an ongoing ear-nose-throat infection she contracted in May. She was discharged the following day, with a statement from the Palais Princier reading: 'Her Highness is closely monitored by Her medical team who said that Her condition was not worrying.' It comes just days after Charlene released a stylish video promoting her anti-poaching campaign from her South African bolthole - after missing a No Time To Die screening in Monte Carlo with her husband It comes just days after Charlene released a stylish video promoting her anti-poaching campaign from her South African bolthole - after missing a No Time To Die screening in Monte Carlo with her husband. Charlene said last summer that her decision to convert to Roman-Catholicism was because she found strength in the religion and it was part of Grimaldi tradition. 'Catholicism is the state religion [in Monaco]. But for me, it represents much more. The values of this religion profoundly touch me and correspond perfectly to my spirit,' People reported. Charlene's first state visit to the Vatican was in January 2013 along with Prince Albert. The royal couple's visit marked the 55th anniversary of the meeting of his parents, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco with Pope Pius XII in 1957. The royal said the 'experience was extremely intense and moving for me'. In 2016, Princess Charlene of Monaco visited the Vatican in an all-white outfit as it was revealed she is one of only seven people allowed to don the colour while meeting Pope Francis. Called le privilege du blanc in French or il privilegio del biacno in Italian, the special tradition is extended solely to designated Catholic queens and princesses and is usually reserved for important events at the Vatican such as private audiences, canonisations, beatifications and special masses. Princess Charlene is bestowed this privilege, along with Queen Sofia of Spain, Queen Paola of Belgium, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Queen Letizia of Spain and Princess Marina of Naples. Normal protocol for papal audiences require that ladies wear a long black dress with a high collar and long sleeves, and a black mantilla. Charlene has spent the past several months in South Africa being treated for an ear and throat infection she contracted in May. As a result, the mother-of-two missed her 10 year wedding anniversary and is not expected to return to the principality until October, after undergoing a 'four-hour operation under general anaesthesia' in August - although it was not made clear whether this was linked to the sinus infection. As millions prepare for Monday 11 October and 'Freedom Day' in NSW, many are wondering what the etiquette is around vaccination and if it's 'rude' to ask someone if they've been double-vaxxed. Julie Lamberg-Burnet, from the Sydney School of Protocol, said while vaccination is a delicate subject, it is completely 'fair' to discuss it with someone. The etiquette expert shared how to tackle the subject of COVID-19 vaccines - from how to check someone in the public domain has been double-vaxxed to how you should react if they're not. Julie Lamberg-Burnet (pictured), from the Sydney School of Protocol, shared her vaccination etiquette guide with FEMAIL, and how you can check if someone is double-vaxxed She said while the conversation around vaccination is delicate and even potentially offensive, it is a completely 'fair' topic to discuss (stock image) 'As Australia swiftly emerges from virus-inspired restrictions, there has been significant media comment about those in the community who are not vaccinated,' Julie told FEMAIL. 'There are now vaccination compliance rules and obligations for businesses. 'These rules join our existing Health and Safety protocols that we take for granted, such as wearing seat belts, no smoking restrictions and responsible serving of alcohol.' She added: 'Our social interactions and freedoms have been put to the test during the pandemic, and while this may continue for a short period of time, the new protocols will quickly become the norm.' So how should you handle vaccination and checking someone's status, and what are the top dos and don'ts? The etiquette expert said you should never be embarrassed to ask whether someone in the service industry has been double-vaxxed (stock image) The exact phone conversation to have with a business * STEP ONE: Begin the conversation with a friendly, warm greeting and some small talk. * STEP TWO: Enquire about the availability of bookings, rather than launching straight into interrogations over vaccination. * STEP THREE: A polite way to ask is 'May I ask about the vaccination status' instead of 'What, can you or tell me' - all of which sound confronting. * STEP FOUR: Listen and allow the business to explain. * STEP FIVE: Feel free to cancel if you're not satisfied with their explanation. You can say you 'don't feel comfortable and feel the need to cancel on this occasion'. Keep the conversation open-ended as businesses may change their protocol. Advertisement DO: ASK WHO IS VACCINATED AND WHAT VACCINATION PROTOCOLS ARE IN PLACE Firstly, the etiquette expert said you should never be embarrassed to ask whether someone in the service industry - for example a hair stylist or nail salon worker - is double-vaxxed. 'Ask in a polite fashion,' she told FEMAIL. 'Be open and friendly, volunteer your own double vaccination status and continue to be polite to avoid alienating others.' Julie recommends ideally phoning in advance to find out what the vaccination status of employees is. 'It is not demanding to want to know what your risk factors are before committing to entering a service environment,' Julie said. 'However, it is important to recognise that everyone has a choice.' The best approach if you are calling to make a booking, Julie said, is to 'politely enquire about COVID-safety protocols'. 'Begin the conversation with a friendly, warm greeting and some small talk,' she said. 'Enquire about the availability of bookings, rather than launching straight into interrogating them over details about vaccination protocols.' Julie said you might want to say 'may I ask what the vaccination status is?' rather than asking a direct question like 'What, can you or tell me' - all of which sound confronting. 'Listen, allow the businesses to explain and then you are quite at liberty to cancel if you're not satisfied,' she said. 'Just say you "do not feel comfortable and would prefer to cancel on this occasion". 'Keep the conversation open-ended as circumstances may change and over time some services and restaurants may adjust their COVID-19 status.' She added that many restaurants and services are already pre-empting such discussions with clients by providing information on their websites and booking platforms. Make sure you check this first before asking any awkward questions. DO NOT: LOSE YOUR COMPOSURE If you find yourself somewhere and discover someone isn't double-vaxxed, Julie said you should never lose your composure and completely freak out. 'Be self-aware and avoid over-reacting,' she said. 'For example, if you discover someone is not double-vaxxed, maintain your composure while taking the necessary precautions, like mask wearing, handwashing and social distancing. 'All of this, plus checking in with the QR codes, is for your safety and can give you a sense of comfort.' If you are somewhere and suddenly find out someone isn't double-vaxxed, the etiquette expert said you do not need to feel obliged to continue with that service (stock image) DO NOT: FEEL OBLIGED TO CONTINUE However, if you are somewhere and suddenly find out someone isn't double-vaxxed, the etiquette expert said you do not need to feel obliged to continue with that service. 'If you are not comfortable with someone not being fully-vaxxed, then make a change,' Julie said. 'You are doing what is best for you and your colleagues and families, rather than finding yourself worrying about it every time you engage in their services.' Julie recommends telling the service person you're not comfortable with it, but remaining polite, in case they change their status down the line. 'Remember etiquette is about putting yourself and others at ease,' she said. 'It is not about being judgmental about people's decisions on vaccination, but being guided by a mutual respect, kindness and consideration for others.' DO: ALWAYS USE THE VACCINATION PASSPORTS/QR CODES The easiest way to put both yourself and venues at ease is to use the vaccination passports and QR codes system - as is the law. 'Checking in and showing vaccination will automatically reassure others and help service staff,' Julie said. Even when it comes to people like kids' babysitters, Julie said you should volunteer your own vaccination status and politely ask theirs. 'With services like babysitting, you are more likely to be in closer proximity to the service operator and other clients within the space,' Julie said. 'You are then even more well within your rights to know whether someone is fully vaccinated, but you should also remember it's good practice to volunteer your own status without someone having to ask.' For more information about Julie Lamberg-Burnet, you can visit the Sydney School of Protocol here. Starbucks fans will now be able to enjoy a delicious cup of their favourite coffee at home with the chain set to launch on Deliveroo at more than 400 stores across the UK. The partnership will allow Deliveroo customers to order their favourite Starbucks arabica coffee and signature handcrafted beverages, plus menu options including a sandwiches and sweet treats to be delivered in less than 30 minutes. The coffee chain was previously only available on Uber Eats and Just Eat but fans will now be able to get their orders delivered to even more locations. And in more good news for coffee lovers, Costa has also brought back some seasonal favourites to its drinks menu, including the beloved Gingerbread Latte. Starbucks fans will now be able to enjoy a delicious cup of their favourite coffee at home as the chain is set to launch on Deliveroo at more than 400 stores across the UK Making its triumphant return, this seasonal favourite gives the Costa Coffee classic latte a generous dash of gingerbread syrup with a cream topping, all while featuring an adorable mini gingerbread man. Those who love the Gingerbread & Cream Latte can pair it with Gingerbread Latte Vegan Cookie or the new Gingerbread Muffin. Elsewhere, Starbucks fans can also enjoy seasonal favourites including the original Pumpkin Spice Latte, which this year can be customised with Starbucks Original Nut Blend or enjoyed as the much-loved PSL Frappuccino Blended Beverage, and the latest beverage innovation, new Iced Salted Maple and Caramel Latte on Deliveroo. The partnership launches with more than 400 locations nationwide with more stores being added throughout October. Key cities and towns include Birmingham, London and Manchester. Standard delivery charges will apply, however, those subscribed to Deliveroo Plus - Deliveroo's subscription service - will not receive a delivery charge for any Starbucks order placed. Carlo Mocci, Chief Business Officer at Deliveroo told FEMAIL: 'We are extremely proud that the iconic coffeehouse Starbucks has chosen to launch on Deliveroo. In more good news for coffee lovers, Costa has also brought back home seasonal favourites to its drink's menu, including the beloved Gingerbread Latte 'This exciting partnership means that millions of Deliveroo customers can now enjoy Starbucks premier specialty coffee, beverages and food, delivered to their door in under 30 minutes.' Alex Rayner, General Manager at Starbucks UK added: 'At Starbucks, we are proud to offer our customers an unrivalled experience, however they choose to enjoy their coffee. What's on Costa's autumn menu? Gingerbread Latte & Cream Our classic latte, deliciously flavoured with a gingerbread syrup and topped with a mini gingerbread man. Blackforest Hot Chocolate & Cream A beautifully rich creamy chocolate complete with mouth-watering cherry sauce drizzle and shimmery chocolate curls. Gingerbread Muffin Ginger muffin made with ground and crushed ginger, with a ginger filling, topped with caramel icing and a gingerbread man. Gingerbread Latte Vegan Cookie Gingerbread latte flavoured crunchy cookie finished with white icing drizzle. Limited Edition Gingerbread Latte A winter classic, now chilled. Savour the season with our Limited Edition Gingerbread Latte. Our legendary slow roasted Signature Blend beans paired with sweet and biscuity Gingerbread notes, for an unmistakably wintery flavour. Advertisement 'We are always looking at ways to meet the needs of those who are unable to visit us in-store, and by expanding our Starbucks Delivers service by partnering with Deliveroo we can ensure that many more customers can connect with us in ways that best suit their needs and lifestyles.' Customers will be able to access Starbucks Delivers through the Deliveroo app. Meanwhile, Costa's autumn menu also features the Black Forest & Cream Hot Chocolate, a stunningly rich creamy chocolate drizzled in mouth-watering cherry sauce and topped with shimmery chocolate curls. Those not able to visit a Costa Coffee store won't miss out on getting their gingerbread fix this Autumn; simply visit a Costa Express machine located at one of over 300+ Shell sites nationwide and select either the Gingerbread Latte or Gingerbread Hot Chocolate on-screen when ordering. This October also sees the launch of Costa Coffee's new limited-edition Gingerbread Latte coffee in a can, which features those sweet and delicate spicy notes of gingerbread giving that unmistakeable seasonal flavour. This limited-edition flavour joins the current coffee in a can family of classic Latte, Vanilla Latte, Caramel Latte and Flat White for a limited period this winter and is available to purchase now in Costa Coffee stores and select retailers nationwide. Looking to enjoy a cosy day on the sofa next to a roaring fire? Why not try the new Costa Hot Chocolate. Gorgeously rich and creamy, this vegan-friendly chocolate powdered drink is a must have for any hot chocolate fan. Simply finish by topping with a few marshmallows for the perfect night in. Available now exclusively across Tesco stores and in Costa Coffee stores nationwide, the Costa Hot Chocolate joins Costa Coffee's selection of At Home products, which includes coffee beans, ground coffee and coffee pods. A Costa Coffee spokesperson told FEMAIL: 'Whether you are in our stores, visiting one of our Costa Express machines, picking up one of our coffee in a can or At Home products to enjoy with friends and family, there is something for every occasion this Autumn. 'We know how much our customers love our seasonal drinks and the flavour combinations we offer. With the festive season almost upon us, we are delighted to be able to offer a taste of familiarity through a collection of drinks that we know our customers have been missing.' Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), where an electric shock of 70 to 450 volts is administered through a patients brain under general anaesthetic, has a long and controversial history. The idea is that the treatment prompts a seizure-like fit, to reset the brains malfunctioning circuitry that causes depressive and psychotic thoughts and behaviour although the biological process for this has never fully been explained. Every year around 2,500 people in the UK receive ECT. It is recommended by the treatment watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), for severe or psychotic depression that is resistant to other treatments such as medication. But a newly published study suggests more than a third of those patients do not give their consent to undergoing it. The report, in the journal Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, is based on Freedom of Information (FoI) requests sent to all the 56 trusts in England that provide mental health services 37 responded. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), where an electric shock of 70 to 450 volts is administered through a patients brain under general anaesthetic, has a long and controversial history (stock image) John Read, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of East London, who led the study, argues that providing the treatment without consent is equivalent to people being given ECT against their will. He says the responses indicate that official safeguarding procedures, drawn up to protect patients who dont consent to ECT, are not being followed. Our research shows that there is no effective monitoring or regulation of ECT in England, due to the failure of the authorities to perform the checks that are required, he told Good Health. Commenting on the research, Dr Lucy Johnstone, an independent consultant clinical psychologist, says that receiving ECT without consent can significantly worsen patients mental conditions. ECT is very scary, she says. My research into the treatments psychological impact, in the Journal of Mental Health in 1999, shows that it can be very re-traumatising to undergo it without consent. Many of the patients given it for severe depression have previously suffered trauma through sexual abuse and violence, she told Good Health. To be laid down on a table out of your control is re-traumatising. However, some argue that the patients are so unwell that they are incapable of giving consent. These are people who are so depressively ill that they cant speak; they may well be hallucinating or deluded and thus unable to give consent, says David Curtis, an honorary professor at the Centre for Psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London. The idea is that the treatment prompts a seizure-like fit, to reset the brains malfunctioning circuitry that causes depressive and psychotic thoughts and behaviour although the biological process for this has never fully been explained (stock image) They are unable to make decisions about a treatment that all the professionals involved in their care have judged may help them. Furthermore, he maintains that ECT is safe and often effective. It has been well studied over many decades, he says. It is effective for people with severe depressive illness who have not adequately responded to antidepressants. Indeed, given the many documented side-effects of antidepressant drugs, I believe ECT is safer. Professor Curtis adds: We recognise that consent is a troublesome area. But often, when we conclude that it is much better for patients to have ECT than not, a couple of months later the patients thank us for giving them the treatment. It might seem strange to think that people who have undergone such a scary-sounding procedure would be grateful. But Dr Rebecca Lawrence, a consultant psychiatrist working in Scotland, is one of them. I have had several courses over the years to treat psychotic depression, she says. The first was when I was pregnant with my first child. The most recent was three years ago. In total, I have had around 70 treatments. Without it, Im not sure I would have recovered to be with my family or to train as a psychiatrist. I would have it again, if I needed to. Although the basics an electric current passed through your brain, causing you to have a seizure are terrifying, the experience itself was, for me, very easy. Nevertheless, she concedes that she has suffered significant memory loss, which she believes is a consequence of ECT. Its as though there are big holes in my memory before and during a course of treatment. I lost a lot of my daughters first two years, she says. Dr Lawrence is particularly concerned that she also cannot recall ever having given consent to the procedure. I always knew that I had consented but I could not remember it happening, she says. Fortunately, my husband was with me when I consented. Others might not be so lucky, and could never be sure whether they gave or withheld consent. LOCKDOWN LEGACY The lasting impact of the pandemic shutdown This week: Balance We seem to have lost our footing slightly during lockdown, with physiotherapists seeing an increase in falls in older adults. During lockdown, many of my clients were only walking about a third of the amount they used to, says Sammy Margo, a physiotherapist based in London. Reduced activity leads to muscle weakening that causes instability, particularly in older adults, she explains. But I also think that the pandemic has destabilised us. That might sound a little unscientific but cortisol, the hormone released during stress, does affect the vestibular system in the ear that controls balance. The good news is that balance is like a muscle and you can retrain it by using it. Exercises such as standing from a sitting position a few times or standing on one leg, with your eyes closed if you can, while you brush your teeth, will help. Also taking walks on less stable surfaces such as grass or sand and walking confidently can make a difference. As your confidence and strength improve so will your balance. We seem to have lost our footing slightly during lockdown, with physiotherapists seeing an increase in falls in older adults (stock image) Advertisement This might be solved in two ways, says Dr Lawrence: It is important to ensure that someone is with you who can discuss it with you later. If the treatment does have to be given without consent, there should always be a proper second opinion on whether it is appropriate, Dr Lawrence adds. Professor Curtis argues that second-opinion checks already exist and are enforced. The opinion of the patients psychiatrist has to be approved [under the Mental Health Act] by the second opinion appointed doctor (SOAD), who is independent and brought [in] from outside, he says. Under the rules, the SOAD should talk to the patient and consult with a nurse and another professional who is not a nurse. If the SOAD is convinced, they will sign for the treatment to be given. As with any such procedure, this should be recorded. In my opinion ECT is massively regulated and the guidelines are sufficient, says Professor Curtis. If anyone was given ECT without the proper procedures there would be a massive inquiry. Professor Reads new research suggests a different picture. It reports that nearly 20 per cent of the 37 trusts that provided information about their checking system for patients who do not consent were not complying with the rules. This, he says, is because their SOADs were not in turn seeking second opinions either from a nurse or another professional. Whats more, half of all the NHS mental health trusts that replied to Professor Reads FoI requests said they could not readily supply information on how many patients had received ECT without giving consent. (Extrapolating from such figures led to the studys conclusion that more than a third of ECT patients do not give their consent to it.) This suggests that many trusts still do not consider this issue important enough to even monitor, says Professor Read. He adds that the only external monitoring is performed by the ECT Accreditation Service (ECTAS), which is run by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. But ECTAS also fails to monitor this issue in its surveys and has no benchmark or target in its accreditation standards for clinics that administer ECT, he adds. ECT is a potentially dangerous procedure, he says, and requires the most stringent monitoring. Our study shows that this is not the case at most ECT clinics in England. Monitoring should be transferred to an organisation that is independent. Regardless of ones opinion of ECT as either barbarically useless or effective in severe clinical cases it surely seems right that information on patients consent and professionals decision-making should be clearly and readily available. It would at least take one controversy out of this most controversial of treatments. A spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists did not provide a comment. Class clowns have traditionally been given the dunce treatment. But research now suggests they may actually be one of the smartest children in the room. Scientists tested the funny-bones of 217 children in Turkey of different IQs by asking them to generate jokes for 10 comics. Each of their contributions was then scored by a panel of scientists and cartoonists. Once all of the final scores were tallied, experts found the more intelligent children outperformed their peers in every way. Academics believe intelligent people have a better grasp of humour because they understand how to subvert people's expectations. Lead author Professor Ugur Sak said parents and teachers should recognise having a jokester child was a sign of their intellectual ability. Do you have a kid who loves to crack a joke? New research has suggested that being able to see the funny side of things could also mean a child is smarter than average These are the comics that 217 Turkish children were asked to fill in to test their humourous abilities. Researchers found that the higher a child scored on a IQ scale the better their jokes Babies born in the Covid pandemic 'have lower IQs' Children born during the Covid pandemic may have lower IQs because of reduced interactions during lockdowns, a study claimed. Researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island found babies born since March 2020 have worse cognitive, verbal and motor skills than children who entered the world before coronavirus. Mean IQs for children aged three months to three years old dropped from around 100 in the decade before the pandemic to 79 during it. . Lockdowns saw children have significantly less interaction with the outside world, leading to 'shockingly' low cognitive development. Whether or not the fall in development will affect children in later life is uncertain, the researchers said. Babies' brains are more malleable than adults and it is likely they will be able to recover. Paediatrician Dr Sean Deoni, lead author of the study, said the drop-off in IQ scores was significant. He told The Guardian: 'Its not subtle by any stretch. You dont typically see things like that, outside of major cognitive disorders.' Scientists tested the children on verbal, non-verbal and early-learning skills to assess their development. Dr Deoni said: 'Parents are stressed and frazzled. That interaction the child would normally get has decreased substantially.' He said while the fall in IQs at early ages will not guarantee children are less intelligent in later life, the 'ability to course-correct becomes smaller, the older that child gets'. The main factor behind the drop-off in performance in tests was parents' stress while working from home, the authors said. They added mask-wearing by adults may have also impacted babies' development because children were less able to learn from facial cues. Advertisement The study was conducted by researchers from Anadolu University in Turkey, who tested the humor abilities of 112 boys and 105 girls between 10 and 12 years-old. Prior to making the comics the children took a Turkish IQ test designed to measure their intelligence called the Anadolu Sak Intelligence Scale. Of the 217 children, 8 per cent were below average IQ, 59 per cent were average, 15 per cent were above average and 17 per cent were classed as 'highly intelligent'. Under the Turkish system, a child is considered of average intelligence if they have an IQ of between 85 and 115. Each of the children was then given 10 comics to add speech-bubbles to the characters' thoughts and voices to to test their humour. Some of the comics were already partly filled to set the scene, while others were completely blank. These comics were then given a humour score by seven judges, which were two academics specialising in the science of humour, and five cartoonists. Each of the children's 10 comics was scored for its funniness and relevance on a one to five scale for each category. With each child producing 10 comics this meant they each had a final score out of a potential 100 points. The children classed as highly intelligent achieved an average score of 92, compared to the average score of 78 for the entire study. Children classified as having a below average IQ scored an average of only 54 in the humour test. Professor Sak said the final results demonstrated that the smarter the child, the better their jokes. 'The higher the intelligence mean was, the higher the mean of humor ability was,' he said. 'The highly intelligent group outperformed all the other groups.' He also told SciencePOD: 'Parents and teachers should be aware that if their children or students frequently make good quality humor, it is highly likely that they have extraordinary intelligence.' Professor Sak also acknowledged that the study had several limitations. The first being that creating comics is only one form of humour and not one conducted in a social setting. Secondly, with the comics, previously published by cartoonist Selcuk Erdem, there was no way of ensuring the children had not seen them prior to the study Finally, Professor Sak said since the number of children in each intelligence group were not equal comparisons between them should be done cautiously. The findings were published in the journal HUMOR. Johnson & Johnson asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday to authorize a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine. The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company said it filed a request with the FDA to authorize boosters for Americans aged 18 and older. While J&J said it submitted data on several different booster intervals, ranging from two to six months, it did not formally recommend one to regulators. Last month, the FDA authorized booster shots of Pfizer's vaccine for older Americans and other groups with heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. It's part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to shore up protection amid the Delta variant and potential waning vaccine immunity. Johnson & Johnson asked FDA on Tuesday authorize a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine this week. Pictured: A Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vial at a Culver City Fire Department vaccination clinic in Culver City, California, August 2021 A meeting had been set to discuss J&J's boosters on October 15, before the company even filed for approval. Pictured: Chandler Millard (left) of Alexandria, Virginia, receives a Johnson & Johnson vaccine of Nationals Park, September 2021 J&J previously released data suggesting its vaccine remains highly effective against COVID-19 at least five months after vaccination, demonstrating 81 percent effectiveness against hospitalizations in the U.S. But company research shows a booster dose at either two or six months revved up immunity even further. The Phase III two-dose trial of up to 30,000 participants looking at the effectiveness of a second dose given 56 days after the first in adults 18 and older. Results published last month showed that a booster shot was 94 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in the U.S. and 100 percent effective against critical illness at least 14 days post-vaccination. This compares to 70 percent protection seen with a single dose. There was only one case of COVID-19 in the vaccine group and 14 in the placebo group. J&J said that a booster given two months after the first dose increased antibody levels between four-fold and six-fold. When given six months after the first dose, antibody levels shot up nine-fold after one week and 12-fold after four weeks. The vaccine from J&J was considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it requires only one shot, but the company has been faced with setbacks leading to just 15 million Americans receiving J&J compared to 229 million who have received Pfizer and 152 million who have received Moderna These increases were seen regardless of age. Side effects with two doses were comparable to those seen in studies with the single-dose vaccine. FDA's advisers will review studies from the company and other researchers next Friday and vote on whether to recommend boosters. The timing of the J&J filing was unusual given that the FDA had already scheduled its meeting on the company's data. Companies normally submit their requests well in advance of meeting announcements. A J&J executive said the company has been working with FDA on the review. 'Both J&J and FDA have a sense of urgency because its COVID and we want good data out there converted into action as soon as possible,' said Dr Mathai Mammen, head of research for J&J's Janssen unit. Government advisers backed the extra Pfizer shots authorized last month, but they also worried about creating confusion for tens of millions of other Americans who received the Moderna and J&J shots. U.S. officials don't recommend mixing and matching different vaccine brands. It's the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. The vaccine from J&J was considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it requires only one shot. But its rollout was hurt by a series of troubles, including manufacturing problems at a Baltimore factory that forced J&J to import millions of doses from overseas. Additionally, regulators have added warnings of several rare side effects to the shot, including a blood clot disorder and a neurological reaction called Guillain-Barre syndrome. In both cases, regulators decided the benefits of the shot still outweighed those uncommon risks. Rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of U.S. COVID-19 vaccines. More than 170 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the companies' two-dose shots while less than 15 million Americans got the J&J shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed COVID-19 guidance for the upcoming holiday season from its website on Monday. The page, which was posted over the weekend, recommended virtual gatherings, increasing ventilation at indoor meeting by opening windows or gathering outdoors. As of Tuesday morning, the page on the CDC website just provides links to information about vaccination and booster shots. The agency told The Hill that the guidelines were outdated and had been uploaded in error with new recommendations to be posted in the coming weeks. Health officials in the U.S. still have not given Americans clear guidance for the rapidly approaching holiday season, with Dr Anthony Fauci flip-flopping on whether or not people can gather with their families for Christmas. The CDC removed holiday travel guidelines posted over the weekend from its website, saying they were outdated and published in error. The guidelines recommended virtual gatherings. Pictured: A man wears a mask while traveling at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, last holiday season on December 23 Dr Anthony Fauci (pictured) said on Sunday that it was 'too soon' to say whether Americans can gather for Christmas, but said on Monday he said his comments were 'misinterpreted,' and that he would be spending Christmas with his family '[The page] doesn't reflect the CDC's guidance ahead of this upcoming holiday season,' the federal health agency told The Hill. The guidelines are from last year, before COVID-19 vaccines had been distributed, according to the CDC. Federal officials did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment. This year, with a majority of Americans being fully vaccinated, it is assumed traveling and gathering would be safer. The guidelines did not account for the vaccine, though, instead still telling people to celebrate virtually. 'Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least six feet apart from others,' the now removed page said. It was also recommended for people to increase ventilation at holiday gatherings using fans and open windows. 'If celebrating indoors, bring in fresh air by opening windows and doors, if possible. You can use a window fan in one of the open windows to blow air out of the window. This will pull fresh air in through the other open windows,' it said. Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said over the weekend that he could not yet make any recommendations for the next few months. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appeared of CBS' Face of the Nation of Sunday, and said the focus should be on vaccination and keeping cases down in the coming weeks. 'We've just got to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we're going to do at a particular time,' he said. 'Let's focus like a laser on continuing to get those cases down. 'And we can do it by people getting vaccinated and also in the situation where boosters are appropriate to get people boosted.' He said on Monday, though, that his comments from the weekend were misinterpreted. Fauci told CNN that he encourages people to meet with their loved ones if possible, but recommends that Americans take steps now to make sure they are safe when they do so. 'The best way to assure that we'll be in good shape as we get into the winter would be to get more and more people vaccinated,' Fauci said. 'That was misinterpreted as my saying we can't spend Christmas with our families, which was absolutely not the case. 'I will be spending Christmas with my family, I encourage people, particularly the vaccinated people who are protected, to have a good, normal Christmas with your family.' Currently, 65 percent of Americans have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 56 percent are fully vaccinated, CDC data show. More than five million Americans have also received a booster dose of the vaccine, which recently became available for people over the age of 65, who are immunocompromised or at high-risk due to underlying conditions or their jobs, Cases are falling as well, with the nation recording about 100,000 new cases per da, data from Johns Hopkins show. This is a far cry from the more than 170,000 per day being recorded at some points in mid-September. Advertisement The United States is continuing to win the battle against COVID-19 as cases and hospitalizations continue to decline dramatically across the country. On Monday, officials recorded 169,207 new cases of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200, data from Johns Hopkins University show. That figure is a decrease of 23 percent from the rolling average of 137,270 reported four weeks ago. More than half of U.S. states, 36 in total, and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last week, a DailyMail.com analysis of the data shows. Hospitalizations have also fallen with 70,153 seeking care, a 30.5 percent drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The overall number of Covid deaths has risen on the other hand, but the pace of new fatalities is continuing to decelerate. A total of 2,110 virus-related fatalities recorded on Monday and a seven-day rolling average of 1,929, a 23 percent increase from the 1,561 average deaths recorded one month ago. The growth rate of new deaths has slowed compared to the same time last week when deaths had risen 57 percent over a four-week period and two weeks ago when they had risen 91 percent. Experts say that fatalities are a lagging indicator and often don't start to decline until three or four weeks after cases and hospitalizations do. This means that the pace of new deaths will continue to decline and the overall number will fall as well. Additionally, not every state reports Covid deaths every day so it is likely that this figure includes deaths not reported earlier in the week. It comes as former COVID-19 hotspots such as Florida California continue to show declines, with the latter becoming the first state to report 'moderate' transmission of the virus since June. On Monday, the U.S. recorded 169,207 new cases of Covid with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200, a 23% drop from the 137,270 average reported one month ago COVID-19 hospitalizations have also fallen with 70,153 patients, a 30.5% drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month Deaths rose with 2,110 virus-related fatalities recorded on Monday and a seven-day rolling average of 1,929, a 23% increase from the 1,561 average deaths recorded one month ago, but the pace of new deaths is decelerating More than half of U.S. states, 36 in total, and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections decline or hold steady over the last week These declines seem to follow a familiar two-month cycle since the pandemic began in early 2020 with cases and deaths increasing for about two months before declining. Early explanations - such as the virus being seasonal like the flu or compliance of mask wearing and social distancing increasing and decreasing - have not held up. However, more logical explanations include that as people have contracted COVID-19 over the last two months, the virus is (slowly) running out of people to infect. A variant may only need eight weeks to spread throughout a community before it begins to recede. Experts say they are cautiously optimistic as infections and hospitalizations to continue to decline and the fourth wave tapers off. 'What it signals is that we are now on the downswing here of this latest surge, this Delta surge,' Dr Jorge Rodriguez, a viral researcher and a private practicing physician in Los Angeles, told CNN. He said it's important for Americans to make sure that they don't get overconfident and stop performing mitigation measures such as masks and social distancing. 'We can't get overconfident. Every time we do and we put our guard down...we get another surge with another variant.' 'So yes, things are better' but not over yet. Former hotspot California is reporting the lowest COVID-19 case rate in the country with a seven-day rate of 44.3 infections per 100,000 and became the first state to report 'moderate' virus transmission in weeks As the pandemic has continued to ebb, former hotspots such as California and Florida are seeing their Covid infections decline. California became the first state to not be recording 'high' or 'substantial' virus transmission in the country, according to the CDC. A color-coded map shows The Golden State colored yellow indicating 'moderate' transmission of COVID-19, meaning a rate under 50 new infections per 100,000. Every every other state is colored red, indicating 'high' transmission, or orange indicating 'substantial' transmission. As of Tuesday, the state is reporting a seven-day case rate of 41.3 infections per 100,000. Data from the CDC show California is recording an seven-day rolling average of 4,023 cases, the lowest since mid-July and a substantial drop from 11,598 one month ago Experts say that the Delta surge could have been worse in California if masks weren't used indoors and vaccination rates weren't so high with 84.4 percent of residents aged 12 and up with at least one dose. of eligible residents have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, California is recording an seven-day rolling average of 4,023 cases, the lowest since mid-July and a substantial drop from 11,598 one month ago Florida reported 2,741 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday with a seven-day rolling average of 4,621, the lowest figure seen since July 11 These measures 'have helped to blunt this fourth surge in California as compared to Florida,' Dr Robert Kim-Farley, a professor in the departments of epidemiology and community health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times. 'We are seeing better application of public health measures in California compared to Florida.' However, this hasn't stopped the former hotspot from seeing marked declines in cases and deaths. On Sunday, the state reported 2,741 new COVID-19 cases with a seven-day rolling average of 4,621, the lowest figure seen since July 11. CDC figures show that Florida has recorded 150.6 cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days. And while this is still classified as 'high' transmission, it is a massive drop from last month when the state was seeing 350 cases per 100,000. The number of Covid hospitalizations has also declined to 4,562, a drop of 28.3 percent from the past week, data from the Florida Hospital Association show. A maker of COVID-19 rapid tests is recalling thousands of kits due to a high rate of false positives. Australian manufacturer Ellume announced over the weekend it was recalling about 200,000 of its at-home tests that are approved for use in the U.S. The test was believed to be a game changer because it comes with a nasal swab analyzer that connects to an app on users' smartphones and can provide results within 15 minutes. But as many as one-quarter of all results could be telling people they're infected with COVID-19 when they actually are not. Australian manufacturer Ellume said it is recalling nearly 200,000 of its COVID-19 rapid test kits (pictured), which were the first completely at-home kit to received FDA authorization Officials from the company said one of the kits' raw materials is causing test results to come back as false positives. Pictured: COVID-19 home test kits are seen inside the Ellume laboratory in Brisbane, Australia, February 2021 According to The New York Times, the 200,000 kits account for 5.6 percent of the 3.5 million kits Ellume has sent to the U.S. Ellume CEO Dr Sean Parsons say the company first learned of the problem in mid-September and said it was being caused by one the kits' raw materials. He did not reveal which ingredient was behind the issue because he didn't want to divulge how the test works. 'I'm very sorry that this has happened,' Parsons told The Times. 'We're all about chasing accuracy, and to have these false positives is disappointing.' The Times reports that 427,000 kits - half of which have already been used - were affected by the issue. Parsons told the newspaper that the kits resulted in 42.000 positives, of which up to 25 percent may be false positives. Ellume's test looks for viral proteins shed by COVID-19, which is different from the gold-standard approach of tests that look for the genetic material of the virus. The kit includes a nasal swab, a chemical solution and a testing strip. The nose sample is collected with a special adapter that can shortened when being used on young children. Next, a few drops of the solution are added to the sample, which is placed in a small device that connects via Bluetooth to a smart phone app. The app then displays the results and helps interpret them. Users can also connect with a health professional via the app. The test comes with a nasal swab analyzer that connects to an app on users' smartphone, and gives results in 15 minutes The problem affected 427,000 kits - half of which have already been used - and resulted in 42.000 positives, of which up to 25% may be inaccurate. Pictured: How the Ellume app reveals if a patient is positive for COVID-19 or not In a clinical study, the test demonstrated 96 percent overall accuracy, correctly identifying 95 percent of positive cases and 97 percent of negative cases. In December 2020, it was the first completely at-home test kit to receive emergency use authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Parsons told The Times that Ellume is currently asking all U.S. retailers to remove the kits from their shelves and their online stores. Affected lots have been listed online and any customers with a test kits from one of the lots can ask for a replacement. Customers who attempt to use one of the affected kits will get a notification from the app about the recall. Parsons also told The Times that 'extra controls' are being implemented so a similar problem does not occur again. COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused cancer patients to miss potentially life-saving surgeries, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK gathered data on 20,000 patients being treated at 466 hospitals in 61 countries. They found that around one in every seven patients who had a crucial surgery scheduled while their locale was in a full lockdown skipped the procedure. Every single one of these patients cited Covid as the reason why the chose not to have their scheduled operation. Those who had surgeries scheduled during times where pandemic restrictions were much lighter were much less likely to skip them - with just one out of every 166 people choosing to do so. One out of every seven cancer patients with a critical surgery scheduled during Covid lockdowns decided to skip the surgery, with all of them citing fear of the virus as reason (file photo) Around 15 percent of patients did not receive scheduled surgery during full scale lockdowns, but only 0.6 percent opted to skip surgery when there were lighter restrictions. Patients who waited more than six weeks for a procedure were most likely to skip it, and people who were frail or with a more advanced diagnosis were more likely to miss the scheduled surgery as well. 'Our research reveals the collateral impact of lockdowns on patients awaiting cancer surgery during the pandemic,' said co-lead author James Glasbey, research fellow at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, in a statement. 'Whilst lockdowns are critical to saving lives and reducing the spread of the virus, ensuring capacity for safe elective cancer surgery should be part of every country's plan to ensure continued health across the whole population.' Glasbey agrees with health officials who asked for lockdowns, but thinks more should have been done to avoid ongoing disruption of medical treatment during the pandemic. 'In order to prevent further harm during future lockdowns, we must make the systems around elective surgery more resilient - protecting elective surgery beds and operating theatre space, and properly resourcing "surge" capacity for periods of high demand on the hospital, whether that is COVID, the flu or other public health emergencies,' he said. The researchers, who published their findings on Tuesday in Lancet Oncology, also found that some lower income countries such as India and Pakistan had higher rates of surgery cancellation than higher income nations like Italy and France. While skipping surgeries had partly to do with Covid fears, the team also believes a lack of hospital capacity and medical resources in the nations may have played a role as well. 'The most vulnerable patients to lockdown effects were those in lower income countries, where capacity issues that were present before the pandemic were worsened during lockdown restrictions,' said Dr Aneel Bhangu, a lecturer and consultant surgeon at the school, said in a statement. Patients in these environment were at highest risk of cancellation, despite being younger and having fewer co-morbidities.' Previous studies have also found that lockdowns, while potentially necessary, did hurt cancer patients. A Japanese study from last month found that the rate of cancer diagnoses dropped during the pandemic, though the cases that were found are more severe. This likely means the decrease in diagnoses is not because less people are developing cancer, but more because people are skipping routine screenings. The longer it takes for someone to discover they have cancer - and start treatment as a result - the lower chance they have of survival. Missing routine screenings due to fear of Covid could have caused many additional deaths from cancer that could have been prevented with regular screenings. Lockdowns may have hurt everyone currently undergoing medical treatment, not just cancer patients. Some experts believe the true death toll of the pandemic in 2020 may be more than double official numbers - not just because of undercounting of Covid figures, but because disruptions of treatment and limited medical resources. Stephen Marks has finally agreed the sale of his struggling French Connection in a deal that values it at 29million. Shares in the fashion company, known for its FCUK label, rose 20.8 per cent, or 5p, to 29p after the deal was announced. The firm's second largest investor, Newcastle businessman Apinder Singh Ghura, who has a 25 per cent stake, will buy the shares he does not already own for 30p each through a newly formed business, MIP Holdings. Selling up: Stephen Marks, who founded French Connection in 1972 and is the chairman and CEO, will sell his 43.6 per cent stake for 12.6m Marks, who founded French Connection in 1972 and is the chairman and chief executive, will sell his 43.6 per cent stake for 12.6million and retire. The 75-year-old said French Connection had made 'significant progress' returning toward profitability and the rise in share price since the sale was announced reflects the brand's potential. Marks (pictured) said: 'When the transaction closes, I will retire from French Connection. This is an appropriate time for me to step back from the business I founded in 1972. 'The price we have negotiated is at a significant premium to the share price prior to the commencement of the offer period and demonstrates the potential offered by the French Connection brand.' He said the board was 'unanimous' in recommending the deal to shareholders. French Connection at its peak in 2004 was worth around 500million but fell out of favour with younger shoppers as rivals such as Zara and Topshop gained steam. It has not been profitable for a decade. It put itself up for sale in March and talks with potential bidders caused its share price to surge, prompting retail tycoon Mike Ashley to sell the 25 per cent stake he bought in 2017. Ashley's holding was picked up by Ghura, who spent years in the clothing industry before shifting into other investments such as property and care homes. Ghura, who said MIP was 'pleased to have reached an agreement'. The businessman added: 'We are looking forward to working with French Connection's management to execute and implement MIP's strategic plans to facilitate the future growth and profitability for the business.' Investment platform AJ Bell's Russ Mould said French Connection's best days are 'well and truly behind it' but the buyers will be able to quickly 'wring cash out of it'. Shares in supermarkets were on the charge amid speculation that private equity sharks are still scouring the UK for deals. Over the weekend, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice beat US giant Fortress in an auction for Morrisons. But despite losing out, Fortress remains on the prowl. Joshua A Pack, managing partner at the private equity group, said: The UK remains a very attractive investment environment from many perspectives and we will continue to explore opportunities to help strong management teams grow their businesses and create long-term value. Takeover talk: Investors suspect US private equity giant Fortress will target Sainsbury's after losing in an auction to buy Morrisons This set tongues wagging in the City, with private equity firm Apollo also understood to be looking to spend its dry powder in the UK. Shares in Sainsburys were up 3.4p ,or 9.6p, at 294.1p, Tesco climbed 1.5 per cent, or 3.7p, at 251.65p, while Ocado added 0.6 per cent, or 10.5p, to 1665.5p and Marks & Spencer gained 1.2 per cent, or 2.25p, at 183.85p. Investors view Sainsburys as the most likely target. So concerned is the supermarket giant, that it has hired boutique advisory Robey Warshaw to help it prepare for a potential takeover bid. But Tesco despite its 20billion market cap could also be snapped up. Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said: Fortress is said to be keen for another foray then theres a few murmurings that Apollo might consider switching tack after losing the battle for [inhaler firm] Vectura to big tobacco. Rolls-Royce is in talks with Amazon and other US tech giants to power vast data centres with mini nuclear reactors. The FTSE 100 engineering group is spearheading a project to design and build the flat-pack plants, called small modular reactors (SMRs). The Government is planning to roll out a fleet of more than a dozen reactors that could be up and running by the early 2030s. Flat pack nuclear: An artist's impression of a small modular reactor. Rolls-Royce is leading a project to build the flat-pack power plants which could be used to power data centres But tech companies are now eyeing up the SMRs nicknamed baby reactors to provide electricity to data centres. which require mammoth amounts of power to keep servers running. These servers allow businesses to store their data on the cloud and mean employees can access it on the internet anywhere in the world. SMRs would be a reliable source of power and could operate on or off-grid. Crucially, they also provide green power, which an industry source said would help corporations meet their eco targets. The source told the Mail: A number of major companies have set low-carbon or green targets for securing their power, and rather than just buying a contract theyre thinking: plug an SMR into a data centre and youve got full availability of low-carbon power. This is partly a way to keep shareholders happy. No SMRs have yet been built and the Rolls-Royce consortium estimates the first ones will be up and running by the early 2030s. The group has spent around six years working on the designs and believes the reactors could create up to 40,000 UK jobs by 2050 and boost the economy by 52billion. Rolls declined to say which firms it was in talks with. Its shares fell 0.5 per cent, or 0.74p, to 142.14p. Amazon was contacted for comment. Regulators are poring over the proposed 7billion takeover of Morrisons by a US private equity giant over concerns about the number of petrol stations the group would own. Officials at the Competition and Markets Authority are monitoring the situation after Clayton, Dubilier & Rice beat rival Fortress in a bidding war over the weekend. In a rare auction that gripped the City, CD&R tabled a winning bid of 287p a share, which valued the supermarket at 7billion and topped the Fortress offer of 286p. Fruitful: Morrisons chief executive David Potts could make 22m from the proposed 7bn takeover by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice Shares fell 3.7 per cent, or 11.1p, to 285.9p yesterday after the bidding war failed to push the price as high as investors hoped. Regulators want to assess whether the tie-up will spell bad news for UK drivers and consumers and City sources said they are on alert to potentially launch a full-scale investigation. CD&R owns Motor Fuel Group (MFP), the UKs largest petrol station retailer. It bought MFP for 500million in 2015 and has 900 stations, more than Shell, Euro Garages and BP. Morrisons has around 335, giving combined control of more than 1,200 forecourts. There are roughly 8,000 petrol stations operating in the UK. Morrisons shareholders are set to vote on the CD&R offer at a meeting on October 19 and early indications are that the deal will be given the green light. Fund manager Columbia Threadneedle has said it will back the takeover, while M&G is also set to vote in favour. But a CMA investigation would slow the completion. A source close to the deal said: If CD&R plans to sell Morrisons food through Motor Fuel Group then the CMA will have to take a look. If they keep them separate then there is a case for giving CD&R the green light. Similar concerns were raised when the Issa brothers bought Asda for 6.8billion. The Issas own EG Group, which has almost 400 petrol stations while Asda has 323. In June, regulators forced them to sell 27 petrol stations to get the deal across the line. Morrisons and Asda, with their new private equity owners, are preparing to fight it out and increase their UK market share. Morrisons is the UKs fourth-largest supermarket with 10 per cent of the market, while Asda is third with 15 per cent. Sainsburys is second with 16 per cent, some way behind Tescos which dominates with 27 per cent. The battle between Morrisons and Asda will pitch Sir Terry Leahy against Sir Stuart Rose, with the two retail grandees set to become chairman at the respective supermarkets. Leahy has an excellent track record, having turned Tesco into Britains biggest grocer. He was also the architect of the Tesco Clubcard scheme, the first of its kind. Neil Wilson analyst at Markets said: Its going to be a fascinating battle. Whod have thought the two of them would be back on the front line after all these years. But concerns remain that Morrisons and Asda estates could be pillaged and sold off on the cheap in order to achieve the returns that private equity owners crave. The current Morrisons chairman Andy Higginson tried to allay those fears. He said: Private equity gets a bit of a bad rap sometimes. Private equity is focused on growth and trying to grow businesses its the way they make returns and thats very much the case here. Morrisons was founded by William Morrison in Bradford in 1899, where the business still has its headquarters. It was run for 50 years by the founders son, Sir Ken Morrison, who died in 2017. The group has almost 500 shops and more than 110,000 staff. Morrisons bosses could share up to 39million from the deal. Chief executive David Potts, 64, could make as much as 22million. He has been at the helm of the company since 2015. The amount he and his colleagues will make depends on whether shares he has been allocated under long-term bonus plans which is linked to performance are paid out. Morrisons finance boss Michael Gleeson could make about 4million and operations boss Trevor Strain a bumper 13million. Advertisement Notorious pack rapist Mohammed Skaf has been released from prison after serving two decades behind bars to go home to his parents, with hopes of starting a family of his own. Skaf left Sydney's Long Bay correctional complex on Wednesday morning after spending most of his life in custody and having never publicly expressed remorse for his crimes. He walked from the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre about 9.45am wearing a white Hugo Boss top, black track pants, sunglasses and Covid-19 mask before stepping into a Toyota Corolla driven by a Corrective Services officer. Notorious pack rapist Mohammed Skaf walks out of Sydney's Long Bay correctional complex on Wednesday morning after spending most of his life in custody After serving two decades behind bars, Skaf (centre) will go home to his parents, with hopes of starting a family of his own Skaf wore an ankle monitor as he walked out of prison, as his strict parole conditions include 24-hour electronic tracking As well as 24-hour electronic monitoring, Skaf will have to keep to a daily schedule and comply with ongoing psychological intervention Reporters asked 'Are you happy to be free?' and 'Are you sorry for what you've done?' but but he did not respond. He was driven to his family's home at Greenacre in Sydney's south-west where he will live with his parents, sister and younger brother. Shouts of excitement could be heard from the house when he arrived and Skaf's mother embraced him after he walked through the front door. Gang rapist Mohammed Skaf has left prison after serving almost 21 years in jail Three boxes of Skaf's belongings were carried inside by Corrective Services officers. Skaf has remained unrepentant during his time in custody. 'I'm not a rapist,' he said two years ago after yet again being refused parole. 'How can I have empathy for someone that wasn't raped by me? 'I've maintained my innocence for the last 19 years and I'll maintain my innocence until the day I die.' Skaf has supposedly accepted some responsibility for his actions since he made those comments and indicated a wish to get married, have children, find a job and study architecture. When he was first locked up as a teenager there was no Facebook or Instagram and no smart phones. The World Trade Centre was still standing and John Howard was not even halfway through his four terms as prime minister. 'The world has changed,' Skaf said in 2019. 'I'm still living in the early 2000s.' Skaf was one of gang of Lebanese-Australian youths led by his older brother Bilal who went on a rampage of pack rapes in Sydney's south-west in the weeks leading up to the 2000 Olympic Games. At least six women and girls were held against their will and repeatedly sexually assaulted in four attacks that shocked Australia and raised racial tensions to fever pitch in NSW. One woman was raped 25 times by 14 attackers at three locations as she was called an 'Aussie pig' in an ordeal that lasted six hours. Skaf, who was convicted in relation to two of the rapes, was 17 at the time of the offences and is now 38. His brother Bilal was almost 19 and is now 40. He was driven to his family's home at Greenacre in Sydney's south-west where he will live with his parents, sister and younger brother Shouts of excitement could be heard from the house when he arrived A family member can be seen watching through the blinds as Skaf approaches the family home to be reunited with his relatives Skaf approaches the house and opens the door to the family home to see his family for the first time as a free man in two decades A woman arrives at Mohammed Skaf's family home after the gang rapist was released from prison on parole on Wednesday The car Skaf was driven from Long Bay jail in was loaded with boxes of his possessions that he had with him behind bars Original sentencing judge Michael Finnane, who jailed Mohammed for 32 years in October 2002, described the gang's crimes as 'worse than murder'. Following a series of further convictions and appeals that term was reduced to a maximum of 22 years, 11 months and 30 days. Skaf's non-parole period on 16 years, 11 months and 30 days expired on January 1, 2018, more than three and a half years ago. His maximum sentence does not expire until January 1, 2024 but due to due to Covid-19 restrictions he has been unable to complete pre-release external leave programs. If Skaf served his full term in prison authorities would have had no control over his reintegration back into the community when he finally got out. A decision was therefore made to grant Skaf parole so he could be closely supervised while living with his family. An artist's impression of Mohammed Skaf at a hearing before the State Parole Authority in February. The SPA determined freeing Mohammed at the end of his 23-year sentence in early 2024 without any conditions would have posed an unacceptable risk to society Mohammed Skaf (right) was released on Wednesday from Long Bay jail. Bilal Skaf (left) will be eligible for parole in 2033. He is serving a minimum term of 28 years with a maximum of 31 Skaf's sister, who along with his mother was recently diagnosed with Covid-19, told Daily Mail Australia the family was ready to welcome her brother home. 'We're looking forward to him coming home and hopefully he'll start a life that we've never experienced before,' she said. 'We're pretty excited and happy for him to come home.' Skaf had lately been held in the minimum-security Kirkconnell Correctional Centrex, about 180km west of Sydney, between Lithgow and Bathurst. He was moved to Long Bay late last week ahead of his release on parole. Skaf was considered a low to medium risk of 'general re-offending' but one Corrective Services psychologist assessed him as in the 'well above average' range of committing further sex offences. Skaf emerges from Long Bay jail wearing a face mask, his first taste of freedom in more than 20 years As well as 24-hour electronic monitoring, Skaf will have to keep to a daily schedule and comply with ongoing psychological intervention. Skaf was flanked by a corrections officer and lawyers as he walked to a waiting car Skaf tried to avoid the cameras as he got into the car to be driven to his mother's home Earlier this year he was engaged in 30 days of work on community projects at Bathurst showground and local churches and was reported to have toiled diligently. He had completed the High Intensity Sex Offenders Program in a 'satisfactory manner' and the Real Understanding Self Help course where he was described as a 'consistently committed participant'. The State Parole Authority (SPA) granted Skaf's release on September 17 under strict conditions including 24-hour electronic monitoring. 'Every determinate sentence imposed by a court comes to an end,' the authority said in a statement. 'Ordinarily, release is inevitable. 'It is clearly important to provide some structure to facilitate re-integration in the interests of community safety. 'Release without the opportunity for structure or supervision makes little sense in terms of community protection.' Skaf's mother and younger sister were recently diagnosed with Covid and were self-isolating at their Greenacre home (pictured) along with his father and younger brother Skaf's sister said the family was excited about 38-year-old Mohammed's release on parole. 'We're looking forward to him coming home and hopefully he'll start a life that we've never experienced before,' she said. The Skaf family home is pictured Skaf's behaviour in prison had significant improved over the past two years and he retained strong family support. 'It is also reported that there has been a considerable shift in the applicant's understanding of the aggravated sexual assault conviction, to the extent that he accepts that "perhaps" consent had not been given by the victim,' the SPA found. 'The applicant reflected that he "was then 17 years and is now 38 and he would never be in that situation again". 'The authority accepts that there has been some belated attitudinal shift, but not such as constitutes any real acknowledgement of the gross criminal conduct described by the sentencing judges.' Skaf has been offered post-release employment and his family's recently renovated home was previously assessed as suitable by Community Corrections. The Skaf family home is about 1.7km from Gosling Park (above) where one of the Skaf gang's pack rapes occurred on August 12, 2000. Mohammed lured a 16-year-old girl to the park where Bilal and another gang member raped her while a dozen others stood around laughing. The gang, led by Bilal Skaf, took two teenagers aged 17 and 18 to a toilet block at Northcote Park, Greenacre, where they were raped by eight men on August 10, 2000. The park, which is 750m from the Skaf family home, is pictured Hadi Skaf, whose older brothers are notorious pack rapists Bilal and Mohammed Skaf, has been caught supplying cocaine in Sydney Community Corrections reviewed that arrangement after youngest sibling Hadi pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine and dealing with the proceeds of crime. It is understood the difference between the nature of Mohammed and 22-year-old Hadi's offending would not stop the former staying in the family home. The Skafs live on a quiet bottlebrush-lined street about 1.7km from Gosling Park where one of the gang's pack rapes was committed on August 12, 2000. Mohammed had lured a 16-year-old girl he knew to the park where Bilal and a second gang member raped her while a dozen more young men stood around laughing. The second gang member held a gun to the teen's head and kicked her in the stomach before she was able to escape. Less than three weeks after the Gosling Park attack, on August 30, 2000, Mohammed was the leader of four young men who approached an 18-year-old woman at Bankstown train station. Skaf took the woman's phone and led her to public toilets in nearby Marion Street where he told her: 'You won't get your phone back until you f*** me.' When the young woman refused Skaf said, 'I'm going to f*** you Leb-style', turned her around and raped her against a wall. The SPA described the following 'horrendous' assaults committed upon the victim by the rest of the gang that night as violent, degrading and disgusting. The woman was raped 25 times by 14 attackers at three locations in an ordeal that lasted six hours. She was asked if 'Leb c*** tasted better than Aussie c***' before being sprayed with an industrial hose. Judge Finnane had compared the Skaf gang's depravity to outrages committed by invading armies in times of war. 'These were not random attacks and, in my view, they were aimed at creating terror in the community, Judge Finnane found. Bilal Skaf led a gang of young Lebanese-Australian males on a pack rape spree across Sydney's south west in 2000. He is pictured outside the NSW Supreme Court in July 2006 He described Skaf as a menace to civilised society, and while Bilal - who was not eligible for parole until 2033 - had been the gang's nominal commander, Mohammed had also taken a leadership role. 'As the facts show, he, although quite young, is a vicious, cowardly bully, arrogant and a liar, as well as being a rapist,' Judge Finnane said. The SPA noted Judge Finnane found Skaf had shown no remorse and continued to blame the victims for his crimes during his trials, observing he had been an 'arrogant and nasty individual in custody'. The SPA had no legislative power to hold Skaf in prison beyond the end of his full 23-year sentence but could keep him under supervision by granting parole. While acknowledging the distress that decision might cause Skaf's victims and the wider community, careful consideration had to be given to reintegrating him into the community. SPA chairman David Frearson SC said intensive supervision for the last two years and two months of Skaf's maximum sentence was the safest available option. 'This is the only opportunity to supervise a safe transition into the community in the small window of time that we have left,' Judge Frearson said. 'Release without structure or supervision makes little sense for community protection.' Mohammed Skaf had his sperm frozen while in custody at Long Bay jail (pictured) before undergoing cancer treatment so he could still father children when he got out. He was told chemotherapy would make him infertile and was 'devastated' at the prospect of being childless Skaf's sperm was frozen and stored - at no cost to him - shortly after he was jailed over a series of horrifying pack rapes in Sydney's south west in 2000. The now 38-year-old was treated for cancer at a secure unit of Prince of Wales Hospital at Randwick in Sydney's east (pictured) As well as 24-hour electronic monitoring, Skaf will have to keep to a daily schedule and comply with ongoing psychological intervention. He is banned from any form of contact with his victims or co-offenders and cannot visit the Liverpool, Fairfield, Blacktown or Parramatta council areas. The Skaf family home is within the nearby Canterbury-Bankstown local government boundaries. Community Corrections pre-release reports confirmed there had been a 'significant improvement' in Skaf's behaviour and attitude towards his offending. Skaf had his sperm frozen early in his sentence before undergoing chemotherapy so he could still father children after he was let out of jail. He was rendered infertile following the treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma but the sperm sample was kept in storage. Original sentencing judge, Michael Finnane, compared the Skaf gang's depravity to outrages committed by invading armies in times of war and said their crimes were 'worse than murder' Skaf gang rapes were 'worse than murder' Bilal Skaf led a gang of more than a dozen young Lebanese Australians who committed four pack rapes on six teenagers in late 2000. Among the gang members was Bilal's younger brother Mohammed. One of the victims, an 18-year-old woman, was raped 25 times by 14 gang members over six hours in an attack coordinated by mobile phone. She was then dumped at a train station after being hosed down. During her ordeal the woman was called an 'Aussie pig', told she was going to be raped 'Leb-style' and asked if 'Leb c*** tasted better than Aussie c***'. Judge Michael Finnane compared the Skaf gang's depravity to outrages committed by invading armies in times of war and said their crimes were 'worse than murder'. 'These were not random attacks and, in my view, they were aimed at creating terror in the community,' Judge Finnane said. 'It seemed clear to me that these men were sending out a message to the community in Sydney. Skaf and the members of this gang clearly wanted public recognition for what they had done.' None of the rapists expressed any remorse for their crimes at their trials. Only Bilal Skaf is still in jail for the attacks. Some of the rapists have never been identified and police fear there were more victims who did not come forward. Advertisement Skaf's plans to have children after his brush with cancer were detailed in a NSW Court of Criminal Appeal judgment handed down in September 2005. He was diagnosed with cancer in November 2002, a month after his original sentence was imposed, and underwent six months of chemotherapy. Skaf claimed his health scare 'made him more compassionate and understanding of other people's pain and suffering, particularly those trying to combat cancer', according to the CCA's findings. The same judgement revealed Skaf moaning about being separated from his family and not having fresh fruit and vegetables to eat as he battled the disease. The CCA noted Skaf felt 'isolated' and 'dehumanised', and wept as he tried to cope with his 'day-to-day mental and physical suffering'. The chemotherapy was successful but Skaf complained he still faced the likelihood of not being able to have sons and daughters of his own. Skaf said doctors felt he was probably sterile for the rest of his life and the sperm sample taken before his chemotherapy could only be stored for ten years. [There is no definitive time limit for a high-quality sperm sample to remain viable after being frozen inside liquid nitrogen. There have been successful pregnancies from sperm frozen for more than 20 years]. 'The applicant has deposed that he is "devastated" by the information that he is now sterile and that he is having medication for depression and that he feels "constantly stressed",' the CCA found. A clinical psychologist who assessed Skaf in October 2003 recorded his reaction to facing the disease and treatment. 'During his life threatening and extremely debilitating illness, Mr Skaf had to endure limited reassurance and comfort from his family, which is normally considered necessary for a successful recovery from a serious cancer,' the psychologist wrote. 'Mr Skaf told me that on several occasions he lost his composure and cried.' At the same time, Skaf complained he did not have access to education programs 'to keep his mind occupied', the psychologist reported. 'Mr Skaf told me that during the acute phase of his treatment, he had been tempted to end his life but that the thought of the pain this would cause his parents and his siblings and this stopped him.' 'Mr Skaf is a depressed and anxious young man who is trying to recover from a life threatening lymphatic cancer. 'Since his serious life threatening illness, Mr Skaf appears to demonstrate greater insight into other people's suffering and struggles. 'He expressed the desire to understand and explore the meaning of his life and the possibilities for a future constructive life.' It is not known if the sperm sample taken from Skaf is still viable. When 24-year-old geologist Daniel Robinson went missing in the Arizona desert in June, he was obsessed with a woman he barely knew and disappeared just hours after sending her a desperate final text message, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. 'The world can get better, but I'll have to take all the time I can or we can, whatever, to name it,' he wrote to the woman identified only as Katelyn. 'I'll either see you again or never see you again.' Eighteen hours later, Robinson turned up at a remote work site deep in the Arizona desert outside the booming town of Buckeye. He stayed for 15 minutes, then drove off. He has not been seen or heard from since. But his obsession with the woman he met delivering her liquor while working his side job and his despondency over her unrequited feelings has - up to now - been overlooked. Robinson's case has been cited as evidence that the media spends too much of its time reporting on missing white women such as Gabby Petito and not enough on people of color. Geologist Daniel Robinson, 24, has been missing since June 23, when he was last seen leaving his worksite in Buckeye, Arizona Robinson's family have been organizing civilian search parties where he was last seen and have accused cops of failing to conduct a thorough investigation Robinson showed up to work at 9:30 am at a remote desert site but abruptly left a short time after in his blue Jeep renegade and was never seen again. His car was found almost a month later on July 19, at the bottom of a 20-foot ravine (pictured) MSNBC's Joy Reid mentioned his case on air, saying she had 'never heard of it until this friend of mine sent it to me. And I guess, that's the issue, isn't it?' Her guest, Lynette Grey Bull of the Not Our Native Daughters Foundation, called the media's lack of focus on Robinson's case 'systemic racism.' Other media outlets have carefully skirted Robinson's relationship with Katelyn - whom he only met while delivering alcohol at her home. The Independent wrote a lengthy piece under the title 'Daniel Robinson: Everything we know about geologist missing in Arizona desert under bizarre circumstances' without mentioning the key evidence. NewsNation reported on his father's determination to find the truth, again without mentioning Katelyn. His father, disabled Army vet David Robinson, has been in Arizona for months trying to find out what happened to his son CNN had a piece on how black people are frustrated with the media over coverage, but again Katelyn's existence was nowhere to be found, even though it is key in the report prepared by Buckeye police. Robinson - who was born without his right hand - met Katelyn on his side job delivering groceries for Instacart. When he turned up with a booze order at her home in the Phoenix suburb of Laveen on June 12, Katelyn and a friend who was with her, invited him in. 'Katelyn said she believed Daniel was very nice and she and her female friend asked Daniel if he wanted to hang out with them,' the police report said. 'Katelyn said she and her female friend "were drunk" and that looking back on it, she shouldn't have invited a stranger into her home.' She added that she thought he was 'harmless as he only had one arm and was short in height.' Katelyn - whose last name is redacted in reports - and Daniel exchanged numbers, but she insists, nothing else happened. Within a week, he arrived at her house unannounced, and with only a brief exchange of messages between them, Robinson texted Katelyn: 'I couldn't stop thinking about you.' Robinson's case has been cited as evidence that the media spends too much of its time reporting on missing white women such as Gabby Petito - whose disappearance last month generated international intrigue - and not enough on people of color Media outlets, however, have failed to mention a key part of a Buckeye Police report that revealed Robinson had become obsessed with a Phoenix woman he barely knew and disappeared just hours after sending her a desperate final text message Robinson believes the Petito investigation unexpectedly elevated his son's case. He has claimed cops have been providing updates due to the public pressure By June 20 his message was 'I love you.' She tried to rebuff him. 'Honestly you showing up at my house unannounced made me extremely uncomfortable, she replied. 'I don't see us hanging out any time soon.' The next day he turned up at her house again. 'This isn't normal nor acceptable,' Katelyn told him. 'If someone has expressed that you've made them uncomfortable, you need to back off.' 'Do you hate me?' Daniel replied. 'I don't hate you but please leave me alone,' Katelyn texted back. He took 15 hours to respond with his final text to her. Eighteen hours after that he vanished. Police were so alarmed at Robinson's messages to a woman he hardly knew that they advised Katelyn about stalker laws and suggested she might want to make an official complaint. Workmate Roger Prutsman was also concerned about his colleague. He told police he knew something was wrong. When he asked Robinson what was bothering him, he replied: 'What if there was a girl you liked, but you couldn't have?' Robinson, the youngest of four children, grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from the College of Charleston. Robinson - who was born with one hand - was the youngest of four children. He grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from the College of Charleston Daniel's Jeep, which private investigator Jeff McGrath claims raises a lot of questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. The vehicle was found with its airbags deployed and with Daniel's wallet, clothes, phone and credit card inside Daniel's father said his son's clothes, possessions and car were handed over to him as soon as he arrived in Arizona from South Carolina instead of being examined as evidence. Pictured: The Buckeye Police Department's label on a bag of Daniel's clothing (right) which they have marked as impounded for safekeeping, not evidence He then attended a course in Tucson and soon after was offered a job by the engineering firm Matrix New World. He stayed in Arizona, initially living with Prutsman and then getting his own apartment in Tempe. His father, disabled Army vet David Robinson, has been in Arizona for months trying to find out what happened to his son, who he described to DailyMail.com as 'a go-getter.' 'He was born with one hand. Some people think that's a handicap, but not Daniel. Daniel is not the type of a guy who views that as a handicap.' The older Robinson, who served two tours in Afghanistan and was injured by a roadside bomb, said his ex-wife bought a prosthesis for her son, but he refused to wear it. 'He just wanted to be Daniel,' said David Robinson, 51. 'He didn't have any problems playing video games. He taught himself how to play the French horn. He taught himself how to play the trombone. He was in a marching band. He earned his way into college and decided on geology in his freshman year.' In an interview with AP last month, Robinson said he believes the Gabby Petito saga unexpectedly elevated his son's case as people used the #findgabypetito hashtag on Twitter to draw more attention to cases of missing people of color. 'I was working hard previously trying to get it out nationally for three months straight,' said Robinson, who's communicated with other families about the coverage disparity. 'This is bigger than I thought. ... It isn't just about my son Daniel. It's a national problem.' David Robinson has set up a GoFundMe page to help finance his search for his son. So far, it has raised more than $142,000. Daniel Robinson was last seen on June 23 when he turned up for work, his second job of the day, at 9:30 am at a remote desert site, that builders are hoping to develop. It was an abnormally cool and rainy day for the area. He met up with pump technician Ken Elliott who he had never met before and they were to work on a deep well. Jeff McGrath (pictured) a private investigator brought in by the Robinson family believes Robinson was upset about Katelyn's rejection and went on an all-night video game binge A marker near the ravine where Daniel's Jeep was discovered in the desert in Buckeye The family has launched a GoFundMe page to finance their search as well as a Twitter account to share updates of their investigation Elliott told police that Robinson 'was saying things that did not make sense,' such as asking if he wanted to go with him to Phoenix to rest. Elliott told him he had work to do, but just 15 minutes after he arrived, Robinson abruptly left without a word. Elliott later followed his tire tracks in the rain-soaked dirt road and found that instead of going left at a T-junction to return to Phoenix, Robinson turned right into the unrelenting Sonoran Desert. Helicopter and drone searches failed to find his slate blue Jeep Renegade. Rancher Brandon Shelton eventually discovered it on July 19, nearly a month after Robinson's disappearance. It was on its side at the bottom of a 20-foot ravine. The vehicle's airbags were deployed. Certainly, there are potential discrepancies in the official version that something triggered Robinson into going into the desert, where he stripped off and wandered away from his car. Rancher Shelton, whose cattle graze 14,000 acres in the Buckeye area, is convinced the car had only been in the ravine that leads to the Hassayampa River a short while when he came across it. 'It was clean,' Shelton, 43, told DailyMail.com. 'And my cows would have found it. Cows are inquisitive creatures and would have licked it.' Shelton pointed to one of Robinson's size 11 Red Wing work boots that was stuck under the truck. The Buckeye Police Department has been using robotic equipment to search two mineshafts 'That makes no sense,' he said. 'If you were delirious and ripped off all your clothes and wandered into the desert you wouldn't stick one of your shoes under the car.' 'My personal theory is that someone deliberately wrecked that vehicle out there.' Jeff McGrath, a private investigator brought in by the Robinson family, agrees. He believes Robinson was upset about Katelyn's rejection and went on an all-night video game binge. When he turned up at work he was so tired that he deliberately drove into the desert to take a nap where he wouldn't be found. 'At that point I think somebody - not a good person - found him. I can't imagine what they did with him, but I believe his vehicle was crashed a couple of times and then its final rest was at the bottom of that ravine,' McGrath, 51, told DailyMail.com. He pointed out that the 2017 Jeep Renegade's airbag control module showed that the car was driven 11 miles after the airbags deployed and the ignition was turned 46 times. He also said the damage to the vehicle appeared to show that it had been hit above the windshield. 'It looks like a bat or a pipe, or it could be a large rock - anything blunt.' David Robinson described his son to DailyMail.com as 'a go-getter.' Workmate Roger Prutsman told police he was concerned about Daniel and knew something was wrong The driver's seat belt was buckled and, despite the severe damage to the Jeep, no blood was found inside. Robinson's wallet, phone and credit cards were all in the car. His clothes - T-shirt, jeans turned inside-out, shorts, orange work vest, boots and two mismatched black socks - were all nearby. One of the socks is Nike, the other Adidas. McGrath found another black Nike sock three miles away in the desert. He cannot explain it, but it is another reason he believes there is more to the case than meets the eye. Both McGrath and Daniel's father believe Buckeye Police did not carry out a thorough investigation into Robinson's mysterious disappearance. They point out that Daniel's clothes, possessions and car were handed over to his father as soon as he arrived in Arizona from South Carolina. 'Surely these are items of evidence if a crime is found to have been committed,' said McGrath. Buckeye Police turned down a DailyMail.com request for an interview. Chief Larry Hall issued a statement saying: 'We are committed to finding Daniel Robinson. Our investigators are working tirelessly to find answers and bring closure to Daniel's loved ones.' Advertisement President Joe Biden arrived in Michigan Tuesday to hawk his $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the larger budget bill at a union hall. The president landed in Lansing and was greeted by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is facing a tough re-election fight next year. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist linked up with Biden on-site. Biden visited a branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers in Howell, Michigan, the county seat of Livingston County, which chose former President Donald Trump over Biden by more than 20 points. More than a thousand pro-Trump protesters lined the streets directly outside the union facility, with demonstrators holding up signs saying 'Trump Won', 'Go Home Sleepy Joe' and 'unmask kids' as he made his way from the airport to his event. Makes me smile, I get more pumped up,' he said of the protesters after the event. Speaking to a small group of union members and lawmakers, Biden pitched his infrastructure plans as non-partisan. 'These bills are not about left versus right or moderate versus progressive or anything that pits Americans against one another,' Biden said. 'To oppose these investments is to be complicit in America's decline,' he said. President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Howell, Michigan on Tuesday about his Build Back Better agenda President Joe Biden is shown how simulators for heavy equipment work at the International Union of Operating Engineers Training Facility in Howell, Michigan on Tuesday, alongside Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer President Joe Biden is shown a front-end lower simulator at the International Union of Operating Engineers Training Facility in Howell, Michigan on Tuesday before delivering remarks President Joe Biden was shown both vintage and modern heavy equipment on the second stop of his tour President Joe Biden (right) hugs Rep. Elissa Slotkin (left) as he arrives in Lansing, Michigan Tuesday. Biden made the trip to pitch his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, along with the bigger reconciliation bill that includes a number of liberal goodies The trip comes after Biden dashed progressives' hopes telling them that the $3.5 trillion budget bill needed to be slashed by more than a trillion dollars. CBS News reported that the new pricetag for the 'human instrastructure' bill was to be between $1.9 and $2.2 trillion. A source told the network that the White House was open to means testing, though progressives have voiced that measuring eligibility for some programs could be burdensome for government workers - actually making them more expensive. Biden also met with a more moderate group of House members virtually Tuesday morning before departing the White House. Upon arriving in Howell, Biden made two stops inside the International Union of Operating Engineers Training Facility. He first was shown a number of simulators that teach people how to drive front-end loaders and fly drones. 'You get up there and you feel like you own the world,' Biden said, talking about heavy machine operators. Entering a larger room, that contained a vintage piece of equipment and a modern spider crane, Biden marveled to reporters, 'I learned how to fly a drone!' After his tour of the facility, Biden made his pitch about the bills. 'Every bit is paid for, by the way,' the president said. 'No deficit, every bit of it is paid for up front,' he repeated. Slotkin made a similar point when she opened up for him. Biden warned that without infrastructure improvements, the U.S. would fall behind. 'We've taken our foot off the case. And the world has taken notice by the way,' he said. He mentioned conversations with world leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 'They're betting for the first time we won't respond to this inflection point,' Biden said. Biden called out Republicans for not playing ball. 'We haven't passed a major infrastructure bill in decades in this country. It used to be a normal thing to do. It used to be a bipartisan thing to do,' the president said. Biden (right) is visiting Slotkin's (left) district and will speak in Howell, the county seat of Livingston County, which chose former President Donald Trump over Biden by more than 20 points Protesters lined the streets as Biden's motorcade drove from the airport to his first event The demonstrators held up signs saying 'Trump won' and 'Go Home Sleepy Joe' as he tried to sell his massive spending plan One demonstrator compared Biden to Stalin and a youngster said unmask kids. Biden did have a small group of supporters there to greet him for his trip The Trump supporters waved and recorded videos on their phones as the motorcade and press van went by President Joe Biden departs for Michigan where he'll tout the two bills he wants Congress to pass - the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package and a larger, budget bill that will include 'human infrastructure' programs President Biden exits the Oval Office into the White House Rose Garden to head to Michigan to sell his infrastructure plan President Joe Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One for a trip to Howell, Michigan The $3.5 trillion bill includes climate change provisions, universal pre-K, child care assistance, tuition-free community college, paid medical and family leave, the extension of the child tax credit and enhanced Medicare coverage. The pro-Trump protests were't surprising as the county surrounding Howell went for the Republican president in 2020. Slotkin, however, represents the district, as it stretches over to parts of Lansing, the home of Michigan State. Biden brushed off a question about whether she was worried about winning re-election - hence the visit to her district. Slotkin is one of 17 House Democrats being targeted by ads funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee, linking her to Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and '$3 trillion in tax hikes.' Previewing the trip Monday, Psaki said the trip would revolve around Biden pitching the two bills. 'He wants to go out there and talk about the components and the pieces of these bills that will make people's lives better, even as we're having very important conversation about the legislative logistics here,' Psaki said. A Thursday night vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill was stalled over a progressive threat to tank the bill. They used the tactic to try and get moderate support for the larger package, which was originally pitched as a $3.5 trillion investment. 'People don't think of their roads as partisan, for good reason, nor do they think of their childcare is partisan,' said White House press secretary Jen Psaki when asked by Biden decided to go into Trump country to sell his two bills Besides being one of the three formerly Democratic states that Biden flipped back from Trump, Psaki said the president chose Michigan because it would 'benefit greatly from both the bipartisan infrastructure package and the Build Back Better agenda.' 'Just to give you a couple of examples, Michiganders - I confirmed that is actually what people from Michigan call themselves ... spent an extra 67 per cnet of their time commuting because of their need for updating infrastructure,' Psaki said. 'Almost 10 per cent people in Michigan don't have broadband access, that is really something that will help level the playing field for people, whether they're in urban or rural communities,' she continued. 'Forty-four per cent of people in Michigan live in childcare deserts.' 'These are all issues that are addressed by both of these packages,' the press secretary added. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited a controversial marketing company owner's luxury ranch multiple times this year and even brought Meghan's mother along, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. The firm, Guthy-Renker, has been fined over illegal business practices in California, was sued for $26million by thousands of women who claim its shampoo made their hair fall out, had commercials banned in the UK for 'misleading' consumers, and launched the career of self-help guru Tony Robbins was accused last month of spreading Covid misinformation. Last week DailyMail.com revealed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex flew on a private jet owned by the firm, Guthy-Renker, after their VIP tour of New York City. The news sparked speculation that Meghan could be planning to launch her own cosmetics line, following in the footsteps of the world's richest supermodel Cindy Crawford who has made hundreds of millions of dollars from her Guthy-Renker hair products. Harry and Meghan were seen driving in and out of Guthy-Renker co-founder Bill Guthy's ranch in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara several times between February and March this year Photos obtained by DailyMail.com show the Sussexes leaving the property in a black Range Rover with Meghan in the passenger seat and her mother Doria Ragland in the back The photos suggest the Sussexes may have been friendly with Bill Guthy for months, and may have even used his Santa Barbara estate (pictured) for their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview Though the Sussexes and the company stayed silent about any budding business relationship, new photographs obtained by DailyMail.com reveal Harry and Meghan have been friendly with the firm's co-founder Bill Guthy for months, and may have even used his Santa Barbara estate for their bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview. The former royals were spotted driving in and out of the Guthy ranch in Carpinteria several times between February and March this year. A series of pictures from March 1 shows Harry leaving the estate in a black Range Rover with Meghan in the passenger seat and her mother Doria Ragland in the back. Their interview with Oprah was also reportedly filmed just days earlier, before the Sussexes were stripped of their royal titles on February 19. Satellite images of the Guthy estate show an apparent stone courtyard similar to the leafy, outdoor location for the interview. Their visits to the property around the time raise the prospect that the CBS TV special that rocked the royal family may have been filmed courtesy of the marketing company boss. In fact, part of Guthy's ranch was formerly available for rent as a luxury getaway under the name Paradise Retreats. The couple's highly-anticipated sit-down with Oprah was reportedly filmed on February 19 - just days before those photos were taken Satellite images of the Guthy estate show an apparent stone courtyard similar to the leafy, outdoor location for the interview DailyMail.com has also learned that part of Guthy's ranch was formerly available for rent as a luxury getaway under the name Paradise Retreats The three-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom home was billed as a 'world class vacation rental', complete with 'panoramic views' of Santa Barbara and Ventura, a media room, pool, and yurt Billed as 'world class vacation rentals', the listing for a three-bed, 4.5-bath property on the estate boasts a private drive, avocado orchards, 'panoramic views' of Santa Barbara and Ventura, a media room, pool, and yurt. Archive versions of the rental property online listing show it was live as recently as September 2020, but have since been removed from the Paradise Retreats site. Neither the Sussexes nor Guthy-Renker responded to DailyMail.com's requests for comment about any personal or business relationship between the former royals and the direct marketing firm. Bill Guthy, 66, is reportedly worth more than $500million, and owns estates in Carpinteria, Beverly Hills and a home in the tony neighborhood of Brentwood, Los Angeles according to property records. Their Beverly Hills property, built for former owners Emily Blunt and John Krasinski and later sold to Kendall Jenner, was listed in June for $8.5million. Like the Sussexes, Guthy and his wife Victoria have two children, though theirs are grown. Co-founders of Guthy-Renker Greg Renker (left) and Bill Guthy (right) are pictured with Cindy Crawford in West Hollywood, California in December 2015 The Sussexes and the company have remained silent about any potential budding business relationship The couple was seen leaving the property ahead of their highly anticipated tell all with Oprah that aired on March 7 His son, Jackson Guthy, is a musician who dated Lori Loughlin's YouTuber daughter Olivia Giannulli, one of the high profile participants in the college admissions scandal of 2019. Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson and Heidi Klum have all had beauty product lines by Guthy-Renker earning them millions of dollars. The infomercial specialists made the career of self-help guru Tony Robbins and launched cosmetics with talk show host Leeza Gibbons, Dallas actress Victoria Principle and celebrity stylist Chaz Dean. But in recent years Guthy-Renker has been fined over illegal business practices in California. It was placed under federal investigation and sued for $26million by thousands of customers who claimed its shampoo led to hair loss, and had commercials for its acne treatment line, Proactiv, banned in the UK over its 'misleading' ads. DailyMail.com published exclusive photos of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex disembarking from Guthy-Renker's Dassault Falcon jet in their hometown of Santa Barbara in September after a three-day VIP tour of New York City sparking speculation that Meghan could be planning her own product lines with the controversial company. Crawford began a series of anti-aging skincare products with Guthy-Renker called Meaningful Beauty in 2005 and marketed them with a slew of on-the-nose infomercials. Many of the firm's products have celebrity endorsements, including a 'Meaningful Beauty' anti-aging skin cream fronted by Cindy Crawford (pictured) Crawford became the face of Meaningful Beauty in 2005 and marketed the skincare products with a slew of on-the-nose infomercials Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson and Heidi Klum have earned millions of dollars with beauty product lines marketed by Guthy-Renker In one commercial masquerading as a talk show segment, Crawford is interviewed in front of a studio audience by actress Valerie Bertinelli about her seeming ability to 'defy the aging process', with a honey-toned voiceover asking: 'Is it magic, or could Cindy have a real secret to lasting youth?' Viewers are told that 'at a secluded natural field, scientists have cultivated a rare melon', claiming that the fruit contains a 'powerful super antioxidant' used in Cindy's creams, designed by anti-aging skincare expert Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh. Guthy-Renker's Wen hair products sparked an FDA investigation in 2014 into claims of hair loss and skin irritation Another half-hour infomercial includes a time lapse shot of a regular melon rotting and collapsing in a putrid pile, while 'Dr. Sebagh's Melon' containing the 'youth molecule' stays 'fresh and firm'. By 2015 Guthy-Renker had aired at least 11 of Crawford's infomercials on national TV including shopping channel QVC. The line added hair products this year. A move by Meghan into the world of beauty products and infomercials would be highly unorthodox for a royal family member. In an interview in Forbes in August this year, Guthy-Renker co-founder Greg Renker even admitted that Crawford 'took a risk' when she partnered with them in the early 2000s and that venturing into direct-to-consumer marketing at the time 'was not exactly aspirational'. But the business proved to be extremely lucrative as Forbes estimates Crawford is now worth $225million largely thanks to her Guthy-Renker creams. According to Euromonitor, the global skincare market earned $140billion in retail sales in 2019 and is expected to reach $181billion by 2025. Wen's line of hair products were endorsed by celebrity stylist Chaz Dean whose A-list clients have included Brooke Shields, Alyssa Milano (pictured) and Christina Applegate Wen was forced to pay out $26.3million to settle a class action lawsuit of 2,000 women in 2016 after receiving 21,000 complaints from horrified customers discovering bald patches However, Harry and Meghan's public relations team at Sunshine Sachs may have a headache over their possible links to the infomercial giant given its checkered recent past. Prosecutors from four California counties accused Guthy-Renker in 2019 of charging its customers for repeated shipments of products without their consent. The firm was forced to pay $1.2million in penalties and 'up to $7.3million in restitution to customers who got automatically-renewed charges without their consent' according to the City of Santa Monica. Guthy-Renker also paid nearly $8million to settle a lawsuit by customers of their Proactiv acne medicine and Wen hair products who were re-charged without their consent. Wen previously paid out $26.3million to settle a class action lawsuit of 2,000 women in 2016 after receiving 21,000 complaints about its hair products. Horrified customers discovered bald patches and skin irritation after using their conditioner, endorsed by celebrity stylist Chaz Dean whose A-list clients have included Brooke Shields, Alyssa Milano, and Christina Applegate. The complaints had also sparked a Food and Drug Administration investigation two years earlier. Guthy-Renker is known for its multi-billion dollar sales of celebrity-endorsed beauty products, including acne treatment Proactiv, whose infomercials famously featured Hollywood stars such as Katy Perry (pictured) and Justin Bieber The FDA issued a safety alert for the brand while it carried out its investigation, and recommended that consumers 'stop using the product and consult with their dermatologist or other health care provider' if they experience a reaction after use. At the time of the class action settlement, Wen said: 'We continue to provide our hundreds of thousands of customers with the Wen by Chaz Dean products that they know and love. Since the process of litigation is time consuming and costly, we made a business decision to pursue a settlement and put this behind us so that we can focus on delivering quality products.' The following year Wen also released research from a 2016 clinical study which found no 'toxicological hazard' or 'adverse reaction' in a lab test on over 100 subjects. One of Guthy-Renker's commercials was banned in the United Kingdom after using celebrities including Katy Perry and Justin Bieber to make misleading claims about their acne products. The UK Advertising Standards Agency investigated complaints that the British version of the acne cream did not have the same active ingredients as its US counterpart, and ruled that the commercials were misleading viewers by suggesting the celebrities on camera were continuing to use the products, when in fact they only used them for a few weeks. Guthy-Renker said at the time that it had 'detailed documentary evidence' showing the celebrities involved used the product and that they provided accurate descriptions of its effects. The luxury 10-seat Dassault Falcon 2000LX plane is owned by Guthy-Renker company GRP Aviation LLC, according to records, but is also rented out to charter service Clay Lacy An LA to NYC roundtrip charter flight costs around $115,000, according to Clay Lacy. The company however, told DailyMail.com there was not record of the jet being chartered this weekend, likely meaning Guthy-Renker provided the flight for Meghan and Harry Many of the firm's products have celebrity endorsements, including the Meaningful Beauty anti-aging skin creams fronted by Crawford, Sheer Cover mineral makeup promoted by talk show host Leeza Gibbons and the 'In an Instant' makeup line endorsed by model Heidi Klum. Guthy-Renker helped launch the career of self-help guru Tony Robbins, who was accused last week of spreading Covid 19 misinformation. Robbins spoke at a three-day sales conference in Orlando, Florida last week. According to a TMZ report published Monday, in his speech the self-help author played down Covid death statistics, saying 1,200 people die every day from car accidents. The real number is closer to 100 according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2019 data, while on average 2,000 people have died every day from covid in the past two weeks in the US. Robbins also criticized covid lockdown night time curfews imposed in Australia, joking that 'we all know the virus sneaks out at night.' 'We're all supposed to be afraid because the unvaccinated people, they're destroying vaccinated people. That's confusing to me. If the vaccine works, you're protected aren't you?' he said, to applause in the Florida audience. 'How could unvaccinated people be a threat to you? Besides that, 100 million Americans are unvaccinated. They're not all crazy people. You know the number one group that is vaccine hesitant in a study? PhDs.' A drought that left Utah with one of the 'worst water years on record' revealed the remnants of a ghost town that was purposefully flooded in the 1950s to create the Wanship Dam. Drone footage captured by Devon Dewey shows the remaining building foundations of Rockport, Utah. The town never had more than 100 to 200 people, and only 27 families remained in the area when the US government decided to build the dam, which eventually inundated the town, in the 1950s, according to Utah State Parks. Dams are meant to suppress floods and create a water supply for human consumption and navigation. Dewey's areal footage shows a tiny patch of remaining concrete in the middle of the sprawling Weber Valley in northern Utah. Some of town's old buildings are preserved for display at the Pioneer Village inside the Lagoon Amusement Park, about 56 mi northeast of Rockport, according to lagoonhistory.com. Video captured by Devon Dewey shows the remains of the ghost town of Rockport, Utah The remaining 27 families were cleared to build the Wanship Dam between 1954 and 1957 They include the Rockport Coop, organized by farmers in the area and operated until 1930, and the Rockport School House, built in 1870. 'It was really interesting to be standing at an overlook for the reservoir and to see faint traces of foundations of old homes and a road all below where the water would normally be,' Dewey told KSL-TV in Salt Lake City last month. 'The whole area is pretty flat and uniform, so even though the foundations are old and mostly gone, you can still see them clearly if you know where to look. 'Using a drone to get a higher perspective helped to see where structures once stood over 70 years ago.' The first European-American settlers arrived at Rockport, 40 miles east of Salt Lake City, in 1860, according to Utah State Parks. The settlement was first called Crandall and was later renamed Enoch City. Later in the decade, the town's settlers built an 8-foot-high rock fort around the city to protect it from Native American attacks during Utah's Black Hawk War. The wall was torn down after the war, and the town adopted the name Rockport. Today, Utah is undergoing one of its worst droughts in recent history. 'This has been one of the worst water years on record coming in a climate change mega-drought where we've had a series of bad water years in a row,' said Zach Frankel, executive director of the environmental group Utah Rivers council, in an interview Friday with KTSU. Slide me Utah has undergone one of the 'worst water years' on record. Above, a 2021 aerial view of the Great Salt Lake compared to an 1989 aerial view Rockport was first settled by European-Americans in the 1860s. In this photo from 1892, horses move the log schoolhouse to make room for the new Social Hall The brick schoolhouse above was built to replace the original log structure in 1912 Former residents of Rockport, Utah stand in front of a building which may be a school house The state's Great Salt Lake, the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, dropped to a record low of 4,191.4 feet in July, tying the previous record set in 1963. 'We experienced some of the worst water supply conditions in our lifetimes,' Candice Hasenyager, the director of Utah's Division of Water Resources, told the station. The federal government bought all the land in the Rockport area in 1952, and the Bureau of Reclamation built the 156-foot-tall Wanship Dam between 1954 and 1957. The valley where Rockport was located was then flooded, creating a lake with a total capacity of 62,100 acre-feet and a surface area of 1,080 acres. The Rockport Reservoir is located in Summit County, Utah within Rockport State Park A superintendent visited the Rockport Schoolhouse in November 1875, with a report in the Salt Lake Daily Herald reading: 'They have a neat little school house and 47 children in Rockport, and kept their school in session six months during the past year. The trustees and people appear to be interested in the welfare of their children.' The one-room, 18-foot-by-28-foot building was made of rough-hewn pine logs with a floor made of flat rocks, according to lagoonhistory.com. The building was also used for church services and community events. The book Echoes of Yesterday states: 'For the dances, a chair was placed on a small table. This was the orchestra stand for the lone fiddler (Henry Walker) who came from Provo Canyon to furnish music for the dances.' In 1892, the town's residents built a new church and social hall. A new brick schoolhouse was built in 1912, as show in a photo from rockportoriginals.com. Rockport State Park was opened to the public in 1966 after the town was flooded over by the Rockport Reservour. A NSW public servant who was fired for helping homicide detectives catch a killer has slammed his former employer, saying his health and welfare have ravaged by the ordeal. Thomas Wood was working as a forensic investigator with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) when he saw media reports of Dennis James Pietrobon's arrest in May 2020 over the murder of Nicole Cartwright. Ms Cartwright was killed on her 32nd birthday, October 1, 2018, after meeting Pietrobon for a drug-fuelled 'puff and play' encounter. Her body was found in a park in Sydney's north. After seeing media reports about Pietrobon's arrest, Mr Wood recognised him as a former TfNSW employee who he had investigated for his behaviour at work. He immediately approached police, telling them about his own investigations before Pietrobon was dismissed by the agency in 2019, a court judgment said. Thomas Wood (pictured) was wrongfully sacked from his job for helping the police with a murder investigation One of Mr Wood's investigations concerned an allegation that Pietrobon stalked and sexually harassed a colleague and had used fetish dating apps at work to download naked pictures. Another was about Pietrobon's failure to disclose a conviction for punching a school student. After calling Crime Stoppers, Mr Wood then told his manager and emailed superiors about 'information critical to possible murder investigation'. But rather than help the police by supplying the records it had on Pietrobon, the transport department sacked Mr Wood for 'serious or wilful misconduct' in giving out information about an employee and told the police there were no complaints recorded in Pietrobon's personnel file. Nicole Cartwright (pictured) was killed in October 2018 and her body was found wrapped in a bed sheet in Buffalo Creek Reserve on Sydney's lower north shore Mr Wood was also advised told what he had done raised questions of whether TfNSW could 'continue to have trust and confidence in you as an employee'. It was another nine months before the department provided Pietrobon's complete computer data to the police. The NSW Supreme Court overturned Mr Wood's sacking, finding it was unlawful and that he was entitled to damages. As a result of Mr Wood taking a case against his dismissal, it emerged the police had already sought information about Pietrobon from TfNSW, before he was charged. Dennis James Pietrobon (pictured) killed himself in prison before he could face a trial charged with killing Nicole Cartwright on a date TfNSW defended its actions, saying its acting 'chief people officer' acted within contractual rights to sack Mr Wood for failure to maintain confidentiality regarding the unauthorised release of confidential information and failing to protect personal information collected by the department. It tried to draw a distinction between information which had come into Mr Wood's possession as an employee, rather than as 'a natural person'. It also claimed Mr Wood's interview with police after his dismissal was a breach of the department's code of conduct. Acting Justice Monika Schmidt said it was difficult to see that the records would ever have been provided to police without Mr Wood coming forward. Mr Wood was obliged to tell police of the information, she said. '(TfNSW) was not above the law and could not constrain either the police, or Mr Wood providing his further assistance, as he did,' she said. Why TfNSW embarked on a procedurally unfair course of sacking Mr Wood was 'simply unexplained'. But the failure to call evidence from people who could have shed light on the issue 'supports the conclusion that their evidence would not have assisted' the department's case, Justice Schmidt found. Of his sacking, Mr Wood told the Daily Telegraph: 'My health and welfare have been seriously affected, and my dismissal was the day before I was proceeding on parental leave for the birth of my first child, ruining the momentous, life changing joy one should be experiencing at this time.' Pietrobon took his own life in Parklea Correctional Centre last April before he could face trial for the murder of Ms Cartwright. Ms Cartwright's body was found wrapped in a bed sheet in Buffalo Creek Reserve on Sydney's lower north shore. Mr Wood's lawyer Amanda Harvey, said this situation should not be allowed to happen again. 'What happened to Thomas Wood is an extreme case of defective administration and a complete failure of procedural fairness,' she said. 'This case should be a reminder to government employers and statutory regulators that the fundamentals of procedural fairness and natural justice are of paramount importance, and defective allegations and decision making will not be tolerated.' A judge has slammed a young tourist's 'vanity' in breaking hotel quarantine after just eight minutes and brazenly posting about it online. Shannai Reid, 22, was caught on CCTV ignoring isolation requirements in Broome after she arrived via Darwin and Queensland from her home in NSW in August. First she went op-shopping and posted a photo of her haul to social media, then she checked out of the hotel entirely and went sightseeing. Reid was fined $8,500 after four new charges added an extra $6,000 to her punishment - but she may never have to pay up. Shannai Reid, 22, from NSW, was captured on CCTV footage ignoring isolation requirements in Broome after she arrived in town having travelled from Queensland, via Darwin, in August Ms Reid moved around Broome from August 19 until August 24, visiting lookout spot Gantheaume Point and Town Beach, when she was meant to be in hotel quarantine The fine was handed down by Magistrate Stephen Sharratt in Reid's absence as the court heard she had since travelled home to NSW. 'She exposed people at risk of infection by going to an op-shop, by going to the bar, by going to the beach, knowing she should be self isolating,' he said. 'She put Broome people at risk for no other reason than her own vanity.' However, Magistrate Sharratt noted that Reid may never have to pay the fine because she lived in NSW. 'She might not have to pay it unless she comes back to Western Australia,' he said. Reid checked into the Roebuck Hotel but was seen leaving her room and chatting to hotel workers just eight minutes after she checked in. Broome's Roebuck Bay Hotel, where CCTV footage showed Ms Reid breaching hotel quarantine requirements Two days later on August 19, after receiving a negative Covid-19 result from a test, she checked out of the hotel and went shopping at the local Red Cross store, where she posted a pic of herself to social media with a white shirt she had bought. 'Look what I found at the op-shop,' she wrote. She continued her holiday until August 24, visiting lookout spot Gantheaume Point and Town Beach. Reid was finally arrested at the town's airport where she screamed at officers and refused to cooperate. She pleaded guilty in Broome Magistrates Court days later to failing to comply with a public health direction but maintained that she hadn't done anything wrong. 'I don't think I put anyone in danger... I want to be home with my community and my family,' she said, according to ABC Kimberley. She was arrested at Broome Airport on August 24 where she screamed at officers and refused to co-operate Reid, who represented herself in court, said she was doing what she 'thought was right'. Magistrate Sharratt said he accepted Reid made a mistake, but it wasn't a reasonable one and was unacceptable. 'I accept that she didn't just jump the fence and say 'I've had enough of this'. She thought she was OK medically, she thought she was OK legally,' he said. He fined her $2,500 before releasing her from custody. But that was fine was increased by another $6,000 on Monday after Reid faced four new charges of failing to comply with a direction, stemming from the CCTV footage. Four large Covid-19 checkpoints have been erected on the Gold Coast highway in the latest sign Queensland's borders could remain shut for months to come. The four structures held down by concrete blocks were installed on the northbound lanes on the highway at Bilinga near the Gold Coast Airport last week. Officials at the central border checkpoint will process hundreds of vehicles every day as the Sunshine State cracks down on unvaccinated truck drivers. Following a suite of Covid-positive long-haul drivers entering the state, a drive-in vaccine hub has also been deployed at Tugun, the Courier Mail reported. The precautionary measures come as the latest sign Queensland intends to keep its borders firmly closed to Victoria and NSW. Large drive-through marquees have been erected on the Gold Coast Highway to protect police and checkpoint officials from the impending summer heat (pictured) A similar structure was established on the busy M1 motorway during the extended border closure during last year's outbreak that remained an eyesore for months. It comes as Queensland's leaders continue to shift the goalposts on when the state government will finally reopen to the rest of the world. The Sunshine State slammed its doors on NSW back in July, and Victoria and the ACT soon after when Covid-19 outbreaks began to spiral. The two states and territory are considered Covid hotspots meaning those who have spent time in those regions in the last 14 days is barred from entering Queensland. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would only open the state borders once 80 per cent of eligible people are vaccinated if hospitals across the state were ready for a surge in Covid-19 cases. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused the premier of refusing to open the borders unless she is given more federal funding for hospitals. Ms Palaszczuk denies that, noting every state and territory health minister had last week jointly signed a letter raising health funding issues with the federal government. 'We want to make sure that our hospitals are getting ready,' she told reporters on Tuesday. 'You only have to see what's happening in NSW and Victoria ... the huge pressure that the staff are going to be under, and they're constantly under this pressure. 'When we do have a large outbreak of Delta in this state there's going to be added pressure, and that's not just happening in Australia, it's happening across the globe. These are unprecedented times.' The four structures held down by concrete blocks were installed on the northbound lanes on the highway at Bilinga near the Gold Coast Airport last week (pictured) Large drive-through marquees have been erected on the Gold Coast Highway to protect police and checkpoint officials from the summer heat (pictured, QLD police at a border checkpoint) Queensland hospitals are already facing huge capacity pressures without a large virus outbreak in the state. The Australian reported on Tuesday there were 31 'code yellows' - when hospitals start to run out of beds and ambulances are forced to divert to other emergency departments - in September. The state Liberal National Party has also revealed new Queensland Health data showing 60 per cent of patients spend more than 30 minutes 'ramping', or waiting in the back of ambulances to be treated. 'The government's had 18 months to get our hospitals ready for coronavirus,' LNP leader David Crisafulli said. 'The Queensland health crisis existed before coronavirus, before we even knew what it was.' Ms Palaszczuk said opening the borders was not solely tied to federal health funding and would not be automatic once 80 per cent of eligible Queenslanders were fully vaccinated. 'Not necessarily, it depends on the situation of the day. It depends on what's happening in NSW and Victoria. So we are watching all of those issues very closely,' she said. Mr Morrison earlier said there was already enough federal funding for state hospitals and that the premier was trying to use the border closure to 'extort' more cash. 'She has to take that up with the Queensland people then,' he told Nine Network on Tuesday morning. 'To go down this point and say: 'Well, you know, I'm going to hold the federal government to ransom and seek to extort from them money on the basis of COVID' - I just don't think is the right way to go.' The Commonwealth had contributed to half the cost of propping up state and territory health systems against COVID-19, Mr Morrison said, a commitment which totalled about $30 billion nationwide. 'Of course there are challenges, but as a state government they've got to be responsible for their state health system,' Mr Morrison said. The Sunshine State slammed its doors on NSW back in July, and Victoria and the ACT soon after when Covid-19 outbreaks began to spiral (pictured, holidayers in Surfers Paradise) 'NSW is getting on with it, so are Victoria and the ACT, so Queensland needs to get on with it.' Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath stressed the request for fresh talks on federal funding for state hospitals was a joint proposal from all states and territories, not just Queensland. It was incorrect for the prime minister to categorise the health funding debate as a Queensland issue, she said. 'This is a national conversation, it's not a fight between the Commonwealth and Queensland,' Ms D'Ath said. 'It is every single state and territory, saying that our health system was under extensive pressure and demand prior to COVID that required a rethink In the funding model going forward.' NSW, ACT and Victoria are currently considered Covid hotspots meaning anyone who has been in the regions in the last 14 days is barred from entering QLD (pictured, a police check) The Prime Minister has accused the Queensland Premier of 'extortion' after she demanded more cash for hospitals before she allows international travel. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the federal government needed to 'inject' a large sum of funding into state hospitals before borders with Victoria and NSW could open. The state's hospitals are already at 'breaking point', turning away dozens of patients before a Covid crisis has even begun, she said. Senior doctors have warned that a crisis is looming and the healthcare system wouldn't be able to cope if there is an outbreak. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison hit back on Tuesday morning, arguing that it is Queensland's responsibility to run their own health system. 'Since we came to government we've increased funding for public hospitals in Queensland by almost 100 per cent, 99 per cent. The Queensland government have increased it by just over 50 per cent,' Mr Morrison told the Today Show. 'So they need to get on and run their public hospital system, and not seek to make excuses about it.' Mr Morrison also claimed Ms Palaszczuk was holding the government to 'ransom' as she would refuse to open the borders without extra funding. 'I mean, to go down this point and say, ''Well, you know, I'm going to hold the Federal Government to ransom and seek to extort from them money on the basis of Covid'', I just don't think is the right way to go,' Mr Morrison said. The Prime Minister has accused the Queensland Premier of 'extortion' after she demanded more cash for hospitals as the state's hospitals are at 'breaking point' before an outbreak The premier's request comes as data gathered by The Australian revealed 31 hospitals had been declared as 'code yellow' over the last month due to bed shortages and extreme demand levels in Queensland facilities. Regional hospitals suffered most of the code yellow declarations, with a threat of an outbreak more likely to happen in those facilities due to the lower vaccination rates. Code yellow had been declared over 12 times north of Brisbane in Wide Bay during September, while in Brisbane's northwest, the code yellow occurred six times, and ICU beds were all filled. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk demanded that the federal government 'inject' a large number of funds into state hospitals before borders with Victoria and NSW are reopened John Hall, the president of the Rural Doctors Association, noted that the state government needed to act quickly on these issues before rural hospitals begin to close and regional communities are left with no access to emergency care. 'Some hospitals are running on one doctor only, covering back-to-back after-hours shifts, and others are going on bypass due to a lack of staff,' Dr Hall said. Dr Kim Hansen, director of the emergency centre at Brisbane's St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital and the chair of the Australian Medical Association, said there is a genuine threat of hospitals being overwhelmed and hospital bed access and ramping must be urgently looked at before an 'inevitable outbreak' in the state. 'We are already at breaking point and we need to do more preparations,' Dr Hansen said. 'Our hospitals should be operating at 90 per cent, not more than 100 per cent like we currently are.' Senior doctors warned that a crisis is looming and the healthcare system wouldn't be able to cope if there is an outbreak Dr Hansen added: 'We are already full, I really do not know where we would put Covid patients right now.' She is also worried that Queensland hospitals will be overloaded like hospitals in New South Wales and Victoria. 'The ambulances are queued up for hundreds of metres outside hospitals, they have tents and marquees because they cannot get patients into the emergency department, and they cannot get them into the hospital.' However, a Queensland Health spokesperson said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia that the state's pandemic response, which focuses on preventing widespread transmission through 'decisive public health measures and vaccination, has been successful so far. They said they have also planned for the 'inevitable' Delta strain attack. 'Across the state, our public and private hospitals have 393 staffed and equipped Intensive Care Unit beds, with the physical capacity to expand to 586 beds.' However, a Queensland Health spokesperson said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia that the state's system is ready for the 'inevitable' delta incursion Queensland Health further added there are 1,355 ventilators available in hospitals for patients, and there are over 300 negative pressure rooms or equivalent to treat patients with Covid 19 - which is an increase in 20 per cent since the start of the pandemic. 'We are continuing to vaccinate as many Queenslanders as possible, which is one of the most effective ways of ensuring our hospitals are not overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.' Doctors, surgeons and emergency authorities are set to continue emergency talks on Wednesday over the current issues that need to be addressed before an outbreak occurs in the state. Gladys Berejiklian's replacement as NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is a proud social conservative who questions climate change, opposes abortion, loves Donald Trump and also a drink. The 39-year-old devout Catholic father-of-six overwhelmingly won a Liberal party room ballot 39 to five on Tuesday morning and this afternoon was sworn in as the state's youngest ever leader. The outgoing treasurer defeated Planning Minister Rob Stokes, thanks to the support of the socially-progressive moderate faction in a leadership vote at Parliament House skipped by his predecessor. Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres - the 40-year-old boyfriend of Foreign Minister Marise Payne, 57 - was elected deputy Liberal leader unopposed. While Berejiklian came from the Liberal Party's moderate faction and was unmarried with no children, Perrottet is the complete opposite - hailing from the right of the party and being an outspoken advocate of religious freedom. In 2019, he voted against a bill to decriminalise abortion declaring he could not support laws that stopped 'the beating heart of an unborn child'. Now leading a very broad church as the state's 46th premier, Perrottet declared he would govern for everyone regardless of their religion and hoped difference would be 'treated with respect and dignity'. 'I am very proud of the fact that I have a strong Christian faith,' he said on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Gladys Berejiklian's replacement as NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is a proud social conservative who questions climate change , opposes abortion, loves Donald Trump and also a drink (he is pictured with his wife Helen and their children) 'Does that in any way take away my capacity to serve as Premier? 'Well, I do not think so, and I think it is a sad thing that some people do, but I think people right across our state, in the main, believe in freedom of religion and freedom of the opportunity to serve in public life regardless of what your ethnic background is what your religious values are.' I am very proud of the fact that I have a strong Christian faith Asked about the gay and lesbian community, Perrottet said he 'loved diversity' and declared that as a parent, he wanted kids back at school. 'It's demanding being a parent. It's a challenge for every, single parent across the state,' he said. The Liberal Party's new leader in November 2016 laid out his conservative views in a lengthy Facebook post after Republican Donald Trump unexpectedly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election. He used the occasion to paraphrase Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies, Australia's longest-serving prime minister, and disgraced US president Richard Nixon. Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres - the boyfriend of Foreign Minister Marise Payne - was elected deputy Liberal leader unopposed (he is pictured left with his new boss) Dominic Perrottet's words haunting him HOMOSEXUALITY November 2016: 'If you want a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, you are not a homophobe' October 2021: 'I love diversity' RELIGION July 2020: 'Believers are constantly on the defensive in the battle of religious freedom 'It is no exaggeration to say that people of faith are being squeezed out public life unless they agree to keep their faith hidden.' October 2021: 'People right across our state, in the main, believe in freedom of religion and freedom of the opportunity to serve in public life regardless of what your ethnic background is what your religious values are' CLIMATE CHANGE November 2016: ' If you question man-made climate change, you are not a sceptic' October 2021: 'When it comes to climate change, I believe our government is not just a national leader but a world leader' Advertisement 'There is a silent majority, a forgotten people, who feel like the values they hold dear are no longer being represented by the political class,' Perrottet said. 'In fact these values and the people who hold them are looked upon with contempt.' Perrottet also questioned the science of climate change, even though his anointed treasurer Matt Kean from the moderate faction is a fierce advocate for renewable energy as an activist environment minister. 'If you question man-made climate change, you are not a sceptic,' he said in 2016. On Tuesday, he said NSW was on track to meet its net zero targets and described Kean as a 'passionate' advocate for the environment, with no major ministerial reshuffle likely. 'When it comes to climate change, I believe our government is not just a national leader but a world leader,' he said. In 2016, he defended those who wanted a postal vote survey on gay marriage. 'If you want a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, you are not a homophobe,' he said. Last year, Perrottet told the conservative Society and Culture group that religious freedom was under threat and defended former Wallaby Israel Folau, who Rugby Australia in 2019 sacked over social media posts with Biblical verses that were critical of homosexuality. 'Believers are constantly on the defensive in the battle of religious freedom,' he said. 'It is no exaggeration to say that people of faith are being squeezed out public life unless they agree to keep their faith hidden.' Perrottet, an opponent of euthanasia, on Tuesday vowed to allow a conscience vote on any assisted dying bill. Intriguingly former Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who studied law two decades ago with Perrottet at the University of Sydney, recalled the future premier as a hard drinker who abstained from masturbation and didn't believe in using contraception. 'He didn't believe in contraception, he does not believe in contraception,' Dastyari told Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS FM in June 2018. 'He doesn't believe or he didn't at the time believe in masturbation. The outgoing treasurer defeated Planning Minister Rob Stokes, thanks to the support of the socially-progressive moderate faction in a leadership vote at Parliament House skipped by his predecessor (Dominic Perrottet is pictured with his leadership rival and former jogging mate Rob Stokes) Now leading a very broad church, Perrottet declared he would govern for everyone regardless of their religion and hoped difference would be 'treated with respect and dignity' The youngest ever new premier of NSW Dominic Perrottet (right with outgoing deputy premier John Barilaro) apparently loves a drink 'Dom was an old drinking buddy of mine back in my uni days , we used to get blind drunk together at Sydney uni, just horrible, and he was like this hardcore, Catholic, religious, but a big drinker.' Dastyari recalled Perrottet even as a young man at university being opposed to gay marriage, which at the time was opposed by both sides of politics, and the idea of abortion. 'The bit I remember him telling me at uni was - he was always a bit religious, he didn't support marriage equality, didn't support a woman's right to choose,' he said. Like Dastyari and NSW Labor leader Chris Minns, Perrottet also led the young wing of his political party. Of the three, only Dastyari campaigned for gay marriage as a young activist. Before becoming a junior solicitor and later an MP, Perrottet was the leader of the NSW Young Liberals, taking over in 2005 three years after future federal cabinet minister Alex Hawke, who now holds the immigration portfolio, spearheaded a right-wing takeover of the youth movement from the moderates. Hawke later split from the right, forming a breakaway centre-right faction, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison belongs to, and he is no longer close with Perrottet. Intriguingly, former Labor senator Sam Dastyari who studied law two decades ago with Perrottet at the University of Sydney recalled the future premier as a hard drinker who abstained from masturbation and didn't believe in using contraception The 39-year-old devout Catholic father-of-six has overwhelmingly won the Liberal party room vote 39 to five, defeating Planning Minister Rob Stokes to become the next premier of New South Wales, thanks to the support of the socially-progressive moderate faction Australian premiers in their thirties Lara Giddings, Labor, Tasmania: age 38 in 2011 Wayne Goss, Labor, Queensland: age 38 in 1989 Brian Burke, Labor, Western Australia: age 36 in 1983 John Scaddan, Nationalist, Western Australia: age 35 in 1911 Newton Moore, Liberal Imperialist, Western Australia: age 35 in 1906 Advertisement In July Perrottet, as NSW Treasurer, clashed with Morrison after he called on the federal government to reinstate JobKeeper wage subsidies during the early stage of Sydney's three-month lockdown. Political author and columnist Niki Savva, a former Liberal ministerial media adviser, revealed that in July, Morrison called Mr Perrottet a 'f***wit' during a heated discussion. Asking about this on Tuesday by Sunrise host David Koch, Morrison said: 'Well, Dom and I have been working together for years and we've known each other for a long time and we've got an honest relationship and we've got a lot done together.' Perrottet acknowledged a clash with Morrison three months ago. 'Disagreements aren't a bad thing in their own way,' he said on Tuesday. Like Morrison in August 2018, Perrottet was elected Liberal leader with the backing of the moderate faction. Both leaders are religious, social conservatives whose views are at odds with the more cosmopolitan and secular elements of the Liberal Party on the north shore and northern beaches - areas that overwhelmingly support gay marriage and climate change action. Perrottet is himself one of 12 children, with his father John a director of the World Bank. He became Treasurer in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as premier (he is pictured with Gladys Berejiklian on September 30 - the day before she resigned) Perrottet is himself one of 12 children, with his father John a director of the World Bank. He became Treasurer and deputy Liberal leader in January 2017 when Ms Berejiklian replaced Mike Baird as premier. As Treasurer, Mr Perrottet was reportedly more opposed to lockdowns within the NSW crisis cabinet but on Tuesday vowed to stick to the plan to end Sydney's lockdown on October 11, the Monday after 70 per cent of the NSW population aged 16 and over was fully vaccinated against Covid. 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. Planning Minister Rob Stokes, an ideological moderate who was factionally unaligned, congratulated his opponent on his overwhelming party room win after losing in a landslide 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. Perrottet is now Australia's youngest state premier since Lara Giddings first led Tasmania in January 2011 aged 38. He is the first NSW premier under 40, with Nick Greiner, Nathan Rees and Kristina Keneally all at least a year older when they took the top job. Stokes, an ideological moderate from the northern beaches who was factionally unaligned, congratulated his opponent on his overwhelming party room win. 'Our party room has made their choice, and made it emphatically,' he said. 'I'd like to congratulate my great friend Dom Perrottet on being chosen as our new leader and becoming the NSW Premier. Gladys Berejiklian (pictured on October announcing her resignation) skipped the Liberal Party leadership vote. The daughter of Armenian migrants, had almost five years as premier, making her the Liberal Party's second-longest serving government leader since Robert Askin's decade in power from 1965 to 1975 The Liberal Party's new leader in November 2016 laid out his conservative views in a lengthy Facebook post after Republican Donald Trump unexpectedly beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election NSW 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 'Dom has proven himself as an outstanding Treasurer and will be a great Premier. He has my full support. 'The community now rightfully expect us to get on with the job we were elected to do and ensure that we recover from the pandemic and regain our freedom.' Perrottet is now the Liberal Party's fourth premier since 2014, repeating the revolving door leadership that had plagued NSW Labor during its last six years in power. After the lockdown ends on October 11, the Perrottet Government will be fighting a string of by-elections with Berejiklian resigning from her Sydney lower north shore seat of Willoughby. Outgoing deputy premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro is also quitting politics, sparking a leadership bid from Housing Minister Melinda Pavey on Tuesday. Liberal transport minister Andrew Constance is also resigning from his south coast seat of Bega to contest the overlapping federal electorate of Gilmore, held by Labor. Health Minister Brad Hazzard is also in retirement age being 70. Berejiklian, the daughter of Armenian migrants, had almost five years as premier, making her the state Liberal Party's second-longest serving government leader since Robert Askin's decade in power from 1965 to 1975. She is the third NSW Liberal premier the Independent Commission Against Corruption has brought down, with Greiner resigning in 1992 and O'Farrell in 2014. Her undeclared relationship with former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, who doubled as a lobbyist, was revealed at an ICAC hearing in October 2020, leading to Perrottet's elevation in the first week of daylight saving in 2021. Perrottet is the most conservative leader of the NSW Liberals, with a social moderate traditionally heading the state party, even if they had hailed from the right faction. By the March 2023 election, the Coalition would have been in power for 12 years and would be seeking a consecutive fourth term, a feat they haven't achieved since 1973. Every Liberal leader who has ever won an election in NSW has come from Sydney's north shore or the northern beaches, and Perrottet's Epping electorate is on the wrong side of the Lane Cove River. Senator Kyrsten Sinema was targeted by another group of protesters on Monday, this time at Reagan National Airport after she landed in Washington D.C. for this week's Senate session. It was the third time in four days the Arizona Democrat was a target for party activists. Video footage showed Sinema on her cell phone as she made her way through Reagan National Airport, where a group of protesters were awaiting her arrival on a flight from Arizona. Among those who greeted her at the airport was Green New Deal Network chief of staff Kunoor Ojha, who asked: 'Hi, Senator Sinema? I want to ask if you can explain to the American people what you're planning on cutting from Joe Biden's Build Back Better plan?' 'Do you want to cut climate priorities? Is it elder care that you want to cut, or is it child care? At least a dozen people surround her, many filming her on their mobile phones. A TSA agent is seen walking behind the senator. The protesters asked her what she would cut from the Biden's $3.5 trillion budget package of social programs that span education, healthcare and the environment. Sinema did not answer, according to an NBC reporter on the scene. Sinema was also confronted on her flight from Arizona to D.C., and was challenged in a bathroom at Arizona State University last week. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden on Monday defended the activists who publicly confronted Sinema and her fellow moderate Senator Joe Manchin. Sinema and Manchin have become public targets of liberal ire and fixtures in popular culture as they hold out against the $3.5 trillion price tag, saying it's too high to get their vote. Both senators have been publicly confronted by activists, including a group who followed Sinema into a bathroom at Arizona State University on Friday, where she was teaching a class. Sinema was also lampooned on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. Meawhile, a flotilla of kayak-activists recently swarmed Manchin's D.C. houseboat to pressure the senator, who came out to chat with them. Both encounters were filmed by the activists, who posted the footage to social media. Senator Kyrsten Sinema was targeted by another group of protesters who were waiting for her at Reagan National Airport after she landed in Washington D.C. for this week's Senate session At least a dozen people surround Sen. Sinema many filming her on their mobile phones, while a TSA agent is visible behind the senator Biden said he didn't think the actions of the activists were appropriate but shrugged them off, saying it's 'part of the process.' 'I don't think they're appropriate tactics but it happens to everybody. The only people doesn't happen to people who have Secret Service standing around them. So it's part of the process,' he said. Sinema released a statement blasting the activists from Friday, saying it 'was not legitimate protest.' She noted the activists interrupted a class she teaches at the university. Sinema said they had used deception to enter a locked building, and followed her from the classroom where she teaches at Arizona State University to the bathroom. The activists demanded she support a 'pathway to citizenship' while the Arizona Democrat was in the stall and later emerged to wash her hands. 'My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized. This is wholly inappropriate,' she said in a statement. 'It is the duty of elected leaders to avoid fostering an environment in which honestly-held policy disagreements serve as the basis for vitriol raising the temperature in political rhetoric and creating a permission structure for unacceptable behavior.' She added that she had previously met with the group behind Sunday's protest and would continue to talk to Arizonans with a diverse range of views. A DACA recipient named Karina tried to ask Kyrsten Sinema if she'd support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants and Sinema refused to answer. If Karina was a corporation and held a giant fundraiser for Sinema, maybe she'd get an answer. pic.twitter.com/DPbPuUe8yl jordan (@JordanUhl) October 4, 2021 'It is unacceptable for activist organizations to instruct their members to jeopardize themselves by engaging in unlawful activities such as gaining entry to closed university buildings, disrupting learning environments, and filming students in a restroom,' she said. The protesters want immigration reform included in Biden's legislative agenda and implored the Arizona senator to do something about it. Video footage shows she did not engage with them as she walked out of the bathroom stall and washed her hands. One activist told her: 'We knocked on doors for you to get you elected. Just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don't support what you promised us.' Then, while Sinema was on her flight from Arizona to D.C., a Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient named Karina filmed herself as she crouched down in the aisle next to the senator's seat and asked whether she would commit to a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. 'Can you commit to that, senator?' Karina asked, before adding, 'I don't want to disturb you, but at the same time, I just want to know if I can get a commitment from you, senator.' A group of activists followed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema into a bathroom at Arizona State University on Friday to demand that the Democrat address immigration issues 'We knocked on doors for you to get you elected. Just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don't support what you promised us,' one activist threatened. Meanwhile, Manchin on Friday was confronted by kayakers from West Virginia, who floated up to his $700,000 yacht Almost Heaven. He came out to speak to them, assuring them he was working to pass a reasonable bill. 'We're working hard, we really are,' Manchin said, looking down at the protesters who paddled up to speak with him. 'We want to get a good bill that's a balanced bill, that's well done. And I know it won't be enough for some, it will be too much for others.' Biden, meanwhile, blamed the two senators for holding up his agenda. He didn't call out Manchin and Sinema by name but it was clear who he meant when he pointed out he was short two Democratic votes in the Senate. 'They need 50 votes in the Senate,' he said of Democrats. 'I have 48.' Both Manchin and Sinema have objected to the $3.5 trillion price tag. The president, congressional leaders and White House staff have been in negotiations with the two of them as Biden tries to pass his legislative agenda. 'I've been able to close the deal with 99% of my party two, two people,' Biden told reporters at the White House after he made comments on the debt ceiling. Biden ran for president on his ability to make deals and touting his legislative experience. Now he is balancing a legislative tight rope. Progressives in the House are refusing to support his bipartisan $1.1 trillion infrastructure plan unless the $3.5 trillion budget package passes the Senate. But Manchin and Sinema won't vote for that package at the $3.5 trillion number. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden would hold virtual meetings with progressive House Democrats later that afternoon and would speak with moderates later in the week. Hours of talks last week, which went late into the night in the dark, dimly lit basement in the Capitol, failed to produce a deal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to buy the president time by postponing a planned Monday vote on the infrastructure bill to Thursday - then holding the legislative session open into Friday - but to no avail. Sen. Joe Manchin addresses kayak protesters who swarmed his houseboat in Washington D.C. Protesters kayaked to the ship to ask why their senator would not support his own party's $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill President Joe Biden hammered Republicans for refusing to raise the debt ceiling in Monday morning remarks from the White House. So Biden trekked up to Capitol Hill on Friday afternoon, where, behind closed doors, he pleaded with liberals in his party to come down by more than a trillion dollars and support a $2 trillion package. And he'll fly to Michigan on Tuesday to start a nation-wide sales pitch. Manchin and Sinema have been getting slammed by liberals for not publicly naming a price tag. After a flurry of criticism last week, Manchin said he'd support a $1.5 trillion package while Sinema refused to divulge her number but said she had privately told it to Biden and congressional leaders. Criminals will be told to clear rubbish from waterways in chain gangs under a law and order crackdown. At the Tory conference today Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will also announce that the number of offenders forced to wear tags will double. Those ordered to carry out unpaid work by a court will be required to clean hundreds of miles of towpaths under an agreement with the Canal and River Trust. They will wear high-visibility Community Payback tabards while doing so. It will mark a significant ramping up of existing schemes. The PM has said he wants to see far more offenders undertaking unpaid work. Under the measures, the orange tabards identifying workers as offenders are likely to be used far more widely. Mr Raab will say an extra 10,000 robbers, burglars and thieves will be fitted with satellite tags to track their movements when they are freed from jail over the next three years. In all, 183million will be spent on additional tagging. The huge investment will include new types of tag with built-in satellite tracking technology to allow probation officers to identify precise locations. In a separate programme, 12,000 criminals leaving jail will be made to wear devices that can monitor alcohol intake and alert probation staff when they go on a binge. The sobriety tags will be extended across England and Wales for the first time following successful pilot schemes. And more than 3,500 high-risk domestic abusers will be monitored with GPS tags for the first time. This new use of the technology is designed to protect victims and children from further abuse. Probation officers will even be able to detect whether offenders are in relationships they have not disclosed so that new partners can be warned about their violent past. This major increase in high-tech GPS tagging will see us leading the world in using technology to fight crime and keep victims safe, Mr Raab will say. From tackling alcohol-fuelled violence and burglary to protecting domestic abuse victims, we are developing tags to make our streets and communities safer. The existing community work programme will receive a 90million boost with 500 extra supervisors and new partnerships between the Probation Service and major organisations. It will see a renewed focus on cleaning up streets, alleyways, housing estates and other open spaces, a spokesman said. Unlike the historic chain gangs in the US and Australia, offenders will not be shackled. Police have dismissed the plans as a gimmick. Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said in July that the chain gang scheme was just not policeable. Who is going to be responsible for making them actually do this? he said. Its going to cost a load of money again and where is this money actually coming from? Its just another gimmick. The whole plan is full of holes and gimmicks. Human rights group Liberty tweeted it was designed to create more stigma and division. Dominic Raab (pictured) said that some of the record one million job vacancies across the UK could be filled by offenders who are allowed out on day release or have just finished their jail sentences In his speech Mr Raab will say he recognises the impact of Sarah Everards murder. We will take the victims code, and turn that guidance into law, to make sure that in every case, for every victim, their voice is heard. A chief aim will be making our communities safer, so that women can walk home at night, without having to look over their shoulder, Mr Raab will say. The GPS tagging scheme has already led to the conviction of a thief whose location pinned him to the scene of a crime, it was disclosed last night. Scott Cullum stole two bags on two separate occasions from a restaurant in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in August. He was matched to the location after satellite data was shared with police and his probation officer was able to identify him on CCTV footage. Cullum was recalled to jail and given two three-month suspended terms with a 500 compensation and costs order. Cringeworthy footage has emerged of a man refusing to leave a group of women alone during a night out, despite being asked to leave the alone multiple times. The creepy encounter was uploaded to TikTok by Janeright on Friday, showing the women repeatedly ask the man to leave them alone as they ate outside a kebab shop in Perth. 'You ask us why we are afraid of men? This is why...' the TikTok user captioned the footage. In the video a blonde woman tells the man to leave them alone saying, 'we said hello, we don't want to talk'. The man appears to leave before he shortly returns to the group unable to take no for an answer. 'We're at girls' night bro, we don't want to be f***ing harassed by guys,' she says, as she points for him to leave. 'We don't need to interact with you if we don't want to.' A restaurant worker was eventually forced to intervene to remove the man from the women The man, who was kneeling next to their table, was slurring his words as he talked over the top of the blonde woman before a frustrated restaurant worker intervened. 'Get up... respect the ladies get up and move,' he says. After a short argument the man eventually retreated to the inside of the restaurant with the women thanking the restaurant worker for getting rid of him. TikTok users praised the restaurant staffer for interjecting but also pointed out a woman's 'no' should have been enough. 'That man in the blue hat was very nice to intervene and help, but it's so sad that some men will only listen to other men,' one person wrote. 'It's so frustrating that it takes another man for the other guy to listen. This has happened to me and I'm sure it has happened to so many other girls,' commented another. 'The frustrating thing is we're constantly told to say no and to assert ourselves, then when we finally do they don't listen,' added a third. A married black couple who fled to the UK to escape slavery in the US, have had their former London home honored with a blue plaque by English Heritage. Ellen and William Craft lived at 26 Cambridge Grove, a mid-Victorian house in Hammersmith, after fleeing the US to embark on a dangerous 1,000 mile journey in the mid-19th century. Ellen, who was the child of a mixed-race slave raped by her white owner, was a fair-skinned house servant to her half-sister and worked as a seamstress, while her husband William worked as a carpenter for his slaveholder. Ellen and William Craft (Pictured) fled to the UK to escape slavery in the US, have had their former London home honored with a blue plaque by English Heritage The couple lived at 26 Cambridge Grove, a mid-Victorian house in Hammersmith, after fleeing the US to embark on a dangerous 1,000 mile journey in the mid-19th century The English Heritage blue plaque (Pictured) that is outside the couple's former London home In December 1848, the Craft's conjured up the ingenious plan to use disguise to help them complete their daring escape from the US and start a new life in Britain. Ellen posed as a disabled white man, using material she had secretly stitched to cover her feminine features, and used the excuse that she was travelling north from Georgia to Philadelphia for urgent medical treatment. She was accompanied by William, who posed as her enslaved manservant, but once news of their plan become clear, several local abolitionists helped the couple and carried them on to Massachusetts. Ellen Craft, who posed as a disabled white man, using bandages to cover up her feminine features However, the couple were forced to escape the country altogether in 1850 when Congress introduced the Fugitive Slave Act law, which meant the Crafts' former enslavers could send agents to abduct them - even if they were in a free state. Panicked by having to constantly look over their shoulder and the danger of bounty hunters finding them, the couple fled across the Atlantic in December that year. The couple first settled in Ockham, Surrey, before making their home at 26 Cambridge Grove, a mid-Victorian House in Hammersmith. Writing in a 1852 issue of the Anti-Slavery Advocate, Ellen said: 'Since my escape from slavery, I have gotten much better in every respect than I could have possibly anticipated. 'Though, had it been to the contrary, my feelings in regard to this would have been just the same, for I had much rather starve in England, a free woman, than be a slave for the best man that ever breathed upon the American continent.' In England they were finally able to live freely and have the family they dreamed of, with Ellen giving birth to their five children. The couple continued their fight for the abolition of slavery and Ellen participated in a women's suffrage organisation and the women's arm of the British and Foreign Freedmen's Aid Society. After the end of the US Civil War and the legal emancipation of enslaved people, the Crafts returned to Boston with three of their children. Ellen and William Craft's great great grandchildren (Above) outside their former Hammersmith home The couple first settled in Ockham, Surrey, before making their home at 26 Cambridge Grove, a mid-Victorian House in Hammersmith. Anna Eavis, curatorial director at English Heritage, said: 'Ellen and William Craft's story is incredibly powerful. 'Their determination to escape from enslavement in the most perilous circumstances, and then to campaign for abolition and win over hearts and minds here in the UK is astonishing. 'They lived in Hammersmith during the 1860s, and toured the country lecturing against slavery. 'They are an important part of the anti-slavery movement and we are delighted to remember them with this plaque.' Dr Hannah-Rose Murray, historian and proposer of the plaque, said: 'Ellen and William Craft were courageous and heroic freedom fighters whose daring escape from US chattel slavery involved Ellen crossing racial, gender and class lines to perform as a white southern man. 'If caught, they would have been incarcerated, tortured and almost certainly sold away from each other. 'Their story inspired audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and when the Crafts reached Britain, they were relentless in their campaigns against slavery, racism, white supremacy, and the Confederate cause during the US Civil War (1861-1865). 'I'm so excited that English Heritage has built on previous work by historians, archivists and local activists to honour their presence in Hammersmith and the UK in general, and recognise the Crafts' incredible bravery and impact on transatlantic society.' Advertisement The widow of the former head of the Royal Marines who took his own life said her husband was 'exceptionally proud' to have served as the commandant general of the fighting unit. In a statement, Lea Holmes paid tribute to her estranged husband, Major General Matthew Holmes, 54, who was removed from his role in April just 20 months into a what was meant to be a three-year stint. She said her husband, who she had recently split from, was 'courageous' and 'committed his life to serving in the Royal Marines', adding that he was 'selfless to such an extent that this was more important than his own career progression.' Yesterday, friends and neighbours told MailOnline of their shock at his death, adding that the couple had not been happy for a while and that they had lived at their home in Winchester for 17 years. One said: 'Lea worked from home and told me last year how the pressure of the lockdown was putting a strain on her family life. I could just tell that she wasn't very happy with things'. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, a defence source said the decision to replace him was made due to 'restructuring' of the Royal Navy, but added that Major General Holmes 'was upset' by his removal. Major General Holmes had been replaced in his role by his more senior colleague Lieutenant General Rob Magowan, who was previously the deputy commander of UK strategic command. The soldier's wife's tribute comes after his older sister, Sarah Holmes, said yesterday that her family is 'devastated' by his death. Major General Matt Holmes CBE, who carried Prince Philip's coffin at his funeral, had been in a 'bad place' before his suspected suicide. The father-of-two from Hampshire was a friend of Prince Harry and served in all the UK's recent conflicts until leaving military in April. Boris Johnson has led tributes to him today. The widow of the former head of the Royal Marines who took his own said her husband was 'exceptionally proud' to have served as the commandant general of the fighting unit. In a statement, Lea Holmes paid tribute to her husband, Major General Matthew Holmes, 54, who was removed from his role in April just 20 months into a what was meant to be a three-year stint. Above: Major General Holmes with his wife and daughter at Buckingham Palace in 2007 after being awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership on the frontline in Afghanistan Major General Holmes's older sister, Sarah Holmes, (who he is pictured with at a dinner two weeks ago, left; and at his Marines passing out parade in November 1988, right) yesterday said her family is 'devastated' by his suspected suicide Speaking exclusively to MailOnline on Monday, Ms Holmes said: 'Matthew confided in me a lot because we were very close. 'He spoke to me in detail about the issues in his marriage and I'm not going to break his confidence now. Matthew and I were last in touch on Friday evening and I never thought he would take his own life.' She added: 'Lea was my best friend before her and Matthew got married and I've been speaking to her every day since this tragedy. She is devastated, as we all are. 'She is the one who called the police on Saturday afternoon because she could not get into the house. And when the police broke the door down to get in, they found Matt's body.' A tearful Sarah revealed that she was informed about her brother's death on the telephone by his wife on late Saturday afternoon. Sarah, 55, who is a year older than Major General Holmes added: 'As a family, we are still in shock. We are taking this whole thing one day at a time. Since news of his death, the tributes have not stopped. 'Men who served under him have been contacting me and telling me what an amazing, incredible and inspirational man he was. I'm proud to have been his sister. 'He wanted to be a Royal Marine since the age of five when we were taken together to the Royal Tournament. He had a brilliant career and was committed to the Royal Marines, its men and their families.' A tearful Sarah revealed that she was informed about her brother's death on the telephone by his wife on late Saturday afternoon. They are pictured together as children, with a model of a Royal Marine Major General Matthew Holmes welcomes Prince Harry, the former Captain General of the Royal Marines, and Meghan Markle to the Royal Albert Hall in London in March 2020 Sarah revealed that the family have not finalised plans for the funeral and that she intends to travel from her home in Cornwall to Winchester over the coming day to meet with Lea and the two children she had with Major General Holmes; Nelly and Will. She revealed that her brother was also stressed over his professional future as he prepared to leave the Armed Forces in October. In April, he left his post as Commandant General Royal Marines, after which he took three months leave that was owning to him from his time serving in Afghanistan. At the time of his death, he was on a three-month transition period to prepare him for his new life on 'civvy street.' Sarah said: 'He wasn't sure what the future held for him and that didn't help matters. He was hoping that he could stay in the Armed Forces and that the Royal Navy would create a new role for him, but nothing had emerged so far. 'Matt was dedicated to the Armed Forces but was preparing now to take a new job on civvy street, although he had no work lined up and didn't know what he'd do. It created a lot of uncertainty and didn't help with his overall situation.' As well as the break-up of his marriage, he also was moved from being head of the Royal Marines to another role helping Royal Marine recruits with their wellbeing. A Royal Navy source told The Times: 'He was not happy about the change of roles', adding that before his death colleagues had offered a 'lot of support', including with daily phone calls because 'he was in a bad place'. The insider added those phone calls were mainly about his private life rather than work. 'The loss of a warfighter is a significant tragedy and highlights the challenges that all members and people in all leadership roles face', the friend said. The Ministry of Defence has announced that the circumstances of his death are being investigated. It is understood he took his own life on Saturday. A Hampshire Police spokesman said: 'Officers were called to a house in Kingsgate Road, Winchester, just before 3pm on Saturday October 2 following the discovery of a man's body. Major General Matthew Holmes receives the Distinguished Service Order from The Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2007 'The death is not being treated as suspicious and we are preparing a file for the coroner.' Neighbours revealed that they had not seen Major General Holmes and his wife Lea together for 'several months.' One said: 'It's been like that for the past three months. We've seen him out jogging or walking the dog but not her. 'Sadly, the news doesn't surprise me. Each time I saw him he appeared really glum and rarely smiled. We knew something was up in the marriage but didn't realise it was this serious.' Another revealed how Major General Holmes and his wife Lea had been invited to a Neighbourhood watch drinks reception but did not attend. He added: 'Normally they would attend together but for the last two, neither of them has shown up. He was quite a regimented, proud, self-contained man and not very emotional. We realised a few months ago that Lea wasn't around and thought something was up, but Matt wasn't the kind of guy who would speak about that kind of stuff.' Major General Holmes is believed to have taken his own life at his home in Winchester on Saturday afternoon, with neighbours reporting that an ambulance was parked outside into the early hours of the evening. One regular at the Queen Inn pub told MailOnline: 'Lea worked from home and told me last year how the pressure of the lockdown was putting a strain on her family life. I could just tell that she wasn't very happy with things. 'The last time I actually saw her and Matt together in the pub was before the pandemic in December 2019. Since the lifting of restrictions, she's not been in here and I've not seen her around. 'Each time I've seen Matt he's always been on his own, but he wasn't the type of guy you could just go up to and ask how he is.' Boris Johnson today said he was 'very saddened' by the death of a former head of the Royal Marines who was one of Britain's most senior military officers. Major General Holmes was found dead aged 54 in a suspected suicide, six months after leaving the role halfway through what is normally a three-year tenure. Major General Matthew, a married father-of-two who lived in Hampshire, served in all the UK's recent conflicts and was Commandant General Royal Marines for 20 months from June 2019 until this April. In March 2020 he welcomed Prince Harry, the former Captain General of the Royal Marines, and Meghan Markle to the Mountbatten Festival of Music, before sitting next to them at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was one of the Sussexes' final engagements in Britain before they stepped down as senior royals and moved to North America. Today, Mr Johnson said in a tweet: 'I am very saddened to learn of the death of Major General Matt Holmes. My thoughts are with Matt's family and friends at this difficult time, as well as the Royal Marines and Royal Navy who I know will feel this loss keenly.' Major General Holmes, who died on Saturday, also won one of the UK's most prestigious gallantry awards, the Distinguished Service Order, for his leadership on the frontline in Afghanistan in 2007. But earlier this year he left the Commandant General post following plans to 'double-hat' his two-star role with another position, amid defence experts warning that the merger would dilute attention given to the Royal Marines. Major General Holmes was reported at the time by the Daily Telegraph to have had a 'really significant falling out' with the First Sea Lord, who had argued that the incumbent in future would be a three-star officer. However, a defence source claimed that Major General Holmes's scheduled move was part of the service's transformation. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the circumstances of his death were being investigated - but they are not thought to have been suspicious. However, it is understood that he took his own life, the Telegraph reported. Major Holmes was married to his solicitor wife Lea and they had two young children. In April, he was part of the procession at Prince Philip's funeral towards the steps of St George's Chapel. Major General Matthew Holmes (immediately left of Prince Harry) at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2020 An MoD spokesman said: 'Our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and friends at this difficult time and they have our deepest and heartfelt condolences. We request that their privacy is respected at this time.' Major General Holmes had a distinguished career, which included operational tours in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded 42 Commando Royal Marines from 2006 to 2008 and was appointed as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership on operations in Afghanistan in 2007. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019. First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin KCB ADC, said: 'I am deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of Matt Holmes. 'We mourn the loss of one of our most senior and highly decorated Royal Marines; a devoted former Commandant General who had served the nation, the Royal Navy and his beloved Corps with distinction for 33 years. Major General Matthew Holmes was a pallbearer at Prince Philip's funeral during the procession to the steps of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in April. He is pictured speaking to Sky News before the service Tributes were paid last night to a former head of the Royal Marines who has died suddenly. Highly decorated Major General Matthew Holmes CBE served in all the UK's recent conflicts and was one of Britain's most senior military officers Matthew Holmes served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2019 until April this year 'Matt was also a dear friend to many, and a close friend of mine for over 20 years. He will be sorely missed by the Service and especially the Corps Family. 'But my thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy are with Matt's family. Their loss is the greatest and most painful: we will be there for them now and always.' Commandant General Royal Marines, Lieutenant General Rob Magowan CB CBE, said: 'My predecessor as Commandant General Royal Marines and my friend, Matt Holmes, tragically died at the weekend. 'My heart goes out to him and his family. We will honour him and all those closest to him. But I also think of you all. 'It matters not that he was a General, but it does that he is a Royal Marine. I remember and celebrate him, alongside all those who he is with now. 'We are one family, together, just as we learned, and as we trained, alongside each other at the Commando Training Centre. Once a marine, always a marine.' Earlier this year Major General Holmes was a pallbearer at Prince Philip's funeral in April during the procession to the steps of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. At the time he recalled how generous Prince Philip was with his time whenever he visited the regiment, and once flew from London to Exeter to ensure he welcomed members of the regiment returning from Afghanistan. Major General Holmes said: 'He hated fuss, so we would host him and he would go straight amongst the Marines and talk to our valiant warriors. He was always generous with his time.' Speaking to Times Radio: 'We were utterly privileged and honoured to enjoy his company on numerous occasions. We had numerous encounters, and I think that was the beauty of his service with us.' For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local branch or go to www.samaritans.org A male Democratic lawmaker from Pennsylvania is proposing that all men be forced to have a vasectomy within six weeks of having their third child or turning 40 whichever comes first in response to Texas' extreme abortion bill. Representative Chris Rabb introduced the satirical legislation, which refers to men as inseminators and grants a $10K reward to private Pennsylvania citizens who report violators or who wrongfully conceive a child with them. It also codifies the definition of wrongful conception to include anyone who demonstrated negligence toward preventing contraception during intercourse. As long as legislators continue to restrict the #ReproductiveRights of cis women, trans men & non-binary folx, there should be laws to address the responsibility of men who impregnate them, he tweeted about the proposal. Rabb created the bill as a rebuke of Texass restrictive abortion law with some of his description directly paralleling it. Texas rolled out SB8 on September 1 which banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on an ultrasound, usually six weeks into a pregnancy. Representative Chris Rabb (left) introduced legislation mandating that all men be forced to have a vasectomy within six weeks of having their third child or turning 40 Rabb explained the legislation in a series of tweets. The proposal also grants a $10K reward to private citizens who report violators of the law to the authorities Rabb said he was inspired by Illinois Democratic Representative Kelly Cassidy, who introduced a law on September 14 aimed at protecting abortion in her state. She is above at a Planned Parenthood rally in her state The law also allows private citizens to enforce it by rewarding them with at least $10,000, plus legal fees, for bringing a successful civil lawsuit against anyone who enables women to get an abortion, including Uber drivers who brought them to the clinic. The law does not allow for exceptions in cases of rape or incest. For far too long, the public debate around abortion, contraception and related reproductive matters has thrust government into the center of restrictions on the bodily autonomy of women and girls, Rabbs bill reads. Rarely is there a meaningful dialogue around public policy focusing on the personal responsibility of cisgender men in this sphere. The language of the bill also includes a number of sexual innuendos and vasectomy-related terms. It reads, As we head toward climax on this heated discourse around this delicate matter, we should come together to address it with surgical precision. We must also commit to mending the social fabric being sliced up by bitter acrimony. Rabb added that his bill was inspired by Illinois Democratic Representative Kelly Cassidy, who introduced a bill on September 14 dubbed the TExAS Act, or The Expanding Abortion Services Act, which grants a $10,000 award to citizens who bring a civil action suit against anyone who commits domestic violence or sexual assault or causes an unwanted pregnancy. The bill also establishes a state fund to assist anyone seeking an abortion in Illinois who lives in a state with restrictive bans. When the Texas legislature, aided by the United States Supreme Court, declared open season on people seeking reproductive health care, it was very clear to me that our state is in a unique position to reach out our hands and offer people from Texas and other states who seek to restrict reproductive rights a safe haven, Cassidy said in a press release. Rabb and Cassidy will be holding an online town hall meeting at a to-be-determined date to discuss their bills as well as the importance of fighting for reproductive justice in state legislatures and what that means for those who seek to protect the bodily autonomy of all people, reads a press release from Rabbs office. Rabb created the legislation as a rebuke of Texass restrictive abortion law with some of his description directly paralleling it. Protesters were above in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 4 during a nationwide day of demonstrations against restrictions on abortion like the one in Texas Texas rolled out SB8 on Sept 1 banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected on an ultrasound, usually six weeks into a pregnancy In order to improve public health outcomes and release sweet justice into our households and bedrooms, we must wrap our love of individual liberty in the moral imperative of greater personal responsibility and acknowledge mens essential role in procreation. Pennsylvania Republican Representative Barb Gleim took to Facebook to post a scathing rebuke of Rabbs proposal, in which she wrote, If there was any doubt that todays progressive left have utterly and completely disregarded your personal medical freedom, then let this be the nail in the coffin. She added, This bill will never see the light of day as long as Republicans control the House, but I wanted you all to be aware how quickly policies that belong in Communist China would become the norm here if Democrats seized total control of State Government. The bill also drew criticism on Twitter from users with some branding it communism, others calling it fascism and others mocking Rabbs labelling of men as inseminators. Journalist Siraj Hashmi tweeted 'uh oh' with an image of the 'Don't Treat on Me' flag where the snake is replaced by a scrotum and the phrase is replaced with one that reads, 'Don't Tread on Deez.' Twitter user Alex (Sasha) Krainer wrote, This is the most profane intrusion of government burraucracy into people's most intimate, private decisions. "Wrongful conception"? Have you no shame sir? Keith J. likened it to Nazi Germany and tweeted, Government forced sterilization. How very 1930's Germany in your thinking. The profile of a veterans organization called Code of Vets tweeted, This is not sane, normal or American. On a side-note I have never heard anyone call a dad an inseminator. Cringe! And musician Benton Blount wrote, Are you in that big of a hurry to become China? Rabbs proposal is not the first of its kind. Alabama Democratic Representative Rolanda Hollis put a similar bill in February 2020 that requires men in the state to pay for a vasectomy within a month of turning 50 or after the birth of their third child. Her bill was swiftly labeled by critics as an 'outrageous overstep. Rabb said of his bill, To each person who views this bill Ive introduced as absurd, Id urge you to apply equal scrutiny to laws in places like Texas and right here in Pennsylvania, which enact paternalistic restrictions on the personal liberty of cis women, trans men and nonbinary individuals who have an unwanted pregnancy. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander! The Democrats proposals come days before the start of a new term for the Supreme Court that will decide the future of abortion rights in the United States, after appointments of justices by President Donald Trump strengthened conservative control of the high court. Educators in one North Carolina school district can now be fired if they 'undermine' foundational United States documents or teach critical race theory in their classrooms. The Johnston County School Board unanimously approved the curriculum policy changes on Friday after county commissioners decided to withhold $7.9 million in district funding. The all-Republican board of commissioners said they would continue to withhold the funds until a policy was established to 'eliminate the possibility of CRT Critical Race Theory teachings and any other potentially divisive teaching topics.' The newly passed policy a revision to the district's code of ethics states that teachers will face disciplinary action if they undermine the U.S. Constitution, describe racism as a permanent aspect of American life or teach that American historical figures weren't heroes, NBC News reported. The Johnston County School Board unanimously approved a new ethics policy on Friday that states teachers can be fired if they 'undermine' foundational United States documents or teach critical race theory in their classrooms The code (pictured) explicitly states that 'the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined' and 'all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture' The code explicitly states that 'the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined' and 'all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture.' It also states that when 'discussing a controversial topic' all staff members should 'remain neutral and present the information without bias.' April Lee, an 8th grade teacher and president of the Johnston County Association of Educators, told CBS 17 that critical race theory was not taught in the district's classrooms. 'I think that there's some confusion on teaching actual history that reflects the history of all people that live in the United States with critical race theory,' she said. Lee also expressed that she disagrees with the policy, arguing that it is 'basically extortion.' April Lee, an 8th grade teacher and president of the Johnston County Association of Educators, says the policy is 'basically extortion' and accused the school system of 'selling our souls to the devil for $7.9 million' 'I think it ties our hands, at least for some teachers, who won't feel comfortable because they'll feel like they'll be called into question,' Lee said. She also reportedly accused the school system of 'selling our souls to the devil for $7.9 million.' However, the Johnston County School Board is applauding those who helped devise the new policy. 'We had principals, law enforcement officers, teachers...' school board member Ronald Johnson said. 'It was probably the best group of people who could have reviewed this, reviewing this, so I'm very thankful.' Critical race theory has been a hot topic in Johnston County for several months. Over the summer, groups of parents took to the streets to protest the theory and issue support for a policy restricting it in schools. 'CRT teaches that one group oppresses another group of people and white people are bad and people of color are being oppressed and really don't have the same opportunities but we want equality,' Dale Lands, protest organizer, told ABC 11 in July. Lands was joined by dozens of parents who touted signs reading: 'CRT is racism,' 'stop CRT agenda,' 'fix the classroom,' and more. Johnston County's new policy comes just weeks after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill limiting how public school teachers can discuss certain racial concepts in the classroom. The policy approval comes after the county commissioners threatened to withhold $7.9 million in district funding until a policy was established to eliminate CRT (Pictured - Top: Chairman Chad M. Stewar, Vice Chairman Larry Wood, Ted G. Godwin, Tony Braswell. Bottom: Fred J. Smith, Jr., Patrick E. Harris, R.S. "Butch" Lawter, Jr.) However, critical race theory has been a hot topic in Johnston County for several months. Over the summer, groups of parents took to the streets to protest the theory and issue support for a policy restricting it in schools The vetoed education bill was part of a national effort by conservatives in more than two dozen states to combat views they associated with 'critical race theory,' a framework centering on the belief that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions and maintains the dominance of whites in society. Republican governors in eight states have signed bills or budgets into law banning the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools or limiting how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. North Carolina's bill would have prevented educators from compelling students to personally adopt any of 13 beliefs, and it was the focus of heated debate in the legislature. Cooper said in September that the measure would have inserted politics into education. 'The legislature should be focused on supporting teachers, helping students recover lost learning, and investing in our public schools. Instead, this bill pushes calculated, conspiracy-laden politics into public education,' the governor stated, announcing his veto. Johnston County's new ethics policy comes just weeks after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (pictured) vetoed a bill limiting how public school teachers can discuss certain racial concepts in the classroom Critical race theory has become a heated topic of debate in communities across the nation. Virginia, in particular, has found itself at the center of the controversy with districts including Loudoun County and Fairfax County hitting headlines as parents fight back over transgender rights and anti-racist teachings in public schools. In Loudoun County - the most wealthy suburb in America - parents and school board members have gone head to head over several issues in recent months. In April, the county announced that they planned to allocate more then $6 million to 'equity training' which was met with strong opposition by some parents who claimed the training was part of a CRT push which would lead to students seeing themselves as victims or oppressors, depending on their race. Parents have been demanding the removal of several members of the school district board while school officials insist that CRT is not on the curriculum pointing to 'misconceptions and misinformation' in the media. In Loudoun County - the most wealthy suburb in America - parents and school board members have gone head to head over several issues in recent months. (Pictured: Loudoun parents protest at a June 2021 school board meeting meeting) A man is detained after a fight broke out during the Loudoun County School Board meeting on June 22, 2021 which included discussion on critical race theory CRITICAL RACE THEORY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? The fight over critical race theory in schools has escalated in the United States over the last year. The theory has sparked a fierce nationwide debate in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the country over the last year and the introduction of the 1619 Project. The 1619 Project, which was published by the New York Times in 2019 to mark 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived on American shores, reframes American history by 'placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the center of the US narrative'. The debate surrounding critical race theory regards concerns that some children are being indoctrinated into thinking that white people are inherently racist or sexist. Those against critical race theory have argued it reduces people to the categories of 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color. Supporters, however, say the theory is vital to eliminating racism because it examines the ways in which race influence American politics, culture and the law. Advertisement In June, two people were arrested during a school board meeting that descended into chaos amid debates over CRT teachings and a new transgender policy. In August, the board voted to approve a policy requiring teachers to call transgender students by their chosen pronouns and for trans children to use the lockerroom and bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. Earlier this month, the county launched a study into the possibility of giving reparations to black people after it continue segregating schools until 1968 - 14 years after doing so was deemed unconstitutional. Fairfax County in Virginia has also been hit with its fair share of clashes in recent months. Calls have been mounting for the removal of one board member Abrar Omeish after she said taking a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks would cause harm to minorities who faced persecution in its aftermath. Omeish, who has previously sparked outrage for alleged anti-Semitic comments and encouraging high schoolers to remember 'jihad', voted against the resolution. She said it was not 'anti-racist' and failed to address 'state-sponsored traumas.' This came one month after the district was criticized for encouraging students to listen to an audiobook by a non-binary abolitionist suggesting they should not feel safe around police. Similar debates around teachings in American schools have rumbled on in recent months - with CRT at the center of much of the uproar. CRT highlights how historical inequities and racism continue to shape public policy and social conditions today. It has become a key focus on the curriculum of schools over the last year amid the nationwide reckoning for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd. But it has starkly divided opinion. Conservatives allege that students are being taught a warped version of American history that claims the impact of slavery remains present throughout society. Critics say the teachings reduce people to 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on skin color. But supporters say it is vital to understand how race impacts society in order to eliminate racism. He has protected the residents of Pontypandy for more than 30 years and counts the likes of Prince George among his legion of fans. Now Fireman Sam is being joined by a marine biologist with a prosthetic leg who will highlight green issues. The new character Jodie Phillips will encourage young viewers to look after the ocean and keep safe at the beach in the 13th series of the animated TV programme. Show makers Mattel Television and WildBrain said: 'This season is very different with new characters, animals and vehicles and for the first time a strong sustainability message for young tots. 'There is a new character the daring and adventurous marine biologist Jodie Phillips, teaching Pontypandy how to look after and be safe around the ocean. Fireman Sam has entertained children and promoted a fire safety message for 34 years and the show's YouTube channel has had more than 9.6billion views worldwide. The new character Jodie Phillips (pictured) will encourage young viewers to look after the ocean and keep safe at the beach in the 13th series of the animated TV programme. 'She also happens to have a prosthetic leg, which does not hinder her from helping Ocean Rescue save the day.' The show, set in the fictional Welsh town, has highlighted environmental concerns before. In the episode The Highest Tide In Pontypandy, residents blame 'this global cooking thing' for floods that hit the town. Jodie will be voiced by Doctor Who actress Ayesha Antoine. The show's producers added: 'She [Jodie] is passionate about all things oceanic and drives the eco-education focus in the new episodes. 'Pre-school tots are encouraged to think about sustainable living and protecting marine life and the environment. Jodie is intelligent, fearless and a natural athlete using her custom prosthetic legs on land and sea a positive, vibrant role model for Pontypandy.' Fireman Sam has entertained children and promoted a fire safety message for 34 years and the show's YouTube channel has had more than 9.6billion views worldwide. Advertisement Britons last night erupted in fury after the mastermind of enviro-mob Insulate Britain said he would block an ambulance with a dying patient inside in order to continue his eco-protests. Without a moment's hesitation, Roger Hallam gave a firm 'yes' when asked if he would block an ambulance transporting a critically ill patient to a hospital for treatment. The extraordinary admission, made during an interview with the Unbreak the Planet podcast, came after a tearful woman was filmed urging Insulate Britain protestors to move so she could get her 81-year-old mother to the hospital. But asked what he would have done in that situation, Hallam - an organic farmer - replied in a steely tone: 'I'd stay there'. The eco-zealot's controversial comments sparked outrage from Britons, some of whom accused him of 'selfish', while others claimed he was turning them against the climate movement. Do you know who the woman trying to get to her mother in hospital is? And do you know who the man wearing the Camfaud uniform is? Email tips@dailymail.com or jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement And Nigel Farage, debating the issue on his GB News show, also added chipped in with his fury, saying the public were 'sick of' the eco-mob's disruptive protests. He said: 'I can't even tell you the absolute contempt I feel for Roger Hallam for saying those words and of all of those people there on Wandsworth bridge this morning, not listening to the genuine pleas of that woman. 'I'm sick to death of the Government talking tough about this, people's lives being inconvenienced, people's jobs and income being threatened. We need to arrest these people, to charge these people, and to put these people out of harm's way.' Meanwhile Britons also took to Twitter to share their frustration at the eco-zealots and group mastermind Hallam. , with one user, Lucy Lynton, saying: 'People like Roger Hallam of InsulateBritain make me feel disgust and fury. 'My theory, when someone is that extreme, is they care not for their supposed cause and are just social misfits full of hatred for their fellow man. I'm sickened by what's become of the ClimateChange movement.' Another wrote: 'Roger Hallam you complete selfish moron!!! Now this is when being called selfish should be used!! Good on those who dragged them away...' However some showed support, with one even saying they wanted to join the eco-zealot's cause, saying: 'The problem isn't that a few people are out blocking roads, it's that were not all out blocking roads. If I had the courage of my convictions I'd be joining them. There is a climate emergency that will result in untold suffering if unchecked.' It comes after a tearful woman was seen yesterday trying to get to her unwell 81-year-old mother in a Canterbury hospital slammed 'selfish' eco-morons who had blocked the Blackwall Tunnel, Hanger Lane and Wandsworth Bridge between 8am and 12pm. Tensions flared as a paramedic crew joined furious drivers and pulled enviro-idiots - some of whom are repeat offenders who have been arrested and released by police during past demos - off the road at Wandsworth Bridge, while a woman at Blackwall Tunnel trying to get to her mother in hospital lashed out at the mob: 'How can you be so selfish?' Married father-of-one Bill Wilson, 55, who has serious health problems after spending weeks in a coma after testing positive for Covid, was even forced to cancel three important hi-tech scans at Royal Brompton Hospital due to Insulate Britain's stunt. The eco-mob's protest - the eleventh in the past month - caused huge tailbacks and inflicted misery on millions of people trying to get into the capital, including workers trying to help kickstart London's wounded economy after 18 months of Covid restrictions. But attempt to justify his stance, Hallam told Unbreak the Planet: 'What we're talking about is the loss of people's pensions in the next ten years, the loss of people's incomes, the mass migration of hundreds of millions of people, the indescribable injustice to people of colour in the global south because of the collective selfishness of people in the north. 'We're talking about the biggest crime in human history imposed by the rich against the global poor.' Speaking to the Unbreak the Planet podcast, Insulate Britain mastermind Roger Hallam told presenter Mike Galsworthy that he would also have refused to move for a crying woman who was trying to get to her unwell 81-year-old mother in hospital This is the moment a van driver attempted to get round Insulate Britain protesters as they started to block the A12 at the Blackwall Tunnel Activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group block the Hanger Lane gyratory on the A40 junction Enviro-idiots have sparked traffic chaos yet again by blocking Blackwall Tunnel Britons also took to Twitter to share their frustration at the eco-zealots and group mastermind Hallam. , with one user, Lucy Lynton, saying: 'People like Roger Hallam of InsulateBritain make me feel disgust and fury. 'My theory, when someone is that extreme, is they care not for their supposed cause and are just social misfits full of hatred for their fellow man. I'm sickened by what's become of the ClimateChange movement.' Another wrote: 'Roger Hallam you complete selfish moron!!! Now this is when being called selfish should be used!! Good on those who dragged them away...' One Twitter user wrote: 'Sorry, Roger Hallam, go ahead with your intentions, but, as a pacifist, this is not, nor ever will be acceptable to me (or, I suspect, to millions of others). No human life should ever be sacrificed for the sake of a 'greater cause.' Another wrote: 'I wonder if this idiot Roger Hallam would stop the ambulance if his son or daughter (if he has any) were in it!! The man needs a psychiatrist big time! Jail for six months minimum. This is an intentional serious crime he is committing, which requires adequate serious punishment!' Others showed support, with one saying: 'He should be less dogmatic, but the important context is that 5 million people are currently dying each year as a result of climate change. That's almost 14,000 per day. With every day that we delay an effective response to this crisis, that number increases.' Another wrote: 'The problem isn't that a few people are out blocking roads, it's that were not all out blocking roads. If I had the courage of my convictions I'd be joining them. There is a climate emergency that will result in untold suffering if unchecked.' Activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group block the Hanger Lane gyratory on the A40 junction LEFT: An Insulate Britain protester being arrested by police for blocking Hanger Lane yesterday. RIGHT: Police officers detain the same Insulate Britain activist blocking a motorway junction on the M4 near Heathrow Airport on Friday LEFT: Retired reverend Mark Coleman sits on the the A40 junction with the North Circular yesterday. RIGHT: Mr Coleman was also involved in an Insulate Britain protest at junction 10 on September 21 10am: This Google Map shows traffic snarled up across Central London after Insulate Britain protesters targeted the Blackwall Tunnel, Hanger Lane and Wandsworth Bridge during rush hour A large queue of traffic on the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach after activists from Insulate Britain blocked part of the tunnel earlier this morning Traffic on the southbound approach to the Blackwall Tunnel in London caused by eco-protesters Activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group block the Hanger Lane gyratory on the A40 junction Police detain activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group as they block the Hanger Lane gyratory Police detain activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group as they block the Hanger Lane gyratory Insulate Britain protesters are dragged off the road at Wandsworth Bridge by angry motorists Insulate Britain protesters sitting on the side of the A12, Poplar, leading to the Blackwall Tunnel Police make arrests after Insulate Britain, an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, block Wandsworth Bridge Fifty-four demonstrators from XR splinter group Insulate Britain clashed with hardworking motorists on the Blackwall Tunnel, Hanger Lane and Wandsworth Bridge Roger Hallam's past litany of dodgy remarks: from comparing the Holocaust to just another 'f***ery' to advocating Nuremberg-trials for 'climate criminals' Farmer Roger Hallam, 55, who helped found Extinction Rebellion, before leaving to joining protest organiser Insulate Britain, wants to 'bring down all the regimes in the world', starting with Britain Farmer Roger Hallam, 55, who helped found Extinction Rebellion, before leaving to joining protest organiser Insulate Britain, wants to 'bring down all the regimes in the world', starting with Britain, and believes those running society 'should have a bullet through their heads'. There have been allegations of a 'cult-like' following for the Welshman who compares his tactics to those of heroic activists Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He is said to have been inspired to take up climate activism after his farm in Wales went bust due to bad weather. Ironically, Mr Hallam owns a farmhouse which was described as 'poorly insulated' in an official energy performance certificate. His 2,000 sq ft farmhouse in Carmarthen, South Wales, was given the lowest possible energy rating on the certificate. It is unclear if Mr Hallam has taken steps to improve the rating since it was issued six years ago. Asked about the certificate, a spokesman for the group said: 'This is the point - UK homes are the leakiest in Europe, with many millions of families being unable to afford the advice and help needed to insulate the building they live in.' Joining Mr Hallam was David McKenny, 38, from Cambridge, who was one of six XR protesters who 'doorstepped' TV wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough, 95, at the height of pandemic after he criticised their tactics. The group posted a letter through Sir David's door as he isolated due to his age last year. Hallam has also compared the murder of six million Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis to other historical massacres and claimed that memory of the Holocaust was holding Germany back. The former organic farmer was quickly condemned by Extinction Rebellion groups in Germany after his comments with a newspaper in the country. In an English-language interview he told Die Zeit: 'The extremity of a trauma...can create a paralysis in actually learning the lessons from it. The fact of the matter is, millions of people have been killed in vicious circumstances on a regular basis throughout history.' He cited the Belgian colonialists who 'went to the Congo in the late 19th century and decimated it'. Hallam also wants those responsible for climate change to face Nuremberg-style trials. Asked how those responsible for climate change should be dealt with, he told The Times: 'The question will be who's culpable, in the same way [as] with the Nazis. 'Was it just the top Nazis or was it the small guys?' He added that 'maybe [we] should put a bullet in the head' as punishment. Advertisement Hallam, an organic farmer who lost his business because of severe weather, set up his splinter group when he caused a rift within XR by telling a German newspaper the Holocaust was 'just another f***ery in human history'. He later said his remark was taken out of context. The climate zealot has also called for those 'responsible' for climate change to face Nuremberg-style trials and even suggested they should receive a 'a bullet in the head' as punishment. He told the Times: 'The question will be who's culpable, in the same way [as] with the Nazis. 'Was it just the top Nazis or was it the small guys?' Insulate Britain, which is demanding that the Government insulate the UK's 29 million homes by 2030, brazenly defied another injunction meant to stop them from causing traffic chaos while Met Police officers appeared to stand idly by. The force eventually tweeted the roads were clear of protesters at 12.20pm - more than four hours after the demo began. The group have targeted major commuter routes into the capital as millions of workers are encouraged to get back into offices to help kickstart London's wounded economy after 18 months of various Covid restrictions including national lockdowns. The latest stunt also comes amid a fuel crisis in London and the South East which is so severe that Army tanker drivers are taking to the roads yesterday to deliver supplies to beleaguered petrol stations as panic-buyers leave forecourts dry. Thirty-eight arrests have been made after police came under intense public criticism for failing to move protesters off the roads quickly in the past. Officers previously complained that they lack powers to stop them from bringing the M25, M1 and M4 to a standstill. An Insulate Britain spokeswoman said: 'We're more scared of what will happen when the climate crisis causes the breakdown of law and order, than we are of injunctions and prison. The Government is focussing on us rather than what's coming down the road. They need to face up to reality. If our Government really wants to do something for hard-working families it should act decisively to insulate Britain's homes. It will help people with rising energy bills, prevent 8,500 fuel poverty deaths this winter and cut carbon emissions in the most cost-effective way possible.' Yesterday's rush hour demo comes just 24 hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to lock up activists who cause gridlocks on vital transport arteries for six months or impose unlimited fines in a bid to get tough as the Tory Party conference opens in Manchester. It is also likely to heap further pressure on under-fire Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick, who has been batting away growing calls to resign after presiding over a litany of failures including the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Met officer Wayne Couzens. Hallam co-founded XR three years ago with Gail Bradbrook and Simon Bramwell. Explaining the fallout, Bramwell said: 'Roger is a very controversial figure and he can be difficult to get on with. But at the end of the day we both want the same thing and I have to admit that he is someone who gets things done.' In his interview with the Mail, Hallam said: 'Insulation isn't the sexiest thing in the world. But it's what most ordinary people care about.' 'Everyone knows someone in fuel poverty, and lots of old people are in houses which are damp and cold in the winter and it kills thousands of people a year, prematurely.' He has also said he wants to 'bring down all the regimes in the world', starting with Britain, and believes those running society 'should have a bullet through their heads'. There have been allegations that he has 'cult-like' followers who liken him to Martin Luther King. According to The Times, Insulate Britain's protest strategy revolves around the mass imprisonment of its activists, making it even more extreme than Extinction Rebellion. At a meeting earlier this year, Hallam said: 'We have an absolute responsibility to go further. Five hundred people in prison will produce legislative change. 'Going to a bank and smashing windows [as XR have done] is not material resistance. It's symbolic and it's not going to change anything. What will change things is if fuel supplies stop, or people can't get to work in the mornings.' Hallam believes that calls for more insulation are 'achievable and winnable', in comparison to more 'grand-scale demands'. A Metropolitan Police spokesman tweeted: 'Officers are dealing with protestors who have blocked parts of the A2, A3, A12 and A40. While the roads remain open, there is heavy disruption at all four locations with slow moving traffic while work is underway to remove those who have glued themselves onto the road. 'So far, 38 arrests have been made for disruption of the highway and conspiracy to cause public nuisance. 'At approximately 0800hrs, protestors blocked the southern approach of Blackwall Tunnel. By 0809hrs police were on scene. At 0820hrs, protestors moved onto the North Circular Road near Hanger Lane and blocked the road. Officers were on scene by 0828hrs. 'At 0845hrs, protestors obstructed the road at the junction at Lochnagar Street at northern approach of the Blackwall tunnel. Officers were on scene within minutes. At 0846hrs, a number of protestors moved onto Wandsworth Bridge. Officers are on scene by 0900hrs. 'We consider protests of this nature unreasonable and are acting as quickly as possible to minimise disruption caused to members of the public using the roads.' Home Secretary Priti Patel will this week unveil the crackdown on motorway protests, with tougher sentences introduced by amending the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. While National Highways has been granted injunctions to prevent people from obstructing roads, officers cannot arrest people for flouting the court orders because it is a civil not a criminal matter. The new laws are expected to be on the statute book by the turn of the year. However, Whitehall sources remain wary that the government can only go so far in terms of restricting disruption. An offence of 'obstructing a highway' already exists, but carries only a maximum fine of 1,000. The proposed increased penalties will mean police can remand protesters in custody after charging them, and create a criminal record for them. Insulate Britain - which is demanding the Government pay for all homes in the country to be insulated by 2030 - has brought major roads to a standstill with eleven protests in less than three weeks. Around 450 arrests have been made so far. Mr Johnson said: 'This Government will always stand on the side of the law-abiding majority and ensure the toughest penalties possible for criminals who deliberately bring major roads to a standstill. 'We will give the police the powers they need to stop their reckless and selfish behaviour. The right to protest is sacrosanct, but there is no right to inflict chaos and misery on people trying to go about their lives.' The Prime Minister outlined his hardline stance against the backdrop of the separate road chaos caused by the 'absolutely horrendous' fuel crisis, which has led to a critical shortage of petrol on forecourts across London and the South East of England. The Government obtained an injunction meaning anyone blocking the M25 could be found to be in contempt of court, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison or an unlimited fine. Do you know who the woman trying to get to her mother in hospital is? And do you know who the man wearing the Camfaud uniform is? Email tips@dailymail.com or jack.wright@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement So far the first injunction, taken out on September 21, has had little to no effect on the protests - and appears to have made the campaigners even more focused on causing as much disruption as possible around the capital. The injunctions do not give the police extra powers, and instead give National Highways the ability to apply to a court to find someone in contempt of court. But this makes no immediate difference and can take months to sort. A senior Government source last night said: 'We can't have Labour councillors and crusties making life hell for mothers on the school run and van drivers making vital deliveries. The law does not currently reflect the serious disruption caused by these dangerous actions.' Miss Patel said: 'The right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy but we will not tolerate guerrilla tactics that obstruct people going about their day-to-day business. 'That is why we will increase the maximum penalty for disrupting a motorway to an unlimited fine or up to six months in prison - or both. 'While the Labour Party stand on the side of these so-called 'activists', the Conservative Party will always back the law-abiding, hard-working majority in this country.' Amid reports of conflict between the Home Office and the DfT, sources said Miss Patel was aghast at the length of time being taken to deal with the crisis by the DfT's highways agency. 'The real problem is with National Highways,' one source said. 'Priti is concerned that it has been very slow in responding. It has just not been quick enough.' 12pm: This Google Map shows how the protests are still causing a knock-on effect on traffic in Central London Police use a roadblock to divert traffic on the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach after activists from Insulate Britain blocked part of the tunnel earlier this morning Police use a roadblock to divert traffic on the A102 Blackwall Tunnel approach after activists from Insulate Britain blocked part of the tunnel earlier this morning Insulate Britain protesters sitting on the side of the A12, Poplar, leading to the Blackwall Tunnel Insulate Britain protesters sitting on the side of the A12, Poplar, leading to the Blackwall Tunnel A Google traffic map shows disruption on the approach to the Blackwall Tunnel this morning during rush hour A Google traffic map shows disruption on Wandsworth Bridge this morning during rush hour Insulate Britain protesters are dragged off the road at Wandsworth Bridge by angry motorists Fifty demonstrators from XR splinter group Insulate Britain clashed with motorists as they blocked major roads during rush hour Insulate Britain - which is demanding the Government pay for all homes in the country to be insulated by 2030 - has brought major roads to a standstill with eleven protests in less than three weeks Home Secretary Priti Patel will this week unveil the crackdown on motorway protests, with tougher sentences introduced by amending the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill Enviro-idiots have shut down all four corners of London by blocking the Blackwall Tunnel, Hanger Lane, Wandsworth Bridge and Arnos Grove yesterday Fifty demonstrators from XR splinter group Insulate Britain clashed with motorists as they blocked major roads during rush hour Police have complained they lack sufficient powers to stop eco-protesters from bringing the M25, M1 and M4 to a standstill Insulate Britain: Timeline of M25 chaos that spilled on to the M1 and Dover September 13 - 78 Insulate Britain protesters are arrested after blocking junctions 3, 6, 14, 20 and 31 of the M25 September 15 - More than 50 protesters are arrested after targeting junctions 1, 8, 9 and 23 of the M25. September 17 - 48 protesters are arrested after targeting junctions 3, 9 and 28 of the M25, as well as the M3 September 20 - 29 protesters are arrested after blocking the M25 at junctions 4 and 18, as well as the A1 September 21 - Protesters risk death by running into moving traffic to block the main carriageway near Junction 10. Some 38 arrests are made. National Highways obtains an injunction against further protests on the M25 September 22 - Protesters burn copies of the injunction outside the Home Office, blocking the road outside the ministry. No arrests are made September 24 - 39 protesters are arrested after blocking roads at three locations in Dover. They are all released under investigation. National Highways obtains a second injunction covering Dover September 27 - 53 protesters are arrested for blocking a slip road at Junction 14 of the M25. They are all released under investigation. September 28 - National Highways says it is taking 'legal advice' over how to enforce its injunction September 29 - 27 protesters are arrested for blocking a roundabout at Junction 3 of the M25 on two separate occasions September 30 - Protesters return to junction 30 at Thurrock in Essex, and nine are arrested October 1: The group block the M4 at junction 3, the M1 at junction 1 and M25 at junction 25. Some 39 arrests October 4: Around 50 protesters block four major roads in London - the Blackwall Tunnel, Wandsworth Bridge, Hanger Lane and Arnos Grove Advertisement The proposal for a contra mundum injunction - Latin for 'against the world' - is believed to have come from former Solicitor General Michael Ellis QC, who was appointed Paymaster General in Boris Johnson's reshuffle last month. Proposals for the measure are being drawn up and will be put to a High Court judge within days, the Mail understands. Deputy Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Stephen House described the protests as 'lunacy' and said he feared officers' lives are at risk dealing with the demonstrations. 'The most recent one I saw had officers running between articulated lorries that were moving on the main carriageway of the M25,' he told the London Assembly. Police forces have improved in their response to the protests, sometimes managing to reopen carriageways within an hour. National Highways - previously Highways England - and its bosses at the DfT, however, have failed to respond convincingly to a crisis about to enter its fourth week. When first asked about how they would enforce the injunction after it was flouted on Monday, National Highways wrongly said that this was an 'enforcement matter' for the police. However, a day later the agency said it was 'taking legal advice' after realising it was up to them to haul the protesters to the High Court for potential imprisonment or a fine. On Wednesday the injunction was breached twice more, when protesters blocked junction 3 of the M25 on two occasions. National Highways said it was 'working with the police to establish names of the protesters and if they have been previously arrested', despite their identities being widely reported. Simultaneously, the DfT claimed it could not 'comment on the specifics around ongoing legal matters', despite contempt of court proceedings being public. By Wednesday evening, however, the DfT said it was 'already knocking on doors and serving papers to offenders who will be sent to court and could face fines or prison'. Tory activists jeered the mention of Insulate Britain during a Cabinet minister's speech, as one attendee called for the protesting environmentalists to be 'locked up'. A reference by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to 'Insulate Britain or whatever they are calling themselves these days' was met with boos at a fringe Maritime UK drinks reception at the Conservative Party conference on Sunday evening. One attendee at the Manchester reception could be heard saying 'lock them up' after Mr Shapps mentioned Insulate Britain, which is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion. The reaction came as the Transport Secretary was giving a speech about the need to build carbon emission-free ships, which he said could be used for 'booze cruises'. He said: 'Here is a dirty little secret about this sector that you all know, but don't tell those folks from Insulate Britain or whatever they are calling themselves these days - transport and aviation are often targeted because of their greenhouse gases as they are two very visible forms of transport, but actually when it comes to shipping, they (environmental groups) largely ignore it, thank goodness for that. 'But actually UK shipping is a producer of greenhouse gases - we need to sort that out. 'We know that we expect trade to double over the next few decades, so to get permission for maritime to continue, we need to sort it out as well.' Mr Shapps said Britain could 'lead zero carbon in shipping by 2050' through technological innovation in ship building. The former Tory party chairman added: 'We can go on booze cruises together - but those cruises are going to be completely green, we're going to remove all the carbon, it is going to be an eco-friendly ship that we are all going to be travelling on, and we're going to build that ship in Britain.' A Melbourne local council will charge eateries up to $5,000 a month for every carpark slot they convert into outdoor dining space when lockdown ends. Yarra City Council, in the city's inner-east, wants to recoup cash lost from exorbitant parking meter fees on cafe strips like Brunswick and Smith streets. Businesses already hit hard by two months of lockdown have no choice but to pay the council's demands as they can't serve diners inside under Covid rules. Nearby councils like Stonnington and Darebin are by contrast considering waiving their significantly smaller fee of $1,200 a month to use parking spaces. Melbourne inner-city eateries are set to be charged $5,000 to use outdoor parking spaces to sit patrons from October 26 (pictured) Only outdoor dining can open until Victoria has 80 per cent vaccinated, and even then strict capacity limits of one patron per 4sqm up to 150 people. Far more are allowed to sit outside, starting with 50 at 70 per cent, then 500 at 80 per cent - but both subject to the 4sqm rule. Premier Daniel Andrews criticised the council's plan, noting that his government provided grants to encourage businesses to set up outdoor dining. 'I look forward to them defending that to their ratepayers,' he said during his Covid briefing on Tuesday. 'You are at dramatically less risk of spreading this if you are outside in the open air.' Katie Marron, owner of Miss Katie's Crab Shack in Fitzroy, told the Herald Sun her business wouldn't be able to survive with the new fees. 'It's like, here's something that's going to help you stabilise your business, but now we're going to sting you with exorbitant fees,' she said. Victorian cafes and restaurants are set to be allowed to seat up to 50 fully vaccinated customers outdoors once the 70 per cent vaccination target is reached (pictured, Smith Street in Melbourne) Under the tiered pricing structure, Ms Marron's restaurant on Smith Street will be charged $5,000 per parking space used. Venues on less busy streets will be charged $3,000 in tier two and $2,250 in tier three. The Yarra City Council, which lost $600,000 in revenue from parking fees and fines during lockdown, will vote on the fee structure on Tuesday night. The Greens-led council is expected to go ahead with the huge fees, even amid warnings the costs are excessive. But the cash strapped Yarra City Council will meet on Tuesday to announced a tiered pricing structure for businesses on busy Melbourne streets (pictured, Smith Street in Melbourne) A survey found 86 per cent of local businesses recognised fees were inevitable and 75 per cent were concerned about their financial impact. One in 10 owners also said they would completely stop operating outdoors if they were forced to pay $5,000 per parking spot. Councillor Stephen Jolly said the Yarra Council was meant to be the most 'progressive' in the state, but the businesses who made it through lockdown now had another setback. 'Those business owners that have survived are getting a kick in the teeth,' he said. 'Right through the pandemic, instead of doing all they can to make life easier for small businesses by reducing red and green tape many councils have elected to do nothing. Owners of businesses in tier 1 zones will be charged $5,000 per month per parking spot, with tier 2 being charged $3,000 and $2,250 in tier 3 (pictured, a vaccination centre in Melbourne) 'The City of Yarra has shown itself often to be anti-business and very creative in how they can extract money from local businesses to fund projects that add zero value to residents.' Victoria on Tuesday recorded the most new Covid cases in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic in Australia. The state recorded 1,763 new infections on Tuesday - 164 more than the worst day of the lockdown on September 10. Melbourne has been locked down longer than any city in the world through the whole pandemic and will not begin to taste freedom until at least October 26. A Victorian casual relief teacher will take the state to trial over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for school and childcare staff, arguing it's a breach of human rights. A casual relief teacher is taking the state's health officials to court over mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, arguing there's no legal or ethical justification for requiring the jab. Belinda Cetnar and her husband Jack have filed a case against the State of Victoria, claiming all school and childcare staff have their first vaccine by October 18 is discriminatory and a breach of human rights. Ms Cetnar says she is a casual relief teacher while Mr Cetnar is a horticulturalist employed by Crest Education. 'The proposed directives to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for school or childcare staff is not a proportionate response to the Covid-19 pandemic in circumstances where there is a 99.9 per cent survival rate and children mostly suffer mild effects from the disease,' she said in court documents. A casual relief teacher wants Victoria's Supreme Court to put a hold on mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, arguing there's no legal or ethical justification for requiring the jab (stock image) She said the blanket mandate didn't consider the human rights of those it was imposed on and there had been a failure to consider less restrictive means to achieve the intended purpose, including rapid antigen tests and PPE. Ms Cetnar represented the couple in a hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday and said they were trying to find a barrister to help them with their case. They had asked for an injunction to stop the vaccine mandate being introduced but that happened before the case came to court so now they have been granted until October 12 to put together a new case. A trial will be held on October 25. Justice Melinda Richards said they had a well developed argument under Victoria's Charter of Human Rights but questioned other aspects of their case. Their current written case refers to civil conscription in the constitution, the commonwealth Biosecurity Act and the Nuremberg Code. 'It does appear to me it could do with an experienced lawyer's eye and perhaps some refinement of the grounds on which you challenge the directions,' she said. Ms Cetnar argued she would lose her livelihood if she fails to get vaccinated, while Mr Cetnar faces losing his too. Both their roles cannot be fulfilled off site, she said. 'Schools and childcare centres will face loss of valued staff members which cannot be remedied by damages,' she argued. 'Employers are placed in a position to police their employees which is unjust and a coercive tactic, causing division in the community.' Justice Richards will proceed straight to a final decision in the trial on October 25, a move welcomed by the state's barrister Sarala Fitzgerald. It's expected that acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie, who signed off on the directions, will be added as a defendant to the case. 'Professor Cowie is trying to steer this shop over the next three months, through goalposts, to have us in our homes with 30 people by Christmas,' she said. 'There is a lot on all these public health experts' plates and I just ask the court to be mindful all these people, whose time I will be demanding, are also trying to do something else incredibly important.' Ms Fitzgerald has until October 22 to file her submissions and evidence in the case. A police hunt is underway for two cyclists who allegedly punched a father in front of his newborn baby and threatened him at knifepoint in a horror carjacking attempt. The 36-year-old man was parked on Roden Street, in West Melbourne, with his baby in the back seat about 12.35pm on August 28 when the men approached and opened the driver side and passenger side doors. Police said the man on the driver's side allegedly brandished a knife and demanded the victim get out of the car. The victim told him his son was in the back seat and he stepped away. Victoria Police have released an image (pictured) of two men they would like to speak to in relation to an alleged robbery and attempted carjacking in Melbourne's west The man on the passenger side then reached inside and allegedly punched the victim in the face before stealing his wallet from the centre console. Both men then took off on pushbikes towards King Street. Victoria police have released images and CCTV of two men they believe will be able to help with their investigation. Detectives are also keen to speak to any witnesses or anyone that may have been in the area at the time of the incident. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Queensland has reported two new Covid cases amid fears the latest outbreak could plunge the state back into a snap lockdown. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Tuesday a 19-year-old woman and a three-year-old girl had tested positive to the virus, bringing the number of active cases in the state to 27. The new infections come after a single case - a woman aged in her 50s - was recorded on Monday after spending 10 days infectious in the community. 'If you have any symptoms please come out and get tested,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'As we know the virus can pop up at any time. So please go and get vaccinated.' Queensland has recorded two new Covid cases amid fears the state could be plunged back into lockdown. Pictured: Health care workers swab Brisbane residents on October 1 Chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young said she was not concerned either of the new infections pose a risk to the community. The three-year-old girl is linked to the aviation cluster in the state's southeast and has been in quarantine during her entire infectious period. The second is a Queensland resident given an exemption to return from Melbourne, who acquired the virus interstate and was notified as a positive case while on a flight on Monday. The latest figures come as Ms Palaszczuk warned over the weekend she would not hesitate to impose stay-at-home orders if there was any evidence of unlinked transmission in the community. 'Can I just make it very clear: if the advice is to go into lockdown, we will go into lockdown. OK,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'So there's no ifs and buts here, people. This is serious.' The latest outbreak has sparked fears Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk may impose a snap lockdown in parts of Queensland So far, 67.58 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have one dose of the Covid vaccine, 48.6 per cent are fully-vaccinated. Meanwhile, the origin of a mystery case reported on Monday is yet to be confirmed as authorities continue to identify contacts and exposure sites. Genome sequencing has confirmed the woman in her 50s has the Delta variant, but it has not yet been linked to any known cases in the state. Ms Palasczcuk also revealed on Tuesday Dr Krispin Hajkowicz will replace Dr Young as the state's Chief Health officer when she moves on to become the Governor of Queensland. Ms Palaszczuk revealed on Tuesday Dr Krispin Hajkowicz (pictured) will replace Dr Young as the state's Chief Health officer Dr Young will stepdown in November as she moves on to become the Governor of Queensland Dr Hajkowicz is currently the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Director of Infectious Diseases and will take over from Dr Young when she steps down on November 1. Dr Young said her replacement had been heavily involved in the state's response to the pandemic and was 'the perfect person' to take on the role. The new chief health officer will step in during a challenging period for Queensland, with questions being raised about state hospitals' preparedness for Covid outbreaks when borders re-open, and pressure to lift the vaccination rate. 'The virus will come in no matter what we do,' Dr Young said. Dr Hajkowicz said he was 'thrilled and honoured' to be the state's next chief health officer and had been working on his hospital's 'frontline' of COVID-19 response for the past 18 months. It comes as Scott Morrison has accused Ms Palaszczuk of using state border closures to 'extort' more money for public hospitals. Queensland recorded one Covid infection on Monday and two on Sunday, as thousands of footy fans packed into Brisbane's Suncorp stadium for the NRL grand final (pictured) Hospitals are jointly funded by state and federal government, but Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the Commonwealth has artificially capped spending growth at 6.5 per cent, which could prevent hospitals from being able to meet demand when the state reopens. The prime minister says there is already enough federal funding for Queensland hospitals, but Ms Palaszczuk was using Covid-19 as an excuse to obtain more funding. 'She has to take that up with the Queensland people then. I mean, to go down this point and say: ''Well, you know, I'm going to hold the federal government to ransom and seek to extort from them money on the basis of COVID'', I just don't think is the right way to go,' he told Nine's Today program on Tuesday. The Commonwealth had contributed to half the cost of propping up state and territory health systems against COVID-19, Mr Morrison said, a commitment which totalled about $30 billion nationwide. 'Of course there are challenges but as a state government, they've got to be responsible for their state health system,' the prime minister said. 'NSW is getting on with it, so are Victoria and the ACT, so Queensland needs to get on with it.' A single mother-of-three fears she'll be raising her family out of a car within weeks due to the housing crisis on the Sunshine Coast. Amber Thompson and her three sons have spent the last six months living in an Airbnb almost an hour away from their lives in Cooroy, 23km inland from Noosa. Ms Thompson, a self-employed cleaner, has been desperately searching for a three bedroom home in the popular holiday region for two months after her Airbnb was booked out from October 26. The Sunshine Coast, much like the rest of Australia, is in the midst of a housing boom which has seen prices skyrocket while availability plummets. Vacancy rates on the Sunshine Coast are among the lowest in Australia at just 0.4 per cent. Amber Thompson and her three sons have spent the last six months living in an Airbnb almost an hour away from their lives in Cooroy, 23km inland from Noosa Often, she receives a text like the one pictured above the morning of the appointment telling her not to bother coming, because offers were made sight unseen Ms Thompson has even offered to pay 12 months' rent up front and has a budget of $550 per week. Despite having 'great references' from previous real estates and savings to cover the cost of a 12 month lease, she told Daily Mail Australia she's not even getting a look in. 'The rentals are being taken before I can even get in to inspect,' she said. Ms Thompson trawls real estate listings every single day and is regularly applying to inspect homes. Often, she receives a text the morning of the appointment telling her not to bother coming, because offers were made sight unseen. 'I've lost all hope,' she said. 'I'm concerned I'll be living in my car. 'I've been working my butt off in school hours, driving the kids 50 minutes to school each day... rearranging work to inspect properties only for them to be cancelled.' Ms Thompson, a self-employed cleaner, has been desperately searching for a three bedroom home in the popular holiday region for two months after her Airbnb was booked out from October 26 Despite having 'great references' from previous real estates and savings to cover the cost of a 12 month lease, she told Daily Mail Australia she's not even getting a look in Her stress levels, she said, have never been higher. Ms Thompson sold all her furniture after her divorce and now feels as though she has nothing and 'like a failure' having exhausted all her options to find suitable housing. On Tuesday, she is hoping to meet with her local MP to discuss what options are available to her. Her sons are enrolled at a local school in Cooroy and, ideally, she'll be able to find a home within the Noosa Shire after six months of commuting from the Airbnb they've called home in Coolum, usually a 50-minute trip in traffic. Ms Thompson and her sons, aged 13, 10 and seven, also have a six-year-old sausage dog. In 2021, the number of homes available for long-term rentals on the Sunshine Coast dropped to the lowest it has been in more than a decade. Median rental prices for a two-bedroom flat in the region were $450 last quarter - up from $365 in the same months last year, according to the Residential Tenancies Authority. Houses in the Noosa Hinterland enjoyed a 7.8 per cent quarterly hike in June 2021, sending the median weekly rent price soaring to $620. Ms Thompson has even offered to pay 12 months' rent up front and has a budget of $550 per week City-dwellers making the move from virus-hit Sydney and Melbourne have long been blamed for the increased demand and low supply on the Coast. But Image Property Sunshine Coast sales agent Matt Nickerson said the rental market in the region was 'undersupplied long before the pandemic'. 'With additional demand from new residents, as well as low investor activity, the situation is not overly surprising,' he said. Nationwide since September 2020, property prices have soared by 20.3 per cent to $674,848. For the first time ever, an average, full-time income earner on $90,329 buying a typical Australian home would have a debt-to-income ratio of six - the level where a borrower is on the verge of mortgage stress and can't pay their bills. In September, property price records were set in 66 of Australia's 78 real estate sub markets based on a grouping of suburbs and towns. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the banking regulator, regards this threshold as a cause for alarm and is exploring with other financial regulators stricter lending rules targeting mortgage debt-to-income ratios. Former arch radio rivals Alan Jones and John Laws let bygones be bygones on Tuesday, uniting in their support for former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian - with Jones revealing his final conversations with the Liberal leader. Sky News host Jones joined Laws - who once famously called Jones 'a vicious old tart' - on his 2SM radio show in Sydney in which Jones divulged a recent conversation he had with the now-former premier. 'One of the last conversations was, "Who knows who the next victim (of ICAC) will be?" never thinking it would be her,' Jones said. Jones had been very critical of Ms Berejiklian's handling of the Covid crisis, critiquing her 'daily lectures' and accusing her of fearmongering, but was angry that she had been forced to stand down due to unproven allegations. 'I had a lot of interviews with Gladys to reform ICAC (the Independent Commission Against Corruption). This woman has been charged with nothing. It's an investigation,' he said. Alan Jone (pictured) has previously not been a big fan of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, but says she has been hard done by Ms Berejiklian is the third Liberal premier forced out of office due to an ICAC investigation - one of which was cleared and the other guilty of accepting a small gift. '(Barry) O'Farrell goes over a bottle of wine, (former NSW premier Nick) Greiner was subsequently cleared,' Jones said. He added that he regularly told Ms Berejiklian that ICAC's work investigations should be private, preventing the situation where politicans were forced to stand down merely on allegations. Ms Berejiklian was named as a person of interest in an investigation into how much she knew about the business dealings of her former romantic partner and ex-MP Daryl Maguire - who was forced out of parliament - and grants to his electorate. 'We have no right to know anything about Gladys Berejiklian's private life, unless it interferes with (her job),' Jones said. Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has garnered sympathy from Sky News host Alan Jones 'It is an awful thing that's been done to her, but she's in a long list of people that have been similarly damaged ... This is a terrible set of circumstances we face.' Laws put it to Jones that ICAC has 'once again ruined a reputation without a verdict. Without a charge.' 'The worst thing about ICAC is that anyone who appears before it, can't speak to anyone else about what happened,' Jones replies. 'You can't speak, you're not allowed to talk to anybody,' he said. 'That's dictatorial, isn't it? Like a Nazi regime,' Laws replied. Radio host John Laws has buried the hatchet with fellow broadcaster and former colleague Alan Jones. Jones called on the new NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to change the way ICAC operates. 'We're not looking after our mates here, we're looking after the fundamental principle of western democracy, that you're innocent until someone can prove you're guilty. It's the process. We're not opposed to investigating or rooting out criminality.' He then called out what he said was a 'disgraceful attack' on Dominic Perrottet's Catholicism. 'This Perrottet is one of 12 children and he's got six children of his own and he's copped it at the weekend because he's a Catholic with six children as if there's something sort of antediluvian or going back centuries (about that). 'This bloke has some ideas. He's got youth, he's got energy. He's a very good choice.' Laws and Jones also agreed that they each like NSW Labor leader Chris Minns and that he is 'presentable'. 'You're quite right with him being a presentable fellow. (He's a) big strong fellow, and beautifully groomed and well behaved and well spoken. I think he's a worthwhile fellow,' said Laws. Jones finished with an exasperated aside about the effect of Sydney's lockdown. 'You keep saying to me are we going to have lunch. We can't have lunch. You keep saying to me to come to the studio. I can't go to your studio. What the hell? What sort of show are we running here?' he said. Scott Morrison has pointed to the fall of Gladys Berejiklian as a reason not to let a NSW-style anti-corruption commission investigate federal politicians. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating the former state premier for potential breaches of public trust linked to her secret five-year relationship with former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire. Ms Berejiklian's resignation from the leadership and NSW parliament has renewed calls by federal Labor, the Greens and independents for a national corruption-fighting body. Scott Morrison has pointed to the fall of Gladys Berejiklian (pictured with ex-boyfriend and corrupt MP Daryl Maguire) as a reason not to let a NSW-style anti-corruption commission investigate federal politicians But the prime minister is among those in the coalition who think this is a reason not to have a NSW-style ICAC. 'It's certainly not a model that we'd ever consider at a federal level and I think that's been on display for some time,' Mr Morrison told the Seven Network on Tuesday. 'You've got to have processes that assume people are innocent before they are thought to be guilty. 'I'm sure there are millions of people who are seeing what's happened to Gladys Berejiklian and understand that's a pretty good call not to follow that model.' Attorney-General Michaelia Cash is working through the findings of public consultations ahead of a bill slated for introduction to parliament before the end of the year. Senator Cash's assistant minister Amanda Stoker accused the NSW ICAC of destroying politicians' lives and careers. 'Its broad sweeping powers of inquisition and compulsion have seen lives destroyed over trivialities, careers ended over investigations that have gone nowhere,' she told ABC radio. 'We need to also ask who's going to watch these all-powerful armies of lawyers who are able to hide under the veil of independence.' Senator Stoker dismissed criticism the government has been sitting on legislation for a national anti-corruption body. 'We are really keen to get this done and to get it done in a way that made sure we get all the advantages of having an integrity body and avoid the pitfalls of those bodies that, I would suggest, have become almost rogue in the way that they operate.' The prime minister is among those in the coalition who think this is a reason not to have a NSW-style ICAC Labor has promised a national anti-corruption body that would operate as a standing royal commission into serious and systemic corruption among the federal government. It would have a broad jurisdiction to investigate and hold to account federal ministers, public servants, statutory office holders, government agencies, parliamentarians, personal staff of politicians and other commonwealth public officials. Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus wants the commission to be retrospective and thinks the government's proposal is far too limited. 'We think it should be able to receive complaints from any source, to be able to receive referrals from any source. It shouldn't be limited,' he said. 'It should be broadly based and if it determines that there's a matter of serious and systemic corruption it's got to have the powers to go on and investigate.' Incoming NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has been asked how he will cope with the job given he has six children during his first press conference as leader. The stunning moment came as Mr Perrottet outlined his vision for the state, following his 39-5 victory in the Liberal Party ballot this morning. The devout Catholic, a father of six, was asked how he would be able to manage the job as premier given his large family. Sky News' Laura Jayes pointed out that a female in his position would be asked that question - and put it on the new leader. Mr Perrottet pictured with Helen (right), his wife, and six children. 'What I might lose in time, I gain in perspective,' Mr Perrottet said when asked about how he would cope as premier with such a large family 'Well, it is demanding,' Mr Perrottet responded. 'I mean, being a father, like being a mother, when you have got family commitments, balancing work and family life is a challenge for every single person right across the state. 'Ultimately, I think what I might lose in time, I gain in perspective, and everyone has the attributes, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and I am no different to that, but one thing I do know is that I have a very strong team around me. 'I have a strong family and I have a strong ministerial team who will ensure that our focus is on the people of New South Wales, and that we come out stronger on the other side.' Mr Perrottet during his first press conference as leader, where he was asked about work-life balance given he has six children Mr Perrottet emerges from the Liberal Party room after winning this morning's ballot for premier by 39-5 Mr Perrottet said his family commitments should not disqualify him from the job as he promised to take NSW from 'good to great'. 'I think it enriches you,' he said of his family. 'It gives you different perspective, and with all the different ministers in the team, I think we set ourselves up to make a real difference to the people of our state.' During the press conference Mr Perrottet described himself as being 'the family premier, making life better for working families'. Presenter Deborah Knight was among those to praise Jayes for asking the question, Tweeting: 'Good call asking how hell manage being Premier with his family demands. Would have been among the first questions if his name was Dominica' Mr Perrottet said that as a parent, one of his priorities as premier would be getting kids out of lockdown and back to school, while noting that parenting was a tough job. 'It's demanding being a parent,' he said. 'It's a challenge for every, single parent across the state.' The social conservative was also forced to address his religious views during the press conference. In 2019, Mr Perrottet voted against a bill to decriminalise abortion, declaring he could not support laws that stopped 'the beating heart of an unborn child'. 'I am very proud of the fact that I have a strong Christian faith,' he said on Tuesday. 'Does that in any way take away my capacity to serve as Premier? 'Well, I do not think so, and I think it is a sad thing that some people do, but I think people right across our state, in the main, believe in freedom of religion and freedom of the opportunity to serve in public life regardless of what your ethnic background is or what your religious values are.' Mr Perrottet answered critics of his positions on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage by saying he believes in diversity and tolerance. 'I believe in values of respect for all people. And people should be judged on their actions, not based on an attribute that someone thinks shouldnt have a place in public life,' he said. Mr Perrottet takes over the top job after Gladys Berejiklian's dramatic resignation last Friday, with Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres as his deputy. Environment Minister Matt Kean will take over Mr Perrottet's role as NSW Treasurer. The horrifying moment a woman pushed a commuter into the path of an oncoming train at the Times Square subway station on Monday morning was captured by surveillance camera. The victim, a 42-year-old woman, was shoved from the platform and into the train as it approached the station in what is believed to be an unprovoked attack. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition after sustaining facial injuries. The suspect who remains at large instigated her attack just hours before a man shot himself in the leg in that same subway station. Monday's shooting is the third at the tourist hotspot this year. Horrifying surveillance video shows the moment when a woman pushed a fellow commuter into a train at the Times Square subway station on Monday morning Video shows the suspect sitting on a bench and, as the train comes into view around 8.15 am, she stands up and initiates her push. She then fled the scene The suspect is described as being in her 20s or 30s and was last seen wearing black sneakers, beige pants, a black sweater and a multicolored scarf One subway rider, who witnessed the shoving, said the crime at the station is not surprising. 'This is like what it used to be like in the 80s,' the individual told ABC 7. 'People are wicked to be able to push someone on a moving train, and for what? I don't know, but it's horrible,' another passenger, CJ Stewart told CBS 2. According to witnesses, the suspect timed her attack. Video shows the woman sitting on a bench and, as the train comes into view around 8.15 m, she stands up and initiates her push. She then flees the scene. Witnesses said the attack serves as a reminder to be aware of your surroundings. 'Definitely a good reminder to keep your eyes peeled and be on your toes in New York,' West Village resident Tyler Sparling said. 'We're all usually in our phones and stuff, or listening to music. So we're not always 100% aware,' echoed Bryana Yard, of Brooklyn. Police taped off the portion of the platform where the incident occurred and continuing to search for the suspect. She is described as being in her 20s or 30s and was last seen wearing black sneakers, beige pants, a black sweater and a multicolored scarf. Officers were called to the Times Square station again on Monday, around 12pm, for reports of shots fired. A 39-year-old from Brooklyn was urinating in the corner of West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue, near a McDonald's and sushi restaurant Wasabi, when he was shot in his right leg, according to the New York Post. Eyewitnesses told ABC 7 that the shots went off inside the subway station, with the man seen stumbling up to ground level afterwards, before re-entering the station to ask for help. The bullet sent him stumbling down into a nearby train station. A person was shot in Times Square early Monday afternoon - the third instance of gun violence in the busy tourist hub this year, police said The man's injuries are not fatal and no one has been arrested in the case, police say. His shooting is the third to hit Times Square in 2020 Video from the scene shows officers carrying an injured person into an ambulance as passersby cross the bustling intersection. Police say his injuries are not fatal and no arrests have been made so far. Authorities have not named the man, who is likely to face criminal charges as a result. He is reportedly not cooperating with investigators. Monday's incidents come as overall crime in New York City dropped in August after a summer crime wave that had city officials pointing fingers at each other. Total crime dropped by one percent in August compared to August 2020, with the biggest drops being in burglary, -24 percent, and shooting incidents, -30.7 percent, according to the latest official monthly figures from the NYPD. The trend may be reversing, as weekly numbers ending on Sunday show that felony assaults are up by 7 percent, shootings are up by 1.6 percent and rapes are up by 2.2 percent as a whole compared to the same time last year. Felony assault, rape and shootings were all up through October 3 compared to last year Monday's shooting is the third such incident in Times Square this year. In May, three unrelated bystanders were hit by stray bullets in the busy tourist hub after police say a man started shooting indiscriminately during an argument with someone else. A four-year-old girl was struck in the leg, a 24-year-old woman was hit in the thigh and a 44-year-old woman was shot in the foot, police said. All were expected to survive. 'This little girl was so strong,' Officer Alyssa Vogel told WNBC. 'She didn't even cry once except when we were putting the tourniquet on. She screamed because it's very painful.' In July, 16-year-old Avon Darden turned himself in and was charged with attempted murder after shooting US Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, in the back. Poulin was not seriously injured. The young soldier had recently graduated from The Citadel military college in South Carolina with a commission in the US Marine Corps. Times Square, one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, sees an estimated 50 million visitors annually. About 330,000 people pass through it daily. The New York City Police Department has also reported numerous attacks in subway stations in the last few weeks. On September 13, a 32-year-old was attacked after she confronted a man for shoving past her on the escalator at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center Station. According to the Daily News, the woman told her attacker to 'say excuse me.' He responded 'I did' and kicked her in the chest. The victim fell backwards to the bottom of the escalator as the suspect continued up the escalator and out of the station. Police say the woman suffered cuts and bruises to her back, arms, legs, right knee and right thigh and trauma to her left ankle. In July, 16-year-old Avon Darden (left) turned himself in and was charged with attempted murder after shooting US Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, (right) in the back, in Time Square In August, a similar incident occurred at the Union Square station, where a homeless man was caught striking a victim in the back of the head with a hammer, before leaving him bleeding on the platform after the victim looked at him in the 'wrong way' Xing Zhou, 59, (left) was on her way to church when Vladimir Pierre, 41, (right) allegedly hit her Earlier last month, a deaf woman fell onto the subway tracks after she was hit in the head by a homeless man who had been arrested for sucker-punching another victim just four days earlier. Xing Zhou, 59, was on her way to church on September 5 when a man hit her in the head at Manhattan's Union Square subway station. She lost her balance during the attack and fell onto the tracks. Two bystanders helped Zhou off the tracks and waited with her until help arrived. She was taken to the hospital and given medication for her pain. Police later arrested Vladimir Pierre, 41, in connection to the attack. In August, a similar incident occurred at the Union Square station, where a homeless man was caught striking a victim in the back of the head with a hammer, before leaving him bleeding on the platform after the victim looked at him in the 'wrong way.' Police arrested 41-year-old Jamar Newton from Brooklyn and charged him with assault, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon and robbery. That incident occurred one day after another woman was randomly attacked on a subway platform and beaten with a metal pole while waiting for the G train. New Zealand has recorded 24 new local Covid cases just a day after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern abandoned the country's elimination strategy. Ms Ardern signaled the change of strategy on Monday, with the country now focusing on its vaccination rates as it aims to control the spread of the virus rather than diminish it. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield has indicated Aucklanders could be facing another four to eight weeks of tough restrictions, meaning they could be in lockdown until the end of November. However, residents remain still in the dark over their roadmap out of lockdown despite the decision to abandon the zero-Covid cases strategy. The tough lockdown restrictions have been in place for the past 48 days, despite only 27 deaths being recorded since the pandemic began. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) has abandoned zero Covid strategy and announced three phase plan to get Auckland out of lockdown Scientists say it will take New Zealand weeks to get to an acceptable vaccine level before easing restrictions doesn't have a large risk on more community transmission across the country. 'I'm sure like everybody, particularly in Auckland, we're looking forward to a summer where we can enjoy freedoms and our ticket to that is vaccination, so the next four to eight weeks into early December is critical to get our vaccination rates up,' said Ms Bloomfield. Ardern has outlined the phase to end Covid restrictions in Auckland saying the three-step plan would allow the city to 'safely and carefully' come out of lockdown in the coming weeks. Opposition leader Judith Collins has labelled the plan as 'nothing more than a vague wishlist'. From Tuesday, two households will be able to gather outside with up to 10 people. Early childhood will reopen with bubbles of 10 children and processes to reduce the risk of transmission. The plan will begin at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, October 5 and will allow two households to be able to gather together outside with a limit of up to 10 people per gathering (pictured Aucklanders could be in lockdown for up to another eight weeks) Funerals, weddings and civil unions are limited to 10 people plus staff. People will also be allowed to move around the city for recreational activity outside in groups of 10 or less. Phase 2 will see retail and public facilities open with an increase of the people allowed at social gatherings to 25 people. 'At step two retail will open their doors, with the usual measures of wearing face masks and keeping up physical distancing; public facilities such as pools and zoos will open; and the number of people who can meet outdoors will increase to 25,' Ardern said. There is no set date for when this will occur. The final step for Auckland is known as 'Delta level 2' with hospitality venues opening with a cap at 50 people. Outdoor gatherings will also increase to 50 people. Close contact businesses such as hairdressers and beauty salons will also open during this stage with masks and social distancing required. Each step will be reviewed weekly by the National Cabinet to ensure it is safe to move forward. The dates for each phase of the plan are not yet known and will be discussed by the Cabinet each week (pictured Aucklanders will have to wait till phase 3 of the plan for hospitality to open once again) Covid-19 modeller Professor Michael Plank said New Zealand is in the phase of the pandemic 'where unfortunately community transmission of Covid-19 and ongoing measures to limit it are part of the new normal'. He remarked that the country had a long way to go to get higher vaccine coverage to help reduce the effects of the virus. 'So until the number of people fully vaccinated is much higher, we have no alternative other than to suppress transmission as much as possible. The Government will need to pilot a very tricky route that avoids overflowing hospitals,' he said on Monday's conference. Auckland Mayor Phil Goff also commented vaccinations were the key to freedom, using Sydney and Melbourne as an example of how quickly the virus can spread and overload health services. Covid-19 modeller Professor Michael Plank commented vaccines were integral in getting the country out of lockdown but they are a long way to go (pictured health workers assist members of the public during a drive through vaccination community event in Auckland) The prime minister enforced what was meant to be a 'short and sharp' nationwide lockdown in response to the Auckland outbreak of the 'game changer' variant, which now stands at 1,357 cases. Jacinda Ardern is abandoning her draconian 'Zero Covid' strategy after admitting she cannot stop the spread of the Delta variant But the harsh measures persisted in an effort to rid the country of the contagious strain, which have so far failed. Ardern told a news conference: 'With this outbreak and Delta the return to zero is incredibly difficult. 'This is a change in approach we were always going to make over time. Our Delta outbreak has accelerated this transition. Vaccines will support it.' Ardern said a lockdown affecting 1.7million people in the biggest city Auckland will be scaled back in phases, with some freedoms introduced from Wednesday. Amid mounting pressure, Ardern has said her strategy was never to have zero cases, but to aggressively stamp out the virus. She said strict lockdowns will end once 90 per cent of the eligible population is vaccinated. About two million New Zealanders have so far been fully vaccinated, or about 48 per cent of the eligible population. The country began its vaccination campaign slowly compared with most other developed nations. Ardern said the Delta variant felt like 'a tentacle that has been incredibly hard to shake'. 'It's clear that a long period of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases. But it's ok ... elimination was important because we didn't have vaccinations. Now we do. So we can begin to change the way we do things,' she said. A nurse vaccinates a driver in the Cook Islands as New Zealand pushes to increase its vaccination rates Aucklanders turned to social media after the announcement of easing restrictions, with many cheering the decision while others expressed concern. 'I think if we'd been at 1-2 unlinked cases a day and/or no infections in community and no spread outside Auckland (and higher vaccination) I'd be cheering right now,' one Aucklander said on Twitter. Political parties on both sides slammed the move. 'Jacinda Ardern has no answers to problems that she and her Government promised us were under control. The situation is now, very clearly, out of control and worsening every day,' Opposition National Party leader Judith Collins said in a statement. The government's elimination approach through lockdown measures has been broadly supported but met with some resistance (pictured: an anti-lockdown and anti-vaxx protest in Auckland) Ardern's Labour Party coalition partner, Greens, said the move put the safety of vulnerable communities and children at risk. The government's elimination approach had been broadly supported by New Zealanders but was facing increasing criticism. Over the weekend, hundreds of people turned out at rallies protesting against the lockdown. Opposition legislator Chris Bishop said the government had no clear strategy to deal with the outbreak other than total surrender. But Ms Ardern said most measures would remain in place to keep the outbreak under control, including exhaustive contact tracing and isolating those who got infected. 'There's good cause for us to feel optimistic about the future,' she said. 'But we cannot rush.' Hillsong founder and pastor Brian Houston will fight a charge that he illegally concealed his father's alleged child abuse, a court has heard. The 67-year-old did not appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court when his matter was mentioned before a registrar for the first time on Tuesday morning. His lawyer told the court Houston would be pleading not guilty to the crime of concealing a serious indictable offence of another person. Hillsong founder and pastor Brian Houston (pictured with wife Bobbie) will fight a charge that he illegally concealed his father's alleged child abuse, a court has heard The case will next be before the court on November 23. Houston stands accused of concealing a serious indictable offence allegedly committed by his father. Police will say that Frank Houston indecently assaulted a male in 1970. Court documents allege that between 1999 and his father's death in 2004, Brian Houston believed his father had committed the crime. Police will argue that he knew information that could help secure the prosecution of his father and failed to bring it to the attention of police. Houston had promised when charged in August to 'set the record straight'. 'These charges have come as a shock to me given how transparent I've always been about this matter,' he said at the time. NSW Police investigated the matter for two years after the allegation was raised in media and the institutional child abuse royal commission. Since being charged, Houston has stepped down from the board of Hillsong, the church he founded with wife Bobbie in Sydney's Hills district in 1983. Now a global empire, the church says 150,000 people in 30 countries attend its services and 50 million people sing its songs each week. An elite Melbourne girls school is considering changing the name of a sporting house paying tribute to the 'founder of Melbourne'. Batman House, named after John Batman who negotiated with local Aboriginal people to rent their land, could be scrapped by Melbourne Girls Grammar School. Students from Years 4 to 12 and all former students of the school will be invited to vote in the school-wide referendum on Friday. Melbourne Girls Grammar (pictured) is set to take a vote on whether the Batman House's name should be changed Poll Should Melbourne Girls Grammar School remove Batman House? Yes No Should Melbourne Girls Grammar School remove Batman House? Yes 25 votes No 47 votes Now share your opinion School captains made a presentation last year to the school's council, questioning if the name was appropriate in a 'contemporary 21st Century setting'. 'In their presentation, they eloquently put forward that John Batman was not only the broker of the notorious Batman Treaty but a participant in the Tasmanian 'Black Wars' which culminated in the murder of more than one thousand Aboriginal people,' Principal Toni Meath said on September 13. 'Additionally, the other house names of Hensley and Taylor, Mungo, and Clarke were closely tied to the school, whereas Batman seemed the "odd man" out.' The houses Hensley and Taylor are named after the school's first principals and Mungo House is named after the school's original site. The final house, Clarke, is named after Lowther Clarke, a Melbourne archbishop responsible for promoting and funding Anglican girls' education. In the statement issued on the school's website, Dr Meath claimed the potential name change could be a 'moral moment' in Australian history. 'I know these issues are sometimes more complex than they appear, particularly when dealing with historical legacy; however, student voice is a pillar of MGGS and the conversation has been continued within the student body,' the statement read. Students questioned if the name was appropriate in a 'contemporary 21st century setting', being named after John Batman who brokered the infamous Batman Treaty (pictured, John Batman depicted negotiating with the native people) The Melbourne electorate named after John Batman was changed In 2018 in honour of William Cooper, an Aboriginal community leader. 'Our captains put forward that perhaps this is a precedent from which we could learn,' Dr Meath said. Other schools in the region also removed the name from their school houses, with Northcote High School also making the change from Batman to Cooper. Box Hill High dumped all its house, names including Batman, instead using current community figures such as Anh Do, Fred Hollows, Dylan Alcott, and Kerryn Phelps. Former President Donald Trump must undergo questioning under oath before Christmas in a defamation suit filed by an ex-contestant on The Apprentice after he denied her sexual assault accusations during his 2016 campaign. Justice Jennifer Schecter of the New York state court in Manhattan said on Monday that Trump must submit to a deposition by December 23 - lawyers for Trump and Zervos accused their opponents of stalling at the conference. Summer Zervos said Trump subjected her to unwanted kissing and touching when she sought career advice in 2007 during the former president's 2016 campaign and alleges he defamed her when he said she lied about it. Although Trump and Zervos' attorneys are still haggling over the disclosure of certain documents, law clerk Michael Rand said on Monday that there isn't a 'reason that before the end of the year, [they aren't] done with depositions.' Former President Donald Trump must undergo questioning under oath before Christmas in a defamation suit filed by an ex-contestant on The Apprentice after he denied her sexual assault accusations during his 2016 campaign, 'Now hes a private citizen, Im sure like any other litigant, we can have mutually agreeable dates for depositions,' he said, according to ABC News. Trump's attorney Alina Habba said it was 'completely ridiculous' to think depositions could occur before Zervos handed over the requested documents. 'Ms. Zervos is claiming emotional damages and financial damages,' she said, according to ABC. 'How can we, as defense counsel, provide any kind of quality deposition when we dont have all the medical records?' After Schecter's ruling, Habba said that 'Ms. Zervos must comply with the court's directive and produce all relevant and outstanding discovery.' 'In the meantime, we will be vigorously defending the President against this frivolous lawsuit.' However, Zervos' attorney Moira Penza said that her team '[didn't] believe [her] client can be further prejudiced in delaying this litigation any longer.' 'We do not believe there are any outstanding issues that would prohibit the parties from engaging in depositions.' Trump had argued before leaving the White House that Zervos could not pursue her case because a sitting president could not be sued, but the court said in March that the issue became moot when current President Joe Biden took office. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Zervos' lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests. Zervos alleges the assault occurred two years after her appearance on his reality television show The Apprentice. She claims Trump forcibly kissed her at a job interview in Manhattan's Trump Tower in early December 2007 and then aggressively groped weeks later at a professional dinner in Los Angeles. Zervos sued Trump in January 2017 after he branded such allegations by women 'lies' and retweeted a post calling Zervos' claims a 'hoax'. She has been seeking a retraction or an apology ever since, as well as compensatory damages and punitive damages. Trump has denied Zervos' claims and called her case politically motivated. Summer Zervos' attorney Moira Penza said that her team '[didn't] believe [her] client can be further prejudiced in delaying this litigation any longer.' 'We do not believe there are any outstanding issues that would prohibit the parties from engaging in depositions.' Here, Zervos is pictured with previous attorney Gloria Alfred Zervos claims Trump subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping after she sought career advice in 2007 - two years after her appearance (above) on Trump's reality television show The Apprentice She claims Trump forcibly kissed her at a job interview in Manhattan's Trump Tower in early December 2007 and then aggressively groped weeks later at a professional dinner in Los Angeles Zervos sued Trump in January 2017 after he branded such allegations by women 'lies' and retweeted a post calling Zervos' claims a 'hoax' In court filings, Zervos had noted she is a Republican. She also claimed she came forward with her allegations prior to Trump launching his campaign for presidency. In court documents related to the case, Zervos says she contacted Fox News about the alleged assault in August 2015 but the outlet ignored her. Zervos also allegedly contacted multiple lawyers about taking legal action back in 2011, including acclaimed women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred - who represented her at the time she went prior to the election but later withdrew from the case without explanation. Zervos was one of several women who came forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election as he came under fire for bragging about grabbing women's genitals in a now-notorious Access Hollywood clip with Billy Bush. Former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation after he denied having raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied claims by several women of improper sexual conduct. Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie broke ranks and spoke out on Monday, saying she 'didn't know' if her fugitive brother had murdered his girlfriend Gabby Petito and claimed that their parents refuse to talk to her. She also said she is 'livid' at her parent's lawyer Steve Bertolino, who told the press Friday that Cassie saw her brother twice since Petito's disappearance on September 1 and 6 despite her previously telling ABC's Good Morning America, 'I haven't been able to talk to him. I wish I could talk to him.' Cassie was seen confronting a group of protesters, which had rallied outside her home since Bertolino's statement three days ago and interrogated her about them on October 4. 'I am losing my parents and my brother and my children's aunt and my future sister-in-law on top of this and you're not helping,' Cassie told them. Cassie Laundrie refused to defend her brother Brian's innocence in the murder of Gabby Petito and claimed that their parents refuse to speak with her. She is seen above with her husband James Luycx in an interview with protesters outside her home on October 4 Brian's sister said that she is 'livid' at her parent's lawyer Steve Bertolino, who told the press Friday that Cassie saw her brother twice since Petito's disappearance on September 1 and 6 despite her saying otherwise in a previous interview A protester asked Cassie if she thinks her parents were involved in Petito's death, to which she said, 'I don't know. We have literally been finding out everything from the news like everyone else.' Asked if she would you like your brother to turn himself in, Cassie says, 'Of course.' At one point, she is asked, 'Based on all the stuff on the Internet, do you think that Brian killed Gabby?' 'I don't know,' she says. Cassie also said that she has never seen Brian hit Petito or act violently toward women. Cassie cleared up the timeline of events from her perspective, confirming that Brian left his and Petito's west coast trip around August 17 to come back to Florida, shortly after the couple was pulled over by police in Moab, Utah. She spoke to protesters who remained outside her house since the lawyer's statements, which contradicted media reports that Cassie hadn't seen Brian. Above, Brian and Petito were in an Instagram photo on their cross-country trip on June 26 Cassie said that she has never seen Brian hit Petito or act violently toward women Chris (back) and Roberta (front) Laundrie, parents of Brian Laundrie, left their North Port, Florida, home. Cassie said she does not know if they were at all involved in Petito's death Laundrie's parents were under surveillance from the FBI Cassie saw Brian on September 1, but he came to her home in the family Mustang and not the van he and Petito had been driving. She also saw him at a family vacation September 6 at Fort De Soto Park, but said that Petito's name did not come up in conversation and she didn't know Petito was missing at the time. 'We had s'mores, we had dinner. We had our kids there. Nothing came up. We've told the FBI everything and the world does not need to know what the FBI knows. That's why we're silent. This is me coming out against them.' Cassie claimed in an interview with ABC's Good Moring 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. Her version of events unraveled Friday, when Dog the Bounty Hunter - who joined the manhunt for Laundrie - revealed he had received a tip about Cassie joining her brother and parents at the Fort De Soto Park campsite. When Bertolino told reporters Friday that Cassie saw Brian after Petitio's disappearance, she appeared caught in a lie. Cassie told the protesters that her children didn't know their Aunt Gabby was dead until the demonstrators screamed it outside her home and called her a liar. She claimed on Monday that the media 'misconstrued' her words about when she had last seen her brother, and that she meant she has not been able to talk to Brian since he went missing. A plane flew overhead Cassie Laundrie's home on October 4 with the message 'Justice 4 Gabby - tik tok times up.' Protesters told Cassie and Luycx that they gave the group what they wanted and that they wouldn't be coming back Protesters also congregated outside fugitive Brian Laundrie's Florida home on September 27, chiding his parents for not aiding police in the search for their son She says in the video, 'I'm in the boat where I'm getting ignored by my family and thrown under the bus by my family's attorney . . . I am livid and I'm not speaking to anybody. I'm done because that made my kids find out this horrible way. We were waiting until there was some kind of closure so the kids were just sad instead of sad and worried and now scared of you guys.' Asked for comment from NewsNation, Bertolino said, 'I do not represent Cassie Laundrie. Cassie's comments can only be attributed to the press twisting my words and hers, which were only given to clarify prior mischaracterizations by the press, with the hopes of further sensationalizing this tragic story.' Cassie spoke to the group for about 20 minutes and said she was bound to get in hot water for doing so, but she needed to stop the protests from upsetting her children. 'This is not what we want to be doing,' she said. 'This is not how we want the world to find out when we're angry and upset. But I can't have my kids be crying for three days in a row.' Luycx said, 'The sooner he is found, the sooner this is over for us.' 'We would like to give [Brian Laundrie's] nephews an answer to when they can see their grandparents again,' said Cassie Laundrie's husband, James Luycx. 'When you know, [they can] see their uncle or anything that. He was their hero.' At the end of the video, the protester said that Cassie and Luycx gave the group what they wanted and that they wouldn't be coming back. Queensland has chosen its next top doctor to lead the state through the Covid pandemic as Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young prepares to stand down. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced Dr Krispin Hajkowicz will replace Dr Young from next month as she moves on to become the Governor of Queensland. Dr Hajkowicz is currently the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Director of Infectious Diseases and will take over from Dr Young on November 1. Ms Palaszczuk said Dr Hajkowicz was selected for the job after an 'extensive' recruitment process. Dr Krispin Hajkowicz (pictured) has been named as Chief Health Officer Dr Jeanette Young's successor when she steps down from the role next month 'He has managed pandemics for more than a decade, including the 2019 flu pandemic, Ebola and Zika [virus],' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'He is also the Associate Professor at the University of Queensland centre for research and has published more than 27 times in medical journals.' Dr Young said her replacement had been heavily involved in the state's response to the pandemic and was 'the perfect person' to take on the role. 'He has been the lead in the treatment and management of Covid cases and it is no accident that Queensland has only had seven deaths out of our 2048 cases so far,' Dr Young said. 'That was due to the work that [Dr Hajkowicz] has done across our state.' The new chief health officer will step in during a challenging period for Queensland, with questions being raised about state hospitals' preparedness for COVID-19 outbreaks when borders re-open, and pressure to lift the vaccination rate. Dr Hajkowicz said he was 'thrilled and honoured' to be the state's next chief health officer and had been working on his hospital's 'frontline' of Covid-19 response for the past 18 months. Dr Hajkowicz will take over from Dr Young from November 1. Pictured: Queensland Health Minister Yvette D'Ath, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Dr Krispin Hajkowicz and Dr Jeannette Young pictured after Tuesday's Covid press conference Dr Young said she was 'delighted' Dr Krispin Hajkowicz will step into her role as she moves on to become the Governor of Queensland 'I've been involved in pandemics for a long time now, this will be my fourth big pandemic,' he said. 'This is unique moment in history - it is by far the worst [pandemic] we've had. As the state moves away from stopping the virus to treating more cases in hospital, Dr Hajkowicz said it was 'the right time' for someone with a clinical background to take the top job. Queenslanders flocked to social media to congratulate the new CHO, who seems to be as well liked within the state's medical circles as Chief health officer Brett Sutton is in Victoria. 'Fantastic choice! Congrats,' one person wrote, while another added: 'Welcome Krisp'. 'Wonderful to see colleague Dr Hajkowicz handed the QLD CHO reins. Congrats Krispin,' UNSW epidemiologist Greg Dore tweeted. 'Krispin will be an awesome CHO,' someone else said. It also appears possible Queensland's new top doctor may already have some female fans like his Victorian counterpart. Dr Hajkowicz appears to have already attracted some female fans like his Victorian counterpart Brett Sutton (pictured) One woman said she thought Dr Hajkowicz was handsome in response to Ms Palaszczuk's Twitter post announcing the news. 'What a smile,' she wrote, alongside a grinning emoji. Queensland recorded two new Covid cases on Tuesday, bringing the number of active infections in the state to 27, as fears grow the state could be plunged into a snap lockdown. The new infections - double the figure recorded on Monday - include a three-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman. 'If you have any symptoms please come out and get tested,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'As we know the virus can pop up at any time. So please go and get vaccinated.' The three-year-old girl is linked to the aviation cluster in the state's southeast and has been in quarantine during her entire infectious period. The second is a Queensland resident given an exemption to return from Melbourne, who acquired the virus interstate and was notified as a positive case while on a flight on Monday. Dr Young said she was not concerned either of the new infections pose a risk to the community. The latest figures come after a single case - a woman aged in her 50s - was recorded on Monday after spending 10 days infectious in the community. Queensland has recorded two new Covid cases amid fears the state could be plunged back into lockdown. Pictured: Health care workers swab Brisbane residents on October 1 Ms Palaszczuk warned over the weekend she would not hesitate to impose stay-at-home orders if there was any evidence of unlinked transmission in the community. 'Can I just make it very clear: if the advice is to go into lockdown, we will go into lockdown. OK,' Ms Palaszczuk said. 'So there's no ifs and buts here, people. This is serious.' The origin of a mystery case reported on Monday is yet to be confirmed as authorities continue to identify contacts and exposure sites. Genome sequencing has confirmed the woman in her 50s has the Delta variant, but it has not yet been linked to any known cases in the state. Meanwhile, Queensland slow vaccination rollout is starting to ramp up, with more than 11,500 doses administered within the past 24 hours. There are now 67.58 per cent of eligible Queenslanders who have received one dose of the Covid vaccine while 48.6 per cent are fully-vaccinated. Tesla Inc. must pay nearly $137 million to a Black former worker who said he suffered racial abuse at the electric carmakers San Francisco Bay Area factory. The jury in San Francisco agreed that Owen Diaz was subjected to racial harassment and a hostile work environment. Diaz's lawsuit described the Fremont, California, plant, as a 'hotbed of racist behavior' where he was subjected to daily racist abuse including the N-word, over a course of 11 months from 2015 to 2016. The 52-year-old contracted elevator operator claimed fellow employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti around the plant, while he said one of his supervisors drew a person with a black face and a bone in his hair and wrote 'booo,' short for 'jigaboo.' The supervisor then allegedly told him 'he couldn't take a joke' when Diaz confronted him. Diaz contended that none of his supervisors stepped in to stop the abuse. Tesla Inc. must pay nearly $137 million to Owen Diaz, a Black former worker who said he suffered racial abuse at the electric carmakers San Francisco Bay Area factory It's the second time this year a black former employee has won a payout from Tesla in a discrimination suit. 'Teslas progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees,' the lawsuit said. Diaz was awarded $6.9million in damages for emotional distress and $130 million in punitive damages, his attorney, Lawrence A. Organ, told the Washington Post. 'It took four long years to get to this point,' Diaz told the New York Times. 'Its like a big weight has been pulled off my shoulders.' 'Its a great thing when one of the richest corporations in America has to have a reckoning of the abhorrent conditions at its factory for Black people,' Organ, of the California Civil Rights Law Group, told the Times. It wasnt immediately clear whether Tesla would appeal the decision. An email from The Associated Press seeking comment from Tesla wasnt immediately returned Monday night. Melvin Berry, 47, was awarded $1million in May after he sued for discrimination at the same plant The Tesla plant in Fremont has been described as a 'hotbed of racial behavior' by former employees Ten thousand of Tesla's 80,000 global employees work at the plant in Fremont, San Franciso Tesla CEO Elon Musk was criticized on Twitter after announcing that Juneteenth would be recognized as a Holiday both at Tesla and SpaceX but only if employees used a vacation day However, Tesla previously denied any knowledge of the alleged racist conduct at the plant, which has about 10,000 workers. If upheld, the award would be a blow to a company that has been subject to various allegations of workplace problems but requires employees to resolve disputes through mandatory arbitration, which the firm has rarely lost. Diaz, who was contracted through a staffing agency, didnt have to sign an arbitration agreement. In May, an arbitrator ordered Tesla to pay more than $1 million over similar allegations by another former Fremont factory worker. Melvin Berry, 47, was awarded the discrimination victory by arbitrator Elaine Rushing, a former judge with over two decades of experience, after a closed-door proceeding on May 12. The ruling capped years of complaints from black workers that the electric car giant turned a deaf ear to the use of racial slurs on the assembly line and was slow to clean up graffiti with swastikas and other hate symbols scrawled in common areas at its Fremont, California, plant. Arbitration rulings are usually kept secret, but Rushing agreed to Berry's lawyer's request to make it public. The decision in favor of Berry and make it public was described as rare by Cliff Palefsky, a San Francisco employment lawyer who wasn't involved in the case. Palefsky told Bloomberg: 'Racial discrimination awards are rare and it seems this was especially hard fought,' he said. Rushing 'was clearly troubled by the facts, culture at the company and the tone of the defense.' Berry said he suffered from insomnia, panic attacks, depression and anxiety Berry, of Antioch, California, was hired by Tesla in 2015 as a materials handler. He quit less than 18 months later when a supervisor gave him longer shifts and made him push a heavier cart after Berry complained about being called the N-word, his lawsuit claimed. Tesla said in 2017, when Berry's case had just started, that they were 'absolutely against any form of discrimination, harassment, or unfair treatment of any kind.' The company said it had fired thee people after an investigation in the case, but according to a sworn declaration in that suit, the N-word had been used no less than 100 times and employees called the plant 'the plantation' or 'slaveship.' Still, Tesla offered Berry only $148 because he left the job voluntarily. Part of Tesla's evidence in the case was a letter a supervisor had written of Berry slacking at work. The letter, Rushing noted, had been written by a 23-year-old white man with a high-school education supervising the then-43-year-old Berry, who has a college degree. Rushing decried the missive as 'a classic invitation for serious resentment.' Berry said he suffered from insomnia, panic attacks, depression and anxiety and had to seek psychological help because he was questioning his sanity. He received $266,278.50 in damages, including $100,000 to compensate for emotional distress, of the $1.02 million settlement. Since 2014, more than 145 complaints have been filed with the California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging discrimination at Tesla on the basis of race, age, gender, disability, medical leave, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and national origin. A killer teen who shot two protesters dead during a Black Lives Matter riot has failed in his bid to have a weapons charge dismissed - but may still be allowed to call a self-defense expert witness. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, was told by Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder Tuesday that a charge of being a minor in possession of a firearm charge will remain on his indictment. Rittenhouse's attorney Corey Chirafisi unsuccessfully argued that a firearms law only bars minors from using short-barreled rifles and not the AR-15 style assault rifle the teen used. Rittenhouse was 17 when he killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber at riots sparked by the police shooting of black man Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin during August 2020. Rittenhouse's attorneys have argued that he fired in self-defense after Rosenbaum, Huber, and Grosskreutz attacked him. He will stand trial for the double-homicide on November 1. The teen's lawyers want the court to allow them to call, John R. Black, a self-defense expert, as a witness to back up their assertions. Judge Schroeder concluded Tuesday's proceedings without ruling on whether to allow that, meaning there is still a chance that Rittenhouse's request could be granted. Black, a former Washington County, Oregon, sheriff's deputy, has testified in numerous state and federal cases, offering his expertise in police use of force, decision-making, crowd control, and other procedures and practices related to law enforcement. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, is seen above during his court appearance in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his fatal shooting of two Black Lives Matter protesters and the wounding of another during unrest in Kenosha in August of last year Rittenhouse (right) confers with one of his defense attorneys, Natalie Wisco, in court in Kenosha on Tuesday Rittenhouse (pictured) carries a weapon as he walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha on the night of August 25, 2020, during unrest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger sparred in court on Tuesday over whether to allow Black to testify. Binger maintained that it wasn't necessary and that jurors could decide for themselves whether Rittenhouse's actions were reasonable. Richards argued that Black could help jurors get to the facts. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder allowed Black to testify during the hearing to get an idea of what he would present at the trial. Black asserted that Rittenhouse maintained control of his gun at all times, tried to move away from Rosenbaum, a registered sex offender, Huber and Gaig Grosskreutz, who was wounded but survived his injuries. The expert witness also claims that Rittenhouse only fired when he was attacked. He noted that Huber hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard and Grosskreutz approached him with a pistol in his hand. Victims: In the August 25, 2020, shooting Rittenhouse fatally shot Anthony Huber (left) and shot and wounded Gaig Grosskruetz (right) Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, was also shot and killed by Rittenhouse Rittenhouse says he acted in self-defense as the protests descended into violence, but he is set to stand trial for murder later this year. He is pictured shooting at Grosskreutz Schroeder took a lunch break before allowing Binger to cross-examine Black. Prosecutors charged Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the protest, with multiple counts, including homicide and being a minor in possession of a firearm. He traveled from Antioch, Illinois, on the night of the fatal shootings to help 'protect' the streets of Kenosha from violent protest triggered by Blake's shooting. Explaining their application to have the weapons charge dismissed, Corey Chirafisi, one of Rittenhouse's attorneys, argued that the statute only prohibits minors from possessing short-barreled rifles. Rittenhouse used an AR-style semiautomatic rifle with a 16-inch barrel the night of the shootings, according to Chirafisi. The only other prohibitions on minors possessing firearms lie in the state's hunting statutes, which state that children under 12 can't hunt with guns. That doesn't apply to Rittenhouse because he was 17 on the night of the shootings, Chirafisi said. Binger countered that the Legislature clearly intended to bar anyone under 18 from 'running around with a dangerous weapon' and that the hunting statutes don't apply because Rittenhouse wasn't hunting on the night of the protest. Schroeder sided with Binger, but he said he might revisit the question later because the statutes aren't clear. Binger also asked Schroeder to order reporters not to broadcast witnesses' images during what will be a high-profile trial, saying at least some of them are afraid for their safety. He didn't say which witnesses feel unsafe or whether they've actually been threatened. Richards said he didn't know which fearful witnesses the prosecution was referring to, but that one prosecution witness has boasted about being subpoenaed on his social media accounts. Schroeder said he wasn't sure if he has the authority to censor the media and that he's presided over other cases that he described as more 'tense' than the Rittenhouse proceedings. Prosecutors also were looking for permission to introduce a video showing Rittenhouse saying he'd like to shoot some men he thought were shoplifting from a pharmacy 15 days before the protest. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder refused to dismiss a weapons charge against Rittenhouse on Tuesday Schroeder said last month that he was leaning toward excluding it. It wasn't clear if he would rule on that request Tuesday. Schroeder last month denied both sides' request to send questionnaires to potential jurors to probe biases. The judge wrote in a letter to the attorneys that he's afraid people won't fill them out and recipients would discuss the case with family members, friends and co-workers. 'That may trigger even more conversations about the case, with consequent opinion formation,' Schroeder said. Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic protests in August 2020 after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is black, during a domestic disturbance, leaving Blake paralyzed from the waist down. The officer, Rusten Sheskey, was not charged. Sheskey shot Blake seven times while Blake was about to get into an SUV. Kenoshas police chief, Daniel Miskinis, said Sheskey was found to have been acting within policy and will not be disciplined. 'Although this incident has been reviewed at multiple levels, I know that some will not be pleased with the outcome; however, given the facts, the only lawful and appropriate decision was made,' Miskinis said in the statement. Sheskey and two other Kenosha officers were trying to arrest Blake on an outstanding warrant when a pocketknife fell from his pants during a scuffle. Blake said he picked it up before heading to a vehicle to drive away with two of his children in the back seat. He said he was prepared to surrender once he put the knife in the vehicle. Sheskey told investigators that he feared for his own safety so he opened fire. Jacob Blake (pictured) was left paralyzed from the waist down following the shooting on August 23 The officer, Rusten Sheskey, was not charged. Sheskey shot Blake seven times while Blake was about to get into an SUV The shooting happened three months after George Floyd was murdered while being restrained by police officers in Minneapolis. Earlier this year, Blake filed a civil lawsuit accusing the officer of excessive force. Rittenhouse, now 18, traveled to the city in response to social media posts asking for help defending city businesses. Many conservatives flocked to support Rittenhouse, calling him a patriot for seeking to stop violent protests, making him a symbol for gun rights and raising $2million for his bail. Others, including some liberals and activists, portrayed him as a domestic terrorist and said he made a volatile situation worse by bringing a rifle to the streets of Kenosha. Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande's trading halt has caused a plunge in Australian mining stocks amid fears of a financial catastrophe. With debts of more than $400billion and two missed interest payment deadlines, Evergrande on Monday announced it would suspend trading as it explored an assets fire sale. 'Due to the suspension of trading in the underlying shares, trading in Futures & Options for China Evergrande Group (EVG) have been suspended until further notice,' the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said. The first trading halt since Evergrande was established in 1996 sparked fears that China, Australia's biggest trading partner, would make even more dramatic steel production cuts - therefore hitting demand for iron ore from Western Australia's Pilbara region. Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande's trading halt has caused a plunge in Australian mining stocks (pictured is a worker next to an Evergrande advertisement in Hong Kong) Evergrande is reportedly in the process of selling 51 per cent of its property development arm, Evergrande Property Services Group, to Hopson Development, as it gets extensions to pay $180million worth of annual interest payments, in two installments, to bondholders. The problem with empty apartment towers, as Evergrande grapples with debt, is occurring as Chinese President Xi Jinping orders dramatic reductions in steel manufacturing to meet 2060 net zero carbon emissions targets. Since the end of July, the spot price of iron ore - Australia's most valuable export - has halved from $US200 a tonne to less than $US100 on September 22. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group's share price on Tuesday dived by 1.3 per cent to $14.22 - almost halving from the $26.30 level at the end of July. Diversified miner BHP fell 1.1 per cent on Tuesday to $36.52 - marking a 32.4 per cent plunge from the August 4 price of $54.06. Rio Tinto fell 0.4 per cent to $97.13, and has since August 5 shed 27.8 per cent, falling from $134.40. IG market analyst Kyle Rodda said Evergrande's debt problems had made investors question if China would continue needing so much Australian iron ore. 'Basically, what everyone's worried about now, clearly there are major vulnerabilities among several Chinese property developers, Evergrande being the biggest of them,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'The knock-on effect of that is obviously is reduced demand for raw materials, iron ore being significant to steel production. With debts of more than $400billion and two missed interest payment deadlines, Evergrande on Monday announced it would suspend trading as it explored selling off its assets cheaply (pictured is the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) IG market analyst Kyle Rodda said Evergrande's debt problems had made investors question if China would continue needing so much Australian iron ore 'This Evergrande stuff is really weighing on the miners, we're getting concerns about global growth; there's concerns about the ongoing strength of China's property market as well as construction activity in China.' Evergrande was expected to keep selling assets cheaply to pay off its debt. 'We're starting to see signs that other parts of the business are being basically sold off, probably it's a little bit of a discount, a fair haircut,' Mr Rodda said. 'There's a lot of movement going on behind the scenes, the company tries to restructure its debt to make sure it doesn't end up cascading to a default situation.' Mr Rodda said President Xi, who is embarking on a 'Common Prosperity' drive to redistribute wealth, wanted a 'controlled detonation' of Evergrande rather than to be seen rescuing it, with many middle class Chinese heavily invested in property. Since the end of July, the spot price of iron ore - Australia's most valuable export - has halved from $US200 a tonne to less than $US100 on September 22. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group's share price on Tuesday dived by 1.5 per cent to $14.19 - almost halving from the $26.30 level at the end of July (pictured is Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Andrew Forrest with Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the Christmas Creek operations in Western Australia)( 'The company is also shrunk down to size by authorities, and pose less of a systemic risk to the broader financial system there,' he said. 'The tightrope here is making sure that they send a message to business - it's really, at this point a controlled detonation, a controlled collapse or an attempted controlled collapse. 'It doesn't want to be seen to sweep to the rescue so to speak.' Mr Rodda said an Evergrande collapse if it wasn't managed posed a bigger property bubble risk than the 2008 American Global Financial Crisis. 'It's far more grave than what you saw there,' he said. 'Property is just a huge part of developing the wealth of China's middle class.' Mr Rodda said an Evergrande collapse if it wasn't managed posed a bigger property bubble risk than the 2008 American Global Financial Crisis CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said Evergrande's woes were adding to the volatility in financial markets. 'It's certainly not the only thing markets are looking at, it is something markets are paying close attention to,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Nonetheless, Australia still had a trade surplus in August of $15.1billion - the largest ever monthly surplus thanks to China, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed on Tuesday. Australia has now posted 44 monthly trade surpluses in a row. The rolling annual surplus climbed from $97.4billion in the year to July to a record $109.8billion in the year to August, a CommSec analysis of the official data showed. Exports to China fell by 2.6 per cent from a record $19.1billion in July to $18.6billion in August. But Australia's annual exports to China increased by 23.5 per cent to an all-time high of $180.3billion in August, despite a range of Chinese trade restrictions on Australian wine, barley, timber, lobster and cotton. Exports to Japan rose by 10 per cent in August to a record high $6.2billion. George Floyd should be pardoned posthumously for a 2004 drug arrest made by a disgraced ex-Houston police officer, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended Monday. The unanimous decision has been sent to Gov. Greg Abbott, who will make the final decision. It was not clear when Abbott would decide the fate of the request. Floyd, whose death at the hands of white Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin last year sparked global protests against police brutality, was arrested by Officer Gerald Goines in 2004. He was accused of selling $10 worth of crack and sentenced to ten months in a state jail after pleading guilty to a drug charge. George Floyd (pictured left), who grew up in Houston, was arrested in February 2004 by Officer Gerald Goines (pictured right) and accused of selling $10 worth of crack in a police sting. Floyd later pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to 10 months in a state jail Officer Gerald Goines casework has been under scrutiny following a deadly 2019 drug raid he led that resulted in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59 (left), and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58 (right) But Goines has since been charged with murder and other misconduct charges following a deadly no-knock drugs raid that resulted in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58. Prosecutors say the officer lied to get the raid warrant by claiming a confidential informant had bought heroin there. During the raid, Tuttle, a US Navy veteran, exchanged gunfire with the raiding police, who fatally shot him and his wife, and also killed their pet pit bull. Goines later said there was no informant and he had bought the drugs himself. Police found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, but no heroin. Goines, once a respected Houston officer, has been accused of making bogus drugs arrests after investigators looked into his deadly 2019 drug raid. Goines' casework has since come under intense scrutiny and as a result, more than 160 of his convictions - mostly drug related - have been dismissed. 'We do not support the integrity of Mr. Floyds conviction and agree these circumstances warrant a posthumous pardon. We urge Governor Abbott to follow the Boards recommendation and grant clemency,' said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in an October 4 press release Prosecutors have alleged Goines, 56, who led the raid, lied to obtain the no-knock warrant to search Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas' home by claiming a confidential informant had bought heroin there - the couple was ultimately shot dead. Goines later said there was no informant and he had bought the drugs himself, they allege. Police found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in the house, but no heroin 'We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision,' wrote Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg in an October 4 press release 'Goines manufactured the existence of confidential informants to bolster his cases against innocent defendants,' wrote Allison Mathis, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defender's Office, when she first petitioned for Floyds clemency in April, according to the Texas Tribune. 'Gerald Goines' arrest of George Floyd reveals an offense report that is incomplete and suspect,' Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. 'I have instructed prosecutors to verify the facts in this offense report.' Ogg told The Wall Street Journal: 'Goines was likely lying in this case, and said that Floyd's unjust arrest may be among scores built on false evidence from Goines. 'We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision,' wrote Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg today. 'We do not support the integrity of Mr. Floyds conviction and agree these circumstances warrant a posthumous pardon. We urge Governor Abbott to follow the Boards recommendation and grant clemency.' Ogg said her office had tried to reach Floyd regarding the review of Goines in March 2019 but believe he did not receive the letter, having moved homes. It read: 'Based on a review of criminal cases filed in Harris County, Texas, it appears that former Houston Police Department Officer Gerald Goines may have been involved in the above-referenced case which resulted in your conviction. 'Please be informed that Officer Goines has been relieved of duty and is currently under criminal investigation.' Allison Mathis, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defenders Office who submitted the pardon request in April, said she was pleased by the boards decision. 'A man was set up by a corrupt police officer intent on securing arrests rather than pursuing justice,' Mathis said. 'No matter what your political affiliation is, no matter who that man was in his life or in his death, that is not something we should stand for in the United States or in Texas.' Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will urge Congress today to regulate social media, saying the sites are a threat to children and democracy and even lead to violence. The former employee, who worked for the tech giant in its misinformation department, will testify today on a Senate Commerce subcommittee that Facebook's bosses 'put their immense profits before people', she will claim. After recent reports in The Wall Street Journal based on documents she leaked to the newspaper raised a public outcry, Haugen revealed her identity in a CBS '60 Minutes' interview aired Sunday night. She claims Facebook had a role in the January 6 Capitol riots and is damaging for teenagers, particularly young girls. She will say: 'When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action. I implore you to do the same here.' The ex-employee challenging the social network giant with 2.8 billion users worldwide and nearly $1 trillion in market value is a 37-year-old data expert from Iowa with a degree in computer engineering and a master's degree in business from Harvard. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (pictured) will urge Congress today to regulate social media, saying the sites harm children and even lead to violence She worked for 15 years prior to being recruited by Facebook in 2019 at companies including Google and Pinterest. 'The company's leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer and won't make the necessary changes because they have put their immense profits before people. Congressional action is needed,' she will say. 'As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good.' Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, said that she would ask Haugen about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. 'I am also particularly interested in hearing from her about whether she thinks Facebook did enough to warn law enforcement and the public about January 6th and whether Facebook removed election misinformation safeguards because it was costing the company financially,' Klobuchar said in an emailed comment. The senator also said that she wanted to discuss Facebook's algorithms, and whether they 'promote harmful and divisive content.' Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, was the whistleblower who provided documents used in a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram's harm to teen girls. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, said that she would ask Haugen about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol The panel is examining Facebook's use of information from its own researchers on Instagram that could indicate potential harm for some of its young users, especially girls, while it publicly downplayed the negative impacts. For some of the teens devoted to Facebooks popular photo-sharing platform, the peer pressure generated by the visually focused Instagram led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research leaked by Haugen showed. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse. Facebook owns Instagram as well as WhatsApp. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Haugen added that 'Facebook's closed design means it has no oversight even from its own Oversight Board, which is as blind as the public.' That makes it impossible for regulators to serve as a check, she added. 'This inability to see into the actual systems of Facebook and confirm that Facebook's systems work like they say is like the Department of Transportation regulating cars by watching them drive down the highway,' her testimony says. 'Imagine if no regulator could ride in a car, pump up its wheels, crash test a car, or even know that seat belts could exist.' The Journal's stories, based on Facebook internal presentations and emails, showed the company contributed to increased polarization online when it made changes to its content algorithm; failed to take steps to reduce vaccine hesitancy; and was aware that Instagram harmed the mental health of teenage girls. Haugen said Facebook had done too little to prevent its platform from being used by people planning violence. The panel is examining Facebook's use of information from its own researchers on Instagram that could indicate potential harm for some of its young users 'The result has been a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization' and undermining societies around the world. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people,' she said. Facebook was used by people planning mass killings in Myanmar and in the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters who were determined to toss out the 2020 election results. After the November election, Facebook dissolved the civic integrity union where Haugen had been working. That, she said, was the moment she realized 'I dont trust that they're willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous.' Haugen says she told Facebook executives when they recruited her that she had asked to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation, because she had lost a friend to online conspiracy theories. Antigone Davis, Facebook's head of global safety, faced a barrage of criticism from senators on the Commerce panel at a hearing last Thursday. They accused Facebook of concealing the negative findings about Instagram and demanded a commitment from the company to make changes. Davis defended Instagram's efforts to protect young people using its platform. She disputed the way The Wall Street Journal story describes what the research shows. Facebook maintains that Haugen's allegations are misleading and insists there is no evidence to support the premise that it is the primary cause of social polarization. 'Even with the most sophisticated technology, which I believe we deploy, even with the tens of thousands of people that we employ to try and maintain safety and integrity on our platform, were never going to be absolutely on top of this 100% of the time,' Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president of policy and public affairs, said Sunday on CNNs 'Reliable Sources.' That's because of the 'instantaneous and spontaneous form of communication' on Facebook, Clegg said, adding, 'I think we do more than any reasonable person can expect to.' By coming forward, Haugen says she hopes it will help spur the government to put regulations in place for Facebooks activities. Like fellow tech giants Google, Amazon and Apple, Facebook has for years enjoyed minimal regulation in Washington. Separately Monday, a massive global outage plunged Facebook, Instagram and the company's WhatsApp messaging platform into chaos, only gradually dissipating by late Monday Eastern time. For some users, WhatsApp was working for a time, then not. For others, Instagram was working but not Facebook, and so on. Facebook didn't say what might have caused the outage, which began around 11:40 a.m. EDT and was still not fixed more than six hours later. Nuns used crucifixes to rape girls during decades of abuse carried out by clergy in France's Catholic Church that saw attacks on 330,000 children covered up 'by a veil of silence', a damning report has found. The 2,500-page landmark report was released Tuesday after more than two years of investigations by an independent commission, in France's first major reckoning with the devastating phenomenon. A victim named 'Marie' testified that she was abused as an 11-year-old and that when she complained about the abuse to her parents they refused to believe a nun could do such a thing. The abuse continued for another year. 'I was truly [a gift] for this nun... because she knew full well that she did not risk anything,' Marie said. Eighty per cent of victims were young boys between the ages of 10 and 13, however many girls also suffered abuse, not only by priests but also by nuns. Nuns used crucifixes to rape little girls or forced boys to have sex with them, according to the report. Pope Francis today expressed to the victims his 'great sorrow, for their wounds', adding that he was grateful for the courage they had shown in denouncing what they had been through. A new report has detailed how nuns used crucifixes to rape girls during decades of abuse carried out by clergy in France's Catholic Church. Pictured: A group of nuns walk through Paris' Parc Monceau (file photo) The investigation found that an estimated 330,000 children were victims of sex abuse within France's Catholic Church between 1950 to 2020, with an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics. Olivier Savignac, who was sexually abused by a priest in 1993, at the age of 13, has contributed to the report as a victims' representative. 'I perceived this priest as someone who was good, a caring person who would not harm me,' said Savignac. 'But it was when I found myself on that bed half-naked and he was touching me that I realised something was wrong.' He says the abuse, which carried on for years, damaged him for life: 'It's like a growing cyst, it's like gangrene inside the victim's body and the victim's psyche.' 'We can see how systemic it was ... with an estimated number of 216,000 victims,' Savignac told Reuters, adding that the Church could not have ignored something of that magnitude. 'It's an earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami ... when you see these numbers, it's so damning that no one can stay in denial, whether the Catholic Church or society as a whole,' he added. At least 330,000 children were sexually abused in France's Catholic Church over the last 70 years, a damning report has found. Pictured: The head of France's Catholic bishops conference, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort A statement from the Vatican said: 'First of all [the Pope's] thoughts go to the victims, with great sorrow, for their wounds.' '[His thoughts go to] the Church of France, so that, in the awareness of this terrible reality ... it may embark on a path of redemption,' the statement added. The President of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, said Tuesday 'we are appalled' at the conclusions of the report and the numbers of victims. He said: 'This report is tough, it is severe. We have heard the voices of the victims, we have heard their numbers, they are beyond what we could imagine. 'It is truly unbearable. I express my shame, my dread, my determination to act. You, the victims, some of whom I know by name, I want to tell you that my desire on this day is to ask for your forgiveness.' The commission that compiled the report urged compensation for victims and strong action from the church, denouncing 'faults' and 'silence'. The president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauve, said the estimate, based on scientific research, includes abuses committed by priests and others clerics as well as by non-religious people involved in the church. The report says an estimated 3,000 'criminal paedophiles' - two-thirds of them priests - have preyed on hundreds of thousands of mainly young boys who were at Catholic schools and other institutions. Some 86 per cent of victims were male children - many of whom did not report the abuse they suffered for decades. Sauve said the overall figure of victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics. The independent inquiry covered alleged sex abuse of minors by French Catholic priests, deacons and other clergy since 1950, and found the abuse was a 'massive phenomenon' that was covered up for decades by a 'veil of silence.' The 2,500-page landmark report was released Tuesday after more than two years of investigations by an independent commission. Pictured: Commission president Jean-Marc Sauve (left), hands copies of the report to Catholic Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort (right) The independent commission, made up of 22 lawyers, doctors, historians, sociologists and theologians, worked for two-and-a-half years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and press archives starting from the 1950s. A hotline launched at the beginning of the probe received 6,500 calls from alleged victims or people who said they knew a victim. 'The consequences are very serious,' Sauve said. 'About 60 per cent of men and women who were sexually abused encounter major problems in their sentimental or sexual life.' The 2,500-page document comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up and follows widespread outrage over a string of paedophilia claims and prosecutions against Church officials worldwide. Veronique Margron, President of the Conference of Religious People of France and a nun, spoke of 'crimes against humanity'. 'Can we deal with this disaster?' asked Sister Margron, who said sexual abuse in the Church amounted to 'crimes against humanity'. She added: 'How do we overcome this? I do not know. We have not even finished reviewing everything.' It is estimated that about 3,000 perpetrators have committed acts over the past 70 years and about 80 per cent of victims are male. Pictured: Olivier Savignac,head of victims association 'Parler et Revivre' (Speak out and Live again) speaks during an interview on Monday Olivier Savignac, head of victims association 'Parler et Revivre' (Speak out and Live again), who contributed to the probe, told The Associated Press that the high ratio of victims per abuser is particularly 'terrifying for French society, for the Catholic Church.' He added that the report 'will have the effect of a bomb'. Sauve denounced the church's attitude until the beginning of the 2000s as 'a deep, cruel indifference toward victims.' They were 'not believed or not heard' and sometimes suspected of being 'in part responsible' for what happened, he deplored. Sauve said 22 alleged crimes that can still be pursued have been forwarded to prosecutors. More than 40 cases that are too old to be prosecuted but involve alleged perpetrators who are still alive have been forwarded to church officials. The commission issued 45 recommendations about how to prevent abuse. These included training priests and other clerics, revising Canon Law - the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the church - and fostering policies to recognize and compensate victims, Sauve said. The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He acknowledged abusing more than 75 boys for decades. One of Preynat's victims, Francois Devaux, head of the victims group La Parole Liberee ('The Liberated Word'), told The Associated Press that 'with this report, the French church for the first time is going to the root of this systemic problem. The deviant institution must reform itself.' He said the number of victims the report identifies is 'a minimum.' The commission that compiled the report urged compensation for victims and strong action from the church, saying the abuse was covered up for decades by a 'veil of silence.' Pictured: Francois Devaux, founder of victim association 'La parole liberee' 'Some victims did not dare to speak out or trust the commission,' he said, expressing concerns that the church in France still 'hasnt understood' and has sought to minimize its responsibilities. The church must not only acknowledge events but also compensate victims, Devaux said. 'It is indispensable that the church redresses the harm caused by all these crimes, and (financial) compensation is the first step.' The Preynat case led to the resignation last year of the former archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who has been accused of failing to report the abuses to civil authorities when he learned about them in the 2010s. Frances highest court ruled earlier this year that Barbarin did not cover up the case. French archbishops, in a message to parishioners read during Sunday Mass across the country, said the publication of the report is 'a test of truth and a tough and serious moment.' 'We will receive and study these conclusions to adapt our actions,' the message said. 'The fight against pedophilia concerns all of us ... Our support and our prayers will keep going toward all the people who have been abused within the church.' Pope Francis issued in May 2019 a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities. In June, Francis swiftly rejected an offer from Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of Germany's most prominent clerics and a close papal adviser, to resign as archbishop of Munich and Freising over the churchs mishandling of abuse cases. But he said a process of reform was necessary and every bishop must take responsibility for the 'catastrophe' of the crisis. A former South Australian Labor MP charged with blackmail will argue she has no case to answer. Annabel Digance, 63, and her businessman husband Greg Digance, 60, who is facing the same allegations, appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday where they were scheduled to enter pleas. But counsel for Ms Digance, Robert Cameron, told the court it would be submitted that there was no case to answer and described the prosecution as 'malicious'. Annabel Digance, 63, and her businessman husband Greg Digance, 60, who is facing the same allegations, appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday Counsel for Mr Digance, Jon Lister, said he had only recently been instructed on the matter and asked for an adjournment. Magistrate Michelle Sutcliffe adjourned the case until November 2. Ms Digance and her husband were arrested in April at their Strathalbyn home, south of Adelaide, over allegations they tried to blackmail SA Labor leader Peter Malinauskas. Police said previously it would be alleged the accused were involved in a common enterprise to obtain a personal gain by threatening to make allegations of misconduct by Mr Malinauskas. It was understood that benefit involved Ms Digance being placed in a winnable spot on the Legislative Council ticket or being preselected for a safe Labor seat prior to the next state election in March 2022. 'It is important to be clear that the allegations did not relate to any form of criminal behaviour by Mr Malinauskas,' police said in a statement at the time of the arrest. 'He is not being investigated by SAPOL for any criminal offence and is not suspected of any criminal offence.' The opposition leader first approached police in February last year. He said previously he never thought he would find himself involved in such circumstances and reported the matter because it was the 'right thing to do'. Ms Digance previously served in the SA parliament as the lower house member for Elder from 2014 to 2018 but lost her seat to the Liberals in the 2018 poll. A mother of two who grew up on a dairy farm and a former primary school teacher are in the running to replace outgoing NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro and become the state's next Deputy Premier. Water Minister Melinda Pavey and Regional Roads Minister Paul Toole will go head to head in a National Party room vote on Wednesday morning with the contest expected to be 'tight'. Mr Barilaro resigned on Sunday, two days after ex-Premier Gladys Berejiklian quit over a corruption investigation, joking that he was having a 'mid-life crisis' and wanted a new career outside of politics. Melinda Pavey (pictured), a mother of two, declared she would run for NSW Nationals leader position as soon as Mr Barilaro announced his exit Paul Toole (with partner), a former school teacher and mayor who is Nationals deputy leader, is also eyeing a promotion He said the reason for his retirement would become clear 'in the weeks ahead and the months ahead'. Ms Pavey, a mother of two, declared she would run for his position as soon as Mr Barilaro announced his exit. The mother-of-two grew up on a dairy farm in Victoria before working as a journalist for 2UW radio in Sydney and then becoming a media advisor in the National Party in 1988. She entered the Legislative Council in 2002, three weeks after giving birth to daughter Emily aged 33, and switched to the lower house as member for Oxley in 2015. The 52-year-old became Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight in 2017 and Minister for Water in 2019. Announcing her bid to lead the Nationals on Sunday, Ms Pavey said: 'John has inspired me to continue his work and I have decided to nominate as the leader of the NSW Nationals. 'A strong National party is integral to a strong coalition and I am encouraged by the support my colleagues have shown me.' If she wins, Ms Pavey would become NSW's second female Deputy Premier, after Labor's Carmel Tebbutt in 2008. Ms Pavey was the first to put her hand up for the job on Monday, but Mr Toole - a former school teacher and mayor who is Nationals deputy leader - is also eyeing a promotion. Mr Toole began teaching at Assumption Primary School in Bathurst in 1995 before joining the Evans Shire Council and becoming mayor in 2007. The married father-of-three became the Bathurst MP in 2011, Minister for Local Government in 2014, Minister for Lands and Forestry in 2017 and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads in 2019. Announcing his run for the top job on Tuesday, he said: 'This is a time where we need a strong and stable leadership (as) we are coming out of a pandemic.' He talked up his credentials as deputy party leader, and pointed to his track record of working with the incoming premier in crisis cabinet and other committees. Under the Liberal-National Coalition arrangement, the Liberal Party provides the Premier and the National Party provides the Deputy Premier. When announcing his surprise decision to step down, Mr Barilaro said NSW would be best served by someone who had the passion and fight to forge on. 'I just don't have the energy anymore,' Mr Barilaro told reporters on Monday. The Nationals leader said he had been 'thinking about this for a while', and ruled out running for federal parliament. 'I'm looking for a new career. I turn 50 in November, maybe a bit of a midlife crisis, but definitely thinking about what happens next. I will take some time out, but I genuinely won't be running for federal politics,' the Monaro MP said. John Barilaro's colourful life in politics May 2020: Private text messages sent from John Barilaro emerged calling Liberal colleague Andrew Constance a 'c**t'. The scandal prompted Mr Constance to withdraw from contesting the federal seat of Eden-Monaro and remain in state politics. ''When I said politics is stuffed in this country, and some of the people in it need to have a long hard look, I meant it. I hadn't signed up to contest federally to be called that type of smear,' he said at the time. September 2020: Mr Barilaro and Ms Berejiklian butt heads over a change to the Koala protection bill following the worst bushfires in NSW history. The Koala Habitat Protection State Environment Planning Policy identified 123 trees that were needed as food or shelter for the animals. Mr Barilaro said the policy would be taking away land from farmers. 'If we were to support that we would become the laughing stock of regional and rural NSW,' he said. The two party leaders later agreed to amendments of the bill, which Mr Barilaro declared a win for the Nationals and regional NSW. May 2021: Mr Barilaro - fed up with being called corrupt and a 'greasy Ned Kelly' - is suing Google and the man behind YouTube channel friendlyjordies. Entertainer Jordan Shanks-Markovina, whose channel boasts more than 130 million views, is also accused of falsely making out the NSW Nationals leader has blackmailed councillors and pocketed millions stolen from a local government. The MP is of Italian heritage and his hurt and harm has been aggravated by Shanks-Markovina's 'vile and racist attack' in the videos. In one video, the entertainer refers to Mr Barilaro as a 'big, fat, wog c**t', 'greasy Ned Kelly' and 'a conman to the core, powered by spaghetti'. Advertisement In his resignation speech, Mr Barilaro thanked his constituents for their support, describing his role as the leader of the National party as 'the honour and privilege of a lifetime'. He said it felt right to leave parliament alongside Ms Berejiklian to give NSW a fresh start, allowing two new leaders to take the reins as the state finally exits a gruelling 15-week Covid lockdown. 'I'm going to be a keen watcher of politics, but I will not be a participant. I have no intention of running in federal politics... I'd been thinking about this for a while,' he said early on Monday morning. Mr Barilaro said defamation proceedings he launched against YouTuber Jordan Shanks - aka FriendlyJordies - and Google played an enormous role in his decision to quit politics. He said it felt right to step down alongside Ms Berejiklian (pictured together) to give NSW a fresh start, allowing two new leaders to take the reins together as the state finally exits a grueling 15-week Covid lockdown The father-of-three is proud of his heritage and the sacrifices his parents made for him growing up, citing his late father as his 'biggest inspiration' for getting into politics He accused Shanks of spouting 'vile racism' hidden as journalism, noting the 'disgusting, vile, racist commentary on social media has taken a toll'. 'As a young boy with immigrant parents, I understood what racism was from a young age,' he said during a press conference on Monday morning. In one YouTube video, the entertainer referred to Mr Barilaro as a 'big, fat, wog c**t', 'greasy Ned Kelly' and 'a conman to the core, powered by spaghetti'. In 2020 Mr Barilaro said he wears the nickname 'Pork Barrel-aro' with a badge of honour. Pork Barrelling is the practice of handing out taxpayer money to win votes, usually in government-held seats. The father-of-three said he was proud of his Italian heritage and the sacrifices his parents made for him growing up, citing his late father as his 'biggest inspiration' for getting into politics. He said Ms Berejiklian's announcement on Friday brought forward his decision to retire. Mr Barilaro noted the immense sacrifices she gave to her state and wished the outgoing premier well in her post-politics life. But while Mr Barilaro's colleagues paid tribute to him as a tireless advocate for the bush, Opposition Leader Chris Minns described him as selfish. 'It is putting personal ambition and a next career-move first,' he said. Mr Barilaro could better serve the community from the back bench while the health crisis continued, Mr Minns argued. A Nationals party-room meeting has been called for Wednesday, when Mr Barilaro will formally resign and call for a ballot for a new leader. Once that is settled, he will work with the Speaker and the Electoral Commission to determine a date for a by-election in his seat of Monaro. Mr Barilaro thanked his family for their sacrifices throughout his time in politics (pictured with wife Deanna and daughter Sofia) WA Premier Mark McGowan could play a crucial role in the timing of the next federal election through his tightly held grip on the state's borders. While voters could be sent to the polls this year, May 21 is the last possible date for a regular election. Prime Minister Scott Morrison concedes he will have little say on being allowed into Western Australia to campaign. WA Premier Mark McGowan's (pictured left) hard border closure stance could force Scott Morrison (pictured right) to delay the next federal election 'It's not really up to me. That's up to the WA premier as to whether he opens the borders or not to anyone from the eastern states,' he told 6PR radio on Tuesday. 'They're decisions he will take in WA's interests and I understand that. I know what the powers are - they're his. 'But I also know that we want to be able to bring the country together and open up safely. That's what the national plan is about.' Mr Morrison has consistently said the election would be next year. The prime minister is adamant states should open borders at 80 per cent national vaccination coverage, but the WA premier is holding firm. Mr McGowan told Labor's state conference on the weekend he wouldn't ease hard borders until a 90 per cent immunisation rate was reached. He has flagged the prospect of travel bans remaining in place until well into next year. Mr McGowan has spent 18 months conditioning his state's voters to be so terrified of a Covid outbreak they will support lengthy border closures. While he kept WA's hard border up for eight months last year, he regularly implied that even slightly softening the border would immediately cause a huge, deadly outbreak. According to a new survey of 1097 Western Australian residents, only 45 per cent were accepting of Covid infections (pictured, patrons in a Perth pub) His consistent 'us vs them' rhetoric, playing on WA's longstanding antipathy towards the eastern states, appears to have been very successful. A recent poll found only 45 per cent of respondents were accepting of any Covid-19 infections in WA - an impossibility once it opens to the world. Just 33 per cent would tolerate anyone getting seriously ill and 29 per cent refused to open the border while there was any risk of even one Covid death. This is despite an average of 46.5 people in WA dying of the flu in the first nine months of 2018 and 2019. The Painted Dog Research survey also found that 84 per cent of Western Australians didn't think hospitals would be able to cope with a Covid outbreak. The state also showed support for Mark McGowan's plan to introduce vaccine passports, which Mr McGowan made mandatory for travel, sporting events, and mine workers. They are supported by 87 per cent of those aged 60 and over, 81 per cent of 40-59-year-olds and 76 per cent of 18-39-year-olds. The premier's border closures until the state reaches a 90 per cent vaccination rate would mean Scott Morrison would be unable to campaign in Western Australia (pictured, a border check north of Perth) A spokeswoman for Mr McGowan said last week the state was 'already open' with no Covid restrictions while NSW and Victoria were in lockdown. 'In WA we are already open. We don't have restrictions in WA,' she said. 'The AFL grand final in Perth was such a success because of WA's safe management during this pandemic. 'We've maintained and grown the WA economy and kept the rest of the nation afloat by staying open.' The spokeswoman claimed the national reopening plan allowed states to impose lockdowns and keep borders shut even beyond 80 per cent vaccination. 'WA will not be pressured by the Liberals and Nationals to remove border controls against health advice,' she said. A spokesperson for the WA Premier said that Western Australia has remained open and 'kept the nation afloat' (pictured, Mark McGowan at Optus Stadium) She, on Mr McGowan's behalf, also pointed to the outdated federal budget assumption from four months ago that international travel wouldn't resume until at least September 2022. Mr Morrison will instead allow travel from next month with home quarantine on return. He has demanded state borders open to avoid a situation where Australians were able to holiday ion Bali and Europe but not visit family in WA. WA is again emerging as a key election battleground, with Labor setting its sights on the Liberal-held seat of Swan, which has a margin of 3.2 per cent. Government MP Steve Irons, who has held the seat since 2007, is retiring. Sky News commentator Kristy McSweeney has been pre-selected for the Liberals to go up against Labor candidate and engineer Zaneta Mascarenhas. The opposition is also eyeing off Christian Porter's seat of Pearce after the former attorney-general quit cabinet. Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded he could not do anything to loosen Western Australia's tight borders (pictured, a couple at a Perth beach) Wanneroo mayor Tracey Roberts, who is is Labor's candidate, will need to overcome a 5.2 per cent margin to defeat Mr Porter. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has a hardline stance on borders with her state also home to a series of key federal seats. West Australians delivered Mr McGowan a devastating election victory in March, almost wiping out the Liberals on the back of pandemic management. Mr Morrison insisted he worked closely with the premier during the crisis 'in almost all cases' despite coming from different sides of politics. 'The situation in WA is quite different to the rest of the country. I've always got that about WA,' the prime minister said. Advertisement More than a million people went to Huntington Beach in California on Saturday, unaware that there had been a massive toxic oil spill off the coast - because the authorities did not raise the alarm until the next day. The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched, records show. Oil spill reports reviewed on Monday by The Associated Press and analyzed by USA Today raise questions about the Coast Guard's response to one of the state's largest recent oil spills as well as how quickly Amplify Energy, the company operating three offshore platforms and the pipeline, recognized it had a problem and notified authorities. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, on Monday night declared a state of emergency to deal with the spill. 'The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment,' he said. Californians were angered about the slow response to the crisis. Thousands went to the beach on Saturday, unaware that the spill had been detected - because the authorities decided not to tell them, USA Today reported. An estimated 1.5 million people were on Huntington Beach on Saturday to watch an airshow - despite the authorities already having been alerted to the spill People flocked to the beaches at the weekend to escape the 90 degree heat inland A large crowd were on the beach to watch the air show on Saturday - despite the toxic sludge The airshow on Saturday drew large crowds to the beach, unaware of the oil spill Lifeguards ready to post signs warning that water contact may cause illness, as they close the beach on Sunday after an oil spill in Huntington Beach Oil floats on the water surface after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, California on Monday. The spill, first detected on Friday, sent up to 126,000 gallons of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach Cleanup contractors deploy skimmers and floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach on Sunday Federal and state authorities were aware of the spill by Friday evening, official spill reports show. Satellites transmitting images to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted an oily 'anomaly' in the Pacific, growing increasingly large. But the authorities did not share the information. A military air show in Huntington Beach went on as planned, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors attending. More visitors escaping inland temperatures in the high '90s flocked to Newport Beach and other prized coastal beaches. Two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response. The first was from an anchored ship that noticed a sheen on the water and the second, six hours later, from a federal agency that said a possible oil slick was spotted on satellite imagery, according to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach and it then washed onto miles of beaches and a protected marshland. The beaches could remain closed for weeks or longer, a major hit to the local economy. Coastal fisheries in the area are closed to commercial and recreational fishing. A staff of California Department Fish & Wildlife examines a contaminated Sanderling from the oil spill in Huntington Beach on Monday An aerial photo shows the closed beach on Monday, after oil washed up on Huntington Beach. Hundreds of thousands flocked to the beach on Saturday, even after the spill was detected - because the authorities did not tell people Experts say it is too early to determine the full impact on the environment but that so far the number of animals found harmed is minimal. Investigators are looking into whether a ship's anchor may have struck a pipeline on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officials said Monday. Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said company divers were inspecting the area of the suspected leak reported Saturday, and he expected that by Tuesday there would be a clearer picture of what caused the damage. Willsher said an anchor from a cargo ship striking the pipeline is 'one of the distinct possibilities' behind the leak. Cargo ships entering the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach routinely pass through the area. Backlogs have plagued the ports in recent months and several dozen or more of the giant vessels have regularly been anchored as they wait to enter the ports and unload. 'We're looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship, but that's in the assessment phase right now,' said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye. Shaye said the Coast Guard was not notified of the disaster until Saturday morning, though records show its hazardous spill response hotline received the first report of a possible oil slick Friday evening. A foreign ship anchored off the coast witnessed an 'unknown sheen in the water near their vessel' at 6:13 p.m. and the report was called into the response center just after 8:22 p.m., according to the state report. Two seagulls eat a dead fish after the oil spill in Huntington Beach on Monday Crews continue to clean the oil in the Wetlands Talbert Marsh on Monday after an oil spill in Huntington Beach Crews continue to clean the oil in the Wetlands Talbert Marsh on Monday Lonnie Harrison Jr., vice president of Colonial Compliance Systems Inc., which works with foreign ships in U.S. waters to report spills, said one its clients reported the sighting. Harrison, a retired Coast Guard captain, said the ship was not involved in the spill and was later given clearance over the weekend to enter the port to refuel after determining it wasn't contaminated by the slick. About six hours after the first report was received, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that satellite imagery spotted a possible oil slick more than three miles long. The company that operates the pipeline first reported the spill to the Coast Guard's response center at 8:55 a.m. Saturday. However, the report said the incident occurred at 2:30 a.m. Federal and state authorities require rapid reporting of a spill. Failure to do so led to criminal prosecutions against Plains All American Pipeline, which caused a coastal spill near Santa Barbara in 2015, and Southern California Gas Co. for a massive well blowout later that year. Oil washes up on Huntington Beach on Monday following the spill. It is thought possible that a cargo ship's anchor burst the pipe and caused the spill An aerial photo shows floating barriers known as booms set up to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh Cleanup contractors get ready to work in the Wetlands Talbert Marsh on Monday Cleanup contractors collect oil in plastic bags trying to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh A 2016 spill response plan for the Amplify platforms submitted to federal regulators called for immediate notification of federal officials when more than one barrel of oil is released into the water. Releases greater than five barrels - or that threaten state waters or the shoreline - require immediate notification of the state fire marshal and California wildlife officials. The pipeline was supposed to be monitored under an automated leak detection system that would report problems to a control room staffed around the clock on the oil platform known as Elly. The system was designed to trigger an alarm whenever a change in the flow of oil is detected. But how fast it can pick up on those changes was expected to vary according to the size of the leak. For a large leak - 10% or more of the amount of oil flowing through the pipeline - the detection time was estimated at 5 minutes. Smaller leaks were expected to take up to 50 minutes to detect, according to the response plan. The spill plan warned that a break in the pipeline could cause 'substantial harm to the environment' and that in a worst-case scenario 3,111 barrels (131,000 gallons) of oil could be released from the pipeline. Willsher said required agencies were notified 'instantly' when the company recognized the leak was from its pipe. An aerial photo shows the closed beach after oil washed up on Huntington Beach on Monday People walk along the beach after an oil spill in Huntington Beach on Monday. The beach was closed for swimming on Sunday, but was packed with people on Saturday - unaware of the spill Records show the spill was not reported by Amplify Energy, but by Witt O'Brien's, a crisis and emergency management firm listed on the spill response plan as the point of contact to notify the NRC. The report said the leaking pipe had been shut off but containment was not confirmed. The cause of the rupture was unknown. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said he has investigators looking into whether he can bring state charges for the spill even though the leak occurred in waters overseen by the U.S. government. Other potential criminal investigations were being pursued by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said. Safety advocates have pushed for years for federal rules that would strengthen oil spill detection requirements and force companies to install valves that can automatically shut down the flow of crude in case of a leak. The oil and pipeline industries have resisted such requirements because of the high cost. 'If the operator had more valves installed on this line, they'd have a much better chance at having the point of failure isolated by now,' said Bill Caram with the Pipeline Safety Trust, an organization based in Bellingham, Washington. The pipeline was built using a process known as electric resistance weld, according to a regulatory filing from the company. That welding process has been linked to past oil pipeline failures because corrosion can occur along seams, according to government safety advisories and Caram. Annual reports filed with federal regulators in 2019 and 2020 showed inspections for the inside and outside of the pipe revealed nothing requiring repairs. Advertisement Biblical downpours have battered parts of Britain overnight leaving commuters facing travel chaos and flooded roads this morning as the Met Office warns some areas could see up to three inches of rain today. Weather warnings are in place from the Met Office as downpours have caused flooding in parts of the country including London where the road and transport networks have been affected. While yellow alerts for the south of the country are no longer in place, the north east is still braced for flooding as it continues to be lashed by torrential downpours. Meteorologist Grahame Madge has said the North East could experience up to 50mm of rain throughout the day - even higher levels than those recorded in the South overnight. Forecasters say that St James' Park in London has recorded 26mm or just more than an inch of rain in the space of an hour this morning while videos from the nearby Knightsbridge and Hammersmith areas showed deep flooding affecting roads and businesses. Commuters in Essex described 'biblical' rainfall which has also caused major disruption to the C2C rail network. The Met Office has confirmed that between midnight and 6am this morning, St James' Park in London saw 35mm of rain while Storrington in West Sussex saw 30mm and Market Bosworth in Leicestershire recorded 29mm. Cars have been seen ploughing through deep flood water on the roads in Whitley Bay, Tyneside, where weather warnings are still in place. Mr Madge said: 'The rainfall is subsiding for much of the country now, but the low pressure system is going out into north-east England and south-east Scotland. Commuters were left facing travel chaos this morning after a night of heavy rain left many parts of the country with flooding. Pictured: A woman is carried over flood water by a fireman in Knightsbridge, London, where the road was washed out Pictured: A woman is carried over floodwater by a fireman in Knightsbridge as an amused pedestrian keeps his feet dry An office worker makes his way down the steps to the Newcastle Quayside as heavy rainfall has turned the stairs into a waterfall The London Fire Brigade outside and inside SERENE as Flooding devastated businesses in Knightsbridge, central London Flood water fills up inside an Audi, with a baby carrier on the passenger seat, following torrential rain earlier in Essex The wet weather is expected to dry up by the end of the day but roads are still flooded in parts. Pictured: Flooding in London An Audi is almost fully submerged in flood water in Essex this morning after the south east was battered by rainfall 'It will still be a bit showery elsewhere, but the main downpours are converging over the North East.' 'The forecast for the next few days in England show high pressure moving in, leading to more settled weather,' he added. Strong winds are also predicted to compound the rain on the east coast while western areas are likely to experience sunny spells with scattered showers. The Environment Agency has issued 54 flood alerts for areas where flooding is possible, and four flood warnings across England. Scattered locations in London, Birmingham and Cumbria are covered by the flood warnings, which mean disruption to homes, travel and power is likely. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued flood alerts for Edinburgh and Lothians and the Scottish Borders, while Natural Resources Wales has one in place along the North Wales coast. A car tries to drive through a flooded road in Essex, where firefighters attended 26 separate incidents before 9am this morning A car goes through floodwater in Whitley Bay, in North Tyneside, after overnight rain which is continuing throughout today The north east continues to be battered with torrential downpours this morning while the weather is drying up in the south Met Office issued two yellow weather warnings for rain which covered large parts of UK. Pictured: Flooding in Knightsbridge A yellow weather warning remains in place for Newcastle (pictured) where heavy rain and flooding continued this morning London was hit by torrential rain last night which meant commuters had to negotiate flooding and travel chaos this morning Weather warnings are in place from the Met Office as downpours have caused flooding in parts of the country where the road and transport networks have been affected this morning. Pictured: Broken down car on a flooded underpass in Wandsworth Commuters have been warned to allow extra time to travel due to flooding. Pictured: Flooding in Knightsbridge, London Roads and businesses have been affected by flooding caused by heavy rain this morning. Pictured: Flooding in Knightsbridge Commuters were warned this morning to expect disruption due to the poor weather which is set to clear by the end of the day before a spell of brighter weather throughout the rest of the week. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was working with transport and council bosses to address flooding in the capital. He said: 'Londoners will be aware that flash flooding has impacted parts of our transport network. I'm in touch with who are working hard with local councils to open roads and return affected Tube and rail service to normal as quickly and safely as possible. 'Once again, we're seeing the impact of the climate emergency on our doorstep. In London we're leading from the front to tackle this crisis, and I'll continue to urge other politicians here and around the world to take the action that's desperately needed.' In London, one of Princess Diana's favourite dressmakers saw its dresses left damaged amid the torrential downpours in the upmarket Knightsbridge district of central London. Jacques Azagury, the owner of the Azagury women's fashion designer store, described the flooding as a 'disaster' for his shop, saying mud ruined his store as firefighters tried to pump water out. He added: 'Obviously, Im a bit anxious but with all these natural disasters you just get on with it and do the best you can to clean up. I dont know how long its going to take or when were going to be able to reopen again.' Ruairidh Roberts, UK Country Manager at Waze, said: 'Heavy rainfall in London overnight has led to increased levels of traffic this morning, with roads and the Underground both affected by flooding. Average speeds are as low as 3mph in some areas, including Knightsbridge, Putney Heath and Blackheath. 'Road closures, weather hazards and congestion levels are reflected on Waze's live map. We encourage all drivers to check weather alerts and plan their journeys before setting off, and only travel if it is safe to do so. Jacques Azagury, the owner of the Azagury women's fashion designer store poses for photographs next to a wedding dress damaged by flood after heavy rain in the upmarket Knightsbridge district of central London Jacques Azagury (pictured), the owner of the Azagury women's fashion designer store, described the flooding as a 'disaster' for his shop, saying mud ruined his store as firefighters tried to pump water out Heavy rainfall has caused City road in Newcastle's East end to be flooded as drivers make their way into the city centre While a weather warning for the south part of the country has expired, a rain warning remains in place in Newcastle (pictured) Pictured: the A4 just past Hammersmith flyover after torrential downpours in London where some parts saw 30mm of rain Flooding on Knightsbridge between Hyde Park Corner Underground and Knightsbridge underground, after heavy rain 'If drivers do encounter difficulties, they can use the Roadside Assistance feature in the app to seek help.' Forecasters predict persistent and at times heavy rain and strong winds for northern England and south-east Scotland while rain will clear to blustery showers and sunny spells in the south and west. In a statement, the Met Office said: 'Rain, accompanied with strengthening winds, will move north and eastwards across the area early on Tuesday, becoming slow-moving over parts of northeast England and, later, also eastern England. '15-30 mm of rain is expected to fall quite widely. Over eastern and northeastern England, 40-50 mm of rain is likely to fall in some parts with 50-75 mm also possible in a few spots.' From tomorrow, the Met Office said any early cloud and rain across eastern areas will clear bringing fine weather across Scotland, Wales and England during the day, predicting that it will be dry with lots of sunshine. Thick cloud will build in from the west across Northern Ireland bringing rain which will spread into western Britain during the evening. Crews from London Fire Brigade help clean up after heavy flooding in the capital where more than 30mm rain fell last night The flooding had yet to subside in Knightsbridge, central London this morning as commuters continued to head in to work Pictured: Traffic, firefighters and pedestrians caught up in flooding in Knightsbridge, central London, this morning Pictured: Video captured in Kennington, London, this morning shows traffic negotiating flooded roads after heavy rain Commuters faced severe delays this morning after heavy rain caused flooding and travel chaos. Pictured: Kennington Pictured: Cars negotiate severe flooding in Knightsbridge this morning after heavy rain caused disruption across the capital Major downpours hit large parts of the UK with St James' Park in London recording 26mm in just one hours this morning The balmy weather from mid-week will be driven by the remains of Hurricane Sam currently making a beeline for Britain. The ex-storm system heading across the Atlantic will force high pressure over the UK, experts have said. It will pull warm air in from the Continent pushing thermometers towards 70F by Thursday, forecasters say. Ex-BBC and Met Office forecaster John Hammond said: 'There will be talk of an Indian summer if Sam shoves warm southerly winds and a marked upturn in temperatures our way.' Jim Dale, meteorologist for British Weather Services, said: 'The remains of Sam are about to bring a change from the wind and rain to a very nice spell of balmy, sunny weather. 'The ex-hurricane will move towards Iceland and will allow high pressure to build across Europe and over the UK as balmy air flows in from the south. The Met Office has predicted that some parts of the country could see 50mm of rain today. Pictured: Knightsbridge, London Pictured: Vehicles drive through a huge puddle in Bermondsey, London, after heavy rain caused flooding across the capital The flooding across London comes after a wet summer which caused bouts of flooding across the capital in recent months Pictured: Torrential downpour captured in Lincolnshire this morning as heavy rain moves east across the country today Weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office for today (left) after heavy rain hit large parts of the UK (right) Experts say Hurricane Sam (pictured) is moving across the Atlantic and will drive high pressure across Britain from mid week Not everyone woke up to downpours this morning. Pictured: a woman walks her dog by a puddle in Priory Park, Warwickshire 'Temperatures will be highest around Wednesday or Thursday. In the sunshine it may feel very warm, and it is safe to say we could be in for an Indian Summer. 'This spell should last a few days, but the pattern could continue for longer, possibly into mid-month.' Scotland and parts of north-eastern England will be warmer than southern Britain with highs of around 70F (21C). London and the southeast could creep towards the 68F (20C) mark with above-average temperatures forecast nationwide. However, Britons should grit their teeth for another blast of autumn in the run-up to mid-week. Mr Dale said: 'Low pressure will remain in charge through the start of the week and there will be more in the way of wind and rain. 'Sam comes along on Wednesday and will move close to the jet stream before heading towards Iceland allowing high pressure to build from the Continent. 'This will bring the change of weather with highs of 70F (21C) in north-east Scotland and parts of northern England, while elsewhere, it could reach 64 to 66F. 'This Jekyll and Hyde weather is usual for October.' A woman allegedly murdered in cold blood was heavily pregnant and due to give birth to her fourth child just before her body was discovered by a relative. The 36-year-old woman, believed to be a nurse, died in what WA Police are calling 'suspicious' circumstances at a home at Mataro Drive, Dayton, in Perth's Swan Valley on Monday. It is understood she was found in a pool of blood by her older brother. Police confirmed WA homicide detectives are investigating the death. News of horrific alleged murder of a heavily pregnant mother in Perth on Monday got even worse when it was revealed her unborn child died too The woman's body was found in a house on Mataro Drive, Dayton, in Perth's Swan Valley The mother-of-three was eight months pregnant and just weeks away from delivering her fourth child, 7News reported. Devastated relatives who gathered at the scene described the alleged victim as a 'gentle' woman, who had just gone on maternity leave ahead of her fourth child's pending birth. Ambulance crews were called to the home around 6pm on Monday. 'Around 6pm last night (4 October 2021) police were called to the home on Mataro Drive, where the body of the woman was located,' a WA Police statement said. WA Police are investigating an appealing for any witnesses or information regarding unsual or suspicious behaviour in the street between Saturday morning and Monday evening 'The death is being treated as suspicious until it can be determined otherwise.' Police appealed for eye witnesses or any information regarding unusual activity in the street over the whole long weekend, between Saturday and Monday night. 'Investigators would like to speak to anyone that saw suspicious activity in the street between 10am Saturday 2 October and 6pm Monday 4 October,' the statement said. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon. 'Inquiries are ongoing,' WA Police said. A widow who crashed her four-wheel drive into a Sydney classroom and killed two boys in a 'freakish accident' has avoided jail after one of victim's families pleaded she not be sent to prison. Maha Al-Shennag, 56, pressed the accelerator instead of the brake after momentarily taking her eyes off the road when a water bottle fell into the footwell while dropping off her son at a Greenacre school in Sydney's south-west in November 2017. The charity worker had driven her Toyota Kluger into the carpark at Banksia Road Public School before ploughing into a classroom. Jihad Darwiche, 8, and classmate Andrew Encinas, 9, died after becoming trapped under the car, while three other children were injured. The mother of four pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and three charges relating to the injured pupils. In the District Court on Tuesday, Judge Stephen Hanley sentenced her for three years to be served by way of an intensive correction order, which includes 400 hours of community work. The Darwiche family urged the judge to not consider a prison sentence for Al-Shennag as her four children would be left without a parent to care for them. Maha Al-Shennag (pictured) avoided jail time when she was sentenced on Tuesday for two counts of dangerous driving causing death Al-Shennag was also sentenced to two concurrent community corrections orders, one for a year and the other for two years, with conditions including 100 hours community service. The judge assessed her moral culpability at 'towards the lowest end' for such offences, describing the crash as 'a freakish accident'. 'The circumstances of this offence are truly tragic,' he said. Victim impact statements referred to the enormity of the families' heartbreaking losses of the boys. The court heard the Darwiche family didn't want Al-Shennag jailed over the 'very tragic accident' as her four children lost their father in 2016. Al-Shennag broke down at the sentencing as the judge recounted the Darwiche family expressing forgiveness and support in the days following Jihad 's death. Banksia Road Public School pupils Jihad Darwich, 8, and Andrew Encinas, 9, (both pictured) died from multiple injuries Raede Darwiche broadcasted a message at his son's funeral calling on the community to rally behind Al-Shennag. Video filmed from the hearse posted to Facebook shows Jihad's father speaking in Arabic while his son's green casket - draped in a black and gold cloth - lies in the rear of the vehicle. 'Allah has called for his boy, he [the father] is very happy,' family friend Ahmad Hraichie translated at the time. 'The father says all the threats to this lady, the abuse, is not from them. 'No retaliation is coming from the family of the boy. They have forgiven - if anything they want to sit with this lady and tell her we forgive you. Mr Darwiche told the court earlier this year he and his wife had forgiven Al-Shennag over the 'shocking tragedy'. 'She has four children, who I do not want to grow up without a mother. If there was any other option available, my wife and I do not want Maha to go to jail,' he told the court. 'Maha has enough pain and suffering in her life. Sending her to jail will not bring our son back.' Raede Darwiche (pictured second right at the funeral of Andrew Encinas) pleaded with the judge to not sentence jail time to the driver. His son Jihad also died in the tragedy Al-Shennag had bent down to pick up the water bottle before the repositioning of her body led to her pressing the accelerator instead of the brake. When that failed to work, she pressed the wrong pedal down further before the Kluger mounted the kerb, became airborne and crashed into the classroom containing a relief teacher and about 23 students. Rescuers were confronted with screaming children and widespread debris. In her evidence, Al-Shennag insisted she had applied the brake and said the accident must have been caused by a mechanical failure. The judge found she was genuinely remorseful and accepted responsibility. But he found she had considerable difficulty in coming to terms with the tragic consequences of her actions and may have created a scenario to try to deal with it. Jihad Darwiche, 8, and classmate Andrew Encinas, 9 died after a car ploughed into a classroom at Banksia Road Public School in 2017. Pictured are tributes at the Greenacre school after the tragedy Many testimonials, including a group reference by all her neighbours, spoke very highly of her, describing her volunteer and charity work. Judge Hanley referred to the long delay in the case through no fault of Al-Shennag. Prosecutors originally accused her of manslaughter, a charge deemed inappropriate by the judge, and had not accepted her very early offer to plead guilty to the driving matters. Reports referred to her mental and physical health issues, noting she had become a recluse, was consumed by guilt and said she would never forgive herself. 'I believe the guilt and self blame my mother feels every day is greater than any jail sentence - and she will never forgive herself,' Al-Shennag's adult daughter wrote in a letter to the court, the Daily Telegraph reported. The judge was satisfied she posed no danger to the community. 'She requires no further rehabilitation, other than to assist her with her grief and remorse,' Judge Hanley added. 'I would be surprised if she ever reoffends,'. If she ever drove again, he was satisfied she would do so in a way consistent with her previous excellent 19-year record which only contained one matter of not wearing a seatbelt. A series of violent protests outside Melbourne's CFMEU building has left 37 people infected with Covid-19, after seven union officials caught the virus from rioters and unknowingly took it home to their families. Among those infected from the rallies, which saw the city stand still at the end of last month include 'very sick' elderly parents, young children and two babies, the union confirmed on Tuesday. Daily Mail Australia understands the total number now struck down with the virus from the protests has jumped to 37 after union officials unknowingly infected their families after catching Covid at the protest. A four-month-old baby is understood to be in hospital with the virus along with their mother, as is a two-year-old toddler. The union's secretary John Setka unleashed on those responsible for the jump in cases, labelling them 'selfish idiots'. A series of violent protests outside Melbourne's CFMEU building has left 37 residents infected with Covid-19 (pictured on September 20) Those at the rallies were protesting against the government's vaccine mandate for tradies Some were seen hurling bread crates at the CFMEU office in Melbourne last month (pictured on September 20) 'The tragedy is that due to the actions of these reckless and selfish protesters, many of these members families who have been infected are very sick with the Delta virus,' he said in a statement on Tuesday. 'These protesters are just selfish idiots with absolutely no care for anyone other than themselves. 'They have caused enormous stress and heartache for members' families who were just doing their job on the day of the protest.' The violence first began on September 20 with construction workers furious at the state government's mandate for all workers to get the jab. Hundreds of construction workers gathered together to protest against vaccine mandates for the industry The chaos prompted Premier Daniel Andrews to shut down the construction industry entirely for two weeks with workers finally able to get back on the tools on Tuesday Over 300,000 plus constructions workers were left locked out of work as a result of the decision to shut down the industry Tradies donning high-vis vests gathered outside the CFMEU building to protest against the vaccine mandates while chanting expletive-ridden messages to Mr Setka and hurling objects towards the union's office. Bottles and a bread crate were among the projectiles thrown, while a glass window was also smashed during the ugly and chaotic scenes. The chaos prompted Premier Daniel Andrews to shut down the construction industry entirely for two weeks - sparking even more protests over the next few days. More than 300,000 plus constructions workers were left locked out of work as a result of the snap decision. For the rest of the week, furious protesters chased police and pelted squad cars with cans as rallies on the streets descended into chaos and stopped traffic. Some healthcare workers were told not to wear their uniforms in public after being spat on by vile demonstrators and two vaccination centres were forced to close. Meanwhile, a Channel 7 TV reporter covering the march was assaulted by a protester and had bags filled with urine thrown at him while countless people were arrested. Police are seen wrestling with a protester on September 21 in Melbourne during the wild riots A sea of protesters are seen marching through the streets of Melbourne on September 21 (pictured) The front window of the CFMEU building was smashed by violent protesters on September 20 As of Tuesday, the construction industry has resumed work with 25 per cent of staff able to work on large projects. Daily inspections will be carried out at sites while all workers will need to have received both jabs by November 13 and will need to carry an authorised permit. Sites will need to show an updated Covidsafe plan and a designated Covid marshall will also be required. Tea rooms can also reopen following the installation of ventilators and fans to help with air flow. It comes after Victoria suffered a record-breaking 1,763 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday - the highest ever daily total in Australia. Melbourne has been locked down longer than any city in the world through the whole pandemic and will not begin to taste freedom until at least October 26. Advertisement How inflation threatens families and the public finances Headline CPI inflation has been spiking, reaching 3.2 per cent in August, and is expected to reach double the Bank of England's 2 per cent target With inflation set to peak above four per cent, this will likely cause the price of everyday goods from food to fuel to rise. Supermarket food shop Last year, the average household spent 277 a month on food expenses, but the latest inflation reading suggests this could increase to 285 a month this year. Price of a pint The average price of a pint in the pub across the country could soon pass 4, the ONS has said. Fuel cost In August this year when the UK's headline CPI inflation rate hit 3.2 per cent - average petrol prices reached 134.6 pence a litre, making an average tank of unleaded petrol cost around 74. That price hike is compared with 113.1 pence a litre a year earlier, when travel was reduced due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions. If inflation tips over the 4 per cent mark, the average price of a tank of fuel could hit 78, and that is without factoring in any supply chain pressures or global issues which make the cost rise further. How inflation has hit other countries Inflation has long been seen as one of the biggest threats to economies. In extreme examples, it has spiralled out of control and sparked panic. The German Weimar Republic effectively collapsed after the value of the mark went from around 90 marks to the US dollar in 1921 to 7,400 marks to the dollar in 1921. In Zimbabwe between 2008 and 2009 the monthly inflation rate was estimated to have reached a mind-boggling 79.6billion per cent. Although inflation has faded in the minds of Britons who have become used to ultra-low interest rates and stable prices, it caused chaos in the 1970s. Deregulation of the mortgage market, the emergence of credit cards and an overheating economy drove the rate to an eye-watering 25 per cent in 1975. People would rush to buy goods with their wages after pay-day, as the costs were rising so quickly. Strikes erupted as there was pressure for pay packets to keep pace with prices. Unemployment rose as the economy tipped into recession, and the government had to pump up interest rates in a bid to bolster the pound and control the surge. That meant mortgage interest payments spiked into double digits. And as a result servicing the national debt became a serious problem. Advertisement Furious business chiefs have accused Boris Johnson of 'buck-passing' after he defiantly dismissed fears over spiking inflation and supply chain chaos, saying it is not his job to fix all the problems. In a flurry of interviews ahead of his keynote speech to Tory conference today, the PM denied that the country is in 'crisis', comparing the disruption to a 'giant waking up' and 'creaking' after the pandemic. Despite Cabinet ministers telling MailOnline they were concerned about 'complacency' over inflation, now on track to be double the Bank of England's target, Mr Johnson said he was not 'worried' about it running out of control. He also pushed responsibility back on the private sector, insisting it is 'not the job of government to come in and fix every problem'. Referencing Margaret Thatcher's 1980s dictum - which ironically she used to stress the need to control inflation in a market economy - Mr Johnson said: 'In a famous phrase, there is no alternative. There is no alternative. 'The UK has got to - and we can - do much, much better by becoming a higher-wage, higher-productivity economy.' But he admitted that Christmas might only be better from a 'low base' amid fears of ongoing shortages - after it was effectively cancelled during the pandemic last year. And he conceded that the government's efforts to bring in more lorry drivers from abroad are having limited success, with just 127 having applied for emergency visas. The uncompromising line from Mr Johnson came as new figures showed pump prices have hit 136.10p per litre, the highest level since September 2013. Tensions were also inflamed further by Mr Johnson releasing a series of videos of him drinking beer, buttering toast and eating fish and chips to promote his 'Build Back Better' slogan. Liz Barnes, managing director at Lewes-based wet wipes firm FreshWipes said: 'If he likes alliteration, Boris can shove his butter up his backside.' Others raged that Mr Johnson should be focused on solutions rather than 'stuffing his face with chips'. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned that firms will be to blame if the festive season is blighted by shortages and price rises. One Cabinet source told the Telegraph that companies have been 'drunk on cheap labour' and failed to plan for the changes. But industry has warned of an estimated shortfall of 100,000 HGV drivers, with the threat of empty shelves if the shortages are not addressed. They said the government's visa offer is not 'attractive' enough to draw in the people they need immediately. In other developments at the Tory conference builds towards the leaders' speech: Mr Johnson has branded Insulate Britain protesters 'irresponsible crusties' as Priti Patel unveiled tougher measures to stop them blocking roads; The PM called for people to return to offices warning otherwise they will be 'gossiped' about and miss out on 'stimulus' and 'competition'; Mr Johnson clashed bitterly with the BBC's Nick Robinson in his first Today programme interview in two years; The premier refused to rule out calling an early election but insisted he is focused 'on the job at hand'; The number of offenders forced to wear electronic tags will double under a major initiative from Dominic Raab; The PM ruled out making misogyny a hate crime, saying there are 'abundant' existing laws that should be enforced to tackle violence against women; Civil servants still working from home were told to 'get off their Pelotons and back to their desks' today by Tory party chairman Oliver Dowden Boris Johnson pictured writing his Conservative Party conference speech at the Midland Hotel in Manchester today In a round of interviews at the Tory conference in Manchester, the PM insisted the country is at a 'turning point' as businesses are weaned off cheap labour after Brexit Mr Johnson tried out a bike as he toured stands at Tory conference in Manchester this morning The premier also tried out a hydrogen car as he was shown around the stands at the conference centre today Boris Johnson compared the current disruption to a 'giant waking up', saying it was what you would expect of the global economy recovering and 'sucking in demand' Mr Johnson's broadcast round included his first interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme in two years. Has Boris just had his 'Ratner moment'? When politicians and business leaders have said things they come to regret Boris Johnson's comments today could come to be seen as his 'Ratner moment'. Here are six other famous gaffes by politicians and businessmen: Gerald Ratner: The jewellery company boss jokingly referred to a set of decanters sold by the company as 'total c**p' during a speech in 1991, which almost led to the business collapsing. The share price tanked and the group had to restructure financially, with Mr Ratner resigning the following year. Emily Thornberry: The Labour MP resigned from Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet in 2014 after tweeting a photo of a house in Kent draped in St George's flags with a white van outside, captioned: 'Image from Rochester.' She tried to rebuild her reputation and is now shadow international trade secretary. Mike Coupe: The Sainsbury's boss sang 'We're in the Money' from the musical 42nd Street in 2018 while waiting to be interviewed by ITV to talk about the proposed Asda merger, but later apologised. The deal was blocked the following year, and he is now chairman of Oak Furnitureland. Philip Green: The retail mogul apologised to the Irish to prevent a customer boycott after claiming in 2003 of the Guardian's then-financial editor Paul Murphy: 'He can't read English. Mind you, he is a f***ing Irishman.' His Arcadia group went into administration last year amid falling high street sales. Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall: The Newcastle United chairman and vice-chairman called Newcastle women 'dogs' and implied fans were paying too much for replica shirts while being recorded in 1998. They both apologised and resigned two weeks later. Shepherd died in 2017. Bill Clinton: The US president denied his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky in 1998, saying: 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman'. He was later impeached for lying about the matter under oath, but was acquitted at his Senate trial. Advertisement And it quickly descended into acrimony, with presenter Nick Robinson demanding that the PM 'stop talking' as he blustered through responses to questions. A clearly stung Mr Johnson repeatedly referred to the rebuke, asking why he was there if he was not meant to be talking. In another wave of interviews this afternoon, Mr Johnson said he is 'not worried' about staffing shortages and rising energy prices and dismissed concerns about rising inflation. He told BBC News in Manchester: 'We're moving to a new approach, and I do not want to go back to what I think is a tired old failed approach, which people voted against twice in 2016 and in 2019. 'Some of the people who would be writing to me, may be worried about this, but I'm not worried about this because, actually, I think it would be good for their businesses to invest in people.' Asked about inflation having the possibility to eat up wage rises, he said: 'Actually I think that people have been worried about inflation for a long time and it hasn't materialised.' Pressed if he is not worried about inflation, he said: 'I believe that supply will be encouraged, and we want to encourage people to invest in.' Mr Johnson told GB News: 'It's not the job of government to come in and try and fix every problem in business and industry. 'We have fantastic supply chains in this country, fantastic logistics, there is a problem of demand.' He said in the haulage industry has depended on low wage workers migrating to the UK to work under tough conditions. Mr Johnson said that just 127 of the 300 visas for tanker drivers to come to the UK immediately have been granted. 'What we said to the road haulage industry was: 'Fine, give us the names of the drivers that you want to bring in and we will sort out the visas, you've got another 5,000 visas',' he said. 'They only produced 127 names so far. What that shows is the global shortage.' The Department for Transport later clarified that of the 127 visas issued, 27 were for fuel tanker drivers and the remaining 100 were for food hauliers. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the premier said: 'The supply chain problem is caused very largely by the strength of the economic recovery. 'What you will see is brilliant logistic experts in our supermarket chains, in our food processing industry, getting to grips with it, finding the staff that they need, we will help them in any way that we can. 'But the shortage is global.' He went on: 'What you can't do is go back to the old, failed model where you mainline low-wage, low-skilled labour very often very hard-working, brave, wonderful people who come in, working in conditions that frankly are pretty tough and we shouldn't be going back to that.' That had led to a situation where there was not investment in the industry and 'people had to urinate in bushes' because of the lack of facilities for drivers, he said. Mr Johnson told LBC: 'I sympathise very much with the frustrations of people who have been queueing for petrol. I really, really do. 'I understand how infuriating it is when you can't get petrol at the pumps, but I must repeat that this has overwhelmingly been a problem of demand, not supply.' He added: 'What I am getting at is that the tanker drivers, the lorry drivers, they have got more than the average week's supply to the pumps for the last few days, and that is the situation.' Go to the office if you don't want to be 'gossiped' about, says PM Boris Johnson today warned Britons working from home that they risk being 'gossiped about' and missing out on 'stimulus and competition' unless they return to the office. The PM voiced growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns as he urged people to get 'back to work in the normal way'. He said the government was always 'humble in the face of nature' and recognised that 'a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us'. But he insisted: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' He said getting back to offices was 'essential for young people in particular'. 'If you are going to learn on the job, you can't just do it on Zoom,' he told LBC radio. 'You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out.' Advertisement He also said: 'I think even the Petrol Retailers Association have been saying that the situation has been improving markedly. 'What you are seeing is the UK economy coming back into life, really sort of stretching its legs, starting to move again, and of course there's been a bit of creaking here and there because we haven't had such activity in a long time.' Mr Johnson played down fears over spiralling inflation, saying the tackling underlying productivity problems was the way to 'fix' rising prices. He said the market would address current demand-led shortages and the shift away from fossil fuels would have a long-term effect on energy bills. 'This Government is going to fix it for the long-term by making investments in renewable power that we can rely on in this country,' he said. Mr Johnson added: 'This Government is doing the difficult, long-term things. We got Brexit done, which was a very difficult thing to do, and we are now going to address the big, underlying issues that face the UK: long-term lack of productivity, long-term lack of investment in energy and infrastructure. 'We are going to fix that. 'That will have a big downward pressure on costs and that is the way to tackle inflation.' He also defended ending the 20 a week boost to Universal Credit, arguing the taxpayer should not subsidise low wages. 'I understand that people feel times are difficult at the moment because we have got an economy that's coming out of a very tough period with the Covid pandemic and it's growing strongly now,' he said. 'We've got the fastest economic growth in the G7.' However, Mr Johnson's relaxed attitude on inflation is not shared by all his top team. One Cabinet minister told MailOnline the Bank of England is 'complacent' on inflation. 'They should be unwinding quantitative easing now, before acting on interest rates. They could try reducing it a back and gauge the reaction,' they said. 'It might push the pound up, but that is not a bad thing as the pound has been falling and it would help reduce inflation.' And there is increasing frustration from many sectors about his failure to step in. PM refuses to rule out calling early election Boris Johnson today refused to rule out an early general election in 2023 as he insisted he is 'focusing on the job in hand'. The Prime Minister said that 'nobody is thinking about that right now frankly' and 'we want to get on with delivering'. He repeatedly declined to commit to serving a full term, with the next election currently scheduled to take place in 2024. There is growing speculation that Mr Johnson could go to the country earlier than planned. The Government is in the process of repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act which was rolled out in 2011 and dictates that parliamentary terms last for up to five years. The legislation, introduced by the Coalition Government, dictates that following the election in 2019, the next national poll will take place on Thursday May 2, 2024. The Conservative Party pledged in its most recent manifesto to get rid of the law, arguing that it should be up to the PM when elections are called. Currently an election can only be triggered outside of the normal parliamentary cycle if two thirds of MPs vote in favour of one or if the Government loses a vote of no confidence. Advertisement As well as an estimated shortfall of 100,000 HGV drivers, businesses from meat producers to retailers have warned of empty shelves if the shortages are not addressed. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) disagreed with Mr Johnson's comments over the Government asking for names of European lorry drivers they want to work in the UK. Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy and public affairs at the RHA, said: 'There isn't a database of lorry drivers with names attached to them and want to work in Britain that British lorry firms can tap into and say: 'We'll have that one, that one, that one or that one'. It doesn't work like that, it doesn't exist.' He added: 'Why would you give up a well-paid job in Europe to come and drive a truck in Britain for a very short period of time when you have to get a six-month let on a flat and go through all the hassle, initially to be chucked out on Christmas Eve, but now, we're told, for a bit later? 'It is not an attractive offer and, effectively, what Europeans have done is kind of vote with their feet on that.' Rhys Schofield, managing director at Peak Mortgages and Protection in Belper, Derbyshire, said: 'A lovely bit of buck passing from the government. Whilst the government can't be expected to solve every problem, it is surely the government's responsibility to fix the problems that they create. 'A poorly implemented Brexit and general lack of any coherent plan in anything they do just makes life more difficult than it needs to be. 'It's easier to make a video stuffing your face with chips to distract the electorate than actually solve problems of your own making.' Ali Capper, executive chair of the trade body British Apples and Pears, who also runs a hop and fruit farm, said: 'Like all British apple and pear growers, staff are short this year. On our own farm we're running 10 to 15 per cent short of the numbers we need, but I am speaking to farms that are 30 or 40 per cent short of staff. 'It's a combination - Brexit, Covid but really what we need are sensible policies put in place. We have the seasonal workers scheme for our sector. This year it's bringing 30,000 workers. There is no doubt that needs to be expanded, probably doubled, and we need the number of permanent operators increased as well.' A spokesperson for the British Meat Processors Association said: 'The current supply chain issues are systemic and long term, but we have an immediate and worsening short-term labour crisis right now. 'The problem requires both short and long-term solutions in order to allow industry to adjust to the realities of the post-Brexit labour market, which were only made clear once the Brexit deal was finally signed at the end of January 2020. 'Such solutions were presented to the Government in October 2020 by the Migration Advisory Committee, however the Home Secretary, Priti Patel rejected all the recommendations. 'Contrary to recent claims, we are not asking for a return to free movement, nor are we asking Government to fix the problem for us. 'What we are actually calling for is a short-term pragmatic use of the UK's new-found immigration controls to plug workforce gaps immediately, while we work on the longer-term solution. 'Industry is already working hard on the longer-term solution with a combination of recruitment and investment in technology. 'As an example, one company alone has been investing around 100 million per year for the last five years on new technology and equipment, and this is being replicated across the industry. 'Regardless of how high wages rise and how many people join the industry now, a new recruit takes eighteen months to become a fully trained butcher. 'And we need approximately 12,000 trained butchers right now in October 2021. 'Government knows that the only practical way to plug the current gap in workers is to bring in fully trained migrant workers while UK workers are being recruited and trained-up. 'This is not free movement. It is an Australia-style controlled immigration policy to fix a short-term labour problem.' Mark Reynolds, chief executive of construction company Mace said: 'It's constantly a challenge (to get workers) and it's not helped through the effects of Brexit and the current fuel situation, getting people to work, is making things more difficult. 'I think we pay pretty well as a sector the average salary for a construction professional in the UK is in excess 44,000 a year and in London is excess of 50,000. So I think the industry pays pretty well compared to most and has great opportunities.' Gary Parsons, of HR consultancy Talk Staff, said: 'Great leaders take the blame and pass on the credit, not point the finger and ignore the support being asked for. 'SMEs account for 99.9 per cent of businesses in the UK and with the right support, government leadership and industry interventions they could be the answer to all of Boris Johnson's problems.' As the Conservative gathering enters its final stages, Home Secretary Priti Patel will today announce plans to hit eco-warriors with a new type of Asbo in an attempt to halt their motorway protests. Justice Secretary Dominic has unveiled a deal to force criminals in 'chain gangs' to clear rubbish from waterways. Mr Johnson said Insulate Britain protesters are 'irresponsible crusties' who have been 'doing considerable damage to the economy'. 'There are some people who call those individuals legitimate protesters,' he said. 'They are not. I think they are irresponsible crusties who are basically trying to stop people going about their day's work and doing considerable damage to the economy. 'That is why we have taken the powers and why Priti Patel is doing the right thing to bring in powers so they can get six months or an unlimited fine.' Ms Patel has confirmed plans for tougher powers against the likes of Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion in her conference speech. Protesters from Insulate Britain have blocked major roads including the M25 and the M4 in recent weeks. A court injunction was taken out to prevent their blockade of the M25, but demonstrations have continued, most recently on roads across London on Monday. Boris brands Insulate Britain protesters 'irresponsible crusties' Boris Johnson has branded protesters who have blocked major UK roads as 'irresponsible crusties'. The PM said Insulate Britain protesters, who have blocked highways across the South East in recent weeks, have been 'doing considerable damage to the economy'. His comments come ahead of Home Secretary Priti Patel's speech to conference, in which she will lay out new measures to deal with demonstrators deemed to be disruptive. Mr Johnson told LBC: 'There are some people who call those individuals legitimate protesters. 'They are not. I think they are irresponsible crusties who are basically trying to stop people going about their day's work and doing considerable damage to the economy. 'That is why we have taken the powers and why Priti Patel is doing the right thing to bring in powers so they can get six months or an unlimited fine.' The Home Secretary is expected to confirm plans for tougher powers against the likes of Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion in her conference speech. Advertisement A hearing on the original injunction, granted to National Highways on September 22, will take place at the High Court in central London later on Tuesday. Ms Patel announced an increase in the maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, while also criminalising interference with major roads, railways and the press. The Home Office will also give the police and courts new powers to deal with the 'small minority of offenders' who are 'intent' on travelling around the country with the aim of 'causing disruption and misery across our communities'. Ms Patel has unveiled a 15million expansion in testing suspects for drugs on arrest, and is expected to say that 'unconscionable crimes and acts of violence against women and girls have no place in our society'. Mr Johnson is expected to use his Tory conference speech tomorrow to encourage a return to the workplace. 'He believes very strongly in the value of face-to-face working,' a senior source told the Daily Mail. 'It is critical for the training and development of young people. How can you learn a new job on Zoom?' Mr Johnson launched an ill-fated attempt to get office staff back to their desks last year, which was wrecked by the emergence of the second wave of Covid. Scientific advisers have pressed him not to repeat the exercise this year because working from home is one of the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the virus. Instead the Government left it up to employers to encourage a 'gradual return to the workplace'. But a second Tory source said ministers were now hopeful they would not have to issue another work from home order this winter. 'You can never rule anything out with Covid,' the source said. 'But we are now in early October and hospitalisations are still running at manageable levels. 'We are not at the point of anyone thinking about Plan B. 'Even if we get to that point, it would start with things that cause relatively little disruption, such as mandatory masks and Covid certification.' Mr Johnson climbed on a digger as he carried out his whistlestop tour of the conference stands this morning Dominic Raab has unveiled an initiative to double the number of offenders forced to wear electronic tags Mark McGowan has taken an extraordinary swipe at New South Wales' Dominic Perrottet and the entire state itself just moments after he was sworn in as the state's premier. The Western Australian Labor leader blasted the former treasurer for his 'appalling' financial management and said if it wasn't for the Golden State, NSW would be broke. Their bitter war of words comes as tensions flare over the redistribution of GST revenue and after premier Perrottet recently labelled Mr McGowan the 'Gollum of Australian politics'. Mr Perrottet was sworn in on Tuesday following Gladys Berejiklian's shock resignation on Friday after it was revealed she is now at the centre of corruption probe. But Mr McGowan wasted no time attacking his NSW counterpart, saying he hadn't congratulated him as he 'wouldn't know his number' and there had been so many premiers in the eastern state that he 'can't keep track of them'. Ms Berejiklian was in the role for nearly five years. 'The NSW government has been very poor financial managers, they now have massive deficits and massive debts, they managed Covid very badly and you can see the consequences,' Premier McGowan said. 'So instead of looking in the mirror, they look west to blame us for their situation. 'The reality is that if it wasn't for our efforts to keep Covid out and keep our industries open, the huge bailout with about a billion dollars every week going to NSW would not be possible.' NSW's economy has been much harder hit by the pandemic as the closure of international borders cut off the supply of tourists, international students, and business travel. Western Australia was far less affected as the vast majority of its revenue comes from mining and oil and gas and it receives far fewer tourists. Mr McGowan accused the 'whinging' Liberal leader of trying to undermine WA's split of the roughly $65billion divvied up between the states and territories every year. At the moment WA, with its lucrative resources sector, is redistributed 70c for every dollar it puts in, while NSW receives about 96c. 'To be frank with you, I'm tired of listening to their whinging,' Mr McGowan said. 'They never stop whinging and the reality is we have supported them far more than they have supported us.' Mark McGowan (pictured right with wife Sarah at the Brownlow Medal) expects a stoush with rival state NSW over GST revenue The Western Australian Labor leader blasted the former treasurer for his 'appalling' financial management and said if it wasn't for the Golden State, NSW would be broke. Pictured: FMG Solomon mining Hub in the Pilbara Even though a Commonwealth review of the GST split is not due until the 2025-26 financial year, the state leaders are already feuding over the hugely divisive issue which has long been a sticking point among WA residents. Mr McGowan said that instead of criticising WA, Mr Perrottet and the rest of the east coast should be grateful. 'Gratitude is in short supply over there, but we will continue to keep our industries open and keep providing huge support to those eastern states and continue to prop up their economies,' he said. 'He's (Mr Perrottet) been the treasurer for however long but NSW financial performance has been appalling. 'We did our budget recently with a $5.8billion surplus, while they've got deficits in the tens of billions of dollars, so clearly we won't cop any stick from them.' The WA premier neglected to mention that Mr Perrottet delivered multiple budget surpluses before the pandemic wiped out NSW's international revenue sources. Dominic Perrottet (pictured with wife Helen) described the WA Premier as the ' the Gollum of Australian politics' NSW economy has been decimated during the Covid lockdown. Pictured: A pedestrian in a protective face mask crosses a quiet street in the city centre during a lockdown on September 28, 2021 When asked if he had congratulated the new NSW premier, he replied: 'I wouldn't know his number.' 'He's a relatively young man so I assume he'll be around in the role - though NSW premiers change pretty quick, so many I can't keep track of them, they're like prime ministers,' he went on. 'So I assume he'll be around for a while and clearly his sights are set on undermining our revenue and GST.' Mr Perrottet on Friday compared the WA leader to Gollum, referring to the depraved Lord of the Rings' character. 'Mark McGowan is the Gollum of Australian politics,' Mr Perrottet told Sky News. 'You can just picture him over there in his cave with his 'little precious' - the GST.' Prime Minister Scott Morrison has assured WA will keep its fair share of GST revenue. 'I was the first Prime Minister to ensure that Western Australia got their fair share of GST and stood up to all those who opposed it,' he told The West Australian. The WA Premier has ignited a war of words with NSW Premier front runner Dominic Perrottet (pictured in Sydney on Monday) 'My government fixed it and my government will protect it. The only person Western Australians need to worry about is Anthony Albanese who in government never acted to fix WA's GST allocation.' But the state opposition aren't convinced. 'We know Scott Morrison was as thick as thieves with Gladys Berejiklian and he will be the same with Dominic Perrottet,' shadow trade and resources minister Madeleine King said. 'There's every chance he'll entertain and look at winding back WA's fair share of the GST.' Assistant shadow minister Patrick Gorman fears Mr Perrottet has 'WA's GST squarely in his sights.' A hiker who believes he was stopped in his car by Brian Laundrie close to the Appalachian Trail told 911 operators: ''I'm telling you, it was him.' Dennis Davis says he encountered Gabby Petito's boyfriend on a deserted road close to the trail close to the Tennessee border - 700 miles away from where the 23-year-old was last seen near his home in North Point, Florida. On Monday night, recording of his 911 call was released, which captured him telling the Haywood County, North Carolina, Sheriff's Office dispatcher he was '99.99 percent sure' he spoke to the fugitive. 'I'll meet somebody out there if they want to,' he added. Davis revealed that Laundrie was allegedly 'acting funny'. 'He was talking wild,' he told the dispatcher. 'He said that his girlfriend loved him and he had to go out to California to see her, and he was asking me how to get to California.' Davis added that he believed Laundrie was driving a new 'Ford F150'. 'I was making a U-turn in the road and he came up behind me and he slowed down and kind of flashed his lights, like tell me go ahead and go and I'm going to wait for you,' Davis said. 'And as I turned around and I'm coming back by him he's waving his arm out of his truck like for me to slow down.' Dennis Davis, pictured, says he saw Brian Laundrie on a deserted trail along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina on Saturday 'He was acting funny. I wasn't sure about what he looked like. And then I went and parked and pulled up the photographs of him, and I'm 99.99 percent sure that that was him.' Davis, who is an engineer from Florida, said he spoke to the man he believes to be Laundrie who waved down his car on Waterville Road, near the Appalachian Trail and close to the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. He says the man pulled up alongside Davis and made a bizarre request for help as he asked for directions in order to drive west to California using only back roads. Davis, a dad-of-four, suggested he simply take Interstate 40 which runs east to west across the country from North Carolina all the way to California. 'There is no doubt in my mind I spoke to Brian Laundrie none whatsoever,' Davis told the New York Post. 'Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter sent me an audio file of Brian's voice and the voice was the same I heard.' A hiker near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina claims he had a nighttime encounter with Brian Laundrie on Saturday morning, weeks after the fugitive boyfriend of slain Gabby Petito was last seen in Florida A small group of around seven people stood in the street directly in front of 31-year-old Cassie Luycx's home to demand the family speak with police regarding the her 23-year-old brother's disappearance Gabrielle Petito, 22, from her Instagram page, is seen with boyfriend Brian Laundrie The Appalachian trail is believed to be familiar to Laundrie who is thought to have lived outdoors for on his own for months. Davis' claims came as protestors gathered outside the Florida home of the older sister of Brian Laundrie on Saturday. A small group of around seven people stood in the street directly in front of 31-year-old Cassie Luycx's home to demand the family speak with police regarding the her 23-year-old brother's disappearance. 'We want you to start cooperating with law enforcement! Pick up the phone and call the FBI!' they shouted through a megaphone. Cassie has kept a low profile following the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito as well as the manhunt for brother Brian. Attention shifted to her after a family lawyer revealed that she had seen Brian at a campground, together with their parents, on September 6 as well as on the first of the month following his solo return from his cross-country trip. Prior to Petito's body being found, Cassie was the only member of the family who had spoken publicly about her disappearance. She told ABC News that she had not been able to talk to her brother. 'I wish I could talk to him,' Cassie said. 'I know that it's all because the lawyers, advising them not to say anything.' Gabby Petitio's body was found in the Spread Creek campsite in Wyoming on Sunday and the next day her death was ruled a homicide. She is pictured during a police stop in August Laundrie was last seen more than a week ago and his whereabouts remain unknown. He is pictured during a police stop last month The hiker who says he met Laundrie on Saturday claims he spoke about being in a fight with a girlfriend. Davis is currently hiking the Appalachian Trail himself and noted the man he believed to Laundrie acted nervously. 'He said 'Man, I'm lost.' I said 'What are you trying to find?' and he said 'Me and my girlfriend got in a fight but she called me, told me she loves me, and I have to get to California to see her.'' 'I said 'Well, I-40 is right there and you could take it west to California' and he said, 'I'm just going to take this road into California'. 'He was worried and not making sense,' Davis added. He did not immediately recognize him as Laundrie but is certain it was him. Brian Laundrie, 23, who was reported missing last week, remains a person of interest in the disappearance and death of fiancee Gabby Petito Despite lighting being poor because of the night, he believes there was enough lighting from the cars headlights to make a positive identification. The man he believed to be Laundrie was driving a light-colored pickup and was wearing a bandana on his head. It wasn't until later, with Davis having looked up photos of the man on his cellphone that he realized whom he had just spoken with. Davis claims to have made several calls to the FBI and to 911 in the hours after the encounter but frustratingly nobody has yet called him back. 'Law enforcement is probably getting millions of leads on this guy, but I am not some goofball out there doing drugs in the middle of the night, I am a highly educated professional. 'And I know that was the guy. There is no doubt about it. 'We have this lead but no one's doing anything, not even a phone call. Davis told Laundrie his best way to head to California would be to take Interstate 40 which runs for more than 2,500 miles from North Carolina 'Obviously, as a father with a daughter, I want to do whatever I can to help the family find closure and get this guy off the streets,' Davis said. Laundrie was last seen on in early September having returned to Florida from a trip across the country without his girlfriend, Long Island native Gabby Petito. She was reported missing on September 11 and her remains were found later in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest. An autopsy has ruled her death a homicide. Laundrie is sole person of interest in the case with a warrant out for his arrest on charges of fraud. He vanished on September 14 but his sudden disappearance was not mentioned to police for a further three days. Dennis Davis' 911 call in full Haywood County 911 whats the location of your emergency? Well, Im on the highway right now but I ran into Brian [Laundrie] just a little while ago. Ok, where did you see him at? I was at the parking lot for the Appalachian trial, north side of *reception drops out* Ok, can you tell me, like, were you at an overlook are you there? Hello? Are you still there? Yes I am. Ok, Youre probably going through the gorge so youll lose service now and then. So where did you see him at? On Waterville road. Ok, just on Waterville or did you see him near a house, did you see a mailbox? He was driving a truck and I stopped and talked to him. Ok, was he going up Waterville or back towards 40? He was going away from 40. Ok. What color truck? It was a white truck, I think it was a Ford F-150, Im not 100% sure of that, and it was a kind of a newer model, it wasnt like an old beater, it was a newer truck Ok. What makes you say that it was him? Well first off, I was making a U-turn in the road and he came up behind me and slowed down and kind of flashed his lights, like, telling me go ahead and go and Im going to wait for you. And as I turned around and Im coming back by him hes waving his arm out of his truck, like, for me to slow down. And I pull up next to him Im getting ready to go through the tunnel here hold on one second. Can you still hear me? Yeah. So when I stopped *reception cuts out* I think I lost you. He was talking wild, he said that his girlfriend loved him and he had to go out to California to see her. And he was asking me how to get to California and I said well you can get on I-40 right there and drive west and youll get there. And he said no I think I can go this way and kinda left and he was acting funny. I wasnt sure about what he looked like, and then I went and parked and pulled up the photographs of him and Im 99.99% sure that was him. Ok. Im going to let my sergeant know ok? Ok. Can I have your name and phone number? Your phone number? *reception cuts out* Alright. Ill meet somebody out there if they want to. Im telling you it was him. Ok. Well like I said Ill pass this along. Alright, thank you. Ok, Thank you. Advertisement The pair had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11 The Metropolitan Police has announced it will put hundreds of extra officers on the streets of London over the next six months in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. An additional 650 officers will be put in place across the capital, with 500 officers being based permanently in busy neighbourhoods, the force confirmed. A further 150 staff will join London's dedicated ward officers, also known as 'bobbies on the beat', who are police officers based in communities and who work with Londoners to problem solve local issues. The move, which is part of a drive to cut violence against women and girls, comes after policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, murdered Sarah Everard after using Covid laws to stage a fake arrest and kidnap the 33-year-old as she walked along a street in Clapham last year. It also comes just weeks after primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17. Hundreds of extra officers will be put on the streets of London over the next six months, the Metropolitan Police have said It comes after Sarah Everard, 33, was murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, in London last year The town centre teams will be made up of one inspector, two sergeants and 21 police constables. The list of London boroughs that will see an increase in officers Westminster Barking and Dagenham, Barking Ilford in Redbridge Croydon Bromley Lewisham Woolwich in Greenwich Brixton in Lambeth Uxbridge in Hillingdon Hounslow Camden and Euston Wood Green in Haringey Enfield Kingston Upon Thames Hackney Brent, Wembley and Harlesden Newham Advertisement Once in place, the local police leaders will be able to increase the size of their teams if needed. The first tranche of officers will be in place by late 2021 and all 19 teams are expected to be in place by spring 2022. They will be located in boroughs and towns across London, from Hounslow, west London, to Barking and Dagenham, east London. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said: 'Our growth enables us to increase our presence in busy neighbourhoods and town centres and be even more focused on protecting people and solving the long-term crime and anti-social behaviour issues we know people care about most like violent crime, and violence and harassment committed against women and girls. 'Local policing is at the heart of everything we do and we know that we are so much more effective if we are in communities and neighbourhoods, working side-by-side with all Londoners, listening and engaging with them, tackling the issues that make them feel unsafe. 'We want communities to regularly see and get to know their local officers, so that they trust and have confidence in them, knowing they are there to protect and keep them safe.' The London Borough of Westminster is one of three boroughs where extraordinary demand means there will be an enhanced or additional town centre team. The boroughs of Camden and Brent will have two teams whilst the West End will have a single but bigger team. Ilford in Redbridge, Bromley and Lewisham will also see increased police presence. Following the move, some social media users thanked the Met for boosting the number of officers while others said 800 officers for London was 'not enough'. On Monday, Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick announced she had called in an independent reviewer to look at the force's culture and standards following Couzens' whole life sentencing last week. The Metropolitan Police confirmed a total of 800 officers would be added to London's streets Following the move, some social media users thanked the Met while others said 800 officers for London was 'not enough' Dame Cressida plans to announce who will undertake the review, expected to take at least six months, in about a week's time. In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said the 'anger over Sarah Everard's murder was a symptom' of a 'wider frustration that people feel'. What are 'bobbies on the beat'? The Metropolitan Police have dedicated ward officers - who are commonly referred to as 'bobbies on the beat - who work locally in every ward across the London boroughs. The police officers patrol local areas, meet with residents and businesses and also try to come up with solutions to tackle crime in the local area. They are based in communities and work with Londoners to drive down crime. Like all officers, their individual performance is monitored through their performance and the completion of annual training. Advertisement He added that making streets safer was part of making women and girls feel more safe. He told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We are putting (in) more CCTV, better street lighting. 'But what you've got to do is address the underlying frustration of millions of women, and millions of people across the country, at the slowness of the criminal justice system and the inadequacy of the justice system in dealing with crimes of rape and domestic violence and sexual violence.' And the UK crime and policing minister, Kit Malthouse, told Sky News he accepted there was a problem with violence against women in the UK and said the reason for a fall in rape convictions was 'complicated'. He added: 'We are very focused on this issue and we've pledged to try and drive these numbers up, to try to restore that institutional confidence and people coming forward. 'The confidence of people coming forward to report that crime has increased very significantly over the last four or five years. Last month a court heard how policeman Wayne Couzens used Covid laws to stop, handcuff and stage the fake arrest of Sarah Everard before strangling her. Couzens cuffed the 33-year-old marketing executive's hands behind her back, leaving her incapable of undoing the seatbelt he strapped around her after ordering her into the back of his rental car. He then raped and murdered her before burning her body in a pre-meditated attack. The court heard in chilling evidence how earlier in the night, the killer had spent two hours driving through central and south London - prowling Kensington, Lavender Hill and Earls Court for a lone young woman to abduct. In September, 36-year-old Koci Selamaj, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, was charged with the murder of primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28. 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. Her body was found nearly 24 hours later covered with leaves near a community centre in the park. It is claimed her attacker used a 2ft long weapon to strike her repeatedly before carrying her away unconscious. A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a 70-year-old woman not seen since August. Serkan Kaygusuz, 41, is accused of killing Norma Girolami who vanished from her home in the affluent north London suburb of Highgate. Kaygusuz, of Finsbury Park, north London, is also accused of two counts of theft. He did not indicate pleas to any of the charges when he appeared in custody for a brief hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court today. Kaygusuz spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address when asked by the court clerk. Serkan Kaygusuz, 41, has appeared at magistrates court charged with the murder of Norma Girolami (pictured) who has not been seen by friends or family since the middle of August He appeared in a dark grey prison tracksuit and was not wearing a face mask.. Two uniformed security guards flanked him on either side. District Judge Daniel Sternberg remanded him in custody until his next court appearance at the Old Bailey for a bail hearing on Thursday. A plea and trial preparation hearing was fixed for November 2. Neither prosecutor Tom Gill or defence lawyer Will Durrands made any representations to the court. A 34-year-old woman also arrested on suspicion of the murder of Ms Girolami has been bailed until later this month. Relatives yesterday described the disappearance of Norma Girolami, 70, who lived in a 900,000 property in Highgate, as 'totally out of character', having stored food in the fridge and left no signs of plans to leave. She was first reported missing on September 20, but has not been seen by family since the middle of August. Norma was reported missing in September, but has not been seen by family since mid August Police outside the home of missing Norma Girolami, who police fear may have been murdered The 70-year-old, who police say left no sign of leaving at her current home in Cholmeley Park, Highgate, formerly lived at a 1.4million property in nearby Cromwell Avenue before she sold it in 2017. She has been described as 'friendly, courteous and a very nice person' by shocked neighbours, while cousin Jack Girolami told the Standard how alarm bells started ringing after she hadn't responded to a text message in August. He said: 'We are worried sick, this is totally out of character for Norma. We thought she may have gone to Italy where the family are from to spread her dad's ashes but we don't think that is the case now. 'She was very comfortably off, wealthy but not mega rich. She sold a house in Highgate and inherited her dad's house in Enfield. She was also a bit gullible and was trusting in people which is a bit worrying.' Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn said earlier: 'Norma has not been seen by her friends or family since the middle of August. 'As a result of our investigation we are extremely concerned that Norma may have come to some harm. 'Her home shows no sign of her planning to leave, food was left in her fridge and she said nothing to her friends and relatives. 'This is completely out of character and as more and more time has passed, this has only added to our fears that some harm has come to her. Police guard Ms Girolami's London home on Monday as their enquiries into the case continued The last known address of missing 70-year-old Norma Girolami who vanished in August 'In view of these concerns for her welfare, and to stop the anguish her friends and relatives are enduring, it is imperative that anyone with information contacts police. 'If anyone knows anything about where Norma may be, has witnessed anything from mid-August to mid-September in the area that Norma lived or if you know anything about what may have happened to Norma, then please contact police. 'Your information, no matter how trivial you might think it is, could be the vital information that helps us find Norma. 'Norma, if you are safe and well please get in touch with the police.' A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: 'We always had cordial exchanges. 'She was courteous and a very nice person. I haven't seen her for a long time.' Another neighbour said: 'She was very friendly and always said 'hello' even though I did not know her well. 'She would pop in occasionally if she needed something and I would see her in the park.' Stars have paid tribute to Pilcher, from Chatham, Kent, following the news He died on Sunday just weeks after travelling to the US for the ceremony Marc Pilcher won an Emmy award for his work on Netflix's blockbuster series Bridgerton stylist, 53, who died with Covid was double-jabbed, family said The Emmy-winning stylist for Netflix blockbuster drama series Bridgerton who died with Covid was double-vaccinated with no underlying conditions, his devastated family have confirmed in a tribute. UK-based Marc Pilcher, 53, died on Sunday just weeks after travelling to the US, where he was presented with an Emmy award in Los Angeles for outstanding hairstyling on the period drama. It is understood the makeup artist tested negative for Covid multiple times to make the trip across the Atlantic and back, but became ill shortly after returning to Britain and deteriorated at the weekend. Pilcher, who grew up in Chatham, Kent, was renowned in the industry for his work across a variety of West End shows, TV programmes and films - and received an Oscar nomination for his work on the 2018 film Mary, Queen of Scots starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. In a statement via agency Curtis Brown, his family and friends confirmed that Pilcher was double-vaccinated with no underlying health condition. It is likely he received either a Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab. Pilcher leaves behind his family, friends and his beloved cockapoo Yuri. Bridgerton stars paid tribute to the stylist, with Phoebe Dynevor saying she was at a 'loss for words' while Irish actress Nicola Coughlan urged people to get vaccinated against Covid on social media. Official data indicate it is very rare for fully-vaccinated people to die with Covid, with those having received two doses making up just one in 200 virus-related deaths in England in the first half of this year. But vaccines aren't perfect, and real-world data shows they cut the risk of dying by around 90 per cent. Adults aged 45-64 faced a 0.37 per cent chance of dying of Covid before vaccines were widely rolled out or 37 in every 10,000 who get infected, experts calculated. But that figure didn't filter out adults without underlying illnesses, who face an even lower risk. If vaccines cut the risk of dying by 90 per cent, like Government scientists believe, then officials would expect around 3 deaths out of every 10,000 adults aged 45-64 who get infected. It is impossible to calculate an exact risk for individual people. But the figure will be even lower for adults aged 45-64 who don't have any underlying illnesses. Pilcher's family and friends said in a statement: 'It is with the deepest of hearts we confirm that Marc Elliot Pilcher, Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning hair and makeup designer/stylist, passed away after a battle with Covid-19 on Sunday 3rd October 2021. Marc Pilcher, 53, died on Sunday just weeks after travelling to the US, where he was presented with an Emmy award in Los Angeles for outstanding hairstyling on the period drama Pilcher, who grew up in Chatham, Kent, was renowned in the industry for his work across a variety of West End shows, TV programmes and films - and received an Oscar nomination for his work on the 2018 film Mary, Queen of Scots starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie This image posted to Pilcher's Instagram account shows Pilcher (right) with his team of artists Bridgerton, starring Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor, was a runaway success for Netflix in December of last year Irish actress Nicola Coughlan, who plays wealthy heiress Penelope Featherstone in the Netflix series, shared the news of his death on social media Thirty-three deaths were registered yesterday among people who tested positive for Covid Just HOW deadly is Covid to people who've been fully vaccinated? Before any coronavirus vaccines were rolled out, around 1 per cent of Britons who caught Covid were expected to die. The risk was greatest for the elderly, who were prioritised in the NHS's inoculation drive because of their vulnerability. Academics estimated 17 per cent of over-75s would succumb to the infection in the darkest days of the second wave. But following the hugely successful immunisation campaign the risk has been cut drastically, with the infection-fatality rate (IFR) for over-75s now thought to stand at around 4 per cent. And only 0.25 per cent of Britons one in every 400 who get infected are now expected to die, according to Cambridge University researchers. However, no vaccine is perfect, and both trials and real-world data have repeatedly shown the current crop of jabs are weakest at preventing transmission. No10's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) believe the jabs cut the risk of dying of Covid by at least 90 per cent. This means that for 100 unvaccinated people who would die of the illness, only 10 fatalities would be expected in a same-sized group of people given two jabs. Before the vaccines, around one in every 270 adults aged 45-64 were expected to die. And the risk was even higher in people with underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. This means that, if estimates from the Governments top scientists are correct, out of every 10,000 adults aged 45-64 who caught Covid, 37 would have been expected to die before the advent of vaccines. But for a same-sized group of fully-vaccinated adults in the same age bracket, only three would now be expected to succumb to the illness. That calculation, however, doesn't take into account any waning immunity from the jabs. Booster doses are already being offered to vulnerable residents in Britain and other countries in an effort to keep the elderly as protected as possible. It is impossible to calculate an exact risk for individual people. But the figure will be even lower for adults aged 45-64 who don't have any underlying illnesses. Discussing the vaccines last week, Dr Omar Khorshid, president of the Australian Medical Association, said: 'The vaccines that we have available to us against Covid are really effective. 'But like all medical treatments, they're not perfect.' Advertisement 'Glamorous and extravagant, he brought his flair and style to every design. Never limited in his thought process for his creations, he pushed boundaries and created work never realized before.' Coughlan said: 'Marc was so passionate about his work and so tremendously talented. Not even a month ago he won his first Emmy award. 'It's a tragedy that he's been taken so young when he had so much yet to do. 'Please also use this as a reminder that Covid is still a very real and present danger, please get vaccinated and mask up to protect yourself and others.' Dynevor, who played Daphne Bridgerton on the show, shared Coughlan's Instagram post, adding 'At a loss for words.' Bridgerton actor Jamie Beamish tweeted: 'Got a shock when I heard this earlier. Marc Pilcher was a lovely talented brilliant man. 'It was him and his team that were the first port of call every morning on Bridgerton and he ran a trailer that made you happy to start the day, and you always looked great. Heartbreaking.' Kelly Valentine Hendry, the head of casting for the show, said: 'My thoughts are with Marc Pilcher's family, friends and colleagues. I'm so sorry for your loss.' Lynda J Pearce, assistant head hairstylist on Bridgerton, also paid tribute to Pilcher. She posted on Instagram: 'Rest in peace my dear friend. I will love you forever and I will hold you safely in my heart always.' The Office for National Statistics identified 256 'breakthrough deaths' among the 51,281 Covid fatalities that occurred between January 2 and July 2. More than 76 per cent of these patients were clinically extremely vulnerable to the virus, and had underlying conditions or weak immune systems. The Government credits AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna's jabs with saving 112,000 lives and averting 24 million Covid infections. Rigorous trials have shown the vaccines to be completely safe for the vast majority of people, including children. But there is a very small risk of side effects, which in an even smaller number of patients can be deadly. Moderna and Pfizer's vaccines have been linked to heart inflammation known as myocarditis, particularly in young people. And yesterday the Office for National Statistics declared that just nine people in Britain have died directly from any Covid vaccine. However, scientists pointed out the number does not yet take into account dozens of deaths linked to AstraZeneca's vaccine and rare blood clots. According to his website, Pilcher began his career in 1988, after leaving college and landing a job in West End theatre, which he described as 'the best place in the world to learn period hairdressing'. It added: 'This happy, creative atmosphere kept him working in theatre land and on tour for 15 years, until Marc started to get offers to work as a hair and makeup artist on TV. This then turned into positions on feature films, where he works today. Bridgerton actor Jamie Beamish and Kelly Valentine Hendry, the head of casting for the show, also paid tribute to Pilcher Nicola Coughlan (left and right, in Bridgerton) paid tribute to Pilcher on social media Pilcher's designs for Queen Charlotte, played by Golda Rosheuvel, helped win him an Emmy award for best period hair styling In January, it was announced that the hit series had been renewed for a second season 'Marc's work has taken him all over the world and he feels privileged to work on such a wide variety of projects and with inspirational teams of people.' In an interview with Vogue in February, designer Pilcher outlined some of his ideas when it came to working on Bridgerton. He said: 'First, I research paintings and books of the period, then I like to add my slant on the looks using the influences of other periods and old Hollywood movies. 'I have a huge collection - I like to feed off that and mix them up with my historical knowledge to create the right look. The Regency look was based around the shapes of ancient Greece. 'It then reemerged in the 1980s with the UK's New Romantic scene - I'm sure it will pop up again, that beautiful Grecian shape for the women and quiffs for the men, and that use of makeup.' A former inmate of a Uighur detention camp has revealed how he was ordered to bend over by prison guards so that other detainees could gang rape him. The whistleblower gave his account to CNN who also interviewed an ex-cop who described how he would beat children as young as 14 and that he regularly witnessed both men and women being battered by guards. Torture methods included chaining inmates to metal chairs, hanging them from the ceiling, sexual violence, electrocutions and waterboarding. The testimonies raise new concerns over Beijing's treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority at so-called 're-education' camps in the northern Xinjiang province. Sanctions imposed by London, Washington and Brussels appear to have failed to stop the Chinese Communist Party from committing the 'genocide.' Abduweli Ayup, a 48-year-old Uighur scholar, says he was detained in August 2013 by armed police after he opened a nursery to teach children their native language. On his first night at a detention camp in the city of Kashgar, he says he was raped by a dozen Chinese inmates who were ordered to do so by prison guards. Abduweli Ayup (pictured), a 48-year-old Uighur scholar, says he was detained in August 2013 by armed police after he opened a nursery to teach children their native language. On his first night at a detention camp in the city of Kashgar, he says he was raped by a dozen Chinese inmates who were ordered to do so by prison guards. An ex-detective turned whistleblower, who gave his name as Jiang (pictured), described how they would drag the Uighurs from their homes in the middle of the night, threatening to kill them if they resisted. They were accused of 'terrorism' but Jiang said that they appeared to be 'ordinary people' 'The prison guards, they asked me to take off my underwear,' then told him to bend over, Ayup said. 'Don't do this, I cried. Please don't do this.' He said he blacked out during the ordeal and awoke in a pool of vomit and urine. The humiliation continued the following day as prison guards asked him: 'Did you have a good time.' He was forced to confess to 'illegal fundraising' before being transferred to camp. Ayup was eventually released in 2014 and has since moved to Norway where he writes children's books in the Uighur language. However, he adds that he will 'never forget' his treatment in Xinjiang which is seared into his memory like 'a scar in my heart.' The US State Department estimates that up to 2 million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities have been interred in Xinjiang since 2017. China claims that the detention centres are vocational and that they help to combat terrorism, denying allegations of human rights abuses. 'I want to reiterate that the so-called genocide in Xinjiang is nothing but a rumor backed by ulterior motives and an outright lie,' said Zhao Lijian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, in June. An ex-detective turned whistleblower, who gave his name as Jiang, described how they would drag the Uighurs from their homes in the middle of the night, threatening to kill them if they resisted. They were accused of 'terrorism' but Jiang said that they appeared to be 'ordinary people.' A guard stands in a watch tower on the perimeter of the Number 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in western China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region on April 23, 2021 'We took (them) all forcibly overnight,' he told CNN. 'If there were hundreds of people in one county in this area, then you had to arrest these hundreds of people.' When they arrived at the detention camp they would be mercilessly beaten and tortured. 'Kick them, beat them (until they're) bruised and swollen,' Jiang said. 'Until they kneel on the floor crying.' 'Everyone uses different methods. Some even use a wrecking bar, or iron chains with locks. Police would step on the suspect's face and tell him to confess,' he added. He said that the best means of securing a confession was through sexual violence. 'If you want people to confess, you use the electric baton with two sharp tips on top,' Jiang told CNN. 'We would tie two electrical wires on the tips and set the wires on their genitals while the person is tied up.' The torture would only end once the inmate had confessed, at which point they would be transferred to an interment camp. Detainees listening to speeches in a camp in Lop County, Xinjiang, China In April, backbench MPs approved a House of Commons motion which declared the Uighurs and other minorities are 'suffering crimes against humanity and genocide' in Xinjiang. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the Government is continuing to consider what 'level of representation' the UK will send to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year. Calls for a UK diplomatic boycott of the event were last week endorsed in a non-binding vote in the Commons. A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson said: 'The government has been vocal in calling out the egregious human rights abuses being committed against the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang, most recently at the UN Human Rights Council alongside more than 40 countries. 'At this stage, no decisions have been made about UK Government attendance at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.' A Christian nurse will today tell an employment tribunal that she was bullied out of her job for wearing a cross around her neck at work. NHS theatre practitioner Mary Onuoha says she faced a campaign by bosses at Croydon University Hospital to make her remove the gold symbol. She had been a staff member for 18 years and had worn the piece of jewellery for 40 years to mark her deep Christian faith. But from 2015, she claims a succession of managers told her to remove the item from around her neck or the matter would face 'escalation.' She claims patient safety was risked in an operating theatre to discipline her and her head of department even said he would have to call security if she wore it in a clinical area. Mrs Onuoha was told her small gold cross was a health and safety risk and 'must not be visible'. Pictured: Mary Onuoha at the South London Employment Tribunal Building Croydon today NHS theatre practitioner Mary Onuoha is taking her former employers to a tribunal claiming she faced a campaign by bosses at Croydon University Hospital to make her remove her cross However, she says other clinical staff members at Croydon University Hospital in South London were permitted to wear jewellery, saris, turbans, and hijabs and only the cross was subject to specific sanction. For her continued refusals, the devout Christian was investigated, suspended from clinical duties and demoted to working as a receptionist, which she found deeply humiliating, she claims. She says she was forced off work with stress in June 2020 and believed she faced no alternative but to resign later that year. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mrs Onuoha will now challenge Croydon Health Services NHS Trust on the grounds of harassment, victimisation, direct and indirect discrimination, and constructive and unfair dismissal. Mrs Onuoha's lawyers will argue that the Trust has breached her freedom to manifest her faith under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Equality Act. The hearing is being held at Croydon Employment Tribunal with Mrs Onuoha's evidence commencing today. Pictured: Croydon University Hospital where Mrs Onuoha ended her employment due to stress Mrs Onuoha will state that she was 'treated like a criminal' by her employer and her case will bring into question the freedom of Christians to manifest their faith in the workplace, especially in comparison to members of other faiths. Mrs Onuoha came to the UK in 1988 and has worked at Croydon University Hospital for 19 years. Each day she wore the cross around her neck without any complaints or health and safety concerns from colleagues or patients but she claims from 2015, she was asked to either remove her cross or conceal it, which she refused. The issue was escalated in August 2018 when bosses ordered her to remove the cross saying it was a breach of the trust's Dress Code and Uniform Policy and therefore a health risk to her and to patients. Mrs Onuoha's lawyers will argue that the dress code was applied inconsistently, with other nurses and members of staff frequently wearing various types of jewellery, hijabs, saris, turbans and religious bracelets in wards and theatre without being asked to remove them. They claim Mrs Onuoha was required at all times to wear several lanyards whilst at the same time the Trust claimed that wearing items from the neck, such as her chain with a cross, posed a 'risk of injury or infection'. Pictured: Mrs Onuoha says she has worn the gold cross as a reflection of her faith for 40 years On August 21, 2018, Mrs Onuoha claims she was in charge of a team working in theatre supporting a patient who was under general anaesthetic. While the patient was on the surgery table, Mrs Onuoha's manager came into theatre and demanded that she remove or conceal her cross immediately. After refusing to remove it, Mrs Onuoha, 61, was told to leave the theatre to conceal the cross by putting on an additional scrub back to front, on top of the one she was correctly wearing. Mrs Onuoha said she could not leave the patient. Her manager said that the junior staff could remain with the patient whilst she removed or covered up her cross. Mrs Onuoha, however, again refused to leave the patient. She claims management then returned with another senior staff member insisting she left to change. Lawyers for Mrs Onuoha (left) claim health and safety reasons are contradictory because she was required to wear several lanyards round her neck (right) while working at the hospital Mrs Onuoha was asked what she wanted to do and then, in the end, was told to carry on but that the cross needed to be removed by a specified time later that day. At the same time, during the same operation, she says a blue pendant and earrings being worn by the anaesthetist were completely ignored. In April 2019 she was given a final written warning but left work with stress in June 2020 after being moved to a series of administrative roles and resigned in August 2020. Mrs Onuoha said: 'This has always been an attack on my faith. 'My cross has been with me for 40 years. It is part of me, and my faith, and it has never caused anyone any harm. 'Patients often say to me "I really like your cross", they always respond to it in a positive way and that gives me joy and makes me feel happy. I am proud to wear it as I know God loves me so much and went through this pain for me. Pictured: Mary Onuoha arrived at the South London Tribunal centre this morning 'At this hospital there are members of staff who go to a mosque four times a day and no one says anything to them. Hindus wear red bracelets on their wrists and female Muslims wear hijabs in theatre. 'Yet my small cross around my neck was deemed so dangerous that I was no longer allowed to do my job. 'From a young age I naturally always wanted to care for people - it was in my blood. All I have ever wanted is to be a nurse and to be true to my faith. 'I am a strong woman, but I have been treated like a criminal. I love my job, but I am not prepared to compromise my faith for it, and neither should other Christian NHS staff in this country.' Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre representing Mrs Onuoha, said: 'From the beginning this case has been about one or two members of staff being offended by the cross - the worldwide, recognised and cherished symbol of the Christian faith. 'It is upsetting that an experienced nurse, during a pandemic, has been forced to choose between her faith and the profession she loves. 'Why do some NHS employers feel that the cross is less worthy of protection or display than other religious attire? 'How Mary was treated over a sustained period was appalling and cannot go unchallenged. 'Mary's whole life has been dedicated to caring for others and her love for Jesus. We are determined to fight for justice.' Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Mrs Onuoha will now challenge Croydon Health Services NHS Trust on the grounds of harassment, victimisation, direct and indirect discrimination, and constructive unfair dismissal. The hearing will begin at 10am at Croydon Employment Tribunal. The trust has been approached for comment. Cara Donovan, 35 (pictured in June 2018, three months before the accident), was left in agony after falling and smashing her elbow while dancing on a 'highly slippery' laminated plastic floor, lit by underfloor LED lights A teacher is suing the owner of one of the UK's top marriage venues for 150,000 after she slipped on a spilt drink on a wedding disco dancefloor and smashed her elbow. Cara Donovan, 35, was left in agony after falling while dancing on the 'highly slippery' laminated plastic floor, lit by underfloor LED lights. The wedding reception was held at Leez Priory, an award-winning 16th century Tudor mansion near Chelmsford, Essex, which has repeatedly been voted the UK's Best Wedding Venue. Special needs teacher Mrs Donovan lost her footing in a puddle of spilt drink as she stepped onto the state-of-the-art 'twinkling dancefloor' in the cellar of the country manor house, nestled in 40 acres of parkland at Great Leighs. The accident in September 2018 left her with a badly broken elbow and despite three operations says she has been left with permanent arm pain. This impacts on all areas of her everyday life at home and has prevented her returning to work at school, she said. Mrs Donovan is now suing Country House Weddings Ltd, the company which runs the venue, for a payout of up to 150,000. According to papers filed at the High Court, the dancefloor had been purchased and fitted in the cellar of the manor house, which was built in the 1500s on the site of a 13th century Augustine priory and visited by Queen Elizabeth I. The supplier had warned that the surface of the dancefloor was very slippery and that no drinks should be taken onto it, the teacher's lawyers claim. However, nothing was done to prevent people drinking on the dancefloor, Mrs Donovan says, and even the wedding venue's advertising photos showed people dancing with drinks. Special needs teacher Mrs Donovan (pictured with husband Lee Pierson, believed to be on the day of the accident) lost her footing in a puddle of spilt drink as she stepped onto the state-of-the-art 'twinkling dancefloor' in the cellar of the country manor house Mrs Donovan (pictured with husband Lee Pierson in June 2018, three months before the accident) is now suing Country House Weddings Ltd, the company which runs the venue, for a payout of up to 150,000 'During the evening guests would go onto the dancefloor - either to cross it or to dance - holding glasses of drink and occasionally spilling drink onto the dancefloor,' says her barrister, Philip Goddard. 'The dance floor became wet with patches of spilt drink. The dancefloor's underfloor lights made it difficult for those on the dancefloor to see spilt liquid on the surface. 'At about 10pm, the claimant went onto the floor to dance. She slipped in the spilt drink, fell and fractured her right, dominant, arm.' The Romford mother-of-two had three operations to fix the break, but her arm has been left permanently painful, stiff and weak, hampering her ability write, drive, use a keyboard or use any two-handed machinery. 'She would like to return to teaching, but is inhibited by the injury,' says Mr Goddard. 'A fourth operation may be needed to remove a bone fragment, but its present condition is unlikely to improve.' Mrs Donovan blames the company for what happened to her, claiming the venue's owner failed to follow the dance floor supplier's 'no drinks' warning and failed to have staff positioned at the top of the stairs to prevent people taking drinks to the dancefloor. Tables had also been placed at the edge of the dancefloor, encouraging guests to drink while dancing, Mr Goddard claims. The wedding reception was held at Leez Priory, an award-winning 16th century Tudor mansion near Chelmsford, Essex, which has repeatedly been voted the UK's Best Wedding Venue And despite the spillage, staff had not stopped guests dancing in order to mop it up, it is claimed. The defence to the action by Country House Weddings Ltd was not available from the court and the contents of Mrs Donovan's claim have not yet been tested in evidence by a judge. The company runs weddings at five other country houses in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Essex, Warwickshire and Cambridgeshire. It says: 'We are proud to own our beautiful venues and believe that one of the keys to our success is that our couples can trust the Country House Weddings brand and enjoy the security that our success brings.' Describing the cellar disco where the incident took place, the company adds: 'The converted cellar now offers a modern and contemporary space in which to dance the night away. 'Following a formal and traditional day, amaze your guests when they come downstairs to the spacious disco-lit dancefloor with vaulted ceiling above.' Advertisement This is the incredible moment two 3,000-pound hippos tore chunks out of each other as they fought for supremacy in the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya. Brutal pictures captured the bloody battle as the fighting hippos locked jaws together for half an hour, sending spit and blood gushing from their mouths. In one image, one hippo brutally impaled the other with his ivory tusk, as the fight neared its conclusion before one made a dash for the river with the victor in hot pursuit where the savage fight continued. The intense images were shot by wildlife photographer Mike Dexter, 35, from Durban, South Africa, who took the photos from around 65-feet away, using a Canon 5D MK IV and a 100-400mm lens. Posting the photos on his Instagram page on September 7, photographer Mike who witnessed the fight summed it up in one word, writing: 'Brutal. The word running through my mind as I watched these hippo bulls tear into each other for half an hour. 'Hippos have a certain notoriety and hold the highly contested position as the animal that kills the highest number of humans in Africa each year. 'Males are highly territorial and dominion over prime river real estate is fiercely contested. Most altercations are resolved through impressive displays of size and power and seldom escalate to this degree of physicality, but when they do the consequences can be fatal. 'Two days after this battle the bloated body of a similarly sized individual was found floating a couple of kms downstream in the Mara River.' This is the incredible moment two 3,000-pound bull hippos locked jaws in a bloody battle for half an hour as they fought for supremacy in the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya Brutal pictures captured the bloody fight as the angry hippos locked jaws together for half an hour, sending spit and blood gushing from their mouths The intense images were shot by wildlife photographer Mike Dexter, 35, from Durban, South Africa, who took the photos from around 65-feet away, using a Canon 5D MK IV and a 100-400mm lens In one image, one hippo brutally impaled the other with his pointed tooth (pictured), as the fight neared its conclusion before one made a dash for the river where the fight continued Boris Johnson today refused to rule out an early general election in 2023 as he insisted he is 'focusing on the job in hand'. The Prime Minister said that 'nobody is thinking about that right now frankly' and 'we want to get on with delivering'. He repeatedly declined to commit to serving a full term, with the next election currently scheduled to take place in 2024. Boris Johnson today refused to rule out an early general election in 2023 as he insisted he is 'focusing on the job in hand' Mr Johnson repeatedly declined to commit to serving a full term, with the next election currently scheduled to take place in 2024 There is growing speculation that Mr Johnson could go to the country earlier than planned. The Government is in the process of repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act which was rolled out in 2011 and dictates that parliamentary terms last for up to five years. The legislation, introduced by the Coalition Government, dictates that following the election in 2019, the next national poll will take place on Thursday May 2, 2024. The Conservative Party pledged in its most recent manifesto to get rid of the law, arguing that it should be up to the PM when elections are called. Currently an election can only be triggered outside of the normal parliamentary cycle if two thirds of MPs vote in favour of one or if the Government loses a vote of no confidence. Mr Johnson was asked during an interview on Times Radio if he is considering an early election in 2023 or if he intends to serve the full term until 2024. He replied: We are focusing on the job in hand. We are getting on with uniting and levelling up. Asked again if there could be a general election in 2023, Mr Johnson said: Education, infrastructure, technology. You are seeing already something that the British people havent seen for more than a decade which is an increase in pay packets. As I said to you, the increase is being felt most by those on the lowest incomes. Pushed for a final time on if he will serve his full five year term, Mr Johnson said: We are focusing on the job in hand and nobody is thinking about that right now frankly. Mr Johnson secured a crushing Conservative majority at the 2019 general election as the Tories won 365 seats and Labour sunk to just 202. He is pictured arriving back at 10 Downing Street on December 13, 2019, following his victory We have come out of a pandemic, the UK has got the fastest growth of any G7 economy. We are dealing with all the opportunities that that presents, some of the stresses and strains that that presents, and its a very exciting time. We want to get on with delivering. Mr Johnson secured a crushing Conservative majority at the 2019 general election as the Tories won 365 seats and Labour sunk to just 202. Advertisement Facebook's seven-hour blackout that cost the company an estimated $100million in lost revenue alone was made worse because staff were working from home, an insider has claimed. The global outage - which hit Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger on Monday - was caused when a faulty update that disconnected its servers from the internet, meaning engineers had to travel to its Santa Clara data center to fix the glitch in-person. But the repair was delayed, according to one insider who was posting on Reddit, because of 'lower staffing in data centers due to pandemic measures'. The glitch, which has prompted calls for a break-up of big tech firms, also brought down messaging services that remote-working staff use to communicate, so those who knew how to fix the servers couldn't get that information to the teams inside the data-centre, the insider said. Also disabled were key-fob entry systems at Facebook's main campus in Menlo, meaning those who had been WFH but rushed back to the office could not get inside while those already inside were unable to access conference rooms and other areas that required a pass. 'There are people now trying to gain access to... implement fixes, but the people with physical access is separate from the people with knowledge of how to authenticate the systems and people who know what to actually do, so there is now a logistical challenge,' the insider said. Industry sources who have worked closely with the tech giant say Facebook is suffering from two major problems: Staff working from home and over reliance on artificial intelligence. The social media site has been beset by bugs, glitches and AI issues for months exacerbated by staff not being on premises to deal with or correct issues. One source said that Facebook is simply unprepared to deal with emergencies and 'is very weak on the technical side' Another added Facebook is currently 'a shambles' and has been beset with tech problems 'for months'. They added: 'They think they can do everything with AI but their tech isn't up to scratch. I'm inclined to think it's because they're WFH.' Monday's outage was partly to blame for a nose-dive in Facebook's share price that saw $47billion wiped from its value in its second-worst day ever on the stock market, also driven by a whistleblower testifying about the harms the site does to teenagers in Congress this week. Mark Zuckerberg - who lost around $7billion amidst the carnage - has previously vowed to make work from home a permanent part of Facebook, telling staff back in June that 'anyone whose role can be done remotely can request remote work.' The multi-billionaire said he plans to spend around half his time working remotely in 2022, and predicted that half of his staff could be permanently off-site by 2030. Facebook's office are currently open but only to 25 per cent capacity, after plans to open fully by October were pushed back to at least January 2022 amid the spread of the Delta Covid variant. A person claiming to be a Facebook employee said on Reddit that high numbers of staff working from home made the problem worse. The account was later deleted Users around the world reported problems with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Downdetector Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' A Facebook staff member reportedly accidentally deleted large sections of the code (pictured) which keeps the website online The above Tweet read: 'So, someone deleted large sections of the routing....that doesn't mean Facebook is just down, from the looks of it....that means Facebook is GONE' Facebook shares are down by more than 6 percent from last week as a result of the outage on Monday Of the staff who are not currently in the office, it is not clear how many will become permanent remote workers. But a Facebook executive previously told the Wall Street Journal that the company has approved 90 per cent of WFH requests. The only caveat is that salaries may be cut to reflect the locations where people are actually working, as opposed to where the office is based. Data centre staff are among those who cannot request a permanent WFH. Facebook's problems began around midday Eastern Time (5pm GMT) on Monday, shortly after its servers were updated, and lasted until around 5.45pm (10.45pm GMT) when the servers came back online. It took several more hours for all users to be able to access Facebook's sites and apps. Following Monday's outage, Zuckerberg issued a personal apology to Facebook users - telling them 'sorry for the disruption' while adding: 'I know how much you rely on our services.' But his message was immediately attacked from all sides, with those who use Facebook business saying he failed to take the issue seriously while casual users accused him of 'making yourself more important than you are'. Still others said they had enjoyed the outage, and were planning to spend more time off social media in the future. 'Life was way simpler without these services,' wrote one. John Graham-Cumming, the chief technology officer of web security firm Cloudflare, said Facebook made a series of updates to its border gateway protocol (BGP) which caused it to 'disappear' from the internet. The BGP allows for the exchange of routing information on the internet and takes people to the websites they want to access. Dane Knecht, senior vice president of the firm, said earlier the Facebook Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes had been 'withdrawn from the internet.' Cybersecurity expert, Kevin Beaumont, wrote on Twitter: 'This one looks like a pretty epic configuration error, Facebook basically don't exist on the internet right now. Even their authoritative name server ranges have been BGP withdrawn.' Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, run on a shared back-end infrastructure, creating a 'single point of failure' according to experts. It wasn't just the main Facebook apps going down, other services, including Facebook Workplace and the Oculus website were also down. The EU's competition commissioner said it shows why large tech firms should be broken up to avoid a similar failure of multiple platforms at once. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the incident highlighted the negative impact of big tech firms controlling large swathes of the online world. 'We need alternatives and choices in the tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote on Twitter. The dominance of a handful of large social media and internet companies has come under scrutiny from competition watchdogs on a number of issues, with many campaigners in the UK, Europe and US urging governments and regulators to take steps to break up larger firms to prevent monopolies being created. IT experts have also called on the tech industry to come up with better systems to prevent a single error from having such a wide impact. Ms Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice-president for a Europe fit for the digital age, added that the incident showed it was also sometimes good to step away from social media and talk to people 'offline'. Facebook's Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer, offered his 'sincere apologies' for the outage on Monday afternoon. The scandal-hit company's shares had dipped by 5 percent on Monday amid the outage and after a whistleblower went public on Sunday night with claims that the firm prioritises 'growth over safety'. There have been a number of social media outages in recent months, with Instagram going down for 16 hours just last month, and all Facebook platforms going offline in June. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' The cause of the outage remains unconfirmed and it's unclear if all are linked but not long before Facebook's entities went down, entries for Facebook and Instagram were removed from the Domain Name System (DNS) it uses. A DNS is essentially an internet directory. Whenever someone opens a link or an app, their device has to search the DNS used by the service they are trying to access to find it and then connect them to it. Facebook has 37 locations in the US, although some are smaller data centers, and normally 15,000 people are based at the Menlo Park headquarters which automatically locked staff out of the building yesterday Major DNS providers are Google, Amazon and Cloudflare. It's unclear if all of the sites and services that went down on Monday use the same DNS or not. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. Cloudflare's Mr Graham-Cumming tweeted on Monday that Facebook accidentally 'disappeared' from the internet after making a 'flurry' of updates to its BGP - Border Gateway Protocol. 'Between 15:50 UTC and 15:52 UTC [4.50-4.52pm UK time] Facebook and related properties disappeared from the Internet in a flurry of BGP updates,' he said. When sites go down because of failures in DNS systems, CloudFare tries to repair them. Usman Muzaffar, SVP of engineering at Cloudflare, explained to DailyMail.com: 'Humans access information online through domain names, like facebook.com and DNS converts it into numbers, called an IP address, computers use. WHAT IS THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Domain Name System, or DNS, is the directory of the internet. Whenever you click on a link, send an email, open a mobile app, often one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of a domain. There are two sides of the DNS network: the authoritative side, ie webpages and other content, and the resolver side, devices that are trying to access this content. Every domain needs to have an authoritative DNS provider, servers which store DNS records. Amazon, Cloudflare and Google are among the bigger names in authoritative DNS server provision. On the other side of the DNS system are resolvers. Every device that connects to the Internet needs a DNS resolver. By default, these resolvers are automatically set by whatever network you're connecting to. So, for most Internet users, when they connect to an ISP, or a WiFi hot spot, or a mobile network, the network operator will dictate what DNS resolver to use. The problem is that these DNS services are often slow and don't respect your privacy. What many Internet users don't realise is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every WiFi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them. Advertisement 'From what we understand of the actual issue it is a globalized BGP configuration issue. In our experience, these usually are mistakes, not attacks. 'Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing protocol for the Internet. Much like the post office processing mail, BGP picks the most efficient routes for delivering Internet traffic. 'Today, the directions for how to get to Facebook's DNS server's addresses weren't available (and seem to still be unavailable). Without being able to contact the DNS servers, visitors trying to reach a Facebook property, like facebook.com, will not get an answer and so the page won't load.' According to Reuters news agency, security experts tracking the situation said the outage could have been triggered by a configuration error, which could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world's most popular sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique. Shares of Facebook, which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, fell 5.5 per cent in afternoon trading on Monday, inching towards its worst day in nearly a year. It means that the company's founder Mark Zuckerberg - who owns around 14 per cent of the firm - has seen his wealth plummet by nearly $7billion in a matter of hours, Bloomberg reported. Some users of UK phone network EE were also reporting that they were having difficulty accessing mobile internet services. However, the firm told MailOnline that there were no problems with the network. Cyber security specialist Jake Moore said there is a 'chance' the issue affecting the firms could be related to a cyber attack. He said: 'There have been many reports and I'm struggling to find out exactly what has happened- I'm reading it could be DNS related, which means there is an issue with the connection not knowing where to go to your device. 'It could well be a human error or a software bug lurking in the shadows but whatever it is Facebook needs to do its best to mitigate the problem of causing more panic about this. 'The biggest problem is fears over a cyber attack but as we saw from Fastly in the summer I would hedge my bets on that not being the case as we're talking about one of the biggest companies in the world, but there's always a chance.' Apologising on Twitter for the outage, Mr Schroepfer said: *'Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.' Facebook was already in the throes of a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company's awareness of harms caused by its products and decisions. Haugen went public on CBS's '60 Minutes' program Sunday and is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Haugen had also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging Facebook's own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation and leads to increased polarization. It also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. The Journal's stories, called 'The Facebook Files,' painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that 'social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.' Earlier on Twitter, Facebook communications executive, Andy Stone said they were aware some people were having trouble accessing Facebook apps and products. 'We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,' the executive said in a tweet. Soon after the first report came through, the hashtag #facebookdown was trending on Twitter, with users worldwide reporting issues connecting. The hashtag #instagramisdown and 'WhatsApp' were both also trending on Twitter, with a number of users saying they checked their internet connection when they couldn't get on Facebook. Instagram comms tweeted: 'Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it!' They're some of the most popular social media apps around the world, but it appears that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have all crashed this afternoon. Above: The reports of Facebook outages reported on DownDetector Down Detector also showed how problems with Whatsapp began being reported just before 5pm on Monday Facebook Messenger's outage was also reported on DownDetector at a similar time on Monday At 11.33pm on Monday, Facebook tweeted to apologise about the global outage of its services. They added that they were 'happy to report' that they were coming back online On Twitter, Facebook communications executive, Andy Stone said they were aware some people were having trouble accessing Facebook apps and products The various Facebook-owned platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook itself, took to Twitter to explain the issues and say they were working on a solution RECENT FACEBOOK OUTAGES Last month, a technical issue with Facebook owned Instagram caused an outage that plagued users around the world for 16 hours. Problems started just after 8am on Thursday. About 18 hours later, at 2am on Friday, Instagram announced the problem had been fixed. However, the last time Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down at the same time was in June. In June more than a thousand people in countries including the United States, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil reported outages. There were also two Facebook platform outages in March, with Instagram down on March 30, and all three down on March 19. Advertisement WhatsApp tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!' Even Oculus, the virtual reality gaming platform owned by Facebook was having problems, with one user describing their headset as being 'like a paperweight'. Oculus tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.' Every time Facebook and Instagram are down, it draws people to Twitter. On Monday, one user shared a meme of Homer Simpson jumping from his house to Moe's bar, with the Twitter logo over the door. Even Google got in on the action, tweeting: 'Everyone going to Google to check if Instagram is down.' There were multiple jokes along the same lines, with one showing a fast track race and the caption: 'Me and my friends running to twitter to see if fb, whatsapp and insta are down.' It is unclear what has caused the issue, although it has disrupted all Facebook owned platforms, including the Oculus Virtual Reality gaming website and Facebook Workplace. NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, tweeted: 'Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger are currently experiencing outages in multiple countries.' Adding that the 'incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering.' When attempting to visit Instagram using a desktop web browser, it gives up a '5xx Server Error' and Facebook simply says 'this site can't be reached.' Twitter users also took aim at Mark Zuckerberg by joking that he was trying to fix the problems himself Another tweet depicted Zuckerberg as a workman recovering an overturned car. The post above the image read: 'Mark Zuckerberg watching his team fix Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook' Twitter users took to the platform to make light of the situation and highlighted how millions of people were flocking to it in the absence of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp There were multiple jokes along the same lines, with one showing a fast track race and the caption: 'Me and my friends running to twitter to see if fb, whatsapp and insta are down' Twitter made light of their rivals' problems on Monday by posting a tweet which read: 'hello literally everyone' UK network Vodafone made light of Facebook's plight by joking that they had 'top men' working on the issue The last major outage of Facebook platforms was in June 2021, when people in the US, Morocco, Mexico and Brazil all reported not being able to connect. However, there were also problems last month, when Instagram went down for a whopping 16 hours. Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET said outages are increasing in volume and are becoming increasingly harder to predict. He said initially, a major problem with a website or app can point towards a cyber attack - but that can add to confusion and be misleading. 'With recent issues such as what happened with Fastly [the web service platform that saw a major global outage on June 8] it highlights the power of an undiscovered software bug or even human error,' Moore explained. Soon after the first report came through, the hashtag #facebookdown was trending on Twitter, with users worldwide reporting issues connecting 'Although these are increasing in frequency and require more failsafes in place, predicting these issues is increasingly more difficult as it was never thought possible before. Luckily, most outages only last under an hour.' This latest outage highlights the major issues with using centralised systems, according to Matthew Hodgson, Co-founder and CEO of Element and Technical Co-founder of Matrix. 'The ongoing outage of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook (including Facebook Messenger and Facebook Workplace) highlights that global outages are one of the major downsides of a centralised system,' he said. Centralised apps, like having a single back end for Facebook products, means putting 'all the eggs in one basket,' Hodgson explained. 'Decentralised systems are far more reliable. There's no single point of failure so they can withstand significant disruption and still keep people and businesses communicating.' NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, tweeted: 'Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger are currently experiencing outages in multiple countries' A heartbroken pet owner has been trapped paying rent in two states by Queensland's draconian Covid border laws to ensure her dying dog gets vital cancer care. Michelle Bryant's 11-year-old border collie Taffy has been diagnosed with a rare cancer that has spread to her lungs, spleen and shoulder. Ms Bryant - whose home is in the Tweed region on the NSW border - rushed the dog to the nearest vet with specialist care. But although she was initially allowed over the border to get to the Gold Coast vet, she's now trapped in Queensland to be beside her beloved dog in her final days. Now the 50-year-old mother has had to rent a second home in Carrara on the Gold Coast while still paying rent on her home in NSW - after being told she would be locked out of Queensland if she crossed back over. 'She could have minutes, days - I don't really know,' said Ms Bryant. Heartbroken pet owner Michelle Bryant (pictured) has been trapped paying rent in two states by Queensland's Covid border laws to ensure her dying dog Taffy gets vital cancer care 'She's very sick and I would just love for the both of us to be spending that last time that we have together in our actual home. 'Most people would like their dog to be put to sleep in their own home. I'm not going to have that luxury.' Ms Bryant has already spent more than $11,000 on vet expenses on top of the double rent she's now paying and has no idea what the final bill could be. The nightmare began five weeks ago when she spotted her dog was bleeding internally and, after arranging the paperwork, crossed the border into Queensland. Ms Bryant - whose home is in the Tweed region on the NSW border - rushed Taffy (pictured) to the nearest vet with specialist care Although Michelle Bryant (pictured) was initially allowed over the border to get to the Gold Coast vet, she's now trapped in Queensland to be beside her beloved dog in her final days 'On that first evening, I had Taffy on the front seat, and the border crossing was amazing,' she revealed. 'The police officer that night was very compassionate. 'He pushed me through and said, "Yep, you need you need to hurry, safe drive and hope everything's okay." 'There was no choice. It was either this or let her die, which would have happened that night, because she would have bled out.' But a few days later when she tried to cross back to NSW after Taffy had been diagnosed with cancer, the shutters came down. Michelle Bryant's 11 year old border collie Taffy has been diagnosed with a rare cancer that has spread to her lungs, spleen and shoulder (pictured) Now Michelle Bryant (pictured) has had to rent a second home in Carrara on the Gold Coast while still paying rent on her home in NSW during Taffy's treatment 'I had all the paperwork that I needed to to come back across the border but I was stopped,' she told 7News. 'It's difficult for me even to explain what happened because it was so confronting. It was a very different scenario than I had experienced two days before. 'I was a total wreck. I cried all the way from the border to the clinic and they said that's happened numerous times. 'I didn't want to have to deal with it again but Taffy needed to see an oncologist, and the nearest was in Carrara, or else 800km away in Newcastle.' When Michelle Bryant tried to cross back to NSW after Taffy (pictured) had been diagnosed with cancer, the shutters came down Michelle Bryant has already spent more than $11,000 on vet expenses on top of the double rent she's now paying and has no idea what the final bill could be Ms Bryant and Taffy have now settled into their new Gold Coast apartment with trips around the area in a bicycle dog trailer in between vet appointments. But she admits: 'Paying two lots of rent is a struggle plus the mental anguish that you go through with everything that's involved. 'I would love to go home, but we've been her five weeks now and I'm not even sure now if that's in her best interest. It's really been a huge emotional roller coaster. 'I'm thankful that I was able to get there that night, but for me to continue, we need to stay on this side of the border.' Michelle Bryant and Taffy (pictured) have now settled into their new Gold Coast apartment with trips around the area in a bicycle dog trailer in between vet appointments China has warned Taiwan against 'playing with fire' and said that 'war may be triggered at any time' after it sent dozens of warplanes into the island's airspace. An article in the state-backed Global Times said that 'collusion' between the US and Taiwan was so 'audacious' that the situation 'has almost lost any room for manoeuvre, teetering on the edge of a face-off.' Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes have breached Taiwan's airspace since Friday, including 56 jets on Monday in a dramatic increase in aggression. Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen today vowed to 'do whatever it takes' to guard Taiwan against invasion as she indicated that without help from the country's allies 'authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy.' Recent voyages through the Strait of Taiwan by the British and American navies, coupled with the new Aukus defence pact have infuriated Beijing and sparked more shows of strength in the South China Sea. Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes have breached Taiwan's airspace since Friday, including nuclear-capable bombers on Monday in a dramatic increase in aggression A Taiwan flag is carried across the sky on Tuesday during a national day rehearsal in Taipei, Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen (pictured in October 2020 in Taipei) vowed to 'do whatever it takes' to guard Taiwan against invasion as she warned that if the country's allies allowed it to fall 'it would signal that authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy.' President Xi Jinping (pictured in Beijing last month) has described the seizure of the self-governed democracy as 'inevitable' and Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Tsai since she was elected in 2016 on a mandate of an 'independent' Taiwan President Xi Jinping has described the seizure of the self-governed democracy as 'inevitable' and Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Tsai since she was elected in 2016 on a mandate of an 'independent' Taiwan. In another chilling piece of propaganda on Monday, The Global Times ran a piece which asked 'whether Australia is willing to accompany Taiwan to become cannon fodder' after its foreign minister reached out for help preparing his defences. Australia has been on the receiving end of Chinese wrath over the last few weeks after it signed a new alliance with the UK and the US. As part of the deal, Washington and London agreed to share nuclear submarine technology with Canberra. Beijing is incensed by the move because it will dramatically shift the power balance in the South China Sea, where it fights for influence with the West over smaller countries like Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. In an article published on Tuesday, Tawain's president Tsai said: 'They should remember that if Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system. 'It would signal that in today's global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy.' Taiwan hopes for peaceful coexistence with China, she said, but 'if its democracy and way of life are threatened, Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend itself.' Tsai's government on Monday urged Beijing to stop 'irresponsible provocative actions' after the warplanes breached Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ). 'Amid almost daily intrusions by the People's Liberation Army, our position on cross-strait relations remains constant: Taiwan will not bend to pressure,' Tsai added. The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own air defence identification zone and even includes some of the mainland. Chinese state media on Monday accompanied the military incursion with threats to Taiwan. Global Times editor Hu Xijin tweeted that it is 'only a matter of time before Taiwan's separatist authorities fall' - describing the weekend's show-of-force as a 'military parade' to mark China's National Day on October 1. An editorial in the same newspaper then added that - unlike the 'guard of honour' in traditional parades - the planes flown towards Taiwan at the weekend 'are fighting forces aimed at actual combat'. 'The increase in the number of aircraft showed the PLA Air Force's operational capabilities,' the newspaper said, adding: 'It is a clear and unmistakable declaration of China's sovereignty over the island.' 34 J-16 fighters (file image) were among 52 Chinese planes flown into Taiwan's ADIZ Twelve nuclear-capable H-6 bombers also flew in the sortie, along with two Su-30 fighters and several other military aircraft The operations are designed to familiarise pilots with 'battlefield conditions' so that 'once the order to attack is given' they will be able to fight like 'experienced veterans', the editorial concluded. 'There is no doubt about the future of the situation across the Taiwan Straits. 'The initiative of when and how to solve the Taiwan question is firmly in the hands of the Chinese mainland.' China has flown near-daily missions into Taiwan's airspace since the start of the year, the island's government has said, though most comprise only one aircraft. But that changed dramatically at the weekend, with 38 planes flown into the 'air defence identification zone' on Friday. The planes flew in two separate sorties, the first of which comprised 25 aircraft and flew during the day followed by 19 aircraft which flew at night. On Saturday, another 39 aircraft flew in two separate sorties - one of 20 aircraft during the day and another of 19 aircraft at night. Sunday saw an additional 16 planes fly close to the island in a single incursion. Flight tracking data published by Taiwan shows the latest mission involved a total of 36 fighter jets - 34 J-16s and two Russian-made Su-30s. They were accompanying 12 H-6 nuclear capable bombers, two Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, and two KJ-500 early warning and control planes. All flew a short distance into the ADIZ between Taiwan's mainland and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island. Taiwan's ADIZ is a zone in which it requires all foreign aircraft to identify themselves and state their intentions. It is different to the island's sovereign airspace, which extends over a smaller area 12 nautical miles from its coast. Taipei said it scrambled fighters, broadcast radio warnings and activated missile defences in response. A short time later, the Chinese aircraft turned back. 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. The Republic of China has long-standing ties with the US, which historically recognised it as the legitimate government of the whole of China. Shortly before the Chinese jets appeared in the skies near Taiwan, the Beijing-owned Global Times newspaper threatened Taipei and its new ally Australia The Global Times editor, Hu Xijin, also hit out at Taiwan - saying it is 'only a matter of time' until the government falls and control passes back to Beijing Tensions around the island are long-standing but increased significantly in 2019 when President Xi Jinping committed himself to 'reunifying' the islands - reserving the right to use force if necessary. In response, the US has forged new alliances in the region to counter-balance Beijing's growing power - including The Quad alliance between America, India, Japan and Australia. The AUKUS pact is the sternest warning yet for Beijing, arming a nearby rival Australia with nuclear submarine capabilities. Since AUKUS was announced, Chinese flights near Taiwan have increased significantly and taken on new significance - with the UK and Australia potentially dragged into any future fighting. Fighting around the island could also drag in the US, which has long maintained a policy of 'strategic ambiguity' to Taiwan - refusing to say what it would do if the island was attacked. Joe Biden suggested in a recent interview that he would be willing to go to war if China invades, though aides later insisted he had misspoke. Sex on duty was seen as 'a perk of the job' by officers, a former police chief has claimed. Sue Fish, the ex-chief of Nottinghamshire Police, said women's trust in law enforcement has been 'shattered' by recent events, including the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens. Having slammed Dame Cressida Dick for a lack of action in tackling misogyny in the capital's force last week, she has now lifted the lid on her experience of sexism during her time with police. Ms Fish told the Times' Helen Rumbelow how married women were not wanted in the force because they would soon leave to have children, and also shed light on her own experience of being sexually assaulted at work by a more senior officer. She also revealed how she would be left, as a young probationary officer, driving a marked car around in circles while an older colleague would sleep with a vulnerable woman he'd met doing the job. 'It's fair to say sex on duty was seen by some of my colleagues not all by a long chalk as being a perk of the job,' she said. 'It left me as a brand-new probationer feeling like I didn't know who to talk to about it, because saying to the concerned man, 'Don't do this to me. Don't do this to her, just don't do this at all', made no difference.' One Nottingham officer, who was eventually arrested and jailed for having sex with a vulnerable woman, had been nicknamed 'Pervert' by colleagues, she revealed. Ms Fish also revealed how she would be given a see-through female uniform blouse, and be subjected to constant comments on the state of her breasts. Sue Fish, the ex-chief of Nottinghamshire Police, said women's trust in law enforcement has been 'shattered' by recent events Met Police officers at the scene of a vigil in memory of Sarah Everard in March this year Ms Fish made headlines last week when she claimed it had taken the death of a white woman for the issue of trust in policing to be addressed. She admitted that every woman she knows would have got into the car with Couzens - the Met Police firearms officer who used his warrant card to kidnap Ms Everard - and then raped and murdered her, adding that the Met's new safety guidelines have 'absolutely no insight whatsoever'. Scotland Yard bosses are believed to remain sceptical about recording misogyny as a hate crime despite the majority of other chief constables backing the move. Some senior officers are said to think the reform - drafted in March after Ms Everard's death - is not needed because present legislation is adequate. However, Ms Fish recalled memories of the sexism she experienced as a young officer, when she was almost always the only woman on a shift made up of around 20 male colleagues. She was also refused lucrative overtime shifts and only given a tiny, ineffective truncheon compared to the ones used by her male counterparts. Calling for a change of attitude, she said: 'If you are convicted of drunk driving as a police officer, there is virtually no chance you will keep your job. 'The police service ought to be as crystal clear about racism, sexism, homophobia.' Ms Fish claimed she felt 'deeply ashamed' when she was assaulted at work, shortly after being promoted to inspector, thinking that she must have done something wrong. However, she barely thought after reporting the culprit because he was 'much loved and respected' and she felt she would be more damaged by the process. The former police chief also highlighted how some officers would look to take advantage of their power over the population. 'For someone and they are absolutely the minority who is attracted to power, and power to facilitate the less savoury or deviant aspects of their personality, or simply criminal conduct, the opportunity is there,' she admitted. Ms Fish has recently slammed Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick (pictured) for a lack of action in tackling misogyny in the capital's force Her comments come as the Prime Minister today outlined his plan to make women and young girls feel safer across the UK. Boris Johnson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'You've got to make the streets safer. We're putting more police out on the streets and we've recruited about 10,000 of the 20,000 that I promised at the election. 'We are putting (in) more CCTV, better street lighting. But what you've got to do is address the underlying frustration of millions of women, and millions of people across the country, at the slowness of the criminal justice system and the inadequacy of the cruel justice system in dealing with crimes of rape and domestic violence and sexual violence.' When asked by presenter Nick Robinson whether it is time to put 'more money' into justice, Mr Johnson said: 'We're putting money into every part of the UK public services and the problem is not just a question of money, but what we're putting money in. 'The problem is not just to do with money, it's to do with the way we handle the evidence, and as you know the difficulties that are presented by mobile phones, in particular when the defence is able to seize upon this or that piece of data and use it in court, and that's very complex, but it is no excuse for the delays and the frustration that women are experiencing, and we need to fix it.' The Met announced earlier that an additional 650 officers will be put in place across the capital, with 500 officers being based permanently in busy neighbourhoods and 150 joining London wards as 'Bobbies on the beat'. The force said the addition of the new officers - a combination of new staff as part of the Government's national recruitment drive and redeployed personnel - was part of a drive to cut down on violent crime, including domestic abuse and violence against women and girls. The town centre teams will be made up of one inspector, two sergeants and 21 police constables. Once in place, the local police leaders will be able to increase the size of their teams if needed. The first tranche of officers will be in place by late 2021 and all 19 teams are expected to be in place by spring 2022. They will be located in boroughs and towns across London, from Hounslow, west London, to Barking and Dagenham, east London. Ministers today dismissed French threats to cut Britain's power in a dramatic escalation of the bitter row over Jersey fishing permits. Europe minister Clement Beaune engaged in the extraordinary sabre-rattling as he accused the UK of failing to implement the Brexit deal. Paris was infuriated when Jersey only granted licences to 12 small French boats out of 47 applications this summer - with warnings that vessels could mount a blockade. Mr Beaune went further this morning, pointedly observing that the UK depends on energy exports across the Channel. Two under-sea cables of the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) supply the UK with enough electricity to power three million homes - more than the total amount generated by British wind farms. 'Enough already, we have an agreement negotiated by France, by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent. It isn't being,' he told Europe 1 radio. France has threatened to cut Britain's power in a dramatic escalation of the bitter row over Jersey fishing permits (pictured, French boats protest off St Helier in June Europe minister Clement Beaune engaged in extraordinary sabre-rattling as he accused the UK of failing to implement the Brexit deal This graphic shows how the Interconnexion France-Angleterre subsea electricity operation works between France and Kent The IFA (thick line in green) is one of a series of electricity interconnectors between Britain and other parts of Europe The French connection: How electricity crosses the Channel Two under-sea cables of the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) supply the UK with enough electricity to power three million homes - more than the total amount generated by British wind farms. IFA 1 connects Kent and the Pas de Calais, while IFA 2 links Fareham in Hampshire and Caen in Normandy. Their electricity interconnectors use are high-voltage cables to connect the distribution systems of neighbouring countries, and allow them to share excess power. The landing point for IFA 1 is Folkestone, from where underground cables connect to the Sellindge converter station and then onto the UK's transmission station. However, it was damaged by fire last month, causing a spike in electricity prices amid fears it will not be back to 100 per cent until next March. IFA 2 went live in January and could bring in 1.2 per cent of the UK's energy. As well as the French connections there are also similar cables connecting the UK with Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway. Advertisement 'In the next few days, and I talked to my European counterparts on this subject yesterday, we will take measures at the European level or nationally, to apply pressure on the United Kingdom.' He added: 'We defend our interests. We do it nicely, and diplomatically, but when that doesn't work, we take measures. 'For example, we can imagine, since we're talking about energy, ... the United Kingdom depends on our energy supplies,' Beaune also said. 'It thinks that it can live all alone, and bash Europe.' But a Cabinet minister told MailOnline that Mr Beaune was making empty threats pointing out that relations would be shattered if France took that kind of action. 'If France was to cut off our power supplies, we would just never use them again,' they said. 'Why would you ever go back to a provider who did that? Trust would be gone. They would be damaging themselves in the long-term.' Fishing rights were one of the key battlegrounds between Britain and France in their post-Brexit negotiations. Earlier this year, a dispute over the licences led both France and Britain to send patrol vessels off the shores of Jersey, which is a self-governing British Crown Dependency. Diplomatic relations between the countries have hit a low point in recent weeks. Last month Boris Johnson told France to 'prenez un grip' and 'donnez moi un break' in the row about the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal that tore up a separate French contract. Britain says the majority of the vessels were denied licences because they failed to provide evidence that they had fished in the six-to-12-mile nautical zone in the years before the UK's referendum on leaving the EU. Jersey external relations minister Ian Gorst said the island's government had taken 'a pragmatic, reasonable and evidence-based approach' to the issue. Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown warned 'Twitter has messed with the wrong soldier' after he revealed his account was 'permanently suspended'. Brown, who is running in the Republican primary in Nevada in an attempt to usurp the Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto next year, said he woke up on Monday morning to find his Twitter account had been suspended. Earlier this year, a tweet posted by Brown on 4 July with an image of him standing to attention and saluting in military dress was also flagged by social media's moderators as 'potentially sensitive content'. Speaking with Fox News on Monday night, Brown launched an assault on the platform, accusing them of censorship and targeting specific voices with whom they disagree. 'Big Tech is waging an all-out attack on conservative voices using unequally applied 'rules' to censor or suspend anyone they disagree with,' Brown declared. 'I will not back down from this fight - Twitter has messed with the wrong soldier'. Former Army captain Sam Brown, who is running in the Republican primary in Nevada, said he woke up on Monday morning to find his Twitter account had been suspended Speaking with Fox News on Monday night, Brown launched an assault on the platform, accusing them of censorship and targeting specific voices with whom they disagree Sam Brown was severely burned by an IED device in 2008 during his first deployment to Afghanistan Brown reportedly filed an appeal against Twitter's decision after discovering his account had been suspended with no explanation or evidence as to which tweets had triggered the ban. The Republican candidate said Twitter responded with an automatic email informing him his appeal request was received, but offered no further explanation as his account remained inaccessible for several hours. 'Big Tech knows their days of one-sided censorship and divisive influence are numbered with conservative voices like me in the Senate,' he told Fox News. It's not the first time that Twitter has interfered with Brown's account. On 4 July, a tweet he posted showing an image of him saluting in military dress was flagged as containing 'potentially sensitive content', as was the launch video with which he hoped to kickstart his campaign for the Senate. The Republican candidate (left) said Twitter responded with an automatic email informing him his appeal request was received, but offered no further explanation as his account remained inaccessible for several hours Brown, who was badly burned in an Afghanistan IED blast, slammed Twitter for flagging his July 4 post of him saluting in uniform as 'potentially sensitive content' (the tweet above) Brown believes his tweet was flagged by the social media platform because of his appearance which was drastically altered after he sustained considerable burns from an IED explosion during his first deployment to Afghanistan in 2008. At the time, Brown slammed the social media giant and accused it of deplatforming voices at odds with its political views. 'Hey @Twitter, I didn't realize my face was 'sensitive content',' he tweeted, sharing a grab of the tweet with the warning. 'Ironic considering I only have 3 tweets & just filed to run for U.S. Senate only hours ago. 'What Twitter is doing to me is what they've been doing to others for quite some time,' said Brown in a July interview with Fox News. 'This is a pattern that I think is an undeniable attack against conservative voices who are just trying to share our ideas, our concerns, our solutions and honestly our inspiration with all Americans. 'It's tragic that a Big Tech company is allowed to really depress our ability to share those messages with people who desperately need hope at a time when Americans have been crushed by these policies, by the laws and regulations of elected and unelected officials.' While the tweet itself was not restricted, the photo was slapped with a warning reading: 'The following media includes potentially sensitive content.' A Twitter spokesperson told DailyMail.com the tweet 'was marked as sensitive because of the media settings of the user, not because of any action on the part of Twitter.' On 4 July, a tweet he posted showing an image of him saluting in military dress was flagged as containing 'potentially sensitive content', as was the launch video with which he hoped to kickstart his campaign for the Senate 'As someone who has been targeted multiple times by Twitter's censorship regime, this issue is now personal to me: it's clear that decisive action must be taken immediately to rein in Big Tech,' said Brown On Monday, Brown shared an email he received from Twitter with Fox News, which eventually provided a partial explanation as to why his account was suspended for the day. 'We're writing to let you know that we've unsuspended your account. We're sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on Twitter soon,' the email read. Twitter added, 'A little back background: we have systems that find and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk, and yours was flagged as spam by mistake. Please note that it make take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.' Brown remained steadfast in his criticism of Twitter, and declared that steps must be taken to limit the level of power enjoyed by the heads of social media firms and the 'censorship' present on the platforms. 'As someone who has been targeted multiple times by Twitter's censorship regime, this issue is now personal to me: it's clear that decisive action must be taken immediately to rein in Big Tech and the partisan elites who run them,' Brown told Fox News. Home Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to 'name and shame' middle-class recreational drug users in an effort to cut violent crime. The minister said she would target wealthy users by introducing drug testing upon arrest, under a 15million plan rolled out across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Ms Patel said many middle-class users refuse to believe they are funding the exploitation of children in county lines gangs, and that some users even felt it was acceptable that seven-year-olds were part of these national narcotics networks. The concept is something that already happens throughout England and Wales when people are detained for so-called 'trigger offences' but it appears she intends to test all arrestees. Asked about if she thought middle-class users were too casual about their drug use, the Home Secretary said: 'There's no question about this, I'm sorry that I've seen through all our work I'm unapologetic about this. 'The harsh reality is, and I just don't think drug-users recognise this enough, children are being used as a pawn in that supply chain, kids as young as seven years old. 'How can anybody think that it's OK, through addiction, habit or recreational use, to think that that is acceptable? Priti Patel, pictured today at the Tory conference in Manchester, has vowed to 'name and shame' middle-class recreational drug users in a bid to cut violent crime Around 650,000 worth of herbal cannabis found during a police drugs raid in the UK The Home Secretary said she expected Met Commissioner Cressida Dick to improve force 'It is not acceptable. It is completely wrong,' she added to the Telegraph. While Ms Patel said middle-class users would be named and shamed it was not explained what the mechanism for this would be. Currently police forces refuse to name anyone arrested, but already name them when they are charged with an offence. In the morning, the Home Office said Ms Patel's speech may have gone into further detail on any changes, but it did not explain the missing information where it was delivered at the Conservative party conference. Already some police forces have been texting users of drug dealers after finding their numbers on their phones after arrest. Middle-class recreational drug users were targeted by at least two forces Thames Valley Police and Nottinghamshire Police. Elsewhere in the interview Ms Patel added: 'Drugs devastate lives. They ruin communities and they tear families apart. One large-scale county lines op - which spanned 18 counties - was infiltrated by undercover officers following a two-year covert operation and stopped 1.3million of drugs from arrival Police found the gang were exploiting vulnerable children as young as 14 and using them to peddle Class A drugs including crack cocaine and heroin on Britain's streets. Pictured: Recovered weapons What are county lines gangs? The term county lines refers to the individual phone lines used by gangs to sell and distribute drugs. The gangs, which are linked to increasing violence in provincial towns and shire counties, recruit children and teenagers to transport drugs from cities to the provinces. Figures released earlier this year in a National Crime Agency report showed more than 3,000 gangs were reported by police in 2019 double the 1,500 of 2018. It is also a four-fold increase since 2017 when there were 720 operations shipping heroin and crack cocaine from cities to provincial towns. Despite a crackdown by forces, figures from the National County Lines Coordination Centre show 800 to 1,100 phone lines advertising drugs are active every month. Gangs are recruiting an army of youngsters to replace those arrested for dealing, with the report warn-ing that children as young as 11 are being intimidated into becoming runners. And the number of young people being groomed to become money mules so criminals can access their savings accounts has shot up by 26 per cent since 2017. The report warns: Exploitation in county lines drugs supply remains the most frequently identified form of coerced criminality with children the vast majority of victims. Advertisement 'Testing offenders for drugs will help increase our understanding of drug-fuelled crimes, ensure addicts get the help they need, and ultimately cut crime. 'I'm here to do a tough job. I have to make difficult and tough decisions and I apologise to no one for that, quite frankly. You don't become Home Secretary and expect to be liked by everyone and become popular. 'I'm here to serve my country. I'm here to right many wrongs, I'm here to be an agent of change.' Ms Patel also touched upon the murder of Sarah Everard and how police officer Wayne Couzens' arrest had caused a crisis in confidence in the police. She said forces should take indecent exposures and harassment more seriously in future. Ms Patel added: 'Women reporting them should have the respect and dignity that they are due. 'There is something so corrosive, quite frankly, in society if people think that it's OK to harass women verbally, physically, and in an abusive way on the street.' She said that she expected Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to change the direction of crime in London. Ms Patel said: 'I've been Home Secretary for two years and, believe you me, I've had many difficult conversations with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner about what's going wrong in policing in London. 'Kids dying on the streets of London. Why is that still happening? Gangs are still infamously on the high streets, in our towns and in our cities as well. 'And in outer London boroughs we see levels of violence that quite frankly we've not seen previously. 'So we have to move away from all of that. 'That is very much the framework for the reappointment. I expect change. I absolutely expect change.' Police target middle class and weekend cocaine users who 'dial for drugs': Cops seize dealers' 'burner phones' and text ANYONE who has ever ordered from them with warning that they have been 'identified' Middle-class recreational drug users have been targeted by UK police forces warning them they have been identified - after officers seized county lines dealers' phones. MailOnline learned at least two major constabularies have used mobiles confiscated from suppliers to find their customers. Officers have accessed contacts lists on the burner phone handsets to send out the warnings via text. So far it has been used by Thames Valley Police and Nottinghamshire Police forces. It fires a shot across the bows for many weekend drug users who may have thought their recreational habit would fly under the radar. And the developments also raise the prospect that their contact numbers are now on a police system connected to the dealer's case - even if they only bought something once. Potentially deadly drugs can be delivered quicker than a pizza in some parts of the country, with couriers arriving by bike in some places to drop off their product. One suspected supplier in Bestwood, Notts, provided a hundred leads to officers through his seized mobile. They were texted to be asked if they had a drug habit or had been exploited by a county lines dealer. Nottinghamshire Police have sent out messages to contacts of dealer they had busted Thames Valley Police have a similar message which says it wants to give help to users Mohammed Nasir, 22, of Luton, was jailed for three years and four months for drugs offences In the Thames Valley area the same tactic was used after the illegal-activity mobiles were taken by the force. Its message says it comes from Thames Valley Police and support group One Recovery Bucks. It tells recipients that a drug line has been shut down which has identified their number. The text continues to tell the phone owner 'We want to help you with your substance misuse'. It ends with the promise that further information will be sent to the same device. Caroline Henry, newly appointed PCC for Nottinghamshire insisted the messages were intended to help not warn. She added: 'I was elected on a mandate to back communities and this includes cracking down on county lines and the associated exploitation and substance misuse which has such a devastating impact. 'My priority, and that of the force, is to ensure we place victims and residents at the heart of our policing priorities and get tough on the criminal networks which exploit vulnerable people. Almost 100 kilos of cocaine seized by Border Force, Sussex and Thames Valley Police in 2020 'This innovative approach directs individuals to the support they need, giving them a way out of crime and an opportunity to have a more positive role in our communities.' Police believe that the simple 10p text message can disrupt drug dealing activities. They say they decided to carry out the unusual approach following intel vulnerable and young people were being coerced by crime networks to carry out their bidding. Detective Inspector Paul Lefford said: 'It's crucial that we think of different ways to start a conversation with those vulnerable drug dependent users and help turn their life around. 'It's important to reach out to people not only to support them, but by helping them stop their drug abuse, we would see fewer people commit crimes to feed their habit and prevent crime before it happens. 'By seizing devices during raids, we have an opportunity to obtain a wealth of knowledge that can help with the force's investigations. 'Drugs gangs exploit drug users and we know there are people who may feel trapped by their lifestyle or frightened to get help. 'We want them to know there is a way out and there are people who can help them through our partners if they wish to receive it. 'Intelligence suggests that people are being exploited to carry out drug dealing on behalf of the line. 'We've made a number of significant arrests recently and will continue to pursue county lines drug activity. 'The force's county lines team works closely to our key partners to keep people safe and, whether that's by prosecuting drug dealers or supporting vulnerable people to break free from a particular lifestyle. 'Our message is clear, if you a drug dealer in Nottinghamshire and you are looking to recruit, exploit and profit financially by exploiting the vulnerable we will use every tactic available to us to locate, enforce and prosecute you. This morning the Metropolitan Police searched more than 200 shipping containers at a commercial container yard in Purfleet, Essex during dawn raids on a suspected county lines drugs gang. 'We hope this tactic will be successful. If the support services manage to talk to one vulnerable person and they seek the support they need, then in my view the initiative will have been a success.' Neither Thames Valley Police nor One Recovery Bucks responded to requests to comment when approached by MailOnline. The message was revealed on the same day Thames Valley Police trumpeted the results of an investigation they said showed 'county drug lines or organised crime' would be targeted. It saw a man sentenced for drug and driving offences which took place in Aston Clinton, near Aylesbury. Mohammed Nasir, 22, of Luton, was jailed for three years and four months at Aylesbury Crown Court. Police say he had already pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply a Class A drugs, namely heroin and crack cocaine, and one count of dangerous driving on April 29. Officers clocked him at 1pm on December 15 last year, as he drove along the A41 in Aston Clinton in an Audi A6, towards Aylesbury. When they tried to stop him he sped off and when they were finally able to halt him arrested the motorist. It was discovered that he was in possession of 1,650 worth of Class A drugs, multiple phones and also cash. Investigating officer PC Gary Ratcliffe, of Aylesbury police station, said: 'Nasir drove at speed along the A41, in such a manner causing danger to not only himself, but innocent members of the public. 'However, swift work from our officers meant that he was arrested shortly after making off, preventing any further dangerous driving and causing any risk to the public on what is a busy road. 'After being stopped, Nasir was found to be in possession of Class A drugs, mobile phones and cash in his car. He was charged the next day. 'Now he has been sentenced after pleading guilty due to the strong evidence against him, he can reflect on his offending while serving this sentence. 'Anyone involved in County Drug lines or organised crime within Aylesbury Vale will be targeted by the Stronghold Team and will continue to be pursed until the line or crime group are no more.' This morning the Metropolitan Police searched more than 200 shipping containers at a commercial container yard in Purfleet, Essex during dawn raids on a suspected county lines drugs gang. It is believed the gang used the site for storage, with investigators discovering drugs, cash, weapons and three stolen off-road vehicles in the first few hours of searching. Navy bomb disposal experts today carried out a controlled explosion at Butlin's in Bognor Regis after a suspicious package was found in the car park. Guests were evacuated from the famous resort at 7.15am today and road blocks were put in place. A technician in a padded jacket was seen approaching the object and a blast was heard at around 10.15am, with the noise echoing around the surrounding area. Police confirmed the device had been inspected and found to present no risk to the public. Guests and staff are being allowed back into the resort. Guests were evacuated from Butlin's at 7.15am today and road blocks were put in place. A technician in a padded jacket was seen approaching a suspicious object in the car park A spokesman for the police said: 'The device was disrupted to allow the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to make an assessment and it was found to not be an explosive device and presented no risk to the public. 'Our thanks to members of the public and staff at the site for their patience while we ensured it was safe.' Guests and staff are being allowed back into the resort. It comes a day after a historic hotel housing dozens of Afghan refugees and a Travelodge on the Scarborough seafront were evacuated over a bomb hoax a day after anti-migrant leaflets were posted through doors in the town. North Yorkshire Police had earlier ordered those staying at the Grand Hotel and the nearby Travelodge Scarborough to vacate the buildings urgently and set up a large cordon in the surrounding area. It has now emerged that the Grand Hotel, a Grade II listed building which opened in 1867 and was once the largest hotel in Europe, had housed 150 refugees fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban swept to power. Angry locals apparently posted anti-refugee leaflets through letterboxes in the seaside town a day before the hotel received a phone call 'with what has now been proven to be a bomb hoax'. Residents in the Fairfax area of the resort had leaflets shoved their doors at around 5am yesterday saying 'No Afghan Migrants'. A member of the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal unit helps a technician get into his padded jacket Police confirmed the device had been inspected and found to present no risk to the public The leaflets feature the picture of desperate refugees crammed into a US military plane taken during the evacuation of Kabul with slogans 'Put British people first!' and 'Charity starts at home!' in bold text. In a statement issued yesterday, North Yorkshire Police said the cordon had been lifted, adding: 'At 10.15am this morning the hotel received a telephone call with what has now been proven to be a bomb hoax. Emergency services attended the area and evacuated the building and erected cordon as a precautionary measure. The Butlin's resort in Bognor Regis dates back to 1932, when Butlin's first established an amusement park in the West Sussex town. In 1960, Billy Butlin opened his first post-war mainland holiday camp where visitors would stay in chalets, although more recently the company has been moving towards hotel-based accommodation. Facebook insiders claim the seven-hour outage that took all of its services offline was exacerbated by employees working from home as staff were locked out of key data centers and messaging services. The crisis came on a week of cascading disasters for Facebook, as a whistleblower on Tuesday testified before Congress slamming the company's artificial intelligence content algorithms as harmful and divisive. Facebook said in an update on Tuesday morning that there was 'no malicious activity behind this outage,' meaning that an employee's inadvertent error in updating network settings likely triggered the crisis. While the massive outage on Monday was a minor annoyance for casual Facebook users, it was a grave concern to the countless small businesses that rely on the platform and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram as vital channels to communicate with customers. Facebook is also used to log in to many other apps and services, leading to unexpected issues accessing shopping accounts, dating apps, smart home devices, and a wide range of other services. For Facebook employees themselves, the situation was dire. Striking just after 8.30am in California, the outage left employees arriving at the Menlo Park headquarters locked out as the company's access card system went down, according to multiple reports. For the roughly three-quarters of Facebook employees working remotely, the company's internal messaging system Workplace was also knocked offline by the outage, leaving a skeleton crew at the company's main Santa Clara data center cut off from assistance as they raced to debug the network servers. Teams dispatched to the main data center also reportedly had difficulty accessing secure rooms to revert faulty configurations on key systems. Jonathan Zittrain, director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society, said in a tweet: 'Facebook basically locked its keys in its car.' Engineers were rushed to the company's data center in Santa Clara, California (pictured), to reset the servers manually after the company's internal services went down A person claiming to be a Facebook employee said on Reddit that high numbers of staff working from home made the problem worse. The account was later deleted Facebook has said that Monday's historic outage was caused by 'configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers.' It is believed that a faulty update to Facebook's Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which routes traffic between large private networks and the public Internet, left apps and browsers unable to locate the company's services. Facebook has led the way in allowing employees to work remotely during the pandemic, and one purported insider said on Reddit that the Santa Clara data center had lower staffing due to pandemic restrictions. 'The nature of the problem meant Facebook would have needed network engineers to physically access their BGP routers and due to the pandemic, some of the data centers quite possibly don't have an engineer based on site, or someone who could have immediately started to work on the problem,' Kieron Harding, an IT Infrastructure Engineer at GRC International Group, told DailyMail.com. 'One of the reasons why the outage lasted for as long as it did was because the misconfiguration of the BGP also affected Facebook's physical door access systems which shut down; meaning engineers couldn't get into the buildings, or secure rooms, to start fixing the issues straightaway,' said Harding. Harding and other experts have said an inadvertent mistake or sabotage by an insider were both plausible scenarios. The failures of internal communication tools and other resources that depend on that company's network compounded the initial error, several Facebook employees told Reuters. 'We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change,' Facebook said in its blog post. 'We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime.' Employees at the company's Menlo Park (pictured) campus had trouble entering buildings because the outage had rendered their security badges useless The Facebook outage is the largest ever tracked by web monitoring group Downdetector. The tech giant has around 60,000 employees globally and announced in May that it would be operating with a 25 per cent capacity in its offices once it reopened in July. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in June that the company would allow all full-time employees to work from home if their jobs can be done remotely, and has said he expects half the company's to work remotely over the next decade. Data center technicians and other who work of physical hardware would be exempt from remote work, Zuckerberg said. New York Times reporter Sheera Frenkel said in a tweet: 'Was just on phone with someone who works for FB who described employees unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren't working to access doors.' Meanwhile a purported insider on Facebook's recovery team said on Reddit: 'There are people now trying to gain access to the peering routers to implement fixes, but the people with physical access is separate from the people with knowledge of how to actually authenticate to the systems and people who know what to actually do, so there is now a logistical challenge with getting all that knowledge unified. 'Part of this is also due to lower staffing in data centers due to pandemic measures.' Facebook explained that Monday's outage was caused by a faulty update that was sent to their core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet. Engineers were rushed to the company's data centers in Santa Clara to reset the servers manually, but it took until 2.45pm Pacific Time (10.45pm GMT) for them to be reconnected due to the 'logistical challenge' of employees who could offer assistance being cut off and at home. Employees use Facebook services to communicate with each other and its internal messaging platform Workplace was also down, leaving many unable to do their jobs and discuss how to fix the issue while working from their homes. Facebook engineers said in a statement: 'The underlying cause of this outage impacted many of the internal tools and systems we use in our day-to-day operations, complicating our attempts to quickly diagnose and resolve the problem. 'Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. 'This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt.' Zuckerberg apologized for the outage in a Facebook post on Monday, writing: 'Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.' 'To every small and large business, family, and individual who depends on us, I'm sorry,' Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer tweeted, adding that it 'may take some time to get to 100%.' The outage was the second blow to the social media giant in as many days after a whistleblower on Sunday accused the company of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation. Facebook, which is the world's largest seller of online ads after Google, was losing about $545,000 in U.S. ad revenue per hour during the outage, according to estimates from ad measurement firm Standard Media Index. Kevin Collier, an NBC news reporter, said: 'Don't yet know exactly what's behind the DNS issue that's knocked Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp offline, but it's really bad. 'Pretty much everything that runs through those three companies are inaccessible. Employees can't even enter conference rooms because they're IoT (internet of things)!' Facebook has 47 locations across North America but many are smaller data sites, while 15,000 people, around a quarter of the total workforce, are based in the Menlo Park headquarters. Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to move to a working from home setup within the coming years and predicts that as much of half of the workforce will be remote within the next five to ten years. The CEO said he would start 'aggressively opening up remote hiring', telling the Verge: 'We're going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale. Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to move to a working from home setup within the coming years Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet 'We need to do this in a way that's thoughtful and responsible, so we're going to do this in a measured way. But I think that it's possible that over the next five to 10 years maybe closer to 10 than five, but somewhere in that range I think we could get to about half of the company working remotely permanently.' Monday's outage caused Facebook shares to plunge 5 percent amid the outage, wiping some $48billion off its value - though the slide started before the tech problems, in-part due to a whistleblower accusing the company of putting profits before safety in a 60 Minutes program broadcast Sunday night. It marks the firm's second-worst day on the markets ever. Facebook stock rebounded in early trading Tuesday, rising more than 1 percent. In addition to the stock market slide, Facebook likely missed out on at least $67million in direct revenue and possibly as much as $102million during the outage - based on average hourly earnings across 2020 and projections of its 2021 hourly earnings from Q1 and Q2 results. Zuckerberg's own stake in Facebook fell by an estimated $7billion. Facebook was already in the throes of a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company's awareness of harms caused by its products and decisions. Haugen went public on CBS's '60 Minutes' program Sunday and is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Haugen had also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging Facebook's own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation and leads to increased polarization. It also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. The Journal's stories, called 'The Facebook Files,' painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that 'social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.' A fifth of British travellers who went on last-minute summer holidays were not vaccinated, according to official data. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that 82 per cent of travellers had received at least one jab in August. This was slightly lower than the 85 per cent of foreign people coming into the UK who said they had been inoculated. Britons are not required to have a jab to go on holiday but having two doses of the vaccine was necessary to avoid quarantining for ten days on return from amber or red list countries in the old traffic light system. New rules intended to make travel 'easier and cheaper' came into force yesterday, with fully vaccinated Britons no longer needing a test before flying back. The UK has scrapped the green, amber and red categories for a 'go' or 'no go' system following criticism the previous system was too complicated. Travel chiefs last night called on ministers to also scrap the the requirements for PCR testing on day two of re-entry to the UK for double-jabbed Brits. They pressed for all Covid testing to end for fully vaccinated Britons and for the switch to cheaper rapid tests to be brought forward. Just four fifths of British holidaymakers returning from abroad this summer were vaccinated, according to official data. Graph shows: The proportion of British travellers returning to the UK who were vaccinated in each age group over time Graph shows: The proportion of foreign travellers leaving the UK who were vaccinated in each age group over time Ministers plan to replace the requirement for 'gold standard' PCRs which can cost upwards of 100 with cheaper and quicker lateral flows later this month, but have not yet set a date for the change. The ONS figures come from the International Passenger Survey, which interviewed more than 26,000 passengers from March to August. It showed 96 per cent of British holidaymakers leaving the country in August were vaccinated. This was higher than the proportion of overseas travellers returning home from Britain (93 per cent). Only 56.4 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds said they had received a jab, with the UK's vaccine rollout not extended to all over-16s until late August. Meanwhile, a slightly higher proportion (60.7 per cent) of overseas travellers aged 16 to 24 leaving the UK during July had received a vaccine. But the proportions across all other age groups were lower than in British holidaymakers. Some 67 per cent of overseas residents said that they were not at all confident accessing information about the UKs Covid restrictions Britain's current red list of countries/territories The UK Government's 'red list' of 54 countries is tipped to be reduced to just nine. These are the countries currently on the red list: Afghanistan Angola Argentina Bolivia Botswana Brazil Burundi Cape Verde Chile Colombia Congo (Democratic Republic) Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia French Guiana Georgia Guyana Haiti Indonesia Lesotho Malawi Mayotte Mexico Mongolia Montenegro Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Reunion Rwanda Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sudan Suriname Tanzania Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Uganda Uruguay Venezuela Zambia Zimbabwe Advertisement The ONS said: 'Older UK residents, arriving into the UK, continue to be more likely to have been vaccinated than younger UK residents, aligning with the progress of the vaccine rollout in the UK. 'Respondents in older age groups were more likely to have received their vaccine earlier during the vaccine rollout, and proportions reporting that they have had at least one dose among these age groups remained stable in August, but increased in younger age groups.' In August, the majority of UK residents arriving into the UK said that they had found it either difficult (47 per cent) or very difficult (32 per cent) to follow overseas restrictions. Some 67 per cent of overseas residents said that they were not at all confident accessing information about the UKs Covid restrictions. The Government's 'red list' of 54 countries is tipped to be reduced to just nine on Thursday, just in time for families travelling during the half-term break. Fully vaccinated residents and unvaccinated under-18s from more than 50 countries and territories can now enter the UK without a pre-departure lateral flow test. Those groups now only need to take a single day-two PCR post-arrival test costing around 65, and complete a passenger locator form. Under-11s were already exempt from pre-departure testing. People arriving from a red tier destination will still be required to spend 11 nights at a quarantine hotel costing 2,285 for solo travellers. It comes as travel bosses called on the Government to speed up its plans to ditch PCR tests in favour of cheaper lateral flow kits. EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren said: 'With half-term approaching, we urge the Government to move quickly on the planned replacement of PCR tests. 'UK consumers need simple and affordable lateral flow tests now so travel opens up for more hard-working families. 'But ultimately UK consumers have for too long been held back by unnecessary and expensive travel testing whereas across Europe testing has not been required for the vaccinated since July 1.' British Airways chief Sean Doyle said: 'We welcome the Government's changes to the traffic light system, allowing travellers to benefit from the UK's world-leading vaccination programme. 'However, with fewer than 1 per cent of travellers returning from low-risk countries testing positive for coronavirus, we urge ministers to scrap all testing for fully vaccinated travellers as soon as possible.' Under the new system, all people returning from red list countries must still quarantine in hotels for 11 nights at a cost of 2,285. For the double-jabbed, pre-return tests which had to be taken within 72 hours of returning to England were ditched. Climate envoy John Kerry made an extraordinary admission to French TV on Monday that President Biden 'literally had not been aware' of the fallout of the AUKUS submarine deal that caused France to lose a $90billion submarine contract. 'He literally had not been aware of what had transpired,' Kerry, who serves as President Biden's climate envoy, told French broadcaster BFMTV. Kerry made the comment in an interview conducted in both French and English that aired Monday, while US diplomats including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tried to heal the rift with the French during meetings in Paris. The French government said it was stabbed in the back by its close allies over the nuclear-powered submarine deal - part of the so-called AUKUS security pact between the United States, Australia and Britain announced on Sept. 15 - and the wounds would take time to heal. 'And I dont want to go into the details of it, but suffice it to say, that the president, my president is very committed to strengthening the relationship and making sure that this is a small event of the past and moving on to the much more important future,' said Kerry. As Kerry explained, 'President Biden asked me about it, and I told him.' His interviewer pressed: 'You told Joe Biden that it was not the right ...' Kerry interjected: 'He asked me. He said, "What's the situation?" And I explained exactly. He had not been aware of that,' said Kerry. 'He literally had not been aware of what had transpired,' US climate envoy John Kerry told French TV, while discussing the US security deal with the UK and Australia and the French reaction Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and was to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in an effort to smooth a rift in US-French relations Kerry evidently did not intend to convey that Biden had been unaware that the decision to make a new security arrangement with Britain and Australia from the French would upset Paris. 'Secretary Kerry was clearly referring to French sentiment. He has consistently reiterated in both public and private that U.S.-French cooperation is essential to confronting the climate crisis,' a Kerry spokeswoman told DailyMail.com. His comments came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken took another step toward seeking to heal the rupture with France by meeting with French President Emanuel Macron in Paris and discussing France's push for more NATO security cooperation. The top U.S. diplomat is in Paris seeking to rebuild ties after a security pact between the three countries that infuriated the French president after Canberra scuttled a submarine defense contract initially valued at $40 billion for French diesel-electric subs. Blinken told Macron that Washington was 'certainly supportive of European defense and security initiatives' that can increase capabilities but do not undermine the NATO alliance, a senior U.S. State Department official said. 'We view that as a complement to NATO and the president's (Joe Biden's) commitment to NATO, as you all know, is ironclad,' the official said. Their meeting came after French ambassador to the US Philippe Etienne returned to Washington after being recalled from his post amid the rift. Etienne met with White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan early this month in preparation for the meeting and to 'rebuild trust.' French officials have emphasized that AUKUS was a wake up call for EU states and that they should respond to the recent crisis between Paris and Washington by ending the bloc's naivety when it comes to defending its interests and building its own military capacity within the NATO framework. Macron affirmed to Blinken that France agreed any new initiative should not be in competition with NATO, according to the U.S. official, who briefed reporters in Paris after Blinken met Macron, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Macron's diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne. Le Drian had taken Blinken on a walking tour of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs at Quai d'Orsay lasting more than an hour before the pair sat down for a meeting. Blinken then met Macron for 30-40 minutes at the presidential Elysee Palace, where he also spoke separately with Bonne. Blinken later attended meetings of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron last month termed the nixing of a French submarine contract with Australia 'unacceptable behavior' and recalled France's ambassador from Washington Jean-Yves Le Drian, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States during their meeting French Minister of Foreign Affairs receives the Secretary of State of the United States at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs quai d'Orsay, Paris, France President Joe Biden participates is a virtual press conference on national security with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 15, 2021. The move infuriated the French government, which had been informed only hours before White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan laid the groundwork for Tuesday's meeting with French ambassador Philippe Etienne France briefly withdrew its ambassador to the United States over the affair, before Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone and agreed to hold in-depth consultations. The official described Blinken's meetings with French officials as 'very cordial and amicable' and focused on future cooperation rather than 'relitigation' of the AUKUS spat. Blinken also discussed French proposals for more security and counterterrorism cooperation in the Sahel region of West Africa, the U.S. official said, adding that Washington was still reviewing those proposals. The official declined to give specifics of what might be agreed, saying that Blinken's discussions would 'tee up' a meeting later this month between Biden and Macron, the details of which are yet to be announced. Blinken, who was not initially expected to meet Macron during the visit, found the meeting 'very positive', the official said. 'President Macron reiterated that, you know, let's turn this into an opportunity to deepen and strengthen cooperation and coordination, from the Euro-Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific to Africa,' the official said, adding that both sides agreed there was still a lot of work to do on the relationship. Advertisement Have YOU had a bad experience on a flight? Send pictures to kaya.terry@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement A first-class passenger who was left 'horrified' at the 'unacceptable' conditions on a 4,000 British Airways flight is urging travellers to fly with other airlines. Jarvis Marcos, 37, was flying first-class from Mexico to London with his girlfriend, Kamara Harding, 33, when he experienced the 'shockingly bad' standards - which included dripping water from the air-con and 'sticky liquid' on tray tables. Unimpressed Mr Marcos called the 11-hour trip the 'worst experience' he's ever had on a plane after he boarded the jet back in August. Posting a video of his experience on his TikTok account, Mr Marcos mocked British Airways and compared the air-con leak to the 'onboard showers' on Emirates planes. Mr Marcos' testimony is the latest in a growing line of PR disasters for British Airways - following spiralling job cuts, the infamous IT debacle and technical issues aboard flights in recent years since its merger with Spanish airline Iberia in 2011. BA, which once labelled itself 'the worlds favourite airline', slashed its employee count by more than 8,000 and offered some staff a 50 per cent pay cut to remain on the books last year. The airline was famously struck by high-profile IT failures in 2017 and again in 2019 which cost the company millions and left thousands of disgruntled travellers stranded. Internally, the airline has been taken to tribunals over alleged sexual discrimination and for disciplining staff with PTSD. BA was disgraced further when it was uncovered that five of its pilots used racist language in emails in 2019. Amid mounting fury from passengers, BA then confirmed it was removing the customary drinks trolley offered to customers aboard its long-haul flights in August - instead forcing travellers to order through an app. Compounding their misery, the airline's owner, IAG, recorded record-breaking annual losses of more than 6.8billion this year as the pandemic decimated passenger numbers further. 'Horrified' luxury passenger has vowed to boycott British Airways after sharing 'unacceptable' footage of conditions on a 4,000 first-class flight He experienced the 'shockingly bad' standards during the 11-hour trip, which included dripping water from the air-con and 'sticky liquid' on unclean tray tables Mr Marcos (pictured travelling on a separate flight) said the journey was the 'worst experience' he's had on a plane after he experienced a catalogue of issues during the flight back in August He called the food 'overcooked' and 'stale', and was stunned when the airline offered him just 150 per person voucher as compensation Unimpressed Mr Marcos claimed the tray tables (Pictured) were not cleaned properly and were left with a sticky residue, which he found particularly worrying given the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic Mr Marcos, who flies upwards of 100,000 miles a year, runs a luxury travel review website and travel agency - and flies in first or business class reviewing airlines and hotels. However, the luxury traveller was left particularly disgusted at the 'stale' and 'overcooked' in-flights meals and unclean seats, which he called 'unacceptable' following the Covid-19 pandemic. History of British Airways: How airline founded in 1919 and once dubbed the worlds favourite has been hit by string of PR disasters in recent years August 1919 - Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, a forerunner of BA, launches world-first daily service from London to Paris. - Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited, a forerunner of BA, launches world-first daily service from London to Paris. March 1974 - British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines merge to form British Airways - British Overseas Airways Corporation, British European Airways, Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines merge to form British Airways February 1987 - BA is privatised as part of wider plans by the then Conservative Government - BA is privatised as part of wider plans by the then Conservative Government December 1987 - BA expands with the acquisition of British Caledonian - BA expands with the acquisition of British Caledonian October 1992 - Group expands again after purchasing Dan-Air for nominal fee of 1 - Group expands again after purchasing Dan-Air for nominal fee of 1 January 2011 - Spain's Iberia Airways merges with BA, creating new International Airlines Group - Spain's Iberia Airways merges with BA, creating new International Airlines Group July 2016 - New IT system rollout backfires and causes two-hour queues at Heathrow Airport - New IT system rollout backfires and causes two-hour queues at Heathrow Airport Summer 2017 - BA cabin crew commence weeks of strike action over pay dispute - BA cabin crew commence weeks of strike action over pay dispute September 2018 - BA flights are delayed at Heathrow Airport after 'IT failure' - BA flights are delayed at Heathrow Airport after 'IT failure' February 2019 - British Airways suspends five pilots after the Mail on Sunday uncovers racist and derogatory language used in internal staff emails. - British Airways suspends five pilots after the Mail on Sunday uncovers racist and derogatory language used in internal staff emails. May 2020 - BA confirms 12,000 planned job cuts are to go ahead in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic - BA confirms 12,000 planned job cuts are to go ahead in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic October 2020 - BA boss Alex Cruz steps down - BA boss Alex Cruz steps down October 2020 - BA fined 20million by Information Commissioner's Office relating to 2018 personal data leak - BA fined 20million by Information Commissioner's Office relating to 2018 personal data leak August 2021 - BA scraps the on-board drinks trolley and instead tells customers to order via an app Advertisement In addition, the metal framework of his seat was visible through the padding and it didn't recline fully into a bed due to an apparent malfunction. Mr Marcos claimed the journey would have cost 4,000 without his air miles and he was left stunned when the airline offered 150 per person e-vouchers to him and his girlfriend - stating they'd dealt with the case 'fairly and appropriately' and wouldn't be offering further compensation. On social media, Mr Marcos juxtaposed his BA video with footage of his first class flights on Emirates to show off the difference in quality - including bottles of Dom Perignon champagne and 'mounds of caviar'. Following his experience, he is now urging other people to choose a different airline for their first-class travel. British Airways apologised and said their aircraft goes for maintenance on a regular basis and they are investigating why Mr Marcos's experience 'clearly didn't meet their usual high standards on this occasion'. Mr Marcos, from West London, said: 'There were large gouges missing out of the seat itself and the surrounding of the seat. 'Chunks of leather had been gouged out to the point where you could see the metal skeleton of the seat underneath. 'The seat also didn't fully recline into a bed despite that being something they advertise as part of the service, because the mechanics of the seat were broken. 'The seats also clearly hadn't been cleaned, which especially during covid is just not acceptable. 'There were crumbs in the storage cubby holes and streaks of a sticky liquid on the tray tables which had dried on and not been cleaned. 'The air conditioning above my girlfriend's seat was leaking and dripping water onto her which is also particularly unacceptable during Covid, as that's what filters the air.' BA's fall from grace has been marked since the company's takeover by Spanish Iberia Airways in 2011 to form International Airlines Group (IAG). The group rolled out a new 'cost effective IT system' in 2015 that crippled a number of flights between 2017 and 2019, costing the company more than 100million. 'IT glitches' were reported at nearly all major UK airports and caused hundreds of thousands of passengers to be left 'stranded'. BA was eventually fined 20million by the Information Commissioner's Office after personal details of some 400,000 customers were accessed by hackers in a 2018 data breach. The Mail on Sunday also uncovered a slew of evidence of racist and derogatory language being used by five BA pilots in 2019 - including one message from a captain who used the N word when speaking with an ethnic minority colleague. All five were suspended by the airline. More recently, the company has been at the centre of a range of discrimination tribunals - including sex, gender and disability discrimination and harassment. Alex Cruz, the Spaniard who was BA's chief executive until October 2020, stepped down after a trouble tenure which saw job cuts, industrial action from cabin crew and an abundance of IT system failures. Mr Marcos took pictures of the ripped seats (Above) and was left stunned by hefty 4,000 price tag that British Airways are charging customers for the 'appalling' conditions Mr Marcos showed how the seats were ripped in all different places (Above) and revealed they had 'large gouges' missing in places Mr Marcos, 37, (Right) was flying first-class from Mexico to London with his girlfriend, Kamara Harding, 33, (Left) on the British Airways flight Luxury traveller Mr Marcos has visited 61 countries in his travels while experiencing and reviewing a range of first-class cabins and resorts. He claimed that British Airways have always been 'bottom of the barrel' when it comes to the first-class flight experience compared to other airlines. But he said nothing could have prepared him for the 'state of disrepair' of this particular plane as well as the overall 'let-down' service. He claimed the 'broken-down' plane is nothing like the luxury advertised by the flight giant and is urging travellers to fly with other airlines. In addition, Mr Marcos claimed the food wasn't up to scratch, being 'stale, swimming in oil and thoroughly overcooked' despite the hefty price tag. The email Mr Marcos received from British Airways (Pictured) regarding the 150 per person vouchers he will be receiving as compensation He added: 'BA always seems one of the worst airlines when it comes to first and business class - the bottom of the barrel. 'It's just the Dreamliners that have this problem and BA said they are aware of an issue with the seats. 'The problem is that they tend to do the longer routes because that's what they're designed for so you tend to do the longest flights on the most broken down planes. 'They offered me 150 per person as compensation for all of the issues we had which implies that that experience was only 150 away from the ideal experience that BA would hope you would have. 'It's unacceptable. There's no reason why a paying customer in any cabin should expect a seat that isn't clean or has air conditioning dripping on them. 'What makes it particularly bad is that first class is advertised as being this supremely luxurious experience but that's not true.' After posting about his experience online, Mr Marcos said he received messages from other fellow first-class travellers and friends who claim to have had similar issues with British Airways flights. One former passenger even said he'd sat in the exact seat shown in his TikTok video back in January, suggesting passengers have been experiencing the same 'state of disrepair' for at least seven months. Have YOU had a bad experience on a flight? Send pictures to kaya.terry@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement The luxury traveller now vows to fly with other first-class carriers wherever possible and to advise clients of his to avoid British Airways, particularly for special trips. He added: 'I have to look at it from the view of potential clients who could be on a once-in-a-lifetime trip like their honeymoon. 'The thought of somebody saving up all of their money and spending it on BA is horrifying. 'I would strongly recommend against picking BA as your airline for a once-in-a-lifetime experience unless you want that once-in-a-lifetime experience to be the worst experience you've ever had on a plane.' British Airways said the health and safety of their customers was their top priority and that their aircraft go for maintenance on a regular basis, while they have invested 6.5billion in their fleet, inflight cabin product and catering. A spokesperson for British Airways said: 'We've apologised to Mr Marcos and are investigating what went wrong, as his experience clearly didn't meet our usual high standards on this occasion.' Rachel Turner, 22, died in 2007 after falling around 17ft from a balcony in Ibiza Devastated parents who spent 70,000 investigating their daughter's death in Ibiza have been told by a coroner that there is no evidence of foul play. Rachel Turner, 22, from Northfield, Birmingham, died in October 2007 after falling around 17ft from a balcony ledge in the resort of San Antonio. Her parents have long harboured suspicions about the Birmingham City University student's death, believing she would never have taken her own life. Jane and Leslie Turner launched their own investigation - at a reported cost of 70,000 - having gone public with their fears about how she died. But an inquest at Birmingham Coroner's Court yesterday heard there was nothing to support the parents' assertion, and also no evidence to suggest suicide. Rachel Turner (pictured above), 22, from Northfield, Birmingham, died in October 2007 after falling around 17ft from a balcony ledge in the resort of San Antonio Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, recorded a narrative conclusion. Broken fingernails and bruising to Ms Turner's fingertips on her left hand were 'consistent with her trying to grab onto masonry while falling' to try and save herself, the hearing was told. The only witness to the fall at the Tanit apartment complex was ex-security guard Michael Tollerfield - a Scottish man who had known Ms Turner for five to six weeks, although the pair were not in a relationship. His witness testimony varied in three different police statements, but it was 'not possible to decide which of those versions was accurate', the inquest was told. Ms Hunt said 'inconsistencies' in the case were likely to be explained by 'intoxication and the passage of time'. She said there was no evidence that Ms Turner's death was as a result of 'foul play'. Ms Hunt said: 'The family have grave concerns that Rachel's death was as a result of third-party involvement. 'I turn to the investigation that has been undertaken and I understand the family are not satisfied by the level of those investigations, but those are what has been provided to this inquest. 'The Spanish investigation has not identified any evidence of foul play and has not proceeded with any investigation. 'West Midlands Police has undertaken investigations from as early as October 2007 and the initial investigation, based on some evidence provided, was looking at whether or not Rachel had taken her own life. Ms Turner pictured with Michael Tollerfield - a Scottish man who had known Ms Turner for five to six weeks - and was the only witness to the fall at the Tanit apartment complex Jane and Leslie Turner (pictured with Rachel's sister, Sarah) launched their own investigation - at a reported cost of 70,000 - having gone public with their fears about how she died 'I want to say I'm entirely satisfied there is no evidence to support that. The conclusion from all of that is that West Midlands Police has not been able to identify how she came to fall. 'They have confirmed there is no additional evidence that can be obtained after this passage of time. They have not identified any evidence of any third-party involvement in Rachel's death.' Forensic pathologist David Rouse carried out an independent review of the case. Dr Rouse said: 'To damage the fingertips is the sort of injury you would expect if you were to grab hold of a rough surface, such as a balcony or part of a wall. 'It implies there's an attempt to save yourself from falling. It is very difficult to account for that sort of damage.' Ms Turner, a fashion and design student, was in Ibiza over the summer of 2007 and worked as a nightclub promoter. Ms Hunt said: 'Rachel went out with friends in San Antonio to various bars. 'From the evidence I've heard it is clear that all who were out drank a lot of alcohol that evening.' Ms Turner had tried unsuccessfully to buy credit for her phone and headed back to her apartment with a friend in the early hours of October 1. She later went back out again to buy vodka from a convenience shop and was with Mr Tollerfield. Ms Turner (pictured left and right, at her graduation) suffered a 'severe, unsurvivable head injury', which resulted in her death on October 7, 2007, said Ms Hunt She then attempted to visit a rooftop terrace, which had a pool and sun loungers, but the door was locked and she headed down the stairs. Ms Hunt continued: 'Michael caught up with her on the first or second floor landing. She was sitting on a wide ledge on one of the balcony landings. 'He spoke with her and recounted how she was upset about going home and finishing her degree.' The inquest was told Mr Tollerfield gave three different witness statements between 2007 and 2018. Ms Hunt said: 'The first statement given to the Spanish police refers to Rachel having "hurled herself off over the ledge." 'The second statement he refers to her having her legs over the edge, pivoting around to talk to him and then falling. 'Then the Scottish interview (to Police Scotland) of her having her legs over the edge, pivoting to look at him and then falling. 'He accounts for the difference in his Spanish statement when interviewed that he wasn't given the opportunity to properly understand it as it wasn't read back to him. 'After Rachel had fallen from the ledge she landed on the ground below and Michael Tollerfield was the first to attend to her and give her first aid and an ambulance was called. 'She was taken to hospital where she was diagnosed with a severe head injury despite surgery. Unfortunately they found she was brain damaged from that injury. 'She was flown home to be with her family and for a second opinion.' Jane and Leslie Turner, pictured above. Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, recorded a narrative conclusion Ms Turner suffered a 'severe, unsurvivable head injury', which resulted in her death on October 7, 2007, she added. Post-mortem examinations were undertaken at the time with the cause of death given as a head injury. The coroner said the 'number of inconsistencies' evident in the case was likely to be explained by 'intoxication and the passage of time'. She added that the pathologist confirmed the 'grabbing motion will change the trajectory of her fall', but the 'pathology was unable to help how she fell.' Ms Hunt said: 'I can conclude Rachel fell from a ledge of a balcony. I do find there is no evidence a third party was involved in her death. 'The injuries to her fingers are consistent with grabbing to try to save herself, but that could have due to any mechanism of falling. There is no evidence she intended to take her life. 'I am satisfied that the only safe conclusion for this court to reach is a narrative conclusion.' She concluded that Ms Turner died 'as a result from a fall from a height while intoxicated.' Ms Hunt told the family: 'I realise that is not the answer that you so badly wanted. I have to reach a conclusion based on evidence which is provided to this court. 'I would like to take this opportunity by offering my sincere condolences to you all. This has been an awful journey for you and I realise that it's not over for you because every minute of every day you feel the pain and loss of Rachel.' A woman who regrets changing her gender at the age of 16 has launched a last ditch bid to overturn a landmark Court of Appeal ruling allowing an NHS gender clinic to give puberty blockers to children. Keira Bell, 24, took legal action against the Tavistock and Portman Trust, which runs the UK's only gender identity development service for children, arguing that children cannot properly consent to taking hormone drugs. The legal challenge was also brought by Mrs A, the mother of a 15-year-old autistic girl who is currently on the waiting list for treatment. In December last year, the High Court had said it was 'highly unlikely' that a child under 13 would be able to consent to the treatment, and that it was 'doubtful' that a child of 14 or 15 would understand the consequences. Though Ms Bell declared the ruling a victory for 'common sense', campaigners from Stonewall and Mermaids called the judgment an 'absolutely devastating blow for trans young people across the country'. In a surprise judgment last month, appeal judges found doctors should use their clinical judgment rather than needing a court's approval to provide treatment - overruling the High Court's assessment on the issue. Writing on CrowdJustice yesterday, Ms Bell announced that she is now seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. She said she was 'obviously disappointed with the ruling of the Court and especially that it did not grapple with the significant risk of harm that children are exposed to by being given powerful experimental drugs'. Ms Bell added her case 'has shone a light into the dark corners of a medical scandal that is harming children and harmed me' and is now seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, the UK's final court of appeal. 'There is more to be done. It is a fantasy and deeply concerning that any doctor could believe a ten-year-could consent to the loss of their fertility,' she said. Keira Bell, a 24-year-old woman who began taking hormone drugs before later 'detransitioning', is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal's surprise ruling The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the UK's only gender identity development service for children, successfully brought an appeal against a High Court ruling that children under 16 with gender dysphoria could only consent to hormonal treatment if they understood the 'immediate and long-term consequences' In a statement on CrowdJustice, Ms Bell - who brought the original case against the trust - said she was 'obviously disappointed with the ruling of the Court and especially that it did not grapple with the significant risk of harm that children are exposed to by being given powerful experimental drugs' Timeline: Landmark battle over use of puberty blockers to treat children under 16 with gender dysphoria October 2019: A request for judicial review was lodged against the NHS Gender Identity Development Service at its satellite site in Leeds. The suit was brought by 'Mrs. A', the mother of a 15-year-old patient on the GIDS waiting list, and Sue Evans, a former nurse at the Leeds GIDS satellite site. January 2020: Ms Evans passed on her role as complainant to Keira Bell who was prescribed puberty blockers by GIDS when she was 16. December 2020: The High Court ruled children under 16 are unlikely to be able to give 'informed consent' to take puberty blockers. June 2021: The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the UK's only gender identity development service for children, brings an appeal against the ruling. September 2021: The Court of Appeal quashes the High Court ruling, saying it was inappropriate for the High Court to give the guidance, finding doctors should instead exercise judgment about whether their patients can properly consent. October 2021: Ms Bell announces she is seeking permission to appeal ruling to the Supreme Court. Advertisement 'In a medical service that sits outside conventional medical practice it is inadequate to say ''trust the doctor''. I am therefore seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. Due to this, we have upped the target by 20k.' Hormone, or puberty, blockers pause the physical changes of puberty, such as breast development or facial hair. In the September ruling, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, with Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lady Justice King, said: 'The court was not in a position to generalise about the capability of persons of different ages to understand what is necessary for them to be competent to consent to the administration of puberty blockers.' They added: 'It placed patients, parents and clinicians in a very difficult position.' During the two-day appeal earlier this year, Tavistock's lawyers argued the ruling was 'inconsistent' with a long-standing concept that young people may be able to consent to their own medical treatment, following an appeal over access to the contraceptive pill for under 16s in the 1980s. But Jeremy Hyam QC, representing Ms Bell and Mrs A, argued procedures at the Tavistock 'as a whole failed to ensure, or were insufficient to ensure, proper consent was being given by children who commenced on puberty blockers'. Human rights group Liberty, which intervened in the appeal, said the High Court had imposed a serious restriction on the rights of transgender children and young people to 'essential treatment'. The Court of Appeal heard the Tavistock does not provide puberty blockers itself but instead makes referrals to two other NHS trusts - University College London Hospitals and Leeds Teaching Hospitals - who then prescribe the treatments. John McKendrick QC, for the other trusts, told the court the median age for consenting to puberty blockers is 14.6 for UCL and 15.9 for Leeds. After the ruling, a Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: 'We welcome the Court of Appeal's judgment on behalf of the young people who require the GIDS (Gender Identity Development Service), and our dedicated staff. 'We recognise the work we do is complex and, working with our partners, we are committed to continue to improve the quality of care and decision making for our patients and to strengthen the evidence base in this developing area of care.' What are puberty blockers and how can children transition gender? If a child is under 18 and may have gender dysphoria, they'll usually be referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. GIDS has 2 main clinics in London and Leeds. The team will carry out an assessment, usually over 3 to 6 appointments over a period of several months. Young people with lasting signs of gender dysphoria may be referred to a hormone specialist (consultant endocrinologist) to see if they can take hormone blockers as they reach puberty. These hormone, or 'puberty' blockers (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues) pause the physical changes of puberty, such as breast development or facial hair. Little is known about the long-term side effects of hormone or puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria. Although the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) advises this is a physically reversible treatment if stopped, it is not known what the psychological effects may be. It's also not known whether hormone blockers affect the development of the teenage brain or children's bones. Side effects may also include hot flushes, fatigue and mood alterations. From the age of 16, teenagers who've been on hormone blockers for at least 12 months may be given cross-sex hormones, also known as gender-affirming hormones. These hormones cause some irreversible changes, such as breast development and breaking or deepening of the voice. Long-term cross-sex hormone treatment may cause temporary or even permanent infertility. Source: NHS Advertisement An NHS spokesperson said: 'The NHS commissioned Dr Hilary Cass to review gender identity services prior to the original High Court ruling to ensure the best model of safe and effective care is delivered - this will set out wide-ranging recommendations, including on the use of puberty blockers and the many contested clinical issues identified by the court. 'An independent multi-professional review group will continue to confirm whether clinical decision making has followed a robust consent process now that the endocrine pathway has been reopened by the Tavistock.' Liberty director Gracie Bradley said: 'This ruling is a positive step forwards for trans rights in the UK and around the world.' According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines, very few people regret treatment of their gender dysphoria, the court heard. 'They refer to satisfaction rates across studies ranging from 87 per cent in male to female patients and 97 per cent of female to male patients and regrets were extremely rare,' Fenella Morris QC, for the trust previously said in court. Ms Bell's lawyers previously argued there is 'a very high likelihood' that children who start taking hormone blockers will later begin taking cross-sex hormones, which they say cause 'irreversible changes'. But the Court of Appeal heard it is not inevitable that a young person will move from puberty blockers to cross-sex hormones - which will only be prescribed to those over 16 - with even fewer going on to have surgery. Ms Morris later said that puberty blockers are said to be 'fully reversible' in international guidelines relied upon by the trust. She added that children or young people who are considering going on to puberty blockers are told about the effects on their fertility that may be caused by later stages of transition. Highlighting that it is not inevitable that a young person will continue on to cross-sex hormones after puberty blockers, she added: 'The question is whether a child is counselled about fertility implications at the next stage and you can see from the material... all of that is explained at the initial stage 'There is no suggestion anywhere that this is one pathway... there is no shying away from explaining to children and young people what the possibilities are.' In December last year, the High Court had ruled that 'in order for a child to be competent to give valid consent, the child would have to understand, retain and weigh' a number of factors, including 'the immediate consequences of the treatment in physical and psychological terms' and the fact that 'the vast majority of patients taking puberty blocking drugs proceed to taking cross-sex hormones and are, therefore, a pathway to much greater medical interventions'. The judges said: 'It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers. 'It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.' 'There is more to be done. It is a fantasy and deeply concerning that any doctor could believe a ten-year-could consent to the loss of their fertility,' Ms Bell said WHAT IS GENDER DYSPHORIA? Gender dysphoria is the term for when a person's emotional and psychological identity is different to their physical form. It is estimated that one per cent of the population is affected somehow. Caitlyn Jenner is the most famous person to have changed genders. The former Olympian and reality TV star underwent the surgery in January 2017, nearly two years after announcing she would transition to a woman. In the ICD-11, the WHO created new categories that cover trans identities under conditions that relate to sexual health. Gender dysphoria once was considered a personality or behaviour disorder. But its definition has changed as it is now called gender incongruence. It is described as 'characterised by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual's experienced gender and the assigned sex'. Advertisement They added: 'In respect of young persons aged 16 and over, the legal position is that there is a presumption that they have the ability to consent to medical treatment. 'Given the long-term consequences of the clinical interventions at issue in this case, and given that the treatment is as yet innovative and experimental, we recognise that clinicians may well regard these as cases where the authorisation of the court should be sought prior to commencing the clinical treatment.' Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the ruling, Ms Bell said: 'I am delighted at the judgment of the court today. It was a judgment that will protect vulnerable young people.' She added that the ruling 'exposes a complacent and dangerous culture at the heart of the national centre responsible for treating children and young people with gender dysphoria'. In a statement read out on Mrs A's behalf, she said: 'I hope this judgment will provide a safety net to prevent the unsupervised medical experimentation on children, like my daughter, by an institution charged with helping to alleviate her distress.' However, Lui Asquith, from the trans children's charity Mermaids, said the ruling was a 'devastating blow', describing it as 'a potential catastrophe for trans young people across the country'. They told the PA news agency: 'This morning's judgment has been an absolutely devastating blow for trans young people across the country. 'We believe very strongly that every young person has the right to make their own decisions about their body and that should not differ because somebody is trans. 'The court today has decided to treat trans young people differently to every other child in the country. We believe that we're entering a new era of discrimination, frankly.' Nancy Kelley, Stonewall's chief executive, said: 'Today's court ruling about the prescription of puberty blockers is both deeply concerning and shocking. We're worried this judgment will have a significant chilling effect on young trans people's ability to access timely medical support. 'We welcome the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust's stated intention to appeal this ruling.' Police have issued an urgent appeal to help find a missing schoolgirl who was last seen by friends more than a week ago. Cerris Brown, 15, disappeared on September 23, and is known to visit the Paddington area. She was last seen by friends and family on that day but has not been spotted since. Cerris Brown, 29, disappeared on September 23 when she was last seen by friends and family. If you see her, call police on 101 or 999 quoting ref 21MIS029427 A Metropolitan Police spokesman today told MailOnline the 15-year-old is still missing. The force said: 'Police need your help in locating missing Cerris Brown age 15. 'She was last seen on 23/09/2021. 'She is known to frequent the Paddington area. 'If seen please contact the police on 101 or 999 quoting ref 21MIS029427.' A paedophile nurse who plotted to sexually abuse a four-month-old baby has been struck off the register. Thomas Harrison, 31, of Mossley Hill, Liverpool, devised a plan to abuse a youngster with a man he thought was the baby's father in online conversations. But the nurse was completely unaware that he was actually chatting with an undercover police officer who was part of a sting operation hoping to catch him. Harrison started chatting to the cop on dating site Grindr and requested images of his supposed baby son, saying that he had 'no limits' sexually. Harrison, who worked as an adult nurse at Cornerstone Surgery in St Helens, Merseyside, later arranged for the man and his child to visit his home. He was arrested by Merseyside Police for facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, and was sentenced to two years in prison and put on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade in October 2020. This week, the Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed they had struck Harrison off their nursing records. Thomas Harrison, 31, of Mossley Hill, Liverpool, devised a twisted plan to abuse a four-month-old boy with a man he thought was the baby's father in online conversations After striking up a conversation with a man on the dating app Grindr in July 2020, Harrison requested pictures of his four-month-old boy. When asked by the officer whether he would prefer sexual activity with the man or his son, Harrison replied: 'The baby'. He described a sexual act he planned to commit on the undercover officer's child, before later detailing a fantasy of 'watching the officer do the same to his own baby'. After the pair agreed to meet, Harrison sent the officer details of his home address. When he arrived on July 27, the undercover officer told Harrison to 'close the curtains' and wait inside, before a Merseyside Police unit stormed in to arrest him. NMC documents, covering Harrison's hearing on September 17, stated: 'The panel was provided with a certificate of conviction which confirmed that on 16 September 2020 at Crown Court in Liverpool Harrison was convicted of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. 'The panel also noted that Harrison had admitted the charge against him. 'The panel agreed that the nature of Harrison's conviction is very serious and involved a very vulnerable baby who was, in the past, placed at unwarranted risk of harm. 'It also breached fundamental tenets of the profession and brought the profession into disrepute. 'Harrison has been convicted of a serious sexual offence involving the attempted sexual abuse of a four month old baby. 'It determined that a fully informed member of the public would be appalled by Harrison's conviction, and extremely concerned should a finding of no current impairment be made in light of his convictions.' Harrison was sentenced to two years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court (above) and put on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade in October 2020 Harrison, a survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing, initially messaged the man on dating app Grindr before moving to Wickr - an encrypted messaging service. After being sentenced to two years in prison, Detective Constable Craig Doyle said: 'Harrison has shown by his actions that he clearly poses a danger to children, and I am very pleased to say he is safely behind bars today. 'He will now spend time behind bars where he can no longer pose a risk, and I hope he uses that time to reflect on the seriousness of his offence and the impact it could have had on a victim, their family and the wider community.' Alongside being struck off the nursing register, the NMC also imposed an 18 month interim suspension order, meaning Harrison must not practise for its duration. On making their decision to remove Harrison from the register, the NMC said: 'The panel noted that the serious breach of the fundamental tenets of the profession evidenced by Harrison's actions is fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register. 'The panel agreed that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order. 'Having regard to the matters it identified, the panel has concluded that nothing short of this would be sufficient in this case.' Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee today arrested three men on terror offences. The suspects, aged 36, 39 and 45, were arrested in the Londonderry area this morning under the Terrorism Act. They have been taken to the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Serious Crime Suite at Musgrave station in Belfast to be interviewed. Miss McKee, 29, was shot dead in Derry in April 2019 as she observed rioting in the Creggan district of Londonderry. Lyra McKee, 29, was shot dead while observing a riot in the Creggan area of Londonderry Her death sparked a wave of revulsion from both sides of Northern Ireland's sectarian divide. The extremist group that styles itself as the New IRA has previously claimed it was responsible for killing the Belfast journalist and author. The organisation has never supported the peace process and sees its mission as continuing the armed struggle against the British state. 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. Miss McKee (circled) within the crowd watching a protest in Londonderry before she was shot A third man, Paul McIntyre, 53, has already been charged with McKees murder. All three men contest the evidence presented against them. Another five male suspects have been charged with rioting and associated offences. A vicar has gone on trial accused of historical sexual assaults against two young girls in the 1970s when she was a teenager. Veronica Green, 58, has been charged with five counts of indecency with a child and one charge of indecent assault relating to alleged incidents against two girls who were aged between six and 11 at the time. She denies the charges and is currently on trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. Green, the reverend for Marbury, Tushingham and Whitewell in Cheshire, was suspended by the Diocese of Chester in January 2020 after the allegations were reported to the police, the jury was told. Veronica Green, 58, was the reverend for Marbury, Tushingham and Whitewell in Cheshire before she was suspended in January 2020. She is facing five counts of indecency with a child and one charge of indecent assault relating to alleged incidents said to have been committed when she was a teenager growing up in North Staffordshire. Pictured: Church of St Michael, in Marbury The prosecution told the jury that Green had said to one of the girls that she 'had something she needed to teach her'. Prosecutor Ben Lawrence said Green had told her 'a man would normally teach it to girls, but (the girls mum) had said she wanted (Green) to teach it'. The court heard that on another occasion Green had told one of the girls to perform a sex act on her. One of the victims reported the alleged abuse to police in January 2020. When police spoke to the second child - now an adult - she alleged she too had been abused by Green, the court heard. The court heard she had told senior members of the diocese, including Archdeacon of Chester Michael Gilbertson, that something had happened. Mr Lawrence added: 'The defendant said something had happened when she was a teenager. 'She had not realised the seriousness of what she had done at the time but had always thought it might catch up with her.' Green is said to have committed the offences when she was a teenager growing up in North Staffordshire. She was interviewed by police twice and answered No comment to the questions put to her, the court was told. The court heard that Green, of Marbury, denies the five counts of indecency with a child and one charge of indecent assault. But she was said to have accepted there was one incident during which she was naked and one of the girls was made to feel uncomfortable, and others that had involved the second girl touching her breasts. The court was told, however, that although Green was said to acknowledge that what she was feeling was sexual, she did not realise that was the case at the time. Mr Lawrence added: 'The prosecution say the defendant is dishonest about what went on. 'The defendant has gone on to become a very different person. She has gone on to lead a blameless life as an adult. She is of positive good character and has no doubt done good for others.' He told the jury: 'You are judging the acts of when she was a teenager, and the way she behaved then.' The trial continues. Uber drivers are set to go on strike tomorrow, in a move that will spell more transport misery for tens of thousands across London and beyond. Taxi drivers and users are being urged to swtich off the ride-hailing app for 24 hours and join a protest outside the tech giant's east London office. Organisers, the United Private Hire Drivers union, want drivers to meet at an Asda branch before going to Uber's Aldgate Tower HQ en masse. They are accusing the firm of failing to implement a court ruling to pay waiting time, which it says makes up around 40% of an Uber driver's working time, and claims that large numbers of drivers are being unfairly sacked. Uber and other taxis have been suffering in recent weeks due to the shortage of petrol, which has seen fares soar while the availability of taxis dramatically shrink. The petrol crisis has exacerbated problems plaguing Uber, after thousands of cabbies ditched the firm to become delivery drivers during the pandemic, while many of those remaining now use rival apps like Bolt or FreeNow to secure themsevles the best fares. The United Private Hire Drivers announced the strike on its Twitter profile this morning Fuel missing from the pumps was caused by a shortage of HGV drivers available to stock them The union wants the strike to drive to Uber's officers in Aldgate, London, tomorrow The UPHB said: 'Switch off the Uber app for 24 hours on 6 Oct. 'Join the protest outside Uber's Office at Aldgate Tower, E1 8QN from 11am. 'If coming with a car, meet before at 10am at Stepney Green ASDA to then drive over together.' There have already been strikes over issues including pay and claims that workers are being unfairly dismissed. Members of the App Drivers and Couriers Union (ADCU) last week held protests in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow, and are urging people not to use the service during the 24-hour walkout. The union has accused the company of failing to implement a court ruling to pay waiting time, which it says makes up around 40% of an Uber driver's working time, and claims that large numbers of drivers are being unfairly sacked. Uber insisted it is working with unions to raise standards for drivers. The union is also in dispute over the introduction of fixed price fares which it claims has led to reduced driver incomes. Yaseen Aslam, ADCU president said: 'It is shameful that Uber continues to defy the highest court in the land to cheat 70,000 workers out of pay for 40% of their true working time. Cars queue at a Tesco garage in Frien Barnet in London last week during the fuel shortage A lorry with a digital display advertising an Uber strike on September 26 in Brighton last week 'The drivers know they deserve and are legally entitled to much more than Uber is offering. 'This strike is just the beginning and there will be much more unrest until Uber does the right thing and pays drivers all that they are owed, both pension contributions and working time.' General secretary James Farrar added: 'Uber has continued to intensify its use of junk surveillance tech and algorithmic management control to maximise profits. 'The results have been catastrophic, with hundreds of people unfairly dismissed and accused of unspecified 'fraudulent activity'. 'Instead of trying to gag unions from exposing the flaws in their tech, Uber should instead guarantee all drivers protection from unfair dismissal and the right to access a proper, human-led appeals process.' An Uber spokesperson said: 'Following the historic trade union recognition deal with GMB, drivers have an even stronger voice within Uber. 'We are working together with our trade union partner to raise standards for drivers through greater transparency and engagement. 'GMB represents drivers in areas such as earnings, deactivations and the implementation of new worker benefits, such as holiday pay and pensions.' Uber formally recognised the GMB earlier this year, saying the union could represent up to 70,000 Uber drivers across the UK. Uber announced in March that 70,000 drivers will be treated as workers, earning at least the National Living Wage, with paid-for holiday time. Those eligible will be automatically enrolled into a pension plan. Struggling to get an Uber? How thousands of drivers quitting due to Covid and firm ramping up fees of those remaining has left cabbies using rival apps to get highest fares creating a nightmare for users Why it's become so hard to get an Uber: Perfect storm of problems facing customers wanting a ride Lack of drivers Uber has lost thousands of drivers since the start of the Covid pandemic, according to those working with the service. Many drivers are understood to have swapped taxi driving for takeaway deliveries following a huge drop in demand for cabs during lockdown. Uber says it wants to recruit 20,000 new drivers by the end of 2021. Surge pricing A lack of drivers has led to an increase in surge pricing, some say. The app automatically raises prices to match increased demand. With less Uber drivers around, surging happens more, drivers say. Drivers using rival apps Uber drivers are allowed to use rival ride-hailing apps at the same time. This allows them to pick and choose the best fares. But it also means drivers can cancel trips enroute to pick-ups if they find a better fare, leaving users facing a longer wait. Trips not worthwhile for drivers Because Uber does not pay its drivers to get to a customers, drivers say short trips which take a long time to get to aren't worthwhile. It means if you are far away from a group of drivers, and it is a short trip, it may not be economically viable for them to pick you p. Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes causing a nightmare On top of that, Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes are making it harder for taxi drivers to reach their customers, discouraging them from accepting fares. Advertisement Frustrated Uber customers are facing higher fares and longer waits for a pick-up because of a perfect storm of driver shortages, surge pricing and so-called 'multi-apping', MailOnline can today reveal. It is understood that 'thousands' of drivers have quit the ride-hailing app since the start of the pandemic, with many now working for takeaway delivery firms such as JustEat, Deliveroo and sister firm UberEats. And while Uber says it is launching a recruitment campaign to up its numbers, current drivers say many who left during last year's lockdowns are yet to return. This, drivers say, has led to an increase in the use of 'surge charging' - where the app automatically ups fare prices due to a spike in demand. Meanwhile, drivers are said to be furious about changes to their pay deal with Uber, meaning they are now having to fork a larger chunk of their fare to the San Francisco-based tech firm. Uber increased the service rate from 20 to 25 per cent for thousands of drivers after Supreme Court judges in the UK ruled the company must give its workers benefits such as holiday pay. To keep their take-home pay up, drivers are taking to 'multi-apping' - using other ride-hailing services such as Bolt and FreeNow at the same - in order to pick-up the highest fare. But it means passengers waiting for an Uber are regularly having rides accepted, only to have them cancelled while the driver is en-route. Some disgruntled passengers say they have waited more than 10 minutes for a ride in London - where pick-up times were previously a matter of minutes. On top of that, cabbies have continued to rail against the dreaded Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes (LTNs) which are making it a nightmare for drivers to reach customers. Disgruntled users have meanwhile vowed to no longer use Uber due to its long wait times and 'crazy' prices. Meanwhile, Uber, which denies upping prices, says it is plans to sign-up an additional 20,000 drivers across the UK to meet demand as more workers return to the office. But one customer told MailOnline: 'I use Uber quite a lot but have now decided to use other apps. I realised that it takes ages to get a ride. 'I had to wait around 10 minutes once for a service, and have also had rides confirmed thinking I would be on my way out just for it to have it cancelled - and this happened more than once.' Frustrated Uber customers are facing higher fares and longer waits for a pick-up because of a perfect storm of driver shortages, surge pricing and so-called 'multi-apping', MailOnline can today reveal. Pictured: Drivers are allowed to run multiple ride-hailing apps at the same time - allowing them to pick and chose the biggest fares It is understood that 'thousands' of drivers have quit the ride-hailing app (pictured: An Uber vehicle) since the start of the pandemic, with many now working for takeaway delivery firms such as JustEat, Deliveroo and sister firm UberEats In a bid to keep their take-home pay up, drivers are taking to 'multi-apping' - using other ride-hailing services such as Bolt and FreeNow at the same - in order to pick-up the highest fare How do the prices compare? MailOnline price checked the leading ride-hailing app to see how their prices compared. The figures are based on a trip from our office in Kensington to Trafalgar Square and were all quoted around 11am on August 12. Uber - 11.81 for a standard vehicle Bolt - 5 (with discount offer of 50 per cent) FreeNow (formerly Hailo) - 14 - 18 for a black cab Advertisement Drivers have told MailOnline how the issue began at the start of the Covid pandemic, when demand plummeted due to the Covid lockdown in the UK. Uber driver Nader Awaad said 'thousands' subsequently quit the ride-hailing app, because many were unable to make a living nor claim financial support. Others were forced to take out Covid support loans to tide them over during the pandemic. Mr Awaad, who is the elected chair of United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD), said many of the drivers began working for delivery firms such as sister company UberEats, and rivals such as JustEat and Deliveroo. He told MailOnline: 'I had to take out a 20,000 loan at the start of the pandemic. 'I didn't stop driving. I was driving seven days a week to keep myself going. 'Not everyone was able to do deliveries, my car is a Mercedes so it wouldn't work for me. But that's why we lost a lot of drivers.' He says the situation has been made worse by an effective cut in pay for thousands of Uber drivers. Uber increased its service fee for many drivers following a Supreme Court ruling in the UK in February. The ruling meant that Uber drivers are now classed as 'workers' rather than contractors and thus entitled to benefits such as holiday pay. Uber later moved its longer serving drivers from a 20 per cent service rate - the cut it takes from each fare - to a rate of to 25 per cent. Bosses of the ride-hailing app say the move was to 'standardise' the charge. Uber said newer drivers were already paying this higher rate prior to the court judgment. But Mr Awaad says that some trips for Uber drivers are now no longer worth taking, particularly in the midst of rising fuel prices. He says drivers are also not paid for their journey to the customer, meaning many drivers are rejecting trips which are not in a close vicinity. This, along with the increased service charge, he says, has resulted in some drivers taking to 'multi-apping'. Multi-apping, which is permitted by Uber, is when drivers have numerous ride-hailing apps opened at one time. For example, a driver can be searching for an Uber customer and one from rival ride-hailing app Bolt at the same time. Mr Awaad says this allows drivers to pick and chose the best fare. He said: 'I feel guilty cancelling a trip, but drivers are just driving to maximise the price. 'If Uber pays 15 for a trip and Bolt pays 25, what are you going to? 'That's why customers are waiting for so long at the moment. It's chaos.' Mr Awaad also said drivers often boost their income by driving in 'surge periods'. Surge times are essentially public transport peak periods, where prices are hiked to reflect demand. Unlike traditional peak periods though, Uber surges can happen late at night, such as pub or club kick-out time, when there is a spike in demand for Ubers but not as many drivers. However, Mr Awaad said that due to a lack of drivers, Uber was now 'surging all the time'. 'It's not fair on the customers,' he added. Uber users have noticed the changes, with many taking to Twitter to moan about the service. One Twitter user wrote: 'You legit have to allow an extra 20 minutes to your journey when using Uber. 'You have to wait so long for them to connect to a driver and it's almost guaranteed that you'll be cancelled on. Sort it out.' Another wrote: 'Wait 10 minutes, finally connect with a driver... ALWAYS get canceled on at least once before they connect you with another 10 mins away. Such an awful service these days.' Meanwhile, Twitter user Samia, added: 'Never using Uber again. 'Every time I try to book a ride home from central London it gets cancelled by at least five drivers. 'I have a 4.5 rating. It ends up taking longer to book an Uber now than to get home for me. 'I took a black cab home and it was cheaper including my tip!' Others have taken to Twitter to complain about the 'crazy prices' they are being charged. One wrote: 'I spent 13 on an Uber for Hockley to The Park Estate the other night... make it make sense.' Another claimed they were quoted more than 70 for a trip from Croydon to east London. One Twitter user wrote: 'Was in Hammersmith in west London the other day. Needed to go about a mile with the tube down. 'Uber wanted to charge 18 and make me wait 15 minutes for other passengers' rides to end. 'Hailed a black cab from the station who was ready to go, only cost me 15 with a tip.' Union bosses have pointed the finger at Uber for the drop in service. Charlie McNamara, branch coordinator at United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD) told MailOnline: 'Employers often complain about not being to get enough employees while paying low wages. This is one of those cases. What as the Supreme Court ruling in the Uber case? In February the UK's Supreme Court ruled in favour of drivers being classed as 'workers' after a five year battle. Drivers were previously classed as self-employed 'contractors' by Uber, meaning they were not entitled to benefits in the same way paid employees are. But, in a landmark ruling for the gig economy, Supreme Court judges ruled that drivers should be classed as workers and therefore be given the same rights. It meant Uber faced having to pay workers millions in back-dated compensation, while newer drivers would have to be given pay for holidays going forward. The taxi giant had argued its 60,000 UK drivers were independent contractors and so not entitled to employment benefits. But judges instead ruled that Uber's 'very tightly defined and controlled' business model and fares process meant drivers were in 'a position of subordination and dependency' - and could not be deemed 'independent contractors' Advertisement 'Drivers need to be able to make a proper living and that's leading to this drop in service.' Out of Uber's control is another problem for it and many other cab drivers - dreaded Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes. The schemes have wreaked havoc for drivers, particularly in London, where borough chiefs have closed off roads to essentially create giant cycle lanes and walkways. Bollards or large planters are often installed, blocking once easy driving routes and sometimes creating long diversions. Drivers, who already say they are struggling to make-ends-meet with some Uber trips, say LTN schemes make some trips even hard by forcing them to quite literally 'go-round-the-houses' to reach or drop off passengers. The United Trade Action Group, a union group supported by taxi drivers, has been appealing against Transport for London schemes installed as part of its much-maligned Streetspace project. However, last month, The Court of Appeal upheld TfL's appeal against a January ruling which declared parts of LTN's unlawful. Meanwhile, another element of concern for Uber, who once held the monopoly on ride-hailing apps, will be the rise in competitor service Bolt. The service was launched in 2013 by Estonian entrepreneur Markus Villig, who is just 27 years old. The company, previously known as Taxify, now operates in more than 45 countries. And just this month it was revealed the firm had 600million (453million) from venture capital funds to grow the business. Speaking to the Telegraph earlier this month, Mr Villig, who is still only 27, said: 'We have a very different mentality from some of the usual Silicon Valley companies which just raise billions and billions of funding. One element of concern for Uber, who once held the monopoly on ride-hailing apps, will be the rise in competitor service Bolt (pictured: A Bolt vehicle). The service was launched in 2013 by Estonian entrepreneur Markus Villig, who is just 27 years old. The company, previously known as Taxify, now operates in more than 45 countries. Britain's 15billion takeaway binge: Deliveroo orders double while JustEat sees 75% rise despite lockdown measures ending Takeaway giants Deliveroo and Just Eat have seen a huge rise in sales despite the end of lockdown, new figures show. The Covid pandemic resulted in a fast food spending boom with some 15 billion in sales registered last year compared to 2019. The spend is largely down to the regularity of orders, with 38% of homes tucking into a takeaway at least once a week, according to the British Takeaway Campaign. In new figures released today, Deliveroo said it took 71.4 million orders in the first six months of 2021 in the UK, double the figure of 34.7 million recorded in the same period last year. It also reported a doubling of gross transaction value, to nearly 3.4 billion. Rivals Just Eat, meanwhile, have also experienced a substantial sales hike, having received 135 million orders in the first half of this year, up from 76.8 million in 2020 - a rise of 76%. The firms have been boosted by more than a year of on-and-off lockdowns in the UK, with customers unable to visit restaurants, and so ordering their food online instead. At the start of lockdown, takeaway companies were hailed for their importance by ministers, with the Government reportedly asking pizza giant Domino's to keep stores open 'and provide local communities freshly made pizza to help boost morale and keep people safe at home'. Despite restrictions easing, Deliveroo said today that so far it has proven fairly immune to the end of lockdown, with 'no material impact' from the UK reopening during the second quarter of the year. In accounting, anything with a less than 1% effect on turnover can be considered as having no material impact. Advertisement 'They sort of lavishly spend the various things and think it's going to be a winner take all market. 'There will be a monopoly and it doesn't really matter. 'For us it is completely different. we're coming from Estonia [with an] Eastern European background. 'We're like: 'How do we operate this thing as frugally as possible?'' Bolt also told MailOnline it was hoping to expand into 10 new cities by the end of the year, though it did not reveal which ones. Uber meanwhile is spending big to get drivers back to the service in the wake of the Covid lockdowns. Last month it was announced in the US that the company was planning to send $250million (180million) on incentives to encourage drivers back. Uber told MailOnline it is planning to recruit 20,000 new drivers in the UK by the end of this year to meet an increase in demand. It says it already has 70,000 drivers already on its books. An Uber spokesperson said: 'As cities open up and people start moving again, we are encouraging 20,000 new drivers to sign up in order to meet rider demand. 'We are proud to offer every driver the rights and protections they deserve - a guaranteed wage, holiday pay and a pension - but we're not the only player in town. 'Drivers work with multiple operators and deserve the same standard of work on every trip.' In response to concerns about pricing, Uber says its is 'committed' to offering competitive prices to its customers. The spokesperson added: 'The Uber app uses dynamic pricing to respond to the levels of supply and demand at any one time. 'When a large number of people in a specific area are booking a trip at the same time and there aren't enough available cars, fares automatically rise to encourage more drivers to go to the busy area and earn a higher fare. 'Users will always see a fare estimate in advance so they have the choice to book a car or share the trip with others.' Uber denied that it had reduced fares for drivers, and said drivers were now 'better off' in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, as the company was now paying drivers 12 per cent of their earnings as cash on a weekly basis to represent holiday pay. The company said under its policies that drivers are allowed to use multiple apps, such as Bolt, while being a driver for Uber. Hundreds of Americans have staged a mass protest to 'Save Australia' from mandatory Covid vaccines and never-ending lockdowns by marching to the consulate in New York. Crowds filled the streets of the Big Apple on Tuesday as they marched to the Australian consulate in Manhattan, carrying Australian flags and signs that read: 'What is happening in Melbourne?'. The rally began outside the Department of Education headquarters on Monday as New York's own vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other education staff took effect. The protesters chanted 'Save Australia' as they marched through the streets and gave speeches emphasising their support for Australians who have seen similar mandates enforced in recent weeks, which have sparked angry scenes in Melbourne. 'What's going on in Australia is not just going to be Australia. And when it shows up on our doorsteps, we're gonna punch it right in the f***ing teeth,' one speaker told the rally, referencing the recent vaccine mandates for authorised workers in Victoria. The scenes come as Joe Biden's press chief was questioned over vaccine mandates, with reference to directives in Australia causing 'disturbing images' at protests. The crowd gathers outside the Consulate General of Australia here in New York pic.twitter.com/g9JVbiEzt5 Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) October 4, 2021 Hundreds of Americans have bizarrely staged a mass protest to 'Save Australia' as Covid-19 vaccination mandates are enforced on teachers in New York (pictured) Protesters marched through the streets of New York (pictured) after a vaccine mandate was enforced for public school teachers Many held Australian flags and declared their support for their friends Down Under, where similar vaccination mandates have been given out One woman at the protest was seen proudly carrying a sign with the message 'Australia is the example of the new world order. Not about a virus. Total government control.' Others held handmade signs which stated 'My body my choice'. 'We're holding the line for Australia, we support Australia!' another shouted. Police had to intervene after one protester reportedly flipped over a Covid-19 testing table while another tried to pull a tent down. 1000s of protesters against the mandates gather outside the Australians general office in NYC and chant " WE SUPPORT AUSTRALIA " #Australia #NYC #Mondayvibes #VaccineMandate pic.twitter.com/BtowDLeBor Leeroy Johnson (@LeeroyPress) October 4, 2021 The rally first began outside the Department of Education headquarters on Monday as New York's vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other education staff took effect Some protesters held signs which read 'My body my choice' during the rally against mandatory Covid vaccinations Protesters are seen walking through the streets of Brooklyn during a Freedom Rally in New York Poll DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff Yes - for all workers No - no one should have to DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff 525 votes Yes - for all workers 756 votes No - no one should have to 3162 votes Now share your opinion Meanwhile the 'disturbing images' coming out of Australia - where millions remain in lockdown and protesters wreaked havoc on the streets in Melbourne - were brought up at a White House press conference. A reporter asked President Joe Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki whether he would consider similar measures enforced in Australia if case numbers rose during the US winter. 'We're seeing very disturbing images out of Australia,' a reporter asked her. 'Does President Biden support what the Australian government is doing in their country? And would he consider similar measures in the United States?' Ms Psaki danced around the question and said the US would stick to their own policies. 'The President has been pursuing our own policies here in the United States, which has led to nearly 80 percent of the American public getting at least one shot and bringing the cases of Covid down dramatically over the past several months,' Ms Psaki responded. 'So, we'll continue to abide by and conduct our own policies.' The surprising support coming out of America wasn't well received by some Australians who bluntly said they 'didn't need saving'. Police had to intervene after one protester reportedly flipped over a Covid-19 testing table while another tried to pull a tent down Several protesters waved Australian flags as they chanted 'Save Australia' - in reference to lockdowns and vaccine passports 'I bet the majority of those protesting #SaveAustralia wouldnt even know where we are let alone how much we dont need saving. Anyway. Cheers,' one tweeted with a picture of a glass of red wine. 'Save Australia from what exactly?! Medicare? Free healthcare? Gun control? No school shootings? Four week annual leave? Maternity/parental leave? Sick leave? Access to the Covid-19 vaccination?' another said. 'Americans shouting "save Australia" would mean something if they actually could find us on a map #SaveAustralia,' one fired back. 'Hey USA, we don't need you to #SaveAustralia. Your track record for "saving" or thinking people need saving isn't crash hot. We aren't in any trouble, we have freedom too, it's just that we just care more about our people surviving than money. Thanks for the thought I guess,' one Australian woman tweeted. But some Australians thanked those in the US for standing up for their freedom to choose whether to be vaccinated against Covid. 'God Bless the people of New York,' one tweeted. 'Thank you to all the awesome New Yorkers for your support! Love from Australia!' said another. 'Look people on the other side of the world care more about Australia than the people who live here,' one Aussie shared on Twitter. The surprising support coming out of America wasn't exactly well received by Aussies who bluntly said they 'didn't need saving' One Aussie took aim at Americans following the protests in New York One Australian woman questioned just what the American protesters were saving her from But some Aussies thanked those in the US for standing up for them despite being so far away The protests follow similar rallies seen in Victoria after vaccine mandates were enforced for all authorised workers in the state, who must be fully vaxxed by November 25. When the mandate was given to construction workers two weeks ago, protesters filled the streets, damaging buildings and police cars and hundreds had to be taken away in handcuffs. The New York protest isn't the first time Americans have criticised the government's handling of the pandemic in Australia, with a Texan citizens' lobbying group comparing the country to a prison. The Texas Freedom Coalition earlier posted a meme to its Facebook page that equates Australia's strict Covid-19 lockdown laws to a penitentiary system. A map of Australia is pictured alongside the text: 'What the world's largest prison looks like from space'. In a caption written alongside the meme the Texas Freedom Coalition wrote: 'Pray for Australia. It's almost unbelievable what is happening there'. Meanwhile several news reporters have also unleashed on the harsh punishments enforced on Covid rule breakers. Hundreds gathered outside the Australian consulate building in New York on Monday The Texas freedom coalition shared the meme to its Facebook group comparing Australian lockdowns to prison (pictured) Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham earlier ridiculed the drastic stay-at-home orders that have been enforced across Sydney for now four months despite a '0.004 case to population ratio'. 'It's been seven weeks of lockdown in Sydney, Australia and they're still keeping the vice grip on the population,' the TV host said during a news segment in August. The news anchor held back her laughter as she poked fun at the 'whopping' rise in cases and mocked the state government's reaction to keeping the city locked down. 'The population of New South Wales: 8.2 million,' Ingraham said. 'Meaning a case-to-population ratio of .004 per cent. They locked down for that.' She then turned her attention to Canberra calling the city 'insane' after the Australian capital announced it would enforce a seven-day lockdown. The decision came after the city recorded its first Covid-19 case in a year. 'The capital city has a population of 400,000. They have just entered a snap lockdown over one case. A single case,' Ms Ingraham said before breaking into laughter. Advertisement Fascinating colourised pictures have emerged telling the story of the London Underground throughout the 20th century - from trilby hats and antique carriages to a belly dancer advertising Turkish Delight. The London Underground was the world's oldest underground passenger railway and has been open to the public since 1863, with the post-WWII years witnessing a particularly rapid period of expansion and modernisation. Pictures release by an archive show some highlights from the surrounding decades, including the opening of a new Central Line extension in 1947 and the installation of brand-new signalling equipment that would revolutionise the network. In one picture from 1968, an actress named Bonita Daniel is seen posing in a jewel-encrusted bikini while filming a live advert for Turkish Delight - the retro brand of chocolate. Other images show the first Victoria Line trains in 1968, the newly-build Wanstead Station in 1947, and Londoners engrossed in their daily papers while commuting to work in 1947. Despite suffering major disruptions during World War II, the Tube has continued to grow - and currently serves a whopping 272 stations. It hosts 1.35billion passengers a year - beaten only by the Beijing Subway and Shanghai Metro. Actress and belly dancer Bonita Daniel poses on a London Underground train during a live commercial for Fry's Turkish Delight in 1968. It is one of a series of newly colourised images that have emerged showing the Tube throughout the twentieth century Londoners wearing suits, coats and trilby hats enter Trafalgar Square Tube station on April 26, 1933, with double decker buses pictured in the distance. By the entrance is a newspaper seller holding a billboard reading 'Lively Lancashire Lads London' Londoners going to work on the Underground on June 11, 1947 in a carriage divided into compartments by glass sliding doors, a novel arrangement at the time. Most of the passengers appear to be engrossed with reading while one man carries documents in one hand while standing near the doors This picture shows the ' walkie-talkie ' set being used in a signalling cabin on April 13, 1949. Most of the old manual signalling systems - used to tell drivers when they can pull off from stations - have been replaced with digital alternatives that are more efficient The new Central Line extension from Leytonstone to Woodford and Newbury Park, pictured on December 11, 1947 at Wanstead Station. Advertisements lining the platform include one for Oxo and Benger's Food, a form of nutrient supplement for children Passengers walk down an escalator on the London Underground in 1946, in a scene that will be broadly familiar to modern passengers. The Tube has its origins in the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground passenger railway, which opened in 1863 Station Master, AE Hills, watches as a new station sign is fitted at Newbury on December 11, 1947. The iconography of the Tube - including the famous logo - has changed little in the ensuing decades. The system was originally owned by a series of private companies but is now under public control Minister of Transport, Alfred Barnes, inserts the golden key into a signal machine at Liverpool Street station before the first train left on December 3, 1946. The Labour politician, a son of a docker, served in the government of Clement Atlee, the party's longest serving leader Passengers at Liverpool Street station have a go on a brand new device - installed in 1946 - that provided information on destinations and fares to passengers Signal lamps are fitted at the entrance to the tunnel at Bethnal Green station on November 18, 1946. The London Underground has been open to the public since 1863, and was the world's first underground railway. Despite suffering major disruptions during World War II, the subway system has continued to grow - and currently serves a whopping 272 stations Advertisement A fascinating treasure chest owned by a Royal Air Force pilot, British diplomat and OBE recipient was discovered during a house clearance - sparking a nationwide search for the family which ended in success. Nicola Turner, 52, of Radlett, Hertfordshire, unearthed the 23ft by 3ft metal and wooden chest when clearing out an annex of her late mother-in-law's house and found it belonged to a Flight Lieutenant Rex Goring-Morris. The chest was full of historical and personal records relating to Fl Lt Goring-Morris who died in 1988 aged 62, including sketches, flight log books, passports and diaries about his time in the RAF and the diplomatic service. This led Mrs Turner on a search for information and she employed the help of Danny Curran from the BBC show Heir Hunters, discovering that Fl Lt Goring-Morris served in the RAF from 1945 to 1968. He then transferred to the Foreign Office in 1968 and in November 1974 was part of the team that successfully negotiated the release of the passengers of a hijacked British Airways VC-10 while on the ground at Dubai Airport. Nicola Turner (left), 52, who found the wooden chest when clearing out an annex of her late mother-in-law's house; Finders International managing director Danny Curran (centre); and David Goring-Morris (right), 61, the son of Fl Lt Rex Goring-Morris The chest was full of historical and personal records relating to Fl Lt Goring-Morris's RAF career including flight manuals Fl Lt Goring-Morris, pictured in a passport photograph aged 25, served in the RAF before transferring to the Foreign Office The crew were at the airport for a refuelling stop during their journey en route to Brunei, but the hijackers got on board while disguised as airport workers, wounding BA stewardess Nirmala Subba and an airport worker. Fl Lt Goring-Morris was involved in the effort to save the passengers, with only one - German banker Werner Kehl - killed by the terrorists and the rest released. What happened when BA jet was hijacked in 1974? A British Airways passenger was killed when armed terrorists got on a flight on the ground at Dubai Airport on November 21, 1974 which had travelled from London. The crew were at the airport for a refuelling stop during their journey en route to Brunei, but the hijackers got on board while disguised as airport workers, wounding BA stewardess Nirmala Subba and an airport worker. The terrorists then realised the captain, James Futcher, was not on board and said he should come or they would start shooting passengers. The captain arrived, and took off with 27 passengers, ten crew and eight airport workers who had been cleaning the VC10 plane. The hijackers wanted to go to Beirut but the airport had been shut - and the plane therefore refuelled in Tripoli before landing at Tunis where troops surrounded it. The terrorists wanted Palestinian prisoners held in Cairo and Holland to be released - and set a deadline 24 hours away, promising to kill a passenger for every two hours past that time. On the second day, they murdered German banker Werner Kehl, a passenger on board. On the fourth day, negotiations saw the Cairo-held hostages brought to the plane in exchange for seven hostages. When the other two prisoners from Holland arrived, the remaining passengers and crew were also released. Advertisement Fl Lt Goring-Morris married Heather Bartram in 1950 in Oxford, and they had five children. Heather died in 1979, and Fl Lt Goring-Morris went on to marry again and settled in Buckinghamshire where he died. He joined the Oxford University Air Squadron in 1944 and while at Oxford he also played football in the Oxford v Cambridge Varsity match twice. He got his wings from RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire in 1946, one year after joining. In all he was in the RAF from 1945 to 1968 and during that time he served at various RAF bases across the UK throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Fl Lt Goring-Morris was seconded to the French Moroccan Air Force from 1951 to 1953 to train their pilots in Marrakech and Meknes, did at least two stints at different Nato bases in Germany during the 1950s, was at Nato in Whitehall in the early 1960s, and was posted to Tel Aviv as the British Air Attache in the British Embassy between 1964 and 1967. He was principally a fighter pilot but during his time in the RAF he flew a variety of propellor and jet planes including the DH82A, Harvard, Oxford, Spitfire, Meteor, Vampire, Prentice, Anson 12, Mosquito, Lancaster, Dakota, Venom, Hunter, Javelin, Lightning, Fouga Magister, Jet Provost, Canberra and Pembroke. He transferred to the Foreign Office in 1968 and by that stage he was no longer actively flying, and his time attached to the embassy in Israel had given him a taste for the diplomatic life. Fl Lt Goring-Morris first worked at the Foreign Office in Whitehall on the Rhodesia Desk before being posted to Tunisia from 1971 to 1975, where in 1974 he was involved in the team negotiating the release of the BA passengers. He also worked in Bangkok where he was the Head of Chancery and the Consul General, and was awarded the OBE in 1976. Fl Lt Goring-Morris was later posted to Sweden before taking early retirement in 1982. One of his children with Heather was David Goring-Morris, from Ealing, West London, whom Mr Curran tracked down and handed over the chest in person to at the offices in the capital of his probate genealogist firm Finders International, along with Mrs Turner. Flight Lieutenant Rex Goring-Morris, pictured in a Gloster Meteor III in September 1947, served in the RAF from 1945 to 1968 Fl Lt Goring-Morris, depicted in a cartoon, helped to negotiate the release of passengers on a hijacked British Airways plane Fl Lt Goring-Morris (left), pictured meeting senior RAF personnel, moved to Buckinghamshire where he died in 1988 aged 62 Mrs Turner told MailOnline today: 'The moment I opened it I just knew this was something very special and would be immensely valued by his relatives. The chest contained a veritable archive of personal, social and historical records. 'I felt an overwhelming responsibility to ensure that somehow we got it back to his family. However our research, despite our best efforts, could not trace his family.' Mr Curran's company then took on the hunt and tracked down the family presenting David with the chest one week before what would have been Fl Lt Goring-Morris's 95th birthday and 33 years after his death. Mrs Turner added: 'It was like a minor miracle when Finders said they'd take on the search. What a great result. I am thrilled to know that it's now with his family and delighted to actually meet his son, David, too.' And Mr Curran said: 'These happy endings are one of the best parts of our work. Tracing families, reunited relatives, finding lost heirs to estates and lending our research skills to cases like this is hugely fulfilling.' David, 61, who lives in London, said: 'It is just so surprising to a take phone call out of the blue telling me that someone has found a large chest that they believe belonged to my father. Fl Lt Goring-Morris, pictured seated front row second right, served in the RAF from the end of the Second World War A detail of Fl Lt Goring-Morris's squadron insignia for the Royal Air Force 66 Fighter Squadron, which no longer exists 'I am so pleased to have it. I can't get over how much of my father's life is in the chest. My father had an adventurous and interesting life as an RAF pilot and of course, travelled the world when he worked for the diplomatic service in Sweden and Thailand. 'It is just wonderful to be reunited with this treasure trove of my father's personal and social history - made even more poignant as it would have been his 95th birthday this month. 'Many thanks to Nicola for her kindness and perseverance and we are immensely grateful to Danny and the team at Finders International who took on the search and located us.' Finders International were also in the headlines in July after leading a global hunt for a 15-year-old Indonesian girl who is set to inherit more than 400,000 from her estranged father including a semi-detached house in Kent. MailOnline reported how Alexander Thomson's mystery daughter will receive the proceeds from a treasure trove uncovered from his unassuming three-bedroom property in Ramsgate, which he bought in 2007 for 235,000. Thirty captive lions have been put down after they were left starving and untreated for wounds sustained when a fire ripped through their enclosure in South Africa. The animals had already gone without food for some time before the blaze engulfed their compound in the Free State in August. One lion was killed and eaten by three of his brothers, while others were left to starve, many too weak to stand with bleeding sores on their paws from the burns. Welfare officers who discovered the big cat breeding centre, where a total of 59 lions and tigers were kept, said it was one of the worst animal cruelty cases they have ever seen. Welfare officers who discovered the big cat breeding centre, where a total of 59 lions and tigers were kept, as one of the worst animal cruelty cases they have ever seen (pictured: starving lions with their rib cages exposed in their burnt enclosure) Many of the lions were too weak to stand after their paws and fur were burnt in the fire at the enclosure in the Free State, South Africa One of the male lions inside the burned enclosure in the Free State, South Africa Many of the lions were too weak to stand because of the burns which had opened their paws into raw wounds Vets from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), spent days treating their injuries, but 30 lions could not be saved. SPCA inspector Reinet Meyer said: 'What we found shocked us to the bone. As we entered the lion camps, we could only see the destruction left behind by the torturing flames. 'We arrived at the lion enclosures and our hearts broke and our souls wept. We saw that the lions couldn't escape the blazing fires and the inhalation of smothering fumes were evident. 'The lions didn't move. They all laid in one spot with their paws turned upwards. Their fragile bodies were burnt, and their faces carried the devastating scars of the flames just days ago. 'Three male Lions, supposed to be Kings of the Jungle, in one of the camps, couldn't stand at all. As they attempted to get up, they simply collapsed over and over. One cannot begin to comprehend the pain these lions were in.' The SPCA said it has only just released the details of the scandal because it was awaiting vet reports and cost analyses to be added to a criminal docket which was opened against the farmer. When they arrived at the farm and asked to be allowed to inspect the lions, the farmer asked if they had a search warrant. 'We contacted the owner to find out if he had any damage on his farm with the animals. He said, no, there was no damage,' Meyer told Times Live. 'But we went back the next day because of the way the place had burnt. There was no way that the animals wouldn't have been affected.' When they came back the next day with a warrant they urged him to get a vet to look at the animals. 'We gave him a warning to get treatment for the animals from a veterinarian. The next day he got a vet and the vet told us the animals weren't injured that badly, [that] it's like a dog walking on a tar road and getting some burn damage, but it's not so bad. So he just gave pain medication to 11 of the lions which, according to him, would last three days,' Meyer said. The lions had painful, festering wounds on their paws after the fire tore through their compound A SPCA worker shows the wounds on the bottom of one of the lions' feet She said the report by the private vet, who has a practice in Bloemfontein, was questionable and that other vets said the pain medication would have only lasted 24 hours maximum. Three days later, the SPCA returned with their own vet and discovered the horrifying scene had not improved. It was then that they started treating the animals and soon realised that many would have to be put down. Around 12,000 lions are kept in captivity in South Africa, four times the wild population, where they can be legally monetised. Cubs are often separated from their mothers at birth so that tourists can pet and feed them. Adult lions and often tigers are bred for so-called 'canned hunting' where they are released into an enclosed area for hunting. Hunters pay tens of thousands of pounds to kill their chosen species with the help of local guides. Their bones are then sold on a quota system to the Asian market where they are used for medicines and trinkets. Animal cruelty is regularly reported, however convictions are rare. A vet has won a claim for unfair dismissal after she was fired by her Cambridge-educated boss because she challenged him over his claims that the Covid outbreak was 'over hyped'. Dr David White told colleagues at his practice in Hertfordshire that it was to 'open as normal' the day after Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown in March 2020. When staff, including Charlotte Rendina, objected to his response to the pandemic, the surgeon said they were 'misinformed'. An employment tribunal heard Ms Rendina refused to carry out a number of procedures the following day because she believed she could be breaking rules. A week later she was fired by Dr White, who cited the 'level of discord' between them as the reason for her sacking, but has since won a claim for unfair dismissal. Dr David White (left) told colleagues at his practice in Hertfordshire that it was to 'open as normal' the day after Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown in March 2020. When staff, including Charlotte Rendina (right), objected to his response to the pandemic, the surgeon said they were 'misinformed' The tribunal in Bury St Edmunds heard that Ms Rendina was employed in her 29,000 a year role at the Royston Veterinary Centre from January 2020. In March of that year the Milan University-educated vet - who has British and Italian heritage - was becoming increasingly concerned about the coronavirus outbreak. But on March 16 Dr White held a meeting for staff at which he declared Covid-19 was 'like cold and flu' and was being 'over hyped by the press'. The tribunal heard he told staff there was no need for signs or notices at the practice and no need for hand sanitisers or wipes. When Ms Rendina suggested consultations should be limited to one person in attendance only, Dr White rejected that suggestion. She later passed on her concerns at the lack of measures being put in place to the practice manager, the hearing was told. The following week she emailed the staff with guidance from the British Veterinary Association asking that they minimise contact with clients and colleagues, work from home where possible, delay routine work and increase hygiene. In her message she said: 'I have been increasingly concerned about Covid-19, especially as I am aware of the severity of situation my friends and family in Italy find themselves in and can't help but worry about them, and miss them, constantly.' That evening - the 23rd March - the Prime Minister announced the first national lockdown. The tribunal heard Dr White messaged staff: 'Following the Government's announcement earlier this evening I want you to know that we will be open 'as normal' tomorrow. 'Please come into work at your normal time. The situation is very dynamic and may change at short notice. I appreciate your understanding and co-operation in these very unusual times. David.' The hearing was told that when she arrived at work Ms Rendina was expected to see booked in clients and patients as normal. Ms Rendina (pictured) was fired by Dr White, who cited the 'level of discord' between them as the reason for her sacking, but has since won a claim for unfair dismissal The tribunal in Bury St Edmunds heard that Ms Rendina was employed in her 29,000 a year role at the Royston Veterinary Centre (pictured) from January 2020 This made her 'uneasy' and she avoided carrying out several procedures which she saw as non-essential. At a staff meeting that evening - which Ms Rendina secretly recorded - the tribunal was told several staff voiced concerns about how the practice was operating. Dr White told them: 'There is an awful lot of worry out there. Some of it is real, and some of it is hyped up. In fact, I would argue that most of it is hyped up.' When a nurse challenged him by saying: 'People are dying of something that's literally becoming worse and worse daily, otherwise the Government wouldn't be doing this', Dr White responded: 'No, incorrect.' He continued: 'I think you were misinformed. At the moment you listen carefully to what the officials are saying. And they see people are dying with Coronavirus, not from Coronavirus.' Ms Rendina then interjected: 'I can't listen to this, but no, no, we have to play our part. We have to play a part in avoiding transmitting this disease to people and by doing that we have to stop routine things because that's the way which we are playing our part.' Dr White replied: 'Absolutely not, Charlotte, absolutely not. You are trying to dictate to me...how I should live my life.' The tribunal heard that a week later Dr White fired Ms Rendina, telling her they had 'reached a level of discord that was not amenable'. At the hearing he claimed she was dismissed due to 'client complaints, lateness and not completing records correctly'. However, the tribunal found that Dr White was 'irritated' by her. 'The cause of that irritation was Ms Rendina raising concerns about the arrangements in place to protect herself, her colleagues and visitors to the premises from the spread of the Coronavirus,' the panel found. Ruling that she had been unfairly dismissed, it concluded that the reason she was fired was she had raised 'issues of concern' related to the pandemic. Ms Rendina will now be entitled to compensation to be negotiated between herself and Dr White, the tribunal said. He was also ordered to pay her outstanding holiday and notice pay. Teachers and aged care workers are not being forced to get a Covid vaccine, government lawyers have insisted, but are simply left unable to take advantage of exemptions to the stay-at-home orders afforded to the double jabbed. If workers in key industries choose not to get jabbed, it could temporarily limit their ability to work, lawyers for NSW health minister Brad Hazzard admitted to the Supreme Court. They claimed those who do choose to get jabbed are merely being excused some of the lockdown limitations - meaning those who refuse the vaccine cannot benefit from the same freedoms. A group of 10 people - including a teacher, health care worker and a mechanic - are trying to overturn rules which require teachers and aged care workers to be vaccinated before returning to work. Teachers and aged care workers do not face mandatory Covid vaccine jabs, government lawyers for NSW health minister Brad Hazzard (pictured) have admitted NSW Supreme Court (pictured) heard that if workers in key industries choose not to get jabbed, it could temporarily limit their ability to work - but jabs were not being forced on them Poll DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff Yes - for all workers No - no one should have to DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff 525 votes Yes - for all workers 756 votes No - no one should have to 3159 votes Now share your opinion They say the NSW state government is forcing some workers to be vaccinated against their will to be able to go to work. They're also fighting laws requiring authorised workers to prove they've been jabbed before they can leave coronavirus hotspots in Sydney. Lawyers for the group told Justice Robert Beech-Jones on Tuesday that the orders were an attempt to coerce their clients into receiving a vaccination. They say the orders discriminate against a minority group, and that Mr Hazzard had no power to sign off on them. But NSW state government has hit back at the claims and say no-one is being forced to get jabbed, just that those who are will be excused from some of the restrictions. A group of 10 people - including a teacher, health care worker and a mechanic - are trying to overturn rules mandating vaccination for some key workers (pictured, a Pfizer Covid dose being administered in Sydney on Monday) Jeremy Kirk, barrister for Mr Hazzard, told the court the case wasn't about vaccine mandates and the lockdown rules were just a temporary restriction on movement. But, he said, workers could avoid some of those restrictions if they chose to get vaccinated. 'There is no requirement for vaccination,' Mr Kirk said. 'There is a condition on the exception (to the stay-at-home orders) which people can take advantage of, or not.' Mr Kirk said the state probably did have the power to force people to be vaccinated if 'some terrible disease' like Ebola were threatening society. Teachers, like the one pictured here, and care workers in NSW must be vaccinated by November 8, or they won't be allowed on the premises of educational facilities But, he said, 'Your Honour doesn't have to decide (that).' The workers' lawyers have also launched an attack on the safety and effectiveness of the Covid vaccines. But Mr Kirk dismissed their arguments and said Mr Hazzard didn't need to listen to anti-vaxxers when there is clear evidence to support the public health orders. He also refuted the claims of the plaintiffs who insist their 'fundamental rights' are being violated. Lawyers for NSW health Minister Brad Hazzard say workers, like can aged care worker pictured here, who do choose to get jabbed will merely be excused some of the lockdown limitations 'Is there economic pressure? Yes,' Mr Kirk said in reply. 'But... there are real choices to be made. The fact that there are real choices to be made is illustrated by the 10 plaintiffs who've made that choice.' Teachers and care workers in NSW must be vaccinated by November 8, or they won't be allowed on the premises of educational facilities. Aged care workers also need to have received at least one dose before the end of the month. Health care workers have until the end of November to get both doses. The Supreme Court will continue hearing closing submissions in the case on Wednesday. An expert panel has recommended redress payments and a full public inquiry into conditions in mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses in Northern Ireland - which have been dubbed 'one of the great scandals of our time'. Thousands of so-called 'fallen' women and girls passed through these institutions in the 20th century because they were pregnant and unmarried, among them victims of rape and incest. While there, many suffered degrading treatment, forced labour and separation from their children, according to research commissioned by the Stormont executive. Professor Phil Scraton of Queen's University spoke today at the launch of the Truth Recovery Design Panel's report, which recommended a full inquiry into the abuse. He said that women and girls who went to these institutions were 'denied access to their lives' according to the Belfast Telegraph. Professor Scraton said: 'The victims and survivors' pain will never be assuaged this is one of the great scandals of our time. 'How dare we as a society blame those who suffered the most.' Most institutions were run by religious orders, both Catholic and Protestant, and gradually closed as public attitudes changed. The last mother and baby home closed in Northern Ireland in 1990. Survivors Mechelle Dillon (left) and Adele Johnstone (right) embrace one another after the release of the Truth Recovery Design Panel report in Belfast earlier today The panel headed by Deirdre Mahon, Dr Maeve O'Rourke and Professor Phil Scarton, pictured outside Stormont, have called for a public inquiry into the abuses The former Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry In addition to redress payments and a public inquiry, the report also recommended that a non-statutory independent panel should be set up to allow victims to give testimony in a less confrontational setting if they wished. Legislation should also be passed to ensure access to the records of the institutions under scrutiny, the panel urged. Earlier this year a major academic research report was published outlining the scale of mistreatment endured by thousands of women and girls. The academic conducted by Queen's University and Ulster University found that more than 10,500 women and girls entered the homes for unmarried mothers and their children from 1922 to 1990. The youngest was 12, and the oldest 44. However, a third were under the age of 19. The included victims of rape and incest. Girls and women were sent to the homes by their families or church leaders under a shadow of stigma, secrecy and shame, believing they had no other choice due to being pregnant out of wedlock. Meanwhile, 3,000 women were sent to Magdalene laundries with numbers peaking in the 1930s. The research found that women were mistreated, held against their will and forced to give up children for adoption. The findings prompted Stormont ministers to commit to a full investigation of what happened in the institutions. The Stormont executive commissioned an expert panel to work with survivors to design the format of the investigation. The appointed experts were Professor Scraton, Deirdre Mahon of Women and Children's Services, and Dr Maeve O'Rourke,a human right's lawyer of NUI Galway. Survivors pictured alongside family members watch as the Truth Recovery Design Panel releases their report Survivors gather at the Stormont Hotel as the Truth Recovery Design Panel releases their report into mother-and-baby homes in Northern Ireland Outlining the findings on Tuesday, the chair of panel, Ms Mahon said: 'For six months we have worked closely with victims-survivors and relatives who have shared their heart-breaking stories with us and we thank them for their dedicated and tireless pursuit of truth and justice. 'The executive's decision in January, on the inter-departmental working group's advice, to decide to set up an investigation and involve victims and survivors centrally in designing the investigation was a hugely positive step. 'Mother and baby' homes and Magdalene laundries: The facts Options for unmarried pregnant women and girls in Northern Ireland were often limited in the 20th Century, due to the stigma of 'illegitimacy'. In many cases, victims' own families sent them to institutions to hide the shame of a child born out of wedlock. The McAleese Report of 2013 stated: 'It is probable that the proportion of Irish unmarried mothers who were in mother and baby homes was the highest in the world.' Although religious orders - both Catholic and Protestant - had run institutions since the late 18th century, it became more common across the mainland after Ireland gained independence in 1922. Many former workhouses were taken over by religious orders, including the notorious Bon Seceurs mother and baby home in Tuam, Galway, in 1925. Magdalene laundries, which were once used to house prostitutes and unwed mothers, reached their peak in the 1930s. As well as pregnant women, they were sometimes used by courts to send petty criminals and people with mental health conditions. As public attitudes changed, women and baby homes and Magdalene laundries became less commonly used. The last mother and baby home closed in Northern Ireland in 1990. Advertisement 'Nevertheless this decision has come too late for many, and it is essential that these recommendations are acted on without delay.' Other measures recommended by the panel include the offering of public apologies from the State and all institutions involved; comprehensive funding for health and wellbeing services for survivors; funding for voluntary DNA testing; legal aid to access the courts or inquest system; citizenship for those who lost their entitlement due to removal from the jurisdiction as a child; and the provision of gravestones and memorials. Survivors of the institutions claimed they were subjected to labour such as scrubbing floors during the final stages of pregnancy and were described as 'fallen' and stigmatised. Some were referred to the austere institutions by their families, others by priests and some by state agencies, including the courts, police, probation, welfare and GPs. These included women who suffered with alcohol dependency, teenage girls described as having behaviour issues, some with learning difficulties, and some from the mother and baby homes to serve 'penance'. Some women died in the laundries after spending the majority of their lives doing unpaid, strenuous labour. A further 707 women entered an industrial institution run by the Salvation Army at Thorndale in Belfast which was described as being used as an alternative to prison, like a probation home. Around 4% of babies were either stillborn or died shortly after birth across the entire period. Around a third of infants were then sent to baby homes following separation from their birth mother. Others were fostered in today's terms and others were placed for adoption. Advertisement Priti Patel today announced there will be an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Wayne Couzens to serve as a Met police officer and murder Sarah Everard. The Home Secretary said that 'recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in policing'. She said that the public 'have a right to know' why Couzens was able to be employed by the Metropolitan Police. Addressing the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Ms Patel said: 'I can confirm today, there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' The inquiry will look at Couzens' career in the Metropolitan Police and determine if red flags were missed to identify him as a threat. The probe is likely to be viewed as a warning shot at Met chief Cressida Dick who has faced calls to quit following the murder of Ms Everard. Ms Patel also used her speech in Manchester to announce tough new laws to stop protesters disrupting critical national infrastructure and plans to expand drug testing on arrest. Priti Patel today announced there will be an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Wayne Couzens to serve as a police officer and murder Sarah Everard Sarah Everard, 33, was murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, in London last year At a glance: Priti Patel vows action against eco-mob and expansion of drug testing on arrest Priti Patel took to the Tory conference stage today to talk tough on crime. Here are the key announcements: The Home Secretary revealed there will be an inquiry into 'systematic failures' which enabled Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens to remain a police officer after previous sex crime incidents She told the packed audience in Manchester: 'I can confirm today there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' Blocking motorways will attract tougher sentences in the wake of Insulate Britain demonstrations, attacking ' the small minority of offenders intent on travelling around the country, causing disruption and misery across our communities'. Mandatory drug testing of those arrested is being expanded across all 43 police forces in England and Wales to combat addiction-fueled crime. On immigration she demanded France do more to tackle cross-channel arrivals. She said: 'France is a safe country, one not riven by war or conflict. There is no reason why any asylum seeker should come to the United Kingdom directly from France.' She insisted she was working to confront the issues before adding what is happening in the Channel with small boats seeking to reach the UK is 'unsafe, unfair and unacceptable'. Advertisement Ms Patel's announcement of an independent inquiry came as: The Home Secretary told Tory members that 'without safety and security, there can be no freedom' and the Conservatives' approach to crime will 'always be based on seeking justice for victims and survivors, ensuring perpetrators feel the full force of the law'. Ms Patel said the Government is 'nearly halfway' to hitting its target of recruiting an extra 20,000 police officers. The Cabinet minister said the Government is successfully 'cutting the head off the snake' of drug gangs by 'taking down the kingpins behind these deadly supply lines'. She fired a warning to France to do more to stop 'unsafe, unfair and unacceptable' migrant crossings across the English Channel. Metropolitan Police firearms officer Couzens 48, was handed a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey last week for murdering Ms Everard. Ms Everard, 33, was walking home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3 when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Couzens. Ms Patel said: 'This Government will always back the brave men and women of our police. 'And it is because of our strong relationship with the police, that I can ask the difficult questions and support them to do better. 'Recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in policing. It is abhorrent that a serving police officer was able to abuse his position of power, authority and trust to commit such a horrific crime. 'The public have a right to know what systematic failures enabled his continued employment as a police officer. We need answers as to why this was allowed to happen. 'I can confirm today, there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' Ms Patel said that 'all our thoughts remain with Sarah Everard's family and friends' as she refused to say Couzens' name, describing him as a 'monster'. The inquiry will be split into two parts, with the first examining Couzens' previous behaviour. It will seek to establish a 'definitive account' of his conduct leading up to his conviction, as well 'any opportunities missed'. The second part of the probe will look at 'specific issues raised by the first part of the inquiry'. That could include examining wider issues across policing, including vetting practices, discipline and workplace behaviour. Ms Patel will also write to the independent police inspectorate HMICFRS to commission a 'thematic inspection of vetting and counter-corruption procedures in policing across England and Wales'. This will look at how forces detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour. The Home Office said the inquiry will be established on a non-statutory footing but 'can be converted to a statutory inquiry if required'. A chairman for the inquiry and its terms of reference will be announced by the Government in due course. Labour's shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said: 'Labour has been calling for a full independent inquiry for days, yet the Prime Minister refused to support one. 'Now the Home Secretary has half-heartedly announced one, but not put it on a robust, statutory footing to ensure there are no barriers in the way to getting answers.' Ms Patel also used her conference speech in Manchester to vow tough new action to combat disruptive protests following a wave of action by the Insulate Britain campaign group. She told Tory members: 'It is because of our commitment to putting the needs of the hardworking, often silent, majority first, that I will not tolerate so called ecowarriors, trampling over our way of life and draining police resources. 'Their actions over recent weeks have amounted to some of the most self-defeating 'environmental' protests this country has ever seen. 'Freedom to protest is a fundamental right our Party will forever fight to uphold. But it must be within the law. The Home Secretary also announced an expansion of drug testing on arrest across all 43 police forces in England and Wales Ms Patel delivered a tough message to France to do more to stop migrant crossings as she defended the UK's immigration reforms Priti Patel vows crackdown on criminals who use recreational drugs More suspected criminals will be tested for drugs on arrest by all police forces in England and Wales, the Home Secretary has said. Priti Patel confirmed a 15million expansion of drug testing over the next four years during her Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester on Tuesday. She warned there would be the 'harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences' for those 'unwilling to address their drug misuse'. The policy will focus on arrests for crimes including narcotics offences, fraud and theft while five pilots will give police extra powers to test suspects arrested for crimes beyond the usual so-called 'trigger' offences of shoplifting, burglary and robbery. Ms Patel said: 'Those who test positive as confirmed drug users will be supported to tackle their drug abuse and regain their independence. 'But for those unwilling to address their drug misuse, there will be the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences.' According to further details released by the Tories, officers will test suspects in custody for the presence of heroin or cocaine. A total of 375,000 will be offered to police forces immediately to expand their use of drug testing on arrest. The Government will offer 5,000 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to invest in extra testing equipment and training for police officers and staff this year. And in addition to this, five forces: City of London, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire and Gwent will receive an additional 32,000 boost this year to increase testing for a wider range of offences, which could include domestic abuse and public order offences. Those who test positive for opiates or cocaine will be referred for treatment or measures like drug awareness courses to try to 'tackle the problem at its root and reduce the prevalence of drug misuse across society', the party said. Those who refuse will reportedly face prosecution with a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail or a 2,500 fine, according to the Daily Telegraph. Advertisement 'Measures already going through Parliament will ensure these criminals can be brought to justice for the disruption they are causing. 'But we are going further to close down the legal loopholes exploited by these offenders. 'So today I can announce I will also increase the maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, criminalise interference with key infrastructure such as roads, railways and our free press and give the police and courts new powers to deal with the small minority of offenders intent on travelling around the country, causing disruption and misery across our communities.' New measures brought forward by Ms Patel will make it an offence to repeatedly obstruct roads or cause other delays. The Criminal Disruption Prevention Orders dubbed 'Asbos for crusties' are intended to be quicker to enforce than the Government's current approach, which has been based on High Court injunctions. In a separate move, a new offence will be created to make it a crime to 'interfere with critical national infrastructure', including major roads, railways, seaports, power stations and newspaper printing presses. The new crime will carry up to six months' imprisonment and will be dealt with at magistrates' courts only. It will give police new options when arresting offenders who block motorways or other sites, and make it more likely that protesters will face jail. The Government has been under pressure to launch a fresh crackdown on protesters after Insulate Britain, an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion group, blocked major roads including the M25, M1 and M4 over the past three weeks. Three court injunctions have been put in place to stop the protests but demonstrations have continued. The group, which is calling on the Government to insulate all homes across the UK by 2030 to help cut carbon emissions, has mostly focused on blockading the M25 but has sat down on other London roads since last Friday. Boris Johnson labelled the group 'irresponsible crusties' this morning as he vowed to end their disruptive demonstrations. The Home Secretary also announced an expansion of drug testing on arrest across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. She said: 'Those who test positive as confirmed drug users will be supported to tackle their drug abuse and regain their independence. 'But for those unwilling to address their drug misuse, there will be the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences.' The 15million expansion of drug testing over the next four years will see police forces told to test more suspected criminals for recreational drugs. Activists from Insulate Britain caused chaos on the A40 and North Circular at Hanger Lane in West London yesterday The policy will focus on arrests for crimes including narcotics offences, fraud and theft while five pilots will give police extra powers to test suspects arrested for crimes beyond the usual so-called 'trigger' offences of shoplifting, burglary and robbery. Officers will test suspects in custody for the presence of heroin or cocaine. A total of 375,000 will be offered to police forces immediately to expand their use of drug testing on arrest. The Government will offer 5,000 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to invest in extra testing equipment and training for police officers and staff this year. And in addition to this, five forces - City of London, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire and Gwent will receive an additional 32,000 boost this year to increase testing for a wider range of offences, which could include domestic abuse and public order offences. Those who test positive for opiates or cocaine will be referred for treatment or measures like drug awareness courses to try to 'tackle the problem at its root and reduce the prevalence of drug misuse across society'. Those who refuse will reportedly face prosecution with a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail or a 2,500 fine, according to the Daily Telegraph. Ms Patel also delivered a tough message to France to do more to stop migrant crossings across the English Channel. She said that 'all states have a responsibility to control their borders' because 'where there is a door, there must be a door keeper'. 'What is happening in the Channel with small boats is unsafe, unfair, and unacceptable,' she told the conference. 'From the vast camps outside Calais of mainly male, economic migrants, to the shocking images of people crammed onto flimsy boats crossing the Channel, exploited by people smugglers. 'Vile criminals characterised by ruthlessness and greed, who even threaten to drown small children to line their pockets. 'This cannot continue. Which is why we are going after the criminals behind this perilous trade in people smuggling.' She said that 'France is a safe country, one not riven by war or conflict', adding: 'There is no reason why any asylum seeker should come to the United Kingdom directly from France. 'We make no apology for securing our borders and exploring all possible options to save lives by ending these horrific journeys.' The White House refused to say whether Hunter Biden divested his 10% stake in a Chinese equity firm. The president's son goes out in Los Angeles on August 8, 2021 The White House wouldn't say Monday whether Hunter Biden has sold his 10 per cent stake in a Chinese private equity firm despite President Joe Biden's campaign promise that his family would steer clear of foreign business dealings. In a tense briefing room exchange, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a reporter for Newsmax to not yell when asking about the president's son's involvement with Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. 'I'd point you to his representatives on that. He doesn't work in the administration,' Psaki said. When pressed on the matter, she dismissed the question by saying: 'Again, I conveyed to you, and then I think I'm going to have to move on, that you should talk to his representatives there's no reason to yell, I'm certainly not yelling.' 'He's been working to wind that down, beyond that, I would talk to his representatives,' Psaki reiterated. According to Psaki's comments Monday, Hunter still holds that 10 per cent stake in the firm through Skaneateles LLC, of which he is the sole beneficial owner. Hunter, 51, sat on the Chinese equity firm's board until October 2019 when he announced he would be stepping down as the position added to scrutiny of his father's presidential bid. BHR Partners is co-owned by the Bank of China, which is the state-controlled central bank in the communist nation. This continued involvement in the company by Hunter just adds to the laundry list of Hunter's foreign involvements. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki passed the buck on Monday to Hunter's team for questions related to his controversial foreign business dealings, but did repeat her February statement that 'he's been working to wind that down' Joe Biden vowed in October 2019 that his family would not hold seats in his administration or get involved in foreign business dealings and, in the same month, Hunter announced he would be stepping down from his position on the Chinese equity firm's board Also in October 2019, Joe Biden vowed as a show of ridding himself of foreign conflicts of interest that his family wouldn't get involved with business dealings in other countries should he become president. 'No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,' Biden said during his 2020 presidential campaign. This was a dig at his predecessor Donald Trump, who hired his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as senior White House advisers. Asked in February why Hunter hadn't yet divested, Psaki diverted and passed the buck. Hunter, pictured passed out with a crack pipe in an image retrieved from his hard drive, has caused headaches for the administration mainly due to his foreign business dealings 'He has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you he's a private citizen,' she said. 'I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.' Hunter's foreign business dealings have long caused his father headaches, amid accusations that the troubled Harvard-educated lawyer was trading off his family name. He had business interests in Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan, leading to concern about influence peddling. President Biden has denied having any knowledge of his son's work. In particular, Hunter's extremely lucrative Ukrainian business dealings have consistently raised eyebrows. He was on the board of energy company Burisma, one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine, when his father was serving as President Barack Obama's vice president. Hunter has admitted it was 'poor judgment', as his involvement in Burisma became a lightning rod during the 2020 presidential campaign. He pushes the need to combat climate change with the same gusto with which he used to excoriate all forms of greenery when he was a mere newspaper columnist. With the zeal of the convert, Boris Johnson will pose as the Jolly Green Giant when he hosts world leaders for the global climate jamboree known as COP26 in Glasgow next month, leading the international charge against CO2 emissions and to the promised land of a new green economy. Ambitious targets for slashing UK emissions have been set. Then made legally binding. Then made even more ambitious still. Plans are being concocted to force fundamental changes in our lives, from how we heat our homes to how we cook, what we should drive and even how much flying and meat-eating should be tolerated. Investment is being ramped up to ensure renewable energy plays an ever-expanding role in electricity generation. All governments, of course, have a duty to tackle climate change, which is real and potentially dangerous on so many fronts. But getting from where we are now to a greener economy with net zero emissions (or close to it) is expensive, disruptive and difficult. The Government has a duty to give us the full picture and not just grandstand on the world stage with uncosted green rhetoric. Otherwise, when push comes to shove, the Government will not be able to carry the people, as President Macron found out in France three years ago when he tried to raise fuel prices to reduce consumption and sparked off the yellow-vest protests. Two men have denied charges relating to a stash of historically significant Viking coins and silver worth almost 1 million. Roger Pilling, 73, of Loveclough, Lancashire, and Craig Best, 44, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, appeared briefly before Durham Crown Court to plead not guilty to all charges. They denied a charge of conspiracy to convert criminal property - Anglo-Saxon coins - between September 2018 and May 2019. The hoard contained coins of Alfred the Great of Wessex and his less well-known contemporary Ceolwulf II of Mercia. Roger Pilling, 73, of Loveclough, Lancashire, and Craig Best, 44, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham denied charges relating to a stash of historically important Viking coins and silver worth almost 1 million at Durham Crown Court (pictured) The hoard contained coins of Alfred the Great of Wessex and his less well-known contemporary, Ceolwulf II of Mercia. The coins are similar to those pictured above from the British Museum The coins and silver ingot are considered to be of 'significant historical interest'. Pilling also denied two charges of possessing criminal property - Anglo-Saxon coins and a silver ingot. Best denied a charge of possessing criminal property, namely Anglo-Saxon coins. They will go on trial on June 20 next year. Durham Police said previously that officers seized a large number of coins and a silver ingot in two raids. Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham declared she is 'terrified of former President Donald Trump running for office again in 2024 in a Monday night interview with ABC. Grisham, whose tell-all book about her time in the White House as Trump's press secretary is set to be released today, told ABC Nightline's Juju Cheng that a second Trump term would be a disaster. 'I am terrified of him running in 2024. I don't think he is fit for the job,' said Grisham, who occupied the role of press secretary and first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff. 'I think that he is erratic. I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. And I do not want him to be our president again.' Grisham said a second Trump term in the White House would lead to chaos, claiming the former President's inflammatory behavior would lead to rising violence and alleged he would only run for the presidency to benefit himself and his family. 'I think he would foment more violence. I think he will line his pockets. I think his family will line their pockets. 'I believe that he wanted to help the country in the beginning - I believe he wants to help himself now.' Grisham's decision to release her book entitled 'I'll Take Your Questions Now' has sparked widespread criticism, with a number of commentators claiming she is trying to cash in off the back of her public service by publishing dirt on her time in the White House despite being out of her depth in the role. Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham told ABC Newsline anchor Juju Chang that a second Trump term would 'foment more violence' while the 'delusional' former President would set about 'lining his pockets' Grisham's decision to release her book entitled 'I'll Take Your Questions Now' has sparked widespread criticism, with commentators seeing it as an attempt to cash in off the back of her public service and claiming she was out of her depth in the role of White House press secretary Grisham's ex-colleague and former White House Director of Communications Alyssa Farah, said during an interview with The View on Monday: 'First and foremost, I don't believe in profiting off of public service. I had a chance to write my White House tell-all and declined. The American people, the taxpayers, paid my salary. 'I'm not going to go write a book and cash in.' She went on to declare that Grisham was 'largely MIA on the job', and said that the reason she never held a live-televised press briefing was down to her own reluctance to do so, not Trump as Grisham claimed. 'When I worked for him, it was, ''Go get out on TV, Alyssa. Go give a briefing.'' He wanted people out,' Farah said. 'It seemed like she was largely MIA on the job.' For her part, Chang largely allowed Grisham to freely discuss the content of her book and decry the notion of a Trump 2024 presidency, but pushed back on Grisham's claims that she had never lied while on the job. 'Reading some of the reviews, some of the critics are saying, you know, if you're admitting to lying then, what makes us think that you're not lying now?' Chang asked in reference to some of Grisham's questionable statements she made while working at the White House. 'I think that he is erratic. I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. And I do not want him to be our president again,' Grisham said In the interview with ABC Anchor Juju Chang (pictured), Grisham said: 'I believe that [Trump] wanted to help the country in the beginning - I believe he wants to help himself now.' 'Well, I don't think I'm admitting to lying at all,' Grisham responded. 'I tried to give the press the most honest answers I could, and there were oftentimes I was given information that I knew to be true that perhaps wasn't true.' Chang refused to let the former press secretary off that easily though, reminding her of a tweet she posted in 2019, targeting former Chief of Staff John Kelly had been untrue. Grisham responded: 'That was not sincere. And I regret and apologize for so much.' 'But you said that, ''I never lied?'' Chang repeated. 'Oh no,' Grisham said. 'I just would say I tried my best.' Former President Trump also released a statement on Monday, chastising his former press secretary for her performance in the role and decision to publish the book. 'Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things,' he said. Earlier on Monday, Grisham had shared an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, where she admitted she thought it was a mistake to have worked for the Trump administration in a new Monday morning interview. Stephanopoulos asked Grisham about her accounts of Trump's deferential demeanor and manipulation at the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'How do you explain why the president was so placating of President Putin?' he asked. 'This is my opinion, but I got the feeling he wanted to impress dictators. I think he almost admired how tough they were,' she said. Grisham claims Trump told Putin during a G20 meeting in Japan, 'I'll act tougher with you for a few minutes, but that's just for the cameras.' During the same meeting Grisham said that Putin brought an 'attractive' translator with him to distract Trump. The ex-White House aide admitted that she regretted working for the Trump administration 'As the meeting began, Fiona Hill leaned over and asked me if I had noticed Putin's translator, who was a very attractive brunette woman with long hair, a pretty face, and a wonderful figure,' Grisham wrote in an excerpt release in the New York Times. 'She proceeded to tell me that she suspected the woman had been selected by Putin specifically to distract our president.' Grisham told Good Morning America she felt 'stupid' for not noticing the allegedly obvious ploy. 'She pointed that out to me, and I mean, I actually kind of felt stupid that I didn't notice that because sure enough the president actually paid attention to her and spoke to her, and I'd never seen him do that and I never saw him do it again,' Grisham said. The translator, whose name is Daria Boyarskaya, is an employee of the Russian government and an amateur salsa dancer. The Kremlin denied that she was selected to distract Trump. Reports from the forthcoming tell-all have already produced embarrassing and troubling headlines for the former president and his family, having spent four years working intimately with both Trump and the first lady. Grisham was a 2016 campaign aide who became First Lady Melania Trump's spokeswoman, before being elevated to White House press secretary and communications director from July 2019 to April 2020. In one excerpt Grisham claims Vladimir Putin brought an 'attractive' translator (left) to a meeting with Donald Trump Pictured: Daria Boyarskaya, who Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed in an upcoming book was specifically hired by Putin to distract Trump The meeting was not the first time that Putin had used Boyarskaya to translate in a session with an American president. She also sat in on a meeting between Putin and Obama in 2016 She then returned to the East Wing to serve as the first lady's spokesperson, again, and chief of staff - and said the difference between the two worlds was stark. 'As I went through my years, I spent a huge amount of time on the East Wing, and so I was almost shielded sometimes from a lot of the toxic nature of the West Wing and the administration,' she said. 'When I went to the West Wing is when I actually started to see what it was really like and I regretted that decision immediately.' Grisham described another account in her book in which Trump reportedly asked her to join him in praising Turkey's President Erdogan. 'I write about a situation in the book where we were in a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan and he stopped me and said, 'Stephanie, who do you think is tougher? President Xi or Erdogan?' Who was sitting right there,' the former aide recounted. 'You know, I just think he was always just impressed by how tough they were and worried about impressing them over, you know, our allies.' During the interview Grisham was also confronted about her own controversial White House legacy. She's the only White House press secretary to never hold a news briefing. Grisham, who is the only White House press secretary to not have held a news briefing, said the president was the one who instructed her 'we didn't need any more briefings' Grisham said that was also Trump's doing. 'When we discussed me taking the job, he had already suspended the briefings for about six months under Sarah and he said, we didn't need any more briefings and he spoke to the press directly, and my job was behind the scenes with print and regional and local,' she claimed. But despite the less public nature of her role, Grisham said she was speaking out now partly because of her guilt for enabling Trump to upend the US presidency and create a toxic workplace. 'I've reflected on that, and I regret that, and especially now watching him - and so many people - push the false election narrative, I now want to in whatever way I can, educate the public about the behaviors within the White House because it does look like he's going to try to run in 2024,' she said. Stephanopoulos asked, 'Do you believe he will?' 'I didn't at first but I'm starting to believe he will - I mean, he's clearly the frontrunner in the Republican party,' Grisham said, adding that Trump was on a 'revenge tour.' 'I want to just warn people that once he takes office, if he were to win, he doesn't have to worry about re-election anymore. He will be about revenge. He will probably have some pretty draconian policies that go on,' she said. DailyMail.com obtained a live photo of Stephanie Grisham lying on the floor of the White House during the 2020 presidential election. A source who was at the election party tells DailyMail.com that the picture was taken to show how embarrassing her antics were Grisham, who served as Melania Trump's chief of staff and White House press secretary, has claimed in her new book that the former first lady slept through most of the night and had to be woken up. A source who shared the live photo said the picture was taken as 'proof' of Grisham's antics Grisham was once close to the Trump family, striking up a friendship with the first lady. She described herself as being a 'true believer' in 2016 before learning how Trump operated behind closed doors. Then, Grisham said, it became about 'survival.' 'I do believe he gave voice to a lot of people who did feel forgotten, and many of us, including myself, got into that White House and got heavy with power and became really - we didn't think about serving the country anymore. It was about surviving in there, and he loved it. He loved the chaos.' The former first family has come out swinging against their ex-confidante. Both Trump and Melania put out statements attacking Grisham's credibility and lobbing criticisms over her professional and personal life. But Grisham dismissed their criticism on Monday. 'I expected that. I expect more. This is right out of their playbook. When they don't like the message, they're going to destroy the messenger. I know. I was part of doing that sometimes. She pointed out that the ex-first lady wasn't 'denying anything fully in the book just yet.' 'I think she knows that I have a lot of receipts to show I'm being fully honest. So I expected that, and I'm sure that there will be more to come, probably a lawsuit or two or three or four,' Grisham said. 'I now want to, in whatever way I can, educate the public about the behaviors within the White House, because it does look like he's going to run in 2024.' A 10-year-old Virginia girl is dead from COVID-19 and her family is demanding answers after learning she was assigned as the 'class nurse,' escorting sick kids to the nurse's office. Teresa Sperry died just five days after she first began experiencing symptoms of COVID with a headache. Her family didn't learn she tested positive for the coronavirus until two days after her death. Nicole and Jeff Sperry, Teresa's parents, say that they followed all safety measures to protect their daughter but later learned that her teacher had given her a 'classroom job' of walking with sick children to go to the nurse's office. Nicole Sperry made the accusation in a Facebook post. Teresa Sperry died just five days after she first began experiencing symptoms of COVID with a headache Nicole and Jeff Sperry, Teresa's parents (pictured center), say that they followed all safety measures to protect their daughter but later learned that her teacher had given her a 'classroom job' of walking with sick children to go to the nurse's office Nicole Sperry alleged on Facebook that her 10-year-old daughter was asked to serve as the 'classroom nurse,' escorting sick children to the nurse's office '[Teresa] would have continued to be here if people would have stopped sending their sick kids to school,' Nicole said. 'Her teacher at Hillpoint gave her the job of 'nurse.' She was required to walk all sick students in her class to the nurses office.' 'That was her classroom job,' Jeff Sperry said. 'And she said that if the kids were sick and needed to go home, she had to go get their book bag and take it back,' added Nicole. Both parents were vaccinated against COVID, but Jeff Sperry suffered a breakthrough infection after his daughter's death. Authorities at Suffolk Public Schools, home of Teresa's Hillpoint School, are now investigating the accusation. A spokesperson for the school district said that if what the Sperry family alleges is true, it would be a violation of school policy. The school has a rule in place for only adults to walk children with COVID-19 symptoms to the nurses office, Ward added. 'The protocol at Hillpoint Elementary School is for the classroom teacher or any adult to contact the main office with a Code 'C.' When this occurs, one of the administrators or school nurse will come to the classroom to pick up the student,' Ward told the Virginian Pilot. 'We are still investigating to ensure that this process was followed with fidelity.' The couple first made the bombshell claim on Facebook, where Nicole Sperry wrote that Teresa 'would have continued to be here if people would have stopped sending their sick kids to school. Her teacher at Hillpoint gave her the job of 'nurse.' She was required to walk all sick students in her class to the nurses office.' The school district, led by Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III, put out a letter to parents regarding Sperry's death, but never once mentioned Teresa by name. The school district, led by Superintendent Dr. John B. Gordon III, put out a letter to parents regarding Sperry's death, but never once mentioned Teresa by name 'I am her mother and this sorry excuse of a letter should not have been released without at least a phone call from him,' Nicole Sperry wrote in response. Authorities at Suffolk Public Schools, home of Teresa's Hillpoint School, are now investigating the accusation Nicole again responded via a Facebook post. 'I am her mother and this sorry excuse of a letter should not have been released without at least a phone call from him,' she wrote. 'I will not hide anymore. My beautiful girl was taken from me because people are too damn selfish to care about what could happen to others.' 'This horrible excuse of a letter is not acceptable,' Sperry added. 'Want to know what you can do to honor my lovely girl? Wear a damn mask! Get vaccinated! Social distance! And most importantly stop complaining and keep your sick kids at home. Because in the end you will still get to hug yours.' Jeff Sperry told CNN that his daughter 'was happy, she was healthy and strong, and it took her in less than five days.' Teresa was one of two children the Virginia Health Department reported as having died of COVID-19 last week. Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie has insisted she doesn't know where her fugitive brother is and said she would 'turn him in' if she did, as she urged her own parents to 'come clean' about what they know about his disappearance and the death of his fiancee Gabby Petito. Cassie told ABC's GMA she doesn't know 'what to think' about what happened on the young couple's doomed cross-country trip but issued a plea for her brother to 'come forward' so Petito's family can 'get answers.' 'No, I do not know where Brian is... I'd turn him in,' she said. While she insisted she had nothing to do with Laundrie's disappearance, she admitted she wasn't so sure about her parents Christopher and Roberta Laundrie who she urged to cooperate with investigators. 'I don't know if my parents are involved,' said Cassie. 'I think if they are, then they should come clean.' Laundrie's sister has come under fire in recent days after it emerged she had seen her brother twice in the time between him returning home to Florida and going on the run - despite previously claiming she hadn't spoken to him. She was seen confronting a group of protesters outside her home on Monday, telling them she was 'livid' at her parent's lawyer Steve Bertolino for telling the press about the holes in her version of events. Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie has urged her fugitive brother to 'come forward' and turn himself in, saying she doesn't know 'what to think' happened on his doomed cross-country trip Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito in an Instagram photo on their cross-country trip on June 26. Cassie told ABC's GMA she wished her brother had come to her first when he returned home without Petito 'because I don't think we'd be here' if he did In the exclusive interview with GMA, airing Tuesday morning, Cassie insisted she does not know where her brother - who has been named a person of interest in Petito's death - is and claimed she has cooperated with investigators since 'day one'. She defended the fact she had seen her brother on his return from his and Petito's campervan adventure, claiming she 'didn't pick up on anything' and they were just 'ordinary' visits - despite Petito not being present and her brother not being expected to return home for at least another month. Cassie said her brother and parents had stopped by the home she shares with her husband and two sons for an 'ordinary' visit on September 1 - the day he returned. She then saw him for a second - and last - time on September 6 when she visited him and their parents at Fort De Soto Park, where the trio were camping. 'We just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had s'mores around the campfire and left, and there was nothing peculiar about it,' she said. 'There was no feeling of grand goodbye. There was no nothing.' 'I'm frustrated that, in hindsight, I didn't pick up on anything,' she added, insisting 'it was just a regular visit.' She claimed she has not heard from her brother since and said she wished he had come to her about what had happened. 'I really wish he had come to me first that day with the van because I don't think we'd be here,' she said. 'I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess.' Meanwhile, questions continue to mount about what Laundrie's parents know about the doomed cross-country trip and their son's current whereabouts. When Petito was reported missing on September 11, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie refused to let authorities speak to their son. They then didn't tell police he had vanished until three days after they allegedly last saw him on September 14, sparking a nationwide manhunt. Rumors have also been circulating that both Laundrie and his mom have been using burner phones. Cassie said she is feeling a mix of emotions as her brother is still on the run after more than two weeks while Petito's death is being investigated as a homicide. 'I worry about him, I hope he's ok and I'm angry I don't know what to think,' she said. Cassie was seen with her husband James Luycx outside her home on October 4 where she confronted a group of protesters While she said she is concerned for him, she also said she 'want[s] answers' about what happened to Petito, who she previously described as 'like a sister.' 'I hope my brother is alive because I want answers just as much as everybody else,' she said. While she said she had never seen any signs of domestic violence between the young couple, she admitted it was 'pretty typical of them to argue and try and take space from each other.' Cassie told GMA she believes Petito's family 'deserve answers' and that she wants them to know she is thinking of them. 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.' Brian's sister said that she is 'livid' at her parent's lawyer Steve Bertolino, who told the press Friday that Cassie saw her brother twice since Petito's disappearance on September 1 and 6 despite her saying otherwise in a previous interview 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. The Laundrie family lawyer 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 Dog is carrying out a manhunt for her fugitive brother and the FBI has seized surveillance footage. Bertolino claimed the apparent discrepancy in Cassie's version of events was a simple misunderstanding and insisted '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 misinterpreted by Cassie or poorly posed by the inquirer,' he said. 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 said Laundrie and his parents stayed at the park - 75 miles from the Laundrie home in Florida - for one night, with all of them leaving together on September 7. Cassie said that she has never seen Brian hit Petito or act violently toward women Chris (back) and Roberta (front) Laundrie, parents of Brian Laundrie, left their North Port, Florida, home. Cassie said she does not know if they were at all involved in Petito's death Protesters gathered outside Cassie's home in recent days after the glaring inconsistencies in her story emerged. She told them she 'didn't know' if her fugitive brother had murdered Petito and claimed that their parents are refusing to talk to her. 'I am losing my parents and my brother and my children's aunt and my future sister-in-law on top of this and you're not helping,' Cassie told them. A protester asked Cassie if she thinks her parents were involved in helping her brother evade authorities, to which she said, 'I don't know. We have literally been finding out everything from the news like everyone else.' Asked if she would you like your brother to turn himself in, Cassie said: 'Of course.' At one point, she is asked: 'Based on all the stuff on the Internet, do you think that Brian killed Gabby?' 'I don't know,' she replied. Cassie said that she has never seen her brother hit Petito or act violently toward women. Laundrie's parents Christopher and Roberta were under surveillance from the FBI. Cassie said she doesn't know if they were involved in her brother's disappearance Cassie also cleared up the timeline of events from her perspective, confirming that her brother left his and Petito's west coast trip around August 17 to come back to Florida, shortly after the couple was pulled over by police in Moab, Utah. Cassie saw him on September 1, but he came to her home in the family Mustang and not the van he and Petito had been driving. She also saw him at a family vacation September 6 at Fort De Soto Park, but said that Petito's name did not come up in conversation and she didn't know Petito was missing at the time. 'We had s'mores, we had dinner. We had our kids there. Nothing came up. We've told the FBI everything and the world does not need to know what the FBI knows. That's why we're silent. This is me coming out against them.' Cassie told the protesters that her children didn't know their Aunt Gabby was dead until the demonstrators screamed it outside her home and called her a liar. She claimed on Monday that the media 'misconstrued' her words about when she had last seen her brother, and that she meant she has not been able to talk to him since he went missing. A plane flew overhead Cassie Laundrie's home on October 4 with the message 'Justice 4 Gabby - tik tok times up.' Protesters told Cassie and Luycx that they gave the group what they wanted and that they wouldn't be coming back Protesters also congregated outside fugitive Brian Laundrie's Florida home on September 27, chiding his parents for not aiding police in the search for their son 'I'm in the boat where I'm getting ignored by my family and thrown under the bus by my family's attorney . . . I am livid and I'm not speaking to anybody. I'm done because that made my kids find out this horrible way,' she told the protesters. 'We were waiting until there was some kind of closure so the kids were just sad instead of sad and worried and now scared of you guys.' Asked for comment from NewsNation, Bertolino said: 'I do not represent Cassie Laundrie. 'Cassie's comments can only be attributed to the press twisting my words and hers, which were only given to clarify prior mischaracterizations by the press, with the hopes of further sensationalizing this tragic story.' Cassie spoke to the group for about 20 minutes and said she was bound to get in hot water for doing so, but she needed to stop the protests from upsetting her children. 'This is not what we want to be doing,' she said. 'This is not how we want the world to find out when we're angry and upset. But I can't have my kids be crying for three days in a row.' Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito are pictured together. Her body was found September 19 and he is now on the run The Fort De Soto campsite in Florida is seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos. Cassie visited Laundrie and their parents there on September 6 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 Cassie Laundrie's husband James Luycx said: 'The sooner he is found, the sooner this is over for us.' 'We would like to give [Brian Laundrie's] nephews an answer to when they can see their grandparents again,' he said. 'When you know, [they can] see their uncle or anything that. He was their hero.' At the end of the video, a protester said that Cassie and Luycx gave the group what they wanted and that they wouldn't be coming back. Laundrie and Petito 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 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 almost three weeks. EXCLUSIVE: How the Gabby Petito case drew attention to the disappearance of a young black geologist in the Arizona desert When 24-year-old geologist Daniel Robinson went missing in the Arizona desert in June, he was obsessed with a woman he barely knew and disappeared just hours after sending her a desperate final text message, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. 'The world can get better, but I'll have to take all the time I can or we can, whatever, to name it,' he wrote to the woman identified only as Katelyn. 'I'll either see you again or never see you again.' Eighteen hours later, Robinson turned up at a remote work site deep in the Arizona desert outside the booming town of Buckeye. He stayed for 15 minutes, then drove off. He has not been seen or heard from since. But his obsession with the woman he met delivering her liquor while working his side job and his despondency over her unrequited feelings has - up to now - been overlooked. Robinson's case has been cited as evidence that the media spends too much of its time reporting on missing white women such as Gabby Petito and not enough on people of color. Geologist Daniel Robinson, 24, has been missing since June 23, when he was last seen leaving his worksite in Buckeye, Arizona Robinson's family have been organizing civilian search parties where he was last seen and have accused cops of failing to conduct a thorough investigation Robinson showed up to work at 9:30 am at a remote desert site but abruptly left a short time after in his blue Jeep renegade and was never seen again. His car was found almost a month later on July 19, at the bottom of a 20-foot ravine (pictured) MSNBC's Joy Reid mentioned his case on air, saying she had 'never heard of it until this friend of mine sent it to me. And I guess, that's the issue, isn't it?' Her guest, Lynette Grey Bull of the Not Our Native Daughters Foundation, called the media's lack of focus on Robinson's case 'systemic racism.' Other media outlets have carefully skirted Robinson's relationship with Katelyn - whom he only met while delivering alcohol at her home. The Independent wrote a lengthy piece under the title 'Daniel Robinson: Everything we know about geologist missing in Arizona desert under bizarre circumstances' without mentioning the key evidence. NewsNation reported on his father's determination to find the truth, again without mentioning Katelyn. His father, disabled Army vet David Robinson, has been in Arizona for months trying to find out what happened to his son CNN had a piece on how black people are frustrated with the media over coverage, but again Katelyn's existence was nowhere to be found, even though it is key in the report prepared by Buckeye police. Robinson - who was born without his right hand - met Katelyn on his side job delivering groceries for Instacart. When he turned up with a booze order at her home in the Phoenix suburb of Laveen on June 12, Katelyn and a friend who was with her, invited him in. 'Katelyn said she believed Daniel was very nice and she and her female friend asked Daniel if he wanted to hang out with them,' the police report said. 'Katelyn said she and her female friend "were drunk" and that looking back on it, she shouldn't have invited a stranger into her home.' She added that she thought he was 'harmless as he only had one arm and was short in height.' Katelyn - whose last name is redacted in reports - and Daniel exchanged numbers, but she insists, nothing else happened. Within a week, he arrived at her house unannounced, and with only a brief exchange of messages between them, Robinson texted Katelyn: 'I couldn't stop thinking about you.' Robinson's case has been cited as evidence that the media spends too much of its time reporting on missing white women such as Gabby Petito - whose disappearance last month generated international intrigue - and not enough on people of color Media outlets, however, have failed to mention a key part of a Buckeye Police report that revealed Robinson had become obsessed with a Phoenix woman he barely knew and disappeared just hours after sending her a desperate final text message Robinson believes the Petito investigation unexpectedly elevated his son's case. He has claimed cops have been providing updates due to the public pressure By June 20 his message was 'I love you.' She tried to rebuff him. 'Honestly you showing up at my house unannounced made me extremely uncomfortable, she replied. 'I don't see us hanging out any time soon.' The next day he turned up at her house again. 'This isn't normal nor acceptable,' Katelyn told him. 'If someone has expressed that you've made them uncomfortable, you need to back off.' 'Do you hate me?' Daniel replied. 'I don't hate you but please leave me alone,' Katelyn texted back. He took 15 hours to respond with his final text to her. Eighteen hours after that he vanished. Police were so alarmed at Robinson's messages to a woman he hardly knew that they advised Katelyn about stalker laws and suggested she might want to make an official complaint. Workmate Roger Prutsman was also concerned about his colleague. He told police he knew something was wrong. When he asked Robinson what was bothering him, he replied: 'What if there was a girl you liked, but you couldn't have?' Robinson, the youngest of four children, grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from the College of Charleston. Robinson - who was born with one hand - was the youngest of four children. He grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from the College of Charleston Daniel's Jeep, which private investigator Jeff McGrath claims raises a lot of questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. The vehicle was found with its airbags deployed and with Daniel's wallet, clothes, phone and credit card inside Daniel's father said his son's clothes, possessions and car were handed over to him as soon as he arrived in Arizona from South Carolina instead of being examined as evidence. Pictured: The Buckeye Police Department's label on a bag of Daniel's clothing (right) which they have marked as impounded for safekeeping, not evidence He then attended a course in Tucson and soon after was offered a job by the engineering firm Matrix New World. He stayed in Arizona, initially living with Prutsman and then getting his own apartment in Tempe. His father, disabled Army vet David Robinson, has been in Arizona for months trying to find out what happened to his son, who he described to DailyMail.com as 'a go-getter.' 'He was born with one hand. Some people think that's a handicap, but not Daniel. Daniel is not the type of a guy who views that as a handicap.' The older Robinson, who served two tours in Afghanistan and was injured by a roadside bomb, said his ex-wife bought a prosthesis for her son, but he refused to wear it. 'He just wanted to be Daniel,' said David Robinson, 51. 'He didn't have any problems playing video games. He taught himself how to play the French horn. He taught himself how to play the trombone. He was in a marching band. He earned his way into college and decided on geology in his freshman year.' In an interview with AP last month, Robinson said he believes the Gabby Petito saga unexpectedly elevated his son's case as people used the #findgabypetito hashtag on Twitter to draw more attention to cases of missing people of color. 'I was working hard previously trying to get it out nationally for three months straight,' said Robinson, who's communicated with other families about the coverage disparity. 'This is bigger than I thought. ... It isn't just about my son Daniel. It's a national problem.' David Robinson has set up a GoFundMe page to help finance his search for his son. So far, it has raised more than $142,000. Daniel Robinson was last seen on June 23 when he turned up for work, his second job of the day, at 9:30 am at a remote desert site, that builders are hoping to develop. It was an abnormally cool and rainy day for the area. He met up with pump technician Ken Elliott who he had never met before and they were to work on a deep well. Jeff McGrath (pictured) a private investigator brought in by the Robinson family believes Robinson was upset about Katelyn's rejection and went on an all-night video game binge A marker near the ravine where Daniel's Jeep was discovered in the desert in Buckeye The family has launched a GoFundMe page to finance their search as well as a Twitter account to share updates of their investigation Elliott told police that Robinson 'was saying things that did not make sense,' such as asking if he wanted to go with him to Phoenix to rest. Elliott told him he had work to do, but just 15 minutes after he arrived, Robinson abruptly left without a word. Elliott later followed his tire tracks in the rain-soaked dirt road and found that instead of going left at a T-junction to return to Phoenix, Robinson turned right into the unrelenting Sonoran Desert. Helicopter and drone searches failed to find his slate blue Jeep Renegade. Rancher Brandon Shelton eventually discovered it on July 19, nearly a month after Robinson's disappearance. It was on its side at the bottom of a 20-foot ravine. The vehicle's airbags were deployed. Certainly, there are potential discrepancies in the official version that something triggered Robinson into going into the desert, where he stripped off and wandered away from his car. Rancher Shelton, whose cattle graze 14,000 acres in the Buckeye area, is convinced the car had only been in the ravine that leads to the Hassayampa River a short while when he came across it. 'It was clean,' Shelton, 43, told DailyMail.com. 'And my cows would have found it. Cows are inquisitive creatures and would have licked it.' Shelton pointed to one of Robinson's size 11 Red Wing work boots that was stuck under the truck. The Buckeye Police Department has been using robotic equipment to search two mineshafts 'That makes no sense,' he said. 'If you were delirious and ripped off all your clothes and wandered into the desert you wouldn't stick one of your shoes under the car.' 'My personal theory is that someone deliberately wrecked that vehicle out there.' Jeff McGrath, a private investigator brought in by the Robinson family, agrees. He believes Robinson was upset about Katelyn's rejection and went on an all-night video game binge. When he turned up at work he was so tired that he deliberately drove into the desert to take a nap where he wouldn't be found. 'At that point I think somebody - not a good person - found him. I can't imagine what they did with him, but I believe his vehicle was crashed a couple of times and then its final rest was at the bottom of that ravine,' McGrath, 51, told DailyMail.com. He pointed out that the 2017 Jeep Renegade's airbag control module showed that the car was driven 11 miles after the airbags deployed and the ignition was turned 46 times. He also said the damage to the vehicle appeared to show that it had been hit above the windshield. 'It looks like a bat or a pipe, or it could be a large rock - anything blunt.' David Robinson described his son to DailyMail.com as 'a go-getter.' Workmate Roger Prutsman told police he was concerned about Daniel and knew something was wrong The driver's seat belt was buckled and, despite the severe damage to the Jeep, no blood was found inside. Robinson's wallet, phone and credit cards were all in the car. His clothes - T-shirt, jeans turned inside-out, shorts, orange work vest, boots and two mismatched black socks - were all nearby. One of the socks is Nike, the other Adidas. McGrath found another black Nike sock three miles away in the desert. He cannot explain it, but it is another reason he believes there is more to the case than meets the eye. Both McGrath and Daniel's father believe Buckeye Police did not carry out a thorough investigation into Robinson's mysterious disappearance. They point out that Daniel's clothes, possessions and car were handed over to his father as soon as he arrived in Arizona from South Carolina. 'Surely these are items of evidence if a crime is found to have been committed,' said McGrath. Buckeye Police turned down a DailyMail.com request for an interview. Chief Larry Hall issued a statement saying: 'We are committed to finding Daniel Robinson. Our investigators are working tirelessly to find answers and bring closure to Daniel's loved ones.' A 96-year-old former secretary at a Nazi death camp who tried to flee before her trial has been released from custody in Germany ahead of the next hearing, a court spokeswoman said Tuesday. Irmgard Furchner had been due in court last Thursday for the opening of her trial on charges of aiding and abetting in mass murder of more than 10,000 people at Stutthof concentration camp in occupied Poland during World War II. But she was declared 'on the run' after she failed to turn up after leaving her retirement home near Hamburg in a taxi, which took her to a subway station, from where she went missing. Police detained her several hours later and she was remanded in custody for five days before the resumption of her trial on October 19. On Tuesday, the court in the northern town of Itzehoe decided she could be freed under unspecified conditions. 'The court has suspended the arrest warrant and released the accused from custody under the condition of precautionary measures,' said court spokeswoman Frederike Milhoffer. The spokeswoman declined to give details on the conditions but said 'it is however assured that she will appear at the next appointment'. Nazi 'secretary of evil' Irmgard Furchner (pictured in 1944), 96, has been released from custody in Germany after she was held for five days for attempting to flee before her trial Prosecutors accuse Furchner of having assisted in the systematic murder of detainees at Stutthof, where she worked in the office of camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe between June 1943 and April 1945. Roughly 65,000 people died at the camp near Gdansk, among them 'Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet Russian prisoners of war', according to the indictment. Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, was among those who expressed shock at the handling of the case. He told AFP the escape attempt showed 'contempt for the survivors and also for the rule of law'. The pensioner, who has been dubbed the 'secretary of evil', had been due to stand trial in Itzehoe Regional Court on September 30 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. 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 was being held at a police station close to where she was found and was questioned by officers, Bild reported. 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.' Ahe was declared 'on the run' after she failed to turn up to court but police detained her several hours later. Pictured: A judicial officer looks at his watch at the court room in Itzehoe, Germany, after Irmgard Furchner failed to show for her trial 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. Furchner was first questioned by police over her involvement in the camp (pictured), in February 2017, when officers also searched her apartment and the 96-year-old was declared it enough to stand trial earlier this year 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. Advertisement Boris Johnson announced last month that masks, social distancing and vaccine passports might need to be brought back if the NHS comes under pressure England may have to resort to its winter Covid 'Plan B' if daily hospital admissions for coronavirus breach 1,200, 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson said today. Boris Johnson announced last month that face masks, social distancing and vaccine passports might need to be brought back if the NHS comes under unsustainable pressure. Ministers said the trigger point will be hospital rates now that the jabs have made case numbers less important but they have not put a threshold on admissions. Professor Ferguson a key Government adviser whose modelling prompted the first lockdown last March suggested England should not tolerate more than 1,200 daily hospitalisations. For comparison, Covid admission levels breached 4,000 during the darkest days of the second wave in January. Speaking to a cross-party committee of MPs today, he said that the country was currently recording around 600 Covid admissions per day. He added: 'If that figure were to double, we'd need to think about moving to "Plan B".' The epidemiologist, based at Imperial College London, called for 'more intense' curbs if there is a sharp rise in admissions. To get ahead of a winter wave, he said second doses for 16 and 17-year-olds could be brought forward and advised we are 'more aggressive' in administering boosters. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister today voiced growing confidence Covid will not spark further lockdowns, claiming that the country was on track to stick to 'Plan A'. In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Boris Johnson said: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' Experts giving evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus alongside Professor Ferguson warned that the UK was recording much higher case numbers 34,000 on average each day compared to its EU neighbours. They also noted the UK has about 66 per cent of the population fully vaccinated compared to the likes of Portugal and Spain where up to eight in 10 are jabbed. This is mostly down to Britain having delayed rolling out jabs for healthy teenagers because of fears of side effects. Professor Ferguson warned that high case rates, relatively low immunity and fewer hospital beds gave the UK less 'headroom' than its neighbours heading into the winter. ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (SINCE THE PANDEMIC BEGAN): The number of Covid hospitalisations in England peaked during the second wave in January, when daily levels breached 4,000 ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS): A closer look at the data for the past six months shows admissions rose quickly in July, following a spike in cases ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (OVER THE PAST MONTH): Coronavirus hospitalisations have been flattening off in England over the past month, data also shows ENGLAND CASES: The number of people testing positive for Covid in England has levelled off over the past fortnight, after breaching 50,000 a day in July. Rates were highest in January, when the Alpha variant took off ENGLAND DEATHS: The number of people dying from coronavirus every day in England now stands at about 80, and has been falling over the past few weeks. Fatalities breached 1,000 in the first wave last April, and 1,500 in the second wave in January Boris Johnson warns WFH Britons they risk being 'gossiped about' Boris Johnson today warned Britons working from home that they risk being 'gossiped about' and missing out on 'stimulus and competition' unless they return to the office. The PM voiced growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns as he urged people to get 'back to work in the normal way'. He said getting back to offices was 'essential for young people in particular' as you cannot learn a job 'just on Zoom'. But Mr Johnson also admitted that not all of his own civil servants are back at their desks yet - stressing that the Cabinet Secretary had told them to return. Some departments are thought to have as little as a tenth of staff routinely working in the office, although others are doing much better. In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson told LBC radio the government was always 'humble in the face of nature' and recognised that 'a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us'. But he insisted: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' He added: 'If you are going to learn on the job, you can't just do it on Zoom,' . 'You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out.' Advertisement He said the political decision to 'live with Covid' was behind the country's high transmission and had put the country in a vulnerable position heading into winter. 'We are starting with quite a high incidence and so we don't have very much headroom for increases,' he told the committee. 'If we compare, for instance, incidence of Covid cases per day in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal, there is a much lower level than us, so they can afford to see something of a surge of transmission, which they may well, without unduly stressing the health system. 'We are much closer to the limit of what the NHS can cope with. We will come on to Plan B, I think that is what is exercising Whitehall and policymakers, is that limited headroom.' He said there was a high level of unpredictability in the modelling but added: 'We could see continued flat incidence, even slow decline if we get boosters out quickly. 'So it's not guaranteed we will see a large winter surge by any means, but we can't afford, at the current time, to have too much of a winter surge before really the NHS is very heavily stressed.' Asked about what other countries were doing, and whether the UK wants to keep case rates down, Professor Ferguson said: 'The Government clearly has said, it's not really science here, it's a political judgment, they want to live with Covid. 'Their prime criteria for acting is additional pressure on the NHS.' He said ministers were right to use Covid admissions as the primary barometer. 'The number one metric is NHS demand. 'That is sensible because [vaccine] protection against death and ending up on a ventilator is higher than just against hospitalisation. 'So hospitalisations and overall occupancy is going to be real stress point going forward. 'I'm optimistic lessons have been learned [from previous waves] that we need to act promptly if we start seeing sustained increase in hospitalisations.' Dr Jon Clyus, a public health expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the committee he expected some measures to have to be rolled back. He urged the Government to start prepping the population for this, telling MPs: 'Improving communication that the pandemic is not over will help to soften the blow.' Despite the warnings from scientists, the PM insisted that the country was on the right tracks heading into winter. Professor Ferguson suggested that England should not tolerate more than 1,200 daily hospitalisations this winter. Meanwhile, the PM voiced growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns as he urged people to get 'back to work in the normal way' In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson told LBC radio the government was always 'humble in the face of nature' and recognised that 'a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us'. But he insisted: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' He even encouraged more people to get back to work despite SAGE insisting working from home was one of the best ways to keep transmission low in winter. He said getting back to offices was 'essential for young people in particular' as you cannot learn a job 'just on Zoom'. But Mr Johnson also admitted that not all of his own civil servants are back at their desks yet - stressing that the Cabinet Secretary had told them to return. Some departments are thought to have as little as a tenth of staff routinely working in the office, although others are doing much better. He added: 'If you are going to learn on the job, you can't just do it on Zoom,' . 'You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out.' 'No I don't know where Brian is. ...I'd turn him in,' Cassie said as she's ignored by the rest of her family Advertisement Gabby Petito's parents and step-parents urged Brian Laundrie, the only person of interest in the murder of their daughter, to turn himself in and bring a close to something that's felt like 'a bad soap opera.' Petito's father, Joe Petito, also labeled the entire Laundrie family 'cowards' in a new Dr. Phil interview - as the search for Brian enters its third week. Petito launched the scathing attack against the Laundries during a pre-tapped interview which airs today, saying he believed Brian was still alive because 'he is too cowardly to kill himself'. Furious Petito then raged against Brian's parents Chris and Roberta who are holed up in their North Port, Florida home as daily protests about what they knew and when continue outside. 'Anyone who lived in that house is a coward, said Petito, justifying that by saying 'they don't know how to stand up for their actions'. Petito's step-father, James Schmidt added, 'It's almost like living in a soap opera. Like, it's just a bad show. We all want to protect our children, but it's also more important to teach your children right from wrong.' Gabby Petito's family went on Dr. Phil on Tuesday and called out Brian Laundrie's family. Pictured from L-R: step-mother Tara Petito, father Joe Petito, step-father James Schmidt, mother Nicole Schimdit Joe Petito called Chirs and Roberta Laundrie, pictured, cowards for avoiding his family Gabby's step-father, James Schimdt (left), said he had helped identify Gabby's body Gabby Petito, right, and Brian Laundrie, were on a cross-country van trip when went missing on Aug. 24. Brian was the key person on interest and went missing himself on September 17 Joe and Nicole Schmidt then revealed to Dr. Phil they had tried calling and texting the Laundries multiple times when they failed to hear from their daughter in early September - but they never replied. How the Gabby Petito case drew attention to the disappearance of a young black geologist in the Arizona desert Missing geologist Daniel Robinson, 24, was last seen leaving his worksite in Buckeye, Arizona on June 23, 2021. His Jeep Renegade was found on its side at the bottom of a 20ft ravine nearly a month later on July 19 by a rancher. Geologist Daniel Robinson, 24, has been missing since June 23, when he was last seen leaving his worksite in Buckeye, Arizona DailyMail.com can reveal Robinson was obsessed with a woman he barely knew and disappeared just hours after sending her a desperate final text message A Buckeye police report states Robinson met a woman named Katelyn while he was making deliveries for Instacart, and dropped off a booze order at her home Robinson's case has been used to support claims that missing people of color do not receive as much coverage as missing white women, such as Gabby Petito. MSNBC's Joy Reid mentioned his case on air, saying she had 'never heard of it until this friend of mine sent it to me. And I guess, that's the issue, isn't it?' Advertisement 'It's infuriating, Nicole said. Joe added, 'We actually thought that they were both missing at that time.' In one of the text messages, Joe said 'I'm going to call the police, just letting you know, because we have no idea.' 'A normal parent when you text someone that [you] are going to call the cops because you can't find your child, they would reply. No response. Nothing.' They said Laundrie's parents were completely unresponsive, and Nicole, with tears in her eyes, admitted that she 'felt it in her heart' that her daughter was dead when she learned that Brian arrived at his parents house alone in Gabby's car. 'I didn't want to admit it, but I felt it at the night I found out the van was in Florida, on [September 11]. I felt in my heart that she was gone.' Joe described the Laundries as pitch 'black,' the opposite of transparent, as they allegedly withheld information while he and his family were desperately trying to find answers about their missing daughter. 'It's just black. There's nothing there. They've got nothing.' Schmidt, also revealed that he was the one to identify Gabby's body, which was found in the Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming, last month. Schmidt said that when the body was found on September 19, police showed him an article of clothing that he matched as one of her favorite sweatshirts from a local New York shop. 'We knew it was hers,' Schmidt said. Schmidt was in Wyoming to help search for his missing step-daughter and set up a memorial for her at the site when it was confirmed that her body was found there. He said he was crying when he learned of his step-daughter's fate, but he needed to compose himself in order to relay the information to the rest of the family in a conference call with authorities. 'It was the hardest call of my entire life,' Schmidt said. 'It was the hardest thing I ever had to listen to,' Nicole added. When Dr. Phil asked if the family had any words for Brian, they all said, 'Turn yourself in.' 'If you truly loved her, you should turn yourself in,' step-mother Tara Petito said. 'You're only making it worse,' Schmidt added. 'For us and for yourself and your family. Let us have some closure. Let us move on and be able to remember Gabby for all the wonderful memories we had with her. Turn yourself in.' The family's lawyer, Richard Stafford, also urged the Laundries to fully cooperate with law enforcement and share their story, and he pushed for Brian to due the right thing and turn himself in. 'He can't change what he did back in Wyoming, but he can change his actions now,' The second part of Dr. Phil's interview with the family will air tomorrow. Brian Laundrie's lawyer says he flew home to Florida 'to empty a storage unit' five days after he and Gabby Petito got into that physical fight in Utah - before REJOINING her two days before her final phone cal Brian Laundrie's lawyer has claimed the fugitive flew home to Florida 'to empty a storage unit' five days after he and Gabby Petito got into a physical fight in Utah - before then rejoining his fiancee just two days before she made her final phone call to her family. Attorney Steve Bertolino told Newsday Tuesday that Laundrie, 23, took a commercial flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Tampa, Florida, on August 17. Five days later, on August 23, Laundrie then took a return flight 'to rejoin Gabby' for the remainder of their trip. Bertolino said the purpose of the fleeting visit was to pick up some items and close the storage unit because the young couple were thinking of 'extending the road trip' which was due to end in Oregon in October. But the trip was in fact cut short, with Laundrie driving the couple's white campervan back to his family's home in North Port, Florida, on September 1 while Petito's body was discovered in a park in Wyoming over two weeks later on September 19. Laundrie is seen in bodycam from the August 12 incident where cops separated the couple for the night The new bodycam shows Petito telling the cop Laundrie hit her. According to attorney Steve Bertolino, Laundrie took a commercial flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Tampa, Florida, five days later on August 17 Laundrie remains at large with a nationwide manhunt under way for the only person of interest in his fiancee's homicide. The additional details of the couple's whereabouts - and the fact they separated for five days - raises more questions about what happened on the doomed cross-country trip. Bertolino said he believed the couple shared the costs for Laundrie to make the detour. 'To my knowledge, Brian and Gabby paid for the flights as they were sharing expenses,' the attorney said. 'Brian flew home to obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip.' DailyMail.com has reached out to the FBI Denver Office - which is leading the manhunt for Laundrie - to confirm the timeline detailed by Bertolino. Laundrie's alleged flight back to Florida came just days after the couple were separated by police in Moab, Utah, following a domestic incident. Bodycam footage from the August 12 encounter reveals a distraught Petito telling cops her fiance had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during a fight when he locked her out of their van. '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 is then seen defending Laundrie saying she 'hit him first', after an officer points out marks on her arms and face. Police had responded to a 911 call from a bystander who said he had seen a man slapping a woman outside the nearby Mayflower grocery store before driving off in a white van. Cops determined Petito was the 'primary aggressor' and separated the couple for the night - meaning they are likely to have reunited on August 13. Body camera video from one Moab officer was released two weeks ago, while Petito was still a missing person and the audio was unclear at times. Footage from the second officer's body-worn camera was released last week, revealing Petito did admit to her fiancee hitting her. According to the account given by Laundrie's attorney, it was five days after this police callout that Laundrie left his fiancee in Utah and flew to Florida. It is not clear if Laundrie stayed at his parents' home in North Port or who he saw during that five-day period. It is also not clear what Petito did during this timeframe as she stayed back in Utah with the couple's campervan. In police bodycam footage on August 12, Petito tells the officer she does not usually drive the vehicle. On August 19, Petito posted two photos on Instagram - an aerial view of the couple's campervan and a photo showing what appears to be the back of Laundrie's head sitting in front of her in the back of the van. It is not clear what Laundrie and Petito did within the five-day period they were said to have separated. Petito posted this photo on Instagram appearing to show the back of Laundrie's head on August 19 - when he was reportedly in Florida 'Almost immediately after telling @bizarre_design_ how happy it made me to see that people were truly respectful of the park, I watched some guy leave his processed pre-packaged plastic conglomerate of lunch garbage on the picnic table!' she captioned the post. It is not clear when those photos were taken. The timing of Laundrie's return on August 23 could also be significant as it comes just two days before Petito made her final phone call to her mom on August 25, where she told her she was in Grand Teton National Park. She is thought to have last been seen alive on August 27 at the Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, where the manager said she witnessed an 'incident' involving the couple. 'Yes, we can confirm Gabby and Brian were in Merry Piglets We have already notified the FBI and they are aware. We are letting them do their jobs and we are respecting Gabby's family and have nothing further to comment,' the restaurant said in an Instagram post last month. Two witnesses in the restaurant - Nina Angelo and her boyfriend Matt England - described seeing a 'commotion' between the couple. Angelo previously told CNN Petito was crying and Laundrie was visibly angry, going in and out of the restaurant several times and appearing angry with the staff. The coroner has not released details on when Petito died. A preliminary autopsy ruled her death a homicide but cause of death is still unknown. On September 1, just nine days after Laundrie is said to have returned from Florida to Utah, he arrived back at his family's home in North Port without his fiancee but driving their van. Petito was reported missing on September 11 by her mom after not hearing from her daughter for multiple days and coming up against a wall of silence from Laundrie and his parents. Laundrie lawyered up and refused to speak to cops about his fiancee's whereabouts before going on the run. Meanwhile, questions are mounting about what his family knew about what happened on the trip. Advertisement The family's interview comes as Brian Laundrie's sister, Cassie, spoke to Good Morning America on Tuesday, urging him to 'come forward' and telling her parents to 'come clean' if they are involved in his disappearance. She added, 'No I don't know where Brian is. ...I'd turn him in.' This comes after she was exposed as being caught in a lie last week after first saying she had not spoken to her brother on his return from Utah and then admitting she had gone camping with him before he vanished. Cassie told ABC's GMA she wished her brother had come to her first when he returned to North Port, Florida, without Petito on September 1. 'I really wish he had come to me first that day with the van because I don't think we'd be here,' she said. Cassie said she is feeling a mix of emotions as her brother is still on the run after more than two weeks while Petito's death is being investigated as a homicide. 'I worry about him, I hope he's ok and I'm angry I don't know what to think,' she said. 'I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess.' Cassie told ABC's GMA she doesn't know 'what to think' about what happened on the young couple's doomed cross-country trip. While she insisted she had nothing to do with Laundrie's disappearance, she admitted she wasn't so sure about her parents Christopher and Roberta Laundrie who she urged to cooperate with investigators. 'I don't know if my parents are involved,' said Cassie. 'I think if they are, then they should come clean.' Cassie first broke ranks and spoke out on Monday, saying she 'didn't know' if her fugitive brother had murdered his girlfriend Gabby Petito and claimed that their parents refuse to talk to her. Chris and Roberta Laundrie had been initially reluctant to cooperate with the investigation regarding the missing Gabby until Brian went missing on September 17. .@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Brian Laundrie's sister urges him to come forward amid nationwide search. "I would tell my brother to just come forward and get us out of this horrible mess.@VictorOquendohttps://t.co/f64sRXbIP1 pic.twitter.com/D2EBh7rjON Good Morning America (@GMA) October 5, 2021 Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie has urged her fugitive brother to 'come forward' and turn himself in, saying she doesn't know 'what to think' happened on his doomed cross-country trip Cassie also said she is 'livid' at her parent's lawyer Steve Bertolino, who told the press Friday that Cassie saw her brother twice since Gabby's disappearance on September 1 and 6 despite her previously telling ABC's Good Morning America, 'I haven't been able to talk to him. I wish I could talk to him.' Cassie was seen confronting a group of protesters, which had rallied outside her home since Bertolino's statement three days ago and interrogated her about them on October 4. 'I am losing my parents and my brother and my children's aunt and my future sister-in-law on top of this and you're not helping,' Cassie told them. Cassie Laundrie refused to defend her brother Brian's innocence in the murder of Gabby Petito and claimed that their parents refuse to speak with her. She is seen above with her husband James Luycx in an interview with protesters outside her home on October 4 She spoke to protesters who remained outside her house since the lawyer's statements, which contradicted media reports that Cassie hadn't seen Brian. Above, Brian and Petito were in an Instagram photo on their cross-country trip on June 26 Timeline of Gabby Petito case July 1: 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 Police in Moab, Utah respond to a domestic incident involving the couple Aug. 17: Laundrie allegedly flies back to Florida to 'clear out a storage unit' Laundrie allegedly flies back to Florida to 'clear out a storage unit' 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. 23: Laundrie flies back to Utah to 'rejoin Gabby' on their trip Laundrie flies back to Utah to 'rejoin Gabby' on their trip 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; Witnesses say they saw a 'commotion' with the couple at Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming - if accurate, this appears to be the last known sighting of Petito Video of Petito's van was taken by blogger Jenn Bethune, of Red White & Bethune, around 6.30 pm at the Spread Creek Campground; Witnesses say they saw a 'commotion' with the couple at Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming - if accurate, this appears to be the last known sighting of Petito 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; Schmidt says she is not entertaining this claim and believes it possibly factual 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; Schmidt says she is not entertaining this claim and believes it possibly factual Aug. 30: Schmidt receives the last text from Petito: 'No service in Yosemite' Schmidt receives the last text from Petito: 'No service in Yosemite' Sept. 1: Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in a van without Petito Laundrie returns to his parents' home in North Port, Florida in a van without Petito Sept. 6-7: Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida Laundrie and his parents visit Fort De Soto campsite in Florida Sept. 11: Schmidt reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van was impounded by police in Florida that same day Schmidt reports Petito missing to authorities in New York; Petito and Laundrie's van was impounded by police in Florida that same day Sept. 12: Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Grand Teton National Park rangers search for Petito Sept. 13: Laundrie's lawyer says on October 5 that his parents now 'believe' this was the day they last saw him heading for a hike Laundrie's lawyer says on October 5 that his parents now 'believe' this was the day they last saw him heading for a hike Sept. 14: Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie's parents claim on September 17 that Laundrie left his parents' home for a hike and they hadn't seen from him since Laundrie issues a statement about Petito's disappearance through his lawyer; Laundrie's parents claim on September 17 that Laundrie left his parents' home for a hike and they hadn't seen from him since 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. 17: Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown Laundrie family attorney confirms his whereabouts are unknown 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 announce a body was found near Grand Teton National Park that matched Petitos description in the afternoon Bethune realizes she has video of Petito's van around 12am and submits the FBI with the footage 10 minutes later; Officials announce a body was found near Grand Teton National Park that matched Petitos description in the afternoon 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 invesetigation Coroner confirms remains found in Grand Tetons belong to Petito. Her death is ruled a homicide but her cause of death is still under invesetigation 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 Laudrie 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 Laudrie 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 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 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 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 It emerges Laundrie's sister had contact with him after she said she did Oct. 2 : A hiker along the Appalachian Trail claims to have seen Laundrie near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina : A hiker along the Appalachian Trail claims to have seen Laundrie near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina Oct. 3 : Investigators searched the area on the Appalachian trail for any signs that Laundrie had been there : Investigators searched the area on the Appalachian trail for any signs that Laundrie had been there Oct. 4 : Laundrie's sister told protestors outside her home that her family has been ignoring her after they rebuked her story and that she does not know where her brother is : Laundrie's sister told protestors outside her home that her family has been ignoring her after they rebuked her story and that she does not know where her brother is Oct 5 : Laundrie's sister appeared on Good Morning America to say she would turn her brother in if she knew where he is; The Laundrie attorney says his parents now 'believe' he went on the run one day earlier than they first claimed (September 13 not 14) meaning he had a four-day headstart before they reported him missing to authorities; The attorney also says Laundrie flew from Utah to Florida on Aug. 17 without Petito to clear out a storage unit then returned on Aug. 23; A hiker reports a sighting of a person he believed to be Laundrie along the Appalachian Trail near the Tennessee border : Laundrie's sister appeared on Good Morning America to say she would turn her brother in if she knew where he is; The Laundrie attorney says his parents now 'believe' he went on the run one day earlier than they first claimed (September 13 not 14) meaning he had a four-day headstart before they reported him missing to authorities; The attorney also says Laundrie flew from Utah to Florida on Aug. 17 without Petito to clear out a storage unit then returned on Aug. 23; A hiker reports a sighting of a person he believed to be Laundrie along the Appalachian Trail near the Tennessee border Oct 6 : Petito's parents and step-parents appear together on Dr. Phil to discuss their daughter's death. Her family paints a vivid picture of the scene where her body was found and encourages Laundrie to turn himself in : Petito's parents and step-parents appear together on Dr. Phil to discuss their daughter's death. Her family paints a vivid picture of the scene where her body was found and encourages Laundrie to turn himself in Oct. 7: Laundrie's father Christopher joins FBI agents on the search for his son at the Carlton Reserve; Investigators find a 'fresh campsite' in the nature reserve Advertisement A protester asked Cassie if she thinks her parents were involved in Gabby's death, to which she said, 'I don't know. We have literally been finding out everything from the news like everyone else.' Asked if she would you like your brother to turn himself in, Cassie says, 'Of course.' She also defended the fact she had seen her brother on his return from his and Petito's campervan adventure, claiming she 'didn't pick up on anything' and they were just 'ordinary' visits - despite Petito not being present and her brother not being expected to return home for at least another month. Cassie said her brother and parents had stopped by the home she shares with her husband and two sons for an 'ordinary' visit on September 1 - the day he returned. She then saw him for a second - and last - time on September 6 when she visited him and their parents at Fort De Soto Park, where the trio were camping. 'We just went for a couple of hours and we ate dinner and had s'mores around the campfire and left, and there was nothing peculiar about it,' she said. 'There was no feeling of grand goodbye. There was no nothing.' 'I'm frustrated that, in hindsight, I didn't pick up on anything,' she added, insisting 'it was just a regular visit.' At one point, she is asked, 'Based on all the stuff on the Internet, do you think that Brian killed Gabby?' 'I don't know,' she says. Cassie also said that she has never seen Brian hit Gabby or act violently toward women. The pair had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11 Dispatch audio from the Moab Police Department, in Utah, revealed that Gabby and Brian had been in a fight on August 12, with police being told that Brian hit Gabby. Joe spoke out against domestic violence on Monday in a photo tribute of his late daughter. He posted a photo of Gabby walking on the boardwalk holding two young boys' hands, with the caption: 'We have to do better. Changes are coming. Now is the time. Don't be silent.' It was hashtagged #domesticviolence and #domesticviolenceawareness. In an Instagram post on Monday, Joseph Petito encouraged people to speak out about domestic violence He had previously tweeted that people have reached out to him to share that they have been inspired by her his daughter's tragic death to prep before leaving their abusive relationships The post comes just a few days after he tweeted that people have reached out to him to share that they have been inspired by her his daughter's tragic death to make preparations before leaving their abusive relationships. 'She is already saving lives,' he posted on Saturday. 'So many stories being sent to us about relationships being left with proper planning for safety, and people are being found due to her influence. We have much more work to do, but it's a start.' Meanwhile, the nationwide manhunt for Laundrie continues, as authorities resumed their search of the nature preserve his parents claim he visited, and reality television star Dog the Bounty Hunter searches the Fort de Soto campsite on an island called Egmont Key, off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida. They had previously discovered a used campsite and a discarded can of Monster energy drink on the island, and on Sunday night, his team confirmed that it has handed over evidence to authorities they hope will prove Laundrie was there. 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 North Port police continued their search of the expansive Carlton Reserve in Sarasota, Florida on Monday Laundrie's parents said he went missing on September 14, when he said he was going for a walk at the nature preserve near their house The FBI is also getting involved in the search at the campsite, as the nationwide manhunt extends into another week, with many people reporting potential sightings of Brian Laundrie throughout the country. 'The public has to be patient, and that can be hard to do in the time where we have feeling where we think we can be more helpful,' Michelle Jenis, an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Department of Criminal Justice who specializes in missing persons told CNN. 'We're all just looking for red flags,' she said, 'and they could be meaningless.' EXCLUSIVE: 'He wasn't all there.' Hiker shows where he was stopped by Brian Laundrie on the Appalachian Trail and tells how his 'heart dropped' when he realized he came face-to-face with the man suspected of killing Gabby Petito in first video interview The hiker who claims to have spoken to Brian Laundrie on the Appalachian Trial has told DailyMail.com how his 'heart dropped' when he realized he had come face-to-face with the man suspected of killing Gabby Petito. Dennis Davis, 53, says he was stopped by Laundrie around 12.30am Saturday morning on a deserted road near the Tennessee/North Carolina border - 700 miles away from where the 23-year-old fugitive was last seen near his home in North Point, Florida. Showing DailyMail.com where he encountered Laundrie in his first video interview, Davis said he didn't realize it was him at first, until about 15 minutes later when he pulled up a photo of him, saw the matching beard and mustache and immediately dialed 911 and the FBI. 'When I first saw him I kind of thought he was on drugs because he was acting weird,' Davis told DailyMail.com of their interaction, adding that Laundrie spoke of heading to California to see his 'girlfriend'. 'But as I thought about it, I don't necessarily think he was on drugs because he was talking very clearly. And that's when I thought, after a month of hiding out, after killing someone that you supposedly love, it's got to be wearing on him,' he said. Hiker Dennis Davis, 53, said he encountered Brian Laundrie on a deserted road close to the trail near to the Tennessee border early Saturday morning Brian Laundrie, 23, who was reported missing on September 14, remains a person of interest in the disappearance and death of fiancee Gabby Petito Davis claims he had an encounter with Brian Laundrie in the early hours of Saturday morning, weeks after the fugitive boyfriend of slain Gabby Petito was last seen in Florida Davis, a father-of-four and engineer from Florida, is an avid hiker and was on his fourth hike of the Appalachian Trail of the year when he came across 'Laundrie'. It was 12.30am and Davis was in his car, planning to sleep in a parking lot near the Davenport Gap before meeting a friend the next day. He says he was making a K-turn when a white or silver pick-up truck came up behind him and flashed its lights to signal him to go ahead. Dennis Davis, pictured, says he saw Brian Laundrie on a deserted trail along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina in the early hours of Saturday morning When he passed by the pick-up, the man inside rolled down his window and waved to get his attention. Davis said, 'When we first stopped and were across from each other, it took him a minute to say something. And then he said, ''Man, I'm lost.''' Davis said he thought the man was a hiker and asked where he was heading. He claims Laundrie said, 'Man, I've got to get to California. My girlfriend and I got in a fight and she called me and she told me she loves me but I got to go to California to see her.' Davis responded: 'Well I-40 is right there you could literally take I-40 all the way there to California.' He says Laundrie shook his head and said, 'No, I'm just gonna take this road to California.' 'He was dead serious. He was obviously kind of out of his mind. He wasn't laughing. He was like ''that's what I'm doing'' and left,' Davis said. The hiker said that the route Laundrie planned to take is a small two lane country road called Waterville Road, and wouldn't lead him to California. Davis originally planned to sleep in that area but said he feared that the mysterious man would come back and could harm him. 'I thought he was on drugs. After seeing him I thought there's no way I'm staying here, if this guy comes back he might want to do something bad. So I took off. I got back on I-40 and headed west and it kind of hit mewhat if that was Brian Laundrie?' he said. The Appalachian Trail is familiar to Laundrie, who lived there on on his own for about three months. 'When we were talking our cars were parked side by side a nd he kept on looking forward, he didn't look at me very much. After I talked to the FBI, I was looking at other pictures of him and I saw a profile view and when that profile view came up my heart literally dropped,' Davis said He said he didn't realize it was Laundrie at first, until he looked up a photo 15 minutes later and then was adamant it was him Davis said he got off at the first exit and began looking up photos of Laundrie online, because he wasn't sure exactly what he looked like. 'The thing that stood out when I saw Brian was he had this really dark beard and moustache, very thick but short. I saw the photos and I knew it was him. I immediately started looking for the FBI number,' he said. 'When we were talking, our cars were parked side by side and he kept on looking forward, he didn't look at me very much. After I talked to the FBI, I was looking at other pictures of him and when that profile view came up my heart literally dropped.' Davis said it was there that he had 'no doubt in my mind' that the man he had spoken to was Brian Laundrie. 'I've never seen a murderer face-to-face,' he said. 'I was ready to go catch the guy. I made six calls to law enforcement.' 'What I noticed about him in the photos is he's bald,' Davis said. ' I couldn't tell because he had a bandana or shirt wrapped around his head. I only saw the top portion of his body. It looked like he had a t-shirt on with his sleeves cut off. It was a dark color. 'He looked fairly well kept. He looked thoroughly clean and well kept. The incident itself was pretty short and sweet,' he added. Davis said Laundrie was 'nice in the fact that he didn't have anything bad to say, he didn't act aggressive, but you could tell he wasn't all there.' 'There was something wrong with him, Davis said. 'I was almost gonna ask him if he was okay but at that point I was more worried about getting out of there. Davis, a father-of-four and engineer from Florida, is an avid hiker and was on his fourth hike of the Appalachian Trail of the year when he came across Brian Laundrie The Appalachian trail runs from Georgia to Main. The Appalachian trail is familiar to Laundrie who is lived outdoors for on his own for months Davis informed his family and friends of the run-in and his wife reached out to Dog The Bounty Hunter, who joined the search last month and has been mainly looking in a national park in Florida. Dog's daughter called Davis and sent him an audio clip to match Laundrie's voice with the man in the pick-up. Davis said they match. Davis informed his family and friends of the run-in and his wife reached out to Dog The Bounty Hunter, who joined the search last month and has been mainly searching at a national park in Florida Dog called Davis himself Sunday night to hear a first-hand his account of the story. Davis was initially frustrated that law enforcement hadn't reached out to him, but he said a North Carolina Sheriff finally called him and told him they were working on his lead. 'The thing that was the biggest disappointed to me is after six calls no one had got back to me. The detective I spoke to Sunday night, what he told me is I placed the call at 2.30 in the morning and they had someone out on site at 3.05.' Davis said he was told they investigated the area for nearly an hour and pulled over the only car on the road, even though it wasn't a pick-up truck. Davis said he believes he was driving a Ford F-150. 'I felt relieved that they had actually done something,' he said. 'But I have not heard directly from the FBI or the Tennessee 911 system.' Davis was told that he the FBI was willing to talk with him, however, and said he will likely take them up on the offer. To those who doubt Davis' account, he said he's just trying to do the right thing. 'I ran into him, into Brian, and I really believe that was him. And I thought that it was my civic duty to make the calls to the FBI and to 911 and to follow through with it. To make sure that the Petito family got the due justice they deserve for their daughter,' Davis said. A heavily pregnant woman who was weeks away from giving birth to her fourth child has been found dead, with her brother discovering her lifeless body in a pool of blood. A murder investigation has been launched after aged care nurse Janet Dweh, 36, was found dead inside her Dayton home in Perth's east on Monday night. Her concerned brother went to her home after she didn't show up at a family gathering and found her body. Ms Dweh had fled war-torn Liberia as a teenager in search of a better life in Australia and had recently gone on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her fourth child. Shattered friends and family consoled each other as they remembered an 'amazing' woman and much loved-community member. Aged care nurse Janet Dweh (pictured) had just gone on maternity leave to prepare for the birth of her fourth child. She was found dead at home on Monday night 'I feel very sad and in disbelief. I can't believe it, when I first heard the news I just thought Janet passed away,' her uncle Erskine Brown-Zabay said. 'I was thinking this girl was safe how can she just pass away?' An emotional Christopher Sunday added: 'That was wrong for someone to take her life like that.' He said the close-knit community had been hit hard by the tragedy. 'Everybody that was here last night, we all broke down with tears, everybody was falling on the street,' Mr Sunday said. The mum-of-three (pictured) was found dead inside her Perth home by her brother on Monday night 'She's like the boss. Everybody goes to her for like counselling, for advice, mainly the youth. 'She was one of the best people that had a good job, leading people in the right direction. She was just an amazing person, and very friendly.' Ms Dweh's employer also paid tribute to the Edith Cowan University graduate. 'We are heartbroken as a community,' a spokesperson from Villa Terenzio told Seven News. 'She was a dedicated nurse who was a loved and cherished colleague and a friend to so many people. Ms Dweh's three children are now being cared for by their grandmother. Janet Dweh (pictured) was eight months pregnant when her life was cut short in what police suspect was a murder Homicide detectives and forensic officers spent much of Tuesday examining Ms Dweh's Mataro Drive home, which remains a crime scene. No arrests have yet been made. 'The death is being treated as suspicious until it can be determined otherwise, a police statement read. 'Investigators would like to speak to anyone that saw suspicious activity in the street between 10am Saturday October 2 and 6pm Monday October 4. Anyone with information is urged asked to call Crime Stoppers. A student who said she was ambushed while driving at night was left horrified when internet trolls blamed her for the ordeal because they said she was 'out too late'. Izzy Boyle, from London, was driving through Peckham, south London, at around 2am on her way back from her babysitting job when the road in front of her was blocked by a bin. Thinking it was prank, she got out of her car to remove the bin but then heard 'rustling' before seeing people emerge from a side alley. After quickly jumping back in her car she came to the conclusion that the bin had been put in the road to lure people out of their car. In her viral TikTok video titled, 'PLEASE BEWARE OF THIS NEW TACTIC', Ms Boyle outlined her experience in the hopes that it would protect other potential victims. However, whilst the majority of comments on the video were positive, others blamed her for 'being out so late', adding that she was 'literally asking for it'. Another person said: 'The other thing you can do to protect yourself is not driving around late at night by yourself.' Ms Boyle's video comes a week after Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, was handed a life sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33. The high-profile case has plunged the Met into a crisis as women across the country fear for their safety. On Sunday, a second officer working in the Parliamentary Protection Unit - where Couzens worked as an armed officer - appeared in court charged with rape. A student who said she was ambushed while driving at night was left horrified when internet trolls blamed her for the ordeal because they said she was 'out too late'. Izzy Boyle, from London, was driving through Peckham, south London, at around 2am on her way back from her babysitting job when the road in front of her was blocked by a bin Another critical comment on Ms Boyle's video read: 'The other thing you can do to protect yourself is not driving around late at night by yourself.' A third posted: 'Not victim blaming but you increase the chances of being robbed, raped or kidnapped when you go into a crime riddled area at 2am. Be careful.' Ms Boyle was also asked 'why on earth she got out of her car 'in the middle of the street at 2am.' Thinking it was prank, she got out of her car to remove the bin but then heard 'rustling' before seeing people emerge from a side alley. After quickly jumping back in her car she came to the conclusion that the bin had been put in the road to lure people out of their car She told The Sun: 'I was shocked by the fact that there were people blaming me, with some even saying that I would be safer if I didn't drive through Peckham in the early hours. 'It surprised me just how many of the comments were victim blaming, especially given everything that has happened recently.' Her comments come after the Met was criticised for issuing advice to women which included telling them to 'wave down a bus' if they feared being abducted by police. After quickly jumping back in her car she came to the conclusion that the bin had been put in the road to lure people out of their car The young woman got out of her vehicle to move the blue bin (pictured) before she a group of 'people running at her from an alley' Izzy posted a warning video on TikTok suggesting that the blockade was a tactic to get people out of their vehicles for 'god knows what reason' The 'tone deaf' advice also urged 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. Ms Boyle said in her video: 'I came across an island in the middle of the road and there was a bin either side of it so that no cars could pass through either lane. The clip, that garnered over 100 thousand likes, shows the young woman recording her drive homethe dashboard is visible and during the end of the video it becomes clear that a blue bin is obstructing the road. Supportive commenters were astonished at the situation and shared their similar experiences. One said: 'I had this a couple times. Both times bin bags in the road. You could see them hiding behind parked cars.' Another wrote: 'Was in Croydon and this happened. Drove through them. Thank you for letting people know.' One of the white men accused of murdering black jogger Ahmaud Arbery is fighting to stop jurors seeing his Confederate flag license plate at his upcoming trial. Travis McMichael has asked the courts to limit photographic evidence that depicts the front of his white Ford truck that displays the former 'Georgia State Flag' also known as the Confederate flag. His lawyers claim 'it is not relevant and is prejudicial,' a court motion said. But prosecutors are asking that the courts reject McMichael's request, claiming that it is actually relevant that the jury see the vanity plate because it was on McMichael's new truck at the time of the homicide. The flag can be seen on McMichael's truck in bodycam footage of the February 2020 killing. That saw McMichael, his son Gregory and pal Roddie Bryan box Arbery in with the truck, before shooting him dead as he tried to flee. Travis McMichael fired the shots that killed Arbery, while his dad watched, and Bryan filmed. Police bodycam footage shows the Confederate flag vanity plates on Travis McMichael's pickup truck (L to R) Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and William 'Roddie' Bryan Jr are scheduled to go on trial in Georgia in October Ahmaud Arbery (pictured) was unarmed when he was killed in February 2020 'Defendant Travis Michael's choice, and the fact that this vanity plate was on the front of his pick-up truck on Feb. 23, 2020, are intrinsic evidence in this case and can be fully be used by the State to illustrate the intent and motive of Travis McMichael,' the court motion said. The Confederate flag is considered a symbol of slavery and oppression by many. Americans. But despite its links to slavery, racism and white supremacists, many in the south see it as part of their heritage. McMichael, his father Gregory and neighbor Roddie Bryan, who are all white, are accused of chasing and killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, who was black, as he was jogging unarmed last year. The McMichaels pursued Arbery in the pickup truck with the Confederate flag vanity plate after they spotted him running in their Georgia neighborhood on February 23, 2020. Bryan joined the chase and took cellphone video of Travis shooting Arbery three times at close range with a shotgun. According to defense attorneys the three men 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' lawyers say he shot Arbery in self-defense. But Arbery was unarmed when he was killed and prosecutors have said nothing was stolen from the construction site, and that the black man was merely jogging. In a separate motion the state is asking the courts to deny McMichael's motion to suppress police bodycam footage following the shooting that shows him admit to a responding officer at the scene of the crime that he shot Arbery. Arbery is seen stumbling and falling to the ground after being shot as Travis McMichael stands by holding a shotgun Lawyers representing the McMichales say the father and son (pictured in court) suspected Arbery was a burglar The motion said the footage also shows the 25-year-old's condition after being gunned down- including his clothing and lack of weapon, which is significant because McMichael is claiming self-defense. Last month former-Brunswick Judicial Circuit district attorney Jackie Johnson, 49, turned herself in to the Glynn County Sheriff's office after a grand jury indicted her on counts of violating her oath of office and hindering a law enforcement officer. The indictment says Johnson showed 'favor and affection' toward Greg McMichael in the investigation and interfered with police officers at the scene by 'directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.' Johnson has insisted she did nothing wrong, saying she immediately recused herself from the case because Greg McMichael was a former employee. He previously worked as a police officer for Glynn County PD. In September a Georgia judge ruled that defense attorneys for the three men charged with killing Arbery will be barred from presenting evidence of the slain black jogger's past run-ins with the law during their clients' upcoming murder trials. Jury selection is scheduled to start on October 18. Attorneys for the McMichaels wanted the jury to hear about Arbery's two prior arrests to cast doubt on prosecutors' contention that he was merely an innocent jogger. Defense attorneys say the white men reasonably suspected Arbery had committed a crime when they began the pursuit that ended in his death. Prosecutors argued that defense lawyers were seeking to put Arbery on trial by making his criminal record and other prior legal problems part of the case. None of the three defendants knew Arbery, or anything about his past, prior to the shooting. Prosecutors said his past was irrelevant to their decision to arm themselves and ultimately shoot a man who was trying to run away. In a written order, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled evidence of Arbery's past run-ins with the law could unfairly 'lead the jury to believe that although Arbery did not apparently commit any felony that day, he may pose future dangerousness in that he would eventually commit more alleged crimes, and therefore, the Defendants' actions were somehow justified.' 'The character of victim is neither relevant nor admissible in murder trial,' the judge wrote in his ruling Monday. Jason Sheffield, one of Travis McMichaels lawyers, called the judge's ruling 'baffling.' He argued to that not allowing the defense to bring up Arbery's 'prior motives' would result in jurors being 'denied the truth,' reported Atlanta Journal Constitution. A homeless woman was severely injured when an 11-foot alligator attacked her after she fell into a Florida canal. The incident happened around 6 a.m. on Monday, near a bridge over Salt Creek in St. Petersburg where homeless people are known to sleep. According to St Petersburg's Fire and Rescue, the woman, whose identity has not been released, had been resting on the seawall when she fell into the canal. This picture depicts the suspected gator that reportedly attacked a homeless woman after she fell into Salt Creek located in St. Petersburg, Florida She is believed to be in her 50's and suffering from homelessness. After falling into the canal, the woman was attacked by a massive, 11-foot gator, and suffered severe injuries to her arms. She was transported to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg after the attack where she remains in stable condition. This picture depicts the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and St. Petersburg police congregating around the captured gator, which measured 10 feet 11 inches St. Petersburg police and individuals from The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission attempt to load the captured gator into the back of a truck After the incident, The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later issued a permit to a trapper to capture the gator, measuring 10 feet 11 inches. According to the fire department, the gator had been euthanized, but wildlife officials didnt confirm that in their accounts Monday. Alligators can be found in all 67 Florida counties, according to FWC says, with a potential for conflict between humans. Since 1948, Florida has had an average of five unprovoked gator attacks per year. Since then, more than 300 unprovoked bites to people have been documented. Australian workers in the resources sector will need to be vaccinated by next year despite the state having no community transmission of Covid-19. Premier Mark McGowan announced on Tuesday all staff in mining, oil, gas and resources sites including FIFO workers must receive one jab by December 1 and both shots by January 1, 2022. The mandate will apply to around 100,000 workers as well as those who work in rural operations, exploration or run critical infrastructure with Mr McGowan saying the decision was based off health advice. Visitors to mines or oil operations would also need to be fully jabbed. Vaccination hubs would be set up at Perth Airport with the WA premier adding the move would reduce the risk of the virus spreading to Indigenous communities. WA Premier Mark McGowan announced on Tuesday all workers in the mining and resources industry must receive one jab by December 1 and both shots by January 1 2022 (pictured, workers at Perth Airport) Poll DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff Yes - for all workers No - no one should have to DO YOU AGREE WITH MANDATORY VACCINES FOR SOME WORKERS? Yes - for health care, aged care and hotel quarantine staff 525 votes Yes - for all workers 756 votes No - no one should have to 3168 votes Now share your opinion 'Resources sector workers potentially come into contact with Aboriginal people from remote communities, which means there is a risk that Covid-19 could enter a community from an infected worker,' he said. 'The mining sector is also the largest employer of Aboriginal people in the regions.' Paul Everingham, CEO of The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA, said most workers within the industry supported the move with just 5 per cent showing some hesitation to roll up their sleeves. 'Australia is a democratic country, you do have a right to not get vaccinated, and that's your own free right,' he told the ABC. 'But with freedom comes personal responsibility, and with freedom doesn't come the right to impose your illness on other people. The mandates come despite the state having no positive cases out in the community as Mr McGowan's tough border arrangements remain firmly in place (pictured, masked-up customers at a Perth cafe) 'I wouldn't say there is an obligation on anyone to provide a job to someone who chooses not to have a vaccination.' Meanwhile the same vaccination requirements would be enforced for teenagers wanting to go to end of high school events in Dunsborough in the state's south-west. The state's Vaccine Commander Chris Dawson said schoolies would need to show proof of at least one vaccination to enter the highly anticipated event scheduled for late November. The mandates come despite the state having no positive cases out in the community as Mr McGowan's tough border arrangements remain firmly in place. There are 16 active cases around the state, four in hotel quarantine, six in hospital from the MV Stolt Sakura ship and another six isolating on board the vessel. The European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said Facebook's seven-hour outage shows the social media giant needs to be broken up because 'we must not rely on a few big players'. Vestager tweeted Tuesday that consumers need 'alternatives and choices' in the tech market, hours after Monday's blackout left billions of people worldwide cut off from their usual lines of communication as they were unable to access Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. '#facebookdown tells 2 things : 1/ we need alternatives & choices in the #tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote, adding 'that's the aim of #DMA' - a reference to the proposed EU law the Digital Markets Act. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline for around seven hours Monday from around midday ET to around 7pm ET, marking the longest outage the company has endured in 13 years. The blackout left millions of users without their regular means of communication, sparking renewed calls for big technology platforms to be broken up and have less of a monopoly in the tech space. Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp meaning consumers don't have great choice and competition in the marketplace. The European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager (pictured) has said Facebook's seven-hour outage shows the social media giant needs to be broken up Vestager tweeted Tuesday that consumers need 'alternatives and choices' in the tech market Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice-president for a Europe fit for the digital age, pointed out the negative impact of big tech firms controlling large swathes of the online world. She also added that the fallout shows it is sometimes good to step away from social media and talk to people 'offline'. 'Sometimes, there's nothing better than talking to each other just on the phone or offline,' she tweeted. In December 2020, the European Commission introduced the DMA - new proposed legislation to better regulate competition in the tech space and make room for European companies to compete with the Silicon Valley giants like Facebook. Vestager's comments were echoed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who also seized on Facebook's outage to renew her call for the 'monopolistic' and 'destructive' company to be broken up. The Democratic congresswoman tweeted that the dramatic fallout from Monday's outage shows how Facebook's 'monopolistic mission' has 'incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy.' She specifically pointed to the impact it reportedly had on Latin American nations which rely heavily on WhatsApp for communication. Monday's blackout left billions of people worldwide cut off from their usual lines of communication as they were unable to access Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. Pictured Mark Zuckerberg Zuckerberg apologized about Monday's outage in a Facebook post when service was restored 'It's almost as if Facebook's monopolistic mission to either own, copy, or destroy any competing platform has incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy,' AOC tweeted. 'Remember: WhatsApp wasn't created by Facebook. It was an independent success. FB got scared & bought it.' Her comments came in response to a post by Forbes editor Jose Caparroso during the outage. 'Latin America lives on WhatsApp. I am surprised by so many people underestimating how catastrophic this downfall has been,' Caparroso tweeted. In a follow-up post, AOC argued that Facebook's ability to buy up several of its competitors had led to the problems some nations were now experiencing. 'If Facebook's monopolistic behavior was checked back when it should've been (perhaps around the time it started acquiring competitors like Instagram), the continents of people who depend on WhatsApp & IG for either communication or commerce would be fine right now.' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured Friday at the US Capitol) has seized on Facebook's seven-hour outage to renew her call for the 'monopolistic' and 'destructive' company to be broken up The Democratic congresswoman pointed to the impact Facebook's 'monopolistic behavior' reportedly had on Latin American nations which rely heavily on WhatsApp for communication She added: 'Break them up.' AOC has repeatedly spoken out against Facebook and Big Tech and has called for them to be broken up in the past. The dominance of a handful of large social media and internet companies has come under scrutiny from competition watchdogs on a number of issues, with many campaigners in the UK, Europe and US urging governments and regulators to take steps to break up larger firms to prevent monopolies being created. IT experts have also called on the tech industry to come up with better systems to prevent a single error from having such a wide impact. Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has since apologized for the 'disruption' caused by the outage. Facebook blamed the outage on a 'faulty configuration change' within its network, which as well as impacting its social platforms, is said to have also taken the company's own internal tools offline, leaving staff unable to access communications tools. It said in a statement: 'Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet 'This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt. 'We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change. 'We also have no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime.' The platform added it was working to understand more about the outage in order to 'make our infrastructure more resilient'. In an earlier statement posted to Twitter on Monday night, Facebook apologized for the outage and thanked its users around the world 'for bearing with us'. It said: 'To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. 'We've been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us.' Facebook shares plunged as a result of the outage on Monday, losing a staggering $47billion off the company's share price - its second-worst day ever on the stock market Facebook's share price plummeted amid the outage losing $100 million in revenue in hours. The outage was only one problem to hit the embattled firm this week, coming just hours before a former employee turned whistleblower testified before Congress about Facebook's dangers to young people and democracy. Frances Haugen, who previously worked as a product manager in its misinformation department, told a Senate Commerce subcommittee Tuesday that Facebook's bosses 'put their astronomical profits before people.' She said the outage was a positive thing because it left a period of time where the platform was not doing damage. 'Yesterday we saw Facebook get taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I do know for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,' she said. The outage came hours before ex-employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress Tuesday (pictured) about Facebook's dangers to young people and democracy Haugen also told the hearing Zuckerberg is not held to account by anyone 'but himself' and so 'the buck stops with' him. 'Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55 percent of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled,' she said. 'There's no one currently holding him accountable but himself.' Haugen revealed her identity in a bombshell interview with CBS's Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes on Sunday where she accused the network of contributing to the Capitol riot by turning online safeguards off too soon after the presidential election. She has caused a major headache for Facebook in recent weeks after quitting the firm and taking with her a trove of tens of thousands of pages of internal company documents. Some of these secrets were leaked to the Wall Street Journal for a series of reports dubbed the 'Facebook Files', including damning revelations the company knew its platform Instagram is toxic to young girls' body image. Home security cameras across the Denver area have captured the moment a fireball meteor blazed across the early morning sky on Sunday. The American Meteor Society received more than 40 reports of the meteor, which could be seen by those awake at around 4:30am. Doug Robinson, of Boulder, said: 'Everything was pitch dark, and all of a sudden it lit up'. Robinson told KCNC-TV that he initially thought that the fireball was a flash of lightning. More than 40 people reported sightings of a fireball to the American Meteor Society early on Sunday morning as it was seen jetting across the Colorado sky This rare sighting, which was determined to be a superbolide, occurs only every few years as it reaches a magnitude 100 times brighter than a full moon 'We weren't sure if it was something else, could it be space junk?', he added. Sightings of the fireball were also seen across Wyoming and New Mexico with 12 other videos being recorded in these regions. Six of these reports told the organization that they also heard a boom. Chris Peterson, of the Cloudbait Observatory, told KCNC said that sound meant that the meteor was unusually close to the ground. 'It's unusual for such a large object and I'm guessing that it was something on the order of a ton of rock,' told the network. Peterson also added that most of the debris from the fireball would have turned to dust but some tiny fragments may have fallen to the ground. 'Whether anything gets found or not remains to be seen,' he said. Witnesses reported the sighting not only in Colorado, but in parts of Wyoming and New Mexico as well This rare sighting, which only occurs every few years, was determined to be a superbolide by Peterson which is said to reach a magnitude 100 times brighter than a full moon, according to The Coloradoan. 'So it is that kind of event of a lifetime. Something, an amazing little piece of nature that you should relish having seen,' he added. The American Meteor Society fireball report coordinator Robert Lunsford said that the fireball was possibly a part of the South Taurids meteor shower. The South Taurids meteor shower is most prominent during the fall season between September and November which is the time of year that the planet is plowing through the meteor stream, according to Earth Sky. Doug Robinson, of Boulder, and his wife Kate captured the moment on their home security camera FIREBALL METEORS: FRAGMENTS OF AN ASTEROID Sometimes known as a shooting star, a fireball meteor is a rapidly moving space rock inside Earth's atmosphere. According to NASA if a meteor is able to survive this burning trip and hit the ground, the rock on Earth becomes known as a meteorite. The pieces of rock often come from asteroids that broke up due to a collision or other event. Some have been pieces of other planets or even the Moon. A piece of Mars rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite is on the Perseverance rover to help calibrate its equipment. By studying different types of meteorites, scientists can learn more about asteroids, planets and other parts of our solar system. Advertisement The annual Gemunid meteor shower is expected to peak in Colorado between December 13-14 for those who missed the fireball. 'If folks want to bundle up, they will have another opportunity to make another wish,' Lunsford said. The scientific organization also said that several thousands of undetected fireballs go through Earth's atmosphere each day and travel at speeds between 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour. These sightings go undetected as they occur in daylight and across vast oceans and uninhabited areas as well as at night when nobody is out to see them. A large number of fireballs, however, disintegrate before reaching the ground to cause any significant damage. Another fireball event was reported a week before along the North Carolina coast traveling at a speed of 32,000 miles per hour with 148 reports to the American Meteor Society from a handful of East Coast states such as Maryland, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. A recent map from the The Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory compiled data from 1988 through 2021 of fireballs that were detected by government sensors. The world map shows dots, ranging in four different sizes and colors, that are proportional to the impact (kinetic) energy of each fireball, the total energy the meteoroid brought into the atmosphere due to its velocity. Scientists use the kinetic energy given off by the fireball, sound waves and energy at other wavelengths to determine the size even before it enters Earth's atmosphere. Using such calculations helped scientists determine the fireball meteor that fell over Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013 measured 65 feet across, which is the largest shown on the map. The world map shows dots, ranging in four different sizes and colors, that are proportional to the impact (kinetic) energy of each fireball, the total energy the meteoroid brought into the atmosphere due to its velocity This fireball exploded over the Ural Mountains, causing a shock wave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,600 people. The meteorite broke up into multiple pieces as it entered the atmosphere, scattering debris and creating a shock wave estimated to be as strong as 20 Hiroshima atomic bombs. The second largest group of fireballs shown on the map primarily fell around the Pacific Ocean and bordering countries, such as Fiji and other islands surrounding Asia. The US has been hit with smaller-sized meteorites, though not as many as other parts of the world. An assassin who carried out a cold-blooded hit at a bagel shop and left his phone on call to a friend to give him a false alibi has been jailed for at least 27 years. Khallid Hogan, 20, gunned down Abdullahi Mahamoud, 29, at Bagel Brotherz in Enfield, north London in March 19 last year. International relations student Alexander Weekes, 21, kept Hogans phone on the line as the shooting happened in a bid to cheat justice. The jury had heard Abdullahi visited the Bagel Brotherz restaurant in Hertford Road, Enfield and as he waited for his food, Hogan walked into the restaurant and started firing a gun at him. Hogan fired his gun four times towards Abdullahi, but all four bullets missed him, as well as the five other people in the restaurant. Abdullahi then fled through a back door into a large yard of garages in an attempt to get away but as he was climbing a concrete wall, Hogan fired another shot towards him, which hit him in the head. Abdullahi collapsed a short distance later while Hogan fled the scene and, despite the efforts of medical professionals, Abdullahi died in hospital later the same day. Khallid Hogan has been jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 27 years after a court found him guilty of assassinating Abdullahi Mohamoud (pictured) with a pistol in March last year Police at the scene of the shooting in Enfield, North London, shortly after the attack last year Detectives say they believe Hogan was tipped off about Abdullahi's visit to the fast food shop and had tracked him down to carry out the attack using a 9mm Makarov self-loading pistol. During the attack, a phone belonging to Hogan was on an active call with Weekes, then a student at Northampton University. The call lasted 56 minutes and Hogans phone remained in the Toyota Aygo for the duration as it drove to an area northwest of Bagel Brotherz. Hogan denied the offence but was convicted of murder by a jury at the Old Bailey and was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 27 years before he can be considered for parole. Judge Alexia Durran said: 'There is only one mitigating factor in your case - I have to take into account your youth. Without your youth I would have no hesitation in passing a sentence above 30 years. Detectives say they believe Hogan (pictured) was tipped off about Abdullahi's movements and tracked him down at the fast food restaurant before he assassinated him with a hand gun The judge referred to Hogans supportive family - his mother works for the NHS and his sister is a teacher. What was chilling in footage viewed by the jury was the casual manner in the way you undertook what was plainly assassination. She said it was clear Weekes knew Mr Hogan was involved in criminal activity. Earlier prosecutor Julian Evans said: Abdullahi Mahamoud was the victim of a planned shooting. An armed man confronted him inside Bagel Brotherz and tried to shoot him. The gunman chased him and then shot at him again, hitting him in the arm and head. The injury to his head was the cause of death. It was plainly unlawful. Khallid Hogan was the gunman. Alexander Weekes, the second defendant, was not in Enfield that afternoon. He was in Northampton where he was studying at university. Alex Weekes was jailed for 20 months after being convicted of perverting the course of justice Plainly, Weekes cannot have been the man who drove the gunman to Bagel Brotherz that afternoon to carry out the shooting. The identity of the driver is unknown. The call from Hogan to Weekes at 4.25pm connected. It was to remain an active, connected call, for a period of 56 minutes. In that time, the shooting took place. Hogan, of Manor Park Road, Enfield, denied but was convicted of murder and one count of perverting the course of justice. Weekes, of St Johns Terrace, Enfield, denied but was also convicted of one count of perverting the course of justice. Hogan was told he will serve a minimum sentence of 27 years less the 510 days he has already served. Det Ch Insp Claire Hine, the lead investigator, said: Hogan carried out a cold-blooded and premeditated attack on Abdullahi Mahamoud, shooting at him at least five times. 'It was extremely fortunate that nobody else was injured in this incident, as there were four other people in the restaurant at the time. Thanks to the tireless and meticulous work of my team of detectives, who pieced together Hogans movements on the day of the murder by analysing hours of CCTV footage and mobile phone data, he has now been convicted of murder and will spend a long time in prison. Violence of this kind on the streets of London will not be tolerated and Met officers and detectives work 24/7 to ensure that people like Hogan are arrested and prosecuted as swiftly as possible.' Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday there was a 'culture of abuse' in Donald Trump's White House, admitted she lied in TV interviews and said she believes Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell would be on staff if the former president ran and won in 2024. The former White House press secretary was on CNN's New Day as part of media tour for her memoir 'I'll Take Your Questions Now,' her tale about her work for Donald and Melania Trump, which is out on Tuesday. Grisham, who worked for Donald Trump from the early days of his 2016 campaign until she resigned in protest on January 6th, described what it was like to work for the former president. During her tenure she served as spokesperson for him and for Melania Trump. 'It took me a really long time to realize it was a culture of abuse in there, you just want to keep Donald Trump happy. You just don't want him to yell at you,' she said. 'You learn to give him the answer that he wants. We learned to work around him.' She described Trump yelling at her to her face when she refused to kick CNN's Kaitlin Collins out of the White House briefing room. 'He was yelling at me to my face in that one. Um it's horrible when he yells at you. It's horrible. He is very New York I guess,' she said. 'He's very mean when he yells at you.' Stephanie Grisham said there was a 'culture of abuse' in Donald Trump's White House and described former president yelling at her - Grisham appeared on CNN's New Day to promote her new memoir about working for the Trumps The fact that [Trump] is pushing this election lie is scary to me. The fact he is the front-runner right now if he were to run for office is scaring me, says Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary, who never held a public press briefing during her tenure pic.twitter.com/zhma3ddoYE New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2021 Grisham also outlined her worries about Trump's continued false claim that he won the 2020 election. She said she was concerned if he ran again in 2024 and won, he would seek 'revenge' and be out of control. 'The fact that he is pushing this election lie is scary to me, and the fact that he's the frontrunner right now, if he were to run for office, is scary to me,' Grisham said. 'And that's because, if he gets into office, he doesn't run for re-election again. He'll be able to do whatever he wants, and we all know, there's going to be retribution, there's going revenge. I guarantee there will be very draconian policies, and they're not going to care, because they don't have to run for re-election again.' Trump has not said whether or not he will make another presidential bid in 2024 although many see him as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination should he choose to get into the race. During his time in the White House, the president had to defend many of his decisions - such as not releasing his tax records, keeping his ties to his family business, and for trying to intefere in Justice Department investigations. Grisham said if Trump won, his staff for that term would be even more extreme than many of the enablers who surrounded Trump during his first tenure. She said she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Both Giuliani and Powell were led propogators of the 'big lie' - that Trump won and the election was stolen from him. Multiple recounts proved Joe Biden won in 2020. 'If people think that the people in (the first) Trump White House were bad perhaps, I have a feeling the 1/6 crowd might be working in the White House in 2024, or the Sidney Powells, or the Rudy Giulianis,' Grisham said. 'I think people left and right are going to get pardoned. The amount of things, knowing what I know, that could happen, it scares me.' Stephanie Grisham said she believes if Trump ran and won in 2024 she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the White House staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results Stephanie Grisham also revealed she lied when she went on Fox News to talk about administration - above Grisham during her tenure as press secretary for President Trump Grisham's book has sparked widespread criticism from the pro-Trump crowd and even the former president weighed in to accuse her of cashing out. 'Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning,' Trump said in a statement. He said she had become 'very angry and bitter' after a breakup. 'She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things.' Grisham was a controversial figure during her time in the Trump White House, particularly for never holding a press briefing when she served in the role of press secretary. But she, like many officials in the Trump administatration, often went on Fox News to spread their message. I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I saw at the Trump White House by Stephanie Grisham comes out on October 5 'That's just where we went to get what we wanted out,' she said. 'They, you know, by and large didn't get tough with us, they just took what we were saying and disseminated it.' Asked if she was always truthful during her interviews on Fox News, she admitted: 'I probably wasn't.' Grisham, 45, then served as press secretary to Trump from July 2019 to April 2020. She then returned to the East Wing as Melania's chief of staff from April 2020 until January 2021. Many Trump loyalists have turned on her, including Melania Trump, whose office accused her of cashing in. And Grisham's former colleague Alyssa Farah, who served as White House Communications Director for Trump, said during an interview with The View on Monday: 'First and foremost, I don't believe in profiting off of public service. I had a chance to write my White House tell-all and declined. The American people, the taxpayers, paid my salary. 'I'm not going to go write a book and cash in.' She went on to declare that Grisham was 'largely MIA on the job', and said that the reason she never held a live-televised press briefing was down to her own reluctance to do so, not Trump as Grisham claimed. 'When I worked for him, it was, ''Go get out on TV, Alyssa. Go give a briefing.'' He wanted people out,' Farah said. 'It seemed like she was largely MIA on the job.' DailyMail.com obtained a live photo of Stephanie Grisham lying on the floor of the White House during the 2020 presidential election. A source who was at the election party tells DailyMail.com that the picture was taken to show how embarrassing her antics were Grisham has returned to the public eye since her exit from the Trump White House, promoting her 352-page memoir. She went to Kanas after her time in Washington D.C., where she worked on the book. She told ABC News she is 'terrified' that Trump might run for president again, telling Nightline's Juju Cheng that a second Trump term would be a disaster. 'I am terrified of him running in 2024. I don't think he is fit for the job,' said Grisham in an interview that aired Monday night. 'I think that he is erratic. I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. And I do not want him to be our president again.' Grisham said a second Trump term in the White House would lead to chaos, claiming the former president's inflammatory behavior would lead to rising violence and alleged he would only run for the presidency to benefit himself and his family. 'I think he would foment more violence. I think he will line his pockets. I think his family will line their pockets. 'I believe that he wanted to help the country in the beginning - I believe he wants to help himself now.' And she dismissed her critics, telling ABC's George Stephanopolous that she expected the attacks. 'I expected that. I expect more. This is right out of their playbook. When they don't like the message, they're going to destroy the messenger. I know. I was part of doing that sometimes. She pointed out Melania Trump wasn't 'denying anything fully in the book just yet.' 'I think she knows that I have a lot of receipts to show I'm being fully honest. So I expected that, and I'm sure that there will be more to come, probably a lawsuit or two or three or four,' Grisham said. A white bullet-maker shot a black man dead for paying his girlfriend a 'respectful' compliment, prosecutors say, in an incident likened to Jim Crow-era lynchings. Ian Cranston, 27, was charged with murdering Barry Washington Jr, 22, on a street in Bend, Oregon, on September 19, after he spoke to Cranston's girlfriend Allie Butler outside a bar called The Capital. Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said: 'It is believed that the initial interaction between Barry and Mr. Cranston began when Barry complimented Mr. Cranstons girlfriend. 'There's no evidence that what Mr. Washington did when he approached the woman was inappropriate. 'There's not an allegation that he groped her, grabbed her, was crass with her. He complimented her in a respectful manner. She was fine back. She said, "No, thank you. I'm flattered but I'm in a relationship." No allegation that anything Mr. Washington did was inappropriate.' That was the extent of the interaction, but Cranston, a machinist at bullet manufacturer Nosler, was 'not happy,' it is alleged. Hummel said the two men later had words outside, and that there was some pushing and punches thrown, but that things had calmed down before Cranston allegedly pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Washington. The initial compliment was not caught on camera. But footage said to show the deadly fight was shared on social media, with a man believed to be Washington filmed fighting with another man moments before a gunshot rings out. Cops were called to the scene, and found Washington, who lived in Bend, lying on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound. He was rushed to hospital and died the next day. Cranston has now been charged with crimes including second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault. He has not been charged with any hate crime, but District Attorney Hummel said an investigation into whether the killing was bias-motivated continues, and drew parallels between the killing and historic racist murders of black men. He said: 'If we obtain sufficient evidence to prove that this shooting was at least partially motivated by race, we will go back to that grand jury and ask them to add the charge 'It is believed that the initial interaction between Barry and Mr. Cranston began when Barry complimented Mr. Cranston's girlfriend. 'Our country has a disgraceful history of denigrating, prosecuting and lynching Black men for talking to White women. Over the last week, literally hundreds of people called and emailed me to remind me of this history.' Cranston has since been arrested and held in Deschutes County Jail on a no-bail warrant, Hummel said. Ian Cranston, 27 (left), has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and weapons counts in the death of 22-year-old Barry Washington Jr (right) The shooting took place on September 19 outside a nightclub in Bend, Oregon Washington was fatally shot on the sidewalk after complimenting Cranston's girlfriend and getting into a physical altercation with the man Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel drew parallels between Washington's killing and historic lynchings of black men Cranston's attorney Kevin Sali accused Washington of being the aggressor and claimed that he physically assaulted his client, leaving him with head injuries. In a statement to CNN, Sali said 'indisputable' video evidence shows 'before Ian Cranston ever drew his weapon, Barry Washington had assaulted him without provocation, resulting in head injuries that required the police to take Mr. Cranston to the hospital where a brain scan and other procedures had to be performed.' In the video said to show the incident, man believed to be Washington uses foul language and moves towards someone off camera. Washington, a native of California, is pictured left and right with his mother, Lawanda Roberson A woman shouts a profanity and a shot rings out. Then a male voice exclaims 'Hey, call the police!' and laughter is heard. A grab from cellphone video appears to show Washington engaging in a dispute with some people just seconds before a gunshot rings out Later, a woman is heard telling a man that the 'guy on the ground' pushed and hit her in the face, and also struck her boyfriend. Cranston's defense attorney later sharply rebuked Hummel over his race comments. 'After the evidence comes out at trial, I trust someone will ask the District Attorney why he deliberately inflamed the community with statements he knew were not supported by any evidence,' Sali stated. Cranston did not enter a plea during his arraignment on Friday. He is due back in court on December 7. KTVZ reported that Cranston has no prior criminal history in Oregon. Over the past year, he has worked as a machinist for a company that manufactures bullets. The district attorney said Washington was 'respectful' when he complimented Cranston's girlfriend. The suspect has not been charged with a hate crime Washington was a native of Benicia, California, who had only recently relocated to Bend with a friend, according to the Bend Bulletin. He is survived by his mother and younger siblings. 'This is really overwhelming. The way my son was murdered its too much,' wrote Washington's mother, Lawanda Roberson. 'Im so hurt.. I havent even begin to grieve. The legal case is a lotall while trying to lay my son to rest.' A GoFundMe campaign that has been launched by Washington's aunt to help the family has drawn more than $57,000 in donations. Hundreds of anti-vax demonstrators marched through Las Vegas and scuffled with security at the famous Cosmopolitan hotel as they protested Nevada's new vaccine mandate for prison and health care workers. Protesters marched through luxury hotels and shopping centers on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night. Social media video showed at least one protester scuffling with security at the Cosmopolitan hotel, as guards appeared to drag him away from the luxury resort. Another man can be seen throwing himself in front of the security guards, tripping one of them up. Others held signs reading, 'This will end when you say no,' and, 'F*** Joe Biden.' One protester was arrested for obstructing and resisting a police officer and two others were ticketed for battery and disorderly conduct, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told DailyMail.com. On September 14, Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered COVID-19 vaccines for all Department of Corrections employees and for public health workers at institutions that serve high-risk individuals, including young people and those with intellectual disabilities. Employees will be required to have all necessary doses by November 1. A man threw himself in front of security officers who were trying to detain an anti-vaccine protester at the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday night The officers tussled with the protester, who was clutching a 'Don't tread on me' flag The roving group of hundreds of protesters also stopped at the Miracle Mile Shops in the Planet Hollywood complex, carrying American flags and signs reading, 'F*** Joe Biden' Protesters visited a number of popular hotels along the Las Vegas Strip They were protesting a recent order by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak mandating COVID-19 vaccines for state prison workers and health care workers at facilities with high-risk people Nevada is averaging 726 daily new cases as of Sunday, up from 150 on June 2, according to state health data. About 53.4 percent of the state's population has gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, below the national average of 64.9 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The hundreds of protesters met outside the Aria Resort & Casino off the Las Vegas Strip Sunday at 7pm, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. They marched north to the Bally's Hotel & Casino, then turned around to stop at the Fountains of Bellagio as the water crashed to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, the Review Journal reports. By 8.15pm, the crowd marched into the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino and continued into the Miracle Mile Shops, part of the Planet Hollywood complex. Video shows protesters waving countless American flags and some Gadsden 'don't tread on me' banners as they walk through the mall, which houses stores like Pandora, Swarovski and Victoria's Secret. The protests first gathered outside of the ARIA Resort & Casino, left, at 7pm before making their way to the Fountains of Bellagio, right The protesters also enjoyed supportive honks from passing cars as they lined the street during their tour. A man carrying a 4-foot, lime green plastic foam syringe labeled 'EXPERIMENTAL' said he had moved from New York to Vegas in January and that he didn't want to see anyone lose their job over the jab. 'I'm here because I'm pro-choice, which means I think you should be able to choose whether you get the experimental vaccine or not,' Brock Abbe told the Review-Journal. 'Just like if you're pregnant you have a choice, right?' Another man recommended Ivermectin, the 'horse de-wormer' that can be used by humans at lower doses as an anti-parasitical. The Food and Drug Administration says the drug is not suitable to treat COVID-19, though some studies say it shows promise. 'The mandates don't work, but treatments work,' Ken Newcomer said. Before signing the latest mandate, Gov. Sisolak, 67, had already ordered all state workers to either get the vaccine or submit to weekly testing by August 15. The new mandate targets Department of Corrections employees because they lag behind the state's overall vaccine rate by 10 percent, according to state data. As of last month, 49 Nevada prisoners had died of COVID-19. Last month, thousands of Clark County School District employees skipped work to protest a hypothetical vaccine mandate. School employees are not required to be vaccinated as of yet. Video from September 7 shows attendees of the protest, which grew to include people from outside the school district, showing off their signs from a footbridge and walking down the stairs of a building complex. 'Don't force it on us. It should be our choice. My body my choice,' Heather Taylor, a Clark County School District employee, told local station KLAS. 'People should see that there are a lot of us that we're not against the vaccine, we're not against medicine.' Border Patrol agents have discovered the decomposed body of a Mexican migrant hanging from a tree in Texas and they believe he may have been murdered. Officers assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector's Falfurrias Border Patrol Station made the gruesome discovery last Thursday in Brooks County, 80 miles away from the United States-Mexico international border. Breitbart was first to report on the gruesome incident. Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez confirmed to DailyMail.com on Tuesday that his office is awaiting a final autopsy from the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office in Laredo, Texas. 'It's a very unusual circumstance surrounding that one. I've never seen one like that,' he said. Breitbart was the first to report on the gruesome discovery of a migrant male found hanging from a tree in Brooks County, Texas, last Thursday According to Martinez, investigators have been unable to determine whether the man was hanged or if he had taken his own life. For now, the incident is being categorized as a potential homicide. Deputies were able to locate one of the victim's feet which were removed by wild animals roaming the terrain, Martinez said. A search was still being conducted to locate the other foot. The Brooks County Sheriff's Office in Brooks County, Texas, has found the bodies of 99 migrants during the first nine months of 2021. Deputies reported 34 migrant deaths in 2020 Authorities onsite also recovered two identification cards of a Mexican man. However, it's unknown if the documents belonged to the victim. The hardest part of investigation, Martinez acknowledged, will be coming into contact with anyone who may have accompanied the victim across the United States-Mexico border and who would be willing to provide authorities with details of what may have transpired. 'It's very unusual because we never had that type of scenario,' he said. 'We want to make sure we look at it more closely.' Since 2009, the Brooks County Sheriff's Office has recovered the bodies of 800 dead migrants. Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on September 15 showed that border agents reported 208,887 unlawful border crossing encounters in August However, Martinez believes that for every migrant whose remains have been found in the last 12 years, five more were never discovered in the sandy ranch land terrain. The bodies of 99 migrants have been found during the first nine months of 2021. Deputies reported 34 migrant deaths in 2020. 'We try to factually tell people how bad it is this year. Some seem to understand, but many claim we are making this up,' Martinez said in an interview with Breitbart. 'This death, while an extreme situation, is yet another example of the tragic deaths occurring here.' Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on September 15 showed that border agents reported 208,887 unlawful border crossing encounters in August. The totals were fewer than the 213,534 encounters in July, but still represents a 317 percent increase in crossing from August 2020, when there were 50,014 encounters. The city of Seattle invited non-white civic employees to a three-hour city-funded 'racial inferiority' seminar that excluded white people, new documents reveal. In contrast, white staffers were taught that they are responsible for racism and should view themselves as 'oppressors.' The revelation of the segregated seminars endorsed by the city comes after a Seattle radio host uncovered the seminars' contents after filing a public disclosure request to Seattle's city hall for the lesson materials. City staffers 'who identify as people of color' were invited to the three-hour 'Internalized Racial Inferiority' session on September 3, after it was organized by the city-funded Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), revealed KTTH radio host Jason Rantz on Monday. A similar sister session was offered exclusively to white workers, which taught attendees that they are 'responsible' for racism because of the color of their skin. The lesson was billed as a way to explore 'the process which American conditioning, socialization and history leads People of Color to internalize racialized beliefs, ideas and behaviors about themselves, undergirding the power of White Supremacy' The lesson was billed as a way to explore 'the process which American conditioning, socialization and history leads People of Color to internalize racialized beliefs, ideas and behaviors about themselves, undergirding the power of White Supremacy.' It also outlined 10 'truths' that must be accepted by city employees, which include, 'colonialism is at the root of white supremacy,' 'Racism is based on the legal and social construction of whiteness' and 'Government has a responsibility to be anti-racist.' According to the organization's mission statement available on its website, the coalition was designed 'to eliminate racial and social disparities and achieve racial equity in Seattle,' and is currently endorsed by Seattle's mayor, Jenny Anne Durkan. The organization overseeing these lessons, which have been held at behest of the city since 2018, is currently endorsed by Seattle's mayor, Jenny Anne Durkan The city-run seminar urged employees of color to free themselves of white supremacy influence and dismantle systems of oppression in and outside of the workplace. Meanwhile, white workers were instructed to affirm their 'complicity in racism.' The staffers were urged that the seminar was 'a space where we can shed our 'white tears,' and address feelings of 'anger, self-righteousness and defensiveness' associated with being white. They were similarly instructed to face 'fear, shame and guilt for the harm of our actions,' according to the document. The Race and Social Justice Initiative, the coalition overseeing these city-approved lessons, 10 'truths' that must be accepted by city employees, which include, 'colonialism is at the root of white supremacy,' 'Racism is based on the legal and social construction of whiteness' and 'Government has a responsibility to be anti-racist.' White attendees were also urged to abandon the 'guaranteed physical safety' that comes with being white, in order to be considered true 'accomplices' when it comes to creating an anti-racist society. Only then, according to the city's seminar, can whites work to 'eliminate racism and create racial equity, justice and liberation.' Staffers of color, on the other hand, were given instruction on how to free themselves of the influence of 'white supremacy' - which according to the set of 'truths' provided by the city-run session, is deep-rooted in all form of the US government. These workers were then urged to dismantle these systems of oppression. Moreover, white staffers were also told that their 'whiteness' inherently inhibits people of color from achieving success and happiness inside and outside of the workplace. This concept is referred to as 'interrupting whiteness.' The city employees were instructed multiple times throughout the city-run study that they themselves are 'responsible' for racism. The Race and Social Justice Initiative, which is supported by the city of Seattle, aims to create an 'anti-racist network within City government' through these training sessions, which have been taking place in accordance with the city since 2018, according to the documents obtained by Rantz. The radio host previously reported on the lessons after invites were sent out to a slew of city staffers in August. Rantz reported that many Black employees, especially those within the police department, were 'outraged and disgusted' by the subject matter and ideologies being thrust upon city workers during these meetings. 'No one is required to attend the trainings offered by RSJI; they are completely voluntary,' Seattle's Office of Civil Rights told assured when he inquired about the training. 'The goal of the Internalized Racial Inferiority and Internalized Racial Superiority trainings are to provide a carefully designed educational space for City employees with varying and diverse racial identities to deepen their understanding of systemic racism and learn about the roles they can play in advancing racial equity.' The city then seemingly attempted to distance themselves from these sessions, deferring the responsibility to the The Race and Social Justice Initiative - which is endorsed by the city. 'The trainings are led and guided by RSJI staff.' However, these meetings - held by the RSHI at the behest of the city - according to Rantz, seek to transform a theoretically apolitical governmental agency into a biased, ideological purveyor of social propaganda. The curriculum of these lessons, including the one on September 3, preach to people of color employed by the city that their 'inferior definition of self' is a result of 'historical designation of one's race' that subjects them to 'self-defeating behaviors,' like self-doubt, self-hate and rage, according to documents obtained by Rantz. The documents also say that white people are very much to blame for this phenomenon, because they 'keep the system going.' Advertisement Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told Congress on Tuesday the social media giant puts their 'astronomical profits' over safety, accused execs of knowing their products harm children and said the site is a threat to democracy and causes violence. Her claims were devastating for Facebook's public image and prompted multiple senators to attack founder Mark Zuckerberg - who Haugen alleges knew of and encouraged his site's harmful practices. Haugen said during her blistering testimony that Zuckerberg is only 'accountable to himself' and has even been directly involved in company decisions that saw Facebook putting profit over 'changes that would have significantly decreased misinformation, hate speech and other inciting content.' Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal kicked off the hearing by calling Facebook 'morally bankrupt' and criticized Zuckerberg for going sailing in Hawaii with wife Priscilla Chan instead of answering questions from lawmakers. Senator Ed Markey also piled on the absent tech billionaire, addressing him by name during the hearing to warn him that 'Congress will be taking action' with or without his help. 'Your time of invading privacy, promoting toxic content, and preying on children and teens is over. Congress will be taking action. You can work with us, or not work with us, but we will not allow your company to harm our children and our families and out democracy any longer,' Markey said. Haugen told senators that no similar company's CEO has as much unilateral control as Zuckerberg does. 'Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled,' she said. 'There's no one currently holding him accountable but himself.' She said 'the buck stops with' Facebook's tech billionaire owner, adding that 'Facebook needs to take responsibility for the consequences of its choices.' Later in the hearing Haugen said Zuckerberg himself even made choices that put engagement over public safety. 'We have a few choice documents that contain notes from briefings with Mark Zuckerberg where he chose metrics defined by Facebook like "meaningful social interactions" over changes that would have significantly decreased misinformation, hate speech and other inciting content,' she told Senator Ben Ray Lujan. Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen arrives to testify during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday Haugen suggested Facebook's self-created burden could have gotten so large that they simply didn't know what to do with it and felt 'trapped' Markey lauded Haugen as a 'Twenty-first century American hero' for speaking out against the social media giant. He also accused Facebook of being built on 'computer codes of misconduct.' 'Time and time again Facebook says one thing and does another. Time and time again Facebook fails to abide by the commitments that they had made. Time and time again, Facebook lies about what they are doing,' he said. 'Facebook's platforms are not safe for young people, as you said Facebook is like big tobacco, enticing young kids with that first cigarette...whistleblowing shows that Facebook uses harmful features.' During his second round of hearing Markey accused Facebook of using lobbyists to block legislators' reform efforts. Blumenthal criticized Facebook's founder earlier on in his opening statement on Tuesday morning. FACEBOOK FIRES BACK: ATTACKS WHISTLEBLOWER - BUT AGREES CONGRESS NEEDS TO ACT Today, a Senate Commerce subcommittee held a hearing with a former product manager at Facebook who worked for the company for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives - and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question. We don't agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about. Despite all this, we agree on one thing; it's time to begin to create standard rules for the internet. It's been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it is time for Congress to act. Facebook's Director of Policy Communications Lena Pietsch Advertisement 'Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today,' the Connecticut Democrat said. 'And yet rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing.' 'Mark Zuckerberg you need to come before this committee, you need to explain to Frances Hougan, to us, to the world, and to the parents of America - what you were doing and why you did it.' Whistleblower Francis Haugen says Facebook has put its 'astronomical profits before people' Haugen began her testimony with a scathing opening statement accusing Facebook leadership of knowingly allow its products to 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy.' She celebrated a massive outage that affected Facebook and its related sites. 'Yesterday we saw Facebook get taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I do know for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,' Haugen said. She also said Facebook had done too little to prevent its platform from being used by people planning violence, claiming executives chose profit over safety whenever possible. 'The company's leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people,' she claimed. The result of which, she said, 'has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people.' Haugen acknowledged that problems with social media were incredibly complex - citing her experience working at four different social media platforms. 'However, the choices being made inside Facebook are disastrous - for children, for public safety, for our privacy and for our democracy - that is why I came forward. And let's be clear: it doesn't have to be this way. We are here today because of deliberate choices Facebook has made,' she said. Haugen suggested a government entity be created to regulate Facebook during the scathing Senate hearing on Tuesday Haugen calls for government to step in and regulate Facebook The whistleblower acknowledged that the site's mounting problems could be too large for it to handle on its own. 'You can declare moral bankruptcy and we can figure out how to fix these things together, because we solve problems together and we don't solve them alone,' she said. She suggested Facebook's self-created burden could have gotten so large that they simply didn't know what to do with it. Facebook by the numbers: $30billion in revenue and almost 2.9billion daily users Facebook's most recent public financial disclosures came in their June FY 2021 report for the second quarter From April through June, Facebook made nearly $30 billion in revenue After operating costs and taxes the company walked away with $10.3 billion More than 63,400 employees work at Facebook, a 21% year-over increase June 2021 saw 1.91 billion daily active users on the site and 2.9 billion monthly active users source: Facebook Investor Relations Advertisement 'Facebook is stuck in a feedback loop they cannot get out of. They have been hiding this information because they feel trapped. Like, they would have come forward if they had solutions to these things. They need to admit they did something wrong, and that they need help to solve these problems.' But she also doubted that Facebook's lack of solutions came from a lack of 'private research' as an executive once said. 'If they make $40 billion per year, they have the resources to solve these problems, they're choosing not to solve them,' she told Senator Rick Scott. Haugen told Republican Senator Mike Lee that Facebook's artificial intelligence systems designed to filter out harmful content were relatively ineffective at catching hate speech - and even sometimes allowed drug-related content to get to kids. 'The reality is that we've seen from repeated documents within my disclosures, is that Facebook's AI systems only catch a very tiny minority of offending content. And best case scenario, and the case of something like hate speech, at most they will ever get 10 to 20 percent. In the case of children, that means drug paraphernalia ads like that, it's likely if they rely on computers and not humans, they will also likely never get more than 10 to 20 percent of those ads,' she said. She suggested a social media-specific regulatory body within the government as a possible solution at several points in the hearing. Haugen claimed oversight could 'make Facebook a more profitable company five or 10 years from now' and would be 'kinder, friendlier and more collaborative.' She said such an agency is 'in everyone's interest.' Until such regulation, the whistleblower warned, Facebook won't move to change on its own. 'Until incentives change at Facebook, we should not expect Facebook to change. We need action from Congress,' she said. And such action may be coming - Markey promised during his allotted time that 'Congress will take action.' Facebook responds to Haugen's claims during the hearing A Facebook executive went after Haugen during the hearing, pointing out that she did not work with the data she was testifying on at the hearing. 'Just pointing out the fact that @FrancesHaugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook,' Policy Communications Director Andy Stone wrote on Twitter Tuesday. Senator Marsha Blackburn responded to Stone's tweet during the hearing. 'I will simply say this to Mr. Stone: If Facebook wants to discuss their targeting of children, if they want to discuss their practices of privacy invasion or violation of the Children's Online Privacy Act, I am extending to you an invitation to step forward, be sworn in and testify before this committee. We would be pleased to hear from you and welcome your testimony,' Blackburn said. Haugen has said multiple times during the hearing that she didn't work in child safety but claimed the documents she viewed and leaked were available to all staff. Stone later released a statement from Facebook's Director of Policy Communications Lena Pietsch. Pietsch dismissed Haugen as an ex-employee 'who worked for the company for less than two years' but agreed with her calls for more internet regulation. 'Today, a Senate Commerce subcommittee held a hearing with a former product manager at Facebook who worked for the company for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives - and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question,' the statement read. Pietsch did agree with Hauge that Congress needed to act on reforms for any meaningful change to occur. 'We don't agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about. Despite all this, we agree on one thing; it's time to begin to create standard rules for the internet. It's been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it is time for Congress to act,' she said. Facebook's Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis, who testified before the same panel last week, defended her company in an MSNBC interview during the hearing. 'Of course we want to allow for freedom of expression, but one of the underlying principles behind the work that we do is ensuring people's safety and security. Most people really do feel quite safe and secure on our platform, and theyre coming back and using our platform because they do feel safe and secure, and we are doing a good job to get that content off. But I do think there are validation systems that people want in place,' she said. Davis, faced a barrage of criticism from senators on the Commerce panel at a hearing last Thursday. They accused Facebook of concealing the negative findings about Instagram and demanded a commitment from the company to make changes. Davis defended Instagram's efforts to protect young people using its platform. She disputed the way The Wall Street Journal story describes what the research shows. Facebook maintains that Haugen's allegations are misleading and insists there is no evidence to support the premise that it is the primary cause of social polarization. 'Even with the most sophisticated technology, which I believe we deploy, even with the tens of thousands of people that we employ to try and maintain safety and integrity on our platform, were never going to be absolutely on top of this 100% of the time,' Nick Clegg, Facebooks vice president of policy and public affairs, said Sunday on CNNs 'Reliable Sources.' Facebook changed misinformation safeguards put in place ahead of election just before Capitol riot because 'they wanted that growth back' Among its controversies, Facebook was used by people planning mass killings in Myanmar and in the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters who were determined to toss out the 2020 election results. After the November election, Facebook dissolved the civic integrity union where Haugen had been working. That, she said, was the moment she realized 'I dont trust that they're willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous.' Haugen was greeted by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Amy Klobuchar when she arrived for her testimony Speaking to Senators on Tuesday, Haugen celebrated a massive outage that hit Facebook and its related sites the day before Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, asked Haugen if the site removed safeguards against misinformation it had implemented for the election before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Haugen said the social media giant knew the content that was being shared was 'dangerous' before they increased site security but dropped those standards for the sake of 'growth.' 'Facebook has been emphasizing a false choice. They've said the safeguards that were in place before the election implicated free speech. The choices that were happening on the platform were really about how reactive and twitchy was the platform.' 'Facebook changed those safety defaults in the run-up to the election because they knew they were dangerous. And because they wanted that growth back...they returned to their original defaults.' She also said Zuckerberg was 'directly presented with a list of soft interventions' - or options to lessen the volume of potentially harmful content - ahead of the election but decided not to because it would impact the platform's engagement rates. 'Mark Zuckerberg was directly presented with a list of soft interventions and chose to not remove downstream MSI in April of 2020, even in isolated and at-risk countries, if it had any impact on the overall MSI,' she said. Haugen speculated that he did so because the MSI metric is tied to bonuses - 'If you hurt MSI, a bunch of people wouldn't get their bonuses.' Blumenthal says Facebook is 'morally bankrupt' and Haugen says it intentionally leads young users to 'anorexia content' Blumenthal said Facebook was facing a 'big tobacco moment' in the country's reckoning over its impact on a generation of young people, slamming the company as 'morally bankrupt.' 'The damage to self interest and self worth inflicted by Facebook today will haunt a generation,' Blumenthal said. 'Feelings of inadequacy, and insecurity, rejection and self hatred will impact this generation for years to come. Later during the hearing Haugen told Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas that Facebook and Instagram were knowingly exacerbating problems that kids face. 'They know that severe harm is happening to children,' Haugen said. She said Facebook targets 'children as young as eight' for its Messenger Kids app, and goes after kids under age 18 for Instagram. Haugen also addressed the mental effects Facebook's algorithms have on children, particularly young girls, similar to building a tobacco addiction. 'Facebook knows that they are leading young users to anorexia content,' she said. 'Its just like cigarettes. Teenagers dont have any self-regulation. We need to protect the kids.' At another point in the hearing Haugen was asked by Senator Dan Sullivan about what perspective people will have on Facebook years from now. She answered: 'When Facebook has made statements in the past about how much benefit Instagram is providing to kids' mental health, like kids are connecting who were once alone, what I'm so surprised about that is - if Instagram is such a positive force, have we seen a golden age of teenage mental health in the last 10 years? No, we've seen escalating rates of depression and suicide among teenagers.' Haugen added that the use of social media 'amplified' the risk of that, attributing it to Facebook's own research. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are out sailing today. Senators criticized the tech billionaire for hitting the waves instead of attending the Senate hearing Another image from Mark Zuckerberg's sailing trip captured by the tech billionaire FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER FRANCES HAUGEN'S SEARING ATTACKS ON ZUCKERBERG AND EXECS 'Im here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy. The companys leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but wont make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people.' 'For more than 5 hours (on Monday), Facebook wasnt used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies.' 'I saw Facebook repeatedly encounter conflicts between its own profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved its conflicts in favor of its own profits. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence.' 'Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled. ... There's no one currently holding him accountable but himself..' 'Almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside of Facebook. The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the U.S. government, and from governments around the world.' 'We can afford nothing less than full transparency. As long as Facebook is operating in the shadows and hiding its research from public scrutiny, it is unaccountable. Until the incentives change, Facebook will not change. ' 'They want you to believe in false choices, they want you to believe you must choose between a Facebook full of divisive and extreme content or losing one of the most important values our country was founded on, free speech.' Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal 'Their (Facebook's) profit was more important than the pain that it caused. There is documented proof that Facebook knows its products can be addictive and toxic to children, and it is not just that they made money - its that they valued their more than the pain they caused to children and their families. 'Facebook's failure to acknowledge and to act makes it morally bankrupt. Again and again, Facebook rejected reforms recommended by its own researchers. 'The damage to self worth, inflicted by Facebook today will haunt a generation. Feelings of inadequacy and insecurity and rejection and self-hatred will impact this generation for years. Advertisement Facebook whistleblower speaks out on CBS' 60 Minutes After recent reports in The Wall Street Journal based on documents she leaked to the newspaper raised a public outcry, Haugen revealed her identity in a CBS '60 Minutes' interview aired Sunday night. She claims Facebook had a role in the January 6 Capitol riots and is damaging for teenagers, particularly young girls. The ex-employee challenging the social network giant with 2.8 billion users worldwide and nearly $1 trillion in market value is a 37-year-old data expert from Iowa with a degree in computer engineering and a master's degree in business from Harvard. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (pictured) will urge Congress today to regulate social media, saying the sites harm children and even lead to violence Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, asked Haugen about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol THE DATA FACEBOOK WAS SHOWN ON HOW INSTAGRAM HARMED YOUNG GIRLS AND BOYS Question of the things you've felt in the last month, did any of them start on Instagram? Select all that apply Not attractive 41% (US) 43% (UK) Don't have enough money 42% (US) 42% (UK) Don't have enough friends 32% (US) 33% (UK) Down, sad or depressed 10% (US) 13% (UK) Wanted to kill themselves 6% (US) 13% (UK) Wanted to hurt themselves 9% (US) 7% (UK) Question: In general, how has Instagram affected the way you feel about yourself, your mental health? Much worse US boys and girls: 3% US boys: 2% US girls: 3% UK total: 2% UK boys: 1% UK girls: 2% Somewhat worse US total: 16% US Boys 12% US girls: 18% UK total: 19% UK boys: 13% UK girls: 23% No effect US total: 41% US boys: 37% US girls: 43% UK total: 46% UK boys: 50% UK girls: 44% Somewhat better US total: 29% US boys: 32% US girls: 29% UK total: 28% UK boys: 31% UK girls: 26% Much better US total: 12% US boys: 18% US girls 8% UK total: 5% UK boys: 5% UK girls: 4% Advertisement She worked at companies including Google and Pinterest for 15 years prior to being recruited by Facebook in 2019. 'The company's leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer and won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed,' she will say. 'As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good.' Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, was the whistleblower who provided documents used in a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram's harm to teen girls. The panel is examining Facebook's use of information from its own researchers on Instagram that could indicate potential harm for some of its young users, especially girls, while it publicly downplayed the negative impacts. For some of the teens devoted to Facebooks popular photo-sharing platform, the peer pressure generated by the visually focused Instagram led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research leaked by Haugen showed. One internal study cited 13.5 percent of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17 percent of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse. Facebook owns Instagram as well as WhatsApp. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Haugen added that 'Facebook's closed design means it has no oversight even from its own Oversight Board, which is as blind as the public.' That makes it impossible for regulators to serve as a check, she added. 'This inability to see into the actual systems of Facebook and confirm that Facebook's systems work like they say is like the Department of Transportation regulating cars by watching them drive down the highway,' her testimony says. 'Imagine if no regulator could ride in a car, pump up its wheels, crash test a car, or even know that seat belts could exist.' The Journal's stories, based on Facebook internal presentations and emails, showed the company contributed to increased polarization online when it made changes to its content algorithm; failed to take steps to reduce vaccine hesitancy; and was aware that Instagram harmed the mental health of teenage girls. Haugen says she told Facebook executives when they recruited her that she had asked to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation, because she had lost a friend to online conspiracy theories. That's because of the 'instantaneous and spontaneous form of communication' on Facebook, Clegg said, adding, 'I think we do more than any reasonable person can expect to.' By coming forward, Haugen says she hopes it will help spur the government to put regulations in place for Facebooks activities. Like fellow tech giants Google, Amazon and Apple, Facebook has for years enjoyed minimal regulation in Washington. Separately Monday, a massive global outage plunged Facebook, Instagram and the company's WhatsApp messaging platform into chaos, only gradually dissipating by late Monday Eastern time. For some users, WhatsApp was working for a time, then not. For others, Instagram was working but not Facebook, and so on. Facebook didn't say what might have caused the outage, which began around 11:40 a.m. EDT and was still not fixed more than six hours later. Advertisement An intense wild west gunfight that played out on the streets of the Bronx was caught on camera in incredible new footage released by New York police. The video begins by showing what appears to be seven gang members brandishing pistols, firing at an unidentified target across the street. This is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents of violent crime that have become more common throughout the five boroughs in the last 18 months, during which New York City has seen a rise in the number of shootings, felony assaults, and hate crimes. Several of the men fired shots before sprinting away down the street, while two others crawled to take cover behind a parked car. One other individual simply dropped to the floor and covered his head with his hands and a hood, miraculously emerging without any injuries. The footage then cuts to another angle in which two other men in wearing hoods can be seen firing pistols back at the gang as they backed away. Police are searching for the suspects shown in the video composed from several clips from street CCTV cameras on East 169th Street, which shows two groups exchanging gunfire from across the street before 10pm on September 16. Last Monday, the FBI released its round up of 2020 crime figures which revealed that the US experienced the biggest increase in homicides year-to-year since records began in 1960, with an additional 4,901 homicides in 2020 compared with the year before. Murders in New York City specifically soared 47 percent from 2019 to 2020, with a staggering 70 percent of shootings going unsolved. The NYPD released surveillance footage asking the public for help in identifying these two individuals who were linked to incidents of gang shooting in The Bronx last month The image above taken by a surveillance camera shows the initial moments gang members started shooting in the Morrisania section of The Bronx on September 16 The video begins by showing what appears to be seven gang members brandishing pistols, firing at an unidentified target across the street The wild gunfight took place in the middle of East 169th Street just before 10pm on September 16 Several people were seen ducking for cover as the area turned into a turf war between rival gangs Several of the men fired shots before sprinting away down the street, while two others crawled to take cover behind a parked car. The man pictured bottom dropped to the floor with no cover, simply cradling his head in his hands, but miraculously emerged unscathed The NYPD released surveillance footage showing the scene from another angle. The image above shows one of the gunmen from a rival gang Monday's incidents come as overall crime in New York City dropped in August after a summer crime wave that had city officials pointing fingers at each other. Total crime dropped by one percent in August compared to August 2020, with the biggest drops being in burglary, -24 percent, and shooting incidents, -30.7 percent, according to the latest official monthly figures from the NYPD. The trend may be reversing, as weekly numbers ending on Sunday show that felony assaults are up by 7 percent, shootings are up by 1.6 percent and rapes are up by 2.2 percent as a whole compared to the same time last year. The NYPD on Monday asked the public for help in identifying two persons of interest believed to be connected to the shootings. One tall, black male wearing a grey shirt and dark pants with mid length hair is seen walking down the street alongside a shorter black male wearing a grey hooded tracksuit and matching shorts and a buzz cut. The NYPD reported the incident did not result in any fatalities, with both groups of gang members emerging unscathed. A Google street view image of East 169th Street in the Bronx, New York, where the gun battle took place on September 16 according to the NYPD New York City's crime wave of 2020 resulted in a 47 percent increase in murders While the murder rate rose by 47 percent last year, there was a drop in felony crimes Felony assault, rape and shootings were all up through October 3 compared to last year Prior to his August resignation, the former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo announced America's first ever state of emergency on gun violence in July, after announcing that least 51 people were shot in New York over the 4 July weekend alone. The NYPD released their own crime statistics in early September for the month of August. While the police reported an overall decline in murders and overall crime in New York City in August 2021 vs August 2020 - murder decreased by 8.6% (53 v. 58), overall incidents of crime decreased by 5.4% (8,824 v. 9,330) - gun arrests for the first eight months of 2021 have increased by 37% in comparison with the same time period of 2020 (3,025 v. 2,208). The NYPD appealed for anyone with information regarding the September 16 shooting incident to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips. Advertisement A Maryland couple learned that the reason they got such a great deal on their dream home was because it was the house where a Catholic priest performed an exorcism on a teenage boy, events which inspired the hit 1971 novel and 1973 movie The Exorcist. Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris said they stumbled across the three-bedroom house last year in Cottage City, Maryland, which they said was going for cheap at $377,000, more then $50,000 lower than its estimated value, as previous buyers bailed out. Witt and Rockey-Harris said they saw it as their lucky break and closed on the home in August, only for them to later learn of the home's haunted history through an online search. 'Honestly, the first thing I thought was, oh, God, this is going to tank our resale value,' Witt joked on NPR. Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris bought the Cottage City, Maryland, home after months of searching for a place to settle down, only to later learn it housed the real-life exorcism portrayed in the horror classic The Exorcist The Washington Post reported the exorcism of a 14-year-old boy occurred on On August 20, 1949. While the Post claimed it occurred in Moutn Rainier, Maryland, a historian found it actually took place in the nearby Cottage City 'And then the next thought I had was, maybe I better rewatch that, start learning more about what it is that we just bought. And also, I had no idea that that was even based on a real story.' Witt and Rockey-Harris' new home is different from the nearby Washington D.C. home used for the exterior shots in the movie. According to Washington Post reports at the time, a 14-year-old boy had been possessed by a demon at the home in 1949, with a Catholic priest being called in to conduct the rare exorcism ceremony. During the event, ministers witnessed furniture sliding across the floor and the teen yelling and cursing in Latin phrases as the priest shouted, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, I cast thee (the devil) out,' the report read. The couple said they were not afraid of the home's history, with Witt noting that she was knowledgeable about the occult and that demons haunt people, rather than properties. Danielle Witt and Ben Rockey-Harris, who married in 2017, thought they were just lucky when they found the home for sale and bought it for more than $50,000 less than its valued Local ministers and a Catholic Priest arrived at the home more than 70 years ago to conduct an excorsims ritual for a 14-year-old boy. The home has three-bedrooms, although it is not known which one housed the possessed boy Reports said the boy cursed and shouted in Latin during the ceremony Ministers said they witnessed furniture slide across the floor during the exorcism Frightening beginnings: How a Maryland home entered into folklore as the birthplace of The Exorcist legend On August 20, 1949, the Washington Post printed an article claiming that a Catholic priest freed a 14-year old possessed by the devil in Mount Rainier, in Maryland. The boy broke into a violent tantrum of screaming, cursing and voicing of Latin phrases-a language he had never studied-whenever the priest reached the climactic point of the ritual, 'In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, I cast thee (the devil) out.' The story and rumors made its way to the nearby Georgetown University, where William Peter Blatty had spoken to a Jesuit priest that talked to him about demonic possession at the house. The Washington Post recounted the story of the exorcism that took place in 1949 In 1971, Blatty published a novel based on the story, setting it in Georgetown. Two years later, he wrote the screenplay, with Frank Friedkin serving as the director, and The Exorcist film became a major blockbuster in 1973. With the Washington Post setting the house in Mount Rainier, many believed the true address to be 3210 Bunker Bill Road, which is now a gazebo with a parking lot named 'Satan's Lot.' William Peter Blatty wrote the novel and screenplay for the Exorcist. He is pictured by the iconic Georgetown steps seen in the movie Many in Mount Rainier believed in the legend, with reports of hauntings carrying on in the area in the 1980s. In 1999, historian Mark Opsasnick investigated the claims and found that the house where the exorcism took place was not in Mount Rainer or Georgetown, but in the nearby Cottage City, at. One long-time resident added that the family had in fact lived in the Cottage City where the event took place and later moved to Bunker Hill Road. Cottage City home, pictured, is said to be the real site of where the exorcism happened Advertisement Instead, the couple seems to want to embrace the home's status for Halloween. 'I thinking I'm going to get a Catholic priest Halloween costume this year and get an amplified speaker and have The Exorcist soundtrack just playing on a loop on our front porch for trick-or-treaters,' Rockey-Harris told NPR. William Peter Blatty a student at the nearby Georgetown University, became captivated by the stories of what happened in that house and later wrote the novel that the 1973 movie was based on. Although the report referred to the teen as a 'Mount Rainier boy,' historian Mark Opsasnick found that the home was actually located in Cottage City, where movie fans have been known to show up, reports the Washingtonian. The director, William Friedkin, had been at the house himself in 2018 when he returned to Georgetown to film a documentary about the movie. The couple's new home is different from the one used during the filming of The Exorcist. The home in the movie matches the nearby Georgetown home's where director William Friedkin first learned of the story It was not until 1999 when historian Mark Opsasnick found that the home where the exorcism took place was not in Georgetown or Mount Rainer, but in Cottage City. Although they are not without their reservations. Witt said that when a friend offered to bring over a Ouija board to recreate one of the scenes from the movie, she declined. 'The last time someone did that, they made a movie about my house.' Former Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that he and former President Donald Trump have a 'strong relationship' and have 'talked through' the events at the end of the Trump administration when Pence oversaw the count that made Joe Biden president. Pence made the comments in a prime-time interview Monday with Fox News host Sean Hannity, who broached the fraught topic of the Capitol riot and the split it exposed between Trump and Pence, who are each potential 2024 presidential candidates. 'Look, you can't spend almost five years in a political foxhole with somebody without developing a strong relationship,' Pence told Hannity, who vouched repeatedly for Trump's stewardship while the two were in office. Hannity put the question to him by saying: 'I know a lot has been made over the disagreement you had with the president as it relates to Jan. 6.' The host told him his own sources and understanding were that 'you two have a strong relationship to this day. What is your relationship with the president?' 'I can tell you that we parted amicably at the end of the administration and we have talked a number of times since we both left office.' 'But I believe that our entire focus today should be on the future,' Pence continued, saying he would back GOP candidates for governor and Congress. Then he took a shot at the media and saluted the MAGA agenda. 'I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January. They want to use that one day to try and demean the the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believe we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020. Former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News that he and former President Donald Trump have a 'strong relationship' and that the two 'talked through' Jan. 6th Neither man explicitly described the heart of the rupture with Trump: Pence's refusal to go along with Trump's demand that he find a way to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election. Pence appeared to acknowledge a split, using delicate language, but indicated it was patched up. The former House GOP leader called Jan. 6th a 'tragic day in the history of our Capitol building.' 'But thanks to the efforts of Capitol Hill police, federal officials, the Capitol was secured. We finished our work. And the president and I sat down a few days later and talked through all of it,' Pence said. 'You can't spend almost five years in a political foxhole with somebody without developing a strong relationship,' said Pence 'But thanks to the efforts of Capitol Hill police, federal officials, the Capitol was secured,' Pence said of the Jan. 6th riot After speaking about his relationship with Trump, Pence said 'the media wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January' 'I truly believe we all ought to remain completely focused on the future. That's where I'm focused,' Pence said. Trump repeatedly called the election fraudulent up to and including on Jan. 6th, when Congress met to count the electoral votes. He demanded Pence take action to stop or slow certification, tweeting Jan. 6th: 'States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!' In his own Jan. 6th letter, Pence rejected the analysis, writing of his own 'largely ceremonial role.' 'It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,' Pence wrote. MAGA rioters breached the Capitol as Congress met to count the votes that day. Secret Service agents had to rush Pence and family members to safety. Protesters outside had constructed a scaffold, and some chanted 'Hang Mike Pence!' Lawyer John Eastman, who was advising Trump during the last days of his administration, told DailyMail.com last month about a Jan. 4th White House meeting, where he says Pence 'wanted to look at' an idea that Trump liked about adjourning a joint meeting of Congress after lawmakers gathered to count the electoral votes submitted by states. 'He asked me point blank: do you think I have that authority,' Eastman said, describing a scenario where Pence would act on his own authority to refuse to accept ballots. 'And I told him point blank, it's an open question, but even if you had, it would be foolish to exercise it, absent legislatures certifying the alternate slate of electors.' Eastman instead ended up urging Pence adjourn the count to allow states more time to send 'alternative' sets of electors. A person close to Pence told the New York Times that Pence Turned to Trump and said: 'Did you hear that, Mr. President?' However Eastman told DailyMail.com Pence did not use a skeptical tone when he asked Trump about whether he had the authority. In the interview, Pence also blasted the Biden administration for 'weakness,' and took on Biden's contention that the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan had its roots in the Trump administration's treaty with the Taliban that brought down US troop levels to 2,500. 'We went 18 months without a single American casualty in Afghanistan,' said Pence. 'But weakness arouses evil, Sean. And there's no question that the weakness evidenced by the Biden administration, I would say beginning when they were silent when thousands of rockets were rained down on our cherished ally Israel from Hamas, sent a signal into Afghanistan that we would not respond,' he said. 'And you saw ... the Taliban march into Mazar-i- Sharif and then just simply simply walk into Kabul. And I just -- I really want people to know that I believe with all my heart that this never had to happen,' he said. Pence also spoke to his relationship with Trump last month, telling the 'Ruthless' podcast he and the former president have spoken 'about a dozen times' since they left office. Boris Johnson's envoy met with the Taliban in Afghanistan today as part of an effort to prevent the country from becoming 'an incubator for terrorism.' Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition, met with terror chiefs in Kabul - the first summit since British forces evacuated in August. Mr Johnson has faced down fury from Tory backbenchers over the decision to sit down with the Taliban, who have executed dissidents, tortured prisoners and forced women into hiding since seizing power from the US-backed government. Sir Simon met with fearsome Islamist tyrants, including the de-facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, known as 'Baradar the Butcher', deputy prime minister Abdul-Salam Hanafi and foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's High Representative for Afghan Transition, met with terror chiefs in Kabul - the first summit since British forces evacuated in August (pictured: shaking hands with the Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Tuesday) The meeting with the Taliban is the first since British troops evacuated at the end of August amid chaos at the airport that saw more than 190 people in an ISIS suicide bombing (pictured: people on the runway amid the chaos at the end of August) Taliban fighters armed to the teeth patrol through downtown Kabul as a child sits on a bicycle on Sunday A Taliban fighter with an AK-47 backed by a comrade in a machine gun-rigged truck stands guard in Kabul on October 3 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar 'Baradar the Butcher', co-founder of the Taliban who fought the Soviets and the US Abdul Ghani Baradar While Haibatullah Akhundzada is the Taliban's overall leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar is head of its political office and one of the most recognisable faces of the chiefs who have been involved in peace talks in Qatar. His name Baradar means 'brother', a title which was conferred by Taliban founder Mullah Omar himself as a mark of affection. The 53-year-old was deputy leader under ex-chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, whose support for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden led to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11. Born in Uruzgan province in 1968, Baradar was raised in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement. He fought with the mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s until they were driven out in 1989. Afterwards, Afghanistan was gripped by a bloody civil war between rival warlords and Baradar set up an Islamic school in Kandahar with his former commander Mohammed Omar. The two mullahs helped to found the Taliban movement, an ideology which embraced hardline orthodoxy and strived for the creation of an Islamic Emirate. Fuelled by zealotry, hatred of greedy warlords and with financial backing from Pakistan's secret services, the Taliban seized power in 1996 after conquering provincial capitals before marching on Kabul, just as they have in recent months. Baradar had a number of different roles during the Taliban's five-year reign and was the deputy defence minister when the US invaded in 2001. He went into hiding but remained active in the Taliban's leadership in exile. In 2010, the CIA tracked him down to the Pakistani city of Karachi and in February of that year the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) arrested him. But in 2018, he was released at the request of the Trump administration as part of their ongoing negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar, on the understanding that he could help broker peace. Advertisement He was joined in Kabul by the Charge d'Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha Dr Martin Longden. A Government spokesman said: 'Sir Simon and Dr Longden discussed how the UK could help Afghanistan to address the humanitarian crisis, the importance of preventing the country from becoming an incubator for terrorism, and the need for continued safe passage for those who want to leave the country. 'They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls. 'The Government continues to do all it can to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave and is committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan.' A statement on Twitter which appeared to be from a Taliban foreign affairs spokesman said: 'The meeting focused on detailed discussions about reviving diplomatic relations between both countries, assurance of security by IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) for all citizens entering legally, and humanitarian assistance by UK for the Afghans.' Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the UK delegation had said Mr Johnson was 'seeking to build relations with IEA while taking into account prevailing circumstances' while the Afghan side said the UK 'must take positive steps regarding relations and cooperation, and begin a new chapter of constructive relations'. He said: 'We expect others to also not work towards weakening our government.' It comes after Tory MPs last week raised concerns in Parliament that Britain should be wary of placing any trust in the Taliban. Tory MP Tom Tugenhadt, a former Army officer who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the terrorists were fronting 'a slick PR operation masking a vicious death cult.' He said it was 'absolutely clear' that Taliban fighters were already rounding up and killing Afghans who worked with the West in cities including Kabul, Kandahar and Lashkar Gah. Mr Tugendhat said it was also evident that girls were being 'denied education' by the fanatics and women were being sent home from their jobs. Fellow Tory Nus Ghani, who is working to get persecuted female MPs out of Afghanistan, said it was clear women would suffer under Taliban rule. 'I do not believe the Taliban have changed,' she added. The Taliban has been in control in Afghanistan since the fall of the western-backed government in August. Sir Simon sits down with foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in images posted by the Taliban official's Twitter account Sir Simon was joined at the meeting by the Charge d'Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha Dr Martin Longden Tory MP Tom Tugendhat (pictured) last week said the Taliban was fronting 'a slick PR operation masking a vicious death cult' It comes as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK military withdrawal from Afghanistan showed the connection of global events, providing opportunities for China and Islamist terrorists. Mr Wallace told a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester: 'It is all interconnected and Afghanistan matters. 'Who popped up immediately as the US and Nato were leaving, but China, offering to invest in Afghanistan? 'That was about securing land routes to ports such as Karachi and also into Pakistan. 'It is all connected. The ripples from Afghanistan will be felt by al-Shabaab in Somalia, and of course al-Shabaab pose a threat to British interests in Kenya and to our friends in Kenya. 'The ripples of another superpower being portrayed as defeated by Islamic terrorism will be felt across the world.' Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren pleaded guilty on Monday and agreed to resign shortly before her term ends as part of a deal to settle charges she violated campaign finance rules during her 2017 reelection campaign. Warren, 44, was scheduled to go on trial Monday on felony charges she and two assistants took steps to evade contribution limits. Instead, Warren, the first female and second black mayor of Rochester, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of accepting campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits, according to the Monroe County district attorney's office. Her two co-defendants, Rosiland Brooks-Harris, political action committee treasurer and Rochester finance director, and Warren's campaign treasurer, Albert Jones Jr., have also pleaded guilty to the same charge. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren (center) pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of accepting campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits on Monday Warren (center) was facing felony charges of campaign finance violations and separate firearms and child endangerment charges As part of Warren's (center) plea deal, she will effectively resign from office on December 1 as Deputy Mayor James Smith will complete her term, which ends in January The resignation will provide an early end to a tumultuous mayoral term in New Yorks third-largest city with separate firearms and child endangerment charges and the public outrage surrounding the suffocation death of Daniel Prude, a black man who died in police custody in March 2020. Her resignation will be effective by December 1. Warren was set to leave office in January after losing a Democratic primary to City Councilmember Malik Evans earlier this year. Deputy Mayor James Smith is expected to finish out the remainder of Warren's term. Warren and her co-defendants face a year-long conditional discharge along with Warren's agreement to submit her resignation. She did not answer questions from reporters as she left court, but later in the day posted a statement on Facebook. 'Leaving the past behind and looking forward to a brighter future. Thank you Rochester,' Warren wrote. 'Weve accomplished a lot together, but in the end, I thank God that Im able to choose family over everything.' Warren had previously denied any attempt to evade campaign finance rules, blamed errors on sloppy bookkeeping and referred to the investigation as a political witch hunt. 'Clearly, there was no scheme to defraud,' Warrens attorney, Joseph Damelio, told reporters outside of court. District Attorney Sandra Doorley called the resolution 'fair and just' and said it was an important step in promoting ethical elections. 'Moving forward, the ramifications of the Mayors conduct spans beyond the criminal justice system. The Monroe County District Attorneys Office is pleased that all three defendants are willing to take responsibility for their actions and admit their wrongdoing,' Doorley said in a prepared statement. Warren, the first female and second black mayor of Rochester, was entangled in a string of controversies in her second-term. Along with her charges, she faced calls to resign following the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who died in police custody after being restrained during a mental health episode (Pictured: Warren shared this picture on Facebook in a goodbye post on Monday after she pleaded guilty) Rosiland Brooks-Harris, (right) political action committee treasurer and Rochester finance director, also pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of accepting campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits Albert Jones Jr., (left) Rochester finance director, and Warren's campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty to the same charge as Warren and Brooks-Harris. All three defendants face a year-long conditional discharge During Warren's arraignment in October 2020, Doorley said that election officials began fielding complaints about Warren's campaign finances in 2017, when the incumbent defeated two challengers in a Democratic primary prior to her reelection. Doorley said the state Board of Elections presented a 35-page report in March 'that found considerable evidence' that Warren, Jones and Brooks-Harris may have violated the law and broken campaign finance rules and committed fraud during her reelection campaign. The grand jury was seated in September. The plea deal also resolves separate gun and child endangerment charges against Warren. In July, Warren and her estranged husband Timothy Granison pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a police raid that allegedly turned up a rifle and pistol, and her 10-year-old daughter alone, in the home they share. Warren's attorney said the mayor didn't know about the guns. She could have faced prison time and lost her law license if convicted of felony charges. Authorities searched the family's home on May 19, as part of a cocaine trafficking investigation, authorities said at the time. Granison, 42, was charged with drug counts after he was pulled over by police in his car and was found to be what investigators allege was a large quantity of cocaine, authorities said in May, and pleaded not guilty. Dkeidron Dublin was also in the vehicle at the time. The two men were pulled over as part of a wire-tapping investigation by the DAs office that began seven months ago. The probe didn't originally target Granison but appeared on the radar of investigators around three months ago. Investigators then carried out a raid on the home he shares with the mayor and seized two firearms - a semi-automatic rifle and a loaded handgun. The couple's 10-year-old daughter, Taylor, was home alone at the time. Police searched the couple's home in connection to what authorities said was a 'mid-level' cocaine investigation. The search revealed a rifle and a handgun. The couple's 10-year-old daughter, pictured here, was allegedly left home alone at the time of the search The Democrat's home (pictured) was one of seven raided that day as part of a drug trafficking investigation Timothy Granison is seen being escorted from the State Police barracks on May 19, 2020 Granison hid his face under a shirt as he left jail on May 20 following his first court appearance on criminal drugs and firearms charges. Warren was not charged in the drug investigation Granison appeared via video (above) on May 20 in Rochester City Court from the Monroe County jail, where he spent the night following his arrest the day before Investigators said the raid on the couple home was part of a 'significant' mid-level drug operation in which Granison along with seven others were charged, although the mayor, who said she signed a separation agreement with Granison years ago, was not among those charged in the drug investigation. More than two kilos of powdered and crack cocaine with a street value of around $60,000 were seized from the homes together with three firearms and one semi-automatic rifle. One of the unregistered guns together with the rifle were allegedly found in the mayor's house together with $100,000 in cash. The seven people charged in the drug investigation, including Granison are: Dublin, 39, 44-year-old Jason Siplin, 27-year-old Jason Siplin, Jr., 30-year-old Namon Brown, 19-year-old Ernest S. Gamble and 32-year-old Lytrice Jackson. A day after the raid, Warren hit out at the 'highly suspicious' timing of her husband's arrest. 'There's nothing implicating me in these charges announced today, because I've done nothing wrong,' Warren said in a prepared statement. 'I haven't spoken to Tim since his arrest, and I'm not standing here to defend him.' She was seeking reelection as Rochester mayor for a third term, and the mayoral primary was on June 22 - one day after the date set for Granison's next court appearance. She suggested that Doorley, a Republican, had been politically motivated in the timing of her husband's arrest. 'Let's ask ourselves why - I find the timing of yesterday's events three weeks before early voting starts to be highly suspicious,' she said. 'We need to ask ourselves, if this is not about politics why is Tim's next court date June 21, the day before primary day? Now that is quite the coincidence.' Warren has faced calls for her resignation since the recordings of Prude's death sparked outrage and protests. Daniel Prude was left brain dead after the incident and later died on March 30, 2020 after he was taken off of life support seven days after the encounter with police in Rochester Warren had been under heavy criticism for the city's handling of the suffocation death of Prude, a black man who died a week after being held by police officers against the pavement for nearly two minutes and 15 seconds, until he stopped breathing. Prude had bolted from his brother's home and shed his clothes during an apparent mental health episode. Prude's death received no public attention until months later when his family released police body camera video. Nightly protests erupted after the body camera video was released following pressure from Prudes family. Warren said in September 2020 that it wasnt until the previous month that she learned officers had physically restrained Prude. But a report commissioned by Rochesters city council faulted her and the former police chief for keeping critical details of the case secret for months and allegedly lying to the public about what they knew. Seven officers were suspended but only Officer Mark Vaughn has been served 'with departmental charges,' a statement read. Boris Johnson has brushed off calls to formally recognise misogyny as a hate crime, instead arguing the 'abundance' of existing laws should be better enforced rather than new legislation brought in. The Prime Minister has vowed to make domestic violence and rape the 'number one issue' he tackles within policing, and said the way police and criminal justice system currently handles violent crimes against women was 'just not working'. His comments come amid a brewing national row over women's safety, with thousands sharing their experiences of feeling unsafe on streets, parks and other public areas in Britain. The Met Police's Wayne Couzens, 48, murdered Sarah Everard after using Covid laws to stage a fake arrest and kidnap the 33-year-old as she walked along a street in Clapham in March. The disgraced officer was given a life sentence at the Old Bailey. Mr Johnson added the 'anger over Ms Everard's murder is a symptom' of a 'wider frustration that people feel'. Asked if he believed misogyny should be a hate crime, Mr Johnson told BBC Breakfast: 'I think that what we should do is prosecute people for the crimes we have on the statute book. 'That is what I am focused on. To be perfectly honest, if you widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, you will just increase the problem. 'What you need to do is get the police to focus on the very real crimes, the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel.' Boris Johnson has brushed off calls to formally recognise misogyny as a hate crime, instead arguing the 'abundance' of existing laws should be better enforced rather than new legislation brought in Home Secretary Priti Patel 's announced an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Wayne Couzens to serve as a Met police officer and murder Sarah Everard Mr Johnson also backed the recruitment of more female police officers as a potential solution to change institutional cultures within police forces. The issue of violence against women has been thrust into the limelight in the wake of the high-profile, violent attacks on Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa by men. Today, Home Secretary Priti Patel's announced an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Wayne Couzens to serve as a Met police officer and murder Ms Everard. It also comes just weeks after primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17. 11 police units, including Nottinghamshire, North Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset, have adopted misogyny or gender as a form of hate crime for recording purposes, but dozens of other forces are yet to do so. Associate Professor Loretta Trickett, of Nottingham Law School, co-authored a report which analysed levels of misogyny and hate crime two years after the policy was brought in by Nottinghamshire Police. She said: 'Boris Johnson's comments display an unwillingness to listen to women's experiences and to recognise that crimes against women are driven by misogyny. The PM's comments comes after Ms Everard, 33, was murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, in Clapham, London in March 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 'Indeed, there is a key difference between men who abuse women and men that do not and that is the misogynistic attitudes of the former. 'By having misogyny as a hate crime, you recognise that crimes against women are informed by hostility towards women as a social group and that they are experienced by women as hostile acts.' She added: 'The fact that our Prime Minister does not see the relevance of misogyny to violence against women and girls is deeply troubling.' Campaigners have long argued that prejudice against women is a 'root cause' of gender-based violence and have called for it to be officially recognised as a hate crime in English and Welsh courts. Currently, hate crimes in England and Wales are specifically based on an individual's race, religion, disabilities, gender identity or sexual orientation. MPs have been lobbying to make misogyny a hate crime over the past few months. The chairman of the Commons Justice Committee, the Tory MP, Sir Bob Neill, said last week that the Government should consider making misogyny a hate crime in the same way that racism was following the Macpherson Inquiry into the killing of Stephen Lawrence. In July, Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse told the House of Commons that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill should 'enshrine misogyny as a hate crime' during a debate on the prospective legislation. The Bill, which contains a wide-ranging raft of measures aimed at overhauling the criminal justice system, is currently making its way through the House of Lords. US Capitol Police officers used flash bangs to smoke a Michigan man out of his car after he parked it outside the US Supreme Court, refused to come out and allegedly told cops: 'The time for talking is done.' Dramatic video footage showed the man, later identified as Dale Paul Melvin, 55, being dragged from the Chevy SUV by cops in Washington DC Tuesday morning. No weapons were found in the SUV, and police have yet to pinpoint a motive. Cops have also yet to say what charges Melvin, of Kimball in Michigan, may face. The United States Capitol Police warned the public to stay away from First Street, NE in Washington, DC, early on Tuesday morning. There were no disruptions to court proceedings. Deputy Chief Jason Bell said Melvin 'illegally parked' his SUV outside the building at around 9:30am. Smoke is seen coming out of the SUV as SWAT teams moved in to arrest the suspect, named as Dale Paul Melvin, 55 Capitol Police are seen above taking Melvin into custody on Tuesday The image above shows a suspicious SUV spotted near the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, on Tuesday A suspicious SUV (circled) is seen above on a Washington, DC, street blocked by Capitol Police near the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning Capitol Police on Tuesday tweeted that the driver of the vehicle (circled) was apprehended and taken into custody The image above shows the moment SWAT teams raided the vehicle using flash bangs and pulled the suspect out The man was wearing a white t-shirt and dark-colored pants at the time he was arrested The suspect has been identified as Dale Paul Melvin, 55, of Kimball, Michigan A glance at Melvin's Facebook page reveals several posts indicating that he is a supporter of former President Donald Trump and a critic of Democrats including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton The images above show more anti-Obama posts from Melvin's Facebook page NBC VIDEO: Heres video of the suspect in the suspicious vehicle outside the Supreme Court being smoked out and pulled from the vehicle: pic.twitter.com/GI6X4uSdrs Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) October 5, 2021 Bell said that when officers approached the vehicle, Melvin refused to talk, telling them something to he effect of 'the time for talking is done.' 'At that time we backed off, had our crisis negotiation officers attempt to speak with him. The man was refusing to speak,' Bell said. At around 11am, SWAT teams 'moved in,' deployed flash bangs, and forcibly removed Melvin from the vehicle, placing him under arrest, according to Bell. Authorities warned 'a loud bang may be heard in the area,' but 'there is no cause for alarm, and no action needs to be taken by Congressional Staff.' A glance at Melvin's Facebook page reveals several posts indicating that he is a supporter of former President Donald Trump, and a critic of Democrats including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 'NOW: We are investigating a suspicious vehicle in front of the Supreme Court along First Street, NE,' the US Capitol Police tweeted on Tuesday. An hour later, the USCP tweeted: 'One of our teams just moved in and extracted the man from the SUV. The man is in custody. Everyone is safe.' A reporter for Newsy posted an image on Twitter showing a silver-colored SUV near the Court. The United States Capitol Police warned the public to stay away from First Street, NE in Washington, DC. Police are seen above responding to the report of a suspicious vehicle on Tuesday Heavily armed officers are seen above near the US Supreme Court on Tuesday morning The suspicious vehicle is seen far right near the Supreme Court on Tuesday A source tells me this [is] the suspicious car in front of the Supreme Court, according to journalist Nathaniel Reed. The photo posted by Reed shows a US Capitol Police officer yelling at the man driving to roll down his window. Just roll down the windows so we can talk to you! Come on man! Roll them down! Reed quotes a source as saying. The USCP told local media that it has blocked traffic from First Street between Independence Avenue, SE and Constitution Avenue, NE; Second Street between East Capitol Street and Constitution Avenue, NE; and East Capitol Street between First and Second Streets, NE. In April, a USCP officer was killed and another was injured when a man rammed his car into a barricade outside the US Capitol. The driver of the car then got out of the vehicle and began wielding a knife. Police shot the suspect, 25-year-old Noah Green, who died at a hospital. Last month, a man drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress and began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb. He later made the same bomb threats to police officers and professed a litany of antigovernment grievances as part of a bizarre episode that he livestreamed for a Facebook audience. Floyd Ray Roseberry pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges that include threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. Last month, a man drove a black pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the Library of Congress and began shouting to people in the street that he had a bomb A witness also posted a picture to Twitter which showed the same man in a truck, after he tossed dollar bills out of the window Floyd Ray Roseberry, 49, surrenders to police in Washington DC on Thursday after a five-hour standoff. He drove onto a sidewalk outside the Library of Congress and demanded to speak to Joe Biden Monday was the first day that the high court was back in session. The justices are expected to decide on several high-profile and controversial topics. Abortion, guns and religion all are on the agenda for a court whose panel of justices is comprised of six conservatives and three liberals. The proceedings on Monday were held in person for the first time in 19 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Justice Brett Kavanaugh participated remotely from his home after testing positive for COVID-19 late last week, his voice echoing in the courtroom when he had a question to ask while his high-backed chair sat empty. Kavanaugh, who was vaccinated in January, is showing no symptoms, the court said. All the other justices also have been vaccinated. Monday was also the first time that new Justice Amy Coney Barrett participated in arguments in the courtroom, despite nearly a year on the court as its most junior member. In April, a Capitol police officer was killed after a car smashed into a barrier on Independence Avenue The driver of the car, Noah Green, 25, then got out of the vehicle and began wielding a knife. Police shot Green, who died at a hospital Earlier this year, the National Guard and local law enforcement were on high alert in the nation's capital after the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. Five people died in the riot, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who was among a badly outnumbered force trying to fight off insurrectionists who supported former President Donald Trump's bid to overturn the election. Authorities installed a tall perimeter fence around the Capitol and for months restricted traffic along the roads closest to the building. Priti Patel today announced more suspected criminals will be tested for recreational drugs on arrest as part of a Government plan to prevent violent crime. The Home Secretary said drug testing on arrest will be expanded across all 43 police forces in England and Wales as she signalled a crackdown on middle class cocaine users. Those who test positive for cocaine or heroin will be offered help to change their behaviour but those who are 'unwilling to address their drug misuse' will face 'the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences'. Drug testing will be used when people are arrested for a so-called 'trigger' offence which includes burglary and theft. But the 'trigger' list will be lengthened in five pilot areas, including the City of London and parts of the Home Counties, to include other offences like domestic abuse. Priti Patel today announced more suspected criminals will be tested for recreational drugs on arrest as part of a Government plan to prevent violent crime The Home Secretary said drug testing on arrest will be expanded across all 43 police forces in England and Wales as she signalled a crackdown on middle class cocaine users (stock image) Drug testing on arrest is already used by some forces but Ms Patel used her Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester to confirm a new 15million investment which will see it become more widespread. The policy will focus on arrests for crimes on a 'trigger' list, including narcotics offences, fraud, theft, shoplifting, burglary and robbery. But five forces - City of London, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire and Gwent will be granted powers to test in a wider set of circumstances. The expanded 'trigger' list could include domestic abuse and public order offences. Ms Patel said: 'Those who test positive as confirmed drug users will be supported to tackle their drug abuse and regain their independence. 'But for those unwilling to address their drug misuse, there will be the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences.' The police cannot force a suspect to take a drug test but refusal to take a test is an offence in itself. Those who test positive for opiates or cocaine will be referred for treatment or measures like drug awareness courses to try to 'tackle the problem at its root and reduce the prevalence of drug misuse across society', the Tories said. Those who refuse help will face prosecution with a maximum penalty of up to three months in jail and/or a 2,500 fine, according to the Home Office. The Government will offer 5,000 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to invest in extra testing equipment and training for police officers and staff this year. The five pilot areas will receive an additional 32,000 boost this year to increase testing for the wider range of offences. Ms Patel had announced the policy in an overnight interview with The Telegraph in which she hit out at middle class drug users. Asked if the UK's middle classes were too relaxed in their attitude to illegal drugs, Ms Patel told the newspaper: 'There's no question about this, I'm sorry that I've seen through all our work I'm unapologetic about this. 'The harsh reality is, and I just don't think drug-users recognise this enough, children are being used as a pawn in that supply chain, kids as young as seven years old. 'How can anybody think that it's OK, through addiction, habit or recreational use, to think that that is acceptable? It is not acceptable. It is completely wrong.' A pensioner's collection of rare Anglo-Saxon coins - including a 1066 penny minted for King Harold II before the Battle of Hastings - which was secretly stashed in his caravan has sold for 185,000. John Cross died aged 72 with few friends or family knowing of his extraordinary collection, which has been described by experts as among the most important of its kind outside any UK museum. The 80 coins include a 1,400-year-old gold shilling worth an estimated 12,000 and a silver penny minted for King Harold II in 1066 before he was killed at the Battle of Hastings, thought to be worth up to 2,000. But the extremely rare gold Thrymsa shilling - the most valuable single coin in the collection - dating between 640 and 660 that was minted in Northumbria or York, estimated at 8,000, actually sold for 17,500. The 72-year-old's secret stash of rare coins sold for the staggering amount after the haul was discovered when his caravan was cleared out near Canterbury. It was only unearthed when executors assessed belongings at his mobile home and found documents linked to the Anglo Saxon stash. The 80 coins amassed over 30 years were so valuable that Mr Cross held them in a bank vault for safekeeping. Left: The single most valuable coin in the sale is an extremely rare gold Thrymsa. Right: Among many silver pennies in the collection minted for the Kings of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms are one from 840-852 for Beorhtwulf A 1,000-1,500 coin dating from 833-870, minted for Archbishop Ceolnoth They had been estimated to sell for 75,000 but keen bidding from collectors at the recent sale at the Canterbury Auction Galleries saw prices rocket, with two charities now set to benefit. A silver penny minted in 757 to 796 showing Cynethryth, Queen of the Mercians and wife of King Offa, sold for 7,400 against an estimate of 1,000 to 1,500. Cynethryth is the only Anglo-Saxon queen known to have an image on a coin. Offa established his power in Kent in the mid-8th century until Egbert, King of Wessex, defeated the Mercian king Beornwulf in 825. A silver penny from Beornwulf's short reign from 823 to 825 sold for 3,000. Mr Cross's hoard included many silver pennies, including coins with connections to Canterbury, including a silver penny minted for the Archbishop and dating from 765 to 792. Left: A silver penny minted for the Archbishop and dating from 765-792 is estimated at 2,000-2,500. Right: An extremely rare gold Thrymsa slightly earlier example, circa 635-645, showing the emperor with a diademed bust is estimated at 8,000-10,000 Pictured: an extremely rare Thrymsa coin valued at 8,000-12,000 A spokesman for the executors gave an insight into the enthusiast's incredible collection. 'On inspecting the gentleman's personal items, it appears he was very much into researching Anglo Saxon and medieval history and had quietly amassed a sizeable collection,' the spokesman said. 'He had a particular fascination for coinage from the period and he was also interested in early buildings and churches. 'He attended lectures and even held a certificate in archaeological excavation, for which he qualified back in 2010 when he was in his 60s.' The entire collection was sold at auction in separate lots during the sale on Sunday, with the proceeds going to The British Numismatic Society and Friends of Kent Churches, as Mr Cross wished. Mark Zuckerberg's former mentor who was an early Facebook investor hailed its whistleblower and slated the social media giant as he called for it to be regulated. In an interview with CNN Tuesday morning, Roger McNamee called Frances Haugen, a former product manager for the company who has come forward to detail what she claims is the firm's malevolent behavior, 'so courageous, so authoritative and so utterly convincing that I think Facebook no longer has any excuses for inaction.' 'I think the time has come for them to look at safety and to look at privacy,' he told New Day host Brianna Keilar, 'because this is not just about Facebook this is about that business model, which is something that's been used not just by Facebook, but by Google, portions of it by Amazon and Microsoft and now it's being used throughout the economy. 'You see it in the automotive sector, in the healthcare sector and beyond, and it's all based on surveillance, it's all based on manipulating people's choices so that effectively it takes away from us our rights to determine our decisions in our own lives, and it's so pervasive right now.' Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor and former mentor to founder Mark Zuckerberg, said the social media giant needs to be regulated in an interview with New Day host Brianna Keilar on Tuesday morning McNamee, whose net worth is estimated at $1billion, set up a venture capital firm which invested $210 million in Facebook shares in 2009 and 2010. He began offloading his stock in the company in late 2019, months after he began speaking out against it, saying that to do so earlier would have looked like he was plotting against the company. He is a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, set up in response to Facebook's own oversight board, which members of the 'real' group claim does not have enough teeth to challenge Zuckerberg and other executives. Calling for regulation as Haugen appeared before Congress to testify against her former employer, McNamee added: 'And Congress just needs to say "Hey wait a minute, this is like child labor," this is unethical, it's un-American and we just need to go back to doing things in a way where people get to be themselves.' He said the company no longer has 'any excuses for inaction' and the 'time has come for them to look at safety and privacy as core requirements' Facebook no longer has "any excuses for inaction. I think the time has come for them to look at safety and ... privacy as core requirements," early Facebook investor and Mark Zuckerberg's mentor Roger McNamee says ahead of a whistleblower's testimony at Capitol Hill on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/P13GE0rciC New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2021 McNamee said that the six-hour long outage of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Monday 'serves as a minder that Facebook is a monopoly and when its utilities' go out 'that affects hundreds of millions or people every minute and billions of people every day. 'To me the key message is this is a monopoly,' he told Keilar, when she asked about his thoughts on the outage, 'and it needs to be regulated as such. 'And everything that Facebook does is a reminder that we've allowed our economy to go from a world that takes the needs of consumers first to one that basically uses consumers as marks in some kind of scam,' he said. 'You see this all over the economy,' he continued. 'I think this is the kind of thing that Congress was created to do and we solved this problem with the food industry in the beginning of the 19th century when we created the FDA, we solved this problem with the environmental laws because companies were dumping toxic waste everywhere. 'We've seen this problem before, we can handle it,' McNamee noted. 'This is Congress' job and they need to start today.' McNamee, 65, founded the venture capital firm Elevation Partners with Sheryl Sandberg, now the chief operating officer at Facebook, in 2004. It would go on to invest in Facebook in 2007 The social media giant has come under scrutiny in recent days after reports emerged that the company executives knew about the harms it was causing McNamee, 65, founded the venture capital firm Elevation Partners with Sheryl Sandberg, now the chief operating officer at Facebook, in 2004. It would go on to invest in Facebook in 2007. But the company initially failed to turn a profit, Business Insider reports, and McNamee recruited Sandberg to the company in 2008. One year later, the site amassed more than 300 million users and turned its first profit. It is now valued at $1 trillion dollars, with advertisers pouring billions into the firm's coffers to target 2.89 billion users. The company went public in 2012 and began to grow, but McNamee said he started having concerns about its 'surveillance capitalism' model - collecting and aggregating user data to micro-target people to predict and manipulate their behavior. In 2016, he said he suspected the company's advertising tools were being used by political operatives to sway outcomes, and after Brexit passed in June 2016, he said he went to founder Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg to demand they take action. When they didn't, he broke off his contract, and began lobbying public officials to regulate social media sites, according to McNamee, who also accused Facebook of allowing Russian meddling to influence the 2016 presidential election result. Brexit saw the United Kingdom leave the European Union, with 52 per cent of those who voted opting to do so. People who wished to remain claim many voters were manipulated into voting leave by social media ads, although many leavers have refuted that claim, and branded it patronizing. Similar allegations - and refutations - were made in the wake of Donald Trump's surprise 2016 presidential election win, which came five months after the Brexit vote. Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told members of Congress on Tuesday because she believes that Facebook's products 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy She claimed the company will not change without Congressional intervention McNamee latest comments come as Frances Haugen testifies before Congress about the need to regulate the social media site. She said in her opening statement on Tuesday that she decided to speak out because she believes that Facebook's products 'harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy. 'I joined Facebook because I think Facebook has the potential to bring out the best in us, but I'm here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy.' She claimed the company knows about the negative effects it has on children and executives know how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't do so 'because they have put their astronomical profits before people.' 'The documents I have provided to Congress prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public about what it's own research reveals about the safety of children, the efficacy of artificial intelligence systems and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages. 'I came forward because I believe that every human being deserves the dignity of truth,' she continued, noting: 'These problems are solvable. 'A safer, free speech-respecting, more enjoyable social media is possible,' she said. 'Facebook can change, but is clearly not going to do so on its own. 'My fear is that without action, [the] divisive and extremist behaviors we are seeing now are just the beginning. 'Congress can change the rules that Facebook plays by and stop the many harms it is causing,' she said, telling lawmakers: 'They won't solve this crisis without your help.' The Milwaukee 11-year-old who was shot dead in a drive-by shooting on Saturday was returning home from a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, her grandmother has revealed. Ta'Niyla Parker was killed and her five-year-old sister Bra'Niyla wounded when a gunman opened fire on their car at around 9pm in the Sherman Park neighborhood. Grandmother Janice Little told how her daughter Talea Hairston, who had been driving the girls home, called her in tears after the shooting. 'She called about 9 oclock,' Little told ABC. 'Im thinking shes calling to say, 'Come open up the door because Im fixing to drop the kids off.' 'But she just called and started hollering and screaming and said, 'The babies were shot.' The suspects, who have yet to be identified, opened fired from another vehicle before driving off. No arrests have been made and the motive behind the shooting remains unclear. Ta'Niyla Parker, 11, (right) and her five-year-old sister Bra'Niyla (left) were shot in the back of a relative's car on Saturday night The identities of the girls was confirmed by their mother to Fox 6. Grandmother Little said sixth-grader Ta'Niyla loved to draw Anime cartoons. 'She was very smart, outgoing. She was a loving big sister to her little sister,' Little told the network. Little also said her younger granddaughter remains in stable condition after the shooting. 'Shes doing better. Shes walking now and they said that she would probably be able to come home today,' Little said. Local activists also took to the Milwaukee streets raising signs reading messages such as 'Stop killing our children.' Parker's grandmother and guardian Janice Little called her 'smart' and 'outgoing' as well as a 'loving big sister' Parker's five-year-old sister Bra'Niyla survived after she was found in stable condition and only sustained non-life threatening injuries City officials also spoke out about the killing, which comes as Milwaukee experiences a record-breaking rise in gun violence against minors. 'Our hearts go out to everyone that was impacted by the homicide of 11-year-old Taniyla R. Parker,' Acting MPD Chief Jeffrey Norman told WISN. 'This tragedy is horrendous and our investigators are working diligently to bring those responsible to justice. 'I am asking for assistance from our community to come forward with any information to help us identify and locate the individual responsible for Taniyla's death. 'I offer my deepest sympathies and condolences to Taniyla's family and friends.' The shooting happened in the 3100 block of North Sherman Boulevard in northern Milwaukee The girls were on their way from a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party City council members Khalif Rainey and Russell Stamper also released a statement on Monday. 'We should be fostering environments for our children to learn, grow, develop and prosper. To this end no child, parent or grandparent should have to worry about the children in their lives falling victim to bullets,' the statement read. 'The fact that this is not the first young person this year who lost their life prematurely to gun violence underscores how our community MUST do better. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said in a conference on Monday that he was heartbroken by the girls' death. 'As a dad it breaks my heart. As a mayor it makes me angry,' Barrett said. 'I simply do not understand how an individual could fire a gun into a vehicle and kill a little girl.' Barrett said that the ongoing friction in the city may be the cause of the shootings. 'We do have to do everything we can to prevent retaliation, revenge,' he continued. 'We know that that's an issue that we're facing in parts of the city right now where groups are trying to get back at each other and that's a downward spiral. 'That's only going to result in more deaths, more shootings, that's not the answer.' The shooting is Milwaukee's 148th this year, ABC News reported. The whole of 2020 saw 190 homicides reported in Milwaukee. At least four other children have been injured in shootings in the city over the weekend. On Friday, three boys, 14, 15, and 16 were shot in two separate incidents. Tom Barrett said that he was heartbroken over Parker's death and plans to control Milwaukee gun violence as the Saturday shooting was the third that week It is currently unclear if the Saturday night shooting is related to the other recent incidents that have occurred in the city. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that 22 of the city's homicide victims this year have been individuals 18 years old or under. This year, minors 17 and under have made up 12.5percent of nonfatal shooting and homicide victims, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Review. That is 2percent more than in 2020 and more than 3percent than in 2016. Ta'Niyla and Bra'Niyla were shot just before 9pm in the 3100 block of North Sherman Boulevard near Sherman Park. A witness who lived across the street claimed they heard a round of 15 shots after a gunman pulled up to the back of their car before shooting them in the back seat. The older sister died at the Children's Hospital in Milwaukee on Sunday morning with the younger sister in stable condition and is expected to survive her injuries. An unidentified gunman pulled up to the backseat of the car and shot both girls, killing Parker and wounding her younger sister Two other shootings were reported by police on Sunday. Two women, 26 and 29, suffered non-fatal injuries at two separate shootings. Police has asked anyone with information about the shooting on Saturday to contact them at 414-935-7360. A cyclist's 'heartbroken' family have paid tribute to their beloved daughter after she collided with a giant lorry that was carrying a mobile crane. Jennifer Wong, 32, was riding her bicycle on Headington Road in Oxford when she crashed into a HGV lorry, which was carrying the mounted crane, on Sunday at around 9.50am. Ms Wong, who worked as a PA to Pro-Vice Chancellor of Oxford Brookes Professor Linda King, was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision. A vigil was held on Friday at the scene of the crash, where Ms Wong tragically lost her life, and flowers have been placed on the pavement and a white bike has been painted. Jennifer Wong (Pictured) was tragically killed by a HGV lorry that was carrying a mounted crane Headington Road in Oxford (Pictured) where Ms Wong lost her life and was pronounced dead on the scene On Tuesday, Ms Wong's 'heartbroken' family paid a touching tribute to their beloved daughter, and in a statement revealed they would be taking their daughter back to Hong Kong so she can be laid to rest. Her family said: 'As a family, we are heartbroken at the loss of such a lovely young woman. 'Jennifer came to the UK from Hong Kong to work and she made many great friends and loved living in Oxford. She worked at Oxford Brookes University and was made to feel very welcome by all of the staff there. 'She was a lovely, caring and kind person and everyone that she met loved her. She is missed greatly by her mother and by her family. Jennifer will be returned to Hong Kong to rest in peace.' Oxford University alumnus Cynthia Hass said the PA was an 'amazing' friend and she was left shocked to hear of the tragedy Speaking to the Oxford Mail, she said: 'She was an amazing friend. Jennifer Wong was a light for everyone that she touched. She was like family, she cared about everyone and always made sure that people were taken care of. 'She was one of my closest friends, my housemate, and an angel in some of the hardest of times.' Thames Valley Police were continuing their investigation the fatality. A post mortem examination was held on Jennifer's body and an inquest will be held later in the year. Anyone with information is asked to contact Thames Valley Police on 101. A mother and son have been charged with theft in aiding the disappearance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis laptop during the January 6 insurrection. On Friday, the FBI arrested Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, of Watertown, New York, in connection with the stolen laptop, according to court documents. Both also face other charges related to the riot at the Capitol. Rafael Rondon also faces a federal charge for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun which was seized by federal agents. He could face ten years in prison and a fine up to $250,000, if convicted. Both appeared in federal court Friday in Syracuse, New York, and released pending further proceedings, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York. Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, (center right) and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, (center left) of Watertown, New York have been charged for their crimes during the January 6, Capitol riots The FBI shared photos of Rafael Rondon (left) and Mooney-Rondon (right) as they stormed the Capitol building and allegedly helped steal U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's laptop A tipster led the FBI to Mooney-Rondon (left) and her son Rafael Rondon (right) who traveled to Washington D.C. on January 6 to 'just have your voice heard,' Rafael Rondon told authorities Mooney-Rondon and Rafael Rondon are facing seven charges including, one felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, plus misdemeanor charges of theft of government property, entering/remaining a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, entering/remaining the Gallery of Congress, entering/remaining in certain rooms of Capitol building, and disorderly conduct in Capitol building. Their federal charge carries a possible 20-year prison sentence, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick. A message left at a listing for Mooney-Condon in Watertown was not immediately returned Monday. Attempts to locate Rafael Rondon were not immediately successful. The Capitol riot was well documented by those who took part. Law enforcement used photos from the social media accounts of those who took part to search for the suspects. Capitol surveillance and bystander video was used to identify the mother and son duo and track their movements through the building. The FBI shared photos of the two asking the public's help in identifying them. A tip to the FBI led them to the mother and son, according to a statement of facts documented by an unnamed FBI special agent. Mooney-Rondon allegedly admitted to being in both the Capitol the day of the riots and Pelosis conference room, the document says. The affidavit mentions a short video in which a woman, whom federal agents believe to be Riley June Williams of Pennsylvania, is heard instructing someone, 'Dude, put on gloves,' as the laptop is seen being taken. Mooney-Rondon allegedly provided gloves or a scarf to a man to steal Pelosis laptop without leaving fingerprints. 'He asked, he said, give me - I dont know if it was gloves or a scarf I was wearing - and like I said he scared me,' the documents quotes her as saying. A laptop from Pelosi's office in the Capitol building was stolen on January 6. Mooney-Rondon and Rafael Rondon have allegedly admitted to aiding in the theft of the laptop, according to investigators (Pictured: July 22, meeting with reporters at the Capitol in Washington) Mooney-Rondon and Rafael Rondon are facing seven charges for their part in the storming of the Capitol building on January 6 (Pictured: Supporters of then President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6) Richard Barnett (pictured), a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump sits inside Pelosi's office in the Capitol building during the January 6 insurrection A seconds-long video referenced in the Rondon's affidavit shows someone taking a laptop from Pelosi's office as someone directs them to use a glove (pictured) There was an ethernet connected to the computer, her son told FBI agents. 'If I recall, the guy was going to yank it out. Im like, dude, dont do that, I mean that's, I mean just the computer, you cant pull the cables out, itll ruin everything,' Mooney-Rondon said, according to the document. Mooney-Rondon then said she believes she saw the man put the computer in his backpack. Her son told investigators that he thinks he might have pushed the computer 'in his bag a little bit using a glove cause he didnt want to get his fingerprints on it,' the document says. He told the agent he was, 'honestly a little bit afraid, because I didn't know if he had anything on him ... So I assisted him a little bit, and that was probably stupid of me,' he's quoted in the document as saying. She and her son then went to the Senate Gallery and then left the building when they saw it was overrun with protesters. Rafael Rondon told officers that he and his mother took the metro into Washington on January 6 'just have your voice heard', the FBI agents statement alleges. Talking about planning for the day, Rafael Rondon said, 'I'm not taking my car into the city which, the Capitol building I'm about to break into,' according to the criminal complaint. Both mother and son admitted they were the ones depicted in the photos taken at the Capitol during the riots and distributed by the FBI, the document says. They also allegedly admitted to taking two 'escape hoods' and a satchel bag from the Senate Gallery. Escape hoods are filtering respiratory protective devices which provide 30 minutes of protection from carbon monoxide, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear contaminants, each valued at $235.18, according to the criminal complaint. The 'escape hoods' and the clothes that Mooney-Rondon and Rafael Rondon wore on January 6 where recovered during a raid on the family's Watertown home on June 29, the FBI reported. Federal agents served a search warrant at Marilyn and Paul Hueper's home in Homer, Alaska in April claiming they had evidence Marilyn was inside the Capitol (Pictured: Marilyn, left, was reportedly mistaken for Mooney-Rondon, right,) Paul Hueper said he took a photo of his wife walking up the Capitol steps (above) on January 6, but they were no closer than 100 yards from the building entrance. She said agents told her there was video footage of her in the building which Marilyn claimed was a case of mistaken identity While the couple (pictured) say they attended the rally, the deny entering the U.S. Capitol during the deadly riots In late April, the FBI raided the Homer, Alaska, business owned by Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who were in Washington D.C. for then-President Donald Trumps rally that preceded the breach at the Capitol but said they didnt take part in that. Marilyn Hueper told reporters it was a case of mistaken identity. Photos of the two women showed they had similar hairstyles and wore a similar black coat that day. When an FBI agent arrived at the boutique resort, they said they were looking for Nancy Pelosis laptop. 'That still doesnt explain why youre in my home. Or in Homer, Alaska,' Hueper told agents, she later recalled to The Associated Press. In the FBI statement filed in the case of the New York residents, it notes that a search warrant was obtained for the Alaska residence 'based in part on evidence showing that residents (a married couple) trespassed on the ground of the U.S. Capitol.' It also says two people in Homer identified Marilyn Hueper as being the person seen in photos taken inside the Capitol during the riot. However, the document states, the FBI now says 'there is probable cause' to believe the mother and son are the two people shown in the photographs, plus their alleged admissions to being there and other evidence. 'I feel like a cloud has lifted for sure,' Hueper said in a text message to The Associated Press. However, she said she remains concerned about the freedom that the FBI and others seem to have 'to run amuck over peaceable people, and are without concern for how their poor investigative skills and super aggressive tactics are causing harm while theyre on their `noble cause quests.' A message sent to the FBI Anchorage office seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday. The number of children forced to miss school due to Covid has nearly doubled since the start of the new term, official data shows. One in forty pupils were absent in England last Thursday, up from around one in 80 on September 7. The 204,000 who missed class were off either because they had Covid themselves or were identified as a close contact of a positive case. Teaching unions blamed the 'grim statistics' on high Covid rates in schools and urged new Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to get a grip on the crisis. Children between the age of 10 and 19, who are largely unvaccinated, are currently recording up to 15 times more Covid cases than older adults. Some schools have started to take matters into their own hands, with councils ordering them to bring back a suite of stricter Covid curbs. The Department for Education (DfE) estimated that 2.5 per cent of all pupils were not in class for reasons connected to coronavirus on Thursday last week. This is up from the 1.3 per cent of all pupils, on September 7, a week after schools went back at the start of the month. One in forty pupils (2.5 per cent) at least one child in every two classes were absent in England last Thursday, up from around one in 80 (1.3 per cent) on September 7 One in forty pupils at least one child in every two classes were absent in England last Thursday due to Covid (file) The figures include 102,000 pupils with a confirmed case of Covid and 84,100 with a suspected case. About 11,400 were absent due to isolation for other reasons. A further 4,800 were off due to attendance restrictions being in place to manage an outbreak and 2,000 did not attend as a result of school closures due to Covid. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said the 'grim statistics show a big increase in the number of pupils out of school as a result of the continuing havoc caused by coronavirus. Hundreds of schools are told to be 'proactive' and 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 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. Advertisement 'We are hearing from schools where there are 10 per cent or more of pupils absent and where staff are also off work because of the virus. 'Teaching and learning is very difficult in these circumstances and it is clear that the educational disruption of the past 18 months is far from being over.' Mr Barton has called on the new Education Secretary to urgently set out what action he intends to take to address the situation. He added: 'One thing he might do is to look at why it is taking so long to deliver the carbon dioxide monitors to schools that the Government promised at the start of term.' Schools in England no longer have to keep pupils in year group 'bubbles' to reduce mixing, and children do not have to isolate if they come into contact with a positive case of Covid. Instead, they are advised to get a PCR test and only isolate if they test positive. A DfE spokeswoman said: 'We are committed to protecting education, which is why the safety measures in place strike a balance between managing transmission risk with regular testing and enhanced ventilation and hygiene, and reducing disruption to face-to-face education. 'We are working with parents and school and college staff to maximise students' time in the classroom encouraging uptake of testing and the vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds, and contracting specialist attendance advisers to work on strategies to improve attendance where problems are identified.' Data from the Government's Covid dashboard shows 10 to 14-year-olds have the highest infection rate in England at 1,500 per 100,000 people. Older teens have a rate of around 600. For comparison, age groups over 70s have a rate of around 100 while for the middle-aged it varies between 200 and 400. It comes after hundreds of primary and secondary schools 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. Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were running a shadow presidency in the Trump White House, where they could hire whom they please and would disappear when the going got tough. 'I believe that he and Ivanka kind of thought they were a shadow President and First Lady,' she said. The former White House press secretary was on CNN's New Day as part of media tour for her memoir 'I'll Take Your Questions Now,' her tale about her work for Donald and Melania Trump, which is out on Tuesday. She said Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law whom she described as 'Rasputin in a slim-fitting,' grew 'heady with power' during his four years as Donald Trump's senior White House counselor. Grisham said Kushner 'changed as we went through the White House. And he got really heady with power.' She said he hired his own chief of staff for his corner of the West Wing. 'He did what he wanted and nobody challenged him,' she noted. She described how then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows put a hiring freeze in place, saying no one could be hired without his authorization. 'Jared Kushner basically told him what he thought of that and got to do what he wanted,' Grisham said. 'Nobody ever challenged Jared,' she said, adding 'this was the president's son in law.' Stephanie Grisham said Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were running a shadow presidency in the Trump White House Grisham said of the Kushners: Jared grew 'heady with power' but Ivanka was the 'brains' She said Kushner would dive into policy areas where he had no expertise in an attemp to 'save the day' and then when 'things were getting really tough,' he and Ivanka would 'suddenly disappeared on vacations.' But Grisham said it was Ivanka Trump, the former president's oldest daughter, who was the 'brains' of the couple. 'Ivanka is very, she's very controlling of her image, she's very controlled in what she does, she is very calm, which is unlike her father, and I think that she's the smarter one,' she said. Grisham revealed in her book that the couple tried to push their way into Donald and Melania Trump's meeting with The Queen during the Trumps' state visit to the UK in June 2019. She also said Jared and Ivanka acted in a similar manner on the February 2020 state trip to India, pushing their own schedule and trying to get into meetings and tours with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'They were involved in like tours that Modi was giving the former president and first lady and there they were to, you know, they were always right there and it was really inappropriate and that would make Mrs. Trump upset because she is a big rule follower in terms of protocol,' she said. She noted that Melania's staff in the East Wing tried to stop them but were unable to. 'At the end of the day, it's his daughter and son in law and nobody could work around him,' Grisham noted. She also revealed that at President Trump's State of the Union address in 2018, she and another Melania staffer tried to block Jared and Ivanka from following Melania Trump into the family box in the House chamber. Grisham said the news had broken recently about Stormy Daniels' allegation she had an affair with Trump, which Trump denied, and the staff 'were really protective' of the first lady. Melania Trump had taken her own car to the Capitol to arrive at the speech separately from the president. 'We raced out of the motorcade and literally physically blocked them so that Mrs. Trump could have her moment and walk in. It worked for maybe three minutes and then their Secret Service pushed us aside but we got our job done,' she said. Grisham said Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump muscled their way into events during Trump state visit to India in February 2020 - above the Kushners in front of the Taj Mahal Grisham revealed that at President Trump's State of the Union address in 2018, she and another Melania staffer tried to block Jared and Ivanka from following Melania Trump into the family box - above Melania is escorted into the speech by a military aide Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at President Trump's 2018 State of the Union address The fact that [Trump] is pushing this election lie is scary to me. The fact he is the front-runner right now if he were to run for office is scaring me, says Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary, who never held a public press briefing during her tenure pic.twitter.com/zhma3ddoYE New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2021 In the same interview, Grisham revealed there was a 'culture of abuse' in Donald Trump's White House, admitted she lied in TV interviews and said she believes Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell would be on staff if the former president ran and won in 2024. Grisham, who worked for Donald Trump from the early days of his 2016 campaign until she resigned in protest on January 6th, described what it was like to work for the former president. During her tenure she served as spokesperson for him and for Melania Trump. 'It took me a really long time to realize it was a culture of abuse in there, you just want to keep Donald Trump happy. You just don't want him to yell at you,' she said. 'You learn to give him the answer that he wants. We learned to work around him.' She described Trump yelling at her to her face when she refused to kick CNN's Kaitlin Collins out of the White House briefing room. 'He was yelling at me to my face in that one. Um it's horrible when he yells at you. It's horrible. He is very New York I guess,' she said. 'He's very mean when he yells at you.' Grisham also outlined her worries about Trump's continued false claim that he won the 2020 election. She said she was concerned if he ran again in 2024 and won, he would seek 'revenge' and be out of control. 'The fact that he is pushing this election lie is scary to me, and the fact that he's the frontrunner right now, if he were to run for office, is scary to me,' Grisham said. 'And that's because, if he gets into office, he doesn't run for re-election again. He'll be able to do whatever he wants, and we all know, there's going to be retribution, there's going revenge. I guarantee there will be very draconian policies, and they're not going to care, because they don't have to run for re-election again.' Trump has not said whether or not he will make another presidential bid in 2024 although many see him as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination should he choose to get into the race. During his time in the White House, the president had to defend many of his decisions - such as not releasing his tax records, keeping his ties to his family business, and for trying to intefere in Justice Department investigations. Grisham said if Trump won, his staff for that term would be even more extreme than many of the enablers who surrounded Trump during his first tenure. She said she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Both Giuliani and Powell were led propogators of the 'big lie' - that Trump won and the election was stolen from him. Multiple recounts proved Joe Biden won in 2020. 'If people think that the people in (the first) Trump White House were bad perhaps, I have a feeling the 1/6 crowd might be working in the White House in 2024, or the Sidney Powells, or the Rudy Giulianis,' Grisham said. 'I think people left and right are going to get pardoned. The amount of things, knowing what I know, that could happen, it scares me.' Stephanie Grisham said she believes if Trump ran and won in 2024 she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the White House staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results Stephanie Grisham also revealed she lied when she went on Fox News to talk about administration - above Grisham during her tenure as press secretary for President Trump Grisham's book has sparked widespread criticism from the pro-Trump crowd and even the former president weighed in to accuse her of cashing out. 'Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning,' Trump said in a statement. He said she had become 'very angry and bitter' after a breakup. 'She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things.' Grisham was a controversial figure during her time in the Trump White House, particularly for never holding a press briefing when she served in the role of press secretary. But she, like many officials in the Trump administatration, often went on Fox News to spread their message. 'That's just where we went to get what we wanted out,' she said. 'They, you know, by and large didn't get tough with us, they just took what we were saying and disseminated it.' I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I saw at the Trump White House by Stephanie Grisham comes out on October 5 Asked if she was always truthful during her interviews on Fox News, she admitted: 'I probably wasn't.' Grisham, 45, then served as press secretary to Trump from July 2019 to April 2020. She then returned to the East Wing as Melania's chief of staff from April 2020 until January 2021. Many Trump loyalists have turned on her, including Melania Trump, whose office accused her of cashing in. And Grisham's former colleague Alyssa Farah, who served as White House Communications Director for Trump, said during an interview with The View on Monday: 'First and foremost, I don't believe in profiting off of public service. I had a chance to write my White House tell-all and declined. The American people, the taxpayers, paid my salary. 'I'm not going to go write a book and cash in.' She went on to declare that Grisham was 'largely MIA on the job', and said that the reason she never held a live-televised press briefing was down to her own reluctance to do so, not Trump as Grisham claimed. 'When I worked for him, it was, ''Go get out on TV, Alyssa. Go give a briefing.'' He wanted people out,' Farah said. 'It seemed like she was largely MIA on the job.' DailyMail.com obtained a live photo of Stephanie Grisham lying on the floor of the White House during the 2020 presidential election. A source who was at the election party tells DailyMail.com that the picture was taken to show how embarrassing her antics were Grisham has returned to the public eye since her exit from the Trump White House, promoting her 352-page memoir. She went to Kanas after her time in Washington D.C., where she worked on the book. She told ABC News she is 'terrified' that Trump might run for president again, telling Nightline's Juju Cheng that a second Trump term would be a disaster. 'I am terrified of him running in 2024. I don't think he is fit for the job,' said Grisham in an interview that aired Monday night. 'I think that he is erratic. I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. And I do not want him to be our president again.' Grisham said a second Trump term in the White House would lead to chaos, claiming the former president's inflammatory behavior would lead to rising violence and alleged he would only run for the presidency to benefit himself and his family. 'I think he would foment more violence. I think he will line his pockets. I think his family will line their pockets. 'I believe that he wanted to help the country in the beginning - I believe he wants to help himself now.' And she dismissed her critics, telling ABC's George Stephanopolous that she expected the attacks. 'I expected that. I expect more. This is right out of their playbook. When they don't like the message, they're going to destroy the messenger. I know. I was part of doing that sometimes. She pointed out Melania Trump wasn't 'denying anything fully in the book just yet.' 'I think she knows that I have a lot of receipts to show I'm being fully honest. So I expected that, and I'm sure that there will be more to come, probably a lawsuit or two or three or four,' Grisham said. Advertisement Carrie Johnson said the Prime Minister is 'completely committed' to LGBT rights tonight as she made her Tory Conference speaking debut. Boris's pregnant wife voiced her pride at moves like equal marriage that were brought in by Conservative leaders as she addressed a Pride reception in Manchester. It is believed to be the first speech by a prime minister's wife at a conference. With Mr Johnson, and his sister Rachel in the audience, she said it was 'blatantly untrue ... that being LGBT+ and a Tory is somehow incompatible'. The Prime Minister has come in for criticism in the past for comments he made while a newspaper columnist, including referring to gay men as 'tank-topped bum boys'. But Mrs Johnson told the packed crowd: 'Whether you are LGBT+ or an ally like me we are all committed to equality and acceptance for everyone whoever you are and whoever you love. 'There are still those who tell me that being LGBT+ and a Tory is somehow incompatible, well, looking around me tonight, we can see that is blatantly untrue. 'Many of you here tonight have helped play a part in the journey our party has taken on gay rights and we can now say with huge pride that it was a Conservative prime minister who delivered equal marriage in England and Wales. 'I want you all to know that we now have a Prime Minister who is completely committed to accepting those gains and extending them further.' 'As a backbencher Boris broke the whip to vote in favour of repealing Section 28, as mayor of London he supported same sex marriage, as foreign secretary he lifted the ban on British embassies abroad flying the pride flag and as prime minister he has appointed the great Nick Herbert as the UK's first special envoy on LGBT rights. Last year he extended same sex marriage to Northern Ireland.' She then added: 'Boris also wanted me to remind you that as mayor he led the Pride parade wearing a rather fetching pink Stetson, which I think we should encourage him to do again. Boris's pregnant wife voiced her pride at moves like equal marriage that were brought in by Conservative leaders as she addressed a Pride reception in Manchester. Boris Johnson wears a pink Stetson cap at the Gay Pride parade in London on July 5, 2008 With Mr Johnson (left), and his sister Rachel in the audience, she said it was 'blatantly untrue ... that being LGBT+ and a Tory is somehow incompatible'. Referencing gay marriage, Mrs Johnson told the packed crowd: 'We now have a prime minister who is completely committed to protecting those gains and extending them. Carrie Johnson, the wife of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wears a 59.99 blazer from Zara as she arrives at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Tuesday The prime minister's wife (pictured arriving at the conference today), 33, has been named guest of honour at the party's Pride reception in Manchester 'But more seriously, the Government he leads is banning conversion therapy, rolling out PrEP on the NHS in England as part of its mission to eliminate HIV transmission and restoring medal to veterans who had them stripped form them for being lesbian or gay. 'But for all the progress we have made as a society we know there is still a long way to go 'The LGBT+ community still faces stigma, harassment and discrimination, with hate crimes still a fact of life. I heard myself from such a victim of crime at the pride reception we held in DS earlier this year and I have to say I was moved to tears.' Earlier she had made her long-awaited arrival at the conference in Manchester in a vivid scarlet coat. She changed into a shimmering blue dress for the reception at the Midland Hotel, which was packed. The 33-year-old was wearing a 59.99 blazer and a 27.99 collared shirt with a bow - both from Zara - as she arrived under gloomy skies this afternoon. Mrs Johnson, who is expecting her second child with the PM, is 'a longstanding ally', according to Elena Bunbury, chairwoman of the LGBT+ Conservatives. She told The Times before the event: 'Carrie has always been a good sport to LGBT+ Conservatives. 'She even judged our virtual lip-sync last conference. We're thrilled she'll be joining us in person this year in Manchester.' The LGBT+ event was held in partnership with Stonewall, a charity that sparked controversy over a scheme for 'diversity champions' in Government. The director of communications at the Aspinall Foundation, a wildlife charity, has previously lobbied on environmentalism. 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. Mrs Johnson was the former director of communications for the Tory party The PM has a son, Wilfred, with third wife Carrie and four with his second wife Marina Wheeler. The PM poses with a digger during his party's annual conference in Manchester on Tuesday 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 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. Insulate Britain mastermind Roger Hallam has been branded a hypocrite after gas-guzzling vehicles were seen operating on his organic farm in South Wales, MailOnline can reveal. Neighbours were left fuming after regularly spotting up to six vehicles on Hallam's land in Carmarthenshire, accusing him of double standards. When MailOnline visited today, five diesel vehicles were seen on Hallam's farm while another has also been identified in the past. These included an Ivesco 2.3 litre diesel, a blue Ford 1.9 litre 4x4 and Kia, Volkswagen and Mercedes vehicles, all of them diesel. Hallam, rants about the importance of green energy and is also one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion (XR). Insulate Britain's Roger Hallam has been slammed by his neighbours after no fewer than six diesel vehicles were spotted parked on his organic farm in west Wales On a preview visit to the farm a MailOnline reporter saw this Ford Galaxy, which is a diesel and would not qualify for London's new ultra low emissions zone Today at another visit the reporter saw this black diesel transit van parked up at the site It is not known whether Mr Hallam owns the vehicles, but residents living nearby said regardless, he should not allow them to be kept on his land while preaching about the planet Speaking to the Unbreak the Planet podcast, Mr Hallam told host Mike Galsworthy he would have refused to move for a crying woman trying to get to her mother, 81, in hospital Activists from Insulate Britain climate change protest group have caused two weeks of chaos and anger on roads across Britain most recently blocking the Hanger Lane gyratory on the A40 There is no suggestion that Hallam owns the diesel vehicles but after seeing them on his farm, one neighbour told MailOnline: 'It doesn't actually matter whether he owns them or not. The point is, what are they doing on the farm of somebody who preaches about green energy and the environment? 'The fact that it's an organic farm makes it even more ludicrous. He's a prize hypocrite - what he preaches and what he does are two different things. There are diesel vehicles on his farm leaving a carbon footprint and for that to be allowed is a disgrace.' Mr Hallam sparked fury by saying he would block an ambulance carrying a dying patient Organic farmer Hallam, who claims that he lost his business because of severe weather, set up Insulate Britain (IB) when he caused a rift within XR by telling a German newspaper the Holocaust was 'just another f***ery in human history'. He later said his remark was taken out of context. Hallam, 55, provoked further outrage this week after insisting that he would block an ambulance with a dying patient inside in order to continue eco-protests by Insulate Britain, which have wreaked havoc on roads and motorways in recent weeks. The extraordinary admission, made during an interview with the Unbreak the Planet podcast, came after a tearful woman was filmed urging Insulate Britain protestors to move so she could get her 81-year-old mother to the hospital. But asked what he would have done in that situation, replied in a steely tone: 'I'd stay there'. Another neighbour fumed: 'While people's lives are being disrupted from the protests by Hallam's group, there are two huge vehicles on his farm damaging the environment. You couldn't make it up. 'He's telling us what we should all be doing but isn't doing it himself.' In 2019, Hallam was cleared by a jury of all charges relating to a protest against fossil fuels. Motorists have been getting increasingly angry over the protests. On Monday a van driver attempted to get round the eco-mob as they started to block the A12 at the Blackwall Tunnel Insulate Britain protestors are led away by police officers at a demonstration near Heathrow He did not deny criminal damage worth 7,000 after spraying the walls of Kings College with the words 'divest from oil and gas' in protest against the institution's fossil fuel investments. Ironically, all six vehicles seen on Hallam's farm would not be allowed to enter London's expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) unless they pay 12.50 each. The zone which encompasses all areas within the North and South Circular Road, comes into force at the end of this month and charges drivers to enter if their vehicle does not meet certain emissions standards. In a further twist, it has also been revealed that Hallam's farmhouse was described as 'poorly insulated' in an official energy performance certificate. The 2,000 sq. ft property was given the lowest possible energy rating on the certificate. It is unclear if Mr Hallam has taken steps to improve the rating since it was issued six years ago. The environmentally unfriendly white transit van is at Mr Hallam's site and the Seat next to it Of the vehicles at Hallam's farm, a neighbour said: 'The fact that it's an organic farm makes it even more ludicrous. He's a prize hypocrite. What he preaches and what he does are two different things.' After falling out with XR over his holocaust comments, the group hit back: 'Extinction Rebellion UK unreservedly denounces today's comments from our co-founder, Roger Hallam, in the German newspaper Die Zeit, made in a personal capacity in relation to the recent launch of his book. 'Jewish people and many others are deeply wounded by the comments today. Internal conversations have begun with the XR Conflict team about how to manage the conflict process that will address this issue. We stand by restorative outcomes as preferable, although in some cases exclusion is necessary.' Sen. Joe Manchin said he does not believe immigration reform will make it into the budget reconciliation bill, delivering a blow to immigration activists who had hoped Democrats would pass a pathway to citizenship without the help of Republicans. 'I don't think it's going to be in there. I really don't,' the West Virginia Democrat told Latino Rebels on Monday afternoon. 'I think it's too big for that.' Manchin said he is 'totally committed' to the need for immigration reform but but he is unwilling to 'bust the Byrd Rule.' Named for another West Virginia Democrat, Sen. Robert Byrd, prohibits 'extraneous' measures from being included in budget reconciliation bills, which can be passed by Democrats alone with a simple majority rather than needing 10 votes from Republicans. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has issued two separate rulings barring a path to citizenship from being included in budget legislation. The Democrats' plan would have given green cards to so-called 'Dreamers' who were brought to the US illegally as children, those with temporary protected status, agricultural workers and other essential workers. In her first ruling, MacDonough, the Senate's nonpartisan rule interpreter, said that the proposed legalization program that would affect eight million immigrants 'is a policy change that substantially outweighs the budgetary impact of that change.' She said the budgetary impact was secondary to the legislative impact. 'Changing the law to clear the way to LPR [lawful permanent resident] status is [a] tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact,' she wrote. Manchin said he is 'totally committed' to the need for immigration reform but but he is unwilling to 'bust the Byrd Rule' Immigrants and Dreamers take part in a protest at the US Capitol pressuring Democrats to include a pathway to citizenship in their Build Back Better plan Democrats then pitched changing the registry date for certain undocumented immigrants to 2010, meaning that the legislation would allow migrants who have been in the nation since 2010 to apply for legal permanent residency. Other Democrats aren't giving up hope, and said they will move forward with 'Plan C' to pitch immigration under the budget bill. Manchin, along with fellow moderate Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., are the last stalwarts against President Biden's $3.5 trillion bill, which they say is far too expensive in its current form. The president, congressional leaders and White House staff have been in negotiations with the two of them as Biden tries to pass his legislative agenda. Sinema was followed into a bathroom by activists over the weekend demanding she pass the spending bill and find a way to include immigration reform. Biden on Monday blamed his party's twin moderates for holding up the spending spree. 'They need 50 votes in the Senate,' he said of Democrats. 'I have 48.' If the president gets all 50 Democrats on board, Vice President Kamala Harris can step in to break the tie. 'I've been able to close the deal with 99% of my party two, two people,' Biden told reporters at the White House after he made comments on the debt ceiling. He argued that he had been dealt a particularly tough hand. 'I don't think there's been a president who's been able to close deals who has been a position where he has only 50 votes in the Senate, and a bare majority in the House,' he said, adding 'it's a process. We'll get it done.' Meanwhile, progressives in the House are refusing to support his bipartisan $1.1 trillion infrastructure plan unless the $3.5 trillion budget package passes the Senate, as moderate Democrats in the House grow weary. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., a key negotiator for the bipartisan infrastructure plan, expressed frustration as progressives remained obstinate. 'We must not let a faction of the far left kill an historic infrastructure bill that will help create two million labor jobs a year, build the Gateway Tunnel, fix our crumbling roads and bridges, upgrade our broadband, get lead out of our childrens drinking water, and repair NJ Transit,' he said in a statement Tuesday. 'If those on the wings want to take shots at me, have at it.' That bill has already passed the Senate and will go to Biden's desk if it passes the House. Advertisement Covid cases in the UK have fallen for the sixth day in a row and hospitalisations and deaths are both also down, official figures revealed today. The Department of Health's daily update showed there were another 33,869 positive tests across the country in the last 24 hours, down 1.9 per cent on the previous week. But hospital admissions and fatalities the two metrics ministers care most about have also dropped once more. A total of 642 Covid patients were admitted to hospital on Friday, the latest most recent day figures are available for, down 9.1 per cent on the previous week. That was the second day in a row they had fallen week-on-week. And 166 fatalities were recorded among people who tested positive in the previous four weeks, one fewer than last Tuesday. It marks the ninth day on the trot that they have dropped. Both measures lag behind case numbers by a few weeks, due to the time it takes for someone to become seriously unwell after catching the virus. It comes amid fears a fourth wave will hit the UK in the coming months. 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson today warned the UK does not have much 'headroom' if cases, hospitalisations and deaths tick upwards. He said England may have to resort to its winter Covid 'Plan B' if daily hospital admissions for coronavirus breach 1,200 they currently stand at around 600. For comparison, admissions breached 4,000 a day during the darkest spell of the second wave. It would see the Government would bring back face masks, social distancing and working from home guidance, and introduce vaccine passports if the NHS comes under unsustainable pressure. Boris Johnson announced last month that masks, social distancing and vaccine passports might need to be brought back if the NHS comes under pressure Speaking to a cross-party committee of MPs today, he added: 'If that figure were to double, we'd need to think about moving to "Plan B".' The epidemiologist, based at Imperial College London, called for 'more intense' curbs if there is a sharp rise in admissions. To get ahead of a winter wave, he said second doses for 16 and 17-year-olds could be brought forward and advised we are 'more aggressive' in administering boosters. It comes as the Prime Minister today voiced growing confidence Covid will not spark further lockdowns, claiming that the country was on track to stick to 'Plan A'. In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Boris Johnson said: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' Meanwhile, the Department of Health revealed a further 37,671 first vaccine doses and 29,337 second doses have been dished out across the UK's four nations. But ministers are yet to reveal how many jabs have been dished out to 12 to 15-year-olds and as part of the booster campaign, both of which began last month. Some 48.9million first jabs have been administered, while 45million Britons are fully immunised. That means that around 66 per cent of the total population has been fully immunised, which lags behind some of our European neighbours who have been jabbing children for months. Experts giving evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus alongside Professor Ferguson pointed to that relatively low immunity and warned it left the UK vulnerable to a winter wave. And despite Britain's cases falling today, the 34,000-average infections it is tallying every day is still higher than most comparable EU nations. ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (SINCE THE PANDEMIC BEGAN): The number of Covid hospitalisations in England peaked during the second wave in January, when daily levels breached 4,000 ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (OVER THE LAST SIX MONTHS): A closer look at the data for the past six months shows admissions rose quickly in July, following a spike in cases ENGLAND'S COVID HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (OVER THE PAST MONTH): Coronavirus hospitalisations have been flattening off in England over the past month, data also shows ENGLAND CASES: The number of people testing positive for Covid in England has levelled off over the past fortnight, after breaching 50,000 a day in July. Rates were highest in January, when the Alpha variant took off ENGLAND DEATHS: The number of people dying from coronavirus every day in England now stands at about 80, and has been falling over the past few weeks. Fatalities breached 1,000 in the first wave last April, and 1,500 in the second wave in January Boris Johnson warns WFH Britons they risk being 'gossiped about' Boris Johnson today warned Britons working from home that they risk being 'gossiped about' and missing out on 'stimulus and competition' unless they return to the office. The PM voiced growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns as he urged people to get 'back to work in the normal way'. He said getting back to offices was 'essential for young people in particular' as you cannot learn a job 'just on Zoom'. But Mr Johnson also admitted that not all of his own civil servants are back at their desks yet - stressing that the Cabinet Secretary had told them to return. Some departments are thought to have as little as a tenth of staff routinely working in the office, although others are doing much better. In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson told LBC radio the government was always 'humble in the face of nature' and recognised that 'a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us'. But he insisted: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' He added: 'If you are going to learn on the job, you can't just do it on Zoom,' . 'You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out.' Advertisement Professor Ferguson warned that high case rates, relatively low immunity and fewer hospital beds gave the UK less 'headroom' than its neighbours heading into the winter. He said the political decision to 'live with Covid' was behind the country's high transmission and had put the country in a vulnerable position heading into winter. 'We are starting with quite a high incidence and so we don't have very much headroom for increases,' he told the committee. 'If we compare, for instance, incidence of Covid cases per day in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal, there is a much lower level than us, so they can afford to see something of a surge of transmission, which they may well, without unduly stressing the health system. 'We are much closer to the limit of what the NHS can cope with. We will come on to Plan B, I think that is what is exercising Whitehall and policymakers, is that limited headroom.' He said there was a high level of unpredictability in the modelling but added: 'We could see continued flat incidence, even slow decline if we get boosters out quickly. 'So it's not guaranteed we will see a large winter surge by any means, but we can't afford, at the current time, to have too much of a winter surge before really the NHS is very heavily stressed.' Asked about what other countries were doing, and whether the UK wants to keep case rates down, Professor Ferguson said: 'The Government clearly has said, it's not really science here, it's a political judgment, they want to live with Covid. 'Their prime criteria for acting is additional pressure on the NHS.' He said ministers were right to use Covid admissions as the primary barometer. 'The number one metric is NHS demand. 'That is sensible because [vaccine] protection against death and ending up on a ventilator is higher than just against hospitalisation. 'So hospitalisations and overall occupancy is going to be real stress point going forward. 'I'm optimistic lessons have been learned [from previous waves] that we need to act promptly if we start seeing sustained increase in hospitalisations.' Dr Jon Clyus, a public health expert at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the committee he expected some measures to have to be rolled back. He urged the Government to start prepping the population for this, telling MPs: 'Improving communication that the pandemic is not over will help to soften the blow.' Despite the warnings from scientists, the PM insisted that the country was on the right tracks heading into winter. Professor Ferguson suggested that England should not tolerate more than 1,200 daily hospitalisations this winter. Meanwhile, the PM voiced growing confidence that Covid will not spark further lockdowns as he urged people to get 'back to work in the normal way' In a round of interviews at Tory conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson told LBC radio the government was always 'humble in the face of nature' and recognised that 'a new variant or another pandemic could always hit us'. But he insisted: 'The data that I see at the moment is very clear that we are right to stick to Plan A, which is what we are on.' He even encouraged more people to get back to work despite SAGE insisting working from home was one of the best ways to keep transmission low in winter. He said getting back to offices was 'essential for young people in particular' as you cannot learn a job 'just on Zoom'. But Mr Johnson also admitted that not all of his own civil servants are back at their desks yet - stressing that the Cabinet Secretary had told them to return. Some departments are thought to have as little as a tenth of staff routinely working in the office, although others are doing much better. He added: 'If you are going to learn on the job, you can't just do it on Zoom,' . 'You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out.' The FBI has raided the office of one of New York City's main police unions along with the home of its firebrand chief Ed Mullins, as part of an investigation that may be tied to mismanagement of funds. Close to a dozen federal agents carried boxes of paperwork out of the Sergeants Benevolent Association's (SBA) headquarters in downtown Manhattan Tuesday morning, according to video from the scene. They descended on Mullins's Long Island home later in the day, according to the New York Daily News. The FBI said they were 'carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation' and did not provide any further details on the sweeps. Two sources told the New York Times that the union is being investigated by the FBI and the public corruption unit of the US attorney's office in Manhattan. One source told NY1 that the raids are connected to mismanagement of funds. The SBA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com. The FBI and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York have also been approached for comment. FBI agents carry out boxes from the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association union on Tuesday Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is often criticized by union chief Ed Mullins, declined to comment on the raid but accused Mullins of 'divisive' and 'destructive' language on Tuesday The FBI has only said that they raided the union 'in connection with an ongoing investigation' A source told the New York Times that the US Attorney's public corruption unit is involved One source told NY1 that the search is connected to mismanagement of funds. Above, the SBA union office at 35 Worth Street in Manhattan The union is headed by controversial Sgt. Ed Mullins, who is facing two departmental discipline trials. His home in Long Island was also searched later on Tuesday The SBA union has been headed by NYPD Sgt. Edward Mullins since July 2002. It represents about 13,000 current and former New York Police Department sergeants. Non-supervisory officers are represented by the larger Police Benevolent Association. The controversial officer is a known critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who he called 'an idiot' in an interview with Fox News contributor Sara Carter last year after the mayor criticized a large funeral gathering in the Orthodox Jewish community. During Tuesday's daily COVID briefing, De Blasio told reporters he knew little about the raid, but took the opportunity to criticize Mullins for his rhetoric. 'A lot of what he has done is really, really destructive,' de Blasio said. 'Especially in the middle of a crisis where we're trying to unify, we're trying to get people through together, he's been a divisive voice.' Mullins is facing charges of offensive language and abuse of authority by the Civilian Complaint Review Board for calling then-Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot a 'b****' and calling former city councilman Ritchie Torres, who is gay, a 'first-class w****.' He made the statements on Twitter in 2020. The tweet about Dr. Barbot came after the commissioner reportedly told NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan, 'I don't give two rats' asses about your cops' after she asked for more masks as the city was experiencing its first wave of COVID-19. Mullins is also facing a departmental trial for posting the arrest report of Mayor de Blasio's daughter Chiara, who was arrested for blocking traffic during George Floyd protests last year. His next administrative court hearing is on October 27. Mullins is facing facing departmental charges of offensive language and abusive of authority for calling a former health commissioner a 'b****' and a city councilman a 'first class w****' Congressman Ritchie Torres, who is gay, was called a 'first class w****' by Mullins last year The report contained personal information such as her birth date and driver's license number. Mullins's attorney argued that the case was an 'attempt to chill Ed Mullins's First Amendment rights' and that the report had already been tweeted out by a DailyMail.com reporter, according to the New York Daily News. On Friday, the Department of Justice announced charges against two NYPD officers accused of taking thousands of dollars in cash bribes from a tow truck company owned by a former officer in exchange for directing cars involved in accidents to his business. On Friday, the DOJ announced charges against Giancarlo Osma, left, for directing cars involved in accidents to a business owned by former NYPD officer Michael Perri, right. A third officer, James Davneiro, was also charged The licensed tow and repair business is owned by Michael Perri, who retired from the NYPD in June 2020 and was also charged in the matter. Perri and two other officers, James Davneiro and Giancarlo Osma, were each hit with one count of bribery and one count of conspiracy to violate the Travel Act. All three worked at the 107th precinct, which serves the Queens neighborhoods of Fresh Meadows, Cunningham Heights and Hilltop Village, at the time of the bribes. It appears unlikely that Tuesday's raid was connected to Friday's indictments. Russia today threatened Facebook with huge fines if the US social media giant fails to remove 'dangerous information.' The Kremlin's broadside comes amid blood in the water for Mark Zuckerberg's firm after it suffered a record seven-hour blackout on Monday which saw $47billion wiped off its share price. Vladimir Putin's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said that it would fine Facebook '5 to 10 percent' of its 'annual revenue' as part of a new protocol drawn up after it repeatedly failed 'to remove information dangerous to citizens' on Facebook and Instagram.' According to the Vedomosti business daily, Facebook earns tens of billions of rubles in Russia per year. Roskomnadzor said a court will determine when to set the hearing. Vladimir Putin's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said that it would fine Facebook '5 to 10 percent' of its 'annual revenue' as part of a new protocol drawn up after it repeatedly failed 'to remove information dangerous to citizens' on Facebook and Instagram' (pictured: Putin attends a meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday) 'The exact amount of the fine will also be determined by the court,' the media regulator said in a statement. Russia regularly takes legal action against internet platforms for not removing content it labels illegal, such as pornographic material or posts condoning drugs and suicide. The country has already fined Facebook 90 million rubles ($1 million) for various penalties, according to Russian news agencies, including not deleting banned content. Russia this year has also been tightening controls over US-based tech companies, accusing them of interfering in the country's internal affairs. In January, Russia demanded that social networks take down posts calling on Russians to join protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, under the guise of preventing minors from attending. President Vladimir Putin that month complained of the growing influence of large tech companies, which he said were competing with sovereign states. Last month authorities accused US social media companies of interfering in parliamentary elections and summoned the US ambassador in Moscow. Mark Zuckerberg was forced to apologise after Facebook suffered a record blackout last night (pictured: the Facebook boss at Congress in October 2019) How Facebook WFH policy helped wipe $47billion from their share value: 'Low staffing' in data centers meant outage could not be fixed quickly and cost $100m in lost revenue alone By CHRIS PLEASANCE and RYAN MORRISON and SHIVALI BEST and HARRY HOWARD FOR MAILONLINE Facebook's seven-hour blackout that cost the company an estimated $100million in lost revenue alone was made worse because staff were working from home, an insider has claimed. The global outage - which hit Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger on Monday - was caused when a faulty update that disconnected its servers from the internet, meaning engineers had to travel to its Santa Clara data center to fix the glitch in-person. But the repair was delayed, according to one insider who was posting on Reddit, because of 'lower staffing in data centers due to pandemic measures'. The glitch, which has prompted calls for a break-up of big tech firms, also brought down messaging services that remote-working staff use to communicate, so those who knew how to fix the servers couldn't get that information to the teams inside the data-centre, the insider said. Also disabled were key-fob entry systems at Facebook's main campus in Menlo, meaning those who had been WFH but rushed back to the office could not get inside while those already inside were unable to access conference rooms and other areas that required a pass. 'There are people now trying to gain access to... implement fixes, but the people with physical access is separate from the people with knowledge of how to authenticate the systems and people who know what to actually do, so there is now a logistical challenge,' the insider said. Industry sources who have worked closely with the tech giant say Facebook is suffering from two major problems: Staff working from home and over reliance on artificial intelligence. The social media site has been beset by bugs, glitches and AI issues for months exacerbated by staff not being on premises to deal with or correct issues. One source said that Facebook is simply unprepared to deal with emergencies and 'is very weak on the technical side' Another added Facebook is currently 'a shambles' and has been beset with tech problems 'for months'. They added: 'They think they can do everything with AI but their tech isn't up to scratch. I'm inclined to think it's because they're WFH.' Monday's outage was partly to blame for a nose-dive in Facebook's share price that saw $47billion wiped from its value in its second-worst day ever on the stock market, also driven by a whistleblower testifying about the harms the site does to teenagers in Congress this week. Mark Zuckerberg - who lost around $7billion amidst the carnage - has previously vowed to make work from home a permanent part of Facebook, telling staff back in June that 'anyone whose role can be done remotely can request remote work.' The multi-billionaire said he plans to spend around half his time working remotely in 2022, and predicted that half of his staff could be permanently off-site by 2030. Facebook's office are currently open but only to 25 per cent capacity, after plans to open fully by October were pushed back to at least January 2022 amid the spread of the Delta Covid variant. A person claiming to be a Facebook employee said on Reddit that high numbers of staff working from home made the problem worse. The account was later deleted Users around the world reported problems with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Downdetector Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' A Facebook staff member reportedly accidentally deleted large sections of the code (pictured) which keeps the website online The above Tweet read: 'So, someone deleted large sections of the routing....that doesn't mean Facebook is just down, from the looks of it....that means Facebook is GONE' Facebook shares are down by more than 6 percent from last week as a result of the outage on Monday Of the staff who are not currently in the office, it is not clear how many will become permanent remote workers. But a Facebook executive previously told the Wall Street Journal that the company has approved 90 per cent of WFH requests. The only caveat is that salaries may be cut to reflect the locations where people are actually working, as opposed to where the office is based. Data centre staff are among those who cannot request a permanent WFH. Facebook's problems began around midday Eastern Time (5pm GMT) on Monday, shortly after its servers were updated, and lasted until around 5.45pm (10.45pm GMT) when the servers came back online. It took several more hours for all users to be able to access Facebook's sites and apps. Following Monday's outage, Zuckerberg issued a personal apology to Facebook users - telling them 'sorry for the disruption' while adding: 'I know how much you rely on our services.' But his message was immediately attacked from all sides, with those who use Facebook business saying he failed to take the issue seriously while casual users accused him of 'making yourself more important than you are'. Still others said they had enjoyed the outage, and were planning to spend more time off social media in the future. 'Life was way simpler without these services,' wrote one. John Graham-Cumming, the chief technology officer of web security firm Cloudflare, said Facebook made a series of updates to its border gateway protocol (BGP) which caused it to 'disappear' from the internet. The BGP allows for the exchange of routing information on the internet and takes people to the websites they want to access. Dane Knecht, senior vice president of the firm, said earlier the Facebook Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes had been 'withdrawn from the internet.' Cybersecurity expert, Kevin Beaumont, wrote on Twitter: 'This one looks like a pretty epic configuration error, Facebook basically don't exist on the internet right now. Even their authoritative name server ranges have been BGP withdrawn.' Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, run on a shared back-end infrastructure, creating a 'single point of failure' according to experts. It wasn't just the main Facebook apps going down, other services, including Facebook Workplace and the Oculus website were also down. The EU's competition commissioner said it shows why large tech firms should be broken up to avoid a similar failure of multiple platforms at once. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the incident highlighted the negative impact of big tech firms controlling large swathes of the online world. 'We need alternatives and choices in the tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote on Twitter. The dominance of a handful of large social media and internet companies has come under scrutiny from competition watchdogs on a number of issues, with many campaigners in the UK, Europe and US urging governments and regulators to take steps to break up larger firms to prevent monopolies being created. IT experts have also called on the tech industry to come up with better systems to prevent a single error from having such a wide impact. Ms Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice-president for a Europe fit for the digital age, added that the incident showed it was also sometimes good to step away from social media and talk to people 'offline'. Facebook's Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer, offered his 'sincere apologies' for the outage on Monday afternoon. The scandal-hit company's shares had dipped by 5 percent on Monday amid the outage and after a whistleblower went public on Sunday night with claims that the firm prioritises 'growth over safety'. There have been a number of social media outages in recent months, with Instagram going down for 16 hours just last month, and all Facebook platforms going offline in June. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' The cause of the outage remains unconfirmed and it's unclear if all are linked but not long before Facebook's entities went down, entries for Facebook and Instagram were removed from the Domain Name System (DNS) it uses. A DNS is essentially an internet directory. Whenever someone opens a link or an app, their device has to search the DNS used by the service they are trying to access to find it and then connect them to it. Facebook has 37 locations in the US, although some are smaller data centers, and normally 15,000 people are based at the Menlo Park headquarters which automatically locked staff out of the building yesterday Major DNS providers are Google, Amazon and Cloudflare. It's unclear if all of the sites and services that went down on Monday use the same DNS or not. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. Cloudflare's Mr Graham-Cumming tweeted on Monday that Facebook accidentally 'disappeared' from the internet after making a 'flurry' of updates to its BGP - Border Gateway Protocol. 'Between 15:50 UTC and 15:52 UTC [4.50-4.52pm UK time] Facebook and related properties disappeared from the Internet in a flurry of BGP updates,' he said. When sites go down because of failures in DNS systems, CloudFare tries to repair them. Usman Muzaffar, SVP of engineering at Cloudflare, explained to DailyMail.com: 'Humans access information online through domain names, like facebook.com and DNS converts it into numbers, called an IP address, computers use. WHAT IS THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Domain Name System, or DNS, is the directory of the internet. Whenever you click on a link, send an email, open a mobile app, often one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of a domain. There are two sides of the DNS network: the authoritative side, ie webpages and other content, and the resolver side, devices that are trying to access this content. Every domain needs to have an authoritative DNS provider, servers which store DNS records. Amazon, Cloudflare and Google are among the bigger names in authoritative DNS server provision. On the other side of the DNS system are resolvers. Every device that connects to the Internet needs a DNS resolver. By default, these resolvers are automatically set by whatever network you're connecting to. So, for most Internet users, when they connect to an ISP, or a WiFi hot spot, or a mobile network, the network operator will dictate what DNS resolver to use. The problem is that these DNS services are often slow and don't respect your privacy. What many Internet users don't realise is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every WiFi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them. Advertisement 'From what we understand of the actual issue it is a globalized BGP configuration issue. In our experience, these usually are mistakes, not attacks. 'Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing protocol for the Internet. Much like the post office processing mail, BGP picks the most efficient routes for delivering Internet traffic. 'Today, the directions for how to get to Facebook's DNS server's addresses weren't available (and seem to still be unavailable). Without being able to contact the DNS servers, visitors trying to reach a Facebook property, like facebook.com, will not get an answer and so the page won't load.' According to Reuters news agency, security experts tracking the situation said the outage could have been triggered by a configuration error, which could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world's most popular sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique. Shares of Facebook, which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, fell 5.5 per cent in afternoon trading on Monday, inching towards its worst day in nearly a year. It means that the company's founder Mark Zuckerberg - who owns around 14 per cent of the firm - has seen his wealth plummet by nearly $7billion in a matter of hours, Bloomberg reported. Some users of UK phone network EE were also reporting that they were having difficulty accessing mobile internet services. However, the firm told MailOnline that there were no problems with the network. Cyber security specialist Jake Moore said there is a 'chance' the issue affecting the firms could be related to a cyber attack. He said: 'There have been many reports and I'm struggling to find out exactly what has happened- I'm reading it could be DNS related, which means there is an issue with the connection not knowing where to go to your device. 'It could well be a human error or a software bug lurking in the shadows but whatever it is Facebook needs to do its best to mitigate the problem of causing more panic about this. 'The biggest problem is fears over a cyber attack but as we saw from Fastly in the summer I would hedge my bets on that not being the case as we're talking about one of the biggest companies in the world, but there's always a chance.' Apologising on Twitter for the outage, Mr Schroepfer said: *'Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.' Facebook was already in the throes of a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company's awareness of harms caused by its products and decisions. Haugen went public on CBS's '60 Minutes' program Sunday and is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Haugen had also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging Facebook's own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation and leads to increased polarization. It also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. The Journal's stories, called 'The Facebook Files,' painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that 'social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.' Earlier on Twitter, Facebook communications executive, Andy Stone said they were aware some people were having trouble accessing Facebook apps and products. 'We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,' the executive said in a tweet. Soon after the first report came through, the hashtag #facebookdown was trending on Twitter, with users worldwide reporting issues connecting. The hashtag #instagramisdown and 'WhatsApp' were both also trending on Twitter, with a number of users saying they checked their internet connection when they couldn't get on Facebook. Instagram comms tweeted: 'Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it!' They're some of the most popular social media apps around the world, but it appears that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have all crashed this afternoon. Above: The reports of Facebook outages reported on DownDetector Down Detector also showed how problems with Whatsapp began being reported just before 5pm on Monday Facebook Messenger's outage was also reported on DownDetector at a similar time on Monday At 11.33pm on Monday, Facebook tweeted to apologise about the global outage of its services. They added that they were 'happy to report' that they were coming back online On Twitter, Facebook communications executive, Andy Stone said they were aware some people were having trouble accessing Facebook apps and products The various Facebook-owned platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook itself, took to Twitter to explain the issues and say they were working on a solution RECENT FACEBOOK OUTAGES Last month, a technical issue with Facebook owned Instagram caused an outage that plagued users around the world for 16 hours. Problems started just after 8am on Thursday. About 18 hours later, at 2am on Friday, Instagram announced the problem had been fixed. However, the last time Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down at the same time was in June. In June more than a thousand people in countries including the United States, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil reported outages. There were also two Facebook platform outages in March, with Instagram down on March 30, and all three down on March 19. Advertisement WhatsApp tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!' Even Oculus, the virtual reality gaming platform owned by Facebook was having problems, with one user describing their headset as being 'like a paperweight'. Oculus tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.' Every time Facebook and Instagram are down, it draws people to Twitter. On Monday, one user shared a meme of Homer Simpson jumping from his house to Moe's bar, with the Twitter logo over the door. Even Google got in on the action, tweeting: 'Everyone going to Google to check if Instagram is down.' There were multiple jokes along the same lines, with one showing a fast track race and the caption: 'Me and my friends running to twitter to see if fb, whatsapp and insta are down.' It is unclear what has caused the issue, although it has disrupted all Facebook owned platforms, including the Oculus Virtual Reality gaming website and Facebook Workplace. NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, tweeted: 'Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger are currently experiencing outages in multiple countries.' Adding that the 'incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering.' When attempting to visit Instagram using a desktop web browser, it gives up a '5xx Server Error' and Facebook simply says 'this site can't be reached.' Twitter users also took aim at Mark Zuckerberg by joking that he was trying to fix the problems himself Another tweet depicted Zuckerberg as a workman recovering an overturned car. The post above the image read: 'Mark Zuckerberg watching his team fix Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook' Twitter users took to the platform to make light of the situation and highlighted how millions of people were flocking to it in the absence of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp There were multiple jokes along the same lines, with one showing a fast track race and the caption: 'Me and my friends running to twitter to see if fb, whatsapp and insta are down' Twitter made light of their rivals' problems on Monday by posting a tweet which read: 'hello literally everyone' UK network Vodafone made light of Facebook's plight by joking that they had 'top men' working on the issue The last major outage of Facebook platforms was in June 2021, when people in the US, Morocco, Mexico and Brazil all reported not being able to connect. However, there were also problems last month, when Instagram went down for a whopping 16 hours. Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET said outages are increasing in volume and are becoming increasingly harder to predict. He said initially, a major problem with a website or app can point towards a cyber attack - but that can add to confusion and be misleading. 'With recent issues such as what happened with Fastly [the web service platform that saw a major global outage on June 8] it highlights the power of an undiscovered software bug or even human error,' Moore explained. Soon after the first report came through, the hashtag #facebookdown was trending on Twitter, with users worldwide reporting issues connecting 'Although these are increasing in frequency and require more failsafes in place, predicting these issues is increasingly more difficult as it was never thought possible before. Luckily, most outages only last under an hour.' This latest outage highlights the major issues with using centralised systems, according to Matthew Hodgson, Co-founder and CEO of Element and Technical Co-founder of Matrix. 'The ongoing outage of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook (including Facebook Messenger and Facebook Workplace) highlights that global outages are one of the major downsides of a centralised system,' he said. Centralised apps, like having a single back end for Facebook products, means putting 'all the eggs in one basket,' Hodgson explained. 'Decentralised systems are far more reliable. There's no single point of failure so they can withstand significant disruption and still keep people and businesses communicating.' Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has seized on Facebook's seven-hour outage to renew her call for the 'monopolistic' and 'destructive' company to be broken up. The Democratic congresswoman took aim at the social media giant on rival network Twitter Monday as Facebook was in the grips of a massive blackout that sent Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger offline and lost the company an estimated $100 million in revenue. AOC said the dramatic fallout from Monday's outage shows how Facebook's 'monopolistic mission' has 'incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy.' She specifically pointed to the impact it reportedly had on Latin American nations which rely heavily on WhatsApp for communication. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (pictured Friday at the US Capitol) has seized on Facebook's seven-hour outage to renew her call for the 'monopolistic' and 'destructive' company to be broken up The Democratic congresswoman pointed to the impact Facebook's 'monopolistic behavior' reportedly had on Latin American nations which rely heavily on WhatsApp for communication 'It's almost as if Facebook's monopolistic mission to either own, copy, or destroy any competing platform has incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy,' AOC tweeted. 'Remember: WhatsApp wasn't created by Facebook. It was an independent success. FB got scared & bought it.' Her comments came in response to a post by Forbes editor Jose Caparroso during the outage. 'Latin America lives on WhatsApp. I am surprised by so many people underestimating how catastrophic this downfall has been,' Caparroso tweeted. In a follow-up post, AOC argued that Facebook's ability to buy up several of its competitors had led to the problems some nations were now experiencing. 'If Facebook's monopolistic behavior was checked back when it should've been (perhaps around the time it started acquiring competitors like Instagram), the continents of people who depend on WhatsApp & IG for either communication or commerce would be fine right now.' She added: 'Break them up.' AOC has repeatedly spoken out against Facebook and Big Tech and has called for them to be broken up in the past. In May 2019, the New York representative publicly backed Senator Elizabeth Warren's plan to break up tech giants as part of her 2020 White House run. AOC has repeatedly spoken out against Facebook and Big Tech and has mounted calls for it to be broken up in the past. Mark Zuckerberg pictured Zuckerberg apologized about Monday's outage in a Facebook post when service was restored Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet 'The idea itself is something that I am supportive of because taking an antitrust approach I believe is absolutely relevant and it's appropriate to take,' AOC told Politico at the time. 'Facebook as a basic communications platform while also selling ads and also being a surveillance platform, I think those functions should be broken up, but how that gets levied and how that gets approached is what we need to take a fine-tooth comb at.' Warren's proposal was to break up big tech companies where they have both an online platform and participate in their own marketplace. The European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager echoed AOC's calls Tuesday, tweeting that the social media giant needs to be broken up because 'we must not rely on a few big players'. '#facebookdown tells 2 things : 1/ we need alternatives & choices in the #tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote, adding 'that's the aim of #DMA' - a reference to the proposed EU law the Digital Markets Act. In December 2020, the European Commission introduced the DMA - new proposed legislation to better regulate competition in the tech space and make room for European companies to compete with the Silicon Valley giants like Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged the massive impact Monday's outage had on the platform's global users in a two-line statement shared on Facebook when service was later restored. 'Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now,' he wrote. The European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager (pictured) has said Facebook's seven-hour outage shows the social media giant needs to be broken up Vestager tweeted Tuesday that consumers need 'alternatives and choices' in the tech market 'Sorry for the disruption today - I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.' Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger all went dark just before midday ET through around 7pm ET Monday in what was the longest outage the company has seen since 2008. The company has blamed a faulty update which it said disconnected its servers from the internet and insisted the outage was not caused by any 'malicious activity' such as a cyber attack. The issue rumbled on longer than necessary because staff were still working from home due to the pandemic and so engineers had to travel to Facebook's Santa Clara data center to fix the glitch in-person, according to one insider. The insider, who was posting on Reddit, said the repair was delayed because of 'lower staffing in data centers due to pandemic measures'. The glitch also brought down messaging services that remote-working staff use to communicate, so those who knew how to fix the servers couldn't get that information to the teams inside the data center, the insider said. Key-fob entry systems at Facebook's main campus in Menlo were also disabledd, meaning those who had been working from home and rushed back to the office could not get inside while those already inside were unable to access conference rooms and other areas that required a pass. Facebook has 37 locations in the US, although some are smaller data centers, and normally 15,000 people are based at the Menlo Park HQ. One insider said the issue rumbled on longer than necessary because staff were still working from home due to the pandemic 'There are people now trying to gain access to... implement fixes, but the people with physical access is separate from the people with knowledge of how to authenticate the systems and people who know what to actually do, so there is now a logistical challenge,' the insider said. Industry sources who have worked closely with the tech giant say Facebook is suffering from two major problems - staff working from home and over reliance on artificial intelligence. The social media site has been beset by bugs, glitches and AI issues for months exacerbated by staff not being on premises to deal with or correct issues. One source said that Facebook is simply unprepared to deal with emergencies and 'is very weak on the technical side'. Another added that Facebook is currently 'a shambles' and has been beset with tech problems 'for months'. They added: 'They think they can do everything with AI but their tech isn't up to scratch. I'm inclined to think it's because they're WFH.' Facebook shares plunged as a result of the outage on Monday, losing a staggering $47billion off the company's share price - its second-worst day ever on the stock market Facebook's commitment to flexible working appears to have cost the company astronomically in the last 24 hours. Monday's outage sent Facebook's share price tumbling by a staggering $47billion, marking its second-worst day ever on the stock market. This also comes as a major blow to Zuckerberg's personal wealth, losing around $6 billion on his 15 percent stake. Yet, the outage was just one problem to hit the embattled firm this week, coming just hours before a former employee turned whistleblower testified before Congress about Facebook's dangers to young people and democracy. Frances Haugen, who previously worked as a product manager in its misinformation department, told a Senate Commerce subcommittee Tuesday that Facebook's bosses 'put their astronomical profits before people.' She said the outage was a positive thing because it left a period of time where the platform was not doing damage. 'Yesterday we saw Facebook get taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I do know for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,' she said. The outage came hours before ex-employee turned whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress Tuesday (pictured) about Facebook's dangers to young people and democracy Haugen also told the hearing Zuckerberg is not held to account by anyone 'but himself' and so 'the buck stops with' him. 'Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55 percent of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled,' she said. 'There's no one currently holding him accountable but himself.' Haugen revealed her identity in a bombshell interview with CBS's Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes on Sunday where she accused the network of contributing to the Capitol riot by turning online safeguards off too soon after the presidential election. She has caused a major headache for Facebook in recent weeks after quitting the firm and taking with her a trove of tens of thousands of pages of internal company documents. Some of these secrets were leaked to the Wall Street Journal for a series of reports dubbed the 'Facebook Files', including damning revelations the company knew its platform Instagram is toxic to young girls' body image. 'These are the early stages, it could be days, months before we see and understand the long-term effects of what will happen,' Dr. Ziccardi said. 'I am cautiously optimistic' Advertisement The race to save the many birds and wildlife affected by the massive oil spill that hit Huntington Beach this past weekend continues with the help of the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center dedicated to rehabilitating and releasing injured or orphaned animals. Dr. Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, told DailyMail.com that four oiled-covered birds were brought into the care center, including a Sanderling, an American Coot, a duck and a brown pelican. 'The sanderling, which is a small shorebird, is currently being treated at the facility,' said Dr. Ziccardi. 'It's a fairly intensive process to rehabilitate the bird, but the nice thing is we were able to treat it in the early stages and that makes a big difference.' While the American coot and duck remain in treatment, the brown pelican was too injured to saved and was humanely euthanized said Dr. Ziccardi. 'It's much better than we had feared, but these are the early stages, it could be days, months before we see and understand the long-term effects of what will happen,' Dr. Ziccardi told DailyMail.com. 'I am cautiously optimistic.' Dr. Duane Tom, a veterinarian with the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, is seen treating a sanderling bird after a Good Samaritan spotted the injured, oil covered bird. The shorebird was brought into the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach The Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center has received hundreds of calls to its hotline with reports of oiled birds and marine life. A sanderling bird slick with oil is seen in the water of Huntington Beach, California The race to save the many birds and wildlife affected by the massive oil spill that hit Huntington Beach this past weekend continues. A crane is seen in the polluted water An estimated 126,000 gallons of crude oil polluted the beaches of Orange County after a pipeline in the ocean burst over the weekend. Officials are still investigating the cause which may have involved a ship's anchor striking the pipeline Dr. Michael Ziccardi, director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network told DailyMail.com that four oiled-covered birds were brought into the care center, including a Sanderling, an American Coot, a duck and a brown pelican Emergency cleanup crews deployed over 2,000 feet of booms to prevent more oil from spilling into the Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre ecological reserve that is home to dozens of species of birds Dr. Ziccardi is the director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. The Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center has received hundreds of calls to its hotline with reports of oiled birds and marine life There has been an outpouring of calls from concerned people asking what they can do to help, but Dr. Ziccardi said the best way people can help is by not approaching an injured or oiled animal. Dr. Michael Ziccardi (pictured) director of the Oiled Wildlife care Network reports a number of oiled birds are in for treatment after the oil spill 'It's not safe for the animal, and it's not safe for the public,' Dr. Ziccardi emphasized. 'California has the best success of any place in the world as far as oiled wildlife preparedness and response, and we have the best techniques.' The Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center has received hundreds of calls to its hotline with reports of oiled birds and marine life. The public has been asked to report any sightings via the hotline number at 877-823-6926. Meanwhile, emergency cleanup crews deployed over 2,000 feet of booms to prevent more oil from spilling into the Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre ecological reserve that is home to dozens of species of birds. The protected area is across from the the Huntington State Beach and is just one of the many sensitive bird habitats threatened by the oil spill. An estimated 126,000 gallons of crude oil polluted the beaches of Orange County after a pipeline in the ocean burst over the weekend. Officials are still investigating the cause which may have involved a ship's anchor striking the pipeline. Debbie McGuire, Executive Director of the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center, said they are accepting donations for their non-profit, which first opened its doors in 1997 in response to the devastating oil spill of 1990 off Huntington Beach killing some 3,400 birds and countless fish. The center is open 7 days a week, 365 days and donations can be made at WWCCOC.org. A staff of California Department Fish & Wildlife examines a contaminated Sanderling from the oil spill in Huntington Beach on Monday While some could be saved, a brown pelican was too injured and had to be humanely euthanized. Workers are seen cleaning the sane An estimated 126,000 gallons of crude oil polluted the beaches of Orange County after a pipeline in the ocean burst over the weekend. Officials are still investigating the cause which may have involved a ship's anchor striking the pipeline Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, on Monday night declared a state of emergency to deal with the spill. 'The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment,' he said Debbie McGuire, Executive Director of the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center, said they are accepting donations for their non-profit, which first opened its doors in 1997 in response to the devastating oil spill of 1990 off Huntington Beach killing some 3,400 birds and countless fish Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, on Monday night declared a state of emergency to deal with the spill. 'The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment,' he said. Californians were angered about the slow response to the crisis. Thousands went to the beach on Saturday, unaware that the spill had been detected - because the authorities decided not to tell them, USA Today reported. Federal and state authorities were aware of the spill by Friday evening, official spill reports show. Satellites transmitting images to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted an oily 'anomaly' in the Pacific, growing increasingly large. But the authorities did not share the information. An estimated 1.5 million people were on Huntington Beach on Saturday to watch an airshow - despite the authorities already having been alerted to the spill Cleanup contractors deploy skimmers and floating barriers known as booms to try to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach on Sunday A military air show in Huntington Beach went on as planned, with an estimated 1.5 million visitors attending. More visitors escaping inland temperatures in the high '90s flocked to Newport Beach and other prized coastal beaches. Two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response. The first was from an anchored ship that noticed a sheen on the water and the second, six hours later, from a federal agency that said a possible oil slick was spotted on satellite imagery, according to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach and it then washed onto miles of beaches and a protected marshland. The beaches could remain closed for weeks or longer, a major hit to the local economy. Coastal fisheries in the area are closed to commercial and recreational fishing. Crews continue to clean the oil in the Wetlands Talbert Marsh on Monday after an oil spill in Huntington Beach Lifeguards ready to post signs warning that water contact may cause illness, as they close the beach on Sunday after an oil spill in Huntington Beach Oil washes up on Huntington Beach on Monday following the spill. It is thought possible that a cargo ship's anchor burst the pipe and caused the spill Experts say it is too early to determine the full impact on the environment but that so far the number of animals found harmed is minimal. Investigators are looking into whether a ship's anchor may have struck a pipeline on the ocean floor, Coast Guard officials said Monday. Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said company divers were inspecting the area of the suspected leak reported Saturday, and he expected that by Tuesday there would be a clearer picture of what caused the damage. Willsher said an anchor from a cargo ship striking the pipeline is 'one of the distinct possibilities' behind the leak. Cargo ships entering the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach routinely pass through the area. Backlogs have plagued the ports in recent months and several dozen or more of the giant vessels have regularly been anchored as they wait to enter the ports and unload. 'We're looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship, but that's in the assessment phase right now,' said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye. Shaye said the Coast Guard was not notified of the disaster until Saturday morning, though records show its hazardous spill response hotline received the first report of a possible oil slick Friday evening. A foreign ship anchored off the coast witnessed an 'unknown sheen in the water near their vessel' at 6:13 p.m. and the report was called into the response center just after 8:22 p.m., according to the state report. Former CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric won't be headed back to her old stomping grounds to promote her controversial new book. The former host of the network's flagship newscast has had her interview with CBS This Morning anchor Gayle King canceled after network brass read the immolating passages of Going There, which was first revealed by DailyMail.com. Page Six reported that the interview was crushed after reading Couric's pages of trashing the eye network, where she worked from 2006 to 2011. 'Going There' will be published in late October by Little, Brown and Company DailyMail.com has read the manuscript for Katie Couric's book 'Going There', which is out in late October and will be accompanied by an 11-city book tour The book has sparked outrage among people who have seen the manuscript, one saying that it 'should be called Burning Bridges by Catty Couric as it literally reads like Kitty Kelley wrote it about Katie', referring to the notoriously snarky celebrity biographer. Couric's last major gig was with Yahoo which ended in 2017. Another person said that after this book she will 'never get a job at any television network or cable channel ever again because she attacks everyone'. 'She'll be stuck with her newsletter and Instagram stories for the rest of her working life even though the book oozes of her desperation to be back on network television hosting her own show,' they said. 'Going There' does tell Couric's personal story including a moving chapter about the death of her father, whose shift into PR from journalism to have a steady income for his young family was Couric's inspiration to be a reporter. But as the book progresses that narrative gets sidelined for sideswipes at people Couric feels have maligned her. The book has sparked outrage among people who have read it and one said that it 'should be called Burning Bridges by Catty Couric'. She will 'never get a job at any television network or cable channel ever again because she attacks everyone,' one critic said Couric's book is over 500 pages in length and she tears into former colleagues at NBC and CBS. She's pictured in 1992 with her colleagues on the TODAY Show. Left to right: Gene Shalit, Bryant Gumbel, Deborah Norville. Barbara Walters, Hugh Downs, Jane Pauley, Katie Couric, Willard Scott, Tom Brokaw Former Today Show host Katie Couric admits that she 'heard the whispers' abut Matt Lauer's inappropriate office behavior in her new book After leaving TODAY Couric joined CBS to host the Evening News and do special reports for 60 Minutes on a salary of $15million a year, making her the highest paid journalist in the world. It was a disastrous move and Couric describes how staffers felt she was an 'existential threat' to their existence. Couric admits to making a number of 'unforced errors' such as giving her office a glam makeover which was out of step with the unfussy culture at CBS. As CBS executives began talking publicly and privately against her, Couric writes that she suffered 'internal sabotage'. Couric claims she was in an 'unwinnable' situation and her team 'thought we'd be greeted as liberators; instead we got an insurgency'. Things got so bad that Couric felt 'embattled, defensive, misunderstood. I guess you could say I was feeling like Hillary Clinton.' In 2011 Couric left CBS and felt that she 'never really belonged here' because 'the body had rejected the organ early on'. She reveals that when her gig at CBS Evening News started to go down the toilet because of sagging ratings, then-CBS boss Moonves tried to shuffle her to the morning show. Couric describes how Moonves told her, Weve been thinking about you and what youre good at. The evening news really doesnt give you a place to showcase your talent. Oh, boy, here it comes Would you be interested in going to the morning show? he said. Youre so great at it, and they could really use your help. But she says she replied, Absolutely not I didnt leave the morning show I helped make number one so I could go to the third-place morning show. Couric added in her book about Moonves who was fired without severance in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations in 2018 I always liked Les Moonves, even though he was a close-talker with bad breath. She added in the book of her arrival at CBS, At an affiliates meeting, Les would smugly disclose how he finally got me to say yes: We drank many bottles of expensive wine on the sofa in my apartment Dont worry, my wife was in the next room. Hardee-har, Les. Over 500 pages in length, Couric tears into ex-boyfriends, former colleagues at NBC and CBS and ridicules A-list celebrities including Prince Harry. In 'Going There', Couric admits that she gave Ashleigh Banfield the cold shoulder early in her career because helping her would have been 'self sabotage'. She rips into Deborah Norville, who she replaced on the TODAY Show, for having a 'relentless perfection' which turned off morning show viewers. Couric rips into Deborah Norville, who she replaced on the TODAY Show, for having a 'relentless perfection' which turned off morning show viewers. The hosts are pictured in 1990 Among the celebrities that Couric takes potshots at are Prince Harry. She recalled that the smell of cigarettes and alcohol seemed to 'ooze from every pore' in his body 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'. Couric 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. Merryman routinely harassed, threatened, and refused critical repairs for renters, because of their race and gender - and attacked one woman when she requested such repairs The Virginia Attorney General's Office is suing a Newport News landlord to the tune of $8 million for his alleged 'horrific treatment' of black, female tenants, through a targeted campaign of 'abusive, racist and sexist' behavior. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Newport News Circuit Court by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, contends that David Lee Merryman subjected slews of boarders to 'alarming' and 'egregious' examples of discrimination - and even full-on physical abuse - which only came to light after an extensive investigation by the state's Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Herring alleges that Merryman routinely harassed, threatened, and refused critical repairs for renters, because of their race and gender - and attacked one woman when she requested such repairs. In one disturbing case detailed in the complaint, the Virginia landlord even threatened the lives of a Black, female tenant and her children, leading the tenant to obtain a restraining order against him. 'He most definitely was a landlord from hell,' one tenant told The Daily Beast. Herring now demands that Merryman, 56, promptly pay at least $8 million in compensation to these tenants, for his 'willful, wanton and blatant pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior.' The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, who says he 'will never tolerate discriminatory landlords in Virginia' The criminal complaint contends that Merryman often promised tenants - typically Black women with children and on government assistance - to fix properties once they moved in, and would subject them to threats of violence and racial slurs when asked to make good on his word. Once tenants signed a lease, Merryman would routinely leave them to live in third-world conditions, Herring's complaint alleges. Merryman's properties would often be plagued by plumbing leaks, sewage problems, structural issues, and a lack of 'basic kitchen elements,' the suit notes. What's more, the homes were even plagued by 'electrical problems that have resulted in fires.' In some cases, tenants paid for these repairs out of their own pockets, according to the filing. In many other instances, however, renters were forced to move out of Merryman's properties when confronted with such conditions, the lawsuit asserts. Tenants have called police 'dozens of times... asking for protection from Merryman,' the complaint also asserts. It adds that Merryman once physically 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 suit says, Merryman had tenants' cars towed or went into their homes - a direct violation of US landlord-tenant law. The complaint then adds that when asked to make good on these repairs, Merryman would often threaten these women with physical violence or berate them because of the color of their skin. 'Tenant requests for repairs are often met with threats of violence, insults and other forms of retaliation,' the filing attests, adding that city officials and police reports 'corroborate Merryman's abusive conduct toward his Black and female tenants.' The complaint was filed in Newport News Circuit Court Thursday by Herring, and looks to garner more than $8 million in compensation to a multitude of Merryman's many 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,' Herring's Thursday filing then asserts. The racially charged language used by the landlord, the complaint maintains, has included the N-word and urging boarders that they should 'go back to Africa.' Other examples of Merryman's derogatory defamation of his tenants include libelous, stereotypical statements like, 'that's just how Black people act,' or, 'just like every other Black person,' the filing adds. What's more, when the few white tenants living on Merryman's properties pursued the renter to enquire about paltry living conditions, the landlord informed them that they were 'acting black.' Merryman also used racial and gender-based slurs with city employees tasked with inspecting his properties to see if they were up to code after receiving a multitude of complaints, the complaint contends. 'Everyone deserves to live in safe, healthy housing without the fear of being harassed or discriminated against by their landlord,' Herring said in a news release last week, declaring that Merryman 'preyed' on his tenants because of their financial situations and race. 'I will never tolerate discriminatory landlords in Virginia, and my heart goes out to the renters who had to endure this alleged disgusting behavior.' Herring's suit asks that Merryman to pay $6 million to reimburse tenants for the alleged instances of discrimination, and another $2 million for compensatory damages. Moreover, it asks that Merryman pay an additional $50,000 for each proven allegation of housing discrimination - so, if convicted, Merryman could be hit with a fine well over the already astronomical $8 million. The complaint also asks that the 'victims of Merryman's unlawful discriminatory housing practices' be reimbursed financially, and that Merryman be barred from any further race and sex discrimination, as well as threatening his tenants, The filing also calls for Merryman to step aside from managing his slew of properties situated in Newport News and other nearby communities, requesting that he hire a third party property manager to run his properties 'for a reasonable period of time,' at his own expense. Merryman, who hails from the nearby town of Hampton, owns 'at least 36 properties' in Newport News and dozens more in the area, the suit states. But Merryman argues that he has dozens of eviction hearings scheduled in Newport News General District Court, and says he's owed 'more than $1 million' in back rent from his tenants - with most of that accumulating over the past 18 months, during the coronavirus pandemic. 'It seems mighty strange that an Attorney General's Office lawsuit is coming four days before dozens of people are being legally evicted,' Merryman said Monday in response to the suit filed by Herring last week. 'Of course the tenants are going to be mad,' the landlord reasoned. He asserts that he's currently boarding renters who have not paid their rent in months - 'and, in some cases, years.' In late 2019, Merryman and a Newport News' building codes official almost came to blows in a racially charged incident at Newport News City Hall. Merryman was recording with his cellphone when he walked up to codes compliance director Harold Lee Roach Jr. on the steps of City Hall, after an argument over the phone between the men days prior over the condemnation of one of Merryman's properties. As he approached Roach, Merryman ridiculed the city official for using a'Black Lives Matter' logo as his profile picture on his personal Facebook page. 'What's up - what you gonna do about it,' Merryman taunted, 'Black Lives Matter?' Over the next several minutes, Merryman repeatedly tried to provoke Roach, while the codes director tried to goad the loud landlord 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 you're going to do to this n*****. This n***** is here. What do you want to do to this n***** now?' The altercation never got physical. Roach was disciplined over the videotaped confrontation, with city records indicating his pay was docked for about a month beginning in January 2020. Facebook's whistleblower is a Harvard Business School grad who joined the social media network to help stop the spread of misinformation. Frances Haugen gave up her lucrative, six-figure Facebook salary and outed herself on primetime television Sunday as the tipster who quietly leaked thousands of pages of company documents to journalists, lawyers, and lawmakers. Before going public with her concerns, she consulted with her mom, a biochemist who became an Episcopalian priest in 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported. Haugen initially joined Facebook after a close friend was radicalized online. That person was spending large amounts of time reading online forums about how dark forces were manipulating politics and began gravitating toward a combination of the occult and white nationalism, The Wall Street Journal reports. Haugen said in an interview with the Journal: 'Its one thing to study misinformation, its another to lose someone to it.' She previously built her career in Silicon Valley while working for tech giants such as Google, where she launched its first book reading app. She founded Yelp's photo quality team, and said is the reason menu photos are available on the app. And in 2011, at age 27, she co-founded Hinge precursor Secret Agent Cupid, and took it to market. The dating app that focuses on long-term connections is today worth more than $2billion, according to BusinessofApps. As the source behind damaging leaks about Facebook, she claimed it deliberately sought to stoke discontent, 'chose profit over safety,' and turned off 'safeguards' designed to stop the proliferation of misinformation following the 2020 election. Frances Haugen said in a statement to Congress that she felt 'compelled' to create a 'less toxic' Facebook She outed herself during a 60 Minutes interview as the leaker of thousands of Facebook docs She founded Secret Agent Cupid with Justin McLeod in 2011, and the company later evolved into the uber-successful mobile app Hinge. McLeod later said he helped found the app to cure his own broken heart after breaking up with the love of his life. He went on to reveal that he met the love of his life at college, but let her go due to his battle with alcoholism - and once he got sober regretted it. When he tried - and failed - to reconnect with his ex Kate in 2012, her rejection inspired him to push the company forward. He revealed: 'She was like 'listen, I have a life, I can't trust you, I love this other guy, it's best we don't see each other''. The story - like the success of the app - had a happy ending when he reconciled with his former love in 2015. They later married. It's not clear how much Haugen profited from participating in the venture's first iteration as a desktop service. It launched as a mobile app in 2013, years after Haugen parted ways with the company. Justin McLeod (pictured with wife Kate) co-founded Hinge with Haugen in 2011 under the original name Secret Agent Cupid. He said he was inspired to launch it after a bad breakup The company is now worth an estimated $2billion, though Haugen left it in 2011. It's not clear how much money she earned by participating in the hugely-successful venture. Haugen is pictured left in 2017 Haugen most recently worked as a Facebook product manager. Haugen, the daughter of University of Iowa professors, said she grew up attending Iowa caucuses with her parents, which instilled 'a strong sense of pride in democracy and responsibility for civic participation'. Her mother, Alice Fulton Haugen, put her biochemistry work aside in 2012 to become an Episcopalian priest. Haugen's mother, Alice Fulton Haugen, put her biochemistry work aside in 2012 to become an Episcopalian priest. She praised her daughter for going public with her Facebook concerns Haugen previously built her career in Silicon Valley while working for tech giants such as Google where she launched its first book reading app Haugen, now 37, is pictured as a baby with her family. She dreamed of becoming a biologist as a child 'I am awed by her courage,' her mother Alice said on Facebook. 'Proud to be her mother' She praised her daughter on Facebook for coming forward with allegations against the social media behemoth. 'I am awed by her courage,' Fulton Haugen said on Facebook. 'Proud to be her mother.' The praise continued after the younger Haugen shared her concerns with Congress today. Her now-infamous career began after she graduated from Olin College, where a former professor described her as an exemplary student. 'She was not just brilliant as most of our students were and are, she was enthusiastic, she was committed... She was the student who always had her hand up,' engineering professor Debbie Chachra told The Boston Globe. She later tweeted: 'I am incredibly proud of Frances for living her values and effecting change in the world.' Haugen graduated from Olin with a degree in electrical and computer engineer, and later earned a master's degree from Harvard Business School. Haugen's concern for the greater community dates back to her childhood. When she an eight-year-old growing up in Iowa City, she sent a letter to US Rep. Jim Leach to express concerns about road-widening plans. 'Please don't let them turn Melrose Avenue into a four-lane road,' she said in the letter, later pushed in the Iowa City Press-Citizen. 'I couldn't walk home from school because I have to cross Melrose. Sincerely yours Frances Haugen.' She participated in geography contests while a Grade 6 student at Horn Elementary school. But she told her local newspaper that geography was a mere hobby. 'I'm more into gardening because I want to be a biologist, and grow food to feed the world,' Haugen told the Press-Citizen in April 1997. 'Or I want to be a lawyer and then become a politician.' She graduated from Iowa City West High School in 2002. Before being tapped to join Facebook in June 2019, the algorithmic product management expert had worked on ranking algorithms at tech giants such as Google, Pinterest, and Yelp. Google paid for her to attend Harvard to earn her MBA, but when she completed her higher education in 2011, she suffered a personal setback when she began suffering from an autoimmune disorder. 'I came back from business school, and I immediately started decaying,' she told The Wall Street Journal. She said doctors ultimately diagnosed her with celiac disease, which caused painful nerve damage to her hands and feet. Months after she left Google in 2014, a blood clot in her thigh sent her to the intensive care unit, the Journal reported. During her two years with Facebook, she served as product manager on the 'civic misinformation' team, and later worked on 'counter-espionage.' 'During her time at Facebook, Frances became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company makes prioritizing their own profits over public safety and putting people's lives at risk,' it says on her personal website. 'As a last resort and at great personal risk, Frances made the courageous decision to blow the whistle on Facebook.' During her two years with Facebook, she was the tech giant's product manager on the 'civic misinformation' team, and ironically later worked on 'counter-espionage' She left the company in May. 'I felt compelled to take an active role in creating a better, less toxic Facebook,' she wrote in a prepared statement to Congress. She reportedly confided in her mother before coming forward, who advised her to speak up if she believed lives were being jeopardized. Her mom hinted at knowledge of the leaked documents by sharing links to stories about them on her Facebook page. She shared a Wall Street Journal story in September that detailed Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg's alleged attempts to undermine national vaccine efforts. 'Very sobering,' Fulton Haugen wrote. 'The whole series is.' She left Facebook in May, and said she knows coming forward could have consequences 'I came forward because I recognized a frightening truth: almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside of Facebook.' In a video posted to Gofundme where donors have raised more than $30,000 for Haugen the whistleblower said she recognized that coming forward could have catastrophic consequences. 'I understand Facebook has the resources and potentially the motivation to ruin my life,' she said. 'But I also accept it, because I know I am aligned with my values, and what I believe in.' Advertisement Facebook has said there was 'no malicious activity' behind a seven-hour blackout that cost the company an estimated $100million in lost revenue, which experts and insiders say was exacerbated by remote working policies. The crisis came on a week of cascading disasters for Facebook, as a whistleblower testified before Congress slamming the company's artificial intelligence content algorithms as harmful and divisive. The company quietly updated a prior blog post on Tuesday to say that there was no malicious intent behind the historic outage, meaning that an employee error is most likely to blame. It is believed that a faulty update to Facebook's Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which routes traffic between large private networks and the public Internet, left apps and browsers unable to locate the company's services. The global outage - which hit Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger on Monday - was caused when the faulty configuration disconnected its servers from the internet, meaning engineers had to travel to its Santa Clara data center to fix the glitch in-person. But the repair was delayed, according a purported insider, because of 'lower staffing in data centers due to pandemic measures', along with outages in physical access card systems and internal messaging services. Kieron Harding, an IT Infrastructure Engineer at GRC International Group, told DailyMail.com: 'The nature of the problem meant Facebook would have needed network engineers to physically access their BGP routers and due to the pandemic, some of the data centers quite possibly don't have an engineer based on site, or someone who could have immediately started to work on the problem.' 'One of the reasons why the outage lasted for as long as it did was because the misconfiguration of the BGP also affected Facebook's physical door access systems which shut down; meaning engineers couldn't get into the buildings, or secure rooms, to start fixing the issues straightaway,' said Harding. Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor at UCLA's Department of Information Studies and expert on the relationship between technology and society, told DailyMail.com that both Facebook's outage and the damaging whistleblower revelations only served to underline the need for heightened government regulations. 'Just as Facebook is opaque about its internal practices, it's also pretty opaque when it comes to how its underlying server architecture works,' said Srinivasan. He said that companies like Facebook 'extract our attention, our outage, our negative sentiments into trillion dollar valuations,' calling it 'a mechanism of tearing us apart at the seams.' 'Look at how incredibly dependent we are as a country, as a world...on Facebook, and more largely on corporate, private, self-serving technology,' he added. 'Look at the blind dependence we have given, and the unjustified faith we have put in, some of the wealthiest companies in the history of the world.' Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seen above in July. Facebook has said there was 'no malicious activity' behind a seven-hour blackout that cost the company an estimated $100million in lost revenue Facebook operates dozens of offices and data centers around the US. Monday's outage reportedly knocked out physical access to the company's facilities when key card systems went offline Outage highlights world's reliance on Facebook services Small business owners have become especially reliant on Facebook, and the outage left many in a jam. 'We heavily rely on our social media to make announcements, to run promotions and to actually get a lot of online ordering,' Tommy Nguyen, the owner of Cross Street fried chicken in San Diego, told KGTV. Internationally, WhatsApp is the de facto voice and text communication service for billions, and the breakdown left many at a loss. In Brazil, the messaging service is by far the most widely used app in the country, installed on 99 percent of smartphones, according to tech pollster Mobile Time. WhatsApp has become essential in Brazil to communicate with friends and family, as well as for a variety of other tasks, such as ordering food. Offices, various services and even the courts had trouble making appointments, and phone lines became overwhelmed. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians in their homeland and abroad fretted over the WhatsApp outage. Many of the country's more than 11 million people depend it to alert one another about gang violence in particular neighborhoods or to talk to relatives in the U.S. about money transfers and other important matters. Millions of Africans also use WhatsApp for all their voice calls. Advertisement While the massive outage on Monday might have been only a minor annoyance for casual Facebook users, it was a grave concern to the countless small businesses that rely on the platform and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram as vital channels to communicate with customers. Facebook is also used to log in to many other apps and services, leading to unexpected issues accessing shopping accounts, dating apps, smart home devices, and a wide range of other services. For Facebook employees themselves, the situation was dire. Striking just after 8.30am in California, the outage left employees arriving at the Menlo Park headquarters locked out as the company's access card system went down, according to multiple reports. For the roughly three-quarters of Facebook employees working remotely, the company's internal messaging system Workplace was also knocked offline by the outage, leaving a skeleton crew at the company's main Santa Clara data center cut off from assistance as they raced to debug the network servers. Teams dispatched to the main data center also reportedly had difficulty accessing secure rooms to revert faulty configurations on key systems. Jonathan Zittrain, director of Harvard's Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society, said in a tweet: 'Facebook basically locked its keys in its car.' Facebook's outage also brought down messaging services that remote-working staff use to communicate, so those who knew how to fix the servers couldn't get that information to the teams inside the data-center, the insider said. 'There are people now trying to gain access to... implement fixes, but the people with physical access is separate from the people with knowledge of how to authenticate the systems and people who know what to actually do, so there is now a logistical challenge,' the purported insider said on Reddit. Industry sources who have worked closely with the tech giant say Facebook is suffering from two major problems: Staff working from home and over reliance on artificial intelligence. The social media site has been beset by bugs, glitches and AI issues for months exacerbated by staff not being on premises to deal with or correct issues. One source said that Facebook is simply unprepared to deal with emergencies and 'is very weak on the technical side'. Another added Facebook is currently 'a shambles' and has been beset with tech problems 'for months'. They added: 'They think they can do everything with AI but their tech isn't up to scratch. I'm inclined to think it's because they're WFH.' Monday's outage was partly to blame for a nose-dive in Facebook's share price that saw $47billion wiped from its market value in its second-worst day ever on the stock market, also driven by a whistleblower testifying about the harms the site does to teenagers in Congress this week. Facebook shares rebounded on Tuesday, rising 2.3 percent in midday trading. In addition to the stock market slide during the outage, Facebook likely missed out on at least $67million in direct revenue and possibly as much as $102million during the outage - based on average hourly earnings across 2020 and projections of its 2021 hourly earnings from Q1 and Q2 results. A person claiming to be a Facebook employee said on Reddit that high numbers of staff working from home made the problem worse. The account was later deleted Users around the world reported problems with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Downdetector Mark Zuckerberg - who lost around $7billion in stock value amidst the carnage - has previously vowed to make work from home a permanent part of Facebook, telling staff back in June that 'anyone whose role can be done remotely can request remote work.' The multi-billionaire said he plans to spend around half his time working remotely in 2022, and predicted that half of his staff could be permanently off-site by 2030. Facebook's office are currently open but only to 25 per cent capacity, after plans to open fully by October were pushed back to at least January 2022 amid the spread of the Delta Covid variant. Of the staff who are not currently in the office, it is not clear how many will become permanent remote workers. But a Facebook executive previously told the Wall Street Journal that the company has approved 90 per cent of WFH requests. The only caveat is that salaries may be cut to reflect the locations where people are actually working, as opposed to where the office is based. Data centre staff are among those who cannot request a permanent remote working status. Facebook's problems began around midday Eastern Time (5pm GMT) on Monday, shortly after its servers were updated, and lasted until around 5.45pm (10.45pm GMT) when the servers came back online. It took several more hours for all users to be able to access Facebook's sites and apps. Following Monday's outage, Zuckerberg issued a personal apology to Facebook users - telling them 'sorry for the disruption' while adding: 'I know how much you rely on our services.' But his message was immediately attacked from all sides, with those who use Facebook business saying he failed to take the issue seriously while casual users accused him of 'making yourself more important than you are'. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' A Facebook staff member reportedly accidentally deleted large sections of the code (pictured) which keeps the website online Facebook shares plunged on Monday but recovered some of the losses on Tuesday EU's competition commissioner and AOC join calls to break up Facebook after outage The European Union's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has said Facebook's seven-hour outage shows the social media giant needs to be broken up because 'we must not rely on a few big players'. Vestager tweeted Tuesday that consumers need 'alternatives and choices' in the tech market, hours after Monday's blackout left billions of people worldwide cut off from their usual lines of communication as they were unable to access Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp. '#facebookdown tells 2 things : 1/ we need alternatives & choices in the #tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote, adding 'that's the aim of #DMA' - a reference to the proposed EU law the Digital Markets Act. '2/ sometimes, there's nothing better than talking to each other just on the phone or offline,' she tweeted. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline for around seven hours Monday from around midday ET to around 7pm ET, marking the longest outage the company has endured in 13 years. The blackout left millions of users without their regular means of communication, sparking renewed calls for big technology platforms to be broken up and have less of a monopoly in the tech space. Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp meaning consumers don't have great choice and competition in the marketplace. Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice-president for a Europe fit for the digital age, pointed out the negative impact of big tech firms controlling large swathes of the online world. In December 2020, the European Commission introduced the DMA - new proposed legislation to better regulate competition in the tech space and make room for European companies to compete with the Silicon Valley giants like Facebook. Vestager's comments were echoed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who also seized on Facebook's outage to renew her call for the 'monopolistic' and 'destructive' company to be broken up. The Democratic congresswoman tweeted that the dramatic fallout from Monday's outage shows how Facebook's 'monopolistic mission' has 'incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy.' She specifically pointed to the impact it reportedly had on Latin American nations which rely heavily on WhatsApp for communication. 'It's almost as if Facebook's monopolistic mission to either own, copy, or destroy any competing platform has incredibly destructive effects on free society and democracy,' AOC tweeted. 'Remember: WhatsApp wasn't created by Facebook. It was an independent success. FB got scared & bought it.' Her comments came in response to a post by Forbes editor Jose Caparroso during the outage. 'Latin America lives on WhatsApp. I am surprised by so many people underestimating how catastrophic this downfall has been,' Caparroso tweeted. In a follow-up post, AOC argued that Facebook's ability to buy up several of its competitors had led to the problems some nations were now experiencing. 'If Facebook's monopolistic behavior was checked back when it should've been (perhaps around the time it started acquiring competitors like Instagram), the continents of people who depend on WhatsApp & IG for either communication or commerce would be fine right now. Break them up.' AOC has repeatedly spoken out against Facebook and Big Tech and has called for them to be broken up in the past. The dominance of a handful of large social media and internet companies has come under scrutiny from competition watchdogs on a number of issues, with many campaigners in the UK, Europe and US urging governments and regulators to take steps to break up larger firms to prevent monopolies being created. IT experts have also called on the tech industry to come up with better systems to prevent a single error from having such a wide impact. Advertisement Still others said they had enjoyed the outage, and were planning to spend more time off social media in the future. 'Life was way simpler without these services,' wrote one. John Graham-Cumming, the chief technology officer of web security firm Cloudflare, said Facebook made a series of updates to its border gateway protocol (BGP) which caused it to 'disappear' from the internet. The BGP allows for the exchange of routing information on the internet and takes people to the websites they want to access. Dane Knecht, senior vice president of the firm, said earlier the Facebook Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes had been 'withdrawn from the internet.' Cybersecurity expert, Kevin Beaumont, wrote on Twitter: 'This one looks like a pretty epic configuration error, Facebook basically don't exist on the internet right now. Even their authoritative name server ranges have been BGP withdrawn.' WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, run on a shared back-end infrastructure, creating a 'single point of failure' according to experts. It wasn't just the main Facebook apps going down, other services, including Facebook Workplace and the Oculus website were also down. The EU's competition commissioner said it shows why large tech firms should be broken up to avoid a similar failure of multiple platforms at once. EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the incident highlighted the negative impact of big tech firms controlling large swathes of the online world. 'We need alternatives and choices in the tech market, and must not rely on a few big players, whoever they are,' she wrote on Twitter. The dominance of a handful of large social media and internet companies has come under scrutiny from competition watchdogs on a number of issues, with many campaigners in the UK, Europe and US urging governments and regulators to take steps to break up larger firms to prevent monopolies being created. IT experts have also called on the tech industry to come up with better systems to prevent a single error from having such a wide impact. Ms Vestager, who is also the European Commission's executive vice-president for a Europe fit for the digital age, added that the incident showed it was also sometimes good to step away from social media and talk to people 'offline'. Facebook's Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer, offered his 'sincere apologies' for the outage on Monday afternoon. The scandal-hit company's shares had dipped by 5 percent on Monday amid the outage and after a whistleblower went public on Sunday night with claims that the firm prioritises 'growth over safety'. There have been a number of social media outages in recent months, with Instagram going down for 16 hours just last month, and all Facebook platforms going offline in June. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appeared to make light of Facebook's plight on Monday. Responding to a post which appeared to show how the facebook.com domain is for sale as a result of the outage, he jokingly asked: 'How much?' The cause of the outage remains unconfirmed and it's unclear if all are linked but not long before Facebook's entities went down, entries for Facebook and Instagram were removed from the Domain Name System (DNS) it uses. A DNS is essentially an internet directory. Whenever someone opens a link or an app, their device has to search the DNS used by the service they are trying to access to find it and then connect them to it. Major DNS providers are Google, Amazon and Cloudflare. It's unclear if all of the sites and services that went down on Monday use the same DNS or not. A similar outage at cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc took down multiple websites in July. Cloudflare's Mr Graham-Cumming tweeted on Monday that Facebook accidentally 'disappeared' from the internet after making a 'flurry' of updates to its BGP - Border Gateway Protocol. 'Between 15:50 UTC and 15:52 UTC [4.50-4.52pm UK time] Facebook and related properties disappeared from the Internet in a flurry of BGP updates,' he said. When sites go down because of failures in DNS systems, CloudFare tries to repair them. Usman Muzaffar, SVP of engineering at Cloudflare, explained to DailyMail.com: 'Humans access information online through domain names, like facebook.com and DNS converts it into numbers, called an IP address, computers use. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet WHAT IS THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Domain Name System, or DNS, is the directory of the internet. Whenever you click on a link, send an email, open a mobile app, often one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of a domain. There are two sides of the DNS network: the authoritative side, ie webpages and other content, and the resolver side, devices that are trying to access this content. Every domain needs to have an authoritative DNS provider, servers which store DNS records. Amazon, Cloudflare and Google are among the bigger names in authoritative DNS server provision. On the other side of the DNS system are resolvers. Every device that connects to the Internet needs a DNS resolver. By default, these resolvers are automatically set by whatever network you're connecting to. So, for most Internet users, when they connect to an ISP, or a WiFi hot spot, or a mobile network, the network operator will dictate what DNS resolver to use. The problem is that these DNS services are often slow and don't respect your privacy. What many Internet users don't realise is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every WiFi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them. Advertisement 'From what we understand of the actual issue it is a globalized BGP configuration issue. In our experience, these usually are mistakes, not attacks. 'Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is the routing protocol for the Internet. Much like the post office processing mail, BGP picks the most efficient routes for delivering Internet traffic. 'Today, the directions for how to get to Facebook's DNS server's addresses weren't available (and seem to still be unavailable). Without being able to contact the DNS servers, visitors trying to reach a Facebook property, like facebook.com, will not get an answer and so the page won't load.' According to Reuters news agency, security experts tracking the situation said the outage could have been triggered by a configuration error, which could be the result of an internal mistake, though sabotage by an insider would be theoretically possible. An outside hack was viewed as less likely. A massive denial-of-service attack that could overwhelm one of the world's most popular sites, on the other hand, would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique. Shares of Facebook, which has nearly 2 billion daily active users, fell 5.5 per cent in afternoon trading on Monday, inching towards its worst day in nearly a year. It means that the company's founder Mark Zuckerberg - who owns around 14 per cent of the firm - has seen his wealth plummet by nearly $7billion in a matter of hours, Bloomberg reported. Some users of UK phone network EE were also reporting that they were having difficulty accessing mobile internet services. However, the firm told MailOnline that there were no problems with the network. Cyber security specialist Jake Moore said there is a 'chance' the issue affecting the firms could be related to a cyber attack. He said: 'There have been many reports and I'm struggling to find out exactly what has happened- I'm reading it could be DNS related, which means there is an issue with the connection not knowing where to go to your device. 'It could well be a human error or a software bug lurking in the shadows but whatever it is Facebook needs to do its best to mitigate the problem of causing more panic about this. 'The biggest problem is fears over a cyber attack but as we saw from Fastly in the summer I would hedge my bets on that not being the case as we're talking about one of the biggest companies in the world, but there's always a chance.' Apologising on Twitter for the outage, Mr Schroepfer said: *'Sincere* apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible.' Facebook was already in the throes of a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company's awareness of harms caused by its products and decisions. Haugen went public on CBS's '60 Minutes' program Sunday and is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee Tuesday. Haugen had also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging Facebook's own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation and leads to increased polarization. It also showed that the company was aware that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. The Journal's stories, called 'The Facebook Files,' painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the company's vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that 'social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.' Earlier on Twitter, Facebook communications executive, Andy Stone said they were aware some people were having trouble accessing Facebook apps and products. 'We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,' the executive said in a tweet. Soon after the first report came through, the hashtag #facebookdown was trending on Twitter, with users worldwide reporting issues connecting. The hashtag #instagramisdown and 'WhatsApp' were both also trending on Twitter, with a number of users saying they checked their internet connection when they couldn't get on Facebook. Instagram comms tweeted: 'Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it!' NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, tweeted: 'Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger are currently experiencing outages in multiple countries' They're some of the most popular social media apps around the world, but it appears that Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have all crashed this afternoon. Above: The reports of Facebook outages reported on DownDetector Down Detector also showed how problems with Whatsapp began being reported just before 5pm on Monday RECENT FACEBOOK OUTAGES Last month, a technical issue with Facebook owned Instagram caused an outage that plagued users around the world for 16 hours. Problems started just after 8am on Thursday. About 18 hours later, at 2am on Friday, Instagram announced the problem had been fixed. However, the last time Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down at the same time was in June. In June more than a thousand people in countries including the United States, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil reported outages. There were also two Facebook platform outages in March, with Instagram down on March 30, and all three down on March 19. Advertisement WhatsApp tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!' Even Oculus, the virtual reality gaming platform owned by Facebook was having problems, with one user describing their headset as being 'like a paperweight'. Oculus tweeted: 'We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.' Every time Facebook and Instagram are down, it draws people to Twitter. On Monday, one user shared a meme of Homer Simpson jumping from his house to Moe's bar, with the Twitter logo over the door. Even Google got in on the action, tweeting: 'Everyone going to Google to check if Instagram is down.' There were multiple jokes along the same lines, with one showing a fast track race and the caption: 'Me and my friends running to twitter to see if fb, whatsapp and insta are down.' It is unclear what has caused the issue, although it has disrupted all Facebook owned platforms, including the Oculus Virtual Reality gaming website and Facebook Workplace. NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages, tweeted: 'Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger are currently experiencing outages in multiple countries.' Adding that the 'incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering.' When attempting to visit Instagram using a desktop web browser, it gives up a '5xx Server Error' and Facebook simply says 'this site can't be reached.' The last major outage of Facebook platforms was in June 2021, when people in the US, Morocco, Mexico and Brazil all reported not being able to connect. However, there were also problems last month, when Instagram went down for a whopping 16 hours. Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET said outages are increasing in volume and are becoming increasingly harder to predict. He said initially, a major problem with a website or app can point towards a cyber attack - but that can add to confusion and be misleading. 'With recent issues such as what happened with Fastly [the web service platform that saw a major global outage on June 8] it highlights the power of an undiscovered software bug or even human error,' Moore explained. 'Although these are increasing in frequency and require more failsafes in place, predicting these issues is increasingly more difficult as it was never thought possible before. Luckily, most outages only last under an hour.' This latest outage highlights the major issues with using centralised systems, according to Matthew Hodgson, Co-founder and CEO of Element and Technical Co-founder of Matrix. 'The ongoing outage of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook (including Facebook Messenger and Facebook Workplace) highlights that global outages are one of the major downsides of a centralised system,' he said. Centralised apps, like having a single back end for Facebook products, means putting 'all the eggs in one basket,' Hodgson explained. 'Decentralised systems are far more reliable. There's no single point of failure so they can withstand significant disruption and still keep people and businesses communicating.' 'The buck stops with Mark': Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen tears into Zuckerberg for 'putting astronomical profits before people' and insists he KNOWS site harms children and 'leads to violence' in blistering Senate hearing Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is urging Congress on Tuesday to regulate social media, saying the sites are a threat to children and democracy and even lead to violence - while founder Mark Zuckerberg spends the day sailing. The former employee, who worked for the tech giant in its misinformation department, told a Senate Commerce subcommittee that Facebook's bosses 'put their astronomical profits before people.' Speaking to Senators on Tuesday, she celebrated a massive outage that hit Facebook and its related sites the day before. 'Yesterday we saw Facebook get taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I do know for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies.' Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday During the hearing Haugen told senators that no similar company's CEO has as much unilateral control as Zuckerberg does. 'Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled,' she said. 'There's no one currently holding him accountable but himself.' She said 'the buck stops with' Facebook's tech billionaire owner, adding that 'Facebook needs to take responsibility for the consequences of its choices.' Later in the hearing Haugan said Zuckerberg himself even made choices that put engagement over public safety. 'We have a few choice documents that contain notes from briefings with Mark Zuckerberg where he chose metrics defined by Facebook like 'meaningful social interactions' over changes that would have significantly decreased misinformation, hate speech and other inciting content,' she told Senator Ben Ray Lujan. Senator Ed Markey lauded Haugan as a 'Twenty-first century American hero' for speaking out against the social media giant. He also accused Facebook of being built on 'computer codes of misconduct.' 'Time and time again Facebook says one thing and does another. Time and time again Facebook fails to abide by the commitments that they had made. Time and time again, Facebook lies about what they are doing,' he said. 'Facebook's platforms are not safe for young people, as you said Facebook is like big tobacco, enticing young kids with that first cigarette...whistleblowing shows that Facebook uses harmful features.' He directed a message straight at the absent Zuckerberg: 'Your time of invading privacy, promoting toxic content, and preying on children and teens is over. Congress will be taking action. You can work with us, or not work with us, but we will not allow your company to harm our children and our families and out democracy any longer' Speaking to Senators on Tuesday, Haugan celebrated a massive outage that hit Facebook and its related sites the day before Senator Ed Markey directed a message at Zuckerberg: 'Your time of invading privacy, promoting toxic content, and preying on children and teens is over. Congress will be taking action' At another point in the hearing Haugan was asked by Senator Dan Sullivan about what perspective people will have on Facebook years from now. She answered: 'When Facebook has made statements in the past about how much benefit Instagram is providing to kids' mental health, like kids are connecting who were once alone, what I'm so surprised about that is - if Instagram is such a positive force, have we seen a golden age of teenage mental health in the last 10 years? No, we've seen escalating rates of depression and suicide among teenagers.' Haugen added that the use of social media 'amplified' the risk of that, attributing it to Facebook's own research. The whistleblower acknowledged that the site's mounting problems could be too large for it to handle on its own. 'You can declare moral bankruptcy and we can figure out how to fix these things together, because we solve problems together and we don't solve them alone,' she said. She suggested Facebook's self-created burden could have gotten so large that they simply didn't know what to do with it. 'Facebook is stuck in a feedback loop they cannot get out of. They have been hiding this information because they feel trapped. Like, they would have come forward if they had solutions to these things. They need to admit they did something wrong, and that they need help to solve these problems.' But she also doubted that Facebook's lack of solutions came from a lack of 'private research' as an executive once said. 'If they make $40 billion per year, they have the resources to solve these problems, they're choosing not to solve them,' she told Senator Rick Scott. She also said Facebook had done too little to prevent its platform from being used by people planning violence. 'The result has been a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization' and undermining societies around the world. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people,' she said. Haugen told Republican Senator Mike Lee that Facebook's artificial intelligence systems designed to filter out harmful content were relatively ineffective at catching hate speech - and even sometimes allowed drug-related content to get to kids. 'The reality is that we've seen from repeated documents within my disclosures, is that Facebook's AI systems only catch a very tiny minority of offending content. And best case scenario, and the case of something like hate speech, at most they will ever get 10 to 20 percent. In the case of children, that means drug paraphernalia ads like that, it's likely if they rely on computers and not humans, they will also likely never get more than 10 to 20 percent of those ads,' she said. A Facebook executive went after Haugen during the hearing, pointing out that she did not work on the child safety data she was testifying on at the hearing. 'Just pointing out the fact that @FrancesHaugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook,' Policy Communications Director Andy Stone wrote on Twitter Tuesday. Haugan has said multiple times during the hearing that she didn't work in child safety but claimed the documents she viewed and leaked were available to all staff. Facebook was used by people planning mass killings in Myanmar and in the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters who were determined to toss out the 2020 election results. After the November election, Facebook dissolved the civic integrity union where Haugen had been working. That, she said, was the moment she realized 'I dont trust that they're willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous.' Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen arrives to testify during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday Haugan was greeted by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Amy Klobuchar when she arrived for her testimony Subcommittee chairman Senator Richard Blumenthal criticized Facebook's founder in his opening statement on Tuesday morning. 'Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today,' the Connecticut Democrat said. 'And yet rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing.' Blumenthal called on him to testify on the damning research Haugen uncovered. 'Mark Zuckerberg you need to come before this committee, you need to explain to Frances Hougan, to us, to the world, and to the parents of America - what you were doing and why you did it.' He said Facebook was facing a 'big tobacco moment' in the country's reckoning over its impact on a generation of young people, slamming the company as 'morally bankrupt.' 'The damage to self interest and self worth inflicted by Facebook today will haunt a generation,' Blumenthal said. 'Feelings of inadequacy, and insecurity, rejection and self hatred will impact this generation for years to come. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, asked Haugen if the site removed safeguards against misinformation it had implemented for the election before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump because it cost the company money. Haugen said the social media giant knew the content that was being shared was 'dangerous' before they increased site security but dropped those standards for the sake of 'growth.' 'Facebook has been emphasizing a false choice. They've said the safeguards that were in place before the election implicated free speech. The choices that were happening on the platform were really about how reactive and twitchy was the platform.' Haugen suggested a government entity be created to regulate Facebook during the scathing Senate hearing on Tuesday Ranking member Senator Marsha Blackburn and Chairman Richard Blumenthal look on as Haugen testifies Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are out sailing today. Senators criticized the tech billionaire for hitting the waves instead of attending the Senate hearing Another image from Mark Zuckerberg's sailing trip captured by the tech billionaire A Queens woman has been charged with attempted murder over shocking footage of her allegedly shoving an innocent commuter into the side of an oncoming NYC subway train. NYPD officers charged 29-year-old Anthonia Egegbara on Tuesday over surveillance footage said to show her get up from a bench and shove a bystander into the side of a moving 1 train at the Times Square subway station around 8am Monday. The victim, a 42-year-old woman who has not been identified, was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition after sustaining facial injuries following what is believed to be an unprovoked attack. Egegbara was arrested as transit crimes in New York City rose by 121.7 per cent for the week ending September 26, compared to the same period in 2020. A total of 51 transit crimes were recorded for the period between September 20 and 26, compared to just 23 for the same period last year. Transit crimes are also up 42.6 per cent for the last month, with 164 recorded so far this year, compared to 115 recorded last year. The statistics are sure to make grim reading for New York City officials, who are pushing for workers to return to the office, and for tourists to return to the Big Apple, in a bid to boost its COVID-ravaged finances. Egegbara, whose listed address is a hotel in Far Rockaway Queens that is used as a female shelter, instigated her alleged attack just hours before a man shot himself in the leg in that same subway station. ABC 7 News reported that police might be sending Egegbara to a hospital to be mentally evaluated, with no motive yet given for the assault. Police announced they have charged 29-year-old Anthonia Egegbara (pictured) with attempted murder Police say on Monday, Egegbara (pictured) pushed a 42-year-old woman towards an oncoming train Police arrested the 29-year-old after investigators released video of her allegedly shoving a woman into a moving train on Monday Anthonia Egegbara is walked in Manhattan Central Booking after she was arrested for pushing a stranger into a moving subway car on Monday Egegbara, whose listed address is a hotel in Far Rockaway used as a female shelter, was charged with attempted murder following unprovoked attack Police have not revealed a motive for Egegbara's attack against an unnamed 42-year-old woman who was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition after sustaining facial injuries Monday's attack has yet to be included in those statistics, but threatens to derail New York City officials' bid to lure workers and tourists back to the COVID-ravaged city. The incident occurred at the Times Square station, where thousands of tourist commute daily to visit the world-famous commercial intersection in Midtown, Manhattan. Times Square sees an estimated 50 million visitors annually and about 330,000 people pass through it daily. 'This unprovoked attack was senseless and absurd,' MTA acting Chief Communications Officer Tim Minton said. 'The city needs to provide additional mental health services to assist those who may endanger themselves and others. The NYPD's rapid identification and arrest in this case makes riders safer.' Anthonia Egegbara, 29, is lead away by NYPD, as transit crimes in New York City rose by 121.7 per cent for the week ending September 26, compared to the same period in 2020 29-year-old Egegbara hangs her head low as she is escorted by officers to Manhattan Central Booking on Tuesday ABC 7 News reported that police might be sending Egegbara to a hospital to be mentally evaluated, with no motive yet given for the assault Anthonia Egegbara is walked in Manhattan Central Booking after she was charged with attempted murder A handcuffed Anthonia Egegbara makes her way to Manhattan Central Booking following her arrest Horrifying surveillance video shows the moment when Anthonia Egegbara allegedly pushed a fellow commuter into a train at the Times Square subway station on Monday morning Video shows the Egegbara allegedly sitting on a bench and, as the train comes into view around 8.15 am, she stands up and initiates her push. She then fled the scene Police arrested 29-year-old Anthonia Egegbara (pictured) and charged her with attempted murder for the incident One subway rider, who witnessed the shoving, said the crime at the station is not surprising. 'This is like what it used to be like in the 80s,' the individual told ABC 7. 'People are wicked to be able to push someone on a moving train, and for what? I don't know, but it's horrible,' another passenger, CJ Stewart told CBS 2. According to witnesses, Egegbara timed her attack. Witnesses said the attack serves as a reminder to be aware of your surroundings. 'Definitely a good reminder to keep your eyes peeled and be on your toes in New York,' West Village resident Tyler Sparling said. 'We're all usually in our phones and stuff, or listening to music. So we're not always 100% aware,' echoed Bryana Yard, of Brooklyn. Police taped off the portion of the platform where the incident occurred and continuing to search for the suspect. The busy Times Square station was a hotspot for crime on Monday, just hours later officers were called to the station again for reports of shots fired. A 39-year-old from Brooklyn was urinating in the corner of West 40th Street and Seventh Avenue, near a McDonald's and sushi restaurant Wasabi, when he was shot in his right leg, according to the New York Post. He is believed to have accidentally shot himself in the leg. Eyewitnesses told ABC 7 that the shots went off inside the subway station, with the man seen stumbling up to ground level afterwards, before re-entering the station to ask for help. The bullet sent him stumbling down into a nearby train station. A person was shot in Times Square early Monday afternoon - the third instance of gun violence in the busy tourist hub this year, police said The man's injuries are not fatal and no one has been arrested in the case, police say. His shooting is the third to hit Times Square in 2020 Video from the scene shows officers carrying an injured person into an ambulance as passersby cross the bustling intersection. Authorities have not named the man, who is likely to face criminal charges as a result. He is reportedly not cooperating with investigators. Monday's incidents come as overall crime in New York City dropped in August after a summer crime wave that had city officials pointing fingers at each other. Total crime dropped by one percent in August compared to August 2020, with the biggest drops being in burglary, -24 percent, and shooting incidents, -30.7 percent, according to the latest official monthly figures from the NYPD. The trend may be reversing, as weekly numbers ending on Sunday show that felony assaults are up by 7 percent, shootings are up by 1.6 percent and rapes are up by 2.2 percent as a whole compared to the same time last year. Felony assault, rape and shootings were all up through October 3 compared to last year Monday's shooting is the third such incident in Times Square this year. In May, three unrelated bystanders were hit by stray bullets in the busy tourist hub after police say a man started shooting indiscriminately during an argument with someone else. A four-year-old girl was struck in the leg, a 24-year-old woman was hit in the thigh and a 44-year-old woman was shot in the foot, police said. All were expected to survive. 'This little girl was so strong,' Officer Alyssa Vogel told WNBC. 'She didn't even cry once except when we were putting the tourniquet on. She screamed because it's very painful.' In July, 16-year-old Avon Darden turned himself in and was charged with attempted murder after shooting US Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, in the back. Poulin was not seriously injured. The young soldier had recently graduated from The Citadel military college in South Carolina with a commission in the US Marine Corps. The New York City Police Department has also reported numerous attacks in subway stations in the last few weeks. On September 13, a 32-year-old was attacked after she confronted a man for shoving past her on the escalator at the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center Station. According to the Daily News, the woman told her attacker to 'say excuse me.' He responded 'I did' and kicked her in the chest. The victim fell backwards to the bottom of the escalator as the suspect continued up the escalator and out of the station. Police say the woman suffered cuts and bruises to her back, arms, legs, right knee and right thigh and trauma to her left ankle. In July, 16-year-old Avon Darden (left) turned himself in and was charged with attempted murder after shooting US Marine Samuel Poulin, 21, (right) in the back, in Time Square In August, a similar incident occurred at the Union Square station, where a homeless man was caught striking a victim in the back of the head with a hammer, before leaving him bleeding on the platform after the victim looked at him in the 'wrong way' Xing Zhou, 59, (left) was on her way to church when Vladimir Pierre, 41, (right) allegedly hit her Earlier last month, a deaf woman fell onto the subway tracks after she was hit in the head by a homeless man who had been arrested for sucker-punching another victim just four days earlier. Xing Zhou, 59, was on her way to church on September 5 when a man hit her in the head at Manhattan's Union Square subway station. She lost her balance during the attack and fell onto the tracks. Two bystanders helped Zhou off the tracks and waited with her until help arrived. She was taken to the hospital and given medication for her pain. Police later arrested Vladimir Pierre, 41, in connection to the attack. In August, a similar incident occurred at the Union Square station, where a homeless man was caught striking a victim in the back of the head with a hammer, before leaving him bleeding on the platform after the victim looked at him in the 'wrong way.' Police arrested 41-year-old Jamar Newton from Brooklyn and charged him with assault, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon and robbery. That incident occurred one day after another woman was randomly attacked on a subway platform and beaten with a metal pole while waiting for the G train. The top Republican on the House Oversight Committee alleged on Tuesday that it's likely Hunter Biden did not divest from a Chinese equity firm after the White House passed the buck to his team when asked about the potential of influence. 'Why are we not getting answers about this situation?' Fox & Friends First co-host Jillian Mele asked Representative James Comer of Kentucky. 'There's so many questions with Hunter Biden,' the Republican said. 'Every question of ethics revolves around a foreign national.' 'It's obvious that then-candidate Biden pledged to divest any and all of his and his family's international holdings,' he added. 'The fact that Jen Psaki couldn't say, 'Yes, Hunter Biden divested his stake in that Chinese holding,' tells me that he probably still owns it.' Comer said: 'You know, the law applies to everyone but Hunter Biden in Hunter Biden's mind.' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wouldn't say Monday whether Hunter sold his 10 per cent stake in a Chinese private equity firm despite President Biden's campaign promise that his family would steer clear of any foreign business dealings. House Oversight Committee Ranking Member James Comer said it's likely Hunter Biden did not divest from a Chinese equity firm since the White House wouldn't deny it The White House refused to say whether Hunter Biden divested his 10% stake in a Chinese equity firm. The president's son goes out in Los Angeles on August 8, 2021 'Between the ownership of this Chinese company and his art dealings that we believe are going to China the fact that the administration won't disclose this, they won't say, 'We've got a problem with our son,' is just another example of failed leadership,' Comer said. 'If this had been the Trump family, I can't imagine what the Democrats in Congress and the liberal media would be doing right now,' he added. 'Hunter Biden has already committed more unethical behavior with foreign nationals than any family member in the history of the presidency and we've to do something about this. That's why the House Republicans are just investigating everything Hunter Biden is doing with respect to foreign nationals now because it's illegal, it's unethical and it creates a situation where Joe Biden could be compromised to some of these foreign companies.' In a tense briefing room exchange on Monday, Psaki told a Newsmax reporter to not 'yell' when asking about the president's son's involvement with Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. 'I'd point you to his representatives on that. He doesn't work in the administration,' Psaki said. When pressed on the matter, she dismissed the question by saying: 'Again, I conveyed to you, and then I think I'm going to have to move on, that you should talk to his representatives there's no reason to yell, I'm certainly not yelling.' 'He's been working to wind that down, beyond that, I would talk to his representatives,' Psaki reiterated. According to Psaki's comments Monday, Hunter still holds that 10 per cent stake in the firm through Skaneateles LLC, of which he is the sole beneficial owner. Hunter, 51, sat on the Chinese equity firm's board until October 2019 when he announced he would be stepping down as the position added to scrutiny of his father's presidential bid. BHR Partners is co-owned by the Bank of China, which is the state-controlled central bank in the communist nation. This continued involvement in the company by Hunter just adds to the laundry list of Hunter's foreign involvements. Biden's Press Secretary Jen Psaki passed the buck on Monday to Hunter's team for questions related to his controversial foreign business dealings, but did repeat her February statement that 'he's been working to wind that down' Joe Biden vowed in October 2019 that his family would not hold seats in his administration or get involved in foreign business dealings and, in the same month, Hunter announced he would be stepping down from his position on the Chinese equity firm's board Also in October 2019, Joe Biden vowed as a show of ridding himself of foreign conflicts of interest that his family wouldn't get involved with business dealings in other countries should he become president. 'No one in my family will have an office in the White House, will sit in on meetings as if they are a cabinet member, will, in fact, have any business relationship with anyone that relates to a foreign corporation or a foreign country,' Biden said during his 2020 presidential campaign. This was a dig at his predecessor Donald Trump, who hired his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner as senior White House advisers. Asked in February why Hunter hadn't yet divested, Psaki diverted and passed the buck. Hunter, pictured passed out with a crack pipe in an image retrieved from his hard drive, has caused headaches for the administration mainly due to his foreign business dealings 'He has been working to unwind his investment, but I would certainly point you he's a private citizen,' she said. 'I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update.' Hunter's foreign business dealings have long caused his father headaches, amid accusations that the troubled Harvard-educated lawyer was trading off his family name. He had business interests in Ukraine, China and Kazakhstan, leading to concern about influence peddling. President Biden has denied having any knowledge of his son's work. In particular, Hunter's extremely lucrative Ukrainian business dealings have consistently raised eyebrows. He was on the board of energy company Burisma, one of the largest natural gas companies in Ukraine, when his father was serving as President Barack Obama's vice president. Hunter has admitted it was 'poor judgment', as his involvement in Burisma became a lightning rod during the 2020 presidential campaign. Today the Home Secretary announced an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' over the murder of Sarah Everard and the wider issues across policing. Sarah Everard was murdered by someone we all should be able to trust, a serving Metropolitan Police Officer. This was not just a brutal crime but a cruel betrayal. A whole-life sentence for Wayne Couzens won't bring Sarah back or lessen her loved one's grief. Nor will it heal the scar this tragedy has inflicted on London. Whilst justice was done at the Old Bailey; it's not enough to make women and girls feel safe. Strong words aren't enough either, but that's all the Mayor of London who is responsible for policing in the capital has offered. Instead of setting out a plan to make London safe, Sadiq Khan toured TV studios declaring the streets of London unsafe for women and girls. That's not leadership. That's an admission of failure. Shaun Bailey (pictured in May 2021 during an event at City Hall in London) was the Conservative candidate for the London Mayoral elections Mr Bailey said: 'Six months after Sarah's murder, City Hall still has no clear plan to answer the outpouring of grief and fear felt across London. And make no mistake, it is Sadiq Khan's (pictured) responsibility to act the first duty of the Mayor is to keep Londoners safe.' Six months after Sarah's murder, City Hall still has no clear plan to answer the outpouring of grief and fear felt across London. And make no mistake, it is Sadiq Khan's responsibility to act the first duty of the Mayor is to keep Londoners safe. If the Mayor is going to fulfil that responsibility, he must urgently work to restore confidence in the police. Without the trust of the public, it's impossible to police by consent. Unless the trust between Londoners and police officers is repaired, we can't make London safe. I believe people should be confident in the police. London's police force is packed full of brave and honourable officers who put their lives on the line for our city. I know they are as heartbroken, outraged and sickened that was a serving officer who murdered Sarah. Wayne Couzens not only betrayed Londoners but his colleagues. However, something clearly went badly wrong for this sick individual to slip through the Met's checks, which has damaged public confidence. As Mayor, Sadiq Khan has a responsibility to ensure any error is identified and publicly fixed. He should be asking serious questions about the Met's vetting processes, culture and standards. And to further restore confidence, he should recruit more women into the force. With renewed confidence and a focus on tackling crimes against women and girls, we can encourage more victims to come forward. Sadly, too often, domestic abuse goes unnoticed and sexual crimes unreported, making them complex crimes to prevent and prosecute. Trust between victims and the police is the key to tackling these terrible crimes. Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick (pictured) is facing mounting pressure to resign in the wake of Wayne Couzens' conviction for murder Restoring the public's faith is a necessary first step to making London safe for women and girls, but it's not the only thing the Mayor must do. As Chairman of Transport for London, he should also reopen the Night Tube this year, not next as currently planned. With London's nightlife on the revival, the service provides Londoners with more choice on how to travel at night and a better-lit transport option instead of waiting for a bus on dark streets. But there's so much more the Mayor must do to make public transport safe for women and girls. 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. Within the Mayor's remit, there's so much he could change to make London safe for women and girls. It's not okay for him to sit back and admit our streets aren't safe. Khan's got to step up. If London is going to heal and learn from this brutal betrayal, the Mayor must act. Staff at the restaurant claimed the women became unruly when they were asked to show proof of vaccination The women claim that the hostess used a racial slur before the melee broke out They face charges of assault, attempted assault and harassment for the attack on a Carmine's restaurant hostess on September 16th Kaeita Rankins, her niece Tyonnie, and Sally Lewis were arraigned in a Manhattan Criminal court on Tuesday Three Texas women who were seen in a video allegedly attacking a hostess at famed NYC restaurant Carmine's were arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday. Sally Rechelle Lewis, 49; Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, 44; and her niece Tyonnie Keshay Rankin, 21, appeared at Manhattan Criminal Court to each face two counts of third-degree assault, attempted assault and harassment. The three are accused of attacking an Asian hostess at Carmine's on the Upper West Side on September 16 in a dispute over proof of vaccination requirements at the restaurant. The women claim they were racially profiled and called the n-word by the hostess - allegations which the restaurant has categorically denied. The three face up to a year in prison. They were released on their own recognizance Tuesday after the brief arraignment hearing in Manhattan, and are due back in court on November 18. 'We greatly appreciate how seriously the district attorney's office is taking this attack on our staff,' said a spokesperson for Carmine's told the New York Post. 'Restaurant workers are part of our city's lifeblood, and today sends a strong message that criminal acts like these will not be tolerated.' Kaeita Rankins (back), Tyonnie Rankins (front) and Sally Lewis (not pictured) were arraigned in a Manhattan Criminal court for an attack on a Carmine's restaurant hostess on September 16th over vaccine cards. The three women claim that the hostess used a racial slur before the melee broke out Tyonnie Rankins (left) and Kaeita Rankins (right) appeared at Manhattan Criminal Court to face two counts of third-degree assault, attempted assault and harassment The three are accused of attacking an Asian hostess at Carmine's on the Upper West Side on September 16 in a dispute over proof of vaccination requirements at the restaurant Carmine's last month released surveillance camera footage of what it claims was an 'unprovoked attack' on the hostess. The three women are seen entering the restaurant as part of a larger party. The women are escorted inside the restaurant after showing their proof of COVID-19 vaccination while three men in their party - who do not have proof and show up shortly after - remain outside. The unnamed 24-year-old hostess passes the group, with the four women at the back of the group suddenly stopping and turning in her direction. The three women then rush outside, and appear to attack the hostess from behind. Restaurant staff can be seen jumping in to defend their coworker, who was left with bruises and scratches. In the immediate aftermath, police charged the three women with assault. There is no audio in the footage so it is unclear if there was an exchange of words between the diners and the hostess and - if there was - what was said. Kaeita Rankin, Tyonnie Keshay Rankin and Sally Rechelle Lewis - all from the Houston area - say they were provoked by the server who used the racial slur. The restaurant denies the server used the n-word with a spokesperson for its PR firm Trident DMG describing the incident as 'an entirely unprovoked, brutal attack on our hosts'. In the aftermath of the confrontation, Black Lives Matter NY held a protest outside the restaurant. Activists gathered outside Carmine's on the night of September 21st in support of the women, chanting 'F*** you, Carmine's', 'Cancel Carmine's' and 'Carmine's are racist'. Surveillance footage taken outside the restaurant then reveals one of the women coming up close behind the server - who is standing with her back to the door - and appearing to say something into her ear Other diners and restaurant workers jump in to try to break up the fight in the surveillance footage released September 21st Justin Moore, a lawyer who represents Kaeita Nkeenge Rankin, alleged that the hostess used a racial slur and was rude to the women. He added that the hostess also accused the women of producing fake vaccination cards. 'The hostess begins spouting out derogatory comments, and speaking with two of the women; they claim that the N-word is being spewed out,' Moore told The New York Times. 'They also heard the hostess say, 'Yeah, you guys can leave my restaurant,' or something very aggressive like that. 'When Dr. Rankin hears that, she turns around and addresses the hostess. She tells her: 'This isn't your restaurant. You're just a staff member here. Please address us with respect''. Moore's allegations were rejected by Carolyn Richmond, an attorney for the restaurant. 'Nothing about this incident suggests race was an issue,' Richmond told The Times. 'The pandemic has added a key responsibility to the host position - insuring the safety and health of all employees and guests by checking for proof of vaccination in compliance with New York City law. 'The idea that anyone would become violent as an employee performs this necessary function is anathema to New York, the hospitality industry and New Yorkers in general,' she added. 'As all of the women showed proof of vaccination they were all permitted to enter and were in fact seated inside.' Moore told Daily News: 'This hostess clearly has some anger management issues and unfortunately her aggression and her violence led to something that three black women are being punished for.' Richmond denied the Texas women's accusation. Black Lives Matter protesters gather outside Carmine's, an Italian restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, on Monday Protesters with bullhorns chanted and denounced the restaurant's management as 'racist' The protesters were angry over an incident on September 16 in which three black women visiting from Texas were arrested after they were filmed in a violent altercation with a hostess who is said to have asked them to show proof of vaccination Hawk Newsome (left), a co-founder of BLM's New York chapter, speaks during the protest 'Any claim that they were racially profiled is a complete fabrication, disingenuous, and outright irresponsible,' the lawyer for the restaurant told the Daily News. The hostess 'refused service to these women and got hostile with them,' Moore said in a statement on Friday. 'The injuries that she received were incurred by her being physically restrained by other staff at Carmine's after she was called out for racial discrimination, which she took offense to.' He said the incident amounted to 'mutual combat.' The newly released surveillance footage gives an aerial view of inside the restaurant just above the doorway, showing a staff member taking the party in to their restaurant The four women at the back of the group are seen turning and stopping as the server goes past and leaves the restaurant as though something has been done or said The women then rush out the door after the server. What happens next is captured on the surveillance footage from outside Meanwhile, Dailymail.com revealed last month that the hostess at Carmine's involved in the brawl had only been working at the famed New York City restaurant for a few days. The staff, who asked to remain anonymous added that employees were told by upper management that the three customers from Texas were refused from dining at the restaurant because they presented fake vaccination cards. Carmine's refused to comment or provide a statement but it released new footage of what it claims was an 'unprovoked attack' on its hostess by the three women. Carmine's, which has two locations in New York City as well as outposts in cities including Las Vegas, is known for large servings of pasta and other Italian dishes. The restaurant has been following the city's rule requiring proof of vaccination for indoor restaurant dining, which has been in effect since August 17 but was only being enforced as of last month. Stephanie Grisham on Tuesday claimed Donald and Melania Trump were 'totally unfazed' when she told them her relationship with Max Miller, a fellow White House staffer, had turned abusive. Grisham revealed in an op-ed for The Washington Post that the relationship had become 'violent' and that 'he got physical with me.' It was her first time speaking publicly about the allegations of abuse in her relationship, first reported by Politico. Miller has denied them. Grisham didn't call out Max Miller by name in the Washington Post piece but her descriptions - a fellow White House staff who is now running for Congress with Trump's endorsement- match him. Stephanie Grisham accused Donald and Melania Trump being 'totally unfazed' when she told them her relationship with Max Miller had turned abusive - above Grisham and Miller at September 2019 state dinner for the Australian prime minister at the White House She describes how she told Melania Trump and Donald Trump separately about his behavior after the two had broken up. She noted the first couple was aware of her relationship and breakup with her fellow White House staffer. The Trumps 'knew when the relationship turned abusive and they didnt seem to care,' she wrote. She claims she told the then-first lady that the 'end of our relationship had become violent, reaching its worst point on the day I left.' Melania Trump asked her if she went to the police, which Grisham said she didn't because she had no proof and didn't want to cause a scandal so close to the election. A few weeks later, Grisham revealed, she told Trump about it during the flight back on Air Force One from the first presidential debate. Grisham writes that she told the then-president that Miller 'had anger issues and a violent streak. I was not some stranger making a wild accusation. I hoped that he would take me seriously, that he would do something.' 'After I finished, the president crossed his arms and just said, 'That surprises me. He was really broken up over things.' After we got off the helicopter, Mrs. Trump said she was glad I told him,' she continued. 'We never spoke about it again.' She said the first couple 'seemed totally unfazed about whether there was an abuser' working in the White House and didn't follow up to check in on her or order an investigation. Grisham notes she thinks Melania Trump believed her allegations but doesn't think Trump did. The allegations that Miller was violent toward Grisham were first reported by Politico. Miller's lawyer told the outlet: 'Mr. Miller has never, ever assaulted Ms. Grisham in any way whatsoever.' Politico reported that Miller pushed Grisham 'against a wall and slapped her in the face in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her.' Grisham didn't comment for the piece at that time. The pair were believed to have been together for 18 months and even got a French bulldog named Gus, before the situation is believed to have turned sour. As news broke Grisham was writing a memoir about her time with the Trumps - and it would be critical of the former first couple - the Trumps attacked Grisham and specifically called her out on the relationship. Donald Trump said Grisham was 'angry and bitter about her break-up' and Melania's office discussed her 'failed personal relationships' as they railed against their former spokesperson. Donald Trump endorsed Max Miller's congressional bid in Ohio and appeared at a rally with him this summer In June, the 32-year-old Miller (right) got engaged to Emily Moreno, 27, (left) the daughter of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. The pair rekindled their romance after dating briefly in 2015. They are pictured at a Trump rally earlier this year Trump endorsed Miller's congressional bid in Ohio. He appeared alongside his former aide at a rally in that state in June, where he called him a 'great guy.' Miller worked for both his presidential campaigns and in the White House, where he earned the nickname 'Music Man' as he picked out songs to play to calm Trump down when the then-president was in a rage. An insider close to both Miller and Grisham told DailyMail.com last month: 'Neither of them were angels - they had a pretty volatile relationship. But even if she laid her hands on him, he should have kept his hands in his pockets.' Miller is a former Marine Corps reservist, is a member of one of Cleveland's wealthiest families and is a scion to the Forest City Enterprise real estate company. In June, the 32-year-old Miller got engaged to Emily Moreno, 27, the daughter of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. The pair rekindled their romance after dating briefly in 2015. Grisham has been conducting a series of interviews as she promotes her new memoir 'I'll Take Your Questions Now,' her tale about her work for Donald and Melania Trump, which is out on Tuesday. In her interviews, she has been critical of the former first family and talked about her how she got caught up in the drama of the Trump White House. She said Tuesday that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were running a shadow presidency in the Trump White House, where they could hire whom they please and would disappear when the going got tough. 'I believe that he and Ivanka kind of thought they were a shadow President and First Lady,' she told CNN's New Day as part of media tour. She said Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law whom she described as 'Rasputin in a slim-fitting,' grew 'heady with power' during his four years as Donald Trump's senior White House counselor. Grisham said Kushner 'changed as we went through the White House. And he got really heady with power.' She said he hired his own chief of staff for his corner of the West Wing. 'He did what he wanted and nobody challenged him,' she noted. She described how then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows put a hiring freeze in place, saying no one could be hired without his authorization. 'Jared Kushner basically told him what he thought of that and got to do what he wanted,' Grisham said. 'Nobody ever challenged Jared,' she said, adding 'this was the president's son in law.' Stephanie Grisham said Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were running a shadow presidency in the Trump White House Grisham said of the Kushners: Jared grew 'heady with power' but Ivanka was the 'brains' She said Kushner would dive into policy areas where he had no expertise in an attemp to 'save the day' and then when 'things were getting really tough,' he and Ivanka would 'suddenly disappeared on vacations.' But Grisham said it was Ivanka Trump, the former president's oldest daughter, who was the 'brains' of the couple. 'Ivanka is very, she's very controlling of her image, she's very controlled in what she does, she is very calm, which is unlike her father, and I think that she's the smarter one,' she said. Grisham revealed in her book that the couple tried to push their way into Donald and Melania Trump's meeting with The Queen during the Trumps' state visit to the UK in June 2019. She also said Jared and Ivanka acted in a similar manner on the February 2020 state trip to India, pushing their own schedule and trying to get into meetings and tours with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'They were involved in like tours that Modi was giving the former president and first lady and there they were to, you know, they were always right there and it was really inappropriate and that would make Mrs. Trump upset because she is a big rule follower in terms of protocol,' she said. She noted that Melania's staff in the East Wing tried to stop them but were unable to. 'At the end of the day, it's his daughter and son in law and nobody could work around him,' Grisham noted. She also revealed that at President Trump's State of the Union address in 2018, she and another Melania staffer tried to block Jared and Ivanka from following Melania Trump into the family box in the House chamber. Grisham said the news had broken recently about Stormy Daniels' allegation she had an affair with Trump, which Trump denied, and the staff 'were really protective' of the first lady. Melania Trump had taken her own car to the Capitol to arrive at the speech separately from the president. 'We raced out of the motorcade and literally physically blocked them so that Mrs. Trump could have her moment and walk in. It worked for maybe three minutes and then their Secret Service pushed us aside but we got our job done,' she said. Grisham said Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump muscled their way into events during Trump state visit to India in February 2020 - above the Kushners in front of the Taj Mahal Grisham revealed that at President Trump's State of the Union address in 2018, she and another Melania staffer tried to block Jared and Ivanka from following Melania Trump into the family box - above Melania is escorted into the speech by a military aide Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at President Trump's 2018 State of the Union address The fact that [Trump] is pushing this election lie is scary to me. The fact he is the front-runner right now if he were to run for office is scaring me, says Stephanie Grisham, former Trump White House press secretary, who never held a public press briefing during her tenure pic.twitter.com/zhma3ddoYE New Day (@NewDay) October 5, 2021 In the same interview, Grisham revealed there was a 'culture of abuse' in Donald Trump's White House, admitted she lied in TV interviews and said she believes Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell would be on staff if the former president ran and won in 2024. Grisham, who worked for Donald Trump from the early days of his 2016 campaign until she resigned in protest on January 6th, described what it was like to work for the former president. During her tenure she served as spokesperson for him and for Melania Trump. 'It took me a really long time to realize it was a culture of abuse in there, you just want to keep Donald Trump happy. You just don't want him to yell at you,' she said. 'You learn to give him the answer that he wants. We learned to work around him.' She described Trump yelling at her to her face when she refused to kick CNN's Kaitlin Collins out of the White House briefing room. 'He was yelling at me to my face in that one. Um it's horrible when he yells at you. It's horrible. He is very New York I guess,' she said. 'He's very mean when he yells at you.' Grisham also outlined her worries about Trump's continued false claim that he won the 2020 election. She said she was concerned if he ran again in 2024 and won, he would seek 'revenge' and be out of control. 'The fact that he is pushing this election lie is scary to me, and the fact that he's the frontrunner right now, if he were to run for office, is scary to me,' Grisham said. 'And that's because, if he gets into office, he doesn't run for re-election again. He'll be able to do whatever he wants, and we all know, there's going to be retribution, there's going revenge. I guarantee there will be very draconian policies, and they're not going to care, because they don't have to run for re-election again.' Trump has not said whether or not he will make another presidential bid in 2024 although many see him as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination should he choose to get into the race. During his time in the White House, the president had to defend many of his decisions - such as not releasing his tax records, keeping his ties to his family business, and for trying to intefere in Justice Department investigations. Grisham said if Trump won, his staff for that term would be even more extreme than many of the enablers who surrounded Trump during his first tenure. She said she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Both Giuliani and Powell were led propogators of the 'big lie' - that Trump won and the election was stolen from him. Multiple recounts proved Joe Biden won in 2020. 'If people think that the people in (the first) Trump White House were bad perhaps, I have a feeling the 1/6 crowd might be working in the White House in 2024, or the Sidney Powells, or the Rudy Giulianis,' Grisham said. 'I think people left and right are going to get pardoned. The amount of things, knowing what I know, that could happen, it scares me.' Stephanie Grisham said she believes if Trump ran and won in 2024 she envisioned Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the White House staff - the two lawyers led Trump's failed legal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results Stephanie Grisham also revealed she lied when she went on Fox News to talk about administration - above Grisham during her tenure as press secretary for President Trump Grisham's book has sparked widespread criticism from the pro-Trump crowd and even the former president weighed in to accuse her of cashing out. 'Stephanie didn't have what it takes and that was obvious from the beginning,' Trump said in a statement. He said she had become 'very angry and bitter' after a breakup. 'She had big problems and we felt that she should work out those problems for herself. Now, like everyone else, she gets paid by a radical left-leaning publisher to say bad and untrue things.' Grisham was a controversial figure during her time in the Trump White House, particularly for never holding a press briefing when she served in the role of press secretary. But she, like many officials in the Trump administatration, often went on Fox News to spread their message. 'That's just where we went to get what we wanted out,' she said. 'They, you know, by and large didn't get tough with us, they just took what we were saying and disseminated it.' I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I saw at the Trump White House by Stephanie Grisham comes out on October 5 Asked if she was always truthful during her interviews on Fox News, she admitted: 'I probably wasn't.' Grisham, 45, then served as press secretary to Trump from July 2019 to April 2020. She then returned to the East Wing as Melania's chief of staff from April 2020 until January 2021. Many Trump loyalists have turned on her, including Melania Trump, whose office accused her of cashing in. And Grisham's former colleague Alyssa Farah, who served as White House Communications Director for Trump, said during an interview with The View on Monday: 'First and foremost, I don't believe in profiting off of public service. I had a chance to write my White House tell-all and declined. The American people, the taxpayers, paid my salary. 'I'm not going to go write a book and cash in.' She went on to declare that Grisham was 'largely MIA on the job', and said that the reason she never held a live-televised press briefing was down to her own reluctance to do so, not Trump as Grisham claimed. 'When I worked for him, it was, ''Go get out on TV, Alyssa. Go give a briefing.'' He wanted people out,' Farah said. 'It seemed like she was largely MIA on the job.' DailyMail.com obtained a live photo of Stephanie Grisham lying on the floor of the White House during the 2020 presidential election. A source who was at the election party tells DailyMail.com that the picture was taken to show how embarrassing her antics were Grisham has returned to the public eye since her exit from the Trump White House, promoting her 352-page memoir. She went to Kanas after her time in Washington D.C., where she worked on the book. She told ABC News she is 'terrified' that Trump might run for president again, telling Nightline's Juju Cheng that a second Trump term would be a disaster. 'I am terrified of him running in 2024. I don't think he is fit for the job,' said Grisham in an interview that aired Monday night. 'I think that he is erratic. I think that he can be delusional. I think that he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. And I do not want him to be our president again.' Grisham said a second Trump term in the White House would lead to chaos, claiming the former president's inflammatory behavior would lead to rising violence and alleged he would only run for the presidency to benefit himself and his family. 'I think he would foment more violence. I think he will line his pockets. I think his family will line their pockets. 'I believe that he wanted to help the country in the beginning - I believe he wants to help himself now.' And she dismissed her critics, telling ABC's George Stephanopolous that she expected the attacks. 'I expected that. I expect more. This is right out of their playbook. When they don't like the message, they're going to destroy the messenger. I know. I was part of doing that sometimes. She pointed out Melania Trump wasn't 'denying anything fully in the book just yet.' 'I think she knows that I have a lot of receipts to show I'm being fully honest. So I expected that, and I'm sure that there will be more to come, probably a lawsuit or two or three or four,' Grisham said. A missing teenage trans girl who went missing a month ago is still not accounted for, as concern grows for her wellbeing. Sixteen-year-old Maya has not been seen for almost exactly a month. She was last spotted walking away from a train station wearing a pink wig but then vanished without trace. Her friends who appealed for information said she went missing days after she came out as transgender, according to The Independent. Detectives in Hampshire issued a photo of Maya, along with a description and urged people to wrack their brains over whether they might have seen her since September 3 A spokesman for Hampshire Police said that detectives were 'very concerned' about the missing teenager They described her as 'very vulnerable' and said the disappearance is 'extremely out of character'. She is originally from Essex but was last seen on the morning of September 3, walking from the railway station in Basingstoke, Hampshire. Detectives in Hampshire issued a photo of Maya, along with a description and urged people to wrack their brains over whether they might have seen her since September 3. A spokesman for Hampshire Police said that detectives were 'very concerned' about the missing teenager, especially as there had been no sightings of her for the last month. The spokesman added: 'Can you help us find missing Maya? The 16-year-old, who is originally from Essex, was last seen at around 11.40am on Friday September 3 at Basingstoke train station. 'Maya was seen exiting the gates of the train station and walking by the taxi ranks. We are very concerned for her welfare and are asking for the public to report sightings of her to us. She was last spotted walking away from a train station wearing a pink wig but then vanished without trace Friends of the missing teen described her as 'very vulnerable' and that the disappearance is 'extremely out of character' If you have seen her, or know of her whereabouts, please call 101 immediately or dial 999 in the event of an emergency Pictured, a poster taken from a Facebook page dedicated to helping find the missing teenager 'She is described as white, slim, around 5ft 10ins tall, with long brown hair below her shoulder. Maya was last seen wearing a pink wig, a pink or white face mask and pink top along with a white skirt, white tights and white shoes. 'She was pulling a black suitcase and carring a white bag and a black backpack. We have released a photo of Maya, but appreciate that she may look slightly different at this time.' If you have seen her, or know of her whereabouts, please call 101 immediately or dial 999 in the event of an emergency. Essay mills are set to be banned in England under plans to reform post-16 education. The Government intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise essay-writing services for financial gain to university and college students. Making essay mills illegal under new legislation will help protect students from falling prey to the 'deceptive marketing techniques of contract cheating services', the Department for Education (DfE) has said. It is one of a number of measures being introduced to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, which aims to transform further and technical education. Careers education in schools will also be strengthened to ensure all pupils have opportunities to learn about all the technical education options available to them; including apprenticeships, T-levels and traineeships. Skills Minister Alex Burghart said: 'Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. The Government intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise essay-writing services for financial gain to university and college students 'We are taking steps to ban these cheating services. 'We have also announced a new measure to make sure all young people receive broader careers guidance so everyone can get the advice that's right for them.' Essay mills, which are already illegal in some countries, make money by encouraging students to cheat in assessments. Their services include providing students with ready-made essays to pass off as their own. The Government hopes banning the services will help to safeguard the academic integrity and standards of post-16 and higher education in England. It comes after former universities minister Chris Skidmore called for essay mill websites to be outlawed in February this year. In June, the Government pledged to work with politicians on proposed legislation around banning essay-writing services. Tory frontbencher Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay told peers there is a 'strong case' to support institutions in dealing with the rising number of essay mills. Skills Minister Alex Burghart (pictured) said: 'Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. The law will also be changed to give equality to technical education in careers advice in schools, so all pupils understand the wide range of routes and training available to them, not just academic routes. Additional amendments to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, which enters its report stage in the House of Lords on October 12, includes allowing more faith school providers to open post-16 academies with a religious character. A Universities UK (UUK) spokeswoman said: 'We welcome this news. UUK has repeatedly called for essay writing services to be made illegal and we have worked together with Government, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and other higher education bodies to tackle their use. 'While the use of essay mills by students is rare, all universities have codes of conduct that include severe penalties for students found to be submitting work that is not their own. 'Universities have become increasingly experienced at dealing with such issues and are engaging with students from day-one to underline the implications of cheating and how it can be avoided.' In 2009, Rev Bailey accused her congregation of gossiping about her sexuality Vicar, who accused flock of wrecking marriage, said she acted in self-defence The 53-year-old's case has been adjourned for the fourth time in court today Rev Michelle Bailey has been accused of assaulting Diane Shore on May 23 2020 A vicar, who once accused her 'nest of vipers' flock of wrecking her marriage by gossiping about her sexuality, has been accused of assaulting a woman and causing criminal damage. The Rev Michelle Bailey, previously Rev Morton, 53, is said to have attacked Diane Shore on May 23 last year, during the first Covid-19 lockdown. She is further charged with criminal damage to a 353 pair of glasses owned by Ms Shore. Magistrates, sitting at North Staffordshire Justice Centre today, adjourned the case for the fourth time after Rev Bailey claimed to have found new evidence to present in her defence. She claims that she acted in self-defence. The Rev Michelle Bailey (pictured), previously Rev Morton, 53, is said to have attacked Diane Shore on May 23 last year, during the first Covid-19 lockdown Back in 2009, the vicar and mother-of-three (pictured in 2009) likened her flock to a 'nest of vipers' and accused them of wrecking her marriage by gossiping about her sexuality Magistrates, sitting at North Staffordshire Justice Centre (pictured), adjourned the case for the fourth time after Rev Bailey claimed to have found new evidence to present in her defence Rev Bailey (pictured) claims that she acted in self-defence, but chairman of the Bench David Rowe accused her of 'wasting court time' in court today Chairman of the Bench David Rowe accused her of 'wasting court time' and denied her counsel Imran Khan extra time to take instructions from his client. But when Mr Khan said he would have to step away from the case, an adjournment became inevitable as Rev Bailey was not allowed to cross-examine her own accuser. Rev Bailey has been suspended on full pay from her 40,000-a-year job as Priest in Charge of The Benefice of Dan Yr Epynt in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon since the incident 17 months ago. Previous hearings of the case were scrapped in April, May and August. In April, the defendant was unable to travel after receiving a nuisance phone call, while the May hearing collapsed when she sacked her solicitor and she had suspected Covid when the August hearing was due. Jacqueline Coley-Fisher, for the prosecution, said this was the second time the alleged victim of the case had attended court only to be told her evidence could not be heard. Rev Bailey (pictured) has been suspended on full pay from her 40,000-a-year job as Priest in Charge of The Benefice of Dan Yr Epynt in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon In 2009, the vicar (pictured leaving court today), then known as Rev Morton, blamed die-hard traditionalists for ruining her marriage with 'poisonous' gossip When serving in the parish of St Michael and All Angels in Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, in 2009, the vicar, then known as Rev Morton, blamed die-hard traditionalists for ruining her marriage. She delivered a blistering sermon accusing her parishioners of breaking up her marriage with 'poisonous' gossip about her relationship with a Stetson-wearing female bull breeder Michele Wilde. The mother-of-three likened her flock to a 'nest of vipers' and was given time off to deal with her issues. The vicar's close friendship with divorced mother-of-one Michele Wilde, a champion Belgian Blue cattle breeder who lives on a farm in the neighbouring village of Soulbury, raised eyebrows. At the time, Michele Wilde said: 'The only reason the gossip started was because Michelle [Rev Bailey] had trouble with her marriage and some people don't like her because she's modern, radical and wants to move the Church forward.' Rev Bailey's formal career in the Church began in 2000 when she attended Ripon College, a theological training centre in Cuddesdon in Oxfordshire. She was made assistant curate at St Peter and St Paul Church in Buckingham in 2002 and moved to Stewkley as Priest in Charge in 2005. A new hearing was set for 11 March to last all day. The CIA has admitted that too many informants are being killed, captured or turned in a top secret memo to their spies across the world. The unusual cable, sent to all CIA stations and bases, said the counterintelligence mission center had analyzed dozens of cases over the last several years. The memo gave an exact number of informants killed, classified information not usually shared in such cables, according to the New York Times. Former officials have also disclosed that China and Iran cracked the agency's classified communications system, or 'covcom', and executed informants in those networks while others had to be extracted and resettled. The memo reprimands spies for poor tradecraft, being overly trusting of sources, underestimating foreign intelligence agencies and 'putting mission over security' by moving too fast and not paying enough attention to potential risks. Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have had success in hunting down informants in recent years - and in some cases turning them into double agents. In Iran and China, some intelligence officials believe that Americans provided information to the adversarial agencies that could have helped expose informants. The rival counterintelligence agencies are utilizing biometric scans, facial recognition, AI and hacking tools to track CIA officers to discover their sources. The CIA admitted that their informants were executed by both Iran and China after a top secret memo revealed that too many are being captured and killed It cited Iran, China, Pakistan and Russia as nations that have been going after American spies and turning them into double agents, if not killing them The CIA has been pre-occupied over the last two decades with terrorist threats and Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. But old-fashioned intelligence collection is now once again central to the CIA's mission as tension grows with China and Russia. Monica Elfriede Witt, an ex-Air Force sergeant who defected to Iran, was indicted on a charge of giving up information to Tehran in 2019. The Iranians leveraged her knowledge only once they determined that she could be trusted. In 2019, former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was sentenced to 19 years in prison for providing secrets to the Chinese government, which they then used to arrest and execute at least 20 of his fellow agents. US officials suspect China shared the information Lee gave them to Russia, who used it to expose, arrest and kill American spies. Those findings led the CIA to temporarily shut down human spying in China and reevaluate how it communicates with intelligence assets worldwide. Lee was charged with possessing classified information but not as a spy because officials had a lack of proof and would not wanted to air any evidence they have in a public courtroom, according to NBC News. In 2020, Iranian forces executed Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, a man accused of reporting on the movements of that nation's forces in Syria on behalf of the United States and Israel. He was also accused of spying on Revolutionary Guard commander Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian national hero who was killed in a drone strike by the US earlier in 2020. Mousavi-Majd, a former translator, was found guilty by Iran of receiving money from both the CIA and Israeli intelligence's Mossad. 'No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent,' said Douglas London, a former agency operative. 'Sometimes there are things beyond our control but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect and people in senior positions are never held responsible.' Monica Elfriede Witt (pictured above), an ex-Air Force sergeant who defected to Iran, was indicted on a charge of giving up information to Tehran in 2019 In 2019, former CIA officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee (pictured above) was sentenced to 19 years in prison for providing secrets to the Chinese government, which they then used to arrest and execute at least 20 of his fellow agents In 2020, Iranian forces executed Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd (pictured above), a man accused of reporting on the movements of that nation's forces in Syria on behalf of the United States and Israel Returning to greater intelligence gathering is a high-level objective for the agency, especially as Congress turns it's focus away from the Middle East and closer to Russia and China Returning to greater intelligence gathering is a high-level objective for the agency, especially as Congress turns it's focus away from the Middle East and closer to Russia and China. The agency will also look to learn more about the Pakistan's ties to the Taliban now that the American-back government in Afghanistan has collapsed. Officials said the messages are a way of pushing intelligence officers to become more serious about counterintelligence. A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment on the memo. West Virginia state treasurer Riley Moore said that no state should comply with a Biden proposal to force banks to hand over transaction data over $600 to the IRS, which he describes as an 'unconstitutional invasion.' 'The impact this is going to have on community banks, this is like Dodd Frank on steroids,' Moore told DailyMail.com. Moore said big banks who supported Biden would be the beneficiaries of the proposal. 'In terms of compliance, a community bank, to be able to be in compliance, to set that type of regime up is just going to put them out of business,' he said. 'So who wins? The big banks win. The same banks that were bankrolling Biden's campaign in 2020.' The proposal, backed by $79 billion in additional funding, would allow the IRS to peer into the aggregate inflows and outflows of a bank account with over $600. This crackdown on unreported income is expected to generate $463 billion over the next decade, according to the Office of Tax Analysis. That money would be used to partially fund Biden's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan. 'The $600 requirement is absolutely unconstitutional. It's a massive invasion of privacy, its huge government overreach. I don't think any state should comply with this, Moore continued. Banks are already required to file a currency transaction report to the financial crimes division of the Treasury on transactions over $10,000 to prevent money laundering. Moore praised Nebraska Treasurer John Murante, who last week said he would defy the policy if it were to take effect. 'I think it's great what Treasurer Murante said, I think we should all follow suit in our respective states by not complying with this.' 'If the feds feel like they wanna sue every state that's not complying with it, then okay. Bring it on.' So far, 23 state treasurers, auditors and financial officers have signed onto a letter opposing the policy. 'This would be one of the largest infringements on data privacy in our nation's history and is a direct assault on the financial disclosures of all Americans.' The letter said the proposal would increase the number of unbanked Americans and sow distrust of financial institutions. Moore also noted that the IRS has been subject to hacks and such information could 'fall into the wrong hands.' 'The impact this is going to have on community banks, this is like Dodd Frank on steroids,' West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore told DailyMail.com This crackdown on unreported income is expected to generate $463 billion over the next decade, according to the Office of Tax Analysis. That money would be used to partially fund Biden's $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan In June, a massive trove of taxpayer information was shared with ProPublica. The investigative news outlet did not share how it obtained the tax records and three months later in September the IRS said it did not know if it had been there had been a data breach or threat of a breach. On Tuesday, Sens. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent a letter asking for an audit of IRS research activities and security protocols, as the agency 'promotes legislative mandates for massive increases in private taxpayer information flowing to the IRS from individuals accounts at financial institutions.' And as Republican condemnation of the fundraising policy continued to pour in, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., expressed the same concern. 'The IRS is the most powerful and truly the most unresponsible, unaccountable agency of government,' Barrasso told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. 'They have proven they are unable to keep tax records secure.' He said he had gotten more emails and calls on the IRS proposal in the last three weeks than he'd gotten on any other topic ever. 'The Republican Party is not going to let the IRS spy on bank accounts,' the Wyoming Republican added. 'We are not going to allow Joe Biden to give the IRS more power we want to stop this in its tracks.' Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has defended the proposal, the tax gap is expected to swell to $7 trillion over the next decade, roughly 15% of taxes owed. 'It's a simple way for the IRS to get a sense where that might be it's just a few pieces of information about people's bank accounts,' Yellen said Tuesday on CNBC's Squawk Box. 'There's an enormous tax gap in the U.S. estimated at $7 trillion over the next 10 years in terms of a shortfall of tax collections to what we believe are owed,' she said. 'And that's not coming from people failing to report wage income or dividend income where there's good information. It comes from places where the information on income is opaque and can be hidden.' The IRS would know how much money is in an individual's bank account in a given year, whether the individual earned income on that account and exactly how much was going in an and out. The proposal would require banks to report gross inflows and outflows to the IRS, including transactions from Venmo, PayPal, crypto exchanges and the like in an effort to fight tax evasion. 'The IRS is the most powerful and truly the most unresponsible, unaccountable agency of government,' Sen. John Barrasso told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. 'They have proven they are unable to keep tax records secure' The IRS estimates that compliance on taxes due on wages is 99% while compliance on 'less visible' sources of income is only 45%. The Treasury Department claimed that the plan would have little effect on 'already compliant' taxpayers, but would help the IRS better target its audits. 'For noncompliant taxpayers, this regime would encourage voluntary compliance as evaders realize that the risk of evasion being detected has risen noticeably,' the Treasury Department said. A doorman in midtown Manhattan is accused of using his job to operate a 'one-man gun show,' out of the building where he worked, and was arrested Tuesday after allegedly selling 80 guns to undercover detectives. Prosecutors charged Roberto Carmona, 51, with 141 counts of conspiracy as well as various criminal firearm sale and other related charges, for his alleged role in helping fuel New York City's surging gun violence by flooding the streets with illicit firearms. Also charged was Carmona's Tennessee-based associate Harold Floran, 51, who allegedly met the doorman at places in Virginia, New Jersey and sometimes Tennessee to sell him the weapons. At least one of the guns Floran sold was used in the execution-style shooting of Darnell Brown, 23, by Sterling Stewart in front of an 8-year-old boy in April, 2020 outside on 1st Avenue and 101st Street, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced Tuesday. Both Vance and NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the bust was part of their respective agency's continuing struggle to stem the gun violence in New York City, where shootings this week are up 3.8 percent over the same period last year, and nearly double the number recorded in 2019, according to NYPD statistics. Scroll down for video Authorities arrested Roberto Carmona (pictured) Tuesday and charged him in connection to a gun trafficking operation he was allegedly running out of the midtown Manhattan apartment where he worked as a doorman Carmona was charged with 141 counts of conspiracy as well as various criminal firearm sale and other related charges, for his alleged role in selling the illegal firearms Carmona allegedly sold 80 guns (pictured) to undercover detectives from January to September The weapons were allegedly sold for anywhere between anywhere from $500 to $3,700 per firearm 'I don't see guns on these tables. What I see is victims. I see kids gunned down in the street. I see mothers standing at funeral,' Shea said. Carmona was allegedly selling the weapons out of where he worked at 425 W. 55th Street, stashing them in his locker, and selling them for anywhere from $500 to $3,700 per weapon. 'Roberto Carmona allegedly used his job as a doorman to operate a highly illegal, one-man gun show out of the Midtown building where he worked storing ammunition in his locker and selling multiple deadly weapons outside,' Vance said. 'Mr. Carmona is also accused of bringing his work home with him,' he added, 'selling dozens of guns outside his Morningside Heights building where he lives.' The weapons recovered by detectives included 63 semi-automatic pistols, 11 revolvers, two assault rifles, a sawed-off shotgun and a shotgun, Vance said, and were sold to undercover officers through 15 transactions from January to September of this year. Also charged in the gun trafficking scheme was Alan Goode, 30, and Melvyn McDonald, 41, who are alleged to have legally purchased the guns at gun stores in Tennessee and sold them to Floran. Floran and McDonald were arrested in Tennessee and are awaiting extradition to New York, Vance said, while Goode was arrested while on vacation in Florida. NYPD police commissioner Dermot Shea (left) and Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said the investigation was part of their respective agencies' attempts to stem the tide of illegal firearms flooding the city's streets The arrests came as instances of violent crime, including shootings, continue to top those recorded in the previous year Vance said that since he became Manhattan DA, his office has helped take 1,800 guns off the streets, but blamed leadership for their failure to stem the tide of guns flowing into New York from out of state. Despite gun violence in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday that the NYPD would be putting a renewed focus on 'customer service' instead. He described the new $5.7million 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. NYPD Patrol Chief Juanita 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.' Meanwhile on Monday, NYPD released footage of a shootout in the Bronx that took place on September 16. Meanwhile on Monday, NYPD released footage of a shootout in the Bronx that took place on September 16 Several of the men fired shots before sprinting away down the street, while two others crawled to take cover behind a parked car. The man pictured bottom dropped to the floor with no cover, simply cradling his head in his hands, but miraculously emerged unscathed The NYPD released surveillance footage asking the public for help in identifying these two individuals who were linked to incidents of gang shooting in The Bronx last month The video begins by showing what appears to be seven gang members brandishing pistols, firing at an unidentified target across the street. This is the latest in a string of high-profile incidents of violent crime that have become more common throughout the five boroughs in the last 18 months, during which New York City has seen a rise in the number of shootings, felony assaults, and hate crimes. Several of the men fired shots before sprinting away down the street, while two others crawled to take cover behind a parked car. One other individual simply dropped to the floor and covered his head with his hands and a hood, miraculously emerging without any injuries. The footage then cuts to another angle in which two other men in wearing hoods can be seen firing pistols back at the gang as they backed away. Police are searching for the suspects shown in the video composed from several clips from street CCTV cameras on East 169th Street, which shows two groups exchanging gunfire from across the street before 10pm on September 16. Other recent shooting incidents include one on Wednesday in which 16-year-old Jaden Turnage was chased down a street in Bedford Stuyvesant and shot in the chest at around 6.15pm, the New York Post reported. Last Tuesday 16-year-old Cahlil Pennington was seen as he was shot dead in the head during a running gun battle in East New York 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 He was taken to Brooklyn Hospital where he was pronounced dead, and no suspects have been identified. A day before, 16-year-old Cahlil 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 killed 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. Cahlil pictured with his father Cornell (right), was taken to Brookdale University Hospital where he was pronounced dead 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, 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. Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller Jr. is being released from military brig today after winning a landslide of public support for his condemnation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan Lt. Colonel Stuart Scheller Jr. is being released from military brig today after winning a landslide of public support for his condemnation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Scheller Jr. was jailed last Monday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for repeatedly criticizing the military's chaotic withdrawal from Kabul. He was three days from retirement when he was stripped of his post and thrown in the grim confinement quarters to await military trial for contempt. He had said in videos that he was resigning and giving up his $2million pension because he was so appalled with how the situation in Afghanistan had unfolded. A spokesman for the Marines would not confirm what time he is being released, or why. His media team released an update on Tuesday saying: 'An IRO hearing was scheduled to review LtCol Stuart Schellers pre-trial detention at 1:30 pm today. 'The Marine Corps refused to provide an open hearing or to record the hearing. Media outlets objected and asked that the hearing be delayed to allow for action in federal court. 'Prior to the hearing, the Marine Corps agreed to release LtCol Scheller pending trial by court martial. 'Lt Col Scheller remains subject to the unlawful gag order previously issued by his commander Col David Emmel. LtCol Scheller has submitted a request for redress regarding the unlawful order to his command. The command has not yet replied to the request. 'Lt Col Scheller has submitted a request for resignation of his commission in lieu of trial to the Secretary of the Navy. Numerous members of Congress have urged the Secretary to accept this request. LtCol Scheller appreciates the support of the American people, his legal team, family and friends who have stood by him, Members of Congress, the Pipe Hitter Foundation and the Marines.' The update was posted on the Piper Hitter Foundation that has raised $2million for his defense The Washington Times reports that Scheller's initial court appearance was quietly delayed after protests from the media that they would be allowed to observe it. In a statement, they told DailyMail.com: 'Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. is being released from confinement today, Oct. 5, 2021, as a result of a mutual agreement between Lt. Col. Scheller, his Defense counsel, and the Commanding General, Training Command.' Scheller, based in North Carolina's Camp Lejeune, was three years from retirement when he posted a scathing video criticizing superiors on August 26, the same day that the 13 US troops were killed in Kabul. 'I'm not saying we need to be in Afghanistan forever, but I am saying, did any of you throw your rank on the table and say, 'Hey, it's a bad idea to evacuate Bagram Airfield, a strategic airbase, before we evacuate everyone'?' Scheller Jr said in the widely-shared clip. Supporters have raised over $2 million for the marine who was jailed for defying orders to stop publicly criticizing the nation's Afghanistan withdrawal Rep. Louie Gohmert says his imprisonment 'appears to be for messaging, retribution, and convenience.' The brig is pictured A source close to the case says Scheller is staying in an area of the brig normally for murderers Scheller was removed from command of the advanced infantry training battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, the day after he posted his first video 'due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command,' according to Maj. Jim Stenger, a spokesman for the Marines. Last week, his mother Cathy told how the family had been left 'heartbroken' by how the military had treated him. 'Hes in a cell with no books, no phone no nothing. 'Were heartbroken over this and so is he. 'We love America and we are so shocked at what were learning about what the new military is like in this country,' she told The New York Post. The Pipe Hitter Foundation, founded by Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher - who was accused of murdering an ISIS prisoner of war in 2017 and then pardoned by Donald Trump - started the fundraiser, which has received more than 26,000 donations and raised a total of $2,081,913. It says that the donations will go towards funding mounting legal expenses, helping Scheller's wife and three kids financially and to aid Scheller's transition out of the military. A joint operation between Chilean authorities and Interpol has led to the dismantling of an international people smuggling ring that ferried at least 1,000 Haitian migrants from Chile towards Mexico and the United States. Law enforcement agents arrested nine alleged members of the ring in the northern town of Arica on September 29, Interpol said in a statement Monday. The suspects included four Chileans, two Venezuelans, one Peruvian, one Haitian and one Paraguayan. Each of them are being charged with unlawful association and migrant smuggling. The smuggling ring suspects had been on the radar of the Investigations Police of Chile dating back to January 2020, and used WhatsApp chat groups to hawk their illegal immigration services to Haitians. Interpol announced Monday that its agents aided Chilean authorities in an investigation that led to the arrest of nine members of a migrant smuggling ring. The network had been ferrying at least 1,000 Haitian migrants to Mexico and the United States. For the most part as 267 children who were born in Chile to Haitian migrants were for sent alone to the U.S. but got stranded in Central America or Mexico due to COVID-19 border restrictions in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico. Pictured is a group of individuals who were staying at a home in northern city of Arica that was raided as part of the inquiry into the smuggling network Chilean authorities raid a property on September 29 in the northern city of Arica where a smuggling ring allegedly was operating from. The criminal network reportedly smuggled at least 1,000 Haitian migrants, including 267 unaccompanied children, to Mexico and the United States A member of a people smuggling ring, who reportedly ferried Haitian migrants to Mexico and the United States, is arrested September 29 'It's horrifying to think what these vulnerable children, some just a few years old, have suffered,' Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock said in a press release. Authorities learned that the criminal network smuggled 267 Chilean children who were born to Haitian migrants. They were either crossed into Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua or Panama with the United States being their final destination. A large number of Chilean children of Haitian descent were being crossed into Peru in January 2020. As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic started to engulf the Latin America region in March 2020, Chilean authorities became aware of large groups of minors born in Chile which were unable to move past border crossing points in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico. Two individuals look on as Chilean authorities inspect a property that was linked to members of a criminal network that smuggled at least 1,000 Haitian migrants to Mexico and the United States A Haitian smuggling ring broken up in Chile by local authorities and the Interpol consisted of four Chileans, two Venezuelans, one Peruvian, one Haitian and one Paraguayan. Pictured is one of the suspects who was arrested September 29 and is facing unlawful association and migrant smuggling charges By November 2020, investigators in Chile, with help of Interpol's Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants unit, had received a list that included 185 children who had been smuggled through Central America. Authorities attempted to track down their parents and find out if they are also headed to the United States. Some of the parents sent off their children by themselves, disregarding the dangers they were exposing their sons and daughters to. Other children were either abandoned or left to fend for themselves because their parents had died in the journey to Mexico and the United States. 'During the investigative process carried out by PDI's Human Trafficking Investigation Brigade which lasted more than one year we had the support of law enforcement from different parts of the world, which demonstrates the commitment and support of our peers when there is a common goal such as fighting transnational organized crime,' Investigations Police of Chile director general Sergio Munoz Yanez said. Thousands of Haitians settled in Chile following a devastating 2010 earthquake in their homeland, and many found permanent jobs. But an economic downturn in 2019 followed by the coronavirus pandemic and a growing sense of social rejection has forced many to opt instead for the long trek toward the United States. But that migration has created crises at chokepoints in several countries along the way as well as at the U.S. border itself, where thousands gathered at a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, in September. That prompted the U.S. to fly some back to Haiti and allow others to wait in the U.S. pending hearings, while many others went back to Mexico, which has been trying to keep most such migrants stalled near its own southern border while slow asylum or residence appeals play out. Fugitive Brian Laundrie left to go for a hike in Florida swampland a day earlier than his parents originally told police, Dailymail.com can reveal. Dad Christopher, 62, and mom Roberta, 55, told detectives he vanished on the evening of Tuesday, September 14 two weeks after he returned alone from the ill-fated cross-country road trip with girlfriend Gabby Petito, 22. But the Laundrie lawyer Steve Bertolino says the parents have now corrected their version of events and say their son disappeared on Monday, September 13. The Laundries did not report their son missing until the Thursday of that week. Bertolino told Dailymail.com: The Laundries were basing the date Brian left on their recollection of certain events. Upon further communication with the FBI and confirmation of the Mustang being at the Laundrie residence on Wednesday, September 15, we now believe the day Brian left to hike in the preserve was Monday, September 13. Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito are pictured together. Laundrie is now believed to have gotten a four-day headstart on authorities Police have previously said Laundries silver Ford Mustang convertible was given a police ticket at one of the entrances to the alligator-infested Carlton Reserve near his home in North Port, Florida, when left there on the Tuesday night. Bertolino did not respond when asked at what time Brian left the house on the Monday. However Dailymail.com arrived at the Laundrie home to cover the story of Gabbys disappearance at 1pm that day. The Mustang was not on the driveway, suggesting Brian had already vanished. Officers had turned up at the Laundrie house on the night of Saturday, September 11 to speak with Brian. It was just hours after Gabbys frantic mom Nichole Schmidt reported her missing at around 7pm to her local sheriffs office near her own home on Long Island, New York. However the Laundrie parents refused to make Brian available at the doorstep, saying everything should be handled through Bertolino. Dailymail.com has confirmed no officers actually saw Brian that night at the home. North Port police said: He was not seen. Spokesman Josh Taylor added: I would preface that by saying I cannot speak on if we saw him after that, for the integrity of the investigation. The Florida home of Brian Laundrie and his parents is seen at 1.09pm on Monday September 13 Chris and Roberta Laundrie pictured. Brian Laundrie's parents have now said they 'believe' he went on the run one day earlier than they first claimed - September 13 not 14 It is not clear why the Laundries did not alert authorities to their son's disappearance for four days. Nor is it clear if authorities ever received proof of Laundrie being in the family home on September 11 or entering the Carlton Reserve - where they have focused much of the more than $1 million search based on the information from Laundrie's parents. Laundrie's headstart on authorities has so far proved to be problematic for investigators who are yet to locate the 23-year-old after a more than two week manhunt. Questions continue to mount about what Laundrie's parents know about the doomed cross-country trip and their son's current whereabouts. When Petito was reported missing on September 11, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie refused to let authorities speak to their son. They then didn't tell police he had vanished until three days after they allegedly last saw him on September 14, sparking a nationwide manhunt. Rumors have also been circulating that both Laundrie and his mom have been using burner phones. Petito's dad Joe Petito hit out at the Laundrie parents in a new Dr. Phil interview, which aired Tuesday, calling them 'cowards' who 'don't know how to stand up for their actions'. The Laundrirs' attorney Steve Bertolino brushed off the inconsistency putting it down to 'recollection of certain events' in a text sent to WFLA Joe and Petito's mom Nicole Schmidt said they had tried calling and texting the Laundries multiple times when they grew concerned about not hearing from their daughter in early September - but they never replied. Laundrie's sister Cassie has also questioned her parents' involvement in her brother's disappearance, urging them to 'come clean' about what they know in an interview with ABC's GMA, which aired Tuesday. While she insisted she had nothing to do with Laundrie's disappearance, she admitted she wasn't so sure about her parents Christopher and Roberta Laundrie who she urged to cooperate with investigators. 'I don't know if my parents are involved,' said Cassie. 'I think if they are, then they should come clean.' Cassie said she would 'turn him in' if she knew where her brother was and said she doesn't know 'what to think' about what happened on the young couple's doomed cross-country trip. Laundrie's sister has come under fire in recent days after it emerged she had seen her brother twice in the time between him returning home to Florida and going on the run - despite previously claiming she hadn't spoken to him. Gabby Petito's family from L-R: step-mother Tara Petito, father Joe Petito, step-father James Schmidt, mother Nicole Schmidt on Dr Phil. Petito's dad called the Laundrie parents 'cowards' The significant change in the timeline of Laundrie's disappearance was revealed the same day the attorney also admitted Laundrie took a round trip to Florida in the days leading up to Petito's disappearance. Bertolino has claimed the fugitive flew home to Florida 'to empty a storage unit' five days after he and Gabby Petito got into a physical fight in Utah - before then rejoining his fiancee just two days before she made her final phone call to her family. Attorney Steve Bertolino told Newsday Tuesday that Laundrie, 23, took a commercial flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Tampa, Florida, on August 17. Five days later, on August 23, Laundrie then took a return flight 'to rejoin Gabby' for the remainder of their trip. Bertolino said the purpose of the fleeting visit was to pick up some items and close the storage unit because the young couple were thinking of 'extending the road trip' which was due to end in Oregon in October. But the trip was in fact cut short, with Laundrie driving the couple's white campervan back to his family's home in North Port, Florida, on September 1 while Petito's body was discovered in a park in Wyoming over two weeks later on September 19. Brian Laundrie's sister Cassie has urged her fugitive brother to 'come forward' and for her parents to 'come clean' if they know anything Laundrie remains at large with a nationwide manhunt under way for the only person of interest in his fiancee's homicide. The additional details of the couple's whereabouts - and the fact they separated for five days - raises more questions about what happened on the doomed cross-country trip. Bertolino said he believed the couple shared the costs for Laundrie to make the detour. 'To my knowledge, Brian and Gabby paid for the flights as they were sharing expenses,' the attorney said. 'Brian flew home to obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip.' This revelation reiterates what Petito's mom Nicole Schmidt told DailyMail.com exclusively earlier on in the search. DailyMail.com has reached out to the FBI Denver Office - which is leading the manhunt for Laundrie - to confirm the timeline detailed by Bertolino. Laundrie's alleged flight back to Florida came just days after the couple were separated by police in Moab, Utah, following a domestic incident. Bodycam footage from the August 12 encounter reveals a distraught Petito telling cops her fiance had hit her and cut her face by grabbing her 'with his nail' during a fight when he locked her out of their van. '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 is then seen defending Laundrie saying she 'hit him first', after an officer points out marks on her arms and face. 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 Laundrie hit her. According to attorney Steve Bertolino, Laundrie took a commercial flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Tampa, Florida, five days later on August 17 Police had responded to a 911 call from a bystander who said he had seen a man slapping a woman outside the nearby Mayflower grocery store before driving off in a white van. Cops determined Petito was the 'primary aggressor' and separated the couple for the night - meaning they are likely to have reunited on August 13. Body camera video from one Moab officer was released two weeks ago, while Petito was still a missing person and the audio was unclear at times. Footage from the second officer's body-worn camera was released last week, revealing Petito did admit to her fiancee hitting her. According to the account given by Laundrie's attorney, it was five days after this police callout that Laundrie left his fiancee in Utah and flew to Florida. It is not clear if Laundrie stayed at his parents' home in North Port or who he saw during that five-day period. It is also not clear what Petito did during this timeframe as she stayed back in Utah with the couple's campervan. In police bodycam footage on August 12, Petito tells the officer she does not usually drive the vehicle. On August 19, Petito posted two photos on Instagram - an aerial view of the couple's campervan and a photo showing what appears to be the back of Laundrie's head sitting in front of her in the back of the van. Laundrie is seen in bodycam from the August 12 incident where cops separated the couple for the night 'Almost immediately after telling @bizarre_design_ how happy it made me to see that people were truly respectful of the park, I watched some guy leave his processed pre-packaged plastic conglomerate of lunch garbage on the picnic table!' she captioned the post. It is not clear when those photos were taken. The timing of Laundrie's return on August 23 could also be significant as it comes just two days before Petito made her final phone call to her mom on August 25, where she told her she was in Grand Teton National Park. She is thought to have last been seen alive on August 27 at the Merry Piglets Tex-mex restaurant in Jackson, Wyoming, where the manager said she witnessed an 'incident' involving the couple. 'Yes, we can confirm Gabby and Brian were in Merry Piglets We have already notified the FBI and they are aware. We are letting them do their jobs and we are respecting Gabby's family and have nothing further to comment,' the restaurant said in an Instagram post last month. Two witnesses in the restaurant - Nina Angelo and her boyfriend Matt England - described seeing a 'commotion' between the couple. It is not clear what Laundrie and Petito did within the five-day period they were said to have separated. Petito posted this photo on Instagram appearing to show the back of Laundrie's head on August 19 - when he was reportedly in Florida Angelo previously told CNN Petito was crying and Laundrie was visibly angry, going in and out of the restaurant several times and appearing angry with the staff. The coroner has not released details on when Petito died. A preliminary autopsy ruled her death a homicide but cause of death is still unknown. On September 1, just nine days after Laundrie is said to have returned from Florida to Utah, he arrived back at his family's home in North Port without his fiancee but driving their van. Petito was reported missing on September 11 by her mom after not hearing from her daughter for multiple days and coming up against a wall of silence from Laundrie and his parents. 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 now been searching for Laundrie for almost three weeks. The Department of Justice confirmed that it is reviewing its earlier decision not to charge the FBI agents who botched the investigation into former USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar's extensive sexual abuse. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced the rare move at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Monaco informed the committee that the new head of the criminal division, Kenneth Polite, 'is currently reviewing this matter, including new information that has come to light.' She did not share what new information had been discovered. 'The survivors who testified so bravely deserve better than they got from the FBI and the Justice Department,' Monaco said at the hearing. 'There is a sense of urgency and gravity for the work that needs to be done.' Gymnasts Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 15 to discuss the FBI's failed investigation into Nassar's abuse. The Department of Justice is reviewing its decision not to charge FBI agents who botched Larry Nasar's sexual abuse investigation nearly a month after (L-R) Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols testified about the failed investigation Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced the rare move at a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday Biles, Maroney, Raisman, and Nichols (L-R) are some of the 330 women who have accused disgraced Team USA physician Larry Nasar of sexual abuse under the guise of medical treatments Nassar was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison in 2018 for several counts of criminal sexual conduct and child pornography charges More than 330 girls and women have said they were victimized by Nassar as he used his position as a Team USA physician to abuse them under the guise of medical treatments for nearly 20 years. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., described the FBI's mishandling of the case as 'a stain' on the agency. 'The FBI failed them,' Durbin said Tuesday, referring to Nassar's many victims. 'Our government failed them; we failed them.' And some lawmakers condemned Monaco for the DOJ's failure to send a representative to last month's hearing. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the move showed a 'profound disrespect' for the many victims. 'You are about three weeks too late,' Cornyn said. Nassar was arrested by the FBI on charges of possessing sexually explicit images of children in December 2016 and sentenced to life in prison in February 2018 for criminal sexual conduct and child pornography charges. But the FBI had been made aware of his sexual abuse in back 2015. Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the FBI's field office in Indianapolis 'failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required' after they were made aware of the abuse in 2015 The DOJ Inspector General report found that Field Office Special Agent in Charge (SAC) W. Jay Abbott (pictured) failed to follow up on allegations and then applied to a job with USA Gymnastics during the probe A damning report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found numerous serious errors in the FBI's investigation into the allegations made against Nasar in 2015. The mishandled investigation allowed Nasar to find 120 new victims and continue his abuse for another 17 months. The two FBI officers accused of mishandling the many sexual abuse claims made against Nassar allegedly made false statements, lied to the inspector general's office, and tampered with evidence. In a scathing 119-page report, Horowitz said the FBI's field office in Indianapolis 'failed to respond to the Nassar allegations with the utmost seriousness and urgency that they deserved and required.' In particular, the report singles out Indianapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge (SAC) W. Jay Abbott, saying he lied to cover up the investigative mistakes and missteps. 'Abbott made materially false statements during his OIG interviews to minimize errors made by the Indianapolis Field Office in connection with the handling of the Nassar allegations,' inspector general stated. The inspector general writes that even after investigators first learned of possible criminal conduct by Nassar, Abbott submitted a resume in search of a job as chief security officer with USA Gymnastics, a violation of bureau ethics. Abbott was not chosen for the position and has since retired from the FBI. It has also been revealed that former Agent Michael Langeman, who is not named in the report, allegedly lied to the inspector general's office in interviews in 2020 and 2021 regarding the botched investigation, according to Horowitz's report. Biles said in her testimony last month she was failed by the FBI, USA Gymnastics (USAG) and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) in their handling of Nassar's abuse Raisman told the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that authorities knew of at least six victims in 2015 but continued to serve 'innocent children up to a pedophile on a platter' McKayla Maroney testified on September 15 saying she spoke to FBI agents for three hours in the summer of 2015 telling them her 'entire story of abuse' but they failed to take action Maggie Nichols told the Senate Judiciary Committee in September that - six years on from reporting the abuse in 2015 - she is still waiting for answers Langeman worked as a supervisory special agent (SSA) in the FBI's Indianapolis office and interviewed victim McKayla Maroney when she came forward with allegations in 2015. He failed to properly document his interview with Maroney and did not take action for 17 months, the report revealed. He was fired after the report was published. The report by Horowitz goes on to say: 'The actions and inactions of the FBI employees described in the Report are inexcusable and a discredit to this organization and the values we hold dear. 'At the FBI, we consider our mission to protect and serve the American people to be the highest responsibility. 'The conduct and facts in the Report are appalling, and we appreciate your continued efforts to examine it and recommend further improvements and safeguards.' John Manly, a lawyer representing many of the athletes and women who were abused by Nassar, said that Monaco's announcement was 'long overdue and necessary to give survivors justice and closure.' He spoke on behalf of the gymnasts saying, 'The victims have waited years for justice...It is time.' A vigil honouring Sabina Nessa has been held tonight in Eastbourne - the town where the man suspected of murdering her was arrested last month. Around 200 people gathered at the entrance of the pier in the seaside town, in East Sussex, to pay tribute to the school teacher and protest the 'crisis of violence against women'. Ms Nessa, 28, had been walking to meet a friend at a pub near her home when she was fatally attacked. The journey should have taken just five minutes, but instead she killed in Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London. Her body was found nearly 24 hours later covered with leaves near a community centre in the park. Tonight's peaceful demonstration was marked by cheers and applause as those addressing the crowd spoke out against victim blaming. Later, the darkening sky was lit with the lights from dozens of mobile phones, as a minute's silence was held for Ms Nessa. The vigil comes amid continuing public outrage and debate over women's safety and policing in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, who was killed by a serving Met Police officer. Around 200 people gathered in the seaside town, in East Sussex, to pay tribute to the school teacher and protest the 'crisis of violence against women' Ms Nessa, 28, had been walking to meet a friend at a pub near her home when she was fatally attacked. Pictured: People gather at the vigil for Sabina Nessa in Eastbourne Tuesday's vigil comes amid continuing public outrage and debate over women's safety and policing in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard. Pictured: A person attending a vigil carries a sign saying 'Sarah say her name' in reference to Miss Everard Speaking to those gathered on the seafront on Tuesday evening, one woman who gave her name as Natasha said: 'Sabina Nessa should still be alive. 'She was loved and she will be deeply missed.' Many of those attending held pictures of Ms Nessa, while others carried signs calling out male violence or remembering Ms Everard. Natasha continued: 'Women are frightened for their lives. 'We are having to consider the risk of going out alone past 6pm and potentially getting, attacked, raped or murdered and the advice to flag down busses does not make us feel safe. 'This is a crisis. We need to make the safety of women and girls a priority.' Speaking to those gathered on the seafront on Tuesday evening, one woman who gave her name as Natasha said: 'Sabina Nessa should still be alive.' Pictured: People attend the vigil in Eastbourne Many of those attending held pictures of Ms Nessa, while others carried signs calling out male violence or remembering Sarah Everard Koci Selamaj was arrested in Eastbourne in the early hours of September 26. A light-coloured Nissan Micra was seized in a leafy residential street about half-a-mile away. Selamaj, 36, from Eastbourne, has indicated that he will deny the charge of murder. He has been remanded in custody ahead of a plea hearing on December 16. Koci Selamaj (pictured here in a court sketch) was arrested in Eastbourne in the early hours of September 26. Selamaj, 36, from Eastbourne, has indicated that he will deny the charge of murder It comes as the Metropolitan Police today announced it will put hundreds of extra officers on the streets of London over the next six months in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. An additional 650 officers will be put in place across the capital, with 500 officers being based permanently in busy neighbourhoods, the force confirmed. A further 150 staff will join London's dedicated ward officers, also known as 'bobbies on the beat', who are police officers based in communities and who work with Londoners to problem solve local issues. The move, which is part of a drive to cut violence against women and girls, comes after policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, murdered Sarah Everard after using Covid laws to stage a fake arrest and kidnap the 33-year-old as she walked along a street in Clapham last year. It also comes just weeks after the death of Ms Nessa in London. Hundreds of extra officers will be put on the streets of London over the next six months, the Metropolitan Police have said It comes after Sarah Everard, 33, was murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, in London last year The town centre teams will be made up of one inspector, two sergeants and 21 police constables. The list of London boroughs that will see an increase in officers Westminster Barking and Dagenham, Barking Ilford in Redbridge Croydon Bromley Lewisham Woolwich in Greenwich Brixton in Lambeth Uxbridge in Hillingdon Hounslow Camden and Euston Wood Green in Haringey Enfield Kingston Upon Thames Hackney Brent, Wembley and Harlesden Newham Advertisement Once in place, the local police leaders will be able to increase the size of their teams if needed. The first tranche of officers will be in place by late 2021 and all 19 teams are expected to be in place by spring 2022. They will be located in boroughs and towns across London, from Hounslow, west London, to Barking and Dagenham, east London. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said: 'Our growth enables us to increase our presence in busy neighbourhoods and town centres and be even more focused on protecting people and solving the long-term crime and anti-social behaviour issues we know people care about most like violent crime, and violence and harassment committed against women and girls. 'Local policing is at the heart of everything we do and we know that we are so much more effective if we are in communities and neighbourhoods, working side-by-side with all Londoners, listening and engaging with them, tackling the issues that make them feel unsafe. 'We want communities to regularly see and get to know their local officers, so that they trust and have confidence in them, knowing they are there to protect and keep them safe.' The London Borough of Westminster is one of three boroughs where extraordinary demand means there will be an enhanced or additional town centre team. The boroughs of Camden and Brent will have two teams whilst the West End will have a single but bigger team. Ilford in Redbridge, Bromley and Lewisham will also see increased police presence. Following the move, some social media users thanked the Met for boosting the number of officers while others said 800 officers for London was 'not enough'. On Monday, Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick announced she had called in an independent reviewer to look at the force's culture and standards following Couzens' whole life sentencing last week. A DJ from Southern California has filed a lawsuit against an offshore oil operation responsible for an oil spill off the coast of Orange County last week. Peter Moses Gutierrez Jr., whose company often books events along Huntington Beach, is suing Houston-based Amplify Energy Corp and its affiliated companies, citing a loss of substantial business because of the spill. Gutierrez, who is a local resident, claims he has been or will be exposed to toxins as a result of the spill, and seeks class-action status. Amplify Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Martyn Willsher speaks during a press conference about the response to an oil spill in the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach, California on October 4, 2021 Satellite images for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted an oily 'anomaly' in the Pacific overnight on Friday Workers in protective suits clean oil in an inlet leading to the Wetlands Talbert Marsh after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, California, on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021 The complaint suggests the vast shoreline affected by the spill suffered 'tremendous damage' and residents and wildlife have endured 'catastrophic' consequences. The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched, records show. Oil spill reports reviewed on Monday by The Associated Press and analyzed by USA Today raise questions about the Coast Guard's response to one of the state's largest recent oil spills as well as how quickly Amplify Energy, the company operating three offshore platforms and the pipeline, recognized it had a problem and notified authorities. California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at James Denman Middle School in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 Cleanup workers in protective suits work along the contaminated Huntington State Beach, which is closed, after a 126,000-gallon oil spill from an offshore oil platform on October 5, 2021 in Huntington Beach, California Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, on Monday night declared a state of emergency to deal with the spill. 'The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment,' he said. Californians were angered about the slow response to the crisis. Thousands went to the beach on Saturday, unaware that the spill had been detected - because the authorities decided not to tell them, USA Today reported. Federal and state authorities were aware of the spill by Friday evening, official spill reports show. Satellites transmitting images to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spotted an oily 'anomaly' in the Pacific, growing increasingly large. But the authorities did not share the information. A staff of California Department Fish & Wildlife examines a contaminated Sanderling from the oil spill in Huntington Beach on Monday. The lawsuit suggests the vast shoreline affected by the spill suffered 'tremendous damage' and residents and wildlife have endured 'catastrophic' consequences Environmental volunteers continue cleanup oil and residue that has washed ashore at Bolsa Chica State Beach and the Bolsa Chica Wetlands. Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said company divers were inspecting the area of the suspected leak reported Saturday, and he expected that by Tuesday there would be a clearer picture of what caused the damage. Willsher said an anchor from a cargo ship striking the pipeline is 'one of the distinct possibilities' behind the leak. The lawsuit claims the companies were negligent and 'failed to properly operate the oil rig, resulting in a catastrophic oil spill' and 'failed to ensure the oil rig was safe to operate, when, in reality, it was not.' It was suggested to that court establish a trust fund for who have been exposed to potentially dangerous substances due to the spill and those who might experience an increased risk of contracting illnesses and diseases. Gutierrez Jr. also claimed the conduct of the companies 'fell below the standard of care' of a reasonable property owner or operator. The complaint includes allegations of damage including, but not limited to, harm to personal property, harm to personal health, harm to animals and livestock, and diminishment of businesses. Sherry Heffernan, 55, faces two murder counts and two weapons counts for allegedly stabbing to death her father, John Enders, 87, and the man's girlfriend, Francoise Pitoy, 75 A woman stabbed her elderly father and his lover to death at their $1.9million Jersey Shore home five months after he moved the property from a trust into his name, police say. Sherry Lee Heffernan, 55, was arrested in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, on Monday for the murders of her father John Enders, 87, and Enders' partner Francoise Pitoy, 75. They were killed at Enders' oceanfront mansion in Surf City, New Jersey, on September 29, with the couple's bodies discovered late Sunday afternoon after police were called out to perform a welfare check on them. Heffernan faces two murder counts and two weapons counts and is being held in Pennsylvania pending extradition to New Jersey. When police arrived at the residence around 4pm on Sunday, 'it was readily apparent they were deceased,' and had 'multiple obvious stab wounds,' a statement released by police said. Enders also was determined to have suffered a severed carotid artery and blunt force trauma. An autopsy on Pitoy was scheduled for today. Police were able to determine there was 'no immediate danger to the public' early in their investigations. The victims were likely killed on September 29, but their bodies were not discovered inside Enders' $1.9million Surf City, New Jersey, home (pictured), until Sunday Heffernan was arrested by the Pennsylvania State Police and is being held at Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania until she will be extradited to an Ocean County jail upon her return to New Jersey for her detention hearing. 'The cooperative investigation ultimately determined that Heffernan, Mr. Enders' daughter, was responsible for the deaths of both Mr. Enders and Ms. Pitoy,' Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer stated. 'This truly was a team effort in terms of the depth and comprehensiveness of this investigation,' he said. 'These detectives combed through the evidence to ultimately determine that Heffernan did, in fact, cause the deaths of Mr. Enders and Ms. Pitoy.' Ocean County Sheriff's Department found the pair with various stab wounds and determined Enders' death to be from 'multiple stab wounds with severance of the right carotid artery and blunt force trauma.' Pitoy's is scheduled for today After finding the couple in Ender's home (pictured), Heffernan has since been sent to Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania. It is unclear when she will be extradited to New Jersey Law enforcement did not disclose a motive for the murder Enders, a construction company boss, owned the home and was in a relationship with Pitoy, who lived in Manchester, according to Surf City police and the Ocean County prosecutors office. Heffernan has an inactive case for two misdemeanor charges in a Pennsylvania court for retail theft for taking merchandise and receiving stolen property that occurred in October 2019. She has also pleaded guilty for a September 2019 traffic violation. Law enforcement officials have not disclosed a possible motive behind the grisly double homicide. Property records obtained by Asbury Park Press indicate that Enders moved ownership of his six-bedroom, four-bath waterfront home from a trust status to his own name in May 2021. It is unclear what his future plans for the property were. DailyMail.com attempted to contacted the Pennsylvania State Police but did hear back before publication. A woke war of words has erupted between Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the city's top prosecutor Kim Foxx, after the mayor criticized Foxx for not charging the assailants in a deadly shootout last week. On Monday, Lightfoot publicly called for charges to be brought against the assailants who opened fire at a house in the North Austin neighborhood of the city Friday morning, killing one and injuring two. She said there is enough video evidence and officers who witnessed the crime to bring charges against those involved - after Foxx said she could not approve because there is not yet enough sufficient evidence to file charges. In response, Foxx, the State Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, said it was 'inappropriate' for the mayor to discuss the facts of the case in public while it remains under investigation. 'I was quite honestly mortified by what happened yesterday, particularly by the mayor,' she told CBS 2, noting that as a former prosecutor, the mayor should know 'that what she did yesterday was inappropriate.' Lightfoot - herself a former prosecutor in the area - tossed the brickbat at her fellow Democrat amid an ongoing crime spike in the city. That has seen her U-turn from wanting to defund the police, to announcing plans to refund the city's beleaguered police department. A war of words has erupted between Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and District Attorney Kim Foxx, after the mayor criticized Foxx for not charging the assailants in a shootout last week The argument stems from a shootout in the North Austin neighborhood that left one person dead and two others injured. According to Chicago police, tactical officers responded to a call of a man with a gun near Potomac and Mason Avenues at 10.30am on Friday, and saw four people get out of two cars in front of a home and start shooting. People inside the home returned fire, shooting one of the attackers, as the other assailants fled the scene in the two cars. One of the vehicles was later found burned out, and the second vehicle crashed as the driver tried to flee the scene. He took off after the crash, Oak Park police said, but was caught later and arrested. Meanwhile, the assailant who was shot was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, and two others who were inside the home at the time of the shooting were also brought to the hospital - though their conditions are unknown. The dead man's name has not been named. The entire incident was caught on surveillance footage and was witnessed by the officers who arrived on the scene, Lightfoot said. 'I just want you to know that this is of deep concern to me,' she said on Monday, writing a letter with five aldermen urging Foxx to reconsider her decision to not bring charges against the assailants, who were all released from custody. 'Having looked at this; gotten a deeper understanding from the detectives that were doing the investigation; it's really hard to understand that decision,' the letter read. 'It's complicated, for sure. But we really urge the State Attorney herself to get personally involved, look at the evidence' and bring charges 'at a minimum against the individuals who initiated the gunfire. 'We can't live in a world where there's no accountability,' the mayor continued, 'meaning individuals who wreak havoc, who fire indiscriminately, or fire at a target but without any regard to life and the health and wellbeing of others. 'If they do not feel like the criminal justice system is going to hold them accountable, we're going to see a level of brazenness that will send this city into chaos,' she warned. 'And we cannot let that happen. We simply cannot let that happen.' The argument stems from a shootout in the North Austin neighborhood that left one person dead and two others injured on Friday morning Foxx has claimed she has not brought charges against the assailants because there is a lack of evidence, despite Lightfoot's claims to the contrary But the next day, Foxx said Lightfoot's statements about the evidence available 'simply weren't true,' and said that as a former prosecutor herself, she should know better than to try the case in the media. 'I find myself here today having to respond to a narrative that was given by the mayor yesterday regarding a case that is still under investigation,' she said on Tuesday. 'It was inappropriate. It was wrong. As a prosecutor who understands the oath, and as a former prosecutor, discussing the facts of this case in the press without the benefit of all of the evidence does a disservice to the communities who have been impacted by this violence.' She suggested Lightfoot's comments about the case could compromise any potential prosecution in the future, noting: 'I want to end trying cases in the media. 'At the end of the day, the statements that were made yesterday that were not factually accurate, should this case be ready for charging, may pose potential issues,' she said. 'Nobody wants that, not for a political stunt, not for a press hit. 'Our number one concern should be about getting those people prosecuted, not a headline diverting attention away from the fact that we have not had comprehensive plans in mind.' Foxx also said she was disappointed Lightfoot did not reach out to her directly about her concerns. 'She didn't pick up the phone and raise those concerns with me to get a full accounting of what happened in this case.' If she had, Foxx said, she would know that the shootout remains under investigation and her office is prepared to bring charges if and when there is sufficient evidence to make an arrest. 'We will continue to work with our partners in law enforcement to ensure that the necessary work is done so that we may bring charges, and ultimately secure a conviction for those who engage in the violence that we've seen across this city.' She noted, however, that just because there might be video evidence in a specific case does not mean there is sufficient evidence to charge someone. 'We can't try cases on videos. We need witnesses to come forward,' Foxx told CBS 2. 'In order for us to bring charges in a case, it's not simply what we saw a video of something happen. We need to be able to say that the person who we arrested and charged is the same person who engaged in the act.' She noted that Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan twice on Monday acknowledged that there was not enough evidence in the case to bring charges - not even for simple firearms offenses. He said at a police budget hearing on Monday that the video the mayor referenced does not clearly show who was firing the weapons. And, Foxx said, the county has been the source of the most wrongful convictions in the country because of an 'anything goes' approach to criminal cases in the 1980s and 1990s, a trend she sought to end. 'We cannot play games,' Foxx argued. 'We must operate as the professionals that we are, and that means as prosecutors, we don't engage on the facts and the evidence in the media. 'And we would expect our partners, especially those who served as prosecutors, would recognize that, and more importantly in engaging in, that will tell the truth.' Foxx concluded by saying when would like to have a meeting with Lightfoot and local police officials 'so that we can have a common understanding that is not filtered through press or leaks, to discuss the concerns that have been raised out of a number of cases.' The mayor later questioned whether there was actually a lack of clarity in the video, asking: 'If this happened in Beverly or Mt. Greenwood, would there really be no clarity.' The two areas are predominantly white, whereas North Austin is predominantly black. Foxx was elected to office in 2016 vowing to reform the criminal justice system. She is now facing re-election In her statement, Foxx noted that Chicago Police Department Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan had testified at a budget hearing that the video evidence from the shootout was not clear Foxx was elected to office in 2016, vowing to reform the criminal justice system and reduce the population of the Cook County Jail - which disproportionately holds low income people of color. During her time in office, a study by the Chicago Tribune found, she had dropped felony cases involving charges of murder and other serious offenses at a higher rate than her predecessor. In her first three years in office, the Tribune found, the DA's office dropped all charges against nearly 30 percent of felony defendants, whereas in the last three years of Anita Alvarez's tenure, the rate was 19.4 percent. She dropped 8.1 percent of homicide cases, compared with 5.3 percent of cases dropped under Alvarez; as well as 9.5 percent of felony sex crimes, while the rate was 6.5 percent for Alvarez. In total, the Tribune reports, a total of 25,183 people had their felony cases dismissed under Foxx through November 2019, up from 18,694 for a similar period under Alvarez. One of the most well-known cases Foxx's office decided not to prosecute was the case against former Empire star Jussie Smollett, who had been accused of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago. Prosecutors in 2019 moved to dismiss all 16 felony counts against Smollett under Foxx's leadership, but in February, a grand jury indicted him on new charges - making allegations nearly identical to those that Foxx's office dropped. In an interview with the Tribune, Foxx said she tried to create an office culture where assistant state attorneys can openly discuss dropping felony charges if a case has legal problems, pointing to the many wrongful convictions that have occurred over the years. 'Recognizing the history that we've had around wrongful convictions, recognizing our ethical obligations as prosecutors requires us to reinforce that people can, if they believe a case is flawed, bring it to our attention and we will dismiss it if it's appropriate,' she said. Foxx is now up for re-election. In 2019, Foxx's office dropped 16 charges against Empire star Jussie Smollett, pictured leaving the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in February 2020 But in February of this year, a grand jury indicted him on new charges - making allegations nearly identical to those that Foxx's office dropped Mayor Lori Lightfoot, meanwhile, has changed her tone about defunding the police in recent weeks over a crime spike and re-election fears. In August, she unveiled her plans to refund the police,' a U-turn from Lightfoots proposal last year which slashed $59million from the CPD budget, or 3.3percent, and 600 vacant positions from the department, amid Black Lives Matter protests throughout the summer of 2020. She said at a news conference last month: Its my expectation that the police department budget will increase, no question. We have to. She added, We have to make sure we are continuing to provide resources to recruit the next generation of police officers and make sure were doing that recruitment in a way that reflects diversity of the city. The announcement came in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Ella French, 29, was killed during the shooting at a traffic stop in August. It was the first fatal shooting of a Chicago officer in the line of duty since Lightfoot took office, and she became the first female officer fatally shot on the job there in 33 years. Cops turned their back on Lightfoot after she went to the hospital to see the family of French's work partner, who was seriously injured. The mayor is said to have been badly-shaken by the snub. Two brothers were been charged over the shooting murder. Emonte Morgan, 21, was charged with first-degree murder of a peace officer, attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. His brother, Eric Morgan, 22, was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and obstruction of justice. Ella French died after she was shot during a traffic stop in August this year About two weeks after the tragedy, over Labor Day weekend, Chicago was swept by another wave of violent crime that saw a four year-old boy die after he was shot twice in the head through a window of his dad's home while he slept. WLS-TV reports that at least 47 people were shot, two fatally, in 12-hour time span across the city as Labor Day weekend kicked off, with young Mychal Moultry Jr. among those victims. Moultry Jr. was sleeping at his father's home on the 6500 block of South Ellis around 9pm on September 3 when he was struck twice in the head by gunfire that came through the window from outside the residence, according to NBC Chicago. The youngster was taken in critical condition to Comer Children's Hospital, and was declared deceased two days later, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman told the news outlet. Elsewhere in the city, seven other children were among those injured in shootings over the holiday weekend, outraging residents citywide. Among those seven children, two siblings, a 12-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl, were shot while attending a back-to-school picnic near an East Garfield Park gas station on Saturday, NBC Chicago reports. Both teens were transported to Rush University Medical Center in stable condition, NBC Chicago reports. Meanwhile, a 13-year-old boy was seriously injured after being shot in the basement of a South Chicago home just before 8pm on September 4, according to Chicago police. The boy was struck in the head and was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital in serious condition. The city has since experienced a 5 percent increase in murder over the same time period last year, a 27 percent increase in sexual assault cases and an 11 percent increase in shooting incidents, according to statistics released by the Chicago Police Department. Two employees at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, claim they were fired for asking students if they were vaccinated against the coronavirus. Bruce Hodge and Karen Corwin were both involved in the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities program - a residential honors program for gifted and talented high school-aged students to earn college credit. Hodge served as the Student Service Coordinator for the Academy, while Corwin was a counselor. They told The Washington Post that they were laid off after inquiring about the vaccination status of the students, after they were not given guidance on the college's COVID-19 protocols. Hodge and Corwin would act as parents in absentia for most of the students, making sure they were safe in their dorm rooms each night, caring for them in sickness, and even taking them to urgent care or the emergency room if needed. 'I could foresee a situation with an incapacitated student where I couldn't reach a parent and a doctor is asking me if they're vaccinated,' Hodge told the Post. Bruce Hodge and Karen Corwin, two employees at Lamar University, were fired after they asked students for their vaccination status Hodge said he was not informed about the university's COVID-19 protocol, so he and Corwin decided to create blue vaccination slips to find out who was vaccinated against the virus. 'We collect just a voluminous amount of medical information on these students that normal college students don't have to provide,' Hodge told the Post. With just a few exceptions, most of the 30 students said they had been double-jabbed. 'Not a single student balked when we gave it to them,' he said about the blue slips. Reassured about the outcome, the two school staffers showed the dean, but claim he seemed 'peeved' that they had conceived the slips. Hodge also explained to the dean that he and Corwin wanted to be prepared for a worst-case scenario. The vaccination slips were eventually passed on to the associated provost and school's chief of police before Hodge and Corwin were involved in meetings with school administrators. They were also summoned to the university's human resources office before being summarily terminated on September 13th. 'There was no discussion. There was nothing' Corwin said. Texas is an at-will employment state where employers can generally fire workers for any reason. While they weren't officially given an explanation for their dismissal, Hodge and Corwin believed they were fired due to the politicization regarding the COVID-19 vaccine in Texas. Governor Greg Abbott announced an executive order banning government COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Texas in August, regardless of a vaccines approval status with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order in May prohibiting governmental entities in Texas including counties, cities, school districts, public health authorities, or government officials from requiring or mandating mask wearing. Public schools were able to continue to follow current mask-wearing guidelines through June 4. After June 4, no student, teacher, parent, or other staff member or visitor can be required to wear a mask while on campus. Governor Abbott also banned government mandates on COVID-19 vaccines in August, regardless of whether they have full FDA approval. 'I don't think you have to be a super-detective,' Corwin said, referring to the untold reason of her firing. Gifted high-school students enrolled in the Texas Academy of Leadership in the Humanities have to stay in their rooms and take college-level classes at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas Corwin and Hodge consulted legal experts for advice, but they were told that it'd be hard to win a case against the university for wrongful termination due to local labor laws. 'What they did was shameful and wrong,' Corwin said. 'We thought we were protecting the students,' Hodge said. 'I would lay awake at night realizing the liability that rested on me and the shoulder of the academy with these 16- and 17-year-olds on campus.' 'I still worry,' Hodge added. 'I just hope that everything's okay, that nothing happens to a student.' Lamar University told Dailymail.com that they declined to comment on these types of matters. More than 9,000 Texans who have died from COVID-19 in August and September, nearly 40 percent of them under the age of 60, part of an worrying surge in reported daily deaths that threatens to overtake last summers deadly surge in average weekly numbers. Just over 50 percent of the Texas population is fully vaccinated. Health officials say that the states high rate of unvaccinated people contributed to a surge in COVID-19 related hospitalizations, which preceded the spike in deaths that soon followed. Fiona Hill said on Tuesday she did not believe President Vladimir Putin had any compromising information on former President Donald Trump, whom she served as Russia expert on the National Security Council for two years. Speculation swirled throughout Trump's presidency that his soft line on Russia and deference to Putin were the result of kompromat - potentially embarrassing information held by Moscow. But Hill dismissed the theory. 'From Putins view, whats not to like? What Putin had on Trump is what everybody else had recognition of his extreme vulnerability to manipulation,' she told the Daily Beast in an interview to promote her memoir 'There Is Nothing for You Here.' Instead she said the former president was 'a counter-intelligence and national security risk because he was so vulnerable to manipulation on the fragility of his ego.' 'Anyone could induce him to do something by raising the specter of someone insulting himor by praising him,' she said. 'His ideology was idolatry.' Fiona Hill, who worked as President Trump's Russia expert for two years, dismissed the idea that President Putin had compromising material on the former U.S. president Instead, Hill said world leaders such as Putin quickly worked out that Trump was amenable to simple flattery. What Putin had on Trump is what everybody else hadrecognition of his extreme vulnerability to manipulation,' she said in an interview to promote her new book Hill's memoir was published by Mariner Books on Tuesday The idea that Russia held kompromat on Trump gained currency with reports of a dossier compiled by a former British spy. Its most explosive claim was that a surveillance video captured Trump cavorting with prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow. But the revelations were at best never confirmed and at worst completely debunked. Hill, a U.K.-born specialist in Russia affairs and author of a Putin biography, hit the headlines in 2019 when she gave damning testimony during Trump's first impeachment trial. She attracted the anger of Trump supporters by saying there was no evidence of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election - a conspiracy theory peddled by some Republicans - and that a second, political and domestic channel was pursuing Ukrainian policy separate from the usual mechanism. In so doing, her evidence supported the accusation that Trump bent his presidential apparatus for political gain. Her new book and promotional interviews will only further aggravate his supporters. She said foreign leaders, from Frances Emmanuel Macron to the Saudis, quickly realized that Trump was sensitive to flattery, she said. And he suffered from 'autocrat envy, pandering to Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, Chinas Xi Jinping, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 'He also really liked kings and queens,' she added, as well as Putin who simply said something nice about Trump on TV in order to win his favor. In an interview with MSNBC's Morning Joe show she also said the Russians would have collected intelligence on Trump but that the 'fragility of the ego' was the biggest factor. 'Of course the Russians, as a matter of course, collect information on anyone who comes there way ... business person, politician, you know any prominent tourists ... so you can be sure that they had something,' she said. 'But the biggest thing was the ability to manipulate, because what Vladimir Putin likes to do is find out what buttons, he can push, you know, people's vulnerabilities. 'And that's what he honed into in the case of President Trump.' A friendly press conference in Helsinki prompted fresh questions about Trump's warm attitude to Putin and whether the Russian leader had kompromat on the American president Hill is one of several former Trump officials to publish books on their time in his administration. This week she confirmed press secretary Stephanie Grisham's account that Russian President Vladimir Puttin had subbed in an attractive female translator to distract the American leader. 'We know that this was the case because there had been somebody else on the list, a man, intended to translate for that particular session,' Hill said Monday on Good Morning America. 'And at the very last minute the Russian swapped out for the other interpreter.' Hill added that it was 'clearly intended to draw attention.' 'Because President Putin made a big point of basically introducing President Trump to the interpreter, which is something that he normally wouldn't do,' Hill said. She also suggested Putin made the move because a number of women were attending the meeting as part of the American delegation including Ivanka Trump, Grisham and Hill. Advertisement A senior policing chief has today welcomed the Government's plan to launch an inquiry in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), said it was 'critical' to 'deal with' issues surrounding vetting and professional standards proceedings in policing. It comes after Priti Patel announced plans for an independent inquiry to look at the 'systematic failures' that allowed her killer Wayne Couzens to be employed as a police officer with the Met Police. London Mayor Sadiq Khan also backed the review, urging that the inquiry must 'leave no stone uncovered'. Welcoming the review, Mr Hewitt - whose NPCC group are the national co-ordination body for law enforcement - said: 'Whilst I have confidence in the processes that we have, the reality is that there are clearly issues that emerge from this specific case. 'So I think it warrants us looking again and working with those other bodies to ensure that we are learning every lesson that we can around not only the policies, but also the practice of how that vetting is taking place in individual forces. 'Both of those areas (of vetting and professional standards) are absolutely critical for us to deal with ... to restore public confidence in the service. 'And I think having an independent inquiry is a very good way for that to be to be dealt with to really help us provide that reassurance.' Mr Hewitt said there there were already 'very clear' vetting policies which are continually reviewed, with checks on officers throughout their career, along with professional standards procedures. But he added: 'The confidence of the public is absolutely paramount, that people recognise and understand that we are doing things properly because of the powers that we have as police officers, but also it's about the confidence of the service.' It comes as Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said today that the inquiry must 'leave no stone uncovered'. Mr Khan, who supported the investigation, said confidence in the police had been 'shattered' and he hoped it 'leads to the conclusions that leads to people having more confidence than they currently do'. Mr Khan said: 'Over the last few days I have been in almost daily contact with the Home Secretary and shared with her my concerns in relation to the fact that people across the country have had their confidence shattered in the police and I welcome her announcement today. Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC), said it was 'critical' to 'deal with' issues surrounding vetting and professional standards proceedings in policing. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said today that the inquiry must 'leave no stone uncovered'. It comes after Priti Patel announced plans for an independent inquiry to look at the 'systematic failures' at the Met Police (pictured: Commissioner Cressida Dick) that allowed her killer Wayne Couzens to be employed as a police officer Metropolitan Police to put hundreds more officers and 'bobbies on the beat' in London in bid to make women and girls feel safer in wake of murder of Sarah Everard The Metropolitan Police has announced it will put hundreds of extra officers on the streets of London over the next six months in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder. An additional 650 officers will be put in place across the capital, with 500 officers being based permanently in busy neighbourhoods, the force confirmed. A further 150 staff will join London's dedicated ward officers, also known as 'bobbies on the beat', who are police officers based in communities and who work with Londoners to problem solve local issues. The move, which is part of a drive to cut violence against women and girls, comes after policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, murdered Sarah Everard after using Covid laws to stage a fake arrest and kidnap the 33-year-old as she walked along a street in Clapham last year. It also comes just weeks after primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, 28, was killed as she walked through Cator Park in Kidbrooke, south-east London, on her way to meet a friend on September 17. The town centre teams will be made up of one inspector, two sergeants and 21 police constables. Once in place, the local police leaders will be able to increase the size of their teams if needed. The first tranche of officers will be in place by late 2021 and all 19 teams are expected to be in place by spring 2022. They will be located in boroughs and towns across London, from Hounslow, west London, to Barking and Dagenham, east London. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave said: 'Our growth enables us to increase our presence in busy neighbourhoods and town centres and be even more focused on protecting people and solving the long-term crime and anti-social behaviour issues we know people care about most like violent crime, and violence and harassment committed against women and girls. 'Local policing is at the heart of everything we do and we know that we are so much more effective if we are in communities and neighbourhoods, working side-by-side with all Londoners, listening and engaging with them, tackling the issues that make them feel unsafe. 'We want communities to regularly see and get to know their local officers, so that they trust and have confidence in them, knowing they are there to protect and keep them safe.' The London Borough of Westminster is one of three boroughs where extraordinary demand means there will be an enhanced or additional town centre team. The boroughs of Camden and Brent will have two teams whilst the West End will have a single but bigger team. Ilford in Redbridge, Bromley and Lewisham will also see increased police presence. Advertisement 'We've got to make sure no stone is left uncovered in relation to finding out what happened in relation to this man and in relation to allegations made against his previous conduct, in relation to how the vetting process failed, in relation to missed opportunities to make sure lessons are learnt. 'We then need to look into wider issues for policing across the country. 'There are serious concerns in relation to the vetting practices for police forces across the country, serious concerns in relation to grievances and discipline but also in relation to the workplace environment. 'A police service must have no truck in relation to misogyny, racism, sexism, or homophobia and we need to make sure we do what we can to restore the confidence that's been lost over the last few weeks.' He stopped short of backing under fire Met Police chief Cressida Dick, who has faced a swathe of criticism in the wake of the Sarah Everard case. When asked if he thought Dame Cressida was the right person to take the force forward, he said: 'I think when you read and hear about some of the concerns people have raised across the country, when you just reflect on the fact that between International Women's Day last year and International Women's Day this year, across the country 118 women were killed at the hands of a man, I think this is about more than one person. 'This is about looking into what went on with this particular man and Sarah's brutal murder, but also wider issues in relation to policing across the country.' It come as Ms Patel today announced there will be an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Couzens to serve as a Met police officer and murder Ms Everard. The Home Secretary said that 'recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in policing'. She said that the public 'have a right to know' why Couzens was able to be employed by the Metropolitan Police. Addressing the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Ms Patel said: 'I can confirm today, there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' The inquiry will look at Couzens' career in the Metropolitan Police and determine if red flags were missed to identify him as a threat. The probe is likely to be viewed as a warning shot at Met chief Cressida Dick who has faced calls to quit following the murder of Ms Everard. Ms Patel also used her speech in Manchester to announce tough new laws to stop protesters disrupting critical national infrastructure and plans to expand drug testing on arrest. Metropolitan Police firearms officer Couzens 48, was handed a whole life sentence at the Old Bailey last week for murdering Ms Everard. Ms Everard, 33, was walking home from a friend's house in Clapham, south London, on the evening of March 3 when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Couzens. Ms Patel said: 'This Government will always back the brave men and women of our police. 'And it is because of our strong relationship with the police, that I can ask the difficult questions and support them to do better. 'Recent tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in policing. It is abhorrent that a serving police officer was able to abuse his position of power, authority and trust to commit such a horrific crime. Priti Patel today announced there will be an independent inquiry into the 'systematic failures' that allowed Wayne Couzens to serve as a police officer and murder Sarah Everard Sarah Everard, 33, was murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, 48, in London last year At a glance: Priti Patel vows action against eco-mob and expansion of drug testing on arrest Priti Patel took to the Tory conference stage today to talk tough on crime. Here are the key announcements: The Home Secretary revealed there will be an inquiry into 'systematic failures' which enabled Sarah Everard's killer Wayne Couzens to remain a police officer after previous sex crime incidents She told the packed audience in Manchester: 'I can confirm today there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' Blocking motorways will attract tougher sentences in the wake of Insulate Britain demonstrations, attacking ' the small minority of offenders intent on travelling around the country, causing disruption and misery across our communities'. Mandatory drug testing of those arrested is being expanded across all 43 police forces in England and Wales to combat addiction-fueled crime. On immigration she demanded France do more to tackle cross-channel arrivals. She said: 'France is a safe country, one not riven by war or conflict. There is no reason why any asylum seeker should come to the United Kingdom directly from France.' She insisted she was working to confront the issues before adding what is happening in the Channel with small boats seeking to reach the UK is 'unsafe, unfair and unacceptable'. Advertisement 'The public have a right to know what systematic failures enabled his continued employment as a police officer. We need answers as to why this was allowed to happen. 'I can confirm today, there will be an inquiry, to give the independent oversight needed, to ensure something like this can never happen again.' Ms Patel said that 'all our thoughts remain with Sarah Everard's family and friends' as she refused to say Couzens' name, describing him as a 'monster'. The inquiry will be split into two parts, with the first examining Couzens' previous behaviour. It will seek to establish a 'definitive account' of his conduct leading up to his conviction, as well 'any opportunities missed'. The second part of the probe will look at 'specific issues raised by the first part of the inquiry'. That could include examining wider issues across policing, including vetting practices, discipline and workplace behaviour. Ms Patel will also write to the independent police inspectorate HMICFRS to commission a 'thematic inspection of vetting and counter-corruption procedures in policing across England and Wales'. This will look at how forces detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour. The Home Office said the inquiry will be established on a non-statutory footing but 'can be converted to a statutory inquiry if required'. A chairman for the inquiry and its terms of reference will be announced by the Government in due course. Labour's shadow home secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said: 'Labour has been calling for a full independent inquiry for days, yet the Prime Minister refused to support one. 'Now the Home Secretary has half-heartedly announced one, but not put it on a robust, statutory footing to ensure there are no barriers in the way to getting answers.' Ms Patel also used her conference speech in Manchester to vow tough new action to combat disruptive protests following a wave of action by the Insulate Britain campaign group. She told Tory members: 'It is because of our commitment to putting the needs of the hardworking, often silent, majority first, that I will not tolerate so called ecowarriors, trampling over our way of life and draining police resources. 'Their actions over recent weeks have amounted to some of the most self-defeating 'environmental' protests this country has ever seen. 'Freedom to protest is a fundamental right our Party will forever fight to uphold. But it must be within the law. The Home Secretary also announced an expansion of drug testing on arrest across all 43 police forces in England and Wales Ms Patel delivered a tough message to France to do more to stop migrant crossings as she defended the UK's immigration reforms Priti Patel vows crackdown on criminals who use recreational drugs More suspected criminals will be tested for drugs on arrest by all police forces in England and Wales, the Home Secretary has said. Priti Patel confirmed a 15million expansion of drug testing over the next four years during her Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester on Tuesday. She warned there would be the 'harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences' for those 'unwilling to address their drug misuse'. The policy will focus on arrests for crimes including narcotics offences, fraud and theft while five pilots will give police extra powers to test suspects arrested for crimes beyond the usual so-called 'trigger' offences of shoplifting, burglary and robbery. Ms Patel said: 'Those who test positive as confirmed drug users will be supported to tackle their drug abuse and regain their independence. 'But for those unwilling to address their drug misuse, there will be the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences.' According to further details released by the Tories, officers will test suspects in custody for the presence of heroin or cocaine. A total of 375,000 will be offered to police forces immediately to expand their use of drug testing on arrest. The Government will offer 5,000 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to invest in extra testing equipment and training for police officers and staff this year. And in addition to this, five forces: City of London, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire and Gwent will receive an additional 32,000 boost this year to increase testing for a wider range of offences, which could include domestic abuse and public order offences. Those who test positive for opiates or cocaine will be referred for treatment or measures like drug awareness courses to try to 'tackle the problem at its root and reduce the prevalence of drug misuse across society', the party said. Those who refuse will reportedly face prosecution with a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail or a 2,500 fine, according to the Daily Telegraph. Advertisement 'Measures already going through Parliament will ensure these criminals can be brought to justice for the disruption they are causing. 'But we are going further to close down the legal loopholes exploited by these offenders. 'So today I can announce I will also increase the maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, criminalise interference with key infrastructure such as roads, railways and our free press and give the police and courts new powers to deal with the small minority of offenders intent on travelling around the country, causing disruption and misery across our communities.' New measures brought forward by Ms Patel will make it an offence to repeatedly obstruct roads or cause other delays. The Criminal Disruption Prevention Orders dubbed 'Asbos for crusties' are intended to be quicker to enforce than the Government's current approach, which has been based on High Court injunctions. In a separate move, a new offence will be created to make it a crime to 'interfere with critical national infrastructure', including major roads, railways, seaports, power stations and newspaper printing presses. The new crime will carry up to six months' imprisonment and will be dealt with at magistrates' courts only. It will give police new options when arresting offenders who block motorways or other sites, and make it more likely that protesters will face jail. The Government has been under pressure to launch a fresh crackdown on protesters after Insulate Britain, an offshoot of the Extinction Rebellion group, blocked major roads including the M25, M1 and M4 over the past three weeks. Three court injunctions have been put in place to stop the protests but demonstrations have continued. The group, which is calling on the Government to insulate all homes across the UK by 2030 to help cut carbon emissions, has mostly focused on blockading the M25 but has sat down on other London roads since last Friday. Boris Johnson labelled the group 'irresponsible crusties' this morning as he vowed to end their disruptive demonstrations. The Home Secretary also announced an expansion of drug testing on arrest across all 43 police forces in England and Wales. She said: 'Those who test positive as confirmed drug users will be supported to tackle their drug abuse and regain their independence. 'But for those unwilling to address their drug misuse, there will be the harshest possible legal sanctions and consequences.' The 15million expansion of drug testing over the next four years will see police forces told to test more suspected criminals for recreational drugs. Activists from Insulate Britain caused chaos on the A40 and North Circular at Hanger Lane in West London yesterday The policy will focus on arrests for crimes including narcotics offences, fraud and theft while five pilots will give police extra powers to test suspects arrested for crimes beyond the usual so-called 'trigger' offences of shoplifting, burglary and robbery. Officers will test suspects in custody for the presence of heroin or cocaine. A total of 375,000 will be offered to police forces immediately to expand their use of drug testing on arrest. The Government will offer 5,000 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to invest in extra testing equipment and training for police officers and staff this year. And in addition to this, five forces - City of London, South Yorkshire, West Midlands, Hertfordshire and Gwent will receive an additional 32,000 boost this year to increase testing for a wider range of offences, which could include domestic abuse and public order offences. Those who test positive for opiates or cocaine will be referred for treatment or measures like drug awareness courses to try to 'tackle the problem at its root and reduce the prevalence of drug misuse across society'. Those who refuse will reportedly face prosecution with a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail or a 2,500 fine, according to the Daily Telegraph. Ms Patel also delivered a tough message to France to do more to stop migrant crossings across the English Channel. She said that 'all states have a responsibility to control their borders' because 'where there is a door, there must be a door keeper'. 'What is happening in the Channel with small boats is unsafe, unfair, and unacceptable,' she told the conference. 'From the vast camps outside Calais of mainly male, economic migrants, to the shocking images of people crammed onto flimsy boats crossing the Channel, exploited by people smugglers. 'Vile criminals characterised by ruthlessness and greed, who even threaten to drown small children to line their pockets. 'This cannot continue. Which is why we are going after the criminals behind this perilous trade in people smuggling.' She said that 'France is a safe country, one not riven by war or conflict', adding: 'There is no reason why any asylum seeker should come to the United Kingdom directly from France. 'We make no apology for securing our borders and exploring all possible options to save lives by ending these horrific journeys.' A man who brutally murdered his estranged wife at her home has been jailed for a minimum of 23 years. Aubrey Pule Padi, 46, killed Tamara Padi in a 'planned and carefully executed attack' while one of their two young children slept in the next bedroom, a court heard. Mr Padi 'lay in wait' for his wife to return home - even setting an alarm on his phone so he could take a nap and 'ensure that your wife would be asleep before you attacked her,' a judge said as he passed a life sentence today. Mrs Padi, 43, was described as a 'lovely, bubbly, outgoing, professional woman.' She worked as a carer and was out on a late-night care visit on the night of July 7. Manchester Crown Court heard that Mrs Padi returned to her Stalybridge home near Manchester at 1.30am with a colleague and they both went to sleep. Mr Padi had 'concealed himself' in her home after letting himself in. He was armed with knives and a hammer, and carried gloves and a length of cord, the court was told. After his alarm went off a 3.30am, Mr Padi 'set about' his wife with a metal 'pull up exercise bar,' the court head. Aubrey Pule Padi, 46, killed Tamara Padi (pictured) in a 'planned and carefully executed attack' while one of their two young children slept in the next bedroom, a court heard He then left her bedroom but returned to stab her eight times with one of the two kitchen knives he had brought with him. Mrs Padi was later pronounced dead in hospital after her colleague found her seriously injured. The court heard that the couple's daughter had 'mercifully' slept through the brutal attack. Mrs Padi's family watched on as her husband pleaded guilty to one count of murder. Mr Padi sobbed and looked away from his children as judge Elizabeth Nicholls passed sentence on Tuesday. The court heard that the couple separated in early 2021 after 14 years of marriage and 'several years together' before that. The relationship is said to have broken down and divorce proceedings were 'imminent'. Richard Pratt QC, prosecuting, said on July 6 - the day before her murder - Mr Padi had punched Mrs Padi in the face when she wouldn't let him use her mobile phone in her car. Two weeks earlier, she had caught him going through voicemails on her phone. And she had earlier described, in voicemail messages intercepted by police, his conduct towards her as 'creepy' - adding that he was 'driving her away'. Aubrey Pule Padi, 46, (pictured) pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife and was sentenced to a minimum of 23 years in jail On the night, after the punch, he sent her 'apologetic and threatening' text messages' - with one ending: 'This is the last time you have disrespected me.' Sentencing, Judge Nicholls said of the murder: 'In that moment the defendant effectively deprived their children of both parents, one through death, the other by the annihilation of trust in their father, who up until that moment they believed they knew and loved.' Judge Nicholls said Mrs Padi was scared of him. 'You waited in the house for your wife to return from a late-night care visit, knowing that your daughter slept in the adjoining bedroom,' she said. 'So clear and considered were your intentions, you even set your phone alarm giving yourself a chance to sleep and ensuring that your wife would be asleep before you attacked her.' The court heard Mr Padi ran away but rang 999 and confessed to an ambulance control centre call operator, adding that he was going to kill himself. 'I am sorry for what I have done, but she deserved it,' he said to the operator, the court heard. Mr Padi was arrested later after he told officers where he was. He had drunk whiskey and taken paracetamol. Their other daughter, who was asleep at his house, was unhurt. Judge Nicholls said of Padi's 999 call: 'Your conversation is full of self-pity, justification for your conduct. 'Like so much violence against women, you tried to place the blame upon the victim, suggesting that she had wronged you and that you were driven to this conduct. Even going so far as to say she "deserved it". Mrs Padi, 43, was described as a 'lovely, bubbly, outgoing, professional woman.' She worked as a carer and was out on a late-night care visit on the night of July 7. She came to the UK from South Africa with her husband and had a Masters degree in law 'And what type of parental love is it that lies alongside your child while waiting to murder her mother? 'There are no excuses and no fault lies with the victim, Tamara. This offence is entirely your responsibility. No woman should have to endure at the hands of a man what Tamara did in her final hours.' The court heard the couple came to the UK from South Africa to work and that Mrs Padi had a Masters qualification in law. After the split, they remained in regular contact and launched a business together called Green Leaf Health and Social Care Ltd, a care provision company for adults. Prosecutor Mr Pratt said the attack on Mrs Padi took place in two bedrooms and she fought to protect herself. 'He effectively lay in wait for his wife to return,' he said. 'He must have realised that his daughter was in the house also. 'The defendant left the room believing her dead, but returned when he heard a noise and stabbed her some eight times. There were numerous, defensive-type injuries.' Stephen Meadowcroft QC, defending, said it was 'undoubtedly a shocking, tragic and very sad case'. 'Those who knew Tamara and the defendant were shocked by what happened,' he said. Mr Padi, the court heard, was described by friends as having a 'calm and caring nature' and as a 'loving father'. He had no previous convictions. Addressing him, Judge Nicholls said the offence was 'beyond any of your friend's and family's comprehension'. But she added: 'Some suggest that you must have suffered a breakdown, however no medical evidence, nor any evidence has been presented to suggest that mental health issues had any part to play in this offence. 'You may have been stressed and distressed by your work and or divorce, but neither explain the brutality displayed.' Detective Inspector Lee Shaw, of GMP's Major Incident Team, said outside court: 'My thoughts go out to the victim's family, especially her two daughters who have been through a tremendous amount of trauma and upset over the past few months. 'They've shown an enormous amount of strength and courage throughout the process of this investigation, and for that, I thank them. 'The actions of Aubrey Padi are incomprehensible.' Frank LoCascio, the Dapper Don's former underboss and acting consigliere, passed away Friday after serving 31 years of a life sentence A Gambino crime family underboss who stayed loyal to John Gotti even as the pair were hit with life sentences during a 1992 murder and racketeering trial has died in prison at age 89. Frank LoCascio, the Dapper Don's former underboss and acting consigliere, passed away Friday at the Federal Medical Center, Devens - a facility that houses federal prisoners with health issues - in Massachusetts. His daughter, Lisa LoCascio, was by his side as he took his last breaths. LoCascio had been incarcerated for 31 years before his death last week after famously refusing to snitch on notorious mob boss Gotti during their infamous and highly publicized trial. What's more, the high-ranking mafioso managed to cheat death during his three decades in the pen even with Gotti as his enemy, after the Teflon Don turned on him and put a 'contract' on his former right-hand's life after a jailhouse quarrel, prison officials revealed. 'I am guilty of being a good friend of John Gotti,' the defiant underboss famously said in court after refusing to turn on his boss in lieu of a more lenient sentence, and being found guilty of racketeering and ordered to spend the rest of his natural life in prison. 'If there was more men like John Gotti, we would have a better country,' the mobster proudly professed at the time. Gotti learned that LoCascio (not pictured) was plotting to kill him along with former Gambino underboss Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano after reading a passage from Gravano's 1997 tell-all book, Underboss LoCascio and Gotti were cuffed by police in 1991 and charged in a sprawling racketeering case in which they were caught on tape discussing various mob matters - including murder - in the apartment of an old woman who lived above Gotti's Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. Gotti and LoCascio's fates were then sealed by Gambino turncoat Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano, who was initially indicted with the pestilent pair, but succumbed to lawmen's pressure and turned on his associates in the weeks leading up to the trial. Gotti was found guilty of five counts of murder as well as racketeering, while LoCascio was convicted on charges of racketeering, without the possibility of parole. Gotti eventually died of cancer while incarcerated in 2002 - but not before forming a life-or-death feud with his former comrade. In his tell-all book released in 1997, Gravano - who briefly did time with Gotti and Locascio after agreeing to testify against the two in a deal which he confessed to involvement in 19 murders, before being released in 1994 - described a 1991 incident in which LoCascio gave Gravano an orange stolen from the prison cafeteria, before offering one to Gotti as well. Infuriated, the hotheaded mob boss began to belittle LoCascio in front of the other inmates. Later, Gravano says, a humiliated Locascio tearfully vowed to murder Gotti, stating, 'The minute I get out, I'm killing this [expletive].' Gravano says that he and Locascio then formed a pact to kill Gotti at a prospective victory party, assuming they were all somehow acquitted. Gravano detailed his conversation in 'Underboss': 'Frankie [Locascio] said, 'Sammy, two things. I'll bring him to the party myself, and I got to be the shooter.' According to law enforcement sources and court papers, Gotti, angered after learning of his onetime follower's supposed insurgence through Gravano's book, then reached out to an Aryan Brotherhood prison gang to murder Locascio. However, at some point, federal prison guards at the prison allegedly caught Gotti complaining about the Locascio passage on security cameras stationed at the facility, a source said. LoCascio passed away Friday at the Federal Medical Center, Devens, a facility that houses federal prisoners with health issues, in Massachusetts Without identifying Gotti, prison officials said in court papers that 'a possible 'contract' has been put on LoCascio's life by his former Mafia associates.' But, in 1998, the hardheaded don was diagnosed with cancer, and died three years later - and the hit never materialized. Now, more than thirty years later, LoCascio, one of the last remnants of Gotti's infamous crime administration, is dead. LoCascio's daughter, Lisa LoCascio, told the Daily News that her father never complained during his 31 years in prison - and that he never once considered snitching. Gambino turncoat Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano sealed LoCascio's and Gotti's fates after succumbing to lawmen's pressure in the buildup to the pair's highly publicized 1992 trial, and turned on his associates - but he later revealed that Gotti eventually turned on LoCascio as well, ordering a hit on him in prison 'That means something,' she said of her late father's loyalty to a family that allegedly cast him and wanted him dead. 'I won't explain it to you.' She said her dad was a favorite among the staff at Devens and that he called her last Monday to say his goodbyes to the family. 'He said the things you say to your daughter when you choose your daughter to be the last phone call you're going to make,' LoCascio said. After hearing from her father, Lisa rushed to the Massachusetts facility and held him in her arms as he slowly passed, singing him Frank Sinatra. A career criminal, LoCascio was Gotti's underboss from 1987 to his arrest in 1991, and was a made man in the mafia for 35 years. LoCascio helped Gotti carry out the murder of Gambino family member Louis 'Jelly Belly' DiBono in 1990, according to Gravano's testimony that put the pair away. DiBono was found with a .25 caliber bullet in the head, with three more in his Cadillac in the parking garage of the World Trade Center. Gotti had wanted DiBono dead for the frivolous reason that the Gambino soldier merely refused to meet with him when summoned on one particular occassion. 'He didn't do nothing else wrong,' Gotti said on the wiretap with LoCascio in the room. 'He's gonna get killed because he- he disobeyed coming.' LoCascio also once bribed an NYPD detective for confidential information that benefited the Gambino crime syndicate, and even hatched an ultimately unsuccessful plan to kill a supposed snitch plotting against the Gambino family. The late mafioso also obstructed the investigation into the 1985 murder of then-Gambino boss Paul Castellano - a hit that propelled Gotti to the top spot in the family in 1985, after the Teflon Don engineered the assassination of his Gambino predecessor. While LoCascio did not utter a word on the tapes surrounding the DiBono killing, prosecutors argued that his mere presence in the room when Gotti hatched the scheme insinuated that he was guilty, since his job as underboss was to advise Gotti and, when necessary, correct him. Twenty-seven years later, however, in 2018, a statemnet from Gambino turncoat Gravano shed new light on the DiBono murder, arguing that LoCascio had not wanted to have him killed. Gotti never got his wish to see LoCascio dead, as the Teflon Don perished in prison himself two decades prior The La Cosa Nostra snitch said, in an official court statement, that LoCascio 'had no role in the planning of, nor did he participate in any way in the murder.' In fact, the mob rat claims, LoCascio tried to save DiBonos life. In a recorded conversation from 1989, LoCascio can be heard trying to calm Gotti down, assuring the Gambino boss that DiBono would hand over $50,000 to make up for missing the meeting in question, the court papers state. 'Shortly after this conversation, Gotti told me that he strongly resented LoCascios suggestion that he take the money and forget about killing DiBono,' Gravanos statement reads. Gravano said that Locascios failed attempt to spare DiBonos life cost him his number-two spot in the Gambino crime family. Gravano was then bumped up to the position of underboss, while Locascio was demoted to acting consigliere. LoCascio son, Sal, followed in his father's footsteps,becoming a made man and a big-time captain like his dad in the 90s, but was busted for a pornography fraud scam in the mid-2000s. He is now retired from mob life and living in Florida, after finishing a four-year federal prison stint in 2008. GPs could be freed from the burden of writing so many prescriptions to boost the number of face-to-face appointments. Sajid Javid wants to slash paperwork so family doctors have more time to see patients in person. The Health Secretary hopes that by cutting bureaucracy, fewer patients will have to make do with telephone or online consultations. One idea being considered is to put more of the responsibility of writing prescriptions on hospitals and pharmacies. Another is to free GPs from writing sick notes for patients. Mr Javid yesterday underlined his commitment to get to grips with the problem, telling delegates at the Conservative conference that patients 'expect' to be able to see their doctor 'in the way that they choose'. Health Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured) wants to slash paperwork so family doctors have more time to see patients in person He promised next year would see 'reform' in the NHS by improving leadership at the highest level of hospital management. 'Our undeniable commitment to the NHS is what should drive us to make it as effective as it can be,' he said. 'Because ultimately it is our National Health Service and is only as good as the service it provides our citizens. 'The public rightly and proudly expect a service that is free at the point of use. But they also expect that service to deliver for them, wherever they live in the country. AND HE TELLS NHS TO KEEP USING THE WORD 'WOMAN' Sajid Javid last night insisted 'biology matters' as he told the NHS to keep using the word 'woman'. The Health Secretary said it was 'not sensible' to avoid using the term when inviting them to cervical screening tests. Some trans campaigners use phrases such as 'people with cervixes' to not alienate those who have transitioned to being a man. But Mr Javid told a fringe event at the Tory conference that with cervical cancer screening rates falling, such a move is wrong. 'We should always approach this issue with compassion and sensitivity,' he said. He added that as Health Secretary, he believes 'biology matters' and said: 'Someone biologically if they are born a man will have to some extent different health needs. 'If you take out the word 'woman' from asking people to take cervical smear tests, it just doesn't seem to be a sensible thing to do.' He claimed he wants everyone, whatever their gender, to get the 'very best care from the NHS'. Advertisement 'They expect to be able to see their GP in the way that they choose. And to have a relationship with their service that goes beyond picking up the pieces when things go wrong.' Before the pandemic, some 80 per cent of GP appointments were conducted face to face. The number slumped as lockdowns were imposed but even now the figure is only at 58 per cent even though restrictions have been lifted. The Daily Mail has been highlighting the issue with its Let's See GPs Face to Face campaign. Last month, Mr Javid met leaders from the British Medical Association and the Royal College of GPs to discuss ways of ensuring the public can book in-person appointments. Alongside shifting the responsibility of writing prescriptions, the second idea to cut paperwork is reducing the need for GPs to provide 'fit notes', under which doctors gauge how sick someone is and whether they need any help to get back to work. It was revealed last month that Mr Javid was looking at reducing red tape for GPs but this is the first time any details have emerged. At the time, a senior government source said: 'GPs are doing a phenomenal job and we need to free up more of their time so they can focus on seeing patients rather than filing paperwork. 'That is why we are urgently looking at ways to cut bureaucracy in the system. 'For many people, telephone appointments are more convenient but of course, those who want a face-to-face appointment should be able to get one.' Additional support will be explored for GP practices that require it, while those performing to an unacceptable standard will be held to account. But on Monday, Mr Javid suggested virtual consultations are here to stay after the pandemic. He told a fringe event at the conference that there is a role for phone or online appointments as many patients prefer them. A Facebook whistleblower who leaked secret internal company documents about the social networks negative impact on users mental health told Congress that Iran and China have used the platform to surveil their enemies. Frances Haugen, the 37-year-old data engineer who quit Facebook in May and was the source of a bombshell Wall Street Journal expose into the companys practices, says she had direct knowledge of how their governments used the site. She said Facebook failure to properly staff its counterintelligence departments to monitor how foreign governments use the social network poses a risk to American national security. Facebook is banned in both China and Iran. But Haugen told the Senate Commerce Committees Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security that Chinas government used Facebook to monitor the Uyghur population beyond its borders. She said: 'My team directly worked on tracking Chinese participation on the platform surveilling, say, Uyghur populations in places around the world. Frances Haugen, the 37-year-old data engineer who quit Facebook in May and was the source of a bombshell Wall Street Journal expose into the companys practices, says the governments of China and Iran use the social network to spy on enemies Haugen claims China has used Facebook to surveil Uyghur Muslims while Iran has utilized the platform to target rival governments in the region. Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen left. Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen right 'That you could actually find the Chinese, based on them, doing these kinds of things.' Haugen added: 'We also found active persuasion of, say, the Iran government doing espionage on other state actors, so this is definitely a thing that is happening. 'And I believe that Facebook's consistent understaffing of the counterespionage, information operations and counterterrorism teams is a national security issue.' In July, Facebook said it had taken down about 200 accounts run by a group of hackers in Iran as part of a cyber-spying operation that targeted mostly US military personnel and people working at defense and aerospace companies. The social media giant said the group, dubbed 'Tortoiseshell' by security experts, used fake online personas to connect with targets, build trust sometimes over the course of several months and drive them onto other sites where they were tricked into clicking malicious links that would infect their devices with spying malware. Haugen was asked by Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska: So you are saying, in essence, that the platform, whether Facebook knows it or not, is being utilized by some of our adversaries in a way that helps push and promote their interests at the expense of Americas?' 'Yes,' said Haugen. 'Facebook's very aware that this is happening on the platform and I believe the fact that Congress doesn't get a report of exactly how many people are working on these things internally is unacceptable because you have a right to keep the American people safe.' China has faced international condemnation over persecution of the Muslim Uyghur population in China's Xinjiang province. Critics say the campaign amounts to cultural genocide, including the detention of Uyghurs in 're-education camps' and the destruction of mosques and other cultural sites. A former inmate of a Uyghur detention camp has revealed how he was ordered to bend over by prison guards so that other detainees could gang rape him. The whistleblower gave his account to CNN who also interviewed an ex-cop who described how he would beat children as young as 14 and that he regularly witnessed both men and women being battered by guards. Torture methods included chaining inmates to metal chairs, hanging them from the ceiling, sexual violence, electrocutions and waterboarding. The testimonies raise new concerns over Beijing's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority at so-called 're-education' camps in the northern Xinjiang province. Sanctions imposed by London, Washington and Brussels appear to have failed to stop the Chinese Communist Party from committing the 'genocide.' An ex-detective turned whistleblower, who gave his name as Jiang (pictured), described how they would drag the Uyghurs from their homes in the middle of the night, threatening to kill them if they resisted. They were accused of 'terrorism' but Jiang said that they appeared to be 'ordinary people' Abduweli Ayup (pictured), a 48-year-old Uyghur scholar, says he was detained in August 2013 by armed police after he opened a nursery to teach children their native language. On his first night at a detention camp in the city of Kashgar, he says he was raped by a dozen Chinese inmates who were ordered to do so by prison guards. Abduweli Ayup, a 48-year-old Uyghur scholar, says he was detained in August 2013 by armed police after he opened a nursery to teach children their native language. On his first night at a detention camp in the city of Kashgar, he says he was raped by a dozen Chinese inmates who were ordered to do so by prison guards. 'The prison guards, they asked me to take off my underwear,' then told him to bend over, Ayup said. 'Don't do this, I cried. Please don't do this.' He said he blacked out during the ordeal and awoke in a pool of vomit and urine. The humiliation continued the following day as prison guards asked him: 'Did you have a good time.' He was forced to confess to 'illegal fundraising' before being transferred to camp. Ayup was eventually released in 2014 and has since moved to Norway where he writes children's books in the Uyghur language. However, he adds that he will 'never forget' his treatment in Xinjiang which is seared into his memory like 'a scar in my heart.' Iran, which does not have diplomatic relations with the United States, is aligned against US allies in the region, including Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other smaller countries. The State Department considers Iran a state sponsor of terrorism. Washington has imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran. Haugen told lawmakers that the social media giant fuels division, harms children and urgently needs to be regulated, drawing pledges Congress would take up long-delayed action. She testified on Capitol Hill after she leaked reams of internal research to authorities and The Wall Street Journal, which has fueled one of Facebook's most serious crises yet. 'I believe that Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,' Haugen told a Senate panel. 'Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help,' she added. Haugen told lawmakers that the social media giant fuels division, harms children and urgently needs to be regulated, drawing pledges Congress would take up long-delayed action In her testimony, she emphasized the power held by a service that is tightly woven into the daily lives of billions of users. She also noted the risks that the social media giant's platforms are fueling a contagion of eating disorders, body-shaming and self-dissatisfaction that is particularly dangerous for young people. 'There are going to be women walking around this planet in 60 years with brittle bones because of the choices that Facebook made around emphasizing profit today,' she said, referring to the impact of eating disorders. Haugen spoke less than a day after Facebook, its photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp went offline for roughly seven hours, hitting potentially billions of users and highlighting global dependence on its services. 'Here's my message for (Facebook CEO) Mark Zuckerberg. Your time of invading our privacy, promoting toxic content and preying on children and teens is over,' said Senator Ed Markey. 'Congress will be taking action... we will not allow your company to harm our children, our families and our democracy anymore,' he added. Senator Amy Klobuchar said she sees the whistleblower disclosures as the long-needed push to get Congress moving. 'I think the time has come for action, and I think you are the catalyst for that action,' she told Haugen. US lawmakers for years have threatened to regulate social media platforms to address criticisms that the tech giants trample on privacy, provide a megaphone for dangerous misinformation and damage young people's well-being. The operator of a California pipeline that spilled approximately 126,000 gallons of oil into the water in Orange County is being ordered to shut down the pipeline until it completes a series of requirements outlined in a federal corrective action order. Amplify Energy Corp. must perform a root cause failure analysis, provide the government with maintenance and inspection records and revise its emergency response plan, among other steps, before it can resume operations again. The order comes as investigators probe reports that the disaster was caused by an anchor that hooked the pipeline and dragged it over 100 feet that caused a 13-inch gash. Amplify Energy told KTLA the pipe was displaced into 'almost a semicircle' and had 'essentially been pulled like a bow string.' About 4,000 feet of the pipeline was 'laterally displaced' by approximately 105 feet. Multiple large cargo vessels had been in the area prior to the incident. Authorities say the California pipeline that spilled approximately 126,000 gallons of oil into the water in Orange County had suffered a 13-inch gash and been dragged along the ocean floor 4,000 feet of the pipeline has been 'laterally displaced' by approximately 105 feet. As of Tuesday, 4,788 gallons of crude oil has been recovered and oiling was reported on 15.67 miles of shoreline Officials with the US Coast Guard are investigating the theory, however, during a press conference on Tuesday, there was still no confirmation regarding the cause of the leak. The spill, which was reported Saturday, sent thousands of gallons of highly-viscous oil into the ocean off of Huntington Beach. It then washed onto miles of beaches and protected marshland in Southern California. Experts estimate area beaches and coastal fisheries could remain closed for several weeks, if not longer. As of Tuesday, 4,788 gallons of crude oil has been recovered, CBS Los Angeles reported. Oiling was reported on 15.67 miles of shoreline. Officials have cleaned six miles of shoreline, although clean-up efforts remain underway. 11,360 feet of containment boom has been deployed and 328 personnel are on the scene assisting. A total of eight oiled wildlife have been recovered. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects the greatest threat to the shore remains between Huntington and Laguna Beaches. However, officials believe that as of Saturday night oil had already reached San Diego County. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects the greatest threat to the shore remains between Huntington and Laguna Beaches The Coast Guard is flying over the spill at least three times each day to map the oil's direction and compare it with tides, currents and winds. They then use this information to project potential impact to California's beaches. 'It really is dependent on the prevailing weather conditions, but the oil continues to move in a southerly direction,' Capt. Rebecca Ore, commander of the USCG Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, said. 'I would characterize it as isolated ribbons of oil, or patches of oil. It's constantly changing. It's not one large slick of oil covering this large area of miles.' During Tuesday's press conference, Rear Admiral Brian Penoyer admitted that the Coast Guard was alerted Friday night by a 'good Samaritan' that there was a sheen on the water. It then was more than 12 hours before the company reported the spill. Penoyer said it was common to get reports of a sheen near a busy seaport and asserted that Amplify was unaware of the leak. 'In hindsight, it seems obvious, but they didn't know that at that time,' Penoyer said. 'So putting yourself in the position of what they did know, this is a very normal process.' Officials have cleaned six miles of shoreline, although clean-up efforts remain underway. 11,360 feet of containment boom has been deployed and 328 personnel are on scene assisting A total of eight oiled wildlife have been recovered The federal corrective action order includes a timeline of events that says Amplify Energy received a low-pressure alarm indicating a possible failure of the pipeline at 2.30am on Saturday. The company didnt shut down the pipeline for three more hours and didnt report the leak for another three hours, the order states. At Tuesday's press conference, Martyn Willsher, president and chief executive of Amplify, declined to disclose when the pipeline had been shut off or whether the company had been alerted about a possible spill. He did, however, deny that anyone on the rig had known about the leak before Saturday morning and apologized for the incident. 'This is a terrible tragedy and we are extremely sorry this happened,' Willsher told the Los Angeles Times. 'The cause of this will still need to be investigated, but regardless of the cause, we are going to do everything we can to make things right for all of those impacted areas and individuals as quickly as we can.' Martyn Willsher, president and chief executive of Amplify, declined to disclose when the pipeline had been shut off or whether the company had been alerted about a possible spill According to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services, two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response The company's corrective action order, which came from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, gives Amplify Energy 45 days to complete mechanical and metallurgical testing and failure analysis of both the pipe and any soil or foreign materials surrounding it. In 90 days, the company must complete a root cause failure analysis, submit a remedial work plan and revise its emergency response plan. And in 180 days, the company must complete an in-line assessment. Once all of the requirements are done, Amplify Energy may submit a restart plan. When its approved, the company must operate the pipeline at 20 percent reduced pressure, indefinitely, and perform an aerial survey and ground leakage survey within 24 hours of its operation. According to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services, two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response. The first was from an anchored ship that noticed a sheen on the water. The second came six hours later from a federal agency that said a possible oil slick was spotted on satellite imagery. Federal and state authorities require rapid reporting of a spill. Failure to do so has led to criminal prosecutions of companies, including Plains All American Pipeline, which caused a coastal spill near Santa Barbara in 2015, and Southern California Gas Co. for a massive well blowout later that year. Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley expressed concern that Amplify could withhold evidence. But the county's emergency manager, Michelle Anderson, reassured the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the Coast Guard was on the scene as well to make sure the probe is independent. 'It is an investigation with objective parties involved, so that we will eventually know the outcome,' Anderson said. Willsher said required agencies were notified 'instantly' when the company recognized the leak was from its pipe Amplify's spill plan warned that a break in the pipeline could cause 'substantial harm to the environment' and that in a worst-case scenario 3,111 barrels (131,000 gallons) of oil could be released from the pipeline Cargo ships entering the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach routinely pass through the area. Backlogs have plagued the ports in recent months, and several dozen or more of the giant vessels have regularly been anchored as they wait to enter the ports and unload. A 2016 spill response plan for the Amplify platforms submitted to federal regulators called for immediate notification of federal officials when more than one barrel of oil is released into the water. Releases greater than five barrels - or that threaten state waters or the shoreline - require immediate notification of the state fire marshal and California wildlife officials. The pipeline was supposed to be monitored under an automated leak detection system that would report problems to a control room staffed around the clock on the oil platform known as Elly. The system was designed to trigger an alarm whenever a change in the flow of oil is detected. But how fast it can pick up on those changes was expected to vary according to the size of the leak. For a large leak - 10% or more of the amount of oil flowing through the pipeline - the detection time was estimated at five minutes. Smaller leaks were expected to take up to 50 minutes to detect, according to the response plan. The spill plan warned that a break in the pipeline could cause 'substantial harm to the environment' and that in a worst-case scenario 3,111 barrels (131,000 gallons) of oil could be released from the pipeline. The Coast Guard is flying over the spill at least three times each day to map the oil's direction and compare it with tides, currents and winds Capt. Rebecca Ore, commander of the USCG Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, said she would characterize the spill as 'isolated ribbons of oil, or patches of oil' and added that 'it's constantly changing. It's not one large slick of oil covering this large area of miles' Willsher said required agencies were notified 'instantly' when the company recognized the leak was from its pipe. Records show the spill was not reported by Amplify Energy, but by Witt OBriens, a crisis and emergency management firm listed on the spill response plan as the point of contact to notify the NRC. The report said the leaking pipe had been shut off, but containment was not confirmed. Potential criminal investigations were being pursued by the Orange County district attorney, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said. Safety advocates have pushed for years for federal rules that would strengthen oil spill detection requirements and force companies to install valves that can automatically shut down the flow of crude in case of a leak. The oil and pipeline industries have resisted such requirements because of the high cost. Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente put 5,000 of their 200,000 US staff on unpaid leave as of October 1 because they failed to get their Covid-19 vaccine. The Oakland, California-based healthcare provider announced the vaccine mandate on August 2, 2021 and gave its employees until September 30 to get vaccinated. 'When we announced our vaccination requirement...our overall employee and physician vaccination rate across Kaiser Permanente was 78 percent,' the company said in its most recent statement. 'Since then, we have made remarkable progress: More than 92 percent of our employees nationwide have been vaccinated,' it added. While Kaiser saw 14 percent of their unvaccinated employees get the shots so they didn't lose their jobs, the two percent who are currently suspended without pay have until December 1 to change their mind and also get vaccinated. Healthcare company Kaiser Permanente put 5,000 of their 200,000 US staff on unpaid leave as of October 1 because they failed to get their Covid-19 vaccine Two per cent of US employees failed to meet the vaccination deadline and have been suspended without pay. They have until December 1 to change their minds, get vaccinated and return to work The Oakland, California-based healthcare provider announced the vaccine mandate on August 2, 2021 and gave its employees until September 30 to get vaccinated As for the other six percent, the statement noted that the 'active employees have responded to our request'. 'We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won't know with certainty until then (December 1),' Kaiser officials said. Greg A. Adams, Kaiser's chair and chief executive officer, said in the August 2 statement, which announced the mandate: 'Large groups of unvaccinated people are fueling the current increase in cases and 97 percent to 99 percent of Covid-19 hospital admissions are unvaccinated patients. Kaiser's CEO Greg A Adams (pictured) encouraged 'all health systems and business and industry leaders across the country to play a role in ending the pandemic' by also implementing a vaccine mandate 'Making vaccination mandatory is the most effective way we can protect our people, our patients and the communities we serve.' Adams then encouraged 'all health systems and business and industry leaders across the country to play a role in ending the pandemic by doing the same'. On Monday, data from Johns Hopkins University showed that the US is continuing to win its battle against Covid-19 as cases and hospitalizations declined dramatically across the country. Officials recorded 169,207 new cases of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200 - a decrease of 23 percent from the rolling average of 137,270 reported four weeks ago. More than half of US states - 36 in total - and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last week, a DailyMail.com analysis of the data shows. More than half of US states - 36 in total - and the District of Columbia have seen Covid infections either decline or hold steady over the last week Hospitalizations have also fallen, with 70,153 seeking care, a 30.5 percent drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The growth rate of new deaths has slowed, too, compared to the same time last week - when deaths had risen 57 percent over a four-week period. Two weeks ago they had risen 91 percent. Atotal of 2,110 virus-related fatalities were recorded on Monday with a seven-day rolling average of 1,929 - a 23 percent increase from the 1,561 average deaths recorded one month ago. Experts say that fatalities are a lagging indicator and often don't start to decline until three or four weeks after cases and hospitalizations do. Despite the drop in the number of infections and hospitalizations Kaiser hasn't been the only healthcare company to implement a vaccine mandate. On Monday officials recorded 169,207 new cases of the virus with a seven-day rolling average of 105,200 in the US - a decrease of 23 per cent from the rolling average of 137,270 reported four weeks ago Covid-19 hospitalizations have also fallen with 70,153 patients, a 30.5 per cent drop from the 101,000 patients recorded this same time last month New York's largest healthcare provider, Northwell Health, fired 1,400 employees on Monday who refused to get vaccinated. Just one week earlier, the health system announced it had terminated two dozen 'unvaccinated leaders' at management level or above. It is unclear what job titles the recently fired workers had and whether they were clinical or nonclinical workers. Northwell Health says the remaining 76,000 workers have all received at least one dose of the vaccine. The mandate for healthcare workers was issued in August by former Gov Andrew Cuomo and supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul when she succeeded him. All healthcare workers in New York state at hospitals and nursing homes were required to get at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September 27. Employees who refused to get the shots faced suspensions and termination. The mandate is not just for those who directly deal with patients such as doctors and nurses but also administrators, cafeteria workers and even cleaners. Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Tuesday that the Republican Party needed former President Trump and that she would talk to him if she decided to run for president in 2024. The former South Carolina governor is due to deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Tuesday evening - the latest 2024 hopeful to do so. Like others in the running, she will have to navigate the Trump-shaped shadow hanging over the contest. 'He has a strong legacy from his administration,' she told the Wall Street Journal. 'He has the ability to get strong people elected, and he has the ability to move the ball, and I hope that he continues to do that. 'We need him in the Republican Party. I dont want us to go back to the days before Trump.' Nikki Haley is due to deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Tuesday evening - the latest 2024 hopeful to do so Like all 2024 Republican hopefuls Haley must deal with the Trump-shaped shadow having over the contest. On Tuesday she said 'We need him in the Republican Party' Her comments reflect the dilemma facing all the candidates considering a 2024 run: How much do they embrace a figure who excites the party base, but whose presidency ended in defeat at the polls and his supporters attacking the U.S. Congress? Earlier this year, Haley, 49, tried one way. In January, soon after the Jan. 6 assault, she said: 'His actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history.' It brought an immediate backlash and a softer tone. As well as the recent ridicule of her former boss. 'Every time she criticizes me, she uncriticizes me about 15 minutes later,' he told Vanity Fair. Now she is trying another way, calling the former president a friend and saying she would consult him on her future plans. 'In the beginning of 2023, should I decide that theres a place for me, should I decide that theres a reason to move, I would pick up the phone and meet with the president,' she said. 'I would talk to him and see what his plans are. I would tell him about my plans. We would work on it together.' That marks a shift in her previous position that she would not run if Trump chose to. And in her interview, she found other ways to distance herself from the former president. Trump appointed Haley to be his U.N. ambassador but the two have had a difficult relationship since the Jan. 6 violence 'There was fraud in the election, but I dont think that the numbers were so big that it swayed the vote in the wrong direction,' she said, offering a tiny concession to Trump before denying his bigger claim that he should be president now. Haley was one of the few senior figures in the Trump administration who managed to step down with her reputation intact. Diplomats at the United Nations praised her work in representing the U.S. and she emerged as an early frontrunner to win the Republican nomination. Her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants is another plus for a party that has sometimes struggled to keep up with the nation's changing demographics. In her speech, Haley is not expected to focus on Trump. Instead, she will argue that the nation has moved away from its core values, to its detriment on the world stage. 'A large portion of our people are plagued by self-doubt or even by hatred of America, she will say, according to an advance excerpts shared with The Wall Street Journal. 'Its a pandemic much more damaging than any virus. Every day, more people think living in the land of the free is a curse, not a blessing.' She will level some of the blame at the news media, school curricula and liberals. 'Were told our founding principles are tools of oppression,' she is expected to say. 'Were told the worlds freest and most prosperous country is no better than any other. In fact, were told its worse.' Democrats's descent into identity politics offers Republicans an opportunity, she will say. 'Republicans cannot make the same mistake,' she will say, according to the excerpts. 'That message was our message first. We must once again take it to the American people. 'Were fighting for a society where people are judged by actions, not color; where discrimination is ended, not embraced; where censorship is rejected, and free speech protected.' US and Chinese scientists were planning to create a new coronavirus before the pandemic erupted, leaked proposals show. Last month, a grant application submitted to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) revealed that an international team of scientists had planned to mix genetic data of similar strains to create a new virus. The grant application was made in 2018 and leaked to Drastic, the pandemic origins analysis group. 'We will compile sequence/RNAseq data from a panel of closely related strains and compare full length genomes, scanning for unique SNPs representing sequencing errors. 'Consensus candidate genomes will be synthesised commercially using established techniques and genome-length RNA and electroporation to recover recombinant viruses,' the application states. US and Chinese scientists were planning to create a new coronavirus before the pandemic erupted, leaked proposals show. Pictured: The Wuhan Institute of Virology, whose scientists were involved in a grant proposal for the research This would result in a virus which had no clear ancestor in nature, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert told The Telegraph. The expert, who asked the paper not to publish their name, said that, if such a method had been carried out, it could explain why no close match has ever been found in nature for Sars-CoV-2. The closest naturally occurring virus is the Banal-52 strain, reported in Laos last month. It shares 96.8 per cent of Covid-19's genome. No direct ancestor, which would be expected share around 99.98 per cent, has been found so far. The WHO expert told The Telegraph that the process detailed in the application would create 'a new virus sequence, not a 100 per cent match to anything.' 'They would then synthesise the viral genome from the computer sequence, thus creating a virus genome that did not exist in nature but looks natural as it is the average of natural viruses. 'Then they put that RNA in a cell and recover the virus from it. 'This creates a virus that has never existed in nature, with a new 'backbone' that didn't exist in nature but is very, very similar as it's the average of natural backbones,' the expert said. The proposal was rejected and the database of viral strains at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was taken offline some 18 months later, making it impossible to check what scientists there were working on. The institute's scientists have consistently denied creating the coronavirus in their lab. The grant application proposal was submitted by British zoologist Peter Daszak on behalf of a group, which included Daszak EcoHealth Alliance, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the University of North Carolina and Duke NUS in Singapore, The Telegraph reported. The grant application proposal was submitted by British zoologist Peter Daszak on behalf of a group, which included Daszak EcoHealth Alliance Experts told the paper that creating an 'ideal' average virus could have been part of work to create a vaccine that works across coronaviruses. Last month, it emerged that the US had funded similar research to that outlined in the 2018 grant proposal. Files obtained by The Intercept as part of an FOI request to drill down the possible root of COVID and whether the US had any role in it showed that in 2014, the National Health Institute (NIH) approved a five-year, yearly grant of $666,000 a year for five years ($3.3million) for EcoHealth Alliance, a US research organization, into bat coronavirus. EcoHealth Alliance, in its proposal to the NIH, acknowledged the risks involved were 'the highest risk of exposure to SARS or other CoVs' among staff, who could then carry it out of the lab. The NIH gave them the money anyway - something Dr Anthony Fauci was previously forced to admit when testifying before Congress in May this year. EcoHealth Alliance then gave $599,000 of the money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. At the time and repeatedly since, Fauci has denied that the research constituted what's known as 'gain-of-function' research. Gain-of-function research is the scientific term given to research that deliberately changes an organism to make give it new functions in order to test a theory. When applies to studying human viruses, it can mean making the virus more transmissible and or even deadly in order to test what can and can't survive it. 'The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful,' Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, tweeted. Ebright studied the papers and alleged that the scientists performed 'the construction - in Wuhan - of novel chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses that combined a spike gene from one coronavirus with genetic information from another coronavirus and confirmed the resulting viruses could infect human cells'. Gladys Berejiklian has resurfaced after resigning as NSW Premier over a corruption investigation, urging the state to get behind her successor Dominic Perrottet. The 51-year-old turned up at her electorate office in Northbridge on Wednesday morning to go back to work as a backbench MP. Wearing a mask and flanked by Federal Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, she picked up flowers and cards which were left outside the door by devastated constituents. The now-former premier said the messages of support were 'very comforting' and pledged to read every single one of them. 'I want everyone to know that I will read every single card, every single message,' Ms Berejiklian said. The former premier briefly spoke to media outside her electorate office on Wednesday Wearing a mask and flanked by Federal Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman (pictured), she picked up flowers and cards which were left outside the door by devastated constituents Ms Berejiklian (pictured on Wednesday) has been holed up in a CBD hotel to avoid the media Hundreds of supporters left flowers and cards at the door of Ms Berejiklian's office Ms Berejikian was pictured holding a red bag and wearing a backpack over one shoulder The former premier (pictured on Wednesday) urged residents to support her successor Dominic Perrottet who was sworn in on Tuesday Ms Berejiklian arrived at her electorate office to find bunches of flowers left for her on the ground Asked how she has been going since stepping down, the former premier said: 'Oh OK thank you'. Ms Berejiklian revealed what she said in a message to her Liberal Party colleagues which was read to them by her successor Dominic Perrottet on Wednesday. 'I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone, and I want everyone to get behind Premier Perrottet, I know he will be an outstanding leader,' she said. 'Follow the Premier's words and make sure we come out of this lockdown as safely as possible.' Supporters at the office praised Ms Berejiklian who was premier since 2017. One named Mary told Daily Mail Australia: 'She did a good job. She was a really good role model for woman and the ethnic community. 'She's from an Armenian background. It's very empowering for other people from ethnic backgrounds.' 'I'm quite upset about what happened to her. It's not right.' Several reporters and camera crew were waiting to greet Ms Berejiklian at her office The former premier waved to supporters as she crossed the road to her electorate office A closer look at some of the flowers and cards left for the former premier at her office Asked how she has been going since stepping down, the former premier said: 'Oh OK thank you' Another supporter named Marie Cherote added: 'It's disgusting what was done to her. This is a woman who's dedicated her life to politics. 'She loves her job and she loves NSW. She's always there for people. I'm quite p***ed off about it. No one is perfect. 'It's typical of our Australian attitude to attack people at the top. It's a lack of respect. 'She deserved a hell of a lot more.' Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Berejiklian has been holed up in an inner-city hotel to avoid the media over the past four days. On Friday she went straight home after revealing she would step down as state leader. Ms Berejiklian says hello to a constituent as she makes her way to her office in Northbridge The Premier's office had flowers and messages of support left outside it after the former premier resigned Ms Berejiklian enters her office flanked by a security guard (left) on Wednesday morning However, her Jeep four-wheel-drive parked only briefly in her drive in Northbridge on Sydney's leafy lower north shore. News cameras then captured the car quickly fleeing back across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Since then, there has been a media circus outside her house - but no sign of Ms Berejiklian. Only her former lover who got her into this mess in the first place - Daryl Maguire - has been seen. Daily Mail Australia captured photographs of Mr Maguire, 62, smoking a cigarette and wielding a rifle on his property in Wagga Wagga. Mr Maguire is under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) after admitting to financially benefitting from his former job as an MP Mr Maguire was seen Saturday puffing on a cigarette on his property in Wagga Wagga, NSW after Ms Berejiklian's shock departure Ms Berejiklian did not even show up for the Liberal Party meeting at the state Parliament to choose her successor. She will stand down as an MP and leave state politics altogether as soon as a byelection can be arranged after lockdown. There is speculation she could turn to federal politics and run for Tony Abbott's old seat of Warringah, or get a lucrative job in the private sector. 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 is also probing her role in multi-million dollar government grants to a gun club and conservatorium of music in his electorate. Ms Berejiklian insists she has done nothing wrong and has 'always acted with integrity'. Ms Berejiklian's former media advisor Sean Berry was pictured in her street in a classic Corvette on Tuesday A man attempts to deliver flowers to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at Parliament House in Sydney. There has been an outpouring of grief since the popular premier stepped down Mr Maguire hasn't commented on the recent developments. The 62-year-old was the state Liberal MP for the area from 1999 until he quit under a corruption cloud in 2018. He is still under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The new Premier Mr Perrottet landed the top job in a Liberal Party meeting on Tuesday morning, beating Planning Minister Rob Stokes by 39 votes to five. 'It's an honour and absolute privilege to be elected as the parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party, the Premier of New South Wales,' Mr Perrottet said after the vote. 'I really appreciate the trust my colleagues have put in me today.' NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet walks through Parliament on Tuesday before securing the votes to become NSW Premier In a press conference an hour later, Mr Perrottet thanked Ms Berejiklian for her service during the Covid-19 pandemic as Sydney endures the final week of a four-month lockdown. 'The first thing I want to do today is to acknowledge my predecessor and pay tribute to her, Gladys Berejiklian, who strong and steady leadership has seen us through so many difficult challenges,' he said. 'Now, while there are still more challenging days to come, there is light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to the way that everyone across our state has responded. 'We want New South Wales to bounce back stronger, safer and more successful than ever before, to get back to the life that we love and the freedoms that we hold dear.' Mr Perrottet said he would be a 'family premier' who wants to 'make life better for working families.' Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres - the boyfriend of Foreign Minister Marise Payne - was elected deputy Liberal leader unopposed while Environment Minister Matt Kean will become Treasurer. The murder trial of a policeman who shot dead an Indigenous woman on a suburban West Australian street is set to hear further witness evidence. As many as 60 people could be called to testify in the WA Supreme Court trial of the first-class constable, whose cannot be named for legal reasons. He has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 29-year-old woman, known as JC for cultural reasons, in the Mid West town of Geraldton on September 17, 2019. JC, a mother-of-one, had experienced mental health and drug problems and recently been released from prison before her death. The accused was one of eight police officers who arrived at the scene after JC was spotted with a large knife and a pair of scissors. Family and supporters of a woman, referred to as 'JC' at family's request, leave the District Court of West Australia in Perth As the trial got underway on Tuesday, the jury was shown confronting CCTV footage of JC being shot while surrounded by four police vehicles. Director of Public Prosecutions Amanda Forrester SC said five of the officers had stayed in their cars, a sixth left his vehicle unarmed and attempted to speak to JC and another had drawn his Taser but had not activated it. The accused got out of his vehicle, drew his loaded firearm and ran towards JC. 'Less than three seconds after she stopped walking, the accused shot her (once) in the abdomen,' Ms Forrester told the jury. The court was told the accused, who is on bail, had spent five years as a permanent officer and 18 months as a probationary constable. Given his extensive training, the number of officers present and the other available weapons, the shooting was 'wholly unnecessary', Ms Forrester said. The officer's lawyer Linda Black said the court would be presented with evidence that her client acted correctly by drawing his gun, rather than a Taser, when confronting a person armed with a knife. She said JC turned towards the accused, who was about three metres away, and 'eyeballed' him when he demanded she drop the knife. The officer, who had never fired his gun while on duty, had less than a second to decide whether to pull the trigger given the close proximity, she said. 'He was not some trigger-happy constable ... he was a brave and careful officer who took pride in his job,' Ms Black said. The lawyer added that the case had 'nothing whatsoever' to do with race. The trial continues. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636 Former prime minister Tony Abbott has landed in Taiwan to give a speech and meet the island's president amid rising tensions with China. Mr Abbott - who led Australia from 2013 to 2015 - will on Friday speak at the Yushan forum, a conference organised by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation. He will also have unofficial meetings with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. Mr Abbott was filmed landing at Taiwan's Taoyuan airport after flying from Singapore. He was greeted by deputy minister of foreign affairs Tien Chung-kwang (pictured together) The Chinese aircraft have not been flying in Taiwan's air space, but its air defence identification zone or ADIZ (pictured in the yellow box), a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols to give it more time to respond to any threats The visit comes after Taiwan reported 148 Chinese air force planes had flown over its air defence zone over a four day period beginning on Friday, the same day China marked a key patriotic holiday, National Day. On Monday Mr Wu told the ABC program China Tonight that Taiwan is preparing for war. 'The defence of Taiwan is in our own hands, and we are absolutely committed to that,' he said. 'I'm sure that if China is going to launch an attack against Taiwan, I think they are going to suffer tremendously as well.' Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke at the Yushan forum last year but made his remarks virtually from Australia due to pandemic travel restrictions. Mr Abbott was filmed landing at Taiwan's Taoyuan airport after flying from Singapore. 34 J-16 fighters (file image) were among 52 Chinese planes flown into Taiwan's ADIZ Mr Tien and Mr Abbott were heard discussing lockdown rules and Covid-19 swabs in English as they walked through the terminal He was greeted by deputy minister of foreign affairs Tien Chung-kwang and the pair were heard discussing lockdown rules and Covid-19 swabs in English as they walked through the terminal. They also discussed Australia's new airport in western Sydney and the Liberal Democrats, a new political party set up by former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman. China claims Taiwan as its own territory as has vowed to take it by force if necessary while Taiwan says it is an independent country and will defend its freedoms and democracy. The tensions are being viewed with increasing concern by the international community. Japan and Australia on Tuesday urged the two to talk, while the United States said it has been 'conveying clear messages' after what it described as destabilising activities by China. Military officers hold flowers walk to pay respects to the People's Heroes Monument during a ceremony to mark Martyr's Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 30 Shortly before the Chinese jets appeared in the skies near Taiwan, the Beijing-owned Global Times newspaper threatened Taipei and Australia Taiwan calls China's repeated nearby military activities 'grey zone' warfare, designed to both wear out Taiwan's forces by making them repeatedly scramble, and also to test Taiwan's responses. 'Taiwan must be on alert. China is more and more over the top,' Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei. 'The world has also seen China's repeated violations of regional peace and pressure on Taiwan.' Taiwan needs to 'strengthen itself' and come together as one, he added. 'Only then will countries that want to annex Taiwan not dare to easily resort to force. Only when we help ourselves can others help us.' The Chinese aircraft have not been flying in Taiwan's air space, but its air defence identification zone or ADIZ, a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols to give it more time to respond to any threats. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernising the armed forces a priority, focusing on the use of new, mobile weapons to make any attack by China as costly as possible, turning Taiwan into a 'porcupine'. In an article for the US magazine Foreign Affairs released on Tuesday, Tsai said Taiwan falling to China would trigger 'catastrophic' consequences for peace in Asia. Tsai said Taiwan does not seek military confrontation 'but if its democracy and way of life are threatened, Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend itself.' President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he has confidence in Fed chairman Jerome Powell even as top fed officials battle accusations of insider trading inserting a slight hedge into his comment. Asked while traveling in Michigan whether he still has confidence in Powell, whose term expires in a few months, Biden responded: 'Thus far yes, but I'm just catching up on some of these assertions.' He spoke hours after his deputy press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre also included a slight hedge of her own when asked a similar question aboard Air Force One. ''He does have confidence in ... Powell at this time,' she responded. She had been asked about comments by liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has helped install key allies in top financial positions in the administration, bashing Powell for failing to safeguard the integrity of the Fed by allowing financial trades by top fed officials. 'Thus far yes,' said President Joe Biden, asked Tuesday whether he has confidence in Fed Chair Jay Powell Biden himself was asked about trading activity and whether the Fed had maintained its integrity. 'For Fed officials to actively trade in the market raises legitimate questions about conflicts of interest and insider trading,' Warren said in a fiery Senate floor speech Tuesday. 'These Fed officials actually show, at a minimum, really bad judgment.' Powell, a Trump nominee who has helped steer the economy during its rise from pandemic lows, is set to have his term as chair expire in February 2022, although Biden could renominate him. The trades by top Fed officials present a political as well as a potential legal problem, coming as the nation battled the coronavirus pandemic. Warren is demanding that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) open an investigation into three top Federal Reserve officials' potential 'insider trading' during the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday. In a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Warren asked him to probe securities trading of Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren after stunning reports emerged they cashed in on the market while millions of Americans were reeling from the pandemic's economic effects. Rosengren and Kaplan resigned after a public outcry over their transactions. DailyMail.com asked the SEC to confirm whether Gensler had received the letter but the agency declined to comment. The progressive senator also took aim at Fed Chair Jerome Powell, hinting that he knew they violated insider trading rules and did nothing to stop it. 'If these trades were based on Fed officials' knowledge of non-public, market moving information, they may have represented potentially illegal activity,' Warren wrote. 'It is not clear why Chair Powell did not stop these activities, which corrode the trust and effectiveness of the Fed. The Fed officials' trades clearly run afoul of Fed guidelines stating that officials should 'avoid any dealings or other conduct that might convey even an appearance of conflict between their personal interests, the interests of the System, and the public interest.' Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler (right) demanding an investigation into three top Federal Reserve officials She said the three officials likely hold 'non public' knowledge of the markets by virtue of their positions on the Federal Reserve - which went to unprecedented levels of intervention to keep the US economy afloat during the pandemic. 'They may have violated SEC's insider trading rules,' Warren claimed. Insider trading charges carry a maximum sentence of $5 million in criminal penalties and 20 years in prison, along with civil charges of 'three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided,' according to US law. On Saturday it was revealed that Clarida, Powell's top deputy, traded between $1 million and $5 million out of a bond fund into stocks just a day before his boss issued a statement warning of potential policy action in the face of a worsening COVID crisis, Bloomberg reported. In February 2020 Powell warned that COVID-19 'poses evolving risks to economic activity' and the Fed was 'closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook.' Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida traded between $1 million and $5 million from bonds to stocks a day before Powell announced possible policy action to combat the pandemic The Fed told Reuters that Clarida's financial activity wasn't anything out of the ordinary and the funds were picked with Fed approval. 'The transactions were executed prior to his involvement in deliberations on Federal Reserve actions to respond to the emergence of the coronavirus and not during a blackout period. The selected funds were chosen with the prior approval of the Board's ethics official,' the agency said. It was the third ethics crisis for the Fed within just weeks. In late September, Kaplan and Rosengren - two out of a dozen regional Fed presidents nationwide - announced their retirements after they were also accused of pandemic profiteering. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said he will retire on October 8, citing the 'distraction' of the controversy over his investments, while Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren retired on September 30, pointing to a long-term health condition. While both men claim their investments were approved by Fed ethics officers, their attempts to build wealth while millions were out of work and struggling to pay bills created an image crisis for the Fed. Powell announced a sweeping review of the Fed's ethics guidelines after Kaplan and Rosengren's trading became public. In a statement with his decision Powell said having Americans' trust is 'essential' to the Fed being able to perform its duties. Two of twelve regional Fed presidents, Dallas Fed Chair Robert Kaplan (left) and Boston Fed Chair Eric Rosengren (right), recently retired after ethics scandals into their trade activity But Warren said on Monday the financial disclosures brings 'serious questions' about the Fed's ethical standards. 'The reports of this financial activity by Fed officials raise serious questions about possible conflicts of interest and a reveal a disregard for the public trust. They also reflect atrocious judgement by these officials, and an attitude that personal profiteering is more important than the American people's confidence in the Fed,' she wrote. The latest attack from Warren comes as Powell is fast becoming a frequent target for progressives in Congress as his term as Fed chair gets closer to expiring in February. Amid reports that President Biden is considering re-nominating the Trump administration appointee, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) among others wrote him a letter urging him to choose someone with more progressive views. Powell is supported by moderate Democrats like Senator Dick Durbin and generally well-regarded among Republicans, so a relatively simple confirmation process is likely. But at a hearing last week, Warren unleashed on the Fed chair and called him a 'dangerous man' for the US economy. Warren argued that Powell weakened the US banking system by rolling back financial regulations that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. 'I came to Washington after the 2008 crash to make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again. Your record gives me grave concern,' the Massachusetts lawmaker said. 'Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed, and it's why I will oppose your re-nomination. 'Re-nominating you means gambling that for the next five years, a Republican majority of the Federal Reserve with a Republican chair, who has regularly voted to deregulate Wall Street, won't drive this economy over a financial cliff again,' Warren said. 'And with so many qualified candidates for this job, I just don't think that's a risk worth taking.' The White House has not yet announced a decision on whether to reappoint Powell or choose an alternative. Boris Johnson will today move to reassure voters in the Tory shires that they will not lose out from his flagship plan to 'level up' the North. And in a thinly veiled swipe at Theresa May and David Cameron, he will claim to be the first PM for decades to have the 'guts' to tackle the deep-seated issues facing the UK. In his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the Prime Minister will say that as Britain emerges from the Covid pandemic it is now time to 'get on with our job of uniting and levelling up across the UK'. The levelling-up agenda has been seen as code for pouring cash into deprived parts of the North. But Mr Johnson will also claim that by doing so it will take pressure off the 'overheated' South East. It comes as reports suggest the Prime Minister is set to hike the minimum wage to 9.42 an hour in a bid to steer the country away from the 'broken' model of a low-wage, low-growth economy. 'After decades of drift and dither, this reforming Government, this can-do Government that got Brexit done, is getting the vaccine rollout done and is going to get social care done,' he will declare. 'We are dealing with the biggest underlying issues of our economy and society. The problems that no Government has had the guts to tackle before.' Mr Johnson will insist there can be no return to the days of mass immigration in the wake of Brexit. He will tell activists that the Government is 'embarking now on the change of direction that has been long overdue in the UK economy', adding: 'We are not going back to the same old broken model with low wages, low growth, low skills and low productivity, all of it enabled and assisted by uncontrolled immigration.' In a string of other developments yesterday: The PM triggered a row with business by invoking Margaret Thatcher and slapping down calls for mass immigration to resolve the supply crisis; The first signs emerged of a Cabinet split over how much the Government should intervene if shortages start having a major impact; Health Secretary Sajid Javid warned that the responsibility for health and social care 'begins at home' despite another minister hinting at more tax rises; It emerged GPs could be freed from the burden of writing so many prescriptions to encourage them to hold more face-to-face appointments; Carrie Johnson said her husband is 'completely committed' to protecting the rights of the LGBT+ community; However, Mr Javid called on the NHS to keep using the word 'woman'; BBC veteran Nick Robinson sparked fury from Tories by ordering the PM to 'stop talking' during a radio interview; Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain's Supreme Court, not Strasbourg, should have the final say on human rights cases; Mr Johnson urged young staff to get back to the office. In his keynote speech, Boris Johnson (pictured) will say that as Britain emerges from the Covid pandemic it is now time to 'get on with our job of uniting and levelling up across the UK' The PM is expected to repeat his call of recent days for firms facing staff shortages to give workers a pay rise, saying: 'That is the direction in which this country is going towards a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy that the people of this country need and deserve.' A Tory source said: 'This is a message to business that if they want to fill their vacancies they are going to have to pay people more.' The PM will say: 'The answer is to control immigration, to allow people of talent to come to this country but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in people, in skills and in the equipment or machinery they need to do their jobs.' Mr Johnson is also expected to announce a rise in the minimum wage within weeks, it emerged last night. For people over the age of 23, it will increase by 5.7 per cent from 8.91 to 9.42 per hour, The Times reported. To someone working 35 hours per week, the increase would be worth an extra 928 a year before tax. The 9.42 figure would be the third biggest annual rise since the 2008 financial crash. It will also put the Government in line with the independent advisory body the Low Pay Commission (LPC), which estimated that its 2022 minimum wage recommendation would be 9.42. In a thinly-veiled swipe at Theresa May and David Cameron (pictured), Mr Johnson will claim to be the first PM for decades to have the 'guts' to tackle the deep-seated issues facing the UK According to the Times, the Government's figure could be higher - in the region of 9.45 per hour - but it will be around this point. The figure falls short of Labour's demand for a rise to 10 an hour, and way short of the 15 Unite figure which caused a stir at Labour's party conference last wee. It ultimately led to the resignation of Andy McDonald, who resigned from his shadow cabinet position after saying the leadership had ordered him to argue against the rise to 15, making his position 'untenable'. Sources, meanwhile, said much of the PM's speech will focus on his pledge to 'level up' left-behind parts of the UK. He is expected to back plans for the construction of a new rail line linking Manchester and Leeds. But he will also reassure Tory voters in the South that they will benefit from investment in other parts, arguing that levelling up 'helps to take the pressure off parts of the overheating South East, while simultaneously offering hope and opportunity to those areas that have felt left behind'. Twenty people are facing criminal charges after illegal guns, drugs and $143,000 in cash were seized in a state and federal police operation in northern Tasmania. Fifteen raids were conducted across the five-week operation which netted 40 grams of the drug ice, 91 ecstasy tablets and four firearms. The Tasmania Police and Australian Federal Police operation was set up in late August to investigate organised criminal networks in the Launceston area. 'The community needs to be aware that criminal gangs are not harmless clubs,' Tasmania Police acting deputy commissioner Jonathan Higgins said on Wednesday. Fifteen raids were conducted across the five-week operation which netted 40 grams of the drug ice, 91 ecstasy tablets and four firearms 'They are well organised criminals who readily resort to violence and intimidation to protect their way of life.' Charges include trafficking in a controlled substance, dealing in proceeds of crime, aggravated armed robbery and aggravated burglary. People are also accused of defrauding the Commonwealth of $170,000, breaching a consorting notice, home detention order and bail, plus firearm offences. 'Despite our ongoing commitment to tackling COVID in our community, police and law enforcement agencies remain equally committed to targeting and holding criminals to account,' Mr Higgins said. AFP Tasmania sergeant Nick Gibson said criminal gangs are highly involved in the importation of illicit drugs and the sale of illegal weapons. The charges come after two men were caught in late September trying to smuggle more than $4 million worth of the drug ice into Tasmania inside camping gear. Russian actress Yulia Peresild has arrived on the International Space Station after a three hour flight from Earth, beating Tom Cruise to be the first actor to film a movie in space. The 37-year-old is joined by director Klim Shipenko on the station, after both went through months of training, including centrifuge and zero gravity flight tests. The pair launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 crew capsule at 09:55 BST (04:55 ET) with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, docking with the space station just over three hours later at 13:22 BST. The automated systems guided them in to about 80ft from the ISS, but issues with data feeds forced Commander Shkaplerov to take over, and dock manually. Astronauts and cosmonauts all train for every contingency, including the requirement to take over manual operations if automated systems fail. Ground control watched on as Shkaplerov slowly and carefully edged closer to the station, a foot at a time to ensure he was lined up perfectly with the docking port. Docking was finally confirmed at 13:22 BST, when the docking probe was retracted, making way for the crew to enter their new orbital home after a short wait for pressure in the capsule to match that of the space station. 'We had beautiful sunsets and sunrises, it was a breathtaking view,' the crew said while waiting to go on to the station after docking. This was the first Soyuz launch to the International Station to only include Russian nationals, and the first without a NASA astronaut since September 2015. Shipenko and Peresild will spend 12 days in space, filming the movie that will also include the Roscosmos cosmonauts on the station as extras. The film tells the story of a doctor who has never had involvement with the space program before, but travels to the ISS to save the life of a cosmonaut. Tom Cruise is rumoured to be flying to the ISS in 2022, as part of a $200 million project supported by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX and NASA. Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (C), along with film director Klim Shipenko (R) and actress Yulia Peresild (L) pose for a photo ahead of the launch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft Roscosmos shared photos of the spaceship as it slowly approached the space station Russian actress Yulia Peresild has successfully launched for the International Space Station this morning, beating Tom Cruise to be the first actor to film a movie in space Russian actress Yulia Peresild launched for the International Space Station this morning, beating Tom Cruise to be the first actor to film a movie in space Actress Yulia Peresild, left, director Klim Shipenko right, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (centre) are the members of the prime crew of Soyuz MS-19 spaceship Solar panels and antenna on the Soyuz capsule deployed at just after 10:00 BST, putting the vehicle into 'normal function' for the trip to the ISS CHALLENGE: THE FIRST MOVIE SHOT IN SPACE The movie is being produced by space agency Roscosmos, Channel One and film studio Yellow, Black and White. It is called Challenge, and the space-based segments will feature actress Yulia Peresild in the lead role. She will appear alongside Klim Shipenko, who will also direct the film. Serving cosmonauts, Anton Shkaplerov, Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov will also appear in the film. It isn't clear yet when the movie will be released or whether the Earth-based segments have been filmed. THE PLOT The film focuses on a doctor, played by Peresild, that has never been involved in the space program or has any interest in space travel. That is until she is called on to travel to the International Space Station to save the life of a cosmonaut. There is a suggestion the cosmonaut she has to save is also a friend. Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov will also assist in the 'rescue' operation. Advertisement The trio were cleared as medically fit to fly last week, as were the backup crew of cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, director Alexey Dudin and actor Alena Mordovina. Speaking ahead of the launch, Ms Peresild said: 'It is a bit too late to be afraid because we've come so farand to be honest, there is just no time left for fear.' Director Klim Shipenko, who will also act in the movie during his fortnight living and working on the orbital platform, previously described the movie as 'an experiment,' adding there is 'nobody to get advice from.' 'There is not a single cameraman who could answer how to work with light from a porthole,' he said, of the issues filming in such an unusual environment. It has been provisionally titled Challenge, and is a joint production between Roscosos and Russia's Channel One - which is also producing a documentary on the crew's training and preparations for launch. Commander Anton Shkaplerov, who will remain on the station until Spring 2022, will be playing the role of a cosmonaut who helps the character of Yulia Peresild, who is playing the adventurous doctor, save the cosmonaut who needs help 'I won't be starring in it but still I will need to figure out how a movie is produced in such an unusual place as outer space,' Shkaplerov said. Challenge is co-produced by Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's space agency, with the active involvement of Russian cosmonauts on the station. Cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, who are already on the space station, will also assist in the 'rescue' operation and appear in the movie. Shipenko and Peresild will spend 12 days in space, filming the movie that will also include the Roscosmos cosmonauts on the station as extras The crew spent 2.5 hours waiting on the launch pad ahead of their journey into space at around 09:55 BST (04:55 ET) It will take about three hours and 17 minutes for the spaceship to reach the ISS, and 12 days later Shipenko and Peresild will return to Earth to film the rest of the movie Peresild and crew are travellng to the ISS six decades after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth Actress Yulia Peresild, left, director Klim Shipenko' right, will spend 12 days filming on the station, but cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (centre) will be there for six months The actress (left) and director (right) will launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 crew capsule at 09:55 BST (04:55 ET) with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov (centre) Shipenko and Peresild will have to manage everything themselves, including camera work, lighting, make up and production efforts while filming on the ISS. Shipenko said of the effort: 'Some things will work out and some things will not'. 'It will not be on the same level as on Earth, but we will do our best. We are ready for it,' said Peresild. They will launch on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket, already installed on the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome for the Soyuz MS-19 Mission They are launching as part of ISS Expedition 66, with main crew member, actress Yulia Peresild, playing the part of a doctor in a new movie called Challenge Crew member and film director Klim Shipenko will act in the movie, work on make up and produce the scenes in space Crew member and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov won't be starring in the movie, but will play an active part and be seen in some scenes Shipenko, who is 6 feet 2 inches tall, said his height makes training inside the spacecraft - and the upcoming trip - 'not very comfortable'. But accommodations will be made in the future, he said, adding: 'It is okay. I will fly now as it is, but when we do the sequel about travel to Mars, then they promise there will be a better seat.' Peresild is a stage and film actress who briefly studied philology in the city of Pskov before moving to Moscow to pursue acting. She made her screen debut in the TV series Land in 2003 and had her breakthrough in 2010 with a supporting role in The Edge, a film directed by Aleksei Uchitel, with whom Peresild has two daughters. #19 @Anton_Astrey ! 3 15:12 . pic.twitter.com/CPcf6IRU3I (@roscosmos) October 5, 2021 Tom Cruise is rumoured to be flying to the ISS in 2022, as part of a $200 million project supported by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX and NASA Shipenko (right), who is 6 feet 2 inches tall, said his height makes training inside the spacecraft - and the upcoming trip - 'not very comfortable' The announcement of the Russian film amounts to a space movie race with the West, competing against a project by NASA, Elon Musk and Tom Cruise, which will also be shot at the ISS (pictured) in October In 2015, Peresild played the real-life Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko in the biographical war film Battle for Sevastopol. Last year, NASA and SpaceX confirmed that they will be teaming up with Tom Cruise to make a Hollywood movie on the ISS. He was originally due to travel to the station this month, but that has been postponed until sometime in 2022. When he does launch, Cruise will travel in a SpaceX Crew Dragon ship, similar to the one that put the first all civilian, Inspiration4 crew into Earth orbit for three days. Very little is know about the US film other than the fact Cruise will front it, with director Doug Liman joining him on the ISS to film the space-based scenes. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. Problems began at around 16:45 BST (11:45 ET), leaving users unable to access the three platforms, as well as Facebook Messenger and Oculus, for the rest of the evening. Facebook, which owns all the services, has blamed the outage on a bungled server update and insists it was not an attack from outside the company. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet. But what exactly went wrong and why did it take more almost seven hours to fix? Here is MailOnline's breakdown of the issue... Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were all brought down for almost seven hours yesterday in a massive global outage. The US tech giant said the problem was caused by a faulty update that was sent to its core servers, which effectively disconnected them from the internet A Facebook staff member reportedly accidentally deleted large sections of the code (pictured) which keeps the website online WHAT IS THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Domain Name System, or DNS, is the directory of the internet. Whenever you click on a link, send an email, open a mobile app, often one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of a domain. There are two sides of the DNS network: the authoritative side, ie webpages and other content, and the resolver side, devices that are trying to access this content. Every domain needs to have an authoritative DNS provider, servers which store DNS records. Amazon, Cloudflare and Google are among the bigger names in authoritative DNS server provision. On the other side of the DNS system are resolvers. Every device that connects to the Internet needs a DNS resolver. By default, these resolvers are automatically set by whatever network you're connecting to. So, for most Internet users, when they connect to an ISP, or a WiFi hot spot, or a mobile network, the network operator will dictate what DNS resolver to use. The problem is that these DNS services are often slow and don't respect your privacy. What many Internet users don't realise is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every WiFi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them. Advertisement Why did Facebook go offline? Facebook issued a statement saying the cause of the problem was a configuration change to the company's 'backbone routers', which coordinate network traffic between the tech giant's data centres. 'This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt,' the statement said. Web security firm CloudFlare offered more details about what happened, revealing that Facebook had effectively vanished from the internet. The social media company made a series of updates to its border gateway protocol (BGP), CloudFlare's chief technology officer John Graham-Cunningham said, causing it to 'disappear'. The BGP allows for the exchange of routing information on the internet and takes people to the websites they want to access. It is essentially the roadmap that transports you to the location of each website known as the Domain Name System (DNS) or its IP address. As a consequence of the BGP problems, it meant DNS resolvers all over the world stopped resolving their domain names. Why were Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger also down? It wasn't just Facebook that went offline - its associated services Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were affected, too. Some people also reported issues with Facebook's virtual reality headset platform, Oculus. This is because the tech giant has a centralised, single back end for all of its products. Facebook runs its own systems through the same servers, meaning everything needed to fix the problem from digital engineering tools to messaging services, even key-fob door locks was also taken offline. Matthew Hodgson, co-founder and CEO of Element and Technical Co-founder of Matrix, said the outage illustrated the advantage of having a 'more reliable' decentralised system that doesn't put 'all the eggs in one basket'. 'There's no single point of failure so they can withstand significant disruption and still keep people and businesses communicating,' he added. It wasn't just Facebook that went offline - its associated services Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were affected, too. Some people also reported issues with Facebook's virtual reality headset platform, Oculus How many people were affected? Downdetector, which tracks outages, said it was the biggest failure it has ever seen, with 10.6 million problem reports around the world. In total, Facebook has 2.9 billion monthly active users. The issues started at 16:44 BST (11:44 ET), with nearly 80,000 reports for WhatsApp and more than 50,000 for Facebook, according to DownDetector. From around 22:30 BST (17:30 ET), some users were reporting that they were able to access the four platforms once again. However, Facebook did not work again for many people until at least an hour after that. WhatsApp said it was back up at running 'at 100 per cent' as of 3:30 BST (22:30 ET) this morning. Could it have been a cyber attack? Interestingly, Facebook's statement is carefully written and doesn't rule out foul play. That being said, the chances of it being an external cyber attack seem unlikely. A massive denial-of-service hack that could overwhelm one of the world's most popular sites would require either coordination among powerful criminal groups or a very innovative technique. Sabotage by an insider, however, would be theoretically possible, according to tech experts. What's also eye-opening is that the outage hampered Facebook's ability to address the problem, because it took down internal tools needed to fix it. This meant the issue lasted for nearly seven hours, which is highly unusual. Users around the world reported problems with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Downdetector RECENT FACEBOOK OUTAGES Last month, a technical issue with Facebook-owned Instagram caused an outage that plagued users around the world for 16 hours. Problems started just after 8am on Thursday. About 18 hours later, at 2am on Friday, Instagram announced the problem had been fixed. However, the last time Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went down at the same time was in June. More than a thousand people in countries including the United States, Morocco, Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil reported outages. There were also two Facebook platform outages in March, with Instagram down on March 30, and all three down on March 19. Advertisement It compounded a difficult week for Facebook, which has faced accusations of easing up on efforts to stop misinformation, allowing hate to be magnified on its platforms and being aware that Instagram can harm teenage girls' mental health. The disruption also occurred just 24 hours after a former Facebook employee gave an interview to CBS News after leaking documents about the social network. Whistleblower Frances Haugen, who is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee today, said the company had prioritised 'growth over safety'. Facebook insisted it was 'just not true' to suggest the company encouraged bad content or did nothing in response. Cybersecurity specialist Jake Moore said: 'It is quite interesting that Facebook's statement has not ruled out foul play. 'Like the locks on a bank safe, the money inside is only as secure as the person with the keys cybersecurity is as much about a company's own internal security procedures as it is about fending off outsider attacks.' He reiterated that it was 'not due to an external cyber attack' because web blackouts more often originate from an undiscovered software bug or human error. So was it a mistake by someone within Facebook? There's every chance it could have been an accident rather than an intentional act of sabotage. It has been claimed that a Facebook staff member may have accidentally deleted large sections of the code which keeps the website online. Facebook said its engineering teams had identified 'configuration changes' to its backbone routers that brought its services to a halt. The company said these changes caused a disruption to network traffic and blocked communication between its data centres. Employees' work passes and email were also reportedly affected by the internal issue. Why did it take so long to resolve the problem? When Facebook's platforms went offline, engineers rushed to the company's data centres to reset the servers manually, only to find they couldn't get inside. New York Times' technology reporter Sheera Frenkel told BBC's Today programme this was part of the reason it took so long to fix the issue. 'The people trying to figure out what this problem was couldn't even physically get into the building' to work out what had gone wrong, she said. To make matters worse, one insider claimed the outage was further exacerbated because large numbers of staff are still working from home in the wake of Covid, meaning it took longer for them to get to the data centres. Downdetector, which tracks outages, said it was the biggest failure it has ever seen, with 10.6 million problem reports around the world. Pictured, the issues starting at 16:44 BST (11:44 ET) Engineers were rushed to the company's data centres in Santa Clara, California (pictured), to reset the servers manually Facebook has not yet gone into much detail about how the issue was finally fixed but it is understood that engineers had to manually reset the servers where the problem originated. Software testing expert, Adam Leon Smith of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said: 'It is unlikely the issues were directly caused by people working from home, however it is quite possible that it took so long to restore the service because of reduced staffing within the data centre. 'This would compound the problem because the nature of the failure meant that remote access to the data centre was also unavailable.' How much did the outage cost? During the blackout, Facebook shares plunged by five per cent, wiping an estimated $7 billion (5 million) off founder Mark Zuckerberg's personal fortune. The website Fortune also estimated that seven hours of downtime could have cost the company up to $100 million (73 million) in lost ad revenue. But it's not just Facebook which will have lost out. Businesses who rely on its services are also likely to have lost huge sums of money, although so far there have not been any cost estimates for exactly how much. NetBlocks, which tracks internet outages and their impact, estimates that the outage cost the global economy $160 million (117 million). What are the chances of it happening again? The huge global outage Facebook experienced is a fairly uncommon one, although there's not a lot the company can do to avoid a similar situation because of its centralised back end system. Along with the Fastly outage in June caused by a single customer changing their settings and Cloudflare going offline in 2020, it shows the problem of having a single point of failure for a huge number of services that people use. There are currently no obvious solutions to this, but this latest outage is likely to reignite the debate around internet infrastructure. For many individuals and businesses too, the incident showed just how much they depend on Facebook and its services not just to communicate, but also to log in to other platforms. In response, people have been encouraged to consider using other credentials beyond their Facebook log-in details to access other online services. The 2021 Nobel Prize for physics was today awarded to three scientists working on models to predict global warming and the interplay of planetary systems. One half of the highly-coveted prize was split between Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann for their work in the 'physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.' The other half went to Giorgio Parisi for the 'discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales'. This is one of the most prestigious prizes in science, and in the past honoured discoveries about fundamental forces of nature and cosmic phenomena. It is awarded 'for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.' The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the latest recipient on Tuesday from its stunning Session Hall in Stockholm at 10:45 BST (05:45 EDT). It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize, which includes 841,000 ($1.14 million) and a gold medal. Italian physicist Giorgio Parisi took half the 2021 Nobel Prize for physics for his work on complex systems and how they interact One half of the prize is split between Syukuro Manabe (left) and Klaus Hasselmann (right) for their work in the 'physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming' The other half of the prize will go to Giorgio Parisi for the 'discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales' Member of the Nobel Committee for Physics John Wettlaufer after the announcement of the 2021 Nobel Prize of Physics was awarded to scientists focused on complex modelling WHAT DID THEY DISCOVER? Syukuro Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface. In the 1960s, he led development of physical models of the Earths climate. His work laid the foundation for the development of climate models. Klaus Hasselmann created a model linking weather and climate, answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic. His methods have been used to prove that the increased temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide. Giorgio Parisi discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena. Not only in physics but also in other, very different areas, such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. Advertisement The committee made the award to the three scientists as their studies shared a common theme of 'chaotic and apparently random phenomena'. Complex systems are characterised by randomness and disorder, and because of this are difficult to understand and predict - especially long-term. Syukuro Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface of the Earth. In the 1960s, he led the development of physical models of the Earth's climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models. About ten years later, Klaus Hasselmann created a model that links together weather and climate, thus answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic. He also developed methods for identifying specific signals, fingerprints, that both natural phenomena and human activities imprint in he climate. His methods have been used to prove that the increased temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide. Around 1980, Giorgio Parisi discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena, not only in physics but also in other, very different areas, such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. After the announcement, Parisi said that 'it's very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace' in tackling climate change. 'It's clear for future generations that we have to act now,' he added. Last year, the prize went to American Andrea Ghez, Roger Penrose of Britain and Reinhard Genzel of Germany for their research into black holes. Syukuro Manabe will share a quarter of the prize in 2021, after he demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface of the Earth Klaus Hasselmann, who will also take a quarter of the prize, created a model that links together weather and climate Giorgio Parisi, who took half the prize himself, discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials 'The discoveries being recognised this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations,' says Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. 'This year's Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems.' The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. Nobel made the bequest after reading a premature obituary that called him out for his work in the sale of arms through his company Bofors, which was built off the back of his many patents, including for dynamite. It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize, which includes 841,000 ($1.14 million) and a gold medal The 2021 Nobel Prize for physics has been shared between scientists working on models to predict global warming and the interplay of planetary systems On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize in physiology or medicine to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian. Julius and Patapoutian shared the coveted award for identifying how the body converts physical sensations into electrical signals in the nervous system. The duo were credited with 'unlocking one of the secrets of nature' by the Nobel Committee. The pandemic continues to haunt the Nobel ceremonies, which are usually full of old-world pomp and glamour. The banquet in Stockholm has been postponed for a second successive year amid lingering worries about the virus and international travel. Advertisement A space tourism firm says it will be able to send you to the stratosphere in a balloon by 2024, but a single seat on the commercial flight will set you back 36,700 ($50,000). World View Enterprises is working on the balloon-based system in Tucson, Arizona, where it says it will take people up to an altitude of 100,000ft or 18 miles. This is some way off the 50 mile altitude NASA considers space, but World View says its passengers will see the curvature of the Earth and blackness of space. Rides are expected to last about six to eight hours, but they plan to also offer a five day adventure that will see passengers fly over historic landmarks. World View says each site will be an area of natural beauty, or cultural and historical significance - including the Great Barrier Reef, Pyramids of Giza and other landmarks. Artist impression of the capsule returning back to Earth over the Arizona desert. Future flights will operate from beauty spots around the world The final design of the capsule hasn't been confirmed, although, as this artist impression shows, it is likely to have plenty of windows to witness the view outside Further balloons will be used to cushion the landing, when travellers return to Earth as much as eight hours after taking off. Artist impression Layers of the atmosphere Troposphere is where humans live and weather exists, the lowest layer stretching up to about six miles. Stratosphere extends up to about 40 miles and contains much of the ozone in the atmosphere. Mesosphere sits just above the stratosphere where temperature decreases with height, reaching -130F. Thermosphere is where temperatures begin to increase with height, caused by the absorption of UV and X-rays. Exosphere starts at 310 miles and contains oxygen and hydrogen atoms, but in very low numbers. Magnetosphere features charged particles along magnetic field lines in two bands at 1,800 and 10,000 miles above the surface. Advertisement Each of the capsules taking people to the stratosphere will be able to carry eight-passengers, and the ride is described as 'smooth and gentle'. Unlike other space tourism options, such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, which includes some rocket travel and g-forces, World View says its option suits all ages and fitness levels. The firm says the trip to the stratosphere would be a gentle climb, ending in a view of the curve of the Earth. CEO Ryan Hartman says the ambition is to 'change the conversation around space tourism,' adding that it isn't a joyride, it is 'much bigger and more important.' 'We're redefining space tourism for participants by spending hours at apogee, building memories around some of Earth's most magnificent wonders,' he added. The firm, which has most recently been focusing on sending scientific payloads into the stratosphere using balloons, was founded on the idea of human travel. It has revived those plans, and has already sold out its entire first flight to the nonprofit Space for Humanity, who will offer spaceflight experiences to people who couldn't otherwise afford tickets. The first flights will start from Page in Arizono, which is near the Grand Canyon, but they hope to add the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and other landmarks, to the list of starting locations in the future. Flights to the stratosphere, where the curve of the Earth will be visible, will start at 36,000 per seat in the eight seater capsule Hartman says the service is focused on three key principles: place, time, affordability and accessibility, including offering 'flexible financing options'. The goal, said Hartman, is to offer a form of space travel with longer flights at a much lower price than the suborbital flights offered by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. The firm is still working on the final design of the capsule, and needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before it is able to offer commercial flights, but is confident the first flight will be around 2024. Passengers will be taken up 18 miles above the surface in a capsule carried by massive balloons, spend up to 12 hours in the stratosphere, before gliding back to Earth World View says passengers will get a view of the curvature of the Earth set against the blackness of space from their vantage point 18 miles above the surface World View was formed a decade ago to develop a stratospheric balloon system to carry humans and give them an 'aspect of the spaceflight experience' without sending them into space. However, it shifted to focus on sending imaging and communication equipment into the stratosphere, where it can remain over a specific area for 'weeks at a time.' Hartman hopes that the new version of its human balloon flights will complement suborbital launches by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, adding to the market. It isn't clear yet what the capsule will look like, but this artist impression of the ground view preparing for launch, suggests a 'spectacle' will be involved in the experience The firm says it pkans to offer passengers five days of flights over varying locations, including the Great Barrief Reef and Great Pyramids of Giza 'I think that many of their customers will look at what we have to offer as an additional way to experience viewing our Earth, and so we don't consider ourselves competing head-to-head with them,' he told SpaceNews.com. Unlike Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, who predict that in the future they could be flying dozens of times per week from multiple spaceports, Hartman said World View has a 'supply issue' given wind and climate requirements for balloon flight. He said the firm predicts it will be able to do abut 100 per year at any given location, but that would be reduced by wind conditions, adding 'demand won't be limited.' Apple is remembering its late co-founder Steve Jobs on the 10th anniversary of his death with a heartfelt homepage takeover. The tech giant's website features a video showing snapshots of Jobs' life, footage of him presenting the iPhone in 2007 and other moments of his career. The site also features a statement from his family that recalls the innovator as a teacher who 'taught us to be open to the beauty of the world, to be curious around new ideas, to see around the next corner and most of all to stay humble in our beginner's mind.' Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011, at the age of 56, after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Scroll down for videos Apple is remembering its late co-founder Steve Jobs on the 10th anniversary of his death with a heartfelt homepage takeover CEO Tim Cook, who replaced Jobs in August 2011, shared the video on his Twitter account, along with a quote from the late co-founder. 'People with passion can change the world for the better.' -- SJ. Hard to believe it's been 10 years. Celebrating you today and always,' Cook wrote. The homepage of Apple's website switched to a full-page image of Jobs when he died, which included the text, 'Steve Jobs 1955-2011.' Clicking on the image revealed the additional text: 'Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. The site also features a statement from his family that recalls the innovator as a teacher who 'taught us to be open to the beauty of the world, to be curious around new ideas, to see around the next corner and most of all to stay humble in our beginner's mind' CEO Tim Cook, who replaced Jobs in August 2011, shared the video on his Twitter account, along with a quote from the late co-founder 'Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. 'Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.' On Tuesday, the tech giant shared a video just over two minutes with statements from Jobs talking about the first Apple computer, which he said was 'the most remarkable tool we [Apple] has ever come up with.' Jobs continues to explain that his innovations were not just made to be creative, but to help the world be more productive as well. The video opens with an image of young Jobs (pictured) On Tuesday, the tech giant shared a video just over two minutes with statements from Jobs talking about the first Apple computer, which he said was 'the most remarkable took we [Apple] has ever come up with' Jobs co-founded Apple along with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. The trio originally sold computer kits, which led to the first product known as Apple I. From there, the team built other computers, each more advanced than the prior versions, and in 1984 they introduced the Macintosh. In 1998, Cook joined Apple Corporate Materials for Compaq after Jobs invited him to take on the role of senior vice president of worldwide operations at a time when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Pictured is Jobs introducing the iPod in 2011. He told the world that there are hundreds of songs on the pocket-sized device Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011, at the age of 56, after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer To convince Cook to get on board, Jobs told him about a new product that was sure to shake up the computer world the iconic iMac G3. The computer featured a bulbous, colorful design that launched shortly after Cook started at Apple and helped the firm become the tech powerhouse it is today. Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2011, but Cook has said numerous times that he thinks of the late founder every single day. Cook shared the sad news of Jobs' death to employees in an email shortly after his passing. 'I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today,' Cook wrote in 2011. 'No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve's death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.' NASA's upcoming mission to the 16 Psyche asteroid has received a lot of attention for its potential value, but two other near-Earth asteroids rich in metals could be mined for their resources - including one that could be worth more than $11 trillion. These metal-rich near-earth asteroids (NEAs) are known as 6178 (1986 DA) and 2016 ED85 and according to the research, they have 'spectral signatures' - or the composition of the objects - similar to 16 Psyche. As such, researchers have called them 'mini Psyches,' meaning there is a high probability they are largely made of iron, nickel and cobalt. By exploring the 'mining potential' of 1986 DA, the researchers found that the amount of iron, nickel and cobalt that could be present on the asteroid would exceed the global reserves of the aforementioned metals. Two near-Earth asteroids rich in metals could be mined for their resources. Asteroid 1986 DA (artist's impression) could have iron, nickel and cobalt worth more than $11 trillion Spectra analysis of 6178 (1986 DA) and 2016 ED85 show they are similar in composition 'Assuming that the asteroid is mined and the metals marketed over 50 [years], we found that the annual value of precious metals (in 2021 U.S. dollars) for 1986 DA would be $233 billion,' the researchers wrote in the study. 'The adjusted prices ... show that 1986 DA could be worth a total of $11.65 trillion.' The metal content for 1986 DA could be significantly higher than the worldwide reserves of several different precious metals, including iron, nickel and cobalt, the study's authors believe, citing figures from the U.S. Geological Survey. The metal content for 1986 DA could be significantly higher than the worldwide reserves of several different precious metals, including iron, nickel and cobalt, the study's authors believe, citing figures from the U.S. Geological Survey The researchers did not include 2016 ED85 'because of the limited data available' for the asteroid. 'Our analysis shows that both NEAs have surfaces with 85% metal such as iron and nickel and 15% silicate material, which is basically rock,' said the study's lead author Juan Sanchez, in a statement. 'These asteroids are similar to some stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites found on Earth.' It's possible that these NEAs were once the core of planets that were developing in the early universe and were destroyed for one reason or another. NASA is sending a mission to study the Psyche asteroid - one that could be worth $10,000 quadrillion due to its high metallic content. NASA PSYCHE MISSION: TIMELINE AND KEY EVENTS KEY EVENTS Launch: 2022 Solar electric cruise: 3.5 years Arrival at Psyche: 2026 Observation Period: 21 months in orbit, mapping and studying Psyche's properties TIMELINE 2022 - Launch of Psyche spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center, Florida 2023 - Mars Flyby of Psyche spacecraft 2026 - Psyche spacecraft arrives in asteroid's orbit 2026-2027 - Psyche spacecraft orbits the Psyche asteroid Advertisement This mission to study the 124-mile-wide space rock that orbits the sun in the asteroid belt, will occur in 2022. As part of the mission, the U.S. space agency will attempt to determine the origins of the space rock, which was originally discovered in 1852. The spacecraft that will head to 16 Psyche, also known as Psyche, will travel 1.5 billion miles in 3.5 years using solar electric thrusters and xenon to reach the massive space rock. The benefits of mining asteroids have been discussed for decades, not only for their economic value, but 'also as a way of reducing the environmental damage on Earth,' the researchers wrote in the study. The metals could be used on Earth, as well as 'space construction,' such as eventual colonies on Mars or one on the moon. The authors note that when asteroids are destroyed, they create an 'asteroid family' - a number of smaller asteroids that have similar compositions and orbital paths. The researchers looked at the compositions and orbits of 1986 DA and 2016 ED85 and found four possible asteroid families (Phaeo, Brasilia, San Marcello, and 1999 CG1) in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt that may be related to these NEAs. This is also where the largest known metallic asteroids live, including 16 Psyche. The experts said they do not believe 1986 DA and 2016 ED85 are fragments of 16 Psyche, though. NASA is sending a mission to study the Psyche asteroid - one that could be worth $10,000 quadrillion due to its high metallic content - in 2022. As part of the mission, NASA will attempt to determine the origins of the space rock, originally discovered in 1852 The researchers looked at the compositions and orbits of 1986 DA and 2016 ED85 and found four possible asteroid families (Phaeo, Brasilia, San Marcello, and 1999 CG1) in the outer portion of the main asteroid belt that may be related to these NEAs The spacecraft that will head to 16 Psyche, also known as Psyche, will travel 1.5 billion miles in 3.5 years using solar electric thrusters and xenon to reach the massive space rock 'It's possible that some of the iron and stony-iron meteorites found on Earth could have also come from that region in the solar system too,' study co-author David Cantillo said. Although NASA will send a mission to study 16 Psyche, which some have speculated is worth $10,000 quadrillion, it will not arrive until 2026. The $10,000 quadrillion figure is up for much debate because 16 Psyche is too far away for the spectral analysis that the researchers used on 1986 DA and 2016 ED85. However, in August, measurements of 16 Psyche's surface temperature confirmed it is full of precious metals. Henceforth, 1986 DA and 2016 ED85 are invaluable to scientists, not only because of how close they are to Earth, but they could give insight into the composition of 16 Pysche. 'It is rewarding that we have discovered these 'mini Psyches' so close to the Earth,' University of Arizona professor and study co-author Vishnu Reddy said. The study has been published in The Planetary Science Journal. NASA said on Monday that its mission to deflect an asteroid in deep space using a spacecraft is targeting a late November launch. Known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, the U.S. space agency will send the DART spacecraft to a pair of asteroids - the Didymos binary - at 1:20 a.m. EST on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. DART will smash in one of the two asteroids, known as Didymoon, at roughly 13,500mph on October 2, 2022. In doing so, it will change the speed of Didymoon a fraction of a percent, but it will be enough so NASA can measure its altered orbit. NASA said on Monday that its mission to deflect an asteroid in deep space using a spacecraft is targeting a late November launch This will provide valuable input into future missions to deflect asteroids. At roughly 160 meters (524ft) wide, Didymoon orbits a much larger space rock known as Didymos that is approximately 780 meters (2,559ft) across. Didymoon came relatively close to Earth in 2003, coming within 3.7 million miles. The DART spacecraft will head towards the Didymos binary (pictured) on November 24 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. At roughly 160 meters (524ft) wide, Didymoon orbits the much Didymos, which is approximately 780 meters (2,559ft) across Didymoon came relatively close to Earth in 2003, coming within 3.7 million miles. These 14 images of Didymos and its moonlet were taken on November 23, 24, and 26, 2003 Of the two asteroids, Didymoon is more likely to hit Earth, given there are more space rocks its size that NASA and the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) have yet to observe. 'DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique, which involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an asteroid in space to change its motion,' NASA said in a statement. On October 1, NASA said that the cube satellite that will accompany DART was ready for installation NASA considers any near-Earth object as 'potentially hazardous' if it comes within 0.05 astronomical units (4.6 million miles) and measures more than 460 feet in diameter. According to the U.S. space agency, there are just over 25,000 NEOs, but many more are waiting to be discovered. On October 1, NASA said that the cube satellite (CubeSat) that will accompany DART was ready for installation. The CubeSat weighs 31 pounds and measures 'roughly the length of an adult's hand and forearm,' the agency said. DART is the first part of NASA's asteroid defense strategy, designed in collaboration with the European Space Agency to protect Earth from a possible impact from a 'hazardous asteroid.' According to NASA, there are just over 25,000 near-Earth objects, but many more are waiting to be discovered DART (pictured) is the first part of NASA's asteroid defense strategy, designed in collaboration with the European Space Agency to protect Earth from a possible impact from a 'hazardous asteroid' 'Planetary defense is really about the present solar system and what are we going to do in the present,' Dr Nancy Chabot, project scientist for DART, previously told DailyMail.com. 'DART is not the final answer but rather just the first important step if we needed to defend the Earth from an asteroid impact. 'Finding the asteroids that pose potential impact risks to Earth, tracking them, and characterizing them are critically important to all planetary defense efforts.' The mission is being managed by NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office and the Science Mission Directorates Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters. In August, a study from researchers in California said that several bumps would be needed to change the course of an asteroid, such as Bennu. NASA has previously said that Bennu has a one in 1,750 chance of hitting Earth in the next 300 years. The water industry is calling for a network of cleaner 'bathing rivers,' amid fears raw sewage is being regularly pumped into popular wild swimming spots in the UK. The proposal, set out by industry body Water UK, would see safer inland bathing areas created, meeting higher water quality standards, after it was revealed the River Wharfe in Ilkley was the only one that currently had clean bathing bathing status. The move comes as water companies come under increasing fire for allowing raw sewage to enter riverways and water systems throughout the UK. In July Southern Water was fined 90 million after pleading guilty to 6,971 sewage discharges, pumping it into river and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. Campaigners are calling for tougher restrictions on sewage pollution in public waters, particularly those in beauty spots were people are likely to go swimming. Previous studies have found evidence of raw sewage finding its way into popular wild swimming locations off the Isle of Wight, in Herne Bay and Ramsgate Sands. The water industry is calling for a network of cleaner 'bathing rivers,' amid fears raw sewage is being regularly pumped into popular wild swimming spots in the UK TEN PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY A national plan for rivers a long-term strategy for rivers involving all partners and the creation of a senior National Plan Steering Group to lead progress Protection in law A new Rivers Act to ensure legal protection and close loopholes Local empowerment Ensure leadership and action at a local level by building on the success of the Catchment Based Approach Accountability Use data to look at all sources of harm in rivers, challenging each sector to put in place concrete steps to tackle all barriers to river health Next-generation monitoring Work towards a national monitoring platform to collate and make available data on ecology, chemistry, and public-health from all rivers Support people Government, manufacturers, and retailers to work together to transform the publics understanding of the water environment, campaigning to help consumers play their part too, especially on wet wipes and unflushables Prioritise nature Embed habitat restoration and species renewal across legislation and spending priorities Abstraction Government to introduce a target under the Environment Bill to reduce the amount of water abstracted for the public water supply Storm Overflows Agree a plan to eliminate the 4% of harm caused by storm overflows to English rivers Bathing Rivers Develop a new approach to Bathing Rivers for the delivery of safe recreational use of inland waters in every region of England Advertisement Christine McGourty, chief executive of Water UK, said rivers have been in a state of crisis for most of the last 100 years, and despite progress in recent years, there is still a lot more to do to address the challenges. 'Water companies are passionate about their own role as stewards of the natural environment and are committed to playing their part,' she said. 'But what's needed is a clear, single, national plan, involving everyone river users, customer groups, environmental charities, government, regulators as well as agriculture, highways, and all the sectors impacting river quality.' Water UK says: 'Legislation on rivers was not designed with swimming in mind. This has led to a very slow adoption of measures to improve conditions.' The industry body says there needs to be a new 'long-term strategy' including input from government, regulators and water companies. This would allow a step-change from the historic approach of disjointed, incremental, ad-hoc changes and include the creation of a new Rivers Act to bring together all existing legislation and provide greater protection for rivers in law. They published ten actions for change that could be implemented across all sectors to achieve the 'fundamental changes required' to save the rivers and waterways. 'Only around a quarter of the challenges facing rivers are caused by water companies with the largest source of harm coming from agriculture with other sectors, such as highways and local authorities, also playing a part,' Water UK said. 'The creation of a national plan to eliminate harm from storm overflows, prioritising nature-based solutions and action to massively increase public awareness of the water environment are among the other bold proposals made.' Southern Water was once again criticised for putting sewage into waterways over the weekend, as a result of heavy rainfall, which has been put down to Britain's legacy drainage systems, which merge sewage with rainwater. According to Southern Water figures, they released raw sewage at more than half of its locations around the south coast. Other figures, published by the Rivers Trust last month, found just 14 per cent of England's water bodies are in 'good ecological health'. It is legal for water companies to 'overflow' sewage into public waters, on rare occasions, in a bid to avoid it flowing out into homes and on to streets. This is a measure in law only allowed for in exceptional circumstances, which is why Southern Water were fined earlier this year - for repeated overflows since 2015. There is a new amendment to the Environment Bill, recently passed by the House of Lords, that puts a new duty on water companies to 'take all reasonable steps' to ensure untreated swage isn't discharged from overflows into rivers and waterways. The Rivers Trust welcomed the amendment, saying that changes won't happen overnight, but presents a clear and explicit ambition to improve. Tonnes of sewage polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex between 2010 and 2015, a court heard. Pictured: Bosham, West Sussex, where raw sewage was deposited 'Equally, it aims to ensure that government agencies will actually use their powers of enforcement,' Christine Colvin of the Rivers Trust told The Independent. 'Four hundred thousand discharges of raw sewage from storm overflows in 2020 give clear evidence that this isnt the case currently.' The amendment was introduced to the Lords by the Duke of Wellington, who said investment was needed to modernise the sewage network. Charles Watson, from campaign group River Action UK, told the Telegraph Souther Water was one of the worst offenders when it comes to sewage overflow. The proposal, set out by industry body Water UK, would see safer inland bathing areas created, meeting higher water quality standards, after it was revealed the River Wharfe in Ilkley was the only one that currently had clean bathing bathing status However, he said 'disclosures of multiple sewage discharges into the sea, as well as the many more into rivers that go unreported, will be telling the same story as all the other water companies up and down the country following a rainy weekend. "It is just a scandal that this is allowed to happen as a matter of accepted routine. "At the very least, it is imperative that the Government accepts swiftly the House of Lords amendment to the Environment Bill, which will bring forward the ultimate reduction of these horrific combined sewer overflows." Southern Water chief executive Ian McAulay said of the fine in July that he was 'deeply sorry for the historic incidents' that led to the sentencing. 'I know that the people who rely on us to be custodians of the precious environment in southern England must be able to trust us,' he said. 'What happened historically was completely unacceptable and Southern Water pleaded guilty to the charges in recognition of that fact.' Advertisement The long-lost ski of a pair used more than 1,300 years ago has been discovered on a Norwegian mountain top. The first ski was uncovered in 2014 and seven years later, the Digervarden ice patch melted enough to reveal its wooden counterpart together they make the oldest pair of skis ever to be found. On September 26, a team of Norwegian archaeologists led by the Secrets of Ice program hiked three hours up Mount Digervarden to the spot where the first ski was discovered. Using GPS position and photos taken from the initial visit, the researchers located the second ski under the ice, which they chipped away with an axe and melted with boiling water to break the artifact free. Scroll down for video The long-lost ski of a pair used more than 1,300 years ago has been discovered on a Norwegian mountain top The Digervarden ice patch is in Reinheimen national park, located in Nordberg, Norway. It is a popular archaeological site that has revealed several ancient treasures once used thousands of years ago. However, the reason these forgotten items are surfacing is due to climate change melting the once solid ice sheets. The newly discovered ski is 187 cm long and 17 cm wide, 17 cm longer and 2 cm wider than the first ski found in 2014. Archaeologist Lars Holger Pil, who was part of the excavation, wrote in a blog post that the preservation of the new ski is much better, which may be due to it being deeper in the ice. The first ski (pictured) was uncovered in 2014 and seven years later the Digervarden ice patch melted enough to reveal its wooden counterpart together they make the oldest pair of skis ever to be found. Using GPS position and photos taken from the initial visit, the researchers located the second ski under the ice, which they chipped away with an axe and melted with boiling water to break the artifact free That may account for some of the differences in dimensions between the two skis, Pil shared. The long wooden plank features three twisted birch bindings, a leather strap and a wooden plug through the hole in the foothold. The ski found in 2014 only had one twisted birch binding and a leather strap through the hole. Both skis have a hole through the tip. There are slight differences in the pair, one being that the back end of the new ski, while the one found in 2014 is straight. Interestingly, the new ski shows signs of repairs and a piece of the back end is missing that could still be frozen in the ice. The new ski shows signs of repairs and a piece of the back end is missing that could still be frozen in the ice The long wooden plank features three twisted birch bindings, a leather strap and a wooden plug through the hole in the foothold. There are slight differences in the pair, one being that the back end of the new ski, while the one found in 2014 is straight. Pictured is the leather strap for the binding. In November 2020, Pil and his colleagues found a trove of artifacts on a a mountainside in Jotunheimen in Norway. The items included nearly 70 arrow shafts (pictured), shoes, textiles and reindeer bones Whether it broke when lost or while inside the ice may be possible to say at a later stage based on a careful study of the edge of the break, Pil shared in the post. The skis are not identical, but we should not expect them to be. The skis are handmade, not mass-produced. They have a long and individual history of wear and repair before an Iron Age skier used them together and they ended up in the ice 1300 years ago. In November 2020, Pil and his colleagues found a trove of artifacts on a a mountainside in Jotunheimen in Norway. The items included nearly 70 arrow shafts, shoes, textiles and reindeer bones. The heads were made from a variety of materials iron, quartzite, slate, mussel shell and even bone. Several still had the twine and tar used to affix them to a wooden shaft. Marcos Rojo must have dreamed of playing in the Superclasico against River Plate when he joined Boca Juniors earlier this year but his taste of Argentina's biggest fixture in front of fans did not last long. The former Manchester United defender was sent off in only the 16th minute of Sunday's game at River's Monumental stadium after picking up two yellow cards in two minutes. The red card cost his team dear as Julian Alvarez struck twice for River in the first half. Marcos Rojo was sent off in Boca Juniors' 2-1 defeat at rivals River Plate in the Superclasico The former Manchester United defender was shown two yellow cards in two minutes Boca managed to avoid a humiliating result and managed to pull goal back in added time through Carlos Zambrano but still lost 2-1 as some 50,000 River fans celebrated victory in the first Superclasico to take place in front of fans since 2019. Rojo earned his first yellow for a wild lunge on Braian Romero in the middle of the park and remonstrated with the referee after he was shown the card. The booking did little to calm him down though and less than 60 seconds later he clattered into Agustin Palavecino on the edge of the area and was shown a second yellow, to the delight of the baying home supporters. Rojo earned his first yellow in the derby for a wild lunge on River's Braian Romero It is not the first time Rojo has run into trouble since returning to Argentina. Three months ago he and several Boca team-mates were caught up in a huge brawl during a Copa Libertadores game away to Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro which led to Rojo punching a security guard. Boca were left incensed after a goal from Marcelo Weigandt was controversially ruled out by VAR in the second-leg of their round of 16 tie against Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro. He was then shown a fifth career red card after clattering into River's Agustin Palavecino The match went to penalties where Boca were defeated 3-1 and the evening soon descended into chaos as the Argentine side tried to break into the Mineiro dressing room before later clashing with police, who used tear gas in response. Rojo's red card in such a crucial game will be of little surprise to Manchester United fans who remember his time at the club. Remarkably, the Argentine was never sent off in his six years in the Premier League although he had more than a few near misses. Rojo punched a security guard following Boca's defeat to Atletico Mineiro in July Watford's then boss Marco Silva complained that Rojo was not sent off in a 4-2 home defeat to United in November 2017 after fouling Roberto Pereyra and conceding a penalty, having already been shown a yellow card. Rojo was also fortunate to not see red in a 1-1 draw at Everton in December 2016 following a reckless foul on Idrissa Gueye, while he could also have been sent off on two separate occasions against Chelsea. Rojo was remarkably never sent off for Manchester United but he had plenty of close calls The Argentine appeared to stamp on Eden Hazard in a 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Stamford Bridge in 2017 while Chelsea's then boss Maurizio Sarri felt he should have been dismissed in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in April 2019. Sunday's quick-fire double booking against River was the fifth time Rojo had been sent off in his career. He received three red cards while a Sporting Lisbon player - all for double bookings - and was sent off early on in the 2016 Copa America final between Argentina and Chile for a straight red card. British Airways will soon be reinstating Airbus A380 services, beginning - incredibly - with short-haul flights using the superjumbo between London, Madrid and Frankfurt. That's according to flight tips site God Save The Points (GSTP), which says that it was 'sent scheduling and operating documents which confirm British Airways plans to return the A380 to service', along with site Head For Points. GSTP said that the A380 European services will begin on November 8, before long-haul superjumbo services recommence in December to Dubai, Los Angeles, Miami and Dallas. British Airways will soon be reinstating Airbus A380 services, beginning - incredibly - with short-haul flights using the superjumbo between London, Madrid and Frankfurt In 2019, MailOnline Travel flew first class (pictured) with BA to Johannesburg in an A380, and back in economy. The cabin experience in both directions was very good indeed, we reported The idea, GSTP said, behind the short-haul services, is to re-familiarise crew and pilots with the aircraft. GSTP added: 'It's unlikely first class would become bookable, unless business class (Club) is sold out, but to say you've flown an A380 on a two-hour flight is amusing. 'These flights won't have the latest Club Suite business class seats, but offer a stellar economy experience for intra-Europe short-haul flying, thanks to the long-haul seat dimensions.' In 2019, MailOnline Travel flew first class with BA to Johannesburg in an A380, and back in economy. The cabin experience in both directions was very good indeed, we reported. The BA A380 European services will begin on November 8, before long-haul services recommence in December to Dubai, Los Angeles, Miami and Dallas Qatar Airways, meanwhile, is also resuming A380 services. The airline last year indefinitely parked its 10 A380s after the Covid-19 collapse in long-haul travel, and said it would only ever use five of them once they returned to service. Executive Traveller, quoting the airline's chief executive, said Qatar Airways would operate flights with five of its parked A380s from November, with all 10 possibly returning next year. 'We have to find capacity for our passengers who need airlines to take them to their loved ones for Christmas,' Akbar Al Baker was quoted as saying. A Qatar Airways representative confirmed the report was accurate. The five A380s would give the Gulf carrier more than half the 4,000-seat capacity it had lost in the Qatari regulatory grounding of 13 A350s in August. The grounding followed Qatar Airways allegations that the fuselage surface below the paint on each of the jets was deteriorating. The airline has been locked in a months-long public dispute with Airbus over the allegations, insisting it would not take any A350 deliveries until the problem was resolved. Emirates will receive three more A380 aircraft from Airbus this year with its last unit on order scheduled to join its fleet in November, bringing forward the original delivery timeline from June 2022. These deliveries will bring Emirates total fleet of A380s to 118 units in November. Emirates has reinstated its A380 operations on over a dozen popular routes. Currently, there are a total of 48 A380s in service globally and 195 in storage, according to travel data and analytics expert Cirium. Bradley Cooper cut a casual figure when he was spotted out on an early morning breakfast run in New York City. The 46-year-old actor showed off his toned biceps in gray t-shirt as he walked down the sidewalk in Manhattan. The Hangover star paired the t-shirt with loose-fitting jeans that were in a darker shade of gray. Dressed down: Bradley Cooper cut a casual figure when he was spotted out on an early morning breakfast run in New York City The Philadelphia native completed his monochromatic ensemble with gray flip-flop sandals. Bradley wore his sandy brown hair tousled and sported a light stubble of facial hair. He accessorized with a silver chain necklace that had a dog tag pendant and a green and beige beaded necklace. Casual: The Hangover star paired the t-shirt with loose-fitting jeans that were in a darker shade of gray. The Academy Award nominee held his iPhone in one hand as he strolled through a crosswalk. Cooper will next be seen in Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming comedy-drama Licorice Pizza, which will be released in theaters on November 26, 2021. Set in 1973, the coming-of-age movie stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's son Cooper Hoffman, 18, in his film debut. Hoffman plays Gary Valentine, a teenage actor growing up in the San Fernando Valley. Alana Haim stars as Gary's love interest Alana Kane. Out and about: The Academy Award nominee held his iPhone in one hand as he strolled through a crosswalk Bradley plays real-life Hollywood producer Jon Peters. Peters got his start in show business as Barbra Streisand's hairstylist. He and Streisand became romantically involved after he designed her wig for the 1974 movie For Pete's Sake and they went on to date for 12 years. Peters received his first producing credit on Streisand's 1976 remake of A Star Is Born. Jon went on to produce hit films including Caddyshack, Flashdance, The Witches of Eastwick, Wild Wild West and Batman. In character: Bradley plays real-life Hollywood producer Jon Peters in Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming movie Licorice Pizza Former flames: Peters got his start in show business as Barbra Streisand's hairstylist. He and Streisand became romantically involved after he designed her wig for the 1974 movie For Pete's Sake and they went on to date for 12 years. Seen in 1975 However, in 2011, Peters was ordered by a Los Angeles judge to pay $3.3 million to a former assistant who accused him of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment during the production of his 2006 film Superman Returns. Five former employees later alleged that they had been sexually harassed while working for Jon. Peters received a producing credit on Cooper's 2018 remake of A Star Is Born since he owned the rights to the 1976 film. Bradley told NPR that he was unaware of the accusations at the time. 'With this property, there are many writers that come before if you see the end credits, it's like, there's 10 writers,' he explained. 'And [Jon Peters] was part of the, I guess, the grandfather clause of the movie, and we had to get his consent in order to make the movie. When you're at the helm, it's a huge responsibility. ' And I guess I mean, first of all, on the set ... you have to create an environment where everybody feels safe. Everybody. And there's no room for disrespect, nothing. And that's something that you'd have to ask everybody who was involved, but I feel like that's the environment I created. Luckily, Jon wasn't there.' Cooper continued, 'If I had known all those things, I would have done it differently. 'I wanted to make the movie, I knew I had to get consent from him, otherwise there's no film. But I should have checked. I guess that's the thing.' Several jobs at the ABC are said to be hanging in the balance after claims made in the TV documentary and podcast series Juanita: A Family Mystery were proven to be false. The public broadcaster has held meetings at both the management and board level to figure out who was responsible for airing the discredited information in the commissioned production, reports The Australian. The two-part documentary, which focuses on the 1975 disappearance of journalist and activist Juanita Nielsen, premiered in September and has since been taken down from the ABC's streaming platform iview. Inaccurate: Several jobs at the ABC are said to be hanging in the balance after claims made in the TV documentary and podcast series Juanita: A Family Mystery were proven to be false It was removed after recent information came to light that contradicted claims made by interviewee and retired lawyer John Innes. Innes claimed he was 'placed' in Long Bay jail as an 'undercover investigator' to gather information from Eddie Trigg, who was a prime suspect in Nielsen's disappearance. Trigg was jailed on conspiracy to murder but no one has ever been charged for Nielsen's murder. Dropped: The two-part documentary, which focuses on the 1975 disappearance of journalist and activist Juanita Nielsen, premiered in September and has since been taken down from the ABC's streaming platform iview Innes said in the documentary he knew 'where she was killed, how she was killed, who killed her, how much they got paid, and who paid him'. Three weeks after the two-part special went to air, the ABC issued an apology stating that Mr Innes' claims were likely false as new information surfaced. 'Following publication, new information came to light casting serious doubt on some of Innes' claims. Some of this information had been unavailable to the content makers; some was available but not discovered,' the statement read. False: The documentary was removed after recent information came to light that contradicted claims made by interviewee and retired lawyer John Innes (pictured) Another statement was later issued by the ABC when the series, including episodes seven and eight of the Juanita: A Family Mystery podcast, were removed. 'It is important to note that the program makers attempted to verify those claims, such as by speaking with and / or seeking interviews with current and former NSW Police officers, including those Mr Innes said he worked with in the early 1980s,' a spokesperson said. 'The program makers also sought comment from NSW Police, which chose not to repudiate Mr Innes' claims until after they were broadcast. 'However, while some information concerning Mr Innes was not available to the program makers, we acknowledge that additional steps should have been taken to verify his claims.' Unverified: Mr Innes stated that he knew the details of Juanita's alleged murder and that he gathered information from prime suspect Eddie Trigg in Long Bay jail. Pictured: Juanita with her father, Neil Smith The editorial errors come as misleading information was also broadcast in the ABC's previous documentary Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire. The special investigates the tragic 1979 Ghost Train fire at Sydney's Luna Park, which resulted in the deaths of seven people. An independent review into the ABC documentary found it wrongly implied a relationship between underworld figure Abe Saffron - who was an associate of Eddie Trigg - and former NSW premier Neville Wran. Previously: The editorial errors come as misleading information was also broadcast in the ABC's documentary Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire based on the 1979 Sydney Luna Park fire Nielsen, who owned alternative newspaper NOW, disappeared from the centre of Sydney's seedy underbelly 46 years ago in one of Australia's most notorious unsolved crimes. At the time, the 38-year-old was a fierce activist who used her publication to campaign against developers to protect heritage buildings in Potts Point and promote the Builders Labourers Federation's controversial green bans in the 1970s. She disappeared on the morning of July 4, 1975 after she walked into the Carousel Cabaret - a Kings Cross nightclub. She has never been found and no one has been charged for her murder. Samuel Johnson's sister helped nurse the actor back to health after he almost died in a shocking car accident in June. And on Tuesday morning, Hilde Hinton couldn't hide her emotions as the pair discussed the near-fatal incident live on Sunrise - just four years after losing their other sibling Connie, 40, to breast cancer in 2017. 'I just thought - not Connie and Sam. I just pictured myself alone and it wasn't pretty,' Hilde said, as she began to get emotional while standing next to her brother, 43. Scroll down for video Heartache: Samuel Johnson's (right) sister Hilde (left) couldn't hide her emotion as she discussed the actor's near-fatal car accident live on Sunrise on Tuesday - just four years after losing their other sibling Connie, 40, to breast cancer in 2017 'It's been a long road. You find yourself putting a on brave face for the patient, and when you turn around to put the kettle on, your face falls.' Hilde added of Samuel's injuries: 'He was an absolute mess. He couldn't see, he couldn't put sentences together, he spoke in a Russian accent at the beginning. 'He had a cracked skull, his neck was plastered and he breathed in ground glass upon impact into his lungs.' 'That's what happens when you face-plant a car, apparently you eat glass!' her brother responded in jest. Injuries: 'He was an absolute mess. He couldn't see, he couldn't put sentences together, he spoke in a Russian accent at the beginning,' Hilde said, adding: 'He had a cracked skull, his neck was plastered and he breathed in ground glass upon impact into his lungs' Samuel was driving to a relative's house on June 19 when he pulled over and crossed the road to relieve himself, because he was 'bursting' and didn't think he could wait an extra half hour. As he went to return to his vehicle, he was accidentally struck by a car. He later confirmed he had broken his skull, suffered bleeding on the brain, injured the ligaments in his neck, partially dislocated his jaw and endured deep bruising down the side of his body. Discussing his lucky escape on Sunrise, he added: 'I'm here, so I'm really grateful. I basically nearly died. 'It's really common for people who have a brain injury to be quite emotional, and I was crying a lot, I was very emotional. Awful: Johnson was driving to a relative's house on June 19 when he pulled over and crossed the road to relieve himself, because he was 'bursting' and didn't think he could wait an extra half hour. He shared pictures of the shock accident on The Project on Monday 'I went to being slightly on the gushy side, to being a full-time gusher. My family wish I never had the accident as I'm now super emotional.' He added that during his six-week hospital stay, he saw many people that were 'a lot more injured' than himself. 'There were people that had been there for months, and were way more injured than me. I'm not trying to diminish what I went through, but there were people that got collected at a higher speed - we feel a little bit lucky. 'At home we call it the good accident.' Samuel's brush with death was another tragic blow for the siblings, who lost their sister Connie in September 2017. She had suffered from bone cancer at age 11, uterine cancer at age 22 and breast cancer at age 33. Siblings: Samuel started the Love My Sister cancer charity in 2012, with his late sister, Connie Johnson (right), who died of breast cancer at age 40 in 2017 Connie died one day after being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia at age 40. Samuel had started the Love My Sister cancer charity in 2012 alongside Connie. Meanwhile, the actor spoke about his accident on Monday night's The Project. 'I got hit between 40 and 50km/h by a small white vehicle. I broke my skull, I fractured my upper neck, and luckily my face bore the brunt of the impact, so my face saved my brain from a lot of the damage,' he said. 'Basically I got hit fairly badly and by the time they got me to hospital, they rushed me into ICU, I tanked, and I had two loved ones with me. 'I was told later, that were put into the death room - the one with the fridge and the couch where you are private and you are able to be told the bad news.' Sam credited his girlfriend, Emma Rooke, with being his saviour - ensuring help reached him as soon as possible. Speaking out: The actor discussed his accident on Monday night's The Project When he woke up in hospital 10 days later, he had no memory of what happened, and in fact, began speaking in a Russian accent. 'It was weird waking up. I woke up and I was really way more famous than I ever remembered being,' he said. '[I thought] photographers were trying to get at me while I was inside and I wasn't in a hospital - I was either in a mental home or my drink had been spiked. 'Maybe I was kidnapped, maybe I was clinically insane. So, I thought all kinds of things. I was Russian for a while, I spoke with a heavy Russian accent in three-word sentences for a couple of days, and then I was a Japanese 11-year-old girl. 'Basically happens when your brain gets wobbled is you go loopy,' Sam added. Australian celebrity hairstylist Lyndell Mansfield, who worked with the likes of Paloma Faith and Beth Ditto of the rock band Gossip, has died. She suffered a heart attack and brain aneurysm in London. Mansfield had been diagnosed with Covid-19 last month, with some reports claiming she'd recovered from the virus before her death. Australian celebrity hairstylist Lyndell Mansfield (pictured), who worked with the likes of Paloma Faith and Beth Ditto of the rock band Gossip, has died Mansfield's friend Thea Basiliou confirmed the news on Instagram, writing: 'I can't believe I'm writing this. It doesn't seem real. You've left us early. As always you're in a hurry to do something and as always, with a bang. 'Our long friendship, unconditional. I love all the things we did together. So many amazing shows. We had so much fun. You are without a doubt the most incredible person I've ever known. So much energy, so much love and honesty.' 'A friend, mother, sister and co-creative and not just to me. You connected with and are loved by so many,' Basiliou added. 'We lived so far away from each other but there was always the hope of the next trip. So I missed you before and now I will miss you forever. Our precious Lyndell.' Mansfield suffered a heart attack and brain aneurysm. She had been diagnosed with Covid-19 last month, with some reports claiming she'd recovered from the virus before her death Mansfield's friends had attempted to raise money to bring her family from Australia to the UK after she was placed on life support. Ditto urged fans to donate last week, writing on Instagram: 'If you know me at all you know Lyndell. She is my chosen family. My chosen sister. 'She has guided me, taught me. She is such a big part of the person I am. She is such an enormous part of Gossip. 'I don't have words for how important she is to me. How cherished she is. Lyndell is on life support in London. Her family is in Australia. England has never ever felt so far away.' Mansfield's friend Thea Basiliou confirmed the news on Instagram, writing: 'I can't believe I'm writing this. It doesn't seem real. You've left us early. As always you're in a hurry to do something and as always, with a bang' 'This post is so hard to write. Because I love her so much. So many of us have been touched by her, changed by her. Danced by her. Her laugh. Her electricity. Her lust for life. I could tell you a thousand stories,' Ditto added. 'I don't think I've actually prayed since I was 19 years old. Today I found myself pleading with god or something. Anything to make her wake up.... If you can donate it would mean everything.' Mansfield worked with prominent models, musicians and actors throughout her career, including Paloma Faith and Noomi Rapace. She became a millionaire after co-founding Booby Tape - the 'breast lift in a box'. And Bianca Roccisano is certainly living the high life. The 34-year-old businesswoman headed to dinner with pals at celebrity hotspot Nobu in Malibu on Saturday. Hope she's wearing her own product! Aussie Booby Tape millionaire co-founder Bianca Roccisano, 34, showed off her ample cleavage in a low-cut dress during dinner at Nobu in Malibu with friends on Saturday She turned heads during the outing, showing off her cleavage in a white $690 Dion Lee dress. She teamed her flirty mini dress with a pair of black strappy Balenciaga heels. In her hands, she carried a quilted Bottega Veneta clutch and she added to her monochrome attire by donning oversized black sunglasses by Christian Dior. The businesswoman also toted her iPhone in her hand, accessorising the device with a phone chain from British brand String Ting. The next IT girl?! She turned heads during the outing, showing off her cleavage in a white $690 Dion Lee dress Bianca accessorised with a white gold watch, and diamond necklace which had her 'B' initial on it. The brunette beauty opted for a full face of makeup, and wore her dark long locks in waves, parting them at the centre. Bianca's group outing comes after she documented her shopping trip alongside a gal pal in Rodeo Drive last week. At the time, she wrote: 'What a dream to back on Rodeo.' Party time: Bianca appeared to be attending a special party with her very good looking friends LA living: Bianca's group outing comes after she documented her shopping trip alongside a gal pal in Rodeo Drive last week Bianca and her sister Bridgett, 30, are co-founders of the eponymous clothing label Bianca and Bridgett and beauty brand Booby Tape - which has been described as a 'breast lift in a box'. The Victorian sisters now sell Booby Tape products in more than 35 countries. Their standard breast tape, which launched in 2018, retails for $21.95. One of their latest products sold out in just 24 hours. The women told Daily Mail Australia last year they'd noticed there was a gap in the market for products focusing on supporting women's breasts. 'It's been crazy; we have been overwhelmed with the global response and support we have received from customers,' Bianca said. Co-founders: Bianca and her sister Bridgett are co-founders of the eponymous clothing label Bianca and Bridgett and beauty brand Booby Tape - described as a 'breast lift in a box' Success: Their standard breast tape, which launched in 2018, retails for $21.95. One of their latest products sold out in just 24 hours 'We believed the business had potential from the start, but we didn't expect the growth to be so rapid.' The brand has more than 1,000 stockists in Australia, America, China and the UK. Speaking to Forbes earlier this year about creating their multimillion-dollar business, Bianca said they started with just $15,000, which came from their fashion line. 'We started the business with $15,000 $1,000 of which we spent on a photo shoot,' she said. 'Even though we only had a little bit of product at the time, our philosophy was that if we wanted to be a global, multimillion-dollar brand, we needed to like one. 'It's an Australian-born company and we started this. And due to the branding and the marketing - which we're very hands-on with - it looks like a global brand.' Archie Lyndhurst's mother has paid a moving tribute to her son - on what would have been his 21st birthday. The actor died from a brain haemorrhage aged 19 while he slept at his family home in west London in September 2020. Lucy said the pain of losing Alfie would last forever and that she and his dad, the Only Fools and Horses actor Nicholas Lyndhurst could never thank their son enough for the amazing memories. Emotional: Archie Lyndhurst's mother has paid a moving tribute to her son - on what would have been his 21st birthday (Archie pictured with his father Nicholas and mother Lucy in 2017) Sharing a picture of Archie as a baby, Lucy wrote on Instagram: 'Today, 4th October, will always be the best day of our lives. The day you arrived and completed us. 'Every adventure has been amazing and utterly joyous, we can never thank you enough for the tremendous ride. She added: 'Today is your 21st birthday. A day we'd talked about for years and the plans you had for it. I wish more than anything your story and adventures could have continued. You deserved so much more. You only ever gave to the world. 'I shall never understand why. Never. We now live in a world we no longer understand and maybe it doesn't understand us either. But our love for you still grows as it always did. That will never diminish. Tragic: The actor died from a brain haemorrhage aged 19 while he slept at his family home in west London in September 2020 (pictured with his father in So Awkward) 'The pain of not seeing you every day or hearing your voice and your laughter is absolutely agonising. We think about you night and day. You are the best son anyone could wish for. A parents dream. I always said you were only on loan to us. 'I just didn't realise how short a time we had. You didn't waste a second though. You charmed so many peoples lives, they are the lucky ones who got to know you. 'We love you beyond measure and hope you like what we are doing to honour you today. 'Big Love' darling boy. To the moon and back and beyond. In a Bizzle' M & OM XxX'. Her words come as his girlfriend Nethra Tilakumara also paid tribute to him in a separate picture posted on her social media, writing: 'Happy 21st birthday my love'. Post: Lucy said the pain of losing Alfie would last forever and that she and his dad, the Only Fools and Horses actor Nicholas Lyndhurst could never thank their son enough for the amazing memories She wrote: 'We think about you night and day. You are the best son anyone could wish for. A parents dream. I always said you were only on loan to us' Archie died in his sleep after an intracerebral haemorrhage caused by acute lymphoblastic lymphoma/leukaemia - an incredibly rare condition which kills just 800 people a year. Nethra, 21, remembered their anniversary on her Instagram page last week. She wrote: 'To my best friend, Happy 2 Year anniversary, my love. Archie, when I met you my life completely changed and all for the better. 'I only wished for so many more years and all I can say is that when you know, you know - and I did. I'm so glad I found you and I'll find you again one day...' Archie and Nethra starred in the CBBC show So Awkward together. Moving: Her words come as his girlfriend Nethra Tilakumara also paid tribute to him in a separate picture posted on her social media Pauline Hanson and her chief of staff, James Ashby, have taken action against Southern Cross Austereo after the right-wing politician's interview with The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show podcast was removed following a Twitter storm. The Queensland Senator, 67, has advised SCA, the media company that hosted the podcast on its LiSTNR platform, she has pulled One Nation's expensive TV campaign from the network. Mr Ashby contacted SCA CEO Grant Blackley and senior staff members to confirm the party would be suspending its campaign, which was scheduled to air in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Cancelled: Pauline Hanson (pictured on June 17) and her chief of staff, James Ashby, have taken action against Southern Cross Austereo after the right-wing politician's interview with The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show podcast was removed following a Twitter storm 'The network needs to readdress the way it deals with issues like this,' Mr Ashby told The Australian. 'The problem is the interview showed a human side of Pauline that the keyboard warriors who despise everything about her didn't want you to see. But I feel for Jess that she was so hurt by what happened.' Hanson had appeared on Jessica Rowe's LiSTNR podcast to discuss her time in prison for electoral fraud in 2003, her children, and other lighthearted topics like her favourite tipple. Response: The Queensland Senator has advised SCA, the media company that hosted the podcast, she has pulled One Nation's expensive TV campaign from the network Chat: Hanson had appeared on Jessica Rowe's LiSTNR podcast to discuss her time in prison for electoral fraud in 2003, her children, and other lighthearted topics like her favourite tipple Rowe promoted the podcast on social media as Hanson talking about 'love, raising kids and why she keeps going'. But the episode soon faced backlash on Twitter, with Australian of the Year Grace Tame accusing Rowe of 'subtly enabling', 'normalising', and 'valorising' Hanson. Rowe later asked LiSTNR to 'take down the Pauline Hanson interview'. Removed: The episode faced backlash on Twitter, with Australian of the Year Grace Tame accusing Rowe of 'subtly enabling', 'normalising', and 'valorising' Hanson. Rowe later asked LiSTNR to 'take down' the episode and Hanson's team responded by posting this parody image As a result, One Nation will no longer air advertisements on SCA's TV channels. The party was planning to pay for a series of ads across the company's regional stations to promote Hanson ahead of next year's federal election. Blackley received a scathing text message from Ashby after the podcast was pulled. It read: 'Cancel culture is a scourge on modern media and if we continue to allow it to permeate through society, SCA will forever be beholden to these minority groups.' Demi Moore turned the heads of onlookers as she exited a swanky Parisian restaurant with her daughter Scout Willis on Monday. The talented actress, 58, certainly put her best fashion foot forward in an eye-popping brown plaid blazer and matching suit trousers. Layering the oversized ensemble above a burgundy sweater featuring an orange polo-neck, she donned a pair of chocolate slippers and kept herself warm with a coordinating coat. Emerging: Demi Moore turned the heads of onlookers as she exited a swanky Parisian restaurant with her daughter Scout Willis on Monday She styled her luscious raven locks over her shoulder and framed her stunning face with a pair of aviator glasses. Meanwhile her daughter Scout, 30 - who is one of the three children she shares with ex-husband Bruce Willis - wrapped up in a walnut coat featuring a fluffy collar, while sporting a pair of washed denim jeans. Cutting a floor-length white shirt underneath, the model sported a pair of onyx pumps and clutched a burgundy snakeskin handbag. Sensational: Demi certainly put her best fashion foot forward in an eye-popping brown plaid blazer and matching suit trousers She accentuated her natural beauty with a light touch of make-up and wore her gorgeous umber tresses in a sleek middle parting. The mother-daughter-duo put on an eye-popping display when they stepped out for Stella McCartney's fashion show in the French capital earlier in the day. The G.I. Jane star slipped into a chic black jumpsuit complete with cut-out netted detailing across the bust that showcased the raven-haired beauty's assets. Scout put her abs on show in a black bralet teamed with statement-making white trousers. What a pair! The mother-daughter-duo put on an eye-popping display when they stepped out for Stella McCartney's fashion show in the French capital earlier in the day Friends in high places: Demi took her place on the FROW next to Vogue editor Anna Wintour Friends: The mother-daughter duo cosied up to socialite Paris Jackson before the event Rubbing shoulders with fashion's elite, Demi sat next to US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour for the exclusive show after cosying up to socialite Paris Jackson. Demi married actor Bruce in 1987 after they meet at the premiere for the film Stakeout, which starred her then-fiance Emilio Estevezand. The pair have managed to stay close after ending their marriage in 2000. In July, Scout shared photos of a reunion between Bruce and Demi as she celebrated her 30th birthday. Ulrika Jonsson has discussed her harrowing experience of the menopause in an emotional new interview. The star, 54, said she first experienced symptoms of menopause at the age of 46 when they came out of the blue one day. The TV presenter wrote in The Sun that she was confused when dark moods, anxiety and brain fog started to set in as a result of menopause. Brave: Ulrika Jonsson has discussed her harrowing experience of the menopause in an emotional new interview (pictured May) Because of her personal lack of knowledge of this phase of life, she jumped to the conclusion that she was suffering from dementia. She also admitted to being confused and shocked when she started to gain weight, despite being active. Most alarmingly to the Swedish born model, though, was her lack of memory, saying that she was once 'sharp as a tack' and 'someone who took pride in remembering things.' She said: 'It really perturbed me. I found myself searching for words mid-sentence. In my minds eye it felt like complete darkness in front of me I had no visual prompts for the words I was searching for.' The forgetfulness became the butt of jokes in her family, and was left in a dark place. Stunned: The TV presenter wrote in The Sun that she was confused when dark moods, anxiety and brain fog started to set in as a result of menopause which led her to think she had dementia The lack of knowledge surrounding the issue of menopause caused her to not connect the dots of her symptoms. She went on: 'All these symptoms assaulted me in a matter of months, or perhaps just weeks. Im ashamed to say there was no way in the world I had associated them with the onset of the menopause. My limited knowledge about it amounted to someone having hot flushes and heightened emotions.' Her mind was finally put at ease when she eventually confided in a friend about what she was experiencing, fearing the worst. She wrote in the article for the publication: 'I finally confided in a close friend who is a few years older and she smiled, put her arm around me and said: No, love, its just the start of the menopause. I was dumbfounded. For me, it felt like a very cruel last blow from Mother Nature.' Menopausal: Most alarmingly to the Swedish born model, though, was her lack of memory, saying that she was once 'sharp as a tack' and 'someone who took pride in remembering things' (pictured last year) Ulrika sought advice in her mother who had been taking HRT tablets, which help with stabilising hormones. The treatment helped Ulrika overcome her symptoms by calming her down using the progesterone hormone - of which she lacked. She had to privately access this medication because the NHS does not provide the tailor-made service she had but has a more general solution for all women. Ulrika went on to write about how she wishes more people had more of an awareness of the experience she went through, not just other women but men too. Solutions: Ulrika sought advice in her mother who had been taking HRT tablets, which help with stabilising hormones. The treatment, which is not readily available on the NHS, helped Ulrika overcome her symptoms He may have thrown in the towel on SAS Australia. But it seems Jett Kenny isn't losing sight of his new goal: winning the attention of notorious former NRL WAG Arabella Del Busso. The hunky lifesaver, 27, has been conspicuously liking and commenting on the 31-year-old glamour model's raunchy Instagram photos in recent weeks, while Arabella has returned the favour by liking several of Jett's posts. Like what you see? Jett Kenny, 27, (left) has been flirting up a storm with notorious former NRL WAG Arabella Del Busso, 31, (right) on Instagram in recent weeks Arabella, whose real name is Donna Preusker, captured Jett's attention on Monday by uploading a racy photo of herself posing topless in a sheer black robe. Clearly a fan of her skin-baring display, Jett quickly responded by posting two flame emojis in the comments section. Last month, Jett also commented on a jaw-dropping image of Arabella posing in bondage-inspired lingerie. He's a fan! Arabella captured Jett's attention on Monday by uploading this racy photo of herself posing topless in a sheer black robe. Clearly a fan of her skin-baring display, Jett responded by posting two flame emojis in the comments section All eyes on her: Last month, Jett also commented on this jaw-dropping image of Arabella posing in bondage-inspired lingerie Posing with her back to the camera, Arabella wrote in the caption, 'Kind bad... Kind Boujee', prompting Jett to comment with the ogling-eyes emoji. The busty brunette responded with a blue love-heart emoji and a peach emoji - the latter of which is often used to refer to sexual activity. Jett liked another image of a scantily-clad Arabella on September 4, which depicted the model posing in an outfit made entirely from Uber Eats delivery bags. Weeks later, Arabella liked a black and white photo of Jett showing off his six-pack. 'Tonight, I'll be eating...': Jett liked another image of a scantily-clad Arabella on September 4, which depicted the model posing in an outfit made entirely from Uber Eats delivery bags Returning the favour: Weeks later, Arabella liked this photo of Jett showing off his six-pack Jett and Arabella have more than their good looks in common as they both starred on different seasons of SAS Australia. Jett appeared on this year's season, quitting Seven's military-style reality show on Monday's episode due to a lack of food. Arabella appeared on the first season in 2020, but was one of the first contestants to walk after a tense interrogation over her pregnancy scandal. In the trenches: Jett and Arabella both starred on different seasons of SAS Australia. Left: Jett on SAS Australia 2021. Right: Arabella on SAS Australia 2020 The scandal was in connection to her tumultuous relationship with Wests Tigers player Josh Reynolds which saw her falsely claim she was pregnant with twins and show him fake pregnancy scans. The former couple met on Instagram in 2018 and had a one-night stand, after which Arabella claimed she fell pregnant with twins. It was later alleged she showed the NRL star a fraudulent ultrasound scan she found on Google, which he claims she used to fake a pregnancy. I quit! Arabella appeared on the first season of SAS Australia in 2020, but was one of the first contestants to walk after a tense interrogation over her pregnancy scandal Exes: The scandal was in connection to her relationship with Wests Tigers star Josh Reynolds which saw her falsely claim she was pregnant with twins and show him fake pregnancy scans Confession: She later admitted on 60 Minutes to passing off another woman's sonogram as her own to 'spite' Josh because she was worried he'd break up with her She later admitted on 60 Minutes to passing off another woman's sonogram as her own to 'spite' Josh because she was worried he'd break up with her. Jett previously dated Lily Cornish, his professional dance partner on Dancing with the Stars in 2019. Despite reports the pair were 'head over heels' in love after meeting on the show, the pair split just months into the relationship. Jett was briefly linked to Bachelor in Paradise star Keira Maguire in late 2019. Ex-files: Jett previously dated Lily Cornish (left), his professional dance partner on Dancing with the Stars in 2019 She's a boundary breaking queen. And all eyes were on drag diva KimChi as she celebrated her brand KimChi Chic Beauty's 2nd Anniversary with a VIP mansion party in Los Angeles on Saturday. The RuPaul's Drag Race alum looked radiant while modeling a playful red dress with a big, bold bow across the front. Red hot! Drag diva KimChi was a rebel in red as she celebrated her brand KimChi Chic Beauty's 2nd Anniversary with a VIP mansion party in Los Angeles on Saturday The hilarious queen continued her look with dark stockings, platform Mary Janes and sheer, black opera gloves with rhinestones up the arms. Rocking bouncy blonde curls with dramatic, shimmering nude eyeshadow and a plump lip, she was the perfect advertisement for glamour. KimChi struck a pose against pretty pastel flower and balloon backdrop, inviting friends and fans to snap photos. Also there was Laganja Estranja, who wowed in a pink floral pantsuit, and Elaina Glam, who looked like sweet with cotton candy hair and a little pink dress. Plastique Tiara went fresh-faced and casual while Meatball looked glam in an off-the-shoulder zebra print frock, white sunglasses and a big hat. Bows and arrows: The RuPaul's Drag Race alum looked radiant while modeling a playful red dress with a big, bold bow across the front Friends! Also there was Laganja Estranja, who wowed in a pink floral pantsuit, and Elaina Glam, who looked like sweet with cotton candy hair and a little pink dress Wild! Meatball looked glam in an off-the-shoulder zebra print frock, white sunglasses and a big hat Fashionistas: Bijou Bentley went for a groovy 60s look and Liz was flirty in feathers Nomi B glittered in black and gold while Bijou Bentley went for a groovy 60s look and Liz was flirty in feathers. Founder of Sugar Pill cosmetics Amy Doan looked cute as can be in a lacy pink dress with her slime green tresses in crimpy pigtails. Talking about the celebration on Instagram, KimChi shared: 'Our 2 Year Anniversary celebration and A Really Good Foundation launch was a success! 'Thank you again to everyone who came out and for all the support from our KimChi Babes - theres so much more coming and we cant wait to share it with you all!' Easy Saturday: Plastique Tiara went fresh-faced and casual Woo! Nomi B glittered in black and gold with wet-look locks Guru: Founder of Sugar Pill cosmetics Amy Doan looked cute as can be in a lacy pink dress with her slime green tresses in crimpy pigtails At the soiree, which was held at the the private residence of the founder of beauty incubator, Bespoke Beauty Brands and NYX Cosmetics, Toni Ko, guests were treated to delicious drinks like The Wigsnatcher, Purple Nurple Lemonade and Undercover Hoe Margeaurita from Studio Curate. The event also featured an exclusive first-look at the upcoming beauty line launch, surprise drag performances and a special dedication from KimChi Chic, herself. KimChi Chic Beauty debuted their brand new foundation range for guests. Not yet available for purchase - the official release of this product will be in November 2021. Cheers! At the soiree, which was held at the the private residence of the founder of beauty incubator, Bespoke Beauty Brands and NYX Cosmetics, Toni Ko, guests were treated to delicious drinks like The Wigsnatcher, Purple Nurple Lemonade and Undercover Hoe Margeaurita from Studio Curate Fun: The event also featured an exclusive first-look at the upcoming beauty line launch, surprise drag performances and a special dedication from KimChi Chic, herself Hamlet Young Vic, London Rating: The Prince of Denmark is back no longer in the 82-year-old shape of Ian McKellen, as at Windsor earlier in the summer, but in the androgynous form of 36-year-old Cush Jumbo, at Londons Young Vic. Jumbo is best known from the American legal drama The Good Fight, but shes done time on Shakespeare, too; including playing Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, so this was meant to be more than just a gender-bending bit of celebrity casting. This is, anyway, a play that will soon expose an actor who treats it like a gimmick. Unfortunately, Greg Hersovs production is sometimes woefully plodding. No one ever needed extra time to ponder Hamlets procrastination, but here we get bucket loads Large gold boxes at the back of the stage hardly suggest a 16th century monarchy; but nor do they suggest a modern democracy to match the costumes Jumbo has to carry the show for three hours, and just about does that with a performance that is thoughtful, fitfully magnetic and generally vigorous. Theres no question of turning Hamlet into a princess. She is, if anything, more like a disaffected teenage boy, sporting loose jeans, leather jacket and a shaven head. And Jumbo likes to stroke that pate a lot gestures of uncertainty reminiscent of Telly Savalas, when the lollipop-sucking detective was stuck on a case in Kojak. There is tenderness, too, in her performance, as well as a sense of guilt at the collateral damage heaped on Ophelia during Hamlets long-winded mission of taking revenge on the uncle Claudius, played by Adrian Dunbar, whos murdered his father (whose Ghost is also portrayed by Dunbar) and married his mother. At times, though, she seems just hollowed out by the task in hand, and stands limply on stage, like a length of string. Its a performance that deserves livelier support from those around her. Unfortunately, Greg Hersovs production is sometimes woefully plodding. No one ever needed extra time to ponder Hamlets procrastination, but here we get bucket loads. Maybe Hersov was encouraging his actors to explore the nuance of the poetry, but sometimes they just kill it slowly with yawning gaps between cues. Were it not for a precautionary afternoon nap, I might have been in trouble. The show does have its moments, though. Hamlets faithless friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are played by Taz Skylar and Joana Borja as a streetwise party animal and his Ibiza girlfriend, which helps to make them fun and not just dupes. I could forgive all that for a injection of adrenaline and although we dont quite get that, Jumbo does at least scatter some showbiz stardust And Norah Lopez Holdens Ophelia brings the colour of teenage defiance and the awkwardness of grief to proceedings. But as her dapper father Polonius, Joseph Marcell needs to get a move on. And Tara Fitzgerald, as Gertrude, adopts an air of high-class boredom as her default mode. A bit like the production itself. Nor does Anna Fleischles dull, blockish design, under a builders rectangle of an arch, conjure any sense of place. Large gold boxes at the back of the stage hardly suggest a 16th century monarchy; but nor do they suggest a modern democracy to match the costumes. Forget any sense of a world beyond its gone with the subplot. I could forgive all that for a injection of adrenaline and although we dont quite get that, Jumbo does at least scatter some showbiz stardust. Advertisement They're balancing raising two children with their film careers. But Claire Danes and her husband Hugh Dancy enjoyed a parents night on the town as they attended the star-studded premiere of Dopesick in New York on Monday. The Homeland actress, 42, wowed in a hot red dress and edgy leather jacket as she snuggled up to her handsome husband. Date night! Claire Danes and her husband Hugh Dancy enjoyed a parents night on the town as they attended the star-studded premiere of Dopesick in New York on Monday The Romeo & Juliet star flashed her toned legs as she struck poses wearing her strappy black heels. She looked lovely with her golden blonde hair styled into a side part. Her radiant features were amplified with a touch of golden blush and lip gloss. Hugh, her husband of 11 years, looked dashing in a smart grey suit, leather shoes, and a head full of slicked back hair. Ravishing in red! Danes flashed some leg in a striking crimson dress worn with an edgy leather jacket Hello gorgeous! Danes accentuated her natural beauty with blush and lip gloss Bringing the wow factor! Rosario Dawson put on a very head-turning display in a dramatic black dress While Neither Clare nor her husband star in Dopesick, the rest of the cast was present to support their new Hulu show. Dopesick, based on the best selling novel of the same name by Beth Macy, is described as 'an ambitious, harrowing, and compelling look into the epicenter of Americas struggle with opioid addiction,' according to The Wrap. The eight-episode series will illustrate all sides of the nation's growing opioid crisis in the setting of 'a distressed Virginia mining community, the hallways of the DEA and the opulence of "one-percenter" Big Pharma Manhattan. Dropping jaws! Dawson made a fashion statement with her billowing black dress which cinched into her waist It takes two! Dopesick star Peter Sarsgaard was joined on the red carpet by his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal Rosario Dawson stars as DEA agent Bridget Meyer, whose sole mission is 'to curtail the use of OxyContin' in her struggling community. The actress, 42, brought the wow factor to the red carpet in a billowing black PVC dress with belted waist and ruffled sleeves. She slicked her tresses back into a sleek high ponytail, putting her stunning complexion on full show. Double trouble! The actor smartened up in a loose black suit while his spouse sported a matching maxi dress beneath a jacket Star-power! Michael Keaton, who plays Dr. Samuel Finnix, smartened up in a midnight black suit She rocked a pair of silver, triangle earrings while touching up her breathtaking features with rosy blush and mascara. Peter Sarsgaard, who plays Rick Mountcastle, arrived to the premiere with his wife Maggie Gyllenhaal. The actor smartened up in a loose black suit while his spouse sported a matching maxi dress beneath a jacket. Suited and booted! Will Poulter and his Dopesick co-star John Hoogenakker were looking good on the red carpet Hello gorgeous! Kaitlyn Dever wowed in an entrancing white dress adorned with sparkles Maggie added a pop of color with her bold red lip. Other stars in attendance included Michael Keaton, Will Poulter, John Hoogenakker, and Kaitlyn Dever. Dopesick will be available for streaming on Hulu on October 13. Lights, camera, action! Dopesick creator Danny Strong attended the big show with his fiancee Caitlin Mehner Let's get together! The cast gathered around on the red carpet for one big photo op She is considered to be one of the greatest American Survivor players of all time. And rumour has it two-time champion Sandra Diaz-Twine is set to compete on the upcoming Australian series, which is currently being filmed in North Queensland. A well-placed source tells Daily Mail Australia the 47-year-old, who has appeared on five U.S. seasons of Survivor, believes she has what it takes to survive in the outback. Spoiler: Two-time American Survivor winner Sandra Diaz-Twine, 47, is set to compete on the upcoming Australian series as it begins filming in North Queensland 'Sandra is a big deal in the Survivor world and is confident she's more tenacious than anyone else they've had on the Australian show,' the source said. 'She's been in Queensland for a few weeks now and has been instructed to keep a low profile and not post about why she is in Australia,' they added. Sandra will be joined by past contestants Samantha Gash and Mark Wales, who appeared on the 2017 Australian season, reports TV Blackbox. Gossip: 'Sandra is a big deal in the Survivor world and is confident that she's more tenacious than anyone else they've had on the show,' a well-placed source told Daily Mail Australia Instant Hotel star Jay Bruno, who is dating Home and Away actress Sam Frost, is also joining the 2022 season. MasterChef star Khan Ong sparked rumours he was joining the Channel 10 show after recently switching his Instagram account to private. He declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia. Returning favourites: Sandra will be joined by past contestants Samantha Gash and Mark Wales, who appeared on the 2017 Australian season, reports TV Blackbox From the kitchen to the outback: MasterChef star Khan Ong (left) and Instant Hotel alum Jay Bruno (right) are also rumoured to be contestants on the 2022 season Meanwhile, it's understood the upcoming season will have the theme 'Blood vs. Water' with former castaways playing with - and against - their loved ones. This concept has already been used twice before in the U.S. franchise. The 2022 season will include a mix of new and old players - but unlike the U.S. seasons in which each pair was made up of a veteran and a newcomer, it's believed some of the Australia pairs will comprise two veterans. Star power: After shooting in the rough outback region of Cloncurry, Australian Survivor has decided to head further north to Charters Towers. Pictured: host Jonathan LaPaglia After shooting in the rough outback region of Cloncurry, Australian Survivor has decided to head further north to Charters Towers. The north Queensland town, inland of Townsville, will be the stage for season seven of the hit series and is expected to drive $29million into the local economy. Production company Endemol Shine Australia made the decision following a $3.9million cash injection from the Federal Government's Location Incentive. It's the second consecutive season to film in Australia - a decision made due to the Covid pandemic and the government's funding boost under the federal arts department. The new season is expected to air in 2022, which will be confirmed when Channel 10's Upfronts are held on October 20. Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband Peter Sarsgaard looked happy in love as they attended the premiere of his new show Dopesick on Sunday night. As the couple hit the red carpet, the 43-year-old actress wrapped her arms around her spouse, who stars in the upcoming miniseries on Hulu about a pharmaceutical company that triggered one of the worst drug epidemic in American history. For the star-studded event, attended by Claire Danes, Kaitlyn Dever and more, the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal wore a timeless ensemble. Date night: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard looked happy in love as they attended the premiere of Dopesick together on Sunday In contrast to her otherwise all-black outfit, which consisted of a structured blazer and plunging gown, the mom-of-two rocked a bold red lipstick. Meanwhile, the star's other half looked handsome in a navy suit and fitted button-down dress shirt, which he left partly open for a relaxed look. The duo have been nearly inseparable for the past few weeks as Sarsgaard has tirelessly supported Maggie promote her new film The Lost Daughter. Happy couple: As the couple hit the red carpet, the 43-year-old actress wrapped her arms around her spouse, best known for his portrayal of John Lotter in 1999's Boys Don't Cry Lovebirds: For the star-studded event, attended Claire Danes, Kaitlyn Dever and more, the older sister of fellow actor Jake Gyllenhaal wore a timeless ensemble The psychological drama, written by Maggie, based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante, premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. The Lost Daughter project marks her first time stepping behind the camera to direct. The cast is led by Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson and the movie tells the gripping story of Olivia's character Leda. Beautiful: In contrast to her otherwise all-black outfit, which consisted of a structured blazer and plunging gown, the mom-of-two rocked a bold red lipstick Rare appearance: Adrian Grenier, who recently returned to TV with Netflix's thriller Clickbait, also attended the event Looking good! The Entourage star wore a black jean jacket, over a matching t-shirt and sported a radiant bronzed complexion A college professor on a summer holiday at the seaside, she becomes obsessed with Nina (Dakota) and her young daughter as she watches them play on the beach. Last month, Maggie revealed she 'learned so many things' during the film's production, including that she's 'always been a director.' 'I just didn't feel entitled to admit it to myself,' she said. 'So weirdly I think it was playing Candy on The Deuce, playing a porn director on television when I kind of went, 'This is me actually.' And I think it's true, I think it's a better job for me.' Upcoming: Maggie's star-studded directorial debut The Lost Daughter premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival last month Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. have confirmed plans to reunite almost 20 years after topping the charts with their mega hit All The Things She Said. But longtime fans may have trouble recognising the faux-lesbian hitmakers when they return to the spotlight next year. Lena Katina, 37, and Yulia Volkova, 36, have changed drastically since their days as rebellious teenagers kissing in the rain. They're back! Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. have confirmed plans to reunite almost 20 years after topping the charts with their mega hit All The Things She Said. (Pictured 2002) Yulia seems to have changed the most, with the brunette now sporting extremely plump lips and a taut visage to the point of appearing unrecognisable. The scandalous star welcomed her first child, a daughter named Viktoria, in 2004 when she was just 19-years-old. She later gave birth to a baby boy named Samir in 2007 with her now ex-husband Parviz Yasinov. The mum-of-two has continued to make headlines over the years, after briefly converting to Islam in 2010, before returning to her birth religion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 2017. The bisexual songstress shocked fans during a television appearance in 2014 when she made homophobic comments about homosexual men. Before and after: Yulia Volkova, now 36, has changed drastically since her time as a teen pop star. When asked if she would condemn her own son for being gay, Yulia responded: 'Yes, I would condemn him because I believe that a real man must be a real man...a man has no right to be a f**.' Despite her strong views, she stated that she didn't have a problem with lesbians. 'Two girls togethernot the same thing as two men together. It seems to me that lesbians look aesthetically much nicer.' In April 2021, she launched a political career as a candidate for Russia's conservative party, United Russia, but was crushed in the legislative election. Evolution: Yulia seems to have changed the most, with the brunette now sporting extremely plump lips and a taut visage to the point of appearing unrecognisable. (Pictured 2021) Meanwhile, her bandmate Lena has taken a far less controversial path over the years. The red head, who appears to have aged naturally with little to no cosmetic surgery, has largely focused on her solo music career since leaving t.A.T.u. She's released three studio albums so far and topped the U.S. Billboard club chart with her 2011 single Never Forget. Lena welcomed a son named Aleksandr in 20156 with her then-husband, Sasha Kuzmanovic. The couple got divorced in 2019. Then and now: Lena Katina appears to have aged naturally with little to no cosmetic surgery, has largely focused on her solo music career since leaving t.A.T.u. Unlike Yulia, Lena has shown support for the LGBT community, stating in 2014: 'I think everybody should be free to love who they love and be with whom they want to spend their life with.' t.A.T.u. were formed in 1999 in Moscow by Russian music producer Ivan Shapovalov. They skyrocketed to international fame in 2002 with the English-language release of their single All The Things She Said, which topped the charts in Australia and the UK. The song's music video caused a huge stir as it showed the pair, who were just 16 and 17 at the time, kissing while dressed in schoolgirl outfits. Success: The 37-year-old has released three studio albums so far and topped the U.S. Billboard club chart with her 2011 single Never Forget. (Pictured 2020) It was banned and censored in some countries, although the controversy only served to promote the song further. At the time, the pair played into a lesbian gimmick where they pretended to be in love with each other and in a relationship. However, they later admitted that their lesbian persona was a fake marketing gimmick cooked up by Shapovalov for shock value. Iconic: t.A.T.u. skyrocketed to international fame in 2002 with the English-language release of their single All The Things She Said, which topped the charts in Australia and the UK Some of their other attention-grabbing publicity stunts included performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003 wearing T-shirts that had 'f**k the war' written in Russian, and attempting to run for Russian president in 2004. Lena and Yulia have been in multiple feuds with each other over the years, and weren't on speaking terms as recently as June this year. However, this week they both announced on their social media platforms that they are planning to reunite in 2022 for a tribute show and that they are working on a series about their career with a major streaming service. Nadia Fairfax has revealed she spent the past few days in hospital following a mysterious health scare. The socialite, who made headlines last week over her rumoured 'falling out' with Kristin Fisher, returned to Instagram Stories on Tuesday to share the worrying news. 'Well, that was an eventful, yet non-eventful long weekend', the 32-year-old fashion blogger wrote next to a black-and-white photo of her hospital wristband. 'Well, that was an eventful, yet non-eventful long weekend': Nadia Fairfax revealed on Tuesday that she spent the long weekend in hospital following a mysterious health scare, uploading this black-and-white Instagram photo of her wristband along with a heartfelt caption 'Sorry to all who've written. Making my way through everything now,' she added, along with the addendum: '*Non Covid related*.' In her photo, Nadia appeared to be sitting in a waiting room with one leg crossed over the other, while extending her right hand in front of the camera. She was wearing comfortable clothing, including a light-coloured knitted jumper and dark sweatpants. Mysterious: The fashion blogger (pictured) chose not to reveal why she'd been hospitalised, but did specify that it was not related to Covid-19 Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Nadia for further information. It comes days after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that Sydney's elite social set has been rocked by rumours of a falling out between former best friends Nadia and Kristin. Fisher, a Double Bay eyebrow artist, and Fairfax were once joined at the hip, but the pair seem to have cut ties in the wake of Fisher's recent cocaine scandal. Socialites at war: It comes days after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that Sydney's elite social set has been rocked by rumours that former best friends Nadia (right) and Kristin Fisher (left) had fallen out Fisher was allegedly caught buying cocaine on July 17, after her drug dealer was pulled over by police for driving erratically in Bondi. The cocaine drama went unnoticed by the media for months, before suddenly making headlines last week. Fisher, 36, and Fairfax unfollowed each other on Instagram at about this time, but it's unclear why. When Daily Mail Australia contacted the women for comment on Tuesday, they quietly refollowed each other on the social media app. However, Fisher is still not following Fairfax's private account 'partywithnardy' which she reserves for her closest friends. Scandal: Fisher (left, with Fairfax) was allegedly caught buying cocaine on July 17, after her drug dealer was pulled over by police for driving erratically in Bondi Fairfax also insisted she hadn't fallen out with Fisher - despite rumours of their rift being the talk of the eastern suburbs. 'What you're speculating is factually incorrect,' she said. 'Kristin and I have had a wonderful friendship over the years and I continue to wish her well throughout her current situation, and no doubt you'll hear the same from Kristin. 'I had no prior knowledge of the [cocaine] incident, and found out just like everyone else through the media.' Controversial: The cocaine drama went unnoticed by the media for months, before suddenly making headlines last week. Fisher is pictured in a recent Instagram photo What happened? Fisher and Fairfax unfollowed each other on Instagram at about this time, but it's unclear why. Pictured: screenshots demonstrating the women don't follow each other Delisted: When Daily Mail Australia contacted the women for comment on Tuesday, they quietly refollowed each other on the social media app. However, Fisher is still not following Fairfax's private account 'partywithnardy' which she reserves for her closest friends (pictured) In March, months before the cocaine scandal broke, Fisher had served as a bridesmaid at Fairfax's multimillion-dollar wedding to financier Michael Wayne. Fisher's daughter, Lila, was a flower girl at the ritzy nuptials, which were held at a heritage-listed mansion in Sydney's Darling Point. Documenting the occasion at the time, Fisher uploaded images of herself celebrating with Fairfax, adding the caption: 'Our best friends' wedding.' By her side: In March, months before the cocaine scandal broke, Fisher (left) had served as a bridesmaid at Fairfax's (right) multimillion-dollar wedding to financier Michael Wayne But in the weeks since the cocaine saga, Fairfax and Fisher have been untagged in each other's Instagram photos from the wedding. On the evening of July 17, Fisher was allegedly caught buying cocaine after her drug dealer was pulled over by police for driving erratically. Police found her in the backseat of the dealer's Kia Rio in Bondi. Pals: Fisher is seen in the middle row, second from right, sipping champagne. Fairfax is in the middle lying on the couch. This photo was taken as the bridal party prepared for the wedding Exclusive: Fairfax's wedding to Michael Wayne was one of the society events of the year. The warring socialites are pictured in the centre of this photo, with Fisher in the lilac dress The car was initially pulled over for allegedly illegally overtaking another vehicle, but police say Fisher's suspicious behaviour prompted them to investigate further. Officers allegedly found two bags of cocaine at the mother of two's feet, claiming she was 'frantic' and tried to leave the car through the opposite side door. Court documents claim she attempted 'to leave the vehicle and evade police interaction'. They go way back: Social media photos reveal Fisher (second from left) and Fairfax (right) had been friends for many years before their recent rift Police: On the evening of July 17, Fisher was allegedly caught buying cocaine after her drug dealer was pulled over by police for driving her Kia Rio erratically in Bondi When police asked the driver how she knew Fisher, they allege the dealer was unable to give any details or even tell officers her name. The beautician allegedly told officers she'd been picked up from her Double Bay home to purchase the drugs but claimed she hadn't handed over any cash. Fisher was convicted and fined $550 after she failed to appear in Waverley Court last Tuesday charged with possessing a prohibited drug and failing to comply with public health orders. Charged: Fisher was convicted and fined $550 after she failed to appear in court last Tuesday charged with possessing a prohibited drug and failing to comply with public health orders However, Fisher has since started proceedings to have her conviction overturned. Her solicitor, Michael Bowe, hopes to have her conviction annulled when the matter returns to Waverley Court on October 6. Fisher insisted she wasn't aware of the September 21 court date and would have been present if she had known, Mr Bowe said. INXS have become one of a handful of Australian bands to achieve one billion streams for a single song. And the renowned rock band reached the amazing milestone thanks to English pop star Dua Lipa, who credited INXS songwriters, the late Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss, for her 2020 global hit Break My Heart. Lipa, 26, credited the two Australian music artists as Break My Heart features a guitar riff that is similar to the famous hook in the 1987 INXS single Need You Tonight. Credit where credit is due: Dua Lipa has helped Australian rock band INXS reach a billion streams after crediting their single Need You Tonight for her 2020 global hit Break My Heart 'It was one of those funny things where you write something and you think its so cool and then you leave the studio and suddenly think F ! You didnt come up with this first,' the songstress told NCA last year. Lipa recalled how she made contact with the team who looked after the publishing rights for Hutchence and Farriss to give the pair a songwriting credit. 'So obviously we contacted their team and came to an agreement to sample the track which is really cool. Thats really bringing the future and the nostalgia together,' she said. 'Thats really bringing the future and the nostalgia together': The songstress credited INXS' songwriters, the late Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss, as Break My Heart features a guitar riff that is similar to the famous hook in the 1987 INXS single Need You Tonight The connection had fans of the pop icon rushing to listen to INXS' Need You Tonight, which greatly helped to boost the song's streaming numbers. Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss are now the first heritage artists to land on The 1,000,000,000 List, determined by the Australian songwriters body APRA, since it was launched in 2019. Farriss said he felt 'fortunate' for the recognition of his contribution behind Lipa's Break My Heart. Grateful: INXS band member Andrew Farriss (pictured) said he felt 'fortunate' for the recognition. He thanked his former songwriting partner, the late Michael Hutchence, and the other band members from INXS for 'believing in my songwriting' He also thanked Hutchence and his old band members for 'believing in my songwriting'. The single is now INXS' most popular song, with more than 220 million streams on Spotify alone. Other Australian artists and bands on the '1,000,000,000 List from the 'streaming generation' include Sia, Vance Joy, Dean Lewis, Troye Sivan, Flume, Tones and I, The Kid Laroi and 5 Seconds of Summer. After both winning the previous week's room reveal, Ronnie and Georgia Caceres and Tanya and Vito Guccione were all forced to endure a night away together. Their mini-break came after Georgia, 37, had attempted to give away Tanya and Vito's furniture, with the two women getting into a heated argument. Both Ronnie, 45, and Georgia made it clear they weren't keen on spending one-on-one time with Tanya and Vito, despite having to take a trip together. Awkward: After both winning the previous week's room reveal, Ronnie and Georgia Caceres (left) and Tanya and Vito Guccione (right) were all forced to endure a night away together 'We knew that we had to go away with Ronnie and Georgia,' admitted Tanya, 39. 'They'd sort of given us a hint and made it very clear to us on Sunday night's judging that they didn't want to hang out with us.' After being asked if they were 'getting along well' during their trip away, Vito, 45, paused, before claiming they were 'getting along like a house on fire'. 'Yeah, it was nice to get away off The Block and it was pleasant. It was fine. It was all good,' a coy Georgia later said But despite their initial awkwardness, both teams later agreed that their night away together hadn't gone as badly as they'd been expecting. 'Yeah, it was nice to get away off The Block and it was pleasant. It was fine. It was all good,' a coy Georgia later said. Getting annoyed, she then added: 'I don't want to go there. We don't need to go there. Let's just... It's fine.' Forced together: Both Ronnie and Georgia made it clear they weren't keen on spending one-on-one time with Tanya and Vito, despite having to take a trip together Ronnie insisted that given they only had 'four weeks to go' on The Block, he and Georgia were determined to 'get along' with everyone. 'Over the next two to three weeks, it's going to be the most stressful two weeks of The Block. So let's try to bring the family together and finish off strong,' he said. Meanwhile, Vito said their night away together had been 'just as I expected' and insisted there had been 'no issues'. The Block continues on Wednesday at 7.30pm on Channel Nine They appeared together in the artistic drama, which is set for release in November. So it was no doubt that Joaquin Phoenix and his co-star Gaby Hoffmann were in good sprits as they attended a screening of C'mon C'mon at the New York Film Festival on Monday. The actor, 46, showcased his still-growing hair after shaving it bald for his role in the Ari Aster film Disappointment Blvd as he posed with the former child star, 39. Reunited: Former child stars Joaquin Phoenix and Gaby Hoffmann posed together at the 59th New York Film Festival screening of their film C'mon C'mon on Monday Joaquin - a lifelong outspoken vegan - sported a black Animal Liberation Front hoodie, matching jeans, and Converse low-tops. Meanwhile Gaby showcased her eccentric sense of style in a long-sleeve, pattern-clashing maxi-dress and kitten-heeled pumps. The star, who was last seen in Amazon's Transparent, is probably still best known for her early roles in Sleepless in Seattle, Field of Dreams, and Uncle Buck. Committed to his craft: The Puerto Rican-born actor - turning 47 this month - was still growing back his hair after shaving the top bald for his role in Ari Aster's Disappointment Blvd. Man with a message: Joaquin - a lifelong outspoken vegan - sported a black Animal Liberation Front hoodie, matching jeans, and Converse low-tops Native New Yorker: The 39-year-old actress showcased her eccentric sense of style in a long-sleeve, pattern-clashing maxi-dress and kitten-heeled pumps Remember? Gaby - last seen in Amazon's Transparent - is probably still best known for her early roles in Sleepless in Seattle, Field of Dreams, and Uncle Buck Oscar winner Joaquin plays radio journalist Johnny who takes his eight-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) on a road trip in the critically-acclaimed black-and-white drama. Meanwhile Gaby plays Johnny's sister Viv, who needs a break from single motherhood, in C'mon C'mon, which is scheduled to hit theaters on November 19. The talented twosome were joined at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center by their director Mike Mills. 'I get to compliment Joaquin, which he hates, this is rad,' the 55-year-old Oscar-nominated screenwriter gushed onstage. He acted as a child in Parenthood and SpaceCamp! Both Hoffmann and Phoenix were raised in bohemian families featuring other actors like her Warhol superstar mother Viva and his late big brother River Critically acclaimed: The Oscar winner plays radio journalist Johnny who takes his eight-year-old nephew Jesse (R, Woody Norman) on a road trip in the black-and-white drama Hitting US/UK theaters November 19! The three-time Emmy nominee plays Johnny's sister Viv, who needs a break from single motherhood, in C'mon C'mon 'To me, Joaquin did so much more than be this character. I feel like I made this whole film with this person and I couldn't have done it without him. He is my great friend and comrade. His support, faith, and excitement made it happen. So thank you, sweetie.' During the Q&A, Phoenix praised his 12-year-old castmate, who 'became, in some ways, at least for me, the barometer of authenticity.' Speaking of children, the Grammy winner has a one-year-old son River with fiancee Rooney Mara, whom he met on the 2012 set of Spike Jonze's film Her. Maestro: The talented twosome were joined at Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center by their director Mike Mills (R) The 55-year-old Oscar-nominated screenwriter (2-R) gushed onstage: 'I get to compliment Joaquin, which he hates, this is rad. To me, Joaquin did so much more than be this character. I feel like I made this whole film with this person and I couldn't have done it without him' Mike continued: 'He is my great friend and comrade. His support, faith, and excitement made it happen. So thank you, sweetie' MIA: During the Q&A, Phoenix praised his 12-year-old castmate, who 'became, in some ways, at least for me, the barometer of authenticity' Speaking of children! The Grammy winner (L) has a one-year-old son River with fiancee Rooney Mara, and Gaby has a six-year-old daughter Rosemary with DP Chris Dapkins And Gaby has a six-year-old daughter Rosemary with her longtime love, cinematographer Chris Dapkins. Also at the C'mon C'mon screening was WNYC Radiolab senior correspondent Molly Webster, who makes her acting debut as Roxanne. And C'mon C'mon producers Chelsea Barnard and Andrea Longacre-White posed with Phoenix, Hoffmann, and Mills ahead of the screening. Life imitating art: Also at the C'mon C'mon screening was WNYC Radiolab senior correspondent Molly Webster, who makes her acting debut as Roxanne Charlie Sheen will no longer have to pay child support to his ex-wife Denise Richards, after his daughter Sami, 17, moved in with him. The actor, 56, attended a hearing in Los Angeles on Monday with his lawyer Gregory Pedrick, with Judge Alexander Giza adjusting the child support he pays to Richards to 'zero.' Sheen has had 100% custody of both Sami and his daughter Lola, 16, since April, with the judge reflecting the zero child support would be reflected retroactively to April 1, 2021, when he started taking care of the girls full-time. No child support: Charlie Sheen will no longer have to pay child support to his ex-wife Denise Richards, after his daughter Sami, 17, moved in with him 'I think what transpired today is extremely fair. It speaks to not just today, but it speaks historically to that same fairness,' Sheen told US Weekly on Monday. Sheen originally filed the petition to change the child support arrangement in December 2019, with Richards, 50, not filing any paperwork in opposition. Richards was not at the hearing, with a source claiming that Richards was, 'working out of state, which Charlie was well aware of.' Zero: The actor, 56, attended a hearing in Los Angeles on Monday with his lawyer Gregory Pedrick, with Judge Alexander Giza adjusting the child support he pays to Richards to 'zero' Sami: Sheen has had 100% custody of both Sami (pictured) and Lola, 16, since April, with the judge reflecting the zero child support would be reflected retroactively The insider added Richards was never given the court date and Sheen did this on purpose so she wouldn't be there. 'He filed two years ago and he kept pushing the court date. Denise kept asking when the date was and he blew her off. He pushed it off because he didnt want records of the child support he was paying Brooke (Mueller) to impact the case after he agreed to pay them both the same amount of child support,' the source claimed. The insider also alleged that Sheen hasn't paid any child support to Richards, 'in at least four years,' adding Lola lives with Richards but she stays with her dad and sister when she's filming. Parenthood: Sheen originally filed the petition to change the child support arrangement in December 2019 (pictured with daughter Sami in 2019) Sheen's attorney Pedrick claims Richards actually owes Sheen money, because he 'overpaid' on his child support for so long, but he is not attempting to recoup those funds. The ruling comes less than a month after Sami claimed in a now-deleted Instagram post where she claimed living with Richards and her husband Aaron Phypers was, 'hell.' She claimed in the removed Instagram post she was living in an, 'abusive household' adding she was 'insanely depressed' while sharing a photo of herself from a year ago. Sami also shared a photo of her from present day, stating she moved out of 'hell house' and had a 'spiritual awakening' while confirming she dropped out of high school. Sad: A rep for Richards, who was married to Sheen from 2002 to 2006, said she is 'saddened' by the situation Sheen later confirmed both Sami and Lola had been living with him in a brief statement, which read, 'Sams amazing. I love her and all my children unconditionally. Were having a ball. GED here we come!' A rep for Richards, who was married to Sheen from 2002 to 2006, said she is 'saddened' by the situation. 'Denise is just like any other divorce parent dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter,' the insider said. 'Its better for Sami if Denise and Charlie were coparenting her during this time. They are not,' the source added. Another source claimed Richards wants her daughters to have, 'boundaries' which their father doesn't provide, adding Sami went to live with her dad because 'rules and curfew aren't really set in stone.' David Ginola's daughter Carla risked baring all on Monday in a show-stopping outfit as she attended Etam's Womenswear show at Opera Garnier amid Paris Fashion Week. The French model, 27, wowed in an asset-baring one-shouldered black mini dress with a bejewelled disc bralet which just about protected her modesty. Meanwhile, model Carla Bruni, 53, kept things casual in bootcut jeans as she put on an animated display while posing for snaps. Wow: David Ginola's daughter Carla risked baring all on Monday in a show-stopping outfit as she attended Etam's Womenswear show at Opera Garnier amid Paris Fashion Week Carla Ginola oozed confidence as she flashed her tanned, toned pins in the thigh-skimming number, which was sure to turn heads with the quirky disc detail. The beauty rounded off her look with simple black heels and silver earrings, while she left her brunette locks in a tousled style. Elsewhere, former French First Lady Carla teamed her jeans with a simple black shirt and a smart black blazer, accessorising with a striking crystal pendant. Flaunt: The French model, 27, wowed in an asset-baring one-shouldered black mini dress with a bejewelled disc bralet which just about protected her modesty Fun times: Meanwhile, model Carla Bruni, 53, kept things casual in bootcut jeans as she put on an animated display while posing for snaps She highlighted her natural beauty with a minimal make-up palatte, while she left her brunette tresses to cascade over her shoulders. Carla appeared in great spirits as she flashed a dazzling smile and blew kisses to the cameras. Carla looked relaxed and happy after a very tense summer waiting to hear about her husband's sentence following Sarkozy's guilty verdict at his corruption trial earlier this year. Like father, like daughter: Carla clearly gets her stunning looks from her famous father, football legend David Ginola, 54 (pictured in 2016) Leggy: Carla Ginola oozed confidence as she flashed her tanned, toned pins in the thigh-skimming number, which was sure to turn heads with the quirky disc detail Pose: The beauty rounded off her look with simple black heels and silver earrings, while she left her brunette locks in a tousled style Fun times: Carla couldn't keep the smile off her face as she posed for snaps at the fashion show Her style: Elsewhere, former French First Lady Carla teamed her jeans with a simple black shirt and a smart black blazer, accessorising with a striking crystal pendant Hey there: Carla appeared in great spirits as she flashed a dazzling smile and blew kisses to the cameras In June, Sarkozy's trial concluded Paris. The verdict was to be delivered on 20th September. but was postponed by 10 days, and should be known tomorrow. Prosecutors have requested a six-month prison term, as well as a six-month suspended sentence and a fine of 3,750 euros. Sarkozy denies wrongdoing. He is accused of having spent almost twice the maximum legal amount of 22.5 million euros on the re-election bid that he lost to Socialist Francois Hollande. On 1st March, Sarkozy was found guiltily of corruption and influence peddling in another case. He has appealed that verdict. Golden girls: Metallic tones were featured throughout Etam's Womenswear Spring/Summer 2022 collection Pink lady: One look featured a hot pink blazer with matching earrings and ankle boots They welcomed their first child together earlier this year. And Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander enjoyed some rare time away from parenting duties on Monday night, as they arrived back at their hotel in Paris without their little one. Michael, 44, cut a casual figure in a cream jumper and charcoal skinny jeans, which he paired with matching white trainers. Off-duty: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander appeared to be off parenting duties on Monday night, as they arrived back a a Paris hotel without their little one looking typically chic Meanwhile, Alicia, 32, looked typically chic in slim-fitting charcoal jeans and a black jumper. She stepped out in a pair of stylish black mules, while she carried a camel and black striped cape. The brunette beauty pulled her hair off her face into a low bun, while she covered her eyes in dark sunglasses. Stylish display: Meanwhile, Alicia, 32, looked typically chic in slim-fitting charcoal jeans and a black jumper The couple - who wed in October 2017 - announced they'd become parents last month after having previously not revealed they were expecting. The couple were spotted out and about with a baby during a recent trip to Ibiza and Alicia has now revealed she welcomed her first child earlier in 2021. During a recent chat with People magazine about her role in latest film Blue Bayou, Alicia touched on becoming a mother as she explained: 'I now have a whole new understanding of life in general. 'That's pretty beautiful and obviously will give a lot to any of my work in the future.' The star added she feels 'more content and happy than I've ever been.' When asked how life had changed since having a baby, she said: 'No, I think I'll wait with that one," she says. "I'm enjoying finding it out in the moment right now, more than anything.' The couple, who currently live together in Lisbon, Portugal, are known for being notoriously private and haven't previously spoken about whether they would have children together. Michael and Alicia tied the knot in October 2017 - three years after they began dating, following meeting on set of The Light Between Oceans. Cat Deeley put on a showstopping display as she showcased her bikini body during a sun-drenched trip to Santorini on Tuesday. The TV legend, 44, looked nothing short of sensational as she sizzled in a barely-there two-piece adorned with a pattern while soaking up the sun on the trip to plug her E11even fragrances alongside co-founder and best pal Amanda Grossman. The duo have been littering social media with stunning snaps from the trip and made sure to keep their followers in the loop with a number of updates. Wow! Cat Deeley put on a showstopping display as she showcased her bikini body during a sun-drenched trip to Santorini on Tuesday Cat made no secret of her flawless frame in the image shared with her 293k Instagram followers, as she put her taut abs and lithe legs on full display. She thanked Amanda for capturing her stunning shots, including a brooding image taken on Saturday night as she reclined while looking at the sunset. On Monday, the duo shared a snap on their fragrance Instagram page showing them both sat in swimwear alongside a touching caption. In the sweet accompanying image, the sentimental duo penned: 'There are friends, there are family and then there are friends that become family!' Sizzling: She thanked Amanda for capturing her stunning shots, including a brooding image taken on Saturday night as she reclined while looking at the sunset Out and a pout: On Monday, the duo shared a snap on their fragrance Instagram page showing them both sat in swimwear alongside a touching caption It comes after Cat admitted that she never thought she would 'crack' America due to her appearance after refusing surgery when she first began working in Hollywood. The presenter who moved back to London last year following 14 years in the States, candidly discussed being judged critically on her appearance across the pond. According to the mother-of-two, she was told to consider getting a nose job after she landed a host position on So You Think You Can Dance in 2006. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine about the pressure to live up to beauty standards, she said: 'Ive still got no boobs and a nose that goes that way.' 'Ive still got no boobs and a nose that goes that way': It comes after Cat admitted that she never thought she would 'crack' America due to her appearance after refusing surgery when she first began working in Hollywood (pictured in 2019) 'When it comes to stuff like that, youre asking the wrong woman,' Cat added of her decision to refuse surgery. She also stated: 'I never thought I was going to crack America.' However, one positive habit that the star has taken back to the UK after living in Los Angeles is yoga, as she said 'it clears my mind and lengthens everything'. Cat decided to return to her home country with her husband Patrick Kielty, and their sons, Milo, four, and James, two, in 2020. Judgement: The TV presenter, who moved back to London last year following 14 years in the States, candidly discussed being judged critically on her appearance across the pond In November, Cat discussed the 'terrifying' reason she decided to move. The television presenter revealed her fear of gun violence, as she touched upon the gut-wrenching moment her husband, 49, and their eldest son narrowly avoided a public shooting incident. She described the event at the Century City Mall as the 'catalyst' for their departure. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly from her north London home, Cat said: 'The catalyst for it was definitely a moment when Paddy called me and him and Milo were stuck in a shopping mall there. 'I had to go and pick them up and I didnt know quite where they were. There were helicopters and police vans and news crews, it was terrifying for me. Everybody was safe and fine, but it was terrifying for me.' She is back on set after having a health scare last month which saw her in hospital. And Kate Beckinsale was back to her best as she showed off her racy costume in her dressing room on set of Prisoner's Daughter in Las Vegas. Taking to Instagram on Monday, the actress, 48, slipped into a ripped miniskirt with sheer underlay and patterned tights for her character Maxine- the daughter of ex-conman Max. In character: Kate Beckinsale was back to her best as she showed off her racy costume in her dressing room on set of Prisoner's Daughter in Las Vegas on Monday, after her health scare She completed the look with a torn khaki vest and chunky platform lace-up boots. Kate captioned the snap: 'When Hot Topic meets Pottery Barn and it's only Monday.' Beckinsale replaced Isla Fisher back in December for the role in the series, which was originally supposed to be released on CBS All Access. Back to her best: The actress, 48, is back on set after suffering a health scare last month which saw the star taken to hospital after her 'back went out' Kate was shooting the film Prisoner's Daughter when sources told TMZ at the time the actress' 'back went out', necessitating a trip to hospital. She later shared an update and wrote: 'Feeling a lot better. Thank you so much for your kind messages and love.' Kate has been documenting her numerous Covid-19 tests and Vegas' 104F-degree heat while shooting the film which also features Succession's Brian Cox, Tyler Ritter and Ghostbuster's actor Ernie Hudson. The thriller is being helmed by Thirteen and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke. Cox stars as the ex-convict Max, who struggles to reconnect with his daughter (Beckinsale) and grandson after he's back on the outside. 'Rethinking a few life choices': Last week Kate shared a hilarious snap of herself lying on the couch with a face mask But his attempts at a reunion are jeopardized after his past violent deeds come back to haunt him. The film and TV star has plenty of projects in the works, including the 10-episode dark comedy Guilty Party. Kate is executive producing and staring in the Paramount+ series, which premieres October 14, as a disgraced journalist named Beth Baker. Her character tries to resuscitate her career by investigating the case of a young mother serving life in prison for maiming and murdering her husband, even though she claims she's innocent. Isla Fisher was previously attached to play the role but she had to back out due to pandemic-related circumstances, according to Deadline. Deborah Symond O'Neil announced the arrival of her daughter, Violet Symond O'Neil, on Instagram on Tuesday. The 33-year-old Aussie Home Loans heiress announced the happy news, sharing a series of photos of her newborn daughter. 'VIOLET SYMOND O'NEIL. Words can't describe just how much we love you! 04102021,' she captioned the post. She's here! Deborah Symond O'Neil announced the arrival of her daughter, Violet Symond O'Neil, on Instagram on Tuesday It's the second child for Deborah and her husband of three years, Ned O'Neil, with the couple already parents to a 20-month-old son, Beau. Several of Deborah's famous friends left congratulatory comments on her post, including Jasmine Stefanovic, Kate Waterhouse and Phoebe Burgess. 'Violet is absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations,' wrote Kate, 38, while Jasmine, 37, added, 'So beautiful! And love the name. Congratulations xxx'. Welcome to the world: The 33-year-old Aussie Home Loans heiress announced the happy news, sharing a series of photos of her newborn daughter 'VIOLET SYMOND O'NEIL. Words can't describe just how much we love you! 04102021,' she captioned the post Meanwhile, Phoebe, 32, wrote: 'Congratulations little family. Adore her name. Welcome to the world Violet, what a clever mummy you have!!!!' The socialite rose to prominence after her elaborate wedding to Ned become national news in April 2018. Deborah walked down the aisle surrounded by 120 esteemed guests and the couple's very famous fathers, including Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond. Growing family: It's the second child for Deborah and her husband of three years, Ned O'Neil, with the couple already parents to a 20-month-old son, Beau Hamilton Island's exclusive Qualia resort was booked out for the three-day long celebration. The couple exchanged vows in front of John, 74, and Ned's father Denis O'Neil, a superyacht broker and owner of Rose Bay Marina. The couple flew 120 guests, including the 10 men and women in their wedding party, to North Queensland for the elaborate wedding. Strictly Come Dancing's Tilly Ramsay has insisted she's 'just good friends' with her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin after the pair sparked rumours of an off-screen romance. The CBBC star, who wowed viewers with her Charleston on Saturday, told Hello! that her relationship with Nikita is strictly platonic as they throw themselves into training for Movie Week. It comes after rumours swirled that Tilly and Nikita were set to be victims of the show's famous 'curse' after the pro's girlfriend Nicole Wirt penned a crypical message about 'not being supported.' Hitting back: Strictly Come Dancing's Tilly Ramsay has insisted she's 'just good friends' with her professional partner Nikita Kuzmin After Tilly and Nikita were seen heading back to her flat one evening, the daughter of TV chef Gordon Ramsay set the record straight, clarifying: 'No no - we were filming a VT for the show, we really are just good friends and dance partners.' Nikita added that his family and his girlfriend Nicole have been hugely supportive since he joined the Strictly lineup earlier this year. He said: 'My family and my girlfriend have been an amazing support since I started Strictly. I try to call them every day to update them on how it's going. Hard at work: The star, who wowed viewers with her Charleston on Saturday (pictured)her relationship with Nikita is strictly platonic 'We're used to living far away from each other. I lived in Denmark for most of my youth, then I lived in a separate city in Italy to them, then in Germany for the last five years. 'It would be a dream for them to come and watch Strictly live. My mother is a huge Strictly fan she knows more about the show than I do!' It comes after Tilly, who is single, insisted that she is on Strictly to focus on the dancing, which she is juggling with her university work. Speaking to new! magazine, she said: 'Yes, I am single but I'm here to focus on dancing. 'I'd have been crazy to say no to Strictly Come Dancing. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and most importantly I really want to learn to dance.' Proud: Nikita added that his family and his girlfriend Nicole Wirt (pictured) have been hugely supportive since he joined the Strictly lineup earlier this year Nikita is in a relationship with girlfriend of five years Nicole who recently liked a post about Tilly's training with Nikita before changing her mind and removing it, according to The Mirror. Nicole, who is also a dancer and is currently based in Germany, was said to have taken to Instagram and shared a cryptic post of a split screen image with a single person on one side and the caption: 'The Support'. Alongside this was a photo of a large crowd which she captioned: 'The congratulations'. Couple: Nicole previously offered her support for girlfriend Nikita did offer her support with this post where she wrote: 'vote for these cuties' Nicole was then said to have written 'Don't be fooled' over the photos along with an emoji of a person with their finger over their mouth. She also shared a photo of Tilly and Nikita's waltz from week one and wrote: 'Cheering on my faves' and said their performance was 'mesmerizing'. It comes after Craig Revel Horwood predicted Tilly might 'fall in love' with Nikita during their time together on the show. He told The Mirror: 'Nikita is hot, hot, hot. Tilly might fall in love! They look great together. 'I would love to see Gordon Ramsay on here and having his daughter is the best, best thing. She looks keen and I can't wait to see her personality...' Adorable: Last week, pictures were published of the 19-year-old presenter enjoying a cosy night with Ukrainian dancer Kuzmin Chef Gordon revealed he gave his youngest daughter one piece of advice when she signed up for the show, notorious for its stars forming romantic relationships. In an interview with You magazine in The Mail on Sunday, Gordon recalled: 'I said to her, 'Please don't date the effing dancer.' ' Tilly responded equally sharply to her father, saying: 'Excuse me? Dad, I'm effing single, I'll date who I want.' Last week, pictures were published of the 19-year-old presenter enjoying a cosy night with Ukrainian dancer Kuzmin who is starring in his first series of Strictly. He was seen dashing into her flat in South-West London after a day training together in a nearby studio. An onlooker said: 'They looked around for each other, then Tilly linked up with the dancer and they headed inside under cover of darkness.' Gordon was moved to tears during Saturday night's episode of Strictly as he watched Tilly top the leaderboard alongside Sara Davies. The notoriously hot-headed star couldn't stop the tears from flowing as he and wife Tana proudly watched their daughter, 19, perform an impressive Charleston in the closing moments of the BBC show, bagging themselves an impressive 34 points out of 40. Troye Sivan rarely puts on a foot wrong on the red carpet. And the stylish South African-born star got it right yet again on Monday when he stepped out for Rosalia's MAC Collaboration in Los Angeles. The handsome 26-year-old opted for a fitted blue and white stripe suit which he paired with a tight-fitted singlet top. Suited: Troye Sivan (pictured) looked ultra cool in a chic blue and white stripe suit as he stepped out for Rosalia's MAC Collaboration at hotspot Delilah in West Hollywood on Monday Troye finished the outfit with pristine white boots which complemented the ensemble perfectly. Troye smouldered as he offered a sultry stare to the camera as he entered the event at celebrity hotspot Delilah in West Hollywood. It comes after Troye revealed he has a crush on actor, Timothee Chalamet, prior to attending this year's MET Gala in New York City. Man of style: The handsome star opted for a fitted blue and white stripe suit which he paired with a tight-fitted singlet top The Aussie star shared a hilarious TikTok video of himself forming a 'prayer circle' with his assistant. He jokingly pleaded for the Call Me by Your Name star to be feeling 'bi-curious' before their meeting at the Met. 'Prayer circle that Timothee is feeling bi-curious and single tonight,' he captioned the lighthearted clip, which was filmed before the fashion event. Hot spot: Troye smouldered as he offered a sultry stare to the camera The camera panned around the hotel room as Troye and his female friend pretended to be in a trance-like state. Unfortunately for the My My My! hitmaker, Timothee is not gay and has been linked to a string of glamorous women in the past, including ex-girlfriend Lily Rose Depp. Troye made waves at this year's Met Gala, and was pictured in a now-viral photo using a urinal in the men's bathroom while wearing a dress and holding a handbag. Humour: The camera panned around the hotel room as Troye and his female friend pretended to be in a trance-like state making a prayer circle for Timothee The musician later revealed the bizarre photo was actually Rhianna's idea - and the person behind the camera was none other than Olympic diver Tom Daley. The image showed Troye in the stylish LBD and a pair of heeled boots as he used the urinal while holding a designer handbag. 'Rhianna told Tom Daley to take this pic of me weeing,' Troye wrote on Instagram. Wishful thinking: Unfortunately for the My My My! hitmaker, Timothee (pictured at the Met Gala) is not gay and has been linked to a string of glamorous women in the past, including ex-girlfriend Lily Rose Depp Tom, who won gold for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this year, soon confirmed this, commenting: 'True story.' Troye moved back to Australia in March 2020, after living in the U.S. for six years. He only recently returned to the US. He is believed to be single following his break up with model Jacob Bixenman in July last year. Jodie Comer is filming her 'raciest role yet' as shooting gets underway for the Ridley Scott-directed blockbuster Kitbag, according to reports. Kitbag follows the passionate love affair between French Emperor Napoleon (played by 46-year-old Joaquin Phoenix) and his first wife Josephine (Jodie) and the Killing Eve star, 28, has 'thrown caution to the wind' when it comes to her intimate scenes with Joaquin. The role which is said to be 'unlike anything Jodie has done before' will reportedly see Jodie 'strip off' as she films romantic scenes. Racy: Jodie Comer, 28, is filming her 'raciest role yet' as shooting gets underway for the Ridley Scott-directed blockbuster Kitbag, according to reports New movie: Kitbag follows the passionate love affair between French Emperor Napoleon (played by 46-year-old Joaquin Phoenix, pictured) and his first wife Josephine (Jodie) A source told The Sun: 'Jodie has done sexy roles before but nothing like this. She felt it was right for the character and has thrown caution to the wind on it.' MailOnline has reached out to Jodie's representatives for comment. Kitbag is due for a 2023 release and according to Deadline will 'look at Napoleon's origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor'. Release: Kitbag is due for a 2023 release and according to Deadline will 'look at Napoleon's origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor' (pictured: director Ridley Scott this month) It follows the news that Jodie is set to make her West End debut in Suzie Miller's award-winning play Prima Facie. The Liverpudlian actress will play Tessa in the gripping, one-person play which focuses on the main character's journey after a sexual assault. Prima Facie, directed by Justin Martin, will begin performances at the Harold Pinter Theatre on April 15 and play a strictly limited nine-week season. Tessa is a young barrister who has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game in the legal world. Exciting: It follows the news that Jodie is set to make her West End debut in Suzie Miller's award-winning play Prima Facie However the unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Jodie said of her upcoming role: 'It's such an honour to have been given the opportunity to work with Justin Martin, Suzie Miller and the whole team on this wonderfully unique play. 'I look forward to bringing Tessa to life and introducing her to the audiences at the Harold Pinter theatre next Spring.' Producer James Bierman commented: 'I am incredibly privileged to be able to bring Suzie's timely and important play to the West End with such a hugely talented group of people.' Elijah Wood has claimed a Lord Of The Rings Orc was styled on Harvey Weinstein's image after the movie mogul sparked fury with cast and crew. Speaking to Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, the star, 40, who played Frodo Baggins in the franchise, revealed that the disgraced movie boss, who is currently incarcerated for sex offences, was the inspiration behind a beast. Orcs - fictional humanoid monsters similar to goblins - have deformed mottled faces and Elijah revealed: 'One of the orc masks and I remember this vividly was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a f**k you. Slide me Who's who? Elijah Wood has claimed a Lord Of The Rings Orc was styled on Harvey Weinstein's image after the movie mogul sparked fury with cast and crew (Weinstein, left in 2014, Gothmog the Orc, right in Lord Of The Rings) Weinstein's film company Miramax had the initial rights to Lord Of The Rings in the Nineties, yet caused a plethora of issues with creator Peter Jackson. When he managed to take the movies to New Line Cinema for a separate deal, the New Zealand-born moviemaker and his team found a way to raise two fingers to Weinstein through the form of the monstrous villains Orcs. Elijah details how his co-star Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee, said in another interview that he spotted the recognisable mask on-set. He explained: ''He had seen these orc masks. And one of the orc masks and I remember this vividly was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein... A new look: Although he did not specify which Orc was designed to look like the movie boss (left last year), Gothmog (right), the lieutenant of the Witch-king in the Third Age from Minas Morgul, who is played by Lawrence Makoare, appears to bear the most striking resemblance '[It was] sort of a f**k you, I think that is OK to talk about now, the guy is f**king incarcerated. F**k him. Although he did not specify which Orc was designed to look like the movie boss, Gothmog, the lieutenant of the Witch-king in the Third Age from Minas Morgul, who is played by Lawrence Makoare, appears to bear the most striking resemblance. Elijah's words come just two weeks after Weinstein again pleaded not guilty to another sexual assault charge at court in Los Angeles. The back-and-forth fight between prosecutors and the disgraced movie producers attorneys over one of the 11 sexual assault charges hes facing continued on 20 September with Weinstein pleading not guilty - a second time - to the charge. Back then: Speaking to Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, the star, who played Frodo Baggins in the franchise (pictured), revealed the news A month ago, Judge Lisa Lench threw out the charge - sexual battery on a woman at a Beverly Hills Hotel in September 2010 - after accepting the lawyers challenge that the statute of limitations had run out on the alleged offense. Still, the judge gave leave to prosecutors to amend the charge and bring it back to her at criminal court in downtown LA as a new indictment for her to re-consider. They did that and Judge Lench accepted the re-written indictment on the revised charge, to which Weinsteins lawyer, Mark Werksman, entered a plea of not guilty. Changes: Weinstein's film company Miramax had the initial rights to Lord Of The Rings in the Nineties, yet caused a plethora of issues with creator Peter Jackson (pictured in 2019) But the judge also gave Werksman leave to file another challenge and scheduled a hearing October 25 for that challenge to be heard. On that date, Judge Lench will also hear prosecution arguments for a 1108 motion which, if granted, would allow them bring in evidence of Weinsteins past sexual misconduct at his upcoming LA trial. That could include evidence from his trial in New York where hes serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted of raping and sexual assaulting two women. Weinstein - wearing brown prison overalls and white mask and sitting hand-cuffed in a wheelchair at court - said Yes, your honor when Judge Lench asked him if he would waive his right to a speedy trial and agree to his trial starting April 7 next year. Uh oh: Elijah details how his co-star Sean Astin (left), who played Samwise Gamgee, said in another interview that he spotted the recognisable mask on-set He already entered not guilty pleas on all 11 charges when he appeared in court in July after being extradited to LA from New York following his sexual assault convictions there. In LA, the man who unwittingly helped spark the #MeToo movement, is accused of sexually assaulting five women in 11 separate incidents between 2004 and 2013. If hes convicted, hes looking at a maximum total sentence of 140 years in prison. In addition to sexual battery, the LA charges include rape, forced oral copulation and forced sexual penetration. HBO has released its first teaser for Game Of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon. Giving fans their very first glimpse of footage of the highly-anticipated prequel, the short video features star Matt Smith as he broods on a dark beach. Matt plays Prince Daemon Targaryen and has been filming in Kynance Cove in Cornwall - the setting of the beach in the trailer. First look: HBO has released its first teaser for Game Of Thrones spin-off House Of The Dragon, which features star Matt Smith as he broods on a dark beach The show is set 200 years before the 'fall of the throne' that fans saw play out in Game Of Thrones. Matt is heard saying: 'Gods, kings, fire and blood. Dreams didn't make us kings - dragons did!' Images flash up of other characters, such as Milly Alcock as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Theo Nate who portrays Laenor Velaryon. A clip sees a pair of knights on horseback, battling one another in a violent clash. Lead role: Images flash up of other characters, such as Milly Alcock as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen 200 years earlier: Theo Nate who portrays Laenor Velaryon is also featured in the trailer The trailer gives little away, with dark, sweeping shots of candlelit halls and frantic-looking characters in a rush. One shot sees an unknown man clutching firmly onto the handle of a sword; another sees two men fighting. The end of the teaser sees Princess Rhaenyra as she approaches the infamous Iron Throne, from the previous series. Fans seemed to approve, with one taking to Twitter to pen: 'This looks so good! I'm so excited!!! House of the Dragon gonna be amazing!' Fans seemed to approve, with one taking to Twitter to pen: 'This looks so good! I'm so excited!!! House of the Dragon gonna be amazing!' 'Matt Smith is just perfect,' another tweeted, followed by: 'Looks so promising!' One penned: 'GAME OF THRONES IS BACK. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON LOOKS F***ING BEAUTIFUL.' 'This is fire. Literally,' said another, followed by: 'Best TV show of 2022. Absolutely no competition'. Matt's character in the series is a dragonrider and the younger brother of King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and heir to the throne. Action! A clip sees a pair of knights on horseback, battling one another in a violent clash Prequel: The show is set 200 years before the 'fall of the throne' that fans saw play out in Game Of Thrones In July, production was paused after a person on set tested positive for Covid-19. It is understood that the production shut down for two days, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A spokesperson for House Of The Dragon told the publication at the time: 'As part of the rigorous testing implemented for all production employees, a Zone A production member on House of the Dragon tested positive for COVID-19. 'In compliance with industry guidelines, the production member is in isolation, and close contacts will be required to quarantine.' Alongside Matt, non-binary actor Emma D'Arcy is portraying the 28-year-old version of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Swords at the ready: One shot sees an unknown man clutching firmly onto the handle of a sword; another sees two men fighting Matt is heard saying: 'Gods, kings, fire and blood. Dreams didn't make us kings - dragons did!' They join Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria and Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon. The show will depict the war of succession between Daenerys Targaryen's ancestors Rhaenyra and Aegon II, two dragon-wielding heirs to the Iron Throne, in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. The Dance of the Dragons saw Rhaenyra and her half-brother Aegon II fight over their father Viserys I's throne in a war that lasted three years, and led to untold death and misfortune to the Targaryen line. Rhaenyra was declared the heir to her father Viserys I, but upon his passing, Aegon II was hastily crowned and she swore revenge against him. Origin story: Back in May Game Of Thrones fans got their first look at the upcoming prequel, with HBO releasing three official photos from the project She was shortly crowned queen with their father's stolen crown, thus leading to a power struggle between the two. Rhaenyra wed her uncle Daemon following the death of her first husband Ser Laenor Velaryon, prior to the Dance of the Dragons, and he helped support her campaign against her half-brother. Casting began last year, and the prequel is due to be released in spring 2022. Back in May Game Of Thrones fans got their first look at the upcoming prequel, with HBO releasing three official photos from the project. In the photos The Crown's Matt and actress Emma appear as the royals Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Prince Daemon Targaryen, seen with the same white-blonde locks Emilia Clarke's character Daenerys Targaryen wore in the original. Outsiders: Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans were seen in another shot, donning dark green to represent their their lineage: House Hightower. The pair play Alicent Hightower, King Viserys I Targaryen's second wife, and Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King High seas: Steve Toussaint wore white dreadlocks and a sea-weathered stare while transforming into Lord Corlys Velaryon, also known as the Sea Snake. He will later become Hand to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen House Of The Dragon was created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal, who also wrote the pilot script that earned the series a 10-episode production order. Miguel Sapochnik will join Condal as showrunner, as well as directing the pilot and additional episodes. Sapochnik is no stranger to the Reach, earning an Emmy for his work on the original Game Of Thrones. The spin-off began shooting in April, with the stars seen filming in rural Cornwall, England. In April, speculation mounted that the prequel is being filmed in the southern county, after crews were spotted in different locations last week. Power struggle: House Of The Dragon will depict the war of succession between Daenerys Targaryen's ancestors Rhaenyra and Aegon II, two dragon-wielding heirs to the Iron Throne, in a civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. (Pictured left, Emilia Clarke and Harry Lloys as Daenerys and Viserys) Worth the wait: The House Of The Dragon is aiming for a spring 2022 release and has been filming in Cornwall, England since April Pictures emerged showing a film set had appeared on Holywell Bay beach, suggesting that it could be used in scenes featuring Matt and Emma. And the medieval castle on St Michael's Mount on Mount's Bay in Cornwall where production was also said to be taking place bore a striking resemblance to the castle inhabited by Queen Cersei in the original HBO series, filmed in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The castle has a breathtaking view of the North Sea with much of the filming said to be taking place in the lower reaches of the mount within days. The production crew behind the series were said to have been given full permission from the family who still reside in the higher area of the castle to film there. It had already been confirmed that filming for House Of The Dragon would begin in spring 2021, and would be filmed in the UK, at Leavesden Studios, which is owned by Warner Bros. Suranne Jones was in a joyous mood on Tuesday and she and co-star Sophie Rundle celebrated wrapping filming for series two of Gentleman Jack. The actress, 43, took to Instagram to share a duo of snaps, with one featuring the pair still in their period costume as they larked around in her dressing room, captioning the snap: 'Over and out!' Meanwhile, 33, Sophie shared a plethora of fun images of the duo posing for the camera while quaffing 'cheap champagne' following a whole year of filming. Here come the girls! Suranne Jones was in a joyous mood on Tuesday and she and co-star Sophie Rundle celebrated wrapping filming for series two of Gentleman Jack Suranne, who plays the title character - the 'first modern lesbian', Anne - was seen standing up on a chair and throwing her hands out in elation as Sophie pouts away in the forefront of the shot. In another post, the star is fresh-faced and make-up free as she smiled into the camera while wearing a navy robe emblazoned with her character's name. Captioning her image, she penned: 'We only bloody wrapped on the 2nd season!!! 'The crew worked so hard. We juggled episodes and directors, Covid, babies, the passing of my father and a world that was masked and in chaos for most of our shoot. All done! Suranne Jones was in a joyous mood on Tuesday and she and co-star Sophie Rundle celebrated wrapping filming for series two of Gentleman Jack 'We had a summer off when we needed to be with our family and friends then we got through this last 5 weeks together and faced a few more challenges on the way. Thank you to everyone who worked on this show. We cant wait for you to see it next year.' Elsewhere Sophie, who plays Anne's lover Ann Walker, shared a series of images of her and Suranne happily celebrating the end of filming and like her co-star, explained that production had been affected by the pandemic. She wrote: 'Corrr its been a long time coming but after a year - a whole YEAR - we have FINALLY wrapped on Gentleman Jack s2! Character: Suranne and Sophie portray lesbian lovers Anne Lister and Ann Walker in the BBC drama Radiant: In another post, the star is fresh-faced and make-up free as she smiled into the camera while wearing a navy robe emblazoned with her character's name All done: The former Coronation Street star celebrated the end of filming with her co-star Finally! Captioning her image, she penned: 'We only bloody wrapped on the 2nd season!!! 'Big, enormous love to our absolutely incredible cast and crew who put in a Herculean effort to battle pandemics, loss, births, floods and plagues of locusts to bring this beautiful love story back to our screens. 'And big love to my wife, our team captain @suranne_jones who showed us all the way. And who knows how to drink cheap champagne in a trailer like a TROOPER.' The popular series is set in Yorkshire in 1834 and is based on the real life diaries of English landowner and diarist Lister. The first season of the show saw the couple torn apart when Ann was taken to Scotland, under threat of being married off by her brother-in-law. Rejoice: Elsewhere Sophie, who plays Anne's lover Ann Walker, shared a series of images of her and Suranne happily celebrating the end of filming Fun times: The ladies were in great spirits as they posed for snaps while drinking champagne But by the finale, the pair came back together when the philanthropist was called back to Yorkshire to visit her bedridden aunt. Their reunion took place in a dramatic hilltop moment when Ann revealed she was finally ready to marry Anne. It is not yet known when the new series will hit the screens, but first-look photos suggest it could be later this year. Drama: The first season of the show saw the couple torn apart when Ann was taken to Scotland, under threat of being married off by her brother-in-law. Done and dusted! She wrote: 'Corrr its been a long time coming but after a year - a whole YEAR - we have FINALLY wrapped on Gentleman Jack s2!' It comes as the star unveiled the newly-created sculpture of Anne Lister - the 'first modern lesbian' - in Halifax last month. Anne was an entrepreneur and landowner back in the day, and had affairs with women which she details in diaries she is now famous for. The journals were partly written in code as her behaviour was not socially accepted at the time, and also told of her life as a businesswomen in Halifax - as well as her social relationships, which all form the story of the BBC series. Suranne revealed the statue, which is situated in the West Yorkshire town, with the series creator Sally Wainwright. Ashley Roberts took a walk on the wild side on Tuesday when she left Heart FMs London offices in a show-stopping green leopard print top. The Pussycat Doll, 40, layered the piece between a leather jacket and slipped into a pair of skin-tight leather trousers, cutting an edgy figure as she strolled through the capital Ashley added height to her frame in pointed black heels and wore her platinum blonde hair loose. Wow: Ashley Roberts, 40, took a walk on the wild side on Tuesday when she left Heart FM's London offices in a show-stopping green leopard print top Stylish: She layered the piece between a leather jacket and slipped into a pair of skin-tight leather trousers, cutting an edgy figure as she strolled through the capital Meanwhile, Kate Garraway headed into the Global offices, suitcase in tow, to prepare for her Smooth Radio shift. The GMB presenter, 54, wrapped up beneath a chic camel coat and beamed for photographers. She layered a bold yellow jumper beneath her ankle-length coat. It was recently announced that Ashley will be hosting a new reality show with Keith Lemon called The Real Dirty Dancing. Standing tall: Ashley added height to her frame in pointed black heels and wore her platinum blonde hair loose Shades on: In true punk rock style, Ashley donned sunglasses despite it being a rainy day in London Luxury: The blonde bombshell toted her belongings in a luxury black leather handbag The series will consist of eight episodes and will follow 10 famous faces as they are put through their paces and set challenges as they try to recreate dances moves from the 1987 iconic movie. Each couple has one thing in common they all want to be the last Baby and Johnny standing. The show which is due to air on 2022 and the celebrity line has yet to be revealed. Speaking on the show's site, Ashley said: 'l love Dirty Dancing the film literally the film literally had a huge impact on my life. Arriving for work: Meanwhile, Kate Garraway headed into the Global offices, suitcase in tow, to prepare for her Smooth Radio shift Cosy: The GMB presenter, 54, wrapped up beneath a chic camel coat and beamed for photographers Layering up: Kate layered a bold yellow jumper beneath her ankle-length coat 'I couldn't be more excited to be involved in this series. I'm going to be on hand to help out the celebs with their Johnny and Baby moves and look forward to being reunited with Keith. Wish me luck! It's going to be a lot of fun.' The eight-part series - which is inspired by the Australian show of the same name - is set to air in early 2022. On being announced co host of the show Keith Lemon said: 'Dirty Dancing is such a good film and of course I've been Baby myself! 'Twice now! Once for Let's Dance for Comic Relief and once when we did it on The Keith & Paddy Picture Show. 'So yeah I was chuffed to be asked to host this show! And to be hosting with me mate Ashley! It's gonna be so fun!' Dakota Johnson enjoyed a candle-lit dinner with her mother Melanie Griffith in LA on Monday to mark her 32nd birthday. The Fifty Shades of Grey star arrived for the alfresco meal wearing a chic blazer jacket teamed with wide-legged trousers while Melanie, 64, looked stylish in a loose-fitting black top and matching bottoms. Taking their seats outside, both Dakota and Melanie appeared in high spirits and smiled as a friend snapped a picture of them on their phone. Birthday dinner: Dakota Johnson enjoyed a candle-lit dinner with her mother Melanie Griffith, 64, in LA on Monday to mark her 32nd birthday Opting for comfort, Dakota - whose father is Miami Vice star Don Johnson - slipped into luxury white horse bit loafers while Melanie opted for chunky lace-up boots. Dakota toted her belongings in a chain detail handbag. Sitting next to each other as they tucked into a tasty meal, the screen stars wore their tresses swept up into buns. Melanie is also doting mother to Stella Banderas, 25 who she shares with actor Antonio Banderas - as well as son, Alexander Bauer, 36, whose father is Steven Bauer. High spirits: Taking their seat outside, both Dakota and Melanie appeared in high spirits and smiled as a friend snapped a picture of them on their phone Melanie's outing with her eldest daughter comes after Stella filed to remove 'Griffith' from her name last month, according to legal documents obtained by The Blast. The Spanish actress wants to 'shorten' her name to Stella Del Carmen Banderas 'by removing the extra last name.' 'I typically do not use ''Griffith'' when referring to myself or on documents,' she explained in paperwork of her reasoning behind the request. She added, 'So, dropping the name would match my regular use.' Daddy's girl: Melanie and Antonio Banderas daughter Stella has filed to remove 'Griffith' from her name, according to legal documents, obtained by The Blast (pictured in 2017) The dual-citizen of Spain and the United States was largely raised out of the spotlight, but recently attended the 69th San Sebastian International Film Festival at the Kursaal Palace with her father last month. Stella's choice does not seem to have anything to do with her relationship with her mother, who recently received a sweet birthday gift from both her girls. Last month, the Night Moves star shared an image from her dining room that was filled with gold balloons that spelled out, 'Mama.' Good pair: The dual-citizen of Spain and the United States attended the 69th San Sebastian International Film Festival at the Kursaal Palace with her father (pictured at the event) Not in use: 'I typically do not use ''Griffith'' when referring to myself or on documents,' she explained in the documents of her reasoning behind the request (pictured in 2015) 'I love my daughters' Melanie captioned the photo of her early birthday celebration. She filed for divorce from Antonio in June 2014 after 18 years of marriage. The exes first began their relationship in 1996, during filming of their movie Two Much. Melanie would go on to star in her husband's 1999 directorial debut Crazy In Alabama, which also featured Stella's first on-screen role. She took her final bow on last night's episode of Dancing With The Stars. But Christine Chiu still seemed in high spirits while heading to West Hollywood hot-spot Craig's for a post-performance dinner. The Bling Empire beauty, 39, turned up the heat wearing a lacy dress with a corset-inspired top that perfectly framed her full chest. All smiles: Christine Chiu kept her chin up while out in West Hollywood after getting kicked off of Dancing With The Stars on Teaming the bombshell frock with chic accessories, she carried a little tan Delvaux handbag while donning chocolate colored peep-toe heels. Christine raked her hair back into a high ponytail, which was still kinky from her stage look. For makeup, she donned a rich nude lip and kept on the bold contour leftover from earlier in the night. Inside, the star celebrated her time on the series, throwing back shots with friends and castmates. Star-studded: The Bling Empire beauty, 38, was one of several DWTS talents out at celebrity hot-spot Craig's that night Stunner: For makeup, she donned a rich nude lip and kept on the bold contour leftover from earlier in the night Stylish: Teaming the bombshell frock with chic accessories, she carried a little tan Delvaux handbag while donning chocolate colored peep-toe heels Earlier in the evening Christine danced the Paso Doble with pro dancer partner Pasha Pashkov during the Britney Spears-themed episode. They danced to the track Stronger, which Chiu said was appropriate because of what she went through trying to stay in the show. She cried to Pasha that she waited so long to be on the show and that she didn't want to blow it. He told her that with a little hard work that everyone was going to see what she really had to offer. Pasa Doble: Chiu had her final dance with pro partner Pasha Pashkov earlier that night. They did the Paso Doble to Britney's Stronger Hard work: He told her that with a little hard work that everyone was going to see what she really had to offer She shared also that the song was fitting because becoming a mother was a huge struggle for her. She said all the best doctors in the world told her she would could never be a mom, but she never gave up. She said the three years ago a miracle happened. She took Pasha to meet her now two-year-old son Baby G. After they danced, Carrie Ann told her that she was so glad that they saved her and that she needed to win this completion. Struggle: She shared also that the song was fitting because becoming a mother was a huge struggle for her Saved: After they danced, Carrie Ann told her that she was so glad that they saved her and that she needed to win this completion Len told them he wad so shocked she was in the bottom three and that now danced a 'crisp and clean' dance. Bruno said appreciated how she he was in charge of the dance. Tyra asked her if being on the bottom made her work harder. She said it did. 'Just like Britney you rise above and you keep pushing forward,' said Christine. The judges gave them a score of 21 out of 30. Shocked: Len told them he wad so shocked she was in the bottom three and that now danced a 'crisp and clean' dance. Bruno said appreciated how she he was in charge of the dance Hugs: The judges gave them a score of 21 out of 30 At the end of the night, Tyra announced that couples surviving elimination to dance next week except for Kenya Moore and pro Brandon Armstrong and Christine and Pasha who were in the bottom two. The judges had the ability to save one couple and ultimately they decided to save Kenya, with Christine eliminated. Dancing With the Stars returns next Monday on ABC. Bottom two: At the end of the night, Tyra announced that couples surviving elimination to dance next week except for Kenya and Brandon and Christine and Pasha who were in the bottom two Dog the Bounty Hunter has garnered a great deal of interest from networks about a return to television after joining the manhunt for Brian Laundrie. Sources told TMZ on Tuesday that the 68-year-old television personality - real name Duane Lee Chapman - has been contacted by a number of broadcasting channels who have expressed interest in bringing him onboard as an on-air personality. Insiders claimed to the publication that Dog earned attention from television executives when joining the search for Gabby Petito's fiance which lead to him trending on social media. As Dog has been on the manhunt for Laundrie, many have wondered if it has been for a television project, however, that is not the case as TMZ reports that there has been no filming involved other than his wife, Francie Frane, recording some of it on her cell phone. Scroll down for video Making moves: Dog the Bounty Hunter has garnered a great deal of interest from networks about a return to television after joining the manhunt for Brian Laundrie according to TMZ on Tuesday Tragic: The reality television star joined the manhunt for the boyfriend of the late Gabby Petito on September 25th - weeks after she was reported missing and Laundrie returned from their cross-country roadtrip by himself on September 1 Though if the former television star does get a deal for a show, his new wife's footage may be used and she will also be involved in the series according to the publication's sources. Dog was previously interviewed by TMZ as he stated that he did not have the ulterior motive of landing a television gig when he joined the Laundrie manhunt. He insisted that he was on his honeymoon when the news broke and only chose to get involved 'because of my unique skill set and the fact I was only an hour away from where he was last seen.' Regardless he also told the publication that if a TV deal comes along, it would be something he would consider. It takes two: As Dog has been on the manhunt for Laundrie, many have wondered if it has been for a television project, however, that is not the case as TMZ reports that there has been no filming involved other than his wife, Francie Frane, recording some of it on her cell phone, as they are seen together in Florida on September 24 Dog also said that he has become close with Petito's family and hopes to get them closure. The bounty hunter and former bail bondsman has starred on reality television since 2004 with A&E's Dog The Bounty Hunter which aired until 2012. He and late wife Beth Chapman then moved on to Dog And Beth: On The Hunt which aired on CMT from 2013 to 2015. A second spin-off, titled Dog's Most Wanted, aired on WGN in 2019. This comes a day after he turned over evidence found at a makeshift Florida campsite to the FBI as he continues his hunt for Laundrie. The reality television star joined the manhunt for the boyfriend of the late Gabby Petito on September 25th - weeks after she was reported missing and Laundrie returned from their cross-country roadtrip by himself on September 1. Two days after Brian was reported missing on September 17, Petito's remains were discovered in Teton County, Wyoming. Man on a mission: The bounty hunter and former bail bondsman (seen in 2006) has starred on reality television since 2004 with A&E's Dog The Bounty Hunter which aired until 2012 Ever since, Brian has been named as a 'person of interest' in the case. The nationwide manhunt has seen Dog the Bounty Hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, become a popular figure in the search after he set up his own private tip line, which he says has had more than '2,000 calls with 20 percent leads.' On Monday morning, Chapman told Fox & Friends that his team has handed materials he discovered at Fort Soto Park over to the FBI in the hope that DNA testing confirms Laundrie's presence. 'Friday, we found a makeshift, a very primitive camp that had some promising things around it so we've gathered up all those things with gloves and baggies and turned them over yesterday to the FBI,' Chapman said. 'We've got tips from here to Tennessee and beyond,' he said regarding the search for Brian Laundrie. 'So we are going over those tips today.' According to Fox News on Monday, Dog has turned over all the evidence he collected at Fort Soto Park to authorities in hopes they can test it to prove that Laundrie's DNA was on the times Brian Laundrie, 23, who was reported missing last week, remains a person of interest in the disappearance and death of fiancee Gabby Petito After repeatedly saying that he 'doesn't' coordinate with cops', Chapman contracted a private search-and-rescue K-9 team to get his search underway on an island called Egmont Key, which is off the coast of St Petersburg, Florida. The search has been centered around Florida's Fort De Soto Park in Pinellas County, where the Laundrie's went camping with Brian between September 6-8 and were seen leaving without him. Chapman is now interested to work with law enforcement and has confirmed that an off-duty officer has joined his team the past few days. 'The team is now assessing evidence and evaluating next steps,' the statement states. He also confirmed that former Navy SEALS and Marines are helping his search. The latest update come as Chapman has increased the reward for any information leading to Laundrie's arrest. His team also discovered a used campsite and a discarded can of Monster soda last Wednesday. Dog the Bounty Hunter told Fox News that he turned over evidence from makeshift campsite to the FBI and local authorities Police and coast guard boats are spotted trawling the waters around Fort de Soto Park in Florida, near St. Petersburg, where Brian Laundrie went camping with his parents after returning home from a cross country road trip without girlfriend Gabby Petito 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 The team confirmed to Dailymail.com on Friday that $10,000 has been added to the reward money, which was set at $170,000 before the increase. Most of the funds were donated by private individuals supporting Gabby Petito's family. Meanwhile, the investigation was thrown a curveball by an alleged sighting of Brian in North Carolina on Saturday. A hiker in the Appalachian Trail said 'there is no doubt in [his] mind' that he had a nighttime encounter with Brian Laundrie on Saturday morning after Lisa Chapman sent him an audio recording of Laundrie's voice and he recognized the voice as that of the man who asked him for help. Dennis Davis said he encountered Petito's boyfriend on a deserted road close to the trail close to the Tennessee border - 700 miles away from where the 23-year-old was last seen near his home in North Port, Florida. Davis, 53, who is an engineer from Florida, says he spoke to a man who waved down his car on Waterville Road, near the Appalachian Trail and close to the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. Dennis Davis, pictured, says he saw Brian Laundrie on a deserted trail along the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina on Saturday A hiker near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina claims he had a nighttime encounter with Brian Laundrie on Saturday morning, weeks after the fugitive boyfriend of slain Gabby Petito was last seen in Florida Gabrielle Petito, 22, from her Instagram page, is seen with boyfriend Brian Laundrie, now the sole person of interest in her murder He says the man pulled up alongside Davis and made a bizarre request for help as he asked for directions in order to drive west to California using only back roads. Davis, a dad-of-four, suggested he simply take Interstate 40 which runs east to west across the country from North Carolina all the way to California. 'There is no doubt in my mind I spoke to Brian Laundrie none whatsoever,' Davis told the New York Post. 'Dog the Bounty Hunter's daughter sent me an audio file of Brian's voice and the voice was the same I heard.' Davis was hiking the Appalachian Trail himself and noted the man he believed to be Laundrie acted nervously. 'He said 'Man, I'm lost.' I said 'What are you trying to find?' and he said 'Me and my girlfriend got in a fight but she called me, told me she loves me, and I have to get to California to see her.'' 'I said 'Well, I-40 is right there and you could take it west to California' and he said, 'I'm just going to take this road into California'. 'He was worried and not making sense,' Davis added. He did not immediately recognize him as Laundrie but is certain it was him. Despite lighting being poor because of the night, he believes there was enough lighting from the car's headlights to make a positive identification. Davis told Laundrie his best way to head to California would be to take Interstate 40 which runs for more than 2,500 miles from North Carolina Petito and Laundrie had been travelling on a cross-country trip together since July 2, when they left New York. Petito was reported missing on September 11 The man he believed to be Laundrie was driving a light-colored pickup and was wearing a bandana on his head. It wasn't until later, with Davis having looked up photos of the man on his cellphone that he realized whom he had just spoken with. Davis claims to have made several calls to the FBI and to 911 in the hours after the encounter but frustratingly nobody has yet called him back. 'Law enforcement is probably getting millions of leads on this guy, but I am not some goofball out there doing drugs in the middle of the night, I am a highly educated professional. 'And I know that was the guy. There is no doubt about it. 'We have this lead but no one's doing anything, not even a phone call. 'Obviously, as a father with a daughter, I want to do whatever I can to help the family find closure and get this guy off the streets,' Davis said. Chapman also recently received a tip that framed Brian's sister Cassie in Fort De Soto Park, on September 6, contradicting her revelation in which she said she had not been in contact with her brother since he returned home from his trip with Petito. Laundrie's whereabouts are unknown since September 14, when his parents said he left the family home in North Port, Florida. The Laundries added that their son told them that he was heading to a nearby nature reserve and only had his backpack. Jane Fonda has spoken candidly about seeking male approval in a new interview. The Oscar-winning Hollywood icon, 83, admitted that despite being a feminist, she 'needs to feel that men find her attractive' and 'wants them to tell her she looks good for her age'. Using Zoom as an example when speaking to Grazia for the magazine's latest issue, the star said: 'I feel ashamed even admitting it, but I pay a little extra attention to how I look [when video calling a man] than I do if it's a woman.' Candid: Jane Fonda, 83, spoken candidly about seeking male approval in a new interview, admitting that despite being a feminist, she 'needs to feel that men find her attractive' Explaining that she 'wanting men to find her attractive is part of her DNA as she became an adult in the 1950s', Jane went on: 'I need to feel that they [men] think I'm attractive. I don't mean sexy, I mean just look good for my age.' She elaborated: 'Guys tell me, whether they're a doctor or a hairdresser or whatever, that other people say ''Oh my god you know Jane Fonda! What does she look like?!'' I want for them to say, ''she looks good for her age''.' Elsewhere in the cover interview, Jane spoke candidly about what it means to be a feminist and how that ties in with ideas of vanity. Explaining that she considers herself 'a little bit vain', Jane told the outlet: 'When I very first became a feminist I didn't really pay that much attention to how I looked. Fonda admitted: 'I feel ashamed even admitting it, but I pay a little extra attention to how I look [when video calling a man] than I do if it's a woman' 'There was a space between Barbarella (1968) and Monster in Law (2005), where I didn't really pay that much attention to how I looked on purpose, because I thought that to be taken seriously, I had to look like I didn't care how I looked.' However Jane then came to the realisation that: 'You can look beautiful and still be a feminist.' She added that her vanity compliments her profession, as 'actors have to be photographed a lot'. The star elaborated: 'I lived for 20 years in Atlanta, Georgia. But it was when I was back in LA for some awards show and I knew that I looked really good. 'Aaron saw me, and I could tell that he thought that I looked good, and he offered me a part. I hadn't worked in a long, long time. Pandemic: Fonda also touched upon her beauty regime throughout the pandemic, with the iconic actress famously letting her hair go naturally grey 'That's when I realised I had to move out here so people could see me. But the fact is that even though I was in my 70s then, looking good helped me get work. I'm a working actor, I support myself so that part of it is important.' Fonda also touched upon her beauty regime throughout the pandemic, with the iconic actress famously letting her hair go naturally grey as the world remained stuck indoors. While she 'rarely wore make-up' during lockdown, she made sure to stay on top of her workout routine. Jane explained: 'When we're not working out, we can get depressed more easily. Exercising is as much about the head as it is about the body - they're not really two separate things. It's very important for mental stability and a good attitude to work out.' Makeup-free: While Jane 'rarely wore make-up' during lockdown, she made sure to stay on top of her workout routine However Fonda's exercise regimes are a far cry from her high-energy aerobic video days, with the star saying: 'Anything I do now is very slow. That's one thing that has to change when you get older is that things have to be slow.' She added: 'Basically, I'm working the same muscles, I just do less weights and use resistance bands - things like that. I do it very carefully and slowly. I have a trainer who makes sure I'm doing them right, so I don't get hurt.' As for keeping her radiant skin in glowing condition, Jane says she 'never sleeps with make-up on' and 'washes her face with a coarse cloth daily'. This week's 'The Classics Issue' of Grazia is on sale now (Tuesday 5 October). She gave birth to her second child back in June. And Binky Felstead was glowing as she carried her son down the red carpet at the Hello! Awards on Tuesday night. The former Made In Chelsea star, 31, cradled her youngest child in her arms while wearing a gorgeous khaki ruffled maxi dress, while four-month-old Wulfric wore a cute grey romper with a red tractor on the front. Mother-son outing! Binky Felstead, 31, was glowing as she carried her 4-month-old son Wulfric down the red carpet at the Hello! Awards on Tuesday night Binky wore her brunette tresses in soft waves which cascaded over her shoulders for the awards taking place at London's Corinthia Hotel. Her make up was flawlessly applied with a wash of radiant foundation, neutral lip colour and subtle eye shadow. Binky elevated her height with nude slip-on stilettos and accessorised by wearing numerous bangles on her wrist. The TV personality shares her eldest and only daughter with her ex Josh 'JP' Patterson, before meeting her now husband Max Fredrik Darnton - who is the father of 'Wolfie.' Looking good: The former Made In Chelsea star wore her brunette tresses in soft waves which cascaded over her shoulders for the awards taking place at London's Corinthia Hotel Earlier this month, Binky candidly admitted she had 'mixed emotions' dropping her daughter India to school for the first time. She gushed over her little girl in her school uniform in a slew of sweet snaps shared on her Instagram. Binky beamed in the family snap with husband Max Darnton, India, four and son Wolfie, three months, in a pram. She shared an emotional caption alongside the snaps of her little girl which said: 'AND JUST LIKE THAT MY BABY GIRL IS AT 'BIG SCHOOL'!!!' Stunning: Binky cradled her youngest child in her arms while wearing a gorgeous khaki ruffled maxi dress, while Wulfric wore a cute grey romper with a red tractor on the front 'How adorable does she look in her school uniform. Admittedly I had some mixed emotions dropping India at school this morning for the first time, but an overwhelming one of PRIDE.' 'She was excited, confident, curious and nervous, but most importantly open to the journey and embraced it all. 'We kicked off the first day of our new family morning routine. We all walked India in together and I could tell she felt very grown up and was beaming with pride. 'She told Wolfie that he is not allowed to come into the classroom yet and has to ''wait until he's four, as he's not a big girl yet'' I already can't wait to pick her up & hear about her day. 'Proud mummy. Good luck to all of the families and their little ones who are starting school this week!!! Enjoy the ride. How are you all feeling? Xxxx' Amazing: Her make up was flawlessly applied with a wash of radiant foundation, neutral lip colour and subtle eye shadow She is a proud mother of one. So naturally Khloe Kardashian always likes to have her daughter around... even during a bikini photoshoot. The 36-year-old reality star took to Instagram on Tuesday to share scintillating swimsuit snaps from the beach as some even featured three-year-old daughter True. Scroll down for video 'Just act like I'm not here': Khloe Kardashian took to Instagram on Tuesday to share scintillating swimsuit snaps from the beach as some even featured three-year-old daughter True She even poked fun at the unconventional photos as she captioned the gallery to her 187million followers: '[camera emoji] "Just act like Im not here" Me' Khloe proudly put her enviable bikini body on full display in the brown two-piece as she laid across the sand. Her signature blonde highlighted locks were worn down in a middle-part as she wore more natural make-up on her face. She accessorized with large designer aviator shades and two gold chain necklaces. Detail-oriented: The 36-year-old reality star proudly put her enviable bikini body on full display in the brown two-piece as she laid across the sand Wow factor: Her signature blonde highlighted locks were worn down in a middle-part as she wore more natural make-up on her face Bond: True donned a pink swimsuit as she played in the sand next to her famous mother True donned a pink swimsuit as she played in the sand next to her famous mother. Khloe has been posting plenty of sultry snaps as she flashed her curvy figure as she slipped into a skin-tight bodysuit for shots shared to Instagram on Monday morning. The Good American founder looked sensational wearing a Marine Serre ensemble paired with dark brown Louboutin heels as she took a break from filming her new Hulu show. Khloe leaned over a balcony as she found space for an impromptu photo shoot between shopping with her mom, Kris Jenner. Doting: Meanwhile, Khloe opted for comfort as she escorted her three-year-old daughter True Thompson to dance class on Monday near their Hidden Hills mansion Casually clad: The reality star covered up her 5ft10in figure in baggy grey sweats and Adidas Yeezy sneakers for her errand Safety first! Khloe - who came down with COVID-19 in March 2020 - made sure to protect herself and others from the virus by wearing a pink face mask Her dark brown one-piece was long-sleeved and had a high neck, which featured intricate drawings and a vibrant pattern. She added inches to her statuesque frame with a pair of leather pumps and opted for sparkling diamond stud earrings. Khloe credited go-to stylist Dani Michelle for creating her look, and noted that Mary Phillips created her glam while Andre Fitzsimons tied her blonde hair into a tight bun. 'Whatever you do, be happy,' she boasted to her 187 million followers on Instagram Stunning: Khloe has been posting plenty of sultry snaps as she flashed her curvy figure as she slipped into a skin-tight bodysuit for shots shared to Instagram on Monday morning Strike a pose: The 36-year-old Good American founder looked sensational wearing a Marine Serre ensemble paired with dark brown Louboutin heels as she took a break from filming her new Hulu show 'Whatever you do, be happy,' she boasted to her 187 million followers on Instagram Just last week, Khloe and her mom stepped out to film their new Hulu show, which has yet to receive a name or official release date. 'The new show is going to have the entire family be part of it, but Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and Kris are going to be on it the most,' a source told Us Weekly. 'Theres a strong focus on Kim's journey as a lawyer, which fans got a taste of in the last season ... Theyre making [the new show] somewhat political.' The source added: 'Its an entirely different concept,' the source says. 'Its more chic. They recently started filming. Theyre going to try to keep filming on the down-low as much as possible to keep it a surprise for fans.' The way they were: After 14 years, 20 seasons, and 268 episodes, the Kardashian-Jenner gang bid a bittersweet farewell to their following on the E! incarnation of their show; seen in 2011 Fans only said goodbye to her family on TV in June, when after 14 years, 20 seasons, and 268 episodes, the Kardashian-Jenner gang bid a bittersweet farewell to their following on the E! incarnation of their show. 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. Newlywed Jess Wright looked sensational as she attended the Hello! Inspiration Awards on Tuesday - marking her first red carpet since getting married. The former TOWIE star, 36, who wed William Lee-Kemp in Majorca last month, looked chic in a cream blouse and taupe latex leggings for the event, She added height with boots and accessorised with a cream handbag. Chic: Newlywed Jess Wright looked sensational as she attended the Hello! Inspiration Awards on Tuesday - marking her first red carpet since getting married Her raven tresses were styled sleek and straight and she sported a rich palette of make-up. It comes after The Only Way Is Essex star said last week that she felt 'so much elation, so much happiness' on her wedding day in Mallorca. The lavish event included 12 bridesmaids, a church ceremony and a banquet at a castle. Jess told Hello! magazine: 'I felt so much elation, so much happiness I could not stop smiling.' Recalling the moment he saw the bride, new husband William said: 'She looked so beautiful. The dress was unbelievable, even more spectacular than I thought it would be. Glow: The former TOWIE star, 36, who wed William Lee-Kemp in Majorca last month, looked chic in a cream blouse and taupe latex leggings for the event Pose: Her raven tresses were styled sleek and straight and she sported a rich palette of make-up 'The whole church gasped. It was one of those unforgettable moments.' The bride entered the Basilica de Sant Francesc in Palma to I'm Kissing You by Des'ree from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet. Jess recalled: 'Hearing it in that beautiful church with my dad at my side, and to see Will at the end of the aisle, I would relive that many times over if I could.' The wedding party moved to the Castillo de Bendinat in Calvia for the reception, where the star changed into a Vivienne Westwood gown. Wow: Jess sister Natalya recently shared a stunning black and white video of Jess as she emerged in her breathtaking bridal gown ahead of the ceremony Later, she wore a third dress by Australian design house Pallas Couture. Jess said the couple had persevered with their plans after the wedding was postponed from June. 'I will never give up on a dream,' she remarked. 'There were so many times we thought that we might have to go ahead with a smaller wedding due to all the restrictions, but we kept holding on. Reese Witherspoon was seen filming her upcoming romantic comedy in New York City on Tuesday. The 45-year-old was shooting a scene from Your Place Or Mine with a costar who wore a mini skirt. At one point she and her scene partner came upon a dog who affectionately got up on its hind legs to be petted by a delighted Reese. Rolling on set! Reese Witherspoon was seen filming her upcoming romantic comedy in New York City on Tuesday Side by side: The 45-year-old was shooting a scene from Your Place Or Mine. Here she is seen with a costar She could be seen looking autumnal chic in a dark high-waisted floral skirt and a denim jacket while chatting with her scene partner. Reese teamed the skirt with a burgundy top and wore her signature blonde locks down, flashing her unmistakable megawatt smile. Over the weekend the Legally Blonde star shared on Instagram that the shoot was getting started and she was 'Heading back to my rom-com roots!' The film is the directorial debut of The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. Her only announced castmates in the movie at the moment are Punk'd heartthrob Ashton Kutcher and Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams. On the go: She could be seen looking autumnal chic in a dark high-waisted floral skirt and a denim jacket whilst chatting with her scene partner Ashton and Reese play characters who are best friends and whose lives are upended by a real estate decision they make, Deadline reports. The dynamic duo are living across the country from one another and decide to temporarily switch houses. Their plan is to spend a week in this new living arrangement and the consequences end up setting the rom com plot in motion. Aline wrote the film as well as directing it. She and Reese are also serving as producers on the project. Looking fab: Reese teamed the skirt with a burgundy top and wore her signature blonde locks down, flashing her unmistakable megawatt smile In a great mood: The Hollywood staple looked to be in very good spirits on set Remembering where she came from: Over the weekend the Legally Blonde star shared on Instagram that the shoot was getting started and she was 'Heading back to my rom-com roots!' Reese has a raft of new acting projects on the horizon including a reprise of her iconic role as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 3. Six years ago it was reported that Reese had been cast in a live-action Disney film about Tinker Bell but there has been scant news about the project recently. The beauty just finished filming season two of The Morning Show with co-star Jennifer Aniston. So sweet: At one point she and her scene partner came upon a dog who affectionately got up on its hind legs to be petted by a delighted Reese She found worldwide fame when she was cast in the comedy hit Crazy Rich Asians. And Gemma Chan looked incredible as she attended the Louis Vuitton spring/summer fashion show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday. The actress, 38, showcases her sense of style in an eye-catching black coat with puffed sleeves and a dramatic collar. Stunning: Gemma Chan looked incredible as she attended the Louis Vuitton spring/summer fashion show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday The film star also donned a pair of black leather trousers while she added height to her frame with black heels. Also sporting a black top, Gemma added to her outfit with a brown handbag and a gold necklace. Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, she completed her look with a pair of gold earrings. It comes after Gemma recently discussed racial diversity in the film industry for Vogue's New Beginnings feature. Fashion: The actress, 38, showcases her sense of style in an eye-catching black coat with puffed sleeves and a dramatic collar The actress - who is taking on a lead role as Sersi in Eternals, this autumn's Marvel blockbuster, - said that it's only a 'recent thing' that Asian females have been able to be the protagonists of stories. She said: 'It's only a fairly recent thing that Asian females have been able to be the protagonists of stories. 'Individual successes are one thing. But structurally, when you look at who can actually get projects green-lit in the UK, who are in those positions of power, those gatekeeping positions there aren't that many Asians. There aren't many people of colour in those positions.' On standing side by side with others on social causes she went on to explain: 'If only black people care about Black Lives Matter then nothing's gonna change. Star: The actress - who is taking on a lead role as Sersi in Eternals (pictured), this autumn's Marvel blockbuster, - said that it's only a 'recent thing' that Asian females have been able to be the protagonists of stories 'And if only Asians are talking about Stop Asian Hate, nothing is going to change. And it's only when we stick up for one another, and we stand side by side, that things will shift.' During the interview Gemma also spoke about her upcoming lead role as Sersi in Eternals which is directed by Oscar-winning Chloe Zhao. 'First of all, I never expected to be back in the MCU,' said Gemma, who played the Kree sniper Minn-Erva in 2019's Captain Marvel. 'So that was a surprise. And then to be working with an East Asian female director I would never have dreamt of that, even just a few years ago.' Rochica was the third baker to be eliminated from The Great British Bake Off during Tuesday's episode of the popular cooking show. The contestant, 27, broke down in tears during the programme after failing to impress with her bird-inspired milk bread Showstopper and ciabatta breadsticks in the Technical. She follows unlucky bakers Tom and Jairzinho who were booted off in week one and two. Upset: Rochica was the third baker to be eliminated from The Great British Bake Off during Tuesday's episode of the popular cooking show. Elsewhere Giuseppe impressed judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood and was crowned Star Baker. Speaking after it was announced she was leaving an emotional Rochica said: 'It's come to an end but I have really really enjoyed it. 'Not everybody gets to bake in the Bake Off tent and I'm proud of where I've got to.' Happy: Elsewhere Giuseppe impressed judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood and was crowned star baker Time to go: Speaking after it was announced she was leaving an emotional Rochica said: 'It's come to an end but I have really really enjoyed it' She also cried at the end of the three challenges and said: 'It's definitely been my worst week. I would like another chance but I don't think I'm going to get one.' She disappointed with her milk bread Showstopper which consisted of a bird cage, nest and eggs, while also coming last in the technical where the contestants had to make ciabatta breadsticks. Meanwhile Giuseppe wowed the judges with his culinary efforts, producing an incredible vegetable patch themed milk bread and coming first in the Technical. Creation: Rochica disappointed with her milk bread Showstopper which consisted of a bird cage, nest and eggs, while also coming last in the technical where the contestants had to make ciabatta breadsticks Speaking after being awarded the accolade he looked thrilled as he said: 'I'm star baker can you believe it! I better savour it as it wont happen again!' Elsewhere Maggie was close to being eliminated after a disappointing octopus themed Showstopper. After the elimination she said: 'I was very close to the edge, I seem to have scrapped through again. Next week I've got to be spectacular!' Wow! Meanwhile Giuseppe wowed the judges with his culinary efforts, producing an incredible vegetable patch themed milk bread and coming first in the Technical Elsewhere the Signature Challenge tasked the bakers to make a focaccia, with George and Amanda impressing with their textures and flavours. Next week the bakers will take on dessert week as the competition heats up in the tent. It comes after last week viewers were left fuming when the episode of the cookery show was plagued by sound issues and a technical glitch. Fans took to Twitter in their droves to complain that they could 'barely hear' presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas and that they sounded 'muffled' as they spoke with contestants and gave their voiceovers. Close: Elsewhere Maggie was close to being eliminated after a disappointing octopus themed Showstopper Elsewhere on the episode, Jairzinho became the second baker to be eliminated on biscuit week after a lacklustre Showstopper, while Jurgen was crowned star baker yet again. Channel 4 had faced issues with its output over the three days beforehand, following a fire at its playout centre which impacted Tuesday's GBBO for many fans. One wrote: 'What's going on with the sound on #BakeOff? I can't hear the voice over. It's too muffled to hear anything Noel and Matt are saying.' 'Glad to see other people think the sound is all over the place tonight. I wasn't sure if it was me or Noel was doing the voiceover from the bottom of a biscuit barrel,' added another. Great job! Speaking after being awarded Star Baker, Giuseppe looked thrilled as he said: 'I'm star baker can you believe it! I better savour it as it wont happen again!' A third complained: 'Your sound mixing is completely out. Can barely hear Noel or Matt's narration.' Channel 4 announced that it was still having problems two hours before Bake Off aired last week. A spokesperson said on Twitter: 'Sadly, we're still experiencing some tech issues which means some viewers may have problems watching our channels or access services. 'Sorry for the ongoing disruption we'll let you know here as and when we have updates.' Busy: Elsewhere the Signature Challenge tasked the bakers to make a focaccia, with George (pictured) and Amanda impressing with their textures and flavours Channel 4 was contacted by MailOnline for further comment at the time. Last Saturday Channel 4 and More4 went off air, with Channel 5 also hit with technical issues. Red Bee Media, which handles playout services for Channel 4 and Channel 5, said the disruption was due to an 'activation of the fire suppression systems' on Saturday evening. A spokesperson said: 'We confirm that all staff at our Broadcast Centre in west London were safely evacuated following activation of the fire suppression systems. Waiting to learn their fate: Things were tense in the tent as they waiting for the results 'As a result of this incident and the automatic safety measures set in motion at the time, several services originating from the Broadcast Centre have been disrupted. 'London Fire Brigade attended the scene, and once they had determined that the building is safe, people were allowed to return to the building. 'We are continuing to work to restore all services and remedy any issues caused by this incident.' Oh dear: It come after last week viewers were left fuming when the episode of the cookery show was plagued by sound issues and a technical glitch (pictured are presenters Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas) Also on the show, Noel debuted a pony tail, with viewers loving the new look. One said: 'Loving the ponytail!' while another woman wrote: 'Noel Fielding looks better with a ponytail than I do.' A third said: There's nothing more perfect than Noel Fielding with a ponytail!' After the elimination of Tom last week, this time it was time for Jairzinho to say goodbye after his all-too-basic Showstopper. Bye: Elsewhere on the episode, Jairzinho became the second baker to be eliminated on biscuit week after a lacklustre show-stopper For the first challenge, the bakers had to make 24 brandy snaps with their own unique flavour. For the Technical Challenge, the contestants then had to make 12 jam biscuits. Coming in first place was Jurgen, followed by Giuseppe, then Freya, while in last place was Rochica. The Showstopper Challenge saw the bakers tasked with creating a 3D biscuit replica of their favourite childhood toy. Not happy: One wrote: 'What's going on with the sound on #BakeOff? I can't hear the voice over. It's too muffled to hear anything Noel and Matt are saying' George created a gingerbread airplane which could fly while Jurgen impressed with a functioning windmill. Sadly, Amanda's rocking horse sugar biscuit completely crumbled into pieces before she could present it to the judges, leaving some viewers shocked she wasn't eliminated. When it came to the judges' decisions, Star Baker was awarded to Jurgen for the second week in a row, while Jairzeno had to say goodbye. When Jairzeno was announced as eliminated, he said: 'I was half expecting that result because when you look at my Showstopper compared to everyone else's, it really was quite basic.' Great British Bake Off airs Tuesdays at 8pm on Channel 4. Demi Moore looked in good spirits as attended the Love Brings Love show with her lookalike daughter Scout in honor of Alber Elbaz in Paris, France on Tuesday. Joining them was Naomi Campbell who arrived at the star-studded bash alongside fashion designer Daniel Lee. Demi, 58, caught the eye in a black figure-hugging jumpsuit with a shimmering sequined detail. Family: Demi Moore looked in good spirits as attended the Love Brings Love show with her lookalike daughter Scout in honor of Alber Elbaz in Paris, France on Tuesday The garment featured a high collar while Demi added height to her frame with a pair of white heels. Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Demi added to her outfit with a black coat. Scout looked incredible in a bright red off the shoulder top and a matching mini skirt which she wore with red tights. The actress, 30, also wore a matching red jacket and complimented her outfit with a pair of dark green heels. Star: Joining them was Naomi Campbell who arrived at the star-studded bash alongside fashion designer Daniel Lee Style: The actress, 58, caught the eye in a black figure-hugging jumpsuit with a shimmering sequined detail Styling her tresses into loose waves, Scout completed her look with a light pallet of makeup. Demi shares Scout and her other daughter Rumer, 33, and Talullah, 27, with her ex-husband Bruce Willis. Naomi, 51, donned a black jumpsuit for the evening which she wore with a matching bomber jacket. The model also carried a black clutch bag and added to her outfit with a pair of black boots. Fashion: Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Demi added to her outfit with a black coat Wow: Scout looked incredible in a bright red off the shoulder top and a matching mini skirt which she wore with red tights Wow: Scout accentuated her natural beauty with a light pallet of makeup Motherhood: Along with Scout, Demi is also mother to daughters Rumer, 33, and Tallulah, 27, with her ex Bruce Willis Radiant: Rumer looked nothing short of sensational as she posed for the camera Also in attendance was model Tina Kunakey who looked sensational in a black leather dress with a daring leg split. The star, 24, cinched her waist with a matching belt while she styled her locks into a sleek updo. Fellow model Natalia Vodianova cut a trendy figure in a green mini dress with a wrap detail which she wore with black tights. Looking good: Naomi donned a black jumpsuit for the evening which she wore with a matching bomber jacket Show: Demi and Scout were seated in the front row at the swanky event History: Demi was married to Scout's father Bruce from 1987 to 2000 Glamour: Also in attendance was model Tina Kunakey who looked sensational in a black leather dress with a daring leg split Front row: Naomi looked radiant as ever as she posed alongside Daniel (left), Rick Owens (centre right) and Michele Lamy (right) Pals: Naomi looked incredible as she posed for a snap alongside Rick Owens Looking good: Fellow model Natalia Vodianova cut a trendy figure in a green mini dress with a wrap detail which she wore with black tights Couple: Natalia attended the show with her husband Antoine Arnault Icon: Also in attendance was fashion designer Vivienne Westwood (pictured with her husband Andreas Kronthaler) Couple: Vivienne and Andreas tied the knot in 1992 Career: Demi's most recent film role was in Songbird, a thriller based on the Covid-19 pandemic The Russian beauty also opted for a pair of black heels while she completed her outfit with a matching handbag. Demi married actor Bruce in 1987 after they meet at the premiere for the film Stakeout, which starred her then-fiance Emilio Estevezand. The pair have managed to stay close after ending their marriage in 2000. In July, Scout shared photos of a reunion between Bruce and Demi as she celebrated her 30th birthday. Vincent Cassel's wife Tina Kunakey looked incredible as she attended the Love Brings Love show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday. The model, 24, brought the glamour in a stunning strapless leather dress with a thigh-split which revealed her honed legs. The dress cinched in at her toned waist with a chunky belt and featured a structured neckline. Wow; Vincent Cassel's wife Tina Kunakey looked incredible as she attended the Love Brings Love show during Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday Tina boosted her height with strappy heels as she arrived at the event. Her tresses were styled in a sleek updo and she sported a radiant palette of make-up. Tina joined A-listers Demi Moore, 58, and daughter Scout Willis, 30 at the event. Sleek: The model, 24, brought the glamour in a stunning strapless leather dress with a thigh-split which revealed her honed legs Leggy: Her tresses were styled in a sleek updo and she sported a radiant palette of make-up Tina and Vincent, 54, welcomed their daughter Amazonie in April 2019, less than a year after their fairytale wedding. Cassel, also shares daughters Deva, 16, and Leonie, 10 with his ex-wife Monica Bellucci. Vincent and Tina married in a private ceremony at the city hall in Bidart, south-west France, in August 2018. They were first linked back in July 2016 when Tina, then 19, shared a social media snap of herself cuddling up to the then 49-year-old actor while smoking a cigarette. Previously, he was married Italian actress Bellucci, 56, for 14 years, after first meeting on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment. Fashion friends: Tina posed up with designer Gianbattista Valli Jessica Biel has landed the lead role in the true crime miniseries Candy. The 7th Heaven actress, 39, will take over for the Mad Men star after the latter dropped out because of scheduling conflicts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Candy will tell the story of Candy Montgomery, a woman who killed her best friend with an ax in 1980. Taking a wing at it: Jessica Biel will play the lead in Candy, a miniseries about a woman who killed her best friend with an ax in 1980 (pictured 2018) The real person: It's been 30 years since Texas housewife Candy Montgomery killed her friend Betty Gore with an axe on the night of June 13, 1980 Montgomery had a husband, two kids and a beautiful home in the Dallas suburbs when she decided to chop down her church friend with the murder weapon. The series is one of two about the infamous murder. The other is titled Love And Death and will come out on HBO Max. Love and Death will star Elizabeth Olsen as the titular character and Lily Rabe as her ill-fated friend. So busy: Elisabeth Moss reportedly had to drop out of the series after scheduling conflicts came up (pictured 2020) Hulu recently ordered the series. Biel's acting career hasn't been very busy recently. She's lent her voice to a few episodes of different animated shows including Scooby Doo and Guess Who?, Pete the Cat and Bojack Horseman. She also had a major role in the series Limetown which centers around a journalist as she tries to figure out the disappearance of more than 300 people at a neuroscience research facility. It's not surprising that Elisabeth Moss had to drop out of the project given how high the demand for her services is. Another project: The series is one of two about the infamous murder. The other is titled Love And Death and will come out on HBO Max. Love and Death will star Elizabeth Olsen as the titular character and Lily Rabe as her ill-fated friend On top of shooting the hit television show The Handmaid's Tale, the star has a number of projects coming out soon. She is currently filming her part in The Shining Girls about a 1930s serial killer who finds a way to time travel. Moss will also star in Francis and the Godfather, a biopic about Francis Ford Coppola's struggles with producer Robert Evans while making one of the most praised films of all time. Jake Gyllenhaal will play Evans, Oscar Isaac will star as the critically-acclaimed director and Moss will play his wife Eleanor. Nicki Minaj has had her fair share of controversies lately, first coming under fire for spreading vaccine misinformation and then getting accused of trying to bribe a woman who accused her husband of assaulting her years ago. But the Queen rapper, 38, rose above the drama while celebrating her son's first birthday, taking to Instagram to share several smiley snaps from his Kung Fu Panda-themed party. Nicki beamed while holding her little guy with husband Petty, 43, as her side. Family first: Nicki Minaj celebrated her son's first birthday last week, temporarily forgetting about her recent drama over vaccine misinformation and alleged bribery She looked bold as ever rocking a spray-painted bodysuit with white heels and giant diamond necklaces, one of which that glittered 'Barbie.' Looking ultra glam, the Anaconda rapper raked her tresses up into a I Dream Of Jeanie-style ponytail and had her face done with a dramatic glow. Petty cradled their son, whose name has yet-to-be revealed to the public, in a family snap while Nicki played around with him in another pair of photos. 'On Sept. 30th you turned 1. Mama is so proud of you, PapaBear. Hot mama: She looked bold as ever rocking a spray-painted bodysuit with white heels and giant diamond necklaces, one of which that glittered 'Barbie' Love letter: Her caption said 'Mama is so proud of you, PapaBear. Youre the best boy in the whole wide world. I dont know what I did to deserve you, but God bless you, son' 'Youre the best boy in the whole wide world. I dont know what I did to deserve you, but God bless you, son. Mommy & Daddy will never stop loving you.' The star also posted some sweet family video of her little boy growing over the past months. Nicki's heartfelt tribute comes in the wake of a tumultuous few weeks for the star, who faced accusations of bribery after finding herself the focus of a worldwide debacle over vaccine misinformation. Cutie: The star also posted some sweet family video of her little boy growing over the past months Sweet: Minaj and Petty's son's name has yet-to-be revealed to the public Candid: The family shared a candid mirror shot from not long after their son's birth Learning! Minaj's boy was seen learning to crawl Adorable: He was simple darling in his petite designer duds Late last month Jennifer Hough, the woman who accused Petty of rape in 1994 made an appearance on The Real to delve into her experiences both with Petty and Minaj. Hough, who appeared with her lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn, recently filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the couple, claiming that they have harassed her to get her to drop her accusations against Petty. '[Petty] did something a long time ago and he had consequences that he was supposed to stick with. What they did to me and my family wasn't OK,' she said. Drama-rama: Nicki's heartfelt tribute comes in the wake of a tumultuous few weeks for the star, who faced accusations of bribery after finding herself the focus of a worldwide debacle over vaccine misinformation Experience: Late last month Jennifer Hough, the woman who accused Petty of rape in 1994 made an appearance on The Real to delve into her experiences both with Petty and Minaj. She is suing them for $500k, claiming that they have harassed her to get her to drop her accusations against Petty 'It wasn't right and it doesn't matter how much money you have. It doesn't matter what your status is, you can't intimidate people to make things go better for you. And that's what they did.' Kenneth recently plead guilty to failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California. He was registered in New York for Hough's assault. Minaj also sparked a media storm in early September when she said she had skipped New York's star-studded Met Gala this week due to its requirement that attendees be vaccinated, saying she would only get the jab once she had 'done enough research.' She said a friend of a cousin in Trinidad had experienced swollen testicles after getting the vaccine -- claims that sparked a formal rebuttal from the Caribbean nation's health minister. Pia Whitesell made fans do a double take on Monday when she shared a photo on Instagram of a vase of flowers with a note alluding to baby news. The Chilean-Australian actress, 37, and her Hollywood power-broker husband Patrick Whitesell, 56, had sent the flowers as a gift to their talent agent friend Lara Tocchini, who welcomed a child on Sunday. While some fans no doubt jumped to the conclusion the Whitesells were expecting a child of their own, the note made it clear they were simply congratulating Lara. Exciting: Pia Whitesell (right, with husband Patrick) made fans do a double take on Monday when she shared a photo on Instagram of a vase of flowers with a note alluding to baby news The beautifully handwritten note read: 'Lara, congratulations! We are both so excited for you and the baby. Love, Pia and Patrick.' Lara shared a photo of the flowers and card to Instagram, referring to the Whitesells in the caption by their couple name 'P' - meaning P squared, or Pia x Patrick. She wrote: 'Thank you, P. Absolutely beautiful .' Pia later reposted the image on her own Stories. Well-wishes: The Chilean-Australian actress, 37, and her Hollywood power-broker husband Patrick Whitesell, 56, had sent the flowers as a gift to their friend Lara Tocchini, who welcomed a child on Sunday. Lara shared a photo of the flowers to Instagram Stories, and Pia reposted it Note: While some fans no doubt jumped to the conclusion the Whitesells were expecting a child of their own, the note made it clear they were simply congratulating Lara. The note read: 'Lara, congratulations! We are both so excited for you and the baby. Love, Pia and Patrick' Pictured: Lara Tocchini, the friend the Whitesells congratulated on the birth of her child Pia, who is best known for starring on Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2015 and 2018, wed influential agent Patrick in May. She is mother to two teenage sons from previous relationships, Isaiah and Lennox. Pia announced her engagement to Patrick, the executive chairman of the Endeavor Talent Agency, on November 28 last year. They married in secret six months later and now live together in Los Angeles. Happily ever after: Pia, who is best known for starring on Australian soap opera Home and Away from 2015 and 2018, married influential agent Patrick in May Ring-a-ding-ding! She had announced her engagement to Patrick, the executive chairman of the Endeavor Talent Agency, on November 28 last year Patrick's famous clients include Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Idris Elba, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds and many more. He shares son Evan and daughter Eleanor with his ex-wife Lauren Sanchez. Lauren, 51, is now in a relationship with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man. Jackie 'O' Henderson has been told the sad reason why she could stay single forever. The KIIS FM presenter, 46, who hasn't publicly dated anyone since separating from her second husband in 2018, received the brutal wake-up call on Wednesday when her co-host Kyle Sandilands pointed out one of her unattractive habits. The segment began with a discussion about a hilarious moment on Saturday's episode of SBS quiz show Celebrity Letters and Numbers. The brutal reason Jackie O will be 'forever single': Radio presenter Kyle Sandilands (left) revealed on Wednesday why his twice-divorced co-host (right) could end up alone At one stage, the panelists noticed the word 'penis' in an anagram puzzle. But instead of saying it out loud, they giggled to themselves and made double entendres about the 'length' of the naughty word they'd noticed. Jackie said of the moment: 'Nobody said [penis] though, that's the thing. It was left up to people to figure it out. They were like, "I've got a word but it's not very long!"' What are the chances? Kyle and Jackie were discussing a hilarious moment on Saturday's episode of SBS quiz show Celebrity Letters and Numbers when the panelists noticed the word 'penis' in an anagram puzzle. Pictured: comedian Merrick Watts laughing on the show Tickled: Jackie said of the moment: 'Nobody said [penis] though, that's the thing. It was left up to people to figure it out. They were like, "I've got a word but it's not very long!"' Kyle, 50, wasn't impressed by Jackie's enthusiasm for the quiz program. 'Listen, can you just write down a little note to yourself? Anything on SBS is usually not worth talking about on this show,' he said. 'Especially... what's the name of this show?' 'Letters and Numbers,' Jackie sheepishly replied, prompting Kyle to burst into laughter. Brutal: Kyle wasn't impressed by Jackie's story, telling his co-host: 'Just so you know, you will be forever single. No one will want to root you if you watch Letters and Numbers and run around trying to spread the world on what a fabulous show it is' 'Come on, man. Letters and Numbers?' he chuckled, as Jackie insisted: 'It's just a good afternoon show!' Kyle then made a brutal joke about Jackie's love life. 'Just so you know, you will be forever single,' he said. 'No one will want to root you if you watch Letters and Numbers and run around trying to spread the world on what a fabulous show it is.' Third time lucky? Jackie announced her split from her second husband, photographer Lee Henderson (left), in late 2018, after 18 years together and 15 years of marriage. The couple share a 10-year-old daughter named Kitty (centre) Jackie announced her split from her second husband, photographer Lee Henderson, in late 2018, after 18 years together and 15 years of marriage. The couple share a 10-year-old daughter named Kitty. Before meeting Lee in the year 2000, Jackie was married to British radio host 'Ugly Phil' O'Neil when she was just 19. They split in 1999. In June, Jackie told Daily Mail Australia she didn't plan to marry again, but wouldn't rule out the possibility. 'I'm just one of those people who never says never,' she said. Jake Gyllenhaal said he's focused on family in his future. The Los Angeles native, 40, appearing on The Howard Stern Show Monday, was asked if he thinks he could be a successful husband and father amid managing his thriving career. Gyllenhaal responded, 'That's all I want - is to be a good husband and a father that really is what I want.' Jake Gyllenhaal, 40, said he's focused on family in his future in an appearance on The Howard Stern Show Monday, amid his romance with model Jeanne Cadieu, 25 Gyllenhaal, who's been linked to model Jeanne Cadieu, 25, the last three years, added, 'Now that I have fulfilled a lot of things in my career that I feel comfortable with, I can safely say that. I don't know if I could have said that before.' Gyllenhaal noted how he's observed how his sister Maggie's life, family and marriage - she and husband Peter Sarsgaard are parents to daughters Ramona, 15, and Gloria Ray, nine - has 'deepened' her work. 'I think there comes a point where you either start getting more shallow or getting more deep in your work,' the Jarhead actor told the radio icon. Stern predicted that Gyllenhaal and the French beauty would be getting married, to which the Brokeback Mountain actor said, 'I love her so much - she's such a good person.' The Guilty star told the radio host, 'That's all I want - is to be a good husband and a father that really is what I want' Stern predicted that Gyllenhaal and the French beauty would be getting married Gyllenhaal said of the prospects of marriage, 'There's only so far I'll go as, you know, in talking about it,' adding, 'it's a choice for both of us' Gyllenhaal continued, 'There's only so far I'll go as, you know, in talking about it,' adding, 'it's a choice for both of us.' The Oscar-nominated actor told Stern he doesn't think that Cadieu 'really enjoys, you know, all the other stuff,' in terms of the limelight of the high-profile relationship, 'and so that's part of the reason why I just adore her.' Gyllenhaal explained the family dynamic at play when Cadieu joined him, his sister and Sarsgaard at the 2021 New York Film Festival for the premiere of Maggie's new movie, The Lost Daughter. 'My sister grabbed her, pulled her on that red carpet, which I think neither of us are really inclined to, you know, go on - even me,' said the actor. 'And to be there to support my sister was what we're there to do and I was like, "Oh yeah, this is family."' Gyllenhaal and Cadieu, who also attended the Tony Awards together last month, were first seen with one another in New York City in December of 2018. The actor appeared to promote his new film The Guilty, which is streaming on Netflix. The actor appeared to promote his new film The Guilty, which is streaming on Netflix Tilda Swinton spoke at a press conference for her quirky art house film Memoria, which will go on a 'never ending national tour.' Film company Neon has claimed that the movie will play in theaters 'forever' meaning you should not expect to see it on Netflix anytime soon. They also claim the press tour will be 'never ending', which is what most actors probably feel like they are anyway. NYFF 2021: Tilda Swinton spoke at the New York Film Festival about her upcoming movie Memoria The gimmick has certainly created a talking point - and Tilda, 60, was pictured doing just that as she answered questions about the film in New York. She had her blonde hair cut short and combed over to the right in its trademark style. The Doctor Strange actress discussed Memoria while at the event as well. In the new film, Swinton plays a woman who hears a loud noise and then begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing through Colombia. The movie will also feature Jeanne Balibar of Cold War fame and is directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. A Fashionable fit: Tilda Swinton wore an all0brown pantsuit with a blue undershirt to the event A forever tour: Memoria will tour the United States in theaters indefinitely The creative force: Swinton answered questions with the film's director Apichatpong Weerasethakul The most surprising aspect of the film though will be its availability to audience-goers. The film's theatrical run will go on indefinitely. It will move from city to city, available for just one week before moving on to the next locale. As the film's director Apichatpong Weerasethakul explained, 'For Memoria, cinema experience is crucial or maybe the only way. Lets embrace the darkness and dream, one at a time' 'Memoria is the perfect film for this moment,' Swinton said. 'Big cinema or bustThroughout the universe, in perpetuity.' It can't be seen elsewhere: Apichatpong Weerasethakul said that the film needed to be seen in theaters because, 'For Memoria, cinema experience is crucial or maybe the only way' Busy actress: Swinton has a number of projects coming up including Pinocchio and an untitled Wes Anderson movie Fans of Swinton who don't know if they'll be able to make it to the movie theater the week Memoria is in their town don't have to worry though. The actress has a number of projects on the horizon. She appears in The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson's much-anticipated film that will come out later this month. She also has a part in his next movie, currently in production, which will also feature Margot Robbie, Tom Hanks, Adrien Brody and another of other talented actors and actresses. The film is rumored to be a European love story. The Grand Budapest Hotel star also has a part in a dark take on Pinocchio directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Sleek: Tilda was seen attending the Mermoria screening in New York City Denise Richards has reportedly been left 'blindsided and disappointed' by a court ruling that her ex Charlie Sheen can stop paying her child support. The Drop Dead Gorgeous actress, 50, was not present for the hearing, in which an LA judge adjusted Sheen's child support payments to 'zero dollars a month' in light of the fact daughter Sami, 17 is now living with her father, 56. Sources close to the star claim that she was 'blindsided' by the decision, and also accused Charlie - with whom she also shares daughter Lola, 16 - of 'manipulating the situation' while also insisting he still must pay as she lives with Lola. An insider told People: 'Charlie filed two years ago and kept pushing the court date, so Denise was very surprised that it happened yesterday while she is out of town filming. She was blindsided. Now he's manipulating the situation... Shocked: Denise Richards insiders claim she was 'blindsided' by court decisions to adjust ex Charlie Sheen's child support payments to zero 'Lola does not live with Charlie. She lives with both of her parents and stays with Charlie when Denise is out of town. When Denise is back, Lola will be with her. Despite the sources' claims, Charlie has reportedly had 100% custody of both Lola and Sam since April. Insiders continued: 'This is very disappointing for Denise, but also not surprising. Charlie is pitting the girls against their mother, which is horrible.' Another source contradicted those claims, however, saying Richards 'has known about the court date for six months.' After the judge's decision on Monday, Two And A Half Men star Charlie told Us Weekly: 'I think what transpired today is extremely fair. It speaks to not just today, but it speaks historically to that same fairness.' Different opinion: Richards was not present for the hearing and reportedly never filed documents contesting Sheen's request to reduce his support payments Youngest: Richards insiders said that daughter Lola, 16, (above) splits her time with mom and dad, making the new child support arrangement inaccurate. Charlie has claimed he's had 100% custody of the kids since April 2021 Sheen originally filed the petition to change the child support arrangement in December 2019, with Richards, 50, not filing any paperwork in opposition. Richards sources claim she was purposefully left in the dark about the hearing. 'Denise kept asking when the date was and he blew her off,' they said. 'He pushed it off because he didnt want records of the child support he was paying Brooke (Mueller) to impact the case after he agreed to pay them both the same amount of child support,' the source claimed. The insider also alleged that Sheen hasn't paid any child support to Richards, 'in at least four years,' adding Lola lives with Richards but she stays with her dad and sister when she's filming. Offspring: Denise and Charlie's daughter Sami, 17, moved in with her father in April. She recently accused her mother of having oppressive rules in a social media video Parenthood: Sheen originally filed the petition to change the child support arrangement in December 2019 (pictured with daughter Sami in 2019) Sheen's attorney Pedrick claims Richards actually owes Sheen money, because he 'overpaid' on his child support for so long, but he is not attempting to recoup those funds. The ruling comes less than a month after Sami claimed in a now-deleted Instagram post where she claimed living with Richards and her husband Aaron Phypers was, 'hell.' She claimed in the removed Instagram post she was living in an, 'abusive household' adding she was 'insanely depressed' while sharing a photo of herself from a year ago. Sami also shared a photo of her from present day, stating she moved out of 'hell house' and had a 'spiritual awakening' while confirming she dropped out of high school. Sad: A rep for Richards, who was married to Sheen from 2002 to 2006, said she is 'saddened' by the situation Sheen later confirmed both Sami and Lola had been living with him in a brief statement, which read, 'Sams amazing. I love her and all my children unconditionally. Were having a ball. GED here we come!' A rep for Richards, who was married to Sheen from 2002 to 2006, said she is 'saddened' by the situation. 'Denise is just like any other divorce parent dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter,' the insider said. 'Its better for Sami if Denise and Charlie were coparenting her during this time. They are not,' the source added. Another source claimed Richards wants her daughters to have, 'boundaries' which their father doesn't provide, adding Sami went to live with her dad because 'rules and curfew aren't really set in stone.' Former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are sending love notes to each other to celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary. Obama shared two pictures one showing him and Michelle holding each other while seated on a couch and the other a back view of them standing at a window. Happy anniversary, Miche! Over the past 29 years, I've loved watching the world get to know you not just as a daughter of the South Side, but as a mother, lawyer, executive, author, First Lady, and my best friend. I cant imagine life without you, Obama wrote. The power couple have two daughters, Malia, 23, and Sasha, 20. Hyderabad: The state government has created the post of special commissioner, superintendent of police (lakes), to exclusively monitor and protect water bodies within the Outer Ring Road (ORR). He will report to the special chief secretary and principal secretary of MA&UD, according to GO No. 741 in accordance with the GHMC Act. The lakes division will henceforth be a special division and the staff will be recruited by GHMC and HMDA. The responsibilities of the special commissioner will be to prepare a master plan for each water body after duly taking stock of all corresponding aspects, preventing encroachments, initiating relief and rehabilitation for those staying within FTL, strengthening bunds and forming lake protection committees. The SP will coordinate with various wings and departments like revenue, irrigation, HMDA, HMWSSB, GHMC, DRF, and Urban Mission Bhageeratha. The GHMC jurisdiction comprises 185 lakes / water bodies. Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao unveiled the roadmap for implementation of Dalit Bandhu scheme, saying that it would be extended to 100 families each in all the 119 Assembly constituencies in the state by March 2022 for which nearly Rs 3,500 crore was required. The Chief Minister announced that Rs 20,000 crore would be sanctioned in the upcoming budget for Dalit Bandhu to cover another 2 lakh families next year. He announced that all 18 lakh Dalit families would be covered in saturation mode in phases in subsequent years at a cost of Rs 1.80 lakh crore adding that minorities, BCs and the poor among OCs would also be covered later. He was replying to a short discussion on Dalit Bandhu in the Assembly on Tuesday. Responding to Opposition parties' questions over from where will the government mobilise Rs 1.8 lakh crore required for Dalit Bandhu, the Chief Minister said, "If need be, we will sell government lands for the benefit of Dalits. Our recent auction of lands fetched nearly Rs 2,700 crore at the rate of Rs 40 crore per acre. Telangana's GDP is also growing fast at Rs 10 lakh crore now. In the next seven years, it is expected to increase to Rs 23 lakh crore. I have no doubt that the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will remain in power for the next two terms and mobilsing funds for Dalit Bandhu will be a small thing for a state with such big GDP growth." Reminding that the Opposition parties that same doubts were expressed when he had announced Rythu Bandhu scheme in 2018, the Chief Minister said, "Rythu Bandhu is being implemented without any interruption since 2018 at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore per year. Some people look at Rythu Bandhu as a populist or subsidy scheme and argue that it's not good for the economy. But they should realise that Rythu Bandhu contributed to higher agriculture production and higher GDP. It has cascading effect on economy. Telangana produced paddy worth Rs 12,000 crore when state was formed in 2014, which has now increased to Rs 50,000 crore. Is it not helping state economy to grow?" He said in a similar manner, that the amount spent on Dalit Bandhu would be utilised on economic activities of Dalits, who would set up their business units, contribute to the GDP and employment which in return would help the state to prosper. At present, Dalit Bandhu is being implemented on a pilot basis in Huzurabad Assembly constituency in saturation mode to cover all 20,000 Dalit families at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore to extend Rs 10 lakh financial assistance to each family. This apart, the scheme is also being implemented on a pilot basis in Vasalamarri, the village adopted by the Chief Minister in Bhongir district besides four mandals in four SC-reserved constituencies - Chintakani mandal in Madhira constituency, Tirmalgiri mandal in Tungaturthy, Charagonda mandal in Achampet constituency and Nizamsagar mandal in Jukkal constituency. Chennai: In its bid to protect the environment, the Greater Chennai Corporation has recently launched a campaign to make people avoid single-use plastics, and instead, carry alternate bags for groceries. The movement against the use of plastic bags would be intensified in the coming months, said Gangandeep Singh Bedi, Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation. "We have been seizing plastic carry bags from shops if any. At the same time, we want them to propagate the concept of cloth bags. We are also punishing those repeatedly selling in plastic; this movement will be intensified in the coming months," said Bedi. "We want them to use cloth bags. The state government has already announced that people should not use plastic bags," he added. Earlier on June 27, 2018, An Extraordinary Gazette Notification by the Tamil Nadu Government imposed a ban on the manufacture, storage, supply, sale and use of 'use and throwaway plastics', such as plastic sheets used for food wrapping, spreading on dining table etc, plastic plates, plastic-coated teacups and plastic tumbler, water pouches and packets, plastic straw, plastic carry bag and plastic flags irrespective of thickness with effect from January 1, 2019. At the grassroots level, the apparent rise in political awareness has led to Dalits wishing to become village panchayat presidents and ward members even if those seats are not reserved for them. Representational Image. (AP) Chennai: Dalits filing nominations for unreserved seats in large numbers is a new perceptible trend in the elections to the rural local bodies, to be held on Oct 6 and 9, pointing to a positive evolution of grassroots democracy in the State. According to social activists, though a few Dalits had contested for village panchayat presidents and ward members posts in the past and even won, the number of candidates from the Scheduled Caste communities aspiring to win in general constituencies now is unprecedented. Though the exact numbers could not be obtained from all over the State, the situation seemed to be the same when it comes to the posts of village panchayat president and village panchayat ward member, both contested without party affiliation and symbols. Since political parties have a tendency to field candidates of the dominant caste in the particular constituency, they rarely choose Dalits for unreserved constituencies. But at the grassroots level, the apparent rise in political awareness has led to Dalits wishing to become village panchayat presidents and ward members even if those seats are not reserved for them. To give a sampling of the situation at the rural electoral arena, for the 73 village panchayat presidents posts in Uthrimerur Union of Kanchipuram district, more than 20 nominations have been filed by members of the SC community for unreserved seats. In Thirumukaivoonal village, members of other communities are canvassing for a Dalit contesting for the panchayat presidents post, which falls under the unreserved category, say some local activists, who point out that in the last local body polls it was Dalit who won the seat. Manoor panchayat union has 43 village panchayats and 40 of them have Dalit aspirants contesting for the presidents post. There too about 20 panchayats were won by Dalits last time. For the Paruthipadu union ward member post in Nanguneri Union, three Dalits have filed nominations and for the Paruthipadu village panchayat president post, too, a Dalit is contesting though both the seats are unreserved. Chermandevi Union has six Dalits in the race for village panchayat presidents and in Sankarankovil, Kurivikulam and Melanelithanallur unions of Tirunelveli district 16 Dalits are contesting in the total 29 general seats for panchayat presidents. HYDERABAD: Minister for municipal administration and urban development K. T. Rama Rao on Tuesday said Hyderabad surpassed Chennai and Kolkata in development. He said the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government had ensured better infrastructure and controlled law and order situation in Hyderabad for the last seven years. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao predicted the challenges in the newly-carved Telangana state and concentrated on both infrastructure and law and order, he explained. Replying to questions raised by members in the Legislative Council meeting here on Tuesday, Rama Rao explained integrated development of Hyderabad. Pro-term chairman V. Bhupal Reddy presided over the meeting. Earlier, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata were metropolises in the country, but in recent times, Hyderabad and Bengaluru stood next to national capital Delhi and financial capital Mumbai, he said. The minister said the state government was giving utmost importance to urban infrastructure. "We are developing drinking water and sewerage systems in the city," he said. The Godavari water is reaching the Nizamsagar project through Konda Pochamma reservoir and we are also trying to bring it to Hyderabad, he said. Interlinking of river Godavari with Krishna water would be possible soon, he said. After 1908, the Musi river in Hyderabad witnessed floods last year and the government took up necessary measures to control the flood damage in the city, he said. Reacting to the extension of Metro Rail to the Old City, Rama Rao said objections raised by locals and financial inability of the construction company delayed the project. L&T company asked for financial aid from the government for Metro rail extension, he said. Minister said that TIMS hospitals would be developed in all corners of Hyderabad along with Osmania, Gandhi and NIMS hospitals. Meanwhile, MLC K. Kavitha asked the government to hike the honorarium to the municipal councillors, corporators, chairmen and mayors on the lines of MPTC, ZPTCs. Congress MLC T. Jeevan Reddy, MIM MLC Jafri, S. Vani Devi, D. Rajeshwar Rao and others raised questions. Ministers Mahmood Ali, T. Srinivas Yadav and V. Srinivas Goud replied to the members. By Saritha Rai A shortage of technology talent has Indian companies offering sweeteners like more vacation time and gender-neutral parental leave as they compete for graduates and professionals. One Bengaluru startup is trying a more dramatic solution: a three-day work week. Fintech company Slice is offering new hires a three-day week with a salary at 80% of the going market rate. This is a win-win approach that frees the workers to pursue other passions or interests -- or other gigs -- while still locking in a steady pay and benefits from Slice, said Rajan Bajaj, the companys founder. This is the future of work, Bajaj, 28, said in a phone interview. People dont want to be tied down to a job. Read | India's services activity remained strong in September, hiring resumed Global investors are pouring billions of dollars into Indias tech startups, putting entrepreneurs under pressure to ramp up teams. A massive talent crunch has ensued as IT outsourcers, Silicon Valley giants, global retailers and Wall Street banks technology centers vie for engineering and product talent alongside hundreds of fast-growing startups. Slice is betting that its approach will make it stand apart from the competition. The company has 450 employees and wants to recruit 1,000 engineers and product managers in the next three years. Its the best of both worlds, Bajaj said. Workers can get salary and full benefits working a three-day week, and spend the rest of their time chasing a startup dream, looking for a co-founder or pursuing a non-work passion. Also Read | Employment increases by 8.5 mn in September: CMIE The move toward shorter weeks has been underway for at least a century. In 1926, Henry Ford adopted a five-day work week in place of the typical six days, after experiments showed productivity wouldnt suffer as a result. Companies and countries have experimented with four-day weeks for years without widespread adoption. Proponents of shorter weeks now point to studies showing a boost in employee productivity and well-being, prompting countries such as Ireland and Iceland to try them out. Technology behemoth Amazon Inc. piloted a four-day week for select employees in 2018, and even China is trying to rein in its excessive working hours. Just as in Silicon Valley, the Indian startup industrys work-centred culture is leaving some engineers disenchanted while some are milking the opportunity for all its worth. Engineers salaries have tripled in the past three years, Bajaj said. Bidding wars are common and workers are known to ghost startups after multiple rounds of pay negotiations. Founders joke on social media about advertising on matchmaking and food delivery apps to obtain workers. Watch latest videos by DH here: WhatsApp's nearly six-hour long outage on Monday hit trading of assets from cryptocurrencies to Russian oil, market players said, although a quick shift to alternative platforms such as Telegram limited severe disruption. Despite many financial institutions discouraging employees from using messaging services such as WhatsApp and other Facebook platforms that went down on Monday, their convenience has made them popular among traders communicating with clients in over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Facebook Inc blamed a "faulty configuration change" for the outage that hit WhatsApp, as well as Instagram and Messenger, in the largest ever outage tracked by web monitoring group Downdetector. Among those affected was BCB Group, a London-based crypto firm that offers OTC trading as well as other services. Facebook's services went dark at around noon Eastern time (1600 GMT), a key window for BCB's traders. Read | Facebooks apps went down and the world saw how much it runs on them "The WhatsApp outage hit us in our busiest trading period where we face US counterparties," said Chief Executive Oliver von-Landsberg Sadie. "Day-on-day volume was down 15% on the average daily, which we're internally attributing to the connectivity issues. Telegram and Slack-based trading was on par with daily averages." WhatsApp usage among financial traders tracked by communications surveillance firm VoxSmart has boomed as banks accept that clients want to use the platform, even if bosses prefer their staff to use official messaging channels, VoxSmart CEO Oliver Blower said. The app has become the "default messaging service" in many markets, especially in continental Europe and Asia-Pacific, Blower added. From some 2,000 interdealer users sending 10,000 messages a day in the energy market in 2016, VoxSmart today tracks between three and five million messages weekly across asset classes, including between banks and buy-side clients. "What's interesting is both the volume and the content of the messages. It's not just, what time are you headed to 'The Dog and Duck', it's, what's your price on a 5-year?," said Blower, using slang for a British pub. WhatsApp to Telegram Still, the prevalence of messenger services beyond WhatsApp meant Monday's outage was a nuisance rather than a major disruption. In India, for example, market chatter on WhatsApp has moved to Telegram where there are fewer restrictions on the size of group chats. The outage also came after markets had closed in much of Asia, limiting any impact. In the Middle East, "crypto OTC trading is predominately on Telegram or WhatsApp, where you ask your OTC brokers for bid and offer, and then you hit it and they'll confirm the transaction," said Zachary Cefaratti, CEO of Dubai investment platform Dalma Capital, adding that Telegram was becoming more widely used. OTC traders in oil markets were also hit, though again the blow was softened by the use of other platforms. In Russia, oil traders said WhatsApp was commonly used to communicate details on orders across Europe and Asia. Monday's outage was an "unpleasant surprise", one Europe-based trader said. "It was not nice. Everybody uses it. But we use alternative messengers too, so switched," said another. Watch latest videos by DH here: Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant on Monday said the three-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings was an "absolutely big win" as they looked to secure a top-two finish heading into the play-offs of the Indian Premier League. Chasing a modest target of 137, DC prevailed over CSK with two balls to spare after a strong start on a day their captain Pant turned 24. "Not a bad birthday present, but in the end we made it tough for us. In the end if we win everything is fine," Pant said at the post-match presentation ceremony. Prithvi Shaw smashed a few boundaries before Shikhar Dhawan took over. However, DC needed Shimron Hetmyer (28 not out) to see the team through in what turned out to be close, low-scoring game. Also Read | DC prevail over CSK by 3 wickets in battle for top-two "Prithvi got us to a decent start... We were always in the chase since it was a low total. Shikhar started well... Absolutely big win, and want to be absolutely sure we finish in the top two." Asked about promoting Ravichandran Ashwin at No. 6, Pant said that was done to "just keep the left-right combination". CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni found the pitch two-paced but was happy that his team could make a match out of it. "We were looking to get close to 150. After we lost a few wickets - and around the 15-16 over wicket - we were looking good. There were shots played... and if it had come down to eight or ten deliveries, it could have made a difference. It's a two-paced wicket - some balls come to you and some don't," Dhoni said. "It's not a placid wicket where you can play your shots. I felt the taller bowlers where the ones who were getting that movement. It was a very good effort (by the bowlers). But it was important not to give away too many in the first six overs." For his excellent bowling figures of 2/18, Axar Patel was named Man of the Match. "It is difficult to assess the length and line, and the pace of the ball (on such pitches). I thought they scored five or ten runs less in the powerplay," Patel said. Asked about his stay in the middle alongside Hetmyer, Patel said, "Hetmyer and I were discussing that they would bowl wide yorkers according to their field. Batting is your confidence booster, especially since we will be going to the playoffs. This confidence then helps you later." Hetmyer, who remained not out on a vital 28 off 18 balls, said he is paid to finish off games. "Very important for me to finish games. I tell the guys that is what I am paid for and I try to finish as many games as possible," he said. He got a life on 12 and asked about it, the Guyanese said, "I thought I was out, and the guy missed it and I was thankful. It was just about getting bat on ball. "The 19th over was the one where I thought I'd try and get a six and bring it down as much as possible. "I had enough practice against Bravo in the CPL. I knew he would go wide with the field he had and I just looked to go straight down the ground against him. It paid off twice." Hetmyer picked up 10 runs off the 19th over bowled by Josh Hazlewood, after hitting veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo for 12 runs in the 18th over. Check out latest DH videos here The new James Bond film, "No Time To Die", broke the franchise record for opening-weekend takings, Universal Pictures said Tuesday, with Daniel Craig's last outing as the eponymous hero netting 25 million ($34 million, 29 million euros). The movie opened in Britain and Ireland on Thursday, and achieved Bond's best-ever three-day domestic opening in its 60-year history. It is already Britain's biggest film release since the pandemic hit in early 2020, despite only being open for four days, sparking optimism of a revival for the beleaguered industry. It has so far opened in 54 countries, including Germany, Spain, Brazil and Japan, grossing $121 million dollars, said Universal, making it the first Hollywood release to break $100 million without counting China among its opening markets. The movie, which also stars Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas, launches in the United States on Friday. Fans in Britain flocked to cinemas across the country over the weekend to catch the latest 007 adventure, 18 months later than planned, but to a host of positive reviews. "It's better than good. It's magnificent," The Times newspaper's film critic Kevin Maher gushed, giving it a maximum five stars. "Craig is a towering charismatic presence from opening frame to closing shot, and he bows out in terrific, soulful, style." However, the praise from critics was not universal and others disagreed about its length of two hours and 43 minutes. Watch latest videos by DH here: The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded on Tuesday to three scientists whose work laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how humanity influences it. The winners were Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome. The work of all three is essential to understanding how the Earths climate is changing and how human behavior is influencing those changes. The discoveries being recognized this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations, said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. Also read: US duo win Nobel Medicine Prize for heat and touch work Complex systems, such as the climate, are often defined by their disorder. This years winners helped bring understanding to the seeming chaos, by describing those systems and predicting their long-term behavior. Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures on the surface of the Earth. In the 1960s, he led the development of physical models of the Earths climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses, the committee said. Hasselmann, a decade later, created a model that links weather and climate, answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic, the Nobel committee said in its statement. Parisis discoveries were described as among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. He is credited with the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena, not only in physics but also in other, very different areas, such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning, the committee said. All three scientists have been working to understand the complex natural systems that have been driving climate change for decades, and their discoveries have provided the scaffolding on which predictions about climate are built. The importance of their work has only gained urgency as the forecast models reveal an increasingly dire outlook if the rise in global temperature is not arrested. The global average temperature will rise 2.7 degrees Celsius by centurys end even if all countries meet their promised emissions cuts, a rise that is likely to bring more extreme wildfires, droughts and floods, according to a United Nations report released in September. That level of warming, measured against preindustrial levels, is likely to increase the frequency of deadly heat waves and threaten coastal cities with rising sea levels, the country-by-country analysis concluded. Its clear that for the future generation, we have to act now in a very fast way, Parisi said at a news conference after the prize was announced. Manabe is a senior meteorologist and climatologist at Princeton University. Born in 1931 in Shingu, Japan, he earned his doctorate in 1957 from the University of Tokyo before joining the US Weather Bureau as a research meteorologist. In the 1960s, he led groundbreaking research into how increased levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher temperatures on the surface of the Earth. That work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models, according to the Nobel judges. Hasselmann is a German physicist and oceanographer who greatly advanced public understanding of climate change through the creation of a model that links climate and chaotic weather systems. He is a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. He received his doctorate in 1957 from the University of Gottingen in Germany before founding the meteorology institute, which he was head of until 1999. He is also the founder of what is now known as the Global Climate Forum. In 2009, Hasselmann received the 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change. Parisi is an Italian theoretical physicist who was born in 1948 in Rome and whose research has focused on quantum field theory and complex systems. He received his doctorate from the Sapienza University of Rome in 1970. In 1980, he was responsible for discovering hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. He is a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome. Check out latest videos from DH: (With AP inputs) After almost a decade of exclusively Western authors, will the Nobel Literature Prize broaden its horizons? The bestowers of the prestigious award have a chance on Thursday to deliver on their diversity pledge. A #MeToo scandal caused the 2018 prize to be postponed, and there have been recurring criticism over the choice of male and Eurocentric laureates. And it is two years since the Swedish Academy that awards the prize promised new criteria that would lead to a more global and gender-equal literature prize. Also Read | US duo win Nobel Medicine Prize for heat and touch work Since then, two women have taken home the honour: Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk for 2018, and the American poet Louise Gluck last year. But the 2019 winner, Austria's Peter Handke, was a controversial pick. His pro-Serbian positions extended to backing Serbia's former president Slobodan Milosevic, who was on trial for genocide when he died in 2006. The promise of a more geographic spread has so far gone unfulfilled. The most recent laureate who was neither European nor American was China's Mo Yan, back in 2012. "Is it time for the Nobel Literature Prize to get woke?", Sweden's leading daily Dagens Nyheter asked this weekend? The leanings of the Swedish Academy are largely impenetrable -- the nominations and deliberations are kept secret for 50 years. But that doesn't stop literary circles from engaging in frenzied speculation about dozens of widely varying candidates. "They've realised that they have to be very discreet, very secretive because that makes it more magical, more exciting," Hakan Bravinger, literary director of Swedish publisher Norstedts, told AFP. His own favourite this year was Canadian Margaret Atwood, he added. Also Read | Nobel Medicine Prize for Covid-19 vaccine? It may be too soon The Academy's five-member Nobel committee, elected for three years, is responsible for collecting and discussing the nominations before submitting a list of five names to the other 13 members of the Swedish Academy. After deliberations, the 18 Academy members vote in early October to decide on a winner. "I do believe they really want to discover a genius from a previously neglected area," said Jonas Thente, literary critic at Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. He predicted the Academy would probably favour Hungary's Peter Nadas. But his own hopes are for Nigeria's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her novels on "cross-cultural experiences" -- even if at 44 she is "probably too young" for a Nobel, he added. The youngest laureate to date was Rudyard Kipling, who was honoured at the age of 41 in 1907. Critics have pointed out that non-Western writers are not in short supply. Also Read | Nobel Peace Prize: Is this Greta Thunberg's year? Kenya's Ngugi wa Thiong'o is regularly mentioned as an African author worthy of the prize, as are Somalia's Nuruddin Farah or Mozambique's Mia Couto. South Korea's Ko Un's star may have faded following accusations of sexual assault, but India's Vikram Seth and China's Can Xue, Yan Lianke and Lao Yiwu (pen name Lao Wei) have also been cited as potential winners. Major Western countries have all had several winners, France topping the list with 15. But the world's two most populous nations, India and China, have only one each, not counting the Chinese-born naturalised French citizen Gao Xingjian. Caribbean-American Jamaica Kincaid and Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe have also been mentioned. Should either of them win, it would be the first time a black woman was honoured since American Toni Morrison in 1993. Maria Hymna Ramnehill, a critic for the daily Goteborgs-Posten, said she was banking on a playwright, such as Norway's Jon Fosse. Canadian Anne Carson, Americans Joyce Carol Oates and Joan Didion, Russia's Ludmila Ulitskaya, French-Rwandan Scholastique Mukasonga and French novelist Annie Ernaux have all been tipped as the potential 17th female laureate out of 117 winners since 1901. Syrian poet Adonis, long a favourite among bookies, has so far been ignored by the Academy, as has Japan's Haruki Murakami. Their admirers worry they may follow in the footsteps of writers such as American Philip Roth, who died without a Nobel. When it comes to an author such as France's Michel Houellebecq, his inflammatory style and persona may clash with the Academy's tastes. The 1895 will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel creating the prizes specified the body of work should be in an "idealistic direction". However, Handke's example proves the Academy is still prepared to ruffle feathers if they think the body of work merits recognition. "One might have thought that the Academy would have wanted to stay away from scandal, but this only proves that the prize is more unpredictable than ever," Jonas Thente said. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Pope Francis expressed his "great sorrow" for the victims of sexual abuse by French Catholic clergy after the publication on Tuesday of a devastating report, a Vatican spokesman said. The spokesman said the pontiff had learned "with pain" of the "appalling" results of an independent investigation, which found French Catholic clergy had sexually abused some 216,000 minors in the seven decades since 1950 -- and covered it up with a "veil of silence". "His thoughts turn first to the victims, with great sorrow for their wounds and gratitude for their courage in speaking out," spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement issued in Italian and French. "They also turn towards the Church in France so that, having become aware of this appalling reality and... it may undertake the path of redemption." The pope offered his prayers for all the Church's followers in France, particularly the victims of abuse, so that God grant them comfort and consolation and "with justice, the miracle of healing". British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's special envoy met Taliban leaders in Afghanistan to discuss the humanitarian crisis and ways to prevent the country from becoming an incubator for militants. Simon Gass, Johnson's high representative for Afghanistan, met Taliban leaders including Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Foreign Office said. Also read: Taliban unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras: Rights group They "discussed how the UK could help Afghanistan to address the humanitarian crisis, the importance of preventing the country from becoming an incubator for terrorism, and the need for continued safe passage for those who want to leave the country," the Foreign Office said. "They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls." Gass was accompanied by Charge d'Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha. Check out latest videos from DH: EU leaders will have a hard discussion on Europe's place in the world on Tuesday as they seek unity on how to approach ties with superpowers China and the US. The 27 heads of state and government are set to converge on Brdo Castle in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, the country that currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. While no concrete outcome is expected from the meeting, "this is the first time leaders have met since June, and with everything that has happened, that seems ages ago", a senior EU diplomat said. Read more: US to have 'frank conversations' with China on trade The dinner takes place on the eve of an EU-Western Balkans summit in which countries to the bloc's east will seek assurances on one day joining the European Union. At the dinner, leaders will have a "strategic discussion on the role of the Union on the international stage", according to an invitation letter sent out by EU Council chief Charles Michel, the former Belgian prime minister who organises summits. French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to again warn his partners that Washington's close allegiance to Europe is no longer a given, with Paris still smarting over the cancellation of a massive submarine contract to the benefit of the US. "It would be a mistake to pretend that nothing happened," said a French presidency source ahead of the talks. France was infuriated last month when Australia cancelled a deal for French submarines worth tens of billions of dollars, saying it would pursue US nuclear versions as tensions rise with China. EU partners have expressed solidarity with Paris to varying degrees, with Baltic and Nordic countries reluctant to criticise the Cold War superpower that they deem their ultimate protector against Russia. The subs debacle came weeks after the US pulled out its troops after two decades of presence in Afghanistan, seeing the Taliban sweep to power and catching the Europeans off guard. Under the auspices of NATO, the Europeans provided troops and were major donors to the overthrown Afghan regime and have warned they will not recognise the Taliban government, made up largely of Islamic hardliners and no women. The collapse in Afghanistan -- on top of the submarine fallout -- has given fresh impetus to those pushing for the EU to develop its own military capabilities, with France leading that charge. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU's most influential leader for the past 15 years, will attend as coalition talks advance by inches in Berlin to come up with the government that will replace her. Merkel's cautious, pro-US strategy has dominated Europe and her imminent departure will see leaders like Macron, Italy's Mario Draghi and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte seeking to make their mark. As leader of Germany, the EU's export powerhouse, Merkel has also always encouraged close ties with China, but this has also proven harder to defend as Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership turns more centralised and hard-line. The relationship with Beijing grew even more complicated when an EU-China investment deal wanted by Germany was put on indefinite standby after both sides exchanged tit-for-tat sanctions over the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Spain will highlight more immediate concerns, calling for a bold EU answer to focus instead on the sudden rise in energy prices, with France, Greece and Poland also seeking action. The EU Commission is expected on Tuesday to offer short-term solutions to the energy crunch, with a more in-depth discussion by leaders at a summit on October 21-22. Check out the latest DH videos: Suspected jihadists killed 14 soldiers in an attack in northern Burkina Faso on Monday, the defence ministry said, in the latest bloodshed to hit the region plagued by Islamist violence. "The military detachment of Yirgou" in the Centre-Nord region's Barsalogho department was "the target of a terrorist attack" around 1030 IST on Monday, junior defence minister General Aime Barthelemy Simpore said. "Fourteen soldiers were killed during the fighting and seven wounded were evacuated," he said in a statement, with the death toll higher than the nine given earlier by security sources. "Several terrorists were neutralised during the response," he added, praising the soldiers' "great fighting spirit". A ground and air counter-offensive was immediately launched to "neutralise the attackers," he added. A security source told AFP that there was also an "enormous" amount of equipment lost, with some being burnt and some taken away by the attackers. Burkina Faso has been regularly hit by deadly jihadist attacks since 2015, mostly in the northern and eastern regions close to the Mali and Niger borders. But on Saturday it was the south that was hit, with two soldiers killed by a makeshift bomb in Larabin near the Ivory Coast border. Back in the north, five soldiers were killed during a reconnaissance mission in Mentao last Wednesday, also by a makeshift bomb, the armed forces said. In mid-September, a suspected jihadist attack killed six gendarmes escorting fuel tanks for a mining company. Such attacks, normally blamed on jihadists groups affiliated to the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda, have killed around 2,000 people and forced more than 1.4 million to flee their homes. Check out latest DH videos here The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it was reconsidering its decision to pursue its appeal to recover Rs 40,000 crore from telecom companies for spectrum usage charges as most of them were facing losses and could become unsustainable, resulting into a monopolistic situation and other adverse impact on the economy. A bench presided over by Justice M R Shah, however, took a dim view of the Union government's plea for time to take a considered stand on the issue, saying the matter involved public interest. On a request by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the court put the matter for consideration on November 17. In an affidavit, the Telecommunication department submitted that the Telecom sector was passing through financial stress for some time due to various circumstances. "Despite certain measures, taken by the government in public interest, most of the TSPs providing for mobile phones and broadband have been making losses," it said. Read | DoT amends licence norms to relax penal provisions The department also pointed towards Indian Bank Association's written communication stating adverse developments in the sector may lead to failure, vanishing competition, duopoly, unsustainable operations and severe loss to the banking system which has a huge exposure to the sector. It also referred to the Cabinet decision taken on September 15 to provide various reliefs to the sector. The government said, "it was desirous of reviewing or reconsidering its decision to proceed with the appeal in the matter" in view of various developments, facts, financial positions and implications of potential results. It sought time to take an informed decision whether to proceed with the appeal or not. The government has challenged the TDSATs July 4, 2019 order that held as unsustainable the DoT demands for One Time Spectrum Charges (OTSC) on spectrum allotted beyond start-up spectrum and up to the contracted limit of 6.2 MHz. The TDSAT had also ruled that the government can charge the one-time spectrum charge only prospectively from January 1, 2013 (the date on which the government notified this decision) and that too only on administratively allocated airwaves beyond 6.2 MHz. The decision to levy OTSC was taken by the United Progressive Alliance government following the Supreme Court's decision in February 2012 cancelling 122 telecom 2G licences given by the then telecom minister A Raja. Watch latest videos by DH here: The app of Chinese fashion brand Shein was blocked as it was found detrimental to national security but sale of its products on other websites has not been covered under the law, the Centre informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday. The Ministry of Electronics and information Technology (MeitY) said the sale of Shein products on other platforms or websites is not covered under Section 69A (Power to issue directions for blocking for public access of any information through any computer resource) of the IT Act and a blanket order for blocking their sale cannot be passed by the committee constituted under the legal provision. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing a plea seeking to prohibit the re-entry of Chinese fashion brand 'Shein' in India through sale of its products on digital marketplace, Amazon. According to them, there is no bar on sale. What do you have to say on this? the bench asked the counsel for petitioner Ananttika Singh. The counsel for Amazon submitted that they are yet to receive a copy of the petition. The court directed the petitioner to supply a copy of the petition to Amazons counsel and granted time to file reply and listed the matter for further hearing on December 1. The ministry, in its reply filed through central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, said public access and functionality of the Shein app was blocked within India in 2020 but the products of Shein being sold on a third party platform in India is altogether a different aspect. It is made clear that the Shein app was found to be detrimental to the national security related issues, hence the App was blocked. However, the sale of Shein products on other platforms/ websites is not covered under Section 69A of the IT Act. A blanket order for blocking sale of Shein products on other websites cannot be passed by the committee constituted under Section 69A of the IT Act, it said. The ministry said that by an interim order, Shein app was blocked on June 29 last year in the interest of Indias sovereignty and security of the State and in January this year, MeitY blocked the app permanently for public access. Every incident violating the provisions of Section 69A of the IT Act related to already blocked information or content has to be reported separately by following the due process, it said. The high court had earlier issued notice on the petition on the ground that Shein was temporarily banned in India by the Centre last year for being prejudicial to the interest and sovereignty of India. The court, however, had refused to pass any interim order to stay the sale at this stage. Senior Advocate Vivek Raj Singh, appearing for petitioner Ananttika Singh, urged the court to pass an interim stay order, saying otherwise data will be transferred to Chinese company. He said section 69A of the IT Act relates to integrity and sovereignity of the country and these apps were banned because customer details were being passed on to Chinese makers. Now they are approaching the country through a different platform, he said. The counsel had earlier informed the court that there was an advertisement on Amazon which publicised the sale of Shein products on its platform as part of its prime day sale. He had said 59 Chinese apps, including Shein, were banned by the Government of India on June 29, 2020, and pleaded that consequently there should be a total prohibition on the sale of Shein products in the country. In her PIL, the petitioner has sought a direction to Amazon to suspend its partnership with Shein until the ban imposed by Centre is not lifted. It said once the entry of Shein and its products was banned for using data of its Indian customers in a manner prejudicial to the interest and sovereignty of the country, it cannot be allowed to circumvent the law by using a third party platform. The petition highlights that as per Amazon's privacy policy, it could share the data collected from users with registered sellers and it was thus possible that 'Shein' would once again have access to personal and sensitive data of several millions of Indian citizen. The petition also sought a direction to the Centre to appoint a third party committee, with costs to Amazon, to make audits on the flow of data of the India consumers to Shein. Watch the latest DH Videos here: The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought Twitter's reply on a plea seeking registration of FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly revealing the identity of a 9-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in southwest Delhi, by publishing a photograph with her parents on social media. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh refused to issue notice to Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Police on the public interest litigation (PIL) and said it was only issuing notice to Twitter. We are making it explicitly clear that we are not issuing notice to other respondents. Notice is being issued only to respondent no. 4 (Twitter), the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on November 30. Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, told the court that Gandhi's account was suspended and the tweet in question has been removed as it was found to be in violation of the platform's own policy. Senior advocate R S Cheema and lawyer Tarannum Cheema appeared for Rahul Gandhi. Petitioner Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar, a social activist, has alleged in the petition that by posting the photograph with the parents of the child victim, Gandhi violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, which prohibit the disclosure of identity of minor victims of sexual offences. Mhadlekar, represented through advocate Gautam Jha, alleged that Gandhi was attempting to take political mileage out of the unfortunate incident. The plea also sought initiation of appropriate legal action against Gandhi by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The minor Dalit girl died under suspicious circumstances on August 1 even as her parents said that she was raped, murdered and cremated by a crematorium's priest in southwest Delhi's Old Nangal village. Check out the latest DH videos: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday called on Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and discussed ways to further advance the comprehensive bilateral partnership at all levels and reaffirmed the strong ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. Shringla is on a four-day visit to Sri Lanka, that began on Saturday, to review the bilateral ties between India and the island nation. "Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla called on President HE Gotabaya Rajapaksa @GotabayaR today," the High Commission of India (HCI) here said in a tweet. Also Read | India nudges Sri Lanka on provincial council elections, implementation of 13th amendment "They reaffirmed the strong ties of friendship & cooperation between India & Sri Lanka and discussed ways to further advance this comprehensive partnership at all levels," it said. The meeting took place a day after the president returned from the US. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was in New York to attend the annual UN General Assembly. The Foreign Secretary also interacted with the Indian High Commission officers at the Mission premises. Also Read | India trying to claw back ground lost to China in Sri Lanka "Team HCI is truly grateful for his words of encouragement and support," the IHC said in another tweet. On Monday, Shringla had a "productive discussion" with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on further consolidating the multifaceted bilateral partnership. He also held delegation-level meetings with his Lankan counterpart Admiral (Retd) Prof. Jayanath Colombage during which they reviewed bilateral cooperation. He also called on Foreign Minister GL Peiris and discussed bilateral ties in all spheres. Also Read | Shringla holds 'productive discussion' with Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa India has been consistently calling upon Sri Lanka to fulfill its commitments to protect the interests of the Tamil community and preserve the island nation's character as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. During a meeting with the Tamil leaders on Monday, Shringla reaffirmed India's commitment to protecting the rights of Sri Lanka's minority Tamil community through full implementation of the 13th Amendment, early convening of Provincial Council elections and achieving reconciliation. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called on Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and had a productive discussion on further consolidating the multifaceted India-Sri Lanka partnership and preserve the island nation's character as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The 13th Amendment provides for the devolution of power to the Tamil community. India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th amendment which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987. The Union Health Ministry on Monday used drones for the first time to ferry Covid-19 vaccines to a corner of North East India, opening up a new route to close the last mile gap in supplying medical aids to remote areas. An indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle transported the vaccines from Bishnupur district hospital to Karang island, Loktak lake in Manipur, covering an aerial distance of 15 km in about 12-15 minutes. The actual road distance between these locations is 26 km. The vaccines were taken to a primary health centre on the island where 10 beneficiaries received the first dose and eight got the second shot. Nearly 50 per cent of the PHCs at Manipur are located at remote places that are difficult to access. Also read: After 18 months, schools reopen across Maharashtra for physical classes Such drone flights by the Indian Council of Medical Research for vaccine supply have also been permitted for Nagaland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the Director General of Civil Aviation. The ICMRs vaccine drone, however, is not the first example of such flight in India. Last month Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched a pilot project named 'Medicines from the Sky' at Vikarabad in Telangana, under which drugs and vaccines were delivered to 16 PHC using drones. "Over the last three weeks, more than 70 UAV flights took off carrying Covid-19 vaccines and medicines to the primary health care centres in Telangana. Every day there are four to five flights, Suresh Munuswamy, a senior researcher at the Public Health Foundation of India, who is associated with the Telangana project told DH. Before seeking the DCGI nod, the ICMR conducted an initial study in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur to test the capacity of drones to carry and transfer vaccines safely. The study provided promising results on the basis of which the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA granted permission to fly drones beyond the visual line of sight up to a height of 3,000 metre. We can use drones in delivering important life-saving medicines and collecting blood samples. This technology may prove a game-changer in addressing the challenges in health care delivery, particularly health supplies in difficult areas, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandiviya. The PHFI team has already proposed an annual drone-based medical supply service to the North Eastern states, Telangana and Gujarat. The plan is not only to send the medicines and vaccines, but also to bring back patients blood and other pathological samples from remote areas to the nearest diagnostic centre at the block or district level. Such services are routinely provided by commercial companies in some of the advanced nations. With the Congress questioning the detention of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, officials said Tuesday a case has been registered here against her and 10 others under sections related to preventive detention due to apprehension of breach of peace. The case under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) sections 151, 107, 116 (all related to preventive detention due to apprehension of breach of peace) has also been registered against Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and party leader Deependra Hooda, the officials said. "These are preventive sections. Once we get assurance that there would not be violation of peace by them these sections will be removed," Sitapur Sub-divisional Magistrate Pyare Lal Maurya said. Also read: Local journalist among 8 killed in Lakhimpur Kheri violence Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other party leaders were detained on Monday when they were going to meet the victims of the violence that erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri a day earlier. Eight people were killed as violence erupted during a farmers' protest, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Several Congress leaders including P Chidambaram have questioned Gandhis detention, describing it as "totally illegal" and "unconstitutional". In a statement, Chidambaram said Tuesday the facts and circumstances concerning Gandhi's detention in Sitapur "conclusively establish that there is no rule of law in UP". Watch the latest DH Videos here: Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Tuesday launched a vitriolic attack on the BJP, which he accused of pitting Hindus against Muslims (Ram aur Rahim ke bande), and likened it to a beast that has "tasted blood". Addressing party workers here through video conferencing, Prasad, who has been in Delhi since his release from jail a few months ago, also expressed "strong condemnation" for the incidents in Lakhimpur Kheri district of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, where a car allegedly belonging to son of a Union minister ploughed into a crowd of agitating farmers. The former Union minister, who had been an MP for many terms before getting barred from contesting elections in 2013, also lamented the lack of unity in the opposition and asserted that the BJP could be defeated if all parties opposed to it could keep their flock together. Prasad, who had to step down as the Bihar chief minister in 1997 because of the charge-sheet filed against him the fodder scam, also predicted an "early fall" of the Nitish Kumar government, which returned to power in the assembly elections last year. Also read: EC allots new names, poll symbols to Chirag Paswan's LJP, Paras's faction The outspoken OBC leader, a mascot of pro-Mandal politics, also expressed outrage over the Centre submitting before the Supreme Court that it would not be able to enumerate the numerically powerful social group despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi having hinted otherwise during a meeting with an all-party delegation from Bihar, headed by Kumar and including Prasad's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav. He claimed that the BJP has looked down upon affirmative action and declared, "We will fight and see to it that caste census is undertaken and policies are formulated taking population of different castes into account". The septuagenarian also appeared to place a lid on the controversy triggered by the declamation of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav that the RJD supremo was being "held captive in Delhi and prevented from visiting Bihar", remarks which were seen as the mercurial leader's outbursts aimed at his younger, but more powerful, sibling Tejashwi. Prasad told the gathering in Patna, where Tejashwi was present, "I will soon come to Bihar. Almost every day I keep asking my doctor here when can I go. I suffer from a serious kidney problem and have been advised to keep my daily intake of water limited to one litre. But my health is improving and I look forward to being with you soon." "The country is reeling under joblessness and soaring prices. But the BJP has no interest in resolving these problems. It has tasted blood, (munh khoon lag gaya hai) having come to power by pitting the followers of Ram and Rahim against each other," said Prasad. He also reaffirmed his commitment to secularism, reminding the people of the arrest of BJP leader L K Advani when the Ram Rath Yatra was crossing through the state. Also read: Nitish seeks appropriate action by Yogi government in Lakhimpur Kheri violence Prasad, whose party recently snubbed the Congress, its ally in Bihar, by fielding its candidates from both by-poll bound assembly seats despite the latter wishing to contest one of these, also made a snide remark about the "high command culture" prevailing in the national party contrasting it with his style of functioning. "During elections, candidates of other parties including Congress used to wait for clearance from high command for their tickets getting finalised. I used to put my signature sitting under a tree," said the RJD supremo, known for his earthy mannerisms. He also gave the audience a taste of his trademark humour, adored and abhorred by different sets of people in equal measure, when he recounted his patronage to Bhola Ram Toofani, a Dalit leader from humble origins, whom he had made a minister and lent his helicopter for making a round of his constituency. Taking potshots at Nitish Kumar, his arch-rival, Prasad recalled the former's vehement demand for special category status to the state and wondered why he was with the BJP which had shown its disregard for the long-pending request. "Our party did very well under Tejashwi's leadership in the assembly polls. It emerged as the single largest party though the NDA got majority by manipulation of results in tightly contested seats... There is not much cohesion in the ruling alliance in the state. I am telling you, this government will fall much before completion of its term," said Prasad, who spoke for nearly half an hour. Check out latest videos from DH: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to people for the BJP's win in the Gujarat Municipal Corporation and other local body polls, which he said was an opportunity for him to meet people's expectations, and also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing faith in him. After celebrating the victory at the Gujarat BJP headquarters 'Kamalam' in Gandhinagar, state BJP chief C R Paatil said the victory shows that citizens stand firmly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He dubbed the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as only a "thunder without rain," and asserted that there is "no place for a third party in Gujarat". Also read: BJP drubs Congress, AAP in Gandhinagar municipal polls The GMC poll was being seen as a litmus test for the BJP in the backdrop of its sudden and surprising decision to change the state's chief minister and the entire cabinet recently, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year. The party had registered a thumping win in the local bodies polls held in February this year. On Tuesday, the ruling BJP retained the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) by winning 41 of the total 44 seats, while the Congress got two seats and the AAP bagged one seat. The BJP also won the Thara municipality poll in Banaskantha district and retained Okha municipality in Devbhumi-Dwarka district. But, it lost to the Congress in Devbhumi-Dwarka district's Bhanvad municipality, where the saffron party had been in power since 1995. Talking to reporters after celebrating the victory with party workers, CM Bhupendra Patel said Prime Minister Modi reposed trust in him, and the victory was an opportunity for him and his team to meet the people's expectations. He said the BJP is a party that always works in coordination with the elected representatives. "Before becoming the chief minister, I would come to Gandhinagar for the work of (Union minister) Amit bhai (Shah). Amit bhai worried about the poor people, and would hold meetings ward-wise for those who did not get ration," he said. "PM Modi has reposed trust in me. I express my gratitude to the people for the BJP's victory in Gandhinagar and local bodies in other parts of Gujarat and my team and I will work in coordination with the party chief to meet their expectations," he added. On the occasion, state BJP chief Paatil said media must have seen how the BJP workers established a connection with the people and stood by them during the Covid-19 pandemic and even in other normal circumstances. "Because of this, BJP members registered a grand victory in Gandhinagar (municipal corporation) and other local bodies in Gujarat," Paatil said. He said the AAP was only a "thunder without rain", and the results prove that the state's people have rejected the Arvind Kejriwal-led party. "There is no place for a third party in Gujarat," he added. He said the "historic result once more proves that people of Gujarat completely trust Narendra Modi". "Voters of Gujarat have once again given the power of Gandhinagar to the BJP, and the party will fulfil all promises made to the people. The BJP will work in coordination with the government for the development of Gandhinagar," he said. Paatil also credited Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the BJP's win in these polls. He said Shah's connection with the people of the state capital and his inclination to serve the people of his Lok Sabha constituency Gandhinagar also helped the party reap benefits in the local body poll. Paatil also thanked former chief minister Vijay Rupani and said the works done by his government played an important part in the victory. Check out latest videos from DH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who spoke at a function in Lucknow on Tuesday, chose not to mention the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in which four farmers were run over by a vehicle allegedly being driven by Union Minister Ajai Mishra's son along with five others even as the opposition leaders slammed what they termed the 'dictatorial' UP government for not allowing them to visit the violence-hit district. Modi, who inaugurated the 'New Urban India Conclave' here, highlighted the achievements of his government on different fronts and said that his opponents were busy only in 'wasting' their energy in criticising him (Modi). ''Some people ask what has Modi done? They waste their energy on criticising me,'' he said while speaking at the function after digitally handing over keys of newly built houses to the beneficiaries of the scheme. Also Read | Uttar Pradesh government reacts to protests with violence, oppression, says Priyanka Gandhi The violence in Lakhimpur Kheri, however, failed to get a mention in his speech prompting condemnation from the opposition parties. ''It is unfortunate that killing of the farmers was not mentioned by the PM in his speech especially when one of his cabinet colleagues is under the scanner ...it shows that the BJP government is not bothered about the farmers,'' said a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader here. ''The opposition leaders are not being allowed to visit the spot and meet the families of the victims.....it shows the dictatorial mindset of the government,'' the leader added. Nine persons, including four farmers, were killed at Tikonia in the district after hundreds of farmers tried to waive the black flag and block the visit of Ajai Mishra and UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya to attend a function on Monday. Watch the latest DH Videos here: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday met top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi here, calling for a joint action by political parties in connection with the killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri where Opposition leaders are not allowed to go. After the meeting, Raut said the issue of a delegation of Opposition parties visiting Lakhimpur Kheri was discussed. Read | Lakhimpur Kheri: Case against Priyanka, 10 others in UP Before the meeting, Raut tweeted, "Lakhimpur Kheri violence has shaken the nation, Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested by the UP government, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is a need for joint opposition action against oppression by the Government in UP." #LakhimpurKheriViolence has shaken the nation,@priyankagandhi has been arrested UP govt, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is need for joint opposition action against oppression by Government in UP. Meeting @RahulGandhi at 4.15 pm today ! Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) October 5, 2021 Raut's meeting came against the backdrop of UP government detaining or arresting Opposition leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi. Many other leaders from opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP, SP and the BSP, have been detained by the UP government. Earlier in the day, Rahul tweeted in support of his sister Priyanka, "the one who is kept in custody is not afraid. She is a true Congressman, will not give up! Satyagraha will not stop." Former Finance Minister and senior Congress MP P Chidambaram said in a statement that the facts and circumstances concerning Priyanka's detention "conclusively establish that there is no rule of law" in UP. "She was 'arrested' at 4.30 am on Monday. She has been detained in the PAC guest house at Sitapur. The District Collector and the Judicial Magistrate concerned are both stationed in Sitapur. She has been in detention for more than 30 hours. She has not been produced before a Judicial Magistrate. There is no order of any Judicial Magistrate. Her constitutional rights under Articles 19 and 21 have been grossly violated," he said. He also claimed that her "arrest" violated several provisions of the CrPC, which says no woman can be arrested after sunset or before sunrise. "She was arrested at 4:30 AM, which is illegal. She was arrested by a male police officer, which is illegal. There was no memorandum of arrest and it was not served upon her and her signature was not taken - which is illegal," he said. "Law and Order in UP seem to mean (Chief Minister Yogi) Adityanath's law and Adityanath's order. The police in UP seem to be not obeying the law but are carrying out Adityanath's law and Adityanath's order. This is grossly illegal and utterly shameful. The Congress Party strongly condemns the high-handed and unconstitutional acts of the UP government and UP police," Chidambaram added. Watch latest videos by DH here: A BJP MLA from Tripura on Tuesday described Mamata Banerjee as the "real leader of Maa Mati Manush" (mother, land and people) of West Bengal and shaved his head at Kolkata's famous Kalighat temple as an act of atonement for being associated with "a communal party", triggering speculations about his next political move. Ashish Das also said if Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, becomes the prime minister in future, it will be a matter of pride for every Bengali. Das, who represents the Surma(SC) seat in Dhalai district, claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had won the hearts of Indians during the 2014 Lok Sabha election with his inclusive growth model but faltered on his promises subsequently. He said he will start a "new political innings" but did not specify if he will quit the BJP. Read: Congress at zero in West Bengal as Mamata Banerjee wins big The legislator said he has some "personal work" in Kalighat, the area where Banerjee's residence is located, on Tuesday. The TMC has been eyeing Tripura after its landslide victory in the West Bengal assembly polls held earlier this year. It has launched an outreach campaign in the North-eastern state to dislodge the Biplab Kumar Deb helmed BJP government there in the 2023 assembly elections. "Mamata Banerjee has turned out to be the real leader of Maa Mati Manush. Her landslide victory in the recent Bhabanipur by-poll was another vindication of her immense popularity among the people of Bengal," Das told reporters. 'Maa Mati Manush' is a pet slogan of the TMC. Banerjee won the Bhabanipur by-poll with a record margin of 58,835 votes. She needed to win the election to retain the chief minister's chair. Virtually endorsing the TMC's claim regarding the significance of Banerjee's victory in the by-election, Das said Bhabanipur voters have shown that they want Mamata Banerjee to helm the country one day. "The win has paved the way to her becoming the face of the opposition parties in the coming days," he said. The Tripura MLA said despite having a glorious role in the freedom struggle, Bengal did not get the due recognition in the political arena in all these years. "If Mamata didi becomes the PM, it will be justice for Bengalis and undo the wrong of decades. It will be a matter of pride for all Bengalis. Also after Indira Gandhi, a woman will wield the power in the country," he said. Das shaved his head at the famous Kali temple at Kalighat in a ritual conducted by priests. "This is my way to seek forgiveness for being associated with a communal party like the BJP. After shaving my head, there will be a new beginning of my political innings," he said. To a question on the alleged atrocities on opposition parties in Tripura, Das claimed both the Biplab Kumar Deb government and the BJP's central leaders are responsible for that. Das also criticised PM Modi for selling government stakes in PSUs and the unprecedented hike in fuel prices. Check latest DH videos here: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been detained in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur on her way to violence-hit Lakhimpur district, is "fearless" and a "true Congressi" who will not accept defeat. He also asserted that the "satyagraha" will not stop. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi was detained in Sitapur on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died and several others were injured on Sunday in the bloodiest clash since the farmers' protest over the Centre's agri laws began last year. "The one who has been kept in custody, is fearless-- is a true Congressi, will not accept defeat! Satyagraha will not stop," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag 'FarmersProtest'. Four of the dead in Lakhimpur were farmers, reportedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The others were BJP workers and their driver, allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and then lynched by the protesters. Two cars were set on fire. Check out the latest DH videos: Lashing out at the Yogi Adityanath government, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said that the Lakhimpur Kheri incident is not an isolated one and charged that the Uttar Pradesh government's reaction to people raising their voice has been consistently that of violence and suppression. The Congress leader also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Lucknow for an event, and asked why is he is not going to Lakhimpur Kheri, which is just a 15-minute helicopter ride from here, to wipe the tears of families whose sons have been "brutally murdered". Gandhi was detained on Monday in Sitapur while on her way to Lakhimpur where eight people were killed in violence on Sunday. Four of the dead were farmers allegedly knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The others including BJP workers and their driver were allegedly pulled out of the vehicles and then lynched by the protesters. For latest updates on Lakhimpur violence, click here The UP government on Monday lodged a case against Union minister Ajay Mishra's son and promised a probe by a retired high court judge. When asked how she saw the Lakhimpur incident, Gandhi in a telephonic interview to PTI, said, "I see it as a part of a bigger picture of what is happening in the state and the nation because it is not an isolated incident in the sense that the government's reaction to protests, to people raising their voices has consistently been that of violence and oppression". She charged, "This is an extreme situation that has arisen due to the consistent oppression that has been going on. So when anybody in Uttar Pradesh tries to protest, whether it is the students or teachers, they are beaten, oppressed and sent to jail". Also Read | Lakhimpur violence: Priyanka says kept in detention for last 28 hours without order, FIR "There are violent reactions towards people who raise their voices either in protest or simply to demand their rights," she charged. Gandhi also charged that the focus of the Uttar Pradesh government has been propaganda and public relations instead of the welfare of people. On her future course of protest over the violence, Gandhi said, "The farmers are still demanding the resignation of the minister and arrest of the accused." "I would like to understand that when the government can arrest opposition leaders without an FIR or an order for their arrest, for the crime of trying to visit the victim's families, then why can't they arrest the accused who ran over the farmers and committed murder in full public view? It is clear that something is very wrong. I want to meet the families of the victims," she insisted. Read more: Lakhimpur violence: Echoes of Mandsaur June 2017 "But it's really not a question of what's happening to me, the main issue here is that when a horrendous crime has taken place why has the government not take any action? Why is it that the BJP Government is pushed into action only due to political pressure? Why is there no due process of law?" she asked. "Why are media channels reinforcing to me that a minister, the father of the accused has stated that this (incident) has not happened at all? Why are we told to listen to the father of the accused who is a history-sheeter himself and had threatened those very people just a few days back? Why are we not listening to journalists who were present there, to the families of the victims and the eyewitnesses present at the time?" she said. Also Read | 'Murder' of farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri unpardonable: Varun Gandhi Condemning all kinds of violence, she said, "For that matter even if BJP workers were killed there, it is wrong...they should not have been...any kind of violence visited upon anyone is wrong. We should speak up for justice for everybody". Asked about PM's visit to Lucknow on Tuesday and if she wanted to say anything to him, she said, "I would like to remind the prime minister that the freedom he is here to celebrate was given to us by the very farmers whose descendants have been protesting for months on end." "It is these very farmer's sons who stand at the borders of our nation protecting our freedom even today. As he sits on stage with his retinue of ministers I want to ask him why one of them, the father of the accused has not been sacked yet?", she said Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Akhilesh Yadav taken into custody over sit-in protest "Why is UP's entire police force focussing on putting opposition leaders under arrest, placing the families of the murdered farmers under watch, cutting off the internet and sealing the district of Lakhimpur Kheri?" she added. Police have registered a murder case against Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister of State for Home, and several others over the death of the farmers. The minister, who is from the area, has denied allegations by the farmers unions that his son was in one of the cars. Lashing out at the state government over its handling of the pandemic, she charged, "You must have seen even during the pandemic, the government turned against the people." Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Rakesh Tikait demands sacking of MoS Ajay Mishra, arrest of his son The Congress leader said, "It (government) became an aggressor rather than being a supporter, a facilitator and helping the public during the national crisis. Because the focus of the government is to do its PR and propaganda to enable itself to remain in power and it isn't actually to uphold democratic values and ensure the security and safety of people." On the law and order in the state, Gandhi said, "I am amazed when I see these massive posters all over bus stands and hoardings in Delhi stating that UP is number one in law and order. Working here I see a completely different picture. I actually see a complete collapse of law and order, a collapse of governance where horrendously violent incidents take place." Also Read | Farmers not involved in Lakhimpur violence, people from political parties behind it: BKS On the BJP's allegation that she visits Uttar Pradesh for political tourism, Gandhi said, "I want to ask them when a prime minister travels all around the world getting photo-ops with presidents, why is he is not called a tourist?" "When I come here and I visit the family of a rape victim or visit families of those who were shot during NRC/CAA (protests) or families of farmers who have been run over by a minister's son then I become a tourist. So, this is purely their propaganda, it is an attempt to paint me as a non-serious politician. I am sorry to tell them that they are not going to succeed because I am extremely serious about my job and my duty." Watch the latest DH Videos here: The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday denied conducting a two-finger test on an IAF lady officer, who was allegedly sexually assaulted at the IAF training academy in Coimbatore. "No two-finger test was conducted. We are well aware of the rules," Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said replying to a question on the matter. "We will take disciplinary action in the case based on the inquiry report." Last month Flight Lieutenant Amitesh Harmukh was arrested by the police for sexually assaulting a woman officer on September 10, in the college premises following a complaint from the victim, who approached the police claiming IAF authorities did not act on her complaint. Also read: Forced to withdraw complaint, subjected to banned test, alleges sexually assaulted IAF officer As Harmukh was in judicial custody, the IAF moved the court seeking his custody for further inquiry and court-martial procedure if required, observing that local police had no jurisdiction to investigate and arrest him as it is a defence matter. The woman had also alleged that she was subjected to the intrusive two-finger test at the Air Force Hospital to ascertain rape. The Supreme Court banned such tests way back in May 2013, observing that such tests violate a survivor's right to privacy. A local court in Tamil Nadu allowed the IAF to conduct a thorough probe into the case, days after the initial investigation was carried out by the police. Watch the latest DH Videos here: A 28-year-old journalist was among the eight people killed in the violence that erupted during a farmers' protest at Lakhimpur Kheri. Local journalists have demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the family of Raman Kashyap, who worked with a private TV channel. They have also demanded a job for his wife and immediate arrest of the accused in the case. Kashyap was a resident of Nighasan tehsil of the Lakhimpur Kheri district. Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra's village, Banbirpur, falls under this tehsil. Kashyap's family said he is survived by his wife and two children, a son and a daughter. The locals journalists held a dharna in Nighasan on Monday over his death in which his father, Ram Dulare, was also present. Read | UP violence reminds me of Jallianwala Bagh: Channi Dulare said that his son was covering the farmers' protest on Sunday when he was hit by a vehicle and got grievously injured. The journalist could not be traced for a while after the event and was admitted to the district hospital late on Sunday night. He succumbed to his injuries on Monday and his body was identified by his father later. Four farmers died after allegedly being knocked down by vehicles driven by BJP workers travelling to welcome Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Four others, including Kashyap, were also killed in the clashes. Two were BJP workers, Shyam Sundar and Shubham Mishra (27), and one was the Union minister's driver Hariom Mishra (35). All three hailed from Lakhimpur Kheri district. The government had announced of a compensation of Rs 45 lakh each to families of four at the venue of the farmers' agitation in the presence of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait. Watch latest videos by DH here: Maximise the use of technology to reduce physical presence of parties in all the seven district courts in the national capital and update security gadgets to alleviate security concerns, Delhi Police told the Delhi High Court in Tuesday. The police made these suggestions for enhancing security at courts, following the recent shootout that killed three people in a Rohini courtroom here, in a status report filed before the high court. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh asked other stakeholders, including the Centre, Delhi government and various bar associations to also give their suggestions so that they could be incorporated in the order. Read | HC takes suo motu cognizance of Rohini Court firing All other respondents shall file a report or affidavit on suggestions which shall be incorporated in our order for the safety of advocates and all others appearing in courts in Delhi, the bench said while listing the matter for further hearing on October 12. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre and Delhi Police, said the police has filed its suggestions on the issue. The court also issued fresh notices to various bar associations here and asked them to file their reports. The Centre was represented through central government standing counsel Ajay Digpaul. The high court had on September 30 initiated on its own a petition concerning security at courts in the national capital following the September 24 shootout at Rohini Court, saying there was a need for proper and effective deployment of a sufficient number of police personnel in courts. Delhi Police, in the status report filed through Delhi government standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi, made several suggestions including that use of technology should be maximised and physical presence of parties ought to be resorted to in extreme and compelling circumstances which will obviate security concerns to a very substantial degree. It would not be out of place to mention that with the burgeoning population and the pressure on infrastructure, sheer logistical handling of the security becomes a matter of great concern. Is the plea/ suggestion of Delhi Police that this court may pleased to sensitise the entire judicial set up to maximise the use of technology, the police said, adding that this will minimise the presence of desperate elements who are on lookout of creating trouble. Identity cards of lawyers who enter the court premises should be checked and only authorized vehicles allowed inside the premises after proper checking with security equipment, it said and sought a direction to district bar associations to urge all advocates to cooperate with security staff. Security gadgets installed in courts are outdated and they will be replaced with high resolution CCTV and monitors, 360 degree vehicle scanning with RF Tag/ bar code reader facilities, scanners for luggage and bag checking, scanners for explosive and NDPS checking, the police said. It said that following the high court directions, security audit of all the seven district courts has been conducted and it is being analysed for further course of action to revamp the existing security set up in the courts. The security of the seven district courts has been taken over by the Security Unit, which is specialised unit of Delhi Police, and necessary security arrangements and staff are being deployed accordingly, it said. As the court premises remain over-crowded due to presence of unwanted visitors, the police suggested that the purpose of their visits must be ascertained after proper verification of summons and notices issued by the concerned courts or any other document to justify their presence in the court. It further suggested installation of CCTV cameras with adequate storage capacity at vulnerable point in each district court with proper monitoring and such cameras along with concertina wires be installed on the boundary walls of courts to prevent unauthorised entry. Lawyers chambers shall not be allowed to be opened till late night and an ambulance equipped with basic medical facilities shall be stationed at every district court to handle any untoward incident, police said and also raised the issue of insufficient parking of vehicles. The bench had earlier said that there was a need for a fool-proof entry system in courts, installation of metal detectors, under vehicle surveillance system, CCTV cameras at strategic points, and proper training of police personnel as well as a regular meeting of all stakeholders. Jailed gangster Jitendra Gogi and his two assailants posing as lawyers were killed inside the Rohini courtroom on September 24 in a dramatic shootout that also saw the police fire bullets in retaliation, the officials had said. Video footage of the incident showed policemen and lawyers rushing out in panic as gunshots rang out inside courtroom number 207. The two gunmen dressed as lawyers are suspected to be members of rival Tillu gang, an official had said, adding that over 30 shots were fired. On September 24, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had expressed deep concern over the shootout inside the crowded Rohini courtroom and spoke to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice in this regard and advised him to talk to both police and the Bar to ensure that the functioning of the court is not affected. Watch latest videos by DH here: MoS Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore on Monday said that the Uttar Pradesh government was conducting a "fair investigation" into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and added that it should not be exaggerated or politicised. "The Uttar Pradesh government is conducting a fair investigation into this. The Opposition should also support us in this and no one should give provoking statements till the truth comes out. It should not be exaggerated or politicised," he told news agency ANI. Eight individuals including four farmers lost their lives in the incident that took place on Sunday. The protesting farmers have alleged that Union minister Ajay Mishra and his son were behind the deaths of the protesters. Check out latest DH videos here Delhi Police has informed a court here that the supplementary charge sheet in the Chhatrasal Stadium murder case involving Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar will be filed soon. The first charge sheet which was filed by the police on August 2 named 13 accused, including Sushil Kumar who was named as the main accused. There are a total of 17 accused in the reported murder case, as per the police. Read more: Wrestler murder case: Probe reveals victims beaten for 40 minutes by Sushil Kumar, others It is submitted by Inspector Mangesh Tyagi that supplementary charge sheet qua the remaining accused persons shall be filed soon, Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand noted in an order dated October 4. Kumar, along with others, had allegedly assaulted former junior national wrestling champion Sagar Dhankar and his friends at the stadium in May over an alleged property dispute. Dhankar later succumbed to the injuries. In the first charge sheet, the police said that the brawl at the stadium was the result of a conspiracy hatched by Sushil Kumar, who wanted to re-establish his supremacy among younger wrestlers. The police relied on the oral dying declaration of the deceased, scientific evidence including locations of the accused, CCTV footage, weapons, and vehicles recovered from the spot in the final report. Meanwhile, the Olympian has moved the court seeking bail in the case, saying that the police built a false case and presented a "guilty image" of him. The international wrestler is in jail since June 2, 2021. Delhi Police had filed an FIR against the accused of offences such as murder, attempt to murder, culpable homicide, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, robbery, rioting, among others. Check out the latest DH videos: Elections to rural local bodies in nine districts in Tamil Nadu scheduled for October 6 and 9 will test the popularity of the new DMK government led by Chief Minister M K Stalin which assumed office five months ago. While the electoral contest is likely to be a triangular contest between DMK, AIADMK, and PMK in seven districts in northern Tamil Nadu, it is a bipolar contest between the two Dravidian majors in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi district. In the first phase of elections to be held on October 6, as many as 41.93 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to elect 78 district councillors, 755 union councillors, 1,577 village panchayat chiefs, and 12,252 panchayat ward members. In the second phase on October 9, 34.65 lakh voters will get to elect 62 district councillors, 626 union councillors, 1,324 village panchayat chiefs, and 10,329 panchayat ward members. The elections are being held in Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Ranipet, Vellore, Tiruppattur, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi. While the counting of votes polled in two phases will be taken up on October 12, indirect elections to 3,067 posts will be held on October 22. Also Read | CM Stalin to chair meeting in village that once shunned Dalit representatives While the DMK is fighting the elections with its alliance intact, cracks appeared in the AIADMK front with an influential ally, PMK, walking out to contest alone. PMK facing the polls alone in northern districts where it wields significant influence among Vanniyars is likely to affect AIADMKs prospects. Ruling DMK is upbeat about its performance as it flaunts the achievements of its five-month rule, while the AIADMK is burning the midnight oil to register a win in the elections as its campaign is centred around the failures of the incumbent dispensation. Though Chief Minister M K Stalin has not campaigned for the party in the local body elections, political observers say his tour to various parts of the state in the past two weeks served as an indirect campaign for the party. Second-rung leaders and senior ministers are, however, busy campaigning for the rural local body elections. Besides the inherent advantage that a ruling party possesses in local body polls, political analysts say, the performance of the DMK government will also help the party win maximum seats that go to polls. On their part, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami are addressing party meetings in the districts that are going to the polls. The AIADMK accuses DMK of going back on its poll promises like doing away with NEET and reducing the price of diesel and asks people not to vote for the ruling combine. However, the dual leadership in AIADMK and PMK walking out of the alliance may make things tough for the party. The election will test the popularity of Stalin and there is no doubt about it. The AIADMK is under extreme pressure to prove that its vote bank is intact, but one should remember the DMK alliance won maximum assembly seats in the districts where the elections are held, a political analyst told DH. Check out the latest DH videos here: A delegation of TMC MPs on Tuesday met families of farmers killed in the Lakhimpur violence, claiming that they dodged policemen by posing as tourists. The TMC delegation comprised MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sushmita Dev, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Pratima Mondal and Dola Sen. While on their way, the UP Police tried to stop them, the TMC leaders claimed in a statement. They posed as tourists on being stopped by police, claimed the MPs of the Mamata Banerjee-led party. Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Priyanka Gandhi says arrested without notice or order Dola Sen said they were trying to reach Lakhimpur Kheri since Sunday and they could reach there two days later. Dastidar and Dev went to Palia tehsil of the district to meet the kin of Lavpreet Singh (19) while others travelled to Dhaurahra tehsil to meet relatives of Nachatar Singh. Both were cremated during the day at their native places. Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who recently switched over to the TMC from the Congress, said, "Heartbreaking to meet the family of the young farmer who was crushed to death in Lakhimpur Kheri." Heart breaking to meet the family of the young farmer who was crushed to death in #LakhimpurKheri @MamataOfficial stands with the farmers to repeal the black laws & stop these brutal injustices. She fought in Singur & she assured to continue fighting for farmers of India. pic.twitter.com/x16COBdE8J Sushmita Dev (@SushmitaDevAITC) October 5, 2021 "AITC chairperson Mamata Banerjee stands with the farmers to repeal the black laws and stop these brutal injustices. She fought in Singur and assured to continue fighting for farmers of India," the MP added. Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, "The accused is the son of a politician but he has killed someone and he must be penalised. India is a democratic country but democracy is missing for the last few years." "The BJP is ruling like an autocratic government. They are putting everyone behind the bars except the accused and killing whosoever they want. PM Modi is in Lucknow, why didn't he visit Lakhimpur-Kheri," Dastidar said. Check out latest videos from DH: Union Transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said he was planning to bring a law under which only the sound of Indian musical instruments can be used as a horn for vehicles. Speaking at a highway inauguration ceremony here, Gadkari said he was also studying the sirens used by ambulances and police vehicles and replace them with a more pleasant tune played on the All India Radio. Gadkari said he will put an end to red beacons. Now I want to put an end to these sirens as well. Now I am studying the sirens (used by) ambulances and police. An artist composed a tune of Akashwani (All Indian Radio) and it was played early in the morning. I am thinking of using that tune for ambulances so that people feel pleasant. It is so irritating, especially after ministers pass by, the sirens are used at full volume. This also harms the ears. I am studying this and soon planning to make a law that the horns of all vehicles should be in Indian musical instruments so that it is pleasant to hear. Flute, tabla, violin, mouth organ, harmonium, Gadkari said. Also Read | NHAI developing EV charging infrastructure along highways: Nitin Gadkari The Union minister said the new Mumbai-Delhi highway worth Rs 1 lakh crore is already under construction, but it goes through Bhiwandi and reaches the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust the periphery of Mumbai. Gadkari said the ministry is already building a highway on the Vasai creek. He said as the then PWD minister of Maharashtra, he could not link Bandra-Worli to Vasai-Virar. I plan to build a bridge in the sea and link it to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and then it should take 12 hours (to cover the distance between) Nariman Point to Delhi. This will decongest the Western Express Highway, Gadkari said. He said 5 lakh accidents take place in India every year claiming the lives of 1.5 lakh people and lakhs are injured. We lose 3 per cent of our GDP due to accidents, he added. Accidents on the Mumbai-Pune highway have come down by 50 per cent. Tamil Nadu government has brought down accidents and deaths by 50 per cent, but in Maharashtra, similar success could not be achieved, he said. Maharashtra has a high rate of people dying due to accidents, the Union minister said. Gadkari also said he had made six airbags compulsory for vehicles. Speaking at a foundation stone laying programme, Gadkari said the present four-lane Nashik-Mumbai highway will be made of six lanes soon at an estimated cost of around Rs 5,000 crore. Gadkari dedicated to the nation various national highway projects in Nashik. The demands for six-laning of the Mumbai-Nashik highway and a three-tier flyover from Sarda Circle to Nashikroad were made by Nashik district guardian minister Chhagan Bhujbal. A double-decker two-lane flyover on Dwarka-Nashikroad stretch of the Nashik-Pune highway worth Rs 1,600 crore has been sanctioned. Nashik Metro will go from above this flyover. This project will provide a big relief to people travelling towards Pune. This flyover will solve the traffic congestion problem in the Dwarka area in Nashik city," Gadkari said. He said the ground-breaking ceremony for the proposed 5.9-km flyover will be performed in the next six months and the project will be completed in two years. "Surat-Solapur highway via Nashik will also boost development. Not a single assurance given by me will prove a lie, Gadkari added. Nashik's climate is very nice and the environment here is still good. Now, development is ongoing in the city but the environment should be preserved while achieving this development, he added. Check out latest DH videos here Strongly hitting out at Pakistan for again raking up the Kashmir issue at the UN, India has said a constructive contribution cannot be expected from a country that has an established practice of hosting terrorists and is the "epicentre" of global terrorism, and the biggest destabilising force in the world. Counsellor in Indias Permanent Mission to the UN, A Amarnath, said on Monday that India does not need advice from a nation with a proven track record of illicit export of nuclear material and technology. Pakistans desperate attempts to peddle falsehoods and habit of abusing the sanctity of multilateral forums deserves our collective contempt, he said. Also read: Arms consignment dropped by Pakistan drone recovered in Jammu Pakistan has made a number of futile and unsubstantiated allegations against India, including in relation to the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. These do not merit a response, as they pertain to matters internal to India, Amarnath said. India exercised its Right of Reply after Pakistans envoy to the UN Munir Akram raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir during the meeting of the General Assemblys First Committee that deals with disarmament and international security issues. Amarnath reiterated that the entire union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. This includes the areas that are under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. We call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation, he said in the Right of Reply. Given its established State practice of hosting, aiding, and actively supporting terrorists, how could one expect any constructive contribution from Pakistan to the First Committee, that deals with important matters of international peace and security, Amarnath said. With the Pakistani envoy also referring to Indias defence arsenal, New Delhi hit back saying that as a responsible State, India strictly abides by its obligations under international treaties and needs no advice from a country, which has a proven track record of illicit export of nuclear material and technology. Indias security concerns are not confined to a region and, therefore, India has always approached these issues in a global context, he said. He said that in contrast to Indias constructive approach on disarmament matters, Pakistan has only been disruptive. Amarnath said it is 25 years now that the world is paying the price of Pakistans obstructionist tactics in the CD (Conference on Disarmament) that have not allowed the conference to adopt a Programme of Work. Pakistan has the dubious distinction of having single handedly blocked the negotiations on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), including in 2009, when the Conference on Disarmament adopted a consensus Programme of Work, he said. Having joined the consensus on the Programme of Work, Pakistan revealed its true character by soon taking a complete U-turn and blocking any work by the CD, Amarnath said. Pakistan, as the epicenter of global terrorism, is the biggest destabilising force in the world and has repeatedly indulged in cross-border terrorism, Amarnath said. They have no regard for UN principles. While Pakistans Permanent Representative speaks about peace and security here, his Prime Minister glorifies global terrorists like Osama bin Ladin as martyrs. What more could be a better proof of the utter duplicity that this country is infamous for? he asked. Amarnath asserted that the General Assemblys First Committee is not the forum to address bilateral or regional issues as it has a vast agenda dealing with global issues relating to disarmament and international security. We wish to reiterate that regional security issues have no place in the First Committees considerations, he said. He said the Committee should not only categorically reject Pakistan's nefarious and vicious designs but collectively condemn Pakistan for its repeated efforts to politicise its work and hijack its mandate. Amarnath said in the Right of Reply that India expects nothing new from Pakistan that harbours a deep sense of insecurity and orchestrated hatred for India and our secular credentials and the values that my country stands for. However, despite its hopeless efforts, the world is able to see through its deceit and double-speak. It is time to hold Pakistan to account and not let them abuse UN platforms for spreading disinformation, hate and incite violence, he said. Amarnath said Pakistans baseless accusations against India are "indeed rich, coming from a nation that is encouraging sectarian violence against Muslims and suppresses the rights of minorities. Going by its past practice and compulsive obsession with India, Pakistan may exercise its Right of Reply and continue its malicious false propaganda against my country. But I shall refrain from responding to it, out of respect for the work of the First Committee, he said. Check out latest DH videos here: The National Rare Diseases Policy announced by the government is a step forward in an area that called for much attention from both government and society. It addresses a number of issues and challenges faced by patients of rare diseases and their families and caregivers, but it also has scope for improvement. Rare diseases present unique problems which are not seen in the treatment of common and conventional diseases. There are over 7,000 classified rare diseases in India but less than 5% of them have known and accepted therapies. Even their definitions vary across counties, but it is estimated that 6 out of 10,000 people suffer from some rare disease or another. There is no data about their prevalence in India and so only some known diseases are classified as rare. Most of them are genetic and so treatment is difficult, and even when it is available, it is very costly and beyond the reach of most families. The policy has recommended the enhancement of government support for the treatment of a rare disease from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The diseases are classified into three groups and there are conditions attached to the treatment. The government would also set up centres of excellence for treatment and create and upgrade infrastructure for screening, testing and treatment. But there are complaints about every aspect of the policy, including funding and financial support, eligibility for treatment, identification of diseases whose treatment would get support and the various conditions and procedures that need to be followed. While the treatment costs should be shared between the Centre and the states, the performance of the states has been uneven. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been more supportive and generous in this regard. Organisation for Rare Diseases, an umbrella body representing many organisations in the field, has made many suggestions to improve the policy. The new policy has occasioned discussions and consultations on rare diseases and issues connected with them. They should lead to greater awareness and the opening of more avenues to help those who are afflicted with such diseases. The policy does not cover all rare diseases, and insurance is not available for most of them. Most diseases need treatment for the long term and sometimes life-long treatment. Private companies are not interested in doing research on such diseases and in developing medicines because there will not be a large market for the medicines. For governments, public health issues that concern large numbers of people are more important. The pandemic has pushed even common diseases into the background. But there is much more that governments can do to facilitate and fund treatment of rare diseases and to bring down the cost of treatment. On June 6, 2017, police opened fire on protesting farmers in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, killing six farmers. The incident triggered nationwide protests lasting over a year and a half. Farm distress - issues of negligible increase in minimum support price, collapsing farm prices and poor procurement - found articulation in the protests. The protests significantly contributed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) losing its governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the Assembly polls of December 2018. Of the 424 rural seats in these three states, the BJP could win only 153 in 2018, a sharp drop from the 294 it bagged in the 2013 edition of the Assembly polls. Thousands of farmers marched to Parliament in November 2018. Images of 40,000 marginal farmers on a 180-km Mumbai to Nashik "Kisan long march", many barefoot, on February 21-21, 2019, caught the country's imagination. Farm distress was expected to remain the predominant political narrative in the months leading up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But the Modi government moved swiftly. In the Union Budget that year, a nervous Narendra Modi government hiked the agriculture ministry's allocation by 78 per cent. It also proposed PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, with the objective to annually provide Rs 6,000 each to 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri incident and BJP's election prospects While the government proposal assuaged farmers, the national mood changed with the Pulwama terror incident in mid-February and the Balakot airstrikes on February 26. The BJP comfortably won a handsome majority in the Lok Sabha polls, with overwhelming dominance in the states that had seen the most strident farm protests. According to a Lokniti-CSDS post-poll survey, 68 per cent farmers in the country said they were satisfied with the performance of the Modi government. The survey findings suggested the Centre's PM Kisan scheme helped dissipate farmers' anger, many of whom received its Rs 2000 first instalment in their bank accounts before the polling day. The survey also found that 42 per cent of farmers who had heard of India's airstrikes in Balakot voted for the BJP, and only 17 per cent voted for the Congress party. Interestingly, of those who had not heard of the airstrikes, 31 per cent voted for the BJP while 28 per cent for the Congress. The story of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, if not for the BJP heeding the warning bells of Mandsaur and the Assembly poll results, could have been different. Therefore, the recent past has lessons both for the BJP and the opposition. If Mandsaur 2017 triggered farm protests, the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, where eight including four farmers were killed in violence during a protest on Sunday, could further consolidate the ongoing farm protests. It could mar Yogi Adityanath's plans to retain power by winning the Assembly polls four months away. Adityanath, fighting a battle of his own within his party, has been quick to ensure a compromise is struck with the farmers. The state government has committed Rs 50 lakh compensation to families of the victims, promised government jobs to one family member of those killed, ordered a probe, and asked the police to book Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish. On September 26, the Adityanath government hiked sugarcane purchase price by Rs 25 per quintal. However, his government's record is quite abysmal as this was the first such increase in four years. The state government will need to do much more to mollify irate farmers of western UP. The BJP governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan couldn't respond suitably to the Mandsaur incident of 2017. Its chief ministers - Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje - lost their respective governments. However, Chouhan returned through some backdoor manoeuvring a year and a half later. We shall soon know if the Modi government at the Centre will move as swiftly as it did in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to prevent the Lakhimpur Kheri incident from becoming a rallying cry for the farmers and just as the Mandsaur incident did in 2017-18. Check out latest DH videos here Long chargesheets filled with incredulous claims by investigative agencies to target people the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds inconvenient have become the order of the day. Such is the proliferation of such chargesheets that they threaten to kill the usual element of surprise when confronted by them. Yet surprise is what overwhelms one reading some of the allegations in the 5000-page chargesheet of the UP Special Task Force (STF) against Delhi-based journalist Siddique Kappan. On his way to report on the alleged gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras, Kappan was arrested by the UP police a year ago. In line with current norms of persecution, the police have charged Kappan with sedition. In the chargesheet, which includes a case diary note, parts of which have been published by The Indian Express, the investigator accuses Kappan of not functioning like a "responsible" journalist in writing reports "only and only" to "incite Muslims." It has underlined extracts from some 36-odd articles he wrote for a Malayalam media organisation on a range of topics, including the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, the violence in Northeast Delhi 2020, the sedition charge against the jailed Sharjeel Imam, and the Nizamuddin Markaz assembly after the outbreak of Covid-19. Also read: SC directs Uttar Pradesh government to shift Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan to AIIMS Picking on one of the articles written during the anti-CAA protests in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), the note charges the journalist with portraying Muslims as "victims" who were "beaten up by the police and asked to go to Pakistan." "It is evident from the writing that it has been done to incite Muslims," concludes the note. It further says, "These writings of Siddique Kappan, to a great extent, can be classified as communal. During riots, taking the name of a minority and talking about events related to them can incite sentiments. Responsible journalists do not do such communal reporting. Kappan only and only reports to incite Muslims, which is a hidden agenda of PFI (Popular Front of India). Some stories were written to sympathise with Maoists and Communists." This is, of course, nothing short of outright intimidation of journalists for what they write. It's a warning to journalists to stick to the straight and narrow, as the BJP sees fit. That independent journalism poses a threat to the ruling dispensationwhether at the Centre or in the statesis an open secret by now. Equally well known is the pliability of investigative agencies and the police force. In fact, the deep corrosion in every institution, and the criminalisation of those in charge of maintaining some semblance of the legal order, has deepened alarmingly in recent years. The compliance and subservience of corporate media, their silence and failure to speak upfirmly and clearlyin support of their own independence have aided and abetted this emerging culture of bullying and arm-twisting. If reporting on communal tension and violence, the systematic stigmatisation of Muslims, persecution of dissidents, criminalisation of politics is "irresponsible," then the very definition of journalism will have to change. Regrettably, that process is well underway. It is fitting that in these post-truth times, it is not the ones responsible for communalism, persecution, and violence who are held to account, but those reporting on these matters. The STF note seems to blame Kappan for writing about the anxieties of the Muslim community. This especially at a time they faced, and continue to face, dual spectres in the form of the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The truth is, Kappan was only doing what he was supposed to do: his job. Few would dispute that minority communities across the world today have their backs to the wall. Negotiating cruel twists of fate as a minority (caste, colour, religion, gender or any other kind) has never been easy. But in recent years, the assault has become more pronounced and aired in public. Also read: Mother of jailed scribe Siddique Kappan no more In his new book, The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State, investigative journalist Josy Joseph writes about the chequered narrative of the subversion of state-sponsored security agencies. The process of corrupting such agenciesmaking them do the bidding of the ruling dispensations of the daywas well underway even before the Modi government came to power. But over the past seven years, that process of corrosion has accelerated and deepened, turning these agencies more than even into instruments weaponised by the party in power. In an interview with Scroll.in, Joseph says, "The cops are not just trigger-happy. That's only one part of the narrative. What we need to understand is that the cops are actually acting out a script that their political masters are writing out." He adds that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has been flaunting and celebrating encounters and that a large number of people believe the state has been able to get a grip over the law and order situation: "You believe that until they come for you, and your neighbour. It may look all peaceful, but the fact is that the police is executing a political narrative, which is largely encouraged by their own communal politics and a false sense of bravado." The cases of Siddique Kappan, and that of more than a dozen jailed political prisoners charged with equally overblown allegations, and of activists held under the excess of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for their alleged role in the violence in Northeast Delhi, are bound by a common thread. The outlandish chargesheets routinely filed against "inconvenient" citizens are testimony to the sorry state of institutions ostensibly created to support democratic norms but that now train their sights on those holding democracy to account. (Monobina Gupta is the author of 'Left Politics in Bengal' and 'Didi: A Political Biography'.) Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the authors' own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH. Shivamogga police nabbed two persons for posing themselves as official personal assistants to Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and duping two people of Rs 37 lakh. According to police, one person claiming himself as personal assistant to Eshwarappa promised a civil engineer from Mysuru that he would get a loan of Rs 100 crore sanctioned in his name for his villa project after collecting Rs 10 lakh from him in the name of the minister. The other person also collected Rs 26.25 lakh from a resident of Sagar taluk after promising that he would get 106 potable water plants sanctioned to him in Bengaluru so that he can earn lakhs of rupees per month. The arrested have been identified as Vittal Rao and Kajivalis, residents of Shivamogga. When both of them asked the conmen to return the money collected from them, they threatened them. Following two separate complaints by victims, police initiated the probe and nabbed the two persons. Check out latest videos from DH: KPCC president D K Shivakumar has accused the Uttar Pradesh police and the government of snatching away the rights of the citizens to protest. He condemned the police high handedness meted out to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi who was detained on her way towards Lakhimpur to console the families of farmers who were killed. He was reacting to media persons after arriving at the Mangalore International Airport before leaving for Sullia, to appear before a local court in a case pertaining to the arrest of a man, when he was the energy minister. Also Read | UP conducting fair investigation into Lakhimpur incident, don't politicise it: Minister The male police have allegedly manhandled her (Priyanka Gandhi). It is an insult to Indian culture and democracy, he said. Whether there is any government in the country? Where is the law? What was the crime of Priyanka Gandhi? he sought to know. Everyone has the right to protest. However, the government is trying to suppress the right. Even after several months of peaceful protest by the farmers, the Prime Minister has failed to listen to their woes, he said. Court case The court in Sullia had issued a warrant against the KPCC president for failing to appear even after serving summons several times in a case related to a man, who was jailed for harassing the latter over disruption in the power supply when Shivakumar was state energy minister. Also Read | |Lakhimpur violence: Priyanka says kept in detention for last 28 hours without order, FIR As energy minister, Shivakumar had received a call from Sai Giridhar from Bellare. Sai Giridhar had allegedly abused him. Later, the police arrested Giridhar on February 28, 2016. A case was filed against Sai Giridhar in Sullia. During the hearing, Shivakumar failed to appear before the court. Following this, the judge issued a warrant. I have come here bowing my head before the court and attending the hearing, he said. After attending the court hearing, he is likely to visit Kukke Sri Subrahmanya Temple before leaving for Bengaluru. Watch the latest DH Videos here: The welcome arch at Mallikarjuna Colony in Garaganduru A ward near Suntikoppa was inaugurated by Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan recently. The MLA also inaugurated a new concrete road in the colony, built at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. Haraduru Gram Panchayat president B D Padmanabha, secretary Navya, members Subbaiah, Usha, Ramesh, Bojamma, Abdul Salam, Kusuma, Mustafa and Suntikoppa PDO Venugopal were present. Situation turns tense Soon after the inauguration of the welcome arch of Mallikarjuna Colony, a local resident, Niyaz, opposed the name colony and urged authorities to rename it as Nagara. The arch should be painted in white colour instead of yellow, he said. The incident resulted in a clash between two groups. A Hindu youth was assaulted when he was returning after the programme. A complaint in this connection was registered in Suntikoppa police station. Later, both the parties were summoned to the police station and in the presence of leaders of both communities, the youth were told to maintain peace and order. Stone pelting allegation Some miscreants have been alleged of trying to assault a Hindu leader when he was returning from Chamundeshwari Temple in Mallikarjuna Colony. According to a complaint, the miscreants blocked the car of the leader by placing wooden pieces in front of the vehicle and tried to assault him. Also, stones were pelted at a car belonging to a Hindu leader from Madapura. A heated debate took place between the police and the leaders of Hindu outfits when the latter urged them to arrest the miscreants. A case has been registered in the Suntikoppa police station. CPI Mahesh said that complaints have been received from both parties. Legal action will be initiated after an investigation, he added. Demanding the resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Misra and UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya over Lakhimpur violence, KPCC president D K Shivakumar lashed out at the BJP over the incident, here on Monday. Addressing a news conference, he condemned the police high handedness meted to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi who was detained on her way towards Lakhimpur. Those who promised to turn India into a Rama Rajya has turned it into Ravana Rajya today, he said, lashing out at BJP governments in the Centre and Uttar Pradesh. This is not just the murder of four people. It is the murder of the entire agrarian community of the country. It is the murder of democracy, Shivakumar said. Also Read | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: 'Killing Raj' going on in UP, not 'Ram Rajya', claims Mamata Banerjee We are witnessing the death of democracy in the country. This is autocracy. Such incidents are proof that the country is ruled by a government with Hitler mentality, he said. Which country are we in? Where is the law? Why was she (Priyanka) stopped from consoling the families of victims? What was her crime? The UP CM should answer, he demanded. The BJP government, he said, was worse than the British. At least, they respected non-violent struggle. Today, the situation is so bad that voters have to revolt against an elected government. Farmers, especially those from North India, have risen up against the government. The arrest of Priyanka Gandhi is condemnable. The entire country and Congress party are behind her, he said. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, in a series of tweets, also condemned the incident. BJP and its state units have turned the entire country into Goonda Raj. There is no space to question the wrongs done by them. What did those innocent farmers do that they had to be run over? Is questioning the autocracy of Narendra Modi wrong? he said. Check out latest DH videos here Released: October 5, 2021 Finalizing Preparations for Tuesday, November 2 Delaware County Elections is finalizing preparations for the upcoming 2021 Municipal Election scheduled for Tuesday, November 2. Important dates, deadlines and resources for candidates, campaigns, poll workers and voters have been updated on the Delco Votes! website at delcopa.gov/vote. The November 2021 Municipal Election includes a large number of impactful judicial, county, municipal and other local contests, including Mayors, Constables, Auditors, Tax Collectors, Commissioners, Borough and County Council members, School Directors from several School Districts, Election Board members, and several judicial retention questions. Voters in the PA House of Representatives 164th District will also cast their vote as part of a concurrent Special Election that will determine their future State Representative. The deadline to register to vote for the first timeor file a name or address updateis Monday, October 18. The deadline for voters to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Tuesday, October 26. Election Day itself is Tuesday, November 2, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The last day for the County to receive Military and Overseas Absentee Ballots is Tuesday, November 9. COVID-19 Precautions Delaware County Elections will again equip poll workers and polling places so that voters may participate safely. Each polling location will receive PPE, including masks, gloves, single-use pens, and sanitation kits. Poll workers will be required to wear masks to protect voters and other poll workers. All voters who choose to vote in-person are encouraged to wear face masks and practice social distancing in their polling place. Two Ballots Delaware County voters will encounter something new this election cycle: two separate paper ballots. Under the state Constitution, judicial retention questions must be listed on a separate ballot. The ballots will be marked with a large A in the upper right corner for state and local contests, and B in the upper right corner for judicial-retention questions. Precincts will receive the ballots in A/B order and will instruct voters on how to feed the A and B ballots into the scanner, one at a time. Voter Service Center Delaware County Elections maintains a year-round Voter Service Center at the Government Center Building at 201 W. Front St. in Media. Hours of operations are: Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 2: 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Note: The Media Voter Service Center will have limited evening and Saturdays closer to Election Day. Services include: Voter registration for new voters and those who need to file an address or name change; mail-in and absentee ballots applications and on-site processing; 3rd party ballot-return applications, polling place confirmation, vote-by-mail status verification, replacement ballots for voters who did not receive their ballot, lost their ballot, mismarked their ballot, or received a damaged ballot; and answers to election-related questions. Registered voters who have not yet applied for their vote-by-mail ballot can visit our Voter Service Center in-person and request, receive, complete, and return a vote-by-mail ballot in a single trip. Vote-by-Mail Ballots With one month to go before the 2021 Municipal Election, Delaware County Elections is now set to mail more than 30,000 requested vote-by-mail ballots to voters. Delivery of vote-by-mail ballots is expected by no later than October 15. Our Ballot Drop Boxes will be operational and accepting vote-by-mail ballots shortly after ballots are mailed out to voters. Vote-by-Mail ballots are sent only to those voters who completed an application to vote-by-mail during the 2021 calendar year. Voters who voted in the 2020 General Election will not automatically receive a vote-by-mail ballot for this election. Voters who have not yet applied and who want to vote by mail must apply (online, by mail, or in-person) so that the application is received by 5 p.m. on October 26. Once a vote-by-mail ballot has been received, voters may return their completed vote-by-mail ballot envelope at any of 40-plus secured Delaware County ballot drop boxes, in-person at the Voter Service Center, or through the mail. Mailed ballots are postage paid for those returning the envelope through the USPS. As a reminder, the return of a ballot by anyone other than the voter is prohibited unless the person returning the ballot is rendering assistance to a disabled voter or an emergency absentee voter and completes the necessary affidavit. Voters with questions about voter registration, vote-by-mail ballots, the locations of ballot drop boxes, election security, and other election issues may contact the Election Hotline by phone at (610) 891-VOTE or by email at DelcoElection@co.delaware.pa.us or visit the Delco Votes! website at delcopa.gov/vote. The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District joined with First Citizens across Ireland taking part in the annual 'Celebration of Learning Day' as part of the Irish Network of Learning Cities. This network is a joint initiative with four other cities Belfast, Cork, Dublin and Limerick and in 2019 the Lord Mayors of each city signed a formal agreement to work together providing mutual support to help deliver on the vision of a learning city for all citizens. The aim of the Irish Network of Learning Cities is to ensure a shared dedication to strengthening friendly relations and enhancing cooperation between the peoples of the cities and city regions. Alderman Graham Warke said the network held many benefits for people living here in terms of both the economy and general health and wellbeing. At the heart of a vision of a learning city is the commitment to use learning to improve the lives of all citizens, regardless of age or background, and I am delighted that Derry City and Strabane District Council is part of this vision. Being part of this network strengthens and enhances our City and District and enables us to grow and prosper. By collectively working with the other four cities we can celebrate learning, highlight what's on offer across the cities and city regions and celebrate our achievements. It is widely recognised that learning throughout all stages of life contributes positively to health and wellbeing as well as to employment and skills- ultimately building a stronger society for the future of Derry and Strabane. Derry and Strabane Learning City was awarded UNESCO status in 2019, joining a network of over 200 cities around the world committed to using learning to improve the lives of their citizens by sharing good practice, creative solutions and ideas in addressing key concerns that impact society. There will be those, especially within Derry, who will come to the conclusion that Burke hasn't told them what they already know about General Frank Kitson and the counter-insurgency plans that spiralled into the massacre of Bloody Sunday. However, this book will serve as an important reference point for those who have yet to be told how the plans of one General culminated in one of the most shameful of chapters in British military history. You only have to go on social media and type in Soldier F one of the paratroopers involved at Bloody Sunday to see how those across the Irish Sea viewed The Troubles. A cursory glance shows, at best, ignorance of how the forces acting in their name shamefully conducted themselves on Derry's streets that day. Which is why Burke's book is so important more so for readers in Britain who have been deprived of the full picture given the low-level of importance of their own nation's role in Ireland that is given to history classes in schools across the water. Burke describes the mindset that had been allowed to take root and fester within the British armed forces on foreign lands that they thought were 'theirs by right'. The black-ops employed in Malaya, Aden and Kenya were those used by Kitson and his staff before they set foot in the north of Ireland. Kitson believed the same counter-insurgency techniques could work here but only served, as Burke describes, in becoming an effective recruiter for the very enemy they were fighting the IRA. The build-up to Bloody Sunday is revealing and shocking at the same time. Reliable 'informers' such as the infamous Observer B turned out to be unreliable sadly, such poor intelligence was believed. Given recent events, Soldier F, is a name that's become synonymous with the Bloody Sunday massacre. Burke reveals that Soldier F's day did not stop with the killings that took place that fateful afternoon as he later took part in the interrogations of those rounded-up that day, with allegations of rough treatment being dealt out by Soldier F towards those being questioned. Kitson was transferred out of Ireland to another post not long after Bloody Sunday and has never been held accountable for his actions while here. Burke's book exposes what those in Whitehall would prefer to keep quiet about Kitson and his staff's conduct in the north of Ireland. While loud voices grow louder in Westminster's corridors trying to drown out any calls for British military accountability during The Troubles, Burke's book ensures that those in Derry and the north of Ireland who suffered from State violence, continue to be heard. Bloody Sunday whistleblower lucky to escape with warning In a extract from David Burke's book, "Kitson's Irish War", a former paratrooper who was to testify at the Saville Inquiry was paid an unwelcome visit... There were other victims of Bloody Sunday, people who were beaten up by the paratroopers. While the shooting was taking place, the people who had been on the march fled in a variety of directions. One of them, James Doherty, ran towards the car park of the flat complex but fell. As he tried to get back to his feet, a paratrooper struck him on the back of his head with the baton, while another kicked him in the back, arms and head. He lost consciousness for a short while from the blows. When he regained consciousness, he realised he was being: ...dragged by the hair, and by the coat by these two soldiers. Each time I tried to get to my feet, I was kicked as they shouted, Come on, you pig, it is the paratroopers you are dealing with now. I was dragged into a Saracen there were five soldiers there as well as the two who brought me in. They kept shouting, Just you wait, you pig, were going to kick you to death. They kept striking me with batons and mouthing obscene remarks. Another man, about my age, was dragged in with his face covered with blood. A soldier kept hitting him across the face, butting him with his helmet and bruising and cutting his mouth and nose. I saw through the open door a line of teenagers and men all prisoners of soldiers go past, with their hands on their heads. Fr Terence OKeeffe, a local parish priest, was one of those swept up by the Paras in the chaos. Like the other prisoners, he was put onto a lorry and taken to Fort George, a fourteen-acre military base on the banks of the River Foyle, where he was forced to stand in various stress positions. Some of the prisoners were made to hold barbed wire. The room was cold with a floor of exposed concrete. Their ordeal lasted for three hours. The stress positions they were forced to adopt were rotated with one short five-minute break for a cup of tea. Fr OKeeffe was made to stand for an excessive amount of time with his arms above his head, which he found extremely difficult because his left arm had been battered so badly he had sustained radial nerve damage. At approximately 8 oclock, a British officer arrived and issued orders that the prisoners were to be seated on chairs and electric heaters were to be provided. This was only a temporary respite. 1 Para had returned to its temporary base at Drumahoe after the shootings. Soldiers E, F, G, J, O, and U were brought to Fort George at about 9.30 to identify alleged rioters so the RUC could charge them. Soldier F seized the opportunity to assault the prisoners. According to OKeeffe: About 12 to 15 Paras came into the room and chose three or four apiece. I was not chosen at this time. Along with six others I remained on the chairs. During approximately 1 to 1 and a half hours, I witnessed many acts of brutality committed on the prisoners. The Paras kicked shins, stamped on feet, kneed groins, and struck the prisoners with fists. In one incident one youth of about 15 was severely struck twice by a paratrooper. I could not see whether it was with his fist or his knee but the youth was struck both times in the groin. He fell backwards and struck his head on the concrete. He was kicked on the ground and then hauled to his feet. He was unable to stand and had to be propped against the wall. Two youths were forced to put their heads back in an unnaturally strange position to bring their faces close to the electric heater which were overhead heaters on stands. The smaller youth was forced to stand on the larger youths feet to bring his face closer. They had to keep this position for 20 minutes to half an hour. During this time one paratrooper asked the young fellow whether he wanted a drink. When he said yes, he was ordered to open his mouth and a paratrooper spat into it. Eventually another paratrooper arrived to identify the seven or so of us who were still sitting on chairs. We were then brought up to the wall also and Lance Corporal F [Soldier F] kneed me several times in the groin when accusing me of throwing stones. We were photographed and Lance Corporal F made a statement accusing me of throwing stones. I was then brought into another room where the RUC were interviewing the prisoners. Fr OKeeffe was not released until 11.40 p.m. Once the bullets stopped flying, the lying began with (Col) Wilford in the vanguard of a ham-fisted attempt to twist the truth. Bloody Sunday whistleblower lucky to escape with warning In a extract from David Burke's book, "Kitson's Irish War", a former paratrooper who was to testify at the Saville Inquiry was paid an unwelcome visit... The briefing and orders (Col) Wilford gave to his officers, on Saturday 29 January, trickled down to the troops of Support Company during the rest of the day and night. One of the recipients was Byron Lewis, a radio operator with Support Company. He appeared at the Saville Inquiry under the designation, Soldier 027. By 1975, he had left the army. That same year he had put pen to paper resulting in an un- varnished account of what had really happened on Bloody Sunday. It did not surface until 1997 when Tom McGurk in The Sunday Business Post in Dublin published an account of it. It was the first substantial piece of new evidence to have emerged since the Widgery Report and was pivotal in the establishment of the Saville Inquiry. The ex-para network became aware of Lewis account after McGurks article appeared. Back in 1975, Lewis had given his manuscript to an American writer called Sean Patrick McShane who was writing a book on Northern Ireland. The document was never used but was passed to others and made its way to McGurk. The journalist tried to trace Lewis but without success. In the Sunday Business Post article, McGurk referred to Lewis as Para A. An indication that Lewis was telling the truth can be gauged from the fact that his former colleagues realised he was the source of the information from the details outlined in McGurks article. How could this have been otherwise if he was concocting a yarn? In January 1998, a group of men acting on behalf of Lewis former colleagues found out where he was living and beat up a man who was sharing the address with him. The assault took place on the 13 January. Lewis was lucky to escape with only a warning. The Saville Inquiry was told about it the following day and made a note about the incident which read as follows: ...he has had to move out of his home. Last night 2 men attacked the person he has been sharing a bungalow with while he was outside the house in his car. First they attacked the car, then they dragged him [the other man living at the bungalow] out of the car and beat him up. They then threw him through the front door and dragged [redacted but undoubtedly Lewis] outside. They offered him a block of concrete and said, Thats your one chance. Give it your best shot, because afterwards were going to kill you'. They mentioned Bloody Sunday, blood money, the SAS, that friends of theirs had been killed, and people who dealt with the media. They were very violent and it was not possible to reason with them. [Lewis] did not resist them, was compliant, and they did not in fact harm him. His friend is in hospital and is seriously hurt. The assailants knew who [redacted but clearly Lewis] was but did not appear to be very well-informed about Bloody Sunday or his activities He did not know them. He was also branded a traitor on an ex-paratrooper website. Lewis went on to testify at the Saville Inquiry. He has rarely been given credit for his courage. McGurk, however, described him as the brave man, he undoubtedly was. He was eventually admitted to a witness protection scheme and his present whereabouts are unknown. His earliest account a statement for Widgery in 1972 can be dismissed for what it was: a tissue of lies concocted for him to sign by manipulative Widgery Tribunal officials determined to cover-up the fact the paratroopers had shot at unarmed civilians. Many elements of Lewis 1975 account rang perfectly true: 1 Para was expecting trouble from the IRA. Michael Jackson the adjunct to Col Wilford who rose to the very pinnacle of the British army, confirmed as much when he stated in his memoirs that, of course we anticipated that the IRA might react when we invaded their turf. What really sets Lewis 1975 account of Bloody Sunday apart was his revelation that a lieutenant designated as 119 at the Widgery tribunal had told him that 1 Para was expected to get some kills in Derry the next day. The passage in Lewis 1975 account of the Saturday night briefing is not long and is worth reproducing in full: One night in January 1972 I was sitting with the rest of my muckers of the Anti-Tank Platoon in the Barracks when our Lt [119] came in and informed us that we were due for an operation in Londonderry the following day. He said that the heart of Derry had been bombed out. Several hundred soldiers had been hospitalised and that not one arrest had been made. We knew that the Creggan Estate was an I.R.A. fortress, conning towers, machine guns and barbed wire as well as land mines guarding its approaches. The people of the Creggan had not paid rent and had high-jacked all their food for several years. This was the symbol which led to the name no go area." The assertion that the IRA had conning towers and landmines is fanciful and absurd. Nonetheless, this is exactly the type of information that could have been fed to the paratroopers to rile them up and ensure they would expect a ferocious reaction when they went near the Bogside or the Creggan. Lewis proceeded to describe the impact this propaganda had on his colleagues: As I looked at my friends I could see that after all the abuse and nights without sleep, frustrations and tension, this is what they had been waiting for. We were all in high spirits and when our Lt. said lets teach these buggers a lesson we want some kills tomorrow to the mentality of the blokes to whom he was speaking, this was tantamount to an order (i.e., an exoneration of all responsibility). The foregoing passage shows that the troops on their way to Derry were unable to distinguish the fundamental fact that the Civil Rights movement was different to the IRA. The protest scheduled for the following day was organised by people like Ivan Cooper MP, not the IRA. It was intended to be a peaceful event and the fact that the organisers of the march had asked the IRA to stay away from it underscores the chasm between them and the paramilitaries. In his statement to Saville, Lewis also explained that, as squaddies, our perception was that probably all the people in Republican areas were IRA supporters. Wilfords version of the briefing to his commanders on the eve of Bloody Sunday was that: I do not recall any input from the company commanders, but they were a very vocal lot and there probably would have been comments. I do not recall any specific concerns. I had no involvement in the subsequent Order Groups given by the company commanders. Orders were then passed on by the platoon commanders, and then possibly by the section commanders. What I told my company commanders would have been passed down to the private soldiers in this way. As far as the accusation levelled at Lieutenant 119 was concerned, Wilford said that I do not believe that this is true. Lieutenant 119 was a solid officer. I cannot imagine him or indeed any other of my officers saying such things. "Just you wait, you pig, were going to kick you to death" In an extract from David Burke's new book, "Kitson's Irish War", the author reveals how after Bloody Sunday, Soldier F and the paratroopers were not finished yet.... A damning indictment of General Frank Kitson appears in David Burke's, Kitson's Irish War: Mastermind Of The Dirty War In Ireland, couldn't be any clearer. In it, Burke accuses Kitson of the following: Had he set out to become a recruitment sergeant for the IRA, he could not have done a better job. A cynic might say that such an accusation can only be made in hindsight but voices at the time during the early 1970s were saying it as well. One such voice was Stormont Parliament MP, Paddy Devlin of the SDLP, who wrote that Kitson did more than any other individual to sour relations between the Catholic community and the security forces. Burke's book reveals how the tragic events of Bloody Sunday was not a case, of a few troops being 'out of control' but the culmination of a number of poor, ill-formed decisions that had its roots in the British army's counter-insurgency techniques employed in their then-colonies of Malaya, Kenya and Aden. Such techniques also involved many incidences of torture used by the army something that would visit Derry and the rest of the north of Ireland when Kitson arrived. The Savile Report of 2010 vindicated the victims and those attending the Civil Rights march on that fateful Sunday in 1972 but neither General Kitson or his elite troops were held accountable. Burke, a Dublin-based barrister who is also the son of Richard Burke the Education Minister in Liam Cosgrave's Fine Gael government, attempts to set the record straight regarding Kitson's involvement and how his tactics during his time in the north of Ireland spiralled into the murder of 14 civil rights marchers in Derry. I tried to write the book in a way that's not overly academic, said Burke, but there are footnotes there to show my research and to back up what has been written. It wasn't written for an audience who had not known anything previously about the subject matter but for people who are interested in what happened in the north in 1971 and 1972. I wrote a book last year, which was called 'Deception and Lies: The Hidden History of the 1970 Arms Crisis', One of the themes of that book was why The Troubles started. In that I pointed out that in the mid-1960s, the IRA had all but laid down their guns. There was a rapprochement opportunity between the government in the Republic of Ireland and the Stormont Government in the North. That had sparked militant responses from people like Ian Paisley and they had turned up the heat and they had created by 1969 violence and inter-communal fighting. In that context this book is a continuation of the previous one in that it looks as why did it go wrong, why did you have a situation where British soldiers came and they did a fantastic, really honourable job and they were rightly and correctly welcomed with cups of tea and sandwiches during the so-called honeymoon period. You can imagine back in 1969 being an 18 to 21-year-old soldier and being invited in on Christmas Day to join families. There was a good relationship there. So this book looks at why all that went wrong. I quote Paddy Devlin in it where he's critical of the IRA the Provisionals in particular for turning up the heat. Then there was the rioting which was unfortunately part of the deterioration. And then there was the change of government (first in Stormont and then in Westminster). One other factor was the arrived of Kitson and Kitson's career in the colonies had always been about counter-insurgency. He was, as I say in the book, 'the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time'. In fairness to him, he did try the 'hearts and minds' approach at first but then the Provisional IRA didn't want that co-operation. So very quickly, Kitson reverts to his counter-insurgency technique. Documents from 1971 show that they took the decision to 'take the war' to the IRA. They decided not to try to suppress the violence of the Loyalists later on, of course, there is collusion with those groups. All of this is aggrevated by the Ballymurphy Massacre and then of course, Bloody Sunday. My conclusion is that Kitson's heavy-handed tactics and the heavy-handed behaviour of the paratroopers in particular, played into the hands of the IRA. One such tactic was for Kitson and his staff to rely heavily on accounts given by so-called 'men-on-the-ground' who came off as 'being in the know' but turned out to be fantasists. Observer B was an agent of both British Military Intelligence and MI5 who had access to the 'no-go' area of Derry back in 1972. This character continually fabricated information that he constantly fed to his handlers one included the report of an imaginary IRA battalion supposedly conducting a paramilitary drill in practice for a 'big operation' on January 30, 1972, the day of the Civil Rights march that was brutally ended by Bloody Sunday. Burke continued: When I looked at Bloody Sunday, it was like being given the parts of a watch and having to put it altogether. I came to the only conclusion I could come to in that Observer B's information was kept within a very tight circle and it wasn't tested. Had it been given to the likes of RUC Inspector (Frank) Lagan then maybe he might have been able to point out the inaccuracies of some of Observer B's ridiculous claims. But this information from Observer B was going through his handlers who don't know what Derry's like and don't understand it and he's their source of information as they're not relying on anyone else. It's from there a catastrophe begins to unfold and becomes understandable. The Saville Report has been presented as the final denouement on what happened on Bloody Sunday but Burke says questions still remain to be answered. He added: Their activities have been hidden from the ordinary person in Britain. There's a darkness in Whitehall which has a knee-jerk reaction, every time when something like this happens, to cover it up. I'm a barrister and I know that (Lord) Saville is entitled to come to the conclusion that the soldiers 'were out of control'. I respectfully disagree with him. I think there's another interpretation of it. The book points out that there is something much more deeper going on here. Kitson's Irish War: Mastermind Of The Dirty War In Ireland by David Bourke is published by Mercier Press and is out now. Bloody Sunday whistleblower lucky to escape with warning In a extract from David Burke's book, "Kitson's Irish War", a former paratrooper who was to testify at the Saville Inquiry was paid an unwelcome visit... "Just you wait, you pig, were going to kick you to death" In an extract from David Burke's new book, "Kitson's Irish War", the author reveals how after Bloody Sunday, Soldier F and the paratroopers were not finished yet.... Women's health campaigner Vicky Phelan has shared a heartbreaking update on her cancer treatment in the USA this Sunday. She took to Instagram to let the countless people, who both admire and have been inspired by her, know that she has returned to Ireland. The Kilkenny native, who resides in Limerick, wrote that she has some new tumours. "This means that I am no longer eligible for proton beam therapy since my tumours are far too extensive, i.e. I have too much disease in my body for them to zap. "And so, the recommendation from the team at Georgetown University Hospital was for me to return home for systemic therapy, i.e. palliative chemotherapy," wrote Ms Phelan. With a very heavy heart, the mum-of-two said she made the decision to return home to Ireland. "I returned home earlier this week and am taking the time to reconnect with my kids and to absorb this news before I start down the chemotherapy road. "The 'good' news is that I can still have treatment and that this treatment will keep me alive until Christmas at least. The bad news is that the treatment I am about to start on is extremely toxic and will take its toll on my body and my mind," wrote Vicky. She told her tens of thousands of followers on Instagram: "As always, I would like to thank you all so very much for your support, your kindness, your generosity, your prayers and positive messages which continue to lift me and keep me going. THANK YOU ALL." Ms Phelan became a leading figure in the CervicalCheck controversy after she was awarded a settlement by the High Court in April 2018 in a case taken against the US laboratory that carried out her cervical smear test. Since then she has been a powerful advocate for women's health and has given her support to many charitable organisations and people despite her own cancer treatment. NCB makes 7 more arrests including organisers of the cruise party in which Aryan Khan was detained The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested seven more persons, including four "high-profile organisers" belonging to a Delhi-based event management company, in connection with the seizure of banned drugs from a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast in which Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan is one of the accused, an official said on Tuesday. With the arrest of the seven more persons, the number of people arrested by the anti-drugs agency so far reached 16, he said. The Delhi-based firm was tasked with the management of the event onboard Cordelia Cruises ship, which was supposed to take place from October 2 to October 4, an NCB official had said. The four organisers belonging to the event management firm who are arrested by the NCB are identified as Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora, the official said. The anti-drugs agency had earlier arrested nine people, including Aryan Khan, after raiding the Goa-bound ship on Saturday. After the raid, the NCB's Mumbai zonal unit started a crackdown on drug peddlers connected with the arrested persons. The agency sleuths also brought some suspects, including from the cruise ship, to the NCB's office here for questioning, the official said. During the questioning of suspects, the role of few more persons had come to light, following which they were placed under arrest, the official said. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani) Earlier in the day, the anti-drugs agency said it had arrested two more persons in connection with the seizure of drugs from the cruise ship. In an operation conducted on Monday and Tuesday, the NCB arrested Shreyas Nair, Manish Rajgaria, Avin Sahu, Gopal Jee Anand, Samir Sehgal, Manav Singhal and Bhaskar Arora, the NCB said. Apart from Aryan Khan, the NCB has so far arrested Arbaaz Merchant, Munmun Dhamecha, Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra, Vikrant Chhokar and a drug supplier from suburban Juhu. Based on the preliminary interrogation of the accused Mohak Jaswal, a team of NCB conducted a raid at Jogeshwari in Mumbai and intercepted one person with 2.5 gm of ecstasy and 54.3 gm (commercial quantity) of Mephedrone in his possession. On the information provided by another arrested accused Ishmeet Singh Chadha, Shreyas Nair was arrested from suburban Goregaon with a small quantity of Charas, the NCB said. Manish Rajgaria, who was invited as a guest on the ship, was arrested with a small quantity of hydroponic weed multi-strain cannabis. Avin Sahu, who sailed in the cruise ship, was arrested on the consumption charges, the NCB said. Earlier on Tuesday, additional chief metropolitan magistrate R M Nerlikar remanded Abdul Qadir Sheikh (30), Shreyas Nair (23), Manish Rajgariya (26) and Avin Sahu (30) to the NCB custody till October 11. The court on Monday remanded Aryan Khan (23) and seven others to the NCB custody till Thursday. Meanwhile, when asked about the seizure of drugs from the cruise ship, a Mumbai Police official said on Tuesday that they are ascertaining whether necessary permissions were obtained from the DG, Shipping, and other authorities. The NCB on Monday claimed before a city court that "shocking and incriminating" material recovered in WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan and two others arrested in connection with the case showed international drug trafficking. The Narcotics Control Bureau, which got the remand of Aryan Khan (23) and the other eight accused from the court till Thursday, also claimed that in the WhatsApp chats he is discussing modes of payment to be done for procurement (of drugs) and that several code names are being used. Aryan Khan's lawyer had claimed no drugs were recovered from his client's possession. The NCB on Sunday said they had seized 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MD, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of Ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh. Meanwhile, family members of the arrested accused gathered outside the NCB office in south Mumbai on Tuesday. Aslam Merchant, the father of Arbaaz Merchant, told media persons that his son and Aryan Khan are innocent. "Aryan and Arbaaz are close friends for the last 15 years. They are innocent. My son was falsely implicated in this case. He and Aryan had not even boarded the cruise ship. Aryan was invited on the ship as a celebrity while Arbaaz accompanied him as his friend. Aryan had asked Arbaaz to accompany him," Aslam Merchant claimed. Minister Byrne meeting with Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune Press release The Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne, T.D., will travel tomorrow to Paris to attend the 2021 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM). Ahead of this meeting, he will meet with his French counterpart, Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clement Beaune on 5th October. Minister Byrne and Secretary of State Beaune will discuss current major issues on the EU agenda, including EU-UK relations and the Conference on the Future of Europe. They will also discuss the upcoming French presidency of the Council of the EU. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Minister Byrne said: I am happy to avail of my visit to Paris to meet my French colleague, Clement Beaune, to discuss some key EU issues, including EU-UK relations and the upcoming French Presidency of the Council of the EU. France is a key EU and international partner for Ireland. I very much look forward to continuing to work closely with Minister Beaune, both bilaterally and in relation to his forthcoming EU Presidency responsibilities as Chair of the General Affairs Council for the six-month period beginning 1 January next. "I was delighted to welcome Minister Beaune to Ireland during the recent visit to Ireland by President Macron. This visit was a strong signal of the ever stronger bilateral relations being forged between Ireland and France. As part of that visit, Minister Coveney and the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian signed a Joint Plan of Action between our two countries. This is an ambitious plan which will deepen practical cooperation across a number of sectors. It will bring tangible benefits for our businesses, schools, higher education institutions and research institute, cultural institutions, as well as ordinary citizens. "Minister Beaune, as European Affairs Minister of the incoming EU presidency, will also play a key role as Co-Chair of the Executive Board overseeing the Conference on the Future of Europe next spring. He has taken an active role in the Conference process and I look forward to sharing with him the suggestions and ideas that I have heard through my Conference engagements in Ireland over the last number of months. I also look forward to hearing how Conference events are progressing in France. ENDS Press Office 4 October 2021 Previous Item | Next Item People who experience psychosis get better faster when they get help early on. With prompt treatment, they often do better in school, work, and their personal lives. Understanding psychosis Psychosis describes conditions that affect the mind when there has been some loss of contact with reality. The signs and symptoms of psychosis include disordered thoughts and speech; extreme distrust of others; fixation on false beliefs; seeing, hearing, or feeling things others don't; and unusual thoughts or perceptions. People experiencing psychosis may be confused and frightened. It is important to talk with a health care provider as soon as symptoms are recognized. Genetics, trauma, substance use, physical illness or injury, or mental health conditions can all contribute to psychosis. People ages 15 to 25 are most likely to have a first episode of psychosis. Treatment for first episode psychosis The first time someone has psychotic symptoms is called the first episode of psychosis. Coordinated Specialty Care focuses on ensuring the person experiencing first episode psychosis has everything they need to recover. This model of care uses a team approach. A team of specialists works with the young person and their loved ones to develop the best treatment plan based on individual needs, which may include family education and support, medications, supported education and employment, and therapy. Coordinated Specialty Care programs Three programs in Wisconsin use Coordinated Specialty Care to treat people experiencing first episode psychosis. These programs are open to the residents of the counties listed below. Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, and Washburn: CHOICES CHOICES Dane: PROPS PROPS Milwaukee: CORE If your county is not listed above and you need help now, call your county crisis line, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255), or go to the nearest hospital emergency room. Know your rights There are rules to ensure the privacy and dignity of people receiving coordinated specialty care services for first episode psychosis are protected. Learn more about Wisconsin's client rights law. Information for service providers The resources below are for current providers of coordinated specialty care and those interested in using the model to treat people experiencing first episode psychosis. Contact DHS staff with questions about offering coordinated specialty care for first episode psychosis. The micro-blogging giant, Twitter has announced the release of some new exciting features to its platform in the next few months. The company has said that it will soon support NFT authentication for creators. Artists and creators will be able to connect their crypto wallets and take payments from other users directly. The most awaited update is the Tips Feature. The company tested the Tips feature in the US, where the users could tip others not only using real currencies, but also using cryptocurrencies. The company is also preparing its own creator fund to provide audio creators with financial, technical and marketing support. Twitter Tips: Tip others in Crypto Twitter earlier in May had rolled out its Tips in the US for a few users for testing purposes, and soon is rolling it out worldwide on Android and iOS. Tips uses the help of third party apps such as Razorpay to tip the creators off on Twitter. Initially called Tips Jar, it is now available globally as Tips. The users will now be able to Tip others using the Digital currencies and also using Bitcoin. The payment service is based on the Bitcoin Lightning Network based application - Strike. Strike is available to people in El Salvador and the US (excluding Hawaii and New York). Users for receiving Bitcoins need to have a Strike account but other Twitter users will be able to use any Bitcoin Lightning wallet to send tips to someones Strike account. This feature is being rolled out to iOS and Android users will get it over the coming weeks. Integration of Bitcoins for Tips (Source: Twitter) Also, Twitter said that it is adding more supported third-party platforms to process the tipping feature. The company has added support for GoFundMe and PicPay, which join Bandcamp, Cash App, Chipper, Patreon, Razorpay, Wealthsimple Cash, and Venmo. Twitter is also planning to add support for authenticating NFTs (non-fungible tokens) by letting people connect their crypto wallets. By connecting the wallets, they will be able to track and showcase their NFTs on the platform. The NFT authentication functionality will be available in the form of a badge that is shown on users' profile pictures, which in turn would mark the owners NFT as authentic. This feature of NFT Authentication is still in development and the company is trying to figure out different ways of deploying it. The Super Follows feature which provides Subscription based content is also ready to be rolled up all over the globe. Integration of NFTs Authentication (Source: Twitter) Twitter Expands its Space Platform Twitter had recently launched its in-app voice based social network platform, the Spaces, and is also bringing new updates to that. The company is working on improving the discovery of ongoing Spaces conversations. With the launch of Ticketed Space, where an entry ticket is required, the monetisation from these Spaces will help the Creator and they can set the prices and audience sizes. The hosts of the Spaces will now be able to record and even replay their programs. This feature is set to launch in the coming few months. The company is also testing a new feature known as Communities- a feature similar to Facebook Groups, wherein people with similar interests can join and interact. This feature is still in its testing phase. Twitters new Features for improved protection of users privacy Twitter announced a host of new features that are aimed at making the platform safer for its users. Twitter had launched a new feature called Safety Mode, earlier this year, and is now in the testing phase in the beta mode, with a small group on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com. It started with the accounts that have English-language settings enabled. The Safety Mode offers an automated level of protection against online harassment and cyberbullying on the platform. People can quietly remove followers. Further, Twitter said it is experimenting with a feature to give people a heads up" when they are about to join a heated discussion on Spaces. This will give users a context about the conversation vibe" before they join the room. Recently, Twitter has also started labelling bot accounts clearly. According to sources, the company said it will start labelling more accounts, based on their type including businesses, brands and memorialized accounts. For users who are frequently involved in the platform and interact a lot, as mentioned by others in their tweets, Twitter will be adding a feature that allows users to remove themselves from such conversations. Lastly, Word filters will allow users to filter out unwanted speech" and bad words in their replies. Users will be able to choose specific words and emojis, which will be blocked on their replies. The feature is still in the concept phase right now and the company will provide more updates at appropriate time. Disclaimer: This article has been authored by a member of our Digit Squad community. Subscriber content preview FEDERAL WAY A Courtyard by Marriott, at 2460 S. 320th St. in Federal Way, sold for a little over $23.7 million, according to King County records. The seller was IHP Federal Way (WA) Owner LLC, associated with Chatham Lodging Trust, which acquired the property in 2014 for almost $26 million. . . . Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider subscribing to our ePaper and/or free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Rural areas in Louth are set to get a boost on the back of the National Development Plan (NDP), with 962 million set to be allocated to rural and community projects up to 2025. The NDP, which was announced by the government in Cork yesterday, will see 962 million being allocated to the Department of Rural and Community Development for projects up until 2025. According to Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, 850 million of this is set to go towards rural development in particular. Of this, 480 million is to go to rural regeneration and development schemes, like the Town and Village Renewal scheme. It [NDP funding] will allow us to do things like invest in rural regeneration projects, revitalise our town centres, capitalise on remote working opportunities and repurpose old buildings into 21st-century use, said Minister Humphreys. It will allow us to invest heavily in our outdoor amenities such as our walkways, cycleways, lakes and forests. I am determined as Minister to revitalise and re-imagine rural Ireland making it a better place to live, work and raise a family. Alongside these increases in investment, the Department has said that they will be establishing a new scheme to help upgrade community centres in rural areas. The funding provided to the Department is an increase of 36% on the previous NDP, which allocated 706 million in capital funding to the Department. Nightclubs look set to reopen in the coming weeks, nearly 600 nights after they closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As things stand, final Covid-19 restrictions are due to be lifted on October 22, meaning nightclubs should be able to reopen on the weekend of the bank holiday weekend. Nightclubs have remained closed for 19 months at this stage. Just last week, a pilot nightclub event supported by the Department of Tourism and Culture was held in the Button Factory in Dublin with a 60% capacity crowd. Antigen testing was also required from all those who attended the venue. The department also stated that contact details of those in attendance was also taken. On 22 October all remaining Covid-19 restrictions are scheduled to be lifted, including requirements for social distancing, indoor mask-wearing and limits on numbers at events. It is also planned that entry requirements such as vaccination certs or testing will be removed. A statement from the Department of Health said that the vaccination target set as a requirement for the final stage of reopening has been met but that a final decision must be taken under public health advice. The plan states that, based on the criteria of at or close to 90% of people 16 and over being fully vaccinated and having regard to the incidence and behavior of the disease at that time, the government will remove further statutory restrictions in respect of events and activities from 22 October, the department said. In recent weeks it was announced that there could be an opportunity for some nightclubs to remain open until 6am under new licensing law reforms, according to Culture Minister Catherine Martin. As part of moves to modernise Irish nightlife, the Government plans to stagger out and extend opening hours for pubs and nightclubs, as well as galleries and museums. CITESTE IN ROMANA EBRD to acquire minority stake in Bulgarian insurer Euroins Euroins parent Eurohold and EBRD back 42 million capital increase Company to diversify products, step up digitalisation and strengthen corporate governance The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement to acquire a minority stake in Bulgarias Euroins Insurance Group (EIG), one of the largest independent non-life insurance groups in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. The EBRD is investing 30 million through a capital increase, while urohold, the insurance groups parent company, is providing a further equity injection of up to 12 million. Anca Ioana Ionescu, EBRD Director for Bulgaria, said: This EBRD investment will play a key role in stabilising the insurance sector, while providing comfort to customers, regulators and suppliers. The funds will be used for the development and growth of the largest insurance entity within the group, Euroins Romania Asigurare Reasigurare. The financing will also support the groups operations and growth in Georgia, Greece, North Macedonia, Poland and Ukraine. Mark Davis, EBRD Regional Director for Romania and Bulgaria, added: We are so pleased to be partnering with Euroins to expand high-quality, advanced and dependable insurance in Romania and across the region. We are also pleased to be engaging in parallel with Romanias Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) on a direct settlement process for the benefit of consumers and the insurance sector overall in Romania. The EBRD is working with ASF to develop new regulations for managing motor claims. Its goal is to help create a fairer system for all parties involved, including customers, workshops and insurance companies, while fostering the interest of larger global insurers and attracting capital to the sector. Kiril Boshov, EIG Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of uroholds Management Board, stated: We are glad to welcome the EBRD, one of the major international financial institutions, as a shareholder in EIG. The participation of the Bank will further strengthen EIGs solvency position and support its growth in markets where both EIG and the EBRD have been focusing. The investment comes at an important moment for EIGs largest company, Euroins Romania. It marks a strategic milestone in the capitalisation our Romanian subsidiary, in which EIG has invested more than RON 300 million (60 million equivalent) in the past 12 months. Euroins Romania will therefore be able to look ahead as a well-capitalised, innovative, client-oriented and diversified insurer on the challenging local market. The EBRDs investment will also help Euroins create value through enhanced corporate governance, digitalisation and diversifying products from mandatory motor insurance to those covering health, accidents, fire and property. The EBRD is a major investor in Bulgaria, where it focuses on making local firms more competitive at home and abroad, financing modern, sustainable infrastructure and developing financial products and capital markets, given the countrys plans to adopt the euro. To date, the EBRD has invested more than 4 billion in Bulgarias economy through almost 270 projects. By Dominic McGrath, PA Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has urged those most vulnerable to get the free flu vaccine as the country heads into the winter. Mr Donnelly called on anyone eligible for a jab to ensure they were protected from the flu and said that high uptake would also help ease the toll on Irelands fragile health system. Anyone aged 65 and over is eligible for a free flu vaccine, alongside healthcare workers and children aged between two and 17. Pregnant women are also able to receive a free flu jab, as well as those with certain medical conditions. Mr Donnelly said: As we emerge from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is vital to remember that there are other viruses that can take an enormous toll upon the most at-risk in our society, as well as those working in our healthcare system. Yearly deaths Mr Donnelly said that people should take the vaccine as soon as it is offered to them. He added: A flu vaccine will protect those aged over 65 from the very worst effects of flu. For healthcare workers, getting vaccinated means protecting themselves, their patients, and their families. Last year we saw encouraging uptake among healthcare workers and my hope is that this trend will continue this year. In Ireland, between 200 and 500 people die from flu each winter. Health officials are reminding people that the flu vaccine does not protect against Covid-19. Dr Aparna Keegan, from the HSEs National Immunisation Office, said that flu is a serious illness. We know that people aged 65 and over are most likely to impacted Although the severity of the flu season can vary, we know that people aged 65 and over are most likely to impacted and have an increased likelihood of severe illness, being admitted into hospital or dying from flu when compared to the general population. The flu vaccine is the best protection against flu this winter. Ireland has among the highest rates of Covid-19 vaccine take-up in Europe, with more than 91 per cent of over-16s fully vaccinated. The country has now moved to offering a booster vaccine to some vulnerable groups. Health officials have said that it is safe to get the Covid-19 vaccine at the same time as a flu jab. Instantly delete email threats for Office 365 With the free app, 365 Threat Monitor, scan all emails as they reach your users' mailboxes to detect ransomware, phishing and spam. Get real-time phone alerts + security breach updates and delete threats instantly with just one click. Download now! Trust in sources that we depend on for business and personal decisions is critical. A platform that aggregates opinion and news should be held to the highest standard of trust and honesty. This need for trustworthiness is because, if it acts against its users, an aggregation service like Facebook can cause damage at a national or even planetary level by instigating people to act against their self-interest. Last week we heard that Facebook's moderating system "XCheck," or "Cross Check" gives special privileges to some celebrities and politicians. It's also been reported that Facebook profits from illegal activity; keeps the money it earns from certain fraudulent ad campaigns that rip off users; and its Instagram property has recently been flagged as harmful to young women. The issue comes down to what appears to be a financial model that puts revenue generation ahead of pretty much every decision. While that has so far been very lucrative for Facebook, much like any illegal scheme, this evident policy could eventually be terminal for a company misbehaving globally. Facebook is the poster child for going after Big Tech domestically; and in recent years other countries have come around to the idea that Facebook is harmful. Albeit, some of these latter are under totalitarian rule. Microsoft was the most hated tech company in the late 90s. Google replaced it for a bit. Now Facebook seems to have made its goal to be destroyed by its actions and take some other U.S. tech companies with it. Let's talk about that this week. Then I'll close with my product of the week, the solar panels I just had installed at my home after researching which are currently the best (and they weren't made in China). Facebook's Problems Begin With Its Revenue Source Ad-based revenue carried the initial wave of free services worldwide, supporting newspapers and magazines where readers paid only for delivery. Early on, print media found they had to keep the ad payers separate from content control, or they'd lose trust. Then the initial TV news programs also implemented similar policies. These shows were initially surrounded by regulations that forced honesty and balanced reporting, though much of that control structure no longer exists. If you look under Facebook's behavior, revenue focus appears to overcome all other factors when making decisions. That level of over-focus on revenue often forces activities that appear not only illegal but criminal. While money may not be the root of all evil, it is the root of much of it, and we've watched industries like tobacco, oil, and pharmaceuticals all drift to harm scale to protect and increase their revenues. If the reports I referred to earlier are accurate, Facebook is now broadly profiting from the criminal activity on its platform, and it shouldn't be long until an attorney general implicates the company and its CEO in that activity. Competition Serves the Customer Microsoft, whose 1990s drift to bad behavior pales in comparison to what's reported Facebook is doing, had a similar extreme focus on revenues, has changed. Its shift to understanding and helping customers as a primary priority has, over time, caused the company to support Linux and become one of the biggest open source contributors. Also, Microsoft shifted to services and essentially led the technology market from individual sales, promoting bad customer behavior, to services that can wed customers' and vendors' needs more closely to each other. This positive outcome is not always actual, as we have cable companies and the old AT&T as examples of services companies that also developed an impressive amount of customer hatred. Competition helps to assure a company doesn't take its customers for granted. When I worked at IBM before its fall, I had a conversation with one of the CMOs. I was concerned that we were making promises to governments we had no intention of fulfilling. He said, "Rob, you just don't understand; we are so dominant, it is like selling air, they have to buy from us." I've thought about that conversation a lot over the years. I have concluded that if you don't put your users first, don't aggressively enforce ethical behavior, and don't have competition; you'll eventually kill your company because you'll tactically put revenue and profits first. Much of the successful antitrust action I've covered over the years drifts back to putting customers and users after revenues and profits. This exposure makes sense given the regulatory bodies that bring antitrust actions, like the DoJ and FTC, are focused on citizen harm. If you aren't harming anyone, excess profits aren't a problem. But if you are profiting from harm those three-letter agencies take exception. Zuckerberg Needs To Go Mark Zuckerberg is a great deal of the problem at Facebook. He appears unable to grasp human behavior, presents very poorly, and might be considered the poster child for un-caring CEOs. While Zuckerberg is undeniably intelligent, he also has what appear to be horrid people skills. Zuckerberg appears to think and operate tactically and believes Facebook is powerful enough to go against governments. Now, he is hardly alone. I recall many now-ex CEOs that have thought the same thing over the years. But generally that is why they are now ex-CEOs. Facebook is mighty but can't possibly match up against an entity with a standing army and substantial law enforcement capabilities. One of the most damning allegations in this WSJ article is that "A Mexican drug cartel was using Facebook to recruit, train and pay hit men." If true, that is about as far over the line as you get, and it is hard to see how profiting from this kind of activity wouldn't end badly for the company. Facebook needs to put Zuckerberg on the bench and bring in a new CEO that can fix its focus and behavior to avoid harming users it ostensibly supports. Wrapping Up Facebook does play an essential role in disseminating information. Still, so much of that information is false and harmful that it needs a behavioral fix. Otherwise the company will get regulated out of business even if its executives aren't eventually criminally charged. Right now, Facebook isn't necessarily free either. I did some rough math and the scam ads I've fallen for over the years have cost me a bit over $1,000 to date. That's a lot for a free service and, I expect, many of you have similar stories. I continue to see ads that have copied legitimate campaigns to offer significant discounts on products they don't intend to ship. I've got some good stuff off the service as well, including a decent drone. But I've learned to look for deals too good to be accurate and, before I buy, to check and see if anyone else has flagged the vendor -- something Facebook should be doing. If Facebook doesn't fix its horrid behavior, I have doubts it'll be around at the end of the decade. It seems a shame because were it properly run; Facebook could be a fantastic agent of good. But, right now it is anything but an agent for good. LG NeON R Solar Panels I just completed a sizable solar installation at my home. This is my second solar installation. The panels from my first installation aged a lot over the past 20 years. That first installation lost a substantial amount of efficiency over the first decade, and it wasn't great at the start. Panel efficiency has improved dramatically, but I've learned that you want to focus on yield and warranty because getting these things fixed can be an expensive unplanned cost. LG, on average, follows Sunpower on efficiency but leads on warranty (25 years with better than 90% performance remaining). More solar panel rankings are available here. SunPower may be exiting manufacturing entirely, while LG, one of the largest manufacturing companies in South Korea, appears far more likely to be around 25 years from now. I mention SunPower because if it weren't for this change in manufacturing, I'd have likely chosen them instead. This SunPower exit may eventually prove positive for SunPower and Maxeon, which will take over manufacturing. Still, it created an unknown long-term risk on the project and dropped that panel behind the LG 400 Watt NeON R panel as a result. These aren't cheap, but I'm not planning on moving and want them to last as long as possible. LG NeON R Solar Panels I contacted LG and asked for the closest installer. They gave me A&R Solar out of Portland. A&R did an impressive job with my installation to earn this plug here on TechNewsWorld. My roof presented a unique design problem because it is complex and metal. But the installation looks good, and A&R took extra care to blend things in and not create eyesores. It is a connected installation that allows me to monitor it over the web and get real-time performance information. Last Thursday at 1:30 p.m. my system was generating 12.5 kW which seems to be the peak for the day. I've also ordered Tesla batteries, but their review will have to wait because they are back-ordered until next year. Since I ended up putting my money where my mouth is and buying the LG NeON R solar panels, they are my product of the week. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network. Rob Enderle has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2003. His areas of interest include AI, autonomous driving, drones, personal technology, emerging technology, regulation, litigation, M&E, and technology in politics. He has an MBA in human resources, marketing and computer science. He is also a certified management accountant. Enderle currently is president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, a consultancy that serves the technology industry. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at Giga Information Group and Forrester. Email Rob. The Facebook whistleblower who has provided a trove of internal documents to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission is testifying about research she says proves the social network has repeatedly lied about its platform. The documents were the basis for The Wall Street Journal's reporting on Facebook's controversial rules for celebrities, and the disastrous effect of Instagram on some teens' mental health. Facebook and big tech are facing their big tobacco moment, committee chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal said at the start of the hearing. Facebook knows its products can be addictive and toxic to children. They value their profit more than the pain that they cause to children and their families. In her opening statement, Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower , said that the company has ignored much of its own research and is buying its profits with our safety. She urged Congress to adopt new regulations to limit the company's power. The choices being made inside of Facebook are disastrous for our children, our public safety, our privacy and for our democracy, Haugen said. And that is why we must demand Facebook make changes. WATCH: Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen complete opening statement. pic.twitter.com/F81Ci03cjp CSPAN (@cspan) October 5, 2021 She highlighted Facebooks unwillingness to make data available outside of its own research teams has helped the company mislead the public. The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the US government, and from governments around the world, Haugen said. The documents I have provided to Congress prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public about what its own research reveals about the safety of children, the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems, and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages. She also said that Congress should not be swayed by Facebooks insistence on false choices, and that simply reforming privacy laws or Section 230 would not go far enough. We can afford nothing less than full transparency, Haugen said. Facebook wants you to believe that the problems we're talking about are unsolvable... Facebook can change, but it's clearly not going to do so on its own." Haugens appearance comes days after Facebook sent its head of safety, Antigone Davis, to testify in front of the same committee . She and other executives have repeatedly tried to downplay the company's research, with Davis saying that the documents "were not bombshell research." In Tuesdays hearing, some senators called out Mark Zuckerberg, saying that they should be hearing from him instead. Rather than taking personal responsibility, showing leadership, Mark Zuckerberg is going sailing, Blumenthal said, in an apparent reference to a recent Facebook post from the CEO. Even though he wasnt in attendance, Zuckerbergs decisions came up throughout the hearing. Haugen said that several documents she uncovered showed that the Facebook founder chose metrics defined by Facebook like meaningful social interactions over changes that would have significantly decreased misinformation and other inciting content. She said that last April, Zuckerberg was directly presented with a list of soft interventions Facebook could take that would make it less viral, less twitchy and that he opted not to make the changes because it had a negative impact on the platforms meaningful social interactions metric. She added that even when Facebook does opt to take interventions and slow down its platform, the companys AI has problems detecting content. When rioting began in the United States in the summer of last year, they turned off downstream MSI [meaningful social interactions] only when they detected content was health content, which is probably COVID, and civic content, Haugen said. But Facebooks own algorithms are bad at finding this content. In a statement following the hearing, Facebooks Director of Policy Communications, Lena Pietsch, tried to downplay Haugens knowledge of the company, writing that she worked for the company for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question. We dont agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about. Despite all this, we agree on one thing: its time to begin to create standard rules for the internet. Its been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, its time for Congress to act. Tesla has been ordered to pay $137 million in damages to a former Black worker who accused the company of turning a blind eye to discrimination and racial abuse at the company's EV plant in Fremont California, The Washington Post has reported. A San Francisco federal court jury awarded the judgement reportedly one of the largest in an individual race discrimination employment case to Owen Diaz, an elevator operator who worked as a contract employee in 2015 and 2016. In the lawsuit, Diaz alleged that he faced discrimination "straight from the Jim Crow era," in which he was subjected to racial slurs. He alleged that Tesla employees left drawings of swastikas, racist graffiti and offensive cartoons around the plant, while supervisors neglected to halt the abuse. "Tesla's progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees," according to the lawsuit. The jury awarded Diaz $6.9 million for emotional distress, but the majority, $130 million, was punitive damages against Tesla. "It's a great thing when one of the richest corporations in America has to have a reckoning of the abhorrent conditions at its factory for Black people," said the lawyer for Diaz, Lawrence Organ. "It took four long years to get to this point, Diaz told The New York Times. Its like a big weight has been pulled off my shoulders. In response to the verdict, Tesla downplayed the allegations in a blog post written by human resources VP Valerie Capers Workman. "In addition to Mr. Diaz, three other witnesses (all non-Tesla contract employees) testified at trial that they regularly heard racial slurs (including the N-word) on the Fremont factory floor, she wrote. While they all agreed that the use of the N-word was not appropriate in the workplace, they also agreed that most of the time they thought the language was used in a friendly manner and usually by African-American colleagues. Tesla added that it was responsive to Mr. Diaz's complaints, firing two contractors and suspending another. She said that while the facts didn't justify the verdict, the company was "not perfect" in 2015 and 2016, "but we have come a long way." The company has yet to say whether it plans to appeal. Cecily Chapman spoke out about her famous father, Dog the Bounty's (nee Duane Chapman) efforts to find the missing fugitive, revealing that she's not supportive of it AT ALL. She told The Sun that he "needs to back off." Regardless of whatever progress her father has made on the case, and evidence he "unearthed," the daughter is hardly impressed. "It's just a publicity stunt. That's really what it is. He needs to back off and let the FBI handle it," Cecily plainly told the outlet. She then ranted about the costs of doing all these, and where her father could be getting the funds. "Realistically, how is he doing this, what the hell is he doing, and who is funding this nonsense!?" Cecily asked. Cecily also questioned whether Dog is using his search for Brian as bait for a new reality show - something he already denied. "A real network would be aware of the situation and I'm pretty sure everyone knows that this is a f---ing publicity stunt," she added. ALSO READ: NASCAR Driver John Wes Townley Dead: Cause of Death Brutal, But It Was His Fault? She could be somehow right because as recently reported, Dog's efforts are certainly catching the attention of certain network executives. It's not clear if this just happens, or this is really what Dog wanted all along. A number of broadcasting networks have reached out to the 68-year-old television personality, expressing interest in hiring him and letting him join various shows, all because he's one of the few who really got hands-on in searching for Brian Laundrie. When Dog joined the hunt for Gabby Petito's fiance, he attracted the attention of television producers, and he became a social media sensation, as reported by TMZ. When it comes to the search for Brian Laundrie, no one has filmed it save his wife, Francie, who has recorded part of it on her phone. Many actually mocked him for even joining and thought it was all for television, but that could not be the case when only his wife filmed him most of the time. As reported, even his daughter did not like him butting in the investigation. On Monday, it was reported that he handed over evidence to police that he believed might be analyzed for DNA to confirm the presence of fugitive Laundrie. "Friday, we found a makeshift, a very primitive camp that had some promising things around it so we've gathered up all those things with gloves and baggies and turned them over yesterday to the FBI," he said. The hot investigation was thrown a curveball by an reproted sighting of Brian in North Carolina on Saturday. Dennis Davis, 53, is alleged to have been flagged down by Laundrie on that fated day. Laundrie seemed disoriented, according to Davis, and asked for directions to California. Dennis has expressed his dissatisfaction with police enforcement's failure to contact him about the strange encounter. The FBI is on the lookout for Laundrie, and an arrest warrant has been issued for the 23-year-old. ALSO READ: Ellen DeGeneres Lets Out a Secret She's Keeping for Three Years on the Last Season of 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' A gypsy moth caterpillar. Theyve barely been an issue for three decades, but now, after one too many dry seasons, a fungus hasnt been able to proliferate enough to keep the caterpillars at bay. 2021-10-04 Maeci Today the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, has received at the Foreign Ministry the Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ayman Safadi. The talks have focused on the main dossiers relating to the enlarged Mediterranean region. With regard to Libya, Minister Di Maio has reaffirmed Italy's commitment to supporting the political transition process through the achievement of two priority objectives: the elections to be held on 24 December and the withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign fighters. With reference to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Minister Di Maio has called for the revitalisation of the diplomatic initiative for a political solution to the conflict, confirming the identity of views with Jordan on the prospect of a two-State solution and respect for the status quo in the Holy Places. The two Ministers have also exchanged views on other major current regional issues, such as the Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism, recording important convergence of opinions, thus confirming the strong bond of friendship that underlies bilateral relations. 2021-10-05 Maeci The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, will be on a mission to Paris on 5 and 6 October to participate in the OECD Ministerial Meeting (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), which is held this year on the 60th anniversary of its foundation. The title chosen for the meeting, "Building a Green and Inclusive Future", recalls the priorities that are at the heart of the Italian Presidency of the G20 and the co-Presidency of COP26, thus reaffirming the strong attention that Italy and the international community pay to the theme of sustainable and inclusive development, while respecting the dignity of people. Minister Di Maio will be speaking at the plenary session on the afternoon of Tuesday 5 October, and is also planning a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines, with the Foreign Ministers of the OECD countries. MOSCOW (AP) A Russian actor and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the worlds first movie in orbit, a project the Kremlin said will help burnish the nations space glory. Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and arrived at the station after about 3 hours. Shkaplerov took manual controls to smoothly dock the spacecraft at the space outpost after a glitch in an automatic docking system. The trio reported they were feeling fine and spacecraft systems were functioning normally. Peresild and Klimenko are to film segments of a new movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who needs an urgent operation in orbit. After 12 days on the space outpost, they are set to return to Earth with another Russian cosmonaut. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the mission will help showcase Russias space prowess. We have been pioneers in space and maintained a confident position, Peskov said. Such missions that help advertise our achievements and space exploration in general are great for the country. Speaking at a pre-flight news conference Monday, 37-year-old Peresild acknowledged that it was challenging for her to adapt to the strict discipline and rigorous demands during the training. It was psychologically, physically and morally hard, she said. But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile. Shipenko, 38, who has made several commercially successful movies, also described their fast-track, four-month preparation for the flight as tough. Of course, we couldnt make many things at the first try, and sometimes even at a third attempt, but its normal, he said. Shipenko, who will complete the shooting on Earth after filming the movie's space episodes, said Shkaplerov and two other Russian cosmonauts now on board the station Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov will all play parts in the new movie. Russia's state-controlled Channel One television, which is involved in making the movie, has extensively covered the crew training and the launch. I'm in shock. I still can't imagine that my mom is out there, Peresild's daughter, Anna, said in televised remarks minutes after the launch that she watched teary-eyed. Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, was a key force behind the project, describing it as a chance to burnish the nations space glory and rejecting criticism from some Russian media. I expect the project to help draw attention to our space program, to the cosmonaut profession, Rogozin told reporters Tuesday. We need a better visualization of space research. Space deserves being shown in a more professional, artful way. After congratulating the crew on a successful docking, Rogozin said he personally edited the film script to properly reflect the realities of the space flight. We describe some real emergencies that may happen out there, he said. According to the script, the cosmonaut character in the film needs an urgent surgery after being hit by space debris. Some commentators argued, however, that the film project would distract the Russian crew and could be awkward to film on the Russian segment of the International Space Station, which is considerably less spacious compared to the U.S. segment. A new Russia lab module, the Nauka, was added in July, but it is yet to be fully integrated into the station. On the space station, the three newcomers joined the station's commander Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency; NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Roscosmos cosmonauts Novitskiy and Dubrov; and Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. After the hatches between the Soyuz and the station were opened, the trio floated in, beaming smiles and exchanging hugs with the station's crew. I feel like I'm dreaming, Peresild said during a brief televised hookup with Mission Control in Moscow. Shipenko echoed that feeling: We have been waiting for that for such a long time, and indeed now we feel like in a dream. Novitskiy, who will star as the ailing cosmonaut in the movie, will take the captains seat in a Soyuz capsule to take the film crew back to Earth on Oct. 17. Before Russia took the lead in feature filmmaking in space, NASA had talked to actor Tom Cruise about making a movie in orbit. NASA confirmed last year that it was in talks with Cruise about filming on the International Space Station with SpaceX providing the lift. In May 2020, it was reported that Cruise was developing the project alongside director Doug Liman, Elon Musk and NASA. Last month, representatives for SpaceXs first privately chartered flight said the actor took part in a call with the four space tourists who orbited more than 585 kilometers (360 miles) high. Liman told the AP that he was approached for the impossible mission by producer P. J. van Sandwijk who asked him simply if he wanted to shoot a movie in outer space. Details have been largely kept under wraps and no updates have been provided on the status recently, but as of January Liman said they were forging ahead. Theres just a lot of technical stuff that were figuring out, Liman said. Its really exciting because when you make a film with Tom Cruise, you have to put stuff on the screen that no ones ever seen before. ___ AP Film Writer Lindsey D. Bahr contributed to this report. PARIS (AP) The old music box factory had been abandoned for years on the outskirts of the Swiss mountain town, with paint curling at the edges of its dingy grey and yellow walls. It was the perfect hiding place for the young French mother and her 8-year-old daughter at the heart of Operation Lima, an international child abduction plot planned and funded by a French group with echoes of the far-right extremist movement QAnon. Lola Montemaggi had lost custody of her daughter, Mia, to her own mother months earlier because French government child protective services feared the young woman was unstable. Montemaggi found people online who shared the QAnon belief that government workers themselves were running a child trafficking ring. Then she turned to her network to do what she needed to do: Extract Mia. The April 13 kidnapping of the girl from her grandmothers home marked what is believed to be the first time that conspiracy theorists in Europe have committed a crime linked to the QAnon-style web of false beliefs that sent hundreds to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. It shows how what was once a strictly U.S. movement has metastasized around the world, with Europol, the European umbrella policing agency, adding QAnon to its list of threats in June. QAnon influence has now been tracked to 85 countries, and its beliefs have been adapted to local contexts and languages from Hindi to Hebrew. A California father this summer took his two children to Mexico and killed them under the influence of QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories, federal authorities say. QAnon supporters also have been linked to at least six attempted kidnappings in the United States, convinced that children are falling victim to pedophiles, according to Mia Bloom, who documented the abductions for her book on QAnon published this summer. If someone is trying to get back their child and says theyre with this cabal, theres now a support network where before QAnon it would not have existed, Bloom said. Part of QAnons loose collection of beliefs is specific to the United States, where the conspiracy theory began. But the conviction that there is a deep state conspiracy and cabals of government-sponsored child traffickers crosses borders, as does anti-vaccine rhetoric since the start of the pandemic. The abduction of Mia was inspired by a former politician who promised to save child trafficking victims and lead France back to its former greatness. The AP pieced the story together from interviews with investigators and lawyers, as well as thousands of online messages, showing how QAnon-style beliefs draw in the vulnerable and connect them in often dangerous ways. Two men charged in the abduction were charged and two others were arrested Tuesday in an unrelated far-right plot against vaccine centers and government ministries, a judicial official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the fast-moving investigation. Montemaggi was freed Monday after nearly six months in jail, but remains under judicial supervision until her trial. ___ Montemaggi is a 28-year-old woman with glossy chestnut hair and pale eyes, a lilting voice and a smile whose very edges curved upwards. Two stars are tattooed on the fragile skin inside her wrist. She had Mia when she was 20, but she and the babys father turned her over to his parents days after the birth, according to their lawyer, who publicly described social, professional, financial precariousness; maybe too much immaturity. Montemaggi would drop in for an afternoon from time to time. One day, when Mia was 5, her mother took her out to play. The two never returned, said the lawyer, Guillaume Fort. It was a year before Montemaggi sent word about the child, Fort said. By then, Montemaggi had joined Frances 2018 anti-government Yellow Vest movement, according to people who spent time with her in protests, all wearing the groups iconic fluorescent safety vests. In November 2019, Montemaggi turned 27. She was not celebrating. Today, on my birthday, I am disgusted, she wrote in a Facebook post on Nov. 12, 2019. Since I awoke, this famous awakening is hard, digesting all that I have learned, all that the TV and the politicians hide from us, all these lies, its not easy. Over the course of the next year, as France entered one of the worlds strictest coronavirus lockdowns, Montemaggis world grew progressively darker. She believed 5G towers were concealing population control devices, Bill Gates was plotting to spread the coronavirus, and governments everywhere were trafficking children either to molest them or to extract an essence for eternal youth. She pulled Mia out of school. The month of her 28th birthday, she concluded that the French government was illegitimate and its laws no longer applied to her, beliefs central to what is known as the sovereign citizen movement. Like QAnon, the sovereign citizen movement started in the U.S., and its followers are anti-government extremists who believe that they dont have to answer to government authorities, including courts and law enforcement. She urged others to join her and enlisted in a Telegram group for sovereign citizens in the Lorraine region. Montemaggi tended to leave short voice messages punctuated by a gentle laugh, trying to set up meetings, wishing people a happy New Year, or admonishing those she thought were insufficiently dedicated to the cause. She told those around her she was going to empty her apartment, sell her furniture and go under the radar with her daughter. Montemaggi had been losing weight for months, arguing so violently with her boyfriend that her family feared Mia was in danger. To her new acquaintances on Telegram, she casually mentioned a court summons Jan. 11 that would prevent her from joining a proposed meeting, a personal thing. She rejected the judges authority to interfere in her life or her childs. The judge thought otherwise. Montemaggi lost custody of her daughter to her own mother. She could see Mia twice a month, never alone, at the grandmothers house in Les Poulieres, a village about a 30-minute drive from Montemaggis apartment. And she could not speak to her by phone. Montemaggi had no plan, but her beliefs were hardening. There are no laws above us except for universal law, she said in one message over the winter to a Telegram correspondent. There are no government laws. You have to understand that. ___ While the Capitol insurrection in the United States is the best-known example of violence tied to QAnon, it is far from the only one. Twenty-seven people in U.S. have been linked to QAnon violence unrelated to the riot, eight of whom also had ties to the sovereign citizen movement, according to recent research from the University of Marylands National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. A quarter of the QAnon offenders were women an unusually high percentage for alleged crimes. In March 2020, a Kentucky mother who adhered to QAnon as well as an American sovereign citizen movement kidnapped her children from her grandmother, who was their guardian. In November the same year, a woman who had lost custody of her children shot her legal advisor in the head in Florida after deciding he had joined a cabal of child-stealing Satanists. By the time the mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 this year, QAnon already had a solid foothold in Europe. At first, it was on the margins of protests against coronavirus lockdowns in Germany and Britain. But during the lockdowns, QAnon accommodated a range of other conspiracies and turned darker, first in the United States and then across the Atlantic. It was around this time that the name of a disgraced French politician started circulating in French QAnon chats on Telegram. Remy Daillet-Wiedemann was finding new audiences for his previously obscure calls to overthrow Frances government, resist the medical dictatorship of coronavirus restrictions and protect children from the government-linked pedophiles in their midst. In Europe, a tipping point came when everything got wrapped under the banner of Save our Children, said Andreas Onnerfors, a Swedish researcher who studies the history of conspiracy theories. Daillet-Wiedemanns name appeared 271 times in a QAnon Telegram group from October until April, when its chat history was scrubbed. Most of those mentions came amid a debate among the digital soldiers about whether his movement to overthrow the government was authentic, according to data shared with the AP by Jordan Wildon, an extremism researcher who archived the material before the chat history was erased. The more Daillet-Wiedemanns theories aligned with the QAnon conspiracy, the more his audience grew. In early spring, a group of his supporters fell under surveillance by French antiterrorism investigators. Around the same time, one of Montemaggis Telegram friends advised her to contact Daillet-Wiedemann about her custody troubles. Daillet-Wiedemann, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Malaysia for years, had a network of a few hundred supporters, with a much smaller hard core, according to Francois Perain, the prosecutor in the regions main city of Nancy. He instructed one of his supporters to make a plan for Mia and for another French child in a similar situation, and wired 3,000 euros for transportation and equipment, Perain said. Five men, ages 23 to 60, came together in the plot they dubbed Operation Lima an anagram of Lola and Mias names. They gave themselves code names as well: Jeannot, Pitchoun, the Crow, Bruno, Bouga. A sixth man, a retired lieutenant-general from the French military, forged government paperwork for the mission in Frances Vosges region, near Switzerland. That officer on Tuesday was among those detained in the plot to attack vaccine centers, the judicial official said. The main planner went by the nickname Bouga and was an educator, according to his lawyer, Randall Schwerdorffer. He vetted Montemaggi with an online questionnaire before organizing what he considered a legitimate intervention, the lawyer said. He declined to release his clients real name for reasons of privacy. Concluding that Mia was in psychological danger, the men drew up a script for their roles in extracting her. Anti-terrorism investigators listening in on Daillet-Wiedemanns supporters overheard troubling discussions about a camping trip in the eastern borderlands but could make little sense of it. On April 13, an anthracite gray Volkswagen van pulled into Les Poulieres. Flashing official-looking paperwork, the two men inside claimed to be carrying out a welfare check on Mia for the government. The girls grandmother agreed to their request to take her briefly away for an interview. A quick call to the real child protective services revealed her mistake. By then Mia was long gone, on her way to a neighboring village. There, Montemaggi waited in a black Peugeot with the other men. They caravaned to the Swiss border, then Montemaggi and two of the men entered the woods. Over several hours, Montemaggi and the men hiked eastward, taking turns carrying Mia. When they reached Switzerland, another member of the network met them in his Porsche Cayenne. He took them not to a safehouse as expected but to a hotel. As they were settling in for the night, the kidnapping alert flashed on television screens across France, one of only two dozen the nation has authorized in the past 15 years. The photos of Mia and her mother were beamed to millions of screens simultaneously. Thats when Daillet-Wiedemann stepped in again from Malaysia, Perain said. He sent out a call for shelter that only one person answered and only for one night. By then, the antiterrorism investigators had connected the van from Les Poulieres with the anti-government clique of Daillet-Wiedemann supporters under surveillance. They figured out that the coded language of the camping trip referred to the abduction in the Vosges region. Most of the men were arrested in France the next day. None bothered to hide their role or their conviction that the kidnapping was actually a restitution. One 58-year-old man compared himself to Arsene Lupin, the fictional French gentleman thief. They passed from conspiratorial beliefs to very serious acts, and those who went into action didnt necessarily realize that they were on the wrong side of the law, Perain said. Mia and Montemaggi were still missing, but investigators now knew that they had crossed the border and were headed east. ___ On April 15, Montemaggi and Mia were driven to the decommissioned music box factory. It lacked electricity, running water and beds, but had something the young mother turned kidnapper needed more isolation. With no alternatives, Montemaggi spent three nights at the factory, chatting briefly with the artists and hikers who passed through during the day and trying to keep Mia amused. Witnesses said the pair baked a cake, played games and explored the surrounding clearing. She told one woman she was going to take the girl to Saint Petersburg, Russia, but had no clear idea how. That period in the factory gave investigators the time they needed to find Mia and her mother before they left Switzerland. The police arrived on Sunday morning. They spotted Mia first, checking her photo against the kidnap alert. Then her mother walked outside, and the game was up. Montemaggi was taken into custody on kidnapping charges. Her family declined comment, as did her lawyer. Mia was reunited with her grandmother. Daillet-Wiedemann posted a video praising the kidnappers. These are heroes. They are re-establishing the law. I congratulate them and will do everything to free them, he said in a YouTube video viewed 30,000 times. He would not get the chance. Malaysia expelled him in June. Now he himself is jailed on charges of conspiring in the organized abduction of a child. At his first court hearing, Dailet-Wiedemann declared himself a candidate for president, maintaining that the charges against him are political. His YouTube channel went offline soon after Mia was returned to her grandmothers village home. Let them arrest me, he said at the time. People will see that Im on the front lines and thats how I will lead my revolution. Judges on Monday finally agreed to Montemaggi's requests to be freed until trial, after months of insistence from her family and lawyer that she poses no danger to her daughter or anyone else. Ive begun to put down in black and white my natural rights, she wrote to a Telegram acquaintance, weeks before she was arrested. With this text, Ill ensure my rights are respected. ___ Bram Janssen in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Paris contributed to this report. Texas Democrats are crying foul over a proposed congressional redistricting plan that would take two of the states largest military bases away from Democratic members of Congress who represent them today. Under the latest Texas Senate redistricting plan, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland would be removed from U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castros 20th Congressional District, and Fort Bliss in El Paso would be taken from U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobars 16th Congressional District. Both would be repackaged into the sprawling 23rd Congressional District, now represented by Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Republican in his first term. This is yet another example of extreme partisan gerrymandering, Castro said of the maps. Im honored to represent the Joint Base San Antonio community in Congress. Adding areas around Fort Bliss and Lackland to Gonzales district is calculated to make his seat more winnable for Republicans. In 2020, Gonzales won his race with just 50.6 percent of the vote. With the alterations, Republicans are creating a district that would have favored former President Donald Trump by 5 more percentage points than in 2020, according to the Cook Political Report in Washington, D.C. Having major Defense Department facilities and economic engines such as Lackland in a district is a source of pride for members of Congress and can help them argue for related committee assignments. Lackland has 24,000 active-duty members, 10,000 civilian employees and 11,000 contractors. If the changes are approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, Gonzales district would stretch from El Paso to Loop 410 in San Antonio. The only piece of San Antonio inside 410 in Gonzales district would be a section that shoots from 410 to Berman to include all of Lackland and Port San Antonio. RACE BLIND: GOP lawmakers swear new Texas redistricting maps are race blind Gonzales, a former cryptologist, served in the Navy from 1999 to 2019. State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said the new map shows the Republicans steering the redistricting process went to lengths to ensure such an important piece of San Antonio was moved out of the district where it has been for decades. Im going to stand up to fight against this happening, Menendez said. William Luther /William Luther The redistricting plan has other important changes for San Antonio. On the Northwest Side, tens of thousands of people from Helotes to Guilbeau Road along Bandera Road would no longer be represented by Castro. Instead, they would shift into the Gonzales district. And thousands of people on the East Side would no longer be represented by Austin Democrat Lloyd Doggett. Instead, those voters would shift into the 28th Congressional District represented now by Laredo Democrat Henry Cuellar. On Monday, state Sen. Cesar Blanco, D-El Paso, objected to Fort Bliss being removed from the 16th Congressional District. He proposed two different amendments to the congressional maps that would put Fort Bliss back into it. Both amendments were defeated along party lines, with all Republicans voting against them. The final maps are scheduled to be voted on Friday by the full Senate. State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican who is leading the redistricting effort, has said shell consider amendments to the plan until Thursday morning, but with no guarantee of making changes. So far, Republicans have shown little appetite for making the maps more agreeable to Democrats. Broadly, the maps protect threatened GOP incumbents, including Gonzales and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin, who represents an area from San Antonios North Side to Austin, including a swath of the Hill Country. The most dramatic changes would be felt in other major metro areas across the state, as Dallas districts would be significantly altered and Houston and Austin both would gain a congressional district. Texas has gained 4 million residents since 2010, a surge driven almost exclusively by people of color, especially Hispanics. But the proposed congressional map does not create any new majority-Latino or majority-Black districts. jeremy.wallace@chron.com Taylor Pettaway A Judson ISD middle school was forced to go under lockdown Tuesday after there were reports of a man walking in a nearby neighborhood firing gunshots, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Javier Salazar said deputies are still searching for the possible shooter but that there is no threat to Metzger Middle School in northeast Bexar County. The lockdown was lifted at 11:30 a.m. Kyle has voted to renew a two-of-a-kind public transportation program to allow riders to take an Uber anywhere in the city for $3.14. The Hays County city is something of a testing ground for the subsidized rideshare trips. The only other U.S. city doing something similar is Boston, Massachusetts, according to Uber. The Uber Kyle program, which launched in October 2020 and renewed for the next fiscal year last week, lets residents ride anywhere in the city for $3.14. The city pays the remaining bill up to $10. Riders must cover the tip and any part of the cost above $10. The city began developing the service in 2018 by reaching out to both Uber and Lyft. Kyles City Council earmarked $80,000 in its 2019 budget for the program in the hopes that it would get off the ground, but it wasnt able to launch until the 2020 fiscal year. The city budgeted $130,000 in the 2020 fiscal year for the programs inaugural year, and used just over $20,000 of that for actual rides. The council bumped that budget up to $230,000 for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, in anticipation of increased ridership as more businesses open up after the pandemic, as well as expanded services. When we launched it in October 2020, we were still kind of opening up amid the pandemic, Mayor Pro Tem Rick Koch said. But still, several businesses were closed. Up until the Uber partnership, Kyle hadnt had a citywide public transportation system for several years. Kyle had a shuttle bus system in 2015, but it was scrapped after about a year due to low ridership. The City Council then broached the idea of a partnership with Uber or Lyft in 2018 after calls mounted for public transportation options. Kyle, which long has been a bedroom community for people working in the Austin metropolitan area, is growing at a record pace and is set to overtake San Marcos as the fastest-growing city in Hays County, according to U.S. Census data. The council launched a public transportation task force to study options. The goal was to find a cost-per-ride model in line with what Uber or Lyft would cost, Koch said. At that time, that meant $7 to $10 for a ride anywhere within city limits. We decided that technology was our friend, Koch said. Kyle officials approached Uber and Lyft about the program. They inked a deal with Uber because it was able to get the software and technology infrastructure off the ground. A challenge: The app needed to recognize city limits and apply vouchers to rides therein. The city landed on $3.14 as a cheeky way to brand and advertise the service: Kyle markets itself as the Pie Capital of Texas, and the value of the number, Pi, begins with 3.14. Thats where that weird number came from, Koch said. Riders must download both the Uber and City of Kyle apps, download a voucher and fill out information, and accept the voucher. Once a passenger enters the ride destination in the Uber app, the voucher is applied. Anyone over 18 the minimum age to order a ride from Uber can get the discount for trips within city limits. But also, with the new fiscal year, the city added two alternatives for which riders pay 31.4 percent of the cost, with Kyle taking care of the rest. Those are trips to and from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, about 30 miles from Kyle, as well as trips to and from the Veterans Affairs clinic in south Austin, about 23 miles away, Assistant City Manager Jerry Hendricks said. The city is working out some kinks in the program, like getting wait times down they now average about 12 minutes and getting the word out to more Uber drivers. But Koch said the Uber Kyle program is promising in a city like Kyle because of its growth and the opportunities it allows for local businesses. If you have a vibrant rideshare program, that could mean fewer buzzed drivers and more open parking spaces, Koch said. There are great planning aspects in the future for a program like this, if it can become robust and well-adopted, Koch said. Annie Blanks writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. annie.blanks@express-news.net. Thanks to a new Texas law that went into effect last month, anyone who can legally own a firearm can carry it in a holster in public, for the first time since Reconstruction. The new law also eliminated the requirement for training and permits. Previously, any handgun owner who wanted to bring their firearm into a public space had to go through an eligibility screening, register fingerprints and undergo four to six hours of training, in addition to passing a written exam and shooting proficiency test. Heres what you need to know about the new permitless carry law in Texas. On ExpressNews.com: Passengers attempting to pass guns through security at a higher rate during pandemic, TSA says Who is allowed to carry a gun now? The new Texas law doesn't change eligibility for gun ownership. You must be at least 21 years old and can not have served a sentence for a felony or family violence within the last five years. Who isnt allowed to carry a gun? Some carrying restrictions are still in effect. Convicted felons, violent domestic abusers and people who have been found mentally incapacitated by a court still arent allowed to carry a handgun. The new law also adds that those convicted of assault causing bodily injury, deadly conduct, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct are ineligible. On ExpressNews.com: Here's what you need to know about buying beer or wine on Sundays in Texas Lawmakers also increased fines for illegal weapons carried by felons and those convicted of family violence offenses. Do I still need a background check? The new law has no effect on purchase and ownership regulations. However, there are restrictions on sales through licensed gun dealers, which require an FBI background check. There are no such requirements for private sales. Can I still get a license to carry? A license to carry is no longer required in Texas. Youre also not required to do training. However, the new law did direct the Texas Department of Public Safety to offer a free, online gun safety course. How can I carry the gun? You can either conceal or openly carry your weapon. The new law repealed the requirement that the holster must be a belter or shoulder. Belly bands and holsters, including one for your waistband, ankle, pocket and thigh, are allowed. Ralph Barrera, MBO / Associated Press Where can I carry a gun? You can carry a firearm in most public spaces, as long as youre sober. Churches and private businesses can prohibit them on their premises with written or verbal notice. Where cant I carry a gun? Guns are still banned from schools, courthouses, airport terminals, amusement parks and hospitals. There are also restrictions for places where voting, government meetings and sporting events are taking place. Churches and private businesses can ban open carry. Previously, anyone who didnt want weapons on their premises had to post at least two signs. One was for concealed carry and one was for open carry. The new law requires businesses to post a third sign to excluded unlicensed carry. On ExpressNews.com: Lackland, Fort Bliss would be removed from Democrat-controlled districts under GOP plan If youre warned that you may not carry a gun on a premises, you must immediately leave. Violators can be charged with a misdemeanor or third-degree felony. I have a record for unlawful carrying in Texas. What now? The new law allows for the expunction of criminal records for unlawful carrying of a handgun in nonprohibited places before Sept. 1. Timothy.Fanning@express-new.net With vivid witness accounts of the Sutherland Springs church massacre, a trial began Monday in San Antonio to determine how much the Air Force should pay to compensate the families of the 26 people who died and the 22 who were injured. The gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley of New Braunfels, served in the Air Force and was dismissed with a bad-conduct discharge. He exhibited violent behavior while in the service and pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife and stepson. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled in July that the Air Force was mainly responsible for the massacre because it had failed to record Kelleys assault conviction in a national database used to check the backgrounds of gun purchasers. Had the conviction been entered into the database, Kelley might have been prevented from buying the assault-style rifle he used. On Monday, Rodriguez began to hear testimony in the damages phase of the case, which is expected to last two weeks. Staff file photo On Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, Kelley entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs clad in tactical gear, a ballistic vest and a black mask and fired on worshippers. He killed himself after fleeing the scene with police in pursuit. John Porter Holcombe, who survived the shooting but lost several members of his family, spent several hours on the witness stand Monday, recalling the horror of the shooting along with happy memories from when his relatives were still alive. Holcombe said he was videotaping the Sunday morning service when he and others heard thuds outside the church and thought someone was horsing around. He later would learn they were gunshots. Moments later, the front door opened and a guy in tactical gear, dressed in black and with a rifle, stood at the entrance. First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, today you are all going to die! Holcombe said the shooter declared. Holcombe recalled what he heard next: Boom! Boom! Boom! The shooter emptied an ammunition clip into the congregation, paused to reload the rifle and then walked down the aisle, firing again before repeating the process. Smoke filled the air. The shooter said he could not see, Holcombe said. Holcombe wept as he recalled hearing moaning from the victims. He wanted to do something but was overcome with helplessness. Then the shooter moved back toward the front of the church. I turned my back, he said. I didnt want to make face contact with who was going to shoot me. Holcombe said he was shot a few times, and then lay still. I thought the man was being possessed, Holcombe said. Who in their right mind goes and does that? Holcombe said the shots started again, but they sounded different, as if from another gun. He realized the shooter had left and was in a gunfight outside. A good Samaritan fired at the shooter, wounding him. He heard people yelling, Praise the Lord! and celebrating that they were alive, but I was upset with God that he allowed it to happen. Holcombe looked around for his wife, family and friends. He saw lifeless bodies, some unrecognizable. Their beautiful faces! he cried. He called out for his wife, Crystal, 36, who was pregnant with their first child. The couple planned to name the baby Carlin Brite Billy Bob Holcombe because they were at first unsure of the gender. Holcombe later realized he had lost not only his wife and unborn child, but his parents, Bryan and Karla Holcombe; a brother, Marc Danny Holcombe; an infant niece, Noah Holcombe; and two of Crystals children (John Holcombes stepchildren), Gregory and Megan Hill. I wish there was something I could have done ... to ... stop it, he said through tears. To stop it. Texas Ranger Terry Snyder was summoned to the church by Wilson County deputies. When he arrived, a child was the first of many victims he saw. Pews were overturned. Bodies were piled on the pews, or on each other, on the floor, everywhere. Snyder said he experienced anger, disbelief and sadness as he took in the scene. I was going through mixed emotions, kind of denial on how this could happen, Snyder testified. There were families or parents trying to protect their children, laying on top of their kids, Snyder said. You had church members trying to protect their children. Everyone seemed to have rushed from the center of the church, where the gunman had walked back and forth in the middle aisle, he said. Asked by a lawyer for the families to describe the smell that day, Snyder replied: You could smell ... death. Snyder said the gunman fired 450 shots in all 254 outside the church and 196 inside. Snyder said police recovered several green-tip bullets, a military surplus bullet that has stronger ballistic penetration. Snyder recalled that the phones of slain worshipers were buzzing and vibrating as worried relatives tried to check on them. It was just constant, Snyder said. The buzzing would stop and another would start. Snyder described visiting one victim in the hospital who became alarmed when he heard cellophane pop, thinking someone was firing again. In his July ruling, the judge found that the Air Force was 60 percent liable for the shooting because it failed to exercise reasonable care in reporting Kelleys criminal history to an FBI database. The judge found Kelley 40 percent liable. The government argued at the time that the Air Force wasnt culpable and Kelley was to blame for deceiving the National Instant Criminal Background Check System when he bought several firearms, including the Ruger AR-556 he used in the mass shooting. In Mondays opening arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Dingivan, representing the Air Force, said the government has no intention ... to denigrate or dismiss the claims of these plaintiffs, who we can all agree endured a horrific tragedy. Regardless of our arguments, or reservations or objections through the liability phase of this trial, there will not be, cannot be, any argument that many of these people died, many suffered terrible physical injuries (and) many more suffered psychologically, Dingivan said. He said the government has already stipulated reasonable compensation and reasonable treatment for some of these plaintiffs including for past medical expenses, trauma surgeries, physical rehabilitation and mental health counseling. In court papers, the suggested payments range from about $400 to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. As to future medical expenses, we have presented life care plans covering future (treatment/needs) recommending millions of dollars in future medical care, he said. We have proposed PTSD treatment, backed by research, for those individuals who use it. We have proposed home health care, medicine, surgery ... for those plaintiffs who need them. guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland Re: My aunt asked me to write her eulogy. This is probably more than she had in mind, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson, Other Views, Sept. 19: In this column, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson described the difficult life her aunt, Debbie Cavazos Kay, led because of mental illness, sometimes living on the street, battling addiction and ongoing health problems, the times of regaining sobriety and the times of falling back. Nancys story sounded so familiar. As board president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, San Antonio, I listen to stories of families providing support to a family member with a mental illness, as well as stories by those personally dealing with a mental illness. It might surprise you that mental illness is relatively common. This year, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health disorder. In Bexar County, thats more than 500,000 people. For about one-quarter of them, or 125,000 people, this will become a chronic lifetime illness. Additionally, 50 percent of all lifetime mental health conditions begin before the age of 14 and 75 percent start before the age of 24. Nancys aunt is more than a statistic, however. She is the face of someone who persisted in living her life with optimism and grace despite her illness. She had an exuberance for life that could mean the decisions she sometimes made could make life even more challenging. On ExpressNews.com: Mental illness is not to blame for violence She could be difficult, demanding, and seemingly without regard for the time and effort others made to help her. But she also helped Nancy learn about the blessing of helping others, enjoying life, not being so quick to judge and to have faith. This is Mental Illness Awareness Week. When we think about awareness, its not just an awareness of people living in our midst with mental illness. Its also about learning to walk alongside someone impacted by mental illness. Its about being aware we become better when we extend ourselves and learn to see others for who they are, and not just the signs and symptoms of a mental illness. Its about being in a relationship with those we love: our family members, friends and co-workers. It shows us how to live as a community, about being more welcoming, inclusive, supportive and engaged with people impacted by mental illness. It seems so counterintuitive. The most vulnerable among us help us discover our humanity, the part of us that cares deeply and enriches our lives immensely. Debbie Cavazos Kay lives beyond her death through the words of her niece, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson. Thank you for sharing, Nancy, and thank you, Debbie Kay Cavazos, for giving meaning to Mental Illness Awareness Week. Doug Beach is board president of NAMI San Antonio. Our soldiers serve, and fight, in the most treacherous of situations. But not all conflicts are abroad; sometimes, the battlefields are in their own psyches. Just as, sometimes, the battles come home. The number of suicides in the U.S. military jumped 15 percent last year, according to a recent Department of Defense report. The biggest increases were recorded among U.S. Marines, more than 30 percent, and the Army, almost 20 percent. If you go back further, focusing on the period between 2015 and 2020, the trend is even more disturbing, showing a 41 percent jump in suicides among service members. Senior military leaders termed the trends troubling. On ExpressNews.com: Military suicides in COVID era hit a new high Suicide rates among our service members and military families are still too high, and the trends are not going in the right direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters. The problem has plagued the military for years, the reasons complex and vexing. Solutions even diagnoses are elusive. But military psychiatrists know one thing: The pandemic, according to some leaders, has amplified the anxiety within an already stressed population. One factor is the macho culture in the military, a trait that crosses gender barriers. It afflicts both men and women, rendering them hesitant to betray any vulnerability. To seek help, experts say, is to violate the code they live by to exude strength by smothering weakness, and to show the courage the civilian population expects. Courage is a double-edged sword. It is a key component of the military psyche, but courage is not the absence of fear; it is the capacity to accept fear and try to overcome it. Military leaders must do a better job of helping our service members understand that dynamic. While the recent report does not explore the causes of the suicides, a more detailed analysis will come with the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report, generally released between May and July, according to the Military Times. Pentagon leaders do not identify gun ownership as a causal factor, but they do see it as a risk recognition that is significant because most military suicides involve a personal weapon; this includes 75 percent of Reserve and 80 percent of National Guard deaths. By comparison, according to the Military Times, firearms are used in 44 percent of suicides among civilians. Research tells us that storing a loaded firearm at home increases the risk of dying by suicide, up to four to six times, Karin Orvis, director of the Defense Suicide Prevention Office, told reporters. In Texas, the Health and Human Services Commission funds a program that features a website with updated resources for veterans. But perhaps one of the most powerful antidotes can be found in veterans and service members speaking openly. I have depression myself, Sean Bridwell, a Marine Corp veteran who recently received training as a counselor for a program created by the commission, told reporters. And Im getting help. This is a way to give back. On ExpressNews.com: Preyor-Johnson: A July 4 wish: Preventing military, veteran suicides Bridwell and others like him are often the best advocates, because they have been there, and they understand. The rest of us those in civilian society must also understand, and we should support those who support us, not only by understanding but by translating that understanding into advocacy. Our service members do so much for us, and the least we can do for them is speak on their behalf in the halls of power, whether in the Legislature or Congress. It could mean the difference between life and death. The new Texas abortion ban has spurred a flood of women traveling sometimes hundreds of miles to access the procedure in neighboring states. The law, which prohibits abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and calls for lets private citizens to enforce it by filing lawsuits, has been in effect for just over a month. But already, clinics in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado and New Mexico have said theyre being inundated with Texas patients. We havent seen numbers like this ever, Dr. Rebecca Cohen, a Denver OB/GYN, told CBS News last month. An abortion can be painful, people can hurt, Cohen said of the emotional toll. But this is different. We are seeing patients who are traumatized when they arrive. In Louisiana, officials at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport said they went from seeing no more than 20 percent of their patients from Texas to now over 50 percent. Some patients are driving from as far as McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley. Were being flooded with calls, clinic director Kathleen Pittman told KHOU 11. She added in an interview with CBS, Theyre literally begging to get in and be seen as quickly as possible. One in 10 women of reproductive age in the U.S. live in Texas, or about seven million people. Texas providers performed about 54,000 abortions last year. The new law, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest, is expected to cut off abortion access for about 85 to 90 percent of those seeking it, according to providers. IN-DEPTH: UT law professor warns Congress of broader threat from Texas abortion ban So far Texas abortion providers say they are complying with the new guidelines, though they believe they are unconstitutional and are fighting for injunctions in state and federal court. Providers say they cannot afford the risk of even frivolous suits being filed, since the law bars them from recouping attorneys fees if they win a case. The Guttmacher Institute, which supports for abortion rights, estimates that Texans are now traveling an average of 14 times farther to get the procedure. In states such as Louisiana, they then have to go through mandatory waiting periods. The law is likely to disproportionately impact women of color, many of whom lack the time and money needed to get out of state. In affidavits last month, abortion providers said Texas patients were undergoing traumatic and sometimes daunting trips to neighboring states. One child who was allegedly raped by a relative traveled with her guardian from Galveston to Oklahoma to get an abortion, and another woman was reportedly selling some of her belongings to pay for the trip to an out-of-state abortion clinic, according to the filings, which are part of a pending federal lawsuit over the law. VIGILANTE JUSTICE: Federal government makes its case against Texas abortion ban Allison Gilbert, a doctor with Southwestern Womens Surgery Center in Dallas, said in an affidavit that the clinic is struggling to stay afloat and has temporarily moved more than a dozen employees to its affiliate in Albuquerque. While these staff members agreed to be away from their families in Texas for a short amount of time, the arrangement is neither financially nor practically sustainable and is far from a solution to the problems posed by S.B. 8, Gilbert said in the document. If the law is not struck down soon, Southwesterns clinic in Dallas will inevitably close. Abortion rights opponents say the ban is insulated from legal challenges because of the unique private enforcement method, which allows nearly anyone to sue those who help provide an abortion, including doctors and funding groups. Any state action to enforce the law is expressly prohibited. Other states have enacted similar prohibitions, but all of them have been held up in court. Several conservative states including Louisiana are now considering passing their own versions of the Texas law. jeremy.blackman@chron.com MOSCOW (AP) Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the third time this month on Tuesday, and daily new infections once again exceeded 25,000 a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnantly low and the government shuns imposing tough restrictions to stem the spread. Russia's state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 895 new deaths the country's highest daily death toll in the pandemic. The previous record, of 890 deaths, was registered on Sunday, and the one before that, of 887 deaths, occurred on Friday. The Kremlin has said that the situation elicits concern, but still it is not considering a countrywide lockdown or any other nationwide measures. Deputy Prime Minister and head of the countrys coronavirus task force Tatyana Golikova said Tuesday that Russia is close to registering 30,000 coronavirus infections a day. There are three times more confirmed coronavirus cases this fall compared with last fall, she said. Golikova added that the government has discussed a number of measures with authorities in the regions that would allow the avoidance of a lockdown. She didn't offer details about what these measures would entail, saying only that they imply a stage-by-stage approach depending on the epidemiological situation in the specific region. A number of Russian regions have limited attendance of mass events and restricted access to some public places, such as theaters, cinemas, restaurants and bars, only to those who have been vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or tested negative over the past 72 hours. But critics question whether these measures are enough to slow down the surge. Golikova on Tuesday promised grants to regions if they declare themselves free of COVID-19. In some areas of the country, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, life remains largely normal, with businesses operating as usual and mask mandates loosely enforced. In the meantime, Russia's vast, yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak. Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city, and a desperate ambulance crew in the city of Vladimir 180 kilometers (about 110 miles) east of Moscow driving a COVID-19 patient to a local government building after failing to find a hospital bed for her. Officials have blamed low vaccine uptake. Commenting on the record deaths reported on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the main cause of the surge in fatalities was the insufficient level of vaccination." The virus is becoming angrier, and the level of vaccination is insufficient. And as a rule, those who haven't been vaccinated get seriously ill and, unfortunately, die, Peskov told reporters Tuesday. Golikova said on Tuesday that nearly 33% of Russias 146 million people had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and just 29% have been fully vaccinated. According to Gogov.ru, a independent website that tracks vaccinations in Russia, immunization rates are down to the level of April, after spiking between June and August, when dozens of Russian regions made shots mandatory for certain groups of people. The website estimates that about 129,000 people a day get their first shots, and a total of some 244,000 first and second shots a day is being administered in Russia at the moment. Peskov has attributed the slow pace of the immunization drive to an insufficiently active campaign explaining that there are no alternatives to vaccination. Experts have pointed to several other factors, such as mistrust prompted by the approval and rollout of the dominating domestic vaccine, Sputnik V, even though at the time it hadn't completed large-scale trials necessary to establish its safety and effectiveness, and lack of motivation to get the shots at a time when few restrictions are in place amid mixed signals from the authorities about the outbreak. Despite the soaring infections, officials in Moscow on Monday announced the closure of the largest vaccination point in the Russian capital in Gostiny Dvor, a huge exhibition space, in order to be able to hold cultural events there. At the same time, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin promised to start offering free rapid coronavirus tests in malls and government services centers. Daily new infections in the Russian capital nearly quadrupled over the past month, rising from about 1,100 in early September to about 4,000 this week. In another confusing message, some Russian news outlets reported Monday that the head of country's public health agency, Anna Popova, banned all mass events in light of the surge, only to correct themselves later to say that Popova in fact didn't announce any new restrictions, but was rather talking about the ones already in place that prohibit public events for more than 3,000 people. In all, Russias coronavirus task force has reported over 7.6 million confirmed cases and nearly 212,000 deaths. However, reports by Russias state statistical service Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality numbers. To boost vaccine uptake, officials in Moscow announced bringing back lotteries for those who decide to get their shots. Deputy Prime Minister Golikova on Tuesday recommended carrying out such lotteries monthly until the end of the year. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic Fairfield, MT (59436) Today Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 38F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 38F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. When Jeff, a retired marketing consultant from Chicago, was closing on his home sale, he received a new set of instructions at the last minute on where to send several thousand dollars in closing expenses. At first blush, the email looked legit with an official-looking logo and professional language specifying the amount owed and itemized expenses. But one thing caught his eye: The email address looked strange. Just to be safe, he called his mortgage broker. Dont do that! his broker told him in an alarmed voice. It was a scam. If he hit send, his closing fees would go to a thief who had been monitoring his emails. I was a keystroke away from losing thousands of dollars, Jeff recalled. As the housing market sizzles across the country with nearly 6 million homes bought last year scammers have been finding new ways to tap into this once-secure market. Real estate transactions still demand reams of paperwork and regulations involving lawyers, brokers, title insurance companies and banks, but the fact that much of this work now takes place online gives thieves countless opportunities to exploit vulnerable buyers. Last year, more than 11,000 homeowners were scammed out of more than $220 million in closing funds alone, according to the American Land and Title Association, a trade group that represents professionals who perform property transactions. Closing-fund theft is one of many real estate scams that have emerged and proliferated over the past two years or so. The main lure is to get people to send money to fake addresses. They include: Fake Rentals. Scamsters post rental ads either for real properties they dont own or spoofs they have created with photographs on major sites like Craigslist. Typically they ask for below-market rates, get interested parties to put down a deposit, then disappear. Fraudulent Foreclosure Relief. Pioneered during the housing market crash in 2007-2009, this scam involves thieves promising a service that would end foreclosure proceedings. Thieves collect a fee of several hundred dollars, then disappear with the money. Moving Scams. Most people dont actually meet their movers before they hire them, which enables fraudulent operators to either take an upfront fee and not move clients possessions or hold furniture hostage, demanding a higher fee and refusing to complete the move unless they are paid more. Usually these bogus movers are pitched through moving brokers. The pandemic has helped fuel the boom in real estate scams. More people working from home translates into more valuable information being sent over less secure personal Internet connections lacking firewall and other protections that offices might provide. The housing boom fueled by COVID which has sparked demand but constrained new construction has led to greater competition in many markets, leading increasing numbers of buyers to purchase homes sight unseen. The real estate company Redfin reports that 63% of homebuyers last year made an offer on a property they hadnt seen in person. In addition, the rise of cryptocurrency makes it harder to trace bogus transactions and easier to launder ill-gotten gains. The rise in real estate scams is part of a larger increase in crimes involving emailed funds. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), in 2020 the agency received 19,369 Business Email Compromise (BEC)/ Email Account Compromise (EAC) complaints with adjusted losses of more than $1.8 billion. Scammers prey upon victims with a number of deception tools. They use phishing emails to mine valuable personal or financial information, claiming to falsely verify bank account or Social Security information. Or they may spoof consumers into thinking that an email, text or call is from a real financial company, online retailer or the IRS. Many of these scams originate overseas, yet because the perpetrators can create and shut down fake emails and websites quickly before regulators catch up with them, they are hard to trace and catch. The Treasury Department, FBI and its Internet Crime Complaint Center broadly categorize closing-expense fraud under what they call business email compromise. The scam is relatively simple: A fake email pops up for a homeowner closing on a mortgage usually on the day all the documents and closing expenses need to be verified and transferred. The false email lures the closing party into electronically transferring funds to a thief, who is hard to trace. No. 7 in the FBI Cyberscam Top 10 The National Association of Realtors, the main trade association for the real estate industry, estimates that there were more than 13,000 complaints relating to property-related fraud last year, although that number includes rental fraud. Nevertheless, that puts real-estate email fraud in the top-10 list (No. 7) of the FBIs most prevalent cyberscams. Deanne Rymarowicz, associate counsel for the NAR, told RealClearInvestigations that cyberthieves have become diligent in stalking potential victims. They look for pending sales in public records, she said, create profiles from their social media then hack or spoof their emails with false addresses. One positive statistic Rymarowicz discovered: When these thefts are reported to law enforcement agencies such as the FBI within 24 hours, there is an 82% recovery rate of stolen funds. So acting quickly is important. Most people, however, are highly embarrassed when they are stung by these scams. As a result, only about 15% report them to authorities, according to the FBI. Another industry group, the National Credit Union Association, stated that while these kinds of scams are increasing, what makes them so enticing to criminals and easy to pull off is the nature of the real estate closing process, which is often hurried, and the fact that email is a commonly used method for providing legitimate instructions for sending funds at closing. A spokesman for the group declined to comment further. Other kinds of residential real estate fraud are more difficult to perpetrate, but involve slightly different modus operandi. As outlined in a piece RCI published last year, a notable rise in home title cybertheft was being observed by regulators. Although more sophisticated than closing-expense theft, these scams involved fraudulent home title transfers. Plain-vanilla mortgage fraud, involving fake financings, was rampant in the years following the credit meltdown of 2008. Thieves advertised mortgage relief scams and other ways to steal funds and personal information. Most of the swindles involved collecting upfront fees for fake mortgage services. The newest wrinkle is that the cyberthief may wash the stolen funds into a cryptocurrency, which will make the transaction even harder to track if they use tumbler software that scrambles the route the transfer takes. In 2020, the IC3 observed an increase in the number of complaints related to the use of identity theft and funds being converted to cryptocurrency, the agency reported. When transferred into a digital currency, special software can cloak the transaction and hide the funds. Earlier this year, the FBI also issued a statement on how crypto theft works: The victim entity will receive a spoofed or otherwise compromised email that contains doctored wire instructions provided by the bad actor; however, since the requested transfer is directed to a traditional financial institution (where the cryptocurrency exchange has a custodial account), it is not easily identified by the victim. In response to the rapid explosion of these real estate scams in recent years, principal financial regulators and trade associations are seeing and have issued myriad consumer warnings in what they characterize as an epidemic of online fraud. Some [thieves] are stealing through phishing emails, some are monitoring social media who tend to announce things like closings, said Mitria Wilson-Spotser, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America. An innocent act has become a calling card for thieves. The real estate industry; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which also declined to comment beyond its website statement; and other government consumer protection agencies, have been proactive in telling consumers how to avoid these scams, which may continue to rise as more people do electronic transactions and dont take time to sweat important details or use two-factor authentication. Compounding the difficulty that regulators have in cracking down on these crimes is that real estate transactions are monitored by various jurisdictions and agencies, including multiple state and federal banking and law enforcement authorities, while data security and privacy concerns are often overseen by separate government divisions or agencies. The CFAs Wilson-Spotser notes that efforts to combat these scams fall under an incredibly leaky federal data security and privacy umbrella, which the CFPB doesnt have jurisdiction over. While multiple eyes on these transactions can be a good thing, its difficult to know which agency to turn to if youre scammed. Generally, banks, mortgage brokers and real estate agents have the biggest incentive to be the most aggressive watchdogs. But wire fraud involving financial transactions also comes under the umbrella of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, the obscure sub-agency working with the Treasury and Justice departments. A FinCEN spokesperson noted that when authorities receive a closing-fund theft complaint, we move quickly to track and make contact with foreign jurisdictions to assist in recovering the funds. Neither FinCEN nor the FBI would provide further details on how they handle enforcement. The simplest safeguard in nearly every case, many experts told RCI, is to simply pick up the phone to confirm closing instructions with the official person assigned to the transaction details, who is usually a legitimate employee of a title company, bank or a lawyer. As Jeff in Chicago found out in the nick of time, if something smells fishy, it probably is. Instead of hitting send call you broker or bank. Sheep farmers are calling on politicians and green activists to back British wool as Wool Week gets underway for a full month this year. Each year the event is used to amplify the wool message to consumers by putting a spotlight on its natural performance qualities and ecological benefits. As part of this, British Wool will be highlighting to the public those organisations who have made a commitment to buy British-produced wool. The co-operative will also promote the sustainability as well as the environmental benefits of wool and the wider sector. Graham Clark, British Wool's director of marketing said: We heavily promote wool throughout the year to consumers. "However, Wool Week gives us an opportunity every year to launch a specific campaign to help drive awareness and ultimately demand for British wool rich products. "This year we have an extensive programme planned with our brand partners promoting the best British wool has to offer." The new British Wool e-shop will also be a focus for this month's campaign, giving sellers a platform to sell wool rich products direct to the consumer. Wool Week is here! ?? This year #WoolWeek will be running from today for the full month of October. Check out our press release on how we are embracing #WoolWeek and why it's so important for the wool industry ?? https://t.co/xUUGwIa69i#BritishWool #LookForTheShepherdsCrook pic.twitter.com/i9RIxvwhBP British Wool Farm (@BritishWoolFarm) October 4, 2021 We 'feel better in wool - do you? You can feel better that you have made a good choice for the planet. Wool is natural, renewable and totally biodegradable - no landfill and no micro-fibres when you choose wool ????@campaignforwool Feel Better #ChooseWool#woolweek pic.twitter.com/s2qfV60Dyh Campaign for Wool (@Campaignforwool) October 4, 2021 It's #WoolWeek and the perfect opportunity to share exactly why we use wool for our blankets and scarves. @Campaignforwool #ChooseWool Visit the link to find out more: https://t.co/xTrtRlLeCU pic.twitter.com/XXVmarV5Rc The British Blanket Company (@BritishBlankets) October 4, 2021 British Wool have also recently been involved in launching a number of new products and initiatives to help drive demand and ultimately the price for wool. These include a major 100% carpet yarn - 'Wool Britannia' - with the market leader in the residential carpet sector in the UK, Headlam Group Plc. A new traceable wool scheme has also been launched that already includes brands such as Harrison Spinks and Devon Duvets. This year's Wool Week will be welcomed by producers who had seen rock bottom wool prices since the pandemic started last year. Mr Clark said that while wool prices were 'well on the way to recovery', these various industry initiatives would help drive additional demand. "We have a lot to update the consumer on during Wool Week," he said. "Much of this activity will be through our social media channels, we have a growing audience and we hope to increase this further during Wool Week." The dairy industry is being encouraged to get behind a drive to spread accurate facts about the sector's greenhouse gas emissions ahead of this month's COP26 in Glasgow. The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) has pulled together some key facts to highlight how little the sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Farmers, key industry stakeholders and organisations have been asked to push the messages to the wider public in the lead up to the climate summit, on 31 October. The dairy group says the aim is to help inform the public of the actual levels of the sector's greenhouse gas contributions and dispel current myths popular on social media. RABDF explained that less than 3% of total UK emissions come from the dairy sector, and almost half of the emissions from the dairy cow is from their digestion - "a perfectly natural process of ruminants". The organisation says that it takes just 8 litres of tap water to produce 1 litre of milk, compared to 158 litres of tap water to produce 1 litre of almond drink. And UK milk emissions are also lower than global average - the carbon footprint of a litre of British milk is around 1.25kg CO2e compared to a global average of 2.9kg CO2e per litre. Matt Knight, RABDF managing director, has encouraged farmers to highlight the UK dairy industry's real contribution is to greenhouse gas emissions. "As an industry, we are working so hard to reduce the levels, but often this is pushed back in our face when inaccurate facts are published," he said. "The dairy sector, along with other areas of agriculture, is often used as a scapegoat when it comes to emissions, with 'belching' cows regularly hitting the headlines in the national press. "We anticipate UK agriculture will come under the spotlight at COP26, so we must be ready to make our story known and shout about the good work we are doing to reduce emissions from what is already quite a low level." The RABDF has produced some draft social media posts, newsletter snippets, visuals and posters that are free to copy and paste from their website. Farming groups have been left 'shocked and dismayed' after Boris Johnson played down the prospect of a mass cull of pigs due to a shortage of plant staff. The prime minister made the comments on Sundays Andrew Marr show when questioned on the pig sector's ongoing problems, and the likely move toward a mass cull of healthy animals. Producers are seeing a backlog of well over 120,000 pigs on farms, with many quickly running out of space and many more at or close to the limit. The labour shortage at processing plants has resulted in a slowing down of the throughput of pigs through plants, which is adding to the already severe backlog of pigs on farms. When confronted with the issue on the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Johnson brushed aside farmers' concerns, claiming that this was just part of the industry. "I hate to break it to you Andrew but our food processing industry does involve killing a lot of animals," the prime minister said. Andrew Marr pointed out that culled animals are wasted as opposed to being sold for food, and the PM responded: "That is the reality. Your viewers need to understand that, that is just what happens. "What you're talking again about is an issue to do with a shortage of another particular type of workforce. "Actually, what I think needs to happen is again there is a question about the types of jobs that are being done, the pay that is being offered, the levels of automation, the levels of investment." The chief executive of the National Pig Association (NPA) said the prime minister's comments showed 'wilful disregard' toward the industry's problems. "This is absolutely disgusting Ive never seen such wilful disregard and disrespect in my life," Dr Zoe Davies said on Twitter. "You should be ashamed Boris Johnson, this is your mess. Time to fix it." And while the sheep sector isn't facing the worst of the supply chain problems, the National Sheep Association (NSA) said it was 'left reeling' at the 'crass and insensitive' comments. NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said: His comments completely ignored the fact that in the main, livestock farmers in Britain are compassionate and respectful and are focussed on producing food in a responsible manner. "Any farmer faced with a mass cull of animals on farm is going to make sure the job is done humanely but an event such as this will undoubtedly compromise the mental welfare of the farmer and staff involved and this must be recognised. "To raise animals and then have them disposed of as rubbish when supermarket shelves are bare or filled with imported products is morally incomprehensible. It comes as pig producers staged a protest outside the Conservative Party Conference on Monday (4 October) to raise awareness of the sector's struggles. Probed about the issue at a conference fringe event, Defra Secretary George Eustice said some in the industry had "raised issues around the language thresholds". As a result, he said the requirement was "something I know the Home Office are looking at". UK retailers and supermarket chains have also been asked to help the beleaguered sector, by purchasing more British pork. The NPA sent an open letter to retailers which highlighted the issue that cheaper meat imports was having on the labour shortage in processing plants. NPA Chairman Rob Mutimer explained that highly processed products such as gammons needed for Christmas had diverted essential butchery staff resource away from that required for British pigs. "We have also seen other products that require no butchery being imported and prioritised over more labour-intensive British products, simply to keep the supermarket shelves full," he said. "These two issues combined have resulted in a slowing down of the throughput of British pigs through plants, which is adding to the already severe backlog." Mr Mutimer also said that some retailers, who had to date been supportive of British supply chains, were now considering buying EU pork because 'it is much cheaper'. "This would make our situation so much worse to the point that many more pig producers, in addition to those responsible for the 27,500 sows we already know about, would have no choice but to exit the industry." NFU President Minette Batters said she has spoken to some pig producers who protested outside the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester. She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: They are protesting outside and they are angry, distraught and extremely upset. I am desperate to get the facts of this story to the prime minister and that is what the pig farmers outside want to get across, the story of this disaster." She added: We have never had a cull of healthy livestock in this country and this cannot be a first. I cant stress it enough, this cannot happen, there are vets outside as well. It is a welfare disaster. Farmers produce food for the nation and Im very proud to do it, we have very high standards of pork production in this country and we have to solve this issue. Scientists have given their support to government moves to reconsider gene editing regulation step-by-step following a national consultation on the issue. Researchers at the Roslin Institute have welcomed a review into gene editing, saying the move could "help farmers grow more resistant, nutritious, and productive crops". The plans, following a consultation on the issue, could allow the UK to revise rules on the use of gene-editing technologies that can enable changes in an organisms DNA, making breeding more precise and efficient. The UK is able to develop its own regulations of gene editing in the wake of its departure from the European Union. Gene editing does not involve the introduction of DNA from other species. Its use could bring about genetic changes similar to those that could be produced more slowly through natural breeding processes. Under current rules, gene editing is regulated in the same way as genetically modified organisms, in which additional DNA, sometimes from another species, may be introduced into an organism. This is currently controlled by EU regulations. As a first step, Defra will seek to change the rules relating to gene editing to cut red tape for crop trials and make research and development easier. The focus will be on plants produced by genetic technologies, where genetic changes could have occurred naturally or could have been a result of traditional breeding methods. Further steps will be to review the regulatory definitions of a genetically modified organism, to exclude organisms produced by gene editing and other genetic technologies where these could have been developed by traditional breeding. GMO regulations would continue to apply where gene editing introduces DNA from other species into an organism. Professor Helen Sang, of the Edinburgh-based Roslin Institute, said gene editing offered 'major opportunities' to address the challenges of increasing global demand for healthy food with the goal of net zero emissions. She said: "I welcome the announcement as a first step towards reducing unnecessary and unscientific regulatory barriers to the use of advanced breeding techniques which are precise and targeted, allowing us to make specific genetic changes. "Adopting a more proportionate and enabling approach to regulation will open up increased opportunities for international research collaboration, inward investment and technology-based exports, bringing a major boost for UK science." Although Professor Sang welcomed the development, she said she was 'disappointed' that the proposals did not include farmed animals. "There are major opportunities to improve animal health and welfare that are in development, that use gene editing technologies," she added. 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 -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. 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. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Last night while netizens were pulled to twitter as several other social media apps were down, Kartik Aaryan decided to have a #AskKartik session for his fans. During the session Kartik Aaryan received some interesting questions, some hilarious ones and also some crazy demands by his fans. The actor whos known to reply to his fans instantly and make their day made sure he handles crazy demands by fans delicately. During the session one of the fans shared a cartoon picture holding his phone and tweeted saying Reply do warna main nus cut lungi apni (crying-face emoji) #AskKartik. Kartik Aaryan knows how much his fans love him and hence he gave a wise reply to her and said Kabhi aise sochna bhi mat (never even think about doing such a thing), and added a red-heart emoticon. Kartik Aaryans reply delicately explains the fan not to think of such crazy ideas and also sweetly gives her a reply. Love! Kartik Aaryan had many funny questions coming his way. Someone asked him how come he is so handsome to which Kartik Aaryan smartly replied saying how come he is so genuine? Another fan asks him to pick between Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety or Pyaar Ka Punchnama series and the actor picks Luv Ranjan (director to both the films). Kartik Aaryans Ask Kartik sessions are always fun indeed. On the work front Kartik Aaryan just wrapped up shooting for Freddy. He even had his Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 to wrap up simultaneously and currently hes preparing for Shehzada. The actor even has a Diwali release this year as his film Dhamaka goes online on an OTT during Diwali. LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Economist Impact is delighted to programme two hybrid panel sessions at the Kyiv International Economic Forum. Taking place on October 7th with a live audience in Kyiv, the sessions will also be available online, free of charge, to a global virtual audience. The second of these hybrid sessions, Welcome to the health-care revolution, sponsored by UFuture and programmed by Economist Impact, will convene clinicians, industry leaders and thought leaders to take stock of the vast and varied changes that have transformed the health-care industry, and debate ways to preserve the momentum of this evolution. Questions to be explored include: To what extent has covid-19 transformed the global health-care ecosystem, and are those changes here to stay? Which aspects of the health-care system have been changed most profoundly by the pandemic? What have been the most important lessons of covid-19 for the health-care sector? What will it take for the agility demonstrated at the height of the pandemic to be continued into the long term? How can the health sector be quicker to embrace innovation post-pandemic? Has the pandemic fundamentally altered the way governments prioritise health care? What is required to prevent a pandemic of similar magnitude occurring again? Speakers: Arjan Toor , chief executive, Cigna Europe , chief executive, Cigna Europe Maya Matthews , head, performance, health systems unit, European Commission , head, performance, health systems unit, European Commission Kostyantyn Efymenko, founder and president, BioPharma Viktor Kyrylovych Liashko, minister of healthcare, Ukraine Moderator: Robert Guest , foreign editor, The Economist For more information or to register your interest, visit https://bit.ly/3nNbb1x About Economist Impact Economist Events is now Economist Impact , empowering businesses, governments and foundations to catalyse change and enable progress. Uniting the expertise for which The Economist Group is known under a single brand, Economist Impact brings together policy research and insights, data visualisation, custom storytelling, events and media. Economist Impact combines the rigour of a think-tank with the creativity of a media brand, engaging an influential audience in the areas of sustainability, healthcare and globalisation. View our global events . About Kyiv International Economic Forum Press Release Nokia study finds operators can avoid 65% of operational costs with IP network automation Nokia collaborated with analyst research firm Analysys Mason to quantify the benefits from network automation at the domain controller layer for operators providing IP services Analysys Mason collected over 60 data points from operators worldwide on their achieved or expected benefits from their network automation journeys The study focused on the operator's service fulfilment, network lifecycle management, and network and service assurance processes implemented on a network automation platform, such as the Nokia Network Services Platform (NSP) 5 October 2021 Espoo, Finland - Nokia, in collaboration with research firm Analysys Mason, today revealed operators can expect up to a 65% cost avoidance after implementing IP network automation across threeoperations categories.This is one of several key findings from Nokia's commissioned study. Network automation is a key driver for improved network services agility, greater operational efficiency and increased network availability. To quantify the benefits from network automation at the domain controller layer, Analysys Mason interviewed a group of global operators on their network automation strategies and results, collecting more than 60 data points. Analysys Mason then extrapolated the quantified benefits that can be expected from automating IP networks. This study focused on network automation implemented for the operator's service fulfilment, network lifecycle management, and network and service assurance processes with the Nokia NSP. NSP is the domain controller for multivendor IP, optical and microwave networks, enabling operators to automate a plethora of network management processes. According to Analysys Mason, Nokia's market share ranks as one of the leading vendors in the network automation and orchestration space. Analysys Mason found cost avoidance at the domain controller is the result of multiple factors: Process automation reduces the labor time requirement for manual workloads by up to 68%. Consequently, the time needed to roll out new services is reduced by up to 88%. Less manual tasks also means less human errors and higher predictability. The use of a standardized scenarios reduces the frequency of order fallout and issues that require manual correction. Overall, the time spent to process errors is reduced by up to 85%. Automating alarm correlation and root cause analysis offers a significant improvement to the mean time to repair (MTTR) - up to 71%. Larry Goldman, Chief Analyst and Project Director, Analysys Mason, said: "Our study shows clear benefits at the domain layer, and we highly recommend operators automate network management processes for their IP services. Network automation will be critical to enable future network slicing-based business models. Operators should also look for a network automation platform such as the Nokia NSP to reap the benefits of automation and ensure the efficient and automated management and control of network slice-based services." Mike Thompson, Head of IP Network Automation at Nokia, said: "While we have seen significant network automation gains for service delivery, the greatest savings are achieved by automating network lifecycle management. There are still many manual tasks in the areas of network and service migrations, device provisioning, and upgrades that can benefit significantly from network automation. Automation not only improves operator productivity but significantly reduces outages caused during maintenance windows. Network and service assurance automation enables operators to identify root cause, automate restoration, and fix network issues significantly faster." Nokia and Analysys Mason will participate in a webinar on October 20 entitled, "Quantifying and collecting the benefits of IP network automation," to discuss the study and resulting benefits. Resources Webpage for the study : The quantitative benefits of IP network automation (https://www.nokia.com/networks/automation/measurable-benefits/) The quantitative benefits of IP network automation (https://www.nokia.com/networks/automation/measurable-benefits/) Product Webpage: Network Services Platform (NSP) (https://www.nokia.com/networks/solutions/network-services-platform/) Network Services Platform (NSP) (https://www.nokia.com/networks/solutions/network-services-platform/) Study: Operator benefits from the automation of IP networks (https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/210799) Operator benefits from the automation of IP networks (https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/210799) Webinar link to registration (https://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=1946&webinar_promo=6552) : Quantifying and collecting the benefits of IP network automation (https://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=1946&webinar_promo=6552) (https://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=1946&webinar_promo=6552) Quantifying and collecting the benefits of IP network automation (https://www.lightreading.com/webinar.asp?webinar_id=1946&webinar_promo=6552) Infographic:Quantitative benefits from the automation of IP networks (https://onestore.nokia.com/asset/210801) About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. As a trusted partner for critical networks, we are committed to innovation and technology leadership across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. We create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs. Adhering to the highest standards of integrity and security, we help build the capabilities needed for a more productive, sustainable and inclusive world. Media Inquiries: Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: press.services@nokia.com TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / AEX Gold Inc. (AIM:AEXG)(TSXV:AEX), an independent gold company with a portfolio of exploration licences in Greenland, is pleased to release a new corporate presentation focusing on the wider exploration opportunity within AEX Gold's licence area. The presentation can be accessed from the Company's website at https://www.aexgold.com/investors/presentations/. Eldur Olafsson, CEO of AEX, commented: "I am very proud that AEX Gold has, over the last seven years, built the largest exploration land package in South Greenland. We have over 3870 km2 of licences and we intend to keep on increasing this. In addition to the work we are doing to redevelop the high-grade Nalunaq mine, we are also focussed on unlocking value from our highly exciting gold and strategic mineral prospects in South Greenland. We have an exploration team of highly skilled specialists who have been hard at work this year. This work has substantially increased our confidence in the huge potential we have for making more sizeable discoveries in the region. In addition to high-grade gold potential, our licences also have significant potential for strategic minerals (IOCG1, PGMs2, Graphite and REMs3), which are vital components for the decarbonisation cycle that the world is currently facing. I am delighted to release this presentation on our wider exploration efforts, which we believe helps demonstrate the sheer scale of the opportunity that we have before us. I look forward to providing updates to shareholders during what will be a very busy period for the Company, and I am confident that the work we are doing will unlock huge value for all our stakeholders." (1Iron Ore Copper Gold; 2Platinum Group Metals; 3Rare Earth Metals) Ends Enquiries: AEX Gold Inc. Eldur Olafsson, Director and CEO +354 665 2003 eo@aexgold.com Eddie Wyvill, Investor Relations +44 (0) 7713 126727 ew@aexgold.com Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Callum Stewart Simon Mensley Ashton Clanfield +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Broker) John Prior Hugh Rich Dougie Mcleod +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 Camarco (Financial PR) Gordon Poole Nick Hennis +44 (0) 20 3757 4980 For Company updates: Follow @AexGold on Twitter Follow AEX Gold Inc. on LinkedIn Further Information: About AEX AEX's principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of gold properties in Greenland. The Corporation's principal asset is a 100% interest in the Nalunaq Project, an advanced exploration stage property with an exploitation license including the previously operating Nalunaq gold mine. The Corporation has a portfolio of gold assets covering 3,870km2, the largest portfolio of gold assets in Southern Greenland covering the two known gold belts in the region. AEX is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Public Companies Act. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, which reflects the Corporation's current expectations regarding future events and the future growth of the Corporation's business. In this press release there is forward-looking information based on a number of assumptions and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Corporation's control, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the factors discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Final Prospectus available under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking information included in this press release is based only on information currently available to the Corporation and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances or events. No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release. 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. Inside Information This announcement contains no inside information SOURCE: AEX Gold Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666688/New-Exploration-Presentation The site will support the innovation and delivery of digital technologies for the security industries Smiths Detection, a global leader in threat detection and security screening technologies, has today opened a new global technology development centre in Bangalore, India. The site will act as a global hub for the development and delivery of new digital technologies that will be used by Smiths Detection's customers across the aviation, defence, urban security, and ports and borders industries. Furthermore, the site will also be used as a hybrid office for the over 100 strong digital team, who work with colleagues across the globe, including at key sites in Singapore, France, Germany, the UK, and the USA. "We're thrilled to be officially opening this site in Bangalore, which will be a pivotal delivery centre for the next generation of digital security technologies" said Vice President Technology and Programme Management, Matt Clark. "The opening of this site demonstrates our commitment to growing our business across multiple sectors and geographies, allowing us to further advance our global mission of making the world a safer place." Today's opening was held virtually so that members of Smiths Detection's international team, who were unable to attend due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, could join. In addition to the new office in Bangalore, Smiths Detection's India headquarters as well as its global training site are both situated in Gurugram. About Smiths Detection Smiths Detection, part of Smiths Group, is a global leader in threat detection and screening technologies for aviation, ports and borders, defence and urban security markets. Our experience and history across more than 40 years at the frontline enables us to deliver the solutions needed to protect society from the threat and illegal passage of explosives, prohibited weapons, contraband, toxic chemicals, and narcotics. Our goal is simple to provide security, peace of mind and freedom of movement upon which the world depends. For more information visit http://www.smithsdetection.com/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211004005770/en/ Contacts: Media Sophie Mills Global Communications Manager sophie.mills@smithsdetection.com + 44 (0)7384236474 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Wabtec Corp. (WAB) said that it will supply platform gates to Marseille's metro automation project. The deal is valued at 60 million euros. The deal is part of plans by France's second city to upgrade and automate its local transport network. Wabtec's Faiveley Transport, along with Eiffage Genie Civil Mediterranee and Eiffage Energie Systems Mediterranee, will supply Metropole Aix Marseille Provence with all the platform gates for lines 1 and 2 of Marseille NEOMMA, that are being automated. It includes 29 stations and 62 platforms, each of which will be equipped with 12 sets of 1.7 m-high platform gates, emergency egress doors and fixed screens. Work on site will begin in 2023 and the project will be completed by the end of 2026. 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. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / LINK GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES INC. (CSE:LNK)(FRA:LGT)(OTC PINK:LGLOF) ("LINK" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has created a special regulatory compliance and advisory committee (the "Committee") comprised of two independent directors of the Company to oversee the Company's submission in the second phase of the proceedings before the Alberta Utilities Commission (the "Commission" or "AUC"). The Company will be responding to the AUC Enforcement Staff's submission dated September 24, 2021, by providing evidence of its hosting operations at the two power plants at Campbell (Sturgeon County) and Kirkwall. The Company mines digital currency through revenue share models and provides infrastructure services, including power, to third-party clients' operations. The Company's business model will be clearly explained to assist the Commission in making its determinations. The Company has acknowledged being unaware of the statutory and regulatory requirements for generating electricity in Alberta when it commenced operations at Campbell and Kirkwall and will continue to work with the Commission to ensure full compliance with the regulatory and compliance processes of the AUC on a go-forward basis. The Company will update shareholders as soon as practical on the progress of this phase of the AUC proceeding and the rulings from the Commission. We thank shareholders for your continued support. About Link Global Technologies Inc. Link is engaged in providing infrastructure and operating expertise for digital mining and data hosting operations. Link's objectives include locating and securing, for lease and option to purchase, properties with access to low-cost, reliable power, and deploying this low-cost power to conduct digital mining and supply clean energy and infrastructure for other data-hosting services. To learn more about Link's activities, visit us at https://linkglobal.io/ On behalf of Link Global Technologies Inc. Stephen Jenkins Chief Executive Officer & Director For more information, visit http://linkglobal.io/ or contact: Steve Jenkins stephen@linkglobal.io +1-877-770-6545 For investor information, please contact: Omar Diaz Investor Relations Manager omar@linkglobal.io 604-551-2950 The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION. This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "forecast", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "would", "could", "should" or "might" occur. Forward-looking statements made in this news release include, but are not limited, to: that the Company will be responding to the AUC accordingly and will provide evidence of its hosting operations at the two power plants in Campbell and Kirkwall; and that the Company will update shareholders as soon as practical on the progress and rulings. All such forward-looking statements are based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including assumptions based on historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Since forward-looking statements relate to future events and conditions, by their very nature they require making assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The Company cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. In the case of the Company, these risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors include, without limitation:; those set out in the Company's most recent MD&A, fluctuations in the price of electricity, fluctuations in the price of digital currencies/Bitcoin, the future potential halving of Bitcoin, increases in the network difficulty rate and price of digital currencies/Bitcoin, negative changes in the level of digital currency/Bitcoin rewards per block, the securing of economic rates for the purchase of power, the opportunities for acquiring digital currency mining hardware, unanticipated changes in laws, regulations or other industry standards affecting the business of the Company, reliance on key management personnel, the Company's ability to implement its business plan, litigation risk, stock price volatility, the effects of general economic and other factors beyond the control of the Company, and other matters that may occur in the future. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date hereof. Other than as specifically required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise. SOURCE: Link Global Technologies Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666774/Link-Global-Creates-Special-Regulatory-Compliance-and-Advisory-Committee-To-Oversee-the-Next-Phase-of-Proceedings-With-the-Alberta-Utilities-Commission COMMERZBANK AG (London Branch) - Pre Stabilisation - Sparebanken Vest EUR Green L5yr Pre-Stabilisation Notice 05 October 2021 Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt EUR Benchmark Long 5 year Green Covered Bond Commerzbank AG (contact: Ian Turner; telephone: +44 20774751817) hereby announces, as Stabilisation Coordinator, that the Stabilising Managers named below may stabilise the offer of the following securities in accordance with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014). The security to be stabilised: Issuer: Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt Guarantor (if any): none Aggregate nominal amount: EUR benchmark Description: Fixed Rate Long 5 year Green Covered Bond Offer price: tbc Other offer terms: Launched off the Issuer's Covered Bond Programme, denoms 100k Stabilisation: Stabilisation Coordinator: Stabilising Managers: Commerzbank AG Barclays Bank plc DZ Bank ING Bank Nordea Stabilisation period expected to start on: 05 October 2021 Stabilisation period expected to end on: no later than 30 days after the proposed issue date of the securities Existence, maximum size and conditions of use of over-allotment facility. The Stabilising Managers may over-allot the securities to the extent permitted in accordance with applicable law. Stabilisation trading venue: Luxembourg Stock Exchange as well as the LGX segment of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. In connection with the offer of the above securities, the Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot the securities or effect transactions with a view to supporting the market price of the securities during the stabilisation period at a level higher than that which might otherwise prevail. However, stabilisation may not necessarily occur and any stabilisation action, if begun, may cease at any time Any stabilisation action or over-allotment shall be conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and rules. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction. This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful. END An image from one of World Cloud Show's panel discussions streamed live on 14 September 2021 JAKARTA, Oct 5, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Supported by Jakarta Smart City, the 11th global edition of World Cloud Show - Jakarta concluded on 14 September 2021 with over 200 C-suite tech decision-makers tuning in from across Indonesia to navigate the push for cloud and digital transformation in the region.The show virtually brought together the region's key players in the cloud and data ecosystem, including government officials, leading cloud solution providers and executives from significant think tanks.The event addressed prominent issues in the Cloud ecosystem such as Multi-Cloud adoption and modernizing information architecture; Neoteric Frontiers in Cloud and Edge Computing; Data Centers and Clouds in the digital era; Essentials for effective Data storage and management; Latest Cyber Security technologies to safeguard Cloud infrastructure transformation; Legal framework and strategies for the Cloud deployment in Indonesia, and; How to strengthen core Data strategies and digital infrastructures within their organizations, among others.The show featured a groundbreaking collaboration of experts such as:- Juan Intan Kanggrawan, Head of Data Analytics, Jakarta Smart City- Sonny Supriyadia, SVP, Head, Pricing and Data Analytics, Maybank Indonesia- Ms Lim May-an, Executive Director, Asia Cloud Computing Association- Setiaji, Head of Department at ICT - Digital Services, Jakarta Provincial Government- Sijukumar Kumaran, Director, Data Intelligence Services, Alibaba Cloud- Arief Pribadi, Technical Director, Nutanix- Siddharth Pandey, Cloud Solution Architect, Alibaba Cloud Indonesia- Andri Agustinus, Director, Solution Architect, APAC OutSystems- Tio Bagio, Senior Solutions Engineer, HashiCorp- Georgios Damaskinos, Machine Learning Engineer, FacebookMs. Lim May-ann, Executive Director at Asia Cloud Computing Association discussed at length on topic 'Reshaping data infrastructure for Asia and the world'. She stated, "Indonesia is in a strong position when it comes to cloud adoption since it has a large population of young people who are eager to embrace cloud technologies, which will entice investors and entrepreneurs to invest more in this industry."While speaking about 'Transformative effects of IoT, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence on Cloud Computing: evolution, vision, trends and open challenges', Dr Satyam Priyadarshy, Managing Director - IC and Technology Fellow and Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton, mentioned, "Every industry, irrespective of sector, needs to leverage emerging technology like the cloud computing paradigm and need for transformation at an accelerated pace to be a resilient and sustainable business."Sijukumar Kumaran, Director, Data Intelligence Services at Alibaba Cloud, while delivering a keynote on 'Alibaba Cloud Data Intelligence Ecosystem - empowers enterprise data-driven transformations', mentioned, "The core value of Alibaba Cloud is to keep up with the evolutionary trend of enterprise digitalization enterprise. We bring cloud-native, serverless, fully managed Big Data & Artificial Intelligence platform."A highly engaging keynote was delivered by Arief Pribadi, Technical Director at Nutanix Indonesia on 'The customer journey to multi-cloud', where he mentioned, "By applying cloud technology, organizations must have the ability to change and transform their people, process and not just technology."Muadz Abdurrohman, Country Manager at Cloud Comrad and Tio Bagio, Senior Solutions Engineer at Hashicorp discussed at length the topic 'Thriving in an era of multi-cloud'. Tio stated that, "Hashicorp is working on new applications that will serve as the primary interface for communicating with clients and prospects. That is why we name them engagement systems because they must deliver these qualities fast and scalable. These applications are well suited for the cloud because they must scale up and distribute across multiple geographic areas.""Virtual events offer everybody in the industry an excellent opportunity to meet during these difficult times. Cloud solutions & strategies are an affordable and intelligent necessity of the hour," says Mithun Shetty, CEO of Trescon.The show was hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets which helped the participants to network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants were also able to engage with speakers in Q&A sessions and network with solution providers in virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and private networking rooms.World Cloud Show - Jakarta was officially sponsored by Lead Sponsor - Alibaba Cloud; Platinum Sponsor - Nutanix; Gold Sponsor - Outsystems and Cloud Comrade | HashiCorp; Bronze Sponsor - Wherscape, Epsilon.About World Cloud ShowWorld Cloud Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations across the world.The show features exciting keynotes, government and enterprise use-case presentations, product showcase, panel discussions and tech talks to discuss the latest challenges and explore the latest applications of cloud-based solutions.About TresconTrescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialises in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services.For further details about the announcement, please contact:Monith ShettyCorporate Communications, Tresconmedia@tresconglobal.com | +91 81059 75937Source: tresconCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. ROME (dpa-AFX) - Eni (E), and Republic of Congo have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the joint development of the agro-biofuel sector in the country. The MoU sets the framework for the industrial scale production of castor oil, to provide feedstock for the company's bio-refinery system, while also creating employment opportunities and expanding agricultural activities to marginal and abandoned lands. The pilot phase is set to begin this month. The industrial development phase is anticipated to see cultivations on 150,000 hectares with 90,000 estimated beneficiaries by 2030, the company said. Separately, Eni said its CEO Claudio Descalzi has met with the President of Benin, Patrice Talon, to discuss a possible collaboration in the field of the energy transition and the circular economy. They discussed projects for the agro-industrial chain, focused on the valorization of agricultural waste and the production of oleaginous plants that do not inhibit food production, to be used in bio-refining. 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. Hosted security provider opens additional premises and welcomes new appointments as a buoyant Security-as-a-Service market increases demand for VSaaS and ACaaS. FRIBOURG, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss high-tech company, Morphean, a leader in Security-as-a-Service and cloud analytics, has announced a programme of growth to meet demand for hosted security services across Europe. The opening of offices in the UK as well as Denmark and the Netherlands, places Morphean in a strong position to serve its growing customer base. With a number of appointments taking up key positions, Morphean is on target to deliver its product road map and meet channel growth. The benefits to business of cloud technologies are now understood, particularly as a result of the pandemic, enabling the faster delivery of services to market, reducing risk and ensuring easy scalability. Cloud platforms also support analytics that would be impossible with traditional platforms. This looks set to substantially disrupt the physical security market with rapid growth forecast in video surveillance as-a-service (VSaaS) and access control-as-a-service (ACaaS). The opening of the new office in Leeds, in addition to those in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, will help Morphean provide localised support to Northern Europe more broadly. In addition, newly appointed personnel bring expertise to sales, account management and finance roles including Philippe Gieseler, Chief Financial Officer; Paul Green, Head of Sales in the UK and Ireland; Noura Sakhsoukh, Sales Executive for Benelux; Lauren Irwin, Sales Executive in the UK; Peter Werner, Sales Executive in Germany; and Tim Bach Bjerg, Key Account Manager for the Nordics. Martyn Ryder, VP Sales and Marketing, commented: "The acceleration by business leaders in their digitisation journeys and transition to cloud platforms is driving demand for intelligent physical security solutions. Morphean is transforming this market and making rapid progress towards becoming a leader in the hosted security and business intelligence field. Our expansion will enable our growing partner base to benefit from our solutions, while ensuring their customers enjoy a return on investment through improved operational insights." Digitisation and cutting-edge technologies using the cloud, IoT and AI are changing security and business intelligence, with organisations recognising the need to look to the providers of cloud-enabled platforms and systems to meet their physical security requirements. Morphean's solutions are built around an affordable operational expenditure model and are fully scalable to protect against the challenges of today as well as future uncertainty. Discover more: https://morphean.com/ Tobii, world leader in eye tracking and pioneer in attention computing, has signed an agreement with Acer for the integration of its Tobii Aware software into a line of Acer Veriton Z All-In-One (AIO) PCs STOCKHOLM, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tobii Aware software is developed to enhance user privacy and to make computers smarter and more secure. Through attention computing, the software visually senses the user's presence and intent. It can be integrated in a wide range of personal computing products, to serve as one of the only truly effective ways for IT departments to help secure the last meter of the company network: the distance between the PC screen and user. "By integrating Tobii Aware software in our powerful Veriton Z all-in-one PC, we take another important step in bringing new innovations to our users to enhance security, usability and power efficiency," said Jeff Lee, General Manager, Stationary Computing, IT Products Business, Acer Inc. "With the PC working more in tune with its users, we provide a more intuitive user experience and an improved sense of privacy to complement the powerful performance." When using Tobii Aware-enhanced devices, users experience several benefits: Privacy & Security : Increase security and privacy through user identification and automatic presence. A peeker detection blurs and locks screens when someone is trying to glance without permission at a person's computer screen. : Increase security and privacy through user identification and automatic presence. A peeker detection blurs and locks screens when someone is trying to glance without permission at a person's computer screen. Productivity & Wellbeing: Improve productivity, convenience, and digital health. Provide insights and data into screen time and computer usage. Improve productivity, convenience, and digital health. Provide insights and data into screen time and computer usage. Power & Performance: Save power and CPU performance in a natural and unobtrusive way with screens that dim and react to user presence. "We are relentlessly innovating to push the boundaries of attention computing and bring it to mass market adoption." said Ulrica Wikstrom, VP of the PC Segment at Tobii. "Today's business users are looking for PCs that are smarter, more intuitive, and more secure. Through the integration of Tobii Aware we are pleased to join hands with Acer in delivering the best-in-class PC experience." For more information about the next generation of Tobii Aware technology, please visit: Aware - Tobii Tech Acer Veriton Z will be available to order in October. For more please visit: Veriton Z | Desktops | Acer United States This specific product integration is not expected to have a significant impact on Tobii's revenue in near-term. However, it does provide further evidence of the value of attention computing in computers. CONTACT: Lina Perdius, Head of Communications, Tobii AB, phone: +46 (0)70 018 78 75, email: lina.perdius@tobii.com Henrik Mawby, Head of Investor Relations, Tobii Group, phone: +46 (0)72 219 82 15, email: henrik.mawby@tobii.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/tobii-ab/r/tobii-aware-software-enhances-privacy-and-security-features-for-new-line-of-acer-commercial-pcs,c3426753 The following files are available for download: 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. Leading British retailer will leverage world-class Blue Yonder capabilities to optimize its end-to-end operations and deliver ambitious business transformation The UK retail market is one of the most dynamic markets in the world, where consumers demand great products and an excellent customer experience, through any channel at any time. That is why Asda, one of Britain's leading retailers with a unique position in the market, has selected to digitally transform its end-to-end supply chain and retail operations with Blue Yonder. Asda will implement several SaaS-based capabilities within Blue Yonder's Luminate Planning, Luminate Commerce and Luminate Logistics, as well as Luminate Control Tower, all running on the Luminate Platform. Asda consists of supercenters, superstores, and smaller supermarkets. The retailer also runs petrol filling stations and Asda Living stores, which offer its popular George clothing and home merchandise lines. The company employs more than 140,000 colleagues serving more than 18 million customers who shop in its stores and online weekly. With the company needing to transition from its legacy solutions as a result of moving to a UK-based ownership, Asda was looking for end-to-end retail solutions that would cover commercial, supply chain, logistics, and retail operations. This includes artificial intelligence- (AI) powered forecasting, end-to-end supply chain visibility, omni-channel fulfillment, and workforce management capabilities. With Blue Yonder, Asda will be able to: Use machine learning (ML) at scale to provide a demand projection with calculated business impact and risk that enables better inventory management, waste reduction and an improved understanding of demand drivers and customer behaviors. Leverage ML to optimize pricing strategies reducing excess stock and avoiding waste. Deliver efficiency and value across the entire omni-channel retail business with a connected platform. Horizon scan thanks to visibility into forecasting, fulfillment and transportation, leveraging Blue Yonder's automation while keeping a high level of control. Gain inbound visibility for both domestic and import orders ensuring products are available to meet consumer demand at the right place, at the right time. Provide Asda colleagues in stores and in distribution centers with a robust workforce management capability. "We are embarking on a large-scale, exciting business transformation project to build our future, in which we want to work with the very best retail technology providers in the market with proven experience and world-class capabilities. We are looking forward to implementing this project with our strategic partner Blue Yonder, as we continue to build a fast, effective and agile business," said Carl Dawson, chief information officer, Asda. "We are looking forward to supporting Asda with our innovative capabilities and experience. We have built a strong relationship with Asda over the years, and we have consistently demonstrated how our advanced capabilities can help them fulfill their potential and drive value, early and often. Not only are our solutions a fit for Asda's long-term goals, so is our culture and our values. We are honored to embark on this exciting journey with Asda and look forward to bringing value to Asda, their partners and their customers," said Johan Reventberg, president, EMEA, Blue Yonder. Additional Resources: Learn more about Luminate Platform and Luminate Control Tower Learn more about Luminate Planning, Luminate Commerce and Luminate Logistics Learn how migrating to the cloud can digitally transform your supply chain About Asda Stores Ltd. Founded in the 1960s in Yorkshire, Asda is one of Britain's leading retailers and helps customers save money and live better in stores, online and through their mobile devices. Each week more than 18 million customers visit its 645 stores including 30 Supercenters, 392 Superstores, 155 Supermarkets, 33 Asda Living stores, and 35 standalone petrol stations and are served by over 140,000 colleagues. www.asda.com and www.george.com deliver to 99% of the UK's homes and to its 538 click and collect sites across the UK. Its main office is in Leeds, Yorkshire and its George clothing division is in Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Asda was acquired by the Issa Brothers and TDR Capital Ltd in 2021, returning the supermarket to British ownership. About Blue Yonder Blue Yonder is the world leader in digital supply chain and omni-channel commerce fulfillment. Our intelligent, end-to-end platform enables retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers to seamlessly predict, pivot and fulfill customer demand. With Blue Yonder, you can make more automated, profitable business decisions that deliver greater growth and re-imagined customer experiences. Blue Yonder Fulfill your Potential blueyonder.com "Blue Yonder" is a trademark or registered trademark of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name "Blue Yonder" is a trademark and/or property of Blue Yonder Group, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of the companies with which they are associated. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005504/en/ Contacts: Blue Yonder Public Relations: Marina Renneke, APR, Corporate Communications Manager Tel: +1 480-308-3037, marina.renneke@blueyonder.com S.Pellegrino, with its S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, is thrilled to reveal some exciting news about the Grand Finale 2021 that this year will offer even more relevant contents, training opportunities and contemporary visions to the global chef community; MILAN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The wait is over: from 28th to 30th October S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy will welcome to Milan all those who share its belief in the transformative power of taste for the Grand Finale of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2019-2021 competition. Involving 48 young chef Regional Winners and 12 mentor chefs, the event will last 3 days and will include the cooking competition as well as several new educational and networking activities culminating on the final day with the new S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Brain Food Forum followed by the Competition Awards Ceremony. To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8963051-s-pellegrino-young-chef-grand-finale-2021-is-almost-here/ Stefano Bolognese, Sanpellegrino International Business Unit Director: "We are excited to welcome the international Gastronomy community to Milan. One year ago, we launched the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, as an inspiring community where talented young chefs connect with the most influential members of the gastronomic world, and are empowered with a plan of education, mentoring and experience opportunities. The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy competition is one of the key activities of the project and the primary tool that we have to reinforce our commitment: stimulate and nurture meaningful creativity, able to push a continuous evolution within not only the Gastronomy sector, but also the whole society. It's what has made the Grand Finale, that we are going to live together, such an important date for us and in the global culinary calendar, too." THE COMPETITION SO FAR AND THE FINALISTS This edition of the competition was more impressive than ever, seeing applicants from all over the world to take part. With S.Pellegrino's commitment towards gender balance and inclusivity, the percentage of women registered among the candidates increased to more than 10% since 2015. All over the globe, 135 young chefs passed the preliminary selections and took part in live cook-offs in front of international jury panels from the participating countries of the 12 regions. The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy regional winners arrive at the Grand Finale after a mentorship path during which, thanks to the support of a Senior Chef, they were able to refine their signature dishes. The 12 regions and the respective S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy winners are: Jose Lorenzo Morales , Melbourne, Australia , Pacific Region - "Analogy" Kevin Wong Tat Mun , Singapore , Singapore , Asia Region - "Celebration of a Duck" Albert Manso Miras , Barcelona, Spain , Iberian & Mediterranean Region - "Quail and Wine" Cynthia Xrysw Ruelas Diaz, Guadalajara, Mexico , Latin America Region - "Milpa y Mar" Levente Koppany, Budapest, Hungary , Central Europe Region - "Rainbow trout with chervil, forest mushrooms and wild garlic" Vitalii Savelev , Moscow , Russian Federation , Euro Asia Region - "Black Sea Rapa with mushrooms grown on lemon peels" Alexandre Alves Pereira , Paris, France , North West Europe Region - "Green asparagus, sardine, ground ivy" Paul Thinus Prinsloo, Cape Town, South Africa , Africa & Middle East Region - "Bouillabaisse 2.0" Alessandro Bergamo , Milan, Italy , Italy & South East Region - "Better an egg today or a chicken tomorrow?" Rafael Covarrubias , Oakville , Canada , North America Region - "Mole Negro spiced muscovy duck, preserved prune, and winter roots" Jerome Ianmark Calayag, Stockholm, Sweden , UK & North Europe Region - "Humble vegetables" Victor/ Zhi Cheng Wang , Shanghai, China , Greater China Region - "What is soy in China " THE SEVEN SAGES & THE S.PELLEGRINO YOUNG CHEF ACADEMY FORUM At the Grand Finale, the selected young chefs will cook in front of the Seven Sages, an esteemed jury panel made up of seven world renowned chefs, who will judge their dishes to find the final winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2019-2021 competition. The prestigious line-up of big-name chefs will be composed by seven chefs from around the world: Enrico Bartolini, Manu Buffara, Andreas Caminada, Mauro Colagreco, Gavin Kaysen, Clare Smyth and Pim Techamuanvivit. The jurors will be judging the finalists based on three key attributes - technical skills, creativity, and personal belief - as well as the candidates' potential to create positive change in society through food. The chef who displays these attributes most successfully will be crowned the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2021 winner. In addition, this year's culinary journey will also host a one-day S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Brain Food Forum curated by Fine Dining Lovers, the online leading voice in gastronomy by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. "Brain Food" will host Massimo Bottura, Virgilio Martinez and the Seven Sages as speakers. Sharing their experiences and opinions, the guests will inspire all the young chefs and real food enthusiasts who attend the event, with ideas and reflections related to the world of gastronomy. THE THREE ADDITIONAL AWARDS This year's competition introduced three new awards to reflect S.Pellegrino's belief in and support of the transformative power of gastronomy and its impact beyond the kitchen. These awards were available at the Regional level and all of the 36 winners of these awards will also be invited to attend the Grand Finale, affording them another opportunity to network with some of the biggest names in gastronomy from around the globe. The three awards that complement the existing S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy award are: 1. Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy This award will be voted for by the 12 mentors, one from each region, and will go to the chef whose signature dish best reflects the perfect connection between different cultures. The purpose of the award is to emphasize the growing trend in global gastronomy of "Chefs without Borders". 2. S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility This award will be decided by an internationally recognized voice on sustainability in food, selecting the chef who puts forward the dish that best represents the principle of food as a result of socially responsible practices. 3. Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award This award will be voted for by the online Fine Dining Lovers community, foodies, chefs and fans of gastronomy all over the world, and will be awarded to the young chef who best represents his/her personal belief within his/her dish. S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Grand Finale 2021 highlights will be available on S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy and Fine Dining Lovers channels. To discover more about the exciting talent search please visit: https://www.sanpellegrinoyoungchefacademy.com/ . About S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna S.Pellegrino, Acqua Panna and Sanpellegrino Italian Sparkling Drinks are international trademarks of Sanpellegrino S.p.A., which is based in Milan, Italy. Distributed in over 150 countries through branches and distributors on all five continents, these products represent quality excellence by virtue of their origins and perfectly interpret Italian style worldwide as a synthesis of pleasure, health and well-being. Founded in 1899, Sanpellegrino S.p.A. is the leading company in the beverage sector in Italy with its range of mineral waters, non-alcoholic aperitifs, drinks and iced teas. As a major Italian producer of mineral water, it has always been committed to enhancing this primary good for the planet and works responsibly and passionately to ensure that this resource has a secure future. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640034/S_Pellegrino_12_Finalists.jpg PartnerConnect will support continued rapid global growth Partner benefits include security guidance, support and a partner advisory council Programme led by new strategic hire Nickey Ikelaar AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Oct. 05, 2021, the leader in next-generation remote access and remote support software, today announced the launch of PartnerConnect, its new partnership strategy for EMEA. Led by Nickey Ikelaar, Splashtop's recently hired Head of Channel EMEA, PartnerConnect will bring the company's best-in-class remote access and support solutions to the EMEA channel community. Building on Splashtop's recent rapid growth in the region, the strategy will nurture partnerships with VARs, MSPs, and distributors to complement existing relations with technology partners. The recent rise of remote working has driven significant global expansion for Splashtop, including the establishment of both a regional headquarters in Amsterdam and a cloud data centre in Germany. The platform is now trusted by 200,000 organisations, including partners like Academiaand Asystel, to deliver secure, fast, affordable, and reliable connections for 30,000,000 users globally. PartnerConnect marks a significant step in Splashtop's ambition to meet rapidly growing customer needs. "With a high-growth roadmap and the best Net Promoter Score in the industry, Splashtop is in an incredibly strong position right now," explains Ikelaar. "We're delighted to share this success with a new market of resellers: together, we can bring the next generation of remote access and support to EMEA and help customers keep pace with the new reality of work." PartnerConnect introduces a two-tier partner programme, with Silver and Gold Partners benefiting from marketing funds, trends and insights reports, and dedicated security and compliance guidance on top of the right to resell Splashtop's next-generation, enterprise-ready, remote access and remote support software. As members grow into Gold Partners, they will further benefit from increased margins, more marketing support, and access to a partner advisory council. "I'm delighted that Nickey has brought her extensive channel experience to Splashtop; together, we've created a partnership programme which truly focuses on our partners," adds Alexander Draaijer, General Manager EMEA at Splashtop. "We know we have a lot to learn and a lot of knowledge to share as we go on this journey with our resellers. The advisory council is a great reflection of Splashtop's principles of transparency and flexibility, and I'm excited to see what we can build together with the channel community here." The strategy is to be kickstarted by a series of webinars in multiple languages introducing the full details of the partnership programme. Interested VARs, MSPs, and distributors can register nowto learn more about Splashtop's products and resale structure, as well as: How the Security Advisory Council will help partners meet security standards and regulations including GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, and PCI. How Splashtop will share market trends and insights, alongside product roadmap previews, events, webinars, and more. How Splashtop's best-in-class support and NPS score of +93 provide significant value for customers and revenue opportunities for resellers. Reacting to the announcement, Neil Boia, Creative Arts & Industries Business Manager at existing Splashtop partner Academia commented that, "This is a real opportunity for the channel community in EMEA. Splashtop's speed and flexibility has provided a valuable boost to how we serve our clients, and our partnership has been highly effective from day one. To see Splashtop grow its profile in EMEA is very welcome." About Splashtop Headquartered in Silicon Valley and Amsterdam, Splashtop Inc. delivers next-generation remote access and remote support software and services for enterprises, academic and research institutions, government agencies, small businesses, MSPs, IT departments and individuals. Splashtop's cloud-based, secure and easily managed remote access approach is increasingly replacing legacy approaches such as virtual private networksfor more information. For more information, please contact: Nickey Ikelaar via nickey.ikelaar@splashtop.com Michelle De Pasquale to join AI-based digital postage company as Commercial Director De Pasquale will be joined by Gavin Macrae as Business Development Director and Jessica Hice as Marketing Manager Appointments follow closure of Seed One funding round Stamp Free Limited, the digital postage company, today announced a series of new hires and appointments to strengthen its internal management team. Michelle De Pasquale will be joining the organisation as Commercial Director, having previously worked at Uniserve Group as e-Commerce Growth Director. She brings over 25 years of senior supply chain, retail-led logistics experience and a background in SaaS-based technology solutions. She has worked with the likes of Hermes, Yodel, Post Office and more. De Pasquale will be joined by Gavin Macrae, who has been appointed Business Development Director. Coming from Shippo, where he worked as a Senior Manager within the EMEA Carrier Partnerships team, Macrae has operated at board level in organisations such as Royal Mail, Jersey Post Group, TNT, Ofcom, Digital Europe, PostEurope and the Universal Postal Union. The final addition to the team is Jessica Hice, coming on board as Marketing Manager and bringing with her over seven years of public relations and communications experience. Hugh Craigie Halkett, Managing Director of Stamp Free, said: "We are delighted by these appointments, which will bring a wealth of abilities and experience to the Stamp Free team. Each of our new members is well-versed in the areas of the logistics sector, such as client-facing e-commerce carriers, 3PL, postal, and final mile customer innovation; making them ideal for our current direction as an organisation." These appointments come on the heels of Stamp Free recently closing its Seed One round on 7 September, raising 425,000 at a pre-investment valuation of 2m, and following a pre-seed round in February earlier this year. Investment was led by existing investor Dr Ronjon Nag and the R42 Group, with co-investors including SyndicateRoom's Super Angel fund, Cambridge Angels, and several technology angel investors from across the UK and the US. Further grant funding was secured from Scottish Enterprise's High Growth Ventures programme who have supported Stamp Free over the past 15 months. The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution allows businesses and consumers to use the Stamp Free or white-labelled app to send parcels and letters, as well as return consumer goods without the need for a postage stamp or carrier label. Utilising machine handwriting recognition as a core part of its technology. Stamp Free also benefits postal carriers by removing issues associated with postage stamps such as fraud, liabilities and the cost of printing. Hugh Craigie Halkett added: "The postage industry is undergoing tectonic shifts in recent years as digitalisation is becoming core logistics technology. Stamp Free is at the epicentre of this revolution. With the new investment, we will continue to create disruptive solutions as well as penetrate new customer segments." For high resolution imagery and logos, please click here About Stamp Free The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution ("The Solution") is targeted at postal and logistics sectors. The Solution is the first in the world to be offered by a company independent of postal services. The Company has filed a patent application for its Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution. Product information can be found at www.stampfree.co.uk About Scottish Enterprise Scottish Enterprise is Scotland's national economic development agency. They're committed to growing the Scottish economy for the benefit of all, helping create more quality jobs and a brighter future for every region. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005093/en/ Contacts: Media contact: Hugh Craigie Halkett 07979514840 media@stampfree.co.uk LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global LNG Bunkering Market is valued at USD 0.58 Billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 6.97 Billion by 2027 with the CAGR of 42.5% over the forecast period. Increasing IMO regulations on sulfur content in the marine fuel and strict government regulation to reduce carbon footprints are driving the growth of Global LNG Bunkering Market. The Detailed Market intelligence report on the "LNG Bunkering Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Truck-To-Ship, Ship-To-Ship, Port-To-Ship, Others), By Application (Tanker Vessels, Container Vessels, Ferries & OSV, Bulk & General Cargo Vessels, Others) Based On Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2027" Request a Sample Report: @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/1701 Scope of The Report: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is fuel gas that has been changed over to liquid form for simplicity of storage or transport. It is colorless, odorless, non-corrosive and non-toxic. Bunkering is the providing of fuel for use by ships, and incorporates the shipboard coordination of loading fuel and delivering it among accessible bunker tanks. Bunker is usually applied to the capacity of petroleum-based commodities in tanks, and the training and business of refueling ships. Bunkering tasks are placed at seaports. They integrate the storage space of ship fuels and the provision of the fuel to vessels. LNG Bunkering is the act of giving liquefied natural gas fuel to a boat for its own utilization. LNG bunkering foundation can be utilized to supply zero-carbon fuels in the form of liquefied biomethane (LBM) or liquefied synthetic methane (LSM), with practically no modification, so empowering the progress to a decarbonized shipping industry. LNG bunkering ports and fortification vessels can be establish on SEA-LNG's Bunker Navigator. The key benefit of LNG as a fuel is the tremendous decrease in pollutant caused by the more conventional technique for fueling boats, for example, heavy fuel oil, marine gas oil (MGO), and marine diesel fuel (MDO). The LNG bunkering between shore to ship or ship to ship is finished by utilizing a QC/DC coupling. QCDC represents speedy connect disconnect. The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted the growth of global LNG bunkering market. During COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown forced by various government organizations has also brought prohibition on the import and export. Hence, pandemic disturbed the supply network and hampered the LNG bunkering market development. However, the market is relied upon to grow over post pandemic as the demand for LNG as bunker fuel from the oceanic transport and shipping industry increments. News: JAX LNG And TOTE Complete First Renewable LNG Bunkering In U.S. On September 27th, 2021; JAX LNG completed the main filling of a marine vessel in the U.S. with a merge of renewable liquefied natural gas (RLNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The Clean Jacksonville is America's first LNG bunkering vessel. Component markets provided the renewable petroleum gas (RNG) utilized to create the RLNG through renewable thermal certificates (RTCs). Delivered from the decomposition of natural waste, RNG is viable with existing natural gas framework, giving a practical and replicable source of energy that mitigates and repurposes fossil fuel byproducts. For this bunkering, renewable thermal certificates were synchronized to the actual LNG loaded into the Clean Jacksonville to formulate the RLNG/LNG blended item. Key Players of Global LNG Bunkering Market Report: Global LNG bunkering market reports cover prominent players like Broadview Energy Solutions B.V., Gasum Oy, Klaw LNG, Polskie LNG S.A., Korea Gas Corporation, Crowley Maritime Corporation, SHV Energy, Total SE, Harvey Gulf International Marine, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, PETRONAS, Exxon Mobil Corporation and others. Global LNG Bunkering Market Segmentation: By Type: Truck-to-Ship Ship-to-Ship Port-to-Ship Others By Application: Tanker Vessels Container Vessels Ferries & OSV Bulk & General Cargo Vessels Others Request for Methodology of this report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/1701 Increasing IMO Regulations on Sulfur Content in the Marine Fuel and Strict Government Regulation to Reduce Carbon Footprints are Some of the Major Factors Driving the Growth of Global LNG Bunkering Market One of the major factors driving the growth of global LNG bunkering market is increasing IMO regulations on sulfur content in the marine fuel. To follow the IMO guidelines, fleet proprietors are proceeding to utilize high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) by retrofitting vessels with scrubbers (least expense arrangement) or changing to the utilization of low-sulfur fuel oils (VLSFO) or utilizing fuels, like LNG among others. For instance; from January 2020, United Nations delivering office the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will prohibit ships from utilizing fuels with sulfur content above 0.5%, contrasted and 3.5% at this point. The guidelines are pointed towards working on human wellbeing by decreasing air contamination. In addition, strict government regulation to reduce carbon footprints is also fostering the market growth. Stringent government laws in different nations across the globe to lessen chemical emissions of dangerous gases are also expected to fuel the market development. The Canadian government has made responsibilities for a huge decrease in greenhouse gases emissions, and the nation has an abundant supply of flammable gas. Also, natural gas on ignition produces less measure of greenhouse gases, making LNG a superior elective alternative fuel for Canadian delivery industry. For example; The America Bureau of Shipping (ABS) fostered a structure of risk assessment considering LNG spillage during bunkering, which incorporates spills from LNG pumps, pipes, tanks, hoses, stuffing vessel gas tanks, and outer effect. Thus, it also expected to establish appropriate environment for development of LNG bunkering market. However, demand-supply gap for LNG bunkering may hamper the global LNG bunkering market growth. In spite of that, rising focus toward LNG as an alternative marine fuel can provide various opportunities for the further growth of the global LNG bunkering market. North America is Expected to Dominate the Global LNG Bunkering Market North America is expected to dominate the global LNG bunkering market during the forecast period due to rising LNG demand to reduce carbon footprint in the shipping industry and stringent government regulations in this region. New laws in North America confining sulfur emissions from boats will expand transportation markets considerably further. LNG can help customers satisfy the new regulatory standards by containing almost no sulfur and particles like NOX. The business has been putting resources into the Lower Mainland and the Port of Vancouver to bunker oceangoing boats with LNG. For instance; according to the federal government's department of natural resources, maritime shipping gets a significant part of the consideration with regards to LNG as a transportation fuel, it just records for around 2% of Canada's generally speaking GHG discharges. Europe is projected to capture a significant revenue share in the global LNG bunkering market due to the increasing adoption of various strategies such as launch, acquisition and collaborations to utilize LNG for transportation. For example, Total signed an agreement with Engie to acquire its portfolio of upstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets for an overall enterprise value of $1.49 billion. This portfolio includes participating interests in liquefaction plants, notably the interest in the Cameron LNG project in the US, long term LNG sales and purchase agreements, an LNG tanker fleet as well as access to regasification capacities in Europe. Get LNG bunkering Market Research Methodologies: https://brandessenceresearch.com/defense/lng-bunkering-market Table of Content Chapter 1 Global LNG bunkering Market: Summary and Quantitative Analysis Chapter 2 Global LNG bunkering Market: Overview And Qualitative Analysis Chapter 3 Competitive Analysis Chapter 4 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Device Chapter 5 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Solution Chapter 6 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Software Chapter 7 Global LNG bunkering Market: By End-User Chapter 8 North America LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 9 Europe LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 10 Asia Pacific LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 11 Latin America LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 12 Middle East & Africa LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 13 Competitive Analysis Chapter 14 Market Research Findings & Conclusion Chapter 15 Research Methodology Related Reports: Needle Coke Market Worth 6.01 Billion by 2027 Asphalt additives Market to exceed $ 5349.8 Million by 2027 Agriculture Robots Market Size is Projected to Exceed USD 26679.4 Million by 2027 Last-mile delivery Market size is Expected to reach USD 200.42 Bn in 2027 Operating Room Equipment Market is Expected to reach USD 41.22 Bn in 2027 Brandessence Market Research & Consulting Pvt ltd. 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Website: https://brandessenceresearch.com Blog: Profiles in Smart Home Automation Market Media Contact: Mr. Vishal Sawant Email: vishal@brandessenceresearch.com Email: Sales@brandessenceresearch.com Corporate Sales: +44-2038074155 Asia Office: +91-7447409162 SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The global induced pluripotent stem cells production market size is estimated to reach USD 1.76 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 8.0% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is driven by technological advancements in induced pluripotent cell manufacturing, rising awareness about the therapeutic potency of such cells, and extensive research on the development of regenerative medicine using induced pluripotent cells. The ability of iPS cells to differentiate with maximum diversity has been one of the key drivers propelling its usage in gene and cell therapy applications. Key Insights & Findings: Widespread potential applications of iPS cells in drug development and discovery has resulted in the segment's dominance in 2020 On the other hand, regenerative medicine is expected to be the fastest-growing application segment over the forecast period due to the high usage of iPSCs in treating a number of injuries and degenerative diseases Automated platforms for iPSCs production have gained immense demand owing to the rising requirement for reproducible large-scale stem cell and differentiated progeny production, with minimum variation Research and academic institutes are projected to register the fastest CAGR from 2021 to 2028 due to a rise in the number of collaborations between researchers These collaborations are largely targeted towards finding out the potential application of iPSCs in stem cell biology, translational research, clinical investigation of diseases Favorable government initiatives, high R&D expenditure, availability of advanced research facilities & skilled professionals, and active policies pertaining to cell therapies have contributed to the dominance of the North American regional market in 2020 The key players are engaged in exploring iPSC therapy to its highest potential across different emerging applications, contributing to the market growth In February 2021 , Evotec entered into a partnership with the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The partnership aims to develop iPSC- based cell therapy for the treatment of heart failure Under this partnership, Evotec and UKE will leverage their mutual strength for the development of iPSC- based therapy approach with the help of Engineered Heart Tissue for curing heart failure Read 150 page market research report, "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Production Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Process, By Product, By Workflow, By Application, By End-use, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028", by Grand View Research The high therapeutic potential of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has expanded its applications in the past few years making significant contributions to the market revenue. For instance, extensive research activities are being carried out on iPSC-derived exosomes, organoid-generation for drug testing, and iPSC-based vaccines. iPS cells have paved the way for the commercialization of innovative cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine owing to their ability to propagate indefinitely. In addition, iPS cells have extended their applications in regenerative medicines and therapies as they effectively avoid the ethical limitations of human embryonic stem cells and lower the risks of immune rejection, contamination, & infection. Degenerative eye disorders are the most common targeted disorders in induced pluripotent cell-based clinical trials, along with cardiac syndromes, such as myocardial ischemia and heart failure, followed by spinal cord injury and neuropathies - Parkinson's disease, and thrombocytopenia from aplastic anemia. Moreover, the rising popularity of automated platforms for iPS cells production is further contributing to the industry growth. The automated production platform offers an ideal chance of reliable reproducibility of cells in addition to cost reduction and increases throughput. Acknowledging the profitable opportunities posed by the market, key players in the induced pluripotent stem cells generation industry are focusing on mergers & acquisitions to strengthen their presence. In March 2021, Axol Biosciences signed a merger agreement with Censo Biotechnology. This entity is set to become one of the leading providers of products and services in the iPSC-based immune cell, neuroscience, and cardiac modeling for the drug discovery and screening market. Grand View Research has segmented the global induced pluripotent stem cells production market on the basis of process, workflow, product, application, end-use, and region: iPSCs Production Process Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) Manual Automated iPSCs Production Workflow Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) Reprogramming Cell Culture Cell Characterization/Analysis Engineering Others iPSCs Production Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) Instruments/Devices Automated Platforms Consumables & Kits Media Kits Others Services iPSCs Production Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) Drug Development and Discovery Regenerative Medicine Toxicology Studies Others iPSCs Production End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) Research & Academic Institutes Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Companies Hospitals & Clinics iPSCs Production Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2028) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Spain Italy Asia Pacific Japan China India Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa & South Africa Saudi Arabia List of Key Players of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Production Market Lonza Axol Biosciences Ltd. Evotec Hitachi Ltd. Merck KGaA REPROCELL Inc. Fate Therapeutics Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. StemCellFactory III Applied StemCell Inc. Check out more studies related to stem cells, conducted by Grand View Research: Stem Cells Market - The global stem cells market size generated a revenue of USD 9.38 billion in 2020. It is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% from 2021 to 2028. The factors contributing to the growth include increasing demand for biologics, technological advancement in stem cell therapeutics, and a growing focus on the development of personalized medicines. - The global stem cells market size generated a revenue of in 2020. It is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8% from 2021 to 2028. The factors contributing to the growth include increasing demand for biologics, technological advancement in stem cell therapeutics, and a growing focus on the development of personalized medicines. Mesenchymal Stem Cells Market - The global mesenchymal stem cells market size was valued at USD 2.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.6% from 2021 to 2028. An exponential rise in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) based research and its implications in the field of regenerative medicine fuel the growth of the market. - The global mesenchymal stem cells market size was valued at in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.6% from 2021 to 2028. An exponential rise in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) based research and its implications in the field of regenerative medicine fuel the growth of the market. Human Embryonic Stem Cells Market - The global Human Embryonic Stem Cells market size was valued at USD 494.7 million in 2015. These are the pluripotent cells that possess the ability to get differentiated into all germ layers. Rising demand owing to the increasing incidence of genetic disorders is anticipated to boost growth. Browse through Grand View Research's coverage of the Global Biotechnology Industry Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports About Grand View Research Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: 1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg Mogrify Limited (Mogrify), a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of a new class of in vivo reprogramming therapies and transforming the development of ex vivo cell therapies, today announced the appointment of Dr. Louise Modis as Chief Scientific Officer, following the recent completion of a $33 million USD Series A funding. Louise is an accomplished scientific leader in therapeutic discovery and development, and holds considerable experience in the progression of pre-clinical and clinical-stage assets, across various modalities and therapeutic areas. In her new role, Louise will lead the advancement of the Company's internal programs to help address high unmet clinical need in ophthalmology, immuno-oncology and other disease areas. Louise has over 20 years' experience in pre-clinical and clinical therapeutic research. Formerly Vice President of Immunology Research at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), she led the generation and advancement of a pipeline of assets from target identification through to clinical proof-of-concept studies. Her roles at GSK included sponsorship of the Immunology Network, hosting external collaborators at GSK on sabbatical to nucleate and develop novel therapeutic concepts, championing in-licensing of assets, and representing GSK on the board of Sitryx. Prior to GSK, Louise led research teams at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now Takeda), where she progressed therapeutic candidates targeted at immunology, oncology, and cardiovascular indications with unmet need. Dr. Modis holds a BSc (Biotechnology) from the National University of Ireland, Galway, earned her PhD (Developmental Hematology) at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, Boston. Dr. Darrin M. Disley, OBE, CEO, Mogrify, said: "We are delighted to welcome Louise to the Mogrify Executive Team following a global search that considered drug discovery specialists from across Europe and the United States. Louise's domain expertise, intellectual curiosity and passion for developing novel modalities capable of transforming clinical outcomes for patients suffering with degenerative diseases, make her an ideal fit to lead our internal programs through to first-in-human studies." Dr. Louise Modis, Chief Scientific Officer, Mogrify, added: "I am very excited to join Mogrify and to be able to deploy its powerful cell reprogramming platform to address the most immediate challenges of developing cost-effective ex vivo cell therapies in immuno-oncology. I am particularly enthused by the Company's development of novel in vivo therapeutic modalities and the opportunity to progress a number of in vivo reprogramming therapies rapidly through development into the clinic." For further information about Mogrify's team, please visit: https://mogrify.co.uk/team/leadership-team/ View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005528/en/ Contacts: Zyme Communications Michelle Ricketts, PhD Tel: +44 (0)7789 053 885 Email: michelle.ricketts@zymecommunications.com - Philippe Vandeput appointed as Chief Business Officer and Rakesh Dixit joins the company's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) - atbtherapeutics today announced the appointments of Philippe Vandeput as Chief Business Officer (CBO) and Rakesh Dixit, PhD, as a member of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Mr. Vandeput and Dr. Dixit both bring more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and will strengthen the company's management team and SAB as the company continues to apply its highly differentiated plant-based discovery platform to discover a novel class of targeted cytotoxic biologics called atbodies. Mr. Vandeput joins atb from UCB, where he led global business operations for its products in several key markets. Dr. Dixit is a well-known leader in biologics drug discovery and development with a long tenure from AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Johnson Johnson and MSD, among others. Their expertise and active engagement in the biopharmaceutical industry will be an important resource for the company as it advances its drug candidates into the clinic. "Attracting accomplished veterans like Philippe and Rakesh to atbtherapeutics is a testament to the potential of our transformative platform in developing first-in-class drug candidates built to address hard to treat and refractory cancers," commented Dr. Bertrand Magy, CEO of atbtherapeutics. "I welcome them to the team and look forward to their insights and guidance as we continue to shape our preclinical programs and accelerate their development towards the clinic with the ultimate purpose of having a meaningful impact on cancer patient's lives." Philippe Vandeput, Chief Business Officer of atbtherapeutics added, "atbtherapeutics has established a unique position in the expanding frontier of the targeted therapy space by developing differentiated anti-cancer atbody candidates, creating a new opportunity for groundbreaking therapies. I look forward to working with the leadership team and forging partnerships across the industry." Philippe joins atbtherapeutics following an impressive leadership tenure at UCB, the global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Belgium, where he held various senior leadership positions such as Chief Financial Officer for UCB's global commercial operations, Head of Strategy and Operations for the Bone Muscle Unit and as Head of the Global Allergy, Neurology and Cardiovascular Brands Unit of UCB. In these positions, Philippe was responsible for driving performance in key markets and disease indications, launching new products, as well as coordinating late-stage product development and life-cycle management and overlooking the Global alliance management. Before this, he was UCB's Managing Director for Northern Europe, Italy and Belgium with full profit-and-loss responsibilities. Prior to joining UCB, he started his career in product sales, management and marketing at Baxter and Novartis/ Sandoz. Philippe also served several years as Board member of Pharma.be, the Belgian Pharma industry association. Philippe received an executive degree from Stanford University, an MBA from Leuven/Vlerick School of Management in Belgium, a postgraduate degree in Business Economics and a master's degree in Physiotherapy from Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium. "atbtherapeutics has a potentially game-changing, plant-based discovery platform for developing cancer therapeutics, and being a part of the company's journey at this early stage is an exciting opportunity for me," added Dr. Rakesh Dixit, member of the SAB at atbtherapeutics. "I am eager to work with the other members of the Scientific Advisory Board to define the most effective path to advance atbtherapeutics' novel assets." Rakesh Dixit, PhD, DABT is president and chief executive officer of Bionavigen, a virtual biopharmaceutical company specializing in consulting for biologics, cell and gene therapy and small molecule drug development. He is also President and CSO of Regio Biosciences. Dr. Dixit is an accomplished executive, inventor, and scientist with over 30 years of success with top biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Co., Inc. (US) Johnson Johnson, Medimmune and AstraZeneca. In his career spanning over 30 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, he was a key contributor to successful approval of biotherapeutics, including five biologics (e.g., antibodies, immunotoxin) and four small molecule pharmaceuticals. Dr. Dixit is the winner of the award of "One Hundred Most Influential People in Pharmaceutical Industry" and the most prestigious "Long-Standing Contributions to the ADC Field" award at the 2020 World ADC Awards. He conducted his graduate training at the University of Lucknow, and Case Western Reserve University and he is board certified by the American Board of Toxicology. He has delivered nearly 200 invited presentations and has more than 80 publications in peer reviewed journals. About atbtherapeutics atbtherapeutics aims to generate a pipeline of novel biologics for hard-to-treat hematological and solid cancers. The company's proprietary and versatile plant-based atbiofarm technology enables the production of its antibody-toxin bioengineered molecules, called atbodies, to be designed for targeted monoclonal antibody therapy with very high efficacy as well as unprecedented safety. The atbody fusion proteins recombinantly manufactured in a single-step process are composed of a full-length antibody, a peptide linker and a toxic peptide payload. The unique composition of the atbody format, avoiding chemical linker issues, generates increased potency, stability and superior targeted exposure and can potentially reduce the therapeutic dose needed without compromising efficacy. The novel mechanism of action of atbody product candidates has the potential to evade major mechanisms of cancer cell resistance, providing a promising therapeutic solution for hard-to-treat and refractory tumors. Find out more at www.atbtherapeutics.com. Connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005121/en/ Contacts: For atbtherapeutics Dr. Bertrand Magy, CEO Email: bertrand.magy@atbtherapeutics.com Media Requests for atbtherapeutics Dr. Jacob Verghese or Gretchen Schweitzer Trophic Communications Phone: +49 (0)89 2388 7731 E-Mail: Trophic_atb@trophic.eu DGAP-News: Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.: STEINHOFF GLOBAL SETTLEMENT - TERMINATION OF DUTCH SOP PROCEEDINGS 05.10.2021 / 11:10 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. STEINHOFF GLOBAL SETTLEMENT - TERMINATION OF DUTCH SOP PROCEEDINGS Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. ("SIHNV" or the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries, "Steinhoff") announces the following update with respect to the Steinhoff global litigation settlement proposal. On 2 October 2021, the appeal period in respect of the order by the District Court of Amsterdam confirming SIHNV's composition plan has lapsed. No party has lodged an appeal against this confirmation order. This means that the confirmation of SIHNV's composition plan has become final and unappealable (in kracht van gewijsde), resulting in the termination of the suspension of payments proceedings of SIHNV pursuant to Section 276 of the Dutch Bankruptcy Act. The Company has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited. Stellenbosch, South Africa 5 October 2021 05.10.2021 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 BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks edged higher on Tuesday after IHS Markit's final Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the services sector came in at 56.2 versus a flash reading of 56.0. However, that was down from 60.8 in August as the pace of recovery in the services sector slowed. The benchmark DAX rose 31 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,067 after losing 0.8 percent in the previous session. Lender Commerzbank rose about 1 percent and Deutsche Bank added 0.6 percent as bond yields surged to 18-month high. Infineon Technologies gained nearly 2 percent after confirming its 2021 revenue and segment result margin guidance. For fiscal 2022, the company expects strong revenue increase and a further margin uplift. Bayer dropped half a percent after the company unveiled plans to expand production capabilities in Turku, Finland. 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. BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks advanced on Tuesday as encouraging data helped ease investor concerns over slowing growth. The French Services PMI slipped from 56.3 to 56.2, but that was up from a preliminary reading of 56.0. Industrial production growth doubled in August largely driven by the rebound in the manufacture of machinery and equipment and mining, separate data showed. Industrial production grew 1 percent month-on-month, faster than the 0.5 percent increase in July. Economists had forecast the rate to slow to 0.3 percent. The benchmark CAC 40 edged up 32 points, or half a percent, to 6,509 after closing 0.6 percent lower the previous day. Banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale jumped 2-3 percent as bond yields surged to 18-month high. 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. Subsidiary of Stoli, Global Wine and Spirits Leader, Joins as Co-Owner NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tenute del Mondo, co-owner (with the Frescobaldi Family) of iconic wines such as Masseto, Ornellaia, Luce, CastelGiocondo, and owner of iconic Achaval Ferrer and Arinzano wines, today announced the purchase of fifty percent of Chateau Miraval, and the Miraval brand, from Angelina Jolie. Tenute del Mondo is a subsidiary of Stoli Group, the leading global ultra premium spirits and wine company. "Miraval complements our wine offering," commented Jon Pepper, Master of Wine, Managing Director of Tenute del Mondo. "With the addition of a Rose of this caliber we are well positioned to meet the exquisite demands of both customers and partners alike." "We have long admired Miraval's exceptional wines and brand. We are truly honored to do our part to uphold the integrity and commitment, as well as invest the time and passion, evidenced in both the Chateau and the Miraval brand," commented Damian McKinney, Global CEO of Stoli Group. "We are thrilled to have a position alongside Brad Pitt as curators of their extraordinary vintages." 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, 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 has production facilities in Spain, Italy, Argentina, and the United States some of which are steeped in history dating back to the early part of the last century. For more information, visit stoli-group.com . About Tenute del Mondo The Stoli group's wine division, Tenute del Mondo, was created to build the world's leading portfolio of ultra-premium wineries. The foundation was laid in 2006 with the acquisition of part of Marchesi de Frescobaldi which includes Italian icons Masseto, Ornellaia, Luce and CastelGiocondo. The group expanded into Argentina with the acquisitions of Argentina's highest rated winery, Achaval Ferrer, in 2011 and Melipal in 2019, and in 2015 acquired Spain's oldest wine estate, Propiedad de Arinzano, which was founded in 1055. Tenute del Mondo's critically acclaimed wines are sold in more than 90 countries, and are enjoyed in many of the world's finest restaurants and wine bars. For more information visit Tenute del Mondo. About Miraval Chateau Miraval is an estate in the South of France which is home to one of Provence's finest roses. The domain consists of an historic chateau and 400 hectares of land which are planted with vines, olive trees and pines. Chateau Miraval rose has been acclaimed by critics since its launch, and has quickly become one of the region's leading rose brands. For more information visit Miraval. COEUR D'ALENE, ID / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / New Jersey Mining Company (OTCQB:NJMC) ("NJMC" or the "Company") is pleased to release a comprehensive year-to-date update from its on-going 2021 core drill program at the Golden Chest mine. Most of the drilling targeted exploration and pre-development in areas lying to the north and south of current underground mining operations. The areas of focus include the Joe Dandy and Paymaster located south, and the Klondike located north of existing infrastructure in the Skookum. In the first two months of 2021, a drill contractor and the company's own core rig were employed to expedite exploration efforts in these relatively underexplored areas. By mid-June the New Jersey core rig began drilling 24 hours a day; and continues to do so. As of the end of third quarter NJMC has completed 25 diamond core holes totaling 6,507 meters. Of these 25 core holes, 20 holes have been geologically evaluated and geochemically analyzed, with 5 core holes on deck. Intervals below are reported in true thickness and in grams of gold per tonne (gpt). Paymaster Highlights GC 20-183 Paymaster intercepted 0.9 meters of 14.7 grams per tonne (gpt) gold in the upper vein and 0.2 meters of 6.3 gpt gold in the lower vein GC 21-184 Paymaster intercepted 1.5 meters of 20.1 gpt gold (including 0.9 meters of 26.7 gpt gold) in the upper vein and 1.4 meters of 3.8 gpt gold in the lower vein GC 21-187 Paymaster intercepted 1.8 meters of 10.9 gpt gold (including 0.6 meters of 29.2 gpt gold) in the upper vein and 2.1 meters of 4.2 gpt gold (including 1.2 meters of 7.2 gpt gold) in the lower vein. Joe Dandy Highlights GC 21-193 Joe Dandy intercepted 7.3 meters of 11.5 grams per tonne (gpt) gold (including 2.3 meters of 19.5 grams per tonne) GC 21-194 Joe Dandy intercepted 0.5 meters of 7.8 gpt gold in the upper vein and 0.4 meters of 4.6 gpt gold in the lower vein GC 21-195 Joe Dandy intercepted 0.5 meters of 3.8 gpt gold in the upper vein and 0.4 meters of 2.9 gpt gold in the lower vein GC 21-196 Joe Dandy intercepted 0.6 meters of 8.3 gpt gold in the upper vein and 1.7 meters of 2.7 gpt gold in the lower vein GC 21-197 Joe Dandy intercepted 2.56 meters of 10.98 gpt gold (including 0.94 meters of 28.7 gpt gold) in the upper vein and 0.53 meters of 2.60 gpt gold in the lower vein Intervals below are reported in drill thickness (as vein orientations have yet to be determined) and in grams of gold per tonne (gpt). Klondike Highlights GC 21-203 Klondike intercepted 1.8 meters of 14.4 gpt gold (including 0.8 meters of 31.8 gpt gold). GC 21-204 Klondike intercepted 7.5 meters of 5.2 gpt gold (including 3.3 meters of 9.4 gpt gold) in the upper vein and 3.4 meters of 12.2 gpt gold (including 1.1 meters of 34.1 gpt gold) in the lower vein GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 1.4 meters of 12.2 gpt gold GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 1.1 meters of 6.4 gpt gold from 126.4 to 127.5 m GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 2.3 meters of 15.5 gpt gold from 165.0 to 167.3 m (including 0.5 meters of 35.4 gpt gold and 0.1 m of 138 gpt gold). GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 7.6 meters of 1.9 gpt gold from 175.2 to 186.3 m (including 1.3 meters of 6.9 gpt gold). GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 1.8 meters of 3.8 gpt gold from 207.9 to 209.7 m GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 6.0 meters of 3.1 gpt gold from 225.21 to 231.2 m (including 3.1 meters of 5.4 gpt gold). GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 1.5 meters of 3.3 gpt gold from 233.5 to 235.0 GC 21-205 Klondike intercepted 1.3 meters of 7.8 gpt gold from 246.6 to 247.9 m NJMC's Vice President of Exploration, Rob Morgan commented, "We have enjoyed a very high success rate with our 2021 drill program. Many of the drill intercepts demonstrate thick intervals of gold mineralization that show deep plumbing and predictable horizontal extents, with everything remaining open in all directions. The overwhelming success of our drill program has allowed us to develop preliminary mine plans for two additional portals, one in the south at the Paymaster and one in the north at the Klondike. "We plan to keep the core rig in the Klondike area until the snow files in order to complete an additional 2-3 drill holes. Following the Klondike, the core rig will move to lower elevations in the Paymaster and Skookum areas, with our deep winter drilling focused on the Joe Dandy. All information generated from our 2021 core drill program will be used to further develop our geological interpretations and generating future economic targets." Qualified person NJMC's Vice President of Exploration, Robert John Morgan, PG, PLS is a qualified person as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this press release. About New Jersey Mining Company Headquartered in North Idaho, New Jersey Mining Company is the rare example of a vertically integrated, operating junior mining company. NJMC produces gold at the Golden Chest Mine and recently consolidated the Murray Gold Belt (MGB) for the first time in over 100-years. The MGB is an overlooked gold producing region within the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, located north of the prolific Silver Valley. In addition to gold, the Company maintains a presence in the Critical Minerals sector and is focused on identifying and exploring for Critical Minerals (Rare Earth Minerals) important to our country's defensive readiness and a low-carbon future. New Jersey Mining Company possesses the in-house skillsets of a much larger company while enjoying the flexibility of a smaller and more entrepreneurial corporate structure. Its production-based strategy, by design, provides the flexibility to advance the Murray Gold Belt and/or its Critical Minerals holdings on its own or with a strategic partner in a manner that is consistent with its existing philosophy and culture. NJMC has established a high-quality, early to advanced-stage asset base in four historic mining districts of Idaho and Montana, which includes the currently producing Golden Chest Mine. Management is stakeholder focused and owns more than 15-percent of NJMC stock. The Company's common stock trades on the OTC-QB under the symbol "NJMC." For more information on New Jersey Mining Company go to www.newjerseymining.com or call: Monique Hayes, Corporate Secretary/Investor Relations Email: monique@newjerseymining.com (208) 699-6097 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 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such statements are based on good faith assumptions that New Jersey Mining Company believes are reasonable, but which are subject to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, that the continued drilling and Klondike, Paymaster and the Joe Dandy drill results will result in an economic resource and an increased risk associated with production activities occurring without completion of a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, environmental hazards, industrial accidents, weather or geologically related conditions), changes in the market prices of gold and silver and the potential impact on revenues from changes in the market price of gold and cash costs, a sustained lower price environment, risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of the Company relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other uncertainties and risk factors. Actual results, developments and timetables could vary significantly from the estimates presented. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. NJMC disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE: New Jersey Mining Company View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666788/New-Jersey-Mining-Co-Provides-YTD-2021-Highlights-from-Golden-Chest-Production-Expansion-Drill-Program Grand Havana Will Showcase the New Grand Havana Cafe Casual Fast Concept to Convenience and Fuel Retail Industry Buyers MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / Grand Havana Inc. (OTC PINK:GHAV) (the "Company"), today announced that its subsidiaries, GH Hospitality owners of Grand Havana Cafe, will be exhibitors at the 2021 NACS Show on October 6-8, 2021, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. The Grand Havana Cafe booth will be featuring the brand's new Grand Havana Coffee shops. The NACS Show is operated by the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing and has averaged over 23,000 attendees including many buyers for convenience stores and fuel stations. Grand Havana and Grand Havana Cafe will be in booths #6474 respectively. "The 2021 NACS Show is a great opportunity for The Grand Havana Cafe's to showcase the brand. Convenience stores sell billions of dollars of coffee products annually and we are looking forward to meeting with buyer's nationwide and sharing our delicious coffee, sandwiches and pastries. This year we experienced outstanding growth in the convenience channel, and it remains our focus for 2022," said Robert Rico, CEO of Grand Havana, Inc. For more information about the show, visit nacsshow.com. About Grand Havana, Inc. Grand Havana is a specialty coffee company headquartered in Miami, Florida offering a broad array of coffee products and services. Grand Havana's Optimum Blend is available nationwide and proudly served in our corporate owned cafes Grand Havana Cafe, Mobile Coffee Truck and other locations including universities, supermarkets, cafes, convenience stores, hotels, and online marketplaces. We also offer a b2b solution that provides our coffee product paired with high quality coffee machines, reliable delivery, and timely technical service. Grand Havana is the consumer's brand of choice for the best tasting Cuban Style Espresso. Safe Harbor Statement: The information posted in this release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by use of the words "may, "will," "should," "plans," explores," expects," anticipates," continue," estimate," project," intend," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties include, but not limited to, general economic and business conditions, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. For more information, visit www.Grandhavanacoffee.com, call 1.800.608.5441, or email orders@grandhavanacoffee.com Find out more about the company at www.Facebook.com/grandhavanacoffee, twitter.com/grandhavanacoffee1, or www.instagram.com/grandhavanacoffee/ Contact Info: Robert Rico Tel. 305-283-9237 SOURCE: Grand Havana, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666814/Grand-Havana-CoffeeR-and-Grand-Havana-CafeTM-Will-Exhibit-at-2021-NACS-Show Spain becomes the 9th European Country for OVF partnership with Nucleus Software Opel Vauxhall Finance announces the going live in Spain of Nucleus Software's flagship lending product, FinnOne. Nucleus Software is the leading provider of lending and transaction banking products and solutions to the global financial industry. Spain becomes the ninth European country for Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF) to go live with FinnOne. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005757/en/ OVF is the automotive finance captive organization of Opel and Vauxhall, supported by Stellantis and BNP Paribas. OVF trades under strong local brands such as Opel Bank, Opel Financial Services and Vauxhall Finance. OVF has multiple operational branches across Europe, each operating under local bank licence or Financial Institution. While FinnOne has been supporting businesses for Opel Vauxhall Finance in Europe since 2006, Spain is the latest country that will run OVF business using FinnOne. The OVF FinnOne partnership began in Italy and then moved on to Belgium, Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The OVF portfolio includes a wide range of auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts. Opel Vauxhall Finance wanted to utilize its core applications to achieve economies of scale. Nucleus Software FinnOne SRS (Strategic Retail Solution) is helping OVF in leveraging existing functionalities and aligning Spanish business processes to the OVF strategic applications rather than customizing and increasing scope cost. "With FinnOne going live in Spain, Opel Vauxhall Finance will be able to improve operational efficiency and align with the corporate strategic technology framework. With enhanced digitization, we will also be able to strengthen the collaboration framework with Opel/Vauxhall to increase the volume of financed/leased vehicles while at the same time raising retail margins across Europe," says Alexandre Sorel, CEO of Opel Vauxhall Finance. "We are proud to continue to bring value to our long-term partnership with Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF). Spain is the ninth European country where FinnOne is supporting OVF in running their complex business. Having a common solution running across nine countries provides a competitive edge to OVF in terms of operational efficiency, uniform rollouts and standardization. We were able to go live despite the pandemic by meeting business commitments thanks to the coming together of OVF and Nucleus teams using our deep expertise in off-shore implementation methodology," says Parag Bhise, CEO, Nucleus Software. About Opel Vauxhall Finance: OVF (Opel Vauxhall Finance) is the automotive finance captive organization of Opel and Vauxhall, supported by Stellantis and BNP Paribas, taken over from GM Financial in 2017. OVF trades under strong local brands such as Opel Bank, Opel Financial Services and Vauxhall Finance. OVF has multiple operational branches across Europe, each operating under local bank licence or Financial Institution. For IT Operations, everything is controlled from UK under the name Opel Vauxhall Finance. Its portfolio includes a wide range of auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts as well as dealer financing. In Germany, OVF also offer money market accounts and fixed-term deposits directly to end-consumers, complementing our traditional automotive finance business. OVF's primary goal is to meet the mobility needs of customers across Europe, while sustaining and developing the Opel and Vauxhall brands through competitive and attractive automotive finance solutions. Financing Opel and Vauxhall Brands dates back to 1920 when it opened its first office in London, helping people in the UK to finance their vehicles. In 1929 Opel Finanzierungsgesellschaft mbH was founded in Russelsheim, Germany, as the strategic finance partner for Opel. About Nucleus Software: Nucleus Software Exports Ltd. is a publicly traded (BSE: 531209, NSE: NUCLEUS) software product company that provides lending and transaction banking products to global financial leaders. Nucleus Software powers the operations of more than 200 Financial Institutions in over 50 countries, supporting retail lending, corporate banking, cash management, mobile and internet banking, automotive finance and other business areas. Its products facilitate more than 26 million transactions each day, managing over US $200 billion of loans and enabling more than 200,000 users logging in daily. For more information, please visit: www.nucleussoftware.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005757/en/ Contacts: Dr. Ritika Dusad ritika.dusad@nucleussoftware.com Nucleus Software Increase in demand for light energy harvesting and vibration energy harvesting along with technological advancements drive the growth of the global energy harvesting system market. PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Energy Harvesting System Market by Technology (Light Energy Harvesting, Vibration Energy Harvesting, Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting, and Thermal Energy Harvesting), Component (Energy Harvesting Transducers, Power Management Integrated Circuits (PMIC), and Storage System), and Application (Building & Home Automation, Consumer Electronics, Industrial, Transportation, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030." According to the report, the global energy harvesting system market generated $511.6 million in 2020, and is expected to reach $1.05 billion by 2030, witnessing a CAGR of 7.5% from 2021 to 2030. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities Increase in demand for light energy harvesting and vibration energy harvesting along with technological advancements in sensor-based energy harvesting systems drive the growth of the global energy harvesting system market. However, disadvantages associated with energy harvesting techniques hinder the market growth. On the other hand, ongoing research & development activities and demand for energy harvesting system in building & home automation create new opportunities in the coming years. Download Sample PDF (278 Pages PDF with Insights): https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/14055 Covid-19 Scenario Owing to lockdown measures, production facilities of the energy harvesting systems have been closed partially or completely due to unavailability of the workforce, lockdown measures, and disrupted supply chain. This led to reduced production volumes. The demand from applications sectors such as building & construction, automotive, consumer electronics, industrial, and transportation reduced considerably due to stoppage of daily operations during the lockdown. However, the demand is expected to recover during the post-lockdown. Market players have been assessing their business strategies to enable continuity and adopt quick response strategies to regulate the supply chain to ensure raw material availability and efficient distribution. The light energy harvesting segment to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period Based on technology, the light energy harvesting segment contributed to the highest share in 2020, accounting for more than one-third of the global energy harvesting system market, and is projected to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. Moreover, this segment is estimated to manifest the largest CAGR of 7.9% from 2021 to 2030. This is attributed to availability of advanced technologies and systems along with lessened need for disposable batteries. This type of technology can also be utilized in situations where replacement of batteries is unfeasible, risky, and expensive. The research also analyzes the segments including vibration energy harvesting, radio frequency energy harvesting, and thermal energy harvesting. Get detailed COVID-19 impact analysis on the Energy Harvesting System Market: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/14055?reqfor=covid The building & home automation segment to continue its leadership status during the forecast period Based on application, the building & home automation segment held the largest share in 2020, accounting for more than one-fourth of the global energy harvesting system market, and is expected to continue its leadership status during the forecast period. Moreover, this segment is projected to register the fastest CAGR of 8.1% from 2021 to 2030. This is due to advantages such as flexibility in distribution as there is no need for hardwiring. The research also analyzes the segments including consumer electronics, industrial, transportation, and others. Europe, followed by North America, to maintain its lead position by 2030 Based on region, Europe, followed by North America, accounted for the highest market share in 2020, contributing to nearly two-fifths of the global energy harvesting system market, and is estimated to maintain its lead position by 2030. This is due to increased adoption in the transportation sector and rise in consumer demand for private and public electric vehicles. However, Asia-Pacific is projected to portray the highest CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period, due to increase in demand from consumer electronics and the transportation sectors. Schedule a FREE Consultation Call with Our Analysts/Industry Experts to Find Solution for Your Business @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/14055 Leading Market Players Cymbet Corporation Cedrat Technologies SA Tekceleo ZF Friedrichshafen AG Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH & Co. KG Advanced Linear Devices Inc. Mide Technology Corporation Powercast Xidas Analog Devices Interested in Procure Data? Visit Here: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/energy-harvesting-system-market/purchase-options Access AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access Avenue is a user-based library of global market report database, provides comprehensive reports pertaining to the world's largest emerging markets. It further offers e-access to all the available industry reports just in a jiffy. By offering core business insights on the varied industries, economies, and end users worldwide, Avenue ensures that the registered members get an easy as well as single gateway to their all-inclusive requirements. Avenue Library Subscription | Request for 14 days free trial of before buying: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/avenue/trial/starter Similar Reports We Have: Smart Energy Market Expected to Reach $253.1 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.6% from 2020 to 2027. Wind energy market is projected to reach $127.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.3% from 2020 to 2027. Wave energy market is projected to reach $141.1 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 17.8% from 2020 to 2027. Renewable energy market is projected to reach $1,977.6 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 8.4% from 2021 to 2030. Nanotechnology in energy market is projected to reach $384.8 million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.7% from 2021 to 2030. Solar energy market is projected to reach $223.3 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 20.5% from 2019 to 2026. Pre-Book Now with 10% Discount: Ambient Energy Harvester Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030 World Home Energy Management Systems Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2021-2028 Energy as a Service (EaaS) Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast 2020-2027 Nuclear Energy Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027 Offshore Energy Storage Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030 World Energy Efficient Motor Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2021-2028 About us: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." 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Contact us: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Toll Free: 1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-855-550-5975 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Follow us on | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philippines Department of Tourism celebrates the history and culture of the country by developing new circuits among its regions. It is also focusing on standardizing health and safety protocols for all tourism areas as the country gets ready to welcome the rest of the world with its famous warm hospitality. This year, the Philippines celebrates its pivotal role in the Quincentennial commemoration of the first circumnavigation of the world by navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He arrived in 1521 and discovered a thriving civilization. Many of these ancient cultural traditions are still in practice today together with the influences that have been introduced by other cultures. This has made the Philippines an interesting destination where various cultures from different eras come together. "We have different types of attractions and activities to suit our travelers' interests once international borders for travel reopens. Whether it is nature trips to our beautiful beaches and mountains, or cultural immersions in our regions that have rich traditions unique to our country, there is something new to enjoy at every visit," says Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat. With the country's rich heritage and culture, sites of interest abound all over the country. Many of these historic places can be visited conveniently in one city. Here are some places to visit on your visit to the Philippines: Ilocos Up North, the influences of the Spanish era abound, from the Baroque churches such as the San Agustin Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in the 17th century, it was also named as a National Cultural Treasure in 1973. The Museo Ilocos Norte gives visitors a glimpse of life in the region's diverse cultures with displays of Ilocano, Igorot and Itneg traditional clothing, household utensils, ceremonial objects and more. The museum is housed in an old tabacalera, or cigar factory, with tobacco being one of main agricultural industries of Ilocos. Vigan is a place to visit for a culture trip. The Bantay Church in Ilocos Sur is a must-see with its bell tower structure that also served as a lookout point against pirates still standing to this day. The whole street of Calle Crisologo is another UNESCO World Heritage Site in the North, with its old-world charm of cobblestone streets and heritage structures transporting tourists back in time. Vigan is also where one can watch the traditional art of pottery making at the Pagburnayan, while travelers can watch locals, in Brgy. Camangaan still in Vigan, weave the local cotton fabric called Inabel on their hand looms. Cebu One can find remnants from Ferdinand Magellan's landing in the Philippines at Cebu, with a monument called Magellan's to commemorate the first baptism held in Philippine shores, and the Sto. Nino Basilica across the street that houses the image of the Child Jesus that was gifted by Magellan to Hara Humamay and Rajah Humabon of Cebu when she was baptized into Christianity. One can also visit the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral to view its Sino influences such as carved reliefs of phoenixes and the two dogs standing guard at the entrance. Plaza Hamabar is named after Rajah Humabon. Here, one can find a statue of the Cebuano Chieftain as he was described by Magellan's chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. The Cebu Heritage Monument is a tableau of concrete, bronze, brass and steel showing events and structures related to the history of Cebu. The Colon Obelisk can be found on Colon Street, which is said to be the oldest street in the Philippines and, as it is now still an important avenue for commerce. An imposing structure of stone, Fort San Pedro was built as a fortress against Muslim raiders by the first Spanish Governor General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and it is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. For those looking to experience Cebuano arts and crafts, there are tours to the Alegre Guitar Factory and the furniture makers such as the atelier of Kenneth Cobonpue and the workshop of Dedon furniture. Other cultural stops are the Casa Gorodo Museum which is a National Historical Landmark with its glimpse into the way of life of a Chinese-Filipino family in the Parian District, 1730 Jesuit Museum or Parian Museum which is the old retreat house of the Jesuit Order in Cebu, Museo Sugbo, the former Carcel de Cebu, which houses pre-colonial artifacts and Chinese wares, and the Carmen Copper Museum and Heritage Center which presents the history of the copper mining industry in the country. Greater Manila Area Corregidor Island served as a fortress of defense during the Spanish period because of its strategic location near Manila. During World War 2, it was used as a garrison against the Japanese forces by Filipino and American soldiers. Its ruins can be visited today as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the battlefield. The Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine in Cavite was the home of the first Philippine president. It was here that the Filipino flag was formally unfurled for the first time and where the National Anthem was also played as a sign of independence from Spanish rule. In the neighboring Cavite town of Maragondon, stands the Roderico Reyes Ancestral House, better known as the Bonifacio Trial House where the leader of the Katipunan revolution Andres Bonifacio was tried and found guilty of treason by the government established by Gen. Aguinaldo. For artful pursuits, one can go to Tagaytay and visit the Museo Orlina of modern glass sculptor Ramon Orlina and the Puzzle Mansion of enthusiast Georgina Gil-Lacuna who holds the Guinness World Record of having the most number of completed jigsaw puzzles on display. In Angono, which is known as a hometown of artists, one can find the studio home of Carlos "Botong" Francisco, the second National Artist for Visual Arts who specialized in capturing rural folk life. He was also the one who is credited for discovering the country's oldest form of art, the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs that are in a rock shelter just outside his town. Manila Fort Santiago in Intramuros was a Spanish fortress where the Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal was incarcerated before his execution at Bagumbayan, now Rizal Park. The fort, with its stone ramparts still intact, is now a public park with remnants of history on display in a museum celebrating Rizal's life. The Baluarte de San Diego is another part of Intramuros that was part of its stone fortifications. Crossways and a staircase lead visitors to where cannons were strategically placed as protection against invaders. For more historical content, tourists can visit the Casa Manila Museum which is a replica of a typical Spanish colonial mansion furnished with items of Philippine, Chinese and European origins. The National Museum, houses some of the country's most important works of art from Juan Luna's Spoliarium which won Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid to the works of contemporary artists. The San Agustin Church in Intramuros is the oldest church in the Philippines. It exhibits remarkable features such as Baroque altars, wall buttresses and ceiling paintings in the tromp l'oeil style. Manila'sRizal Park is a popular tourist spot for locals and international travelers for its wide open spaces and its attractions that include a dancing fountain and a bas relief map of the country. There is also a Monument to mark where Dr. Rizal was buried and a stature in honor of Rajah Lapu-Lapu, the country's first hero, who defeated Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan. Western Visayas Bacolod is known for its sugar plantations and the heritage houses nearby that illustrate how the hacienderos lived during the Spanish era. Among the houses that one can visit are Balay Negrense which was built in 1898 by Victor Gaston, son of Frenchman Yves Leopold Germain Gaston who is considered the first to popularize sugarcane cultivation on a commercial scale in the region, and The Ruins, which are what's left of a mansion that Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson built for his wife Maria Braga Lacson after it was razed in a fire. For a taste of heritage, stop by El Ideal, the city's oldest bakery for a snack of their baked specialties that include banadas, kinamunsil, masa podrida, lubid-lubid, biscocho de cana, and biscocho prinsipe. Eastern Visayas The region is rich with history and culture. One of the new circuits that have been developed is the Sinugdan Quincentennial Tour that brings travelers on a pilgrimage to seven heritage stone churches: Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church and the St. Isidore the Laborer Chapel, both in Baybay City; the Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion Church in Hilongos, Leyte; Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Matalom, Leyte; the Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral in Maasin City; the Sto. Nino Church in Malitbog; and the St. John the Baptist Church in San Juan, all in Southern Leyte. The tour also brings tourists to other attractions in the area, such as San Pedro and San Pablo Islands in Hinunangan or Molopolo - Sta. Cruz Fish and Bird Sanctuary in Macrohon before heading to Limasawa Island where the historic first Catholic Mass in Asia was held on March 30, 1521. Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously promised Filipinos, "I shall return", upon retracting American troops in World War II. He returned on October 20, 1944 and his landing on the shores of Palo, Leyte has been marked with a bronze monument. The Santo Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum which was built by the late President Marcos in his wife Imelda's hometown in Tacloban is a repository of her priceless art collections and religious relics. For a nature trip, visitors can head to the Sohoton Caves in Basey, Samar for a river cruise that takes them through lush vegetation before entering a cathedral-like cave with various stalactite and stalagmite formations. A stop at Basey brings tourists to a village of mat-weavers who use leaves that have been dried and dyed before being woven into intricate and colorful patterns. Discover the Philippines' tangible treasures The island souvenirs of the Philippines are unlike any other in the world. Here one can find souvenirs that showcase the rich and diverse culture of the country. Rattan is one of the indigenous materials that are used for traditional packaging, from shopping bags called bayong and boxes that are used to store items in the home. Banig (woven mats) are another Filipino woven product, used for sleeping or as bags and home accents. Filipino pastimes include playing street games, such as trumpo (wooden tops) that children use to battle it out to see whose top spins the longest. Music is another big part of Filipino culture, with instruments like the ukulele or the kubing (jaw harp) playing important roles in traditional celebrations. For a more modern take on the country's culture, one can try Paradise Mango Rum that uses the sweet flavors of the Philippine mangoes in a potent drink, and the Trese komiks on which the popular Netflix show on Filipino folklore is based. Safe journeys As the country prepares its myriad travel attractions, the Philippines Department of Tourism is ensuring a safe visit via standardized health and hygiene protocols in its destinations. The Tourism Department has been awarded a SafeTravels Stamp by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in recognition of its adoption of "health and hygiene global standardized protocols" that will ensure safe travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, conducts thorough inspection and assessment, to ensure that only those who are accredited can open and receive guests. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is constantly updating its protocols to safeguard Filipinos and foreign nationals who are traveling to the Philippines. To learn more about the Philippines' new and exciting adventures as well as safety and travel updates, visit www.morefunawaits.com/ and www.morefunawaits.com/ (for Turkey) and www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.co.uk (for Italy) or download the Travel Philippines app at the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. For photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1svdNtcrPwCrv_UaEkxJs410BFdyppSsp?usp=sharing Ananda Developments Plc - Exercise of Warrants 5 October 2021 ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC ("Ananda" or the "Company") EXERCISE OF WARRANTS Ananda announces that 995 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") have been issued following the exercise of warrants at 0.45p per share. Application will be made for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market and admission is expected to become effective on Monday, 11 October 2021. Following this issue, the Company has 794,666,243 Ordinary Shares in issue, each share carrying the right to one vote. This figure of 794,666,243 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company 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 share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. -Ends- The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement. ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC Chief Executive Officer Melissa Sturgess Investor Relations Jeremy Sturgess-Smith +44 (0)7717 573 235 ir@anandadevelopments.com PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED Corporate Finance Mark Anwyl Corporate Broking Lucy Williams Duncan Vasey +44 (0)20 7469 0930 Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain. About Ananda Developments Ananda is an AQSE-listed medical cannabis company creating UK-based operations to grow and provide carbon neutral, consistent, medical cannabis for the UK and international markets. The UK medical cannabis market is predicted to be worth 450m by 2025 and the European market is predicted to be worth USD4.2bn by 2027. Ananda, through its 50% owned subsidiary, DJT Plants Limited, was granted a Home Office licence in May 2021 to grow >0.2% THC cannabis in a new research facility to breed and stabilise 65 strains. For more information, please visit: https://anandadevelopments.com/ "How to Find Scholarships" will help fund investment portfolio accounts for students to put toward higher education. NEWPORT BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / TGR Foundation, A Tiger Woods Charity, announces the newest course on the Learn & EarnTM app. The "How to Find Scholarships" course is designed to support students in this critical aspect of the college application process. When students successfully complete the scholarship course on their smartphones, they will earn real dollars that are then invested in stock market portfolios in their names. "For 25 years, TGR Foundation has been committed to providing educational programs for underserved students," said Gordon McNeill, President and CEO. "Our scholarship course on Learn & Earn is a natural extension of the college-access and STEM programs we offer. We're excited to share 'How to Find Scholarships' with students who need support and guidance on their path to personal and professional success." The Learn & Earn app was developed by gaming company Blast in collaboration with Junior Achievement USA. Using Learn & Earn, students earn real money upon the successful completion of each course. These earnings fund an investment account that students are able to customize themselves. The courses cover a broad range of topics such as financial literacy, potential careers, and life skills that aim to help students become successful adults. Over one billion children worldwide have been affected by school closures caused by the pandemic. TGR Foundation's course will aim to reach some of these students, in particular those from low-income households. Students with savings accounts for higher education, like the investment account offered by the app, are four times more likely to graduate from college. "Learn & Earn is a great complement to TGR Foundation's learning platforms to help students get ready for college," explained Walter Cruttenden, founder of Acorns and Chairman of Blast, the developer of Learn & Earn. "Students will also be able to learn how to invest and start building wealth for their future through a UTMA/UGMA account that they can then use for college tuition, a certificate program, technical school, or to start a business." Learn & Earn allows students to select bite-sized courses and earn money from sponsors and parents upon the successful completion of each course. Students then invest that money in their investment account with Robo-Bumpers to keep their portfolio diversified and growing over time. Students have a "Core" portfolio of the world's largest diversified ETFs, and they can also select up to ten separate large cap stocks or ETFs from a curated "Explore" portfolio. This allows students to invest in fractional shares of companies like Apple, Tesla, Amazon, and many more. Sponsored courses are funded by for-profit and non-profit entities. Learn & Earn receives support and advice from enterprises like Franklin Templeton Investments and Roth Capital Partners. Advisors include Dr. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Dr. William Elliott III, Founder and Director of the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion at the University of Michigan; and Jon Fee, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Marketing for Saleforce.org. "How to Find Scholarships" will be available to all TGR Foundation students as well as the 5 million students in the Junior Achievement USA network. The app can be found on the App Store or Google Play by searching for "Learn & Earn - Early Investing." About Learn & Earn Created by the team behind Acorns, Learn & Earn is an easy way for students to earn money while learning and growing their knowledge. Covering real-world topics typically not taught in school, the bite-sized courses reward students with funds from sponsors and parents. These funds are then invested for the students, opening up a whole world of savings and investments for them. Working with preeminent partners and sponsors, Learn & Earn combines the best of FinTech and EdTech to redefine remote learning with courses that cover topics such as financial literacy, potential careers, and life skills. The app's ultimate mission is simple: to prepare students for their future. Visit www.learnandearn.com for more information. Investment advisory services are provided by Ant Money Advisors, LLC ("AMA"), an SEC-registered investment advisor. AMA's terms and policies can be found at www.antmoneyadvisors.com or through www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. AMA facilitates trading through DriveWealth, LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member FINRA and SIPC. Check the background of this firm on FINRA's BrokerCheck. About TGR Foundation, A Tiger Woods Charity For 25 years, TGR Foundation has worked to create a world where opportunity is universal and potential is limitless. With an unwavering commitment to impact underserved youth, its mission is to empower students to pursue their passions through education. Through innovative STEM coursework, college-access programs, digital platforms and educator professional development, TGR Foundation provides resources and support to help youth connect their passions to their purpose. Since its launch in 1996, TGR Foundation's education and outreach programs have impacted two million youth worldwide. To celebrate 25 years of impact, its new Pathways Forward initiative will provide support to enhance current education programs while expanding resources to more students on their pathways to college and career success. For more information visit TGRFoundation.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Press Contacts Bill Topaz Learn & Earn/Blast topaz@learnandearn.com (714) 745-3929 Reshma Melwani TGR Foundation, A Tiger Woods Charity rmelwani@tgrfoundation.org (714) 765- 8040 SOURCE: Learn and Earn View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666687/TGR-Foundation-Launches-Scholarship-Course-for-Learn-Earn-App-Helping-Students-Earn-Money-For-College The "Global Lateral Flow Assays Market Size, Share Trends Analysis Report by Product (Kits Reagents, Lateral Flow Readers), by Application, by Technique, by End-use, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global lateral flow assays market is expected to reach USD 8.51 billion by 2028. It is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.9% from 2021 to 2028. Major drivers of the market include an increase in the prevalence of infectious diseases, a rise in government initiatives to curb infectious and chronic diseases, a rise in demand for point of care testing, and strategic mergers acquisitions among others. Continuous strategic initiatives by leading and emerging players to develop and launch advanced products are anticipated to significantly support the market growth. For instance, in January 2021, U.K.-based Sensyne Health launched MagnifEye, a novel smartphone app that utilizes deep machine learning AI to automate the accurate reading of lateral flow diagnostic tests. Additionally, in March 2021, IUL SA, a Spain-based lateral flow products manufacturer, introduced its new lateral flow reader, iPeak+. In addition, a rise in mergers and collaborations by market players is anticipated to facilitate access to novel lateral flow technologies. In April 2021, DiaSorin, an Italian biotechnology company, entered into a strategic collaboration with Lumos Diagnostics to launch its new immunoassay PoC platform, LIAISON IQ. This platform will be Diasorin's newest generation CLIA-waived immunoassay PoC platform for the lateral flow readers market. Moreover, in August 2019, Qiagen signed a strategic distribution agreement with ViroGates A/S a Denmark-based healthcare company to increase access of its lateral flow reader to other geographies. A rise in the prevalence of infectious diseases, including the outbreak of COVID-19, and an increase in government initiatives to curb COVID-19, HIV, and other communicable diseases are anticipated to create significant demand for lateral flow devices. According to the U.S. Department of Health Human Services, the U.S. government has formed the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that works towards preventing, early detection, and responding to new as well as existing risks related to AIDS and HIV. Additionally, the National Institute of Health (NIH) has several programs aimed to increase research-related activities pertaining to HIV/AIDS treatment and management globally. NIH engages in research related to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and precaution measures to curb HIV infection. Report Highlights The outbreak of COVID-19 has created significant demand for lateral flow assays for conducting mass testing in the U.S. and European countries. However, increasing vaccinations leading to reduced COVID-19 cases in the coming years may hamper the segment growth By product, kits and reagents held the largest share in 2020 as they offer easy, effective, and rapid diagnosis of chronic and infectious diseases The clinical testing application segment held the largest market share in 2020 owing to an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases, a rise in the pressure to reduce overall healthcare costs, and increasing demand for POC testing devices that can be used in any healthcare setting Technological advancements in the healthcare sector, innovation in technology and devices, and an increase in the adoption of POC testing by patients and healthcare professionals are anticipated to fuel the market growth during the forecast period Key Topics Covered Chapter 1 Methodology and Scope Chapter 2 Executive Summary 2.1 Market Outlook 2.2 Segment Outlook 2.3 Competitive Insights Chapter 3 Lateral Flow Assay Market Variables, Trends Scope 3.1 Market Lineage Outlook 3.2 Penetration and Growth Prospect Mapping 3.3 Regulatory Framework 3.4 Market Dynamics 3.4.1 Market Driver Analysis 3.4.1.1 Rise in Prevalence of Infectious Diseases Across the Globe 3.4.1.2 Growing Demand for Point-of-Care (PoC) Testing 3.4.1.3 Technological Advancements 3.4.1.4 Increase in Usage of Home-Based Lateral Flow Assay Devices 3.4.2 Market Restraint Analysis 3.4.2.1 Implementation of Excise Duty on Medical Devices in the U.S. 3.4.2.2 Intense Competition Among Vendors 3.4.3 Market Opportunities Analysis 3.4.3.1 Improving Healthcare Infrastructure in Emerging Markets 3.4.3.2 Developing Countries Provide Untapped Markets for Multinational Players 3.4.3.3 Evolving Applications of Lateral Flow Assays 3.4.4 Market Challenges Analysis 3.4.4.1 Stringent Regulatory Frameworks and Time-Consuming Approval Processes 3.4.4.2 Limited Reimbursements for Lateral Flow Assay Products 3.5 Lateral Flow Assay Market Analysis Tools Chapter 4 Lateral Flow Assay Market Competitive Analysis 4.1 Recent Developments Impact Analysis, by Key Market Participants 4.2 Company Categorization 4.3 Public Companies 4.4 Private Companies Chapter 5 Lateral Flow Assay Market: Product Estimates and Trend Analysis 5.1 Definition Scope 5.2 Product Market Share Analysis, 2020 2028 5.3 Segment Dashboard 5.4 Global Lateral Flow Assay Market, by Product, 2016 to 2028 5.5 Market Size Forecasts and Trend Analyses, 2016 to 2028 5.6 Kits Reagents 5.7 Lateral Flow Readers Chapter 6 Lateral Flow Assay Market: Application Estimates and Trend Analysis 6.1 Definition Scope 6.2 Application Market Share Analysis, 2020 2028 6.3 Segment Dashboard 6.4 Global Lateral Flow Assay Market, by Application, 2016 to 2028 6.5 Market Size Forecasts and Trend Analyses, 2016 to 2028 6.6 Clinical Testing 6.7 Veterinary Diagnostics 6.8 Food Safety Environment Testing 6.9 Drug Development Quality Testing Chapter 7 Lateral Flow Assay Market: Technique Estimates and Trend Analysis 7.1 Definition Scope 7.2 Technique Market Share Analysis, 2020 2028 7.3 Segment Dashboard 7.4 Global Lateral Flow Assay Market, by Technique, 2016 to 2028 7.5 Market Size Forecasts and Trend Analyses, 2016 to 2028 7.6 Sandwich Assays 7.7 Competitive Assays 7.8 Multiplex Detection Assays Chapter 8 Lateral Flow Assay Market: End-use Estimates and Trend Analysis 8.1 Definition Scope 8.2 End-use Market Share Analysis, 2020 2028 8.3 Segment Dashboard 8.4 Global Lateral Flow Assay Market, by End-use, 2016 to 2028 8.5 Market Size Forecasts and Trend Analyses, 2016 to 2028 8.6 Hospitals Clinics 8.7 Diagnostic Laboratories 8.8 Home Care 8.9 Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Companies 8.10 Others Chapter 9 Lateral Flow Assay Market: Regional Estimates Trend Analysis 9.1 Regional Market Snapshot 9.2 Market Share Analysis by Country, 2020 9.3 SWOT Analysis, by Factor (Political Legal, Economic and Technological) 9.4 Market Size Forecasts, and Trend Analysis, 2016 to 2028 Chapter 10 Company Profiles (Company Overview, Financial Performance, Product Benchmarking, Strategic Initiatives) 10.1 Company Profiles 10.1.1 Quidel Corporation 10.1.2 Abbott Laboratories 10.1.3 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG 10.1.4 Danaher Corporation 10.1.5 Siemens AG 10.1.6 Becton, Dickinson and Company 10.1.7 bioMerieux SA 10.1.8 Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. 10.1.9 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 10.1.10 QIAGEN N.V. 10.1.11 Perkinelmer Inc. 10.1.12 Hologic Inc. 10.1.13 Merck KGaA For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/h66ia4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005987/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 CHEYENNE, WY / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / Marketing Worldwide Corporation, (OTC PINK:MWWC), "the Company", is pleased to update our shareholders on recent corporate activities. On October 4th, 2021, Marketing Worldwide achieved a 'Pink Current' designation from OTC Markets, putting the company back into compliance with its reporting standards. To stay within the deadline set by OTC Markets, management has already begun the Q3 2021 financial preparations with the accountant and anticipates uploading it to OTCIQ well before the November 15th deadline. Another achievement that Marketing Worldwide is proud to report is the completion of the domestication change from Delaware to Wyoming. Through an official name change from Marketing Worldwide Corporation, to MWWC Inc, the company was able to pay all outstanding taxes in Delaware and bring the corporation to the much more favorable State of Wyoming. The importance of this move is ease of future reporting and allows the administration to spend more time focusing on the profitability of the corporation. The Company will be immediately retiring 1.75 billion restricted shares of the outstanding common stock in Q4 in exchange for the issuance of the Preferred Super D Voting shares, watch for updates on the OTC Markets website at https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/MWWC/security. "Our goal is to get the authorized share numbers down from 10.9 billion to under 5 billion," said CEO Jason Schlenk Marketing Worldwide has officially acquired a community-based platform within the crypto currency space. This new asset has undergone further customization to allow more customer registration and adopt an agile scalability model; this is a wholly-owned subsidiary of 'MWWC'. The platform and ecosystem are currently operational and further details will be announced prior to October 21st in a formal press release. The Company has identified an Investor Relations firm that has the capacity to handle future news release dissemination; as well as, issue small scale polls for public opinion and informal data collection. Marketing Worldwide is positioning itself to lock in a strong presence in several industry sectors, which requires transparency with new and existing shareholders as its concepts continue to evolve and develop, and utilizing an IR firm is a necessary step to achieve that. Jason Schlenk, CEO of Marketing Worldwide stated, "Our team has worked vigorously to achieve this short term milestone, and getting the company back into compliance is exciting. It allows us to turn our attention to our new subsidiary's redesign, marketing and financial growth strategies. Getting this platform to market has been our primary focus for the last few months, and we are proud to show you what we've accomplished." Contact Information Twitter: @MWWCOfficial Email: LetsConnect@marketingworldwide.co Website: www.marketingworldwide.co Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words 'believe,' 'may,' 'estimate,' 'continue,' 'anticipate,' 'intend,' 'should,' 'plan,' 'could,' 'target,' 'potential,' 'is likely,' 'will,' 'expect' and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The Company has based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Some or all of the results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not be achieved. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law. SOURCE: Marketing Worldwide Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/666861/Marketing-Worldwide-Corporation-Provides-Shareholder-Update DGAP-Ad-hoc: Beaconsmind AG / Key word(s): Development of Sales Beaconsmind AG (ISIN: CH0451123589, EURONEXT: MLBMD, VIENNA: BMD) announces its first UAE client, fashion retailer group Maison-B-More, validating its international expansion blueprint 05-Oct-2021 / 19:23 CET/CEST Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. beaconsmind AG (ISIN: CH0451123589, EURONEXT: MLBMD, VIENNA: BMD) announces its first UAE client, fashion retailer group Maison-B-More, validating its international expansion blueprint Zurich, Switzerland - October 5, 2021 - beaconsmind (ISIN: CH0451123589 - Ticker: MLBMD), a SaaS provider in Location-Based Marketing (LBM) for retail chains announced it will implement its location-based marketing solution for its very first UAE client, the fashion retail group Maison-B-More. The group will use beaconsmind's software Suite and Bluetooth Beacon hardware in stores. This client success, acquired in a record timeframe, highlights the legitimacy of beaconsmind's international expansion blueprint, and points to more successes to come from its strong pre-opening program which will be replicated before the next openings in APAC and Americas. Only 5 months after opening its Middle East outpost in Dubai, UAE, beaconsmind announces its first local client acquisition. The speed from approach to closing illustrates the local appetite for solutions that extract more profit out of retail stores, and the broader industry's move towards transforming their physical stores into digital destinations. Established in Dubai in 1985, Maison-B-More's boutiques and online store are home to over 160 fashion labels from across the world and the group is the prime distributor and retailer of some of the largest global luxury fashion brands in the UAE. Physical stores are located in malls (including the Dubai Mall and the WAFI Mall) as well as in the Atlantis Dubai. The retailer is part of the Fanar Group, a broader conglomerate including hotels in the UAE and Switzerland, holiday homes, hotel apartments and restaurants, with whom beaconsmind is actively discussing implementing its hospitality solutions. With a strong online platform, the group was looking to infuse its digital know-how into its physical stores and develop further loyalty initiatives based on purchases across platforms. Thanks to the beaconsmind solution, the group will be able to interact in real time with personalised offers with its clients, based on their purchase history and location within their stores. Mr. Anis Al Jallaf, Chairman and CEO of Maison-B-More, said "Thanks to beaconsmind, we will be able to offer an experience in our physical stores that incorporates the best marketing techniques we have developed online. Given our exclusive access to brands, we have a high share of loyal, repeat customers. However, we have not been able to fully tap into this potential across our network of stores and offer our clients with a differentiated experience in stores. This is now made possible and easy with beaconsmind. Our marketing teams are excited access such a powerful tool and interact with our customers in a way they have never experienced before." For beaconsmind, this new client comes only 2 months after announcing the Roberto Cavalli acquisition and confirms a shortening of the sales cycles for the company. It also further validates the international expansion strategy of beaconsmind that was announced this year. The company's local sales force has built a significant pipeline of potential clients with a high appetite for the company's location-based marketing solution in the sectors of mall operations, gyms, supermarkets/hypermarkets, logistics, culture, and Hotels/Restaurants/Cafes. Max Weiland, CEO of beaconsmind AG, said "We are delighted to start our journey in the Gulf region with an innovative fashion group such as Maison-B-More. We are now developing an expertise in fashion retail, and we look forward to co-creating the future of physical shopping with our clients. This win illustrates that the local appetite for innovative technology solutions is high. The sales process goes faster in the Gulf thanks to centralised decision-making powers, which leads to faster sales cycles for us. Our strong pipeline demonstrates that the Middle East embraces new technologies, and our marketing solution will have a significant impact on our clients' shopping experience." About Maison-B-More Maison-B-More is a Dubai-based fashion retail group. Established in 1985, Maison-B-More's boutiques and online store are home to over 160 fashion labels from across the world and the group is the prime distributor and retailer of some of the largest global luxury fashion brands in the UAE. Physical stores are located in malls (including the Dubai Mall and the WAFI Mall) as well as in the Atlantis Dubai. The retailer is part of the Fanar Group, a broader conglomerate including hotels in the UAE and Switzerland, holiday homes, hotel apartments and restaurants, with whom beaconsmind is actively discussing implementing its hospitality solutions. For more information, please visit www.maison-b-more.com About beaconsmind Founded in 2015 in Switzerland, beaconsmind is a pioneer in the field of location-based marketing (LBM) software for retail chains. beaconsmind helps retailers run successful location-based marketing campaigns. By fitting stores with bluetooth beacons that precisely locate and identify customers, and by integrating its Software Suite, beaconsmind opens a brand-new channel for retailers to interact with their customers, fundamentally transforming the shopping experience. Thanks to its solution, retailers can converge digital and physical shopping and address the convenience gaps of each. For more information, please visit www.beaconsmind.com beaconsmind Max Weiland, Founder & CEO maxweiland@beaconsmind.com Tel.: +41 44 380 73-73 Media Relations Nicolas Merigeau NewCap nmerigeau@newcap.fr Investor Relations / Strategic Communication Louis-Victor Delouvrier NewCap lvdelouvrier@newcap.fr 05-Oct-2021 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de The 2021 list contains restaurants from 26 countries worldwide and introduces eight restaurants making their debut, along with two returning as re-entries Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera, Italy, is announced as the Highest New Entry, sponsored by Aspire Lifestyles, debuting on the list at No.15 The Chairman in Hong Kong, China receives the Highest Climber Award, sponsored by Alaska Seafood, rising 31 places to No.10 Steirereck in Vienna, Austria, wins the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award Victor Arguinzoniz of Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain, is voted by his peers as the winner of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award Will Goldfarb of Room4Dessert in Bali, Indonesia, takes home The World's Best Pastry Chef Award, sponsored by Cacao Barry Borago in Santiago, Chile, takes home the Flor de Cana Sustainable Restaurant Award ANTWERP, Belgium, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The stars of the restaurant world converged this evening (5thOctober 2021) for The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2021, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, hosted in Antwerp, Flanders. This year's event saw restaurants from 26 countries across five continents place on the list, culminating in the announcement of a new No.1, as Rene Redzepi and his team took to the stage to collect the double honours for Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, as The World's Best Restaurant 2021 and The Best Restaurant in Europe 2021. Taking over the No.1 position from Mirazur, which has been elevated to the Best of the Best hall of fame, Noma has climbed from the No.2 spot in 2019 when it was announced as the Highest New Entry on the list in its fresh incarnation. This new iteration of Noma is eligible for The World's 50 Best Restaurants list due to three key changes from the original version: its location, concept and ownership structure.Noma is joined in the top three by Geranium (No.2) also in Copenhagen, Denmark and Asador Etxebarri (No.3) in Atxondo, Spain. You can view the full list here. William Drew, Director of Content for The World's 50 Best Restaurants, said: "Noma is surely the most influential restaurant of its generation. It has also become one of the most sought-after destinations by diners from all over the world and we are delighted to announce it as this year's No.1." PDF - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651484/Worlds_50_Best_Restaurants_2021.pdf Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640003/50_Best.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1556362/50_Best_Logo.jpg WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Covid-19 infections rates have finally started to decline in US, after wreaking havoc in the country for past few weeks. The 7-day average for Covid-19 cases was about 86,801 cases a day on October 3, a sharp drop from 191,697 reported last month. The country reported about 169,207 new cases taking total number of cases to 43.87 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The total number of deaths have surpassed 703,742, after the country recorded 2,109 deaths in past 24 hours. Health experts have urged everyone to get vaccinated and to not to relax as they see decline in cases. 'We can't get overconfident. Every time we do and we put our guard down ... we get another surge with another variant,' said Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, a viral researcher and internal medicine physician. 'So yes, things are better. But they're far from over.' Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the vast majority of the US will need to be vaccinated to control the spread. However, according to latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only 56% of the population, or 186.1 million people have been fully vaccinated. This includes 83.7 percent of people above 65. Meanwhile, the CDC on Monday warned US citizens against travel to Armenia, Austria, Barbados, Croatia and Latvia because of COVID-19 concerns. The CDC raised its travel recommendations to 'Level 4: Very High,' telling Americans they should avoid travel to the five countries. 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. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - October 5, 2021) - Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV: SCZ) (the "Company" or "Santacruz") reports that it is suspending operations at the Rosario Project and placing it on care and maintenance. This decision was made following an extensive review by management of the Rosario project operations and strategic options available including the potential sale of the operation. Management believes that the reallocation of capital and resources to the Zimapan Mine and related satellite properties that have stronger economics is the most prudent course of action at this time. The Company will continue with permitting activities and remediation programs so that the Rosario Project is positioned for a timely restart should project economics justify such. Carlos Silva, Chief Executive Officer, commented; "We have diligently tried to make the Rosario mine a profitable operation, but due to its narrow vein system and grade variability this is a challenging project." Mr. Silva continued; "Putting the project into care and maintenance will allow us to better evaluate alternatives to maximize the return on this asset." About Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. Santacruz is a Mexican focused silver company that has one producing property, the Zimapan Mine, and two exploration properties, the La Pechuga property and Santa Gorgonia prospect. The Company is managed by a technical team of professionals with proven track records in developing, operating and discovering silver mines in Mexico. Our corporate objective is to become a mid-tier silver producer. 'signed' Arturo Prestamo Elizondo, Executive Chairman For further information please contact: Mars Investor Relations Telephone: (778) 999 4653 scz@marsinvestorrelations.com Arturo Prestamo Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. Email: info@santacruzsilver.com Telephone: (528) 183 785707 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking information Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements relating to the future production at the Rosario Project and the Company's plans for this asset. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions. In making the forward-looking statements included in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that future metal prices and the demand and market outlook for metals will remain stable or improve. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to above prove not to be valid or reliable; market conditions and volatility and global economic conditions, including increased volatility and potentially negative capital raising conditions resulting from the continued COVID-19 pandemic and risks relating to the extent and duration of such pandemic and its impact on global markets; risk of delay and/or cessation in planned work or changes in the Company's financial condition and development plans; risks associated with the interpretation of data (including in respect of third party mineralized material) regarding the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the uncertainty of the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits and the risk of unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade and/or recovery rates; risks related to gold, silver, base metal and other commodity price fluctuations; risks relating to environmental regulation and liability; the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information or statements, other than as required by applicable law. Rosario Project The decisions to commence production at the Rosario Mine, Cinco Estrellas Property and Membrillo Prospect were not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, but rather on a more preliminary estimate of inferred mineral resources. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with this production decision. Production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a complete and detailed site analysis in accordance with NI 43-101. Zimapan Mine Production at the Zimapan Mine is not supported by a feasibility study on mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability or any other independent economic study under NI 43-101. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with production operations at the Zimapan Mine. Production and economic variables may vary considerably due to the absence of a complete and detailed site analysis in accordance with NI 43-101. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/98658 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The 45th President of the United States and real estate kingpin, Donald J. Trump was not featured in Forbes' 400 Richest Americans list, published on Tuesday. This is the first time in 25 years that Trump has failed to claim a spot on the list. In 2020, Trump was named at 339th, dropping off from 275th in 2019. The magazine reported that the former President has lost as much as $1 billion during his tenure at the White House. Despite losing a billion, Trump is still valued at $2.5 billion by the magazine, which leaves him just $400 million shy of the 400th person on the list. Economists argue that Trump's fall from grace could have been avoided had he concentrated on increasing his wealth. Reportedly, when Trump became the President, he was suggested to divest his real-estate holdings company, but he denied the offer. According to Forbes, even if Trump had chosen to divest and pay the Corporate Gains Taxes and invested the rest of his property in portfolios like S&P 500, he would've been almost 80% richer than he is now. Trump had been in his prime in terms of wealth back in the mid to late 2000s when he was in the top 100 for five consecutive years, 71st being the best ranking he could muster during his 25-year stay in the list. One of the biggest losses Trump accumulated during his Presidency was his hotel in Washington, DC which was already running in $175 million in loans. A study conducted by the Associated Press showed that in the last 15 years, the price of Trump properties has dropped to just a third of the original. According to reports, since being elected as the POTUS, Trump's Manhattan mammoth, Trump World Tower has lost one-fifth of its value. The pandemic also contributed heavily to the worsening of the situation. But economists believe that if Trump had divested his property, he would've been worth around $4.5 billion. It remains to be seen how Trump reacts to being left out of the elite club as the last couple of years have been nothing but disastrous for the former billionaire-President. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A San Francisco federal court has ruled that Tesla Inc (TSLA) will have to pay a former employee $137 million to settle a discrimination and racial abuse lawsuit. The African American employee of Tesla's Freemont, California facility alleged the company of racial harassment during his time in the company back from June 2015 to May 2016. Owen Diaz, an elevator operator in the facility for just short of a year, described his tenure at the company as 'straight from the Jim Crow era,' in his 2017 lawsuit against the company. He claimed that he was subjected to endless racial profiling and taunts like 'go back to Africa' along with swastikas, graffiti, and other derogatory racial insults. His lawsuit read, 'Tesla's progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees.' The jury of the San Francisco court awarded a huge $130 million to the victim for punitive damages and an additional $6.9 million for psychological distress and trauma that Diaz had to endure. According to his lawyers, the company had previously tried to settle the matter with an arbitration agreement to slide the matter under the rug but Diaz decided to not sign the agreement. Diaz's attorney, J. Bernard Alexander said, 'When Tesla came to court and tried to say they were zero tolerance, and they were fulfilling their duty? The jury was just offended by that because it was actually zero responsibility.' The effect of this trial has also made some of the shareholders of the company uneasy. One such shareholder, Nia Impact Capital believes that the arbitration policy does not only look like a blatant attempt to hide the dirt under the sheets but also has no meaningful impact on the wrongdoers. The shareholder said, 'The use of mandatory arbitration provisions limits employees' remedies for wrongdoing, precludes employees from suing in court when discrimination and harassment occur and can keep underlying facts, misconduct or case outcomes secret and thereby prevent employees from learning about and acting on shared concerns.' The company management, however, wanted to downplay the severity of the allegations and turned the blame to Diaz for taking the 'friendly' jokes to blow it out of proportions. Tesla Vice President of People Valerie Capers Workman posted a blog saying, 'In addition to Mr. Diaz, three other witnesses (all non-Tesla contract employees) testified at trial that they regularly heard racial slurs (including the n-word) on the Fremont factory floor. While they all agreed that the use of the n-word was not appropriate in the workplace, they also agreed that most of the time they thought the language was used in a 'friendly' manner and usually by African-American colleagues.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX TESLA-Aktie komplett kostenlos handeln - auf Smartbroker.de Consumers invited to show solidarity with farmers by signing a petition urging governments to act NOW WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- An open letter sent on behalf of 1.8 million Fairtrade producers worldwide, ahead of COP26, urges world leaders to keep their promise to provide $100 billion in annual finance to low-income nations disproportionately hit by the climate crisis. The letter criticizes rich nations most responsible for climate change for not honoring their pledges to cut their emissions and adequately support farmers suffering the worst effects of climate breakdown. Signed by representatives of Fairtrade producer networks in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the letter warns governments that their lack of action is threatening farmers' livelihoods and global food supplies. Titled 'Be fair with your climate promise,' it says: "We grow the food eaten by people all around the world... But our ability to do so has been badly damaged by the reckless harm done to our environment from years of broken promises concerning the climate crisis. "You promised to cut the emissions that drive extreme weather, which dry up our fields one day and flood them the next. But emissions are increasing dangerously, while your ambition remains too low. You promised to provide climate finance, to help us keep growing food despite the changing weather. But next to nothing is reaching us." Eighty percent of the world's food comes from 500 million family farms. Farmers in climate-vulnerable countries are already using their expertise to deliver climate solutions, but it is not enough: financial support is critical, they say. The letter also urges governments to strengthen business rules on environmental protection and to promote fair, low-carbon trade deals. A delegation of Fairtrade farmers will attend the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, this November to deliver the letter in person. Fairtrade is mobilizing ethical shoppers to support the farmers' call for action by signing a global petition, available on its digital campaign hub. Fairtrade's Be Fair With Your Climate Promise campaign is a critical call for action at a time when systemic change in trade is not happening quickly enough. About Fairtrade Fairtrade is committed to fighting the climate crisis, through its programs, training and Standards, which encourage producers to protect the environment. Visit www.fairtrade.net. Media Contact: fairtradeamerica@schroderhaus.com 224-545-7699 Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1637607/Coffee_farmers_in_Kenya_have_benefitted_from_Fairtrade_s_Climate_Academy__Credit___Fairtrade_Netherl.jpg Commonstock, a San Francisco, CA-based broker-agnostic social platform that amplifies the best investing knowledge, raised $25m in Series A funding. The round was led by Coatue, with participation from QED, Floodgate, Upside Ventures, Resolute Ventures, Abstract Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Philippe Laffont, Bill Ackman, Ari Emanuel, and Michael Ovitz also joined the round as well as Li Jin of Atelier, Turner Novak of Banana Capital, and Jill Carlson. The company intends to use the funds to continue to build out its platform. Led by David McDonough, CEO and founder, Commonstock is a social network that amplifies the knowledge of the best investors, verified by actual track records for signal over noise. Community members can link their existing brokerage accounts and share their real-time portfolio, performance, and trades (by percent only, dollar amounts never shared). Commonstock works by connecting users existing brokerage accounts to the app so that they can share their real-time portfolio by percentage (not dollar amount), performance, and trades. Users will get real-time alerts when friends buy or sell, so they can copy each others trades and invest together. They also have the opportunity to participate in discussions about investment theses and industry takedowns. FinSMEs 05/10/2021 Corals grown in the south of Israel, in a closed, controlled aquatic (aquarium) system are used to produce bioactive bone graft material. CoreBone, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that produces bioactive, coral-based bone graft material, raised $3.7m in funding. The Guangzhou Sino-Israel Biotech Investment Fund (GIBF), which focuses on introducing Israeli medical technologies to the Chinese market, invested $3m in CoreBones Chinese subsidiary; The Trendlines Group and Agriline (a trust of which Vincent Tchenguiz is a discretionary beneficiary) invested $700k. The company intends to use the funds for extending its commercial global presence, primarily in China. Led by CEO Ohad Schwartz, CoreBone develops and sells bioactive bone graft material, providing a natural alternative to synthetic or human and animal-derived (bovine, porcine) bone graft material for dental and orthopedic indications. Corals are grown on Moshav Ein Yahav in the south of Israel, in a closed, controlled aquatic (aquarium) system using proprietary technology and laboratory-made sea water enriched with bioactive nutrients and CoreBones own coral breeding source. CoreBone is a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group Ltd. (SGX: 42T) (OTCQX: TRNLY), with support from the Israel Innovation Authority. FinSMEs 04/10/2021 Good Goods New Keto-Friendly Pancake & Waffle Mix Good Good, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based brand known for its no added sugar products including jams, spreads, keto bars, and natural sweeteners, closed a $2m Series A follow-up round. The round was led by current investors Icepharma, K2B Investments, and Aton.JL. The company intends to use the funds to scale production and new product innovation efforts, as well as to develop its online and offline sales channels. Founded in 2015 by Gardar Stefansson, Agnar Lemacks and Johann Kristjansson Good Good makes sweet products that are diabetic-friendly and made with natural ingredients. Its roster of products, which now includes multiple flavors of jams, spreads, keto bars, syrups, and natural sweeteners, can be found globally at over 8,500 physical retail locations, on various online retailer sites including Amazon.com and Walmart.com and on its own website. This funding news coincides with the launch of the brands newest no added sugar, keto-friendly product: Pancake & Waffle Mix. FinSMEs 05/10/2021 Honor Technology, a San Francisco, CA-based senior care network and technology platform, raised $70m in Series E funding and $300 million in debt financing. The round, which brings Honors total equity funding to date to $325m and values the company at over $1.25 billion, was led by Baillie Gifford with participation from existing investors including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Home Instead founders Paul and Lori Hogan, Prosus Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, FMZ Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, Lighthouse Capital Markets, and TriplePoint Capital. Perceptive Advisors led the debt financing with a significant commitment from Ares Management funds. Honor intends to use the funds to triple R&D investment and expand the technology and operations platform to the recently acquired Home Instead network. Honor is fundamentally transforming the delivery of home care in the fast-growing, highly fragmented $83 billion worldwide home care market spread across 21,000 individual agencies in the U.S. alone. Led by Seth Sternberg, co-founder and CEO, and Sandy Jen, co-founder and chief technology officer, Honor provides a proprietary technology platform that extracts insights to match the right caregivers with the right clients based on a range of personalized factors and assists with caregiver recruiting, training, scheduling, and performance analysis. In August 2021, Honor acquired Home Instead, a global franchisor of personalized, in-home care services. Today, the combined company serves over 100,000 older adults around the world every month, providing more than 80 million hours of care annually. FinSMEs 05/11/2021 Podcastle, a Yerevan, Armenia-based platform for podcast creators which helps them record, produce and publish their content, raised $7M in funding. The round was co-led by RTP Global and Point Nine, with participation from S16 VC and previous investors Sierra Ventures and AI Fund. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach globally, as well as to improve the platform. PLed by Artavazd Yeritsyan, founder and CEO, Podcastle is an audio content creation platform for bloggers, podcasters, journalists, newsletter creators, educators, marketers, or anyone else. Used by over 150,000 creators, Podcastle provides everything they need to produce content: Interviews helps to record studio-quality remote interviews from anywhere. The AI technology turns consumer-grade mic recordings into studio-quality audio, and allows multitrack recording and editing. With the audio editor podcasters can create, edit and enhance their podcasts in a single place, without the need to leave the platform. Magic Dust automatically isolates the speech in the podcasts and adjusts it to sound flawless. Revoice converts text to speech and vice versa with the latest AI technologies to add realistic voice skins to the stories. Recording records professional quality audio for solo podcasts, voiceovers and more. and scaling its marketing team. Podcastle is planning to add rich collaboration capabilities for teams, media companies, and enterprises that use podcasting as a way to communicate with their clients and followers. FinSMEs 05/10/2021 Voom, a Palo Alto, Calif.- and Tel Aviv, Israel-based creator of innovative insurance products for underserved mobility segments, raised $15m in funding. The round, which brought total funding to $22m, was co-led by JAL Ventures and UP.Partners, with participation from F2 Capital, Arbor Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and ICON Continuity Fund. The company intends to use the funds to expand its usage-based insurance model to additional mobility verticals. Led by Tomer Kashi, co-founder and CEO, Voom is creating insurance products for Mobility, which are dynamically-priced and usage-based and designed for high-risk, episodic-use mobility verticals, including drones, e-scooters, motorcycles, and light planes. The company is a licensed insurance broker in all 50 US states and in Canada. FinSMEs 05/10/2021 Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Kiwi musics biggest party, Jim Beam Homegrown is one of our favourite festivals and were fizzing to go back! If youve never been, make 2022 your year to check it out! On March 19th, fans will come from all over New Zealand to celebrate who we are through our music. Jim Beam Homegrown is massive with five stages stretching across the stunning Wellington Waterfront. This years line-up already features some of Aotearoa's best acts and a MASSIVE electronic line up including, Lee Mvtthews, Quix, The Upbeats, SACHI, Trei & Jabz MC, Flowidus, Lady Shaka, Half Queen and heaps more! See below for the full first announcement. More acts will be announced next month! Tiger Beer is also on board this year, bringing a massive upgrade to the Tiger Electronic Stage, with awesome visuals and a bigger doof tent. The organisers said that a huge amount of focus is going into levelling up the electronic stage experience at the next festival. Jim Beam Homegrown always delivers and we cant wait to see whats up next! Every year Jim Beam Homegrown sets new sell-out records, usually selling out quicker than the previous year. The organisers have said this year the festival will be selling fewer tickets than last year to ensure everyone has the best time possible, so make sure you secure your tickets TODAY to avoid missing out. There is also a payment plan available where you can secure your ticket now and pay it off in eight easy installments. Keep listening to George FM for the chances to win awesome experiences and grab your tickets now at www.homegrown.net.nz Multiple NEW Veeam Updates Extend Advanced Support for Cloud Adoption and Modern Data Protection October 2021 by Marc Jacob Veeam Software announced the new update to its flagship product, Veeam Backup & Replication, as well as multiple updates to its product portfolio that deliver enhanced cloud-native capabilities. Veeam Backup & Replication v11a follows the release of V11 in Q121. The most advanced data protection solution for Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes workloads has been downloaded more than 300,000 times since its initial release. Veeam continues to innovate and expand with the focus on furthering its ecosystem of integrations with Veeam Backup & Replication v11a. Veeam extends its platform increasing value for customers as they move to the cloud, including expanded native protection for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform, Veeam backup repository integration for Kubernetes, and centralized management for IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris protection. Veeam Backup & Replication v11a provides even greater platform support, including Microsoft Windows Server 2022, as well as broader capabilities that help ensure that data is protected, no matter where its located. Finally, enhanced Continuous Data Protection (CDP) provides enhanced support for VMware VSAN and VMware Virtual Volumes (vVOLs), enabling alignment to RPO, RTO and SLA goals with one integrated solution regardless of primary storage technology used. The cloud is not new for most organizations, said Danny Allan, CTO & SVP, Product Strategy at Veeam. According to our recent Veeam Cloud Protection Trends Report , more than 40% of organizations have been using production services in the cloud for more than 24 months. Data is moving, IT platforms are changing, and Veeam continues to evolve to support these moves and deliver the most simple, flexible, reliable and powerful backup solutions. These latest product updates and enhancements will further enable our 400,000+ customers to protect, recover and manage their data wherever it resides. Cloud-native capabilities for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform Veeam provides cloud-native support for the leading hyperscale public clouds AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud under a single platform for hybrid-/multi-cloud environments, providing unparalleled choice and simplicity when utilizing one or more providers. New features and capabilities in Veeam Backup & Replication v11a (and each standalone, cloud-specific offering) enable organizations to accelerate cloud adoption by ensuring data is reliably secured, protected and managed from a single console. Native protection of additional services: Expand native backup and recovery to Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) systems and Microsoft Azure SQL Databases. Policy-based automation eases management and eliminates scripts, while fast and flexible recoveries keep organizations operational 24/7. Lowest cost archive storage: Achieve long-term retention goals for cloud-native backups within budgets. New support for Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Glacier, S3 Glacier Deep Archive, Microsoft Azure Archive Storage and Google Cloud Archive storage cuts data archival costs by as much as 50X. Increased security and control: Safeguard encrypted backup data from ransomware and other cyberthreats. Integrations with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Azure Key Vault, as well as new RBAC functionality, increases security with streamlined control over access authorizations. One platform with unlimited options: Centralize AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform backup and recovery under a single, easy-to-use console. Directly restore ANY Veeam backup to AWS, Azure and now also to Google Cloud for unlimited Cloud Mobility. Kasten by Veeam K10 integration with Veeam backup repositories Enterprise customers are taking advantage of the flexibility and power of containers but providing backup, recovery and visibility into container backups is often a challenge due to fragmented solutions. With the new integration released as part of Veeam Backup & Replication v11a, K10 and Veeam customers will be able to leverage existing investments in backup infrastructure. Kasten K10 v4.5 will be able to direct backups of Kubernetes clusters that leverage VMware persistent volumes to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository where its lifecycle can be managed and additional Veeam features and capabilities leveraged. Support for Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) backup Now with support for a fourth hypervisor in a supported public beta, Veeam Backup & Replication v11a offers reliable integrated backup for Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) so customers can create efficient backups of RHV VMs utilizing native change block tracking and be prepared for any disaster. With fast recovery for RHV VMs, Veeam customers can meet recovery objectives with confidence using a flexible solution natively integrated with RHV. Instant Recovery to Nutanix AHV With new Veeam Backup for Nutanix AHV v3, Veeam expands its patented instant recovery functionality to additional hypervisors. Customers can now instantly recover image-level backups created by ANY Veeam product to a Nutanix AHV VM for instant disaster recovery of any workload - cloud, virtual and physical. This functionality requires Nutanix AHV 6.0 or later. Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris Veeam continues to make large strides in server backup with additional platform support and capabilities that reduce deployment and management operations. Now with support for Windows 10 21H1 and Windows Server 2022, customers can embrace the latest versions of Microsofts server and client operating systems with confidence that their data can be both backed up and recovered. New automated protection groups enable customers to avoid data loss scenarios for new IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris assets added to the data center. Veeam ONE v11a capabilities As the premier monitoring and analytics solution for Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE v11a now provides deeper insights into data protection with a distinct focus on cloud, security and enterprise capabilities. New support for Veeam Backup for Google Cloud Platform provides alarms and reports to help track and measure the efficacy of cloud backups, as well as a new view into immutability, further helping mitigate against malicious activity from cyberthreats. Enterprise customers can now take full advantage of enhanced reporting for advanced views and comprehensive monitoring and reporting with Veeam Agents for IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris, which can now be managed centrally with Veeam Backup & Replication v11a. Veeam Service Provider Console v6 Founded on a freemium model, Veeam has continued to offer free products to its customers and partners for the past 15 years. New Veeam Service Provider Console v6 continues that streak as a FREE product that provides cloud and managed service providers the ability to offer Veeam-powered BaaS and DRaaS to their customers from a centralized, web-based console. V6 now offers service providers deeper integrations to accelerate productivity, including VCSP Pulse integration for dramatically simplified license management and customer onboarding, as well as support for Veeam ONE and upcoming support for Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365. MONTERREY, Mexico, Sept. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA or the Company) (NYSE: FMX; BMV: FEMSAUBD, FEMSAUB) announced today that Envoy Solutions, FEMSAs specialized distribution subsidiary in the United States, reached an agreement to acquire Penn Jersey Paper Co. (PJP), an independent specialized distribution company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PJP fits well with FEMSAs distribution footprint along the East Coast, expanding its coverage to include the Philadelphia metro area and New York City. This transaction represents another important step in FEMSAs strategic path to build a leading national distribution platform in the United States. Revenues of the acquired business for the last twelve months as of June 2021, were over US$ 200 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2021. BDO USA LLP acted as financial and tax advisor, and Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP acted as external legal counsel for FEMSA in connection with this transaction. Stifel Financial Corp. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Penn Jersey Paper Co. About FEMSA FEMSA is a company that creates economic and social value through companies and institutions and strives to be the best employer and neighbor to the communities in which it operates. It participates in the retail industry through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Proximity Division operating OXXO, a small-format store chain, a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related activities, and a Fuel Division, which operates the OXXO Gas chain of retail service stations. In the beverage industry, it participates through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world by volume; and in the beer industry, as the second largest shareholder of Heineken, one of the worlds leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. FEMSA also participates in the logistics and distribution industry through its Strategic Business Unit, which additionally provides point-of-sale refrigeration and plastic solutions to its business units and third-party clients. Across its business units, FEMSA has more than 320,000 employees in 13 countries. FEMSA is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability MILA Pacific Alliance, the FTSE4Good Emerging Index and the Mexican Stock Exchange Sustainability Index, among other indexes that evaluate its sustainability performance. TORONTO, Sept. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (the Company or PharmaTher) (OTCQB: PHRRF) (CSE: PHRM), a clinical-stage psychedelics biotech company, today released business highlights and financial results for its fiscal year ended May 31, 2021. Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts in this press release are in Canadian dollars. Fabio Chianelli, Chief Executive Officer of PharmaTher, said, We had a tremendous year which focused on solidifying exclusive licenses for the development and commercialization of novel ketamine uses and formulations, as well as drug delivery technologies via a microneedle transdermal patch with the aim to change the way how ketamine and psychedelics are used to treat mental health, neurological and pain disorders. In addition, we have strengthened our intellectual property portfolio and built a formidable clinical and scientific advisory team to support our research collaborations with leading research institutions and our clinical and commercial ambitions. PharmaTher is now focused on completing its drug delivery research programs and clinical studies for the use of ketamine in Parkinsons disease, depression, and ALS. I like to thank the PharmaTher team, our Board of Directors and our shareholders for supporting our objective in unlocking the therapeutic potential of ketamine and psychedelics as next-generation pharmaceuticals for unmet medical needs. Business Highlights: Solidified four exclusive license agreements, including the University of Arizona for the development and commercialization of ketamine in the treatment of Parkinsons disease; BioRAE, Inc. for the development and commercialization of a novel biocompatible and biodegradable gelatin methacryloyl microneedle delivery technology developed at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for use with psychedelic pharmaceuticals (i.e. psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, DMT); National Health Research Institutes for the development and commercialization of a patented combination formulation of ketamine and betaine (KETABET); The Queens University of Belfast for the development and commercialization of a patented hydrogel-forming microneedle delivery technology developed by Professor Ryan Donnelly to deliver ketamine and KETABET; and The University of Kansas for the development and commercialization of ketamine in the treatment amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Formed essential research and development collaborations, including a sponsored research agreement with the Terasaki Institute to develop a novel microneedle patch that aims to deliver psilocybin, MDMA, LSD and DMT; a sponsored research agreement with The Queen's University of Belfast for the development of a patented hydrogel-forming microneedle patch to deliver ketamine and PharmaTher's proprietary ketamine formulation, KETABET; a collaboration agreement with MediSynergics, LLC. to develop patented ketamine derivatives and to investigate drug discovery and development of next-generation psychedelic derivatives; and a co-development agreement with TSRL, Inc. to jointly develop a microneedle array patch with the aim to control the manufacturing and supply of microneedle patches for the Companys clinical and commercial drug programs. Closed the sale of PharmaThers intellectual property pertaining to psilocybin, via an asset purchase agreement with Revive Therapeutics Ltd. (CSE: RVV, USA: RVVTF), for consideration of up to $10 million satisfied as follows: (i) $3 million in cash (ii) $4 million through the issuance of securities in the capital of Revive and (iii) up to $3 million, in either cash or securities in the capital of Revive for future milestones. Strengthened the Companys clinical and scientific advisory team with the addition of Maurizio Fava, MD, Psychiatrist-in-Chief in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Robert A. Hauser, MD, MBA, Professor of Neurology and Director of the University of South Florida Parkinsons Disease and Movement Disorders Center; Dr. Alberto J. Espay, MD, MSc, FAAN, Professor and Endowed Chair of the University of Cincinnati James J. and Joan A. Gardner Family Center for Parkinsons Disease and Movement Disorders; and Professor Matthew Macaluso, D.O., Bee McWane Reid Professor for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology in the School of Medicine at The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Clinical Director of the UAB Depression and Suicide Center. Announced the FDA approved the Companys Investigational New Drug application to proceed with a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of ketamine in the treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinsons disease. Financial Highlights Cash and cash equivalents ($2,778,081) and Investment ($3,100,000) for a total of $5,878,081 as of May 31, 2021. Net loss was $2,664,196 for the financial year ended May 31, 2021. For further information, please refer to the Company's audited annual financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and the related managements discussion and analysis for the financial year ended May 31, 2021, which are available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. About PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (OTCQB: PHRRF) (CSE: PHRM) is a clinical-stage psychedelics biotech company focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel uses, formulations and delivery methods of psychedelics, such as ketamine, to treat mental health, neurological and pain disorders. PharmaTher is currently initiating an FDA approved phase 2 clinical study with ketamine to treat Parkinsons disease and is developing a novel microneedle patch for the intradermal delivery of psychedelics. Learn more at: PharmaTher.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn . For more information about PharmaTher, please contact: Fabio Chianelli Chief Executive Officer PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. Tel: 1-888-846-3171 Email: info@pharmather.com Website: www.pharmather.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider have reviewed or accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement This press release contains 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "potential", "aim" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on PharmaTher Holdings Ltd. (the "Company") current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by the Company at the date of the information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Company's management's discussion and analysis for the period of May 31, 2021 ("MD&A"), dated September 7, 2021, which is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state, province, territory 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, province, territory or jurisdiction. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eco Oro Minerals Corp. (CSE:EOM) (the Company or Eco Oro) welcomes the Decision on Jurisdiction, Liability and Directions on Quantum (the Decision) issued on September 9, 2021 by the arbitral tribunal (the Tribunal) constituted under the auspices of the World Banks International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in relation to its claims against the Republic of Colombia (Colombia) pursuant to the investment protection chapter of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Colombia (the Treaty). The Tribunal found that Colombia breached Article 805 of the Treaty in its treatment of Eco Oros investment in the Angostura gold and silver mining project located in northeastern Colombia (the Angostura Project), which Eco Oro was pursuing in connection with Concession Contract 3452. Eco Oro filed its Request for Arbitration with ICSID on December 9, 2016 pursuant to the Treaty after having invested hundreds of millions of dollars in developing the Angostura Project over the course of more than twenty years. During this time, Eco Oro declared substantial resources in connection with the Angostura Project. Importantly, Eco Oro was also lauded for its social programs and environmental practices, receiving awards both internationally and from the Colombian authorities. However, notwithstanding Eco Oros substantial investment and many related governmental commitments and assurances, in 2016, the Colombian Government deprived Eco Oro of vital rights under Concession Contract 3452 and thus destroyed the value of the Angostura Project. Eco Oro thus invoked the Treaty in commencing the arbitration and contending that Colombia violated investor protections to which Eco Oro was entitled under the Treaty. The Decision upheld Eco Oros claims that Colombia breached Article 805 of the Treaty, by failing to accord fair and equitable treatment to Eco Oros investments in Colombia relating to the Angostura Project. The Tribunal rendered certain findings with respect to damages, but has not yet determined what compensation will be awarded to Eco Oro as a result of Colombias breach of the Treaty. The Tribunal has requested from the parties further submissions on damages on specific questions arising from its findings. Shareholders are encouraged to exercise caution in making investment decisions in respect of the Companys shares, as the Company will not be able to assess the impact of the Decision on the financial condition of the Company or the amount of funds that will be available to each class of the Companys securities until a determination on damages has been made. For additional information, see Commitments, Contractual Obligations & Contingencies in the Company's most recent managements discussion and analysis, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Paul Robertson, Eco Oros CEO commented: Eco Oro is pleased that the Tribunal has acknowledged that Colombia violated the Treaty in taking measures that put an end to the Angostura Project, which had been a promising mineral development with the prospect for significant positive social and employment impact in the region. Eco Oro looks forward to the issuance of the Tribunals decision on the issue of compensation. Eco Oro was represented in this arbitration by a legal team led by partners Nigel Blackaby QC, Caroline Richard and Lee Rovinescu from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP, as well as Jose Vicente Zapata from Holland & Knight Colombia. For further information related to this Decision, please contact: Erin Harrison eharrison@theblissgrp.com Tel.: +1 203-610-9492 Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "seeks", "claims", "asserts", "in the event", "if", "believe", "assets", "position", "intends", "envisages", "assumes", "recommends", "estimates", "approximate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant litigation, business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, risks and other contingencies. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements. These factors include the risk factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Company Profile Eco Oro Minerals Corp. is a publicly-traded company and its arbitration against the Republic of Colombia is its core focus. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. SOURCE Eco Oro Minerals Corp. Paul Robertson, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +1 604 682 8212, TF: +1 855 682 8212. Eco Oro Minerals Corp. WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Habitat for Humanity-Manitoba today introduced Westland Insurance as the new lead sponsor of the Manitoba Property Insurance Build in Winnipeg the ninth such event in which Manitoba-based property insurers and brokers are invited to pick up a hammer and participate in a project to improve the life of a local family through access to affordable housing. We are excited to announce a partnership with Westland Insurance which is a very real and tangible investment in people and our communities, said Sandy Hopkins, CEO of Habitat for Humanity-Manitoba. Westland has grown to become the largest independent, Canadian-owned brokerage in the country, but its also one that has maintained a focus on its people, clients and communities it serves, as evidenced by todays announcement. There are very few causes that result in the kind of direct impact that a Habitat Build Day can offer, continued Hopkins. Years after your Manitoba Property Insurance Build investment, you will be able to drive past the home and say, I helped build it! There is no better feeling than knowing you helped a family achieve stability, strength and self-reliance. Westland Insurance has made a financial commitment of $50,000 to HFH-Manitoba which follows a similar $50,000 commitment to Habitat for Humanity-Saskatchewan. This year, Westland Insurance established the Amplifying Communities initiative to continue a longstanding of tradition of commitment to the people and communities we are proud to serve, said Cari Watson of Westland Insurance. Our commitment to community and family values align greatly with the vision of Habitat for Humanity and were thrilled to continue our partnership with such an important event in Manitoba. Just as Westland Insurance and its staff are on hand to raise a hammer to support this project with a build day in Winnipeg, they will also be supporting other communities through participation in five similar events this fall in other parts of the country. View video from Habitat for Humanity, Winnipeg build site on Westlands YouTube channel here. About Habitat for Humanity-Manitoba: Habitat for Humanity Manitoba is one of 1,400 affiliates worldwide working to build safe, decent, and affordable homes for families. Every year, we partner with communities to help working, lower income families in Manitoba achieve strength, stability, and independence through affordable homeownership. For more information, please visit: https://www.habitat.mb.ca/ About Westland Insurance: Westland Insurance Group is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent property and casualty insurance brokers in Canada. With a national network of over 170 locations and over 2000 employees, the company continues to expand coast to coast. In 2021, the Westland Amplifying Communities initiative, dedicating $1 million to support projects or programs that positively contribute to the fabric of communities across Canada where Westland does business. For more information, please visit westlandinsurance.ca Media Contact: Habitat for Humanity - Manitoba Michelle Pereira Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Philanthropy mpereira@habitat.mb.ca Westland Insurance Aimee Houston Director, Brand & Marketing ahouston@westlandinsurance.ca A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/85072cde-461d-478b-9aa2-be9585ec7cd4 A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6c46a887-fbfb-42eb-9c4a-1ecfc53f7673 Minneapolis, Minnesota, Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chico Bon Bon fans rejoice! Just in time for the holiday season, Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, introduces Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Craftiest Christmas Ever! The seventh book in the Monkey with a Tool Belt series by author and illustrator Chris Monroe is an entertaining Christmas tale that offers a zany, DIY story with humor that will appeal to adults and children alike. The best-selling series featuring Chico Bon Bon is also a Netflix success with four seasons now available to watch with young readers. Chico Bon Bons epic Christmas party is three days away! Is our intrepid monkey ready? Of course not! But thanks to his trusty tool belt and plenty of ingenuity, Chico helps his friends decorate, turns a pile of junk into a bundle of gifts, and finishes preparing for the party just in the nick of time. WHEW! Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Craftiest Christmas Ever! is packed with Christmas cheer and proves that with determination and the right attitude, no problem is unsolvable. Readers will love seeing their favorite characters in this crafty holiday adventure! Praise for Monkey with a Tool Belt books by Chris Monroe: Monroes manic cartooning will have kids laughing from start to finish.starred, Publishers Weekly for Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Maniac Muffins "Laid out in panels, some numbered, some boxed; laid out in loops; arranged as vignettes; or composed like a maze, the illustrations command a reader's attention. Chico looks sophisticatedhe's a grown-up cousin of Julius the sock monkey. . . not only gadget jockeys will enjoy this visually polished tale." Publishers Weekly for Monkey with a Tool Belt "Monroe's imaginative illustrations play with composition as well as perspective, offering detail-minded readers endless surprises. The goofball text unfolds with tongue firmly in cheek. . . A winner." Kirkus Reviews for Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem "This quirky, over-the-top tale will amuse children with its random silliness and fun seaside setting.... Detailed full-color line drawings invite readers to pore over the scenes for humorous touches." School Library Journal for Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Seaside Shenanigans "Monroe's illustrations are as delightful to pore over as usual, with changes of perspective and lots of quirky details." Kirkus Reviews for Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Silly School Mystery A fun and satisfying journey." Kirkus Reviews for Monkey with a Tool Belt Blasts Off! About the Author and Illustrator Chris Monroes humor and intricate illustrations for her Monkey with a Tool Belt books have drawn high praise from reviewers and fans alike. And Chico Bon Bon: Monkey with a Tool Belt is now available on Netflix. Chris is also the author and illustrator of Cookie the Walker, Bug on a Bike, and Ultra Violet: Ten Years of "Violet Days." Chris lives with her holiday-loving family in The Christmas City of the North, Duluth, Minnesota. And, yes. It is really called that. There's even a song. About the Publisher Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group , has been publishing high-quality, award-winning books since 1969. Our picture books spark childrens imaginations and offer new ways of looking at the world. Our middle-grade books stand out not only for their quality, but also for the breadth of genres encompassed, from coming-of-age stories to exceptional nonfiction to mysteries. Carolrhoda authors and illustrators have been honored with awards such as the Coretta Scott King Book Award, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, and the Jane Addams Childrens Book Award. We believe that all children should be able to find themselves in the pages of a book. For more information, follow Lerner Books online: Blog: lernerbooks.blog Twitter: @LernerBooks Facebook: Lerner Publishing Group Instagram: @LernerBooks Look inside at lernerbooks.com. Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Craftiest Christmas Ever! September 7, 2021 $17.99 Hardcover eBook Also Available Ages 4-8 HC: 978-1-7284-0465-3 32 Pages 9 x 11 Attachment Washington, Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman , head of the U.S. Small Business Administration , visited Gaithersburg, Maryland, this past Friday, October 1, touring Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) in honor of National Manufacturing Day. Administrator Guzman, Associate Administrator of Government Contracting and Business Development Bibi Hidalgo, U.S. Representative David Trone (MD-6), and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando met with APT CEO Greg Merrill and other APT senior executives Friday morning for a tour of their manufacturing facilities. During the walking tour of APT, the group discussed the history of the company and the products they produce. The tour featured the robotics used in sorting products, a newly renovated section of the facility, and the final pharmaceutical used to treat antibiotic and multi-drug resistant infections. National Manufacturing Day is celebrated in conjunction with the Biden-Harris commitment to ensure the future of America is Made in America. Manufacturers seek to fill over four million high-skill, high-tech, and high-paying jobs over the next decade, and SBA will continue to support their success. Earlier this year, President Biden laid out his priorities to ensure American workers remain globally competitive by pledging to increase American-made content in federal purchases and bolster critical supply chains and elevated the initiative through the Administrations Made in America Office. ### About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov. About Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Adaptive Phage Therapeutics is a small pharmaceutical manufacturer that specializes in inventing and perfecting alternative therapies for treating antibiotic and multi-drug resistant infections. Antibiotic resistance is one of the top concerns in medicine and pharmaceuticals today. APT has served as an innovator in their field by moving away from traditional antibiotic treatments for bacterial infections in order to focus on and experiment with Phages, which are viruses that naturally attack bacteria. Attachments BURNABY, British Columbia, Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- INTERFOR CORPORATION (Interfor or the Company) (TSX: IFP) will release its third quarter financial results on November 4, 2021. Information related to Interfors third quarter financial results will be available at www.interfor.com/investors. The analyst conference call is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. Pacific on Friday, November 5, 2021. It will feature a brief summary of financial results by Interfor management followed by a question and answer period with analysts. The dial-in phone number is: 1-833-297-9919 The conference call will also be recorded for those unable to join the live discussion. The number to call to listen to the recording is 1-855-859-2056, Passcode 2786506 and it will be available until December 5, 2021. ABOUT INTERFOR Interfor is a growth-oriented forest products company with operations in Canada and the United States. The Company has annual production capacity of approximately 3.9 billion board feet and offers a diverse line of lumber products to customers around the world. For more information about Interfor, visit our website at www.interfor.com. For further information: Richard Pozzebon, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (604) 422-3400 HIGHLIGHTS : Bunker Hill secures exclusive option to earn 50% in a joint venture with MineWater Finance LLC to explore the prospective gold-focused London Mining District in Colorado for US$3 million of exploration within four years District includes the London Mine which produced >650,000 gold ounces at an average grade of 23 g/t gold from 1875-1942 before being shut down by emergency wartime legislation; also contains other closed mine sites JV has exclusive rights to >3,000 acres of patented claim ground, containing intact underground access to known mineralization, >220koz of historic reserves (non-NI 43-101 compliant), significant further exploration prospects Transaction expected to close, subject to final due diligence and documentation, by the end of the year Executive Chairman Richard Williams, CEO Sam Ash and CFO David Wiens to host live interactive 6ix virtual investor event on Wednesday, October 6th at 11:00AM ET / 8:00AM PT. Investors are invited to register for this event at: [LINK] TORONTO, Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (the Company) (CSE: BNKR, OTCQB: BHLL) is pleased to announce its intention to enter into a joint venture with MineWater Finance LLC (MineWater) to explore the mineral potential of the London gold mine, and the surrounding district, in Colorado, USA. London Mining District produced gold and silver from 1875 to 1942, including over 650,000 gold ounces from the London Mine. Sam Ash, CEO of Bunker Hill Mining, stated: We are delighted to announce this partnership with MineWater to explore the prospective London Mining District in Colorado. This aligns with our strategy to grow the value of our company via the regeneration of closed and undervalued precious metals assets in North America in ways that leverage advanced mining, governance and sustainability practices. This partnership combines Bunker Hills mining expertise with MineWaters superb track record of environmental remediation and stewardship, which is key to sustainably revitalizing historic mining districts. While our near-term focus and capital allocation priority continues to be the rapid restart of the Bunker Hill Mine, and its subsequent organic development, we are very excited to add this new option to our North American value-creation pipeline. TRANSACTION OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND The Company has signed a term sheet to enter into a joint venture with MineWater, the current owner of the London Mine and associated land package totaling over 3,000 acres of patented ground. Under the terms of the agreement, the Company has the option to invest up to US$3 million over a four-year period to earn a 50% ownership position in the joint venture. Upon completion of the definitive agreement, a Board of Directors will be formed to govern the joint venture, to be comprised of 3 members to be appointed by the Company, and 2 members to be appointed by MineWater. MineWater acquired the surface, mineral and water rights to the London Mining District in 2016 in exchange for performing environmental remediation of the site that improved water quality to meet regulatory requirements. By 2017, the State of Colorado declared the remediation work successful. MineWater LLC, the sister company of MineWater Finance LLC, performed the environmental remediation work at the London Mine, where it has also developed water resources subsequently purchased by the City of Aurora. Remediation, coupled with dewatering of the London Mine, has been highly beneficial to the environmental status of Mosquito Creek as shown by the EPA (NPDES) publicly available database. MineWater LLC was founded in 2016 by Joseph Harrington, who has been awarded 6 US patents for environmental technologies to address in situ metals immobilization in underground mines, pit lakes and groundwater impacted by mining. Using these patents and other technologies, MineWater LLC solves water issues related to mine sites, particularly arising from the mobility of dissolved heavy metals. Prior to their work at London Mine, the principals of MineWater LLC successfully remediated the Globe Smelter Superfund Site in Denver, Colorado. MineWater has also developed water treatment plants for emergency response programs at the Gold King Mine and the Captain Jack Mill/Big 5 Mines Complex, both US EPA Superfund Sites in Colorado, USA, and is currently designing the in-mine water treatment system at the Bunker Hill Mine. The agreement remains subject to final definitive documentation and due diligence and is expected to close by the end of 2021. LONDON MINE AND DISTRICT OVERVIEW Located approximately 70 miles southwest of Denver, Colorado in Park County, the London Mine lies at an elevation of 11,000 up south Mosquito Creek from the town of Alma. The London Mine sits in the heart of the Colorado Mineral Belt, the prolific lineament stretching NE to SW across the state and is directly adjacent to the historic Leadville mining district. The Climax molybdenum mine is located just 5 miles north of the London mine workings and many of the same district scale structural features can be traced between the properties. Figure 1: Satellite image showing close proximity of London Mining District to the Leadville and Climax Mining Districts https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17461fd5-8a36-4a46-af47-80140bfd230f The London mine had been in full production from 1875 to 1942, producing over 650,000 gold ounces from more than 3km of strike length on multiple gold-quartz vein structures. Production ceased due to metals prices and government production restrictions related to the War Powers Act. Small-scale mining operations continued after the cessation of WWII through the end of the 1970s and exploration activities were undertaken through 1991, when the exploration agreement on the property was finally dropped by Lessees. Exploration interest during the 1980s saw numerous groups operating programs across the district and their work laid the basis for developing a historic reserve (non-NI 43-101 compliant) estimate on the Property of roughly 120koz Au as Proven and Probable Reserves with an additional 101koz Au as Possible Reserves in 1987 by Cobb Resources and Chrome Corp (operating as the London Mine Joint Venture), a former Lessee (the 1987 reserves). All majority of the 1987 reserves are contained within the historic London Mine footprint and are potentially accessible from existing development. The Company believes the 1987 reserve estimate reflects mineralization across the land package associated with the joint venture. The 1987 reserve estimate is historic in nature and does not reflect the classification standards associated with NI 43-101. The Company also notes that a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral reserves under NI 43-101, and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as such. Confirmatory geologic drilling and sampling are required to verify the mineralization contained within the historical reserve estimate as an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource. Through the investigation of historical exploration and production reports, the Company has identified 3 main zones to target with future exploration. From north to south, these are the Ag-Pb-Zn-Cu (Base-Metal Sulphide) Replacement area, West London exploration area and the South Butte veins. Each of the 3 zones represent different styles of mineralization and warrant separate exploration methodologies. The shallow nature of the northern base-metal sulphide replacement zone and the Au breccias of the West London area allow for surface drill operations and are deposit styles with previously proven geophysical responses in the District. MineWater is planning for separate tunnel development efforts over the next 2 years targeting the West London Zone for synergistic mineral and water resource development. This planned effort will save the JV costs and place underground workings directly beneath historic high grade gold mineralized intercepts. Figure 2: Map showing the London Mine land package and identified exploration target areas. https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ce8327ea-0f0d-4255-9115-54efc2e2addf The South Butte area is a direct extension of known vein structures from the Butte Mine. Results from a 1988 exploration mapping and drilling program proved the down-plunge extension of Au mineralization beyond historic workings which remains open both along strike, over 7,000 of patented ground to the south, and also at depth. The relatively recent rehabilitation work on historic development will allow for rapid re-entry to the area and continuation of exploration drilling. Figure 3: Section view through the London Mine showing depth profile and location of identified exploration zones relative to historic development. https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/abb3e0a1-a5f3-48c2-83d9-5f6789c8e6ff Similar to work already completed at the Bunker Hill Mine, the next steps will be to compile and geo-reference historic data on the property into 3D space. Modeling historic workings and drill data related to the London Mine across the district will allow for more detailed exploration drill planning and remote sensing program assignments to be ready for future field seasons. QUALIFIED PERSON Mr. Scott E. Wilson, CPG, President of Resource Development Associates Inc. and a consultant to the Company, is an Independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and is acting at the Qualified Person for the Company. He has reviewed and approved the technical information summarized in this news release. UPCOMING EVENTS Natural Resources Forum ESG Week ESG Panel: What It Takes To Get It Right? October 5, 2021 @ 9:30am ET Join Us: REGISTER NOW 6ix Investor Event October 6, 2021 at 11:00am ET / 8:00am PT Join Us: [LINK] ABOUT BUNKER HILL MINING CORP. Under new Idaho-based leadership the Bunker Hill Mining Corp, intends to sustainably restart and develop the Bunker Hill Mine as the first step in consolidating a portfolio of North American precious-metal assets with a focus on silver. Information about the Company is available on its website, www.bunkerhillmining.com, or within the SEDAR and EDGAR databases. For additional information contact: David Wiens, CFA CFO & Corporate Secretary +1 208 370 3665 ir@bunkerhillmining.com CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as well as within the meaning of the phrase forward-looking information in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations. Forward-looking statements are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as believes, anticipates, expects, estimates, may, could, would, will, or plan. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys intentions regarding its objectives, goals or future plans and statements, the Companys ability to restart and develop the Bunker Hill Mine, the Companys ability to purchase the Land, the Lands use as security for the Loan, the finalization of the data from the geophysics survey, the utility of the data from the geophysics survey to identify potential near-surface drill targets, the ability for the Company to secure longer-term, non-dilutive financing. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: the ability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; failure to identify mineral resources; failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; changes in equity markets; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inability of the Company to budget and manage its liquidity in light of the failure to obtain additional financing, including the ability of the Company to complete the payments pursuant to the terms of the agreement to acquire the Bunker Hill Mine Complex; inflation; changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; capital, operating and reclamation costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. DELAWARE CITY, Del., Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WEOWNS is a cryptocurrency with the goal of being the world's first cryptocurrency for the people. It allows everyone to build up capital income ownership in an economy that gives more benefits back to those who contribute. It can be found on popular decentralized exchange UNISWAP and it will have a payment gateway WeownomyPay released very soon in October 2021. It is a new coin on the market, designed to be accessible for everyone. It's easy to buy and sell with just about any other cryptocurrency, or even fiat money. With 21 billion coins available in total, 65% of them are owned by the users who can trade them freely on UNISWAP. This means that more people have access to it than most other crypto currencies, which in turn will help drive up the price of WEOWNS coins. The revolutionary nature of this project is in its ability to provide each user with a global debt free personal security program that gives them access to pay off their debt obligations anywhere in the world without having to worry about repayment or free home ownership because everything is automatically calculated in real time. Crypto traders can enjoy the benefits of owning a cryptocurrency without paying any fees on transactions. The new cryptocurrency system will ensure that every member has access to funds at all times, which will also help stimulate economic growth as well as encourage social mobility within society. WEOWNS is a cryptocurrency that has been created to support the social media platform, WeownomyChat. This cryptocurrency is a token of trade, wealth and power that will be used by social media users and global population for their daily transactions. It not only allows its users to send remittances in an instant without incurring any charges but also rewards them with an extra amount on top of what was sent or received from the recipient's account when they use WeownomyPay. The People's Coin is Getting Popular. Wealth inequality is the single most defining issue of our time. It has led to an unsustainable society, in which personal income lives of people have been created as a response to increasing inequality between rich and poor, widening gaps in society which are largely due to our current economic system that only works for those at the top. Economic instability can lead to numerous problems such as food insecurity, homelessness, unemployment or underemployment; all leading causes of poverty. In the 21st century, people are still hungry. In a world where more than 1 billion people go to bed hungry every night, the new cryptocurrency can make their lives better. It will help solve poverty related problems and can address the needs of humanity by focusing on self-sustainability and sustainability as its core values. For those who do not have access to financial services or cannot afford them, they will be able to have access to money at all times. The People's Coin is a crypto currency created by the people for the people. This means that it will not be controlled by any one person or group of individuals, but rather it will be governed by the collective decisions of its members. This is an important distinction as the token is designed to serve all needs, not just those of its founders and contributors. The new currency will be used to represent what money should always have been - a symbol for our commitment to one another in times of need. A more stable, self-reliant and decentralized cryptocurrency. It offers a sustainable alternative to the volatile world of fiat currencies by giving people a more stable option for storing their wealth. Designed to be an autonomous economic system that will always increase in value as it becomes more widely used. The price of WEOWNS is Rising, Get Paid with WeownomyPay. WEOWNS are up to $92.946778! Now users can get paid with a new payment gateway WeownomyPay for SWAP trades on UNISWAP. If someone wants to trade WEOWNS on UNISWAP they can receive their funds via WeownomyPay too. WeownomyPay enables the user to create a wallet with no initial balance and make deposits in fiat or cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin). They can also convert between currencies through WeownomyPay. WEOWNS - WeownomyChat's Currency, coming soon The world's first user owned social media app that will adopt WEOWNS in November. It will be used as a form of currency on WeownomyChat and Weownomy Web. Get ready for WeownomyChat. The new cryptocurrency aims to change the way people interact with social media. It was created in response to the growing dissatisfaction among users of centralized social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. While these platforms have been successful for years, they are now struggling to keep up with their competitors who have taken advantage of blockchain technology. With millions of people using crypto currencies every day, it makes sense that crypto-powered social media would be coming soon. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, the users of Weownomy own their data and decide who gets access to it with total control over how much information they share. The user-owned revenue model allows anyone, anywhere in the world to own and share their content while earning money from it. Weownomy provides an opportunity for mass adoption of decentralized ownership, ad revenue self-financing audience network model with decentralized monetization opportunities to have more individual freedom and economic independence through using tokens as a global social currency across all races. The users can have full control over what they post, sell, buy, and trade on this new coin without any third-party interference. It will also provide decentralized governance where all the members of the network can participate in decision-making process. The token enables advertisers to advertise directly with their audience by using people's token which provides significant cost savings as compared to traditional ad formats. The Internet is on the verge of a social media revolution. People's coin will be the next evolution in Social Media with its ability to allow users to earn money and manage their own content, rather than give up all control to companies like Facebook and Twitter. The user-owned network allows the user to take back ownership of their data, from which we are seeing more use cases for blockchain technology. Thus, the social media users need a more advanced user owned personal network platform with great shared earnings, ad revenue self-financing audience network model and decentralized to open up new personal income opportunities for the next phase of mass adoption of WEOWNS tokens. The future of the people's coin is not just the new frontier in Social Media, but also the next phase of mass adoption as it provides an innovative solution for users who want to monetize their own content by earning through both viewing and sharing others' posts. Moreover, people's coin will create an opportunity for all investors, social media users and those who wish to participate in this. The World's first token backed by the People The new currency is the latest trend in the evolution of money. It has many features that are more favorable than its predecessors. The first thing to note about WEOWNS is that it is backed by people, rather than a bank or government, which provides more credibility and stability. Secondly, it offers safety and financial empowerment for everyone without bank accounts by making it possible for people who do not have access to traditional banking services such as credit cards or checking accounts use an alternative payment method which they control themselves. A new kind of currency that believes in the power of kindness. The value of is derived from the collective agreement and effort to establish it as a currency for goodwill: its credibility. It's more divisible, transferable, and scarce than any other alternative we know about today. And it's backed by people; "We believe that WEOWNS will be an effective tool for us to share our generosity with one another and make this world a better place," says CEO Weownomy Ssemakula Peter Luyima. WEOWNS: A CURRENCY OF KINDNESS It will be more powerful than Bitcoin. The most important thing in crypto currency is its economic value, and this value needs to be measured against how it can benefit people and society. A new cryptocurrency designed to reward people for doing good in their communities. "We are at an important time in history where we need to think about how money should be used," said Semakula. "If Bitcoin can be mined without care or thought for others, then why not do something different?" Semakula continued, saying that WEOWNS is not just another token but rather the currency of kindness. It was created to address the shortcomings of Bitcoin. Designed to be used as an incentive for people who want to do good in their communities, not just mine bitcoins. It incentivizes entrepreneurs and users to act with kindness towards one another by building trust through commitments made. This means that any user or entrepreneur who follows the precept should generally be expected to be more successful than otherwise, because they will have earned more WEOWNS. World Peace Tracts and Pan African Peoples Alliance to Partner with WEOWNS In an effort to solve poverty and economic challenges necessary to create a sustainable, green, people-friendly economic development by building African continent economy for the people, by the people. 20% of the total 21 Billion WEOWNS has been allocated to World Peace Tracts and Pan African Peoples Alliance who have both agreed to dedicate these funds towards building an economy for all Africans and to facilitate cross-border trade, financial transactions, and investment in projects, employment creation and building of an Africa that is free from poverty and war related problems. A unique digital currency that will power Africa's economy, providing Africans with an opportunity to move out of poverty and into prosperity. A revolutionary new digital currency developed by Ssemakula Peter Luyima for Africa's economic development in an age where there are no safe alternatives to store value or make payments. With WEOWNS, Africans can access international markets without borders while bypassing issues like corruption and low-value exchange rates. About WEOWNS WEOWNS https://weowns.global is a new currency that was created to address the shortcomings of Bitcoin. WEOWNS is designed to be used as an incentive for people who want to do good in their communities, not just mine bitcoins. WEOWNS incentivizes entrepreneurs and users to act with kindness towards one another by building trust through commitments made. This means that any user or entrepreneur who follows the precept should generally be expected to be more successful than otherwise, because they will have earned more WEOWNS. About Weownomy Weownomy Platform Corporation, Incorporated in the State of Delaware https://www.weownomy.global is launching a subscription based, open and participatory platform. A new redefined social network that facilitates people's participation in the democratic process of defining their own rules for their future, generating an ownership structure where every person has rights to share in the proceeds generated by this new economy and hence true economic equality. Media Ssemakula Peter Luyima ceo@weownomy.global President and CEO Weownomy Platform Corporation Related Images Image 1: WEOWNS WEOWNS Logo This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment VANCOUVER, British Columbia., Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A.I.S. Resources Limited (TSX: AIS, OTCQB: AISSF) (the Company or AIS) announces the Company has commenced a soil sampling program at its Fosterville Toolleen project, located 12 km from the Kirkland Lake Fosterville mine as a pre-cursor to its next drilling program. The sampling is taking place adjacent to the area where the high antimony and arsenic pathfinders were detected in drill hole 31. Figure 1 Map of the EL006001 Fosterville-Toolleen project showing the sample lines and background gravity shaded in blue to red. https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3985176d-d906-4fa8-a2ab-f965ef08af10 The location is close to the Toolleen-Angle Road that dissects the project. The survey lines extend up to 1.4 km in the north-east area of the exploration licence. The soil sampling will be done at 20m intervals with 50m separation between the lines. Our latest model Olympus XRFp gun will analyse samples collected on a daily basis. Samples will be sent to the laboratory for pathfinder element analysis. Gravity Survey Reprocessing and Interpretation The gravity survey completed recently by Fender Geophysics is being reprocessed and interpreted by Nordic Geoscience, with chief Geophysicist Asbjorn N Christensen completing the work. The reprocessed gravity survey in conjunction with the results of the soil survey will be used to determine additional high priority drill targets. Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Phillip Thomas, BSc Geol FAusIMM MAIG MAIMVA(CMV) who is a Qualified Person under the definitions established by the National Instrument 43-101. About A.I.S. Resources Limited A.I.S. Resources Limited is a publicly traded investment issuer listed on the TSX Venture Exchange focused on precious and base metals exploration. AIS value add strategy is to acquire prospective exploration projects and enhance their value by better defining the mineral resource with a view to attracting joint venture partners and enhancing the value of our portfolio. The Company is managed by a team of experienced geologists and investment bankers, with a track-record of successful capital markets achievements. AIS owns 100% of the 28 sq km Fosterville-Toolleen Gold Project located 12 km from Kirkland Lakes Fosterville gold mine (subject to completion of certain exploration expenditures), a 60% interest in the 58 sq km New South Wales Yalgogrin Gold Project (with the right to acquire 100%), and 100% interest in the 167 sq km Kingston Gold Project in Victoria Australia near Stawell and Navarre. It also has joint venture interests with Spey Resources Corp in lithium brines in Argentina at Incahuasi and Pocitos salars. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, A.I.S. Resources Ltd. Phillip Thomas, President & CEO Corporate Contact For further information, please contact: Phillip Thomas, Chief Executive Officer T: +1-323 5155 164 E: pthomas@aisresources.com Or Martyn Element. Chairman T: +1-604-220-6266 E: melement@aisresources.com Website: www.aisresources.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ADVISORY: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. 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. NEW YORK, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TABLE FOR TWO (TFT) invites everyone to participate in its 7th Annual ONIGIRI ACTION campaign from Oct. 5 (Tuesday) to Nov. 5 (Friday) that aims to provide one million school meals to children around the world. During the campaign, through the generosity of the partner organizations (see below), every rice-ball-related post on the campaign website or social media with #OnigiriAction will provide five school meals to children in need. TFT will enhance school meals in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the U.S. by adding fresh vegetables and fruits and provide school meals to children in East Africa and Asia. TFT's ONIGIRI ACTION campaign commemorates World Food Day, established by the United Nations. As an NPO with roots in Japan, the campaign highlights onigiri (rice balls), which are a traditional Japanese comfort food made with love for someone special. Since its launch in 2015, Onigiri Action has supported 5.4 million school meals. In 2019, the organization received two prestigious awards: one related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the other for Health and Culture from the Japanese government (https://bit.ly/33KDRww). In 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic continues, it's important to highlight the role nutritious food plays in health and to increase awareness about local and global food insecurity. TFT addresses both issues through this annual campaign. 2021 USA Campaign Theme: Unite the States with Onigiri! TFT USA and its partners will continue to connect everyone through onigiri with many virtual and in-person events, as permitted. This year, TFT USA wants to spread Onigiri Action across the country with the goal of encouraging posts from every state to increase participation and have fun with creative onigiri to bring even more school meals to children in need. Any picture of a rice ball associated with a state can be posted as "State Onigiri". This can include onigiri made with ingredients famous from that state or onigiri with an iconic state symbol or landmark. Partner Organizations in the U.S.: For every onigiri photo posted, five school meals will be donated by the generous support of TFT's partners: J.C.C. Fund/Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York; JFC International/Nishiki; JCAW Foundation; Zojirushi America; San-J; ITOCHU International; SMBC Global Foundation; Misuzu Corporation; MUFG Union Bank, N.A.; Sumitomo Corporation of Americas; Mishima Foods U.S.A.; ACTFL; Just One Cookbook; BentOn; Onigilly; Sunny Blue; and Omusubee. To Learn More: ONIGIRI ACTION (USA site): https://usa.tablefor2.org/onigiri-action ONIGIRI ACTION (Global site): https://onigiri-action.com/en/ Media Contact: Torie Silverstone Email: wa-shokuiku@tablefor2.org Related Files OA2021_handbook(s).pdf OA2021_poster_lettersize(s).pdf Related Images Image 1: Change the World with Onigiri (Rice Ball) 2021 Post a rice-ball-related photo with #OnigiriAction. For every onigiri photo posted, TABLE FOR TWO's sponsor organizations will donate five school meals to children in need. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment English French MONTREAL, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Government of Canada, through the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF), is supporting a study that will investigate COVID-19 among the Orthodox Jewish community in the Montreal-area, which has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The high incidence of COVID-19 in Montreals Orthodox Jewish community prompted the Refuah VChesed medical clinic in the Mile End neighbourhood of the city to reach out to researchers at McGill Universitys Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences for a collaborative study. The Refuah VChesed medical clinic serves the Orthodox Jewish community throughout Quebec. Our first aim is to determine how prevalent immunity to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), is in the Orthodox Jewish community, whether through infection or vaccination or both, acknowledging members shared genetics and health issues, beliefs and behaviours, explains study Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Nugus, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and the Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill. This is a rare occasion to enact a mixed-methods and interdisciplinary approach to understand the relationship between how disease manifests in a population and how community members understand health and illness and behave in response. The team is taking blood samples from 1,250 participants before and after vaccination to study immune responses. This also includes examining the response to SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team will survey all participants, perform in-depth interviews with individual participants, and conduct participant-observation within the Orthodox Jewish community to best understand members everyday lives and challenges. Beyond understanding the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in this community, this study will achieve a second aim: to see how this community can better inform policy for other marginalized communities in Canada, adds Dr. Nugus. Compliance with public health directives is greater when policies resonate with people and how they live their everyday lives. Better understanding of local beliefs and practices can aid in the adoption of policies within such close-knit groups. Refuah VChesed has played a crucial role in managing COVID-19 among our Orthodox Jewish communities, which were greatly affected by the pandemic and are still at risk of more infections, states Mr. Aron Friedlander, Senior Medical Liaison for Refuah VChesed: The Montreal Centre for Health and Care. We are happy to partner with researchers at McGill for this study that will help us to better understand immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in our communities and plan to protect families during future COVID-19 outbreaks. This study will use a truly novel mixed-methods approach with this at-risk, community that wed like to better understand, while providing guidance for future policy making, says Dr. Tim Evans, CITF Executive Director. Beyond understanding the extent of infection in the community and vaccine uptake, many other factors will be explored, particularly the relationship between beliefs and behaviours related to health and illness. The study will also shed light on the emergence of variants, including the nature and effectiveness of immune responses following vaccination to control SARS-CoV-2 infection or re-infection. About McGill University Founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1821, McGill University is Canadas top ranked medical doctoral university. McGill is consistently ranked as one of the top universities, both nationally and internationally. It is a world-renowned institution of higher learning with research activities spanning three campuses, 11 faculties, 13 professional schools, 300 programs of study and over 40,000 students, including more than 10,200 graduate students. McGill attracts students from over 150 countries around the world, its 12,800 international students making up 31% of the student body. Over half of McGill students claim a first language other than English, including approximately 19% of our students who say French is their mother tongue. About the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force The Government of Canada established the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force in late April 2020. The Task Force is overseen by a Leadership Group of volunteers that includes leading Canadian scientists and experts from universities and healthcare facilities across Canada who are focused on understanding the nature of immunity arising from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. To that end, the CITF is supporting numerous studies to determine the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Canada (in the general population as well as in specific communities and priority populations), understand the nature of immunity following infection, develop improved antibody testing methods, and help monitor the effectiveness and safety of vaccines as they are rolled out across Canada. The Task Force and its Secretariat work closely with a range of partners, including governments, public health agencies, institutions, health organizations, research teams, other task forces, and engages communities and stakeholders. The Task Forces overall objective is to generate data and ideas that inform interventions aimed at slowingand ultimately stoppingthe spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada. For more information visit: www.covid19immunitytaskforce.ca Media contacts: COVID-19 Immunity Task Force: media@covid19immunitytaskforce.ca Rebecca Burns Cell: +1.438.871.8763 Caroline Phaneuf Cell: +1.514.444.4532 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/aac2a076-4e09-495c-81af-31e250987f33 English French MONTREAL, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Canadians and policymakers consider changes to long-term care, its important to recognize and learn lessons from more successful long-term care systems in other countries with universal health care, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. The difficulties in meeting the care needs of the elderly in nursing homes or at home in Canada long precede the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, explained Yanick Labrie, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Rethinking Long-Term Care in Canada. However, calls for the integration of long-term care into Canadas public health systems ignore the experiences of other countries that have successfully reformed their long-term care system by adopting a collaborative approach between government and the private sector. The study compares Canada to other high-income countriesGermany, Japan, the Netherlands, and Swedenwith older populations that have integrated long-term care into their health systems while spending about the same as Canada on health care as a share of their economy. These countries leverage collaboration between the public and private sectors to better meet the needs of their elderly population while allowing them more autonomy and freedom to organize their own care as they see fit. Those long-term care systems include: Universality : While patients in all four countries have universal access to the long-term care regardless of income or pre-existing conditions, such care is not fully financed by government. Patients are generally required to share in the cost of their care (with support for low-income seniors). : While patients in all four countries have universal access to the long-term care regardless of income or pre-existing conditions, such care is not fully financed by government. Patients are generally required to share in the cost of their care (with support for low-income seniors). Private sector involvement : The private sector is embraced as a key partner in the provision of care. In Germany, the private sector makes up 96 per cent of long-term care providers, while it makes up 93 per cent in the Netherlands. In Canada, the private sector makes up just 52 per cent of long-term care providers. : The private sector is embraced as a key partner in the provision of care. In Germany, the private sector makes up 96 per cent of long-term care providers, while it makes up 93 per cent in the Netherlands. In Canada, the private sector makes up just 52 per cent of long-term care providers. Competition : Choice and competition among care providers is encouraged to improve the quality of services. Unlike Canada, where providers are often guaranteed that they will operate at near 100 per cent capacity, there are no such guarantees in the other four countries. In these countries, quality is rewarded through user choices. : Choice and competition among care providers is encouraged to improve the quality of services. Unlike Canada, where providers are often guaranteed that they will operate at near 100 per cent capacity, there are no such guarantees in the other four countries. In these countries, quality is rewarded through user choices. Institutional vs home care: Most long-term care options in Canada centre around institutional care in facilities or long-term care homes even though about one in nine newly admitted residents in a long-term care institution in Canada could have been better cared for at home (2018/19). By contrast, arrangements and funding for care provided in the patients own home is much more prominent in the other four countries. Calls for increased government spending on institutional care in Canada will likely result in an outdated and expensive system that does not necessarily serve patients well, Labrie said. Instead, policymakers should familiarize themselves with other successful models around the world that have opted for a more collaborative approach with the private sector in combination with aging-in-place policies that allow seniors to receive care in their homes at potentially lower cost, Labrie said. MEDIA CONTACT: Yanick Labrie, Senior Fellow Fraser Institute To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Drue MacPherson, 604-688-0221 ext. 721, drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org Dublin, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Asia Pacific Tire Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Asia Pacific tire market exhibited moderate growth during 2015-2020. Looking forward, the Asia Pacific tire market to grow at a CAGR of around 4% during 2021-2026. The market, however, has witnessed a negative impact as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak since early 2020. As a result of this pandemic, all major markets in the region such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, etc. have witnessed a significant decline in the demand across both the OEM and the replacement markets. As a result, the market is expected to face significant challenges in 2020. Increasing demand for vehicles, growing replacement demand, declining prices of rubber and increasing production in the region represent some of the key factors contributing to the growth of the Asia-Pacific tire industry. Furthermore, rising demand for secondhand vehicles in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc., is expected to drive the market for the replacement tire industry. Additionally, increasing investment towards infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, and tunnels, have been able to increase the connectivity across the Asia Pacific region, this is also catalyzing the demand for tires across the region. The increasing demand for tires in the Asia Pacific region is also being driven by the increasing automobile production along with the expanding fleet size. In addition to this, the rising consumer living standards supported by their growing disposable income levels have also boosted automobile sales, thereby propelling the demand for tires in the region. Furthermore, the increasing usage of both light and heavy commercial vehicles in logistics and construction activities has also augmented the market growth. Additionally, the growing popularity of next-generation and high-performance tires for luxury and premium cars is also driving the market growth. Apart from this, the increasing demand for replacement tires owing to the large consumer base of passenger cars and the high replacement rate of tires after certain usage limit, is further bolstering the demand of tires in the region. Key Questions Answered in This Report: How has the Asia-Pacific tire market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? What are the key end-use segments in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the Asia Pacific tire industry? What are the key vehicle types in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What are the key distribution channels in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What is the regional breakup of the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What are the various stages in the value chain of the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What are the key driving factors and challenges in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What is the structure of the Asia-Pacific tire industry and who are the key players? What is the degree of competition in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? What are the profit margins in the Asia-Pacific tire industry? Competitive Landscape: The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined with some of the key players being Michelin Bridgestone Corporation Continental AG Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Sumitomo Corporation Pirelli C. S.p.A. Yokohama Tire Corporation Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. Toyo Tire Corporation Kumho Tire Co. Ltd. Breakup by Radial/Bias Tires: Radial Bias Breakup by End-Use: OEM Replacement Breakup by Vehicle Type: Passenger Cars Light Commercial Vehicles Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles Two-Wheeler Off-The-Road (OTR) Three-Wheelers Breakup by Size: Passenger Cars Market Breakup by Rim Size Market Breakup by Tire Size Light Commercial Vehicles Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles Two-Wheelers Three-Wheelers Off-The-Road (OTR) Breakup by Distribution Channel: Offline Online Breakup by Country: China India Japan Australia South Korea Thailand Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan Others For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/c7rkn3 RENO, Nevada, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Exploration Inc. (NGE or the Company) (TSX-V:NGE; OTCQB:NVDEF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic drilling partnership with Nevada-based Drill NV Inc. (the Agreement) to provide up to 31,000 feet of core drilling at NGEs South Grass Valley Carlin-type gold project on an all-inclusive fixed-rate basis, chargeable only for dill holes completed to target depth, of which the Company may elect to pay Drill NV up to 25% in the form of NGE common shares. Under the Agreement: NGE shall deliver a deposit of $1,433,750 USD to Drill NV to secure specialized tooling to improve penetration rates and better case holes through the alluvium units above the bedrock, and to lock in pricing. Upon successful completion of each drill hole to its target depth of up to 4,500 feet, Drill NV shall invoice NGE at an all-inclusive fixed rate of $185 USD per foot, expected to be paid in the form of 50% in cash, 25% credited from the deposit, and 25% in NGE shares, calculated based on a 20% discount to NGEs 30-day VWAP share price, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Discussing the Agreement, NGE President, James Buskard: Traditional drilling contracts force explorers to shoulder 100% of the technical risk of a drilling program (i.e. the drilling conditions), as well as 100% of the execution risk (i.e. the competence of the drillers and the condition of their equipment). This situation ultimately leaves explorers accepting widely variable and unpredictable drilling costs, plus even worse, paying for drill holes that are abandoned before they reach their target depth, which is infinitely expensive on an information-per-dollar basis. These risks and resulting cost increases are compounded at projects like South Grass Valley due to the industry-wide shortage of drillers with the experience needed to routinely complete deep holes to their target depths in challenging Carlin-type drilling conditions. To avoid these known challenges, and specifically to provide both cost and depth certainty for our current drilling program, we are very pleased to be partnering with Drill NV. Over a period of more than 10 years, drilling deep holes in similar conditions, Drill NVs team helped to develop the drilling strategies responsible for increasing the success rates for holes reaching target depth at nearby Goldrush - strategies which continue to be applied today at Fourmile. Based on this experience, Drill NV has agreed to take on all of the technical and execution risk of our drilling program by agreeing to a fixed, all-inclusive footage rate, and to only invoice us for holes that successfully reach their target depth. By agreeing to pay up to 25% of the total cost of the program in NGE shares, we are aligning our interests and solidifying our partnership to advance what we believe is the most exciting Carlin-type project in Nevada outside of the Nevada Gold Mines portfolio. From a funding perspective, after deducting 25% from the initial deposit to purchase new specialized tooling and supplies, plus 25% paid in the form of shares, our residual marginal cash drilling costs will be only 50 cents per dollar of drilling. This means that each additional dollar we spend on the program will support approximately two dollars worth of drilling that is guaranteed to reach target depth. Reducing both our technical and execution risk at the same time as lowering our marginal costs is a game changer for the project; however, equally importantly, with Drill NV responsible for all aspects of the drilling, our technical team is now able to focus 100% where we create maximum value: on the geology. With drilling expected to begin in about a month, our team is eager to again see the steady stream of new core arriving from the field. Once drilling begins, the Company plans to resume its approximately monthly drilling updates to provide information on hole locations, metres drilled, preliminary geologic observations, and how each relate to its target concept. Depending on the timelines associated with drilling, core logging, receiving assays, and integrating the resulting data into the Companys geologic model, NGE expects to release drilling results in batches that will likely include multiple drill holes. To review the results to date and NGEs plans to advance its primary East Golden Gorge target at South Grass Valley, the Company encourages its stakeholders to visit the interactive 3D VRIFY model prepared for its recent September 15, 2021, news release, available at: https://vrify.com/decks/September-15-2021-press-release. Also, to follow along as its team shares photos from the field and core logging facility, NGE encourages its stakeholders to subscribe to one or more of its social medial channels, as well as to sign up to its email list to receive its news releases. Email sign up: www.nevadaexploration.com/investors/signup Twitter: www.twitter.com/NV_Exploration Instagram: www.instagram.com/nevadaexploration Facebook: www.facebook.com/NevadaExplorationInc About Nevada Exploration Inc. With mature, exposed search spaces seeing falling discovery rates, NGE believes the future of exploration is under cover. Nevadas exposed terrains have produced more than 200 million ounces of gold, and experts agree there is likely another 200 million ounces waiting to be discovered in the half of Nevada where the bedrock is hidden beneath post-mineral cover. NGE has spent more than 15 years developing and integrating new hydrogeochemistry (groundwater chemistry) and low-cost drilling technology to build an industry-leading, geochemistry-focused toolkit specifically to explore for new gold deposits under cover, and the Company is now advancing a portfolio of projects totalling more than 180 square kilometres. NGEs most advanced project is South Grass Valley, located approximately 50 kilometres south-southwest of the Cortez complex, operated by Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Corporation joint venture), within the specific region of north-central Nevada that hosts Nevadas largest Carlin-type gold deposits (CTGDs). Since acquiring the project, NGE has completed: an infill borehole groundwater sampling program, detailed air magnetic and gravity geophysics surveys, a soil geochemistry sampling program, an initial diamond core drilling program consisting of 10 stratigraphic orientation holes, and a follow-up reverse-circulation drilling program consisting of 17 holes to increase the density of its bedrock sampling. Based on the results of its combined exploration datasets, NGE believes it has discovered a mineral system at South Grass Valley with the architecture and scale to potentially support multiple CTGDs. As the Company continues to advance the project, per NI 43-101, 2.3(2), the Company must remind its stakeholders that the project remains an exploration target for which the potential quantity and grade of any mineral resource is still conceptual in nature, and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. For more information, the Companys latest videos are available at: https://www.nevadaexploration.com/investors/media/ For further information, please contact: Nevada Exploration Inc. Email: info@nevadaexploration.com Telephone: +1 (604) 601 2006 Website: www.nevadaexploration.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Wade A. Hodges, CEO & Director, Nevada Exploration Inc., is the Qualified Person, as defined in National Instrument 43-101, and has prepared the technical and scientific information contained in this News Release. This news release is not an offer of the shares of the Company for sale in the United States or elsewhere. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the shares of the Company, in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such province, state or jurisdiction. Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking information) within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, expectations, beliefs, plans, and objectives regarding projects, potential transactions, and ventures discussed in this release. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made numerous assumptions, regarding, among other things, the assumption the Company will continue as a going concern and will continue to be able to access the capital required to advance its projects and continue operations. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Companys 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. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are the risks inherent in mineral exploration, the need to obtain additional financing, environmental permits, the availability of needed personnel and equipment for exploration and development, fluctuations in the price of minerals, and general economic conditions. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company is disclosed in the Companys continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. United States Advisory: The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), have been offered and sold outside the United States to eligible investors pursuant to Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, and may not be offered, sold, or resold in the United States or to, or for the account of or benefit of, a U.S. Person (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the United States Securities Act) unless the securities are registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act is available. Hedging transactions involving the securities must not be conducted unless in accordance with the U.S. Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in the state in the United States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Guelph, Ontario, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Guelph, ON October 5, 2021 Grain Farmers of Ontario, the provinces largest commodity organization representing Ontarios 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers, is now accepting applications for the 2022 Grains Innovation Fund. The Grains Innovation Fund supports Ontario grain utilization projects that develop novel value-added uses or support market expansion for Ontario grains. It encourages innovation from Ontario companies and organizations that offer agri-food or other grains-based products. The evolution of grain farming in Ontario has built an incredible and resourceful community that the world has come to rely upon, said Paul Hoekstra, Vice-President of Strategic Development for Grain Farmers of Ontario. We have seen the work of farmers and organizations come together with the shared motivation to create and provide the best products globally and we want to continue to help nurture these important collaborations. The Grains Innovation Fund provides eligible companies and organizations up to 60 per cent of the cost of a project to a maximum of $50,000. We are continuously amazed by the innovation and creativity Ontario companies and organizations display in the project concepts they bring to the Grains Innovation Fund, said Dana Dickerson, Grain Farmers of Ontarios Manager of Market Development. The Fund highlights the ingenuity of our grains industry leaders and how their contributions have a magnanimous impact on how we connect Ontario grains to every part of better living. The fund helps our supply chain to enrich the farm to retail story and highlights unique selling points around the provenance, sustainability, and versatility of Ontario grain-based products value propositions that are highly appealing to the modern consumer. Eligibility Companies and organizations must demonstrate their project meets at least one of the following criteria: Open new markets for Ontario grains. Expand the use and demand for Ontario grains. Promote Ontario grains as the best choice for consumers and/or the food value chain domestically or abroad. Increase the value for Ontario grains through the development of new, value-added uses. How to Apply Please visit: https://gfo.ca/market-development/ Select Program Overview for a detailed description of the Grains Innovation Fund program for a detailed description of the program Select Application to fill out your submission to fill out your submission Completed applications must be sent, via email, to ddickerson@gfo.ca Examples of Successful Past Projects The Ontario Cattle Feeders Association (OCFA) used the fund to promote their Ontario Corn Fed Beef program in international export markets. The promotion campaign highlighted the positive contribution Ontario corn provides to product quality, including its rich, full flavour and robust marbling. used the fund to promote their Ontario Corn Fed Beef program in international export markets. The promotion campaign highlighted the positive contribution Ontario corn provides to product quality, including its rich, full flavour and robust marbling. The Straw Boss , a premium straw processor company, was supported by the fund to advance their use of Ontario straw in their pelletized straw production providing an alterative to traditional bedding options for livestock. , a premium straw processor company, was supported by the fund to advance their use of Ontario straw in their pelletized straw production providing an alterative to traditional bedding options for livestock. Ontario wheat millers, 1847 Stone Mill , used the fund to harness the unused portion of wheat from the milling process to create an absorbent, clumping, dust free, smell-free pet litter called reLit that is 100% compostable. , used the fund to harness the unused portion of wheat from the milling process to create an absorbent, clumping, dust free, smell-free pet litter called that is 100% compostable. Canadas largest manufacturer of tofu, Sunrise Soya, and partners at the Provision Coalition worked together on a project to explore new uses for soy by-products created in production of tofu. The result was an upcycled ramen noodle which formed part of a food kit featured in Canadas first upcycled food festival and launched in Sobeys stores across Ontario. Applications for the 2022 Grains Innovation Fund must be submitted by 4 p.m. on Friday, November 5, 2021. For more information, please visit www.gfo.ca/market-development. Bethesda, MD, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMMEDIATE RELEASE Today, our nations osteopathic medical schools emphasized their commitment to increasing medical student diversity by unanimously recognizing that the systemic inequities of Americas education system are adversely impacting the diversity of osteopathic medical school applicants. The statement also outlines model strategies to improve and support diversity, equity and inclusion across osteopathic medical education, as well as opportunities to reframe and expand diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The consensus statement is the direct result of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)s Racism and Injustice in Healthcare Education Adaptive Workgroup, which was organized last year with Barbara Ross-Lee, DO, at the helm. The workgroups efforts to engage every osteopathic medical school to commit to address the systemic, pervasive issues preventing our country from being as healthy and equitable as it can be is a monumental step forward, says Dr. Ross-Lee. This unanimity of our osteopathic medical education institutions paves the way for meaningful, lasting initiatives and efforts needed so urgently by all osteopathic students and the patients and communities they will go on to serve. The COVID-19 pandemic has harshly illuminated the life-threatening injustices in our society, and we cannot afford to ignore them any longer. I look forward to leading this workgroup to produce further critical outcomes such as this. By supporting this AACOM member consensus statement, all of the nations osteopathic medical schools formalized our dedication to making medical education more equitable, pledging to lead and sustain this work at our own institutions, says Margaret Wilson, DO, dean and professor at the A.T. Still University of Health Sciences Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine and AACOM Board of Deans chair. As medical institutions, our voices, especially when unified, are powerful, but we also recognize that true success will take more. We invite the entire osteopathic medical education community to join us in this effort, and we thank the students, faculty members and other leaders whose partnership, expertise and vision have helped us get this far. Having student voices on AACOMs Racism and Injustice in Healthcare Education Adaptive Workgroup has been tremendously vital to ensuring that the student perspective and recommendations are being heard and considered. The voices of students underrepresented in medicine are ultimately influencing how policies that advance diversity, equity and inclusion are shaped, says Chantel Thompson, Student National Medical Association National President and DO/MPH Candidate, 2022, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Our country has the worst health outcomes, and worst health equity, among similarly wealthy nations, even though we spend the most on healthcare, says Krista Niezwaag, OMS IV, former National Chair of the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine. I chose to pursue medicine to make a difference for all patients, particularly those whom the system is failing the most. I am proud that our schools of osteopathic medicine have taken this first step to address systemic inequities and make healthcare more equitable. Just as AACOM and its member colleges are committed to building a world where all patients have the option of receiving osteopathic care, we are also striving to actively foster a healthcare system where all patients can access healthcare equitably and live free of systemic racism and harm, says AACOM President and CEO Robert A. Cain, DO. From its origins, osteopathic medicine prioritized inclusivity. The founder of osteopathic medicine, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, was a fervent abolitionist, and welcomed the idea of both African American and female medical students to take his courses. In 1921, his dream was realized when Meta L. Christy, DO, became the first African-American osteopathic physician. Through this consensus statement, we continue to honor osteopathic medicines inclusive roots and its tenet that structure and function are intimately interrelated. At the same time we also recognize, at a fundamental level, that it is imperative we address our structural inequities to improve how our society functions As an association, AACOM has been actively working to improve diversity in admissions. Since 2012, AACOMs Sherry R. Arnstein Minority Student Scholarship has granted financial awards to underrepresented osteopathic medical students, and in 2020, AACOM began pilot testing an Artificial Intelligence/Natural Language Processing model to support a more holistic review of applicants and help reduce dependence on MCAT scores and GPAs. AACOM also hosted the Diversity in Osteopathic Medicine Virtual Event last September, expanded a fee waiver program to encourage financially disadvantaged students to become osteopathic physicians and added gender identity to the AACOM Application Service application. About AACOM The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) leads and advocates for the full continuum of osteopathic medical education to improve the health of the public. Founded in 1898 to support and assist the nation's osteopathic medical schools, AACOM represents all 37 colleges of osteopathic medicineeducating nearly 34,000 future physicians, 25 percent of all U.S. medical studentsat 58 teaching locations in 33 U.S. states, as well as osteopathic graduate medical education professionals and trainees at U.S. medical centers, hospitals, clinics and health systems. Contacts Joseph Shapiro AACOM Director of Media Relations (240) 938-0746 jshapiro@aacom.org SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc. (TB2") announced it has awarded an Aviation Scholarship to Madelyn Frarer, a Cochise College (CC) student pursuing her Professional Pilot Technology Associate of General Studies degree. TB2 is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preserving the history of aviation in Scottsdale, Arizona, honoring all military veterans, supporting Dogs4Vets, a service organization dedicated to enabling disabled veterans to live a more productive life through the use of services animals, and creating unique educational opportunities for Arizona students studying all aspects of aviation. Ms. Frarer earned her private pilot license in March 2021 and currently has 170 flight hours. At Cochise College, she is working on her high-performance/ complex aircraft endorsement. Next, Madelyn will study for her instrument license and after that, she plans on earning her commercial license. Ms. Frarers parents and uncle also attended Cochise College and her father and uncle are both pilots in the aviation industry. Madelyns goal is to pursue a career at a regional airline and eventually transfer to a major commercial airline. Belinda Burnett, Director of Aviation Programs, CC, commented, The aviation industry is rapidly growing and expanding while experiencing the challenge of attracting quality individuals who are passionate and enthusiastic about their career. Madelyn Frarer is a talented and skilled young aviator who daily embraces challenges with grit, determination and humility. Her future in this industry is only limited by her vision; opportunities such as this scholarship help students keep their eyes and focus on their goals and dreams. Steve Ziomek, Chairman and President of TB2, said, Coming from an aviation family that all attended Cochise College, it is exciting for Madelyn (aka Maddie) to follow the tradition and pursue an aviation career. We are honored to provide her with a TB2 scholarship. Rudy R. Miller, Chairman of TB2s Advisory Board & Scholarship Committee, stated, Maddie was very engaging in my interview. I would like to congratulate her for earning this prestigious award and being our tenth scholarship recipient. Steve Ziomek and the board of directors supported my development of an aviation scholarship program for veterans and non-veterans in concert with Arizona universities and colleges which launched in April 2018. In November 2019, we awarded our first TB2 scholarship. We will award our next recipient in November/December 2021. I want to thank all the donors, educational institutions, the City of Scottsdale, and the Scottsdale Airport which have made this program successful! About Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc. Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2014 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. During World War II, an airfield named Thunderbird Field II was built for the sole purpose of training U.S. Army Air Corps pilots in 1942. Thunderbird Field II graduated over 5,500 men and women pilots of whom many saw military action in Europe and the Pacific. The field and school were deactivated on October 16, 1944, sold to Arizona State Teachers College (ASU), then to the Arizona Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and finally to the City of Scottsdale in 1966 and is now known as Scottsdale Airport (KSDL). The Aviation Scholarship Program provides scholarships to veteran and non-veteran Arizona resident students who meet specific criteria and are attending Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, Cochise College, Pima Community College or Yavapai College. TB2 has a permanent memorial at the entrance of the Scottsdale Airport and a historical display inside the facilities honoring the service of men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as POW-MIAs. For more information, please visit www.tbird2.org. Thunderbird Field II Veterans Memorial Inc. Contacts: Steve Ziomek Chairman & President ziomek.steve@gmail.com 480.664.6604 Rudy R. Miller Chairman, Advisory Board & Scholarship Committee rrmiller@themillergroup.net 602.225.0505 Cochise College Contact: Denise Hoyos Executive Director Cochise College Foundation, Inc. hoyosd@cochise.edu 520.417.4148 Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17d5f8be-dbdb-45c9-bdfc-d34665433121 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/65180466-3bbd-49e6-bb72-f0f1be49a0f2 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a4ecf761-eeaf-4ee2-9d2e-641bf1256ea3 L'ILE-DES-SURS, Quebec, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has just released its residential real estate market statistics for the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for the month of September, based on the real estate brokers Centris provincial database. The slowdown in residential sales to a pre-pandemic level continued in September. A return to more normal economic activity resulting from the easing of health restrictions is not the only factor that explains this situation: in addition to high prices, the lack of properties for sale is still the main cause. We note, however, that an upturn in pre-sale activity in new constructions has helped divert a portion of the demand from the resale market in recent months," said Charles Brant, director of the QPAREBs Market Analysis Department. In these still very tight market conditions, prices continue to be under pressure but are starting to level off for single-family homes." September highlights In total, 3,671 residential sales transactions were concluded in the real estate brokers Centris system in September, a 28 per cent decrease compared to the record-setting month of September 2020, thereby reinforcing the downward trend in sales that began in early spring. In terms of year-to-date sales, they have increased by only 6 per cent compared to the same period last year. Sales on the Island of Montreal fell by 21 per cent compared to September of last year. For a fourth consecutive month, single-family homes registered the largest decrease in sales at 38 per cent. Similar to the previous month, sales decreased in all of the CMAs periphery areas, caused by a slowdown in single-family home sales: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (-35 per cent), Laval (-33 per cent) the North Shore (-33 per cent), the South Shore (-32 per cent) and Vaudreuil-Soulanges (-26 per cent). All three main property categories registered a drop in sales compared to September of last year. Sales of single-family homes fell by 37 per cent, while sales of condominiums decreased by 18 per cent. The decline in plex sales was slightly smaller, at 16 per cent. The supply of residential properties on the market continued to shrink in September with 11,182 active listings on the Centris system. This represents 20 per cent fewer properties than in September of last year. In terms of year-to-date statistics, the number of properties available for sale in the Montreal CMA also fell by 20 per cent, a phenomenon accentuated by low levels of new listings that have been ongoing for several months now. Median prices continued to rise sharply in September, reaching $504,500 for single-family homes (+17 per cent), $365,000 for condominiums (+15 per cent) and $690,000 for plexes (+13 per cent). However, there has been greater stability in their evolution in recent months. The Montreal real estate market is still showing significant overheating conditions, but the proportion of sales concluded above the asking price has weakened over the past five months and this is reflected in a reduction in the number of buyers making an offer on the same property. Additional information: Detailed and cumulative statistics for the province and regions If you would like additional information from the Market Analysis Department, such as specific data or regional details on the real estate market, please write to us . About the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) is a non-profit association that brings together more than 13,300 real estate brokers and agencies. It is responsible for promoting and defending their interests while taking into account the issues facing the profession and the various professional and regional realities of its members. The QPAREB is also an important player in many real estate dossiers, including the implementation of measures that promote homeownership. The Association reports on Quebec's residential real estate market statistics, provides training, tools and services relating to real estate, and facilitates the collection, dissemination and exchange of information. The QPAREB is headquartered in Quebec City and has its administrative offices in Montreal. It has two subsidiaries: Centris Inc. and the College de l'immobilier du Quebec. Follow its activities at qpareb.ca or via its social media pages: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. About Centris Centris is a dynamic and innovative technology company in the real estate sector. It collects data and offers solutions that are highly adapted to the needs of professionals. Among these solutions is Centris.ca, the most visited real estate website in Quebec. For more information: Marie-Rose Desautels Morin Relations Publiques media@qpareb.ca Image bank (credit QPAREB) available free of charge. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f1291be5-0205-4c89-9807-b4ead608e898 QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) has just released its residential real estate market statistics for the Quebec City Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for the month of September, based on the real estate brokers Centris provincial database. The combined effects of an improved pandemic situation, a low supply of single-family homes on the market and a strong recovery in the new home market over the past several months have contributed to an overall slowdown in the resale market, while accentuating the popularity of condominiums, said Charles Brant, director of the QPAREBs Market Analysis Department. The result is a clear tightening of condominium market conditions in favour of sellers with only 5.3 months of inventory, the first time this has happened since 2009. This translates into a jump in the median price of this property category, setting a new record." September highlights Sales: Sales in the Quebec City CMA fell for a fourth consecutive month in September, decreasing by 26 per cent compared to September of last year. Year-to-date sales have increased by only 1 per cent over last year. Geographically, the Northern Periphery of the city registered the largest drop in sales in the region at 34 per cent, followed by the South Shore of Quebec City, where sales also fell significantly by 33 per cent. Sales in the Agglomeration of Quebec City had the smallest drop in sales at 23 per cent. Sales in the Quebec City CMA fell for a fourth consecutive month in September, decreasing by 26 per cent compared to September of last year. Year-to-date sales have increased by only 1 per cent over last year. Geographically, the Northern Periphery of the city registered the largest drop in sales in the region at 34 per cent, followed by the South Shore of Quebec City, where sales also fell significantly by 33 per cent. Sales in the Agglomeration of Quebec City had the smallest drop in sales at 23 per cent. Sales by property category: In total, 402 single-family home transactions were concluded in September, a 35 per cent decrease compared to September of last year and the largest drop among the three main property categories. Sales of condominiums fell by 14 per cent, while plex sales increased slightly, rising by 7 per cent compared to September of last year. In total, 402 single-family home transactions were concluded in September, a 35 per cent decrease compared to September of last year and the largest drop among the three main property categories. Sales of condominiums fell by 14 per cent, while plex sales increased slightly, rising by 7 per cent compared to September of last year. Active listing: The supply of residential properties continued to contract in September, registering a substantial 33 per cent drop compared to September of last year. This decline is primarily due to an insufficient number of new listings on the market. From January to September, active listings were down 45 per cent, continuing the tightening of market conditions that has been observed for several months now, primarily in the single-family home category where inventory represents only 3.2 months of sales. The supply of residential properties continued to contract in September, registering a substantial 33 per cent drop compared to September of last year. This decline is primarily due to an insufficient number of new listings on the market. From January to September, active listings were down 45 per cent, continuing the tightening of market conditions that has been observed for several months now, primarily in the single-family home category where inventory represents only 3.2 months of sales. Median price: The median price of single-family homes continued to rise, reaching $315,000, a 12 per cent gain compared to September 2020. Condominiums saw a 13 per cent jump in median price to reach $225,000. The median price of plexes was unchanged at $335,500. Additional information: Detailed and cumulative statistics for the province and regions If you would like additional information from the Market Analysis Department, such as specific data or regional details on the real estate market, please write to us . About the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) is a non-profit association that brings together more than 13,300 real estate brokers and agencies. It is responsible for promoting and defending their interests while taking into account the issues facing the profession and the various professional and regional realities of its members. The QPAREB is also an important player in many real estate dossiers, including the implementation of measures that promote homeownership. The Association reports on Quebec's residential real estate market statistics, provides training, tools and services relating to real estate, and facilitates the collection, dissemination and exchange of information. The QPAREB is headquartered in Quebec City and has its administrative offices in Montreal. It has two subsidiaries: Centris Inc. and the College de l'immobilier du Quebec. Follow its activities at qpareb.ca or via its social media pages: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. About Centris Centris is a dynamic and innovative technology company in the real estate sector. It collects data and offers solutions that are highly adapted to the needs of professionals. Among these solutions is Centris.ca, the most visited real estate website in Quebec. For more information: Marie-Rose Desautels Morin Relations Publiques media@qpareb.ca Image bank (credit QPAREB) available free of charge. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cd68d39a-153e-49ef-b062-646047f191ca New York, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gait Rehabilitation System Market: Key Insights According to our new research study on Gait Rehabilitation System Market to 2028 Global Analysis and Forecast by Product Type and End User, the Gait Rehabilitation System Market Size is projected to grow from US$ 304.77 million in 2021 to US$ 451.11 million by 2028. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 5.8% during 20212028. The availability of alternate therapies and lack of trained professionals are likely to hamper the growth of the market in the coming years. Gait Rehabilitation System Market: Competition Landscape and Key Developments zebris Medical GmbH; PRODROMUS S.A.; Reha Technology AG; DIH Medical, Meditouch; HIWIN Corporation; BAMA teknoloji; Restorative Therapies, Inc.; Meden-Inmed Sp. z o.o.; Groupe WINNCARE are among the key companies operating in the gait rehabilitation system market. Leading players focus on expanding as well as diversifying their market presence and acquiring new customer base, thereby tapping prevailing business opportunities. In March 2021, Reha Technology entered into a strategic partnership with DIH Medical. This agreement permits DIH to take over the distribution of Reha Technologys robotics products. DIH, as per the agreement, will promote and distribute Reha Technologys end-effector-based gait therapy devices in crucial markets such as Switzerland, Germany, and the US. Get Exclusive Sample Pages of Gait Rehabilitation System Market Size - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis with Strategic Insights at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00016694/ In March 2021, DIH Medical entered into a strategic partnership with Reha Technology. This agreement permits DIH to take over the distribution of Reha Technologys robotics products. DIH, as per the agreement, will promote and distribute Reha Technologys end-effector-based gait therapy devices in crucial markets such as Switzerland, Germany, and the US. In October 2020, DIH Medical and Gorbel Rehabilitation joined forces to give unique solutions expected to solve real difficulties and improve patients' experiences with the SafeGait 360 and SafeGait ACTIVE products. In 2021, North America dominated the gait rehabilitation system market. In North America, the US is the largest market for gait rehabilitation system. In the US, the need for gait rehabilitation system is anticipated to witness growth due to the rise in R&D expenditures made by the companies situated in the US. According to study conducted by Research gate, around 15% of the world's population - more than 1 billion people - live with some form of disability, of which 4% have a severe disability. Gait rehabilitation technology is growing exponentially as regaining functional gait is seen as a must for independent living. Moreover, the USs high expenditure on healthcare is also contributing to the growth of market. As per the data reported by CMS Office of the Actuary, the overall healthcare spending in US had increased to 4.6% in 2020 than the overall economic growth of 4.0% in the US measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019. Further, high per capita healthcare spending and favorable healthcare policies have created a conducive environment for the adoption of advanced technologies such as gait rehabilitation system. With increasing manufacturing costs, medical device manufacturers are struggling to generate enough revenue to please their investors. Developing economies are offering lucrative growth opportunities to the gait rehabilitation system market players to expand their business and geographic reach. Moreover, the increasing spending on healthcare in these countries is allowing companies operating in this sector to provide a wide range of superior-quality offerings. Thus, the adoption of gait rehabilitation systems is likely to increase in regions such as Asia, the Middle East, and Africa in the coming years. In addition, these regions are characterized by the growing geriatric population, which can be susceptible to orthopedic and musculoskeletal disorders. ~30% of the population in Japan is of age 60 and above. Furthermore, according to the WHO, a share of the population of age 60 years and above is expected to increase from 12.4% in 2010 to 28% by 2040. The gait rehabilitation system market players are likely to grab this opportunity to expand their reach to these regions. Technological advancements such as gait rehabilitation systems are making the treatment of orthopedic conditions and musculoskeletal diseases simpler. These systems help patients in getting rid of heavy-dose medicines as well as hectic treatments and procedures sooner than normal. Download Sample PDF Brochure of Gait Rehabilitation System Market Size and Growth Research Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00016694/ Further, many start-ups are investing in the healthcare sector in developing regions. Therefore, emerging or developing countries are likely to present high growth potential for the gait rehabilitation system market players in the coming years. Gait Rehabilitation System Market: Segmental Overview The gait rehabilitation system market, based on product type, the gait rehabilitation system market is categorized into mechanical type and computer-aided. In 2021, the mechanical type segment held the largest share of the market, by product type. Based on end-user, the gait rehabilitation system market is categorized into hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, and others. In 2021, the hospitals segment held the largest share of the market, by end-user. Whereas the rehabilitation centers segment is expected to grow at a fastest CAGR during the forecast period. Due to the spread of the coronavirus, many cities are being closed, resulting in treatments and cancellations from doctors/surgeons. The patients suffering from critical surgeries such as neurosurgery, spine surgery, and ENT surgery need to be physically conscious and implement procedures in the clinics. Since the coronavirus outbreak reached a pandemic status, the entire global supply chain has been affected, which has disrupted logistics and production capacities. As a result, COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on the gait rehabilitation systems market. The COVID-19 pandemic can deprive patients with neurological diseases of their usual care. During the pandemic, there was a tendency towards home exercise programs due to the limited duration of therapy and access to physical therapy. Self-rehabilitation at home is an increasingly common part of rehabilitation programs, especially for various long-term illnesses such as MS. The gait rehabilitation systems market suffered a shortage at the start of the COVID-19 crisis due to supply chain disruption and demand due to the lockdown announced by most European countries. Market participants and end-users were losing their business due to the temporary closure of industries in various regions. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted populations worldwide, presenting new challenges and opportunities for different types of new and existing technologies. Social Assistive Robotics could be one of the potential tools for supporting the clinical care areas, encouraging physical distancing, and reducing the rate of infection. The main tasks of the robot are to monitor physiological progress and encourage social interaction with human distancing during sessions. Regarding the robot's role within conducting the therapy, health care workers have agreed (> 95%) that this tool could promote physical distancing, which is beneficial towards aiding neurorehabilitation during the pandemic. These results suggested the further implementation benefits of this tool in the pandemic. Order a Copy of Gait Rehabilitation System Market Size, Share, Strategic Insights and Forecasts 2021-2028 Research Report at https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPRE00016694/ Several physiotherapy clinics and centers have been closed as an impact of COVID-19 owing to the country's lockdown. Robotics projects are currently being developed that may be cheaper than existing imported options. The research for the AGAPAY project, which was developed for rehabilitation after stroke, aims to create a biomimetic exoskeleton for the upper body, particularly for the shoulders, upper and forearms, wrists, and hands. According to Tenido, a LIF fellow from the Royal Academy of Engineering, the AGAPAY project aims to help overburdened clinics and therapists while providing patients with reliable, easy-to-use, safe, affordable and effective treatment. Exercises with the exoskeletons can be carried out semi-automatically so that a single therapist can care for several patients simultaneously. The robots track the patient's progress in real-time and can thus accelerate the recovery process. Browse Related Reports: Gait Biometrics Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Type (Assessment, Treatment, Other); Application (Healthcare, Sports, Other), and geography Rehabilitation Aids Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Product (Therapy Equipment, Mobility Equipment, Exercise Equipment, Body Support Devices); Application (Physical Rehabilitation and Training, Strength, Endurance, and Pain Reduction, Occupational Rehabilitation and Training); End User (Hospitals and Clinics, Rehabilitation Centers, Home Care Settings, Physiotherapy Centers), and Geography Neurorehabilitation Gaming Systems Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Component (Hardware, Software); Application (Stroke, Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Others); Modality (PC, Tablet/Smartphone) Neurorehabilitation Devices Market Forecast to 2028 - Covid-19 Impact and Global Analysis - By Product (Neurorobotic System, Brain Computer Interface, Non-invasive Stimulators, Wearable Devices) ; Application (Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury, Parkinson's Disease, Cerebral Palsy, Others) and Geography Joint Repair Devices Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product (Knee Reconstruction Devices, Total Knee Replacement, Partial Knee Replacement, Revision Total Knee Replacement, Hip Reconstruction Devices, Others); Indication (Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hip Dysplasia, Orthopaedic Trauma, Others); Joint Type (Knee, Hip, Shoulder, Ankle, Others); End User (Hospitals, Rehabilitation Centers, Others); and Geography Passive Prosthetics Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Product Type (Prosthetic Foot, Prosthetic Knee, Prosthetic Legs, Prosthetic Hand, Passive Prosthetic Arm, Others); Price Range (Low Cost, High Cost); End User (Hospitals, Prosthetic Clinics, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Trauma Centers, Rehabilitation Centers, Others), and Geography Trial Prostheses Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Technology (Conventional, Electric Powered, Hybrid Orthopedic Prosthetics); End-User (Hospitals, Prosthetic Clinics, Rehabilitation Center) and Geography Medical Exoskeleton Market to 2027 - Global Analysis and Forecasts By Drive Type (Pneumatic Actuator, Hydraulic Actuator, Electric Actuator, Mechanical, Shape Memory Alloy Actuator, Other Actuator); Type (Powered Exoskeleton, Passive Exoskeleton); Extremity (Lower Body Exoskeleton, Upper Body Exoskeleton); Application (Spinal Cord Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, Stroke and Others); End User (Rehabilitation Centers, Physiotherapy Centers, Physiotherapy Centers, and, Others), and Geography Rehabilitation Robots Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Type (Therapeutic Robots, Prosthetic Robots, Assistive Robots, Exoskeleton Robots); End User (Rehabilitation Centers, Hospitals, Specialty Clinics), and Geography 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: If you have any queries about this report or if you would like further information, please contact us: Contact Person: Sameer Joshi E-mail: sales@theinsightpartners.com Phone: +1-646-491-9876 Press Release - https://www.theinsightpartners.com/pr/gait-rehabilitation-system-market Connect With Us on: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/7591674/admin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/tipmarkettrends Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theinsightpartners/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheInsightPartners RSS/Feeds: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/feed/ | https://www.prnewswire.com/news/the-insight-partners/ TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Affordable housing has been defined all too well by the political parties during the recent election. With municipal elections coming in 2022, Derek Lobo, CEO of SVN Rock Advisors Inc., believes that it is critical to not waste more time talking about this problem, solutions are needed now and are readily available. Lobo has been advising the apartment industry for decades and believes that city mayors will listen better than federal politicians when it comes to solving apartment supply. He's offering all Canadian mayors the solution to what Trudeau, O'Toole, Singh, and others spoke to at length during their campaigns - the difference being this is actionable now. "Attainable housing, often called "affordable" housing, is a local issue, not federal; the buck stops at the mayor's desk, not the Prime Minister's. The solution, quite simply, is purpose-built apartments. It's time for municipal officials to grab the issue and act," Mr. Lobo says. Rather than wait to see what "pans out" over time, Mr. Lobo is inviting all mayors and their staff to attend, in-person or virtually, an upcoming event that is centered around solving apartment supply in Canada, permanently. "This event will bring together the significant apartment industry experts and builders with a complete focus on affordable housing and new apartment development. The timing is perfect, the right people are coming together, and it's time for action!" describes Mr. Lobo. The event features industry expert discussions and presentations at the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto, October 28-29; details are available at RockAdvisorsInc.com. Mr. Lobo's invitation to Canadian mayors simply requires an RSVP (contact Mr. Lobo's office directly at derek.lobo@rockadvisorsinc.com, 905-320-7672, or 416-819-0094 (Kelly)). "Eliminating legislative barriers and encouraging the development of apartments is essential for a timely solution," says Mr. Lobo. His voice is one of conviction, so much so, he dedicated the better part of the last two years writing a significant number of books to support the solution to apartment supply in Canada. His latest book, A Step-by-step Guide to Affordable Housing in Canada, is just about ready for publication. "The issue of apartment supply is sure to be on the agenda when municipal elections become front-and-center in 2022, so I'm anticipating that our mayors will take interest in what the apartment industry is doing," says Mr. Lobo with a sense of certainty. "If mayors want to be re-elected next year, they should get to work solving the apartment supply problem." Derek Lobo is the CEO and broker of record for SVN Rock Advisors Inc., focused on Apartment Intelligence & Leadership. With over 35 years of relationships, insight, expertise, and business strategy, SVN Rock Advisors specializes in the multi-residential industry (apartments, affordable housing, student housing, and intergenerational family real estate). They deliver the Apartment Development FULL Service Experience which spans the entire development project timeline of its customers. Related Images Image 1: APARTMENT Supply 2022 Image 2: LIVE ON STAGE This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. Attachment RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- State Employees Credit Union (SECU) is pleased to announce the promotions of Leigh Brady to Chief Operating Officer and Josh Bomba to Chief Information Technology Officer. Both internal team members of the $50 billion credit union will assume their new roles immediately. Leigh has been with SECU for 34 years, gaining experience in numerous areas of the organization. She most recently served as Chief HR & Communication Officer for the credit union. Her oversight areas will now include retail delivery channels, human resources, marketing/communications, operations, SECUs CUSOs, and the SECU Foundation. Leigh has a B.A. in Accounting from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Meredith College. Holding various leadership positions outside of SECU, Leigh is on the Board of Directors of the Carolinas Credit Union League and Carolinas Credit Union Foundation. She also serves as Chair of the Executive Committee for the CUNA HR/Organizational Development Council. SECU President/CEO Jim Hayes commented, As SECU looks to implement operational changes and enhancements for credit union members and employees, its important to have someone in the Chief Operating Officer position who brings a vast amount of experience and a good working knowledge of the organization. I look forward to working with Leigh to make a positive impact across the credit union. Josh Bomba is a passionate and results-driven technology leader with over 15 years of experience covering various facets of the information technology field at different financial institutions. With an ability to blend both technology and business perspectives, Josh will help to bring transformative projects to the credit union in order to best deliver SECUs business and organizational goals. His new duties will include management of all IT functions as well as digital strategy. He holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from NC Wesleyan College and previously studied Computer Science at East Carolina University. While hired just a few months ago to oversee SECUs digital channels, Josh has quickly embraced the organization and demonstrated his breadth of knowledge in the IT and digital space. I anticipate our IT team will bring a substantive amount of transformation within our technology/digital areas, using the roadmap created by Josh, said Jim Hayes. About SECU and the SECU Foundation A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the state of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for 84 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.6 million members through 273 branch offices, 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone, a website, www.ncsecu.org and a Mobile App. Members can also follow and subscribe to SECU on Facebook and YouTube. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of over $200 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide. In addition to the website, highlights are also available on the SECU Foundation Instagram page. Contact: Sandra Jones, SVP Member Communications Office: 919-508-8773 | sandra.jones@ncsecu.org A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a3026007-c127-487c-99ff-6590c3a6dc68 THIS NEWS RELEASE IS INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION IN CANADA ONLY AND IS NOT AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pure Gold Mining Inc. (TSXV:PGM LSE:PUR) (PureGold or the Company) is pleased to announce the Company has agreed to issue 3,307,619 units of the Company (the Units) at a price of C$1.05 per Unit (the Transaction) for gross proceeds of approximately C$3,473,000 on a non-brokered basis to Anglogold Ashanti Limited (Anglogold). Each Unit is comprised of one common share (each a Common Share) and one-half Common Share purchase warrant (each such full warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at a price of C$1.36 for 18 months from the closing of the Transaction. The Company intends to use the net proceeds raised from the Transaction to fund the continued ramp up of operations at its 100%-owned PureGold Mine Project located in Red Lake, Ontario, underground drilling and development of the high-grade 8 zone, and for general corporate purposes. It is expected that the closing of the Transaction will occur on or about October 15, 2021 and is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including receipt of all applicable regulatory approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and SARB approval. The securities to be issued under the Transaction will have a hold period of four months and one day from the applicable closing date in accordance with applicable securities laws. Anglogold is considered a related party of Pure Gold as it currently owns approximately 14.3% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Pure Gold on a non-diluted basis and, accordingly, the Transaction constitutes a related party transaction within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 (MI 61-101). The Transaction is exempt from the minority approval requirement of Section 5.6 and the formal valuation requirement of Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the Transaction, nor the fair market value of the consideration for the Transaction, exceeds 25% of Pure Golds market capitalization. A material change report in connection with the Transaction will be filed less than 21 days before the closing of the Transaction. This shorter period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as the Company wishes to complete the Transaction in a timely manner. The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. ABOUT PURE GOLD MINING INC. PureGold is a growth company, located in the very heart of Red Lake, Canada. Our objective is pure and simple. To develop a highly-profitable long life gold mining company, becoming Canadas next iconic gold producer. Our plan is very disciplined, very methodical and financially sound. To expand organically, and develop PureGolds multi-million ounce high grade gold asset incrementally, step-by-step, using a phased mining development plan to deliver maximum return. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD " Darin Labrenz " Darin Labrenz, President & CEO For further information: Adrian OBrien Director, Marketing and Communications 604-809-6890 aobrien@puregoldmining.ca Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects, the expected use of proceeds of the Transactions, the anticipated closing dates of the Transactions and the anticipated size and structure of each of the Transactions. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative 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 involve 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 expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. 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, management's estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below. On Friday, in the morning, at Government House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC CVO received President, Queensland University Regiment Association, Brigadier Trever Luttrell RFD (Retd); Director, Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum, Mr John Meyers OAM; Manager, Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum, Mr Steve Webb; President, C.M.F. Army Reserve Association Bundaberg, Major Stephen Pohlman RFD (Retd); and Commanding Officer, 12 Army Cadet Unit, HMAS Moreton Captain (AAC) Graham Heslin. Following, at St Lucia, His Excellency attended a Private Investiture Ceremony for Mrs Patricia Hawthorne OAM, and the Governor officiated the ceremony. In the afternoon, at Parliament House, His Excellency attend the closing ceremony of the 26th YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament, and addressed guests and presented an award. Lewis Hamilton will be joined next year by George Russell at Mercedes. Expectations are high, but according to Mario Andretti there is a chance that the young talent will be disadvantaged by his new employer. The 1978 world champion fears Russell should not expect equal treatment. "I'm sure that Mercedes in some ways will always favour Lewis," Andretti said according to Express. "But at the same time I'm sure George will have the same equipment." Andretti looking forward to battle Hamilton and Russell Andretti previously expressed his admiration for Russell when he made his rock-solid debut for Mercedes in Bahrain. "He impressed me and has shown that he can be a future champion," said the 81-year-old American. "By having that opportunity in Bahrain and stepping up the way he did, and even with Williams at Spa, with the conditions Rain is always a great equaliser and he showed his skills by doing what he did there. How he will fare next year alongside Lewis is something to look forward to," Andretti concluded. Whistleblower Frances Haugen, 37, a former product manager on Facebook's civic integrity team, testified at an internet safety hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and said "they [Facebook] have put their immense profits before people." She told senators at a Washington hearing that Facebook's leaders know how to make their products safer but won't, she says She said Facebook weakens democracy. "They have put their immense profits before people" Facebook's products "harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy." Democrats and Republicans expressed their concern about Facebook in their opening remarks. Facebook has rejected her claims, saying it has spent significant sums of money on safety. The highly anticipated testimony comes a day after a massive Facebook outage, which saw services down for six hours and affected billions of users globally. A big part of Haugen's argument is that the only people who really understand Facebook's inner workings are its employees. "Facebook has a culture that emphasises that insularity is the path forward," she told the members at the hearing earlier. "That if information is shared publicly, it will be misunderstood," she says. If you follow Haugen's logic, this inward-looking culture is precisely why Congressional oversight of the social media giant is needed, some say. Haugen is arguing that regulation may even make Facebook "more profitable over the long-term". In response to questions from Democratic Senator John Hickenlooper, Haugen says "if it wasnt as toxic, less people could quit it" - though that isn't something we can test. Haugen also continued her comparisons between Facebook and the tobacco industry. "Only about 10% of people who smoke ever get lung cancer, she said. So [at Facebook] theres the idea that 20% of your users can be facing serious mental health issues and thats not a problem." Haugen, whose last role at Facebook was as a product manager supporting the companys counter-espionage team, was asked whether Facebook is used by authoritarian or terrorist-based leaders around the world. She said such use of the platforms is definitely happening, and that Facebook is very aware of it. My team directly worked on tracking Chinese participation on the platform, surveilling, say, Uyghur populations, in places around the world. You could actually find the Chinese based on them doing these kinds of things, Haugen said. We also saw active participation of, say, the Iran government doing espionage on other state actors. She went on to say that she believes, Facebooks consistent understaffing of the counterespionage information operations and counter terrorism teams is a national security issue, and Im speaking to other parts of Congress about that I have strong national security concerns about how Facebook operates today. Sen. Richard Blumenthal suggested that these national security concerns could be the subject of a future subcommittee hearing. Who is the whistleblower? Frances Haugen has been testifying Tuesday. Here's what you need to know about the former Facebook employee taking centre stage Tuesday. Who is she? The 37-year-old unveiled herself on Sunday as the person behind a series of surprise leaks of internal Facebook documents. Haugen told CBS News she had left Facebook earlier this year after becoming exasperated with the company. Why? She was a product manager on the civic integrity team until it was disbanded a month after the 2020 presidential election. "Like, they basically said, Oh good, we made it through the election...We can get rid of Civic Integrity now. Fast forward a couple months, we got the insurrection." Facebook's Integrity chief has since contested this, saying it wasn't disbanded but "integrated into a larger Central Integrity team". What did she do? Before she left the company, Haugen copied a series of internal memos and documents. She has shared them with the Wall Street Journal, which has been releasing the material in batches over the last three weeks - sometimes referred to as the Facebook Files. Haugen says these documents prove the tech giant repeatedly prioritised "growth over safety". What have we heard so far? Profits over people If there is an overall theme so far - this is it. According to Haugen, Facebook routinely resolves conflicts between its bottom line and the safety of its users in favour of its profits. "The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people," she says. The buck stops with Zuck Throughout her remarks, Haugen has made clear that Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has wide-ranging oversight of his company and maintains ultimate control of all key decisions. "The buck stops with Mark," she says. "There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself." Teen girls targeted Senators have devoted much of their time to the harm posed by Facebook and Instagram to young people, especially teenage girls. Several have pointed to research that suggests both sites worsen teens' body image and promote eating disorders. Lawmakers cited Facebook's own data, published by the Wall Street Journal last month, which found that 32% of teen girls said that when they feel bad about their bodies, Instagram makes them feel worse. Facebook fires back Andy Stone, Facebook's policy communications director, is pushing back live on Twitter. He wrote that Haugen is asked about topics she did not work directly on, including child safety and Instagram. But, as others online note, she has come armed with Facebook's own documents to back up her testimony. Click here to watch the hearing Whistleblower: Transparency and dissolving an engagement-based ranking system would improve Facebook Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen detailed how the social media platform could become a better environment, saying it could introduce transparency measures and small frictions, and move away from the "dangerous" engagement-based ranking system. This would recenter the methods of amplification and won't focus not on "picking winners or losers in the marketplace of ideas," she told senators on Tuesday. "On Twitter, you have to click through on a link before you reshare it. Small actions like that friction dont require picking good ideas and bad ideas, they just make the platform less twitchy, less reactive. Facebooks internal research says each one of these small actions, dramatically reduces misinformation, hate speech and violence-inciting content on the platforms," Haugen said. She advocated for chronologically-ordered content instead. "I'm a strong proponent of chronological ranking, ordering by time, with a little bit of spammed emotion. Because I think we don't want computers deciding what we focus on, we should have software that is human-scaled, or humans have conversations together, not computers facilitating who we get to hear from," Haugen said. In addition, she encouraged a privacy-conscious regulatory body working with academics, researchers and government agencies to "synthesize requests for data" because currently, the social media giant is not obligated to disclose any data. "Even data as simple as what integrity systems exist today and how well do they perform?" she suggested. "Basic actions like transparency would make a huge difference." What does engagement-based ranking system mean? Facebook, like other platforms, uses algorithms to amplify or boost content that receives engagement in the form of likes or shares or comments. In Facebooks view, this helps a user enjoy their feed, Haugen explained. The dangers of engagement-based ranking are that Facebook knows that content that elicits an extreme reaction from you is more likely to get a click, a comment or reshare," which aren't necessary for the user's benefit, she added. "It's because they know that other people will produce more content if they get the likes and comments and reshares. They prioritize content in your feed so that you will give little hits of dopamine to your friends so they'll create more content. Whistleblower: Facebook should declare "moral bankruptcy" and ask Congress for help Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen said it's time for Facebook to declare "moral bankruptcy" and admit that they have a problem and they need help solving it. She said that since Facebook is a "closed system" the company has "had the opportunity to hide their problems." "And like people often do when they can hide their problems, they get in over their heads," Haugen added. She said that Congress should step in and say to the company, "You don't have to hide these things from us" and "pretend they're not problems." She believes that Congress should give Facebook the opportunity to "declare moral bankruptcy and we can figure out how to fix these things together." Asked to clarify what she meant by "moral bankruptcy," Haugen said she envisioned a process like financial bankruptcy where "they admit did something wrong" and there is a "mechanism" to "forgive them" and "move forward." "Facebook is stuck in a feedback loop that they cannot get out of...they need to admit that they did something wrong and that they need help to solve these problems. And that's what moral bankruptcy is," she said. Whistleblower: Facebook's artificial intelligence systems only catch "very tiny minority" of offending content U-Haulthe largest US retailer of propanehas purchased one million gallons of renewable propane to sell at its company-owned and -operated stores across California for the second year in row. (Earlier post.) U-Haul teamed again with national distributor Suburban Propane Partners, L.P., to continue supplying the fuel at more than 60 propane-dispensing stores in the state. Customers utilized the first million gallons of renewable propane U-Haul bought in 2020, and the second million gallons is already arriving at stores. U-Haul plans for the sustainable product offering to be ongoing due to Californias clean-fuel rebates. No cost increase is passed on to U-Haul customers as a result of the renewable propane initiative. Benefits of renewable propane include: Being derived from renewable sources such as beef fats, vegetable oils, grease residue and other biomass feedstocks; Lower carbon intensity than traditional propane while providing similar performance metrics; and Having a low carbon intensity score compared to gasoline, diesel and compressed natural gas. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has carbon intensity values for renewable propane produced from fats/oils/grease residues (all produced by REG Geismar) ranging from 20.50 gCO 2 /MJ to 43.50 gCO 2 /MJ. Propane produced from crude oil refining and natural gas processing carries a CARB-certified CI of 83.19 gCO 2 /MJ. CARBOB gasoline has a CI of 100.82 gCO 2 /MJ, and diesel 100.45 gCO 2 /MJ. For every one million gallons of renewable propane that U-Haul makes available, it has the global effect of eliminating 5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, according to stats the Western Propane Gas Association shared in 2020. U-Haul began selling propane in 1984 and became the largest US retailer by 1987. Today, U-Haul supplies propane to customers at more than 1,165 stores across the US and Canada. In September 2020, Suburban Propane took a 39% stake in Oberon Fuels, a San Diego, CA-based development-stage producer of low-carbon, renewable dimethyl ether (rDME) transportation fuel. In June 2021, Oberon began production of the first rDME in the United States, and is the only current commercial producer of this molecule in the world. Additionally, Oberon, through a public-private partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory, has secured funding from the US Department of Energy to develop and scale-up steam reforming technology to produce renewable hydrogen from rDME. Suburban Propane has also committed to provide additional funding to support continued development efforts to begin commercializing a rDME/propane blended product. (Earlier post.) GREENWICH One of the four Republican candidates for the Board of Education has dropped out of the race, citing challenges due to her job in the hedge fund industry. Claire Muldoon is off the ballot for Novembers election, but three Republican candidates are still running for two seats on the school board in Greenwich. One of the reasons I ran was that I wanted to make sure there were good people who had kids in the schools on the BOE, Muldoon said. But I have three other peers in this race. And while Im disappointed, I feel the town is in good hands and I dont just mean on the Republican side. I think the Democrats running are good, too. Muldoon works in sales for D.E. Shaw and Co., a Manhattan-based hedge fund, and has been with the firm for 24 years. She said the firm raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest when it comes to influence about how town pension plans are invested. She said she attempted to get approval to run for office from her firms compliance department, which Muldoon said she should have done before pursuing the candidacy. Muldoon said she had considered the position the same as serving on a charitable board, which her firm allows. Muldoon said she informed her firm that, if elected, she would not have any influence on pension investments, which is not handled by the school board, and offered not to do any fundraising for her campaign. But ultimately, she said that if elected, there would have been ongoing evaluations by her firm, and she decided not to go forward with her candidacy. It wasnt a total no (from the firm), but it would have been a real hassle. And since there were other good candidates that wouldnt have these same concerns, it would be easier to do this instead of having it hanging over me, Muldoon said. My work just wasnt that happy about it, and this job is super important to me. Town Clerk Carmella Budkins confirmed Monday that Muldoon name was removed before the ballots were printed late last month. Last Friday, the town began sending out absentee ballots to voters who requested them. Voters can choose from among the three Republicans running for two seats: Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony, Megan Galletta and Cody Kittle, who would all be newcomers to the school board. The Republicans have two open seats on the school board because Chair Peter Bernstein, who is completing his second term, and former Chair Peter Sherr, who is completing his third, are not seeking reelection. Republican Town Committee Chair Dan Quigley said the party was disappointed that Muldoon withdrew. These things can happen, and we wish Claire nothing but the best going forward, he said. Of the three Republicans, Quigley said. Meg, Cody and Michael are all creative thinkers and each believes that education is the foundation of any productive and successful community. Each either has had children that have gone through the Greenwich Public Schools or are on the verge of entering GPS. They all have a vested interest in contributing positively to the future direction of our Greenwich Public School system. All of the remaining candidates will meet for a debate with the League of Women Voters of Greenwich on Oct. 19. Democrats do not have a competitive race for the school board, with two candidates running for two seats. Board Vice Chair Kathleen Stowe is seeking reelection, and the Democrats in July nominated Laura Kostin, a member of the RTM, to run for the other seat. That seat is currently held by Dr. Gaetane Francis, who is completing the term of Meghan Olsson, who stepped down in June. Francis did not plan to run for the school board this fall. Voters can cast ballots for as many as four candidates for the Board of Education. But of the three Republican candidates Mercanti-Anthony, Galletta and Kittle only the top two vote-getters will be elected along with Stowe and Kostin due to rules about party representation on town boards. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Captain Kirk is rocketing into space next week boldly going where no other sci-fi stars have gone. Jeff Bezos space travel company, Blue Origin, announced Monday that Star Trek actor William Shatner will blast off from West Texas on Oct. 12. Yes, its true; Im going to be a 'rocket man!' the 90-year-old tweeted. He added: Its never too late to experience new things. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is a huge fan of the sci-fi series and even had a cameo as a high-ranking alien in the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond." His rocket company invited Shatner to fly as its guest. Shatner will become the oldest person to go to space. Hell join three others two of them paying customers aboard a Blue Origin capsule. He'll wind up being the second actor to reach space this month: Russia is launching an actress and a film director to the International Space Station on Tuesday for almost two weeks of moviemaking. Shatner's flight, by comparison, will last just 10 minutes and reach no higher than about 66 miles (106 kilometers). The capsule will parachute back to the desert floor, not far from where it took off. With flights short or long, space tourism is picking up steam fast. Virgin Galactic carried founder Richard Branson to the edge of space with five others in July, followed nine days later by Bezos' space hop. Elon Musk's SpaceX, meanwhile, launched its first private crew last month a Pennsylvania entrepreneur who bought the three-day flight and took along two contest winners and a cancer survivor. Virgin Galactic's ship launches from an airplane and requires two pilots. Blue Origin and SpaceX's capsules are fully automated, but the passengers must pass medical screenings and, among other things, be able to quickly climb several flights of steps at the launch tower to get to the capsule or out of it in an emergency. This will be Blue Origins second launch of a crew. Bezos was on the debut flight on July 20. He took along his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk the youngest and oldest to fly in space. Shatner will break that upper threshold by eight years. "Ive heard about space for a long time now. Im taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle, Shatner said in a statement. Shatner played the role of the USS Starship Enterprise's commander for three seasons, from 1966 to 1969. He also portrayed Captain James T. Kirk in seven movies, directing one of them. He's currently the host and executive producer of a History Channel show, The UnXplained. The ashes of two other Star Trek powerhouses creator Gene Roddenberry and actor James Doohan, who played Scotty rocketed into space years ago following their deaths. Also launching with Shatner: a former NASA engineer who founded a nanosatellite company and the co-founder of a software company specializing in clinical research. The two took part in the auction for a seat on the first flight. That seat cost $28 million; Blue Origin isn't divulging any other ticket prices. A fourth seat on the flight is going to Blue Origin's vice president of mission and flight operations, who used to work for NASA as a space station flight controller. A Blue Origin spokeswoman said Shatner, like the others, met all the company's health and physical requirements. Last week, more than 20 current and former Blue Origin employees accused the Kent, Washington-based company of having a toxic work environment and not adhering to proper safety protocols. Blue Origin said it doesnt tolerate harassment or discrimination and stood by its safety record. Bezos' company is also challenging a NASA contract award to SpaceX for providing a lunar lander that will return astronauts to the moon in a few years. Blue Origin was unsuccessful in its bid for the job. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Shatner will be oldest to go to space by eight years, not six. STAMFORD Even for a gaggle of politicians, the hustle of Interstate 95 never stops. Despite the cars rumbling above and trains whizzing by, federal and state officials gathered beneath a bustling highway overpass to stress the importance of a federal bill that deals with both the physical and human infrastructure, despite persistent roadblocks obstructing that goal in Washington. I think youre going to find that after all these many years, now is the time to do more than a state of good repair, which is what we do under our existing program, Gov. Ned Lamont said over the din of traffic, surrounded by a swath of high-profile faces including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal; U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, both D-Conn.; state Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti; state Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport; and state Reps. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, Caroline Simmons, D-Stamford, Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, and David Michel, D- Stamford. Connecticut is set to receive $5.3 billion for highways, bridges and everything in between from the federal infrastructure package, but a topline number on the final federal package, which could push forward expansions to health care, child care, infrastructure and education, is still in flux. Though the specific future of the federal funds remains uncertain, the state has a litany of site-specific projects shovel-ready for when funding comes in, according to Giulietti, especially along I-95. Improvements include adding an additional northbound lane to the highway from the state line to Exit 9. The improvements arent limited to the interstate highway, either. Giulietti said adding an extra lane on Interstate 84 near Danbury could ease another vehicular chokepoint for local drivers. That will take care of that entire pinpoint that occurs and the fact that all those people in Danbury have to use the highway to get through the city, he said. Once federal funding comes through, Connecticut will need to match the money. The state may be asked to match 40 or 50 percent up to $461 million of what the federal government ultimately provides, according to Haskell, who is the state Senate Transportation Committee Chair. Lamont put forth a litany of ways the state could pay for its match, including the recently-passed Highway User fee, which he said could generate between $90 and $100 million over time. Theres also bonding, he said, but that strategy means tighter purse strings in other parts of the budget. We can bond for that thats what people like to do, he said, albeit he was quick to bring up the downsides of bonding. That means a little bit less affordable housing. That means a little bit less (for) schools. After weeks of negotiations in the federal seat of power over which infrastructure plan becomes law, officials at the press conference reaffirmed their commitment to getting something done and underscored how important physical infrastructure is to Connecticut, which has 248 bridges and 2,100 miles of highway that the White House deemed to be in poor condition in April. But getting past a state of good repair is more complicated than it sounds. Though $1.1 trillion in infrastructure spending cleared hurdles in the U.S. Senate, its future relies on what 10-year spending plan also known as a budget reconciliation plan the U.S. House of Representatives agrees to pass. A vote Friday fell through on the bipartisan infrastructure deal after the House failed to reach a consensus on reconciliation. The House of Representatives was under scrutiny last week because were doing what is known as the sausage making process, Himes said Monday. I wouldnt put too much consequence on the negotiations and the back and forth and all the media that occurred last week, he said, before suggesting that the infrastructure saga could conclude by the end of October. Democratic Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer also put forth that deadline in a letter to his caucus Monday. I am confident that sometime around the end of this month, were delivering the resources and well make this, once again, an essential artery for the economy in this region, Himes said. veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com GREENWICH The Chambers Players of the Greenwich Symphony open its 50th anniversary season with a pair of upcoming concerts titled Romantic Allusions. The creative talents of our gifted musicians, the enthusiasm and loyal support of our audiences and this community give us ample reason to celebrate 50 years and to continue our commitment to excellence as we pursue the joy of music together, even in these challenging times, said Christine Boies, president of the board of directors. The concerts, which are returning after an interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, at Round Hill Community Church at 395 Round Hill Road, and at 7:30 p.m. Monday, at the Greenwich Arts Council at 299 Greenwich Ave. They will feature guest artists Zohar Schondorf on horn and Heather Braun on violin. Schondorf will be featured in Alexander Glazunovs Reverie, Op. 24 for horn and piano and Eleanor Albergas evocative dreamscape, Shining Gate of Morpheus, for horn and quartet. Braun will join in the program for Hugo Wolfs Italian Serenade, and Robert Schumanns Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44. All Chamber Players musicians and volunteers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the group. For everyones protection, audience members are required to wear masks and are asked to observe social distancing, the group said in a statement. The Chamber Players of the Greenwich Symphony is an independently managed ensemble of professional musicians, drawn primarily from the principals of the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, and often joined by guest artists. Celebrating its 50th season, the Chamber Players present four pairs of subscription concerts each season. The additional concerts include Sympathetic Resonance at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Round Hill Community Church and at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15.at the Greenwich Historical Society at 47 Strickland Road. Music by William Grant Still and Dvoraks Hausmusik masterpiece, the Opus 74 Terzetto, set the tone for this program, highlighting the strings. Beethovens rarely performed string quintet is the finale. Violinist Michael Roth and violist Orlando Wells will be the guest performers. Also, Blow, Ye Winds will be in concert at 4 p.m. March 6 at Round Hill Community Church and at 7:30 p.m. March 7 at the Greenwich Arts Council. Jean Francaixs first quintet for winds and Louise Farrencs Sextet anchor the program, and works by Sofia Gubaidulina and American hornist Jeff Scott will also be featured. A Tale Through Time will be held at 4 p.m. April 24 at Christ Church Greenwich at 254 E. Putnam Ave. David Bakers jazzy take on Stravinskys classic musical fable opens the event. Narrator Edward Pleasant and dancer Olga Suarez-Paz will join the musicians in a semi-staged performance. This performance is co-sponsored by Community Concerts of Greenwich. Ticket subscriptions for the 50th season are $90 for adults and $15 for students. Single concert tickets are $30 for adults and $5 for students. All tickets can be purchased by vising www.chamberplayersofthegso.com, calling 203-637-4725, or at the door. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Alabama intends to move quickly on building new prisons under a plan that taps pandemic relief funds and could skip the normal bidding process for the construction of two supersize facilities. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday signed into law the $1.3 billion construction plan to build two 4,000-bed prisons and a new prison for women and renovate other facilities. The plan taps $400 million from the American Rescue Plan money the state has already received and could steer the construction contracts toward companies that previously qualified for the work. The construction bill signed into law bypasses the normal bidding process for the two 4,000-bed facilities. It specifies that the state instead can negotiate directly with entities that were part of development teams that qualified for the projects under a lease plan that Iveys administration had pursued but abandoned. Those entities include Birmingham-based construction giant BL Harbert International and Montgomery-based Caddell Construction. Caddell and BL Harbert are expected to be the main contractors for the two prisons, Republican Sen. Greg Albritton said. Lawmakers said working with those companies will allow the state to incorporate the prior work, saving both time and money. The main thing is time, and time is of the essence. This is going to enable us to start these projects 12 months in advance, and time is money, said the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Steve Clouse. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, defending the selection language, said the companies previously went through a selection process under the lease plan. The law specifies that if the state doesn't reach an agreement with one of those companies, officials will start over with a fresh selection process seeking bids on the work. Alabama officials will have the money to start construction after lawmakers approved $400 million in virus funds and another $150 million from the states general fund, in addition to agreeing to borrow $785 million through a bond issue. We can start this construction now with the money we have on hand now ... without having to wait to float bonds, Albritton said. I believe were going to see dirt flying in January." The U.S. Department of Justice has sued Alabama over a prison system riddled with prisoner-on-prisoner and guard-on-prisoner violence. The Justice Department noted in an earlier report that dilapidated facilities were a contributing factor to the unconstitutional conditions but wrote new facilities alone will not resolve the matter because of problems in culture, management deficiencies, corruption, violence and other problems. Dozens of advocacy groups objected to the prison construction plan. We do not believe the issues facing Alabamas prisons are about the buildings, said Bryan Stevenson, executive director and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. We think its entirely about leadership, culture and the practices," Stevenson said. "I just think engaging in a costly effort around new prisons is not going to solve the problem and worse is distracting us from dealing with the prisons. South Carolina districts can continue to require face coverings to protect against the coronavirus in the state's schools under an appellate court's decision this week. On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied state Attorney General Alan Wilson's request that South Carolina's law prohibiting school mask mandates be allowed to take effect while a lawsuit over the COVID-19 pandemic measure goes forward. Last month, a federal judge suspended the state from enforcing its rule banning school districts from requiring masks for students. Wilson and Gov. Henry McMaster, both Republicans, had appealed that temporary restraining order, asking the 4th Circuit to restore the ban to avoid changing mask policies across the state now that students are back at school. The back-and-forth stems from a lawsuit filed by parents of disabled children, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing that South Carolina's ban discriminated against medically vulnerable students by keeping them out of public schools as the pandemic continues. According to state health data, about 75,000 students, teachers and school staff have been infected with COVID-19 this school year, and nearly 200,000 have had to quarantine because of close exposure. The Republican-dominated state House put the provision into the budget in June, when the state was seeing an average of about 150 new virus cases a day. Not long afterward, the delta variant caused a spike in cases similar to last winter before vaccines were widely available. The budget provision didnt outright ban districts from requiring masks, but said that state money couldnt be used to enforce a mask requirement. State money is tied into most regular school funding, although some lawmakers told school boards they could require masks and hire employees to enforce the requirement with federal COVID-19 relief money. Under pressure from parents and some districts, the General Assembly has refused to come back in special session to reconsider its rules. McMaster, while urging people to talk to their doctors and get vaccinated, has repeated for months that parents should decide whether their children wear masks at school, calling the lawsuits arguments totally inaccurate." Earlier this year, he said it was the height of ridiculosity for a school district to require a mask over any parents wishes that their child go without one. Joined by state health officials, doctors, teachers and school administrators, Republican state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman also a defendant in the lawsuit has urged giving school districts flexibility. In her ruling halting the measure from taking effect, U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis compared the General Assembly preventing mask requirements to telling schools they can no longer install wheelchair ramps. No one can reasonably argue that it is an undue burden to wear a mask to accommodate a child with disabilities," she wrote. ___ Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. TOKYO (AP) Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held his first talks since taking office with President Joe Biden and confirmed they will work to strengthen their alliance and cooperate in regional security in the face of growing challenges from China and North Korea. Kishida, who was elected by parliament and sworn in Monday, told reporters that Biden reassured him of the U.S. commitment to defend the Japanese-controlled East China Sea island of Senkaku, which China also claims and has escalated its coast guard activity in the area. Biden provided a strong statement about U.S. commitment for the defense of Japan, including ... Senkaku, Kishida said, adding that the two leaders also reaffirmed they would tackle together the challenges facing neighboring regions such as China and North Korea. Kishida supports stronger Japan-U.S. security ties and partnerships with other democracies in Asia and Europe, including the U.K., in part to counter China and nuclear-armed North Korea. Kishida has also pledged to beef up Japans missile and naval defense capabilities. Kishida on Monday acknowledged the need to continue dialogue with China, an important neighbor and trade partner, but said that we must speak up against Chinas attempt to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas. The two leaders confirmed their commitment to work together toward the *free and open Indo-Pacific," a vision of partnerships among the regional democracies as a counterbalance to China's increasingly assertive actions, Kishida said. Holding his first talks as prime minister with the U.S. president serves a first step toward elevating the Japan-U.S. alliance to even higher levels," Kishida said. The 20-minute phone conversation Monday, proposed by Japan, started with Biden congratulating Kishida. The leaders agreed to call each other by their first names, and agreed to meet at an early date. While Kishida had a upbeat diplomatic debut, media surveys conducted over the last 24 hours showed support ratings for his new Cabinet were about 15 points lower than the initial high support his unpopular predecessor Yoshihide Suga enjoyed last year. In the Mainichi newspaper telephone survey published Tuesday, 49% of 1,035 respondents supported the Kishida Cabinet, compared to 64% Suga initially enjoyed, and 40% dissapproved of Kishida. The Nikkei newspaper phone survey showed 59% of 854 respondents supporting Kishida's Cabinet, also 15 points below Suga's. Many of those who disapproved of Kishida cited customary power broking by party heavyweights behind his victory. Later Monday, Kishida held online talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, agreeing to strengthen their security and economic ties bilaterally and as part of the Quad alliance, which also includes the United States and India, to promote the regional peace and stability, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Kishida expressed his support for a newly launched security partnership among Australia, Britain and the United States. He and Morrison reaffirmed their strong objection to what they see as China's policy of coercive economic measures and unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the regional seas, the ministry said. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her congratulatory message to Kishida, released Tuesday by her office: Germany is looking full of confidence toward working with you to further deepen the friendship between our people and stand up together for free trade, multilateralism, rules-based order and peaceful conflict solution. Kishida, 64, had been known as a moderate in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but won the party's leadership last week after a hawkish turn on security and taking a more conservative stance on gender equality and other issues. He succeeds Suga, who resigned after only one year in office after seeing his support plunging over his handling of the virus and insistence on holding the Olympics seen as high-handed and ignoring the public's concerns. ___ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. SYDNEY (AP) Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston will plead not guilty to illegally concealing alleged child abuse by his father, his lawyer told a court on Tuesday. Houston did not appear at Sydneys Downing Center Local Court when his charge was mentioned before a registrar for the first time. His lawyer told the court Houston would be pleading not guilty to the charge of concealing a serious indictable offense of another person, his late preacher father Frank Houston. The case will next be before the court on Nov. 23. Police will allege that Frank Houston indecently assaulted a young male in 1970. Court documents allege that Brian Houston believed his father had committed the crime. Police will allege that the younger Houston failed to disclose information to police that could help secure the prosecution of his father. Since being charged, Houston has stepped down from the board of Hillsong, the church he founded with wife Bobbie in Sydney in 1983. Now a global empire, the church says 150,000 people in 30 countries attend its services and 50 million people sing its songs each week. Houston, 64, was in the United States in August when detectives served his Sydney lawyers with a notice for him to appear in court. He said in a statement at the time he welcomed the opportunity to set the record straight. Houston returned to Sydney last month and was released from 14 days hotel quarantine last week. An Australian government inquiry into institutional responses to allegations of child sex abuse found in 2015 that Houston did not tell police that his father was a child sex abuser. The inquiry found that Houston became aware of allegations against his father in 1999 and allowed him to retire quietly rather report him to police. His father confessed to the abuse before he died in 2004 at age 82. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images TACOMA, Wash. (AP) A memorial service Monday honored a Washington State Patrol trooper who died from COVID-19, which the agency said he contracted while on duty. Detective Eric Gunderson, 38, died last month. He is survived by his wife Kameron and two children, ages 13 and 10. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A New York mother and son have been charged with theft in aiding the disappearance of a laptop belonging to the staff of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Jan. 6 insurrection after the FBI initially raided a home 4,500 miles away in Alaska, looking for the computer. The FBI on Friday arrested Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son, Rafael Rondon, 23, of Watertown, New York, in connection with the stolen laptop used only for presentations, according to court documents. Both also face other charges related to the riot at the Capitol. Rafael Rondon also faces possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun charge Both appeared in federal court Friday in Syracuse, New York, and released pending further proceedings, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York. A message left at a listing for Mooney-Condon in Watertown was not immediately returned Monday. Attempts to locate Rafael Rondon were not immediately successful. The Capitol riot was well documented by those who took part. Law enforcement used photos from the social media accounts of those who took part to search for the suspects. A tip to the FBI led them to the mother and son, according to a statement of facts documented by an unnamed FBI special agent. Mooney-Rondon allegedly admitted to being in both the Capitol the day of the riots and Pelosis conference room, the document says. She allegedly provided gloves or a scarf to a man to steal the laptop without leaving fingerprints. He asked, he said, give me I dont know if it was gloves or a scarf I was wearing and like I said he scared me, the documents quotes her as saying. There was an ethernet connected to the computer, her son told FBI agents. If I recall, the guy was going to yank it out. Im like, dude, dont do that, I mean thats, I mean just the computer, you cant pull the cables out, itll ruin everything, Mooney-Rondon said, according to the document. Mooney-Rondon then said she believes she saw the man put the computer in his backpack. Her son told investigators that be thinks he might have pushed the computer in his bag a little bit using a glove cause he didnt want to get his fingerprints on it, the document says. So I assisted him a little bit, and that was probably stupid of me, he's quoted in the document as saying. She and her son then went to the Senate Gallery and then left the building when they saw it was overrun with protesters. Rafael Rondon told officers that he and mother took the metro into Washington on Jan. 6 because Im not taking my car into the city which, the Capitol building Im about to break into, the FBI agents statement alleges. Both mother and son admitted they were the ones depicted in the photos taken at the Capitol during the riots and distributed by the FBI, the document says. In late April the FBI raided the Homer, Alaska, business owned by Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who were in the Washington for then-President Donald Trumps rally that preceded the breach at the Capitol but said they didnt take part in that. Marilyn Hueper told reporters it was a case of mistaken identity. Photos of the two women showed they had similar hairstyles and wore a similar black coat that day. Hueper said when an FBI agent arrived at the boutique resort, they said they were looking for Nancy Pelosis laptop. That still doesnt explain why youre in my home. Or in Homer, Alaska, Hueper told agents, she later recalled to The Associated Press. In the FBI statement filed in the case of the New York residents, it notes that a search warrant was obtained for the Alaska residence based in part on evidence showing that residents (a married couple) trespassed on the ground of the U.S. Capitol. It also says two people in Homer identified Marilyn Hueper as being the person seen in photos taken inside the Capitol during the riot. However, the document states, the FBI now says there is probable cause to believe the mother and son are the two people shown in the photographs, plus their alleged admissions to being there and other evidence. "I feel like a cloud has lifted for sure," Hueper said in a text message to The Associated Press. However, she said she remains concerned about the freedom that the FBI and others seem to have to run amuck over peaceable people, and are without concern for how their poor investigative skills and super aggressive tactics are causing harm while theyre on their noble cause quests. A message sent to the FBI Anchorage office seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday. ___ This story has been updated to correct that the laptop did not belong to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but was a staff laptop stolen from a conference room that was used only for presentations. It was also updated to correct the spelling of the Alaska woman's last name. She is Marilyn Hueper, not Huepner. One of the states major hospital systems has vaccinated 99 percent of its workers against COVID, but 300 employees remain unvaccinated. On Monday, Ajay Kumar, chief clinical officer of Hartford HealthCare, released a statement on the status of its quest to vaccinate all colleagues and related clinical staff. Hartford HealthCare facilities include St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport and Hartford Hospital. In July, Hartford HealthCare announced it would require employees to get the COVID vaccine. At that time, HHC stated in a letter to employees that colleagues who do not fulfill the vaccination requirement, and do not have an approved exemption or postponement, by Sept. 30, 2021, will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including separation of employment. Leading up to the deadline, the chain reported 683 employees 3 percent of its workforce had been vaccinated. But Kumar reported Monday many colleagues came forward just ahead of the deadline with proof of CDC vaccination cards and exemption requests. The remaining 300 employees who have not been vaccinated are facing suspension, Kumar said. We remain hopeful that people will choose to stay in health care and with Hartford HealthCare, he said. Kumar emphasized that all vaccines have proven to be safe and extremely effective at reducing serious illness and death. Hartford HealthCare remains deeply committed to patient safety and our role in limiting the spread of this virus. WASHINGTON (AP) All civilians who work for the Defense Department and the military services must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Nov. 22, under new guidelines released Monday. A memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks on Friday said the new mandate is in line with the presidential directive issued last month requiring federal agencies to implement vaccine requirements. Vaccinating (department) civilian employees against COVID-19 will save lives and allow for the defense of our Nation, said Hicks. Thank you for your focus on this critical mission. The memo lays out a schedule for the two-shot and one-shot vaccines. The Pentagon earlier this year required all members of the military to get vaccines, and each service set up its own dates for the active duty and reserves to comply with the mandate. Those getting the FDA approved Pfizer vaccine must get their first doze by Oct. 18, and their second dose by Nov. 8. Those getting the Moderna vaccine must get their first dose by Oct. 11 and their second dose by Nov. 8. And those getting the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine must get vaccinated by Nov. 8. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second shot, or after the single Johnson and Johnson shot. The Moderna and J&J vaccines are authorized for emergency use. The memo says those who had COVID-19 infections are not considered fully vaccinated for the purposes of the mandate. Each of the military services released its own deadlines for their personnel to get the vaccines. Army active-duty soldiers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 15, and Army Reserve and National Guard by June 30, 2022. Navy active-duty must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 28, and Navy Reserve by Dec. 28. The Marine Corp has similar dates at the end of November for active duty and the end of December for Reserves. Active-duty members of the Air Force and Space Force must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 2, and Guard and Reserve personnel by Dec. 2. SAN DIEGO (AP) Refugee admissions to the United States fell to a record low during the 2021 budget year, despite President Joe Biden's pledge to reverse the sharp cuts made by the Trump administration, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. A total of 11,445 refugees were allowed into the United States during the budget year that ended on Thursday, according to a person with access to the information who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the figure. That number does not include the tens of thousands of Afghans brought to the United States as American troops withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the 20-year war there. Many of those Afghans were allowed into the country under a different legal status known as humanitarian parole, which is why they are not included in the refugee tally. Still the number highlights Biden's challenges in reversing the restrictive refugee policies set by former President Donald Trump's administration, which targeted the program as part of a broader campaign to slash both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. The U.S. president determines the cap on refugee admissions each budget year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Biden didn't take office until almost four months after the last fiscal year began. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the number. The 11,445 refugee admissions total falls far below the nations cap of 62,500 for the 2021 budget year that Biden set in May. It's also below the record-low ceiling of 15,000 that Trump had initially set for the year. Biden initially indicated he would not override the 15,000-person cap, saying in an emergency determination that it remains justified by humanitarian concerns and is otherwise in the national interest." But that brought sharp rebuke from Democratic allies who criticized him for not taking the symbolic step of authorizing more refugees this year. The White House quickly reversed course and raised the cap, though Biden said at the time that he did not expect the U.S. would meet the new 62,500 ceiling with only four months left in the 2021 budget year, given the ongoing restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic and work the administration says is needed to rebuild the program. Refugee advocates said the record-low number reflects the damage done by the Trump administration to the program. Before the 2021 budget year, the lowest number of refugees allowed in was during the 2020 budget year when the number hit 11,814. The historical yearly average was 95,000 under previous Republican and Democratic administrations. The Biden administration has expanded the narrow eligibility criteria put in place by his predecessor that had kept out most refugees, among other steps. But critics say it's not enough and that the Biden administration has moved too slowly. It remains to be seen whether refugee admissions will reach anywhere near the 125,000 cap that Biden has set for the current budget year, which started Friday. Krish OMara Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of nine U.S. agencies working to resettle refugees, said efforts need to be accelerated to add personnel overseas, do more remote interviews and relieve the enormous backlog of refugee applications. She said that while the program was gutted by the Trump administration, it is now Biden's responsibility to revive it. If we are to reach President Bidens goal of welcoming 125,000 refugees, the administration must be aggressive and innovative in ramping up processing," she said in a statement. Mark Hetfield of HIAS, another resettlement agency, agreed that Biden should have done better." What this record low number really shows ... is that the administration needs to remove the red tape and other obstacles that hinder the resettlement program from effectively responding to emergencies like Afghanistan," he said. Biden, who co-sponsored legislation creating the refugee program in 1980, has said reopening the door to refugees is how we will restore the soul of our nation. ___ Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report. GREENWICH The title of a popular childrens book by Elise Parsley advises, If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Dont! But Glenville School ignored that warning as they invited their mascot, Snappy, to enjoy a full day at school. On Tuesday, Snappy took over the Twitter account for the Greenwich Public Schools, even renaming it @GPSdistrict as Greenwich Public Schools for Gators. It proclaimed the takeover was all about making learning personal for gators at Glenville School and driving gator academic personal and interpersonal growth. Throughout the day, Snappy tweeted out photos of himself, with the special hashtag #SnappyTakeOver, as he journeyed throughout Glenville School. He moaned that his short arms made it difficult for the teacher to see him raising his hand; headed to the lunch room Its not easy to feed a growing alligator; went down the slide my favorite on the playground; and shared a hug with school custodian Luis Alarcon for the recent National Custodian Day. He even visited the school nurse due to his exhausting day, but Snappy assured his 1,400 followers that he was fine. In keeping with district policy, Snappy wore his mask throughout the day. The whole endeavor was the brainchild of Glenville School Principal Klara Monaco and Jonathan Supranowitz, director of communications for Greenwich Public Schools. Social media, when done responsibly, is a great way to communicate to our entire GPS community, Supranowitz said Tuesday. We thought we would give a fun, behind-the-scenes look at a day-in-the-life of Glenville students and staff. And he was quick to praise Snappy, the alligator, who is well known at the school and across the district. The mascot is often found at Glenville on special occasions, such as on the first day of school to welcome parents and students. Glenvilles mascot, Snappy, is an amazing ambassador to education in our district and has true superstar status at the school, Supranowitz said. Snappy shows us that school can be hard work, but can also be fun. Monaco could not be reached for comment about Snappys big day, but she played an important role in the event taking the photos that were posted to the Twitter account. Supranowitz declared the special day a success and said he had received positive feedback from the accounts followers. We hope to have additional Twitter Tuesdays in the future, he said. At the end of the school day, Snappy posted one last photo, with his backpack on and waving goodbye as he headed home to put down his phone and start his homework. That photo included a familiar message: See ya later, alligator! kborsuk@greenwichtime.com MADRID (AP) Spain's left-wing ruling coalition wants to rein in soaring housing costs by imposing rent increase caps on landlords who own 10 or more residential properties. Opposition parties and leaders of business organizations have criticized the proposal as an improper intervention in the free market by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government. Government ministers approved draft rent control legislation during a weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Vulnerable families and young adults in Spain's biggest cities would be the main beneficiaries of the proposed law, the government said. Low salaries and a 35% youth unemployment rate the highest among the 19 nations that use the shared euro currency mean that many Spaniards cannot afford to live on their own. They leave the family home at an average age of 30, compared to a European Union average of 26.4 years old. The most controversial provision in the bill would set price hike caps for landlords with multiple residential properties, a move designed to target large real estate companies and investment funds. The government has not yet published the draft so details about the cap were not immediately available. But officials said the bill also includes tax discounts of up to 90% for landlords with fewer than nine properties who decide to lower their rents. The prime minister announced that as part of a separate initiative, the government plans to help adults 18-34 with their rent by awarding them a 250-euro ($290) monthly bonus for up to two years if they earn less than 1,977 euros ($2,291) per month. The proposed law also would set aside 30% of all public housing as rental units instead of making them available for people to buy at a reduced price, and would significantly increase local taxes on vacant residential properties. Regulating the housing market was the main obstacle that prevented Sanchezs Socialists from agreeing on a national budget for 2022 with the coalition government's junior partner, the anti-austerity United We Can party. Lawmakers are expected to pass the annual spending plan on Thursday, both parties said Tuesday. The vote in the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish parliament, is regarded as a test of the governments strength. To get the budget passed, Sanchezs minority government needs the votes of lawmakers outside the coalition, including separatist parties from Catalonia and the Basque Country. "Housing is a grave problem in our country, Sanchez said. Labour minister and United We Can leader Yolanda Diaz said the bill opened the path to a new country. The moment has arrived for great multinationals to pay what they must, she said. But the conservative opposition Popular Party accused the government of mounting an unprecedented attack against private property. We have a government with communists that intervene markets on a daily basis," party spokeswoman Cuca Gamarra said. Antonio Garamendi, leader of the country's main business group, CEOE, also opposed the move. People have the right to save money, and for the state to come now and say how should you manage what you have already paid for and you are already paying taxes for is a brutal distortion of what is the freedom and right to property, Garamendi said. Attorney General William Tong called on the executives behind the video platform TikTok to come to Connecticut and meet with educators and parents, citing the apps harmful impact on children and educators. Tong addressed TikToks chief executive Shou Zi Chew in a Monday letter that expressed concern over what Tong called unprecedented vandalism and behavior challenges among students. Tong said Connecticut has seen a rash of recent incidents at schools across the state where students participate in trends that go viral on TikTok, prompting safety concerns from educators who have reported stolen school property and vandalism. Families and educators are already coping with the unprecedented social and emotional fallout of the pandemic, Tong said in the letter. The last thing anyone needs right now is for children to be inundated by targeted social media encouraging lawlessness, self-harm and reckless, dangerous pranks. He pointed to a New Britain High School incident last month, where school officials briefly closed the campus down days into the first week of school after expressing safety concerns related to students participating in TikTok trends. Tong said there is now a new Slap a Teacher trend that may put Connecticut educators at risk. Viral TikTok videos have resulted in youth overdosing on medications, disfiguring their bodies, and engaging in a wide variety of physically dangerous acts, Tong said. With new reports of the Slap a Teacher challenge, it is clear that TikTok is unable to control the spread of harmful content. Simply put, whatever TikTok has been doing to enforce its terms of service has not been working and merits serious review and reform. To prevent misuse, the company should share its policies and procedures against abuse of the platform, as well as analyze the success of existing anti-abuse measures, Tong said. He was also asking Chew to publicly commit to making any necessary changes to prevent further trends that could lead to harmful behavior, along with meeting with parents and school officials to hear their account of the platforms impacts. WASHINGTON (AP) Afghan refugees will soon be arriving again in the U.S. after a massive campaign to vaccinate them against measles following a small outbreak that caused a three-week pause in evacuations, officials said Monday. Authorities have administered the vaccination to about 49,000 evacuees staying temporarily on American military bases as well as to those still at transit points in Europe and the Middle East, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The measles outbreak, detected in 24 people, had put on hold one of the largest refugee resettlement efforts in U.S. history, dubbed Operation Allies Welcome. It also stranded about 15,000 at overseas transit points. The success of this vaccination campaign demonstrates our commitment to the health and well-being of arriving Afghan evacuees, the personnel assisting this mission, and the American people, Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, the DHS chief medical officer, said in announcing the completion of the effort. Everyone coming from Afghanistan is also tested for COVID-19. About 84 percent of the refugees in the U.S. and at overseas transit points have now received vaccinations against the coronavirus, officials said. The U.S. evacuated about 120,000 people in the chaotic days following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August. They were a mix of U.S. citizens, Afghans with legal permanent residency or who were applying for visas and refugee status along with their families. Testifying before Congress last week, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the U.S. has admitted about 60,000 people from the airlift out of Afghanistan, about 7% of whom are American citizens and about 6% of whom are permanent residents. About 3% have, along with their families, received the special immigrant visa for people who worked for the U.S. government or its allies during the war as interpreters or in some other capacity. The rest are a combination of people who are in the process of finalizing their special immigrant visas or are considered likely candidates for refugee status because they are human rights activists, journalists or others who are considered particularly vulnerable under Taliban rule or for some other reasons. All undergo security vetting before they arrive in the U.S. DHS says a majority of the Afghans being resettled in the U.S. worked for the country in some form or are related to someone who did. The agency projects at least 40% are eligible for the special immigrant visa. There are about 53,000 Afghans currently staying at eight U.S. military bases and receiving medical care and other assistance before they settle around the U.S. Gen. Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. Northern Command, told reporters Thursday that about 4,000 Afghans at the U.S. bases have completed medical screening and the 21-day quarantine required after receiving the vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox that most Americans receive in childhood, and should be setting in their new homes in the coming days. WASHINGTON (AP) With just weeks remaining before federal workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19, the federal government on Monday outlined procedures for employees to request medical or religious exemptions from President Joe Bidens mandate. The Office of Management and Budget released the new guidance Monday afternoon ahead of the Nov. 22 deadline for workers to be fully vaccinated, outlining specific medical conditions that would warrant an exemption. Under the guidelines, agencies are to direct workers to get their first shot within two weeks of an exemption request being denied, or the resolution of a medical condition. They also make clear that federal agencies may deny medical or religious exemptions if they determine that no other safety protocol is adequate. The Biden administration is drawing on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to determine approved medical exemptions, including a history of allergic reaction to the vaccines. Other conditions, including being treated with monoclonal antibodies or having a history of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, warrant a 90-day delay in vaccination, in accordance with CDC advice. While the CDC recommends that women who are pregnant or are planning to become pregnant get vaccinated against COVID-19, the federal government will consider requests to delay vaccination while pregnant depending on the worker's particular medical circumstances. Senior administration officials provided The Associated Press with a preview of the new guidance Monday before it was posted by OMB. Federal workers seeking exemptions will engage in what officials called an interactive process with their agencies, which will include being asked to provide documentation to support the exemption and potential accommodations. In the event an exemption request is rejected, workers will have two weeks to get a first shot, or be subject to disciplinary proceedings in accordance with Biden's order. Unvaccinated workers are required to wear masks and maintain social distancing and will have their ability to travel for work curtailed. New testing guidance for those who are granted exemptions is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks. In some cases, agencies may deny even legitimate exemption requests if they determine that no safety protocol other than vaccination is adequate given the nature of the employee's job. Under CDC guidelines, people are only considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose of two-shot mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot meaning most federal workers have until Nov. 8, at the latest, to roll up their sleeves to comply with Biden's order. According to the new federal guidance, neither past COVID-19 infection nor an antibody test can be substituted for vaccination. Meanwhile, private companies with more than 100 employees will be subject to a forthcoming rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration requiring all employees to be vaccinated or get tested weekly. Biden announced the regulation weeks ago, but the agency is still drafting the particulars. People have turned to religious practice to help them deal with issues of life and death, loss and meaning for thousands of years. In his new book "How God Works," psychologist David DeSteno uses the latest scientific evidence to examine how rituals help shape behaviors such as compassion, trust and resilience and why many of them are so beneficial. He looks at how Shinto rituals surrounding childbirth can help strengthen parental bonds with children. He shows how Buddhist meditation can increase compassion. And he considers how the Jewish practice of sitting shiva helps those who are mourning. DeSteno, a psychology professor at Northeastern University, also argues people don't need to be religious to benefit from the wisdom that traditions have to offer. On his new podcast, he interviews clergy members and authors such as the Rev. James Martin, Sharon Salzberg and Michael Pollan as he seeks to reduce the boundaries between science and religion. We spoke with him in late September. This interview is edited for length and clarity. Q: How did you decide to explore the science behind religious practice? A: When I was in college, I was trying to decide between being a religious-studies major and a psychology major. I decided that I would become a psychologist because I could run experiments and get data to answer questions. But the questions that always fascinated me were: What role does religion play in people's lives? Does it make it better? How do we become virtuous? How do we find connection? My lab centers on how we help people become kinder, fairer, more compassionate and more honest. Then I had a student interested in meditation who pointed out to me that its original purpose was to end suffering. So we decided to explore, does meditation actually make us behave more virtuously? We did a study that found that after just a couple weeks of meditation, people became more compassionate. Q: How did this study launch you into other topics? A: We also looked at how gratitude makes people more honest and more generous. For example, many Christians offer a prayer of thanksgiving during grace before a meal. Many Jews, when they wake up each morning, say a prayer for being thankful. It felt like we were discovering techniques in the field of psychology that were used for thousands of years. Rituals and practices give you tools to leverage the mind and body. People like Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker say all of religion is folly, superstition or a plague on the mind. But it would be strange if thousands of years of thought meant to help people meet the challenges of life didn't have something to offer. I can't be sure God doesn't exist. I see no evidence of it, but I can't be sure. So let's not debate that. I decided to look at the spiritual practices that we know help people. Saying you believe in God doesn't predict anything about your well-being. But the time people spend engaged in spiritual practices like going to a church or synagogue, on average, the longer, healthier and happier their lives are. That tells me there is some wisdom in these tools, whether you believe that they were divinely inspired or not. I think science needs to take them seriously. Q: Was there something that particularly surprised you when you looked at different rituals? A: The most surprising one to me was dealing with the rituals surrounding grief. Every religion has a way to deal with grief because the trick with grief is not to avoid it but to move through it. My favorite example is the Jewish ritual of sitting shiva. It's a seven-day period that's a sacred obligation for people to go visit the mourning. It's not just a nice thing to do. You must go. You must bring them food to assist them in any ways you can. People come together in groups of 10 or more to say a prayer. And in those prayers, they often recite these prayers in unison with one another. When people recite things and move in unison, they feel more compassion and connection for each other. It reduces loneliness. And when someone dies, they cover mirrors in a house together. And although there's theological reason for that, there's scientific evidence showing that when you look in a mirror, whatever emotion you're feeling becomes more intense. Covering a mirror is one way to begin to reduce grief a little bit. Q: How would you describe your own religious or spiritual beliefs? A: I grew up Catholic. I drifted from the church when I was in college. I teeter on the edge of being atheist or agnostic. I think now I'm firmly agnostic. I don't know what is out there or what I believe theologically, but I'm open to the possibility that there is something. I embrace a lot of the principles about how to live in this world that most of the religions offer about what virtues are and how to treat other people. Q: Has any of this research changed your own personal practice? A: It has influenced me in cultivating prayers and having a gratitude practice every day. In studies, if we ask people to think about something you're grateful for, whether they are thanking God or thanking their parents or thanking their friends, they have the same resolve when we give them the opportunity to share their money with people. In our research, we'll have someone come up to them who's an actor who asks for help and they're more likely to pay it forward. So in my life, I now make it a ritual for myself to take time to reflect on things that I'm grateful for every day. Q: What would you say to someone who might be offended that you would try to apply the rituals without also adopting the religious belief they're based on? A: I would never be in favor of taking the symbols and the prayers in and of themselves, or cultural appropriation. Those belong to the cultures that develop them and should honor the traditions that develop them. But if you look at the brilliance of shiva, why couldn't you adopt the practice of covering the mirrors in your house? Why can't you spend time with family and friends and eat together and maybe even sing together in the way to get that synchrony going? It's the same way you can do yoga or practice mindfulness. It's using use tools that we have in this world, whether they're God-given or knowledge that we figure out on our own. Q: Where do you see some of the trends in religious practice headed? A: People are leaving faiths. They're looking for new ways to be spiritual. But when you leave the institution behind, you often leave behind all these tools, rituals and practices that form the daily rhythms of life. You can't just create a ritual randomly. Over thousands of years they've been kind of debugged to leverage the mechanisms of our minds and bodies. One thing that does worry me is a move toward doing these things online. We had to do it remotely because of covid-19. But these rituals are designed to happen and work best in the presence of other individuals. When we're together, our heart rate synchronizes our breath. These mechanisms are leveraging our minds and bodies. Why do people kneel in church? There's research showing that if you show people information on a screen above them, they place more emphasis and believe more on the higher screen because they're looking up at it. Physiologically, we interpret something higher verticality as more authoritative. If you're sitting on your computer or watching on your phone, I worry that we're going to lose a lot of the power and majesty of certain rituals because we're doing them remotely. That's not how they were designed to work. GREENWICH A very small number of employees in the Greenwich Public Schools had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 or turned in a weekly test for the virus by Monday, a week after a new requirement had gone into effect. Jonathan Supranowitz, spokesperson for the district, said only nine of the districts 2,000 employees had not fully complied with Gov. Ned Lamonts executive order calling for all school staff across the state to be vaccinated by Sept. 27, or undergo weekly testing. The deadline for the first week of testing was Friday of last week. Even before the policy went into effect, the number of new cases of COVID-19 was tracking downward in the district. And the trend appears to be continuing. On Tuesday, only two new cases were reported in the latest update on the school districts online tracker, and only 10 new cases in the past week. Supranowitz said that of those nine employees who had not been vaccinated or turned in COVID tests, none were defined as an unwillingness to comply. For some, it could be that they were tested and did not get their result returned in time to be at work today, he said, in an emailed response Monday afternoon. In those instances, the employees are on unpaid leave until they are considered compliant. In Greenwich, those who dont comply with the executive order 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 will begin the process of terminating their employment. Since classes began in Greenwich on Sept. 1, a total of 63 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among students, teachers and staff. Five of those cases are currently considered active, with four cases linked to outside activities or family contact and one case of undetermined origin, the district reported Tuesday. Those five active cases all involve students, according to the tracker. The latest report continues the downward trend of new cases reported. Three new cases were reported last Friday on the tracker, compared with five new cases reported on Sept. 28, 11 cases on Sept. 21 and 10 cases on Sept. 24, according to the district. Five school buildings are currently impacted by COVID, according to the district, with two active cases at Glenville School and one case each at Central Middle, Greenwich High and North Street schools. 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. Since the start of the year, a total of 10 families have reported multiple cases of COVID-19, for a total of 24 individuals in those families affected. 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 Sept. 30. That was a drop from the week before, when 855 cases in public and private schools were reported. The state updates its schools COVID-19 data every Thursday. 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 2020-21 school year, a total of 697 cases of COVID-19 were reported districtwide. Under an executive order from Lamont, masks are required for everyone, regardless of immunization status, in schools statewide until at least Feb. 15. The legislature last month granted an extension of the governors emergency powers covering COVID-19 and the mandates now in place. ignacio.laguarda@hearstmediact.com Haiti - Justice : Dementation in Chile of a Haitian migrants smuggling ring An operation codenamed "Frontera Norte" enabled the Chilean Criminal Investigation Police (PDI) to arrest in the town of Arica, in northern Chile, near the Peruvian border, 9 members of a Haitian migrant smuggling ring following an investigation supported by INTERPOL and law enforcement in South and Central America. The individuals arrested : 4 Chileans, 2 Venezuelans, 1 Peruvian, 1 Haitian and 1 Paraguayan will all face charges of criminal association and migrant smuggling. The network is suspected of smuggling more than 1,000 Haitian migrants from Chile to Mexico where the United States was the final destination. During the investigation of the Specialized Brigade on Trafficking in Human Beings of the IDP, which lasted more than a year, the police identified a transnational criminal network dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of irregular migrant travel. Haitians from Chile to the United States. The facilitators promote their services through WhatsApp groups and also had contact with migrant smugglers in other countries along the long road to the US border. "The diligence of the Chilean PDI in investigating and dismantling this network, with support from other involved countries via INTERPOL shows what law enforcement cooperation can achieve when information is shared," declared INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock. SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Diplomacy : Towards strengthening cooperation with Argentina Vilbert Belizaire, Ambassador of Haiti in Argentina, had a meeting at the seat of Government in Rosario, capital of the Province of Santa Fe, with the Governor of the Province Omar Perotti who was accompanied by Sonia Martorano, the Minister of Health and Julieta De San Felix, Secretary for International Cooperation and Regional Integration of the Province of Santa Fe. "Today, there is a large Haitian community living in Rosario, there are between 2,000 and 2,500 people with a diverse migratory situation, many of them study at university, and others have difficulty accessing to certain rights because they do not have the adequate documents and we are analyzing how to regularize this situation," declared De San Felix to the Ambassador of Haiti. In addition, she informed the Haitian diplomat that she had analyzed "the possibility of articulating triangular cooperation projects, from which the Province of Santa Fe can contribute in terms of precision agriculture, agricultural machinery and access to health services." Ambassador Vilbert Belizaire was also interested in Santa Fe's approach to Covid-19 and the progress of its vaccination plan. "There is work to be done in the form of solidarity with a country that has historically supported us in our claim to Falklands sovereignty in the face of British claims. Today, there are migratory flows that shake a large part of America and the challenge is to build capacities to avoid these irregular situations." At the end of this meeting, Omar Perotti confirmed to the Ambassador of Haiti his desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation ties in the areas of migration, health and agriculture. S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - DR : 7,285 illegal Haitians intercepted at the Dominican border and repatriated to Haiti Over the past weekend, the 4th Brigade of the Dominican Army has stepped up operations against Haitians who, driven by socio-political instability, violence, lack of basic products and poverty, are trying to enter irregularly in the territory of the Dominican Republic in search of a better life. Colonel German Rosario Perez, Commander of the 4th Brigade revealed that from September 1st to October 2nd, at least 7,285 Haitians in an irregular migratory situation were intercepted at the border and returned to Haiti via the Directorate General of Migration (DGM). He claimed that during his operations they also seized 70 motorcycles, 13 scooters and 17 bicycles, which were used for the transfer of Haitians. In addition, wanting to try to deny the information circulating to the effect of violence on Haitian migrants, Rosario Perez clarified that generally the arrested immigrants are held lightly by one of their arms by the agents and military officers and immigration, but that no male personnel touched a Haitian immigrant female because that was the role of female soldiers and Migration officers. However, he acknowledged that some Haitians after being arrested during control operations were trying to resist or even attack the military, however he assured that he had asked his men to act with restraint... and called on Haitian citizens to enter the Dominican territory legally to avoid problems with the Dominican authorities. S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... 388 Haitian migrants repatriated by the Bahamas On Friday, October 1, 2021, the Bahamas turned back 388 Haitian migrants who were trying to illegally reach the shores of the archipelago by sea. The Haitians arrived aboard three commercial flights at Cap-Haitien International Airport where they were greeted by the National Migration Office (ONM). Student Jean released Sunday evening, Johnny Jean, student of the Faculty of Human Sciences kidnapped Wednesday evening https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34886-haiti-news-zapping.html was released by his captors who demanded 30,000 dollars of ransom. The conditions of his release are unknown. Chess competition, registrations open The chess club of the Ecole Superieure Infotronique d'Haiti (ESIH-CHESS) and the chess club of the Faculty of Law and Economics (FDSE) are organizing a chess competition that will take place at the ESIH, October 31, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. Registration is free and ends on October 26, 2021. The participation fee is 400 gourdes. Online registration : https://forms.gle/nCN9WoGZQqJAjuPH9 Places are limited to 20 participants Mexico : the migration continues "There are still Haitian migrants crossing Mexico to the border right now, it's not going to stop," said Breanne Palmer, Acting Director of Policy and Advocacy at UndocuBlack Network. An expected INL technical team As announced on Friday by Brian A. Nichols, Assistant Secretary of State for the Affairs of the Americas, a technical team from the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) of the Department of State is expected in Haiti this week to address in details the different steps that can improve the security situation in Haiti. Voodoo : King Augustin Saint-Clou signs the PM agreement Last week King Augustin Saint-Clou, of the Voodoo Kingdom of Haiti, initialed the "Political agreement for peaceful and effective governance of the interim period." HL/ HaitiLibre Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here Laurel Park town manager moving to key role with county Christopher Todd, Laurel Parks town manager since July of 2019, is moving a short hop east to become Henderson Countys director of business and community development, a role that guides the more complex and politically delicate projects the Board of Commissioners authorizes. Laurel Park Mayor Carey OCain announced Todds departure Tuesday morning as he opened a special called meeting to discuss the process for hiring a replacement. Its regrettable that Chris is leaving us after a short time but he sure did accomplish a lot, OCain said. It is our loss but the countys gain and that means its a gain for the overall community. John Mitchell, who took over as county manager in July after Steve Wyatt retired, picked Todd to take over his old job, which requires navigating difficult shoals, bringing expensive construction projects to completion and serving as a liaison to other governmental bodies and the business community. Its a tough job to hire for because youve got to have expertise in planning and zoning and code enforcement, know something about building projects and have an understanding of the way government interacts and works together, Mitchell said. Its always good to have someone to talk to and to represent the county at the economic development coalition and interact with the schools. ... My belief is Chris will hit the ground running and be able to manage those projects. A Florida native, Todd earned a bachelors degree in geography from Appalachian State University in 2012 and dual masters degrees in geography and public administration, also from ASU, in 2017. He came to work as a land planner with Henderson County in 2015 and went on to serve as town manager of Sawmills, a small town near Lenior. Its the second time Ive hired Chris, Mitchell said. I believe I gave him his first job in local government when I hired him at the Planning Department. Hes gone on to be a manager of two towns in North Carolina. What I really look for in that position is somebody who can bring the level of customer service I expect and I know board does too. Weve got a very business friendly community and we want to make sure that we stay that way. OCain said Todd in just over two years in Laurel Park had led the complex rewrite and adoption of the towns unified development ordinance, been involved in negotiations to give the towns water system to the city of Hendersonville and managed department heads well. Todd, who leaves the town job on Nov. 5, will earn $110,000 a year in his new position. We have a limited budget because of the size of our town, OCain said. We could not compete with the salaries that the county could pay. Its just prudent for us to manage the way we do by getting (former manager) Alison (Alexander) and Chris in here. Weve accomplished a lot because we have that youthful enthusiasm. These people go after grants and they go after opportunities. OCain said in an interview after the closed meeting that the town board reviewed the job description and agreed to post it later this week on the League of Municipalities site and other job boards. The board sketched out a timeline to receive applications by Nov. 30, then narrow the field and interview finalists with the hope of having a new manager on board by February. The town plans to bring in Mike Morgan as interim manager, who also filled that role between Alexanders departure and Todds hiring. Now Open 5 October 2021 The Shay, a Destination by Hyatt hotel and the brand's first urban hotel in Southern California, is expected to open in the vibrant Culver City district of Los Angeles this October. The destination-defining property is primed to become a central hub for creative camaraderie. Features will include loft-like accommodations with luxurious amenities, a sprawling campus with inspiring indoor-outdoor spaces to connect and collaborate during meetings, weddings and events, and an array of community partners that will seamlessly blend both guests' and locals' experiences. Thoughtful Design in the Heart of Culver City The Shay's relaxed urban interior will boast thoughtfully crafted details like leather-wrapped handrails, patinated metals and native hardwoods that allude to Culver City's industrious past. Larger spaces such as the lobby, courtyard and roof deck will comprise a series of intimate nooks, dens and parlors that seamlessly transition from work to play. A property-wide art collection will include 35 locally commissioned murals, textiles, installations and portraits, each accompanied by a unique QR code that invites visitors to learn more about the artist. "The Shay is the first hotel in Culver City to celebrate the area's growing creative community while fully embracing its rich history," says Ryan Parker, general manager of The Shay. "As an anchor to the Arts District, which encompasses art galleries, coffee bars, trending fitness studios and the re-imagined landmark Helms Bakery building with design boutiques and specialty restaurants, The Shay will offer guests a distinct sense of place that honors old and new." Adjacent to the Culver City Metro E Line, The Shay will offer convenient access to experience all Los Angeles has to offer, from the boardroom to thebeach and everything in between. After a productive day exploring the neighborhood or connecting with colleagues, guests will find respite in 148 contemporary rooms and suites designed for comfort. All accommodations will feature oversized windows, workstations, curated artwork and modern decor that mirror the city's resourceful spirit. Select suites will offer luxuries like wet bars, patios, large soaking tubs, large living spaces and separate work areas. Those adding local flair to the hotel's experience include boutique design agency Studio Collective, whose award-winning portfolio includes downtown LA's Hotel Figueroa, which is part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand; Culver City-based functional fitness studio Essers; LA-born craft grooming product company Imperial Barber; specialty spa brand milk + honey; and Culver City Art District's ROSIES Foundation, a non-profit organization that sources employment for those with disabilities. Distinctive Food & Beverage Offerings The Shay will play host to two onsite culinary concepts by Michelin-starred chef Danny Grant's What If Syndicate group, including etta, a wood-fired eatery with indoor-outdoor seating on the ground floor, and Celestina, a high-energy Mexican-inspired restaurant and cocktail bar on the roof deck. What If Syndicate will also produce the culinary experiences for meetings, weddings and events. The Shay will boast Culver City's first curated rooftop pool experience, offering pop-up events including music shows, comedy sets and yoga classes; a versatile outdoor courtyard that leads into a modern ballroom; and an inviting lobby space featuring a cocktail bar and game room outfitted with eclectic seating and contemporary local art. Expansive Meetings & Events Spaces The arrival of companies like Amazon Studios, Apple TV and WarnerMedia to Ivy Station are energizing Culver City more than a century after Thomas Ince built the city's first film studio where Sony Pictures stands today. The Shay will be a co-catalyst for the historic neighborhood's re-emergence as a destination for creative collaboration with 8,000 square feet of versatile indoor-outdoor event space that takes advantage of Southern California's year-round idyllic weather. Meeting options include a modern boardroom that opens out into a courtyard with a gazebo and fireplace; a contemporary ballroom that connects to multiple pre-function spaces; and sleek breakout rooms. Each meeting space nods to the destination with Culver City-inspired names like the Ivy Ballroom, Helms and Hayden Meeting Rooms and Blackwelder Boardroom. "We took a charismatic approach to meeting spaces that brings the spirit of Culver City to the experience," says Parker. "There's nothing boring about our boardroom!" Pipeline 5 October 2021 Martinhal, known for its award-winning luxury family hotels & resorts across Portugal, is taking its successful formula to create one of Lisbon's most sought-after residential projects to date. Recognized by leading real estate brokerage firm, Savills, as one of the top new branded residences, Martinhal Residences, set in the city's newest and greenest neighborhood, Park of Nations, will complete in summer 2022 with 160 stylish residences ranging from studios to one, two, three and four-bedroom penthouse apartments and duplexes. Already one of Europe's trendiest cities, Lisbon has been a magnet for travelers from all over the world thanks to its climate, laid back lifestyle, fabulous beaches, rich culture, history and food. In recent years too, Portugal has seen a consistent rise in foreign investment and expats relocating to the destination. Despite the pandemic, Portugal's property market displayed remarkable resilience and was barely impacted. A post-Covid world is now bringing with it a greater sense of flexibility in the workplace and a time to reflect on desired lifestyles. Particularly young families and empty nesters are drawn to Portugal for the financial and political stability, safe communities (the country ranks as the third safest in the world), a welcoming population, affordable healthcare, strong education, superb quality of life, as well as the Government's active support for entrepreneurialism and innovation. Martinhal Residences is the latest development in the emerging Park of Nations neighborhood, also known as "Expo", as the area played host to World Expo in 1998 and has since represented the city's transition from old to new. As construction is set to be completed by mid-2022, already more than 66% of units have been sold to over 90 buyers from 20 nationalities around the world. With leading-edge architecture by world-famous Eduardo Capinha Lopes and a modern and green facade that will be a future landmark in Lisbon, Martinhal Residences is the best branded hotel residences project currently on the market in central Lisbon. With multi-generational living in mind, the high-specification residences feature spacious living areas and tree-adorned balconies. 160 bright, light and stylish apartments, ranging from studios, to one, two, three and four bedroom residences with terraces and balconies, will enjoy views of the Tagus River and neighboring park. Excellent facilities will be available including indoor and outdoor heated pools, a gym, outdoor playground, a Martinhal's kids' club and a restaurant. The concept of the Martinhal Circle also envisages a place where families, both residents and their non-resident guests, can socialize while taking advantage of fitness classes, an events space and cafe. Dedicated office space and executive assistant services support the new generation of remote professionals. Hotel-style services for residents will include concierge and reception, housekeeping and laundry, maintenance and technical support. Residential owners will also have a VIP status at Martinhal Hotels & Resorts, and receive preferential rates to stay at any location within the group's portfolio. Long-term rentals and the possibility of splitting time between different locations is also made easier as Martinhal will help owners to rent out their property for shorter or longer periods of time, as needed. Founded by husband and wife team, Chitra and Roman Stern - entrepreneurs, hotel and real estate developers and parents to four children - they were inspired by their international background having lived in Singapore, India, the UK, Switzerland and most recently in Portugal, where they launched the award-winning Martinhal Sagres on the Algarve coast in 2010. Now Open 5 October 2021 St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott International, today announced the opening of The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai. As the newest jewel in an exquisite global portfolio, The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai will feature the celebrated traditions, cherished rituals, and bespoke service born at New York's finest address of 55th and Fifth, and will seamlessly blend the brand's storied history and heritage with the vibrancy of the destination. Located along the Dubai Water Canal, The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai is just minutes from the city's most famed attractions and landmarks. Guests are steps away from the world's largest shopping mall, The Dubai Mall, and just a short drive to the city's design hub, Dubai Design District, and the International Financial Centre. Elegant Design and Exceptional Accommodations Drawing inspiration from the brand's storied heritage, the hotel's sophisticated aesthetic features a palate of rich fabrics and gold accents to create an intimate environment of luxury and comfort. Elegant decor and contemporary interiors are accentuated with bespoke elements including two striking glass chandeliers and elegant gold chains in the lobby that are influenced by the jewellery found in Dubai's Gold Souk. The intimate lobby features sophisticated lounge areas perfectly lit by a grand fireplace and a striking artwork inspired by Dubai's skyline silhouette reflecting onto the Dubai Water Canal. As a nod to the brand's vanguard spirit, the corridors and gathering spaces are adorned with a thoughtfully curated collection of contemporary art. The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai boasts 298 lavishly appointed guest rooms and suites overlooking local landmarks such as the Dubai Water Canal and the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. The spacious guestrooms feature floor to ceiling windows, large open bathrooms, walk-in wardrobes and beautiful coral inspired wall sculptures. All guestrooms and suites offer the signature St. Regis Butler Service providing round-the-clock anticipatory service ensuring every guest's stay is entirely unique. Exquisite Culinary Journeys The hotel invites guests and local luminaries to embark on unique culinary journeys with exceptional restaurants, bars and lounges. The Libraryoffers an elegant gathering place to enjoy a locally inspired take on the acclaimed signature St. Regis Afternoon Tea. BASTA! is a lively Italian restaurant that expertly fuses the food and feel of a Roman Trattoria, Florentine Steakhouse and Neapolitan Pizzeria, serving traditional Italian cuisine with a modern twist. Inspired by the convivial atmosphere in the South of France, authentic French flavours are combined with a relaxed continental style at Bleu Blanc Oysters & Grill to create a perfect blend of relaxed Mediterranean fine dining. At the intimate St. Regis Bar,guests can socialise and enjoy a modern take on the world-renowned Bloody Mary cocktail, which was first created at The St. Regis New York's King Cole Bar in 1934. The St. Regis Bar features a mirrored mural embellished by starry lights stretching across the ceiling, depicting the glittering stars at night seen from the Arabian Desert. Additionally, a poolside barwith scenic views of Downtown Dubai's skyline and the Dubai Water Canalis the ideal place to relax and enjoy a light meal in the sun. Honouring a signature tradition among St. Regis properties around the world, The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai will mark the transition from day to night with a celebratory champagne sabering at seven o' clock in the evening. Rejuvenation for the Body and Soul A luxurious urban retreat, The St. Regis Spa features six treatment suites and offers bespoke treatments including Flotation Therapy in a flotation pod and a 24-karat gold age-defying facial, in addition to a traditional Arabian Hammam. Every spa treatment includes an additional 30-minute sensory experience to relax in the in-suite infused steam room or sauna. Guests can work out in the exclusive Fitness Center, featuring a range of cardio and strength equipment, or enjoy a leisurely swim in the scenic outdoor infinity pool overlooking the Dubai Water Canal. Sophisticated Celebrations and Bespoke Events Marking the brand's legacy of iconic celebrations, The St. Regis Downtown, Dubai will debut an elegant Astor Ballroom in March 2022 with 564 square meters of event space. Through floor-to-ceiling windows this exquisite venue will be brightly lit with natural daylight and will feature an outdoor terrace where guests can enjoy expansive city views. With an outdoor bar space, lounge seating and an extravagant open fireplace, the ballroom will be the perfect venue for intimate events, lavish celebrations and business gatherings alike. The hotel's seven multi-purpose and flexible meeting rooms are all equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Now Open 5 October 2021 Great Plains is thrilled to have welcomed their first guests at the brand new Tembo Plains Camp, which is ideal for couples, families, multi-generational travellers, and those looking for an exclusive personal safari experience. "Tembo", meaning elephant, pays tribute to some of the many magnificent animals frequently seen around Tembo Plains Camp, which is ideally located in one of Africa's finest wildlife destinations today, on the private 128,000-hectare Sapi Reserve. Boasting four spacious guest suites, an exquisite two-bedroom suite and a private guide tent with interiors designed by Great Plains co-founder Beverly Joubert, Tembo Plains Camp can host up to twelve guests and is a proud member of Relais & Chateaux - the only camp in the whole of Zimbabwe given this honour. This Reserve Collection safari camp is designed, and strategically situated, to offer guests endless safari possibilities. Activities at Tembo Plains Camp include wildlife-viewing drives, guided walking safaris, canoeing, fishing and boating on the Zambezi River. With birdlife in abundance, endless bird watching opportunities are at hand. Children (aged six +) have incredible options of activities to choose from as part of the Tembo Plains Young Explorers Program, including bush walks around camp, learning conservation and survival skills from guides, bracelet making with Zimbabwean Ndebele beads, movie nights in the bush, stargazing, learning how to cook Zimbabwe-style in the interactive kitchen and more! When guests aren't busy exploring the lush local wildlife and stunning scenery, they will be spoiled by the camp's chefs, whipping up speciality dishes such as Chef Zamani Sibelo's Baked Zambezi Bream, flavoured with coconut milk, fresh green dill, lemon juice, chopped red chilli, ginger and seasonal mixed vegetables or the vegan-friendly coconut rice served with asparagus salad. Tembo Plains Camp offers guests an extensive wine list from estates with a conservation focus, personally selected by Dereck Joubert, including varietals from South African Vineyards and French Champagne. Each guest suite at Tembo Plains Camp offers an indoor lounge and outdoor dining area, private plunge pool and exercise bikes, so guests can stay fit and feel fresh throughout their stay if they wish. Make sure to treat yourself to pampering spa treatments at The Spa at Tembo Plains Camp, which overlooks the lower Zambezi. Therapists create bespoke treatments using natural ingredients such as tamarind, baobab, citronella and lavender oils. For those with tired muscles, an in-room spa treatment can be arranged upon request. Since opening in August 2021, Tembo Plains Camp's game viewing has been extraordinary, with painted dogs, buffalo, lion, elephant, leopard and iconic African species seen. Guests have complimentary access to professional cameras and high-quality binoculars throughout their stay to capture the many special holiday moments. Now Open 5 October 2021 Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV) announces the highly anticipated The Beach Resort Sesoko by Hilton Club, will open on October 5 on Sesoko Island in Okinawa. The oceanfront resort will be the first vacation ownership property in Okinawa and will provide HGV owners with exclusive access to the island of Sesoko's breathtaking natural wonders, unique culture and cuisine. The Beach Resort Sesoko is part of HGV's continued investment in the APAC region and will complement the newly opened Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort. Beginning in 2003, HGV has expanded into the APAC region and the new-build development marks the company's second timeshare resort in Japan. HGV now has a significant business base in Japan with over 68,000 owner families based there. With domestic visitors accounting for 70% of total visits to Okinawa, Japanese owners will value the convenience and ease of a local vacation ownership option. The remote island paradise of Sesoko is about a 1.5-hour drive from the Naha Airport and is accessible by car via the Sesoko Bridge. The Beach Resort Sesoko is surrounded by the untouched landscape of Sesoko's mountains and breathtaking coast. Guests will enjoy being just a short walk from Sesoko Beach, which boasts sparkling clear waters and brilliant white sand. Many attractions including natural caves, Okinawa Chura-umi Aquarium and UNESCO-listed Nakijin Castle are also close by. Respecting the traditions and culture of Okinawa, The Beach Resort Sesoko is infused with a modern style. All 140 rooms (studio, and 1-3-bedroom suites) have ocean views, and guests can enjoy a view of Minna Island and Ie Island from their private balcony. Each room is equipped with a full kitchen and a washer/dryer (excluding studios), so guests can enjoy cooking Okinawan specialties. The private pool and lounge area is a relaxing amenity available exclusively for guests. Other amenities include, a lounge, bar, meeting rooms, a fitness facility, outdoor/indoor pools, and access to the spa at the adjacent Hilton Okinawa Sesoko Resort. Pipeline 5 October 2021 The Pearle Hotel and Spa announced today it will open on Burlington's vibrant waterfront (3 Elizabeth Street) on November 1st, 2021. The urban retreat just steps from Lake Ontario is designed by the award-winning design firm Studio Munge and emulates a modern lake house with elegant white oak panelling, tranquil views of the lake and the heart of downtown. Through thoughtful design, the 151 guest rooms and all public spaces reflect the richness of the changing Canadian seasons. The luxurious, full-service spa is reminiscent of the arrival of spring, with a curated offering of rejuvenating treatments. Adjoining the spa, a Hammam steam room, an indoor swimming pool, and a state-of-the-art fitness facility adds to the guest experience. The Pearle Hotel and Spa is home to two inventive, farm-driven dining options, with much of their offerings grown on Pearle Hospitality's own farm located 20 minutes down the road. Inspired by the vibrant, casual days of summer, The Pearle Hotel's restaurant Isabelle headed by Executive Chef Ben Heaton (formerly Patria, Mira, Byblos), has an expansive lakeside terrace with a weather-friendly patio destined to be a space for sharing and connecting with loved ones. The hotel will also house the fourth location of the popular Earth to Table: Bread Bar for high quality ingredient dishes and coffee with more casual cafe seating. The hotel's exclusive event floor features elegantly designed event space totalling 10,000 square feet. With showstopping floor-to-ceiling windows, hand-blown fixtures by local artisans, and breathtaking lake views, The Pearle Hotel and Spa is the perfect venue for any event, from executive retreats to weddings memorable moments are guaranteed. The Pearle Hotel and Spa is inspired by the Ciancone family matriarch, grandmother Pearle, whose work ethic and spirit of hospitality remain deeply admired by her family today. Elegant and free of formality, The Pearle Hotel and Spa embodies and honours the founders' grandmother Pearle. Now Open 5 October 2021 Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced the opening of Taoxichuan Hotel, a truly one-of-a-kind addition to The Unbound Collection by Hyatt brand. The 196-room hotel has been developed as part of the landmark Taoxichuan cultural and creative quarter in the heart of downtown Jingdezhen, offering a distinctive, sophisticated experience for the many talented artists and guests visiting the "porcelain capitol" of China. A vibrant city in China's southern Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen is infused with the spirit of innovation and creativity, as residents of the city have been producing fine porcelains spanning many centuries and imperial dynasties. The city's population is comprised of more than 30,000 artists, one of the highest concentrations of artistic talent in China. Taoxichuan Hotel warmly welcomes these creative individuals, bridging history with a new era of ceramic craftsmanship expressed through the contemporary design inspired by the ceramic culture of Jingdezhen. Conveniently located within a five-minute walk from Ceramic Art Avenue Taoxichuan, guests can discover the city's centuries-old heritage alongside a new generation of present-day ceramics in an energizing mix of museums, galleries, markets and shops. The hotel's superb location is also surrounded by many scenic spots and is a convenient 25-minute drive from the Northern High Railway Station and Luojia Airport, which provide direct connection to other key cities in the region. For more information, please visit www.taoxichuanhotel.com. Appointment 5 October 2021 Four Seasons Resort Nevis, the award-winning Resort consistently ranked by travellers and travel experts as one of the top resorts in the Caribbean, has named Picco Alapatt as the new Executive Chef. A 20-year luxury hospitality veteran, Chef Alapatt hails most recently from the Gulf Court Hotel, Business Bay, the first property in Dubai for the renowned Gulf Hotel Group, Bahrain, where he served as executive chef since its pre-opening in 2018. In his new role as Executive Chef, Alapatt will oversee the culinary teams and operations to serve the Resort's four restaurants: On the Dune, offering an upscale yet relaxed beachside dining experience highlighted by an eclectic blend of Caribbean and American cuisines; EsQuilina, whose menu spans the coasts of the Mediterranean to the Caribbean for a culinary journey that is as rich in history and culture as it is in flavour; the waterfront Mango, which features a colourful, modern Caribbean menu in an al fresco environment; and Kastawey Beach Bar, serving up a casual, toes-in-the-sand atmosphere that blends the beachside shack with high-quality culinary offerings. Furthermore, Chef Alapatt will be responsible for the culinary experiences of beach dinners, private villa dinners and individually personalised rum pairing menus for guests opting to enhance their dining experience with the property's bespoke spirit from crowned monkey RUM BAR. Originally from India, Chef Alapatt comes to the Caribbean for the first time after years of luxury hospitality experience across India, Africa and the Middle East. In addition to his most recent post, he also has past experience working for renowned global brands such as Fairmont, Ritz-Carlton, Taj and Jumeirah. He is a chef with a great hunger for knowledge, achievements and exposure in the food and beverage industry. In addition to multiple degrees in Food & Beverage Management, Hotel Management and Catering Science & Masters in Business Administration, Chef Alapatt is also the proud recipient of many industry awards, including "Executive Chef of the Year" 2021 (Middle East & North Africa Region). Appointment 5 October 2021 Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a nationally recognized owner and management company and division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS), today announced the promotion of Steve Hilton to senior vice president of operations. In his new role, Hilton will be responsible for directing and overseeing operations at properties throughout the Marcus Hotels & Resorts portfolio, including the development and implementation of new systems, talent development and community engagement. Hilton previously served as managing director of the company's Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District hotel. Hilton joined Marcus Hotels & Resorts in 2016 as general manager of Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District prior to its opening as a new full-service hotel. He led the property to many successes, including being named "Hotel of the Year" by Marriott International in 2019. He was promoted to managing director of the property in 2020. Prior to joining Marcus Hotels & Resorts, Hilton served as general manager at several hotels throughout the country. Hilton received an associate degree in hotel management from Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has also been honored with numerous industry awards for his leadership and property success. These awards include Hilton Hotels' Connie Award, Embassy Suites Make a Difference Award and the Alice S. Marriott Community Service Award. Press Release 5 October 2021 Summer 2020 undoubtedly looked much different around Europe due to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward to this year, and there was hope that the regions effort toward a more normal summer would be successful. Advertisements On 1 July 2021, the EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation entered into application, allowing fully vaccinated tourists to avoid tests or quarantines and broaden the list of European regions in which they could travel. July and August are historically two of Europes most important months for hotels with travellers spread across the continent on summer holidays, so have efforts like the aforementioned digital COVID certificate helped Europes hotels avoid another lost summer? Occupancy & ADR recovery As noted in a previous article, the U.K. is still leading the way in occupancy recovery, and most recently for the week ending 5 September, sat at 77.0% of the comparable 2019 level. Turkey (72.7%) ranked second when indexed against 2019, while Russia (68.3%) was third. Much lower on the list for that opening week of September, Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain had only recovered between 50.2%-66.0% of 2019 levels. Photo: STR In terms of ADR, Europe has shown much stronger levels of recovery. For the week ending with 5 September, Italy posted ADR well above (116.3%) its 2019 level and followed closely by Portugal (108.6%) and Russia (106.7%). Photo: STR Northern leisure destinations much further ahead Northern Europe leisure markets saw strong performance during summer months driven by domestic demand. For the week ending with 5 September, the STR-defined markets of Channel Islands, Cornwall and Devon in the U.K. recovered to 86.0% of 2019 occupancy levels. Tricity in Poland (77.0%) and the Baltic Coast in Germany (76.0%) also showed solid levels. Photo: STR On the other hand, Southern Europe leisure markets have struggled. Travel restrictions, particularly from key outward-bound markets, like the U.K. and its traffic light system, has had a negative impact for this region. The Turkish Riviera and Algarve posted levels that were 65.5% and 58.0% of 2019 levels, respectively, for the week ending with 5 September. The Balearic and Canary Islands reached less than 40% occupancy of the 2019 comparable. Photo: STR Conclusion With more than 70% of adults in Europe fully vaccinated, the regions recovery is underway with levels getting closer to 2019 comparables. Although these summer months could have not reached the highest expectations, they have been better than summer 2020. On another positive note, leisure markets continue to drive performance for countries across the continent as consumers swap international breaks for staycation destinations. The latest development with the U.K. removing international travel restrictions from 4 October is worth noting and may affect Europes recovery timeline. Opinion Article 5 October 2021 There is the paid search, the SEOs and everything else you pay commission for. This is the landscape at the moment. So, you have as a hotel, you have a Greek salad, which is very tasty, but if you mix it, it doesn't look very constructive. No direct business - Only middlemen. D.A. President Swiss Hotel Association & Ambassador of Swiss blockchain start-ups. Advertisements How is Blockchain relevant to the industry? In the new global digital world of the fourth industrial revolution, blockchain technology has been revolutionizing many industries from banking and insurance all the way to the art industry. While companies in the aforementioned actively work on blockchain-based projects to assess the opportunity the technology provides, the overall technological trend has not yet passed through the hospitality industry. Yet, similar to the overall stage of technological infrastructure in the industry, this leap in technological adoption posits many questions and challenges for hoteliers. While empirical studies progressively demonstrate their research interest for blockchain-based applications in the hospitality and tourism sector, scarce literature and case studies are found on the benefits and feasibility of blockchain technology in the hotel industry. For instance, Dong et al. (2020) illustrate the technical capacity for a decentralized booking system that used blockchain for hoteliers and travellers. Even though a variety of blockchain-based start-ups exist for booking sales, reputation management and procurement, the technical development stage along with the understanding of all stakeholders involved in this sector is still scarce. Various companies within the travel industry such as Cool Cousin, Winding Tree, Webjet, LockTrip, Hotel P2P, Sandblock, Travelchain, and TUI with its BedSwap project (Onder & Gunter, 2020), implement blockchain applications into their operational systems to gain a competitive edge through various benefits of blockchain technology. "But we really want to talk about what blockchain technology can do, that would be relevant to the industry it is a mainstream technology that's now in the arsenal of companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon and others." D.R., Global Industry Leader in Hospitality Technology. Most empirical studies acknowledge blockchain technology as the new technological hype to introduce a new age of relationship between systemic applications and consumers away from a current B2B, B2C, or C2C liaison through intermediaries. While some consider blockchain technology as a potential disruptive application that will change societys dependence on intermediaries forever, others are more reserved, assuming blockchain to be a foundational technology, whose development and social-economic integration will take years to come. In that context, specifically critical are the lack of understanding by end-users, compliance regulations, as well as organizational and investing constraints of enterprises (Saheb & Mamaghani, 2021). Furthermore, financial risks and an unpredictable return on investment make it difficult for independent hotels to join this chapter even though they may be the ones most in need or able to benefit from this technological trend. You have the idea that blockchain is decentralization - decentralizing current relationships. That is the important part. You get real peer to peer relationships. No middleman, just direct relationships, that's important, this is how we make real business! D.A. President Swiss Hotel Association & Ambassador of Swiss blockchain start-ups. The first author of this article conducted an empirical study that encapsulated the perspectives both of the suppliers of blockchain technology to the hospitality sector, hospitality players, and technological experts to shed light on the potential and limitations of blockchain technology, answering the question: Does blockchain have the potential to become the panacea to the OTA disruption 20 years after its launch? This research has brought to light three aspects that are central to consider when considering blockchain technology: 1. Marrying market knowledge and technological consequences It is important that hotels focus their investment interest on blockchain products and services in a mature development stage. In this regard, a thorough assessment for the use, the need, and the expectations of blockchain-based implementations has to be conducted throughout hotel management accompanied by strategic tech consultants. Once a use case has been defined, return on investment scenarios are key to judge the investment risk in case of a worst-case development. Further, a pro-active, frequent, and transparent communication between experts and implementers is crucial to grasp the needs of all stakeholders involved and to "bridge" the gap in complementary knowledge. Why should you use blockchain? Why you use this, in case you don't want either a centralized host, or you want to prove in a tamper free way that your data has not been altered publicly, or you want to share with many users in a transparent way, certain bits. So, whenever you've got an application that does not match these criteria, for me, from a synthetic perspective, is not worthwhile implementing it. Y.R.H., Senior Strategic Consultant & Tech blogger on blockchain. 2. Copy-paste of current OTA infrastructures will only leave the final call to the OTAs It is important to state that current centralized systems are equally engaged in the adaptation of blockchain technology to eliminate the threat of novel competition. The Big Four in the world of centralized booking platforms possess all elements needed for instantaneous and profitable implementation financial recourses, sophisticated IT structures, global commercial networks, and vast international customer community. Their competitive edge would outpace any new-comer stage at all levels. Consequently, there has been a certain apprehension that OTAs might be faster in developing blockchain-based concepts to outperform any aspiring independent start-ups since OTAs have the capital, portfolio, and established infrastructure to switch technological concept. On this note, since 2020 Expedia partnered with the booking platform Travala to offer over 700.000 properties against cryptocurrency. On the other hand, the independent luxury hotel The Chedi in Andermatt, Switzerland (The Chedi Andermatt), recently published its new method of payment option with Bitcoin and Ethereum. "Is it going to be the hotels that use it first? And the advantage? Or is it going to be the intermediaries? Because the intermediaries could do this." D.R., Global Industry Leader in Hospitality Technology. "The intermediaries want it because they feel threatened." Y.R.H., Senior Strategic Consultant & Tech blogger on blockchain. 3. Readiness of the end customer The general challenge with the adoption of a radically new technology is the need for educational support of the end-user. End-users mostly know about blockchain through press-related marketing for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and so forth. To that end, scientists have not only questioned the readiness and acceptance of end consumers to adjust to the emerging new technology but they are also worried about the immature stage of blockchain applications and the risks of a possible hasty disintermediation process (Onder & Treiblmaier, 2018; Rashideh, 2020). "The customer doesn't care about the underlying technology. The customer wants to download a practicable application." Y.R.H., Senior Strategic Consultant & Tech blogger on blockchain. In the end, the implementation process of blockchain-based applications in the hotel sector comes back to one question: "Who owns the customer?" Owning the customer means owning the sales funnel, means owning the market share of business. "After all, the big question is who owns the customer? Who owns the sales funnel?" D.R., Global Industry Leader in Hospitality Technology. Overall, blockchain technology can be considered a natural continuation of the technological evolution the hospitality industry is still catching up with. While broadly recognized as a beneficial systemic application for multiple industries and governmental infrastructure, pursuing a hasty, strategy-less implementation may cause more challenged than benefits for hoteliers. In the end, all thorough systemic developments require time and prediction models such as the Gartner hype curve of blockchain 2021 foresees another five to ten years until decentralized models will plateau. Hence, on the one hand it is too early to make a predictive call as to the potential for blockchain to provide the panacea to OTAs that the hospitality industry has been waiting for. On the other hand, it perfectly comes down to the chicken-orthe-egg question. First and foremost, it all depends on the idea. The right idea which answers the needs of all stakeholders at the right time will disrupt the vicious cycle of continuous impediments. Only the right idea will provoke the long waited paradigm shift that acknowledges the beneficial feasibility of blockchain for the hotel sector and break with acclaimed hype cycle predictions. Henceforward, to conclude, the question remains "What does the right idea entail? A cold war between two Texas cooler companies has landed in federal court again after Yeti Coolers filed another lawsuit against Igloo Products. The battle has flared off and on since Austin-based Yeti the hip, disruptive newcomer launched in 2006, winning fast consumer adoration and surging past the retro cooler company Igloo, founded in 1947 and based in Katy, to become countrys leading cooler maker. Its classic Houston versus Austin as the companies fight for share of a $370 million market. Yeti offers an array of premium-priced bags, cups and chests for keeping food and drink cold on the move, and Igloo has tried to expand its product line and catch up. Yeti, however, has zealously guarded its markets and intellectual property, suing Igloo twice this year and alleging the Houston company infringed on its patents. The latest suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston, claims that Igloo copied its drinkware designs and profited from them. In addition to patent infringement, Yetis lawsuit alleges unfair competition, misappropriation, and unjust enrichment. Igloo, which is slated to be acquired by Dometic, a Swedish supplier of travel and recreation gear, by the end of the year, did not respond to requests for comment. Dometic declined to comment. More Information Yeti has upended the cooler market over the last decade and aggressively protected its patents See More Collapse On HoustonChronicle.com: Katy-based Igloo to be bought by Swedish company Texas, which is also home to the Houston cooler maker RTIC, has become a hotbed for cooler companies. Thats not surprising, said Matt Powell, sports industry analysts for market research firm NPD Group, since companies, whether cooler or software makers, tend to cluster in the same region so they can tap into skilled labor pools. Think technology in Silicon Valley or energy in Houston. Yeti, which is publicly traded, holds about 55 percent of the U.S. cooler market, Powell said. Igloo has a 22 percent share. Yetis sales even grew during the pandemic as people turned their attention outdoors, where gathering was safer, but thirsts still needed to be quenched. For the quarter ended July 3, Yetis sales jumped 45 percent from the same period a year earlier to $358 million. Unlike the cooler segment, drinkware sales tanked during the pandemic, Powell said, likely because fewer people were going to the office with insulated mugs. We havent seen a huge bounce back there (in drinkware), yet, Powell said. Theres still uncertainty around work from office and how many people are going to do that. Yeti proved that people are willing to pay large sums for high-quality coolers a top of the line Yeti can cost $1,300 and competitors have tried to duplicate Yetis success. Every brand out there is now trying to figure out how to up their game, he said. Yeti, however, hasnt hesitated to sue companies it claims come too close to its patented designs. It has filed scores of lawsuits against competitors in recent years, according to court records It sued Igloo earlier this year after Igloo allegedly infringed upon Yetis cooler bag patents. A judge dismissed that case in June. Yeti also sued RTIC in March and that case remains ongoing. In its latest suit against Igloo, Yeti alleges Igloos stainless-steel bottles, stainless steel tumblers, mugs and CoolMates infringe on its patents. Igloos stainless steel line mimics Yetis patented Rambler Drinkware, the suit states. Yeti said in the suit that it is seeking damages and an award for Igloos profits. It also seeks an injunction against further infringement and misappropriation and asked the court to order a recall of all offending products. amanda.drane@chron.com Twitter.com/amandadrane The airline industrys main lobby group adopted a target of eliminating carbon emissions on a net basis by 2050, a goal that will require balancing the fight against climate change with the need to spur demand in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Current airline targets arent ambitious enough, International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh said at the groups annual meeting in Boston on Monday. At the same time, he said the industry will need help to bear the estimated $2 trillion cost of transitioning from fossil-derived jet fuel. For aviation, net zero is a bold, audacious commitment, Walsh said. But it is also necessary. Airlines are under pressure to make quick progress toward lower emissions even though breakthrough technology like hydrogen-powered planes is years away. While automakers and the power industry have made tangible progress in becoming more green, aviations extended development timelines and safety prerogatives mean change has been slower. Some carriers have committed to moving more quickly, but the alternatives are limited: so-called sustainable aviation fuel is expensive and still scarce, while purchasing carbon offsets has been criticized as ineffective. The resolution, backed by Deutsche Lufthansa AG, faced some criticism from Chinese carriers, which are committed to a separate timetable of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060. Saudi Arabian Airlines Director General Ibrahim Al-Omar also said that efforts to tackle the aviation industrys carbon footprint shouldnt be focused solely on so-called sustainable technologies. China Southern Airlines Co. proposed an amendment to take account of different national time-lines, but failed to garner support for the proposal. Still, while Walsh said IATAs policy is now to attain net-zero by 2050, he acknowledged that individual carriers can ultimately set their own targets. IATAs update is the first since 2009. At that time, airlines pledged to cut CO2 output 50% by mid-century, though a subsequent boom in air travel saw emissions surge until the onset of the coronavirus. British Airways owner IAG SA, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holding Inc. have already made net-zero commitments. JetBlue Airways Corp., whose Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes is the current chairman of IATAs board, has set a target of 2040. IATA said airlines need help from partners such as airports and engine makers in reaching their goals, and that planemakers in particular need to embrace fundamental change, especially so with the industry forecast to carry on losing money into next year. Walsh praised Airbus SE for pursing hydrogen technology, while saying 2035 looks an ambitious target to bring a plane to market, and that the European firm must deliver on its promises. We dont have a clear solution in the short term, Walsh said. We do believe very strongly that there is a credible path to net zero by 2050 and, more and more, a credible path to decarbonizing the industry. Pre-pandemic, the global aviation industry caused about 2% of all CO2 emissions. The temporary, albeit sharp, fall due to people being stuck at home is unlikely to have any real impact on climate change because the gas stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Airlines are also under pressure to bounce back from the downturn. If the sector is finally ready to address its emissions, then it should support Europes Green Deal policies which aim to apply an effective price on pollution and deploy cleaner jet fuel, said Jo Dardenne, aviation manager at non-profit Transport & Environment, based in Brussels. Walsh told Bloomberg News in June that IATA would propose the accelerated target to its membership. A California oil spill, the third major spill in as many months, could galvanize public support for the Biden administrations climate-related efforts to curb offshore drilling, analysts say, a move that would have profound implications for the Gulf Coast economy. Houston-based Amplify Energy on Monday said it is responding to a 13-mile oil spill off the coast of Southern California, which closed popular beaches, fisheries and the Huntington Beach air show over the weekend. Officials said they are still investigating the cause of the leak, but the Wall Street Journal reported that the suspected cause could be an anchor strike on an offshore oil pipeline operated by Amplify subsidiary Beta Offshore. The company has sent a remotely operated vehicle to investigate and attempt to confirm the source of the release, Amplify said Monday in a statement online. As a precautionary measure, all of the companys production and pipeline operations at the Beta Field have been shut down. Its the latest in a string of oil spills that have dominated headlines over the past several months. In July, Mexican state oil company Pemex responded to an underwater gas leak from one of its platforms off the Yucatan Peninsula. It took boat crews more than five hours to extinguish the ring of fire in the Gulf of Mexico. Last month, Houston-based Talos Energy responded to an oil leak from a broken offshore pipeline found a couple of miles south of Port Fouchon, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The offshore oil company said the broken pipeline was not owned by Talos but was likely left abandoned by a previous leaseholder. Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, said that while these spills captured the biggest headlines, there are many smaller oil spills that still harm marine life and coastal ecosystems. Environmental groups, such as Environment Texas, said these spills are all the more reason to stop offshore oil and gas production. These high-profile spills just really highlight how damaging offshore drilling can be to these places that are just so important ecologically, Metzger said. These kinds of incidents like in California should provide further evidence and public support for getting off of offshore oil. Mario Tama, Staff / Getty Images Oil spills historically have a powerful influence in galvanizing public opposition to oil and gas operations. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and the deadly Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 led to widespread public outcry and increased regulations of the offshore industry. In California, state lawmakers restricted offshore drilling in state waters after a massive 1969 oil spill near Santa Barbara dumped 80,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean. The state, known for its environmental legislation, is looking to ban hydraulic fracturing by 2024 and end oil drilling in the state by 2045. Nationally, the Biden administration temporarily banned new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, part of its broader effort to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. The federal government is also weighing doubling federal royalties that offshore producers pay to 25 percent and could set a new federal oil and gas lease schedule in 2022 that would severely limit offshore drilling. Regulatory oversight has been weakened during the Trump administration, which undid safety policies implemented after Deepwater Horizon, Metzger said. Now the Biden administration is having to undo the damages the Trump administration did to offshore protections. Mario Tama, Staff / Getty Images Fighting back The offshore industry has pushed back against these measures, arguing that offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico supports more than 345,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country. Before Hurricane Ida disrupted the offshore industry, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico produced 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, about 17 percent of the nations oil production and second only to shale production in Texas. The offshore sector has improved its worker safety and environmental performance over the past decade since Deepwater Horizon, said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. Milito said offshore oil producers invest in remote sensors, subsea containment systems and worker training to help prevent oil spills. In 2019, there were 12,489 federal inspections of offshore drilling rigs and platforms, a 43 percent increase compared with 2016. Despite recent oil busts, offshore producers remain committed to safety standards, Milito said. The industry is never satisfied, we always want to do better, Milito said. Offshore energy workers live, work and recreate all in the same areas and want to protect each other and the environment. Many oil majors, including European giants such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell, have doubled down on Gulf oil projects. Oil giants argue that expensive offshore projects can produce oil profitably for decades with lower greenhouse gas emissions than their onshore counterparts in shale fields. An S&P Global Platts analysis released this month found that a barrel of oil from the Mars oil field in the Gulf of Mexico has about half the carbon emissions of a barrel of oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas. Still, oil spills remain a risk with offshore drilling. Leaks from offshore pipelines and production platforms can spread quickly and widely across water, damaging wildlife and disrupting fishing and tourism industries. Mario Tama, Staff / Getty Images Amplifys past Off the coast of California, officials said, crews on more than a dozen boats are working 24 hours a day to clean up the spill. So far, about 3,150 gallons of oil have been recovered, and officials have deployed 5,360 feet of floating barriers to try to contain the spill. The oil spill is suspected to be leaking from a 17.5-mile pipeline that runs from a platform to an onshore pump station at the Port of Long Beach. Amplify Energy, a Houston company that merged with Oklahomas Midstates Petroleum in 2019, operates in California waters through its Beta Offshore subsidiary, one of the largest oil producers in Southern California. It controls 16.7 million barrels of oil reserves in a field 12 miles south of Long Beach. All of Betas platforms were installed off the California coast in the 1980s. Since then, Beta has been cited 125 times for safety and environmental violations, and it was fined $85,000 for three incidents since 2013, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. While most of the recent incidents involved safety violations, the bureau found that the company released crude oil through a flare boom in December 2014. An investigation found a safety device was bypassed and maintenance and testing were not properly monitored, leading to a $30,000 fine. Amplify Energy stock plunged 44 percent to $3.23 on Monday, down $2.52 from Friday. paul.takahashi@chron.com marcy.deluna@chron.com Ronald Zak/AP Oil rose to a new seven-year high after OPEC+ chose to keep supplies fairly tight even as the world grapples with an energy crunch. Futures climbed above $78 a barrel in New York after surging 2.3% on Monday as Saudi Arabia and its partners opted for a modest output increase of 400,000 barrels a day. Some observers had thought OPEC+ would deliver a bigger hike as the spike in natural gas prices looks set to inflame demand for oil products this winter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees the switch adding extra 650,000 barrels a day to oil demand. File this one under The heart wants what it wants. The whopping square of lasagna I procured at this newish, family-owned Italian restaurant was straight-up comfort. Ive had more highfalutin lasagnas, with thinner pasta sheets and more artisanal fillings. But on the rainy late afternoon that I picked up this to-go casserole from the southeastern borderlands where Pearland hits Friendswood, I wanted exactly what I got. Namely: bright tomato sauce; twinges of fennel in the crumbles of Italian sausage that mingled with ground beef; a milky cushion of ricotta against wide, house-made noodle ribbons, all under a stretchy mantle of mozzarella. There was enough for two meals, too, plus a bang-up tiramisu for a midnight snack. Ordering online and pickup was a breeze. I can see why this well-run restaurant is a hit in its neighborhood. Id love to have it in mine. 3115 Dixie Farm Road, Suite 101, Pearland, 832-882-4542 Alison Cook / Staff Honey-roasted Strawberry and Honey Rose ice cream cone at Flower & Cream Super dense, super smooth and deftly flavored ice cream won me over at this fancy, Instagram-ready West University Place scoop shop. I wondered if Id like the family-owned Flower & Cream, which specializes in mixins including house-baked rainbow cake or ladyfinger chunks. Im one of those purists who doesnt enjoy lumps of cake or cookies or pie stirred into my ice cream, getting in the way of the best stuffs calming, cold satiny slide. But Flower & Cream offers a handful of unembellished options in its rotating repertoire, and boy, were they good. I admired the depth of the honey-roasted strawberry, a flavor I often find one-dimensional or even a bit artificial. This version tasted like something you might churn at home. And a pink-tinted scoop of Texas honey ice cream flavored with rose water struck a perfect floral note without going overboard. And I was beguiled by the red velvet cone I chose not so much for the barely-there flavor but for the vivid color one of a rainbow spectrum that prompts you to build your cone for drama. Ive never had a handsomer ice cream cone. Or one that cost so much, either. I spent $10.07 for two scoops and my custom cone, sales tax and tip for the hardworking scooper. It was a sobering tab, but I cheered up when I realized I could just consider it lunch. P.S. The shop scoops a handful of vegan flavors, too. 2617 W. Holcombe, Suite B, 77025. 832-667-8412 Alison Cook / Staff Lomo Saltado from Mykuna at Railway Heights Market In the high central aisle of the new Railway Heights food hall, a leaping burst of flame at chef David Guerreros Mykuna kiosk drew me in like a moth. I knew it promised some of that all-important, smoky wok magic in the Chinese-Peruvian stir-fries that help to animate his eclectic South American menu. Ive admired Guerreros work since his downtown Samba Grill days, back in the Pleistocene; and I counted his Andes Cafe, now closed, as one of the joys of my East End part of town. He told me he thought Mykunas version of lomo saltado, a much-loved stir-fry that tumbles beef together with tomato, red onion and french fries, was his best yet. He was right. He achieves unusual depth of flavor with his soy-based marinade, which has just the right note of chile heat. I found the beef quality excellent, the wok-smokiness haunting, the vegetables lush, the french fries perfectly OK (which is usually the way of things). It all went over white rice with a garlicky, herbal side sauce to plop on, and the effect was galvanic. Not to mention that the rest of Guerreros Mykuna menu offers all sorts of tantalizing ideas drawn from South American cuisines from his native Ecuador to Brazil. Im eager to try every single one of them, preferably on the second-story dining deck with a suitable glass of wine from Puncheon, the markets wine bar. 8200 Washington, Suite 215, 77007. 832-732-7307 Alison Cook / Staff Cheeseburger from Peaky Grinders at Railway Heights Market Sometimes it happens that the burger I sample for my Burger Friday column makes a big enough impression to bust into my list of weekly favorites. Such was the case with the specimen from Peaky Grinders, a new burger-and-hot-dog stand inside the airy, industrial Railway Heights Market, the citys latest food hall. Among the cheeseburgers sterling qualities: a singe-edged, loose-textured patty of house-ground beef; frisky house pickles; and just enough ballpark mustard, ketchup and chopped onion to set it off. If you like a burger that comes without lettuce and tomato, making for a more intense umami effect, then this is your baby. I ate two of them in rapid succession and am not at all sorry I did. 8200 Washington, Suite 100, 713-485-4563 Alison Cook / Staff Huevos rancheros at Urbe Dining on huevos rancheros late on a Sunday afternoon seems like the height of luxury to me. Nobody to tell me, No, we dont serve eggs after (insert arbitrary hour here). Which brought me to Urbe, Hugo Ortega and companys new Mexican street-food concept in Uptown Park, on a recent sunny weekend. Well, sort of sunny. I drove through a sudden shower that let up just as I arrived. The sun had broken through again, but the market-umbrella tables on Urbes front patio were deserted. Everyone had retreated inside or to the wonderful covered colonnade that separates the restaurant from nearby Songkran. I snagged a perch at the outside bar that looks through a window which can be left open to the dining rooms air-conditioning if you wish ordered a Malinche de Mezcal cocktail from the bartender on the other side. In short order, I was feasting on sunny-side-up eggs in salsa costena, on a crackly tortilla base lined with earthy refried black beans. The surprise touch? Hunks of smoky, well-rendered brisket that, in its borrowing from the citys rampaging barbecue renaissance, made the dish very 2021. They are smoking the brisket in-house, and doing a commendable job of it. The young staff was terrific, too, and I envied their Urbe T-shirts so much I hope the H Town group will go the merch route with them. 1101 Uptown Park Blvd., Suite 12, 713-726-8273. Brunch Saturdays and Sundays. alison.cook@chron.com Tommy Goodwin has been through the wringer but it comes with the territory. After more than 20 years as a competitor in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association, he turned to the silver screen, becoming an actor and stuntman in 2007. Hes doubled for stars including Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Peter Fonda in Smitty. For his own stunts, Goodwin has handled motorcycles, cars and horses, fallen from heights, starred in fight scenes and navigated through blazing fires. MORE FROM LINDSAY PEYTON: For families in poverty, underwear is often last on the list. This Houston nonprofit helps fix that. You name it, Ive done it, he said. Now 53, Goodwin has the scars to show from it all. Ive broken almost all the bones in my body at this point, he said. He lists what hes broken: neck, hips, shoulder, femur and back. But until a recent horseback-riding accident at his home in Wharton Countys East Bernard, he had never broken his pelvis. Goodwin saddled up a 5-year-old gelding but forgot to clip his reins into the bit. When the horse lowered his head and bucked high, Goodwin landed right on the saddle horn before whipping back, smack onto the seat of the saddle. Ive been bucked off horses before, and I thought I was going to get through the storm, but I didnt, Goodwin recalled. He heard a bone break. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer I knew I had to go to the hospital because something aint right, he recalled. My biggest concern was how quickly I could get healed up and how quickly I could get back to work. The emergency room doctors were more concerned with how quickly they could get Goodwin into surgery. At Memorial Hermann, Dr. Milton Chip Routt took over. He serves as an endowed professor of orthopedic surgery at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth and orthopedic trauma surgeon with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Routt is internationally recognized for his pioneering techniques in percutaneous pelvic fixation or creating a stable skeletal frame in a pelvic injury to protect the soft tissues in that area. After 30 years in pelvic trauma, Routt said, Ive seen a lot of injuries. When adults break their pelvis, Routt explained, it usually involves multiple fractures. When you break it in one place, you break it in another, he said. Its a complex ring. Its like a doughnut or a bagel or a Lifesaver candy. And it means theres a spectrum of injury. Broken bones are not the only concern, Routt added. You can hurt the bladder, the genitals, veins and arteries and tissues in that area, he explained. Fortunately for Tommy, his bowels, nerves, blood vessels and bladder were OK, Routt said. Nevertheless, he had been split in half. It doesnt feel good, but Tommy is also an extremely tough guy. Courtesy Stabilizing a broken pelvis first requires a circumferential pelvic wrap, the surgeon explained. Its analogous to closing a door, Routt said. The wrap brings the bones and ligaments back together again. The heart is closely monitored, along with vital signs, to ensure there are no other injuries. Then, the front of the pelvis can be clamped back together, secured with a metal plate and screws. When we fix the front, the back part usually realigns, Routt said. Two long screws, about 120 millimeters each, are inserted in the back through the sacrum. Theyre put in through an incision no bigger than your thumbnail, Routt said. On HoustonChronicle.com: New moms fight for their lives away from newborns, as Houston sees rise in pregnant COVID patients Revisiting the door image, Routt said to imagine the plate as the front lock and the screws in back as the hinges. After the operation, patients typically take about 10 weeks to heal. They are asked to stay on crutches for four to six weeks while the pelvis repairs. Tommy sort of got going pretty quickly, Routt said. The thing is hes got this unusual job. Just six weeks after the operation, Routt remembers Goodwin asking, When do you think I can be dragged behind a horse for a couple of hundred yards? He looked at me and said, Im not going to ride the horse. Ill just be dragged behind it, and I think thats safer, Routt recalled with a laugh. Tommy really enjoys his work. He does things no one else wants to or can do. Routt enjoyed working with Goodwin. Hes got a special skill set that hes worked hard to hone, Routt said. Hes tougher than most people. He feels pain just like everyone else, but he deals with it better than most. He just dusts himself off and keeps going. Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer While in the hospital recovering, Goodwin received a call to return to work. I told them I was banged up a bit, he said. But I didnt say how bad. Goodwin went to Oklahoma, where he was still able to play a sniper on a rooftop. They lifted me up, crutches and all, hobbled me over and put a rifle in my hand, he recalled. A couple of weeks after the injury, Goodwin literally got back in the saddle and on his horse. Not too long after, he was headed to LA. I havent had to slow down a lot due to it all, he said. Goodwin describes himself as an adrenaline junkie. Thats what carries him from film to television show these days. Its the same feeling he used to get traveling to rodeos. Every time they holler action, the cameras in your face, and youve got to make it happen, he said. Youve got to give them what theyre looking for. Still, the work is high risk and requires Goodwin to stay in top-notch shape. SHARE YOUR STORY: Are you a Houston-area health care worker battling the frontlines of the pandemic? If youre going to be a stuntman and carry that title, youve got to be able to perform, he said. Its not when you get hurt, its how bad when you do. Thats why he sought out a surgeon he could trust like Routt. Hes the best at what he does, and thats what I needed with what I do for a living, he said. I owe him a lot. If I had another doctor, I probably wouldnt be able to work today. Or move the way I can. I dont even have a limp. Hes been back to work on stunts for Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons and Brendan Fraser. In September, he headed to Austin to work on Fear of the Walking Dead. He planned to join a couple of other film projects in the area. Already, Goodwin performed a stunt in which he falls down stairs. Perfecting the shot meant he tumbled down the steps 14 times. Ive put my pelvis to the test, he said. My doctor put me back together again, and he did a good job. Nothings broken so far. Im golden and theres no turning back. Lindsay Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer. courtesy of the Conroe Fire Department Firefighters with the Conroe Fire Department are back in town after a month-long deployment in southeastern Louisiana had them filling in for firefighters impacted by Hurricane Ida. We deployed our crews there to help them out, so that they could take care of themselves and their families, said Conroe Assistant Fire Chief Michael Legoudes, adding a fire engine joined the crew. Everybody needs help sometimes. Were trying to do our part to provide help to people when they need it. Missouri City man Sharoze Memon has been convicted of human trafficking and will serve 11 years in prison, according to a news release issued Monday by the office of Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton. Memon, 23, plead guilty to aggravated promotion of prostitution less than 18 years of age. He was prosecuted following an investigation into a shooting by a different man, eventually revealing the circumstances of this crime in 2017. Ahmed Altaee, also of Missouri City, was in the Fort Bend County Jail on an aggravated assault charge in 2017 while the District Attorneys Office continued to investigate, according to ADA Susan Sweeney. Memon was in and out of jail during the same period on domestic violence and felony drug charges. The two were friends. The DAs investigation found that pair were paying their bonds, attorney fees and living expenses by trafficking young women. Human trafficking has altered the trajectory of each of these young womens lives, said Sweeney. Their courage to work with the District Attorneys Office to end this prostitution enterprise has undoubtedly saved other young women from similar trauma. We hope these pleas help the victims in their recovery and encourage other victims to come forward to put an end to trafficking in our county. The young women confirmed that Memon and Altaee trafficked them for sex using a popular website. At least one of Memons victims was under 18 years old. Altaee had been sentenced to seven years in prison in 2019. An undercover trafficking operation resulted in the arrest of a woman that Altaee drove to a hotel date while wearing his pre-trial GPS ankle monitor. Fort Bend Community Supervision and Corrections were able to track Altaees movements to place him at the hotel during that time. The punishments reinforce the promise I made to relentlessly prosecute human trafficking in Fort Bend County, Middleton said. An extreme amount of time and resources went into this investigation, but every life saved, and every victim rescued, is precious. And to every trafficker, pimp, or property owner who turns a blind eye, hear me now - either get out of our county or stay and face justice, because we are coming for you. Memon was prosecuted in the 458th District Court before Presiding Judge Robert Rolnick. Aggravated promotion of prostitution less than 18 years of age in this case is a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Altaee was charged with the third-degree felony of aggravated promotion of prostitution, punishable by two to 10 years in prison. He also received a five-year prison sentence for aggravated assault. Both men are probation eligible. juhi.varma@hcnonline.com Houston police have arrested a 36-year-old man they said broke into two homes in the Energy Corridor early Tuesday and who threatened to sexually assault a woman. The man, identified as Christopher Kaif Obryant, has been charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault as well as burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft. The first break-in was reported about 2:05 a.m. Tuesday when a 68-year-old woman told police she woke to find a man holding her phone in her bedroom at her home in the 12800 block of Kingsbridge Lane, said HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva. The woman who told officials she wasnt harmed screamed at the man to get out, and he left and went in a neighbors backyard, according to Silva. About 20 minutes later, a 38-year-old woman said she woke up to the sound of a Houston Police helicopter and saw a masked man standing in front of her bed in the 1200 block of Normans Woods Street, according to Silva. He repeatedly asked her for sex, attempted to get on top of her, but then got off the bed and began walking around the room when she told him her husband would be home soon, Silva said, adding the woman got her phone and called police. Officers saw a man walking on Kingsbridge Lane toward Park Royal Drive, and he asked them for help on how to get out of the gated community west of Dairy Ashford, according to Silva. The second woman who reported a break-in identified him as the attacker, Silva said. Jay Jordan Two people were shot, one fatally Monday night after a family altercation in west Houston, according to the Houston Police Department. The incident happened at the 3000 block of Greenridge Drive where police say that a man allegedly shot his stepfather over a fight about a car that had been in an accident. He also accidentally shot his mother in the arm, police said. The number of newly reported COVID-19 cases in public school students appears to be trending downward compared with the beginning of the academic year, state and local district data shows. Other indicators, including falling pediatric hospitalizations and decreasing numbers of COVID infections in the overall state population, appear to support the downward movement among children. Natural immunity from previous infections, increasing vaccine rates and school mitigation measures are all behind the drop in cases, said Dr. James Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief at Texas Childrens Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. I am quite hopeful that we have seen the biggest surge of this pandemic, he said. This pandemic has certainly been challenging, and it has been difficult to predict whats around every corner. But its hard to imagine anything rivaling the delta surge at least in the foreseeable future. There are roughly 30 children with COVID at Texas Childrens, down from a late August peak of about 60. Harris Countys vaccine rate in the 10- to 19-year-old age group which includes children who are not yet eligible for a vaccine rose from 27.5 percent on Aug. 2 to 40 percent on Sept. 20, according to the latest data tracked by the Harris County Public Health Department. The number of unvaccinated children and teenagers who became infected bolsters the communitys protection, Versalovic said. Those who tested positive during the latest surge may have immunity for about three months, he added. He cautioned that natural immunity is not as reliable and long-lasting as the protection from the vaccines. People need to continue to seek out inoculation, he said, and schools should continue masking and social distancing measures. Pfizer is seeking federal approval to offer its vaccine to children ages 5 to 11 by the end of the year. Our hope now is that so many people have been infected and so many people have been vaccinated, that we will reach a steady state, Versalovic said. Since the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year in August, there have been 172,275 student COVID cases through Sept. 26, according to the Texas Education Agency. There are about 5.3 million students in the state. There have been 31,530 staff cases in the state during the same period, out of an estimated 800,078 school employees. Though new student cases reported by the state appear to be decreasing in recent weeks, the total of student infections has surpassed that of last year in all public schools. During the entire 2020-21 school year, there were 148,197 student cases and 73,741 among staff. The main difference is that during last school year, many districts spent months teaching virtually only and much higher numbers of students opted to learn remotely. The number of new student cases reported by the state each week has decreased significantly in the last month. During the week ending Sept. 5, TEA reported 42,552 new student cases. For the week ending Sept. 26, there were 12,614 new student cases. The state numbers come with caveats, including the fact that TEA may retroactively add new cases that districts had not reported in time to be included in the agencys weekly report. Additionally, the weekly report routinely does not include hundreds of campuses; in some instances that is because districts are not required to report to the state if it experiences no new cases. TEA maintains that the state data is meant to capture trend data, not cases in real-time, and an agency spokesman said local districts online COVID trackers may be the most accurate measure of current cases. Locally, online district COVID dashboards generally echo the state, reporting fewer new cases in Houston-area schools. School systems implementing mask mandates have generally seen fewer cases per capita in students, a Houston Chronicle analysis found. Districts that make masks optional now also are starting to see reported cases decrease. Conroe ISD, for example, was set to lower its COVID threat level on Monday, according to Superintendent Curtis Null. The district has 122 active student cases. On Sept. 7, the district, which has about 64,700 students, had 253 active student cases reported in a single day. About a month later, the district is seeing around four new student cases per day. The district has reported nearly 6,200 cases so far this school year. It had 4,322 all of last year. Fort Bend ISD is reporting a similar decrease in new infections. On Aug. 26, there were 1,014 total active positive cases in the district. On Monday, there were 173 active cases in the district. FBISD has recorded more than 4,700 cases among students and teachers, more than twice the total from the 2020-21 school year. Lee Nelson, a Katy ISD mother who has been urging the district to require masks in its schools, said she does not trust the numbers enough to let them inform the mitigation efforts she is taking with her children. The numbers are all flawed, she said. Theres only so much you can buy into when it comes to what is reported. Nelson said she fears some parents may not report when their kids test positive because they do not take the virus seriously. She also said the decreasing number of new cases may be due to parents pulling their kids out of school. With so many unknowns, Nelson said parents must continue protecting their kids the best ways they know how. If your children are old enough to get the vaccine, get them vaccinated, she said. Keep masking your kids. Alejandro Serrano contributed to this report. hannah.dellinger@chron.com julian.gill@chron.com The Russians have beat Tom Cruise into space and this isnt the plot of an action-packed movie. Russian space agency Roscosmos launched actress Yulia Peresild and film producer Klim Shipenko to the International Space Station on Tuesday. Peresild and Shipenko are to film segments of a new movie titled Challenge, in which a surgeon played by Peresild rushes to the space station to save a crew member who suffers a heart condition. Its a small victory for the country struggling to keep pace with the U.S. and, notably, SpaceX, which has created new technologies to ferry astronauts into orbit. This low-hanging fruit is one of the few areas where Roscosmos could beat the U.S., said Anatoly Zak, publisher of RussianSpaceWeb.com, a website focused on the Russian space industry. He called the movie a taxpayers funded ego trip for Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, in response to Tom Cruises plans to shoot a movie in space. SPACE RACE? Americas new path to the ISS could affect relationship with Russia Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced last year that NASA was working with Cruise to film a movie on the space station. In an interview on the Off-Nominal Podcast, he said Houston-based Axiom Space was coordinating Cruises trip into microgravity. Cruise spoke with the Inspiration4 crew while they circled the Earth in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, but there have been no additional details as to when he would go into space. It appears Rogozin was quicker on the draw. Cosmonauts have previously filmed scenes from space that were used in a movie, but this is the first time a professional film crew has gone into space. In May, Roscosmos said the project is a clear example that spaceflights are becoming available to more people. In this project, it is important for us not only to demonstrate the heroism and high professionalism of cosmonauts and industry specialists who ensure the safety of crewed spaceflights, Rogozin said in a November statement, but also to work out the possibility of accelerated preparation for such a flight and a specialist (engineer, doctor, astrophysicist) to carry out a mission to the ISS should such a specialist be unexpectedly required on board the station. NASA is calling the mission a commercial agreement between Roscosmos and Moscow-based media entities that will expand commercial space opportunities to include feature filmmaking. But Zak argued that the mission is not commercially driven. There is nothing commercial about this, Zak said in an email. Both Roscosmos and Russian TV, who are organizing it, are financially bankrupt organizations sitting on government subsidies. Pavel Luzin, who lives in Perm, Russia, and has a doctorate in international relations, agreed. We cannot take this flight as tourist and commercial because this flight is paid for by the Russian public money, by the Russian taxpayers, he said in an email. The purposes of this flight are political, and there is nothing about increasing the economic efficiency of Roscosmos. Luzin, who has studied space policy since 2008, said the idea for this movie was created because Roscosmos needs to demonstrate achievements in space. The space program is a yardstick Russians use to judge the countrys political and economic system if its doing well, they view the government more favorably. But Russia doesnt have a rocket with a reusable first stage, like the SpaceX Falcon 9. It doesnt have modern capsules to take paying customers into space. The Soyuz spacecraft was first used in 1966 and has been updated nine times since then. The Soyuz-2 rocket (which shares the same name as the spacecraft it propels into space) can directly trace its lineage to the rocket that launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957. The current version started launching in 2004, said Phil Smith, a space industry analyst at BryceTech. And Roscosmos newest addition to the International Space Station, the Nauka module, caused the entire station to do an unintended back flip. The modules thrusters began firing inadvertently and caused the space station to lose attitude control (attitude is the orientation of the spacecraft relative to Earth). The station made roughly 1.5 rotations at a speed slow enough to go unnoticed by crew members. Ground teams later regained attitude control and stabilized the motion of the space station. MORE: Space Station stable after tilting following the docking of new Russian module Through this movie (in case of success), Roscosmos will demonstrate the power of the state-owned economy and the power and prestige of the authoritarian system, Luzin said. OK, we cannot beat SpaceX, Axiom Space and others but at least we can beat Hollywood. The Russians will become a little more happier with it; Vladimir Putin will become a little more happier with it; and the whole Russian elite will become a bit more happier with it. Peresild and Shipenko, the actress and film producer, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday at 3:55 a.m. CDT. They were accompanied by cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and will spend 12 days on the space station filming segments for the movie. To accommodate their visit, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov will extend their stay on the International Space Station. Instead of returning home this fall in a Soyuz capsule, they will fly home in a Soyuz in March 2022. Typically, cosmonauts and astronauts fly to the space station for six-month missions. When a new crew arrives, those whove been in microgravity for six months fly home. Peresild and Shipenko wont stay for six months, so they will need Vande Heis and Dubrovs seats on the Soyuz spacecraft to get home more quickly. When Vande Hei returns to Earth, he will hold the record for the longest single spaceflight by an American. Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly currently holds that record at 340 days. The Associated Press contributed to this report. andrea.leinfelder@chron.com twitter.com/a_leinfelder Rain didnt deter more than 10,000 people in Houston from voicing displeasure over the weekend with Texas effective ban on abortions after six weeks and with the U.S. Supreme Courts refusal to stop the new law, the nations most restrictive, before it took effect last month. One representative sign read: We did not endure a plague just to return to the dark ages. Counterparts in more than 500 cities, large and small, joined the Houston protesters to make clear how high the stakes are for the Supreme Courts new term, which began Monday and is expected to be one of the most consequential in years. The justices will decide the fate of the right to abortion, as it considers a Mississippi case that seeks to overturn Roe v Wade. But the explosive lineup doesnt end there: gun rights, church-state separation and the federal governments state secrets doctrine are all also on the docket. Most conservatives, of course, and especially those who oppose abortion rights, have cheered the prospect for a court term that finally sides squarely with outcomes that for the right have remained tantalizingly out of reach, despite having seen Republican presidents appoint far more members to the court than their Democratic counterparts. From Ronald Reagans time until now, GOP presidents have named 11 members of the court, including the elevation of William Rehnquist to chief justice, compared to just four during the 16 years Democrats have held the White House. This is the year, predicts widely respected court-watcher Tom Goldstein, publisher of Scotusblog.com, that the conservative majority finally asserts itself in big, hot-button cases. We're going to look back at this as the year in which the conservatives really did fully take over the Supreme Court and American constitutional law. Robin Paoli, board chair of the nonprofit Houston Women March On, told us Monday that protesters were in the streets to sound the alarm about more than just the Texas GOPs attack on abortion rights, an assault that now appears could be amplified by the Supreme Court this term. The damage inflicted on Texas by current state officials is widespread, from vilifying immigrants and failing to fix the power grid to undermining our schools. Our Oct. 2 march focused on two specific dangers: attacks on our voting rights and on womens health and bodily autonomy, Paoli said. There has never been a more important time to come together and act. In Washington, marchers aimed their ire directly at the nations high court and the president whose three appointments in four years so radically shifted its ideological center. Thousands streamed by former President Trumps hotel in the capital shouting shame, shame, shame. The three judges Trump placed on the high court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett have joined the courts two most conservative members, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, to create a majority that could greatly change the nations constitutional underpinnings. Chief Justice John Roberts has shown an appreciation for how much more conservative the court has become than the nation is as a whole, siding at times with liberals on key issues to keep a steadier, more incremental path. With two of the nations most divisive issues at play this term, the anticipated sidelining of the Republican chief justice by the more conservative justices comes at a perilous time for the court. Abortion rights opponents have pinned their hopes on a Mississippi case providing the court majority the opportunity to at last overturn, or at least badly weaken, Roe v Wade. The courts recent 5-4 vote on procedural grounds to let the Texas law go into effect, despite Roberts urging against it, has done nothing to ease the anxiety of those who fear for Roes survival. The court also is confronting what might be the most consequential gun rights decision since 2008s District of Columbia v Heller, the landmark opinion that recognized an individual right to bear arms. In the new case, justices will consider whether the Second Amendment permits New York to require an applicant to show good cause for why he or she wants a concealed carry permit. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California at Berkeley law school told the board Monday its almost certain that the conservative majority will use the case to expand gun rights. The only question, he added, is how far and how fast will they go? There have been many times in the past where the majority, mindful of the courts legitimacy, has acted with prudence. But history also contains examples of it choosing a more reckless path. For that reason, those concerned about the potentially drastic changes to come should keep their marching shoes and protest signs at the ready. Regarding As winter nears, tensions rise over how to prevent Texas blackouts from happening again, (Oct. 4): We read daily about different forms of rage: road rage, mask rage, etc. This seems to have morphed into news rage because I get so angry at the almost perfect ineptitude of our elected officials state and federal. The latest thing to set me off was what this article describes as a loophole that would allow natural gas producers to avoid weatherizing their operations by paying a $150 exemption fee which was part of the power reform legislation that passed this year. Are you kidding me? Why wasnt that provision made well-known to the public, rather than the false assurances of Gov. Abbott that everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid? I guess Abbott doesnt understand the word everything unless it relates to his thinly-veiled efforts to make voting more difficult for minorities and his support of fewer and fewer regulations of guns. Which specific politician proposed that loophole that seems designed to pander to special interests? While were currently blaming the Railroad Commission for the lack of weatherizing that might prevent another fiasco like this past winters, its really the fault of the legislators and I, for one, would like specific names so Ill know who not to vote for. Len Kaplan, Houston Regarding Editorial: Why the shock? GOP knew perfectly well industry would use loophole to avoid weatherization, (Oct. 4): After the Republican legislature passed a toothless bill addressing Texas power grid failures, Gov. Abbott said, Everything that needed to be done was done to fix the power grid in Texas. Today, I read there is a loophole that allows natural gas producers to avoid weatherizing their operations by paying a $150 exemption fee. So, Im going to rephrase the quote with the truth: Everything I could do to give the appearance that everything was done to fix the power grid that needed to be done without actually doing it, was done Mike Beck, Houston Negotiations Regarding Opinion: Compromise is a 'four-letter word' in infrastructure bill negotiations, (Oct. 3): The politicians, as Mr. Rodriquez points out, have created yet another unnecessary problem. The thing is that their process brings up thoughts of four-letter words but has remained a ten-letter process. It has become quid pro quo far from rational people working together so the result is the most acceptable for all. What we see now is we will give you this if you will give us that, which feeds the greed rather than meeting the need. Allan Brem, Houston Regarding Dagger to the heart of progressive causes, (Oct. 3): Henry Olsen points out Sen. Manchins words citing the nations fiscal situation as too dire to unnecessarily add to the countrys debt burden as his reason not to support the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. Whats not mentioned is his apprehension regarding paying for this package by substantially increasing the taxes on the wealthy (anyone earning at least $400K annually) and the corporate tax rates. Both of these groups were included in the 2017 Republican tax bill that cut taxes and substantially increased our debt. The media has not done enough to remind us of Manchins apprehension and Sen. Sinemas refusal to increase those taxes to pay for the program. Perhaps if more of the electorate were reminded of this they would be less concerned about the debt burden increasing and be supportive of the benefits included in the package. Gene Orlando, Spring As I read the stories in this mornings Chronicle I was struck by the real story that was being laid out for us. The U.S. Senate and our U.S. senators have made a trade. Unfortunately, the trade they made is not for the benefit of us as citizens or for us as a country. Todays U.S. Senate has traded statesmanship for partisanship. They traded the good of the whole for the self-indulgence of individual power and greed. Sadly, in that trade, America lost. Bill Turney, Houston Answering pro-life questions Regarding A few questions for so-called pro-lifers, (Oct. 2): In response to the writers questions: The reason women are blamed for killing the unborn is because they are the ones who often choose to abort. The other half of the tango often has absolutely no say in the matter. The writer makes the incorrect assumption that someone who is pro-life is not concerned with the violence perpetrated against women. It is not a contradiction to be both concerned for women and against the destruction of the fetus. Kenneth Campbell, Cypress Dallas-based Southwest Airlines will require all 60,000 employees to be vaccinated or get an exemption to continue employment with the airline, following competitors such as United, American and JetBlue that have already announced plans to follow the White House mandates on the COVID-19 vaccines. Southwest has 60,000 employees nationwide and was the countrys largest airline in pandemic-stricken 2020. The company and other airlines are under pressure from the Biden Administration to make sure all employees receive at COVID-19 vaccine. The company confirmed that it spoke with a White House representative last week. Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal governments COVID-19 vaccination directive, said Gary Kelly, Southwests CEO and Chairman in a statement. I encourage all Southwest Employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all. WHEN TRAVELING: CDC releases new COVID guidelines on how to safely travel during the holidays Southwest said that employees would have to be vaccinated by Dec. 8, the reported deadline the White House has been pushing for federal contractors. The move comes nearly a month after the Biden Administration announced that all federal contractors and companies with more than 100 employees would need to have all employees vaccinated. Contractors that fail to comply could lose lucrative government contracts. Large employers could face fines of $14,500 per instance through the Occupation Safety and Health Administration. In recent memos to employees, Kelly has reiterated that he thinks that all employees should have the ability to choose for themselves whether or not to get vaccinated but also said that the government has the right to enforce mandates as well. Southwest Airlines is a federal contractor and we have no viable choice but to comply with the U.S. government mandate for Employees to be vaccinated, andlike other airlineswere taking steps to comply, Kelly said in a memo to workers Monday. Southwest is also giving employees the option to fill out a medical, disability or religious exemption. Kelly told employees that there are provisions for medical or religious accommodations, but they are very limited. Fort Worth-based American Airlines said last week that all employees must be vaccinated to remain employed as well. OTHER CARRIERS: United Airlines says 97% of U.S. employees have been vaccinated against COVID-19 Southwest, along with airlines such as Delta and American, had initially offered incentives such as extra pay or vacation time for those that would submit proof of application. But there has been pushback, particularly from pilots, who worry that getting vaccinated may create medical complications and put their flight licenses at risk. The CDC has indicated that there are no long-term health risks from any of the COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the federal government. Pilot unions at American and Southwest have warned that there could be a shortage of pilots during the holidays if vaccine mandates are imposed. Last week, Chicago-based United Airlines reported that more than 99% of its employees followed the rules to get a vaccination or exemption. About 3% of employees sought a religious or medical exemption. Less than 350 employees chose not to do either and the company is working with those employees, but if they dont get vaccinated they will be let go, United said last week. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Electric Avenue derails Trump train Musician Eddy Grants lawsuit against the Trump campaign following its use of his hit Electric Avenue appears to be steaming on through the courts, despite the Trump Campaigns efforts to get it dismissed. Guest post by Stephen Carlisle of NOVA Southeastern University On September 28, 2021, a District Court denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit based on one of music composers pet peeves: use of their music in political campaigns. Many times, this occurs when songs are used at campaign rallies. The composers feel that this is an implied endorsement. The campaigns usually rely on a license from the performing rights organizations. However, sometimes the use is in a campaign video, and since this is a synchronization use, it absolutely requires a license and absolutely requires permission, even in the internet age. The song in question is Electric Avenue by Barbados based musician Eddy Grant. 1 Released in 1983, it was a huge international hit, going top 5 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the UK and the United States, where it went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. 2 Enter the campaign of Donald Trump. According to the opinion: On August 12, 2020, at or about 9:35 p.m., former President Trump published a Tweet from his personal Twitter account containing a fifty-five-second animated video The video begins with a depiction of a high-speed red train bearing the words Trump Pence KAG [Keep America Great] 2020. After the red train passes, the beginning of Electric Avenue can be heard clearly, along with an excerpt of a speech by President Biden. Around the same time, a slow-moving handcar, operated by an animated likeness of President Biden, comes into view Grants song can be heard beginning at around the fifteen-second mark of the video, and continues through the duration of the fifty-five second video As of September 1, 2020, the video had been viewed more than 13.7 million times; the Tweet containing the video had been liked more than 350,000 times, re-Tweeted more than 139,000 times, and had received nearly 50,000 comments. 3 And of course, no permission or license was obtained. Grant sued and Trump moved to dismiss on the grounds (all together now) fair use. At the motion to dismiss stage, the Court could have taken the position (as have other Courts) that as a mixed question of fact and law, a defense of fair use is not really ripe for discussion or decision at the time the motion is heard. Instead, the Court makes a detailed examination of the defense, and while leaving the door open for Trump to reassert the defense on summary judgement, puts the Trump team on notice that their position is not likely to carry the day. The Trump team of course asserts that the use of Electric Avenue is fair because it is (all together now) transformative. The problem with this assertion is that Electric Avenue and the context of the Trump Train video have nothing in common. Electric Avenue does not add any context, commentary or allusion to the Trump Train video, and vice versa. As the Supreme Court previously held: If the commentary has no critical bearing on the substance or style of the original composition, which the alleged infringer merely uses to get attention or to avoid the drudgery in working up something fresh, the claim to fairness in borrowing from anothers work diminishes accordingly (if it does not vanish) . Parody needs to mimic an original to make its point, and so has some claim to use the creation of its victims imagination, whereas satire can stand on its own two feet and so requires justification for the very act of borrowing. 4 In the mind of the District Court: The defendants argue that the videos use of Electric Avenue was transformative as a matter of law because the video and the song serve different purposes. But the defendants argument misapprehends the focus of the transformative use inquiry. While it is true that the animation is partisan political commentary and the song apparently is not, the inquiry does not focus exclusively on the character of the animation; rather, it focuses on the character of the animations use of Grants song. As the Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently stated: where a secondary work does not obviously comment on or relate back to the original or use the original for a purpose other than that for which it was created, the bare assertion of a higher or different artistic use is insufficient to render a work transformative. 5 In this case, the videos creator did not edit the songs lyrics, vocals, or instrumentals at all, and the song is immediately recognizable when it begins playing around the fifteen-second mark of the video, notwithstanding that audio of President Bidens speech can be heard simultaneously. Moreover, the animation does not use Electric Avenue as a vehicle to deliver its satirical message, and it makes no effort to poke fun at the song or Grant. 6 The defendants concede that the video here is clearly satire, not a parody of Electric Avenue or Grant, and the defendants have offered no justification for their extensive borrowing. The fact that the video on the whole constitutes political messagingdoes not, by itself, support a finding of transformative use. 7 Next up, the Trump Team argues that political uses are by definition, not commercial uses. 8 But again, the Court notes that the Supreme Court has already ruled on this point. The crux of the profit/nonprofit distinction is not whether the sole motive of the use is monetary gain but whether the user stands to profit from exploitation of the copyrighted material without paying the customary price. 9 The District Court writes: Nothing about the song was integral to the videos political message, which is conveyed by the animation and the unflattering excerpts of President Bidens speech. Indeed, the defendants explicitly disclaim any overlap between the purposes of the song and the video. Thus the video does not rely on the song to express its political message; rather, the video incorporates musiclike many videos doto make the video more entertaining and memorable. In no sense does the video parody the copyrighted song or use the song for purposes of commentary. Moreover, there is a well-established market for music licensing, but the defendants sought to gain an advantage by using Grants popular song without paying Grant the customary licensing fee. Accordingly, the videos use of Electric Avenue appears to be commercial, notwithstanding the videos political purpose. At the very least, the defendants have failed to show that the use was noncommercial as a matter of law. 10 After ruling that the second factor, the nature of the copyrighted work, was neutral, the Court turned to the third fair use factor the amount and substantiality of the use. The Court rules: The introductory portion of the song that is used in the animation is immediately recognizable. The excerpted portion of the song also includes the chorus, which repeats six times during the song, comprises the majority of the songs lyrics, and is of central importance to the original work. Moreover, while the excerpted forty seconds of the song make up only 17.5% of the songs total length, the song plays for 72.7% of the animations duration. The ultimate question under this factor is whether the quantity and value of the materials used are reasonable in relation to the purpose of the copying. (citation omitted). That is plainly not the case here. The song plays for the majority of the animation; the excerpt is of central importance to the original work; and the defendants have not articulated any purpose for the copying. Accordingly, this factor favors Grant. 11 As to the fourth factor, the market effect, the Trump Train finally goes off the rails by forgetting, or ignoring, that fair use is an affirmative defense, one for which Trump, not Grant, has the burden of proof. [Defendants] argue that Grant has failed to offer evidence that he has entered, or intends to enter, the market for licensing music to promotional videos. But Grant bears no such burden, particularly in response to a motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs have satisfied any initial burden of identifying the relevant marketlicensing for promotional videosas a market that the defendants copying would harm. It is the defendants who bear the ultimate burden of showing a lack of market harm, and they cannot do so based simply on the allegations in the Complaint. 12 The creator of the video here made a wholesale copy of a substantial portion of Grants music in order to make the animation more entertaining. The video did not parody the music or transform it in any way. The videos overarching political purpose does not automatically make this use transformative, and the other fair use factors also favor the plaintiffs at this stage. Accordingly, the defendants have failed to demonstrate fair use as a matter of law. The defendants may reassert their fair use defense at the summary judgment stage when there is a more developed factual record. 13 Certainly political speech, and in particular [t]he act of ridiculing and lampooning public figures is a rich part of our First Amendment tradition However, denying the defendants fair use defense in this caseespecially at this early stage in the litigationwill not chill legitimate political satire. Creators of satirical videos like the one at issue here must simply conform any use of copyrighted music with copyright law by, for example: paying for a license; obtaining the copyright owners permission; or transforming the chosen song by altering it with new expression, meaning, or message. The creator of the video here did none of that. 14 Perhaps a generous settlement offer to Mr. Grant is in order. Notes: Share on: Incredibly K-Popular A geographical breakdown of K-Pop fans Here we take a peek inside the global phenomenon that is K-Pop, as Chartmetrics Tamur Yusifzai answers the question: why is this genre so wildly popular, and where is its biggest audience? Tamur Yusifzai is Chartmetrics Product Manager, and he loves the space where tech and music collide. K-Pop Across the Globe For more than 15 years, K-Pop grew from a regional sensation to a cultural powerhouse that is now found everywhere from viral tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts to U.S. malls distributing the latest merchandise. With BTS and BLACKPINK being the latest artists to capture our attention, the catchy, polished music with picture-perfect idols regularly sells out arenas worldwide. The enigmatic business continues to inspire the rest of the global music industry with its legendary fandoms and theres always more to discover. Our goal with this analysis was to dive deeper into this phenomenon in order to answer two main questions. The first was to use our data to uncover where K-Pop has made its mark globally and where its biggest audience lies. The second goal was to examine the trends in K-Pops expansion to explain what drives its appeal across a vast number of countries, languages, and cultures. To do this, we looked at the Top 200 K-Pop artists in terms of Spotify Monthly Listeners, although we excluded BTS and Blackpink from our analysis due to their outlier status as global megastars. You can find a list of these artists and their global reach below: We then analyzed global consumption and engagement patterns across three main channels: Spotify (Monthly Listeners), Instagram (Followers) and YouTube (Views). Next, we dug deeper into the two main regions of interest Asia and the Americas and examined trends seen across countries. Finally, we dove deeper to look at top regional cities for K-pop and their performance historically to determine the trajectory of this trend. Regional Analysis Looking at the Top 200 K-Pop acts across the globe, we see several trends arise. First, the greatest percentage of consumption/engagement can be found in East and Southeast Asia. This is consistent across both Instagram Followers and YouTube Views. The large discrepancy in Spotify Monthly Listeners across these two regions is due to its muted presence in East Asia. For instance, Spotify did not launch in Korea until February 2021, is unavailable in China, and competes with local streaming services in Japan. When we expand our scope to the global level, we see that while K-Pop has not enjoyed the success witnessed in Asia, it has established a toehold in North and South America. This trend is consistent across all three platforms that we looked at, with consumption and engagement hovering in the single digits. As we will explore in depth throughout this post, much of the global success of K-Pop stems from how it appeals to a broad array of listeners via catchy music, wholesome themes, attractive idols, and exciting dance routines, thus allowing it to easily translate across cultures. K-Pops Regional Impact These trends are unsurprising for several reasons. While Korea is the epicenter of K-pop, the genre has long been understood to be one of Koreas most successful exports. Over the last decade, the value of music industry exports from South Korea has grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38 percent and is projected to crack $1B in 2020. Given this, South Koreas largest trade partners serve as a good proxy for the success of K-Pop, with China (26 percent of total exports), the United States (15 percent)Vietnam (10 percent), Hong Kong (6 percent), Japan (4 percent), and Taiwan (3 percent) proving to be some of the genres biggest consumers. Asia: K-Pop Consumption and Engagement When digging into which Asian countries are the biggest consumers of K-Pop across Spotify, Instagram, and YouTube, we see that South Korea unsurprisingly comprises the lions share of the genres fanbase. However, K-Pop also has left a significant imprint on Southeast Asia, with this region covering at least a third of consumption across those three platforms. Specifically, Indonesia and Thailand are consistently the largest regional importers of the genre, with other countries such as the Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam making up a meaningful portion of consumption. Other East Asian countries have a somewhat misleading representation within this data. Japan, the second largest music market after the United States, has a massive K-Pop following. However, the digital streaming and social media marketplace is saturated with local competitors such as Line Music, resulting in deceptively low consumption across US services like Spotify and YouTube. Similarly, despite being a huge market for K-Pop, China is not represented at all due to the stringency of its censorship laws. K-Pops wide appeal across Asia is due to several factors. The geographic proximity allows for easy dissemination of music, encourages cross-pollination of digital streaming services and facilitates live shows. Content wise, K-Pop boasts a wide appeal, featuring innocuous and positive lyrics that appeal to the family oriented cultural sensibilities of the region. K-Pops youthful effervescence and dreamy idols mean the genre is especially impactful in nations with a high proportion of young people, such as Indonesia (28 percent of total) and Vietnam (27 percent). Top Asian Cities for K-Pop When zeroing in on the Top 10 Asian cities for K-Pop we see similar trends, with Seoul comprising the majority of both Instagram Followers and YouTube Views, although having launched Spotify in early 2021, it currently comprises only a trickle of listeners. Bangkok and Jakarta are consistently in the Top 3 cities, comprising between 16 and 50 percent of the total consumption and/or engagement across all three platforms. In terms of frequency, Indonesian cities are represented the most in this Top 10 list, while other countries boast only a few cities. Top Asian Cities for K-Pop Historical Change Across Cities Digging into historical performance in some of these key cities, we see that (unsurprisingly) Seoul remains a consistently strong consumer of K-Pop across Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube when looking at the last five months. Most cities displayed varied results across Spotify and YouTube due to a variety of streaming opportunities in the region. However, given Instagrams ubiquity as a social media platform, we see a fairly tight progression across all cities, with each posting between 200 and 350 percent growth since March. Jakarta, Bangkok, and Quezon city posted performance in lock with one another, while Taipei proved to be the weakest performer. Historical Change Asian Cities 2021 The Western Hemisphere: K-Pop Consumption and Engagement When we turn our attention to both North and South America, we see K-Pop gaining a toehold within the region. Looking across countries we see that in terms of Spotify and YouTube, Mexico acts as a Trigger City with the highest number of listens and/or views. This is then followed by either the United States, Peru, or Chile, with the order depending on the medium of distribution. Instagram shows the largest deviation from these trends, with Mexico, Chile, and the United States comprising nearly 90 percent of K-Pop followers. The K-Pop wave has been well documented in the United States. Although K-Pop acts started testing the waters around the turn of the century, it wasnt until the 2010s that the genre truly took off in the US thanks to breakthrough artists such as PSY and Wondergirls. This trend continued through the second half of the decade as mega-groups such as BTS and Blackpink shattered expectations for the genres success in America. K-Pop artists are now cracking the Billboard 100, collaborating with US superstars, and selling out stadiums. After a 2016 crackdown on K-Pop by China in response to Koreas deployment of a US missile system, K-Pop companies began pushing their artists to explore new marketplaces. While previous responses to K-Pop idols were mixed, several underlying factors made for a more receptive audience during this time period. First was the young, diverse, and digitally native Generation Z coming of age. Already well associated with other mediums of Korean cultural exports such as video games, cuisine, and cinema, Gen Z proved an enthusiastic fanbase for K-Pop icons. K-Pops growth in Latin America is an interesting phenomenon, because on the surface level, geographic proximity, linguistic variation, and cultural differences could lead some to write off the region as fertile ground for the genre. Yet K-Pop has made great strides in bridging the cultural divide. For instance, many K-Pop artists have released Spanish tracks and collaborated with local artists. Additionally, the image and subject matter of K-Pop seems to have struck a chord with Latin audiences. Optimism, modesty, love, self-improvement, hard work, and restraint are all wholesome departure from Western Pop music, meaning K-Pop represents a new and cheerful start to the youth of South America. There are also historical and economic ties with the region. Koreans began immigrating to the region as early as 1905, and by the middle of the century, several waves of immigrants had settled in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Business opportunities soon followed. For instance, LG has had business partnerships in Panama since 1962, when it became an export hub for televisions. Similarly, Samsung established an assembly plant in the 1980s in Tijuana to manufacture a variety of appliances. As with Asia, these Korean companies are using K-Pop as brand ambassadors in Latin America while simultaneously supporting Korean cultural centers and K-Pop contests. Top North and South American Cities for K-Pop When looking at the top cities represented in the North American region we see that U.S. metropolis such as Los Angeles and New York consistently make the list. This is to be expected given the size, diversity, and cosmopolitanism of these two cities. We also see smaller US cities such as Denver and Fort Collins make the cut, indicating that the K-Pop phenomena has not been relegated to the coasts. Canada, despite having a similar demographic makeup to the United States, is only represented by Toronto as the 10th biggest city in terms of Instagram Followers. Top North and South American Cities for Kpop Mexico is also a large consumer of K-Pop, landing in the Top 2 cities in terms of Spotify Monthly Listeners and YouTube viewership, although it appears further down the list (No. 7) when looking at Instagram Followers. Mexico Citys large multicultural population of 22 million has led it to become Spotifys largest streaming market, resulting in the adopted moniker the streaming mecca of the world. As such, it also plays a significant role as a Trigger City. Looking at South America, we see that major capitals such as Santiago and Lima consistently land in the Top 10 for K-Pop fandom. Similarly, large metropolitan Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are also represented. These cities possess a young, enthusiastic, and wired audience, making them ideal target markets for K-Pops preferred demographics. Historical Change Across Cities When digging into historical trends for some of these top cities, we see that while all cities trended negatively on YouTube, most cities climbed across Instagram and Spotify. Though more pronounced, this echoes trends seen across Asian cities, a sign that video consumption of K-Pop could be softening. Out of the cities mentioned above, Mexico performed the strongest, showing an absolute growth in both Instagram (817 percent) and Spotify (68 percent) metrics since March. This is unsurprising given its large multi-cultural population. Conversely, as a smaller city, Lima performed the softest, declining on Instagram (-75 percent) and Spotify (-22 percent) over this 5-month period. Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, and Santiago saw mild growth over this period, likely due to K-Pops saturation in these markets. Historical Change North/South American Cities 2021 Conclusion In summation, we see that K-Pop has evolved to be a widespread genre not only regionally, but across the globe as well. While geographic proximity has the strongest correlation with the fandom of K-Pop, over the last 10 years, the genre has managed to overcome this boundary and has established a burgeoning audience in both North and South America. In part, this is due to South Koreas position as an economy driven by exports. Korean companies in industries ranging from electronics to gaming have established the model for turning localized success into household names across the globe: a model that K-Pop is now building upon. K-Pop itself has been crafted with the goal of accessibility in mind. Catchy Pop tunes incorporating bouncy beats, dance numbers, and positive lyrics sung by young idols has resulted in an approachable musical style that has successfully bridged cultures. In addition, K-Pops openness to incorporating local culture has transformed it from a Korean art form to a truly globalized cultural powerhouse, one that has managed to attract both foreign direct investment and soft power for the homeland. As the interest in K-Pop continues to grow, it remains to be seen whether the global interest shown toward this genre is a fleeting trend or a more sustained movement. Few predicted the global appeal of K-Pop and its rise in the West, and it will be equally difficult to determine if K-Pop can deepen its roots as a musical style. That said, K-Pop has shown itself to be a catchy and resilient art form, solidifying its position as a genre thats increasingly popular worldwide. Share on: The former Nassif's drug store has been approved for use by the ROOTs Teen Center, which hopes to eventually buy the building. North Adams Planners OK Design Standards for Smart Growth NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Planning Board on Monday approved the design standards for the city's new Smart Growth overlay districts. The City Council adopted the state's 40R zoning law last month to create two overlay districts one in the downtown and the other along Union Street to the Eclipse Mill. The state instituted so-called Smart Growth Zoning about 15 years ago to incentivize developers to largely utilize existing structures to create market-rate housing that also provided a percentage of affordable-housing units and space for retail or commerce. Setting design standards for the two districts is under the authority of the Planning Board, explained Zachary Feury, coordinator in the city's Office of Community Development. "The design standards are really to ensure that the physical character development is consistent with local plans, like the Vision 2030 master plan, and their complementary usage remains consistent with the character of the neighborhood," he said. What the standards can't do is be overly restrictive or otherwise impair the economic feasibility of such projects. "The design standards that were crafted for the North Adams Smart Growth overlay district were submitted with the application for approval and were subsequently given preliminary approval," Feury said. "The last step in this process is for the Planning Board, as the planning approval authority, to adopt the design standards." The standards were part of the application package approved by the state Department of Housing and Community Development earlier this year. The guiding principle is for the overlay to "become a vibrant, mixed-use area that promotes new residential and commercial development in harmony with the existing character of its three subdistricts." Those principles include promoting redevelopment of existing structures and vacant lots, enhancing connectivity and accessibility, encouraging multimodal transportation including walking and biking, creating public spaces and benches, and thinking innovately in design and construction. Structures are required to have a minimum of two floors; "open facades" on the ground floor with encouragement to have commercial space; consistency with existing buildings and reuse of original exterior elements. Removal of original facades may be prohibited. Site design also includes sidewalks, pedestrian access, landscaping, light and traffic plans, and access for emergency vehicles. Much of the design standards align with current zoning requirements. Planner Lisa Blackmer asked for a correction, noting the document referred to Notre Dame as a "cathedral." Planner Lynette Bond questioned if the board could order developers to repair sidewalks owned by the city, pointing to the clause stating they had to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. "Developers can be encouraged to make those improvements but not necessarily be required to make these improvements if they impair the economic feasibility of the development," Feury said. Chairman Michael Leary asked, for clarification, if it was "incumbent on the city to make improvements" if the developer could not afford to. Feury answered yes. Bond said she appreciated that the city was also encouraging underground utilities and other standards. "The fact that we can ask for traffic studies, and landscaping plans, I think that will be really nice to see from developers. I just wanted to highlight that," she said. In other business, the board approved a change of use for the ROOTS Teen Center to move into 51 Ashland St., the former Nassif's drug store. "We have been gifted this property and that's the plan that we occupy it as a rental property for now, and then hopefully be able to purchase it in the future," said the teen center's Executive Director Lindsey Bush, who attended with board President Ellen Janis. She said the 6,200 square-foot building is triple the size of the current center on Eagle Street. "This will allow us to have more youth in the space safely, especially with COVID happening," Bush said. "And we'll be allowed to use our different programs a little more extensively while we're there." The 1974 building was purchased from Allen Nassif in 2017 by Centerville Sticks LLC. The pharmacy was sold to CVS in 2013 and closed after more than century in business. North Adams 40R Smart Growth Design Standards by iBerkshires.com on Scribd Ventfort Hall: The Making of a Cosmopolitan Capital LENOX, Mass. Prof. Gary H. Darden returns to Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum to give a visual presentation on "The Making of a Cosmopolitan Capital: Washington, D.C. from Frontier Town to Global Metropolis." His lecture is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9 at 3:30 pm. With the establishment of Washington, D.C. in 1790 as the site of a brand-new capital city, the once dirt-road frontier city of the fragile American Republic emerged from the ashes of the War of 1812 to become a political center for a burgeoning continental empire and eventually a global colossus by the Cold War era. According to Dardin, the scale and scope of its civic architecture and cultural assets soon matched its economic and political weight on par with its European counterparts. In 2016, Darden lectured at Ventfort Hall on the decline of the British aristocracy leading up to World War I and a year later presented a talk on the architectural rivalries within the Vanderbilt family. Thereafter he covered the White House from presidential palace to the people's palace. Darden chairs the Department of Social Sciences & History at Fairleigh Dickinson, Becton College of Arts & Sciences, Madison, NJ. He was awarded Teacher of the Year at the college. His scholarly work includes articles for journals, encyclopedias and the historical text for the book, The American Soldier: From the Civil War to the War in Iraq, A Photographic Tribute, which accompanied a major exhibit touring the US. Darden was also a moderator with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Tickets for the Darden talk are $20 per person. Reservations for attending the talk are required by calling 413-637-3206. Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. Payment is required to make a reservation for an event. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox. The former president of the Sudan Union of Journalists (SUJ), Dr. Mohiuddin Titawi, died on Tuesday, 5 October in Khartoum, Sudan. Dr Titawi had previously served as President of the East Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) (2007 - 2016) and as an Executive Committee member of the IFJ (2013-2016), as well as being an Assistant Secretary of the Arab Journalists Union. Dr. Titawi was a reservoir of knowledge, perseverance, and good deeds and a great defender of media rights and freedom of expression not only in Sudan, but in the Eastern African region, the African continent and the world at large", said IFJ President Younes MJahed. He worked for more than fifty years as a journalist, a trade unionist and a professor. He was a Dean of the Faculty of Media and Communications and contributed immensely to its development. The IFJ extends its sincere condolences to the Titawi family and to all his colleagues in the media in Sudan and the African continent as a whole. Prominent Afghan journalist and author Sayed Maroof Sadat, a former government spokesperson and an affiliate of radio Sub Bakhair and Sham Bakhai, was gunned down on October 2. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the murder, which is another grave blow to press freedom in Afghanistan and calls on the international community to better assist in securing the safety of all Afghan media workers. Sadat was one of four people, including two Taliban fighters, who were killed in a drive-by shooting in Jalalabad city, the capital of Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan. Sadats son was also critically injured during the attack. The perpetrators are currently unknown; however, Islamic State (ISIS) militants are thought to be behind the incident. Throughout Sadats 20-year career, he worked as a high-profile journalist for various national and international media organisations. He served as spokesperson for the former Afghan governments Department of Rural Development before the Talibans take-over, and was recently acting as media in charge of the directorate of urban development in Nangarhar province. The journalists burial was performed on October 3 in the Khogyani district. Taliban officials are reportedly investigating the four murders. ISIS maintains a strong presence in the Nangarhar province, where the city of Jalalabad is located, with the Taliban facing increasing security threats from the rival group. Family members of the deceased journalist said that Sadat had no known enmities and many media workers in the Nangarhar province are now even more fearful following the incident. If such incidents are not prevented, journalists will have not have any options but to leave the country, fellow journalist Jawid Razmand said. Five journalists have been killed since the Talibans capture of Afghanistan in August. Fahim Dashti, a veteran leader of the Afghanistan National Journalists Union (ANJU), was killed in Panjshir province on September 5 during a clash between the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA) and the Taliban. Ali Reza Ahmadi, a reporter for Raha News Agency, journalist Juhad Hamidi and Najma Sadeqi, an Afghan Youtuber, who worked with Afghan Insider were killed in the Kabul airport suicide bombing on August 26. IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: The loss of Sayed Maroof Sadat is yet another devastating blow to press freedom. The safety of all journalists and media workers in Afghanistan is gravely threatened by both the Taliban and other extremist groups across the nation. The IFJ strongly condemns the abhorrent murder of Sadat and urges international communities to provide support and ensure the safety of journalists. Youn Chhiv, journalist and owner of website Koh Kong Hot News, was sentenced to a years imprisonment on September 30 for incitement under Cambodias Criminal Code, after reporting on a government land dispute. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA) condemn the imprisonment and intimidation of Youn Chhiv under the Criminal Code and call for the immediate cessation of all charges against him. The journalist was charged with incitement to cause a felony over publishing alleged misinformation about a land dispute at Botum Sakor National Park. After two days of police questioning without a lawyer, the Chhiv was sentenced to one year in prison under Cambodias Criminal Code. Chhiv claimed that authorities were unlawfully evicting citizens from land they had both farmed and inhabited for years, in direct contravention of Prime Minister Hun Sens call late last year to grant land titles to those who had long-standing claims on state land. According to Vey Pherom, deputy prosecutor at the provincial court in Koh Kong, Chhiv admitted that the above claims were false. In a leaked audio recording, a voice, identified as Defence Minister Tea Banh, can be heard instructing Koh Kong officials and state media to act against Chhiv. [We] urgently need to discuss with the media in the province and attack him first, directly, with his name, it says. There have been multiple government-aligned media outlets that have reported on Bahns instructions, condemning Chhivs reports as baseless. Provincial reporter in Koh Kong, Sok Savan said that the case had been kept extremely confidential, and only family members were admitted into the courtroom. Savan indicated that authorities ought to have used the Press Law, not the Criminal Code, or allowed Chhiv to apologise publicly and remove the videos. This case is irregular and inappropriate. In a democratic country, when a journalist covers the news for the public interest and society, they should not be punished or imprisoned, Savan said. The CamboJA said, We call on the Cambodian court to use press law for all cases related to journalists. The actions against Yuon Chhiv have put more pressure on the work of independent journalists and reporting on land conflict. The IFJ said, The Cambodians government use of Criminal Code in the case of Youn Chhiv is yet another attempt to intimate and persecute journalists for their reporting. Journalism is not a crime. The IFJ condemns intimidatory acts that work to undermine journalistic independence and press freedom. Businesses have been divided over whether to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for employees. While some companies, including large organizations such as United Airlines, have had a mandate in place for months, others were a bit surprised by a policy decision made a few weeks ago. On September 9, President Joe Biden announced a new rule from the Department of Labor that, as of November 22, requires companies with 100 or more employees to ensure that each worker is fully vaccinated, or can show a negative Covid-19 test weekly. Employers will also have to give workers paid time off to get vaccinated or recover from any side effects of getting vaccinated. Employers that don't comply with the vaccine mandate or paid-time-off requirement can face fines of up to $14,000 per violation. That said, companies that previously didn't have any kind of mandate in place had to figure out a plan, and fast. Just ask Ross Sapir, founder and CEO of Roadway Moving, a residential moving company in New York City that's landed on the Inc. 5000 in 2019 and 2021. Of his 400 employees, more than 300 of them are movers who obviously have to work in person and enter clients' homes, meaning safety is paramount. Before the mandate, Ross said he encouraged all employees to get vaccinated and required them to wear masks, socially distance, and get tested for Covid when exposed. Now, he says, having a government mandate has caused some tension among workers who don't want to get vaccinated. "No matter how you flip it, that mandate is going to add friction between employers and employees," says Sapir. "It's taking away time from my employees being productive and stressing them out, either by getting that test every week or pushing them to get vaccinated. And some of them don't want to get vaccinated." While roughly 85 percent of his staff is fully vaccinated, the last 15 percent have been somewhat resistant. Sapir says the vaccine standoff also made it difficult for him personally as a leader. "I don't believe in forcing people to do something against their beliefs. It could be sexuality, religious, or any other ways to exercise freedom, you know, and I don't want to force people." Sapir is also concerned about possibly losing employees to smaller companies that are exempt from the federal mandate, though few have left thus far. Requiring workers to be vaccinated as a condition of employment is entirely legal, and many large companies--such as United Airlines, Tyson Foods, and Disney--have already done so. Employees at large companies who don't get vaccinated are required to get tested regularly, which can cost up to $150 per test. Sapir contacted a local medical office that does testing and vaccinations onsite, but it's not cheap. Other businesses are embracing the mandate and are willing to take a stricter approach. Brady Bridges, owner of Reside Real Estate, a residential real estate firm in Fort Worth, Texas, says that for safety's sake, he imposed a deadline for employees to get vaccinated. "If any individual is not following the mandate, they may leave the workplace following standard terms," says Bridges. He also says the policy has had a huge impact on employees who were hesitant to get vaccinated, many of whom he says have now "made peace with the mandate." Some other founders are finding that the mandate has helped solidify policies and prompted employees to get vaccinated. Sherry Morgan, the founder of content company Petsolino, says she's encouraging vaccinations even though the company has just under 100 employees. "They gradually agreed," she says, noting that the company offers a $50 payment to those who get the vaccine and a paid day off after the second shot. IN 2016, INVENTOR and scientist Erik Gentalen reached out to a former colleague with exciting news, and a proposition. "I started a company, and we could use some help," Gentalen said. The former colleague, Lena Wu, had worked with him around 15 years earlier as the director of business development at Caliper Technologies, a Mountain View, California-based bioresearch firm. Gentalen's new company, Intabio, would launch his latest invention, an instrument to analyze and ensure the efficacy and safety of biopharmaceutical drugs. Called the Blaze System, the machine could reduce the analysis time from weeks in some cases to less than 30 minutes per sample, dramatically shortening a drug's development period. Wu joined Intabio's board later that year and became CEO the next. It was a hire that paid dividends in unexpected ways. When it came time to raise startup capital, Gentalen turned to Genoa Ventures managing director Jenny Rooke, whom he'd met through other investors in the life sciences industry. "It was Erik's openness to bringing in Lena's complementary strengths that attracted me to the company," Rooke says. "When Lena joined forces with Erik as his business partner and Intabio's CEO, I knew the time was right." In 2017, Rooke's San Francisco-based venture capital firm led Intabio's $3.2 million seed financing. "It was clear from the earliest meeting that Jenny had great technical expertise, was willing to be collaborative in solving issues, and was thoughtful and strategic," Wu says. "Many people in Jenny's position are super supportive but not critical. She's the rare combination of both." Rooke honed her expertise while earning a PhD in genetics at Yale, after which she worked at McKinsey advising pharmaceutical and biotech companies on business strategy. She also served in the executive ranks of U.S. Genomics (later called PathoGenetix), leading R&D and corporate development. Rooke knew the business. According to Wu, she had a keen eye for burnout, a common affliction among entrepreneurs. "She would say, 'You need to take a break. Now, go on vacation,' " Wu recalls. "I've never had another VC tell me to go on vacation." Though Genoa didn't lead Intabio's Series A or Series B funding rounds, which brought the company's total funding to $30 million, Rooke introduced Wu to other investors and identified VCs to target. "We gained a great deal of credibility as a good investment given Jenny's reputation and the fact that she led our seed round," Wu says. Intabio's first non-founder hire after raising capital was principal scientist Scott Mack, who helped develop the company's technology and was the first author of the company's published scientific paper describing the technology. (Mack's dog is also the Blaze System's namesake.) As of early 2021, Intabio had more than 40 employees. Mack and Blaze (the system, not the dog) had their work cut out for them. Getting from a prototype that was tested only in-house at Intabio to a pre-commercial beta system took three years of development. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals beta-tested the Blaze system, while Merck was an "early access collaborator" that sent samples to Intabio to analyze at the company's lab and return the results. Wu developed Intabio's go-to-market strategy and early access program, with Rooke helping refine and pressure-test aspects of the strategy. When all was said and done, the proof-of-concept method worked. In January 2021, the life sciences company Sciex announced it had acquired Intabio for an undisclosed sum, just three and half years after the startup began operations. And when negotiating the deal, Wu relied on Rooke to play the role of not just investor but true partner. "Jenny's input was, as always, both supportive and rigorous," Wu says. "It gave me the confidence that as a management team, we were making the right decision." EXPLORE MORE Founder-Friendly Investors COMPANIES Last week the United Nations in India announced the launch of its climate campaign, We The Change, which aims to showcase climate solutions pioneered by young Indians as a celebration of India's climate leadership. Through the campaign, 17 young climate champions from across India who have done pioneering work in diverse sectors, including renewables, forest management, financing, climate entrepreneurship, sustainable agriculture, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem restoration, water conservation and waste management will take their message to the youth of this country. Reuters "The campaign - inspired by the stories of India's young climate leaders - encourages us to adopt a more solution-based, innovative approach to fight climate change. We know solutions are already within reach to solve the present climate crisis. We hope that through the #WeTheChangeNow campaign, we will inspire bolder climate action from people, communities and the national and state governments," says Deirdre Boyd, UN Resident Coordinator in India. The campaign will celebrate and curate innovative, sustainable and equitable climate solutions and actions being pioneered by young people in India. The focus is on strengthening engagement with governments and civil society for a more collaborative approach to climate action. Indiatimes spoke to some of them. Garvita Gulati Garvita Gulati, a Bengaluru-based environmentalist who has been hailed for her 'glass-half-full' campaign to reduce water wastage in India is one of 17 youth leaders. The 21-year-old began her activism at the age of 15 when she learned about the water crisis the world is facing. Indiatimes "I came across stories of farmers taking their own lives, women, and children having to walk for hours to collect water, etc. I felt like I should do something to tackle this, but did not know what. Then as I studied about it more, I learned that every year, 14 million liters of water get wasted from restaurants. That is when the idea of glass half full struck me. At first, I tried to convince restaurants to fill only half of the glass with water. This was initially limited to a few restaurants that were in my locality, who were also reluctant about the idea. Later I wrote a petition to the Nation Restaurant Association of India and after nearly a year of campaigning, the industry body that has nearly 5 lakh members across India agreed to the idea," Garvita told Indiatimes. Since then, Garvita said her campaign has been able to save more than 10 million liters of water. She has also taken the campaign to the global stage. Representational Image Growing up in Bengaluru, the city which is predicted to be the second in the world to run out of water, Garvita said she like the other 16 changemakers will be able to take their work to a much larger platform and policymakers. "There are a lot of young changemakers who have great ideas, but they are not able to take it to the next level. I believe that we are living in a society that has become more aware and is welcoming to new ideas. Every young person has a new, fresh idea. That is the magic of our generation," Garvita said. Heeta Lakhani Heeta Lakhani, a Mumbai native got into climate activism after she attended the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. She joined YOUNGO the Youth Constituency of the UNFCCC and is currently coordinates youth engagement on climate change-related issues from around the world. Indiatimes "I also run an environmental education program called 'The Green Warriors' which is started in 2017. This is after I became aware of the gaps in climate change education. I work with children aged 10-16, where we try to bridge the knowledge gap when it comes to climate change. We are a team of four girls, and we have been carrying out our educational programs, mostly in Mumbai and Pune." Heeta said. Sneha Shahi Sneha Shahi, a conservationist who worked on the fronts of plastic waste management and water conservation said such initiatives will help people like her to reach a wider set of audiences when it comes to climate change actions. She has worked on campaigns like Plastic Tide Turner Champion and the restoration of the Bhuki stream in Vadodra. Indiatimes As a Master's student of Environmental Sciences at Maharaja Sayajirao University Shena worked with Centre for Environment Education (CEE) on plastic waste and later on the Bhuki stream restoration project. "The health of our rivers and other water bodies have been badly affected. Even when it may not be visible to us the water in most of our rivers has heavy metal in it and can even lead to cancer. One of the main reasons for the worsening quality of our waters is because the consumption is increasing and we do not have enough treatment plants to recycle all the wastewater that is generated. The condition will only get worse in the coming decades," Sneha said. UNEP According to her restoring water bodies, both in urban and rural areas can be a solution for the increasing water crisis. "The restoration of a waterbody is a long process and involves the participation of various groups including scientists, locals, and volunteers. A natural system is self-purifying, but our actions have polluted it. So we need to make it resilient again when we restore the water body. As far as the Bhuki restoration is concerned, since we worked on it through the university, we were able to guild my junior batches. They will now train the next batch of students and the process will continue. In this way, we can ensure that the restoration process continues unaffected," she said. Are you craving the warmth of the morning sun of the hills? Can you not wait to go back to go to a beach holiday after months of confinement? If yes, there's bad news. Experts have warned that our revenge travel an urge to travel after being under restrictions for an extended period of time could come at a cost. You may once again have to abandon your travel plans, if the latest warning by ICMR is true. The medical body has warned that a rise in social gatherings by tourists or mass congregations due to social, religious or political events may set off the third COVID-19 wave in India. Unsplash What does the study say? A study by researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Imperial College London says revenge travel could worsen the third Covid wave in India, and cause a higher peak between the months of February and March next year. Researchers said that data from Himachal Pradesh suggests that in a typical holiday season, tourism can increase the population by 40 percent. "Taking this into consideration, the third-wave peak can increase by up to 47 percent during the holiday season and can occur two weeks earlier compared to a scenario of easing restrictions in the absence of holiday travel," researchers said. BCCL What will be its effect on the society? In the worst-case scenario, where researchers take into account that Indias high population density has a stronger effect on transmission, the third-wave peak could go up 103 per cent, and the timing of the epidemic peak could be hastened by four weeks, compared to a scenario of easing restrictions in the absence of holiday travel. An IIT-Mandi study last year had also suggested that domestic travel had a major role in the spread of Covid-19 in India. Screengrab Published last month in the peer-reviewed Journal of Travel Medicine, the study sought to model the impact of domestic travel on a potential third Covid-19 wave in India. The objectives included recognising the potential risks associated with increase in revenge tourism. ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava is among the researchers who carried out the study, The Print reported. How did the experts reach the conclusion? For this, the researchers created a mathematical model that sought to recreate what would happen in a hypothetical state of India that resembles Himachal Pradesh based on the dynamics of its first and second waves including the much lower seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 there compared to the rest of the country. While Indias second Covid wave was severe, its impact in smaller states with low population density was less intense, the researchers note. Not only this, cases in popular tourist destinations such as Himachal Pradesh saw a delayed peak, they add. BCCL There are undoubtedly important benefits as society gradually returns to normal, in India and elsewhere; domestic travel to holiday destinations provides benefits not just for visitors, but also for local economies that have been under considerable stress for over a year, the team wrote in the study. Can the crisis be averted? A shared sense of responsibility, amongst visitors, residents and local authorities, will go a long way towards protecting the welfare of the country as a whole, the researchers added. According to the industry experts, when people travel with family, they are willing to spend more on accommodation to ensure that the stay is safe, the room is santised and comfortable. In a bizarre incident, a man shot himself in the leg while urinating in New York's Times Square subway station on Monday afternoon. This is apparently the third shooting incident to hit the tourist hotspot this year. The 29-year-old man who misfired took a bullet to his right leg, sending him stumbling into the corridor of the train subway stop, New York Post reported. Shutterstock The wounded man then passed the firearm to a friend who fled the station, police said. Eyewitnesses told ABC7 that the shots went off inside the subway station, with the man seen stumbling up to ground level afterwards, before re-entering the station to ask for help. A witness told New York Daily News the shooting created a deafening echo. NYPD officers are on-scene, both street-level and below-ground at the Times Square subway station as we investigate a person with a gunshot wound to the leg. The public should expect to see numerous emergency personnel in the area. pic.twitter.com/V3Wwzg80zL NYPD Transit (@NYPDTransit) October 4, 2021 It was one loud shot. Most of the time when you hear something like that, people think its the backfire from a car or something like that, so they dont pay too much attention to it. But if you know what gunshots sound like, you know," Michael Bouyea told the outlet. His injuries are not fatal and no arrests have been made so far, police said. They have not named the man, who is likely to face criminal charges as a result, and is not cooperating with investigators. Shutterstock The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital and was in stable condition. The latest incident marks the third shooting at Times Square this year. In June, a tourist was hit by a ricocheting bullet at the busy tourist destination while walking with his family. Shots also rang out in early May in Times Square, leaving three wounded, including a 4-year-old girl, New York Post reported. Punjabs newly sworn in Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi along with the Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, and Harish Rawat interact with the media during the first press briefing after the swearing-in ceremony at Punjab Bhawan on Sept. 20, 2021 in Chandigarh, India. (Ravi Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Indian farmers protesting against the three new farm laws hold portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shashtri during their Birth Anniversary at Ghazipur (Delhi-UP border) on Oct. 2, 2021 in Ghaziabad, India. (Photo by Sakib Ali/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) While machine learning and deep learning models often produce good classifications and predictions, they are almost never perfect. Models almost always have some percentage of false positive and false negative predictions. Thats sometimes acceptable, but matters a lot when the stakes are high. For example, a drone weapons system that falsely identifies a school as a terrorist base could inadvertently kill innocent children and teachers unless a human operator overrides the decision to attack. The operator needs to know why the AI classified the school as a target and the uncertainties of the decision before allowing or overriding the attack. There have certainly been cases where terrorists used schools, hospitals, and religious centers as bases for missile attacks. Was this school one of those? Is there intelligence or a recent observation that identifies the school as currently occupied by such terrorists? Are there reports or observations that establish that no students or teachers are present in the school? If there are no such explanations, the model is essentially a black box, and thats a huge problem. For any AI decision that has an impact not only a life and death impact, but also a financial impact or a regulatory impact it is important to be able to clarify what factors went into the models decision. What is explainable AI? Explainable AI (XAI), also called interpretable AI, refers to machine learning and deep learning methods that can explain their decisions in a way that humans can understand. The hope is that XAI will eventually become just as accurate as black-box models. Explainability can be ante-hoc (directly interpretable white-box models) or post-hoc (techniques to explain a previously trained model or its prediction). Ante-hoc models include explainable neural networks (xNNs), explainable boosting machines (EBMs), supersparse linear integer models (SLIMs), reversed time attention model (RETAIN), and Bayesian deep learning (BDL). Post-hoc explainability methods include local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) as well as local and global visualizations of model predictions such as accumulated local effect (ALE) plots, one-dimensional and two-dimensional partial dependence plots (PDPs), individual conditional expectation (ICE) plots, and decision tree surrogate models. How XAI algorithms work If you followed all the links above and read the papers, more power to you and feel free to skip this section. The write-ups below are short summaries. The first five are ante-hoc models, and the rest are post-hoc methods. Explainable neural networks Explainable neural networks (xNNs) are based on additive index models, which can approximate complex functions. The elements of these models are called projection indexes and ridge functions. The xNNs are neural networks designed to learn additive index models, with subnetworks that learn the ridge functions. The first hidden layer uses linear activation functions, while the subnetworks typically consist of multiple fully-connected layers and use nonlinear activation functions. xNNs can be used by themselves as explainable predictive models built directly from data. They can also be used as surrogate models to explain other nonparametric models, such as tree-based methods and feedforward neural networks. The 2018 paper on xNNs comes from Wells Fargo. Explainable boosting machine As I mentioned when I reviewed Azure AI and Machine Learning, Microsoft has released the InterpretML package as open source and has incorporated it into an Explanation dashboard in Azure Machine Learning. Among its many features, InterpretML has a glassbox model from Microsoft Research called the explainable boosting machine (EBM). EBM was designed to be as accurate as random forest and boosted trees while also being easy to interpret. Its a generalized additive model, with some refinements. EBM learns each feature function using modern machine learning techniques such as bagging and gradient boosting. The boosting procedure is restricted to train on one feature at a time in round-robin fashion using a very low learning rate so that feature order does not matter. It can also detect and include pairwise interaction terms. The implementation, in C++ and Python, is parallelizable. Supersparse linear integer model Supersparse linear integer model (SLIM) is an integer programming problem that optimizes direct measures of accuracy (the 0-1 loss) and sparsity (the l0-seminorm) while restricting coefficients to a small set of coprime integers. SLIM can create data-driven scoring systems, which are useful in medical screening. Reverse time attention model The reverse time attention (RETAIN) model is an interpretable predictive model for electronic health records (EHR) data. RETAIN achieves high accuracy while remaining clinically interpretable. Its based on a two-level neural attention model that detects influential past visits and significant clinical variables within those visits (e.g. key diagnoses). RETAIN mimics physician practice by attending the EHR data in a reverse time order so that recent clinical visits are likely to receive higher attention. The test data discussed in the RETAIN paper predicted heart failure based on diagnoses and medications over time. Bayesian deep learning Bayesian deep learning (BDL) offers principled uncertainty estimates from deep learning architectures. Basically, BDL helps to remedy the issue that most deep learning models cant model their uncertainty by modeling an ensemble of networks with weights drawn from a learned probability distribution. BDL typically only doubles the number of parameters. Local interpretable model-agnostic explanations Local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) is a post-hoc technique to explain the predictions of any machine learning classifier by perturbing the features of an input and examining the predictions. The key intuition behind LIME is that it is much easier to approximate a black-box model by a simple model locally (in the neighborhood of the prediction we want to explain), as opposed to trying to approximate a model globally. It applies both to the text and image domains. The LIME Python package is on PyPI with source on GitHub. Its also included in InterpretML. Accumulated local effects Accumulated local effects (ALE) describe how features influence the prediction of a machine learning model on average, using the differences caused by local perturbations within intervals. ALE plots are a faster and unbiased alternative to partial dependence plots (PDPs). PDPs have a serious problem when the features are correlated. ALE plots are available in R and in Python. Partial dependence plots A partial dependence plot (PDP or PD plot) shows the marginal effect one or two features have on the predicted outcome of a machine learning model, using an average over the dataset. Its easier to understand PDPs than ALEs, although ALEs are often preferable in practice. The PDP and ALE for a given feature often look similar. PDP plots in R are available in the iml, pdp, and DALEX packages; in Python, they are included in Scikit-learn and PDPbox. Christoph Molnar ICE plots for bicycle rentals. From Interpretable Machine Learning by Christoph Molnar. CC Individual conditional expectation plots Individual conditional expectation (ICE) plots display one line per instance that shows how the instances prediction changes when a feature changes. Essentially, a PDP is the average of the lines of an ICE plot. Individual conditional expectation curves are even more intuitive to understand than partial dependence plots. ICE plots in R are available in the iml, ICEbox, and pdp packages; in Python, they are available in Scikit-learn. Surrogate models A global surrogate model is an interpretable model that is trained to approximate the predictions of a black box model. Linear models and decision tree models are common choices for global surrogates. To create a surrogate model, you basically train it against dataset features and the black box model predictions. You can evaluate the surrogate against the black box model by looking at the R-squared between them. If the surrogate is acceptable, then you can use it for interpretation. Explainable AI at DARPA DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has an active program on explainable artificial intelligence managed by Dr. Matt Turek. From the programs website (emphasis mine): The Explainable AI (XAI) program aims to create a suite of machine learning techniques that: Produce more explainable models, while maintaining a high level of learning performance (prediction accuracy); and Enable human users to understand, appropriately trust, and effectively manage the emerging generation of artificially intelligent partners. New machine-learning systems will have the ability to explain their rationale, characterize their strengths and weaknesses, and convey an understanding of how they will behave in the future. The strategy for achieving that goal is to develop new or modified machine-learning techniques that will produce more explainable models. These models will be combined with state-of-the-art human-computer interface techniques capable of translating models into understandable and useful explanation dialogues for the end user. Our strategy is to pursue a variety of techniques in order to generate a portfolio of methods that will provide future developers with a range of design options covering the performance-versus-explainability trade space. Google Clouds Explainable AI The Google Cloud Platform offers Explainable AI tools and frameworks that work with its AutoML Tables and AI Platform services. These tools help you to understand feature attributions and visually investigate model behavior using the What-If Tool. IDG Feature attribution overlays from a Google image classification model. AI Explanations give you a score that explains how each factor contributed to the final result of the model predictions. The What-If Tool lets you investigate model performances for a range of features in your dataset, optimization strategies, and even manipulations to individual datapoint values. Continuous evaluation lets you sample the prediction from trained machine learning models deployed to AI Platform and provide ground truth labels for prediction inputs using the continuous evaluation capability. The Data Labeling Service compares model predictions with ground truth labels to help you improve model performance. Whenever you request a prediction on AI Platform, AI Explanations tells you how much each feature in the data contributed to the predicted result. H2O.ais machine learning interpretability H2O Driverless AI does explainable AI with its machine learning interpretability (MLI) module. This capability in H2O Driverless AI employs a combination of techniques and methodologies such as LIME, Shapley, surrogate decision trees, and partial dependence in an interactive dashboard to explain the results of both Driverless AI models and external models. In addition, the auto documentation (AutoDoc) capability of Driverless AI provides transparency and an audit trail for Driverless AI models by generating a single document with all relevant data analysis, modeling, and explanatory results. This document helps data scientists save time in documenting the model, and it can be given to a business person or even model validators to increase understanding and trust in Driverless AI models. DataRobots human-interpretable models DataRobot, which I reviewed in December 2020, includes several components that result in highly human-interpretable models: Model Blueprint gives insight into the preprocessing steps that each model uses to arrive at its outcomes, helping you justify the models you build with DataRobot and explain those models to regulatory agencies if needed. Prediction Explanations show the top variables that impact the models outcome for each record, allowing you to explain exactly why your model came to its conclusions. The Feature Fit chart compares predicted and actual values and orders them based on importance, allowing you to evaluate the fit of a model for each individual feature. The Feature Effects chart exposes which features are most impactful to the model and how changes in the values of each feature affect the models outcomes. DataRobot works to ensure that models are highly interpretable, minimizing model risk and making it easy for any enterprise to comply with regulations and best practices. Dataikus interpretability techniques Dataiku provides a collection of various interpretability techniques to better understand and explain machine learning model behavior, including: Global feature importance: Which features are most important and what are their contributions to the model? Partial dependence plots: Across a single features values, what is the models dependence on that feature? Subpopulation analysis: Do model interactions or biases exist? Individual prediction explanations (SHAP, ICE): What is each features contribution to a prediction for an individual observation? Interactive decision trees for tree-based models: What are the splits and probabilities leading to a prediction? Model assertions: Do the models predictions meet subject matter expert intuitions on known and edge cases? Machine learning diagnostics: Is my methodology sound, or are there underlying problems like data leakage, overfitting, or target imbalance? What-if analysis: Given a set of inputs, what will the model predict, why, and how sensitive is the model to changing input values? Model fairness analysis: Is the model biased for or against sensitive groups or attributes? Explainable AI is finally starting to receive the attention it deserves. We arent quite at the point where glassbox models are always preferred over black box models, but were getting close. To fill the gap, we have a variety of post-hoc techniques for explaining black box models. InsurTech NY, a resource for the InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced the launch of its Insurance Collaboration Index. Based on input from InsurTech executives, the index scores insurance and reinsurance companies on their willingness and ability to partner with startup insurance technology companies. It provides a measure of how easy it is for a carrier and a startup to work together. Carriers are evaluated on executive buy-in and sponsorship, competent project management, clear objectives, effective communications and other factors. In addition to providing startups input about potential partners, survey results will help carriers assess how prepared they are to work with startups across a range of criteria and offer insights to strengthen their policies and procedures. Led by InsurTech NY founders Tony Lew and David Gritz, the project draws on the expertise of an advisory board representing a cross-section of the insurance and innovation ecosystems. Phase I of the project, which is now underway, is data collection. InsurTech NY is surveying executives from more than 200 InsurTech companies about their experiences working with various carriers and reinsurers. Survey participants will have early access to the results and will receive a customized report to help them optimize their choices of partners. InsurTech NY supports the insurance innovation community in the New York metro area. Founded in 2019, InsurTech NY brings together carriers, brokers, investors and InsurTech startups via bi-monthly programs. Source: InsurTech NY Topics InsurTech Tech New York Connecticuts Paragon Insurance Holdings Hires Koller Paragon Insurance Holdings hired Duffy Koller as president of its newly formed casualty excess and surplus practice. In this role, he will focus on construction, manufacturing and distribution, as well as premises liability on a primary and excess basis. Prior to joining Paragon, Koller served as head of North American excess and surplus for AmTrust Financial Services. Paragon Insurance Holdings is an insurance agency based in Avon, Connecticut. Source: Paragon Insurance Holdings New Yorks Preferred Mutual Insurance Company Promotes Sander, Lopata Preferred Mutual Insurance Company (PMIC) promoted R. Benedikt Sander to the role of president and CEO and Jeffrey M. Lopata to chief operating officer and executive vice president, effective January 1, 2022. PMICs current CEO, Christopher P. Taft, will be retiring but will become the chairman of the companys board of directors, replacing Robert A. Wadsworth, who will continue to support PMIC as a member of the board. Sander, who joined PMIC in June 2019, has been serving as executive vice president of insurance operations and has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the insurance industry. In his time at PMIC, he has championed strategies to improve company growth and profitability as well as initiatives that foster strong relationships with employees, agents and business partners. Lopata, who has been serving as executive vice president and chief strategy officer, has been a driving force behind PMICs strategic planning initiatives and across several key areas of the company during his 17-year tenure, including information technology, enterprise project management and the development of business strategies and services. Preferred Mutual Insurance Company provides property/casualty insurance coverage to more than 232,000 individual and business customers through a network of more than 500 independent agents throughout New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In business since 1896, Preferred Mutual is headquartered in New Berlin, New York. Source: Preferred Mutual Global insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced it has acquired two agencies: Grand Cayman-based Briat Insurance Ltd. and UK-based Manchester Underwriting Agencies Limited. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Established in 2012, Briat Insurance Ltd. is a retail insurance broker offering commercial, professional, homeowners and health insurance coverages in the Cayman Islands. Clive Dawson, Jonathon Coleman and their associates will remain in their current location under the direction of Matthew Pragnell, CEO of Gallagher Caribbean Group. Gallagher noted that Briat has particular strengths in professional lines, larger commercial accounts and high-net-worth homes. The firm has also been a partnetin Gallagher Global Network partner, an international network of advisors and local brokers with industry expertise, for nearly a decade. Gallagher also announced that its specialist underwriting subsidiary, Pen Underwriting, has acquired 100% of UK-based Manchester Underwriting Agencies Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary, Manchester Underwriting Management Limited. Founded in 2010 by Charles Manchester as a specialist underwriting agency, Manchester Underwriting Management has grown organically and through acquisitions into a multi-class, full-service managing general agent with five locations in the UK. MUM specializes in professional indemnity and management liability coverages for small-to-medium businesses through its independent retail broker clients. Manchester is chairman of the UK Managing General Agents Association. The business will become part of Pen Underwriting and Charles Manchester will continue to lead MUM. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company has operations in 57 countries. Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co Topics Mergers Underwriting A.J. Gallagher Major banks in Britain made a slight dent in their gender pay gaps last year, according to a Reuters analysis, though industry observers say they still have a long way to go. Several insurers went backwards. Companies in Britain with more than 250 employees have been required to publish the difference between the pay and bonuses of their male and female employees since 2017. They got a reprieve last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic though many still filed data and had an extra six months to publish data for 2019/2020. The deadline is Oct. 5. The financial services sector has typically shown one of the largest gender pay gaps in Britain, often attributed to a lack of women in senior jobs. Reuters collated pay gap data from 21 major financial institutions, which showed a narrowing in their average mean gender pay gap of just 0.4 percentage points to 33.4% in the year to April 2020, from 33.8% in 2019. Banks alone had a pay gap which narrowed by one percentage point. The mean average gender pay gap for all UK employers in the year ending April 2019 was 14.6%. The UKs financial services industry has often been singled out, said Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute. It really does have to get its house in order the industry is a huge employer in the UK and it has a real opportunity to lead by example. Goldman Sachs had the widest gender pay gap in the year to April 2020 among the companies surveyed by Reuters, though the gap narrowed more than at other banks compared with a year earlier. Goldman posted a gender pay gap of 51.8%, a tightening of 1.4 percentage points. The bank told staff in a memo in April that narrowing the gap further was a critical priority and its firmwide goal was to have 40% representation of women at vice president level by 2025. There is clearly more still to be done, a spokesperson for banking lobby group UK Finance said, adding many of its members had committed to the governments Women in Finance Charter. FTSE 100 insurers Prudential, Legal & General and M&G reported a widening in their pay gaps, according to government filings and company reports. Prudentials UK gender pay gap widened to 45.2% from 40.3%, which the Asia-focused insurer attributed in its latest gender pay gap report at least in part to the spin-out of its UK life insurer and asset manager M&G in 2019. However, M&G also reported a widening in its pay gap in the most recent year, to 30.5% from 25%. We are determined to narrow our gender pay gap and will do this by achieving better representation of women in all roles at all levels of our organization, especially in leadership positions, an M&G spokesperson said by email. Legal & Generals mean gender pay gap widened to 30.8% from 27.6%. Legal & General is tackling the underlying causes of its pay gap by creating a more diverse workforce and a more inclusive culture through sustained, long-term action, the insurer said in its latest gender pay report. Among the large firms surveyed by Reuters, only insurer Admiral had a gender pay gap lower than the most recently published average across all sectors. Admiral had a gender pay gap last year of 12.8%. The 21 firms surveyed were Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Standard Chartered, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs International, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, PGMS (a Phoenix unit), abrdn, Schroder Investment Management, St Jamess Place, Legal & General, Prudential, Admiral Group, Aviva and M&G. (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Iain Withers; editing by Jan Harvey) Topics Carriers This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Ed Bermuda, Mosaic Insurance and Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI). A summary of these new hires follows here. Ed Bermuda Names Marshs Juul as Head of Casualty Ed, the London-based reinsurance, wholesale and specialty broker, announced the appointment of Kristina Juul as head of casualty, Bermuda. She will report to Colin Kelley, head of liability Ed Broking Bermuda. Juul, who will join on Nov. 1, brings with her more than 13 years of industry experience, and has held senior positions in both the Bermuda and London markets. Most recently, she was senior vice president, Bermuda, at Marsh. Prior to this, Juul was a divisional director, casualty at BMS, specializing in energy. Paul Scope, executive director Ed Broking Bermuda commented: We are delighted to welcome Kristina to our team. A talented Bermudian with international experience, she will galvanize our casualty offering to independent brokers and their clients. Im particularly looking forward to working with Kristina in developing our energy practice. A leading Lloyds broker, Ed is currently part of the insurance operations of BGC Partners and is set to join The Ardonagh Group as part of its acquisition announced in May 2021(subject to regulatory approval). Ardonagh Group is the UKs largest independent broking group and a top 20 broker globally. *** Mosaic Hires Jones From Liberty Specialty Markets to Lead Product Development Specialty underwriter Liam Jones has joined Mosaic Insurance to focus on the startups global product innovation and insurtech strategy. Based in London, Jones is senior vice president, head of Business Development. He reports to Mosaic co-founder and co-CEO Mark Wheeler and serves as a member of the leadership team. The role covers a broad remit that will see him leading activity to enhance existing coverage and address emerging exposures through the evolution of new products across the firms specialty lines. He will drive strong integration between underwriting and technology, working closely with all product units to enhance Mosaics pioneering insurtech platform. With 15 years experience in the global specialty underwriting sector, Jones has worked in the Lloyds, U.S., and Bermuda markets. Previously, he served as head of underwriting strategy for Liberty Specialty Markets, where he also ran the financial lines, healthcare, and special risks divisions. He is a mentor in the Lloyds Lab incubator and holds advisory board positions at several insurtech companies. Liam has an outstanding reputation as a highly-regarded specialty underwriter. He is an innovator and strategic thinker with a strong sense of purpose, well known for his commitment to harnessing technology and the development and creation of new specialty products, said Wheeler. Mosaic combines Lloyds Syndicate 1609 with a wholly owned syndicated capital management agency, enabling the company to identify, source and underwrite business on behalf of itself and trade-capital partners. Its six select product lines launched to date include coverage for transactional liability, cyber security, political risk, political violence, financial institutions, and professional liability. *** BHSI Promotes Browne and Maxwell for UK and Europe Leadership Roles Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced it has promoted Hilary Browne to the additional role of regional executive, UK and Europe, and Vanessa Maxwell to the additional role of country manager, UK. Browne will work closely with Chris Colahan, head of UK & Europe, serving as deputy head of BHSI in the UK and Europe, and leading portfolio-level underwriting initiatives and business development across the region. She will continue to serve as head of Casualty for Europe and country manager for Ireland as she assumes the newly created role of regional executive for UK and Europe. Browne joined BHSI in 2019 and has more than 20 years of insurance industry experience. As country manager, Maxwell will lead BHSIs underwriting, claims and customer and broker engagement in the UK. She joined BHSI in 2017 as head of Professional Indemnity & Cyber Liability and ascended to head of Executive & Professional Lines, UK, in 2019. She will retain that role along with her new position. Topics Excess Surplus Europe Casualty Bermuda 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. 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 years-long federal investigation were made public 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 departments 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 by Steve Kinkade, a spokesman at Firestones 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. 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. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana Abuse Molestation Pollution The redevelopment of the historic Jung Hotel and Residences in downtown New Orleans flooded four times before renovations were complete. The two insurers that issued a builders risk policy for the project thought they had limited their risk, but a decision by a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals may cost them more than $12 million. The 5th Circuit reversed a district courts ruling that no coverage was owed because the flood deductible was more than the amount of damages claimed. The appellate panel ruled that because the policy was ambiguous, the trial court must determine whether extrinsic evidence resolves the ambiguity. It also directed the district court to decide whether the usual presumption that coverage is owed when a policy is ambiguous should apply in the case. We set no limits on what proceedings the district court should conduct on remand, and we do not mean to intimate what decisions it should reach, the opinion says. Starr Surplus Lines Co. and Lexington Insurance Co. in 2015 sold a builders risk policy to McDonnel Group, the general contractor hired to renovate the Jung Hotel and Residences on Canal Street. The hotel was built in 1908 as a ten-story structure and then expanded with an 18-story addition in 1925. The hotel was listed on the Register of Historic Places, but had been a vacant eyesore for much of the past 30 years. Heavy rains caused flooding on the construction site four times: on March 10, April 21, July 22 and Aug. 5, 2017. McDonnel filed a notice of loss to the insurers claiming damages of $3,226,164.30. Our owner invested $145 million in this property in an effort to show his enthusiasm and commitment to the city of New Orleans and rejuvenating this end of Canal Street, and yet this area continues to flood, general manager Mark Wilson told Fox8 News in July 2017. He said summer rains dumped a foot and a half of water in the hotel lobby. Starr and Lexington denied the developers claims. The insurers say a flood deductible in the policy requires coverage only when damages exceed 5% of the total insured values. The policy valued the project at $86,086,833. The building was 80% complete at the time of the flood, so the value at the time of the loss was $68,860,506, the insurers contended. The insurers argued the deductible was 5% of that amount, or $3,443,475, so the damages were not great enough to trigger coverage. McDonnel, Mechanical Construction co., Jung L.L.C and All Star Electric each which were insured by the policy, filed separate lawsuits. They said the deductible was $500,000. The policy language that limited coverage to 5% of the insured value should be interpreted to mean 5% of the flood insurance obtained, the plaintiffs argue. They say Starr and Lexington should have paid $2,726,164.30 the amount of damage less 5% of the amount insured. When the insurers refused to pay, all four companies filed lawsuits that seek coverage for more than the amount lost because of the insurers alleged bad faith. Jung, the hotel owner, claims damages of more than $12 million. McDonnel is seeking more than $5 million. U.S. District Judge Greg Gerard Guidry, with the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans, consolidated the four lawsuits. He found the policy was clear and unambiguous and granted partial summary judgment to the insurers on that point. The plaintiffs appealed. The 5th Circuit panel said the flood deductible could be interpreted to mean what the insurers say it means, but also could be understood the way the plaintiffs read it. The policy is ambiguous, the opinion says. The panel said previous decisions have established that insurable values are something different than insured values. Insurance policies often limit risk according to insurable values, or the amount that could have been insured. McDonnels policy based the deductible on the insured value, which means total value for which the insured actually purchased coverage. Typically, Louisiana courts presume that coverage is owned to a plaintiff when an insurance policy is ambiguous. But there is an exception to that maxim where the insured is a sophisticated commercial entity that itself drafts or utilizes its agents to secure desired policy provisions, the opinion says. In those instances, the court can look to extrinsic evidence meaning testimony or documents that are not a part of the insurance contract to determine intent. The panel opinion says the plaintiffs and defendants both presented documents to support their interpretations, but the trial court never considered them because he found that the policy was clear and unambiguous. The appellate panel directed the trial court to decide whether the presumption should apply. If he determines that the plaintiffs are sophisticated parties exempt from the presumption, he must examine the extrinsic evidence to decide who has the correct interpretation. We are pleased with the Fifth Circuits ruling and look forward to returning to the trial court to try this matter, stated plaintiffs attorney James M. Garner, with Sher Garner Cahill Richter Klein & Hilbert, in an emailed statement. Topics Carriers Flood The U.S. Justice Department said five subsidiaries of West Texas Gas Inc. will spend $8 million on fines and compliance measures to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations and claims resulting from fatal chemical accidents. The companies will pay up to $5 million on compliance measures and more than $3 million in civil penalties to resolve claims stemming from fatal chemical accidents and accident prevention program violations. In a related criminal case, another West Texas Gas subsidiary that operated a gas plant in Big Lake, Texas Big Lake Gas Plant L.P. pleaded guilty to one count of negligent endangerment and one count of violating the Clean Air Act. The settlement requires the subsidiaries to take steps to prevent chemical accidents and improve safety at eight natural gas processing plants that the companies own and operate. Seven plants are located in Texas and one is in New Mexico. The plants use a variety of chemical processes containing toxic substances and flammable hydrocarbons, such as butane, methane and propane. The civil complaint alleges that WTG Gas Processing L.P., WTG South Permian Midstream LLC and Davis Gas Processing Inc. violated section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act and the related chemical accident prevention regulations. The EPA identified the Clean Air Act violations addressed in todays settlement during a series of inspections of the companies natural gas processing plants. The EPA inspections were initiated after a catastrophic fire in November 2015 killed an employee at WTG Gas Processing L.P.s East Vealmoor Gas Plant in Coahoma, Texas. Thousands of pounds of flammable and toxic substances were also released into the air. Other serious fires, resulting in millions of dollars of damage, occurred at some of the companies other plants, and an August 2018 leak of toxic hydrogen sulfide resulted in the death of another company employee in Big Lake, Texas. Under the settlement, the companies must hire an outside, independent engineering firm to recommend actions that the companies will complete to improve process safety at six of the eight plants. The six plants must also implement an environmental management system to improve their compliance with all federal, state and local air pollution related requirements, not just those dealing with preventing chemical accidents. The companies have elected to permanently shut down the remaining two plants. Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act and the risk management program regulations contain a comprehensive set of requirements to prevent accidental releases of hazardous air pollutants, an important objective of the Clean Air Act. These regulations require owners and operators of facilities, such as natural gas processing plants, chemical plants and petroleum refineries to perform adequate and timely equipment inspections and repairs, train employees involved in the operation and maintenance of equipment, evaluate the hazards of the chemical processing equipment and ensure that operating procedures contain clear and comprehensive instructions to safely operate process equipment. In the related criminal case against Big Lake Gas Plant L.P. arising out of the August 2018 leak, the plant admitted that it negligently released hydrogen sulfide into the ambient air. Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic gas that can compromise the human nervous system and respiratory tract and can cause life-threatening health effects if not handled properly. One employee died as a result of exposure sustained while working at the plant, and another employee was injured. The company further admitted that it knowingly failed to properly update its risk management plan following the incident, an update required by law. Under the terms of its plea agreement, the plant agreed to pay a $3 million fine, and acknowledged it may be ordered to pay restitution to victims, as well as the costs of supervision. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Taylor prosecuted the criminal case. The settlement was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. Source: U.S. Department of Justice Topics Texas A Miami judge has approved the contingent sale of the Surfside, Florida, property where a 12-story condominium building collapsed in June, killing 98 people. A Dubai-based billionaire bid $120 million to buy the property, although an auction may be held later if others appear willing to bid a higher price, according to local news reports. Most of the proceeds of the sale are expected to go to families of victims of the collapse of Champlain Towers South, which has been called the deadliest structural failure in U.S. history. Another $50 million is expected to come from insurance coverage. At a hearing last week, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman counseled family members of the victims 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. The likely high bidder on the property was billionaire Hussain Sajwani, of the Dubai-based DAMAC Properties. The firms website calls the company a luxury real estate firm, founded in 2002, that has a number of high-end properties in South Florida. The bid came in well above the $95 million appraisal value, news reports said. The proposed sale agreement does not mention a memorial that some victims family members have lobbied for at the site. The sale will have to be signed off on by attorney Michael Goldberg, the appointed receiver for the condominium association. Topics Property Training Development Cyberattacks may affect more than organizations pocketbooks. They can also hinder a hospitals care during a crucial moment, a lawsuit filed in Mobile, Alabama, claims. The mother of a child who was born during the midst of a 2019 cyberattack argues that Springhill Hospital and a physician failed to notify her about the severity of the cyberattack or that it had crippled electronic systems. That meant the doctor could not properly monitor the childs condition, according to the lawsuit, which was reported by the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal. The child, Nicko Silar, developed severe brain injuries and died after months of intensive care. The mother, Teiranni Kidd, said she would have had the delivery at another hospital had she known of the computer systems shut down, the complaint reads. The hospital has blamed the physician, Dr. Katelyn Braswell Parnell, saying she 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 doing anything that harmed the child. Springhill Hospital 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, a local TV station reported at the time. It was not reported what type of cyber insurance the hospital had, or who the carrier is. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Cyber Claims Since the pandemic began, most of the COVID-19-related business interruption disputes have not gone in favor of the policyholders, especially in federal court. More than 90% of motions to dismiss in federal lawsuits, in fact, have been upheld in cases heard. Some legal experts are now wondering if that trend is about to bend in the other direction. One case in particular, in North Carolina federal court, involving a major health care network, is far from adjudicated and has not made it to the appellate level. But it could turn out to be a chink in insurers armor and, perhaps, a blueprint for other COVID-damaged policyholders to follow, some say. I agree that this case is significant, especially in light of the favorable results for policyholders in a similar, state-level lawsuit in North Carolina, said Tom Baker, an insurance law scholar and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Because Novant is a major player, with 700 health care centers, including 15 hospitals, hundreds of outpatient and physician clinics, and more than 29,000 employees, and has asked for millions of dollars in insurance payments, the insurance industry is watching closely. I think Novant and the other cases out there that have gone the same way are harbingers of a change in the insurers fortunes on motions to dismiss these cases, said attorney Andy Lundberg, managing director of Burford Capital, which finances a variety of insurance coverage lawsuits. In Novant Health Inc. vs. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Co., a Zurich subsidiary, U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles last month declined to dismiss the lawsuit as American Guarantee had requested. The judges order highlights a number of evolving issues in COVID lawsuits from conflicting policy language to the definition of physical damages to the role of federal courts in state-regulated insurance matters. The suit also shows how COVID litigation has changed over the past 18 months, Lundberg pointed out. While many plaintiff-policyholders initially claimed physical damage to the property in an attempt to get around a virus exclusion, Novant and others are now taking a more nuanced approach, noting that the SARS-Cov-2 virus damages the very air that patients and employees must breathe. I think well see further refinement of the air-is-property-that-is-damaged argument, both through factual evidence and scientific expert opinion and through further legal analysis, said Lundberg, who previously was head of insurance recovery practice at the international law firm of Latham & Watkins. The initial success that insurers had in having suits dismissed, he added, was due in part to the fact that many of the cases may have been low-hanging fruit, with some lacking strong arguments by policyholders. In the Novant case, though, American Guarantee may have hurt its own position because of a contradictory or even sloppily written policy. Thats something that other insurers have been guilty of and should scrutinize in policies going forward, attorneys said. The judge noted that while American Guarantee, also known as AGLIC, did not pay the claim, direct physical loss is not actually defined in the policy. The insurer likely should have known that even before the pandemic, courts struggled with defining physical loss in insurance policies where the policy left the term undefined, in cases involving asbestos, lead, bacteria, harmful gases and more, Eagles wrote. The Insurance Services Office, a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics, produced robust virus exclusion language as long ago as 2006. I sure wouldnt like to be an underwriter who looked at the ISO exclusion and concluded nah, we dont need this, or I have an idea of how to do it differently,' Lundberg said. Were going to be seeing prolonged battles over the drafting history and ultimate interpretation of these various non-ISO policy forms for years to come. Attorneys for American Guarantee declined to comment on the case. But the Insurance Information Institute isnt worried that the case signals a potential change in heart by the courts. While we have occasionally seen an outlier where a court rules in favor of the insured, allowing a case to move forward, this has not become a trend or changed the direction of courts in other jurisdictions, said Mark Friedlander, the Institutes director of Corporate Communications. The policy language is very clear. Courts across the U.S. have rejected these lawsuits outright, ruling that the presence of COVID-19 does not constitute direct, physical loss or damage to property, which is a requirement to trigger coverage under most business interruption policies. Novant lawyers argued in the complaint that the health care providers properties were left uninhabitable and dangerous because of the risk of spreading COVID-19. Lundberg compared that argument to the issue of carcinogenic radon gas, wondering whether courts would really hold that radon intrusion does not constitute physical damage to buildings. But the biggest obstacle for AGLIC to overcome may be the fact that while the policy contains a virus exclusion, amendatory endorsements appeared to strike the exclusion. The insurer argued that an amendment to the policy applied only to claims connected to Louisiana, but the judge said thats not spelled out in the wording. The carrier included 74 pages of contradictory, irrelevant and immaterial words in Novants policy, for no apparent reason, Eagles noted. And when an insurer includes contradictory provisions in a policy, the general rule in North Carolina is that the matter must be resolved in favor of the policyholder, the judge wrote in her order. The court is not ruling that the virus exclusion does not apply, but in view of the contradictory language in the policy, AGLIC has not met its burden at this stage of the proceedings, she said. The judge also questioned another of AGLICs tactics. The carrier argued that while the policy does allow coverage when a business is interrupted by communicable disease, that issue is not yet ripe for resolution. Why? Because AGLIC has not yet denied that part of Novants claim, the insurer said. Novant responded that the policy itself requires the policyholder to file suit within a year of filing a claim, which it did. AGLIC included the provision requiring that suit be filed within one year, and it cannot object when an insured follows the policy requirement, the judge wrote. The dispute is ripe. Lundberg noted that its not unusual for insurers to hold off on denying or paying a claim, for tactical legal reasons and to continue to earn interest on premium revenue. On a jurisdictional issue, the Novant case highlights the whole federal versus state court venue question, which has sparked debate among legal scholars. Of the more than 2,000 COVID-related business interruption lawsuits filed in state and federal courts, insurers have fared better in the federal arena, according to a litigation tracker maintained by the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. As of Monday, 123 motions to dismiss had been heard in state courts and almost 75% have been dismissed after a hearing on the merits. That figure is up slightly from 69% reported a month ago. But in federal courts, 483 motions to dismiss have been heard and fully 93% have been fully dismissed. That ratio has remained the same in recent weeks. At least three well-known law professors around the country have voiced concerns about the federal courts practice of reviewing then dismissing suits that might best be suited for state courts, the University of Pennsylvanias Baker noted. Three insurance law professors have criticized the federal courts for using their larger coterie of clerks and smaller caseloads to usurp the primacy of state, rather than federal, courts in deciding highly consequential and contested questions of state insurance law,' Baker wrote in a blog last month. One professor, Daniel Schwarcz of the University of Minnesota has recommended that states empower their regulators or attorneys general to request that federal courts should certify coverage disputes to the states supreme courts. After all, federal law makes it clear that states, not the federal government, should regulate the business of insurance. Lundberg said its not entirely clear why federal judges have accepted so many COVID-related disputes against insurers, instead of certifying them back to states supreme courts. One reason may be that insurers have seen the track record in federal courts and have continued to move many business interruption cases to that venue. But federal case law is still evolving in this area. Im very concerned that a lot of policyholders will suffer final judgments against them, and then wake up four or five years from now and find out that the federal courts made the wrong prediction about how the law would play out, Lundberg said. Topics Lawsuits COVID-19 Claims North Carolina A Florida appeals court has reversed a trial judge, finding that a homeowners State Farm policy did not cover damages from a septic tank leak because of a fungus endorsement on the policy. In State Farm Florida Insurance Co. vs. Gonzalez and Diaz, the 2nd District Court of Appeal remanded the case to the lower court, noting that the trial judge had failed to consider the endorsement that excluded damage from mold and fungus. We conclude that the policy, when considered with the endorsement, specifically excludes fungus-related damages and that the trial court therefore erred in ruling that the fungus-related damages are covered under the resulting loss language, appeal court Chief Judge Robert Morris wrote in an opinion posted this week. The 2nd District covers the Tampa area and Floridas southwest coast. The case originated in Hendry County. The claim began in 2016, when the homeowners sustained damage to their home from a septic tank overflow. The insureds, Orlinda Gonzalez and Harmodio Diaz, filed a claim for almost $70,000, but State Farm paid just $6,230 and ordered an appraisal. The appraisal determined that the home had fungus-related damages of more than $39,000. State Farm told the homeowners that most of the damage was not covered because of the fungus exclusion endorsement. The residents, after filing a breach-of-contract suit, argued that the resulting loss language of the policy applied, that not all damages were due to fungus, that State Farm had waived its defenses by invoking the appraisal process, and the appraisal found significant damage. The trial judge, Hendry County Circuit Judge James Sloan, found that the damages were covered. The fungus-related damages were a resulting loss from the septic tank overflow and that the [insureds] are entitled to recover those damages under the policy, Sloan wrote. The appeal court disagreed and found that case law dictates that an insurance policy must be read as a whole, giving every provision its full meaning and effect. State Farm did not waive coverage defenses by invoking the appraisal process, the 2nd DCA noted. Topics Florida Profit Loss It started out as a relatively minor automobile accident a decade ago. Now, after multiple appeals and more than a million dollars spent on expert witnesses, a Florida appeals court has again remanded a State Farm assignment-of-benefits case to the trial court. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance vs. Nob Hill Family Chiropractic, the 4th District Court of Appeal decided that the trial court erred in excluding two State Farm expert witnesses. The case began when Kenrick Grant was rear-ended in Broward County, on Floridas bustling southeast coast. He was treated by a chiropractor and he assigned the personal injury protection benefits to the provider. The chiropractor, Michael Cohen, balked when State Farm did not make proper payment. Over the next 10 years, litigation ensued over whether the chiropractors treatment was reasonable and necessary. A county judge twice decided in the doctors favor, but an intermediate appeals court twice reversed the judgment. State Farms accident reconstructionist, referred to only as Dr. Bain, is a biomechanical engineer and a medical doctor. He found, based on photos and accident reports, that Grant was involved in a very low speed rear-end motor vehicle collision . . . [and] was not subjected to forces or accelerations that would cause injury. In a Daubert hearing, which challenges the experts qualifications, the chiropractor called Bains testimony semi-junk science. The trial court then rejected Bains conclusions, saying he testified about a medical condition without having examined the patient. On a second expert witness, Dr. Mathesie, who examined the medical necessity of the chiropractors treatment, State Farm did not respond in a timely manner to the chiropractors discovery interrogatories. The carrier blamed the delay in part on Hurricane Irma, which struck parts of Florida in 2017. Finally, when State Farm did comply, the amounts it said it had paid to the witness some $1.3 million over four years differed from other accounts. Nonetheless, the trial court rejected the insurers response, saying State Farm had failed to comply with court orders and provided inaccurate and unverified information. The judge entered a verdict in the chiropractors favor. The 4th DCA found that Broward County Judge Florence Taylor Barner had abused her discretion in failing to make specific, factual findings about the suitability of Bains testimony. On the second expert, the appeals court quoted case law and said that excluding testimony solely because of discovery violations was a drastic remedy. Ultimately, the trial court struck Dr. Mathesie because of the cases age, despite acknowledging that prejudice to provider was curable by a continuance, appeals court Judge Alan Forst wrote. While we understand the trial courts reasoning, striking insurers last remaining expert witness was not an appropriate sanction, as it was not commensurate with the offense. Topics Florida A Lynnwood, Wash., man is suing after police raided his apartment and later determined they had the wrong address. Juan Alberto Castaneda Miranda said agents burst into his apartment in 2018, according to a pair of lawsuits filed in Snohomish County Superior Court and in U.S. District Court in Seattle. He showed the officers his wallet to prove they had the wrong guy. Police didnt listen, the Everett Herald reported. Instead, they reportedly handcuffed Castaneda Miranda and his girlfriend and told him to confess about the drug cartels, the lawsuit said. Castaneda Miranda, a Comcast technician, says he had no idea what they were talking about. A federal judge authorized the search warrant four days prior, to locate controlled substances, drug paraphernalia and records of drug sales. Police tore up the apartment looking for evidence. They came up empty. The officers then acknowledged they were in the wrong apartment, the complaint claims. They gave him claim forms to get reimbursement for the damages to his apartment and car. He said all of his belongings, including his vehicle, were destroyed. He said he had to move. Spokespeople for the Snohomish and King County sheriffs offices, Seattle police and the FBI declined to comment as the litigation is pending. Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Washington I spent some time this year researching home security camera options for my home. I wanted something wireless so that I could select the best spot for a camera without concern about getting a power cord to that location. I wanted something with HomeKit support so that I could use it with my iPhone's Home app and take advantage of Apple's updates to that technology. And my preference was to have a camera that did not upload video to a server controlled by the camera's manufacturer; I have some concerns about the security of online videos from my own house, and that feature isn't necessary for me because I knew that I would have access to Apple's online HomeKit Secure Video feature, which I suspect is more secure than anything offered by a third party. With these preferences in mind, it quickly became clear that one of the models of the eufyCam was the best choice for me. And as you will learn in this review, I'm extremely happy with my purchase. Many security cameras are sold by companies that you have never heard of, so it is nice that eufy is owned by Anker. I've been using Anker products for years, including their cords, batteries, and the very useful PowerPort. Anker launched the eufy brand in 2016 to create home automation products. Having said that, a company with the reputation of Anker should have done a better job with the eufy website. For example, the eufy website says that "HomeKit Secure Video will be available via an update later this year" but that feature actually came out in 2020. Different eufyCam models There are currently four eufyCam models that work with HomeKit: the eufyCam 2 ($247.99), eufyCam 2 Pro ($349.99), eufyCam 2C ($239.99), and eufyCam 2C Pro ($319.99). Those prices include two cameras and the required hub. The 2C and 2C Pro models are less expensive, smaller, have half the battery life, do not contain anti-theft detection in case someone tries to remove the camera (discussed below), but do contain a spotlight so that you can see in color at night. The difference between those two "2C" models is that the 2C Pro has double the resolution (2K instead of 1080p). The eufyCam 2 and 2 Pro camera are longer than the 2C models, which provides space for larger batteries resulting in double the battery life. Unlike the 2C models, the 2 and 2 Pro lack a spotlight, but I saw mixed reviews about the quality of the spotlight, and the infrared night vision camera works well. The difference between the 2 and the 2 Pro is that the 2 Pro has a 2K camera instead of a 1080p camera. I purchased the eufyCam 2 Pro, which I see is currently selling for $349.99 on Amazon, but it was $329.99 when I purchased it a few months ago. If you plan on using HomeKit Secure Video, which I discuss below, you currently cannot take advantage of the 2K camera. HomeKit Secure Video currently only supports 1080p, so once you enable that support, the Pro cameras will limit you to a 1080p mode. Thus, if you plan to use HomeKit Secure Video, think about whether you want to save some money by getting the non-Pro version. I decided to spend the extra money on the eufyCam 2 Pro because I think/hope that Apple might add 2K support to HomeKit Secure Video in the future (although it did not do so when HomeKit was updated in iOS 15). Time will tell whether I didnt need to spend that extra money. In the rest of this review, when I say "eufyCam" I am referring to the eufyCam 2 Pro that I purchased, although much of what I say below should apply to all four models. Setting up the hardware The way to start with eufyCam is to purchase a kit, which comes with three main items: two cameras and the Security HomeBase 2, which is the hub that is required for the cameras to work. Each HomeBase works with up to 16 cameras, so you can purchase and extra cameras to the system if you want. For example, you can purchase an additional eufyCam 2 Pro camera for $139.99 on Amazon. The eufyCam is white on the side and black on the front. If you prefer an all-black look for your camera, you can purchase a black silicone casing ($15.99 for a 2-pack) to cover all parts of the camera except for the front. I think that the white looks good so I didn't purchase or try out the casings. Installing the cameras is so simple that a child could do it. Or at least, a 15-year-old can do it, because my son wanted to install our cameras, and he did a great job. The box includes a sticker to place on a wall to show you exactly where to drill two holes, then you place anchors in the holes and use screws to attach a mount. The eufyCam then connects to the mount by twisting a ring. Loosen it to make the camera point in the desired direction, and then tighten it with your fingers to keep it in that position. The eufyCam has a red status light that comes on when it detects motion. If you dont want the status light to go on, you can disable that feature. Before you install a camera, however, you need to do to things. First, you need to connect the HomeBase to your network using an Ethernet cable. Place each eufyCam close to that HomeBase to pair them. Every step of this is clearly explained in the free eufy Security app that you download to your iPhone from the App Store. After that initial pairing, eufy recommends that you keep the HomeBase connected to your network via an Ethernet cable, but you don't need to do so. You can instead plug the HomeBase into any outlet inside of your home and let the HomeBase use Wi-Fi to communicate with your network. Eufy says that using Wi-Fi instead of Ethernet may add some delay to live streaming. I've been using mine in this configuration and it only takes about two seconds for the live stream to start. It would be nicer to reduce this delay, but I dont have an Ethernet connection in the room in my house where it makes the most sense for me to place the HomeBase. The second step, after your device are paired and charged, is to find the best place to mount the cameras and to place your HomeBase. Placement is an issue because your HomeBase needs to be somewhere in your house where it can communicate with each eufyCam. The trick is to find a single location for the HomeBase in your house that is close enough to both of your cameras that you get a good wireless connection with the cameras. Distance is a factor, but so is the number of walls between the HomeBase and the camera. I tried a few locations in my house until I found the one that works best. I get a strong signal to both cameras in this location, but it did take some trial and error to find that location. Again, the app helps you with this process, telling you how strong the signal is between the camera and the HomeBase so that you can select the optimal location for everything. Eufy says that a HomeBase can cover a house of about 3,000 square feet, although this varies depending upon factors like the thickness and number of walls between a camera and the HomeBase. If for some reason it is impossible for you to find a single place for the HomeBase that works with both of your cameras, you could purchase an additional HomeBase so that two or more cameras communicate with different HomeBase hubs. Having said that, I don't currently see a single HomeBase for sale on Amazon and it is currently listed as sold out on the eufy website, although I suppose you can purchase another HomeBase as a part of a kit if you want additional cameras. Note also that the HomeBase 2 works with a number of products besides eufyCam security cameras. For example, it also works with a smart doorbell sold by eufy, which I purchased and I'll be reviewing in the future. Ive devoted a lot of words to how to configure this system because this is something that I was concerned about before I purchased my system. Fortunately, it was smooth sailing for me. Battery life The eufy website says that a eufyCam 2 Pro can last a full year before needing to be recharged. Every review that Ive read says that actual battery life is much less than that, and I agree. After using my two cameras for almost two months, my front camera is at 35% and my back camera is at 42%. Now admittedly, I used these cameras a ton in the first few weeks to play around with features, so I certainly drained more power than normal use. But I suspect that Ill want to recharge them about once a quarter or so. Fortunately, that is easy to do. You simply twist a part (no tools required) to remove a eufyCam from the mount attached to the side of your house. Then, you use the provided cord (or any micro-USB-to-USB cord) to recharge it. The HomeBase itself has a USB port in the back that can be used for charging. Eufy also sells a solar panel that you can use to provide a constant charge to a eufyCam, but I havent tested that. Using the eufyCam in the eufy Security app When you open the eufy Security app, you see an image from each of your cameras. Often, it is not a live image, but instead, an image from the last time that video was recorded or you initiated a live stream of your cameras. If you tap in the middle of the image, you can watch a live stream of video from that camera, including both audio and video. There are lots of options from this mode. For example, you can tap a button to start recording video or another button to snap a picture. Turn your phone to landscape mode to see the video in full-screen mode. (And of course, if you use the app on an iPad, you get a larger image.) The image quality is excellent, and the wide-angle lens allows you to see a large area at once. There is also a large microphone button at the bottom of the screen. Hold down that button and you can say something and then release the button. In about a second, that audio will be sent to the camera and played on the camera's speaker. In other words, you can use this feature to have a two-way conversation with someone who is in the view of the camera, albeit with some slight delays between when each side speaks. The app also has a button that you can tap to see your recordings, listed by date. Unlike other security cameras that only upload the video to a website run by the manufacturer of the camera with a monthly access fee all of the video recorded by a eufyCam is saved to a 16GB microSD card that is built-in to the HomeBase. Thus, by default, the video is stored at your house, not on a eufy server, and there is no monthly charge. Eufy estimates that 16GB is enough to store video for one month with two cameras, assuming 30 motion detentions per day and 60 seconds of recording each time. (The instructions indicate that you can replace this 16GB card if you want more storage space, but I haven't tried this myself.) My HomeBase has only used 4GB (for both of my cameras) in the past two months, and I still have over 10GB of usable storage space remaining. I'm storing 1080p videos, not 2K, so they are taking up less space, but even so, 16GB seems very generous. If you want eufy to upload your video so that the most recent 30 days of recording are stored on the cloud for a monthly fee, the eufy website does offer this as an option. (The fee is $29.99/year for a single camera or $99.99/year for up to 10 cameras.) But you dont need to do this to access your videos when you are away from home. The app on your iPhone or iPad can communicate with the HomeBase at your home and stream your videos to you. And by not uploading to eufy's server, you are protected if something goes wrong with that server. Although you can typically access your videos directly from your HomeBase, that does assume that you have power and internet at your house. My house lost power during Hurricane Ida on Sunday, August 29, 2021. We evacuated to Alabama, and while there like everyone else from the New Orleans area we kept wondering when the power would come back on. On Friday, September 3, 2021, I got a notification of motion detected in my backyard in New Orleans (which was probably just the system coming back online, not actual motion), and I was thrilled to learn that my home had power. Unfortunately, the power in my neighborhood went right back off a few minutes later, but that was still a very welcome sign of progress. A few days later I received another notification from my eufyCam, and this time the power stayed on. I certainly did not buy a eufyCam as a way to learn whether or not I had electricity at my house, but it came in useful for this purpose. (Because each eufyCam has an internal battery, technically those cameras stayed on the entire time. But since the HomeBase lacked power, there was no way to record video and stream it to the app.) It was nice to be able to check out the front and back of my house even when I was in a different state. A eufyCam does not record video 24/7. As a practical matter, it cannot do that because that would drain the battery incredibly quickly. (If you want 24/7 recording, you need to buy a different type of camera from eufy or another manufacturer that is directly connected to power.) Instead, it only records video when it detects motion. There are lots of different ways to configure when it detects motion and records video. One useful option is to designate a portion of the screen as an activity zone such that motion outside of that zone is not detected. For example, for the camera on my front porch, my activity zone excludes the street and sidewalk in front of my house because I don't need a recording every time a car passes or a person simply walks on the sidewalk in front of my house, but it includes all areas closer to my house. You can also decide whether you want to record video for all motion or only for detecting a human. You can also select the motion detection sensitivity by selecting a number from 1 to 7. When I had the motion sensitivity set to 7, the eufyCam in my backyard would often start recording even if a bird quickly flew by. That ended once I changed the setting to a 4. The app also lets you turn on an optional Anti-Theft Detection mode. When this mode is on, if someone tries to remove the camera, that motion will trigger both the camera itself and the HomeBase to play an alarm. Ive talked about how detecting motion can trigger a recording. But it can also trigger a notification to you, even if you are not at home. You can decide whether the app should notify you immediately, wait a little bit longer to also send you a thumbnail image of what the camera saw, or do both. You can create a schedule for when you receive notifications based on the time and day. You can create one setting for when you are home and one setting for when you are away and then tap a button manually to change between those notification modes. You can use a geofencing feature so that notifications only occur when your iPhone is not at your home. And for each of these modes, you can select to (1) record video, (2) provide you with a push notification, (3) play an alarm on the eufyCams speaker, and/or (4) play an alarm on the HomeBase inside of your home. HomeKit support Although the eufy Security app is useful, you dont have to use it at all, thanks to Apple. Apples HomeKit Secure Video system provides an alternative system for using eufyCam and the HomeBase. Using the Home app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can view and control the cameras, recording, and notification much like you can using the eufy Security app. If you pay for an iCloud+ subscription something that I had already been doing, previously to get extra iCloud space for sharing my photo library, and now because it is part of an AppleOne subscription Apple stores online, in a secure and encrypted way, your last 10 days of video recordings. Unlike the eufy Security app in which you go to a separate screen to see a list of recordings, with HomeKit Secure Video there is a timeline below the camera view and you scroll back and forth to see the parts of the timelines on which there was a recording. You can jump to specific days using the calendar at the top. There are some things that I prefer about HomeKit Secure Video over the eufy app. You have some additional options, such as the ability to be more precise in creating activity zones multiple lines of a polygon instead of a single rectangle. The Home app supports picture-in-picture. Thus, if you want to keep an eye on your front porch as you wait for someone to arrive or wait for a package to be delivered, you create a small, live video window that sits in one corner of your iPad or iPhone screen while you do other things on the device. The Home app supports recording when a person, animal, vehicle, or package is detected. Package detection is new in iOS 15, but I haven't had a package placed on my front porch since iOS 15 was released so I haven't yet tested the feature. HomeKit Secure Video also supports automation. For example, Ive created an automation for my backyard so that if motion is detected between at night, some lights in my backyard come on for a few minutes, and then go off. My thinking is that if I have an intruder, the light may care the bad guy away. Or, if I go to a window or look on my iPhone to investigate, the light will make it easier to see what is going on. Plus, the light improves the quality of the video recording that occurs when there is motion. So far, I'm happy to report that there haven't been any human intruders in my backyard, but one night, a bird landed on my eufyCam. This triggered the motion detector, which turned on the lights, which caused my feathered friend to immediately flee, as you can see in this four-second video: The automation that I'm using is very simple, but you can have a whole series of actions occur when motion is detected, if that is what you want. If you own an Apple TV, using HomeKit Secure Video means that you can see your camera feeds on your TV, with either one camera filling the screen or multiple cameras in different parts of the screen. There is no eufy app for the Apple TV, so if you want to view camera feeds on an Apple TV without sharing the screen of the eufy Security app on an iPhone or iPad, then you need to use HomeKit Secure Video. There is also a difference in when the eufy system and HomeKit record videos. There have been occasions when the eufy system detects motion and records video to the HomeBase but Apple HomeKit did not record a video. There have been fewer occasions when HomeKit recorded a video but not the eufy HomeBase. Even when both systems record a video, the video length can vary between the two systems. Unfortunately, HomeKit Secure Video does not currently support two-way audio. If I want to use a eufyCam to talk to someone on my front porch, I need to use the eufy Security app. And as noted above, HomeKit Secure Video is currently limited to 1080p. Thus, if you enable HomeKit Secure Video, you cannot see 2K video either in the Home app or in the eufy app. So far, 1080p video has been perfect for my needs, and I havent yet had a situation in which I feel that it would have made a difference to see something in a higher resolution. If motion is detected on my back porch, 1080p clear is more than enough for me to see that it is my kids. I'll try 2K if Apple adds support to it in HomeKit, but I may decide that the additional file sizes are not worth it. As you can probably tell by now, what I like most about HomeKit Secure Video is that I can use it and the eufy Security app at the same time. On the rare occasions when one system doesnt detect motion and record video, the other one often will. And when Im looking at a video recording, each system tends to start and stop the video at a different time, so it is nice to have options. Overall impressions My main complaint about the eufyCam is that there have been a few times when I know that motion has occurred but it was not detected, and thus not recorded. Those instances have been rare, but there have been a few. There is also a short delay between when motion is detected and when it is recorded, so I often lose the first second or two of activity. But overall, the system works very well. I love that both my wife and I can use an iPhone, an iPad, a Mac, or an Apple TV to see what is going on in the front or back of my house, regardless of whether anyone is home. My wife and I are already talking about getting one or two more cameras to see some additional areas. It is reassuring that HomeKit Secure Video means that I can upload video, and thus have two different ways to access video (stream directly from the HomeBase or watch use the Home app). At the same time, I don't need to worry about video being uploaded to a server run by a company that I dont know and trust. The picture quality is excellent, and as noted above, I say that even though Im only using 1080p mode. Ive never had trouble seeing what is going on in a live stream or when viewing a recorded video. I also like that when video is recorded by either the eufy App or the Home app, I can view the video and, if I want, export it to save it forever. The automation feature of HomeKit Secure Video is really nice. Whenever I walk in my backyard at night to go to my garage, an automation script causes an outside light to go on for a few minutes, illuminating my backyard for me. Of course, you can also purchase a stand-alone light with a motion detector to attach to your house, but HomeKit works with my existing lights. After testing both notification systems, I find that I am happier with the ones provided by the Home app, so Ive turned off eufy Security notifications. And I have mine configured so that the notifications only play a sound which actually means have my Apple Watch tap my wrist because I have sound turned off at night. I didnt find that I was gaining anything by learning about motion being detected during the day. But if someone is on my front porch or my backyard at night, I want to know about it. On the other hand, my wife prefers to get notifications 24/7, and she has been happy using the eufy Security app for notifications so she hasn't felt the need to explore using the Home app instead. Conclusion Ive been very happy with the eufyCam system. They were simple to install, and they provide a great view of what is going on around my house. Im happy to have them from a security standpoint, although hopefully Ill never have an actual burglar to test the system for me. But the cameras also provide a lot of peace of mind, and they make it easy to see what is going on outside of my house, whether or not Im home. If you own an iPhone and are interested in security cameras, I highly recommend the eufyCam system. Click here to get a eufyCam system from Amazon. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are "coming back online" after the sites were down for several hours on Monday. Users across the globe experienced issues getting on to them from around 5pm. Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp, reported at around 11.30pm that services were coming back online. In a statement on Twitter, the company apologised and said it had been working hard to fix the issue. "To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us." To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us. Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021 Mike Schroepfer, Facebooks chief technology officer, said it may take some time for services to get back to 100%. Mr Schroepfer said: "Facebook services coming back online now - may take some time to get to 100%. To every small and large business, family, and individual who depends on us, I'm sorry." Earlier, the platforms confirmed on Twitter that they were aware of issues and were working to resolve them after thousands of people reported outages shortly before 5pm on Monday. Security experts speculated the problem came following network changes, with the cause still unconfirmed by late Monday evening. Adam Leon Smith, of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and a software testing expert, said: The outage is caused by changes made to the Facebook network infrastructure. Many of the recent high-profile outages have been caused by similar network level events. It is reported by unidentified Facebook sources on Reddit that the network changes have also prevented engineers from remotely connecting to resolve the issues, delaying resolution. Notably, many organisations now define their physical infrastructure as code, but most do not apply the same level of testing rigour when they change that code, as they would when changing their core business logic. Every now and then I fall apart. #FacebookDown pic.twitter.com/jzsWCQXkoZ Bonnie Tyler (@BonnieTOfficial) October 4, 2021 However, cyber security specialist Jake Moore said there is a chance the issue could be related to a cyber attack. He told the PA news agency: There have been many reports and Im struggling to find out exactly what has happened- Im reading it could be DNS related, which means there is an issue with the connection not knowing where to go to your device. It could well be a human error or a software bug lurking in the shadows but whatever it is Facebook needs to do its best to mitigate the problem of causing more panic about this. The biggest problem is fears over a cyber attack but as we saw from Fastly in the summer I would hedge my bets on that not being the case as were talking about one of the biggest companies in the world, but theres always a chance. The New York Times reported the issue likely stemmed from a misconfiguration of Facebooks server computers, which were not letting people connect to its sites like Instagram and WhatsApp. It said the problems appeared to be more complex and required some manual updating. The error message on Facebook's webpage suggested a Domain Name System (DNS) error. DNS allows web addresses to take users to their destinations. DownDetector, a website outage tracker, is showing outages around the world including here in Ireland. Data on its website showed that almost 50,000 people had reported the outages on Facebook. Most complaints cited issues with the website (72%), while others were linked to issues with the server connection and the app. More than 60,000 had complained about WhatsApp, with 43% reporting issues with the app itself, while 28% cited the server connection and 28% relating to sending messages. More than 30,000 Instagram users also had similar complaints, with 51% relating to the app, 26% over the server connection and 23% citing the website. A graph on the DownDetector website showed a clear spike from after 4pm. Facebooks share price plummeted 4.9% amid the outage, which also came the day after a whistleblower claimed in a US interview that the company prioritises its own interests over the public good. The platforms were affected by outages in 2019- in an incident which saw #FacebookDown, #instagramdown and #whatsappdown trending worldwide on Twitter. A few months prior, users of Facebook and Instagram reported being unable to open pages or sections on the apps. Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021 A spokesperson for Facebook said the social media giant is aware of the problem. "Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products," they said. "Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience." Whatsapp said on Twitter: Were aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. Were working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience. Instagram said: Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, were on it. The Chief Technology Officer at Facebook offered sincere apologies to the people who have been impacted by the outages. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible, Mike Schroepfer said in a tweet. The outage is also having an impact on Vodafone Ireland's data network. They tweeted to say: "There is currently a global outage across several social media platforms. This is impacting our data network performance. We will continue to post updates as they become available." The issue also affected other platforms such as Twitter amid an increase in traffic on its website and app. Twitter Support tweeted: Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter. We prepare for these moments, but today things didnt go exactly as planned. Some of you may have had an issue seeing replies and DMs as a result. This has been fixed. Sorry about that! It had earlier joked: Hello literally everyone. Interview Myanmars Civilian Finance Minister Calls on Public to Voluntarily Pay Tax Pro-democracy supporters in Japan fundraise by selling raffle tickets to support Myanmars revolution in August. The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament) the CRPH has approved its Union Taxation Law on September 20 and the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) has encouraged the public, especially businesses, to voluntarily pay taxes. Commercial tax is suspended for the new fiscal year 2021-22 (until next September) and the personal income tax exemption is adjusted to help lower-income families. On Sunday, the NUGs ministry of planning, finance, and foreign investment said taxpayers at home and abroad can begin paying tax online through a self-assessment process. If the junta falls, these taxpayers will be recognized for their civic responsibility and incentives of special tax relief will be considered, the ministry said. The tax is exempt for those families whose income is lower than 1 million kyats (US$534) per month, while the threshold under which the previous tax law was collected was 400,000 kyats a month. NUG projects aim to ease the tax burden on those facing hardships due to military rule, COVID-19 and soaring commodity prices, said U Tin Tun Naing, the NUG minister of planning, finance and foreign investment. Myanmars military has killed more than 1,100 civilians and detained more than 7,000 people since seizing power on February 1. The minister said the NUG, as a legitimate, popular government, acts lawfully when generating revenue. Besides tax revenues, the NUG plans to secure its own source of income by selling bonds and lottery tickets. In an exclusive interview, U Tin Tun Naing elaborates on the NUGs revenue-collection plan in addition to a lottery and donations from fundraising. The new tax law for this year has given a lot of tax breaks to people. Because of that, are you worried about public funds? The NUG seems to need a huge budget to support the people. Can the revenue-collecting plan work? We need a different approach to enact this Union Taxation Law than in the past years. Myanmar is under the terrorist military which looted power from the people. Meanwhile, people are suffering from hardships, including COVID-19. At this time, we should not enact this tax law based solely on our need for income. Therefore, we take every factor into our consideration and make sure the tax law helps the people and reduces the burdens on their daily lives. We consider the strata of the taxable population. While we all are facing military rule, we think pragmatically and that the people can willingly cooperate to pay tax. You have given tax breaks and created other ways to replenish the tax budget. The NUG is selling Spring Lottery tickets. Last month, you said there were about 250,000 confirmed orders of lottery tickets. As the lottery opened on October 1, can you tell us about the actual sales? Yes. The lottery, for which we first announced the winners on October 1, is a pilot project. About 250,000 lottery tickets received confirmed orders from these pilot sales [last month]. However, when the agent contacted the buyers, we could not contact them. Due to a lack of technical knowledge, some of them may not have been able to complete the lottery process successfully. Therefore, some 30-40 percent of the confirmed orders were canceled. The payments from the rest of the lottery tickets sales were successfully transferred to CDM [civil disobedience movement] staff. More than 400,000 civil servants are participating in the CDM. What percentage of the Spring Lottery sales went to the strikers? How many CDM staff received support? The Spring Lottery sales aim is to provide support to the CDM strikers, who exceed 400,000. Even if it is not able to cover the support for all, we intend to support them to some extent. From this trial period, we were able to support some 3,000-4,000 CDM staff. From the 400,000 CDM staff, we have selected those who are most vulnerable and need more support. They are the priority. Therefore, we plan to support those CDM staff in need during the commercial launch of the Spring Lottery this month. Is the pilot project for only one month? Yes. We only sold lottery tickets for 10 days with only an hour per day. When we start the commercial launch, we will sell tickets for at least eight hours a day. We are reviewing the challenges and weaknesses of this pilot project to sell tickets in large numbers. After the review, we plan to begin the commercial launch at the end of the month. You also plan to sell bonds, besides the lottery. How are bond sales doing? Are people interested? The bond has not been sold yet. Selling bonds will generate revenue for the NUG. It is to supplement the government budget. But for now, we are still working on the technical platforms and others. We will start selling bonds as soon as possible. We will inform the people how to buy them online. We hear people are actively waiting for the process to begin. You said the government needs more than $800-million for its budget. What percentage of that money are you currently receiving? We need nearly $800 million to support the NUGs education, health and humanitarian aid for children, pregnant women and the elderly. This amount excludes defense spending. We are working in two ways to supplement the required budget. The first is to coordinate with international partners and governments on supporting IDPs (internally displaced people), refugees, maternity benefits, health and the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. It is on a project-by-project basis. We will also sell bonds to sustain the NUGs income. We will seek tax revenue that people are willing to pay under the Union Tax Law. We will organize donations from expats and domestically, although groups have already started fundraising for the NUG. Combined they will cover some of our current projects. According to the tax law, the collection of taxes started this week. It is too early to say how much will come through. We have been contacted by some business owners and taxpayers at home and abroad saying that they will pay their taxes. There are at least 7-8 million nationals living abroad. Suppose there are a million people who believe in this revolution and want to overthrow the military dictatorship who each buy one bond. If we set the price at $500 per bond, we will have $500 million in bond sales. If the people participate in paying taxes and buying bonds, the revolution will succeed. That budget includes only three or four ministries. Are you also prepared for the overall budget, including other ministries, like defense? Since the February 1 coup, people have been donating to the NUG and CRPH in various forms. More than $9 million was raised from the CRPH gofundme account and recent raffle sales received over $7 million. These two amounts are transparent revenue. As a government, we have defense spending. However, it is secret at the moment. We will reveal it when appropriate. How do you ensure digital security for donors? Were there any cyber attacks on Spring Lottery sales? During the lottery pilot, we paid special attention to the digital security of ticket buyers and the CDM staff. However, the military froze some money-transfer services, such as Wave and KPay, which are dedicated to the CDM lottery. But the junta is not in a position to block our lottery. It is the same now we are collecting taxes. If anyone wants to pay tax, they just need an email, which could be set up specially. People do not have to give their real names. We will use the email to send funds to the NUGs bank. Taxpayers can calculate how much they will pay on the return. People could ask friends abroad to arrange the payments. When they have paid, a unique identification number is issued. The taxpayer needs to save this tax code. If they dont tell anyone, no one will know they paid their taxes. It is safe and secure. After the revolution, taxpayers can show their tax ID as proof of their payments. We will have a record of what was paid and our government can provide a special tax amnesty. You may also like these stories: Prosecutions Being Prepared for Myanmar Military: NUG Human Rights Minister No Future for Myanmar People Unless Spring Revolution Succeeds We Believe Nothing From a Dogs Mouth: Myanmar Democracy Activist Burma Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysian FM Myanmar coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing Voicing the frustration of ASEAN members, Malaysias foreign minister has warned that the leader of Myanmars military regime could be excluded from a regional summit scheduled for later this month over the juntas failure to cooperate with the regional blocs efforts to resolve the countrys crisis. ASEAN member Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since a military coup in February, which was followed by bloody crackdowns on anti-regime protesters. The international community had pushed for diplomatic efforts by a special envoy appointed by ASEAN. As soon as the regional groupings foreign ministers meeting ended on Monday, member nations joined in a chorus of disappointment at the foot dragging by Myanmars military rulers. According to an announcement by Myanmars Foreign Ministry, during the meeting the regimes foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, discussed the ongoing negotiations over a proposed visit to the country by ASEAN special envoy Erywan Yusof, who seeks to meet with all stakeholders. Bruneis second foreign minister, Yusof was appointed as the envoy in August but the regime has yet to approve a visit by him. By most other accounts, however, the meeting on Monday didnt go well. After the meeting, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah tweeted that he stated at the meeting that ASEAN members were disappointed as Myanmar authorities have not cooperated with the special envoy and warned that Myanmar could be excluded from this months summit if there is no progress. Unless there is progress, it would be difficult to have the Chairman of the SAC at the ASEAN Summit (26-28 Oct 21), he said, referring to coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. The SAC, or State Administration Council, is a ruling organ set up by the junta. The Myanmar junta leader desperately wants to attend the upcoming summit, according to diplomats in Yangon. He seeks to show that the junta has legitimacy and wants to make the most of his appearance at the meeting as a sign of acceptance from the regional grouping. Moreover, Myanmar is rapidly sliding into the condition of a failed state; the country is in chaos and the regime still cant fully control the country since the military staged an illegitimate coup in February. At a news conference following Mondays meeting Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi expressed a similar view to her Malaysian counterpart, saying there had been no significant progress in Myanmar and most members expressed disappointment. The military has not given a positive response to what has been attempted by the special envoy, she said, according to Reuters. Yusof has said that as envoy he seeks full access to all parties, including detained and ousted leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other officials detained by the military during its power grab. Instead of a meeting with the detained State Counselor, however, Yusof has been offered a meeting with former Vice President Henry Van Thio and the former Lower House speaker T Khun Myat, sources in Myanmar said. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is being detained by the junta at an unknown location in Myanmars capital Naypyitaw. She faces a raft of charges including breaching COVID-19 regulations, sedition, illegal possession of walkie-talkies and numerous counts of corruption. ASEAN diplomats familiar with the Myanmar issue said the regimes leaders still believe they can use the regional grouping to gain legitimacy. Myanmar security personnel have used force to try and quash the peaceful protests and mass disobedience movement that emerged in the wake of the coup, killing more than 1,100 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group that has been tracking the situation. Daily clashes, bombings and killings targeting the regimes troops have occurred in Myanmar since late March. You may also like these stories: Yangon Businessman Acts as Go-Between for Belarus Arms Sales to Myanmar Military Almost 100 Civilians Killed By Myanmar Junta Forces in September Myanmar Junta Charges Rapper and Former NLD Lawmaker With Terrorism Burma Myanmar Junta Takes Family Member as Old as 94 Hostage NLD MP U Myo Win and his 94-year-old mother. The 94-year-old mother of a former lawmaker from the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) in Mon State and the son of a wanted protest leader in Mandalay Region are among the latest family members of regime opponents to be detained by junta forces. U Myo Wins 94-year-old mother and his daughter were arrested on Saturday when junta troops failed to find the former NLD MP in Ye Township, Mon State. The mother was later released but the daughter remains in custody. Their detention followed the arrest and release by junta troops of U Myo Wins wife earlier in the day. He has been in hiding since March to evade arrest, as the junta has targeted elected lawmakers and members of the NLD across the country with detention, torture and lawsuits. On Monday, the MP wrote on his Facebook page that his mother was released after being detained, but his daughter was being kept in custody for interrogation. The regime has adopted the tactic of arbitrarily arresting and detaining family and friends of activists, protesters and opposition members as hostages in order to force its wanted opponents to surrender. More than 170 civilians including children are being held hostage by Myanmars military regime in place of wanted opponents, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Of those who have been detained, only a few have been released. Among the children held as hostages was Su Htet Wyne, the 5-year-old daughter of Ko Soe Htay, a protest leader in Mogoke, Mandalay Region. She was held for two weeks after being arrested together with her mother and sister on June 13 after junta troops failed to find her father at their home on the day. A warrant has been issued for Ko Soe Htay on an incitement charge for organizing anti-regime protests. While Su Htet Wyne was released, her mother and sister were sentenced to three years imprisonment each on incitement charges. Neither defended themselves against the charge, saying they dont trust the judiciary under the junta. Ko Soe Htay told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that his older son, Ko Okkar Soe, 24, was again arrested at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 29 at his office in Mogoke, for using his delivery service business to earn extra income to support the jailed mother and sister, something that had become necessary as his father is also in hiding. Eight other young men employed at the office were also arrested. Ko Soe Htay said the families of the detained young men have not yet been told the reasons for their arrests and have not been allowed to visit them. We heard they were tortured in military interrogation, he said. As they cant find me, they are arresting all my family members. It is what dictators do, how they bully civilians. There are other families who face a worse fate than us. Only when our revolution prevails will we be able to end such incidents, the protest leader added. Currently, Ko Soe Htay and two remaining family membershis youngest daughter and younger sonare in hiding. According to the AAPPs most recent report, more than 8,700 people including elected leaders, politicians, protesters, student activists and striking civil servants have been arrested. Of them, 7,079 were still detained as of Monday, the AAPP stated in the report. You may also like these stories: Notorious Myanmar Military Commander to Lead Clearance Operations Myanmar Regime-Appointed Administrators Quit After Threats From Resistance Ousted Rakhine State Ministers Appear in Myanmar Junta Court on Corruption Charges Burma Myanmar Regime-Appointed Administrators Quit After Threats From Resistance Anti-regime protesters in April in Katha. Twelve village administrators in Katha Township, Sagaing Region, have resigned after the townships Peoples Defense Force (PDF) warned them to quit by October 10. Tensions are running high between Myanmars military and civilian resistance fighters in Katha. Administrators of 12 village-tracts submitted a joint resignation letter to the townships General Administration Department on Monday. In their letter, they said they had difficulties managing their villages because of the resignation of their subordinates and safety concerns. Katha is made up of 10 wards and 32 village-tracts which consist of 143 villages. It is likely that others will resign too very soon because the PDF has issued the warning. Only those who dont fear will remain in their posts. The PDF has warned administrators to resign by October 10. So administrators submitted resignations for fear of the risks to their lives and their families, said an administrator in Katha who asked for anonymity for security concerns. He said he was submitting his resignation soon. Katha PDF issued the warning to administrators on Sunday and asked community leaders and administrators who have allegedly supported the regime to leave the township. Ward and village administrators form the backbone of the regimes administrative mechanism and thus are targeted by resistance groups. Following the regimes lethal crackdown on peaceful protesters, administration offices were attacked across the country and dozens of ward and village administrators were killed. Military tensions are running high in Katha after the township PDF carried out a mine attack on junta soldiers on Oct. 1. As Katha borders Bhamo District in Kachin State, the Katha PDF also operates in cooperation with Battalion 5 of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group based in Kachin. Katha PDF launched attacks against the regime on May 30, ambushing a junta convoy on the Katha-Bhamo road. The attack was assisted by Battalion 5. The regime has bombed with helicopters and shelled in the town following the ambush, displacing some 25,000 residents from Moe Tar Gyi village-tract near Katha-Bhamo road. You may also like these stories: Ousted Rakhine State Ministers Appear in Myanmar Junta Court on Corruption Charges Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysian FM Yangon Businessman Acts as Go-Between for Belarus Arms Sales to Myanmar Military Burma Notorious Myanmar Military Commander to Lead Clearance Operations Houses burn after junta forces opened fire with heavy weapons on a residential area of Thantlang, Chin State on September 18. / CJ One of the Myanmar military regimes most notorious commanders will lead clearance operations against civilian resistance fighters in the countrys most restive regions, according to a former army captain. Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the head of the Myanmar Police and the regimes Deputy Home Affairs Minister, is set to take charge of operations against Peoples Defense Forces (PDF) in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State. Over 1,080 junta troops have been killed in those areas in the last three months alone. The former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Lt-Gen Than Hlaing and Lieutenant General Tayza Kyaw have been assigned to the northwestern military command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region to lead the militarys operations against the PDF. Around 3,000 junta reinforcements have been sent to the region as well, the former captain said. Since the second week of September, internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime in most of the townships where civilian resistance fighters are most active. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing was appointed as chief of the Myanmar Police and Deputy Home Affairs Minister the day after the coup. Since then, he has earned notoriety for commanding lethal and brutal crackdowns against peaceful anti-regime protesters and striking civil servants. One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaings younger brother Ko So Moe Hlaing, 53, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region. As of Monday, 1,158 people have been killed by the junta in their raids, crackdowns, arrests, interrogations and arbitrary shootings since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Another 8,743 people, including elected government leaders, have been detained by the junta or are the subject of arrest warrants. The European Union, United States, United Kingdom and Canada have all imposed sanctions on Lt-Gen Than Hlaing for overseeing the crackdowns on civilians. His mission in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State comes as the Myanmar military is suffering an ever-increasing number of casualties in ambushes and attacks by civilian resistance fighters as they step up their operations against regime forces. Over 840 junta soldiers were killed in Sagaing Region between June and August, while another 105 regime troops died in Magwe Region. 136 junta soldiers were killed in Chin State in the same period, according to Myanmars parallel National Unity Government (NUG). In response, around 700 to 800 junta reinforcements have been deployed since last week at Shwe Taung O, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a member of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy. However, regime forces have not yet started any operations in Kani Township, apart from military vessels patrolling the Chindwin River, added the civilian resistance fighter. The former army captain who spoke to The Irrawaddy said that the militarys operations in the area would start within a week, and that many civilians will be put in danger by their activities. We are ready to resist if they raid our region. We have no plan to flee. We are no longer afraid of the damage to our villages because the whole country is being damaged by the military regime, the Kani-PDF member told The Irrawaddy. We can rebuild the country within five or ten years if the whole country becomes a battlefield. But we will suffer more trouble and oppression for up to 100 years if we are defeated by the military dictatorship, he added. On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements to Pale Township in Sagaing Region. Five of the 80 vehicles were damaged by landmines and several soldiers were killed in the attack. Much of the convoy reached Gangaw Township in Magwe Region the following day, according to the Gangaw-PDF. Most of the civilian resistance fighters in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State are armed with old-fashioned or homemade weapons and mines, while the junta forces are using automatic weapons, heavy explosives, jet fighters, helicopters and gunboats in some of the clashes. It is time now for the NUG to supply us with weapons. Otherwise, many people could die here, said a leader of the Gangaw-PDF. Regime forces have escalated their raids and acts of violence in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin State since the NUG declared a nationwide defensive war against the junta on September 7. Junta troops have burned down villages, launched artillery strikes against residential areas in towns and killed civilians, including a five-year-old girl. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Regime-Appointed Administrators Quit After Threats From Resistance Ousted Rakhine State Ministers Appear in Myanmar Junta Court on Corruption Charges Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysian FM Burma Ousted Rakhine State Ministers Appear in Myanmar Junta Court on Corruption Charges Ousted Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu. Deposed Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu and two other ousted Rakhine ministers appeared in court in the Rakhine capital Sittwe on Monday to face corruption charges under the Anti-Corruption Law. U Nyi Pu, former planning and finance minister U Kyaw Aye Thein and former electricity and transport minister U Aung Kyaw Zan appeared before a special court in Sittwe Prison to answer charges that they violated financial regulations regarding a permit granted to a local garment company in Sittwe. Our defense is that they did not violate any laws because it [the granting of the permit] was done in accordance with the decision of the now ousted Rakhine State government, lawyer U Aung Sitt Min, who is acting for U Kyaw Aye Thein, told The Irrawaddy. The junta has accused the trio of handing three state-owned buildings in Sittwe to a private company, which has links with them, to open a garment factory, as well as providing the company with 5.5 million kyats for the maintenance of the building even though the garment factory was not yet operational. Two other ousted Rakhine State ministers agriculture, livestock and mines minister U Kyaw Lwin and municipal minister U Min Aung also face corruption charges. U Nyi Pu and U Min Aung were detained in February soon after the juntas coup. U Kyaw Aye Thein and U Aung Kyaw Zan were detained in Yangon at the end of July. U Kyaw Lwin was detained on Ramree Island, Rakhine State in August. In August, the military regime said that it had opened corruption cases against the ministers at a Sittwe police station under Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, which carries a potential 15-year prison sentence plus a fine for people in political positions who commit bribery. All five detained ministers are also accused of violating financial and land tender regulations regarding land utilization in Gwa Township, Rakhine State, and of using 86.5 million kyats of Rakhine State funds in violation of financial regulations. The regime has also accused U Min Aung of building markets without the approval of the Rakhine State Parliament and accepting bribes from the companies that won the tenders to build the markets. U Nyi Pu, U Kyaw Aye Thein and U Aung Kyaw Zan will next appear in court on Thursday. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Junta Leader Could Be Excluded From ASEAN Summit: Malaysian FM Yangon Businessman Acts as Go-Between for Belarus Arms Sales to Myanmar Military Almost 100 Civilians Killed By Myanmar Junta Forces in September Burma Yangon Businessman Acts as Go-Between for Belarus Arms Sales to Myanmar Military Dr. Aung Moe Myint. When the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution in June calling for an arms embargo against Myanmar, Belarus was the only the country to vote against it. Many were taken aback by Belaruss decision to side with the Myanmar military following their February 1 coup and subsequent lethal crackdowns against peaceful protesters. Even Russia and China the two biggest arms suppliers to the Myanmar military abstained in the UN vote. Belarus, though, is a longtime partner of the Myanmar military. The relationship reportedly dates back to the previous military regime led by Senior General Than Shwe, which called itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Belarus is the only country under authoritarian rule in Europe, with President Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko in power since 1994. In 2011, Myanmar purchased 12 Russia-made second-hand MiG-29 fighter jets from Belarus, the same year that current coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing succeeded Snr. Gen. Than Shwe as the head of the military. Dr. Aung Moe Myint, the founder of the Dynasty Group of Companies (DGC), emerged as the go-between for arms trading between Myanmar and Belarus around the same time. In 2015, he was appointed as Belaruss Honorary Counsel to Myanmar. No business details are known about the DGC except that the group is involved in construction, property and manufacturing. There is also no information about the DGC on the registry of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration. But Dr. Aung Moe Myint has close links to the military. He is the son of Lieutenant General Phone Myint, Minister for Home Affairs under the SLORC regime, and was previously married to a daughter of U Ko Lay, who was Yangons mayor in the SLORC era. The DGC was jointly established by Dr. Aung Moe Myint and his brother U Hlaing Moe Myint in 1997, according to Open Corporates, a database of world companies. U Hlaing Moe Myint is the founder of the Aus-link Myanmar Agency. Founded in 2013, it is a travel agency as well as an education service provider, according to its website. Sources close to the military regime confirmed to The Irrawaddy that Dr. Aung Moe Myint is a central figure in the militarys procurement of armored vehicles, missiles and air defense systems from Belarus and Serbia. In February 2020, Dr. Aung Moe Myint accompanied Myanmars Air Defense Forces commander Lieutenant General Tin Maung Win on his visit to Belarus. The Myanmar delegation visited several defense enterprises in Belarus and got acquainted with their capabilities for the development, production, repair and modernization of air defense systems, according to an official Belarus government press release. After the UN voted for an arms embargo to Myanmar, Dr. Aung Moe Myint visited Belaruss Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mikalai Barysevich on June 25. An IL-62 cargo plane belonging to the Belarusian cargo carrier Rada Airlines was spotted at Yangon Airport on February 10, just nine days after the juntas coup, according to Myanmar activists. Although it is not known what the plane was carrying, many assume that it was transporting weapons to Myanmar. Other sources said that the cargo plane was carrying Kvadrat-M surface-to-air missiles purchased from Belarus. The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm independently if Dr. Aung Moe Myint was behind those deals. It was reported that Myanmar was the first country to buy Belaruss Kvadrat-M surface-to-air missile system, a modernized upgrade of the Soviet-era 2K12 Kub system. The Irrawaddys calls to the companies owned by Dr. Aung Moe Myint and U Hlaing Moe Myint went unanswered. You may also like these stories: Almost 100 Civilians Killed By Myanmar Junta Forces in September Myanmar Junta Charges Rapper and Former NLD Lawmaker With Terrorism UN Says Poverty in Myanmar at Worst Level in 20 Years Following Coup Shelton, CT October 5, 2021 TMC today announced the newest Exhibitors who signed on to join us at the #TECHSUPERSHOW, being held February 8-11, 2022 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. New ITEXPO Exhibitors include: CLA Flying Voice Netsapiens Sangoma Social Streaming TV South Florida Chamber of Commerce Telarus Telware New MSP Expo Exhibitors include: Orrios Through its in-depth education, showcase of innovative solutions, robust exhibit floor and unique audience, ITEXPO has become the leading event for IT professionals, C-levels and business owners, developers, and the channel to gather and learn about digital transformation. Resellers, enterprises, service providers, media, manufacturers and developers come to ITEXPO to make their purchasing decisions and select new partners. For more information or to register for ITEXPO, contact events@tmcnet.com. For media inquiries, contact Michelle Connolly. Companies interested in exhibiting, sponsorship or advertising packages for ITEXPO should contact TMC's Joe Fabiano at 203-852-6800 x132 or Maureen Gambino at 203-852-6800 x109. For the latest ITEXPO news, updates and information follow the event on Twitter at @ITEXPO. About TMC Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMC's content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all participants. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360-degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet. Media and Analyst Contact: Michelle Connolly Marketing Manager TMC 203-852-6800 x 170 mconnolly@tmcnet.com Share this Page Edited by Erik Linask Training and compliance management software company Op Central launches Vax Central, a public health initiative and software solution to assist companies in their COVID-19 vaccination effort. Op Central developed Vax Central to support businesses to manage the process of gathering, protecting, and reporting the data associated with staff vaccinations. The creation of Vax Central is hinged upon the belief that high vaccination rates are key for reopening, and to enjoy a new era of stability and growth, says Op Central chairman James Cotton. Vax Central provides businesses with a secure, user-friendly solution to upload, store, and report their vaccination data, says Op Central founder and CEO Josh Cairns. Vax Central considers the needs of both employers and employees. All 13,000+ Op Central clients have free access to the service, while businesses who want to sign up for Vax Central separately can do so for a fee of just $29 per month for businesses with up to 10 staff, and as low as $0.15 per user for larger enterprises. Businesses can customise their portal with company branding, set up their data management settings, and then import their staff using a common CSV file. All staff then will receive a company branded welcome email prompting them to activate their private account and submit their vaccination data using a secure web form. It takes less than 10 minutes to set up a company-branded portal and just 60 seconds for a staff member to activate their account and upload their vaccination certificates, minimising administrative time for everyone, explains Cairns. Op Central says the software is invaluable for hospitality, tourism, and retail businesses. "This is a difficult time for the franchising community and small businesses in general. Using technology to support the vaccination rollout across franchises and small businesses will help all of us get back to business as soon as possible, says Franchise Council of Australia chief executive Mary Aldred. Vax Central is the only 100% Australia-owned and operated business and secure system that helps companies to track and report on which of their staff are vaccinated against COVID-19 at an individual, site, team, or organisation-wide level, claims Cairns. All data uploaded to Vax Central is stored and processed at all times, and is subject to Australia's privacy and data protection laws. Businesses using Vax Central retain 100% ownership of their data before, during, and after their use of the platform. Vax Central has strict data visibility control settings, allowing businesses to set who can view vaccination data, including customised limited access. We have to work together and smarter when it comes to vaccination. The way to consider the management process around vaccination is as important as the vaccination itself, concludes Cotton. A report from Motorola Solutions, conducted by Dr. Chris Brauer, Goldsmiths, University of London, identifies a new safety movement driving public safety and enterprise innovation. Motorola Solutions, in partnership with a leading academic, independent research team directed by Dr. Chris Brauer at Goldsmiths, University of London, has conducted an expansive global study that uncovers how expectations for safety and security are changing while fuelling public safety and enterprise innovation. Motorola said, the Consensus for Change report surveyed 12,000 citizens and interviewed 50 public safety agencies, commercial organisations and industry experts across 10 geographic markets (Australia, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Nordics, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States). It analyses how the global COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness of the need for technology to enhance public safety while accelerating innovation and technology adoption for emergency services and enterprises around the world. "The pandemic fuelled the need to use technologies in different ways to address new challenges within a rapidly evolving environment," said Motorola Solutions senior vice president and chief technology officer Mahesh Saptharishi . "We also saw an accelerated adoption and modernisation of technologies with significantly compressed implementation timelines. This research profiles the extraordinary ways that public safety and enterprise organisations continue to adapt to changing policies and needs. The study finds that an overwhelming 88% of citizens globally want to see public safety transformed through the use of advanced technology. Motorola said, other major findings include: 71% say advanced technologies, such as video cameras, data analytics, cybersecurity and the cloud, are needed to address challenges of the modern world. 70% say emergency services should be able to predict risk, a task that can be supported by advanced technologies. 75% say that they are willing to trust the organisations that hold their information so long as they use it appropriately. The research identifies three major trends that demonstrate an inflection point in how citizens and organisations are thinking about technology and safety. 1. The pandemic redefined expectations for safety Dr. Brauer said that conducting the study against the backdrop of the global pandemic uncovered unique insights into public expectations and attitudes for safety. Citizens all over the world are coming to terms with what it means to live with COVID-19 and how it impacts their safety, Dr. Brauer said. Our shared experience of the pandemic has made us realise that technology can play a far greater role in keeping us safe and has increased our understanding of why public safety and enterprise organisations need it to respond to new threats. 2. The pandemic accelerated technology innovation Consensus for Change highlights how the pandemic sparked high-velocity innovation for public safety agencies and businesses, especially in the areas of cloud adoption, video security and interoperability between disparate organisations and systems, while reconfirming the need for reliable and resilient mission-critical communications. 3. Technology must be used in fair, transparent and inclusive ways The Consensus for Change report also reinforces the need for transparency and trust to increase public support for technology deployments. Citizens want the benefits of technology to be easily understood and for it to be used in ways that are transparent, fair and inclusive. The research also identifies that more public engagement is needed to increase understanding of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI). "As technology continues to quickly evolve, it is critical for organisations to ensure that their advancements are built, and understood, to be human-centric," Saptharishi said. For example, artificial intelligence should be designed in a way that respects human decision making and considers the public's input and needs, while allowing users to make better informed decisions and respond to complex threats. By designing advanced technologies to be assistive, we ensure that the decision-making remains the sole responsibility of humans." Motorola says the Consensus for Change report is an essential resource for public safety agencies and enterprises to understand and apply lessons from the pandemic. The pandemic has highlighted the need to look at things and respond differently - from assessing risks and better predicting areas of operational disruption, to evaluating and integrating the right technologies to support business continuity. It has also reinforced the need for better communication and collaboration with communities and among stakeholders to secure support for the expanded use of advanced technologies. Australian attitudes to technology and safety The report advises that 70% of Australians say they want those who keep them safe to have access to advanced technology to deliver their services, with 81% saying that data privacy is important to them. For Australia the report says the other significant findings from the research include: 74% say it makes sense to use technology to predict safety risks. 73% believe integrating fast and flexible technology will improve public safety. 69% say video cameras are useful in public places but also at home and work. Fire and Rescue NSW director IT operations & communications Paul Barnes was quoted in the report saying, "When a call comes in, our software now looks at the location and status of every appliance (fire truck) and displays the two closest available to the dispatcher, regardless of where they are. One of those could be an appliance thats just finished a job and is on its way back or it may be other appliances that are closer to that incident. Its been able to provide us with decision making support and improve how quickly we get to an incident. As communities across the globe continue to respond to wide-reaching threats to our safety, these insights emphasise the steps they can take today to assure greater safety for the future, Motorola concludes. Motorola is one of the largest vendors for public safety infrastructure and solutions globally. It has a vested interest in advancing the adoption of technology for public safety agencies. Many countries have deployed large dedicated public safety networks with valuable spectrum to support public safety In Australia, I have advocated leveraging commercial networks to support public safety rather than building extensive dedicated networks. Providing priority access to public safety applications over consumer applications is achievable. Compared to other countries, like the U.S., Australia has the significant issues of having a lower population, much lower population density with the equivalent land area. The whole Australian population is similar to the population of the U.S. state of Texas. Australia needs to be smart in applying our economic resources. The report says, "Australia is known as an innovative nation and for having early adopters of technology." Australia needs to be smarter, an innovator, and leverage the capital already expended to enable public safety in an effective and efficient manner. This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 29 September 2021. The Australian Government's Emergency Alert system is now running on Everbridge Public Warning in all states and territories. Emergency Alert, first introduced in 2009, has recently been modernised using the SaaS-based Everbridge Public Warning platform. The system allows police, fire, and emergency services to alert communities to a likely or actual emergency by sending location-based text messages to mobile phones and voice messages to landlines within a precise geo-targeted area. It also integrates with social media platforms. "This system is a way for emergency services to warn our community of a pending threat, and we're pleased that Commonwealth funding is assisting in this risk mitigation which will benefit all Australians," said Minister for Emergency Management Senator Bridget McKenzie. Examples of the events where the system would be used include bushfire, flood, cyclone, extreme heat, and terror attack. "The Emergency Alert system was originally implemented in response to the 2009 summer bushfires and continues to play a vital role in keeping Australian communities safe," said Emergency Management Australia director General Joe Buffone. Everbridge vice president of ANZ and Oceania Steve Foster said "We are honored to support Australia on the advancement of its national warning system. "With no opting in or app download required, Everbridge's Public Warning platform delivers emergency alerts to at-risk populations on a nationwide scale to help keep Australian residents and visitors, when borders reopen, safe during bushfires and other critical events. "Every country can benefit from a modern software platform that reaches everyone in times of crisis." GUEST OPINION by Tony Bailey CEO AccessHQ: As technology matures, we can expect competition to become more intense as companies seek to find new points of differentiation. And, as smartphones and apps merge further into everyday life, consumers will become far more discerning of a companys ability to live up to their promises especially the promise of a better experience of their service. I recently wrote about how the vanishing human from service organisations is a major challenge. The very definition of a service is the action of helping or doing work for someone. Traditionally that involves human to human interaction. However, in the age of digital, we are witnessing a reshaping of this traditional relationship. If human interaction becomes absent from services, the exchange is experienced more as a functional transaction. A functional transaction can be very effective in certain circumstances, for example, online banking or online shopping. However, when this occurs, the design of those services must be excellent. They need to be reimagined in a way that compensates for the lack of human interaction. Many companies see labour costs as a drag on their ability to scale and/or maximise profits. However, dont assume that removing human interaction from services delivery is as easy as implementing bots and AI. AI and ML are still a long way from being able to match human intuition and judgement, not to mention the nuances of interpersonal communication. Service organisations that remove or delay the customers ability for human interaction in favour of AI or ML interactions must ensure a seamless transition and maintain a considered and connected customer journey. One thats reimagined in a way that compensates for the delayed or lack of human interaction. Quality and a deep understanding of customer expectations are central to achieving that. While we further develop artificial intelligence, we should also note that human intelligence is very much at the fore of the way we need to work. There are far too many industrial-era processes and structures in modern business to truly capitalise on the thinking power of the people who populate companies. In one of the best leadership books so far this century, Turn the Ship Around, David Marquet argues as follows: In the modern world, the most important work we do is cognitive; so, its not surprising that a structure developed for physical work isnt optimal for intellectual work. So, on the one hand, humans are vanishing from front line services, while on the other there is a growing expectation that we use our mighty intellect to design services that have exceptionally high standards for quality quality that is perfectly attuned to the way humans behave when interacting with human-less services. These challenges tell me that we will see creativity become a major force shaping the new frontier for technology-driven services. Im not talking about workshop games or cosmetic makeovers. Rather, Im suggesting we have the courage and confidence to bring a much bolder imaginative effort to our endeavours. And to reassure doubters who may view creativity as the domain of artists and designers, I can point you to one of the great intellects of all time, Albert Einstein. In a discussion on intuition and inspiration, Einstein was asked if he trusted his imagination more than his knowledge. He answered as follows: I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. All humans are creative, and all creativity requires imagination. But tapping into your imagination is difficult. So how do you improve your imagination? Like all skills, a good imagination needs practice And the first step to practising with your imagination is to understand and trust that our imagination is liberating. It does not have to obey the rules of logic or physics. Moreover, it is being able to dream, to conjure new situations, new worlds. Imagination is the enemy of the status quo. In many companies, the status quo far too often quashes the sprouts of imagination that dare to spring up in our cubicles. To try and up the quotient of imagination in service design, we can start with the following broad approach to collaborative, imaginative thinking. Firstly, we need to set the scene. What is the landscape we are dealing with? Not only do we want to be sure our thinkers are all familiar with the challenges, but they also need high-quality data to inform them of the starting position. So, this preparatory work is vital, and it needs to be done in such a way that it is as objective and as free from bias as possible. In short, stick to the facts, and prepare a comprehensive brief. Next, we want to be able to imagine different scenarios. These will very much depend on the type of business, but you will want to see scenarios that sit at well-spaced intervals along a spectrum of possibilities. One scenario might be that a global technology giant decides to play in your patch, like Apple deciding to offer credit services in the Australian financial services market. Another might be that a classic low-cost disruptor offers a service that, at face value, you cant compete against without sacrificing margins. Or perhaps they offer a level of customisation that you will take years to match. At the other end of the spectrum, imagine it is your company entering a whole new market or, indeed, creating a whole new market, completely reinventing your business while at the top of your game. Work up a range of scenarios that give you a sense of what the future might hold but, as far as possible, resist jumping to solutions at this point. Just paint the picture of what the scenarios might be. Anchor it as much as you can with the data and insights you have from your scene-setting exercise. Dont rush to solve the challenges the scenarios present. Once you are comfortable that you have a range of scenarios, the fun begins. You are now set to explore some provocative ideas and see where they take you. There are thinking tools you can use to encourage imagination Edward De Bono, who passed away in June this year, made numerous contributions to how we can harness the power of our imagination to overcome major challenges. De Bono coined the term lateral thinking and gave us some very practical thinking tools, such as the Six Thinking Hats. If you are unfamiliar with his work, you should quickly study his contributions. For now, another of De Bonos inventions, the word Po, or a provocative operation (also referring to poetry, possibility, hypothetical) is of interest. Po illustrates how our imagination can better serve business thinkers. De Bono argued that when we want to move forward with new ideas, we can obtain great value from provocation. Simply challenging prevailing assumptions and the status quo can result in breakthroughs. One example of the use of Po, that De Bono gives is from his work with a life insurance company, is where an executive asks the provocative question, what if you die before you die? According to De Bono, this one provocation triggered the transformation of the industry and gave rise to living needs insurance policies. Another good example is from De Bonos work to help stop pollution in Californias rivers, caused by factories along the river. The provocation was that a factory built on a river must have its water intake downstream of its outlet. In this way, the factory would always be the first to get its own pollution and would therefore be much more careful about any pollutants in its outlet. Lest we be afraid of such radical thinking, De Bono advises that breakthrough ideas always make sense, indeed they often seem remarkably simple. So let your people be provocative and let their imaginations fire up. Expressing a new idea brings it to life Your exploration should lead you to articulate a value proposition for the new service design or process change. How will you express the value that comes from this breakthrough? In most cases, this will be related to customers, but it can also relate to business efficiency and stakeholders. Bring the value proposition to life through visualisation. As humans, we are hardwired to process visual models far more easily than heavy written text. Map it out visually, show the steps and functions, what happens when and how, using diagrams and other visual references. We can problem-solve and extend ideas much more effectively when we can see a visual representation of the solution. The guiding star over this whole process is quality. Everything you do, from the most radical ideas to the most minor tweaks, must add value to the quality of the experience your customer or user has. Quality is a stable, objective feature of design. And quality should not only be brought to bear at the design stage. You should be able to maintain a line of sight to quality throughout your entire operation. That alone might seem like a radical idea to some! Nonetheless, it makes a big difference to the results you can achieve. The world's most successful watch, let alone smartwatch, is the Apple Watch, and in Series 7, it is coming with its biggest ever display, with a tougher screen, dust resistance, faster charging, new aluminium case colours, a new on-screen keyboard and watchOS 8 as its headline features. The latest Apple Watch, known as Series 7, was announced at the same time as the new iPhones, but their launch date has finally been announced: Frdiday 15 October, with pre-orders starting at the end of this week, Friday 8 October. It seems the pricing will be the same as the current Series 6 Apple Watch models, although we'll find out for certain on Friday, but Apple has said the Series 7 stats at AUD $599, which is what the Series 6 starts at for the 40mm model with GPS, and the GPS+Cellular model is $749. The Series 6 44mm model with GPS is $649, while the GPS+Cellular model is $799, so we'll shortly see if the rest of the prices beyond the $599 start price are identical, or not, but barring any last minute surprises, the prices are expected to be the same. The Series 7 has a bigger viewable area on the screen - 41mm and 45mm - and the bigger display means you can have two large complications on-screen at the same time, you can have richer and more beautiful watch faces with better complications, an on-screen keyboard and more. Apple's Watch Series 7 site is a beautiful explanation of all the new features, from its tougher screen, to its IP6X rating with improved dust resistance, to its brighter screen, 33% faster charging and more. Apple says "the design of Apple Watch Series 7 is refined with softer, more rounded corners, and the display has a unique refractive edge that makes full-screen watch faces and apps appear to seamlessly connect with the curvature of the case. "At just 1.7 mm thin, the narrower borders of Apple Watch Series 7 maximise the screen area of the display while minimally changing the dimensions of the watch itself. "Apple Watch Series 7 also features a user interface optimised for the larger display, a new QWERTY keyboard, plus two unique watch faces Contour and Modular Duo designed specifically for the new device. Users benefit from the same all-day 18-hour battery life, now complemented by 33% faster charging. "Available in 41mm and 45mm sizes, Apple Watch Series 7 is the most durable Apple Watch ever, with a stronger, more crack-resistant front crystal. It is the first Apple Watch to have an IP6X certification for resistance to dust, and maintains a WR50 water resistance rating." We're also told "the display on Apple Watch Series 7 has a unique refractive edge that makes full-screen watch faces and apps appear to seamlessly connect with the curvature of the case." Apple also advises there are "five beautiful new aluminium case finishes, including midnight, starlight, green, and a new blue and (PRODUCT)RED, along with a range of new band colours and styles. Stainless steel models are available in silver, graphite, and gold stainless steel, along with Apple Watch Edition in titanium and space black titanium." There are also Nike and Hermes versions, as per usual, which will excite Nike fans and fashionistas wanting those extra special models (that otherwise provide identical functionality). ECG finally arrived earlier this year in Australia and obviously it continues being available in watchOS 8, along with the Blood Oxygen sensors and app, while watchOS 8 also delivered a new mindfulness app that emcompasses the Breathe app and more. It is sure to be Apple's biggest selling Apple Watch yet, despite renewed competition from Samsung and Google joining forces to blend Tizen and Google Wear OS together, and despite the Fitbit, Huawei's watches, models from Suunto and many others. That said, all of the brands are great for competition, so long may it all continue, with Apple Watch Series 7 the most exciting Apple Watch yet! Australian consumers are overwhelmingly in favour of small businesses being given the ability to choose the cheapest option to process debit card payments through Least Cost Routing (LCR), according to new research by eftpos. The new survey found that 83% of respondents now think its important for merchants to be able to select the lowest cost network, a figure that highlights growing public awareness and concern over business costs in the COVID environment, said eftpos CEO Stephen Benton. The new research shows that Australians clearly recognise and identify with the pressures small businesses face, and the importance of keeping their costs down. The cost of debit card fees is now critical to small business because they have replaced cash as by far the most common way to pay in Australia, representing nearly 9 billion and almost 70% of total electronic retail transactions annually. The new research shows an eight-point rise since the previous survey three years ago, a jump that eftpos says demonstrates that consumer support for Least Cost Routing (LCR) has moved up the agenda for everyday shoppers and gained their widespread support. eftpos says the survey also suggests that consumers are increasingly understanding the potential economic benefits to be gained from LCR, with 45% of consumers stating that merchants were likely to pass on any fee savings to their customers, up 12 points since the last survey. Publicly supported by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg as a key competitive mechanism to help level the playing field between small businesses and their larger peers with more market power, LCR lets merchants decide what payment rails debit card transactions run down based on the lowest cost, notes eftpos. Stephen Benton said the research also showed, that when asked about which payments network Australians would prefer to process their online or tap debit card transactions, 66% of consumers have no preference in network or would prefer to use the low-cost Australian eftpos network, rather than international schemes. Of those that nominated a network preference, eftpos was the preference for 28 per cent, with Visa and Mastercard only being preferred by 20% and 15% respectively. The vast majority cardholders (91%) believe merchants processing via the eftpos network would not have a negative impact on their payment experience online or instore, Benton notes. eftpos says the research findings echo ongoing public support expressed via an online petition on Least Cost Routing, which has now been signed by over 15,000 people. The petition is supported by a leading group of influential industry organisations including the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA); Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS); Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI); Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA); Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA); Franchise Council of Australia (FCA); Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB); MGA Independent Retailers / Timber Merchants Association (TMA); National Retail Association (NRA); and the Restaurant & Catering Industry Association of Australia (R&CA). COSBOA CEO Alexi Boyd said she was pleased to see increasing public backing of the need for small businesses to keep their costs down. People know that small businesses are under intense pressure right now, and Australians clearly have a preference for merchants to choose their own destiny when it comes to debit card fees whether its in stores, on mobile or online, Boyd said. Facebook. The company has been on an apology tour for most of its existence, mostly for invading people's privacy in different ways, and hot on the heels of a whistleblower exposing Facebook's allegedly dodgy algorithms comes the now resolved outage that affected Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram and Oculus Web. Not even virtual reality was safe from Facebook's outage this morning, as still unexplained changes in the way Facebook links its web addresses to the rest of the Internet took the company offline. All of its big services were taken offline, reportedly costing Facebook US $160 million per hour, while also reportedly wiping US $6 billion from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's personal fortune of well over US $100 billion. And all of this came hours after former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen, who worked on "civic integrity" issues appeared on the US TV version of 60 Minutes to expose that "almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook," and that Facebook makes the "toxic" decision to prioritise information in its algorithm to further its own interests in making money, rather than furthering the public good, with Haugen stating Facebook had created a "system that amplifies division, extremism and polarisation." It also came on the 10th anniversary of Steve Jobs' untimely passing, but the outage has nothing to do with the ghost of Steve Jobs as in the US where this was unfolding, it is still October 4 as I type, while in Australia, it was already the early hours of October 5 due to time zone difference. So, at about 2.30AM AEDT, Facebook started going offline, with iTWire's Sam Varghese publishing two articles with the details, the first titled: "BGP woes: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp disappear from the Web" and "Facebook starts to come back, but Cloudflare tells the tale". In layman's terms, Facebook somehow disconnected itself from the Internet being able to find its servers, and it took several hours for Facebook to get itself back online, something which has now occurred. Facebook's Australian PR representatives issued a statement, which reads: "To everyone who was affected by the outages on our platforms today: were sorry. We know billions of people and businesses around the world depend on our products and services to stay connected. We appreciate your patience as we come back online." Now given Facebook's propensity to track its users extremely closely in what some have called clear breaches of privacy, with even Mark Zuckerberg stating at one of Facebook's big conferences recently that "the future is private," one might cynically say the Internet and its netizens did indeed enjoy a few hours of privacy this morning with Facebook having erased itself, albeit temporarily, from our online lives. iTWire's Sam Varghese also made the salient point that neither Facebook's global blog, nor its Australian blog, nor its global newsroom, at time of publication (and even now), had any mention of the outage at all. But naturally, there has been plenty of comment out there about the outages, with commentary from Acronis, Forrester, Macquarie Telecom Group and Localsearch below. Let's start with Localsearch Co-Founder and Chairman, Daniel Stoten, who said: The recent outages experienced across the Facebook network highlights no matter how big a player you are in the technology space, anyone can regardless of scale or size experience difficulty. For small business owners who critically rely on social media platforms as a means of connecting with and selling to customers, this outage shows that you must be multi-approached with your marketing efforts. This outage is proof you cant have all your eggs in one basket. As systems look to be restored for now, we cant be certain an outage like this won't happen again. For SMBs, its best to be prepared for that by ensuring you have a presence across all social media platforms where your customers are present, while also having an organic Google search presence through SEO optimised content, listing your business using the Google My Business profile tool, a mature eDM list, or whatever stream is most relevant to you. The proof is in the pudding here Facebook had to announce the outage on competitor social media network Twitter... even they themselves market across other platforms. In the last year, SMBs have battled through Facebook and Google news bans where businesses were effectively banned on the platform, changes to privacy limits and iOS updates restricting advertising opportunities, and continued outages across platforms. The scale of these incidents is only growing with time as we all become increasingly reliant on the tech giants. Facebook is a business too, who rely on the same technologies we all do to operate. This means that they too can cease to one day exist, Stoten concluded. Meanwhile, Forrester analysts published a blog post titled: "Facebooks Outage: Breaking The Ad Empire For A Day?" which starts off by stating: "Its a sure tell that something must be pretty bad at Facebook, Inc. when the company is forced to turn to its competitor, Twitter, to communicate with its users." The blog post goes on to note: "acebook has a risk-management problem. Just on the heels of a(nother) whistleblower condemning the social media giant for its business practices, the Facebook ecosystem experienced a global outage at 11:40am ET today affecting its core platform as well as Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus VR. While the company has yet to confirm the exact cause of the ongoing issue, sources are pointing to an issue with DNS where BGP routes have disappeared. "Over the past two years, Facebook consolidated its disparate app ecosystem onto one backend infrastructure. Its a move that creates some operational efficiencies for the company and insulation from a potential breakup by regulators. But it also exposes Facebook to concentration risk: A single risk event that produces a cascading effect like old school Christmas lights where one goes out, they all go out. This strategy comes at the expense of redundancy and impairs the companys resilience. It also irritates consumers who dont want a unified social media profile across Facebooks family of apps. "Although many brands had a real-time marketing moment on Twitter today, this outage has widespread implications to the advertising ecosystem given the fact that ads werent being served for over six hours across Facebook and Instagram, which command the lions share of social media ad revenue. This not only affects Facebooks revenue (and stock price) but also brands bottom lines. "Its a platform that advertisers and users continue to rely on. Facebook reported a 47% year-over-year increase in Q2 ad revenue amounting to $28 billion. And Forresters 2021 Consumer Technographics Benchmark data shows Facebooks core app continues to rank as the top-used social media platform weekly among global audiences except China, including 76% in Metro India, 66% in the US, and 64% in Europe 5 countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain). And other apps within the Facebook ecosystem (Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) also dominate globally over non-Facebook social media platforms." You can read the rest of the blog post here. but as the blog post notes, "Todays Facebook outage wasnt the first and it wont be the last. Its a reminder to advertisers to have proactive mitigation plans in place to avoid the scramble of trying to figure out what to do in the moment," with the post concluding with some advice on what brands should do to avoid being stung by such outages in the future. Barry Silic, the CTO of Cloud and Cybersecurity at Macquarie Telecom Group said: As we wait to hear the cause of the Facebook outage, its important we focus less on pointing fingers and more on starting a meaningful conversation. Every business will experience a cyber-attack or a human error at some stage, and if organisations become too afraid to speak up in case their name is splashed on a headline, we will see an increasing amount of incidents go un-reported. Cyber-crime losses across Australia totalled $33 billion last year, and this figure will not decrease until we encourage leaders to move past their fear of reputational damage, realise that even the best companies have holes in their cyber-security posture and ask for help, Silic concluded. And finally, two comments on what could have caused the problem, from Candid Wuest, the VP of Cyber Protection Research at Acronis, and the second from Topher Tebow, Acronis Cybersecurity analyst: While theres no confirmation on what caused the incident from Facebook Inc, its possible that the issue lies with the BGP or DNS protocol which happen to be popular targets among cyber criminals. "There are various potential attacks against DNS infrastructure from DDoS attacks to local DNS rebinding or hijacking a DNS with social engineering against the registrar. Looking at overall attack statistics, they are a lot less popular then common malware and ransomware attacks, but they can be extremely devastating if successful in a sophisticated attack. Its like pulling the electric cable to your server room whole enterprise suddenly goes dark. "Protection against DNS attacks is not trivial as they come in multiple facets. It requires strong authentication and patching to guard your own services, training against social engineering attacks, as well as classical DDoS mitigations from providers, such as Cloudflare. Naturally, configuration issues should be avoided as well. Depending on what service is attacked for example, if its a central authentication server shared between multiple brands, like in this case, then such a single outage can lead to multiple brands going offline. "To be fair, we must note that most commonly such outages are caused by non-malicious actions suspect it to be the case here too, Here's what Topher Tebow, Acronis Cybersecurity analyst had to say in a Q&A style commentary: How popular are cyberattacks on DNS servers? how sophisticated does the attacker need to be to execute? Denial of service attack is the most common type of DNS attack, and is easily accomplished by attackers, as it relies on simply overloading a server with requests. Other attacks like DNS hijacking and DNS poisoning, where a domain's records are replaced or spoofed by an attacker, are more difficult to pull off, but can be accomplished by an attacker familiar with potential vulnerabilities in the DNS system. Have you seen the growth of such attacks since the pandemic hit? Attackers are always looking at new ways to accomplish their goals. In the last couple of years, we have seen some DNS attacks used as part of a multi-extortion scheme when ransomware victims do not pay the ransom. These attacks have not seen quite the increase that other types of attacks have, but as with other types of attacks, they do seem to be happening more frequently with DDoS attacks leading the DNS attacks. In case of a cyberattack, what's the recommended course of action? As with any attack, it is important to remain calm, and have a response plan in place ahead of time. For a DNS attack, this plan will include who communicates what, how, and when as well as having a backup DNS solution planned that can be quickly implemented, if not automatically switched to in the event of an attack on the main DNS servers. Direct communication with the DNS provider will be helpful in most cases. How do businesses protect from such attacks? DNS monitoring, CDNs, and redundancy are some of the best ways to protect against DNS attacks. Nothing is a full guarantee that an attack won't be successful, but with proper monitoring, redundant DNS, and utilization of a CDN, the damage of an attack can be minimized. For companies like Facebook Inc, housing multiple brands - does an attack on DNS servers mean outage for all their brands? or could it be avoided? For companies that house multiple brands, the effect on subsidiaries will really depend on how the companies are configured. If they are all using the same DNS servers, and the attack is on those servers, then services will go down for all of the associated companies. Web infrastructure and website security company Cloudflare has beaten Facebook to the punch in explaining why the latter suffered a major outage earlier today, with the site disappearing from the Web at about 2.30am AEDT. Facebook's blog and its media statements site both have nothing to say about the outage. The behemoth's Twitter accounts has two tweets, one about two hours ago, and the other six hours ago. Essentially, nothing seems to have happened at the company's headquarters despite reports of a border gateway protocol snafu appearing on every site belonging to world+dog and an outage that lasted more than six hours. Stuck in the past... the Facebook Twitter account at the time of writing. But Cloudflare's Tom Strickx and Celso Martinho issued a blog post at 21.28 UTC (10.28am AEDT), explaining the ins and outs of how Facebook and its fellow travellers Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus Web went into a black hole, and how they were slowly returning to the Web. The two said initially, when they opened an internal incident headlined "Facebook DNS lookup returning SERVFAIL" they were afraid that something was wrong with their DNS resolver 1.1.1.1. But they said they quickly realised that something much bigger was going on when "social media quickly burst into flames, reporting what our engineers rapidly confirmed too. Facebook and its affiliated services WhatsApp and Instagram were, in fact, all down. Nothing to see here... the Facebook media statement page where the last post was on 9 September. "Their DNS names stopped resolving, and their infrastructure IPs were unreachable. It was as if someone had 'pulled the cables' from their data centres all at once and disconnected them from the Internet." Strickx and Martinho said at 1658 UTC, they noticed that Facebook was no longer announcing its routes to its DNS prefixes. "That meant that, at least, Facebooks DNS servers were unavailable. Because of this Cloudflares 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver could no longer respond to queries asking for the IP address of facebook.com or instagram.com," they wrote. I can reach Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus Quest successfully in the UK now. ? It will take time across ISPs and countries, and I imagine some turbulence as devices reconnect etc. Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) October 4, 2021 On checking their database of BGP updates, the duo found a number of routing changes made by Facebook at about 15.40 UTC. "Routes were withdrawn, Facebooks DNS servers went offline, and one minute after the problem occurred, Cloudflare engineers were in a room wondering why 1.1.1.1 couldnt resolve facebook.com and worrying that it was somehow a fault with our systems," they said. The Facebook media blog... again no information about the outage. Due to this, resolvers across the globe stopped resolving their domain names, they said, providing a detailed explanation of how the DNS system works. When Facebook stopped announcing its DNS prefix routes through BGP, Cloudflare's and everyone else's DNS resolvers had no way to connect to their nameservers. "Consequently, 1.1.1.1, 8.8.8.8, and other major public DNS resolvers started issuing (and caching) SERVFAIL responses," Strickx and Martinho said. "But that's not all. Now human behaviour and application logic kicks in and causes another exponential effect. A tsunami of additional DNS traffic follows." They said at about 21.20 UTC, the availability of the DNS name facebook.com on Cloudflare's DNS resolver 1.1.1.1 returned. "Undoubtedly Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram services will take further time to come online but as of 21:28 UTC Facebook appears to be reconnected to the global Internet and DNS working again," the pair said. "Today's events are a gentle reminder that the Internet is a very complex and interdependent system of millions of systems and protocols working together. That trust, standardisation, and co-operation between entities are at the centre of making it work for almost five billion active users worldwide," they concluded. A hearing on an US appeal to strike down a court decision and allow the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be held on 27 and 28 October at the High Court in London, according to a message from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign. In a statement, the group said if the appeal court decided to uphold a British decision not to allow the extradition, then it would be difficult for the US to continue seeking to get him sent there for trial. On 4 January, British District Judge Vanessa Baraister ruled that Assange should not be extradited, saying the risk he would commit suicide in a US jail were too high. Assange faces criminal charges for publishing classified information that was leaked to WikiLeaks by an American soldier, then known as Bradley Manning, but now, after gender reassignment surgery, known as Chelsea Manning. As @WikiLeaks turns 15 years old, we are reminded that its founder, Julian Assange, has spent 11 of those 15 years in detention. Today he sits in a jail in London facing a 175 year sentence if extradited for publishing #WikiLeaks15 #FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/g0Q1P78RSn Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) October 3, 2021 Assange was arrested by British police on 11 April 2019 and removed from the Ecuador embassy where he had taken refuge after being granted asylum. His asylum was withdrawn by Ecuador shortly before he was arrested and he appeared in court shortly thereafter. The US made a formal request for his extradition on 6 June 2019. The DEA campaign requested people to assemble on 23 October at the BBC Broadcasting House in London and march to the High Court. Supporters of the Australian hacker were also asked to gather outside the High Court at 9am on 27 October. In September, a Yahoo! News report claimed that the CIA had discussed plans in 2017 to either kill or abduct Assange. The detailed story said the American spy outfit was angry that WikiLeaks had leaked some of its hacking tools that year, which the whistleblower organisation called Vault 7. Assange is one of Australia's best known hackers, having gained access to a number of organisations in the 1980s and 1990s, including NASA and the Melbourne master terminal of Canadian telco Nortel. Support Local Journalism Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing or making a contribution. Subscribe or contribute Members of the U.S. military and Afghan refugees play soccer at the Fort McCoy U.S. Army base on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 in Fort McCoy, Wis. The fort is one of eight military installations across the country that are temporarily housing the tens of thousands of Afghans who were forced to flee their homeland in August after the U.S. withdrew its forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban took control. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Today Cloudy with showers. Areas of patchy fog. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Tonight Cloudy with showers. Areas of patchy fog. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Tomorrow Areas of patchy fog early. Rain showers early with overcast skies later in the day. High 72F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Disgraced former Peru president Alberto Fujimoris health deteriorated over the last few hours and he is due to undergo heart surgery, his personal doctor told AFP on Monday. Yesterday (Sunday) he became unwell, he had an uncontrollably racing heart rate and were going to fit him with two coronary stents, said Alejandro Aguinaga. The 83-year-old, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, was rushed to hospital on Friday night due to breathing problems. Prison authorities had to give him oxygen. My fathers condition is delicate. His heart problem has worsened, his daughter Keiko Fujimori who in April lost a presidential election run-off for the third time wrote on Twitter. Prison authorities confirmed on Monday that Fujimori needs an invasive heart procedure and is in intensive care. Fujimoris deteriorating health comes soon after Perus new left-wing government announced its intention to transfer him from his golden prison to one with fewer home comforts. He is serving a 25 year sentence for two massacres committed by army death squads in 1991 and 1992, in which 25 people, including a child, were killed in a supposed anti-terrorist operation. Fujimori was president from 1990 to 2000. Imprisoned since 2007, Fujimori has long suffered from breathing and neurological problems, and hypertension. In May 2020, a court rejected a request from his family to have him released from prison due to the risk of contracting Covid-19. Before her election defeat, his daughter said she would pardon her father if elected president. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will prepare for my defence against an International Criminal Court probe into his deadly drug war after he retires from politics. I will prepare for my defence in the ICC, Duterte said in a pre-recorded speech released late Monday, in his first public comments on the investigation, having previously insisted he would not cooperate with the court. ICC judges authorised in September a full-blown probe into Dutertes anti-narcotics campaign, which rights groups estimate has killed tens of thousands of people, saying it resembled an illegitimate and systematic attack on civilians. Just stick to the facts because there are records of it. I am not threatening you just dont cheat me on the evidence, Duterte said in the speech, which came two days after he declared he would retire from politics. Duterte has repeatedly attacked the worlds only permanent war crimes court and insisted it has no jurisdiction in the Philippines. Duterte pulled Manila out of the ICC after it launched a preliminary probe, but the Hague-based court says it has jurisdiction over crimes committed while the Philippines was still a member. What happens when survivors of atrocities are granted a large sum of reparations but the court which ordered the reparations has disappeared and the person responsible for paying the reparations has died? This is the question victims of the regime of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre are facing. Habre, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, died in late August this year from Covid-19 complications while serving a life sentence in Senegal for war crimes and crimes against humanity. His prison sentence was delivered in 2016, by the Extraordinary African Chambers, a specialised criminal court set up in Dakar through an agreement between the Senegalese government and the African Union (AU). The Extraordinary African Chambers ceased its operations after completing appeals one year later. The trial was the result of more than 25 years of persistent efforts by Chadian victim groups and their non governmental partners to bring Habre to justice. In addition, the Extraordinary African Chambers ordered Habre to pay over CFA 82 billion (more than US$ 140 million) to 7,396 victims who had participated in the trial as civil parties. This remains the largest amount of compensation awarded by an international(-ised) criminal court. Yet, more than four years after the order, none of the victims had received any compensation. A Trust Fund that only exists on paper The Extraordinary African Chambers appeals judges had ordered the reparations to be implemented through a victims compensation fund similar to a model that exists at the International Criminal Court and its Trust Fund for Victims. But now Habre is dead, and the fund still only exists on paper. Victims in Chad are frustrated with the slow progress and have frequently organised marches and demonstrations. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that Habres death in no way constitutes an obstacle to the implementation of the fund and the Extraordinary African Chambers compensation order. Attention has shifted to the AU and the Chadian government to come to an agreement to bring the fund into existence and start compensating victims. Action is needed, if the courts order is not to turn into a fictitious award. The Extraordinary African Chambers appeals judges provided the fund with great discretion in executing the reparations order. It included the possibility to engage with other victims beyond the civil parties and collaborate with Chad and victim associations on conceiving collective reparations not ordered by the court. In addition, the fund was made the repository for the proceeds of property seized from Habre. It was also instructed to monitor Habres financial situation with a view to identifying and seizing additional assets. The Extraordinary African Chambers appeals judgement had made the fund central to the implementation of reparations. This was a risky strategy. It put all hope into a new institution yet to become operational. The fund was eventually established under the auspices of the AU, following a resolution in July 2016 and the adoption of the funds statute in early 2018. However, it took until June 2019 before reaching an agreement with Chad for the establishment of the funds headquarter in NDjamena. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and things were brought to a standstill. Finding the money The next challenges are to get the fund operational and mobilise resources. Following an AU mission to Chad, in mid-September 2021, there are hopes that a Board of Directors with members from the AU, the Chadian government and the three victims associations will soon resume its function. The statute also foresees a secretariat to assist the Board with its mandate. More difficult will be to actually mobilise the funds for compensation. The Extraordinary African Chambers had seized assets belonging to Habre. These consists of one property with villa in Dakar (with a reported estimated value of almost US$800,000) and two bank accounts. Yet, action is needed to convert the protective seizure into monetary benefit for the victims. Victim lawyers have so far not brought any action before the High Court in Dakar, which was designated by the Extraordinary African Chambers to hear any matters after its closure. Presumably because they were waiting for the funds establishment, which is to receive the proceeds. Accessing Habres alleged assets beyond Senegals borders will be more tricky still, more so after his death. A Chadian commission of inquiry claimed in 1992 that Habre stole CFA 3.32 billion (US$ 5.7 million) from the national treasury. One thing is clear: Habres assets alone will come nowhere near to satisfying the Extraordinary African Chambers significant reparations order. The AU has allocated US$ 5 million to the fund, presumably also for its initial operating costs. Moreover, it was reported that the Extraordinary African Chambers had transferred almost EUR 500,000 (US$ 585,000) to the fund, which remained in their accounts at the time of its dissolution. The AU has also announced plans to convene a resource mobilisation conference, involving member and partner states, international organisations and other entities, to solicit voluntary contributions to the fund. The clock is ticking A key role will fall to the Chadian government. While Chad had supported the Extraordinary African Chambers, it has so far done little to fulfil its own obligations to compensate the victims of the Habre regime. In 2015, a Chadian court convicted a number of former security agents of the regime and ordered payment of CFA 75 billion (US$ 135 million) to around 7,000 civil parties, stipulating that 50% be carried by the Chadian state. The court also ordered that a memorial be established for those who were killed and that the former security police premises be turned into a museum. The Chadian authorities have failed to implement any of these measures. In 2017, the victims filed a complaint against the Chadian government before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights for failing to comply with the judgement. It requested that the Commission refer the case to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights. UN special rapporteurs also expressed their concern on the failure. The case highlights that Chads role is not only to facilitate Extraordinary African Chambers reparations in concert with the AU, but also to acknowledge and bear its own responsibility for the violations committed by its state agents. Recent unrest in Chad and the death of President Idris Deby Itno in April have directed much needed attention further away from reparations. There are fears that the reparations process will turn into another lengthy effort that could rival the decade-long odyssey that was required to prosecute Habre. For the victims, the clock is ticking hundreds of mostly elderly civil parties are already dead and will never see the compensation they were owed. CHRISTOPH SPERFELDT Dr Christoph Sperfeldt is a Fellow at the Center for Human Rights and International Law at Stanford University, a Research Associate at UNSW Law School, an Honorary Fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at Melbourne Law School, and an Adjunct Professor at the Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law, Royal University of Law and Economics, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. It has been slightly modified by Justice Info with the authors permission. Read the original article. A top British envoy held talks with senior Taliban officials in Kabul on Tuesday the first since foreign forces evacuated from Afghanistan as the countrys new masters seek a path out of international isolation. The hardline Islamist movement declared a new regime after overrunning the capital in August and ousting the US-backed government. But after 20 years of war the aid-reliant country faces economic collapse, with major donors pausing funding and no emergency support in place. The new rulers have been courting hesitant foreign powers in a bid to restart cash flows to the country, where civil servants and healthcare workers have gone months without salaries. Taliban officials tweeted pictures of the first meeting between Simon Gass, Britains special representative for Afghanistan, and deputy prime ministers Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi. The two sides discussed how Britain can help Afghanistan battle terrorism and a deepening humanitarian crisis and provide safe passage for those who want to leave the country, a UK government spokesperson said. They also raised the treatment of minorities and the rights of women and girls, the spokesperson added, saying Gass was joined by Martin Longden, charge daffaires at the now evacuated UK mission to Afghanistan. The Taliban, notorious for their brutal and oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, have faced a backlash after effectively excluding women and girls from education and work across the country. Calls for inclusivity Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Talibans foreign ministry spokesman, said the meeting focused on detailed discussions about reviving diplomatic relations between both countries. Western governments have warned that the Taliban must form an inclusive government and respect womens rights if they are to be formally recognised. Neighbouring Pakistan however has been pushing for the international community to engage with the new rulers and help stabilise a country threatened by famine. The Taliban have made some gestures towards international respectability, while insisting on their right to return to a government based on their hardline interpretation of Islamic law. On Tuesday girls returned to some secondary schools in a northern province, Taliban officials and teachers said, despite them remaining barred from classrooms in much of the country. A video posted by the groups spokesman Suhail Shaheen showed dozens of schoolgirls in black, some wearing white head scarves and others with black face veils, sat in chairs waving Taliban flags. But education ministry official Mohammad Abid said there had been no policy change from the interim central government, telling AFP on Tuesday: High schools still remain closed for girls. The Taliban, which have permitted girls to attend primary school, have said girls will return to secondary schools once their security and strict gender segregation under sharia law can be ensured. Several teachers and a head teacher in Kunduz city, the provincial capital, told AFP that girls at high schools in some districts had gone back to classes. The Taliban also announced at a stage-managed rally that some women civil servants have been called back to work, in signs the Islamists may be trying to soften their public image after 50 days in power. Interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti told AFP that all staff of the passport department including female employees were asked to return to their offices. Hazara abuses Meanwhile, a report from Amnesty International on Tuesday warned that the Talibans brutal abuses and repression of minorities during their first stint in power could be repeated. The rights group said it had determined that Taliban forces killed 13 ethnic Hazara in the central Daykundi province on August 30, in what it said appear to be war crimes. Eleven of those killed were former government soldiers, and Amnesty said witnesses saw nine of them executed after they surrendered. Two civilians, including a 17-year-old girl, were also killed in the crossfire. These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan, Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement. Nearly six decades after its war of independence from France, Algerias relations with the former colonial power can still be tense even fractious despite Paris recent attempts at rapprochement. With a new stand-off after French President Emmanuel Macron accused Algiers political-military regime of distorted history, we look at their complicated post-colonial relationship. 1962: Independence Algeria becomes independent on July 5, 1962 after an eight-year war that ends 132 years of often brutal colonial rule when Paris regarded it as an integral part of France. French historians say half a million civilians and combattants died 400,000 of them Algerian while the Algerian authorities insist 1.5 million were killed. Exodus In the space of a few months one million pieds-noirs or settlers of European extraction flee to France where they live alongside Algerian immigrants and become one of the pillars of the French far right. At least 55,000 Algerians who fought for the French, known as Harkis, are massacred in Algeria, although Harki groups say three times as many perished. Another 60,000 end up in squalid internment camps in France. In October 1963 Algeria nationalises all remaining land owned by Europeans. The last French military bases close between 1967 and 1970. 1971: Nationalisation In February 1971 president Houari Boumediene who had overthrown Algerias first president Ahmed Ben Bella six years before nationalises oil pipelines and French oil companies there. Two months later Paris deprives Algeria of privileged trading status. 1975: First visit Valery Giscard dEstaing becomes the first French president to visit Algeria since independence in April 1975. For the first time since 1962, French flags flutter on Algiers grand boulevards. His successor Francois Mitterrand says France and Algeria are capable of getting over the trauma of the past during a visit in November 1981. The following year Chadli Bendjedid becomes the first Algerian president to make an official visit to France. 1990s: Islamist violence In September 1993 two French geologists are kidnapped and their throats cut by Islamists who took up arms against the Algerian government the previous year. The following December the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) hijacks an Air France plane in Algiers. The hostage-taking ends in the French city of Marseille with four terrorists killed when French forces storm the aircraft. In revenge, four Catholic priests, three of them French, are killed east of Algiers. Between July and October 1995 a wave of GIA attacks in France leave 10 dead and 200 wounded. In March 1996 France is shocked by the murder of seven Trappist monks taken from their monastery at Tibhirine. 2005: Positive colonialism Three years after president Abdelaziz Bouteflika visits France in 2000 his French opposite number Jacques Chirac returns the favour and signs the Declaration of Algiers to try to improve relations despite the still painful past without forgetting of denying what had happened. But in February 2005, a French law requiring teachers to stress the positive role of colonisation goes down like a lead balloon in Algiers. Bouteflika says it shows Frances blinkered negationist and revisionist mindset. The following year the law is annulled. But Algiers demands an official apology for French atrocities during the colonial period as a precursor for any treaty of friendship. At the end of 2007, then French president Nicolas Sarkozy denounces the colonial system while on a visit to Algiers but appeals to Algerians to look to the future. His successor Francois Hollande formally recognises the suffering that French colonialism inflicted on the Algerian people during a state visit. 2017: Enter Macron Emmanuel Macron, the first French president to be born after the war, goes further than any of his predecessors to bridge the gap. He angered the French right before his election in 2017 by saying the conquest of Algeria involved crimes and acts of barbarism that would today be seen as crimes against humanity. He orders an eminent Algerian-born French historian, Benjamin Stora, to draw up a report on French colonisation and the war of independence. 2020: Algerian anger In June 2020, Algeria recalls its ambassador in France after French television shows a documentary about the weekly anti-government Hirak street protests there. In January 2021, Stora hands in his report, which makes a series of recommendations including the creation a memory and truth commission. It does not suggest a formal state apology, and Macron says he will not give in to Algiers demands for one. Instead he says he will make symbolic gestures to attempt to reconcile the two countries. Algiers rejects the report, saying it lacks official recognition of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by France during the 130 years that it occupied Algeria. 2021: History rewritten In April French Prime Minister Jean Castexs visit to Algiers is postponed at the last minute amid rumours of a new chill in relations. Last month Macron asked for forgiveness from the families of Harkis. On Saturday Algiers recalls its ambassador over reported comments by Macron that Algerias post-independence political-military system had totally re-written the countrys history. acm/fg/dv AIR FRANCE-KLM "Lovers of the Red Sky" showcases a series of heartfelt moments between Ahn Hyo Seop and Kim Yoo Jung. At the same time, the latest episode also highlights Gong Myung's feelings towards the royal painter. 'Lovers of the Red Sky' Viewership Rating Following the surprising twists and turns and revelation among the characters, "Lovers of the Red Sky" viewership rating showed a modest increase compared to its previous episode. According to Nielsen Korea, the October 4 episode rebounded with a 0.7 percentage increase, earning an average nationwide rating of 9.6 percent. Amid the fluctuating rating, "Lovers of the Red Sky" is still the leading Kdrama on its time slot. 'Lovers of the Red Sky' Episode 9 Highlights: Hong Cheon Gi Witnessed Ha Ram's Transformation In episode 9, Hong Cheon Gi (Kim Yoo Jung) saw how Ha Ram (Ahn Hyo Seop) turned into a scary beast after visiting the royal pavilion; this means that Ma Wang or the water demon has manifested on him. With the demon reigning in Ha Ram's body, he suddenly attacked Cheon Gi causing major commotion inside the palace. Fortunately, the Tiger Goddess, also known as the palace protector, appeared and helped contain Ma Wang, leaving Ha Ram unconscious and unable to remember everything that happened. After checking out at Cheon Gi, Prince Yang Myeong (Gong Myung) told her that supervisor Ha needs to be inspected by the bureau for acting like a madman. The grand prince explained to Cheon Gi that will also protect not just the palace but also her and Ha Ram. Hong Cheon Gi's Honest Thoughts About Ha Ram Despite what Ha Ram did to her, she still chose to be by his side and took care of him, ensuring he recovered fast. As she looked at him, who was still unconscious, she realized and admitted to herself that Ha Ram was a very special person to him. Ha Ram Gave Hong Cheon Gi a Special Gift After recovering, Ha Ram thanked the female painting for staying by his side. To express his gratitude, he gave her a unique jade ring which made Cheon Gi stunned by how beautiful it was. "Lovers of the Red Sky" episode 9 highlights Ha Ram's confession to the female painter. He admitted his feelings telling Cheon Gi that he loves her. The Chosen Painter During her talk with the grand prince, Hong Cheon Ki was told about the palace's secret. Prince Yangmyeong spills the details regarding the royal painting and the responsibility of the divine painter. She was surprised to know that her responsibility was to seal the demon inside the painting. It was explained by the King himself, telling Cheon Gi that the demon was near them, waiting for his right moment to attack the palace IN CASE YOU MISSED: 'Lovers of the Red Sky' Star Kim Yoo Jung Secretly Made Donation for Child Violence Victims KDramastars owns this article Written by Geca Wills Amid the "Squid Game" mania, Korea's biggest broadcast networks are slated to release highly anticipated series featuring Hallyu stars like Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Young Ae, and up-and-coming actress Han So Hee with their new shows this October. From a roster of stars, October 2021 Kdramas also highlights a wide array of genres varying from action-adventure, crime-comedy to historical Kdramas illustrating empowered and badass women. With that, here are five October 2021 Kdramas to add to your binge list. 'The King's Affection' Release Date: October 11 Helmed by "The Beauty Inside" and "Undercover" director Song Hyun Wook, the KBS' soon to be released Kdrama "The King's Affection" is Based on the Korean comics of the same name, "The King's Affection" is helmed by "The Beauty Inside" and "Undercover" director Song Hyun Wook and penned by Han Hee Jung, the screenwriter behind "Clean with the Passion." Interestingly, the historical drama showcases a roster of talented actors, including SF9 Rowoon, Park Eun Bin, Bae Yoon Kyung, VICTON's Byungchan, Nam Yoon Su, and DIA's Jung Chae Yeon as the lead stars. "The King's Affection" depicts a romance between Crown Prince Lee Hwi, portrayed by Park Eun Bin, and her complicated feelings towards her teacher, Jung Ji Woon, played by SF9's Rowoon. Set to release on October 11, the KBS series will be the newest Monday and Tuesday drama and can also be streamed on Netflix. 'My Name' Release Date: October 15 From the historical series, another October 2021 Kdrama that everyone should look out for is Han So Hee's "My Name." The Netflix series will transform the "Nevertheless" star as the revenge-driven Yoon Ji Woo, who is eager to find out the man behind her father's death. Joining her is Park Hee Soon, who took on the role of South Korea's biggest drug syndicate leader Choi Moo Jin, and Ahn Bo Hyun as Drug Investigation Unit police detective Jeon Pil Do. 'Reflection of You' Release Date: October 13 JTBC's "Reflection of You" highlights the story of two women with conflicting fates. The thriller mystery Kdrama stars Jung Hee Joo as Go Hyun Jung and "Hospital Playlist" actress Shin Hyun Bin, who took on the role of Goo Hae Won. In the upcoming series, Go Hyun Jung managed to use her poverty as her motivation to be successful. Now that she achieved an almost perfect life, she still feels an emptiness inside her heart and thinks something is missing. At the time, she accidentally meets Goo Hae Won, who was also just like Hyun Jung when she was young, but unlike her, Hae Won radiates and is surrounded by positive energy. "Reflection of You" will air on October 13 every Wednesday and Thursday at 10:30 p.m. KST on JTBC. 'Jirisan' Release Date: October 23 Jun Ji Hyun's new drama "Jirisan" also features her "Kingdom" co-star Ju Ji Hoon as they portray Mount Jiri's ranger. The Hallyu star plays top ranger Seo Yi Kang alongside rookie ranger Kang Hyun Jo, played by Ju Ji Hoon. "Jirisan" follows the story of park rangers who are caught up in various incidents inside the national park as they accidentally uncover the mysterious secret that occurred in Mount Jirisan. Apart from the duo, "Jirisan" cast members also include veteran actor Sung Dong Il and "It's Okay Not to Be Okay" star Oh Jung Se. 'Inspector Koo' Release Date: October 30 OG Hallyu queen Lee Young Ae is set to return to the small screen with her comeback drama "Inspector Koo." It depicts the story of Koo Kyung Yi, played by the "Jewel in the Palace" star, as she transforms into a former police officer who is obsessed with solving cold cases. The comedy-mystery drama will premiere on October 30, airing every Saturday and Sunday on JTBC. KDramastars owns this article Geca Wills wrote this. Lee Joon Gi is confirmed to star in a new legal drama! Xports news reported on October 5 that Lee Joon Gi is in discussion to appear in a new Kdrama. An hour after the announcement, Newsen released a report validating the news that the "Flower of Evil" star will lead SBS' forthcoming legal-suspense drama "Again My Life." Namoo Actors Confirms Lee Joon Gi's First Drama for 2022 To formally inform the public about his next project, Lee Joon Gi's agency Namoo Actors released a statement and confirmed his participation in the drama. "The Veil" and "Vagabond" actor Lee Kyung Young will also join the lead cast. Meanwhile, "Strangers From Hell" and "Doctor Prisoner" actress Kim Ji Eun is reportedly in talks to star in the series. SBS forthcoming legal drama "Again My Life" is based on a full-length novel written by Lee Hae Nal from May 13, 2016, to November 10, 2017. The story is also available on webtoon and received favorable reviews from the readers. "Again My Life" will center its story around a young prosecutor who was killed while trying to judge an absolute ruler who was stained with evil. "My Little Baby" and "Graceful Family" producer Han Chul Soo is in charge of the series. In addition to the report, SBS is currently reviewing the project to confirm the release date and time slot of the drama. Rest assured, "Again My Life" will meet the viewers in the first half of 2022. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: 4 Vampire K-Dramas That Also Star Handsome Lead Actors for Your Early Halloween Binge Lee Joon Gi to Play the Role of a Prosecutor Lee Joon Gi will showcase his excellent acting once again after almost two years of break from show business. He takes the role of Kim Hee Woo, a fierce and mighty prosecutor who is ready to do anything to punish all the evil in court. Kim Hee Woo entered the Department of Law at the Korean University. It's not an easy journey for him as he made three attempts before making it to his desired university. When he passed the bar exam, Kim Hee Woo promised to himself that he will do his duty and responsibility right as a prosecutor. He received a case about a politician named Jo Tae Seop. While he is carefully investigating the corruption made by the said public figure, Kim Hee Woo's life was put in line. He suffered an unfair death, but he was able to survive and was given another chance to live. This time, Hee Woo plans to take revenge on all the people involved in the corruption case. Are you excited for Lee Joong Gi's drama comeback with "Again My Life"? Let us know in the comments! For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars. Kdramastars owns this article. Written by Shai Collins. By Madeline Holcombe, CNN (CNN) -- A stretch of Southern California's coast has been transformed by a leak at an oil pipe that released more than 100,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. At Huntington Beach, which welcomes tourists with a sign reading "Surf City USA," had a new sign up on Monday that read, "Beach open, Ocean and Shore closed." On one beach section, workers in hazmat suits and rakes cleaned up tar balls from the spill, while beach-goers and their dogs ran between them. And a little farther south, teams in white hazmat suits worked to protect the fragile wetland ecosystem near the mouth of the Santa Ana River -- a crucial habitat for migratory birds that is now wrapped in shimmering oil ribbons. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency due to the spill. "The state is moving to cut red tape and mobilize all available resources to protect public health and the environment," he said in a statement. The breach, widely reported Saturday, occurred about five miles off Huntington Beach in Orange County, spilling as much as 144,000 gallons of crude, according to an updated estimate from the city of Huntington Beach. The cause of the spill isn't yet clear, though authorities are examining whether a ship's anchor could have caused the leak. Meanwhile, there are open questions as to the timeline of when the pipeline company and authorities learned about the spill and what they did in response. California authorities were notified late Friday of reports of an oil sheen at the site of the pipeline spill, more than 12 hours before Amplify Energy Corp., the operator of the line, reported it to state and federal officials, according to documents reviewed by CNN. But in a news conference Monday, Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said a sheen was detected by company personnel Saturday morning, not Friday night. Willsher said while there is equipment to detect the leak without visibly seeing oil spills, there were no notices of a potential leak in the line before Saturday. The timing is important because of how many people were potentially impacted by the spill on Saturday, said Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley. "There were hundreds of boaters out on the Huntington Beach coast because we had an air show," Foley said. "There were hundreds of boaters coming back and forth from Catalina to Orange County." The spill, which stretches from Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach, is likely to move farther south based on wind and currents, said Capt. Rebecca Ore, the Commanding Officer at US Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach. The spill is just the latest such incident to hit California's shores, including the 1969 spill of as much as 4.2 million gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara. Locally, Huntington Beach bore the brunt of a 1990 spill of about 417,000 gallons of crude oil when an oil tanker ran over its anchor and punctured its hull. The current spill's volume pales in comparison to the most serious oil spills in history, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska (11 million gallons) and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico (134 million gallons). Spill clean-up is underway Response efforts to the spill have doubled since Sunday afternoon, Capt. Ore said Monday. As of midday Monday, about 4,158 gallons of oil has been recovered from the water and 8,700 feet of boom -- a term for floating barriers designed to contain an oil spill -- has been deployed. Dead birds and fish have already washed ashore, according to Foley, who has been providing updates on Twitter. "This has devastated our California coastline in Orange County, and it's having a tremendous impact on our ecological preserves as well as our economics," Foley told CNN. "We need answers and the public deserves answers." Michael Ziccardi, Director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), said Monday he had "grave concerns" about the impact of the spill on local wildlife but noted early reports weren't as bad as feared. "At this point, we are cautiously optimistic related to the number of animals that might be affected at this point," said Ziccardi. Eight birds have been recovered from the oil spill, according to OWCN, including a brown pelican that was euthanized because of a wing injury. For some, this latest incident is a sign of a need for change to protect the environment. "As California continues to lead the nation in phasing out fossil fuels and combating the climate crisis, this incident serves as a reminder of the enormous cost fossil fuels have on our communities," Newsom said Monday. "Destructive offshore drilling practices sacrifice our public health, the economy, and our environment." Investigation into the cause Willsher, the Amplify executive, said Monday the company had isolated a specific spot along the pipeline that may be responsible. "We are still assessing to look for the source and figure out," Eric Laughlin, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, said Sunday at a news conference. "It doesn't appear there's further fuel leaking, but we're still working on identifying that." Amplify is a small, Houston-based company with 222 employees as of the end of 2018, the last time it reported its staff size in a company filing. Its most recent financial report shows sales of $153 million, with year-to-date losses of $54.4 million through the end of June. Authorities are examining whether a ship's anchor could have caused the oil spill, said Capt. Ore. "These ships are anchored and many are awaiting entry into the San Pedro Bay Port complex -- the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- and in the course of transit it is possible that they would transit over a pipeline," Ore said Monday. The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement was assisting in Coast Guard-led response to the oil spill, the agency told CNN. Its role was to assist "in identifying the location and source of any spills and provide technical assistance to the Unified Command in stopping the spillage," it said Sunday in a statement. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to gather information and assess the source of the oil leak, it said Sunday on Twitter. By Manu Raju, Annie Grayer and Ryan Nobles, CNN (CNN) -- President Joe Biden said in a virtual meeting with a group of House progressives on Monday that the top line of the social safety net package needs to come down to somewhere between $1.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion, according to two sources familiar with the call. Biden told the group, according to one of the sources, that was the range he felt Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would accept but did not specify further within that range. On Tuesday, Manchin did not rule out a price tag range between $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion. Asked by CNN about that range, Manchin said, "I'm not ruling anything out, but the bottom line is I want to make sure that we're strategic, we do the right job and we don't basically add more to the concerns we have right now." Manchin has previously indicated that $1.5 trillion is the price tag he is willing to settle on. Top Democratic leaders are also making clear publicly that they want to see a compromise reached on a topline number. Leaving a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and White House officials Monday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi once again said that the top line would have to be below $3.5 trillion. "I'd like to be at three and a half trillion dollars, but we're not. The President said that," she said, adding, "Pay attention to what the President says." Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal's message to progressives on a call Tuesday was not to focus on the top-line number but on the programs and priorities and how they are structured, according to a source familiar with the call. Jayapal said that if the top-line number needs to be cut, the preference is to look at shortening the years of funding for some programs instead of cutting out entire policies or means testing them, the source added. The Washington state Democrat also relayed to progressives that based on her call with Biden on Monday night, the White House is moving very quickly to negotiate what will be in the smaller package, and that some of the pieces may already be negotiated, according to the source. Jayapal told her members that she told the President that progressives want to continue to be at the table and be part of the negotiations, the source added. Jayapal also said that the White House is negotiating directly with Manchin and Sinema, according to the source. The progressives on Monday night's call with Biden reiterated to the President that they remain supportive of the package and want to pass "as robust a plan as they can" through both houses of Congress, a source familiar with that call said. Another source told CNN that Democrats agreed they need to get consensus on a deal and that "something is better than nothing." On that call, Jayapal told Biden the $1.9-2.2 trillion top line was too low for the social safety net package Democrats are trying to find consensus on. She pushed back on the lower range that Biden laid out, saying it sounded low for getting in all the programs that progressives and the President initially wanted included in the package, a source familiar with the call told CNN. The source added that Jayapal said instead that progressives wanted to be closer to a top line of $3 trillion, with a price tag in the range of $2.5-2.9 trillion. A separate source on the call told CNN that Jayapal said explicitly that $2.5 trillion is too low for the package. But on the other side of the Capitol on Monday, Manchin would not commit to the new timeline set by party leaders to find a deal on the social safety net expansion by October 31. He also resisted calls from progressives and other top Democrats to raise his $1.5 trillion price tag for the package, which many in his party view as too low to achieve key policy objectives. And he drew a "red line" on the Hyde Amendment, saying the inclusion of the measure prohibiting federal funds from being used for most abortions must is necessary for him to support the package -- another point of disagreement with many progressives. According to sources on Monday's call, the group of lawmakers from the Congressional Progressive Caucus on the call included, among others, Jayapal; Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the assistant speaker of the House; Mark Pocan of Wisconsin; Barbara Lee of California; Debbie Dingell of Michigan; Ritchie Torres of New York; Ro Khanna of California; Peter Welch of Vermont; Mondaire Jones of New York; Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware; and Peter Aguilar of California, who's not a member of the CPC but serves as the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus. Two members of Congressional Progressive Caucus leadership -- Deputy Chair Katie Porter of California and Whip Ilhan Omar of Minnesota -- were not invited on the call. Biden met virtually with more members of the House Democratic Caucus on Tuesday. KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has pledged another $5 million toward drought relief in the Klamath Basin as farmers and other stakeholders in the region continue to grapple with a major shortage of water. Reclamation previously awarded $15 million toward the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency, and the additional $5 million will join those funds. KPDRA is tasked with distributing the fund to irrigators in Oregon and California who are without an external water supply due to the drought. Reclamation said that the initial funds will be distributed on a per-acre basis later this year. Growers in the Klamath Basin were incensed in May when Reclamation announced that it would not divert water from Upper Klamath Lake into the "A Canal," which would normally supply water to to irrigators within the project, as well as the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge between Tulelake and Dorris. Without water from the lake, growers either had to turn to using or digging wells which have also gone increasingly dry this year or leaving their fields fallow in hopes of relief funding. In addition to the previous $15 million from Reclamation, the US Department of Agriculture put $15 million into the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency this year. "This devastatingly dry year has been difficult for everyone, said Jared Bottcher, Klamath Basin Area Office acting area manager for Reclamation. We are pleased to make additional funding available to KPDRA to provide immediate relief to communities hit hard by drought conditions. We will pursue additional drought support for Klamath Basin communities as we progress towards long-term solutions for the Klamath Basin. MEDFORD, Ore. With the Pfizer vaccine now granted emergency use authorization for a booster shot among certain groups, public health officials in Oregon are trying to clear up any confusion about who can get a third dose based on two different sets of eligibility criteria. First, there's a difference between the Pfizer booster and a "third dose," the latter referring to either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. We know many people have questions if they need a third dose or booster dose of #COVID19 vaccine. To learn more COVID-19 vaccine third doses and booster doses, visit https://t.co/rZQQZAxNP3. pic.twitter.com/OOJEAwSzae OR Health Authority (@OHAOregon) October 2, 2021 Third doses are specifically for people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised. Under federal guidelines, people with those conditions who already received their first two Moderna or Pfizer shots can get a third dose if it's been at least 28 days since the last shot. Boosters, on the other hand, are available to a broader swath of the population, but (for the time being) they are exclusively authorized for those who received the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. This applies to people 65 or older, those who are 18 and older with underlying health conditions, and adults who work or live in high-risk settings. For boosters, it has to have been at least 6 months since your second dose of Pfizer. Here's a breakdown of eligibility for the two situations from Jackson County Public Health: Are you immunocompromised? If you answered yes, and you received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine: You need a total three doses of the same mRNA vaccine either Pfizer or Moderna. You should get a third dose of the vaccine at least 28 days after your second dose. All three doses count as your initial vaccine series. If you get a third dose, you do not need a booster shot. Did you receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine? If yes, then you may be eligible for a booster vaccine six months after your second dose if you are one of the following: 65 years or older 18+ and have underlying medical conditions (All intellectual and developmental disabilities are considered underlying medical conditions in Oregon.) 18+ and live or work a high-risk setting Whatever your situation, if you're looking to get vaccinated against COVID-19, you can visit the Oregon Health Authority's page here for more information and to find a clinic. For information in Jackson County, you can visit the public health site here. After a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations that overwhelmed local health facilities throughout August and most of September, both metrics have been gradually declining in southern Oregon. Jackson County Public Health noted on Monday that there were 465 new COVID-19 cases last week, a 16% decrease from the week prior. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Region 5, which includes both Jackson and Josephine counties, were down to 81 on Monday. Of those patients, 30 were in an intensive care unit. Despite the gradual downward trend, hospital capacity in Region 5 remains relatively low, with just 8% of adult ICU beds (5 beds total) available on Monday, and 7% of all other beds (32 total) available. Jackson County reported two more deaths attributed to COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the county death toll to 282 since the pandemic began. The youngest was a 56-year-old man who died September 26 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. Josephine County reported three more deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total to 197 deaths since the pandemic began. The youngest was a 65-year-old man who died September 30 at Asante Three Rivers. He had not been vaccinated against COVID-19, but the two other fatalities both in their 90s had received the vaccine. Of Josephine County's total deaths, 167 were unvaccinated. MEDFORD, Ore. Though the deadline for Oregon's vaccine mandate is October 18, this Monday marks the last date that workers covered by the requirement can get a shot and be considered fully vaccinated by the deadline. Otherwise, workers will need to get one of the allowed exemptions to avoid a potential leave of absence perhaps even losing their jobs entirely. Governor Kate Brown first announced a vaccine requirement for state workers without an option for regular testing on August 10, and it was later expanded to include all healthcare workers and K-12 school staff. In both cases, the deadline for full vaccination was October 18. With the deadline still ahead, it has been difficult to know how the mandate will shake out in southern Oregon whether there will be widespread compliance or a cascade of even more staffing shortages as those who refuse to get the vaccine are suspended or terminated from their jobs. Based on the timeline for each vaccine, workers covered by the mandate either needed to have their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine by October 4, or get their one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. For all of the vaccines, the CDC considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after that dose. As of September 30, Asante said that 83 percent of its staff throughout southern Oregon were fully vaccinated. Phoenix-Talent School District told NewsWatch 12 that 90 percent of its employees were fully vaccinated. NewsWatch 12 spoke to Superintendent Dr. Bret Champion of the Medford School District on Monday as the "last call" for shots arrived. He said that about 90 percent of staff are either fully vaccinated or have turned in an exemption for either medical or religious reasons. Champion said that he has not heard from any teachers that they will not either get the vaccine or submit an exemption, though about 10 percent of the District's total staff have not indicated one way or the other. "Of that 90 percent, there have only been two staff who have indicated they are not going to do a vaccine or an exception but none of those are teachers," Champion said. The Superintendent says he predicts that the number of holdouts, the 10 percent, will start to shrink as administrators reach out to them individually. But if the District does end up having to replace teachers or other staff, Champion said that they'll go through the same hiring process as they normally would. "If there's a need then we'll post the job and the good news is that we're coming up on December graduates, and so we'll visit with SOU and look at colleges across the state, and try to find excellent educators to continue to do good work in our schools," said Champion. "So we'll follow the process that we always do whenever there's a vacancy." New cases of COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus shown here, fell in B.C. over the weekend from daily averages seen last week, the government announced Monday. A 1200-year-old slice of old growth known as a cookie blocks an entrance in the west wing where the Premier's office is located while MLA's sit in the legislative assembly to debate. Fro the first time since the start of the pandemic all 87 members are allowed to sit in the legislature in Victoria, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito Anger is peaking among a wide range of Democrats toward Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema over their resistance to President Joe Biden's economic agenda, but the Democrats' struggle to pass Biden's sweeping plan is rooted in more than the personal idiosyncrasies and electoral calculations of two individual senators. It also illustrates the structural challenge of passing big legislation through a Senate that is more closely and deeply divided than in earlier generations. Compared with most of the 20th century, it has become much more rare since 2000 for either party to accumulate a comfortable Senate majority of 55 seats or more. And yet, even as each party is operating with fewer Senate votes of its own, it has also become more difficult for the majority to win votes from senators in the opposition party for its key initiatives. These two trends have produced a political environment in which the only plausible path for presidents to pass their major priorities is to achieve near- (or even complete) unity in their party. As Manchin and Sinema have demonstrated over the past week, that creates enormous leverage for even a tiny handful of senators to block their party's program -- a point Biden acknowledged with obvious frustration at his news conference Monday. Something similar happened to Senate Republicans during President Donald Trump's first year, when dissent from just three GOP senators doomed a broadly supported effort in the party to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In the years ahead, the turmoil evident in the Senate over Biden's agenda may become more the rule than the exception, as both parties operate with extraordinarily little margin for error -- and even the slightest cracks in the unity of the majority are magnified by the ferocity of lockstep opposition from the minority. Under these pressures, the Senate is simultaneously growing more polarized and more paralyzed. That dynamic has frustrated both sides, but it likely constitutes a greater long-term threat to Democrats, both because they typically try to pass more legislation than Republicans, but also because the core trend driving the polarization -- the increasing alignment of presidential and Senate outcomes in the states -- tends to magnify Republican influence in the chamber. The Democrats' current Senate majority is the most precarious possible: just 50 senators plus Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaking vote. Such slim Senate majorities have become much more routine in this century than in the past. Shrinking margins Since 2001, either party has reached 55 Senate seats only three times: Republicans immediately after President George W. Bush's reelection in 2004, and Democrats immediately after President Barack Obama's wins in 2008 and 2012. (The 2009 Democratic-led Senate, with 59 seats immediately after the election, was the only one since 2001 to exceed 55 seats.) By contrast, Democrats reached 55 or more Senate seats in every Senate from 1961 through 1980 but one (the only exception came in 1971); in fact, in six of those 10 Senates, Democrats held at least 61 seats. The elevated margins Democrats enjoyed in the body from the 1960s until 1980 were undermined when the party lost its hold on virtually all of the Southern Senate seats in the region's post-civil-rights realignment. But even after that advantage vanished, one side or the other still reached the 55-seat threshold seven times from 1981 through 2000. (Democrats did it four times, and Republicans three.) That reflected a more fluid political environment in which enough states could still swing between the parties to allow either side to accumulate a substantial Senate advantage when the national political current shifted in its direction. That's much less true today. Fewer seats seem genuinely at play because of the tightening relationship between the results in presidential and Senate contests. It has become increasingly difficult for candidates in either party to win Senate seats in states that usually vote the other way for president. In 2016, for the first time ever, every Senate race went the same way as the presidential contest in that same state; in 2020, the same thing happened, except in Maine, where Republican Sen. Susan Collins won in a state that Biden comfortably carried. If anything, 2020 surpassed 2016 in underscoring the link between presidential and Senate outcomes: Democrats poured unprecedented sums of money into Senate challenges in North Carolina, Iowa, South Carolina, Montana and Kansas, among other states, but when Biden failed to carry any of them, their Senate candidates failed too. The Senate seats Democrats did gain in 2020 came in states that Biden also won: Arizona and Georgia. After that stark outcome, Democrats now hold 47 of the 50 Senate seats in the 25 states that voted for Biden; Republicans, in mirror image, hold 47 of the 50 Senate seats in the 25 states that voted for Trump. Pulling back the lens only sharpens the picture. In the six presidential elections since 2000, 26 states have voted Republican a majority of the time: The GOP now holds 45 of their 52 Senate seats. Over that same period, 23 states have voted mostly for Democrats: The party now holds 43 of their 46 Senate seats. Iowa, the final state, has split 3-3 in presidential races since then (while shifting sharply toward the GOP in the past two): Republicans hold both of its Senate seats. This hardening underlying dynamic makes it difficult for either party to amass a comfortable Senate majority. Since "the Senate outcomes now line up with the presidential outcomes" and about half the states lean toward each party in presidential contests, "you get a pretty even balance in the Senate in the same way," says Gary C. Jacobson, a University of California at San Diego political scientist who specializes in Congress. "So it's hard to break out of that parity because there have not been a lot of Senate candidates who have shown the ability to win across party lines." Few 'split ticket' voters The same correlation of presidential and Senate outcomes that makes it more likely that each party can scratch out only a narrow Senate majority also makes it less likely the majority party can attract enough support from the minority to reach the 60 votes required to break a filibuster. One implication of this alignment is that the vast majority of senators are sent to Washington by voters who also supported presidential candidates from their same parties. That creates enormous electoral pressure on Democratic senators to vote with a Democratic president and against a Republican one, and vice versa for GOP senators. The pressure is especially acute in this modern era, when any president faces overwhelmingly negative job approval ratings from voters on the other side. The force of that "negative partisanship," says Thomas E. Mann, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and longtime student of Congress, makes it almost impossible for senators to support initiatives from a president of the other party. "Even when you take policy arenas where you can imagine [bipartisan] cooperation happening in a lab, place it in our current system or structure of politics and it can't happen," he says. "Most of the ties to parties are negative ties against the other party -- and that's especially felt keenly on the Republican side, but it's growing on the Democratic side." Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, is in some ways a throwback to the earlier era when more senators (and House members) represented "split ticket" constituencies that usually vote for the other party's presidential nominees (Trump won West Virginia by almost 40 percentage points in 2020). From the 1970s through the 1990s, those senators -- southern Democrats like John Breaux or Sam Nunn, coastal Republicans like Bob Packwood or Jacob Javits -- were often the Senate's most enthusiastic deal-makers, largely because they recognized it was in their interests to tamp down partisan hostilities. Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat representing a state that had supported Republicans for president almost entirely from 1952 through 2016, seems to envision a similar role. But, in fact, the maneuvering of Manchin and Sinema in the current budget fight actually shows how much Congress has changed since that earlier era -- and why the role they are claiming is so diminished. In their heyday, the "split ticket" legislators of the earlier era represented a large enough share of the Senate to build meaningful bipartisan coalitions on a regular basis. "I used to have a coalition of about 10 people from both sides of the aisle that we could work with," Breaux told me. "They don't have that anymore -- on both sides. The moderates are in the minority on both sides of the aisle, and that's why you are seeing the [conflict] we are seeing right now." Bigger problem for Democrats Sinema and Manchin were able to help forge the bipartisan infrastructure deal. But that agreement, on an inherently less ideological issue, looks very much like the exception. Neither senator is suggesting that any changes they are proposing to the reconciliation bill would convince any Republicans to vote for it. No Republican senator has publicly endorsed the voting rights legislation that Manchin renegotiated with his Democratic colleagues; several of his most obvious targets, to the contrary, have already signaled their opposition. Nor did enough Republicans heed his plea to support an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Democrats likewise have been unable to attract 10 Republicans on other potential areas of agreement, including gun control, a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants and police reform. That leaves Manchin and Sinema in a very different situation from the earlier deal-makers like Breaux or Nunn. That older generation could, at times, advance a positive agenda that built a majority coalition across party lines; the influence wielded by Manchin and Sinema is now almost entirely negative. They can block their own party's ideas, but on virtually all issues they can't create the bipartisan alternative they claim to seek. "There is no one to deal with on the Republican side of the aisle; it just can't be done now," says Mann. "So all Manchin and Sinema can do is negative," by forcing Democrats to scale back their plans. Jacobson notes that the narrow Senate majorities discourage compromise in another respect: Because the minority party is now almost always close enough that it can envision regaining control in the next election, it has even less incentive to cooperate in legislative achievements that could buttress the majority. When "control is at stake in every election," he says, "that makes for intransigence, posturing and inability to compromise." Both parties have been affected by a Senate that is closely and deeply divided. Every Republican did vote together to pass Trump's tax cuts in 2017 (over the opposition of every Democrat) while the GOP held only 51 Senate seats. But a revolt that same year from just three Republican senators, combined with resistance again from every Democrat, blocked the GOP from repealing the Affordable Care Act, though the vast majority of Republicans in both chambers supported the repeal. But on balance these new patterns probably present a greater challenge to Democrats, for several reasons. One is that they have a much broader legislative agenda than Republicans, whose priorities are centered on two goals -- cutting taxes and appointing federal judges and Supreme Court justices -- that under existing Senate rules can already be passed with simple majority votes. (Taxes can be cut through the reconciliation process and judicial appointments are exempt from the filibuster.) As long as the filibuster remains in place, a bigger share of the Democratic legislative wish list -- everything from immigration to gun control and voting rights -- requires 60 votes. Representing a more diverse electoral coalition, Democrats are also dealing with a broader ideological range among their senators than the GOP. While moderates constitute a very small share of the GOP caucus compared with conservatives, left and center are more closely divided on the Democratic side -- a dynamic Manchin pointedly underscored last week when he told those advocating for a larger reconciliation package to simply "elect more liberals." But that's easier said than done. The final problem for Democrats is that the ceiling for the number of Senate seats they can win under normal circumstances -- with centrist or liberal candidates -- is probably slightly lower than for Republicans. Even though Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the six presidential elections since 2000, Republicans, as noted, have won slightly more states a majority of the time during that period -- which gives them a small but significant edge in the battle for Senate control. Moreover, in 2022, Republicans can reasonably expect to competitively challenge Democratic incumbents in at least four Biden states from 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. In Trump states holding Senate elections, Democrats are likely to be competitive in the North Carolina open seat and might be able to contest Ohio and Florida -- but their best chance for gains is further consolidating their grip on the Biden states by winning seats the GOP now holds in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The filibuster debate To many observers, those limited opportunities underscore the need for Democrats to improve their competitive positive in at least a few more states. It's telling that the Senate seats they flipped in 2020 came not in states they had bombarded with late television advertising, but in Arizona and Georgia -- states where they had invested for years in grassroots organizing that also lifted Biden to victory. North Carolina is a plausible next target for Democrats to add a Senate seat in 2022 with that strategy, but after that the options, particularly Florida and Texas in the Sun Belt or Ohio and Iowa in the Rust Belt, look more daunting. The other implication of these dynamics for Democrats is the increasing pressure in the party to end the filibuster so that they can govern during the periods when they squeeze out a narrow Senate majority. "There's no real room to build coalitions that give really any chance of overcoming a routine requirement of 60 votes to get anything done," notes Mann. Even Breaux, a centrist who built his Senate career on finding deals with Republicans, thinks Democrats need to end the filibuster for what he calls "constitutional issues" such as voting and abortion rights. The filibuster, he says, can encourage cooperation "when you have an aggressive middle on both sides, and you don't have that now." As a result, he believes "in getting rid of [the filibuster] for constitutional issues, like voting rights. We've done it for the Supreme Court and federal judges, so I guess you could do a limited carve-out for constitutional issues. That at least would help get some things done." One final ingredient makes the operation of the modern Senate even more combustible. Because Republicans now so thoroughly dominate the less-populated, heavily rural, predominantly White states across the Plains and Mountain West, the GOP can exercise enormous power in the Senate even while representing many fewer people than Democrats do. If you assign half of each state's population to each senator, Democrats now represent 56% of the country and Republicans 44% -- even though each side holds 50 Senate seats. As population continues to concentrate in the largest states, this partisan imbalance will likely widen. Without a change in the filibuster, that would allow states representing an ever-shrinking share of the national population to block legislative action supported by senators representing a clear majority of the country. "The dynamic is that a smaller and smaller segment of the American electorate will control more and more seats in the Senate," says Mann. "So that there will be, in my view, a distortion that is so great it puts into question the entire legitimacy of the Senate as a governing body." CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong election year in a discussion of upcoming Senate races. They will take place in 2022. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Officials say a 53-year-old man convicted of multiple murders and rape in the '90s has died in prison after 21 years there. The Oregon Department of Corrections said Monday that Sebastian Alexander Shaw died in Oregon State Penitentiary custody on Oct. 3, according to The Oregonian and OregonLive. Shaw entered prison in 2000 after a conviction in Multnomah County and was given three life sentences for the aggravated murder of Jay Rickbeil in 1991 and the killings of Donna Ferguson and Todd Rudiger in 1992. He was also convicted of raping a Portland woman in 1995. Shaw also had been named the primary suspect in the unsolved 1994 killing of 14-year-old Jenny Lin from Alameda County in California. SPRINGFIED, Ore. -- After failing to reach a deal after months of negotiations, more than 400 unionized frontline healthcare workers at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center officially went on strike at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 said the workers will be on strike from now until 7 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 7. Members will be on the strike line outside the hospital from 6 a.m. 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. RELATED: HEALTHCARE WORKERS AT MCKENZIE-WILLAMETTE SPEAK OUT AHEAD OF PLANNED STRIKE The union includes hundreds of frontline healthcare workers including housekeepers, certified nursing assistants, MRI technicians, respiratory therapists, pharmacy technicians and more. I am out here to advocate for my patients and to vocalize for them and their safety and unite along with my coworkers in going on strike against McKenzie-Willamette, and their unfair practice that they've been doing against their workers, said Rachael Gordon, a certified nursing assistant. McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center said Friday it will implement its contingency operations plan that will limit some services during the strike. RELATED: UNION PLANS STRIKE AT MCKENZIE-WILLAMETTE MEDICAL CENTER "Care for patients already in our hospital will not be impacted, and our emergency room remains available to accept walk-in patients," said Jana Waterman, hospital spokeswoman. "McKenzie-Willamette remains committed to bargaining in good faith and reaching a mutually beneficial agreement with the SEIU," she said. EUGENE, Ore. Joshua is an older cat who arrived at Greenhill Humane Society as a stray and has won over the staff with his charming personality and zest for life. Joshua still has a lot of energy for his age and is looking for a forever companion to spend his golden years with, said Samantha Schwartz of Greenhill. Hes a very happy kitty who enjoys playing with wand toys and napping in a cat tree. Joshua is described as a sweet cat who would love to join a calm family that will give him the love and attention he deserves. He would prefer to be the only cat in the house, and may be OK with a calm dog after a slow introduction. This friendly, outgoing cat is 13-years-old and would be the perfect addition to many families. His fee is sponsored and has been reduced to $27.50. The fee helps pay for shelter expenses such as spaying and neutering, vaccinations, permanent microchip identification, a certificate for a free veterinary exam, post-adoption support and more. Joshua was Tuesdays Pet of the Week on KEZI 9 News. Every Tuesday, KEZI showcases a homeless pet on the Midday newscast at 11 a.m. and again at 4 p.m. If you are interested in Joshua or the other animals at Greenhill Humane Society, more information is available here. A video of Joshua can be watched here. Greenhill Humane Society is located at 88530 Green Hill Road and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its phone number is 541-689-1503. Appointments are available. Sinn Fein spokesperson on Children, Kathleen Funchion TD, has demanded that the government adequately fund the childcare sector and reduce the cost of childcare for families. Deputy Funchion spoke earlier today at the No Child Left Behind rally outside Leinster House. I am proud to be standing in solidarity today with childcare sector workers as they demand better funding for childcare at this rally at Leinster House. Politicians must listen and act. Childcare is severely under-funded and under-resourced in Ireland. Children and their parents are being failed by this lack of funding by the government. The National Childcare Scheme announced in 2019 was heralded by the government as an attempt to improve this situation but it in fact negatively impacted thousands of children from disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds. These children and their families were previously supported under targeted schemes which recognised that children from some families in need, require additional supports to provide equity of access, opportunity and participation. However, the new scheme transitioned from a child centred approach to a labour activation model, where unemployed parents and carers are entitled to fewer or no subsidised hours of childcare for their children compared to children of working parents or parents engaged in education or training. This is an appalling situation which results in the state discriminating against children in a bid to motivate their parents into employment and education. The government has been turning a blind eye to this crisis in childcare for too long. We must have a properly funded and resourced system which is accessible for families. Access must be fair and meet families needs. Later today, I will be introducing my motion in the Dail which will call on the government to finally address this crisis in Budget 2022. Sinn Fein are proposing a state model, which would see the government take on the cost of staff wages, in order to reduce fees for parents. Our proposals would see fees be cut by one third in the first year, and then by two thirds subsequently. This would ensure fees could be affordable for families and put money back into parents pockets. Our proposals would also ensure fairer pay and conditions for staff by ensuring they are paid the living wage. They are highly qualified staff who perform a vital job, yet this isnt reflected in their current pay. I am calling on all TDs to back my motion tonight and reduce childcare costs for parents. The Minister for Transport and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is encouraging young people to pick up trades in order to meet Ireland's de-carbonisation objectives. Minister Ryan made the comments on Morning Ireland today, where he discussed the recently released National Development Plan and plan to the retrofit half a million homes by 2030. The minister admitted there could be delays in the delivery of the plan due to a current skills shortage. He said, "I use every opportunity to say to young people thinking of a career in the next twenty to thirty years there's one area more than anything else that's going to be good income [and] good jobs." He explained that the National Development Plan would produce 47,000 job opportunities and said, "The majority are going to be in those areas [of] building, construction, forestry, it's in the really practical and sharp end of the climate transition where we need our young people to go." An action plan for apprenticeships was launched in April this year, with the minister supporting the initiative. He commented on its announcement at the time through his social media and said it would help the workforce "prepare and upskill for opportunities in areas like Clean Energy Generation, Retrofitting & Sustainable Construction." A hard working family man is facing a prison term over his involvement with a hole in the wall criminal gang which had netted almost 800,000 from a series of ATM thefts. Niall Finnegan (39) of Cherry Grove, Cullyhanna, Co Armagh, was in possession of 103,930 in stolen cash when he was arrested at a location in Tullypole, Co Meath. At the Special Criminal Court on Tuesday, October 5, Detective Sergeant Mark Looby told prosecutor Fiona Murphy SC the money had been linked to a number of ATM thefts which had been carried out in the Cavan and Monaghan areas. Det Sgt Looby said the gang had used excavators to rip the ATMs from their locations, and they had caused significant amounts of criminal damage during six raids and attempted raids in the Border region. He also said the gang had stolen 790,000 before arrests were made two years ago by undercover detectives monitoring the activities of suspects. During one such operation, on August 14, 2019, gardai witnessed a stolen 14-tonne digger being driven in convoy along Main St, Virginia, Co Cavan, behind a Land Cruiser, also stolen, at 2.15am. The bucket of the digger was only a couple of feet from the ATM when gardai intervened and the gang fled, Det Sgt Looby said. Some of the men fleeing the scene were later identified by members of gardai and traced to a site in Virginia, Co Cavan, where 298,000 in stolen cash was recovered by detectives. One of the gang members, who cannot be identified, was later observed arriving at the site in a car registered to the accused. Along with the unnamed man, Finnegan was then seen by gardai using an excavator to dig a hole in a nearby field. They were seen taking packages from the ground, Det Sgt Looby said. The pair left the scene and returned in a Toyota Avensis with a third man, who also cannot be identified. The group was seen transferring a number of items into the car and were stopped by gardai on leaving the site. Det Sgt Looby said the accused was in the passenger seat of the vehicle when it was pulled over. The gardai subsequently recovered 15,000 in three separate 5k bundles from the passenger seat footwell, Det Sgt Looby confirmed, while around 88,000 was recovered from the cars boot. At a hearing last July, Finnegan had admitted that on August 20, 2019, he had been in possession of 103,930 knowing, believing, or being reckless as to whether it was the proceeds of criminal conduct. Today, Ms Murphy told the court the maximum penalty for the offence was 15 years imprisonment. Defence counsel Padraig Dwyer SC described his client as a hard-working family man who had been free and forthcoming with gardai in relation to his involvement with this particular offence. Finnegan, who has three previous convictions for assault as well as several driving offences, later gave assurances to the court from the witness box not to associate with the gang and to avoid all criminal activity in the future. Before adjourning for background reports, presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the accused was facing a prison term. The ATM thefts, he said, were highly organised and resulted in sizeable amounts of money for the criminals involved. Even if you strip out the mitigating factors, the underlying situation would call for a custodial sentence, Mr Justice Hunt observed. Resting above the Zumbro River in Zumbrota is a covered wooden bridge that is among the last of its kind in Minnesota. Built in 1869, the bridge stretches over 100 feet, serving as a walkway and bikeway for community members. The bridge's architecture is based on a popular 19th-century design known as Town Lattice. The Town Lattice Design weaves and crosses wooden beams throughout a bridge, strengthening support throughout the structure. Zumbrota Historical Society Curator Alice Lother said the bridge remains because of a local effort in 1930. "In 1932 it was moved out to the fairgrounds, Goodhue County fairgrounds and then in 1969, it was moved to the park, not over the water, just into the park," Lother said. The bridge was eventually moved from the park and placed 100 feet from it's original resting place over the Zumbro River. Covered Bridge Task Force Chair Wayne Radke said the bride endured a minor setback in 2019 when snow collapsed the roof. Radke said rebuilding efforts required approval from the State Historic Preservation Office, with costs roughly $250,000 dollars. The roof has since been restored. Radke encourages visitors to check out a piece of the past. "If you are sort of more romantically interested, just go through the bridge and spend time reading all of the initials of people who have carved their names. So and so, plus so and so and behind those initials, there are some wonderful stories," Radke said. BLAINE, Minn. (AP) Authorities say an Anoka County sheriffs deputy shot and wounded a man accused of firing a gun in a Blaine neighborhood. Officers responded to a report of a man shooting a gun about 10:15 p.m. Monday. Anoka County Sheriffs Cmdr. Wayne Heath says the suspect fired additional shots after law enforcement officers arrived. A perimeter was established to contain the suspect. Neighbors were advised to shelter in place because the man was still shooting. Heath says at one point the man shot in the direction of a residence. A sheriffs deputy then shot and wounded the suspect. He was taken to the hospital. His condition is not known. FREEBORN COUNTY, Minn. - A woman who said she was traveling from Texas to Rochester is in the Freeborn County Jail after she was found with more than two pounds of methamphetamine. Randi Laumbach, 40, of Chickasha, Oklahoma, is facing a first-degree drug charge that carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. Laumbach was stopped early Sunday morning on I-90 near milemarker 164 and told a trooper she was driving from Texas in a round-trip to Rochester. Due to training, the trooper believed Laumbach was involved in drug trafficking. A police K9 detected the odor of narcotics and immediately jumped to the backseat of the car. The trooper located a .22 handgun and 2.2 pounds of meth. MASON CITY, Iowa - You may have felt some sharp pain on your arms or legs lately. But where is it coming from? It might be from a pirate bug. Also called 'no see 'ems', pirate bugs are little microscopic bugs that reside mostly in crop fields, feeding on tiny insects. Because of harvest, they're scattering and landing on humans as they're seeking new homes. Todd Von Ehwegen with Cerro Gordo County Conservation says that their bites, while painful, are not poisonous. He says they should go away when colder weather arrives. Until then, the best way to prevent them from biting you is wearing long-sleeve shirts and pants. ROCHESTER, Minn.- In an explosive interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen accuses the social media giant of putting profit ahead of the public good. According to Haugen, the company tried to hide the fact they were putting profits over safety. Brittnie Webber use to be addicted to the social network. The constant stream of misinformation about COVID-19 caused her to delete her account. Webber says users need to fact-check what they're reading on the site. "Alot of people use that as their news rather than looking into what the truth is. I guess it can help for you to see maybe if something is happening but it's up to the user to look into if the information is true or not." In the "60 Minutes" interview, Haugen says she copied thousands of documents of Facebook's internal research. She claims those documents show the company is lying to the public about Facebook's effort to combat misinformation. Haugen also filed at least eight complaints with the securities and exchange commission, alleging that the company is hiding research about its shortcomings from investors and the public. Renee Pribyl uses Facebook everyday. She believes it's divided our country and doesn't protect the public good. "I just feel like there are very strong opinions out there and there are people who read those opinions and then will make them their own opinions. "I just feel that someone takes on someone else's opinion because they saw it on Facebook." Mark Kruger says he's not a frequent Facebook user but has mixed feelings on the social media giant's practices. "I hope they're doing a good job. You give them your information but how do you know they're protecting it. There's no way to know." Haugen also mentioned in her interview with Scott Pelley, whenever there was a conflict between the public and what benefited the company, the social media giant would choose its own interests. She is set to testify on Tuesday before the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, and data security. MASON CITY, Iowa - The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) continues its investigation into an officer-involved shooting over the weekend. Around 1:13 a.m. Sunday, police responded to the call of an initial shooting that occurred near State St. and Federal Ave., which is located on the plaza just to the north of Southbridge Mall, before another shooting that involved an officer. The officer is on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. In addition to Mason City Police, at least four employees from the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office responded to the shooting, along with several other agencies. After a critical incident such as this one, Sheriff Kevin Pals says that typically, it's standard procedure to contact an outside agency to conduct an investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. "If somebody calls in and complains that an officer was rude on a traffic stop, we would investigate that ourselves. But on the more critical incidents, we call an outside agency to do that." It's not always the physical components of the job that cause concern. Sheriff Pals says they always debrief after major events, and consider mental health. "It's not necessarily the physical things. Because we know that we have a cut on our arm, 'I go to the doctor and get stitches.' The mental part of our jobs...you never know how it affects anybody. usually, it takes a day or two for people to process that." After all, Pals says in his line of work, it's important for responders to be mentally sharp. "We know the best thing to do for the mental health of everyone is that we're taking care of our own too." Two people, including the suspect, were injured and taken to MercyOne North Iowa. The severity of those injured has not been released. More information is expected to be released on Tuesday. Bruce Derksen has worked in western Canadas agricultural industry for more than 30 years. He and his wife live in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada, where he manages logistics at a nearby chemical plant. In his spare time he writes about agricultural-related topics, giving producers up-to-date information about the future of the ag industry. BONNE TERRE - Ernest Lee Johnson, 61, was executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Johnson died from an injection of pentobarbital at the state prison in Bonne Terre. A press briefing was held after the execution. Officials said Johnson was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. Jim Salter of the Associated Press, who served as a media witness, said Johnson's breathing became labored but there were no visible signs of distress. An official said Johnson was offered a sedative but refused it. His last meal was two double bacon cheeseburgers, onion rings, two large strawberry milkshakes and a large pizza. Johnson left a written statement for his family and friends. AFTER THE EXECUTION: This was Ernest Johnsons last statement before his execution on Tuesday. @KOMUnews pic.twitter.com/WNQ6lAbw3M Kathryn Merck TV (@KathrynMerckTV) October 6, 2021 Final appeal The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from Johnson's lawyers for a stay of execution just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday. NEW: The Supreme Court declines to stop the execution of Ernest Johnson, who is set to be executed this evening in Missouri. Johnson argued that he is intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for the death penalty. No justices indicate dissent. pic.twitter.com/FETUcDmBfv SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) October 5, 2021 Johnson's lawyer, Jeremy Weis, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay of execution on Monday. Weis stated that Missouri is set to execute a person who has met the criteria for intellectual disability by multiple experts. The appeal also argued that the courts who rejected Johnson's previous appeals have "failed to understand and apply current medical standards in assessing intellectual disability." The state said Monday the SCOTUS' intervention is "not warranted Tuesday, just like it wasn't warranted when the Court rejected the same claim from Johnson in 2015, or when the lower courts rejected the claim the previous four times Johnson has raised it." In another brief filed Tuesday, Weis replied "This is not a close case." "Ernest Johnson is intellectually disabled. To permit the State of Missouri to execute Mr. Johnson undermines this Courts authority, and precedent and would represent a fundamental miscarriage of justice," Weis wrote. History of the case Johnson was convicted of killing three convenience store workers in Columbia during a robbery on Feb. 12, 1994. Johnson attacked and killed three workers at Casey's General Store, Mary Bratcher, 46, Mabel Scruggs, 57, and Fred Jones, 58, with a claw hammer. He then hid their bodies in the bathroom and in a cooler. Police later found bloody shoes that matched shoeprints in the convenience store and a bag with a couple hundred dollars and store receipts in Johnson's house. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Appeals to the death penalty A Boone County grand jury convicted Johnson on three counts of first degree murder in 1995. He was sentenced to death. Weis said Johnson has taken multiple IQ tests and other exams that have shown Johnson has the intellectual capacity of a child. Weis said executing Johnson would violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits the execution of intellectually disabled people, which the U.S. Supreme Court issued in 2002. Weis also says Johnson was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. In 2008, he lost about 20% of his brain tissue to the removal of a benign tumor, according to the Associated Press. The Missouri Supreme Court overturned his sentencing in 1998 because his attorneys "did not offer testimony about his drug addiction and unstable childhood." It was then reversed in 1999 by a Clay County jury. The Clay County sentencing then was overturned after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling that intellectually disabled people cannot be executed in 2002. Then again in 2007, a Pettis County jury sentenced Johnson to death by lethal injection on Nov. 3, 2015. Just hours before his set execution, Johnson appealed to SCOTUS to spare his life because he said the execution drug could trigger severe pain due to his remnants of a brain tumor and damage caused by surgery to remove it. SCOTUS granted a stay of execution and said the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals needed to reconsider part of the case. In March 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed Johnson's appeal, saying that Johnson had "ample time to prepare an amended complaint." Alternative methods Johnson's lawyers have suggested the state use nitrogen gas or firing squad as an alternative method of execution. Both alternatives were denied. A 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court said Missouri could decline the use of nitrogen gas because of a lack of proven effectiveness. That ruling does, however, allow plaintiffs to seek out alternative death penalty methods used in other states, "even if they are not authorized in the state seeking to carry out the relevant execution." For that reason, Johnson tried to amend his original appeal to include a request for execution by firing squad. Denied clemency Governor Mike Parson declined to grant clemency to Johnson on Monday, Oct. 4, despite requests from Pope Francis and two members of the Missouri congress, Representatives Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver II. The state is prepared to deliver justice and carry out the lawful sentence Mr. Johnson received in accordance with the Missouri Supreme Court's order, Parson said. Last week, former Missouri governor Bob Holden also urged Gov. Parson to grant clemency. He noted that he supports capital punishment in principle, but that he concurs with advocates who say Johnson is intellectually and developmentally disabled. Multiple protests are scheduled for Tuesday throughout the state. Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty is holding demonstrations in Jefferson City, Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and Bonne Terre. The Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation is holding two "Vigils for Life" Tuesday. One was held outside the Governor's office at noon and the other will be held in front of the Boone County Courthouse at 5 p.m. The execution would be the seventh to occur in the U.S. this year. Kadirov Doniyor, right, deputy adviser to the president of Uzbekistan on coordination of the activities of law enforcement and regulatory bodies, holds a meeting with Kim Chang-yong, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, at the National Policy Agency in Seoul, May 18. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Embassy to Korea By Kim Yong-gu Recently, there has been a significant revitalization of cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of Korea and Uzbekistan in a wide range of areas of mutual interest. Kim Yong-gu, chairman of Korea-Uzbekistan Business Association Over the past and current year, we have seen several mutual visits of delegations, including heads of law enforcement agencies of the two countries. As the outcome of the meetings and negotiations, a number of interdepartmental documents have been signed on the further intensification of cooperation between the law enforcement agencies, and cooperation plans have been concluded to provide specific practical steps for further cooperation. The visit to the Republic of Korea of Kadirov Doniyor, the deputy adviser to the president of Uzbekistan on coordination of the activities of law enforcement and regulatory bodies, which took place in May, gave a strong impetus to upgrade the interaction level between the law enforcement agencies of the two countries to a new level. During the visit, meetings were held with the leadership of the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA), Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of the Republic of Korea, Korean Customs Service (KCS) and Korean National Police University. Kadirov Doniyor visits the office of Lim Jae-hyeon, commissioner of the Korea Custom Service, May 20. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Embassy to Korea In addition, KNPA Commissioner General Kim Chang-yong paid an official visit to Uzbekistan from June 16 to 20. During the visit, meetings were held with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan (MIA), the National Guard of Uzbekistan, the University of Public Security of Uzbekistan and the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. Memorandums of understanding were signed between the KNPA, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard of Uzbekistan. Also, a trilateral Action Plan for 2021-22 was signed between the KNPA, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Guard of Uzbekistan, which incorporated the specific practical steps of interaction between the law enforcement agencies of the two countries. KCS Commissioner Lim Jae-hyeon paid an official visit to Uzbekistan from Sept. 13 to 15. During the visit, the delegation held a meeting with Chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Major General Murotjon Azimov, during which the current state of cooperation issues was discussed and further detailed steps to intensify interaction between customs authorities of the two countries were identified. Representatives from the Korean National Police Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan and the National Guard of Uzbekistan sign a memorandum of understanding in Tashkent, June 17. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Embassy to Korea The two sides also discussed issues of cooperation between the customs authorities of the two countries in the field of personnel training, exchange of experience in the fields of customs control and examination, risk management, counter-smuggling operations and customs audits. At the end of the meeting, a memorandum of cooperation and exchange of experience in the field of professional training was signed between the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the KCS. In addition, during the visit, the guests were introduced to the Situation Center of the State Customs Committee, the Museum of the History of Customs, and also got familiarized with the landmarks of Samarkand. At the end of October, Korea's Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su will pay an official visit to Uzbekistan. During the visit, further discussions are planned on specific steps to enhance interaction between the supreme courts of the two countries. The two sides are expressing their readiness to further expand cooperation in a wide range of areas. In order to further improve the legal framework of interaction between the judicial authorities of the two countries, during the visit, the parties will sign a memorandum of cooperation between the supreme courts of Uzbekistan and Korea, encompassing the exchange of experience in judicial system advancement, strengthening the role and prestige of the judiciary and the activities of judicial institutions, as well provision of the independence of the courts and the training of judges. Korea Custom Service Commissioner Lim Jae-hyeon, third from left, meets with Major Gen. Murotjon Azimov, third from right, in Tashkent, Sept. 13. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Embassy to Korea At the end of November, SMPA Commissioner Choi Gwan-ho will pay an official visit to Uzbekistan. Within the framework of the visit, it is planned to determine further specific steps of interdepartmental cooperation, familiarize the Korean delegation with the activities of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent (MDIA), as well as sign a memorandum of understanding between the MDIA of Tashkent and the Seoul police agency. Furthermore, contacts between specialists as well as at the level of the heads of the prosecutor generals' offices are maintained on a regular basis. In 2018, the prosecutor general of Uzbekistan visited Korea, and in 2019, a reciprocal visit of Korea's prosecutor general to Uzbekistan was organized. Currently, the sides are considering organizing a visit of the prosecutor general of Uzbekistan to Korea after the pandemic situation in the two countries improves. On an ongoing basis, work is being carried out on the exchange of experience in areas of mutual interest. The two sides organize lectures and seminars, as well as internships for law enforcement specialists of the two countries. In 2018, a 3-year cooperation program was signed between the prosecutor generals' offices of the two countries, which made it possible to implement many fruitful events. The two sides are also discussing activities to be included in the next interdepartmental cooperation program for 2022-23. The prosecutor generals' offices of the two countries express their readiness to further intensify interaction and exchange of experience in a wide range of areas. In November, it is planned to conduct online seminars hosted by Korean specialists for employees of the Prosecutor General's Office of Uzbekistan on topics provided by the Uzbek side. Also, the two sides are preparing mutual visits of employees of the prosecutor generals' offices of the two countries for establishing direct contact and exchanges of experience in the law enforcement sphere. Kadirov Doniyor, left, meets with Jang Ha-yeun, then-chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, May 17. Courtesy of Uzbekistan Embassy to Korea Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has said he will "prepare for my defense" against an International Criminal Court probe into his deadly drug war after he retires from politics. "I will prepare for my defense in the ICC," Duterte said in a pre-recorded speech released late Monday, in his first public comments on the investigation, having previously insisted he would not cooperate with the court. ICC judges authorized in September a full-blown probe into Duterte's anti-narcotics campaign, which rights groups estimate has killed tens of thousands of people, saying it resembled an illegitimate and systematic attack on civilians. "Just stick to the facts because there are records of it. I am not threatening you just don't cheat me on the evidence," Duterte said in the speech, which came two days after he declared he would retire from politics. Duterte has repeatedly attacked the world's only permanent war crimes court and insisted it has no jurisdiction in the Philippines. Duterte pulled Manila out of the ICC after it launched a preliminary probe, but the Hague-based court says it has jurisdiction over crimes committed while the Philippines was still a member. (AFP) This photograph illustration shows the logo of Pandora Papers, in Lavau-sur-Loire, France, Oct. 4. Russia dismissed revelations leaked in the Pandora Papers as "unsubstantiated claims" after an investigation by a media consortium shone a light on wealth amassed by Kremlin-linked individuals. AFP-Yonhap World leaders were on the defensive on Monday after the release of millions of documents detailing how heads of state use offshore tax havens to stash assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Thirty-five current and former leaders are featured in roughly 11.9 million documents leaked from financial services companies that include reports of luxury mansions on the French Riviera and in Monte Carlo and California. The so-called "Pandora Papers" were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and released in stories by media partners including The Washington Post, the BBC and The Guardian. Allegations range from corruption to money laundering and tax evasion. Holding assets offshore or using shell companies is not illegal in most countries, but the revelations are embarrassing for leaders who have pushed austerity measures or campaigned against corruption. While Russian leader Vladimir Putin is not named, he is linked via associates to secret assets in Monaco, including a waterfront home acquired by a Russian woman reported to have had a child with him. "This is just a set of largely unsubstantiated claims," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "We didn't see anything on hidden wealth within Putin's inner circle." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been vocal on anti-corruption issues, used a network of offshore companies to buy three upmarket properties in London, the ICIJ revealed. His office said it had been a way of protecting himself against the "aggressive actions" of the regime of his predecessor, the pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovich. Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks during a meeting with tribal leader in Al-Qasta, south of Amman, Jordan, Oct. 4. AP-Yonhap 'Nothing to hide' Jordan rejected "distorted" reports that King Abdullah II created a network of offshore companies and tax havens to amass a $100 million property empire stretching from California to London. Abdullah did not directly address the issue but denounced what he called a "campaign against Jordan", a royal court statement quoted him as saying to a group of tribal elders. "We have nothing to hide." The country's royal court said the properties were funded with the king's personal wealth and used for official and private visits. Ivory Coast Prime Minister Patrick Achi's office denounced the "malicious use" of information after it emerged that he had become the owner of Bahamas-based company Allstar Consultancy Services Ltd through a trust that obscured his ownership. His office said the information dated back to the late 1990s when he was an adviser to Ivory Coast's energy minister. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appeared to welcome the papers, which he said would "enhance financial transparency". But he sidestepped allegations that his family owned 11 offshore companies worth millions of dollars. Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso defended himself after revelations he had lodged funds in two trusts based in the United States. "All my revenue has been declared and I have paid the corresponding tax in Ecuador," he said. In this Feb. 21, 2020, file photo, Czech Republic's Prime Minister Andrej Babis arrives for the second day of a special European Council summit in Brussels. AFP-Yonhap Butler, IN (46721) Today Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Areas of dense fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Areas of dense fog. Low 58F. Winds light and variable. ROME, OCT 5 - Outgoing Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi has said she will not endorse either of the candidates bidding to replace her in a runoff, which she failed to make after finishing fourth in the first round of voting in local elections on Sunday and Monday. "I won't give any vote recommendations," said Raggi, a member of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) who became the Italian capital's first woman mayor when he won the 2016 elections with a landslide. "Votes are not packages, citizens are not herds". The runoff in two weeks will be between centre-right candidate Enrico Michetti, who got 30.21% of the vote in the first round, and centre-left candidate Roberto Gualtieri, a former economy minister, who got 27.02%. Former centre-left industry minister Carlo Calenda won 19.71% of the vote and Raggi took 19.15% Raggi inherited huge problems regarding trash management, public transport and the state of the capital's roads when she took command of the city five years ago and has made limited progress on solving them. Her bid for re-election was also hit by recent incursions by groups of wild boar into Rome, something that was widely interpreted as a sign of the city's state of decay. But Raggi said she has done a lot of good things that she does not get credit for in the media, including improving the state of the city finances. "We laid down the foundations for Rome's resurgence," Raggi said. "There are lots of projects ongoing thanks to the work I have done, such as the (bid for the 2030) Expo, which I wanted, and there are big events and projects coming. "I did the most difficult part". (ANSA). ROME, OCT 5 - Italy's leading news agency ANSA and the United Arab Emirates official news agency WAM have signed a partnership accord envisaging the exchange of their news and information services in English. The deal adds to ANSA's numerous and important existing international partnerships including with AFP of France, DPA of Germany, EFE of Spain, and others. The accord was signed in Dubai on September 30 by ANSA Managing Director Stefano De Alessandri who said: "The strengthening of our collaboration with the WAM agency constitutes an important further consolidation of our presence on the international market in a strategic geographical area of particular significance also in consideration of the start of Expo Dubai 2020. "The accord constitutes at the same time important added value for our subscribers who today have at their disposal a more complete and extensive news and information package". (ANSA). ROME, OCT 5 - A northern Italian jeweller who killed two would-be robbers near Cuneo on April 28 has now been charged with multiple culpable homicide, sources said Tuesday. Mario Roggero, a jeweller in the town of Grinzane Cavour, had previously been charged with culpable excessive legitimate self-defence. Roggero, who wounded a third attempted robber, has also been charged now with attempted homicide and illegal possession of firearms. Prosecutors in Asti said he had "fired at the bandits who were unarmed, unloading the whole of his gun's chamber in order to cause death, voluntarily exceeding in such a way the limits of legitimate defence of property". (ANSA). ROME, OCT 5 - A top Italian infectious-diseases doctor, Massimo Galli of Milan's Sacco hospital, is among 33 people under investigation in a major probe into university recruitment, sources said Tuesday. Two dozen of the people under investigation are lecturers at universities in Milan, Pavia, Turin, Rome and Palermo. The case regards alleged wrongdoing in the recruitment of lecturers, assistants and hospital managers and in admissions to limited-place medicine degree courses, the sources said. Investigators are probing alleged corruption, criminal association and abuse of office. Galli is a familiar figure with the Italian public after appearing frequently on television to talk about COVID-19. The fact Galli and the other suspects are under investigation does not necessarily mean they will face charges. (ANSA). ROME, OCT 5 - Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia, the representative of the League in 'control room' talks among government parties on a draft reform of Italy's tax system, left the meeting early on Tuesday in order to take a closer a look at the document, sources said. The reform includes an overhaul of Italy's land-registry values, which are the basis for property taxes. The League had said it was opposed to this, although Premier Mario Draghi has promised a revision of the system will not entail higher property taxes for anyone. (ANSA). ROME, OCT 5 - It will take years to complete a much-needed reform of the Italian tax system, Premier Mario Draghi said after the cabinet passed an enabling law on a wide-ranging package on Tuesday. "You might have the feeling that this is the last word on the tax system but luckily or unluckily the process isn't so simple, it will take many years," he told a press conference. Draghi vowed that no one would pay less or more than they do at the moment and said a land-reform registry reform that determines property values, which has seen the nationalist League party critical, would be "re-discussed in 2026". After the current planned changes to the registry, the premier said, the average taxpayer "will not notice anything". On the enabling law, too, he said, "there will be other moments for talks" after the League deserted the cabinet talks. Economy Minister Daniel Franco said the system would now be "more efficient and less distorting". He said the pillars of the system such as personal income tax IRPEF and VAT would remain in place "but will be reconsidered". Franco said recouping dodged taxes was the basic condition for cutting taxes. He also said the government would cut the tax wedge, which is five points above the EU average. The tax wedge is the sum of taxes (direct, indirect or in the form of social security contributions) that weigh on the cost of labour, both relating to employers, and the income of workers, employees and the self-employed. Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia, the representative of the League in 'control room' talks among government parties on a draft reform of Italy's tax system, left the meeting early on Tuesday in order to take a closer a look at the document, sources said. League ministers then failed to show up for the subsequent cabinet meeting on the reform package, sources said. The reform reportedly included an overhaul of Italy's land-registry values, which are the basis for property taxes. The League had said it was opposed to this, although Premier Mario Draghi has promised a revision of the system will not entail higher property taxes for anyone. The premier told the press conference there will be further discussion of the issue in five years time. The government intends to gradually ease IRPEF income-tax rates for middle earners as part of a comprehensive reform of Italy's tax system, according to the draft bill. The draft reform said the aim is to boost participation in the labour market, especially among young people, and encourage business activity. It added that it will seek to gradually reduce "the excessive variations of marginal rates" of taxation. The draft reform features 10 articles dealing with aspects of the system ranging from income tax, to VAT, business tax IRES and a revision of the land-registry values, which are the basis for property taxes. (ANSA). Chennai, Oct 5 (PTI): Second generation entrepreneur and noted jeweller J Shrenik Nahar was appointed as the trade commissioner of Tanzania and was awarded the lifetime honorary membership by the India-Africa Trade Council, a press release said on Tuesday. Also Read | ColorOS 12 Global Launch Set for October 11, 2021; Beta Trial for Oppo Find X3 Pro Now Open. The 49-year old Nahar, popular in the jewellery sector, has experience across various segments including textiles, automobiles and consumer electronics. Also Read | OnePlus Releases Android 12 Based OxygenOS 12 Open Beta 1 for OnePlus 9, 9 Pro Smartphones. According to the release, India and Tanzania share a vibrant economic, commercial and business ties. India was the largest trading partner comprising 16 per cent of Tanzania's foreign trade and also holds rank among the top five investment players in the East African country. The Tanzania Investment Centre said the investments made by Indian companies in Tanzania were in excess of USD 2.2 billion and the bilateral trade between the two countries was over USD 2.5 billion. Commenting on his appointment, Nahar said he would work hard to deepen the trade relationship between India and Tanzania by strengthening the mechanism for a stepped up trade relationship between the two countries. "The eastern coasts of Africa and Tanzania, in particular, have enjoyed strong links with India. We are old maritime neighbours. Our merchants have traded since the early nineteenth century," he said. A distributor for Grasim Textiles in South India, Nahar was also an established retailer in electronics. He was also associated with the Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO). The vast stretch of the Indian Ocean has kept the societies and people connected, he added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body) Oppo ColorOS 12 global launch date has been set for October 11, 2021. The company teased the launch on its official Twitter handle confirming the launch date and time of its user interface. As per the teaser, ColorOS 12 will be launched on the above-mentioned date at 9:00 am GMT (2:30 pm IST) and will be live streamed via official ColorOS YouTube channel. The ColorOS 12 UI will be based on Android 12 and is expected to come with a new design with improved privacy and security features. Android 12 Based Oppo ColorOS 12 To Be Launched in China Soon. Last month, Oppo had announced the next version of ColorOS 12 custom UI in China. Now, the company plans to release it globally. The global version of the upcoming UI is likely to be different from the one announced in China. ColorOS 12 might get new features such as quick-view cards or widgets, a 3D avatar called Omoji, Cross-screen interconnection, Sidebar 2.0, Android 12's new privacy features and more. ColorOS 12 Omoji (Photo Credits: Oppo) Ahead of its launch, Oppo has started the beta trial for ColorOS 12 for the Find X3 Pro smartphone in Malaysia and Indonesia. #ColorOS12 beta upgrade based on #Android12 is here! All #OPPOFindX3Pro users in and are able to apply now. Let your new @Android journey begin! Stay tuned for more countries to be covered. pic.twitter.com/OmKenQ9VzS ColorOS (@colorosglobal) October 4, 2021 Users can join the beta testing group by heading over to 'Settings' > 'Software Update' > 'Trial Version' > 'Beta Version'. Fill in your details and click ' Apply Now'. Selected users will receive ColorOS 12 beta updates in batches via an OTA update. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 05, 2021 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). San Francisco: After spending three days in orbit, the world's first civilian mission of SpaceX's Inspiration4 returned to Earth safely last month and now mission commander Jared Isaacman has shared an incredible Earth image shot on iPhone. Elon Musk's SpaceX Connects with Swarm Technologies, Acquires Satellite Startup. "Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this. I really love the nosecone in the picture," Isaacman said in a tweet while sharing the photo. Isaacman shared a clear video taken inside the cupola, which he said was shot on his iPhone during the flight. He added the crew were "so fortunate to have this perspective and we will do all we can to share the experience with the world". It was the first civilian mission by SpaceX and the crew included Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant, Christopher Sembroski, an aerospace data engineer and Air Force veteran, and Dr Sian Proctor, a geoscientist. Meanwhile, Arceneaux posted a 360-degree view of Earth from space and called the experience "absolutely life changing".The fully automated Dragon capsule reached an unusually high altitude of 585 kilometres, surpassing the International Space Station by 160 kilometres. The Dragon's dome window, inspired by the Cupola on the ISSl provided the crew with incredible views of Earth. "We loved space but it's great to be home!" Isaacman wrote on Twitter. "The absolute most incredible experience of my life. Can't wait to share more with you all! Red heart," added Arceneaux. "What an amazing adventure! I'm so glad to be home on earth and to be back with my family. There is so much to share! What an amazing @inspiration4x team! Thanks @SpaceX!a Sembroski said. "Inspiration4, which was aimed at inspiring humanity as well as to raise money for St. Jude, surpassed "the 200m goal", Isaacman shared in his tweet. "The Dragon performed a series of departure phasing burns to leave the circular orbit of 575 kilometres and then jettisoned its trunk ahead of de-orbit burns. After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft deployed its two drogue and four main parachutes in preparation for the soft water landing," the company said on its website. (The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 05, 2021 01:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com). Many immigrants entering the U.S. legally and illegally claim asylum. Advocates for greater limits on immigration, particularly chain migration based on family relationships rather than employment skills, have tried to restrict asylum seekers. This month, President Trump issued a proclamation preventing immigrants from claiming asylum if they crossed the border illegally. On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco blocked that asylum ban. But the judges ruling did not address another U.S. policy thats forcing asylum seekers to wait on the Mexican side of border bridges, adding their names to growing waiting lists maintained by Mexican officials. On Thursday, a small group of Central American migrants marched peacefully to a border crossing in Tijuana to demand better conditions and push to enter the U.S. We talked to migrants waiting to cross the border legally at a shelter and border bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, and those who had crossed illegally and were released by U.S. immigration officials in neighboring Brownsville, Texas, last week with notices to appear in immigration court about why and how they were seeking asylum. Why cross legally at a border bridge or illegally via the Rio Grande? Advertisement Most asylum seekers at the Matamoros bridge said they understood that by law, it was legal to enter the U.S. via the bridge. Some were aware of Trumps edict and feared that if they crossed the Rio Grande illegally, they could hurt their chances of being granted asylum. But with the Mexican list having grown last week to 80 names, they also worried about how long they would have to wait to cross. Some had already waited more than a month. Many of the migrants had been granted temporary visas in Mexico that had expired or were due to expire by months end, and they worried they could be deported. I came here because I thought it would be faster, said Cuban asylum seeker Ronald Padron, 37, who had waited 26 days at the Matamoros bridge. Ronald Padron, third from left, of Artemisa, Cuba, is seeking political asylum. I came here because I thought it would be faster, said the 37-year-old, who had waited 26 days at the Matamoros bridge in Mexicos Tamaulipas state. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Among migrants released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the bus station in Brownsville, most said they had crossed the Rio Grande illegally about 60 miles west near Reynosa, a Gulf cartel stronghold. They had been released after Trumps announcement because it was still up to asylum officers and immigration judges to decide the validity of their asylum claims. Many said they were unaware that there was a border bridge in Reynosa, or that it was possible to cross the bridge legally. Some who had seen the bridge said they were afraid to approach, because it was surrounded by Mexican drug cartel lookouts. They told me they would kidnap me if I went to the bridge its very difficult to decide how to cross the border, said Honduran migrant Wilmer Gamez, 37, who crossed the river near Reynosa. Other migrants said they crossed the river on foot or rafts because it was the most direct or cheapest route. They said they paid smugglers $1,000 to $2,400. Daimaris Gonzalez, 30, who is pregnant, and Jason, 22, center, both of Cienfuegos, Cuba, at the Gateway International Bridge, as they await being taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to seek political asylum. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Honduran migrant Jessica Morillo, 26, paid $2,400 to cross the river near Reynosa. She didnt know about Trumps action or that she could cross a nearby border bridge. She said she fled her home country because a drug trafficker had raped her, then threatened her with a gun. When she told her father she was pregnant in September, he threw her out, and she had been staying with a cousin. She hoped to join her sister in New Orleans. Do most asylum seekers have relatives in the U.S.? Almost all of the Central American asylum seekers at the bridge in Matamoros and at the bus station in Brownsville said they had relatives in the U.S. Most of the relatives, they said, were parents, siblings, uncles or cousins spread across the country, from Los Angeles to Miami, New York and Washington. Some at the bus station were seeking to join family working in rural areas of Nebraska and Mississippi. Most African migrants at the bridge said they did not have relatives in the U.S. and hoped to join friends instead. Tsenay Bogale, 48, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, came with her aunt hoping to join friends in Washington. What did asylum seekers do for work in their home countries? Many of the Central American immigrants said they were farmers and store clerks. There was also a mechanic, nurse and teacher. All said they hoped to work in the U.S. None had advanced degrees. A few were elderly, joining younger relatives or friends. In the U.S., political asylum is provided to those fleeing persecution what are they fleeing? Some of the asylum seekers were unfamiliar with U.S. law, which holds that asylum seekers must have a credible fear of being persecuted in their home countries based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. In the past, that included victims of domestic and gang violence; this year, then-Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions issued a ruling saying such victims dont qualify. Norma Torres and her husband said they fled Nicaragua with their three children five weeks ago after they were threatened by soldiers for protesting and working with Catholic groups challenging the ruling government. No one can say anything against the government, she said. The couple knew it was illegal to cross between border bridges, had seen reports about Trumps asylum ban and chose to wait at the Matamoros shelter instead of crossing the river. Mexican officials had yet to issue them a number on the waiting list last week. No one is helping us, said Torres, 35. Rene Hormaza, 28, who ran a cafeteria in Cuba, said he fled with his wife and two children after being threatened by police in August. If you dont shut your mouth, they disappear you, he said of Cuban authorities as he waited at the border bridge. I have the hope that the U.S. will help us Cubans. Cuban asylum seeker Jessica Zamora, 18, of Havana, who is pregnant, eats a meal outside Mexicos National Institute of Migration office at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas state. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Migrants from Guatemala in Matamoros and at the bus station said they fled a combination of economic and political hardships. Some from urban areas said they were unable to find work. Farmers said their coffee crops had suffered blight. At the same time, they said they had trouble moving or finding work because of political corruption and nepotism. It would be up to a U.S. asylum officer and immigration judge to decide if they qualified for asylum. African migrants in Matamoros described being threatened and attacked for speaking out and protesting against oppressive governments. Lynda Fotso, 24, a stock clerk from Cameroon, said she was detained for protesting against the government in 2015. An only child, she doesnt have friends or family in neighboring countries. She first fled to Nigeria, but didnt apply for asylum there because she knew the government had returned other migrants from Cameroon. She speaks French and some English but no Spanish, so once she landed in South America, she headed for the U.S., which she and other migrants from Cameroon called a bastion of human rights. I just want safety, Fotso said in French as she sat waiting in the dark with other asylum seekers at the foot of the border bridge. I can better adapt in the U.S. Farmer Collins Fondong, 33, also left Cameroon after being threatened by police for criticizing the government. He has lymphatic filariasis, a tropical disease, and ran out of medication after he arrived in Mexico in September. He was No. 29 on the list of asylum seekers waiting to cross at Matamoros last week. I pray it works, he said of the list. When youre running away from death, you will do anything. He was eventually allowed to cross and volunteers said he received treatment at a local hospital. Why didnt they seek asylum in Mexico, or one of the countries they crossed en route to Mexico? Advocates for greater limits on immigration have pushed for a safe third country agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, similar to the one the U.S. has with Canada, that would force migrants who arrive in Mexico to first seek asylum there. Immigrant advocates argue Mexico is too dangerous, its asylum processing too rudimentary, to be considered a safe refuge. Asylum seekers in Matamoros, including Fotso, said they feared for their safety in Mexico and did not consider seeking asylum there. Central American and Cuban migrants said their goal was to join relatives in the U.S. African migrants said they didnt speak Spanish and had a better chance of finding work and building new lives in the U.S. rather than in Mexico. Migrants from Cameroon mostly fled through Nigeria, flying to Ecuador, then traveling by bus and on foot through the perilous jungles of Central America. They had read reports of fellow migrants being detained and deported in Nigeria, and so didnt consider seeking asylum there. Michael Randy, 30, of Cameroon, is seeking political asylum. He camps outside Mexicos National Institute of Migration office at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Michael Randy, 30, a businessman from Cameroon, said he fled to the U.S. because it was the only country in the world he trusted to respect human rights. He had read reports about fellow members of Cameroons Anglophone minority who fled to Nigeria and were returned by the government to Cameroonian authorities. Massacres are happening in my country, genocide. Just the fact that you speak English in my country is a problem, said Randy. I have to be somewhere I feel safe. molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com @mollyhf An agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) died while two other police officers were injured on Monday, after a shooting broke out in an Amtrak train during a stop in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus confirmed that one of the shooting suspects was found dead at the scene, while another one was taken into custody, KOLD reported. The suspect, who was reported to pull out his gun and exchanged fire with the officers, was confirmed to be Hispanic and is in his 20s or 30s. Specifics on the other suspect were not mentioned by the law enforcement authorities. READ NEXT: Work Dispute Triggers Man to Kill 3 Coworkers in Florida; Another Victim Escapes Death Details on the DEA agent who was shot to death were also not mentioned by the authorities. However, the injured were composed of another DEA agent and a police officer, ABC News reported. The injured federal agent was taken by a police car to Banner University Medical Center and is in critical condition. Meanwhile, the police officer from the Tucson Police Department is now in stable condition. "We, at the DEA, are heartbroken by today's events and ask that you keep the families of agents and task force officer in your thoughts and prayers," Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix division, Cheri Oz, said. Amtrak Shooting in Tucson, Arizona The death of the DEA agent stemmed out from a shooting that broke out around 8 a.m. at the Amtrak that traveled from Los Angeles. The said train was bound to New Orleans when it pulled on the station in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson Police confirmed that on Monday, officers boarded the vehicle to perform their routine check for illegal items such as firearms, drugs, and money. The suspects were reported to be encountered by the DEA agents on the second level of the double-decker Amtrak car. An eyewitness shared that two men approached another man and said that they wanted to talk to him. When the three men got off the train, shots were fired. The Tucson police officer who was on the platform heard the gunshot, prompting the officer to run on the area of the incident. "People came running through yelling 'shots fired','" Evan Courtney said, a passenger who was on the Amtrak train when the shooting occurred. After exchanging rounds with the police, the suspected gunman barricaded himself in the bathroom located on the lower level of the train. Police officers later determined that the suspect died. However, officers noted that it was not clear how the gunman reached his demise. Passengers on the Amtrak Shooting in Tucson, Arizona Aside from Courtney, there were other passengers on the Amtrak when the shooting occurred. Amtrak spokesperson Jason Abrams confirmed that there were 137 passengers, and 11 crew members on board the train when the shooting erupted. There were no reports of injuries on the passengers and the crew members of the Amtrak train. The shooting that took place this morning at our downtown train station was an absolutely shocking act of violence. I am ordering flags at all city facilities to half staff to honor the courageous actions of the deceased and the injured. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/NfqWt5Txpy Regina Romero (@TucsonRomero) October 4, 2021 Tucson Mayor Regina Romero on Monday called the Amtrak shooting "an absolutely shocking act of violence." Romero then ordered that the flags in "all cities and facilities" be placed in half-staff to honor the bravery of the deceased DEA agent and those who were injured in the encounter. READ NEXT: Brian Laundrie Manhunt: Florida Sheriff Says Police in Utah, North Port Missed Chances to Take Gabby Petito's Fiance Into Custody This article is owned by Latin Post. Written By: Joshua Summers WATCH: Officer Killed in Arizona Amtrak Shooting - From CBS Evening News Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, has refuted suggestions that a recent surge of migrants in the United States is a driving factor of COVID rates in the nation. Fauci said that it is not driven by immigrants during a CNN interview, according to a Business Insider report. The CNN host Dana Bash had asked the infectious disease specialist regarding the recent poll that found 55 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of unvaccinated U.S. adults cited immigrants and tourists as a major reason for the uptick in COVID rates. Fauci answered and said that if people would look at the data and the people who have been infected and hospitalized, they would see that it is not driven by migrants The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that COVID transmission was a problem in the same way that it was a problem in other countries around the world. Fauci noted that immigrants can get infected but they're not the driving force, adding "let's face reality here." READ NEXT: Hundreds of U.S. Health Care Workers Fired, Suspended Over Refusal to Follow Vaccine Mandate Migrants and COVID Rates A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that a majority of Republicans attribute the rise of COVID rates to immigrants and tourist coming from other countries into the U.S., according to The Hill report. The same poll had found that Democrats are more likely to see individuals refusing a COVID vaccine and not taking enough precautions as responsible for the current increase in cases. Republicans have repeatedly pinned the blame on migrants for the COVID rate surge despite not imposing mask mandates and having lower vaccination rates, such as the case with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The two governors had pointed to the southern border to justify the recent uptick of COVID cases in their states, according to a Forbes report. Abbott had released an executive order in July that restricted the ground transportation of migrants into Texas due to perceived COVID risk. DeSantis had also blamed U.S. President Joe Biden for having a wide-open southern border that could bring COVID. Fauci had followed other medical experts who have also criticized those arguments, saying that Republicans are "scapegoating" by putting the blame on immigrants instead of implementing COVID mitigation measures like mask mandates. Dr. Ivan Melendez, the local health authority in Hidalgo County, Texas, said in August during a press conference that it's a pandemic of the unvaccinated and not of the immigrants. Title 42 The Trump administration has issued an interpretation of Title 42 to impose a public health order during the pandemic to quickly expel migrants at the border over concerns of the spread of the virus, according to an ABC News Go report. Harold Koh, a legal adviser to the U.S. State Department, has resigned from his post and shared thoughts on the Trump-era Title 42. Koh said that he believes this administration's current imposition of the Title 42 order continues to violate their legal obligation not to expel or return individuals who fear persecution, death, or torture, The Week reported. READ MORE: Brazil Hospital Chain Allegedly Tested Unproven Drugs on Elderly COVID Patients: Whistleblowers This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Full Fauci: Most Covid Deaths In The U.S. Are Now 'Avoidable & Preventable' - from NBC News A 30-year-old California surfer has survived a shark attack this weekend about 70 miles north of San Francisco. He has not been publicly identified but it was reported that he was bitten in the thigh. Bodega Bay Fire Protection District Capt. David Bynum said that the surfer's condition was unknown on Monday, but he was conscious when he was airlifted and is expected to survive, according to an NBC News report. Bynum said that the surfer was first helped to shore by surfers who applied a tourniquet to his thigh with surfboard leashes. It was later replaced with another bystander with a manufactured tourniquet. Bynum said that first responders had arrived within minutes and continued to treat the surfer. The fire protection captain said that the surfer was airlifted to a hospital by the California Highway Patrol. The injured surfer has suffered a serious leg injury, including arterial damage, according to a CBS News report. The attack had prompted officials to close the park district to the public. READ NEXT: Alligator Attack: Florida Man Bitten by Alligator While Searching for Prehistoric Shark Teeth in River Shark Attack Incident The victim's friend, Jared Davis, was with the injured surfer out on the water and described the encounter with the shark. Davis said his friend left his view for a moment when a wave hit. When his friend resurfaced, he also saw something else in the water. Davis said that he both saw the dorsal fin and tail fin of the shark. He said that it was going under the water, according to a KTVU report. He added that it was not a quick attack, more like it was nice and slow. Davis said it was kind of like a dolphin peaking. Davis said that he saw his friend's leg and it looked like he had a red stripe on his wet suit, but it was actually blood. NBC News reported that Bynum said that a great white shark is believed to be the culprit, but that was unknown at first. CBS News reported that the surfboard showed the evidence of the shark attack with a wide arc of teeth marks, which had indicated the size of the shark. Paramedic Jonathon Bauer had asked the victim if he did get a chance to see it, which the victim replied that he had seen it and it was a pretty large shark Bauer added that the victim also said that he had a struggle with it as well. Shark Attacks in California The state had recorded 76 documented shark attacks that had resulted in injuries since 1950, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The state had recorded one fatal shark attack in California in the 2020s; two in the 2010s; and three in the 2000s. There was also one fatal shark attack in the 1990s and three in the 1980s. The Department of Fish and Wildlife says that scientists consider Southern California a nursery ground for white sharks, adding that pregnant sharks likely give birth in relatively calm and warmer waters offshore. READ MORE: Alligator Attack: Lousiana Man Killed by Alligator While Wading Through Hurricane Ida Floodwaters This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Shark Attack: Jared Davies describes his friend and fellow surfer Eric being attacked by large shark - from KPIX CBS SF Bay Area Chile police forces have busted a crime ring that smuggles hundreds of children of Haitian migrants to Mexico and the United States. The crime organization has managed a cross-border network that smuggled around 1,000 Haitian migrants out of Chile, according to an NBC News report. The figure includes 267 Chilean children under the age of six. The children were born to Haitian migrants, according to Interpol. Some of the children were not with their real parents. There were also children that were found abandoned, with some being orphaned when their parents died on the journey. A Haitian man and people from Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Chile were leading the smuggling ring. Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock said that commented on the children being smuggled, saying it was horrifying to think what they have suffered. Reuters reported that the smuggling ring had promoted their services to Haitians through messaging service app WhatsApp, according to Interpol. The crime ring had covertly transport migrants into Peru from Chile. Chilean police had arrested nine suspects that were involved in the operation, including four Chileans, and two Venezuelans. A Peruvian, Haitian, and Paraguayan were also arrested. READ NEXT: Corpse of Migrant With 'No Feet' Found Hanging From Tree Near U.S.-Mexico Border Haitian Migrants Fleeing Thousands of Haitian migrants had come to Chile after the 2010 earthquake, with several of them finding permanent jobs. However, an economic downturn in 2019 with the pandemic has led many to try to gain admission to the United States, according to The Washington Post report. Thousands of Haitian migrants had gathered at a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, which led to the U.S. flying some back to Haiti while others were allowed to wait in the U.S. pending hearings. Many of the Haitian migrants had first stayed in South American countries, such as Chile and Brazil. Some had reported they had difficulty with work and experienced racism. Chile had also encountered a number of protests in recent weeks against Venezuelan migrants who have camped up in city squares and beaches. Meanwhile, authorities from Bahamas and Cuba have reported that they intercepted a number of Haitian migrants eyeing to travel the U.S. through the sea, according to an Aljazeera report. The Royal Bahamas Defense Force had discouraged people from making the journey, saying that it had risked the lives of numerous people. On the other hand, Cuba's foreign ministry said that there were Haitian migrants who arrived on their eastern and central provinces coasts. The Haitian migrants were eying to reach the state of Florida. Officials from both countries said that they would be repatriating the migrants to Haiti. Bahamas said that the repatriations on their side were expected to begin last week. Haiti is considered to be the poorest country in the Americas. It has also faced widespread poverty, crime, which were exacerbated by natural calamities such as earthquakes and hurricanes. In addition, the recent killing of the nation's president Jovenel Moise had added to the political turmoil in the country. The United States has since expelled 5,000 asylum seekers back to Haiti. READ MORE: Immigrant Children at Border Have High Chance of Staying in the U.S. This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Chile protesters clash with police over asylum seekers - from Al Jazeera English After nine-month surveillance, the anti-narcotics teams in Turkey's capital Ankara revealed the drug pipeline between the drug cartels in Colombia and Turkey, authorities said. Colombia-Turkey Drug Pipeline According to Hurriyet Daily News, the anti-narcotics team of Turkey's capital unveiled the cocaine route between a Colombian drug group, Cali Cartel and 7 Turkish drug barons. Based on the October 3 report of the Turkish anti-narcotics team, the drug group from Colombia, Cali Cartel, used air and sea routes in their drug distribution to the foreign country. The Cali cartel concealed the cocaine inside boxes of several products like bananas, coffee, strawberries, and even flowers. The cargo planes used by the Colombian cartel were making stops not only in the Netherlands but also in the United States before the shipment would arrive in Turkey. While the ships carrying the illegal drugs had only one stopover in Italy prior to their arrival at the port located in the southern province of Mersin. Moreover, the news agency reported that the Cali cartel also utilized countries like Ecuador and Brazil as a dispatch point in moving cocaine to the foreign country to avoid suspicions from the Turkish government. "The cocaine packages were covered with tar to prevent sniffer dogs from spotting the drugs," the news agency reported. Furthermore, the seven drug lords in Turkey were assigned to have different roles in dealing with the cocaine shipment. One of them was considered as the "messenger" between the Turkish ties and the Cali cartel. Two of them were assigned to manage the financial leg of the Colombia-Turkey Drug Pipeline. Also, two drug lords were responsible for handling the drug shipments at the drop points like in ports and airports. While the remaining two members of the Turkish drug organization were assigned to roll the illegal drugs out to the market. The Turkish drug group distributed the illegal drugs in areas like Istanbul and other neighboring provinces of Kocaeli and Sakarya after receiving the cocaine shipment from the Cali cartel. "Before the first delivery, the 'messenger' went to Columbia 'to be taken, hostage.' Once the cocaine was transferred in a two-month ride and the money was paid later, Cali cartel released the messenger," the news agency also explained the trust bond formed between the Colombians and the Turks. READ MORE: Ecuadorian Police Seize 2.5 Tons Cocaine in Separate Operations; Arrest Five Suspects Behind Drug Shipments Bound to Europe, U.S. Drug Mule Dies After Cocaine Capsules Burst in His Stomach During Istanbul Layover Police in Turkey said that a drug mule from Ecuador who was traveling from Spain back to Ecuador died after cocaine capsules hidden in his stomach burst during a stopover in Istanbul. The 45-year-old Ecuadorian national was heading to an outgoing flight in a terminal in Istanbul Airport for a connecting flight to Ecuador capital Quito when he collapsed. After collapsing at the terminal, the Ecuadorian national hit his head on the ground, but he was provided first aid by the health care crews present at the airport. The medical group took the man to a hospital, but he succumbed also due to the wound in his head. Based on the examination conducted by the forensics, the victim was poisoned when two capsules of cocaine exploded inside his stomach. The report of Daily Sabah, the Turkish police found 400 grams or 14 ounces of cocaine in his stomach when he was examined. READ NEXT: Narco Jet Carrying $11 Million Worth of Cocaine Crashed in the Dominican Republic This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Jess Smith WATCH: Massive cocaine bust in Turkish port -Reuters Former press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that she's afraid that former president Donald Trump would run for office again in 2024 presidential elections while mentioning the former administration's COVID response. Grisham explained why she's terrified of Trump running again, saying that she does not think he is fit for the job, adding that she thinks he is erratic, according to a Business Insider report. The former Trump press secretary noted that she thinks he is a narcissist and cares about himself first and foremost. Grisham said that she does not "want him to be our president again." She said in a separate interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that she didn't believe at first that Trump will be running for 2024. Grisham said that everybody was showing their fealty to him and he is clearly the frontrunner in the GOP. Grisham was among the people who helped the president to sell his agenda when he was in office. He admitted that she shared some of the blame. She noted that she wished she had spoken out more about the pandemic and the then-administration's COVID response. Grisham said that she wished she told him Trump needs to wear a mask. The former press secretary said that the administration's misinformation of the pandemic led to more people dying. Grisham added that she does not know if she can ever forgive herself for being part of that agenda. Grisham had written an expose book entitled "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in the Trump White House." READ NEXT: "Dismissive. Defeated. Detached.": Former Aide Stephanie Grisham Described Former First Lady Melania Trump in Her Book Stephanie Grisham's Book Grisham revealed in her tell-all book about Trump allegedly abusing his staff, as well as making sexual comments about a young White House aide, according to The New York Times report. Grisham recounted how Trump berated her and made outlandish requests, such as demanding that she appear before the press corps and re-enact a curtain call with the Ukrainian president, which she managed to avoid. Grisham wrote in her book that she knew sooner or later the former president would want her to tell the public something that was not true or something "that would make me sound like a lunatic." She also served as former First Lady Melania Trump's aide after serving as a press secretary for the former president. Trump and those closest to him had made a move to discredit Grisham. Trump said in a statement that Grisham did not have what it takes and that it was obvious from the start. He added that she had become "very angry and bitter" after a breakup. Grisham also took a jab against the former first lady and made a point of likening her to Marie Antoinette, describing Melania as "dismissive, defeated, and detached," according to a USA Today report. Grisham's book was kept secret from her closest allies in the White House. She wrote that months before the election, she had moved to Kansas. Meanwhile, her publisher, HarperCollins, described the book as the frankest and intimate portrait of the Trump White House yet. READ MORE: "She Has Receipts": Melania Trump's Former Chief of Staff Stephanie Grisham to Publish a Memoir, Says She Expects Trump to Retaliate This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Mary Webber WATCH: Stephanie Grisham Says Working For Trump Was "A Mistake" - from The View Olympic wrestling gold medalist Gable Steveson would enter the WWE Raw, as he was tapped to be a part of the company's Draft on Monday. The selection that included Steveson was announced by professional wrestlers Sonya Deville and Adam Pierce, during the second portion of the 2021 WWE Draft, the Sportster reported. The said selection was made on behalf of the WWE Raw and SmackDown management teams in collaboration with the representatives from USA Network and Fox, which is the home of WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown respectively. READ NEXT: WWE Star and UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey is Officially a Mom; Shares Glimpse of Her Baby on Social Media Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson Selected by WWE Raw As part of the announcement, it was made known that Steveson signed with the red brand. Comicbook reported that the move will make the Olympic gold medalist skip right past the NXT 2.0 developmental program. WWE's NXT 2.0 is known to be bouts featuring younger and unproven developmental wrestlers, Bleacher Report pointed out. However, Steveson mentioned that he might be skipping NXT 2.0. "I was open for anything, but with the way things are going, I think I'm going to jump straight to the main roster," Steveson mentioned in an interview. It can be recalled that WWE officially announced that Steveson signed a contract with their company. The said contract announced by the WWE in September was reported to be a deal that would allow the Olympic gold medalist to compete for the Golden Gophers for another season. In an interview, Steveson detailed that the three-year- contract deal he signed with WWE will start once he graduated from his university. "I told them I wanted to go back and finish school," Steveson said, adding that the company allowed him to do that. The Olympic gold medalist went on to say that Vince McMahon, Triple H, and Nick Khan, also allowed him to win another title. Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson Before signing a deal with WWE, Gable Steveson already showed off his skills in wrestling in his previous bouts. Steveson's skills made him compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where he won the gold medal in the men's Freestyle 125 kilograms competition. "I was thinking WWE [Chairman and CEO] Vince McMahon is drooling right now," Olympic athlete turned WWE superstar Kurt Angle said, shortly after Steveson won his gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Angle went on praising Steveson with his skills, saying that the athlete would "end up in the pro wrestling business or UFC, or Bellator MMA." Steveson's skills also made Paul Heyman and Ryan Reigns notice the athlete, as the three took a picture backstage of this year's WrestleMania. Apart from being a gold medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, Gable Steveson was also hailed as the 2021 Hodge trophy winner, 2021 NCAA champion, and 2021 Pan American Champion, as he played with the University of Minnesota. Furthermore, Steveson also holds 10th and 14th longest win streaks in his school's history. READ NEXT: UFC Fighter Jon Jones Vows to Leave Alcohol Following His Domestic Violence Arrest This article is owned by Latin Post Written By: Joshua Summers WATCH: Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson is Drafted to Raw - From WWE After filing hundreds of fake returns in several states, prosecutors said Monday that a Florida man was sentenced to not less than four years of federal imprisonment. Florida Man Behind Tax Refund Fraud According to OregonLive, the 40-year-old resident of Homestead, Florida, Damian O. Barrett, was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison after filing a total of 745 fake tax returns in 19 different states from 2015 to 2018. Based on the court documents by the Justice Department, Barrett owned two Florida-based tax preparation companies, named Winngate Tax Services LLC and Max Tax Experts LLC. He used the first company to submit fraudulent income tax returns and the second company in submitting tax returns for his legitimate clients. The move of Barrett sought close to $900,000 in fraudulent tax refunds, and he received more than $234,000. Out of the money that he received, a total of $130,000 came from the Oregon Department of Revenue. Barrett has requested more than $322,000 in refunds after filing more than 348 tax returns with the state. READ MORE: Vatican Cardinal, 9 Others on Trial Over $412M Fraud Case Fake Tax Refunds Across U.S. The court documents said that the Florida man used names, social security numbers, and employer identification numbers of various individuals in submitting fraudulent returns. Some of them were his legitimate clients. Also, Barrett set up bank accounts in the names of some of his victims to receive the refunds. Moreover, Barrett did not only intentionally exclude more than $21,000 in income from his personal income tax return in 2016 but also did not file his personal income tax return in 2017. Meanwhile, in August 2020, a federal grand jury in the city of Portland in Oregon indicted Barrett with several counts of mail fraud and laundering. Barrett was later charged with mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and filing a false tax return. The Florida man pleaded guilty to all three charges. In a statement by Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Scott Erik Asphaug, the DA's office will treat the offense as a serious crime. He added that the misuse of personally identifiable information for filing fraudulent tax returns in the name of clients who are unaware adds to the severity of the offense. "We applaud the IRS's effort to hold Mr. Barrett accountable for his crimes," Asphaug added. United States District Court Judge Michael H. Simon sentenced Barrett to 54 months in prison followed by three years of probation, based on the federal prosecutors. The U.S. District Court Judge Simon ordered Barrett to pay more than $234,000 in restitution to 11 states. The taxing authorities ordered the restitution in Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, Connecticut, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Carolina. Aside from payments to several states, prosecutors said that Barrett would need to pay more than $74,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. READ NEXT: Man Sentenced for Insurance Fraud Scheme That Victimized Thousands of Navy Sailors in San Diego This article is owned by Latin Post Written by: Jess Smith WATCH: Florida couple charged with $5.8-million COVID relief fraud -FOX 13 Tampa Bay A San Francisco federal court ordered Tesla to pay a former Tesla worker around $137 million for damages after he experienced racist abuse working for the company. The former Tesla worker was Owen Diaz. The jury had granted $130 million in punitive damages and $6.9 million for emotional distress. The amount was more than attorneys had asked for their client, according to a CNBC report. Diaz was a former contract worker hired in the vehicle company through a staffing agency in 2015. Elon Musk currently runs the company as its CEO. Diaz recounted that he faced a hostile work environment, telling the court that colleagues used epithets to denigrate him and other Black workers. Other Tesla workers told him to "go back to Africa" and left racist vandalism in the restrooms and other racist drawings in his workspace. READ NEXT: Elon Musk Promises Self-Driving Car's System To Be Released in a Month Diaz's Case Against Tesla Diaz said that he was relieved by the jury's decision, adding that it took four long years to get to this point. He said that it's like a big weight has been pulled off his shoulders, according to The New York Times report. Diaz was an elevator operator between the years 2015 and 2016 at the Tesla factory. He said that aside from co-workers, his supervisor had also referred to him using racial slurs. Diaz added that employees had drawn swastikas and derogatory pictures of Black children. He said that he reported his complaints, but the company did little to address the behavior. Diaz said that he had reached a breaking point when his son, who had also secured a job at the company through his help, experienced the same treatment. He said that his son watched him be broken. Diaz said in his suit that he was feeling "demeaned, disrespected, and devalued," suing Tesla with his son and another Black former employee. Meanwhile, it was not immediately clear whether Tesla would appeal the decision, according to a CBS Local report. Tesla Racism Cases Tesla previously denied any knowledge of the racist conduct claims at the plant. Tesla uses mandatory arbitration to push employees to resolve disputes behind closed doors rather than have it done in a public trial. Elon Musk's company was required to pay $1 million as the result of an arbitration agreement to another former employee, known as Melvin Berry. Berry had also reported having endured a racist and hostile workplace at Tesla. In 2017, CNBC reported Marcus Vaugh, another Tesla former employee, had filed a suit. They claim that Tesla had allowed factory workers to use racist slurs and failed to impose corrective action. Musk had allegedly sent an email to Fremont factory workers addressing the complaints. Musk reportedly told black workers and other minorities that their complaints sometimes happen "unintentionally." Musk had added that if someone is "a jerk to you" but sincerely apologized, it is important "to be thick-skinned and accept that apology." Tesla had issued a statement then, saying that the lawsuit was full of false claims. READ MORE: Aeroflot Airlines Employees Involved in Smuggling $50 Million Worth of Electronic Goods to Russia, Investigation Reveals This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by Mary Webber WATCH: Tesla must pay $137 million to ex worker over hostile work environment - from Inside News A report from California's Office of Spill Prevention revealed on Monday that the state officials were notified about the oil spill hours before the incident was publicized on Saturday morning. According to the records retrieved by the Los Angeles Times, the said office was first notified about an "observed sheen" in the waters located several miles off Huntington Beach, on Friday at around 10:22 p.m. However, the report from the office noted that the source and the volume of the oil spill "were still unknown." READ NEXT: Massive California Oil Spill Sends Crude Onto Orange County Coast, Killing Marine Life and Birds The said report was based on the information from the National Response Center, which should be contacted regarding oil and chemical discharges in the environment. It can be recalled that Amplify Energy reported to the Office of Emergency Services on Saturday, around 8:55 a.m., about the leak on their aging pipeline, and claimed that the first leak occurred around 2:30 a.m. the same day. However, the report showed that the first time the California oil spill was reported on Friday, the oil was already two nautical miles long and 100 meters wide, USA Today reported. To date, the oil spill was reported to be at least 126,000 gallons and is destroying wildlife along the waters of Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach. On Saturday, it was "believed that leaking 16" pipeline was shut down. The said pipeline was reported to stretch from the shore to Platform Elly located in the Pacific Ocean. Pipeline Owner Says They Do Not Know About California Oil Spill Until Saturday As the reports of the California oil spill being reported earlier surfaced, Amplify Energy, the owner of the pipeline that caused the incident, claimed on Monday that they did not know about the incident until Saturday. Amplify Energy's Chief Executive, Martin Willsher, also pointed out that they were not aware of the reports from the resident of Orange County who smelled the fuel on Friday. California Senator Tom Umberg on Monday said that they need to find the truth about when the oil spill was reported, and to whom the incident was reported. Umberg went on to say that they also need to find out why the government agencies who knew about the oil spill on Friday night failed to mention the incident to those who have a responsibility to tell the news to the public. The U.S. Coast Guard is now investigating whether Amplify Energy is muddled in monitoring their oil pressure that might have caused the delay in shutting down the flow of thousands of gallons of oil. Ship's Anchor Might Have Caused California Oil Spill: Coast Guard As the investigation on the cause of the California oil spill continues, coast guard officials claim that there is a possibility of an anchor being the cause of the incident. "We're looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye said on Monday, noting that the possibility of the anchor being the cause was still in the "assessment phase." According to reports, cargo ships at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach usually pass through the area of the oil spill. In recent months, several vessels were regularly anchored in the area while waiting to enter the said ports and unload their ships. Meanwhile, Willsher said that company divers inspected the area of the suspected leak on Saturday. Willsher went on to express his hopes that there would be clearer data on what caused the California oil spill. READ NEXT: California Surfer Survived Shark Attack After a Great White Shark Bit Him This article is owned by Latin Post Written By: Joshua Summers WATCH: California Crews Race to Contain Massive Oil Spill - From ABC News Laois now has its own Happy Pear, twin foodie sisters Kate and Ruth O'Hara who have just swept the board scooping five prizes in the annual Blas na hEireann awards, one of five Laois companies to win medals this year. The twins aged 24 are from Durrow and run their fledgling chocolatier business in The Kitchens at the MDA in Mountmellick. Both graduates in accounting and finance, they decided to go with their love of culinary arts in their career choice, setting up Temptation Patisserie just nine months ago. Growing up with a love of French patisseries and chocolateries from family holidays to France, they learned everything they know through courses and videos online. The self-taught chocolatier twins now produce luxury artisan chocolates and patisserie made with premium quality and ethically sourced ingredients in small batches. They specialise in hand-painted chocolates, bars and bonbons which they call our little pieces of edible art. Temptation Patisserie won the Best Artisan Product 2021 for their Sea Salt Caramel Bar, a creamy 40% milk chocolate bar shell filled with a homemade salted caramel, made using West of Dingle sea salt, hand-harvested on the Dingle Peninsula. The bar is splashed with white and blue cocoa butter, illustrating the breaking waves of the sea. Temptation Patisserie were also winners of this years Blas na hEireann Best Start Up award. They also won Gold, Silver and Best in County awards. Kate told the Leinster Express how they felt on winning no less than five awards. "We were completely blown away, we didn't expect to get this. We are only in business eight or nine months. Thank you so so much to everyone who has supported our little business, very exciting things to come," she said. They sell their tasty products at farmers' markets in Portlaoise and Stradbally, Newbridge and Kildare, also stocked at Chocolate Brown cafe in Portlaoise and also via their website www.temptationpatisserie.ie Four more Laois food producers also won awards this year, adding to their haul of medals from previous awards. Aghaboe Farm Foods walked away with two golds and a silver adding to their toll in previous years of one gold, two silver, Best in County and Best in Farmers market, makes it the most awarded food business in Laois. Abbey Farm Foods won Gold & Silver while The Village Dairy won two Golds. Garryhinch Mushrooms who are also members of the Laois Taste group also won in Chefs Larder section. With the annual pilgrimage to Dingle stalled, this years winners tuned in for a second year running from every corner of the country for a virtual celebration of the very best in Irish food. Blas na hEireann Chairperson is Artie Clifford. These are the 14th annual Blas na hEireann awards and despite the very challenging situation, I am delighted to report a record entry level from producers right across the island. This large increase in entries has raised the bar across all categories, allowing us to introduce new products and producers to the buyers and press with whom we work, which is really exciting. Congratulations to all the winners and to every producer who participated. It is always such a rewarding experience to see the wealth of exceptional foods being produced on the island of Ireland, and this has been the best year yet, he said. Now in their 14th year, the Blas na hEireann awards are the all-island food awards that recognise the very best Irish food and drink products, and the passionate people behind them. The biggest blind tasting of produce in the country, the criteria on which the product is judged as well as the judging system itself, which was developed by Blas na hEireann with the Food Science Dept of UCC and the University of Copenhagen, is now recognised as an industry gold standard worldwide. Products from every county in Ireland were entered into this years competition to win Gold, Silver or Bronze Blas na hEireann awards in over 150 food and drink categories, as well as key awards like Supreme Champion and Best Artisan Producer. A Celtic Tiger derelict house needs to be demolished as soon as possible in a Laois estate which was abandoned during the property crash, a county councillor has demanded. Cllr Aisling Moran made the call after tabling a motion at the recent Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District meeting. She called on Laois County Council to finish the Bruach na hAbhann estate in Killeen as it has been taken in charge by the Council and also that the derelict building be removed as it is a health and safety issue. In reply, Ms Angela McEvoy, Planning Department, said planning permission was granted in August 2021 to demolish the existing structure and construct a storey and a half style domestic dwelling and all associated site works. She said no timeline has been given in relation to when demolition will take place. She advised councillors that this will be followed up on by the Derelict Sites Section. Laois County Council's website says Smart 4 Management Ventures Ltd were given permission to demolish number 41 Bruach na hAbhann. For Cllr Moran, demolition cannot come soon enough. That derelict house needs to come down asap, she said. Cllr said the new owners must act. It is going to collapse on top of somebody, she said. A Kildare Senator has called for better transport links for some towns in the county. Senator Mark Wall told the Seanad that some students "have been left on the side of the road" because some bus services are full. Speaking on Thursday last, Senator Wall said he has been contacted about the issue by a growing number of parents in Castledermot whose children are attending secondary school as well as a third level college in nearby Carlow. He said: "Not for the first time, these students have been left on the side of the road because the scheduled bus is full and cannot take them or any more passengers when it reaches the town. "On Monday last, seven students were left standing on the side of the road in the town. What is all the more frustrating for them and for their parents is that all of these students had purchased tickets in advance, yet when they rang the operator they were told that the operator could not take any further passengers." He added: "Towns like Castledermot in south Kildare are crying out for more transport." Senator Wall also said that Kildare students who cannot get accommodation in Dublin are forced to take the train but stations like Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy, Kildare town and Newbridge are outside the Short Hop zone and the students cannot use their Leap cards. He explained: "In one such example, a young student from Monasterevin should be paying 27 per week with his Leap card and instead is paying 100 per week, so he might as well be staying in Dublin. "We need to look at a mechanism where these students who are staying at home can use their Leap cards and are not forced to pay the full fare." The politician also said extending the Leap card would help reduce the carbon footprint of those commuters who are getting into their cars every morning in Newbridge and travelling to Sallins because of the Short Hop fare. He added: "Wee need to have a debate on rural transport and to protect those students who cannot find accommodation in Dublin but yet are paying such high costs in trying to travel up and down there each day." The announcement of a new Cadet School in the Curragh has been welcomed by a Senator from Kildare. Fianna Fail Senator Fiona O' Loughlin said about the new cadet school, which is located in the Defence Forces Training Centre: "I am happy to see that a new cadet school will be provided for the Defence Force Training Centre in the Curragh under the National Development Plan." "Overall the defence forces have been allocated 566 million over the 2022-2025 timeframe, with the 2022 allocation increasing to 141 million, which is significant funding for the defence forces under the NDP." She continued: "The Government is committed to modernising the defence forces and this capital allocation will boost ongoing efforts to upgrade Defence equipment platforms and built infrastructure. This is necessary in order to ensure the Defence Forces can continue to undertake the roles assigned by Government and internationally." Senator OLoughlin concluded: "Overall this is a positive announcement for the defence community in Kildare, and the new cadet school for the Defence Forces Training Centre in the Curragh is a huge endorsement of the Curragh Camp; while there are still significant issues facing the defence forces, mainly around working conditions and pay, and I remain committed to tackling at a national level." In related news, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy was promoted to the appointment by the government last week. Lt Gnl Clancy recently said in a video posted on the Oglaigh na hEireann Twitter page, that "there is no place for inappropriate or toxic behaviour in the Defence Forces," in reference to the various allegations of abuse that have come to light against the Irish army in recent weeks. The death has occurred of Valentine (Val) Dowling The Retirement Village, Clonmullion, Athy, Kildare Formerly of St. Dominic's Park, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Peacefully, at Naas Hospital, surrounded by his loving family. Predeceased by his loving parents Alice and Tony. Sadly missed by his loving sisters Alice, Brid, Margaret, Mary, Kathleen, Yvonne, Ann and Fionnuala, brothers James and Anto, uncle Jimmy, aunt Alice, brothers and sisters in law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and friends. May Val Rest in Peace Reposing at Glennon's Funeral Home, 32 Main Street, Newbridge, from 5pm on Tuesday with rosary at 7pm. Removal on Wednesday to arrive at St. Conleth's Parish Church, Newbridge, for Requiem Mass at 11am. Mass will be live streamed on https://www.newbridgeparish.ie/parish-church. Cremation afterwards in Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold's Cross, Dublin, at 1.45pm. The service from Mount Jerome can be viewed via https://www.mountjerome.ie/. Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, to "The Friends of Naas General Hospital". Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below. Please respect HSE and Government guidelines at all times. The death has occurred of Kathleen Henry (nee Lee) Curragh View, Brownstown, The Curragh, Kildare Formerly of Hazel Hall Nursing Home, Clane. Peacefully, at Naas Hospital. Wife of the late Thomas. Mother of the late Deirdre, Colette, Marina, Keith and grandmother of the late Leona. Sadly missed by her loving sons Cyril and Tom, daughter-in-law Marie, son-in-law Philip, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends. May Kathleen Rest In Peace Reposing at Glennon's Funeral Home, 32 Main Street, Newbridge, on Thursday from 4pm with Rosary at 7pm. Please respect HSE and Government guidelines at all times. Removal on Friday morning to arrive St. Brigids Church, The Curragh for Requiem Mass at 10am. Burial afterwards in St. Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge. The numbers at the Mass are limited in line with current restrictions. Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below. Kathleen's Funeral Mass will be live-streamed on the St. Brigid's Church, The Curragh, Facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/TheCurraghChurch/ The death has occurred of Elizabeth (Betty) Keogh (nee Humphries) Kilcullen, Kildare Elizabeth (Betty) Keogh (nee Humphries), Yellow Bog, Kilcullen, Co Kildare, who died on 4th October 2021, peacefully, at Naas Hospital, in her 99th year. Beloved wife of the late Bill and mother of the late Peter, sadly missed by her loving daughters Sheila, Maureen, Liz, Bernie, Theresa and Ann, sons Jimmy, Seanie, Liam and Brendan, sons in law, daughters in law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, extended family, relatives and friends. Reposing at her residence, removal from there on Wednesday morning, 6th Oct, to St Joseph's Church, Gormanstown, (church limited to 50% capacity) arriving for 9am requiem Mass, followed by burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Those who would have liked to attend the funeral but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below. Please wear face coverings and adhere to social distancing. House Private Please. May Betty Rest In Peace The death has occurred of Doris Maxwell Ashville, Athy, Kildare Maxwell, Doris, Ashville, Athy, Co. Kildare (Maxwells of Athy) on September 30th, 2021. Daughter of the late Charles and Lillian. Sister of Lillian and Edie, Joe, Sam and Willie (predeceased by Isobel, James and Charlotte). Very sadly missed by her immediate family of nieces and nephews in Australia, America, Canada, the UK and Ireland and also all her wider family and many friends. At her request, Doris has asked for family flowers only and donations in lieu to St. Vincents Hospital in Athy where she spent many lovely social days pre-Covid. Doris funeral will take place in line with continuing guidance and number restrictions as largely a family event, on Wednesday, 6th October, at 3.00pm in Athy Presbyterian Church and burial afterwards in Athy Cemetery. (The Church is limited to 50% capacity). Reposing in Rigneys Funeral Home, Athy on Tuesday, 5th October, from 6pm to 8pm. (Please wear face coverings and adhere to social distancing). Messages of sympathy and support can be expressed online. In His presence there is fullness and joy The death has occurred of Christina O'Neill (nee Fagan) The Courtyard, Church St, Kilcock, Kildare / Dublin Christina (Dinah), predeceased by her husband Michael and daughter Jean. Dear mother of Michael, Mary and Colette. Sadly missed by her family, sons-in-law; Kevin and Michael, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, sister Mary, extended family, friends and neighbours. May She Rest In Peace. Funeral Arrangements Later A Roman-Catholic University in County Kildare has announced that it has finally found its student ambassadors following a search that took place across the country. Following a university-wide recruitment process, St Patricks Pontifical University (SPPU) in Maynooth has appointed a team of Student Ambassadors, specially selected from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. Speaking on the importance of Student Ambassadors, SPPU said in a statement: "The Ambassadors will be a vital link for incoming students, assisting with orientation activities, providing campus tours and being on hand with advice and recommendations on how best to transition from second level into life at university." "The Student Ambassadors will also assist at university events throughout the year passing on their firsthand experiences of life at St Patricks," SPPU added. This years inaugural Ambassadors include: Alex Balfe-Vicic from Carlow, Aoife Ryan from Westmeath, Aoife Ward and Shauna Murphy from Meath, Colm McGoldrick from Mayo, Luka Pranciliauskas from Wexford, Mark-Paul Behan Clarke from Wicklow and Niamh Palmer from Cork. Mr McGoldrick, a theology student, said about his chosen field: "A degree in theology will provide you with a range of transferable skills that will greatly enhance your future employability and career prospects." "Theology students garner advanced communication skills, and they are adept at critical analysis and problem solving, thus enabling them to approach the future with an open and questioning mind. The St Patricks graduate is discerning and socially engaged; their knowledge and appropriation of their theological studies empowers them to make a unique and invaluable contribution in their future careers," he added. Theology and Arts student Ms Balfe-Vicic also commented that she believes her experience of relocating for third level studies can lend itself to her peers: "After searching available courses I found the course for me, a degree in Theology and Arts." She elaborated: "With smaller class sizes, approachable staff, friendly classmates and a beautiful campus I quickly found myself a second home here in Maynooth from Carlow." "As a Student Ambassador, I hope to share my experience with others who might be studying further away from home, and I also want to promote the wide range of subject options available within the Faculty." St Patrick's Pontifical University was officially established as the Royal College of St Patrick by the Maynooth College Act in 1795. Thomas Pelham, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, introduced a Bill for the foundation of a Catholic college, and this was enacted by Parliament. The University was opened to train 500 Catholic priests every year, and at one point in time, it was the largest seminary in the world. A prominent politician from Kildare has publicly criticised the government's recently unveiled National Development Plan 2021-2030 (NDP). The NDP was launched yesterday and promises 165 billion in funding for a range of projects over the decade. Kildare-North TD and Social Democrats (SD) leader Catherine Murphy said in a public statement: "The NDP lacks detail, in terms of costings, delivering times, priorities." "We (the SD) described it as a wish list, and it remains a wish list until those pieces are put into place." Ms Murphy also made reference to the Dart Plus project, which was mentioned in the NDP: "The tunnel aspect of that project which is the big part of it, was brought to railway order stage, there was 48 million spent getting it to that stage, with the Tanaiste Leo Varadkar as Minister for Transport at the time. "They (the Irish government) lost their nerve when they saw how much it was going to cost." She continued: "Without costing those projects, how are we to know the priority that's given to public transport over roads will actually happen?" "The IPCC report issued a code red for humanity: this is a critical decade, and this green aspect of the NDP has be delivered." She concluded her statement with two rhetorical questions: "How many of these public transport projects will actually be delivered within the ten years of this timeframe? "Will any of them be delivered?" Ms Murphy is not the only critic of the NDP: The Irish Independent reported earlier today that over half of the projects in the Governments ambitious plan are estimated to cost from 100 million and upwards, with some running into the billions. In addition, the Green Party has admitted some costs have still not been worked out. Recently, An Taoiseach Micheal Martin described the new National Development Plan as being "unprecedented in scale". The following deaths have occurred in the wider Leitrim area: Annie Cullen (nee Higgins), Cornacloy, Drumkeerin, Leitrim The death has occurred of Annie Cullen, nee Higgins, Cornacloy, Drumkeerin, Co. Leitrim, peacefully, in her 104th year, at Arus Breffni, Manorhamilton. Pre-deceased by her husband Johnny and son Sean. Sadly missed by her loving family; daughters Mary, Ann and Noeleen; sons Francie and Fintan; sons in law Joe (Davitt), Hugh (O'Rourke) and Pat (McCaffrey); daughters in law Joan and Gabrielle; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, relatives, neighbours and friends. Funeral Mass today, Tuesday at 12.00pm in St. Brigid's Church, Drumkeerin with burial to follow in the adjoining cemetery. Family flowers only, please, donations, in lieu, to The Patients Comfort Fund, Arus Breffni, Manorhamilton, c/o funeral director or any family member. The Funeral Mass can be view on the following link https://youtu.be/2o46uf5Xxa8 The Cullen family appreciate your understanding at this very sad time. In the interest of public health, attendance at the funeral services will be restricted in accordance with HSE guidelines and in line with social distancing protocols. For those who cannot attend due to the restrictions, you are welcome to leave a message of condolence on www.seamusgallagherfuneralservices.ie . Andy McHugh, Lannanaria, Corlough, Cavan Peacefully at the Mater Hospital, Dublin. Andy will be sadly missed by his heart-broken wife and best friend Geraldine, his sisters Margaret, Breda, Alice & Pauline, mother-in-law Molly, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, cousins, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing privately at his home for family, neighbours and close friends on Tuesday from 4pm until 8pm. Removal on Wednesday morning at arrive at St. Patricks Church, Corlough, for Funeral Mass at 12 noon. Burial will take place afterwards in St. Marys Cemetery, Aughnasheelin. Family flowers only, please. Donations, in lieu, to the Oncology Unit at Cavan General Hospital, c/o Smiths Funeral Directors, Ballinamore. Funeral Mass may be viewed on the Corlough Templeport Facebook page. Due to current Government guidelines, attendance at the funeral Mass will be restricted. The family appreciates your understanding, sympathy and support at this sad time. Shirley Ann Kelly (nee Golds), Boyle, Roscommon / Geevagh, Sligo The death has occurred of Shirley Ann Kelly (nee Golds), Maple Drive, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, October 4th 2021, peacefully, surrounded by her loving husband and family. Sadly missed by her devoted husband Pat, and her children Michelle, Dean, Filma and Samantha, grandchildren Chloe, Aimee, Sophie and Holly, great-grandchildren Frank and Gigi, brother Tony, sister Lavinia, brother-in-law Joe, sisters-in-law Nuala, Helen and Lily, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing at her home on Tuesday (October 5th) from 5p.m. until 7p.m. Removal on Wednesday morning to St. Josephs Church, Geevagh, to arrive for celebration of Mass of Christian Burial at 12 noon. Private cremation will take place afterwards in Lakelands Crematorium, Cavan. Funeral Mass will be streamed live on Geevagh.ie Facebook page. In compliance with current guidelines, you are requested to please follow rules regarding church number (Church is restricted to 50% capacity) wearing of face masks is essential, refrain from handshaking, and also adhere strictly to Social Distancing on all occasions, at her home, on route to Church, vicinity of Church. The family thank you for your cooperation, sympathy, support and understanding at this difficult time. Teresa McGovern (nee Wynne), Garryfluigh, Ballinamore, Leitrim / St. Margaret's, Dublin Peacefully, in the loving care of the staff at Clearbrook Nursing Home, Dublin 11. Sadly missed by her sons Michael and Patrick, daughters Denise and Fionnuala, grandchildren Karl, Jack and Erin Mesha, her husband PJ, daughters in law, sons in law, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, extended family, cousins, relatives and friends. Funeral Mass on Tuesday 5th October in St. Patricks Church, Corlough, Co. Cavan at 12.00 noon. Burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Due to Government restrictions and in accordance with HSE guidelines Teresas Funeral Mass will be private to family and friends. The Mass will be streamed live on CorloughTempleport Parish facebook page. Sean McGowan, 18 Ard na Cuain, Dromod, Leitrim / Kinlough, Leitrim Sean McGowan, (Electrician), 18 Ard na Cuain, Dromod, Co. Leitrim, formerly Melvin Fields, Kinlough, Co. Leitrim 2nd October 2021 (peacefully) surrounded by his loving family at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin; Deeply regretted and sadly missed by his devoted wife and best friend Imelda, daughters Yvonne (Killyclogher, Omagh), Andrea (Carrick-on-Shannon) and Joanne (Jamestown), sons-in-law David, Niall and Jason, adored grandchildren Hannah, Ciara, Ella, Erin and Emmet, brothers Gerry, Jim, Vincent, Brendan, Desmond, and Martin, sister Mary, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, relatives, neighbours and a large circle of friends. Sean will repose at his home on Tuesday from 3pm until 8pm for family, neighbours and close friends. Seans funeral cortege will leave his residence on Wednesday 6th October at 3.15pm to arrive at Lakelands Crematorium, Cavan for Cremation service at 5pm. Seans Cremation service will be streamed live on the link www.lakelandscrematorium.ie go the live stream and enter password Lakelandsfuneral2021 No flowers by request please, donations in lieu, if so desired, to the Irish Kidney Association c/o of Padraig Burke, Funeral Director or any family member. Given the current exceptional circumstances and HSE guidelines, Lakelands Crematorium is limited to 50% capacity. May they all Rest in Peace Celebrated American author Jeanine Cummins and popular Irish poet Rita Ann Higgins are among the featured writers in this years Iron Mountain Literature Festival, which will be streamed online from October 7th to 10th. Cummins is best-known for her bestselling novel American Dirt which traces the journey of a Mexican woman and her young son from Acapulco across the Mexican-US border as they flee from a drug cartel, their journey mirroring the experience of thousands of migrants who try to cross into the US from Mexico each year. She will read from her work and discuss the social and political background to the themes of American Dirt, a novel which Oprah Winfrey described as magnificent and the Observer classed as urgent and politically relevant. Rita Ann Higgins will read from her work, including her most recent book Pathogens Love a Patsy which dissects the last 18 months of life in Ireland during the Covid-19 crisis with her trademark wit and insight, and considers the life and story of Hanna Greally, author of Birds' Nest Soup, a searing account of her wrongful and long incarceration in an Irish psychiatric hospital. Actor Stephen Rea will read from the work of John McGahern and share his memories of the great Leitrim writer, while novelist Eoin McNamee will read from a work-in-progress in advance giving the annual John McGahern Memorial Lecture to a public audience in Carrick-on-Shannon later in the year. The festival will also announce the winner of this years John McGahern Award for Literature, which is sponsored by Leitrim County Council. Kerri Ni Dochartaigh will read from her work and discuss her experience of growing up in Northern Ireland and making a home and new life in Mayo. Her publication Thin Places combines memoir, nature writing and history to make quite a unique book of place and personal testimony, survival and hope, praised by the English nature writer Robert McFarlane as a remarkable piece of writing. Afghan-Canadian writer and film-maker Nelofer Pazira will pay tribute to her late husband, the journalist and writer Robert Fisk, who had accepted an invitation to be a guest at The Iron Mountain Literature Festival and who died in October 20. The documentary film This is not a Movie, which traces Fisks work in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, has yet to be screened in Ireland. Pazira, who was one of the producers of that documentary, will talk about her experience of growing up in Afghanistan and moving with her family as refugees to Pakistan and Canada, consider the current situation in her home country, discuss her role in the feature film Khandahar and her work on several other documentary films about her home country, and read from her memoir A Bed of Red Flower: In Search of My Afghanistan. This years festival will also feature seven new pieces of writing (prose, poetry and song) specially commissioned for the Iron Mountain Festival and Leitrim Live, curated by festival director Vincent Woods and filmed on location by Edwina Guckian. The featured writers are: Ailie Blunnie, Michael Harding, Roisin Kelly, Alice Lyons, Patrick McCabe, Stephen Murphy and Seamus ORourke. The videos of the seven new works will be streamed the final day of the festival. For further information and to access festival events, go to www.ironmountainfestival.ie A PEDESTRIAN is in a critical condition in hospital after he was critically injured in a road collision in County Limerick. The man, whose aged in his 30s, was injured after he was struck on a section of the M8 motorway which passes through Limerick near the village of Kilbehenny. "At approximately 3.10pm yesterday, Gardai and emergency services attended the scene of a collision which involved a car and a male pedestrian. The pedestrian, aged in his 30s, was later taken to Cork University Hospital where his condition is currently described as critical," said a garda spokesperson. The driver of the car was not injured. An examination of the scene was conducted by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and the road has since reopened. Gardai are appealing to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to come forward. They are particularly appealing to any road users who were travelling in the area and who have dash camera footage to make it available. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Fermoy garda station on (025) 82100. AN Taoiseach Micheal Martin has refused to give a date on the maiden election for Limericks first directly elected mayor. The government has given the go-ahead to begin the drafting of legislation for the new 130,000-a-year role, but uncertainty remains as to when Limerick will go to the polls. Earlier this year, Peter Burke the minister in charge of the project in place following the passing of a plebiscite locally in 2019 effectively ruled out any election this year. Now, Mr ODea has raised the matter on the Dail floor. As the Taoiseach will be aware, this election has already been postponed once this year and now according to newspaper reports it will be postponed again. What is the reason for these postponements? What are the Government's intentions when and if the election takes place, he asked. It really depends on getting the legislation through, Mr Martin said in response. Mr ODea then asked: Could the Taoiseach give a possible timeline. To which the Taoiseach responded: I cannot give that right now. During the debate, Independent Clare TD Michael McNamara interjected, and questioned whether the former Defence Minister had any designs on the role. Having already ruled out a tilt at the crown to this newspaper, Mr ODea told the debate: I do not have any vested interest, but I thank the deputy for giving me the opportunity to reiterate that. Dublin TD Paul McAuliffe added: "Twist his arm maybe! The new role will see the executive mayor have a raft of new legislative powers, and will lead to a redesign of how Limericks local authority will operate. INNOVATE Limerick, through Film in Limerick, has partnered with Gorm Media to launch a diversity initiative to attract new workers to the film and TV industry. Supported by Screen Skills Ireland, the initiative responds to the under-representation of people from culturally and ethnically diverse communities working in Irish filmmaking, and the barriers faced by such individuals as they try to launch and progress their careers. Diverse Screen is a free programme that aims to support individuals to gain their first job in film and TV. The initiative launches at 7pm on Thursday, October 7, with a series of introductory webinars on working in the industry. Over eight weekly online events, there will be the chance to meet with a range of experienced film crew who will talk about what they do on set and how to break into the industry. The first event will feature local producer Gemma OShaughnessy who will talk about working in the production department and on set. Gemma is an experienced producer who has worked on many of the biggest productions in Ireland in recent years, including the sci-fi TV series Foundation filmed at Troy Studios for AppleTV+ and Modern Love for Amazon Studios. Speaking about the new initiative, Paul C. Ryan, Regional Film Manager at Film in Limerick, said: We have a lack of diversity in the film and TV workforce and we need to actively plan to change this. As part of our mission to build up a sizeable local crew base, we need to ensure that we have a crew that represents all part of our community. We are looking forward to rolling out several training initiatives in the coming year to reach and train new local diverse crew in the Mid-West." Mamobo Ogoro, Founder of Gorm Media, added: "We are so pleased to be partnering with Film in Limerick and Screen Skills in curating this programme. While highlighting the voices, experiences and stories of diverse communities on a digital screen is a part of our core objectives, that needs to be adequately reflected behind the screen. With this launch and the development of the Diverse Screen Programme, we see a Mid-West film industry where stories are adequately expressed on screen through the work and deliberation of a diverse production crew off screen". See limerick.ie for more information and how to sign up to save your spot. LOCAL businesses, community groups and education providers on Limerick's southside have come together to demand action on a key access point into the city. For more than 13 years, there has been no inbound access from the M20 southern ring road to the Carew Park link. However, with the inclusion of the Limerick to Cork road in the National Development plan, the group which has been brought together by the Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP) are seeking the inbound access restored. The access point was originally linked to the national roads network but closed temporarily in 2007, with the completion of the Limerick Tunnel three years later resulting in the closure becoming permanet. Niall O'Callaghan, who heads the LEDP said: "What we are asking for is a minor reconfiguration of the junction and we have been told consistently that there is overwhelming support for this. Now presents an ideal opportunity for government policy makers to resolve it with the confirmation the M20 is to proceed. For less than 1% of the cost of the M20 which is to run into billions, this will ensure value for money by virtue of economies of scale and timing of this link in tandem with the M20 build. Now is the time for action. The former IDA Ireland regional manager said this will alleviate further traffic congestion which will be exacerbated in Rosbrien, as it is here where the proposed M20 routes to Limerick converge. Among the group seeking action is Pat Reddan, the general manager of the Maldron Hotel in Roxboro, who said: "We cannot understand in this community why there has been no progress on this link road. There is already a road plan design from 2012 outlining possible options to retrofit the junction, sadly without any action or progress to date. This has the potential to open up the whole of Limericks southside and create generational life changing opportunities. Surely if there is a will, they will find a way?" Despite widespread support and calls over the past 10 years for its reinstatement, the group say they are frustrated by the lack of action and commitment from government, local Oireachtas members and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). They are calling on all Limerick Oireachtas members to work with TII and the local authority to find a solution in tandem with the planned M20 motorway to Cork. Companies and charities represented on the group among them employ more than 1,000 people on the southside. As well as the LEDP and the Maldron Hotel, Virgin Media, Fitzgerald Skip Hire and Tait House are all represented in the group. A federal jury on Monday has ordered Tesla Inc to pay more than $130 million in damages to a Black former worker, finding he was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, the Wall Street Journal reported. The jury determined that the company failed to take reasonable steps to prevent Owen Diaz, a contract worker who was employed as an elevator operator at Tesla's Fremont factory in 2015 and 2016, from being racially harassed, the newspaper said. In a message to employees that Tesla posted on its website, the automaker noted the trial concerned racial slurs heard on the factory floor and racist graffiti in the bathrooms. It also said the three times that Diaz complained about harassment, Tesla stepped in and made sure action was taken by staffing agencies. The jury awarded Diaz $6.9 million in compensatory damages and $130 million in punitive damages, according to the newspaper. "While we strongly believe that these facts don't justify the verdict reached by the jury in San Francisco, we do recognize that in 2015 and 2016 we were not perfect," Tesla said. Before the trial began, presiding judge William Orrick rejected efforts by Tesla to exclude one juror from the jury, saying he believed the attempt was based on race and "purposefully discriminatory." Tesla said in its blog post that since Diaz worked at the Fremont factory it had made changes including the establishment of teams dedicated to investigating employee complaints and to ensuring employees had equal opportunities at the company. Last year, the electric carmaker disclosed in its first U.S. diversity report that Black employees make up just 4% of Tesla's American leadership roles and 10% of its total workforce in the country. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Rebel Foods Pvt. Ltd is in advanced talks with investors, including sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority and US-based buyout fund Carlyle, to raise $150-200 million at a valuation of as much as $1.5 billion, three people familiar with the matter said. The owner of popular online kitchen brands such as Faasos and Behrouz Biryani is likely to close the transaction before Diwali, one of the people said, requesting anonymity. This year, Diwali is on 4 November. SoftBanks Vision Fund was also in the race to invest in Rebel Foods but has since called off its plans, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said separately. Rebel Foods and Carlyle declined to comment. An email query to Qatar Investment did not elicit any response. Rebel Foods is likely to use the majority of the fresh capital to build a war chest for acquisitions, the second of the two people mentioned above said. The company currently runs more than 400 outlets across brands and is in talks with quick-service restaurant chains and food labels for strategic partnerships, the person said. So, they are targeting two wayseither through revenue-sharing by lending their huge infrastructure to them and at times with that adding the equity route too," the person added. Rebel Foods tapped its strategic playbook during recent partnerships with Slay Coffee and Biryani Blues, the third person said. VCCircle reported on Monday that Rebel Foods picked a minority stake in the fast-food brand Biryani Blues. Rebel Foods is also in talks to take on lease Mad Over Donutss delivery operation and is also investing in momo brand Zomoz, according to a report by CapTable. Fast-food restaurant chains have been gaining investor attention of late. Last week, VCCircle reported that Marathon Edge Partners, a private equity firm co-founded by ex-Bain Capital principal Nikhil Raghavan, will invest in restaurant chain Belgian Waffle Co. In September, Kolkata-based Wow! Momo raised more than $15 million in its Series C round of funding led by Singapore-based hedge fund Tree Line Investment Management. The same month, VCCircle reported that Biryani by Kilo was in talks with several local PE funds to raise its Series B round of funding. Set up in 2004 by INSEAD alumni Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee, Rebel Foods was launched as a quick-service restaurant chain before pivoting to an online kitchen model. The company changed its name to Rebel Foods from Faasos Food Services Pvt. Ltd in 2018. Last December, the company increased its exposure in home chef-focused FoodyBuddy. Rebel Foods counts Coatue Management, Goldman Sachs and Indonesias Go-Jek among its investors. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Click here to read the full article. appeared to have fixed networking issues that made its flagship app as well as Instagram and WhatsApp unusable Monday in an outage lasting more than six hours. Users reported a spike in problems accessing Facebooks family of services starting around 11:35 a.m. ET. The issues preventing users from posting content or refreshing their feeds, while the websites of Facebook and Instagram displayed error messages to visitors. By 6 p.m. ET, some of the social giants services had become available again. The outage was the longest downtime for Facebook since March 2019, when the service was down for about 24 hours across multiple apps. Facebook apologized in a statement posted to Twitter. To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: were sorry, the company tweeted from @Facebook at 6:300 p.m. ET. Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us. Experts identified Facebooks problems Monday as related to a configuration change in the companys domain name system (DNS) entries, which effectively made Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger temporarily invisible to internet users worldwide. Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer apologized for the issues in a tweet Monday afternoon, attributing the downtime to unspecified networking issues. The blackout of Facebook and Instagram drove up usage of Twitter, which acknowledged that the surge stressed its own servers. Sometimes more people than usual use Twitter. We prepare for these moments, but today things didnt go exactly as planned, Twitter Support said in a tweet at 4:55 p.m. ET. Some of you may have had an issue seeing replies and DMs as a result. This has been fixed. Sorry about that! The DNS error also prevented some Facebook employees from being able to access email and using company-issued mobile phones, and knocked out its internal communications system, Workplace, the New York Times reported. That forced staffers to resort to non-Facebook email and communications tools. In response to a tweet that Instagram should stay offline forever by photographer Noah Kalina, Adam Mosseri the head of Instagram replied, Them fighting words but it does feel like a snow day. The extended outages of Facebooks apps which in total average 2.76 billion daily active users worldwide in June 2021 came after a damaging expose last month by the Wall Street Journal. The series, dubbed the Facebook Files, found that company execs have routinely been made aware of multiple problems and have not taken action to fix them. On Sunday, ex-Facebook exec Frances Haugen revealed herself to be the whistleblower who provided the documents to the Journal and the SEC. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Dont look for George Clooney to reprise his role as Batman in the upcoming The Flash movie like Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will be doing. They didnt ask me, Clooney told me Sunday night at a special screening of The Tender Bar, the coming-of-age drama he directed that stars Affleck, Lily Rabe and Tye Sheridan. When you destroy a franchise the way I did, usually they look the other way when The Flash comes by. Clooney played the Caped Crusader in Joel Schumachers infamous 1997 film Batman & Robin opposite Chris ODonnell and Alicia Silverstone. He wont let me watch it, Clooneys wife Amal told me. George added, There are certain films I just go, I want my wife to have some respect for me. When Amal commented that their twins Alexander and Ella will want to see it, George cracked, Its bad when your four-year-old kid goes, This sucks. That could be painful. The Tender Bar marks a reunion for Clooney and Affleck after they teamed up to produce Argo, the 2012 political thriller that went on to win three Oscars, including the top prize of best picture. Clooney joked that it took nine years for them to make another movie together because Affleck screwed up the Batman franchise that I made so solid. The Tender Bar is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J.R. Moehringers memoir of the same name about his relationship with his Uncle Charlie (Affleck), who became a father figure to him while growing up on Long Island. Rabe plays his mother while Christopher Lloyd is his grandfather. Newcomer Daniel Ranieri plays a young J.R. NS Sheridan portrays him during his years at Yale and as an aspiring newspaper reporter. It was a really beautiful script and Ben came on board really early on so we just thought wed have a blast, Clooney said. Sheridan said this was his first time working with a director who was also an actor. He said, The dynamic changes suddenly. Its not a director talking to an actor it is but its also an actor talking to an actor. The Tender Bar will be released in theaters in New York City and Los Angeles on Dec. 17, followed by a nationwide rollout on Dec. 22. The film will available globally on Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 7, 2022. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Lily Cole (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Rebecca Calder (I May Destroy You), Maeve Dermody (The Beast Must Die) and Catherine Chalk (Hereafter) have joined the cast of Hilma, Lasse Hallstroms English-language biopic of the revolutionary Swedish artist and feminist pioneer Hilma af Klint. As previously announced, Lena Olin (Enemies) and Tora Hallstrom will play Klint at different ages of her life. Now shooting in Stockholm and Vilnius (first still pictured above), the movie is a passion project for Hallstrom, the celebrated Swedish director of The Cider House Rules and Whats Eating Gilbert Grape. It explores the enigmatic life of Klint, whose unconventional art remained largely unknown for decades. Klint navigated through a male-dominated artistic scene to eventually become one of the Western worlds first abstract artists. Hilma is being produced by NENT Studios with Helena Danielsson as producer and Josephine Zapata Genetay as executive producer. The film is set to premiere on Viaplay at the end of 2022 under the streaming companys new mandate to produce two major English-language films per year. Cole, Calder, Dermody and Chalk will play the four women who surrounded Klint and formed with her a group nicknamed The Five which explored art, spiritualism and sexuality. This sorority greatly influenced Klint in her art and is believed to have helped her achieve the Paintings for the Temple. I am absolutely delighted to be working on Hilma, a film which tells the story of the worlds first abstract painter and the pioneering group of women with whom Hilma developed her work, said Cole. Cole said the women who were part of The Five were pushing against all the boundaries of their time, exploring new concepts of spirituality, sexuality, gender and, ultimately, art. The art that Hilma produced as a consequence of their collaborations was unlike anything that had ever been made before, and arguably set the artistic agenda for the next century to follow, said Cole, who added that she has long admired Hallstrom and regards Whats Eating Gilbert Grape as one of her all-time favourite films. Speaking about the project, Hallstrom previously said he was inspired to make this film about Klints life because she overcame so many obstacles and created abstract art six years before Kandinsky, she was ahead of them all, but she didnt give any exhibit. Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. After the historic vote to authorize the first IATSE strike ever, members of several below-the-line guilds said they were impressed with the nearly-unanimous response from their fellow craftspeople in the entertainment industry. However, concerns about the possible economic impact are also top-of-mind for the workers who are already at the mercy of ever-fluctuating production schedules. Although Facebook and Instagram were down for nearly six hours, crew members took to Twitter to express their support and share their messages of congratulations as over 98% members of the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees voted to approve a strike authorization, giving the union president the power to shut down film and TV production across the country. Should Tuesdays talks with the AMPTP not be successful, it would be the first nationwide industry strike in the 128-year history of IATSE. Frances Fisher shared a tweet saying Congratulations, while other celebrities sending support included Jeffrey Wright, Rosie ODonnell and Octavia Spencer. Crew members have been bracing for a strike authorization vote for weeks as talks stalled between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios. The unions have been negotiating since May on a new contract, and are seeking to address longstanding concerns, including long hours on set, streaming wage scales and residuals, and the stability of the pension and health funds. Workers have been seeking improvements on meal and rest periods, longer turnarounds between production days, and improved rates on streaming projects. Costume designer Mandi Line, who is about to start work on a pilot, said in an interview with Variety, I got the chills knowing what support for one another feels like. Underneath that happiness was fear, I have to be honest. I was around during the writers strike and I saw people lose their homes. I also know there is no compensation, no extension of benefits, and that is scary. Line, who has worked on Pretty Little Liars, expressed her pride for her film and TV crew family. Knight FX founder Zak Knight, who has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, said, As a 22 year veteran of the film industry Ive been through strikes. Strikes are damaging for everyone. They are not easy and certainly, this will hit my bottom line, but not nearly as much as it will impact me if we dont fight for these things right now. The goal of every employer is to get more for less, so sacrifices for our longevity need to happen now. Knight added, Im absolutely blown away by our memberships engagement and the work of those crew members, on top of their regular jobs, to drum up support with their creativity. Very few things in this world get 98% approval, especially when they can have an effect on your financial outcomes, so this is a real show of strength. Im also happy to know the AMPTP wants to come back to the table, and I really hope that they understand that the same 98% whove rallied this support are not going to accept anything less than a deal that will improve our lives. I hope they understand that the giant is awake, and it is hungry, so they better find some real beef. Script coordinator Shawn Waugh, who worked on Fear the Walking Dead, is very much for a yes vote on strike authorization, but is of two minds when it comes to striking itself. On the one hand, a strike means people are losing out on income and health insurance hours that we use to support our families. On the other, this was a voluntary vote, and my fellow IATSE brothers and sisters came through in a united show of support for basic reasonable rest and livable wages. I think an actual strike, with nearly 60,000 workers putting down their kits and taking up picket signs, would show the studios the human side of all the pain their work practices create. Mary DeChambres, ACE, took to twitter to post: The results are in!! IATSE members have had enough of the ridiculous hours and unsafe working conditions. Results show 90 percent of eligible union voters cast ballots, with more than 98 percent of them in support of strike authorization. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backed better working conditions and the strike vote. She wrote, FULL support and solidarity to @IATSE workers in their vote to authorize a strike. 90% turnout with 98% voting yes is an incredible accomplishment. Its exactly the kind of mass-movement organizing we need right now. May your example inspire others! Stay strong were with you. Adam Schiff was another lawmaker urging better set conditions. Just last week, he was one of the many members of congress who had called on the AMPTP to negotiate with IATSE. In his tweet, he wrote, Today, @IATSE members voted to authorize a strike. This is the next chapter in their efforts to secure living wages and better working conditions. It is my hope an agreement can be struck soon, and that this will lead to badly-needed changes for these talented individuals. Here are more reactions to the historic vote. Our #IATSE brothers and sisters have spoken. They will #strike for better work conditions. I hope #AMPTP does the right thing and sits down again. Theyre not asking for anything unreasonable. #IATSESolidarity octavia spencer (@octaviaspencer) October 4, 2021 During Mondays Laredo City Council meeting, councilmembers discussed a tax increment reinvestment zone regarding The Coves at Winfield project that is being developed by the Killam Development. The city moved forward with the project after the public hearing, with the projects future resting in the hands of Laredo College. According to Cliff Killam of Killam Development, the goal is to fund construction of needed infrastructure and improvements of the 1,027 acres of development. The project is a pilot project that coincides with the Laredo comprehensive plan and a town center concept. The Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone includes areas that municipalities create to attract new investors and investment opportunities. Killam said that the project is intended to create a billion dollar in tax base over a 30-year period, create over 2,000 jobs and pave the way to the creation of a north-side LC campus. The project presentation stated that the zone would not receive any sales tax revenue collected by the city and county, and the two along with LC would participate with 40% of a M&O Rate and roll back each. The M&O portion is the tax rate that is needed to raise the same amount of taxes that the taxing unit levied in the prior year plus 8%. This rate accounts for such things as salaries, utilities and day-to-day operations. In terms of cost, the overall cost between the Laredo College building, infrastructure and the City of Laredo Administrative costs, it totals to over $77 million with the infrastructure costing $75,518,383 and $1,600,000 for the LC building. As the city council members were happy with the projects vision, councilmember Alberto Torres questioned what would happen if LC voted to not approve moving forward with the project. Killam responded by saying that the project would not go through. As of now, LCs votes are still pending, Torres said. Overall, the councilmembers believed the project was a good move for the city, as councilmember Mercurio Martinez reminisced about Laredo being the fastest growing city in Texas and second fastest in the country behind Las Vegas. However, the matter of board members was brought up by councilmember Alyssa Cigarroa, who questioned if they would be required to meet a certain criteria like, for example, familiarity with urban planning. The city legal division will review what criteria can be added, but Torres reminded the room that the board will be made up of taxpayer representation, thus questioning if a criterion could exclude taxpayers. The council ultimately moved forward with approving a five-seat board that will look into backgrounds of the proposed members to ensure multiple perspectives and expertise within the board. Killams presentation outlined the proposed development and stated that the site area will be 1,027 acres. It would also contain: Four acres for a county fire station. 1.8 acres for the Laredo College Building. Space for 1,767 single family residential units. 905 multifamily units. 649,000 square feet of retail space. 100 units for hotels. 44 acres for public schools. 23 acres of green/park space. 45 acres of green space in flood plain. 79 acres of mail collector roadway. The total private development investment stimulation projections are estimated to be over $1,014,178,090 over 30 years. cocampo@lmtonline.com TAMIU is celebrating World Teachers Day on Tuesday, Oct. 5 with two large events focusing on exemplifying the meaning of being a teacher. Students will become mentors and the university will launch an initiative aimed at ensuring the good health of children throughout Webb County. According to the university, 100 TAMIU students will partner with 100 local high school students to help nurture a new, transformative mindset thats focused on addressing educational inequity through ongoing engagement and action, said Dr. James OMeara, TAMIU Dean of the College of Education. OMeara added that Laredo is a learning city that learns to teach and teaches to learn, and through the university student, co-founding the IMAGI-Nation University. Afterwards, they will work with the high school students throughout both districts to expand access, success and mobility to every learner in Laredo. A second initiative named the Childrens University will also involve TAMIU working with city, county and surrounding area partners to emphasis on readying young children for school by the age of three. This will involve recruiting and supporting 1,000 parents and caregivers by April 2022 to become the first educators of their infants or toddlers. The Childrens University will see Promotores at Community Centers in Laredo, Bruni, Mirando City, La Presa, Rio Bravo, El Cenizo and more. The goal is for every first educator to become a confident and connected first educator for their child, OMeara said. The efforts are slated to run throughout 2022. The new decade has had a difficult start as COVID-19 impacted the world and has continued to have a disastrous effect on education throughout all grade levels. OMeara said that for this, the global theme of 2021s World Teacher Day is the Teacher at Heart of Education Recovery. He said that with the learning loss experienced throughout the city, area, the country and the world, it is important to give teachers the support they need, whether at home or at school. This also includes enlisting all teachers to close the unfortunate learning loss gap get students from where they are to where they need to be. Throughout the year, learning loss can be experienced during the summer when students are off for vacation. OMeara said that across the country, data projects that an extra three months were lost while students were working remotely without their teacher. In Texas, he cited information from Texas 2036, stating that since July, students tested 10 points behind math and nine in reading compared to matched students in previous years. According to their website, this learning loss creates exacerbates historical inequities, especially for Black and Hispanic students and reports from parents indicate increases in mental health conditions in children. The Texas 2036 site states that the economic gap caused by COVID, alongside the learning loss add more stress to existing racial achievement gaps in the country. This was also evident in data reported showing that in households with an average household income of less than $25 thousand, children experienced a seven-month learning loss in math and six months in reading. Additionally, the children university will have another program launch that will allow parents to sign up for free to get free parenting advice from high quality educators, OMeara said. As for the students, he said that the initiatives will help current students be ready for the classroom as well as become co-founders of Imagination U. With the goal of closing the gap and learning loss, students will work on a project throughout the year with educators from around the world. The select College of Education students will join the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience in their IMAGI-Nation University initiative that was created to represent a global diverse network of change-organizers from multiple perspectives across education. According to Taryn Marks, AIMEs General Manager, their partnership with TAMIU will last for 10 years and the IMAGI-Nation initiative is just the first chapter of the changes that will come. We welcome TAMIU as one of our key educational alliance partners in the US for the next decade, and were inspired by the work TAMIU has commenced in making education equitable for all and making teaching and learning accessible for all, Marks said. IMAGI-NATION (University) is the perfect complement that will help complete the offerings of TAMIU, and other partners in Texas, to empower those on the margins to lead from the front, which has been AIMEs mission since 2005. The goal is to involve participants in using their imagination to solve global challenges, now and for the future. This will be done through a video conference, where TAMIU students will take part in the initiative that tackles educational inequality through a democratic system of education. Our goal is for our students and TAFE members to not only finish school and transition into university, but to seize control of their own internal narratives as educators and educational leaders and help future students fully realize the potential each has, OMeara said. Despite being 8,300 miles apart, OMeara has seen that there are a lot of similarities between Australia and the USA. One-and-a-half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, this celebration of 2021 World Teachers Day is especially shared because it focuses on the support teachers need to fully contribute to the recovery process, OMeara said. Our international theme is Future Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery and our shared experience in this global pandemic has reaffirmed that teachers have a crucial role in our post-pandemic recovery. Whether you are in Australia or the USA, or any other corner of the world, we must take steps to ensure that teaching personnel develop their full potential and that inequalities are addressed so that students around the world can also reach their full potential. However, that is not the only announcement made in light of World Teacher Day. According to TAMIU, blue ribbons will be added to the trees, a blue evening lighting on landmark buildings and profiles of university faculty will be shared on the schools social media pages. These tokens of celebration are meant to highlight the monumental impact teachers have on children. Especially during the past two years where education was critically impacted. We want to celebrate World Teachers Day in a big way all across Texas this year, said Elaine Mendoza, Chairman of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. 2020 has taught us all to better appreciate the importance of those who choose to spend their lives teaching others. We teach Texas, and we are proud of it, she continued, The Texas A&M University System is proud to graduate more fully-certified teachers than any public university system in Texas. cocampo@lmtonline.com If there's one thing Laredo has a love for it's tacos. Mexican restaurants dot the landscape far and wide in the Gateway City, but one of Laredo's most visited breakfast spots lies at Stripes convenience stores. Nearly every morning, long lines are seen at local Stripes, a clear sign of Laredo's adoption its tocayo -- the Laredo Taco Company restaurants -- that are in nearly every Stripes in Laredo and throughout the state. And this Tuesday, the Laredo Taco Company will be paying back some of that love, hosting a viewing party for the first episode of its new "Made Right Here Road Trip" series, which will feature the Gateway City in a starring role. The free public screening with run from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Average Joe's Parking Lot at 9652 McPherson Road. Host of the series Mando Rayo, a journalist known for his work on the United Tacos of America TV series and the Tacos of Texas book, will be on location at the event along with Laredo radio personality Sammy "The House" Ramirez. Ramirez is featured in the episode, as the ambassador for Laredo, giving Rayo his first-hand account of Laredo's culture. "Laredo sometimes gets a bad rap in media with too many negative headlines. The truth is there is more to Laredo, and I had the opportunity to share our story in the first episode," Ramirez said in a press release. "I love that this series tells our truth about how wonderful the city of Laredo is and the great things we have to offer. This series is deeply connected to more than just taco culture, its connected to the community itself." In addition to free admission to the party, attendees will also be given free Laredo Taco Company tacos, free raffle tickets and door prizes. PHOENIX (AP) U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said Monday that activists who confronted her outside an Arizona State University classroom and filmed her inside a restroom were not engaging in legitimate protest. The Democratic senator said that the immigration reform activists unlawfully entered the suburban Phoenix campus building, which was only open to ASU students and faculty, and recorded her and her students. Sinema, a former social worker, is a lecturer at ASU's School of Social Work. In the 19 years I have been teaching at ASU, I have been committed to creating a safe and intellectually challenging environment for my students," Sinema said. Yesterday, that environment was breached. My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized. Living United for Change in Arizona, also known as LUCHA, posted video of the Sunday encounter on its social media. The video showed group members chastising Sinema on accusations that she did not adequately support expectations of a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally and has not been supportive enough of President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion infrastructure proposal. Sinema did not say anything to the activists while they filmed her. LUCHA said its members were forced to confront Sinema at ASU because she has been inaccessible. Sinemas constituents have not been granted access to her office, they have been ignored, dismissed, and antagonized, the group said in a Monday statement said. Sinema said in her statement she has met with the group multiple times since she was elected to the Senate. Both Sinema and fellow Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin have been criticized for not fully backing the Democrats' $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, saying it's too expensive. Manchin, of West Virginia, was also confronted by activists over the weekend. People on kayaks approached his boat to yell at him. When asked about the incidents, President Joe Biden, whose first year of office could be defined by this package passing, agreed they weren't the best strategies. I dont think theyre appropriate tactics, but it happens to everybody ... the only people it doesnt happen to are people who have Secret Service standing around them," Biden said. "So, its -- its part of the process. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki sought to emphasize that Biden supports people's fundamental right to speak up. But in Sinema's case, boundaries were crossed. Thats inappropriate and unacceptable, Psaki said. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also took offense at the ASU confrontation. I started my career protesting the Vietnam War, and I get protested all the time, said Schumer, who is trying to usher the Build Back Better Act through Congress. And I understand and so feel for the immigrant community and what they are going through, but following someone into a bathroom and recording them, thats over the line. LUCHAs statement did not address the criticism of the tactics. Tomas Robles, the group's co-director, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the backlash over ASU bathroom confrontation. This is Sinemas moment to do the right thing and stop blocking the Build Back Better Act, the statement said. We - her constituents - need a pathway to citizenship, access to healthcare and lower drug prices, better-paying jobs, education funding, and the ability to keep our families safe. Senator Sinema must listen to constituents and support a Build Back Better agenda." Immigration reform advocates were outraged after an effort to add immigration provisions to the infrastructure bill, including a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants, was rejected. They believe Sinema's stance on the infrastructure package makes any immigration provisions unachievable. Sinema spokesman John LaBombard told The Arizona Republic last month that she supports both securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system, including passing a permanent fix for Dreamers. The DREAM Act Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors is congressional legislation that would allow young immigrants in the country illegally who were brought here as children to remain in the country if they meet certain criteria. The legislation has never been approved by Congress. It is similar to but not the same as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Many refer to immigrants who would benefit from either the DREAM Act or DACA as Dreamers. WASHINGTON (AP) The International Monetary Fund said Monday its board of directors has been briefed by attorneys from the law firm whose investigation found that current IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and other officials pressured World Bank employees to alter data affecting the business rankings of China and other nations. The IMF said the 190-nation lending agency's board of directors met with representatives of the WilmerHale law firm as part of an on-going review of the issues raised by the firm's investigation into the World Bank's Doing Business 2018 report. The Doing Business report evaluated a countrys tax burdens, bureaucratic obstacles, regulatory system and other business conditions, and its rankings was used by some governments to try to attract investment. The IMF said in a statement that the board board would soon meet with Georgieva as part of its review of the matter. The statement said the IMF's board remains committed to a thorough, objective and timely review of the issues raised by the report. The investigation prompted the World Bank to end the annual Doing Business reports. The report found that Georgieva, then the chief executive of the World Bank, and other senior World Bank leaders had pressured the bank's economists to improve China's 2018 ranking at a time when she and other officials were attempting to persuade China to support a boost in the World Bank's funding resources. The incident has led to calls for Georgieva to resign from the IMF's top job. It has also served to underscore complaints that China has too much influence over global financial institutions. Georgieva has denied all wrongdoing. Let me be clear. The conclusions are wrong. I did not pressure anyone to alter any reports," she said in a statement issued after the report came out last month. Georgieva said she was looking forward to meeting with the IMF board to brief them on her actions. The controversy is coming ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, which will take place next week in Washington. 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. A Drug Enforcement Administration special agent was killed Monday when a passenger, who also died, opened fire as officers were doing a routine inspection for illegal contraband on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona, authorities said. A second agent and a Tucson police officer were wounded. Its very horrific and were all just coming to terms with just how terrible a loss this is, Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said. But I also want to reflect on the really heroic actions of the officers at the scene. They literally ran towards the danger, into the car, where there was an active shooting situation going on. Magnus spoke outside the hospital where the wounded agent and Tucson officer had been taken. The agent was listed in critical condition while the officer was in stable condition. He said authorities would not be releasing their names. The FBI has taken over the investigation of the shooting, which sent passengers fleeing. It happened just after 8 a.m. on a train stopped at the station in the city's downtown. A regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers had boarded one of the cars to do a typical check for illegal money, weapons and drugs. It's a common occurrence at all transit hubs, Magnus said. Officers were in the middle of detaining a man on the upper level of the double-decker car when a second man pulled out a handgun and began firing. He exchanged several rounds with police and then barricaded himself in a bathroom on the lower level, Magnus said. He was later found dead inside. The other suspect has been arrested. It wasn't immediately known what charges he faces or his relationship to the second man. Magnus praised Tucson police officers for getting the injured DEA agent off the train and rushing him to the hospital in the back of a patrol car. The hospitalized Tucson officer had been on the platform when he heard the shooting. He was shot when he ran into the car to help. There were about a dozen other passengers in the car where the shooting occurred. I just think its kind of incredible here there werent other people who were hurt, even though were completely so saddened by the loss of the officer, Magnus said. Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams also confirmed there were no reported injuries to the crew or other passengers. The Sunset Limited, Train 2, was traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans, and arrived at the Tucson station at 7:40 am, Abrams said. There were 137 passengers and 11 crew members, he said. All have been evacuated to the station. Evan Courtney was in a lounge car when people suddenly came running in yelling: Shots fired! I grabbed my backpack and ran, Courtney told The Associated Press via Twitter direct messaging. He said he huddled with other passengers while looking out the window. He saw several tactical police officers with assault rifles behind barricades. After 15 minutes, police ran to us and told us to get out of the car and run in the opposite direction. Courtney later tweeted a photo of nearly two dozen officers including two embracing. Dramatic video taken by a camera at the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum shows some of the shooting. Multiple shots can be heard from inside a train before a man, who appears to be a security officer with a dog, boards in the middle of the second-to-last car through an open door. Two bystanders back away and then run past a baggage cart, joining four others as they usher each other into the last car and the door slides shut, the video shows. One shot is heard and the security officer, holding a gun, backs off the train with the dog still on the leash. He runs behind a structure on the train platform as a man appears at the passenger car door, fires three shots toward the fleeing man and dog, and disappears back inside. The camera belongs to Virtual Railfan, which operates more than 50 cameras livestreaming train operations around the country for train buffs. Kathy Abbott, operations manager, said both Tucson police and Amtrak police have asked for any footage to be made available. Virtual Railfan's cameras do capture crime but maybe not this dramatic, Abbott said. This was definitely an adrenaline rush. Tucson, home to the University of Arizona, is about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south of Phoenix. We at the DEA are heartbroken by todays events and ask that you keep the families of the agents and task force officer in your thoughts and prayers, said Anne Milgram, administrator for the agency. COVID-19 test kit maker Ellume is recalling some at-home tests after learning that they were reporting a higher-than-expected rate of false positive results indicating someone has the virus when they do not. The Australian company has said the tests were shipped to U.S. retailers and other distributors from April through August. It published a list on its website of the lot numbers on test packages affected by the recall. The company said about 427,000 tests are in the lots identified in the recall, and nearly 200,000 are unused. Ellume said tests from those lots may provide false positive results at a rate higher than researchers saw during clinical testing. Ellume said it will email customers who used one of those test kits and received a positive result in the last two weeks. It recommended that people who have not scheduled another test to confirm the result should immediately do so. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a separate statement that people who got a positive result from one of the tests should contact a care provider or urgent care location and ask for a molecular diagnostic test. The problem was tied to a manufacturing issue, and it does not appear to affect negative results from the tests. Ellume said about 42,000 affected tests have been used and produced positive results, both accurate and false. That represents about 1% of the 3.5 million tests the company has shipped to the U.S. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: J&J seeks US clearance for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses Washington woman dies after rare blood clot complication AstraZeneca asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 antibody treatment Vaccines are here. Schools open. Some parents still agonize about virus ___ See all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: ___ COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina districts can continue to require face coverings in the states schools under an appellate courts decision. On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied state Attorney General Alan Wilsons request that South Carolinas law prohibiting school mask mandates be allowed to take effect while a lawsuit over the measure goes forward. Last month, a federal judge suspended the state from enforcing its rule banning school districts from requiring masks for students. Wilson and Gov. Henry McMaster, both Republicans, had appealed that temporary restraining order, asking the 4th Circuit to restore the ban to avoid changing mask policies across the state now that students are back at school. The back-and-forth stems from a lawsuit filed by parents of disabled children, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing that South Carolinas ban discriminated against medically vulnerable students by keeping them out of public schools as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to state health data, about 75,000 students, teachers and school staff have been infected with COVID-19 this school year, and nearly 200,000 have had to quarantine because of close exposure. ___ PHOENIX The coronavirus pandemic is a cause for concern for families who face various policies at schools and day care centers. The spread of the more infectious delta variant, particularly among people who refuse vaccinations, has caused an increase in infections in children. The coronavirus exposures and illnesses at schools and day cares can mean children get sent home, forcing parents to scramble for childcare. Theres evidence that masks in schools help reduce virus spread, and most Americans support requiring masks for students and teachers. District policies on masks, testing and quarantines vary widely. Soon after schools reopened in August, the rate of coronavirus infections forced dozens of districts to back off in-person learning. More than 5.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 20% of all child cases coming since this school year began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death, but at least 498 have died. Vaccines have been available for children as young as 12 since May, but vaccination rates trail adults. Federal data show about half of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated, while 43% of 12- to 15-year-olds are vaccinated; two-thirds of adults are vaccinated. ___ SEATTLE Washington state health authorities say a woman in her late 30s has died from a rare blood-clotting syndrome after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. Public Health Seattle & King County said Tuesday the woman was the fourth person in the United States to die from possible blood clotting issues following the J&J vaccine. Three deaths were reported before federal authorities temporarily halted J&J vaccinations in April. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the agency is aware of, and is looking into, additional reported clot deaths since then, including the one in Washington state. The King County woman received her shot on Aug. 26. She died on Sept. 7. Blood clots are a very rare complication associated with J&Js vaccine. According to King County authorities, 12.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered by July 8, 2021, with 38 people having confirmed cases of the unusual type of blood clot. The majority recovered from the issue. ___ OKLAHOMA CITY A report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says coronavirus vaccinations have helped reduce infections by 7,500 and deaths by 1,100 among Oklahomans age 65 and older. The study of Medicare recipients released Tuesday found each 10% increase in vaccination rates resulted in an 11-12% decline in weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries. Last week, 91% of Oklahomans 65 or older had received at least one vaccination and 80% were fully vaccinated, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. ___ OMAHA, Neb. The number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the Nebraska appear to be leveling out. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the state reported 4,775 new cases for the week that ended Friday. That was just above the 4,676 cases reported the previous week but significantly below the roughly 5,300 cases per week the state tallied during the three previous weeks. The number of virus hospitalizations averaged 415 daily in the past week, which was down slightly from 421 the previous week. Nebraska has registered a total of 2,840 deaths, according to the CDC. ___ BATON ROUGE, La. About 150 people were exposed to the coronavirus at a recent wedding, and those not vaccinated should quarantine, the Louisiana Department of Health said Tuesday. The department said it has confirmed an outbreak among several people attending the wedding. It says those without symptoms and those fully vaccinated who attended the wedding in Abbeville on Sept. 25 should be tested for the virus. Unvaccinated people should watch for symptoms while in quarantine, the department said. Those include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congested or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The department says exposed unvaccinated people who test negative during the quarantine period still need to stay in quarantine through Saturday, 14 days after the wedding. ___ WASHINGTON The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the states federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates. In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department says the grant programs are not a permissible use of the funding. The Treasury Department says the conditions undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August. He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. Education advocates have filed a lawsuit over Arizonas mask ban and several other state laws that restrict the power of local governments and school districts to impose COVID-19 requirements. Those policies conflict with guidance from the CDC, which recommends universal mask wearing for students and teachers in the classroom. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo asked Arizona officials to explain how it will remedy the problem within 30 days. ___ GENEVA The World Health Organization says its still reviewing data about Russias Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved for emergency use against the coronavirus, but no decision is imminent. The clarification comes after Russias Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days said administrative issues were the main holdup in the WHO decision-making process about whether to give an emergency use listing to Sputnik V as it has for about a half-dozen other COVID-19 vaccines. WHO spokeswoman Daniela Bagozzi said Tuesday only the WHOs technical advisory group on emergency use listings -- not the WHO director-general -- has final say about whether a vaccine obtains emergency approval. Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the Russian vaccine after a rigorous review process. It could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program organized by WHO and key partners shipping COVID-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need. The vaccines WHO has approved are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinovac and Sinopharm. ___ DALLAS Southwest Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 to continue working at the airline. Employees can seek exemptions due to medical or religious reasons. Southwest says it will mandate vaccines because of new rules from the Biden administration that companies with federal contracts must have a vaccinated staff. Southwests work for the government includes flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Southwest has 54,000 employees. ___ LISBON, Portugal -- Portugal will start administering booster shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to people ages 65 and older starting next week. Thats according to the Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Antonio Sales. The move follows a recommendation by the European Unions drug regulator to use booster shots in adults, a decision the European Medicine Agency says it based on evidence that antibody levels rise in people aged 18 or older once they are given an extra dose at least six months after their last one. The World Health Organizations chief had urged wealthy nations not to use booster doses this year in a widespread way, calling for vaccines available in developing countries first. But some of the 27 EU member nations had already begun administering booster shots. With 85% of Portugals 10 million residents fully vaccinated, it is leading the worlds vaccination charts. ___ NEW YORK New York states largest health care provider has announced 1,400 employees have been terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Northwell Health officials says the terminations represent less than 2% of its total workforce. They say they regret losing any employees and their goal was to comply with the New York state mandate to get people vaccinated. A statewide vaccination mandate for all hospital and nursing home workers took effect on Sept. 27. It will be expanded to include home care, hospice and adult care facility workers on Thursday. ___ MOSCOW Coronavirus deaths in Russia have hit a record for the third time this month, and cases have exceeded 25,000 a day as vaccination rates in the country remain low. Russias state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 cases on Tuesday and 895 deaths. Officials have blamed low vaccine uptake. Only 33% of Russias population of 146 million have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine and just 27% have been fully vaccinated. Russias vast, yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak. Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg, the nations second-largest city. The Kremlin has said its not considering a nationwide lockdown or any other nationwide measures despite the surge. Some Russian regions have limited attendance of mass events and restricted access to some public places, such as theaters, cinemas, restaurants and bars, to those who are vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or recently tested negative. Critics argue these measures arent enough to slow the surge. ___ NEW YORK A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for teachers and other staff members has taken effect in New York Citys million-plus-student public school system. Mayor Bill de Blasio says 95% of the citys roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday. The nations largest school system is one of the first in the country to require inoculations for all its staffers. A similar mandate is set to go into effect in Los Angeles on Oct. 15. Some 43,000 doses have been administered since the mandate was announced Aug. 23, de Blasio says. Vaccination rates rose in every school job category after the mandate was announced. District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 20,000 city Department of Education employees, says 93% of those workers had provided proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of Sunday, up from 68% at the start of September. Roxanne Rizzi, who teaches at an elementary school in Queens, waited until Friday to get her first shot. The 55-year-old had resisted the vaccine because she contracted the coronavirus in November and believed natural immunity would protect her. She says she got the shot for the finances of my family. The CDC says people should get vaccinated even if they have already been infected by the virus. The agency says COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity and help prevent getting infected again. ___ BUCHAREST, Romania Romania hit a record of more than 15,000 daily coronavirus cases as the countrys intensive care units reach capacity. Last month, Romania had 1,000 daily cases. But it registered 15,037 new infections Tuesday, almost 3,000 cases more than its previous high. The surge prompted authorities Monday to suspend non-emergency medical treatments for 30 days to try to ease pressure on hospitals. Raed Arafat, the head of Romanias Department for Emergency Situation, says, We do not yet see a trend of capping or falling. Romania is the second-least vaccinated nation in the European Union, with only 33% of adults fully vaccinated. It has registered more than 37,000 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. ___ COPENHAGEN, Denmark The Norwegian government recommended elderly over the age 85 and nursing home residents should get a third shot six months after having received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Health Minister Bent Hoeie says the Pfizer vaccine should be given, and those ages 75 to 84 and 65 to 74 should be next in line. The announcement came after the Scandinavian country had said it would offer people with severe weakened immune systems a third dose of the vaccine. That group includes patients with immune deficiency diseases, organ transplants and cancer patients. ___ WASHINGTON Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J says it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between two to six months after vaccination. The U.S. government last month authorized booster doses of Pfizers vaccine in vulnerable groups. A panel of FDA advisers meets next week to consider boosters for both J&J and Moderna vaccines. Its part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to boost protection amid the delta variant and potential waning of vaccine strength. The FDA is convening its outside panel of advisers next week to review booster data from both J&J and Moderna. Its the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. ___ CLEVELAND (AP) Retail pharmacy chains contributed to a deadly and expensive public nuisance in two Ohio counties where the opioid crisis continues to rage, an attorney for the counties said in an opening statement Monday in federal court in Cleveland. It was the first day of trial in the lawsuit filed in 2018 by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against retail pharmacy companies CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle. Theyre going to say, Were not any part of the problem, attorney Mark Lanier said. Theyre going to blame everyone but themselves. The cost of abating the crisis is $1 billion each for each county, one of their attorneys has said. Around 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County between 2012 and 2016 400 for every county resident while 61 million pills were dispensed in Lake County during that five-year period 265 pills for every resident. This is the first time pharmacy companies have gone to trial to defend themselves. The trial, which is expected to last around six weeks, could set the tone for similar claims against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over the trial. Close to 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal courts have been consolidated under Polsters supervision. Attorneys for the four pharmacy chains have argued the companies didn't manufacture the drugs and that their pharmacies were filling prescriptions written by physicians for patients with a legitimate medical need. Pharmacists fill the prescriptions, they dont tell doctors what to prescribe, Kaspar Stoffelmayr, an attorney for Walgreens, said in an opening statement. The rise in physicians prescribing pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone coincided with recognition by medical groups that patients have the right to be treated for pain, Stoffelmayr said. The problem, he said, was that pharmaceutical manufacturers tricked doctors into writing way too many pills. Lanier, in laying out the counties' case, said the companies to save money did not not hire enough pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to prevent the diversion of pain pills. He said the companies failed to implement effective systems to flag suspicious orders or to train pharmacists and give them the tools they need to prevent the illegal diversion of pain pills. "They are the last line of defense to prevent diversion because these are people who are putting the medicine on the street," Lanier said. Lanier told jurors about the interstate pipeline that people from Ohio and other states traveled to buy pain pills from doctors who ran unscrupulous pill mills. He said the opioid crisis, which has lead to more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the last two decades, has been costly for Lake and Trumbull counties in terms of how it affects babies born to addicted mothers, the courts and law enforcement. Attorneys for CVS, Walmart and Giant Eagle are expected to give opening statements on Tuesday morning with the counties putting on their first witness, a CVS employee, later in the day. Rite-Aid settled with the Lake and Trumbull two counties in August. The company paid Trumbull County $1.5 million. The amount paid to Lake County has not been disclosed. The trial will be the fourth in the U.S. this year to test claims brought by governments against part of the drug industry over the toll of prescription painkillers. Verdicts or judgments have not been reached in the others thus far. ___ This story was first published on October 4, 2021. It was updated on October 5, 2021, to correct the spelling of Stoffelmayr's first name to Kaspar, instead of Casper. HOUSTON (AP) A Texas agency on Monday approved a request that George Floyd be granted a posthumous pardon for a 2004 drug arrest made by a now-indicted ex-Houston police officer whose case history is under scrutiny following a deadly drug raid. The unanimous recommendation by the seven member Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will now be forwarded to Gov. Greg Abbott, who will make the final decision. It was not clear when Abbott would decide the fate of the request. A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately return an email seeking comment. Allison Mathis, an attorney with the Harris County Public Defenders Office who submitted the pardon request in April, said she was pleased by the boards decision. A man was set up by a corrupt police officer intent on securing arrests rather than pursuing justice. No matter what your political affiliation is, no matter who that man was in his life or in his death, that is not something we should stand for in the United States or in Texas, Mathis said. The boards recommendation was first made public on Monday by a reporter with The Marshall Project. The May 2020 killing of Floyd, who was Black, by a white Minneapolis police officer prompted worldwide protests against racial injustice. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was sentenced in June to 22 1/2 years in prison for Floyds murder. Floyd, who grew up in Houston, was arrested in February 2004 by Officer Gerald Goines and accused of selling $10 worth of crack in a police sting. Floyd later pleaded guilty to a drug charge and was sentenced to 10 months in a state jail. Goines casework has been under scrutiny following a deadly 2019 drug raid he led that resulted in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, 58. Goines, who is no longer on the Houston force, is facing two counts of felony murder, as well as other charges in state and federal court over the raid. Prosecutors allege Goines, 57, lied to obtain the warrant to search the couples home. More than 160 drug convictions tied to Goines have since been dismissed by prosecutors, and a dozen current and former officers, including Goines, tied to the narcotics unit that conducted the drug raid have been indicted. In May, the top leaders in Harris County, where Houston is located, unanimously approved a resolution to support the pardon request for Floyd. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg urged Abbott to grant the posthumous pardon. We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision by the Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend clemency, said Ogg, who submitted a letter to the board supporting the pardon request. During a public visitation in Houston in June 2020 before Floyds funeral, Abbott expressed a commitment to pursuing policing reforms. But a sweeping reform bill named for Floyd failed to gain traction in the regular Texas legislative session earlier this year. Since he took office in 2015, Abbott has granted just a handful of pardons each year. Mathis said she was hopeful Abbott would grant this one. I also hope that he, and the Texas Legislature, will work more stridently toward reforming the integrity of the racist, classist criminal justice system in Texas, Mathis said. One of the most important days in IFA's calendar, the day was held in line with the Government's Covid-19 safety guidelines. Gavin White, Longford IFA County Chairperson met with TDs and Senators throughout the day to secure Government commitments in the October Budget to support Irish farmers. IFA President Tim Cullinan, Farm Business Chair Rose Mary McDonagh and Rural Development Chair Michael Biggins led a delegation to meet with the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, to put forward IFA's key asks. Mr White said there are several key measures the Government must implement if it genuinely wants to ensure the future viability of Ireland's largest indigenous sector. "Farmers across all sectors are facing an increasingly uncertain future. Increasing regulation, Brexit-related trade disruption, the prospect of substantial cuts in direct payments due to CAP reforms, climate action measures and rising input costs means farmers in Longford are in a perilous position," she said. "Now is the time for Government to step up and put action and money behind the rhetoric. IFA is seeking co-financing to ensure that Pillar II schemes such as Areas of Natural Constraint (ANCs); Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environmental Scheme (GLAS); Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS); Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP suckler cows); the Sheep Welfare Scheme and Organic Farming Scheme; are properly funded. We are seeking 300 per suckler cow, 30 per ewe and 300m for ANCs. In addition, we need a new scheme for tillage farmers to stop the exodus from this sector. "The Government gave a clear commitment that it would ring-fence 1.5bn of carbon tax receipts for an agri-environment scheme, referred to in the Programme for Government as 'REPS-2'. We are still waiting for this commitment to be honoured." IFA President, Tim Cullinan said, "IFA has made it clear that farmers are eager to be part of the climate solution. Accelerated capital allowances and Value-Added Tax (VAT) exemptions on the purchase of emissions-efficient investment will help farmers to play their role in contributing to the sector's climate change targets." Robert Troy T.D., Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, will today commence a 3-day trade visit to the Middle East region covering the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The trade visit, organised by Enterprise Ireland, aims to boost trade collaboration with the region and to support an accelerated export-led recovery of Irish businesses in international markets. During the trade visit, Minister Troy will promote Ireland and its world-class companies during a series of high-level business engagements with private and public organisations with a specific focus on the green energy and cleantech sectors. He will also undertake a series of engagements with representatives of the Irish business community in the region, including the Clean Energy Business Council MENA and Dubai Irish Business Network. Eight Enterprise Ireland supported energy clients are participating in the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) and Dubai Solar Show 2021 during the trade visit. The participating companies represent a wide regional spread, with participants based in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Offaly, Meath, Monaghan and Wexford. WETEX has become one of the largest and most important specialised exhibitions for the energy and environment related sectors in the region and the world. During the event, Minister Troy will meet with the Irish companies hosted by Enterprise Ireland on the Ireland country pavilion that will be promoting some of the best Irish innovation across the cleantech sector. Coinciding with the trade visit, Minister Troy will also formally open Irelands Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Ireland's theme for the Pavilion is Island of Inspiration putting creativity at the centre of human experience in the 21st century, which will include elements that tell part of the story of 5,000 years of Irish creativity and innovation. Participation at Expo will provide an opportunity to promote Ireland to a global audience of up to 25 million visitors over the events six-month duration - opening the door to new contacts, new markets, and new collaborations. Commencing the visit Minister Troy said, I am delighted to be leading this ambitious trade visit involving some of the most innovative Irish companies in the cleantech sector. The Middle East region, particularly the UAE and Qatar, provides significant opportunities for Irish green innovators who can help solve sustainability challenges through cutting-edge innovation, digitisation, quality, compliance, and future focused energy reduction methods and conservation technology. Over recent years, Ireland has enjoyed a strong and growing business relationship with the Middle East. These business partnerships have strengthened the position of Irish companies operating in Dubai and the wider region, particularly those in the fields of cleantech and sustainability, mobility and transportation, IoT, and digitalisation. Last year alone, exports by EI client companies to the UAE increased by 12%, continuing the trend of year-on-year growth. The Middle East region is thriving, with opportunities for Irish companies to deliver their competitive advantage, built on a strong reputation for delivering industry leading expertise and innovation. Trade and collaboration with these international markets will be crucial to Irelands recovery as we rebuild after Covid-19. Irish companies with Enterprise Ireland assistance have to-date been hugely successful in growing their exports to the Middle East region. Exports by Enterprise Ireland supported companies to the IMEA region remain strong, valued at 1.152 billion for 2020. Growth in exports by Irish companies to the UAE, even against the backdrop of a global pandemic increased by an impressive 12% in 2020. Accompanying Minister Troy on the trade visit, Kevin Sherry, Executive Director, Enterprise Ireland said, Enterprise Ireland client companies are seeing the growing opportunities of the UAE and wider Arab region. Across cleantech, fintech, and medtech, Irish companies are being supported by our Enterprise Ireland team to grow their commercial opportunities in market. This visit will further explore mutually beneficial business opportunities, areas for collaboration, and generate awareness of Irelands world leading innovation offering. Irish companies have enjoyed great success in the Middle East, but there is also great untapped potential in the market and Enterprise Ireland continues to identify opportunities for Irish businesses across a range of sectors. The trade visit, incorporating visits to Dubai (5th-6th October) and Doha (7th October), involves a series of high-level business meetings, targeted sector events, meetings with Government members and senior officials, and one to one meetings between Irish businesses and a wide range of local businesses, including the announcement of new business partnership agreements. Minister Troy welcomes a series of announcements during WETEX by several of the Enterprise Ireland supported companies participating at WETEX including: NuLumenTek, specialists in sustainable energy solutions, announce they have been awarded the contract to supply the architectural lighting for the external public areas on the refurbishment of the Dubai Metro stations, the first stations are Dubai Internet City (DIC), Damac and UAE Exchange. The primary focus is to light the public areas with the lowest possible power to deliver energy efficient lighting, whist delivering safe uniform light levels with the fewest number of luminaires due to the restrictions of the many underground utility services around the stations. NuLumenTek also revealed that it has prequalified, as part of the Dussmann-STS consortium, to bid for the Phase 2 Abu Dhabi LED Street lighting PPP project for the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). The project includes almost 136,000 streetlights and is one of the largest retrofit projects in the region. Amarenco Group, the leading solar IPP specialists operating projects across Europe, Middle East and Asia, announces the establishment of its new regional office in Dubai. The company have successfully delivered over 2,000 solar photovoltaic infrastructure projects worldwide working in close collaboration with farmers, local authorities, real estate owners, and businesses for more than a decade. Aquamonitrix Ltd announces the global launch of the Aquamonitrix real-time nitrate and nitrite analyser during WETEX. The company provides water resource managers with accurate, user friendly and affordable analysers for nutrient monitoring. ESB International announces the appointment of Dr John Rafferty to their team in the GCC to lead their work in Oman. Dr Rafferty is a Clean Energy Technology and Energy Efficiency Consultant with extensive experience in the energy industry, including roles in international consultancy, project delivery, R&D and strategic policy development for ESB Group, Ireland's largest electricity utility. Other Irish companies participating at WETEX included: A leader in the early years sector is calling on the government to implement a "coherent" childcare plan. Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) said young children deserve more than what they've called the government's "shorttermist approach". The group has called on the government to make the 2022 budget 'The Childcare Budget' by committing to doubling investment in childcare by 2028 and by publishing an accompanying plan. According to the group, the delayed announcement on the future of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (introduced in response to the Covid-19 crisis to support salaries in childcare settings) is the latest example of leaving employers and families with "desperate uncertainty" in the future. Director of Policy with ECI, Frances Byrne, said, "We are in a very stark scenario where expecting parents are putting as-yet-unnamed children on waiting lists while creche operators cant be certain whether they will still be in a position to offer a place by the time that child is born. "Ireland is a proud member of the EU, and Irish children deserve the same quality and consistency of care and education as is available in the other Member States. Instead, we languish shamelessly at the bottom of the international investment league. The government has a 5-year window to change this. Budget 2022 must provide the first steps to address historical under-investment in this essential public service." Business & Finance By Chris Boyle Published: October 05 2021 Federal investment from the U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA) will help fund the first year of new five-year program housed at Hofstra University. U.S. Representative Kathleen Rice (NY-04) has announced that the U.S. Economic Development Agency (EDA) has awarded $101,923 to fund the first year of the Downstate New York University Center program, a new five-year program at Hofstra University operated collaboratively between Hofstras Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the New York University Veterans Future Lab to provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development, with a focus on veteran entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs operating in distressed communities. When I served on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, I saw how the men and women who served our country used their leadership skills in civilian life to create economic opportunities for themselves and others, said Rep. Kathleen Rice. This program at Hofstra University will ensure those veterans, and other aspiring entrepreneurs, can receive the technical assistance they need to bring their business ideas to life. I applaud Hofstras Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and NYUs Veterans Future Lab for launching this collaborative program, and Im thrilled it has secured this federal funding from EDA. Hofstra Universitys Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is committed to assisting and serving those who served us and those who currently serve their distressed communities, said Sharon Goldsmith, Acting Executive Dean, Entrepreneurship & Business Development at Hofstra University. Through our work on the Hofstra Veterans Venture Challenge, we identified a need to help entrepreneurs in the earliest stage launch and grow their businesses. The Downstate New York University Center program will not only provide training and resources, but will create a community of early stage entrepreneurs from New York City and Long Island. Leveraging existing resources across our institutions will allow us to provide support to these entrepreneurs as they launch, grow and scale. "This federal support will allow us to continue the exciting work of accelerating veterans into the innovation economy," said NYU Tandon School of Engineering's Steve Kuyan, Director of Entrepreneurship. "At the same time this EDA funding ensures that regardless of where anyone lives, they will be able to receive the skills and training to build scalable ventures." Federal funding for the program was awarded through EDAs University Center Program, which enables institutions of higher education to establish and operate University Centers (UC) specifically focused on leveraging university assets to build regional economic ecosystems that support innovation and high-growth entrepreneurship, resiliency and inclusiveness. The Downstate New York University Center will provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs through a virtual training series, collaboration with faculty and students, and networking and instructional events in its mission to achieve the UC program goals. We are grateful to the men and women who have served our Country, and risked their lives to protect our freedoms. The collaboration between Hofstras Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and NYUs Veterans Future Lab is an excellent way to provide them and other entrepreneurs with the tools they need to financially thrive in our County. Thank you to the EDA for funding this important program, said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Nassau County is home to over 55,000 Veterans. Many of them own small businesses, said Ralph Esposito, Director of the Nassau County Veterans Services Agency. I would like to thank Rep. Kathleen Rice, the EDA, and Hofstra University for their support of our veteran community. Crime By Chris Boyle Published: October 05 2021 Adonis Pamphile of Central Islip, 24, faces a sentence of eight years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini has announced the guilty plea of a Bloods gang member to assault and weapons possession charges in connection with a 2020 shooting at a bar in East Patchogue. Adonis Pamphile, 24, of Central Islip, pleaded guilty to Assault in the First Degree, a class B felony; Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a class C felony; and Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony. Pamphile has been identified by law enforcement as a member of the Bloods street gang. This incident began with a bar fight that quickly escalated to a life-threatening situation when the defendant opened fire on patrons exiting the establishment, District Attorney Sini said. Law enforcement worked tirelessly to identify and locate this individual, and to ensure he was held accountable for his reckless, dangerous actions. We have zero tolerance for gun violence, particularly at the hands of gang members, and will continue to target the criminals driving these crimes in our community. On Oct. 24, 2020, Pamphile was at Buen Ambiente, located at 466 East Main Street in East Patchogue, when he became engaged in a physical altercation with several other patrons. He exited the bar and retrieved a .40 caliber handgun from the trunk of a white sedan in the parking lot. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Pamphile fired several shots from the parking lot toward the back door of the bar, striking two bystanders. Pamphile then fled the scene in the sedan. One victim, who was shot twice in his legs, was transported to Long Island Community Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The other victim, who was struck once in the leg, was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Following an investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorneys Offices Enhanced Prosecution Bureau and the Suffolk County Police Departments Fifth Squad, Pamphile was identified as the shooter. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service on Nov. 24, 2020. Pamphile is scheduled to be sentenced by Acting Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz on Nov. 3. Pursuant to the plea agreement, he faces a sentence of eight years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. He is being represented by George Duncan. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Laura Sarowitz, of the Enhanced Prosecution Bureau. (Sharecast News) - Anglo American announced a number of senior leadership changes on Tuesday, confirming that Seamus French had decided to leave the company at the end of 2021 after 14 years with the company. The FTSE 100 miner said he would be replaced as chief executive officer of bulk commodities by Themba Mkhwanazi, currently CEO of Kumba iron ore. Mpumi Zikalala, currently managing director of De Beers managed operations, had in turn been appointed as CEO of Kumba. Both appointments would take effect on 1 January, and Zikalala's successor at De Beers would be confirmed in due course. "We congratulate Themba Mkhwanazi and Mpumi Zikalala on their new roles," said chief executive officer Mark Cutifani. "Themba will shape the strategy for our global iron ore, metallurgical coal and manganese interests. "The premium quality of our steelmaking ingredients and the partnerships we will continue to build to develop cleaner steel making technologies have never been more critical as we work to tackle climate change." Cutifani said Zikalala's "extensive" operational experience at De Beers would be "instrumental", building on Kumba's progress to drive sustained safe performance, working with its strategic business partners. "I am also delighted that, together with Nolitha Fakude as chair of our management board in South Africa, and Natascha Viljoen as CEO of our platinum group metals business, we will have three women of such high calibre leading our extensive interests in South Africa," Mark Cutifani added. "We thank Seamus for his enormous contribution and unfailing commitment to Anglo American over 14 years, both as CEO of our coal businesses and in his more recent role leading our global bulk operations and strategy. "His work to draw out considerable operational synergies and sharing of best-practice has enhanced our capabilities and been central to our performance improvements over many years." In conjunction with the changes, chief executive of base metals Ruben Fernandes would also take on accountability for the iron ore and the nickel operations in Brazil. As planned, the Quellaveco copper operation in Peru would also move to the base metals portfolio once commissioned. Anglo American said the streamlining of responsibilities would allow Fernandes to "maximise efficiencies" across all of its operations in South America, alongside his global strategic responsibilities for base metals. At 0917 BST, shares in Anglo American were down 0.08% at 2,588p. (Alliance News) - Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd on Tuesday confirmed it received a second payment from the Kurdistan regional government regarding crude oil sales and outstanding invoices. The London-listed oil producer, which operates in Iraq, received a gross payment of USD38.5 million. Of the total sum, USD30.1 million is net to Gulf Keystone. The payment comprised of USD32.1 million for Shaikan crude oil sales during July this year and USD6.4 million related to arrears from outstanding invoices from December 2019 to February 2020. In May, the Kurdistan regional government asked the oil producer to reduce the pace at which it is paying arrears. The regional government cited the impact of Covid-19 on Iraq and the improved global price of oil for the amended payment schedule. The amendment was applied from its March invoices. So far, Gulf Keystone has received a gross payment of USD35.1 million for crude oil sales during March and April, which was USD27.4 million net to the company. The current outstanding arrears balance is USD45.2 million net to Gulf Keystone. "The company continues to engage with the Kurdistan regional government on its proposal," the company commented. Gulf Keystone shares were up 2.9% at 211.00 pence in London on Tuesday. By Josie O'Brien; josieobrien@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - The Taoiseach has described Ireland's new national development plan as "unprecedented in scale" and one that will shape Ireland's response to the housing crisis and the challenge of climate change. The new plan, described by ministers on Monday as "gigantic", promises EUR165 billion in funding for a range of projects over a 10-year-period. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said: "This is an important day in what has been an exhaustive and comprehensive review." He added: "The plan gives clarity about government investment over the next decade. "We will respond to the housing crisis, we will react to the climate emergency." Martin promised that the national development plan would "drive the next stage of our post-pandemic recovery". He said that Ireland's revised development plan was the "largest and most environmentally conscious development plan in the history of the state". "We will enable the transformation of our health service, delivering the investment framework necessary for the implementation of Slaintecare," he said. He also announced fresh funding to support cross-border projects on the island of Ireland up to 2030. The Irish premier said the plan would deliver "regionally balanced growth" to the country. In recent days, focus has been on certain road projects, as well as whether there would be clarity in the plan on when the stalled Dublin MetroLink project might be completed. The plan says that the completion date for the project, which will consist of a 19 kilometre railway service between Swords and Dublin city centre, still has to be confirmed. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said that significant progress had already been made on various projects, even against the backdrop of a pandemic. "This isn't simply an updating of the last NDP. Rather, it's a strengthening of the plan," he said. "We will borrow to invest in public infrastructure, in schools and healthcare and housing. "In climate action, trains, buses and roads. And I'm convinced that this is the right approach." He said the plan would deliver new opportunities to rural Ireland. "I think the pandemic has illustrated the real potential that rural Ireland has for the 21st century." Earlier, the minister for Public Expenditure & Reform told RTE radio that the government will "honour" its commitment to a two-to-one spending ratio on public transport to roads as part of its national development plan. Michael McGrath said public transport needs "transformative change", which he said is provided for in the government's revised plan. Speaking at the press conference on Monday afternoon, McGrath said it is the "largest and the greenest" capital investment plan in the history of the state. He said the EUR165 billion the government has committed is an increase of EUR50 billion on its previous plan. "We will spend, over the next four years in the lifetime of this government, direct exchequer capital funding of almost EUR50 billion," McGrath said. "So, the ambitions here are on a scale the like of which we have never seen before, record levels of investment. "We believe it is a plan that is achievable and that, when implemented, it will make a major difference in many areas in the life of our country and our people. "The economic benefits of this plan will be very considerable. The employment impact, as set out in the analysis carried out by my department, estimates an annual average job total of about 81,000 people working in direct and indirect construction jobs to implement this national development plan. "Through supporting the largest public housing programme in the history of the state, the NDP will deliver an average of 6,000 affordable homes each year." Ministers also insisted on Monday that the aim was to see all projects have the necessary oversight in place to ensure they deliver "value for money". Martin also rejected the idea, when asked by reporters, that the plan was simply a "wish list" of projects. "We need to modernise our infrastructure, we need to modernise our country," he said. "It is not a wish list, it was a very determined approach to modernising our country." However, he did say that the plan had to be "flexible". Asked about the plan's 30 roads projects, Martin said: "A lot depends on the journey of those individual projects through the planning processes, through the statutory process." source: PA Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - SimiGon Ltd on Tuesday said it has won a contract for an undisclosed value to supply the US Marine Corps with virtual reality simulators. The Florida-based company will provide the Marine Corps Recruiting Command with its SIMbox-based F/A-18C and AH-1Z portable virtual reality simulation devices. SimiGon shares were down 16% at 4.00 pence in London on Tuesday. Under the contract, SimiGon will supply a turnkey hardware and software product, something that is ready to use and can be immediately implemented into a virtual reality device, for up to 25 devices over a three-year ordering period. It has already received a delivery order for 17 reconfigurable virtual reality simulators. "This win is indicative of the trust we have established with the US government through timely deliveries, innovative technologies and excellent customer service," said Chief Operating Jack Sarnicki. "This is a new customer for SimiGon Inc. and an entirely new product to offer the military training & simulation market." SimiGon expects the contract will help it generate new business with other governmental organisations. It has previously had contracts with the US Air Force and the Israel Air Force. Last month, SimiGon reported a narrowed loss in the six months to June 30 of USD658,000 from USD1.2 million a year before, as it recovered from contract delays and slowed business opportunities during the the Covid-19 pandemic. By Josie O'Brien; josieobrien@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - Wincanton PLC has generated strong first half revenue growth despite the impact caused by the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK, the company said Tuesday. Shares in the transport and logistics services firm were 7.1% higher in London at 354.64 pence each. Wincanton has seen positive contributions from all four of the group's sectors and particularly from retail customers, the company said in a statement ahead of its half year results for the six months ended September 30. Progress made in the first half included the securing of a five-year extension to its contract with BAE Systems PLC, which will see Wincanton provide transport, warehousing and inspection services to the aerospace and arms firm. Wincanton also secured an expanded contract with Asda, which will see it take on collection services at its facility in Lutterworth. The group's pipeline of new contracts and extensions of existing agreements "remains encouraging". The firm remains on track to deliver full year profit in line with market expectations, Wincanton highlighted. Wincanton was "working closely" with customers in taking active steps to address the impact of the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK and to both attract and retain drivers. Recent fuel shortages have not impacted profitability. "The board remains confident in the future growth opportunities," the company said. Wincanton will announce its interim results on November 19. By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. (Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News: Sanne Group PLC - FTSE 250-listed asset management services provider - Shareholders agree to takeover from Apex Group Ltd. Apex had battled it out with Cinven Ltd for the signature of Sanne, and finally came to an agreement at 920 pence per share - a figure which was put forward by Apex in early August. The 920p deal values Sanne's entire issued share capital at GBP1.51 billion. Takeover now awaiting green light from UK courts. ICG Enterprise Trust PLC - invests in unquoted companies primarily in Europe and US - Net asset value per share ends July at 1,523 pence versus 1,384.4p at the end of January. NAV total return in first half 11.1%, with FTSE All-Share Index rising 12.6%. Oliver Gardey, head of private equity investments at ICG, says: "Our portfolio has performed well, generating a 14.9% return on a Local Currency Basis within the period and 48.5% over the last twelve months. We are proud that the portfolio has grown to the GBP1 billion milestone. Growth was broad-based, underpinned by strong performance of our investments across the portfolio as well as by realisation activity. Realisations continue to be at a significant Uplift to Carrying Value. This is a testament to our focused investment strategy and the quality of the Portfolio we have actively constructed." EverArc Holdings Ltd - investment vehicle - Wholly-owned subsidiary EverArc Escrow Sarl proposes private placing of senior secure notes due 2029 to raise up to USD600 million. Cash to be used to help pay for certain outstanding indebtedness of SK Invictus Intermediate Sarl, parent company of manufacturer of firefighting products and lubricant additives Perimeter Solutions. EverArc in talks to buy 100% of SK Invictus. Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd - Guernsey-based income fund that invests primarily in solar assets - Net assets value per share ends June at 115.83 pence, down from 117.01p at the same point the year before. Declares total annual dividend of 8.0p, up from 7.9p year before. Chair John Rennocks says: "We are pleased with the strong earnings performance in the period despite covering a particularly challenging time for the energy markets due to the turbulence caused by Covid 19. We were pleased to deliver a sector leading dividend of 8p per share, post debt amortisation to shareholders while the net asset value also held up well which we believe will support the share price going forward. The robust nature of the earnings from the portfolio during the pandemic highlights the durability and defensive nature of the company's investment strategy. We look forward to updating the market on further attractive investment opportunities in due course." Distribution Finance Capital Holdings PLC - Manchester-based bank providing personal savings products - Confirms loan book ends September 30 at GBP202 million, up 78% since the start of 2021. Chief Executive Carl D'Ammassa says: We are making good progress in growing our loan book through this key period of re-stocking for dealers, underpinned by the strong aggregated facility pipeline of over GBP1.5 billion laid out at the time of our interim results. It is pleasing to see that our efforts to deliver greater growth in the commercial sectors are paying off, with commercial lending representing over 40% of our loan balance at the end of the quarter." Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income Trust PLC - investment trust focused on companies in emerging and frontier markets worldwide - Notes NAV total return in financial year ended September 30 was 28.8%, outperforming benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 15.1%. "The strong outperformance of the company was achieved in part because of an underweight position in China and its exposure to companies in frontier markets which do not form part of the benchmark," trust explains. Notes return of dividend level to pre-pandemic yield, now sitting at 4.1%. Inland Homes PLC - Beaconsfield, England-based housebuilder - Receives planning consent for Gardiners Park Village, Basildon. The permission allows company to build up to 700 new homes, together with 25,000 square metres of commercial space, new school and community facilities. The estimated gross development value of the 54-acre site is in excess of GBP200 million. Signed a development agreement with Homes England, which has a majority interest in the site, in April 2020 and will acquire the land in phases over a five-year period. Chief Executive Stephen Wicks says: "Inland Homes has once again demonstrated its skill and tenacity in securing planning consent on complex challenging sites to deliver the much-needed homes England needs." NetScientific PLC - London-based life sciences and sustainability, technology investment and commercialisation firm - Portfolio company PDS Biotechnology Corp completes enrollment for the first stage of the checkpoint inhibitor naive arm of its VERSATILE-002 Phase 2 study for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic human papillomavirus-associated head and neck cancer. NetScientific Chief Executive Ilian Iliev "delighted" with progress PDS is making with trial. VERSATILE-002 is studying two groups of HPV16-positive head and neck cancer patients whose cancer has returned or spread. PureTech Health PLC - Boston, Massachusetts-based clinical-stage biotherapeutics - Portfolio company Sonde Health launches voice-enabled mental health detection and monitoring technology product Sonde Mental Fitness. "Sonde Mental Fitness is an easy and affordable way for individuals to engage with and better understand their mental well-being and can potentially serve as a much-needed early warning system for depression and other mental health conditions," company explains. Totally PLC - Derby-based healthcare service provider - Says article published in Health Service Journal about company's South West London NHS 111 contract has "a number of factual inaccuracies". Notes contract has not been terminated and continues to provide services but contract is being re-tendered "under the normal NHS tendering and procurement processes". Adds: "The company is taking the necessary steps for the article in the HSJ to be corrected or removed and is also taking legal advice in relation to the matters that have arisen today." Accsys Technologies PLC - London-based chemical technology company - Refinances debt facilities through new bilateral agreement with ABN AMRO, one of Accsys' existing relationship banks. Signs new EUR60 million 3-year facility with ABN, with EUR45 term loan and EUR15 revolving credit facility. The term loan will be fully utilised to repay all of the company's existing debt, with the exception of the NatWest facility held by the Tricoya consortium which will remain in place. Chief Executive Rob Harris says: "This refinancing provides Accsys with debt facilities on more attractive terms under a simpler debt structure, which reflects Accsys' development over recent years and its established track record of profitability. The new facilities give us both the flexibility and scope to meet our long-term corporate growth objectives." Altitude Group PLC - Sheffield-based firm operating a marketplace for personalised products - Appoints AIM-listed Newmark Security PLC's Chief Financial Officer Graham Feltham as its own CFO, with immediate effect. Outgoing CFO Graeme Couturier to leave after a short handover period. Previously, Feltham worked at vehicle glass repair firm Belron International Ltd, then moved to AIM-listed software developer StatPro Group PLC. Also spent time at surface cleaning firm Safetykleen Group as financial controller. Lamprell PLC - Sharjah, UAE-based engineer for energy industry - Agrees to commercial terms for USD45 million UAE export credit agency backed revolving trade loan facility with two regional banks. "The initial facility will assist with the working capital requirements of the two IMI newbuild jackup rigs which are currently under construction at the group's Hamriyah yard," company says. The facility holds option for further USD45 million accordion funding arrangement. Facility approval based on company successfully completing 20% equity raise. PetroTal Corp - Texas, US-based oil & gas development and production company - Notes 30-day initial production rate of over 7,700 barrels of oil per day for well BN-8H, with the most recent rate at 7,575 bopd. Well has produced 231,000 barrels. Chief Executive Manuel Zuniga-Pflucker says: "Well 8H is an example of a fantastic well performing at the most opportune time of the year, and it has also provided a wealth of reservoir data. We aim to continue delivering this type of operational quality in the future." Enters additional put options with strike prices of USD70 per barrel Brent oil for about 25% of the first half of 2022 management production profile. Thor Explorations Ltd - Vancouver-based mineral explorer with assets in west Africa - Achieves commercial production at wholly-owned Segilola gold mine in Osun State, Nigeria. First gold was poured in July. The mine is fully operational with approximately 90,000 tonnes of ore material mined to the end of the third quarter. Notes two ore zones have been prepared for commencement of higher-grade direct tip operation in October. Capital Metals PLC - London-based mineral sands explorer - Auger drilling programme at its southern exploration license EL199 at Eastern Minerals project in Sri Lanka starts. Chief Executive Michael Frayne says: "It is great to finally see our consultant team back at the project site area in order to begin our auger drilling campaign. Less than 10% of the project has been drilled to date and one of our key tasks is to build out the resources estimate from our current resource of 17.2 million tonnes at 17.6% total heavy minerals. This drilling campaign will assist the company in order to start planning for mining license application over our southern license area." Xtract Resources PLC - copper-gold projects in Australia, Mozambique and Zambia - Says total alluvial mining production at Manica concession at 13.3 kilogrammes during quarter ended June 30. Notes value of gold produced was USD218,413, which results in attributable revenue of USD213,576. Chair Colin Bird says: "Production levels increased during the second quarter of 2021 and continued to increase during the third quarter. We look forward to the contribution of the hard rock mining as the adit advances at Guy Fawkes and mini open pit commences production at Boa Esperanza. The Fair Bride project continues to gather pace, with increased optimism for production to commence during the final quarter of 2021." Echo Energy PLC - Latin American-focused upstream oil & gas company - Notes further three wells from the Campo Molino oilfield at its Santa Cruz Sur assets, onshore Argentina have been brought online. All the recently reactivated wells are producing in-line with expectations. Maximum daily reported production achieved after these wells have been online has been around 350 barrels of oil per day. This continues to represent an almost 50% increase in the total daily liquid production rate at Santa Cruz Sur when compared to the period immediately prior to the restoration of production from the Campo Molino field just over a month ago. Castillo Copper Ltd - Australia and Zambia-focused base metal copper exploration company - Full assay results from the Big One Deposit, which omprised 20 reverse circulation drill-holes for a total of 2,632 metres, shows "encouraging" results. Results include 9 metres at 1.42% coppers from 88 metres including 4 metres at 3.1% coppers from 92 metres and 1 metre at 9.2% coppers from 92 metres. Managing Director Simon Paull says: "Moving forward, the third drilling campaign at Big One Deposit will hit priority targets north of the line of lode, which includes a sizeable bedrock conductor. In the interim, however, the board is looking forward to work finally commencing at the Arya Prospect and results of the due diligence programme which is continuing on the Litchfield & Picasso lithium projects." Altus Strategies PLC - mining royalties investor - Says gold resources at 49%-owned Tabakorole gold project in southern Mali now exceeds one million ounces. Chief Executive Steven Poulton says: "Drilling undertaken by our JV partner, Marvel Gold, this year has continued to demonstrate consistent thicknesses and grades over the project's 3.2 kilometre strike length, as well as the discovery of two new shallow, higher-grade zones of mineralisation adjacent to the existing deposit. These parallel zones may potentially provide some excellent low-strip starter pit options for any eventual mining operation." Mineral deposit includes 665,000 inferred ounces and 360,000 indicated ounces. By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Self-exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont said on Monday he felt he was closer to returning to the northeastern Spanish region after an Italian court suspended a case regarding Spain's latest extradition request. A court in Sardinia said its suspension was pending a decision by the European Union Court of Justice on Puigdemont, his legal team said. It was a blow to Spain's Supreme Court, which had requested his extradition to face sedition charges linked to Catalonia's 2017 failed independence bid. "After every victory we are closer (to returning to Catalonia) ... let's hope it does not take much more time", Puigdemont told a news conference in Alghero a few hours after appearing in court, urging Spain to halt its arrest warrant close to four years after he fled the country. "It's time to tell Spain there has been enough of following a path that does not give it any positive result, that complicates reaching a political resolution of a political conflict," he said, referring to legal battles he has won so far in Germany, Belgium and now Italy. Puigdemont headed Catalonia's regional government at the time of a plebiscite on independence that Spanish courts say was illegal. Italian police arrested the 58-year-old on Sept. 23 after he flew into the island for a Catalan folklore festival. They were acting under a European arrest warrant issued by Spain, which has demanded Italy extradite Puigdemont. A judge released Puigdemont less then 24 hours later and allowed him to leave Italy but set Monday's court hearing to decide on the legality of the warrant. Lawyers for Puigdemont, who has served as a member of the European Parliament since 2019, argued there were no grounds to arrest him and that he should be free until the European Union Court of Justice resolves their appeal on the parliament's decision to remove his immunity in March. Lawyer Agostinangelo Marras told reporters outside the court building - where a few dozen supporters waved Catalan and Sardinian flags and chanted "freedom" and "independence" - Puigdemont could move freely. The European Union Court of Justice said on Friday it had received a new request from his lawyers to take "provisional measures" so Puigdemont can recover his immunity. It is not immediately clear how long any ruling will take. Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since late 2017 after Catalonia's parliament issued a short-lived independence declaration following the unauthorised referendum and the Spanish government took control of the regional government for seven months. Spain's Supreme Court sentenced nine other Catalan separatist leaders to lengthy prison terms in 2019 for their role in the 2017 attempt to break away from Spain. They were pardoned in June. The following editorial was published in the New York Daily News: (TNS) The Supreme Court with a conservative supermajority began its new term Monday, hearing arguments in person again (sans COVID-positive Brett Kavanaugh) for the first time since the pandemic began, and it will consider cases defining constitutional rights for the 21st century. Well have plenty to say in the coming weeks about gun safety in New York, abortion in Mississippi and more. The topic today is not the courts rulings, but its shape and process. MANISTEE COUNTY Bear Lake, Kaleva Norman Dickson and Manistee Area Public Schools were made aware Monday of students or staff members testing positive for COVID-19, according to communications sent out by the districts. Bear Lake superintendent Jakob Veith notified families that a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19, which led to students needing to be placed in quarantine. "Contact tracing has been completed and 19 students are in quarantine," he wrote in the email. "These students and their families have been made aware that they will continue to quarantine per the health department and CDC guidelines." Four KND students tested positive for COVID-19, according to correspondence principal Cheryl Smith sent to families on Monday. Due to the district's masking policy, close contacts are able to remain in school. "These students were fully masked in school and their close contacts were notified," Smith wrote. "Since the close contacts were fully masked, according to new guidance from the health department and CDC, the close contacts may remain in school and will monitor for symptoms." Also on Monday, MAPS superintendent Ron Stoneman notified families the district had been made aware of two Manistee Middle High School students and one staff member testing positive. As with KND, the district's masking policy allows for close contacts to remain in school. "Following (Michigan Department of Health and Human Services) guidance, individuals in close contact are able to continue attending class due to masking," Stoneman said in an email to staff and families. "The families of these students have been contacted and are asked to monitor their student for symptoms." SCOTTVILLE High school students, transfer students and the community are invited to attend West Shore Community Colleges College Night event. The event will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. on Oct. 11 in the Recreation Center gymnasium. During this event, attendees will have an opportunity to speak with over 30 Michigan colleges and university representatives to gather information on their institute and learn about their academic program of interest. Colleges in attendance will include Michigan State University, Ferris State University, Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University and Oakland University. Representatives from the military and West Shore Community College Financial Aid Office will be present. Currently enrolled West Shore students will have an opportunity to speak with the Michigan colleges and universities representatives from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Schoenherr Campus Center. Pre-registration is encouraged and can be completed by following a link at forms.gle/ekSYEdavu7SgCgLG6. For more information about this event, contact the admissions office at 231-843-5503 or admissions@westshore.edu. Kylian Mbappe still feels that leaving Paris Saint-Germain in the summer just past would have been a logical step, but has said that the only club he wanted to leave the Parc des Princes for was Real Madrid. The Frenchman was keen to leave PSG over the summer and Los Blancos made a late push for him on transfer deadline day, though nothing was agreed with Real Madrid and Mbappe's current club. "If I had left this summer, it would only have been for Real Madrid," Mbappe told L'Equipe and RMC in an interview. "I thought my adventure here was over. I wanted something else. I'd been in Ligue 1 for six or seven years, I'd given everything to Paris and had done well. That was my thought, leaving was the next logical step." PSG have stood firm in their stance about Mbappe though, and they have said before that he won't be leaving the club on a free transfer, which left him concerned. "When your president tells everyone that you're not leaving and you're not going for free, you worry a little," Mbappe said. "I was worried at that time. I'm not going to lie. "I asked myself what would happen if I didn't leave for free. What could happen to me? But it was their way of showing their commitment to me. It meant the club wanted me and didn't want to let me go." Real Madrid's offers were no secret, and the forward admits to having felt some disappointment at not being able to get his move. "I was a little [disappointed] at the time," Mbappe confessed. "When you want to leave, you're not happy if you stay. "But I moved on quickly. Unfortunately I got injured with the national team. I went home uickly, had time to cry while I had no games, then I came back, scored, and did well again." Despite his desire to leave the Parc des Princes, he was never willing to get into a feud with PSG. "It would have been ungrateful," Mbappe said. "I wouldn't have thanked a club that welcomed me at 18 and gave me four great years. "As well, I always want to play, to show that I'm a great player, and nothing affects me, not even a failed transfer. I can make a difference until my last day here." Real Madrid failed to sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain back in August, but president Florentino Perez is confident that Los Blancos fans will hear more about the club's interest in the French striker this January. Mbappe's contract with PSG runs until the summer of 2022 and the France international will be free to negotiate about his future with any team from January 1. "In January we will have news about Mbappe," Perez told El Debate. "We hope that on January 1 everything can be solved." However, shortly after, Perez came out to clarify what he had actually meant. "My words were misinterpreted. What I said is that we have to wait until next year to hear from him, always with respect to PSG with whom we have good relations," he said. Perez also discussed about the renovation of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu project and offered his vision about Real Madrid's ground. "It will be a meeting point for the entire city of Madrid," added Perez. "There is no stadium like it and one that is in the centre of a big city like ours is." The Real Madrid president revealed when the club are expecting to overcome the financial crisis from which the majority of the clubs are suffering following COVID-19. "[We have gone from] 900 million euros [of income] to just over 600m euros," stressed Perez. "It will probably take about three years to go back to the figures we were earning before the pandemic." Kartik Aaryan has a huge fan-following and time and again he indulges in talking with his fans on social media. Recently, he did an ask me anything' session on Twitter on Monday night and had quirky things to tell his fans. One of his fans asked him about his new Lamborghini Urus car and he had the most relatable 'middle-class' Indian reply for him thatll make you laugh. A fan asked him on Twitter, #AskKartik Bhai Lambo kaisi hai (How is your Lambo, brother?). Kartik was quick in responding and said, Average kam deti hai. Checkout the post here- Earlier, he could be seen driving in a dope-looking BMW, and then he bought a green-coloured Mini Cooper and now, he is the proud owner of a Lamborghini Urus. Kartik also posted a fun video revealing his new car. He captioned the video saying, "Kharid li....Par main shayad mehengi cheezon ke liye bana hi nahi hoon (Bought it, but perhaps I am not made for costly things). The video showed Kartik posing beside the new car. He then gets startled when several balloons start bursting behind the car, showering the area with confetti. Checkout the post here- Kartik has several exciting projects in his pipeline including Freddy, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Captain India, apart from the much-anticipated crime-thriller Dhamaka. Also, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is set to hit the theatres in March 2022. The film was earlier set to be released in July 2020 but then it was pushed to November 19 due to the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Read AG Nessel's Statement on Detroit Man Sentenced for Threatening Her Read AG Nessel's Statement on Detroit Man Sentenced for Threatening Her Attorney General Media contact: Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746 Public inquiries: 517-335-7622 October 5, 2021 LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel submitted the following statement to the Court as part of Robert Tesh's sentencing in Wayne County Circuit Court today: "I thank you for the opportunity to be heard by the Court today. Having served as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, I have been in the position to hear from victims in countless cases about the impact a crime has had on their lives. Though I had hoped not to be in this position myself, their words take on new meaning as I write to you today. "As the current Attorney General of the State of Michigan, and its chief law enforcement officer, I am charged with protecting victims of crime in this state. But I do not write this letter today in that capacity. I write as a concerned citizen, and a loving wife and mother. "I know it's difficult for people to separate public officials from their positions and see them as people. But I am a person - a person blessed with a wonderful wife and two incredible teenage sons - I am person who worries about her family and every day is scared that doing a job I love will endanger them. I am an elected official, but the impact of this crime is no different than if I were not. "Mr. Tesh's actions deeply impacted my family. My wife was terrified to be in our home and one of my sons began to suffer from anxiety when learning of this incident. For months, each time a car would drive by the house, we would wonder if it was someone who was going to hurt us. My son would go to bed at night fearful that it would be the night Mr. Tesh or someone else would carry out threats to murder us. "This is not how it should be. The deluge of threats that public officials have faced in the last year is unprecedented and unacceptable. No public official should be frightened of doing their job. I have always supported the public's right to disagree and voice that disagreement, it's our First Amendment right as Americans. But when that disagreement crosses the line into a politically-motivated threat of violence, it must be prosecuted. And I applaud Prosecutor Kym Worthy for doing that here. Prosecutor Worthy is sending a strong and clear message that violent threats will not be tolerated and there will be serious consequences if and when they occur. "As a public official, I receive death threats on a regular basis. However, I fiercely reject the idea that those threats are "just part of the job" of being a public official. No one goes into public service envisioning that death threats will become part of their daily life, and no one should. And besides the fear they instill, threats to many public officials - the Governor, the Secretary of State, judges, local clerks, public health officials across the state - are driving away dedicated, passionate advocates from running for public office. It becomes a tragic state of affairs for our society when qualified and devoted people are discouraged from public service over threats to their safety or to that of their family. "Prosecuting these violent and disturbing cases is critical for our state and for our nation. America is not a place where government officials should be made to choose between doing their jobs and the threat of losing their lives. There must be serious consequences for these actions. Violent threats to public officials erode the very foundations of our democracy - attacking the independence of public officials on both sides of the aisle as well as those in non-partisan positions - by instilling the terror of assaultive acts. Democracies die when elected officials are intimidated into submission. And good candidates for public office must be free to run and serve with the understanding that threats made against them will have serious consequences for the perpetrators. "I thank you for the opportunity to address the Court and for your consideration in this important matter." Tesh pleaded guilty but mentally ill in August after threatening to kill Nessel and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year. AG Nessel Joins Amicus Brief Supporting Pennsylvania's Firearm Age Regulations AG Nessel Joins Amicus Brief Supporting Pennsylvania's Firearm Age Regulations Attorney General Media contact: Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746 Public inquiries: 517-335-7622 October 4, 2021 LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a coalition of 19 other attorneys general in defending a Pennsylvania law limiting the issuance of concealed-carry licenses to people ages 21 and up. In an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, the coalition argues that states have the right to enact reasonable, age-based firearm regulations that protect public safety and reduce the prevalence of gun violence. The coalition filed the brief in Lara v. Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, a lawsuit challenging a Pennsylvania law that generally restricts the issuance of concealed-carry permits to people ages 21 and up. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that the law infringes upon the Second Amendment rights of people between the ages of 18 and 20. The lower court in this case rejected that argument, holding that laws regulating the sale of firearms to young people are longstanding and constitutional. "States have the right and responsibility to protect our residents against harm by enacting laws and policies," Nessel said. "That includes recognizing that preventing people under the age of 21 from legally obtaining firearms is commonsense regulation." In the brief, the coalition argues that the Second Amendment gives states the ability to enact sensible regulations designed to protect the public, including age-based restrictions that limit the ability of people younger than 21 to carry concealed firearms in public. Although regulations differ based on each state's needs, virtually every state and the District of Columbia has imposed some age-based restrictions on the sale or use of firearms, and over 30 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes which prohibit people younger than 21 from carrying concealed firearms in public. Similarly, courts across the country consistently have upheld age-based regulations, noting that the goal of these regulations is to deter crime and promote public safety. Joining Attorney General Nessel in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Michigan chosen to participate in National Governors Association Policy Academy on Stimulants and Polysubstance Use Michigan chosen to participate in National Governors Association Policy Academy on Stimulants and Polysubstance Use FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oct. 5, 2021 Contact: Lynn Sutfin, 517-241-2112 LANSING, Mich. - Michigan is one of four states and territories chosen to participate in the National Governors Association (NGA) Policy Academy on State Strategies to Improve Care for Stimulant and Polysubstance Use. The program is sponsored by the NGA Center for Best Practices and aims to assist states and territories with identifying and integrating best practices to improve care and reduce overdoses among people who use opioids and stimulants, or combine substances, which is known as polysubstance use. "This epidemic touches every area of our state and the opportunity to participate in the National Governors Association academy will help Michigan expand our strategy for fighting the ongoing drug overdose crisis affecting our communities," said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "It has been shown that people who use drugs are not just using opioids and, through participation in this academy, Michigan will be able to develop plans and implement actions to address overdose issues on all fronts." Nationally, 2020 had the highest number of drug overdose deaths recorded in the United States. Provisional data shows Michigan experienced a 14% increase in overdose fatalities in 2020. Over the last five years, preliminary data shows a six-fold increase in the number of overdose deaths involving a psychostimulant, such as methamphetamine, highlighting the evolution of the overdose crisis in Michigan. Overdose crisis response efforts have primarily focused on opioids, but with increasing rates of stimulant use there is a renewed focus on combating the larger overdose crisis. Michigan hopes to create a system equipped to respond to all emerging drug trends and the spectrum of needs that exist for individuals, families and communities impacted by substance use disorder (SUD). "We have made important progress in addressing opioid use and reducing deaths, but we can and must do more," said Elizabeth Hertel, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director. "We must do everything possible to save lives, increase opportunities for Michiganders to have successful recoveries and prevent additional tragedies among our families and communities." The NGA Policy Academy will allow Michigan to learn about new approaches addressing stimulant and polysubstance use in other states and from experts in the SUD field. Other participants include American Samoa, Connecticut, and West Virginia. The policy academy will also facilitate building infrastructure to meet the needs of those with SUD more fully across the state. Michigan's Policy Academy team includes representatives from Governor Whitmer's Office, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Michigan State Police. Michigan has chosen to prioritize specific policy areas including effective governance and partnership, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, recovery and support services, as well as law enforcement. # # # Oct. 5, 2021 The Silver Lake boating access site in Marquette County will be closed for several days, beginning Thursday, for upgrades to the site. Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Division staffers, in cooperation with the Michigan Army National Guard 107th Engineer Battalion, will be conducting the $66,000 project financed by Dead River Flood mitigation funds. A gravel boat launch, a parking area and improvements to the gravel access road on state-managed property are features of the upgrades to be made. Vehicle and foot traffic access to the site is being prohibited during construction for safety concerns. There are no available alternative routes to access this location. Travelers on roads in the area should anticipate heavy equipment traffic. Work is scheduled to be completed Oct. 12. The Silver Lake Basin is located northwest of Ishpeming, a destination known to anglers for northern pike, bass and panfish. In February 2020, after proposing gated, walk-in access only to the lake, the DNR held a public meeting in Negaunee Township. Attendees at the meeting opposed that idea, instead favoring only modest improvements, keeping the access site a gravel boat launch with vehicle access provided. In May 2003, a fuse plug failed on the dam releasing nine million gallons of water downstream, which ultimately led to the failure of the Tourist Park Dam in Marquette. For the latest information on DNR facilities and other closures visit Michigan.gov/DNRClosures. Gov. Whitmer on Efforts to Protect the Great Lakes from Line 5 Oil Spill After Canada Invokes Treaty with United States Gov. Whitmer on Efforts to Protect the Great Lakes from Line 5 Oil Spill After Canada Invokes Treaty with United States FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2021 Contact: Press@michigan.gov Gov. Whitmer on Efforts to Protect the Great Lakes from Line 5 Oil Spill After Canada Invokes Treaty with United States LANSING, Mich. - Governor Gretchen Whitmer today released the following statement after Canada filed a letter in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan indicating that it had formally requested negotiations with the United States under Article IX of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty in connection with Michigan's actions with respect to Line 5. "I am profoundly disappointed that today the Government of Canada chose to invoke Article IX of the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty in a bid to help Enbridge, a private oil company, keep crude oil running indefinitely through Michigan's Straits of Mackinac," said Governor Whitmer. "So long as oil is flowing through the pipelines, there is a very real threat of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes. I have made clear to Enbridge that it cannot use our state-owned lakebed for these pipelines, but Enbridge has refused to stop. Moreover, rather than taking steps to diversify energy supply and ensure resilience, Canada has channeled its efforts into defending an oil company with an abysmal environmental track record." "Michigan is, and will remain, a strong partner with Canada on a range of issues," continued Whitmer. "However, I will not remain silent when the fate of the Great Lakes and Michigan hangs in the balance. I had expected that Canada, a nation that prides itself on its commitment to environmental protection, would share my interest in protecting the Great Lakes. Instead, the Government of Canada has chosen to do the bidding of the very oil company responsible for the 2010 Kalamazoo River Oil Spill - one of the largest inland oil spills in the history of the nation that happened right here in Michigan. At the same time, Canada is proposing to store nuclear waste in the Great Lakes Basin, adding even more risk to our waters. I remain confident that Michigan will prevail in its legal efforts with respect to Line 5, regardless of today's action, and I will continue to fight to get the pipelines out of the water. I call on Prime Minister Trudeau to reverse his decision." The Great Lakes are home to 21% of the world's fresh surface water. The lakes supply drinking water for 48 million people, including 5 million here in Michigan, and support 1.3 million jobs that generate $82 billion in wages annually across the United States. In Michigan, the Great Lakes support over 350,000 jobs. The Line 5 pipeline is a ticking time bomb that could lead to an oil spill in the Great Lakes, which would put families and small businesses across the region at risk. Enbridge has a troubling environmental record, most notably when an Enbridge pipeline ruptured in 2010, causing one of the worst inland oil spills in U.S. history and dumping one million gallons of oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. And Canada's push to store high-level radioactive nuclear waste near Lake Huron has shown that Canada is unwilling to prioritize the Great Lakes over their own energy interests. In November of 2020, Governor Whitmer and Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Eichinger notified Enbridge that the 1953 easement allowing it to operate dual pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac to transport petroleum and other products was being revoked and terminated. The notice required Enbridge to cease operations of the dual pipelines in the Straits by May of 2021, allowing for an orderly transition that protects Michigan's energy needs. Governor Whitmer and Director Eichinger also filed a lawsuit asking the Ingham County Circuit Court to recognize the validity of the revocation and termination of the easement. Enbridge subsequently removed this case to federal court, and the State of Michigan has filed a motion to remand the case back to state court. Twenty-eight entities, including sixteen states and the District of Columbia, four Native American Tribes, six environmental organizations and the Great Lakes Business Network have filed an amicus briefs in support of this motion to remand. To ensure Michigan's energy needs are met, Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Public Service Commission launched the MI Propane Security Plan to protect jobs and diversify and expand our renewable energy resources. Since early in 2019, the Whitmer Administration has been preparing for potential alternatives to ensure energy security for both of Michigan's peninsulas in the event of a Line 5 closure. As of May 12, Enbridge has been unlawfully trespassing on state land as it continues to pump oil under the Straits of Mackinac beyond the deadline to cease operations. If successful in its action to enforce its revocation and termination of the easement, the administration will seek disgorgement of Enbridge's profits derived from its wrongful use of the easement lands after May 12. In addition to invoking Article IX of the Treaty, which provides a process for the resolution of Treaty disputes between the United States and Canada, Canada has asked the Court to hold its proceedings in abeyance while this Treaty process is ongoing. The first step in this process is formal negotiations, which Canada has now requested. Michigan has made clear in its filings that there is no legal reason that the Court should wait to rule in our case, and this remains true, even in light of Canada's action today. Each day that Line 5 continues operating increases the risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes. Michigan's actions have been fully consistent with the Treaty and Michigan's authority with respect to environmental protection. ### Jim and Connie Bunke were not just teachers to their students, they consider themselves missionaries while their students wanted their kids to learn from them. The Bunke couple decided to retire from their long-held teaching positions at Christ the King School in Sebewaing this past summer, with Jim spending 43 years teaching there and Connie 28. Both Jim and Connie attended similar Lutheran schools when they were younger, Jim at Immanuel Lutheran School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee, and Connie at St. John Lutheran School in Chester, Illinois, about an hour and a half south of St Louis. Both attended these schools for grades 1-8 before going to public schools. The two met when they were students at what is now Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Illinois, which was formerly a parochial teachers college. We went through Lutheran schools in our elementary years, Jim said. Out of that experience, we wanted to serve the Lord teaching in a school just like where we grew up in. For us in the teaching ministry, we consider it a call, like a mission Connie said. Were sharing the Lords work and his death on the cross to save us from our sins with the children. Both Jim and Connie graduated from college in 1978 with bachelors degrees in education, got married in June of 1979, and both would get their masters degree in education from Central Michigan University in 1983. Whereas Jim filled an open teaching position at what was formerly Immanuel Lutheran School in Sebewaing back in 1978, Connie started off teaching at St. Paul School in Stover, Missouri for a year before joining Jim. She also caught at Cross Lutheran in Pigeon and St. Johns in Kilmanagh before that school closed. Jim explained that when teaching students graduate from the college, it arranges their first position with schools that need teachers and have sent a request to the college. The students will usually accept and go to the school they have been arranged with. Jim considered it Gods calling that he and Connie ended up in Sebewaing, him mainly teaching social studies while she was a shared time teacher with physical education and art. Their way of teaching in a Christian school setting has them teach a Christian worldview and perspective in the classroom, from world and American history to economics. One of the reasons we stayed is because its a small-town community, Jim said. You get to know the parents closely and they get to know the teachers. Well often see them at church, bible class, even at Lukes Market in the vegetable aisles. That closeness between the students, faculty, and the church, it lets them know that this Lutheran school is theirs and their opinions matter. As part of the friendships they develop with the parents, Jim said that in August, the teachers make home visits before the school year starts, which he considers a blessing. Outside of teaching, the Bunkes are involved with the Immanuel Lutheran Church in other facets, like Jim serving as youth director, vacation bible school director and the on-site volunteer for the nearby Luckard museum. Connie has been involved with the church choir, community choir, boy scouts, and served as the Lutheran Womens Missionary League director. Since Christ the King teaches from kindergarten through eighth grade, a lot of eighth graders will end up going to Unionville-Sebewaing Area Schools for grades 9 through 12. Some students do go to Valley Lutheran High School in Saginaw to complete their education, but distance and tuition costs are often factors when deciding which school to attend. Over their years of teaching, major changes have occurred at Christ the King, from the creation of its current state through the merger of Immanuel Lutheran School and St. Paul Lutheran School in Unionville, to the use of more technology in the classroom, to the rising costs of education. We didnt have computers and cell phones when we first taught, Connie said. We still used traditional techniques, but wed have to start adding laptops and Chromebooks. Teaching online was new to us. The cost of running any school over the years has gone up because that is the nature of education across the board, Jim said. We have reasonable tuition at the school, Immanuel and St. Paul in their church budgets cover a big chunk of the school expenses. Without the churches help to commit funds, it would be hard. We see that as an outreach mission of the church. Now more than ever that support is high. The two have taught at Christ the King for so long that some students now are the children of students from earlier in their career. They did not teach long enough to have a third such generation of students come through, but a lot of people were urging them not to retire. The Bunkes decision to retire this past summer came as Jim is now 67 and Connie is 65, as most workers would retire around that age. Teaching is already a heavy workload, which can extend beyond the normal eight-hour day, but this past school year with all the COVID requirements in place was one of their more difficult years. Wed have students in the school building while sometimes students are in quarantine, Connie said, with those quarantined students learning online. Not that theyd learn anything different, it's just a lot of extra work teaching online. In their retirement, Jim and Connie have a lot more time to travel and see family. Their son Christopher and his wife and daughter live in Houston while their daughter Jessica lives in St. Louis. We have a better variation of time to do that now, Connie said. Mostly wed go on school breaks. Despite being retired, the Bunkes have not completely disappeared from Christ the King school. They are occasionally called in as substitute teachers, filling in for half a day of work for the lower grades in Connies case and upper grades for Jim. Families do not have to belong to the Lutheran faith to enroll their kids at the school. If any Christian family wants their kids to get a Christian education, the Bunkes encourage them to enroll. Were not in any competition with the public schools, Jim said. It provides a different option for the parents. MANISTEE The Blue Tigers, a component of the Manistee County Democratic Party, are on the move again. The group presented a scholarship to Cynthia Rhodes, of Copemish, to assist her with transportation to the Manistee Northwest Michigan Works! site at 400 River St. in Manistee, where she is working to complete her GED. (Receiving my GED) will boost my confidence. I dont like how people look at me when they find out I didnt graduate," Rhodes said in a news release. "Also, I could finally go to college and make my boys, Aryan and Kevin, proud of me. To show them, not just tell them, how important an education is. That is number one most important, to help me give them a comfortable life." Rhodes said she hopes to start a business one day. "The GED will also help me pursue my education. I want to open a custom tile business with my husband," she said. "I need a business certificate so I can manage our records and accounts correctly. This is the start of making my dreams, not just dreams, but reality. John Helge, chairperson for the Manistee County Democrats, said the scholarship money came from the community. The funds that we provide for scholarships come from the community support for our Little Big Shots Talent Show," he said. "It is our desire to provide more scholarships and to continue providing assistance to our community. Maryann Allen, of the Michigan Works! program, nominated Rhodes to receive the scholarship. Allen works with adults who wish to complete their GED or finish their High School Certification. Anyone working with Allen and in need of financial assistance is encouraged to ask about the Blue Tigers Scholarship. This year our Little Big Shots program, which occurs during the Manistee (National) Forest Festival, was well attended and supported because we had Toni Trucks as the host," said Shirley Madden, Blue Tigers chairperson. "With her help, we were able to receive ample funds to help community organizations and support young adults with their educational pursuits." The Blue Tigers also provide financial assistance to students in college who demonstrate a need to continue their coursework. To get an application for financial assistance, visit manisteecountydemocrats.us. RELATED: Manistee community outreach group aids older adults with donations MANISTEE COUNTY When the Manistee County Board of Commissioners approves an item on its agenda, it typically does so with the unanimous support of its members. Split votes have been almost unheard of in recent years, so when commissioners Richard Schmidt and Nikki Koons voted against the majority last month it's worth taking note. At issue is the county's code enforcement program, which came up when Manistee County planning director Mike Szokola presented the board with a proposed services agreement for the county code enforcement officer Larry Gibson. As part of the agreement, Gibson's hourly pay would increase from $18 to $20 per hour and include a monthly cell phone stipend of $30 per month. The agreement is for one year, and after approval it went into effect Sept. 21. Gibson is a former county sheriff's deputy and has over two decades experience as a firearms instructor with the state of Michigan. The code enforcement officer investigates complaints and notices of alleged code violations, including blight junk and zoning ordinances for local municipalities contracting with the county. These municipalities are Arcadia Township, Bear Lake Township, Onekama Township, Bear Lake Village, Copemish Village, Eastlake Village and Onekama Village. The officer is also required to provide an enforcement update with violations, tickets issued, and open and closed cases to the Manistee County Planning Commission on a monthly basis, according to the contract. Schmidt stated his opposition to a contract that enforces restrictions on peoples' property being conducted by the county. He noted that there is no county-wide zoning, and said that it was a liability for the county to enforce agreements and contracts on behalf of municipalities. "I have a lot of concerns with sending someone out to one of my constituents with a gun at their side to enforce some zoning ordinance that was passed down from the upper class to the lower class," Schmidt said. "I've talked to everyone out in my area, and they are not happy the planning department would even present this. And that's why I recommend we get out of these zoning agreements with these different townships." Schmidt represents District 2, which encompasses Cleon, Maple Grove, Marilla and Springdale townships, none of which are currently signed on to the code enforcement program. Szokola explained at the meeting that all potential code violations go to local municipal boards before they are forwarded on to the enforcement officer. "This is not something that we're going out with a heavy hand and trying to enforce," Szokola said. "Now, if a person does decide that they don't want to work with us or respond to us, then we'll give them an opportunity at least twice; first is the initial conversation, secondly, a written letter. And then finally, they will be written a ticket. Then they can come and rectify that ticket before we go to court if you're working with us, we won't give you a ticket, and we'll go back to the townships and say, 'listen, he's cleaning up, it's taking them a while'." Szokola also said that leaving enforcement up to the Manistee County Sheriff's Office would likely require the addition of one full-time officer. "It's on the (municipalities') books, these are laws and somebody has to enforce them. The townships don't want to," Szokola said. "We've found a lot of environmental issues out there that are really concerning but at the end of the day, these are all regulations and ordinances that were put on by the elected officials of the township. We're simply contracting to enforce what's there." Board chair Jeff Dontz floated the idea of having the enforcement officer conduct his work without having access to a weapon, which Szokola said would likely be a deal-breaker for Gibson. While several of the commissioners shared some concerns about the possibility of being held liable over confrontations between homeowners and the enforcement officer, they ultimately voted 5-2 in favor of the contract. Schmidt also said at the meeting that he plans to follow the code enforcement reports closely. "I think we need to emphasize we have eight local units contracted with the county for this, not all 20 We've got eight local units as this really pertains to unless someone else comes into the fold." Dontz said. "We do our darndest to try to mitigate liability the best we can, but you cannot eliminate it. Simple as that." A 44-year-old Gladwin County resident died Sunday after sustaining injuries in a two-vehicle traffic crash last week, according to the Midland County Sheriff's office. Jason Gransden of Gladwin County was traveling northbound on North Eastman Road on Monday, Sept. 27. He was riding a maroon 2012 Harley Davidson motorcycle when a 29-year-old Midland County man was traveling southbound in a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado. Gransden, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, was thrown from the motorcycle, according to a press release from the sheriff's office issued Monday, Oct. 4. The Chevrolet Silverado driver was uninjured. The sheriff's department said the Silverado was struck on the front passengers side by the motorcycle; the front air bag deployed. According to the sheriff's office, the Midland County man failed to yield the right of way to Gransdens motorcycle by attempting to turn left into a private business parking lot, in front of Gransden. At the time of the crash, Gransden was transported to Mid-Michigan Medical Center-Midland in critical condition. Gransden was later pronounced dead on Sunday, Oct. 3. By approximately 7:38 p.m. on Sept. 27, the Midland County Sheriffs Office responded to and investigated the two-vehicle traffic crash that took place at the intersection of North Eastman Road and East Schneider Court in Larkin Township. As standard procedure, the sheriffs office is awaiting toxicology reports to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash. The report will be forwarded to the Midland County Prosecutors office for review once it has been completed. Midland County Sheriffs office personnel were assisted at the scene by the Michigan State Police and MPS's Third District Accident Reconstruction Team, Larkin Township Fire Department and Mid-Michigan EMS. The Huron County Health Department is now offering COVID-19 booster shots to those who received the Pfizer COVID vaccine. The shots started being offered at a clinic Sept. 28, which took place at the Huron Crest Plaza where COVID vaccines were already being offered. Jessie Maurer, the public health nurse for the health department, said the makeup and vials of the booster shots are the same as the primary vaccines. In the body, the booster increases the immune response for those who received the vaccine six months or more beforehand. At this time, we have plenty of vaccine available, Maurer said. We have had Pfizer in stock but have had to order more to meet the possible demand for booster doses. The following populations who received the Pfizer COVID vaccine are eligible to receive booster shots: Individuals aged 65 years and older and long-term care facility residents. Individuals aged 50 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions. Individuals aged 18 to 49 years with underlying medical conditions. Individuals aged 18 to 64 years who are at increased risk for COVID-19 exposure and transmission because of occupational or institutional setting. Currently Pfizer has the only booster shot approved for emergency doses, as Moderna and Johnson & Johnson do not have approved booster doses yet. The booster is not recommended that those who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as Maurer said there is no data and no recommendations to support that at this time. Appointments can be made by calling the Health Department at 989-269-9723 or by visiting its website at www.hchd.us. MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) Michigan's third-largest county, where voters backed former President Donald Trump in 2020, is hiring a specialist to examine its election hardware and software. The work in Macomb County is not a second look at the results of the presidential election. Rather, the Republican county clerk, who was elected last year, said he wants to lead the state in election integrity. BOSTON (AP) President Joe Bidens pick for U.S. attorney for Massachusetts fought back during a radio interview Monday against Republican claims that she's not tough enough on criminals Rachael Rollins, who is currently the top prosecutor for the city of Boston and several suburbs, said on GBH News that her progressive approach to crime, including her decision to not prosecute low-level crimes and back police reform, is working. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee split 11-11 along party lines in a vote that followed strong objections from Republican members of the panel, including Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who called Rollins a "pro-criminal activist." Rollins said Monday she is pro justice," which means accountability for victims and their families, but at the same time making sure the system works all the time, and I am not going to be silent when it doesn't." She said Republicans' contentions that her approach does not work is not supported by the evidence. Boston remains one of the only major cities in America where violent crime is down," she said. She acknowledged that speaking out during the confirmation process is unusual, but said she will not remain silent and everything about me breaks a pattern." The committee's vote last week broke with a nearly 30-year precedent in forcing a roll call vote on Rollins nomination. Seven other nominees advanced easily. The move forces Democratic leaders to call a vote of the full Senate just to bring the nomination up for consideration. That vote and then the final vote confirming Rollins nomination would require a simple majority in the evenly split chamber. I remain optimistic and look forward to the confirmation in the full Senate," she said Monday. An email seeking comment was left Monday with a spokesperson for Cotton. Last week a spokesperson for Cotton said: Rachel Rollins measures success as a prosecutor not by the number of victims she secures justice for, but by the number of criminals she helps avoid consequences. Rollins, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Massachusetts, has pushed for progressive criminal justice reforms since being elected in 2018 as the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk district attorney. If confirmed by the Senate, shed become the first Black woman to serve as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) Officials investigating one of Californias largest recent oil spills are looking into whether a ship's anchor may have struck an oil pipeline on the ocean floor, causing heavy crude to leak into coastal waters and foul beaches, authorities said Monday. The head of the company that operates the pipeline said company divers were inspecting the area of the suspected leak that was discovered Saturday, and he expected that by Tuesday there would be a clearer of what caused the damage. A anchor from a cargo ship striking the pipeline is one of the distinct possibilities behind the leak, Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher told a news conference. He said divers have examined more than 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) of the pipeline and were focusing on one area of significant interest. Cargo ships entering the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach routinely pass through the area, Coast Guard officials said. Backlogs have plagued the ports in recent months and several dozen or more of the giant vessels have regularly been anchored as they wait to enter the ports and unload. Were looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship, but thats in the assessment phase right now, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye said. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude into the ocean, contaminating the sands of famed Huntington Beach and other coastal communities. The spill could keep beaches closed for weeks or longer. The Orange County district attorney, Todd Spitzer, said he has investigators looking into whether he can bring state charges for the spill even though the leak occurred in waters overseen by the U.S. government. Spitzer also said Amplifys divers should not be allowed near the pipeline without an independent authority alongside them. Other potential criminal investigations were being pursued by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of California, the Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said. Safety advocates have pushed for years for federal rules that would strengthen oil spill detection requirements and force companies to install valves that can automatically shut down the flow of crude in case of a leak. The oil and pipeline industries have resisted such requirements because of the high cost. If the operator had more valves installed on this line, theyd have a much better chance at having the point of failure isolated by now, said Bill Caram with the Pipeline Safety Trust, an organization based in Bellingham, Washington. The pipeline was built using a process known as electric resistance weld, according to a regulatory filing from the company. That welding process has been linked to past oil pipeline failures because corrosion can occur along seams, according to government safety advisories and Pipeline Safety Trust Director Bill Caram. Annual reports filed with federal regulators in 2019 and 2020 showed inspections for the inside and outside of the pipe revealed nothing requiring repairs. On Sunday as the extent of the spill was being revealed environmentalists had feared the oil might devastate birds and marine life in the area. But Michael Ziccardi, a veterinarian and director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, said only four oily birds had been found so far. One suffered chronic injuries and had to be euthanized, he said. Its much better than we had feared, he said at a news conference Monday. Ziccardi said hes cautiously optimistic, but its too soon to know the extent of the spills effect on wildlife. In other offshore oil spills, the largest number of oiled birds have been collected two to five days after the incident, he said. Amplify operates three oil platforms about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) off the coast of California, all installed between 1980 and 1984. The company also operates a 16-inch pipeline that carries oil from a processing platform to an onshore storage facility in Long Beach. The company has said the oil appears to be coming from a rupture in that pipeline about 4 miles (6.44 kilometers) from the platform. In a 2016 spill-response plan submitted to federal regulators, the company said its worst-case spill scenario was based on the assumption of a full guillotine cut of the pipeline occurring 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) inland from one of its platforms. But an outside consultant concluded that a spill of that size was very unlikely at that location because the line is 120 feet deep and beneath a shipping lane where ships do not normally anchor. The Beta oil field has been owned by at least seven different corporations since it was discovered by Royal Dutch Shell in 1976, records show. A corporate predecessor of Amplify bought the operation in 2012. The Amplify subsidiary known as Beta Operating Co. has been cited 125 times for safety and environmental violations since 1980, according to a database from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the federal agency that regulates the offshore oil and gas industry. The online database provides only the total number of violations, not the details for each incident. The company was fined a total of $85,000 for three incidents. Two were from 2014, when a worker who was not wearing proper protective equipment was shocked with 98,000 volts of electricity. The worker survived. In a separate incident, crude oil was released through a boom where a safety device had been improperly bypassed. In 1999, an undersea pipeline running between two platforms sprang two leaks totaling at least 3,800 gallons of oil, causing tar balls to wash up on beaches in Orange County. The cause of of the leaks was determined to be corrosion that caused pin-sized holes in the steel walls of the pipeline. The owner of the oil field at the time, a partnership between Mobil Oil Corp. and Shell Oil Co. called Aera Energy LLC, was fined $48,000 by federal regulators a penalty environmental groups criticized as a slap on the wrist. Before the spill, Amplify had high hopes for the Beta oil field and was pouring millions of dollars into upgrades and new side track projects that would tap into oil by drilling laterally. We have the opportunity to keep going for as long as we want, Willsher said in an August conference call with investors. He added there was capacity up to 20,000 barrels a day. Investors shared Willshers optimism, sending the company's stock up more than sevenfold since the beginning of the year to $5.75 at the close of trading on Friday. The stock plunged 43% in trading Monday. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2017 and emerged a few months later. It had been using cash generated by the Beta field and others in Oklahoma and Texas to pay down $235 million in debt. ___ Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker in Washington, Bernard Condon in New York, Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, and Amy Taxin in Huntington Beach, California, contributed to this report. The Midland Fire Department is looking to create its own aerial program. The city fire department is seeking bids for a drone to use during their operations, including search and rescue. The department already has six firefighters trained to pilot drones, with two already licensed. One of these licensed drone pilots is Keith Jonas, a fire truck operator. He said firefighters began training in March of this year and they tests with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. One area of use for a fire department drone is with search and rescue, since drones can cover an area far greater than a search party on foot in the same time span, Jonas said. You get a drone in the air, and you can alleviate six guys walking through the woods looking for one person, Jonas said. You can have one or two guys (look through) 10-20 acres in a matter of minutes where it would take a team of guys hours to do it, or even a day. Another scenario could be aiding a person who needed help in water. For instance, Jonas said if some one was in a boat that was knocked over while not wearing a life jacket, a drone could swoop in with a device called a mustang stick. The drone would drop it over the person in the water and it would inflate into a life jacket. One event where it would have been useful was during the 2020 Edenville Dam Failure flood, Jonas said. He said people from southern Michigan came up and used them to help figure out which buildings were structurally sound and which ones needed to be looked at. The department started looking into drones after this, since they could be used for damage assessment and search rescue in these scenarios, he said. The drone the department is interested in would cost around $16,000, Jonas said. The department could add addition functions to the drone later on of needed. Jonas said the bid with the best combination of price and function will be chosen. Once a bid is chosen, it will go to Midland City Council for approval. The sky is the limit with these things, Jonas said. The technology is just getting amazing. Folks in some Connecticut municipalities with limited options for high-speed Internet service providers soon may have more choices. Portions of Milford and West Haven will be getting high-speed fiber optic Internet service, according to officials with GoNetspeed, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company that entered the Connecticut market in 2018. GoNetSpeed will install fiber optic cable that will run past about 3,600 homes and businesses in West Haven and roughly 700 in Milfords Woodmont section, according to company officials. The installation is expected to be completed sometime during the first half of next year. The build-out of the companys fiber optic network in New Haven County is part of a larger expansion that includes portions of Fairfield and Hartford counties. GoNetspeed will be making fiber optic cable available to about 6,000 homes and businesses in Bridgeport and Trumbull as well as approximately 8,200 in Bloomfield, West Hartford and Windsor. Tom Perrone, GoNetspeeds chief operating officer, said the company is working quickly to build out the next generation of fiber communications in Connecticut and are proud to be filling this need. Im excited to introduce new subscribers in these communities to the unparalleled customer service and unmatched speed and performance GoNetspeed prides itself on, Perrone said in statement. Fiber optic internet service offers symmetrical speeds, which means the speed of both downloads and uploads are equal. GoNetsped offers residential speeds ranging from 150 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second. Part of GoNetspeeds business model for determining where to expand its fiber optic network is based on requests for service made to the companys website. That has resulted in the company installing its fiber optic network in portions of communities but not others. For example, GoNetspeed has installed its fiber optic network in New Havens East Rock neighborhood, but not in the citys downtown. Ashley Gustafson, a spokeswoman for the company, said part of its criteria for where it expands is high density communities. Its easier to reach more people that way, Gustafson said. GoNetspeed also looks to serve areas where there are utility poles, she said, so that installation doesnt require burying the companys fiber optic cables. Lon Seidman of Essex, who reviews technology products on his YouTube channel LON.TV, said the companys slow but steady growth makes sure that the service is well provisioned. Two of my friends have it and it is really good, Seidman said. You get the speed that is advertised, but it may not be everywhere people want it. A different approach is being taken in East Hartford, where officials this week announced a network that will provide access to a 10-gigabit network for more than 50,000 homes in town. Construction of what is being called the East Hartford FiberCity project will start next spring and continue through 2024. The $40 million project is being paid for by a New Jersey company, SiFi Networks, which expects to recoup its investment over a long period of time. But rather than SiFis money coming from the town, it will come from other internet service providers because the fiber optic network being installed is Open Access. The business model, which is used in the western United States and Europe, allows the fiber infrastructure to be shared by multiple Internet service providers, which brings competitive service and pricing to the marketplace. The providers will connect homes and businesses to the fiber optic cable network that passes by in the street in front of them. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaking at a press conference Monday announcing the FiberCity network, said fiber optic networks are a part of our social fabric. Connectivity is part of our future, Blumenthal said, We will not be a nation together unless we are all connected and right now there is a digital divide. Its not a luxury or convenience, it should be as basic as our roads and bridges are.\ For more information or to see if GoNetSpeed service is available in your area, visit https://gonetspeed.com. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Lawmakers in Belarus have voted to suspend an agreement with the European Union obliging the ex-Soviet nation to take back migrants that crossed its territory into the EU. The vote late Monday in the upper house of the Belarusian parliament formalizes the move that was announced by Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko in June. Lukashenko and his officials have described the measure as part of Belarus' response to the EU sanctions, arguing that the nation can't afford the costs involved in stemming the flow of migrants heading to Europe and would instead use the funds to offset the impact of EU sanctions. Belarus' EU neighbors Poland and Lithuania have been struggling to cope with an unusually high number of migrants, most from Iraq and Afghanistan, arriving at their borders with Belarus in recent months. They have accused Lukashenko of encouraging the flow of migrants and using them as a weapon in what they described as a hybrid war against the 27-nation bloc in retaliation for its sanctions on Belarus. The EU sanctions were put into place after the Belarus government cracked down harshly on anti-government protesters in 2020 and were tightened this year after Belarus forcibly diverted a passenger plane to arrest an opposition journalist. Poland has responded to the large-scale migration by deploying troops, refusing to let migrants apply for asylum and pushing some back across the border into Belarus. The tough approach has drawn criticism from human rights groups. Polands influential Catholic Church appealed Monday for humanitarian assistance for the migrants. Speaking in the Belarusian parliament, Belarus' Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov described the suspension of the readmission agreement as a temporary measure, adding that the readmission agreement with the EU could come back into effect after relations normalize. Pavel Latushko, a leading figure of the Belarusian opposition who lives in Poland, charged that Belarusian authorities have encouraged the flow of migrants to the EU. Lukashenko is taking revenge against the EU by unleashing a hybrid war and using refugees to openly blackmail European authorities, Latushko told The Associated Press. Migration is part of a broad campaign of confrontation with the West pursued by the Belarusian authorities. ___ Follow all AP stories on developments in Belarus at https://apnews.com/hub/Belarus. ___ Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration. Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday announced it had submitted data to the Food and Drug Administration for authorization of a booster shot of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, marking the latest effort by vaccine makers to gain approval for a new round of inoculations. The announcement from Johnson & Johnson means the makers of all three federally authorized COVID-19 vaccines have now applied for authorization of a booster shot. Moderna asked the agency to authorize a booster shot of its two-dose vaccine at the beginning of September. In its announcement, Johnson & Johnson said people who received a booster shot 56 days after their initial dose saw protection against the virus increase to 94 percent. I think its good news, said Dr. Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare. This is good news for the J&J people because obviously theyre feeling left out in the cold to a certain extent, but the data from the study is good. With robust immunity happening from the second shot, I think this will go a long way in terms of helping them as well as the overall pandemic as well. While not as widely used as the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Johnson & Johnson was administered widely in Connecticut through the early spring until regulators called for a brief pause to investigate a blood-clotting disorder. Johnson & Johnson also submitted data to the FDA for people who received a booster six months after their initial shot, the announcement said, which also granted them additional protection against the virus. The vaccine, when given as a booster or primary dose, was generally well-tolerated, the announcement said. Last month, the FDA authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people 65 and older, adults at risk of severe COVID-19 complications and adults whose jobs put them at higher risk of contracting the illness. The third dose is given 6 months after individuals in those groups have completed their primary round of shots. The agency had already approved in August additional doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for certain people with compromised immune systems. Unlike boosters, which are meant to address waning immunity, these third shots were deemed necessary for some to gain full immunity. The last push for boosters comes as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reported vaccinations may have prevented as many as 500 COVID deaths in Connecticut during the first five months of the year. The estimate is the result of a study, which also linked vaccines to a reduction of 3,100 COVID infections and 1,300 hospitalizations in the state. Nationally, the agency said vaccines may have prevented 265,000 COVID infections, 107,000 hospitalizations, and 39,000 deaths among Medicare patients between January and May. Wu said those numbers seem conservative. I think the one thing that maybe doesnt take into account is the spread, that vaccinations can certainly help prevent as well, he said. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) A man has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for setting fire to a Kansas City church last year. Christopher Durant, 39, of Kansas City, was sentenced Monday to 63 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in April to one count of arson, federal prosecutors for Missouri said in a news release. There is no parole in the federal system. KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghanistan's Taliban leaders met Tuesday with U.K. officials for the first time since taking power, a move the group hopes will pave the way for the country to refill cash-starved coffers as it teeters on the brink of economic collapse. The Taliban said meanwhile they arrested 11 members of the rival Islamic State group. The Taliban's meeting with British diplomats in the capital Kabul came a day after they met with an Iranian delegation another first since assuming the helm to discuss trade relations, a key driver of Afghanistan's economy. The Taliban met with Sir Simon Gass, the British prime ministers high representative for Afghan transition, and Martin Longden, the charge daffaires of the U.K. mission to Afghanistan in Doha. The meeting marked Britain's first diplomatic visit to the country since the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15, and took control of Afghanistan following the U.S. exit. After the meeting, Longden tweeted that substantial discussions were held with the Taliban leadership covering a wide range of topics, including the humanitarian crisis, terrorism and the importance for safe passage for U.K. and Afghan nationals, and the rights of women and girls. He fell short of recognizing their government officially, a Taliban wish, and described the meeting as a test." It's early days and unsurprisingly, there are points of difference between us. But such difficult challenges lie ahead for Afghanistan (and beyond), he tweeted. It's right to test if we can engage pragmatically and find common ground in the interests of both the UK and Afghan peoples. In a statement, the Taliban said it was committed to good relations with all countries. In return, we want the international community to return the cash capital of the Afghan nation to our nation, it said, referring to billions in Afghan assets frozen in U.S. accounts. The Taliban met Monday with a delegation from neighboring Iran to regulate trade between the countries, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said. They agreed to increase trading hours at the Islam Qala border crossing from eight hours per day to 24 and to better regulate the collection of tariffs and improve roadworks. Customs are a key source of domestic revenue for Afghanistan. Afghanistan, an aid-dependent country, is grappling with a liquidity crisis as assets remain frozen in the U.S. and disbursements from international organizations that once accounted for 75% of state spending have been paused. Meanwhile, Taliban officials said Tuesday they arrested 11 members of the Islamic State group, a rival and bitter enemy of the insurgents, in Kabul. The IS affiliate based in eastern Nangarhar province has claimed responsibility for a spate of recent attacks targeting Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan and elsewhere. Karimi posted on Twitter that the raid was carried out Sunday night in the Afghan capital's Fifth Police District. He provided no further details. The raid came just hours after a bombing that targeted the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul, killing at least five people. IS claimed responsibility for the mosque attack late Monday, saying in a posting by its Amaq news agency that one of its suicide bombers targeted senior Taliban figures following a mourning service. Sundays bombing was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with the chaotic departure of the last U.S. troops on Aug. 31. IS had also claimed responsibility for the horrific bombing on Aug. 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel outside the Kabul airport, where thousands of people were trying to reach the airport to escape Taliban rule. The world has been watching whether the Taliban will live up to their initial promises of tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities. However, Taliban actions so far, such as renewed restrictions on women and the appointment of an all-male government, have been met with dismay by the international community. Protests against the Talibans policies toward women continued Tuesday, with a demonstration in a Kabul private school by female teachers and students who held up signs saying Education is a right. The protest was held indoors to avoid backlash from the Taliban, who have recently outlawed demonstrations held without permission from the government. The U.N. continued to sound the alarm about the country's dire economic situation, saying a humanitarian crisis is imminent. The world body's children's agency warned that half of Afghanistans children under age 5 are expected to suffer from severe malnutrition as hunger takes root amid serious food shortages. There are millions of people who are going to starve and there is winter coming, COVID raging, and the whole social system collapsed, said Omar Adbi, UNICEFs deputy executive director for programs, during a visit to a Kabul childrens hospital. At the hospital, a woman named Nargis sat with her 3-year-old child, who was suffering from severe malnutrition. She had come from Kunar province in the northeast, where fighting between the Taliban and the Islamic State group has deprived communities of accessing basic needs, including food. Nargis declined to give her full name. ___ Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Istanbul and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. TANACROSS, Alaska (AP) One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic the Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River. But the battle against the coronavirus isn't over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nations sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away. The COVID-19 surge is worsened by Alaska's limited health care system that largely relies on hospitals in Anchorage, the biggest city. It's where the states largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, is overwhelmed with patients and was the first weeks ago to declare crisis-of-care protocols, meaning doctors are sometimes prioritizing care based on who has the best odds of survival. Since then, 19 other health care facilities in Alaska, including Anchorage's two other hospitals and Fairbanks Memorial, have also entered crisis care mode, something overtaxed facilities in other states have had to do, including Idaho and Wyoming. Even though we live here, were concerned about Anchorage and Fairbanks, said Alfred Jonathan, a Tanacross elder. If somebody gets sick around there, theres no place to take them. While Alaska has contracted with nearly 500 medical professionals to help over the next few months, the ramifications are dire for those in rural Alaska if they need higher levels of care for COVID-19 or otherwise but no beds are available. Sometimes those patients get lucky and get transferred to Fairbanks or Anchorage. Other times, health care staff are on the phones in some cases, for hours looking for a bed or facility that can provide specialty treatments like dialysis. One patient who couldn't get dialysis at Providence died, hospital spokesperson Mikal Canfield said. Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, the hospitals chief of staff, said she knew a patient in an outlying community who needed cardiac catheterization and died waiting. Options in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, also are being overloaded. One rural clinic finally found a spot for a patient from interior Alaska in Colorado. Health officials blame the hospital crunch on limited staffing, rising COVID-19 infections and low vaccination rates in Alaska, where about 60% of eligible residents in the conservative state are fully vaccinated. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, one in every 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29, the nation's worst diagnosis rate in recent days. Officials say medical workers are exhausted and frustrated with what feels like a no-win effort to combat misinformation about COVID-19 being overblown and vaccines being unsafe. Some say it could have long-term effects further shaking confidence in vaccines and treatments for other illnesses and making the longstanding pre-pandemic challenge of recruiting health care workers to the remote state more difficult. Medical workers describe the emotions of: You hear a code is happening, someone is passing away," said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. "That is devastating. You never want to lose a patient. But in the back of your mind, youre thinking, OK, another bed is now available that is critically needed. And how do you balance those emotions? Its gut-wrenching. In Tanacross, elders are encouraging people to get vaccinated, especially with facilities strained. The village is in a sprawling, sparsely populated region of eastern Alaska where the vaccination rate is under 50%. Jonathan, 78, tells villagers that COVID-19 is here, and like the delta variant, is going to develop in other ways. Those who didnt get vaccinated? Gosh, were afraid for them, said Jonathan, who recently led a crew clearing dead and dying trees to reduce wildfire fuel and provide wood to heat homes. His wife, Mildred, helped guard the gate into the community this year. Those restrictions ended this summer as the pandemic seemed to be improving. Now, she says she's tired of outsiders calling their friends in Tanacross to scare them, claiming there are problems with the vaccines. I got both my shots, Im alive and nothings wrong with me, she said before piling bags of sanitizer, masks and nitrile gloves into her Prius to deliver throughout town. Alaska, hailed early in the pandemic for working with tribal health organizations to distribute vaccines widely and quickly, was 25th in the U.S. for the percentage of its total population inoculated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. At hospitals, care has shifted, said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer. The same standard of care that was previously there is no longer able to be given on a regular basis, she said. This has been happening for weeks. In rural Alaska, six Indigenous villages, including Tanacross, rely on the new Upper Tanana Health Center in the hub community of Tok, about a two-hour drive from the Canadian border. The staff treats who they can and moves those with more serious needs to Anchorage or Fairbanks, said Jacoline Bergstrom, executive director of health services for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan villages spread over an area of interior Alaska nearly the size of Texas. Emergency plans are in place to house people overnight if hospital beds aren't available right away, clinic director Joni Young said. They're usually flown because its a three-hour drive from Tok to Fairbanks and about seven to Anchorage. If for some reason, we cant medevac out, weve been preparing since the beginning to help our patients if we need to, Young said. Weve got cots before, stored here, and we have another building that we lease that we could use to separate COVID patients. The staff is putting in overtime, with nurses taking COVID-19 questions from callers and working weekends. They need to hire two urgent care registered nurses, but few have applied. Joyce Johnson-Albert lay on a bed at the health center with an IV in her arm. She was vaccinated but got a breakthrough infection, she suspects from a hunting camp. I just hope the next few days, Ill be getting a little better than now, Johnson-Albert said as she received a monoclonal antibody infusion, given at the onset of COVID-19 to lessen symptoms. Its just hard to say. You can go either way. Registered nurse Angie Cleary is grateful the clinic offers the infusion treatment. However, I feel worried some days where were not sure when well get more," Cleary said. For example, were down to, I think, five doses right now, and we could get more tomorrow or it might not be until next week. Thats one of the concerns we have living out here, is like, when are we going to get our next shipment? They're also battling misinformation about the pandemic. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has faced criticism for not mandating masks and not endorsing vaccines as fully as some would like. He has encouraged people to get shots but said it is a personal choice. Others have accused him of pushing vaccines and peddling fear. Providence hospital employees are having a hard time with the harsh rhetoric, Solana Walkinshaw said. One staffer got spit at leaving work, the chief of staff said. We still have people who are COVID-denying as theyre being intubated, or family members who are COVID-denying as theyre saying on an iPad, saying goodbye to their loved one," she said. Daisy Northway of the Tok Native Association knows how hard it is to advocate for vaccinations, saying shes talked till Im blue in the face trying to convince one of her sons. The Athabascan elder said she urges people to get the shots but in a way that lowers the political fervor. We need to say, Get vaccinated in such a manner that its helpful and not being criticizing for their beliefs, she said. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau. Data journalists Justin Myers and Jasen Lo in Chicago contributed to this report. DALLAS (AP) Southwest Airlines on Monday became the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 in order to remain at the airline. Employees can seek approval to skip the shots due to medical or religious reasons. Lt. Cmdr. James JB Zorn experienced many interesting assignments throughout his Coast Guard career, including a stint in Rep. Charlie Crists office in Washington, D.C. He started by volunteering for collateral duties within public affairs, which gave him insight into how the Coast Guard works with the government. But Zorn wanted a perspective from the other side, too, so he applied for the Coast Guard congressional fellow position. It was a pretty lengthy interview process and it was my top pick, Zorn shared. I really wanted to get up here [Congress] and just learn. I wanted to learn so I could take it all back to the Coast Guard and hopefully add some value to our official and unofficial side and grow as a professional. Zorn was chosen for the position. Not long after that news, the government went into a partial shutdown, which meant the Coast Guard, and therefore Zorn, wasnt getting paid. Thats flavored my whole recent experience It became so much more, he said. I was so happy to come up to D.C. and learn about how it all works. It was such a life-changing experience as an active-duty coastie. I had no idea how much more there was to the story when it comes to how appropriations and government funding works. He learned. Zorn landed an assignment within the office of Rep. Charlie Crist of Floridas 13th district. With his new boss on the appropriations committee, he had hands-on involvement in staffing, budgeting, and briefings. Prior to his assignment on the hill, Zorn was in leadership roles for the Coast Guard, so the transition was an adjustment. I couldnt walk in with a certain mentality because I wasnt going to be in charge of a unit, he explained. I came in to grow professionally and personally, to really learn. I was lucky that I was in a great office with great staffers and a great boss. A connection started brewing Zorn says he fit right in. The thing that cemented his presence within the congressional office, though? Beer. I started brewing in college when I was 21, he said. My dad was my first brew partner. Every tour in the Coast Guard I tried to do more in the homebrewing world. The passion was serious. Following graduate school Zorn became a Certified Cicerone, through the Cicerone Certification Program, which made him somewhat of a beer expert. My claim to fame is that I was or am the first active-duty Cicerone, Zorn said with a laugh. Fast forward to being in his fellowship, when one of Zorns coworkers registered their office for a congressional beer competition. He didnt know how to brew or that I knew how and was this crazy beer guy, he said. He thought it would be a team-building thing. But Zorn took it much further. The entire office ended up at his house for a potluck and created the brew together. Then when we won, I was just over the moon, Zorn said. It also turned out that the director of the American Homebrewers Associations father was in the Coast Guard. Its such a small world. Though Zorn definitely made his mark with an award-winning beer for Congress, his role crafting the legislation protecting Coast Guard retirees pay from another shutdown is something hes really proud of. I got to work on it from drafting all the way to law, he said. For a fellow, thats something you just rarely get the opportunity to do. WASHINGTON The Supreme Court on Monday said it would not get involved in a lawsuit over a disputed Pentagon cloud computing contract, a decision that follows the contract's cancellation earlier this year. The case was one of hundreds the high court said it wouldn't hear Monday. The Pentagon in July announced it was canceling its contract with Microsoft for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud computing project. At the time it said it would instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon and possibly other cloud service providers. The Biden administration had told the high court that the case was moot. A pair of F-35s from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada released dummy nuclear bombs at a nearby test range this month, moving the advanced stealth fighter closer to carrying the worlds most powerful weapons into combat, the Air Force said Monday. The flights on Sept. 21 marked the "graduation" test exercise necessary for the Air Force variant of the F-35 to move ahead with whats called the nuclear design certification process, according to the services press release. Its still not clear when the F-35A will receive its full nuclear certification allowing it to move from training ranges and dummy bombs to real-world battlefields. But when that happens, the Air Force will have a second stealth aircraft in its fleet that can carry nukes. "The B-2 [Spirit] bomber was the prominent nuclear-capable stealth aircraft," Lt. Col. Daniel Jackson, division chief for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration at Air Combat Command, said in the press release. Read Next: Navy Officer Turns Witness in Bribery Case That Echoes 'Fat Leonard' Scandal F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16C and D Fighting Falcon fighters do not have stealth capability but can carry nuclear weapons. The B-21 Raider heavy bomber will also have the capability and is expected to join the Air Force's fleet in the mid-2020s, according to the latest estimates. Not all F-35As in the Air Force's fleet will become nuclear-capable. Only fighters in units with a nuclear mission will receive the hardware upgrades, and the manpower, to be able to carry nukes. The F-35s in the Nevada test were each armed with a dummy version of the B61-12 gravity nuclear weapon. That nuclear weapon is about 12 feet long and weighs approximately 825 pounds, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Federation of American Scientists wrote in 2016 that its explosive yield can be adjusted up to as much as 50 kilotons, or the equivalent of 50,000 tons of TNT. That is far from the most powerful weapon in the United States' arsenal, but several times the size of the bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. Joint test assemblies are mock-ups of nuclear weapons that carry sensors and instruments to collect and store data measuring how well they performed, but they contain no nuclear material and cannot produce a nuclear explosion. The 422nd and 59th Test and Evaluation Squadrons at Nellis took the lead in the flight test. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, the F-35 Joint Program Office, Sandia National Laboratories and other components within Air Combat Command also worked together on the test. The departments of Defense and Energy now are analyzing the data collected in the test. -- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey. Related: There Will Be 450 F-35s in Europe by 2030, NATO Commander Says When something goes wrong in your marriage and youre facing a military divorce while stationed overseas, you may feel incredibly isolated. And, like it or not, military commands are more involved in your life than you may be used to -- especially when it comes to your pending divorce. It may seem really annoying, but sometimes it can be helpful. While this article doesnt have the answer to every single divorce overseas question, its a good starting point to answer some basic ones. Most importantly, remember that while attorneys have shared information here, they arent your attorneys, and you should not take this as legal advice for your particular situation. Among the questions you may have are: How is divorce overseas different from divorce while living stateside? Who has jurisdiction? What if you want to leave your overseas duty station before the divorce is final? What changes if you have children? How does the SCRA apply to divorce? What should you look for in an attorney? Divorce in the military is measured differently than overall divorce rates in the U.S. The divorce rate for the military is a comparison of how many people were married at the beginning of the year and how many people reported getting divorced by the end of the year. In 2019, that rate was 3%. Should you divorce while living overseas? Divorce overseas is infinitely more complicated. Sometimes so much more complicated that couples may wait until they move back to the states to start the proceedings. It can be logistically impracticable to facilitate divorce while stationed overseas due to the complex requirements of litigation in local state-based courts, Sean Timmons, a partner with Tully Rinckey Attorneys and Counselors at Law, a firm with offices throughout the U.S., noted in an email to Military.com. On top of limited legal resources overseas, and physically living far away from your family and support system, the complications continue when you look at custody agreements, mandatory separation times, finding an attorney and determining jurisdiction. That isnt to say you shouldnt get divorced while living overseas, just that there may be additional layers to the proceedings. Who has jurisdiction? When living stateside, one can file for divorce in the state they are living in -- even if you were married in a different state -- as long as you meet the residency requirements. Typically, you file in the last state in the U.S. that the parties resided in for longer than 91 days, said Melissa C. Guggisberg, a former military spouse and attorney licensed in Colorado. But, like many things, divorce can be more complicated when youre a military spouse, because you've moved and then relocated out of the country. Another determining factor is the service member's home of record or home state. Guggisberg said the home state is a good starting point if the parties can't agree on the state in which they should file. Again, when children are involved, this further complicates it. "The children are typically supposed to reside in the appropriate jurisdiction for 182 days prior to the filing, in order for that state to be able to enter custody and parenting orders," Guggisberg said. Ideally, the parents can agree on an appropriate state in which to file, but if the service member files without the spouse's knowledge, there may have to be an evaluation of the jurisdiction. What should you do first? "I have advised when there is a pending divorce, and the parties are overseas, that the spouse considers sharing with command. Not in a malicious way, but in a way that allows them to tap into available resources and get the ability to travel home," Guggisberg said. The Early Return of Dependents (ERD) process is utilized in many situations, and a pending divorce could be one of those. An ERD generally is approved by the garrison commander, provided they are an O-6 or above. The service member must show a valid need for their dependents to return early, that the problem occurred after they moved overseas and that local resources cannot solve the problem, according to information on this sheet. This information from 7th JMTC Legal Assistance (Germany) indicates that if the service member refuses to submit for an ERD, then the spouse can do it -- which may be helpful under a pending divorce. If safety is a concern, then the spouse should do whatever is necessary to be safe, which may mean not waiting for the ERD process or alerting the command to a dangerous situation. Another layer of potential complications exists if children are involved. If you decide not to wait for an approved ERD, a basic notice of intention to leave the country and take the children is required, Guggisberg said. "And that's just because you don't want there to be a perception that they were trying to abscond with the children or hide the children from the service member. And if there's an open door of contact [with the unit], then it's easy to say, that was not what they were doing. But again, if there are safety concerns and domestic violence, there's usually some wiggle room, at least under Colorado law," Guggisberg said. There may be varying viewpoints on some of these things based on the individual state law. "And obviously one of the complications is that divorce and divorce law is dictated by the individual state jurisdiction, Guggisberg said. But of course, there are overarching federal issues that come into play when you're dealing with service members." If the military spouse cannot leave the country for financial or logistical reasons, that doesn't mean the divorce proceedings cannot proceed. Guggisberg said a lot of jurisdictions allow you to appear remotely, use e-filing options and allow both sides to access the court system electronically -- which makes it less of a concern now than it was a decade ago. What about the SCRA? The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which was enacted originally to ease the financial burden on service members, also provides some protection during civil ligation or civil cases, which includes divorce, Guggisberg says, but it's rarely used as a reason not to proceed with the divorce. The SCRA, Guggisberg further explained, is designed to protect the service member from not having noticed that all of a sudden they're divorced -- which could happen if they are not served properly and therefore do not respond in a timely manner, making the divorce appear uncontested. And so if proper notice can be provided and the service member can participate in some manner, even if it's remotely, then a lot of judges will go forward and will not allow the SCRA to trigger delay. Still, if your service member is geobaching, SCRA could cause your divorce proceedings to be delayed until your service member comes stateside, Timmons said in an email. If the service member is overseas under the SCRA, the service member can ask for proceedings to be delayed until they can physically appear in court to attend proceedings, he said. SCRA relief can delay proceedings significantly. What kind of lawyer do you need? When faced with divorce, you'll want representation, and despite the claims that the first person who gets to JAG gets legal advice, that's not exactly the case. You're going to want your own attorney, one who specializes in divorce and one who understands the military. One place to find an attorney would be the Military Spouse JD Network's public directory. "One of the greatest values that I have in my client base is, I can speak military to them and they love being able to come in and use their acronyms and talk military time and talk about their MOS," Guggisberg said. "I think a basic understanding of the military is definitely something that the spouse or service member wants to consider in hiring counsel." Another thing to keep in mind is, does your personality match that of your attorney? Do they understand your ultimate goals? Guggisberg describes herself as a problem solver, not as a "shark who's going to take your spouse for all their worth," and that's an important thing to know about your attorney. "I encourage anybody who's interviewing a lawyer to determine if it's the right fit for them to be open about what it is they're looking for and what their goals are and be open about what their needs are so that the lawyer can then assess those compatibilities," Guggisberg said. Divorce is complicated under the best of situations. Surprises, custody battles and living overseas do not often make for the best of situations. By finding a knowledgeable lawyer, knowing your options as a military spouse living overseas and determining what you want from the situation, you'll be well on your way to a resolution. Keep Up with the Ins and Outs of Military Life For the latest military news and tips on military family benefits and more, subscribe to Military.com and have the information you need delivered directly to your inbox. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Unitech founder Ramesh Chandra, his daughter-in-law Preeti Chandra and real estate promoter Rajesh Malik in connection with a money laundering case. Lookout circular was issued against her Preeti Chandra, the wife of Sanjay Chandra, Unitech promoter and son of Ramesh Chandra. Sanjay Chandra himself is behind bars on charges of money laundering. Preeti Chandra has got the citizenship of Dominica and it is alleged that she was stashing money outside India. All three were arrested following their interrogation at the agency headquarters on Monday. They will be produced in a court on Tuesday, and the ED is expected to seek their custodial remand. In the same case on Saturday, the agency had provisionally attached 29 land parcels measuring 13,600 sq mt having a book value of Rs 30.29 crore in Sector 96-98, Noida The case pertains to the investigation against Unitech Group under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These land parcels were illegally allotted to Carnoustie Management (India) Pvt Ltd (CMPL) by the Chandras of Unitech Group. The source of funds for the said purchase was homebuyer's funds earlier transferred to CMPL by the Chandras. ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of various FIRs registered by the Delhi Police and the CBI, based on complaints by homebuyers against Unitech Group, its promoters and others. "Investigation by ED revealed that Unitech Group had diverted the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 347.95 crore to Carnoustie Group and in turn, the entities of Carnoustie Group purchased several immovable properties in India and abroad from these proceeds of crime. The total proceeds of crime detected by the ED in this case is Rs 7,638.43 crore," the agency stated. Earlier, ED had carried out search operations at 41 locations in NCR and Mumbai, including the premises of Shivalik Group, Trikar Group, Unitech Group and Carnoustie Group. After analysis of seized records followed by the disclosures of various persons, the above diversion and layering of proceeds of crime was unearthed. With this attachment, the total attachment in this case has reached to Rs 672.52 crore. Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article. This story was originally published by ProPublica. Since 2008, McKinsey & Company has regularly advised the Food and Drug Administrations drug-regulation division, according to agency records. The consulting giant has had its hand in a range of important FDA projects, from revamping drug-approval processes to implementing new tools for monitoring the pharmaceutical industry. During that same decade-plus span, as emerged in 2019, McKinsey counted among its clients many of the countrys biggest drug companies not least those responsible for making, distributing and selling the opioids that have ravaged communities across the United States, such as Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson. At times, McKinsey consultants helped those drugmaker clients fend off costly FDA oversight even as McKinsey colleagues assigned to the FDA were working to bolster the agencys regulation of the pharmaceutical market. In one instance, for example, McKinsey consultants helped Purdue and other opioid producers push the FDA to water down a proposed opioid-safety program. The opioid producer ultimately succeeded in weakening the program, even as overdose deaths mounted nationwide. Yet McKinsey, which is famously secretive about its clientele, never disclosed its pharmaceutical company clients to the FDA, according to the agency. This year ProPublica submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA seeking records showing that McKinsey had disclosed possible conflicts of interest to the agencys drug-regulation division as part of contracts spanning more than a decade and worth tens of millions of dollars. The agency responded recently that after a diligent search of our files, we were unable to locate any records responsive to your request. Federal procurement rules require U.S. government agencies to determine whether a contractor has any conflicts of interest. If serious enough, a conflict can disqualify the contractor from working on a given project. McKinseys contracts with the FDA, which ProPublica obtained after filing a FOIA lawsuit, contained a standard provision obligating the firm to disclose to agency officials any possible organizational conflicts. One passage reads: the Contractor agrees it shall make an immediate and full disclosure, in writing, to the Contracting Officer of any potential or actual organizational conflict of interest or the existence of any facts that may cause a reasonably prudent person to question the contractors impartiality because of the appearance or existence of bias. Agency officials rely on disclosure to ensure that they have the information they need to consider whether a contractors other business relationships risk slanting its judgment. Contractors have the obligation to disclose potential conflicts, and then the government has an obligation to figure out how to deal with it, said Jessica Tillipman, an assistant dean and government procurement law expert at George Washington University Law School. Asked for comment, McKinsey did not assert that it disclosed potential conflicts to the FDA. But a spokesperson for the firm, Neil Grace, nonetheless maintained that across more than a decade of service to the FDA, we have been fully transparent that we serve pharmaceutical and medical device companies. McKinseys work with the FDA helped improve the agencys effectiveness through organizational, resourcing, business process, operational, digital, and technology improvements. To achieve its mission, the government regularly seeks support from additional experts who understand both the governments mission and the industries practices. We take seriously our commitment to avoid conflicts and to serve the best interests of the FDA. (McKinsey is a sponsor of ProPublicas local virtual events programming.) McKinseys failure to disclose its industry engagements deprived the FDA of the opportunity to consider whether, for example, the overlap between McKinseys government and pharmaceutical industry projects and the potential financial incentives at play constituted a conflict, experts said. October 05, 2021 CIA Laments About Loss Of Spies In Russia And Elsewhere The CIA's counterintelligence unit was recently sufficiently shocked to send a 'hair on fire' letter to its case officers all over the world. The New York Times reports today (emphasis added): Captured, Killed or Compromised: C.I.A. Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants WASHINGTON Top American counterintelligence officials warned every C.I.A. station and base around the world last week about troubling numbers of informants recruited from other countries to spy for the United States being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter said. The message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables. The cable highlighted the struggle the spy agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world in difficult operating environments. In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the C.I.A.s sources and in some cases turning them into double agents. I know of no organization that would send this kind of letter out of the blue and without immediate cause. 'Hair on fire' letters are usually send after some recent incident happened that had relative grave consequences. So what had happened immediately before this letter went out? I can only think of one recent incident. A week back, on September 29, this news item made the rounds: Russia arrests founder of cybersecurity firm Group-IB for high treason Authorities in Russia have arrested the founder and chief executive officer of prominent cybersecurity company Group-IB Global Private Ltd. on accusations of high treason. Ilya Sachkov, who founded the company in 2003, was arrested today on a warrant issued by Moscows Lefortova district court. The arrested followed a raid on the office of Group-IB on Tuesday. ... Bleeping Computer notes that the company has assisted law enforcement organizations, including the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the International Criminal Police Organization, with information, expertise and statistical data that helped combat cybercriminal endeavors. However, there is some claim that the company refused to cooperate with Russias Federal Security Service outside official contracts or on political issues. According to TASS the arrest of Sachkov took place on Tuesday, September 28: "The Lefortovo District Court of Moscow ruled on September 28 to choose custody for a term until November 27 as a measure of restraint for Ilya K. Sachkov suspected of committing a crime stipulated under Article 275 of Russias Criminal Code (High treason)," the source said. Earlier, media outlets reported that law enforcement officials raided the Moscow office of Group-IB on Tuesday. The companys press service noted that the law enforcement officials left the office in the evening of the same day. The company added that it had no information regarding the reason for the investigation. Another TASS report quotes an anonymous official about the alleged crime: Group-IB founder Ilya Sachkov, arrested earlier over charges of treason, worked for foreign intelligence and handed them classified information on cybersecurity, according to the investigation, a source in law enforcement told TASS. "The investigation suspects Sachkov of handing over classified information on cybersecurity to foreign intelligence agencies," the source said. According to the source, Sachkov could have been "employed" by intelligence agencies of several countries, but they will not be named in the interest of the investigation. "The Federal Security Service (FSB) military counter-intelligence has joined the investigation," the source said. ... In 2016, Sachkov was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. He is an associate professor of the Bauman Moscow State Technical University IT Security Department, and a member of Russian State Duma and Foreign Ministry expert committee. A Russian cybersecurity expert with international contacts and with insight into Russian cybersecurity issues would certainly be a target of CIA recruitment efforts. He wasn't the first one: In 2019, a court sentenced a former top FSB cyber security official to 22 years on treason charges for passing information along to the US. A former senior executive at Kaspersky Lab, Russias top cyber security firm, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in the same case, details of which were not made public. The New York Times report notes that the CIA's problem is partitally caused by giving the wrong incentives to case officers. Misaligned incentive structures are a typical problem in U.S. human resource management: Recruiting new informants, former officials said, is how the C.I.A.s case officers its frontline spies earn promotions. Case officers are not typically promoted for running good counterintelligence operations, such as figuring out if an informant is really working for another country. ... The loss of informants, former officials said, is not a new problem. But the cable demonstrated the issue is more urgent than is publicly understood. Russia's counterintelligence will surely have had a close look at Sachkov. Unfortunately it is unlikely that it will reveal how it has caught him. Posted by b on October 5, 2021 at 18:00 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page The complete list of candidates for the District 31 seat in the Texas Senate is not complete. Actually, the district is not set as redistricting is currently taking place. But even if the district that includes Midland, Odessa and Amarillo doesnt change dramatically one of the key persons in the Republican nomination process likely will be someone whose name will not appear on the ballot. That person is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Last week, the Republican was in Midland and during his comments at the Permian Basin Petroleum Associations Annual Meeting, he told the oil industry leaders that the Texas Senate the branch of state government that he oversees is without adequate representation of any oil men or women. (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. Interestingly, an oilman from Midland has publicly announced his intention to run for state senate Kevin Sparks. And also noteworthy is Patrick made the comment, knowing that Sparks has announced and that the current occupant of the District 31 seat Sen. Kel Seliger doesnt have an oil background. But as those in Midland know well, Seliger and Patrick have publicly feuded. Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance Executive Director James Beauchamp said the conflict has impacted the region. In January 2019, after Seliger made comments that a Patrick aide could kiss his backside, the lieutenant governor not only removed Seliger from his longtime position as chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee but also off the committee altogether. Patrick also removed Seliger from the Public Education Committee and the powerful Finance Committee. Seliger current serves as vice-chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and sits on the committees for Health & Human Services, Natural Resources & Economic Development, Veteran Affairs & Border Security and Nominations. The last four years we have operated without a state senator. That is unfortunate, Beauchamp told the Reporter-Telegram, because there are a lot of people out here who could have used one. It would be nice if (the District 31 senator) was a little bit constituent-oriented -- someone we could go to and ask for help. We havent had that for four years. Sparks, during an initial conversation with the Reporter-Telegram about running for state senate, offered the following about the Patrick-Seliger dynamic. Obviously, there are only 31 senators, Sparks said. And so, if you're not able to at least work with the person that runs the organization -- this being the senate -- it does render you somewhat ineffective, because you're constantly swimming upstream. Note: Emails to Sen. Seligers campaign office were not returned. On Sunday, ProLife Midland held the annual Life Chain event. Heres hoping it accomplishes everything organizers were hoping for, including bringing attention to destruction of life that occurs every year in our nation. Some may think since the passage of Senate Bill 8, that pro-life Texans can let the foot off the gas. That shouldnt take place. No matter what happens with the new law and others around the nation attempting to protect the unborn, we need those in the pro-life movement to keep up the intensity (peacefully, of course), just like we need others would had previously thrown in the towel to rejoin the fight. Having written that, I stumbled across an interview on YouTube with Jason Whitlock, a columnist, podcaster and digital TV host for Blaze Media. He was talking with Tucker Carlson about abortion, alleged racism on the right and the fight over what it true. -- Whitlock: Tucker, we're looking at, and we're living in an era where the truth is under a level of attack that it has never been under. You have to understand it from a Biblical perspective -- God is a search for truth, God is truth, the Gospel is truth. And it's under attack in this very secular society. And they're very clever and strategic about how they're going about it. The whole defining of truth as offensive in this whole, little safe space society we've built -- where everybody lives in fear of saying anything that someone can define as offensive -- is an attack on truth. Because the truth, particularly Biblical truth in this era, is probably offensive and will make people uncomfortable. But we're creating a society where we want to make sure anything that comes out of our mouth doesn't make any single person on the planet uncomfortable. Therefore, it is impossible to get to the truth. Strategy No. 2, which is just as effective or perhaps the most effective, is they frame -- the left has and the Democratic Party has framed -- every argument in racial terms, and they control the racial conversation in this country. If they say, abortion is freedom; abortion is an extension of white supremacy, even though the truth and the facts say 40 percent of the abortions in America are happening to Black women, and we're killing about 650 Black babies per day here in America through abortion. Abortion -- if it is an extension of white supremacy -- it's because it's executing a genocide on Black babies. The protection of abortion rights is in no way protecting Black people. But the Democratic Party has just been so clever in its assault on the truth, and its silencing of truth and anybody that speaks against it. I just got to tip my hat to them, because this is a propaganda campaign the likes of which I'm not sure we've ever seen in the history of the planet, and it's effective. And if men and women don't stand up -- and those of us that believe in truth, those of us that believe in the founding principles of this country -- if we don't stand up, they're going to continue to slaughter us with lies framed as truth. Tucker: If you love someone, wouldn't you encourage them to have kids to reproduce to be fruitful and multiply? Whitlock: You certainly would if you want them to experience the highest level of joy that life has to offer. And I think that it is, having, raising and developing young kids. Obviously, family is at the root of all successful societies; we are destroying that under a barrage of lies. Tucker, as a Black man, a proud Black man in this country, I'm so offended that we, as Black people, are being used by the left political machine in an attempt to grab power. They're using our previous pain and discrimination to bring us down and this entire nation down. And I'm just begging those of us who are believers and those of us with any common sense, we must call this unbelievable racism that we're seeing from the left, we must call it out. We must stand up against it, call it exactly what it is. If there's anybody imitating Hitler (and) Margaret Sanger, it is the left. They're trying to destroy this country. And they're doing it by destroying Black people first, and then using race and the religion of race that they've replaced Christianity and the Judeo-Christian values that made this country great. It was our pursuit of the approval of God that may in this country accomplish great things. Now, we're all begging to be on the right side of some racial history that the left is going to write. -- On Sunday, my pastor reminded me that good work reflects the character of God. There is still good work to be accomplished, especially with some wanting to hijack what is right and what is truth. When we speak about what we know to be truth, we shouldnt worry about offending, just like there are others who dont worry about offending believers. Be respectful and treat one another as you would want to be treated, but dont sit there as the truth is being re-written before our very eyes. Michigan Technological University marked a milestone in its commitment to the Grand Traverse region yesterday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that officially opened its Traverse City research workspace. Located in the Traverse Connect building at 202 Grandview Parkway, the research hub is Michigan Techs inaugural workspace in Northern Lower Michigan. All of us at Michigan Tech are pleased to take the next step in our partnership with the Grand Traverse region, said Michigan Tech President Rick Koubek. By establishing a physical presence in partnership with the community, were amplifying opportunities for research, talent development and educational outreach, both at the K-12 and post-secondary levels. Michigan Tech President Rick Koubek speaks at the Oct. 4 official opening of the Michigan Tech Grand Traverse Area research workspace in the Traverse Connect building at 202 Grandview Parkway. "We are proud to be the primary sponsor for Michigan Tech Grand Traverse Area," said Warren Call, president and CEO of Traverse Connect. "Michigan Tech is a national leader in public research and innovative partnerships with the business and government sectors. Hosting faculty and staff of Michigan Tech in Traverse City brings needed talent and capabilities to our growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, fostering the further growth of our economy." Since March 2019, MTU and members of the Grand Traverse Area Michigan Tech Steering Committee, chaired by Bill Myers, CEO of Promethient Inc., have collaborated to develop research and technology commercialization partnerships, tailor talent development programs and strengthen K-12 educational opportunities. The Traverse City workspace will advance research in areas such as aerospace communications, manufacturing simulations and renewable energy, said Jay Meldrum, director of MTUs Keweenaw Research Center and the official point of contact and liaison for Tech in the Grand Traverse area. The efforts complement Michigan Techs existing partnerships with Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), including the 2+2 program, which allows students to attend NMC for two years and then transfer their credits toward completion of a bachelors degree program at Tech. Other partnering opportunities focus on the coastal nature of both regions and include MTUs Great Lakes Research Center and NMCs Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. About Traverse Connect: Traverse Connect is the lead economic development organization for the Grand Traverse Region, which supports area businesses through a combination of business attraction and retention strategies, talent development efforts and strategic coordination among partner agencies. Traverse Connect is the lead entity serving the region in support of business growth and development, alongside partner organization Venture North Funding and Development. Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure. The case in the death of a Jacksonville native whose body was found in 2019 in a Morgan County, Indiana, ditch is moving forward. Justin M. Blake of Indianapolis will have a pretrial hearing at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 22. He is charged with two counts of murder and one count of robbery in the death of Alexander Dashiell Jackson, a 2014 graduate of Jacksonville High School. Britney D. Overton of Indianapolis also was charged with one count of murder and one count of robbery in Jacksons death. Blake had filed a lawsuit claiming his right to a speedy trial was violated by COVID-19 pandemic-related delays, but Indiana courts ruled against him. Morgan County, Indiana, States Attorney Steve Sonnega said the trials were delayed by the pandemic but they are ready to move forward. We just got a ruling that we did not violate (Blakes) rights after he claimed the delays violated his right to a speedy trial, Sonnega said. His attorney can appeal, but he is currently scheduled for a pre-trial in November. Jackson was living and working in Indiana while studying environmental science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis before his death. Indianapolis television station WTHR said court documents indicate the homicide might have stemmed from a dispute over money Jackson was accused of taking from Overtons sister. Overton reportedly tried to get a gun a few days before Jacksons death and she removed him as a friend on Facebook minutes after police believe he was killed, according to a probable cause affidavit. Blake and Overton remain in jail pending trial, Sonnega said. Overton is scheduled for a jury trial in December, though Sonnega said her case likely will be heard after Blakes. Jacksonville Police THEFTS, BURGLARIES Several items were removed between 4 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Monday from a vehicle parked in the 500 block of South Kosciusko Street. Two hubcaps were stolen during the past month from a vehicle parked in the 200 block of Allen Avenue, according to a report filed at 9:04 a.m. Monday. Several counterfeit bills were recovered at 11:42 a.m. Monday from a business in the 200 block of Dunlap Court. Thirty Vicodin pills were stolen from a residence in the 800 block of South Diamond Street, according to a report filed at 12:26 p.m. Monday. Pike County Sheriff ARRESTS, CITATIONS Ryan T. Brown, 34, of Barry was arrested at 11:03 a.m. Sept. 28 on charges of domestic battery and violation of a bail bond warrant and on a petition to revoke. Steven D. Cohenour, 50, of Baylis was arrested at 9:52 p.m. Sunday on a petition to revoke. Timothy J.L. Strieker, 31, of Columbia, Missouri, was arrested at 1:59 a.m. Sept. 27 on a charge of driving under the influence. Elida Capps, 44, of Pittsfield was arrested at 8:20 p.m. Thursday on a domestic battery charge. Dustin S. Lewis, 38, of New Salem was arrested at 9:58 p.m. Sunday on a petition to revoke. Christopher D. Edwards, 39, of Hollister was arrested at 1:27 a.m. Saturday on a petition to revoke. William W. Gauch, 40, of Hannibal, Missouri, was arrested at 2:43 p.m. Thursday on a theft charge. Jennifer K. Hughes, 38, of Pleasant Hill was arrested at 2:40 p.m. Sunday on a Calhoun County warrant accusing her of possession of methamphetamine. Compiled by David C.L. Bauer PIASA A Southwestern High School student was being held Monday in a juvenile detention center following the assault of another student over a rainbow-colored flag usually associated with support for gay rights. The assault happened Thursday at the high school, during what was meant to be a flag-themed day. According to accounts, a 17-year-old student was told by another student to get rid of the rainbow flag. As the teen asked why, another student apparently ran up and started punching him in the head while trying to remove the flag by force. The teen was injured, but the extent of the injuries was unclear. Macoupin County Sheriffs Department referred questions to the states attorneys office because the student who was detained is a minor. States Attorney Jordan Garrison confirmed the event and said the accused assailant was charged with aggravated battery. There was no mention of whether the act would be considered a hate crime, which could bring heightened penalties. In Illinois, a hate crime generally is one committed on the basis of the victims perceived or actual race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or national origin, according to the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes. Southwestern High School Principal Mark Healy declined to comment and referred questions to district Superintendent Kyle Hacke. It was red, white and blue day, Hacke said. Although he said he could not go into detail, he confirmed there was an assault on Thursday. Social media postings obtained by the Journal-Courier showed some terse exchanges among several students after the incident. One student posted, You wear a gay Pride flag to school and you dont expect people to do anything? You go to Southern (sic) High, where we support the Confederate flag and you wonder why you get beat up? In another posting, a student asked what happened: Some gay kid brought a gay pride flag in and some kid beat the (expletive) out of him. The student responded, Well dont send him in a country ass school wearin some gay (expletive) if you dont want his ass beat. The COVID-19 era brought a record number of drug overdose deaths more than 93,000 last year fed in part by a surging cybercrime industry selling fake pharmaceuticals. The Drug Enforcement Administration just issued a public warning over the growing number of fake pills bought online, some of which are laced with potentially lethal amounts of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Cybercrime experts say its just the latest sign of how big the problem has become, and how little law enforcement can do to stop it. Millions of counterfeit medications have been confiscated just this year, many of them containing lethal doses of fentanyl. If you are wondering how much fentanyl is too much, the DEA said a deadly dose is small enough to fit on the top of a pencil. According to the alert, counterfeit pills are illegally manufactured by criminal drug networks and are made to look like real prescription opioid medications such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and alprazolam (Xanax); or stimulants like amphetamines (Adderall). Fake prescription pills are widely accessible and often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms making them available to anyone with a smartphone, including minors, the DEA reports. A lot of that is happening because people are taking things and they dont expect it to be there, Matt Albence, former acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a cybercrime roundtable last week hosted by United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade. The group is a public-private partnership working to fight black market trade. The challenge, Hernan Albamonte of Philip Morris International told the roundtable, is that social media and online sales put potentially dangerous counterfeit products right at the average web surfers fingertips. It is a growing threat to our national security and it impacts every law-abiding American, said Albamonte. The criminals are nimble enough to avoid law enforcement and strong enough to recruit vulnerable citizens. According to the DEAs public alert, the first it issued since 2015, the majority of the pills confiscated in the U.S. are made in Mexico with chemicals provided by China. Albence, whose background is in law enforcement, said thats the trend hes observed. And, he added, the money Americans spend on these counterfeit goods ends up abroad as well. And not in friendly hands. A lot of this money is going to support these transnational criminal organizations, Albence said. Its not a victimless crime. And its reaching into the heartland. Just days before the DEA announcement, police in the Seattle suburb of Burien, Washington, seized 41,530 fentanyl-laced tablets in a single arrest. In Minnesota, DEA investigators have seized about 74,000 pills in 2021, up from fewer than 1,500 pills seized just three years ago. This is not an East Coast or West Coast problem, but one that the entire nation is facing, DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said in a statement. Were seeing these pills in our own Midwestern communities. And according to the panelists, the common denominator is the ability to use the internet, particularly popular sites like Amazon and eBay, to sell counterfeit products. With the rapid increase in e-commerce, cybercrime is another source of income for criminal enterprises from schemes like phishing attacks to ransomware to selling counterfeit and stolen products online through marketplaces we usually order from every day. Cyber touches every single point of the supply chain, Bill Schenkelberg of Red Sky Alliance told the panel. And as for consumers looking online to save money on medications? A purchaser cannot and should not trust the safety and efficacy of these drugs. Its a major public health risk. The net impact is real risks to customers and real damage to American businesses. In 2019, counterfeit products alone robbed the U.S. economy more than $131 billion and more than 325,500 jobs as well, said Albamonte. Those revenues should have been used to build roads, help hospitals fight the pandemic outbreaks, or improve our schools. Instead, criminals are getting rich. So, what should consumers be on the lookout for when shopping for products? Check the directions, especially with medications, and see if there are misspelled words or punctuation marks, said Albence, who also said to note the price as well. If its listed for $100 on legitimate websites and $35 on another, there is something wrong there. Its not a victimless crime, and its not just a guy selling fake Rolex watches for $25, Albamonte added. That money goes to really bad people that want to do really bad things. Chris Woodward writes about industry and technology for InsideSources. Simply saying something over and over doesnt make it so. I know, because Ive tried it. No matter how many times I say, Im a good golfer, Im a good golfer, the reality is I still stink, as anyone who has seen me on the course will verify. Yet, the George Costanza its-not-a-lie-if-you-believe-it strategy is alive and thriving in the highest levels of government and media. For Exhibit A and there are others but well just stick with this one lets examine the Border patrol agents on horses seen whipping migrants story. The problem with this story is it never actually happened, but the president of the United States, his administration and too many media outlets pretended it did. At a press conference, President Biden threatened border patrol agents. Its outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. Pay how and for what, were not sure. It was horrible to see what you saw, to see people treated like they did horses nearly running them over, people being strapped, Biden said. Heres the problem, Mr. President. I didnt see it and neither did you or anyone else. What we did see is a photo of border patrol agents on horseback twirling reins, which are used to steer a horse. Not that anyone would mistake me for Roy Rogers, but I know that much. There are no photos of agents whipping migrants. None. Nor is there any video, in an age when theres video of everything. The photographer, Paul Ratje, who took the controversial images to which the president and his acolytes refer, told KTSM-TV in El Paso that he never saw agents whipping anyone. Some of the Haitian men started running, trying to go around the horses, Ratje, told the TV station. Ive never seen them whip anyone. He was swinging it, but it can be misconstrued when youre looking at the picture. Ratjes images were published on a Sunday. The next day, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended border patrol agents, saying they often use long reins to control horses to keep people from coming too close and getting seriously injured. But by Tuesday, Mayorkas said he was horrified by the images. By Wednesday, there was an investigation underway and the agents involved were on desk duty. What changed? There were no new photos. The skeptical me wonders if Mayorkas got a phone call from someone in the White House Monday night encouraging him to take a second look at the photos and come up with a different interpretation. In other words, look at the photo as you would Monets Impression, Sunrise and see whatever you like. Another consequence of this false story other than truth itself is that border patrol agents are no longer allowed to use horses. It should be noted that mounted law enforcement officers are not new. Horses have been used, mostly for crowd control, in big cities throughout the country for decades. Theyve used horses on the border because agents are often traversing unpaved roads and paths. No matter. As long as were reacting to something that never happened, we need to keep up the pretense. Let the investigation continue and never let the facts get in the way. It seems that the story in Del Rio, Texas the real story, the worsening border crisis, the humanitarian catastrophe was generally ignored by the media and political class until Ratjes photos went viral. Why? I dont think its a stretch to suggest that border patrol agents whipping migrants is an attractive narrative for those who favor lax immigration or open borders policies. Besides, the truth is far too embarrassing. Now, according to Mayorkas, some 12,000 unvaccinated, COVID-untested Haitian migrants who showed up in Del Rio have been transferred into the countrys interior. So much for Your journey will not succeed, as Mayorkas had warned. Vice President Harris, who was put in charge of getting control of illegal immigration at the border, has said next to nothing about the crisis, which she helped create. However, she did weigh in surprise on the photos of border patrol agents on horseback, saying they evoke times of slavery. To recap, the Biden administration made the choice to perpetuate a false story, declare war on its own border agents, show the U.S. as a racist, intolerant country, and ensure that the media is sufficiently distracted by the lie thus diverting attention from the overarching issue which is this if you dont have a secure border, you will eventually cease to have a country. Political expediency defeats reality, again. Rich Manieri is a journalist and author. He is a professor of journalism at Asbury University in Kentucky. He can be reached at manieri2@gmail.com. Japans Kishida, Biden agree to cooperate on China, N Korea View Photo TOKYO (AP) Japans new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held his first talks since taking office with President Joe Biden and confirmed they will work to strengthen their alliance and cooperate in regional security in the face of growing challenges from China and North Korea. Kishida, who was elected by parliament and sworn in Monday, told reporters that Biden reassured him of the U.S. commitment to defend the Japanese-controlled East China Sea island of Senkaku, which China also claims and has escalated its coast guard activity in the area. Biden provided a strong statement about U.S. commitment for the defense of Japan, including Senkaku, Kishida said, adding that the two leaders also reaffirmed they would tackle together the challenges facing neighboring regions such as China and North Korea. Kishida supports stronger Japan-U.S. security ties and partnerships with other democracies in Asia and Europe, including the U.K., in part to counter China and nuclear-armed North Korea. Kishida has also pledged to beef up Japans missile and naval defense capabilities. Kishida on Monday acknowledged the need to continue dialogue with China, an important neighbor and trade partner, but said that we must speak up against Chinas attempt to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas. The two leaders confirmed their commitment to work together toward the (asterisk)free and open Indo-Pacific, a vision of partnerships among the regional democracies as a counterbalance to Chinas increasingly assertive actions, Kishida said. Holding his first talks as prime minister with the U.S. president serves a first step toward elevating the Japan-U.S. alliance to even higher levels, Kishida said. The 20-minute phone conversation Monday, proposed by Japan, started with Biden congratulating Kishida. The leaders agreed to call each other by their first names, and agreed to meet at an early date. While Kishida had a upbeat diplomatic debut, media surveys conducted over the last 24 hours showed support ratings for his new Cabinet were about 15 points lower than the initial high support his unpopular predecessor Yoshihide Suga enjoyed last year. In the Mainichi newspaper telephone survey published Tuesday, 49% of 1,035 respondents supported the Kishida Cabinet, compared to 64% Suga initially enjoyed, and 40% dissapproved of Kishida. The Nikkei newspaper phone survey showed 59% of 854 respondents supporting Kishidas Cabinet, also 15 points below Sugas. Many of those who disapproved of Kishida cited customary power broking by party heavyweights behind his victory. Later Monday, Kishida held online talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, agreeing to strengthen their security and economic ties bilaterally and as part of the Quad alliance, which also includes the United States and India, to promote the regional peace and stability, Japans Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Kishida expressed his support for a newly launched security partnership among Australia, Britain and the United States. He and Morrison reaffirmed their strong objection to what they see as Chinas policy of coercive economic measures and unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the regional seas, the ministry said. Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her congratulatory message to Kishida, released Tuesday by her office: Germany is looking full of confidence toward working with you to further deepen the friendship between our people and stand up together for free trade, multilateralism, rules-based order and peaceful conflict solution. Kishida, 64, had been known as a moderate in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party but won the partys leadership last week after a hawkish turn on security and taking a more conservative stance on gender equality and other issues. He succeeds Suga, who resigned after only one year in office after seeing his support plunging over his handling of the virus and insistence on holding the Olympics seen as high-handed and ignoring the publics concerns. ___ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Poland warns potential migrants Belarus border is closed View Photo WARSAW, Poland (AP) The government of Poland is working to warn potential migrants that the countrys border with Belarus is sealed and is not a passage into the European Union, a deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. Polands diplomats in Middle Eastern and African countries are talking to local media and posting messages on the most popular communication channels to stop people from trying to illegally enter the EU through Belarus, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said. A number of migrants, mostly from Iraq, have recently died from exhaustion as they tried to get from Belarus to Poland across an area of forests and swamps. The Polish diplomats are also speaking with government officials in certain countries to raise their awareness and to urge them to warn and protect their citizens, Przydacz said. We want to help these people; hence, our diplomatic activity in these countries and our warnings that they may fall victim to deception, he said. EU members Poland and Lithuania have faced recent migration pressure from their borders with Belarus. They have accused the Belarusian government of offering free tourist visas and intentionally misinforming people they can find refuge in the EU by illegally crossing into the neighboring nations. Alleging that Belarus is acting in retaliation for Western sanctions, the Polish and Lithuanian governments have insulated their borders with more guards, military troops and razor wire fences. The executive director of Europes border security agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, visited Polands border with Belarus and was impressed by the means deployed to secure the border, Frontex said. It said Leggeri thanked Poland for cooperating with Frontex since the beginning of the crisis for Polands border with Belarus is also the blocs eastern border. Przydacz said this assessment showed that Polands border guards were doing their job properly and no Frontex reinforcements were needed, as has been suggested by the EUs Executive Commission. Humanitarian organizations and Polands influential Roman Catholic Church have criticized the Polish government for turning back groups of migrants that include families with children. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Belarus have voted to suspend an agreement with the EU obliging the ex-Soviet nation to take back migrants that crossed its territory and illegally got into the bloc. ___ Follow APs coverage of migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA Associated Press Israeli president in Ukraine to honor Holocaust victims View Photo KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Israels president arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to honor the victims of the Babi Yar massacre eight decades after one of the most infamous Nazi mass slaughters of World War II. Nearly 34,000 Jews were killed within 48 hours in Babi Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital, when Kyiv was under Nazi occupation in 1941. SS troops carried out the massacre with local collaborators. It is imperative to keep speaking about this horrific event and learn its lessons, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said before arriving for the first state visit of his presidency. The only way to build a present and future in which atrocities and crimes against humanity can find no foothold is to study the past, including the Holocaust and persecution of the Jewish people, Herzog said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after meeting with Herzog, The memory of these victims is sacred for us, for each Ukrainian. Zelenskyy, Herzog and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are set to attend a ceremony Wednesday to remember the victims of the massacre. The three are also scheduled to inaugurate a memorial center, still under construction, dedicated to the stories of Eastern European Jews who were killed and buried in mass graves during the Holocaust. Of the 2.5 million Jews, 1.5 million died in Ukraine alone. Speaking Tuesday at a conference in Kyiv about the Babi Yar massacre, Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israels national Holocaust memorial, noted the importance of an uncompromising look and complete acceptance of all the painful facts of the past for Ukraine. It is extremely important to memorialize the Jewish victims of the Nazis, he said. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to recognize and teach about the role of local collaborators in Babi Yar as well as in other places during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem marked the anniversary of the massacre by uploading a new online exhibit featuring photographs of Jews murdered in Babi Yar, which the World Holocaust Remembrance Center has collected over the years. This moving exhibit serves as an eternal remembrance and silent testimony to the persecution of the Jewish people, and specifically the Jewish community of Ukraine, Dayan said. During the fateful massacre between 29-30 September 1941, 33,771 Jews were brutally murdered, whole families destroyed in matter of hours or days, sometimes four generations, at Babi Yar. In many instances, these images are all that remain to remember their very existence. By YURAS KARMANAU Associated Press THOMSON, Ga. (AP) At least one person has been killed in a plane crash in east Georgia, authorities said Tuesday. The plane went down Tuesday morning in a field in the Thomson area, The Augusta Chronicle reported. The Plainview ISD School Board granted Superintendent H.T. Sanchez permission to negotiate a contract for the construction at La Mesa Elementary. The district received competitive sealed proposals for the work at La Mesa from three different companies including Teinert Construction, Lee Lewis Construction, Inc., and Wiley Hicks, Jr., Inc. Prior to the beginning of construction, the district put together an evaluation committee to assess the qualifications for each construction project and during a special called meeting on Tuesday, Sanchez told the board Teinert Construction seems to be the frontrunner for the La Mesa remodel and construction based on time estimations, cost estimations and several other factors. The work is part of a $76.62 million bond package passed by voters in 2019 to take the district down to three elementary campuses, one intermediate campus (for 5th and 6th grades) and one middle school campus (for 7th and 8th grades). Teinerts bid came out to be the lowest with an estimated base time of 625 days to complete the work. Sanchez said he feels comfortable with all the details and plans negotiate a contract with the company with the boards approval, which was granted unanimously by a vote of 5-0. Board members JoAnn Rey and Sofia Rivera were absent. It was emphasized that this approval does not guarantee Teinert the bid. This approval just grants Sanchez authority attempt to negotiate a contract with the company regarding construction. The board later granted Sanchez approval to officially award the bid and move forward with the contract if both parties are able to reach a satisfactory negotiation. The board voted unanimously in favor for that motion. Sanchez emphasized to the board that the contract would be thoroughly reviewed by the districts attorney before he gives officially approval. That will give the chosen construction company a chance to start ordering materials and breaking ground for construction, he said. The district is working with Parkhill on plans and will seek their guidance as well as the La Mesa project moves forward. While cranes, gates and construction materials are a common sight at most Plainview ISD campus locations, work continues on the inside as well. The last item on Tuesdays agenda was for a large furniture purchase for Coronado Middle School. The board approved a Phase 1 furniture purchase from Indeco Sales Lubbock, a company based out of Belton. The purchase includes shelves, seating, tables, book boxes and multiple other items from Indeco for $245,940.28. The motion also included approval of Balt Power Towers from GovConnection Inc. out of Merrimack, New Hampshire. The total cost is $17,867.50. The funds will come out of the 2021-2022 Budget from the bond. The world's electric grids are creaking under the pressure of volatile fossil-fuel prices and the imperative of weaning the world off polluting energy sources. A solution may be at hand, thanks to an innovative battery that's a cheaper alternative to lithium-ion technology. SB Energy Corp., a U.S. renewable-energy firm that's an arm of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., is making a record purchase of the batteries manufactured by ESS Inc. The Oregon company says it has new technology that can store renewable energy for longer and help overcome some of the reliability problems that have caused blackouts in California and record-high energy prices in Europe. The units, which rely on something called "iron-flow chemistry," will be used in utility-scale solar projects dotted across the U.S., allowing those power plants to provide electricity for hours after the sun sets. SB Energy will buy enough batteries over the next five years to power 50,000 American homes for a day. "Long-duration energy storage, like this iron-flow battery, are key to adding more renewables to the grid," said Venkat Viswanathan, a battery expert and associate professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. ESS was founded in 2011 by Craig Evans, now president, and Julia Song, the chief technology officer. They recognized that while lithium-ion batteries will play a key role in electrification of transportation, longer duration grid-scale energy storage needed a different battery. That's because while the price of lithium-ion batteries has declined 90% over the last decade, their ingredients, which sometimes include expensive metals such as cobalt and nickel, limit how low the price can fall. The deal for 2 gigawatt-hours of batteries is worth at least $300 million, according to ESS. Rich Hossfeld, chief executive officer of SB Energy, said the genius of the units lies in their simplicity. "The battery is made of iron salt and water," said Hossfeld. "Unlike lithium-ion batteries, iron flow batteries are really cheap to manufacture." Every battery has four components: two electrodes between which charged particles shuffle as the battery is charged and discharged, electrolyte that allows the particles to flow smoothly and a separator that prevents the two electrodes from forming a short circuit. Flow batteries, however, look nothing like the battery inside smartphones or electric cars. That's because the electrolyte needs to be physically moved using pumps as the battery charges or discharges. That makes these batteries large, with ESS's main product sold inside a shipping container. What they take up in space, they can make up in cost. Lithium-ion batteries for grid-scale storage can cost as much as $350 per kilowatt-hour. But ESS says its battery could cost $200 per kWh or less by 2025. Crucially, adding storage capacity to cover longer interruptions at a solar or wind plant may not require purchasing an entirely new battery. Flow batteries require only extra electrolyte, which in ESS's case can cost as little as $20 per kilowatt hour. "This is a big, big deal," said Eric Toone, science lead at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which has invested in ESS. "We've been talking about flow batteries forever and ever and now it's actually happening." The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration built a flow battery as early as 1980. Because these batteries used water, they presented a much safer option for space applications than lithium-ion batteries developed around that time, which were infamous for catching on fire. Hossfeld says he's been able to get permits for ESS batteries, even in wildfire-prone California, that wouldn't have been given to lithium-ion versions. Still, there was a problem with iron flow batteries. During charging, the battery can produce a small amount of hydrogen, which is a symptom of reactions that, left unchecked, shorten the battery's life. ESS's main innovation, said Song, was a way of keeping any hydrogen produced within the system and thus hugely extending its life. "As soon as you close the loop on hydrogen, you suddenly turn a lab prototype into a commercially viable battery option," said Viswanathan. ESS's iron-flow battery can endure more than 20 years of daily use without losing much performance, said Hossfeld. At the company's factory near Portland, yellow robots cover plastic sheets with chemicals and glue them together to form the battery cores. Inside the shipping containers, vats full of electrolyte feed into each electrode through pumps - allowing the battery to do its job of absorbing renewable power when the sun shines and releasing it when it gets dark. It's a promising first step. ESS's battery is a cheap solution that can currently provide about 12 hours of storage, but utilities will eventually need batteries that can last much longer as more renewables are added to the grid. Earlier this month, for example, the lack of storage contributed to a record spike in power prices across the U.K. when wind speeds remained low for weeks. Startups such as Form Energy Inc. are also using iron, an abundant and cheap material, to build newer forms of batteries that could beat ESS on price. So far, ESS has commercially deployed 8 megawatt-hours of iron flow batteries. Last week, after a six-month evaluation, Spanish utility Enel Green Power SpA signed a single deal for ESS to build an equivalent amount. SB Energy's Hossfeld, who also sits on ESS's board, said the company would likely buy still more battery capacity from ESS in the next five years. Even as its order books fill up, ESS faces a challenging road ahead. Bringing new batteries to market is notoriously difficult and the sector is littered with failed startups. Crucially, lithium-ion technology got a head start and customers are more familiar with its pros and cons. ESS will have to prove that its batteries can meet the rigorous demands of power plant operators. The new order should help ESS as it looks to go public within weeks through a special-purpose acquisition company at a valuation of $1.07 billion. The listing will net the company $465 million, which it plans to use to scale up its operations. - - - Bloomberg's Tom Metcalf contributed to this report. Taco 'bout dream job: McCormick announced the acquisition of El Paso native Jo Luna as the spice company's first-ever Director of Taco Relations. The dream job opening, announced earlier this year, was sought after by more than 5,000 applicants. I cant express how excited I am for this opportunity to share my genuine love for tacos, says Jo Luna, the company's new Director of Taco Relations in a statement. To me, there is no better way to form a connection than by sharing a meal. I am going to show the world just how amazing my heritage is, one taco at a time. Luna, a Texan storyteller and content creator, often discusses her culture and cuisine on her YouTube channel. Her love of tacos stems from her Hispanic heritage and growing up in El Paso. At McCormick, Luna will be tasked with working with the company's branding team to develop recipes using the McCormick Taco Seasoning Mix. She will also connect with fellow taco connoisseurs to discuss the latest taco trends. McCormick's first-ever taco expert position pays $100,000, according to the announcement. McCormick says they are floored by the enthusiastic response to the job opening, and expressed excitement over bringing Luna on board. Among thousands of creative and fun video submissions, we were impressed with Jos enthusiasm, professionalism and of course her passion for tacos," says Jill Pratt, chief marketing excellence Officer for McCormick. "Were confident that Jo is the perfect person to help bring new taco trends to life and develop recipes with our fantastic culinary team as Director of Taco Relations. Courtesy of Shaunda Robledo A new addition to San Antonios culinary scene is officially celebrating its opening in a big way. After quietly opening its doors this summer, Panjaz Panamanian Cuisine is welcoming San Antonians to its grand opening on Wednesday, November 3, which is also Panamas Independence Day. The festivities will include a Panamanian DJ, folklorico dancers, and food giveaways. A proposal to extend a beloved natural trail at McAllister Park turned into a tense battle of environmental use versus accessibility during a public evening meeting on Monday, October 4. More than 70 passionate San Antonians packed the forum, with about 30 voicing their concern or support over the greenway addition to the city (picture a heated public meeting held by Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation). The proposed project would extend the currently all-natural Mud Creek Trail using a 10-foot-wide concrete trail. Eventually, it would connect to a planned expansion of the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System a citywide network that has 84 miles of hike-and-bike trails across San Antonio. Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com What is the project? Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com In the meeting, Brandon Ross, manager for the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails System, discussed how the Mud Creek Greenway would offer 1.6 miles of ADA-accessible trails while also providing connections northward along Mud Creek towards Thousands Oaks. Eventually, it will link to another proposed trail expansion northward from Bulverde Road to past Loop 1604, Ross said. Ross added the project would also likely become a part of the highly anticipated 100-mile Great Springs Project that aims to connect San Antonio to Austin through New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Buda. The Mud Creek Greenway is in the design phase; funds from Bexar County won't become available until 2026. The rejected alternative route Concerned citizen Laura Matthews expressed how she loves the greenway system in the meeting but doesn't approve of the Mud Creek extension as it's one of the only natural trails left that allow you to escape from the city. She brought up how the city should reconsider using its initial CPS easement route instead. Ross said the CPS easement is one of the three routes the city looked at as an option. However, he said the CPS route created safety concerns that would require three residential street crossings to protect trail users from potential vehicular danger. The CPS easement would also require trail improvements related to gated neighborhood entrances, Ross said. Additionally, the Mud Creek Greenway doesn't involve land acquisitions. Priscilla Aguirre, MySA.com Accessibility use on the proposed project Resident Trent Tunks voiced how he's for the Mud Creek project because it would become accessible for all, which he loves as a wheelchair user. "For me, the Howard Peak Greenway System is one of our city's greatest assets," Tunks said. "All of you who love the Mud Creek Trail, tell me all about it because I can't get there. I believe adding the Mud Creek Greenway trail system would open up more of our park to a wider variety of users. I believe if we take a stance of having no more paved trails in our park, then we are just shutting people out of those parks." Environmental and proximity cons Sharron Niesen said one of her biggest concerns is the animals being displaced. She expressed the construction and the concrete would hurt the wildlife in the area. "Just because we are connected by concrete doesn't mean we are connected to nature," she said. "We need to maintain our trails. They are absolutely gorgeous trails, but we need to stop thinking humans can take away from Mother Nature and [that] we have to have concrete in order to have a great time." May Ashton, who lives along the proposed project, said she believes the greenway connection would cause a safety concern for her gated community. She said it could result in her and her neighborhood chasing who she called "gang members" out of the subdivision. Local Marjesca Zoellner, the president of Friends of McAllister Park, said she's proud about the project as a whole, but not when it comes to Mud Creek. She said the park has become a refuge from the sights and sounds of city life. She believes the money being used for the trail should be used to improve other areas at the park. "We can't just define ourselves by what we build, but by what we refuse to destroy," Zoellner said. Marccophoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto A San Antonio man was sentenced to over a year in prison for an unsettling COVID-19 hoax. Christopher Charles Perez, also known as Christopher Robbins, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for spreading a COVID hoax in April 2020, according to a news release. Massive California oil spill was reported Friday. But nobody told the millions who went to the beaches. USA Today Large firing operations underway on KNP Complex of fires Wildfire Today Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change? The New Yorker Why Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp All Went Down Today Wired. When Wired writes the Facebook family of apps, they are genteelly failing to mention that Facebook, a ginormous monopoly, purchased the firms that created those apps. Then Wired writes: The fundamental issue is that Facebook has withdrawn the so-called Border Gateway Protocol route that contains the IP addresses of its DNS nameservers. No. Whats fundamental is Facebook assimilating Instagram and WhatsApp. The technical failure is a mere artifact of Facebook doing business. Obviously, if Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were three separate firms, Facebook couldnt bring the other two down. AWS, on the other hand. Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew NYT. Facebook is in trouble. Not financial trouble, or legal trouble, or even senators-yelling-at-Mark-Zuckerberg trouble. What Im talking about is a kind of slow, steady decline that anyone who has ever seen a dying company up close can recognize. Its a cloud of existential dread that hangs over an organization whose best days are behind it, influencing every managerial priority and product decision and leading to increasingly desperate attempts to find a way out. This kind of decline is not necessarily visible from the outside, but insiders see a hundred small, disquieting signs of it every day user-hostile growth hacks, frenetic pivots, executive paranoia, the gradual attrition of talented colleagues. #COVID19 You dont have to buy the lab leak hypothesis to see that this is a very, very bad look; and one not unknown for public health this year. China? Myanmar A useful proxy from Indonesia:: Monthly burials in Jakarta finally returned close to pre-pandemic level for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic there are 45-50 thousand excess burials in Jakarta since Mar 2020 (i.e., >60% Jakartans might have alr been infected). How many in total in Indonesia? pic.twitter.com/Fxj7uRH9nA Septian Hartono (@septian) October 5, 2021 Why Has East Timor Built the Strongest Democracy in Southeast Asia? CFR India Gladys Berejiklian has a lot more to contribute, Scott Morrison says Guardian New Zealand admits it can no longer get rid of coronavirus AP Syraqistan Crony Capitalism and State Capture: The Kenyatta Family Story The Elephant UK/EU French report: 330,000 children victims of church sex abuse AP. And we wonder why people conclude that the world is run by an elite of cold-blooded humanoid reptilians. Biden Administration Pandora Papers offer expansive look at how the wealthy hide money Marketplace South Dakota Is Turning Into a Tax Haven for the Global Elite Vanity Fair Patriotic Billionaire Only Invests In American-Made Tax Havens The Onion Health Care COBRA subsidies die with a whimper Sick Note Class Warfare Nobody Really Knows How the Economy Works. A Fed Paper Is the Latest Sign. NYT. The ways that millions of people bounce off one another buying and selling, lending and borrowing, intersecting with governments and central banks and businesses and everything else around us amount to a system so complex that no human fully comprehends it. Perhaps comprehension is possible, at least at a high level: 719,945 of the afterlifed would like a word. On Nathan Schneider on the limits of cryptoeconomics Vitalik Buterin. Commentary: Turtles of economic incentive can't go all the way down. When you try, things go awry. Which brings us to the provocative, very creative observation. 6/ pic.twitter.com/DUYREK46Jr Steve Randy Waldman (@interfluidity) October 5, 2021 Right now, greed is a virtue, and no longer a sin. Thats creating problems. Antidote du Jour (via): Bonus antidote: See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. (Natural News) Australia will lay down rules centering on unvaccinated health workers, with emphasis on unpaid suspension. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has discussed the matter alongside calls for a national approach on how to deal with health workers refusing to get vaccinated. However, the moves by Canberra have been denounced as infringing on human rights. According to News.com.au, the new rules will encompass public hospitals, ambulance services, private hospitals, general practitioners, private nurse offices, consulting offices, pharmacies and private pathology centers. Under the new mandate, all health workers in these establishments must get Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines. Some Australian states like Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) have already issued vaccine mandates for health workers. Around 94 percent of health workers in NSW have received the vaccine, but more than 5,000 have yet to get theirs. With NSWs first dose deadline for vaccination expiring Sept. 30, unvaccinated health workers anticipate their termination starting Oct. 1. Its pretty simple. If you dont care enough to get vaccinated and look after your colleagues [and] if you dont care enough about your patient, you probably shouldnt be in the health system, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says. Meanwhile, nearly one in 10 healthcare workers of Queenslands 115,000-strong health workforce remain unvaccinated. The states Health Minister Yvette DAth implores workers to get injected with the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. We require our health workers to get vaccinated for a range of immunizations. This is about keeping them, their work colleagues and their own family members safe, she says. As of writing, three Australian states Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory have yet to finalize the mandatory vaccination guidelines for the healthcare workers. On the other hand, the Australian Medical Association wants all workers in the health sector to get the vaccine with only legitimate medical exemptions allowed. (Related: 3 Largest hospital systems in Massachusetts implement vaccine mandate, nearly 130,000 workers affected.) Mandatory vaccination for health workers infringing on health freedom However, Australian Federal Member of Parliament (MP) George Christensen slams compulsory vaccination. The former journalist turned politician compares the mandate to slavery and medical apartheid in an online broadcast. The whole rationale for mandating the [COVID-19 vaccine] in the workplace, its not fair. [All] the rest of the vaccine discrimination and medical apartheid [that] certain politicians are proposing, its not borne out by the facts, Christensen says. This is not an [anti-vaccine] thing. This is about freedom [and] about choice. [Its] about saying to both governments and corporations You know what, we might be your employee, but were not your chattel. Were no longer in a slave relationship where you can demand certain things be done with my body.' Australia is not the only nation that has implemented a ban on unvaccinated health workers. France has also done a similar measure, suspending 3,000 workers without pay for declining the COVID-19 vaccine. French Health Minister Olivier Veran has guaranteed that the countrys healthcare will remain operational despite the recent events. According to Veran, staff members have been notified in writing to get vaccinated with at least one dose before the government deadline expires. He adds that several dozen health workers have opted to leave their job than get injected. A large number of these suspensions will be temporary. They involved mostly personnel in support service, like those working in laundry or food reparation, the health minister says. (Related: Medical staff shortages feared in France as health care workers balk at COVID-19 vaccine mandates.) Veran adds that very few doctors and nurses remain unvaccinated. Many of them have decided to get vaccinated now that the obligation to do so has become a reality, he says. According to Veran, continued healthcare is assured in France despite the suspensions thanks to the countrys estimated 2.7 million health workers. Singapore has also instituted a similar mandate, requiring employees turning down the vaccine to shoulder the cost of regular COVID-19 testing themselves and excluding them from COVID-19 medical benefits. The Singaporean Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation outlined this new rule in guidelines released Aug. 23. According to the three entities, fields subject to this mandate include the health care sector, elderly care sector and the child care sector where workers interact with children aged 12 and younger. The new rule also encompasses dining establishments, gyms and fitness studios in Singapore. MedicalFascism.news has more articles about different sectors mandating COVID-19 vaccines for their workers under threat of unpaid suspension. Sources include: News.com.au TheGuardian.com StraitsTimes.com (Natural News) Authorities in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales are threatening residents who have not been vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) with jail time if they try to enter businesses without a vaccine passport. New South Wales recently announced that it will come out of lockdown as soon as vaccination rates increase to an amount acceptable to the state government. Once lockdown ends, only the vaccinated will be able to participate in all aspects of social life. To make sure people attempting to enter social venues are vaccinated, the state government has rolled out plans to institute vaccine passports. Vaccine passports will exclude unvaccinated Australians from the rest of society Several types of vaccine passports will soon be in circulation in the state, including digital and paper types. The digital version will come in the form of a smartphone app. The development of the digital vaccine passport is being handled by Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello of the states ruling Liberal Party. Dominello has warned unvaccinated state residents that they may face jail time if they try to enter businesses without legitimate vaccine passports. He has made the warning in an attempt to ward off unvaccinated Australians from trying to use forged vaccine passports to circumvent the restrictions that will remain in place for the unvaccinated once the states lockdown ends. The relevant public health order mandating the use of vaccine passports has not come out yet. But that has not stopped Dominello from warning that fraudsters, will be held accountable for trying to rejoin the rest of society. If people want to do the wrong thing, if they get found out, as I said, it could be jail time there, Dominello says during an interview with ABC. He doubles down on his desire to segregate the unvaccinated in a statement. Businesses and customers have a shared responsibility to comply with the rules and keep the public safe. People who create and use fake vaccine certificates will face the full force of the law and could face jail time, the statement says. Fraud is a very serious matter and wont be tolerated. My message is clear put the community first and get vaccinated. (Related: 6 Out of 7 new COVID-19 deaths in New South Wales were VACCINATED.) In another interview, Dominello has tried to ease the concerns of business owners in New South Wales who think the vaccine passport mandate will turn them into vaccine police. What we need to do is make sure that the responsibility is primarily on the individual. Businesses, particularly small businesses, should not be de facto police officers, he says. When people make a fuss in relation to checking in with their [digital vaccine passports], and there are people that made a fuss, it was reported to police who were there to enforce public health orders. Dominello has previously stated that businesses need to take reasonable steps to make sure they comply with the mandate. He has said that those who do not follow public health directives should be punished. Current state regulations would make non-compliant business owners liable for a fine of up to AU$55,000 ($39,919). Throughout the coronavirus pandemic in Australia, many workers all over the country condemned the enforcement of COVID-19 rules, such as social distancing, mask wearing and code check-ins for contact tracing. If the state government proceeds with its plan to institute the vaccine passport, a similar backlash is expected to escalate. Learn more about the vaccination and vaccine passport policies in Australia by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com ABC.net.au News.com.au (Natural News) The IT systems of banks around the world are being hit with denial-of-service attacks, and its unclear why or how long they will persist. But one thing is certain: When these outages occur, customers are cut off from their cash and assets, and thats never a good thing. According to a report by Naked Capitalism, 20 banks in six countries one of which is on COVID lockdown on five continents recently experienced these DDOS attacks, and collectively, millions of bank customers have been affected. 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, the report said. For instance, in New Zealand, in its seventh consecutive week of COVID lockdown (despite the fact that there were just a tiny number of outbreaks of this virus which is highly recoverable), one of its biggest lenders, Kiwibank, lost its IT system last week, which left customers stranded. 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, the report continued. Its important to note that during a DDOS attack, no data is breached or stolen, but the bank or other business or institution cannot access its data. In the case of financial institutions, this means they cannot conduct business or allow customers to have access to their cash via ATM (computer systems would be down). 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, Naked Capitalism reported. Whats going on? Its not clear at this point, but the outlet reported: 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. And it could be part of an emerging test pattern for whats to come which is repeated attacks on the global financial system not merely to steal wealth but also to disrupt the global economy and destroy the current system. Guggenheim Partners ($325 billion AUM) Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd warned this week that the top economic risk is a cyber attack against the global payments system, according to Forward Observer, a private subscription-based intelligence firm. The global payments system includes financial infrastructure like the Federal Reserves Fedwire, SWIFT, Euroclear, and other systems that process financial transactions. The report noted that Minerd is putting the likelihood of a major cyberattack against the global financial system extremely high at more than 50 percent. It would appear that we are extremely vulnerable to having an attack against the payment system of the financial markets [I]f there was a synchronized attack, we would essentially bring the global financial market to its knees, he said. The first response would probably be that securities prices would crash, and the second is we would probably have to close all the exchanges in the world in order to figure out how to restore the global payments system, he added. Our world is about to be rocked in a way it hasnt since the Great Depression. Sources include: ForwardObserver.com NakedCapitalism.com Collapse.news (Natural News) Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you, said the Lord as recorded in Matthew 11:28. Note that He didnt say, Only come if youve been vaccinated. Our Lord went even to the lepers. And yet, healthy people who dont want the abortion-tainted so-called vaccine are being banned from churches, by the government and saddest of all by church leaders themselves. (Article by John-Henry Westen republished from LifeSiteNews.com) There are definite lines being drawn in the proverbial sand, and in general with notable exceptions. Lines of orthodoxy versus liberal and modernist approaches to the faith. I share with you my thoughts on this in the latest episode of The John-Henry Westen Show. Last week, news spread across the world about a tiny Canadian Catholic diocese in Eastern Canada. Archbishop Valery Vienneau of Moncton, New Brunswick, decreed that anyone over 12 who attends a religious gathering in a church in his archdiocese must be doubly vaccinated against COVID-19. In a letter to Catholics of the Moncton Archdiocese, Vienneau wrote that beginning Wednesday September 22nd, at any gathering inside our churches, rectories or community centres under our supervision, those present must be doubly vaccinated. The archbishop stipulated that such gatherings include religious celebrations (Sunday and weekly masses, prayer meetings, baptisms, weddings and funerals, Confirmation, First Reconciliation, First Communion), parish and pastoral meetings, catechesis meetings, management meetings, conferences, workshops, fraternal and social meetings, bingos, card games, etc. Vienneau qualified that children under 12 are not required to take the jab to participate because they cannot currently be vaccinated against the virus. Of course, Catholics normally have the obligation to attend Mass in person every Sunday and, in Canada, at Christmas and on New Years Day, unless they are ill, caring for a sick child, or are physically impeded from traveling to Mass. Not fulfilling that obligation is considered a serious sin, and participating at Mass is considered central to the spiritual life of the faithful Catholic. Even Catholics who have incurred excommunication and thus cannot receive the sacraments are encouraged to take part in Sunday worship. That means all the pro-abortion politicians and others living in serious sin. The bishop attempted to excuse his banning of unvaccinated Catholics from Mass by recounting a meeting that New Brunswicks Minister of Health Dorothy Shephard had with religious leaders in the province. However, there is no provincial mandate for proof of vaccination at religious gatherings. Days later, that vaccine mandate in Moncton diocese was overturned. And it is not clear exactly what caused the walk back but there was surely massive pressure. On September 24, Archbishop Vienneau updated guidelines published just days earlier. Two days after the ban was implemented, it was partially rescinded. The new measures, agreed on by the four bishops of the province, now state that no proof of vaccination will be required for attendance at most church services, including Masses and baptisms, but that access to weddings and funerals will still be restricted to those who have taken an experimental COVID shot. According to the Moncton diocese, the change came about as a result of new directives from the Minister of Health for New Brunswick, Dorothy Shephard. Those teaching childrens catechesis must also be double-jabbed, according to the statement, as well as any adults who wish to attend the classes. And Im sorry to say but with such mandates, I would never allow my children to attend catechesis there anyway. If I had to guess at the real cause, Id say that the bishop of St. Johns New Brunswick who said from the outset that he would not be banning non-vaccinated Catholics from Mass is what caused the turnaround. But that was only the latest manifestation of this insanity. And it does seem to line up along the lines of orthodox vs. modernist Catholicism at least for the most part. Back in May, the ultra-modernist Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago announced that parishioners can return to Mass unmasked but only if they can provide proof of vaccination. Even before that, in March, modernist Cardinal Sean OMalley of Boston made the reception of the COVID jab a necessary prerequisite to laity participating in certain ministries at parishes, such as serving at the altar. The bishop of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, meanwhile, warned that priests who do not accept the abortion-tainted COVID-19 injections could face removal from active ministry, though he shied away from actually mandating the injections. A letter from Bishop Kevin Sweeney, dated September 14 and seen by LifeSiteNews, referred to that days feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and appeared to equate the COVID-19 injections with the life giving power of the Holy Cross. LifeSites David McLoone provided a roundup of the stances of various U.S. bishops on the question, finding that left-leaning bishops were more likely to go with the vaccine mandates while orthodox-leaning bishops were more likely to be open to medical freedom and freedom of conscience. He reported that two left-leaning U.S. archbishops have refused to endorse religious exemptions for parishioners who wish to forego the abortion-tainted jabs. Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle and Archbishop Nelson J. Perez of Philadelphia are the two latest Catholic prelates to actively discourage parishioners from seeking exemptions to accepting the ethically questionable COVID-19 jabs currently being rolled out across the nation. Etienne released a letter of his own the same day, instructing the clergy under his jurisdiction not to provide or sign documents claiming a religious exemption. Earlier in August, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan instructed clergy to refuse to sign exemption letters for parishioners, based on the Popes continued support for the moral permissibility of the jabs. Dolan was joined by Archbishop Jose Gomez, the current president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego, all three of whom cited the Holy See as having given its approval to the use of the morally dubious shots. Going one step further, Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, has ordered that not only must there be no endorsement from the diocese on vaccine exemption requests, but that, before September 1, all diocesan staff will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of their employment. In an August 17 letter, Stowe insisted that getting the jab is an urgent matter of public health and safety, adding his belief that there is no religious exemption for Catholics to being vaccinated, and Pope Francis has repeatedly called this a moral obligation. Stowe made the claim that public health systems are overburdened by a crisis caused primarily by those who refuse to protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated. This is unacceptable, and our diocese now joins those employers who have already made this basic commitment to the common good a requirement. Meanwhile, the bishops of South Dakota and Colorado, as well as a bishop in Puerto Rico, have all given their support to those who have decided against being injected with the abortion-tainted jabs. South Dakota Bishop Donald E. DeGrood of Sioux Falls and Bishop Peter M. Muhich of Rapid City signed a letter in which they explain that one may accept COVID-19 vaccines in good conscience if certain conditions are met, but doing so is not a universal moral duty. We echoed the Vatican, which explained in a doctrinal note that practical reason makes evident that vaccination is not, as a rule, a moral obligation. The bishops of Colorado took a similar position, noting that well-founded convictions inform the choice of many parishioners who forego the potentially life-threatening jabs. In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, we are convicted that the government should not impose medical interventions on an individual or group of persons, the bishops wrote. This led them to affirm that there is no authoritative Church teaching universally obliging Catholics to receive any vaccine. An individual Catholic may invoke Church teaching to refuse a vaccine that used abortion-derived cell lines at any stage of the creation of the vaccine. The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) also came out in support of freedom of conscience, with the Centers president Joseph Meaney stating that we do not approve of coercive pressure tactics or vaccine mandates, particularly ones without generous medical, conscience, and religious mandates. The NCBC has produced a template letter for Catholics who object to vaccine mandates, granting individuals an easy way to explain to employers the principled religious basis on which a Catholic may determine that he or she ought to refuse certain vaccines. So what stands out is that the fight works. The protests of those refusing to abandon their conscience rights will win the day. I want to leave you with the words of the heroic Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who addressed anti-vaccine passport protesters gathered on a square in Turin on Sunday. He denounced the use of the pandemic by higher powers to bring about the Great Reset. The former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States established a connection between the imposition of the green pass in Italy and the establishment of the Great Reset he has warned about on many occasions. Vigano began by expressing his support for the people gathered on Castello square as well as many other squares in Italy and congratulated them for their determination in resisting the narrative of lies from the mainstream media. He then denounced the establishment of a health dictatorship in which both lay people and clerics have taken part. It is disconcerting to see how all political forces, including the ones you might have expected to oppose the establishment of this health dictatorship, have become accomplices of an elite of criminal conspirators, he said, rulers, magistrates, police forces, doctors and scientists, public and private officials, journalists, but also bishops and priests, and the Vatican leaders themselves. It is also necessary to go deeper, he said, that is, to recognize that what we see happening corresponds to an inhuman project by forces who hate not only the health of the body, but also and above all the salvation of the soul. He then attributed humanitys current demise to its past infidelity to Gods commandments and to the many sins of men, including the crime of abortion. We must recognize that, if we have come to this point, we owe it in large part to our own infidelity, to letting others decide for God what is right and what is not, he said, to allowing, in the name of tolerance, the murder of children in the womb, the killing of the sick and the elderly, the degeneration of Christian morality and the corruption of children and young people. What we see today is the poisoned fruit of decades of dissolution, of rebellion against the law of the Lord, of sins and vices that cry out for vengeance in the sight of God, he continued. Divine Providence is showing us what the world can become when it abandons the Lordship of Jesus Christ and places itself under the slavery of Satan. The archbishop concluded his message with inspiration from a former pope. I would like to make my own the words of John Paul II, who said at the beginning of his pontificate in 1978: open wide the doors to Christ! Do not be afraid! But above all I beg you, I implore you: let us return to live in the grace of God, to frequent the Sacraments, to practice the virtues, to be good Christians, faithful the promises of our Baptism and authentic witnesses of Christ. The message ended with the archbishop inviting the people present to recite together the Our Father. I pray that all Catholics will listen to his words of wisdom. May God bless you. Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com and MedicalFascism.news. (Natural News) In another show of political moderateness, President Joe Biden has nominated a Soviet-style communist to regulate the American banking system. (Article by Kevin Catapano republished from WesternJournal.com) Saule Omarova, who the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board has called the wrong nominee for the wrong industry in the wrong country in the wrong century, is a law professor at Cornell University. Before joining the ranks of Western academia, Omarova graduated from the University of Moscow on the Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship. She wears these communist sympathies on her sleeve. Until I came to the US, Omarova tweeted in March 2019, I couldnt imagine that things like gender pay gap still existed in todays world. Say what you will about old USSR, there was no gender pay gap there. Market doesnt always know best.' Until I came to the US, I couldn't imagine that things like gender pay gap still existed in today's world. Say what you will about old USSR, there was no gender pay gap there. Market doesn't always "know best." https://t.co/vvnx9DZICN Saule Omarova (@STOmarova) March 31, 2019 When accounting for hours worked, job choice, willingness to relocate or work outdoors, time spent out of the workforce, temperamental differences and numerous other factors, there is no gender pay gap in the United States the way that leftists mean. But thats miles from the point when considering that Biden has put forth an actual communist to lecture Americans about free markets while ignoring the gulags, state-sanctioned murder and seizure of private property in old USSR. Like the radical progressives who tout Castro-era Cuban literacy rates while glossing over the other stuff, Omarova later conceded that while there may not have been perfect gender equality in the Soviet Union, it did get one thing right: peoples salaries were set [by the state] in a gender-blind manner. And all women got very generous maternity benefits, both of which are still a pipe dream in our society! The Biden administration must be under the impression that polls indicating support for raising the federal minimum wage equate to public endorsement for the effective nationalization of private industry. As more proof of Biden administration centrism, Omarova believes the Federal Reserve should seize the money deposited in private bank accounts by American consumers. This, she argued in a recent academic paper titled The Peoples Ledger, would effectively end banking, as we know it and make the federal government the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy. Aside from the actually dangerous ideas (in contrast to the not-really-all-that-dangerous ideas of those vicious conservatives), there is the run-of-the-mill progressive word-vomit which has become normalized in American culture namely calling Wall Street a quintessential a**hole industry, suggesting banks must lose their special status and promising to radically reshape or end [insert important thing] as we know it. This is the sort of garbage that arouses progressive Democrats and their media allies, both of whom launched into support mode for the resurrection of Soviet-era politics. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the nomination tremendous news on Twitter; Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, promised in a news release that Omarova would ensure the economy works for everyone. Saule Omarova's nomination to lead the @USOCC is tremendous news. 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. https://t.co/zW6DqO8lUl Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 23, 2021 Ignoring the whole blatant communism thing, The New York Times headlined that Bidens Pick for Bank Regulator Worries Banks Are Getting Too Powerful, noting that Omarova merely wants a more equal share of power and success between taxpayers and big banks. Politico substituted Wall Street critic for open communist. Much of the press has missed the opportunity to hammer home the point that Omarova is such a pinko that even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen objected to her nomination, according to The Wall Street Journal. This is utter silliness. The Biden administration has no intention of being moderate; it is instead just going to hand over the reins to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party, which aims to bring America to her knees before the world. This, as it turns out, is not all it has in common with the former Soviet Union. Read more at: WesternJournal.com and Communism.news. (Natural News) A woman is facing eight counts of communicating terroristic threats in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Douglasville, following an investigation into violent letters placed in mailboxes of homes. The letters in question, which threatened residents with violence and bombings of their homes for entering the neighborhood, were supposedly from a white Ku Klux Klan member- but the suspect charged in the threats is a black woman. (Article by Richard Moorhead republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com) Authorities expect Terresha Lucas to imminently turn herself in, after a lengthy investigation identified her as the prime suspect in the violent threats. Community members first described finding the hateful messages in their mailbox in December. The letters had described their author as a six-foot tall white male with a long beard, and a Ku Klux Klan member who thought the victims of the threats didnt belong in Douglasville. Detectives Andre Futch and Nathan Shumaker describe catching the alleged hate hoaxster through an investigation that involved using doorbell patterns, handwriting analysis, and good old-fashioned police work. The letters had been circulating throughout Douglasville from December to March, then ceasing until they began again in September. The latest round of hoax letters led to charges against Lucas, after authorities obtained new evidence after executing a search warrant around Labor Day. Infamous for violence against black people in the south during Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan has since largely ceased to exist, although its occasionally used by the Left as an example of a supposedly powerful and dangerous hate group that consists of no more than a handful of people. If Lucas is guilty of the crime, the incident will be relegated to merely another example of a Jussie Smollett-style hate hoax, which continue to abound with regularity across the United States. Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com (Natural News) Broken pipes along the U.S.-Mexico border are spewing millions of gallons of untreated sewage daily into the Rio Grande, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) warns. The IBWC has formally notified Mexican authorities about the spillage originating from ruptured pipes in western El Paso, Texas. According to the IBWCs estimates, between 3 million and 6 million gallons of raw sewage flow into the Rio Grande, threatening peoples health. IBWC says in a statement to the monitoring organization Border Report: Sewage flows into the Rio Grande are entering the international reach of the river. The water that is going into the Rio Grande is downstream of the location where Mexico gets the water under the [U.S.-Mexico] treaty. The Rio Grande river forms the natural U.S.-Mexico boundary, cutting across El Paso and the Mexican city of Juarez. The broken pipes in El Paso have been leaking since Aug. 15, polluting the Rio Grande with a purported 150 million gallons of toxic sewage in total. According to Texas television station KXAN, the raw sewage goes to the river to prevent it from getting to residential areas and businesses near the citys Doniphan and Sunland Park drives. It is then routed to El Paso canals toward a treatment plant located several miles downstream. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health organizations warn of the dangers of water polluted with sewage. They caution people who wade or swim in these waters of exposure to dangerous pathogens and intestinal infections. Concerns over the sewage flows potential impact on vegetation, wetlands and irrigation have also risen. City Rep. Peter Svarzbein says: Ive had a number of concerns from residents relating to vegetation and wetlands removal. I know that one mans clogging of storm water is another mans wetlands for birds and that sort of thing. The councilman representing El Pasos first district adds that theres been a number of instances where vegetation has been removed without much public input in his constituency. El Pasos water utility is all hands on deck to fix the problem Water utility officials in El Paso cite a cascade of failures that ultimately contribute to the major leakage and spill. El Paso Water President and CEO John E. Balliew says: This is corrosion driven. Its not just one break its a series of breaks. The pipe is so badly corroded that we cant fix it. When we go to fix it, we cause more damage than [what] exists at present so were concentrating on replacement. Balliew adds that El Paso Water has only completed 60 percent of pipe replacement so far. Its a terrible thing to happen. We were 60 percent done with a replacement [pipe] when the cascade of failures started to happen, he says. The El Paso Water executive continues that repairs will go well into November, with normal operations to resume Dec. 3. Aside from repairs, El Paso Water is also focused on wastewater treatment to reduce environmental harm. [We] are constructing a facility where we take [polluted water] out of the canals and put it back into the wastewater treatment plant. A piece by El Paso Matters confirms this move by water utility officials. According to the article, El Paso Water officials are working to divert raw sewage from the citys western side toward the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant. Sewage entering the treatment facility on the far southeast side of the city will undergo processing before being released as clean water downstream. (Related: Hudson River polluted by 100,000 gallons of raw sewage, baby wipes float down the river.) The Bustamante plant can treat up to 39 million gallons daily. However, El Paso Water Chief Technical Officer Gilbert Trejo says the amount of water the plant treats can vary greatly. There are times of day where [the] Bustamante [plant] is only treating 12 million gallons a day, he says. The solution is to treat all of this water and get it out of the environment. Its a win ultimately, because its not going to be in the river anymore. (Related: LA treatment plant discharges 17 MILLION gallons of sewage.) BioSludge.news has more articles about untreated sewage polluting major bodies of water such as the Rio Grande. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com KXAN.com ElPasoMatters.org (Natural News) Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared to redefine who would be considered vaccinated from coronavirus on Tuesday, suggesting that booster shots would be considered part of a standard regimen of vaccination. (Article by Richard Moorhead republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com) Fauci was speaking at an interview event during the Atlantic Festival Tuesday. It is likely, for a real complete regimen, that you would need at least a third dose, Fauci told Ed Yong. Faucis redefinition of vaccination to include the boosters contrasts with advice from 18 senior officials of the Food and Drug Administration, who have rejected the notion that the boosters will be necessary for the broader population through the release of a scientific report on the matter. The FDA officials recommended using the vaccine doses that would be used for boosters in poor countries with diminished access to the drug, recommending boosters for seniors and the immunocompromised as opposed to everyone. Ive made it clear that my opinion has always been that I believe that a third-shot booster for a two-dose mRNA [vaccine] should ultimately and will ultimately be the proper, complete regimen, reiterated Fauci. Scientific consensus suggests that a third booster shot can only serve to provide temporary protection from incurring the coronavirus. This contrasts with the purpose of the vaccine, which is designed to prevent infections of the disease from becoming severe to the point of hospitalization and death. Fauci defended the notion of medicine merely intended to prevent coronavirus infections, admitting that booster shots wont prevent the long-term possibility of hospitalization as the vaccines do. I think we should be preventing people from getting sick from COVID even if they dont wind up in the hospital. The Biden administration has failed to contain a renewed outbreak of coronavirus, in spite of promises from the President as a candidate that he was uniquely capable of shutting down a pervasive disease. With the public increasingly tired of constantly shifting public health guidance that does little too mitigate the disease, its likely attempts to mandate booster shots for the general public will meet even further opposition than some of the most wide-ranging vaccine madnates. Read more at: BigLeaguePolitics.com and VaccineWars.com. (Natural News) New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said that she is considering using the National Guard to fill hospital staffing shortages that are expected as tens of thousands of workers potentially lose their jobs for failing to meet a COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline. According to the governors office, around 16 percent of New Yorks 450,000 hospital staff have not yet been fully vaccinated. This amounts to around 72,000 workers. Hochul outlined a plan that would give her the ability to declare a state of emergency in New York to help provide them with more healthcare workers. These could include licensed professionals coming in from other states, along with recent graduates and retired nurses returning to the workforce. She said the state is also considering using National Guard officers who have medical training in order to provide hospitals and other medical facilities with sufficient staffing. Hochul has asked the federal government to expedite visa requests so they can import healthcare workers from abroad. However, New York State Public Employees Federation President Wayne Spence has cast doubt over how well Hochuls plans could make up for the losses incurred by the mandate. He said: I dont think theres enough people to go around to plug the holes because a lot of nurses have left New York State as of last year. One New York hospital has already had to stop delivering babies after a slew of nurses resigned over vaccine mandates. Lowvilles Lewis County General Hospital temporarily halted baby deliveries on September 25 after multiple nurses in the maternity ward resigned over the mandate, while others remained skeptical of the vaccine. At the time, 27 percent of the 165 workers employed by the hospital had yet to get vaccinated despite the looming deadline. Other hospital departments may also have to curtail services if more staff members resign. Governor tells New Yorkers that God wants them to get vaccinated Hochuls announcement came as a bigger battle brews between the state and federal government regarding vaccine mandates aimed at countering the Delta variant of the virus. The new governor attended Sunday services at a large New York City church to push her agenda. Speaking to congregants at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, she said: I need you to be my apostles. I need you to go out and talk about it and say, We owe this to each other. Jesus taught us to love one another, and how do you show that love but to care about each other enough to say, Please get the vaccine because I love you and I want you to live. She added that people who have not been vaccinated yet are not listening to God and what God wants. Her office also announced that healthcare workers who are fired for not getting vaccinated will not be able to receive unemployment unless they have a valid doctor-approved medical exemption. It is not clear, however, how the current pending legal cases regarding religious exemptions will affect the states plans to terminate health care workers who are not vaccinated. A federal judge has temporarily ordered state officials to allow religious exemptions for health care workers. Hochul said she believes that religious exemptions should not be granted. She said she is not aware of a sanctioned religious exemption from any organized religion. Hochul, who replaced disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo in August, also called out healthcare workers upstate, who are not getting vaccinated for what she deems to be the wrong reasons. We have a different dynamic in some parts of upstate. There there are other reasons why people are not being vaccinated. Its not the access; its a different philosophy is all Ill say. Sources for this article include: NationalFile.com AMNY.com Reuters.com (Natural News) Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine injuries are real, but news agencies kill these stories with pressure from Big Pharma companies like Pfizer. Kristi Dobbs is a victim of COVID-19 vaccine injury who spent nine months pleading with health agencies to do research for the neurological injuries she developed after being inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine. Dobbs, a 40-year-old dental hygienist from Missouri, says she can no longer work after being injured by Pfizers COVID vaccine. She has asked for assistance from health agencies regarding her situation, but to no avail. Since getting the vaccine, Dobbs has been to 16 different medical providers and been put on 22 different medications to address over 20 symptoms that she didnt have before getting the vaccine. Dobbs says that she and many others who developed neurological injuries after getting the vaccine shared their experiences with a reporter to help raise awareness about their experiences. However, the story has never been published because of pressure from a higher up at Pfizer. COVID-19 vaccine leads to dreadful experience Dobbs got her only dose of Pfizers vaccine back in January. She immediately experienced adverse reactions on-site at the clinic where her vaccine was administered. She had just sat down in the monitoring area after getting her shot when she felt an odd tingling sensation running down her arm and immediately experienced a pre-syncope episode she had heart palpitations and blood pressure spikes, and she thought she was going to pass out. She was monitored for an additional 45 minutes and was released when her blood pressure dropped to a manageable level. Those who were monitoring Dobbs brushed off her symptoms as a hot flash or a panic attack, but she insisted she had never been afraid of vaccines, blood draws or needles. Three days after her dose, she woke up in the middle of the night thinking that her whole bed was shaking, but her husband didnt feel it. She also noticed shaking and trembling in her left hand but brushed it aside for having coffee. She felt a stabbing pain in her left scapula the day after, and the trembling sensations in her hands continued. By the tenth day, she said that she was in excruciating pain. (Related: Dental hygienist shares laundry list of horrifying side effects from Pfizer coronavirus vaccine: Convulsions, seizures and more.) Dobbs experienced multiple symptoms, including tremors in her arms and legs, fatigue, brain fog, muscle pain and weakness, pelvic pain, tinnitus, swollen lymph nodes and many others. Like others who have experienced neurological reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, Dobbs also got a CT scan, but the results were normal. Her doctors did not dismiss the fact that her symptoms could be vaccine-related, but they didnt know what to do or how to treat it. She was instead given anti-anxiety medication, which did nothing for her, and was referred to a neurologist. In the meantime, her symptoms intensified. Reaching out to spread awareness While searching for answers on her own, Dobbs came across Dr. Danice Hertz, a retired gastroenterologist who was also injured by the vaccine and was in contact with a few others as well. Upon connecting with fellow vaccine-injured individuals, they started the patient lead surveys that allow them to gather data. They then reach out to a top epidemiologist to review the information and compare the numbers to previous vaccinations and injuries. Dobbs says that she and others knew they had to tell their stories without causing vaccine hesitancy, so they started writing and calling anyone who would listen, including reporters, news agencies and members of Congress. Aside from the mainstream media censorship, Dobbs also did not get any response from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Dobbs did get an email response from FDA Director Janet Woodcock in April. She was told that the FDA would look into the situation but the agency has never followed up on her since. According to Dobbs, her reactions to the vaccine need to be investigated and observed. Treatment protocols must be implemented in our medical community to give early and proper treatment to those affected, she says. Visit VaccineDamage.news to read more about the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com Fox6Now.com (Natural News) Big Pharma and the American government continue to assure the public that its safe to get vaccinated because doing so can help prevent the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). But according to a study, antibodies in people fully-vaccinated against coronavirus decline within three to seven months. Why are antibody levels dropping in vaccinated people? In a report by Swedish national broadcaster Sveriges Television AB (SVT), one study has shown that Sweden and other heavily vaccinated countries have recorded more breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated individuals, which calls into question why governments are pushing for vaccine mandates in the first place. Findings also revealed that antibody levels among fully-vaccinated people wane faster than researchers previously thought. For the community study, researchers analyzed data from over 2,000 healthcare employees. The research team set out to learn more about immunity after coronavirus and the effect of vaccines, also taking into account how quickly immunity wears off among vaccinated individuals. Results have shown that in Pfizer-vaccinated people who didnt get infected with coronavirus, antibody levels were halved after three months. Within seven months, only 15 percent of the original levels remained, indicating a decrease of 85 percent, says SVT. Since the healthcare employees who received the AstraZeneca vaccine received the booster shot later, the scientists were only able to monitor them for three months. However, the decline rate of antibody levels is even steeper. After only three months, those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine only had one-fifth of the Pfizer-vaccinated antibody levels. Some of the participants received the Moderna vaccine but the group was too small and had a short follow-up time, which wasnt enough for the scientists to draw anything conclusive. Charlotte Thalin, research leader, says that while its normal for antibody levels to decrease over time, its surprising to see that it has dropped so significantly in such a relatively healthy and young group. The low levels indicate that there can still be an increased spread even in vaccinated groups, which could be dangerous for at-risk populations like the elderly. It is believed that this study can shed more light on why Sweden and other heavily-vaccinated countries are now starting to record more breakthrough infections among people who are fully vaccinated. (Related: Fauci ADMITS antibodies from COVID-19 vaccines actually make the virus stronger.) Scientists dont know how effective vaccines are or if they are effective at all Even scientists are at a loss at how effective vaccines are since antibodies are only part of the immune system and high antibody levels are linked to protection against infection, like the coronavirus. However, the immune system also contains memory cells that quickly supplement the antibody levels when a patient is exposed to the virus. Thalin adds that experts still havent identified where the limit is for becoming infected or ill. Sweden has a population of over 10 million and it has vaccinated over 63 percent of its population. To date, it has recorded 1.15 million cases of coronavirus, with over 15,000 deaths. The country has several times more deaths per capita from the pandemic compared to its neighbors, but it was lower than the other European countries that enforced lockdowns. Unlike neighboring countries that enforced comprehensive lockdowns, Sweden had a more lax approach, even at the height of the pandemic. Sweden even lifted the last restrictions in place by Wednesday, Sept. 29. This means the number of guests at events is no longer limited. At the same time, citizens are no longer recommended to work from home and distancing requirements are no longer enforced. While the number of infections in Sweden decreased by September, there are several cluster outbreaks at elderly care facilities, with some resulting in fatalities. Visit Vaccines.news for more information on the different side effects of vaccines. Sources include: InfoWars.com Reuters.com (Natural News) John Barilaro, the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, is threatening the unvaccinated that they will lose their freedoms on the 11th of October if they refuse to get vaccinated for the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) by that date. The message to the unvaccinated is that you will not achieve any further freedom unless you get vaccinated, Barilaro added in his public threat, which was broadcast throughout the region. In southeastern Australia where Barilaro rules with an iron fist, area residents are still being confined to their homes and forced to wear a mask whenever they venture out for groceries. Barilaro was also caught last month calling 300 people who attended a mans funeral dickheads. It turns out that the event was fully covid compliant, but Barilaro just assumed that it was not and proceeded to put his foot in his mouth by calling them vulgar names during their time of mourning. Things are so bad in Australia that even foreigners are not allowed to leave. An American woman says she is being forced to get injected against her will and is not allowed to leave the country. In Sydney, citizens are stuck under abject fascism, according to people who are there on the ground witnessing and experiencing it. In Victoria, police are harassing and terrorizing protesters who attempt to defy the governments orders, often using violence to get the message across that freedom is gone due to the Chinese Virus. Theres reason to believe Australias authoritarian response to COVID-19 has actually diminished trust in the vaccine and discouraged citizens from receiving it, reported Big League Politics. If this was really about saving lives, the government would not be destroying lives That all of this is happening in Australia first is ironic, seeing as how the continent started out as a prison colony. And now that Aussies no longer have legal firearms, the government seems to be reverting the land back to the prison colony it once was, knowing that residents will not be able to put up much of a fight. Australias prison regime is doubly so, creating what could be a compelling argument against vaccination by associating it with a brutal, tyrannical regime, Big League Politics adds. Every horrible thing that governments are doing to people in Australia and beyond is supposedly to help save lives, we are told. But how can this be when all the tyranny is damaging and even ending peoples lives? In what parallel universe is total medical fascism and nonstop government oppression an act of benevolence? How could anyone think that this constant mistreatment is a sign that the government cares for us and wants us to be healthy? These poor souls are getting a taste of what Ukrainians went through in the mid 1930s, wrote one Natural News commenter about the situation in Australia. The Soviets not only searched every nook and cranny of every farm and stole every morsel of food, but they set up a military blockade along the entire border of Ukraine. The people were trapped in their own land with no hope of escape, and 6+ million people died by starvation in only a few years. The technocrats have openly announced their plan to bring this upon the entire world on behalf of the demons whom they worship and serve. Halleluiah for this health situation which prompted me to fly out of Melbourne in February 20, passing through Honolulu and Seattle on the way. My marxist-satanist sister-in-law was trying to convince me to stay Down Under, but thankfully I listen to the Holy Spirit instead. Otherwise, suicide wouldve been a very appealing option. A mans heart plans his path, but Elohim directs his steps Mishle 16:9. The latest news stories about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) tyranny can be found at Fascism.news. Sources for this article include: BigLeaguePolitics.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) It has come out that Chinas Hubei Province ordered large quantities of PCR tests in early 2019, many months before the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) even emerged. A report by the Australia-based company Internet 2.0 explains that roughly 67.4 million yuan (roughly $10.5 million) was spent on PCR tests in Hubei in 2019 this is nearly double the amount that was ordered in 2018, nearly two years before the Chinese Virus appeared. Four former officials from U.S. intelligence agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom and several other countries looked at data collected from a website that aggregates information on Chinese public procurement bids. What they found is that the official story does not hold any weight. The Chinese Virus did not just randomly appear in bat meat at a wet market, their report suggests. PCR tests were also being ordered long before anyone even knew what a novel coronavirus was. Orders doubled from universities, jumped fivefold from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and surged tenfold from animal testing bureaus. Purchases from hospitals declined by more than 10%, Nikkei Asia reported about the tests. Monthly procurement data shows a spike in orders in May, especially from CDC buyers and the Peoples Liberation Army. Wuhan University of Science and Technology ordered PRC test kits months before covid arrived PCR test purchases also soared from July through October in 2019 as well, particularly from the Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST), which spent 8.92 million yuan on them in 2019 alone. This is eight times the number of PCR tests that WUST would normally order in a year, suggesting that the school knew something that the public did not know about until many months later. WUST, reports indicate, holds a high position along with local hospitals and public health authorities in responding to disease outbreaks. This would suggest that something was brewing long in advance of when the plandemic was formally announced. The report assumes that these large purchases of PCR tests points to the release of the Wuhan Flu in early 2019, even though it would not be announced to the rest of the world until about a year later. We assess with high confidence that the pandemic began much earlier than China informed the [World Health Organization] about COVID-19, the report explains. While this could be the case, there still has not been a proper isolation done of SARS-CoV-2 to prove that it is really anything novel. This is especially important to consider in light of the fact that seasonal flu all but disappeared ever since the Chinese Virus emerged. The first official case of the Chinese Flu was recorded on Dec. 8, 2019. There has been much back-and-forth over whether or not people were testing positive for it even before that. We cant say for sure with just the public procurement information, announced Akira Igata, a visiting professor at the Tama Graduate School of Business in Tokyo, adding, but its strong information for making the case that there was awareness of a virus outbreak around Wuhan several months to half a year before that December. This report could provide an opportunity for countries to press China for information again, he added. Meanwhile, there is still no indication from China as to how and when the Wuhan Flu really came about. Instead of transparency, the communist regime remains elusive, which David Robinson, one of the reports authors, says has fueled a lot of hypothesis, theory, misinformation as well as heartache for the victims. As the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) plandemic sham gets blown to bits, we will keep you informed about the latest at Pandemic.news. Sources for this article include: Nikkei.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) All across the United States, nurses are being fired for refusing Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines. Why, though, does natural immunity not count for anything? It is as though the human immune system no longer exists, and the only people who are now considered healthy are those who take Big Pharma injections. How did this come to be? Since at least 430 BC, the year of the Athenian Plague, the world has recognized the existence of natural immunity. Thucydides once stated: Yet it was with those who had recovered from the disease that the sick and the dying found most compassion. These knew what it was from experience and had no fear for themselves; for the same man was never attacked twice never at least fatally. Put in simpler terms, once a person gets sick from something naturally, his or her immune system will never allow that same sickness to cause (serious) problems again. God did things right without the need for vaccines, in other words. Somewhere along the line, though, the modern medical establishment decided that natural immunity no longer exists, and that everyone needs to get jabbed with pharmaceutical chemicals regularly in order to stay healthy. Ever since the advent of the Chinese Virus, things have only worsened, with even the World Health Organization (WHO) changing the definition of immunity entirely to only include those who take vaccine jabs. We have lived with endemic coronaviruses for at least a hundred years, for which we have long-lasting natural immunity, writes Martin Kulldorff for the Brownstone Institute. For most viruses, natural immunity is better than vaccine-induced immunity, and that is also true for Covid. With coronaviruses, there is no need to get vaccinated Kulldorff points to a study the best study to date, he says showing that people who get vaccinated for Chinese Germs are around 27 times more likely to develop symptomatic disease as opposed to those who possess natural immunity, with an estimated range between 13 and 57. As someone who has worked closely with hospital epidemiologists over the past 10 years, Kulldorff says he has witnessed all sorts of infection control measures being implemented, including relying on natural immunity to protect against infection and spread. History shows that this is how herd immunity is reached; not through vaccines. He believes that hospitals should be employing staff members with the strongest possible immunity against Covid, which includes actively seek[ing] to hire staff that have natural immunity from prior Covid disease and us[ing] such staff for their most vulnerable patients. It is a simple, common-sense approach that was much more common sense prior to the Fauci Flu making its appearance. Ever since that time, it is as though thousands of years of established science and medicine went right out the window in exchange for a jab-centric approach that relies on fascism rather than science. Instead, hospitals are firing nurses and other staff with superior natural immunity while retaining those with weaker vaccine-induced immunity, Kulldorff says about what hospitals are now doing in the age of covid. By doing so, they are betraying their patients, increasing their risk for hospital-acquired infections. Kulldorff also calls out Tony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the White House for spreading the erroneous message that the only way to truly be immune to the Wuhan Flu is to take a vaccine. This, he warns, is astonishing as it greatly deviates from sound science. Whats next? Universities questioning whether the earth is round or flat? That, at least, would do less harm, Kulldorff jokes. The latest news about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine deception can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: Brownstone.org NaturalNews.com MedRXiv.org (Natural News) The so-called experts claim they are baffled by a sudden spike in heart attack cases in Scotland ever since Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines were released to the general public. During the summer, Scotland saw a 25 percent rise in the number of fully vaccinated people who had to be rushed to Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank with partially blocked arteries, a common occurrence among those who get injected. Typically the centre, which is the largest of its kind in the UK and treats people from five health board areas, receives 240 patients a month suffering with this form of heart attack, but this rose to more than 300 over May, June and July of this year, reported The Times of London. Doctors have searched for a pattern among patients to determine if less access to health checks in the pandemic or a history of Covid-19 infection may explain it but have found no obvious trend. This mystery is easily explained by the mass push to get everyone jabbed for Chinese Germs, and directly correlates to the widespread rollout of the injections. Government authorities and health officials, however, are playing dumb about it. There is not any evidence that it is as a consequence of any delayed care or missed opportunity, announced Mitchell Lindsay, a lead consultant cardiologist at Golden Jubilee. It is likely to be due to a multitude of factors: people being sedentary with lockdown; stress; people ignoring symptoms because they do not want to present at hospital. There are probably five to ten causes, all linked. Covid vaccines, not a mystery, are responsible for surge in heart attacks Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now admits that Donald father of the vaccine Trumps Operation Warp Speed jabs are causing heart inflammation. And yet, the medical establishment refuses to acknowledge the latest science. Instead, they are obfuscating the truth and pretending that there is just no way to know for sure what is causing this meteoric rise in heart attack cases oh, but we know it is not the vaccines, they are still hilariously claiming. The number of so-called STEMI attacks, where there is extensive heart damage, recorded at the Golden Jubilee has remained stable for a decade at about 750 a year, The Times further revealed. Yet N-STEMI attacks, where there is less tissue damage but an equal risk of death, have increased over the summer. It is not just Golden Jubilee that is seeing this uptick, either. All across Scotland, medical facilities are reporting a surge in seriously ill patients who require a hospital bed. Most, if not all, of these patients are fully vaccinated. Not even once did The Times make mention of the vaccines as a possible cause or trigger of all these cardiovascular events. In fact, the fake news outlet went completely out of its way to not mention vaccines, and to instead lay blame on just about anything else, including just calling it a mystery. Spike protein is designed to bind to Ace-2 (ace2 releases endogenous blood thinners), binding to it like a harpoon and rendering it non-functional, one Natural News commenter wrote about how the injections work. Ace-2 is designed to counterbalance Ace-1. Ace1 releases endogenous blood coagulators. Ace-1 and Ace-2 balance each-other out, when Ace-2 is destroyed, Ace-1 continues releasing endogenous blood thickeners, hence the blood clots. When you have spike protein being created by your RNA, it will bind with ACE-2 and inhibit the bodys ability to prevent blood clots and thrombosis. The latest news about the injuries and deaths being caused by Chinese Virus injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com. Sources for this article include: TheTimes.co.uk NaturalNews.com NaturalNews.com (Natural News) The National School Board Association (NSBA) is begging President Joe Biden to weaponize the FBI against parents to address what it claims are violence and threats directed toward school board members and public schools. The NSBA makes no mention of its own advocacy of psychological terrorism against schoolchildren by making them wear masks and social distance, even though neither of these approaches is backed by any real science. NSBA, a group representing school boards across the country, has urged the Biden administration to use statutes such as the Gun-Free School Zones Act and the USA Patriot Act to stop threats and violence directed toward school board members over actions that that it claims could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes. Americas public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat, the NSBA says in a letter dated Sept. 29 and signed by NSBA President Viola Garcia and interim Executive Director and CEO Chip Slaven. The letter asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation. School board meetings resemble a battleground Garcia and Slaven have noted several issues surrounding school boards, in which meetings have become battlegrounds for culture wars over how districts are handling mask rules, Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations, schools reopening, critical race theory and remote learning. They have also called on Biden to use the Postal Service to intervene against threatening letters and cyber-bullying attacks, citing growing threats from extremist hate organizations showing up at school board meetings. Critical race theory at the center of conflict In the letter, they have blamed propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction for attacks against school board members and educators. This propaganda continues despite the fact that critical race theory is not taught in public schools and remains a complex law school and graduate school subject well beyond the scope of a K-12 class, the letter states. (Related: Critical race theory is just anti-white racism.) In recent months, school districts across the country have seen angry demonstrations and confrontations between parents and education officials at school board meetings. The letter cites anger over school mask directives and critical race theory, which focuses on how power structures and institutions impact racial minorities. Parents getting blacklisted for speaking out In Loudoun County, Virginia, school administrators and teachers are reportedly blacklisting parents who speak out against controversial critical race theorys use in public school classrooms. Free to Learn Coalition, a group opposed to the teaching of critical race theory, has launched a $500,000 ad blitz criticizing the Loudoun Countys school board. According to Slaven, the organizations main goals in calling for a coordinated effort between local, state and federal law enforcement are safety and deterrence over incidents that are beyond random acts. What we are now seeing is a pattern of threats and violence occurring across state lines and via online platforms, which is why we need the federal governments assistance, Slaven says. Threatening school board members is bad. But silencing the parents of young students could be worse. Parents condemn teacher who indoctrinated their children about communism Last month, Parents showed up in droves at the Natomas Unified School Board meeting to demand justice for their children and call for the firing and criminal prosecution of Inderkum High School teacher Gabriel Gipe. A Project Veritas video has caught Gipe keeping an Antifa flag and Mao Zedong posters in his classroom and admitting that he encourages students to protest. In the video, Gipe says he intends to radicalize students into supporting Marxist ideas by using the public school system as an avenue to incentivize them to participate in fringe extracurricular events. Dozens of parents at the school board meeting have expressed concerns with what their children are being taught. Not only does his termination need to be taken effective immediately but I believe a criminal investigation needs to happen, says one parent. This does not begin and end with him. He was enabled for years. Complaints were filed and nothing was done, says another parent, Richard Gilbert. Parents like Monique Hokman calls for a full investigation into the teacher and district and changes in policy. They are also concerned with claims made by Gipe that he is not the only teacher that is teaching his viewpoints inside the classroom. (Related: Virginia education plan for third graders appears to celebrate communism, as hard-left indoctrination of our kids continues apace.) I have a problem with people teaching our kids things without our knowledge, says Hokman. The one teacher is not just the problem. We would like to see some steps that are going to protect all our children now and all the ones that are coming up in the future. School board meeting halted The meeting has been stopped in the middle of public comment. A lawyer representing the district has said that the meeting was stopped because of a lack of decorum and would be rescheduled for a later date. Board members have left the meeting out of the back side of the building. Conservative talk show host Pete Santilli has lauded the parents for actively opposing the indoctrination of their children to communism. What happened is truly representative of the sentiments that we Americans it could be Republicans and Democrats have. Nobody wants communism in our school system, Santilli says in The Pete Santilli Show on Brighteon.TV. Still a lot of work to do Deb Jordan, Santillis co-host in the 30-minute program on Brighteon.TV, thinks that the parents still have a lot of work to do. I dont think its over yet. Theyre indoctrinating children now at an earlier age, and then were sending them off to these universities where theyre going to be indoctrinated anyway, Jordan says. I think it comes back to the parents. The responsibility is going to be laid at the feet of the parents to either get their kids out of the school systems or make sure that their kids have the full armor of God and the United States Constitution before sending them off to universities. In other words, its better to let the parents be involved in the formative years of their children instead of silencing them and trying to keep them out of the loop. Follow BrainWashed.news for more news related to the brainwashing being done to students at school. Sources include: WND.com FoxNews.com CaliforniaGlobe.com Brighteon.com (Natural News) A former employee of Big Pharma company Pfizer has provided documentation proving that receiving the companys Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine increases a persons chance of getting the virus by over 300 percent. She has also provided proof that Pfizer knows about this but is doing nothing to address the issue. Karne Kingston, who now works as a pharmaceutical marketing expert and biotech analyst, has publicized information proving that Pfizer knows its vaccine makes the likelihood of infection with COVID-19 much higher. To prove this, Kingston has presented a briefing document used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during an advisory committee meeting on Sept. 17. The meeting was held to discuss Pfizers application to use its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster. The documents presented during the meeting include a report on a study conducted by Pfizer that tested how long its vaccines provide so-called immunity to the coronavirus. (Related: Pfizer CEO says US to return to normal within a year but only if everybody takes COVID-19 vaccines.) The study involved over 36,000 participants who were injected with the vaccine. It found that the group of people that received the vaccines at an earlier time were significantly more likely to get infected by the coronavirus than those who received the boosters at a later date. The group that got the vaccine earlier had a seven percent chance of infection during the study period. The group that got the booster at a later date had a 5.16 percent chance of infection. Meaning, the former has a 36 percent greater chance of infection than the latter. But Kingston points out that the study has a flaw. The latter group has had a significant period before they got the vaccine when their chances of getting infected were much smaller. Pfizer has not expounded on this part of the study. There should have been more people infected in the placebo group because they were going on longer without any protection, says Kingston. The studys conclusion is that incidence of COVID-19 generally increased in each group of study participants with increasing time post-Dose 2. If you have two doses of Pfizer, your rate for getting infected increases over time, explains Kingston. Kingston has looked at the rate of infection in the placebo group for the first four months of the study, when they had no vaccine-acquired protection against COVID-19. She has then compared it with the groups rate of infection in the four months following their injections with Pfizers vaccines. So, when they werent injected, their infection rate was 1.3 percent, and when they got injected, it was 4.34 percent. It went up by over 300 percent, says Kingston. They had less infection when they had no protection. So, thats a problem. Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines becoming more available all over the world Despite the clear evidence proving that Pfizers vaccine makes it more dangerous for people to live, the companys COVID-19 vaccines are still spreading. In the United States, Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines are now being distributed by the government as boosters for the fully vaccinated. Currently, people 65 years old and older and adults who work or live in high-risk settings and have underlying medical conditions are eligible to get booster doses. There are plans in place to expand this to allow more people to get Pfizers boosters. The FDAs Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is also expected to hold a meeting in late October to review data submitted by Pfizer. This data supposedly proves that the vaccine is safe to give to children between the ages of five and 11. Learn more about the dangers of taking Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news. Sources include: LifeSiteNews.com CDC.gov Reuters.com (Natural News) Cybersecurity expert and retired Army Col. Phil Waldron questions the integrity of the 2020 presidential election after the Arizona audit found potential fraudulent ballots. The ballots were not printed on the paper prescribed by the statute. If the ballots are not printed on the paper prescribed by law, then where do they come from? asks Waldron during the America Unhinged Radio program of Dr. John Diamond on Brighteon.TV. Comparing those ballots to counterfeit money, Waldron says theyre illegitimate, they dont count. Diamond likes that comparison. I think you gave the best laymans illustration when you talked about that counterfeit money. Thats something almost everybody can understand, says Diamond. If I deposit millions in my account in tens, theyre going to audit it, and then they will find out that 150,000 of it are not valid. So, they will decertify my money Im not getting that money back. Thats not going to be the end of it. The next step of that is [finding out] who counterfeited it. Dont look at me because somebody may have passed bad bills on me. But somebody is guilty of a crime, Diamond says. Decertify the money that is counterfeit and then find out who committed the crime. An election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona began on April 23 over five months after President Joe Biden won Arizona by nearly 10,500 votes and Maricopa County by over 45,100 votes against former President Donald Trump. The Arizona Senate and Cyber Ninjas, the private company hired to oversee the audit, have kept the proceedings and findings private. During a Senate briefing, Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan raised concerns about ballot printing and pointed out that the print was slightly offset between the front and back. He believes this could cause the ink to bleed through and change selections. Logan also claims that the auditors saw this particular issue in about 168,000 ballots printed at voting centers. (Related: Arizona Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem calls for arrests, decertification after forensic audit results.) Arizona has questionable sharp rise in votes early on voting day On Nov. 30 last year, Waldron testified in front of members of the Arizona State legislature. He presented an analysis of data showing a vote spike on Election Day shortly after counting started. Arizona was a little bit different. It had a pretty strong rise right up at the front, the first part of voting day, whereas the other states have a gradual increase in votes. But this injection spike at 8:06 p.m. where 143,100 votes were injected, that was in excess of what the machines could have processed, Waldron said at the time. He presented an email sent Nov. 10, from an anonymous individual claiming to have witnessed a detailed plan to embed 35,000 fraud votes to each Democrat candidates total votes while at a Pima County Democratic Party meeting in September last year. The source also sent the email to the criminal division of the Department of Justice and all members of the Arizona legislature. Please be advised that Pima County Recorder and the Democratic party added fraud votes in the initial count to the vote-by-mail totals released at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2020, the email stated. So this coincides with what we observed in the data analytics at that spike. We werent aware of this email until after the fact. So there were approximately 35,000 fraud votes added to each Democratic candidates vote totals, Waldron told members of the Arizona legislature at the time. According to source, the 35,000 votes were embedded in a spread configured distribution and auto-adjusted to the real voter turnout. The fraud votes applied to both local and federal election candidates. Waldron has said the allegation can potentially be proven through a full forensic audit of the machines used in Pima County. (Related: The devastating reality of the Arizona forensic audit.) Watch the Sept. 30 episode of the America Unhinged Radio here: You can catch new episodes of the America Unhinged Radio from Monday to Friday at 9-10 a.m. on Brighteon.TV. Follow VoteFraud.news for more news and information related to election frauds. Sources include: Brighteon.com VillageNews.com (Natural News) Texas-based physician Dr. Stella Immanuel says that the book of Revelation is playing out in the real world. She puts forward this claim during a recent episode of her program The Dr. Stella Immanuel Show on Brighteon.TV. According to the doctor, elements in the New Testaments final book mirror some aspects of the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are all [going to] die. Every human being that comes into this world [knows] that. Nobody should be afraid if you die and go to heaven. If you know where youre going, you should not be afraid of dying, she says. Immanuel continues: Were in a position right now where a lot of things are happening. People are sick [and some] are alive and doing well. Some people have been vaccinated, [while] others have not been vaccinated. Despite this, she notes that many are afraid because they do not know what is going to happen, especially now that the winter season is nearing. A lot of people right now are afraid to die. Well, youre talking about a lot of people dying in the hospitals. This is the first world [and] thats not true, theyre not dying in the hospitals. People are dying, but its not the way the media makes it sound [like], Immanuel says. She also mentions the role of doctors like her in addressing other health issues that arise due to COVID-19. Immanuel explains: We also want to make sure that people dont have comorbidities and side effects from the disease. Part of medicine is not just about whether you live or your die. Most of the things that we do in medicine is to alleviate pain. Were also preventing them from dying, especially for people with all kinds of disease situations going on in their lives. The book of Revelation has parallels with the pandemic Immanuel then proceeds to connect the book of Revelation to the current situation. When you start looking at the Word of God right now and compare it to what were seeing in science, in medicine, in media and everything its just like youre reading Revelation. Revelation is playing out right in front of us, she says. She then reads the passage in the book of Revelation concerning the second beast coming from the earth (Revelation 13:11-18). The physician gives emphasis on the verses mentioning the beasts ability to give breath to the image of the first beast and the images ability to cause all who refuse to worship [it] to be killed. If you read it here, it shows that the devil has the right and the ability to give life to an image. So if they clone somebody, the devil has that ability to give breath to that image, make it talk and cause all of us to take the mark of the beast, Immanuel says. According to Immanuel, the COVID-19 vaccines are the prophetic mark of the beast referred to in the book. She elaborates: The Bible is saying that these images of the beast look like me and you, but they are not human. They are going to cause all the people that would not worship the beast or its image to be killed. Theyre going to cause those that did not take the mark to be killed, and then of course those who have not taken the vaccines will be killed. (Related: Dr. Stella Immanuel reveals globalist cabals evil plan for humanity Brighteon.TV.) Immanuel also explains verse 15, saying that people commonly misinterpret this as being killed with firearms. She points out: Right now, they are really killing people by withholding treatment from them. They are not shooting sick people with a gun, but people are getting killed. The doctor adds that patients with COVID-19 are killed through intubation and administration of the antiviral drug remdesivir, which causes kidney failure. She points out that both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans are dying as a result of hospital protocols that do more harm than good. People are dying in hospitals because they do not take the vaccine, [and] people are [also] dying in hospitals after they took the vaccine, Immanuel says. (Related: Are covid vaccines part of the mark of the beast system?) The complete episode of this edition of The Dr. Stella Immanuel Show can be found here. The Dr. Stella Immanuel Show airs every Wednesday at 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV. Prophecy.news has more articles about the book of Revelation and its parallels in real life. Sources include: Brighteon.com BibleGateway.com (Natural News) Dr. Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries talks about what he calls the criminal malfeasance of the elites during the Sept. 29 episode of his program Prophecy and Politics on Brighteon.TV. Lively argues that the elites can be criminally prosecuted under this category. Lively says that even though he believes theorizing about theories like the claimed covid genocide against humanity is a normal and important part of analysis of the culture war and changes in society, he has still held on the possibility of the pandemic having no malice in itself. As a pastor and having an eschatology regarding end times that the Lords going to come back. And before He does, there has to be a rise of apostasy, and I recognize that we are in an age of apostasy. [Still], theres this sort of a desire to believe the best of people [and] to want to see the good in people, not to [want to] believe that a gigantic global conspiracy of Marxist transnational elites could really desire to wipe out millions and millions of people. But Ive come to believe that [and] the evidence, just increasingly, he says. Lively defines malfeasance as a common-law category of crime. The word comes from a French term that means evil actions by public officials. It has been used since the Middle Ages, and has entered the American vocabulary through British common law. Most people generally know what malfeasance is, but a lot of people dont. Its not a common term that you hear, Lively says. He mentions that many government officials qualify for prosecution under criminal malfeasance due to their mandates that infringe on peoples health freedom. I cant think of any category of statutory law that you could bring these people to justice. Theres really no other category that I can think of, Lively says. Lively cites many instances of this criminal malfeasance The pastor mentions examples of this criminal malfeasance especially when it comes to abortion. When I doubt the suggestion that people cant be really truly evil, I just remember abortion and the existence of an entire abortion industry in this country that has killed millions of babies and engages in the harvesting and marketing of aborted baby parts. I cant think of anything more evil than that, Lively says. He cites the recent expose about the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) purchase of fetal body parts for medical experimentation. Conservative group Judicial Watch is responsible for exposing this scheme by means of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Documents from the FDA amounting to almost 200 pages released as part of the FOIA request reveal that the regulator has purchased human fetal heads, organs and tissue for use in its humanized mice project. (Related: HORRORS CONFIRMED: Obamas FDA purchased fresh and never frozen aborted baby heads and other body parts.) Lively also mentions incumbent Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Bakers plan to reimburse Planned Parenthood after the U.S. Congresss decision to defund the pro-abortion group. Planned Parenthoods defunding comes after the expose of Sandra Merritt and David Daleiden about the groups sale of aborted baby parts. Baker, dubbed a reprobate RINO [Republican in name only] by Lively, has promised to reimburse Planned Parenthood of any amount it loses to congressional action with tax dollars from the state. True enough, Baker signed a bill in March 2019, allocating $8 million to the abortion group. Lively points out that there doesnt seem to be any outrage at all with the news of aborted baby parts being sold. The pro-life community is the only one outraged. Were being hit on so many fronts by so many different things. The elites are engaging in a multi-faceted campaign just to wear us down [and] to break us down. They used to just push us the envelope, now theyre driving the envelope 90 miles an hour from the left-wing agenda, on multiple fronts at the same time, he says. Aside from the killing of babies, Lively also calls out the elites mandating COVID-19 vaccines for children. So many people are in direct contradiction to the science [and] to the evidence thats coming out. Children are not at risk for this disease, but the vaccines are dangerous yet vast numbers of them want their children to have this, and they want to mandate [these] for children. Its a criminal malfeasance by the elites, those who are sitting in the seats of power, Lively says. (Related: STUDY: Vaccinating children against COVID makes zero sense; more children are harmed by the vaccines than from COVID.) The pastor also talks about the bigger problem of the elites working together to transform the U.S. according to a wicked agenda that follows the culture of death. He says: To them, its all legal and it ought to be legal. But to normal people who believe in God, those things arent irrelevant just because the Marxists have taken the seats of power. Lively adds: Those things now arent just our opinion, because even though they have all adopted the contradictory religion of secular humanism, it doesnt mean that the truth is not the truth anymore. Watch the full Sept. 29 episode of Prophecy and Politics here. You can catch new episodes of Prophecy and Politics with Dr. Scott Lively every Wednesday at 4-5 p.m. on Brighteon.TV. Genocide.news has more articles about the elites criminal malfeasance in their quest to kill millions. Sources include: Brighteon.com WND.com BCHeights.com (Natural News) Yes, there are a handful of Senators and Representatives who still care about the Republic and didnt just join Congress for the money, power and control. Take for instance Senator Rick Scott from Florida, who has the guts and the love for America to stand in the way of the most tyrannical regime the USA has ever experienced on our own turf. Are you ready for state troopers, FEMAs SS goons, HHS thugs, National Guard boots (NATO mercenaries) and DHS troops to stop your automobile between US states to check you (and any kids you have) for updated vaccine passports proving youve had several clot shots, proving your government-issued gene therapy medication is up to date? May I see your vaccine papers sir/maam? I see you and your wife have NOT had your Covid booster shots yet and that your 4-year old twins are not vaccinated at all. Im going to need you to step out of the vehicle and put your hands on the hood. Sen. Rick Scott knows this is whats next for America under the CCP/CDC/Biden Regime, so he has introduced a 3-page landmark piece of legislation that would roadblock (pun intended) future road blocks all over American roads, preventing the non-vaccinated from traveling from state to state, but thats not all. The legislation, titled the Prevent Unconstitutional Vaccine Mandates for Interstate Commerce Act lays out how it would prevent all kinds of illegal travel interrogations by the Department of Transportation, Amtrak, Surface Transportation Board, TSA, NTSB, Federal Maritime Commission, and the Department of Commerce. See whats happening here? The Biden Regime is about to set up Nazi vaccine passport police everywhere, to stop automobiles, commerce trucks, boats, trains, buses, planes, everything. All interstate commerce, plus foreign and domestic travel rights for the USA are on the chopping block right now The conspiracy theorists have been proven right once again. The Democrats want to wreck America with socialism and communism, and its on full display right now. The insidious Diane Feinstein, Senator in California, and New York House of Representatives Democrat Ritchie Torres, have both introduced national legislation to REQUIRE vaccine (Nazi) passports for all foreign and domestic air travel. Let that sink in for a minute. That means the CDC could require Covid booster shots monthly if they want to, and every fully vaccinated person, or partially vaccinated person, or unvaccinated American will have NO rights to travel without getting blood-clotting, gene therapy injections every 30 days, or whatever vaccine regimen Fauci demands. Of course, this Marxist aggression and communist-style domestic terrorism is dubbed the U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act, because government-hosted terrorism by forced toxic medication is always for the greater good, as Hitler told us. The only opt-out of clot shot injections regularly would be if somehow American citizens could prove a negative result on a PCR test (which tests positive for every cold, flu, virus, bacterial infection as Covid) 2 days prior to and during every 3 days of travel, or somehow prove with Documentation of Recovery that they caught Covid, beat it, fully recovered, and still dont have it now. That is literally IMPOSSIBLE when the PCR test will say positive, since they cant determine how old ones antibodies are (so they just say positive meaning you could have beat Covid an entire year ago but it sounds like you have it right now). Floridas Senator Rick Scott believes vaccination is a matter of informed consent, not some medical regulation used for government tyranny and nanny police state rule Now, immediately, the mass media and vaccine industrial complex would jump to call Senator Rick Scott anti-vaxxer and anti-science, except for the fact that he got the Covid vaccine himself. This does not fit the narrative that Fauci and the CDC want Americans following, which is that nobody has any rights whatsoever in America when it comes to supposedly preventing a bad case of the China Flu. Rick Scott is a true patriot who cares about Americans right to make their own medical choices. My body, my choice, right? Sen. Rick Scott: I got the COVID-19 vaccine, and encourage everyone who feels comfortable to get it too, but government has no business pushing mandates on the American people and our hardworking businesses. He elaborated; Its the governments job to inform Americans and then let every family make the right choices that will keep themselves, their businesses and their employees safe. In Israel, the Minister of Health got BUSTED by a hot microphone saying the vaccine passports have nothing to do with health or security, its all just a con to pressure everybody to get injected with the highly experimental, gene therapy Covid clot shots. Is someone you know suffering from post-Covid-vax Spike Protein Syndrome? Tune your truth news dial to Pandemic.news for the best ways to keep your body healthy, your home safe, and your constitution protected. Sources for this article include: Pandemic.news TruthWiki.org NaturalNews.com VisionTimes.com VisionTimes.com (Natural News) New e-mails from Mr. Anthony Fauci obtained exclusively by The National Pulse reveal the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director congratulated epidemiologist Dr. Ian Lipkin, a key Wuhan Institute of Virology collaborator, on receiving personal awards from Chinese Communist Party dictator Xi Jinping. (Article by Natalie Winters and Raheem Kassam republished from TheNationalPulse.com) Lipkin a Columbia University Professor received the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award from regime chief Xi in 2016 before going on to claim another award from Chinas Central Government, Central Military Commission, and State Council. The 2016 award is the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) top science honor for foreign scientists, and, as quoted in a Columbia University press release, Lipkin remarked that it solidifies my relationship with dear friends and colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health all of which are wholly-owned and operated Chinese Communist Party entities. In 2020 he commented, It is a great honor to receive this medal I will cherish it as a reminder of my dear friends and colleagues in China and all we have accomplished together for the health of the Chinese people and all people around the world. The latter award came just days before Communist China told the world of the human-to-human transmission of the then novel coronavirus which came to be known as COVID-19. As the virus spread Dr. Lipkin became one of the most frequent media talking heads on the subject. Lauded by the New York Times in 2010, Lipkins work in covering for his Chinese Communist friends became apparent just 6 days after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Without much evidence at all, Lipkin and four others produced a paper on The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2, wherein they speculated that [i]t is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus. A few months later Lipkin even thanked Fauci for his dismissal of the lab-leak theory. Today, almost 18 months later, that view is no longer credible. Congrats! In addition to his close links to Chinas hardline Marxist regime, Lipkin has also received nearly 100 grants from Faucis own National Institutes of Health (NIH) agency to fund his research. The press release, included in the email sent from Fauci, touches on Lipkins long history of collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A summary of his professional experience reveals he even consults for the regime and has lectured and accepted grants from Chinese state-run scientific bodies, as previously revealed by The National Pulse. Fauci exclaimed Congratulations! before adding, Very much deserved in an email sent to Lipkin the day following the January 8th, 2016 press release. The email obtained by The National Pulse follows Lipkins stark denial of a lab origin for COVID-19. Lipkin was quoted by outlets including CBS and USA Today as a means by which to debunk Dr. Redfields explosive claim linking the virus to a Chinese lab. We should be moving away from finger-pointing, Lipkin told CBS after adding there is no evidence to suggest that it was created in a lab. Lipkin has also given several interviews to state-run Chinese news outlets including China Global Television Network, where he insisted I have so many friends in China, in universities, and in government that I can help people to talk to one another and work together. Renowned epidemiologist Walter Lipkin lauds Chinas transparent and professional approach against coronavirus outbreak, reads a headline from the state-run outlet Global Times. Read more at: TheNationalPulse.com and ScienceFraud.news. According to new research, the bulk of fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, and coal, 'must not be mined' by 2050 if the globe is to stay below 2.7F (1.5C). This is the greatest yearly average temperature increase that experts believe the planet can withstand while reducing the danger of climate change's most catastrophic impacts. Forecasted Temperature Rise According to climate projections, global average temperatures would rise 5.22 degrees Fahrenheit (2.9 degrees Celsius) by 2100. As a result, a team from University College London examined temperature rises under several scenarios depending on the amount of fossil fuels exploited up to 2050. Related Article: OPEC Member Calls for Change, Urges Oil Producers to Invest More on Renewable Energy Global Fuel Policy To meet the lower 2.7F (1.5C) objective, they discovered that roughly 60% of present oil and fossil methane gas reserves, as well as 90% of coal reserves, should be kept buried. According to the experts, this would necessitate major policy changes worldwide, including a move away from fossil fuel usage and production. Fuel Supply The world isn't running out of fossil fuels, according to Frank Jotzo of the Australian National University, who was not part of this study, but rather alternatives for their waste product, carbon dioxide, and what to do with it to limit climate change. 'Policies to limit production and lower demand will be required to persuade farmers to reconsider their output,' they added. Fossil fuels are responsible for 81% of world energy use. However, to reach global climate change targets, their production and consumption must drastically decrease. According to a 2015 Nature study, a third of oil reserves, half of the gas reserves, and over 80% of coal reserves should be left unused by 2050 to keep global warming below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Based on earlier research, Dan Welsby and colleagues calculated the fraction of fossil fuels that must be left in the ground to keep global warming below 2.7F (1.5C). According to them, a significant expansion in non-extractable fossil fuel reserves is necessary. Fuel Production Rate They added that this is especially true for oil, where an additional 25% of reserves must remain in the ground compared to 2015 projections. The authors also discovered that the global reduction in oil and gas output necessary by 2050 means that several locations would reach their production peaks in the next decade. Peak production is when fossil fuel extraction achieves its maximum level ever - in the past or the future - and is viewed as a forerunner of humanity's transition away from fossil fuels. They added that many planned oil projects would be rendered unviable if peak production occurred in less than a decade rather than in the following decades. Alternative Energy Nuclear power, solar power, ethanol, and wind power are the primary alternatives to oil and gas energy. Fossil fuels still outnumber these alternatives in global and local energy markets, but there is significant public pressure to expand their use as businesses transition toward sustainability and greener business practices. More than 80% of overall energy consumption in the United States is accounted for by fossil fuels, consisting of coal, oil, propane, and natural gas. However, alternative energy sources have so far proved to be uneconomical replacements for fossil fuels; they are inefficient and expensive (or, in the case of nuclear power, entirely banned from increasing) than fossil fuels. As a result, the government now offers various subsidies to customers who opt for cleaner renewable energy sources for their homes or cars. As more research and development is done in this area, and supply and demand principles of economics finally drive costs down to be competitive with traditional fossil fuels, the number of oil alternatives is growing. Also Read: Can Climate Change Drive Humanity to Extinction? For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News! A drug that is capable of preventing the worst result of covid-19 may finally come to our rescue anytime soon. On the 1st of October being Friday, pharmaceutical companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics publicized the preliminary outcome of a big trial testing out their experimental antiviral medication referred to as molnupiravir. It was revealed that the drug decreases the chances of later hospitalization or mortality by about 50% in individuals at greater risk with mild to moderate sickness, the outcome was so dramatically positive thereby stopping the trial early. Now the companies are planning to seek an urgent use authorization for the pill, in spite of the fact that outside scientists are yet to vet the discoveries. It is said that molnupiravir works by interfering with the ability of a virus to make a replica inside cells of the host, hopefully reducing viral load and making the immune system capable of clearing the infection faster, without becoming a more severe illness. The development of the drug had been ongoing before the pandemic as a possible treatment for the flu and most viral diseases. Also Read: FDA Warns About 'Rare' Heart Inflammation Side Effects For Moderna, Pfizer Vaccine The Clinical Trial The intention of phase 3 double-blinded, randomized, and controlled trial of molnupiravir, referred to as MOVe-OUT, was to bring in about 1,500 unvaccinated individuals who initially noticed mild to moderate symptoms of covid-19 but were at a greater risk of serious illness because of their preexisting health. As is not unusual, though, researchers carried out a temporary analysis of the trial when just 775 patients had been treated. Around 14% of the individuals on placebo finally became hospitalized or some lost their lives within 30 days, compared to about 7% of the individuals who were on molnupiravir. There were no single deaths in the treatment group, compared to eight who lost their lives in the placebo group. An independent board of outside scientists can put an early stop to clinical trials since the treatment seem very unlikely to work that continuing would be unethical. But they can also be discontinued since the treatment seems a lot better than standard care that bringing in participants to a control or placebo group wouldn't be right. And the independent board accepted that this was the case here. Controversy Surrounding the Pill By the time the trial was officially ended, over 90% of it had already been recruited, though, so there is a possibility of more data sifting through, the companies say. In a statement publicizing the results, CEO of Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, Wendy Holman 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." Despite the fact that for some time now molnupiravir has shown that it could possibly be a covid-19 treatment, there has been some disagreement and failure surrounding the drug also. Related Article: Researchers Explain How Pfizer Generates More Antibodies than China's Sinovac For more news, updates about covid-19 and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News! A large number of "rogue" paddleboarders and kayakers are threatening a bird sanctuary island in Northumberland which harbors the rarest nesting seabird in Britain and these humans are causing major disturbances. Human Disturbance The site manager of Coquet Island, Dr Paul Morrison, said in his 37 years of doing the job he had noticed so many changes, but this one is among the most serious. He said: "We've had a season of disturbance. There's paddleboards everywhere. And some of these kayak groups are there nearly every day, and constant disturbance could mean the birds don't settle, or they abandon their eggs, or the eggs go cold." He said they are having to do something against them, revealing that workers guard the island always and they've got a very experienced security system recommended by the police. But there are either one or two that is not aware, or ignore the law and take the risk. Morrison said: "We've been trying to get the message out, but there's still a rogue element which doesn't respect the birds." Also Read: Arctic Birds More Vulnerable to Climate Change as Their Habitat Continues to Warm Coquet Island Coquet Island harbors the only roseate tern breeding colony in the UK and also about 1,400 pairs of arctic terns and 30,000 pairs of puffins. In the 1970s, their numbers were as low as 16 breeding pairs of roseate terns in the UK and this number has increased to over 100 due to conservation efforts. Coquet Island became a chosen sanctuary in 1979 and this means throughout the entire year it is safeguarded from disturbance and landings, and it is illegal to violate these rules. Morrison said: "The police have made it clear to us that it's not just an offence for [intruders], it's an offence for us if we don't intervene and do something about the disturbance. At one time it was just egg thieves, that was bad enough, but now it's twofold - we've got egg thieves and disturbance." He also said they are making effort to make sure kayakers and paddleboarders don't get anywhere closer than 20 metres to the island, adding that disturbing the beach birds can prompt a "second wave" response, making the nesting birds also go away. Apparently, following Covid, so many people have just started visiting the waters because they would like to have a little more freedom, but the individuals need to give some respect to the island, Morrison said. Roseate Tern The Roseate Tern - Sterna dougallii - is a seabird belonging to the tern family Sternidae. Roseate Tern has several geographical races which vary mostly in bill colour and slight plumage details. Sterna dougallii breeds on the Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe, and winters south to West Africa and the Caribbean. Sterna dougallii bangsi and Sterna dougallii korustes which are the tropical forms are resident breeders from east Africa across the Indian Ocean to Japan According to a study on coral reef health, almost 14% of the world's coral has been destroyed in less than a decade. Declining Coral Population Scientists discovered that between 2009 and 2018, the globe lost around 11,700 sq km of coral - the equivalent of more than all the live coral in Australia - in the biggest study of coral reef health ever conducted. Meanwhile, according to research issued on Tuesday by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, reef algae, which grows when coral is stressed, increased by 20% between 2010 and 2019. Over 300 scientists from 73 nations contributed data for the paper, including 2 million individual observations gathered over 40 years. Coral Bleaching According to the study, coral bleaching episodes induced by rising sea surface temperatures were the leading coral loss, which looked at ten locations containing coral reefs. It was discovered that a major bleaching event in 1998 resulted in the loss of 8% of the world's coral, or roughly 6,500 square kilometers, with the greatest effect in the Indian Ocean, Japan, and the Caribbean. Related Article: Marine Scientists Discovers Living Specialized Immune Cells in Corals and Sea Anemone Changing Water Temperature According to experts, the drop in the previous decade occurred due to rising sea surface temperatures. They demanded immediate action, claiming that climate change was the greatest threat to the world's reefs. However, there are some encouraging signals in the study. Scientists discovered that despite the pressures reefs were under, many were robust and could recover under the proper circumstances, mainly if quick action to prevent global warming was done. The Australian Institute of Marine Science's chief executive, Paul Hardisty, described the news as "mixed." "There are evident worrisome patterns in coral destruction, which we should anticipate to continue as long as global warming continues. However, despite this, certain reefs have demonstrated an incredible ability to recover, providing hope for the future regeneration of damaged reefs. "A clear conclusion from the study is that climate change is the greatest threat to the world's reefs, and we must all do our share to mitigate local pressures and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions." Marine Diversity Coral reefs make up only 0.2 percent of the ocean floor, but they are home to a quarter of all marine species. For millions of people, they provide critical habitat, essential sources of protein, medications, food, work, and protection from storms and erosion. While major bleaching episodes have been so frequent in the previous decade that coral has not had time to recover, scientists detected a comeback in 2019 when reefs restored 2% of their coral cover. They believe this gives them optimism that if the forces exerting pressure on reef ecosystems relax, they might rebound to pre-1998 levels within a decade. Overfishing, irresponsible coastal development, and deteriorating water quality are some of the other threats to coral. The latest findings come after a separate study published last month found that the world's coral reef cover has decreased by half since the 1950s. Also Read: By 2100, Up to 95% of Ocean Surface May 'Disappear' Due to Climate Change For more news update about Environmental News, don't forget to follow Nature World News! According to a research from an Australian thinktank, running houses and vehicles solely on electricity would save homeowners $5,443 per year. The study claims that converting all home appliances and automobiles to operate on electricity may reduce a third of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions while saving families $40 billion per year by 2028. Saving Thousands According to Castles and Cars by Rewiring Australia, the average Australian home uses 102kWh of electricity per day, costing $5,248 per year. Gasoline and gas to power automobiles, stoves, showers, and heaters account for a large portion of this expense. The research showed that internal combustion engines in automobiles are only 30% effective at converting gasoline or diesel to electricity, and natural gas water heaters consume three times as much energy as heat pumps - the same technology that powers refrigerators and air conditioners. In addition, many coal plants achieve just 30% efficiency in power generation, whereas natural gas facilities achieve 45 percent efficiency. Related Article: Thousands of Environmental Scientists and Academics are Calling for a "Non-Proliferation Treaty" on Fossil Fuel Going Electric According to the research, replacing fossil fuel appliances and cars with electric versions by 2030 and powering them with more efficient, low-cost solar energy could save households $5,443 per year and reduce home emissions to zero. Due to its population density, renewable energy generating capability, and current state and territory legislation, Australia was particularly positioned to electrify households. Taking the best existing policies from each state and combining them with federal leadership, said Saul Griffith, an Australian who has advised the Biden administration on energy policy and is the report's author, would allow Australia to put together a comprehensive framework and "show the world how it's done." Australia Taking Significant Steps Griffith stated, "Australia is a lot closer to accomplishing this than the general public believes." "We'll be selling that technology to California if we go first. They'll sell them to us if we don't go first." He added that a pilot initiative to convert every building in a suburb would be the first step. After that, it'd become a model that could be tweaked before being implemented elsewhere. Victoria's energy and climate change minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, will present the study created in collaboration with the Australia Institute on Tuesday. Before Gladys Berejiklian resigned as NSW premier on Friday, Matt Kean, the state's energy and environment minister, who is anticipated to become treasurer soon, was scheduled to attend the event. The research, according to Australia Institute's Richie Merzian, is "excellent news." "It boils down climate change solutions to a simple narrative: switch to 100 percent renewable energy, electrify everything, and then transform your carbon sources into carbon sinks," he added. Recommendations The research recommends providing subsidies and financing to assist low-income homes in making a move to electricity, as well as making solar power and battery storage a "national priority." It would include nationwide expansion of initiatives like the Victorian government's solar homes program, which seeks to electrify appliances in low-income families. The Victorian government, according to D'Ambrosio, is working on a "gas replacement roadmap" that would "define a long-term approach to decarbonize gas consumption." "Electrification presents great potential to assist Victoria to meet its 2030 emissions reduction goal," she added. Although Nicky Ison, WWF Australia's energy transition manager, was not involved in the report, he said it was "compelling." "When we talk about climate change and the energy transition, one of the issues we have is that a lot of the attention 15 years ago was on personal sacrifice," Ison added. "We've transitioned from an austerity-focused climate narrative to one based on plenty and opportunity." Also Read: OPEC Member Calls for Change, Urges Oil Producers to Invest More on Renewable Energy For more news about making the environment sustainable, don't forget to follow Nature World News! An oil leak five miles off the coast of Huntington Beach, California, spilled 3,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean, and severe weather is expected to exacerbate the situation. According to Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr, the oil leak is "one of the most catastrophic crises our town has faced within decades." Pipeline Incident According to CNN, the incident originated from a 17-mile pipeline operated by Houston-based business Amplify Energy and resulted in roughly 126,000 gallons of post-production crude oil pouring into the ocean. In a news conference on Sunday, officials claimed the leakage appeared to have stopped, and Amplify Energy CEO Martyn Willsher said the firm does not expect any more oil to flow after suctioning the pipeline at both ends. Oil, sea life like fish and dead birds have been washing up on beaches around Southern California since the oil leak began. Related Article: Destructive Oil Spill in California is Killing Sea Creatures and Contaminating Wetlands National Disaster According to a news statement issued late Sunday night by the United States Coast Guard, 3,150 gallons of oil have been retrieved from the water due to cleanup activities. As a result, president Joe Biden has been asked to declare the oil leak a national disaster. The Los Angeles Times reported that oil has begun to leak into the Talbert Marsh, a 25-acre wetland in Huntington Beach. On Sunday, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley issued a warning to people not to go swimming, surfing, or exercising at the beach. She also advised against fishing since it is dangerous. Cleanup Operation Crews and volunteers from all around Southern California have already begun cleaning up the oil. Scott White was one of the first volunteers to start cleaning up the beaches. While removing oil-filled sand from the beach, White told The Associated Press, "I think we need to come out and get this oil out of here because it damages the ecosystem very, very terribly." With a bucket in hand, he strolled along the beach, filling it with oil-contaminated sand. White told the Associated Press that he intends to transport as much sand as possible to a disposal facility. "I'm simply picking up the oil," he explained. "You know, it's just awful. It's a disaster." While removing oil-filled sand from the beach, White told The Associated Press, "I believe we need to come out and get this oil out of here because it damages the ecosystem very, very terribly." He filled a pail with oil-contaminated sand as he went along the beach. According to the Associated Press, White intends to transport as much sand as he can to a landfill. He explained, "I'm simply picking up the oil." "You know, it's simply bad." "It's awful." Contractors in boats, in addition to the volunteers, put skimmers and booms into the ocean as barriers to prevent any further oil from leaking into the Talbert Marsh wetlands. On Sunday, the contractors used plastic bags to collect the oil accumulated on top of the water. Incoming Storm Causing Trouble An approaching storm, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert, might hinder cleanup operations. "This is mostly an upper-level storm that will be moving ashore and bringing just scattered showers to the LA Basin region," he explained. "However, starting Monday and continuing into Tuesday, it will certainly bring some larger seas into the region." The storm is expected to come ashore late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, then continue eastward all day Tuesday. Weather conditions in the area are predicted to improve by Wednesday, although stormy weather scheduled to begin the week might hamper cleaning operations near Huntington Beach. "The higher swells may likely shift the oil spill even further, increasing its extent and complicating any cleanup efforts," Reppert said. Stormy weather might return to the area by the end of the week or next weekend. Also Read: Oil Spill the Size of New York City Poses Risk to Marine Life in Mediterranean Sea Marine Bacteria Found Capable of Biodegrading Diesel and Oil: Can it Clean Up Oil Spills? For similar news, don't forget to follow Nature World News! Boy, 6, walking along with his family in a Michigan nature preserve unexpectedly discovered a 12,000-year-old mastodon tooth. Such discovery is very rare. The Discovery On the 6th of September, 6-year-old Julian Gagnon was walking along with his family in the Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve when he came across an object. At first, the 6-year-old identified his discovery to his parent as a "dragon's tooth." Gagnon told WDIV-TV: "I just felt something on my foot and I grabbed it up, and it kind of looked like a tooth." His parents permitted him to take the tooth home, where the family closely observed his discovery, realizing it could possibly be a fossil. The family reached out to the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontologists and then they identified the boy's discovery as the upper right molar belonging to a young mastodon. About 12,000 years ago, mastodon species inhabited Michigan. Also Read: 42 Mastodon Fossils Discovered in Michigan Backyard Mastodon Mastodons are ancient elephants and mammoths' relatives and it was believed that humans had destroyed them. At the time, they were one of the largest terrestrial animals on Earth whose lengths are up to 10 feet, weighing 8 tons or more. Experts previously thought that mastodons inhabited the Arctic and Subarctic areas which ice caps covered. The research museum collection manager of the paleontology museum, Adam Rountrey, told MLive.com: "Mammoth and mastodon fossils are relatively rare in Michigan, but compared to other places in the United States, there actually have been more occurrences." Experts revealed that while it is known that both mammoths and mastodons have inhabited Michigan, making discoveries is infrequent since scavengers usually take the animals' remnants a long time before they could turn into fossils. The Donation The boy and his family gave the tooth to the museum, which said the 6-year-old boy will be recompense for his donation with a behind-the-scenes tour this month. Gagnon was thinking he would be given money as the reward for his discovery, but he wasn't. Gagnon added saying initially, he thought he was going to be given some money, he also thought he was going to get a million dollars but it is so embarrassing he wasn't given any. Mary Gagnon, Julian's Mother said: "This has only fueled his passion for archaeology and paleontology. As far as he's concerned, this is his first discovery of his career, and now it's hard to dissuade him from picking anything up that he sees in the natural world." The fossil is approximately similar in size to a human hand and researchers at the University of Michigan confirmed that it belongs to an American mastodon. The woodland preserve of about 16-acre has several trails for children and visitors to move on and explore. In spite of the fact some fossils have been found at the preserve previously, it got its name because of the children of the area. Related Article: 9-year-old Boy Unearths 10,000-Year-Old Mastodon Tooth near Home For more news, updates about mastodon tooth and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News! Residents in Caribbean resort island of Guanaja, Honduras forced to extinguish a major fire using buckets of water as response from firefighting authorities have been slow. The blaze destroyed over 200 homes and businesses at the popular resort island on Saturday, showing several seaside properties smoldered and collapsed into the water around Guanaja. Residents tried to douse the flames themselves when no fire service arrived. "We can confirm that we have no human losses but vast material losses," said Max Gonzales, minister of the National System for Risk Management and National Contingencies. Hundreds evacuated from the Caribbean Island Hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate their homes after the devastating fire has been brought under control by authorities. While the fire's origin was not known, there were fortunately no lives has been lost, aside from at least four injured people. It started in the early hours of Saturday in seaside homes and spread immediately. The 'uncontrollable' flames were soon extinguished with bags of water dropped from military helicopters. Police aided the rescue, while people raced to save beds, furniture and other belongings as the blaze came. Videos were shared in local media showing the fire's extent, with "90 houses destroyed, 120 damaged, 2,500 people directly affected, three injured and three others to be confirmed," Gonzales said. Evacuation and emergency accommodation are set up in a church and a school. Guanaja is one of the three Bay Islands of Honduras where 6,000 of its inhabitants live mainly from tourism, covering an area of just 19 sq km (7.3 sq miles). The two others are Roatan and Utila. The picturesque island is popular among divers for its warm, crystal clear waters and large barrier reef. Also read: Southern Plains and Central States to Experience Flash Floods Due to Heavy Rainfall Widespread destruction as residents struggled to bring the flames under control Guanaja, which lies more than 40 miles off the north coast of Honduras, does not have a fire service. The island's deputy mayor Mireya Guillen described as 'uncontrollable' flames as residents struggled to bring it under control and was not prevented as soon as they can. The blaze sent up billows of huge cloud of black smoke and unfortunately was not put out until it had caused widespread devastation. Footage and videos shared in local media taken after the fire was put out showed dozens of houses with no roofs and windows, and "vast material losses." Aside from 90 houses, 120 more was added to the count including some used as businesses, Mr Gonzales said. "I am very sorry for what the families of Guanaja's main key are going through today, who in a few minutes saw their heritage consumed by the flames. All my solidarity with those affected. I call on the authorities to help the families and attend to the emergency as soon as possible," said a social media post with a video of the raging fire. "Difficult situation on the Island of Guanaja after the accident," another video posted after fire has been extinguished. Also read: China's Government Secures Fuel Supplies for Winter as the Country Battles a Power Crisis Threat According to information published by Yonhap on September 28, 2021, the Republic of Korea Navy was set to launch the new 3,000-ton-class homegrown submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, Dosan Ahn Changho class submarine Shin Chae-ho, the third of its kind designed to boost underwater defense capabilities. Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link Dosan Ahn Changho class (KSS-III) submarine Shin Chae-ho (Picture source: 123ru) The Dosan Ahn Changho-class submarines are the final phase of the Korean Attack Submarine program, a three-phased program to build 27 attack submarines for the Republic of Korea Navy between 1994 and 2029. The lead vessel, Dosan Anh Changho, was launched in 2018. It began sea trials in 2019 and is planned to be ready for service by 2020. The 83.5-meter-long and 9.6-meter-wide submarines can carry 50 crewmembers and can operate underwater for 20 days without surfacing. The class has a submarine version of the Korean Vertical Launching System which will be able to carry up to ten indigenous "Chonryong" land-attack cruise missiles and "Hyunmoo" submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), becoming the first submarine in the South Korean navy to have this kind of capability. It also has many other improvements compared to its predecessors built with a greater degree of South Korean technology, especially in the later batches, which will include Samsung SDI lithium-ion batteries. Dinosaurs, evolution and religion lecture Dinosaurs, evolution and religion lecture Beneath the skeleton of a fossilised Diplodocus from the Natural History Museum, Dr Nick Spencer gave a fascinating lecture in Norwich Cathedral about dinosaurs, evolution and religion. VMware is heavily targeting the challenging multicloud universe with a raft of VMworld announcements. With its latest offerings which include a new cross-cloud service, cloud management and bolstered security wares VMware is positioning itself to manage the growing multicloud world and address the enterprise ecosphere of distributed applications and infrastructure. Read more: VMware gears up for a challenging future The average enterprise has about 500 applications, and all of them are getting modernized. Some of them are going to continue to live in the private cloud. Many of them are going to move to the public cloud but may not get changed much. Some of them are going to get changed, some of them are going to get fundamentally rewritten. So it's a very diverse application landscape, and you can't say one size fits all, VMware CEO Raghu Raghuram told IDG. VMwares position in the industry is to be a multicloud Switzerland, letting customers have the freedom to choose the right cloud based on their strategic business goals, Raghuram said. Todays enterprise apps are distributed across clouds. Roughly 75% of VMware customers are relying on two or more public clouds, and 40% are using three or more, Raghuram said. One of the new tools VMware is offering to help enterprises navigate the multicloud world is a package called VMware Cross-Cloud services. It will allow customers to pick specific services they need on the cloud platform they want, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle. VMware Cross-Cloud services integrate a variety of new and existing VMware offerings from container support to networking, security and desktop software. Specifically, the services include support for Tanzu, VMware Cloud, vRealize, NSX, Carbon Black, VMware Workspace One and its new Edge software. For existing VMware customers, integrating that many components might make things easier, but otherwise, thats a quite a large package of requirements, experts said. Would customers need all of that? Probably not right away. But VMware is telling customers that they can start building and deploying cloud-native applications as needed with this package, said Brad Casemore, research vice president with IDCs Datacenter and Multicloud Networks group. Enterprise workloads will increasingly become cloud native, and microservices will become the norm, so VMware is on the right road. VMware Cross-Cloud services will also be part of a new family of multi-cloud SaaS services previewed at VMworld. Nicknamed for now Project Arctic will integrate cloud connectivity into VMwares core vSphere software, allowing customers to manage cloud resources across multiple public and private clouds from a single console, VMware stated. Project Arctic will bring multi-cloud to the fingertips of vSphere customers, by natively integrating cloud connectivity into vSphere making vSphere cloud-aware, and making hybrid cloud the default operating model, wrote Krish Prasad, senior vice president and general manager of VMwares Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, in a blog. Millions of IT admins who use vCenter on-premises will be able to leverage their domain expertise and benefit from expanded cloud capabilities. Customers would be able to instantly access VMware Cloud capacity and deploy VMware Cross-Cloud Services for example, they would be able to enable disaster recovery to the cloud with just a few clicks, or leverage security services for threat detection and ransomware protection. Arctic is one of many cloud-related developments announced at the virtual VMworld. Project Capitola is an effort to build software-defined memory. It's designed to allow customers to automatically grow memory as applications need it without requiring major infrastructure changes. Project Cascade is aimed at simplifying the way Kubernetes developers access resources in a cloud environment, while Project Ensemble will offer customers a unified view of cloud resources across vRealize Cloud Management services. On the security front, VMware talked about what it called an elastic security edge service that lets the networking and security infrastructure at the data center or cloud edge stretch and adjust as app traffic changes. VMware provides an elastic set of data plane services for networking, security, and observability, and a unique scale-out distributed architecture that enables an EASE [elastic application security edge] environment to grow and shrink as app needs change, the company stated. Part of that elasticity service will be a Secure Workload Access feature that lets businesses extend security policies across workloads that are spread across multiple locations. Some additional cloud security tools VMware talked about include: VMware Carbon Black Cloud security service can now be enabled with a simple switch in VMware vCenter, making protection from ransomware attacks simpler and faster to deploy, the vendor stated. Tanzu Service Mesh advancements enable developers and security teams to each gain a better understanding of when, where and how APIs are communicating, even across multi-cloud environments, enabling better DevSecOps. VMware announced rapid recovery capabilities in the event ransomware gets through defenses. To improve the recovery process, VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery provides file- and folder-level recovery for customers to extract specific files or folders from VMs without powering up those VMs. Customers will be able to quickly extract recent, uncorrupted files and data, which can be injected into a clean restore point as part the of ransomware recovery process. VMwares CloudHealth Secure State now delivers Kubernetes Security Posture Management that delivers the ability to provide deep visibility into misconfiguration vulnerabilities across both Kubernetes clusters and connected public cloud resources. VMware and Intel are working to secure edge environments starting from the silicon and extending to devices and apps. The idea is to meld the Intel vPro platform and VMware Workspace ONE to enable automated out-of-band maintenance that keeps PCs up to date on the latest security patches and infosec policies no matter where they are located. VMware is telling customers traditional network security devices and architectures are outdated for the multicloud world, Casemore said. VMware has a good security story because they are offering to maintain protection and simplify the management of the security infrastructure. Thats important as customers move towards a zero-trust approach for multicloud and edge. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) A slow slog of jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of the suspect in 2018's Florida high school massacre on charges that he attacked a jail guard nine months after the shooting. Prospective jurors were ushered into the courtroom in groups of 32 and asked basic questions about their knowledge of Nikolas Cruz, the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland that left 17 dead, whether they could put that aside and their availability to serve. Those who pass this initial screening will be brought back on Oct. 18 for further questioning. The first six of potentially 15 groups were screened Tuesday, with 67 prospective jurors remaining from those. Most dismissed said they couldn't judge Cruz fairly several said they are teachers or Parkland residents. Two women were excused by Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer when they began crying shortly after seeing Cruz the prospective jurors were not told what case they were being considered for until they entered the courtroom. A third woman became too emotional to answer questions and was also dismissed. Cruz, 23, brawled with a Broward County jail guard, Sgt. Raymond Beltran, while incarcerated on charges that he murdered 14 students and three staff members on Feb. 14, 2018. No date has been set for the murder trial, which has been delayed by the pandemic and arguments over witnesses and evidence. It may start in the next few months. Jury selection in a typical jail brawl trial would take a few hours, with lawyers picking jurors and an alternate or two from a pool of 22. Given Cruz's notoriety, lawyers in this case are scheduled to take up to five days to pick. Testimony is expected to last one or two days, beginning Oct. 19. In an unusual move Tuesday, the judge, at the request of Cruz's attorneys, told prospective jurors that he is jailed in connection with the school shooting. In trials involving crimes in jail, jurors are typically not told why a defendant is incarcerated, because it is irrelevant to what is charged and could prejudice the verdict. But Cruz's attorneys want to gauge the prospects' knowledge of the shooting to make sure they can evaluate the battery case solely on that evidence. His attorneys wanted Scherer to go even further and tell the prospective jurors the number of victims killed, but she refused, saying that was too inflammatory. Scherer put Cruz under oath and asked if he is in agreement with his attorneys' request. He softly answered yes to her first question and nodded in agreement to the others. Beltran and Cruz fought on Nov. 13, 2018, with a soundless security camera recording the brawl. Beltran was overseeing Cruz during his recreation period when they suddenly began to argue. Cruz flipped both middle fingers at Beltran and then charged him, starting a minute-long brawl that ended after Beltran staggered him with a blow to the head. Beltran told investigators that Cruz attacked him after he asked him to stop dragging his feet and damaging his sandals. Cruzs attorneys are expected to argue that Beltran had a history of mistreating Cruz and verbally instigated the fight. Cruz faces a possible 15-year sentence if convicted of attempted criminal battery on a law enforcement officer and three lesser charges. Cruz will get either death or life in prison without parole if he is later found guilty of first-degree murder, but this trial still has relevance. If Cruz is convicted of attacking Beltran, prosecutors can argue that is an aggravating factor when they seek his execution during the penalty phase of his murder trial if convicted. Cruzs murder trial is expected to take months. His attorneys have said he would plead guilty to 17 murders in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors have rejected that offer, saying this case deserves a death sentence. ___ This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Nikolas. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) Progressive mayors are seeking reelection in New Mexicos largest city and its fast-growing state capital as voting begins Tuesday, contending with challenges from Hispanic candidates from the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party. The Nov. 2 election is a preamble to statewide and congressional contests in 2022, where Democrats hope to extend their hold on all statewide offices including governor and super-majorities in the state House and Senate, and reclaim a congressional swing seat. Voting begins Tuesday by mail and at county clerks offices, with early voting at additional locations to start on Oct. 16. In Santa Fe, publishing entrepreneur and Mayor Alan Webber is using the campaign trail to promote a guaranteed minimum income program for parents attending community college. He vows to eliminate local childhood hunger and attend to climate change as an existential threat. Challenger and fellow-Democrat JoAnne Vigil Coppler a city councilor and Latina native daughter of Santa Fe with a long resume in public administration says Webber has overreached at the expense of fundamental city services and recreation facilities, such as a popular public swimming pool that broke down during the pandemic. In Albuquerque, first-term Mayor Tim Keller is facing opposition from the more conservative ranks of his own party over concerns about his ability to contain crime in the city. His challengers include two-term Democratic county Sheriff Manny Gonzales, who backed a move by then-President Donald Trump to send in new federal law enforcement agents to Albuquerque. Albuquerque-based political science professor Lonna Atkeson said the two mayoral races illustrate tensions within the Democratic Party. The discord could derail two highly educated white male incumbents both with ties to Harvard Business School in a heavily Democratic and Hispanic state with enduring currents of cultural conservatism. Theres a lot of potential for wedges, and there is a huge gap right now between the progressive wing of the party and the more conservative wing of the party, Atkeson said. You see that in both mayoral races, where someone is saying, You know, we need to focus on services as opposed to all of this gigantic stuff that is not related to our local government. The ballots are nonpartisan, allowing multiple candidates from the same party. Among Republicans, conservative radio station owner and talk show host Eddy Aragon is running for the top job in Albuquerque, describing a city afflicted by economic insecurity, drug addiction and mental health issues. In Santa Fe, Republican environmental engineer Alexis Martinez Johnson is running for mayor as a political outsider, after losing a bid for Congress last year. Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans more than 4-to-1 in the Santa Fe area. Santa Fes mayoral contest is overshadowed by simmering conflicts over historical monuments, with election challengers lambasting the citys response as inadequate when a tumultuous crowd toppled a downtown monument representing Union soldiers who died fighting Indigenous tribes and Confederate soldiers. The monument, which had an inscription that referred to Indigenous peoples as savages, was a point of civic pride among local fraternal orders and reviled by many Native Americans for glorifying military campaigns against their ancestors. Webber has helped funnel federal pandemic aid toward grants for private businesses. He also has painted his election opponents as untrustworthy for resisting a pandemic ordinance in 2020 that required face masks to reinforce state policy. Vigil Coppler says she supports masks but found the city ordinance clumsy and ineffective. Johnson defied the ordinance last year and was fined. Keller in Albuquerque hopes to extend a political winning streak that vaulted him from the Legislature to statewide office as New Mexicos public auditor before winning the mayor job in 2017. Concerns about crime in the city came to a head this summer when Albuquerque marked a grim milestone a record number of homicides with more likely to be added to the tally before the years end. Keller has tried to defend his record, saying his administration is coming up with plans and programs that focus on root causes, such as addiction and poverty. In a nod to his progressive leanings, Keller also believes the Albuquerque Police Department is adequately funded and that more money needs to be funneled toward prevention programs and behavioral health services. More than 45% of Albuquerques general fund budget already is dedicated to public safety. Homelessness and affordable housing also have been issues in New Mexicos largest city, where the mayor conceded during a recent debate that the number of people living on the street has more than doubled during his first term in office. He blames the pandemic. PHOENIX (AP) Eight days into the school year, all five of Amber Cessacs daughters, ages 4 to 10, had tested positive for COVID-19. Having them all sick at once and worrying about long-term repercussions as other parents at their school, and even her own mother, downplayed the virus, broke something inside of me, Cessac said. The anxiety and the stress has sort of been bottled up, she said. It just felt so, I dont know, defeating and made me feel so helpless. Like parents everywhere, Cessac has been dealing with pandemic stress for over 18 months now. There's the exhaustion of worrying about the disease itself made worse by the spread of the more infectious delta variant, particularly among people who refuse vaccinations, which has caused a big increase in infections in children. Online school disrupted kids' educations and parents' work. Then the return of in-person school this year brought rising exposures and community tension as parents fought over proper protocols. The politicization of masks, vaccines and shutdowns have worn many parents out. Deciding whats OK for children to do and what isnt can feel fraught. Parents are exhausted on a level weve not seen before, said Amanda Zelechoski, a Purdue University Northwest psychology professor who co-founded the website and nonprofit Pandemic Parenting. We have been in survival mode for a year and a half now and it is relentless. Schools are, for many, a constant worry. There's evidence that masks in schools help reduce virus spread, and a majority of Americans support requiring masks for students and teachers. But that breaks down sharply along partisan lines. Some Republican governors have tried to ban mask mandates. District policies on masks, testing and quarantines vary widely. Soon after schools reopened in August, the rate of coronavirus infections forced dozens of districts to back off in-person learning. The charter school Cessac's four older daughters go to in the Austin, Texas, suburbs doesn't require masks. Her children, who are too young to be vaccinated, told her they were among only a handful of kids in their classes to wear masks. But she's sent them back to school as they recovered. Its not any better anywhere else, she said. All the moms, we feel stuck in this situation. There's nothing we can do. More than 5.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, with 20% of all child cases coming since this school year began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death, but at least 498 have died. Vaccines have been available for children as young as 12 since May, but vaccination rates lag behind adults. Federal data show about half of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated, while 43% of 12- to 15-year-olds are; two-thirds of U.S. adults are vaccinated. And while a vaccine for younger children is expected before the end of the year, they remain more vulnerable. Many parents felt lost on how to best protect them. You still had parents struggling with decisions, and what is safe for my family, and feeling left behind or invisible because other segments of society were able to move on, Zelechoski said. Over a million students left U.S. public schools in the 2020 school year, which was marked by widespread remote classes. It's not yet clear what's happened this academic year, but fights over mask mandates have led some parents to alternatives. Sheila Cocchi, a single mom still dealing with health problems after suffering COVID-19 in February, is paying a teacher to give her 10- and 14-year-olds classes at home for 10 hours a week along with an online program. She also works from home in Fernandina Beach, Florida, just north of Jacksonville. Last year, it was like OK, the whole worlds gone crazy and were all having to adjust to this. Now its a different kind of stress, she said. Were trying to get this under control as a nation, or at least as a state, and theres so many people who are not participating in that. I would like for my children to be in school as much as anyone. Other parents say they know being back at school is what's best for their kids, and they just hope it's OK. In Fort Worth, Texas, Heather Buen, who works for a local utility and is a Democratic politics organizer, keeps at her kids to wear masks and wash their hands, even when other children or even teachers don't. It's a lot of effort to maintain that, she said. She thinks seeing their dad, an electrician, get COVID-19 helped scare them into sticking to preventive measures. The five children in school have not gotten sick, and Buen said she feels reassured because it seems more students and staff are wearing masks now than at the beginning of the school year. Still, parents from three districts, including hers, have sued, saying schools are violating students' constitutional rights because there's no mask mandate. The lawsuits, school board meeting fights, dissension between family members and friends is also a source of stress. The bashing on both sides, thats been the hardest thing, said Sarah Brazwell, who has a 3-year-old in day care and a 9-year-old in elementary school. She's not ready to get vaccinated and, despite overwhelming evidence that face coverings protect against the virus, she said wearing masks in her Florida Panhandle town is a little pointless because so few people do. Child care finding it, paying for it, worrying about the spread of sicknesses from it has been a huge stress during the pandemic. Labor is in short supply and it can be difficult to find a spot. Infections and exposures, and even minor colds at day cares can mean children get sent home for days or weeks, forcing parents to scramble repeatedly for child care. Deanna Manbeck, board president of her child's small, non-profit day care in Wilmington, Delaware, carries the weight of responsibility to the roughly 20 families there. Masks are required for teachers but not vaccines out of fear staff will quit. How could I tell parents that we can no longer care for their children and they have to find a new center over an optional mandate? As a mom, I want all teachers to be vaccinated but were not in the position to mandate them, she said. Jeff Sheldon and his wife began interviewing nannies for their two sons, a 3-year-old and a baby, after day care closures and routine childhood illnesses kept their children home for weeks at a time this summer. He and his wife took sick days and worked from home. Their mothers also helped. "We cant keep living with the uncertainty of class closing at a moments notice, he said of the day care in Lincoln, Nebraska, noting that his older son has thrived there. While Sheldon was more able than his wife, who works for the public school system, to work from home, the pandemic has underscored the burden for women in particular balancing child care and work, and millions of women have left the work force. Taking a leave was a brief consideration for Dr. Ankita Modi, a pediatrician in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was upset the thought even crossed her mind, she said, but she was that desperate. In her school district, masks are optional, there's no remote school option and she says the contact tracing is ineffective. Local health officials agreed and threatened legal action against the district before agreeing on new procedures at the end of September. Her youngest child, 11, isnt old enough to be vaccinated; the other two are. It feels like youre knowingly putting them at a real concrete risk every day," she said. "That, as a parent, is really unnerving. I dont think anybody has slept well since school has started. ___ AP writer Bryan Anderson contributed to this story from Raleigh, North Carolina. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. 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). Village Trustee Joe Brown stands near where he wants to put a second siren in Fisher, near the pond close to the intersection of Ashlyn and Robert drives west of downtown. People with lower incomes and who experienced multiple COVID-related stressors were more likely to feel the toll of the pandemic, as the socioeconomic inequities in mental health continue to widen. Depression among US adults persisted-;and worsened-;throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH). Published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health Americas, the first-of-its-kind study found that 32.8% of US adults experienced elevated depressive symptoms in 2021, compared to 27.8% of adults in the early months of the pandemic in 2020, and 8.5% before the pandemic. The most significant predictors of depressive symptoms during the pandemic were low household income, not being married, and the experience of multiple pandemic-related stressors. The findings underscore the inextricable link between the pandemic and its short and long-term impact on population mental health. The sustained high prevalence of depression does not follow patterns after previous traumatic events such as Hurricane Ike and the Ebola outbreak. Typically, we would expect depression to peak following the traumatic event and then lower over time. Instead, we found that 12 months into the pandemic, levels of depression remained high." Dr. Sandro Galea, study senior author, dean and Robert A. Knox Professor at BUSPH The study is the first nationally-representative study in the US to examine the change in depression prevalence before and during COVID, using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ 9), the leading self-administered depression screening tool. The researchers used data from 5,065 respondents to the 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), as well as from respondents to two COVID-19 Life Stressors Impact on Mental Health and Well-Being (CLIMB) surveys. The first survey included 1,441 respondents and was conducted from March 31 to April 13, 2020, when the majority of the US population was under stay-at-home advisories. The second survey was conducted with the same group one year later, from March 23 to April 19, 2021, and included 1,161 respondents. Both surveys used the PHQ 9 to assess depression symptoms and gathered the same demographic data, and the CLIMB surveys also gathered data on COVID-related stressors such as job loss, the death of a loved one due to COVID, financial problems, feeling alone, and a lack of childcare. The survey responses suggested that the burden of depression intensified over the course of the pandemic and disproportionately impacted adults with lower incomes. When adjusting for other demographics, people making less than $20,000 in spring 2020 were 2.3 times more likely to experience elevated depressive symptoms, compared to people making $75,000 or more; by spring 2021, low-income adults were more than 7 times as likely to experience these symptoms. Although population-level stressors decreased overall during the first year of the pandemic, people experiencing four or more stressors were more likely to also experience elevated depressive symptoms-;and least likely to overcome those stressors. "The sustained and increasing prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms suggests that the burden of the pandemic on mental health has been ongoing-;and that it has been unequal," says study lead author Catherine Ettman, a doctoral candidate at Brown University School of Public Health and chief of staff and director of strategic initiatives in the Office of the Dean at BUSPH. She notes that economic relief and the development of COVID-19 vaccines may have prevented even worse depression outcomes. "Low-income populations have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and efforts moving forward should keep this population in mind," Ettman says. "Addressing stressors such as job loss, challenges accessing childcare, and difficulties paying rent, will help to improve population mental health and reduce inequities that have deepened during the pandemic." Long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a term that is used to describe the persistence of certain symptoms for more than four weeks after patients have recovered from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Study: Impact of long-COVID on health-related quality of life in Japanese COVID-19 patients. Image Credit: fizkes / Shutterstock.com What is long COVID? To date, over 4.8 million around the world have died as a result of COVID-19. Furthermore, over 233 million individuals have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, of which an estimated 80% of them, according to some studies, have developed one or more symptoms reflecting long-COVID. Long COVID symptoms can include pain, general fatigue, brain fog, trouble sleeping, headaches, shortness of breath, fever, chronic cough, depression, cognitive and mental health disorder, and anxiety. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom, long COVID encompasses ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 from four to 12 weeks post-infection, as well as post-COVID-19 syndrome extending beyond 12 weeks post-infection. Since there remains a lack of available and effective treatments for long COVID, these symptoms can affect work and interfere with daily tasks, resulting in a poor quality of life. Long COVID is also further complicated by the fact that this condition can vary significantly between individuals in terms of its duration and symptomology. In addition to a lack of medications available to treat long COVID, a quantitative assessment of the disease burden by long COVID is also unavailable. To obtain empirical information on the health-related quality of life due to long COVID, researchers recently conducted a survey-based study and assessed the impact of long COVID on the health-related quality of life in Japanese COVID-19 patients. About the study In the current study, which is published on the preprint server medRxiv*, the researchers conducted a cross-sectional self-report questionnaire survey of 530 eligible patients who had recovered from acute COVID-19 in April 2021. These patients were recruited from the outpatient service of the Disease Control and Prevention Center (DCC) in the National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) in Tokyo, Japan, where they had obtained pre-donation screening tests for COVID-19 convalescent plasmapheresis. Of the eligible patients, 457 participants were included in the current analysis. The study showed a lower value on a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and the EQ-5D-3L for those participants who reported any of the symptoms of long COVID than those reporting no symptoms. VAS is a psychometric response scale that is used as a measurement instrument for subjective characteristics or attitudes that cannot be measured directly. The EQ-5D-3L comprises five dimensions, of which include mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, depression/anxiety. Each question had three possible responses of no problems, some problems, and extreme problems. Study findings Upon comparison of the health-related quality of life scores estimated by the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire between these participants with no symptoms (n=349) and those suffering from long COVID (n=108), the study found a substantial disease burden caused by COVID-19. Notably, the number of females appeared to be more afflicted as observed in the any symptom group, as compared to the no symptoms group. Apart from this, there was no overall difference between the groups in terms of their age and medical history. However, the values were lower in the any symptoms group than the no symptom group. Further, the researchers tabulated the characteristics of long COVID symptoms in the paper. In this study, 44% of the participants reported at least one symptom after four weeks have passed since their COVID-19 symptom onset. The most common symptom of long COVID was reported to be general fatigue, which was followed by alopecia (hair loss). Due to the varying duration of long COVID, the researchers explained that the quality of life lost attributed to long COVID is far greater than influenza-like illnesses (ILIs). In a previous study in Japan, the quality of life of long COVID patients was higher than that of the acute phase of ILIs. Based on the results from this study, the researchers recommend effective preventative countermeasures for COVID-19, as the role of the COVID-19 vaccines in long-COVID has not yet been demonstrated. Some of the limitations of the current study include possible recall biases, a small study cohort, and selection biases. Thus, the researchers call for studies focusing on the frequency and severity of long COVID symptoms following infection with the new SARS-CoV-2 variants, as well as those evaluating the influence of vaccination on long-COVID. *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. The last year and a half have been a struggle for all of us, and that's putting it lightly. But in terms of mental health, apartment-dwelling Americans-;especially those living alone-;may have suffered more mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic than those living with their families in the suburbs, suggests new research from the University of Georgia. Published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the study showed that individuals living in multifamily housing units, like apartment complexes, were more likely to experience mental health problems than people in standalone homes or condos. Renters also had higher odds of experiencing mental health issues during the pandemic than those homeowners. I fervently believe that your housing environment can have some kind of impact on your mental health, especially during COVID." Andy Carswell, Professor, College of Family and Consumer Sciences Research has shown that renters, particularly those living in high-density complexes, are more prone to mental health crises in general, but the pandemic appeared to compound that effect. "In most renter environments, the resident doesn't have as much control as he or she would like," Carswell said. Noisy neighbors, outdoor space, even whether the resident can own pets all depend on the rental company's rules. "When you don't have control, that can wear on your mental health, cause anxiety and make you a little more depressed." As social opportunities dried up, people living solo had a harder time mentally coping than those who lived with family members. "One side of the coin is that sense of relief-;'I live alone.' There's a much smaller chance of me getting the virus if I live alone,'" Carswell said. "But there's a loneliness epidemic out there too. According to our data, your mental health gets better as more people enter the picture: The more people in the housing unit, the better people's mental health was." High-density apartment complexes caused stress The researchers relied on data from the Household Pulse Survey, a randomized online survey from the Census Bureau that collected information on how people's lives have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. On average, over 80,000 households per week participated, with more than 1.5 million total participants over the study period. The survey included a variety of questions, including employment status, food security and job security. Participants were also asked about how often they felt depressed, anxious or worried over the past week. For renters, a variety of factors likely came into play. Tighter living quarters in high-density buildings means an increased likelihood of running into someone in the hall and possibly being exposed to the virus. Rounds of lockdowns meant more people were staying home 24/7, potentially upping the probability of interaction with others in the building as well. Using traditional amenities like apartment gyms or pools became a calculated risk-;if they weren't closed by management to curb the spread. Renters also typically have moderate to low incomes, and the pandemic likely exacerbated already existing financial anxieties. The possibility of eviction was an ever-present threat until moratoriums were passed. Mental wellness certification Regardless of a participant's housing situation, mental health issues were pervasive throughout all residential units. A mental wellness certification program for rental buildings does exist. Based on academic research studies, the Fitwel certification system was originally created by the CDC to improve health and well-being in buildings and communities. But extensive protocols for protecting residents' mental health are still fairly rare. "The big takeaway is that-;no surprise-;housing matters," Carswell said. "In defining one of the problems of the many layers of problems that COVID brings, mental health has really been a hidden aspect of this whole pandemic." A recent study published in the journal Microbiology and Infectious Disease assesses the serological and cellular responses to Pfizers BNT162b2 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine in people aged 80-96 years at 2 weeks after the second vaccination. Study: mRNA vaccination in people over 80 years of age induces strong humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 with cross-neutralization of P.1 Brazilian variant. Image Credit: Tania Kolinko / Shutterstock.com Background The burden of infectious diseases in the elderly population is high due to immunosenescence, which is a process of immune dysfunction that often occurs in older people. As a result, this patient population is often at a greater risk of developing infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and malignant tumors. Immunosenescence also causes an impaired response to vaccination, as evident in the reduced vaccine efficacy observed following the immunization of patients older than 65 years with the inactivated influenza virus. The underlying mechanism of immunosenescence includes a reduction in naive T-cells due to thymic involution, the accumulation of memory cells, and inflammaging, which is an increased presence of inflammatory molecules. To improve vaccine efficacy, research studies assess the antigen dose, adjuvant formula, and use of live inactivated vaccination. Since age is a major risk factor for mortality following infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), older individuals received priority consideration for COVID-19 vaccination in most nations across the world. Notably, previously published efficacy data of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 was based on a study population in which 4% of all participants were over the age of 75 years. The current study looks at the immune response in elderly people, assessing the serological and cellular response against the virus and its variants. The study The PfizerBioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine is a strongly immunogenic COVID-19 vaccine that consists of a nucleoside-modified mRNA encoding a mutated form of the full-length spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. The researchers of the current study recruited 100 elderly participants, between the ages of 80 and 96 years who had received the BNT162b2 vaccine with a 3-week interval between their first and second doses. Notably, 58% of the study participants were female. After receiving the initial and final vaccine doses, the researchers collected blood samples from the participants for the quantitative measurement of spike (S) responses and to determine their nucleocapsid (N)-specific antibody serostatus. Study findings Taken together, strong S-specific antibody responses were observed in all study participants, with 98% above 1 in 50. Thus, this response exceeded the response seen following natural infection with SARS-CoV-2. The N-specific antibody serostatus provided information to the researchers as to whether the study participants had a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2. To this end, 10% of the study cohort was found to have a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2, of which only 4 of the individuals reported symptoms with their previous infection. Importantly, individuals with a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection had a median S-specific antibody titer that was 28-fold higher than those without prior infection. After receiving their first vaccination, 63% of the samples exhibited positive antibody responses. Comparatively, after their second vaccination, 96% of the test subjects had detectable antibody responses. Between the first and second doses among individuals who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, their antibody ratio exhibited a modest rise of 6%. Thus, this finding reaffirms previous studies supporting a single vaccine dose in individuals with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. S-specific T-cell responses were observed in 63% of participants, whereas the responses against both the S1 and S2 domains were equivalent. In individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, a 3-fold stronger T-cell response against the S protein after vaccination as compared to those without a history of COVID-19. A similar response was also observed against the N and membrane (M) proteins in this group. Because there is a strong correlation between the humoral and cellular immunity in a natural infection, the researchers suggested assessing how the suboptimal antibody or cellular responses relate in people who fail to gain complete clinical protection from infection following vaccination. Natural protection To assess the natural protection post-vaccination, the researchers tested live virus neutralization of the Victoria strain correlated with global spike-specific response. To this end, the researchers found a 14-fold reduction in the neutralization titer against the P.1 VOC and a 3.8-4.8-fold decrease with the live virus. Based on these observations, the researchers inferred that vaccinated older people are unlikely to be susceptible to the emerging variants. Limitations The researchers pointed out a major limitation of the study as the absence of data on pre-vaccinated samples from participants, due to the quick rollout of vaccination programs among the elderly population. It also reflects the challenge of operating within vaccine centers during a national lockdown. Conclusion The findings from this study highlight the importance of vaccinating older people, as antibody responses remained robust in donors up to 96 years of age. Thus, this study shows that the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine efficacy induces a humoral response that is independent of age with the older population. The number of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases diagnosed fell dramatically by 40% in a year during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research presented today at UEG Week Virtual 2021 has shown. The research, which was conducted across multiple hospitals in Spain, compared data from the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with data from the previous year. Of 1,385 cases of CRC diagnosed over the two-year period, almost two thirds (868 cases, 62.7%) were diagnosed in the pre-pandemic year from 24,860 colonoscopies. By contrast, only 517 cases (37.3%) were diagnosed during the pandemic, which also saw a 27% drop in the number of colonoscopies performed, to 17,337. Those who were diagnosed with CRC between 15 March 2020 and 28 February 2021 were also older than in the pre-pandemic year, had more frequent symptoms, a greater number of complications and presented at a more advanced disease stage. Experts say the fall is a consequence of the suspension of screening programmes and the postponement of non-urgent colonoscopy investigations during the pandemic. Fewer cancers were identified by CRC screening in the pandemic period, with just 22 (4.3%) cases found in comparison to 182 (21%) in the pre-pandemic year. During the pandemic, more patients were diagnosed through symptoms (81.2% of diagnoses) compared with the pre-pandemic year (69%). Dr Maria Jose Domper Arnal, from the Service of Digestive Diseases, University Clinic Hospital and the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragon) in Zaragoza, Spain, and lead author of the study, commented "These are very worrying findings indeed cases of colorectal cancer undoubtedly went undiagnosed during the pandemic. Not only were there fewer diagnoses, but those diagnosed tended to be at a later stage and suffering from more serious symptoms." There was a significant increase in the number of patients being diagnosed with serious complications a sign of late-stage disease with an increase in symptoms such as bowel perforation, abscesses, bowel obstruction and bleeding requiring hospital admission. These cases made up 10.6% pre-pandemic and 14.7% during the pandemic. The number of stage IV cancers being diagnosed rose during the pandemic year, with stage IV cases making up 19.9% of cases, in comparison to 15.9% in the previous year. Although these figures are across a population of 1.3 million in Spain, it's highly likely that the same drop in diagnoses would have happened elsewhere across the globe where screening was stopped and surgeries postponed, especially in countries that were heavily impacted by COVID-19." Dr Maria Jose Domper Arnal "Colorectal cancer is often curable if it's caught at an early stage. Our concern is that we're losing the opportunity to diagnose patients at this early stage, and this will have a knock-on effect on patient outcomes and survival. We are likely to see this fall out for years to come." CRC (or bowel cancer) is Europe's second largest cancer killer and the most common digestive cancer. Annually, there are 375,000 newly diagnosed cases in the EU, and it claims the lives of over 170,000 people2. Since the rollout of screening programmes, which now cover over 110 million EU citizens, Europe has observed a steady decline in CRC mortality rates. A recent global study published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology demonstrated a correlation between the introduction of screening programmes and a reduction in CRC mortality rates, supporting the benefits of effective screening interventions. Can T-cell tests be used to determine whether people have had COVID-19? Scientists at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet have jointly analyzed this issue under the aegis of the COMMUNITY study at Danderyd Hospital. Their study is published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. We've seen that companies sell tests for the purpose of establishing whether a person has T cells that are specific to SARS-CoV-2. It's not so common for T-cell tests to be used in clinical diagnostics, so we decided to see if the data from the COMMUNITY study, where we have measured antibodies in a large cohort study in a longitudinal fashion, and also performed T cell studies at a follow-up time-point , to see if this study could give us information about how well these tests perform at an individual level." Sara Mangsbo, research scientist in immuno-oncology, Uppsala University By analyzing the T cells' responses to varying peptide compositions, the researchers were able to see that different peptide pools produced divergent responses, and that a risk of false-positive responses existed. In the scientists' view, this risk is due to the fact that the peptides can give rise to responses from memory T cells that originated in some way other than through a SARS-CoV-2 infection - from a common cold, for example. When the scientists attempted to avoid using peptides that might give rise to these cross-reactive responses, there was an increase in the specificity of the test - that is, its ability to establish genuine negative responses - but its sensitivity (ability to detect a true positive response) simultaneously declined at the time of sampling and analysis, which was 4-5 months post COVID-19. "Here, we used the COMMUNITY study, which participants joined early on in the pandemic, in April and May 2020, enabling us to follow these individuals over time throughout the pandemic. That gives us confidence that the antibodies, which are measured regularly, can give us information about whether the subjects have had COVID-19 or not," Mangsbo says. "In the follow-up study, the participants with a relatively mild initial disease clearly didn't always have measurable SARS-CoV-2 specific T cells in blood. But among those with a disease that's initially more serious, there were more who had measurable SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in blood over time. The correlation we found between the severity of the disease and a measurable, established memory response in the blood isn't entirely unexpected; but it's still important to establish, since the use of T-cell tests has been a matter of public discussion for numerous reasons," she continues. "It's also important to say that the subjects' blood doesn't always contain the memory T cells after the disease is over. Still, cells in tissues - which aren't measurable by means of a blood-based test for T cells - may have a part to play in how ill people get during an infection," Thalin, specialist doctor and researcher responsible for the COMMUNITY study at Danderyd Hospital and Karolinska Institutet adds. "T-cell tests will continue to have an important part to play in research and studies, but probably a smaller one in diagnostics and at individual level for SARS-CoV-2 in particular," says Charlotte Thalin. Work to develop a specific SARS-CoV-2 peptide mix has been carried out in collaboration with Pierre Donnes and SciCross AB. Peter Nilsson and Sophia Hober at KTH measured the antibodies over time. The COMMUNITY study The study is managed and conducted in close collaboration between Danderyd Hospital (the purchaser of the study), Uppsala University, Karolinska Institutet (KI), KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, SciLifeLab and the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The research group includes Danderyd Hospital's specialist doctor and responsible researcher Charlotte Thalin and two doctoral students there: assistant senior consultant Sebastian Havervall and specialist doctor Ulrika Marking. The other participants were the professors Sophia Hober and Peter Nilsson from KTH; senior lecturer Sara Mangsbo, researcher Mikael Aberg and Professor Mia Phillipson from Uppsala University; Jonas Klingstrom, Associate Professor (Docent) and Kim Blom, PhD, from KI; and the Public Health Agency of Sweden. A specific wavelength of ultraviolet (UV) light is not only extremely effective at killing the virus which causes COVID-19, but is also safer for use in public spaces, finds new University of Colorado Boulder research. The study, published this month in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, is the first to comprehensively analyze the effects of different wavelengths of UV light on SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses, including the only wavelength safer for living beings to be exposed to without protection. The findings, which the authors refer to as a "game changer" for UV light use, could lead to new affordable, safe and highly effective systems for reducing viral spread in crowded public spaces like airports and concert venues. Of almost every pathogen we have ever studied, this virus is one of the easiest, by far, to kill with UV light. It takes a very low dose. This indicates that UV technology could be a really good solution for protecting public spaces." Karl Linden, senior author, professor of environmental engineering UV light is naturally emitted by the sun, and most forms are harmful to living beings-;as well as microorganisms, like viruses. This light can get absorbed by the genome of an organism, tie knots in it and prevent it from reproducing. These harmful wavelengths from the sun, however, are filtered out by the ozone layer before they reach the surface of the earth. Some common products, like fluorescent tube lamps, use human-engineered UV light, but a white phosphorous coating on the inside protects people from the UV rays. "When we take that coating off, we can emit those wavelengths, and they can be harmful for our skin and our eyes-;but they can also kill pathogens," said Linden. Hospitals already use UV light technology to disinfect surfaces in spaces when there are no people in them, utilizing robots which can shine UV light in operating and patient rooms between uses. And many gadgets on the market today clean everything from cell phones to water bottles with UV light. But safety protocols are still being developed by the FDA and EPA. Linden cautions against using any personal or "germicidal" devices in which a person is exposed to UV light. The new findings are unique, he said, because they hit the sweet spot between UV light that is relatively safe for humans and harmful for viruses, especially the one that causes COVID-19. "This can be a game changer for the public use of UV light in indoor spaces," said Linden. Death by exposure For the study, Linden and his team compared different UV wavelengths side-by-side using standardized methods developed across the UV light industry. "We thought, let's come together and make a definitive statement on what UV exposure is required to kill off SARS-CoV-2," said Linden. "We wanted to make sure that if UV light is being used to control disease, you're delivering the right dose that's protective of human health and human skin, but also going to be killing off these pathogens." The opportunity to do this kind of work is rare, as there are extremely rigorous safety standards required to work with SARS-CoV-2. So Linden and Ben Ma, postdoctoral researcher in Linden's research group, collaborated with virologist Charles Gerba at the University of Arizona, at a lab cleared to work with the virus and its variants. The researchers found that while the virus was quite susceptible to UV light in general, a specific wavelength of Far ultraviolet-C, at 222 nanometers, was particularly effective. Created by what's known as a krypton chloride excimer lamp, fueled by molecules moving between different states of energy, this wavelength is very high energy. Therefore, it's able to inflict greater viral protein and nucleic acid damage to the virus compared to other UV-C devices, as well as be blocked by the very top layers of human skin and eyes-;meaning that it has limited to no detrimental health effects at doses that are capable of killing off viruses. "Not only is it safe, it's also the most effective," said Linden. The role of UV disinfection today UV light in various forms has been used widely since the early 20th century to disinfect water, air and surfaces. As early as the 1940s, it was used to reduce the transmission of tuberculosis in hospitals and classrooms, by shining the light at the ceiling to disinfect air as it circulated throughout the room. Today, it's used not only in hospitals, but in some public bathrooms and airplanes when there are no people in those spaces. In a recent White Paper published by the International UV Association, "Far UV-C Radiation: Current State-of Knowledge," which accompanies the new study, Linden and co-authors argue that this safer wavelength of Far UV-C light could serve as a key mitigation measure against the current and future pandemics, in addition to improved ventilation, mask wearing and vaccination. Linden imagines systems that could either cycle on and off in indoor spaces to routinely clean the air and surfaces, or create an ongoing, invisible barrier between teachers and students, customers and service workers, and people in spaces where social distancing is not possible, to disinfect the air. UV light disinfection can even rival the positive effects of improved indoor ventilation by providing the equivalent protection of increased air changes per hour within a room. It's also much cheaper to install UV lights than to upgrade an entire HVAC system. "There is an opportunity here to save money and energy while protecting public health in the same way. It's really exciting," said Linden. A new study of more than 13,000 cities worldwide has found that the number of person-days in which inhabitants are exposed to extreme combinations of heat and humidity has tripled since the 1980s. The authors say the trend, which now affects nearly a quarter of the world's population, is the combined result of both rising temperatures and booming urban population growth. The study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Over recent decades, hundreds of millions have moved from rural areas to cities, which now hold more than half the world's population. There, temperatures are generally higher than in the countryside, because of sparse vegetation and abundant concrete, asphalt and other impermeable surfaces that tend to trap and concentrate heat-;the so-called urban heat island effect. This has broad effects. It increases morbidity and mortality. It impacts people's ability to work, and results in lower economic output. It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions." Cascade Tuholske, study's lead author, postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Earth Institute The researchers combined infrared satellite imagery and readings from thousands of ground instruments to determine maximum daily heat and humidity readings in 13,115 cities, from 1983 to 2016. They defined extreme heat as 30 degrees Centigrade on the so-called "wet-bulb globe temperature" scale, a measurement that takes into account the multiplier effect of high humidity on human physiology. A wet-bulb reading of 30 is the rough equivalent of 106 degrees Fahrenheit on the so-called "real feel" heat index-;the point at which even most healthy people find it hard to function outside for long, and the unhealthy might become very ill or even die. To come up with a measure of person-days spent in such conditions, the researchers matched up the weather data with statistics on the cities' populations over the same time period. The population data was provided in part by Columbia's Center for International Earth Science Information Network, where Tuholske is based. The analysis revealed that the number of person-days in which city dwellers were exposed went from 40 billion per year in 1983 to 119 billion in 2016-;a threefold increase. By 2016, 1.7 billion people were being subjected to such conditions on multiple days. Sheer urban population growth accounted for two-thirds of the exposure spike, while actual warming contributed a third. That said, the proportions varied from region to region and city to city. The most-affected cities tend to cluster in the low latitudes, but other areas are being affected, too. The worst-hit city in terms of person-days was Dhaka, the fast-growing capital of Bangladesh; it saw an increase of 575 million person-days of extreme heat over the study period. Its ballooning population alone-;4 million in 1983, to 22 million today-;caused 80 percent of the increased exposure. This does not mean that Dhaka did not see substantial warming-;only that population growth was even more rapid. Other big cities showing similar population-heavy trends include Shanghai and Guangzhou, China; Yangon, Myanmar; Bangkok; Dubai; Hanoi; Khartoum; and various cities in Pakistan, India and the Arabian Peninsula. On the other hand, some other major cities saw close to half or more of their exposure caused by warming climate alone versus population growth. These included Baghdad, Cairo, Kuwait City, Lagos, Kolkata, Mumbai, and other big cities in India and Bangladesh. The populations of European cities have been relatively static, so increases in exposure there were driven almost exclusively by increased warmth. The researchers found that 17 percent of the cities studied added an entire month of extreme-heat days over the 34-year study period. "A lot of these cities show the pattern of how human civilization has evolved over the past 15,000 years," said Tuholske, pointing out that many are located in warm climates where humidity is delivered by big river systems. This made them attractive for farming and eventually urbanization. "The Nile, the Tigris-Euphrates, the Ganges. There is a pattern to the places where we wanted to be," he said. "Now, those areas may become uninhabitable. Are people really going to want to live there?" In the United States, about 40 sizable cities have seen rapidly growing exposure, mainly clustered in Texas and the Gulf Coast. In many, the causes of the rises have been varying combinations of both increasing population and increasing heat. These include Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin, Tex., along with Pensacola and other cities in Florida. In some, population growth is the main driver. These include Las Vegas; Savannah, Ga.; and Charleston, S.C. In others, it is almost exclusively fast-rising heat: Baton Rouge, La.; Gulfport, Miss.; and Lake Charles and Houma, La. One major outlier: the bayside city of Providence, R.I., where rising exposure was 93 percent due to warmer, more humid weather. Because the period covered by the study ran only through 2016, the data did not include the series of record heat waves that raked the U.S. Northwest and southern Canada this summer, killing hundreds of people. The study is not the first to document the dangers of excessive urban heat; among others, last year a separate Earth Institute team showed that combinations of heat and humidity literally beyond the limits of outdoor human survival have been briefly popping up around the world. The newer study led by Tuholske adds to the picture by quantifying on a granular level how many people are being affected in each location, and the degree to which exposure is being driven by population versus climate. The authors say this information should help urban planners come up with better-targeted strategies to help citizens adapt. Kristina Dahl, a climate researcher at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the study "could serve as a starting point for identifying ways to to address local heat issues," such as planting trees and modifying rooftops with lighter colors or vegetation so they don't trap so much heat. "This study shows that it will take considerable, conscientious investments to ensure that cities remain livable in the face of a warming climate," she added. Researchers in the Republic of Korea have conducted a study of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that could help to inform further studies investigating the increased virulence of variants of concern and interest. The team from the Korean Research Institute of Chemical Technology in Daejeon demonstrated that the four currently circulating variants of concern exhibit differences in plaque size, thermal stability and replication rates. Thermal stability correlated with plaque size in all variants except the B.1.1.7 (alpha) lineage. The largest mean plaque size was observed for the B.1.351 (beta) variant, followed by P.1 (gamma), B.1.617.2 (delta), and alpha. Young-Chan Kwon and colleagues suggest that the relatively large plaque size observed for beta may account for its increased thermal stability, which may, in turn, contribute to its increased transmissibility. The researchers say these observations may help characterize the variants in terms of their interactions with host factors and responses to environmental conditions. Such studies will be crucial to informing effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic, they add. A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the bioRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review. More about the currently circulating variants of concern Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in late December 2019, the genetic evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in the emergence of several novel variants that are more virulent and infectious than the ancestral strain. Four of these variants (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) have been classified as variants of concern by the World Health Organization. These four variants share the D614G mutation that confers increased infectivity, probably due to changes that affect the viruss ability to bind to and fuse with host cells. The N501Y mutation that is shared by alpha, beta, and gamma is also known to increase binding affinity for host receptors and, therefore, cellular entry. However, the particular combination of mutations that a variant has acquired could result in more significant conformational changes and distinctive modifications, says Kwon and colleagues. For example, variants of concern exhibit differential receptor-binding affinity, with alpha requiring the most force to detach it from host cell receptors, followed by beta, gamma and delta. What did the researchers do? In the current study, the researchers found that each of the four variants of concern exhibited differences in plaque size, with the largest mean size observed for beta, followed by gamma, delta, and alpha. While there are numerous determinants of plaque size, the researchers hypothesized that differences in the receptor-binding affinity, thermal stability, and replication rate of these viruses were likely contributors. The team assessed the thermal stability of the variants by measuring their infectivity and half-life following prolonged incubation (2, 4, 12 and 24 hours) at different temperatures. Infectivity was measured using a focus-forming assay. Of the four variants, beta exhibited the highest thermal stability, with a half-life approximately twice that of gamma or delta. Correlation analyses revealed a strong association between plaque size and thermal stability in all variants except for alpha. This variant had a relatively long half-life, despite having a small plaque size. The researchers say the results suggest that the relatively large plaque size observed for the beta variant may account for its increased thermal resistance. This increased stability may contribute to its pathobiology and transmission, requiring further studies of the viral titer and case fatality rate in humans, they write. Examining viral replication rates of the variants Next, the team examined the viral replication rates of the four variants in Vero E6 cells. A plaque-forming assay was used to assess infectious viral particle numbers and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to assess viral RNA concentration. The alpha variant had fewer infectious viral particles than all the other variants and alpha and gamma had the lowest concentration of viral RNA. The results suggest that although the alpha variant exhibits a relatively high thermal stability, its viral replication rate is probably low, thereby contributing to its small plaque size. Comparative analyses of the plaque size, thermal stability, and replication rate of four SARSCoV-2 variants. (A) Representative images of the plaque-forming assay for each variant of concern. (B) The mean plaque size (1E-3 mm2) of each variant. (C) The relative infectivity of each variant after incubation at 4, 24, or 37 C for 8 h as evaluated via focus forming assay. (D) Nonlinear regression of the relative infectivity of each variant following prolonged incubation (2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 h) at physiological temperatures (37 C). (E) Average half-life values for each variant at 37 C. (F) The infectivity of the progeny viruses was evaluated via plaque-forming assay completed at 12, 24, and 48 h post-infection. (G) Extracellular and (H) intracellular viral RNA was assessed by qRT-PCR with SARS-CoV-2 NP probes. All error bars indicate the standard errors of the mean. Mean values for the plaque size and half-life were compared using one-way ANOVA in GraphPad Prism 8.0 software. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Further studies are needed Kwon and colleagues say it will be important to analyze these variants of concern in terms of both their clinical pathology and virology, as this will help to improve understanding of their increased virulence. For example, plaque size may be associated with contagiousness or viral transmission, they write. The researchers say that further studies are needed to identify additional determinants of plaque size, including functional mutations, interactions with host factors, and environmental composition. In addition, variants of interest and other variants should also be investigated to effectively control their spread, concludes the team. *Important Notice bioRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Individuals over the age of 60, particularly those with preexisting medical conditions, are at a greater risk of severe complications following infection by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities (LTCFs) were particularly deadly. Study: Prevalence And Duration of Detectable SARS-Cov-2 Nucleocapsid Antibody in Staff and Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities Over the First Year of The Pandemic (VIVALDI Study): Prospective Cohort Study. Image Credit: New Africa / Shutterstock.com A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* shows that up to a third of survivors in LTCFs were infected during the first year after infection. Background About 410,000 elderly people live in LTCFs in England. Antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) include those targeting the spike and the nucleocapsid proteins. These antibody titers are likely to correlate to protective immunity against re-infection. Earlier studies have shown that the seroprevalence in LTCFs was approximately 32% to 60% among the residents. Vaccination in England began on December 8, 2020, with most vaccines targeting the spike antigen. Thus, the presence of anti-nucleocapsid antibodies may be used as a sign of prior infection, rather than of vaccine-induced immunity. However, long-term follow-up on LTCF populations has not largely been available, except for a few that extended over four months. Antibody waning is more marked with anti-nucleocapsid antibodies as compared to spike antibodies. This threatens the ability to identify earlier infection, which is necessary to differentiate vaccine-induced immunity from natural immunity, and thus compromises the ability to calculate the true efficacy of vaccines. In the current prospect cohort study, the researchers included approximately 9,500 samples. Over 90% of these samples were traced to 1,400 residents and 3,300 staff of LTCFs in several different parts of England. The median age was 87 and 48 years, respectively. The aim of the current study was to find evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. Study findings Seropositivity to the viral spike, receptor-binding domain (RBD), and nucleocapsid antigens was measured in the LTCF population. Overall, the levels of these antibodies were highest in London, and lowest in the East and the East Midlands of England. The lowest percentage was in LTCFs smaller than 50 beds as compared to larger LTCFs. The researchers found that about 33% of residents who survived the first two waves of the pandemic, as well as a quarter of staff, had specific antibodies directed against SARS-CoV-2. This is much higher than expected from population-wide surveillance using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to detect the virus because of the low levels of testing carried out early in the pandemic. The highest seroprevalence came from the first two months of testing, between June and July 2020, immediately after the first wave. The lowest level was reported between December 2020 to January 2021, at 22% and 17% in residents and staff, respectively. By March and April 2021, these levels had risen again to 37% and 23%, respectively. Weighted seroprevalence with 95% confidence intervals stratified by staff / resident and interval of testing compared against monthly COVID-19 associated deaths. COVID-19 associated deaths defined as deaths occurring within 28 days of COVID-19 diagnosis in LTCFs in England according to CQC reporting. 30 In view of limited PCR testing coverage in the first wave of the pandemic, data on COVID-19 deaths were considered a more accurate measure of the disease burden in LTCFs over the pandemic. *Red interrupted line represents start date of UK vaccination program (8 December 2020). One or more positive antibody tests were found in over 1,300 subjects. The study participants were monitored for up to 11 months to model the period to the waning of the antibody in more than 600 people with an accurate date of infection. Of these, about 240 were residents, and over 80% were female. Almost all the staff had a positive antibody sample at baseline. Sero-reversion, or waning of the anti-nucleocapsid antibodies to undetectable levels, was seen in a quarter of residents and a third of the staff, mostly within 180 days from seroconversion. The incidence of sero-reversion was greater in staff, at 2.4 per 1,000 person-days at risk, as compared to 1.5 in residents. There was no obvious difference in the rate of antibody loss with the severity of prior infection. Anti-spike and anti-RBD antibodies remained detectable throughout the study period in a small sample of individuals who had sero-reverted. Kaplan Meier plot of time to antibody loss from estimated date of seroconversion in staff and residents with risk table and number censored (n=619). Implications The current study presents the longest period of follow-up of antibody titers among LTCF residents. These findings represent the temporal characteristics of antibody-mediated immunity in a population of very high-risk individuals. It also indicates the persistence of nucleocapsid antibodies over the first and second waves of the pandemic. The results of the current study support the hypothesis that a sizable fraction of LTCF residents will present some natural immunity to the virus because of prior infection. Subsequent vaccination in these seropositive individuals leads to a significantly enhanced antibody response. Thus, vaccine efficacy among LTCF residents and staff may be higher because of the large percentage of previously infected individuals. As time passes, vaccine efficacy in LTCFs may drop with a reduction in the proportion of the naturally infected. The follow-up over 11 months showed that antibody waning was significant, with half the subjects showing undetectable anti-nucleocapsid antibody levels within 8 months. This underlines the limitations of estimating the prevalence of natural infection from the level of these antibodies. A prior history of natural infection is, therefore, necessary to predict vaccine efficacy or protective immunity against re-infection, as natural infection enhances the immune response to the vaccine. About a third of residents and a fourth of staff in Englands LTCFs showed signs of having been infected by SARS-CoV-2 during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Waning antibodies to the nucleocapsid may falsely increase the number of naive individuals, which shows the need for novel serological tests to identify those with prior infection. These findings may have implications for duration of immunity following natural infection and indicate that alternative assays for prior infection should be developed. *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. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a great risk to those with weakened immune systems, including both the immunocompromised and the elderly. While shielding tactics, social distancing, and other restrictions have attempted to keep immunocompromised people safe, as mass vaccination programs gain more and more traction, many governments are beginning to remove these measures. Study: Efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in immunocompromised patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Image Credit: Yuganov Konstantin/ Shutterstock These vaccines have shown strong efficacy in immunocompetent individuals, with those approved in the EU showing between 70-90% protections following both doses. Unfortunately, vaccine trials rarely include immunocompromised people both because many of them are incapable of receiving vaccines and the inherently increased risk in testing vaccines on those with weakened immune systems. Theoretically, mRNA vaccines pose no threat of infection, but risks remain of allergic reactions and immune hypersensitivity. Researchers from the University of Singapore have reviewed the data in post-vaccinated immunocompromised patients to examine the effectiveness of these vaccines in these patients. A preprint version of the study is available on the medRxiv* server while the article undergoes peer review. The study The researchers took papers published between December 2020 and September 2021 and had two researchers screen them by title, abstract and full text, with any disagreements resolved by a third researcher. Only results from human subjects were included. Certain studies that did not report data in appropriate forms or included but did not report immunocompetent control groups were not included. Unfortunately, there were no randomized trials of COVID-19 vaccines in immunocompromised individuals. The researchers pooled risk ratios from studies and used DerSimonian random-effects meta-analysis to examine associations, as well as performing sensitivity analysis and publication bias. In total, 42 studies were eventually included in the review, from a total of 3283 before the screening. None were experimental trials most observed seroconversion/seroprevalence in submitted blood samples. 88% of studies (37/42) showed seroconversion in both immunocompromised and control groups. Sixteen studies examined responses after the first dose, with the rest examining responses after the second. 83.3% of studies used mRNA vaccines, with two studies looking at CoronaVac and five examining both. As expected, 17 studies showed significantly reduced seroconversion rates in immunocompromised individuals after the first dose, with the risk ratios (RR) at 0.27. Transplant recipients were at most risk, with an RR of 0.06, followed by hematological cancers, solid cancers, and then IMID patients. Another 30 studies showed the results of immunocompromised patients after the second dose. Promisingly, the RR was much higher, with the total combined RR of immunocompromised individuals at 0.62, compared to 0.99 in healthy individuals. The immunocompromised patients at the greatest risk also changed following the second dose although transplant patients were still the most endangered, followed by hematological cancers, IMID patients, and then solid cancers. These results are backed up by previous studies showing lower vaccine protection in cancer patients for viruses such as influenza. The same trends were also seen in seroconversion rates and antibody titers, with some protection being offered but generally less than seen in healthy individuals. Conclusion The authors highlight that their study the first meta-analysis of immunogenicity and serological titers in immunocompromised individuals who have taken the COVID-19 vaccine further cements the importance of the second dose of the vaccine as well as strengthening the argument for booster shots, especially amongst the immunocompromised and at-risk groups such as the elderly. The second dose provided far more protection than the first dose, and in solid cancer patients raised the RR to levels approaching those seen in healthy patients. The scientists also recommend that vaccine regimens be tailored to the level of risk and degree of immunocompromise. While governments already took this approach to a certain degree, the authors recommend going even further and providing booster doses with respect to factors such as the level of immunosuppression that certain drugs provide and the disease that caused the patient to become immunocompromised. The researchers finally draw attention to the lack of information on the effects of the COVID-19 vaccines in certain populations, such as those suffering from HIV and AIDS, which are known to suffer lower vaccine response rates. *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 The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco's Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn't be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her, because he could no longer afford it. It was a decisive moment for Braveman, who decided she wanted not only to heal ailing patients but also to advocate for policies that would help them be healthier when they arrived at her clinic. In the nearly four decades since, Braveman has dedicated herself to studying the "social determinants of health" how the spaces where we live, work, play and learn, and the relationships we have in those places, influence how healthy we are. As director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health at the University of California-San Francisco, Braveman has studied the link between neighborhood wealth and children's health, and how access to insurance influences prenatal care. A longtime advocate of translating research into policy, she has collaborated on major health initiatives with the health department in San Francisco, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Braveman has a particular interest in maternal and infant health. Her latest research reviews what's known about the persistent gap in preterm birth rates between Black and white women in the United States. Black women are about 1.6 times as likely as whites to give birth more than three weeks before the due date. That statistic bears alarming and costly health consequences, as infants born prematurely are at higher risk for breathing, heart and brain abnormalities, among other complications. Braveman co-authored the review with a group of experts convened by the March of Dimes that included geneticists, clinicians, epidemiologists, biomedical experts and neurologists. They examined more than two dozen suspected causes of preterm births including quality of prenatal care, environmental toxics, chronic stress, poverty and obesity and determined that racism, directly or indirectly, best explained the racial disparities in preterm birth rates. (Note: In the review, the authors make extensive use of the terms "upstream" and "downstream" to describe what determines people's health. A downstream risk is the condition or factor most directly responsible for a health outcome, while an upstream factor is what causes or fuels the downstream risk and often what needs to change to prevent someone from becoming sick. For example, a person living near drinking water polluted with toxic chemicals might get sick from drinking the water. The downstream fix would be telling individuals to use filters. The upstream solution would be to stop the dumping of toxic chemicals.) KHN spoke with Braveman about the study and its findings. The excerpts have been edited for length and style. Q: You have been studying the issue of preterm birth and racial disparities for so long. Were there any findings from this review that surprised you? The process of systematically going through all of the risk factors that are written about in the literature and then seeing how the story of racism was an upstream determinant for virtually all of them. That was kind of astounding. The other thing that was very impressive: When we looked at the idea that genetic factors could be the cause of the Black-white disparity in preterm birth. The genetics experts in the group, and there were three or four of them, concluded from the evidence that genetic factors might influence the disparity in preterm birth, but at most the effect would be very small, very small indeed. This could not account for the greater rate of preterm birth among Black women compared to white women. Q: You were looking to identify not just what causes preterm birth, but also to explain racial differences in rates of preterm birth. Are there examples of factors that can influence preterm birth that don't explain racial disparities? It does look like there are genetic components to preterm birth, but they dont explain the Black-white disparity in preterm birth. Another example is having an early elective C-section. Thats one of the problems contributing to avoidable preterm birth, but it doesnt look like thats really contributing to the Black-white disparity in preterm birth. Q: You and your colleagues listed exactly one upstream cause of preterm birth: racism. How would you characterize the certainty that racism is a decisive upstream cause of higher rates of preterm birth among Black women? It makes me think of this saying: A randomized clinical trial wouldn't be necessary to give certainty about the importance of having a parachute on if you jump from a plane. To me, at this point, it is close to that. Going through that paper and we worked on that paper over a three- or four-year period, and so there was a lot of time to think about it I dont see how the evidence that we have could be explained otherwise. Q: What did you learn about how a mothers broader lifetime experience of racism might affect birth outcomes versus what she experienced within the medical establishment during pregnancy? There were many ways that experiencing racial discrimination would affect a womans pregnancy, but one major way would be through pathways and biological mechanisms involved in stress, and stress physiology. In neuroscience, whats been clear is that a chronic stressor seems to be more damaging to health than an acute stressor. So it doesnt make much sense to be looking only during pregnancy. But thats where most of that research has been done: stress during pregnancy and racial discrimination, and its role in birth outcomes. Very few studies have looked at experiences of racial discrimination across the life course. My colleagues and I have published a paper where we asked African American women about their experiences of racism and we didnt even define what we meant. Women did not talk a lot about the experiences of racism during pregnancy from their medical providers; they talked about the lifetime experience, and particularly experiences going back to childhood. And they talked about having to worry, and constant vigilance, so that even if theyre not experiencing an incident, their antennae have to be out to be prepared in case an incident does occur. Putting all of it together with what we know about stress physiology, I would put my money on the lifetime experiences being so much more important than experiences during pregnancy. There isnt enough known about preterm birth, but from what is known, inflammation is involved, immune dysfunction, and thats what stress leads to. The neuroscientists have shown us that chronic stress produces inflammation and immune system dysfunction. Q: What policies do you think are most important at this stage for reducing preterm birth for Black women? I wish I could just say one policy or two policies, but I think it does get back to the need to dismantle racism in our society. In all of its manifestations. Thats unfortunate, not to be able to say, "Oh, here, I have this magic bullet. And if you just go with that, that will solve the problem." If you take the conclusions of this study seriously, you say, well, policies to just go after these downstream factors are not going to work. Its up to the upstream investment in trying to achieve a more equitable and less racist society. Ultimately, I think thats the take-home, and its a tall, tall order. This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. Sometimes, Pamela Winn isn't sure how to connect with people, even those she loves, like her 9-month-old granddaughter. When the baby is in her arms, "I sit there quietly, and I don't know what to say. What to do," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "My socializing skills are just not there anymore." On days like these, Winn, who lives south of Atlanta, is haunted by the memory of her 6-by-9-foot prison cell, where she spent eight months in solitary confinement more than 10 years ago. She said she now feels "safest when I'm by myself." It's a common paradox of solitary confinement, said Craig Haney, a professor of social psychology at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Instead of craving the company of others after release from social isolation, many former prisoners want just the opposite. "Solitary forces prisoners to live in a world without people," he said. "And they adapt to it." Research has long shown that solitary confinement isolating prisoners for weeks, months, years and sometimes decades has devastating effects on their physical and mental health. Once released, either to the general prison population or to the outside world, they can face a suite of problems, like heart damage and depression. They're often hypersensitive to light, sound, smell or touch. Like Winn, they may struggle to read social cues. People, Haney said, "become a source of anxiety rather than support." And the coronavirus pandemic may have made the situation worse. Before the pandemic, the estimated number of people in solitary confinement in the U.S. ranged from 50,000 to 80,000 on any given day, though many advocacy organizations believe counts are underestimated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that medical isolation the separation of people with a contagious disease from the rest of the population should not hinge on solitary confinement. Yet, at the height of the pandemic last year, up to 300,000 incarcerated individuals were in solitary, according to estimates from Solitary Watch and The Marshall Project, non-profits focused on criminal justice. "Jails and prisons, like many organizations, acted in fear," saidTammie Gregg, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project. "They thought the way to keep people from infecting each other was to simply put them in solitary." Solitary confinement can serve many goals, from punishment to protection. And it is called many things protective custody, restrictive or secure housing, administrative or disciplinary segregation, or simply "the Hole." "The conditions are essentially the same: It's the extreme deprivation of any meaningful social contact," Haney said. In the so-called Mandela Rules, named for South African leader Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years, the United Nations associates solitary confinement lasting longer than 15 consecutive days with a form of torture. More than half of all U.S. states have introduced or passed some type of legislation restricting or regulating the use of solitary confinement like limiting the practice for juveniles, for example. But it is still widely used in American jails and prisons. Inmates in solitary typically live in a small cell for up to 23 hours a day. They have little sensory stimulation, like sunlight. Access to reading materials, educational programming and personal property is limited or nonexistent. Prisoners may get one hour in a recreational yard, an equally isolated area typically enclosed or surrounded by concrete walls, with a secured high window that opens for fresh air. An analysis by researchers with the University of Colorado and Human Rights Watch suggests that more than half of all prison suicides occur in solitary confinement. A study conducted by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that the rate of self-harm among those in solitary is 10 times that of the general prison population. The isolation can be particularly destabilizing for people with preexisting mental health conditions, often exacerbating underlying issues that cause people to end up behind bars in the first place. "It's a downward spiral," said Haney. A Florida State University study published earlier this year found that prisoners with mental illness, especially bipolar disorder, severe depression and schizophrenia, were up to 170% more likely to be placed in solitary for extended periods. In many prisons, experts worry, mental health treatment is nonexistent, making matters worse. But even among people without a history of mental health problems, it may be impossible to predict who is susceptible to the harmful effects of solitary confinement, including suicide. Pamela Winn, a registered nurse by training, was incarcerated in 2008 and later convicted to a 6-year federal prison sentence for health care fraud. As the now-53-year-old African American woman with red-colored curls sits in her ranch home, her mind goes back to what she said was the darkest time of her life. When she entered a federal holding facility south of Atlanta, she said, she was a healthy woman. She was also six weeks pregnant. One day, she fell as she was trying to step into a van while shackled. Three months later, she miscarried and was put into solitary confinement for what she was told was medical observation. After a few months, she was transferred to a municipal prison, where she was placed into solitary again, this time for protection. For a total of eight months, at two facilities, she lived in tiny cells, with iron beds, thin foam mattresses, and metal sinks with toilets attached. "No window. No mirror. No clock. No concept of time," she said. She was allowed to leave her cell for one hour a day. She could shower three times a week if staffers were available. In the beginning, she replayed the traumatic memory of the night she lost her baby. Eventually, she joined in when other inmates screamed in their cells. "I acted out. I threw stuff against the wall. I was angry," she said. Before she went to sleep, she prayed for God to take her. "But I kept waking up." In Haney's experience, prisoners who develop a strategy to withstand the excruciating loop of idleness have a better chance of surviving. Some individuals force themselves to maintain a routine, to act as if there is a coherence in their life, "even though there isn't," he said. Winn said she developed a strategy: She would start the day by praying. She would picture what her two teenage sons were doing. She would do sit-ups and mental exercises, like remembering street names. After solitary, she served most of her sentence in a federal prison in Florida and was released in 2013. Her time in solitary scarred her for life, she said. To this day, she has high blood pressure. Paranoia is a constant companion; her house is surrounded by a solid wooden fence with a security gate, and she has two Rottweilers. Small spaces make her anxious, and she can't tolerate strangers getting too close, such as in a coffee shop line. While she struggles to connect with her granddaughter, Winn keeps a journal, hoping that one day, when her granddaughter is old enough, she'll understand. "She can read it and learn about everything that's in my heart and on my mind if I'm still here, if I'm not here, wherever I am. Both Haney and Gregg said jails and prisons have alternatives to long-term, extreme isolation. Mentally ill prisoners who engage in disciplinary infractions should be put into a treatment-oriented unit, said Haney. For someone who acts violently, solitary confinement should be only a short-term solution aimed at acutely de-escalating the outburst, said Gregg. Afterward, those individuals should go to units that provide programming to address the root cause of their behavior. This may mean separation from the general prison population, but less time in total isolation. A similar model could also apply to prisoners in solitary for their own safety, such as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is serving a 22-year-prison sentence for the murder of George Floyd. They could be placed in smaller units with individuals who have undergone a thorough risk assessment, and with access to education and training, Haney said. Prisoner advocates are hopeful that solitary confinement in the U.S. will eventually be a concept of the past. In April, New York became the first state to codify the U.N.'s Mandela Rules that ban solitary after 15 consecutive days, when the Halt Solitary Confinement Act was signed into law. The legislation will take effect next April. After Winn's release from prison, she founded RestoreHER, a nonprofit that advocates to end the mass incarceration of women of color, and pregnant people, in particular. She also helped enact laws in Georgia and North Carolina that bar the shackling of pregnant women. "What I'm doing now gives me some redemption," she said. For the past eight years, my wife, Ky Hamilton, has undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy. As a transgender woman, she injects Depo-Estradiol liquid estrogen into her thigh once a week. This drug has allowed her to physically transition as a woman, and each vial, which lasts around five weeks, was completely covered by insurance. That was until she lost her job in April 2020 and we switched to a subsidized private health insurance plan in Colorado's Affordable Care Act marketplace. We discovered that our new insurance from Anthem doesn't cover Depo-Estradiol and it would cost $125 out-of-pocket per vial. With both of us and our four pets depending heavily on Ky's weekly $649 unemployment check, such medical expenses proved difficult. And as of Sept. 6, those unemployment checks ran out. "I'm absolutely stressed. I don't know what to do," Ky said in August as we tried to find a solution. Because of Ky's physical transition as a transgender woman, her body doesn't make the testosterone it once used to. So, without the medication, she would essentially go through menopause. A decline in estrogen levels can also cause transgender women to lose the physical transitions they've achieved, resulting in gender dysphoria, which is psychological distress from the mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. Unfortunately, Ky's experience is shared by many other transgender Americans. The covid-19 pandemic has caused millions of people to lose their jobs and private health insurance, particularly LGBTQ adults, who reported at higher rates than non-LGBTQ adults that they lost their jobs during the crisis. Consequently, enrollment surged in ACA plans and Medicaid, the state-federal health program for low-income people. Yet many of those plans don't fully cover gender-affirming care, partly because of conservative policies and lack of scientific research on how crucial this care is for transgender patients. According to a survey by Out2Enroll, a national initiative to connect LGBTQ people with ACA coverage, 46% of the 1,386 silver marketplace plans polled cover all or some medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria. However, 7% have trans-specific exclusions, 14% have some exclusions, and 33% don't specify. "It's this whack-a-mole situation where plans for the most part do not have blanket exclusions, but where people are still having difficulty getting specific procedures, medications, etc., covered," said Kellan Baker, executive director of the Whitman-Walker Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on LGBTQ research, policy and education. Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., include gender-affirming care in their Medicaid plans. But 10 states exclude such coverage entirely. In 2019, an estimated 152,000 transgender adults were enrolled in Medicaid, a number that has likely grown during the pandemic. Yet even in states such as California that require their Medicaid programs to cover gender-affirming care, patients still struggle to get injectable estrogen, said Dr. Amy Weimer, an internist who founded the UCLA Gender Health Program. While California Medicaid, or Medi-Cal, covers Depo-Estradiol, doctors must request treatment authorizations to prove their patients need the drug. Weiner said those are rarely approved. Such "prior authorizations" are an issue across Medicaid and ACA plans for medications including injectable estrogen and testosterone, which is used by transgender men, Baker said. The lack of easy coverage may reflect the fact that injectable estrogen, which provides the high doses of the hormone needed for transgender women to physically transition, isn't commonly used by non-trans women undergoing hormone therapy to treat menopause or other issues, Weimer said. It also may be because cheaper options, including daily estrogen pills, exist, but these increase the risk of blood clots. Estrogen patches release the hormone through the skin but can cause skin reactions, and many people struggle to absorb enough estrogen, Weimer said. Consequently, many of Weimer's patients wear up to four patches at a time, but Medi-Cal limits the number of patches patients can get monthly. While such insurance gaps have existed for long before the pandemic, the current crisis seems to have amplified the matter, according to Weimer. The ACA prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, age, disability and sex in health programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The Trump administration significantly narrowed the power of that provision, including eliminating health insurance protections for transgender people. However, in June 2020, before the Trump regulations could take effect, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, that employment discrimination based on sex includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This landmark decision has served as a crucial tool to address LGBTQ discrimination in many aspects of life, including health care. As of July, for example, Alaska Medicaid can no longer exclude gender-affirming treatment after Swan Being, a transgender woman, won a class-action lawsuit that relied in part on the Bostock decision. The Biden administration announced in May that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights will include gender identity and sexual orientation in its enforcement of the ACA's anti-discrimination provision. The next month, Veterans Affairs health benefits were expanded to include gender confirmation surgery. But for now, the pressure is still on patients like Ky to fight for their health benefits. Anthem spokesperson Tony Felts said Depo-Estradiol is not on the list of covered drugs for its ACA plans, though many of its private employer-sponsored plans cover it. Because we had one of those ACA plans, Ky had to be persistent. After four months of emails and phone calls and just before unemployment ran out Anthem finally authorized her Depo-Estradiol. That brings her out-of-pocket cost to $60 per vial for the next year. It's still expensive for us right now, but we'll find a way to make it work. "The reality is that trans people are more likely to be in poverty and don't have the time or knowledge to spend four months fighting to get their estradiol like I did," Ky said. (Newser) Update: An actor accused in a $690 million Ponzi scheme will face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud on Monday. Zachary Horwitz of 1inMM Capital allegedly used fake licensing agreements to fool investors, including his college buddies, into putting up money that they thought would be used to secure rights for films that Netflix and HBO would distribute abroad. He triggered more than $230 million in losses while buying a $6 million mansion and paying off $300,000 in credit card debt, per NBC News. The 34-year-old will be sentenced Jan. 2. Our original story from May 1, 2021, follows: story continues below "Red Flag!!" wrote a steel company executive in a 2017 email. Unfortunately for him, it was one he spotted but then seems to have ignored. In a lengthy piece for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Finnegan delves into the events that proceeded the arrest of Zachary Horwitz, a D-list actor who was arrested earlier this month and accused of running a $690 million Ponzi scheme that ensnared the aforementioned exec and many others. Horwitz's company 1inMM Capital claimed it would buy the distribution rights to cheap movies and then resell them to Netflix, Sony, and HBO, which would then distribute the movies in Latin Americaand get 1inMM Capital's investors major returns. The FBI says it was all a fraud, and Finnegan traces the 34-year-old's path to Hollywood and the evolution of his alleged scheme. Three major unwitting players: his college buddies. While studying psychology at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., Horwitz developed friendships with Jacob Wunderlin and Joseph deAlteriswho took jobs with JP Morgan after their 2009 graduationand Matthew Schweinzger, who got a job with Morgan Stanley. Horwitz headed to LA to focus on acting in 2012, and started 1inMM Productions shortly thereafter. In 2014, Wunderlin loaned the company $37,000; it was repaid with interest. The college friends then banded with relatives and others to lend more than $1 million to 1inMM Productions, supposedly to purchase the rights to seven films. That money was repaid, too, and the success led the friends to form a company that could invest in Horwitz's deals, one that kept growing as more "downstream investors" joined. They ponied up $490 million. (Read the full story.) (Newser) Update: On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously approved a posthumous pardon request from George Floyd's family. The request, which relates to Floyd's 2004 arrest at the hands of a former Houston cop who's since been indicted on counts including murder, now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott for a decision. It's not clear when one might be made, and Abbott's office has not yet commented on the matter, the AP reports. Our original story from April 27, 2021, follows: story continues below George Floyd's family is requesting a posthumous pardon for his 2004 drug arrest by a former Texas police officer now charged with felony murder. Floyd was arrested by former Houston cop Gerald Goines for selling $10 worth of crack that February, before pleading guilty and spending 10 months in jail. But in recent years, more than 160 drug convictions tied to Goines have been thrown out, per the AP. He was found to have lied to obtain a "no-knock" warrant for a 2019 raid on a couple's home that ended with both suspects dead and several officers injured, per CNN. The 35-year veteran claimed a confidential informant had bought heroin at the home, but prosecutors say there was no informant and Goines himself bought the drugs. Allison Mathis of the Harris County Public Defender's Office argues the same thing happened in Floyd's case. Goines "made up the existence of a confidential informant who provided crucial evidence to underpin the arrest," she writes in the application submitted to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday on behalf of Floyd and his family, per CNN. It's backed by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who says Floyd was convicted "on the lone word of Gerald Goines," per KHOU. CNN reports an attempt was made to contact Floyd in Houston after Goines' arrest, though he'd by then moved to Minnesota. He'd pleaded guilty in 2004 because he might otherwise have faced a 25-year sentence. A counselor who worked with Floyd in 2012 said he couldn't understand why Goines "would lie about innocent people," per the AP. But Goines' lawyer maintains the conviction was "legitimate" and the pardon request is based only on "pending accusations," per CNN. (Read more George Floyd stories.) (Newser) Women in the chess world want supportbut not like that. International Chess Federation recently announced a sponsorship agreement with Establishment Labs, a company that makes Motiva breast implants, the New York Times reports. The arrangement is meant to financially support chess events for women. Women players who spoke to the Lichess blog were not thrilled with the move. "I've already seen comments online from people saying that they hope prizes for women's events will now include breast enlargement," one anonymous player said. "Let Motiva sponsor mens events, and we can have one of the men's sponsors," another wrote. Another complained that Motiva markets itself to womens insecurities, writing, "There are medical reasons to get implants, but companies like that one are selling 80% beauty, and 20% medical reasons." story continues below But FIDE is trying to ride a wave of interest in women in the chess world sparked in part by the hit Netflix series Queens Gambit. As for the medical company, it says it just wants to support women. "We are committed to changing the perception that women make decisions out of insecurity rather than empowerment and self-love, and are disappointed in any commentary suggesting otherwise," the company said. And a player at the first event sponsored by Establishment Labsand Motivasaid promotional material was unrelated to breast implants, instead just instructions to do a self-exam to screen for cancer. Fiona Steil-Antoni said, "Nowhere did I see anything about breast implants/augmentation, nor is it the plan for this to be promoted within this sponsorship." (Read more chess stories.) (Newser) Update: In advance of the deadly shooting Monday on an Amtrak train in Arizona, DEA agents searched bags associated with one passenger and found 2.39 kilograms of marijuana, 50 packages of marijuana edibles and "other marijuana and cannabis products," per the court documents. CNN reports they allegedly belonged to Devonte Okeith Mathis, who was traveling with a passenger identified as DT. After the bags were searched, agents attempted to talk to DT, and the a shooting ensued. DEA Special Agent Group Supervisor Michael Garbo was killed, as was DT; Mathis was arrested. Our original story from Monday follows below: story continues below A Drug Enforcement Administration special agent was killed Monday when a passenger opened fire as officers were doing a routine inspection for illegal contraband on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona, authorities said. A second agent and a Tucson police officer were wounded. The passenger was killed, the AP reports. "It's very horrific and were all just coming to terms with just how terrible a loss this is," Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said. "But I also want to reflect on the really heroic actions of the officers at the scene. They literally ran towards the danger, into the car, where there was an active shooting situation going on." Magnus spoke outside the hospital where the agent and Tucson officer had been taken. The agent was listed in critical condition while the officer was stable. He said authorities would not be releasing their names. The FBI has taken over the investigation of the shooting, which sent passengers fleeing. It happened just after 8am on a train stopped at the station in the city's downtown. A regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers had boarded one of the cars to do a typical check for illegal money, weapons, and drugs. It's a common occurrence at all transit hubs, Magnus said. Officers were detaining a man on the upper level of the double-decker car when a second man pulled out a handgun and began firing, authorities said. He exchanged several rounds with police, then barricaded himself in a bathroom on the lower level, Magnus said. He was later found dead inside. The other suspect was arrested. It wasn't immediately known what charges he faces or his relationship to the second man. There were about a dozen other passengers in the car where the shooting occurred. "I just think it's kind of incredible here there weren't other people who were hurt," Magnus said. The Sunset Limited, Train 2, was traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans with 137 passengers and 11 crew members, he said. (Read more shootout stories.) (Newser) On Sept. 19, Marc Pilcher accepted an Emmy Award for his hair and makeup design work on Bridgerton. Two weeks later, he died of COVID-19. The 53-year-old tested negative for the virus multiple times as he traveled from the UK to Los Angeles and back again for the ceremony, but soon after getting home, he fell ill, Variety reports. His condition got worse over the weekend and he died Sunday. He had no underlying conditions, and had received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The actress who plays Penelope on the show was among many mourning him online, and the Guardian reports she implored people to "please also use this as a reminder that Covid is still a very real and present danger." story continues below "Glamorous and extravagant, he brought his flair and style to every design. Never limited in his thought process for his creations, he pushed boundaries and created work never realized before," his family says in a statement. He started his career in London's West End and on other stage productions around the UK, then started working in the film and TV industry in the early 2000s. He designed his first show, The Collection, in 2016, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2019 for his hairstyling work on Mary Queen of Scots. He received three Hollywood Makeup Artist & Hairstyling Guild Awards for his work on that film, plus the shows Bridgerton and Downton Abbey. (Read more COVID-19 stories.) (Newser) Jeffrey Smith, the Ohio man whose wife sued to force a hospital to treat him with ivermectin, died Sept. 25, his attorney says. One judge in August ordered the hospital to give Smith the drug, which the FDA has warned against using for COVID, before another judge reversed the ruling two weeks later and said the hospital could stop providing it. Smith was diagnosed with COVID in July and had been in the ICU at West Chester Hospital prior to his death, Fox 19 reports. No major medical organizations recommend the drug, an anti-parasitic, for use against COVID, and the CDC says poisonings related to its use have tripled this year, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. story continues below Smith and his wife, Julie, were featured in NPR's extensive look at the "ivermectin culture wars" last month, and the outlet notes the couple had not been vaccinated against COVID because they believed the vaccines to be "experimental." Antiviral drugs, convalescent plasma, and steroids failed to help Smith, and he ended up in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator when Julie Smith took her ivermectin battle to the courts. Doctors told the court ivermectin had not improved Jeffrey Smith's condition, but Julie Smith insisted it had. (Another patient in a highly publicized ivermectin fight died last month.) (Newser) A new report slams the Catholic Church for "cruel indifference," with clergy in France accused of sexually abusing an estimated 216,000 children since 1950. Jean-Marc Sauve, head of the inquiry commissioned by the French Catholic Church, says most of the victims over the past seven decades were boys, many between the ages of 10 and 13, with the Church failing to prevent abuse, report it to higher-ups, and keep children away from known predators, per Reuters. The perps: The investigation, established in late 2018 by French Catholic bishops, found up to 3,200 suspected abusers, though that figure is thought to be an undercount. The investigation, established in late 2018 by French Catholic bishops, found up to 3,200 suspected abusers, though that figure is thought to be an undercount. Even more victims? The independent commissionwhich conducted interviews with victims and witnesses and pored over police, court, and Church recordsnoted that the number of victims could rise to as high as 330,000 when taking into account abuse committed by laypeople working within Catholic schools and affiliated youth programs, per CNN. The independent commissionwhich conducted interviews with victims and witnesses and pored over police, court, and Church recordsnoted that the number of victims could rise to as high as 330,000 when taking into account abuse committed by laypeople working within Catholic schools and affiliated youth programs, per CNN. Notable quote: "The Catholic Church is the place where the prevalence of sexual violence is at its highest, other than in family and friend circles," the report states. "Faced with this scourge, for a very long time the Catholic Church's immediate reaction was to protect itself as an institution, and it has shown complete, even cruel indifference to those having suffered abuse." "The Catholic Church is the place where the prevalence of sexual violence is at its highest, other than in family and friend circles," the report states. "Faced with this scourge, for a very long time the Catholic Church's immediate reaction was to protect itself as an institution, and it has shown complete, even cruel indifference to those having suffered abuse." An apology, of sorts: Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, who helms the Bishops' Conference of France, asked for forgiveness and said he felt "shame and horror" over the findings, reports the BBC. Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, who helms the Bishops' Conference of France, asked for forgiveness and said he felt "shame and horror" over the findings, reports the BBC. From victims: One church abuse victim, now an adult, told Church reps as the report was presented that they were a "disgrace to humanity," per Reuters. "In this hell there have been abominable mass crimes," said Francois Devaux. Another tells CNN his abuser's actions were like "the spinning of a spiderweb that traps you." One church abuse victim, now an adult, told Church reps as the report was presented that they were a "disgrace to humanity," per Reuters. "In this hell there have been abominable mass crimes," said Francois Devaux. Another tells CNN his abuser's actions were like "the spinning of a spiderweb that traps you." What the report calls for: The commission wants the Church to take responsibility for past abuse; set up measures to prevent future abuse, including offering priests training and reporting potential abuse to judicial authorities; and checking for criminal records for anyone set to work with kids or vulnerable people within the Church. The commission also calls for financial compensation for victims to "[complete] the recognition process." (Read more Catholic Church sex scandals stories.) (Newser) 60 Minutes is sharing details of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including her claim that the social network stoked political division by steering conservative-leaning users toward conspiracy theories. One of at least eight complaints, titled "Facebook misled investors and the public about its role perpetuating misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection," refers to Facebook research showing test accounts following "verified/high quality conservative pages" including those of Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and Fox News. Those test accounts were recommended polarizing content after one day, and conspiracy pages after two days. story continues below Facebook "failed to deploy internally recommended or lasting counter-measures," the complaint argues, citing a document in which Facebook purports to "only take action against approximately 2% of the hate speech on the platform." In response, Facebook says it "has taken extraordinary steps to address harmful content," including banning hate groups and the #StopTheSteal Group, but "ultimately, the responsibility resides with those who broke the law, and the leaders who incited them." Lena Pietsch, Facebook's director of policy communications, further states polarization has been growing in the US "for decades" and "is decreasing in other countries where Internet and Facebook use has increased." The complaints also cite an October 2019 document indicating the company knew Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were used to "promote human trafficking and domestic servitude"; a document claiming high-profile whitelisted accounts "can violate our standards without any consequences," as less than 10% of their content is reviewed; and an internal report suggesting Facebook has misrepresented the number of individual users to advertisers, not having properly accounted for "single users with multiple accounts." Haugen will testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday about Instagram's harmful effect on young people, which her complaints also describe, per Reuters. She'll appear before British Parliament later this month. (Read more Facebook stories.) (Newser) More than four months after a woman says she was kidnapped in Nashville and raped by a man she wrongly thought was a ride-share driver, police say an arrest has been made. Randall Corey Johnson, of Lebanon, Tenn., has been charged in connection with the May 24 incident, reports the Tennessean. Police say the 24-year-old woman and a male friend exited a bar around 2:45am that morning and entered a four-door Chevrolet pickup that they believed to be their ride. story continues below They were driven to their accommodations, and the male exited the truck first. Police say that as he went to help his female friend get out, the driver sped off with her inside. She says she was driven 30 minutes away to a field, sexually assaulted, and then returned to Nashville. At the time, police reported the suspect's truck featured Harley-Davidson insignias and a Tennessee Eagle Foundation vanity plate on the front, per the Tennessean. Police say a citizen's tip allowed them to identify Johnson as a suspect, reports WZTV. He has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape. (Read more ride sharing stories.) (Newser) Update: The head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association has stepped down. Less than 24 hours after the FBI raided Ed Mullins' Long Island home and the Manhattan offices of the NYPD's second-largest union on Tuesday, part of a still-murky probe, the union's executive board announced that Mullins agreed to step down as its president. "The nature and scope of this criminal investigation has yet to be determined," noted a statement from the board, per CNN. "However, it is clear that President Mullins is apparently the target of the federal investigation." The board says it doesn't appear that any other SBA member is either involved or targeted, and that it asked for Mullins' resignation due to the "severity of this matter and the uncertainty of its outcome." CBS News notes no charges have been filed. Our original story from Tuesday, October 5, 2021, follows: story continues below Federal agents on Tuesday raided the offices of a New York City police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Long Island home of its bombastic leader, who has clashed repeatedly with city officials over his incendiary tweets and hard-line tactics. An FBI spokesperson said agents were "carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation." The spokesperson said he could not give details of the investigation, the AP reports. Along with the union's Manhattan headquarters, agents searched union President Ed Mullins' home in Port Washington, on Long Island. There was no immediate comment from Mullins or the union. Mullins, who's also a police sergeant, is in the middle of department disciplinary proceedings for tweeting NYPD paperwork last year pertaining to the arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter during protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. And Mullins is suing his department, claiming officials were trying to muzzle him by grilling him and recommending disciplinary action over his online missives. His department trial for the alleged paperwork breach began last month but was postponed indefinitely after one of his lawyers suffered a medical emergency. Mullins' lawyer denies he violated department guidelines, arguing paperwork with Chiara de Blasios personal identifying information was already online. Asked about the raid Tuesday, de Blasio told reporters he didnt have enough information to comment. "I think he's been a divisive voice," de Blasio said of Mullins. Along with Mullins' appearances on cable networks like Fox News and Newsmaxincluding one in which he was pictured with a QAnon mugperhaps the union's most powerful megaphone is its 45,000-follower Twitter account, which Mullins runs. Last year, Mullins came under fire for tweets calling the citys former health commissioner a "b----" and US Rep. Ritchie Torres a "first-class whore." (Read more New York City Police Department stories.) (Newser) Ozy Media says it's back in business, and if the beleaguered media company expected things might be rocky as it attempts to come back from a series of damning New York Times reports, it would be right. Deadline reports one of the media company's investors has sued, with LifeLine Legacy Holdings' Monday filing claiming Ozy "engaged in fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal conduct." The suit specifically cites the Feb. 2 phone call, reported on by the Times, in which Ozy COO Samir Rao reportedly impersonated a YouTube executive while on an investment-related call with Goldman Sachs. "Had LifeLine known the foregoing facts it would never have invested in Ozy Media," which it did subsequent to that call. story continues below The New York Times reports LifeLine Legacy Holdings is part of LifeLine Financial Group, which manages roughly $500 million on behalf of about 50 mostly Black clients. It invested $2 million in Ozy in February after Rao and CEO Carlos Watson told them Goldman Sachs intended to make "a substantial investment" in the company, per the suit. The company says Ozy was depicted as having "strong business performance, investments by high profile institutional investors, high viewer metrics, and competent and honest company management." Another $250,000 investment was made in May after LifeLine says Rao told it either Alphabet or a related Google affiliate would be heading up a $30 million fundraising round. LifeLine wants a jury trial, and is seeking its original investment plus punitive damages. Axios reports Google Ventures would be the "most logical affiliate: to make such an investment, and a source says Google Ventures and Ozy did indeed have some initial talks. The source said no investment was offered. The Times says that in a Tuesday appearance on "The Breakfast Club" radio show, Watson claimed Google had put a $25 million investment offer in writing. (Read more Ozy Media stories.) (Newser) In the tech world, when a company requires workers to use the products it makes, its called eating your own dog food. Well, an Alabama sheriff who once ran the Limestone County jail is eating his own jail food. And he loves it, the AP reports. Mike Blakely praised his treatment by fellow inmates, and said he declined when people offered to bring him meals. "I said, No, I eat the jail food 'cause I love it because I've been eating it for the last 38 years," he said. He's currently out on bond while appealing his conviction in August, but he spent two weeks locked up in his former workplace. Before he was removed from office, the 70-year-old was the state's longest-serving sheriff. story continues below Blakely was convicted of taking no-interest loans from a fund for prisoners money, and taking $4,000 from his own campaign account. He maintains his innocence but made no complaints about his incarceration. "Best jail in the state of Alabama," he said. "The food was real good, the staff took very good care of me." He said he got no special treatment from the staff. "When you're incarcerated, let me tell you, you don't have the freedom to go," Blakely said. If his conviction stands, he wont be able to stay in the neighborhood, though. A judge ruled that his three-year sentence must be served at the Franklin County jail, about 60 miles away. (Read more weird news stories.) Wam | Geneva The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com "This joint statement is consistent with the Bahraini experience in terms of empowering Bahraini women and enhancing their role in laying the foundation for international peace and security through their remarkable and renowned diplomatic presence in international fora. Moreover, it conveys an important message of peace stemming from the deep rooted values of the Bahraini society, the vision of its wise leadership, and its pioneering experience in the field of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance," said Bucheeri. Ambassador Ahmed Aljarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE, noted, "In line with UAEs national policy on womens empowerment, we have made strong progress to advance the women, peace and security agenda including, the launch of the Sheikha Fatima Women, Peace and Security Initiative and the launch of the UAE First National Action Plan in response to UNSCR 1325 in March 2021. The UAE Mission to the UN continues to work with all the missions on this important agenda." Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, said, "This Joint Statement is the first formal initiative in the multilateral arena between Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco. I am especially pleased that the important issue of women in peace processes is the focus of this statement and I believe that it is testament to the new dynamic we want to promote in our region and beyond." Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco, stated, "The initiative is in line with the will and the need to work communally and actively to build peace and security, based on relationships between people and opportunities, by putting women at the heart of the action for peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Very pleased as Moroccan Delegation to promote such action." "This joint statement is consistent with the Bahraini experience in terms of empowering Bahraini women and enhancing their role in laying the foundation for international peace and security through their remarkable and renowned diplomatic presence in international fora. Moreover, it conveys an important message of peace stemming from the deep rooted values of the Bahraini society, the vision of its wise leadership, and its pioneering experience in the field of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance," said Bucheeri. Ambassador Ahmed Aljarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE, noted, "In line with UAEs national policy on womens empowerment, we have made strong progress to advance the women, peace and security agenda including, the launch of the Sheikha Fatima Women, Peace and Security Initiative and the launch of the UAE First National Action Plan in response to UNSCR 1325 in March 2021. The UAE Mission to the UN continues to work with all the missions on this important agenda." Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, said, "This Joint Statement is the first formal initiative in the multilateral arena between Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco. I am especially pleased that the important issue of women in peace processes is the focus of this statement and I believe that it is testament to the new dynamic we want to promote in our region and beyond." Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco, stated, "The initiative is in line with the will and the need to work communally and actively to build peace and security, based on relationships between people and opportunities, by putting women at the heart of the action for peace building and conflict resolution. Very pleased as Moroccan Delegation to promote such action." "This joint statement is consistent with the Bahraini experience in terms of empowering Bahraini women and enhancing their role in laying the foundation for international peace and security through their remarkable and renowned diplomatic presence in international fora. Moreover, it conveys an important message of peace stemming from the deep rooted values of the Bahraini society, the vision of its wise leadership, and its pioneering experience in the field of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance," said Bucheeri. Ambassador Ahmed Aljarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE, noted, "In line with UAEs national policy on womens empowerment, we have made strong progress to advance the women, peace and security agenda including, the launch of the Sheikha Fatima Women, Peace and Security Initiative and the launch of the UAE First National Action Plan in response to UNSCR 1325 in March 2021. The UAE Mission to the UN continues to work with all the missions on this important agenda." Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, said, "This Joint Statement is the first formal initiative in the multilateral arena between Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco. I am especially pleased that the important issue of women in peace processes is the focus of this statement and I believe that it is testament to the new dynamic we want to promote in our region and beyond." Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco, stated, "The initiative is in line with the will and the need to work communally and actively to build peace and security, based on relationships between people and opportunities, by putting women at the heart of the action for peace building and conflict resolution. Very pleased as Moroccan Delegation to promote such action." Women play a fundamental role in peace processes and conflict prevention, said Ambassador Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri of Bahrain while delivering a joint statement on behalf of UAE, Israel and Morocco during the Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Wednesday. "This joint statement is consistent with the Bahraini experience in terms of empowering Bahraini women and enhancing their role in laying the foundation for international peace and security through their remarkable and renowned diplomatic presence in international fora. Moreover, it conveys an important message of peace stemming from the deep rooted values of the Bahraini society, the vision of its wise leadership, and its pioneering experience in the field of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance," said Bucheeri. Ambassador Ahmed Aljarman, Permanent Representative of the UAE, noted, "In line with UAEs national policy on womens empowerment, we have made strong progress to advance the women, peace and security agenda including, the launch of the Sheikha Fatima Women, Peace and Security Initiative and the launch of the UAE First National Action Plan in response to UNSCR 1325 in March 2021. The UAE Mission to the UN continues to work with all the missions on this important agenda." Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, said, "This Joint Statement is the first formal initiative in the multilateral arena between Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco. I am especially pleased that the important issue of women in peace processes is the focus of this statement and I believe that it is testament to the new dynamic we want to promote in our region and beyond." Ambassador Omar Zniber, Permanent Representative of Morocco, stated, "The initiative is in line with the will and the need to work communally and actively to build peace and security, based on relationships between people and opportunities, by putting women at the heart of the action for peace building and conflict resolution. Very pleased as Moroccan Delegation to promote such action." TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com The Cabinet is keen on enhancing bilateral cooperation and partnership with the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives to advance the Kingdoms development for the good of its citizens and national goals. During its weekly meeting yesterday chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, the Cabinet congratulated the two legislative branches on the issuance of Royal Order 35 of 2021 by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, convening the bicameral National Assembly to resume its sessions. On the occasion of World Teachers Day, the Cabinet paid tribute to all teachers for their appreciated contributions in further strengthening the Kingdoms educational achievements, highlighting their pivotal role as one of the pillars of developing the sector. The Cabinet decided to adjust the day of its weekly meetings to be held on Sundays instead of Mondays for the next four meetings. The move was taken to ensure the continuation of discussion and of the decision-making process regarding the work and projects of government agencies, given that the regular meeting date coincides with official holidays and international participations. It congratulated the UAE on the successful opening of Expo 2020 Dubai and wished them continued success. The Cabinet expressed Bahrains solidarity with Oman following the devastating effects of tropical cyclone Shaheen. The Cabinet pproved a memorandum by the Minister of Finance and National Economy and the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning related to the involvement of the private sector in the implementation of service projects, contributing to accelerating the completion of projects as well as enhancing the utilisation of the Municipal Common Resources Fund to finance other service projects. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa affirmed the significant role of the Bahraini ambassadors in boosting relations and cooperation with other countries. HM the King stressed the kingdoms keenness on building solid relations with other countries that are based on mutual respect. This came as His Majesty received at Sakhir Palace yesterday Ambassadors of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Sudan and Belgium, Abdullah Rabia and Abdullah Faisal Jabr Al Dousari, respectively, as they took the legal oath before His Majesty on the occasion of the issuance of the Royal Decree appointing them as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. HM the King congratulated them on their appointment, wishing them every success in their new diplomatic duties. He asked them to convey his greetings and best wishes to the Head of Sudans Sovereignty Council and the King of Belgium. He also directed them to serve the interests of the Bahraini community in both countries and cater to their needs. The two ambassadors extended sincere thanks and gratitude to HM the King for the noble royal trust. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahrain has affirmed its support for the unremitting efforts exerted by Libya to lay the foundations of security, stability, and peace in all parts of the country. This came as Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani held yesterday official discussions with the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Najla El Mangoush, during her visit to the Kingdom. Dr Al Zayani said that His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who also received Dr El Mangoush, stressed the importance of taking steps to support stability in Libya and the exit of foreign forces, in order to preserve Libyas sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity. HM the King also support the peaceful holding of the presidential and parliamentary elections to achieve the aspirations of the brotherly Libyan people for development and prosperity. Minister Al Zayani affirmed that His Majesty has expressed his confidence in the ability of the Libyan people to overcome all current challenges. Al Zayani held a lengthy discussions session with his Libyan counterpart during which strong bilateral brotherly relations and ways of enhancing them were discussed. He said the need to continue the exchange of visits between senior officials and official delegations between the two countries and the importance of coordination in international and regional forums on issues of common concern was stressed. Dr Al Zayani also pointed out the need to adopt effective mechanisms to follow up on areas of joint bilateral cooperation to achieve constructive results that enhance cooperation relations between the two countries. The meeting also shed light on political and security developments in Libya, and the efforts made by the Libyan Government of National Unity, the United Nations, and the supporting countries to reach a political solution to the situation in Libya that preserves the sovereignty, independence, and stability of the country, stops interference in its internal affairs and leads to holding the presidential and parliamentary elections on their scheduled date. Bahrain and Pakistan unveil logo to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations Bahrain and Pakistan unveil logo to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com Bahrain and Pakistan have jointly unveiled a logo marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties. To commemorate the occasion, the Pakistan Embassy hosted a logo launch ceremony commencing year-long Golden Jubilee celebrations with events to be hosted in Bahrain and Pakistan. Pakistan Ambassador to Bahrain Muhammad Ayub, and Fatima Abdullah Al Dhaen, Chief of Afro-Asian Affairs in the Foreign Ministry of Bahrain, unveiled the logo in a ceremony attended by the representatives of the Pakistan community organisations, the business community, Parliamentarians and media. Ambassador Ayub congratulated the leadership andthe people of Bahrain and Pakistan for their remarkable contributions to solidifying this friendship over the last 50 years. Pakistan and Bahrain enjoy long-standing ties based on shared values and mutual trust with strong bonds of friendship, cultural and historical linkages, he said. Our two countries share the similarity of views on issues of mutual concern and support each other at multilateral forums. Both countries stand together for global peace and prosperity. Pakistan and Bahrain have a history of security and defense cooperation in diverse fields, he added. We are now working together to translate this historic relationship into a mutually beneficial economic partnership. This year, we are celebrating not only 50 years of diplomatic relations but centuries of fraternal ties, enduring friendship, close cooperation, and unwavering mutual support, he said. Pakistani diaspora in Bahrain has been the bedrock of this relationship. They have contributed to the socio-economic development of this great country. They are hardworking and loyal to the Kingdom. They are treated with dignity and looked after well. The Pakistani community and all communities in Bahrain will participate in the celebrations. The Golden Jubilee Celebrations will also focus on the participation of youth as the future flag-bearers of Pakistan-Bahrain relations, the ambassador said. Pakistan and Bahrain will celebrate the milestone with a renewed commitment to further strengthen the existing friendly relations between the two countries in all aspects, especially in trade and investment, culture, education, tourism, and people-to-people contacts, he added. Fatima Dhaen lauded Bahrains distinguished relations with Pakistan and expressed the Kingdoms keenness to enhance cooperation in all areas of mutual interest. The embassy, in collaboration with the concerned departments of the government of Bahrain and the Pakistani community organisations, will organise a series of events and programmes throughout the year to celebrate the 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations. DANBURY Although Danbury-area COVID-19 infection numbers are falling from late-summer highs, the vaccination rates in some towns are still troubling local leaders. Kent has the highest vaccination rate with 84.8 percent of its population vaccinated with at least one dose. Washington is close behind with 81 percent. The majority of other towns hover in the 70s, including Brookfield, New Milford, Danbury, Ridgefield, Newtown and Roxbury. But Sherman, Bethel and New Fairfield are farther behind. In Sherman, the town with the lowest vaccination rate in the Danbury area, only 64.6 percent of total residents have been vaccinated. Bethel and New Fairfield are both hitting 66 percent initiation. Sherman First Selectman Don Lowe and Bethels Matt Knickerbocker are concerned. Im not happy with the vaccination rate, Knickerbocker said. I dont understand vaccine hesitancy. It is overwhelmingly the single best possible way to keep yourself from getting ill and keep yourself from dying. Knickerbocker said the town is seeing vaccination numbers creep up, but he wants Bethel to hit at least 85 percent or higher. He added that town clinics administered around 7,000 doses with no serious or unusual side effects reported to date. Knickerbocker said the 25- to 45-age bracket did not have higher rates in Bethel, calling it baffling and troubling. While 98 percent of Shermans large senior population has had at least one vaccination, Lowe said he doesnt know why their overall numbers have stayed lower than others. Sherman characteristically has a lot of independent thinkers and, if you attend a Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen meeting, you will find a wide array of ways that Sherman people will look at any given situation and I think that is wonderful. However, that may play against us when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations, Lowe said in an email to The News-Times. Only 44 percent of the towns 12- to 17-year-olds have been fully vaccinated. Sherman residents ages 24 to 64 have the next lowest rates in town. The 64-and-over crowd and the 18- to 24-year-olds are among the higher vaccination percentages. Washington, which has the second-highest vaccination rate in the Danbury area behind Kent, focused its efforts on outreach and organizing school clinics, according to First Selectman Jim Brinton. The town has been attending New Milfords public health departments vaccine clinics. The increases are really slowing down but at least theyre still going up, Brinton said. The high vaccination rate is likely due to Washingtons significant number of older residents. That makes up a pretty good percentage of our population and that group was phenomenal out of the gate, Brinton said. The trend appears to be continuing. Already, Brinton reported several seniors eligible for a booster have already gotten it. Danbury spokeswoman Taylor OBrien said the citys health department is aware of a slight increase in individuals asking for the vaccine due to employer mandates, but City Hall did not have data to verify the overall count on Monday. "I wholeheartedly support people getting vaccinated for COVID-19 and I am encouraged by the continued interest we see in the numbers each week, said Danbury Mayor Joe Cavo in a statement. COVID rates falling, vaccination rates stagnating While Brookfield vaccination rates have stayed in the middle of the pack, its COVID-19 rate remains an outlier in the area. The town is still in the orange zone the second highest and second worst rating on the sliding color scale from the state data sets released each week with a case rate of 14.3 cases per 100,000 residents. Other towns have slid back to yellow and gray zone designations demonstrating low case rates. As such, First Selectman Steve Dunn said the local mask mandate will stay in place for now. The only other town in the Danbury area still in the orange zone is Ridgefield. The town lifted its mask mandate for vaccinated people at the end of September. No one would like to remove the mask mandate more than me, Dunn said, but we have to have what our director of public health tells us is a safe level to do it. For Brookfield, that means a case rate of 10 or below and a positivity rate below three percent for two weeks in a row. Brookfields lowest vaccination rates are among children 12 to 17, and Dunn said he wasnt sure why that was the case. Weve gotten to everybody who wants to get a vaccination, he said. Now we have to work on convincing people who are on the fence, which is a little harder to do. Dunn said the Brookfield health department is considering scheduling some clinics for the schools to get more younger kids vaccinated. While they havent fully decided on school clinics, Dunn said the town would love to have clinics for the kids, just like we did at St. Joes. ATLANTA (AP) Supporters of Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp are fighting back against Donald Trump and their own party leaders, angered by a rally last month in which the former president again attacked the state's chief executive. Kemp's proponents warn that a total embrace of Trump, his false claims about election fraud and his vendetta against the governor for not trying to overturn Trump's loss in Georgia last year could ruin Republican chances in 2022 in the narrowly divided state. Right now we are joined at the hip to Donald Trump, who doesnt share the same interests," said James Hall, a state Republican Party committee member from Savannah. "He wants to torpedo Brian Kemp. Georgia is one of several states seeing Trump-driven infighting. The former president also continues to roil the partys internal politics in Arizona, where he has targeted Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, and Wyoming, where he is driving an effort to oust Liz Cheney, the states lone U.S. House member. Trump is endorsing primary candidates across the nation, continuing a drive to remake the Republican Party in his image. The moment that crystalized Kemp supporters' discontent was when Trump, repeatedly calling Kemp a disaster," twice suggested he would prefer Democrat Stacey Abrams as Georgias governor. Abrams became a national Democratic superstar even though Kemp edged her out in 2018. Georgia Democrats strongly want her to run again for the governor's office in 2022. Stacey, would you like to take his place? Its OK with me," Trump said at the rally in Perry, Georgia. Hall and others fear a replay of the 2021 U.S. Senate runoffs. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, delivering control of the U.S. Senate to their party. Turnout in that election fell more in Republican areas than in Democratic ones, and Hall blames Trump's false fraud narrative, saying it scares people away from the polls." Buzz Brockway, a former Republican state representative who lost a primary bid for secretary of state in 2018, agrees. Its a suicidal cult. Thats whats happening, he said. Its not hurting the Democrats. Others think harnessing the energy of right-leaning voters who are really dissatisfied with President Joe Biden will be more important in 2022 for the Republican party than distancing itself from Trump's damaging rhetoric. When President Trump says something tongue-in-cheek about Brian Kemp, I dont think anybody really cares, said Marci McCarthy, who chairs the GOP in the Democrat-dominated Atlanta suburb of DeKalb County. I think more people are concerned about their everyday living. Kemp partisans are particularly angry at state Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, who introduced the rally. Critics say Shafer violated party bylaws requiring him to not pick sides in primaries by appearing at an event during which Trump repeated his endorsement of several candidates. The state party also raised money for itself by selling VIP tickets to the rally. Shafer, who continues to echo Trump's false fraud claims and call for an additional audit of Georgia's results, said Monday that it was Trump's event, not the party's. When we accept a contribution or sponsorship from a Republican candidate to speak at an event, that does not mean we are endorsing the candidate or agreeing with everything the politician says," Shafer wrote in a letter to state committee members after Hall and others complained. His critics say it was foreseeable that Trump would attack Kemp. But Shafer said he's focused on recruiting volunteers and raising money to support a unified party after the primary. My job is to emphasize the areas of agreement and not the areas of disagreement with other Republicans, Shafer said. We can't win divided. We've got to pull everyone back together, and that's what I'm going to do. With Trump loyalists flooding in at the grassroots and increasingly controlling party machinery, many Kemp supporters are out of power, and it's unclear if their complaints will get any traction. Days after the rally, the local Republican Party in Cobb County a onetime GOP stronghold that has swung sharply toward Democrats in recent years censured Kemp for not doing enough to stop illegal immigration. Former Cobb GOP chair Jason Shepherd resigned from the county party committee after the resolution passed. The Cobb Republican Party, when it should be preparing to challenge Democrats, is instead fighting Republicans, said Shepherd, who lost a bid against Shafer this summer to lead the state party. More than a dozen county Republican parties have censured Kemp on some grounds this year, as did the 7th Congressional District GOP. The Cobb County Young Republicans released a statement condemning their county party's move and saying the group would support Kemp. Although Trump has endorsed Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Burt Jones for lieutenant governor and U.S. Rep Jody Hice for secretary of state, he hasn't been able to line up a candidate for governor. Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones spoke at Trump's rally, but the former president hasn't given Jones the nod, despite Jones building his campaign around claims that Trump was defrauded in the 2020 election and courting Trump-aligned figures including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik. Trump supporters over the summer talked up the possible candidacy of the obscure mayor of a small Georgia town. Trump's PAC later commissioned a poll that showed Perdue could beat Kemp in a Republican primary if Trump endorsed Perdue. The former president added fuel to that fire at his Georgia rally when he pointed out Perdue among a clutch of Republican Party leaders. Are you running for governor, David? Trump asked. Did I hear hes running? For now, though, Kemp remains the favorite to be the Republican nominee next year even though it appears equally likely that he will continue to be dogged by Trump. Kemp supporters, at least, are tired of indulging the former president's taste for revenge. Were giving a huge microphone to a guy who is criticizing our people and thats how were going to slit our throats in 2022," Hall said. ___ Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy. RENO, Nev. (AP) Tribal lawyers are asking a U.S. judge in Nevada to reconsider her earlier refusal to block digging at a proposed lithium mine near the Oregon line where they say newly uncovered evidence proves it was the sacred site of a massacre of dozens of Native Americans in 1865. The new motion filed in federal court in Reno includes an 1865 newspaper report and two eyewitness accounts of how at least 31 Paiute men, women and children were murdered by federal soldiers at Thacker Pass. The accounts were in an autobiography first published in 1929 by a well-known American labor organizer, Bill Haywood. One was from a cavalry volunteer who participated in the slaughter and the other by a tribal member who survived it. Nevada Lithium Corp.s construction is scheduled to begin earlier next year at what would be the largest lithium mine in the nation and the biggest open pit lithium mine in the world. Lithium is a key component in electric vehicle batterie. Demand for the mineral is expected to triple over the next five years. The only significant lithium mine now operating in the U.S. is in Nevada. Another planned halfway between Reno and Las Vegas by Ioneer Ltd. also faces legal challenges from environmentalists fighting to protect a rare desert wildflower that the Fish and Wildlife Service formally proposed last week to be listed as an endangered species. Judge Miranda Du says she will hold a full evidentiary hearing on the merits of the case before any construction begins about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Reno. But in recent months she has denied requests by environmentalists and tribes to prevent the Bureau of Land Management in the meantime from digging trenches for an archaeological survey that Lithium Nevada must complete before moving forward. The tribes maintain 1,000 cultural resources and 57 properties there are eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. They say the bureau has failed to meet federal requirements it formally consult with the tribes on a government-to-government basis about the preparation of a historical properties plan. The tribes said in the Friday court filing that the new evidence warrants a fresh review after Judge Du ruled Sept. 6 the government field notes dating to 1868 that they submitted in their earlier plea for injunctive relief do not show a massacre happened within the project area. Lawyers for the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and Burns Paiute Tribe of Oregon stated: The proximity of the Indian Lodgings in the project area, combined with the intervening plaintiffs oral histories describing how Paiute people, being hunted by the US Cavalry, hid in Thacker Pass, and especially the new accounts of the massacre make it very likely that the Sept. 12, 1865 massacre happened, at least partially, within the project area. Spokespersons for the bureau and Nevada Lithium said Tuesday they had no immediate comment. The Owyhee Avalanche article cited in the Sept. 30, 1865, edition under the headline Indian Fight in Queen River Valley says a Capt. Payne and Lt. Littlefield of the 1st Nevada Cavalry had camped with 19 volunteers along Willow Creek in the area near Thacker Pass. A charge was ordered and each officer and man went for scalps, and fought the scattering devils over several miles of ground for three hours, in which time all were killed that could be found, the story said. The article said the troops located 31 dead, noting more must have been kill (sic) and died from their wounds, as a strict search was not made and the extent of the battlefield so great. Haywood wrote in The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood that the story of the massacre of the Piute (sic) Indians at Thacker Pass was first told to him by Jim Sackett, one of the volunteers who took part in the killing and Ox Sam, a Piute (sic) who made his escape, one of the only three survivors. Haywood wrote that Sackett told him the Paiutes, including squaws and little children had been sleeping in wickiups small huts also referred to as wigwams and were shot down before they came to their senses. From one wickiup to another, we went pouring in our bullets. Gable has been drawing his witty cartoons for daily newspapers for more than 40 years, including more than three decades as the editorial cartoonist for The Globe and Mail . He earned degrees in fine art and in education and penned his first published editorial cartoon for a student newspaper while in university. In 1977, he began freelancing editorial cartoons once a week for the Brockville Recorder and Times while teaching high school art in Brockville, Ontario. In 1980, he became an editorial cartoonist for the Regina Leader-Post , where he worked for seven years before joining The Globe and Mail in 1987 . Gable captures the voices of average citizens in his cartoons and how they see decisions made by the powers that be. He regularly uses satire and sarcasm to highlight important issues facing our country and the world. He has won seven National Newspaper Awards for editorial cartooning. In 2018, he was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. His citation said he's "a legend within the editorial cartooning community" and that his work "embodies our national sense of humour, namely our ability to laugh at ourselves and our institutions." Canada Post unveils five stamps Canada Post's other stamps in this set pay tribute to Serge Chapleau (La Presse, unveiled October 4), Terry Mosher (Montreal Gazette, October 6), Duncan Macpherson (Toronto Star, October 7) and Bruce MacKinnon (The Chronicle Herald, October 8). A 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. The Editorial Cartoonists stamps and collectibles will be available on canadapost.ca and at post offices starting October 8. For images of the stamps, in-depth information on the editorial cartoonists and other products, check out the following: Video featuring the work of the editorial cartoonist (click here) High-resolution images (click here) Available at 11 am (ET): In-depth articles on the Canada Post magazine (click here) Short vignettes on Canada Post's social platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter To receive access to our video content on Twitter Media Studio, please contact our social media team at [email protected]. About the stamp issue Canada Post's newest stamp issue celebrates five of Canada's greatest editorial cartoonists, whose thought-provoking and seminal work has helped shape our national fabric over the last half-century. 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 has enlightened and entertained us, contributed to national debate, and brought attention to unfairness and injustice. Canada Post is proud to honour their enormous contributions to Canadian media and society. SOURCE Canada Post For further information: Media Relations, 613-734-8888, [email protected] Related Links www.canadapost.ca This first-of-its-kind global research includes a landmark survey of more than 26,000 girls and young women aged 15 to 24 from 26 countries, which revealed that exposure to lies and mistruths have a profound impact on how they engage with issues ranging from COVID-19 to politics. The Truth Gap is the latest in the research series that builds on Plan International's global work to tackle online gender-based violence and advocate for safe spaces for girls. Some of the findings are: In Canada , of 1,000 surveyed girls and young women: , of 1,000 surveyed girls and young women: 94 per cent are concerned about misinformation and/or disinformation online, with more than eight out of ten (86 per cent) saying that it has a negative effect on them. 51 per cent have either felt sad, depressed, stressed, worried or anxious as a result of exposure to false information online. Globally, of the total 26,000 surveyed girls and young women: 20 per cent feel physically unsafe because of false information online. 87 per cent said misinformation and disinformation has had a negative impact on their lives. 67 per cent have never been taught how to spot misinformation or disinformation. One in three reported false information is affecting their mental health, leaving them stressed, worried, and anxious. Others reported concerns about fake events advertised on social media that could place them at physical risk and about unreliable medical advice that could harm their health. One out of five stop engaging in politics or current affairs due to their experiences with false information online. 28 per cent have been led to believe a myth or 'fake fact' about COVID-19. 25 per cent have questioned whether to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Globally, there is no online source that the majority of those surveyed trusted to provide reliable information. "These findings demonstrate the consequences of false information on girls and young women, as the pandemic has shifted most of our interactions online. They are bombarded with lies that fuel discrimination, proliferate harmful stereotypes, and derail their pathways to leadership and realizing their rights. This impacts their self-esteem and mental and physical health," says Saadya Hamdani, Director of Gender Equality at Plan International Canada. "Young people particularly girls must be protected from online abuse and harassment as well as given the skills and knowledge to navigate the internet safely, find accurate information, and use their voices freely." Digital literacy is an indispensable tool for girls' participation in civic life, particularly as it relates to fields where they are underrepresented. Plan International Canada's partner for this report, IBM Canada, is invested in creating avenues that broaden girls' participation in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). As part of our youth leadership program Girls Belong Here, we teamed up with IBM Canada this year to host an interactive roundtable with youth ambassadors who engaged in meaningful dialogue around girls in STEM with Claude Guay, President and General Manager, IBM Canada. They provided ideas and solutions about enhancing girls' and young women's participation in STEM fields. IBM has been steadfast in its mission to advance women in STEM by driving innovative programs to help close the gender gap and build an inclusive workforce. "Increasing women's representation in STEM is a priority for IBM. We have programs around the globe to help girls earn a strong STEM foundation, and initiatives to help women enter or return to the tech sector," said Jen Roynon, IBM Canada CSR Leader. "We need to create an ecosystem where organisations, teachers, parents, and industry experts collaborate to increase girls' digital literacy, encourage girls to embrace STEM, and provide enablement opportunities throughout their journey." IBM is focused on building skills for the future and for this new digital era. It is encouraging girls to embark on education and career pathways in STEM to bring about a change in the outlook of communities and the world as a whole. Research citation: Plan International Canada. The Truth Gap how information and disinformation online affect the lives, learning and leadership of girls and young women. October 2021. Notes to editors: Research for The Truth Gap report was carried out in 33 countries. This includes a survey of over 26,000 girls and young women aged 15 to 24 in 26 countries, conducted by Ipsos and GeoPoll on behalf of Plan International between 5 February to 19 March 2021 , and an additional series of 22 in-depth interviews across 18 countries. report was carried out in 33 countries. This includes a survey of over 26,000 girls and young women aged 15 to 24 in 26 countries, conducted by Ipsos and GeoPoll on behalf of Plan International between 5 February to , and an additional series of 22 in-depth interviews across 18 countries. Ipsos and GeoPoll surveyed girls in Brazil , Canada , Colombia U.S.A. , United Kingdom , France , Germany , Finland , Netherlands , Spain , Sweden , Italy , Indonesia , Philippines , Vietnam , Australia , Nepal , Jordan , Ecuador , El Salvador , Peru , Burkina Faso , Kenya , Malawi , Togo and Zambia . , , Colombia , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . In Canada : 1,000 girls and young women participated in the survey, residing in the following regions: Ontario (42 per cent), Quebec (23 per cent), British Columbia (11 per cent), Alberta (10 per cent), Manitoba (4 per cent), Saskatchewan (3 per cent), New Brunswick (2 per cent), Nova Scotia (2 per cent), and Newfoundland and Labrador (1 per cent). Age: The surveyed girls and young women are between 15 and 24 years old. The majority (58 per cent) are aged 20 to 24 years and 42 per cent are aged 15 to 19 years. Join Plan International Canada's International Day of the Girl conversations online: Follow: @PlanCanada on Twitter and Instagram, and Plan International Canada on Facebook and LinkedIn Hashtags: #GirlsBelongHere #FreetobeOnline #DayoftheGirl #STEM4Girls About International Day of the Girl In 2009, Plan International Canada led an extensive two-year campaign that engaged thousands of Canadians in a call for an International Day of the Girl as part of a global initiative to end gender inequality and recognize girls' rights as human rights. In December 2011, with unanimous all-party support, the Canadian government led the United Nations to officially declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl. About Plan International Canada Plan International Canada is a global organization dedicated to advancing children's rights and equality for girls. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years and are now active in more than 75 countries. Visit plancanada.ca for more information and follow @PlanCanada on social media to join the conversation. About IBM Canada For more information about IBM Canada, visit: http://www.ibm.com/ca-en SOURCE Plan International Canada For further information: For media inquiries please contact: Plan International Canada, PR and Communications, [email protected] Related Links www.plancanada.ca PM Narendra Modi is in Lucknow to inaugurate Azadi@75 New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape Conference-cum-Expo in Lucknow. The PM will lay the foundation stones of several urban projects. The three-day visit to the event comes just two days after the violent incident in Lakhimpur Kheri that left eight people dead. The political reaction to the incident from the opposition has been fierce. Many leaders were detained by UP Police on their way to meet the victim farmers and their families. Priyanka Gandhi was booked earlier today for disturbing the peace in the state, after spending more than 24 hours in detention. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has claimed that he is not being allowed to leave the Lucknow airport, where he arrived to meet Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Uttar Pradeshs Sitapur. The Uttar Pradesh police also detained a delegation of Punjab ministers and MLAs led by Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa at Saharanpur, on Monday. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee slammed BJP for the alleged murder of farmers and termed the incident as barbaric. A new video that has emerged on social media shows a car running over farm law protesters that led to the lynching of 5 people including 3 BJP workers in UPs Lakhimpur Kheri district. The early media reports, citing the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, suggested that the son of MoS Teni, Ashish Mishra Teni, shot dead one of the protesters after ramming him down with his car. The minister refuted the claims saying that his son was not present at the incident site and that his son would not have survived had he been present there. Ashish Mishra Teni in his statement to the media denied the allegations against him. He claimed that he was attending an event organized by his family when the violent incident took place. In another video that went viral on social media, a man is heard asking the purported driver of the SUV, that ran over the protesters, to confess that he was sent by MoS Ajay Mishra Teni to ram the car into the crowd of protesters. The injured driver, however, refused to admit the same. He was later found dead. Ajay Mishra Teni, in his statement, alleged that the driver was hit by a rock thrown by anti-social elements that shattered the cars windshield and that resulted in him losing control of the vehicle. Meanwhile, the UP administration has announced monetary compensation of Rs. 45 lakhs and a government job for the families of all the dead victims of the violence and Rs. 10 lakh for the injured. The announcement was made by UP ADG(Law & Order) Prashant Kumar during a press conference. Rakesh Tikait was seen sitting beside the top official during the conference. ADG Prashant Kumar also announced that an FIR has been filed on the complaint of the farmers. The UP Police has booked Ashish Teni and other persons under charges including those of murder and criminal conspiracy. The political reaction to the incident from the opposition has been fierce. Many leaders were detained by UP Police on their way to meet the victim farmers and their families. Priyanka Gandhi was booked earlier today for disturbing the peace in the state, after spending more than 24 hours in Sitapur under detention. The Uttar Pradesh police also detained a delegation of Punjab ministers and MLAs led by Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa at Saharanpur, on Monday. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee slammed BJP for the alleged murder of farmers and termed the incident as barbaric. The Centre has deployed four Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) companies in Lakhimpur Kheri on request of the UP administration, to control the law and order situation in the area. According to sources, 500 personnel of the CAPFs will be deployed round the clock in the area to maintain law and order as well as prevent any untoward incident till October 6. Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Mohsin Raza on Tuesday alleged that the Opposition parties wanted to flare up riots in Lakhimpur Kheri in an attempt to create a negative environment. On Tuesday, 56 Chinese jets invaded the Taiwanese air defence zone. This brings the number of Chinese jets intruding into the island nation's air defence zone to a total of 150, so far in the month of October. China has escalated its military posturing in a bid to undermine Taiwans self-declared sovereignty. On Tuesday, 56 Chinese jets invaded the Taiwanese air defence zone. This brings the number of Chinese jets intruding into the island nations air defence zone to a total of 150, so far in the month of October. After Hong Kong, Taiwan is witnessing a sustained escalation in Chinas show of power in lands it lays claims on. However, unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan is not under direct or indirect Chinese rule. Taiwan is a small island nation that is not recognized by most countries of the world due to Chinese pressure, and China exploits this diplomatic isolation to violate Taiwans claims of sovereignty. Taiwan has a built a highly-developed economy by being a world-class manufacturer of semiconductors, and consumer durables. Taiwan has a very high GDP per capita and it can invest in some of the best defence systems in the world but it does not have a population large enough to draw able-bodied recruits from in the event of a war with China which has the biggest population on earth. This makes Taiwans reliance on foreign powers all the more necessary if it wants to keep a Chinese invasion at bay. Taiwan has increased its building more strategic partnerships with countries that aim to disrupt Chinas expansionist strategies. Taiwan, on Monday, supported the strategic partnership signed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS), which would help balance Chinas military ambitions in the region. The deal allows Australia to explore options for acquiring eight nuclear submarines over the next decade that are expected to have enough range to patrol the South and East China Seas. The island nation has also, in recent years, improved bilateral ties with the US to counter Chinas strategy of diplomatic isolation. Following the passage of the Taiwan Travel Act by the U.S. Congress on March 16, 2018, relations between the United States and Taiwan have since manoeuvred to an official and high-level basis. Both sides have since signed a consular agreement formalizing their existent consular relations on September 13, 2019. The United States removed self-imposed restrictions on executive branch contacts with Taiwan on January 9, 2021. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, levelled up the accusations. Haugen recently appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes to reveal her identity as the whistleblower who shared documents with the Wall Street Journal on Facebook. A key witness has accused Facebook of concentrating on profits rather than reducing hate speech and fake news, and of having contributed to the Capitol riots in Washington in January. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, levelled up the accusations. Haugen recently appeared on CBSs 60 Minutes to reveal her identity as the whistleblower who shared documents with the Wall Street Journal on Facebook. She worked on Facebooks civic misinformation team as a product manager. These were the documents that cast the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company in a negative light for interrupting adolescent girls mental health on Instagram, having failed to raise enough COVID-19 vaccine awareness and other issues. The mental health issue has prompted a Senate subcommittee hearing on Protecting Kids Online, which Haugen will attend on Tuesday. In the CBS interview, Frances stated that there were conflicts of interest between what was good for Facebook and what was good for the public and that the social media giant chose to prioritise its own interests, such as making more money. It has also been suggested that Facebook played a role in the 6 January Capitol Riot because the platform was used to organise the Capitol invasion after security safeguards were disabled following the US presidential elections. In response to the allegations, Facebook spokesperson Lena Pietsch stated, We continue to make significant improvements to combat the spread of misinformation and harmful content. She added, It is simply not true to say that we encourage bad content and do nothing. Nick Clegg, Facebooks head of global policy, warned the social media giants employees of upcoming allegations against the company in a memo released after CBS aired a teaser of the whistleblower interview. In one of the videos, a female investor is seen brandishing a knife and threatening to kill herself in front of Evergrande Wealth employees and others in a meeting room. A compilation clip featuring desperate investors confronting Evergrande employees in the midst of the companys financial problems has gone viral on Chinas social media platform Weibo. According to media reports, the 10-minute-long video was posted to Weibo on September 29 by local news site Xing Tai Shen Bian Shi, who did not specify when or where the videos were taken. In one of the videos, a female investor is seen brandishing a knife and threatening to kill herself in front of Evergrande Wealth employees and others in a meeting room. I dont want the interest on my investment, I just want my money back. So heres what I have to say to you. If Evergrande Wealth doesnt give me my money today, Ill kill myself right here, she told the staff. If this isnt handled today, Ill die right here, right in front of you. My retirement savings are all in that investment. I have nothing left to live for, she further expressed. Another footage shows a group of people attempting to stop a car outside the companys headquarters. In the video, a woman can be heard crying and demanding an explanation. I dont have any choice but to do this, and I wont listen to you, she said. All my money is gone. Investors have been protesting outside Evergrande since September 13. Around 100 people had gathered outside the building at one point, prompting the guards to form a human barricade to keep them out. Chinas Evergrande Group has become the worlds most indebted company, with liabilities comprising more than $300 billion as a result of decades of borrowing. The companys wealth management arm, Evergrande Wealth, has also been affected by the financial crisis. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) Two officers were injured and five teens were arrested after a large fight broke out at a South Florida high school just after the dismissal bell Monday. Fort Lauderdale Police said the school resource officer at Dillard High School was notified there was a big brawl on campus and was injured when he intervened. He was taken to the hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries, Detective Ali Adamson said. LOS ANGELES (AP) An aspiring actor pleaded guilty Monday to running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised at least $650 million from investors in phony Hollywood film licensing deals. Zachary Joseph Horwitz, 34, of Los Angeles, entered a plea to a federal charge of securities fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced in January, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. PARIS (AP) France and the United States edged closer Tuesday toward rapprochement after the Biden administrations exclusion of Washingtons oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative ignited French anger. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Paris to explore ways to overcome the rift over the deal, which scuttled a multibillion-dollar French submarine contract with Australia and led Macron's government to take the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to the U.S. In a French television interview after the meeting with Macron, Blinken accepted a U.S. share of responsibility for the disagreement. "We could and we should have communicated better," Blinken said, speaking in French. We sometimes tend to take for granted a relationship as important and deep as the one that links France and the United States." Macron and Blinken explored potential U.S.-French cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and other areas in the roughly 40-minute one-on-one session, according to a senior U.S. State Department official. Shortly after their engagement, the White House announced in a statement that President Joe Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Bonne, in Paris later this week as part of our ongoing consultations on shared bilateral and regional interests. Macron and Blinken's meeting was the highest-level in-person contact between the two countries since the controversy erupted last month with the Sept. 15 announcement of a three-way agreement between Australia, Britain and the U.S., known as AUKUS, that pointedly left out France and other European nations. The State Department official said the two discussed possible joint projects that could be announced by Macron and President Joe Biden when they meet this month at a specific date and venue that has yet to be decided. Macron and Biden agreed to try to repair the damage in a Sept. 22 phone call. The White House statement said Sullivan and Bonne would further explore those projects in preparations for the meeting of President Biden and President Macron in Europe later this month. The State Department official didnt elaborate on what those projects might be, but said they would likely involve the Indo-Pacific and Western efforts to blunt Chinas growing there and elsewhere, NATO and other trans-Atlantic objectives involving the European Union, and counterterrorism cooperation in Africas Sahel region. The official said Macron and Blinken had agreed to use the spat as an opportunity to deepen and strengthen coordination and characterized the talks as very productive, while allowing that a lot of hard work remains ahead. The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks between Macron and Blinken at the Elysee Palace that hadnt appeared on Blinkens official schedule for the day. The meeting came amid repeated French demands for the U.S. to restore trust that was ruptured with the announcement of the AUKUS deal. A French official, speaking under customary anonymity, said the at length, face-to-face meeting came immediately after Blinken had seen Bonne. Bonne, the official said, saw Blinken in order to study the ways of reengaging the relationship following the recall of the French ambassador, and to help restore confidence between France and the United States. U.S. officials have acknowledged that the AUKUS announcement was handled poorly and could have benefitted from coordination with France and other members of the European Union, all of which were left out. They have also signaled a desire to make amends, although they have suggested Frances rage is an overreaction. France responded with fury and briefly recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra in an unprecedented display of pique. French officials called it a stab in the back by allies and expressed disappointment that it had happened after Biden had proclaimed America is back and pledged to restore and value trans-Atlantic relations that had soured during the Trump administration. The French have said repeatedly it will take much time and work to overcome the rift and that the incident underscores the need for Europe to develop its own security and defense plans as well as adopting a European strategy to counter growing challenges from China. Blinken is in the French capital for a two-day international economic conference that has been overshadowed by the AUKUS controversy that erupted with the announcement of the project. Blinken's first meeting in Paris was with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whom he counts as a personal friend. Ahead of his visit, his second to France as secretary of state but first since the rupture, Blinken met Friday with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by Macron. Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up and went to high school in Paris, has expressed disappointment that France has reacted so harshly to AUKUS. He and others have suggested some degree of French anger is related to domestic French politics and the shifting dynamics within the EU, which will soon see Angela Merkel depart as the leader of Germany after 16 years in power. The ostensible reason for Blinkens trip to France, which had been planned well before the AUKUS ruckus, was 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 is also attending the OECD talks, which are taking place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland. ___ Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester contributed to this report. A former Facebook employee told members of Congress Tuesday that the company knows that its platform spreads misinformation and content that harms children but refuses to make changes that could hurt its profits. Speaking before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, former Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen told lawmakers that new regulations are needed to force Facebook to improve its own platforms. But she stopped short of calling for a breakup of the company, saying it wouldn't fix existing problems and would instead turn Facebook into a Frankenstein" that continues to cause harm around the world while a separate Instagram rakes in most advertising dollars. Efforts to pass new regulations on social media have failed in the past, but senators said Tuesday that new revelations about Facebook show the time for inaction has ended. Here are some key highlights from Tuesday's hearing. FACEBOOK KNOWS IT'S CAUSING HARM TO VULNERABLE PEOPLE Haugen said Facebook knows that vulnerable people are harmed by its systems, from kids who are susceptible to feel bad about their bodies because of Instagram to adults who are more exposed to misinformation after being widowed, divorced or experiencing other forms of isolation such as moving to a new city. The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, she said. They are aware of the side effects of the choices they have made around amplification. They know that algorithmic-based rankings, or engagement-based rankings, keeps you on their sites longer. You have longer sessions, you show up more often, and that makes them more money. THE WHISTLEBLOWER TOUCHED A NERVE During the hearing, Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the committees ranking Republican, said shed just received a text from Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone pointing out that Haugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge on the topic from her work at Facebook. Haugen herself made it clear several times that she did not directly work on these issues but based her testimony on the documents she had and her own experience. But Facebook's statement emphasized her limited role and relatively short tenure at the company, effectively questioning her expertise and credibility. That didn't sit well with everyone. Facebook's tactic demonstrates that they dont have a good answer to all these problems that theyre attacking her on," said Gautam Hans, a technology law and free speech expert at Vanderbilt University. SMALL CHANGES COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE Making changes to reduce the spread of misinformation and other harmful content wouldn't require a wholesale reinvention of social media, Haugen said. One of the simplest changes could be to just organize posts in chronological order instead of letting computers predict what people want to see based on how much engagement good or bad it might attract. Another was to add one more click before users can easily share content, which she said Facebook knows can dramatically reduce misinformation and hate speech. A lot of the changes that Im talking about are not going to make Facebook an unprofitable company, it just wont be a ludicrously profitable company like it is today, she said. She said Facebook won't make those changes on its own if it might halt growth, even though the company's own research showed that people use the platform less when theyre exposed to more toxic content. One could reason a kinder, friendlier, more collaborative Facebook might actually have more users five years from now, so its in everyones interest, she said. A PEEK INSIDE THE COMPANY Haugen portrayed Facebooks corporate environment as so machine-like and driven by metrics that it was hard to hit the brakes on known harms that, if addressed, might dent growth and profits. She described the companys famously flat organizational philosophy -- with few levels of management and an open-floor workplace at its California headquarters that packs nearly the entire staff into one enormous room -- as an impediment to the leadership necessary to pull the plug on bad ideas. She said the company didnt set out to make a destructive platform, but she noted that CEO Mark Zuckerberg holds considerable power because he controls more than 50% of the voting shares of the company and that letting metrics drive decisions was itself a decision on his part. In the end, the buck stops with Mark, she said. BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE Democrats and Republicans on the committee said Tuesdays hearing showed the need for new regulations that would change how Facebook targets users and amplifies content. Such efforts have long failed in Washington, but several senators said Haugen's testimony might be the catalyst for change. Our differences are very minor, or they seem very minor in the face of the revelations that weve now seen, so Im hoping we can move forward," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the panels chairman. Still, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota acknowledged that Facebook and other tech companies wield a lot of power in the nations capital, power that has blocked reforms in the past. There are lobbyists around every single corner of this building that have been hired by the tech industry, Klobuchar said. Facebook and the other tech companies are throwing a bunch of money around this town and people are listening to them. AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report. NEW HAVEN If walls could talk, chances are a lot of people and not just in New Haven would want to hear the stories Toads Place has to tell from its decades playing host to everything from surprise shows by the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan to Muddy Waters, B.B. King, David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Cash. Even the most star-studded walls have their secrets. But longtime Toads Place owner Brian Phelps, with New Haven journalist, author and former New Haven Register columnist (and onetime music writer) Randall Beach, are about to let fly with a book that will bring many of those stories to the public, in some cases for the first time. There were a lot of people over the last five or 10 years who Id tell stories to ... and theyd come back to me and say, You should write a book, said Phelps, in whose voice the book is written. Enough people told me that that it finally sunk in. Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media The Legendary Toads Place: Stories from New Havens Famed Music Venue, which Guilford-based Globe Pequot Press will release Oct. 8, takes readers from Toads beginnings in 1975 as a French restaurant opened by Phelps former business partner, Big Mike Spoerndle the soul of Toads and two long-gone partners, to its conversion to a music club a year later and all the mayhem that followed through the years. Phelps, right out of college at University of New Haven, joined Toads in 1976 as manager, adding his head for business to Spoerndles wild ideas, love of music and gregarious ways to help make Toads the place to be for many years where college students from Yale, Southern, Quinnipiac and UNH came together with music-loving locals and still do. Contributed Early on, with local musician Peter Menta, later of Washboard Slim & the Bluelights fame, doing the initial booking, they brought in bluegrass acts and top-shelf blues acts that already were playing an hour away at the Shaboo Inn in Willimantic beginning with blues greats Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. The latter would return many times to Toads over the years. Soon to follow were shows by Meat Loaf, Talking Heads, Tom Waits, bluegrass banjo player Earl Scruggs and, many times, NRBQ, Roomful of Blues and Tower of Power along with big stars such as Springsteen and Bob Seger, who came over for encores at Toads after playing shows at the much larger New Haven Coliseum. (In Springsteens case, The Boss, Clarence Clemons and Steve Van Zandt joined Rhode Island beach rockers John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band for a now-legendary half-hour jam in 1975.) Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media file Over the years, many, many acts followed, including national, international and plenty of local bands. Among them were B.B. King, Albert King, Iggy Pop, Santana, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Greg Allman, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker, Gil Scott Herron, Run DMC, Dickey Betts, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Dick Dale, Joan Jett, The Wailers, Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Sheryl Crow, Burning Spear, Yellowman, King Sunny Ade, Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens, Third World, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, B-52s, R.E.M., Black Crowes, Billy Joel, Camper Van Beethoven, Neville Brothers, Lee Scratch Perry, Joe Walsh and Joe Cocker. Phelps was there for virtually every show including the Rolling Stones surprise show on Aug. 12, 1989, Dylans surprise show on Jan. 12, 1990, and Springsteens jam with Cafferty on Aug. 25, 1978. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media And during the years he was covering music, as well as in the years since, Beach was there for many of them and being a bit of a pack rat who saves everything, was able to draw on his own columns and notes to supplement Phelps recollections. I think its a good story. Randy and I worked hard on it for a long while, said Phelps. The book includes tons of things youll never hear about, he said. ...I was really happy with it and I was really happy with his writing and he seemed like he really looked at things the same way that I did. Phelps originally had hired a company that specialized in ghost writing to do the book with him. But the company, based in India, couldnt get some of the American cultural nuances right. They could speak English but they couldnt speak American, he said. They just couldnt sync with what my plans were. Mara Lavitt / Hearst Connecticut Media file At one point, he emailed Beach, who retired late last year from the New Haven Register, about the project. When Phelps expressed his frustration with the ghost writers he was using, Beach suggested himself as a co-writer. At that point, he had about 100 pages of notes but complained that his ghost writers didnt really understand American music, Beach recalled. Then he suggested, Why dont we do this together? he said. I was at a lot of those shows. ... Im still in New Haven and I have a peach box filled with the original stories that I wrote. After agreeing to do it together, they pitched the book to Globe Pequot. While Beach was very involved in the writing, I wanted to preserve his voice ... so I maintained that voice while telling the story, he said. Honestly, he had spent so much more time there than I had and he would talk about so many shows that I wish I had been to. Together, We had a good working relationship, Beach said. We both wanted to make it work and do a good book. ... Wed sit on my deck in East Rock in New Haven and I would ask him to flesh out those stories. ... I just took the copious notes and did the book. Arnold Gold There is an entire chapter on the Stones show among Beachs favorites and another chapter entirely on Spoerndle, who for many years was the creative force that drove Toads Place. But as time went on, he fell victim to substance abuse issues that resulted in him signing over control to Phelps in 1995 and he died in May 2011 at age 59. Im really indebted to Mike Spoerndles brother, Pat, Beach said. He told me about the really sad upbringing in Ohio. He also was thankful for interviews with Spoerndles first wife, Joan Mary Spoerndle. Spoerndle, who moved to New Haven from Ohio to attend the Culinary Institute of America, and his original partners, Mike Korpas and Chuck Metzger, had something different in mind than what Toads Place eventually became when they first opened the place in the former Hungry Charlies space, Beach said. They really wanted to be chefs and Toads wanted to be a French restaurant, but didnt make it, Beach said. Thats when Phelps got involved, in 1976. Mike had the charisma and the personality ... and Brian, he loved the music, too. But he was more of the businessman, Beach said. Beachs other favorite part of the book was the research and interviews he did on the Sons of Bob the local band, made up of guys from North Branford and Branford, that opened the Stones show, which was billed as a birthday party for promoter Jim Koplik, the guy responsible for bringing the Stones, and many other big acts, to Toads. Mark Zaretsky / Hearst Connecticut Media It was just a wild story how these four kids from Branford and North Branford found themselves in the middle of this whole experience, even reassuring members of the Stones, who were a little nervous at Toads because they hadnt done a show in eight years, Beach said. The price to see the Sons of Bob and the Rolling Stones? $3.01. Both Phelps and Beach think the book has broader interest than just New Haven. Phelps, for instance, has reached out to Rolling Stones fan organization on both sides of the Atlantic and Beach said there is a natural market because of all the Yale students who have passed through New Haven over the years. Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media In fact, the Yale alumni magazine is putting it on its December cover and running an excerpt of the Stones chapter ... so thats all over the country, Beach said. These are their formative years and the book will evoke vivid memories of people they knew at the time. The book is available to buy via links on the Toads Place website at www.toadsplace.com, as well as at Barnes & Noble stores and online from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org and Rowman & Littlefield. Phelps and Beach have done an interview on WPLRs Chaz & AJ show and will be promoting the book on WTNH News 8 at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Theyll be doing readings at the Barnes & Noble store in Waterbury Oct. 16 at 1 p.m., on a Zoom presentation on the R.J. Julia Booksellers website Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. and at the Yale Bookstore, which is run by Barnes & Noble, on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) A Navy jet fighter crashed in Death Valley National Park and the pilot ejected and was treated for minor injuries, authorities said Tuesday. The F/A-18F Super Hornet went down at about 3 p.m. Monday. It was assigned to nearby Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 9, based at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, a Navy statement said. NEW HAVEN As the Civilian Review Board reviews a use of force by a New Haven officer in January, the police union will fight to ensure our members dont become political scapegoats, President Florencio Cotto said. Cotto, leader of Elm City Local, issued a statement on the CRBs recent decision to continue reviewing a use of force by Officer Justin Cole, who was with Officer Ashley McKernan and Officer in Training David DeRubeis as they responded to an office space providers request for an eviction at the Connecticut Financial Center Jan. 29. The officers were cleared by the department. The rank and file want to see fairness and consistency in the Internal affairs process. The use of the CRB, created as a political prop is the direct opposite of that goal, Cotto said in the statement. Rather than allowing internal investigators to follow the facts, and not political considerations or emotions, this so called board is chasing the news cycle and once again making it harder for cops to do their job. The Police Union will continue to fight to ensure our members dont become political scapegoats, Cotto said in the statement. Cole hit Shawn Marshall three times during the arrest at the Connecticut Financial Center, according to police. Police officials wrote in a report to the review board that the use of force was concluded to be reasonable and not excessive, noting it had been reviewed by a use of force expert outside the department. The citys Civilian Review Board, however, decided to do a further review of the Police Departments internal investigation into the case, according to CRB member Richard Crouse. See the body camera footage from McKernan here. See the full body camera video from Cole here. Crouse said he forwarded a request for comment on Cottos statement to CRB Chairman Samuel Ross-Lee and Vice Chairman Anne Marie Rivera-Berrios Monday. A message seeking comment was left for Mayor Justin Elicker. About the conclusions of the investigation, the Police Department said in the report to the Civilian Review Board that, body-worn camera footage showed that the officers responded to 157 Church Street for a harassment complaint. Upon arrival, they received a counter complaint that the caller was disruptive and trespassing in other office areas and his service agreement was terminated. They attempted to de-escalate the situation by carrying the individuals bags out to the main lobby after he voluntarily agreed to leave, the report to the Civilian Review Board says. They also attempted to de-escalate the situation for approximately one-hour by speaking with the individual, offering to document any complaint he had and by praying with him. Marshall has said he had the right to remain in the building, and that he had called officers to respond there. He has said he had a contract to be in the building. Cole wrote in his police report that an office space provider at the building had an agreement to provide office space for Marshall but voided the agreement based on his alleged disruptive behavior. The office space provider and Marshall disagreed about whether he had been provided notice, according to Coles report. Cole, McKernan and DeRubeis spoke and worked through the call for more than an hour, helping Marshall carry his belongings to the lobby, talking with him as they sought to usher him out of the building, the report says. Emails seeking comment were sent to all three officers. After a repeated attempt to take his report in the lobby, the officers eventually moved to arrest Marshall. During the arrest, Marshall allegedly kicked Cole, who then punched Marshall several times in the head area, the report submitted to the Civilian Review Board says. Marshall previously has said that his reaction to the incident was clear in the police body cam videos, noting what he said was his evident pain. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) Illinois and federal officials on Monday unveiled a mobile unit that they say will add speed and efficiency to digital investigations of child pornography and exploitation at a time when young people are using the internet more than ever before. The gray van is assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, whose office oversees the group and its increasing caseload. Tips about alleged exploitation received by the task force increased by 118% from 2017 to 2020 and are on pace to jump another 23% this year. Child predators are actively trolling the internet, trading, selling and collecting images of the most vile sexual acts involving children," Raoul said. Other predators log on to appear to innocently befriend young people, he said, then lure them to meet-ups for sex. Raoul touted tutorials his office developed for schools and parents, which have gone from being conducted in-person to online since the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also had the added effect of keeping families home and kids in front of screens. A parent's eyes light up when they start thinking about this," Raoul said. "They do believe that when their kid is in their room on a computer or playing a video game that theyre extremely safe. They dont think about the vulnerabilities that are associated with it. The mobile unit is funded by a $174,000 federal grant and outfitted with amenities such as a tool that allows investigators to download information from a suspect's electronic device in a read-only format. That's critical when evidence is introduced in court because a defendant can raise doubt about someone tinkering with what was found. Additionally, the mobile unit affords privacy for such sensitive work not to mention safety, said Zeus Flores, a digital forensic examiner for the task force. Instead of having to work in what could be squalid conditions some of the homes we're going into are frankly biohazardous, Flores said the mobile unit will be a centralized laboratory. Its a very dynamic scene, Flores said. Investigators are trying to talk to subjects, trying to find out what they know and were trying to provide them intelligence so they are armed with the proper information. It gives us an opportunity to triage the devices and were not, for example, taking a childs laptop who needs it for their homework. We can look it over, exclude it, and give it right back. Raoul's office said the task force has been involved in the arrests of more than 1,780 alleged predators since 2006, the year the Justice Department ordered states to begin maintaining statistics on such cases. Last week, Raoul said, state and federal prosecutors obtained a conviction in Peoria of a man who traveled to Kankakee County to have sex with who he thought was a 14-year-old child but who was actually an investigator. The task force's cooperation with the Winnebago County state's attorney led to recent charges of possession of child pornography against a Rockford police officer. ___ Follow Political Writer John OConnor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor DANBURY Police are asking for the publics help identifying a man suspected of stealing an estimated $275,000 worth of medical equipment in broad daylight from Danbury Hospital. Police said around 12:55 p.m. on Sept. 12 a man in blue scrubs and a surgical mask went into the hospital through a public entry, surveillance footage shows. The man made his way to the endoscopy unit and entered the scope storage room, according to police. Ron Chapple / Getty Image WALLINGFORD A Texas woman was arrested Tuesday after robbing a bank on Main Street, according to the Wallingford Police Department. Around 2:27 p.m. Tuesday, 46-year-old Jennifer Key of Palestine, Texas, allegedly passed a note to a bank teller, demanding cash, staff at the Webster Bank told police. Key didnt use a weapon during the interaction, and left with an undetermined amount of cash on foot down South Main Street, police said. LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Evidence emerged Tuesday that a ships anchor snagged and dragged an underwater pipeline that ruptured and spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil off Southern California, an accident the Coast Guard acknowledged it did not investigate for nearly 10 hours after the first call came in about a possible leak. The pipe was split open and a nearly mile-long section apparently pulled along the ocean floor, possibly by an anchor that hooked the pipeline, causing a partial tear, federal transportation investigators said. The pipeline has essentially been pulled like a bow string, said Martyn Willsher, CEO of Amplify Energy Corp., which operates the pipeline. At its widest point, it is 105 feet (32 meters) away from where it was. Huge cargo ships regularly cross above the pipeline as they head into the massive Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex. They are given coordinates where they are to anchor until unloading. Even when anchored, cargo ships continually move from shifting winds and tides. If a ship fails to properly set its anchor in the ocean floor, those forces of nature come into play and can push the ship and drag the anchor along the bottom, potentially catching anything in its way, said Steven Browne, a professor of marine transportation at California State University Maritime Academy. Anchors on large ships can weigh 10 tons or more and are attached to hundreds of feet of thick steel chains. Whatever the anchor gets fouled on will come along with the ship, Browne said. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach. It then washed onto miles of beaches and a protected marshland. The beaches could remain closed for weeks or longer, a major hit to the local economy. Coastal fisheries in the area are closed to commercial and recreational fishing. On shore, animals rescuers have been pleasantly surprised to find few birds covered in oil. The time of the spill was still unclear Tuesday, and there was no indication whether investigators suspect that a particular ship was involved. Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter, a Democrat who chairs the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee, said the panel would investigate the incident. We are going to make sure that we have answers as to how this happened, and to make sure that we hold the responsible party accountable, said Porter, who represents a district a few miles inland from the spill area. Coast Guard officials defended their decision to wait until sunrise Saturday to investigate a possible spill first reported by a commercial ship at 8:22 p.m. Friday near a cluster of boats that were anchored off Huntington Beach. That sighting was supported by a report to the National Response Center, a hazardous spill hotline staffed by the Coast Guard, at 2:06 a.m. Saturday from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which said satellite images showed the strong likelihood of an oil slick. Residents in nearby Newport Beach had also complained Friday evening about a strong stench of petroleum, and police put out a notice to the public about it. The Coast Guard was alerted to a sheen on the water by a good Samaritan but did not have enough corroborating evidence and was hindered by darkness and a lack of technology to seek out the spill, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer told The Associated Press. He said the Coast Guard put out a broadcast to the many cargo and tanker ships anchored off the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, along with oil rigs, seeking more information but did not receive any response. Coast Guard Capt. Rebecca Ore later disputed that account. She said the Coast Guard did not broadcast any information to ships or oil platforms, and Penoyer later said he needed to check his facts. Penoyer said it was fairly common to get reports of oil sheens in a major seaport. In hindsight, it seems obvious, but they didnt know that at that time, Penoyer said. Federal pipeline safety investigators put the time of the spill at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, which is when they said an alarm sounded in the control room of an Amplify-owned offshore oil rig. It was an alert that pressure had dropped in the pipeline, indicating a possible leak. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said the pipeline was shutoff at 6:01 a.m. Saturday. Willsher, however, said the company was not aware of the spill until it saw a sheen on the water at 8:09 a.m. The pipeline company did not report the spill Saturday until either 8:55 a.m., based on a state report, or 9:07 a.m., according to PHMSA. At that point, the Coast Guard had been on the water for a couple hours and discovered the spill as Amplify was making the report. The companys spill-response plan calls for the immediate notification of a spill. Criminal charges have been brought in the past when a company took too long to notify federal and state officials of a spill. Speaking at a news conference, Gov Gavin Newsom repeated his calls for the U.S. to move beyond oil. Newsom last year signed an executive order banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Its time, once and for all, to disabuse ourselves that this has to be part of our future. This is part of our past, he said from Bolsa Chica State Beach, where he was joined by local, state and federal officials to discuss the spill. During a two-hour boat tour off Huntington Beach coastline, an AP video journalist saw no visible oil. Pelicans and other sea birds floated on calm waters, and four dolphins swam by the boat. Dozens of cargo vessels were seen anchored offshore, sharing space with about a half dozen oil platforms. Dozens of workers in white suits dotted the shoreline removing deposited oil. The break in the line occurred about 5 miles offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters), investigators said. Those findings were included in an order from the Department of Transportation that blocked the company from restarting the pipeline without extensive inspections and testing. The order did not identify the source of the investigators information, and agency officials did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. ___ Associated Press journalists Michael Blood and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, Michael Biesecker in Washington, and Eugene Garcia and Amy Taxin in Huntington Beach, California, contributed to this report. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Republican Ryan Owens said Monday he's dropping out of the race for attorney general, after criticism over deleting podcasts he hosted as a University of Wisconsin professor. Owens' departure leaves Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney as the only Republican currently challenging Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul in next year's race. PHOENIX (AP) A federal agent who was shot and killed by an Amtrak train passenger concealing large amounts of marijuana in Arizona was a revered leader whose career spanned almost two decades, the agency said Tuesday. Michael Garbo, who also went by Mike, was a group supervisor with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He possessed expertise and a manner that were legendary, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. Garbo was loved and respected throughout the agency "for his leadership and for his unrelenting passion to protect the safety of the American people, she said. Above all else, he was a devoted and loving father and husband. Garbo joined the DEA in 2005. As a special agent and supervisor, he pursued criminal drug traffickers at the U.S.-Mexico border and in Afghanistan. Members of the law enforcement community took to social media to describe Garbo as an excellent police officer who started out in Nashville, Tennessee. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said someone with the same name worked there between 1993 and 2005 but could not confirm he was the deceased agent. Gov. Doug Ducey ordered flags at state buildings remain at half-staff until sunset Wednesday in Garbo's honor. Garbo was killed Monday after gunfire erupted while a regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers were doing an inspection of passengers luggage for illegal money, weapons or drugs. The inspection was prompted by tips from Amtrak, according to a federal criminal complaint released Tuesday that revealed more details about the events leading to the shooting. A second agent and a Tucson officer also were shot several times, and a suspect was killed. The agent and officer remained in stable condition Tuesday, the DEA said. Authorities have not released their identities. The Sunset Limited, Train 2, was carrying 137 passengers and 11 crew members traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans, and arrived at the downtown Tucson station at 7:40 am, said Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesman. The shooting occurred about 20 minutes later and sent panicked passengers running. According to the complaint, an officer noticed a man in his 20s on the upper level of one of the double-decker train's cars leave a backpack and two bags a few rows away. When asked, the man, identified in the complaint as Devonte Okeith Mathis, denied they were his. The officer moved them to the train platform for further inspection. At the same time, Garbo and another DEA agent spoke with a second man in the same row as Mathis. They all went to the platform where the agents were given permission to use a drug-sniffing dog on several other bags. The man then returned to the car. That's when the officer questioning Mathis discovered two large bulk packages of marijuana in the backpack, the complaint said. He alerted Garbo and the other agent. According to the complaint, Garbo and his fellow agent went back into the car to talk to the second suspect again and were ambushed by gunfire. Garbo was pronounced dead. The second agent was rushed to the hospital in the back of a Tucson police car. That's also when gunfire hit a Tucson police officer. Several additional officers then responded to the scene. The armed suspect was shot and killed after firing on them, the complaint said. He was found dead inside a train restroom, according to Tucson police. His identity has not been released. Mathis was arrested and faces federal charges of knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana, according to the complaint. It was not immediately known Tuesday if he had an attorney. A search warrant for the bags belonging to him revealed 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of raw marijuana, 50 packages containing 3.5 grams (0.12 ounces) each of marijuana edibles and other marijuana and cannabis products. The FBI is overseeing investigation. There were no other injuries among the train's passengers or crew. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. Ian Langsdon/AP WASHINGTON (AP) In a reversal of Trump administration policy, the State Department on Tuesday disclosed the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile. It said this will aid global efforts to control the spread of such weapons. The number of U.S. weapons, including those in active status as well as those in long-term storage, stood at 3,750 as of September 2020, the department said. That is down from 3,805 a year earlier and 3,785 in 2018. BANGKOK (AP) As floodwaters persisted in areas of northern and central Thailand and have started to hit low-lying areas in the capital, officials were looking warily ahead Tuesday to developing storms later this month, but were optimistic the devastation of a decade ago would not be repeated. The Royal Irrigation Department was forced this week to start releasing water from the Pasak Jolasid Dam after it reached capacity, dumping more water into a major artery that flows into the Chao Phraya River, which snakes through Bangkok before it reaches the sea. At the moment, experts say there doesnt seem to be any danger of the widespread flooding that hit Bangkok in 2011, though the additional water and higher tides at the end of the week will continue to affect particularly prone riverside areas. What we expect is that if they dont have any more heavy rain in the coming week, we should be safe, said Nattapon Nattasomboon, director general of Thailands Meteorological Department. Eight people have died and one is missing so far in the flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Dianmu combined with seasonal monsoon rains at the end of last month. Nearly 287,000 homes have been hit by floods in 32 of the country's 77 provinces. In recent days, the situation has eased in 14 of those provinces, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Meteorologists are keeping a close eye on two developing storms, one thats currently expected to hit northern Vietnam over the weekend and another that appears to be building around the Philippines but whose direction is not yet known, Nattapon said. This year the storms are quite late, he said. And theres still more storms coming, but ... with the incoming storm we dont expect much of the heavy rain here. In 2011, Thailand was hit with five heavy storms, which combined with monsoon rains for a lengthy, slow-moving flood that caused billions of dollars in damage and took hundreds of lives. At the time, the first floor of Sumet Thongphuns home in Nonthaburi, just outside Bangkok, sat under 80 centimeters (2 feet) of water for two months, forcing him and his pregnant wife to move into a friends condominium. Hes about 8 kilometers (5 miles) away from the Chao Phraya River, but some neighbors already started sandbagging their homes last week just in case there is a repeat. This obviously reflects their concerns, he said. The 39-year-old office worker has been closing watching the weather, but said that with fewer storms this year and lower levels in reservoirs compared to 2011, hes not worried at the moment. He said the government could do a better job communicating. When people see pictures of widespread flooding in the provinces near Bangkok, it causes panic. Those communities near the river and out of the levee are easily flooded even during the seawaters high tide, he said. Following the 2011 flooding, the government faced criticism for its emergency management, with regional officials making decisions for their own areas that had adverse effects downstream, among other things. Since then, however, coordination between departments has improved, said Pakorn Apaphant, executive director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency in Thailand. Now, agencies that are working in water-related management are sharing information, and have had committees working together for quite a long time," he said. "We share information, we share people, we attack the problem together. Pakorns agency provides satellite imagery to others, for example, which helps target where help is needed most and also to confirm reports of damage or loss for compensation. This years flooding has primarily affected agricultural areas, unlike in 2011 when industrial estates and logistics hubs, among other sectors, were badly hit. So far, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerces Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting estimates the initial damage at around 15 billion baht ($450 million), affecting GDP growth by 0.1-0.2%. Since 2011, Thailand has also built more levees and water retention areas to protect from floods, so is better prepared even if more rains come, Pakorn said. Still, with rising global temperatures causing more violent storms, there is a need for vigilance and planning, he said. I believe that we will get worse effects from climate change in this area, he said. The problem is stronger, the problem is bigger, but I think the management is also better so I think we can handle it." WEST HAVEN Even the mayor said the vacant Savin Rock Conference Center looks terrible. But Mayor Nancy Rossi also said she recognizes that the center is adjacent to a beautiful piece of beach. Its gorgeous over there, Rossi said. So even as the property is a blight on one of the citys nicest areas, Rossi said, she would like to see something soon to turn the area around. Now, the city is soliciting development proposals for the Savin Rock Conference Center by the citys shoreline for a second time. Hearst Connecticut Media The city published a request for proposals last month, though officials had agreed in December 2020 to move forward with a developer pursuing a 40,000-square-foot restaurant and catering business concept. In June, developer Alexander H. Marathas of Smyrna Group said he was completing a market study on the site, which he expected to wrap up before the end of summer. We did have an interested party, but weve been waiting months now and nothing has really happened, Rossi said this week. Helen Bennett Marathas did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Although the city is seeking proposals, Rossi said she has heard from residents that a brewery in that location would be a success. Probably about two years ago people at the Rotary Club told me theyd like to see a brewery there. People are approaching us saying theyd like a brewery, she said. Photo UG49I8ON Ne100621savin.99999999 Although Rossi said the city will entertain all proposals, one thing she wont entertain is selling the property. Im looking for a long-term lease. It can be a revenue stream to count on for years to come, she said. If we sold it outright, we get an influx of money and then its gone. Barry Lee Cohen, a 10th District Republican councilman who is challenging the Democratic mayor for her job in Novembers election, said he, too, would support a long-term lease for the site. However, he criticized the mayor for what he characterized as a series of missteps that led to the city putting out a second request for proposals almost a year after the city thought it found a developer. This strategic location should serve as the foundation and catalyst of further revitalization along Captain Thomas Boulevard to Beach Street. Instead, it continues to be a scar on our shoreline, he said in an emailed comment. When asked to respond to Cohens comments, Rossi said her administration did engage the Smyrna Group and they had considerable interest until the developer mentioned his desire to add high-rise housing. I dont want housing down there, she said. Cohen said the City Council reviewed four proposals after the first request for proposals, and the selected developer was the only one with a proposal that adhered to the requirements or was favorable which he blames on the administration. He said he believes a recent spate of property transactions and development around the city have been part of the Rossi administrations development by luck approach. He theorized that the deadline for proposals Oct. 15 is shorter than usual because it falls before the Nov. 2 election. Helen Bennett But Rossi said she does not develop by luck and her administration does plan; she said the city is bound to agreements with developers not to discuss negotiations. She also said there are no boundaries being violated on how long the city can give for developer proposals and she feels confident the city will receive many good ones. Cohen said he does not have a specific concept of his own for the site because he has not done the necessary engagement of and comprehensive collaboration with the developer and other key stakeholders, but he said he would support an expansion of the learning and community center by adding educational, recreational, services, and economic component to the site while also providing a venue for our seniors and veterans to access. He said the center could be revenue generating by including a retail component which is no different than you will witness at other museums and tourism centers, and that he supports restaurants overlooking our tremendous ocean views, along with possibly a banquet hall as was proposed by the prior bidder. Any actionable plan should go beyond the footprint of the current conference center site, but must consider how the redevelopment can be optimized by incorporating other factors, he said, such as the strategic location to highways, train station, universities and businesses both large and small located both on and off the shoreline. Alan Olenick, executive director of the West Haven Chamber of Commerce, said a brewery concept in the conference center location by the beach would be interesting to see play out. It would certainly change the dynamic over there, he said. Olenick said his association with breweries is that they traditionally are located in industrial parts of cities. A brewery is a great idea, and maybe that location can work, but were inviting an awful lot of people to the shoreline for a brewery, he said. It would certainly change the dynamic of the shoreline: not necessarily badly, but it would change the dynamic of the shoreline. Olenick said he would not want to see the site pigeonholed into becoming any type of concept or development before the city receives proposals from developers. Brian Zahn / Hearst Connecticut Media brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, senator representing Nasarawa central, has declared his interest to contest for the office of the national chairman... Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, senator representing Nasarawa central, has declared his interest to contest for the office of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Al-Makura declared his intention on Monday to run for the office of the APC national chairman while speaking at a campaign rally ahead of the partys LGA congresses in the state. The former Nasarawa governor, an associate of Bola Tinubu, national leader of the APC, told his audience that he was presenting himself for the position to foster unity in the APC. The lawmaker, said if elected, he will ensure that the values that birthed the party in 2014 are preserved. The ruling party has not officially announced a zoning arrangement, but there has been talks of a power shift to the south after the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari ends in 2023. If the party zones the national chairmanship to the north, Al-Makura will be up against the likes of Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno state, and Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors have already zoned the office of the national chairman to the north, an indication that the south will have the presidential ticket at the general election in 2023, if their position is adopted by the party. The South East Governors and traditional rulers on Tuesday condemned the Indigenous People of Biafra over the every Monday sit-at-home ord... The South East Governors and traditional rulers on Tuesday condemned the Indigenous People of Biafra over the every Monday sit-at-home order that has had crippling effects on social and economic activities of the region. The governors rose in a meeting with some selected leaders at the Government House, Enugu, and declared that such order can no longer be sustained, more so when those who issued the order were outside the country. This was as the governors refused to discuss the incarceration of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in their eight-point communique. The chairman of the Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, who read the resolutions of the leaders, said, The South East condemned the killings in the region and have agreed to join hands with security agencies to stop the killings. The meeting condemned the sit-at-home orders, which are mostly issued by our people in diaspora who do not feel the pains. In view of the information that even IPOB had cancelled the sit-at-home, the meeting resolved that governors and all people of the South East do everything within the law to ensure that there is no further sit-at-home in the South East and that people are allowed to freely move about in the zone. Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has assented t the Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency Bill. The governor said the law was ... Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has assented t the Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency Bill. The governor said the law was introduced to provide a strong legal basis for the establishment of The Ekiti State Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency. Fayemi spoke in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, yesterday while signing the bill into law as part of activities marking his third year in office, saying a sum of N80 million has been approved as seed funding for the established agency. The governor submitted that the bill will lay a solid legal background for the manufacturing, procurement, distribution, sales, and management of drugs and medical commodities in the state. Drugs and medical supplies are essential parts of our health system. Ensuring that health facilities in the State have essential drugs and medical supplies that can be readily available when needed is key to delivering Universal Health Coverage for the people of Ekiti State. A successful drug and medical supply system can only be possible when there is a strong regulatory system backed by law, that enables the ability for quality manufacturing and the management of an efficient supply chain. The Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency Act will address the menace of low-quality drugs in circulation and drug stockouts in the State, ensuring that high-quality drugs are constantly available in the State at very affordable prices, he said. The governor stated that the Act is also critical to making Ekiti become a regional hub for quality healthcare delivery because, with it, the state would have the legitimacy to engage big pharmaceuticals on contract to get the best quality of drugs at the best prices. This Act will also strengthen our public-private partnerships by allowing us to attract a diverse set of private sector partners who can catalyse the consumer market in our State, further improving the health-seeking behaviour of our people. Drug and health commodities revolving fund while facilitating our manufacturing capacity for local production of drugs and other health commodities. As I assent to this Bill, it is expected that all relevant stakeholders will move swiftly to action to ensure that the Drugs and Health Commodities Management Agency is established in the closest possible time and operations begin in earnest, he added. The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oyebanji Filani, noted that the establishment of the State Central Medical store lacked the adequate funding and systems to ensure efficient drug supply chains and zero stock-out. Before now, there was no service level agreement with manufacturers and drug suppliers. There was limited enforcement of the available drug management policy. There was no streamlined framework for the purchase of drugs within the State, by health facilities and other service providers. The quality, safety, efficacy and equitable accessibility to drugs and health commodities is hinged on strong regulatory systems, quality manufacturing, and efficient supply chains, he said. Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore say despite their exit from the South-East and the implementation of the ... Fulani herdsmen under the aegis of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore say despite their exit from the South-East and the implementation of the anti-open grazing law, the region has continued to witness insecurity. The spokesman for the group, Saleh Alhassan, stated this during a chat with PUNCH Live on Tuesday, adding that the development was evidence that Fulani herders were never the problem. He said that there was no more open grazing in most parts of the South-East but only cattle trading, adding that the cows being sold in the South-East mostly belong to Igbo traders. Alhassan stated, That nonsense you see in the South-East is a manifestation of frustration They will continue burning their cities, killing themselves. Now that the herders are not there, they are still killing themselves. Sometimes they wear Fulani attires to continue to commit heinous crimes. Now that the herders are not there, are they having peace in the East? Alhassan added that the constant sit-at-home orders given by the Indigenous People of Biafra which were being violently enforced had led to the loss of cattle, hence the exit of Miyetti Allah. Those Biafrans are shooting and killing their animals. Those making noise in the media are cattle traders. They will not go anywhere. The cows you see there now belong to the Igbo, he stated. The Miyetti Allah spokesman said the group would not obey the anti-open grazing law being passed in most parts of the South because open grazing remains a way of life. He said that the group would be suing all the states enforcing the law, adding that Miyetti Allah would also make political and spiritual steps. First, we take legal action; secondly, well seek a political solution and then spiritual. We will invoke the wrath of God on those opposing the open grazing law, Alhassan said. The Miyetti Allah spokesman also denied reports that Dr. Chike Akunyili was murdered by herdsmen last week. He argued that the blanket ban on open grazing in the South was connected to the 2023 elections and was a ploy by southern governors to force their northern counterparts to negotiate for the presidency amid the raging debate on zoning. Alhassan, however, vowed that the group would never support the presidential ambition of any governor that is enforcing the ban on open grazing. He said a governor like Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State who is at the forefront of enforcing the ban on open grazing should forget about getting their support. When asked why herders are not embracing ranching, the Miyetti Allah spokesman argued that ranching was expensive and could not be done overnight. He advised governors to set up ranches and then lease them to herders rather than ban open grazing without providing an alternative. A member of the House of Representatives, Ben Igbakpa, representing the Ethiope Federal Constituency, Delta State, on Tuesday in Abuja cha... A member of the House of Representatives, Ben Igbakpa, representing the Ethiope Federal Constituency, Delta State, on Tuesday in Abuja challenged the President, Muhammadu Buhari to name the lawmaker sponsoring terrorism in the country. He raised the motion under matter of privilege on the floor of the House in respect to the Presidents 61st independence anniversary speech. In his speech, the President stated that there is a National Assembly member sponsoring insurgents in the country Igbakpa, while narrating his experience he said that since the President made the allegation, he could no longer gain access to some important places. He added that people now suspect him as a possible financier of terrorists in the country, and urged the house to intervene and ask the President to name the sponsor. Igbakpa also urged the leadership of the House to liaise with the leadership of the Senate to meet with the President in a bid to unravel the name of the lawmaker. In his speech, Buhari said that the recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the national assembly. This is a clear example of how people abandon their national leadership positions for their selfish gains. Instead of preaching unity, they are funding and misleading our youth to conduct criminal acts that sometimes lead to unfortunate and unnecessary loss of lives and property. As the so-called leaders run abroad to hide, our innocent youths are misled and left in the streets to fight for their senseless and destructive causes, the president said in his speech. A member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Lado Suleja (APC,Niger) has explained the viral video, in which he referred to Asiwaju ... A member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Lado Suleja (APC,Niger) has explained the viral video, in which he referred to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as Mr President during the visit to him in London last week. Leaders of the Northern caucuses of the APC, led by deputy speaker Ahmed Wase, visited Tinubu in London on 1 October. In the video, Suleja told Tinubu as he made to enter his car: Mr President, see you soon. Tinubu responded by saying Thank you. Suleja confirmed to Daily Trust that he addressed Tinubu as Mr President. When asked if the country now has two presidents, he said: No, we dont have two presidents, maybe you didnt listen to the video very well because when I said Mr President, Insha Allah followed it, which means by Gods grace. We are praying for him to become the future president of Nigeria. We have only one president who is President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the leader of our party and our mentor but we are praying for Asiwaju to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and continue from where President Buhari will stop. That is what I meant. The purpose of our visit was to see his health condition, to pray for him and wish him well. He is very okay and as you can see from the video clip, he looks fine. He stood for almost one hour addressing us. Suleja faulted the claims that their visit was to endorse the candidature of Tinubu for the presidency. No, the visit was not for endorsement, we are his loyalists, fans and he is our leader. If people are saying it is for endorsement, then it will mean President Buhari has endorsed him because it was President Buhari who first visited him. Locally reported news and sports Stay Current with What's Happening Get the most of NNY360, register today! By providing your email address, you consent to receive emails and special offers from NNY360.com Golden wildlife-themed accessories show a flair for the exotic A different stripe Designed by Taylor Reinhold son of Annieglass founder Annie Morhauser these zebra motif serving pieces were inspired by a memorable trip to Africa. Friend and Co., 7713 Maple St., New Orleans, (504) 866-5433, friendandcompany.com. Handmade, chip-resistant zebra serving pieces, $122-$189. Serpentine shine Stone cast by skilled artisans, these substantial slithering sculptures will surround your books with dangerous beauty. Hazelnut, 5525 Magazine St., New Orleans, (504) 891-2424, hazelnutneworleans.com. Snake bookends with hand-leafed metal on marble bases, $230. Golden touch A shallow bowl that pays homage to the tallest animal on Earth will add a touch of the unexpected to your tabletop. Judy at the Rink, 2727 Prytania St., New Orleans, (504) 891-7018, judyattherink.com. 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By the end of the year, the region is expected to recover 65% of the jobs lost, according to the Louisiana Economic Outlook. The annual report is authored by long-time economist and LSU professor emeritus Loren Scott, who presented the information at the Baton Rouge Business Report's Top 100 private companies luncheon on Tuesday. The report relies on state and national data in combination with interviews of industry executives about their plans. HOW MANY JOBS WERE LOST? The New Orleans metro area lost 103,400 jobs by the end of April 2020, about a month after restrictions were put in place to limit the spread of the virus. Statewide, there were 286,800 jobs lost in the same period, sinking statewide employment to 1.73 million jobs. HOW MANY JOBS MAY COME BACK? By the end of this year, the region is projected to gain 23,800 jobs, at a growth rate of 4.5%. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Next year, New Orleans is expected to add another 31,800 jobs, at a growth rate of 5.7%. Then in 2023, the region could add another 11,300 jobs, at a growth rate of 1.9%. Statewide, Scott projects there would be 1.99 million jobs by the end of 2023. WHICH INDUSTRIES SHOULD BE WATCHED? Leisure and hospitality and the petrochemical industry are the major industries to watch. Last year, 66 of the 155 conventions scheduled in New Orleans were cancelled. This year, 48 of 124 conventions have been cancelled. There is $1.4 billion of industrial construction projects underway in the New Orleans area including a $1.1 billion expansion at Diamond Green Diesel in Norco and $234 million in maintenance and upgrades at Shell's Norco facility. There is another $39.2 billion in industrial projects which could reach a final investment decision in the coming years. There are three liquefied natural gas export terminals in the works such as Venture Global's Plaquemine LNG and Delta LNG. Formosa Plastics is still planning to build its $9.4 billion chemical complex in St. James Parish. Yuhang Chemicals in St. James is considering a $1.9 billion expansion and ElementUS looks to spend $800 million on a plant to extract rare earth elements from the red mud ponds at Noranda Alumina in Gramercy. Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams has agreed for his office to be placed under a court appointed monitor for three and a half years as part of a settlement agreement detailed in a Tuesday court filing in a long-running federal civil rights suit over the use of fake subpoenas by New Orleans prosecutors under his predecessor, Leon Cannizzaro. The monitor will oversee a series of policy reforms governing how his office interacts with witnesses and victims of crime, including a ban on the use of deceptive subpoenas and restrictions on when prosecutors can request the issuance of material witness warrants, which are used to arrest witnesses for allegedly refusing to cooperate in criminal cases. This settlement recognizes the harm that results when prosecutors operate with a win at all costs mentality, said Tara Mikkilineni, a senior attorney at Civil Rights Corps, in a press release. New Orleans civil rights attorney Katie Schwartzmann will serve as the monitor, according to the release. Schwartzmann, who was previously with the ACLU, is now director of the Tulane First Amendment Law Clinic. She served as lead counsel for the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that led to the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office consent decree. Williams' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement. Attorneys with the ACLU and Civil Rights Corps filed the lawsuit in October 2017 on behalf of a group of witnesses and crime victims who said Orleans District Attorneys Office employees, under then-DA Cannizzaro, sent them fake subpoenas, had them arrested under false pretenses, or both. The suit followed an April 2017 report in The Lens that first revealed the existence of the bogus subpoenas. Prosecutors used the documents to pressure witnesses and victims into coming to private, off-the-record meetings to discuss their cases. They appeared to be true legal documents: they were marked SUBPOENA in bold font, referenced state law and threatened recipients with jail if they failed to comply. But they were fake. They were not approved by a judge or issued by a clerk as the law requires. Cannizzaro swiftly banned the use of the so-called DA subpoenas. Later reporting revealed that the practice went back decades, in one form or another, and at least two other DAs offices in Jefferson Parish and on the North Shore were using similar tactics. Both stopped shortly after the articles were published. Though Cannizzaro initially claimed that no one faced legal consequences for ignoring a fake subpoena, The Lens later reported on 2017 case where a prosecutor requested and a judge issued a material witness warrant against the identified victim in a domestic violence case, specifically citing a fake subpoena she had not complied with. The DAs office dropped the case before the warrant could be executed. Attorneys in the 2017 civil rights suit also identified several more instances in which people were allegedly arrested after ignoring fake subpoenas, including one where a prosecutor had allegedly copied and modified a legitimate court subpoena, which the plaintiffs attorneys characterized as a forgery. Several of the other original plaintiffs had settled their claims with the office previously both while Cannizzaro was in office, and after Williams was inaugurated. Three plaintiffs Renata Singleton, Lazonia Baham, and Tiffany LaCroix remained in July when the DAs office and plaintiffs attorneys announced that they had agreed on a settlement in principle and were working to finalize it. Settlement terms Along with a promise not to create, disseminate, or otherwise use any document that purports to be a subpoena but has not been legally authorized by a judge, the settlement agreement will place restrictions on when prosecutors can request judges issue material witness warrants, which are used to arrest witnesses who allegedly refuse to cooperate in criminal cases. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The use of material witness warrants by Cannizzaros office had become a major political issue just weeks before the first report on fake subpoenas. In early April 2017, the watchdog group Court Watch NOLA released a report showing that, in 2016, New Orleans prosecutors obtained warrants for several crime victims, including victims of sex crimes and domestic abuse. Some werent ever arrested. But a rape victim was and spent several days in jail, according to the report. At the time, Williams was a New Orleans City Councilmember, and he, along with the rest of his colleagues, called on Cannizzaro to end the use of material witness warrants against crime victims. In 2019, the Louisiana legislature passed a law that placed some restrictions on how they could be used, banning them in misdemeanor domestic violence and sex crimes cases and tightening requirements for requesting them in other cases. The settlement agreement goes even further, banning New Orleans prosecutors from requesting them in any misdemeanor case or against witnesses known to be pregnant or those with serious health issues. Prosecutors also will not request cash bail for witnesses arrested under material witness warrants. In addition, the agreement prohibits the use of the warrants to arrest crime victims in felony cases, unless exceptional circumstances apply. Separate from the policy changes, the settlement has a financial component. In consideration of the remaining plaintiffs, Williams office will pay $120,000 to the ACLU Foundation, in two $60,000 installments over the next year. And the office must create a new procedure for victims and witnesses to file grievances over their treatment by DAs office employees. The allocation of that money will be determined by the plaintiffs and their attorney. And it requires prosecutors to keep better records of their contacts with witnesses and victims. That kind of recordkeeping was a major problem during Cannizzaros tenure. Shortly after publishing its first article on fake subpoenas, The Lens requested records of their use during the preceding 16 months. That request was denied, with the office claiming that it did not track the use of the documents and finding them would be overly burdensome, requiring a manual search of tens of thousands of case files. The Lens successfully sued the office for the records, which took more than a year to produce. Monitoring Schwartzmann is set to begin work as monitor within 15 days of the settlement agreement taking effect. The New Orleans Police Department and the Orleans Parish Sheriffs Office are also under court-appointed monitorships, and have been since federal consent decrees were first approved for the agencies in 2013. The agreement with the DAs office is different from those other agreements, however. For instance, the U.S. Department of Justice is a party to both the police and Sheriffs Office consent decrees, as a plaintiff. Williams agreement is only between his office, the individual plaintiffs and their attorneys. In addition, the monitoring periods for both the police and the Sheriffs Office are indefinite. Both keep monitors in place until, and for a period after, the agencies reach substantial compliance with their consent decrees. The DAs office, however, will only be under a monitors supervision for 42 months. And since both sides have agreed on Schwartzmann, there will not be a lengthy, politically fraught search for a monitor in this case. In the meantime, the monitor will have access to data on the offices use of material witness warrants, any grievances filed and other information, and will bring any instances of potential noncompliance to Williams attention. If the monitor believes the problem to be substantial, they will also bring it to the plaintiffs attorneys, who will be able to take the findings to the court. Louis Mitchell broke out in a wide grin, repeating thank you over a TV screen on Tuesday as family members howled in joy from the benches of an Orleans Parish courtroom, 140 miles away. The same group arrived hours later to greet Mitchell, 74, as he walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, along with another long-serving prisoner, 73-year-old Leroy Grippen. The two men spent a combined 103 years behind bars before Criminal District Judge Nandi Campbell granted their release under new plea agreements with Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams office. Williams civil rights division agreed to drop those life sentences to 40-year terms time the two men had already served. In exchange, they agreed not to file claims over the prolonged prison stays. The DA has similar deals pending with two other life prisoners 84-year-old Lester Pearson and 72-year-old Kenneth Womack according to legal filings Tuesday. All four men pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty during the Vietnam War era, under the promise of release in a little more than a decade if they behaved well, according to Williams office and advocates with the Louisiana Parole Project. They are among a larger group of about 60 geriatric prisoners known as 10/6 lifers, for the 10 years and six months that the law at the time said they needed to serve to be eligible for a commutation from the governor. Advocates argue that the 10/6 lifers were ignored and then forgotten after state lawmakers began to hike minimum sentences for life prisoners in the 1970s, then denied parole altogether to life prisoners in 1979. Mitchell thought hed be getting out -- so much so that he got married in anticipation, family members said. But it never happened. Mitchells wife has since passed. We pretty much gave up, said a sister, Joycelyn Solomon. Lots of broken promises. Mitchell was 19 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated rape, fearing he'd be executed for the alleged rapes of two White women. Grippen pleaded guilty to armed robbery and aggravated rape five years later. Advisors encouraged them to take the deals, noting the 10 -year window, court records show. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up On Tuesday in Campbells courtroom, Assistant District Attorney Bidish Sarma argued that the state had failed to honor the terms. When he pled guilty in 1967, he anticipated hed be released before the end of the 1970s, Sarma said of Mitchell. Ultimately, this is about rectifying past harms. We think its imperative that our office stands up to its end of the bargain. Were going four decades past due. Though some 10/6 lifers have been released on their own through the clemency process, advocates say the reform-minded Williams is the first DA in the state to address them as a class. Mitchells family credited his Apostolic faith with helping him through more than a half-century at Angola, where he became a prison trusty and the winner of multiple Mr. Angola fitness titles. Sarma told the judge that Williams office couldnt locate the victims of the rapes to which Mitchell pleaded guilty, and said they appeared to have died. At the request of prosecutors, Campbell ordered Grippen to sign a non-contact agreement regarding the armed-robbery victim. Jane Hogan, an attorney for the two men, said Grippens mother and sister died while he was in prison and that he does not have close family. The Louisiana Parole Project plans to house the four men after their releases. Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman is slated to consider Womack's new plea deal on Oct. 14, and Pearson's on Oct. 19, Hogan said. Pearson confessed in 1964 to killing 19-year-old Robert Mobley, an Army soldier hed just met on Bourbon Street, in a car off Franklin Avenue. Three months later, he pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence. Womack, the only White defendant among the four, was from Nashville and training to be a merchant marine when he and a friend decided to rob his former landlord. Womack served as a lookout as his co-defendant, Martin Stallings, killed the woman, Katherine Johnson, according to his new plea. Womack pleaded guilty on the advice of an attorney who said he could go free after a decade. According to his new plea, it was his only criminal conviction. Westwego Police Department officers shot and killed a man who they say reached for a shotgun after a two-hour, slow-speed chase early Saturday morning during which the man threatened to take his own life and declared that police would have to kill him, according to authorities. Wade Adams, 58, of Westwego, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting, which occurred in the 400 block of Fourth Street, near police headquarters, said Capt. Eric Orlando, spokesman for the department. +2 Marrero man shot by JPSO deputies after they say he used truck to ram officers A Marrero man who was shot by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies during a wild West Bank car chase Thursday night that included rammin "It's not the outcome that we wanted. Our primary goal was to get this guy to the hospital to get him the help that he needed," Orlando said. Adams called 911 from the parking lot of an unidentified church in Westwego about 2 a.m. Saturday and told a dispatcher that he was armed with a shotgun and rifle after drinking alcohol and consuming marijuana, according to authorities. "He advised that he wanted to kill himself and that the officers would have to kill him," Orlando said. Police arrived at the church and tried to talk to Adams. But he refused to speak with officers and drove off, authorities said. That was the start of a low-speed pursuit to a boat launch in the 500 block of Louisiana Street in Westwego. Adams parked at the launch and, still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, continued to talk of harming himself, according to Orlando. Adams eventually drove off again, followed by officers. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "This cat and mouse continued for about two hours around the city while he was in his vehicle," Orlando said. "He was driving at a relatively slow pace, aimlessly." At 4 a.m., officers were able to box in Adams' vehicle on Fourth Street near police headquarters. Police called Adams on his cell and again tried to speak with him, but Adams became belligerent and refused to talk, Orlando said. The officers walked towards Adams' car in an attempt to get him out of the vehicle and seize the weapons. Orlando said that officers saw Adams grab for the shotgun, and when he did, "fearing for their safety and lives," two officers shot at him. No information was available about how many times he was hit, but Adams died at the scene. Westwego police did not immediately notify the public about the shooting. Orlando said that was because the case was still under investigation, and that the department was trying to process the scene and confirm details. "We didn't release anything until we had the information needed from all parties," Orlando said. The two officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the department's investigation into the matter. "This is not something we take lightly," Orlando said. Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the first name of Wade Adams. Police are seeking a suspect in a French Quarter homicide that took place early Monday morning. They believe the unknown man shot and killed another man in the 400 block of Burgundy Street. The shooting was reported to authorities around 4 a.m. near the intersection of Burgundy and Conti streets. The injured man was found on the sidewalk, police said, and taken via ambulance to a hospital, where he later died. His name and age have not been released. No other details were immediately available, including a possible motive or a description of a shooter. Anyone with information is asked to call NOPD Homicide Detective John Bakula at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504- 822-1111. Carlie Wells contributed to this report. A 10-year-old boy was abducted from an Algiers street Sunday evening, according to the New Orleans Police Department. The boy managed to escape, but it did not appear that anyone had been arrested in the case as of Monday evening. Man shot to death in Lower Ninth Ward Sunday morning, NOPD says A man was shot to death in the 6100 block of North Robertson Street (map) in the Lower Ninth Ward at about 6:15 a.m. Sunday, according to the The kidnapping occurred at about 6:14 p.m. in the 3200 block of Sullen Place, and the 10-year-old was "snatched from behind" by an unidentified man, the NOPD said. The man pushed the boy into a vehicle and drove off, taking the victim to an unidentified place nearby, the NOPD said. It's not clear how the boy got away from his abductor, but he eventually escaped the vehicle. He was returned to his mother, according to authorities. No other information was immediately available Monday about the investigation, including a description of the suspect or the car he was driving. A Harvey man accused of gunning down his children's maternal grandmother has been indicted with second-degree murder. Dwight Berry, 25, is also charged Thursday with obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation, aggravated flight from an officer and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearms, according to Jefferson Parish court records. Berry is accused of executing his former girlfriend's mother, Tamika London, 44, before leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase across the West Bank. London was shot the afternoon of May 18 as she stood outside of the home she shared with her daughter in the 4000 block of North Indigo Drive in Harvey, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Witnesses described seeing Berry step out of a dark blue Ford Crown Victoria after it pulled up to the residence. Berry then "began firing indiscriminately," hitting London several times as she tried to run, Sheriff's Office investigators said. +2 In Harvey killing of ex-girlfriend's mother, suspect fired 'indiscriminately': JPSO The suspect who allegedly gunned down his former girlfriend's mother in Harvey before leading authorities on high-speed chase across the West London was taken to the hospital where she later died of her injuries. The Sheriff's Office did not identify a motive for the killing, but Berry had been involved in a contentious relationship with London's 22-year-old daughter, authorities said. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Berry and London's daughter have two children together and a history of domestic violence, according to the Sheriff's Office. Berry was accused of beating and choking London's daughter in January 2019 while she was pregnant, according to court records. He was arrested, but the charges were later refused because of insufficient evidence. There were other reports of violence over the years, authorities said. +2 Marrero man shot by JPSO deputies after they say he used truck to ram officers A Marrero man who was shot by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies during a wild West Bank car chase Thursday night that included rammin In the hours before the May 18 shooting, London's daughter had attempted to report another domestic violence incident to the Sheriff's Office. But she was directed to call New Orleans police because the incident occurred in Orleans Parish, authorities said. As deputies responded to London's Indigo Drive home after the shooting, they spotted the blue Crown Victoria described by witnesses. They tried to stop the car, but the driver, later identified as Berry, refused to pull over, according to the Sheriff's Office. Instead, the driver kicked off a pursuit that reached speeds of 100 mph before he crashed into a building near the intersection of Behrman Highway and Anson Street in Algiers, authorities said. Berry was arrested after a briefly running through the nearby neighborhood. Berry was being held Monday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on a bond of more than $1 million for the charges related to the homicide and chase. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 7. A 32-year-old man was injured in a drive-by shooting Monday night on the West Bank Expressway near the General De Gaulle Drive exit in Algiers, New Orleans police said. The shooting was reported to authorities around 10:30 p.m. The man told police he was driving toward the West Bank when someone in a white vehicle began tailgating him. He changed lanes, according to police, and the white vehicle pulled alongside him. A passenger in the white vehicle then fired several shots at the man's vehicle, police said. The man was hit and taken via ambulance to a hospital, police said. His condition wasn't immediately available. No other details were immediately available, including a possible motive or more details about the shooter or the vehicle. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111. A Drug Enforcement Administration special agent was killed Monday when a passenger, who also died, opened fire as officers were doing a routine inspection for illegal contraband on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona, authorities said. A second agent and a Tucson police officer were wounded. The Sunset Limited, Train 2, was traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said. Its very horrific and were all just coming to terms with just how terrible a loss this is, Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus said. But I also want to reflect on the really heroic actions of the officers at the scene. They literally ran towards the danger, into the car, where there was an active shooting situation going on. Magnus spoke outside the hospital where the wounded agent and Tucson officer had been taken. The agent was listed in critical condition while the officer was in stable condition. He said authorities would not be releasing their names. The FBI has taken over the investigation of the shooting, which sent passengers fleeing. It happened just after 8 a.m. on a train stopped at the station in the city's downtown. A regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers had boarded one of the cars to do a typical check for illegal money, weapons and drugs. It's a common occurrence at all transit hubs, Magnus said. Officers were in the middle of detaining a man on the upper level of the double-decker car when a second man pulled out a handgun and began firing. He exchanged several rounds with police and then barricaded himself in a bathroom on the lower level, Magnus said. He was later found dead inside. The other suspect has been arrested. It wasn't immediately known what charges he faces or his relationship to the second man. Magnus praised Tucson police officers for getting the injured DEA agent off the train and rushing him to the hospital in the back of a patrol car. The hospitalized Tucson officer had been on the platform when he heard the shooting. He was shot when he ran into the car to help. There were about a dozen other passengers in the car where the shooting occurred. I just think its kind of incredible here there werent other people who were hurt, even though were completely so saddened by the loss of the officer, Magnus said. Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams also confirmed there were no reported injuries to the crew or other passengers. The train arrived at the Tucson station at 7:40 am, Abrams said. There were 137 passengers and 11 crew members, he said. All have been evacuated to the station. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Evan Courtney was in a lounge car when people suddenly came running in yelling: Shots fired! I grabbed my backpack and ran, Courtney told The Associated Press via Twitter direct messaging. He said he huddled with other passengers while looking out the window. He saw several tactical police officers with assault rifles behind barricades. After 15 minutes, police ran to us and told us to get out of the car and run in the opposite direction. Courtney later tweeted a photo of nearly two dozen officers including two embracing. Dramatic video taken by a camera at the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum shows some of the shooting. Graphic warning: The video has graphic content. (Can't see the video? Watch here.) Multiple shots can be heard from inside a train before a man, who appears to be a security officer with a dog, boards in the middle of the second-to-last car through an open door. Two bystanders back away and then run past a baggage cart, joining four others as they usher each other into the last car and the door slides shut, the video shows. One shot is heard and the security officer, holding a gun, backs off the train with the dog still on the leash. He runs behind a structure on the train platform as a man appears at the passenger car door, fires three shots toward the fleeing man and dog, and disappears back inside. The camera belongs to Virtual Railfan, which operates more than 50 cameras livestreaming train operations around the country for train buffs. Kathy Abbott, operations manager, said both Tucson police and Amtrak police have asked for any footage to be made available. Virtual Railfan's cameras do capture crime but maybe not this dramatic, Abbott said. This was definitely an adrenaline rush. Tucson, home to the University of Arizona, is about 110 miles south of Phoenix. We at the DEA are heartbroken by todays events and ask that you keep the families of the agents and task force officer in your thoughts and prayers, said Anne Milgram, administrator for the agency. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is known for damming rivers and building levees to keep waterways at bay. But a new initiative seeks natural flood control solutions as climate change brings increasingly frequent and severe weather events that test the limits of concrete and steel. It only makes sense to use Mother Natures flood defenses as one of the tools to combat destruction from intense rains in the middle of the country and storms and sea level rise on the coasts, says Todd Bridges, who heads the Corps Engineering with Nature initiative. Pieces are in place to make the change. In the 2020 Water Resources Development Act, Congress directed the Corps to consider nature-based systems on equal footing with more traditional infrastructure. And the initiative was directly funded for the first time last year with $12.5 million. But the Corps is often constrained by its own rules and the way costs and benefits of its projects are evaluated. The Corps has a lot of people who are used to doing things a certain way, said Jimmy Hague, The Nature Conservancys senior water policy advisor. Were tracking some projects right now where nature-based solutions are almost an afterthought. In Missouri, the Corps recently completed a levee setback along the Missouri River after the existing levee was overtopped and breached by flooding in 2019. Rather than simply repairing the levee, the Corps built a new 5-mile (8-kilometer) stretch farther from the river, opening up about 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of floodplain to help reduce future flooding while providing habitat for rare and declining species. Dave Crane, the Corps environmental lead on the project, said making it happen was not simple. The Corps is required to repair levees at the lowest cost, and only extreme damage to the original levee made building a new one possible under its rules. The Corps also likes to work fast to repair levees before a new flood, and moving the levee required time for planning and acquiring land. The local levee district needed to purchase millions of dollars in farmland that would no longer be protected. With help from The Nature Conservancy and local community buy-in, the Corps constructed the setback, but its far from the norm. Bridges hopes new 1,000-page international guidelines for nature-based systems, five years in the making, will push the Corps to take nature-based solutions more seriously. The manual was developed in collaboration with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, among others. The stakes are rising. Over the past five years alone, weather and climate-related disasters cost the U.S. more than $630 billion in damages, Richard Spinrad, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said when the guidelines were released Sept. 16. +6 Three weeks after Ida toppled tombs in Ironton's cemetery, caskets remain scattered across the community With little to do living in the country, Kornell Davis remembers running through Ironton's cemetery while growing up on lower Plaquemines Pari How we evaluate benefits (of nature-based solutions) is the key issue, Bridges said. Putting monetary value on their flood protection is a first step. Bridges also wants the Corps to recognize social and environmental benefits not traditionally considered. For example, he said, a mangrove forest can provide wildlife habitat, enjoyment for people who dive, fish or boat, as well as cleaner air and water. And while concrete floodwalls fall apart and must be replaced, mangroves can grow, affording more protection over time. Florida has 500,000 acres of mangrove forest today that provide billions of dollars in flood-risk reduction. How do we sustain or even grow that benefit in the future? Bridges asked. Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The Corps has rules beyond benefit assessments that complicate its adoption of such solutions. In Port Fourchon, Louisiana, authorities want to use dredging spoils to restore nearby marshland. But the Corps wants to pump the spoils into the Gulf of Mexico, said Chett Chiasson, the ports executive director. Thats because the projects money comes from the Corps navigation fund requiring the agency to dispose of spoils as cheaply as possible. It doesnt matter that there is a separate ecosystem restoration fund for projects like the marsh, Chiasson said. Their money is siloed, and they cant put (funds) together in a way that makes common sense, he said. In Northern California near the state capital Sacramento, the Corps built the Yolo Bypass nearly a century ago to divert floodwaters. Its 59,000 acres (24,000 hectares) have also become habitat for native and endangered species, including Chinook salmon and steelhead. Rick Johnson, executive director of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, wants to make needed improvements to the bypass while enhancing fish habitat. But the Corps, which has a flood control easement on the property, has rules that require it to own property outright before doing ecosystem restoration work. Were in a position right now where its hard to build new infrastructure, so we need to get what we can out of what is existing, Johnson said. And we need to look at it through a multipurpose lens. Relatively little has been done to quantify benefits of nature-based flood control, but a 2016 study estimated coastal wetlands saved northeastern states from more than $625 million in damages during Superstorm Sandy. Census tracts with wetlands averaged 10% less property damage than those without, reported researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Researchers at a Corps lab in Vicksburg, Mississippi, are attempting to better quantify benefits of mangrove forests with a simulation. A complex web of PVC pipes mimics mangrove roots inside a nearly 65,000-gallon (246,000-liter) tank where a wave machine provides storm surge. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has spent billions of dollars restoring coastal wetlands and barrier islands after Hurricane Katrina to bolster the states storm defense. Hurricane Ida was the biggest test to date, and the evaluation is ongoing. Nature-based systems arent trying to recreate a past landscape, but rather restore the function that a landscape feature provided. And they cant entirely replace more traditional infrastructure, Bridges emphasized, noting that a barrier island can work together with a wetland and a levee to provide layers of protection. We need to re-envision what infrastructure looks like, he said. Flood-risk management is serious business. People die. ___ This story corrects the spelling of Chett Chiasson. Steve Stefancik, whose 33 years on the St. Tammany Parish Police Jury and Parish Council made him the dean of parish politics, died Tuesday at 82. First elected in 1988, Stefancik won his ninth term in 2019 representing his Slidell area district. He was the longest-serving current member of the Parish Council. A cause of death was not available Tuesday, but Stefancik's health had been failing in recent months, according to colleagues. Nonetheless, he continued working, they said. "He conducted council business until his last breath," Parish Council member Chris Canulette said. "When I called to check on him last week, we couldn't talk about his health. We had to talk about subdivisions in his district. He was dedicated to this community to the end." Canulette said Stefanik did exactly what he said he was going to do, whether it was popular of not. "You always knew where you stood. His run was incredible, and his years of service to this community really are unmatched. I bounced everything off of him. I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss him." Gene Bellisario, who served on the Parish Council with Stefancik for 12 years, credited him with supporting the change from a police jury to a home rule charter form of government with a council and a parish president. "He was always forward-thinking and forward-looking," Bellisario said. "He wasn't concerned so much with what happened in the past but doing our best to improve things." Bellisario called Stefancik a good leader who had a strong and determined nature but said he also enjoyed mentoring new council members. "Steve was a dedicated public servant in every sense of the word," St. Tammany Parish President Mike Cooper said. "His passion and commitment to his constituents in District 11, the Slidell area and St.Tammany never wavered and was often unmatched." St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Council Chairman Mike Lorino praised Stefancik's knowledge of the parish and willingness to share the lessons he had learned over the years. Stefancik first served in political office in his hometown of Linton, Indiana, where he was on the board of the Linton Stockton School Corp. He moved to Slidell in 1984 and worked for Lockheed Martin Space Systems as IT senior manager for the Space Shuttle External Tank project for 28 years, retiring in 2012. Stefancik served as president of the St. Tammany Police Jury for five years and chaired the Parish Council for two years. He also was the councils parliamentarian for many years. Stefancik also represented St. Tammany on the Regional Planning Commission for decades and during his 2015 campaign said that he was able to steer more than $200 million in federal and state funds for St. Tammany projects in that role. Stefancik received the Alliance for Good Government's Past Presidents and Legislator of the Year awards, the Conservative Political Action Committee's Straight Arrow Award and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans' Order of Saint Louis IX Award. Stefancik received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from Indiana State University. He served in the U.S. Navy, taught high school and worked several years as a mathematician and computer scientist for the Navy as a civilian employee. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Genevieve Church, 58203 Louisiana 433 Slidell, with a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Stefancik is survived by his wife, Margaret, two sons, a daughter and grandchildren. Kim Chatelain and Andrew Canulette contributed to this report. This story was altered on Oct. 8 to include information about services. New Orleans City Councilmember Joseph Joe Giarrusso III has drawn two challengers in his bid for a second term in his District A seat in this falls elections. Amy Misko, real estate broker, is running a campaign to Giarrussos right, focusing on abolishing the mask and vaccine mandates put in place by Mayor LaToya Cantrell in response to the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, software developer Bob Murrell is tacking to Giarrussos left, arguing the council has not done enough to combat climate change. For his part, Giarrusso has focused on his record of tackling problems at the Sewerage & Water Board and the Department of Public Works as well as his efforts to dive into the city's budget. The three will face off in a primary on Nov. 13. If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the vote in that election, the top two candidates will face off in a general election on Dec. 11. District A covers a slice of the city along the Jefferson Parish line, including the Lakeview area, parts of Mid-City, Hollygrove and Carrollton and the neighborhoods near Tulane and Loyola Universities. All three of the candidates in the race live in Lakeview. The election was originally scheduled for October but was pushed back a month due to the disruptions caused by Hurricane Ida. That also pushed back the due dates for the first campaign finance reports after candidates qualified until next week. As of Aug. 2, Giarrusso reported having about $219,000 of campaign cash on hand. A month later, Murrells campaign finance report showed he had raised a bit more than $8,000 and had about $1,500 left in his account. Misko has not yet filed a campaign finance report. Joseph Joe Giarrusso III Giarrusso, a 45-year-old Democrat, has focused on infrastructure issues during his first term as chairman of the council committee that has oversight over the S&WB and the Public Works Department. Thats meant attempts to address the overarching problems with each including the S&WBs failure-prone equipment and perennial billing issues as well as the slow pace of construction projects through the city. Giarrusso said that work is on-going. The next few years, he said, will involve ensuring that future funding goes towards the citys infrastructure goals and that contractors are held to account for their work. That oversight includes bearing down on delays which have been rampant with the roadwork currently underway citywide and ensuring that contractors fix any problems their work causes. Theyre bread and butter issues. I guess it stretches all the way back to being a neighborhood president, said Giarrusso, who was president of the Lakeview Civic Association before being elected to the council. There were zoning issues people cared about, how the city was spending its money, but 80% of the issues are the same (across the district). Its about when the streets are going to stop being ripped up its about making sure were not priced out of living in New Orleans. Giarrusso has also been focused on responding to constituents who need help with problems on their blocks or in their neighborhoods. He said his office has responded to 187,000 constituent emails during his term and pushed the city, S&WB and contractors to provide more information and definitive timelines to residents. The latter was on display with the frequent updates Giarrusso provided during the blackout after Hurricane Ida, which occasionally involved helping individual residents get answers from Entergy New Orleans about why the power was not yet back at their homes and when the lights might turn back on. JOSEPH "JOE" GIARRUSSO III 45. Born in New Orleans, lives in Lakeview. Graduated from Jesuit High School; bachelor's from the University of Texas in history; Juris Doctorate from Louisiana State University Law School. City Councilmember District A. Of Counsel at Barrios, Kingsdorf and Casteix. Democrat since 1994. Website: https://www.joegiarrusso.com/ Amy Misko Misko, a 65-year-old Libertarian, said she is running because her demographic does not have a voice in city policy. In my district we would like smaller government and my district doesnt have a voice, Misko said. The people who are being affected the most by City Council decisions have no voice. We are now the minority, we are the senior citizens and we are the White people. Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Widowed White women are the smallest minority and its really for them that Im running this race, said Misko, who is a widow herself. Asked about that comment, Misko said she doesn't see race, considers everyone to be part of the human race and said she is focusing on providing freedom for everyone from government mandates. Misko has focused her campaign largely around opposition to the coronavirus precautions imposed by Gov. John Bel Edwards and the stricter rules put in place in New Orleans by Cantrell. The citys more stringent rules which include vaccine mandates as well as the state-wide mask mandate have helped keep cases and deaths lower in New Orleans than in other parishes since the end of the first wave of the virus. Im absolutely against all of the mandates, said Misko, who said shes vaccinated and has encouraged others to get the shot. Mandates are wrong, they are dictatorial. We are a free people. Misko also said that shes opposed to the assessment hikes that have led to ballooning tax bills for residents citywide in recent years. She repeatedly referred to those reassessments as unconstitutional because they did not receive a City Council vote, though the process of reassessing properties every four years is part of the Louisiana Constitution. More broadly, she also said taxes and public education should be voluntary, because requiring people pay taxes or send their children to school is based on force. In terms of immediate goals, she said she would also push to lower sales tax rates. To fix the Sewerage & Water Board she said she would privatize the agency. Amy Misko 65. Born in Buffalo, NY, and lives in Lakeview. Attended New York Institute of Technology. Real estate broker. Libertarian for at least 20 years. Website: https://misko4citycouncil.org/ Robert Bob Murrell Murrell, a 36-year-old Democrat, said the birth of his daughter in 2018 spurred him to get more involved in politics because of the worldwide threat climate change poses to future generations, particularly in New Orleans. As a community on the frontlines of the climate crisis, Murrell said the city needs to be focused on a municipal version of the Green New Deal, a policy championed by progressive Democrats aimed at promoting renewable energy and reducing the use of fossil fuels while making investments in infrastructure. That means having the lens our City Council operates through being whether the decisions theyre making are going to push back against climate change, Murrell said. Locally, such a plan would involve massive investments in water retention and a decentralized solar power grid, Murrell said. The importance of a decentralized system was driven home by the failure of Entergys transmission lines into the region during Hurricane Ida, which left some in the dark for more than a week, he said. Further, he said he would work to expand the citys tree canopy to cool neighborhoods, expand public transit and offer reduced or free fares to reduce dependency on cars. He would also work to limit private planes at the airport to reduce its carbon footprint. To deal with on-going frustrations with roadwork and S&WB projects, Murrell said he would push the city to launch a constituency portal where residents can see all the data from various agencies about particular projects. That would allow people to report problems, have a sense of what is causing issues and what the timeline for fixing them is, he said. Murrell also said he would focus on housing issues, such as expanding public housing, ensuring that renters facing eviction had access to an attorney, rejecting Entergys requests for higher rates to reduce the cost of living and work to limit short-term rentals and push for greater enforcement against those who were flaunting the citys rules. Stephanie Coontz, a professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, suggests that perhaps the issue of marriage is so charged because it is only recently that women have had choices about if and when to marry, education and work. For thousands of years marriage was about men making the important decisions and women accommodating to these decisions, she said. It is only in the past 40 years that we have said, No, there is not a preset hierarchy. Confused by these changing norms, people react more defensively to people who are making different decisions in an effort to resolve ambivalence, says Dr. Coontz. In a stage of life where you are expected, even encouraged, to be focused on yourself and your own accomplishments, my university friends and colleagues overwhelmingly act as if by choosing to marry I have surrendered my ambitions for a different cause. Its as if, as a young woman, I am required to pick between a profession and a marriage. I met my fiance when we both were doing a gap year in Israel after high school. I remember him, but he doesnt remember me. But we both attended the same college, and had a class together freshman year. During exam week, we exchanged some supportive emails. In our sophomore year, we were both involved in an internship program that instructed us to meet with the other interns. We met up at a fountain on campus and ended up talking for hours. And then we went out the next night and talked for hours again. Away for fall break, he wrote me long emails every day. After that, he sent me a card every week. (I still have all of them in a box.) Two years later we met at the fountain again, where he gave me a card to congratulate me on the results of my medical school entrance exam. The card contained inside references to our relationship penguins and Downton Abbey that only the two of us would know. This is a such a perfect card, I told him. You should have saved it for when you propose. He said, I am about to. And then he did. My desire to marry him hasnt changed my other goals in life. This spring Im graduating, then heading to the University of Cambridge for a nine-month fellowship and returning to attend medical school in New York. I also am getting married to someone I love because we are certain we belong together and want to experience all of the next steps in our lives together. Since announcing in October my plan to marry, I have gotten fairly used to the intrusive questions and the raised eyebrows. I have come to realize that people who react to my engagement may just be trying to rationalize their own decisions or make sense of mine. The generations of Togolese activists who had fought the dictatorship of Gnassingbe the First hoped his passing would bring an end to the nations tyranny, paving the way for a brighter democratic future. Instead, Mr. Eyademas death, in February 2005, and the election of his son in April led only to horrific violence: Between 400 and 500 people were killed during those months, with thousands more wounded, according to a United Nations report. In response to the arrival of Gnassingbe the Second, a new generation of activists came to the fore. The internet was their most powerful tool, and as internet penetration in Togo grew, so did the democratic resistance movement. I was one of those activists, and like many of my fellow dissidents I have felt empowered in the years since Mr. Gnassingbes rise by the ability to denounce the government its corruption and gangsterism on social media. You may rule over Togo with no accountability, I wrote in a 2014 Facebook post, addressing the administration, but we citizens rule over the internet, and we will hold you accountable. Unfortunately, the Gnassingbe government isnt keen on any form of resistance, whether in the streets or online. (Mr. Gnassingbe was re-elected in 2010 and 2015 amid accusations of fraud by Togos opposition.) In fact, in recent years it has become increasingly obvious that we underestimated the governments ability to adapt its repressive methods to the digital world. In the late summer of 2017, major protests quickly spread across the country in support of the oppositions demands that President Gnassingbe resign and that term limits, abolished by his father in 2002, be reinstated. During the monthslong demonstrations, tens of thousands of protesters chanted Faure Must Go, a slogan coined by an activist movement that I co-founded in 2011 with other young Togolese dissidents living in and outside the country. The Faure Must Go movement relied on decentralized digital organizing, which helped many of us maintain our anonymity, protecting us from direct physical repression by leaders. Even before the war, Mr. Abiy appeared bent on breaking the power of the T.P.L.F., a political group of rebels turned rulers who had dominated Ethiopia for nearly three decades. A former intelligence officer, Mr. Abiy had once been part of the T.P.L.F.-dominated government. But after he took office in 2018, Mr. Abiy set about draining the T.P.L.F. of its power and influence in Ethiopia, infuriating the leadership. The T.P.L.F. retreated to its stronghold in Tigray, in the mountainous north of Ethiopia. Tensions grew. In September, the Tigrayans defied Mr. Abiy by going ahead with regional parliamentary elections that had been postponed across Ethiopia because of the coronavirus pandemic. Weeks later, Ethiopian lawmakers cut funding to the region. On the night of Nov. 3-4, T.P.L.F. forces attacked a federal military base in Tigray and attempted to steal its weapons. The T.P.L.F. has said it had struck preemptively because federal forces were preparing to assault Tigray. Hours later, Mr. Abiy ordered the military offensive into Tigray. Internet and phone communications were restricted and his cabinet declared a six-month state of emergency in Tigray. But the Ethiopian military, which was dominated by Tigrayan officers, was divided, and fighting erupted between rival military units inside Tigray, according to American officials. Mr. Abiy bolstered his forces by deploying militia fighters from Amhara, south of Tigray, who swept into western Tigray amid accusations of attacks on civilians. Then troops from Eritrea, Ethiopias former enemy, flooded across the border into Tigray from the north to fight alongside Mr. Abiys forces. Federal forces and their allies quickly seized control of Tigrays capital, Mekelle, and other main towns, but the T.P.L.F. and its armed supporters fled to rural and mountainous areas, where sporadic fighting has continued. Aid workers in Tigray say that heavy shelling and gun battles raged in five different parts of Tigray in early May. Like so many couples, my husband and I had a hard time trying to conceive. People would tell us, Well, the best part about having a baby is making one! Somehow, IVF doesnt quite serve up the same afterglow. We went through round after round, tons of out-of-pocket bills, loss after loss and more needles than a Christmas tree in late January. We grew closer knowing we would have a family one day, but it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Especially when that tunnel was five years long. In January of 2019, we finally welcomed both a boy and a girl via surrogate. Our hearts are as full as the pile of diapers in our Munchkin pail. So, forgive me if this goes astray but when I woke up this morning I couldve sworn it was laundry day. (My bad ever since the kids were born I can only comprehend life in Prince lyrics.) As our twin nuggets of love grow and flourish, my husband and I have realized that we worked so hard to have them that we forgot about raising them. Before you ask, Well, Michelle, didnt yall talk about how you were gonna raise these kids before you had them? Yes, girl, we did. Most of the 34,000 Syrians who have obtained residence permits in Denmark since the war began in their country in 2011 have not had their residency reviewed. Yet the move to strip hundreds of their legal status is the latest in a series of measures by Denmark that rights groups say have targeted migrants and minorities. The authorities have imposed mandatory instruction in Danish values for children in low-income and heavily Muslim neighborhoods that the government labeled ghettos, and doubled punishments for certain crimes in these areas. They have also overhauled the countrys legal apparatus on immigration, shifting it from integration to the accelerated return of refugees to their native countries. Hundreds of Somali refugees have also lost their residence permits after Denmark deemed Somalia safe to return to. Per Mouritsen, an associate professor of political science at Aarhus University, said the government had toughened its stance on immigration in recent years to avoid losing votes to the right wing, a dilemma that several center-left parties across Europe have faced. The only way to beat the right-wing in Denmark is to sell your soul to the devil and be as tough on immigration in order to have support for social welfare policies in return, Mr. Mouritsen said. Last year, the number of refugees leaving Denmark exceeded the number of arrivals. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has vowed to go further, saying that Denmark will aim to have zero asylum seekers. Mongolia, a country of grassy hills, vast deserts and endless skies, has a population not much bigger than Chicagos. The small democratic nation is used to living in the shadow of its powerful neighbors, Russia and China. But during a pandemic, being a small nation sandwiched between two vaccine makers with global ambitions can have advantages. At a time when most countries are scrambling for coronavirus vaccines, Mongolia now has enough to fully vaccinate its entire adult population, in large part thanks to deals with both China and Russia. Officials are so confident about the nations vaccine riches that they are promising citizens a Covid-free summer. Mongolias success in procuring the vaccines in the span of a few months is a big victory for a low-income, developing nation. Many poor countries have been waiting in line for shots, hoping for the best. But Mongolia, using its status as a small geopolitical player between Russia and China, was able to snap up doses at a clip similar to that of much wealthier countries. MANAGUA, Nicaragua Opposition candidates have been detained. Protests have been banned. And political parties have been disqualified. Just months before seeking re-election, Nicaraguas president, Daniel Ortega, has brought his country a step away from becoming a one-party state, clamping down on the opposition to an extent not seen since the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in 2018, experts say. The aggressive moves by Mr. Ortega present an unexpected challenge to the Biden administration, which has made strengthening democracy in Central America one of the pillars of its policy toward the region. Mr. Ortegas crackdown reached an inflection point on Wednesday, after his government charged a leading opposition candidate, Cristiana Chamorro, with money laundering and ideological falseness and placed her under house arrest hours after she announced her plans to run for president in the Nov. 7 election. Another candidate, Arturo Cruz, was detained Saturday by the police for allegedly conspiring against Nicaraguan society. The ocean has always glowed. The Greeks and Romans knew of luminous sea creatures as well as the more general phenomenon of seawater that can light up in bluish-green colors. Charles Darwin, as he sailed near South America on a dark night aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, encountered luminescent waves. He called it a wonderful and most beautiful spectacle. As far as the eye could see, he added, the crest of every wave was bright so much so that the livid flames lit the sky. Now, scientists report that ocean bioluminescence can be so intense and massive in scale that satellites orbiting five hundred miles high can see glowing mats of microorganisms as they materialize in the seas. Last month in the journal Scientific Reports, eight investigators told of finding a luminous patch south of Java in 2019 that grew to be larger than the combined areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It was an epiphany, said Steven D. Miller, lead author on the bioluminescence study and a specialist in satellite observations at Colorado State University. When a hidden wonder of nature comes to light, he added, it captures your imagination. Three of the people wounded in the attack were in critical condition on Saturday. New Zealand has low and declining crime rates, and is far from the flash points of global terrorism. But questions about how the country handles potential assailants have grown in volume since 2019, after an anti-Muslim terrorist murdered 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. Now, like other countries, New Zealand is grappling with the trade-offs between monitoring suspects and preventing terrorist attacks, and with concerns about containing the power of the government and the police to surveil and detain people based on suspicions. More details about Mr. Samsudeens case, including his name and immigration status in New Zealand, came to light on Saturday night. A judge had ruled on Friday that an order restricting reporting of his personal information should be lifted, but left some of the restrictions in place for a further 24 hours to give Mr. Samsudeens family time to challenge the decision. Mr. Samsudeen, who was a Sri Lankan national, traveled to New Zealand on a student visa in 2011. A Tamil Muslim, he was granted refugee status in 2013 on the grounds that he and his father had experienced serious problems with the Sri Lankan authorities due to their political background, according to court documents. He said that he had been attacked, kidnapped and tortured and that he feared that deportation to Sri Lanka would put him in increased danger. Four years later, in 2017, Mr. Samsudeen was arrested at the airport in Auckland on suspicion of planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group, which then controlled parts of Syria and Iraq. He subsequently spent three years in prison on a variety of charges, including assaulting a corrections officer, before being released in July. WASHINGTON Three former American intelligence officers hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out sophisticated cyberoperations admitted to hacking crimes and to violating U.S. export laws that restrict the transfer of military technology to foreign governments, according to court documents made public on Tuesday. The documents detail a conspiracy by the three men to furnish the Emirates with advanced technology and to assist Emirati intelligence operatives in breaches aimed at damaging the perceived enemies of the small but powerful Persian Gulf nation. The men helped the Emirates, a close American ally, gain unauthorized access to acquire data from computers, electronic devices and servers around the world, including on computers and servers in the United States, prosecutors said. The three men worked for DarkMatter, a company that is effectively an arm of the Emirati government. They are part of a trend of former American intelligence officers accepting lucrative jobs from foreign governments hoping to bolster their abilities to mount cyberoperations. SYDNEY, Australia When Scott Morrison became Australias prime minister three years ago, he insisted that the country could maintain close ties with China, its largest trading partner, while working with the United States, its main security ally. Australia doesnt have to choose, he said in one of his first foreign policy speeches. On Thursday, Australia effectively chose. Following years of sharply deteriorating relations with Beijing, Australia announced a new defense agreement in which the United States and Britain would help it deploy nuclear-powered submarines, a major advance in Australian military strength. With its move to acquire heavy weaponry and top-secret technology, Australia has thrown in its lot with the United States for generations to come a forever partnership, in Mr. Morrisons words. The agreement will open the way to deeper military ties and higher expectations that Australia would join any military conflict with Beijing. Its a big strategic bet that America will prevail in its great-power competition with China and continue to be a dominant and stabilizing force in the Pacific even as the costs increase. Her label, The Color Collector, which has made small amounts of gamay in a juicy, floral, thirst-quenching style, along with other similarly accessible wines, is in transition. A few years ago she bought 20 acres, half evergreen forest and half meadow, on a hillside outside of White Salmon on the Washington side. So far she has planted an acre of chasselas, an alpine white grape, and will put in an acre of gamay this fall, all to be farmed biodynamically. To help finance her label, she also works two days a week at a wine shop in Portland, where she has a room. Or she stays at the apartment of her partner, Dan Mahr, in Hood River, across the river in Oregon. But mostly she lives in a tiny, 198-square-foot house, a former artists studio, that she bought on Craigs List and brought in on a trailer. She had to truck in water until she got a permit to drill a well. She installed an outhouse, put in solar panels and bee hives, and chain-sawed wine barrels in half to serve as planters for herbs and tomatoes. From her miniature front porch, she can gaze at gorgeous starry nights and Mount Hood, which Mr. Mahr said is looking a little bony as its once copious glaciers recede under climate change. Her first harvest of chasselas wont be ready to taste until 2023, if all goes well, but I anticipate good things. Her past wines have been lovely, and Ms. Kimmel embodies the curiosity, idealism and determination of a group that sees the Gorge as a place to live out dreams. In a close race for No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, the new release by YoungBoy Never Broke Again, a 21-year-old from Baton Rouge, La., narrowly beat fourth-week sales for Certified Lover Boy, the streaming smash by Drake, who was dethroned after three straight weeks on top. YoungBoys Sincerely, Kentrell tallied 137,000 album units in total (including 186 million streams and 10,000 in traditional sales), enough to squeak by the 135,000 overall sales units for Certified Lover Boy, according to Billboard. Sincerely, Kentrell becomes the fourth No. 1 album in less than two years for YoungBoy, who is incarcerated awaiting trial in Louisiana, where he faces federal charges that he possessed an unlicensed gun as a felon. YoungBoy was among 16 people arrested in Baton Rouge in September 2020 on drug and firearm charges, not long after his album Top became his third No. 1 in less than a year. YoungBoy among the most popular musicians on YouTube has been dogged by legal problems since signing with Atlantic Records as a teenager in 2016. In the current case, his lawyers have said he did not possess any of the contraband himself and are seeking to suppress evidence they say was unconstitutionally obtained, according to court filings. Did you identify with any of the characters? I dont think there was a specific person that I identified with. I picked parts of every character. I mean, Shane was always such a badass; she was a troublemaker. Her plots were always so chaotic and interesting. I come from a Dominican household, and we love drama. We love mixing things up. So I always leaned more toward her character. But I think that everyone just had a different aspect of what life is about. Each character highlighted the best and the worst qualities of the human experience in the dating world, and specifically the queer world. Do you think the show has done a good job deepening its representation of characters who arent white cisgender lesbians? I mean, Im on the show, so that says a lot! Theres not one specific way to be queer, and thats why Generation Q has been making sure that everyone is seen and heard. How did you incorporate your experiences as a queer, Hispanic person with muscular dystrophy into Maribels character while also being sensitive to your own boundaries and privacy? My character and my work in general always feeds into my real life and my personal life. But what Ive learned, as I enter the adult world, is to really make sure that you do take time for yourself and make sure youre aligned with what you believe in. But I also love being an advocate for my community, and Ive been privileged to talk in my work about different things that have been lacking in my community. It would be far wiser for the Democrats to focus on winning big in 2022 by splitting the $3.5 trillion program into bite-size packages that are overwhelmingly popular and challenging Republicans and moderate Democrats alike to vote against them. Even if only a few of these individual measures pass, the Democrats stand to substantially increase their margins in both houses, thereby giving them the ability to enact the rest of their legislation. More games are won with singles than grand slams. Irwin Cohen New York To the Editor: The current back and forth in the Democratic Party over the two infrastructure bills now before Congress reveals a major difference between the two parties. The Democrats are actually negotiating, thinking for themselves, deciding what they individually believe and acting on that belief, even if the party leaders do not agree with them. Mitch McConnell pompously declares that no Republican will vote for these bills, and voila!, no Republican will vote for these bills. Lemmings are more courageous and more willing to defy their leader than Senate Republicans. These cowards are actively participating in the destruction of our country. How humiliating! How dangerous! John T. Dillon West Caldwell, N.J. To the Editor: Re This Is Why We Need to Spend $4 Trillion (column, Oct. 1): Well done, David Brooks! A lifelong Democrat totally horrified with the four Trump years, Ive been anxiously awaiting the Democrats coalescing around some kind of resolution regarding President Bidens agenda. With dug-in heels from both the progressives and the Sinema-Manchin obstructionist duo, its not hard to anticipate total collapse. It took Mr. Brookss thoughtful piece to put me firmly on the side of the progressives. Yes, we absolutely need the $4 trillion. We need to finally invest in our own people; they need transparent reassurance that America cares about them and is willing to do everything it can to make their lives better. But, as Mr. Brooks stated, so many people seem to be indifferent. In 2003, Joe Lieberman, at the time one of the worst Democratic senators, traveled to Arizona to campaign for his partys presidential nomination and was regularly greeted by antiwar demonstrators. Hes a shame to Democrats, said the organizer of a protest outside a Tucson hotel, a left-wing social worker named Kyrsten Sinema. I dont even know why hes running. He seems to want to get Republicans voting for him what kind of strategy is that? It was a good question, and one that many people would like to ask Sinema herself these days. People sometimes describe the Arizona senator as a centrist, but that seems the wrong term for someone whos been working to derail some of the most broadly popular parts of Joe Bidens agenda, corporate tax increases and reforms to lower prescription drug prices. Instead, shes just acting as an obstructionist, seeming to bask in the approbation of Republicans who will probably never vote for her. A Saturday Night Live skit this weekend captured her absurdist approach to negotiating the reconciliation bill that contains almost the entirety of Bidens agenda. What do I want from this bill? asked the actress playing Sinema. Ill never tell. It sometimes seems as if what Sinema wants is for people to sit around wondering what Sinema wants. When Sinema ran for Senate, the former left-wing firebrand reportedly told her advisers that she hoped to be the next John McCain, an independent force willing to buck her own party. Voting against a $15 minimum wage this year, she gave a thumbs down accompanied by an obnoxious little curtsy that seemed meant to recall the gesture McCain made when he voted against repealing key measures of the Affordable Care Act in 2017. Mayor Brandon M. Scott of Baltimore tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday despite being vaccinated, his office said. Mr. Scott, 37, was asymptomatic and self-isolating at his home in the city, Cal Harris, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement on Monday afternoon. This could have been a different situation if Mayor Scott were not vaccinated, Mr. Harris said. Mr. Harris added that city health officials were doing contact tracing on the colleagues that Mr. Scott interacted with at outdoor events last weekend. Louisianas largest nonprofit health care provider is increasing its insurance fees next year for employees whose spouses or domestic partners are not vaccinated against Covid. In a letter to its employees last month, the provider, Ochsner Health, said that it was adding the extra charge about $200 a month for unvaccinated spouses and domestic partners who are covered by the companys insurance plan. The letter said the move was an effort to protect our entire Ochsner team, which includes employees, their families and the communities we serve. Allies of former President Donald J. Trump formed a new super PAC days after Corey Lewandowski, Mr. Trumps former campaign manager and the leader of one of the largest pro-Trump super PACs, was accused of sexual misconduct. The move, an attempt to isolate Mr. Lewandowski and deny him a role in Mr. Trumps political operation, creates a new outside group to support the former president as he considers whether to run again in 2024. It also hints at the internal tumult that continues to divide the wide circle of formal and informal Trump advisers. Last week, a donor to Mr. Trump, Trashelle Odom, made the allegations about Mr. Lewandowski in a statement. Mrs. Odom accused him of making unwanted sexual advances and touching her inappropriately at a dinner in Las Vegas. The headlines thundered: Jordans king amassed $100 million in concealed property including homes in Malibu, London and Washington. An alleged mistress of Russias leader managed to covertly buy a luxury residence in Monaco. The Czech Republics prime minister, an anticorruption crusader, secretly acquired a French Riviera estate. Revelations from the Pandora Papers report, a collaboration by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and media partners that include The Washington Post and The Guardian, began reverberating through and beyond the financial world of the rich and powerful almost immediately after the authors started releasing them on Sunday. What is in the Pandora Papers? The report (the name Pandora comes from the Greek myth about a sealed jar containing the worlds evils) was based on what its authors described as 11.9 million records leaked from 14 firms in the offshore financial services industry, depicting how the wealthy hide their assets. More than 600 journalists in 117 countries worked on it. How does it differ from the Panama Papers of 2016? The Pandora Papers established links of offshore activity to more than twice as many politicians and public officials as did the Panama Papers, an incriminating report about the offshore banking industry released by the journalism consortium five years ago. The Pandora Papers include information on more than 330 politicians and public officials from over 90 countries and territories, including 35 current and former country leaders. The operator of a Manhattan gallery known for its expertise in ancient Asian artifacts has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and possession of stolen property in connection with the trafficking of looted treasures from India and Southeast Asia. Some of the items she sold to major museums in Australia and Singapore, and others were sold on the auction block at Christies and Sothebys, according to investigators. The items ranged in value from $100,000 to $1.5 million. The dealer, Nancy Wiener, 66, whose mother had also been a well-known expert in the field, acknowledged Thursday that she had taken possession of items that showed possible signs of looting, such as dirt and debris encrustation, and presented them for sale with false statements of provenance. For decades I conducted business in a market where buying and selling antiquities with vague or even no provenance was the norm, Ms. Wiener said during her appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court. Obfuscation and silence were accepted responses to questions concerning the source from which an object had been obtained. In short, it was a conspiracy of the willing. 5. I May Destroy You I think I May Destroy You was the most important hour of television that Ive seen in the last year or two. It gets really interesting to see what happens to an assault victim, because it doesnt end the way it does on Law & Order: SVU, where they go to the cops and the cops will do something. Its not always that cut and dried, and it cant be in the case of Arabella. And what she does with that trauma is heartbreaking to watch. But I also know its factual and [Michaela Coel] actually did go through that. What she fought through in order to share that story with an audience, I cant even fathom. 6. Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins Nicole Perkins is a great writer. Ive heard her voice on This American Life I think shes contributed stories and this time there was an excerpt from her book. It was the most fascinating story about having been the other woman at some point, dating a man that was married. And the second the story ended, I immediately stopped listening to go find that book on Audible. 7. Water Theres no better feeling than being in water for me. Ive seen really beautiful views of mountains and thought, This would be prettier to see if I were in water right now. Ive eaten sandwiches that Im convinced would taste better if I was eating them in a pool. Im in my pool five days a week. I love that feeling of weightlessness. Im always reminded that water is heavy. I love feeling small inside of an ocean because it makes everything else that I worry about really, really small. Theres just water ahead of me and behind me, and water is older than me. And itll be here long after Im dead. 8. Headphones I get a little panicky if my headphones battery is dying, much more than I do if the phones dying. I use them so much because Im always listening to a podcast or an audiobook or music. Ive started going on milelong walks and I always have my headphones on, and I forget any pain that I might be feeling in my joints, because Im paying more attention to whatever story Im listening to than my body. I like Beats by Dre, because theyre quite big. So if someone wants to talk to me in the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store, I can pretend I dont hear them. 9. My Cats I now have two cats. We adopted a second cat [Derrell Jermaine Dupree Sidibe-Frankel], who is 1 year old, and the older one, Aaron, is 4. And I mean, if these are not people they communicate with me all the time. Aaron is very bossy with my fiance. He likes to be picked up and held so that he can look out of a very specific window in the house. And so he yells at him. Hes like, Pick me up now. But when he comes over to me, because Im Mom, he doesnt yell. He taps me very gently and politely. Thats a person. He knows who to talk to about what he wants and how to talk to them. 10. Senegalese food My dad is Senegalese, and growing up, I loved when he made mafe. Its a beef stew with a peanut butter base. Theres thieboudienne, a fish with jollof rice. Theres yassa chicken. But I never thought to cook them myself until everything was shut down during the pandemic. I would look up recipes, and I would call my dad and Id be like: Does this look right? What do I do? Whenever I finished a dish, I would taste it. It wasnt perfect until it tasted like my childhood. At this point, yeah, my yassa is better than my dads. Paparazzi, fans and police officers filled the street outside Carnegie Hall one fall day in 1987, waiting for Frank Sinatra to arrive for a show. Inside, a backstage attendant named Debby King was on edge, worried about Sinatras reputation for being difficult. As Carnegie Halls artist liaison, Ms. King worked one of the more rarefied jobs in New York showbiz. Like a one-night personal assistant, she was responsible for taking care of the maestros, soloists and artists who performed there, and she doted on everyone, whether Itzhak Perlman or Sting, Audra McDonald or Andre Previn. When Sinatra arrived, his limousine inching through the crowd, Ms. King went to fetch him. He lowered his car window. You cant sing from the limo, she said. Do you plan on coming out? Im coming out, he said. He stepped out. Alan Kalter, the announcer for the Late Show With David Letterman for some 20 years and a participant in a ridiculous array of comic bits during that run, died on Monday at a hospital in Stamford, Conn., where he lived. He was 78. The death was announced by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, the synagogue Mr. Kalter attended. No cause was given. Mr. Kalter would welcome viewers with an opening quip (From New York, home of mad cab disease ) and a recitation of the guest list. He would introduce the nonsensical secret word of the day and tell Mr. Letterman what was to be put to the Will It Float? test, a recurring comic bit. He would work himself into a lather over this or that and run off down the street shirtless. I know you, he said. I recognized him too, from the summer before this one, back when the world was bleeding internally but not yet broken open at least not for me. There were a record number of wildfires last summer, but theyd been far away, on the other coast. There were heat waves and brownouts across the Midwest, and cascading government shutdowns. There was a national election girded by massive demonstrations hundreds or thousands were killed or injured, theyd said on the news. Even so, last summer and up until this one, there was power. Tourists still turned up, at least in this part of Virginia. Id rented myself out here for an hourly wage, donning khakis and a cranberry polo like the old guards were wearing. My internship here had ended up being mostly security, prodding pocketbooks with a slim plastic rod and occasionally driving the shuttle to the house. At my interview, I did not tell them that I was related to the shining white man of this house, our third American president and drafter of the Declaration of Independence. I did not tug at that barbed connection even though, that spring, someone from here had contacted MaViolet to inform her she was a verified descendant. Theyd arranged for a car to pick MaViolet up from town so that she could attend a gathering at the house, along with other Black descendants of Thomas Jefferson or of the people hed owned. They want me there now, shed said to me at the time. I should say that our family did not need a call from Monticello to tell us we were Thomas Jeffersons descendants. The story of our connection to that man and this place was already woven into the Love family lore. MaViolet had told Momma when she was little, and in turn Momma had told me, like a cautionary tale. The body remembers, she used to say. When I was little, Momma told me about her first visit to Monticello. The whole third grade had traveled in school buses up the mountain, to marvel at Jeffersons gadgets and admire the pristine grounds. As her group waited for their tour, eight-year-old Momma had realized this was the man her own mother had told her about. But we are, for real, kin with that old white president, Momma had insisted, even after her teacher bent close to warn her to quit telling stories. Thats outrageous, her teacher said. When Momma kept on, the same teacher made her wait by the path while the others skipped off toward the front porch for their tour. Hold it as your own, Momma said to me all those years later, and I took it to mean, Dont bother with them; they wont believe you. It was only on account of MaViolet some sense of duty or regard she carried that Momma marked me with my middle name. Mommas childhood school visit took place before Monticellos board had begun to publicly acknowledge or certify Jeffersons contact with Sally Hemings: that Hemings was not only Jeffersons young slave but also his baby mama, his darker but not very dark never-wife. Hold it as your own, Momma told me again in her menthol rasp before she died. I took it to mean, Theres nothing left for us to do with that old history but bear it. I figured that was why Momma used to turn her head if ever there was mention of Thomas Jefferson or his posh ancestral home. She would wince as if praise of that man landed like blows on her body. And so, years later, at my interview, I held my tongue. Even though by then they were pushing a special Hemings tour where visitors paid extra and approached the house through the enslaved peoples entrance. I twisted my mouth into a smile, told them I was born and raised in town. I told them Id been accepted to Jeffersons world-class university, a transfer from the community college program. I let them see what they wanted to see: a local brown girl made good. The guard with the mushroomed Afro lowered his gun. When our eyes met, his name came to me. Mr. Byrd, I said. I knew I knew you, he said. Mr. Byrd announced to the others that I used to work here. Love, right? DaNaisha Love. Is there a female voice in painting? Is there a painterly equivalent of Charlotte Bronte, Jean Rhys or Annie Ernaux? This book suggests there is and that it is defined by woundedness. The worthy women artists who diligently persevered with their craft, from 1548 onward, sometimes gained reputations for themselves by brilliantly evoking the styles of the famous male artists of their time; the 17th-century Dutch painter Judith Leyster mimicked the style of her countryman Frans Hals perfectly, for example. In the sequence of the women artists presented here, the first to blaze out with an original female style was Frida Kahlo: Her paintings expressed an undeniable authenticity, a newly experienced awareness of the world, unlike anything else. Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. Higgie writes: At the age of 6, Frida contracted polio and at 18, she was involved in a cataclysmic accident: A tram crashed into the bus she was traveling on. A handrail pierced her body. Her pelvis, her collarbone, her spine and her ribs were broken; her leg, withered from her childhood disease, was fractured in 11 places; her shoulder was dislocated and one of her feet was crushed. She underwent 32 operations. One of her legs turned gangrenous and was amputated. Her husband, the painter Diego Rivera, also caused her emotional pain. According to Higgie, Their relationship was tempestuous, adoring, furious; both had affairs. Yet nothing stopped Kahlo from painting. When she was bedridden, she hung a mirror above her bed so that she could paint herself. She said, I paint myself because I am alone. I am the subject I know best. There is an energy, an almost supernatural force, about her work that is very difficult to describe in words; it has to do with the urgency of the paint marks: the need that drove her to transcribe her disability and psychological instability into beauty and permanence. WALK WITH ME A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer By Kate Clifford Larson UNTIL I AM FREE Fannie Lou Hamers Enduring Message to America By Keisha N. Blain On Aug. 22, 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer, a Black sharecropper from Mississippi, took her place before the credentials committee at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. She was there to challenge her home states attempt to seat an all-white delegation. On that sweltering day, in front of television cameras, Hamer proceeded to recount her efforts to register to vote in a state that historically had denied Black citizens the right to do so. Almost two years before, she said, she had journeyed 26 miles by bus to a distant courthouse to take the states required literacy test. Afterward, she and the group of Black citizens she was traveling with were detained by the police an apparent attempt to intimidate them and when she arrived home, she found that her white landlord, incensed over her determination to register, was evicting her from the farm where she worked. The following June, she went on, as she returned from a voter registration workshop, authorities in Winona, Miss., arrested her and her traveling companions. Hamer told the credentials committee of being restrained, beaten with a blackjack and sexually assaulted by the police. Is this America, she asked boldly, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America? While Hamers plea to seat Black delegates from her Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party failed, she succeeded in imprinting on the American consciousness a vivid image of the viciousness of white Southern racism. After the convention, she returned to Mississippi to continue her fight to register Black Americans as well as to battle against all forms of discrimination. Plain-spoken, with only a sixth-grade education, Hamer was charismatic and a brilliant grass-roots organizer. Over time, she successfully pushed Mississippi to open up voting to Black people, transforming local, state and national politics, a process made a little easier after the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The uncertainty over the federal debt ceiling is starting to get serious. The U.S. government will run out of its ability to borrow money sometime this month, the Treasury Department has said. Economically, that does not need to be a problem, because investors remain enthusiastic about lending money to Washington. Doing so has been among the worlds safest investments. Politically, however, the debt-ceiling deadline presents a problem. Over the next few weeks, Congress will need to pass legislation to increase borrowing, and nobody in Washington seems to know how that will happen. The uncertainty has the potential to roil financial markets and ultimately increase Washingtons borrowing costs, as happened during a debt-ceiling fight in 2011. Today, we will explain the three most obvious ways the current standoff could end, as well as the obstacles to each. 1. The bipartisan solution The debt ceiling is a strange creation. In many other countries, the legislature effectively approves government borrowing when it passes a spending bill or a tax cut, and many economists consider that policy to be wise. Its akin to the way a household budget works: You decide whether you can afford a car before you buy it rather than buying it and later debating whether to pay off the auto loan. White House aides say privately that Mr. Biden is pushing Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema to spend as much as possible in the final bill. Administration officials also say the reduced cost of spending and tax cuts in the bill means Democrats will have an easier time settling on the revenue increases including tax hikes on high earners and corporations to cover the price tag. Republicans say the legislation inserts too much government into peoples lives and contend that its tax increases would cripple the economy. But the bills proponents see a rare and perhaps fleeting opportunity to deliver on decades of promises that Democrats have made to voters. Privately, many Democrats fear they could lose their congressional majorities next year in midterm elections making this potentially their last chance for some time to create programs they believe will prove to be effective and popular. If the final package fails to meet this moment, it will be a squandered opportunity of historic consequence, said Lindsay Owens, the executive director of the progressive Groundwork Collaborative in Washington. These arent just numbers on a page or props for political posturing every dollar represents real investments in climate, housing, caregiving and other critical programs our communities need to survive and thrive. On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders have set their sights on Oct. 31 as the next self-imposed deadline to try to pass both the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the sprawling domestic policy package. Lawmakers and progressive interest groups have begun lobbying Democratic leaders and the White House to keep their preferred spending programs in the bill, all or in part. Supporters of what Mr. Biden initially proposed as a $400 billion investment in home health care for disabled and older Americans, including the powerful Service Employees International Union, are pushing to preserve that spending at a level that both expands access to in-home care and also raises the wages of care workers. Those workers disproportionately include women of color, making the spending a key plank of Mr. Bidens promise to invest in racial equity. On Tuesday, the centrist Progressive Policy Institute issued a report outlining a potential $2 trillion plan built around efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a means-tested prekindergarten program, an expansion of the Affordable Care Act and a more modest extension of the tax credit for parents than Mr. Biden has championed. Chinese tech companies are reeling from regulation. Nervous creditors are hoping for a bailout for Chinas largest developer. Growing numbers of executives are going to jail. An entire industry is shutting down. For Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, its all part of the plan. Under Mr. Xi, China is reshaping how business works and limiting executives power. Long in coming, but rapid in execution, the policies are driven by a desire for state control and self-reliance as well as concerns about debt, inequality and influence by foreign countries, including the United States. Emboldened by swelling nationalism and his success with Covid-19, Mr. Xi is remaking Chinas business world in his own image. Above all else, that means control. Where once executives had a green light to grow at any cost, officials now want to dictate which industries boom, which ones bust and how it happens. And the changes offer a glimpse of Mr. Xis vision for managing the economy, ahead of a political meeting expected to solidify his plans for an unprecedented third term in charge. In 1997, Mr. Komansky oversaw Merrill Lynchs acquisition of Mercury Asset Management of Britain, one of Europes largest investment firms, for about $5.3 billion. It was the most expensive purchase ever in the money management business at the time. He also struck a deal with HSBC to provide online banking and investment services, which have since become an everyday offering from banks. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Mr. Komansky had a big, backslapping personality that fueled his rise from financial adviser trainee to consummate Wall Street insider. In the course of his career he was also vice chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and a director of the asset manager BlackRock, from 2003 to 2017. Ive seen a lot of executives in my career, and he had the single best capacity to connect with people, whether it was one-on-one or an audience of a thousand, James P. Gorman, the chief executive of Morgan Stanley, said in an interview. Mr. Gorman was a young management consultant at McKinsey & Company when Mr. Komansky recruited him to Merrill Lynch on a handshake. We never discussed compensation, Mr. Gorman said, we never discussed a contract, nothing it was all on trust. Mr. Komanskys Wall Street career was not without its dramatic moments. In 2002 he issued an apology after Merrill Lynch research analysts were charged with defrauding buyers on certain stocks, leading to a $200 million settlement with the State of New York. As a New York Stock Exchange director, from 1997 to 2003, he stood by his friend Richard A. Grasso, the exchanges chief executive, when the boards awarding Mr. Grasso a $140 million pay package caused an uproar. Mr. Komanskys tenure at Merrill ended in July 2003, a year earlier than planned, when he ceded his management role to E. Stanley ONeal. Mr. ONeal, as the firms president and chief operating officer, had replaced senior executives loyal to Mr. Komansky and later took the unusual step of creating an operating committee that did not include the C.E.O. Read more about Haugens testimony in The Timess live briefing about the hearing. In other Facebook news, the company filed a motion yesterday to dismiss an antitrust case brought by the F.T.C. The judge has until mid-November to respond. Image HERES WHATS HAPPENING Oil prices hit their highest levels since 2014. OPEC and its allies declined to significantly increase supplies, despite pressure from President Biden and other leaders to ramp up production to stem rapidly rising energy prices. Analysts expect tight supplies to continue to push up prices through the end of the year. Another Chinese property developer misses a bond payment. With markets on edge about Evergrande, the smaller luxury apartment developer Fantasia missed a $206 million bond payment, catching some investors by surprise and raising concerns about the broader health of Chinas heavily indebted property industry. Scrutiny grows over Fed officials personal trading practices. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, called for an insider trading investigation by the S.E.C., asking the agency to look into transactions by three Fed officials last year. Hours later, the Fed said that it had asked its Office of Inspector General to conduct an independent review. A jury orders Tesla to pay $137 million to a former employee over racist treatment. Owen Diaz, a Black former worker for the carmaker, had accused Tesla of ignoring racial abuse he faced. Separately, the top auto-safety regulator in the U.S. declined to open an investigation into whether Teslas batteries were prone to catching on fire, after receiving reports of fires in China. Is Ozy Media open or closed? The digital media company said on Friday that it would shut down after a series of reports about misleading practices. Yesterday, Ozys C.E.O., Carlos Watson, insisted in TV interviews that the outlet was going to open for business. Ron Conway, an early Ozy investor, told The Times that he was troubled to hear what Watson had to say, and that he had urged him to direct Ozys remaining funds to employees. A fund management company that invested more than $2 million in Ozy Media filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming Ozy engaged in fraudulent, deceptive and illegal conduct. The lawsuit, filed by LifeLine Legacy Holdings of Beverly Hills, Calif., represents the latest challenge for Ozy, which was backed by a bevy of high-profile investors and announced on Friday that it had shut down after its business practices and leadership had come under scrutiny. LifeLine claims in the lawsuit that Ozy, a multimedia outlet led by the former MSNBC host Carlos Watson, failed to disclose pertinent facts about its business when the fund managers executives were considering an investment from late 2020 until February, when it agreed to buy a $2 million stake in the company. A spokesman for Mr. Watson declined to comment on the lawsuit. In the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where Ozy Media is based, LifeLine cites a conference call that took place in February between Ozy and Goldman Sachs. On that call, as The New York Times reported on Sept. 26, an Ozy executive apparently impersonated a YouTube executive, in an effort to assure the Goldman team that videos produced by Ozy were a success on YouTube. In a few weeks, an estimated 20,000 ministers, activists and executives from nearly every country in the world are set to descend on Glasgow to hammer out how to make progress on climate change. And yet, the Marshall Islands chief negotiator still doesnt know how many people from her country are coming with her. An activist from Kenya has no idea when, or if, he will get vaccinated against Covid-19, while another from Mexico has flown to the United States to get a dose. And the British government hosts are still trying to figure out how to get Scotlands health labs ready to process coronavirus tests in case of an outbreak. The climate summit, known as the 26th session of the Conference of Parties, or COP26, will be one of the biggest international gatherings held during the Covid-19 pandemic when it starts Oct. 31. Among those expected to attend are Queen Elizabeth, Pope Francis and at least 100 presidents and prime ministers, including President Biden of the United States. The stakes are exceptionally high. The biggest polluting countries in the world are under the spotlight to show whether they can do what is necessary to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Coronavirus cases continue to soar. And many of the summit participants will be coming from countries where vaccines are still not widely available, particularly in the global south. Globally, fewer than half of all adults have been vaccinated against Covid-19, illustrating the inequities of vaccination. This vegetarian Wellington from Alexa Weibel holds a savory mushroom center for a Thanksgiving dish that is autumnal, festive and filling all at once. Credit... Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Headliner Nami Nori Two years ago, the chefs Taka Sakaeda and Jihan Lee, with their partner, the operations director Lisa Limb, established a branch of this restaurant in the West Village, an elegantly spare, pale space specializing in temaki, the open hand rolls. It now has a sibling in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The airy new restaurant, which offers sheltered outdoor seating adjacent to McCarren Park, takes its cue from the original, with similar decor and two temaki counters for the two chefs. But there are some notable differences and new specialties for this location: Spice-fueled cauliflower temaki, and one called Phancy Philly, combining cream cheese, smoked salmon, caviar and chives (lacking only a pinch of everything spice), are a couple of them. Sashimi with topneck clams and cilantro gremolata, crisp rice chips for dipping into a salmon mixture, and nori chips for attacking a mushroom dip also join the lineup of items like calamari with yuzu soy, Asari clam soup with miso and butter, and spicy crab temaki. Some of the beers and sakes come from Brooklyn producers. (Opens Thursday) 236 North 12th Street (Driggs Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, naminori.nyc. Opening Atlantic Grill The Lincoln Center area is buzzing again. As the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and other arts institutions awaken from Covid hibernation, there are more restaurants in business. Monte Carlo Hospitality Group, new owners for this seafood restaurant, have revised its configuration. Theyve reduced its size; it no longer runs through the block and can be entered only from West 65th Street. The dining room has been redecorated in vibrant tones of red, blue and green, with drapery and chandeliers. The chef and partner, Antonio Salvatore, features a catch of the day, a particular fish that can be ordered in raw preparations like crudo or sashimi, and cooked various ways. 50 West 65th Street, 212-362-7800, atlanticgrill.com. Anassa Taverna With the original in Astoria, Queens, and an outpost on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this Greek establishment has now added a third location, in the space that housed Danny Meyers North End Grill in Battery Park City. Here, the owners, Nick Tsoulos and Nick Pashalis, have added Peter Poulakakos and his business partner, Paul Lamas, both of whom already have extensive restaurant holdings in the downtown area. Both the new partners are of Greek heritage, and this is their first Greek restaurant. The extensive menu compiles Greek dinings greatest hits, with fish by the pound, some raw bar specialties, a tower of crackling eggplant and zucchini chips, shrimp saganaki, typical spreads, fish in parchment and lamb chops. Natural wood finishes, hanging plants and photos of female Greek celebrities (including Jackie Onassis) define the interior; theres outdoor seating for 80. 104 North End Avenue (Murray Street), 646-968-1025, anassataverna.com. LMNO The restaurateur and impresario Serge Becker (of La Esquina and Miss Lilys, among others) said he and the Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephen Starr had been talking about a joint venture for some time. Its finally happening, after more than a years delay, in Philadelphia under the Starr Restaurant umbrella. Theyve come up with a multifaceted establishment combining restaurant, bar, bookstore, art gallery and a music room thats a nod to Mr. Starrs early career as a concert promoter. They want it to be a showcase for artists. The name, Mr. Becker said, means nothing but added that its a section of the alphabet easily stumbled over and that Mr. Starr had often considered it for a restaurant. Baja California is the inspiration for the chef Francisco Ramirezs food, some of which is sizzled on a live-fire grill. Tacos and several large-format dishes like a whole fish and lamb shanks are menu highlights. There are multiple dining sections, including an outdoor area wreathed in greenery. (Wednesday) 1739-1749 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 215-770-7001, lmnophilly.com. Here, it would seem, is where the conflict ought to end Larson in retreat, The Kindest canceled. But neither side was satisfied. Larson, her reputation hanging by a thread, needed assurances that Dorland would stop making her accusations. Dorland still wanted Larson to explicitly, publicly admit that her words were in Larsons story. She couldnt stop wondering what if Larson published a short-story collection? Or even a novel that spun out of The Kindest? Shed be right back here again. On Sept. 6, 2018, Dorlands lawyer raised her demand to $15,000, and added a new demand that Larson promise to pay Dorland $180,000 should she ever violate the settlement terms (which included never publishing The Kindest again). Larson saw this as an even greater provocation; her lawyer replied three weeks later with a lengthy litany of allegedly defamatory claims that Dorland had made about Larson. Who, he was asking, was the real aggressor here? How could anyone believe that Dorland was the injured party? It is a mystery exactly how Dorland was damaged, Larsons new lawyer, Andrew Epstein, wrote. My clients gross receipts from The Kindest amounted to $425. To Dorland, all this felt intensely personal. Someone snatches her words, and then accuses her of defamation too? Standing down seemed impossible now: How could she admit to defaming someone, she thought, when she was telling the truth? Shed come too far, spent too much on legal fees to quit. I was desperate to recoup that money, Dorland told me. She reached out to an arbitration-and-mediation service in California. When Andrew Epstein didnt respond to the mediator, she considered suing Larson in small-claims court. On Dec. 26, Dorland emailed Epstein, asking if he was the right person to accept the papers when she filed a lawsuit. As it happened, Larson beat her to the courthouse. On Jan. 30, 2019, Dorland and her lawyer, Cohen, were both sued in federal court, accused of defamation and tortious interference that is, spreading lies about Larson and trying to tank her career. Theres a moment in Larsons short story Gabe Dove also pulled from real life where Chuntao notices a white family picnicking on a lawn in a park and is awed to see that theyve all peacefully fallen asleep. I remember going to college and seeing people just dead asleep on the lawn or in the library, Larson told me. No fear that harm will come to you or that people will be suspicious of you. Thats a real privilege right there. Larsons biggest frustration with Dorlands accusations was that they stole attention away from everything shed been trying to accomplish with this story. You havent asked me one question about the source of inspiration in my story that has to do with alcoholism, that has to do with the Chinese American experience. Its extremely selective and untrue to pin a source of a story on just one thing. And this is what fiction writers know. To ask if her story is about Dorland is, Larson argues, not only completely beside the point, but ridiculous. I have no idea what Dawn is thinking. I dont, and thats not my job to know. All I can tell you about is how it prompted my imagination. That also, she said, is what artists do. We get inspired by language, and we play with that language, and we add to it and we change it and we recontextualize it. And we transform it. When Larson discusses The Kindest now, the idea that its about a kidney donation at all seems almost irrelevant. If that hadnt formed the storys pretext, she believes, it would have been something else. Its like saying that Moby Dick is a book about whales, she said. As for owing Dorland a heads-up about the use of that donation, Larson becomes more indignant, stating that no artist has any such responsibility. If I walk past my neighbor and hes planting petunias in the garden, and I think, Oh, it would be really interesting to include a character in my story who is planting petunias in the garden, do I have to go inform him because hes my neighbor, especially if Im still trying to figure out what it is I want to say in the story? I just couldnt disagree more. With a month left until Election Day, Eric Adams is finally starting to use some of his sizable campaign war chest, releasing his first post-primary television ad on Tuesday in the general election for mayor of New York City. The ad focuses on his working-class roots and his mother, Dorothy Adams, who died in March a departure from his ads during the Democratic primary, which focused on policing. My mom cleaned houses and worked three jobs to give us a better life in a city that too often fails families like ours, Mr. Adams says in the ad, as a Black woman is shown cleaning a home and embracing her children at the end of the day. Mr. Adams then appears onscreen with a smile and says that the city must invest in early childhood education and affordable housing: Thats how we really make a difference. Mr. Mullins, known for being an outspoken figure who does not shy away from media attention, has not responded to messages seeking comment about the raid, which was reported earlier by The New York Daily News. His departure from the union, which represents about 13,000 active and retired police sergeants in New York, marked the end of a 19-year tenure in which Mr. Mullins cut a figure in New York and nationally as a staunch opponent of police reform whose forceful advocacy for his members sometimes veered into impropriety. Although the organization Mr. Mullins led is significantly smaller than the Police Benevolent Association, the citys largest police union, Mr. Mullins received outsized attention over the years, thanks in part to his bluster and willingness to engage in online provocation. Since first assuming his post in 2002, Mr. Mullins has been a vociferous critic of mayors, police commissioners and other local officials. But he has made particularly brash remarks about Mayor Bill de Blasio, accusing him of turning his back on cops and promoting anti-police attitudes. After years of escalating rhetoric, Mr. Mullins declared war on the mayor last year after two officers were shot. Ed Mullins dishonored his uniform, his city and his union more times than I can count, Mr. de Blasio said on Twitter after the union announced Mr. Mullinss resignation. It was just a matter of time before his endless hatred would catch up with him. That day has come. The conflict between the two escalated last year after Mr. Mullins shared on Twitter a police report documenting the arrest of Mr. de Blasios daughter, Chiara, during protests over police brutality and racial justice. The Police Department does not typically release internal reports, and the one that Mr. Mullins shared contained personal information about Ms. de Blasio. Mr. Mullins is being brought up for department discipline over the tweet. A hearing on the charges started last month but was postponed after one of Mr. Mullinss lawyers had a medical issue. The Police Departments disciplinary trial calendar shows another hearing set for Oct. 27. But officials said that 8,000 school employees had refused to be vaccinated and had been placed on unpaid leave. [N.Y.C. Schools Vaccine Mandate Is in Place. 96% of Teachers Got a Shot.] The employee mandate for the schools followed a state effort to require more than 650,000 hospital and nursing home workers to get vaccinated. That directive took effect last week, prompting a last-minute rush for shots. As my colleague Daniel Slotnik reported, Northwell Health, the states largest health care provider, announced on Monday that it had fired 1,400 employees who had refused to get vaccinated. The school vaccination requirement was a test for Mayor Bill de Blasio that could prefigure a broader vaccination push for other segments of the municipal work force. He has proudly cited the citys record in keeping school buildings open during most of the last academic year, when other districts switched to all-remote instruction. He dropped a remote option for this year. Last week, he increased coronavirus testing in schools and relaxed quarantine rules, changes intended to ease the disruptions that came with frequent classroom closings during the first week of school last month. Unvaccinated students are now being tested weekly. Fewer crossing guards? Fewer hot meals? My colleague Eliza Shapiro, who covers education in New York, writes that some schools will probably have to cope with staff shortages this week unless teachers who remain unvaccinated get their first shots, as Meisha Porter, the schools chancellor, urged them to. Its never too late, she said. You are more than welcome to come back to work. Our students need you. In the chic neighborhood of SoHo, more than 40 stores have closed during the pandemic. More than a quarter of the offices, once among the most desirable and expensive in New York City, are empty, the highest vacancy rate in Manhattan. The international tourists who fueled the areas economy vanished a year and a half ago. Perhaps no commercial district in the American city hardest hit by the pandemics financial devastation has been hurt more than the picturesque district of ornate cast-iron buildings, art galleries and designer boutiques that made it one of the countrys hippest neighborhoods. As New York climbs out of the depths of an economic free-fall, it has notched some major milestones lately. In-person classes have resumed at the citys schools, Broadway theaters have reopened and 300,000 municipal workers have returned to their offices full time. But on SoHos cobblestone streets, the economic scars have not yet healed, a sign of how vulnerable New York is to a contagious disease that has unraveled an urban economy built on face-to-face interactions in offices, restaurants and stores. All this would be bad enough if it were just history. But what are we to make of Hunters recent venture as a visual artist a field in which he has no formal training and no commercial track record? In case you missed this: A SoHo gallerist intends to sell 15 of Hunters works at prices of up to $500,000 apiece. To safeguard the propriety of these transactions, the White House has issued ethics guidelines that are supposed to keep things aboveboard by hiding the identity of the buyers from both Hunter and the White House. And it falls to the gallerist that is, the person who stands to gain from the commissions to police the guidelines by rejecting suspiciously lucrative offers. It screams of a scam. The Treasury Department warned last year that the anonymity of high-value art transactions could make the market attractive to those engaging in illegal financial activities or people subject to U.S. sanctions, The Timess Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported in July. In another report of dubious activities, Mattathias Schwartz wrote in Business Insider about emails that indicated that in 2015, while his dad was vice president, Hunter was allegedly exploring a $2 million-plus success fees deal with two Democratic donors to help recover Libyan assets that had been frozen as a result of U.S. sanctions. The effort came to nothing Hunters reputation for hard living didnt help but at least one of the donors was attracted to Hunters offer because he is son of #2 who has Libya file. When it comes to opening doors in Washington, Schwartz notes, the illusion of access can be as valuable as hard currency. Some readers may be inclined to dismiss this as merely an indictment of a troubled son. They might ask themselves what conclusions they would draw if this were about, say, Eric Trump. Some readers will also think it isnt the presidents job to police his adult son. But it is his job to ensure that Hunter and other relatives dont profit by trading on his position in government. That would be corruption. The president will have to do better than give us his word as a Biden that hell put an end to it. In an essay last year, my former colleague Charlie Warzel argued that such promises only work to obscure the platforms fundamental incapacity for reform. The architecture of the social network its algorithmic mandate of engagement over all else, the advantage it gives to divisive and emotionally manipulative content will always produce more objectionable content at a dizzying scale, he wrote. You see lots of people putting forth a hopeful idea of a new, humane social media platform to rescue us one that respects privacy or is less algorithmically coercive, Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, told Warzel. But if were being honest, what theyre really proposing at that point is not really social media anymore. Indeed, in 2019, Annalee Newitz argued in The Times that the time had come for social media to be replaced by some other medium of communication, much the same way that television was replaced by the internet. We need to stop handing off responsibility for maintaining public space to corporations and algorithms and give it back to human beings, she wrote. We may need to slow down, but weve created democracies out of chaos before. We can do it again. In defense of Facebook As The Facebook Files were being published, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, spoke on a podcast to defend the company, claiming its good works outweighed its sins: Cars create way more value in the world than they destroyed, he said. And I think social media is similar. Its not just people whose salaries depend on believing this argument who believe it. Haugen, the whistle-blower, suggests that Facebook can still play a positive role in the world: I dont hate Facebook, she wrote of her motives for leaking. I love Facebook. I want to save it. And true enough, Facebook does serve some socially useful functions: Six of the 10 fastest-growing suburban counties in the United States are in Texas. Fort Worth is Americas fastest-growing city with at least 500,000 residents; Austin is in second place. Each has a unique economic mix, culture and character, from the global gateways of Houston and Dallas to the technology and innovation hub of Austin. El Paso is the anchor of a thriving binational mega-region; San Antonio is a cultural center and a leader in life sciences. The states changing demographics are just a part of the story; its changing economy and industrial mix is the other. I have spent more than 20 years working as an economic development adviser for cities around the world. Whats striking about Texas is the outsize role that the private sector, P3s (partnerships between governments and the private sector), developers and businesses of all sizes expect to play in policymaking. That can be a bad thing, because companies can and do take undue advantage of the states business-friendly environment. But companies are not just attracted to Texas because of its low taxes, generous incentives and unrestricted land use. They genuinely value the idea of limited government and having a seat at the policymaking table. This is why were seeing so many California companies moving to Texas, or at least expanding into it in the past year, for example, Oracle, Tesla and HP Enterprise. In my experience, Texas has a much more diverse, broader group of community and policy stakeholders than youd find in California, where city, state and county officials and metropolitan planning organizations are hugely powerful. Texas is no longer just about big oil and cattle; we have one of the most diversified economies in the country. Texass creative class professionals, techies, scientists, educators and cultural types has grown nearly 30 percent since 2010. Yet Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican Party have embraced a top-down policy agenda that is backward-looking, excludes huge swaths of Texass citizenry and runs against the grain of many of its new stakeholders values. They are looking to shore it up by a combination of gerrymandering, voter suppression and relentless cultural warfare. As long as Texas continues to grow, they see no downside to it. But it seems to me and many other Texans that they are making a fatal miscalculation. Most of the people and companies that have been drawn to Texas arent conservative pilgrims in search of endless culture-war strife. Many of them Republican soccer moms and Democratic software engineers, Hispanic building contractors and Black attorneys are appalled by the G.O.P.s divisive agenda. Results from the August 2021 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll bear this out. Fifty-two percent say Texas is headed in the wrong direction the worst wrong-track number weve seen since the project began. Many Texans are deeply concerned about climate change: The state is still recovering from Hurricane Harvey and the severe winter storm of 2021. Many worry about their mounting health care costs: Almost two in 10 Texans have no health insurance, and the governor and Legislature have refused to expand Medicaid funding. Covid has taken the lives of almost 65,000 Texans, and the states low vaccination rate makes it likely there will be many more. The high-technology companies that have been driving so much of Houstons and Austins growth dont have to stay in Texas, and they wont if it becomes harder for them to recruit top people to move here. One opportunity to reassess and adjust sanctions is occurring in Mexico, as the Venezuelan government negotiates with its democratic opposition. While the Nicolas Maduro regime has said it would not agree to internationally supervised elections until sanctions on the state-owned oil company are lifted, the White House, along with Canada and the European Union, has signaled willingness to loosen some sanctions in exchange for reforms. What those reforms need to be and which sanctions would be lifted are not clear. U.S. sanctions have a long history in Latin America. Cuba is the most obvious example of how sanctions can be piled on, even if they clearly have failed to achieve anything. Originally established in 1962, the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba was codified into law by Congress in 1992 and again in 1996, all with the stated intent of improving human rights and overturning the Communist government. Almost 60 years later, not only does Cuba remain one of the most repressive societies in the world, but in 2018 President Raul Castro passed the torch to the next generation, with the appointment of the Communist Party apparatchik Miguel Diaz-Canel. On the campaign trail in 2020, Joe Biden promised to revisit U.S. policy toward Cuba. But rather than seeking a way to scale back President Donald Trumps restrictions on travel and remittances to the island, after the Cuban governments crackdown on mostly peaceful demonstrators in July, the Biden White House imposed its own sanctions on four members of the Cuban government and on the national police. It was another ineffective move, since the existing sanctions had failed to prevent the original crackdown. Central America has also shown how impotent U.S. economic punishments can be. In response to a crackdown against democratic activists by President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, the Trump and Biden administrations have imposed sanctions on more than 100 public officials, including Mr. Ortega and his wife and the vice president, Rosario Murillo. Despite these punishments and the suspension of U.S. development support, seven of Nicaraguas potential opposition candidates for the Nov. 7 presidential elections are in jail or under house arrest and over 100 political prisoners remain behind bars. Before Mr. Blinkens most recent additions, this year the White House already placed sanctions against more than 55 Central Americans determined to have engaged in corruption. Beyond the risk of just adding people to the list of reprobates ad infinitum under individual sanctions, the economic repercussions of financial sanctions, according to the Tufts professor Daniel Drezner, are likely to trigger repression, corruption and backsliding on human development indicators. Dr. Manabe and Dr. Hasselmann will split half of the approximately $1.1 million prize. The other half will go to Dr. Parisi, whose work was largely separate from that of the other two. After the prize was awarded, many climate scientists said they were only marginally aware of Dr. Parisis work or had not heard of him at all. Dr. Manabe said in a phone interview that five days ago a group of Japanese journalists contacted him saying they had heard a rumor that he would soon win the Nobel Prize. But he did not believe them. Then, early this morning, he received a phone call from the Nobel committee. Thats when I believed I had won, he said. Three hours after the prize was announced, Dr. Manabe said he was not aware he was sharing the prize with two others. He praised Dr. Hasselmanns work and how it built on his own, but said he was not familiar with Dr. Parisi. After taking the call from the committee, Dr. Manabe parsed through the list of past winners of the Physics prize, before realizing this was the first time the prize has been awarded for climate science. I think they have made a point of choosing something that is critical to society, he said. Work that helps forecast our warming future. All three scientists have been working to understand the complex natural systems that have been driving climate change for decades, and their discoveries have provided the scaffolding on which predictions about climate are built. The first dog in space. The first man and woman. Now Russia has clinched another spaceflight first before the United States: Beating Hollywood to orbit. A Russian actress, Yulia Peresild, a director, Klim Shipenko, and their veteran Russian astronaut guide, Anton Shkaplerov, launched on a Russian rocket toward the International Space Station on Tuesday. Their mission is to shoot scenes for the first feature-length film in space. While cinematic sequences in space have long been portrayed on big screens using sound stages and advanced computer graphics, never before has a full-length movie been shot and directed in space. Whether the film they shoot in orbit is remembered as a cinematic triumph, the mission highlights the busy efforts of governments as well as private entrepreneurs to expand access to space. Earths orbit and beyond were once visited only by astronauts handpicked by government space agencies. But a growing number of visitors in the near future will be more like Ms. Sherepild and Mr. Shipenko, and less like the highly trained Mr. Shkaplerov and his fellow space explorers. A Soyuz rocket, the workhorse of Russias space program, lifted off on time at 4:55 a.m. Eastern time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. For more than five hours on Monday, the world got a taste of life without Facebook and its apps. In Mexico, politicians were cut off from their constituents. In Turkey and Kenya, shopkeepers couldnt sell their wares. And in Colombia, a nonprofit organization that uses WhatsApp to connect victims of gender-based violence to lifesaving services found its work impaired. Because we have a field team, we were able to mitigate some of the more serious risks todays outage presented, said Alex Berryhill, the director of digital operations for the group, Cosas de Mujeres. But that might not have been the case for hundreds of other hotlines around the world. Today was a big reminder: Technologies are tools, not solutions. The Facebook outage on Monday was a planetary-scale demonstration of how essential the companys services have become to daily life. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger have long been more than just a way to chat and share photos. They are critical platforms for doing business, arranging medical care, conducting virtual classes, carrying out political campaigns, responding to emergencies and much, much more. In parts of the developing world, the cost of the Facebook outage was particularly acute. In India, Latin America and Africa, its services are essentially the internet for many people almost a public utility, usually cheaper than a phone call and depended upon for much of the communication and commerce of daily life. A Facebook whistle-blower is taking her campaign to Washington. Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook who leaked internal documents to The Wall Street Journal that have generated numerous revelations about the company, will testify in a Senate hearing on Tuesday morning. The hearing, which starts at 10 a.m., is part of Ms. Haugens tour aimed at bringing more government oversight to the social media giant. She appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday night and is expected to meet with European regulators this month. Ms. Haugen has warned that Facebook does not have the incentive to change its core goal of increasing engagement even with harmful content without intervention from regulators. Here is what to expect at the hearing: Ms. Haugen will focus on the companys push to obtain younger and younger users. Some of the research she leaked to The Journal showed that Instagram harmed teenagers by feeding on anxiety and, in some cases, suicidal ideations. The research revealed that one in three teens reported feeling worse about their body image because of Instagram. I am here today because I believe that Facebooks products harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy and much more, Ms. Haugen said in written testimony. The companys leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer and wont make the necessary changes because they have put their immense profits before people. Congressional action is needed. WASHINGTON A former Facebook product manager who turned into a whistle-blower gave lawmakers an unvarnished look into the inner workings of the worlds largest social network on Tuesday and detailed how the company was deliberate in its efforts to keep people including children hooked to its service. In more than three hours of testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Frances Haugen, who worked on Facebooks civic misinformation team for nearly two years until May, spoke candidly and with a level of insight that the companys executives have rarely provided. She said Facebook had purposely hidden disturbing research about how teenagers felt worse about themselves after using its products and how it was willing to use hateful content on its site to keep users coming back. Ms. Haugen also gave lawmakers information on what other data they should ask Facebook for, which could then lead to proposals to regulate the Silicon Valley giant as it increasingly faces questions about its global reach and power. Im here today because I believe Facebooks products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy, Ms. Haugen, 37, said during her testimony. The companys leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but wont make the necessary changes. Hours before 60 Minutes broadcast an interview on Sunday with a whistle-blower who has roiled Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, the companys chief executive, posted a video online. The 38-second clip featured him and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, sailing. The footage, which was taken with new Facebook glasses that can record video, made no reference to the weekslong scandal that has engulfed the company after the whistle-blower leaked documents showing that the social network had studied and understood the harmful effects of its products. Since The Wall Street Journal started publishing articles based on that leaked information last month, Mr. Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, have said nothing publicly about the revelations. Instead, Facebooks responses have featured Nick Clegg, the vice president of global affairs, and Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, among others. That has led lawmakers and others to question: Where are Facebooks top two leaders? Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg are deliberately avoiding public comment on the leaked documents, people with knowledge of the matter previously told The New York Times. That way, the executives can avoid negative press and appear to be above the fray, they said. Weve learned from the information that you provided that Facebook conducts whats called engagement-based ranking, which youve described as very dangerous. Could you talk more about why engagement-based ranking is dangerous? And do you think Congress should seek to pass legislation like the Filter Bubble Transparency Act that would give users the ability to avoid engagement-based ranking altogether? Facebook is going to say you dont want to give up engagement-based ranking. Youre not going to like Facebook as much if were not picking out the content for you. Thats, thats just not true. There are a lot of Facebook likes to present things as false choices, like you have to choose between having lots of spam. Like, lets say, imagine we ordered our feeds by time, like on iMessage or on there are other forms of social media that are chronologically based. Theyre going to say, youre going to get youre going to be spammed, like youre not going to enjoy your feed. The reality is that those experiences have a lot of permutations. There are ways that we can make those experiences where computers dont regulate what we see. We, together, socially regulate what we see. But they dont want us to have that conversation because Facebook knows that when they pick out the content that we focus on using computers, we spend more time on their platform, they make more money. The dangers of engagement-based ranking are that Facebook knows that content that elicits an extreme reaction from you is more likely to get a click, a comment or reshare. And its interesting because those clicks and comments and reshares arent even necessarily for your benefit. Its because they know that other people will produce more content if they get the likes and comments and reshares. They prioritize content in your feed so that you will give little hits of dopamine to your friends so they will create more content. And they have run experiments on people, producer side experiments, where they have confirmed this. But for a selection of high-stakes issues that could lead to real world harm, internet companies may need restrictive rules. Internet companies have also been encouraging people to think carefully about what they read and share, without banning certain kinds of conversations. Dr. Nyhan recognizes that its hard to decide what topics are high stakes, and hes worried that a handful of internet companies have grown so influential that they dictate public discourse, and they often enforce their policies poorly. Most of all, Dr. Nyhan rejects two overly simplistic ideas: that the average person is susceptible to falling for any kooky thing that they read online, and that those kooky things online pose little risk. We need to focus more on how the platforms can enable an extremist minority to foment harm and not on how the average person might be brainwashed by a piece of content they viewed a few times, Dr. Nyhan said. We should be thinking about the people who consume a large amount of hateful or extremist content on YouTube, or the anti-vaccine groups that dont reach a lot of people but could do a lot of harm to the people they do reach. Honestly, I hate this. Why should sites like YouTube and Facebook be designed to diffuse the worst risks of conspiracists and racists? What about the parent whos worried about side effects from his childs measles vaccine or your co-worker who wonders about the Arizona election recount? Not all things were curious about or are questioning are misinformation. Cant we just, you know, talk about stuff on the internet? Wont it be fine? Dr. Nyhans answer is basically, yes, it will probably be fine for most of us but we have to think about the margins. And on rare occasions that might mean sacrificing the ability to immediately say absolutely anything online in order to protect us all. This debate is a tricky one, and we want to hear from our readers on it. When, if ever, do you think internet companies like YouTube and Facebook should restrict what people say on their sites? How should they make this decision? Share your take in the comments. The On Tech team will be reading your thoughts and responding to a selection of them. Lazar Hayward, a former N.B.A. player, was arrested in Hawaii last week for trying to enter the state with a fake negative Covid test, the authorities said. Mr. Hayward, a first-round draft pick in 2010, and a woman traveling with him, Raven Randle had uploaded the fake documents onto Hawaiis Safe Travels portal, the police on the western Hawaiian island of Kauai said in a statement on Facebook. The state requires unvaccinated travelers to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival unless they present a negative Covid test. The pair were arrested on Sept. 28 soon after they had flown to Kauai from Los Angeles, the police said. They were immediately sent back to California. The Safe Travels system flagged the tests, which were then investigated by the states Department of the Attorney General before the two were arrested, the statement said. Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, civil rights lawyers who represent Floyd family members, called upon the governor to grant the pardon, but added that passing criminal justice reform measures was even more important. Like the U.S. Senate, the Texas Legislature left undone the hard but necessary work of protecting residents from unacceptable police violence, they wrote in a statement. The deadly Houston raid occurred in January 2019, when officers burst into the home of a Navy veteran, Dennis Tuttle, and his wife, Rhogena Nicholas, working on information that drugs had been bought there by Mr. Goines and others. A shootout ensued that left Mr. Tuttle and Ms. Nicholas dead and five officers wounded. Afterward, prosecutors said it appeared that Mr. Goines had lied about the drug purchases. The district attorneys office identified more than 150 people, including Mr. Floyd, who were convicted in cases where Mr. Goines was the sole witness or submitted a search warrant affidavit, said Joshua Reiss, the chief of the district attorneys post-conviction writs division. He said his office attempted to notify all of them so they could petition to have their convictions vacated. Mr. Floyd probably never received his letter, which was sent to a Houston address after he had moved to Minneapolis. Last year a pair of brothers, Steven and Otis Mallet Jr., were exonerated on the grounds that Mr. Goines had falsified evidence against them in an unrelated case. The pattern established by that case and the botched raid, Mr. Reiss said, means that other defendants who want relief will not be required to prove that Mr. Goines lied, only that their conviction rested on evidence he provided. Many of the defendants have been difficult to find, Ms. Mathis, the public defender, said. She filed the pardon application partly in hopes that the publicity would help reach more of them. WASHINGTON The Biden administration warned Arizona on Tuesday that it could lose some of its state and local recovery funds because it has been using money meant to combat the pandemic to undercut mask requirements in schools. In a letter to Arizonas Republican governor, Doug Ducey, the Treasury Department said the state was misusing the money, which was intended to help local governments bolster public health measures. As part of the $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package that Congress passed earlier this year, states and cities were awarded $350 billion of relief money that they could use for a wide variety of purposes. However, the funds cannot be used to impose conditions that would undermine efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 or discourage compliance with evidence-based solutions for stopping the spread of Covid-19, Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, wrote. Arizona was awarded $4.2 billion from the fund and has received about half of that so far. Arizonas Republican-controlled legislature banned school mask mandates earlier this year, but some school districts imposed them anyway. In August, Mr. Ducey announced that he was rolling out two education programs intended to undercut such requirements. The warning, according to those who have read it, was primarily aimed at front line agency officers, the people involved most directly in the recruiting and vetting of sources. The cable reminded C.I.A. case officers to focus not just on recruiting sources, but also on security issues including vetting informants and evading adversarial intelligence services. Among the reasons for the cable, according to people familiar with the document, was to prod C.I.A. case officers to think about steps they can take on their own to do a better job managing informants. Former officials said that there has to be more focus on security and counterintelligence, among both senior leaders and frontline personnel, especially when it comes to recruiting informants, which C.I.A. officers call agents. No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent, said Douglas London, a former agency operative. Sometimes there are things beyond our control but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect and people in senior positions are never held responsible. Mr. London said he was unaware of the cable. But his new book, The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence, argues that the C.I.A.s shift toward covert action and paramilitary operations undermined traditional espionage that relies on securely recruiting and handling agents. World wide messages to C.I.A. stations and bases that note troubling trends or problems, or even warnings about counterintelligence problems, are not unheard-of, according to former officials. Still, the memo outlining a specific number of informants arrested or killed by adversarial powers is an unusual level of detail, one that signals the importance of the current problems. Former officials said that counterintelligence officials typically like to keep such details secret even from the broad C.I.A. work force. Asked about the memo, a C.I.A. spokeswoman declined to comment. Sheetal T. Patel, who last year became the C.I.A.s assistant director for counterintelligence and leads that mission center, has not been reluctant to send out broad warnings to the C.I.A. community of current and former officers. WASHINGTON The share of the Democratic presidential vote in the Midwest declined most precipitously between 2012 and 2020 in counties that experienced the steepest losses in manufacturing and union jobs and saw declines in health care, according to a new report to be released this month. The partys worsening performance in the regions midsize communities often overlooked places like Chippewa Falls, Wis., and Bay City, Mich. poses a dire threat to Democrats, the report warns. Nationally and in the Midwest, Democratic gains in large metropolitan areas have offset their losses in rural areas. And while the partys struggles in the industrial Midwest have been well-chronicled, the 82-page report explicitly links Democratic decline in the region that elected Donald J. Trump in 2016 to the sort of deindustrialization that has weakened liberal parties around the world. We cannot elect Democrats up and down the ballot, let alone protect our governing majorities, if we dont address those losses, wrote Richard J. Martin, an Iowa-based market researcher and Democratic campaign veteran, in the report titled Factory Towns. Mr. Martin wrote the report in conjunction with Mike Lux and David Wilhelm, fellow Democratic strategists who, like him, also have roots in the region and worked together on President Bidens 1988 presidential campaign. WASHINGTON Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, holed up in an Airbnb in the countryside in May to ponder leaving the job he had held for more than a decade, over three presidencies. I spent a long weekend thinking about this and mapping out timetables and pros and cons, he said. He prayed over it. On Tuesday he announced his decision: He would step down by the end of the year. Dr. Collinss replacement, once nominated by President Biden, will have to be confirmed in an evenly divided Senate. A division of the Department of Health and Human Services, the N.I.H. describes itself as the largest biomedical research agency in the world. In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Biden called Dr. Collins one of the most important scientists of our time. After I was elected president, Dr. Collins was one of the first people I asked to stay in his role with the nation facing one of the worst public health crises in our history, Mr. Biden said. Millions of people will never know Dr. Collins saved their lives. Countless researchers will aspire to follow in his footsteps. And I will miss the counsel, expertise and good humor of a brilliant mind and dear friend. The Justice Department is reviewing its decision not to prosecute the F.B.I. agents who failed to pursue allegations of sexual abuse made in 2015 against Lawrence G. Nassar, the former physician for U.S.A. Gymnastics who was convicted two years later on state sex abuse and federal child pornography charges, a top department official said on Tuesday. The unusual review comes months after the Justice Departments watchdog issued a scathing report that sharply criticized how the F.B.I. handled the case, which first came to its attention when U.S.A. Gymnastics reported sexual abuse allegations to the bureaus Indianapolis field office in July 2015. Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz found that senior F.B.I. officials failed to notify state or local authorities or take steps to mitigate the threat that Mr. Nassar posed. Mr. Horowitzs report found that the special agent in charge of the field office, W. Jay Abbott, lied to the inspector generals investigators to hide his personal conflicts in the case and downplay errors that the F.B.I. had made. But the Justice Department ultimately chose not to prosecute Mr. Abbott, who retired in January 2018. Another agent from the same office, Michael Langeman, was fired over his handling of the matter. What is perhaps most notable about that interview is that she did it at all. Ms. Sinema rarely granted requests for sit-down interviews with national reporters during the rest of her 2018 campaign. Since coming to Washington, she has been one of the most elusive senators on Capitol Hill. She doesnt engage with Washington reporters in a serious way, doesnt hold open-to-the-public events in Arizona and has effectively cut off communication with the local progressive groups that worked to get her elected in 2018. Her spokesman did not respond when I emailed him. Ian Danley, the executive director of Arizona Wins, a coalition of 32 progressive advocacy organizations, said his group had registered nearly 200,000 new voters and knocked on more than two million doors in support of Ms. Sinemas 2018 campaign. She has not once met with his group or its partners since taking office in 2019, he said. That, Mr. Danley said, prompted the frustration that led to the viral ambushing of Ms. Sinema over the weekend in a bathroom at Arizona State University, where she teaches classes on social work and fund-raising. Activists from Living United for Change in Arizona, one of the groups in the Arizona Wins coalition, pressed Ms. Sinema to support the $3.5 trillion Democratic legislation that would expand the social safety net. Whats she supposed to do, she asked for a meeting they tried to go meet with the staff and the senator, that doesnt happen, Mr. Danley said. Thats a breakdown of constituent services, a breakdown of leadership thats not the fault of young people who are trying to lobby and influence their elected officials. Ms. Sinema, in a blistering statement, called the bathroom episode not legitimate protest. Another activist tried without success to engage Ms. Sinema on her flight to Washington from Phoenix on Monday and there was another group waiting for her at Reagan National Airport. There, she pantomimed listening to something on her iPhone, which was odd because during the flight she had her AirPods in. What happens next with Ms. Sinema is anyones guess. Unlike Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, her fellow Democratic holdout on Mr. Bidens legislation, Ms. Sinema hasnt publicly articulated what she wants from the negotiations, a development that got her skewered on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live. They need to do this, they have the time to do it, and the sooner they get about it, the better, he said on Tuesday. He even seemed to taunt Democrats. A day after Mr. Biden told Republicans they need to stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy, Mr. McConnell, in his signature deadpan, looked into television cameras on Capitol Hill to implore Democrats not to play Russian roulette with the American economy. Hardball tactics by Republicans on the debt ceiling are not new. Showdowns in 1995 and 1996 shut down the government but also helped foster a balanced-budget agreement. A new Republican House majority in 2011 pushed the government so close to default that Standard & Poors downgraded once-unassailable U.S. debt, but it also produced the Budget Control Act, which crimped spending for years. The 2006 showdown has been used by both parties as an object lesson. Mr. McConnell has pointed to it to show that partisanship is nothing new; among the no votes on the debt ceiling increase that year were Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama. Democrats point to what they say is the more obvious lesson: They let the vote go through on a narrow majority, with no filibuster. The same can be said for partisan debt ceiling increases passed in May 2003 and November 2004. This year is different: Not only are Republicans refusing to vote for the measure, theyre creating an obstacle to stop Democrats from pushing it through themselves. Theres still time for 10 Republicans to join us, no matter what some of the extremists on the hard right think, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, pleaded the day before the Wednesday vote to move to his debt ceiling bill. WASHINGTON The Justice Department, in response to pleas from national groups representing school administrators, is deploying federal law enforcement officials around the country to help address instances where people have threatened and harassed educators over divisive policy issues such as mask mandates and teaching about racism, and possibly pursue prosecutions. Citing a disturbing spike in harassment against school personnel in recent months, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo on Monday directing the F.B.I. and U.S. attorneys offices to meet with local officials over the next month to coordinate a response to the threats, which he said are not only illegal, they run counter to our nations core values. While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, Mr. Garland wrote, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views. The department also announced that it would form a task force with members from its criminal, national security and civil rights divisions to determine how to address attacks that rise to criminal offenses federally and locally. The department said it planned to create specialized training and guidance for local school boards and school administrators on how to report threats and collect evidence for possible prosecution. It was the final changing of the guard for Sgt. First Class Chelsea Porterfield. She was completing 20 months of service as the first female Sergeant of the Guard, running the day-to-day operations of the unit that for 84 years has stood watch over the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Early on Sept. 29, before the cemetery opened to the public, Sergeant Porterfield walked in slow, perfectly synchronized step with two white-gloved women clutching M14 rifles fitted with bayonets. The changing of the guard, a hallowed military tradition, has transfixed visitors to the Washington, D.C., area for decades. But this was the first time it had been carried out by three women, whose schedules happened to align that morning, according to a military spokesman. The image of three women upholding a sacred ritual underscored how visible women have become in the military, and moved fellow soldiers, veterans and military historians. The magnitude of the benefit startled even some of the staunchest supporters of home oxygen monitoring. Dr. Richard Levitan, an emergency room doctor who sounded the alarm about silent hypoxia in a guest essay for The Times, called the findings astounding. Its exceedingly rare in medicine to show such a huge difference in treatment, particularly with such a complicated disease, said Dr. Levitan, who practices at Littleton Regional Healthcare in New Hampshire. All of this happened with different management, in different hospitals, while the pandemic was unfolding. To have a 50 percent mortality difference is phenomenal. We almost never see a benefit as large as that. The researchers said the difference in mortality between the two groups appeared to be explained by the fact that people monitoring their oxygen levels at home sought medical care sooner in the course of their illness. Among the patients who went to the hospital, those who had used a pulse oximeter at home had lower levels of inflammation, as measured by a C-reactive protein (CRP) test. In addition to helping patients know when to seek medical care, a pulse oximeter can lower anxiety after a Covid-19 diagnosis. Ms. Collie said she experienced the benefit firsthand after experiencing a breakthrough infection this summer, despite being fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. She had a cough and tightness in her chest and regularly monitored her oxygen levels at home. It does give a lot of comfort in terms of checking where youre at, she said. This monitoring can modify your risk of a really bad outcome. I think its hugely empowering. To use a pulse oximeter, press the device open as you would press a clip or clothespin, and place your finger snugly inside. The device beams different wavelengths of light through your finger. Its targeting hemoglobin, a protein molecule in your blood that carries oxygen. Your pulse oximeter will give you a numerical reading a percentage that indicates the level of oxygen saturation in your blood. Within seconds, it lights up with numbers indicating your blood oxygen level and heart rate. Most healthy people will get an oxygen reading around 95 to 99 percent. Some people with existing health conditions may have a lower normal reading. In general, doctors say you should seek medical advice if the number drops rapidly or falls below 94. But the accuracy of the device can vary, particularly in patients with dark skin. One study found that the result wasnt accurate in one in 10 Black patients. A person with dark skin can still use the device, but doctors say its important to pay attention to any downward trend in oxygen readings, rather than fixating on a particular number. If youre sick at home with Covid-19 and your normal reading drops by four points or more, thats a good reason to call your doctor. Dark nail polish can also interfere with the reading. Indonesia will allow international flights to begin landing at the airport on Bali island next week as it weighs reopening the country to foreign tourists for the first time in more than 18 months. International carriers from countries including China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates could resume flights to Bali on Oct. 14, Luhut Pandjaitan, a top minister in the cabinet of President Joko Widodo, said on Monday. Under the current rules, eligible passengers would include Indonesian citizens as well as foreigners with a work permit or business visa. They would be subject to eight days quarantine at a hotel at their own expense. Bali is Indonesias most important tourist destination, and closing the island to foreign tourists has devastated the tourism industry, leading to tens of thousands of people losing their jobs. Indonesia has been the Southeast Asian nation hit hardest by Covid, with nearly 143,000 deaths. It reached a peak of nearly 57,000 cases a day in July, though the number of infections has dropped sharply since then. Some soldiers and police sold their weapons and ammunition before they negotiated their surrenders. Weapons dealers would pay about $1,200 for a single U.S.-service Beretta M9 handgun, the gun merchants said far more than a soldiers monthly salary, at a time when many police and soldiers were not being paid or resupplied with ammunition, food or water. American M4 carbines sell for about $4,000, the dealers said, especially if equipped with a laser sight or under-barrel grenade launcher. In contrast, a Kalashnikov rifle sells for about $900, the dealers said, and a Russian-made rocket-propelled grenade launcher for about $1,100. Pistols that NATO forces supplied to Afghan police officers sell for about $350. Almost all their transactions are in Pakistani rupees, and in cash, the dealers said. One gun merchant, Esmatullah, said he opened a shop in Kandahar Province roughly eight months ago, after the Taliban seized control of the immediate area. Before that, he said, he operated as a roving gun merchant, visiting government bases to buy weapons and ammunition from soldiers and police desperate for cash and fed up with a government in Kabul that they believed had abandoned them. We used to work as a mobile team, he said. We would meet many government soldiers and officers to buy weapons from them. After that we would take those weapons to the Taliban and sell it to them, or to anyone who would give us a good price. Australia and New Zealand moved closer on Tuesday to fully reopening their economies in the coming months, with leaders in both countries outlining steps to allow people vaccinated against the coronavirus to move more freely. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Australia could allow vaccinated foreign tourists to enter the country in 2022 at the earliest, even as it prioritizes travel by its own inoculated citizens and permanent residents. Skilled migrants and students who are vaccinated would then be allowed in, he said in an interview on Channel Seven, reaffirming plans announced in recent days. We will get to international visitors as well I believe next year, Mr. Morrison said. The priority is Australians. LONDON England took a high-stakes gamble when it sent millions of students back to school last month with neither vaccines nor a requirement to wear face masks, even as the coronavirus continued to course through the population. On Tuesday, the countrys Education Department issued its latest report card on how the plan is working: 186,000 students were absent from school on Sept. 30 with confirmed or suspected cases of the virus, 78 percent more than the number reported on Sept. 16, and the highest number since the pandemic began. Yet to hear many parents tell it, the bigger risk would have been to force the students to keep wearing masks or, worse, to keep them home. Its important for kids, said Morgane Kargadouris, who was picking up her daughter recently at Notting Hill Preparatory School in northwest London, where none of the children wear masks. So much of what they learn is through expressions and through contact they have with people. PARIS Step by step, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sought on Tuesday to build back trust between the United States and France following a secretive submarine deal that laid bare the Biden administrations resolve to counter China even at the cost of edging out one of Americas oldest allies. For more than an hour, Mr. Blinken walked the ornate halls of the Quai dOrsay in Paris and sat with the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in a private venting session over Australias decision to buy nuclear-powered submarines from the United States, dropping an earlier $66 billion contract for diesel-powered ones from France. The meeting between the two counterparts and longtime friends underscored the importance of putting a personal touch on matters of delicate diplomacy. It was evocative if perhaps not as momentous of Ronald Reagans walk in the woods with Mikhail Gorbachev to reframe U.S.-Russian relations in 1985, or the deliberative morning strolls of Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, with foreign leaders during the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. But at the end, Mr. Le Drian literally waved away questions about what it would take to convince France that the United States was a reliable partner, indicating still-simmering anger even as both sides agreed to move forward. Mr. Blinken offered that its a pleasure to be here, but otherwise declined to comment. It has been six years since an Iranian American business consultant, and later his father, were arrested in Iran and they remain there despite efforts by three White House administrations to secure their release. Now the father, Baquer Namazi, an 84-year-old retired UNICEF official, is described by his family as facing a possibly imminent death. He needs surgery to open a near complete blockage of the two main arteries that supply blood to his brain, family members say, and without treatment he could suffer a fatal stroke within days. They are pleading with Iran to just let the father who has been released from prison but barred from travel leave the country, even if they keep his 49-year-old son, Siamak, who remains in prison. The family has written formal letters to President Joe Biden, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and a U.N. human rights official asking them to intervene and urge Iran to lift a travel ban on the father. The family also has sent a letter to Irans government. Ever since a pipeline failure caused at least 126,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Pacific Ocean, threatening a fragile coastal ecosystem and forcing some of Southern Californias most popular beaches to close, officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been scrutinizing satellite imagery to track the oils spread. A series of images captures the extent of the spill, showing how tides have carried the slick closer to the coast. Officials have said the spill is the largest off California since 2015, when Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara was fouled by oil from a pipeline break. Spills seen near oil and gas infrastructure south of Los Angeles Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA Marine Pollution Reports. Spill locations are approximate. NOAA classifies most of what is presented as possible oil. Platforms are in federally regulated waters. The latest spill, thought to be from a decades-old pipeline that connected three platforms to a pumping station in Long Beach, has brought scrutiny to Californias aging offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Some of the oldest platforms still in place were installed in the late 1960s. The episode has also raised questions about the speed of response: Local residents had started to complain about the smell of oil before the state authorities raised the alarm. California has not allowed drilling off its coast for decades, and the federal government long ago halted offshore lease sales off the Pacific Coast. But the platforms near the recent leak, installed in the early 1980s by a consortium led by Royal Dutch Shell, are still operated by the troubled energy company Amplify, which is based in Houston. When youre talking about platforms that have been in place for 30 or 40 years, theres going to be wear and tear, said John B. Smith, an independent consultant who previously managed offshore oil and gas development along the Pacific Coast at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Over time, the risk of spills goes up. Martyn Willsher, the Amplify chief executive, said on Monday that the company believed it had identified the location of the pipeline rupture. He also pointed to another possible cause of the leak: A ships anchor might have hit the pipeline. Ships near the spills possible origin Source: Satellite images by Maxar Technologies. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and NOAA Marine Pollution Reports. Spill locations are approximate. NOAA classifies most of what is presented as possible oil. Satellite images from the day before the leaks first sighting show a large number of ships in the vicinity of the Amplify pipeline. Global supply-chain problems, triggered by a jump in consumer spending as pandemic restrictions start to ease, have meant a record number of cargo ships are waiting off the California coast. Even as the cause of the leak remains unclear, the damage could have significant consequences for the future of the offshore oil and gas industry off California, once a major oil-producing state. The spill has prompted fresh calls for a permanent end to offshore oil production and for the decommissioning of the 200 miles of pipelines that serve 23 offshore platforms in federal waters off the Pacific Coast, all of them many decades old. Eleven of those platforms no longer produce oil or gas, while five of those inactive platforms are in the early stages of decommissioning. The fate of the six other inactive platforms remains unclear, as former owners squabble over who is responsible for the millions of dollars it will take to decommission them. Mr. Smith, the former Bureau of Ocean Energy Management official, says that many of the remaining platforms are likely to be decommissioned by the middle of the next decade. California, which has contended with worsening drought and wildfires in recent years, has set some of the most aggressive climate targets in the country, with legislation requiring the state to get 60 percent of all its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and 100 percent from renewables by 2045. Californias offshore oil and gas infrastructure Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Platforms are in federally regulated waters. The Biden administration is currently reviewing practices for decommissioning these towering platforms, a mammoth task: the largest platform is the size of the Empire State Building. Some scientific studies have shown that it may be less ecologically damaging to leave the base of platforms on the ocean floor, where nature can take over, converting the structures into artificial reefs. California, with just a fraction of the offshore oil and gas infrastructure as the Gulf of Mexico, could be a harbinger of things to come. In the Gulf, leaks frequently spring from a tangle of more than 8,600 miles of pipelines, many of them abandoned, and more than 1,800 platforms. NOAA spotted dozens of spills after Hurricane Ida. Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental law group, called the California spill devastating to Southern California wildlife. And she said that without stronger oversight, the aging structures would continue to pose grave risks. These platforms were built 40 years ago, and theyve been in the wind and the harsh conditions out at sea theyre time bombs waiting to go off, for an oil spill like this to occur. Kiska, the last living killer whale at the Marineland marine park, has been dubbed the worlds loneliest orca after it was revealed that she has spent the last 10 years of her life alone in a concrete tank, with little to no stimulation. Orcas, dolphins, and whales are among the worlds most intelligent animals; they are social creatures that require a lot of interaction and stimulation which those raised in captivity, unfortunately, dont receive enough of. In one extreme case, a lonely orca that has spent most of her life in captivity and the last decade completely alone in a concrete tank, at a marine park in Ontario, Canada has been showing signs of extreme distress, like floating listlessly and banging her head against the sides of her enclosure. Photo: Change.org Kiska was captured in 1979, when she was only a calf, near the coast of Iceland, and has spent the 42 years since in captivity. She was only three years old when Marineland purchased her, but at least she shared the tank there with others of her kind. At one point she gave birth to five calves, but they all died young, and, one by one, the other whales at the park perished as well. Eventually, she was the only one left Since 2011, Kiska has had no orca, or any kind of whale to interact with and this extreme loneliness has been taking a toll on her. Distressing footage filmed at Marineland shows the poor orca floating lifelessly in her tank and faintly moaning. Another video has her mindlessly banging her head against the side of her enclosure, a behavior that animal activists claim is connected to boredom and lack of interaction. This video was taken on Sept 4th, 2021. Anti-captivity activists entered MarineLand and observed Kiska, their last surviving orca bashing her head against the wall. Please watch and share. This cruelty must end. #FreeKiska pic.twitter.com/uKCxF1AScz Phil Demers (@walruswhisperer) September 8, 2021 This video was taken on Sept 4th, 2021. Anti-captivity activists entered MarineLand and observed Kiska, their last surviving orca bashing her head against the wall. Please watch and share. This cruelty must end. #FreeKiska, anti-captivity activist and whistleblower Phil Demers wrote on Twitter. Camille Labchuk, executive director of the national animal law advocacy organization Animal Justice, told CTV that Kiska is one of the few remaining marine mammals at Marineland and that its high time something was done to help her. Shes probably the worlds loneliest orca and thats very sad, Labchuk said. Its difficult to not feel sympathy for what shes going through. We think its really important for enforcement agencies to take this issue seriously, and its necessary and appropriate to do what they can to help Kiska. After seeing the distressing footage of Kiska, Dr. Naomi Rose, a scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute, confirmed that the orcas condition is serious and that she needs help immediately. UPDATE: We have more heartbreaking video of Kiska, MarineLands last surviving orca floating listlessly at the surface of her concrete pool. She has lived in complete isolation since 2011. Witnesses say she often calls out for other orcas. #FreeKiska pic.twitter.com/TWyw9x781B Phil Demers (@walruswhisperer) July 16, 2021 At a minimum, she should have long since been transferred to a facility with other orcas or provided with individuals of another cetacean species as companions, Rose said. Under no circumstances was allowing her completely solitary state to continue especially given her practically inert response to it the appropriate choice. In the past, PETA called Marineland one of the worst places for marine animals in the world, noting that dozens of dolphins and whales have died there over the last decade alone. The marine park has always denied that any of its animals are in distress, but these latest videos of Kiska paint a different picture. Kiskas desperate situation reminded us of another tragic story we featured a while back, that of Honey, the worlds loneliest dolphin, who died after years spent alone in the pool of an abandoned marine park in Japan. Jon Gingerich Were almost two years into this pandemic, and big surprise, business leaders are desperate to get employees back into the office. For months, companies have been setting return dates and beginning the slow crawl back to normal. Unfortunately, our great wait has been complicated by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant, once again postponing those plans and confirming the concerns of employees who remain leery of in-person work amid ongoing health and safety concerns, all of which has reignited the debate on what role office life plays in post-pandemic America. According to an August Gartner survey of more than 200 executives, two-thirds of organizations (66 percent) reported delaying re-opening their offices in light of the lingering pandemic. In September, Google once again announced it would hold off on its return-to-office plans, now slated for January 2022 (the tech behemoth had previously announced that workers would return in October, and before that, September, and before that, July). Googles latest flip-flop followed announcements from Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft, which have all similarly postponed their office re-openings. This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Oct. '21 Healthcare & Medical PR Magazine (view PDF version) Employees are understandably frustrated by all this. A September study released by JLL found that 41 percent of respondents feel exhausted by their employers constant waffling on return-to-work plans, with another 32 percent claiming their employer hasnt shared any plan with them at all. Whats compounding all this frustration is the fact that, after working from home for more than a year, office life as we knew it is effectively an antiquated concept. Anytime theres a disruption to the system, the world realigns in response. We adapt. People have relearned how to do their jobs, weve grown accustomed to the work-from-home lifestyle and we want the benefits and flexibility weve been allotted these last 18 months to continue indefinitely. Some are planning on changing jobs if and when their employer asks them to come back. Suffice to say, no booster shot will address the adjustments weve made once the pandemic finally ends. The benefits of virtual work are manifold. Its good for the environment, and for working parents, it provides a more manageable work-life balance. For companies no longer renting office space, its saving businesses a fortune. There are all kinds of debatesand pollscirculating regarding how remote work has either boosted productivity or tanked it. Ill just say productivity at home probably depends on the individual worker and the job/industry in question. The only thing thats certain is that going back to business as usual will be a tall order. While the benefits of remote work abound, I cant help but consider the social costs to a life where many of us are no longer leaving the house. We talk about the physiological impacts of COVID, but we rarely discuss the psychological effects that lockdowns and quarantines and essentially giving up on person-to-person interaction have had on our mental health. Weve been riddled with anxiety from the beginning of this pandemic, and being removed from the people close to us certainly hasnt helped. Were a social species; we value meaningful connections with others. And do I need to mention that managing family life while trying to do ones job isnt exactly the ideal model of a work- and home-life in perfect balance? Perhaps thats why a well-publicized Morning Consult poll that appeared in The New York Times in August found that nearly half (45 percent) of workers now want to return to the office full-time, compared to less than a third (31 percent) who want to remain remote full-time. People are feeling disconnected from the communities they had in the workplace, and there are clear benefits to the work we do when were allowed to collaborate in person with others. Its human nature. I can only speak from personal experience. Since March 2020, the creative writing class I teach has moved to the Zoom platform. Admittedly, there are benefits to remote teachingthe convenience of not taking a train into the city, for onebut Ive learned that teaching virtually will never replace the experience of a live classroom, where eye contact, body language and allowing students to collaborate in an analogue environment are fundamental to learning. Its just not the same. Also, speaking only for myself: I like getting out of the house. I like having my work life and my home life partitioned. I dont like the expectation of being on call all the time. I like physical reality. I like seeing people. Its going to require a Herculean effort for business leaders to turn the tide and make in-person work the cultural norm again. Most likely, some employers will resort to offering incentives to lure workers back, be it a shortened workweek or some sort of hybrid approach, where employees are allowed to work from home for several days and make office appearances for the rest. Many will require employees to get vaccinated before they return, and of course, COVID safety protocols will be around for some time. Whatever happens, its clear that the office environment will never be quite what it was, and it will no doubt take time for us to adjust to yet another new normal. Eventually, well see each other again. I cant wait. The Museum of Public Relations is presenting a discussion of the current state of diversity, equity and inclusion on Oct. 27. Silence Is Not an Option: Allyship, Advocacy and Anti-Racism will address how organizations can create a sense of belonging in the workplace for all employees and will emphasize a call to action for individual accountability and commitment to DEI across all levels of an organization. Topics that will be part of the discussion include: strategies for engaging in difficult conversations, factors to consider when well-intentioned DEI programs miss the mark, and types of inclusive behaviors and actions employees should take to cultivate an environment of psychological safety and belonging. Moderated by City College of New York professor emerita Lynn Appelbaum, the event will also feature keynote speakers Aurora Archer and Kelly Croce Song, co-founders of The Opt-In, a podcast centered around diversity-related issues. Registration for the free 6 p.m. virtual event is open now. New York Women in Communications is holding the 2021 Matrix Awards ceremony as a virtual event on Oct. 18 at noon. The 51st annual celebration will recognize a group of industry leaders who have broken down barriers for other women. The honorees will include Weber Shandwick executive vice president, global diversity, equity & inclusion Judith Harrison; actor Akwafina; New York Times Washington correspondent Maggie Haberman; and Yamiche Alcindor, host of PBSs Washington Week and White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. Attendees may register for the event here, or register along with making a donation to the organization here. Pure Earth, an international non-profit organization focused on fighting disease-causing pollution and cleaning up toxic hot spots, presented its 2021 Impact Award to TogoRun president, CEO and owner Gloria Glo Janata at the organizations Night of Hope Healing on Broadway Benefit on Oct. 4. The award is given each year to individuals who have supported Pure Earth's goals to reduce pollution, save lives and protect the planet, as well as contributing to the overall health and well-being of the global community. Janata has served as a Pure Earth board member since 2017, providing strategic support on matters of global public health, advocacy, fundraising, and media relations. George Orwell CEO Mark Zuckerberg needs to rid Facebook of the sinister and ominous-sounding department names and employee titles. Whistleblower Frances Haugen started working at the social media platform as product manager for civic misinformation. That sure sounds as if she oversaw spreading misinformation, disinformation, lies, distortions, and conspiracy theories, which is what Facebook critics accuse it of doing. Haugen then went on to the counter-espionage unit. Give us a break, Mark. You set Facebook up for failure. Zuckerberg should follow the lead of George Orwell and rename its various business units after the ministries of Oceania in the novel 1984. Rather than civic misinformation, Zuckerberg should revamp Facebook units as the Department of Truth, Department of Peace, Department of Love and Department of Plenty. Those names would certainly throw federal regulators for a loop. Of all the indignities suffered by the former president, this one must hurt the most as Forbes booted the leader of the MAGA pack off its list of Americas 400 richest people. Donald Trump has been on a five-year losing streak at Forbes. Since he launched his 2016 presidential bid, it's been downhill financially. According to Forbes, Trump is worth $2.5B. That resulted in a plunge from the No. 339 slot a year ago, leading to his to eviction from the magazines roster of the super-rich. Forbes blames Trump for his fall from the magazines exclusive club. It points out that had the president complied with ethics laws that cover other executive branch officials, he would have made the 400 List cut in 2021. At a press conference nine days before taking office, Trump noted that the president is exempt from the conflict-of-interest statute. I could actually run my business and run government at the same time, he boasted. I dont like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to. I would be the only one that would be able to do that. Forbes notes that had Trump sold his assets and invested the funds in an index fund tracking the S&P 500, he would be worth $4.5B today and sitting pretty on the 400 List. Trump, though, decided to run his business and government at the same time. Both the Trump Organization and the US sufferred for it. Trump paid with a financial shortfall and the country is still paying for it in the form of more than 700K COVID-19 deaths. Inquiring minds want to know why Cambodia is paying Qorvis Communications a whopping $70K a month for PR services. Or at least, Radio Free Asia wants to know. RFA picked up the ODwyer's story of Sept. 22 that Qorvis, a unit of Publicis Groupe, landed a contract to provide strategic communications and media relations services in support of increasing public awareness along with travel and tourism for Cambodia. The move, according to RFA, is an attempt by the increasingly autocratic government of prime minister Hun Sen to try to salvage Cambodias tarnished reputation over human rights violations and crackdowns on the countrys political opposition, independent media and NGOs, which prompted US sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union. An opposition leader told RFA that Cambodia should clean up its act rather than spend money for PR. It should restore democracy by holding free and fair elections and restore human rights, said Un Sam An, a leader in a banned political party. Qorvis has deep experience working with companies with shady human rights records. It has earned (and still earns) millions from Saudi Arabia, which hired the firm in the days following the 9/11 terror attacks. As a result of COVID-19, governments at all levels are facing increasing pressures to address unemployment and ensure that local workers are well prepared for other accelerated labour market transitions, such as automation and digitalisation. This requires efforts to better connect jobseekers and employers; to reskill and upskill workers in declining sectors; and to provide wrap around services to the most disadvantaged job seekers who may now find themselves at the end of the hiring line. Across the OECD, local authorities have very different tools and powers at their disposal to address these challenges. In some countries, such as Denmark, local authorities are directly responsible for implementing active labour market policies, while in others, these responsibilities lie with regional and local branches of national governments or agencies. Responsibilities for skills policies tend to be even more diffuse, with various ministries and levels of governments playing different roles for vocational training for young people, the unemployed and migrants, for training linked to supports for SMEs, etc. At the local level, this can create a complex landscape for individuals and firms to navigate, and make it difficult to link up programmes to further more strategic local development strategies. Regardless of how competences are divided across levels of government, there is one power that almost all local authorities share: the power to convene and broker. At the political level, this can mean bringing public, private and third sector stakeholders to a common table to define shared objectives and identify how different policies and programmes can work in tandem to achieve them. At the operational level, this can mean being the first point of contact for individuals and businesses, and then orientating them to appropriate services, or even creating one-stop shops or shared delivery portals to bring the various programmes and policies under a shared roof. The potential of better leveraging this type of soft power should not be overlooked. This webinar considers how local authorities are using this convening and brokering power in different national and institutional contexts, from how to leverage local labour market data to identify challenges and develop a shared vision for communitys future, to how to coordinate services for the most disadvantaged job seekers. It is organised in two parts: In the first part, open to the public, lessons from the OECDs Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) programme on how to coordinate action for employment locally will be explored, and local authority representatives will share what this looks like concretely in four diverse regions / cities across the OECD. The second part, a closed door session for invited participants from Israel, considers how these international lessons can be applied to the Israeli context. As a highly centralised country, to date, most of the strategic activity for employment and economic development activities has been carried out by national agencies operating locally. Despite being relatively small, Israel is nevertheless characterised by significant socio-economic disparities with a clear spatial dimension. Peripheral areas face a persistent lack of employment opportunities, while the more dynamic centre faces skills shortages and mismatches. The COVID-19 crisis opens a window to reexamine how these challenges are tackled, and the role of local authorities in doing so. Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, along with Minister of State Pippa Hackett, has announced that his Department is investing in two key projects that support the storing of carbon in our soils. One such project will be launched in Offaly on Tuesday. One of the projects will establish the extent of peat soil in agricultural management, whilst the second will monitor soil moisture levels to better understand the removal and loss of carbon from the soils. Both projects will help achieve the Governments climate objectives, particularly in respect of grasslands on drained organic soils. Making the announcement Minister McConologue said: These projects will provide hugely valuable data on the moisture content of our soils, the location of carbon-rich soils, and the historical land-use change that peatlands have undergone in the last 200 years. They will also complement the data which will be collected from the recently announced National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory, the soil sampling and biodiversity studies, and the learnings from the new EIP projects on rewetting farmed peatlands, which will all help deliver on climate action and biodiversity through increased information and understanding. Senator Hackett added: Our soil is one of the most important tools we have to address the climate and biodiversity crisis. The way we manage and farm it heavily influences the carbon it can sequester and store. These projects will provide us with a fuller understanding of the nature of our countrys soil and will help us in the delivery of the Governments objectives on climate action. I am delighted to be in a position to launch the National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network here in my own County of Offaly, today. " The projects will deliver increased and refined data and soil maps that inform the monitoring, reporting and verification of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) through two key actions: identification of potential areas for reduced management intensity and the development of a National Soil Moisture Monitoring network. The first project is called the RePEAT project A Modern Resurvey of Mapped Irish Peatlands to Refine Assessment of Land Use Change and Progress Greenhouse Gas Removal and Emissions Inventories. The soil maps that are currently available are not at a scale to accurately identify, at field level, the location of peat soils. Accurate peatland maps will be part of the requirements to incorporate reduced management of farmed peatlands into a larger agri-environment programme under Irelands CAP strategic Plan. Research is therefore required to enable the precise identification of agricultural land use and intensity of land use on former peatlands, which will in turn facilitate better management of these systems and help to mitigate national emissions. A Trinity College Dublin and National University of Ireland, Galway research proposal will be co-funded with the Environmental Protection agency to address this gap, using the Bog Commissioners Maps (a survey of over one million acres of bogs in Ireland between 1810 and 1814) as the basis of its research. The Commissioners Report on the Nature and Extent of Bogs in Ireland represents the first inventory of a natural ecosystem in Ireland, and likely one of the most detailed assessments of an ecosystem at this scale in the world at the time. The project plans to acquire a high-quality digital version of the complete series of the Bog Commissioners Maps and other available peat maps in order to facilitate detailed evaluation and comparison to both the Copernicus programme and recent very high-resolution aerial imagery, which will in turn enable precise identification of agricultural areas that occur on drained carbon rich soils. The second project will establish the scientific infrastructure required for a National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network. This is the project which will be based in Offaly. "A better scientific understanding of soil moisture dynamics is urgently needed as the amount of water held in the soil influences a wide range of soil and plant processes, as well as the soil-atmosphere energy balance. This affects, for example, weather, plant growth and nutrient uptake, nutrient and carbon dynamics, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The removal of soil moisture through the draining of peat soils, and the subsequent emission of CO2 as a result, is one example of the effect soil moisture levels can have on soil." Funding will be provided to the National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, a working group on agro-meterology which comprises researchers from University College Dublin, Teagasc, National University of Ireland, Galway, Trinity College Dublin, and Dublin City University to purchase soil moisture monitoring equipment to enable Ireland to develop a national soil moisture measurement network. A move towards more accurate measurement-based (rather than modelled) real-time reporting of soil moisture status would be of enormous benefit to a range of stakeholders. These include farmers and others involved in agriculture, foresters and bioenergy suppliers, those involved in peatland conservation and restoration, flood and drought forecasters, Irish water and other managers of both surface and groundwater resources, and many stakeholders from education and research, including Met Eireann, in the form of improved weather forecasts and climatological understanding. A multi-national company is set to create up to 100 new jobs in Tullamore as it expands its operation in the town. Located in the IDA Business and Technology Park in Tullamore, Zoetis, the worlds leading animal health company, is expanding its manufacturing and development facility in Tullamore. The expansion should significantly increase its capacity for producing veterinary monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) over time. These therapeutic biopharmaceuticals are the latest breakthroughs in animal medicine from Zoetis innovative pipeline of products. The current Tullamore site supports development and manufacturing services across all phases of biopharmaceutical development and commercialization, including the manufacture of Solensia. The expansion is planning, subject to approvals, to break ground in early 2022 and become fully operational by 2025. This investment will potentially create 80-100 new jobs over the next three years, with some roles beginning to phase in later this year. Currently, Zoetis employs approximately 90 highly skilled scientists and technicians on the Tullamore site, which became part of the Zoetis network when it acquired from Nexvet Biopharma in 2017. Were proud to strengthen our presence in Tullamore. We have had great success with the current high-quality manufacturing site and the experienced workforce already operating there, said Roman Trawicki, Zoetis Executive Vice President and President, Global Manufacturing and Supply. This expansion will augment our manufacturing footprint and leverage existing expertise to further diversity our manufacturing network and increase capacity for monoclonal antibodies, an area of tremendous growth for Zoetis. The announcement was welcomed by the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD who said, The decision of Zoetis to further extend its footprint here and expand its Tullamore facility is really fantastic news and a testament to the existing team. The Midlands has a wealth of talent to draw from and I wish the company the very best with this latest development. The planned expansion of the existing Zoetis facility in Tullamore will strengthen and diversify the Zoetis global manufacturing and supply network, enabling it to meet growing commercial demand and support future growth in veterinary biopharmaceuticals. This class of therapy includes some of Zoetis flagship biopharmaceutical products, such as Cytopoint, Librela, and Solensia. Cytopoint, the first monoclonal antibody for use in animals, targets and neutralizes itch for dogs with allergic or atopic dermatitis, while Librela, and Solensia help alleviate osteoarthritis pain in dogs and cats, respectively. This site has undergone significant investment and development since 2017. In preparation for the commercial launch of Solensia, Zoetis invested in the site to scale our manufacturing process to meet demand and has grown the team accordingly, said Conor ODea, Site Lead, who has managed the site for 20 years. With the high concentration of biologic manufacturing sites in the area and the skilled Irish workforce, we have built a strong team with extensive experience in all aspects of biopharmaceuticals manufacture, process development, Quality, Engineering and Supply Chain and we look forward to developing it further with this investment. The expansion will offer current and future employees tremendous experience and career opportunities." Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy, T.D., welcomed the announcement: I am delighted that Zoetis is to expand its already impressive operation in Tullamore. This is a very welcome announcement for the local and wider Midlands region and demonstrates that the Midlands has the skills, talent, people, and connectivity that will enable companies like Zoetis to embed and grow its operations here. Regional job creation is a key priority of this Government and by putting down deeper roots in the region, Im sure Zoetis will generate substantial spin-off economic benefits to the region. IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said: Todays announcement by Zoetis on the expansion of its Irish operation is welcome. This biotech facility by the worlds leading veterinary medicines company adds another globally established name to the significant and growing cluster of biopharma companies operating in Ireland which sees substantial investment annually in Biopharma R&D by IDA client companies. This expansion demonstrates Zoetis confidence in the highly skilled and talented workforce available in the Midlands and exemplifies IDA Irelands continued commitment to winning jobs and investment in regional locations." Additionally, the Tullamore expansion builds on Zoetis current operations in Ireland, which includes commercial offices and manufacturing sites, employing more than 450 people. The companys Cherrywood Dublin office is the headquarters for its International Commercial Operations and Global Manufacturing and Supply organizations as well as the home of local commercial operations for Ireland. In addition to Tullamore, Zoetis has two manufacturing sites in Ireland that play critical roles in its manufacturing network. The product mix from the Zoetis active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing site in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow supports many Zoetis flagship products, and the Tallaght facility is the sole manufacturer of the market-leading teat sealant, Boviseal, which exports to over 80 markets around the world. I am delighted to see Zoetis continue to expand its presence in Ireland, supporting a thriving animal health industry here and helping to advance animal care around the world, said Roy Geary, General Manager, Zoetis Ireland. The expansion of Tullamore will build on our existing Irish commercial and manufacturing operations in Dublin, Rathdrum and Tallaght and support not only our Irish veterinarians and livestock producers, but also our customers and partners in more than 100 countries around the world where we market our products. On the night of June 22, 1999 Sir Bernard Lovell became the first man to examine the skies above Ireland through the restored Birr Leviathan. It would be hard to think of a more fitting candidate for this privilege. Sir Bernard was one of the most distinguished and famous radio astronomers of his generation. He was the first Director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980. Jodrell Bank hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Sir Bernard, who was a radio astronomer at the university, to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in the Second World War. The observatory has since played an important role in the research of meteoroids, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and played a big role in the tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age. Yesterday, wrote the late Sean MacConnell in the Irish Times edition of June 23, 1999, a new six-foot mirror and accompanying optical system were installed at the recently refurbished telescope in the castle grounds. Last year the restored wooden structure was brought back to the site, and yesterday a new mirror, of nickel-coated aluminium alloy and weighing a mere 1.5 tonnes (half that of the original) was lifted into place...The work was supervised by Mr David Brooks, an optics expert with University College London. He has been working on the mirror for almost a year...The telescope will be the centrepiece of the historic science centre as it remains the largest reflector telescope in western Europe. Sean MacConnell's headline for his article was an excellent one - The Leviathan of Birr has its sight restored. Sadly, its restored sight didn't last very long before it became blind again. For a number of years following, its operational mechanism continued to function, but now this too is no longer in use. The operational mechanism features giant chain links and massive blocks. It's a metal structure featuring 150 tonnes of iron castings. Cast iron emerged in the mid-1800s when new industrial processes were invented. Its use became widespread during the Victorian era, for example in railings, because of the ease in which it could be moulded, but it was rarely used decoratively. The operational mechanism seems to still be in good shape but there are health and safety worries about it so they stopped using it a number of years after the Leviathan's restoration in the 1990s. The system, when in use, is able to move the telescope up and down, left and right. During the Astronomy in Birr Walking Tour on a recent Wednesday evening, our tour guide Aine Flood, said there is hope that the Leviathan will be renovated, thereby receiving a new lease of life. Many people realise that being able to view the stars through this telescope, and see what the Third Earl of Rosse could see, would be a big tourist draw. However, in spite of the obvious nature of such a development the situation remains unchanged. The same day as the Walking Tour, Alan Hill revealed his Birr Interpretive Strategy report, during which he mentioned the exciting possibility of creating an encased stairway to the top of the partially collapsed tower at old St Brendan's Church on Castle Street. Listening to him I thought that it would surely be possible to create a similar encased structure at the Leviathan which would allow tourists to view the night-sky safely, even from a height. Aine Flood is the only astronomer based at the moment at the Castle's radio telescope. The radio telescope is much less interesting to look at than the leviathan, but its science is anything but dull. Aine gave us a fascinating talk about the science, including the nature of radio waves, which are the longest wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. The radio telescope is called I-LOFAR. I-LOFAR is the Irish station in a European-wide network of state-of-the-art radio telescopes, used to observe the Universe at low frequencies (10-240 MHz). Birr is a very good location for a radio telescope because here, unlike much of continental Europe, there is little radio-wave interference from commercial or military sources. I-LOFAR is part of the SETI programme (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) and it's therefore possible that humanity's first contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence might happen in Birr. Humanity has been monitoring the skies for ET signals for decades, but with no results. Frustrated, some researchers want to start transmitting signals towards nearby stars with possible habitable planets in a plan called active SETI. An assistant professor in social policy at Maynooth University has said it's "not too late" to get rid of vulture funds. Dr Rory Hearne's made the comments on Newstalk FM after delivering a petition which amassed 40,000 signatures to TDs at Dail Eireann today. Speaking on air today, he said housing policy in the country has not been thought through or implemented properly. However, he believes there's still time to fix things. He said, "Institutional investors, vulture cuckoo funds, they buy about 8,000 homes every year. It's not too late, we can stop them at any point. It's not too late to stop that tidal wave of global finance targeting Ireland. We can cool it down." We just delivered to TDs at the Dail 40,000 signatures calling for real measures to stop the vulture investor fund landlords & make housing a human right. Thanks to everyone who signed! Lets keep raising our voices together to #Endhousingcrisis https://t.co/bCyUpPKJDe October 5, 2021 Dr Hearne suggests removing tax breaks and increasing tax as well as stronger rights for tenants. He also says there should be a ban on renting new units. Although he believes the situation can be fixed, he warns that the longer it takes the more homes will be locked into an "unsustainable system". "It was the same routine, every day hanging me up and beating me," said Ahmed,* a detainee held in an Iraqi prison. "There are things they did to me there that I am too ashamed to talk about." Ahmed was interviewed for a recent report on torture prevention in places of detention in Iraq. Produced by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), together with UN Human Rights, its findings were based on interviews with 235 Iraqi people deprived of their liberty. Although Iraq is party to several international treaties that prohibit torture and ill-treatment, more than half of all detainees interviewed for the report provided credible and reliable accounts of torture. The reality of torture's existence was also confirmed through various confidential interviews with Iraqi judges, lawyers and medical practitioners. As one lawyer stated: "Perpetrators are not really afraid about the consequences of torture since they know they will not be punished by the official system." Based on an analysis of risk factors for torture, the report highlights many troubling findings about investigation practices and conditions inside Iraqi facilities. Interrogations by security forces are generally aimed at eliciting confessions and often use coercion, for example, and access to a lawyer is systematically delayed until after suspects have been interrogated. Of concern also is that medical screenings of detainees upon arrival to a facility to detect prior ill-treatment are not standard practice. Beyond allegations, towards prevention and accountability While the recent report details horrific accounts of torture in Iraqi facilities, Danielle Bell, Chief of the Human Rights Office at UNAMI, says that UN Human Rights aims to "move beyond" debating the existence or extent of these practices and instead focus on supporting Government efforts to strengthen compliance with the international and national legal framework. "The ultimate goal is to reduce the likelihood of torture or ill-treatment ever occurring", said Ms Bell, noting that independent monitoring of places of detention is crucial in this process. "As torture almost always takes place in secret, greater transparency and openness concerning what takes place in detention facilities, which includes access by independent monitoring bodies, are significant steps towards prevention," she said. "It not only removes opportunities for torture to occur but also protects authorities from unfounded allegations." Among a number of recommendations, the report urges Iraq to consider adopting a comprehensive Anti-Torture Law and Policy, to strengthen training for officials involved in custody and interrogation of detainees, and to urgently review interrogation rules and practices. Ongoing dialogue with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities Since the report's release, UNAMI staff have been engaging in constructive dialogue with Iraqi and Kurdish authorities and other stakeholders, including the Iraqi Bar Association and key civil society organizations, to encourage concrete steps in order to strengthen compliance with safeguards to prevent torture. While there have been positive outcomes such as expressed commitment by authorities to fully investigate torture allegations, other hurdles are still to be overcome. Just last month, a planned visit by UN Human Rights to Nasiriyah Central Prison, a facility notorious for its dire conditions, was cancelled at the last minute and to date, there is no news about when and if access will be granted. "Recent public outcries over reports of torture, including in Babil, Baghdad, Basra and Kirkuk, have shown the urgency to tackle this issue," added Ms Bell. "The UNAMI Human Rights Office continues to work with the Iraqi Government in its endeavour to prevent torture and ensure accountability." *Name changed for protection purposes 5 October 2021 Are you a current print subscriber? You qualify for online access to the Omak Chronicle. To receive your access, create a website account and then verify your print subscription or e-edition subscription with your subscriber number, which may be found on your bill or mailing label. Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Global investment firm KKR closed a $4.3 billion fund dedicated to investing in underperforming real estate mainly in the United States. The KKR Real Estate Partners Americas III (REPA III) will focus on all commercial real estate asset classes, particularly industrial, multifamily and self-storage. The previous fund, KKR Real Estate Partners Americas II, closed at $2 billion in 2018, exceeding its $1.5 billion fundraising target. "More than double the size of our predecessor fund, REPA III demonstrates the enthusiasm our investors have for the current opportunity set in the Americas as well as their confidence in our integrated platform to deliver differentiated absolute and relative investment performance through changing market cycles," said Chris Lee, Head of Real Estate Americas for KKR. In conjunction with dedicated funds raised in Asia and Europe over the last 12 months, KKR's global opportunistic real estate equity strategies oversee more than $8 billion across three active regional funds. REPA III received strong backing from a diverse group of new and existing global investors, including public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, family offices, high net worth individual investors, and other institutional investors. As of September 2021, REPA III had already committed more than $1 billion of capital. Investors in the new fund include New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany; Minnesota State Bo...................... To view our full article Click here Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Thomas H. Lee Partners, a private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies, has closed its latest flagship fund at $5.6 billion, representing a 56% increase in capital over its predecessor. The buyout fund - Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund IX - focuses on investments in middle-market growth companies in sectors including technology and innovation, a news release said Monday. The press release did not disclose the amount of the fundraising target. The previous fund, Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund VIII, closed at its hard cap of $3.6 billion in 2018, above its initial fundraising target of $3 billion. Fund IX received strong demand from investors and over $250 million of General Partner commitments. A global and diverse group of new and existing limited partners have committed capital to Fund IX, including leading public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks, insurance companies, endowments, foundations, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. Investors in the current fund include Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, Boston; Illinois Teachers' Retirement System, Springfield; and Louisiana Teachers' Retirement System, Baton Rouge. "The successful fundraise speaks to the strength of our value creation capabilities and domain expertise, which allow us to move with speed and certainty to support our portfolio companies through their next stage of growth," said Todd Abbrecht, ...................... To view our full article Click here Opalesque Industry Update - Mariner Wealth Advisors, a national wealth advisory firm headquartered in Kansas City, announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Cincinnati-based RIA, The Pinnacle Group, in a deal that closes Sept. 24, 2021. This is Mariner Wealth Advisors' fifth acquisition since the sale of a minority stake in the company to Leonard Green & Partners in April. The firm currently has 395 advisors across 53 offices, and this will be its second office in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. "We're thrilled to welcome such a talented group of individuals to the Mariner Wealth Advisors family while being able to expand our presence in Cincinnati," said Marty Bicknell, CEO and president of Mariner Wealth Advisors. "The Pinnacle Group's approach to financial planning, including their retirement planning solutions for businesses, fold into our services and firm goals seamlessly. I'm excited to see what we can accomplish together." The Pinnacle Group, with more than $600 million in assets under management (AUM), has built a trusted reputation with its clients since its founding in 1994. With a significant stake of its AUM in retirement plans, this deal will contribute to the further growth of Mariner Wealth Advisors' own retirement plan solutions, a platform designed to aid businesses in managing their employer-sponsored retirement plans for employees. Additionally, the firm's high volume of referrals from CPAs will integrate seamlessly with Mariner Wealth Advisors' existing CPA Alliance. "This is an incredible opportunity for The Pinnacle Group to continue our legacy of helping clients build a successful financial future and provide an attractive career path that offers new opportunities for growth and development to our team," said J. Scott Sims, president and founder of The Pinnacle Group. This deal continues Mariner Wealth Advisors' summer streak of growth. Since July, the firm has announced four acquisitions - Allegiant Private Advisors, AdvicePeriod, Channel Islands Group and Commonwealth Advisory Group - and added over $7 billion in assets under management. The Pinnacle Group will assume the Mariner Wealth Advisors name at closing, and the Cincinnati office remains under Sims' leadership. The owners and founders of The Pinnacle Group were advised on the transaction by the investment banking firm of ECHELON Partners. Nuubu Detox Patches UK: Our body contains numerous toxins. Very much like you cleanse the skin, it is likewise important to cleanse the full body once every 2 or 3 weeks. Toxins and squanders inside your body can cause a few problems. They incorporate heftiness, mind mist condition, excruciating body, clogging, etc. You can detoxify the body by utilizing Nuubu Deep Cleansing Foot Patches. These foot pads are imbued with This report on the Global Smart Cable Guard System Market assures a treasure of information on a plethora of growth opportunities. The study includes expansive research by expert analysts. All the growth factors revolving around the Smart Cable Guard System Market across the assessment period of 2021-2027 have been systematically included in the report. The research strives to present a granular assessment of the key consumer propositions targeted by various Swadeshi Jagaran Manch meet deliberates on Bharats potentials and requirements: To emerge as a major economic power, people should change their mindset The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch organised a national three-day discussion called Arth Chintan-2021 from September 23 to 25, in which experts from various fields deliberated on various aspects of Bharatiya economics. Addressing the participants, the Sah-sarkaryavah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Shri CR Mukunda said Bharat can emerge as an economic power and for this we have to rouse the will power of society. He stressed the need for instilling the spirit of innovation and determination. We have to change the attitude towards prosperity and for this we have to inculcate the spirit of worship of prosperity in the society. Poverty cannot sustain any society for long. Poverty comes from wastage of time and energy. Population is not the problem. If there are as many stomachs, then there are twice as many hands, he added. According to the Sah-sarkaryavah, Bharat has to make prosperity a mantra. However, he said we should ensure that prosperity is achieved through Dharma. He said prosperity can be achieved through various sectors such as agriculture, trade, industry and service sector. We have talented and skilled work force and we can turn the tide in favour of us. Take small communities together for this. We should not make the mistake of treating wealth transfer as wealth creation. Wealth transfers like stock market volatility, tax avoidance, brokerage, sensational speculation, etc., are being considered as wealth creation in the world. It is not possible to stop technology. India has the most youth power with the best minds in the world, so the skills to take advantage of it have to be developed, he added. Dr Dhanpat Ram Agarwal, National Co-convener of the Manch, while explaining the importance of the day of September 25, said that Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the pioneer of Ekatma Manav Darshan, was born on this day. He believed that the system of capitalism and communism, was based on centralisation of power and resources. This situation cannot go on, so as an alternative, he suggested a way keeping the society ahead. He said that Government is for society and not society for the Government. With detailed statistics, he expressed confidence that India has the potential to become a $27 trillion economy in the next 15 years. The National Organiser of the Manch, Shri Kashmiri Lal mentioned several stages of Manchs journey spanning 30 years. He said it is the result of the Manch's public awareness campaign on boycott of Chinese goods that the trade deficit with China, which used to be $64 billion in the year 2016, has come down to $44 billion today. He motivated the youth to read Swadeshi literature of the Manch. We have to fulfil the dream of freedom fighters by taking this discussion to the villages on the occasion of AmritMahotsav of freedom. This freedom is incomplete without economic freedom, he added. Swami Kodasideshwarji of Siddhagiri Peeth, Kaneri Math,emphasised the need of taking this campaign forward by empowering small communities spread across the country. He expressed concern over the villages becoming empty due to lack of education, medical facilities and employment. The facility of free distribution of ration to all by the Government may make people lazy. So the focus should be to make people self-reliant by providing job opportunities. The centralisation ofthe economy has destroyed the villages. Referring to the efforts of Kaneri Math to empower the village, he said in just three years, the number of cows in Kolhapur district has increased by threelakhs, 2000 women got employment. Kaneri Math buys vegetables produced by villagers. Moreover 235 teachers are appointed on behalf of the Math in the schools. The chief organiser of the event Prof Bhagwati Prakash Sharma presented the summary of the discussion which lasted for three days. The national convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch Shri R Sundaram, while appreciating everyone's contribution in this discussion that lasted for three days, said the discussion will help us in determining the future direction of the country. The karykartas of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch will take this discussion to villages. African countries and countries like Taiwan have progressed on the strength of their resolve. India has a vast network of youth power, many research institutes, startups, universities, agricultural land, abundance of natural resources, small scale industries etc. India will also move forward on the strength of its resolve. India will definitely achieve its goal of 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030 while protecting the environment, poverty-free India and unemployment-free India, he added. Earlier, Union Ministers Shri Nitin Gadkari, Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Niti-Aayog Vice-President Rajiv Kumar and experts including Mohandas Pai spoke on various aspects of economy. Few in the national media, the left, and the liberals termed the Gorukhuti Eviction drive as a crusade against minorities and condemned the actions of the police, but Nobody highlighted that even after coming to terms, the police were attacked from all sides with stones, spears, and whatnot. On 8th November 1998, Late. Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha PVSM, Governor of Assam, submitted a report on illegal immigration to Assam to the President of India. In that report, he mentioned that the large-scale illegal migration from East Pakistan/Bangladesh over several decades has been altering the demographic complexion. It poses a grave threat both to the identity of the Assamese people and to our national security. Successive governments at the Centre and in the State have not adequately met this challenge. In his report, he feared that there is a tendency to view illegal migration into Assam as a regional matter, affecting only the people of Assam. Its more dangerous dimension of greatly undermining our national security is ignored. The long-cherished design of Greater East Pakistan/Bangladesh, making inroads into the strategic land link of Assam with the rest of the country, can lead to severing the entire landmass of the North East, with all its rich resources, from the rest of the country. He blamed illegal immigration to be the prime contributory behind the outbreak of insurgency. On 6th February 2017, the Governor of Assam constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Shri Hari Sankar Brahma, Former Election Commissioner of India, and few other members, for suggesting measures, including modifications in ALRR- 1886, other land laws, Government Circular & Land Policy for ensuring the protection of land rights of indigenous people in the State of Assam. The Committee for Protection of Land Rights of Indigenous People of Assam submitted their report on 30th December 2017. In the report, they have categorically mentioned serious threats to the land right of the indigenous people of Assam and their very identity. But by far, the most serious threats to the security of the land rights and the very identity of the indigenous people of Assam have come from the sustained immigration of Bengali Muslim peasants into mainland Assam from the neighbouring districts of pre-independent Assam/erstwhile East Pakistan and now Bangladesh. Admittedly, it is not a new phenomenon. It has been going on since pre-independence days. The unabated, organised, and incessant encroachments of all kinds of land by land-hungry immigrants from Bangladesh. The lands encroached include agricultural land, char areas, various reserves, including Village Grazing Reserves (VGR), Professional Grazing Reserves (PGR), Satra and Temple, etc. land (Debottar, Dharmottar, and Brahmottar lands), Tribal Belt/Block land, Government vacant waste/Khas land, road, and riverside reserved land, etc. The report also stated how the influx and settlement of illegal immigrants led to the election of a Bangladeshi as a Member of the Assam Legislative Assembly. Assam's fight for land pre-dated independence, and the fight is on. Approximately 63 Lakh Bighas of government land is encroached, 77000 bighas (20k acres) of Gorukhuti is just the tip of the iceberg. The locals of the area claim that illegal immigrants have usurped their land and are deprived of their right to their land. The local authorities, before the eviction, came to terms with the occupiers of the encroached land, and the landless were assured 2 acres of land to settle at a different location. Almost all of the illegal settlers were from different constituencies who migrated to the Gorukhuti area, stating flood and erosion as the reason behind their migration to Gorukhuti. Most of them don't even have their names in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC). If everyone came to terms, then why the violence? Why is it shown as a violation of human rights and a move to crush the minority Muslims? To understand the context, we have to recall the violence that took place at Barpeta during the pilot NRC project in 2010. The AAMSU demanded the cancellation of upgrading the NRC. Four died in the violent clashes that took place during the agitation against the up-gradation of NRC. Assam Student's Union clearly stated that there is the involvement of the Pro-Bangladeshi lobby to throttle the Process of NRC. Such violent agitations always derail any action taken to protect the rights of the Assamese people. Few in the national media, the left, and the liberals have termed the Gorukhuti Eviction drive as a crusade against minorities and condemned the actions of the police. Nobody highlighted that even after coming to terms, the police were attacked from all sides with stones, spears, and whatnot. None from the left, liberals, and pseudo-secular spoke about the injured police officers fighting for their lives on duty. The police acted in self-defence. The involvement of PFI is investigated on instigating violence and mobilising crowds for doing so. PFI was involved in the CAA violence. The group was charged for collecting funds to stop the eviction drive. The government of Assam has demanded a ban on the outfit. Pakistan's comments on the events taking place at Gorukhuti clearly explain who would benefit from the violence. The Assamese people feel alienated when few Indian nationals speak up for the rights of the encroachers. What about the human rights of the Assamese people? They are turning into a minority in their state for the illegal immigrants. The population explosion and land encroachment of illegal Bangladeshi Muslims have changed the demography of the state. The demography of selected assembly constituencies are changed in a planned manner every year. If historical blunders of turning a blind eye to planned encroachment are made again, Assamese and Assam won't survive till 2050. (The writer is the Vice-President of BJYM, Assam) The Indian diplomat also reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir was and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India and called upon Pakistan to "immediately vacate" all the areas under its illegal occupation. India slammed Pakistan at the UN, saying that it has repeatedly indulged in cross-border terrorism against its neighbours, with no regard for UN principles. In its Right of Reply at the First Committee General Debate, 76th session of United Nations General Assembly on Monday (October 4), Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, A Amarnath, said: "Pakistan's permanent representative talks about peace, security here, while its Prime Minister Imran Khan "glorifies global terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as martyrs". "Pakistan has made a number of unsubstantiated allegations against India, including in relation to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. These do not merit a response as they pertain to matters internal to India," he said. "Let me reiterate here that the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir was, is and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India. This includes the area that is under illegal occupation of Pakistan," he added. The Indian diplomat called upon Pakistan to "immediately vacate" all the areas under its illegal occupation. The First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks solutions to the international security regime challenges. Journalists under the Kerala Union of Working Journalists ( KUWJ) conducted a protest in front of the General Post Office here on Tuesday, demanding the release of PFIs man cum journalist Siddique Kappan, who was arrested a year ago, while on the way to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, to incite enmity between communities after the murder of a Dalit woman. The protest saw participation by Kerala Opposition leader VD Satheesan who alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government was muzzling the press freedom by slapping fake cases against journalists. Kappan was booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and also charged with sedition. SC Denies Bail to Alleged PFI Journalist Siddique Kappan, Orders UP Govt to Get Him Treated in a Delhi Hospital The Supreme Court Wednesday denied bail to alleged PFI journalist Siddique Kappan and ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to get him treated in a government hospital in Delhi. The Court added Kappan may approach a lower court with a regular bail application. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) had approached the Court by way of a Habeas Corpus petition. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, told the Court since Kappakn was in judicial custody, Habeas Corpus petition was not maintainable. Kappans wife had also approached the top court in the country. Advocate Wills Mathew, representing the KUWJ and Kappans wife, pleaded for bail. Kappan, along with three others, was arrested in Uttar Pradesh in October last year while he was allegedly going to cover the brutal rape and murder of a Dalit girl. An identity card issued by now banned Thejas newspaper was recovered from him. Solicitor General Mehta told the Court Thejas was a mouthpiece of Popular Front of India and had links with banned terrorist organisation SIMI. Challenging the Habeas Corpus petition, Mehta said, A writ of Habeas Corpus lies only when there is illegal detention. This court has held that when a magistrate remands him to custody, then it becomes official custody and no Habeas Corpus can lie. All of them have been represented by lawyers in trial courts. Accepting Mehtas argument, the bench of Justice Surya Kant, CJI NV Raman and Justice AS Bopanna dismissed the petition. Prime Minister Narendra Modis recently concluded visit to the US was a resounding success as he listed achievements of the NDA Government and build on the works of the past On his seventh visit to the United States as the Pradhan Mantri of India, Narendra Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington DC, on a rainy September day. A heavy contingent of the members of the diaspora enthusiastically welcomed PM Modi despite heavy rains. Much of the fanfare associated with Modis international visits - the ostentatious Howdy Modi-like event with 60,000 cheering crowd - was lacking this time due to the pandemic. However, a workaholic Modi was running a tight schedule, meeting foreign dignitaries, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Modi also participated in the first-ever in-person meeting of the Quad leaders and met businessmen and entrepreneurs. On the last day of his visit, PM Modi delivered his address to the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA). Dwelling On Indo-US Relationship The hesitations of history speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi given to the joint session of the US Congress in 2016 encapsulates the history of the Indo-US relationship. For the most part, from Indias Independence in 1947 until the last two decades, the relationship between India and the US has been mostly uneventful. According to the former United States Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, the history of the Indo-US relationship is marked by the periods of alignment, disinterest, frustration, and convergence (Overcoming the Hesitations of History: An Analysis of U.S.-India Ties, Ph.D. dissertation, Georgetown University, 2020). During the Clinton Presidency, the Indo-US relationship started moving positively when Bill Clinton initiated the decoupling of India and Pakistan policy. Presidents Bush, Obama, and largely transactional Trump kept that spirit going from the American side. However, despite the warming up of the relationship and increased diaspora involvement in US politics, American leadership still does not count India as one of its closest friends and partners, and few would assert that we have become allies, natural or otherwise (Verma, 2020). Building On the Past In his meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, PM Modi sought to build on the works of past PMs P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atat Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh. PM Modi also had a chance to work with presidents Obama and Trump. In one of the biggest restitutions of Indias stolen and looted heritage artifacts, Modi brought home 157 antiquities, including many moortis of our revered Devi-Devatas. When Modi took to the podium, he spoke on behalf of a confident nation of 1.4 billion people with over 5,000 years of unbroken culture and history. Speaking in Hindi, Modi listed the achievements and accomplishments of his Government of more than seven years. Modi also highlighted Indias contribution to science, technology, vaccines, and peacekeeping Making Presence Felt PM Modi participated in the two-hour-long in-person meeting of the Quad leaders - President Joe Biden of the United States, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the Quad, is an informal security dialog with four member countries: India, Japan, Australia, and the US. The Quad operated as the Core Group in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami with its humanitarian work. In 2007 the Dialog was initiated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan. Last year, the navies of the Quad nations held a military exercise in the Indian Ocean. The group also worked on an agreement for vaccine production in response to the pandemic. Some believe that the new strategic formation between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS) presents challenges to the Quad. Others, however, are optimistic. In a document of Quad Principles on Technology Design, Development, Governance, and use released by the White House, the Quad leaders mention cooperation in the areas of health, environment, technology, education, and public welfare. Technology should make the lives of our citizens more secure, prosperous, and rewarding, addressing some of the worlds greatest shared challenges, like equitable growth, climate change, energy security, and pandemic diseases, the document read. Elucidating Indias Contribution Prime Minister Narendra Modis US visit was punctuated by his address to the 76th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. When Modi took to the podium, he spoke on behalf of a confident nation of 1.4 billion people with over 5,000 years of unbroken culture and history. Speaking in Hindi, Modi listed the achievements and accomplishments of his Government of more than seven years. Modi also highlighted Indias contribution to science, technology, vaccines, and peacekeeping. Invoking the memory of Swami Vivekanandas speech, he Today, the message from the world's largest democracy, for the international community, is still the sameharmonyand peace. Special teams of the Nagaland Police narcotic cell intercepted a vehicle on the Kohima-Imphal National Highway in the state border, which resulted in the recovery of over 48 kg smuggled gold, estimated to be valued at Rs 22.78 crore. Kohima: In one of the biggest hauls in Nagaland, the police have seized smuggled gold and narcotic substances worth around Rs 25 crore. In three separate joint operations, Nagaland police, Assam Rifles and BSF from various parts of Kohima seized 48 kilograms of smuggled gold, 1.48 kilograms of heroin and 1 kilogram of opium. Police arrested nine people in this connection, a senior police officer said on Tuesday (October 4). CID and the narcotics cell, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Sandeep Tamgadge, told the media that the seizures and arrests were made from different locations of the Kohima district in the last 48 hours. Special teams of the Nagaland Police narcotic cell intercepted a vehicle on the Kohima-Imphal National Highway on Sunday in the state border, which resulted in the recovery of over 48 kg smuggled gold, estimated to be valued at Rs 22.78 crore. The gold bars, reportedly hidden inside the cover of the gear lever of the vehicle, were packed neatly in 29 packets, he said. The smuggled gold and the SUV carrying the yellow metal have been seized while two persons, identified as Saurabh Singh and Pawan Kumar, both residents of Uttar Pradesh, have been detained for further questioning. Initial investigations showed that the gold was smuggled from Manipur and was in transit, and the process may involve multiple state rackets, he said. Asked about the destination of the smuggled bars, Tamgadge said that initial investigation suggests that the packets were bound for Agra. According to the ADGP, seven persons were arrested from the same spot in three separate actions on October 2-4, and recovered 1.84 kg of banned substances packed in 88 soap cases and one kg of opium packed in 12 packets. The value of the drugs is around Rs 6.50 crore. Sources of Assam Rifles and Border Security Force (BSF) informed that the drugs, especially the highly addictive methamphetamine, contain a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine and various other contraband, and arms and ammunition were often smuggled from Myanmar, which shares 1,643 km of unfenced border with four Northeast statesMizoram (510 km), Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km) and Nagaland (215 km). PM Modi said the government approved the construction of over 1.13 crore houses in cities under PM Awas Yojana, and over 50 lakh houses have been built and handed over to the poor Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday (October 5), digitally handed over keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. He was inaugurating 'Azadi@75New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' Conference-cum-Expo at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. He also interacted with beneficiaries of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh virtually. "Since 2014, our government has approved the construction of more than 1.13 crore houses in cities under PM Awas Yojana. Out of this, more than 50 lakh houses have been built and handed over to the poor," PM Modi said at the event. "Some dignitaries ask us, what did Modi do? Today, for the first time, I want to tell such a thing, after which the opponents, who spend all their energy opposing us day and night, will attack me after hearing this speech of mine," he said. "My friends, who used to live in slum area and did not have a pucca houses, such three crore families have got the opportunity to become 'lakhpati' (millionaire) with a single scheme. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, about 3 crore houses have been built in the countryThese people have become lakhpati now (millionaire)," he added. The Prime Minister further said that under PM Awas Yojana, over 80 per cent of the houses are either owned by women or are the joint owner of these houses. He also said that under PM Awas Yojana, the Central government has transferred nearly Rs 1 lakh crore in the accounts of the poor. Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it by force if necessary. Chinese warplanes crossed into Taiwan's air defence zone on Monday (October 4) in yet another record incursion, despite concerns voiced by Washington over Beijing's "provocative" military activity. Taiwan's defence ministry said it scrambled aircraft to broadcast warnings after 36 fighter jets, 12 H-6 nuclear-capable bombers, and other planes entered its southwest air defence identification zone (ADIZ). The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan's territorial airspace, but includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China's own air defence identification zone and some of mainland China. Self-ruled democratic Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it by force if necessary. China marked its National Day on Friday with its then biggest aerial show of force, buzzing the island with 38 warplanes. That was followed by another incursion by 39 planes on Saturday, sparking criticism from Washington. "The United States is very concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilising, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Sunday. "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan." Beijing has ramped up pressure on the government of President Tsai Ing-wen since she came to power in 2016, as she rejects its stance that Taiwan is part of "one China". Responding to the incident, the editorial in the state media outlet Global Times read, "the intensive actions of the PLA Air Force are not only a severe warning to the secessionist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities on the island, but also clearly portrayed the severity of the situation across the Taiwan Straits, and at the same time gave a clear warning to the supporters of the DPP authorities." "The secessionist forces on the island will never be allowed to secede Taiwan from China under whatever names or by whatever means, and, the island will not be allowed to act as an outpost of the US' strategic containment against China," the editorial added. The disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing the services to a halt. Washington: Facebook has said that the disruption of its operation was caused by configuration changes on backbone routers. Facebook, in a statement, said its service is now back online. "Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt," the engineers said in a statement on Facebook's website. "Our services are now back online, and we're actively working to fully return them to regular operations. We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change," the statement said. Courtesy: ANI Under Phase III of the Housing Projects, 4000 houses are to be built. Out of which, over 3500 houses have been completed, construction of around 400 houses is going on, and 63 houses are yet to start. New Delhi: On a visit to Sri Lanka, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla on Monday, Oct 4, jointly inaugurated four projects in the housing and education sectors with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Prof G. L. Peiris. Several Sri Lankan Ministers and members of Parliament attended the session. These projects, completed with Indian assistance, exemplify India's strong and multifaceted development cooperation profile in Sri Lanka, said a tweet from the Indian High Commission in Colombo. There was handing over of 1235 houses to beneficiaries under Indian Housing Project Phase III: "This project is a part of India's biggest grant assistance project in Sri Lanka for the construction of 50,000 houses at a cost of INR 1372 crore across various districts in Sri Lanka," a source said. Under Phase III of the Housing Projects, a total of 4000 houses are to be built. Out of which, over 3500 houses have been completed, construction of around 400 houses is going on, and 63 houses are yet to start. During this visit of the Foreign Secretary, 1235 completed houses under this Phase III were handed over. On Monday, the Foreign Secretary called on Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan Prime Minister, and held a productive discussion on further consolidating the multifaceted India-Sri Lanka partnership. He held bilateral talks with Foreign Minister Prof GL Peiris. "Discussions focused on early conclusion of projects, proposals and enhancing connectivity that would help accelerate Sri Lanka's economic recovery," officials said. The Foreign Secretary also called on Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and discussed India-Sri Lanka's economic and commercial ties and post-pandemic economic recovery by taking forward joint projects of mutual benefit. During his stay, Mr Shringla also inaugurated Vada Central Ladies College in Vadamarachi, Northern Province: Aligned with the Government of India's continued commitment to build improved educational infrastructure in Sri Lanka, a project for the renovation of 27 schools in Northern Province was taken up by the Government of India. He also inaugurated Saraswathi Central College in Pusellawa, Kandy district. This project is being implemented as a High Impact Community Development Project under Indian grant assistance. Kishida's victory, analysts say, is also because of the backing of the conservative wing and those preferring the policy actions defined by Abe. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, Oct 4, congratulated Kishida Fumio on being elected by his party as the Prime Minister of Japan. "I look forward to working with him to further strengthen the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership and advance peace and prosperity in our region and beyond," Mr Modi wrote in a tweet. Congratulations and best wishes to the new Prime Minister of Japan, H.E. Kishida Fumio. I look forward to working with him to further strengthen the - Special Strategic and Global Partnership and advance peace and prosperity in our region and beyond. @kishida230 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 4, 2021 Fumio Kishida was elected Japan's prime minister in a parliamentary vote and is expected to be heading for a national election within the next few weeks. Of course, he is tasked with tackling the pandemic challenge and other domestic and global challenges in the given situation. Kishida is generally expected to toe the line of the erstwhile leadership of Shinzo Abe, which was quite India friendly, especially during the stint of Narendra Modi since 2014. Kishida's victory, analysts say, is also because of the backing of the conservative wing and those preferring the policy actions defined by Abe. Kishida has also criticised China's economic and political aggression during his time as a candidate and, importantly, said that he would be working closely with India and the likes of the US and Australia, and even Europe, who "share the same values". From a security perspective, it is arguably stated that Japanese lawmakers from across the political spectrum and a large section of common citizens have become "increasingly concerned" about China and its new intent. Kishida holds the credit of being Japan's 'longest-serving foreign minister', thus bringing a wealth of diplomatic experience into the coveted executive position. The 64-year-old Kishida has an image as a 'consensus builder', and thus stability and continuity would remain the top focus of his government. His new cabinet is also "dominated by allies" of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was also in office for a longer stint than usually happens with the Japanese Prime Ministers. Though China is an increasingly assertive neighbour for Japan, it is also a key economic partner. Japan has lately joined the Quad formation comprising itself, the US, India and Australia. Observers say the new PM Kishida has already signalled to the United States and others that there will be a little deviation from the positions staked out by his two immediate predecessors - Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga. Pakistan is now under the lens of the FATF due to its policies and New Delhi is sustaining the pressure and the Pak government may have to float another bond to handle repayment issues. The IMF has said Pakistan needs to unwind the stimulus measures. New Delhi: In 2016, the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar made a candid observation when he said- "As a patient remains unconscious after surgery, in the same way ..... Pakistan is in a coma, and it is unable to understand what has happened. Just like a patient who has been given anesthesia and is senseless. And even after surgery is performed he is unable to realise that it has already been performed." These words have turned prophetic, especially in the context of Pakistan, of 2021 vis-a-vis the post-Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Imran Khan's hyped 'Kamyab Pakistan' has little meaning on the ground. The moments of momentary rejoice after the Taliban' win' seemed to be heading for bringing in a worse set of challenges. In October 2021, it faces three rounds of litmus tests. Let's take it one by one. Even as Pak's beleaguered Prime Minister, Imran Khan, is still awaiting just a telecall from the White House (read President Joe Biden), diplomats in Islamabad have a tough job at hand in dealing with the visit of US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman. She is slated for a two-day Pakistan tour from October 7 after her visits to New Delhi and Mumbai. There has to be some concerted effort in meetings with her to dispel the global notion that authorities in Islamabad have always played double games when it came to the business of war against terror. Instead, Pakistan has used 'terror' as a ploy either to inflict injuries on India or make money from the western powers and often did end up doing both things. Pakistan's position is rather weak today as Joe Biden has so far avoided making a telecall to Imran Khan, who avoided a trip to the US in September for UNGA and instead made his ritualistic speech online. It's time now, as they put it even on other fronts. Pakistan is perhaps apprehensive of US sanctions too. Pakistan will also have to resume its programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the $1 billion Eurobond matures on October 14. The IMF meetings are likely to be held from October 12 to 17th. The Pak government may have to float another bond to handle repayment issues. The IMF has said Pakistan needs to start unwinding the stimulus measures. Between October 17 and October 22, the meetings of anti-money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) are scheduled, and Islamabad's priorities will be to come out of the so-called 'grey list'. But this is easier said than done. Pakistan is now under the lens of the terror-funding watchdog FATF largely due to its policies and because New Delhi is sustaining the pressure. On June 25, Pakistan was retained by the FATF on the list of countries under "increased monitoring" as Islamabad failed to prosecute top leadership of the US Security Council designated terror groups. Pakistan was also handed over a fresh list of 'six tasks' related to money laundering and terror funding. Since 2018, New Delhi has pointed out to global players that despite making commitments in international fora, the Pakistan establishment has given "freedom and impunity" with which the designated terrorists like Hafiz Saed and entities like Jamaat-Ud-Dawaa, Lashkar-e-Tayabba, Jaish-e-Mohammed continues to operate in Pakistan. Even some sections of Pakistanis understand the gravity of the situation their country is in. "The more Pakistan is seen advocating for Afghanistan's difficulties, the more our destinies will be joined in the eyes of those we are trying to persuade. This outcome must be averted," wrote Pakistani journalist Khurram Husain in 'Dawn'. Unlike his Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was once called 'Taliban Khan', Husain also argues that the 'collapse of centralised authority' in Afghanistan could result in grave risks for Pakistan. During the two-and-a-half-year investigation, 22 abuse cases were sent to prosecutors, while over 40 alleged crimes that are too old to be prosecuted but involve living suspects have been forwarded to church officials. According to an independent commission investigating sexual abuse, thousands of child abusers have worked in Frances Catholic Church over the past 70 years. The Commission president Jean-Marc Sauve said that the church has employed an estimated 3,000 abusers since the 1950s, two-thirds of whom are priests. Mr Sauve gave the estimate in an interview with Frances Journal du Dimanche newspaper ahead of the full findings release on Tuesday. During the two-and-a-half-year investigation, 22 abuse cases were sent to prosecutors, Mr Sauve said, while over 40 alleged crimes that are too old to be prosecuted but involve living suspects have been forwarded to church officials. We evaluated their number at 3,000, out of 115,000 priests and church people since the 1950s, Mr Save said. Two-thirds are diocesan priests. Facebook-owned platforms are back online after a roughly six hour outage, one of the longest in history, experienced by billions of social media users. As services began to come back online, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted to his Facebook page. "Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now," he wrote. "Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about." While instances like this aren't unheard of for social media giants, this was the longest Facebook was offline since 2008, according to CNBC. The platform only had 80 million users then. Facebook tweeted an apology just after 6:30 pm ET Monday that its apps and services were beginning to work again, though service was still spotty. But, trouble for Facebook remains as an ex-employee brings her sharp criticisms of the company to Congress Tuesday. A former Facebook data scientist, Frances Haugen, brought to Congress her accusations that the company hid its awareness of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and has been dishonest in its fight against hate and misinformation. This comes after Haugen aired her condemnation of Facebook during an episode of 60 Minutes on Sunday. Frances Haugen came forward with tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebooks civic integrity unit. Haugen also has filed complaints with federal authorities alleging that Facebooks own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest, but the company hides what it knows, according to the Associated Press. After the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection heard Haugen's testimony, the panel is examining Facebooks use of information from its own researchers on Instagram that could indicate potential harm for some of its young users, especially girls, while it publicly downplayed the negative impacts. For some of the teens devoted to Facebooks popular photo-sharing platform, the peer pressure generated by the visually focused Instagram led to mental health and body-image problems, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, the research leaked by Haugen showed. One internal study cited 13.5% of teen girls saying Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% of teen girls saying it makes eating disorders worse, according to the Associated Press. Haugens criticisms range beyond Instagram. She said in the 60 Minutes interview that Facebook prematurely turned off safeguards designed to thwart misinformation and incitement to violence after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump last year, alleging that contributed to the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. After the election, Facebook dissolved the civic integrity unit where Haugen had been working. That, she said, was the moment she realized I dont trust that theyre willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous. Facebook maintains that Haugens allegations are misleading and insists there is no evidence to support the premise that it is the primary cause of social polarization, according to the Associated Press. As far as the reason for the massive outage yesterday, Santosh Janardhan, Facebook's VP of infrastructure, released a statement saying the company was "sorry for the inconvenience caused by today's outage across our platforms." He continued that there is "no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime." "Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt," Janardhan said. None of the Facebook, Whatsapp, or Instagram accounts have explained what originally caused the outage, leading to speculation and analysis. At this point, most agree that this isn't a hack or directed attack on Facebook's infrastructure, and sources have told the New York Times that it probably wasn't a cyberattack because "one hack was unlikely to affect so many apps at once." Instead, evidence shows the company's network paths to the outside web just disappeared without explanation, according to techradar.com. Brian Krebs of cybersecurity firm Krebs on Security tweeted his conclusion that the domain name system records routing traffic to Facebook sites and services were simply withdrawn as in, gone from the web. In a follow-up tweet, Krebs clarified with his belief that the border gateway protocol routes serving Facebook's DNS were gone, making every site on a Facebook domain inaccessible. This presumably explains why its services and third-party login access, as well as Instagram/WhatsApp/Facebook Messenger, were completely down, according to techradar.com. Additionally, Facebook's stock fell by nearly 5% Monday. Photo provided/Family & Children's Services Website Family & Childrens Services has received a grant of $3,000 from the Rotary Club of Midland's Community Needs Committee to assist them in caring for the people of our community by safely providing mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The gift was used for the purchase of commercial grade outdoor furniture to allow FCS to provide face to face mental health counseling services as well as host support groups, meetings, and educational programs in their courtyard to ensure that those who need mental health treatment and support are able to receive it as comfortably as possible despite the challenges faced due to the pandemic and social distancing requirements. A Detroit man was given 5 years of strict mental health probation for making death threats against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel. Robert Tesh was sentenced Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court after pleading guilty but mentally ill in August, according to court documents. As part of his probation, Tesh must continuously receive and participate in mental health treatment, according to the Wayne County prosecutor's office. Failure to continue treatment, except by agreement with the treating agency and the sentencing court, is grounds for revocation of probation. A psychiatric report also must be filed with his probation officer and the sentencing court every three months during the period of probation. Tesh also is prohibited from owning, using or possessing an firearms or weapons. Tesh, 34, was charged last year with false report or threat of terrorism after making the threats via a social media message to an acquaintance in April 2020. Detroit police officers arrested Tesh at his home -- the same day the threats were made. Prosecutor Kym Worthy has said authorities concluded the message amounted to credible threats to kill. Her office added that the threats were not specific to Whitmers stay-at-home order issued in March 2020 to stem the spread of COVID-19 in the state. Whitmer had been the target of protests and rallies over her executive order which shut down most businesses in the state. Nessel said Tuesday in a statement to the court at Teshs sentencing that she is an elected official, but the impact of the crime is not different than if she were not in such a position. This is not how it should be, Nessel wrote. The deluge of threats that public officials have faced in the last year is unprecedented and unacceptable. No public official should be frightened of doing their job. I have always supported the publics right to disagree and voice that disagreement, its our First Amendment right as Americans. But when that disagreement crosses the line into a politically-motivated threat of violence, it must be prosecuted. A judge last month set a March 8 trial for five men accused of planning to kidnap Whitmer. The government has said the five men were upset over coronavirus restrictions when they conspired to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat, even scouting her second home in northern Michigan. Theyve pleaded not guilty and claim to be victims of entrapment. The five have been in custody for nearly a year. A sixth man, Ty Garbin, pleaded guilty and was recently sentenced to slightly more than six years in prison. Hes expected to be a major witness for the government at trial. __ Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Mich. This article has been updated to reflect that Tracy Wimmer said people are now in and out of SOS branch locations in 20 minutes. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson entered the Midland Secretary of State (SOS) office during the late morning hours on Tuesday. The scene was mostly devoid of people, with employees, reporters and a few customers standing at the service desks. There was certainly no line to be seen by staff. This was a promising sight for Benson. Since entering office in 2019, she wanted to streamline services and reduce wait times at SOS branches in the state. On Tuesday, she made a visit to the Midland branch, located at 1832 N. Saginaw Road, to speak to SOS workers, and answer questions regarding election misinformation. Tracy Wimmer, director of media relations, said the state recently switched to a hybrid model. This model allows for customers to either schedule appointments ahead of time or walk in a branch office. She said scheduling appointments have allowed customers to go in and out of branches in about 20 minutes, and allowing walk-ins to be seen right away. Appointments allow for predictability for staff and makes it easier to predict how long a service will take. This model also ensures employees get out on time, since before workers were staying three to four hours past their scheduled end to their shift, Benson said. The more citizens interact with our offices, whether they do so online, at self-service stations, or in-person at a branch office, they are going to see the improvements that have been made, and the improved morale among our employees, Benson said. That has translated to better customer service than ever before. When she first entered office, Benson made it a priority to visit every SOS branch in Michigan to hear from employees and assessed problems from her visits. With these visits, she saw firsthand the problems that plagued the Michigan SOS offices. She listened to employees to create this hybrid model, she said. Having revisited branches, she said she was happy to see people take advantage of the shorter wait times and scheduled meetings. These visits have been encouraging to see this model implemented and working, she said. Gone are the hours of lines and long waits that plagued previous administrations, Benson said. Now 80% of citizens visiting our branch offices are able to schedule their visit ahead of time and do so. For the 10 to 20% who walk up, (they) are seen right away. However, Benson said she wants to work on bringing SOS services to its constituents. For instance, the SOS Department recently launched a mobile SOS office in Southeast Michigan that will stop by senior centers, colleges, places of worship and other gathering places. She has asked the Michigan Legislature to fund more mobile offices for rural communities. Benson also spoke about election misinformation still floating around from the 2020 presidential election. She encourages everyone to follow the facts, and said it is disappointing that misinformation still needs to be corrected almost a year after the 2020 election. She said last years election was safe and secure, with every voted counted. The results stand up to scrutiny with over 250 audits, she said. She will continue to work with the legislature to make good election policies that do not respond to conspiracy theories. She also directed anyone with concerns about the integrity of elections to visit https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_100423_102534_102535---,00.html with questions and listen to the truth. We are in an era of disinformation, where it has become profitable to lie to voters about their access to their vote, or access to their branch offices, Benson said. My job is to continue to tell the truth. Coal may be a thing of the past for the Tri-Cities area. The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) held a public hearing on the 15-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) from Consumers Energy, the main energy provider for the Midland, Bay and Saginaw counties. The plan outlines how Consumers plans to supply power to its customers. While many Michiganders applauded the companys decision to phase out coal power plants, they also said the plan failed to address the climate change due to the continued use of natural gas. The state requires all regulated utilities in the state file IRPs and do so every five years, according to a presentation at the public hearing. The plan must look at five, 10 and 15 years in the future and must be able to adapt to any changes and risks in the utilities industry. Factors utility providers must consider when making an IRP is: Renewable energy. Long term forecast of sales and peak demand under different scenarios. Plans to eliminate energy waste. Using less energy altogether. Energy efficiency as a result of technology advancements. Consumers filed its latest IRP on June 30. The plan will focus on eliminating all of its coal plants by 2025, to have 60% of its electrical capacity powered by renewable resources, and to update its grids for efficiency and lowering peak demands. People can learn more about Consumers plan through its website. The coal phase-out would impact the Tri-Cities area with the closure of coal-fired units at the D.E. Karn Generating Complex near Bay City by 2023. Cathy Cole, an MPSC staffer, said coal plants supply power to the grid that covers the Tri-City area and more. This grid would be powered by natural gas and renewable resources, Cole said. However, many residents were concerned with the plan. One caller from Grand Rapids said while it is good that Consumers plans to phase out coal power, natural gas still produces carbon and pollutes the environment around it, so it should switch to renewable resources. Bridget Vial, a Detroit resident and member of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, said action must be taken to subvert the climate emergency, so she agrees Consumers should ditch fossil fuels. She said many Detroiters spent their summers cleaning black mold from their basements due to continued flooding and are burdened by air pollution. We cannot accept further investments in fossil gas, period, Vial said. It is too late. I am 25, and I'm of the generation that became scared of having my own kids when I was 15. The MPSC was supposed to have an in-person meeting at Saginaw Valley State University but had to postpone due to MPSC employees being potentially exposed to COVID-19. Dan Scripps, the chair of MPSC, said the commission is working on rescheduling that meeting for another time. CHICAGO (AP) A federal agency has recommended that Tootsie Roll Industries pay more than $136,000 in fines after a machine at its Chicago plant cut off part of an employee's finger this year. The U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release Tuesday that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one willful violation Sept. 24 for inadequate machine guarding and proposed the fines after an investigation into the April 19 incident. OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Work at all of the Kellogg Company's U.S. cereal plants came to a halt Tuesday as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike, but it wasn't immediately clear how much the supply of Frosted Flakes or any of the company's other iconic brands would be disrupted. The strike includes plants in Omaha, Nebraska Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee. The union and the Battle Creek-based company have been at an impasse at the bargaining table for more than a year, said Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha. The dispute involves an assortment of pay and benefit issues such as the loss premium health care, holiday and vacation pay and reduced retirement benefits The company continues to threaten to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept outrageous proposals that take away protections that workers have had for decades," said Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. The threat to move work to Mexico doesn't sit well with Osborn. A lot of Americans probably don't have too much issue with the Nike or Under Armor hats being made elsewhere or even our vehicles, but when they start manufacturing our food down where they are out of the FDA control and OSHA control, I have a huge problem with that, Osborn said. The company insists that its offer is fair and would increase wages and benefits for its employees that it said made an average of $120,000 a year last year. "We are disappointed by the unions decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits for our U.S. ready to eat cereal employees that are among the industrys best," Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said in a statement. Osborn said he expects the company to try to bring non-union workers into the plants at some point this week to try to resume operations and maintain the supply of its products. The company acknowledged that it is "implementing contingency plans" to limit supply disruptions for consumers. The plants have all continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said that for much of that time workers were putting in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to keep up production while so many people were out because of the virus. The level we were working at is unsustainable, Osborn said. Kelloggs workers arent the first food workers to strike during the pandemic. Earlier this summer, more than 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, walked off the job to protest working conditions during the pandemic, including forced overtime. That strike ended in July when workers ratified a new contract. Workers at Nabisco plants in five states went on strike in August to protest plans by Nabiscos parent, Mondelez International, to move some work to Mexico, among other issues, according to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which also represents the Kellogg's workers. That strike ended last month when workers ratified a new contract. ___ Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit. The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Andrew Mullin. Sunday, Sept. 26 11:32 p.m. Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence for a death investigation of a 27-year-old male. This incident is still under investigation. 10:43 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Lee Township residence regarding a 50-year-old Lee Township female requesting help to get her 45-year-old ex-boyfriend to leave the residence. The male left the residence prior to arrival and no more assistance was needed. 10:27 p.m. A deputy spoke with a 65-year-old Lee Township male regarding civil issues he was having with his 58-year-old female neighbor. Both parties were spoken to about the civil issues. 8:52 p.m. Officers responded to a driver operating with a suspended license. 8:35 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Midland Township residence regarding a verbal argument between a 40-year-old Midland Township male and his 26-year-old live in girlfriend. The deputy provided advice to both parties on how to prevent future issues. 8:24 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Lincoln Township location to BOL for a vehicle pulling a trailer that was weaving and had sparks coming from underneath. The deputy checked the area, but the vehicle was not located. 5:27 p.m. Officers responded to a three-vehicle crash in the area of Eastman Avenue and West Wackerly Street. 2:25 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to an area in Mount Haley Township regarding two 14-year-old's and a 13-year-old that were lost in the woods. The teens had called their stepfather as well as 911. The stepfather and deputy were making noise near the residence and they advised dispatch they could hear it. They were able to make it back to the house without incident. They all advised they went for a walk in the woods and got turned around. 2:23 p.m. Deputies responded to Jerome Township after a 54-year-old Jerome Township male called 9-1-1 stating that he was suicidal. Deputies contacted the male and transported him to the MidMichigan Medical Center ER where a mental health petition was completed. 1:49 p.m. Officers responded to a vehicle crash on Eastman Avenue. 10:53 a.m. Deputies were dispatched to Lee Township regarding a domestic verbal situation between a 37-year-old Lee Township male and his live-in 34-year-old girlfriend. There was no assault. 10:52 a.m. Officers responded to a damage to property on East Patrick Road. 10:38 a.m. Officers responded to a domestic verbal dispute on Airfield Lane. 10:18 a.m. A 24-year-old Homer Township female was issued an isolation notice after she was bit by her own dog. The female sustained minor injuries to her hand and wished to surrender her dog to the Humane Society of Midland County, which she planned to do the next business day. 2:57 a.m. A 30-year-old male was stopped for a traffic offense in Geneva Township. The male was subsequently cited for no insurance and the male was able to obtain insurance and drove the vehicle away. 1:44 a.m. A deputy was dispatched to a City of Coleman residence regarding a verbal between a 32-year-old City of Coleman female and her 32-year-old live-in fiance. No assaults occurred and the male left the residence for the night. Saturday, Sept. 25 11:36 p.m. Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence to keep the peace while a 30-year-old female retrieved personal items from her 43-year-old brother's home. Her brother was intoxicated, but he was calm and cooperative. The sister obtained her personal items and left peacefully. 10:51 p.m. Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence regarding an argument between a 34-year-old female and her 41-year-old boyfriend. The argument was verbal only and no assault occurred. The female left the residence for the evening to deescalate the situation. 10:40 p.m. Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Isabella Street and Sandow Road. 10:26 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Coleman residence to check the wellbeing of a 14-year-old Coleman female. The deputy provided her and her parents with advice on handling the female's mental illness. 9:19 p.m. Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Bay City Road and Fast Ice Drive. 8:25 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Midland Township residence regarding a larceny. A 20-year-old Midland Township male advised the catalytic converter was cut off and stolen from his work truck parked in the front yard. The catalytic converter was valued at $400. 6:02 p.m. Officers responded to a two-vehicle injury crash in the area of East Indian and Ashman streets. 3:55 p.m. A 60-year-old Greendale Township man reported a 54-year-old man had come to his residence and had an argument. The 54-year-old man had dated the caller's daughter and had lived with him up until recently, when both the man and daughter moved out. The 54-year-old man came to the caller's house and accused the daughter of having his keys and later sent texts about her taking some of his other property while in Mount Pleasant. The caller did not need the 54-year-old man contacted, and he just wanted it documented in case he returns. 3:45 p.m. A 35-year-old Coleman male was cited for driving with a suspended license following a traffic stop in the City of Coleman for not wearing his seatbelt. 3:13 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to Lee Township for a larceny report that happened in Sanford. The 77-year-old female said someone stole her purse from her vehicle. There are no suspects currently. 2:20 p.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Midland Township residence regarding a private property crash that occurred in the City of Midland. 10:29 a.m. A deputy responded to Geneva Township for a 42-year-old female who argued with her 46-year-old husband. There was no assault and the male left before the deputy arrived and the female was advised on how to file for divorce. 7:25 a.m. A deputy was sent to Lee Township residence for an 18-year-old female who was suicidal. The female was transported by EMS to the ER. The deputy completed a mental health petition. 4:22 a.m. Deputies were sent to Lee Township for a report of possible drunk driver who possibly struck a mailbox. The vehicle was stopped in the City of Midland by Midland Police Department officers. The female driver was sober and stated she did not hit anything. Deputies checked the area where the mailbox would have been struck but were unable to locate any damaged mailboxes. 2:32 a.m. A deputy was dispatched to a Jerome Township residence regarding a 20 year-old male who heard strange animal noises outside his residence. The deputy checked the area and everything appeared normal. 1:25 a.m. Deputies were sent to a Greendale Township home for a report of a verbal argument/unwanted guest at the residence. Upon arrival, contact was made with an Isabella County man and female who were at the Greendale Township home visiting relatives and the male's children. A verbal argument ensued, and the grandparents asked the Isabella County man and woman to leave. Deputies stood by until a family member arrived on scene and drove the Isabella County man and woman home for the night. All parties involved stated there was no assault. 12:47 a.m. Deputies were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence regarding an intoxicated 25-year-old female who was outside yelling. Deputies arrived at the scene and helped the female back into her residence. She was cooperative and agreed to stay in for the night. To the editor: I want to alert readers to the "Secure MI Vote" petition that will be circulating in our community in coming days. The petition assumes that Michigan's access to voting should be amended to protect against voter fraud. Michigan doesn't need it. Our last election had a record turn out and the polling was nearly error-free -- an independent, bipartisan audit committee found no evidence of misconduct by election officials. In actuality, this petition is a bi-product of the (Big) lie that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election because of voter fraud. It is an attempt to reach around our governor's veto of several copy-cat laws proposed by Michigan's legislature -- a culmination of the Heritage Foundation's effort to pass anti-voter legislation in Michigan, Iowa, Georgia, Texas and other states. Despite its claims, the Secure MI Vote petition does not "protect the right to vote" nor "increase confidence in the conduct of elections," and -- especially -- not "protect election integrity." Petition signers may not know Secure MI Vote prohibits election officials from sending unsolicited absentee ballot applications. Nor would they know that the initiative will never go to ballot - that it will be adopted directly with signatures of merely 3.4% of Michigan's population. This would undermine the results of Prop 3, the improved voter-access bill passed by 66.8% of Michigan voters in 2018. Sounds undemocratic to me, maybe you too. You and your state deserve better that this. Next time you see canvassers for Secure MI Vote, ask them who they work for, and whether they know the petition's goal of voter suppression. Ask them why they want to make voting harder for the elderly, the disabled, rural voters, and others ignored by our legislature's majority. Please reject legislation made in bad faith. Turn down the Secure MI Vote petition and walk away. PETER ANDERS Midland Algiers, Algeria (PANA) - Algerias transition to a new growth model requires wide-ranging structural reforms, including measures to improve economic governance, foster the emergence of a dynamic private sector and support job creation, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The first round of food distribution to people in Afar and Amhara regions impacted by the spread of the conflict in northern Ethiopia has been completed, the World Food Programme (WFP) said here Tuesday Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Four terrorists affiliated to Islamic State (ISIS) were killed when a joint force of Sudanese General Intelligence Service, Armed Forces, the Rapid Support Forces stormed their hideouts in a Khartoum suburb on Monday, government media reported on Tuesday Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) The sub-regional trade grouping, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), on Tuesday co-hosted a special high-level information sharing session of the IGAD Support Platform on the Solutions Initiative for the displacement situation in South Sudan and Sudan Photo: (Photo : CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images) Cassandra Madison and Julia Tinetti from Connecticut are a pair of good friends at work who bonded over their adoption and then learned the shocking truth that they are, in fact, biological sisters. Both women, who met in 2013, were born and given up for adoption in the Dominican Republic. They had some uncanny similarities in personality and were often mistaken to be sisters at work. Little did they know that the resemblance and similarities in personalities were actually biological. Madison, 33, and Tinetti, 31, got together one night and compared adoption papers to see if they could be related. However, nothing matched in their records, their birth parents and birthplaces in the Dominican Republic were different. Yet, one of them still had this lingering feeling about their connection. Years later, Madison moved to Virginia from Connecticut but remained friends with Tinetti and kept close contact through social media. Read Also: Adoptive Parents Appeal Reinstatement of Birth Dad's Rights to 3-Year-Old Adopted Child A Pleasant Christmas Gift Madison's adoptive mom gave her a DNA test as a Christmas gift in 2018, and it matched her with a first cousin and some distant relatives. From the onset, Madison was thrilled with the DNA test because she didn't know that there were ways adoptees like her could find their biological family. The first cousin then helped Madison connect to her birth father, Adriano Luna, who told her that her birth mother, Yulianna Collado Luna, died in 2015 due to a heart attack. Madison flew to the Dominican Republic to reconnect with her dad and other siblings. Luna told Madison that they had to give up her and another younger sibling for adoption because he and Yulianna could not make ends meet. Madison was adopted when she was only six weeks old. When the couple had another baby a few years later, they could still not improve their lives, so they had her adopted as well. "We didn't have money, we were sleeping on the floor, struggling to buy food," the father said. Convinced that Tinetti is the younger sister, Madison asked her if she could take the DNA test. While Tinetti had some hesitations because some adoptees don't have a happy ending, she finally relented to her friend's request. After the results came back, both women learned that they indeed have the same biological parents. It also turned that there were some mistakes on their adoption papers. Adoption Papers Switched Tinetti has a childhood best friend, Molly Sapadin, who was also adopted from the Dominican Republic. Tinetti and Sapadin's adopted families in the U.S. were close, so the girls, who were adopted at the same time, grew up close. Sapadin, who has met Madison as well, has seen Madison's birth family stories and something struck with her. She recognized the name Collado and dug up her adoption papers, thinking that she and Madison might be related. She also took a DNA test, which revealed that they were biological cousins. After more digging, the women found out that the adoption agency made a mistake and switched Sapadin and Tinetti's records. The friends have finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. Today, Madison and Tinetti talk daily on the apps and even disagree like sisters. Tinetti has also connected with her family in the Dominican Republic, including her birth father, who was stunned to see her photos and videos because she looks exactly like her birth mother. The sisters plan to visit their birth country in the spring of 2022. Related Article: Pennsylvania Parents Adopted Their Son's Best Friend Who Was In Foster Care Photo: (Photo : CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images) There is no evidence to suggest that epidurals and autism development in children are interlinked, according to experts who scrutinized a controversial finding released in 2020. In a commentary, Cynthia Wong, an anesthesia professor at the University of Iowa, wrote that epidurals and autism have no direct connection despite research that indicated a slightly "higher autism odds" in babies of mothers who had the anesthesia during childbirth. To debunk this highly contended fading, experts from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California and the University of Manitoba in Canada conducted their own studies, which drew similar results with another research from Danish scientists to reassure mothers that epidurals are safe and would not cause autism. Read Also: 'Sesame Street' Puppeteer for New Character With Autism Wants To Do a Roadshow The Stanford/Canada Study The first study had doctors Alexander Butwick and Elizabeth Wall-Wieler follow the development of 123,175 born between 2005 and 2016. At least 40 percent of the moms in this study had epidural anesthesia during labor. Of the kids whose moms received the anesthesia, 2.1 percent were later diagnosed as under the autism spectrum. The researchers delved deeper into the factors that raised the autism risk for these kids, which the previous study did not consider. They looked into the socio-economic situation of the mom, her pre-pregnancy history and medical conditions, her alcohol or smoking habits, and her drug use, if any. They also looked into a history of mental illness in the family or if the mother was prescribed antidepressants or antiepileptics drugs while pregnant. The nature of the pregnancy and labor was also studied and compared with her other kids. After adjusting all these factors, Butwick and Wall-Wieler found in their analyses that there was no statistical evidence to show the connection between epidurals and autism. The experts were confident that their data was more robust than the other study since they "accounted for limitations." Their findings were published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal. The Danish Study On the other hand, the second study involved 480,000 Danish kids, where 19 percent had been born while their mother had epidural during the labor. The experts did a seven-year follow-up from 2006 to 2013 and also controlled the limitations by considering the mother's medical and psychiatric history. Like the Canada study, the researchers could not find any links between epidurals and autism. They also published their findings in the JAMA Network. The experts noted that the two studies with slightly different demographics, different populations, and different data, but with nearly similar results would be valuable and helpful to moms who may still doubt epidurals. Dr. Anders Mikkelsen, an obstetrician in Copenhagen who led the Danish study, said that he personally doesn't see any problems recommending epidural to his patients to manage their labor pains. Pamela Feliciano of SPARKforAutism.org, who was not part of any studies, said that their own studies with the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative over the years have indicated that autism development is genetic and environmental. Related Article: Community Outraged As Boy With Autism, 12, Faces Felony Charges For 'Scripting' 'Red Dead Redemption' Swedish airport operator Swedavia has completed the installation of charging infrastructure for electric aircraft at Visby Airport on the island of Gotland. The inauguration of the charging stations took place in conjunction with the first electric aircraft landing at the airport. ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> Gunnar Jonasson, airport director of Visby Airport at Swedavia, said, The aviation of the future needs to be sustainable, so it is naturally very gratifying that we have reached the milestone of being able to welcome the first electric aircraft to land and charge at Visby Airport. We see the development of electric aviation advancing quickly, and for us at Swedavia it feels positive that we have now come to the point where we note that there are good conditions in place for reaching the goal, together with our partners, of being able to handle commercial electric aircraft for passengers at Visby Airport once there is a market for this in a few years. The infrastructure consists of three charging stations for electric aircraft, located at two different sites at Visby Airport. Two charging stations are set up on the airports main apron for aircraft while the third is located at the Gotland Flying Club, in the southern part of the airport. Electric aircraft will play an important role in the aviation industrys shift to fossil-free air travel. For that reason, it feels really positive for us that now, in addition to the airport and aircraft manufacturers, there is also an airline, Braathens Regional Aviation (BRA), that sees the potential and wants to start flying commercial electric aircraft between Gotland and Stockholm once this is possible. The next step is to intensify the work to establish both the infrastructural and commercial conditions needed together with other partners in the region, the business community and the aviation industry, added Jonasson. Swedavia has provided funding for the electric aircraft charging stations in collaboration with Region Gotland and GEAB. Climate Leap (Klimatklivet), the Swedish Environmental Agencys program for local and regional investment support to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provided additional funding for the installation. (Click on image to Greatly Enlarge) Today Apple unveiled new resources for elementary school students and educators, including a new activity guide, Everyone Can Code Early Learners, that extends its coding curriculum resources from kindergarten to college. Educators can also try Apples new one-hour Inclusive App Design activity to introduce students to the world of coding and app development. In addition, updates to the popular Schoolwork app include support for exit tickets and enable educators to use the app on their personal devices. Susan Prescott, Apples vice president of Education and Enterprise Marketing: "Coding and app design are essential literacies these skills help students think critically and creatively, regardless of whether they go on to be app developers. Apple now offers coding resources for learners from kindergarten to college, and challenges them to design amazing apps that are inclusive and accessible to users. Our resources and support for educators are designed to prepare students to be the innovators of tomorrow, whether theyre just getting started or ready to build their first apps." Leticia Batista, Ed.D., a dual-language kindergarten teacher at McKinna Elementary School in Oxnard, California: "Learning the fundamentals of coding at a young age helps students listen, communicate, and think in new ways and it improves students confidence. Code brings students onto equal ground, no matter what language they speak at home, and helps build a strong community of problem solvers. Im looking forward to introducing my students to Swift with the engaging, age-appropriate arts and movement activities in Everyone Can Code Early Learners." Everyone Can Code Early Learners is available today as a free download for families and educators on apple.co/code-early. In celebration of Europe Code Week, the guide is launching in English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish, with additional languages to follow. The Inclusive App Design activity is available now in the Apple Teacher Learning Center. The Schoolwork app is available in beta through AppleSeed for IT. If you want to learn more, check out Apple's full press release. A new report this morning is claiming that the Facebook Inc. whistle-blower who turned over a trove of internal company documents to U.S. securities regulators will tell senators that the company misled the public and shareholders about the harmful effects of its platforms, according to her testimony. Bloomberg reports that Frances Haugen will tell the Senate Tuesday, that "Facebook became a $1 trillion company by paying for its profits with our safety, including the safety of our children. I came forward because I recognized a frightening truth: almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook. The companys leadership keeps vital information from the public, the U.S. government, its shareholders, and governments around the world." Haugen, a 37-year-old former product manager at the company, is set to testify before a panel of the Senate Commerce Committee about internal Facebook research that she says shows the company prioritized profit, stoking division, undermining democracy and harming the mental-health of its youngest users. Haugen shared Facebooks internal research with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Wall Street Journal. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, chair of the subcommittee holding the hearing, on Sunday praised Haugens "bravery in revealing terrible truths about one of the worlds most powerful, implacable corporate giants." Blumenthal said in a prepared statement that "Facebooks actions make clear that we cannot trust it to police itself. We must consider stronger oversight, effective protections for children, and tools for parents, among the needed reforms." The question for lawmakers now is how to craft and pass legislation to prevent the harms Haugen described. While there are numerous proposals to tighten regulations on internet companies, there has been little momentum so far to move bills through the process to become law. In the Dark Haugen will further tell senators that the starting point for effective regulation is full access to Facebook data so that the public has insight into the companys systems. Regulators today are blind to Facebooks problems and how to craft solutions, she said. "As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one, she said. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good." Some advocates are pushing U.S. Congress to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law that would prevent social media companies from tracking users to expose them to more tailored -- and in some cases harmful -- content. Such a change would have huge implications for Facebooks business model, which depends on keeping people engaged on the companys platforms and delivering them more ads. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, the subcommittees ranking Republican, said a national consumer privacy bill is more than overdue, as well as an update to the 1998 childrens privacy law that prohibits online tracking of people under 13. She was among the lawmakers last week who cheered Facebooks announcement that it would pause plans for an Instagram service aimed at children. Facebook Prioritizes Greed Over Children, Senators Say. Some lawmakers favor changing the Section 230 provision of a 1996 law that shields online platforms from liability for user-generated content. There are several bills that would remove legal protections for certain kinds of speech, like civil-rights violations or cyber-bullying, but there are limits to what Congress can outlaw without running afoul of the First Amendments freedom of speech guarantee. For more, read the full Bloomberg report. We've heard testimony from Facebook's CEO many times at various capital hill hearings and we've seen how senators sound tough and yet, to date, nothing of any consequence has been handed down to Facebook. Senator Richard Blumenthal's statement said that "We must consider stronger oversight." Yet consideration never seems to actually turn into meaningful legislation with teeth. It's nothing but talk of late. And once Facebook's lobbying group is done, Facebook will get a slap on the hand at best. Could I be wrong? I'm hoping I am. Back in 2014 Patently Apple covered a breakthrough invention/patent by Motorola that related to electronic skin tattoos that could be use for monitoring health. The experimental device could also be applied to the throat area or embedded in a collar and be voice activated. The military of law enforcement were experimenting with it as a tool that they could use on individuals, like a next-gen lie detector. The device was coined an 'MCD' or Mobile communication device. This was first publicly introduced by former DARPA head Regina Dugan who lead the advanced research for Motorola, in an interview with Walt Mossberg. The project was taken up by MC10 for health detectors and they've advanced the technology as seen on their website as BioStamps. Dugan tried to advance the electronic tattoo at Motorola, Google and Facebook without much commercial success. Now Samsung is working on a "stretchable display" device/patch that could be used as attached 'biosensors' used for measuring various health data. According to their patent FIG. 23 illustrated below, a biosensor may be an attachable biosensor, and may be attached to a surface of a living body such as a skin, a living body such as an organ, or an indirect means for contacting a living body such as clothing to detect and measure biological information such as a biological signal. In some example embodiments, the biosensor may include an electroencephalogram (EGG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, a blood pressure (BP) sensor, an electromyography (EMG) sensor, a blood glucose (BG) sensor, a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor, an accelerometer, a RFID antenna, an inertial sensor, an activity sensor, a strain sensor, a motion sensor, or a combination of these, but is not limited thereto. The biosensor may be attached to a living body in a very thin patch-type or band-type, so that the biological information may be monitored in real time. Samsung's patent FIG. 22 above is a schematic view showing an example of a skin display panel in the form of a transparent patch. The skin display panel (#300A) may be an ultrathin display panel, and may be attached to a portion of a living body such as a hand. The skin display panel may display particular (or, alternatively, predetermined) information such as various characters and/or images. The skin display panel may include, in some example embodiments, inorganic light emitting diodes, micro light emitting diodes, organic light emitting diodes, quantum dot light emitting diodes, or perovskite light emitting diodes, but is not limited thereto. Samsung is a leading Apple display supplier and this would be no different. Apple could take advantage of this next-gen thin stretchable display technology and use it in conjunction with a future Apple Watch or other iDevice or Mac for that matter. Apple has made their Apple Watch the leading mobile heath device and this could be a way to advance certain health sensors like blood glucose or blood pressure, but in the form of a smart-patch that could communicate with Apple Watch. The display would provide consumers with real-time data, which is needed for many health issues, especially diabetics. It could be designed as an Apple accessory device or something that a third party solution provider could use working with Apple devices. For more details, review Samsung's patent application 20210296599. Just as Silicon Valley companies like Google and possibly Apple are working on smart contact lenses, smart patches that are in the form of stretchable displays is yet another future breakthrough now in-the-works. Windows 11 is officially here, but Microsoft added some strict new hardware requirements for its next-gen operating system. Microsoft is working with PC makers to develop Windows 11-ready PCs, and you may be able to upgrade to Windows 11 for free with your existing PCprovided that it meets the new criteria. Windows 11s hardware requirements, in fact, have quickly become the most controversial aspect of Microsofts new operating system. Weve listed the CPU requirements below, as well as the available Windows 11 upgrade options if your PCs components do not conform to them. Microsoft has also published a multipage document listing the detailed hardware requirements of Windows 11 (PDF), along with new webcam and touchpad requirements that have been added. Fortunately, if your PC doesnt meet the hardware requirements, youll have several years to replace it, as Windows 10 will be supported until 2025. Check out our Windows 11 superguide for comprehensive news, reviews, tips and more about Microsofts new operating system. Windows 10 vs. Windows 11 system requirements For Windows 10, the PC hardware requirements necessary to run it are relatively tame: a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM (2GB for a 64-bit version of the OS), 16GB of storage, and a display capable of 800600. For Windows 11, youll need a more sophisticated PC. According to Microsofts list of PC hardware requirements for Windows 11, this is the first time that youll need a multicore processor to run Windows, though it wont need to be that powerful: just a 1GHz, 64-bit processor with 2 or more cores. (Dont worry about whether your PC includes a 64-bit chip, as virtually all PCs have included 64-bit processors since the 2000s.) Theres also a TPM requirement, which well discuss below. Windows 11 will require an 8th-gen Core CPU and above, according to the Windows 11 hardware requirements for Intel CPUs. A similar list of supported AMD processors on Windows 11 indicate that the Ryzen 2000 series and above is supported. Our performance testing of Windows 11s Virtualization-Based Security feature shows a likely reason why those are the cutoffs. On the Arm side of things, Qualcomms Snapdragon 850 and up are also supported by Windows 11. Weve published a list of CPUs that support Windows 11, here. As of August 27, that list now includes the Intel Core X-series, the Xeon W-series, and the Intel Core 7820HQ, which features in the Microsoft Surface Studio 2. Microsoft has ruled out first-generation AMD Zen processors, however. Eliminating older 7th-generation Core processors will certainly cut out a substantial portion of the PC market from a Windows 11 upgrade, though how many isnt exactly clear. Were already seeing Microsoft itself declare a substantial chunk of its Surface lineup ineligible for Windows 11 upgrades. You will also need more memory. Microsoft is increasing the minimum amount of RAM to 4GB, and requiring a far larger amount of storage64GBthen before. Thats because the amount of storage required is, according to Microsoft, highly variable. The storage controller must meet the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) 2.3.1 or higher. Windows storage demand depends on what versions of Windows have been previously installed; the amount of storage already claimed by Windows; the size of your page file (also known as the swap file), which acts like a relief valve for your main system memory; and more. Youll also need a DirectX 12-capable GPU, and at least a 720p display. Finally, Microsoft publicized a couple of new requirements in its support document. New Windows 11 PCs (excluding desktops) shipped after January 2023 will be required to include a webcam, which Microsoft defines as HDnot 1080p, unfortunately, but just the same 720p webcams which ship with many PCs today. Microsoft also is insisting that all new Windows 11 PCs include a Precision touchpad. Windows 11s controversial TPM requirement Microsoft is also adding new, stricter security requirements for Windows 11. You will now need a PC that includes a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0, a security coprocessor thats not present on all PCs. (Whats a TPM?) A TPM includes a hardware-based random number generator, and can issue cryptographic keys to protect your data. TPMs also authenticate hardware devices. (Microsoft and AMD announced a complementary technology called Pluton in late 2020, originally developed for the Xbox, though Windows 11 PCs dont appear to require it.) Your PC must also support UEFI and be Secure Boot-capable. Microsoft originally instituted both a hard and a soft floor of specifications to run Windows 11, designed around the TPM module specification. In June, Microsoft eliminated the soft floor and made TPM 2.0 a minimum requirement. If your PC doesnt include this TPM capability (or if it includes just the older TPM 1.2 specification), it will not be eligible for Windows 11 and will be considered unsupported. Fortunately, there are tools that can tell you whether or not your Windows PC is eligible for Windows 11. How to tell if your PC can run Windows 11 There are two ways to determine whether your PC can run Windows 11. The Trusted Platform Module app can tell you if your PC has a TPM 2.0 chip inside of it. First, to figure out whether your PC contains a TPM, you can just ask it. If you type tpm.msc into your Windows 10 PCs search bar, your PC will open the Trusted Platform Module Management app. Youll then be to scroll down to the TPM Manufacturer information and see whether a TPM is installed, and whether its TPM-certified. Second, Microsoft is providing a free app to determine whether your PC is capable of running Windows 11: the PC Health Check app. (Warning: That link begins a download of the tool.) PC Health Check is already live on Microsofts site, and its worth downloading. Its a small Win32 app that provides a summary of whats on your PC. It also offers a one-click check of your PCs capabilities at the top of the window, to see whether you can run Windows 11. Microsoft said on June 26 that it updated the PC Health Check app to provide more information about what would make a PC ineligible for Windows 11. The PC Health Check app answers the question: can my PC run Windows 11? Theres also a third-party, unsupported tool called WhyNotWin11, which is available on GitHub. WhyNotWin11 is not supported by Microsoft, and Windows SmartScreen will likely flag it if you run it. (Use at your own risk.) WhyNotWin11 was designed to provide even more granular information about your PC, and why it might not be eligible for Windows 11. How to run Windows 11 on an older PC Originally, Microsoft drew a line in the sand and insisted that all PCs meet these hardware requirements. But the company is now quietly saying that older PCs will be able to run Windows 11, too, but only for a very short time. Unsupported PCs must still meet some minimum specifications, which appear to include a supported 64-bit CPU, 4GB of memory, 64GB of storage, UEFI secure boot, graphics requirements and TPM 1.2, to run Windows 11. Microsoft originally said that a PC that met these minimum requirements would be able to download a Windows 11 ISO file and run it, allowing unsupported PCs to run Windows 11 until the official release. But then Microsoft changed its tune: Yes, older PCs will be able to download Windows 11 ISOs, but wont be able to receive Windows updatesan enormous security risk. Then, Microsoft also blocked unsupported PCs from even participating in Windows 11 Insider testing. Heres the bottom line: you can still download Windows 11 via an ISO on an unsupported PC that doesnt meet Microsofts hardware requirements, but your security risks will grow as Microsoft releases patches for the OS that your PC will not receive. The other option: Windows 10 If you cant run Windows 11, you have a few options. You can stick with Windows 10, which Microsoft will support until its retired in 2025. Or you can buy a Ready for Windows 11 PC, which PC vendors will begin releasing later this year. If all this discussion over the Windows 11 hardware requirements seems like too much bother, buying a new Windows 11 PC may be the way to go. This story was updated on October 5 to mention Windows 11s general availability. At a glance Experts Rating Pros Superior screen: larger, higher-res, higher refresh rate Inking is a pleasure Good audio, with louder speakers New optional Type Cover integrates pen well Cons Performance is all over the map Battery life is variable Webcam might need some tweaking Pen and keyboard still cost extra Still pricey Our Verdict On paper, the Surface Pro 8 looks like an excellent upgrade to Microsofts tablet lineup. Were still not sure why it underperforms the competition in some regards, delivering wildly inconsistent benchmark results. Best Prices Today Retailer Price Delivery 999 View Microsofts Surface Pro 8 tablet arrives as Windows 11 goes out the door. Microsoft has already shipped one tablet this year, the Surface Pro 7+, which rose to the top of our roundup of the best Windows tablets of 2021. Can the Surface Pro 8 improve upon it? Yes and no. The Surface Pro 8 boldly strides forward with a larger, higher resolution, faster screen, a revamped inking experience spearheaded by the optional Surface Slim Pen 2, and a pair of Thunderbolt ports that supplement the legacy Surface Connect charger. Its a dramatic reworking of the iconic Surface Pro tablet line, and thats enough to grab your attention. If only we could leave it here. Put simply, we cant be entirely certain how well the Surface Pro 8 performs because of some wildly varying results in our performance tests. Battery life varied wildly, too. Were pretty sure that the Surface Pro 8 represents an upgrade to the Surface Pro 7+ and Surface Pro 7, but what weve seen doesnt suggest that it will outperform the competition. Youll have to look more closely at the intangibles to make your decision. Microsoft Surface Pro 8 specifications For now, theres one important change in configuration between the Surface Pro 7+ for Business and the latest Surface Pro 8: The Surface Pro 8 lacks an inexpensive Core i3 option, and thus its base price is $100 higher, at $1,099. The good news is that all of the Surface Pro 8 options Microsoft is selling should offer enough computational power and memory for any buyer. Our review unit also lacked cellular capabilities, so we didnt test those. Microsoft continues to sell the Surfaces companion keyboard and the pen separately, though theres an explicit keyboard/pen bundle that Microsoft will sell for an additional $279.99. The Surface Pro 8 has been designed with the new Surface Slim Pen 2 in mind, however, and Microsoft says youll experience reduced e-ink latency/lag if you use it. Display: 13-inch PixelSense Flow (28801920, 267 PPI) 13-inch PixelSense Flow (28801920, 267 PPI) Processor: Consumer: (Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1185G7) Commercial: (Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1145G7, Core i7-1185G7) Consumer: (Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1185G7) Commercial: (Core i3-1115G4, Core i5-1145G7, Core i7-1185G7) Graphics: UHD (Core i3), Iris Xe (Core i5, i7) UHD (Core i3), Iris Xe (Core i5, i7) Memory: 8/16/32GB LPDDR4x RAM (16GB as tested) 8/16/32GB LPDDR4x RAM (16GB as tested) Storage: 128GB/256GB removable SSD; 512GB/1TB SSD (256GB as tested) 128GB/256GB removable SSD; 512GB/1TB SSD (256GB as tested) Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4), 1 Surface Connect port, Surface Type Cover Port, 3.5mm jack 2 USB-C (USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4), 1 Surface Connect port, Surface Type Cover Port, 3.5mm jack Security: Camera (Windows Hello) Camera (Windows Hello) Camera: 5MP/1080p (user-facing), 10MP (rear-facing) 5MP/1080p (user-facing), 10MP (rear-facing) Battery: 50.2Wh (design), 51.3Wh (full charge) 50.2Wh (design), 51.3Wh (full charge) Wireless: WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1; optional LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66 WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1; optional LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66 Operating system: Consumer: Windows 11 Home; Business: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro Consumer: Windows 11 Home; Business: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37in. 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37in. Weight: 1.96lb (as specified) 1.96lb (as specified) Color: Platinum, Graphite Platinum, Graphite Price: Starting at $1,099.99, $1,599.99 as reviewed Starting at $1,099.99, $1,599.99 as reviewed Optional accessories: Surface Slim Pen 2: $129.99, Surface Slim Pen Charger: $34.99, Surface Pro Signature Keyboard w/ Slim Pen 2 Bundle: $279.99, Surface Pro Signature Keyboard: $179.99 (Alcantara Ice Blue, Poppy Red, Platinum, Black), Surface Pro Keyboard: $139.99 Microsoft Surface Pro 8 prices Core i5/8GB RAM/128 GB SSD: $1,099.99 (Platinum) Core i5/8/256: $1,199.99 (Platinum, Graphite) Core i5/8/512: $1,399.99 (Platinum, Graphite) Core i5/16/256 $1,399.99 (Platinum, Graphite) Core i7/16/256 $1,599.99 (Platinum, Graphite) Core i7/16/512 $1,899.99 (Platinum, Graphite) Core i7/16/1TB $2,199.99 (Platinum) Core i7/32/1TB $2,599.99 (Platinum) Two years ago, the Surface Pro X showcased the future of Microsofts Surface Pro tablet lineup. Todays Surface Pro 8 has been redesigned in its image, with a pair of Thunderbolt ports and an integrated charging cubby for the Surface Slim Pen 2. That can be a little disconcerting for long-term Surface owners, as Microsoft has moved things around. The power button is now on the side of the tablet, for example. Though the Surface Pro 8 is now slightly heavier and chunkier than its predecessors, youll need to compare them side by side to notice. Otherwise, the Surface Pro 8 looks the same as it emerges from the box. Hopefully youve already purchased the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard to take full advantage. Like other Surface Pro devices dating back to the Surface Pro 3, the tablet reclines to nearly horizontal. The Surface Pros Signature magnetic keyboard, though, clasps it firmly. If that matters to you, buy a Surface Pro 8. Rival tablets dont invest enough in the magnetic connection, and a tablet on your lap already risks flipping backwards over your knees. On the left-hand side of the Surface Pro 8 sits the volume rocker and headphone jack. Mark Hachman / IDG Microsoft ships the Surface Pro 8, as it ships most of its Surface devices, dialed down to minimal performance levels. Though you give up a bit in terms of performance, this also means that the Surface Pro 8 rarely engages its cooling fan, and it only does so very quietly when necessary. (You can adjust the performance within the Windows 11 Settings menu, specifically System > Power & battery.) Narrow grillwork runs along both sides of the tablet, providing cooling. Typically, Surface tablets get warm to hot along the upper rear panel, and the SP8 is no exception. The color gamut for the Surface Pro 8, as measured by our Datacolor SpyderX colorimeter. Mark Hachman / IDG With the Surface Pro 8, Microsoft is introducing a slightly larger 13-inch (2,880x 1,920) multitouch PixelSense Flow display that preserves the 3:2 screen ratio, versus the 12.3-inch (27361824) displays weve traditionally received as part of the Surface Pro lineup. Originally, Microsoft told us that the PixelSense Flow display would dynamically shift back and forth between the standard 60Hz refresh rate and a new 120Hz refresh rate, a feature known as Dynamic Refresh Rate. Higher refresh rates are easier on the eyes and would also improve inking, as the pens ink would flow more smoothly onto the screen. Microsofts Dynamic Refresh Rate feature didnt make it to the Surface Pro 8, unfortunately. Instead, Microsoft locked the refresh rate at 60Hz, though you can manually adjust it via the Settings menu (System > Display > Advanced Display) to the higher 120 Hz setting. Doing so would imply that your battery life would decrease, but we didnt experience that. Well talk more about this during our performance tests, specifically the battery life section. On the right-hand side sits the Surface Connect power port, the two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, and the power button. Mark Hachman / IDG With the Surface Pro 8, the Surface Pro line makes a major transition to Thunderbolt, an enhanced I/O capability that has existed on rival notebooks and tablets for some time. The Surface Pro 8 includes a pair of Thunderbolt ports on one side, and has done away with the older USB Type-A port entirely. (Unlike the Surface Pro X, Microsoft has thankfully included a headphone jack, as well.) This allows the Surface Pro 8 to connect to a small but growing ecosystem of Thunderbolt docks, and charge from them tooprovided that theyre powered. That gives SP8 buyers the option to either charge directly from the included 65W Surface charger, or tap into a Thunderbolt dock. The sacrifice? Microsoft has done away with the microSD slot for this generation, a tacit push for people to upload their photos directly to the Microsoft OneDrive cloud. If you need a physical microSD port, you have a number of great USB-C dongles to choose from. Audio We didnt hear any substantive qualitative differences between the Surface Pro 8 and earlier Surface tablets, but the speakers are indeed louder: theyre now 2W speakers, versus the 1.6W speakers used by the Surface Pro 7+. Like the earlier model, they also use Dolby Atmos, which is built in and not really adjustable by the user outside of the normal audio settings. Our Surface Pro 7+ review noted that the speakers sounded somewhat flatter and softer, and it appears that Microsoft has rectified this in the Surface Pro 8. In general, the audio is certainly among the better options for tablets, and sounds as good or better than some laptops. You wont need headphones to enjoy music on the Surface Pro 8. Typing experience and keyboard Microsofts Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, sold separately, doesnt seem to be anything different than what Microsoft has offered in conjunction with past Surface Pro tablets. As noted above, the magnetic hinge clasps the keyboard tightly to the tablet, freeing you of the anxiety of working on your lap. On a desktop, the Surface Pro 8s keyboard feels comfortable, put simply, with a satisfactory amount of key travel and resilience. You should be able to the use the keyboard comfortably for an entire day without any additional strain on your wrists or fingers. The Signature Keyboard connects to the tablet, and provides a lightweight, comfortable typing experience. Mark Hachman / IDG The touchpad also appears to have remained unchanged. Its actually clickable for almost the entirety of the trackpad, though youll have to exert an unreasonable amount for force at the top of the trackpad for the clicks to register. Though a bit plasticky, the trackpad is comfortable to use. Whats new for the Surface tablet line is that the Surface Pro 8s new Signature Keyboard includes a pen cubby for the Slim Pen 2, which appears to be the future of Microsofts pens. As we noted in our best tablet roundup, not every tablet keyboard that incorporates these new pens has a strong magnetic connection. The keyboard folds up, too, holding the pen securely while charging it. Its a great design and completely eliminates the risk of losing a pen while the Surface Pro 8 is stored inside your bag or backpack. Inking Like the Surface Laptop Studio, inking is a priority on the Surface Pro 8. The Surface Pro 8 uses the Microsoft Pen Protocol in conjunction with the Surface Slim Pen 2. While Im not a professional illustrator, my impression is that using Microsofts two-button Surface Slim Pen 2 is more accurate on the Surface Pro 8, perhaps in part because the screen offers more pixel density than the Surface Laptop Studio. Pairing the Slim Pen 2 is a breeze, so much that it seemed like the pen paired as soon as I connected the keyboard. You can launch apps by pressing a button, and erase just by rubbing the top of the pen against the screen. The Slim Pen 2 also includes haptic feedback, so that youll feel interactions with shapes on Microsoft Whiteboard, for example. This may in fact be an assistive technology dressed up as a new consumer feature, but I wouldnt buy a Slim Pen 2 for this. The Surface Slim Pen 2 (sold separately) sits neatly in its dedicated charging cubby. Mark Hachman / IDG Dont discount the rechargeable pen, either, or its cubby! The days of trying to hunt down a AAAA battery for your Surface Pen are over. (Microsoft says that earlier Surface Pens will still work, but that you wont see the same reduced latency as you will while using the Surface Slim Pen 2. I manually adjusted the display refresh rate to 120 Hz to see the improved inking benefits, something that Microsoft had originally pledged that it would do dynamically. In any case, I didnt see any line offsets, where ink flows from a different location from where the pen touches, even with the pen at an angle. There is still a tiny bit of ink latency as you move about the page, but, to me, it wasnt significant. It also appears that the the pen jitterwhere the pens lines ripple back and forthis less than the Surface Laptop Studio or previous Surface Pro tablets. While we didnt compare the inking ability to a dedicated Wacom tablet, its fair to say that the Slim Pen 2 offers an impressive inking experience. This is what we found when we tested the Surface Pro 8 to determine the ink jitter, or how well the pen tracked our movements. We created these lines by drawing in the tablet with a straight edge. They should be perfectly straight, but theres still a slight wiggle or rippling effect while drawing slowly. In all, however, its pretty good. Mark Hachman / IDG Camera As the company behind the Teams videoconferencing software, Microsoft intrinsically understands that people need to look good on camera during meetings or just chatting with friends. Though the Surface Pro 8s user-facing camera still shoots just 1080p video, Microsoft has added ambient color and lighting sensors, too. The latter sensor does a better job of highlighting your image using the proper exposure, while the color sensor will automatically adjust the color of your screen to compensate for the ambient light. Unfortunately, if the color sensors job is to show the webcams subject in the best light, it needs some work as the image below indicates. Im Irish on my mothers side, but I certainly havent been this sunburned in a while. This isnt color-accurate where my skin tone is concerned! Mark Hachman / IDG Microsoft also enhanced its rear-facing camera, too, adding a 10Mpixel camera sensor, up from 8MP. Were not the sort that takes photos with a tablet, but the added resolution certainly cant hurt. We were hoping that the Windows Hello 2.0 feature that Microsoft disclosed to us would be enabled on these machines. Windows Hello 2.0 supposedly can interpret your face even with a beard, glasses, or an N95 mask on. We tested the latter andno dice. Windows couldnt set up a new face profile with a mask on, and couldnt recognize me with one on, either. Performance From a performance standpoint, the Surface Pro 8 is somewhat baffling. In places, our benchmarks show it to be faster than the Surface Pro 7+, but in others performance is drastically reduced. Under certain conditions, our results arent consistent; in others, they are. Right now, our working theory is that the Surface Pro 8s cooling isnt quite up to snuff, given that the fan sounds like it hardly ever turns on. Otherwise, this may demonstrate some early bugs that Microsoft has yet to work out. From a usability standpoint, however, the Surface Pro 8 performs well. Our 4K streaming test video rendered dropped just 8 frames out of 10,000 or so, which means that video will stream jitter free even at high resolutions. With the same GPU as the Surface Pro 7+, you should expect comparable gameplay if you choose to go that routeplan on playing games at 1080p settings on High. This is a business and inking tablet, though, first and foremost. Weve compared the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 to the Surface Pro 7+ and Surface Pro 7, of course, as well as some of the other tablets in our recent tablet roundup. The key points of comparison are the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and the Lenovo ThinkPad Detachable Gen 1, which directly compete against the Surface Pro 8. Weve highlighted those tablets with a lighter shade of blue in the charts in this section. Technically, the Surface Go 2 is also a smaller tablet competitor. Weve also added notebooks like the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Laptop 4 as additional points of comparison We use the PCMark test to measure how the tablet will fare under general computing workloads. The test measures videoconferencing, word processing, some light gaming, CAD work, application startup, and more. Here, the Suface Pro 8 performs up to expectations, with increased gen-over-gen performance. The Surface Pro 8 improves upon the Surface Pro 7+, but not enough to overcome the competition. The SP8s higher-resolution screen may play a role here, though. Mark Hachman / IDG Its the Cinebench R15 test, however, where things started to go off the rails. The Cinebench R15 test measures the CPUs performance, either running just a single processing thread or all of the cores/threads at once. You could almost call the benchmark iconic at this point, as its been used to test desktop PCs, gaming PCs, workstations, and more. In the multicore tests, the Surface Pro 8 began by recording a score of 867, nicely above the 776 score that the Surface Pro 7+ recorded. But then the scores kept decreasing: 732, 723, 453, 449, and so on. The last five benchmarks we ran were about half the performance of the Surface Pro 7+. I never run the tests in succession, either: I interject cooling down periods of usually 12 minutes or more, and I ran the tests at different times of the day, in an air-conditioned environment. I reported my results to Microsoft and asked for comment, but didnt hear back by press time. In all, our scores ranged from a low of 453 to a high of 867, which is crazy. Single-core scores varied from 149 to 185, for an average of 163, which is also lower than the Surface Pro 7+. Even at the maximum score of 732 that the Surface Pro 8 recorded wouldnt put it above the competition. Mark Hachman / IDG Cinebench R23, a more advanced version of the benchmark, offers a way to check whether thermal issues are at fault: run a single test, then loop the test over and over for ten minutes and compare the results. But the scores were comparable2,895 versus 2,867which led me to doubt whether that was the case. We saw more anomalies in the Handbrake test, which uses a free tool to transcode video into a format formatted for an Android tablet. Its a real-world application, though less so in a world where Netflix movies can be saved to a laptop. We measure the time Handbrake takes to complete the task as a way to determine both the performance of the tablet as well as its ability to keep cool over a long period of time. As before, I ran several tests, cooling the tablet down and not running them back to back. Performance began at 2,773 seconds, then to 3,191 seconds, and then several runs of 4,300 seconds or so. As with the Cinebench test, its difficult to say what the true performance of the tablet is, including whether some software or firmware glitch is limiting the Surface Pro 8s true potential. Here, though, the Surface Pro 8 surpasses the Dell and Lenovo tablets, though it underperforms its predecessor. Mark Hachman / IDG In graphics, though, the Surface Pro 8 delivered consistent results. Here, we used the 3DMark Time Spy test, and the Iris Xe GPU performed excellently. We were impressed by the Surface Pro 7+ and its graphics prowess, and here the Surface Pro 8 continues to deliver. Mark Hachman / IDG Finally, we tested battery life. Battery life is becoming increasingly more challenging to test, as more laptop manufacturers add sensors that detect the ambient brightness of the screen and adjust the output accordingly. (Smartphones do this regularly.) The wrinkles that the Surface Pro 8 adds to this are threefold. Microsoft and Windows will adjust the content of video being played back, to preserve battery life; adjusting the display refresh rate will affect battery life, too. Finally, our Surface Pro 8 review unit decided after a few days to implement smart charging, a new feature that prevents the battery from being charged past 80 percent. Thats greatif there was a control to turn it off. We couldnt find one. All this means that there were simply too many variables to present you with a comprehensive picture of how long the Surface Pro 8s battery will last. We typically run down a laptop battery by looping a 4K video over and over until it expires, and we did that here. What we have are a pair of rundown tests where we disabled the lighting sensor (though not the content adjustment) to provide a repeatable though worst-case scenario. Its not fantastic, but at 8 hours 49 minutes you should get a full workdays use out of it. We recorded scores of 610 minutes and 447 minutes on a full charge, which weve averaged to generate a score. Dialing up the refresh rate to 120Hz didnt seem to actually lower the battery life at all, as the tablet expired after 628 minutes. A number of tablets are clustered fairly tightly together in terms of battery life. Keep in mind that we artificially hobbled the Surface Pro 8 somewhat by turning off its adaptive brightness controls. Were pretty sure that the Surface Pro 8 will perform better than this in the real world. Mark Hachman / IDG Turning off both the lighting and content adjustment capabilities on the Surface Pro 8 delivered an awful battery life of 375 minutes, or 6 hours 15 minutes. Thats at a 60Hz refresh rate, too. Thats not the default configuration, however, and you would need to adjust the tablets settings within the Settings menu to achieve that score. All of the variables present a problem. The wonky numbers Microsofts Surface Pro 8 generated makes us suspicious that theres something else going on: some interaction with Windows 11, early firmware/drivers going haywire, something. If its not a deeper issue, Microsoft should eventually deliver drivers that allow us to present a more confident assessment of the Surface Pro 8s capabilities. But right now, its performance and battery life still remains somewhat of an open question. Conclusion All of this presents a question: how well do we know the Surface Pro 8? From a hardware perspective, quite well: we can certainly see the value of the larger, superior display, and the tablets audio sounds great, too. Sure, the webcam appears to need a little work, but thats a tweak it should be able to implement quickly. The question that we cant answer is whether or not were seeing a discrepancy in our particular benchmark software, or a driver issue, or Windows 11. Is the performance and battery life really this bad? We suspect not, but we cant say that for certain, either. We love what Microsoft has set out to do with the Surface Pro 8, but wed be remiss if we recommended the tablet based on our findings right now. Today October 5, 2021, we celebrate our hardworking Teachers for thier irreplaceable services and sacrifices to society and our nation. Happy Teachers' day, though I know many Teacher's are not happy in Ghana because their conditions of service are not optimum. This is why we must feel obligated as a people to ensure that the right conditions are in place to illicit the very best from our Teachers. The challenges Teachers face are numerous. One such challenge in recent times is the lack of textbooks in excess of two years after the introduction of the standard based curriculum. The theme for today's global celebration of Teachers is: "Teachers at the heart of education recovery". How are our basic school Teachers going to help with educational recovery without textbooks based on a basic curriculum available? After several assurances, including one given by the Minister for Education, Hon. Yaw Adutwum, on Thursday June 10th 2021 on the floor of Parliament, in response to a question I asked, we are still waiting for the textbooks. The Minister in response to my insistence for timeliness on when the textbooks will be available, said the books will be in schools three months from June 10th 2021, the day I asked the question. Today is October 5, 2021, International Teachers' Day, and we still have no textbooks for our basic schools. Government must apologise to Teachers, pupils and Ghanaians for the failure to make textbooks available. Government must ensure that our basic schools get textbooks immediately. It's long overdue. Source: Dr. Clement Apaak/M.P Builsa South/Deputy Ranking Member On Education Committee Of Parliament Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Techiman Municipal Health Directorate (MHD) in the Bono East Region has vaccinated 3,770 persons against COVID-19 during the first phase of the exercise. Residents of the municipality received jabs for the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, from September 27 to 29, this year. Dr Kwabena Fosuhene Kusi, Techiman Municipal Director of Health Service, in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, on Monday, said the exercise was conducted at eight centers. He said that the MHD recorded 1,640 persons during the administration of the first dose of the vaccine and 21 persons in the second dose, totalling 1,661, on the first day. Dr Kusi noted that on the second day, the MHD recorded 1614 persons for the first dose and 18 persons for the second dose, totalling 1,632. We registered 473 persons for the first dose and four persons for the second dose making 477, the Director said. Dr Kusi indicated that the coverage pair vaccine recorded during the three days vaccination exercise was 100 per cent. He said the vaccination took place at centers, including Kenten market, Takofiano Chief Palace and Hansua Roman Catholic Church premise, James Town Apenteng Primary School, Bronkyempem Hall, Community Center and the Municipal Health Directorate. Dr Kusi said that the second phase of the exercise was scheduled to come off on Monday and Tuesday across 15 centers in the Techiman municipality. COVID -19 is real and has no respect for any person. The third wave is more deadly. Let us all continue with the strict adherence of the preventive measures after taking the jabs, he advised. Dr Kusi cautioned that though active cases in the municipality has reduced drastically from 23 to one as of last Friday, residents of the area must not lose their guard on the pandemic. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, has officially been sworn into office as the President of the Ga Traditional Council, paving the way for him to now steer the affairs of the council. The event took place at the Ga Mantse Palace in Accra yesterday. The Daily Graphic gathered that even though the Ga Mantse was inducted into the council in May last year, he could not assume the position, as he had not been gazetted at the time. A High Court judge, Justice Jane Akweley Lawson-Quaye, led the Ga Mantse to take the secrecy and the judicial oaths, as well as sign essential documents to authenticate his position. After all that, King Teiko Tsuru, known in private life as Dr Kelvin Nii Tackie, symbolically took his seat at the high table to mark the beginning of a new regime. The ceremony, which was held under tight police protection, was witnessed by some major chiefs under the paramountcy, including the Sempe Mantse, Nii Adote Otintor, who, until the event, was the acting President of the council; the Stool Father of the Ga State, Nii Tetteh Ashong, and the Akumajen Mantse, Nii Ayikai III. Vision King Teiko Tsuru described the moment as the beginning of the unification and development of the Ga State and pledged to provide sterling leadership that would focus on peace, unity and development. As a state, it seems our energies have been depleted, our people demoralised, our culture and language fading in haste and our priorities wrongly placed. The Ga State is broken and needs mending. I am here to lead the repair and efforts to bring it back from its low state and to illuminate the dark tunnels of this current predicament, he added. Development agenda King Teiko Tsuru mentioned the provision of education and skills training, the empowerment of the girl-child and information and communications technology (ICT) as some of the areas his administration would largely focus on. He said that under his leadership, the Ga State would work in unity for the development of not only Ga and Dangme people at home but also those in the Diaspora. We shall create platforms, systems and procedures to enable our people in Ghana and abroad to continually engage us to achieve our common goals, he added. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video GB Foods Ghana, one of the leading FMCG companies in Ghana and manufacturers of Gino and Pomo range of products have named multiple award-winning actress and actor, Jackie Appiah and Adjetey Anang as Brand Ambassadors. The unveiling of the two as brand ambassadors for GB Foods is in consonance with the brands vision of associating with personalities that exude its persona and character. Mr. David Afflu, the Managing Director of GB Foods Ghana indicated his pleasure at the signing of two Ghanaian actors whose careers have influenced many Ghanaians. He said, The signing on of these ambassadors we believe will mark a new phase of our journey. It is a reflection of our commitment to excellence and celebrating Ghanaian success stories. We foresee bigger and better things to come following this partnership. The Marketing Director of GB Foods Ghana, Akua Obiri -Yeboah, stated that at GB Foods, we are all about celebrating local flavours, these two, Adjetey Anang and Jackie Appiah are known brands that inspire confidence in many Ghanaian homes and excite their following. We at GB Foods are happy to be associated with them. Jackie Appiah and Adjetey Anang indeed bring such vibrancy to the GB Foods brand. We are confident they will help drive the increased uptake of our brands she added. Speaking on being signed on as a Brand Ambassador, Jackie said, It is an absolute joy to be a brand ambassador for a top brand like Gino. This partnership is about mutual growth, benefits and, a much-needed value to the Ghanaian consumer. On his part, Adjetey said, I am happy to be a part of GB Foods brand journey, together we will make a positive impact on the Ghanaian society. Both Jackie and Adjetey have admirable acting careers and they are seen as mentors and inspiration for many Ghanaians. Both are without a doubt, the best in their fields. The move towards this partnership is to reaffirm the GB Foods brand positioning as a market leader in the hearts and minds of the Ghanaian consumer. This memorable event took place on Monday, 4th October, 2021, within the premises of GB Foods Headquarters at Atlantic Towers; Airport City in Accra. Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is seeking money from the government to compensate poultry farmers who were affected by the bird flu disease. According to the sector Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, poultry farmers who were affected by the bird flu should rest assured, disclosing: At the moment, I have a memo at Cabinet, seeking money for compensation to the farmers. So they [the affected farmers] shouldnt worry. The minister was speaking to journalists during phase two of his agriculture tour in the Western North region on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. He spoke at the Western North Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) where he was received by the Western North Regional Minister, Hon Richard Ebbah Obeng. Dr. Akoto said this was his second time experiencing the outbreak of bird flu in the sector, recounting that the first one, I was a Member of Parliament and a Ranking Member for Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs in 2015, there was an outbreak and WHO came in with some compensation to the farmers. Now that I am in charge nobody can come and tell me what to do, he added. He indicated that efforts were seriously underway by his ministry to curb the spread of the bird flu disease. On the cocoa industry in the region, Dr. Akoto said despite the fact that it had been worst hit by the swollen shoot disease, the government has stepped up its efforts to revitalise the sector. Western North is the eye of the storm when it comes to the cocoa industry, adding that the government was not sparing any effort to revitalise the cocoa industry, he said. He buttressed the governments efforts in the cocoa industry by recalling how the government launched a cocoa programme in the region last year. The minister said he has been having discussions often with the President regarding how to fund agriculture in the country. That, he explained, had become crucial, especially when all the funding had been coming from the budget. And I have tried as much as possible to infuse the private sector participation. We are policymakers and what we do is to create an enabling environment for things to happen, he said. From the RCC premise, the minister and his entourage visited LB Farms Company Limited, a rice factory (LB.AROMATIC), at Sefwi Dwinase-Datano. The farmers here shared with the minister some challenges bedeviling the industry. Among these were the high cost of machinery (like combine harvesters, power tillers. Even at the subsidised price of 24,000-31000 Ghana cedis, the farmers lamented that they were finding it extremely difficult to purchase them. Though Dr. Akoto presented them with some flexible terms of payment, he encouraged them to at least make a down payment of half the price of the various machines. In turn, the rice farmers were happy and delighted to have the minister of agriculture pay them a working visit. The next port of call was visited some rice fields also in Sefwi Asafo. Earlier at the Western North RCC, the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Richard Ebbah Obeng, commended the agriculture minister for embarking on the tour to find out the state of agriculture in the region. He was full of praise for the agriculture ministrys initiatives including Planting for Food and Jobs. Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Some 15 professionals in various fields including law and academia have submitted a memo to Parliament to kick against the anti-LGBTQI+ bill. To them, the proponents of the bill have not provided any data or evidence to suggest that there is such a threat, beyond a resort to some dogmatic religious tenets and so-called Ghanaian family values, hence want the bill rejected. They include; Lead Counsel for President Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2020 election petition hearing, Akoto Ampaw, Professor Kofi Gyimah-Boadi, Dr Rose Kutin-Mensah, and the Executive Director of Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh. Others are Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, Professor Kwame KariKari, Professor Raymond Atuguba, and Dr Yao Graham. The rest are: Professsor Dzodzi Tsikata, Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Kofi Ofei-Nkansah, Dr Kojo Asante, Akunu Dake, Tetteh Homerku-Adjjei and Professor Emerita Takyiwaa Manuh. The private members bill, which is in the pipeline is proposing a 10-year jail term for offenders, including promoters of any sexuality that falls within the LGBTQI+ spectrum other than between a man and a woman. The legislators promoting the bill, on June 29, 2021, submitted a copy of the draft to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin. It among other things says people of the same sex who engage in sexual intercourse are liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than seven hundred and fifty penalty units and not more than five thousand penalty units, or to a term of imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than five years or both. It covers any person who holds out as a lesbian, a gay, a transgender, a transsexual, a queer, a pansexual, an ally, a non-binary or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female. But in the view of these 15 individuals, the bill is an impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity, adding railroading the bill through would mean challenging Ghanas 1992 Constitution. Christs message was/is that we should love our neighbour and not be judgmental and promote the hate and bigotry that many self-styled Christians exhibit and seek to impose on Ghanaian society. Per Article 18 of the Constitution, Ghana is a secular democracy and not a theocratic Christian or Islamic Republic or an African traditional monarchy or chiefdom, part of an 18-paged memorandum read. Meanwhile, they have cautioned the recipient of the memo, the Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs against creating a society where the state, through legislation, imposes one view of proper human sexual rights. Read below- MEMORANDUM TO SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL, LEGAL ANDPARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS ON THE:PROMOTION OF PROPER HUMAN SEXUAL RIGHTS AND GHANAIAN FAMILYVALUES BILL, 2021 IntroductionThe LGBT Bill currently before Parliament is a major step backwards for democracy,inclusiveness, the protection of minorities and the vulnerable in society, and of fundamentalhuman rights in Ghana. Under the grand sounding banner of proper human sexual rightsand Ghanaian family values the Bill seeks to send the country back centuries into thepast. Its language of recant and treatment echoes the middle ages of Europe where thestate and the Church, driven by misguided notions of heresy and witchcraft, hunted downinnocents in the name of God and religious values. Blinded by religious zealotry andintolerance, the theocratic State and its Church forced innocent vulnerable persons torecant their religious beliefs and burnt nonconformists at the stakes in the misguided beliefthat their gruesome murder would, somehow, purge their souls of evil. And, just as the Bill seeks to do in modern day Ghana, individuals and neighbours then wereencouraged, and even placed under a duty, to report and expose witches to the authoritiesso they could be apprehended and burnt. Any sympathizers were suspect, just as how theLGBTQ+ Bill would criminalize those who support or express sympathy for, or provide asactuary or safe haven for LGTBQ+ persons. This is how the word witch-hunt came intothe English vocabulary.With all due respect, the provisions of the LGBTQ+ Bill, are not becoming of the Parliamentof our Republic. Our Parliament, celebrated r ightfully, as a critical player in Ghanas much-lauded constitutional democracy, ought not to become party to a fanatical crusade ofintolerance and extremism in the 21st century.The Bill violates the right to inviolability of the person. It violates virtually all the keyfundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, namely the right to freedom ofspeech and expression; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief; the freedomto practice any religion and to manifest such in practice (which includes the freedom not topractice any religion); the right to assemble, including the freedom to take part inprocessions and demonstrations; the freedom of association and the right to organize- in essence the fundamental human rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. In addition, the provisions of the Bill violate the dignity and inviolability of every person,guaranteed under Article 15; it violates the principle of equality before the law, and the rightto freedom from discrimination on grounds of gender, race, colour, ethnic origin, religion,creed or social economic status, guaranteed under Article 11, as well as the right to privacyguaranteed under Article 18 of the Constitution. In short, the provisions of the Bill are soegregious in their violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed underthe Constitution that it beggars belief that it could be introduced as a Bill in the House ofParliament.i. Preliminary Procedural unconstitutionalityEven before we address the substantive provisions of the Bill, there is the need to drawattention to a preliminary and fundamental procedural defect of this Bill, as a privatemembers Bill.We count ourselves among those that have long argued and advocated that Article 108 not be read, as it had been throughout the history of the 4th Republic, to precludethe introduction of a Private Members Bill. We believe that Article 108, as written, allowsroom for and was never intended to deny Members of Parliament the opportunity to initiatelegislation in their own name by means of a Private Members Bill. But merely because Article 108 can and must be read properly to allow MPs the opportunity to introduce a Private Members Bill does not mean that any and every Bill that is introduced as a Private MembersBill qualifies as such. Article 108 (a) (ii) of the Constitution of the Republic prohibitsParliament from proceeding onany private membersBill that in the opinion of the personpresiding,makes provision for the imposition of a charge on the Consolidated Fundsor other public funds of Ghana. To be sure, Article 108 (a),usesthe words in the opinionof the person presiding. This, however, does not give the person presiding acarte blanche to form any opinion s/he fancies without regard to the content or impact of the Bill in question.The opinion of the presiding person, as to whether or not the Bill imposes a charge on theConsolidated Funds or other public funds of Ghana, cannot be and is not intended to be amerely subjective opinion, not controlled by, or subject to, any objective consideration orfacts. Such a rendition of Article 108 (a) (ii) would make it practically ineffective and defeatthe constitutional purpose and intendment of the makers of the Constitution. . It would, ineffect, turn the limited allowance that Article 108 impliedly makes for a private members billinto an open and unrestricted invitation for any matter to be addressed legislatively by meansof a private members bill, without any regard whatsoever to the scale or enormity of its fiscalimpact on the public treasury. Such a reading of Article 108 (a) (ii) would not comport withthe intent of the Framers, which is that those bills that seek to impose substantial budgetarycosts on the State must be reserved for the Executive to introduce. On the contrary, where, as in the provisions of the present Bill, the State is made to assume extensive policing dutiesand expend substantial policing resources to implement a law and to bear the cost of medicaland psychiatric treatment of LGBTQ+ persons who purportedly recant upon arrest and agreeto treatment, it is obvious that the Bill is designed to impose and, indeed, would imposesignificant charges on the Consolidated Fund or other public funds of Ghana-Irrespective of the subjective opinion of the presiding person that permitted this privatemembers Bill to be laid before Parliament, the Bill, in fact, imposes a charge on theConsolidated Funds or other public funds, and, by the express terms of Article 108, cannotlawfully be introduced in or acted upon by Parliament as a private members Bill. Accordingly, the introduction of this LGBTQ+ Bill as a private members Bill in Parliament,irrespective of the Bills merits or demerits, constitutes a direct and gross violation of Article108 (a) (ii). Given the charges that the Bill seeks to impose on the Consolidated Funds andor any other public funds of Ghana, the only and constitutionally permissible means by whichsuch a bill ought to have been introduced was in the words of Article 108 (1) by or onbehalf of the President of the Republic. We therefore urge the Select Committee onConstitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to do the right and proper thing bythemselves, Parliament and the people of Ghana by advising Parliament that it cannotproceed with the Bill, given the Bills manifest unconstitutionality.ii. Highlights of the Bill violations of the key fundamental human rights provisions ofthe Constitution.The Bill in its memorandum quotes with approval the view expressed by the National Houseof Chiefs that being LGBTQ++ is ataboo and inhuman, under Ghanaian culture. Thatstatement, with respect, stigmatizes the being and identity of LGBTQ+ personsas inhuman.It thereby denies the humanity and identity of LGBTQ++ persons. This constitutes an assaulton their humanity and directly violates Article 15 (1) of the Constitution which provides thatThe dignity of all persons shall be inviolable. Further, such stigmatization violates Article 15 (2) (b) of Constitution which provides that No person shall, whether or not heis arrested, restricted or detained, be subjected to any other condition that detractsor is likely to detract from his dignity or worth as human being. By stigmatizingLGBTQ++ people as inhuman, the Bill reinforces hatred for LGBTQ++ persons, as personswho have no place in our society and deserve to be destroyed. This thereby subtly givesextremists licence to take the law into their own hands to attack or lynch LGBTQ++ persons. This is so, in our respectful view, notwithstanding the pious provisions in the Bill that purportto protect the rights of LGBTQ++ persons from people taking the law into their hands andattacking them, by criminalizing such acts.The Bill in Clause 2 criminalizes LGBTQ+ sexual activities, and any person holdinghimself out as an LGBTQ+ person on the pain of imprisonment for not less than threeyears or more than five years, or to a fine of not less than 700 penalty units or 6,000penalty units or both. a) Criminalizing expression, advocacy, promotion of, solidarity with, and support forLGBTQ++ persons and activity, and the right of LGBTQ++ persons to organize, toassemble or demonstrateIn seeking to promote what it refers to as proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian f amilyvalues and norms, the Bill in clause 12 goes to the extreme of criminalizing and prohibitingideas, views, and expressions promoting or advocating support for LGBTQ++ practices,including films, broadcasting of LGBTQ+ comments or opinions on the internet, textmessages that express support or sympathy for, or solidarity with, LGBTQ+ identity, cause,views, and activities. In the result, under Clause 12 of the Bill, any person who advocatesthe recognition of, solidarity with, or promotes LGBTQ+ rights or causes, even if the personis not a LGBTQ++ person, commits an offence which on summary conviction is liable toimprisonment for not less than five (5) years or more than ten (10) years. This paradoxicallymeans that under the Bill, even this current memorandum to Parliament would be acriminal offence punishable upon conviction by a term of not less than five years andnot more than ten years. This is so, even though it is a contradiction in terms and makesabsolutely no sense for Parliament to invite varied views from citizens on a Bill that seeks,should it become law, to criminalize the very views supporting or advocating LGBTQ++rights and causes! Unfortunately, this is precisely what the Bill does.Clause 12, accordingly, directly violates Article 21 (1) (a) of the Constitution, which providesthus:All persons are entitled to freedom of speech and expression, which shall includethe fr eedom of the press and other media. Clause15 of the Bill seeks to disband groups, associations, and organizations, whileClause 16 prohibits, as a criminal offence, the formation, organization, or registration ofany LGBTQ++ groups and any activity to support or sustain any such group, organization,or association. Anyone who does so is liable upon summary conviction, to imprisonment 5for a term of not less than six years and more than ten years. Clause 15 of the Bill is clearlyin direct contravention of Article 21 (1) (e) which provides that:All persons shall be entitled to freedom of association, which shall include freedomto form or join trade unions and other associations, national and international, for theprotection of their interest. But that is not all. By criminalizing any activity to sustain or support LGBTQ++ organizationsor association, the Bill directly criminalizes the right of LGBTQ++ and their supporters totake part in demonstrations and processions in support of LGBTQ++ causes, in flagrantviolation of the fundamental freedom to assemble, including the right to take part inprocessions and demonstrations as guaranteed under Article 21 (1) (d) of the Constitution.The Bill founds its rationale in criminalizing the right to assemble, associate, to process, toexpress or promote views in support of LGBTQ++rights on the premise that [o]nce it isdetermined that the object or purpose of the group is unlawful, there can be no right ofassembly or association in respect of the object or purpose. The Memorandum cites asexamples the Vigilantism and Related Offences Act, 2019 (Act 999), which proscribes theformation of groups for the furtherance of the interests of group members by use of threatof violence or intimidation, and the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), that permitsreasonable restrictions or interference in the enjoyment of the right to privacy of home,property, correspondence or communication. But such analysis, with respect, misconceives the law-making process and the justificationfor limitations in such circumstances. In the context of the Vigilantism and Cybersecuritylaws, the prohibited acts are matters that directly and objectively threaten public order,public safety, material public interest, human life, and financial and economic interests. Itis these weighty considerations that lead to criminalizing any right to associate to promoteor advocate or express support for these activities that manifestly and materially haveharmful consequences for the individual, society and social wellbeing. It is the scale ofharm that justifies such restrictions. In the instant situation, the sponsors of the Bill havenot provided a shred of evidence demonstrating any substantial harm that LGBTQ++activities pose to society that provides a reasonable justification for such high-handedrestrictions of fundamental human rights.The sponsors of the Bill seek in the Memorandum to the Bill to justify the far-reachingencroachment on fundamental human rights on the ground thatsuch rights or freedomsby their very nature are not absolute. The Constitution prescribes reasonablerestrictions that are necessary for public health, order or safety . That isconceptually correct. But the burden the sponsors then assume is to demonstrate that, indeed, theprovisions of the Bill are reasonably necessary for the protection of a legitimate publicinterest or individual right. Unfortunately, the sponsors fail astonishingly to provide anyempirical evidence to support this assertion, except though appeals to so-called Africancultural values and religious values which they claim the overwhelming majority ofGhanaians subscribe to. What this viewpoint singularly misconceives is that protectingfundamental human rights does not simply mean protecting the beliefs and interests of theoverwhelming majority.It also means protecting the rights and freedoms of minoritiesand historically vulnerable groups, such as LGBTQ++ persons. In fact, theConstitution, speaking through Article 21(4) (e), rightfully disapproves of actions, includingthose done under the guise of exercising some right or freedom of amajority, that inciteshatred against other members of the community, which is precisely what this Bill does.Instead of this Bill, what Article 21(4) (e) implicitly urges and expects Parliament to do isenact laws that protect vulnerable and unpopular minorities, fellow members of ourcommunity, from being targeted for hatred by a majority or another section of the community. b) Criminalizing housing of LGBTQ++ personsClause 10 of the Bill makes it a criminal offence punishable on summary conviction by aterm of imprisonment of not less than three years or more than five years for a person(even if s/he is a friend, family member, or even a sibling or a parent) to keep a house forthe purpose of hosting LGBT+ persons, where s/he knows that they are LGBTQ+. So a sister cannot house a brother she knows to be a LGBTQ+ person, in the event that personreceives visits from LGBTQ+ associates and lovers. Nor can a mother house a son ordaughter, if she is aware of his/her LGBTQ++ identity, and allows her daughter or son withsuch identity to receive his/her lovers or even LGBTQ+ friends in that house. The Bill seeksto make any such act of filial or parental love pregnant with possible criminal liability.Landlords are also to beware, on the pain of prosecution and imprisonment, knowinglyrenting out premises to LGBTQ++ persons.These provisions echo George Orwells 1984, with Big Brother looking over our shouldersto ensure that we all, even in the deep and inner recesses of our bedrooms, comply with acertain prescribed view of proper human sexuality, even in the most intimate and privaterelationship between adults. As it is only possible to know what is going on in a housesuspected to be a home for LGBTQ+ persons by resorting to all manner of devices to intrudeinto the private and intimate spaces of those persons placed under suspicion, the Bill, essentially, invites the police and neighbours to engage in acts that endanger and violatethe privacy and property rights of such persons.Honourable members of the Select Committee, with respect, nothing could be moreintolerant and beyond the pale than these provisions of the Bill that seek to override thefreedoms that Ghanaians have fought for over the decades and won at the costs of ourlives and liberty. Honourable members of the Select Committee, with respect, nothing could be moreintolerant and extremist than these provisions of the Bill that seek to override the freedomsthat Ghanaians have fought for over the decades and won at the cost of their lives andliberty.d) The defence of Ghanaian cultural valuesOn the question of Ghanaian cultural and traditional values, the sponsors of the Billconveniently refuse to acknowledge that not all of our cultural and traditional values canstand up to the demands of inclusiveness, diversity, and fundamental rights within ademocratic republic such as Ghana. For instance, traditional Ghanaian values do not fullyaccept persons with disability as persons having full and equal rights as those withoutdisability. The custom and values of some communities, especially in the past, consideredtwins as an abomination, with the result that they, by custom and tradition, had to be killedas evil, just like how the Bills sponsors considerLGBTQ++ persons inhuman and as evil.The infamous witch camps in northern Ghana where vulnerable women and old ladies are,even to date, banished for unproven allegations of witchcraft, are a product of our cultureand tradition. There is also thetrokosi cultural phenomenon, in the Volta Region, wherevery young girls are given away to the god or spirit represented by a priest or priestess forthe sins of other family members, and become virtually enslaved for the rest of their lives.Even until recently, the notion of gender equality was largely alleged to be repugnant to African or Ghanaian cultural values. These are all cultural beliefs and practices based ontraditional norms and values. Indeed, in parts of Eastern Africa, albinos are targeted andmurdered because of their pigmentation, based on similar false cultural beliefs!But the fact that these are part of Ghanaian and African cultural and traditional norms andvalues do not make them acceptable in modern Ghana, in a free and democratic Republic. They are clearly unacceptable. And that is why Article 39 (2) provides as follows:39(2). The State shall ensure thatappropriate customary and cultural valuesareadopted and developed as an integral part of thegrowing needs of the society as a whole, and in particular, practices which are injurious to the health andwellbeing of the person are abolished. [Emphasis added] Again, the Bill singularly fails to understand that matters of culture and societal values arebest protected and promoted by education and cultural engagement, rather than the crudeand blunt blade of criminal law. It is for this reason that, for example, Article 39 (1) of theConstitution places a duty on the State to take steps to encourage the integration ofappropriate customary valuesinto the fabric of national lifethrough formal and informaleducation and the conscious introduction of the cultural dimension to relevant aspects ofnational planning. It does not direct that the State should pass laws to impose certaincultural values on Ghanaians, much less sectarian cultural, or religious values.It should therefore be apparent to all, especially the sponsors of the LGBTQ+I Bill, that whilewe must cherish those aspects of our culture and values that enhance our being, knowledge,freedoms and livelihood as a people, and promote empathy and inclusiveness, we shouldbe quick to jettison those that inhibit us, impose cruel and unjustifiable restrictions andhardships on minorities and vulnerable groups, and evince a singular lack of empathy forone another. Indeed, Article 39 (2) enjoins us to ensure that cultural practices and valuesthat are injurious to the well-being of the person are abolished! The fact that thememorandum to the Bill rather cites Article 39 in support of the oppressive and inhumaneprovisions of the Bill, with respect, betrays a total misconception of the scheme of valuesour Constitution upholds. An appeal to Ghanaian cultural values and traditional norms, as a basis for the Bill, is byitself, therefore,neither a necessary nor sufficient justificationfor a Bill that isundoubtedlydriven by a totalitarian and authoritarian ethos, and religiousfundamentalist and extremist notions. Such an appeal is no justification for a Bill thatseeks to impose on the proud people of Ghana a decidedlysectarian and monolithic view of proper human sexual(sic!) rights. Misplaced cultural nationalismThe promoters of the Bill seek to whip up their misguided version of Ghanaian culturalnationalism by raising the scare that LGBTQ+ rights are alien to Ghanaian culture andtradition, and are being promoted by a morally depraved West. In the first place, it isGhanaian LGBTQ++ persons who are fighting for social tolerance and acceptance, havingsuffered in the obscurity of darkness and social exclusion for years. Secondly, it is simplynot true that LGBTQ+ tendencies and inclinations are foreign to Ghanaian or Africansocieties. Indeed, there are historical records of Ancient Egypt that suggest and indicate that homosexuality existed as early as the 5th Dynasty, that is, around 2,380 BCE/BC. Mural representations in the tomb of two male manicurists depict a relationship that may beconsidered the earliest historical record of a homosexual relationship betweenNiankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, who were chief manicurists of the Pharaoh and otherroyalty. Other references to homosexuality/lesbianism in Ancient Egypt can be found in aspecific text of the female author of the EgyptianBook of the Dead , written in 970 BCE/BCthus:I never had sex with a woman in the temple,suggesting that she had sex with womenoutside the temple. While we do not use these records to suggest that homosexual andlesbian practices, to the extent that they existed in Ancient Egypt, were the same in natureand extent as they exist in modern society, these historical allusions indicate the need foranti-LGBTQ++ warriors to be more questioning of their dogma that such practices are aliento Africa and African societies, and are solely the product of decadent western imperialistcultural onslaught.Indeed, as a matter of fact, LGBQT persons have been a well-known secret in Ghanaianfamilies and society for a long time, and not just the product of any external advocacy. Weare all aware of the familiar references to male individuals who display distinctroles andhabits of women, who are sometimes openly referred to as, for example,Kodjo besia orKwesi besia , depending on the day on which he was born. It is also not a secret that as farback as the 1960s, if not earlier, some pairs of girls in female secondary schools developedclose sexual relationshipsknown as supi , a practice that continues today.These are wellknown homegrown facts, and not western inspired.e) Promoting Goals 3 and 5 of SDGsIt is a complete fallacy and misreading of Goal 3 of the UNs SDGs for the Bills sponsors tostate in the memorandum to the Bill that the Bill will ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all atall ages , when the Bill rather stigmatizes LGBTQ++ persons as inhumanand seeks to criminalize their very existence and make life a living hell for them. In the samevein, the Bill is in no way related to Goal 5 of SDGs, which is to achieve gender equalityand empower women and girls. These references to the SDG goals simply expose the lackof understanding of the import of these goals and reinforce the authoritarian ethos thatinforms the Bill, in contrast to the SDGs that are inclusive and pledgeto leave no onebehind, including LGBTQ+I persons.In essence, when all the fanciful justifications, supposedly grounded in culture, tradition andreligion, are stripped of their beguiling clothes and adornments, what is left of the high sounding Bill for the Protection of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values isstigmatization, bigotry, intolerance, repression, authoritarianism, violation of thefundamental human rights of LGBQT+ persons, false piety, cruelty to, and lack ofempathy for, them.f) Binary and unscientific categories of male and female as the only categories of sexClause 10 of the Bill decreesas grossly indecent act andprohibits, on the pain ofimprisonment for three months or one year, upon summary conviction, the public show ofany amorous relations with or among persons of the same sex; or public show of affectionamong persons where one or more of them have undergone gender or sex realignment, orpublic show of affection between or a person intentionally cross-dressing to portray thatperson is of a gender different fromwhat the sponsors refer to as the gender assigned atbirth with intent to engage in any act prohibited under the Bill!. It is clear that the Bill is grounded on the unscientific and speculative notionthat a personssex is determined at birth and that sex is either male or female. While this may be a notionencouraged by some religion, any gynecologist, medical doctor, or biological scientist knowsthat a persons gender is not always determined at birth, nor is it necessarily binary bynature. The natural world is full of surprises that may shock the uninformed. In our respectfulview, this fact alone undermines the very foundations upon which the Bill is built. Indeed,there are recurrent provisions in the Bill which implicitly admit and concede to the reality thatpersons may be born at birth who do not fit into the arbitrary binary alternatives of male orfemale, which the Bill seeks to impose on Ghanaians. This is demonstrated in clauses ofthe Bill that make exception to the binary alternatives in the case ofsurgical proceduresintended to correct a biological anomaly , such as in Clause 1 (e); in Clause 2 of the Billwhichdefines intersex asan individual whose sexual anatomy or chromosomes does notfit the traditional markers of "female" or "male" assigned at birth ; and. Clause 6 (f) (ii) whichaccepts a departure from the decreed binary alternativesin the case of correcting abiological anomaly, including intersex .Interestingly, the Bill proposes the Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture as theresponsible officer for ensuring the medical treatment of persons. This demonstrates thereligious fundamentalist extremism driving the Bill, making the Bill reminiscent of that ofstates such as the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan!!g) Threat to Ghanaian family and family values The Bill, however, argues that LGBTQ+ activities threaten the heterosexual family unit asthe foundation of society and that permitting LGBTQ+ activities to flourish is a threat tosociety and even the human species. The proposers of this far-reaching claim have notprovided any data or evidence to suggest that there is such a threat, beyond a resort tosome dogmatic religious tenets and so-called Ghanaian family values.First of all, what constitutes the Ghanaian family unit is hardly uniform or static. For example,the nuclear family unit or household, comprising two married heterosexual partners and theirbiological children, though increasingly common among elite or middle-class urban Ghanaian can hardly be said to represent the Ghanaian cultural norm. To many, particularlyoutside the ur ban elite enclaves, the family is still reckoned, for example, in extendedfamily or polygamous terms, with the nuclear family of the urban elite regarded as foreign.Single parent-headed households are also quite prevalent, as are various otherpermutations and combinations Any serious discussion of, or concern for, maintaining Ghanaian family values we submit,ought, in our respectful view, first to begin with addressing the rampant issue of pregnancyof young women and teenagers out of wedlock, and the abandonment, after the act, of suchyoung women by their male partners. That is what clearly undermines Ghanaian familyvalues. According to data from the Ghana Health Service District Information ManagementSystem,between 2016 and 2020, about 555,575 teenagers aged 10 to 19 years, aresaid to have gotten pregnant. 13,444 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 14 gotpregnant, while some 542,131 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years got pregnant during the sameperiod. On average, a little over 112,800 teenagers got pregnant annually over the fiveyears! These are real data clearly showing the real threat to Ghanaian family values andthe family as a basic unit of Ghanaian society, not the unsubstantiated threat purportedlyposed by LGBTQ++ persons. Equally, extra-marital relationships tend to undermine thefamily as a unit and family values.h) LGBTQ++ persons and childrenIn its attempt to demonize LGBTQ++ persons, provisions of the Bill seek to associateLGBTQ++ persons with pedophilia, when the Memorandum to the Bill has not provided anymaterial or evidential link between LGBTQ++ activities and the abuse of minors. It needs tobe clearly stated that the law prohibits on the pain of grave punishment any sexualrelationship with a child, whether heterosexual or homosexual. Sexual abuse of children issexual abuse of children, and the law bans this, irrespective of the sex of the person. It is thus unfair and stigmatizing of LGBTQ++ persons for the Bill to state and imply that there issomething peculiar to LGBTQ++ persons that gravitate them towards sexual abuse ofminors, when the overwhelming majority of cases of child sex abuse and defilement are byheterosexual persons. What is striking, nut unsurprisingabout this aspect of the Billsdenunciation of LGBTQ++ persons is that the sponsors provide absolutely no data orevidence for demonizing LGBTQ++ persons as pedophile by nature. It is nothing more thana scare-mongering tactic to arouse undeserved and unproven ill-will against LGBTQ++persons.i) Religious Beliefs and LGBTQ+I practicesIt is a given that some Christians and Muslims may find LGBTQ activities offensive andmay detest them. That may be well within their rights, as persons with strong religiousviews, though such attitude does little in promoting a diverse, tolerant and inclusivesociety, in which the interests of minorities and vulnerable groups, including LGBTQpersons, are deserving of equal respect. But can we imagine what would happen to ourdemocratic republic, if we started imposing as the law of the land the religious dogmas andtenets and edicts of one or the other dominant or ascendant religious community? Let itbe stated without equivocation thatours is a secular democratic republic, not atheocratic Christian or Islamic Republic or an African traditional monarchy orchiefdom. In other words, while it allows Christian, Islamic, African traditional and otherreligious beliefs and practices to exist in harmony with one another as fundamental rights,our Constitution rightfully forbids the imposition of a religious dogma, whether Christian or Islamic or traditional on Ghanaians. Our Constitution, in Article 18 (1)(b) and (c) guarantees and embraces religious diversity, while guarding the freedomof people not to be bound by any particular religious belief or dogma: thus:. Article 18 (1) (b). All persons shall have the right to -(b) freedom of thought, conscience and belief, which shall includeacademic freedom;(a) freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such practiceAccordingly, our Constitution affirms and protects the right of Ghanaians and otherresidents of, or visitors to, Ghana to be free to practice any religion of their choiceor to beagnostics or,even, atheists.From this perspective and the perspective of criminalizing free speech and expression,assembly and the right to free association, from the perspective of violation of the right tofreedom from discrimination and the right to human dignity, the LGBTQ++ Bill constitutesan existential threat to the republic and its core values as set out in the Preamble, Chapter Five on Fundamental Human Rights, and Chapter 6 on Directive Principles of State ofPolicy of the Constitution of the Republic. It constitutesa flagrant violation of theseguaranteed rights and freedoms. Even from a Christian viewpoint, the crusade against LGBTQ++ persons as inhuman andevil ought to be considered within the context of what Christ would have done in responseto LGBTQ++ persons. Christs message was/is that we should love our neighbor and not be judgmental and promote the hate and bigotry that many self-styled Christians exhibit andseek to impose on Ghanaian society. Little wonder, that as recently as June 2021, PopeFrancis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, favourably compared the work of a USCatholic priest affirming LGBTQ+ Catholics, to that of Jesus. (See:https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/06/27/pope-francis-affirming-letter-LGBTQ+-gay-catholics/ j) The Role of the World Congress of Families Ghanaians and Africans are all too familiar with the reaction of military or other authoritarianregimes to demands for representative democratic systems of governance and theirresponse that it is an attempt by the West to impose a foreign system. These same regimes however continue to receive foreign aid from the same West. This bears an uncannyresemblance to the actions of the main proponents of the LGBTQ++ Bill, the Coalition forProper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, who decry foreign impositions. Yet it is undeniable that the Coalition has, in fact, collaborated with, and received considerableassistance from, the western, global anti-gay and anti-abortion network, the self-titled WorldCongress of Families. Indeed, it is no secret that thisWorld Congress of Families organizeda regional conference in Accra in October/November, 2020, in collaboration with the veryNational Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights, which has hypocritically spearheadedthe anti-western propaganda. The self-styled World Congress of Families has been activein promoting the passage of similarly repressive anti LGBTQ++ laws in Nigeria, Cameroon,Uganda and elsewhere in Africa, in Eastern Europe, and in Latin America. It thus lies ill inthe mouth of the sponsors of the Bill to raise the scare-monger of foreign interference inGhanaian cultural values and sovereignty, when they have been beneficiaries of assistancefrom a western-inspired global network sponsored by American Christian far rightconservatives/extremists. There is nothing original or homegrown about this Bill. It takes itsinspiration from Western right-wing crusaders and follows a template used in recent yearsin such places as the Russian Federation, Moldova, and Hungary. j) Is There A Compelling Policy Rationale For This Bill? There can be no doubt, as we have demonstrated, that the Bill constitutes an impermissibleinvasion of the inviolability and human dignity of the person and, freedom of expression andthought, freedom of assembly, including the right to organize and take part in processionsand demonstrations and the right to protection against discrimination on grounds of gender,race, ethnic origin, religion, creed or social and economic status. These rights are at the veryheart of our constitutional architecture. It is indisputable that, without these rights,Ghanasdemocracy would be meaningless. It is accordingly our respectful view that any law thatseeks to restrict and repress these rights in specific instances must meet the very highstandard of necessity and reasonableness in the defence of life, property, the rights ofothers, public safety, or public health or public interest generally. Any such law must bereasonably justifiable in terms of the core values of the Constitution. If it fails to meet thistest, it is unconstitutional.It is our view that the provisions of the LGBTQ+ Bill are, in their totality, egregious in theirviolations of the fundamental human rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and worsestill do not meetthe reasonably justifiable threshold for restrictions of such rights. Thecriminalization of LGBTQ+ persons, their identity, associations and allies, rather thanpromoting public health, can only drive such persons into the shadows, where they will haveno access to public health or health education. No compelling public interest is served bythis attempt to drive LGBTQ+ persons underground and render them social outcasts andsecond-class citizens. . Accordingly, the provisions of the Bill, if passed into law, would beunconstitutional, null and void.In any event, if the fear and anxiety of the sponsors of the Bill is that the ambiguity in theMarriage Act 1884 1986, (CAP 137), as to whether marriages under this legislation,whether Christian, Mohammedan or customary are confined to only heterosexual couples,this does not call for the Bill and its repressive totalitarian provisions. That lacuna, if any,can easily be filled by amending the law. Furthermore, section 104 (1) (c).of the CriminalOffences Act, 1960, (Act 29) already makes it a criminal offence for a person to haveunnatural carnal knowledge of an animal. The tactic of tagging along provisions on sexualassault of animals with a Bill seeking to criminalize LGBTQ++ persons and activities,ominously stigmatizes them and unfairly suggests that bestiality is an activity associatedwith LGBTQ+ persons, requiring specific provisions to prohibit them. The sponsors of theBill, once more, have provided not even a scintilla of evidence in proof of this wildsupposition. Similarly, there is no need whatsoever for Clause 6 (1) ii) of the Bill whichcriminalizes keeping a brothel for LGBT activities. This is because there is sufficientprovision under the Criminal Offences Act that criminalizes the keeping of a brothel, whether for heterosexual or other sexual activities, as a crime. Similarly, Clause 7 of the Bill thatseeks to make it a crime for any LGBTQ++ person, by threat or intimidation, or by falsepretense or false representation, to procure another to engage in sexual intercourse, isalready catered for under section 107 (e) and (f) of the Criminal Offences Act, (Act 29). Thisagain reveals the zealots determination of the sponsors of the Bill to stigmatize anddemonize LGBTQ++ persons. Further, Clause 8 of the Bill makes it an offence to detainanother person with the intent of engaging in an act prohibited under the Bill. Even if it isargued that the provision on rape or defilement do not contemplate homosexual acts, therelevant section of the Criminal Offences Act can easily be amended to include such acts, ifthat were the concern of the sponsors. Finally, we have demonstrated that the alleged threat to Ghanaian family values and thefamily as a basic unit of society upon which the Bill is founded has not been supported byany empirical data, and is nothing more than scare-mongering. In the circumstances,Parliament ought not to give this obnoxious Bill currency, much less pass it into law.k)The Bill violates a number of International Human Rights Instruments and Normsthat Ghana has assented to, sworn to, or committed to.Just as the Bill violates Ghanas constitutional provisions on fundamental human rights, it alsoviolates a number of key international human rights instruments and norms, including Articles1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 7 of the InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights on protection against torture, cruel, inhuman anddegrading treatment and punishment; Article 17 on arbitrary interference with privacy,correspondence and home; Article 18 on freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; Article19 on the right to hold opinions without interference and the right to freedom of expression; Article 21 on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; Article 22 on the freedom ofassociation, including the right to form or join a trade for the protections of his interests; and Article 26 on the right to equal treatment before the law andto protection againstdiscrimination on any groundsuch as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or otheropinion. Quite clearly, the provisions of the Bill flagrantly violate all these fundamental civiland political rights of International Human Rights Instruments that Ghana has acceded to.Parliament should be wary lestit becomes the vehicle for Ghanas breach of thesefundamental provisions of international human rights law. In its 2018 report to the Human Rights Council on its 37th Session, the United NationsIndependent Expert against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation andGender Identity concluded as follows:..the rising number of hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identitycorrelates with a steep rise in ultraconservative political and religious groups usingtheir platforms to promote bigotry, dehumanize persons on the basis of sexualorientation, gender identity or expression, and foster a stigma and intolerance amongconstituencies. Such discourse sometimes is usedas a means to bolster popularity and detract attention from pressing economic and internal political problems, .in thelast Universal Review period for Ghana (AHRC/37/7, the recommendations in paragraph 146.59 (which enjoyed the support of Ghana) state that Ghana should[take the steps necessary to protect lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex people from violence and discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation andgender identity. On 28th July 2021, the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohammed, in aninterview with TV3, advised that Ghana should be cautious in passing the Bill because ofits implications in promoting insecurity and undemocratic principles.The African Commission on Human and Peoples and Human Rights, in its Resolution 275of 12th May 2014, condemns systematic attacks by State and non-state actors againstpersons on the basis of their imputed or real sexual orientation or gender identity, while inaddition making discrimination against LGBTQ++ persons a violation of their fundamentalhuman rights.South Africa, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe (2012) and Cape Verde (2004), as wellas Lesotho (2012) and Seychelles (2016) in Africa have all abolished colonial penallegislation criminalizing homosexuals. The Angolan National Assembly passed a new penalcode that abolished criminalizing homosexual relationship, while making attacks on personsbecause of their sexual orientation as well as discrimination against people on the basis oftheir sexual orientation a crime punishable by not more than two years imprisonment. Itcame into effect in February 2021.The affirmation of the rights of LGBTQ++ persons as human rights is not only by legislation. African courts have also upheld the right of LGBTQ++ persons to protection againstdiscrimination and the enjoyment of their fundamental human right to human dignity and the right to organize and to advocate LGBTQ++ rights. Thus, inEric Gitari v NGO Board & 4others, [2015], the Kenyan High Court in Nairobi upheld the rights of LGBTQ++ persons toassemble, noting at paragraph 104 of the judgment thus: As a society, once we recognise that persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender or intersex are human beings...however reprehensible we may findtheir sexual orientation, we must accord them the human rights which areguaranteed by the Constitution to all persons, by virtue of their being human, inorder to protect their dignity as human.. Again in Attorney General of Botswana v. Rammoge & 19 Others, the Court of Appealof Botswana (the highest court in Botswana) upholding the decision of the High Courtaffirming the right of an organization by the name Lesbians, Gays and Bi-sexuals ofBotswana (LEGABIBO) to register an LGBTQ++ organization stated asfollows: Members of the gay, lesbian and transgender community, although nodoubt a small minority, and unacceptable to some on religious or othergrounds form part of the rich diversity of any nation and are fully entitledin Botswana, as in any other progressive state, to the constitutional protection of their dignity .The above examples are, in our respectful view, persuasive judicial decisions and legislationin Africa that we urge the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana to give serious considerationto,and reject the Promotion of Proper Sexual Human Right and Family Values Bill, 2021. Conclusion As far back as November 1992, in the seminal judgment of the Supreme Court of Ghana inNPP v. IGP,affirming the right of the people to assemble, demonstrate and process againstthe repressive Pubic Order Decree 1972 (NLCD 68), Amua-Sekyi JSC, as if anticipating these dark days that our Republic is threatened with today, stated in a compelling and deeplyinsightful dicta at pages 470 to 471 of the Ghana Law Reports 2 [1993 1994] GLR, hisopinion as follows:In countries that practice true democracy, supporters and opponents of everyconceivable cause are given freedom to associate and express their views. In the end,some have succeeded and their unpopular demands have eventually become majority wishes and have been recognized. The examples are the anti-slavery groups ineighteenth century England and nineteenth century America and the suffragettes ofboth countries at the beginning of this century. Today, in these countries those whofavour and those who oppose abortion may assemble and hold demonstrations andprocessions in support of their cause, while in the less tolerant societies one may bepermitted and the other banned. In this country it would be unthinkable for any policeofficer to grant homosexuals a permit to hold a demonstration in support of so-calledgay rights, but I ask, if in nineteenth century England the supporters of child labourhad been prevented from stating their case, would its evil consequences have everbeen recognized?In this day and age, it is necessary for us to see that consentnot force is the basis of a just society, and that it is not for the government orour neighbor to tell us what to think or feel or do? [Emphasis added].Most of the restrictions on our liberties which after years of repression we have cometo accept, are inconsistent with democratic norms. Except in a time of war, when astate of emergency has been declared,it cannot be right for any agency of theexecutive to suppress the free expression of any opinion, however unpopularthat opinion may be. The believer in absolutism, the anarchist, those who opposeequal rights for women yes lesbians and homosexuals too- are all entitled to thefree expression of their views, and the right to assemble and demonstrate in supportof those views. Once the state takes for itself the power to license association,assemblies and processions, it resorts to support of the status quo, and the only wayof changing the prevailing state of affairs is by use of force. [Emphasis added] We urge the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, to heed these prescient and liberating words of Amua-Sekyi JSC from the past, inorder not to createa society where the state through legislation imposes one view of properhuman sexual rights (sic!) as the only acceptable one in our free Republic, and wheredissenting views and expressions are criminalized and suppressed. What the Bill envisagesis the very opposite of the words freedom and justice that emblazon our coat of arms.The Bill ought, with respect, to be firmly rejected by the Parliamentary Select Committee onConstitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and by Parliament as a whole.Respectfully submitted, Respectfully submitted, 1. Akoto Ampaw Phone: 0302 229875 0302 253900 Email address: [email protected] Source: adomonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video An Afrobarometer survey of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has found that even though the majority of Ghanaians are tolerant of ethnicities other than theirs, fewer than one in 10 (7%) are tolerant toward people in same-sex relationships. This means some 93 per cent of Ghanaians are not tolerant of same-sex-oriented people. Ghanaians, generally, tend to express more nationalistic than ethnic sentiments, and most think they are more united as a people than divided, the report concluded, adding: Although discrimination is not an uncommon occurrence, Ghanaians express high levels of tolerance toward foreigners and citizens from different ethnic groups or religious faiths, though they are highly intolerant toward people in same-sex relationships. Read the key findings below: Key findings For nine out of 10 Ghanaians (91%), their national identity is at least as strong as their ethnic identity; very few say they feel more ethnic (6%) or only ethnic (3%). About three-quarters (73%) of citizens believe there is more that unites Ghanaians as a single people than divides them. About one in four Ghanaians (25%) say the government treats members of their ethnic group unfairly, a significant improvement compared to 2008 (49%). About one in five say other Ghanaians treated them unfairly based on their ethnicity (20%) or their religion (18%) during the year preceding the survey. Almost twice as many (35%) say they suffered discrimination based on their economic status. Overwhelming majorities of Ghanaians express tolerant attitudes toward people of different ethnicities (92%), different religions (91%), different political affiliations (90%), and different nationalities (74%). But fewer than one in 10 (7%) are tolerant toward people in same-sex relationships. Ghanaian Identity In general, when asked whether they identify more strongly with their national or their ethnic identities, the largest share of Ghanaians say they identify equally with both (56% in 2019), followed by the group who identify as only Ghanaian (29%) (Figure 1). Overall, nine out of 10 citizens (91%) identify at least as strongly as Ghanaian as they do as members of their ethnic group; fewer than one in 10 say they feel more ethnic (6%) or only ethnic (3%). These responses have been fairly consistent over time, although surveys in 2012 and 2014 detected a growing identification with the nation that has since retreated. Identification as only Ghanaian varies widely by region1: While almost half of residents in Bono (45%) and Western North (44%) say they feel only Ghanaian, the same is true of fewer than one in 10 respondents in Northern (2%), Upper West (3%), and North East (3%) regions. Poor respondents are less likely to identify as only Ghanaian (19% among those experiencing high lived poverty vs. 38% of the economically best-off respondents), as are those with no formal education (20%) compared to their better-educated counterparts (28%-34%). Are Ghanaians tolerant enough? At least nine out of 10 Ghanaians express tolerant attitudes toward people of different ethnicities (92%), different religions (91%), and different political affiliations (90%), saying they would like it or would not care if they had these people as neighbours. Three-fourths (74%) indicate the same tolerance toward immigrants or foreign workers. But fewer than one in 10 (7%) say they wouldnt mind living next door to someone in a same-sex relationship. The 93% who say they would somewhat dislike or strongly dislike having homosexual neighbours place Ghana near the top in terms of intolerance across 23 African countries surveyed between late 2019 and early 2021, well above the 80% average. Intolerance toward people in same-sex relationships is pervasive across age groups, religious affiliations, and urban as well as rural locations. Citizens with no formal education are slightly less likely to express intolerance (88%) than their more educated counterparts (91%- 95%). Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video NIGERIA: The Kano State Police Command has arrested a 21-year-old man, Abdullahi Musa, who led a gang of armed robbers to attack and rob his neighbour in Yamadawa Quarters area of the state. Spokesperson of the command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, October 5, said Musa and two members of his syndicate were among 51 suspected notorious armed robbers and drug dealers arrested recently. The PPRO said Musa confessed that he spearheaded the armed robbery attack and also led operatives to the arrest of two receivers of the robbed properties. "On the 12/04/2021 at about 0500hrs, a report was received from a resident of Janbulo Yamadawa Quarters Kano, that Armed Robbers numbering about 4 trespassed into his residence, through the fence, broke the door of his room, stabbed him with machete on his hand and knife on his chest," he stated. "They made away with, the following items; (i) HP Computer and Acer Mini Laptop (ii) Nova 4 (iii) Nlate 9 (iv) 2 GSM Handsets Huawei (v) Plasma LG TV (vi) 2 flash drives (v) other documents and cash sum of One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000.00) "On receipt of the report, the victim was immediately rushed to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital Kano, where he was admitted and the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Samaila Shuaibu Dikko, fsi raised and instructed a team of Policemen led by SP Bashir Musa Gwadabe to arrest the culprits. The team immediately swung in to action. "After the arrest of the 51 suspected notorious armed robbers and drug dealers, the victim identified one Abdullahi Musa, m, 21 years old of same address with the victim. "On investigation, suspect confessed that he spearheaded the armed robbery, and also led the operatives to the arrest of two members of his syndicate, (i) Umar Suleman, m, 20 years old (ii) Suleman Mustapha, m, 22 years old, all of same address with the complainant and two receivers of the robbed properties; (i) Musa Sunusi, m, 26 years old of Dorayi Quarters, Kano, (ii) Garba Mohd, m, 32 years old, of Maidile Quarters Kano. On discrete investigation, one of the receivers of the robbed properties, Garba Mohd further confessed that, he transported about One Hundred Mobile phones to Niger republic. "Similarly, Musa Sunusi confessed to have bought Nine (9) Mobile Phones from the armed robbers. All suspects confessed to their offences and will be charged to court on completion of investigation." he concluded. Source: LIB Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpone-Katamanso, Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, has advised assembly members not to allow politics to create enmity among them. "Politics should never divide us; it is everyone's constitutional right to choose which political party to belong to and that should not make us enemies," Mr Afotey-Agbo stated during the confirmation of Mr Samuel Okoe Amanquah as the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Chief Executive (MCE). Good relationships Mr Afotey-Agbo, who is also a former Greater Accra Regional Minister, said no political party would be in power forever as such, building good relationships was important in the political fraternity. "Relating well is a strategy I used when I was Minister and MP. The relationship you build with others would enable you to get the support from them when contesting for a position, he stated. He urged the assembly members to be tolerant and embrace all unpleasant expressions from the public as that was part of politics. He pleaded with them to adequately play their roles in achieving greater results for the municipality. Voting Mr Samuel Okoe Amanquah received a 100 per cent endorsement. All the 27 members, including government appointees, voted to confirm the nominee in an election supervised by the Electoral Commission (EC). Mr Amanquah will replace Mr Solomon Tettey Appiah. The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Henry Quartey, congratulated Mr Amanquah on his appointment and commended the assembly members for the unity they demonstrated by endorsing the nominee. He charged the MCE not to discriminate in the distribution of development projects in the municipality and called assembly members to bury their differences and unite for the development of Kpone. The NDC Member of Parliament for the constituency, Mr Joseph Akuerteh, pledged to support the MCE to develop the municipality. It is said that after politics development should be the result. I, therefore, congratulate Mr Amanquah and I have no option than to support him, he added. On his part, Mr Amanquah, said the development of the municipality would be a priority and pleaded with the assembly members to join forces to help build the image of Kpone Katamanso. Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video As the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) gears up for its primaries, on a yet-to-be specified date, to elect new executives ahead of the 2024 general elections; some members of the party have already disclosed their interests in certain positions. With the flagbearer position, there are ongoing campaigns for some personalities with specific mention of names of the Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen coming up strong among other contenders. Some known and unknown names have also dropped for positions like the National Chairman, National Youth Organizer and so forth. In view of who becomes what in the party hierarchy, former Member of Parliament for Upper Denkyira West constituency of the NPP, Benjamin Kofi Ayeh has for the first time revealed his political ambition after vacating his Parliamentary seat. Speaking to Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Benjamin Ayeh intimated he will contest the Central Regional Chairman position when the party opens nominations. "My immediate plan now is to go for Central Regional Chairmanship," he said. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ghanaian journalist and a member of the Network of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Emmanuel Dogbevi, has revealed that three unnamed top notch Ghanaian politicians have been captured in the Pandora Papers leak which was released on Sunday October 3. Mr Dogbevi said this on the News 360 on TV3 Monday October 4. He stated that the report does not give details of who the politicians are but only mentions that three Ghanaian politicians are captured. The website of the ICIJ captures Ghana as number three without giving further details on these officials. Criminals, murderers, people involved in grievous crimes are also mentioned because they are also moving moneys around the world, Mr Dogbevi added. He further highlighted the negative effect of illicit capital flight, a situation that makes this report one that has to be given the needed attention. Honourary Vice President of Imani Africa and Chief Executive Officer of mPedegree, Bright Simons also spoke on this matter on Monday. In a tweet on Monday October 4, he said The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists claim that the Pandora Papers constitute the largest leak of confidential documents to the press ever. 3 Ghanaian politicians, 10 from Nigeria & 2 from Kenya are implicated. 49 African politicians in total are mentioned. The Guardian had explained that Pandora papers is the biggest ever leak of offshore data which exposes financial secrets of rich and powerful around the world. The secret deals and hidden assets of some of the worlds richest and most powerful people have been revealed in the biggest trove of leaked offshore data in history. Branded the Pandora papers, the cache includes 11.9m files from companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. They expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state. They also shine a light on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries. The files include disclosures about major donors to the Conservative party, raising difficult questions for Boris Johnson as his party meets for its annual conference. More than 100 billionaires feature in the leaked data, as well as celebrities, rock stars and business leaders. Many use shell companies to hold luxury items such as property and yachts, as well as incognito bank accounts. There is even art ranging from looted Cambodian antiquities to paintings by Picasso and murals by Banksy. The Pandora papers reveal the inner workings of what is a shadow financial world, providing a rare window into the hidden operations of a global offshore economy that enables some of the worlds richest people to hide their wealth and in some cases pay little or no tax. The BBC also quoted portions of the report which indicate that the family of Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta secretly owned a network of offshore companies for decades. The Pandora Papers 12 million files is the biggest such leak in history. Mr Kenyatta and six members of his family have been linked to 13 offshore companies. He said he would respond comprehensively to the leak once he returned from a state visit abroad. However, he added that the investigation would go a long way in enhancing the financial transparency and openness that we require in Kenya and around the globe. The Kenyattas offshore investments, including a company with stocks and bonds worth $30m (22m), were discovered among hundreds of thousands of pages of administrative paperwork from the archives of 14 law firms and service providers in Panama and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other tax havens, the BBC further reported. 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 At least 76 per cent of Ghanaians, representing seven in 10, favour the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) of the various local assemblies, a study by the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana Local Government Survey has revealed. The study showed that just 20 per cent of the people still wanted MMDCEs to be appointed by the President. It said majority of Ghanaians, representing 71 per cent, opted for a non-partisan election format similar to the one used in electing local government councillors, while only 20 per cent of the people who wanted MMDCEs elected on partisan basis. The survey randomly sought the views of 2,400 adult citizens across all the 16 regions and was carried out from May 23 to June 3, 2021. Gender preference Presenting the findings of the survey in Accra yesterday, the Director of Research of CDD-Ghana, Dr Edem Selormey, said the support for election of MMDCEs had been very high in both urban and rural areas of the country. Support for election of MMDCEs was generally high irrespective of ones political party affiliation, she said. Between 2008 and 2021, support for election of MMDCEs increased significantly across all age groups. Since 2008, support for election of MMDCEs has been generally high among both males and females from 56 per cent to 76 per cent, she said. According to her, in both 2017 and 2021, more males compared to females expressed preference for non-partisan election of MMDCEs. However, preference for non-partisan election of MMDCEs increased by 20 percentage points among both sexes between 2017 and 2021. In 2017, although supporters of the various political parties were nearly equally split in their preference for non-partisan or partisan election of MMDCEs, in 2021, support for non-partisan election of MMDCEs increased significantly across political parties. Reasons for preference Dr Selormey explained that those who wanted non-partisan election of MMDCEs believed such an election format would ensure that competent persons get elected (29 per cent), promote inclusivity/forestall winner takes all challenges (22 per cent), prevent partisan influences/conflicts (21 per cent) and promote transparency and accountability (19 per cent). On the contrary, she said the majority of Ghanaians calling for partisan election of MMDCEs believed the current format for local government election had been tainted by partisan influences and must be opened up to promote public interest in local elections (54 per cent). Source: graphiconline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Hollywood Actor, Clint Eastwood has won a $6.1 million lawsuit against a company in Lithuania that used his image to advertise their products. Judge R. Gary Klausner of U.S. District Court for the Central District of California awarded Eastwood and the company that manages his image rights, Garrapata, $6 million for unauthorized use of his name and likeness after the Lithuanian company, Mediatonas UAB did not respond to a court summon in March. In the settlement, the court also ordered the company to pay approximately $95,000 in attorneys fees, according to The New York Times. The company has also been blocked from ever using his name and likeness again. Eastwood filed two lawsuits last year in federal court against three manufacturers and marketers of CBD, short for cannabidiol, which is a part of the cannabis plant that does not lead to a high. The first lawsuit claimed his likeness was used in an interview falsely designed to look like an episode of the "Today" show, which linked to a site where viewers could buy the CBD-related products. "Mr. Eastwood has no connection of any kind whatsoever to any CBD products and never gave such an interview," according to the lawsuit. Jordan Susman, Eastwood's lawyer, said in a statement: "In pursuing this case, and obtaining this judgment, Mr. Eastwood has again demonstrated a willingness to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those who try to illegally profit off his name, likeness, and goodwill." 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 Award-winning Ghanaian media personality, Nana Aba Anamoah, besides being admired by many for her journalistic prowess is also loved by many for being humane. The charismatic journalist has, however, served notice that she may be giving up on her benevolence. This comes after it emerged that a young man the journalist helped to secure a job, ended up disgracing her by stealing from his boss. In a Facebook post by Nana Aba Anamoah, she shared a screenshot of a conversation between herself and the disappointed boss who complained bitterly about the behaviour of the unnamed gentleman. According to the boss, he employed the young on the recommendation of Nana Aba despite not having a vacancy. He further revealed that the young man was making GHC4,500 after tax from his job but went ahead to steal a colossal amount of about GHC100,000.00 from him with the connivance of some two other persons. The gentleman you made me recruit from your Twitter dm has been stealing from me. He teamed up with two of his colleagues and stole close to 100K from my business. Despite the lack of vacancy, recruited this guy because you sounded emotional about his situation on the phone. For someone earning 4,500 net, I expected him to be focused to make you & his mum proud. This is unacceptable. love you but got him & his colleagues arrested this morning, the business owner told Nana Aba in their chat. Expressing her disappointment in hearing the news, Nana Aba in her Facebook post wrote, Im so ashamed. This is unfair to me. I dont deserve this. I am so done! The journalist over the years has secured help for many people who have reached out to her through social media. This includes some individuals who have shared with her their plight and their need for a job as a means of survival. There are several testimonies of individuals who have received help or gained employment through Nana Abas network. Some people who have reacted to Nana Abas post have urged the journalist not to give up while others have also pointed out that the gentlemans behaviour stands to jeopardize other peoples opportunity to receive her assistance. I dont know you but ur (your) good heart doesnt have to end here per what u (you) have been doing for people. This is just one among many, there are others who have made u (you) n (and) their mum proud, they have not disgraced you. Keep on doing what you do best Nana, God above is still watching it, we as humans have erred on several different instances but God didnt say He is done with us, I know u r pained but let it go. There are still people out who genuine people still looking for help, Isaac Nyamaa Boadi commented on her post. You will definitely be ashamed. After helping such a person and he rather goes to disgrace you, every human being who has a conscience will be ashamed. Hes blocked the chances of others who are genuinely good, Edna Yaa Akomaa also wrote. 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 This undated photo provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police shows Patrik Mathews. Prosecutors in the United States are recommending that Mathews, a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist from Manitoba who is alleged to have worked with a white supremacist group to kick-start a civil war, be sentenced to 25 years behind bars. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-RCMP, *MANDATORY CREDIT* On August 16, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the United Nations to investigate the enforced disappearances of activists, opposition political activists and businessmen in Bangladesh. The report profiled 86 alleged victims, several of whom were affiliated with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Most were last seen in custody of Bangladesh security forces. HRW also called for sanctions on members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Bangladeshs elite paramilitary squad, for their involvement. In response, A.K. Abdul Momen, Bangladeshs foreign minister, called the allegations fabricated. Some people dissociate themselves from their families, and then they come back home after some days, Momen said. But based on the extensive evidence that HRW collected, that statement is misleading. Furthermore, Bangladesh has a long history of such disappearances, notwithstanding complaints from relatives, homegrown rights groups and U.S. politicians. In one example, Tariqul Islam Jhontu, the joint secretary of Chhatra Dal, the Bangladesh Nationalist Partys student wing, was abducted near Dhaka International Airport in 2013, HRW said. Jhontu had been the target of three criminal investigations for alleged involvement in organizing hartals, or national strikes. His brother told HRW that since Jhontu was picked up, law enforcement continued to harass his family, and new cases alleging hartal-related violence were filed against Jhontu in 2017. Another example: In April 2019, Abul Haider, secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was picked up by a group of men who identified themselves as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers, in his hotel room in Dhaka, HRW said. Bangladeshs law enforcement agencies have told Haiders family they have no information concerning his abduction. Haider and Jhontu still are missing. According to HRW, when Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party became Bangladeshs prime minister for a second time in 2009, there were just three reported cases of enforced disappearance. By June 2021, however, more than 600 people in Bangladesh had disappeared, according to Odhikar, a Bangladesh rights group. In 2014, several opposition parties boycotted the general election after alleging enforced disappearances of their members. The Awami League won 232 out of 300 seats in the countrys parliament, giving Hasina a third term as prime minister. That outcome led to violence and mass arrests of protestors, including children. According to the Geneva-based World Organization Against Torture, ahead of the 2018 Bangladesh general election, there were at least 98 reported cases of enforced disappearances by security forces. International observers raised serious questions about whether the 2018 election which brought the Awami League to power for a third consecutive term was free and fair, given reports of attacks on the opposition, including through enforced disappearances. Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion has come under intense scrutiny for alleged rights violations and abusive tactics. The RAB consists of police and military officers and was created in 2004 to fight major crimes and terrorism. In 2017, Swedens Sveriges Radio revealed secretly recorded tapes of a high-ranking RAB officer providing grotesque details of their violent methods. Claiming involvement in dozens of killings, the officer said victims suspected of serious crimes but, too difficult to convict in a trial, or impossible to rehabilitate. The officer alleged corruption within the RAB. More allegations of corruption came in February, when an investigative documentary by Al Jazeera, All The Prime Ministers Men, alleged that a criminal gang is colluding with Bangladeshs security forces to extract bribes for state contracts and job positions. Al Jazeera identified as key figures Gen. Aziz Ahmed, head of the Bangladesh military and two of his brothers, who in 2004 were found guilty in the killing of a man believed to be political opponent of Hasinas. The two are fugitives living in Budapest and Kuala Lumpur, Al Jazeera said. A third brother also was convicted in the killing. The latest Human Rights Watch report was denounced by Bangladeshs Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who called it a smear campaign against Bangladesh and its government. The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry used similar language to reject the Al Jazeera investigative report. The United Nations and the Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission have documented cases of state-sponsored disappearances in Bangladesh and urged the government to investigate the issue. In October 2020, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators called for sanctions against RAB officers accused of human rights violations. The senators cited reports of extrajudicial killings that spiked in 2018 amid the countrys purported anti-drug war. Their letter to the administration of then-President Donald Trump stated: In nearly all cases, the RAB claims that such extrajudicial killings result from 'gunfights' or 'crossfire,' but documentation from reputable human rights organizations demonstrates that victims were often in RAB custody when they were killed, and many of their bodies show signs of death by execution, rather than a 'gunfight.' Amnesty International has also documented alleged witnesses to RAB 'gunfights' saying they did not witness any such thing and that they were coerced into providing fabricated statements. In one well-known case, an audio recording of the killing of municipal councilor Ekramul Haque reveals RAB officers giving directions to stage a 'gunfight' after they executed him. Directions from RAB officers included planting drugs and bullets in Mr. Haques pockets, untying his hands, scattering empty bullet shells around the scene, and shooting at a nearby vehicle. Starting this week, Aiken Regional Medical Centers will lessen its restrictions on visitation. The hospital's visitation hours will be updated from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. beginning Wednesday. In the emergency department, one visitor may accompany a patient. The visitor must come in with the patient and stay in the specific room or bay assigned to the patient until discharge. If the patient is admitted, the visitor may accompany the patient during visiting hours. Inpatient areas are permitted one visitor per day during visiting hours. In the labor and delivery/postpartum area, new mothers are permitted one adult overnight visitor; visitors are not permitted for diagnostic testing. Patients with physical, intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and patients with cognitive impairments can be accompanied by one adult visitor that is permitted to stay overnight. A patient at the end of life is permitted two visitors and a clergyman; exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis. Pediatric patients can be accompanied by one adult or guardian throughout the entire treatment; siblings are not permitted. For outpatient testing/surgery, one visitor may accompany a patient. Surgery visitors may stay in the waiting room, wait in their vehicle, or leave and come back when notified by phone that the patient is ready to be discharged and picked up. No visitors are permitted in the intensive care unit, progressive care unit or behavioral health area. Visitors must be at least 18 years old; an exception may be made if the patient is at the end of life. Patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, or who are pending COVID-19 test results, will not be permitted visitors. To ensure social distancing and limit potential exposures, visitors are limited to the patients room and are not to gather in hallways or visit the cafeteria. Additionally, all patients, visitors, medical staff and associates will continue to be screened prior to entry, have their temperatures checked and will be required to wear a mask, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status. All individuals must wear a face covering over the nose and mouth while in the facility; neck huggers/gaiters and bandanas are not approved coverings. Aiken Regional also announced Monday it has confirmed 2,039 cases of COVID-19 in Aiken County. Of these 2,039 individuals, 32 are currently receiving care in the hospital and 219 have died. The 32 individuals receiving care in the hospital include three vaccinated, 28 unvaccinated and one with unknown vaccine status. A Leesville man was arrested in Aiken County on Thursday as part of a child predator operation led by the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. Thomas J. Niles Hall, 26, is charged with criminal solicitation of a minor. His bond is set at $20,000. On Aug. 14, police state the suspect "knowingly communicat[ed] with a person who he believed to be under the age of eighteen, for the purpose of or with the intent of persuading, inducing, enticing or coercing the person to engage in sexual activity," according to an arrest warrant obtained from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. During the communication, the suspect "messaged the individual that he wanted to have sex with and then discussed making plans to meet the individual he reasonably believed to be a 14-year-old child for sex," according to the warrant. The operation targets adults accused of contacting minors online for sexual activity. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies are working together in the ongoing investigation. Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said more arrests are expected as investigators pursue charges against other suspects identified during the operation. Police have released the names of 17 men who have been arrested as part of the operation. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department said "another man is wanted on charges stemming from messages exchanged with law enforcement officers posing as minors on social media apps" in a Sept. 10 news release. However, it is unclear if the sheriff's office was referring to Hall or another suspect in the operation. We, along with the Lexington Police Department and the South Carolina Attorney Generals Office, served as the host agencies for this operation, Koon said. Officers pretended to be underage teenagers as the suspects messaged them through apps. Some even had phone conversations with officers. After the suspect asked to meet with the child, detectives were staged at a predetermined meeting spot to arrest them. No children were ever used or placed in danger during the operation, according to Koon. The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Cayce Department of Public Safety, the Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Charleston County Sheriffs Office, the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office, the Marion County Sheriffs Office and the Aiken Department of Public Safety participated in the operation, according to the release. The Aiken Standard launched its Public Service and Investigative Fund this past spring to help support a form of journalism that is sometimes known as watchdog or accountability reporting. Many hours are required to complete the resulting articles, and they also can be expensive to research. Weve done two big public service investigative stories so far this year, and their average cost to us was just under $10,000, Aiken Standard Executive Editor John Boyette told the Rotary Club of Aiken on Monday during the organizations meeting at Newberry Hall. "That includes staff time, materials and fees for FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) documents, he continued. But we think bringing awareness and shining a light where there is darkness is worth every single penny. The first of those articles, published in May, looked into the Town of Wageners money management practices, which have been scrutinized by the IRS, FBI, SLED and Aiken County government officials. Wagener Mayor Mike Miller was cooperative in our investigation and handed over a bunch of documents to us, but he couldnt really explain all the towns problems or where some of the money went, Boyette said. The questionable practices included the transfer of fire fees that were supposed to be used by Wageners fire department from its bank accounts to other town accounts without explanation. The story was part of the Charleston-based Post and Courier newspapers Uncovered series, which is focusing on exposing local government waste and misconduct. The subject of the Aiken Standards second investigative public service story in 2021 was the B&W Truck Center on Jefferson Davis Highway near Sams Club. Offered for sale there are used trucks and parts from vehicles and heavy equipment. There has been a long history of people griping and complaining about the appearance of that business and how it leads into the city (Aiken) and is a gateway, Boyette said. Edward Pee Wee Frampton Willing Sr. started the B&W Truck Center in 1956, and Ryan Martin, one of Willings grandsons, now operates the business. Efforts have been made by Martin to clean up the B&W Truck Centers property so that it will be less of an eyesore. But some people think there are areas on the grounds of the business that are still unsightly. To me, beyond appearance, the more troubling thing is that theyve got some environmental compliance issues with DHEC (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control), Boyette said. Theyre working to make it better, but I dont think weve gotten fully to the bottom of all that. Were still looking into it, and I expect that well have some follow-ups down the road. To contribute to the Public Service and Investigative Fund, go to aikenstandard.com/pledge and click on the Learn More tab. A check also can be sent to the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah Area, P.O. Box 31358, Augusta, Georgia, 30903. Be sure to write Aiken Standard Investigative Fund on the memo line of the check. The majority of recent COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, including severe cases, remain among individuals who are not fully vaccinated, according to an analysis by the state's top health agency. A total of 149,738 coronavirus cases were reported between Aug. 16 and Sept. 15, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Among the 31,993 reported cases where vaccine status could be determined, 27,435, or almost 86%, of cases were considered not fully vaccinated. Among the 1,771 reported COVID cases that required hospitalization where DHEC could determine vaccine status, 1,277, or about 72%, were considered not fully vaccinated. Among the 760 reported deaths from COVID where vaccine status was able to be determined, 589, or almost 78%, were considered not fully vaccinated. This follows a July and August analysis that revealed more than 86% of COVID-19 cases, 72% of hospitalizations and 78% of COVID-19 deaths were among individuals who were not fully vaccinated. Additional DHEC data points from this analysis shows how many breakthrough cases were among those with preexisting/comorbid conditions. Among the 411 reported cases who were hospitalized with COVID and fully vaccinated, 388 had preexisting/comorbid conditions. Among the 143 reported deaths from COVID who were fully vaccinated, 138 had preexisting/comorbid conditions. We continue to see the majority of severe cases occurring among our fellow South Carolinians who are not fully vaccinated, stated Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC public health director. Not being fully vaccinated puts people at increased risk of being hospitalized or dying if they become infected with COVID-19. Almost 61% of South Carolinians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while almost 53% are fully vaccinated. In Aiken County, just over 46% of residents have received at least one vaccine dose, while around 55% are fully vaccinated. Residents can find a vaccine location near them by visiting vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov. In addition to vaccinations, DHEC strongly encourages the use of masks in public and indoor settings, especially in schools. The agency cited a recent CDC report that highlights the effectiveness of wearing masks, including one study from Arizona that revealed schools were 3.5 times more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks if they did not have a mask requirement at the start of school compared with schools that required universal masking on day one. Another study found that during the two weeks following the start of school, the average change in pediatric COVID-19 case rates was lower among counties with school mask requirements about 16 cases per 100,000 people per day compared with counties without school mask requirements who had about 35 cases per 100,000 people per day. The evidence is clear: the combination of vaccines and masking has and is saving lives, Traxler stated. Not only that, but in areas where vaccinations and masking are higher, we see people are better able to return to their regular lives. We want to see that across our state. We owe it to our children and ourselves to follow these two key recommendations so we can finally end this pandemic. After a decade in the top spot, Charleston has been knocked down from No. 1 on Conde Nast Traveler's ranking of the best small cities in the U.S. Charleston slipped to second, beat by Aspen, Colo., according to rankings the magazine posted Oct. 5. The popular ski destination shot up on the list between last year and the new 2021 rankings, going from seventh to first. "After a year that found many of us escaping to the great outdoors, its no surprise that Aspen tops this years list," the magazine wrote. 2021 Top Small U.S. Cities Aspen, Colo. Charleston Alexandria, Va. Santa Fe, N.M. Greenville Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif. Key West, Fla. Savannah Jackson Hole, Wyo. Newport, R.I. Source: Conde Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2021 But the results may come as a surprise to people in Charleston who have seen the city, year after year, snag the No. 1 nod from Conde Nast, along with accolades from other magazines and travel sites. The Holy City's streak with Conde Nast Traveler was its longest with any publication. Right behind it was Charleston's run with Travel + Leisure, which released the results from its 2021 survey last month. On that list, Charleston held onto the top spot for the ninth consecutive year. While Charleston can still claim No. 1 status with Travel + Leisure, its spot on Conde Nast's rankings, which are in their 34th year and are the longest-running in the travel industry, has been touted often over the last decade in everything from travel ads to Charleston-based job listings. Charleston's blurb on Conde Nast's new list described a "robust F&B scene" and a "welcoming vibe." The city "punches well above its weight," it said. Another South Carolina destination, Greenville, moved up in the rankings from last year, going from sixth place to fifth. The magazine noted the Upstate city's craft beer and farm-to-table dining scenes. Nearby Savannah, described in the rankings as "mossy" and "moody," stayed put at No. 8. Santa Fe, N.M., which had been at Charleston's heels as runner-up for the last three years, moved down to fourth. This year's results were based on responses from about 800,000 readers, roughly 100,000 more than in 2020. Charleston has been placing high in Conde Nast reader rankings of U.S. destinations since the early 1990s. It snagged its No. 1 spot for the first time in 2011, unseating San Francisco. Explore Charleston CEO Helen Hill told The Post and Courier at the time that it was "like winning the Academy Award for tourism." On Tuesday, Hill offered her congratulations to Aspen, which she described as an "impressive destination" that's been "even more desirable" for travelers over the last 18 months. "Mountains might be one of the few areas that outpaced beaches in popularity and visitation during the pandemic," Hill said. Competition for these kinds of awards is intense, she said, especially now, when the exposure is a particularly desirable commodity with the industry in recovery-mode from COVID-19. "Its an honor for our destination to be rated so highly on the list of Best U.S. Cities," Hill said of the No. 2 showing. During a July 2020 webinar with Charleston tourism professionals, a few leaders from Conde Nast had shared insights into why the city had been doing so well on its annual lists. One of the indicators that the Holy City was an "anomaly," they had said, was how many travelers said they wanted to come back. Of readers who submitted responses about Charleston in 2019, 97 percent indicated they wanted to return. That sentiment was reflected in Charleston's description on the 2021 list, which referenced visitors having to "resist the urge to up and move here." The magazine also receives a lot of survey responses about Charleston, so many that, by volume, they're comparable with responses about large cities which, since 2015, have been ranked separately from smaller cities. Before the city rankings were separated by size, Charleston had been No. 1 among all U.S. cities for several years. While Charleston's run was long, it didn't beat San Francisco's streak. Before being dethroned by the Holy City, it held the spot for 18 years. Conde Nast's annual awards also rate hotels and resorts. The introduction to one new list, which is dedicated entirely to ranking hotels in Charleston, noted how they city had "slipped to No. 2." The French Quarter Inn came out on top, followed by The Spectator. Charleston Place, which just last week was officially acquired by the family office of local billionaire and philanthropist Ben Navarro, was third. A hotel that opened just a little over a year ago, Emeline, was fifth. A breakdown of the best resorts in the South included three Hilton Head resorts and two Charleston-area properties. The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort came in sixth, and The Beach Club at Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina in Mount Pleasant was third. A South Carolina resort also topped that list: the Montage Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton. Hilton Head and Kiawah took the top two spots for the best U.S. islands. Charleston's airport had been on Conde Nast's list of the best terminals in the country for the last couple years, but it didn't make the cut for 2021. The Georgia airport that serves Hilton Head and Savannah got the top spot. One of the Charleston area's biggest annual visitor draws will be back in 2022 after being called off this year because of the pandemic. The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, held annually in February and often described as the region's unofficial tourism kickoff, returns Feb. 17-20 at venues including Marion Square, the Gaillard Center, Charleston Place, the Charleston Marriott and Brittlebank Park. A scaled-down version of SEWE had been planned for 2021, but organizers continued to monitor the state of the spread of the coronavirus at the time and ultimately decided to cancel. The 2020 event was one of the last big tourism events in Charleston before South Carolina's first cases of coronavirus were identified that March. With the next event, SEWE will be marking 40 years since it debuted in Charleston in 1983. The celebration of wildlife art will be bringing back annual favorites, like the "Dock Dogs" competition, presentations from the Center for Birds of Prey and canine herding demonstrations. Get Tickets Tickets for the 2022 Southeastern Wildlife Exposition go on sale Oct. 9 at sewe.com. Friday or Saturday ticket: $35 Sunday ticket: $28 Three-day ticket: $70 General admission passes will be 20 percent off through Nov. 1 with the code SEWE2022. SEWE's fine arts gallery will be back in the ballroom at Charleston Place, the city's largest hotel. Works from about 100 artists will be on display. The event also promises some new attractions to celebrate its anniversary. Painter Julia Rogers was chosen as this year's featured artist. Her painting "Golden Light," which features three swans on the water, will serve as this year's SEWE 2022 poster. Organizers will continue to monitor the pandemic and "adjust plans accordingly to align with the health and wellness guidelines established by our local leaders," according to an update on SEWE's website. "All involved parties are committed to hosting a show that is safe and enjoyable for attendees, artists, partners and staff," it said. Before the 2021 event was scrubbed, the plan was to cut daily attendance to 25 percent of normal capacity. SEWE also promised a "reduced footprint" and planned to host its events between two major exhibit sites, instead of several. But, in early January, organizers decided not to move forward with what would have been the 39th annual event, citing rising coronavirus cases. SEWE is known to bring an influx of tourists to downtown, jump-starting the busy spring season that follows. Charleston-area hotels filled about 86 percent of their rooms during the expo weekend in 2020, according to figures tracked by the College of Charleston. With SEWE canceled and the big events that typically followed in the weeks after Charleston Wine + Food and the Cooper River Bridge Run called off and delayed, respectively, Charleston-area tourism was without a kickoff in early 2021. Next spring is shaping up to be a return to normalcy, though, at least for the region's event lineup. The Charleston Wine + Food festival is on for March 2-6, this time with its biggest attraction, the culinary village, set in North Charleston's Riverfront Park instead of Marion Square on the peninsula. And, for the first time in two years, the Bridge Run and walk will return to its normal timing in 2022 the first weekend in April. The 2020 event was canceled, and this year's race was pushed off to September. In an announcement about the event's return, Explore Charleston CEO and SEWE board member Helen Hill predicted that this next "kickoff to spring" will be "the most highly anticipated ever" after the pandemic cancellation. For 40 years we have worked tirelessly to create an event that is enjoyed by art collectors, outdoor enthusiasts, and conservationists, in a setting that the entire family can enjoy, added Jimmy Huggins, SEWE president and CEO. The first SEWE in February 1983 attracted about 5,000 attendees. Now, the event draws some 40,000. Tickets to the 2022 event go on sale Oct. 9. One-day or three-day general admission passes and a "limited number" of VIP packages will be available. Admission to special events like the Lowcountry Social, an event featuring barbecue and live bluegrass music, is sold separately. A North Charleston flooring company has relocated its headquarters to the Crowfield Corporate Park in Goose Creek with a $4.4 million investment. Flooring Services LLC, a commercial and residential flooring company, is expected to create 30 jobs with the move to Goose Creek. The firms $4.4 million investment included improvements made to the 36,0000-square foot facility and in new equipment. The company opened its doors at 3 Corporate Parkway on Oct. 4. We are thrilled to welcome Flooring Services and the jobs it will bring to our city, said Goose Creek mayor Greg Habib. For Goose Creek, this growing companys decision to locate here is the latest chapter in a success story that is still being written. Goose Creek is in the sweet spot of growth and opportunity in the Charleston area. Flooring Services was founded in 1999 by Barry Blackmon in Charleston. Blackmon sold the company to Jay and Mike Schwartz in 2018. The family-owned firm is one of the Southeasts largest flooring companies and specializes in turn-key commercial and residential flooring, carpeting and tile. Our team is humbled by the welcoming that the Goose Creek community has given us, said Jay Schwartz, FSL President/Managing partner. We are confident and optimistic that our new headquarters will serve the community and our national customer base. MOUNT PLEASANT A container ship on its way to the Port of Charleston took on an unexpected passenger last weekend when the world's fastest bird crash-landed onto its deck, prompting the crew to embark on an emergency lifesaving mission that ultimately was not successful. The mariners on the OOCL Seoul described watching five large birds chasing several smaller ones while the vessel was anchored off the South Carolina coast waiting for a berth to open at the port, according to Gary Santos with Inchcape Shipping Services, which handles customs paperwork for the shipping line. A peregrine falcon apparently dove toward one of the smaller birds and was unable correct its course before striking the ship, crew members told Santos, who also is a member of Mount Pleasant Town Council. They then roped off the area where the bird landed and made its health a top concern upon docking at the State Ports Authority's Wando Welch Terminal. "I went onboard to return their documents and the captain came to me and said, 'Look, we have this one issue a bird crashed into our ship,'" Santos said. The captain, Sonislaw Gapski, told Santos he'd like to save the animal if possible, and a call was made to the Avian Conservation Center in Awendaw. "This captain and his crew were so tender-hearted about this bird, which was so amazing to me," Santos said. Unfortunately, the bird's injuries were too severe and it later died at the rehabilitation center off U.S. Highway 17. "We've been doing this for 30 years, and when we lose one it's just like it was 30 years ago we never get used to it," said Jim Elliott, Avian Conservation's founder and executive director. Elliott said the falcon suffered central nervous system damage and was paralyzed from the collision. "It doesn't happen very often in peregrines because they are so agile and skilled at what they do," Elliott said. "But, still, when you're flying at relatively fast speeds things can certainly go awry." Peregrine falcons are the world's fastest bird, topping speeds of 200 mph when in a dive toward prey. Bird-of-prey sightings are common off the South Carolina coast it's a flyway for many migratory species and birds often hitch a ride on container vessels because the ships are the only landing structure available when crossing vast bodies of water. Large birds, like the falcon, will feed on shore birds during their migration in what Elliott termed "a pretty intricate, well-choreographed system" of hunting. But deadly encounters such as the one the OOCL Seoul crew witnessed are somewhat rare. Bird strikes most often occur at dusk or during the night, when birds can become disoriented by a ship's lights and collide with the vessel. In this case, the OOCL Seoul was anchored during daylight. It left Wando Welch on Sunday on its way to the Port of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Chadwick Boseman, South Carolina native and famed actor who played Marvel's "Black Panther" before his death at age 43 of colon cancer in 2020, has been honored with a $5.4 million endowed scholarship in his name. Netflix established the scholarship in partnership with Howard University, Boseman's alma mater. The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship awards full scholarships to students in the historically Black university's College of Fine Arts, which was named after the late actor in May. The first scholarships were awarded to Sarah Long, a freshman studying musical theater; Shawn Smith, a sophomore in the acting program; Janee' Ferguson, a junior in theater arts administration; and Deirdre Dunkin, a senior studying dance. Starting next year, a first-year student will be selected annually for the scholarship, which covers full tuition for four years, totaling around $113,800. "It is with immense pleasure and deep gratitude that we announce the creation of an endowed scholarship in honor of alumnus Chadwick Boseman, whose life and contributions to the arts continue to inspire," Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement. In addition to leaving behind his "Black Panther" legacy, Boseman was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the 2020 drama "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Before he made it onto the big screen, though, Boseman was a Howard student who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing. "He always spoke of his time at Howard and the positive way it shaped his life and career," Netflix Co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said. "Now, we will have the opportunity to give many future superheroes a chance to experience the same." The scholarship targets students who "exemplify exceptional skills in the arts reminiscent of Mr. Boseman" and demonstrate a financial need. Columbias Famously Hot New Year event won't be live again. The annual downtown New Year's Eve party was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its variants, organizers said in an email. Famously Hot New Year went virtual last year. The event started in 2011 typically brought thousands to the citys downtown and featured well-known and local bands, along with other accompanying activities. This was a tough call to make, but our region is resilient, said Debora Lloyd, vice president of the Famously Hot New Year board of directors, in a release on the events website. We need to prioritize the health and safety of our community based on the information we have today. WLTX first reported the news. In recent years, the event played host to well known musical acts like hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa in 2019 and, last year, Arrested Development in a virtual concert. The release did not detail whether there were plans to hold the event virtually. The event, which is funded in part via city hospitality tax, was set to be in its 11th iteration this year. Throughout its history, has been a longstanding part of the citys emphasis on highlighting a quickly shifting downtown district. Columbia is under a mask mandate for requiring face coverings inside stores, restaurants and schools and outside when social distancing is not possible. Famously Hot's cancelation joins a host of other Midlands events that have done the same in recent months. In September, the popular Gervais Street Bridge Dinner was canceled and, the month prior, the popular Oktoberfest Columbia event did the same. However, a handful of high-profile events remain on for the coming months. The upcoming Famously Hot South Carolina Pride on Oct. 23 and March 2022's St. Pat's in Five Points are set to be held. Last weekend, Five Points' Jerryfest was held as well. CLEMSON Clemson Universitys endowment surpassed $1 billion, a milestone university officials are celebrating with some reservation. Of the 15 schools that make up the Atlantic Coast Conference, Clemson has the second smallest endowment ahead of only Florida State University, which manages a $574 million endowment as of December. While most of Clemson's ACC peers hover in the $2 billion to $5 billion endowment range, institutions with endowments in the double-digit billions include University of Virginia ($14.5 billion), University of Notre Dame ($13.3 billion) and Duke University ($12.7 billion). We hit the milestone of reaching a billion dollars, which is tremendous for our university, Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations Brian ORouke told The Post and Courier. As we look to our peers, we still know we have a long way to go to build the endowment. The power of the endowment is truly critical for the wealth of the whole institution, ORouke said. So, great milestone, but I'm focused now on $1.5 and $2 billion. Most endowments for universities and colleges are made up of money and other financial assets primarily given through donations. Some endowments are used for specific purposes, such as to fund scholarships or professor positions. The Clemson University Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that oversees the endowment. The foundation invests the managed endowment so as to maximize long-term returns, while simultaneously mitigating risks, according to the annual endowment report released at the end of the universitys 2020-21 fiscal year. For the most recent fiscal year, uses for the endowment were divided into four categories, with the most financial support 34 percent going to student aid. Another 31 percent was allocated to department and program enhancement, 29 percent for faculty support and 6 percent in unrestricted funds. During the 2021 fiscal year, the university created 115 new scholarships and fellowships and 85 new endowments. More than 20 principal gifts of $1 million or more and $3.6 million in unrestricted donations were given. Combined, the total cash endowment was nearly $24 million. The university received its largest ever one-time gift $60 million from Wilbur and Ann Powers for the business school. Over the summer, the university's College of Science received its largest gift after alumna Emily Peek Wallace donated $1.25 million to establish an endowed directorship for the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. More than 34,000 donors contributed 92,000 gifts to comprise the $202 million in fundraising for the 2021 fiscal year. "Our fundraising here at Clemson has really been one of the key things, and frankly President (Jim) Clements is a big piece of that puzzle. He raises a lot of money for us," Board of Trustees chair Kim Wilkerson said. Since Clements started at the university in 2013, he has helped raise more than $1.2 billion in private funds. On Oct. 1, the university Board of Trustees approved the extension of Clements' contract and a pay raise from $901,330 to $987,530. As private businesses in South Carolina are increasingly requiring their employees to show proof of COVID-19 vaccinations, a number of "belligerent" workers who want to refuse those mandates have started showing up to local public health offices seeking vaccine exemptions. The incidents have prompted the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to rethink its own security measures. "A number of people are showing up to public health offices requesting exemption from vaccination requirements," said Ron Aiken, DHEC media relations director. "When they learned that we did not give them, some became upset to the point of being belligerent and confrontational." At least four of these incidents occurred within the past few weeks at health offices across the state including in Goose Creek, Columbia and Lexington, Aiken said. The agency says it has also received numerous phone calls from residents angry about not being able to receive vaccine exemptions from DHEC. Goose Creek alone has seen a number of these incidents, citing at least three within the past few weeks. DHEC Lowcountry Regional Director Taylor Lee said this location is experiencing now-frequent occurrences of people coming into the office in search of religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine. "We don't give religious exemptions for COVID-19," said Lee. "And we don't give exemptions for vaccines that are not mandated by the state. That is usually the point of escalation. They demand it and start citing many pieces of information that are not always accurate." In at least one incident, local law enforcement was called after a client refused to leave. By the time police arrived, the suspected person had already fled the scene. "The anger from the people who went to these locations and the fear they caused in many of our employees was significant enough that we had to think about security measures for offices across the entire state," Aiken said. DHEC has since instructed employees not to walk to their vehicles alone at night and has reminded them to make sure they have their cellphone and keys in hand. The agency also issued a statewide public service announcement on Oct. 5, informing residents that DHEC does not issue vaccine exemptions for adults. The agency does have authority over immunization requirements for school and child care attendance and can grant exemptions to these requirements for religious and medical beliefs, according to state law. But this law does not apply to adults. "Please do not come to the public health department seeking adult vaccine exemptions for any reason," the agency said in a prepared statement. "Vaccine exemptions for adults should be requested from the company or other entity requiring the vaccine." The news comes the same day the agency released data that shows that most people who contracted COVID-19 between mid-August and mid-September were considered not fully vaccinated. In that time frame, the agency reported more 140,000 COVID-19 cases among South Carolina residents. Among the 31,993 cases where vaccine status was determined, more than 85 percent were considered not fully vaccinated. DHEC also released data on the number of breakthrough cases among those with preexisting or comorbid conditions. Among the 411 reported patients who were hospitalized with COVID and fully vaccinated, more than 90 percent suffered preexisting or comorbid conditions. Statewide numbers New cases reported: 993 confirmed, 255 probable. Total cases in S.C.: 697,635 confirmed, 170,939 probable. Percent positive: 8.9 percent. New deaths reported: 26 confirmed, 1 probable. Total deaths in S.C.: 11,010 confirmed, 1,692 probable. Percent of ICU beds filled (with COVID-19 and other patients): 79.53 percent. S.C. residents vaccinated In South Carolina, 60.8 percent of people who are eligible for the vaccine have received one shot, and 52.7 percent of eligible residents are considered fully vaccinated. Hardest-hit areas On Oct. 5, Greenville (133), Spartanburg (109) and Richland (72) counties saw the highest totals of newly confirmed cases. What about tri-county? Charleston County had 53 new cases on Oct. 5, while Dorchester had 21 and Berkeley had 27. Deaths DHEC releases county-level data regarding COVID-19 deaths and the ages of those who have died from the virus on Tuesdays. According to the data published Oct. 5, at least 474 people in South Carolina died from the virus from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, and their ages ranged from pediatric (17 and younger) to elderly (65 and older). Spartanburg County recorded 58 COVID deaths that week the highest number in the state. Health officials have reported that the vast majority of patients who are dying from the coronavirus at this stage of the pandemic are unvaccinated. Hospitalizations Of the 1,670 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of Oct. 5, 465 were in the ICU and 328 were using ventilators. Student, teacher and faculty cases DHEC's weekly school report shows 75,203 staff and students have been isolated since the start of the school year, meaning they tested positive for COVID-19. An estimated 197,577 have been quarantined since the start of the school year. These estimates are likely low because some schools did not provide data for the report. Variants of concern DHEC sequences a small, random sample of positive COVID-19 cases each week to determine which variants of concern (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) are circulating in the state. According to data published by the agency on Sept. 29, 2,904 samples have been identified as variants of concern over the course of the pandemic. Of those, 1,658 have been identified as the delta variant, which health officials say is now the dominant strain in South Carolina. What do experts say? Experts from the Medical University of South Carolina's Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital say there is a misconception that children who don't have underlying conditions are not a risk for a severe COVID-19 infection. While the numbers at the beginning of the pandemic showed more children with underlying conditions were infected with a severe case of COVID-19, the delta variant is causing severe infection in many otherwise healthy children. Within the past two months, 11 children have been placed on ventilators at the children's hospital in Charleston. Many of those patients had no underlying conditions, hospital officials said. "Many of the most severe cases of COVID in our children are children who were eligible for vaccination. I don't know the reasons why their families chose not to vaccinate their children but it's heart-wrenching to see it from our side," said Allison Eckard, division chief for pediatric infectious diseases at the hospital. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. MYRTLE BEACH Gov. Henry McMaster wants $300 million committed to Interstate 73 on Oct. 4 as a part of $1.6 billion plan to build the long-promised highway. The proposed interstate would connect Myrtle Beach to Interstate 95 and stretch up to Michigan. The three-tiered funding approach which will include funding from local, state and federal leaders was announced during a news conference in Myrtle Beach hosted by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce where McMaster along with dozens of lawmakers revealed the plan. To achieve the total $1.6 billion funding plan, local leaders are committing $350 million, federal leaders $430 million, and state leaders $795 million $300 million of which was announced Oct. 4. The proposed funds will come from a combination of sources including a portion of South Carolina's COVID-19 relief funding and surplus from the state's budget. It will not receive the final green light until the General Assembly approves the funding in the coming months, McMaster said. If we seize this moment by thinking big, being bold, and making transformative investments, I believe we can change South Carolinas future for the better, McMaster said. I can think of nothing more transformative than the state committing the first $300 million to kickstart this critical project. "It is my hope that this commitment will serve as a catalyst for our local government partners to finalize their investment plans and will strengthen the position of our congressional delegation as they work to secure federal funding, so that we can finally make I-73 a reality. The $300 million dollars would kick off the first phase of the project which will connect I-95 to U.S. 501, about six miles, and create a new interchange at I-95. S.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Christy Hall called the project "shovel ready," which she said means all that is left to start construction is to secure funding. Hall added during the news conference that the project could get started in the next six to nine months if state lawmakers approve the $300 million soon. On the local level, Horry County is looking to put up to $4.2 million annually for 30 years or $126 million total towards the construction of the proposed interstate. The money would come from the countys 1.5 percent hospitality fee. This will only include funds from Horry County's unincorporated areas, as the county's municipalities, including Myrtle Beach and Conway, have not announced if they will be joining the county's plan. Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune and North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley spoke during the Oct. 4 press conference about their backing for I-73. Details are still being worked out on how Horry County and its municipalities will reach the $350 million commitment leaders pledged. "We, of course, are talking to not just Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach but we are talking to all the cities, because I-73 is going to benefit all cities and the county," Hatley said. "If the federal government is going to be involved and the state government is going to be involved, county government is going to be involved then all municipalities should be a part of it." Horry County is set to discuss its funding plan for I-73 on Oct. 5 during its Administration Committee meeting, an arm of county council. It is not clear how lawmakers plan to secure $430 million from the federal government yet, but Hall said leaders are looking at President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan as one major source. U.S. Rep. Tom Rice and U.S. senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott who are all in support of the interstate will have a large hand in securing federal funding. Earlier this year Graham asked for a $13 million earmark for I-73. I-73 is one of the most game-changing infrastructure projects in our state, Graham said in a press release. "We need to responsibly fund our roads, bridges, and ports to make sure that taxpayer dollars are spent in a beneficial way. I-73 meets that test. In an unusual legal maneuver, attorneys for the family of Alex Murdaugh's deceased housekeeper are seeking to question a circuit court judge under oath about a multimillion-dollar settlement she reportedly signed off on in connection with the mysterious death in 2018. Attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter, who represent Gloria Satterfield's sons, filed notice on Oct. 5 that they intend to question Judge Carmen Mullen in a videotaped deposition later this month. Trying to depose a judge is extremely uncommon. But Bland told The Post and Courier Tuesday he wants to give Mullen a chance to explain that she handled the Satterfield settlement appropriately and wasn't involved in a scheme that allegedly misdirected millions of dollars that was owed to the late housekeeper's family. "I would think she wants to be deposed because she wants to clear up the public record," Bland said. Mullen had not responded to the deposition request by Tuesday afternoon and could not immediately be reached for comment. Judges generally enjoy immunity from depositions and lawsuits related to their official work. That blanket immunity is supposed to help them deliver verdicts impartially and without fear of retaliation. Several veteran S.C. lawyers told The Post and Courier they had never heard of an attorney seeking to depose a judge. The move is expected to raise eyebrows in legal circles in South Carolina. "They're being aggressive here in doing this," said former University of South Carolina School of Law Dean Robert Wilcox. The notice came two days after the two attorneys announced that Satterfield's sons will be paid some of the $4.3 million in settlements that were collected after their 57-year-old mothers death in February 2018. That money reportedly went missing after the settlement paperwork was signed by Mullen in May 2019. The attorneys have alleged that it was funneled to a fake bank account, though the matter remains under investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division. Cory Fleming and his law firm, Moss, Kuhn and Fleming, have agreed to pay Satterfield's sons all legal fees and expenses the firm received from the settlements connected to her death, according to a statement by the Bland Richter law firm. A lawsuit filed on the sons' behalf alleges that she died from injuries she received in a trip-and-fall accident at Murdaugh's Hampton home. The suit alleges that Alex Murdaugh introduced one of the sons to Fleming and encouraged him to ask Fleming to represent him and his brother in a lawsuit against Murdaugh. The brothers were unaware that Fleming was a former college roommate of Murdaugh and the godfather to one of his sons, the lawsuit said. It accused Murdaugh and Fleming of conspiring against the sons. A recently discovered court order showed that the sons were entitled to a more than $2.7 million payout from the resulting settlement, records show. Once attorney fees were factored in, the final settlement came in at $4.3 million. That figure was detailed in the May 2019 order that was never filed in court, and none of that money made its way to Gloria Satterfields sons, Richter and Bland have said. The unfiled order appears to bear Judge Mullen's signature, Bland and Richter have said. A month before the order was signed, the judge had recused herself from another wrongful death case involving Alex Murdaugh and his family. That stemmed from a high-profile, fatal boat crash in Beaufort that year in which Murdaughs son Paul later faced criminal charges. Mullen has not responded to previous calls and emails from The Post and Courier regarding her possible involvement in the Satterfield case. A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court had no comment Tuesday afternoon. Several lawyers said Tuesday they would be surprised if Mullen participates in the deposition, scheduled for Oct. 20. Judges have enjoyed protections from such legal scrutiny since common-law England, when kings delegated their absolute power to judges to settle local disputes. Judges retained much of that authority for centuries, even after the United States split from England and formed its own Constitution. Lawyers are lower than judges on the legal totem pole and can't compel them to do anything, veteran trial lawyer Jake Moore told The Post and Courier. Only a higher authority, like the state Supreme Court, could require Judge Mullen to participate in the deposition, the West Columbia attorney said. The judge in this case should be immune from being required to testify," Moore said. "If she doesnt want to, and if she will not voluntarily testify, then she doesnt have to. As a matter of fact, a judge is supposed to be a very reserved person and should decline from testifying in any civil dispute unless ordered to do so by the Supreme Court. Still, Moore said, the legal filing itself has put Mullen "in a very untenable position." "If she declines, it looks like she has something to hide," Moore said. "If she goes forward, she has basically done something that a judge probably shouldn't do." Bland has alleged the money was funneled away from the Satterfield family through a scheme that tried to mimic a real company, Forge Consulting, that is often hired by attorneys. Forge Consulting uses annuities to split large lump-sum settlements into smaller payments and directs the money to insurance companies, trusts and other financial institutions. In a Sept. 17 interview on NewsNation, Bland said the alleged scheme required several procedural checks to be overridden. In a Sept. 27 court filing, Bland indicated he believes Mullen was misled by the attorneys who negotiated the settlement. The filing requested a "public evidentiary hearing" in which all parties in the case would "appear in court to be placed under oath for examination" about what actually happened. Multiple attempts to reach Fleming and Chad Westendorf, a banker who was appointed the personal representative of Satterfields estate, have been unsuccessful. Forge Consulting released a statement last month reiterating it was not involved in the alleged scheme. Satterfields death, and the handling of her estate, is the subject of one of six recent state criminal investigations that have links to the Murdaugh family. Those include probes related to the June killings of Murdaughs wife and son Paul, along with allegations that Murdaugh embezzled funds from his familys law firm. Alex Murdaugh, 53, also was arrested Sept. 16 on insurance fraud charges after he was accused of staging a failed suicide plot to collect on a $10 million insurance policy. The investigation related to Satterfield came in response to a request from Hampton County Coroner Angela Topper. The coroner said her office was never notified of the death of the Murdaugh familys longtime housekeeper and that no autopsy was conducted. Satterfields death certificate indicates she succumbed to natural causes, which was inconsistent with the trip-and-fall injuries she reportedly sustained, Topper said. Paperwork filed with the court in the case references a proposed $505,000 partial settlement to be paid by Alex Murdaughs insurer, Lloyds of London. It was filed in December 2018. The recently discovered order, signed five months later, included an additional payout reached with a separate insurance company. Three South Carolina projects are receiving big grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is distributing close to $88 million to nearly 300 cultural and educational organizations across the U.S. and its territories. The money is part of the federal American Rescue Plan allocation, meant to help institutions recover from revenue losses due to the coronavirus pandemic. Almost $570,000 will be directed to South Carolina. Middleton Place Foundation is getting $170,000 to update its interpretation of slavery. Clemson University is getting $200,000 to help cover researcher and faculty salaries so more investigation can be done into the history of enslaved people at the school. And the Columbia Museum of Art is getting $200,000 to help fund a new traveling exhibition featuring contemporary works by African American artists. The American Rescue Plan recognizes that the cultural and educational sectors are essential components of the United States economy and civic life, vital to the health and resilience of American communities, NEH Acting Chairman Adam Wolfson said in a statement. These new grants will provide a lifeline to the countrys colleges and universities, museums, libraries, archives, historical sites and societies, save thousands of jobs in the humanities placed at risk by the pandemic, and help bring economic recovery to cultural and educational institutions and those they serve. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated $135 million to NEH for distribution to state humanities councils and to a variety of cultural organizations under its Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan program. More than $52 million was apportioned in June. Columbia-based South Carolina Humanities received a little more than $900,000. Now, the grantmaking is underway. Jeff Neale, director of interpretation and preservation at Middleton Place, said the funding was a welcomed surprise and much needed to tell a better, more complete story about the history of slavery on the site. Elizas House, an exhibit that describes the experiences of enslaved people at the Middleton familys various plantations, including Middleton Place, needs updating, Neale said. A central panel lists the names of all the recorded Africans and African Americans who were forced to labor at these sites, but since the panel was produced more than a decade ago, research has turned up 400 more names, he said. Neale also wants to widen the narrative to include more aspects of the Black experience, especially the horrors and punishments endured, and the creative resistance devised in order to survive. We need to interpret not only what happens, but also how they react to whats happening to them, he said. Resistance often was covert and found form in the careful maintenance of cultural practices, and in what we call code switching today, Neale said. Enslaved people would behave one way around their enslavers and another way among each other. They might play dumb or slow their work. Middleton Place also wants to add interactive components to Elizas House a way for visitors to express their thoughts and feelings. The staff also will update exhibits and presentations in the stableyards in order to describe better the work that enslaved laborers performed, Neale said. Glenna Barlow, curator of education at the Columbia Museum of Art, said NEH funding will support an exhibit called 30 Americans featuring works by acclaimed African American artists such as Nick Cave, Lorna Simpson and Kehinde Wiley, and also lesser-known African American artists, including Mark Bradford and Xaviera Simmons. The traveling show, organized by the Rubell Museum in Miami, is a little different in each of its exhibiting locations depending on input from local curators and accompanying programming, Barlow said. At the Columbia Museum of Art, 57 works will be on display starting Oct. 8. Its incredibly diverse in terms of scale, subject and materials, Barlow said. Several generations of artists are represented, along with a variety of perspectives and experiences. Its a real intersectional group. The museum is partnering with the Richland County Library on education guides and public learning sessions titled Lets Talk About Race, and its working with the Wideman Davis Dance Company on additional programming, Barlow said. The exhibit is on view until Jan. 17. At Clemson University, an effort to excavate African American history on campus has been underway for several years. The goal of the Call My Name project, led by Rhondda Thomas, is to identify enslaved people who helped create the Clemson campus and tell their stories. In the summer of 2020, Thomas and colleagues in the archaeology department located previously unknown unmarked graves at the university, reinforcing the importance of their research and the use of archaeological tools, according to Lee Morrissey, a professor in the English department who is involved in the Call My Name initiative and who wrote the NEH grant application. Were taking the lessons of 2020 and beginning to think across the campus about the archaeological potential here, Morrissey said. His application, taking its cue from the NEHs interest in telling Americas stories, described an opportunity for the school to contribute its part to a sweeping narrative that includes histories of African Americans, Native Americans and Scots-Irish immigrants and their descendants. Clemson tells a national, hemispheric and transatlantic story with local materials, he wrote. The grant provides needed funds for David Markus, an archaeology professor involved in the effort, to purchase GPS equipment, conduct surveys, hire post-doctoral students and coordinate with the states archaeology office, Morrissey said. MOUNT PLEASANT A North Charleston police officer received a slew of support in the form of a bright pink patrol car as department members escorted her to her first surgery following chemotherapy as part of her breast cancer treatment. Between 25 and 30 police officers and staff members participated in the early morning escort, including North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess. They followed officer Ashley Thompson from her home in Mount Pleasant to Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital on Oct. 5. North Charleston's oath of office states, "I will faithfully serve the citizens of the City," Burgess said. "Ashley's service to the North Charleston (residents) is faithful," he said. "Please say a prayer for Pfc. Ashley Thompson." Thompson has been with the department since June 2010, spokesman Harve Jacobs said. She is a neighborhood resource officer who works on community engagement efforts and special events. Lt. Ryan Terrell, who leads the Neighborhood Resource Unit, organized the escort. These types of escorts are done only when the officer gives the department permission, Jacobs said. Two special vehicles were included in the procession a pink North Charleston patrol car emblazoned with a breast cancer ribbon and the words Join The Fight, as well as a pink North Charleston Fire Department truck bearing the message, We Support The Fight, along with hundreds of handwritten messages scrawled over its exterior. Thompson, a graduate of The Citadel, was traveling to the hospital to receive her first post-chemo operation as part of her breast cancer treatment. She was diagnosed last year, Jacobs said. Here is video of NCPD officers escorting Officer Ashley Thompson to the hospital this morning for first operation post chemotherapy. Please pray for her recovery as well as others who are fighting this awful disease. #BreastCancerAwareness pic.twitter.com/ujMnD30xCb N. Charleston Police (@NCPD) October 5, 2021 Please pray for her recovery as well as others that are fighting this awful disease, according to a post on the North Charleston Police Departments Twitter feed. Each October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual international health campaign organized by charities. In South Carolina, breast cancer among women was the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer between 2014 and 2018, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. There were nearly 129.9 breast cancer cases diagnosed per 100,000 women. This was higher than the national incidence rate of 126.8 cases. It is the second-deadliest type of cancer for women in the state, next to lung cancer, according to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Early detection of breast cancer is key to survival, because the cancer has had less time to spread to lymph nodes or other locations beyond the breast, according to DHEC. Common breast cancer symptoms include lumps, skin changes or any other breast changes. Health professionals suggest women do monthly breast self exams, visit their doctor each year for a breast exam and have a mammogram once per year if they are over the age of 40. A new public safety headquarters can now be constructed off Georgia Avenue in North Augusta. North Augusta City Council passed the second and final reading of the Seven Gables and Flythe properties to become zoned P for public use on Oct. 4, allowing the property to become the home for the new North Augusta Department of Public Safety Headquarters. Council also voted on a resolution allowing the city administrator Jim Clifford to take action on the property and to start the development of the headquarters. The highly contentious topic for some citizens finished with an unanimous 7-0 vote by council. North Augusta may be growing and expanding, and expansion will always be necessary. I also think it is really important to value the neighborhood, Council member Jenafer McCauley said. I value your homes, but I think it is our job to be sure that we do put this public safety building that is being maintained and designed with a green space and being preserved with the historic buildings, I think that is very important and I think that we can make it something nice and hopefully a win-win. Some citizens are still unhappy with the result with the council not giving other sites a fuller look. But it never seems that we reach those options. We always take what someone else offers. I think it should be you who does the due diligence that I am doing right now. Thats not my job, North Augusta resident Fred Ilardi said. My job is not due diligence. My job is to listen to the information that you present to the citizens and then come to my own conclusion, and right now it seems to be a lack of follow through. The second resolution allows Clifford to start a design process with engineers, making up for lost time since construction delays at the previous East Buena Vista site. The North Augusta Public Safety headquarters will be funded through the Capital Project Sales Tax IV. According to the resolution, funding for the preservation and restoration of the historic structures on the property will not be provided. Clifford said he has been in contact with nonprofits interested in the Flythe house and carriage house, and the resolution will allow them access for restoration purposes. Additionally, the city voted on the first reading of rezoning the McKie Property, an approximate 50 combined acres of land between two properties near Knobcone Avenue. Several North Augustans are against the rezoning, according to emails detailed in the city council documents packet, mainly citing traffic congestion and property value. As a homeowner who enjoys the outdoors, the traffic noise has also become a frustration, Kathleen Anderson said in an email to the city. Sadly, we are not a quiet residential area anymore. During a planning commission meeting held in September, the city said a traffic analysis would need to be completed. Council member Bob Brooks said he would like to see more research about commercial traffic on Knobcone Avenue. The ordinance, once finalized, would take the vacant land currently zoned as Large Residential to Mixed Residential. Plans for the property have currently not been publicized. I really dont think this is something that is out of place, council member David McGhee said. I think it is appropriate, I think it is timely. In other business: Charleston, SC (29403) Today Showers early then scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 77F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.. Tonight Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, then cloudy skies overnight. Low 66F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. There is nothing civil about war. War is the antithesis of civil. A century and a half ago, the horrible conflict known as the War Between the States saw Americans pitted against each other in conflict which, in a matter of four years, resulted in the death of roughly 700,000 fellow countrymen. By now, as a nation and as individuals, we should be painfully aware of the price paid both personally and collectively for such a failure of humanity and society. Weve had enough wars between then and now to learn that care and concern for the rights of others is a core tenet of civilization and ensures the sanctity and well-being of each of us individually and as a whole. The United States is caught up today in yet another tragic conflict, this time with COVID-19, which has the same dire, deadly outcome as a consequence of our own folly and foolishness. If we are to dwell together in peace and prosperity, if we truly love each other and our great democracy, we share a moral obligation to one another to do everything within our power to protect my family and yours, my community and yours, my country and yours. As things stand, though, we are living and dying proof of the maxim that those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it. And the families of 700,000 souls said amen. DON CAMPAGNA Popperdam Creek Drive North Charleston Seek answers on park Thanks to The Post and Courier for its Uncovered project and to watchdog and public service reporter Tony Bartleme for his great reporting on Elliott Summey and the Awendaw park debacle. Look no further than this local example and the recently reported Pandora Papers to help explain how the questionable use of political power can damage public trust. The loss of trust in our institutions, including government, media, business, education and religion, has been a significant contributor to the deep divides in America and around the world. I hope Elliott Summey and the Awendaw park project are thoroughly investigated because public accountability is crucial. It might at least restore public confidence that our airport is being managed ethically and competently. CLINT EISENHAUER Shutes Folly Drive Charleston Oil spill warning All one needs to understand why we should never consider oil platforms off of our South Carolina coast is to watch the media coverage of the approximately 126,000-gallon oil spill that is covering Orange County, California, beaches, fish and wildlife. DUSTY PARKER Marshgrass Boulevard Mount Pleasant Schools need TIF funds In Thursdays Post and Courier, reporter David Slade wrote about development where some think that tax incentives are unnecessary. I agree. As the story mentioned, investors are ready and waiting with money available and do not need any incentives such as a tax increment financing district. I think that counties should split the TIF funds with school districts, in the same ratio that tax dollars are split, but I find no mention of this in any TIF funding. I find it outrageous that teachers and parents are spending their money for school supplies and other essentials the school districts should be supplying. No wonder schools are getting short shrift in state legislative funding for something so essential. We should pay teachers adequate salaries to get and keep excellent people. This is our future. EDWARD LIPMAN Freeman Street Mount Pleasant Guam-based Analista & Co.'s fashion flag has been flying higher and higher each year since 2018, and more of its creative pieces have been finding their way into the hands of international celebrities and influencers, from Hollywood to Bulgaria. While the tropical island of Guam may not necessarily be known for being a global fashion capital, getting personalities with a huge number of followers to wear and endorse Analista & Co.'s signature Foo Dog hoodies and custom shirts and gowns bodes well for local designers. "So when a clothing brand that had its origins in Guam ends up in the personal wardrobes of international celebrities, movers and shakers, and others with large audience platforms, this is something to celebrate," said Norman Analista, fashion designer and Analista & Co. founder and vice president. This certainly is a unique way to share the hafa adai spirit, he said. "I'm proud of the fact that I was born on Guam and continue to create from Guam," according to Analista. His fashion brand has been worn by Hollywood actors and producers Dean West, Major Dodge and Don Jeanes. Jeanes is best known for his role as the rancher in the award-winning Budweiser Clydesdale Super Bowl commercials as well as playing Neil Armstrong in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." More and more Hollywood personalities, comedians, actors, musicians, fashion models and social media influencers have been warming up to the Guam brand. Larry Mallari and Miss Kay, characters from the popular reality show, "MTV's Following: Bretman Rock," have proudly worn Analista & Co.'s creations. "He (Larry) said, 'Wouldn't it be fun to show a barong (embroidered long-sleeved formal shirt for men and a traditional Filipino clothing)?' and I said, 'Absolutely.' He and I decided to talk about colors, textures, designs, and came up with something, and then he agreed to wear it and sent it his way. And I had to go through a stringent process with MTV," Analista said. 'Your brand is exactly what we need' "Harry Potter" star Stanislav Ianevski, of Bulgaria, who played Quidditch superstar and Durmstrang student Viktor Krum, also got Analista & Co.'s pieces. "So he got a custom print like this and he got a Foo Dog hoodie," Analista said. At the time of the interview, Analista was wearing a "Chain Reaction" print piece. Mike Boornazian from the TLC reality show, "I Love A Mama's Boy" and Hollywood celebrity blogger Perez Hilton have also worn the Guam brand. "I've only been around for three years but through the beauty of social media and the internet, the opportunities for young brands to catapult their presence in the marketplace has grown tremendously," Analista said during a sit-down interview with The Guam Daily Post, at his store on the second floor of Tumon Sands Plaza. If you're more into the '90s music scene, there's T-Boz from the girl group TLC sporting the Foo Dog hoodie. Montell Jordan, best known for his 1995 single "This Is How We Do It," has got nothing but praise for the Guam brand and designer. "I've been in the business long enough to know legit fashion sense. I know what looks good, what feels good, because I look good in this right now, and so thank you for making fire clothing, man. And anybody who wears your clothing, man, they're gonna stand out, especially artists and performers because your brand is exactly what we need," Jordan said in a video message while donning Analista & Co.'s "Chain Reaction" button-up shirt. Analista has also successfully reached out to social media influencers, including Aaron Maternowski and Brando Alibrandi, who gained fame through the lip-syncing app TikTok. Guam's very own Tiktok star Shaun Douglas Duenas, a 2016 graduate of George Washington High School, has also worn Analista & Co. The Guam son, @supershaund, now has 1.9 million followers on Tiktok. Local musicians Joe Guam, Peter Santos and Oni have joined Guam athletes and personalities such as former delegate and former University of Guam President Robert Underwood in donning Analista & Co. pieces. There's a lot more, including "American Idol's" Jessica Sanchez and "The Voice's" Ryan Quinn, and fashion models Philip Fusco, Ronnie Liang, Andrew Wolff, Jordon Deno, Kenneth Woodson, Cole Forsgren and Sam Hashimoto, Mr. Guam 2017. 'It still feels unreal for me' One of Analista's most recent collaborations has been with famous Dubai-based Filipino fashion designer Michael Cinco, who's known for his couture gowns worn by celebrities including Beyonce, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, to name a few. "I've been a long-time admirer of Michael Cinco's work and began communicating with him on social media several years ago," Analista said. Fast forward to June this year when Analista launched his new Jeepney hoodie as a tribute to his Filipino roots. "I messaged Michael and asked if he could model the Analista & Co. Jeepney hoodie. He graciously declined because he can be a bit shy. So instead, he offered to arrange a photoshoot in Dubai for me," Analista said. He was "ecstatic" about Cinco's offer. Cinco worked with international model Franco Garcia and his business partner Sayed Ali to showcase Analista & Co.'s Jeepney hoodie outside of the Michael Cinco atelier in Dubai's fashion district, with the famous Burj Khalifa in the background. "His act of kindness and generosity for a new designer like me speaks volumes about his character, integrity and willingness to help others," Analista said of Cinco's help. "He has a huge heart." Analista said every designer and new brand "has to fight an uphill battle for visibility and credibility." "For a brand from Guam, to make its way to someone of Michael's stature for a photoshoot that he personally arranged, it gives me validation and certainly motivation to keep creating fashion from my point of view," he said. "When it comes to fashion, you certainly need the aid of influential and well-respected individuals to keep your brand in the public eye and continuously relevant." When Analista started his brand, he never imagined this collaboration with Cinco could happen. "Today, it still feels unreal for me that this became reality. I am so grateful for Michael," Analista said. Cinco is from Samar, Philippines, while Analista's parents migrated from Iloilo to Guam in the 1950s. "Even though we are both Filipinos living outside of the Philippines, we both remain very proud of our heritage. I think our shared 'Pinoy Pride' gave us a sense of oneness. The Filipino Jeepney hoodie and photoshoot was just one symbolic way to show this," Analista said. 'Standout fashion' Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Analista founded the brand in 2018 out of a growing need for custom apparel in Guam. Custom clothing, he said, doesn't necessarily have to mean luxury clothing or high-end prices. "But what I offer, I consider it as standout fashion. So if you want a piece that someone is not likely to have, because you didn't buy it at a department store, then you come to me. We come up with a design or an outfit that would truly ensure that you're not one blended in with the crowd," he said. More importantly, custom clothing is about necessity. Analista & Co. works with individuals who have unique body types, or those who cannot find their kind of clothing in retail stores. "There are a lot of gentlemen, for example, who like to go to the gym and they really have broad shoulders and they have tapered waistlines. If they go buy shirts off the rack at retail stores, they have to resort to XL or XXL because that's what fits them in the top. But in the bottom it looks extremely loose, so they need to have that tapered out," Analista said. Either they get their clothes altered, or they go straight to Analista & Co. to get their clothing designed and fitted specifically for their body type. Strategic marketing There's a lot of hard work that goes into getting celebrities to wear and endorse one's fashion line or product, Analista said. It's done through networking, or by directly messaging the celebrities through their social media accounts, he said. "One thing I've noticed is it doesn't matter if the celebrity has a million or 2 million followers or they have 50,000 or 30,000. If they are interested in what you have to offer, they'll respond. And so I've managed to reach a couple of individuals that way," Analista said. Despite Analista & Co.'s national and international reach, it's still very much a local brand and people don't have to be celebrities, influencers or personalities to wear it. "All I've simply done is take what's considered a strategic marketing approach in introducing my brand to the public, and the fastest, most impactful way is by working with these individuals who have large platforms. And these individuals have options that they can resort to, but the fact that they are willing to work with me, I consider that to be a personal honor," he said. Analista & Co. is a family corporation, with his wife as the president and his children as secretary and treasurer. While he's made a name in fashion, Analista is also very much a part of the University of Guam as director of the UOG Development, Alumni Affairs and Foundation Relations, and interim director of UOG's Events Office. Q&A Here are some other excerpts from The Guam Daily Post's sit-down interview with Norman Analista: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your fashion business? It's affecting me tremendously. Walk-in traffic obviously like everybody else went to a screeching halt when we had a lockdown. I also found out just how powerful online shopping is. ... Comparing it to the kind of traffic that I have in store, the comparison is night and day. Online shopping has really been a saving grace for a lot of businesses. It truly has. But it still presents a challenge for those of us who have retail operations, where it's important to have the customer look at the product, try on the product especially with customized clothing. Among Guam customers, what are the most sought-after items? For the Guam market, accessories bow ties, neck ties, cummerbund sets. And then of course button-up shirts, office apparel. What I think is important to me is that I actually support locals. The fabrics that I use to produce my shirts and accessories, they're found on Guam. The only time I really shop in the Philippines and of course this is pre-pandemic is when I really wanted a specific look and something more intricate, or something that you just can't find on Guam. For the most part, I do my best to support the local fabric shops here and the local seamstresses here, so there's a network of seamstresses that I go to and I work with them to get these garments sewn on demand. How do you gauge the impact of celebrity endorsements? For me, as a marketer, I always look at return on investment. Whenever I work with a celebrity or an influencer, I try to gauge whether there was a spike in sales after this individual wears the product. And sometimes, I see an immediate spike and sometimes I see incremental pulsing here and there, and I try to trace back where I think this person got the influence to purchase the product. And sometimes it's based on social media. Are they following this particular celebrity that I just promoted? I trace it that way. Sometimes I just ask them. Who are the designers you look up to? In no particular order. Michael Cinco. His designs are truly classic and they're not what I consider pigeonholed into Filipino fashion. This is the kind of designs that have worldwide appeal, so he's certainly one that I admire. There's another one by the name of Rocky Gathercole, however he passed away this year. Rocky, he's based in the Philippines and he has designed for Nicki Minaj, Cardi B. But his designs are very avant garde and very polarizing either you love it or hate it, or you're terrified of it. But that's what I love about his designs, is that they are very unique and he takes a lot of risks in his design. Francis Libiran. He has designed for Tyra Banks, Manny Pacquiao, Beyonce. His designs have been on "America's Next Top Model." He and I have some collaborative pieces, so the dress behind you is actually a gown designed by Francis Libiran and Analista & Co. Do you have a dream team of celebrities you want to wear your brand? Yes. Absolutely. Top of my list is Bruno Mars. Second, and this is in no particular order, Madonna. I love Madonna. She's a fashion icon. And when it comes to celebrities that are really trending now, I would say, Charlie Puth, a young singer. But this is really not to take away from all the other celebrities and other influencers I have been working with so far. I equally respect them and their ability to wear my fashion and to be open to working with me. Some people think that it's really easy to contact these celebrities and get them to wear apparel. It's not. Insights Lately, weve been hearing a lot about the unhappy fate of women and girls in Afghanistan now that the Taliban has again assumed power. The ed Read more Anyone who still doubts that moderate Merrick Garlands Justice Department is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the far left should check out the news that Garland has threatened to investigate and prosecute parents who vigorously protest against school boards and teachers intent on indoctrinating school children in the racist, anti-American teachings of Critical Race Theory. Garland did so through this memorandum. Garland claims that free-speech principles must yield when they represent efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views. Andy McCarthy notes an implicit exception if the individuals happen to be Sen. Sinema or Sen. Manchin. The implicit exception is broader. It extends to Republican officials, whom Maxine Waters urged her followers to intimidate in public. And it extends to conservative college students and the speakers they invite to campus only to be shouted down and sometimes physically attacked. (Garlands memo cites no evidence of physical attacks on school board members, much less a pattern of such attacks.) McCarthy points out that when he worked with Garland in the Justice Department, the future attorney general was extremely solicitous of the free speech rights of Islamists who heaped hatred and abuse on America and the West. Garland counseled that the First Amendment protects speech unless it unambiguously calls for the use of force that the speaker clearly intends, under circumstances in which the likelihood of violence is real and imminent. Even actual threats of violence are not actionable unless they meet this high threshold. It follows that, contrary to Garlands memorandum, the First Amendment fully protects speech evincing efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views. Garland understood this when the rights of Muslim radicals were at issue. Yet, when it comes to parents who show up at school board meetings hoping to defend their children from being taught (if theyre White) that their parents and their country are racist, and that they (the students themselves) are privileged racists in the making, Garland wants to crack down. McCarthy argues that Garlands action is consistent with the approach taken by the DOJ throughout the Obama administration. He cites examples to prove the point. Consistent? Yes, as a general matter. But this instance, a threatened crackdown on parent protests at school board meetings, strikes me as particularly egregious. Garland isnt trying to protect Muslims, an insular minority group, from harsh criticism. Hes trying to protect politicians (but again not Sinema, Manchin, or any Republican) from harsh criticism by their constituents. McCarthy concludes: Even if one were convinced that Judge Garland, a progressive but reputedly not a radical, was the best one could hope for in a Biden-appointed attorney general, he is proving to be no better than, say, a Keith Ellison or Larry Krasner would have been. There are good reasons for this. No matter how moderate and how big a Justice Department institutionalist Garland may be, it would take an AG with strong personality and the backing of a strong president to hold the crazies at bay. And we have neither. More to the point (the point being the faux-moderate weakling in the Oval Office), Biden is not going to be able to deliver to progressives the FDR-style transformative legislative victories they covet. Democrats congressional majorities are razor-thin, probably temporary, and consumed by infighting. Biden is intimidated by the Bolshevik left, which is why he could not even bring himself to defend Sinema. Since he cannot satisfy the radicals legislatively, he will have to do what it is in his power to do unilaterally. That means unleashing the Justice Department to bludgeon the Lefts political opposition into submission with lawless threats of enforcement action. Its going to be a very long 40 months. I agree generally. However, I very much doubt that, at this point, Garland is either a moderate or a DOJ institutionalist. He answers better to McCarthys description of Joe Biden a faux-moderate weakling. Thank God, Merrick Garland never made it to the Supreme Court. UPDATE: A lawyer friend tells me that Garlands memorandum is huffing and puffing done to scratch a political itch. He notes the absence in the memo of any citation to a statute or other basis for federal jurisdiction that could support an indictment in one of these cases. In addition to scratching a political itch, the memo is designed, unconscionably, to intimidate parents who attend school board meetings to protest against teaching CRT. However, says my friend, no parent should be afraid on account of it. I suspect that few will be, and anyone prosecuted by the DOJ for non-violent conduct as a result of this memo will very likely find pro bono legal representation and beat the rap. UPDATE WITH VIDEO: Sen. Hawley grilled Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General, about the memorandum. Monaco pretended that federal law enforcement will intervene at the school board level only in cases of violence. But the memo addresses not just violence but harassment and intimidation. Hawley asked Monaco to define these terms as they are used in the memo. She wouldnt do it. Rather, she kept falling back on the lie that the memo only addresses violence. Lets remember, too, that the DOJ has no free-floating authority to investigate and prosecute violence at the local level. Far-left crazies continue to harass Senator Kyrsten Sinema, most recently on an airplane. I assume she was flying back to D.C.: Message from Karina I am a DACA recipient from Arizona who volunteered to help elect Sen. Sinema. I asked her to follow through on her promises to immigrants in Arizona and support citizenship through reconciliation. pic.twitter.com/iw4nsrI2v7 ADAC (@TheADAC) October 4, 2021 Sinema chose not to engage with the crazy (and the second crazy who was filming). Probably a good decision, although I doubt that I could have been so restrained. The question this raises is whether we should provide senators with security. Currently, I believe the Senate Majority Leader gets security, and maybe the Minority Leader, but no one else. Almost all senators walk around by themselves, vulnerable to attacks by the criminally insane or by Democratic Party activists like James Hodgkinson. (To be fair, that was the House.) We have a long tradition of politicians mingling with the public. During the Civil War, President Lincoln rode freely around Washington, where there were lots of Confederate sympathizers, on a horse. Of course, we have also had some assassinations. Personally, I would be happy to pay for security for senators and, to the extent appropriate based on experience, members of the House, if left-wing crazies continue to violate all laws of decency. Someone is going to get hurt. UPDATE: Christian Toto comments: The anti bullying crowd has been pretty silent of late Christian Toto (@HollywoodInToto) October 4, 2021 All positions taken by liberals are provisional at best, subject to revision as soon as the winds change. ANOTHER UPDATE: The great Comfortably Smug adds: She's going to be wearing a Make America Great Again hat by next week if they keep this shit up. https://t.co/BzTxbMNV70 Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) October 4, 2021 And who can disagree with this observation? If someone with a MAGA hat harassed a US Senator in a bathroom the FBI would've already sent a 16 member SWAT team to raid their home this morning, arrested them, and held them without bond and it would be a national news story breathlessly covered 24/7 for 6 months. Catturd (@catturd2) October 4, 2021 And finally: I too have had people bother me when Im in the bathroom, demanding things, and not leaving until I emerge. Theyre called toddlers. Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) October 4, 2021 That strikes me as fair comment. The people who dominate the Democratic Party are about as intelligent, and as self-controlled, as toddlers. Following remarks on raising the debt ceiling yesterday remarks whose gist was that Republicans are bad President Biden took a few questions from the press (White House transcript here). Republicans are guilty of using procedural tricks and elaborate procedural schemes that call for numerous votes. Its a Republican stunt! Republicans are playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy. Bad! The stalking of Senator Sinema in the ladies room by the thugs of LUCHA received President Bidens qualified blessing. It seemed to amuse him. On the one hand, the tactics are not appropriate. On the other hand, it happens to everybody and its part of the process. Its nothing to get excited about. You cant make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, baby. Biden on the Sinema incident: It happens to everybody its part of the process pic.twitter.com/hegK0ICjZu Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) October 4, 2021 Blowing my mind, the psychedelic Jen Psaki expanded on Bidens comments, but contracted the bathroom stalking out of the picture (transcript here, at 17:35). Amazing. It used to be that if someone shouted in an alley, Its the heat!, it meant the police were coming. But if the perpetual do-gooders have their way, pretty soon might have actual heat police. Thats not exactly what theyre calling it, but how long before a move to formal offices of heat governance will entail people in uniforms? From Nature magazine: Cities need heat governance to plan for extreme temperatures and protect those most at risk. . . This year, Miami-Dade County in Florida, and Athens, Greece, appointed the worlds first two Chief Heat Officers; Phoenix, Arizona, created the first publicly funded Office of Heat Response and Mitigation. Much more remains to be done. We call for a focused research programme to support heat governance including the actors, strategies, processes and institutions that can mitigate and manage this hazard. Institutions and policies need to be developed to address heat, across all levels of government. So will hoods in the alley have to amend their slang someday to say, Its the heat-heat!!? Chaserbecause of course it does: Christopher Bayo Ojo, who between June 2005 and May 2007 was Nigerias Attorney General and Minister of Justice, received $10.026 million the infamous Malabu OPL 245 share-outs, a payment investigators said was a bribe for his earlier controversial decision to reassign the lucrative oil block to Dan Etete, Nigerias former petroleum minister. Mr Ojo in 2006 handed control of the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas, owned by Mr Etete, despite the Nigerian government having won the right to retain it, court papers obtained by PREMIUM TIMES say. The former attorney general, who also acted as a legal adviser and consultant to Mr Etete, was later handsomely rewarded. Although the Malabu case has lasted years, the court documents provide clearer details on Mr Ojos role and how the Malabu largesse was shared. The OPL 245, at the centre of far-reaching lawsuits in Europe and the U.S., was originally awarded by erstwhile military Head of State General Sani Abacha to Malabu, a briefcase firm hurriedly put together by Mr Etete, who would be later convicted of corruption on a separate matter. The firm was asked to pay a measly $20 million for the block which holds as much as 9 billion barrels of oil, vast enough to supply the entire Africa for seven years. Mr Abacha, a notorious kleptocrat, ensured his son was a part-owner of Malabu. But the fraudulent deal was annulled following Abachas death, and Mr Etete went to court to challenge the decision. Malabus licence was reinstated in November 2006 by Mr Ojo after entering an out-of-court agreement with the firm, requiring Malabu to pay the signing bonus of $210 million in the 12 months from the re-registration of the licence. It is recalled that Christopher Adebayo OJO was a legal consultant of ETETE during the last stages of the negotiation, but, above all, he is the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, who, in 2006, reassigned OPL 245 to Malabu, waiving the appeal in the lawsuit filed by Malabu against the Nigerian government against the revocation of the licence and its assignment through a tender process to Shell, the court paper says. READ ALSO: Such a waiver, and the resulting settlement with Malabu, took place in an unexpected and unreasonable way, in spite of the fact that the Nigerian government had won the case in the court of first instance. The reassignment of the licence in 2006 to Malabu, subsequent to the transaction desired by Bayo OJO, is therefore the essential prerequisite of all events and subsequent acts, up to the Settlement Agreements on 29 April 2011 and to the actual collection by Malabu of over $800 million in the performance of those agreements. The final settlement agreement was later implemented by President Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet members, namely Mohammed Adoke (attorney general), Diezani Alison-Madueke( petroleum minister) and Aliyu Gusau (National Security Adviser). It involved Shell and Eni taking over the contentious block after paying $1.2 billion to Malabu through the Jonathan government which claimed it acted as a mediator. Top government officials received payments from the huge fee, and Mr Etete paid the former Nigerian Minister of Justice, as well as his latest legal counsel, Bayo Ojo, for the favour that he did for him in 2006 by reassigning to him, at no cost, the OPL 245 prospecting licence, from the funds of $411,233,907, transferred from Malabu to Rocky Top Resources Ltd, the document states. Mr Etete would later acknowledge owning Rocky Top Resources Limited and that the money transferred into the current account of the company were proceeds from the re-allocation of OPL 245. The bribe of 10 million dollars to Bayo Ojo was not only the payment of a fee for generic legal advisory services supplied in 2011 but also includes remuneration for a favour done for Etete five years earlier and, therefore, represents the execution of the original corruptive pact stipulated by ETETE with the minister of justice in office at that time, the document says. Vincenzo Armanna, a former Eni manager, received $1.2 million in his current account domiciled at the Banca Popolare di Bergamo on May 8, 2012 at the behest of Mr Ojo from Oceanic Bank International (Nigeria) Limited with the description: Giuseppe Armanna Inheritance, it also says. The court papers said Mr Ojo handled some other suspicious assignments, citing one mystery in which the Nigerian lawyer redeemed Guiseppe Armanas investment in Kenya more than a decade after it was made without the slightest documentary proof. The fact that Bayo Ojo provided Nigerian investigators with an explanation similar to that of Armanna does not affect, in the opinion of this court, the Plaintiffs reconstruction, because its unthinkable that Bayo Ojo would confess to the authorities of his Country his active role in a corruption matter of such immense size, it said. Mr Ojo declined to comment on the issues raised in the court documents when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him on Monday. The former attorney general of the federation said he could not react to an issue that he is not aware of. Eleven years ago, Abubakar Bagudu, the current governor of Kebbi State, but then a senator, dispatched a delegation to Singapore in search of a new haven to shelter his controversial wealth, which is a target of ongoing forfeiture proceedings by the United States Department of Justice. Investigators say the huge funds, warehoused offshore, is part of billions of dollars Mr Bagudu helped the Sani Abacha family to steal from Nigeria in the 1990s. Referred by Farrer and Co., a prestigious centuries-old London law firm that has represented the British royal family, Mr Bagudus choice of secrecy provider in Singapore was Asiaciti Trust, an entity notorious for helping clients hide behind opaque offshore trusts to launder dirty money across borders. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, MAS, imposed a fine of one million and a hundred thousand dollars on Asiaciti in July 2020 for serious breaches of Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulations between 2007 and 2018. When on February 23, 2010, Mr Bagudus delegation comprising his brother, Ibrahim Bagudu, and London lawyer, Ben Davies, from Byrne and Partners, now a part of PCB Byrne met with Asiacitis officials, they registered his preference for a new structure of secrecy to oil the flow of his dirty wealth for the benefits of himself and his family. In 1997, some 13 years earlier, Mr Bagudu had structured offshore holdings Ridley Trust and Ridley Group in notorious tax and secrecy havens, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands, positioning himself as the unseen but ultimate beneficiary. But in 2010, he wanted to terminate the Ridley structure and transfer his assets into another structure, hence the need for Asiacitis service in Singapore. The reason, according to a 2010 Asiaciti memo, was control. As noted in the memo, Ibrahim told the February 2010 meeting that his brother, Mr Bagudu the client had become disillusioned with institutional and independent trustees (of the Ridley Trust) as they (he and his brother) had no control over their action or inaction and suggested they feared they could lose the hidden assets. He then insisted that any new trustee arrangements to be erected in Singapore must ensure that the family cannot lose control of the assets. In the months that followed, 99 million euros in cash and securities was then transferred from Ridley to a new structure enabled by Asiaciti, which brushed aside red flags about Mr Bagudus controversial background and source of his wealth. Asiaciti acted with advice from Farrer and Co. and Byrne and Partners, now a part of PCB Byrne, documents showed. Mr Bagudu is long known to have played an instrumental role in the Abacha conspiracy to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria. But how he set up complicated structures of secrecy to hide stolen money as well as the role of his enablers, including prestigious British law firms and Serious Organised Crimes Agency (SOCA) the predecessor of the National Crimes Agency (NCA), has never been crystal clear. Pandora Papers investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, including more than 600 journalists, including some from PREMIUM TIMES, and about 150 news organisations around the world uncovered financial secrets, including those of politicians, former and serving public officials, including known and suspected kleptocrats such as Mr Bagudu. Involving 11.9 million leaked records, which journalists sifted through for two years, the Pandora Papers project is the biggest collaborative transnational investigation in the history of journalism. The leaked records came from 14 offshore services firms from around the world who help clients set up shell companies and design opaque structures to conceal their financial dealings. The Bagudu Blue structure As documents showed, Asiaciti helped Mr Bagudu to set up a multi-layered structure with footprints in at least three countries, namely Singapore, Cook Islands, and the United Kingdom. At the head of the structure is Blue Holdings Trust, registered in Cooks Island as a purpose trust to wholly own a Singapore-incorporated private trust company, Blue PTC Pte Ltd., with Mr Bagudus brother, Ibrahim, and an Asiaciti nominee as directors. The Blue PTC Pte Ltd is in turn the trustee of two family trusts Blue Family Trust (1) and Blue Family Trust (2). Under each trust, then, is a Singapore family-owned investment holding company, FHIC, Blue Holdings (1) Pte Limited, and Blue Holdings (2) Pte Limited, respectively. Each of the FHIC has an investment account with Waverton Investment Management, formerly JO Hambro Investment Management, and James Hambro and Partners, both London-based firms. Assets kept with the two firms are now frozen, according to U.S. court documents. America has been at the forefront of helping Nigeria recover the Abacha loot, saying that hundreds of millions of dollars stolen were laundered through banks under its jurisdiction. The beneficiaries of each of the family trusts and the corresponding investments domiciled in London were Mr Bagudu, his wife, seven children, and his brother, Ibrahim. In September 2010, according to minutes of some meetings we reviewed, a sum of 99 million euros was moved from Ridley through the Blue PTC in Singapore to the investment accounts in London and distributed as follows: Blue Holdings (1) (17,007,016 euros): Waverton seven million euros; James Hambro 10,007,016 euros. Blue Holdings (2) (81,841,163 euros): Waverton 23 million euros; James Hambro 58,841,163 euros. Source Of Funds: Bagudu and the Abacha plunder machine The systematic plunder of Nigeria by the Abacha family as well as the worldwide hunt for the stolen funds, worth billions of dollars, is reckoned to be one of the worst cases of kleptocracy and offshore shenanigans in the world. Between 1998, when Mr Abacha suddenly died, and 2020, 3.6 billion U.S. dollars have been recovered from the Abacha family and their most prolific bagman, Mr Bagudu, now a governor in Nigerias impoverished Kebbi State. The 163 million U.S. dollars recovery from Jersey in 2003 directly involved Mr Bagudu, who then negotiated a deal with the U.S. and Jersey to return the funds to Nigeria in exchange for Jerseys withdrawal of an extradition request and his free return to Nigeria. He spent six months in American federal prison in Houston while awaiting extradition to Jersey. The deal to return the $163 million was to avoid that extradition. Also, the latest recovery 308 million U.S. dollars from Jersey in 2020 was laundered by Mr Bagudu. Mr Bagudu was involved with all the offshore front companies and bank accounts from the British Virgin Islands to Ireland, Switzerland, England, Guernsey, and Jersey used to steal and launder billions of dollars belonging to Nigeria under the Abacha regime as a director, signatory on accounts or prime beneficiary, according to U.S. court documents and incorporation filings from the Pandora Papers leaks. In stealing the funds, Mr Abacha set up what Africa Confidential described as a Plunder Machine, involving his family, officials, and associates such as Mr Bagudu, complemented by established western and local banks and offshore enablers. READ ALSO: In pushing for the forfeiture of stolen funds laundered through the U.S., American investigators said the criminal network used fraudulent schemes to make dirty money, according to court documents. One was security vote fraud, whereby Mr Abacha and his National Security Adviser Ismaila Gwarzo and others were said to have stolen more than two billion U.S. dollars by fraudulently and falsely representing that the funds were to be used for national security purposes. Between 1994 and 1998, they were said to have made over 60 false claims of security emergencies to withdraw huge funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria, then headed by Paul Ogumah. Rather than use the funds for national security purposes, the stolen money was transported out of Nigeria and deposited into accounts controlled by General Abachas associates, including Mohammed Abacha and Mr Bagudu, the court in Washington, D.C. was told. Other schemes were bribery and a dramatic conspiracy by Mr Abachas son, Mohammed, and Mr Bagudu to lend money stolen from Nigeria back to Nigeria with zero risks and at an enormous profit by using proceeds of the security vote fraud to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. dollar-denominated Nigerian bonds, called Nigerian Par Bonds, NPBs. As part of the Brady Bond programme of the 1980s, the NPBs were U.S. dollar-denominated securities whose interest payments were guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury. The Brady Bond programme was created to help developing countries like Nigeria holding substantial debt to restructure their debt into bonds. Nigeria first offered the NPBs in 1992. In another scheme, the conspirators were also said to have defrauded Nigeria of more than 282 million U.S. dollars by causing the government to repurchase Nigerias own debt from one of their companies for more than double what Nigeria would have paid to repurchase the debt in the open market. According to American investigators, the initial funding of Mr Bagudus Ridleys account at Credit Agricole Indosuez, London, to the tune of 90 million U.S. dollars in 1998 was from the Par bonds and the debt-buy-back fraud. The Ridley assets were later transferred to the Blue structure facilitated by Asiaciti and are the outstanding defendant assets being targeted for forfeiture by the United States, court documents showed. The U.S. filed its forfeiture litigation in 2014. It said, then, the assets held by the Blue holdings, traceable to the old Ridley structure, and domiciled in London investment portfolios held with Waverton and James Hambro, were last valued at a total of 96 million euros. Mr Bagudus brother, Ibrahim, continues to claim the assets, seeking to prevent their forfeiture to Nigeria, court documents showed. In a reply to written questions by The Guardian of UK in conjunction with PREMIUM TIMES and ABC of Australia, Nicola Boulton of PCB Byrne, Mr Bagudus lawyers said all monies held by the Blue Trusts are lawfully held, citing a 2003 settlement between Mr Bagudu and the Nigerian government under then-President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Bagudu is yet to respond to further inquiries PREMIUM TIMES sent to him three weeks ago as part of the reporting for this story. Keeping the Bagudu Dirty Money Flowing The Enablers Barely a week after Mr Bagudus delegations initial visit to Singapore in February 2010, Asiaciti determined that he has a somewhat controversial background, making references to his association with the Abacha family and his involvement in extensive litigation between 2000 and 2006, both criminal investigations and civil claims, Asiacitis internal memo showed. Despite this determination, as well as the awareness that Mr Bagudus had since 2003 admitted to financial irregularities as he agreed to return about 163 million US dollars to Nigeria to avoid extradition to Jersey from the U.S., Asiaciti accepted Mr Bagudu as a client in 2010. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, MAS, slammed Asiaciti with a fine of one million and a hundred thousand dollars in 2020 for the companys anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing failures between 2007 and 2018, covering the period the company helped Mr Bagudu set up the Blue structure to shelter assets said to have been made from the plunder of Nigeria. We maintain a strong compliance programme and each of our offices have passed third-party audits for Anti-Money Laundering & Counter-Financing of Terrorism practices in recent years, Asiaciti said in a written reply to ICIJ over the Pandora Papers. However, no compliance programme is infallible and when an issue is identified, we take necessary steps with regard to the client engagement and make the appropriate notifications to regulatory agencies. READ ALSO: In defending its role, when questioned by authorities following the unsealing of the indictment against Mr Bagudu by the U.S. in 2014, Asiaciti said, Farrer & Co, a prestigious London law firm, who acts for the Royal Family had accepted the explanations provided and was prepared to act for him, having strict UK CDD requirements. This was contained in a defence Asiaciti wrote to the regulator. Indeed, as documents showed, between Byrne and Farrer and Co., Asiaciti was advised that Mr Bagudu would not be a problematic client and that the funds he sought to shelter were not derived from criminal sources. That turned out to be false. In an April 2010 memo to press for the acceptance of Mr Bagudu as a client, Bernard OSullivan of Byrne said there were no outstanding claims to Mr Bagudus assets and that, in 2003, Nigeria, then led by President Olusegun Obasanjo, reached a global settlement with Mr Bagudu. The settlement Mr OSullivan referred to was that which was executed when Mr Bagudu agreed to return about 163 million U.S. dollars to Nigeria in 2003. Mr OSullivan attached a copy of an August 8, 2003, confidential statement by Mr Obasanjo to withdraw all claims from criminal and civil proceedings against Mr Bagudu. This defence was restated in Byrnes reply following Pandora Papers reporting. Mr Bagudu reached a compromise with the FRN (Nigeria) in 2003 by which all claims against him and his family were ended and the FRN received cash and certain rights, Byrnes Mr Boulton said. Mr Obasanjo, who entered the settlement agreement with Mr Bagudu, could not be reached to comment for this story as he was said to be travelling in Ethiopia. But sources close to him said it was a pragmatic step by the administration that was then desperate to recover stolen funds and that believed Mr Bagudu could help disclose where the funds were stashed. In return, Mr Obasanjo then signed the settlement ending all claims, globally, against Mr Bagudu. Mr Boulton said Mr Bagudu helped Nigeria recover at least one billion dollars following Mr Abachas death. As documents suggest, between the time the Blue structure was created in 2010 and when its assets were frozen in 2014, 4.6 million dollars or $6.8 million euros was disbursed for Mr Bagudus childrens education and the generous lifestyle his family was accustomed to. The transferred sum included one hundred thousand dollars annuity to his brother Ibrahim and another three million U.S. dollars moved into Ibrahims bank account for investment in real estate and property development in Abuja. In one case in 2013, Farrer and Co helped Bagudu ensure funds were distributed to his family and resisted Asiacitis level of scrutiny, an attempt at enhanced due diligence. In an email, Diana Davidson of Farrer and Co. wrote that Mr Bagudus brother Ibrahim was not entirely happy at the level of scrutiny being sought at the sole discretion of Asiaciti. In response, an Asiacitis client services official said they were in no way inferring that the distribution requests are suspicious in any way, and reminded Ms Davidson that Mr Bagudu was a politically exposed person, PEP, thus the transfers he sought required enhanced due diligence. A breakdown of disbursements showed that 100 thousand U.S. dollars were advised to be paid out for Mr Bagudus sons school fees days after Farrer and Cos Ms Davidson helped him pressure Asiaciti. But beyond the role played by British firms in the Bagudu shenanigans, the British public service institution was also involved, documents suggested. In a witness statement in 2015, Asiaciti said Farrer and Co and Byrne & Partners received consent from the UKs Serious Organised Crime Agency, SOCA, now the National Crimes Agency (NCA), to facilitate the restructuring of Mr Bagudus offshore holdings in 2010. A protective disclosure was made to SOCA in the UK and their consent was obtained to the resettlement of the Ridley Trust into the Blue Family Trusts before funds were transferred from Ridley Group Limited to Blue Holdings 1 Pte. Ltd and Blue Holdings 2 Pte. Ltd, Asiacitis Karen Hanlong submitted. Years later, NCA started working with the U.S. to hunt the assets held by Mr Bagudu from the Abacha plunder of Nigeria. READ ALSO: Governors of South-south states have resolved to join the suit currently before the Supreme Court over the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT). The VAT case is between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Rivers Government. The governors intention is contained in a six-point communique they issued on Monday at the end of their forums meeting in Port Harcourt. The communique was read to reporters by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. The governors declared that they support the collection of VAT by some state governments in the country. The Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta (BRACED) Council after an extensive deliberation, resolved unequivocally to support the decision for states to collect VAT and resolved to join the suit before the Supreme Court. This is predicated on the fact that most of the BRACED commission states have already established their state security outfits, the communique stated. READ ALSO: The governors also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government to uphold the tenets of the law establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by appropriately constituting its board. They expressed the hope that the federal government would make public the report of the forensic audit on the NDDC, and be courageous enough to deal justly and fairly with the report to strengthen the capacity of the organisation. The governors demanded that President Buhari and the National Assembly take necessary measures to review some aspects of the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act, in the spirit of fairness and equity. They also requested Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiaries, and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to relocate their head office to the Niger Delta region. The meeting was attended by Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom, Godwin Obaseki of Edo and Douye Diri of Bayelsa. (NAN) As part of activities towards marking the year 2021 World Contraception Day (WCD), the Lagos State Government and a coalition of civil societies Partnership for Advocacy in Child Health and family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale) advocating improved family planning, on Tuesday, assembled experts and government officials in Lagos to review the states commitment to family planning and access to contraception in the state and beyond. The event, which is themed; Family Planning in a New Lagos: A Catalytic Pillar for Female Empowerment and Socio-Economic Development, is currently holding at the Radisson Blu, a hotel facility in Ikeja, Lagos. According to the organisers, the programme is also aimed at securing commitments from relevant stakeholders. Ahead of the event, which is scheduled to commence any moment from now, are relevant stakeholders in the states health sector including the permanent secretary of the ministry of health, Olusegun Ogboye, while the PACFaH@Scale team is being led by its project director, Shina Ogunbiyi, a professor. The PACFaH@Scale is an initiative of the development Research and Project Centre (dRPC), a non-profit organisation that is focused on strengthening both the organisational and technical capacities of civil society organisations across the country. About WCD Marked on September 26 every year, the World Contraception Day (WCD) aims to recognise the right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children. The WCD was first observed on September 26 in 2007 by 10 international family planning organisations to raise awareness about contraception and to enable couples to make an informed decision regarding starting a family, so that every pregnancy is wanted. The theme for the 2021 WCD is Contraception: its your life, its your responsibility. What data says According to the World Health Organisation, among the 1.9 billion women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) worldwide in 2019, 1.1 billion have a need for family planning. And of this figure, 842 million are using contraceptive methods, and 270 million have an unmet need for contraception. The global body says that contraceptive use is much lower in developing countries like Africa, and that one in 10 women has an unmet need for family planning. WHO has also suggested that globally, the number of women using contraceptive methods would increase by 778 million in 2030 Nigeria in focus In Nigeria, Africas most populous nation, the Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (MCPR) for all women currently stands at only 16.6 per cent, the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2018, states. By implication, one in four married women aged 15-49 still has an unmet need for modern contraception. This also further indicates that about 15.7 million sexually active women in Nigeria who want to avoid pregnancy, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, will still find it very difficult to do so. Follow this page for live updates of the event. Lagos increases use of contraception to 21% The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, while welcoming guests and partners to the event said through increased campaign for the use of modern contraceptives, Lagos State has averted 167,000 unintended pregnancies and 51,000 abortions within an unspecified period of time. According to Mr Abayomi, the state increased the use of contraceptives from 18 per cent in the last year to 21 per cent currently. He said; Family planning is also a tool for women empowerment because increasing access to family planning is an investment and that for every dollar spent, three dollars are gained. More Lagos women use traditional methods of contraception The keynote speaker,Adesegun Fatusi, said more women in Lagos use traditional methods of contraception rather than modern contraceptives. Mr Fatusi, a professor of community medicine and public health and currently the vice-chancellor of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, however, commended the government of Lagos State for improving the access to modern contraceptives by 1.38 per cent annually in the last six years. He called on the government to invest more in family planning in the state, while also suggesting stronger partnerships with private service providers. Nigeria accounts for 7.5% of global VVF cases A professor of community medicine and public health, Adesegun Fatusi, has said with statistics of 20,000 new cases of Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) being recorded annually in Nigeria, the country accounts for 7.5 per cent of the disease globally. VVF, a subtype of female urogenital fistula (UGF), is described as an abnormal fistulous tract extending between the bladder and the vagina that allows the continuous involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault. Mr Fatusi said with adequate investment in family planning, the ugly trend can be reversed. He urged governments at all levels to collaborate and pool resources together to address the challenge. He said; If we spend 24.35 dollars on each woman to address issues of family planning, I can assure you that all these challenges will be overcome. And no one will say this small amount is too much to spend on our women. In 18 months, Lagos inaugurated four maternal healthcare centres The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, said the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos has inaugurated four maternal healthcare centres in Lagos State within the last 18 months. He listed the locations to include the densely populated Alimosho, the states biggest local government area by population; Epe; Eti-Osa and Badagry area of the state. He said the state is committed to reducing all female-related medical challenges and complications in the state. Private sector pledges to digitise healthcare in Lagos Representatives of the private sector in Lagos State said they are committed to digitising the healthcare sector in the state so that information can be readily made available. Oluwafemi Olaleye of Sterling Bank said the healthcare sector in Nigeria has major gaps and technology can help to address that. He said there is an ongoing collaboration among the private sector stakeholders that are involved in healthcare provision in the state to support the government in digitising key areas of healthcare in the state. In six years, Lagos averts 167,000 unintended pregnancies, 1,100 maternal deaths Official The Lagos State Commissioner for Health has said as a result of growing campaign for the adoption of modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR), Lagos State has averted about 167,000 unintended pregnancies, 59,000 abortions and 1,100 maternal deaths between 2013 and 2018. Mr Abayomi said the statistics stood at about 22.7 per cent in 2013 and 29.1 per cent in 2018. Speaking further on the effect of family planning on women and national development, Mr Abayomi noted that high fertility rate may hinder women from attaining their full potential and that it affects the infrastructural development of a nation. He said; Women who space their births can devote more time to pursue their educational and career aspirations, and, in the long run, accrue more resources. High fertility rates may hinder such opportunities for advancement, increase health risks for women, and lead to deterioration in the quality of life. Evidence reveals that for every dollar spent on contraceptive services in developing countries, $2.2 is saved on maternal and newborn care. Developing nations experience a huge burden on their health systems because of growing fertility rates that are not matched with infrastructural development. The health commissioner also stated reasons why the private sector needs to engage in family planning programmes, saying the development and health sector goals at national and sub-national levels cannot be attained solely through government resources. He further urged that for sustainable results, the government needs to take deliberate steps towards creating enabling environment for indigenous private sector investment in Family Planning programming to promote true ownership, reduce over-dependence on donor funding, promote a well-functioning supply chain to ensure uninterrupted stock of commodities and consumables and address other barriers to contraceptive uptake in Lagos State. He also added that despite the 70 per cent of the modern contraceptives provided by the private sector, the demand for family planning services remain largely unmet in Lagos State, as about 30 per cent of women who want to space their births do not have access to modern contraceptives. Family Planning can reduce chances of death from pregnancy by 30% -UNFPA The representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), at the ongoing World Contraception Day celebration in Lagos, Omolaso Omosehin, has said the appropriate use of family planning by women could reduce chances of dying from pregnancy related causes by 30 per cent. Mr Omosehin said his organisation as the lead agency of the UN for sexual and reproductive health and rights, has the mandate to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every youths potential is fulfilled. He said; The commemoration of World Contraception Day is to steer all individuals and stakeholders to their responsibilities in improving the availability and utilisation of contraception, which has been proven to have huge economic and health benefits for women, families, communities and nations at large. Mr Omasehin emphasised that an investment in family planning would truly transform the economies of households, communities and countries. He added that family planning has been identified as one of the most cost effective strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 1,2,4 and 10, and especially goal 3. He added that; Family planning also ensures healthy lives and promotes wellbeing for all at all ages, achieve gender equality, and empower all women and girls by year 2030. Hence, it is a wise choice of investment WCD commemoration apt, timely AANI-PAS One of the partners of the Lagos State Government at todays commemoration of World Contraception Day, Alumni of the National Institute (AANI), a sub grantee of the Partnership for Advocacy in Child Health and family Health at Scale (PACFaH@Scale), has commended the government and other partners for coming together to mark the annual event. In his goodwill message, the project director of PACFaH@Scale, Shina Ogunbiyi, a professor and retired major general, described the ceremony as apt and timely. He said; The AANI-PAS, Lagos, is one of the elite champions of advocacy in the family planning space in Lagos. The commitment by the Lagos State Government for increased budget allocation not only for health but also with respect to family planning is a welcome development. We at AANI-PAS will continue to engage the appropriate authorities in our advocacy plans to ensure that the commitment, consistency and continuity in family planning affairs in the state, as enunciated by the first lady of Lagos State today is followed through. Lagos to preach family planning using entertainment Sanwo-Olu Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the wife of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, has said the state would adopt entertainment tools to preach the gospel of responsible family planning. Mrs Sanwo-Olu, a medical doctor, said since people are more at home with entertainment like soap operas and sports, it would not be out of place to speak the language they understand, as a way of driving participation. She added that social media influencers such as celebrities and entertainers will be co-opted in massive media campaigns. The first lady made this known in her address as a special guest at the 2021 commemoration of World Contraceptive Day held in Lagos. According to her, Family planning prevents birth-related complications for both mother and child and has the long-term benefits of empowering women and reducing poverty. She also added that women should only have the number of children they can cater for, saying it is an effective way to tackle the challenges triggered by the growing population in the state. Families that have the number of children they can afford to train are able to devote more resources to providing them with adequate food, education, clothing, shelter and other necessities, she said, adding that; There is no gainsaying that family planning enables women to pursue their educational and career aspirations, acquire more wealth, and in the long run, contribute to socio-economic development of their immediate communities. She said, Despite the benefits of family planning, it is disheartening to know that for many women, the right to decide when or whether to have children is being hindered by lack of access to safe and modern methods of contraceptives. World Contraception Day ends in Lagos with closing remarks from Governors wife The wife of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, in her closing remarks at the 2021 World Contraception Day, said user fees for consumables, such as syringes and gloves, have been found to constitute a barrier to family planning uptake, despite free contraceptive methods provided in public health facilities across the state. She also said the government would intensify efforts to educate women who wish to delay or avoid pregnancy without using any form of modern contraception, on the need for and benefits of family planning. I, therefore, call on all stakeholders to join forces and chart a course towards effective funding of family planning services in Lagos State. Ladies and gentlemen, as we progress in this event, I implore us to look within and see how we as an organised private sector, institutions, networks, philanthropists, and the media can make a significant difference in the lives of our women and their families, she said. Meanwhile, the organisers of the event have pledged to make available the communique drafted after the workshop, saying it would contain the commitments of each of the participating stakeholders towards achieving the family planning targets in the state. (Live update ends). President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to present the budget estimates for the 2022 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday. This was made known by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, during the plenary on Tuesday. Mr Omo-Agege, who presided over the Senates plenary, mentioned the presidents budget presentation shortly after reading a letter from him. The president, in the letter, sought to make some changes in the recently passed Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) parameters on which the 2022 budget will be framed. The president said the changes, which he is asking the National Assembly to approve in the MTEF/FSP, is in line with the newly enacted Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). The letter and other documents were referred to the Senate Joint Committee on Finance for further legislative work. While referring to the letter, Mr Omo-Agege directed the panel to expedite action on the presidents request and report back to plenary latest on Wednesday. The committee should have the report latest by tomorrowbefore budget presentation on Thursday, he said. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, also made a similar announcement in the House. The lawmakers will, in a joint session, converge at the lower legislative chamber to receive the president. The Senate had initially approved the total estimated expenditure of N13.98 trillion for 2022 which includes N1.44 trillion for Government-Owned Enterprises and donor-funded projects amounting to N62.24 billion. The sums of N15.46 trillion and N16.77 trillion were also projected to be spent by the federal government in 2023 and 2024 respectively. A member of the House of Representatives, Ben Igbakpa (PDP Delta), has said the allegation by President Muhammadu Buhari that a member of the National Assembly is financing a secessionist movement has put Nigerian lawmakers on terror watch list in Ghana. The lawmaker, who represents the Ethiope East/Ethiope West Federal Constituency of Delta State, while raising a point of privilege on Tuesday, said he was detained for four hours at the airport in Ghana. President Buhari had in his 1 October Independence Day speech said the government is investigating financiers of the Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo. The recent arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the ongoing investigations being conducted have revealed certain high-profile financiers behind these individuals. We are vigorously pursuing these financiers including one identified as a serving member of the National Assembly, Mr Buhari said. Coming under order 6 rule 2 and section 17 (A) of the legislative house powers and privileges Act 2017, Mr Igbakpa narrated his ordeal in Ghana, claiming that he was informed that Nigerian lawmakers have been placed on a watchlist in Ghana. On Saturday, I had to honour an invitation to Ghana for a wedding. Mr speaker, it will amaze you what I faced in the hands of Ghanaian officials. I got there, they kept me for about four hours, and they are trying to confirm something. I stayed at the airport for four hours, missed the wedding that I went there for and at the end of the day one of them walked up to me and said sir, We are sorry, because there is an announcement in Nigeria that a member of parliament is sponsoring terrorism. We are out on red alert to ensure that no member of parliament from Nigeria come here to hide or to cause trouble. He said the failure of Mr Buhari to name the alleged financier is placing all the 469 members of the National Assembly as prime suspects. The lawmaker prayed that the president should name the suspected financier and prosecute him/her. Mr Igbakpa also prayed that leaders of the House should liaise with the leadership of the Senate to meet Mr Buhari on the matter. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, did not allow debate on the matter, noting that point of privilege should not be debated. He ruled that the House has noted the point of privilege raised. Past link of IPOB leader to National Assembly One lawmaker that has a link with Mr Kanu is the Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe. The lawmaker was one of the three persons that stood surety for the bail granted the leader of IPOB by Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja in April 2017. Mr Abaribe alongside the two others agreed to each stake N100 million worth of Abuja properties as security for the bail. Mr Abaribe was reportedly detained in 2018 for the link to the IPOB leader, who was in exile after jumping bail following the invasion of his house by men of the Nigerian Army. Mr Kanu is currently in the custody of the State Secret Service (SSS) after his extradition to Nigeria from an undisclosed country while Mr Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, is in detention in Benin Republic following his arrest in that country on his way to Germany. President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking to increase Nigerias 2022 budget from N13.98 trillion to N16.45 trillion. His plans were contained in a letter to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. The letter was read out by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, at the start of plenary on Tuesday. Mr Buhari will present the 2022 Budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday. In the letter, the president sought the Senates approval to make some changes in the recently passed Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) parameters on which the 2022 budget will be framed. The changes, he said, are in line with the newly enacted Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). New expenditures The federal governments total expenditure for the coming year is projected to increase by N2.47 trillion, from N13.98 trillion to N16.45 trillion. This includes Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and Project-tied Loans. Of the additional N2.47 trillion, the president explained N100 billion will be allocated to the electoral umpire, INEC, as additional provision to cater for 2023 general elections. Another N54 billion to National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) which represents one per cent of the federal governments share of the federation account. There will be additional provision of N510 billion in the Service Wide Votes to cater for national poverty reduction with growth strategy (N300 billion) and Police Operations Fund (N50 billion). Health workers are to get N50 billion for Hazard Allowance. While N80 billion will be allocated for public service wage adjustments and additional N37 billion for MDAs Electricity Bills Debt. The president also said there will be allocation for an additional Capital provision of N1.70 trillion attributed to projected increases in: Capital Supplementation by N179.1 billion; GOEs Capital by N222.1 billion; TETFUND Expenditure by N290.7 billion; Multi-lateral / Bi-lateral Project-tied Loans by N517.5 billion; and MDAs Capital Expenditure by N390.5 billion (including N178.1 billion provision for population and housing census to be carried out in 2022). Further breakdown The aggregate deficit (inclusive of GOEs and Project-tied Loans) is projected to increase by N692.0 billion or to 3.42 per cent of GDP from 3.05 per cent of GDP, the president said. On the Federation Account Revenue, the gross revenue projection decreased by N341,57 billion, from N8.870 trillion to N8.528 trillion. Also, deductions for federally-funded upstream project costs and 13 per cent derivation decreased by N335.3 billion and N810.25 million respectively. Net Oil and Gas revenue projection declined by N5.42 billion from N6.540 trillion to N6.535 trillion. Mr Buhari noted that the fiscal effects of PIA implementation are assumed to kick in by mid-year 2022. The revised 2022-24 fiscal framework is premised on a hybrid of January-June (based on current fiscal regime) and July-December (based on PIA fiscal regime), while 2023 and 2024 are now fully based on the PIA. Mr Buharis latest budget proposal is over 166 per cent higher than his first in 2016. He had presented a budget of N6.08 trillion in December 2015 for the 2016 fiscal year. While the last budget signed by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, was at N4.4 trillion. Governors in Nigerias South-east have vowed to put an end to IPOB sit-at-home order in the region. The governors disclosed this in a communique issued on Tuesday after an emergency security meeting in Enugu, Enugu State. The meeting was convened to discuss the security crisis in the region, which many believe is caused by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB. The sit-at-home order, which is observed every Monday in Imo, Enugu, Anambra, Abia, and Ebonyi states, has continuously disrupted the economic and social activities in the region. The order is meant to put pressure on the Nigerian government to release the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial in Abuja for alleged terrorism. The meeting condemned the sit-at-home orders, which are mostly issued by our people in diaspora who do not feel the pains, the meeting resolved that Governors and all (the) people of the South-east do everything within the law to ensure that there is no further sit-at-home in the South-east and that the people are allowed to freely move about in the zone, the governors said in the communique. The governors condemned the killings in the region and agreed to support security agencies to restore peace. The governor agreed that all the states in the South-east should pass a law before the end of 2021 to give legal backing to the setting up of a joint security outfit, Ebubeagu, in the region. The meeting of the governors and other leaders feom the region came a few days after Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late boss of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dora Akunyili, was brutally killed by gunmen in Anambra State a few days ago. There is suspicion that IPOB is responsible for Mr Akunyilis killing, even though the group has denied its involvement. Two days after the killing, some unidentified gunmen launched a deadly attack on a divisional police station in the state. Anambra is scheduled to hold its governorship election on November 6. The governors resolved to support the conduct of the Anambra election, and called on security agencies to ensure that the election is peaceful. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State hosted the meeting which had Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, and Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State in attendance. Abia State was represented by the Deputy Governor, Ude Chukwu. National Assembly members from the region, former governors, and a former chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, traditional and religious leaders also attended the meeting which was held behind closed doors in the Government House, Enugu. The Katsina State Government has said it is cancelled the third term of the last academic session in public schools in the state, so as to ensure that the students did not miss their external examinations. The states Ministry of Education gave the reason following an outcry from members of the public and civil society organisations in the state. The state government reopened boarding schools this week for the first time since December last year when schools across the state were shut following the kidnapping of over 300 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. Governor Aminu Masari shut down the public schools but reopened the day schools a few weeks later. In February, boarding school students and staff were asked to resume in day schools near them. No third term Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES at the sideline of an event in Katsina Tuesday morning, the Commissioner of Education, Badamasi Charanci, an associate professor, gave the reason why the state government took the controversial decision. He added that the decision was taken after due consultation with concerned parties. Let me remind you why we have even witnessed the closure of schools. We had the COVID-19 pandemic that bedevilled the whole world, kidnapping of students and other things. When we finished the assessment on the reopening of boarding schools, we decided to skip third term for the whole secondary schools, (boarding and day), in the state. We did that because we took into consideration that examination bodies like WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and even NBAIS would not wait for our students when the examinations are due. So, we decided to skip third term to ensure that out students also participate in the examinations. Mr Charanci said this was not the first time a whole term was being skipped. He said in emergency situations, governments at all levels are forced to make adjustments. Over 10 states in northern Nigeria are in the first term, so how do you want us to reconcile this? You want us to sacrifice all the students waiting to write their graduating examinations or what? When asked the measures the government was taking to ensure the lessons missed in the third term are covered, Mr Charanci said provisions have been made. We are specialised teachers. We have done this before and the results were good. We will use all the available options to ensure that the lessons are covered. We have prep, lessons, specialised lessons during break and team teaching. We will ensure that everything is duly covered, Mr Charanci said. Nigeria is ready to extend a helping hand to South Sudan towards political and economic stability, President Muhammadu Buhari said Tuesday in Addis Ababa. In a bilateral meeting with President Salva Kiir of South Sudan, the president assured the full support of Nigeria to all efforts to bring long-term stability and prosperity to the continent. Nigeria will contribute its quota as much as possible to the development of South Sudan. Take us into confidence and ask us what we can do, the President told the South Sudanese leader. Stressing the need for cooperation among developing countries, the Nigerian leader said with investments in education, improved economy, and healthcare, things will surely improve. On the situation in Guinea and Mali, President Buhari reiterated that African leaders must support efforts geared towards the return of democracy in the countries. The president expressed concern that as long as Libya remained unstable, the proliferation of arms and the problems in the Sahel would continue. In his remarks, President Kiir , who acknowledged Nigerias leadership role in Africa, appreciated the countrys effort in the liberation struggle of South Sudan. He also commended the First Lady of Nigeria for assisting in the education of many South Sudanese girls in the country. In West Africa, ECOWAS intervenes immediately whenever a country has a problem. That should be adopted in East and Central Africa, he said. President Buhari and President Kiir were among several African leaders that attended the inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia for a second five-year term in office. Femi Adesina Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) The House of Representatives on Tuesday asked the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, and other security agencies in Nigeria to deploy all machinery to end the killings in Anambra State. The call followed the adoption of a motion moved by Chris Azubogu on Tuesday on the floor of the House. Mr Azubogus motion is coming in the wake SA in Nkpor area of Anambra State by alleged unknown gunmen. Mr Akunyili, husband of late Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dora Akunyili, was killed alongside eight others. PREMIUM TIMES in a recent report put the number of Nigerians killed by non-state actors across the country last week at 123. There has also been heightened tension in the south-east amidst sit-at-home order by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who are demanding the release of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The rate of attacks in Anambra State has increased in the build-up to the 6 November gubernatorial election. Mr Azubogus convoy last week came under attack by assailants shortly after his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The attack resulted in the death of his driver. In his motion, Mr Azubogu said the killings in Anambra State are orchestrated by mischief makers who are bent on causing tension and panic in the state ahead of the upcoming November 6 election in Anambra State. He informed his colleagues of the security situation in the state, noting that no single day passes without a reported case of robbery, abduction and outright killings and these perpetrators have no human conscience in them. The lawmaker said the situation in Anambra State could spill over to other parts of the south-east region, if left unchecked. Contributing to the motion, Obinna Chidoka (PDP, Anambra) said the late driver was on his way to the airport to pick up Mr Azubogu, noting that if he had been in the car during the attack, he would have died. He noted that lawmakers from that region can barely go home due to the insecurity in the region. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked Mr Chidoka to brief the House on what is causing the crisis in the region. He noted that IPOB has been infiltrated by criminal elements, adding that policemen should stop running and stand up to the criminals. After discussing the motion, the House mandated the committee on National Security and Intelligence and Police Affairs to ensure that normalcy is restored to the state and report to the House within three weeks. A minute of silence was also observed for Mr Akunyili, the driver of Mr Azubogu and others that have died as a result of the insecurity in the region. The police in Ogun State have arrested a microfinance bank employee for allegedly planning with an accomplice to rob himself of N3 million. Police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said in a statement issued on Tuesday at Ota, Ogun State, that the money belonged to the suspects employer. Mr Oyeyemi said the suspect was arrested after the police received a distress call that armed robbers attacked the microfinance bank employee alongside a lady colleague as they emerged from a commercial bank in Abeokuta. Upon the distress call, the Divisional Police Officer, Ibara Division, Abeokuta, SP Segun Ajao, mobilised his men and moved to the scene where the accomplice was arrested with the assistance of members of the public. The accomplice was armed with a toy gun. He told the police during interrogation that it was the microfinance bank employee who informed him that his employer would send him and one other person to withdraw N3 million from the bank, Mr Oyeyemi said. He added that the accomplice alleged further that it was the microfinance bank employee who gave him the toy pistol for the operation. He stated also that the accomplice confessed that while the banks employee and his colleague were inside the commercial bank, he hid in their car which was deliberately left unlocked by the suspected mastermind in accordance with their plan. The accomplice explained that as they got into the car, he came out from the back seat and pointed the gun at the lady colleague who was in possession of the money. The lady noticed that the gun did not look original consequently upon which she struggled to get hold of it and raised an alarm. It was the alarm that attracted people who pursued them and called the police, the police spokesperson said. Mr Oyeyemi added that the acting Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Abiodun Alamutu, ordered the transfer of the two suspects to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department in the state for further interrogation. He advised that companies should endeavour to always have background checks on job applicants before employing them. An Abuja-based lawyer, Festus Onifade, has sued President Muhammad Buhari before a Federal High Court in Abuja over an alleged gross breach of Nigerias constitution in relation to recent Federal Character Commission (FCC) appointments. Mr Buhari was sued alongside the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, FCC, Mueeba Dankaka and Mohammed Tukur. The grouse of the plaintiff is that Mr Buhari allegedly violated some provisions of the Nigerian constitution in the manner of his political appointments. In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/709/2021 and instituted on his behalf by his counsel, Moses Owuru, the plaintiff accused Mr Buhari of violating sections 7and 8 of the Constitution in the appointments of Ms Dankaka and Mr Tukur as Executive Chairman and Executive Secretary of the FCC respectively. The plaintiff who claimed to be an indigene of Osun State, alleged that the two appointments were in clear breach of section 4 of the FCC Act having been made from the Northern part of the country. He, therefore, prayed the court to issue an order compelling Mr Buhari to immediately dissolve the board of the commission and re-constitute it to reflect the principle and letters of the Federal Character Commission as enshrined in the 1999 constitution. The plaintiff who claimed to have been aggrieved with the appointments also sought another order to compel Mueeba Dankaka and Mohammed Tukur to vacate their offices without any delay. In a 21-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, plaintiff averred that Buhari on March 18, 2020 appointed Ms Dankaka and on June 2, 2020, was confirmed by the Senate as Executive Chairman of the FCC. He also claimed that Buhari on appointed Mr Tukur on 6 April 2017 as Executive Secretary of the FCC. He added that the appointee had continued to function in office since the expiration of his tenure on 6 April 2021. The plaintiff averred that since the two appointees being from the North, Buhari breached sections 7 and 8 of Nigerias constitution with their appointments. He urged the court to declare the appointments unlawful, unconstitutional, illegal, null and void. The paintiff also wants the court to declare that Buhari and other defendants in the suit are bound to abide by the provisions of the constitution as they relate to the principle of proportional sharing of all political offices. Meanwhile, the judge, Inyang Ekwo, has fixed November 11 for hearing. President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Senate to confirm Husseini Baba-Yusuf as the substantive Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). His request was contained in a letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, read it out at the start of the plenary on Tuesday. Mr Buhari said his request is in accordance with Section 256(1) of the constitution. In accordance with provisions of Section 256 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, I hereby forward for confirmation by the Senate the appointment of Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf as the Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. While hoping that this request will receive the usual expeditious consideration of the senate, please accept the distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards. part of the letter read. Mr Baba-Yusuf has been acting as the Courts Chief Judge. He was sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad, on August 16. His swearing-in was sequel to the resignation of his predecessor, Salisu Garba. If eventually confirmed, Mr Baba-Yusuf will be the FCT judiciarys helmsman until his retirement age of 65, in six years. He currently handles high-profile corruption cases, including the celebrated trial of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, with others accused of diverting funds meant for arms procurement under the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan administration. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed fear over the upsurge in cases of attacks in Anambra State as the governorship election in the state draws closer. INEC has scheduled the election for 6 November. The commision, against the backdrop of the recent attacks on the State Security Service(SSS) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Nnewi, a town in the state, cast doubt on the safety of its personnel and assets ahead of the election. In his address at the emergency meeting with heads of security operatives in Abuja on Tuesday, the INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said the growing rate of attacks in the state may affect the commissions plan for the poll if not properly curbed by the concerned authorities. He said he suspected that the attacks may be attempts to stall or discourage the governorship election in the state. From the reports we have received, the stated goal of many of the attackers is that the governorship election scheduled for 6th November 2021 must not be held. This is worrisome for the Commission. We are deeply concerned that specific electoral facilities and materials could once more become targets of attack. Recall that in May this year, our state office at Awka was attacked and all the non-sensitive materials assembled for the election at the time were destroyed. In addition, our store, collation centre and the main office building were either totally or substantially damaged. The commission also lost several vehicles to be used for the election. Happily, we have almost fully recovered from that attack. The destroyed buildings have either been completely repaired or are nearing completion and we have fully replaced the materials destroyed. This rapid recovery has only been possible because this is an off-season election. We have sourced some of these materials such as the 326 electric generators and vehicles destroyed in the attack from neighbouring States. However, should we again lose vital materials and facilities, the ongoing preparations will be adversely affected, Mr Yakubu told security heads. The chairman nevertheless expressed the commissions wish to proceed with its preparation for the election but not at the detriment of the security of about 26,000 of its officials, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and university students who will be deployed for the election as well as losing some of its properties they are still struggling to put back after the last attacks. We wish to assure the people of Anambra State that the Commission is determined to proceed with the election as scheduled. To underscore this determination, the Commission is implementing two more activities on the timetable for the election in the next few days. The register of voters will be presented to political parties in Awka on Thursday 7th October 2021. On the same day, the Commission will publish the final list of candidates for the election, Mr Yakubu said. In reaction to the INEC boss address, National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, represented by Sanusi Galadima, said the upsurge of attacks in the state were carried out by the seperationist group in the region to stop the democratic process to promote its agenda. READ ALSO: He said the NSA has initiated steps and collaborative efforts with other security agencies in the country to stop the separationists attempts in the region ahead of the poll. I wish to state that NSA, is working assiduously with relevant security and intelligence agencies towards arresting the foregoing ugly trend and other associated security challenges in the South-East zone and beyond. This determination of the presidency has already been translated into action by the recent joint military operation code-named Golden Dawn in the South-east as well as other security operations across the country. This is in addition to the increasing collaboration between the federal and South-east governors towards addressing the underlying socio economic drivers of insecurity in the region, he said. International humanitarian organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has condemned the killing of one of its staff nurses by bandits in Zamfara State. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the nurse, Hassan Muhammadu, was killed on a highway on Saturday while returning to his work station in Shinkafi town. The bandits had opened fire on the vehicle he was travelling in on the Shinkafi Kaura Namoda road. Two other people killed in the attack were named as Dahiru Scamper and the driver of the vehicle, Musa Moriki. One other person, Shuaibu Buti, was injured and is receiving treatment at the General Hospital in Moriki. In a statement posted on its official Twitter handle, MSF expressed shock over the killing. MSF is shocked and deeply saddened by the news of the death of our colleague, Mohammed Hassan, a 37-year-old nurse employed in Shinkafi, Zamfara province in northwest Nigeria. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of our colleague, the statement as reported by HumAngle said. Shinkafi is one of the frontline local government areas witnessing incessant attacks by bandits. Despite the declaration of security measures by Governor Bello Matawalle, Shinkafi, Zurmi and Tsafe areas continue to witness attacks. The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has explained why it suspended its 63-day-old-strike which paralysed public health institutions across Nigeria leaving patients and their families stranded. The associations newly elected president, Godiya Ishaya, who confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES said the decision was taken after the unions National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Sunday through Monday morning. He said the suspension of the strike will take effect from 8 a.m. Wednesday when the doctors are expected to return to their duty posts. In a communique issued after Sundays meeting and obtained by this newspaper on Tuesday morning, the association said the decision was taken in order to give the federal government time to address its demands. The new development, the union said, will be reviewed in six weeks. After critical appraisal of the performances of both federal and state governments on all the issues that led to the ongoing strike, progress made in implementing previous agreements reached with the Federal Government, the NEC resolved by the votes of a simple majority, to suspend the total and indefinite strike action embarked upon on 2nd August 2021. Therefore, our members will resume full work on Wednesday 6th October 2021 by 8:00 am, the communique read. The communique was signed by the new NARD executive, Mr Ishaya, the president, Suleiman Ismail, the secretary general, and Alfa Yusuf, the publicity secretary. NARD elected Mr Ishaya and other new executive members at the Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the doctors held on September 25 at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) in Bauchi state. The strike PREMIUM TIMES reported how the doctors began a nationwide indefinite strike on August 2. The strike coincided with a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, leaving many worried that it could have serious consequences for the battle against the third wave of the pandemic. The doctors had protested the non-implementation of life insurance for those treating COVID-19 patients; the non-funding of their residency programme, hazard allowances and some unpaid arrears. Last year alone, medical practitioners were on strike three times over demands for allowances for treating COVID-19 patients and increment in basic salary. The doctors had also downed tools earlier in April over similar demands. NARD is also demanding the payment of COVID-19 treatment allowances in the absence of death-in-service insurance, having lost at least 19 of its members to the pandemic, while also protesting the shortage of manpower in public hospitals. The government had failed in several attempts to reach an agreement with the NARD, leading to threats such as activating the no work no pay policy which also yielded no fruit. As negotiations broke down, the government headed to the National Industrial Court where it secured an interim order which directed the doctors to resume work. But the adamant doctors refused to abide by the courts order. Communique According to the communique issued after Sundays meeting, the NARD National Executive Council (NEC) confirmed that the union has once again returned to the negotiation table. The NEC acknowledged several efforts made by the government towards resolving the lingering demands, saying payments of the Medical Residency Training Funds (MRTF) has commenced with the verified centres across the country. It also commended what it described as commendable level of resolutions of issues involving House Officers by the Medcal and Dental Council of Nigeria. The NEC noted that migration of members from the GIFMIS to the IPPIS platform has commenced and has almost been completed. The NEC commended the federal governments willingness to withdraw the case against NARD at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) and return to negotiation table in the interest of peace in the health sector. The NEC also noted the willingness of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to withdraw the obnoxious circular removing House Officers from the scheme of service, and also acknowledged the explanatory circular from Salaries, Income and Wages Commission in that regard, the communique noted. Meanwhile, the association also pointed out areas in their demands where no progress has been made. The communique added; The NEC observed with great concern the conditions of our members in various state government employments, especially Abia, Imo, Ekiti and Ondo States who are currently owed salaries for 21 months, six months, five months and three months respectively. The NEC noted the non-resolution of the following perennial issues: a. Non-Payment of the salary Shortfalls of 2014 to 2016 to her members despite several engagements with the federal government; National Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment; delay in payment of death in service insurance benefit to the next of kin of our fallen heroes despite their sacrifices to the country, and the non-payment of COVID-19 inducement allowance to some of our members in federal and most state tertiary health institutions. Resolutions The NEC urged the federal government to reciprocate the good faith and trust shown by the association by ensuring the conitinuous processing and payment of the ongoing 2021 MRTF, while ensuring that provision for 2022 is adequately captured in the 2022 budget; commencement of the process of withdrawing the court case against NARD as agreed, as a sign of goodwill. The communique also listed the commencement of the process of payment of the salary arrears of its members that were just migrated to IPPIS from GIFMIS platform. It urged the state governments to urgently pay arrears of salaries and allowances owed NARD members in their various states tertiary health institutions. It also urged the state governments to ensure domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) in their State Tertiary Health Institutions as done in Delta and Benue states. October 1 must therefore become the watershed for our leaders and citizens to move away from the unbridled quest for the acquisition of power to national economic development and industrialisation It will be most beneficial to Nigerians to see its leaders competing on development indices, rather than throwing banters on how to retain power at the national and sub-national levels. October 1 marked Nigerias 61st Independence Anniversary with a never-ending quest for a direction that gives the citizenry a definite and tangible value for their collective investment in the Nigerian state. At independence, the country, rising from the ashes of colonialism, looked forward to a great and prosperous nation, as a regional leader and a well respected global player in the international system. However, government and governance have been most focused on the acquisition and retention of power, with minimal attention to the industrial and economic development of our nation. With ravaging poverty, making the country the world poverty capital; intractable insecurity, making life worthless; religious and ethnic tension, tearing apart national leadership; corruption, ravaging every facet of our national life and inflicting a cancerous blow on the fabric of the country; and the insensitivity of the political elites to national malaise, etcetera etcetera, Nigeria has continued to regress on all fronts, thus leaving the country to fate and chance. Yet, the story can be reversed. With abundant human, natural and intangible resources, a focus on industrialisation by governments at all levels can change the narrative. A radical and surgical move away from the primordial and conservative approach to governance has the capacity to leapfrog the nation into harnessing its potentials to produce what we need, reduce dependence on imports, retain capital in Nigeria and nigerianise the commanding heights of the economy. What are we doing with our few agricultural crops? What are we doing with our crude oil? What should we do with our various solid minerals bauxite, limestone, gold, clay, gypsum, iron ore, salt, zinc, lead, Cassiterite (tin ore), dolomite, tantalite, marble, magnesite, kaolin, bentonite, oil and gas, uranium, lead, zinc, lignite, phosphate, glass, sand, lead, and lignite? Also, wolfram, columbite, uranium, magnesium, barite, coal, gemstone, to mention just a few of them scattered all over the country? Many of these endowments are either exploited by foreigners with local compradors, for exports as mere raw materials or illegally mined for a few unpatriotic business persons for their individual enrichment. We can recreate our sense of purpose by realising that, in the words of Dr Caesar Osaheni Iyayi in his new book The ABC of How To Industrialize Nigeria: We must take urgent steps to transform Nigeria from an agrarian society to a manufacturing economy. There is no alternative. It is bend or break. If we fail to industrialise, we will never be able to defend ourselves and shall therefore be at the mercy of foreign powers that dealt ruthlessly with our forefathers. If we fail to industrialise, then we are doomed to suffer another wave of slavery or extinction on African soil. He went further to posit, and accurately so, that there is no country in the world that was industrialised (developed) by foreigners. Consequently, I think that October 1 must therefore become the watershed for our leaders and citizens to move away from the unbridled quest for the acquisition of power to national economic development and industrialisation. I like to see more debates on industrialisation models and strategies in the country, rather than on power rotation. It will be most beneficial to Nigerians to see its leaders competing on development indices, rather than throwing banters on how to retain power at the national and sub-national levels. The people want to see what tangible progress, rather than manufactured indices, will translate to visible impact on their lives. It is the expectation of the people that government encourages more private Nigerian entrepreneurs to embark on industrial ventures by employing expatriates in areas of the deficit of technical expertise. Nigeria needs to industrialise. Our country needs to move away from the realm of potentials. Admirably, Mr President appreciated this in his Independence Day broadcast when he said, I fully understand the anxiety of many Nigerians on the inability of this country to go beyond a never-ending potential for becoming a great nation to an actually great one. Nigerians, a resilient, hardworking, skilful and dedicated people with a propensity for positive advancement in am enabling environment, need a pragmatic political leadership to lead the way. Unless and until we have such a leadership who breaks away from the culture of an unworkable governance model, extraneous matters of ethnicity and religion, and the unnecessary politicisation of service delivery, the building of industries, infrastructures and workable institutions will continue to be a mirage. Today, we are witnesses to how the pragmatic leadership of the late Lee Kuan Yew and his successors in Singapore moved the country from a third to the first world. Singapore, with little or no natural resources, developed its human resources to attain its current industrial status. Our survival as a nation depends on our ability and commitment to Industrialise Nigeria. We cannot wait any longer. The time is now! Samson Osagie, is a lawyer, governance and development expert. Dear Honourable Minister, Belated congratulations to you on your appointment as the new Minister of Power, Federal Republic of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari. Permit me to write you this open letter, which I hope would be well received by you and your team in the Ministry. The poor state of the power sector is well documented, thus there is no need to repeat the problems and challenges there. In your address upon assuming official duties as Minister, you mentioned that you were not a magician, but will be focusing on adding value to the work being done by the Ministry. As an informed Nigerian in the power sector, this is a realistic statement. I also know that the Minister for Power does not have full control of the power sector. One of your predecessors, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) was once famously quoted as saying that the Minister of Power does not have the power to provide electricity to Nigerians. I concur with that statement. As the Minister of Power, your duty is not to provide electricity to Nigerians. That is the role of the operators in the sector, namely the electricity generating companies (GenCos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the electricity distribution companies (DisCos), working in consonance. .the Ministry of Power needs to play a greater role in the sector. Under your watch, the new focus of the Ministry of Power should be to lead the process of policy formulation, coordination and implementation within the power sector. The agencies of government in the power sector such as the NERC, NBET, etc., and the respective operators in the NESI, would as such be more effective in the discharge of their statutory and market duties. However, and as you may already know, the primary role of the Minister of Power in a privatised and regulated electricity market is policy formulation, coordination and implementation within the power sector. Unfortunately, policy making and policy implementation in the power sector are uncoordinated and rather chaotic. Aside the Ministry of Power, there are several ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs), as well as government officials who make policies and policy pronouncements in the power sector from powerful officials within the Presidency and the Office of the Vice President, to organs of government such as the National Council on Privatisation and National Economic Council. Chairmen and members of the respective power committees in the National Assembly are also not left out. Even the Central Bank of Nigeria, statutorily tasked with regulating the monetary landscape and ensuring stability of exchange rates, has become a key policy maker in the power sector. Foreign NGOs, international donor agencies and multilateral institutions are also actively involved in policy formulation and implementation (in the name of providing advisory and government assistance to different agencies of government). Many times, these government policy makers issue conflicting policies and policy signals that stymie the sector. Consequently, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has been saddled with the onerous and unenviable task of playing its statutory role as the regulator, and also coordinating the confusing policy landscape in the power sector. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), which is where many of the policy initiatives and legal structures in the power sector were birthed, is complicit in its inability to initiate and formulate sound and developmental policies, post-privatisation of the power sector. Under the BPEs watch, government policy initiatives that would engender better management and corporate governance in many DisCos are non-existent, or even resisted by the BPE. It is curious that the BPE has only one sole director representing the interests of the Federal Government and 200 million Nigerians on the respective boards of the eleven DisCos. Policy suggestions for the Ministry of Power Honourable Minister, I have taken the liberty to highlight a few policy suggestions, which if implemented faithfully, would set you apart from your predecessors and improve the fortunes of the power sector for all Nigerians: Set minimum capitalisation requirements for market participants in the NESI Capital is essential for any business, and the importance of adequate capitalisation by market participants in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) cannot be overstated. Many market operators in the NESI lack adequate capitalisation to support their operations. Specifically, DisCos are in financial distress. Many (if not all) DisCos require urgent capital injection to support their operations. Same with GenCos, in view of the shortfalls in market revenues. The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET) has negative capitalisation. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is on perpetual life support by the Federal Government. Given the inadequate capitalisation of market participants in the NESI, the Federal Government and the CBN continue to inject scarce public capital into a privatised power sector. This has created a fiscal burden on the Federal Government, and also monetary pressures on the economy. How can the Ministry of Power under your watch solve this challenge? You will recall that Professor Charles Soludo, within his first 100 days as the CBN governor, increased the minimum capital requirement for banks from two billion naira, earlier set by his immediate predecessor, to twenty-five billion naira. This was a 1,250 per cent increase in the minimum capital requirement for deposit money banks. That singular policy decision, as well as the rigid implementation of the banking re-capitalisation policy by the CBN, increased Nigerias GDP more than ten-fold, and was the bulwark that saved the Nigerian financial markets from the collapse of the global financial markets in 2008/2009. Post the banking re-capitalisation policy, Nigerian banks are able to participate in large ticket financial transactions, and they also access capital from the international capital and domestic markets. The banking re-capitalisation policy propelled Nigerias capital markets to Africas biggest capital markets by size. The CBN also used the effectiveness of the recapitalisation process to to fine tune the performance of banks in Nigeria (Enya Emori, Stephen Nkamare, Ikenna Nneji, 2014). A similar minimum capitalisation policy should be replicated in the power sector to address the liquidity challenges there. Under the right capitalisation policy and regulatory framework, there is significant international and domestic capital seeking to invest in DisCos, brownfield GenCos, TCN and even NBET. The benefits of setting minimum capitalisation requirements for operators in the NESI are numerous. Specifically, a capitalisation policy for DisCos will inject long term patient capital into DisCos, potentially bring in new board and management teams, and enhance corporate governance practices that would improve service delivery across the power sector. It could lead to mergers and acquisition (M&A) activities in the power sector, to the benefit of the Nigerian capital markets. Most importantly, it would reduce or eliminate governments fiscal interventions in the sector and lead to it being more viable. Under your leadership, the Ministry of power should spearhead the development and implementation of this important policy. The rigid implementation of a minimum capitalisation policy in the NESI would be a lasting legacy to the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. The unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is long overdue. It is imperative now, more than ever before, to conclude the unbundling process, as it would bring about more efficiency in the transmission segment of the power sector value chain. Permit me to say that the unbundling of the TCN is a low hanging fruit for you. Unbundle TCN and develop policy framework for the establishment of merchant transmission lines under PPP arrangements. The unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is long overdue. It is imperative now, more than ever before, to conclude the unbundling process, as it would bring about more efficiency in the transmission segment of the power sector value chain. Permit me to say that the unbundling of the TCN is a low hanging fruit for you. Under your leadership, this should now be concluded and the new unbundled structures operationalised within the remaining time left for the Buhari administration. A key suggestion is the development of a policy framework for merchant transmission lines constructed and operated under PPP arrangements. The development and concessioning of merchant transmission lines is a more preferred route for the impending privatisation of TCN. The market failures inherent in the wholesale privatisation of DisCos, have demonstrated that a wholesale privatisation of TCN being pushed by the BPE, will be disastrous to the power sector. Development of market competition in electricity distribution The perception that DisCos have exclusive monopoly rights to distribute and sell electricity within their license areas, is a misconception not supported under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPRSRA). The EPSRA does not in any way grant market monopoly status to licensed electricity distribution networks. Specifically, Section 62 (2) of the EPSRA makes provisions for other electricity distribution entities to operate within licensed DisCo network areas, provided the distribution capacity operated by these entities are within the capacity limits which the NERC may determine from time to time. By implication, the license terms of DisCo licenses do not support the present monopoly arrangement of DisCos to distribute and sell electricity to customers within their network areas. Regrettably, DisCos presently operate as market monopolies within their geographical network areas. As such, DisCos have abusive market powers, in clear contradiction of section 24, sub-section 2(b) of the EPRSRA. In the absence of any policy framework to allow for the establishment and operations of competitive electricity distribution entities, the NERC has had to innovate with several regulations, such as the Eligible Customer Regulations, the Independent Electricity Distribution Network (IEDN) regulations, and the franchising and mini-grid regulations, amongst others. These regulations, which are indirect ways of liberalising electricity distribution, have unfortunately not yielded significant successes. The lack of success of these regulations may be attributable to the fact that they were not designed to create any competition, or competitive entities within the existing electricity distribution networks. The Federal Government has also intervened in the quasi-liberalisation of electricity distribution through the activities and initiatives of the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC). However, these regulations and interventions are a confirmation of the urgent need for a deliberate government policy that would create competitive entities in the electricity distribution segment, so as to improve electricity access to Nigerians. Developing market competition in the electricity distribution segment will require very deliberate government policies to establish/license new and competitive electricity distribution entities that may operate in under-served and unserved areas within existing (successor PHCN) DisCo networks. Under your leadership, the Ministry of Power should develop a policy framework that would lead to the licensing of new electricity distribution entities whose operations would cover smaller geographical sites within the present areas served by the existing DisCos. Allowing state governments develop their electricity laws thus attracts more investments into the power sector, and is beneficial to the Federal Governments goal of accelerating electricity access to 80 million Nigerians who have no access to electricity. It will also free up scarce budgetary resources for the Federal Government to re-direct to other critical areas of the economy in need of governments intervention At the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), President Buhari committed to bringing electricity to five million unserved households by 2030. I dare say this target can be achieved within a two-year timeframe if such policy framework and appropriate regulations, as described above, are implemented by your Ministry. Push for the amendment of the EPSRA to allow States to enact their own electricity Laws Electricity is listed under the concurrent legislative list of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which, in summary, provides for state houses of assembly to make laws on electricity within the different states. One important policy intervention under your watch should be the amendment of the relevant sections of the EPRSA to implement, forthwith, the provisions of section 14 of the concurrent legislative schedule of the 1999 Constitution. Due to the vertical structure of the power sector, since the days of the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) down to NEPA and PHCN, the Federal Government has always assumed control of the sector, and continues to do same even post-privatisation of the sector. This is not sustainable. Thus, the need to now create a policy framework backed by an amended EPSRA for state governments to implement their own electricity laws locally. While states do not need the EPSRA to be amended for state houses of Assembly to pass electricity laws, amending the EPSRA as a federal law will establish the national framework within which state electricity laws can complement the provisions of the EPSRA. Allowing state governments develop their electricity laws thus attracts more investments into the power sector, and is beneficial to the Federal Governments goal of accelerating electricity access to 80 million Nigerians who have no access to electricity. It will also free up scarce budgetary resources for the Federal Government to re-direct to other critical areas of the economy in need of governments intervention, such as infrastructure, secondary and tertiary education, and healthcare services, etc. In this regard, the Ministry of Power should actively liaise and partner with States such as Ondo, Lagos and Edo, that have already started, or may have concluded the process of enacting their local electricity laws. It will be to the credit and legacy of the Buhari administration should states establish their electricity laws, which would accelerate electricity access to 80 million Nigerians. Conclusion In closing, let me say that policy formulation is the foundation for law making and regulatory process. Thus any desired improvement in the power sector must start with the right policy formulation and implementation. As we approach the eight-year post-privatisation anniversary of the power sector, the Ministry of Power needs to play a greater role in the sector. Under your watch, the new focus of the Ministry of Power should be to lead the process of policy formulation, coordination and implementation within the power sector. The agencies of government in the power sector such as the NERC, NBET, etc., and the respective operators in the NESI, would as such be more effective in the discharge of their statutory and market duties. Consequently, even though you are not a magician, I would urge you to be magical and revolutionary in developing and implementing policies that would transform the power sector for the benefit of all Nigerians. Godspeed to you and may the power sector succeed. Odion Omonfoman is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of New Hampshire Capital Ltd. He can be reached on orionomon@outlook.com Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, on Monday, appealed to humanitarian and development organisations executing projects in the state, to patronise indigenous construction companies to ensure quality work. Mr Buni, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Mamman Mohammed, made the plea when he received in audience the Country Director, Qatar Charity Organisation, Hamda El-Sayyid. He said local contractors are familiar with the terrain, compared to their foreign counterparts who, in some cases, were scared of going to project sites in the hinterland. To avoid having your projects abandoned and scattered across the state, you should please give preference to the local contractors to ensure completion of the projects for the benefit of the communities. The added advantage is that there will be a trickle-down effect of the resources injected into the projects. This will contribute to economic recovery, empowerment of the local contractors and communities who are also victims of insurgency, he said. The governor commended the organisation for complementing government efforts towards the resettlement, rehabilitation and recovery of displaced communities in the state. The government and people of Yobe State appreciate the Qatar Organisation for supporting our post insurgency stabilisation programme, he said. Mr Buni said the organisations support was critical as the government alone cannot solve the myriad of infrastructural challenges created by a decade-long insurgency. The governor assured the organisation of his administrations support and cooperation to execute its projects effectively. In his remarks, Mr El-Sayyid said the organisation was executing over 400 projects across the state. He listed the projects to include construction of schools, hospitals, mosques and boreholes, adding that the projects were aimed at providing succour to the people. According to Mr El-Sayyid, the organisation has also profiled over 130 orphans for support in the state. (NAN) The police have confirmed the arrest of seven suspects linked to the killing of the leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State, Shuaibu Yohana. Mr. Yohanna, a pastor, was killed by a mob a few days ago. CAN leaders in the state had demanded justice on the incident. The incident started on September 22 when Sabo Idris reportedly killed his elder brothers wife, Zainab Balaniya, following a quarrel. Mr Yohanna had reportedly intervened in the matter but was accused of hiding Mr Idris, who is a Christian convert. The mob lynched him and also burnt down his church, house and school. READ ALSO: Speaking to BBC Hausa Monday evening and monitored by Premium Times, the police spokesperson in Kano, Abdullahi Kiyawa, said the police had arrested six suspects on the spot. In the course of investigation, they said they suspected the pastor of hiding someone who killed his brothers wife. Another has since reported himself to us, making them seven in number that are connected to the killing of the pastor, Mr Kiyawa said. He added that the case has been transferred to the homicide department at the police command headquarters in Bompai, Kano. This is a serious case that you cannot just hastily conclude. You need evidence and we have made headway in the investigation, Mr Kiyawa said. On his part, a CAN leader, Samuel Adeyemi, called on the state government to compensate the association. The school they burnt, his house that was burnt, we want government to ensure that we are compensated. It is either the government pay us or force those who committed the offence to pay. This will go a long way in convincing us that the government is serious, Mr Adeyemi said. The governors of Nigerias South-east are holding an emergency security meeting in Enugu, Enugu State, apparently to discuss the increase in deadly gun attacks in the region. Those present at the meeting at the time of filing this report were Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, who is hosting the meeting, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, and Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State. Abia State is represented by the Deputy Governor, Ude Oko Chukwu. National Assembly members from the region, former governors, and a former chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, traditional and religious leaders are also attending the meeting which is held behind closed doors in the Government House, Enugu. Participants in the meeting were said to have observed a minute of silence in honour of Nigerians, especially those in the South-east, who have lost their lives because of the insecurity around the country. Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late boss of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dora Akunyili, was brutally killed by gunmen in Anambra State a few days ago. There is suspicion that the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, is responsible for Mr Akunyilis killing, even though the group has denied its involvement. Two days after the killing, some unidentified gunmen launched a deadly attack at a divisional police station in the state. The agitation for an independent state, Biafra, championed by IPOB, has led to killings and destruction in the South-east region. Anambra is scheduled to hold its governorship election on 6 November . The South-east governors had agreed to set up a joint security outfit, Ebube Agu, to check the insecurity, but not much has been achieved in this regard in the different states in the region. The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, has deployed a new commissioner of police to Anambra State, after a spate of deadly gun attacks in the South-east state. The new police commissioner is Echeng Echeng. He takes over from Tony Olofu who has been deployed to the force headquarters in Abuja, according to a statement issued on Tuesday by the force spokesperson, Frank Mba. The IGP has also ordered the deployment of a detachment of NPF Special Forces to Anambra State to bolster and complement the ongoing peace-building efforts of the Nigeria Police Operation Restore Peace in Anambra State, Mr Mba said in the statement. The statement said the police chief, Mr Baba, is concerned with the attacks in Anambra, and has ordered the new commissioner to mobilise both kinetic and non-kinetic law enforcement and crime fighting approaches to reverse the negative trend, reclaim public spaces from hoodlums and restore public peace in the State. Mr Echeng, before his deployment to Anambra, was the commissioner of police in Bayelsa State. He is said to be an experienced peace-builder, with extensive training in peace support operations around the world. The deployment of the new commissioner came a few days after Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late boss of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Dora Akunyili, was brutally killed by gunmen in Anambra State a few days ago. There is suspicion that IPOB is responsible for Mr Akunyilis killing, even though the group has denied its involvement. Two days after the killing, some gunmen launched a deadly attack on a divisional police station in the state. Meanwhile, the South-east governors on Tuesday vowed to put an end to IPOB sit-at-home order in the region. The meeting condemned the sit-at-home orders, which are mostly issued by our people in diaspora who do not feel the pains, the meeting resolved that Governors and all (the) people of the South-east do everything within the law to ensure that there is no further sit-at-home in the South-east and that the people are allowed to freely move about in the zone, the governors said in the communique issued after an emergency security meeting in Enugu. Four persons were feared killed and another seriously injured when an ancient majestic Odan tree fell to a heavy windstorm in the Saabo area of Oyo town on Monday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ancient tree provided shelter for butchers, mini buses and commercial motorcycle operators with its far-spreading branches at a popular foodstuff market in Oyo town. Akeebu Alarape, chairman, Saabo Market, Oyo town, told NAN that the tree was about 100 years old. Mr Alarape said four different sawyers invited to cut the tree did not succeed until a fifth sawyer was able to cut parts of it for rescue operation to begin. A resident trader in the area, Kareemot Ejide, 65, said she had known the tree since her childhood days. According to Akeem Ojo, Head Operations of the Western Nigeria Security Network, Amotekun in Atiba Local Council Development Area, the tree fell at about 6 p.m. A female student of Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, a woman with a baby strapped to her back and a boy she was holding were pulled out from under the tree. One person was seriously injured and was taken to a private hospital in the area, while motorcycle and mini bus parks under the tree were damaged, Ojo said. He added that Amotekuns presence at the scene was to prevent rioting and looting of goods in the market. Seun Oguntona, chairman, Sooro Local Council Development Area, Oke-Isiwin, Oyo, confirmed to NAN that those affected were people who took shelter under the tree during a heavy downpour. He added that those trading under the tree would be relocated. He urged people in the area to always stay in-doors and not to take shelter under trees when it rained. He debunked the rumour that the tree was fetish, adding that the person that planted the tree died 30 years ago. Mr Oguntona said that though the man was a Sango traditional religion faithful, he planted the tree to provide shade for people. Efforts to get the Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Adewale Osifeso, to react were not successful as he did not pick his phone calls. (NAN) The Ekiti State House of Assembly on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti screened and confirmed Justice Oyewole Adeyeye as the substantive Chief Judge of the state. His confirmation followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters, submitted by its Chairman, Tajudeen Akingbolu, (APC Ekiti West Constituency) during plenary led by the Speaker, Funminiyi Afuye. Mr Akingbolu, while reading the report of his committee, said the committee found the new chief judge worthy and fit for the job, calling on members to expeditiously confirm him. Earlier, Mr Afuye had read a letter dated 4 October from Governor Kayode Fayemi requesting the confirmation of the Acting-Chief Judge following the retirement of the former Chief Judge, Ayodeji Daramola. Also, the speaker read another letter from the governor on the Revised Appropriation Bill, 2021. Mr Adeyeye, while addressing the house, promised to ensure that the justice administration would be given its necessary attention. Also, the house during Tuesdays plenary summon the state Commissioner for Works, Sola Adebayo, on the ways out of the deplorable state of the roads across Ekiti. Earlier, the Deputy Speaker, Hakeem Jamiu, called the attention of the house to the deplorable state of the roads as a result of the influx of heavy duty trucks into the state. Commenting, the speaker suggested that Ekiti roads should be tolled in order to raise revenue for their rehabilitation. The lawmakers also unanimously passed a bill to ensure food security through active participation of political and career officeholders in agriculture, 2021. The bill is sponsored by Mr Jamiu, (APC, Irepodun/Ifelodun Constituency 2). This followed the submission of the report of the House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development by its Chairman, Martins Ojo, (APC, Ijero Constituency). Among bills which passed through the first readings were: A Bill for a Law to Provide for the of the Registration and Regulation of the Activities of Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Spare Parts Dealers within the State and other matters connected therewith,2021 and Ekiti Regulation Approval Bill, 2021. Another one is A Bill to Establish the Ekiti Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency to Control and Regulate the Erection and Installation of Masts and Towers,2021 and Prohibition of Open Defecation in Ekiti Bill,2021. (NAN) MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Philippines Department of Tourism celebrates the history and culture of the country by developing new circuits among its regions. It is also focusing on standardizing health and safety protocols for all tourism areas as the country gets ready to welcome the rest of the world with its famous warm hospitality. This year, the Philippines celebrates its pivotal role in the Quincentennial commemoration of the first circumnavigation of the world by navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan. He arrived in 1521 and discovered a thriving civilization. Many of these ancient cultural traditions are still in practice today together with the influences that have been introduced by other cultures. This has made the Philippines an interesting destination where various cultures from different eras come together. "We have different types of attractions and activities to suit our travelers' interests once international borders for travel reopens. Whether it is nature trips to our beautiful beaches and mountains, or cultural immersions in our regions that have rich traditions unique to our country, there is something new to enjoy at every visit," says Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat. With the country's rich heritage and culture, sites of interest abound all over the country. Many of these historic places can be visited conveniently in one city. Here are some places to visit on your visit to the Philippines: Ilocos Up North, the influences of the Spanish era abound, from the Baroque churches such as the San Agustin Church in Paoay, Ilocos Norte which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in the 17th century, it was also named as a National Cultural Treasure in 1973. The Museo Ilocos Norte gives visitors a glimpse of life in the region's diverse cultures with displays of Ilocano, Igorot and Itneg traditional clothing, household utensils, ceremonial objects and more. The museum is housed in an old tabacalera, or cigar factory, with tobacco being one of main agricultural industries of Ilocos. Vigan is a place to visit for a culture trip. The Bantay Church in Ilocos Sur is a must-see with its bell tower structure that also served as a lookout point against pirates still standing to this day. The whole street of Calle Crisologo is another UNESCO World Heritage Site in the North, with its old-world charm of cobblestone streets and heritage structures transporting tourists back in time. Vigan is also where one can watch the traditional art of pottery making at the Pagburnayan, while travelers can watch locals, in Brgy. Camangaan still in Vigan, weave the local cotton fabric called Inabel on their hand looms. Cebu One can find remnants from Ferdinand Magellan's landing in the Philippines at Cebu, with a monument called Magellan's to commemorate the first baptism held in Philippine shores, and the Sto. Nino Basilica across the street that houses the image of the Child Jesus that was gifted by Magellan to Hara Humamay and Rajah Humabon of Cebu when she was baptized into Christianity. One can also visit the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral to view its Sino influences such as carved reliefs of phoenixes and the two dogs standing guard at the entrance. Plaza Hamabar is named after Rajah Humabon. Here, one can find a statue of the Cebuano Chieftain as he was described by Magellan's chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. The Cebu Heritage Monument is a tableau of concrete, bronze, brass and steel showing events and structures related to the history of Cebu. The Colon Obelisk can be found on Colon Street, which is said to be the oldest street in the Philippines and, as it is now still an important avenue for commerce. An imposing structure of stone, Fort San Pedro was built as a fortress against Muslim raiders by the first Spanish Governor General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and it is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. For those looking to experience Cebuano arts and crafts, there are tours to the Alegre Guitar Factory and the furniture makers such as the atelier of Kenneth Cobonpue and the workshop of Dedon furniture. Other cultural stops are the Casa Gorodo Museum which is a National Historical Landmark with its glimpse into the way of life of a Chinese-Filipino family in the Parian District, 1730 Jesuit Museum or Parian Museum which is the old retreat house of the Jesuit Order in Cebu, Museo Sugbo, the former Carcel de Cebu, which houses pre-colonial artifacts and Chinese wares, and the Carmen Copper Museum and Heritage Center which presents the history of the copper mining industry in the country. Greater Manila Area Corregidor Island served as a fortress of defense during the Spanish period because of its strategic location near Manila. During World War 2, it was used as a garrison against the Japanese forces by Filipino and American soldiers. Its ruins can be visited today as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the battlefield. The Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo Shrine in Cavite was the home of the first Philippine president. It was here that the Filipino flag was formally unfurled for the first time and where the National Anthem was also played as a sign of independence from Spanish rule. In the neighboring Cavite town of Maragondon, stands the Roderico Reyes Ancestral House, better known as the Bonifacio Trial House where the leader of the Katipunan revolution Andres Bonifacio was tried and found guilty of treason by the government established by Gen. Aguinaldo. For artful pursuits, one can go to Tagaytay and visit the Museo Orlina of modern glass sculptor Ramon Orlina and the Puzzle Mansion of enthusiast Georgina Gil-Lacuna who holds the Guinness World Record of having the most number of completed jigsaw puzzles on display. In Angono, which is known as a hometown of artists, one can find the studio home of Carlos "Botong" Francisco, the second National Artist for Visual Arts who specialized in capturing rural folk life. He was also the one who is credited for discovering the country's oldest form of art, the Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs that are in a rock shelter just outside his town. Manila Fort Santiago in Intramuros was a Spanish fortress where the Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal was incarcerated before his execution at Bagumbayan, now Rizal Park. The fort, with its stone ramparts still intact, is now a public park with remnants of history on display in a museum celebrating Rizal's life. The Baluarte de San Diego is another part of Intramuros that was part of its stone fortifications. Crossways and a staircase lead visitors to where cannons were strategically placed as protection against invaders. For more historical content, tourists can visit the Casa Manila Museum which is a replica of a typical Spanish colonial mansion furnished with items of Philippine, Chinese and European origins. The National Museum, houses some of the country's most important works of art from Juan Luna's Spoliarium which won Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid to the works of contemporary artists. The San Agustin Church in Intramuros is the oldest church in the Philippines. It exhibits remarkable features such as Baroque altars, wall buttresses and ceiling paintings in the tromp l'oeil style. Manila's Rizal Park is a popular tourist spot for locals and international travelers for its wide open spaces and its attractions that include a dancing fountain and a bas relief map of the country. There is also a Monument to mark where Dr. Rizal was buried and a stature in honor of Rajah Lapu-Lapu, the country's first hero, who defeated Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan. Western Visayas Bacolod is known for its sugar plantations and the heritage houses nearby that illustrate how the hacienderos lived during the Spanish era. Among the houses that one can visit are Balay Negrense which was built in 1898 by Victor Gaston, son of Frenchman Yves Leopold Germain Gaston who is considered the first to popularize sugarcane cultivation on a commercial scale in the region, and The Ruins, which are what's left of a mansion that Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson built for his wife Maria Braga Lacson after it was razed in a fire. For a taste of heritage, stop by El Ideal, the city's oldest bakery for a snack of their baked specialties that include banadas, kinamunsil, masa podrida, lubid-lubid, biscocho de cana, and biscocho prinsipe. Eastern Visayas The region is rich with history and culture. One of the new circuits that have been developed is the Sinugdan Quincentennial Tour that brings travelers on a pilgrimage to seven heritage stone churches: Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church and the St. Isidore the Laborer Chapel, both in Baybay City; the Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion Church in Hilongos, Leyte; Saint Joseph the Worker Church in Matalom, Leyte; the Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral in Maasin City; the Sto. Nino Church in Malitbog; and the St. John the Baptist Church in San Juan, all in Southern Leyte. The tour also brings tourists to other attractions in the area, such as San Pedro and San Pablo Islands in Hinunangan or Molopolo - Sta. Cruz Fish and Bird Sanctuary in Macrohon before heading to Limasawa Island where the historic first Catholic Mass in Asia was held on March 30, 1521. Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously promised Filipinos, "I shall return", upon retracting American troops in World War II. He returned on October 20, 1944 and his landing on the shores of Palo, Leyte has been marked with a bronze monument. The Santo Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum which was built by the late President Marcos in his wife Imelda's hometown in Tacloban is a repository of her priceless art collections and religious relics. For a nature trip, visitors can head to the Sohoton Caves in Basey, Samar for a river cruise that takes them through lush vegetation before entering a cathedral-like cave with various stalactite and stalagmite formations. A stop at Basey brings tourists to a village of mat-weavers who use leaves that have been dried and dyed before being woven into intricate and colorful patterns. Discover the Philippines' tangible treasures The island souvenirs of the Philippines are unlike any other in the world. Here one can find souvenirs that showcase the rich and diverse culture of the country. Rattan is one of the indigenous materials that are used for traditional packaging, from shopping bags called bayong and boxes that are used to store items in the home. Banig (woven mats) are another Filipino woven product, used for sleeping or as bags and home accents. Filipino pastimes include playing street games, such as trumpo (wooden tops) that children use to battle it out to see whose top spins the longest. Music is another big part of Filipino culture, with instruments like the ukulele or the kubing (jaw harp) playing important roles in traditional celebrations. For a more modern take on the country's culture, one can try Paradise Mango Rum that uses the sweet flavors of the Philippine mangoes in a potent drink, and the Trese komiks on which the popular Netflix show on Filipino folklore is based. Safe journeys As the country prepares its myriad travel attractions, the Philippines Department of Tourism is ensuring a safe visit via standardized health and hygiene protocols in its destinations. The Tourism Department has been awarded a SafeTravels Stamp by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in recognition of its adoption of "health and hygiene global standardized protocols" that will ensure safe travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, conducts thorough inspection and assessment, to ensure that only those who are accredited can open and receive guests. The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is constantly updating its protocols to safeguard Filipinos and foreign nationals who are traveling to the Philippines. To learn more about the Philippines' new and exciting adventures as well as safety and travel updates, visit www.morefunawaits.com/ and www.morefunawaits.com/ (for Turkey) and www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.co.uk (for Italy) or download the Travel Philippines app at the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. For photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1svdNtcrPwCrv_UaEkxJs410BFdyppSsp?usp=sharing SOURCE Philippines Department of Tourism Stefano Bolognese, Sanpellegrino International Business Unit Director: "We are excited to welcome the international Gastronomy community to Milan. One year ago, we launched the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy, as an inspiring community where talented young chefs connect with the most influential members of the gastronomic world, and are empowered with a plan of education, mentoring and experience opportunities. The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy competition is one of the key activities of the project and the primary tool that we have to reinforce our commitment: stimulate and nurture meaningful creativity, able to push a continuous evolution within not only the Gastronomy sector, but also the whole society. It's what has made the Grand Finale, that we are going to live together, such an important date for us and in the global culinary calendar, too." THE COMPETITION SO FAR AND THE FINALISTS This edition of the competition was more impressive than ever, seeing applicants from all over the world to take part. With S.Pellegrino's commitment towards gender balance and inclusivity, the percentage of women registered among the candidates increased to more than 10% since 2015. All over the globe, 135 young chefs passed the preliminary selections and took part in live cook-offs in front of international jury panels from the participating countries of the 12 regions. The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy regional winners arrive at the Grand Finale after a mentorship path during which, thanks to the support of a Senior Chef, they were able to refine their signature dishes. The 12 regions and the respective S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy winners are: Jose Lorenzo Morales , Melbourne, Australia , Pacific Region "Analogy" Kevin Wong Tat Mun , Singapore , Singapore , Asia Region "Celebration of a Duck" Albert Manso Miras , Barcelona, Spain , Iberian & Mediterranean Region "Quail and Wine" Cynthia Xrysw Ruelas Diaz, Guadalajara, Mexico , Latin America Region "Milpa y Mar" Levente Koppany, Budapest, Hungary , Central Europe Region "Rainbow trout with chervil, forest mushrooms and wild garlic" Vitalii Savelev , Moscow , Russian Federation , Euro Asia Region "Black Sea Rapa with mushrooms grown on lemon peels" Alexandre Alves Pereira , Paris, France , North West Europe Region "Green asparagus, sardine, ground ivy" Paul Thinus Prinsloo, Cape Town, South Africa , Africa & Middle East Region "Bouillabaisse 2.0" Alessandro Bergamo , Milan, Italy , Italy & South East Region "Better an egg today or a chicken tomorrow?" Rafael Covarrubias , Oakville , Canada , North America Region "Mole Negro spiced muscovy duck, preserved prune, and winter roots" Jerome Ianmark Calayag, Stockholm, Sweden , UK & North Europe Region "Humble vegetables" Victor/ Zhi Cheng Wang , Shanghai, China , Greater China Region "What is soy in China " THE SEVEN SAGES & THE S.PELLEGRINO YOUNG CHEF ACADEMY FORUM At the Grand Finale, the selected young chefs will cook in front of the Seven Sages, an esteemed jury panel made up of seven world renowned chefs, who will judge their dishes to find the final winner of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2019-2021 competition. The prestigious line-up of big-name chefs will be composed by seven chefs from around the world: Enrico Bartolini, Manu Buffara, Andreas Caminada, Mauro Colagreco, Gavin Kaysen, Clare Smyth and Pim Techamuanvivit. The jurors will be judging the finalists based on three key attributes technical skills, creativity, and personal belief as well as the candidates' potential to create positive change in society through food. The chef who displays these attributes most successfully will be crowned the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2021 winner. In addition, this year's culinary journey will also host a one-day S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Brain Food Forum curated by Fine Dining Lovers, the online leading voice in gastronomy by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna. "Brain Food" will host Massimo Bottura, Virgilio Martinez and the Seven Sages as speakers. Sharing their experiences and opinions, the guests will inspire all the young chefs and real food enthusiasts who attend the event, with ideas and reflections related to the world of gastronomy. THE THREE ADDITIONAL AWARDS This year's competition introduced three new awards to reflect S.Pellegrino's belief in and support of the transformative power of gastronomy and its impact beyond the kitchen. These awards were available at the Regional level and all of the 36 winners of these awards will also be invited to attend the Grand Finale, affording them another opportunity to network with some of the biggest names in gastronomy from around the globe. The three awards that complement the existing S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy award are: 1. Acqua Panna Award for Connection in Gastronomy This award will be voted for by the 12 mentors, one from each region, and will go to the chef whose signature dish best reflects the perfect connection between different cultures. The purpose of the award is to emphasize the growing trend in global gastronomy of "Chefs without Borders". 2. S.Pellegrino Award for Social Responsibility This award will be decided by an internationally recognized voice on sustainability in food, selecting the chef who puts forward the dish that best represents the principle of food as a result of socially responsible practices. 3. Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award This award will be voted for by the online Fine Dining Lovers community, foodies, chefs and fans of gastronomy all over the world, and will be awarded to the young chef who best represents his/her personal belief within his/her dish. S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Grand Finale 2021 highlights will be available on S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy and Fine Dining Lovers channels. To discover more about the exciting talent search please visit: https://www.sanpellegrinoyoungchefacademy.com/ . About S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna S.Pellegrino, Acqua Panna and Sanpellegrino Italian Sparkling Drinks are international trademarks of Sanpellegrino S.p.A., which is based in Milan, Italy. Distributed in over 150 countries through branches and distributors on all five continents, these products represent quality excellence by virtue of their origins and perfectly interpret Italian style worldwide as a synthesis of pleasure, health and well-being. Founded in 1899, Sanpellegrino S.p.A. is the leading company in the beverage sector in Italy with its range of mineral waters, non-alcoholic aperitifs, drinks and iced teas. As a major Italian producer of mineral water, it has always been committed to enhancing this primary good for the planet and works responsibly and passionately to ensure that this resource has a secure future. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1640034/S_Pellegrino_12_Finalists.jpg SOURCE Sanpellegrino Group NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC), the leading global Jewish advocacy organization, congratulates Fernando Lottenberg on his appointment as the first Organization of American States (OAS) Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism. Creation of the position was initially announced by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro at the AJC 2021 Global Forum in June. "Secretary General Luis Almagro has long shown groundbreaking leadership in the global fight against antisemitism," said AJC CEO David Harris. "We are delighted he chose Fernando Lottenberg, one of Latin America's foremost Jewish leaders and a dear friend, to fill this critical post, and look forward to working with the commissioner in fighting antisemitism throughout the region." Lottenberg served as president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Brazil (CONIB) from 2014 to 2020, and currently serves on AJC's Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs (BILLA) Board of Trustees. CONIB became an AJC international partner during his presidency. One of Brazil's leading constitutional lawyers, he is an outspoken advocate for promoting democracy and opposing hate speech. "We are confident that our hemisphere needs to be adequately prepared to face the growing threats of antisemitism in the same way that many other nations and democratic international bodies have done so," Almagro told the worldwide audience participating in AJC's signature annual event. Similar posts have been created in recent years in Europe, Canada, and the United States. "The Commissioner's main responsibilities will be to promote adoption and implementation by all countries in the region of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, and to vigorously engage states and civil society organizations to raise awareness of the need to remain alert to all forms of antisemitism," Almagro said. Lottenberg' s appointment is the latest action by Secretary General Almagro to mobilize countries across the region to fight antisemitism. At the 2019 AJC Global Forum Almagro announced that the OAS was adopting the IHRA working definition on antisemitism and would urge its 35 member states to do the same. He announced at the 2021 AJC Global Forum that the OAS had applied for IHRA membership as an institutional partner. In addition, the OAS and AJC are working on a Latin American version of the Handbook for the Practical Use of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism published by the European Commission in January. The OAS is the oldest and most prominent multilateral organization in the Western Hemisphere. It comprises 35 member countries. AJC was granted NGO status at the OAS in 2005. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America Corporation announced today that it will redeem on October 21, 2021 all $500,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its Floating Rate Senior Notes, due October 2022 (CUSIP No. 06051GFY0) (the "Floating Rate Notes"), and all $2,000,000,000 principal amount outstanding of its 2.503% Senior Notes, due October 2022 (CUSIP No. 06051GFZ7) (the "Fixed Rate Notes" and, together with the Floating Rate Notes, the "Senior Notes"). The redemption price for each series of the Senior Notes will be equal to 100% of the principal amount of such series, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the redemption date of October 21, 2021. Interest on each series of the Senior Notes will cease to accrue on the redemption date. Payment of the redemption price for the Senior Notes will be made through the facilities of The Depository Trust Company. The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A. is the trustee and paying agent for the Senior Notes. Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 66 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,300 retail financial centers, approximately 17,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with approximately 41 million active users, including approximately 32 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Forward-looking statements Certain information contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are not guarantees of future results or performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions difficult to predict or beyond our control. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and in any of our subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made. For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom. Click here to register for news email alerts. www.bankofamerica.com Investors May Contact: Lee McEntire, Bank of America Phone: 1.980.388.6780 [email protected] Jonathan G. Blum, Bank of America (Fixed Income) Phone: 1.212.449.3112 [email protected] Reporters May Contact: Jerry Dubrowski, Bank of America Phone: 1.646.855.1195 (office) or 1.508.843.5626 (mobile) [email protected] Christopher P. Feeney, Bank of America Phone: 1.980.386.6794 [email protected] SOURCE Bank of America Corporation Related Links www.bankofamerica.com LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Musick Peeler LLP Partner Dan Woods has been highlighted in the 2022 edition of Benchmark Litigation as a 'California Litigation Star.' Benchmark Litigation is a publication focused exclusively on litigation. "Dan is an strategic lawyer and skilled litigator who continually provides the firm's clients with the highest degree of service," said Managing Partner R. Joseph De Briyn. A partner in the Firm's Los Angeles office, Woods has been honored by The American Bar Association, California Bar Association, Inner City Law Center, Chambers USA and Los Angeles Daily Journal. Two recent cases highlight Woods' ability to obtain significant results on behalf of clients in a variety of cases. In one, he recently defeated a patent infringement claim brought by an international law firm against his client, MacSports, at the International Trade Commission. In another, he defeated a $300 million antitrust claim brought by a prominent litigation firm. The case involved an Indian yarn spinner filing a $300 million Sherman Act Section 1 antitrust lawsuit against Woods' client, cotton-grower J.G. Boswell Company. Woods won the arbitration with the three-judge panel ruling in J.G Boswell's favor on every point and also awarded it over $2 million in fees and costs. Benchmark Litigation provides state firm rankings, national firm rankings, lists of top litigation stars, and special designations. Benchmark also provides, where possible, detailed editorial analysis of key law firm activity including important, recent case work and analysis and client feedback on top litigators. Research is conducted through extensive interviews with litigators, dispute resolution specialists and their clients to identify the leading litigators and firms. During these interviews, the organization examines recent casework handled by law firms and asks individual litigators to provide their professional opinions on peers and practitioners within their jurisdiction or practice area. About Musick Peeler Founded in 1954, Musick Peeler has offices in five major commercial centers across California with over 100 attorneys practicing in 16 disciplines. For more information, visit MusickPeeler.com. SOURCE Musick Peeler LLP Related Links https://www.musickpeeler.com/ EAGAN, Minn., Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a continuing effort to improve the health of members by addressing the societal factors that impact health, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced it will become the first insurer in the state offering no-cost coverage of community health worker benefits to commercial health plan members. Beginning on January 1, 2022, Blue Cross will cover services delivered by community health workers across all fully insured commercial health plans. These include Individual and Family plans both on and off MNsure in addition to small and large fully insured employer groups (plans in which Blue Cross designs the benefit structure and pays for covered health care costs). Commercial plans in which employers design their own health benefits and pay for their own health care costs known as self-insured plans will also have this new benefit available for 2022. Community health worker programs focus on culturally appropriate assistance and education provided by front-line public health professionals who work in conjunction with primary care providers. Additionally, community health workers serve as trusted liaisons between individuals, the health care system, health insurers and social service agencies. Through community outreach, social support and patient advocacy, community health workers are key to bridging gaps in communication and improving health outcomes in communities with cultural and language barriers. "Navigating the complexities of the health care ecosystem is even more challenging when facing cultural, language, and other sociodemographic barriers that affect our members' health," said Dr. Mark Steffen, chief medical officer at Blue Cross. "Community health workers play a crucial role in advancing health outcomes and reducing inequities that disproportionally affect BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities." "Community health workers have been instrumental in helping our Medicaid members achieve their optimal health for more than a decade," said Paul Valley, vice president of commercial sales. "By expanding this benefit to our commercial member population, Blue Cross is taking a significant step toward making health care more equitable, sustainable and affordable for all." The benefit will go into effect for all eligible members on January 1, 2022, regardless of specific plan renewal dates. About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota For nearly 90 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com) has supported the health, wellbeing and peace of mind of our members by striving to ensure equitable access to high quality care at an affordable price. We are on a mission to inspire change, transform care and improve health for the people and communities we serve by reinventing both ourselves and the broader system. Our more than 2.5 million members can be found in every Minnesota county, all 50 states and on four continents. As a proud nonprofit organization, we believe working to advance wellness for all Minnesotans is the greatest investment we can make. Our goal is nothing less than for everyone to be able to achieve their full health potential, regardless of race or other socially defined circumstances. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which serves more than 107 million members across the U.S. # # # SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Related Links https://www.bluecrossmn.com/ DUBLIN, Ohio, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brett. R. Kockentiet MD, FAAD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Lifetime Achiever for his dedicated career in the field of Dermatology and in recognition of his prestigious work at Affiliated Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Center Inc. As a highly-trained Dermatologist, Dr. Kockentiet sees patients at Affiliated Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Center Inc., located at 650 Shawan Falls Drive in Dublin, OH. His expertise is in general dermatology, dermatologic surgery, Mohs surgery, as well as cosmetic facial rejuvenation procedures. Brett. R. Kockentiet MD, FAAD Dr. Kockentiet's education began at Bowling Green State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree. He then attended Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, where he earned a Master's degree completing his thesis on Muscarinic receptors role in Alzheimer's disease. He then went on to obtain a Medical degree, graduating in 2005. Following Medical school he attended Kettering Medical Center, where he completed his internal medicine internship year in 2006. Dr. Kockentiet next attended Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, where he completed a 3 year residency in Dermatology in 2009. Dr. Kockentiet wrote several articles during his early career, including "Contact dermatitis in athletes," co-written with Brian B. Adams. After completing his dermatology residency he moved back to Dublin to complete a 1 year fellowship in Mohs and Dermatologic surgery under Dwight Scarborough, and then joined Dr. Scarborough as a partner at Affiliated Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Center. Dr. Kockentiet practices primarily in Dublin, and he also travels to Bellefontaine, Ohio each month where he has a small practice inside of Mary Rutan Hospital. Dr. Kockentiet office's provides a large variety of treatment options. Affiliated Dermatology offers many treatments for both common and complex skin diseases, surgical and nonsurgical treatment of all forms of skin cancer, laser treatments, and cosmetic procedures. Dr. Kockentiet loves helping his patients reduce their discomfort and love the visible results they see on their skin. Dr. Kockentiet previously worked as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. In his current capacity, he is an active member of the Board of Directors for the Columbus Medical Association Foundation. To stay alert to developments in the Medical field, he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and is an active member of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), and the American Society for Mohs Surgeons (ASMS). Dr. Kockentiet has been board certified by the American Board of Dermatology (ABD) since 2009. He currently volunteers his time and expertise to the Board of Columbus Medical Association Foundation. Dr. Kockentiet's work has been honored with a recognition on issuewire.com in 2021. Dr. Kockentiet would like to dedicate this honorable recognition to his sons Owen and Brant, and loving wife Ginger, thanking them for their love and support. In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his family supporting their interests and activities. For more information about Dr. Kockentiet or Affiliated Dermatology, visit https://www.affiliated-dermatology.com/. Contact: Katherine Green , 516-825-5634 [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Common, the leading residential brand that designs, leases and manages multifamily properties in the US, announced a major milestone in its international growth: expansion into the United Kingdom. After six years of growth in the US, Common will bring its innovative brand of property management to the UK with plans to open at least 3,000 apartments by 2023. Since the beginning of 2020, Common has more than tripled its portfolio in the US and will continue its momentum by bringing a completely new type of BTR offering to the UK. In the US, Common has 40,000 consumer leads a month, this unique demand from young professionals positions Common to become one of the largest property managers in the UK. As a first step in the expansion, Common is partnering with local real estate owners London Green and SAV Group to open a combined 664 leasable units across five properties in desirable London boroughs like Wandsworth, Westminster, and more. The first property is expected to open in the second half of 2022. With a lack of new homes and soaring house prices, families and young professionals are renting for longer and build-to-rent and coliving are taking off. Common is bringing safe, reliable and community-driven property management to this new sector. "Today marks an incredibly important moment for Common as we officially take our brand across the Atlantic after six years of fast growth in North America. For our first five UK buildings, we're honored to work alongside real estate owners with local roots who are getting creative about the ongoing housing crisis in London," Founder and CEO of Common, Brad Hargreaves said. "The build-to-rent sector is quickly expanding, and our movement into London is the next step in fully realizing our mission to make city living easier and more reliable for renters in the most sought-after locations in the world." Common is the leading BTR and coliving operator in the US, focused on bringing building management into the 21st century. Prioritizing technology, Common will bring a renter-first living solution with innovative apartment typologies not commonly found in the UK. In addition to its branded property management operations, Common actively seeks to make life better for coliving tenants with special neighborhood-focused events like wellness programs and cooking classes in addition to discounts to national brands and services. In the US, 65% of members attend Common's off-site events designed to create connections between residents and activate the local business community. Common has over 22,000 signed units under development in 28 cities across the globe and continues to disrupt the property management space. In addition to the UK, Common is actively negotiating deals in Dublin, Madrid and more. This past year, Common acquired management agreements from its biggest competitor Starcity, announced major expansions in Philadelphia and LA, added former Deputy Mayor of New York City Alicia Glen to its Board of Directors and raised $50 million in its Series D venture capital funding round from Kinnevik. About Common Common is a residential brand creating a better kind of multifamily property manager through innovations in technology, design, and operations. Common delivers exceptional experiences for renters across twelve cities and 7,000 units in coliving, microunit, and traditional apartments. They are the preferred choice for both residents looking for a stress-free and all-inclusive living environment from a trusted brand, and for real estate owners seeking reliable, above-market returns. The Common platform also includes workforce housing management brand Noah and family-first operator Mily. With over 22,000 units signed and under development and over $110 million in venture capital investment, Common is expanding into 22 cities across the world. To work with us, visit our partners page or follow us on Instagram at @ common.living . CONTACT: Phoebe Dinner, [email protected] SOURCE Common Related Links www.common.com GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Edgybees, the leading visual intelligence technology company, announced today the appointment of Craig Brower as President of US Government operations. Brower will lead Edgybees' sales, engineering, operations, marketing, and strategic business development initiatives across the United States. Brower joins Edgybees shortly following strategic advisory board appointments from the company as it looks to secure and strengthen its position within the US government sector. Brower is the former Vice President and General Manager, Public Sector at Orbital Insight, a leading company in the geospatial data analytics sector. Prior to his role at Orbital Insight, Brower served as Vice President of Vricon, a geospatial-intelligence data and software provider and Senior Director of Business Development at the leading aerospace company, BAE Systems. Brower has over 30 years' experience in the intelligence and defense industry, having first joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1989 working as a photographic specialist for the Directorate of Science and Technology's National Photographic Interpretation Center. Brower holds a Photographic Science degree from Randolph Technical College and a Behavioral Science degree from National Louis University. "Accurate geo-registration is an essential component of any geospatial intelligence solution, and Edgybees is leading the charge in developing and providing this mission-critical technology," said Craig Brower. "Edgybees' ability to geo-register sensor data in real-time, anywhere in the world, is a game changing technology that is relevant for so many sectors. I am thrilled and honored to lead the talented US team in developing and executing its go-to-market strategy." As President of the US Government division of Edgybees, Brower will play a key role in fostering and developing essential relationships as the company continues to scale its growth in the United States. Brower brings a wealth of experience from the geospatial, geo-registration, intelligence, and defense industries, which will lend itself to establishing Edgybees as the leading provider of precise, real-time geo-registration and actualization of aerial video and images. "We are pleased to welcome Craig to the team during this exciting time as we look to grow our operations in America and beyond," said Adam Kaplan, CEO and Co-Founder of Edgybees. "Our mission is to bring Edgybees' life-saving technology to those who need it most and Craig's deep technical knowledge, governmental insight, and decades of business development experience will be instrumental for us in executing operational strategies, crafting new relationships, and solidifying our position as the leader in geospatial intelligence for the government sector." Edgybees' geo-registration software analyzes and contextualizes visual data in real-time to help the public safety, government, defense, and critical infrastructure sectors make critical decisions with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Its software enables professionals in the field to execute operations faster by displaying accurate, mission-critical data with augmented reality overlays in real-time over a single screen, minimizing cognitive load and optimizing mission effectiveness. About Edgybees Founded in 2017, Edgybees brings clarity, accuracy, and speed to mission-critical and lifesaving operations that rely on streamed aerial video for situational awareness. Edgybees' solution combines advanced computer vision and machine learning technologies to accurately match aerial video to satellite reference imagery in real-time. This unique approach enables rapid decision-making by visually augmenting roads, key landmarks, and other mission-critical data on top of live video feeds via our own platform or by integrating with third-party virtual augmentation solutions. With high-precision geo-tagging and near-zero latency, Edgybees makes complex operational environments instantly clear enabling defense, public safety, and critical infrastructure teams to accomplish lifesaving and high-urgency missions quickly and safely. For more information visit www.edgybees.com. Media Contact Sarah Schloss Headline Media [email protected] +1 914 506 5105 SOURCE Edgybees Related Links https://edgybees.com/ BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Reggora , an appraisal software company, improving residential real estate valuation, announced today that Envoy Mortgage has adopted its appraisal management system to help process all loans requiring an appraisal. Envoy will leverage Reggora technology to deliver a fast and efficient appraisal, supporting their customers through the home buying journey. Envoy is undergoing a digital transformation and providing extensive investment in technology optimization to improve its overall lending solution, resulting in a modern mortgage experience. Envoy recognizes that an appraisal management update will yield a faster time-to-value. "We recognize Envoy must improve our lending process to deliver an online loan application quickly and efficiently," said Dan Mulberry, Chief Information Officer for Envoy Mortgage. "Because Reggora integrates with our current financial technology, we felt it was the right solution toward modernization of the customer experience. We have configured the Reggora software to meet industry standards and ensure Envoy's technology is working seamlessly to support faster appraisal turn times during the lending process." By utilizing Regorra's appraisal technology, Envoy's turn-times will be faster and more efficient. The software removes the need for manual processes and follow-ups, as well as supports automated appraisal ordering and delivery, customer milestone notifications, and increased transparency for all stakeholders. "We're excited for Envoy to experience the same successes that our other customers have achieved," said Brian Zitin, CEO and Co-founder of Reggora. "By replacing manual tasks with automation in Reggora, our customers have reported saving up to 20 minutes of work per loan file, increasing overall efficiency by 213%, and decreasing appraisal turn times by an average of three days." The software is an integral part of Envoy's overall vision and scope to provide their customers with the modern mortgage experience they expect. "Reggora is an important component of our enhanced digital strategy and will allow our branches to optimize the customer experience and provide valuable insights to stay ahead of the current challenges in the appraisal process," said Keith Becher, Chief Operating Officer for Envoy Mortgage. Reggora's mission is to make two-day appraisal turn times a reality. Of course, the company recognizes achieving this reality while maintaining appraisal quality will take more than just technology. Read about the company's vision for the future of valuation here . About Reggora Reggora is driving appraisal innovation with a modern, two-sided platform for mortgage lenders and appraisal vendors. Through advanced and configurable workflows, Reggora streamlines the entire appraisal process for everyone involved, while improving the overall borrower experience. Lenders and appraisers benefit from payment processing, algorithmic appraisal ordering, automatic rule-based reviews, appraisal delivery, status updates, and more, creating unprecedented operational efficiency. Media Relations Contacts: Lindsey Flynn 339.222.1434 [email protected] Alyson Austin Gaffney Austin LLC 949.403.0484 [email protected] SOURCE Reggora Related Links https://www.reggora.com/ ATLANTA, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power has partnered with the nonprofit organization Voices for Georgia's Children for the eighth consecutive year to celebrate Pre-K Week across the state. Like 2020, this year will be completely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Georgia's Pre-K program is administered by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) and is also responsible for meeting the child care and early education needs of Georgia's children and their families. Although virtual this year, elected officials including the Governor, business and community leaders, as well as Georgia Power representatives will read to students throughout the week virtually. Last year, Georgia Power unveiled a new children's book, Look Now, Wonder, Wow, during Georgia Pre-K Week. The book is part of the company's Learning Power program; a statewide education initiative focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects and designed to bring energy education to the classroom. This year, students will also have the opportunity to hear Jabari Jumps, the official book for Georgia Pre-K Week. "Reading programs such as Georgia Pre-K week help build the foundations for educated and driven students of today that become the bright minds of our state's workforce tomorrow," said Joseph Lillyblad, Georgia Power education and workforce development manager. "At Georgia Power, we are dedicated to improving and strengthening educational initiatives to help students from all background across the state build brighter futures." Last year, Georgia Power education coordinators engaged with more than 6,600 Pre-K students to bring literacy and STEM activities to the classroom during the month of October. "The past year underscored the importance of our children having a place during the day where they are safe, nurtured, and educated," said Dr. Erica Fener Sitkoff, Executive Director of Voices for Georgia's Children. "Georgia's Pre-K Program is the essence of this place for our state's four-year-olds." Georgia Power's Learning Power Program Georgia Power is in classrooms across the state all year long, not just during Pre-K Week. In fact, Georgia Power's Learning Power program has reached more than 900,000 students in grades Pre-K through High School since its inception in 2011. Through the program, education coordinators visit Georgia schools to present hands-on, STEM-related energy and energy efficiency lessons that reinforce Georgia Standards of Excellence and make students, educators and parents aware of energy and efficiency opportunities and careers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Learning Power is offering virtual lessons. For more information visit www.learningpower.org. About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.6 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is recognized by J.D. Power as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power). SOURCE Georgia Power Related Links http://www.georgiapower.com TORONTO, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Kontrol Technologies Corp. (NEO: KNR) (OTCQB: KNRLF) (FSE: 1K8) ("Kontrol" or the "Company"), a leader in smart building technologies, is pleased to announce the results of voting at its Annual General Meeting held Thursday, September 30, 2021. Shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of all items put forward by the Board of Directors ("the Board") and Management. At the meeting, Mr. Joseph Ragusa was elected to the Board. Kontrol's Board now consists of Paul Ghezzi (CEO), Claudio Del Vasto (CFO), Andrew Bowerbank (Independent), Ernest Belyea (Independent), Joanna Osawe (Independent), Zhengquan Chen (Independent) and Joseph Ragusa (Independent). As a founding partner and former Principal of Sussex Strategy Group ("Sussex"), Mr. Joseph Ragusa was involved in every facet of the business, taking the firm from being a start up to one of Canada's premier public affairs consulting firms. With over 30 years of experience in business, government, consulting, and politics, Mr. Ragusa has strength in assessing complex situations, devising plans to achieve outcomes, then leading the execution of those plans. Mr. Ragusa is an expert at identifying and working toward the right solutions, be they legislative, regulatory, policy, fiscal or political, to accomplish win-win scenarios for clients and government. Shareholder also voted in favour of: (i) receiving and considering the comparative financial statements of the Company for the financial year ended December 31, 2020; (ii) setting the number of Directors at seven; (iii) electing Directors for the ensuing year as noted above; (iv) appointing MNP LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants as auditor of the Company; (v) approving the adoption of the Company's Stock Option Plan, as described in the Information Circular; and (vi) approving the adoption of the Company's Restricted Share Compensation Plan, as described in the Information Circular. Company COO Transition Mr. Kristian Lavereau will transition from the Company's Chief Operating Officer (COO) to Director of Smart Building Technologies. Mr. Lavereau will take on the important responsibility of product management and innovation for Kontrol's smart building technologies. In particular, he will focus on the growth of the SmartSuite and SmartSite building technologies which also has a direct relationship with the monetizing of carbon credits for customers. "We thank our Board and welcome Mr. Joseph Ragusa as new independent board member," said Paul Ghezzi. "We would also like to thank Mr. Lavereau for his efforts as he continues as part of the Kontrol leadership team in the role of Director of smart building technologies." About Kontrol Technologies Corp. Kontrol Technologies Corp. (NEO:KNR) (OTCQB:KNRLF) (FSE:1K8) is a leader in smart buildings and cities through IoT, Cloud and SaaS technology. Kontrol provides a combination of software, hardware, and service solutions to its customers to improve energy management, air quality and continuous emission monitoring. Additional information about Kontrol Technologies Corp. can be found on its website at www.kontrolcorp.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com Neither IIROC nor any stock exchange or other securities regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "likely", "should", "would", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "proposed", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar words, expressions, and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" happen, or by discussions of strategy. Where Kontrol expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. Such assumptions include, without limitation, that sufficient capital will be available to the Company and that technology will be as effective as anticipated. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected, or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, that sufficient capital and financing cannot be obtained on reasonable terms, or at all; that those technologies will not prove as effective as expected; those customers and potential customers will not be as accepting of the Company's product and service offering as expected; and government and regulatory factors impacting the energy conservation industry. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as at the date hereof and are based on the beliefs, estimates, expectations, and opinions of management on such date. Kontrol does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements or any forward-looking statements contained in any other documents whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required under applicable securities law. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties, and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. SOURCE Kontrol Technologies Corp. Related Links https://kontrolcorp.com/ This stepped-up commitment follows findings in the July Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which reinforced the urgency of achieving net zero globally to prevent the worst impacts of global warming a critical focus of next month's COP26 Climate Conference in Glasgow. Mars is joining the Science Based Targets Initiative's " Business Ambition for 1.5C pledge " and the Race to Zero, as the company accelerates its work to achieve net zero emissions by focusing on: Absolute emissions reductions across its entire GHG footprint including all scope 3 emissions such as indirect emissions (e.g., business travel, retail customer emissions, use of sold products, and product end-of-life) and setting 5-year milestones to drive action and track progress scope 3 emissions such as indirect emissions (e.g., business travel, retail customer emissions, use of sold products, and product end-of-life) and setting 5-year milestones to drive action and track progress Eliminating deforestation in its supply chain particularly in key raw materials that have the greatest impact on emissions Linking executive pay to delivering GHG value chain emission reductions Challenging 20,000+ suppliers in the Mars value chain to take climate action and to set meaningful targets Mars Chief Executive Officer Grant F. Reid said: "The scale of global intervention must be bolder and faster. Climate change is already impacting the planet and people's lives. "To mitigate this real and tangible threat, the science tells us net zero targets must be broad in their reach, capturing emissions across the entire value chain and plans need to have material, interim targets. We can't wait decades to see progress. "However, all too often, this simply isn't the case and the gaps that exist in some net zero commitments risks undermining their credibility, and even more importantly, the climate action movement. We can't allow that to happen. "To deliver meaningful impact and ensure it is fit for purpose, our net zero target covers our entire GHG footprint, from how we source materials through to how consumers use our products and, we're mobilizing our entire business around taking action now and hitting interim targets every five years. "This is going to be a significant challenge, and it we won't be able to achieve net zero without the collaboration of our associates, suppliers, customers, consumers and industry partners. It's so important that we work together to drive scale and reach. "We need to overhaul the supply chains which power global business and put an end to deforestation and the conversion of natural ecosystems to drive meaningful change now. We can't use long-term ambitions as an excuse for inaction and delay." Mars has been driving climate action on emissions for more than a decade with an existing commitment set in 2009 to achieve net zero in direct operations by 2040. Today's announcement builds on the company's existing Sustainable in a Generation Plan, advancing its previous pledge to cut emissions in its full value chain by 67% by 2050 and reaffirming an ambitious near-term target to cut GHGs in its full value chain by 27% by 2025. Since 2015, Mars has cut emissions in its full value chain by 7.3% despite the business continuing to grow. In its direct operations, Mars has already reduced emissions 31% and is on-track to achieve is interim 2025 target (42% reduction). The company's largest brand, Royal Canin, is a global leader in supporting pet health through nutrition. Royal Canin will pursue carbon neutrality for its full portfolio in 2025, with its first product range aiming to be certified carbon neutral in 2022. This will be achieved through: projects financed by an internal price on carbon, a science-based methodology to calculate each product's carbon footprint, adhering to the PAS 2060 standard for carbon neutrality, a mutual approach with value chain partners to minimize GHG emissions and by supporting high-quality carbon credit initiatives for remaining emissions. Reid added: "Our brands play a crucial role in driving progress and especially in connecting this issue with consumers. I'm pleased that we can make this commitment to a more sustainable future for people, pets and the planet." Delivering net zero A full net zero roadmap will be developed and published in 2022 to align with the anticipated Science-Based Target Initiative rules on net zero commitments, expected by the end of 2021. To achieve net zero, some of the numerous initiatives active across Mars include: Transitioning to 100% renewable energy. Mars has already made strong progress towards its commitment to reach zero GHG emissions in its direct operations by 2040 (including factories, offices, and veterinary practices). It now sources 100% renewable electricity for the entirety of its direct operations in 11 countries, accounting for more than 54% of its global electricity needs, with plans to make the switch in another 8 countries by 2025. This includes accounting for the growth of the business such as in the U.S. where Mars recently announced a new power purchase agreement with the Ford Ridge Wind Farm in Illinois , which will not only cover the recent growth of the Mars Veterinary Health business in the U.S., but also includes two of its U.S. suppliers. Urgently redesigning its supply chains to stop deforestation. Mars is redesigning its supply chains to help stop deforestation and conversion of natural ecosystems in five key raw materials identified as having the greatest risk: cocoa, beef, palm oil, pulp and paper and soy. Action will include a continued shift away from purchasing ingredients based on cost alone and will focus on enhanced transparency and traceability around the commodities it sources. Mars recently delivered a deforestation-free palm oil supply chain, reducing the number of palm mills from 1,500 to less than 90 mills this year to enable the implementation of strict standards and satellite monitoring. Additionally, it has a goal for all its high-forest risk commodities (beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, and soy) and cocoa to be deforestation-free by 2025. Scaling up initiatives in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. Mars will strengthen its programs with farmers to limit GHG emissions and move towards regenerative agriculture. This includes working with farmers and suppliers to promote improved agricultural practices, to promote sustainable land use and to support science and technology, such as genomics research, that pinpoints how to produce more resilient and higher yielding crops. Mars will also take further action to improve soil health to unlock crop yield potential and provide other environmental and climate change benefits. Projects underway include the Cool Soil Initiative , which is supporting resilience in wheat production in Australia , the Sustainable Dairy Partnership, which is scaling up collaboration between dairy suppliers and buyers around the globe, and Oryzonte, a program to improve rice agriculture in Spain , reducing both water use and methane emissions. Challenging its 20,000 suppliers to take climate action. Mars is prioritizing collaboration and partnership with suppliers to drive change through the full value chain. This includes its Pledge for Planet program and the recently announced Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition (S-LoCT) which aims to encourage suppliers to calculate their own GHG footprints and to set their own science-based targets. The program provides training and capability building with the ambition to sign up other brands to join and scale the project throughout the supply chain. Barry Parkin, Mars Chief Sustainability and Procurement Officer, said mobilizing action in the extended supply chain would be critical to delivering emissions reductions in the coming years. He said: "More than three quarters of our impacts are embedded in the materials that we purchase - so we must change what we buy or where we buy it or, perhaps more importantly, how we buy it. "It is also clear that further transformation of agriculture is needed. We will push the boundaries of what is possible through regenerative agriculture, and this will require an acceleration of our work, along with deeper and more integrated partnerships with our suppliers, and stronger government frameworks that incentivize sustainable practices." Mars is also committed to ensuring that any residual emissions the business cannot get to zero are neutralized with real, durable, and socially beneficial carbon credits based on removing carbon from the atmosphere, aligned with the SBTi Net Zero Foundations paper. This will include identifying and investing in projects that are focused on the highest ecological, social and carbon impact, such as its recent investment in the 150m Livelihoods Carbon Fund 3, along with 13 other investors and companies. Parkin added: "Our roadmap to net zero clearly prioritizes reducing our own emissions but there is a recognition within the science community that the agricultural sector will be particularly hard to completely decarbonize. Therefore, carbon removal credits will have to play a part in helping us to neutralize any remaining emissions. In doing this, we will apply a high level of rigor so that any credits we buy are removing carbon from the atmosphere and that is tracked with strong science and monitoring." Limiting global warming to 1.5C will also require transformational change across industry, government, and wider society. Mars will continue its advocacy for policies to help deliver against the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. For example, Mars will advocate for a simple, clear, and transparent price on carbon. This could make the business case even more compelling and drive a greater number of companies to take more decisive action to reduce emissions. For further information on the Mars Sustainable in a Generation Plan and climate commitments, visit www.mars.com/sustainability-plan . ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and pet care products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world's best-loved brands including DOVE, EXTRA, M&M's, MILKY WAY, SNICKERS, TWIX, ORBIT, PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, SKITTLES, BEN'S ORIGINAL, WHISKAS, COCOAVIA, and 5; and take care of half of the world's pets through our nutrition, health and services businesses, including AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals, BluePearl, Linnaeus, and VCA. We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive. For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. SOURCE Mars, Incorporated Related Links http://www.mars.com DALLAS, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas brand response agency Media Culture joins the MAGNET Global Network (www.MAGNETGlobal.org), the Marketing & Advertising Global Network of leading independent advertising agencies. With this partnership, Media Culture joins more than 40 agencies with $300 million USD in revenue from offices in major U.S. and international markets such as Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Moscow, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, Seoul, and Tokyo. "For more than 25 years, our agency has been at the forefront of change in the direct response industry," said Christena Garduno, Media Culture's CEO. "As technology and media consumption has evolved, so have we growing from a singularly focused direct response agency to the global, multi-channel brand response agency we are today," said Garduno. "Becoming part of the MAGNET Global family was a no-brainer. We are confident that our partnership will enable us to better serve our clients and allow us to share our expertise with like-minded agencies on a global scale." As a MAGNET member, Media Culture gains a global network of CEOs and Principals, resources, and the opportunity to work with various clients across markets, languages, and cultures. And, much like the other agencies in the network, Media Culture will collaborate with MAGNET by sharing trends that impact the direct response industry as well as insight on what continues to drive the agency's success for more than 25 years. "We are beyond delighted to welcome Christena and Media Culture into our MAGNET family of innovators, business owners, and creative thought partners," said Melissa Lentz, MAGNET GLOBAL's CEO. "The collective instincts, generosity, and smarts of our agency principals is the lifeblood of the network. Christena and Media Culture possess that wonderful combination of traits in abundance." Media Culture, which underwent a rebrand earlier this year, continues to make an impact in the brand response industry and is working diligently to scale its efforts internationally. "We couldn't be more excited about this next chapter in our company's history and would like to thank our current and former employees, clients, and partners for their support," said Garduno. "Throughout our history, we've prided ourselves on upholding our values of trust, transparency, and tenacity, and with MAGNET by our side, we'll continue to build on that foundation." About MAGNET Global Network Providing global experts and local expertise, MAGNET's independent marketing and communications agencies work with more than 800 consumers, retail, business-to-business and industrial clients worldwide. Members share experience, knowledge, and ideas with partner agencies domestically and internationally, collaborating on business opportunities and enhancing their ability to compete, serve clients, grow their businesses, and raise the standard of work in the advertising agency industry. Members must maintain a level of commitment to the Network, and new independent agencies are carefully screened before membership is granted. MAGNET is always seeking to add leading independent agencies throughout the world. For more information, visit www.MAGNETGlobal.org or contact Melissa Lentz, CEO, at [email protected]. About Media Culture Media Culture is a global, multi-platform brand response agency that delivers nimble, bespoke omnichannel media campaigns to generate qualified leads and drive sales. Advertisers turn to Media Culture for a one-stop solution to omnichannel performance marketing, including creative and strategy, media planning and buying, and campaign analytics and optimization services for all forms of response-driven media including linear and streaming video and audio, paid search, paid social, programmatic, OOH, and print. The agency generates exceptional results for a wide range of products and services across various industries - such as financial services, automotive, online dating, and more. SOURCE Media Culture Related Links www.mediaculture.com ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: RGRX) ("RegeneRx"), a clinical-stage drug development company focused on tissue protection, repair and regeneration), today announced that a new research paper was published demonstrating Thymosin Beta 4's (T4) positive effects on animal models related to Alzheimer's Disease. Researchers initially conducted behavior tests to assess learning, memory, anxiety and depression in mouse models expressing a human amyloid precursor protein and a mutant human presenilin 1, both of which are mutations associated with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease in humans. According to the researchers, among other findings, T4 over-expression in the mouse models alone showed less amyloid beta peptide, or amyloid deposits, which correlates with the clinical status of the patient. The research team also observed that over-expression of T4 improved neuronal function and cognitive behavior performance and displayed anti-depressant-like effects. In the study, T4 down regulated certain known inflammatory pathways, while other drug combinations did not, in particular NF-B signaling. "This study strongly supports T4's previously demonstrated effects on certain neurological disorders and appears to do so by down-regulating NF-B (among other inflammatory pathways), an inflammatory cytokine that has been shown to play a significant role in a number of neurological and cardiovascular injuries and diseases. Its antidepressant-like effect was also notable and illustrated the possible link between Alzheimer's and depression. I am encouraged that yet another independent study has shown T4's potential role in treating serious neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease," stated Dr. Allan L. Goldstein, Chairman Emeritus of Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine and RegeneRx's chairman and chief scientific advisor. The study, Thymosin 4 reverses phenotypic polarization of glial cells and cognitive impairment via negative regulation of NF-B signaling axis in APP/PS1 mice, was published by Wang et. al, in the Journal of Neuroinflammation , doi.org/10.1186/s12974-021-02166-3. About RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. RegeneRx is focused on the development of novel therapeutic peptides, including Thymosin beta 4 (T4) and its constituent fragments, for tissue and organ protection, repair, and regeneration. RegeneRx currently has three drug candidates in clinical development for ophthalmic, cardiac/neuro and dermal indications, four active strategic licensing agreements in the U.S., China, and Pan Asia (Korea, Japan, and Australia, among others), and the EU, and has patents and patent applications covering its products in many countries throughout the world. Forward-Looking Statements Any statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made under the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include but are not limited to statements from us or within research published by third parties. There can be no assurance that positive results from any research or clinical trial by the Company, its collaborators, or independent parties in the U.S. or any other country will result in subsequent clinical confirmation or future value. There can also be no assurance that any of the Company's drug candidates will result in any approved products in the U.S. or any other country. Please view risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including those identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and subsequent quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q, as well as other filings it makes with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent the Company's views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update this information, as a result of future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Related Links http://www.regenerx.com DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NuVinAir Global , which offers a suite of patented and proprietary products that safely and effectively create healthy vehicle interiors, today announced Marty Schoenthaler as its Franchise Development Officer, a newly created corporate-leadership position. In his new role, he is responsible for identifying growth strategies for increasing national franchise coverage, as well as enhancing and maturing growth of NuVinAir Global's existing franchise network. Reporting to the company's Chief Executive Officer and founder, Kyle Bailey, Marty will be based in Oklahoma. "As we rapidly expand our brand, adding passionate, seasoned industry veterans to our leadership team will help take our company to the next level," said Bailey. "We have been looking to fill this critical role for some time, but we had to be patient until we found the right individual. The caliber of our Franchisee team demanded an executive who deeply understands how to forge the right partnerships for driving success, and we know that Marty will be a tremendous asset to all of us." With over three decades of leadership experience in various industries, Marty brings a proven track record in optimizing organizational capability, strategy development, and business transformation, as well as focusing on customer relationships. He joins NuVinAir Global from Tate Boys Tire & Service, the largest independent tire dealer in NE Oklahoma, where he served as CEO. Marty started his career at IBM Corporation where he worked for 16 years. He earned an MBA from the University of Arkansas, as well as a BS in business administration and an AS in computer programming from Missouri Southern State University. "Throughout my career and across various industries, I focused on developing organizational strategies and working with our teams to effectively deliver on those strategies," said Mr. Schoenthaler. "Joining NuVinAir's leadership team enables me to work alongside fellow passionate, entrepreneurial individuals, while growing an industry-leading innovator that's dominating the automotive space with its patented technology and proprietary products." About NuVinAir Global Based in Dallas, NuVinAir Global offers a suite of patented and proprietary products that safely and effectively create healthy vehicle interiors. The company delivers a 'Total Health' product line that utilizes sanitization science and a patented cleaning process to dealerships, rental-car companies, and other automotive businesses. NuVinAir Global's patented ReStore and ReFresh treatments are used to clean the interior air of the vehicle, including the HVAC system, and remove contaminants, odor, and pollutants by dispelling a dry, hygienic vapor that reaches places that sprays and wipes simply cannot. Products and programs are sold through its franchisees, who own exclusive rights to their defined territories. To learn more about NuVinAir Global, visit nuvinair.com and follow their blog https://www.nuvinair.com/blog/ . SOURCE NuVinAir Global Related Links https://www.nuvinair.com/ MIAMI, Sept. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OKY, a cross-border e-commerce fintech platform, has announced the start of an exciting new alliance with Suzuki Guatemala, one of the country's leading companies, to sell Suzuki products via OKY's platform. The addition of Suzuki to the OKY network of over 100 leading brands enables immigrants in the United States to purchase Suzuki motorcycles in Guatemala through a variety of payment options, including cash, credit card or direct transfer from a banking account. In addition, this partnership allows OKY users in the U.S. to give their loved ones increased mobility which opens new opportunities for economic advancement. The alliance came into effect on July 16, 2021. To use the service, the user must download the application and create an account. Then, they can make a purchase directly through the application or go to one of the 1,380 points of sale in more than 250 cities in the United States and add funds with cash. Once the recipient in Guatemala has received their digital voucher, they can present it to a salesperson at their nearest Suzuki branch and choose from more than 30 motorcycle models Suzuki Guatemala offers. The entire process is safe and immediate. "As immigrants, we understand what the needs of the region are, the challenges they face, and the type of support that is required from family or friends who are currently in the United States," said Victor Unda CEO of OKY. "Through this alliance, Guatemalans abroad will be able to offer their loved one's access to one of the most popular and important motorcycle brands in Guatemala. This collaboration between OKY and Suzuki is unique. We will be able to observe the positive impact of the application of technology as a tool to promote inclusion and provide a better quality of life for all," he added. Beyond providing them access to an effective, safe, and less expensive method of transportation, the alliance between OKY and Suzuki Guatemala allows immigrants in the United States to offer an indispensable work tool to their parents, children, or friends. In turn, this will enable them to continue the path toward financial independence. OKY is the only fintech platform designed to give immigrant communities the ability to digitize cash and engage in cross-border e-commerce activities. Through OKY, users can send funds directly to family members in their home country to make purchases at participating retailers such as Suzuki. By removing these barriers, a motorcycle company like Suzuki can now sell products to Guatemalans in the United States who do not have access to traditional financial tools, making it a unique alliance for immigrants and their families in the region. This alliance not only adds a leading global brand to OKY's network but also aligns itself with the mission of providing immigrants in the United States with a greater number of resources that contribute to closing the geographic divide with more appropriate and equitable financial solutions. Through OKY, users can continue to participate and contribute in a meaningful way to the lives of those they had to leave. "Suzuki is one of the most popular motorcycle brands in Guatemala, and we are committed to the progress and economic development of the communities we serve. We are proud to be a part of the OKY network," said Ing. Balmory Leck, Suzuki Sales Manager in Guatemala. "The work and dedication of the immigrant community in the United States is admirable and we are confident that, together with OKY, we can continue to support and have a positive impact on the economic development and growth of their home countries," he added. ABOUT OKY OKY was launched in summer of 2020 for immigrants and by immigrants, with the vision of helping underserved communities achieve financial equity and overcome common financial barriers through the use of technology. OKY achieves this by enabling users to make e-commerce transactions without the support of financial institutions, which often impede the immigrant community from attaining financial stability. Today, OKY users across the United States and other countries have access to a marketplace that connects the Central American region including retail service providers in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and some offerings for Mexico. For more information, please visit the company's website, https://okyapp.com/en/ ABOUT SUZUKI SUZUKI, with more than 50 years in the Guatemalan market, currently being the leader of Motorcycles in Guatemala. It has the largest stock of Parts and Accessories in Central America. Its mission is to be a comprehensive and productive organization for Guatemalans, sell motorcycles and high-quality products with the best support, generating business opportunities through a network of employees, trade agents and satisfied customers. Media Contact: OKY, Julio Ligorria [email protected] SOURCE OKY Related Links https://okyapp.com/en/ NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 11,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Vibe Growth Corporation (CSE: VIBE;OTCQX: VIBEF), a vertically integrated cannabis company, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Vibe Growth Corporation upgraded to OTCQX from the Pink market. Vibe Growth Corporation begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "VIBEF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com. Upgrading to the OTCQX Market is an important step for companies seeking to provide transparent trading for their U.S. investors. For companies listed on a qualified international exchange, streamlined market standards enable them to utilize their home market reporting to make their information available in the U.S. To qualify for OTCQX, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance and demonstrate compliance with applicable securities laws. "The OTCQX Market provides Vibe access to a much larger audience of U.S.-based institutional and retail investors and complements our CSE listing by providing investors with direct access to our common shares in both countries. Canadian and U.S. institutional and retail investors can take an active part in the exciting growth that California cannabis offers," stated Mark Waldron, Chief Executive Officer of Vibe Growth Corporation. Nauth LPC acted as the company's OTCQX sponsor. About Vibe Growth Corporation Vibe is a vertically integrated cannabis company whose mission is to become a dominant California cannabis retailer and multi-state operator. The Company delivers exceptional retail experiences with its Vibe by California brand and ethos, premier cultivation product, and high-efficiency delivery and distribution. The Company's management team brings expertise in retail, cannabis cultivation, and mergers and acquisitions to support its U.S. expansion through accretive acquisitions and organic growth. About OTC Markets Group Inc. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 11,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com. OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are SEC regulated ATSs, operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed Media Contact: OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected] SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc. Related Links http://www.otcmarkets.com GARDNER, Mass. and WINDHAM, Maine, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Precision Optics Corporation, Inc. (OTCQB: PEYE), a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced optical instruments for the medical and defense industries, announced it has completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Lighthouse Imaging LLC ("Lighthouse Imaging"), a private equity held company based in Windham, Maine. The acquisition combines two of the industry's leaders in medical optics and digital imaging, leveraging Precision Optics next generation capabilities in micro-optics and optical systems with Lighthouse Imaging's advanced capabilities and strong reputation in leading-edge optical imaging electronics and system integration. "This is an exciting time for Precision Optics, Lighthouse Imaging, our employees, our customers and our shareholders as we bring together two of the medical industry's leaders in the development and manufacture of imaging systems," commented Joe Forkey, President and CEO of Precision Optics. "This strategic merger expands the depth and breadth of each company's capabilities, and we believe it will enhance our presence in the medical device industry. We expect this combination will accelerate the growth both of our companies have experienced in this market, as we increase our ability to assist our customers in developing next generation applications which are helping to change the future of healthcare." Founded in the late 1980s, Lighthouse Imaging in recent years has transitioned its business model to leverage its unique optical imaging electronics and systems engineering capabilities to assist medical device companies developing next generation applications. Lighthouse Imaging had revenues of $4.5 million and EBITDA of $232,000 for the 12-month period ended June 30, 2021, with approximately 66% of its revenue attributable to engineering services, and the remainder attributable to production activities. Precision Optics and Lighthouse Imaging believe up to four new projects should transition from engineering to production in the coming year, providing opportunities for significant growth going forward. Additionally, Lighthouse Imaging has a robust and expanding project pipeline. Lighthouse Imaging was most recently owned by Anania & Associates Investment Company, a private equity firm focusing on Maine-based companies. Peter V. Anania, its president and chairman, will join Precision Optics' board of directors. Lighthouse Imaging's management team, including Chief Executive Officer Tom Snyder, Chief Commercial Officer Robert Austring, and Chief Technology Officer Benjamin Gray, have agreed to continue with the combined company. Tom Snyder commented, "On behalf of Lighthouse owners and employees, I want to convey our excitement about merging these two industry leading companies. Thanks to a strong team and excellent partnerships with our customers, Lighthouse is poised for organic growth. We have a strong project portfolio and expect multiple products to transfer to manufacturing over the next 6-12 months. We have also been exploring investments in our business. This merger provides many of the benefits we were looking to acquire. I'm confident that together, Lighthouse and Precision Optics are better positioned to address a robust medical imaging market and drive additional growth." Dr. Forkey continued, "I'm thrilled Peter will be joining our board and Tom and the rest of the management team will continue after the merger. This will support continuity at Lighthouse Imaging and bring an incredibly talented group to the combined organization. Following this merger, we will present to customers an organization with even stronger capabilities than either of us has independently, with the scale of operations to support further investments for growth." The total purchase price is $2.85 million in cash along with 2.5 million shares of Precision Optics. Potential additional payments up to $1.5 million are subject to certain earnout provisions to be evaluated over the next 2 years. Precision Optics completed an equity capital raise of $1.5 million at a per share price of $1.60 concurrent with the closing of the acquisition and entered into a $2.6 million term loan with Main Street Bank of Marlborough, Massachusetts. The loan is a 7-year term loan with a variable rate of Prime plus 1.5% and minimum rate of 4.75%. The Company also entered into a $250,000 line of credit with Main Street Bank. Dr. Forkey continued, "We expect this acquisition will be accretive to Precision Optics' profitability per share. Our ability to utilize available bank financing marks a new chapter for our company and we will continue to look to organically and inorganically build capabilities and scale operations to take advantage of robust healthcare and defense markets. Associated with our growth, Precision Optics will resume hosting annual meetings of shareholders in the coming months." Precision Optics will file an 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission with additional details regarding the transaction and intends to amend this 8-K within 71 days to include pro-forma financial statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. Conference Call Details The Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the acquisition for today, Tuesday, October 5, 2021 at 4:15pm ET. Call-in Information: Interested parties can access the conference call by dialing (844) 735-3662 or (412) 317-5705. Live Webcast Information: Interested parties can access the conference call via a live Internet webcast, which is available at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2109/43156. Replay: A teleconference replay of the call will be available until October 12, 2021 at (877) 344-7529 or (412) 317-0088, confirmation #10160809. A webcast replay will be available at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2109/43156. About Precision Optics Corporation Founded in 1982, Precision Optics is a vertically integrated optics company primarily focused on leveraging its proprietary micro-optics and 3D imaging technologies to the healthcare and defense/aerospace industries by providing services ranging from new product concept through mass manufacture. Utilizing its leading-edge in-house design, prototype, regulatory and fabrication capabilities as well as its Ross Optical division's high volume world-wide sourcing, inspecting and production resources, the Company is able to design and manufacture next-generation product solutions to the most challenging customer requirements. Within healthcare, Precision Optics enables next generation medical device companies around the world to meet the increasing demands of the surgical community who require more enhanced and smaller imaging systems for minimally invasive surgery as well as 3D endoscopy systems to support the rapid proliferation of surgical robotic systems. In addition to these next generation applications, Precision Optics has supplied top tier medical device companies a wide variety of optical products for decades, including complex endocouplers and specialized endoscopes. The Company is also leveraging its technical proficiency in micro-optics to enable leading edge defense/aerospace applications which require the highest quality standards and the optimization of size, weight and power. For more information, please visit www.poci.com. About Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express the Company's intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements related to the Company's future activities or future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by the Company's management. These statements are not guarantees of future performances and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including those risks discussed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and in other documents that we file from time to time with the SEC, including but not limited to the risks associated with realizing the opportunities of the Lighthouse acquisition and the resources required to integrate the newly acquired assets. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. SOURCE Precision Optics Corporation SUMMIT, N.J., Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Seqirus, a global leader in influenza prevention and a business of CSL Limited (ASX:CSL), today announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has selected Seqirus to develop two influenza A(H2Nx) virus vaccine candidates for assessment in a Phase 1 clinical study with the goal of helping to safeguard communities in the event of an influenza pandemic.1 Under terms of the multi-year, $34.95 million agreement, Seqirus will provide clinical development services to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and dose-sparing capability of two influenza A(H2Nx) vaccine candidates:1 The first candidate will utilize a combination of cell-based and adjuvanted technologies, building on Seqirus' highly flexible combination platform technology used by AUDENZ (Influenza A(H5N1) Monovalent Vaccine, Adjuvanted), the first-ever adjuvanted, cell-based influenza vaccine, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 for use in a pandemic. 2 The second candidate will utilize Seqirus' next-generation self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) platform, which has demonstrated promise as compared to more traditional influenza vaccine technologies in preclinical research.3 "As a global leader in pandemic influenza preparedness, Seqirus understands the vital role of global partnerships in preparing for the unpredictable, ever-present threat of pandemic influenza, which, according to the World Health Organization, is a matter of 'when,' not 'if,'" said Marc Lacey, Executive Director, Pandemic Response Solutions, Seqirus.4 "Seqirus is uniquely positioned to use our pandemic influenza vaccine expertise, flexible platform technologies and innovative research capabilities to reliably meet the needs of the U.S. government in such a critical capacity. We are proud to be a trusted partner in support of BARDA's pandemic preparedness objectives." Seqirus to Utilize Proven and Promising Platform Technologies Seqirus' global product portfolio includes four licensed adjuvanted pandemic and pre-pandemic influenza vaccines, three of which use its proprietary MF59 adjuvant intended to enhance an individual's immune response and potentially be antigen-sparing in the event of a pandemic outbreak.2,5,6,7 Combining Seqirus' adjuvant technology with its cell-based manufacturing platform may improve protection even further by potentially providing a better match to the circulating virus strain setting the stage to meet the public health challenge of an influenza pandemic.8 Additionally, Seqirus' sa-mRNA platform, the next-generation version of today's mRNA technology, builds on traditional mRNA technology by also instructing the body to replicate mRNA, amplifying the amount of protein made.3 This could enable Seqirus to potentially develop more effective vaccines with a smaller dosage and with lower rates of reactogenicity, underscoring the application in both pandemic and seasonal settings.3 In preclinical research, sa-mRNA technology demonstrated the potential to raise stronger cellular responses and generate significantly higher antibody titers at the same dose level as mRNA.3 Both cell-based and sa-mRNA technology are steps forward in achieving key objectives found in the U.S. National Influenza Vaccine Modernization Strategy, which focuses on strengthening and diversifying influenza vaccine development, manufacturing and supply chain, and promoting innovative approaches and use of new technologies to detect, prevent and respond to influenza.9 Seqirus and BARDA Build on Longstanding, Successful Partnership Seqirus has a longstanding partnership with BARDA. The company's cell-based manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, N.C., the first such domestic facility, was built through a public-private partnership established in 2009 with BARDA.10 It utilizes a highly scalable method of production and is currently positioned to deliver up to 150 million influenza vaccine doses to support an influenza pandemic response.10 "As the largest cell-based influenza vaccine producer in the world, Seqirus' Holly Springs facility makes a significant and growing contribution to the supply of seasonal influenza vaccines in the U.S., reflecting our ability to protect public health on an annual basis and underscoring our preparedness to respond to future influenza pandemics," said Dave Sehgal, Executive Director, Manufacturing and Holly Springs Site Head, Seqirus. "We remain committed to working with BARDA and other global partners on the front line of public health in mitigating the potentially devastating effects of another influenza pandemic." HHS continuously monitors emerging infectious disease risk and prepares to respond to the threat of novel emerging infectious disease outbreaks in the United States.11 The National Pre-Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Stockpile (NPIVS) has been established and satisfies requirements for vaccine and adjuvants to address influenza viruses that are assessed to be the highest risk for human infection.12 While there is no currently circulating strain of influenza A(H2Nx) virus in humans, H2Nx strains continue to circulate in avian reservoirs and triggered the 1957 pandemic, which caused an estimated 1.1 million deaths worldwide and 116,000 deaths in the United States.13 Population immunity to H2 viruses is insufficient to block epidemic spread, and currently stockpiled influenza A(H5Nx) and A(H7N9) virus vaccine antigens will provide no protection in the case of any emerging influenza A(H2Nx) virus.14 Seqirus holds agreements with 30 governments worldwide to provide a strain-matched vaccine in the event of an influenza pandemic. In partnership with the U.S. government, Seqirus and its legacy companies have developed vaccines against 12 different pre-pandemic strains since 2006, including H5, H7 and H1. This agreement adds H2 to this arsenal. About Seasonal Influenza Influenza is a common, contagious seasonal respiratory disease that may cause severe illness and life- threatening complications in some people.15 Influenza can lead to clinical symptoms varying from mild to moderate respiratory illness to severe complications, hospitalization and in some cases, death.15 Because transmission of influenza viruses to others may occur one day before symptoms develop and up to 5 to 7 days after becoming sick, the disease can be easily transmitted to others.15 Estimates from the CDC report that during the 2019/20 influenza season, there were an estimated 405,000 influenza-related hospitalizations in the U.S.16 The CDC recommends annual vaccination for individuals aged 6 months and older, who do not have any contraindications.17 Since it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body that help protect against influenza virus infection, it is recommended that people get vaccinated before influenza begins spreading in their community.17 The CDC recommends that people get vaccinated by the end of October.17 For non-pregnant adults, getting vaccinated too early (for example, in July or August), should be avoided, unless there is concern that later vaccination may not be possible, as it can be associated with reduced protection against influenza infection later in the flu season.17 About Pandemic Influenza Pandemic influenza, is a contagious airborne respiratory disease which is unpredictable in timing and severity.18 The risk of influenza-associated morbidity and mortality is greater with pandemic influenza than with seasonal influenza because there is likely to be little or no pre-existing immunity to the virus in the human population.19 Four influenza pandemics have occurred over the past century, with the 1918 pandemic being the most severe in recent history, estimated to have killed up to 50 million people worldwide.20 According to the WHO, a novel influenza A virus such as the highly pathogenic avian A(H5N1) strain can cause severe disease and have a high mortality rate.[21] If the influenza A(H5N1) virus were to change and become easily transmissible from person to person while retaining its capacity to cause severe disease, the consequences for public health could be catastrophic, with an estimated 60% mortality rate.21 About Seqirus Seqirus is part of CSL Limited (ASX: CSL). As one of the largest influenza vaccine providers in the world, Seqirus is a major contributor to the prevention of influenza globally and a transcontinental partner in pandemic preparedness. With state-of-the-art production facilities in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and leading R&D capabilities, Seqirus utilizes egg, cell and adjuvant technologies to offer a broad portfolio of differentiated influenza vaccines in more than 20 countries around the world. About CSL CSL (ASX:CSL) is a leading global biotechnology company with a dynamic portfolio of life-saving medicines, including those that treat hemophilia and immune deficiencies, as well as vaccines to prevent influenza. Since our start in 1916, we have been driven by our promise to save lives using the latest technologies. Today, CSL including our two businesses, CSL Behring and Seqirus - provides life- saving products to more than 100 countries and employs more than 27,000 people. Our unique combination of commercial strength, R&D focus and operational excellence enables us to identify, develop and deliver innovations so our patients can live life to the fullest. For more information about CSL Limited, visit www.csl.com . For more information visit www.seqirus.com and www.csl.com . Intended Audience This press release is issued from Seqirus USA Inc. in Summit, New Jersey, USA and is intended to provide information about our global business. Please be aware that information relating to the approval status and labels of approved Seqirus products may vary from country to country. Please consult your local regulatory authority on the approval status of Seqirus products. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. ### AUDENZ (Influenza A(H5N1) Monovalent Vaccine, Adjuvanted) Important Safety Information INDICATION AND USAGE AUDENZ is an inactivated vaccine indicated for active immunization for the prevention of disease caused by the influenza A virus H5N1 subtype contained in the vaccine. AUDENZ is approved for use in persons 6 months of age and older at increased risk of exposure to the influenza A virus H5N1 subtype contained in the vaccine. Use in persons 6 months through 17 months of age is approved under accelerated approval based on the immune response elicited by AUDENZ. Continued approval for use in this age group may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial. CONTRAINDICATIONS History of a severe allergic reaction (e.g., anaphylaxis) to any component of the vaccine, or after a previous dose of an influenza vaccine. WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS Hypersensitivity reactions can occur. Appropriate medical treatment and supervision must be available to manage possible anaphylactic reactions following administration of the vaccine. If Guillain-Barre syndrome has occurred within 6 weeks of receipt of a prior influenza vaccine, the decision to give AUDENZ should be based on careful consideration of potential benefits and risks. ADVERSE REACTIONS In adults 18 through 64 years of age, the most common ( 10%) solicited local and systemic reactions reported in clinical trials were injection site pain (64%), fatigue (25%), headache (25%), malaise (22%), myalgia (14%), arthralgia (10%), and nausea (10%). In adults 65 years of age and older, the most common ( 10%) solicited local and systemic reactions reported in clinical trials were injection site pain (36%), fatigue (20%), malaise (16%), headache (16%), and arthralgia (10%). In infants and children, 6 months through 5 years of age, the most common ( 10%) solicited local and systemic reactions reported in clinical trials were tenderness (56%), irritability (30%), sleepiness (25%), change in eating habits (18%), and fever (16%). In children 6 through 17 years of age, the most common ( 10%) solicited local and systemic reactions reported in clinical trials were injection site pain (68%), myalgia (30%), fatigue (27%), malaise (25%), headache (22%), loss of appetite (14%), nausea (13%), and arthralgia (13%). To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Seqirus at 18553588966 or VAERS at 18008227967 or www.vaers.hhs.gov. Before administration, please see the full Prescribing Information for AUDENZ. AUDENZ and MF59 are registered trademarks of Seqirus UK Limited or its affiliates. USA-PAN-21-0001 MEDIA CONTACT Maria Tortoreto +1 (201) 248-5208 [email protected] 1 This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract numbers HHSO100201800004I and HHSO100200900101C. 2 AUDENZ (Influenza A(H5N1) Monovalent Vaccine, Adjuvanted) [package insert]. Holly Springs, NC: Seqirus Inc; 2020. 3 Vigel, B., Lambert, L., Kinnear, E., et al. (2018). Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines Give Equivalent Protection against Influenza to mRNA Vaccines but at Much Lower Doses. American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. 4 World Health Organization (WHO). The next flu pandemic: a matter of 'when', not 'if.' Retrieved from: http://www.emro.who.int/pandemic-epidemic-diseases/news/the-next-flu-pandemic-a-matter-of-when-not-if.html. Accessed October 2021. 5 Aflunov Package Insert. 2020. 6 Panvax Package Insert. 2008. 7 FOCLIVIA Product Monograph, January 7, 2021. 8 CDC. (2021). Cell-Based Flu Vaccines. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/cell-based.htm. Accessed October 2021. 9 Public Health Emergency. (2020). Vision and Strategic Objectives. Retrieved from: https://www.phe.gov/Preparedness/planning/nivms/Pages/vision-and-strategic-objectives.aspx. Accessed October 2021. 10 This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract numbers HHSO10020060001F2C, HHSO100200700030C, HHSO100200900101C and HHSO100201200003I. 11 U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (HHS). National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System Modernization Initiative. Retrieved from: https://www.hhs.gov/cto/projects/national-notifiable-diseases-surveillance-system-modernization-initiative/index.html. Accessed October 2021. 12 HHS. Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Stockpile Program. Retrieved from: https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/influenza-and-emerging-infectious-diseases/pandemic-influenza-vaccine-stockpile-program/. Accessed October 2021. 13 CDC. (2019). 1957-1958 Pandemic (H2N2 virus). Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1957-1958-pandemic.html. Accessed J October 2021. 14 Babu, T., Perera, R., Wu, J, et al. (2018). Population Serologic Immunity to Human and Avian H2N2 Viruses in the United States and Hong Kong for Pandemic Risk Assessment. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 15 CDC. (2021). Key Facts about InfluenzA(Flu). Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/keyfacts.htm Accessed October 2021. 16 CDC. (2021). Estimated Influenza Illnesses, Medical visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the United States 20192020 Influenza Season. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2019-2020.html. Accessed October 2021. 17 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Who Needs a Flu Vaccine and When. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccinations.htm. Accessed September 2021. 18 CDC. (2016). Pandemic Basics. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/basics/index.html. Accessed October 2021. 19 WHO. (2021). How pandemic influenza emerges. Retrieved from: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/communicable-diseases/influenza/pandemic-influenza/how-pandemic-influenza-emerges. Accessed October 2021. 20 WHO. (2017). Pandemic Influenza Risk Management: A WHO guide to inform and harmonize national and international pandemic preparedness and response. Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/259893/WHO-WHE-IHM-GIP-2017.1-eng.pdf;jsessionid=4421F16879D2F8B96481F8D0C745C7F3?sequence=1. Accessed October 2021. 21 (WHO). (2012). Influenza: H5N1. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/influenza-h5n1. Accessed October 2021. SOURCE Seqirus Related Links https://www.seqirus.com SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Solo Brands, Inc., owner of the popular Solo Stove, Chubbies, Oru Kayak, and Isle paddleboard brands, announced today that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, and Jefferies are serving as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the prospectus relating to this offering, when available, may be obtained from BofA Securities Inc., Attn: Prospectus Department, NC1-004-03-43, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte NC 28255-0001, or by email at [email protected]; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by telephone at 866-803-9204 or by email at [email protected] and Jefferies LLC, Attn: Equity Syndicate Prospectus Department, 520 Madison Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022, by telephone at (877) 821-7388, or by email at prospectus_departmen[email protected]. A registration statement on Form S-1 relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy these securities 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 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. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. About Solo Brands, Inc. Solo Brands is a DTC platform that offers innovative products directly to consumers primarily online through four lifestyle brands Solo Stove firepits, stoves, and accessories, Chubbies apparel, Oru Kayak, a folding portable kayak, and Isle paddleboards. Forward-Looking Statements. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" regarding the Company's plans for its proposed initial public offering. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the proposed public offering and other statements identified by words such as "could," "may," "might," "will," "likely," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "seeks," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "continues," "projects" and similar references to future periods. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding capital market conditions, our business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, by their nature, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. As a result, actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include regional, national or global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory conditions, including risk regarding when we can complete the offering and other factors set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's registration statement on Form S-1. Any forward-looking statement made in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. SOURCE Solo Brands HOUSTON, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Surge Energy US Holdings Company ("Surge Energy" or the "Company") announces the completion of an amendment to the existing amended and restated revolving credit facility that, among other things, increases the elected commitments to $860 million and extends the maturity of the facility from April 2023 to October 2025. The amendment to the Company's amended and restated revolving credit facility is effective on October 4, 2021. The facility's total borrowing base was increased from $850 million to $1.2 billion and elected commitments increased from $850 million to $860 million. "Surge greatly values the continued and new support of the fifteen banks in our lending group," stated Chief Executive Officer Linhua Guan. "We believe the confidence shown by these banks demonstrates their belief in Surge's quality assets, innovative employees, and financial discipline." About Surge Energy Surge Energy US Holdings Company is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on the development, exploitation, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas reserves in the Midland Basin of West Texas, one of three primary sub-basins of the Permian Basin. The Company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and currently holds approximately 113,000 net acres in the Permian Basin. Based on a December 2020 Railroad Commission of Texas report, Surge was one of only two internationally sponsored companies in the top 20 oil producers in the state of Texas. Surge was the only oil and gas production company recognized by the Houston Business Journal's Best Places to Work Lists in both 2020 and 2021. For more information, visit our website at www.SurgeEnergyA.com. SOURCE Surge Energy Related Links http://www.surgeenergya.com/ DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Takkion TP&L Holdings LLC ("Takkion" or the "Company"), a portfolio company of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, "Apollo") today announced that it has acquired San Angelo, TX-based Airway Services, LLC ("Airway Services", or "Airway"), from family office-backed private investment firms Northaven Capital Partners and Concentric Equity Partners. Airway is a leading provider of operations and maintenance ("O&M") solutions to the renewable energy industry. Dallas-based Takkion is a premier multimodal logistics and O&M services provider for the energy transition. The acquisition of Airway represents a significant expansion of Takkion's capabilities in long-term O&M solutions for both wind energy and battery storage markets. Takkion has acquired Airway Services to expand its solutions for the renewable energy services market. Founded in 2009, Airway Services has become one of the nation's top independent service providers ("ISP") for both leading OEMs and asset owners throughout the U.S. Over the last 12 years, the Airway team has provided on-demand technical staffing, project management, maintenance, and operations solutions for utility-scale renewable energy projects. Airway has grown rapidly by maintaining its focus on integrity, safety, quality, and customer service. Now part of Takkion, Airway Services' brand will remain intact, and its management team, led by Chase Hord, will continue to deliver best-in-class performance to its customers. Airway will benefit from the strength of Takkion's platform to accelerate growth and expand service offerings for customers. Airway Services will complement Takkion's leading multimodal logistics and O&M services companies: Transportation Partners and Logistics ("TP&L"), Global Specialized Services ("GSS") and Renew Energy ("RENEW"). The addition of Airway will meaningfully grow Takkion's O&M presence in North America, significantly enhancing Takkion's ability to provide comprehensive solutions for the evolving needs of the renewable energy supply chain. "Airway joining Takkion strengthens our position as the 'Premier Full-Service Solution' for all of our customers. As an organization, we are excited that the Airway team brings their expertise and leadership, which will allow our combined teams to provide our customers with greater bandwidth and a larger set of solutions," said Justin Orr and Travis Harkins, who are Takkion's Co-Chief Operating Officers for TP&L / GSS and RENEW, respectively. Chase Hord will join Takkion as a third CoChief Operating Officer of the Company, responsible for Airway's operations. "We are ecstatic to join forces with the Takkion team," said Chase Hord, CEO of Airway. "The foundation of our success continues to be from the results of having and developing a strong team with best-in-class technicians. We continue to take an 'old school' approach to the service business by exemplifying high integrity, accountability, and transparency with our customers and stakeholders. The combination of our organizations will bring a history of strong customer relationships, unique service offerings, and the ability to leverage strategic solutions to the growing renewable services market. We look forward to working with the TP&L, GSS, and RENEW teams, leveraging Takkion's collective scale to better serve our customers and invest in growth." Jim Orr, President and Chief Executive Officer of Takkion, added, "We are excited to add Airway Services to the Takkion platform of companies. Airway has an excellent, safety-minded culture throughout its ranks that complements TP&L, GSS and RENEW very well. Together, we are well positioned to be the market leading ISP in the renewable energy industry. As the premier provider of both logistics and O&M solutions for the industry, the innovation and value our combined Company can now bring to customers is unmatched. We will continue to offer a broadening set of services, built on our strong foundation predicated on safety, supported by the best team in the industry." Scott Browning and Orme Thompson of Apollo's Natural Resources Private Equity business added, "We are thrilled to welcome Airway to the Takkion platform. The Airway team has built an outstanding business, and we look forward to seeing its continued growth, as it leverages the deep resources and capabilities of Takkion. We are pleased to support Takkion as it builds out increasingly diversified capabilities for stakeholders across the renewable energy industry. We believe that as the energy transition accelerates, Takkion's scale and breadth of services will prove critical in supporting this growing industry." Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as legal counsel to Takkion in this transaction. Cascadia Capital LLC acted as financial advisor and Foley & Lardner LLP acted as legal counsel to Airway Services, LLC. ABOUT TAKKION Dallas-based Takkion is the premier independent provider of logistics, O&M, and technical remanufacturing and repair services to the Renewable Energy industry. With the industry's largest network of people and assets across North America, Takkion is uniquely positioned to support the rapidly growing need for clean energy. At Takkion, we live by our core values of safety, integrity, and transparency, continually aiming to better serve our customers and our employees. To learn more about how Takkion is Moving Energy Forward, visit www.takkion.com/ ABOUT APOLLO Apollo is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager. We seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies: yield, hybrid and opportunistic. Through our investment activity across our fully integrated platform, we serve the retirement income and financial return needs of our clients, and we offer innovative capital solutions to businesses. Our patient, creative, knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of June 30, 2021, Apollo had approximately $472 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com. SOURCE Takkion TP&L Holdings LLC The demand for vacations is at an all-time high, and consumers are missing interactions with local people and culture found during travel. The Bahamas is looking forward to welcoming back travelers whenever they choose to visit. However, those who are not ready will be pleased to know they do not have to miss out on an authentic Bahamas experience simply because they do not get on a plane. Transport virtually into the homes of Bahamians to dance, cook and more. For the first time ever, consumers can indulge in the unique People-to-People Program from the comfort of their own homes. These sessions will be curated to small intimate groups (no more than five participants each) who will interface live with local hosts, allowing for real conversation and authentic connection through the sharing of Bahamian culture and traditions. Available to book for a limited time, beginning today, the program offers five free virtual session themes with local ambassadors in The Bahamas: Local Life 101: Walk with historian Arlene Nash Ferguson to learn about the culture and heritage of The Bahamas . Walk with historian to learn about the culture and heritage of The . Cooking Like a Local: Wine and dine with ambassadors in a home cooking session featuring favorite Bahamian meals. Wine and dine with ambassadors in a home cooking session featuring favorite Bahamian meals. Happy Hour Like a Local: Shake up your afternoon with a famous Bahama Mama cocktail. Shake up your afternoon with a famous Bahama Mama cocktail. Walk and Talk with a Local: Take in Bahamian sunsets, tropical landscapes and sandy beaches on a stroll with locals. Take in Bahamian sunsets, tropical landscapes and sandy beaches on a stroll with locals. Dance Like a Local: Junkanoo: Move to the beat of The Bahamas with a Junkanoo tutorial -- one of the country's most celebrated traditions. "The People-to-People Program offers travelers the unique opportunity to enter the homes of Bahamian citizens and truly immerse themselves in our culture," said the Hon. Dionisio D'Aguilar, Bahamas Minister of Tourism & Aviation. "We are proud to bring these experiences to the virtual stage and our ambassadors are thrilled to share their love of The Bahamas with travelers once again." ABOUT For more information, or to book a free virtual session, visit Bahamas.com/People-to-People . PRESS INQUIRIES Anita Johnson-Patty Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation [email protected] Weber Shandwick Public Relations [email protected] SOURCE Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation Related Links https://www.bahamas.com NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hilco Streambank, a market leading advisory firm specializing in the sale of intellectual property assets and domain name brokerage, is marketing for sale the intellectual property of Portico, the beloved home furnishings, amenities and linens brand, including its trademarks, domain names and social media assets. For over three decades, Portico has provided luxury home products for fashionable customers and noteworthy interior decorators, architects and editors. Firmly rooted in New York's SoHo neighborhood, Portico pioneered industrial inspired designs that were the perfect complements to the converted lofts and studios of artists, actors, designers and Wall Street executives. Epitomizing the West Broadway aesthetic, the brand became a frequent reference point in multiple media channels, including appearances on the Bravo network and depictions in books such as Bret Easton Ellis' Glamorama. "Over time, Portico's high level of awareness led to its expansion into the hospitality sector, including a longtime partnership with Hyatt Hotels, as well as other complementary categories, including home decor, bed and bath linens, and personal care products," commented Hilco Streambank Executive Vice President David Peress. "The Portico trademarks are registered in multiple highly relevant categories, including furniture, sheets, towels, sleepwear and shampoo and lotion." The Portico brand has consistently stood for responsibly sourced products incorporating sustainable materials. In addition to its retail stores, Portico branded products have been historically distributed through department stores, specialty stores, the hospitality industry, and the PorticoHome.com e-commerce website. With home sales, one of the traditional drivers of home furnishing purchases, expected to increase by between 8% and 10% year-over-year by the end of 2021, the Portico brand represents a unique opportunity for a buyer to reestablish a heritage home furnishings brand within a growing market. The deadline to submit indications of interest for the Portico intellectual property assets is October 14, 2021. Parties interested in the assets or learning more about the sale process should CLICK HERE or contact Hilco Streambank directly using the contact information provided below. David Peress Executive Vice President [email protected] 617.642.1909 Richelle Kalnit Senior Vice President [email protected] 212.993.7214 Ryan Brenner Analyst [email protected] 212.993.7213 About Hilco Streambank: Hilco Streambank is a market leading advisory firm specializing in intellectual property disposition and valuation. Having completed numerous transactions including sales in publicly reported Chapter 7 and 11 bankruptcy cases, private transactions, and online sales through IPv4.Global, Hilco Streambank has established itself as the premier intermediary in the consumer brand, internet and telecom communities. Hilco Streambank is part of Northbrook, Illinois based Hilco Global, the world's leading authority on maximizing the value of business assets by delivering valuation, monetization and advisory solutions to an international marketplace. Hilco Global operates more than twenty specialized business units offering services that include asset valuation and appraisal, retail and industrial inventory acquisition and disposition, real estate and strategic capital equity investments. SOURCE Hilco Streambank Related Links http://www.hilcoglobal.com FLINT, Mich., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has named Juan Zuniga, a long-time local community leader, as the new executive director of LISC Flint to expand investments in housing, businesses, health and jobs and catalyze new opportunities for families. LISC's work, which includes more than $742 million in Michigan community investments, is particularly important right now as cities and towns across the country address long-standing racial disparities and at the same time plan for a lasting recovery from COVID-19, noted Lisa Glover, LISC interim president and CEO. In addition to Flint, LISC also operates Michigan program offices in Detroit and Kalamazoo. "In promoting Juan to executive director, we are not only elevating the experience of a strong local leader, but we are also reinforcing LISC's overarching commitment to Flint and to communities throughout Michigan," said Glover, who noted that LISC has already invested more than $39 million in Flint. "He will drive our local support for strong, healthy communities and help build the capacity of local nonprofits to spur growth and opportunity for the people and places they serve. Since 2018, Zuniga has served as a senior program officer at LISC, where he has not only managed much of the day-to-day work of the Flint office, but also fueled extensive community and economic development plans and projects. His expertise spans critical federal programs, like HUD Section 4 and the New Markets Tax Credit, as well as local efforts, like the LISC Flint Healthy Homes initiative and a range of mission-driven commercial lending strategies. "LISC is unique in that it is a national organization that aggregates resources from public, corporate and philanthropic sources, but it is also deeply rooted in the communities where it works," he explained. "That means our staff in Flint is on the ground, every day, working hand in hand with policymakers, community groups, business leaders and residents to give people the best chance possible to succeed. "We believe in the tremendous range of creativity and culture that is unique to Flint. We can leverage those strengths to tackle our toughest challenges, collaborating in ways that reflect what people want and need to thrive," he added. Before joining LISC, Zuniga spent six years as program director at the Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, where he led efforts focused on homeowner education, mortgage sales, fair housing initiatives, property acquisition, and neighborhood revitalization. Earlier, he spent 16 years working in construction as a self-employed contractoryears where he built the kind of development expertise that informs his work today. "Juan has both the skills and commitment to elevate LISC's work in Flint and positively impact the opportunities available to families and businesses," said Jim Carney, vice president at Choice One Bank and chair of LISC Flint's Local Advisory Council. "Lasting progress is not about any one project or program, but about sustainable investments that help Flint build a good quality of life for all its residentsno matter their race, class, gender or zip code." Zuniga also offers his time for a number of important regional efforts, including serving on the board of Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, as a member of the Grand Blanc Schools Construction Trade Program Advisory Committee, and as a member of the YWCA Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board. Zuniga can be reached at [email protected]. About LISC With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Since 1979, LISC has invested $24 billion to build or rehab more than 436,320 affordable homes and apartments and develop 74.4 million square feet of retail, community and educational space. For more, visit www.lisc.org. Media contact: Colleen Mulcahy, for LISC 312-342-8244 [email protected] SOURCE Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Related Links https://www.lisc.org HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 1st Edge, a leader in designing pragmatic solutions using Artificial Intelligence and new technologies, announced the win of a $46M Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contract to develop Artificial Intelligence solutions for the US Army. The contract continues an effort named Pragmatic Artificial Intelligence and New Technology (PAINT). The Pragmatic AI and New Technology (PAINT) approach applies the science of AI and other new technologies to near-term, engineering solutions for missile defense. By using the PAINT approach, users are able to capture subject matter expertise in automated software systems, allowing a broader set of requirements to be satisfied through computer analysis. These automated systems can process tremendous amounts of data in a fraction of the time compared to current manual approaches. "Advancements of AI in the laboratory are not translating to operational solutions fast enough to meet evolving threats.," states Tim McCarter, President of 1st Edge. "Integrating AI into current and future DoD programs is a major initiative for 1st Edge. Our mission is to close the gap and get sophisticated, innovative technology in the fight to augment the warfighter and support analysts." Through this contract, 1st Edge will develop prototype software to streamline missile defense programs using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques. The three-year contract will be managed through the Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC). "1st Edge has demonstrated the success of the PAINT concept which began as a Phase I SBIR, gained traction through a Phase II effort and resonated with a breadth of customers," said Nathan Claburn, Vice President of 1st Edge. "Now with additional funding 1st Edge will advance pragmatic solutions for multiple missile defense programs." About 1st Edge LLC Located in Huntsville, Alabama, 1st Edge is a Small Business Provider to the Department of Defense and works closely with Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC). Founded in 2011, the company uses agile methodology to craft advanced technologies into software solutions. Core competencies include artificial intelligence, data solutions, software engineering, air and missile defense systems, data visualization and software analysis. https://www.1st-edge.com/ Media Contact: Jana Conover [email protected] This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com SOURCE 1st Edge INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthiest Employers, powered by Springbuk and the most-trusted U.S. awards program for people-centric companies, announced today the 2021 Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America. This award honors the organizations that are demonstrating care for their people by investing in health and well-being solutions and initiatives. Judging is based on each organization's Healthiest Employers Index a metric based on six categories: Culture and Leadership Commitment, Foundational Components, Strategic Planning, Communications and Marketing, Programming and Interventions, and Reporting and Analytics. The questionnaire, scoring, and benchmarking were formed with the help of a national, non-biased group of representatives from the academic, medical, and wellness communities. The assessment is scored rubric style on a 1100 scale, with each question totaling .253 points. "Healthiest Employers scores hit record highs in the past year, reflecting a deep level of care and empathy by business and benefits leaders who stand out in their support of their employees' well-being," said Haley Elmore, Healthiest Employers Program Coordinator. "The effects of COVID-19 will likely affect business operations for many years to come and it is crucial that companies are considering the needs of their employees beyond the immediate crisis." The 2021 Healthiest 100 Workplaces in America: CNO Financial Group Northwell Health Baylor College of Medicine Delta Air Lines Witham Health Services OneAZ Credit Union Shamrock Foods Company Port of Portland Wake County Government Norton Healthcare UnitedHealthcare Colorado State Department of Natural Resources BankUnited N.A. National Association of Insurance Commissioners Quanta Services Inc. DaVita Inc. Excela Health Randolph County Government GE Appliances, a Haier company Boulder County Ericsson Inc. U-Haul SmartPractice Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Riverside Healthcare Hitachi Astemo Ohio Manufacturing Inc. (Formerly American Showa) Kaiser Permanente Bon Secours Mercy Health City of Acworth The City of Douglasville Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) University of Pittsburgh Medical Center & UPMC Health Plan OrthoCarolina P.A. Compass Group USA Inc. HP Inc. City of Charlotte Chevron SAIF Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County Raytown Quality Schools Bi-State Development Lane County South County Health Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Harris Health System PeaceHealth Permanente Dental Associates Samaritan Health Services Premier Inc. MJ Insurance The Starr Group American Express OneAmerica Syngenta The Resource Center Jacobs Pasco County Schools Royal Caribbean Group Leprino Foods Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport City of Scottsdale Louisville Metro Government Corrective Chiropractic Bean Automotive Group McCarthy Holdings Inc. Cambia Health Solutions AdventHealth Eugene Water & Electric Board Nektar CVS Health Phoenix Children's Hospital Lindenwood University Johnson, Kendall & Johnson AAA Northeast JE Dunn Construction SCL Health OCLC Inc. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York Brevard County BOCC Cerner Corporation North Kansas City School District No. 74 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City Faith Technologies Hill & Wilkinson General Contractors The School Board of Seminole County Anthem Inc. Premier Health Atrium Health Rowan County Government Burns & McDonnell Meredith Conner Strong & Buckelew Cook Children's Healthcare System City of High Point City of Olathe City of Alexandria Cubic Corporation Hess Corporation MetroNational "Well-being is no longer a nice to have, it is a business imperative to hire and retain top talent," said Rod Reasen, CEO of Springbuk. "Businesses that are not investing in the health of their employees risk losing the talent needed to compete, or even survive." About Healthiest Employers Springbuk is the preferred health intelligence platform for Healthiest Employers. This partnership brings clinical expertise, empowering us to move beyond recognition. With Springbuk, Healthiest Employers can help forward-thinking organizations to utilize more intelligent solutions for managing the health and well-being of their population. About Springbuk Springbuk is a leading-edge health analytics intelligence platform that empowers employers and consultants to optimize their investments in population health. The innovative solution offers deep analytic insights, allows data-informed decision-making, and provides strategic direction to maximize return on employee benefit investments. SOURCE Springbuk Related Links http://www.springbuk.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, AARP announced its 2022 AARP Purpose Prize award recipients and fellows, the only national award that celebrates people 50-plus who use their knowledge and life experience to solve challenging social problems. These extraordinary Americans use their experiences and selflessly dedicate their lives to build a better future for the world around them. Alongside the Purpose Prize winners and fellows, AARP will present award-winning television and film actor and activist Michael J. Fox with an honorary Purpose Prize Award for his work in advocating for Parkinson's research. After going public with his diagnosis in 1991, Fox launched The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research in 2000. Today the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's drug development, the Foundation has funded more than $1 billion in global research programs. Fox currently sits on the Foundation's Board of Directors and serves as its inspirational leader. He travels and frequently speaks on behalf of the organization, which the New York Times described as "the most credible voice on Parkinson's research in the world." "AARP is honored to celebrate these extraordinary older adults, who have dedicated their lives to serving others in creative and innovative ways," said AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins. "During these trying times in our country and globally, we are inspired to see people use their life experiences to build a better future for us all." Each AARP Purpose Prize winner will receive a $50,000 award for their organization. AARP also announced the AARP Purpose Prize fellows, who will be honored for the mission-focused work of the organizations they lead and will receive a $10,000 award to further the mission of their organization. Both winners and fellows also receive a year of technical support to help broaden the scope of their organization's work. This year AARP also announced a new award category called the AARP Inspire Award. Starting today, the general public will have the opportunity to vote at www.aarp.org/InspireAward for the AARP Purpose Prize winner they would like to win the AARP Inspire Award, using review criteria of impact, personal story, and innovation. The AARP Inspire Award recipient will be announced during the virtual event celebration on December 15, 2021. The winner's organization will receive an additional $10,000. The 2022 AARP Purpose Prize winners are: William Bracken Fountain Valley, Calif. - Bracken's Kitchen Bracken's Kitchen produces meals to contribute to solving the growing issues of food waste as well as food insecurity. The organization uses a unique approach to repurpose donated and recovered food that would have otherwise gone to landfills. Raymond Jetson Baton Rouge, La. - MetroMorphosis MetroMorphosis aims to transform urban communities from within. The organization seeks to develop and mobilize a critical mass of engaged citizens to design and implement sustainable solutions to persistent community challenges. Alan Miller Bethesda, Md. - News Literacy Project News Literacy Project teaches people of all ages and backgrounds know how to identify credible news and other information, empowering them to have an equal opportunity to participate in the civic life of their communities and the country. Ify Nwabukwu Lanham, Md. - African Women's Cancer Awareness Association African Women's Cancer Awareness Association's mission is to reduce the burden of cancer on African immigrant women and their families by providing equal access to screening and care for African women. Rita Zimmer New York, N.Y. - HousingPlus HousingPlus' mission is to provide community-based housing and comprehensive services to women including women with children to support them in overcoming poverty, homelessness, addiction, trauma, and the effects of incarceration. The 2022 AARP Purpose Prize fellows are: Larry Berger Pittsburgh, Penn. - SLB Radio Productions Rebecca Bonner Philadelphia, Penn. - The Bridge Way School Terri Chandler Las Vegas, Nev. - Future Smiles Dexter Frederick, M.D. Tampa, Fla. - Brain Expansions Scholastic Training Sheila Jaffe New York, N.Y. - The Felix Organization Ilima Ho Lastimosa Waimanalo, Hawaii - Ke Kula Nui O Waimanalo Shellie Layne Birmingham, Ala. - At Home Foundation Terri Winston San Francisco, Calif. - Women's Audio Mission Ana Yelen Boulder, Colo. - Healing Warriors Program About AARP AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence and nearly 38 million members, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org, www.aarp.org/espanol or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspanol and @AARPadvocates, @AliadosAdelante on social media. SOURCE AARP Related Links www.aarp.org ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) today announced that Abbott President and CEO Robert B. Ford will deliver a keynote at CES 2022 , the world's most influential technology event. This marks the first time in CES history that a healthcare company will take the mainstage for a keynote at the show. Ford will be joined on stage by a diverse group of Abbott's top scientists, engineers, inventors and partners to discuss the technology revolution in healthcare, and how it is empowering people to actively engage in their own health. "Technology improves lives, and now more than ever, we are witnessing technology's incredible impact on healthcare, allowing us to take better control of our health," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. "We've seen a rapid shift in healthcare innovation, with technology leading the charge to bring quality healthcare to all global citizens. We are thrilled to welcome Robert to the CES keynote stage to share more about Abbott's vision for the future of healthcare." The health category has grown significantly at CES in recent years. CES 2022 will showcase the latest products and innovations from global brands moving into this sector. Companies participating include Abbott, AT&T Business, Dassault Systemes Americas, Omron Healthcare, OrCam, Philips, Purple Innovation, Sleep Number, Variowell and 3M. CES will host conference programming focused on innovations in health tech, and the Digital Health Studio will return hosting conversational interviews with industry thought leaders on health trends shaping the future. "CES is the ideal stage to spotlight how technology is allowing people to take control of their health," Abbott's Ford said. "Health is at the center of our ability to live a full life, and the acceleration of health technology has the potential to improve more lives in more places than ever before. We look forward to sharing some of the latest health tech advancements and future possibilities at CES 2022." Ford is Abbott's president and chief executive officer. Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for all of the company's operating businesses; and executive vice president, Medical Devices, leading Diabetes Care, Cardiovascular and Neuromodulation businesses. He joined Abbott's Diagnostics division in 1996 as a business unit manager in Diabetes Care. Ford joins GM's Mary Barra and T-Mobile's Mike Sievert as confirmed CES keynote speakers. The CES keynote schedule will be updated regularly as keynote speakers are announced. Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2022 will convene the tech industry in-person and digitally, Wednesday, Jan. 5 to Saturday, Jan. 8, with Media Days taking place Monday, Jan. 3 to Tuesday, Jan. 4. Global audiences will have access to major brands and startups, as well as the world's most-influential leaders and industry advocates. For over 50 years, CES has been the global stage for innovation, and CES 2022 will provide an opportunity for companies from around the world, both large and small, to launch products, build brands and form partnerships. Visit CES.tech for all CES 2022 updates, including health protocols, registration and the media page for all press resources. About CES: CES is the most influential tech event in the world the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators. This is where the world's biggest brands do business and meet new partners, and the sharpest innovators hit the stage. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), CES features every aspect of the tech sector. CES 2022 will take place in person in Las Vegas, and digitally, Jan. 5-8, 2022. Learn more at CES.tech and follow CES on social. About Consumer Technology Association: As North America's largest technology trade association, CTA is the tech sector. Our members are the world's leading innovators from startups to global brands helping support more than 18 million American jobs. CTA owns and produces CES the most influential tech event in the world. Find us at CTA.tech. Follow us @CTAtech. About Abbott: Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 109,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. Connect with us at www.abbott.com, on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/abbott-/, on Facebook at facebook.com/Abbott and on Twitter @AbbottNews. UPCOMING EVENTS CES Unveiled Amsterdam Oct. 14, 2021 Amsterdam, NL CES Unveiled Paris Oct. 19, 2021 Paris, FR CES Unveiled Las Vegas Jan. 3, 2021 Las Vegas, NV CES 2022 Media Days Jan. 3-4, 2022 Las Vegas, NV CES 2022 Jan. 5-8, 2022 Las Vegas, NV SOURCE Consumer Technology Association Related Links www.ce.org SMYRNA, Ga., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelerate360, LLC (Accelerate), an omni-channel distribution, data and media company that provides customized solutions for consumer product brands and retailers, today announced that Nikki Laughlin has been named Chief Innovation Officer. Mrs. Laughlin joins the company from Havas (Chicago) where she served as President since 2019. In this new role for the company, Mrs. Laughlin will apply her broad range of experiences to grow existing revenue streams across Accelerate's various business channels. "As we continue to rapidly grow and diversify Accelerate360 across multiple channels of business, it became clear to me that we needed someone with Nikki's intellect, enthusiasm and past experience to help shape and support our aggressive growth plans," said Accelerate360 President & CEO David Parry. "Her proven leadership and innovative approach to navigating business challenges with creativity and data will have an extraordinary impact." Prior to joining Accelerate, Mrs. Laughlin served as President of Havas (Chicago), leading teams across three agency banners, Havas Chicago, Annex Chicago and Annex Experience, where they serviced clients like Amazon, Adidas, AutoZone, Ferrara, Reynolds Consumer Products, Hefty, Michelin and Pillsbury among others. She brings more than 20 years of executive experience spanning the CPG, Retail, and Travel industries. Mrs. Laughlin has held executive roles and led global teams at agencies including Leo Burnett and Havas, retailers including Sears and Meijer, and Facebook. "I am excited to join Accelerate360 and the incredible opportunity it provides to leverage my past experiences and showcase that, when harnessed effectively, data has an incredible story to tell one that can be used to make merchandising and marketing more meaningful to businesses, brands and the people and communities they serve," said Mrs. Laughlin. "The team here has been building an incredibly unique flywheel which is well-positioned to be a powerful force, in partnership with retailers and brands, to transform the marketplace." Recognized by Progressive Grocer in 2017 as one of the Top Women in Grocery, Mrs. Laughlin is a self-proclaimed "retail nerd" who is happiest walking stores with merchants, solving business-problems with innovation and creativity. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Mrs. Laughlin lives with her family in Grand Rapids, MI. About Accelerate360 : Accelerate360 is an omni-channel distribution, data and media company that provides customized solutions for consumer product brands and retailers. They deliver consumer products to over 60,000 retail locations weekly and have a 100-year track record of growing brands through logistics, sales, sourcing, marketing and media. Accelerate360 specializes in the General Merchandise, Health, Beauty, and Wellness categories and develops and curates programs to cater to clients' objectives. As a data driven organization, Accelerate360 leverages first party and third-party data to customize impactful and efficient solutions for their clients. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, the company has offices and fulfillment centers strategically positioned around the United States and is proud to employ over 1,100 employees. SOURCE Accelerate360 MILWAUKEE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating possible securities fraud claims against Amplify (NYSE: AMPY). The investigation results from inaccurate statements Amplify may have made regarding its business operations and prospects. Click here to learn more about the investigation https://www.ademilaw.com/case/amplify-energy-corp or call Guri Ademi toll-free at 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you. The investigation focuses on whether Amplify properly disclosed its commitment and ability to comply with federal and state environmental laws. On October 4, 2021, Amplify reported that it had "observed and notified the US Coast Guard of an oil sheen approximately four (4) miles off the coast in Southern California and initiated its Oil Spill Prevention and Response Plan." Press reports state that this is California's worst oil spill in almost 30 years. The spill dumped about 3,000 barrels (126,000 gallons) of crude into the Pacific Ocean near the seaside community of Huntington Beach, California. If you wish to obtain additional information or have information about this investigation, please contact Guri Ademi either at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995, https://www.ademilaw.com/case/amplify-energy-corp. We specialize in securities fraud and shareholder litigation. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Ademi LLP Guri Ademi 3620 East Layton Ave. Cudahy, WI 53110 Toll Free: (866) 264-3995 Fax: (414) 482-8001 www.ademilaw.com SOURCE Ademi LLP Related Links http://www.ademilaw.com MILWAUKEE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ademi LLP is investigating possible securities fraud claims against Owlet (NYSE: OWLT). The investigation results from inaccurate statements Owlet may have made regarding its business operations and prospects. Click here to learn more about the investigation https://www.ademilaw.com/case/owlet-inc or call Guri Ademi toll-free at 866-264-3995. There is no cost or obligation to you. The investigation focuses on whether Owlet properly disclosed its compliance with federal regulatory requirements in its marketing of its Owlet Smart Sock product. On October 4, Owlet announced that it had received a warning letter from the FDA United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), asserting that Owlet's marketing of the Smart Sock rendered the product a medical device requiring premarket approval from the FDA, which Owlet had not obtained. The Warning Letter asked Owlet to "cease commercial distribution of the Smart Sock for uses in measuring blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate where such metrics are intended to identify or diagnose desaturation and bradycardia using an alarm functionality to notify users that measurements are outside of preset values." If you wish to obtain additional information or have information about this investigation, please contact Guri Ademi either at [email protected] or toll-free: 866-264-3995, https://www.ademilaw.com/case/owlet-inc. We specialize in securities fraud and shareholder litigation. For more information, please feel free to call us. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Ademi LLP Guri Ademi 3620 East Layton Ave. Cudahy, WI 53110 Toll Free: (866) 264-3995 Fax: (414) 482-8001 www.ademilaw.com SOURCE Ademi LLP Related Links http://www.ademilaw.com BRUSSELS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) warmly welcomes the release of the first EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life, which seeks to place the EU in the lead in the global fight against Jew-hatred. The European Commission's ultimate goal is nothing less than "an EU free from antisemitism." With the strategy centered around preventing and combating all forms of antisemitism, protecting and fostering Jewish life in the EU as well as education, research and Holocaust remembrance, AJC is pleased to see that many of the recommendations it submitted in June together with other major Jewish organizations have made it into the final document. "Europe can only prosper when its Jewish communities prosper too," the Commission correctly points out. "The EU should be applauded for taking this significant step toward combating antisemitism in Europe and abroad amid the dramatic surge of Jew-hatred within living memory of the Holocaust," said Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, the EU office of AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization. "It is reassuring to see that the strategy aims at tackling antisemitism whether it originates from the far-right, the far-left, Islamists or mainstream society and clearly identifies 'Israel-related antisemitism' as a major problem. As the Commission notes, it is in fact 'the most common form of antisemitism encountered online by Jews in Europe today.'" A mix of concrete measures the Commission will take itself as well as recommendations for member states, the strategy emphasizes the need for a comprehensive response in light of the complexity of the problem. "The Commission will therefore take the fight against antisemitism systematically into consideration when developing policies, legislation and funding programmes," the strategy reads, by "mainstreaming the prevention and countering of antisemitism in all its forms and across all policy areas." Among the Commission's key recommendations to member states are the adoption and use of the IHRA Working Definition of antisemitism--which also addresses Israel-related antisemitismthe development of a national action plan, and the appointment of a special coordinator. Brussels also urged member states to protect Jewish communities and provide funding for their security. As the Commission notes, security is a key concern for Europe's Jews and many communities must invest significant parts of their limited budgets in their own security measures. This is why the Commission will also contribute EU funding to the security of Jewish communities. Stressing repeatedly the importance of the IHRA definition throughout the document, the Commission emphasizes that the "EU will use all available tools to call on partner countries to actively combat antisemitism, taking into account the IHRA definition of antisemitism in political and human rights dialogues and in its broader cooperation with partner countries." Furthermore, the Commission underlines that in its foreign relations it will promote full compliance of education material with UNESCO standards and ensure that EU external funds will not be misused to help incitement and violence against Jews. Last month, the European Parliament's Budget Committee voted to withhold some funds from UNWRA unless antisemitic incitement in Palestinian Authority textbooks, which clearly violate UNESCO standards, is finally removed. "It is particularly encouraging to see that the EU's fight against antisemitism also has a strong foreign policy dimension. If the EU takes a lead in combating anti-Israeli and antisemitic incitement in Palestinian and other Middle Eastern societies, it can make a crucial contribution to the goal of a two-state solution and to enlarging the circle of peace of the Abraham Accords," said Schwammenthal. Following recent European court decisions upholding a Belgian ban against religious slaughter, the Commission also urged member states to "ensure through policy and legal measures that religious groups or communities, including Jews, can live their lives in accordance with their religious and cultural traditions." The Commission further called on member states to implement the Terezin Declaration on Holocaust restitution. The Commission's strategy also includes the following steps: Assessing Member States' national strategies or measures on antisemitism by the end of 2023 and organizing an annual civil society forum on combating antisemitism. Strengthening the fight against online antisemitism by supporting the establishment of a Europe -wide network of trusted flaggers and Jewish organizations -wide network of trusted flaggers and Jewish organizations Fostering, in cooperation with the Member States and the research community, the creation of a European research hub on contemporary antisemitism and Jewish life and culture. Funding an EU-wide survey on antisemitic prejudices and views among the general populations of all Member States. Stepping up its operational support for Member States and Jewish communities by providing training on security measures. Cooperating closely with Europol, including its EU Internet Referral Unit, to combat online antisemitic terrorism and violent extremism. Providing training for targeted (Commission) staff such as human resources professionals to recognize antisemitism based on the IHRA definition and organize study visits when relevant, for instance to Israel . . Supporting Member States in designing and implementing reforms aimed at tackling discrimination in schools in general and antisemitism in particular. Considering new EU-funded projects in the EU's neighborhood and beyond to prevent and counter antisemitism and foster Jewish life. Encourage the EU delegations to include reporting of antisemitic incidents in non-EU countries, in their regular political reporting. Reinforce the EU-Israel seminar to further strengthen EU-Israel cooperation in the fight against antisemitism. Fostering links between the Jewish tradition of planting trees on the holiday of TuBishvat, including by school children, and the EU pledge to plant 3 billion additional trees under the biodiversity and forest strategy for 2030, thereby raising mutual awareness and visibility. SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Akridata, a category-maker and pioneer in Data-Centric AI, today announced the completion of its $15 million Series A round led by Venture Capital firms TeleSoft Partners, Accel, and Mobile Foundation Ventures (MFV) Partners. In a separate news release issued today, Akridata introduced the world's first Edge Data Platform for Data-Centric Artificial Intelligence (AI). With the first AI infrastructure platform in the Data-Centric AI category, Akridata provides a decentralized structure and scalable process to deliver curated, consistent, and relevant AI data sets. Advanced AI and Autonomy depend on massive amounts of data generated at the Edge to fuel continuous Deep Learning. Akridata was formed in 2018 to solve AI's Exascale data problem, a requirement to move AI out of experimentation and into real-world production. From automotive and transportation, to retail and healthcare, this need is a major obstacle that prevents AI-enabled products from making it to the marketplace. "The diverse requirements of ADAS/AV (Advanced Driver Assisted Systems/Autonomous Vehicle) necessitate many elements including deep learning, cloud deployment and in-vehicle services, among others. What ties all these together is data and a massive data challenge," said Kishore Jonnalagedda, Director of Engineering, Toyota Motor Company North America. "Akridata brings us a comprehensive and novel solution that drives efficiencies, lowers the cost and accelerates our team's work toward our objectives. We will gain immediate leverage by automating data pipelines from edge locations to the cloud, allowing our data science and product development teams to focus on what matters most: delivering best-in-class ADAS/AV solutions and providing mobility for all." The funding support will be used to scale the organization with exceptional talent, especially in engineering and customer success roles, drive further product innovation, and advance Akridata's go-to-market initiatives to meet the market demand for Data-Centric AI solutions. "Real-world AI is all about data and solving AI's data problem is what Akridata was formed to do. We are delighted by the level of interest from the investment community and look forward to scaling Akridata to help take AI out of experimentation and into the broad marketplace," said Kumar Ganapathy, co-founder and CEO of Akridata. "The trust these prominent VC firms have put into Akridata is a testament to the quality of our engineering, the significance of the business need we are meeting, and the market-readiness of our solution -- the Akridata Edge Data Platform." What Investors Say About Akridata "Autonomy is the next phase of AI and one of the most significant endeavors in human history, and the data problem associated with it is not only a giant challenge, but a giant opportunity. Akridata's solution for Data-Centric AI is revolutionary and exactly what's needed to drive autonomy forward across a range of industries." Arjun Gupta, Chief Believer, TeleSoft Partners "The challenges of large and scattered data sets can seriously put the brakes on the promise of AI. Akridata's unique focus on addressing these issues will make them a significant player in the next chapter of AI for advanced use-cases." Dinesh Katiyar, Partner at Accel "At MFV Partners, we invest in deep tech startups transforming large industries, and once we met with Kumar and the Akridata team and learned first-hand about their approach to AI's massive video and unstructured data challenge, we immediately saw significant cross-industry use cases for the Akridata platform. From automotive and healthcare to discrete manufacturing and government, Akridata's ground-breaking innovation has the power to accelerate and transform industries." Karthee Madasamy, Founder and Managing Partner, MFV Partners To learn more about the Akridata offering or to join the organization, visit the links below: Learn more about the data challenges the Akridata team has solved from The Autonomous World and Why Akridata? videos. Join the team to help solve one the biggest and most inspiring data problems on the planet and enable the Autonomous World. Request a Consult of the Akridata Edge Data Platform for the Autonomous World. Click to Tweet: Category-maker @akridata Closes $15 Million Series A Financing Round. Learn more: https://www.akridata.com/akridata-closes-15-million-in-series-a-financing-round About Akridata Akridata enables Data-Centric AI by solving AI's Exascale-class data problem. The Akridata Edge Data Platform is the first solution spanning Edge-Core-Cloud resources. It provides a decentralized structure and scalable process to deliver curated, consistent, and relevant AI data sets. Akridata was founded in 2018 by some of Silicon Valley's most respected entrepreneurs, data scientists, and product engineers, who collectively hold nearly 200 patents and have a history of solving some of the world's most perplexing data challenges. Akri means "Edge" in Greek. Learn more at akridata.com. Media Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Akridata, Inc. Related Links http://www.akridata.com BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Featuring limitless opportunities and endless experiences for the discerning leisure traveler, All-Inclusive by Marriott Bonvoy officially welcomes 20 one-of-a-kind resorts as part of the Autograph Collection Hotels brand. Celebrated for its curated collection of remarkably independent properties with distinct perspectives on design and hospitality, the new Autograph Collection All-Inclusive resorts span across Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, and Costa Rica. The latest addition to the award-winning Marriott Bonvoy travel program, members now have a new travel option where they can earn and redeem points through a convenient, pay-one-price concept. Royalton Antigua, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino "The arrival of the first all-inclusive resorts marks an exciting chapter in the brand's story," said Jennifer Connell, Vice President and Global Brand Leader, Autograph Collection. "From focal design moments and immersive dining hideaways to signature rituals and personal guide adventures, Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resorts transport you to a world of your own, where experiences are tailored, imagination is piqued, and joy is unleashed." Each of the 20 Autograph Collection All-Inclusive resorts delivers on the brand's promise to create experiences that enable guests to immerse themselves in unique moments tailored to their interests. Guests will revel in an elevated all-inclusive vacation with a unique design aesthetic, enriching programs that open the door for excitement and growth, and dynamic locally driven dining options, along with enhanced spa and wellness offerings. For example, Planet Hollywood Adults Scene Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only offers excursions designed for those who yearn for memorable adventures including a catamaran cruise through the turquoise waters of Caribbean Sea on to scenic Isla Mujeres. Over at Royalton Antigua, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino, guests can experience the privacy of the island's only overwater bungalows outfitted in natural wood with glass floors to admire the vibrant marine life below, infinity plunge pool, and an overwater hammock. Lastly, at Royalton CHIC Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only, Level 18 Rooftop Cabana Lounge takes center stage above the glimmering lights of the Cancun Strip with an exciting pool scene serving craft cocktails and refined Mexican cuisine. The below 20 resorts join the platform following the recent agreement with Sunwing Travel Group's hotel division, Blue Diamond Resorts, moving Marriott International into the top 10 of global all-inclusive players. Mexico Planet Hollywood Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Planet Hollywood Adults Scene Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Royalton CHIC Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Royalton Riviera Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Hideaway at Royalton Riviera Cancun, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Dominican Republic Royalton Bavaro , An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino , An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Royalton CHIC Punta Cana, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Adults Only (expected to be welcomed into the portfolio in January 2022 ) ) Royalton Punta Cana, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Hideaway at Royalton Punta Cana, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Adults Only Royalton Splash Punta Cana, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Jamaica Grand Lido Negril Au-Naturel, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Royalton Blue Waters Montego Bay, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Royalton Negril, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Hideaway at Royalton Negril, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Royalton White Sands Montego Bay, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort St. Lucia Royalton Saint Lucia, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Hideaway at Royalton Saint Lucia, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Adults Only Costa Rica Planet Hollywood Costa Rica, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Antigua Royalton Antigua , An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort & Casino Grenada Royalton Grenada, An Autograph Collection All-Inclusive Resort Marriott Bonvoy Member Benefits & Recognition The all-inclusive portfolio will fully participate in Marriott Bonvoy, enabling members to earn and redeem points for stays and receive special, on-property benefits based on their status. Members will earn 10 points for every qualifying dollar spent, including amounts spent on participating premium amenities and resort-operated activities. Elite members will earn additional bonus points. Redemption stays at all-inclusive properties are available in the current Free Night Award Chart. Redemption nights are based on up to two guests per room. Member benefits for all-inclusive getaways will include member rates, resort discounts, room upgrades based on availability, complimentary massages, access to exclusive areas on property, weekly member cocktail parties and more, all depending on each member's Elite status and the individual resort offerings. Marriott Bonvoy is the award-winning travel program and marketplace from Marriott International. It brings together the company's portfolio of extraordinary brands, which includes roughly 7,800 properties across 138 countries and territories as well as its premium home rental offering Homes & Villas by Marriott International, destination tours and activities, and now All-Inclusive by Marriott Bonvoy. Members enjoy complimentary and enhanced Wi-Fi, exclusive member rates, and access to Marriott Bonvoy Moments exclusive experiences, all the features of the Marriott Bonvoy app including contactless check in, among many more program benefits. To learn and explore more, visit all-inclusive.marriott.com. For more information about Marriott Bonvoy and to join for free, visit marriottbonvoy.com. About Marriott Bonvoy Marriott Bonvoy encompasses Marriott International's extraordinary portfolio of brands including the largest collection of luxury properties, award-winning loyalty program, Homes & Villas by Marriott International, online retail shop with 13 branded boutiques, and access to endless experiences all available through the Marriott Bonvoy Mobile app. Members can earn and redeem points for stays and accelerate the points they earn with co-branded credit cards from JP Morgan Chase and American Express. For more information about Marriott Bonvoy or to enroll in the loyalty program for free and receive member benefits, visit marriottbonvoy.com and to download the Marriott Bonvoy Mobile app, visit mobile-app.marriott.com. Travelers can also connect with Marriott Bonvoy on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. About Autograph Collection Hotels Autograph Collection Hotels advocates for the original, championing the individuality of each of its over 235 independent hotels located in the most desirable destinations across 40 countries and territories. Each hotel is a product of passion, inspired by a clear vision, soul and story that makes it individual and special: Exactly Like Nothing Else. Hand-selected for their inherent craft and distinct perspectives on design and hospitality, Autograph Collection properties offer rich immersive moments that leave a lasting imprint. For more information, please visit www.autographhotels.com, and explore on social via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to be inspired by immersive moments that are #ExactlyLikeNothingElse. Autograph Collection Hotels is proud to participate in Marriott Bonvoy, the global travel program from Marriott International. The program offers members an extraordinary portfolio of global brands, exclusive experiences on Marriott Bonvoy Moments and unparalleled benefits including free nights and Elite status recognition. To enroll for free or for more information about the program, visit MarriottBonvoy.marriott.com. SOURCE Marriott International, Inc. Related Links www.marriott.com CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Spaulding Ridge, a leading cloud advisory and implementation firm, has announced that the company is expanding its Anaplan team to meet the increasing demand for Anaplan's platform for Connected Planning. Spaulding Ridge has offered Anaplan's cloud-based platform since its founding in 2018, enabling organizations to gather and analyze company data in a single, real-time environment. This eliminates siloes from Supply Chain, Marketing, Sales, HR, and Finance. This shared ownership and visibility allows operational leaders to make better business decisions and enables Finance to create inclusive modeling scenarios and allow for planning outside of the Chart of Accounts. Beginning in January 2021, Spaulding Ridge began the process of doubling its 80-person Anaplan team. Currently at 145, the team is projecting to employ 180 Anaplanners by the end of the year. This positions the team and Anaplan to deliver xP&A projects to large enterprise organizations around the world. On top of providing Anaplan's powerful platform, Spaulding Ridge continues to increase offerings of Anaplan's intelligence solutions, such as PlanIQ, which helps organizations utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to create more accurate forecasts. "When I founded Spaulding Ridge in 2018, I selected Anaplan as our best-in-cloud solution for enterprise planning because of its industry leading ability to connect financial and supply chain planning for our clients. After years of implementing enterprise planning tools, I knew that an effective planning solution needed to be more than an aggregated set of largely static budgets. The market is finally catching up and is formally acknowledging the need for an extended planning and analysis (xP&A) solution," says Jay Laabs, Co-Founder and CEO, Spaulding Ridge. Sarah Katz, Co-Founder and President of Spaulding Ridge, responsible for Global Go-to-Market, added "Our Anaplan team is positioned to serve global, enterprise clients. As a top Anaplan partner, we want to solidify our commitment to growing our Anaplan practice and our xP&A capabilities. We want to not only be known for finance and sales planning, but for workforce and operational planning as well." To learn more, visit spauldingridge.com/anaplan. About Spaulding Ridge An award-winning provider of Cloud solutions and advisory services, Spaulding Ridge helps leading companies deploy Best-in-Cloud solutions on a global scale. Spaulding Ridge enables organizations to accelerate operational efficiency, drive digital transformation, and increase competitive advantage. Spaulding Ridge partners with digitally savvy companies to help: Finance to gain control: Increase top-line revenue, gross margins, and profits through better insight. Connect financial planning to strategy and automate financial close processes. Sales to increase productivity: Manage quota and territories more consistently and effectively, automate customer contracts and onboarding. Operations to drive efficiency: Improve supply chain agility, automate strategic sourcing and purchasing, deliver superior customer service experiences. SOURCE Spaulding Ridge, LLC Related Links spauldingridge.com DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashford Inc. (NYSE American: AINC) ("Ashford" or the "Company") announced today that it will host an Investor & Analyst Day in New York City on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, at the Park Lane Hotel. A live webcast of the virtual event will be available at the Company's website at www.ashfordinc.com. A one-year online replay of the Investor & Analyst Day presentation will be available approximately two hours following the conclusion of the live webcast. Institutional investors and analysts interested in attending the Investor & Analyst Day are encouraged to contact Jordan Jennings, Investor Relations at (972) 778-9487 or [email protected]. Ashford provides global asset management, investment management and related services to the real estate and hospitality sectors. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements and assumptions in this press release contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements about the Company's strategy and future plans. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. When we use the words "will likely result," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe," "intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside Ashford Inc.'s control. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation: the impact of COVID-19, including one or more possible recurrences of COVID-19 case surges that would cause state and local governments to reinstate travel restrictions and the rate of adoption and efficacy of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, on our business and investment strategy; our ability to continue as a going concern; the timing and outcome of the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation; our ability to maintain compliance with NYSE American LLC continued listing standards; our ability to regain Form S-3 eligibility; our ability to repay, refinance or restructure our debt and the debt of certain of our subsidiaries; anticipated or expected purchases or sales of assets; our projected operating results; completion of any pending transactions; our understanding of our competition; market trends; projected capital expenditures; the impact of technology on our operations and business; general volatility of the capital markets and the market price of our common stock and preferred stock; availability, terms and deployment of capital; availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and the markets in which we operate, interest rates or the general economy; and the degree and nature of our competition. These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release. Such forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs, assumptions, and expectations of our future performance taking into account all information currently known to us. These beliefs, assumptions, and expectations can change as a result of many potential events or factors, not all of which are known to us. If a change occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, plans, and other objectives may vary materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. You should carefully consider this risk when you make an investment decision concerning our securities. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will be attained or that any deviation will not occur. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, changes in expectations, or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. SOURCE Ashford Inc. AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurigo Software , the leading provider of capital planning and construction management software for infrastructure and private owners, today announced it had entered a multiyear contract with Multnomah County, Oregon to modernize capital program and project management for its facilities and transportation divisions. "We are honored Multnomah has selected Aurigo Masterworks as their new program management solution to help manage the County's capital investments," said Balaji Sreenivasan, CEO and founder of Aurigo Software. "It is a pleasure to partner with Multnomah to help them achieve their 5-year capital improvement plan goals. We are excited to support the County on their journey to the cloud, so they can support their growing population today and beyond." Though smallest in area at only 465 square miles, Multnomah County is the state's most populous county with more than 800,000 residents across the cities of Portland, Fairview, Gresham, Maywood Park, Troutdale, and Wood Village. Multnomah County is responsible for six bridges over the Willamette River and the County also maintains approximately 269 miles of roads. Many of these roads are rural, but a few are regional roads in and around Fairview, Troutdale, and Wood Village. The County's 140 facilities include libraries, health and dental clinics, senior service centers, courthouses, and correctional facilities. Previously, the County had managed its facilities' capital investments with a custom Microsoft Access database that had, in the 10 years since its design, become outdated. Capital improvements and assets were also managed using capital planning software that no longer met the County's needs. In addition, Multnomah's transportation division used project management software which was approaching end of life. To solve these critical issues, the County sought a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, with the single-platform, enterprise-level capabilities to automate business workflows and scale across the entire capital program lifecycle to support 150 projects of various sizes. Additionally, they sought a solution that is configurable by the County's system administrators and integrates seamlessly with existing extensible apps and programs in use such as Workday, Jaggaer, and Oracle Primavera P6. With funding available to modernize, in May of 2020, the County started their selection via a formal Request for Proposal process that evaluated various vendors and determined Aurigo to be the best qualified to meet the County's long-term needs for capital planning, construction, and right of way management. Multnomah joins Aurigo's growing list of major U.S. counties and cities to adopt the platform, including Denver, Houston, Seattle, and Las Vegas. About Aurigo Software Aurigo builds software that helps build the world. Aurigo provides modern, cloud-based solutions for capital infrastructure and private owners to help them plan with confidence, build with quality, and maintain their assets efficiently. With more than $300b of capital programs under management, Aurigo's solutions are trusted by over 300 customers in transportation, water and utilities, healthcare, higher education, and the government on over 40,000 projects across North America. Aurigo helps capital program executives make better decisions based on proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. Aurigo is a privately held US corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas, with global offices in Canada and India. Learn more at www.aurigo.com SOURCE Aurigo Software Technologies Related Links http://www.aurigo.com PRAGUE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Avast Foundation today announces the launch of its new community program centering around dissolving barriers to digital freedom and citizenship through engagement with communities worldwide. The Avast Foundation partners with organizations that share its values and commitment to creating a safer and more inclusive online world, and is now welcoming inquiries from potential partners. The Avast Foundation works to develop inclusive co-designed programs so that beneficiaries contribute to architecting and implementing their own solutions with the Foundation supporting impact through providing access to necessary resources. It undertakes transformational partnerships where the engagement goes beyond monetary value and is a true commitment to deep learning, network development, and long-term cooperation towards shared aims. Shane Ryan, Global Executive Director of Avast Foundation, said, "In the wake of the pandemic, many of the essential services and social engagement activities that moved online are continuing to expand digitally. However, critical access to digital tools, guidance on usage and opportunity to engage is not equal around the world. Our global programs are co-designed with beneficiaries to deliver maximum impact in communities and ensure people are equipped for the digital future. Given the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people around the world, our initial programs focus on young people in particular." In its first global partnership, the Foundation and Global Fund for Children (GFC) will invest in developing youth leadership around the world through a dedicated series of programs that will enable young leaders to work across borders and engage in learning, networking, and capacity development with peers. Ondrej Vlcek, CEO of Avast, said, "Access to safe internet usage is increasingly becoming a critical right for all. In the digital world that we at Avast imagine, everyone has the ability to become confident, empowered digital citizens and reach their full potential. Avast has pledged to provide 1% of annual profits to philanthropy including the Avast Foundation as we work to support and advance our vision of a more diverse and inclusive digital future. We are focused on supporting projects which address digital freedom and citizenship and will be rolling these out in the US and the UK in the immediate time frame." About the Avast Foundation: The Avast Foundation was founded by Avast (LSE:AVST), a global leader in digital security and privacy, in 2021 to help empower digital citizens across the globe by supporting digital freedom and citizenship. It builds on a decade-long program of extensive philanthropic activities conducted in countries with Avast offices and employees. The global foundation works in partnership with people and communities, NGOs, charities, educational institutions to tackle issues of digital exclusion, remove barriers to digital access, and champion digital citizenship and civic participation. Its programs are designed to deliver meaningful change and help shape a world where technology plays a positive role in building and sustaining communities. Visit: www.foundation.avast.com Keep in touch with Avast Foundation Visit our page: https://foundation.avast.com For security and privacy insights, visit the Avast Foundation blog: https://blog.avast.com/2011/09/27/avast-foundation/ Follow our Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/avast.foundation/ Follow us on Twitter: @AvastFoundation Join our LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/company/avastfoundation/ Visit our Facebook group: @FoundationAvast For more information about Avast visit: https://www.avast.com/en-gb/about and https://www.avast.com/company-faqs Media Contact: [email protected] SOURCE Avast Foundation Related Links https://foundation.avast.com TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout the COVID-19 global pandemic, more doctors have started treating patients virtually as a way to respect public health measures, and keep patients safe from infection. While we cannot predict when COVID-19 will be behind us, we can begin to think of a future in which virtual medicine is the norm for more people. Dr. Richard Tytus, Co-Founder and Medical Director of Banty Inc. Banty Inc. - Official Full Logo According to findings from Medical Economics, 83% of patients plan to still use telemedicine once the pandemic concludes. That said, in order for that percentage to remain high, physicians need to stay focused on how to keep patients interested in virtual care for years to come. Dr. Richard Tytus, Co-Founder and Medical Director of virtual medicine solution Banty Inc., is looking forward to a future in which telemedicine plays a prominent role in the lives of patients throughout the world. To see that this happens, physicians should: Choose the best virtual medicine solution: Banty Medical is an easy and secure telemedicine solution that allows patients and physicians to meet virtually. It features end-to-end encryption in order to keep all interactions private and is HIPAA/PHIPA compliant. Banty Medical does not collect or store information disclosed during virtual doctor appointments. What's more, the custom Banty address (i.e., Banty.com/MyClinic) a clinic gets to create is the only link a patient will need to see their doctor Embrace future virtual medicine innovations: Technology moves fast and those in the medical community should expect telemedicine to evolve rapidly over time. As such, it is very important for clinics to keep an eye on new and improved features that could add another dimension to a practice's virtual care prowess. Watching these come about, then finding a way to implement them into your clinic, will prove to patients that you always want to give them the best that virtual medicine has to offer Always keep the clinical team up to speed: As innovations emerge, the clinical team needs to be prepared to learn on the fly. The quicker they are able to adapt to any new technology that's introduced, the better experience patients will receive. If patients always have access to the latest and greatest that virtual medicine has to offer without any hiccups they'll remain loyal to the idea of meeting with their doctor online Focus on expanding your reach: To see that virtual medicine continues to grow, clinics need to do their part in constantly getting new patients to use the telemedicine services being offered. This can be accomplished by a clinic widely promoting the fact it offers telemedicine services, or introducing new patients to the technology. "Virtual medicine plays a vital role in our lives today, but in order for it to remain that way, medical clinics need to do their part," adds Dr. Tytus. "By clinics constantly embracing and promoting this evolving technology, patients will always have the option of seeing their doctor virtually." Banty.com's video call service offers all subscribers a custom, permanent URL (i.e., Banty.com/MyMeeting); a secure, end-to-end encrypted meeting space; excellent video quality; unlimited meetings each month; and straightforward scheduling tools. Banty has a number of solutions that are meant to make it easy to meet with those who matter most to you. (Watch the 'Banty Is Easy' video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhmVdwrR_w8&t=10s) Today, everyone has a mobile number and an email address. In the near future, everyone will have a Banty video chat address: Banty.com/YourName About Banty Founded in 2020, Banty offers exceptional video conferencing solutions for Businesses, Medical Practices, Virtual Events, and Personal use. Banty video conferencing is easy to use and ultra-secure. The platform provides users with a dedicated Banty.com URL, accessible via any desktop browser or through iOS and Android mobile apps. In order to receive government approval to become a verified medical platform, Banty was upgraded to meet new cyber security standards, making it one of the most secure platforms available. Each day, the Banty team goes above and beyond to ensure the platform remains one of the most secure and innovative virtual meeting solutions in the world. For more information, please visit Banty.org/solutions, or follow Banty on social media to learn more about the latest platform innovations: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram. Media contact: Scott Wilson [email protected] 289-259-8059 SOURCE Banty Inc. Related Links http://www.banty.org/ EL PASO, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Basin Water Resources, LLC (BWR) today announced the signing of an exclusive agreement with AFCO 360, LLC (AFCO). The collaboration combines AFCO's market leading service and wastewater solutions with BWR's established Filtration and Separations Packaged Systems and Mobile Water Services to help customers better manage full life cycle industrial water treatment. Basin Water Resources, LLC Logo AFCO 360 Logo Under the agreement, AFCO will lead the exclusive sales and implementation of BWR's Filtration and Separations Packaged Systems and Mobile Water Services in the Louisiana Industrial Markets. BWR's established resources provide additional strength to further hi-tech water filtration and purification systems to projects throughout the region. "AFCO's wastewater treatment systems, industry-leading service, and site support in Lake Charles, LA and across the region is a natural fit with BWR's extensive Filtration and Separation Packages and Mobile Water Equipment portfolio," said Al Christopher, BWR's Gulf Coast Director of Business Development. "The industrial water business has long been a business of personal relationships and with this a unique opportunity positions BWR and AFCO as leaders in delivering best-in-class customer service for numerous refining and petrochemical clients in the region." "We worked with BWR during the Freeze of 2021 to provide Mobile Reverse Osmosis Systems to chemical processing clients in Lake Charles, LA and we were more than pleased with rapid response, equipment design, and service expertise," said Adrian Logan. "This partnership leverages the resources of each party, allowing more product solutions into new market segments. It's a true win-win partnership that also expands the production and distribution reach of both parties." About Basin Water Resources, LLC From conception, operation, and rapid response, BWR focuses on five main business units: Design & Manufacture, Mobile Water Services, RO Membrane Cleaning & Support, Retrofits & Controls Upgrades, and Chemical Treatment Solutions. We work with a wide range of industries from Refining, Petrochemical, Power, Mining, Gas Processing, and other industrial water users. For more information visit www.bwrgroupllc.com. About AFCO 360, LLC AFCO specializes in equipment and technology that is designed for reduction and waste treatment and is enhanced by our experienced technical support and chemical expertise team. AFCO's approach, from foundation to discharge and disposal, aims to focus on our customer's objectives by tailored equipment, product knowledge, and technical support for prescribed solutions. For more information visit www.afco360.com. Media Contact: Brett Ragon 1-800-297-6589 [email protected] SOURCE Basin Water Resources, LLC The limited-edition kit will feature custom Belle Glos stationery, a custom pen, wax in the classic and easily recognizable Belle Glos red, and a custom wax stamper all housed in the classic Dempsey & Carroll navy box. An additional offering is the limited-edition kit along with three Belle Glos wines of one's choice. "After going through an unprecedented chapter in our lives, we've learned to cherish our connections more than ever before," says winemaker Joe Wagner. "I created Belle Glos in 2001 as a love letter to the land, Pinot Noir, and my family, in particular my grandmother Lorna Belle Glos Wagner. I hope you're inspired to do the same whether about your favorite restaurant halfway across the world, the love of your life, or your most beloved pastime." The Belle Glos Love Letters program came to life after a year of not being able to enjoy the things we love the most. According to aggregated data from the location analysis company Cuebiq, beginning in early March 2020, people across the United States limited their movements outside of the home as the coronavirus spread, and remained inside throughout the duration of the pandemic. Americans nearly spent an entire year indoors, away from the people, places, and things they love the most. By teaming up with Dempsey & Carroll and Nicholas Sparks, Joe hopes people will take a moment to recognize those they cherish. Handwritten letters are rare to come by in this digitally focused world. The United States Postal Service reports that we're sending 4.3 billion fewer letters and cards than we did in 2001, a 61-percent drop from the days when email and text were not the main lines of communication. However, a Gallup poll found that 94-percent of Americans love getting a letter or card in the mail. "I am a true believer in the power of a handwritten letter," says Nicholas Sparks. "Many of my novels, from The Notebook to Every Breath, have featured letters as a way for the characters to share their deepest feelings and connections. While our thoughts and memories may fade with time, committing words to paper keeps them pristine. I'm thrilled to partner with Belle Glos and Dempsey & Carroll on this initiative to preserve and promote the art of letter-writing. After all, a letter is yours to keep forever." Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone. Best known for his romance novels including but not limited to The Notebook (1996), A Walk to Remember (1999), Dear John (2006), The Last Song (2009), and The Longest Ride (2013), his novels have also been adapted into films including, The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Dear John, and more. Looking ahead, Sparks is excited to release his upcoming novel, The Wish, and recently shared the news that earlier this year, the feature film rights for one of his well-regarded novels, The Return, were acquired. Belle Glos is a love letter from Joe Wagner to his grandmother Lorna Belle Glos Wagner. Joe was inspired by his grandmother to create Belle Glos in 2001 with a focus on vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from California's best coastal regions. Wagner continues to honor Lorna's legacy with Belle Glos which includes six Pinot Noirs and the Blanc de Noir Rose. Since starting his blossoming company, Copper Cane Wines & Provisions, in 2014, Wagner has launched numerous new wines, each with a distinct slant towards his personal style. Representative brands include Belle Glos, Boen, Elouan, and Napa Valley Quilt. Boen. Belle Glos Love Letters kits are available: 10 custom Belle Glos cards & envelopes via DempseyandCarroll.com for $65.00 Bespoke kits that include custom Belle Glos stationery, a custom pen, wax in the Belle Glos red, and a custom wax stamper via QuiltandCo.com for $90.00 Bespoke kits that include custom Belle Glos stationery, a custom pen, wax in the Belle Glos red, and a custom wax stamper along with three of your favorite Belle Glos wines via QuiltandCo.com for $1.00 starting October 8 th. For more information on Belle Glos, please visit belleglos.com, and stay up to date on social by following @BelleGlosWines. About Belle Glos As a fifth generation Napa Valley winemaker, Joe Wagner learned his way around a vineyard long before he was able to drink wine. Inspired by his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner, Joe created Belle Glos in 2001 with a focus on vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from California's best coastal regions. Each Vineyard Designate is crafted to distill the purest essence of the locale into elegant expressions of California Pinot Noir. Belle Glos is easily identifiable by its signature red wax-dipped bottle and classic script label. The wines have received praise from consumers and critics alike; Wine Enthusiast awarded the 2019 Las Alturas Pinot Noir with a score of 96 points and the 2019 Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir a score of 90 points, exemplifying superior character and style. The Belle Glos portfolio includes Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir, Dairyman Pinot Noir, Eulenloch Pinot Noir, Las Alturas Pinot Noir, Balade Pinot Noir, Taylor Lane Pinot Noir and Oeil de Perdrix Pinot Noir Blanc de Noir. About Dempsey & Carroll Dempsey & Carroll, an established American heritage brand, is the premier provider of fine hand-engraved stationery, cards and invitations. Founded in 1878 in New York City by engraver John Dempsey and businessman George D. Carroll, Dempsey & Carroll quickly became the standard against which all others were measured. By using hand-engraved steel dies and copper plates made to specification, the finest inks, and the most luxurious cotton-fiber papers, Dempsey & Carroll creates a rich experience for both the sender and receiver of personal correspondence. The Company's commitment to craft, exacting standards, meticulous attention to detail and warm customer service have distinguished its business for the truly discriminating. Media Contact: Caroline Ricca CURICH|WEISS [email protected] SOURCE Copper Cane Wines & Provisions LONGVIEW, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- High-stakes trial attorneys Johnny Ward and Wesley Hill are recognized as Litigation Stars in the 15th edition of Benchmark Litigation, a legal guide spotlighting the nation's leading litigators and law firms. The two East Texas attorneys have been repeatedly recognized for their knowledge and expertise in intellectual property and patent law, with Benchmark Litigation as the most recent honor to celebrate their work. Mr. Ward is a distinguished trial attorney who often serves as local counsel on legal teams in high-profile infringement litigation. He is part of a team that secured VirnetX a $502.8 million patent infringement win against Apple Inc. Mr. Hill has a successful track record for clients on both sides of the docket, including multimillion-dollar verdicts for plaintiffs and take-nothing defense wins. Along with Mr. Ward, he secured a $21.1 million verdict for Elbit Systems Ltd after an East Texas jury found that Hughes Network Systems, LLC infringed on the company's groundbreaking patents related to high-speed satellite communications. Benchmark Litigation rankings are based on an extensive interview process with top trial lawyers and their clients, a review of attorney casework and input from peers. In addition to Benchmark Litigation, the two were recently included in the Texas Super Lawyers 2021 listing, with Mr. Ward named among the Top 100 attorneys in Dallas-Fort Worth, an honor he has received since 2003. Mr. Ward and Mr. Hill have also been honored in the national legal guide The Best Lawyers in America 2022 listing with four Ward, Smith & Hill attorneys. Ward, Smith & Hill has also received many firmwide accolades, including recognition in the global legal guide IAM Patent 1000 The World's Leading Patent Professionals. Longview, Texas-based Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC, has tried more than 350 cases to verdict, earning a national reputation in high-stakes claims involving complex commercial litigation, intellectual property law, oil and gas matters, bad faith insurance claims, and serious personal injury claims. The firm frequently assists lawyers nationwide in complex cases before Texas juries. To learn more about the firm, visit http://www.wsfirm.com. Media Contact: Sophia Reza 214-559-4630 [email protected] SOURCE Ward, Smith & Hill, PLLC Related Links http://www.wsfirm.com SAN DIEGO and ADELAIDE, Australia, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCina, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in process development and cGMP manufacturing of microbial-based therapeutics and mRNA vaccines announces the full and final transition from Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd., an affiliate of Pfizer Inc., of its biologics manufacturing facility, colleagues and operations in Adelaide, Australia. This completes BioCina's August 2020 acquisition of the facility. "Our vision is to be a trusted CDMO partner to the biopharma industry that helps save the lives of patients worldwide." Tweet this BioCina, full service CDMO completes acquisition of Pfizer manufacturing facility in Adelaide, Australia and expands capabilities. Minister Patterson welcomes BioCina flagship to the national mRNA landscape. BioCina's world class team leverages advanced cutting-edge technologies and processes. In combination with agile operations and extensive regulatory credentials, BioCina can deliver life-saving therapies in rapid time. Added capabilities for BioCina now include manufacturing of cGMP-grade plasmid DNA, which is produced using microbial fermentation. Plasmid DNA is both an attractive new therapeutic modality and a critical input material for the manufacture of modern gene therapies including mRNA vaccines, CAR-T cell therapies and viral gene replacement therapies. To meet the unprecedented need for mRNA manufacturing capability and capacity now and into the future, BioCina's Founder Masood Tayebi and CEO, Ian Wisenberg, will expand current capabilities and services to include the end-to-end manufacture of mRNA vaccines. "Our vision is to be a trusted CDMO partner to the biopharma industry that helps save the lives of patients worldwide. We are now in full flight with unfettered ability to provide superior development and manufacturing services. With the current global pandemic, we have seen the need to develop fast, innovative life-saving medicines with world class science and superior quality to our partnered clients. This is at the core of the BioCina team's capability, experience and passion," says Wisenberg. "BioCina has a strategic focus and significant investment in mRNA process development and manufacturing for vaccines and therapeutics to support solutions using this mRNA platform for our clients," added Wisenberg Minister for Trade and Investment Stephen Patterson welcomed the news that BioCina will expand its site in Adelaide to include the end-to-end manufacture of mRNA vaccines. "The State Government is committed to putting the health and medical industries sector at the forefront of South Australia's economic growth, as one of our nine key sectors. Our sector plan looks forward to 2030 with a target to more than double the HMI economic contribution to South Australia, increasing its value from $2.3 billion to $5 billion," Minister Patterson said. "As Australia's leading CDMO focused on delivering critical mRNA manufacturing capabilities, we are delighted to welcome BioCina formally to Adelaide as a flagship of the national mRNA landscape," added Minister Patterson. About BioCina BioCina Pty Ltd. is a multi-product biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), focused on the development and cGMP manufacture of microbial-based biological pharmaceuticals, including proteins, mRNA, vaccines and biosimilars, from early development through to commercialization. The BioCina Adelaide facility, formerly the Pfizer/Hospira plant, has a physical footprint of almost 60,000 ft2 for GMP manufacturing, process development, warehouse and administration. The team has over 35 years of experience and extensive capabilities in microbial process development and manufacturing, with expertise from early process development to commercial manufacturing. Unique to Australia, the BioCina Adelaide site is currently the only TGA, EMA, Health Canada and US-FDA approved commercial facility of its kind in Australia. BioCina is a Bridgewest Group portfolio company. CONTACT: Ian Wisenberg, +1 (858) 722-2552, [email protected] SOURCE BioCina Related Links https://www.biocina.com/ NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BizVibe has added key challenges and trends for automobile dealers industry profiles on their platform. All 29,000+ dealer profiles will now contain 50+ company data points, including a list of potential challenges which are expected to impact market participants over the next few years. Snapshot of key challenge impacting BizVibe's automobile dealers industry group. One challenge which is being highlighted is the rapid evolution of vehicle technology. These advancements make it more difficult for auto dealer repair businesses, as they can be challenging to keep up with for all vehicles a dealer sells and services. A lack of updated diagnostic technologies can result in lost business as customers go elsewhere for service. New technologies such as electric cars and innovative electronic features come with high repair costs and training costs for dealer technicians. These factors are weighing heavily on dealers' service businesses. By identifying such challenges, BizVibe is helping users analyze which suppliers are right for their business, while allowing them to efficiently monitor the risk of doing business. Get Free Access to all Industry Challenges Key Insights Provided for Automobile Dealers In addition to analysis on how key challenges are expected to impact businesses, BizVibe company profiles contain numerous high-quality insights to help users discover, track, compare, and evaluate suppliers or sales prospects. These insights include: Relevance and influence of industry trends and challenges, segmented by region Press releases and news coverage referencing key trends and challenges Risk of doing business score, segmented by operational, financial, compliance, and country risk Top company competitors at the global, regional, and national levels Names of top company decision makers, including job titles and social profiles Company financials such as annual revenue, profitability ratios, and management effectiveness View 50+ Company Data Points for Free Automobile Product and Service Categories BizVibe's platform provides access to over 10 million buyer and supplier company profiles. Businesses from more than 200 countries are categorized into 40,000+ product and service categories, each providing detailed insights tailored to the needs of procurement and sales teams globally. The automobile dealers industry group features 29,000+ company profiles categorized into multiple product and service categories, enabling clients to identify and connect with potential new business partners across diverse market segments. Get Free Company Profile Access for all Categories BizVibe for Buyers and Sellers BizVibe is a modern B2B platform dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers from around the world. Powered by the latest best-in-class solutions, BizVibe is designed to help companies generate leads, shortlist suppliers, request proposals, and identify global companies. Evaluate companies side-by-side to compare key metrics and initiate productive partnerships. Buyers use BizVibe to discover suppliers from among more than 5 million companies using advanced search filters and comparison tools. Features for buyers include: Shortlist potential suppliers Track and compare companies Set up custom news alerts Quickly create and customize RFIs Explore BizVibe's buyer services: https://www.bizvibe.com/buyers Sellers can take advantage of BizVibe's smart sales intelligence tools to discover, evaluate, and communicate with prospects across 300+ categories. Features for sellers include: Identify and qualify sales prospects Receive customized prospect recommendations Analyze and evaluate potential buyers Integrate CRMs for efficient data transfer Discover BizVibe's seller tools: https://www.bizvibe.com/sellers About BizVibe BizVibe has been conceptualized and built by a team based out of Toronto, Bangalore, and London. We are a branch of Infiniti Research and have dedicated units in all three locations. BizVibe helps buyers find the most relevant suppliers from around the world and helps sellers target prospects who need their products and/or services. For more information, please visit www.bizvibe.com and start for free today. Contact BizVibe Jesse Maida Email: [email protected] +1 855-897-5880 Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/ SOURCE BizVibe Related Links https://www.bizvibe.com/ TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - BLiNQ Networks is set to debut two new dual band base stations at Wispapalooza in Las Vegas on October 11, 2021. The Dual Band Base Station product line is empowered by cognitive radio technology, allowing the base stations to discover available CBRS and unlicensed channels in order to utilize the best available spectrum resources. The Dual Band cognitive radios can self-transition from CBRS to License Assisted Access (LAA) or LTE-U operation based on continuous real-time interference monitoring. The benefits of this innovative technology can now be leveraged through BLiNQ's FW-300i LAA and FW-600 LAA solutions. By ensuring continuous spectrum availability, these solutions help operators of public and private networks meet all the requirements of wireless broadband service without the need for expensive spectrum investment. The Dual Band product line combines, by carrier aggregation, the lightly licensed 3.5 GHz CBRS band as the anchor with the unlicensed 5 GHz band as a capacity booster. This combination optimizes CBRS wireless spectrum resources while adding an additional 225 MHz of available spectrum. By utilizing carrier aggregation in the downlink, much higher peak data rates can be achieved, resulting in an overall better user experience. BLiNQ Networks' unique integrated solution is built around a rich 4G/5G ecosystem, enhancing the LAA and LTE-U modes with a patented Smart Antenna System and intelligent scheduling. The FW-300i LAA is easy to deploy and future-proofs non-licensed spectrum holders. The FW-600 LAA offers additional capacity using intelligent beamforming and scales to very high user densities. All BLiNQ LTE base stations operate with any type of single band or dual band CPE that utilizes CBRS or LAA. BLiNQ Networks' CTO, Radu Selea, sees the long-lasting benefits of this technology for Private LTE. "We achieved a great design for Private Networks by combining beamforming and dynamic spectrum utilization technologies. The combination of CBRS spectrum predictability and UNII bands spectrum abundance will enable robust broadband technology for private networks outside the licensed spectrum realm." BLiNQ Networks' LAA solutions are scalable for any customer density, with performance meeting new bandwidth consumption patterns driven by remote working and evening program streaming services. Patrick Buthmann, VP of Sales and Business Development at BLiNQ, believes this is only the beginning. "BLiNQ continues to innovate and offer the most advanced and cost-effective platform for customers to achieve broadband speeds and reliability previously unseen in the industry." For more information about BLiNQ's LAA solutions, contact [email protected] or visit https://blinqnetworks.com/products/dual-band. About BLiNQ Networks BLiNQ Networks is a pioneer manufacturer of CBRS-ready fixed wireless hardware, building the technology to provide essential internet connection all over the world. BLiNQ provides industry-leading price and performance in LTE and 5G-ready solutions, driven by a talented team who develop all hardware and software products in-house from Ontario, Canada. For more information about BLiNQ visit blinqnetworks.com. SOURCE BLiNQ Networks Related Links https://www.blinqnetworks.com U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaking about Broward and the other award winners, said: "Congratulations to today's seven honorees for the remarkable work they've done to protect the traveling public. They are proof that we have no shortage of willpower or good ideas for improving roadway safety." With the single highest number of pedestrian fatalities in the entire nation (1,675 between 2010 and 2019), Broward MPO developed the Broward Complete Streets Master Plan (CSMP). The safety-minded MPO's approach is showcased by its reinvention of Wilton Drive, a bustling stretch of roadway that chronically suffered a higher-than-average number of crashes, particularly those involving pedestrians and cyclists. Broward MPO worked with the City of Wilton Manors and other stakeholders to redesign the corridor by eliminating a vehicular travel lane in each direction to install buffered bike lanes, mid-block crossing medians, wider sidewalks, better lighting and other improvements. The improvements are making travel demonstrably safer for everyone: Wilton Drive saw a 66 percent decrease in bicycle and pedestrian crashes and a 75 percent reduction in severe-injury and fatal crashes, as well as a 30 to 50 percent improvement in corridor travel times during peak hours. As a result of the Drive's success, Broward MPO is moving forward with similar improvements for 20 additional projects from the Complete Streets Masterplan. "We are proud to be recognized for the important work we consistently do to improve safety and impact the quality of life for local residents," said Greg Stuart, Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director. "The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization is committed to working with city, county, state and national partners to plan and direct projects that have positive outcomes like Wilton Drive." Initial data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Highway Administration show that 38,680 people died nationwide in traffic crashes in 2020, despite a 13.2 percent decrease in vehicle miles traveled due to the pandemic. Fatalities increased 7.2 percent from 2019 to the highest number since 2007. An estimated one-third of U.S. highway fatalities are related to deficient roadway conditions. "Broward MPO's Wilton Drive and overall Complete Streets Master Plan are saving lives by slowing down drivers, decreasing risky driving behavior and protecting our most vulnerable roadway users: pedestrians and cyclists," said Greg Cohen, Roadway Safety Foundation Executive Director. "Future travelers in South Florida, whose lives and limbs will be spared by these improvements, will owe an unknowing debt of gratitude to Broward's traffic planners and engineers. We urge DOTs across the nation to look at Broward's and other awardees' innovations and replicate them wherever possible." First presented in 1999, the National Roadway Safety Awards recognize roadway safety achievements that move the nation toward zero deaths and serious injuries on U.S. roadways. The program honors outstanding projects involving infrastructure, operational or program-related innovations and evaluates projects on three criteria: Effectiveness, Innovation, and Efficient Use of Resources. The winning entries were selected from a nationwide pool of applicants and the additional winners are: City of Bellevue, WA for its video analytics traffic safety program; for its video analytics traffic safety program; North Carolina Dept. of Transportation for its long-life pavement markings safety effort; Village of Whitefish Bay, WI for its community-wide roadway safety improvements; for its community-wide roadway safety improvements; California Dept. of Transportation for its 2020-2024 Strategic Highway Safety Plan update; Texas Dept. of Transportation's tool to assess the safety of rural highway design elements; and Florida Dept. of Transportation for its use of smart work zone safety technologies. Winners were selected by an expert panel of judges from a variety of disciplines. For complete details on each of the winners, and for more information on the national awards program, visit http://www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards/ . The Roadway Safety Foundation is a 501(c) (3) charitable and educational organization. Our mission is to reduce the frequency and severity of motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities through improvements to roadway systems and their environment. SOURCE Roadway Safety Foundation Related Links http://www.roadwaysafety.org "With Cardinality.io, the BISL team is able to quickly generate our Mothership Report with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This report puts all the information relevant to our business at our fingertips, and is central to driving decisions about policy initiations, renewals, changes, risk, and more," said Euan McDonald, Managing Director of BISL. "BISL is taking a two-phase approach with Cardinality.io. Right now, we are simply amazed and delighted by the speed with which we can collect all the information we need and by the opportunity to reduce OPEX by eliminating manual data integration steps. As we move forward, we envision a second phase where we will use Cardinality.io to learn more about our business from every angleapplying machine learning where necessaryto help us to better segment our customers, be more dynamic in our pricing, and find opportunities to increase revenues and drive down cost." "Cardinality.io is excited to be helping BISL address pain points common across organisations of all sizes and in all industries," said Steve Preston, CEO of Cardinality.io. "While data presents an immense opportunity for digital transformation, most organizations find it very challenging to deal with the complexities of data management and use case development. Cardinality.io makes it easy to tame complexity and drive business value with an intuitive visual interface and open architecture that lets customers select the tools they're familiar with across the data pipeline, from streaming to batch processing, storage, analytics, data prep, reporting and machine learning." Born and bred in the highly complex world of telecom, the Cardinality.io platform is proving itself every day in some of the most demanding environments imaginable with award-winning AI solutions and continent-spanning deployments. Cardinality.io's mission is to make its cutting-edge data analytics & AI technology available and affordable to organizations of all types and sizes. About Cardinality.io Cardinality.io helps customers of all sizes get more value from their data with data analytics & AI. We put our award-wining technology and expertise into action to deliver amazing business outcomes for customers. About BISL BISL is a U.K.-based insurance intermediary that aims to keep insurance simple. To date, we've helped almost three million customers across the country find simple, flexible insurance products to suit them. Media Contact: Anton Prenneis [email protected] 14135440291 SOURCE Cardinality Related Links https://cardinality.io DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ, known as the largest predominantly LGBTQ+ church in the world, is pleased to announce the acquisition of, and partnership with, Believe Out Loud. Believe Out Loud will become a program of the Cathedral that will promote the message of God's love for all, regardless of faith tradition. As a new program of Cathedral of Hope, Believe Out Loud's mission is to meet the needs for spiritual content tailored to the LGBTQIA community. These resources will go beyond tolerance and acceptance and use the LGBTQIA experience as a framework for understanding the divine. "In the face of constant efforts to squeeze people who are different out of public space, it is critical to remain grounded in the deep faith that all people are worthy of God's love," said Rev. Dr. Neil G. Thomas, Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope. "We are excited to partner with Believe Out Loud to spread that message and be an affirming space for all people of faith and our allies." Started in 2007 as the Religious Voices Project, the original mission of Believe Out Loud was to determine where mainline Protestant clergy stand on gay and lesbian equality and assess methods to move more clergy toward LGBT acceptance. Believe Out Loud has evolved to become an online community for LGBTQIA people of all faith traditions and allies. Under the leadership of Cathedral of Hope, Believe Out Loud aspires to be a more diverse space, working to unite people of various faiths and religious experiences. Victoria Anderson, former digital and creative content associate for Believe Out Loud, has joined the staff of the Cathedral as Director of Content Development. About Cathedral of Hope Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), based in Dallas, Texas, is the world's largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. Learn more at https://cathedralofhope.com/ About Believe Out Loud Believe Out Loud is a global digital community working to move all people toward an expansive, transformative understanding of divine love. Learn more at https://www.believeoutloud.com/ SOURCE Cathedral of Hope, United Church of Christ Related Links http://www.cathedralofhope.com CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) today announced the appointment of Sarah McClain as Chief Marketing Officer. In this role, Sarah will report directly to Jeffrey McCroy, Chief Executive Officer, and be responsible for CBIS' marketing strategy, as well as oversee internal communications at the organization. As a member of CBIS' Executive Committee, Sarah will work to ensure that the communications are developed and optimized to support the Company's leading role with Catholic institutional investors globally. Sarah joins CBIS with over 16 years of marketing experience in the financial field. Prior to joining CBIS Sarah was the director of marketing and internal communications at Ellwood Associates; marketing manager for West Monroe Partners; and marketing manager for Morningstar's Investment Management Group. She is a member of Women Investment Professionals (WIP) Chicago. Sarah received her B.A. from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. "We are thrilled to welcome Sarah to CBIS her experience will be instrumental as we expand access to Catholic Responsible Investing to more Catholic investors than ever before," said Jeffrey McCroy. "Her financial services industry experience and marketing expertise will enhance our communications efforts in support of our mission to amplify the power of Catholic Responsible Investing to transform the world for the better. She will be a welcomed addition to an already great team, and she will help us better position our strategies to best meet the needs of our investors moving forward." For further information regarding CBIS or Sarah McClain's appointment, contact: CBIS Marketing [email protected] 877-550-2247 About CBIS Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) is a Catholic, socially responsible investment management firm and Registered Investment Advisor. CBIS is a manager of managers, engaging third-party institutional investment firms to actively sub-advise the assets within its portfolios. Founded in 1981 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, CBIS works exclusively with Catholic institutions and their advisors around the world. SOURCE CBIS Related Links http://cbisonline.com BOSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Legacy (YC S'19), the premier digital fertility clinic for men, today announced the investment of celebrities including DJ Khaled, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and Orlando Bloom, as part of the company's efforts to destigmatize male fertility and change the outdated view that fertility is a "women's issue". The round also included notable entrepreneurs like Heather Hasson and Hannah Bronfman. The round was led and coordinated by TQ Ventures , a venture capital firm managed by Scooter Braun, Andrew Marks, and Schuster Tanger with a strong track record backing both early- and growth-stage companies. The round also included additional capital from existing investor Peak State Ventures. In describing the investment, TQ Partner Scooter Braun explained, "When I see a company that is so aligned with the mission and the vision that so many I know have, it is important to me to find ways we can get involved and to support their message. Fertility is an issue that affects both sexes, and Legacy has the potential to change lives, help more people become parents and include men in normalizing the important conversations around family planning." Legacy Founder & CEO Khaled Kteily shared, "We believe in rebalancing the responsibilities of family planning, and we know that the support of celebrities will help shape the conversation and normalize a topic that has been stigmatized for too long. This is a major key to success." With sperm count declining at a rate of more than 50% globally in the past 40 years, Legacy is looking to change this dialogue within the fertility space, and encourage men to be more proactive and take ownership of their fertility. The announcement comes on the heels of Legacy's most recent Series A raise of $10 million, led by FirstMark Capital, and included top-tier investors such as TQ Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Section 32, Y Combinator, and Tribe Capital. To date, Legacy has raised almost $20M to support its mission of building the world's leading male fertility clinic, entirely online. Legacy believes that everyone, no matter where you live, should have access to the leading male fertility analyses, doctors, preservation, and treatments. HOW LEGACY WORKS: PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Legacy's mail-in kit revolutionizes the traditional process for males, making sperm analysis and storage easier, more convenient, and affordable from the comfort of your home. It's simpleno liquid nitrogen, pipettes, or clunky shipping tanks required. This allows men to get information about their sperm without awkwardly needing to visit an expensive clinic or specialty lab. A Legacy test kit is shipped directly to the client to produce a sample in the privacy of their home before sending it back for clinical-level analysis, now with the option to test sperm DNA fragmentation. Each client receives a full fertility report that analyzes volume, count, concentration, motility, and morphology, as well as the option to freeze their deposit at world-class cryogenic storage facilities. A process that was once anxiety ridden is now stress free, easy and empowering. Legacy's Sperm DNA Fragmentation analysis is available as a $195 add-on to their traditional semen analysis (For Today package $195), and is included in their For Tomorrow ($995) and Forever ($3,995) packages. For more information visit How It Works. ABOUT GIVE LEGACY, INC. Give Legacy, Inc. is the premier fatherhood company working towards rebalancing the responsibility of family planning by providing at-home sperm testing and storage solutions. Founded in 2018 by Khaled Kteily out of the Harvard Innovation Labs, Legacy is a Y-Combinator and Bain Capital Ventures backed biotech startup. Since winning TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2018, Legacy has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes. The Legacy team is a Harvard-backed group of men and women who understand fatherhoodand how much it matters. The team brings international experience in male fertility, health care policy, and business with a world-class advisory board. For more information visit givelegacy.com . ABOUT TQ VENTURES TQ Ventures is a VC firm managed by Andrew Marks, Scooter Braun, and Schuster Tanger. Founded in 2018, TQ has over $500m in AUM and 10 Unicorns in its portfolio. TQ focuses on both the early and growth stages across areas such as consumer tech, gaming, fintech, enterprise, blockchain and healthcare IT, and leverages unique networks across both B2C and B2B to be especially helpful to its portfolio companies. SOURCE Legacy Related Links http://givelegacy.com givelegacy.com NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Streetwear brand Baker Street by Damon Baker is launching today on their website (www.bakerstreet.store). Baker Street is a sophisticated, thoughtfully designed artwear brand by Damon Baker that is aspirational while being mindful of self-care and creativity. Baker Street UK born photographic prodigy Damon Baker signed with his first agency at the age of 18 and now is represented worldwide by ADB Agency. With more than 1,000,000 followers on Instagram, Damon has become globally known for his signature black and white emotive images as a stand-out photographer the fashion industry loves and reveres. His artwear collection follows the same vein and certainly draws the eye. The debut piece features Hollywood starlet Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, White Lotus) elevated with high-quality fabrics, innovative treatments and details that come together to create a cohesive luxury experience. The debut piece retails at $250. "It's not just a sweatshirt, but a piece of me. A wearable piece of my art, my heart, my soul. A voluminous garment that comforts insecurities. A heavy garment that hugs and envelopes you, as would a dear friend, as would I. When you wear a Baker Street art piece, you'll be wearing one of 1000 there will not be any more. Your support means the world to me. I hope you love wearing my pieces as much as I loved making them for you" - Damon. Baker has worked with the likes of Sir Ian McKellan, Nicole Kidman, Cindy Crawford, Cate Blanchett, Rami Malek, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding, Kristen Stewart, Courtney Love, Jared Leto and Alessandra Ambrosio. He dropped out of high school at the age of 17 and ran away from home to New York City to pursue his passion for photography. He started his professional photography career in 2008 and now spends his time travelling between Los Angeles, New York and London. The collection is exclusively available on Baker Street's website: www.bakerstreet.store and follow along on Instagram at: @DamonBakerStreet. Contact: Joe Wilson (609) 961-1198 [email protected] SOURCE Baker Street NEW YORK and MUNICH, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Celonis, the global leader in execution management, today announced a series of investments in data, intelligence and action to expand the execution management landscape and enable every organization in the world to execute on their data. These announcements include the acquisition of Lenses.io , a pioneer in the fast growing streaming data industry; the launch of the Celonis Execution Graph, a breakthrough technology that provides intelligence across business processes; and plans to enter into a strategic partnership with Conexiom , the leader in sales order automation to help customers seamlessly automate complex order management processes. "Businesses are collecting more and more data across devices, applications and data pools, both in the cloud and on premise. However, they are only executing on a small fraction of the data available to them," said Alex Rinke, co-founder and co-CEO of Celonis. "That's why we built the Execution Management System, and today we are taking it to the next level by introducing groundbreaking innovations across the three core pillars of our platform: data, intelligence and action." The Data Execution Imperatives: Data, Intelligence, and Action For decades, data has primarily been used for data analytics yet underutilized for driving actions. And no matter how big the ocean of data gets (64 zettabytes* were produced in 2020 alone) only 1 in 10 business leaders say that their teams regularly use data for decision making today. Celonis has executed a series of investments, innovations, and partnerships to address this problem and put all of this data to work, at scale. Celonis Executes Acquisition of Lenses.io Real-time streaming data is continuously generated by dynamic sources including media, communications, transportation, telemetry, weather and environmental systems. Streaming data is revolutionary for business processes and can make or break a company's ability to adapt on the fly to meet ever-changing market and customer expectations. For example, how and when a product is created and delivered is impacted by a myriad of real-time factors, ranging from weather conditions, raw material access, or even social and political trends. Companies that incorporate streaming data into their execution systems can capitalize on these millisecond changes to the business environment. Celonis acquired Lenses.io to bring this real-time data into business execution. Prior to Lenses.io, real-time streaming data was very difficult to apply in day to day business operations because of historically hard to use frameworks like Apache Kafka. Lenses.io is a pioneer in solving this problem by creating a system that allows any company to easily utilize streaming data, produced at-scale, in milliseconds. "Consumers expect real-time information and personalized experiences from all of their applications like receiving a notification when you should leave your house to catch your flight," said Antonios Chalkiopoulos, founder and CEO of Lenses.io. "What really got me excited is the potential to apply streaming data to the Celonis Execution Management System. I firmly believe that the way businesses use data should be as simple as how data drives actions in our day to day lives." "Executing instantly on core business processes represents a huge opportunity for us," said Maximilian Hoffmann, Manager Process Digitalization at Lufthansa CityLine. "The Celonis EMS forms the core of this capability, and Lenses provides us the ability to effectively utilize real-time data, take action on it and improve processes moment-by-moment." Celonis Delivers Process Intelligence Breakthrough with the Celonis Execution Graph One of the toughest challenges in business is to understand and effectively act on the complex connections between processes. Having a full picture of how processes influence each other across all systems, all departments, and ultimately all suppliers is the next evolution in execution management. Through the process insights and data assembled over the last decade, Celonis has cracked the code on how to connect events, dependencies, and process relationships across multi-system environments. This breakthrough, called the Celonis Execution Graph, will give businesses, for the first time, insight into the true nature of their interconnected process ecosystem. And the execution graph gets stronger and more unique to your business with the addition of more processes and more data. The Celonis Execution Graph is powered by two unique technology innovations: Celonis Multi Event Log allows customers to identify and pinpoint friction points in one process that are caused by another process, by visualizing interconnected processes and conducting cross-process drill downs. Celonis Signal Link is a new capability that allows companies to connect events from different processes and enables unprecedented visibility across departments and organizations within companies. "The Celonis Execution Graph is a breakthrough on the same scale as pioneering process mining ten years ago. The new Celonis "ah-ha" is understanding how processes interact and impact each other, and that requires an execution graph," said Martin Klenk, co-founder and CTO of Celonis. "Just imagine a common situation like a late delivery creating an unhappy customer. Was the problem caused by the order management process? The shipping or inventory process? Procurement or production? A combination of all of the above? The Celonis Execution Graph answers these questions." "We have seen very promising initial results in better visualizing our entire supply chain from using the new Celonis Signal Link capability," said Heymen Jansen, VP Advanced Process Analytics at ABB. "I'm extremely excited about the possibilities that the new Execution Graph will unlock for our several businesses. This next-level technology enables exciting new capabilities for dynamically driving better process performance across our global operational networks." "Last year, I wrote that the next battle in enterprise software will be the creation of business graphs - the enterprise equivalent of social graphs," said R "Ray" Wang, Founder, Constellation Research. "Organizations will improve their execution capacity by taking into account the relationships among users, documents, business processes and contextual data. This is an exponential breakthrough in understanding the full picture of business processes and operations." Celonis Enables Intelligent Actions Across the Execution Management Ecosystem Real-world processes coexist and interact with multiple apps, systems, across a wide span of use cases, value chains, and industries. This requires an ecosystem that brings both the domain and technical expertise to apply Celonis to solve any customer problem. Some of the most essential processes that Celonis helps optimize are order-to-cash and procure-to-pay. Celonis announced a plan to partner with Conexiom, the global leader in sales order automation, and the launch of Touchless Order Capture, a new joint product offering in the Celonis EMS. With this product, Conexiom and Celonis are bringing together best-of-breed technologies to enable customers to optimize their order management processes. About Celonis Celonis believes that every company can unlock its full execution capacity. Powered by its market-leading process mining core, the Celonis Execution Management System provides a set of applications, and developer studio and platform capabilities for business executives and users to eliminate billions in corporate inefficiencies. Celonis has thousands of global customers and is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA with 15 offices worldwide. 2021 Celonis SE. All rights reserved. Celonis and the Celonis "droplet" logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Celonis SE in Germany and other jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. *One zettabyte is the equivalent of every star in the observable universe SOURCE Celonis Related Links https://www.celonis.com/ COMPTON, Calif., Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IPS Corporation ("IPS" or the "Company") today announced the closing of its acquisition by Centerbridge Partners, L.P. ("Centerbridge"), a leading private investment firm, from Cypress Performance Group, LLC ("Cypress"). George Moore and Dan St. Martin will continue to serve as Executive Chairman and CEO of IPS, respectively. IPS provides a comprehensive offering of specialized, highly engineered industrial products including solvent cements, rough plumbing and roofing products, and structural and surface adhesives. The Company's well-recognized brands include Weld-On, Christy's, Water-Tite, Studor, Scigrip, and others. The Company sells its products through the wholesale and retail channels to a diverse base of customers across the globe with manufacturing operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. IPS had been owned since 2017 by Cypress, a diversified industrial holding company established by former Danaher Corporation CEO George Sherman. Under the leadership of George Sherman, George Moore, and Dan St. Martin, IPS has deployed a version of the Danaher Business System, a holistic operating model through which strategy, operations, and financial performance are managed. Several significant shareholders of Cypress including the Sherman family and Shumway Capital will continue as shareholders in IPS alongside Centerbridge. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. BofA Securities and Credit Suisse served as financial advisors to IPS on the transaction. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP served as legal counsel to IPS and Cypress. Jefferies served as lead financial advisor to Centerbridge. Jefferies, Credit Suisse, Apollo-managed funds, SMBC, KeyBanc Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets, Nomura, and MUFG provided financing for the transaction. Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal counsel to Centerbridge. About IPS Corporation Established in 1954 as the original inventor of solvent cement for PVC pipe applications, IPS Corporation is a trusted manufacturer of rough plumbing and roofing supplies for the construction industry, as well as structural adhesives and solvent cements for a broad range of construction, industrial, and manufacturing applications. Our leading brands include WELD-ON, CHRISTY'S, WATER-TITE, TEST-TITE, GUY GRAY, TRUEBRO, STUDOR, AB&A, SCIGRIP, INTEGRA, and UNIKA. Headquartered in California, IPS Corporation has operations throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Learn more at www.ipscorp.com. About Centerbridge Partners Centerbridge Partners, L.P. is a private investment management firm employing a flexible approach across investment disciplines private equity, private credit and real estate in an effort to develop the most attractive opportunities for its investors. The Firm was founded in 2005 and as of August 1, 2021 has approximately $31 billion in capital under management with offices in New York and London. Centerbridge is dedicated to partnering with world-class management teams across targeted industry sectors and geographies. For more information, please visit www.centerbridge.com. About Cypress Performance Group Cypress Performance Group, LLC is a holding company founded by George Sherman focused on value-added manufacturing or industrial service businesses in industries with consolidation opportunities. Cypress helps companies implement their strategic plan by using its business system to focus on growth and operational efficiency while developing industry leading practices to improve customer experience and delivering shareholder value. Contacts Media for Centerbridge Partners Jeremy Fielding / Anntal Silver [email protected] / [email protected] SOURCE IPS Corporation TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - The parties to a proposed class action commenced against TILT Holdings Inc., Alexander Coleman, Mark Herron, Michael Orr and Todd Halpern have now reached a proposed settlement of the claim which is subject to approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The class action has now been certified. This notice provides information about this proposed settlement and related matters and how to opt out of the class action. Your legal rights are affected even if you do nothing. Please read this notice carefully. The class action was commenced on behalf of all persons who acquired TILT Holdings Inc. securities between October 12, 2018 and May 1, 2019. The proposed settlement is for US$3.65 million. By agreeing to the proposed settlement, the parties avoid the costs and uncertainty of a trial and delays in obtaining judgment. If you do not wish to be bound by the class action and participate in the settlement, you must opt out of the class action. A copy of the Opt Out Form is available here: www.kalloghlianmyers.com/tilt The Ontario Superior Court of Justice is required to decide whether to approve the proposed settlement, class counsel fees and disbursements plus tax, an honorarium for the representative plaintiff and a plan to allocate and distribute the settlement proceeds. The Court will hear submissions about the approval of the proposed settlement on November 29, 2021. Payments will only be made available if the Court approves the proposed settlement and after any appeals are resolved. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS FOR THIS PROPOSED SETTLEMENT Opt Out: Fill out an Opt Out Form. Exclude yourself from the class action and the proposed settlement. The Opt Out Form is available here: www.kalloghlianmyers.com/tilt You must email your Opt Out Form before November 24, 2021 to: [email protected] Object: Fill out a Notice of Objection and explain why you object to the settlement and other relief sought. The Notice of Objection is available here: www.kalloghlianmyers.com/tilt You must email your Notice of Objection before November 24, 2021 to: [email protected] Go to a Hearing: You can attend the Zoom videoconference approval hearing in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on November 29, 2021 to object to the proposed settlement and ancillary relief. Do Nothing: Remain in the class action and participate in the settlement, but give up your right to object to the proposed settlement. These rights and options and the deadlines to exercise them and more information about the proposed settlement are explained in a notice available at www.kalloghlianmyers.com/tilt More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can get a copy of the Settlement Agreement at www.kalloghlianmyers.com/tilt You can send your questions to [email protected] The lawyers for the plaintiff in the class action are Kalloghlian Myers LLP and Paul Bates. SOURCE Kalloghlian Myers LLP Data Transformation win showcases CGI's innovation and commitment to DIA Stock Market Symbols GIB (NYSE) GIB.A (TSX) www.cgi.com/newsroom FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) was awarded a $100M Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Data Transformation of Foundational Military Intelligence (DTMI) task order to evolve the way DIA processes its intelligence, military and infrastructure data. Providing analysts with optimized data to evaluate, document and integrate the agency's Foundational Military Intelligence (FMI), DTMI will enable everyone from U.S. warfighters to national security policymakers to make more effective, efficient and proactive decisions in a modernized, scalable technology environment. This task order was awarded under the U.S. General Services Administration's Alliant 2 vehicle, with an one year base period and four one-year option periods. CGI will leverage its experience in delivering innovative solutions at DIA to provide enhanced understanding of how to gather and model FMI data to help analysts maximize foundational intelligence analysis. As part of this contract, CGI will partner with DIA to create a transition database for the Modernized Integrated Database that is compatible with the agency's transition to the Machine-assisted Rapid-repository System (MARS). The transition database will initially serve to host and stage the transformed data until applied to MARS mission modules or until such time the MARS data environment can completely take over that functionality. "This data transformation will lay the groundwork for a modern data environment that will enable DIA to provide optimized military intelligence to the DoD and the intelligence community," said Tim Spadafore, Senior Vice-President at CGI Federal. "CGI looks forward to supporting DIA as it transitions to the MARS environment, supporting its critical mission of protecting the American people." About CGI Federal CGI Federal Inc. is a wholly-owned U.S. operating subsidiary of CGI Inc., dedicated to partnering with federal agencies to provide solutions for defense, civilian, healthcare and intelligence missions. Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 78,000 consultants and other professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. With Fiscal 2020 reported revenue of C$12.16 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com. Forward-looking information and statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable United States safe harbors. All such forward-looking information and statements are made and disclosed in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. Forward-looking information and statements include all information and statements regarding CGI's intentions, plans, expectations, beliefs, objectives, future performance, and strategy, as well as any other information or statements that relate to future events or circumstances and which do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts. Forward-looking information and statements often but not always use words such as "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "foresee", "plan", "predict", "project", "aim", "seek", "strive", "potential", "continue", "target", "may", "might", "could", "should", and similar expressions and variations thereof. These information and statements are based on our perception of historic trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other assumptions, both general and specific, that we believe are appropriate in the circumstances. Such information and statements are, however, by their very nature, subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, of which many are beyond the control of CGI, and which give rise to the possibility that actual results could differ materially from our expectations expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not restricted to: risks related to the market such as the level of business activity of our clients, which is affected by economic conditions, and our ability to negotiate new contracts; risks related to our industry such as competition and our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, to develop and expand our services, to penetrate new markets, and to protect our intellectual property rights; risks related to our business such as risks associated with our growth strategy, including the integration of new operations, financial and operational risks inherent in worldwide operations, foreign exchange risks, income tax laws, our ability to negotiate favorable contractual terms, to deliver our services and to collect receivables, and the reputational and financial risks attendant to cybersecurity breaches and other incidents; as well as other risks identified or incorporated by reference in this press release, in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and in other documents that we make public, including our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators (on SEDAR at www.sedar.com) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (on EDGAR at www.sec.gov). Unless otherwise stated, the forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and CGI disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. While we believe that our assumptions on which these forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are based were reasonable as at the date of this press release, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking information or statements. Furthermore, readers are reminded that forward-looking information and statements are presented for the sole purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our objectives, strategic priorities and business outlook as well as our anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Further information on the risks that could cause our actual results to differ significantly from our current expectations may be found in the section titled "Risk Environment" of CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A, which is incorporated by reference in this cautionary statement. We also caution readers that the above-mentioned risks and the risks disclosed in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and other documents and filings are not the only ones that could affect us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial could also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, financial performance, cash flows, business or reputation. SOURCE CGI Inc. Related Links www.cgi.com "StarKist is proud to celebrate Charlie's 60th birthday and he is truly an icon," said Andrew Choe, StarKist President and CEO. "The fact that he appeals to audiences as much today as he did sixty years ago is really a testament to his timeless charm. We are proud to have him represent the StarKist business and look forward to seeing what Charlie has in store for us in the future." Creator Tom Rogers of the Leo Burnett agency developed the fin-tastic character in 1961. Through StarKist's popular television commercials, Charlie quickly rose to stardom and the catchphrase "Sorry Charlie" was adopted into the American pop culture lexicon. The memorable tagline was even honored with its own holiday; National Sorry Charlie Day is observed annually on April 6. Throughout his sixty years, Charlie has received numerous accolades confirming his status as one of the advertising industry's most illustrious characters. In 2020, Charlie won Advertising Week's Madison Avenue Walk of Fame, and he was previously recognized by Advertising Week as one of the core group of mascots when the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame was inaugurated in 2004. In 2019, Charlie was welcomed into the Funko family's elite group of pop culture ad icons with his very own Funko POP! Figurine. Charlie Gets A Birthday Delivery From Buddy Valastro Buddy Valastro, aka Mr. Cake Boss himself, did the honors of designing Charlie's celebratory birthday cake. Charlie headed to Carlo's Bakery headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Mr. Valastro personally presented him with the impressive custom four-tier masterpiece cake. The sugary confection was festooned with cartoon-style seashells, coral reefs and aquatic plants all a nod to Charlie's home turf, the ocean. "Charlie the Tuna is such a beloved character," said Mr. Valastro. "So it was great fun and an honor to create the cake for Charlie's big day. Happy birthday to the coolest spokesfish there is. Sixty looks great on you!" #TeamCharlie Invited to Participate in Birthday Sweepstakes Starting October 4 through October 10, Charlie's friends and fans are encouraged to wish him a happy birthday on StarKist's public Facebook, Instagram or Twitter posts for a chance to win $6,000. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.) 18 years of age and older. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes begins 10/4/21 and ends 10/10/21. For Official Rules, prize descriptions and odds disclosure, visit https://campaign.rtm.com/StarKist60Sweeps/. Sponsor: StarKist Co., 225 North Shore Drive, Suite 400, Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Follow Charlie on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter at @starkistcharlie or visit www.StarKist.com to learn more about his story. About StarKist Co. StarKist Co. provides trusted, healthy, food products in the United States. An industry innovator, StarKist was the first brand to introduce single-serve pouch products, which include Tuna Creations, Salmon Creations and Chicken Creations. As America's favorite tuna, StarKist represents a tradition of quality, consumer trust and a commitment to sustainability. StarKist's charismatic brand icon, Charlie the Tuna, swam into the hearts of tuna fans in 1961 and is still a fan favorite today. StarKist Co. is a direct wholly owned subsidiary of Dongwon Industries Co., Ltd. Media Contact: Michelle Faist 412-323-7457 [email protected] SOURCE StarKist Co. MIAMI, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Richard Sandoval Hospitality is honoring Dia De Los Muertos with the launch of its first-ever immersive global campaign. From October 5, 2021, through November 2, 2021, over 30 participating locations both nationally and internationally will offer guests a chance to partake in the celebration with marigold-inspired dishes and beverages, a signature Spotify playlist, online tutorials led by Chef Richard Sandoval and more. Exclusive menu items inspired by the Altar de Muertos or "Altar of the Dead" include a Chile Ancho Confit pork belly stew; Braised Short Rib; and Pumpkin Bread Cake crafted with caramel "tacha" pumpkin, orange blossom milk, spiced pepitas and topped with cinnamon ice cream. With Patron as the presenting sponsor, specialty beverages include the Marigold Margarita; the Habanero Blood Orange Margarita; La Vela "The Candle"; El Ojo "The Eye"; and the La Calavera "The Skull," a non-alcoholic beverage crafted with passion fruit, lime, ginger beer and hibiscus agua fresca. Guests will also be able craft some of these specialty menu items from their homes through a virtual masterclass led by Chef Sandoval. The Dia De Los Muertos campaign will take a 360 approach, covering not just the food and beverage front but offering signature activations, retail elements, cultural education, dynamic brand touchpoints, and bespoke pieces that celebrate the holiday. To bring these bespoke pieces to life, Richard Sandoval Hospitality partnered with Mexico-city based illustrator and artist, Chepe Daniel Baez whose work will be featured on Dia De Los Muertos menus, accessories and retail elements throughout the campaign. The Dia De Los Muertos campaign encompasses over 30 participating Richard Sandoval Hospitality locations in eight states including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and D.C. and five countries including the United States of America, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Qatar. Participating locations can be found at www.richardsandoval.com/ddlm2021 About Richard Sandoval Hospitality: Richard Sandoval Hospitality is a leading restaurant group founded by Mexican-born chef/restaurateur Richard Sandoval and based in Denver, Colorado. Known for offering guests an unparalleled culinary experience, this internationally recognized contemporary Latin restaurant group successfully owns and operates over 45 restaurant concepts around the globe. US restaurant locations span 10 states and the District of Columbia as well as internationally in 7 countries including Costa Rica, Mexico, Nevis, Qatar, Serbia, Turkey and the UAE. For a complete list of restaurants and more information, please visit www.richardsandoval.com. Contact: Erica Badgley [email protected] SOURCE Richard Sandoval Hospitality SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- MFS Consulting Engineers & Surveyor, DPC (MFS Engineers & Surveyors), a multidiscipline, MBE/DBE/SBE-certified civil engineering firm, announced today that it has acquired GEOD Corporation (GEOD), a provider of aerial photogrammetry / LIDAR mapping, land survey, subsurface utility markout, and 3D laser-scanning services. GEOD, which has been in operation for 60 years and has developed a reputation for the quality and accuracy of its services within the A/E/C industry, will continue to operate under its own brand as a subsidiary of MFS. All GEOD employees and leadership are being retained and GEOD will continue to maintain its offices in Newfoundland, New Jersey, while providing synergistic services with MFS. MFS offers to clients a range of civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering and construction management services. The GEOD acquisition augments MFS's well-established land survey division, enabling it to serve customers more fully by expanding its survey capabilities to include aerial mapping / photogrammetry and subsurface utility engineering (SUE) markout, and by more than doubling its team of survey professionals. GEOD benefits by being part of a cross-discipline solutions design team that allows clients to receive engineering, surveying, and construction services from a single source. Additionally, MFS's status as a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), and Small Business Enterprise (SBE) will enable GEOD to soon achieve these certifications as well, enabling it greater access to government contracting opportunities. According to Allied Market Research, the global AEC market is predicted to reach $15.84 billion by 2028. "We're excited to incorporate GEOD's capabilities with our own as we continue to grow our business," said Michael Mudalel, PE, Principal Engineer and Managing Partner of MFS Engineers & Surveyors. "GEOD's offerings and professional team are a great fit with our continual mission of providing high-quality services to clients. We look forward to continuing to serve GEOD's client base as well as our own through both the MFS and GEOD brands, and to jointly explore new market sectors." "MFS is known for its exceptional ability to manage large, cross-disciplinary projects that combine engineering, surveying, and construction management services," said John Emilius, Business Development Manager at GEOD Corporation. "The two firms are highly complementary to one another. Moving under the MFS helm will benefit our current and future clients by enabling us to deliver a broad range of A/E/C services and capabilities under a single umbrella for even greater efficiencies." The acquisition of GEOD by MFS makes it one of the largest survey service providers in New Jersey and New York. About MFS Engineers & Surveyors MFS is an MBE/DBE/SBE-certified, multidiscipline civil engineering and design consulting firm that provides personalized services and solutions to meet the needs of its diverse clients. Founded in 2009, the company is headquartered in South Plainfield, New Jersey, and has branch offices in New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. MFS provides site-civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering, as well as land survey and construction management services. The firm has been on NJBiz's list of "Best Places to Work" for six consecutive years and is currently ranked at no. 76 on the Engineering News-Record list of Top 500 New York Design Firms. For more information, visit the company's website at www.mfsengineers.com. Also, connect with MFS on LinkedIn or Twitter @MFSengin. Media Contact: Kathy Berardi Carabiner Communications [email protected] 678.644.4122 SOURCE MFS Engineers & Surveyors Related Links https://www.mfsengineers.com/ SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaverse Blockchain Fusion NFT company, Coinllectibles, a fully owned subsidiary of Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. (OTC: COSG), is pleased to conclude the successful sale of Coinllectibles Bronze Series 2 where all items were snapped up by buyers on the OKEx NFT marketplace. The Bronze Series 2 consists of 5 exquisite ceramic art pieces and was priced at US$820,000. Collectively, its inaugural 2 launches of Fusion NFT generated revenue of more than US$1.07mil for the company. Commenting on the results, Toby O'Connor, the CEO of Coinllectibles said, "We are encouraged by how well the Bronze Series 2 sold. We launched on Tuesday with two of the pieces sold in minutes and the remainder on Tuesday. As well as seeing that collectors recognise the quality and value of the pieces, we were also pleased to add some enhancements to the Series 2 Fusion NFT which will add to the owners' enjoyment." The Bronze 2 launch included works of art steeped in Chinese mythology and symbolism. "To illustrate, one of the pieces had a painting of a phoenix. Phoenix or "Feng Huang" in Chinese is recognised as the king of birds in Chinese culture. The male is the "Huang" phoenix, while the female is the "Feng" phoenix. In ancient times, "Feng Huang" represents harmony and auspiciousness. When the "Feng" and "Huang" meet with each other, it means the world is peaceful and wealthy. It is such cultural uniqueness that adds to the value and enjoyment of these pieces and differentiates them within the collectible market." added Toby. The 5 Fusion NFTs are currently listed on OKEx NFT marketplace for resale. Heritage Piece Qing Dynasty (19th Century) Wucai Mouth Plate: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383428 Heritage Piece Qing Dynasty (19th century) Red Lacquer Vase: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383431 Meiping with a Phoenix and Flower Pattern: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383429 and Flower Pattern: A Modern Meiping Vase in Fa-Lang-Tsai Enamels: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383427 A Wucai Solitary Vase designed with Window, Flower: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383426 For pre-registration of interest for future Fusion NFT drops, please visit www.Coinllectibles.Art or join the Coinllectibles Telegram Channel at https://t.me/Coinllectibles . About Cosmos Group Holdings Inc Cosmos is a business group that operates in two business segments: Arts and Collectibles Financing Through CoinllectiblesTM, the group provides authentication, valuation and certification (AVC) service, sale and purchase, hire purchase, financing, custody, security and exhibition (CSE) services to art buyers through traditional channels, as well as through leveraging blockchain technology through the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With subsidiaries licensed under Hong Kong's Money Lenders Ordinance, the group currently primarily provides unsecured personal loan to private individuals, with a small portfolio of mortgage loans. The group is integrating the two business segments by offering secured financing services to prospective art and collectibles purchasers to provide a one-stop arts and collectibles purchasing and financing experience. About the Company Coinllectibles Coinllectibles is an ACT (Arts and Collectibles Technology) company, which is redefining how the world thinks about art and collectible ownership in the digital age. Their minted curated Fusion NFTs, capture all the rights and independent valuation and ownership of physical arts and collectibles securely underpinned by smart contracts stored on the blockchain. Coinllectibles Fusion NFTs bridge the physical and virtual dimensions of the arts and collectibles market, providing a pleasurable, transparent, and frictionless experience to customers from all walks of life. Website: www.coinllectibles.art Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Coinllectibles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coinllectibles/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/coinllectibles LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinllectibles Telegram: https://t.me/Coinllectibles About Coinllectibles Fusion NFT Coinllectibles prides the Fusion NFT as the industry "Gold Standard". Being a Gold Standard, a Fusion NFT contains the following on the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) (1) a sale and purchase agreement reflecting the purchase, by the person minting the Fusion NFT, of the underlying asset at a fair value with all rights and restrictions clearly detailed, (2) bailment terms governing the rights to possession whilst the underlying asset remains with Coinllectibles, (3) a transfer deed reflecting the transfer of the ownership of the underlying asset (together with all rights and restrictions) by the transferor to the holder of the Fusion NFT, (4) ownership title deed written into the description of the Fusion NFT and (5) the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion NFT. Contact: Ms Rachel Lim Director of Sales and Marketing +852-28398100 [email protected] SOURCE Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Coinstar, LLC, the global leader in self-service coin counting, today announced its partnership with Make-A-Wish to enable donations at more than 16,500 Coinstar kiosks across the country. Consumer donations will support the Make-A-Wish mission to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. "Coinstar gives consumers the opportunity to use their change to make a lasting change in the lives of children with critical illnesses," said Richard K. Davis, president and CEO, Make-A-Wish America. "Every donation big or small made at Coinstar kiosks, helps Make-A-Wish to bring joy back into the lives of wish kids and their families." Make-A-Wish plays a relevant and essential role in recapturing childhood for the thousands of children and families it serves. A wish can help children build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Make-A-Wish has safely granted over 12,000 wishes to children and families. "We are delighted to add the Make-A-Wish donation option to our Coinstar kiosks across the country," said Jim Gaherity, CEO of Coinstar. "The impact that a wish can make on a critically ill child's life is powerful, and we encourage consumers to make a donation today to help make more wishes come true." Consumers can make tax-deductible donations of any size at Coinstar kiosks nationwide. A list of charities, including Make-A-Wish, that are available to receive donations at individual kiosk locations can be found at www.coinstar.com/findakiosk. About Coinstar, LLC Coinstar is the global leader in self-service coin counting with 23,000 kiosks in North America, Europe, and Japan. More than 800 billion coins have been processed since Coinstar's inception in the early 1990s. In the United States, consumers can convert their change to cash, a no-fee eGift card, or donate to charity at supermarket, mass merchant, drug store, and financial institution kiosk locations. Expanded cash services at Coinstar kiosks include purchasing cryptocurrencies and adding money into digital accounts. For brand advertisers, Coinstar now offers adPlanet, which enables lead generation on the interactive kiosk screen and a flexible digital advertising platform that sits atop Coinstar kiosks at select grocery locations. For more information on Coinstar or kiosk locations, visit www.coinstar.com. About Make-A-Wish Make-A-Wish creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Make-A-Wish is the world's leading children's wish-granting organization, operating in every community in the United States and in nearly 50 countries worldwide. Together with generous donors, supporters, staff and more than 30,000 volunteers across the U.S., Make-A-Wish delivers hope and joy to children and their families when they need it most. Make-A-Wish aims to bring the power of wishing to every child with a critical illness because wish experiences can help improve emotional and physical health. Since 1980, Make-A-Wish has granted more than 500,000 wishes worldwide; more than 340,000 wishes in the U.S. and its territories alone. For more information about Make-A-Wish America, visit wish.org. SOURCE Coinstar, LLC Related Links http://www.coinstar.com GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Concorde Career Colleges, a national leader in health care education with 17 campuses in eight states, has launched an accelerated dental hygiene program at its Grand Prairie campus that will help address a shortage in dental professionals. Enrollment is open and classwork will begin in November 2021 for the 18-month program, which has been granted the status of initial accreditation this month by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). Concorde's Dental Hygiene program is accelerated, allowing students to earn an associate degree and enter the workforce quicker than a typical program. Concorde-Grand Prairie will accommodate 32 students every 8 months, providing more opportunities for candidates to enroll in the dental hygiene program. "We want our students to have beneficial experiences that will prepare them to apply for state licensure and enter the profession as soon as possible," said Erin Delashmit, Concorde's Dental Hygiene program director. "Our Program Advisory Committee, which is made up of dental practitioners and community members, will regularly meet with staff to review our program and offer real-world suggestions." The urgent need for dental hygiene professionals is regional and nationwide. According to a dental outlook by the Texas Department of State Health Services, between 2018 and 2030 the shortage of dental hygienists was projected to grow by 28.4% in Texas. Concorde's Dental Hygiene program will be a mixture of classroom learning and hands-on labs, as well as working with patients in an on-site dental clinic. The clinic will offer services, including cleanings, X-Rays and sealants to any individual many of whom have difficulty affording dental care on their own. By summer 2022, the dental clinic will open to the community, which will maximize students' training opportunities and help them prepare for dental board certification exams. The Concorde-Grand Prairie campus, which offers a variety of health care programs, is located at 3015 West Interstate 20 Grand Prairie, TX. Concorde also has campuses in Dallas and San Antonio. For more information, visit our website at: www.concorde.edu or call 469-532-0088. About Concorde Career Colleges, Inc. Concorde Career Colleges, Inc., which operates 17 campuses in eight states under the brands Concorde Career College and Concorde Career Institute, prepares America's next generation of health care and dental professionals for rewarding careers. The Concorde hybrid/blended education model combines online coursework with in-person lab classes and clinical experiences. Concorde's 25 student-focused academic programs and personalized support prepares graduates for in-demand careers in nursing, dental, respiratory, diagnostic and other health care roles. Concorde is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and the Council on Occupational Education (COE). For more information, visit www.concorde.edu. Contact: Devyn Raver CBD Marketing Email: [email protected] Phone: 312.661.1050 SOURCE Concorde Career Colleges Related Links http://www.concorde.edu/ Scott Seu, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, HEI's largest subsidiary, will be named HEI's new chief executive, effective Jan. 1, 2022. He will also be appointed to the HEI board of directors and become the chair of the American Savings Bank board of directors, replacing Lau on those boards, also effective Jan. 1, 2022. Shelee Kimura, senior vice president of customer service and public affairs at Hawaiian Electric, will succeed Seu as the utility's president and CEO, becoming the first female chief executive in the company's 130-year history. Lau has been with the HEI family of companies since 1984 and has held the top post at HEI since 2006. She served as president and CEO of American Savings Bank from 2001 to 2008, and prior to that, held key leadership positions at HEI and Hawaiian Electric. The appointments of Seu and Kimura, as well as the appointment of Ann Teranishi, who became president and CEO of American Savings Bank earlier this year, came as part of a multi-year succession planning process undertaken by the boards of directors of HEI, Hawaiian Electric and American Savings Bank. "With years of experience in our companies and in the communities we serve, Scott and Shelee have helped lead Hawaiian Electric's clean energy transformation and are committed to the decarbonization of our economy and the health of our communities," Lau said. "They understand what's at stake for Hawai'i and how to work successfully with stakeholders and community partners. I am excited about the future of our companies under the leadership of Scott, Shelee and Ann. Together with Greg Hazelton and Kurt Murao, HEI's chief financial officer and general counsel, respectively, they will carry forward our mission to be a catalyst for a better Hawai'i." The new leadership team combined has more than 75 years of experience with the HEI companies. About Scott Seu Seu was named president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric in February 2020. Under Seu's leadership, the company achieved a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of nearly 35 percent, surpassing the 2020 state goal of 30 percent. Hawaiian Electric continues to be a national leader in rooftop solar adoption and the use of electric vehicles, helping to reduce carbon emissions throughout the state economy. Seu, 55, is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He joined Hawaiian Electric in 1993 and has held key leadership positions across the company, including in the areas of environmental management, customer programs, renewable energy development, electric system operations and community relations. He has been at the center of Hawaiian Electric's commitment to high performance, efficiency improvement, environmental sustainability and community service. Earlier this year, Hawaiian Electric began operating under a performance-based regulation (PBR) framework, among the vanguard in the U.S. energy industry. This new business model seeks to ensure alignment of the company's priorities with customer needs and broader societal goals like clean energy. With this framework in mind, Seu and his leadership team developed Hawaiian Electric's new five-year strategic plan, with goals to create customer value, strengthen the company's foundation and build a stronger Hawai'i. "Anyone who works with Scott knows he's committed not just to getting things done but to finding solutions that are fair, equitable and practical," said Tom Fargo, chairman of the board of HEI. "That's what we're talking about when we say we want HEI to be a catalyst for a better Hawai'i. That's why Scott is the person to lead the company at a time when Hawaii's energy independence is on the horizon and there are so many opportunities to help empower our communities." Seu was on the core team leading the implementation of the groundbreaking 2008 clean energy agreement that was the product of a unique partnership of the utility and the state and federal governments to accelerate Hawaii's transition off imported fossil fuels. For the past three years, he has helped lead the working group organized by Hawaiian Electric to work with community members in the Koolaupoko region of Oahu to advance resilience planning. "I'm humbled and honored to be selected as the next president and CEO of the HEI family of companies, and I mahalo Connie, Tom and our board of directors for entrusting me with this responsibility to serve our customers, our employees, and our shareholders," Seu said. "HEI and its operating companies, Hawaiian Electric, American Savings Bank and Pacific Current, make up one of Hawaii's largest corporations, touching nearly all of Hawai'i's population. With that comes an obligation to positively impact Hawai'i's future and I'll do my best, working with our entire team, to support the well-being of our communities." Seu is board chair of Hale Kipa, one of Hawaii's leading youth services organizations, and serves as a board member for Teach for America Hawaii and the Electric Power Research Institute. He also supports the University of Hawaii at Manoa's College of Engineering as a member of the Dean's Council. About Shelee Kimura Since joining Hawaiian Electric in 2014, Kimura has held numerous senior leadership positions in the company, including senior vice president for customer service and public affairs and senior vice president for business development and strategy. Kimura was instrumental in developing Hawaiian Electric's 2015-2020 transformation strategy, which helped guide the leap from a traditional utility model to a transformative clean energy leader in the industry. She co-led the team that executed the transformation plan and helped set the framework for the company's culture to become more nimble, innovative and focused on the needs of customers. During this period, the company's customer satisfaction improved from one of the lowest in the industry to the top third. Kimura has worked to develop more constructive and equitable markets for renewable resources and more collaborative relationships with stakeholders, including those representing the environment, clean transportation, utility-scale renewables, and the rooftop solar industry. She has overseen an expansion of programs that helped hasten the pace of residential adoption to more than 90,000 private rooftop solar systems today and large-scale renewable resources that have more than doubled over the last five years. Most recently, she has led a company group working with nonprofit and government agencies to address the needs of low and moderate-income customers, especially during the pandemic. "Shelee is a roll-up-her-sleeves kind of leader and problem-solver who comes to the job with a wealth of experience inside and outside the company," said Tim Johns, chairman of the Hawaiian Electric board of directors. "She understands the critical role the company plays in Hawaii, not just keeping the lights on, but providing leadership to tackle the challenges of climate change in ways that are equitable and responsive to communities." "It is a true honor to be selected to lead Hawaiian Electric in this critical time," Kimura said. "Like many in Hawai'i, I was raised with a sense of responsibility and stewardship for this incredibly special place. I step into this role with humility and a deep sense of kuleana to Hawai'i's future, the communities we serve and our dedicated employees who serve them. As we pursue our mission, we can help create a sustainable, equitable and thriving Hawai'i, and I look forward to working with many others to do just that." Before joining Hawaiian Electric, Kimura spent 10 years at HEI, leading corporate finance and investments, investor relations and strategic planning. From 1996 to 2004, she worked in the audit, advisory and consulting practices at Arthur Andersen and KMH LLP. Kimura has received numerous recognitions for her business, leadership and community contributions, including the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) national business award, Hawai'i Business Magazine's 20 for the Next 20, and Girl Scouts Women of Distinction. Kimura, 48, is a graduate of Aiea High School, and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she was a presidential scholar. Kimura is an Omidyar Fellow and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She serves on the University of Hawai'i Outreach College Advisory Council and the audit committee of Kamehameha Schools as well as the boards of Na Kama Kai and Hawai'i Institute of Public Affairs. About Connie Lau Lau's career with HEI and its subsidiaries has spanned numerous leadership roles and included spearheading key initiatives that have transformed the companies. In 2008, she signed the agreement with the governor and other leaders that set the course for Hawaiian Electric's clean energy transition as part of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative. She also led the transformation of American Savings Bank from a thrift institution to a full-service community bank that is now the third largest in the state. Lau, 69, was central to developing and guiding HEI's mission to be a catalyst for a better Hawai'i, a mission rooted in HEI's belief that its success and Hawaii's are inextricably linked. HEI's commitment to advancing the health of the state's environment, economy and communities has made the recent growth in investor and other stakeholder focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations a natural fit. The company has become a recognized ESG leader, and was one of the first in Hawai'i to focus on ESG in its reporting and to outline its ESG priorities, including decarbonization and economic health and affordability of Hawaii. Lau is a nationally recognized leader in the fields of critical infrastructure, resilience and physical and cyber security, banking and energy. Since 2012, Lau has chaired the National Infrastructure Advisory Council which advises the President of the United States on the security of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors and their information systems. "Connie provided steady and thoughtful leadership through a time of unprecedented change in the energy and banking industries, but more than that, she was always asking 'What's next?' and anticipating the next challenge," Fargo said. "To have someone who leads a Hawaii company nationally recognized for their expertise in such diverse fields as energy, cybersecurity and finance is really remarkable, and it's a tribute to Connie and the team she has built." Lau was named 2011 Woman of the Year by the Women's Council on Energy and the Environment. She was recognized as one of U.S. Banker's 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking for 2004, 2005 and 2006. Lau chairs the Military Affairs Council of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and serves on the executive committees of the Edison Electric Institute and Hawaii Business Roundtable. She is a member of the board of directors of Matson, Inc., Associated Electrical & Gas Insurance Services, and Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. Lau chairs the boards of Punahou School and the Consuelo Foundation. About HEI The Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HEI) (NYSE:HE) family of companies provides the energy and financial services that empower much of the economic and community activity of Hawaii. HEI's electric utility, Hawaiian Electric, supplies power to approximately 95% of Hawaii's population and is undertaking an ambitious effort to decarbonize its operations and the broader state economy. Its banking subsidiary, American Savings Bank, is one of Hawaii's largest financial institutions, providing a wide array of banking and other financial services and working to advance economic growth, affordability and financial fitness. HEI helps advance Hawaii's sustainability goals through investments by its non-regulated subsidiary, Pacific Current. For more information, visit www.hei.com. For media inquiries, please contact: Jim Kelly Hawaiian Electric VP, Government and Community Relations and Corporate Communications [email protected] AJ Halagao HEI VP, Corporate and Community Advancement [email protected] Julie Smolinski HEI VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Sustainability [email protected] SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.; Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. Related Links http://www.hei.com NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BMW has been rated the automotive brand digitally savvy American consumers ages 18-49 with household incomes above $75k trust most to share their personal data. The innovative, new Data Trust Index (DTI) by Luxury Institute and DataLucent, measures the level of trust that consumers have in licensing their digital platform data (Google, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) to mass, premium and luxury brands, in exchange for rewards and benefits of value to them. BMW's top data trust rating was achieved among a combined select group of 21 major mass, premium and luxury automotive brands. Audi and Toyota were rated second and third, respectively. BMW achieved the highest percent rating of any automotive brand by a measure of ten percentage points above the next best rated brand: Audi. Men are more willing than women to trust BMW with their data by a ratio of almost 2:1. Interestingly, as opposed to common mythology, older (40-49) and more affluent ($150k+ household income) consumers trust BMW more with licensed access to their data than younger, less affluent consumers by a statistically significant margin. The DTI U.S. survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,008 consumers ages 18-49, with a minimum income of $75k (total sample average income of $200k), with 54% male and 48% female participation. Responders reported that YouTube (82%), Google (79%), Facebook (78%), Amazon (76%) and Instagram (75%) were the digital platforms used on a regular basis. On the most critical core question of the survey: 83% of all responders, including 89% males and 78% of females, are willing to license their digital platform data, under their control, to brands they trust to use and serve their needs, and the needs of other consumers, in a personalized way. The survey asked consumers to rate 21 major automotive brands. Consumers indicated which of the brands, presented in alphabetical order, they would trust most to license their data for rewards and benefits of value to them. The complete brand list includes Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Genesis, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Infinity, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo. Luxury Institute and DataLucent will publish the top three brands in each category for the Data Trust Index (DTI), as rated by consumers, yet will not make public their exact DTI scores, or the scores of the other brands rated. The DTI's purpose is to inspire brands to earn more customer trust such that they can access the most predictive data legally and ethically, directly from their valued customers and prospects for fair value. The ultimate objective is to help brands to develop deeper, richer, mutually loyal first-party data relationships with customers and prospects. Brands can purchase their DTI data, and a benchmark vs. category competitors, as well as their data trust opportunity gap (DTOG). The data trust opportunity gap is a measure of their DTI score vs the 83% of consumers in the current survey who are willing to license their data. Upon request, the DTI team will run a proprietary custom survey with each brand's customer base, across all customer segments, to determine each brand's customer DTI opportunity gaps. In the custom survey, consumers will be asked to share the key reasons why they rated the brand as they did. Please contact [email protected] for more information. "Congratulations to BMW, Audi and Toyota for leading in data trust in the automotive industry," said Milton Pedraza, Chairman of DataLucent, and CEO of the Luxury Institute. "There is so much more to be done in the auto industry to earn the trust required to lead brands successfully in the New Digital Age. This breakthrough metric, the Data Trust Index (DTI), will become one of the most critical measures of a brand's long-term health and viability. We look forward to engaging with brands via their own custom metrics to help them to develop the consumer data sharing trust and access they need to survive and thrive in the 2020s." About Luxury Institute Luxury Institute is the world's most trusted research, training, and elite business solutions partner for luxury and premium goods and services brands. With the largest global network of luxury executives and experts, Luxury Institute has the ability to provide its clients with high-performance, leading-edge solutions developed by the best, most successful minds in the industry. Over the last 18 years, Luxury Institute has served over 1,100 luxury and premium goods and services brands. Luxury Institute has conducted more quantitative and qualitative research with affluent, wealthy and uber-wealthy consumers than any other entity. This knowledge has led to the development of its scientifically proven high-performance, emotional intelligence-based education system, Luxcelerate, that dramatically improves brand culture and financial performance. Luxury Institute has also innovated the Advanced Personalization Xchange (APX), powered by DataLucent, to empower affluent consumers to license their digital platform data to premium and luxury brands they trust legally, securely and privately in exchange for fair value rewards and benefits. To learn more about Luxury Institute, please contact us at LuxuryInstitute.com. About DataLucent DataLucent empowers consumers to access and share comprehensive, historical social media data with brands in return for rewards, benefits and personalization via a legal, ethical, secure, transparent and privacy-compliant process. DataLucent's patent-pending platform navigates consumers through the process of requesting, downloading and transferring personal data from Facebook, Twitter, Google and other consumer platforms, then provides real incentives for individuals to share data with companies they love and trust. DataLucent transforms and integrates data on behalf of consumers across networks to provide unparalleled customer and consumer insights to brands. To learn more about DataLucent, please visit DataLucent.com. SOURCE Luxury Institute Related Links http://www.LuxuryInstitute.com PLEASANTON, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cowbell Cyber , the industry's first AI-powered cyber insurance provider for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), today was named to the fourth annual CB Insights Fintech 250 , a prestigious list of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology. This year's list was unveiled on stage at CB Insights' Future of Fintech conference in New York City. This accolade is a testament to how Cowbell continues to deliver accelerated growth, secures substantial insurance capacity, scales distribution with its superior digital experience and excels at risk selection through its AI-assisted underwriting. This listing comes on the heels of a number of milestones Cowbell has passed within the last year. In March, the cyber insurance provider disclosed $20 million in Series A funding , led by Brewer Lane Ventures, to expand headcount and further invest in its continuous underwriting platform. Additionally, the company recently announced the insurance industry's first ever cyber risk exchange marketplace, Cowbell Rx , which enables businesses to gain access to recommended cybersecurity solutions and services, in order to meet the minimal criteria to get coverage. Cowbell Rx partners include major players within the cybersecurity industry such as Arctic Wolf, CrowdStrike, Cyberark, DarkOwl, and more. "It is more clear than ever that there is a growing need for comprehensive cyber insurance among businesses of all sizes," said Jack Kudale, Founder and CEO at Cowbell Cyber. "We are honored to receive this recognition as one of the few companies in this space that delivers coverages tailored to identified risk exposures in minutes and empowers policyholders to improve their cyber hygiene." Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights Intelligence Unit selected the Fintech 250 from a pool of over 17,000 companies. They were chosen based on several factors, including data submitted, company business models and momentum in the market, and Mosaic scores, CB Insights' proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. Cowbell's innovative solution brings unprecedented speed and accuracy to the cyber insurance policy process. This listing further reveals how the company is making a name for itself within the everchanging cyber insurance space, due to its rapid expansion and success. Fintech 250 2021: Investment Highlights Unicorns : 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above $1B as of their latest funding round Funding trends : In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised $40.3B in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21) Mega-rounds : Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year's Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD Global representation : 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by India (12). This year's winners are based in 26 countries, including France , Brazil , Germany , Indonesia , and Nigeria . Top VC investor : Ribbit Capital is the most active investor in this year's Fintech 250 companies, having invested in 62 deals since 2016. Since 2019, Ribbit has participated in 41 deals with this cohort of companies, including Nubank, Uala, Brex, Vouch, Razorpay, and BharatPe. Tiger Global Management and Accel were close behind with 57 and 55 deals, respectively. About CB Insights CB Insights builds software that enables the world's best companies to discover, understand, and make technology decisions with confidence. By marrying data, expert insights, and work management tools, clients manage their end-to-end technology decision-making process on CB Insights. To learn more, please visit www.cbinsights.com. About Cowbell Cyber Cowbell Cyber is dedicated to providing standalone, admitted individualized, and easy-to-understand cyber insurance for small and mid-size enterprises. In its unique AI-based approach to risk selection and pricing, Cowbell's continuous underwriting platform, powered by Cowbell Factors, compresses the insurance process from submission to issue to less than 5 minutes. Cowbell Insurance Agency is currently licensed in 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and provides SMEs with up to $5 Million in standalone coverage. For more information, please visit www.cowbell.insure . Media Contact John Kreuzer Lumina Communications for Cowbell Cyber [email protected] 408-963-6418 SOURCE Cowbell Cyber CALGARY, AB, Oct. 5, 2021 Canadian Pacific (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) will release its third-quarter 2021 financial and operating results at 7:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. MT) on Oct. 20, 2021. CP will discuss its results with the financial community in a conference call beginning at 8 a.m. ET (6 a.m. MT) on Oct. 20, 2021. Conference Call Access Toronto participants dial in number: 1-416-764-8688 Operator assisted toll free dial in number: 1-888-390-0546 Callers should dial in 10 minutes prior to the call. Webcast We encourage you to access the webcast and presentation material in the Investors section of CP's website at investor.cpr.ca A replay of the third-quarter conference call will be available by phone through to Oct. 27, 2021 at 416-764-8677 or toll free 1-888-390-0541, password 549569. About Canadian Pacific Canadian Pacific is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to major ports on the west and east coasts. CP provides North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of CP. CP-IR SOURCE Canadian Pacific Execs In The Know survey underscores the importance of investing in CX solutions; research finds a multi-channel approach is a must to meet consumers' support preferences CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), a global leader in business process management (BPM) and digital user experience solutions, shares its expertise as a contributor and exclusive sponsor of the Execs In The Know CX Leaders Trends and Insights: Consumer Edition 2021 report. The report, conducted by Execs In The Know, an executive think tank and global community of customer experience (CX) professionals, reveals how brands can optimize their customer care with digital and unassisted channels as expectations change. Key Findings: Digital and unassisted channels continue to rise as consumers look for quick and easy customer care, survey finds Tweet this Consumers want a quick and easy process to resolve issues. Only 10% of consumers said resolving their customer care issues has gotten easier in 2021, compared to an average of 34% over the past three years. Consumer's rank "Fair and Honest Treatment" (29%) and "Quick and Easy Process" (25%) as most important when dealing with customer care to resolve their issues. Only 10% of consumers said resolving their customer care issues has gotten easier in 2021, compared to an average of 34% over the past three years. Consumer's rank "Fair and Honest Treatment" (29%) and "Quick and Easy Process" (25%) as most important when dealing with customer care to resolve their issues. Digital and unassisted channel adoption continues to rise. In 2021, 64% of consumers used the phone to engage with customer support. Yet, consumers indicated a lower preference for voice (40%) and a higher combined preference for SMS-based support (39%) and self-help (15%) if they knew their issue was going to be resolved. In 2021, 64% of consumers used the phone to engage with customer support. Yet, consumers indicated a lower preference for voice (40%) and a higher combined preference for SMS-based support (39%) and self-help (15%) if they knew their issue was going to be resolved. Investments are still needed to address rising customer expectations. Today, consumers still rank improving the Customer Care Experience as the top opportunity where brands can improve at 53%. Creating better products and services top the list at 41% of consumers sharing where brands could most effectively improve the customer experience. "The survey results show that it's no longer enough to provide exceptional customer care through one channel or another," said Andrew Kokes, Senior Vice President, Global Head of Marketing, HGS. "Consumers now expect brands to anticipate their needs and proactively help them get the right answer fast. When one brand raises the bar on speed of service or ease of doing business, consumers immediately expect all companies to elevate to the same experience level. To maximize customer value, brands must think customer centric and make interactions faster and more frictionless for consumers. By leveraging technology to address customers most basic needs and intelligently integrating people when it adds value to an interaction, brands can take customer engagement to the next level." To read the full report with all the findings and HGS's commentary, please click here. About Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) A global leader in business process management (BPM) and optimizing the customer experience lifecycle, HGS is helping make its clients more competitive every day. HGS combines technology-powered services in automation, analytics and digital transformation, with deep domain expertise focusing on back-office processing, contact centers, traditional and digital people care, to deliver transformational impact to clients. Part of the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate Hinduja Group, HGS takes a true "globally local" approach, with 42,769 employees across 55 delivery centers in seven countries, making a difference to some of the world's leading brands across nine key verticals. For the year that ended 31st March 2021, HGS had revenues of US$ 753.9 million. Visit https://www.hgs.cx to learn how HGS can help make your business more competitive. About EXECS In The Know Execs In The Know brings together customer experience (CX) leaders from across industries in an effort to advance the conversation and set a new agenda for delivering amazing experiences for consumers. As a global community of the brightest minds in CX, Execs In The Know provides opportunities to learn, share, network, and engage to innovate. Operating under the motto of "Leaders Learning From Leaders," Execs In The Know facilitates many opportunities for community engagement such as their bi-annual national event, Customer Response Summit; virtual CX series, CustomerCONNECT; and private, online community, Know It All. There are also exclusive, laser-focused engagements like industry briefings, virtual luncheons, and executive roundtables. Execs In The Know also guides and informs the industry with a rich tapestry of CX-related content that includes CX Insight magazine, industry research, webinars, podcasts, blogs, and much more. SOURCE HGS LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dalan Animal Health, Inc., a biotech company developing vaccines for new age production animals, announced today it has closed funding for a $1.9 million seed round. This funding accelerates the company's development and commercial activities for the launch of a breakthrough honeybee vaccine targeting American Foulbrood, a highly contagious disease threatening beehives worldwide. The company recently completed safety and efficacy testing on its first product and will submit a license application for the conditional approval of the vaccine this fall. "It's very exciting to have strong support of our investors on this innovative vaccine. This is not only an innovation for animal health but an important step in saving bees and providing a more sustainable food supply" says Dalan's CEO Annette Kleiser. Dalan expects to raise a larger round of funding in 2022 to expand their commercial offering and further advance a pipeline of novel vaccines for other new production animals. About Dalan Animal Health, Inc Dalan Animal Health (www.dalan.com), a Delaware corporation, incorporated in December 2019 is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. The company is currently operating virtually, partnering with laboratories in Europe and the U.S. The company is planning to transition to a fully integrated company over the coming 18 months. Dalan will expand its product development to other underserved industries such as shrimp, mealworms and grasshoppers used in feed and food production. Up to 40% annual losses due to diseases are limiting growth across theses billion-dollar industries. Vaccines being developed by Dalan are a breakthrough for these industries. Dalan's strategic board of directors and investors include Neal Carter, President Okanagan Specialty Fruits, Linda Rhodes, Animal Health Executive and former founder of Aratana, Petteri Saarinen, CEO LEDiL Oy, Peter Brons-Poulsen, President Colgate Palmolive Europe, and Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan. Related Links https://www.dalan.com SOURCE Dalan Related Links https://www.dalan.com STILLWATER, Minn., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel Larsen, DC, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Trusted Doctor for his outstanding medical achievements and professional excellence at Rivertown Health & Wellness. Daniel Larsen, DC Having led a distinguished health career for 25 years, Dr. Larsen has garnered a commendable reputation as a leading authority on chronic pain. He is a well-respected Doctor of Chiropractic and has served Stillwater and the surrounding communities in Minnesota and Wisconsin at his private practice, Rivertown Health & Wellness, since 2004. An expert in all facets of his work, Dr. Larsen gets to the root cause of chronic conditions by using the newest technologies, including pulse electromagnetic field therapy, acoustic therapy, synaptic electronic therapy, laser technology, and oxygen therapy. He also works closely with metabolic programs. In light of his academic achievements, Dr. Larsen completed over 300 credits in engineering and pre-medical undergraduate studies, which qualified him for chiropractic school. He later received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from the Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas, TX, followed by advanced certifications from the Spine Institute of San Diego. Always striving for excellence, he took several classes at Harvard Medical School and is a Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Acupuncture. Dr. Larsen is a board-certified Naturopathic Physician in addition to being board-certified in Chronic Pain and Neuropathy. Dr. Larsen remains passionate about keeping up to date on new advances in Neurological and Rehabilitative Care. He maintains active member memberships with the Christian Chiropractic Association and the Colorado Chiropractic Association. An active member of his community, Dr. Larsen devotes his time as a volunteer with youth functions at Eaglebrook Church. When he is not in the clinic practicing healthcare, Dr. Larsen enjoys staying active by participating in various sporting activities, including boating, snowmobiling, and riding his motorcycle. Dr. Larsen dedicates this honorable recognition in loving memory of his father, John Larsen, MD; to his mother, Mrs. Marilyn Larsen, who urged him to enter chiropractic school; and his brother, Steve Larsen, for his support. To learn more, please visit https://www.rivertownhealth.com. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com DALLAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DataBank , a leading provider of enterprise-class colocation, connectivity, and managed services, announced the acquisition of 34 acres in Orangeburg, New York. The acreage will represent the future home of the New York City metro area's fifth data center and augment capacity to meet the accelerating demand for mission critical IT infrastructure in the densely-populated metro area. By purchasing the property, which includes a utility-owned substation capable of providing up to 45 MW of utility power, DataBank furthers its strategy of owning and controlling the real estate beneath its data centers, and accelerates the pace at which it can bring online new capacity. DataBank plans to construct a new 200,000 square foot data center with 150,000 square feet of raised flooring, offering 30 MW of critical power via five 6 MW data halls - and there is room on the campus to add future expansion facilities, including an additional substation. The New York City metropolitan area is the nation's leading center of growth for start-ups and venture capital in the tech industry, and the largest metropolitan region in the country. The region is home to the world's leading financial and trading institutions, countless technology and education assets and dozens of major federal research facilities. The new facility will be tethered to DataBank's highly interconnected sites in New York City's "Silicon Alley" neighborhood and New Jersey (60 Hudson St., 111 Eighth Ave. and 165 Halsey St.), providing robust metro, regional and long haul lit and dark fiber connectivity options. "The investment in this new campus responds to the New York City metro area's need for colocation, connectivity, and cloud services, solidifying its status as a prime location for enterprise-class data centers," comments Raul K. Martynek , DataBank's CEO. "With this acquisition, DataBank will bring to the nation's largest market both high-value IT operations jobs and the reliable IT infrastructure our customers need to create a limitless digital future for their business." "The site will be ideal for hyperscale-compute providers and web-scale content and application providers to expand workloads in the densely-populated metropolitan area," stated Stephen Callahan, SVP of Sales for DataBank. DataBank's edge infrastructure platform provides colocation, cloud and network services across its 60+ data centers, modular/micro data centers, and 20 neutral interconnects. The company's hands-on support, managed security and compliance services along with 100% uptime guarantee, provide an extra level of support and reliability for enterprises. For more information about DataBank's data centers, please visit https://www.databank.com/data-centers/ or call 800-840-7533. About DataBank DataBank enables the world's largest enterprises, technology, and content providers to consistently deploy and manage their infrastructure, applications and data on the right platform, at the right time, in the right place. Our colocation and edge infrastructure footprint consists of 60+ data centers and 20 interconnection hubs in 29 markets, on-ramps to an ecosystem of cloud providers, and a modular edge data center platform with virtually unlimited reach. We combine these platforms with contract portability, managed security, compliance enablement, hands-on support, and a guarantee of 100% uptime availability, to give our customers absolute confidence in their IT infrastructure and the power to create a limitless digital future for their business. SOURCE DataBank Related Links www.databank.com ROUND ROCK, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VMworld -- News summary Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud offers powerful, simplified multi-cloud experience Dell EMC ObjectScale software uses Kubernetes to reduce object storage costs and speeds application innovation Dell Technologies Validated Design for AI, jointly engineered with VMware and NVIDIA, helps enterprises get the most from data insights Full story Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces new cloud and IT offerings, co-engineered with VMware, to speed how organizations consume, manage and act on critical data. "Organizations are increasingly relying on multiple clouds and other emerging technologies to remain competitive in today's demanding business climate, with more than 90% of enterprises expected to rely on a mix of private clouds, various public clouds and existing infrastructure within the next year," said Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager of Dell Technologies Infrastructure Solutions Group. "Today's announcement reinforces the value Dell and VMware offer together and further demonstrates our commitment to delivering technologies that simplify how organizations can use technology to capitalize on a data-driven, always-on economy regardless of where applications and data reside." APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud helps customers simplify their multi-cloud journey Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud provides secure and consistent operations across multi-cloud environments. The new Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering gives organizations the ability to move workloads across multiple cloud environments and scale resources quickly with predictable pricing and transparent costs. To help organizations safeguard their data and avoid potential threats to their business, the dell-managed offering assists organizations to meet local regulatory requirements and helps protect them from malicious attacks with built-in cyber resiliency. Built on infrastructure that delivers 99.9999% availability1 and offers a time-to-value for the initial deployment in as few as 14 days. Using the APEX Console, organizations can subscribe to, monitor and optimize the service. For many common workloads, Dell has preconfigured cloud instances, making it easier for customers to get started. Organizations can deploy APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud in their datacenter, at an edge location or co-location facility with partners such as Equinix. "APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud is a compelling offering that will make it easier for organizations to quickly deploy application ready infrastructure," said Steven Kouvo, Core Technology Service Group for Boston Scientific. The offering can be used with VMware Tanzu, allowing customers to build, test and run cloud-native applications alongside traditional applications. Customers can migrate workloads across multiple clouds with VMware HCX, included in the service, which eliminates the need to re-architect applications for different cloud environments. "As customers digitize their businesses with both enterprise and modern apps, they expect their infrastructure to deliver cloud-like simplicity regardless of where it runs," said Mark Lohmeyer, senior vice president and general manager, Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, VMware. "Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud helps customers achieve cloud simplicity and enterprise-class security and operations. The service brings the power of co-engineering between Dell Technologies and VMware to help customers adopt more agile and flexible cloud infrastructure to drive better business outcomes." ObjectScale software speeds innovation and drives down costs Dell EMC ObjectScale software allows organizations to run next-generation, Amazon S3-compatible object storage alongside virtual machines, helping lower development costs and drive application innovation. Dell Technologies and VMware bring Kubernetes-native, software-defined object storage to VMware vSphere with Tanzu and the vSAN Data Persistence Platform. By providing developers with self-service storage in a private cloud operating model, ObjectScale helps IT manage and scale with ease using familiar VMware tools. ObjectScale also extends the reach of Dell EMC VxRail to power modern workloads such as AI, analytics and cloud-native applications that require S3. When coupled with VxRail, the ObjectScale software allows IT staff to apply their existing skills with VMware tools to support the cloud-native storage modern applications require. Customers gain the benefit of a jointly engineered solution set between VMware, VxRail and ObjectScale to speed digital transformation. "As an ObjectScale Early Access program participant, we are confident our customers will value the ability to deploy rich, S3-compatible, software-defined object storage wherever they need it, directly from the VMware vCenter interface," said Carl D'Halluin, chief technology officer at Datadobi. "Our solutions DobiMigrate and DobiProtect enhance ObjectScale with powerful migration and protection capabilities to simplify, automate, and protect customer's most important asset - their data." Validated Design for AI applies artificial intelligence to virtualized environments Dell Technologies Validated Design for AI delivers the next generation of AI-powered applications like modeling and allows IT professionals to apply a consistent approach to AI in virtualized environments. Using the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software suite running on NVIDIA-Certified Systems, this industry-first offering between Dell, VMware and NVIDIA delivers an AI-Ready Enterprise Platform. Dell Technologies Validated Designs allow organizations to quickly and easily apply AI to data speeding configuration and integration by up to 20%2. The validated design is available on Dell EMC VxRail, PowerScale and PowerSwitch. "Making AI accessible to enterprises requires an optimized, full-stack solution that integrates seamlessly with the infrastructure and ecosystems IT teams use every day," said Manuvir Das, head of Enterprise Computing at NVIDIA. "Dell Technologies Validated Design for AI brings together the leading technologies of NVIDIA, VMware and Dell. It enables enterprises to run demanding AI workloads across hybrid clouds, using familiar VMware management and automation tools." The latest offerings build on Dell's announcement of Dell EMC SmartFabric Storage Software. Speeding the transition to next generation IT Infrastructure, SmartFabric Storage Software will allow organizations transition to high-performance, low latency and cost-effective IP-based storage area networks. Additional resources Availability Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud is currently in private preview, with planned availability in the United States , UK, France and Germany by the end of Dell's fiscal year , UK, and by the end of Dell's fiscal year Dell Technologies Validated Design for AI is now available globally Dell EMC ObjectScale will be globally available in Q4 of 2021 About Dell Technologies Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry's broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era. Copyright 2021 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC and Dell EMC are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners. VMware, vSphere, and Tanzu are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. 1 Based on VxRail field performance at the node level over 8 consecutive quarters. Actual results will vary 2 Forrester, The Total Economic Impact Of Dell EMC Ready Solutions For HPC, April 2020 SOURCE Dell Technologies Related Links http://www.delltechnologies.com CANTON, Ohio, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital marketing experts estimate that the average person encounters up to as many as 10,000 ads every single day. The daily bombardment has increased some twenty times from an estimated 500 ads per day in the 1970s. Real estate agents and brokers, in particular, are inundated with technology ads. Fueled by the Venture Capital investment in ProTech firms, tens of billions of dollars are flowing into the real estate space. Delta Media cuts through tech ad clutter with new "Delta Fresh" campaign "The competition for attention has never been greater," said Aaron Geh, head of digital marketing at Delta Media Group, one of the largest real estate marketing technology providers. "As a tech company, you have to think outside the box to break through the massive ad clutter," he added. Geh, who has spent more than two decades managing tech-based marketing programs, worked with the WAV Group to develop a novel way to stand out from conventional tech advertising. Technology ads, he notes, "All look pretty much the same." To focus on establishing the Delta Media brand and differentiation, Geh said, "We got rid of the technology in our technology ads." The new "Delta Fresh" ad campaign debuts in the September issue of Real Estate Marketing & Technology magazine. Published by Delta, the print version of Real Estate Marketing & Technology magazine is distributed directly to 5,000 of the top real estate brokerages across America. In addition, the online version reaches an estimated 10,000 additional real estate professionals. "Core to the Delta Media brand is to be different, and that means striving to be the best at everything we do," Geh said. "Our new ad campaign uses powerful images to communicate our differentiation as the best, or 'Delta Fresh,' versus settling for something less, as in 'Almost Fresh," he added. "The focus is not on the technology, but what the technology does." Delta Fresh vs. Almost Fresh Ads Delta Media is renowned for providing brokerage clients with the best data updated in real-time whenever possible directly from the local MLS or Multiple Listing Service. The new ads convey that Delta delivers the "fastest, freshest data there is," with the alternative being less or "Almost Fresh." Based on this theme, Delta's product and service offerings are individually featured, including Websites, CRM, SEO, email marketing, showing software (introducing its new Local Showings by Delta Media), and general marketing. Images used in the unique ads include pizza, sneakers, roses, bananas, burgers, shirts, apples, salads, and pasta. Sample headlines include "How Fresh is Your Data?," "Does Your Website Need a Fresh Look?," "How Fresh is Your SEO?," "How Fresh is your Showing Software?," and more. View the first ad online in Real Estate Marketing & Technology magazine's October issue. Additional samples can be viewed here. More information about Delta Media and its new Local Showings offering is at deltamediagroup.com and localshowings.com. About Delta Media Group Delta Media Group, Inc., located in Canton, Ohio, is a leading and trusted technology partner for many top real estate brands. Creator of DeltaNET 6 and the new Local Showings app and platform, Delta offers real estate's most advanced all-in-one digital marketing, CRM, back office, and website platform. Delta Media Group is real estate's only family-owned and operated technology innovator with no outside investors or VC funding. Delta Media Group is renowned for saving clients money while reducing the frustration of managing multiple online technologies. Established in 1994, Delta Media Group remains a top real estate technology innovator. Discover more at deltamediagroup.com. Media contacts: Kevin Hawkins (206) 866-1220 [email protected] SOURCE Delta Media Group "We are very excited to be launching the full SonoranShine propylene glycol free product line," said John Ritchie, President of Desert Botanicals. Ritchie continued, "Our products have always been paraben-free and cruelty free, but we became aware of a growing number of consumers finding themselves allergic to propylene glycol with limited hair care alternatives and wanted to address their needs. Our technical team was able to develop a portfolio of products that not only avoid using those undesirable chemicals but also provide customers with a look and feel that exceeds the performance of many of the best products currently available in the marketplace." In conclusion Ritchie added, "Since our products are all formulated and manufactured right here in Arizona, the Arizona Ultimate Women's Expo is the perfect place to inaugurate our first complete product line." Desert Botanicals will be exhibiting at the expo in booth #525 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Erika Hayward of the Arizona Ultimate Women's Expo added, "We're very excited to have Desert Botanicals not only attend our show but launch their new hair care line with us. We're lucky to have companies like Desert Botanicals that bring innovative, natural and socially responsible products to sell and promote at our show. It's going to be a great show because we have celebrities Cynthia Bailey, Mario Lopez and Mercedes Javid coming. Plus, attendance is going to be high because people in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas have shown they are enthusiastic to get back to life as normal and have fun with friends and family." For more information about Sonoranshine products visit: www.dbotanicals.com/products Desert Botanicals' has a blog posting regarding propylene glycol allergy that can be found here: www.dbotanicals.com/blog Details about the upcoming Arizona Ultimate Women's Expo can be found at: www.azwomensexpo.com About Desert Botanicals Founded in Arizona in 2019, Desert Botanicals is committed to socially responsible development of the highest quality and performance hair care products. By reflecting the incredible capabilities of botanicals found in the Sonoran Desert and similar geographies, Desert Botanicals leads the hair care industry in taking a new direction. Desert Botanicals' Mission Statement includes three key aspects. The first is to create the finest hair care products by carefully balancing nature, nutrition and technology. Second, to incorporate and reflect the spirit of Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. And finally, to always assist areas of need in our community. We're committed to socially responsible development and production of our products. That's why everything we do is Cruelty Free, Paraben free, Recyclable and Benefits our Community. www.dbotanicals.com Media Inquiries: [email protected] SOURCE Desert Botanicals Related Links https://www.dbotanicals.com UN global fund for education in emergencies has reached more than 4.6 million children and adolescents Tweet this ECW's COVID-19 education in emergency response also helped an additional 29.2 million vulnerable girls and boys and 310,000 teachers living in crises and emergency settings. This included support to distance-learning solutions and various integrated messages and products to ensure continuing education and protect the health and wellbeing of children, teachers and their communities through the pandemic. Despite these achievements, ECW's report underlines that COVID-19 acted as a risk-multiplier, not only creating new challenges but also amplifying existing risks for the most vulnerable groups, particularly girls and children and adolescents with disabilities. "For millions of marginalized children and adolescents already caught in armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change-induced disasters and protracted crises, COVID-19 hit as a 'crisis within an already ongoing crisis'," said UN Special Envoy for Global Education, The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown. "An entire generation in emergencies and protracted crisis faces irreversible loss. Among them, an estimated 20 million displaced girls, particularly adolescent girls, are at risk. The Annual Results Report 2020 is a living testimony of how we can resist the threats and stand greater chances of winning the human race. World leaders must step up and ensure adequate financing for education dedicated to all girls, children and adolescents support by our collective mission." The COVID-19 pandemic brought the importance of education to the fore. Today more than ever, education is the key to unlocking opportunity for the next generation: it kick-starts economic recovery, innovation, and climate action, and provides a safety net and lifeline for children and adolescents living in crisis-affected areas. At the same time, the pandemic also negatively affected both overseas development assistance (ODA) and humanitarian funding for education. Some donor countries have already started shifting their budgets away from aid to domestic priorities. Meanwhile funding requirements for education in humanitarian appeals have significantly increased from $1 billion in 2019 to $1.4 billion in 2020 further widening the funding gap for the sector. "COVID-19 has compounded the effects of armed conflict, instability, climate-related disasters and forced displacement from Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, to the Sahel, Ethiopia and Venezuela to name but a few of the crises where ECW is working with partners to fulfill the right of every girl and boy to a safe, quality education," said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait. "We can win the human race provided that we are ready to invest in it and ensure that these children and adolescents access an inclusive 12 years of quality education. This is an investment in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, an investment in peace, an investment in our future, and an investment in our universal human rights and our shared humanity." Key Trends While nearly all children worldwide have been affected by school closures due to COVID-19, those living in the poorest countries have been disproportionately so, according to the report. Since March 2020, schools in crisis-affected countries where ECW prioritizes its investments to ensure that no child is left behind have closed for an average of 32 days more than in other countries. Students in South Sudan, for example, lost 16% of their schooling over a lifetime, compared to 3% for students in countries of Europe and Central Asia. The ECW report shows that this learning loss will only aggravate the pre-pandemic rate of learning inequalities, particularly affecting the 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries who, by the age of 10, cannot read or understand a simple text. Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, the report also underscores multiplying risks for crisis-impacted children and adolescents. The global climate crisis is having a significant impact on the well-being and educational opportunities of children and adolescents, with weather-related hazards such as storms and floods, displacing over 30 million people in 2020. With scientific consensus that extreme weather events will increase in severity and frequency, even more children will be put at risk. In times of disaster, children usually account for almost half of those affected. Globally, more than a half-billion children live in areas with an extremely high flood rate and 160 million live in high or extremely high drought severity zones. Forced displacement of people, including children, due to conflicts increased significantly in 2020, with ten countries producing three-quarters of the world's refugees. In addition, there were 40.5 million new internal displacements in 2020 connected in part to conflict, climate change, poverty and insecurity the highest number on record. Schools continue to be targeted in attacks. Between 2017 and 2019, there were more than 11,000 reported attacks on schools, universities, students and education personnel. A call to action Since its inception in 2016, ECW has mobilized US$828.3 million through the ECW Trust Fund, and helped leverage with its partners US$1 billion worth of programmes aligned with ECW's Multi-Year Resilience Programmes in 10 countries. "Working together with our partners, the scope of our collective achievements is unequivocal: less than 5 years into existence, ECW has demonstrated its proof of concept through concrete results. I call on world leaders, the private sector and our global community to urgently and generously support Education Cannot Wait in reaching the millions of children that are at risk of falling through the cracks," said Sherif. #ECWResults Total reach : ECW's investments in holistic education programmes for crisis-affected girls and boys have reached 4.6 million children and adolescents (48% of whom are girls), with a focus on those left furthest behind: refugees (38%), internally displaced children (16.4%), and of host community children and adolescents and other vulnerable populations (45.6%). In addition, shorter and more targeted COVID-19 interventions aimed at continuing education and keeping children and adolescents safe from the pandemic reached a total of 29.2 million girls and boys in 2020 alone. : ECW's investments in holistic education programmes for crisis-affected girls and boys have reached 4.6 million children and adolescents (48% of whom are girls), with a focus on those left furthest behind: refugees (38%), internally displaced children (16.4%), and of host community children and adolescents and other vulnerable populations (45.6%). In addition, shorter and more targeted COVID-19 interventions aimed at continuing education and keeping children and adolescents safe from the pandemic reached a total of 29.2 million girls and boys in 2020 alone. Increased access to education: 96% of ECW-supported programmes increased access to education for crisis-affected children and adolescents. In Uganda , for example, the gross enrolment ratio of refugee children grew steadily from 72% in 2017 to 79% in 2020. 96% of ECW-supported programmes increased access to education for crisis-affected children and adolescents. In , for example, the gross enrolment ratio of refugee children grew steadily from 72% in 2017 to 79% in 2020. Strengthening equity and gender equality. 94% of ECW-supported programmes show improvement in gender parity in access to education. Girls represent 48% of all children reached through ECW's investments since inception, and 40% of teachers recruited or financially supported through ECW's funding in 2020 are women. The percentage of children with disabilities reached grew from 0.2% since inception to 1.3% in 2020 across ECW's programme portfolio. 94% of ECW-supported programmes show improvement in gender parity in access to education. Girls represent 48% of all children reached through ECW's investments since inception, and 40% of teachers recruited or financially supported through ECW's funding in 2020 are women. The percentage of children with disabilities reached grew from 0.2% since inception to 1.3% in 2020 across ECW's programme portfolio. Increased continuity and sustainability of education: By the end of 2020, ECW had cumulatively reached some 275,000 children (51% girls) with early-childhood or pre-primary education interventions since its inception. The share of children reached with secondary education across ECW's programme portfolio increased from 9% in 2019 to 13% in 2020. By the end of 2020, ECW had cumulatively reached some 275,000 children (51% girls) with early-childhood or pre-primary education interventions since its inception. The share of children reached with secondary education across ECW's programme portfolio increased from 9% in 2019 to 13% in 2020. Improved learning and skills: Since ECW's inception nearly 70,000 teachers (48% female) have been trained through regular non-COVID-19 programming. A total of 2.6 million teaching and learning materials were provided to children and adolescents (47% to girls). Learning outcome measurement has also expanded to an increasing number of ECW grants. Since ECW's inception nearly 70,000 teachers (48% female) have been trained through regular non-COVID-19 programming. A total of 2.6 million teaching and learning materials were provided to children and adolescents (47% to girls). Learning outcome measurement has also expanded to an increasing number of ECW grants. Safe and protective learning environment: In 2020, ECW's partners increased access to water and sanitation facilities in 2,225 learning spaces and provided some 3,100 children with safe transportation mechanisms to and from school. In 2020 remote mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions for children, teachers, and caregivers were undertaken, and more than 19,500 teachers (54% female) were trained on MHPSS. ECW investments supported children with school feeding programmes in Chad , the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sahel region. For additional information and to access the full report: About Education Cannot Wait (ECW): Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. We support quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind. ECW works through the multilateral system to both increase the speed of responses in crises and connect immediate relief and longer-term interventions through multi-year programming. ECW works in close partnership with governments, public and private donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and other humanitarian and development aid actors to increase efficiencies and end siloed responses. ECW urgently appeals to public and private sector donors for expanded support to reach even more vulnerable children and adolescents. ECW is administered under UNICEF's financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations; operations are run by the Fund's own independent governance structure. On Twitter, please follow: @EduCannotWait @YasmineSherif1 @KentPage Additional information available at: www.educationcannotwait.org SOURCE Education Cannot Wait Related Links http://www.educationcannotwait.org MIDDLETOWN, R.I., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Embrace Home Loans, a top-ranked mortgage lender, has opened a 5000 square foot office in Arden Hills, Minnesota. The office launched with 10 employees and has space to add 15 to 20 more. The office houses a sales team dedicated to supporting Embrace's Ameriprise Financial business. In May 2020, Embrace announced a partnership with Ameriprise Financial to provide Ameriprise's wealth management advisors and clients with mortgage financing and services. Mike Kohn, team leader with Embrace's Financial Institutions Group, is heading the new branch. Kohn joined Embrace Home Loans earlier this year after 20 years with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Minneapolis and Wisconsin. "The Twin Cities area has many experienced mortgage industry professionals," Kohn said. "I've worked with many of them throughout my career and am excited at the prospect of working with some of them again as we build a solid team of loan officers to meet the home financing needs of the folks in Minnesota." Kevin Bjork, alliance development manager and vice president with Embrace's Financial Institutions Group, oversees the Ameriprise relationship for Embrace in Arden Hills and in other locations. "We're excited to expand in the Twin Cities area," Bjork said. "We expect to grow our business here even more and will likely be adding a few more people before the end of the year." Bjork is a 25-year mortgage industry veteran with a background in capital markets, correspondent-wholesale lending, as well as building relationships and partnerships with financial services companies. He spent the bulk of his career with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in senior positions, including heading Well's Fargo's joint venture partnerships. "The greater Minneapolis-Saint Paul area has a thriving housing market with a strong talent base of mortgage professionals," Bjork said. "This new office fits in with our expansion plans across the country as we continue to grow." The new office is located at 6 Pine Tree Dr, Suite 100, Arden 55112. To view and apply for available opportunities, please visit Embrace's careers site. About Embrace Home Loans Founded in 1983, Embrace Home Loans is a prominent mortgage lender that provides borrowers and financial institutions with an exceptional mortgage experience. Licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Embrace has been recognized seven times as one of the Best Medium-sized Companies to Work for in America by Fortune and five times by Inc. The company has also been recognized fourteen times as one of the Best Places to Work in Rhode Island, as the Most Community Involved Company in Rhode Island, and with the Leadership Excellence Award by Providence Business News. The company is based in Middletown, Rhode Island. For more information, please visit www.embracehomeloans.com. PRESS CONTACTS: Henry Drennan Strategic Vantage Marketing and Public Relations (615) 497-8358 [email protected] Mary McGarity Strategic Vantage Marketing and Public Relations (203)260-5476 [email protected] SOURCE Embrace Home Loans Related Links http://www.embracehomeloans.com ROME, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ENEL Finance International N.V. ("ENEL" or the "Company"), a Dutch subsidiary of ENEL Societa per Azioni, a joint stock corporation incorporated in Italy (the "Guarantor"), today announces that, in connection with its previously announced cash tender offers (collectively, the "Offers") for up to $1,500,000,000 combined aggregate principal amount (the "Original Maximum Tender Amount") of the debt securities listed in the table below (collectively, the "Securities") from each registered holder of Securities (individually, a "Holder," and collectively, the "Holders"), approximately $2.20 billion in combined aggregate principal amount of Securities was validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 4, 2021 (the "Early Tender Deadline"), in the aggregate amounts as shown in the table below. The Company also today announces it has amended the Offers to decrease the previously announced Original Maximum Tender Amount from $1,500,000,000 to $1,471,703,000 of the Securities validly tendered and not validly withdrawn by the Early Tender Deadline (the "Amended Maximum Tender Amount"), being the combined aggregate principal amounts tendered across its 4.875% Notes due 2029 and 3.625% Notes due 2027, and given the significant proration that would have been implemented in respect of 3.500% Notes due 2028. The Company will therefore accept all tenders from Acceptance Priority Levels 1 and 2, with no proration, and will not repurchase notes tendered under Acceptance Priority Level 3, per the table below. The Company also announces that the Financing Condition has been satisfied in respect of the Offers. The terms and conditions of the Offers are described in the Offer to Purchase and remain unchanged except as amended hereby. The following table sets forth certain information regarding the Securities and the Offers: Title of Security CUSIP/ISIN (144A)/ CUSIP/ISIN (Reg S) Principal Amount Outstanding Prior to the Offers Acceptance Priority Level Aggregate Principal Amount Tendered(1) Aggregate Principal Amount Expected to be Accepted for Purchase 4.875% Notes due 2029 29278GAK4/ US29278GAK40 /N30707AL2/ USN30707AL22 $1,250,000,000 1 $445,330,000 $445,330,000 3.625% Notes due 2027 29278GAA6/ US29278GAA67/ N30707AC2/ USN30707AC23 $2,000,000,000 2 $1,026,373,000 $1,026,373,000 3.500% Notes due 2028 29278GAF5/ US29278GAF54/ N30707AG3/ USN30707AG37 $1,250,000,000 3 $732,891,000 -- ________________ (1) As of the Early Tender Deadline. Subject to the Amended Maximum Tender Amount, the Offers and order of priority (the "Acceptance Priority Levels") set forth in the table above are as described in the Offer to Purchase, dated September 21, 2021, as amended or supplemented (the "Offer to Purchase"). Any Securities validly tendered and not withdrawn by the Early Tender Deadline that are not accepted for purchase will be promptly credited to the account of the Holder of such Securities maintained at The Depository Trust Company and otherwise returned in accordance with the Offer to Purchase. The determination of the Total Consideration (as defined in the Offer to Purchase) will occur at 10:00 a.m., New York City time, on October 5, 2021. The early settlement date is expected to occur on October 6, 2021 (the "Early Settlement Date"). Although the Offers are scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on October 19, 2021, because the principal amount of Securities validly tendered and not validly withdrawn by the Early Tender Deadline exceeded the Amended Maximum Tender Amount, the Company does not expect to accept for purchase any tenders of Securities after the Early Tender Deadline. Any Securities tendered after the Early Tender Deadline will be promptly credited to the account of the Holder of such Securities maintained at The Depository Trust Company and otherwise returned in accordance with the Offer to Purchase. Holders of Securities validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or prior to the Early Tender Deadline and accepted for purchase by the Company will be eligible to receive the Total Consideration (as defined in the Offer to Purchase), which includes an early tender premium of $30.00 per $1,000 principal amount of Securities validly tendered and not validly withdrawn by such Holders and accepted for purchase by the Company. All payments for Securities purchased in connection with the Early Tender Deadline will also include accrued and unpaid interest on the principal amount of Securities purchased from the last interest payment date applicable to the relevant series of Securities up to, but not including, the Early Settlement Date. In accordance with the terms of the Offers, the Withdrawal Deadline was 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 4, 2021. As a result, tendered Securities may not be withdrawn, except in certain limited circumstances where additional withdrawal rights are required by law (as determined by the Company). Information Relating to the Offers Barclays Capital Inc., BofA Securities Europe SA, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, HSBC Bank plc, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are acting as the dealer managers for the Offers (collectively, the "Dealer Managers"). The information agent and tender agent for the Offers is D.F. King & Co., Inc.. Copies of the Offer to Purchase and related offering materials are available by contacting D.F. King & Co., Inc. by telephone at (866) 856-3065 (toll-free) or (212) 269-5550 (banks and brokers), by email at [email protected]. Questions regarding the Offers should be directed to Barclays Capital Inc., at (212) 528-7581 (collect) and (800) 438-3242 (toll free); BofA Securities Europe SA, at (980) 387-3907, (888) 292-0070 (toll free) or +33 1 877 01057 (Europe); BNP Paribas Securities Corp., at [email protected]; Citigroup Global Market Limited, at (212) 723-6106 (collect), (800) 558 3745 (toll free) or +44 20 798 68969 (Europe); Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE at, +33 1-42-12-15-47 (Europe); HSBC Bank plc, at (212) 525-5552 (collect), (888) HSBC-4LM (toll free) or +44 20 7992 6237 (Europe); J.P. Morgan, Liability Management Group, at (212) 834-3424 (collect) and (866) 834-4666 (toll-free) or +44 207 134 2468 (Europe); or Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, at (212) 761-1057 and (800) 624-1808 (toll free). This press release is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell with respect to any securities. The solicitation of offers to sell the Securities is only being made pursuant to the terms of the Offer to Purchase. The Offers are not being made in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. None of ENEL or its affiliates, their respective boards of directors or similar governing bodies, the Dealer Managers, the information and tender agent or the applicable trustee is making any recommendation as to whether or not Holders should tender their Securities in connection with the Offers, and neither ENEL nor any other person has authorized any person to make any such recommendation. About ENEL Societa per Azioni Enel S.p.A. is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the world's power and gas markets, with a particular focus on Europe and South America. It manages a highly diverse network of power plants: hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear, geothermal, wind, solar and other renewable sources. Press releases and financial information of ENEL/ENEL S.p.A. are available at www.enel.com. Forward-looking Statements The Company and its representatives may from time to time make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in this press release. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "plan," "expect," "target," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "forecast," "projected," "guidance," "outlook," "looking ahead," and other words of similar meaning. All statements that address our future operating performance or events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. ENEL Finance International N.V. SOURCE ENEL Finance International N.V. HOUSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Safespill, a leader in environmentally safe fire protection systems, today announced that the company's core technology the Safespill flooring system, also known as an ignitable liquid drainage floor assembly will be added to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 409, the industry's Standard on Aircraft Hangars, 2022 Edition as an equivalent to traditional foam-based systems in hangars. For the first time in more than 30 years, military and airport operators now have a new, environmentally friendly option for hangars at risk of liquid fuel fires. Until now, the industry has relied on two fire suppression systems aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) and high expansion foam (HEF). AFFF, while providing effective fire suppression, contains PFAS chemicals proven to be dangerous to the environment and human health, and a source of drinking water contamination at military bases and in communities nationwide. Additionally, HEF poses significant risks, damaging aircraft and creating unsafe situations for personnel during accidental discharges, which engulf hangars with large quantities of foam. The NFPA 409 Technical Committee voted in July 2021 to add Ignitable Liquid Drainage Floor Assemblies (ILDFAs) to the standard following years of fire tests, including performance demonstrations at Safespill's test facility in Houston, TX. In the ILDFA's basics, it is a hollow aluminum extruded floor with a perforated top surface and underlying channels, connected to a trench system to remove any spilled liquid to an acceptable location (i.e., oil/water separator, containment system, or as directed by the local authority). If a spill is ignited, the ILDFA will rapidly control and extinguish the flammable or combustible liquid fire. "It's our mission to transition the world to environmentally safe fire protection," notes Safespill founder and CEO Tristan Mackintosh. "We have been on a journey to introduce our new approach to aircraft hangar fire protection to the NFPA 409 committee and the public as well. Now that Safespill's system will be included as an option in the NFPA standard, airport and hangar operators now have an environmentally safe alternative to the chemical-based systems they have been required to use for the past 60 years." In a recent article by John Frank, leader of AXA XL Insurance's Loss Prevention Center of Excellence and a member of the NFPA 409 Technical Committee, he describes the new ILDFA system. Compared to foam-based fire suppression systems, Frank notes, "The ILDFA technology eliminates all concerns about engulfment while delivering equal or better fire suppression performance. This is a multi-win technology that meets the needs of hangar operators, aircraft owners, insurers of all types, and local authorities." Frank adds, "If you are considering building a new hangar and the NFPA agrees to adopt this new technology [now adopted] the ILDFA should be your first consideration. It solves everyone's concerns." About Safespill Based in Houston, Texas, Safespill Systems, LLC was founded in 2013 and developed its ignitable liquid drainage floor assembly after many years of R&D and fire testing. The company earned the coveted FM Approval mark in 2017 following rigorous fire and materials testing. It earned a second FM Approval in 2020 for larger floor areas, such as those used in aircraft hangars and distribution centers. The company is dedicated to transitioning the world to environmentally safe fire protection. To learn more about Safespill, please visit safespill.com. To view PFAS (the family of chemicals used to make AFFF) contamination in the U.S., visit this interactive map or safespill.com/esg-sustainability/ for more. Contact: Ashley Andruss [email protected] Follow Us: LinkedIn SOURCE Safespill Related Links https://safespill.com/ SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Extra Space Storage Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: EXR) announced today it will release financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 after the market closes. The Company will host a conference call at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 28, 2021 to discuss its financial results. Hosting the call will be Extra Space Storage's CEO, Joe Margolis. Joining him will be Scott Stubbs, Executive Vice President and CFO. During the conference call, company officers will review operating performance, discuss recent events, and conduct a question-and-answer period. The question-and-answer period will be limited to registered financial analysts. All other participants will have listen-only capability. To Participate in the Telephone Conference Call: Dial in at least five minutes prior to start time. Domestic: 855-791-2026 International: 631-485-4899 Conference ID: 3194845 Conference Call Playback: Domestic: 855-859-2056 International: 404-537-3406 Conference ID: 3194845 The playback can be accessed beginning on October 28, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET through November 4, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The conference call will also be available on the Company's website under Investor Relations at www.extraspace.com. To listen to a live broadcast, go to the site at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will also be available for 30 days on the Company's website. Full Text of the Earnings Report and Supplemental Data The full text of the earnings report and supplemental data will be available at the Company's website at http://ir.extraspace.com immediately following the earnings release to the wire services after the market close on Wednesday, October 27, 2021. For those without Internet access, the earnings release will be available by mail or fax, on request. To receive a copy, please call Extra Space Storage Investor Relations at (801) 365-1759. About Extra Space Storage Inc. Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, and a member of the S&P 500. As of June 30, 2021, the Company owned and/or operated 1,973 self-storage properties, which comprise approximately 1.4 million units and approximately 152.6 million square feet of rentable storage space offering customers conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. The Company is the second largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the United States. For more information, please visit www.extraspace.com. SOURCE Extra Space Storage Inc. This event is part of the 2021 California Commitment Tour, an initiative launched by Farmer John in 2020 to feed, celebrate and serve the greater Los Angeles area. To support California residents and the neighborhoods where they live, the brand has taken its food truck on the road once again this year, embarking on a 12-week mission to deliver grab-and-go lunches to local heroes and essential businesses, spotlight hometown heroes and provide protein to local food banks. With this donation, Farmer John has provided nearly one million servings of protein to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank within the last two years. "As a member of the Southern California community for more than 90 years, it's been an honor to show our commitment to Californians through year two of our California Commitment Tour. For us, it goes beyond just feeding people. It means supporting neighbors and working together to make a better California for everyone," said Michael Merritt, senior director of brand marketing for Farmer John at Smithfield Foods. "Knowing the challenges that have arisen for so many over the last year and a half, it was important that we continue to support the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank through this donation. We are always humbled by their organization's hard work and dedication to serving Los Angeles County, and our hope is that this contribution helps deliver the much-needed protein that the community needs." "We are happy to have Farmer John's support again this year as many are still recovering from the economic fallout caused by the pandemic," said Michael Flood, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. "Protein items are expensive and are commonly requested by our Partner Agencies throughout LA County, and this will make a big difference in their lives and the lives of their families." "It's an honor to be a part of this event to meet and serve delicious meals to the staff at the L.A. Regional Food Bank," said Max Bretos, LAFC broadcaster. "There's no denying that it's been a challenging year and a half, and we hope that by being here today, we can bring smiles to their faces and really show our appreciation for all of the hard work that they continue to do day in and day out for our community." In a typical month before the pandemic, the Food Bank provided sustenance to 300,000 adults, seniors and children through its network and distribution programs. The number is now estimated to be at roughly 900,000 people served over the course of a month triple the amount before the pandemic. This donation will provide valuable center of the plate nourishment to those in need and help the Food Bank maintain their current high volume of food distribution. For more information and to see where the Farmer John California Commitment Tour goes next, follow us on Facebook (@FarmerJohn), Instagram (@FarmerJohnLA) or Twitter (@FarmerJohnLA). About Farmer John Based in California since 1931, Farmer John has pioneered a revolution in the supply of local flavorful meats. The journey began with Irish-American brothers Francis and Bernard Clougherty curing and selling pork bellies and smoked hams to local grocery stores and continues today with staples like breakfast sausage and hot dogs. This longstanding Southern California brand remains committed to crafting the highest quality meats full of freshness and flavor. For more information on our products and recipe inspiration, please visit www.farmerjohn.com or follow us on Facebook (@FarmerJohn), Instagram (@FarmerJohnLA) or Twitter (@FarmerJohnLA). Farmer John is a brand of Smithfield Foods. About Smithfield Foods, Inc. Headquartered in Smithfield, Va. since 1936, Smithfield Foods, Inc. is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. Our 63,000 team members are dedicated to producing "Good food. Responsibly." and have made Smithfield one of the world's leading vertically integrated protein companies. We have pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including our industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30 percent across our entire U.S. value chain by 2030. We believe in the power of protein to end food insecurity and have donated hundreds of millions of food servings to our communities. Smithfield boasts a portfolio of high-quality iconic brands, such as Smithfield, Eckrich and Nathan's Famous, among many others. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. About Los Angeles Regional Food Bank The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has been mobilizing resources to fight hunger in Los Angeles County since 1973. To support the Food Bank's vision that no one goes hungry in Los Angeles County, food and grocery products are distributed through a network of 700 partner agencies and directly to those in need through Food Bank programs. The Food Bank has distributed more than 1.7 billion pounds of food, the equivalent of 1.35 billion meals, since 1973. The total value of food and grocery product distributed since the Food Bank's inception is $2.3 billion. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Food Bank tripled the number of people helped, and now reaches 900,000 people every month. The Food Bank is a 4-star rated charity by Charity Navigator. For more information, visit LAFoodBank.org. SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc. Related Links www.smithfieldfoods.com BATON ROUGE, La., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- First National Bankers Bank, the leading correspondent in the southeastern United States, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Peterson as the company's first Innovation Officer. Mr. Peterson, Senior Vice President, will be in charge of developing new products and services that are relevant and of value to our shareholders, customers and their affiliates. "We are thrilled to welcome David to the FNBB family," said Joey Quinlan, FNBB, Inc. President and CEO. "Our company continues to adapt to a changing environment and David's extensive experience will help us advance our mission of being an innovation leader serving the needs of community financial institutions in our market. In his new role David will help us in identifying, developing and executing a high-impact innovation strategy and roadmap aligned to our strategic business plan, goals and growth priorities," Quinlan added. Prior to joining FNBB, Mr. Peterson was Chief Strategic Officer of i7Strategies, an independent strategic planning and innovation advisory firm. As the founder and CEO of Goldleaf Technologies, a leading provider of electronic payments software and pioneer in the Fintech industry, David understands the critical need to combat status-quo thinking to achieve sustainable profits and competiveness in the industry. Mr. Peterson said, "I have been associated with FNBB for over 25 years and they have consistently exhibited their commitment to excellence in correspondent banking with integrity of the highest order. This new commitment to innovation is doubly important: an emphasis on internal creativity and process improvement and a drive to provide community financial institutions with the innovative tools they need to thrive in the coming years. I am thrilled to be a part of the FNBB team." About First National Bankers Bank First National Bankers Bank, the banking subsidiary of First National Bankers Bankshares, Inc., serves the correspondent banking needs of community financial institutions across the southeastern United States. First National Bankers Bank, chartered in 1983, has offices in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Birmingham, Alabama, Little Rock, Arkansas, Lake Mary, Florida, Ridgeland, Mississippi, Shreveport, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee. The total assets as of December 31, 2020 at approximately $1.049 billion. For more information, visit https://www.bankers-bank.com/. SOURCE First National Bankers Bankshares, Inc. Related Links http://www.bankers-bank.com LAS VEGAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, announces the first round of 16 highly anticipated late-breaking clinical trial results at VIVA121 hosted at Wynn Las Vegas. VIVA (Vascular InterVentional Advances) is an annual vascular education symposium that brings together a global, multispecialty faculty to present a variety of talks and live case presentations from clinical centers around the world. Attendees include an audience of interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular medicine specialists. Below are highlights of this morning's 4 late-breaking clinical trial presentations. 5-Year Results From the IN.PACT Global Study Prespecified Cohorts: Chronic Total Occlusions, Long Lesions, and In-Stent Restenosis Presented by Gunnar Tepe, MD Outcomes from the IN.PACT Global Study have demonstrated the clinical effectiveness and safety of IN.PACT Admiral drug-coated balloon (DCB; Medtronic) angioplasty through 1 year for prespecified cohorts of femoropopliteal chronic total occlusion (CTO), long lesion (LL), and de novo in-stent restenosis (ISR) in real-world patients. This presentation is the first report on the long-term safety and effectiveness follow-up outcomes of these independent prespecified cohorts. The IN.PACT Global Study was a prospective, multicenter, single-arm study conducted at 64 international sites that enrolled 1,535 participants, including some with complex lesions. Assessments through 5 years included freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), safety composite, and major adverse events. The mean lesion lengths were 22.8 9.7 cm, 26.4 8.6 cm, and 17.1 10.5 cm in the CTO, LL, and de novo ISR cohorts, respectively. The majority of lesions were calcified. Kaplan-Meier estimates of freedom from CD-TLR through 5 years were 69.8% for CTO, 67.3% for LL, and 58.0% for de novo ISR. The cumulative incidences of the composite safety endpoint were 69.8%, 65.7%, and 56.0 % in the CTO, LL, and de novo ISR cohorts, respectively. The number of major target limb amputations were very low in all three cohorts, with no amputations in the CTO, two in the LL, and one in the de novo ISR. Kaplan-Meier estimates of 5-year freedom from all-cause mortality rates with vital status were 78.2% (CTO), 75.2% (LL), and 81.4% (de novo ISR). Results demonstrated long-term clinical effectiveness of IN.PACT Admiral DCB in all three cohorts, with high freedom from CD-TLR in LL and CTO through 5 years but slightly lower in de novo ISR, highlighting the challenging nature of ISR lesions. There were no safety issues observed, supporting use of the IN.PACT Admiral DCB in the management of femoropopliteal disease. 2-Year Results of the RANGER II SFA Randomized Trial: RANGER Drug-Coated Balloon vs Uncoated Balloons Overall and for Women, Patients With Occlusions, or Moderate/Severe Calcification Presented by Ravish Sachar, MD Patients in the global, randomized RANGER II SFA study received treatment for superficial femoral artery and/or proximal popliteal artery lesions up to 180 mm in length with the Ranger drug-coated balloon (DCB; Boston Scientific Corporation) or uncoated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA; 3:1 randomization). Subgroup analyses were performed to describe results among patients who historically have had poorer outcomes after endovascular treatment (i.e., women, patients with baseline chronic total occlusions [CTOs] or moderate/severe calcification). Through 2 years, Kaplan-Meier curves showed separation between the Ranger DCB and PTA arms of the overall randomized controlled trial for primary patency (log-rank P = .0129) and freedom from target lesion revascularization (TLR; log rank P = .0316), with 24-month rates of 84.0% versus 71.4% and 87.4% versus 79.5%, respectively. All-cause death rates were similar between the groups (5.7% [15/261] for Ranger DCB vs 3.2% [3/93] for PTA; P = .4218) through 24 months. Patients with Peripheral Artery Calcification Scoring System calcification grade 3/4 who were treated with Ranger DCB (n = 133) demonstrated an improvement in primary patency (89.1% vs 72.4%; log-rank P = .0052) and freedom from TLR (90.9% vs 79.6%; log-rank P = .0246) versus PTA (n = 61). Among patients with CTO at baseline (n = 51 for Ranger DCB and n = 29 for PTA), Kaplan-Meier estimates of primary patency were 76.6% vs 58.6% (log-rank P = .1038), and estimates of freedom from TLR were 85.6% vs 62.8% (log-rank P = .0172). In Kaplan-Meier analysis, time to TLR was similar between women and men through 2-year follow-up (log-rank P = .1415). Two-year analysis showed that improved primary patency was sustained with Ranger DCB treatment. Subgroup analyses suggest consistent benefit of DCB versus PTA among patients with historically poorer lesion subtypes, with greater freedom from TLR among patients with moderate/severe calcification or CTO and with no reintervention disadvantage based on gender. Racial Differences in Presentation and Outcomes After Peripheral Vascular Interventions: Insights from the NCDR-PVI Registry Presented by Howard M. Julien, MD, MPH, ML The association between Black race and higher prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) has been well established. Among PAD patients, Black race is independently associated with a greater likelihood of undergoing lower extremity amputation compared with surgical revascularization. After accounting for sociodemographic community distress, comorbid conditions, clinical presentation, and hospital characteristics, we aimed to evaluate whether the employment of drug-eluting technologies, atherectomy, and intravascular imaging during peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) procedures differed between Black and White patients in the NCDR-PVI registry. Among 63,150 patient cases, Black patients were younger (67.9 vs 70.0 years), had higher rates of hypertension (94.4% vs 89.5%) and diabetes (63.0% vs 46.2%), were less likely to report being able to walk 200 meters (29.1% vs 24.8%), and had higher Distressed Community Index [AU: DCI CORRECT AS DEFINED?] scores (65.1 vs 50.6). Black patients had higher use of drug-eluting technologies (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06-1.23), with no difference in atherectomy use (aOR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91-1.05) or intravascular imaging use (aOR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.88-1.22). In Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Serviceslinked analyses of 7,429 cases (11.8%), Black patients had nonsignificantly greater adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for major amputation (aHR, 2.50; 95% CI, 0.82-7.63) and were less likely to have surgical (aHR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.17-0.96) or repeat PV revascularization (aHR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.30-0.59) at 1 year compared to White patients. Overall, after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors, Black patients were younger and had higher rates of comorbidities and lower socioeconomic status. Black patients had significantly higher rates of drug-eluting technology use but were less likely to have surgical or repeat PVI revascularization in the year after index PVI. Real-World Evaluation of Disparities in Critical Limb Ischemia Management Associated With Major Limb Amputation Presented by Eric A. Secemsky, MD, MSc Well-established disparities in care exist for patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). We aimed to determine whether (1) patient, hospital, and geographic fac-tors are associated with different intensities of vascular care received prior to major amputation and (2) the intensity of vascular care received in the year before major amputation is associated with differences in outcomes postamputation. We used Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2019 to identify patients with a CLI diagnosis who underwent a major lower limb amputation. To understand the fac-tors associated with the intensity of vascular care received in the year prior to amputation, intensity was categorized as low (no angiography or revascularization), medium (angiography only), or high (revascularization by any method: surgical, endovascular, or hybrid). We then examined the association of patient (demographics, comorbidities), hospital, and geographic characteristics with receiving low- (reference group) versus medium- versus high-intensity vascular care before amputation using ordered multivariable logistic regression. Secondary endpoints examined included mortality and readmission. Of 7,904 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent major amputation, 46% were above-the-knee amputations. Among the study cohort, 5,090 (63.4%) received low-intensity vascular care, 442 (5.5%) received medium-intensity care, and 2,500 (31.1%) received high-intensity vascular care. After multivariable adjustment, being male, being low income, or receiving care at a safety-net hospital were all strongly associated with receiving lower-intensity vascular care prior to amputation. Patients who received high-intensity care died at a frequency of 19% versus 23% among those who received low-intensity vascular care in the 2 years following amputation. In addition, by 12 months postamputation, 40%, 50%, and 48% of patients receiving high-, medium-, and low-intensity care, respectively, were readmitted. These data emphasize the importance of vascular care before amputation and the continued disparities that exist in contemporary vascular practice. About the VIVA Foundation The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, strives to be the premier educator in the field. Our team of specialists in vascular medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery is driven by the passion to advance the field and improve patient outcomes. Educational events presented by the have a distinct spirit of collegiality attained by synergizing collective talents to promote awareness and innovative therapeutic options for vascular disease worldwide. To learn more about the VIVA Foundation, visit https://thevivafoundation.org/. SOURCE The VIVA Foundation Sweeney will further develop and manage the investment process for Flagship Healthcare Trust, the company's private real estate investment trust (REIT), as well as hold a senior leadership role in Flagship's broader capital allocation strategy, underwriting and new business development efforts. As CIO, he will collaborate with executives overseeing asset management, leasing, accounting and investor relations to position the REIT's investment activity, maximize long-term value creation and support the continued growth of its dividend. "In addition to having extensive, applicable experience, Kyle is even-keeled, structured and consistent. He has a reputation for getting things done with positivity and intellectual curiosity," said Brannen Edge, president and Chief Executive Officer. "From the outset, we felt a cultural fit and are excited about someone with his skills and character, deep financial experience and knowledge becoming part of our organization at a key phase in our development." Prior to joining Flagship, Sweeney was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Wentworth Management Services, focused on their healthcare real estate portfolio. Previously, he held various investment positions for 11 years at both Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. and Aviv REIT, Inc. (formerly traded on the NYSE prior to its 2015 merger with Omega). Sweeney oversaw the underwriting and investment management process at Aviv which went public in 2013. Prior to joining Aviv, Sweeney served with LaSalle Bank and its successor entity, Bank of America, in underwriting roles that provided lending services to the healthcare sector. "In addition to its impressive body of work, Flagship has a culture grounded on values of optimism, respect and gratitude that are consistent with my own," Sweeney said. "I'm looking forward to collaborating with the senior team, advancing our strategic growth plans and becoming a part of the Charlotte community. Professionally and personally, this truly is a dream opportunity." A native of Milwaukee, Sweeney has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree in Finance from Marquette University. About Flagship Healthcare Properties Flagship Healthcare Properties, LLC (Flagship) is a fully-integrated outpatient healthcare real estate firm serving clients throughout the Southeastern and Southern Mid-Atlantic United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Flagship offers a full range of real estate services including investment and capital solutions, development, property sales, leasing and marketing, as well as facilities, property and asset management. Flagship manages over 5 million square feet of healthcare real estate across more than 200 properties serving more than 500 tenants. Flagship serves as the manager of its private REIT, Flagship Healthcare Trust, Inc. For further information, visit www.FlagshipHP.com. About Flagship Healthcare Trust Flagship Healthcare Trust, Inc. (Flagship REIT), is a private real estate investment trust that owns clinical healthcare assets in the United States. Flagship REIT holds interest in 75 healthcare properties valued at over $650 million. Flagship REIT's current portfolio includes more than 1.9 million square feet of medical office space and more than 220 tenants. For further information, visit www.FlagshipREIT.com. SOURCE Flagship Healthcare Properties, LLC PEMBROKE PINES, Fla., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As Michael Miranda grew up splitting time between living in Florida and the Bronx, NY, he got to know a number of people both friends and acquaintances who he generally considered to be high-quality handymen. And, he was always impressed by their eagerness to share what they knew. It's something he'd like to emulate one day. Michael Miranda (center) with HVAC instructors at Florida Career College. "When I was young growing up, and even recently these last couple of years, you always run into a few people here and there who genuinely want to pass their knowledge down to you," he said. "I want to be in a position to do the same at some point." Currently a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) student at Florida Career College (FCC) in Pembroke Pines, Michael envisions one day opening a community workshop that teaches kids ages 13 and older the basic fundamentals of handyman work skills like drywall, basic electric, HVAC, and so on. "It would be my way of returning the favor of giving back to the next generation so they have knowledge they can use and grow from, and maybe use it toward establishing an essential career," he said. "These are skills and jobs that never go away once you learn them." Michael recently shared this vision in a scholarship essay, and it led to what amounts to one of his first contributions toward his goal a $2,000 scholarship from The Home Depot Foundation's Path to Pro Scholarship by SkillPointe Foundation. The Home Depot Foundation's Path to Pro scholarship program is part of its commitment to invest $50 million in training the next generation of skilled tradespeople while bridging opportunity gaps. Financial assistance for students entering or currently enrolled in building construction trade programs, such as FCC's HVAC program, represent $250,000 of this total commitment. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the construction industry is facing a growing labor shortage in 2021 despite boasting nearly 300,000 career openings which offer competitive incomes. TAKING HIS SHOT IN THE HVAC FIELD Michael, 32, began his work career in the customer service sector. Having always enjoyed fixing things and working with his hands, however, he eventually changed careers to become a traveling handyman. "I always had this inner pride whenever I'd fix something or make something," he said. "It's the instant satisfaction that hey, I did something right. It's the ego boost and confidence enhancement of knowing there was a problem and I was able to fix it." Though he loved the work, Michael said traveling state to state to take on random jobs started to get exhausting. Plus, he wanted to settle and make a more stable life for himself in southern Florida. Exactly how he would do this came into clearer focus for him one day after work. "That day, I came home from work early, and it just clicked," he said. "Something had to change. I've always wanted to go into HVAC, and I decided to take my shot." His shot involved reaching out to Florida Career College in Pembroke Pines, which he knew offered HVAC career training. That same day, he enrolled in the school, worked out his financial aid, and set up a class schedule. He started his first class, Basic Refrigeration Theory and Application, in April of this year. "It didn't take me off-guard or anything, but the place is really nice, the staff is very professional, and they go out of their way to let us know information and help us out," Michael said, pointing out a member of the faculty urged him to apply for The Home Depot Foundation's Path to Pro Scholarship. "It's one of the best, most quality college experiences I've had. Here, they remember your name. I can meet one staff member one time, and they're remember me the next time they see me." According to members of the Pembroke Pines faculty, Michael has indeed been memorable as a standout student. "Michael is the one student in my classes that carries himself in a humble way, speaks up at the right times, helps other students around him, and over time, consistently impresses me with his acquired knowledge in HVAC," said Luis Medina, an HVAC instructor at FCC in Pembroke Pines. REAL-WORLD INSTRUCTION FOR LARGE-SCALE GOALS Furthermore, Michael said he appreciates that his instructors, Luis Medina and Dean Richards, focus as much on practical learning as they do on classroom theory and instruction. "They both have been on top of the ball," he said. "They hit us with real-life scenarios even when they're addressing curriculum. They're really good interpersonal instructors. They give us the real." "Michael is an outstanding student, very smart, highly motivated, and a team player," said HVAC instructor Dean Richards. "He is a model student who we are very proud of." When he completes the FCC HVAC program, which is projected to happen in early 2022, Michael says he would like to focus his work in commercial systems and contracts. As far as focusing on a type of system AC or refrigeration versus heating and ventilation he remains open. "I'm pretty fresh in it," he said. "I just know that I want to do it on a bigger level in commercial." And, of course, he looks forward to developing his concept for establishing a community workshop for teens once he's settled into a career. Giving back is important to Michael, and winning The Home Depot Foundation's Path to Pro Scholarship by SkillPointe Foundation only helps to hasten his ability to do so. "The scholarship ended up paying off the balance I owed the school," Michael said. "It definitely gives me a lot of breathing room, so I'm definitely grateful for this." "Michael shows the attributes we all want in a Florida Career College student," said Gregory Falcon, Executive Director of FCC's Pembroke Pines campus. "He is a very caring individual who does not miss an opportunity to show his value as a student. With exceptional attendance and extremely high grades, he has made a name for himself in the HVAC program." About Florida Career College Florida Career College (FCC) is an accredited, employee-owned post-secondary career education system with campuses locations in Florida and Texas. FCC offers programs in high-demand fields such as health care, business and skilled trades. Each program is designed to provide every student with the skills, knowledge, and training they need to be successful in their future careers. FCC programs are tailored to meet the needs of students with smaller classes. Students can train for entry-level careers and start building their future in as few as 10 months. For more information visit www.floridacareercollege.edu About The Home Depot Foundation The Home Depot Foundation works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap and support communities impacted by natural disasters. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested more than $375 million in veteran causes and improved more than 50,000 veteran homes and facilities. The Foundation has pledged to invest half of a billion dollars in veteran causes by 2025 and $50 million in training the next generation of skilled tradespeople through the Path to Pro program. To learn more about The Home Depot Foundation visit HomeDepotFoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @HomeDepotFound and on Facebook and Instagram @HomeDepotFoundation. Media Contact: Joseph Cockrell (949) 812-7749 [email protected] SOURCE Florida Career College PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybercrime and Identity theft are global problems that affect all organizations and individuals. As a veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Cybercrime & Identity Theft Bureau, Daniel Haier led many cutting-edge, award-winning investigations with national impact, and he is ready to help protect Cipriani & Werner's clients and guide them through the complex steps necessary to prevent and recover from data breach incidents. From dark web drug trafficking to cryptocurrency money laundering, Haier secured precedent-setting indictments and helped recover hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of high-tech frauds, scams, and data theft. In 2018, he was recognized as the "Law Enforcement Partner of the Year" by the National Retail Federation, and in 2019 the Federal Drug Agents Foundation named him a "True American Hero." Haier brings to Cipriani & Werner a deep understanding of how sophisticated criminals exploit security weaknesses to steal data from critical systems at a wide variety of businesses, including hospitals, retailers, and financial institutions. Throughout his career, Daniel has been dedicated to helping individual victims and businesses recover after major losses and the lingering effects of identity theft. John Loyal, co-chair of Cipriani & Werner's Cyber team, could not be more thrilled that Daniel is joining the firm: "Dan is one of the top Cybercrime prosecutors in the country, and his joining the firm shows the caliber of Cyber talent Cipriani & Werner has and continues to add at a rapid rate." "As a cybercrime prosecutor, I saw the havoc that criminals can wreak on businesses and on the victims of identity theft," said Daniel. "I'm excited to join Cipriani & Werner's expanding Cyber and Data Privacy team to help protect our clients and their customers' personal data as cyber attacks continue to grow in scale and sophistication." Cipriani & Werner's cyber team helps clients with all aspects of data breach preparation and response. Contact our Cyber Team 24/7 at 1-833-63-CYBER or [email protected]. About Cipriani & Werner Cipriani & Werner is a multidisciplinary law firm with more than 150 professionals in 15 offices covering 8 states and the District of Columbia. With its reach Cipriani & Werner is able to support the needs of clients on both a regional and national basis. SOURCE Cipriani & Werner Related Links https://c-wlaw.com/ LAS VEGAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, announces the second round of highly anticipated late-breaking clinical trial results at VIVA21 hosted at Wynn Las Vegas. VIVA (Vascular InterVentional Advances) is an annual vascular education symposium that brings together a global, multispecialty faculty to present a variety of talks and live case presentations from clinical centers around the world. Attendees include an audience of interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular medicine specialists. Below are highlights of this afternoon's 4 late-breaking clinical trial presentations. KNOCOUT PE: Retrospective and Prospective International EKoSoNic Registry of the Treatment and Clinical Outcomes of Patients With Pulmonary Embolism Presented by Keith M. Sterling, MD The KNOCOUT PE registry was designed to understand the changing protocols used with ultrasound-facilitated, catheter-direct-ed thrombolysis as standard of care in the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) and associated patient outcomes after publication of the OPTALYSE PE study. The OPTALYSE PE study demonstrated that the EkoSonic endovascular system (EKOS; Boston Scientific Corporation) is effective in the treatment of acute intermediate-risk PE using lower thrombolytic doses and shorter duration of infusion. This study involved 83 international sites and enrolled 489 and 991 patients in prospective and retrospective cohorts, respectively. This report highlights results from the prospective registry. Patients with acute intermediatehigh-risk or high-risk PE and treated with EKOS acoustic pulse thrombolysis were enrolled between March 2018 and June 2020. The mean recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) infusion duration was 10.4 hours, and the mean total rtPA dose was 17.9 mg, with 32.4% of patients receiving 12 mg of rtPA. The mean percent reduction in right ventricular/left ventricular (RV/LV) ratio from baseline to postprocedure was 22.6%. This statistically significant reduction in RV/LV was maintained over time. There was a significant improvement in quality of life, with a 41.1% reduction in PEmb-QoL (Pulmonary Embolism Quality of Life Questionnaire) score by 3 months postprocedure. Major bleeding events within 30 days of the procedure, as defined by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis bleeding scale, occurred in 2.5% (12/489) of patients in the prospective cohort. No intracerebral hemorrhagic events were reported. Results from this prospective multicenter registry reflect contemporary practice and demonstrate the performance of EKOS in the management of acute PE, with lower total rtPA dose and shorter infusion duration, marked clinical improvement in RV/LV ratio, low rates of major hemorrhagic complications with no intracerebral hemorrhagic events, and improvement in PE-specific quality of life. A Prospective Multicenter Trial of Pharmacomechanical Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis With the Bashir Endovascular Catheter for Intermediate-Risk Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Interim Analysis of the RESCUE Study Presented by Akhilesh Sista, MD This study evaluated the preliminary efficacy and safety of Activase (Genentech) infused via a novel pharmacomechanical catheter-directed therapy (PM-CDT) device (the Bashir endovascular catheter [BEC]) for the treatment of intermediate-risk acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We present the results of our prespecified interim analysis of this National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutesponsored study. In this study, up to 125 adult patients with symptoms of acute PE and CT evidence of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and dilatation are being enrolled at 20 sites in the United States. A total of 7 mg of Activase is delivered through the BEC into each pulmonary artery (2-mg pulse spray plus 1-mg/hr infusion) over 5 hours. The primary efficacy endpoint is the core laboratoryassessed change in CTA-derived RV/left ventricular (LV) diameter ratio at 48 hours, and the primary safety endpoint is major device- or drug-related adverse events, including major bleeding, at 72 hours. From August 2020 to the present, 81 patients have been enrolled. The first 61 evaluable patients were aged 58.2 11 years, 76.9% were male, 92.3% had bilateral PE, and 90.3% had elevated bio-markers plus RV dilatation. The median procedure time was 52 minutes, and the average hospital length of stay was 3.0 1.4 days. The primary efficacy endpoint of RV/LV ratio reduction at 48 hours was 0.52 (32.1% reduction; 95% CI, 0.42-0.62; P < .0001). None of the patients had any major device- or drug-related adverse events. The major bleeding rate was 0%. Thrombus burden, as measured by the refined modified Miller index, was reduced from a baseline of 23.4 4.2 to 14.9 4.8 (36.3% reduction; P < .0001). PM-CDT using the BEC appears to be efficacious and safe at this interim analysis. 5-Year VenaSeal Outcomes for Symptomatic Saphenous Incompetence: Is This the Clear Choice? Presented by Morwan Bahi, MBChB Chronic venous insufficiency is common in modern practice and a cause of significant morbidity, including skin and soft tissue infections, bleeding, ulceration, and pain. This was previously managed with venous stripping, which is a painful procedure with high recurrence rates. Thermal and laser ablation of incompetent saphenous veins has also been trialed. The VenaSeal (Medtronic) cyanoacrylate ablation method is relatively new. This presentation reports 5-year outcomes for treatment of incompetent saphenous veins with VenaSeal in a single center. We conducted a retrospective, observational, single-center study detailing out-comes for all patients with symptomatic lower limb chronic venous insufficiency treated with saphenous vein closure with cyanoacrylate ablation (VenaSeal) between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. All patients were postoperatively reviewed at 6 weeks, and outcomes were recorded. We identified 235 patients matching our study criteria. The average age was 60.5 years, with slight male predominance (55.8%). The majority of patients were New Zealand European (63.8%), followed by Maori and Pacific (31.0%). The most common indication was venous ulceration (57.9%). Other indications included superficial thrombophlebitis, recurrent cellulitis, varicose vein bleeding, and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Fifty percent underwent bilateral treatment. Only one saphenous vein (greater saphenous vein or small saphenous vein) required treatment in 88% of patients. The most common postprocedure symptom was phlebitis in 49 (21%) patients, which is an expected part of recovery. Excluding phlebitis, only 33 complications were noted, all relatively minor. We reported 15 cases of residual varicose veins, nine saphenous nerve neuropraxia cases, six cases of wound cellulitis, and three DVTs. VIVO Clinical Study of the Zilver Vena Venous Stent in the Treatment of Symptomatic Iliofemoral Venous Outflow Obstruction: 3-Year Outcomes Presented by Paul Gagne, MD We present the 3-year outcomes for the VIVO clinical study, which assessed the safety and effectiveness of the Zilver Vena venous stent (Cook Medical) in the treatment of symptomatic iliofemoral venous outflow obstruction. Patients with symptomatic obstruction of one iliofemoral venous segment were enrolled (ie, CEAP [clinical, etiology, anatomy, pathophysiology] clinical classification 3 or Venous Clinical Severity Score [VCSS] pain score 2). Follow-up through 3 years included measures of patency, reintervention, clinical outcomes (measured by VCSS, vascular duplex scan [VDS], CEAP "C", and Chronic Venous Insufficiency Questionnaire [CIVIQ]), and device integrity measures of fracture and migration. The VIVO study enrolled 243 patients (70% female; mean age, 53 15 years; 67.5% with current or past deep vein thrombosis). The 30-day primary safety endpoint and 12-month primary effectiveness endpoint were met, exceeding the corresponding performance goals (P < .0001), and improvement in clinical outcome measures was demonstrated at 12 months (P < .0001). Follow-up through 3 years is complete, and results observed at 12 months were maintained. Specifically, 3-year outcomes include high rates of patency by ultrasound (90.3% 2.2%), freedom from clinically driven reinterventions (92.6% 2.0%), and freedom from reinterventions (82.9% 2.6%). Clinical improvement, as measured by VCSS, VDS, CEAP "C", and CIVIQ, was sustained through 3 years (P < .0001). Importantly, there were no core laboratoryreported stent fractures, and only one core laboratoryreported migration (adjudicated as technique-related due to device undersizing) through 3 years. In conclusion, the 3-year results of the VIVO clinical study support the continued safety and effectiveness of the Zilver Vena venous stent. About the VIVA Foundation The VIVA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of vascular medicine and intervention through education and research, strives to be the premier educator in the field. Our team of specialists in vascular medicine, interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular surgery is driven by the passion to advance the field and improve patient outcomes. Educational events presented by the have a distinct spirit of collegiality attained by synergizing collective talents to promote awareness and innovative therapeutic options for vascular disease worldwide. To learn more about the VIVA Foundation, visit https://thevivafoundation.org/. SOURCE The VIVA Foundation Related Links https://vivaphysicians.org DUBLIN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Type Of Synthesis (Biotech, Synthetic), by Type Of Manufacturer (Captive, Merchant), by Type, by Application, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global active pharmaceutical ingredients market size is expected to reach USD 312.56 billion by 2028 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2021 to 2028 The market is driven by the growth of the biopharmaceutical sector, advancements in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing, and an increase in the geriatric population. The growth of the captive API segment is propelled by companies investing in solving challenges and developing new chemical ways for the production of APIs in house. This aids in reducing costs and the risk of contamination. Artificial intelligence and protein synthesis are expected to facilitate faster development with greater control over the process. The rising prevalence of chronic and lifestyle-based conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, is accelerating the demand for API. For instance, as per U.S. Pharmacist in 2020, 47% of adults have at least one risk factor that supports cardiovascular disease development. Cardiovascular diseases are one of the global, critical public health burdens driving extensive R&D for APIs in the field. The generic API segment is gaining share in the market owing to its cost effectiveness, which helps in catering to the needs of the rising number of patients in developing regions with a low-income population. According to the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), in 2017, there was a considerable rise in manufacturing units in Asia, Australia, and EU5. There has also been an increase in the market share of generic drugs. Developing nations like India are receiving an increased preference in the market over dominant API market countries, like China, owing to geopolitical situations. Furthermore, other factors favoring India include quality raw materials and products, large workforce, vast distribution network, and government subsidies under schemes like "Make in India". For addressing unmet medical needs, companies are collaborating to develop novel treatments. This allows firms to use their resources to aid in the development of products and enhance the supply chain. In August 2019, OmniChem Private Limited was acquired by Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services (earlier they were in a joint venture since 2011 for the manufacturing of APIs). The acquisition was completed in June 2020. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Market Report Highlights According to the WHO, around 17.5 million people die each year due to cardiovascular diseases, accounting for 31% of all deaths across the globe The growing geriatric population in Asian countries, such as Japan and China , along with high untapped opportunities, is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. It is estimated that over 20% of the Japanese population is aged 65 and above and , along with high untapped opportunities, is expected to drive the market during the forecast period. It is estimated that over 20% of the Japanese population is aged 65 and above According to the CDC, about 795,000 people in the U.S. suffer from stroke every year, out of which 87% cases are of ischemic stroke Companies are looking to diversify their API suppliers and manufacturers to different locations instead of outsourcing it to just one manufacturer or country Key players are increasingly focusing on vaccines, for instance, Sanofi announced an investment of USD 601.37 million for vaccine production and research in France . These investments are anticipated to drive the development of new vaccine APIs in the coming years to help facilitate readiness to deliver new products Market Dynamics Market Driver Analysis Growing geriatric population Rising prevalence of target diseases such as hospital-acquired infections, genetic, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases Increasing preference for targeted therapy approach in cancer treatment Increasing preference for outsourcing APIs Market Restraint Analysis High capital investments and production cost Stringent Safety and handling regulations regarding APIs Companies Mentioned AbbVie, Inc. Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Cipla, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc. Albemarle Corporation Aurobindo Pharma Viatris Inc. (Mylan N.V.) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/kcva2i Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Key Points Covered in the Air Travel Market Report: Am I engaging with the right suppliers? Which KPIs should I use to evaluate my incumbent suppliers? Which supplier selection criteria are relevant for ERP Software? What are the ERP Software category essentials in terms of SLAs and RFx? Key Global Suppliers in the Air Travel Market: Southwest Airlines Co. The Emirates Group United Airlines Holdings Inc. Get Quick Access to the Key Global Suppliers Profiled Extensively in This Report The Air Travel Market report evaluates suppliers based on provision for applicable insurance policy, real-time analysis, pipeline software solutions, and conduct pipeline surveys. In addition, suppliers are also shortlisted based on business needs, technical specifications, operational requirements, security compliance, regulatory mandates, legal requirements, quality control, change management procedures, pricing models, penalty clauses, SLA nuances, acceptance criteria, and evaluation criteria. Request a Report Sample to Gain Comprehensive Insights at Air Travel Market https://www.procurement.spendedge.com/report/air-travel-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report Related Trending Topics: Subscribe to our "Free Limited Period Starter Procurement Plan" to get the following: View 6 full reports View 800+ report samples Pre-order upcoming reports Dedicated account manager Subscribe Now for FREE! About SpendEdge: SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions. Contact SpendEdge Anirban Choudhury Marketing Manager Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340 https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us SOURCE SpendEdge DUBLIN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Drug Testing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global drug testing market size is expected to reach USD 11.7 billion by 2028 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 4.9% The introduction of innovative tests, stringent regulation mandating drug testing, and growing substance abuse & addiction are some of the factors anticipated to foster market growth during the forecast period. Drug abuse and addiction is a global problem, affecting millions of people. As per the World Drug Report published by UNODC, in 2019, around 35.0 million people were suffering from drug use disorders globally. Such a high rate of drug abuse and substance use disorders has created a major demand for innovative tests to prevent, treat, and manage such cases. Several key players operating in this space are introducing innovative and efficient products to meet this growing demand. For instance, in June 2019, Quidel Corporation received the U.S. FDA's 510(k) clearance to market its fluorescence immunoassay-Quidel Triage TOX Drug Screen, 94600. This is intended for detecting the presence of metabolites or drugs in urine. Moreover, in June 2020, Cordant Health Solutions offered video-observed oral fluid drug testing to help courts & government agencies to monitor participants during the COVID-19 pandemic. This aided in combating several challenges faced by people with substance abuse disorders during the pandemic. Continuous government initiatives and implementation of strict substance abuse testing regulations to ensure safety have derived the demand for its testing products. In July 2020, the New Zealand government introduced a new bill that provides police the power to conduct random roadside drug testing of drivers to reduce impaired driving in the country. The new bill allows usage of oral fluid tests to check drivers for substances such as cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, opiates, methamphetamine, and benzodiazepines. Also, in February 2020, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in India introduced extensive tests for pilots and flight crew members for psychoactive substances such as opioids & cannabis to ensure safe air travel. Drug Testing Market Report Highlights By product type, the consumables segment dominated the market in 2020, owing to its repetitive use to conduct substance abuse screening Based on sample type, the urine samples segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2020, as it is the most common method of sample collection Increased unemployment and economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic has made people more susceptible to substance abuse, thus created lucrative opportunities in the market The legalization of marijuana for medicinal as well as recreational use in several countries is anticipated to change the current scenario and may create demand for innovative testing solutions Stringent privacy rights in some countries are likely to limit substance abuse testing at workplaces, impeding market growth In Asia Pacific , the market is expected to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period as a result of the growing demand for substance abuse testing from emerging economies, such as China and India Market Dynamics Market driver analysis Stringent laws mandating alcohol and drug testing Increase in government initiatives to monitor substance abuse High prevalence of substance abuse Market Restraint Analysis Drug testing is considered a violation of privacy rights in some countries Market Opportunity Analysis Focus on development of innovative testing solutions Companies Mentioned Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Abbott Quidel Corporation F. Hoffmann-La Roche Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Siemens Healthineers Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Agilent Technologies, Inc. Laboratory Corporation Of America Holdings (Labcorp) Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA Clinical Reference Laboratory, Inc. Cordant Health Solutions Legacy Medical Services, LLC. Omega Laboratories, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9rn03m Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com DUBLIN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Hard Seltzers Market Report 2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global hard seltzer market has grown exponentially since 2016 and is now one of the most promising alcoholic beverage sectors. In 2020, the market reached 777 million litres consumed worldwide. Hard seltzers are most prominent in the North American region where many of the major pioneer brands such as White Claw and Truly originated, with Europe and Asia Pacific promising growth markets. The Hard Seltzers Market Report covers market volume breakdown by region from 2017-20 and provides key commercial recommendations unique to each market. It also details the leading hard seltzer market players in 2020 alongside evaluating key drivers and critical factors from price to packaging. The competitive landscape is explored, helping readers to understand the dynamics of the industry today, with forecast data and commentary to 2027. This report examines on premise vs off premise trends in light of the coronavirus market disruptions as well as consumer profiles and demographics. In addition, global opportunities are examined to aid prospective market entrants looking to expand in this sector and profiles of key brands leading the market are presented to benchmark against and highlight the latest innovations in hard seltzers across the world. This comprehensive report charts one of the fastest-growing alcoholic beverage sectors in the world. The Hard Seltzers Market Report provides a breakdown of global and regional market volume and value, including analysis of opportunity markets and a detailed overview of the regional trends. The competitive landscape is mapped, with brand profiles illustrating key trends and forecasted growth to 2027. Report Overview Commentary and data on market volume and value from 2017 to 2020, as well as forecasts to 2027. Evaluation of opportunities and trends including key drivers for future development of the global hard seltzers market. Global coverage including focus on the North American, European and Asia Pacific regions. regions. Comprehensive analysis of the current hard seltzers market landscape. Explores all the latest innovations in flavour, branding, packaging and regional trends. 16 detailed brand profiles of leading hard seltzer brands from North America , Europe , Asia Pacific , Latin America and Africa . Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction and Scope 2. Executive Summary 3. Hard Seltzers Category Overview 4. Regional Market Trends 4.1 North America 4.2 Europe 4.3 Asia Pacific 4.4 Rest of World 5. Market Landscape 6. Brand Profiles Global hard seltzers market data Global hard seltzers market volume, 2017-20 Global hard seltzers market volume by region, 2017-20 Global hard seltzers market value, 2020 Global hard seltzers market volume forecast, 2020-27f Regional hard seltzers market data North America hard seltzers market volume, 2017-27f hard seltzers market volume, 2017-27f North America hard seltzers brand share, 2020 hard seltzers brand share, 2020 Europe hard seltzers market volume, 2017-27f hard seltzers market volume, 2017-27f Asia Pacific hard seltzers market volume, 2017-27f For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1g5ipr 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 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mystic, Shaman and Tantra Master Stephen Shaw is on a mission: "To bring radical healing and transformation to everyone. And to make the world a better place. When your inner mental and emotional world is healed, then your outer world begins to transform too." Stephen Shaw - Mystic, Shaman and Energy Healer Star Child - A mystical book by Stephen Shaw Shaw studied Psychology at university, and also completed numerous post-graduate diplomas in a variety of healing modalities, including hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming. However, he became frustrated by the slow change he was witnessing in clients. At 39 years old, he gave up his therapy practice, his home and his country and travelled the world for 10 years. His goal was to seek out the most powerful healers and teachers across the planet. Shaw said: "I soon discovered that the highest-level teachers are the hardest to access and not known to the public. The most skilled healers are very protective over their sacred knowledge. You have to earn their trust by showing alignment to crucial positive values, like love, compassion, kindness, loyalty, honesty, integrity and respect." Shaw unveiled a common thread behind the healing work of advanced Tibetan lamas, Peruvian shamans, Tantra masters and other esoteric teachers. He explained: "They all sense-feel the chakras which are energy vortexes contained in the light body. Chakras effect every area of your life. Healing and upgrading your chakras creates rapid and powerful transformation, moving you into deep joy, peace, love, clarity, creativity, fulfilment, and awesome loving relationships. You often flow into profound ecstatic and blissful states too." Shaw has combined these energy skills with his natural clairvoyance, creating a transcendent service for clients. Upon request, he will also psychically view the energy fields in a home, then clear and remove all negative energies and entities. This unique full-spectrum service is located at this webpage: Chakra Shamanism. Stephen Shaw: Bestselling Author of 12 Mystical Books "My ten novels and two life guides are deeply spiritual and mystical," said Shaw. "However, they also contain highly pragmatic life teachings. Topics covered in my books include meditation, spiritual alignment, consciousness catalysts, resonance shifting, multi-dimensional awareness, soul mates and soul tribes, relationship skills, chakras, energy fields, Tantra, Kundalini, and paths to Awakening and Enlightenment." Explore all 12 mystical books by Stephen Shaw by visiting his website: www.i-am-stephen-shaw.com Media Contact: Stephen Shaw 1-310-424-9050 [email protected] SOURCE Stephen Shaw MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. ("Goodness Growth" or the "Company") (CSE: GDNS; OTCQX: GDNSF), a physician-led, science-focused cannabis company and IP developer, today announced the completion of its first ever national cannabis expungement month. During the month of September, Goodness Growth hosted or sponsored four expungement clinics in Minnesota, Maryland and New York and helped more than 100 people file the necessary paperwork to get their simple, nonviolent cannabis charges expunged from their records. Minor cannabis charges continue to show up for decades after conviction on background checks that are commonly run as part of the application process for jobs, home rentals, college admissions and business loans. In some states, they can also restrict a person's ability to vote. Nationwide, 90 percent of cannabis charges are for simple, non-violent possession of cannabis. Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color have historically been arrested and convicted for cannabis-related charges at much higher rates than their white counterparts. Even today, as 36 states and Washington, D.C. have legalized the medical or adult use of marijuana, minorities remain nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession, 50 percent more likely to be convicted, and on average face 50 percent longer prison sentences. Today, over 40,000 people are still incarcerated for cannabis charges, while the industry has grown to over $10 billion in annual sales. "As a company that profits by legally growing and distributing cannabis products, we believe it is our responsibility to help those who have been harmed by the racially-biased enforcement of cannabis prohibition and the war on drugs," said Paloma Lehfeldt, MD, Director of Medical Education and Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council of Goodness Growth Holdings. "Facilitating expungement clinics is just one of the many ways that we can start to right this wrong." During September, Goodness Growth held Minnesota's first expungement clinic at its Green Goods cannabis patient center in Minneapolis with the help of law professors and students from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Expungement in Minnesota is a multi-step process that includes an appearance in court; at the clinic, participants received assistance filling out the paperwork to start the process and received information about the next steps. Goodness Growth and the Mitchell Hamline School of Law are also planning joint efforts to continue to support participants as they move through the process, including additional clinics and pro bono legal services. Goodness Growth is also working with county judges to hold county court expungement days, with cannabis expungement cases scheduled on the same day. In Maryland, Goodness Growth partnered with law firm Funk & Bolton to host a virtual expungement clinic. Attorneys met with participants in a secure virtual environment to complete expungement paperwork. Goodness Growth also sponsored an in-person expungement clinic at Mary & Main dispensary with Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM). In New York, Goodness Growth partnered with Women of Color, CannaClusive, the Black Bar Association and other cannabis industry and legal aid organizations to host a 30-day virtual expungement clinic. In addition to information about New York's automatic expungement, the clinic also offered resources for those experiencing PTSD and emotional trauma related to their arrest and conviction. The virtual New York clinic continues through Oct. 16; interested persons can take an expungement pre-qualification survey or access information and resources by visiting https://wocworldwide.com/expungement. The September clinics follow others held by Goodness Growth in Arizona and Maryland over the past year. "We are proud of the expungement clinics we have hosted and the work we have done to help those with minor, non-violent cannabis convictions clear those charges from their records," said Amber Shimpa, Chief Administrative Officer with Goodness Growth. "At the same time, we recognize that these efforts, while important, are a first step in supporting people who have been harmed by cannabis prohibition. The partnerships we have made within the cannabis industry and within our local communities will help us reach more people and offer a wider range of support through expungement, but they will also help us ensure more broadly that the cannabis industry is fair and equitable to all people." In addition to holding expungement clinics throughout the country, Goodness Growth partners with the Last Prisoner Project ("LPP") in support of its Roll It Up for Justice campaign. The LPP is a non-profit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform; Roll It Up for Justice raises money for LPP's clemency initiative, which works to release cannabis prisoners and help them rebuild their lives post-incarceration. Through that partnership, Goodness Growth's Green Goods cannabis patient centers in Minnesota and Maryland have raised more than $3,000 for Roll It Up for Justice. About Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc., is a physician-led, science-focused holding company whose mission is to bring the power of plants to the world. The Company's operations consist primarily of its multi-state cannabis company subsidiary, Vireo Health, Inc., and its science and intellectual property incubator, Resurgent Biosciences, Inc. The Company manufactures proprietary, branded cannabis products in environmentally friendly facilities and state-of-the-art cultivation sites and distributes its products through its growing network of Green Goods and other retail locations and third-party dispensaries. Its team of more than 500 employees are focused on the development of differentiated products, driving scientific innovation of plant-based medicines, and developing meaningful intellectual property. Today, the Company is licensed to grow, process, and/or distribute cannabis in eight markets and operates 18 dispensaries across the United States. For more information about Goodness Growth Holdings, please visit www.goodnessgrowth.com. Contact Information Media Inquiries: Albe Zakes Vice President, Corporate Communications [email protected] (267) 221-4800 SOURCE Goodness Growth Holdings Related Links http://www.goodnessgrowth.com LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- While an oil spill in federal waters damages Southern California beaches, wildlife and habitat, oil regulators under Gov. Gavin Newsom have issued 138 oil permits for operations in state waters since he assumed office and are 278 days late in delivering Newsom a rule setting a barrier between oil operations and vulnerable communities, Consumer Watchdog and FracTracker Alliance said today. "This current spill makes it clear like never before that there is no such thing as safe proximity to oil drilling," said consumer advocate Liza Tucker. "Governor Newsom must stop issuing both offshore and onshore permits immediately and set a barrier of 2,500 feet between vulnerable communities and oil operations if his own oil and gas supervisor won't." California banned the dispensing of new oil drilling leases in state waters up to two miles from shore in 1969 after the devastating Santa Barbara oil spill. But new drilling and other work on wells in existing leases in state waters was never banned. Though advocates urged Jerry Brown to halt this practice, he never did. Neither has Newsom. "Governor Newsom has issued 138 permits for wells located offshore," according to Kyle Ferrar, Western program coordinator for the FracTracker Alliance. "This includes five new drilling permits and 133 permits to perform work on existing offshore wells. The oil industry often does this work to address the risks of aging oil and gas wells and infrastructure rather than shut these operations down and clean them upwhich is what we should be doing." According to Ferrar, California oil regulators issued 125 permits to rework wells plus five permits to drill new wells to THUMS Long Beach Co., a subsidiary of California Resources Corporation. Another five permits were issued to the State Lands Commission, likely related to the decommissioning of Platform Holly in waters off Santa Barbara. Three other permits were issued to California Resources Production Corporation to work on wells located on Orange County offshore oil rigs. Two of the wells were located on platform Emmy, and the third on platform Esther. The platforms are located from a mile to a mile and a half from California shores. At the same time, in 2020, Newsom gave his top oil regulator, Uduak-Joe Ntuk, a deadline of December 31, 2020 to create a setback between oil drilling operations and vulnerable communities. Ntuk had not responded to Newsom's first request for a setback rule made at the end of 2019. When Ntuk did not meet the hard 2020 deadline, the Governor did nothing despite months of public comment overwhelmingly in favor of a setback to the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) that Uduak heads and a panel CalGEM has at its disposal of chosen independent scientists and health experts. "Oil & Gas Supervisor Uduak-Joe Ntuk has blown it," said Tucker. "He is now 278 days late and the fact that no rule has been proposed on a setback and Gov. Newsom has not used his executive authority to mandate one to protect public health is outrageous." Frontline communities and environmental advocates are demanding a setback of 2,500 feet between frontline communities and oil drilling operations. Based on peer-reviewed studies, a setback of twice that distanceat least one mileis warranted to decrease risk of cancer, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurological diseases, as well as preterm births, low birth weights, and birth defects. So far, Newsom has issued more than 9,000 oil drilling permits since he took office at the start of 2019. Roughly ten percent of permits issued are for wells too close to communities. More than two million Californians live within a half mile of a well, while seven million live within a mile. SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Related Links http://www.consumerwatchdog.org SAN DIEGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Home buyers in the San Diego County region have a new and powerful resource to search for and find their dream home. The Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS (SDAR) and the San Diego Multiple Listing Service (SDMLS) have partnered with The San Diego Union-Tribune to provide added exposure for local home listings through a search engine called Just Knock. The engine powers Hot Property, the real estate listing section of San Diego's largest digital and print news organization. Through Hot Property and Just Knock, San Diegans will have access to more than 40,000 listings on an annual basis, increasing the exposure of for-sale, for-rent, and featured listings while providing a valuable resource for potential home buyers to search, save, and research homes throughout San Diego County. Visit www.justknock.com or www.sandiegouniontribune.com/hotproperty to access Just Knock for free. This partnership will provide a world-class search engine for homeowners, buyers and real estate professionals throughout San Diego County. "San Diego MLS is the only locally based real estate Multiple Listing Service, and our REALTOR members have 80% of the listings in the San Diego real estate market," said Michael Mercurio, CEO of SDAR and the San Diego MLS. "Just Knock will provide buyers, sellers, and renters with a real-time, streamlined system to find their next home, as well as expand our REALTOR members' ability to better serve their clients. We continue to provide innovative solutions to make finding a home easier and improving the overall real estate industry for buyers, sellers and real estate professionals throughout San Diego County and beyond." "We are excited to partner with the largest real estate association in San Diego to bring value to our readers," said Jeff Light, editor and publisher of the Union-Tribune. "No company has deeper roots in our community than the U-T. The platform we have built together through this partnership makes searching for a home easier than ever in the place that makes most sense on the top local news site in San Diego." For more information, contact SDAR at (858) 715-8000 or visit www.sdar.com. The Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS is the largest trade association in San Diego County and one of the largest local REALTOR associations in California. We help our members, who adhere to a code of ethics and professional standards, sell more homes. We also help people realize the dream of home ownership, and we are dedicated to protecting private property rights. You can follow SDAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. SOURCE Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS Related Links www.sdar.com HONG KONG, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- QIMA, a leading provider of quality control and supplier compliance solutions, announced today that world-renowned fashion brand Guess has selected QIMAone to digitize the brand's quality control program across its end-to-end global supply chain. QIMAone is a collaborative quality and supplier management platform that connects brands and suppliers with unified quality and compliance data to minimize disruption, increase visibility, and drive continuous improvement. By deploying QIMAone, Guess continues to ensure that all its products are sourced responsibly and manufactured through quality control best practices. As a global brand, Guess sources apparel from hundreds of supplier factories in approximately 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Guess does not own any factories itself and instead partners with manufacturing facilities and designers worldwide who supply a finished product. In this operating model, it is vital that the company stays connected to its sourcing footprint to maintain end-to-end visibility across its supplier network. With the integration of QIMAone, Guess is bringing all players in its global supply chain network together to gain complete supplier visibility across the company's sourcing footprint. Moreover, the QIMAone mobile app allows inspectors from factories, third-party agencies, and the brand to collect necessary data more efficiently with complete real-time monitoring and collaboration. The data collected on QIMAone produces meaningful analytics and insights for Guess, offering the company better management and projection mechanisms to detect potential issues with suppliers before they become critical risks. Cristina Binda, Guess, Inc. Quality Control manager, said: "We are proud to say that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to maintain our quality control program on-site as well as start implementing QIMAone in our distribution centers. We have been working with our strategic partner QIMA for over two years, and throughout this uncertain and difficult time, our partnership has strengthened and moved forward to cover more aspects of our supply chain including much-needed digitization." Sebastien Breteau, Founder and CEO of QIMA and QIMAone, said: "Integrated, intelligent inspection capabilities are key for survival in today's evolving supply chain landscape. QIMAone empowers brands like Guess with QIMA's industry-leading best practices to align all stakeholders digitally on a common quality control framework, anytime and anywhere. Armed with real-time data on their suppliers, Guess can use QIMAone to schedule local inspectors or request factories to conduct self-inspections with just one click. As a result, QIMAone is helping Guess to raise supply chain visibility and agility." About QIMAone QIMAone is a collaborative platform that digitizes quality and compliance management for global brands, retailers, and manufacturers. QIMAone connects buyers to their supply network to monitor and improve product quality, increase supply chain visibility, and reduce operational inefficiencies. QIMAone is built by QIMA, the leading quality and compliance service provider helping more than 14,000 consumer goods brands, retailers and importers globally manage and secure their supply chain. To learn more about our technology and how QIMAone helps supply chain leaders save time and optimize costs, visit QIMAone.com. About Guess Guess is one of the world's leading lifestyle brands of contemporary apparel and accessories for men, women, and children that reflect the American lifestyle and the European fashion sensibilities recognized in more than 100 countries in the world. This year our company celebrates its 40th anniversary. Guess, Inc. is a publicly-traded company listed on the New York Exchange (NYSE:GES) with a Net Revenue in FY2020 of USD 2.68 billion. As of February 2020, we had approximately 15,800 associates, both full and part-time, consisting of approximately 6,500 in the U.S. and 9,300 in foreign countries. For more information about Guess, please visit www.guess.com. Contact Mathieu Labasse [email protected] SOURCE QIMAone The Guild A-20 Marley acoustic guitar features a dreadnaught body shape with a thin satin finish, solid spruce top, mahogany back and sides, Guild script logo, "MARLEY" fretboard inlay and Madeira pickguard shape complete with "Bob Marley" signature. As part of the collaboration between Guild and the Marley family, Guild Guitars is supporting One Tree Planted to help global reforestation. One tree will be planted for every Marley guitar made (onetreeplanted.org). In addition, Guild Guitars has shown support for the Alpha School of Music in Kingston by donating instruments to their music program (alphamusicja.com). "It's a continuation of the philosophy of Bob's music," said Ziggy Marley. "Anywhere his representation goes, his message goes. So, we are very happy that we have the opportunity to work with Guild to spread his message through this guitar." "This guitar will open the door for a new generation to learn about Bob Marley's music and message," says Tim Miklaucic, CEO/Founder of Cordoba Music Group, Guild's parent company. "We are very proud of the guitar and honored for the opportunity to work closely with the Marley family." ABOUT GUILD GUITARS Guild is a historic guitar manufacturer with a long-standing reputation of producing some of the finest crafted instruments in the world. For more information, visit guildguitars.com and @guildguitars on social media. ABOUT MARLEY MERCHANDISING LLC. The Marley brand honors the timeless values of Bob Marley by uniting people around the world under the banner of One Love. Marley Merchandising, LLC, a wholly owned Marley family entity, owns, licenses and markets a portfolio of Marley consumer brands globally, including: House of Marley, Marley Beverage Co, Marley Natural, Marley Kitchen, Marley Coffee, and Bob Marley. For more information, visit bobmarley.com and @bobmarley on social media. CONTACT: Jason Farrell, [email protected] SOURCE Guild Guitars Related Links https://guildguitars.com/ Gulfstream announced the new aircraft before a live audience at its Savannah headquarters along with a global virtual broadcast via its website, Facebook and YouTube. The exclusive event featured a virtual tour of the new G400 and a live reveal of the first G800. "For more than six decades, Gulfstream has led the business aviation industry with our commitment to continuous improvement and by consistently setting new standards for safety, performance, innovation and comfort," said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. "Today marks a major milestone and investment in our company's future with the introduction of the G800, our fastest longest-range aircraft yet, and the G400, the industry's first new large-cabin aircraft in more than a decade." Gulfstream's Longest-Range Aircraft The G800 offers customers the longest range in the Gulfstream fleet with its 8,000-nautical-mile/14,816-kilometer range at Mach 0.85 and 7,000-nm/12,964-km range at Mach 0.90. Powered by high-thrust Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 engines and the Gulfstream-designed wing and winglet introduced on the Gulfstream G700, the G800 also features enhanced fuel-efficiency and more city-pair capabilities. "We designed the ultralong-range G800 to extend our customers' reach to more people and places around the world," said Burns. "The G800 redefines what it means to go farther faster in a Gulfstream and offers even more time savings with its impressive range at high speed." The G800 is designed to seat up to 19 passengers and offers up to four living areas or three living areas with crew compartment. It also features the signature Gulfstream Cabin Experience with 100% fresh, never recirculated air, whisper-quiet noise levels, industry-leading low cabin altitude and 16 Gulfstream panoramic oval windows. A New Large-Cabin Leader The all-new G400 offers a combination of long-range, high-speed performance; cabin comfort; and environmental efficiency unrivaled in its class. The G400 ramps up environmental performance by reducing fuel consumption, emissions and noise through its use of Gulfstream's aerodynamic clean-wing design and advanced Pratt & Whitney PW812GA engines. The aircraft will fly 4,200 nm/7,778 km at its long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85. Three floorplans are offered, with options for seating up to nine, 11 or 12 passengers, and the G400 provides the signature Gulfstream Cabin Experience and 10 Gulfstream panoramic oval windows. "The G400 was conceived and designed with direct customer input. It features revolutionary reliability and safety features we pioneered with our award-winning Symmetry Flight Deck and the largest cabin in its class, making it an outstanding addition to our next-generation fleet," said Burns. "The aircraft re-envisions this market segment with its maximum operational flexibility and enhanced cabin comfort." Next-Generation Technology Both the G800 and G400 are equipped with the Gulfstream Symmetry Flight Deck featuring electronically linked active control sidesticks an industry first and the industry's most extensive use of touch-screen technology with 10 touch-screen displays. Additional health and safety enhancements include 100% fresh, never-recirculated and never-refiltered air; the lowest cabin altitude in their respective classes; a plasma-ionizing clean air system neutralizing 99.9% of airborne bacteria, spores and odors; and the company's award-winning Predictive Landing Performance System (PLPS), providing pilots advanced warning of potential runway excursions so they can adjust approaches or go around. Dual head-up displays in the G800 feature Gulfstream's new Combined Vision System (CVS) that unites the Enhanced Flight Vision System (EFVS) and Synthetic Vision System (SVS) into a single image, increasing pilot situational awareness and access to more airports worldwide. G800 customer deliveries are anticipated to begin in 2023 and G400 deliveries are anticipated to begin in 2025. NOTE TO EDITORS Inspired by the belief that aviation could fuel business growth, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. invented the first purpose-built business aircraft, the Gulfstream I, which first flew in 1958. Today, more than 2,900 aircraft are in service around the world. Together with parent company General Dynamics, Gulfstream consistently invests in the future, dedicating resources to researching and developing innovative new aircraft, technologies and services. Gulfstream's fleet includes the super-midsize Gulfstream G280, the award-winning Gulfstream G650, the high-performing Gulfstream G650ER and an all-new aircraft family, the clean-sheet Gulfstream G400, Gulfstream G500, Gulfstream G600, industry flagship Gulfstream G700 and the all-new Gulfstream G800. All are backed by Gulfstream's Customer Support network and its worldwide team. Visit our website at www.gulfstream.com. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and generated $37.9 billion in revenue in 2020. More information is available at www.gd.com. SOURCE Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Related Links https://www.gulfstream.com SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hagens Berman urges Owlet, Inc. (NYSE: OWLT) investors with significant losses to submit your losses now. Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/OWLT Contact An Attorney Now: [email protected] 844-916-0895 Owlet, Inc. (OWLT) Investigation: The firm's investigation focuses on Owlet's claims about its in-home pediatric monitoring and analytics technologies which are intended to detect infant ailments such as respiratory syncytial virus and supraventricular tachycardia and, thereby, decrease infant death due to Sudden Unexplained Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Specifically, according to Owlet, the Company's key product "Smart Sock" is not a medical device and does not require marketing authorization or certification as a medical device by the FDA. Owlet's claims came into serious question on Oct. 4, 2021, when the Company announced the FDA sent it a Warning Letter (1) asserting Owlet's marketing of Smart Sock in the U.S. renders the product a medical device that has not received FDA-required premarket clearance or approval, in violation of federal law, and (2) requesting the Company cease commercial distribution of the Smart Sock for uses in measuring blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate where such metrics are intended to identify or diagnose ailments and notify users that measurements are outside of preset values. On this news, the Company's share price fell sharply lower on Oct. 4, 2021. "We're focused on investors' losses and whether Owlet lied to investors about the growth prospects for its apparently illegal marketing of the Smart Sock," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you invested in Owlet and have significant losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman. Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Owlet should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email mailto:[email protected]. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a national law firm with eight offices in eight cities around the country and over eighty attorneys. The firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the firm and its successes is located at hbsslaw.com. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw . Contact: Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895 SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP Related Links https://www.hbsslaw.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 13th, the Foundation for Social Connection , a non-profit dedicated to ensuring the development of evidence-based solutions for a socially engaged society, and Social Health Labs , a social impact organization founded to facilitate innovation in the social health space, will host Connect+Healthcare , the fifth in a unique series of interactive events focused on addressing social isolation and loneliness. "The health implications of loneliness are comparable to obesity and smoking," said Edward Garcia, Founder and Executive Director, Foundation for Social Connection. "With some two-thirds of the U.S. population affected, it's no surprise that associated care costs Medicare $6.7 billion annually." This event will explore how to address the loneliness epidemic and promote social health among patients. Participants will learn about the latest research, innovation, and recommendations from experts in the space. More specifically, panelists will discuss the role of the healthcare industry in solving the loneliness epidemic, explore how healthcare professionals can identify and treat social isolation, and provide insights on the effectiveness of innovative practices for example, "social prescribing" being used around the globe to promote social health. Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in the discussion, ask questions, and share their experiences. "Loneliness and social isolation are one of the most urgent public health crises of our time," said Kasley Killam, Founder, Social Health Labs. "To mobilize the social change necessary to effectively respond, we have to engage stakeholders from across the healthcare continuum." Connect+Healthcare will take place on October 13th at 12pm EDT and will feature: Carla Perissinotto , MD, MHS: Associate Chief for Geriatrics Clinical Programs at UCSF, a leading researcher on solutions for social isolation and loneliness among older adults. , MD, MHS: Associate Chief for Geriatrics Clinical Programs at UCSF, a leading researcher on solutions for social isolation and loneliness among older adults. Lisbeth Briones-Roberts , MS: Chief Togetherness Officer at SCAN Health Plan, where she develops and scales programs that address social isolation and loneliness among patients. , MS: Chief Togetherness Officer at SCAN Health Plan, where she develops and scales programs that address social isolation and loneliness among patients. Sarah DeSilvey , DNP, FNP: Rural family nurse practitioner and Director of Clinical Informatics at The Gravity Project, a national initiative to implement social prescribing in healthcare settings. Upcoming events in the Connect+Conversations series will focus on the role of technology, government, and local efforts in strengthening social health. Recordings and summaries of previous sessions are available here . Learn more and register here . The Foundation for Social Connection 's (F4SC) vision is for all Americans to have the opportunities and evidence-based support necessary to be socially engaged in society. F4SC engages in education, increases public awareness, promotes innovative research, and spurs the development and implementation of evidence-based models that address social isolation/loneliness and social connection. Social Health Labs envisions a society where loneliness is the exception and social health is the norm. By collaborating with cross-sector partners on local, state, national, and global initiatives, Social Health Labs aims to improve well-being through connection and community. Connect+Conversations explores how to address the loneliness epidemic and promote social health by convening researchers, community leaders, and anyone committed to a more connected society. It is led by the Foundation for Social Connection and Social Health Labs with support from Commit to Connect , a national initiative of the US Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Community Living and AARP Foundation. SOURCE Foundation For Social Connection Available at Kroger family stores nationwide and directly from Real Good Foods' website, this craveable, nutritious pizza is crafted with real ingredients and Beyond Meat's plant-based sausage to create the perfect better-for-you entree option. "We are proud to further our partnership with Kroger by launching an innovative, nutrient-dense pizza made with Beyond Meat's plant-based sausage," said Bryan Freeman, Executive Chairman of Real Good Foods. "Our development process was guided by feedback from our community, who is seeking more plant-based or vegetarian options, and we could not be more excited to partner with the category leader in plant-based proteins." According to research from the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute, plant-based retail food sales jumped 27% in the U.S. in 2020. With a mission to make its craveable, nutritious comfort foods accessible to everyone across the United States and eventually, throughout the world, the addition of this product will expand the Company's presence in the plant-based food industry while making it easier for consumers to lead a healthier lifestyle. The Company's plant-based sausage pizza made with Beyond Meat contains high-quality, nutrient-dense ingredients that are designed to be high in protein and lower in carbohydrates, offering the Real Good Foods consumer community a delicious pizza that maintains macronutrient ratios difficult to find within the frozen food category. Real Good Foods' Beyond Meat Pizza is available at Kroger family stores nationwide and online at www.realgoodfoods.com . About The Real Good Food Company: Founded in 2016, Real Good Foods believes there is a better way to enjoy our favorite foods. Its brand commitment, "Real Food You Feel Good About Eating," represents the Company's strong belief that, by eating its food, consumers can enjoy more of their favorite foods and, by doing so, live better lives as part of a healthier lifestyle. Its mission is to make nutritious foodslower in carbohydrates, high in protein, grain free and made from real ingredientsmore accessible to everyone, improve human health, and in turn improve the lives of millions of people. Real Good Foods offers delicious and nutritious options across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking occasions, with availability in over 16,000 stores nationwide, including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, and Target, and directly from its website at www.realgoodfoods.com. Learn more about Real Good Foods by visiting its website, or on Instagram at @realgoodfoods, where it has one of the largest social media followings of any brand within the frozen food industry with over 380,000 followers. For interviews with Bryan Freeman, Executive Chairman, via email at [email protected] . ### Media Contact Nikole Johnston [email protected] SOURCE Real Good Foods Related Links http://www.realgoodfoods.com Latest investment to triple R&D investment and expand the Honor technology and operations platform to the recently acquired Home Instead network SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Honor Technology, Inc ., the world's largest senior care network and technology platform, which recently acquired global home care provider Home Instead, today announced it has raised $70 million in Series E funding and $300 million in debt financing. The round brings Honor's total equity funding to date to $325 million and values the company at over $1.25 billion. Honor's technology and operations platform, paired with Home Instead's global network and relationship-based care, will serve as a foundation for a dramatic increase in innovation investment to benefit professional caregivers and clients through expanded offerings. Baillie Gifford led the equity financing with participation from existing investors including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Home Instead founders Paul and Lori Hogan, Prosus Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, FMZ Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, Lighthouse Capital Markets, and TriplePoint Capital. Perceptive Advisors led the debt financing with a significant commitment from Ares Management funds. The funding will be used to further invest in Honor's groundbreaking operations and technology capabilities and expand it across the Home Instead network. Honor is fundamentally transforming the delivery of home care in the fast-growing, highly fragmented $83 billion worldwide home care market spread across 21,000 individual agencies in the U.S. alone. "The Honor technology platform is positioned to become the backbone for the Home Instead network, providing an even better end-to-end human experience for professional caregivers and clients," said Seth Sternberg, co-founder and CEO of Honor. "In the coming years, this technology will open a channel to allow seniors more streamlined access to the products and services they need at home creating the most advanced ecosystem to serve the aging population around the world." Honor's proprietary technology platform creates a better human experience by extracting insights to match the right caregivers with the right clients based on a range of personalized factors and assists with caregiver recruiting, training, scheduling, and performance analysis. The technology improves as the company scales, learning from expanding data points to further optimize performance. This tech-enabled approach strengthens the relationships between professional caregivers and clients while streamlining business operations, centralizing care and reducing turnover ultimately increasing the ability of Honor and Home Instead to meet rapidly growing demand. "With our new global scale, we are excited to accelerate the rollout of our game-changing care delivery platform. We're looking to triple the size of our engineering and product team within the next year," said Sandy Jen, co-founder and chief technology officer for Honor. "We are aggressively recruiting product hires, from designers to developers who want to solve real-world problems and build with purpose to solve a massive societal need. We're trailblazing in an industry that takes care of our parents and ultimately our solutions will take care of our own generation when we're older." Since its Series D funding round in October 2020, Honor has added hundreds more caregiverswhom they call Care Prosand expanded its care delivery platform to four new states. In August 2021, Honor acquired Home Instead, the leading global franchisor of personalized, in-home care services. Today, the combined company serves over 100,000 older adults around the world every month, providing more than 80 million hours of care annually. "We believe investing is about backing companies with the potential to deliver transformational growth and better outcomes. With the rapidly growing population of older adults, the home care market provides a unique opportunity to transform an industry that has not yet benefited from technology," said Investment Researcher Anika Penn of Baillie Gifford. "Honor's technology and operations platform, in combination with its global Home Instead network, is poised to deliver consistent, high-quality care to exponentially more aging adults. We are honored to partner with them in realizing that vision." "Up until now, home care management has been based on intuition and anecdotes with no data infrastructure to analyze outcomes and spot long-term trends," Sternberg said. "By prioritizing the insights enabled by Honor's technology platform, we're fundamentally improving how we're able to deliver care for the rapidly growing population of older adults today and long into the future." ABOUT HONOR AND HOME INSTEAD Honor Technology, Inc. and Home Instead, Inc. are changing the way we care for aging adults and their families. Founded in 2014, Honor is the first company ever to bring technology solutions, operational support, and a large pool of caregivers to home care agencies across the U.S. Since 1994, Home Instead has been the world's leading provider of home care services for older adults, operating in the United States and 12 other countries. The combined company will support the work of more than 100,000 professional caregivers and meet the expanding needs of millions of older adults and their families around the world. For more information, visit joinhonor.com and HomeInstead.com. SOURCE Honor and Home Instead Related Links https://www.joinhonor.com https://www.homeinstead.com Horizon3.ai enables organizations to see their enterprise through the eyes of an attacker. Our autonomous penetration testing platform, NodeZero, continuously assesses your attack surface, identifying ways an attacker could chain together harvested credentials, misconfigurations, dangerous product defaults, and exploitable vulnerabilities to compromise your systems and data. Our core innovation is the use of knowledge graph analytics combined with adaptive attack algorithms. We give IT administrators and network engineers 'security superpowers,' enabling them to operate like ethical hackers with 20 years of experience. Our bigger vision is to deliver continuous attack paired with continuous defense, the ultimate purple team, executing an integrated learning loop that gets smarter with every interaction, all delivered as an Autonomous Security Platform. "Winning The Pitch, whose judges were comprised of enterprise executives and savvy investors, validates our thesis that Autonomous Pentesting is going to fundamentally change how enterprises assess, report, and improve their security posture. Ray and the Constellation team have an incredible network of thought leaders, which makes winning this award even more of an honor! We were thrilled to be part of the lineup." Snehal Antani, CEO and co-founder of Horizon3.ai To kick off the competition, over 100 enterprise startups from around the world were evaluated. Preliminary qualified applicants submitted 7-minute pitch videos of their latest ideas. The Constellation Academy judges determined finalists in six different categories and invited these companies to a closed room event to be grilled for 90 minutes. The Pitch winners were chosen for having the most innovative solutions, the highest growth in stakeholder wealth, and the best transformative business models. "The winners of The Pitch are arguably some of the best enterprise tech startups in their early stages of growth," said R "Ray" Wang, chairman and founder of Constellation Research. "The Constellation Academy judges found it hard to choose from so many impressive finalists, but this year's winner stood out from the rest based on their creative ideas and compelling pitch of growth and success. The Pitch was a hit with both the participants and judges, and we're already looking forward to next year." The Pitch was held as a virtual event this year, but Constellation plans to hold the event in a hybrid format in years to come. For more information, visit https://www.constellationr.com/events/thepitch2021 . For more information on Horizon3.ai and to register for the upcoming Executive Webinar, "Effective Security: Proactively Verifying Your Security Posture," visit https://www.horizon3.ai/effectivesecurity. About Horizon3.ai Horizon3.ai's mission is to help you find and fix attack vectors before attackers can exploit them. NodeZero, our autonomous penetration testing solution, is a true self-service SaaS offering that is safe to run in production and requires no persistent or credentialed agents. You will see your enterprise through the eyes of the attacker, identify your ineffective security controls, and ensure your limited resources are spent fixing problems that can actually be exploited. Founded in 2019 by industry, US Special Operations, and US National Security veterans, Horizon3.ai is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, and made in the USA. For a free trial, visit https://portal.horizon3ai.com To schedule a demo, visit https://pages.horizon3.ai/demo About Constellation Research Constellation Research is a technology research and advisory firm based in Silicon Valley. We deliver strategic guidance to companies seeking to transform their businesses through the early adoption of disruptive technology. Our analysts draw on their experiences as practitioners to deliver pragmatic advice to CXOs leading digital transformation within their organizations. Clients include board of directors, C-suite executives, line-of-business leaders, and IT visionaries who are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Our mission is to conduct research on emerging technologies, identify and validate trends, and empower our clients to succeed in the digital economy. Constellation Research also hosts DisrupTV, a show hosted by our founder R "Ray" Wang, which features disruptive leaders and reaches 40k+ viewers each week. Global Press Contacts: Hillary Blair Bisset and Ann Rinaldi Horizon3.ai Email: [email protected] Elle Froze & Hannah Hock Constellation Research Email: [email protected] SOURCE Horizon3.ai Related Links https://www.horizon3.ai NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Direct investments are a better representation of Congress' intent for EB-5: immigrants make an equity investment into a business that creates permanent U.S. jobs. 1. Direct EB-5 investments only count payroll jobs In the permanent direct EB-5 program, investments only count operational jobs; compare this to the currently expired Regional Center Program where construction workers, supplier jobs, and induced jobs (projected by local spending) are also counted. Greg Zaic runs 12-15 Diagnostics, a business that has created a low-cost and rapid COVID-19 testing device, and balks at induced job counting: "It's smoke and mirrors. Any kind of induced job calculation is the result of economic theory. I'd like to see any of that audited." 2. Direct EB-5 requires a true equity investment without a loan component Direct EB-5 investments are made directly into the job-creating business. However, regional center investments are made into an entity whose sole purpose is to raise and lend money. Invested capital is restructured as a loan to give more certainty of repayment to investors; the spirt of this opposes the EB-5 equity investment intention. EB-5 securities attorney Robert Cornish declares, "The Regional Center Program was meant to attract foreign capital as equity, but it has morphed over time into more of a lending mechanism." 3. Direct EB-5 investments grow vital businesses in almost any sector In less than three months since the Regional Center Program expired, businesses ranging from COVID-19 testing to bathroom-fixture manufacturing to addiction-treatment centers have created EB-5 offerings. Compare this to regional center investments which have focused almost exclusively on big real-estate developments in urban areas. Adityo Prakash of BreezLyte, manufacturer of possibly the world's most breathable N95 respirator masks, is a champion of direct EB-5 investing: "We ought to create jobs that aren't just low-wage, labour-intensive jobs; we should create higher-quality, higher-skilled jobs. The direct program creates a diversity of high-quality jobs that grow the economy." In the report What Ideas Are Worth: The Value of Intellectual Capital And Intangible Assets in the American Economy economists Kevin A. Hassett and Robert J. Shapiro declare innovation is the driver of the American economy and requires public and private investment. Direct EB-5 investments can support innovative businesses and thought leadership in almost any sector. 4. Direct EB-5 jobs are permanent by design Direct investments fund sustainable businesses, and direct jobs can be careers. In the Regional Center Program, jobs are calculated based on expenditures whether or not the project is successful. Veteran securities attorney Charles Kaufman observes, "Isn't that a perverse way to allocate billions in foreign direct investment? Direct EB-5 investment encourages investors to find projects that have the best prospects to succeed in the marketplace." 5. Direct investing isn't driven by special interests and doesn't push for gerrymandered maps Smaller businesses using direct capital don't drive political campaigns. Or lobby for less-restrictive Targeted Employment Area (TEA) rules. Conversely, giant real estate developers lobby for easier application of high-unemployment determinations the kind that allowed Hudson Yards in Manhattan to qualify as a distressed area and raise $1.2 billion of EB-5 capital. Greg Edwards of CryptoStopper, a ransomware-detection business seeking EB-5 direct capital, states: "We are proof that you can start a vital U.S. tech company in the cornfields of Iowa." 6. Fraud you don't hear about it with direct EB-5 investments A simpler offering structure makes EB-5 direct offerings more transparent. A search for "EB-5" on the SEC website yields 243 search results. Not a single result appears to be associated with a direct investment. Regional center investments have layers of entities that allow for potentially hidden and conflicted interests. The SEC warned regional center investors that "layers of companies run by the same individuals" can be a "hallmark of fraud." After 30 years, where EB-5 is and where it can go The Regional Center "Pilot" Program dominated EB-5. But it reduced a job-creation program into an offshore capital-raising vehicle that lowered the cost of borrowing for large real estate projects, while enriching overseas agents. And it has done little to create truly permanent jobs. Direct equity investments create actual, high-end jobs that can last decades and bolster the economies of smaller communities across the U.S. Wasn't that the intent of Congress when it created EB-5? Read the full article Author Kurt Reuss is a registered securities broker working exclusively in EB-5 since 2013, and founder of eb5Marketplace.com SOURCE eb5Marketplace Related Links www.eb5marketplace.com ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperspace Challenge, a business accelerator run by the Air Force Research Laboratory and CNM Ingenuity as part of the new SpaceWERX for the U.S. Space Force, announced today it has selected 13 startups and 11 university teams to participate in its 2021 cohort. Finalists comprising the cohort represent 13 states, as well as one company from Ottawa, Canada. The new cohort is tasked with the development of technology that can be applied to or solve problems in the space domain. This is the first year the program will include a formal university accelerator track which aims to increase collaboration opportunities between the federal government and university research teams, traditionally siloed from commercial and government innovation. "We are once again very pleased to discover companies and universities developing commercial solutions with applicability to the U.S. Space Force, U.S. Air Force and the Department of Energy that the government may not have otherwise considered through its normal channels," noted Gabe Mounce, Deputy Director of SpaceWERX, which includes Hyperspace Challenge. "We made a conscious decision this year to offer a more diverse set of problem areas than in years past, and we think that decision paid off in creating a cohort of companies and university teams that offer collective, synergistic innovation." The companies and universities selected to undertake this challenge include: Startup Cohort Astroport Space Technologies, Inc. ( San Antonio, TX ) ) Atomionics ( Albuquerque, NM ) ) G-SPACE, INC ( Sunnyvale, CA ) ) Knight Aerospace ( San Antonio, TX ) ) Lunar Outpost ( Evergreen, CO ) ) Neutron Star Systems USA Corp. ( Colorado Springs, CO ) Corp. ( ) O Analytics Incorporated ( White Hall, WV ) ) Obruta Space Solutions ( Ottawa, ON , Canada ) , ) Quaternion Consulting Inc ( Herndon, VA ) ) SCOUT ( Alexandria, VA ) ) TurnRock Labs ( Seattle, WA ) ) Varda Space Industries, Inc. ( Torrance, CA ) ) Vegamx ( New York, NY ) University Cohort Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL) New Mexico Tech ( Socorro, NM ) ( ) SFluor Inc. ( Albany, NY ) ) Stevens Institute of Technology ( Hoboken, NJ ) ( ) SUNY Polytechnic Institute ( Albany, NY ) ) Texas State University (San Marcos , TX) , TX) University of Texas at El Paso ( El Paso, TX ) ( ) The Pennsylvania State University ( Freeport, PA ) ( ) University of Cincinnati ( Cincinnati, OH ) ( ) University of Colorado Colorado Springs ( Colorado Springs, CO ) ( ) Utah State University ( Logan, UT ) During the initial phase of Hyperspace Challenge in early August, startups and university teams were invited to participate in the 2021 Discovery Sessions webinar series to meet with government customers and explore the relevance of their technology to government mission needs before applying to the accelerator. The webinar series focused on six key problem areas including rapid initial orbit determination, smart sensing and machine learning for ground based remote sensing of space objects, leveraging microgravity for military/commercial applications and products, rocket cargo technology for agile global logistics, quantum sensing for location and electromagnetic field detection, and on-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing. "The technologies and capabilities proposed by the academic sector toward our six problem areas were exceptional and made the selection process really tough," noted Mounce. "In concert with the other opportunities that SpaceWERX and the U.S. Space Force are rolling out to better engage the academic sector, this fully realized university cohort is poised to open up the field." The program will culminate in a showcase event, Hyperspace Summit, on December 2; registration for the event, which will be held virtually, will open in early November. Cohort finalists with the most viable technologies will be awarded a total of $100,000 in prize money to expedite follow-on activities related to establishing government acquisition or contracting opportunities. Launched in 2018, Hyperspace Challenge was designed to accelerate collaboration and foster contracts between startups and university teams, and government space agencies. To this end, the engagement the accelerator facilitates lowers the barriers to government-commercial partnership. It does this in large part by employing a methodology that focuses on building relationships between the startup and government communities that extend well beyond a cohort's conclusion. More information about the accelerator can be found at hyperspacechallenge.com. About the Hyperspace Challenge The Hyperspace Challenge was created in 2018 by the Air Force and CNM Ingenuity, the enterprise arm of Central New Mexico Community College, to accelerate collaboration among startups, university research teams and the government, and shift space innovation into hyperdrive. The accelerator, which is now directed by CNM Ingenuity in conjunction with the new U.S. Space Force, runs annually, and cultivates networks in an innovation ecosystem prioritizing connection and community over bureaucracy. To date, the accelerator has supported 37 small businesses and universities from across the U.S. and abroad. More information about the university program can be found at hyperspacechallenge.com. SOURCE Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) Related Links http://www.cnm.edu WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) hosted a testimonial luncheon in honor of Giuseppe Zafarana, General Commander of the Italian Guardia di Finanza (GdF). The luncheon, was preceded by a reception the evening before hosted by the Ambassador of Italy, Mariangela Zappia, which was attended by IACC President Bob Barchiesi. The reception and luncheon recognized Zafarana's leadership of the top law enforcement agency in Italy responsible for combatting counterfeits. During the event, the IACC and GdF discussed the expansion of the IACC's Law Enforcement Training App to the GdF's 70,000 staff nationwide, providing important information and brand contacts to enhance brand protection actions. "General Commander Zafarana is a steadfast partner in the fight against fakes," said Mr. Barchiesi. "We thank him and members of the GdF for their exemplary work and their valuable partnership. We look forward to building on our collective successes and continuing to advance the protection of IP and consumer safety in Italy." The IACC and the GdF have built a strong partnership since their first joint IP training program in 2015 during which more than 700 law enforcement and cadets in Rome and Bari, Italy participated. The two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2016 and cooperated on programs to facilitate increased communication between law enforcement and private industry. The GdF is a militarized police force under the Ministry of Economy and Finance responsible for enforcing against financial and economic crimes. Along with IP crimes, the GdF combats other crimes including tax evasion, fraud and corruption. Luminaries attending the luncheon included Brigadier General Salvatore Russo of the GdF; Tom Homan, Former Acting Director of ICE; Derek Benner, Former Executive Director of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Brad Buckles, EVP, RIAA and Former Director of ATF; and Steve Francis, Acting Executive Associate Director for HSI. About the IACC The IACC (www.iacc.org) is a Washington, DC-based not-for-profit organization representing the interests of companies concerned with trademark counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. The IACC membership include many of the world's best-known brands across all product sectors. The IACC has played a leading role in the development of cross-industry voluntary agreements, to address the illicit trafficking of counterfeit and pirated goods online, including its IACC MarketSafe and RogueBlock initiatives. SOURCE International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition Related Links http://www.iacc.org Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO, ICMM, said: "As the suppliers of the minerals and metals that are critical to decarbonisation and sustainable development, we have a particular responsibility to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment. ICMM members' collective commitment to net zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 is a pivotal moment in our history. We are speaking with one voice, representing approximately one third of the global mining and metals industry including more than 650 sites in over 50 countries so that we drive emissions reduction at a significant scale. "ICMM members have and will continue to set meaningful short and/or medium-term targets to build clear pathways to achieving this goal, while also accelerating action on addressing scope 3 emissions and enhancing disclosure. We encourage other mining and metals companies, suppliers and customers to join us in decarbonising commodity value chains so that we collectively accelerate climate action in our wider industry." Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion, said: "I welcome the leadership and joint ambition of ICMM members to commit to a goal of net-zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, and I strongly encourage companies to set scope 3 GHG emissions reduction targets by the end of 2023. The High-Level Climate Action Champions encourage members to strive to set the most ambitious science-based targets possible in line with the criteria of the Race to Zero campaign." Although we have individual decarbonisation targets which in some cases go beyond ICMM's collective commitment, this represents a joint ambition. The rate and nature of the ultimate decline in emissions will vary across the different commodities and geographies represented by our diverse membership. Yet our approach to individually setting and meeting targets will be consistent and include the following, no later than the end of 2023 where these do not already exist: Setting Scope 1 and 2 targets: we will build clear pathways to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, through meaningful short and/or medium-term targets. we will build clear pathways to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, through meaningful short and/or medium-term targets. Accelerating action on Scope 3 GHG emissions: we recognise that Scope 3 is critical to minimising our overall impact and we will set Scope 3 targets, if not by the end of 2023, as soon as possible. Although all Scope 3 action depends on the combined efforts of producers, suppliers and customers, some commodities face greater technological and collaborative barriers than others. We will play a leading role in overcoming these barriers and advancing partnerships that enable credible target setting and emission reductions across value chains. we recognise that Scope 3 is critical to minimising our overall impact and we will set Scope 3 targets, if not by the end of 2023, as soon as possible. Although all Scope 3 action depends on the combined efforts of producers, suppliers and customers, some commodities face greater technological and collaborative barriers than others. We will play a leading role in overcoming these barriers and advancing partnerships that enable credible target setting and emission reductions across value chains. Covering all material sources: our targets will cover all material sources of emissions, aligning to the GHG Protocol definition of organisational boundaries and materiality. our targets will cover all material sources of emissions, aligning to the GHG Protocol definition of organisational boundaries and materiality. Focussing on absolute reductions: for some operations, intensity rather than absolute targets may be more appropriate in the short and medium term. Where intensity targets are used, we will disclose the corresponding absolute increase or decrease in GHG emissions. for some operations, intensity rather than absolute targets may be more appropriate in the short and medium term. Where intensity targets are used, we will disclose the corresponding absolute increase or decrease in GHG emissions. Applying robust methodologies: we will use target-setting methodologies that are aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and disclose in detail the assumptions we use. we will use target-setting methodologies that are aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and disclose in detail the assumptions we use. Disclosing openly and transparently: we will report our progress on Scopes 1, 2 and 3 annually, obtain external verification over our performance, and report in alignment with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. These commitments are additional to and have been incorporated into an update of ICMM's Climate Change Position Statement which had several pre-existing commitments on performance and disclosure. Action on climate change is an integral part of ICMM's Mining Principles, representing the comprehensive commitment to a responsible mining and metals industry. Notes to editors This release has been translated from English by a third party. ICMM is not liable for any inaccuracies in this translation. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, French and Chinese versions of the open letter and ICMM's Climate Change Position Statement will be available on our website: The open letter is available here. is available here. ICMM's updated Climate Change Position Statement is available here. ICMM's CEO Rohitesh Dhawan will moderate a session at Reuters IMPACT with Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto, Hilde Aasheim, President & CEO of Hydro, Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF on 5 October at 16.30 BST to discuss how the mining and metals industry is making progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and how we can go further. Supporting assets are available to download from ICMM's media briefing pack (including quotes from several ICMM member CEOs and high res images from some of our company members that are available for publication with the piece please credit the source company). About ICMM ICMM is an international organisation dedicated to a safe, fair and sustainable mining and metals industry. Bringing together 28 mining and metals companies and over 35 regional and commodities associations, it strengthens environmental and social performance and serves as a catalyst for change, enhancing mining's contribution to society. Every ICMM company member adheres to its Mining Principles which incorporates comprehensive environmental, social and governance requirements, robust site-level validation of Performance Expectations and credible assurance of corporate sustainability reports. ICMM's 28 company members are: African Rainbow Minerals, Alcoa, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Antofagasta Minerals, Barrick, BHP, Boliden, Codelco, Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore, Gold Fields, Hydro, JX Nippon Mining & Metals, Minera San Cristobal, Minsur, Mitsubishi Materials, MMG, Newcrest, Newmont, Orano, Polyus, Rio Tinto, Sibanye Stillwater, South32, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Teck and Vale. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651343/ICMM_solar_panels.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651344/ICMM_Logo.jpg SOURCE International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) HOUSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Identity Automation, the digital identity platform for education, today announced the launch of a new compromised credentials monitoring service that can help K-12 schools and higher education institutions counter the growing threat of ransomware, data breaches and rising insurance costs. An add-on function to Identity Automation's flagship RapidIdentity platform, the new service searches the dark web for hacked username and password combinations and allows IT teams to quickly remediate the vulnerability. Powered by SpyCloud, the service notifies school IT administrators via a daily report when compromised data connected to any managed identity is discovered be it students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni or external third parties. Administrators can create custom automated responses via RapidIdentity, choosing actions such as monitoring digital identities and queries, ending sessions that are active with compromised credentials, locking accounts, requiring a password reset before restoring user access and/or implementing a multifactor authentication sign-on process for affected users. Benefits for schools that adopt a compromised credentials monitoring system may include: Lower cybersecurity insurance premiums Less risk of reputational damage due to a massive data breach Avoiding the necessity of paying a ransom to unlock hacked systems and recover data An opportunity to refocus resources by automating compromised credential alert responses Sensitive information pertaining to students, staff and parents is safe and secured Cybercriminals are targeting K-12 schools and higher education institutions at an alarming rate, drawn by the massive pool of data that school systems contain, including personal identifying information for students without a credit history. Hackers have gained access to student, device and/or faculty accounts and launched horizontal attacks across networks. A recent report in eSchool News points to a dramatic increase in ransomware incidents targeting schools late last year, with schools making up 57% of all targeted organizations, more than double the rate reported in the first half of 2020. Identity Automation's new compromised credentials monitoring service is unique because it's not a standalone reporting service; it's integrated into the best IAM platform available to educational institutions, RapidIdentity, and fueled by SpyCloud, a trusted solution provider protecting over 2 billion employee and consumer identities from account takeover for some of the most well-known brands on the planet. "Preventing ransomware is possible by negating the top attack vector: credentials that have been exposed in data breaches," explained Cassio Mello, SVP of Business Development at SpyCloud. "This service gives schools early identification of compromised accounts, enabling them to take action quickly and prevent cyber attacks that leverage recently-breached identity data." "Our compromised credentials monitoring service can help schools avoid the fate of other education organizations that have paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom or suffered massive data loss from a hacking incident," said Identity Automation CEO Jim Harold. "And because it's integrated with the RapidIdentity platform, IT administrators can automate responses and focus on singular threat vectors instead of analyzing credential issues. This approach is more secure and more efficient." About Identity Automation Identity Automation provides identity and access management (IAM) solutions for K-12 and higher education. Its flagship platform, RapidIdentity, safeguards learning environments, maximizes instructional time, and minimizes the load on Information & Educational Technology teams. Technology leaders turn to RapidIdentity for its best-in-class security capabilities, time-saving automation, and flexible approach to managing digital identities. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Identity Automation is trusted by Chicago Public Schools, Public Schools of North Carolina, University of Rochester, Houston Community College, and hundreds of other institutions. To learn more about partnering with Identity Automation, visit identityautomation.com . About SpyCloud SpyCloud protects consumers, employees, suppliers, and citizens globally from the dangers of compromised identity. Its solutions make breached information actionable to prevent fraud, enabling a proactive, automated response that negates the value of stolen data before it can be used to cause harm. Its data also powers many popular dark web monitoring and identity theft protection offerings. SpyCloud customers include four of the ten largest global enterprises, mid-size companies, and government agencies around the world. Headquartered in Austin, TX, SpyCloud is home to over 100 cybersecurity experts who aim to make the internet a safer place. To learn more and see an overview of your company's exposed data, visit spycloud.com . Contact Kasey Thomas [email protected] SOURCE Identity Automation Related Links https://www.identityautomation.com/ RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is thrilled to partner with Special Needz Coffee (SNC) to honor both Diversity Awareness and National Disability Employment Awareness Month. SNC is a mobile coffee shop in Ontario, California, that provides work opportunities to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Nearly 95% of the staff at SNC identify as persons with disabilities. Special Needz Coffee Administrative Director and employee Zachary Hill at their location in Ontario, CA. IEHP is thrilled to partner with Special Needz Coffee to honor both Diversity Awareness and National Disability Employment Awareness Month! "This is the first time IEHP has partnered with SNC, but it will not be the last," said Marisol Pilotin, IEHP Community Health Representative. "Every October, our Independent Living and Diversity Services teams organize informational workshops and trainings for our Team Members that highlight the importance of equity and inclusion. SNC is an incredible model of that, and the positive impacts on both their extraordinary employees and the community are undeniable." The partnership includes the purchase and distribution of SNC coffee vouchers for IEHP Team Members (employees) who participate in various trainings and events throughout the month. Employees from SNC will also join the health plan as guest speakers at a virtual workshop titled, Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities. "Partnering with IEHP during Diversity Awareness Month helps us fulfill our mission of raising awareness and empowering individuals with special needs and/or mental illnesses," said Mia Humphreys, SNC Administrative Director. "Special Needz Coffee and IEHP share the common goal of promoting acceptance of everyone's differences, whether they are based on racial, cultural, religious, or political beliefs, and, most importantly, their mental or physical abilities. We are both working toward providing individuals with special needs an equal opportunity to work at organizations that promote diversity and inclusivity." SNC's mobile coffee shop sets up in Ontario at 2920 Inland Empire Blvd. Suite 108 (in the parking lot near the freeway). The shop is open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. "We're really looking forward to continuing our partnership with SNC beyond this month's celebration," said Jose Solorzano, IEHP Community Health Representative. "Diversity should be celebrated every day, and we really appreciate that SNC reminds adults with disabilities that, through challenges and differences, they are able to make a positive impact in this world." To learn more about SNC, visit specialneedzcoffee.com. About IEHP With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. In its 25th year, IEHP is supporting more than 1.4 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plans and has a growing network of over 7,300 providers and nearly 2,500 Team Members. Through dynamic partnerships with Providers and Community Organizations, paired with award-winning service and a tradition of quality care, IEHP is fully committed to their vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. For more information, visit iehp.org. SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) Related Links http://www.iehp.org MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The IMAGINE Group ("IMAGINE" or "the Company"), a leading provider of visual communications today announced a series of appointments across its Executive Leadership Team to build upon its business transformation efforts and position the Company for long-term growth. All appointments will report to Chief Executive Officer Chris Cavanaugh, and are effective as of September 30, 2021. Marilyn Schullo has been appointed Chief Operating Officer at IMAGINE. Schullo is an experienced technology professional and previously served as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at 3M for the United States and Canada. In this role, Schullo focused on expanding operational excellence at 3M, ensuring all customers' needs were met. Previously, Schullo held several positions such as a Process Engineer, Plant Manager, and Director of Global Supply Chain. In line with this deep expertise in manufacturing and improving processes and systems, Schullo has experience in Lean Six Sigma, and understands how to effectively drive forward business transformations. She attended the University of Minnesota, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering. Wilson Tang will join IMAGINE as the Company's first Chief Innovation Officer. Tang is an award-winning creative leader with experience working for companies such as Google, Amazon, and The Freeman Company. During his time at Freeman, Tang spearheaded new company-wide initiatives, including the creation and development of augmented/virtual reality labs, and artificial intelligence applications. Tang also led Freeman to develop new business services and technologies to further its growth strategy. At IMAGINE, Tang will bring his strong knowledge of applying creative applications to further IMAGINE's vision, allowing it to be the industry's premier visual communications provider. Tang attended Florida State University where he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts. Andy Lewkowicz has been named Chief Customer Officer at IMAGINE. Lewkowicz is a knowledgeable business leader, and previously served as Senior Vice President of RR Donnelley's GO Creative business unit. During his time at RR Donnelley, Lewkowicz led Sales, Marketing, and Operations across North America. Additionally, Lewkowicz founded and was President of RR Donnelley's Healthcare Communications Solutions business unit, leading composition, printing, and fulfillment solutions. During his time at IMAGINE, Lewkowicz will leverage his experience developing and delivering transformational, creative, and operational support services for companies to lead IMAGINE's go-to-market strategy, and sales and account management activities. Lewkowicz attended Colgate University and has a degree in Economics. "Marilyn, Wilson, and Andy all have impressive histories of driving success through innovation and transformation. They are perfect leaders for our organization, aligned with our core principles of customer centricity, operational excellence, and bringing new solutions to our clients," said Chris Cavanaugh, CEO of IMAGINE. "I am confident that within each of them is a strong leader who will bring IMAGINE to its fullest potential and allow us to continue accelerating our growth, innovating our technology, and expanding our business strategy. On behalf of the entire management team and Board of Directors, I'm thrilled to welcome Marilyn, Wilson, and Andy to help lead and support the extraordinary team at IMAGINE." About IMAGINE IMAGINE is an industry-leading national provider of visual print communications and experiential marketing solutions. From concept to consumer, IMAGINE partners with companies to realize a better way via teams of trained experts that listen, understand, and move at the speed of change to deliver beautiful pieces that inspire. IMAGINE offers a seamless end-to-end journey including innovative solutions in concepting, pre-media, direct mail, out-of-home, decor, commercial print, location signage, specialty packaging, and fulfillment, backed by state-of-the-art equipment and processes. The IMAGINE family of companies includes IMAGINE Charlotte, IMAGINE Chicago, IMAGINE Twin Cities and IMAGINE Los Angeles/Midnight Oil Agency. Imagine a better way at www.theimaginegroup.com. Contact: Rachel Chesley [email protected] SOURCE The IMAGINE Group Diageo and its brands Johnnie Walker, Buchanan's Scotch Whisky, Tequila Don Julio and Crown Royal will proudly amplify the work of these street food vendors who share their authentic culture and heritage within the communities they serve in four major cities across America: New York, Chicago, Houston and Miami. Diageo selected local vendors who have deep roots in each community, and paired them with artists of Hispanic descent who will revitalize their trucks with vibrant murals that celebrate the heritage and story of the vendor. The program begins in Queens, New York, where Johnnie Walker will honor the boundary-pushing and inspiring story of a twenty year-old Ecuadorian-owned community staple, Mike's Express food truck. Maggie Morales, the owner of Mike's, has carved her own path as a proud Latina woman serving her community through food. Maggie lost her beloved husband Jorge in 2020 but has continued their family business on her own, persevering within the hospitality industy thanks to the support of friends and family. Diageo paired Maggie with global artist and activist Magda Love, whose vibrant paintings and murals inspire people to recognize the value in shared personal experiences and emotional connectivity. Magda created a mural speaking to the Morales family's decades of service to their long-time customers, and captured Maggie's big heart, warm energy and fighting spirit. The truck's vivid hues include brightly colored flowers and foliage native to Ecuador, a big blue night sky sparkling with stars, and butterflies symbolizing Maggie's transformation into a leader in her community and a voice for change. Diageo and its brands will continue supporting Hispanic artists across the country by pairing them with street food vendors to collaborate, creating visual stories and custom artwork inspired by the business owners' heritage and stories of dedication, perseverance and service, as they strive to keep their culture alive and their communities moving forward. "At first glance, this initiative is a celebration of elements of Hispanic heritage that we know and love: food and art," commented Phil Pearson, Multicultural Director at Diageo. "But it's really about people using their hands to serve and elevate their communities. These small business owners and artists are creating a world that's more accepting and inviting, and that's why we really want to honor and celebrate them. Diageo is honored to support their commitment to preserving Hispanic culture, while they amplify a conversation around diversity and inclusion that impacts every American." Diageo will also help preserve Hispanic street food culture through a partnership with The Street Vendor Project, a nonprofit advocating for street vendor rights. Through a donation, Diageo will support the partner's mission to serve as a resource to street food vendors, ultimately enabling America to continue to experience these owners, their culture, their passion and their grit, one street food experience at a time. To learn more about when the program will be rolling out in new cities and to stay up to date on events supporting the local food vendors, be sure to follow @Diageo_NA on Instagram. About DIAGEO Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan's whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Casamigos, DeLeon and Don Julio tequilas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Tanqueray and Guinness. Diageo is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE: DGE) and their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information about Diageo, their people, brands, and performance, visit www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo's global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice. Follow at Twitter and Instagram for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA. SOURCE Diageo North America IOWA CITY, Iowa, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iotaMotion Inc., a leader in developing advanced surgical systems for cochlear implant surgery, announced FDA granted its' De Novo classification request to market the iotaSOFT insertion system. iotaSOFT is the world's first and only robotic-assisted insertion technology intended to aid surgeons in placement of cochlear implant electrode arrays by controlling the speed of implant insertion. The system is poised to become a fixture in the cochlear implant space, designed as a small, thumb-sized, open platform robotic technology that is compatible with a variety of implants and fits seamlessly into existing surgical workflows. "We are excited to introduce the iotaSOFT insertion system, the world's first and only commercially authorized by the FDA robotic assisted insertion system for cochlear implantation, which objectively offers precision and control beyond human capability," said Christopher Kaufmann, MD, President and CEO of iotaMotion. "We are thankful for the continued support of our world-renowned clinical advisors and scientific advisory board and are excited to begin commercialization of this first-of-its kind technology. The iotaSOFT system advances our vision of creating a suite of integrated capabilities to provide robotic precision, operative data analytics, and real-time guidance to all surgeons as we work together to improve outcomes for our patients." The iotaSOFT system is a thumb-sized bone-mounted robotic device that works in conjunction with the surgeon during insertion of the cochlear implant electrode array. The system is designed to reduce electrode array insertion variability and forces. It is compatible with a wide and growing variety of available cochlear implants. Notably, the surgeon controls the precise motion capabilities of the robotic-assisted insertion, while still using their technical skills, training, and experience. "Historically, cochlear implant electrode arrays have been placed solely by hand with forceps and other manual instrumentation. With the advent of robotic-assisted systems like the iotaSOFT, we will now have the ability to place the electrode into the delicate, tiny structures of the cochlea with the added precision and stability that robotic assistance provides." said Marlan Hansen, MD, iotaMotion Medical Director and Department of Otolaryngology Chair at the University of Iowa. "There are clear opportunities to improve outcomes, optimize preservation of existing function, and support consistent results for surgeons and patients in the US and around the world." "We look forward to working closely with surgeons, hospitals, and implant partners alike, in building out broad iotaSOFT system adoption with the goal of creating a new standard of care for cochlear implantation." said Eric B. Timko, Executive Chairman of the Board. "This is the first of several applications where a minimal footprint, surgeon-friendly robotic-assisted solution will improve standardization and efficiency." iotaSOFT will be available to healthcare professionals and patients in the coming months through a controlled commercialization schedule. To learn more about iotaSOFT system visit https://www.iotamotion.com/iotasoft. Please refer to the labeling for a complete list of warnings, precautions and contraindications. IOTAMOTION, INC. A privately-held Iowa based company, iotaMotion is developing robotic technologies with the goal of focused, individualized, hearing loss treatment. The company's solutions aim to standardize cochlear implant insertion, and to provide unprecedented control in surgical care settings with the goal of expanding access to cochlear interventions for both surgeons and patients. For more information, visit https://iotamotion.com or contact Christopher Kaufmann at [email protected]. SOURCE iotaMotion, Inc. Related Links http://www.iotamotion.com NASHVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology consulting company, UDig, is proving the power of having the right team. In March 2020, the firm celebrated the opening of its Cool Springs office with a cocktail reception for its team, clients, and community partners. Williamson County registered its first COVID case the same day and closed schools the day after. Despite this challenging timing, UDig has outpaced its ambitious goals. Meg Chamblee, Executive Vice President, Tennessee, believes the firm's transparent communication style, focus on business value for their clients, and commitment to building a team that includes women at all levels have directly contributed to this growth. Currently, women account for approximately 50% of UDig's Nashville team due to strategically recruiting a diverse set of candidates for each position. While UDig has had the most success with gender diversity to date, the firm is focused on recruiting candidates from all backgrounds. "Diversity makes a company stronger. When you have people with different perspectives and backgrounds, you can offer clients the novel solutions they need to adapt and stay ahead," says Chamblee. "Technology consulting is about more than just tech. We must listen to our clients, understand their challenges, and deliver solutions that can improve the way they do business. Having a diverse team helps us build trusted relationships and better understand everyone we work with." In keeping with this focus, the UDig Nashville location recently welcomed two women in leadership roles. Elise Holmes joined the firm as Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition, bringing over a decade of combined technical recruitment, campus recruitment, and HR experience. Katie Prevost will apply her client acquisition and account management expertise as Vice President, Business Development. Along with hiring and recruiting women, UDig is also helping to nurture the next generation of tech leaders through its involvement in Women in Technology of Tennessee (WITT). Chamblee is President of the nonprofit organization, Holmes is Director of Scholarships, and Prevost is a former board member and active volunteer. In addition, UDig funds an annual scholarship for women studying technology at a Tennessee school. "I've worked with numerous consulting firms over the years, and UDig's commitment to partnership and transparency is powerful," says client and CIO of Clayton, Stephanie Flood. "As a fellow female leader, I enjoy seeing what's possible when women are in positions to lead and drive change, and I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for UDig." About UDig UDig is a technology consulting firm with locations in Richmond, Nashville, and Washington, D.C. Our team supports businesses throughout the southeast and mid-Atlantic markets. We believe in the power of innovation and know that solutions are only as powerful as the people who craft, curate, and use them. Visit us at udig.com. SOURCE UDig LLC Related Links www.udig.com ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Jennifer R. Santiago, MD is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Trusted Physician in the field of Obstetrics & Gynecology and acknowledgment of her exceptional contributions at GW Medical Faculty Associates. Jennifer R. Santiago, MD Deeply rooted in academics and research, The GW Medical Faculty Associates is the first medical school in the nation's capital and the 11th oldest in the United States. The highly trusted physicians teach and mentor medical students, residents, and researchers at The GW University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. Additionally, The GW Medical Faculty Associates is committed to building a lasting relationship with their patients and has maintained its reputation for clinical excellence and quality care. Board-Certified OB/GYN Dr. Jennifer R. Santiago began practicing in Virginia in 2004 and has established her reputation as one of the most trusted and distinguished in her field. She is currently providing quality and compassionate services in general medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at GW Medical Faculty Associates. Prior to her current role, she joined the staff at Perfectly Female Women's Healthcare in Reston, Virginia until 2007 and then went on to OBGYN Associates of N. VA Ltd. Until 2014, she treated a multitude of patients, demonstrating the highest level of professionalism, integrity, and compassion. In light of her academic achievements, Dr. Santiago attended Bryn Mawr College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1995. She went on to obtain her Medical Degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Her career began as a resident physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She remains a member of the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology. In her spare time, Dr. Santiago enjoys reading, running, hiking, and performing. For further information, please visit https://www.gwdocs.com/. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (the Company) announced it has submitted data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support use of a booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in individuals 18 years of age and older. The submission includes recent results from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE 2 study that found a booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine given 56 days after the primary dose provided 94 percent protection against symptomatic (moderate to severe/critical) COVID-19 in the U.S. (CI, 58%-100%) and 100 percent protection (CI, 33%-100%) against severe/critical COVID-19, at least 14 days post-booster vaccination. Also part of the submission is Phase 1/2a data showing that when a booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was given six months after the single shot, antibody levels increased nine-fold one week after the booster and continued to climb to 12-fold higher four weeks after the booster. The vaccine, when given as a booster or primary dose, was generally well-tolerated. "Our clinical program has found that a booster of our COVID-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent. We look forward to our discussions with the FDA and other health authorities to support their decisions regarding boosters," said Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head, Janssen Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson. "At the same time, we continue to recognize that a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that provides strong and long-lasting protection remains a crucial component to vaccinating the global population." Last month, the Company released data reinforcing the strong and long-lasting protection of its COVID-19 vaccine. The largest real-world evidence study for a COVID-19 vaccine reported to date in the U.S. demonstrated stable vaccine effectiveness of 79 percent (CI, 77%-80%) for COVID-19-related infections and 81 percent (CI, 79%-84%) for COVID-19-related hospitalizations. There was no evidence of reduced effectiveness over the study duration from March to July 31, 2021. Comparable vaccine effectiveness was demonstrated when the study was extended to August 31, 2021, for an overall study duration of six months, including when the Delta variant became dominant in the U.S. Sequencing data were not available for analysis. These data were consistent with the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE trial, where strong protection against severe/critical disease and death was observed at least 28 days post-final vaccination. Interim results from a Phase 1/2a sub-study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July demonstrated that both humoral (antibody) and cellular (T-cell) immune responses generated by the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine were strong and stable through eight months after immunization, the length of time evaluated in the study. These peer-reviewed data provide further and deeper insights into the durable humoral and cellular immune responses elicited by the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, thus offering potentially a dual mechanism of protection against COVID-19 disease, including against disease caused by the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) and other SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. The cellular immune response induced by the Company's AdVac platform is strong and plays a role in both protection and durability. The Company plans to submit the data to other regulators, the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) worldwide to inform decision-making on local vaccine administration strategies, as needed. The Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, developed by its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, received an EUA in the United States on February 27, 2021 and Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) by the European Commission on March 11. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued Emergency Use Listing on March 12, and the Company received an interim recommendation by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization for the WHO on March 17. Many more authorizations have been granted in countries worldwide, and regulatory submissions are ongoing. For more information on the Company's multi-pronged approach to helping combat the pandemic, visit: www.jnj.com/covid-19. Authorized Use The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for use in the U.S. under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for active immunization to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 18 years of age and older. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION WHAT SHOULD YOU MENTION TO YOUR VACCINATION PROVIDER BEFORE YOU GET THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE? Tell the vaccination provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you: have any allergies have a fever have a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinner are immunocompromised or are on a medicine that affects your immune system are pregnant or plan to become pregnant are breastfeeding have received another COVID-19 vaccine have ever fainted in association with an injection WHO SHOULD NOT GET THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE? You should not get the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine if you: had a severe allergic reaction to any ingredient of this vaccine. HOW IS THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE GIVEN? The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine will be given to you as an injection into the muscle. The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine vaccination schedule is a single dose. WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE? Side effects that have been reported with the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine include: Injection site reactions: pain, redness of the skin, and swelling General side effects: headache, feeling very tired, muscle aches, nausea, fever Swollen lymph nodes Unusual feeling in the skin (such as tingling or a crawling feeling) (paresthesia), decreased feeling or sensitivity, especially in the skin (hypoesthesia) Persistent ringing in the ears (tinnitus) Diarrhea, vomiting Severe Allergic Reactions There is a remote chance that the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine could cause a severe allergic reaction. A severe allergic reaction would usually occur within a few minutes to one hour after getting a dose of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. For this reason, your vaccination provider may ask you to stay at the place where you received your vaccine for monitoring after vaccination. Signs of a severe allergic reaction can include: Difficulty breathing Swelling of your face and throat A fast heartbeat A bad rash all over your body Dizziness and weakness Blood Clots with Low Levels of Platelets Blood clots involving blood vessels in the brain, lungs, abdomen, and legs along with low levels of platelets (blood cells that help your body stop bleeding), have occurred in some people who have received the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. In people who developed these blood clots and low levels of platelets, symptoms began approximately one to two weeks following vaccination. Reporting of these blood clots and low levels of platelets has been highest in females ages 18 through 49 years. The chance of having this occur is remote. You should seek medical attention right away if you have any of the following symptoms after receiving Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: Shortness of breath Chest pain Leg swelling Persistent abdominal pain Severe or persistent headaches or blurred vision Easy bruising or tiny blood spots under the skin beyond the site of the injection These may not be all the possible side effects of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. Serious and unexpected effects may occur. The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine is still being studied in clinical trials. Guillain Barre Syndrome Guillain Barre syndrome (a neurological disorder in which the body's immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis) has occurred in some people who have received the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. In most of these people, symptoms began within 42 days following receipt of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. The chance of having this occur is very low. You should seek medical attention right away if you develop any of the following symptoms after receiving the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: Weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, that's worsening and spreading to other parts of the body Difficulty walking Difficulty with facial movements, including speaking, chewing, or swallowing Double vision or inability to move eyes Difficulty with bladder control or bowel function WHAT SHOULD I DO ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS? If you experience a severe allergic reaction, call 9-1-1, or go to the nearest hospital. Call the vaccination provider or your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away. Report vaccine side effects to FDA/CDC Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The VAERS toll-free number is 1-800-822-7967 or report online to https://vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html. Please include "Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine EUA" in the first line of box #18 of the report form. In addition, you can report side effects to Janssen Biotech Inc. at 1-800-565-4008. Please read Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) including full EUA Prescribing Information available at www.JanssenCOVID19Vaccine.com/EUA-factsheet About Johnson & Johnson At Johnson & Johnson, we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. That's why for more than 130 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the world's largest and most broadly-based healthcare company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. We strive to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. We are blending our heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity. Learn more at www.jnj.com. Follow us at @JNJNews. About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson At Janssen, we're creating a future where disease is a thing of the past. We're the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, working tirelessly to make that future a reality for patients everywhere by fighting sickness with science, improving access with ingenuity, and healing hopelessness with heart. We focus on areas of medicine where we can make the biggest difference: Cardiovascular & Metabolism, Immunology, Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Neuroscience, Oncology, and Pulmonary Hypertension. Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at @JanssenGlobal. Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding development of a potential preventive vaccine for COVID-19. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; manufacturing difficulties and delays; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; product efficacy or safety concerns resulting in product recalls or regulatory action; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2021, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and in the company's most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the company's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies nor Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments. SOURCE Johnson & Johnson Related Links www.jnj.com Healthy campus environments have a direct positive influence on student achievement and wellness Tweet this "Now is the time for educators to invest in indoor air quality and move into the future of healthy living, sustainability and learning," said Jaime Paris Boisvert, director for the higher education market at Johnson Controls. "We know healthy campus environments have a direct positive influence on student achievement and wellness. Now, campuses must also address short-term COVID-19 needs along with those long-term health goals. We're honored to work on so many forward-looking projects that will optimize the campus experience for years to come. Because while infrastructure has always played a significant public health role, upgrades shouldn't begin and end with COVID-19." Healthy, optimized campus experiences As a majority of North American colleges and universities reopened campuses fully for the fall semester, they required modernized and resilient infrastructure. Johnson Controls OpenBlue Healthy Buildings empowers higher education stakeholders to optimize their buildings to create a new standard for safety, wellness and efficiency. Clean air solutions help mitigate the spread of airborne pathogens, touchless security minimizes contamination and flexible facility solutions allow campus leaders to rapidly repurpose spaces as needed. Through OpenBlue, these solutions can be automated for scalable, efficient and ongoing optimization. To deliver a safe, healthy and connected campus environment ahead of the fall 2021 semester, East Central College in Union, MO selected long-time partner Johnson Controls. Leveraging federal relief and stimulus funding and a turnkey approach, Johnson Controls building experts commissioned a comprehensive and integrated healthy building solution. They installed high-efficiency MERV-13 filters, UV-C disinfection technologies, upgraded heat pumps and Metasys controls. The applied solutions will enable East Central College to improve air quality while maximizing classroom comfort to support improved learning outcomes. Long-term revenue impact Regardless of endowment size, the pandemic's negative impact on tuition and donations have tightened the margins of colleges and universities throughout the country. For many, the solution to fostering revenue recovery and positioning for future growth lies in instilling confidence in the safety of campuses for students, staff, faculty and their families by making clear commitments to their health. "Schools that get their return to campus right will not only have a successful semester but will remain competitive to health-conscious applicants and donors in the future. How campuses welcome back students this fall can impact revenue for years to come," said Paris Boisvert. A sustainable learning environment Global decarbonization targets and increasingly sustainability-minded applicants, donors and communities have driven higher education stakeholders to commit to ambitious sustainability goals. However, many energy efficiency and renewable energy projects were suspended or cancelled during the pandemic. OpenBlue Healthy Buildings ultimately allows schools to safely bring students back on campus, freeing up capital that can be reinvested in sustainability initiatives that keep colleges and universities on schedule in reaching their decarbonization targets. Johnson Controls has served 2,887 higher education campuses in North America, powering their missions for exceptional student experiences through healthy, connected and sustainable infrastructure. To learn more, visit, "The Link Between Healthy Campuses, Healthy People, and Better Learning." About Johnson Controls At Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world's largest portfolio of building technology, software as well as service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter. SOURCE Johnson Controls International plc Related Links http://www.johnsoncontrols.com LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, K2 Integrity announced Jason Wright has joined the firm's London office as a Managing Director in its Investigations and Risk Advisory practice. Wright brings two decades of global experience in complex investigations and strategic intelligence projects, with a focus on Europe, the United Kingdom, and Asia. "Jason is an excellent addition to our Investigations and Risk Advisory team in EMEA. He is highly regarded in the industryparticularly in asset management firmsfor helping maximize opportunities and minimize risk in acquisitions, disputes, and additional matters. We look forward to working with Jason as a critical member of our team," said Darren Matthews, Executive Managing Director and Regional Head of EMEA. "Globally, K2 Integrity is committed to working with clients to better understand and manage their unique risks to enable better outcomes in an ever-evolving landscape. Bringing Jason on board deepens our bench of experienced subject-matter experts, helping us to serve our clients more efficiently and effectively," said Robert Brenner, Global Co-Managing Partner, K2 Integrity. Prior to joining K2 Integrity, Wright was founder and Managing Director of Argo Associates Limited, a business intelligence and political risk consultancy headquartered in Hong Kong. He focused on high-value and complex business intelligence projects, political risk assignments, litigation support, and fraud investigations, primarily for asset management companies and corporate entities. Prior to leading Argo Associates, Wright held varying roles in the corporate investigations industry for over 12 years, spending more than five years in senior management roles. Wright received an M.A. in state management and humanitarian studies from La Sapienza University in Rome and an M.A. (Oxon) from St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, where he was a scholar. He is fluent in Italian and speaks basic Korean and Mandarin. Learn more about Jason Wright and K2 Integrity's Investigations and Risk Advisory practice. About K2 Integrity K2 Integrity helps clients understand and manage risk so they can lead with confidence in a complex worldand build organizations that are safer, more transparent, and more resilient. By encouraging and enabling organizations to act with integrity, we can increase trust in institutions and promote prosperity and growth throughout the world. K2 Integrity has realized this promise in its role as the preeminent risk, compliance, investigations, and monitoring firmbuilt by industry leaders, driven by interdisciplinary teams, and supported by cutting-edge technology to safeguard clients' operations, reputations, and economic security. K2 Integrity represents the merger of K2 Intelligence, founded by Jeremy M. Kroll and Jules B. Kroll, the originator of the modern corporate investigations industry, and Financial Integrity Network (FIN), founded by Juan Zarate and Chip Poncy, former senior Treasury and U.S. government officials responsible for helping shape the modern AML/CFT regime. To learn more about how K2 Integrity is revolutionizing the management of risk, visit www.k2integrity.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn. CONTACT: Lindsay Sweeney Senior Manager, Communications [email protected] SOURCE K2 Integrity Related Links https://www.k2integrity.com Following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ("FDA") decision to deny marketing authorization for flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems ("ENDS"), which Bidi Vapor is challenging with respect to its BIDI Stick, Kaival Brands and Bidi Vapor are excited to announce they are augmenting their focus on and attention to international markets where they have full market and product approvals to distribute the entire BIDI Stick product line (including non-tobacco flavors). While flavored ENDS face hurdles to get back on the U.S. market, the products remain legal in much of the world. Throughout the past twelve months, Bidi Vapor has received marketing and distribution approval in 11 global markets, including the United Kingdom ("UK") and Russia. Given the favorable dynamics of the UK market (outlined below), Bidi Vapor and Kaival Brands are now focusing substantial time and strategic efforts on targeting the UK market. The Company believes that it has the budget to commit to marketing, staffing, and executing a successful strategy in the UK. Simultaneous to building out our UK infrastructure, the Company is actively discussing formalizing international distribution agreements with some of its current U.S. customers who also have global distribution capabilities. THE UK VAPE MARKET: ATTRACTIVE FIT FOR BIDI VAPOR We believe the UK is an attractive market in which to launch our products internationally, with subsequent plans to roll out across the European Union, which represents a current ENDS market of $2.5 billion, and is expected to reach $3.9 billion by 2023.1 UK Market Snapshot: Mature market of adult consumers Average consumer age range of 35-45 years old, versus 18-24 in the United States Adult consumers (cigarette smokers) are motivated to transition to vape products2 Bidi Vapor created the BIDI Stick to serve as a true, effective alternative for adult smokers of traditional combustible cigarettes, not as a product designed to attract first-time nicotine users. We believe that the UK market presents a strong fit as a market, as UK ENDS consumers are largely composed of current and former smokers, with under 3.5% of the total adult ENDS consumer population being represented by "never smokers." CONTINUED U.S. DOMESTIC MARKET OPPORTUNITY The FDA received PMTAs covering over 6.5 million ENDS products from over 500 manufacturers prior to the September 9, 2020 court-ordered PMTA submission deadline. To date, the FDA has not approved a single PMTA for an ENDS product, and has rejected millions of applications for flavored ENDS. The FDA has indicated applications are still pending for review for tobacco and menthol ENDS; importantly, we believe PMTAs outstanding for closed-system tobacco and menthol ENDS are representative of 10 or fewer companies, making Bidi Vapor one of a select group. As such, while Bidi Vapor is hopeful that the courts will grant relief in its marketing denial challenge, either way we anticipate Bidi Vapor will eventually receive authorization for its tobacco and menthol BIDI Sticks. While the FDA's recent actions with respect to PMTAs have likely eliminated a significant number of suppliers to the ENDS market, we believe that the actions will have minimal impact on adult consumer demand for ENDS products. In fact, we view the dynamics of the U.S. ENDS market to be more favorable to Bidi Vapor after the PMTA decision process than before. Prior to the recent PMTA update, there were hundreds of companies competing in the marketplace. Now, a much smaller number of larger companies with sufficient resources to develop the scientific evidence needed to meet the FDA's high public health protection standard have a chance to complete the rigorous PMTA process for tobacco and menthol ENDS BLUE SKIES AHEAD We have a fortified balance sheet and are laser-focused on resuming our revenue growth. Our near-term focus will be on the growth opportunities that we see in the UK and Europe, and having obtained necessary marketing and distribution approvals outside of the U.S. in the past year, we believe that we are now in a strong position in regards to executing our international plan. In the U.S., with reduced competition, we intend to reclaim our dominant market share in the U.S. for non-flavored vape products and anticipate enjoying higher visibility of orders as well as higher order price points. "We have weathered two storms: COVID-19 and the FDA's universal decision on flavored ENDs. These events had negative consequences for our business, but we believe the storm is over. After the rain, the sun comes out. We are well capitalized, and it is my belief we have the best ENDS product on the market for adult consumers. Our goals are to have a strong first year in the UK and to recapture our leading market share in ENDS in the U.S.," notes Kaival Brand's Founder & CEO, Niraj Patel. About Kaival Brands Innovations Group, Inc. Based in Grant, Florida, Kaival Brands is a company focused on growing and incubating innovative and profitable products into mature and dominant brands in their respective markets. Our vision is to develop internally, acquire, own, or exclusively distribute these innovative products and grow each into dominant market-share brands with superior quality and recognizable innovation. Kaival Brands is the exclusive global distributor of all products manufactured by Bidi Vapor. 1.Source: Statista. 2.Action on Smoking and Health (ASH): "Use of e-cigarettes (vapes) among adults in Great Britain," June 2021 Forward Looking Statements This press release includes statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws, which are statements other than historical facts that frequently use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "position," "should," "strategy," "target," "will," and similar words. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Although we believe that the plans, intentions, and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance that these plans, intentions, or expectations will be achieved. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied, or forecasted in such statements. Our business may be influenced by many factors that are difficult to predict, involve uncertainties that may materially affect results, and are often beyond our control. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, our near-term plans for focusing on the European markets; the timing and results of the FDA's PMTA process; the scope of future FDA enforcement of regulations in the ENDS industry; the FDA's approach to the regulation of synthetic nicotine and its impact on our business; the duration and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and impact on the demand for the products we distribute; the actions governments, businesses, and individuals take in response to the pandemic, including mandatory business closures and restrictions on onsite commercial interactions; the impact of the pandemic and actions taken in response to the pandemic on global and regional economies and economic activity; the pace of recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides; general economic uncertainty in key global markets and a worsening of global economic conditions or low levels of economic growth; the effects of steps that we could take to reduce operating costs; our inability to generate and sustain profitable sales growth; circumstances or developments that may make us unable to implement or realize anticipated benefits, or that may increase the costs, of our current and planned business initiatives; changes in government regulation or laws that affect our business; significant changes in our relationships with our distributors or sub-distributors; and those factors detailed by us in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and regulations, we do not have any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. SOURCE Kaival Brands Related Links kaivalbrands.com MOORESTOWN, N.J., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nividous Software Solutions, a global intelligent automation company, has enabled Kane Wound Care to achieve a 95% reduction in their human efforts by automating critical business processes, including medical coding, and billing. Kane Wound Care is a group of over 30 physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants dedicated to the practice of providing wound care services. They offer their services to patients in their homes and residents in long-term, subacute facilities and assisted living facilities. They are servicing approximately a hundred of these facilities throughout New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, managing 1500 patients weekly. The company chose Nividous as its preferred partner to improve the accuracy and efficiency of its medical coding and billing process and streamline its business model to gain maximum efficiency. They wanted to eliminate the potential loss of revenue from inaccurate coding. From a revenue cycle management perspective, it is crucial that the coding for billing is done quickly and with one hundred percent accuracy to avoid rejection/non-payment of claims. "Nividous' AI-powered RPA Bots allowed for frictionless medical data retrieval to complete complex coding that is required to ensure fast, maximum Medicare payment. The automation has also enabled us to file reports directly into our customer's EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system within 24 hours thus cutting down on their administrative burden. With the success of this automation, we are anticipating a significant increase in revenues and overall cash flow for our business," says Dr. Haresh Kane, Founder and CEO of Kane Wound Care. "We have added more Nividous Bots into our workflow operations to further enhance other areas that are too reliant on human capital. For example, the process that required our staff to download and upload of around 600 patient reports daily from our wound expert system to Point Click Care portal is now handled by the Bots enabling us to save up to 80% of our staff's time." Alan Hester, President of Nividous underlines, "The Nividous Intelligent Automation platform is built with a vision to help businesses leverage holistic automation of tasks and processes. Nividous Bots were deployed to code thousands of charts on a weekly basis with ease and efficiency. This automation has helped by improving coding accuracy by 90% and allowing medical personnel to spend more time focusing on patient care and more complex coding scenarios." Kane Wound Care strongly believes that utilizing intelligent automation is an innovative and unique way for a high growth medical practice to maximize its operational efficiency. The company has seen a dramatic reduction in administrative work since minimal supervision is needed for the Bot, if at all. With natively embedded slice and dice reporting, clinical data and metrics are easy to access and quick to share with multiple healthcare customers. The growing use of Nividous Bots will continue to help to support the greater than 100% YoY growth that the company is experiencing. About Nividous Nividous helps you to unleash the true potential of your workforce by humanizing work with its Hyperautomation platform. The Nividous leadership team has decades of experience delivering hundreds of digital process automation solutions in companies and organizations of various sizes around the world. Leveraging its tremendous domain expertise, the Nividous team offers vertical solutions that are RPA and AI-enabled and built on configurable process automation capabilities to empower businesses to operate with flexibility and agility. Nividous also offers end-to-end professional services that include process discovery, implementation, support, and building Centers of Excellence (CoE). Interact with Nividous: Check case studies: https://nividous.com/case-studies Check webinar series: https://nividous.com/webinars Explore Nividous platform: https://nividous.com/request-demo/ Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nividous/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nividous Contact: Christopher M. Hawn Nividous Software Solutions Email: [email protected] Contact: 610.247.6365 About Kane Wound Care Kane Wound Care eliminates the hardship of traveling for wound treatments. We bring caring, optimistic, and knowledgeable wound care professionals along with high-level treatment to you in any healthcare facility or in the comfort of your own home. Visit our website to learn more: https://kanewoundcare.com/ SOURCE Nividous Software Solutions WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Government today announced its Fall Hill Watch event will be held live and webcast on Thursday, October 14 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The event follows on the heels of the semiannual Hill Watch report, which provides in-depth analysis of the legislative landscape in Congress and the key policy areas that will be front and center the remainder of the year. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh will open the event and discuss the integral role the Department of Labor will play in fulfilling President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. Other topics to be covered include vaccine mandates, paid leave, unemployment benefits, and union organizing. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) will discuss legislative priorities on Capitol Hill and the outlook for the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, for which he was one of the lead Republican legislators. Bloomberg Government's Hill Watch lays out what to expect from Capitol Hill, the administration & the federal agencies. Tweet this Hill Watch will conclude with a panel of Bloomberg Government legislative analysts who will explore a range of issues including tax, foreign policy, defense, and energy. For more information and to register for the event, visit http://onb-gov.com/Ohed50Gm7Jn. "Policy professionals who need to stay ahead in Washington, D.C. can rely on Bloomberg Government and Hill Watch to set the agenda for what's on tap on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and across the federal agencies," said Heather Rothman, news director, Bloomberg Government. "From infrastructure to the debt ceiling to reconciliation, Hill Watch will cover the issues that will be shaping the coming months." A complimentary copy of BGOV's fall Hill Watch report is available for download at https://about.bgov.com/hill-watch/. About Bloomberg Government Bloomberg Government is a premium, subscription-based service that provides comprehensive information and analytics for professionals who interact with or are affected by the government. Delivering news, analytics, and data-driven decision tools, Bloomberg Government's digital workspace gives an intelligent edge to government affairs and contracting professionals. For more information or a demo, visit Bloomberg Government. SOURCE Bloomberg Government NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LIM College, a leading educational authority in the business of fashion for over 80 years, has become the first college in the United States to offer a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree program focused on the business side of the cannabis industry. New York State recently authorized the College to launch a BBA in The Business of Cannabis. Applications are now being accepted for the inaugural class of first-year and transfer students entering in Fall 2022. Available in both on-campus and online formats, this program will provide students with core business and industry-specific knowledge and experience to pursue careers in various aspects of the legal cannabis industry, with courses in cannabis retailing, marketing, product development, regulatory issues, and more. Through its time-tested model of combining traditional classroom instruction with resume-building experience, access to working professionals, and comprehensive career development opportunities, LIM College is positioned to create a pipeline of career-ready graduates for an industry poised to continue tremendous growth. Cannabis is expected to generate sales of $43 billion in the U.S. alone by 2025, according to market research firm New Frontier Data. Full-time jobs in the cannabis industry grew by 32% to 321,000 in 2020, according to the Leafly Jobs Report. "Monitoring the explosive job growth in the cannabis sector, we find that employers are seeking skills and experience often possessed by fashion business professionals plus cannabis industry knowledge. LIM College is ready to graduate students with strength in both areas and we are excited to bring our successful track record of building industry connections and career readiness to the cannabis sector," said Elizabeth S. Marcuse, President of LIM College. "Skills and experience in fashion marketing, retail, supply chain and distribution have always been adaptable across a broad spectrum of industries, and this is especially true in the cannabis industry," said Michael P. Londrigan, Chair of LIM's Business Department. In keeping with LIM's 82-year tradition of bring industry experts to the classroom, cannabis major courses will be taught by working professionals, including Chris Jones, Founder of Cannabis Xpress and Marianne Cursetjee, CEO and Co-founder of Alibi Cannabis. Other industry professionals who consulted on program development included Penelope Nam-Stephen, a former merchandising director for Burberry who is now Chief Commercial Officer for Community Growth Partners, and Sarah Falvo, Director of Community for The Arcview Group, a leading financial and consulting services firm in the cannabis and hemp industry. Said Nam-Stephen, "This program is very timely because the rapidly-evolving cannabis industry currently needs entry-level executives who will view the industry through a professional and business-oriented lens. Having a well-qualified pipeline of talent in this heavily regulated and fragmented industry will help us progress more efficiently. It is also a wonderful opportunity for people to enter the cannabis space through a conventional academic path." Said Falvo, "This program will help fill an increasing need for college-educated employees who possess business skills alongside specific knowledge about the nuances and history of our highly regulated industry. Opportunities are ever-increasing and it's a great time to launch a serious business career focused on cannabis." For more information visit: https://www.limcollege.edu/academics/degrees/business-cannabis-bba For information on applying to the BBA in The Business of Cannabis program contact [email protected]. About LIM College Founded in 1939, LIM College educates students for success in the global business of fashion and its many related industries. As a pioneer in experiential education, LIM fosters a unique connection between real-world experience and academic study in business principles, offering master's, bachelor's, and associate degree programs. LIM College is located in Manhattan the nation's fashion and business capital giving students vast opportunities for resume-building experience and professional development. Contact: Meredith Finnin [email protected] Jackie Nealon [email protected] SOURCE LIM College Related Links http://www.limcollege.edu LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global LNG Bunkering Market is valued at USD 0.58 Billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 6.97 Billion by 2027 with the CAGR of 42.5% over the forecast period. Increasing IMO regulations on sulfur content in the marine fuel and strict government regulation to reduce carbon footprints are driving the growth of Global LNG Bunkering Market. The Detailed Market intelligence report on the "LNG Bunkering Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Truck-To-Ship, Ship-To-Ship, Port-To-Ship, Others), By Application (Tanker Vessels, Container Vessels, Ferries & OSV, Bulk & General Cargo Vessels, Others) Based On Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2027" Request a Sample Report: @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/1701 Scope of The Report: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is fuel gas that has been changed over to liquid form for simplicity of storage or transport. It is colorless, odorless, non-corrosive and non-toxic. Bunkering is the providing of fuel for use by ships, and incorporates the shipboard coordination of loading fuel and delivering it among accessible bunker tanks. Bunker is usually applied to the capacity of petroleum-based commodities in tanks, and the training and business of refueling ships. Bunkering tasks are placed at seaports. They integrate the storage space of ship fuels and the provision of the fuel to vessels. LNG Bunkering is the act of giving liquefied natural gas fuel to a boat for its own utilization. LNG bunkering foundation can be utilized to supply zero-carbon fuels in the form of liquefied biomethane (LBM) or liquefied synthetic methane (LSM), with practically no modification, so empowering the progress to a decarbonized shipping industry. LNG bunkering ports and fortification vessels can be establish on SEA-LNG's Bunker Navigator. The key benefit of LNG as a fuel is the tremendous decrease in pollutant caused by the more conventional technique for fueling boats, for example, heavy fuel oil, marine gas oil (MGO), and marine diesel fuel (MDO). The LNG bunkering between shore to ship or ship to ship is finished by utilizing a QC/DC coupling. QCDC represents speedy connect disconnect. The COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted the growth of global LNG bunkering market. During COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown forced by various government organizations has also brought prohibition on the import and export. Hence, pandemic disturbed the supply network and hampered the LNG bunkering market development. However, the market is relied upon to grow over post pandemic as the demand for LNG as bunker fuel from the oceanic transport and shipping industry increments. News: JAX LNG And TOTE Complete First Renewable LNG Bunkering In U.S. On September 27th, 2021; JAX LNG completed the main filling of a marine vessel in the U.S. with a merge of renewable liquefied natural gas (RLNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The Clean Jacksonville is America's first LNG bunkering vessel. Component markets provided the renewable petroleum gas (RNG) utilized to create the RLNG through renewable thermal certificates (RTCs). Delivered from the decomposition of natural waste, RNG is viable with existing natural gas framework, giving a practical and replicable source of energy that mitigates and repurposes fossil fuel byproducts. For this bunkering, renewable thermal certificates were synchronized to the actual LNG loaded into the Clean Jacksonville to formulate the RLNG/LNG blended item. Key Players of Global LNG Bunkering Market Report: Global LNG bunkering market reports cover prominent players like Broadview Energy Solutions B.V., Gasum Oy, Klaw LNG, Polskie LNG S.A., Korea Gas Corporation, Crowley Maritime Corporation, SHV Energy, Total SE, Harvey Gulf International Marine, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, PETRONAS, Exxon Mobil Corporation and others. Global LNG Bunkering Market Segmentation: By Type: Truck-to-Ship Ship-to-Ship Port-to-Ship Others By Application: Tanker Vessels Container Vessels Ferries & OSV Bulk & General Cargo Vessels Others Request for Methodology of this report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/1701 Increasing IMO Regulations on Sulfur Content in the Marine Fuel and Strict Government Regulation to Reduce Carbon Footprints are Some of the Major Factors Driving the Growth of Global LNG Bunkering Market One of the major factors driving the growth of global LNG bunkering market is increasing IMO regulations on sulfur content in the marine fuel. To follow the IMO guidelines, fleet proprietors are proceeding to utilize high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) by retrofitting vessels with scrubbers (least expense arrangement) or changing to the utilization of low-sulfur fuel oils (VLSFO) or utilizing fuels, like LNG among others. For instance; from January 2020, United Nations delivering office the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will prohibit ships from utilizing fuels with sulfur content above 0.5%, contrasted and 3.5% at this point. The guidelines are pointed towards working on human wellbeing by decreasing air contamination. In addition, strict government regulation to reduce carbon footprints is also fostering the market growth. Stringent government laws in different nations across the globe to lessen chemical emissions of dangerous gases are also expected to fuel the market development. The Canadian government has made responsibilities for a huge decrease in greenhouse gases emissions, and the nation has an abundant supply of flammable gas. Also, natural gas on ignition produces less measure of greenhouse gases, making LNG a superior elective alternative fuel for Canadian delivery industry. For example; The America Bureau of Shipping (ABS) fostered a structure of risk assessment considering LNG spillage during bunkering, which incorporates spills from LNG pumps, pipes, tanks, hoses, stuffing vessel gas tanks, and outer effect. Thus, it also expected to establish appropriate environment for development of LNG bunkering market. However, demand-supply gap for LNG bunkering may hamper the global LNG bunkering market growth. In spite of that, rising focus toward LNG as an alternative marine fuel can provide various opportunities for the further growth of the global LNG bunkering market. North America is Expected to Dominate the Global LNG Bunkering Market North America is expected to dominate the global LNG bunkering market during the forecast period due to rising LNG demand to reduce carbon footprint in the shipping industry and stringent government regulations in this region. New laws in North America confining sulfur emissions from boats will expand transportation markets considerably further. LNG can help customers satisfy the new regulatory standards by containing almost no sulfur and particles like NOX. The business has been putting resources into the Lower Mainland and the Port of Vancouver to bunker oceangoing boats with LNG. For instance; according to the federal government's department of natural resources, maritime shipping gets a significant part of the consideration with regards to LNG as a transportation fuel, it just records for around 2% of Canada's generally speaking GHG discharges. Europe is projected to capture a significant revenue share in the global LNG bunkering market due to the increasing adoption of various strategies such as launch, acquisition and collaborations to utilize LNG for transportation. For example, Total signed an agreement with Engie to acquire its portfolio of upstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets for an overall enterprise value of $1.49 billion. This portfolio includes participating interests in liquefaction plants, notably the interest in the Cameron LNG project in the US, long term LNG sales and purchase agreements, an LNG tanker fleet as well as access to regasification capacities in Europe. Get LNG bunkering Market Research Methodologies: https://brandessenceresearch.com/defense/lng-bunkering-market Table of Content Chapter 1 Global LNG bunkering Market: Summary and Quantitative Analysis Chapter 2 Global LNG bunkering Market: Overview And Qualitative Analysis Chapter 3 Competitive Analysis Chapter 4 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Device Chapter 5 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Solution Chapter 6 Global LNG bunkering Market: By Software Chapter 7 Global LNG bunkering Market: By End-User Chapter 8 North America LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 9 Europe LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 10 Asia Pacific LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 11 Latin America LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 12 Middle East & Africa LNG bunkering Market Analysis Chapter 13 Competitive Analysis Chapter 14 Market Research Findings & Conclusion Chapter 15 Research Methodology Related Reports: Needle Coke Market Worth 6.01 Billion by 2027 Asphalt additives Market to exceed $ 5349.8 Million by 2027 Agriculture Robots Market Size is Projected to Exceed USD 26679.4 Million by 2027 Last-mile delivery Market size is Expected to reach USD 200.42 Bn in 2027 Operating Room Equipment Market is Expected to reach USD 41.22 Bn in 2027 Brandessence Market Research & Consulting Pvt ltd. Brandessence market research publishes market research reports & business insights produced by highly qualified and experienced industry analysts. Our research reports are available in a wide range of industry verticals including aviation, food & beverage, healthcare, ICT, Construction, Chemicals and lot more. Brand Essence Market Research report will be best fit for senior executives, business development managers, marketing managers, consultants, CEOs, CIOs, COOs, and Directors, governments, agencies, organizations and Ph.D. Students. We have a delivery center in Pune, India and our sales office is in London. Website: https://brandessenceresearch.com Blog: Profiles in Smart Home Automation Market Media Contact: Mr. Vishal Sawant Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Corporate Sales: +44-2038074155 Asia Office: +91-7447409162 SOURCE Brandessence Market Research And Consulting Private Limited RAIPUR, India, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on LFT Market by End-Use Industry (Automotive, Consumer Goods, Sporting Goods, Industrial Goods, and Others), by Reinforcement Type (Glass Fiber LFT and Other LFTs), by Resin Type (Polypropylene, Polyamide, Polybutylene Terephthalate, PEEK/PEKK, and Others), by Material Form (LFRT and D-LFT), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2021-2026. This strategic assessment report, from Stratview Research, provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today's LFT market realities and future market possibilities for the forecast period of 2021 to 2026. The report segments and analyzes the market in the most detailed manner to provide a panoramic view of the market. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for the market participants as well as investors in the identification of the low-hanging fruits available in the market as well as formulate growth strategies. Long Fiber Thermoplastics (LFT) Market: Highlights Long fiber thermoplastic (LFT) is the category of composite materials based on thermoplastic resin system and reinforced with long discontinuous fibers. They are typically used to make parts through injection or compression molding process. In 2020, the wrath of pandemic hit hard on all the major industries including automotive, consumer goods, sporting goods, and industrial equipment. The LFT market could not escape from such distressing scenario and logged a massive decline of -12% in 2020 amid the pandemic. However, the industry stakeholders are expecting a quick recovery in some regional markets. The recovery from the disruption brought by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to start from 2021. It is anticipated that the market will cross its 2019-sales figure in 2022, marking a consistent growth during the forecast period. Overall, the LFT market is likely to rebound at a promising CAGR of 4.4% in the next five years to reach US$ 1,353 Million in 2026. Click Here for Running Through the Table of Contents: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/toc/793/long-fiber-thermoplastics-market.html Based on the end-use industry, automotive is expected to remain the largest and the fastest-growing segment in the market during the forecast period, owing to the increasing focus of automobile manufacturers towards fuel efficiency which can be attained through higher penetration of lightweight materials such as composites. The automotive industry is the biggest user of compounds including SFT, LFT, SMC, and other-reinforced compounds. Based on the resin type, the market is segmented as polypropylene, polyamide, polybutylene terephthalate, PEEK/PEKK, and others. PP-LFTs held dominance in 2020 and is expected to maintain their position over the next five years as well. PP resin is comparatively cheap than other resin systems; thus, molders and OEMs in coordination with material suppliers are trying to enhance the performance of PP-LFTs to replace other resin system-based LFTs. Register Here for a Free Sample of the Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/Request-Sample/793/long-fiber-thermoplastics-market.html#form In terms of regions, Europe is expected to remain the largest market for LFTs during the forecast period. Europe is the home for leading automotive OEMs, tier players, and LFT manufacturers. Germany and Belgium are the manufacturing capital of LFTs in the region. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth during the forecast period driven by China, Japan, and India. The market for long fiber thermoplastics is highly consolidated with the top five companies capturing more than 60% of the market. Following are the major players in the global LFT market: SABIC Celanese Chisso RTP Company Technocompound PlasticComp Solvay Borealis Sambark Backward integration to resin production and close collaboration in different nodes of the value chain of the industry for new application developments are the key features for major LFT compounders. Report Features This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis. Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis. Market trend and forecast analysis. Market segment trend and forecast. Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities. Emerging trends. Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players. Key success factors. This report studies global LFT market and has segmented the market in five ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the five ways in which the market is segmented: LFT Market, by End-Use Industry Automotive (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Consumer Goods (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Sporting Goods (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Industrial Goods (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) LFT Market, by Material Form Type LFRT (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) D-LFT (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) LFT Market, by Reinforcement Type Glass Fiber LFT (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Other LFTs (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) LFT Market, by Resin Type Polypropylene (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Polyamide (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Polybutylene Terephthalate (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) PEEK/PEKK (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW) LFT Market, by Region North America (Country Analysis: USA , Canada , and Mexico ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , the UK, Spain , Italy , and Rest of Europe ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , India , Malaysia , and Rest of Asia-Pacific ) Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Brazil and South Africa ) Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the composites industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/market-reports/composites.html About Stratview Research Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas. We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies. Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making. Stratview Research has launched 'Composights', an online portal which offers free thought leadership reports, whitepapers, market report synopsis and much more for Composites and allied industries, worth US$ 20,000 every year. Click here to sign up (No costs involved): https://www.stratviewresearch.com/composights/sign-in For enquiries, please contact: Stratview Research E-mail: [email protected] Direct: +1-313-307-4176 SOURCE Stratview Research HOUSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lummus Technology announced it has been awarded a contract from Limited Liability Company Kirishinefteorgsintez (KINEF) for two proprietary heaters that will be part of KINEF's refinery upgrade in Kirishi, Russia. "This award personifies how Lummus' comprehensive technology portfolio and holistic solutions can answer our customers' industrial challenges," said Leon de Bruyn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lummus Technology. "From digitalization to catalysts to proprietary heaters, our products and services are designed to optimize our customers' investments, improving their capital return and operational efficiency." Lummus' scope includes the design and supply of two proprietary fired heaters for use in the conversion of heavy oil residues, which would otherwise end up in fuels, to valuable lighter products. This award is complementary to the previous delayed coking technology license awarded by KINEF in 2018 to CLG, a joint venture between Chevron and Lummus. Lummus' experience designing and supplying heaters spans more than seven decades. The company's delayed coking heaters can handle a wide range of feedstocks in refineries and upgraders for both fuel and specialty coke production. Current designs work in cooperation with CLG's technology and incorporate multiple cabins with single coils allowing superior individual firing and temperature control, leading to better efficiency and lower energy consumption. About Lummus Technology Lummus Technology is the global leader in developing process technologies that make modern life possible and focus on a more sustainable, low carbon future. Lummus is a master licensor of clean energy, petrochemical, refining, gas processing and renewable technologies, and a supplier of catalysts, proprietary equipment, digitalization and related lifecycle services to customers worldwide. To learn more about Lummus, visit www.LummusTechnology.com. SOURCE Lummus Technology, LLC Related Links http://www.lummustechnology.com CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury Portfolio International (LPI), the luxury marketing division of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and renowned global network which comprises more than 200 leading high-end real estate brokerages, announced today that it has added six new members to its acclaimed network of residential real estate firms. The new brokerages span the globe, and include: Bonne Apart ( Dubai ) ) Cervera Real Estate ( Miami ) ) Charter One Realty ( North Carolina ) ) Colliers ( Dublin ) ) FGP | Swiss Alps ( Switzerland ) ) Vanguard Properties ( San Francisco ). Each brokerage is among the most respected in their specific markets. Domestically, Cervera Real Estate, Charter One Realty and Vanguard Properties serve some of the most in-demand markets in the United States. While these brokerages are based in the U.S., their services emphasize LPI's global approach, with clients worldwide. Bonne Apart and Colliers are now the first brokerages in the LPI network based in Dubai and Ireland, respectively. These markets have emerged in recent years as some of the most affluent regions in the world. A more ultra-high net worth homebuyers seek out second and third homes homes throughout the globe, these new members will further all of LPI's reach in key markets. "Luxury Portfolio International takes pride in its global approach to premium, luxury real estate," said Mickey Alam Khan, President of LPI. "Adding these new partners allows us to further the reach of all our members, providing opportunities in regions and even countries in which we did not previously have a presence. We are pleased to engage with these new companies, sharing our expertise and affording them access to the plethora of resources we have to offer." For additional information on these brokerages, visit the Luxury Portfolio Brokers page on the LPI website. ABOUT LUXURY PORTFOLIO INTERNATIONAL (LPI) LPI (luxuryportfolio.com) is the luxury marketing division of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, the largest global network of premier locally branded firms dominated by many of the world's most powerful, independent luxury brands. LPI attracts a global audience of visitors from over 200 countries/territories every month and markets more than 50,000 luxury homes annually. Well Connected. Contact: [email protected] CONTACT: Daniel Zayas [email protected] 305.663.9802 x326 Kreps PR & Marketing SOURCE Luxury Portfolio International Related Links https://luxuryportfolio.com TROY, Mich., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mantese Honigman, PC is pleased to announce the following: The State Bar of Michigan's Business Law Section has conferred the Stephen H. Schulman Outstanding Business Lawyer Award on Doug Toering. The announcement was made at the Business Law Section's annual meeting in Novi, Michigan on September 28, 2021. This annual award honors Michigan business lawyers who consistently exemplify the characteristics the Business Law Section seeks to foster: the highest quality of professionalism, the highest quality of practice, and an unwavering dedication to service, ethical conduct, and collegiality in the practice of law. Partner Ian Williamson has been elected Secretary of the Business Law Section. Williamson's election as an officer of the section occurred at its annual meeting on September 28, 2021. Partner Fatima Bolyea has been elected Chair of the State Bar of Michigan's Litigation Section. This occurred at the annual meeting of the Litigation Section on September 15, 2021. Mantese Honigman, PC is a business law firm with a national practice. The firm's practice emphasizes business litigation, shareholder disputes and business breakups, business transactions, real estate, healthcare law, and white-collar criminal defense. Gerard Mantese, one of the country's top business litigators, is spearheading plans to open new offices for the firm in New York and Missouri. CONTACT: Gerard V. Mantese, [email protected], 248-457-9200 SOURCE Mantese Honigman, PC Innovators of the Year: CompoSecure, LLC CompoSecure, LLC Manufacturing Cares: Carl Stahl Sava Industries, Inc Carl Stahl Sava Industries, Inc Start-Up: Bellus, LLC Bellus, LLC Large: Keystone Industries, LLC Keystone Industries, LLC Medium: Norwalt Design, Inc Norwalt Design, Inc Small: Groezinger Provisions, Inc "It was wonderful to see manufacturers, legislators, representatives from essential state programs and services, key industry partners, allies, and students come together to celebrate, 'MADE in New Jersey' Manufacturing Day," John W. Kennedy, Ph.D., CEO, New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) explained while discussing the importance of the day during the Friday event. He continued, "The manufacturers honored here today are some of the most important businesses in the state, from what they've done through the pandemic, to the good they do for their local communities, their impact shouldn't be overlooked. Taking a day to celebrate the industry, the Manufacturer of the Year winners, and all the businesses that are part of the local manufacturing industry is absolutely necessary. A strong manufacturing industry means self-sufficiency and stability." Manufacturing Day takes place on the first Friday of every October. 'MADE in New Jersey' Manufacturing Day is the state's largest manufacturing networking event of the year but Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) is recognized nationwide. The nation takes a moment to recognize manufacturing, and manufacturers work together to connect with the local community to show the true face of the industry. There's no right or wrong way to celebrate Manufacturing Day as long as any effort captures the public's attention and breaks down its outdated image. NJMEP spearheads New Jersey's celebration with 'MADE in New Jersey' Manufacturing Day and it works to connect industry with the state and the local community through informative breakout sessions, networking events, and keynote speeches by prominent thought-leaders. 'MADE in New Jersey' Manufacturing Day would not have been possible without our amazing sponsors. A list of the businesses that showed up to support local manufacturing and contributed to New Jersey's largest manufacturing networking event of the year can be found below! Platinum Sponsors: Find all the businesses that sponsored 'MADE in New Jersey' Manufacturing Day by clicking here. About NJMEP: NJMEP is a private, not-for-profit organization that improves the profitability and competitiveness of New Jersey's manufacturers. Backed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NJMEP enables organizations to enhance their productivity and efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve employee performance. For more than 25 years, NJMEP has used its extensive network of connections and proven track record of success to help manufacturers adapt to the latest innovative technologies and best practices to realize more than $5.4 billion in value. Our services are categorized into the following three areas: Operational Excellence, Innovation and Growth Strategies, and Workforce Development. NJMEP also has a signature philanthropic program, Manufacturing Cares, which is designed to provide a platform for manufacturers to give back to the community by pooling efforts to increase our impact. SOURCE New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program Related Links njmep.org MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX: MFI) ("Maple Leaf" or the "Company") today announced that it has completed construction of a $182 million expansion to its Winnipeg prepared meats plant, significantly increasing its bacon production capacity with new in-house capacity for pre-cooked, microwaveable bacon. This investment in new state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and cultivated in-house expertise represents a Bacon Centre of Excellence within Maple Leaf and positions the company to meet the growing customer and consumer demand in the pre-cooked bacon market and drive innovation. The project is one of the many investments the Company has been making as it continues to unlock value in its growing prepared meats business. Final commissioning of the 73,000 square-foot expansion at the Lagimodiere Boulevard site in Winnipeg is expected to be completed in the near term, with commercial production ramping up over the course of the coming months. By building this capacity in-house, this plant will become the Company's primary pre-cooked bacon production facility. As part of the expansion, the Company is in the process of adding approximately 350 new positions at the plant, bringing total plant employment to over 1,900 people. "We are very excited to see this project come to life," said Michael H McCain, President and CEO. "Our vision to become the most sustainable protein company on earth applies even to our very best convenience food, which includes delicious pre-cooked bacon. This state-of-the-art facility will deliver sustainably made cooked bacon products from meat humanely raised and without antibiotics, made by a carbon neutral company. We are really proud of this." Maple Leaf Foods is a leading Canadian bacon producer with eight brands in the Canadian market, and almost half of Canadian households have purchased a Maple Leaf Foods bacon product in 2021.1 About Maple Leaf Foods Maple Leaf Foods Inc. ("Maple Leaf Foods") is a carbon neutral company with a vision to be the most sustainable protein company on earth, responsibly producing food products under leading brands including Maple Leaf, Maple Leaf Prime, Maple Leaf Natural Selections, Schneiders, Schneiders Country Naturals, Mina, Greenfield Natural Meat Co., Lightlife and Field Roast. Maple Leaf Foods employs approximately 13,500 people and does business in Canada, the U.S. and Asia. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, and its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (MFI). Forward Looking Statements Disclaimer This news release includes "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "plan", "intend", "believe", and similar words or expressions, including the negatives or variations thereof. All forward-looking information reflects Maple Leaf Foods' beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the applicable forward-information is made and in light of its current expectations. Forward-looking information does not guarantee future performance. Management believes that its assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information contained herein are reasonable based on the information available on the date such information is provided and the process used to prepare the information. However, Maple Leaf Foods cannot provide assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct. All forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Readers should not unduly rely on forward-looking information and are cautioned that the forward-looking information contained herein may not be appropriate for other purposes. Unless required by law, Maple Leaf Foods does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Further information about the factors affecting forward-looking information and management's assumptions and analysis thereof, is available in filings made by Maple Leaf Foods with Canadian securities commissions available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com __________________ 1 Numerator Insights Shopper Metrics Total Corp MLF Total Bacon purchased at any store during the 01/0/2021 to 9/12/2021 SOURCE Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Related Links http://www.mapleleaf.ca BOSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In medicine, as well as in the healthcare and medical device industries, different conditions, specialisms, products, and companies alike are often organized around specific therapeutic areas. Whilst this is an excellent and efficient way to enable adequate specialization, there are also cases where a more general approach to patient monitoring is required. For a startup or other technology player with ambitions to create a new healthcare or wellness device, decisions need to be made early in the process about which route to take. Addressing specific issues within a particular therapeutic area can be extremely valuable, but also can come with technical and regulatory challenges, higher risk, and a smaller population of patients in the end. Taking a more general approach, perhaps with a twist on a monitoring technique that is more mature, can have a much larger population of potential users, but may have less technology differentiation and much more competition. Examples of a comparison between these two approaches are covered in IDTechEx's report on Electronic Skin Patches. It contains dedicated chapters on diabetes management, cardiovascular diseases, wound care, and other specific therapeutic areas in which markets for skin patches as medical devices have developed. Historically, competitive device ecosystems have been separated along these lines, aligning with different medical specialisms and subsequent regulatory requirements and reimbursement categories; whilst there may be some common components and features across the wider ecosystem, patient needs differ based on the underlying condition and the product landscape reflects this. Alongside these chapters by therapeutic area, the report also has chapters on "general" patient monitoring, separated further into examples of different types of inpatient and outpatient monitoring, with examples on both sides of the line between wellness and healthcare. These products are used to monitor the general health of the patient, including various combinations of vital signs (heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, blood pressure) and/or other common metrics. When IDTechEx first published a report on the market for electronic skin patches over 5 years ago, these were relatively limited chapters, populated by groups of smaller companies doing excellent work at a limited scale to prove efficacy for these systems. By 2021, this section has expanded significantly, including some of the most exciting and disruptive news from the last year, prominent acquisitions, many product launches, and significant commercial momentum. There are two key trends that are driving this shift towards more general patient monitoring solutions, as follows: 1. Value-based care This involves the shift from fee-for-service (or "volume-based care") models to a results-based approach emphasizing quality of service and patient experience. General vital signs monitors can struggle to be effective in fee-for-service only models, as anomalies may only be detected in a small number of patients, so they can seem less effective when assessed as a one-off procedure. Here, their value may only emerge at times of acute medical needs, such as for hospital inpatients where the condition requires it, or during other periodic (but infrequent) general health checks. Value-based care takes a broader view of the overall healthcare service provision, aiming to provide the best service for the entire population and lifetime rather than just focusing on the procedure. As such, if costs of cautionary or preventative measures can be shown to offset future costs associated with acute management once diseases progress, then they can be increasingly favored by the healthcare provider. This general change in approach has been widely discussed over the past decade. Changes have been subtle at first, starting with rhetoric from companies and maneuvering behind the scenes, but this fundamental change in approach can potentially have a significant impact on the healthcare and medical devices value chain for decades to come. 2. Remote patient monitoring The second trend is what links the trends of value-based care and general vital sign monitoring to specific product types. In moving to remote monitoring of patients (i.e., detecting vital signs and other parameters as they go about their daily life rather than only testing whilst they are physically present at a medical facility), portable, digital, wireless devices are clearly favored. For general monitoring, these devices need to be cheap, comfortable, easy to use, and durable. Skin patches are a particularly popular form factor because consistent skin contact is well suited for measuring metrics such as biopotential, skin temperature, motion, and other metrics. Remote monitoring of physiological metrics is not new in the medical device world. Areas such as diabetes management and cardiovascular disease monitoring (both covered at length in the IDTechEx report on Skin Patches) have been using wireless skin patches to collect patient data remotely for well over a decade. Other products such as connected blood pressure cuffs, scales, and other devices have also been adopted, and are covered in IDTechEx's report on Remote Patient Monitoring. However, general patient monitoring devices typically go wider than a single metric or disease vertical, with the potential to move to a more holistic approach to preventative monitoring. These two trends together are driving growth in the market for general patient monitoring devices. With examples mentioned throughout IDTechEx's dedicated reports on Electronic Skin Patches, Remote Patient Monitoring and the rest of the portfolio of wearable technology and healthcare reports, IDTechEx analysts have followed this space from early medical and commercial trials through to adoption by some of the largest medical device players in the world (such as Philips, Boston Scientific, Baxter, and others). The latest report, "Electronic Skin Patches 2021-2031", predicts that the market for skin patches as a whole will grow at 15% CAGR from 2021-2031, but specific sectors such as wireless inpatient monitoring will grow by as much as 36% CAGR. For more information on this report, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Patches, or for the full portfolio of wearable and healthcare research available from IDTechEx please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research/WT and www.IDTechEx.com/Research/Healthcare. About IDTechEx IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com. Media Contact: Natalie Moreton Digital Marketing Manager [email protected] +44(0)1223 812300 Social Media Links: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/IDTechEx LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idtechex/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDTechExResearch SOURCE IDTechEx NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CB Insights today named Melio, a leading B2B payments platform for small businesses, to the fourth annual Fintech 250 , a prestigious list of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology. This year's list was unveiled on stage at CB Insights' Future of Fintech conference in New York City. "This is the fourth class of the Fintech 250, and it's also the most international, representing 26 countries. These 250 fintech startups are attacking an incredibly diverse array of financial services opportunities across 19 sectors, including digital banking, insurance, payroll, retail investing, and more," said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. "After being named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 last year, the 2020 class saw 17 companies go public and 25 get acquired. They also went on to raise over $25B in additional financing and forged more than 380 new partnerships after being recognized. The Fintech 250 has a history of spotlighting the very best fintech companies, and this year is no different. We're excited to see how these fintech startups disrupt and transform financial services in the years ahead." "2021 has been a year of rapid growth for Melio and we are honored to be recognized as one of the Fintech 250 startups, along with so many other innovative companies," said Melio CEO and co-founder Matan Bar. "Our smart payments platform is tailor-made for small businesses needs and is transforming the way small businesses gain control over their finances, which has been especially critical in the last year." Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights Intelligence Unit selected the Fintech 250 from a pool of over 17,000 companies, including applicants and nominees. They were chosen based on several factors, including data submitted by the companies, company business models and momentum in the market, and Mosaic scores, CB Insights' proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. Last month, Melio announced it had raised an additional $250 million tripling the company's valuation to $4 billion. Melio's smart payment platform is built for financial institutions, software providers and marketplaces interested in enabling B2B payments for their customers. In addition, Melio also opened its western headquarters in Denver in order to support its explosive growth. Fintech 250 2021: Investment Highlights Unicorns : 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above $1B as of their latest funding round. : 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above as of their latest funding round. Funding trends : In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised $40.3B in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21). : In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21). Mega-rounds : Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year's Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD. : Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year's Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD. Global representation : 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by India (12). This year's winners are based in 26 countries, including France , Brazil , Germany , Indonesia , and Nigeria . : 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by (12). This year's winners are based in 26 countries, including , , , , and . Top VC investor : Ribbit Capital is the most active investor in this year's Fintech 250 companies, having invested in 62 deals since 2016. Since 2019, Ribbit has participated in 41 deals with this cohort of companies, including to Nubank, Uala, Brex, Vouch, Razorpay, and BharatPe. Tiger Global Management and Accel were close behind with 57 and 55 deals, respectively. About Melio Melio's mission is to keep small business in business, helping them to improve their cash flow and workflow, gain more control over their finances, and optimize their business's financial health. Melio was founded by CEO Matan Bar, CTO Ilan Atias, and COO Ziv Paz in 2018, with headquarters in New York and an R&D center in Tel Aviv. Melio also selected Colorado for its western U.S. headquarters and has begun recruiting for 250 new jobs in the state. The company has raised $506 million since its inception. Melio's smart B2B online payment solution is tailor-made for small businesses' needs. It is a free, simple, and secure solution that allows small businesses and their suppliers to transfer and receive payments quickly and easily. Website: https://www.melio.com About CB Insights CB Insights builds software that enables the world's best companies to discover, understand, and make technology decisions with confidence. By marrying data, expert insights, and work management tools, clients manage their end-to-end technology decision-making process on CB Insights. To learn more, please visit www.cbinsights.com. SOURCE Melio LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Effective Medical Assessment Conference on 11 and 12 October 2021 is dedicated to new-generation diagnostic developments. The focus will be on the latest AI innovation trends such as predictive medical assessment, based on data from diagnostic apps and patient history. Medical practitioners will share their experience with new all-round diagnostic tools in primary care, and industry experts their latest diagnostic solutions. Virtual event: Effective Medical Assessment Conference, Plug-and-play solutions for better work in professional healthcare, October 11 and 12, 2021. Sponsored by MESI The medical profession is more tested than ever. It is working hard to save lives, and can not do this without effective diagnostics. In primary care, diagnostic measurements are made with separate instruments, at separate doctor visits, in separate formats and at separate locations. The aim of the virtual Effective Medical Assessment Conference is to highlight the diagnostic innovations for bridging the diagnostic gaps created for these reasons. The ample amount of the medical data collected by all-round diagnostic solutions like the MESI mTABLET, which enables a number of diagnostic check-ups on a single machine and can also be upgraded with numerous diagnostic apps, brings exciting prospects of future digital healthcare solutions. One of them is predictive medical assessment (PMA) by means of artificial intelligence. PMA will rely on digital data from diagnostic apps and patient history, helping to detect conditions early, predict future outcomes, and recommend actions, leading to a diagnosis in less time. "Digital solutions like the MESI mTABLET help set early diagnoses and follow each patient in a comprehensive way. By means of AI, we will also be able to make timely, reliable predictions for further treatment," says Jakob Susteric, CEO of MESI, Ltd., sponsor of the conference. About the company: MESI, Ltd. is an innovative company located in Europe that develops and produces medical devices for diagnostic purpose. It is focussed on simplifying diagnostics, helping clinicians discover diseases in early stages. One of their solutions is the MESI mTABLET a system combining 1-minute smart wireless ABI, a flexible pulse oximeter, fully digital ECG, wireless TBI, a blood pressure monitor for immediate readings, and a spirometer with real-time animated flow-volume curve. In this, ABI and TBI are considered crucial for timely detection of fatal cardiovascular conditions while the spirometer and ECG can help monitor the effects of long COVID at primary care level. Contact: Manca Ursic Rosas +386 1 620 34 87 [email protected] SOURCE MESI Ltd. Related Links https://www.mesimedical.com/ NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Modere (the "Company"), a global, Live-Clean lifestyle brand of wellness, household, beauty and personal care products led by CEO Asma Ishaq, today announced it was named the top company on the Women Presidents' Organization and JP Morgan Chase's 14th annual 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies of 2021 list. The California-based brand debuted in the third spot on the 2020 list before rising to the top of this year's list, propelled by its 1,700% increase in revenue during the years 2016 2020. All 50 companies were honored at the 2021 WPO Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee today. "It is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition from the WPO. We could not have accomplished our continued growth and success without our talented employees, salesforce and loyal customers around the world," said Ms. Ishaq. "I am grateful to the WPO for the support they have shown me and countless other businesswomen, including many on this incredible list of dynamic, women-led companies with whom we are extremely proud to be associated." Ms. Ishaq credits the Company's foresight in positioning itself at the intersection of two converging macrotrendswellness and ecommercefor much of its success. Ms. Ishaq continued, "As an omnichannel, ecommerce and direct-to-consumer business, Modere remains ahead of the curve in our focus on meeting consumers where they are and building toward a more personalized customer experience. Market trends over the past decade confirm a steady rise in consumer interest in clean health, and we witnessed an additional surge in demand over the past 18 months. Modere has been ideally positioned to respond to this changing landscape and continues to drive impressive growth by focusing on what our customers want. From our very beginning, we have been committed to providing market-leading, scientifically advanced lifestyle products that enhance our consumers' quality of life, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on this mission." Camille Burnes, CEO of the WPO, commended Modere for this impressive feat. "We are thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of all 50 companies who made the list this year. This distinction is a remarkable achievement for Asma and her team in particular, whose standout performance earned Modere the top spot on our list after its debut just last year. This speaks both to Asma's brilliance as a leader and the strength of the company she has built." The 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies list recognizes the advancement of women in business by honoring women-led, privately-owned companies that have generated significant growth in the previous five years. Nominees are ranked according to a formula combining percentage and absolute growth for revenues for the five full years preceding the list's publication. In 2007, the list's inaugural year, the nominees' combined revenue amounted to $75 Million. The aggregate revenue of this year's list is $4.1 Billion. About Modere Modere is an omnichannel, consumer products company that develops and markets clean health & wellness products through ecommerce and direct-to-consumer channels. The Company's branded, award-winning portfolio of science-backed clean lifestyle products includes beauty and personal care, nutrition and household essentials that are clinically validated, US EPA Safer Choice-approved, EWG Verified, NSF Certified, gray-water appropriate, and formulated without the use of thousands of controversial chemicals and compounds. This holistic live clean philosophy drives every aspect of the brand, going beyond its ingredient paradigm to encompass business operations, company culture, community activism and environmental advocacy. www.modere.com Modere is a portfolio company of Z Capital Partners L.L.C. the private equity arm of Z Capital Group L.L.C ("ZCG"). About ZCG ZCG is a leading, privately held, New York based investment firm with approximately $5.0 billion of assets under management across complementary private equity and credit businesses. Z Capital Partners, LLC ("ZCP") is the private equity fund management platform. ZCP's investment philosophy centers on operational value creation and is driven by targeted investment themes, deep sector expertise and strong partnerships with management teams. ZCP Principals have made over twenty-six years numerous investments across industries, including consumer products, consumer food, restaurants, gaming hospitality, manufacturing, media, publishing, metals and business services. ZCP current portfolio companies have worldwide annual revenues of approximately $1.6 billion, sell products in 55 countries, operate 15 manufacturing facilities, and have over 200,000 employees and associates directly and through joint ventures. Z Capital Credit Partners, LLC ("ZCCP") is the credit fund management platform. ZCCP invests across a range of credit investments including leveraged loans, private debt, and opportunistic stressed credit. ZCCP manages closed and open-ended funds as well as structured vehicles for strategic debt. Developed over twenty years, ZCCP's approach to fundamental credit analysis encompasses proprietary sourcing, sophisticated structuring and comprehensive risk management using the Olympus system. For more information, please visit www.zcg.com Media Contact Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher Kate Thompson / Tim Ragones 212-355-4449 SOURCE Modere Hosted security provider opens additional premises and welcomes new appointments as a buoyant Security-as-a-Service market increases demand for VSaaS and ACaaS. FRIBOURG, Switzerland, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Swiss high-tech company, Morphean, a leader in Security-as-a-Service and cloud analytics, has announced a programme of growth to meet demand for hosted security services across Europe. The opening of offices in the UK as well as Denmark and the Netherlands, places Morphean in a strong position to serve its growing customer base. With a number of appointments taking up key positions, Morphean is on target to deliver its product road map and meet channel growth. The benefits to business of cloud technologies are now understood, particularly as a result of the pandemic, enabling the faster delivery of services to market, reducing risk and ensuring easy scalability. Cloud platforms also support analytics that would be impossible with traditional platforms. This looks set to substantially disrupt the physical security market with rapid growth forecast in video surveillance as-a-service (VSaaS) and access control-as-a-service (ACaaS). The opening of the new office in Leeds, in addition to those in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, will help Morphean provide localised support to Northern Europe more broadly. In addition, newly appointed personnel bring expertise to sales, account management and finance roles including Philippe Gieseler, Chief Financial Officer; Paul Green, Head of Sales in the UK and Ireland; Noura Sakhsoukh, Sales Executive for Benelux; Lauren Irwin, Sales Executive in the UK; Peter Werner, Sales Executive in Germany; and Tim Bach Bjerg, Key Account Manager for the Nordics. Martyn Ryder, VP Sales and Marketing, commented: "The acceleration by business leaders in their digitisation journeys and transition to cloud platforms is driving demand for intelligent physical security solutions. Morphean is transforming this market and making rapid progress towards becoming a leader in the hosted security and business intelligence field. Our expansion will enable our growing partner base to benefit from our solutions, while ensuring their customers enjoy a return on investment through improved operational insights." Digitisation and cutting-edge technologies using the cloud, IoT and AI are changing security and business intelligence, with organisations recognising the need to look to the providers of cloud-enabled platforms and systems to meet their physical security requirements. Morphean's solutions are built around an affordable operational expenditure model and are fully scalable to protect against the challenges of today as well as future uncertainty. Discover more: https://morphean.com/ SOURCE Morphean NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- mParticle , the leading customer data infrastructure company, today announced that it has raised $150 million in Series E funding, led by Permira's growth fund which backs leading tech-enabled and digital businesses. The existing investor base also participated in the round alongside new backers including former Adobe CFO Mark Garrett and New England Patriots All-Pro punter Jake Bailey. The funding will support mParticle's continued global go-to-market expansion, as well as significant R&D investment as demand for customer data infrastructure continues to accelerate. With the round, Daniel Brenhouse, Principal at Permira, will join the mParticle Board of Directors. Creating truly adaptive, privacy-friendly digital experiences is becoming a universal brand mandate, but companies wrestle with several customer data challenges that inhibit success. Solving challenges around data quality, governance and connectivity are the precursor to making sure that digital experiences are relevant & personalized, as well as privacy compliant. mParticle enables businesses to easily manage the immense growth of data volumes moving to and from sources, systems, API's and applications. Using a single API, developers, product managers and marketers can manage customer data along the entire product and customer life cycle while also addressing challenges such as data quality and governance. Additionally, mParticle accelerates the time to value realization by facilitating real-time syncing of customer data to over 300 analytics and marketing APIs. "The acceleration of customer data connectivity is helping drive the digital economy to new heights," said Michael Katz, CEO of mParticle. "These days, teams are trying to do more with less and the brands that are winning are focused on improving the trust quotient with their customers by creating better interactions driven by better data, privacy controls and open ecosystem approach. Our partnership with Permira and the latest funding will help us deliver the solution to these challenges, to more brands, at a rapid global scale." In the wake of COVID-19, as digitization has accelerated and consumer behavior has permanently changed, mParticle has experienced rapid growth, helping teams implement and deliver innovative customer data strategies. New ARR grew approximately 50% in 2020 and has accelerated to over 100% year over year in 2021. Improving data maturity within an organization has shown to materially impact growth for mParticle's customers. Household brand names such as NBCUniversal, Giant Eagle, Route, Airbnb, Drybar, Dave and Buster's and hundreds of other leading brands have all selected mParticle to implement and execute their customer data strategies. mParticle's customer data infrastructure helps these teams improve personalization by connecting the right data to the right systems in real-time. "mParticle is solving a foundational data quality problem facing marketing organizations. We are thrilled to lead this investment as Michael, Andrew and the team look to supercharge their phenomenal track record of innovation in a rapidly expanding customer data platform market," said Daniel Brenhouse, Principal at Permira. "Many of Permira's most sophisticated consumer-facing companies are major promoters of mParticle and we are beyond excited to back the widespread adoption of its technology into organizations across sectors and sizes," he continued. Chris Caguin, Investment Professional at Permira, further noted: "mParticle is a pioneer in customer data infrastructure and we're excited to lead the Series E financing. mParticle is the future of the CDP market with its unique best-in-class platform; enterprise-grade capabilities; and an industry-leading feature set across integration, ingestion, security and governance. We're excited to partner with Michael and his team to accelerate the company's product roadmap, growth initiatives, and continued innovation." Chris will join the mParticle Board of Directors as a Board Observer following the transaction. "Gartner's 2020 Marketing Technology Survey finds that marketer adoption of customer data platforms (CDPs) continues to grow: 87% of respondents fully deployed or are deploying a CDP, up from 74% in 2019," according to Gartner . "Emerging factors such as the decline of third-party cookies intensify the already urgent need for marketing to bridge the customer data management gap." It is further stated in the report, "Among surveyed martech leaders with a CDP, respondents with only a marketing cloud CDP reported the lowest levels of overall martech stack effectiveness." Gartner adds that "Marketers report high utilization of CDP capabilities, yet "lack of a customer data foundation" remains a top impediment to success. This underscores CDP vendors' struggle in delivering against the expectation of unified customer data."[1] Unlike other CDPs, marketing clouds and generic data pipelines, mParticle helps teams properly address the nuanced nature of customer data in an ever changing technology ecosystem. As teams move beyond third party cookies and create more durable, privacy-friendly strategies, they have the opportunity to create a data flywheel where better data leads to better personalization leading to more engagement and richer data. Addressing the underlying needs around data quality, governance and connectivity is the precursor to creating compounding effects through the organization that benefit the entire enterprise rather than a single team. {1} Gartner, "Survey Analysis: Customer Data Platform Use Is High, Yet Customer Data Management Challenges Persist", Benjamin Bloom, Marketing Research Team, 17 June 2021. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission About mParticle mParticle makes it easy to holistically manage customer data along the entire product and customer lifecycle. Teams across companies like Klarna, NBCUniversal, Spotify, and Airbnb use mParticle to deliver great customer experiences and accelerate growth. We simplify customer data infrastructure resulting in cleaner code, improved site and app performance, less maintenance and reclaimed engineering time. Founded in 2013, mParticle is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco, Seattle, Sydney, and London. About Permira Permira is a global investment firm that backs successful businesses with growth ambitions. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with total committed capital of approximately US$50bn (44bn) and makes long-term majority and minority investments. The Permira funds have made over 250 private equity investments in four key sectors: Technology, Consumer, Services and Healthcare. The Permira funds have an extensive track record in tech investing, having invested US $14.9 billion in 55 companies across enterprise cloud adoption, SaaS, fintech and online marketplaces. Permira employs over 350 people in 15 offices across Europe, North America, and Asia. Permira's growth strategy is to back disruptive and market leading companies as they scale to the next level. The Permira and Permira growth funds have previously backed and helped scale some of the largest and fastest-growing internet and technology businesses globally, including FullStory, CommentSold, Genesys, Klarna, G2, Mirakl, Nexthink, Relativity, Informatica, Allegro, and Zwift. For more information, visit www.permira.com. SOURCE mParticle Related Links http://www.mparticle.com BEDFORD, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing optogenetic gene therapies for treatment of retinal degenerative diseases, today announced that its Co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Samarendra Mohanty, Ph.D., will make a presentation at the Company Showcase of the Ophthalmology Innovation Summit (OIS) Retina on October 7, 2021, in San Antonio, TX. Dr. Mohanty will discuss Nanoscope's Multi-Characteristic Opsin (MCO) gene therapy platform for restoring vision in patients blinded by retinal degenerative diseases regardless of genetic mutations. MCO has unique mechanism of action and characteristics of being fast, broadband, and ambient-light sensitivity allowing vision restoration in different natural or recreational light surroundings. Nanoscope's lead product, MCO-010, is in development for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Stargardt disease and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). For targeting geographic atrophies, Nanoscope is advancing proprietary non-viral laser gene delivery platform. Dr. Mohanty's presentation will be part of the OIS Retina "Spotlight on Cell and Gene Therapy" Company Showcase, 11:21 am to 11:28 am, October 7, 2021, in the Grand Hyatt San Antonio. Nanoscope's most advanced MCO-010 optogenetic gene therapy program targets RP. The company launched a multicenter, randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled Phase 2b clinical trial (NCT04945772) in June 2021 and results are expected in Q4 2022. The gene therapy has received orphan drug designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for RP and Stargardt disease. OIS Retina brings together entrepreneurs, ophthalmic start-up companies, clinical thought leaders, industry executives and investment professionals for a day-long summit showcasing novel therapies in development for ophthalmic diseases and vision disorders. OIS Retina is held in association with the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society for Retina Specialists, October 8 12, 2021, wherein positive safety and efficacy results of Ph1/2a clinical study on MCO gene therapy of RP will be presented. About Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc. Nanoscope Therapeutics is developing optogenetic therapies for giving sight to the millions of blind individuals suffering from retinal degenerative diseases, for which no cure exists. The company's pipeline includes optogenetics-based retinal gene therapies for patients with RP, Stargardt disease, and dry AMD. For more information visit https://nanostherapeutics.com/ Contact: Dan Eramian Opus Biotech Communications [email protected] 425-306-8716 SOURCE Nanoscope Therapeutics Related Links http://www.nanostherapeutics.com HOUSTON and DOHA, Qatar, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Virginia Parras of Parras Tyler & Associates count among their highlights during an unusual year, the virtual visits of NASA astronauts at the Michael DeBakey School for Health Professions. As educators worldwide struggled to maintain education standards during a pandemic, Dr. Parras looked to subject matter leaders and virtual technology to keep students engaged, inspired and curricula centered. Retired NASA Astronaut and flight engineer Nicole Stott spent 104 days in orbit, and she's the first person to ever paint in space. She performed a spacewalk for over six hours and spent over two weeks under the sea (earning the title of aquanaut). She shared her space experiences in an international Q&A with DeBakey students. Dr. David Hilmers, also a retired NASA Astronuat, returned to medicine and is now in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Hilmers told students his personal story of four successful NASA space missions and medical missions. He stressed the importance of being "good human beings" as they look forward to becoming explorers and doctors. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation made the sessions possible. The DeBakey School's Meet with an Astronaut program proved to be a great success at a time when classroom learning had become awkward and inconsistent for institutions balancing COVID safety with curriculum needs. "Our students come from all over the world, and we intend to bring a world of innovative knowledge and exposure to them. We couldn't let a pandemic stop us from delivering on that promise," said Dr. Parras, CEO of the DeBakey School. The Michael DeBakey School for Health Professions is a leading American STEAM school in Doha, Qatar. Students enrolled in DeBakey are interested in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Dr. Parras is the founder of Parras Grande & Associates, LLC, and co-founder of Parras Tyler and Associates, LLC. She was selected by Qatar's Minister of Education and Higher Education to transform and lead one of only two specialized health science schools in the world, the DeBakey High School for Health Professions at Qatar. She serves as CEO and president of the school. She is an advisor and consultant to several colleges and universities and public and private K-12 schools nationally and internationally. SOURCE Parras Tyler & Asscociates LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Navigator Holdings Ltd. ("Navigator") (NYSE: NVGS), a leading provider of seaborne transportation and distribution of liquified gases, is delighted to announce a seafarer training collaboration with Northern Marine Group ("Northern Marine") which will prepare RO-PAX ferry officers to operate gas-fuelled vessels of the future. To obtain their certification to operate LNG-fuelled ferry vessels, the Northern Marine officers are experiencing working life onboard Navigator Gas's 37,500 cbm ethylene capable gas carrier Navigator Aurora. The Ethylene/LPG Carrier vessel provides an environment where the officers can gain their 30-day sea time working with a low-flashpoint fuel by shadowing officers onboard. As one of the officers currently onboard the Navigator Aurora, Chief Engineer Dawid Jaroszewski is benefiting from the training collaboration by learning from the vessel's engineers. He said: "I have only been onboard for a few days but already I am learning a lot about the operation of dual fuel powered devices, as well as the bunkering and operations process. "I have taken time to familiarize myself with the ship and gas-powered equipment, main engine power system and auxiliary units, as well as procedures from HFO/MDO to Gas and vice versa. "I have also had the opportunity to participate in the inspection of type-C tanks on board the gas tank and the pump feeding from the tank to the system. "I am grateful to the engineers who are devoting time to explain all the aspects that are of interest to me. Every day I am gaining new experiences." Sean McCormack, Ship Management Director, Northern Marine, said: "We are very grateful to Navigator Gas for kindly providing berths to assist our Officers in their IGF Code Training. "The utilization of low flashpoint fuels on RoRo and Ro-Pax ferries is still in its infancy, and therefore the opportunity for our Officers to experience time on board the Navigator Aurora demonstrates the benefit of working with innovative clients such as Navigator Gas, who operate at the vanguard of tanker industry engineering. "At Northern Marine we endeavour to offer our global seafaring workforce the chance to fulfil their career ambitions and obtain experience across a variety of vessel types should they demonstrate the ability and attitude to do so." Oeyvind Lindeman, Chief Commercial Officer, at Navigator Gas commented: "Helping our long-time partner Northern Marine to strengthen their competencies in low-emission gas fuelled vessel operations aligns perfectly with Navigator's goal to reduce carbon footprint in the maritime industry. Northern Marine was instrumental in assisting us with the world's first engine conversion enabling the vessel to reduce emission substantially by switching from oil to ethane as fuel. Collaboration across our stakeholders creates a platform for innovation and development in the GHG arena and we are looking forward to collaborating with Northern Marine additional projects." About Navigator Navigator Holdings Ltd. is the owner and operator of the world's largest fleet of handysize liquefied gas carriers and a global leader in the seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, such as ethylene and ethane, liquefied petroleum gas ("LPG") and ammonia and owns a 50% share, through a joint venture, in an ethylene export marine terminal at Morgan's Point, Texas on the Houston Ship Channel, USA. On August 4, 2021, Navigator announced that it merged the fleet and business activities of Ultragas ApS with its own, adding an additional 18 vessels to the fleet. The transaction unites two leading gas shipping companies. Navigator's combined fleet now consists of 56 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers, 22 of which are ethylene and ethane capable. The Company plays a vital role in the liquefied gas supply chain for energy companies, industrial consumers and commodity traders, with its sophisticated vessels providing an efficient and reliable 'floating pipeline' between the parties, connecting the world today, creating a sustainable tomorrow. Navigator Gas Attention: Investor Relations [email protected] London: 10 Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DH. Tel: +44 (0)20 7340 4850 Investor Relations / Media Advisors Nicolas Bornozis / Daniela Guerrero Capital Link - New York Tel: +1-212-661-7566 Email: [email protected] About Northern Marine Northern Marine Group is a ship management and marine services provider, and wholly owned subsidiary of Stena AB. The Group provide the full spectrum of Ship and Offshore Management and wide-ranging service solutions in Training, Travel Management, Marine Supply, Ship Agency, Marine Engineering and Offshore Catering. Technical ship management of tankers and gas carrier vessels is provided by subsidiary Northern Marine Management. www.nmg-stena.com SOURCE Navigator Gas BALTIMORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- nCamp LLC, a Baltimore Maryland-based company, launched a Kickstarter Campaign to raise funding for the production of folding food prep knives designed for the outdoors. The campaign, intended to raise money for tooling, marketing and inventory, begins on October 6th, 2021. Premium and Elite Folding Food Prep Knives Great for Outdoor Cooking - Pack Small. Adventure BIG! There will be two levels of knives. The Premium-level knives have a light-colored beech wood handle, which was chosen for its durability and simplicity. These knives use 9Cr18Mov steel, which balances corrosion resistance, toughness and edge retention. The Elite-level knives have a dark-colored walnut handle which is both tough and beautiful. These knives have Damascus blades (wavy pattern made by layering 10Cr18Mov steel). These blades balance beauty, corrosion resistance and toughness, while maintaining a very sharp edge. Both the Premium and Elite knives include Chef and Santoku-style blades. nCamp has a unique perspective on outdoor cooking, which is focused on elevating one's experience. The company's products are focused on real cooking, vs boiling water to pour into a pouch of freeze-dried ingredients. They currently have a line of outdoor gear that includes a Multi-fuel Stove, a Prep Surface and a coffee maker that makes espresso-style coffee. The knives are designed to complement the current product offerings. According to co-founder Dan Cuffaro, "part of the enjoyment of beautiful places in nature is making a great meal and sharing the experience with others. Our goal was to create an excellent knife, designed to facilitate that activity." Current folding knives are designed for survival or other utility purposes. However, they are rarely designed for food preparation. nCamp team members recognized that their premium outdoor knives just didn't work well when it came time to cook, which led them to begin exploring the opportunity. The design team began to analyze what makes a good food prep knife, while comparing designs to common folding knives. They conducted extensive ergonomic testing, which lead them to a new design focused on comfort, balance and quality. Chef Ben Bebenroth, founder of the Spice Hospitality Group (www.spiceheadquarters.com) and avid outdoorsman stated that, when he cooks in the back country, "I'm often having to make a choice between my full chef knife with a blade protector or a pocket knife, and there's really nothing in between that, so these nCamp knives really fill a nice void in the market." nCamp was founded in 2016 by Dan Cuffaro, an industrial designer and college professor, and John Cunningham, a product development executive, a duo with a passion for innovation and the outdoors. The nCamp Kickstarter Campaign can be found at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ncamp/ncamp-food-prep-knife or you can visit the nCamp website at www.ncampgear.com. The campaign ends on November 5th, 2021. contact: John Cunningham mobile: 443-608-0472 email: [email protected] SOURCE nCamp Gear Related Links http://www.ncampgear.com Are the companies that support Republicans actually better off for doing so? And similarly, do companies that are run by Republican-leaning executives have better overall corporate performance? Goods Unite Us - a Madison, Wisconsin-based non-partisan political data company - has just released a new study that sheds some light on these questions. While there's no way to know how executives at companies are actually voting at the ballot box, by analyzing a company's and its senior executives' political contribution data, we believe we can determine which companies have Republican values and are likely run by Republicans. (And vice versa.) And that's what Goods Unite Us has done: run a first-of-its kind analysis comparing political contributions with stock performance over the last five years. More specifically, Goods Unite Us's data analysts split all of the S&P 500 companies into two groups: one that contributed more to Republican politicians and PACs over the last three federal election cycles (2016, 2018, & 2020) and one that contributed more to Democrats over the same period. The Republican group was made up of 275 S&P 500 companies; the Democratic group included 211 companies (a few companies had to be excluded due to lack of data). Our analysts then calculated each group's stock performance over the last five years using both an equal weighting and a market cap weighting methodology. Findings Our findings were unequivocal. The Democratic group of companies significantly outperformed the Republican group over the five year period using either methodology. The Democratic group also outperformed the Republican group in four out of the five years on an annualized basis, and outperformed the entire S&P 500 over the same five year term on a market cap basis. Goods Unite Us's CEO, Abigail Wuest, had the following to say regarding the study results: "Goods Unite Us is a non-partisan political data provider, so we went into this analysis looking to create the fairest comparison of company performance possible. That's why we used both the equal weighting and the market cap weighting methodologies. Frankly, the clarity of the results really surprised us. We can't wait to see what other insights are in this dataset." Key takeaways: If you had invested $1,000 at the start of 2016 into both the Democratic and Republican groups of companies, the Democratic group would have outperformed the Republican group by more than 8% per year (market cap). at the start of 2016 into both the Democratic and Republican groups of companies, the Democratic group would have outperformed the Republican group by more than 8% per year (market cap). The Democratic group would have yielded an 18.4% average annual return between 2016 and 2020. The Republican group would have yielded a 10.3% average annual return during the same period. The entire S&P 500 had an average annual return of 12.7% over the same period. Using equal weighting reduced the Democratic group's overperformance to a little over 5% per year (19.1% annually for the Democratic group versus 14.0% for the Republican group). You can access our full report here and download our data set by going here . SOURCE Goods Unite Us Related Links https://www.goodsuniteus.com GERMANTOWN, Md., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In early 2020 when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a series of safety alerts on the risk of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 via fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), the Cambridge-based stool bank OpenBiome was left with freezers full of processed donor stool samples that could not be released until tested for the new virus. Now, thanks to a testing solution provided by the microbiome laboratory services company CosmosID, the stool bank is able to quickly screen and distribute the stored treatments to patients across the US who suffer from recurrent C. difficile infection. CosmosID, Inc The custom CosmosID test, which OpenBiome implemented after review by the FDA, detects SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in donor stool using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)the same molecular technique used in COVID-19 diagnostic testing. OpenBiome will now test its large inventory of FMT treatments manufactured after December, 2019, which had largely been previously ineligible for distribution per the FDA safety alerts. The test allows OpenBiome to restore its supply chain of FMT treatments and once again make them widely available to patients. Carolyn Edelstein, Executive Director of OpenBiome, says, "CosmosID brought a solutions-oriented mindset to the challenge they were creative, pragmatic, and proactive, and were utterly committed to the goal of making sure that patients would maintain safe access to fecal transplantation. It has been terrific to collaborate with them on this solution for patients and public health." Manoj Dadlani, CEO of CosmosID, says in order to successfully develop the test, the company leveraged its scientific team's particular expertise in molecular techniques for analyzing stool samples. The team also flexibly adapted to the changing regulatory requirements during the validation process. Dadlani says, "Our team has extensive experience using next-generation sequencing technologies to analyze gut microbiomes for many different applications including detecting the presence of disease-causing microbes. We welcomed this collaboration with OpenBiome to come up with a quick and easy test for their banked stool samples, which helps them continue their work." Majdi Osman, Chief Medical Officer at OpenBiome, emphasizes the test's importance to patients. "Rigorous donor screening is critical to enhancing safety and enabling access to FMT for patients with C. difficile who have exhausted all treatment options. Until now, the challenges of directly testing for SARS-CoV-2 in stool have significantly limited physicians' abilities to treat patients with C. difficile infection," he says. "Screening our inventory using the stool-based assay developed by CosmosID will allow thousands of patients to get much-needed treatment for C. difficile infection. For these patients, an FMT is a chance to recover from a debilitating infection and return to a normal life." To find out more, visit the CosmosID website: https://www.cosmosid.com/cosmosid-hub-covid-19/ About CosmosID CosmosID, based in Germantown, Maryland, is a genomics big data company focused on rapid identification of microorganisms for molecular diagnostics, clinical trials, public health, food safety, agriculture, and environmental applications. The CosmosID platform uses proprietary sequence analysis algorithms to accurately profile all microorganisms in a metagenomic sample employing next-generation DNA sequencing. CosmosID was founded in 2008 by Dr. Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. To learn more please visit http://www.cosmosid.com. Media Contact: Vickie Lord [email protected] 703-995-9879 SOURCE CosmosID, Inc BOSTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new MIT study finds that the number of visitors to any location decreases as the inverse square of travel distance. Since affordable accommodation is distant from a city center, this and web shopping means that city centers are emptying. Cities seek more independence and security with water, food, and 100% electrification. The smart city dream remains of only a 15-minutes walk or bike to work. With rising sea levels and global warming, much of the world is either being flooded or desertified - unless we get clever. The medieval walled city will return where climate migration gets nasty. Food reinvented The Agrihood mixed-income apartment complex in Santa Clara will come with its own 1.5-acre farm. Making considerable food in a limited space means genuine milk and meat cultivated from a few cells, and aquaponics growing vegetables and fish together using polymer, glass, nutrients, and filters. Solar greenhouses power their robots. Outdoors expect solar weeders, seeders, etc. See the IDTechEx report, "Electric Vehicles and Robotics in Agriculture 2020-2030". Transport needs new materials Materials used in internal combustion vehicles are mostly being eliminated as battery-electric vehicle success. In late 2021, the battery Mercedes S entry-level model was offered at a lower price than the internal combustion version. Tesla order books are moving out towards one year. However, its Cybertruk, with over one million orders, has a high-strength stainless steel exoskeleton meaning no crumple zone. Will it be legal in Europe? Electricity independence Cities making and storing all their own electricity is becoming urgent as the increasingly violent weather trashes distant power lines. The latest US Short-Term Energy Outlook reports electricity generation from US hydropower plants is 14% lower in 2021 due to extreme and exceptional drought. The planned Georgia Namakhvani hydropower project is now unlikely given vehement environmental objections and the builder withdrawing. Chinese versions have cracks in the inadequate concrete. Better to make your electricity in the city. With solar winning on price, seasonal electricity storage is a new need and wind needs something too. No wind was one reason UK power costs rocketed in late 2021. For days of storage, many options have arrived, and gravity seasonal storage looks excellent but other options, such as pumping high-density liquids up hills, are worth a look. Most of the largest cities are already near the sea or a large river so the many forms of tidal and wave power without infrastructure attract. Recyclable thermoplastic wind and tidal turbines are on the cards. Sophisticated polymer tethers over one-kilometer long hold the kites and drones generating Aerial Wind Energy (see the IDTechEx report "Airborne Wind Energy 2019-2039"). Polymer composites are preferred for drones, small aircraft, and robot shuttles in cities, some 3D printed. Metamaterials are promising many applications, from passive cooling over solar panels to autonomy radar antennas and solar-powered, reprogrammable intelligent surfaces RIS on buildings redirecting and boosting 6G communications. See the IDTechEx report, "Metamaterial and Metasurface Markets Electromagnetic 2022-2042". Optimal vehicle size and new materials Mistakes are being made with passenger capacity. Like the on road autonomous shuttle by Amazon Zoox a four-seater Airbus has belatedly joined the air taxi race with a dubious multicopter design: its relatively slow cruise speed, limited range and 4-passenger capacity are unambitious when compared with other eVTOL developers. City authorities demand inclusion serving the disabled in wheelchairs and those with limited funds and eliminating congestion. Robot shuttles must take 15-25 people. Examples from Toyota, Local Motors Olli, Navya, and others easily repurposing as a school bus, taxi, bus, or freight. MicroLED displays will assist. Non-stop charging means single-crystal silicon structural solar bodywork (Easymile) and contactless charging. See the IDTechEx report, "Robot Shuttles for Smart Cities 2021-2041". With aircraft, distributed thrust is gaining share. This involves multiple thrusters eliminating the need for flaps, tail plane, and much of the wing size and weight. It is even employed on one ground-effect aircraft flying low over the sea. Intimately integrating thrust and aerodynamics brings materials opportunities. See the IDTechEx report, "Manned Electric Aircraft: Smart City and Regional 2021-2041". Multifunctional materials Polymer composite small aircraft and robot shuttles contrast with aluminum battery-electric cars (Lucid and Jaguar) with Tesla jumping to huge aluminum diecastings replacing over 300 parts. For all vehicles, extreme lightweighting and the lowest drag factor with the highest efficiency powertrain are key. Multifunctional polymers electric, magnetic, optical, mechanical - include 3D printed electronics, in-mold electronics, solar, supercapacitor, and self-healing bodywork. See the IDTechEx report, "Smart Materials Opportunities in Structural Electronics and Electrics 2020-2030". The biggest order books are for battery-electric, fixed-wing aircraft up to ten seats. Some have vertical takeoff and landing capability but that hits endurance time so badly that they may be used mainly for extremely short takeoff and landing ESTOL. One recent order for the safer fixed-wing VTOL with its longer range was Brazilian airline GOL ordering 250 from Vertical Aerospace in the UK. "The VA-X4 is ideal for a city like Sao Paulo," Vertical Aerospace CEO Stephen Fitzpatrick said in a statement. "Our eVTOLs will transform how we travel around high population density cities that are clogged with traffic." UHPC cement and beyond The construction industry consumes 40 billion tonnes of aggregate yearly. Construction sand is in short supply because only river and beach sand are currently considered suitable. Make desert sand useful. Ultra-High Performance Cement UHPC usually combines portland cement, silica fume, superplasticizer, water, and steel or organic fibers. It can have exceptional strength, even tensile, withstanding blown sand and ocean water. Enjoy a very long life, retaining excellent appearance and needing no steel rod reinforcement that can rust. See the IDTechEx report, "Concrete and Cement Reinvented: Growing the Market, Decarbonising 2022-2042". The graphene form is affordable now because only tiny amounts are needed. This initiates calcium silicate gels and optimal host crystallinity with 400% reduction in water permeability. The final trial of 3D printed graphene concrete made in the UK High Speed Rail tunnels comes in 2022. Advances will be welcome in tunnels of Tesla Boring company speedily carrying vehicles under cities and hyperloop tubes taking passengers between cities at aircraft speed. Massive UHPC sea defenses will be made to last, despite using far less material. For the full portfolio of related research available from IDTechEx please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research. IDTechEx guides your strategic business decisions through its Research, Subscription and Consultancy products, helping you profit from emerging technologies. For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.IDTechEx.com . Media Contact: Natalie Moreton Digital Marketing Manager [email protected] +44(0)1223 812300 Social Media Links: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/IDTechEx LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/idtechex/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDTechExResearch SOURCE IDTechEx FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 18; Released: September 2021 Executive Pool: 6347 Companies: 118 - Players covered include ABB Ltd.; Aerospace Changfeng Chaoyang Power Supply Co., Ltd. (4NIC); CETC Solar Energy Holdings Co., Ltd.; Cosel Co., Ltd.; Delixi Electric Co. Ltd.; Delta Electronics, Inc.; Lite-On Technology Corporation; Mean Well Enterprises Co., Ltd.; MOSO Technology Co., Ltd.; Omron Corporation; Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG; PULS GmbH; Salcomp PLC; Schneider Electric SA; Siemens AG; TDK-Lambda Corporation; Weidmuller Interface GmbH & Co. KG and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Type (AC/DC, DC/DC, Other Types); Application (Consumer Electronics, Industrial, Communication, Other Applications) 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 Switching Mode Power Supply Market to Reach US$29.2 Billion by the Year 2026 SMPS transformers are compact, lightweight, and highly efficient, as well as offer the capability of reducing the device's overall size, weight, and noise, which is making them to gain traction in applications, such as commercial power supplies, communication devices, railway systems, and medical devices. Growth in the global market is attributed primarily to the introduction of new cost-effective and efficient technological products. In recent years, the rapid growth in sales of consumer electronic products, such as personal computers, refrigerators, smartphones, and adapters, is driving an increased demand for SMPS transformers. In addition, growing need for managing the weight and size of the electronic circuitry of electronic devices is expected to boost the demand for switching mode power supplies. Owing to their lower shipping costs and variable power conversion, SMPS transformers are finding widespread use in industrial machine tools and control systems globally. Moreover, the market growth is being fueled by the rising automotive industry that uses switching mode power supply in portable automobile chargers. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Switching Mode Power Supply estimated at US$23.8 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$29.2 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.6% over the analysis period. AC/DC, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 3.3% CAGR to reach US$15.3 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 DC/DC segment is readjusted to a revised 4.5% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 29.5% share of the global Switching Mode Power Supply market. The growth in the AC-DC convertor segment is expected to be driven by the growing consumption of consumer electronic products among end-users across the globe. Growth in the DC/DC segment is attributed to their widespread usage in portable chargers and car chargers for drawing power from sources, such as car batteries. The U.S. Market is Estimated at $7.4 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $4 Billion by 2026 The Switching Mode Power Supply market in the U.S. is estimated at US$7.4 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 31.2% share in the global market. China, the world's second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US$4 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 4.5% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 2.8% and 3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.5% CAGR while Rest of European market (as defined in the study) will reach US$4.2 Billion by the end of the analysis period. Asia-Pacific region is the dominant market, owing to large population in the region and high demand from regional manufacturing hubs. The rapid expansion in customer base for battery-operated devices, particularly in leading regional economies, such as China and India is expected to boost market prospects. Another key market, growth in the US is being driven by increased consumption and usage of battery-operated devices that require switching mode power supply. Over the next few years, the growth in the region would be driven partly by the increased usage of technology by the automobile industry. Consumer Electronics (Application) Segment to Reach $13.8 Billion by 2026 The demand for consumer electronics is expected to witness a significant increase, fueled by the growing urban population, rising disposable income, robust supply chain, and increasing Internet penetration globally, which is contributing to a rise in demand for switching mode power supply transformers. In the global Consumer Electronics (Application) segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 4% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US$8.3 Billion in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US$11 Billion by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US$1.7 Billion by the year 2026. More MarketGlass Platform Our MarketGlass Platform is a free full-stack knowledge center that is custom configurable to today`s busy business executive`s intelligence needs! This influencer driven interactive research platform is at the core of our primary research engagements and draws from unique perspectives of participating executives worldwide. Features include - enterprise-wide peer-to-peer collaborations; research program previews relevant to your company; 3.4 million domain expert profiles; competitive company profiles; interactive research modules; bespoke report generation; monitor market trends; competitive brands; create & publish blogs & podcasts using our primary and secondary content; track domain events worldwide; and much more. Client companies will have complete insider access to the project data stacks. Currently in use by 67,000+ domain experts worldwide. Our platform is free for qualified executives and is accessible from our website www.StrategyR.com or via our just released mobile application on iOS or Android About Global Industry Analysts, Inc. & StrategyR Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (www.strategyr.com) is a renowned market research publisher the world`s only influencer driven market research company. Proudly serving more than 42,000 clients from 36 countries, GIA is recognized for accurate forecasting of markets and industries for over 33 years. CONTACTS: Zak Ali Director, Corporate Communications Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Phone: 1-408-528-9966 www.StrategyR.com Email: [email protected] LINKS Join Our Expert Panel https://www.strategyr.com/Panelist.asp Connect With Us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./ Follow Us on Twitter https://twitter.com/marketbytes Journalists & Media [email protected] SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Related Links http://www.strategyr.com DETROIT, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Benzinga, a financial news and data company, announced that the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will take place on October 14 and October 15 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York City. Virtual access to the conference for those unable to attend in person is also available. The upcoming iteration of the famed Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will gather industry insiders and investors from around the world once again on October 14 and 15 in New York City. Attendees can expect two full days of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking, company presentations, celebrity appearances, and more. In addition to the live event, The Virtual Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is guaranteed to offer participants all the benefits of an immersive and robust in-person conference from any remote location. The conference will feature an interactive forum of live and on-demand presentations from top CEOs, investors and leaders in the cannabis space. You'll hear from some of the top names in the industry including: Trulieve's Kim Rivers Harborside's Matt Hawkins Ascend Wellness' Dan Neville and Abner Kurtin and Verano Holdings' Aaron Miles Sundial Growers' Zach George Cowen's Vivien Azer HousePlant's Michael "Mikey" Mohr Viridian Capital Advisors' Scott Greiper Akerna's Jessica Billingsley Wana Brands' Nancy Whiteman Urban Gro's Bradley Nattrass Slang Worldwide's Chris Driessen Advisorshares' Dan Ahrens And many more! Click here to register for the full In Person or Virtual Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference experience, featuring networking, one-on-one meetings, access to investors, and more. "We're really excited to hop into some of the key issues related to cannabis and capital markets, as well as legalization, with these top-notch speakers," said Chief Zinger Jason Raznick. "Having such an impressive lineup of speakers evidences the quality of Benzinga events and their massive growth over the years," added Patrick Lane, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at Benzinga. About The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, renowned for being the premier gathering of cannabis entrepreneurs and investors in North America, returns for another edition, recharged with an impressive list of speakers. Check out the full lineup here. About Benzinga Benzinga is a fast-growing, dynamic and innovative financial media outlet that empowers investors with high-quality, unique content. About Benzinga Events : The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference series is held throughout the year in North American cities. Each event brings investors face-to-face with top cannabis companies to hear about advancements in the rapidly evolving sector. Related Links www.benzingapro.com SOURCE Benzinga Related Links www.benzingapro.com ABERDEEN, Scotland, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NovaBiotics Ltd, a privately held clinical stage company developing novel immune based therapies for life-threatening and life-limiting diseases, announces that the Company will co-sponsor a symposium on new antifungals in which Deborah O'Neil, OBE, Ph.D., , FRSE, Chief Executive Officer of NovaBiotics, will present an overview of NP339 as a novel peptide therapy candidate for invasive and respiratory fungal disease and Daniel W. Smith, Ph.D., Research Associate at NovaBiotics, will deliver a poster presentation highlighting the activity profile of NP339 against Aspergillus fumigatus in whole human blood assays at the 10th Congress on Trends in Medical Mycology (TIMM). TIMM is the bi-annual meeting of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) and will take place from October 8-11, 2021, in Aberdeen, Scotland. TIMM is the forum for scientists and clinicians, industry and academia, to share the latest advances and research findings in medical mycology, as well as new insights into the biology of fungal pathogens, host-fungus interactions, therapeutic management approaches, diagnostics, clinical epidemiology, the emergence of antifungal resistance and newly discovered fungal pathogens. The following symposium featuring discussion on cutting edge breakthroughs and advances in antifungal treatments is being co-sponsored by NovaBiotics along with other participating companies: Title: Update on new antifungals Date: October 8, 2021 Time: 13:45 15:15 CET Chairs: Oliver Cornely, M.D. and Martin Hoenigl, M.D., founders of ECMM Participants: Lance Berman, M.D., Ysios Capital Nkechi Azie, M.D., Vice President of Clinical Development, Scynexis, Inc. Deborah O'Neil, OBE, Ph.D., FRSE Chief Executive Officer of NovaBiotics Ltd. The following poster highlighting NP339's activity against Aspergillus fumigatus in whole human blood will be presented at TIMM: Title: "Novel antifungal peptide NP339 inhibits A. fumigatus growth in whole human blood" Poster No.: 339 Date: October 9, 2021 Time: 1200-1300 CET Presenter: Dr. Daniel W. Smith "We look forward to presenting these encouraging data on NP339, our novel peptide antifungal, developed to address the critical need for more effective and safer treatments for invasive fungal disease. We are particularly pleased to have this year's TIMM take place in our hometown of Aberdeen. The TIMM congress offers the ideal platform for sharing these latest data amidst an audience of leading clinicians and researchers dedicated to bringing new medicines to bear in the fight against these difficult to treat and life-threatening fungal diseases," stated Dr. O'Neil. "NP339 has rapid, fungicidal activity against a broad range of clinically relevant pathogens including Aspergillus spp., Candida spp., Cyptococcus spp. as well as emerging, rare and drug-resistant organisms such as Mucorales and Candida auris. NP339 has a resistance-mitigating mechanism of action and toxicity profile that is highly distinct from other classes of antifungal because it is based on immune defence molecules. We believe NP339 represents a promising new class of therapy with a novel modality that has the potential to transform treatment paradigms for invasive fungal disease," added Dr. O'Neil. About NovaBiotics NovaBiotics Ltd is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company revolutionizing the treatment of medically unmet, life-threatening and life-limiting diseases with novel, immune-based therapies. A leading innovator with the ambition to transform treatment paradigms in inflammatory, infectious and respiratory disease, the Company's robust technology and business model has been validated through successful development from concept through to phase 3 clinical development of its most advanced product candidates. In addition to the lead NM002 programme for community acquired pneumonia and the Company's other late-stage assets (NM001 for pulmonary exacerbations of cystic fibrosis and NP213/Novexatin for onychomycosis), NovaBiotics has generated a robust pipeline of earlier stage, high-value drug candidates including NP339 for life-threatening and drug-resistant invasive and respiratory fungal disease and NP432 for multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. For further information please contact: NovaBiotics: Dr. Deborah O'Neil Chief Executive Officer Telephone: 0044 (0)1224 711377 Email: [email protected] Anne Marie Fields Managing Director Rx Communications Group Email: [email protected] SOURCE NovaBiotics Ltd MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Winmark Corporation, North America's leading franchisor of sustainable resale brands, has announced the 400th store opening of its award-winning children's clothing and accessories retail resale brand, Once Upon A Child. The brand celebrated the record opening this past month in Douglasville, Georgia on September 23, marking a key growth milestone for Once Upon A Child. Winmark the Resale Company celebrated this exciting development with multi-unit franchise owner, Allison Spartis. The 400th store launch marks Spartis' second Once Upon A Child location and fourth Winmark franchise, as she also owns two successful Plato's Closet stores. "It's an incredible feeling to have opened our 400th Once Upon A Child location and to witness the impact our brands have on their communities," said Renae Gaudette, President of Franchising at Winmark Corporation. "I can't think of a more fitting franchisee partner than Allison to be able to share this experience with. Allison is everything we look for in a franchisee she is compassionate, community-driven, a leader in our network, and understands the sustainable value our retail resale brands bring to families. As we continue to grow, our impact will only strengthen as we aim to further our position as the industry leader in resale and sustainability. Our team is regularly evaluating potential markets for future expansion of all Winmark brands and, while we're already a household name for many, we're looking forward to reaching even more families across North America in the years to come." While the past year has been challenging for many retail brands, Winmark's five resale brands Play It Again Sports, Plato's Closet, Style Encore, Music Go Round, and Once Upon A Child defied the odds and grew to meet the increasing demand for quality used, secondhand products. The resale industry is growing 25 times faster than traditional retail with an estimated 64 million people buying secondhand products, and is projected to be worth more than double that of fast fashion. Winmark is able to rapidly grow through strategic franchise development in order to keep up with consumer demand. With over 2,000 available territories in the U.S. and Canada across all five brands, Winmark Corporation has its eyes set on targeted development, and is actively seeking to grow with qualified franchisees. The brand has pinpointed Dallas, Los Angeles and Boston for immediate expansion. This growth strategy is all part of the brand's overarching mission of providing Resale for Everyone. To learn more about Winmark the Resale Company, and its franchise opportunities, visit: winmarkfranchises.com About Winmark Corporation Winmark the Resale Company is a nationally recognized franchising business focused on sustainability and small business formation. We champion and guide entrepreneurs interested in operating one of our award winning resale franchises: Plato's Closet, Once Upon A Child, Play It Again Sports, Style Encore and Music Go Round. At June 26, 2021, there were 1,266 franchises in operation and over 2,000 available territories. An additional 36 franchises have been awarded but are not open. About Once Upon A Child Once Upon A Child leads North America in the buying and selling of gently used kids' merchandise from children's apparel, baby equipment and footwear to books, toys and more. With 400 franchised stores in the United States and Canada, we are focused on sustainable style and play. Once Upon A Child is franchised by Winmark the Resale Company, which also franchises Play It Again Sports, Plato's Closet, Style Encore and Music Go Round. For more information visit www.onceuponachild.com. SOURCE Winmark Corporation GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Onion Global Limited ("Onion Global", the "Group" or the "Company") (NYSE: OG), a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands to young people in China and across Asia, today announced that its private label brand "TENKOU RYUUGI BEAUTY" received a Gold Award for its packaging design at the 2021 Pentawards under the "Body, Health and Beauty" category only one year after its debut in the China market. This validates and recognizes Onion Global's efforts in pursuing an optimal consumer experience for its brands, and its key competencies to drive new trends in products packaging design. Pentawards started in 2007 and is the world's leading and most prestigious packaging design competition. It is also the world's first and only competition focusing solely on packaging design, and is often referred as the "Oscars" of the packaging design industry. The head office of Pentawards is in London, UK, but the event has been held in a couple of renowned fashion cities such as New York, London, Shanghai and Barcelona. The TENKOU RYUUGI BEAUTY brand is the lavish cosmetics focused sub-brand of the brand TENKOU RYUUGI. TENKOU RYUUGI BEAUTY is committed to the mission of "Naturally and Effectively Moisturizing the Skin". Following Japanese minimalism characteristics, the brand is dedicated to creating more cost-effective products that are made in China. To present a distinct skincare feeling, the designer visualized an image of a "drama girl" with both comical and lush expressions on the product packaging to portray a dynamic and youthful product. The extravagant expressions of pleasure and satisfaction aim to drive similar sensations to consumers while using the products, enticing customers to mimic the image of the girl. As girls are often perceived as quiet and gentle by nature, this product aims to unleash their unique and wild side so they can wholeheartedly laugh in their private skincare moments. Mr. Cong (Kenny) Li, Founder and CEO of Onion Global, commented, "The Pentawards are considered the most prestigious worldwide competition for packaging design, and we are greatly honored to have won a Gold award for our private label brand. We recreated the packaging design to drive the product line to the next level. By effectively doing so, the TENKOU RYUUGI BEAUTY brand reached a stronger market position and gained a national audience. We also believe that this award acknowledges our excellence in packaging design and will bring us more opportunities to gain new branding competencies on the retail shelves, ultimately leading to a growth in our top-line." Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, the Company's forecasts, general observation of the industry and business outlook, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "target," "aim," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "potential," "estimates" "continue," "is/are likely to," or other similar statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Onion Global's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Onion Global does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. About Pentawards Since 2007, Pentawards has been recognizing global excellence in packaging design through its annual competition. In just 15 years the competition has received in excess of 20,000 entries from over 64 countries globally. Each year the Gala Ceremony is held in a different location around the world. This event invites all of the winners to celebrate their achievements and receive their prize on stage in front of the global packaging design community. For more information, please visit: https://pentawards.com/live/en/page/home. About Onion Global Limited Onion Global Limited (NYSE: OG) is a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands, which we refer to as "3F brands," to young people in China and across Asia. The Company's mission is to be the dream factory of lifestyle brands for young people. The Company's platform offering an integrated solution to develop, market and distribute new and inspiring branded products, thereby reshaping the lifestyle shopping and consumer culture in China. Onion Global Limited has been listed on New York Stock Exchange since May 2021. For more information, please visit: http://ir.msyc.com/. Investor Relations Contact In China: Onion Global Ltd. Investor Relations E-mail: [email protected] Christensen Mr. Eric Yuan E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +86-10-5900-1548 In United States: Christensen Ms. Linda Bergkamp E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +1-480-614-3004 SOURCE Onion Global Limited Related Links http://ir.msyc.com/ NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Owl Rock Capital Corporation (NYSE: ORCC) ("ORCC") today announced it will release its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 after market close. ORCC invites all interested persons to its webcast / conference call on Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its third quarter ended September 30, 2021 financial results. Conference Call Information: The conference call will be broadcast live at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the Investor Resources section of ORCC's website at www.owlrockcapitalcorporation.com. Please visit the website to test your connection before the webcast. Participants are also invited to access the conference call by dialing one of the following numbers: Domestic: (888) 440-4182 International: (646) 960-0653 Conference ID: 7406736 All callers will need to enter the Conference ID followed by the # sign and reference "Owl Rock Capital Corporation" once connected with the operator. All callers are asked to dial in 10-15 minutes prior to the call so that name and company information can be collected. Replay Information: An archived replay will be available for 14 days via a webcast link located on the Investor Resources section of ORCC's website, and via the dial-in numbers listed below: Domestic: (800) 770-2030 International: (647) 362-9199 Conference ID: 7406736 About Owl Rock Capital Corporation Owl Rock Capital Corporation (NYSE: ORCC) is a specialty finance company focused on lending to U.S. middle-market companies. As of June 30, 2021, ORCC had investments in 129 portfolio companies with an aggregate fair value of $11.9 billion. ORCC has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. ORCC is externally managed by Owl Rock Capital Advisors LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser that is an indirect affiliate of Blue Owl Capital Inc. ("Blue Owl") (NYSE: OWL) and part of Owl Rock, a division of Blue Owl. Owl Rock, together with its subsidiaries, is a New York based direct lending platform with approximately $31.2 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2021. Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about ORCC, its current and prospective portfolio investments, its industry, its beliefs and opinions, and its assumptions. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "will," "may," "continue," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "would," "could," "should," "targets," "projects," "outlook," "potential," "predicts" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond ORCC's control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in ORCC's filings with the SEC. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date on which ORCC makes them. ORCC does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or any other information contained herein, except as required by applicable law. Investor Contact: Dana Sclafani 212-651-4705 [email protected] Media Contact: Prosek Partners David Wells / Josh Clarkson [email protected] SOURCE Owl Rock Capital Corporation Related Links https://owlrockcapitalcorporation.com SYDNEY, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pathzero, today announced it has closed a US$5m investment round, led by Australian venture firm Carthona Capital. This significant round of financing is supported by early investors including Antler Australia and Impact Investor, Phil Vernon. Former Managing Director of Commsec, Paul Rayson is one of several new investors placing the company in prime position to execute its global vision. Since their A$1m seed round in September 2020, Pathzero have moved swiftly to build the platform that, in combination with a sustainability expert, provides a vastly more accessible way of measuring corporate carbon emissions, implementing an emissions reduction plan, purchasing verified carbon credits and disclosing carbon emissions information publicly. With their innovation in portfolio emissions transparency already working in Australia, this funding will enable their vision to be executed globally. Quote Attributable to Carl Prins, Co-Founder and CEO "For asset managers, accessing emissions data for a portfolio of small listed and unlisted companies has been very challenging. The expense of performing an assessment and the lack of consistency in reporting has meant that greenhouse gas emissions information has simply not been available." "Gaining direct access to portfolio company emissions information is revolutionary as it by-passes the traditional flow of information from companies to active institutional investors." "Pathzero believes that by providing corporate carbon transparency, companies will be equipped to make confident strategic decisions about their transition to a low carbon paradigm, with the support of their informed stakeholders." Quote Attributable to Charbel Ayoub, Co-Founder and CTO "The Platform has been designed to enable people, who may be new to sustainability, to create a certifiable measurement of their carbon account. This means they can make informed business decisions and have confidence in their public carbon emissions disclosures." Quote Attributable to Dean Dorrell, Partner, Carthona Capital "We have been looking for an investment in the carbon tech sector for a long time. We have had a thesis that carbon measurement, reporting and offsetting would transition from an altruistic, "good citizen" responsibility to becoming all that and good business. It is clear that time has come, and we believe all businesses will need to show their carbon credentials to retain or attract customers from the ASX20 down to the smallest business. Pathzero has already shown incredible vision and execution and has massive growth ahead of it. We couldn't be more pleased to be partnering with Carl, Charbel and the team to help them build a globally significant business." Quote Attributable to Anthony Millet, Global Partner, Antler Australia "We've supported the Pathzero team since inception and watched demand for their solution increase at great magnitude. We're excited to back the team again and support their mission to have a tremendous global impact." Quote Attributable to Nigel Freitas, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brighte "This experience has enabled us to implement an auditable and thorough process, fulfilling our initial commitments and also kicking off a further discussion around sustainability initiatives at Brighte." SOURCE Pathzero Related Links www.pathzero.com CHANTILLY, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peraton has been awarded a contract to deliver software development, information assurance, and other IT services to multiple U.S. Army garrisons in four European countries. The single award contract, valued at $22.5 million, represents new work for the company and will continue through 2026. Under the agreement from U.S. Army Installation Management Command Europe (IMCOM-E), Peraton will provide IT support services to IMCOM-E personnel in Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. Peraton, through its Perspecta Enterprise Solutions LLC legal entities in Germany (GmbH) and Belgium (SRL), will support the contract using non-Technical Expert Status (non-TESA) personnel, as well as TESA personnel in Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. "With more than three decades of supporting the U.S. Department of Defense in the European theater, Peraton has the institutional knowledge to effectively deploy technology and personnel to accomplish complex in-theater mission challenges," said Jeff Bohling, president, Defense Solutions sector. "With this task order, IMCOM-E will have the tools needed to maintain the garrisons' readiness." Peraton customers in the European theatre include U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, U.S. Africa Command, the Defense Manpower Data Center, and the U.S. Navy. About Peraton Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit Peraton.com/News and follow Peraton on LinkedIn for news and updates. SOURCE Peraton CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With seasonal cold weather on the horizon, paired with an increase in the cost of natural gas customers are facing across the globe, Piedmont Natural Gas is reminding customers of tips, tools and assistance programs available to help customers prepare for higher winter bills. "Natural gas market prices are higher due to the economic recovery from strong natural gas demand from last winter, along with slower than anticipated production this year," said Richard Meyer, vice president, energy markets, analysis and standards, American Gas Association. "However, the U.S. natural gas market remains well supplied and is prepared to serve customers throughout the winter. The weather and the market can impact utility bills, and consumer conservation can help reduce bill impacts, so it is a good time to make sure your household is prepared before cold weather hits." As a natural gas distributor, Piedmont purchases natural gas at the best possible price and then passes this cost directly to customers. In addition to this increasing commodity cost of natural gas, which the company makes no profit from, rate increases approved by public utility commissions in North Carolina and South Carolina will go into effect Nov. 1 to cover safety and infrastructure investments to better serve customers. As of Nov. 1, the estimated cumulative monthly bill increase for the fuel cost and rate increase for the average residential customer in North Carolina will be approximately $11.34 per month or $136 per year, compared to rates in effect this summer. Customers in South Carolina can expect a similar increase of approximately $11.00 per month or $132 per year, compared to rates in effect this summer. "Our goal is twofold to keep rates low while still performing the vital safety and infrastructure work that allows Piedmont to deliver safe and reliable natural gas service to customers," said Sasha Weintraub, Piedmont Natural Gas senior vice president. "We recognize we still are in challenging economic times, and rate increases, combined with approaching cold weather and higher natural gas prices, create additional hardships for some customers. Weintraub continued, "We are committed to helping our customers and are taking steps to protect our most vulnerable customers by suspending disconnections until March 2022, for customers who qualify, and reaching out proactively to make sure they know assistance is available." Equal Payment Program (EPP) This free service helps customers manage their budgets by eliminating high winter bills. The EPP program levels out a customer's natural gas bills, allowing them to pay a predictable, equal monthly amount to help avoid billing surprises. Piedmont determines this payment by adding up a customer's annual natural gas usage and then dividing it into the same payment amount each month. Learn more here. Assistance for Customers in Need Piedmont is reaching out to customers whose bills are past due through email and/or text with information about utility assistance administered by agencies in their state and local communities. Customers who may not have qualified for assistance in the past may now qualify due to expanded eligibility criteria during the pandemic. Increased levels of assistance also may be available for those who qualified and have already received assistance. The Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) provides winter heating assistance to pay for gas, electric and other methods customers use to heat their homes. There are many customers who are eligible, but do not apply for this annual Federal benefit that can reduce winter heating costs for low-income families. The links below can provide information on how to apply locally: Piedmont says anyone in need should apply for this and other newly available programs to see if they qualify. For detailed federal and state-specific information, go to www.piedmontng.com/TBD and click on your state. Low- to no-cost energy saving tips and projects Natural gas use typically spikes in the winter as customers combat low temperatures to stay warm. Below are tips to help prepare for cold weather and manage your energy use. B-roll of energy-efficiency measures available here. Learn how to reduce energy use. The first step to reduce energy use in your home is to identify and prioritize energy-saving improvements. This can be accomplished through a certified auditor or by performing your own energy audit. Seal air ducts. Make sure the air ducts from your home's furnace and central air conditioner are properly sealed. Ducts that leak into the attic or crawl space can substantially increase your heating and cooling bills. Seal your home. One of the quickest energy-saving tasks you can do is caulk, seal and weather-strip all seams, cracks and openings to the outside. This can save 10% to 20% on your heating and cooling bills. Install smart thermostats. Installing a "smart" or programmable thermostat will reduce your energy use while you are asleep or away. Manage water heating. Set your water heater temperature to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or consider installing an on-demand or tankless water heater that only heats water when you need it. Consider insulation. Consider whether you need to add insulation to your ceiling, floors and walls. Insulation between the indoors and outdoors reduces energy demand, saving you money while improving the comfort of your home. Energy-Saving Tools Piedmont Natural Gas also offers a variety of energy-saving tools to help customers and our communities identify ways to save money and energy all year long. These programs and tools to help customers understand what factors are impacting their natural gas bills and emphasize specific actions they can take to reduce the impacts of high winter usage. Piedmont Natural Gas Piedmont Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, is an energy services company whose principal business is the distribution of natural gas to more than 1 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The company also supplies natural gas to power plants. Piedmont is routinely recognized by J.D. Power for excellent customer satisfaction, and has been named by Cogent Reports as one of the most trusted utility brands in the U.S. 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% 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: Jennifer Sharpe Phone: 877.348.3612 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pretium, a specialized investment management firm with approximately $30 billion in assets, today announced that Tatiana Gutierrez and Jeannette Arazi have joined the firm as Managing Directors on its Affordable Housing and Real Estate Capital Markets teams, respectively. These appointments underscore Pretium's continued commitment to increasing access to quality, affordable rental housing for households of all price points. The additions of Ms. Gutierrez and Ms. Arazi enhance the depth of expertise, insight, and support Pretium provides for residents, investors, and community stakeholders across its platform. These appointments follow the announcement of the firm's $1 billion build-to-rent investment in partnership with Crescent Communities. "Welcoming two talented professionals with long track records of success and innovation is an exciting milestone as we grow our team," said Don Mullen, CEO and Founder of Pretium. "Tatiana and Jeannette have made an incredible impact in their respective focus areas, and the experience they bring to Pretium will play a pivotal role as we continue to grow our real estate investment platform, building on the success of our single-family and build-to-rent strategies. We are confident that their additions will further strengthen our leading efforts to set the standard for professional single-family rental ownership. We look forward to their contributions as we continue to invest in our communities and expand our capabilities to bring the benefits of professionally managed single-family rental housing to more American households." Based in New York, Ms. Gutierrez will be integral to advancing Pretium's social impact goals, including instituting an array of supportive services for residents of all price points and adding to and preserving low-income rental housing stock. Over the course of her nearly 20-year career, Ms. Gutierrez has built a reputation as a leading practitioner focused on the development and preservation of affordable housing across the United States. As a real estate attorney at Nixon Peabody LLP for more than 15 years including the past eight years as a partner she represented a wide range of leading for profit and nonprofit developers, syndicators, asset managers, housing authorities and tenant organizations on affordable housing transactions and regulatory issues across the United States. Ms. Gutierrez also has extensive experience in HUD assisted housing programs and has advised on numerous affordable housing and social impact real estate transactions. Ms. Gutierrez currently serves on the board of Women in Housing and Finance, on the Advisory Board to the Real Estate Association for LatinX Professionals, and on the Advisory Council to the National Housing Conference. "Affordability and social impact continue to play an increasingly important role in today's housing market, particularly in the wake of the pandemic and the important social issues that have been brought to the forefront, as a result," said Ms. Gutierrez. "With almost 20 years of industry experience and recent experience working with the Pretium team, it is clear they are at the forefront of providing quality, affordable housing in neighborhoods of opportunity with a housing product that serves vulnerable populations like large families with children. Having the opportunity to bring my distinct affordable housing experience to Pretium's world class residential real estate platform, I believe I can help bring the benefits of Pretium's professional ownership and management model to those who will benefit from it the most." Based in Chicago, Ms. Arazi joins Pretium from Sidley Austin LLP, where she worked for the past 22 years, including the last 14 as a partner. Widely known as a leading capital markets advisor and one of the earliest advisors for financing single-family rental housing, Ms. Arazi has extensive experience representing financial institutions in a wide range of transaction types and creating financing solutions tailored to the nuances of unique asset types. She will focus on structuring and executing transactions and strategic financial initiatives firm-wide across Pretium's residential real estate platform and portfolios. "Having worked closely with Pretium and a number of its team members for almost a decade, I have long admired the firm's vision and commitment to creating a unique residential platform that encompasses both real estate and finance," said Ms. Arazi. "It is a privilege to join the team that serves the evolving needs of today's rental market participantsfrom renters to communities to investorsand I am excited to contribute to their incredible momentum." About Pretium Pretium is a specialized alternative investment management firm focused on U.S. residential real estate, residential credit, and corporate credit. Pretium was founded in 2012 to capitalize on secular investment and lending opportunities arising as a result of structural changes, disruptions, and inefficiencies within the economy. Pretium has built an integrated analytical and operational ecosystem within the U.S. housing, residential credit, and corporate credit markets, and believes that its insight and experience within these markets create a strategic advantage over other investment managers. Pretium's platform has approximately $30 billion of assets under management as of October 1, 2021 and employs approximately 2,500 people across 29 offices. Please visit www.pretium.com for additional information. Contacts Jon Keehner / Lyle Weston / Erik Carlson Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449 [email protected] SOURCE Pretium TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Primo Water Corporation (NYSE: PRMW) (TSX: PRMW) (the "Company" or "Primo"), a leading provider of sustainable drinking water solutions in North America and Europe, today announced that the Company will release its third quarter ended October 2, 2021 financial results before the markets open on Thursday, November 4, 2021. Primo will host a conference call, to be simultaneously webcast, on Thursday, November 4, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A question and answer session will follow management's presentation. To participate, please call the following numbers: Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call North America: (888) 664-6392 International: (416) 764-8659 Conference ID: 46080719 This is a live, listen-only dial-in telephone line. Webcast for Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call A live audio webcast will be available through the Company's website at www.primowatercorp.com. The webcast will be recorded and archived for playback on the investor relations section of the website for two weeks following the event. ABOUT PRIMO WATER CORPORATION Primo Water Corporation is a leading pure-play water solutions provider in North America, Europe and Israel and generates approximately $2.0 billion in annual revenue. Primo operates largely under a recurring razor/razorblade revenue model. The razor in Primo's revenue model is its industry leading line-up of sleek and innovative water dispensers, which are sold through major retailers and online at various price points or leased to customers. The dispensers help increase household penetration which drives recurring purchases of Primo's razorblade offering. Primo's razorblade offering is comprised of Water Direct, Water Exchange, and Water Refill. Through its market leading Water Direct business, Primo delivers sustainable hydration solutions across its 22-country footprint direct to the customer's door, whether at home or to commercial businesses. Through its market leading Water Exchange and Water Refill businesses, Primo offers pre-filled and reusable containers at over 13,000 locations and water refill units at approximately 22,000 locations, respectively. Primo also offers water filtration units across its 22-country footprint representing a top five position. Primo's water solutions expand consumer access to purified, spring and mineral water to promote a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle while simultaneously reducing plastic waste and pollution. Primo is committed to its water stewardship standards and is proud to partner with the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) in North America as well as with Watercoolers Europe (WE), which ensure strict adherence to safety, quality, sanitation and regulatory standards for the benefit of consumer protection. Primo is headquartered in Tampa, Florida (USA). For more information, visit www.primowatercorp.com. SOURCE Primo Water Corporation Related Links https://primowatercorp.com/ GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ProStar Holdings Inc. ("ProStar" or the "Company") (OTCQB: MAPPF) (TSXV: MAPS) (FSE 5D00), a world leader in Precision Mapping Solutions, has engaged Lytham Partners, LLC ("Lytham") to expand its U.S. based investor outreach program. Lytham Partners has been engaged to provide investor conference non-deal meetings, market intelligence, and investor relations services. For more than 20 years, Lytham Partners has been one of the industry's leading investor relations firms in the U.S., having created one of the largest and most diverse networks of institutional investors, while creating a framework of best practices in all aspects of corporate and shareholder communications. Rob Breza, Vice President of Lytham Partners, commented, "ProStar's patented technology is used by marquee companies and government agencies addressing a large global market opportunity to precisely locate and display critical infrastructure, including buried utilities and pipelines. We are excited to work with the ProStar management team to help build investor awareness and look forward to their participation in our upcoming investor conference." ProStar will be participating in the upcoming Lytham Partners Fall 2021 Investor Conference, being held virtually on October 5-7, 2021. The event will bring together institutional investors and public companies through a series of virtual presentations, fireside chats, industry panels, and virtual 11 meetings. The event will feature approximately 70 participating companies from a variety of industries. For more information, please visit www.lythampartners.com/virtual. "With our recent listing on the OTCQB and the fact that we are U.S. company with U.S. clients, including Fortune 500 construction firms, Subsurface Utilities Engineering firms, utility owners, municipalities, and government agencies, we are ramping up our focus on the U.S. capital markets. I am confident that Lytham will play a valuable role," stated Page Tucker, CEO and Founder of ProStar. In connection with the engagement, Lytham Partners has been retained for USD $7,000 per month. The agreement is subject to regulatory approval. About Lytham Partners For more than 20 years, Lytham Partners has been one of the country's leading investor relations firms, having created one of the industry's largest and most diverse networks of institutional investors, while creating a framework of best practices in all aspects of corporate and shareholder communications. In addition to their relationships with many of the industry's most respected institutional investors, Lytham Partners has spent the past two decades creating an integrated platform that allows its clients far reaching exposure to investors in a consistent and in-depth format. This platform is matched with a communications and positioning approach that is streamlined throughout press releases, conference calls, investor presentations, corporate profiles, and websites. For more information visit our website at www.lythampartners.com. About ProStar Holdings Inc. (TSXV: MAPS, FSE: 5D00,OTCQB: MAPPF) ProStar is a world leader in Precision Mapping Solutions and is creating a digital world by leveraging the most modern GPS, cloud, and mobile technologies. ProStar is a software development company specializing in developing patented cloud and mobile precision mapping solutions focused on the critical infrastructure industry. ProStar's flagship product, PointMan, is designed to significantly improve the workflow processes and business practices associated with the lifecycle management of critical infrastructure assets both above and below the Earth's surface. ProStar's PointMan is offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and seamlessly connects the field with the office and provides the ability to precisely capture, record, display, and manage critical infrastructure, including roads, railways, pipelines, and utilities. Some of the largest entities in North America have adopted ProStar's solutions, including Fortune 500 construction firms, Subsurface Utilities Engineering (SUE) firms, utility owners, municipalities, and government agencies. ProStar has strategic business partnerships are with the world's leading geospatial technology providers, data collection equipment manufacturers, and their dealer networks. The Company has made a significant investment in creating a vast intellectual property portfolio that includes 20 issued patents in the United States and Canada . The patents protect the methods and systems required to digitally capture, record, organize, manage, distribute, and display the precise location of critical infrastructure, including buried utilities and pipelines. ProStar's Executive management team has extensive experience in the management of both early stage and Fortune 500 technology companies in the private and public sectors. For more information, please contact: Alex Moore Investor Relations 970-822-4792 [email protected] Lytham Partners, LLC Robert Blum or Rob Breza 602-889-9700 [email protected] Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding the terms and conditions of the Company's future plans. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. 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 factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Company's securities; the state of the technology sector; recent market volatility; the COVID-19 pandemic; the Company's ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Company's recent Information Circular filed on SEDAR on November 20, 2020 for a more complete discussion of applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company's issuer page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE ProStar Corp Related Links prostarcorp.com KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quench, a leading provider of filtered water solutions for businesses and dealer partners across the United States and Canada, announced today that it has acquired Vero Water. Vero Water is a leading brand of eco-friendly, luxury, still and sparkling water to the hospitality industry. Vero water is served to more than 75 million guests per year in acclaimed restaurants, hotels, and cruise lines in the United States and 14 countries around the world. Vero's proprietary technology enables clients to filter, chill, fill and serve Vero still and sparkling water on-premise and on-demand, in reusable luxury glass bottles, eliminating single-use plastic waste. Quench acquires Vero Water Video The acquisition of Vero Water marks a bold, strategic move into the HORECA channel by Quench. "We are thrilled to welcome Vero Water and its clients to the Quench family," said Todd Peterson, COO of Quench. "This acquisition represents an important expansion of our hospitality business segment. The Vero Water brand offers guests both the luxury experience they expect and the environmental sustainability they desire." Quench's eco-friendly, innovative filtered water solutions serve many of the world's most recognizable brands. The comprehensive Quench product family includes bottle-free enhanced, flavored, still, and sparkling water systems, ice machines and coffee service. "I'm thrilled that Vero Water with be joining the leader in water purification solutions in North America. Quench's robust infrastructure, product range, and innovation capabilities will propel Vero Water to its next stage of growth. I couldn't hope for a better partner for our business," said David Deshe, President and Co-Founder of Vero Water. About VERO WATER Vero Water is a healthy lifestyle choice for Inspired Living. VERO WATER is a leading provider of luxury still and sparkling water to the hospitality industry, served to over 75 million consumers a year, coast-to-coast in the United States and 14 countries around the world. Vero offers exceptionally great tasting still and sparkling water that is an affordable alternative to bottled water for consumers, more sustainable for the environment, and a more profitable brand for the hospitality industry versus traditional bottled water brands. Vero's proprietary purification process enables clients to purify, chill, fill and serve Vero still and sparkling water on-premise and on-demand. Served perfectly chilled from a luxury branded Eco-Bottle with every pour, Vero's signature taste is pure and crisp - noted by a distinctively luxurious mouthfeel and a light and refreshing finish. Vero Water is proudly served in the most acclaimed hospitality venue by the most celebrated chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers, and cruise lines around the world establishing it as the leading brand of eco-friendly luxury still and sparkling water. ABOUT QUENCH Quench USA, Inc. offers bottle-free filtered drinking water solutions for healthy and environmentally conscious consumers outside the home, through direct sales and independent dealers across North America. Our bottle-free water coolers, ice machines, sparkling water dispensers and coffee brewers, purify a user's existing water supply to provide reliable and convenient filtered water to a broad mix of businesses, including government, education, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and other large commercial customers, including more than half of the Fortune 500. Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, Quench has sales and service operations across North America to serve our 60,000+ customers, and a network of over 250 independent dealers selling products under the brand names Pure Water Technology, Wellsys and Bluline. Quench is a Culligan Company. ABOUT CULLIGAN Founded in 1936 by Emmett Culligan, Culligan is a world leader in delivering water solutions that will improve the lives of its customers. The company offers some of the most technologically advanced, state-of-the-art water filtration and treatment products. Culligan's products include water softeners, drinking water systems, whole-house systems, and solutions for businesses. Culligan's network of franchise dealers is the largest in the world, with over 900 dealers in 90 countries. For more information visit: www.culligan.com. Quench acquires Vero Water Video: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651973/Acquisition_Announcement_Quench_2.mp4 Vero Water in upscale steakhouse Image: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651972/Vero_Water_Restaurant.jpg Media Inquiries: Michelle Beauchamp Vice President of Marketing [email protected] (786) 338-5109 SOURCE Quench WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) will issue its third quarter 2021 earnings on Tuesday, Oct. 26, prior to the stock market opening. A conference call will take place at 8:30 a.m. ET. A presentation corresponding with the conference call will be available on the company's website at www.rtx.com for downloading prior to the call. To listen to the earnings call by phone, dial (866) 219-7829 between 8:10 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. ET. Please limit your use of the phone's speaker mode to optimize the audio quality of the call for all participants. Analysts who wish to ask a question following the prepared remarks should press "1" on their phone during the call. Your name will be placed in queue. To remove yourself from the queue, press "#." If you need assistance, press "*0" to reach the conference operator. The call will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.rtx.com. A recording will be archived on the site and will be available for replay by phone from 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, October 26th, to 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, November 9th. For a replay, dial (855) 859-2056. At the prompt for a conference ID number, enter 9088513. About Raytheon Technologies Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses Collins Aerospace Systems, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Media Contact C: 202.360.8473 Investor Contact C: 781.522.5123 SOURCE Raytheon Technologies Tetra is gearing up to launch REDUVO, its first cannabinoid-derived medicine, in Canada . . REDUVO 5-year cumulative gross sales expected to reach $121M . . The Company has started numerous pre - launch activities to prepare for the introduction of REDUVO on the Canadian Market. OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. ("Tetra" or the "Company") (TSX: TBP) (OTCQB: TBPMF) (FRA: JAM1), a leader in cannabinoid-derived drug discovery and development announced today that numerous pre-launch activities for REDUVO have been initiated. REDUVO is a cannabinoid-derived drug indicated in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). In December 2020, the Company submitted a New Drug Submission to Health Canada which is currently in its final stage of review by the regulator. The Company is pleased to share that the following activities have been started or completed: Distribution agreement; Reimbursement strategy development; Customer segmentation and targeting; Medical and commercial field team staffing process through a Contract Sales Organization (CSO); and Strategy development and initiation. Steeve Neron, Chief Commercial Officer of Tetra Bio-Pharma said "We are now entering in a major transformation going from a biotech company strictly focused on research into a biopharma with commercial operations. We remain confident that REDUVO shall receive a Notice of Compliance (NoC) from Health Canada in the coming months. REDUVO will help us create our Canadian footprint with healthcare professionals to establish our leading position in cannabinoid-derived medicines." Financial impacts: 5-year plan (2022-2026) cumulative gross sales are expected to reach $121M in Canada . in . REDUVO will pave the way for the global drug launch of REDUVO Adversa in 2024, a dronabinol administered product through an innovative mucoadhesive tablet delivery system, including patent protection. in 2024, a dronabinol administered product through an innovative mucoadhesive tablet delivery system, including patent protection. REDUVO Adversa cumulative global gross sales are expected to reach $79M by 2026. About Tetra Bio-Pharma Tetra Bio-Pharma ( TSX: TBP ) ( OTCQB: TBPMF ) ( FRA:JAM1 ) is a leader in cannabinoid-derived drug discovery and development with a FDA and a Health Canada cleared clinical program aimed at bringing novel prescription drugs and treatments to patients and their healthcare providers. Our evidence-based scientific approach has enabled us to develop a pipeline of cannabinoid-based drug products for a range of medical conditions, including pain, inflammation, and oncology. With patients at the core of what we do, Tetra Bio-Pharma is focused on providing rigorous scientific validation and safety data required for inclusion into the existing biopharma industry by regulators, physicians and insurance companies. Neither the TSX Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking statements Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the inability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to execute the Company's business plan; competition; regulation and anticipated and unanticipated costs and delays, the success of the Company's research and development strategies, including the success of this product or any other product, the applicability of the discoveries made therein, the successful and timely completion and uncertainties related to the regulatory process, the timing of clinical trials, the timing and outcomes of regulatory or intellectual property decisions and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results or events not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation. SOURCE Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Relativity, a global legal and compliance technology company, today announced at its annual user conference, Relativity Fest, that in partnership with leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), Relativity's SaaS product RelativityOne, will now be hosted in United Arab Emirates (UAE). The availability of RelativityOne helps clients meet growing cloud demand and evolving legal, regulatory and investigative needs throughout the Middle East. Relativity and A&M customers and partners in UAE can now control their data in-country and innovate faster with an extensible cloud product backed by the power of automation and integrated artificial intelligence. With RelativityOne, users can streamline their technology stack to manage large volumes of complex, unstructured data. RelativityOne helps users protect their most sensitive data and reduce risk with proactive threat prevention, 24/7 monitoring, automated security processes and leading compliance certifications. UAE users will now have the ability to improve their information governance and security posture while centralizing data. "We are excited to help support and drive cloud adoption in the UAE and help our customers keep pace and stay compliant with evolving data protection laws as countries in the Middle East push to modernise and ramp up regulatory rigor," said Steve Couling, Managing Director and Vice President Sales, EMEA at Relativity. "The UAE is a thriving global hub for technology, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with A&M to bring our offerings there. Their team of e-discovery professionals set the standard for delivering results on critical matters, assisting counsel and companies in the integration of technology to uncover facts faster." "The expansion of our e-discovery offerings is in response to rising demand from our clients in the Middle East for innovative technology and we are excited to partner with Relativity in the rollout of RelativityOne in the region," said James Daniell, Managing Director and Head of Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations in the Middle East. "Bringing in a cloud-based platform enables us to continue to meet our clients' requirements with flexible, best-in-class e-discovery solutions and combined with A&M's extensive experience, RelativityOne transforms the landscape of technology assisted reviews in the Middle East." The deployment of RelativityOne, allows A&M to offer enhanced end-to-end technology solutions involving e-discovery and internal investigations for clients across the UAE and the Middle East. The adoption of RelativityOne allows A&M to accelerate the processing and hosting of data into RelativityOne seamlessly and securely. RelativityOne's and A&M's partnering, adds value for Middle East-based client with rapid deployment within a few hours of matter approval, unlimited data storage without processing capabilities limitations and trained resources experienced on the largest discovery matters in the Middle East. Additionally, clients can access immediate reviewer additions without user account restrictions, expedited conversion of foreign language documents and end-to-end services from technology to managed reviews The partnership between A&M and Relativity to bring RelativityOne to UAE was announced at the 12th annual Relativity Fest, a virtual event taking place from October 4-6, 2021. Register for the free event here. About Relativity Relativity makes software to help users organize data, discover the truth and act on it. Its SaaS product RelativityOne manages large volumes of data and quickly identifies key issues during litigation and internal investigations. The AI-powered communication surveillance product, Relativity Trace proactively detects regulatory misconduct like insider trading, collusion and other non-compliant behavior. Relativity has more than 300,000 users in approximately 40 countries serving thousands of organizations globally primarily in legal, financial services and government sectors, including the U.S. Department of Justice and 198 of the Am Law 200. Relativity has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for 10 consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at [email protected] or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information. About Alvarez and Marsal Companies, investors and government entities around the world turn to Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) for leadership, action and results. Privately held since its founding in 1983, A&M is a leading global professional services firm that provides advisory, business performance improvement and turnaround management services. When conventional approaches are not enough to create transformation and drive change, clients seek our deep expertise and ability to deliver practical solutions to their unique problems. With over 5,000 people across four continents, we deliver tangible results for corporates, boards, private equity firms, law firms and government agencies facing complex challenges. Our senior leaders, and their teams, leverage A&M's restructuring heritage to help companies act decisively, catapult growth and accelerate results. We are experienced operators, world-class consultants, former regulators and industry authorities with a shared commitment to telling clients what's really needed for turning change into a strategic business asset, managing risk and unlocking value at every stage of growth. To learn more visit: AlvarezandMarsal.com . Follow A&M on LinkedIn , Twitter , and Facebook SOURCE Relativity Related Links http://www.relativity.com DENVER, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. today announced its third annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track record of success backing entrepreneurs. The final list recognizes firms that entrepreneurs can trust and collaborate with while receiving the financial support they need to help accelerate growth all have a successful track record of remaining actively involved in the businesses after their investment. "Supporting an entrepreneur's vision and driving growth is more than just a financial investment. It's about building a relationship and supporting the founders beyond that initial year. These private equity firms treat the founders like partners," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. media. "We are very excited to be recognized as one of the most founder-friendly investors by Inc. Magazine. Throughout our history, we have focused on building a reputation and a private equity investment model that resonates with founder-led businesses," said Simon Bachleda, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Revelstoke. "We pride ourselves on being service-oriented partners to our management teams and fostering a culture of high-urgency value creation this combination has resulted in Revelstoke completing 112 investments in the past eight years, most of which have been with founder-led businesses." To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships. To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2021 Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms list quickly established itself as one of Inc.'s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake. About Revelstoke Capital Partners Revelstoke is a private equity firm formed by experienced investors who focus on building industry-leading companies in the healthcare and related health and wellness sectors. Revelstoke partners with entrepreneurs and management teams to execute on a disciplined organic and acquisition growth strategy as it strives to build exceptional companies. Revelstoke is based in Denver, Colorado and has approximately $3.7 billion of assets under management. Since the Firm's inception in 2013, Revelstoke has completed 112 acquisitions, which include 21 platform companies and 91 add-on acquisitions. About Inc. The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. The "Founder-Friendly Investors" award is a program designed by Inc. Magazine to help founder-led companies accelerate growth and create revenue. Private equity and venture capital firms that have exited U.S.-based, founder-led portfolio companies are eligible to apply. For investments to qualify, portfolio company founders must have remained actively involved in their business for at least one-year post-investment. Winning firms are selected based upon their investments and founder references. Revelstoke is not aware of the number of advisers also surveyed for the award. Like all entrants, Revelstoke paid a fee to be considered for this award. This award is not to be construed as indicative of Revelstoke's future performance. Reference to an award is only one piece of information relevant to an evaluation of an investment adviser such as Revelstoke. Finally, this award represents information as of a specific date and time and may not reflect important information related to an evaluation of the investment adviser which has occurred prior to, or subsequent to, the award. Contact: Caroline Luz Lambert & Co. 203-656-2829 [email protected] SOURCE Revelstoke Capital Partners DETROIT, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT) (the "Company" or "Rocket Companies"), a Detroit-based holding company consisting of tech-driven real estate, mortgage and financial services business including Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes and Rocket Auto today announced the early tender results as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on October 4, 2021 (the "Early Tender Deadline") of the previously announced tender offer (the "Tender Offer") of its subsidiary, Rocket Mortgage, LLC (the "Issuer"), to purchase for cash any and all of the Issuer's outstanding 5.250% senior notes due 2028 (the "Notes"). In connection with the Tender Offer, the Company also announced the results as of the Early Tender Deadline of its previously announced solicitation of consents (the "Consents") from holders of the Notes (the "Consent Solicitation") to the proposed amendments to the indenture, dated as of December 8, 2017 (the "Indenture"), which governs the Notes, to (i) eliminate substantially all of the restrictive covenants in the Indenture and the Notes, (ii) eliminate all events of default other than events of default relating to the failure to pay principal of and interest on the Notes, and (iii) shorten the minimum notice period under the Indenture for optional redemptions by the Issuer from at least 30 days but not more than 60 days to at least five business days but not more than 60 days (collectively, the "Proposed Amendments"). The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are described in an Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, dated September 21, 2021 (the "Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement"). The aggregate principal amount of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Deadline (the "Early Tender Notes"), as well as the percent of the aggregate principal amount of Notes outstanding constituting Early Tender Notes, is set forth in the columns entitled "Aggregate Principal Amount of Early Tender Notes" and "Percent of Outstanding Principal Amount Tendered," respectively, in the table below. The consideration being offered for any such Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation is also set forth in the table below: CUSIP / ISIN Title of Notes Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Aggregate Principal Amount of Early Tender Notes Percent of Outstanding Principal Amount Tendered Tender Offer Consideration (1)(2) Early Tender Payment (1)(3) Total Tender Offer Consideration (1)(2) Registered Notes: CUSIP: 74840LAB8 / U7467LAB7 ISIN: US74840LAB80 / USU7467LAB72 5.250% Senior Notes due 2028 $1,010,000,000 $941,436,000 93.21% $1,047.50 $30.00 $1,077.50 (1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. (2) Does not include accrued and unpaid interest that will be paid on the Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. (3) Included in the Total Tender Offer Consideration for Early Tender Notes accepted for purchase. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will expire at Midnight, New York City time, at the end of October 19, 2021, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Issuer (the "Expiration Date"). No tenders submitted after the Expiration Date will be valid. Subject to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation, holders of the Early Tender Notes will receive the Total Tender Offer Consideration set forth in the table above, which includes the Early Tender Payment set forth in the table above. Holders of Notes tendering their Notes after the Early Tender Deadline and on or prior to the Expiration Date will only be eligible to receive the Tender Offer Consideration set forth in the table above, which is the Total Tender Offer Consideration less the Early Tender Payment. The Early Settlement Date (as defined in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement) for the Early Tender Notes is expected to be on October 5, 2021. Any Notes validly tendered and related consents validly delivered after the Early Tender Deadline may not be withdrawn or revoked, except as required by law. In addition, holders of all Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will receive accrued and unpaid interest on such Notes from the last interest payment date with respect to such Notes to, but excluding, the Early Settlement Date or the Final Settlement Date, as applicable. The Issuer's obligations to accept Notes and Consents on the Early Settlement Date or the Final Settlement Date, as applicable, are subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions described in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement, including, among others, the Issuer consummating the New Debt Financing (as defined in the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement) on terms satisfactory to it, and having funds available therefrom that will allow it to purchase the Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. In addition, because the Issuer received Consents in respect of a majority of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes then outstanding (excluding Notes held by the Issuer or its affiliates) (the "Requisite Consents") as of the Early Tender Deadline, the Issuer executed and delivered a supplemental indenture (the "Supplemental Indenture") to the Indenture giving effect to the Proposed Amendments. The Supplemental Indenture became effective upon execution, but provides that the Proposed Amendments will not become operative until the Issuer accepts for purchase the Notes satisfying the Requisite Consents in the Tender Offer. The Proposed Amendments are expected to become operative on the Early Settlement Date. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any security. No offer, solicitation, or sale will be made in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is the dealer manager and solicitation agent (the "Dealer Manager") in the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. D.F. King & Co., Inc. has been retained to serve as both the depositary and the information agent (the "Depositary and Information Agent") for the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. Questions regarding the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation should be directed to the Dealer Manager at (800) 624-1808 or (212) 761-1057. Requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement and other related materials should be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at [email protected] (email), (800) 755-7250 (U.S. Toll-Free) or (212) 269-5552 (Banks and Brokers). None of Rocket Companies, its board of directors, the Issuer, the Dealer Manager, the Depositary and Information Agent, the Trustee under the Indenture and the Supplemental Indenture or any of the Issuer's affiliates, makes any recommendation as to whether holders of the Notes should tender any Notes in response to the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are made only by the Offer to Purchase and Consent Solicitation Statement. The Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation are required to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offer and Consent Solicitation will be deemed to be made on behalf of the Issuer by the Dealer Manager or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. About Rocket Companies Rocket Companies is a Detroit-based holding company consisting of personal finance and consumer service brands including Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Loans, Rocket Auto, Rock Central, Amrock, Core Digital Media, Rock Connections, Lendesk and Edison Financial. Since 1985, Rocket Companies has been obsessed with helping its clients achieve the American dream of home ownership and financial freedom. Rocket Companies offers an industry-leading client experience powered by our simple, fast, and trusted digital solutions. Rocket Companies has approximately 26,000 team members across the United States and Canada. Rocket Companies ranked #5 on Fortune's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2021 and has placed in the top third of the list for 18 consecutive years. Forward Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are generally identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would" and, in each case, their negative or other various or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements reflect our views with respect to future events as of the date of this release and are based on our management's current expectations, estimates, forecasts, projections, assumptions, beliefs and information. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. All such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of our control, and could cause future events or results to be materially different from those stated or implied in this document. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risk factors that are described under the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this press release and in other filings. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. SOURCE Rocket Companies, Inc. The project will be undertaken in two phases with the first phase hosting 200MW. Rowan plans to ultimately invest $300 million, create 20 new, fulltime positions and construct 135,000 square feet of new buildings and data center space. The facility will be located on 32 acres in southeast Temple in Synergy Park. The construction phase of the project is expected to employ 40 to 60 workers for approximately 9 to 12 months. During the operational phase, the completed data center will employ 20 highly skilled data center engineers, networking technicians, and operations specialists. This exciting development will be the newest addition to Temple's expanding tech landscape. "After our first conversations with Temple, we knew their business-friendly environment, infrastructure and partnership would be an ideal match for our current data center and future growth opportunities," said Garret Bean, Managing Director of Development for Rowan. Rowan develops strategic host sites and support infrastructure for data center operators combining powered land, wholesale energy and retail delivery. These three components allow Rowan to provide utility infrastructure to power high performance and cloud computing platforms. The company works closely with their clients to ensure that campuses are powered by green, environmentally conscious energy sources. Rowan and the Temple Green Data Center are committed to sustainable projects and providing green energy solutions to their energy intensive customers. The company's projects, partners and investors are committed to sustainable development that enhance and uplift the community and those that they serve. "We are thrilled to have Rowan Green Data expanding to Temple," said Adrian Cannady, President and CEO of Temple Economic Development Corporation. "Rowan is a welcome addition to our emerging technology sector." The new, innovative green data center campus in Temple will tap into a skilled workforce in business services and technology to support data center needs for all of our customers. Ranked as the 10th Best American City to Work in Tech (Fortune Magazine), Temple boasts a talented and growing STEM labor pool thanks to education opportunities from institutions such as University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Temple College, and local STEM education programs. In addition to the highly skilled labor force, Temple provides easy access across North American markets by interstate, railroads, air, or by water. Located in Texas, which has the lowest state taxes in the U.S., Temple also offers a low cost of doing business and ample acreage and buildings for expansion and relocation. The first Phase of the Temple Green Data Campus is expected to be complete by the summer of 2022. The second phase is anticipated to be completed and fully operational in 2023. About Temple Economic Development Corporation The Temple Economic Development Corporation (Temple EDC) is a nonprofit organization that serves as the designated economic development entity for the City of Temple, Texas. Temple EDC strengthens relationships, builds partnerships, and provides solutions that cause entities to choose Temple. To learn more about doing business in Temple, visit TempleEDC.com. About Rowan Green Data Rowan Green Data originates and develops strategically located sites across the US that host next-generation hyperscale data centers powered by renewable energy and featuring sustainable infrastructure solutions encompassing all critical site services. Rowan aims to design and configure each site to deliver sustained and long-term competitive land and power cost advantages, provide low-cost renewable power supply and assist hyperscale data center operators in meeting their accelerating carbon reduction and 'net zero' targets. SOURCE Temple Economic Development Corporation NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rubenstein Partners, L.P. (including its affiliates, "Rubenstein"), a vertically integrated real estate investment adviser focused on value-added office property equity and debt opportunities, announced the appointment of Michael Happel and Joseph Zuber as the new leadership for its equity investing activities in New York and other major Northeast markets. Joseph Zuber Michael Happel "We continue to see significant opportunity in the dynamic office markets of the Northeast, and we could not be more excited to bring on Mike and Joe to lead our equity investment activities in New York, Boston, and Connecticut," said David Rubenstein, Founder & Senior Managing Principal of Rubenstein. "Their background and depth of experience should make a significant impact as we aim to take our New York and broader Northeast presence to the next level." Rubenstein focuses primarily on value-added office property investments that engage its vertically integrated team encompassing acquisitions, finance, construction, architecture, asset management, leasing, and property management. The firm's Northeast portfolio currently includes 25 Kent, Brooklyn's first ground-up, speculative commercial and manufacturing building in 40 years, offering unobstructed views of Bushwick Inlet Park, East River, and Manhattan skyline; 30 Gem Street in Brooklyn, the ongoing redevelopment of the ACME Smoked Fish Factory with 545,000 square feet of newly constructed office and retail space; 600 Washington Boulevard in Stamford, the former RBS headquarters; and Shippan Landing, the unique waterfront property in Stamford overlooking Long Island Sound. "Joe and I are looking forward to getting started with Rubenstein," Mr. Happel said. "David and his team have established a strong and growing foothold in New York and other Northeast markets, and we expect to make a difference in sourcing and closing new value-added office deals that continue to build the Rubenstein franchise." Mr. Zuber added, "We're excited to be joining Rubenstein's team, which we view as one of the best-in-class in the industry." Michael Happel has over 30 years of experience investing in real estate, including acquisitions of office, retail, multifamily, industrial, and hotel properties, as well as acquisitions of real estate companies and real estate debt. He is the former CEO of New York REIT, Inc. ("NYRT"), as well as CEO of New York City REIT, Inc. ("NYCR"). He has been responsible for over $3.5 billion of real estate acquisitions in New York City since 2009, when he formed and launched NYRT. Previously, Mr. Happel worked at Morgan Stanley & Co., specializing in real estate and becoming co-head of acquisitions for The Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds ("MSREF") in 1994, where he was involved in acquiring over $10 billion of real estate and related assets. Later Mr. Happel held leadership roles at Westbrook Partners, a real estate private equity firm with over $5 billion of real estate assets, and Atticus Capital, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. Mr. Happel received a B.A. in economics from Duke University in 1985 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988. Joe Zuber has over 30 years of real estate investment, development, asset management and restructuring experience across all major property classes, with deep experience both in New York City and globally. For the past 10 years, Mr. Zuber was the Managing Principal of Black Walnut Capital LLC, a real estate private equity entity that invests in longer duration real estate investments on behalf of institutions and ultra-high net worth families. During that time, in 2015-2016, Mr. Zuber also led the restructuring of Amstar Group LLC, a privately owned real estate organization based in Denver, Colorado with ~$2.5 billion of AUM. Earlier in his career, Mr. Zuber was President and Chief Operating Officer of O'Connor Capital Partners. He also served as Chief Investment Officer of The City Investment Fund, LP (CIF), a fully integrated real estate investment manager established by Fisher Brothers and Morgan Stanley. During his tenure, CIF acquired and developed over $4 billion of real estate in New York City. He was also previously an Executive Director of MSREF. Mr. Zuber received an MBA from The Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a B.Arch. degree from Cornell University. About Rubenstein Partners Rubenstein Partners, L.P. founded in September 2005, is a private real estate investment advisory firm with operations throughout the United States. The firm is led by its founder, David Rubenstein, and a group of senior real estate executives, and is focused on directing and managing office real estate investments in the U.S. Rubenstein Partners' predecessor company, The Rubenstein Company, LP and affiliates, founded in 1969, was one of the largest private owner operators of Class A office real estate in the Mid-Atlantic, owning and operating a portfolio of assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion at the time of its disposition in 2004. Since 2005, Rubenstein Partners has, on behalf of its investors and clients, invested in more than 22.5 million square feet of office real estate assets throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.rubensteinpartners.com. Contact : Great Ink Communications, Ltd. 212-741-2977 Eric Waters ([email protected]) Tom Nolan ([email protected]) SOURCE Rubenstein Partners Related Links http://www.rubensteinpartners.com SANDVIKEN, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandvik has acquired the Swiss based company Accuratech Group, a niched medical wire forming and component manufacturer. The product offering includes ultra-fine wires and micro-tubes, semi-finished wire components, electroplating and other products and services mainly used for the medical industry. The company will be reported in Kanthal, a division in Sandvik Materials Technology. "I am pleased that we are continuing to execute on our shift to growth strategy. This acquisition is an important step for Sandvik Materials Technology in the preparations to become a separately listed company. With its increased focus on areas with high growth and strong earnings potential, Sandvik Materials Technology is strengthening their position for the future", says Stefan Widing, President and CEO of Sandvik. "The medical sector is one of Sandvik Materials Technology's defined areas of growth, and through this acquisition we are strengthening our position by adding wire forming and component manufacturing capabilities. The geographical footprint of Accuratech will increase our ability to support our customers in EMEA", says Goran Bjorkman, President of Sandvik Materials Technology. Accuratech Group is headquartered in Burgdorf, Switzerland and conducts its business through three entities; Polyfil AG, Galvarex S.A and Polyflex s.r.l., with around 50 employees. In 2020 Accuratech Group had revenues of approximately SEK 75 million, with an EBIT margin neutral to Sandvik Materials Technology. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Impact on Sandvik's earnings per share will initially be neutral. Sandvik AB For further information, contact Louise Tjeder, Vice President Investor Relations, phone: +46 70 782 6374 or Johannes Hellstrom, Press and Media Relations Manager, phone: +46 70 721 1008. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/sandvik/r/sandvik-has-acquired-the-medical-wire-forming-company-accuratech-group,c3426737 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/208/3426737/1476771.pdf Sandvik has acquired the medical wire forming company Accuratech Group SOURCE Sandvik OREM, Utah, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To further its mission to help businesses avoid data breaches, SecurityMetrics announced today that they will host their second annual SecurityMetrics Summit . The free virtual data security and compliance conference will be held on October 21, 2021. Businesses that need solutions for cybersecurity, data protection, PCI DSS , HIPAA , or HITRUST , will find a variety of expert sessions, panels, and keynotes that will help them address their security requirements. With over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and PCI DSS compliance, SecurityMetrics continues to develop new products and technology that help businesses stay secure. In addition to showcasing innovative solutions to security threats, SecurityMetrics Summit will feature technology leaders and cybersecurity experts in sessions that discuss: SecurityMetrics Threat Intelligence Center and Roadmap What to expect when becoming PCI compliant How to prepare for and respond to ransomware attacks How to prevent formjacking and ecommerce skimming How to choose an MSSP What you need to know about compliance scoping Penetration testing FAQs SecurityMetrics 2021 Summit was designed for people responsible for data security and compliance within a business PCI Managers, Compliance Officers, Security Officers, Information Officers, IT Administrators, or other security professionals. Summit is ideal for those working in universities, retail, government, acquiring banks, and the healthcare industry. Attendees can register and save their spot here. Event access information will be sent to registrants by email. "We help businesses streamline data security through compliance. If you want to make protecting your business easier, join us at the SecurityMetrics Virtual Summit on October 21st." says CEO Brad Caldwell. Caldwell will present a live keynote on October 21, 2021, at 10 AM MT . This keynote will cover the threat intelligence center that SecurityMetrics has developed to help businesses find real solutions to attack trends. For press inquiries, call 801-995-6516 or email [email protected] . About SecurityMetrics SecurityMetrics helps customers close data security and compliance gaps to avoid data breaches. They provide managed data security services and are certified to help customers achieve the highest data security and compliance standards. As an Approved Scanning Vendor , Qualified Security Assessor , Certified Forensic Investigator, and Managed Security provider SecurityMetrics guides organizations through data security testing and compliance mandates (PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, HITRUST). With over 20 years of forensic investigations, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and compliance audits, SecurityMetrics has tested over 1 million systems for vulnerabilities. The privately held company is headquartered in Orem, Utah where it maintains a Security Operations Center (SOC) and 24/7 multilingual technical support. Related Links http://www.securitymetrics.com SOURCE SecurityMetrics Related Links http://www.securitymetrics.com COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the biggest undertakings we all have to deal with from time to time is preparing our home for sale. The fix-ups, the decluttering, and the staging can cause you to procrastinate for months or years. But that issue is gone now! www.FullPriceHomeSale.com is offering its service in over 200 cities throughout the United States, and the Central South Carolina area is one of its current areas! If you are in the Central South Carolina area you can use offer code SC01 on the website to get started. When you go to their website, you can get a purchase offer at FULL Market Value and can then negotiate the terms to your benefit, even if it means you may want to move out several months later! The big advantage here is that you don't have to prepare your home for sale to the general public and you don't have the hassle of dozens upon dozens of showings. The local rep for the company is a licensed real estate agent here in South Carolina and his name is Shaun Nichols with EXP Realty. When Asked how this new approach to selling homes works, Shaun said the following; "I've been selling real estate for years and I've frankly never seen such an easy process for homeowners. My experience has shown that most cash offer companies want to discount the price, but these offers are absolute FULL market value. Frankly, sometimes the offers come in at numbers higher than agents have told homeowners that they could even list for! As an additional benefit, an owner can get that offer in their back pocket, then take months to decide what they want to do, if they do anything at all. So there's no cost or obligation. For South Carolina residents interested in getting a cash offer on their home at full price, simply go to www.InstantSCCashOffer.com and check out their quick explainer video. About Shaun Nichols For more information on how this cash offer approach works and to find out how you may be able to get more from the sale of your home, contact Shaun Nichols at EXP Realty by calling 843-619-7325 or visit www.InstantSCCashOffer.com Photo(s): https://www.prlog.org/12885968 Press release distributed by PRLog SOURCE Shaun Nichols - Exp Realty Related Links http://www.InstantSCCashOffer.com Part of the Sharp family for 23 years, Moonsun was selected by NJBIZ in a large part due to her strong problem-solving skills and acute sense of financial acumen that helped guide the business through the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of her responsibilities, Moonsun oversees Sharp's Facilities department, and in this capacity has ensured all employees feel safe during this difficult time. In her capacity as CFO, she has identified ways to not only cut down on costs, but also raise cash flow, which is allowing the business to continue to thrive during the most challenging environment we have lived through. As a founding member of the Women Influencing Sharp's Evolution (WISE) group, Moonsun has also served as an advocate for other women to find pathways to success. Her vision and commitment to the business and the community at large are holistic and she understands the importance of making decisions to benefit both. "Moonsun is not just a CFO. She is a prominent leader in the company who we depend on for advice on business direction as we work through tough decisions to steer our company forward," said Jeff Ashida, Chairman of the Board, Sharp Electronics Corporation in the U.S. "It's really no surprise that she has attained this prestigious recognition by NJBIZ. We are proud of Moonsun and appreciate her as a key contributor in creating the vision for our company." The NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business Award selects their winners based on information regarding entrants' professional background and expertise, the impact the individual strives to make in their given industry, where they see the necessity for change in their industry, level of interaction with community service and leadership. The award recognized women from an array of professional backgrounds, including electronics, IT, financial services and healthcare. The list was officially announced on September 23 on the NJBIZ website and the honoree event will take place virtually on October 25, 2021. About Sharp Electronics Corporation Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation. Sharp is a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, professional displays, and smart office technologies. Sharp has been named to Fortune magazine's 2020 World's Most Admired Company List, ranking the world's most respected and reputable companies. Sharp's headquarters in Montvale, NJ has been named a "Best Places to Work in NJ 2021" by NJBIZ, a leading New Jersey business publication. For more information on Sharp's business products, visit our website at sharpusa.com. Peppercomm for Sharp Paul Merchan 212.931.6172 [email protected] SOURCE Sharp Electronics Corporation Related Links http://www.sharpusa.com ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sheeva.AI today announced it has closed a strategic round, led by Hagiwara Electronics Co., Ltd . of Japan, and the Aggarwal Family of the Sterling Group, to fuel the adoption of its connected vehicle technology and Open API platform for automation of location-based services and in-car payments. These investments build on the existing, long-term collaboration with Hagiwara America and the Aggarwal Family in Asia and open the path for closer collaboration with automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in North America, Europe, and APAC. Takeshi Soejima, President of Hagiwara Electronics Co., Ltd., said, "In North America, the automobile industry is undergoing major changes, and new industries, such as MaaS, are emerging. This makes it one of the most important strategic regions for Hagiwara Electric as we aim for global growth. Collaboration with Sheeva.AI is very important for the realization of our strategy." Anish Agarwal of the Sterling Group, added, "We immediately saw the potential of Sheeva.AI's API platform for location-enabled vehicle features and services. Our collaboration ultimately led to investment and to the launch of a subsidiary in India to accelerate growth throughout South and Southeast Asia." The core differentiator of Sheeva.AI's technology is its patented location algorithm, enabling the platform to determine the vehicle's real-time geolocation within 2-meter accuracy (5X better than smartphones). This is accurate enough to identify the car's location at a gas pump, parking space, charging station, toll lane, etc. This precision enables the platform to automate last-mile services, meaning fewer manual steps for the driver and more engagement for the service providers. Evgeny Klochikhin, CEO and Founder of Sheeva.AI, said, "We are excited to have Hagiwara Electric Co. Ltd, and the Aggarwal Family lend their collective deep automotive expertise to our team. Their investments will accelerate our existing work with automotive OEMs, energy companies, Departments of Transportation, and beyond, driving our growth to millions of vehicles by the end of 2022." Evgeny added, "Look, most in-vehicle platforms are overly complex, require you to learn new tech and, ultimately, are very vehicle focused. Our focus is on the driver. We enable auto manufacturers and merchants to automate services, such as fueling, curbside pickup and parking, for the driver. This creates a better driving experience with a more engaged customer." About Sheeva.AI Sheeva.AI provides a flexible, low-cost platform that uses precise (< 2-meter accuracy) geolocation of connected vehicles even in deep urban canyons to enable contactless, automatic payments in the cloud. Sheeva.AI's platform integrates via open APIs to enable payments and automation for services like fuel, charging, toll payment, parking, curbside pick-up, and more. Unlike most Vehicle Location-Based Services (VLBS) systems, Sheeva.AI provides a low-cost and highly flexible way to enable vehicle-based payments and services extensible to existing mobile apps, in-vehicle apps, and location-based services without the need for new architecture or expensive hardware deployments. About Hagiwara Electronics Co., Ltd. Hagiwara Electronics Co., Ltd. a global supplier of semiconductors and electronic components for the automotive industry, and a group company of the Hagiwara Electric Holdings Co., Ltd., engages in the management of its group companies to provide optimal products, solutions, and services for their partners. It operates through the Device and Solution business segments. The company was founded by Tadaomi Hagiwara on March 31, 1948 and is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. All trademarks and registered trademarks previously cited are the property of their respective owners and are hereby recognized and acknowledged. Press contact: [email protected] SOURCE Sheeva.AI Related Links https://www.sheeva.ai/ MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) recently celebrated the opening of the Sheppard Pratt Baltimore/Washington Campus, where NAPA is now providing anesthesia services for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This new location expands the nearly decade-long relationship between Sheppard Pratt and NAPA; NAPA also provides ECT anesthesia services at Sheppard Pratt's hospital campus in Towson, MD. The Sheppard Pratt Baltimore/Washington Campus offers comprehensive mental health, substance use services, and psychiatric urgent care to patients of all ages. This new facilitylocated at 7220 Discovery Drive, Elkridge, MD 21705increases Sheppard Pratt's impact on Maryland's communities by serving more patients. NAPA is a clinician-led organization and is the largest single-specialty anesthesia and perioperative management company in the United States, with more than 5,000 clinicians providing anesthesia at hundreds of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers nationwide. NAPA's reputation for high-quality, compassionate care has made it a leader in patient safety and compliance. Greg Gattman, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hospitals at Sheppard Pratt, says, "Sheppard Pratt's hospitals are known as safe and welcoming spaces for patients in need of comprehensive or emergency mental health and substance use care and services. We believe NAPA aligns with our values and are pleased to broaden our collaboration." Josh Constable, DO, Vice President of Clinical Services for NAPA's Mid-Atlantic Region, says, "NAPA is proud to have earned Sheppard Pratt's trust and confidence and is eager to grow our partnership with this new Baltimore/Washington Campus." About North American Partners in Anesthesia As a clinician-led organization, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) is redefining healthcare, delivering unsurpassed excellence to its partners and patients every day. NAPA has grown to become the nation's leading single-specialty anesthesia and perioperative management organization. Our 5,000+ clinicians serve nearly 3 million patients annually at 500+ healthcare facilities in 20 states. For more information, please visit NAPAanesthesia.com. About Sheppard Pratt Sheppard Pratt is the largest private, nonprofit provider of mental health, substance use, developmental disability, special education, and social services in the country. A nationwide resource, Sheppard Pratt provides services across a comprehensive continuum of care, spanning both hospital- and community-based resources. Since its founding in 1853, Sheppard Pratt has been innovating in the field through research, best practice implementation, and a focus on improving the quality of mental health care on a global level. Sheppard Pratt has been consistently ranked as a top national psychiatric hospital by U.S. News & World Report for more than 30 years. SOURCE NAPA Management Services Corporation Related Links https://napaanesthesia.com/ SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sitecore, the global leader in digital experience management software, today announced the 2021 Sitecore Experience Award recipients at the 2021 Sitecore Symposium. The Sitecore Experience Awards recognize companies that successfully use Sitecore solutions to innovate their digital experience transformation. Twelve winners were recognized from more than 140 submissions in the 2021 Sitecore Experience Awards (SEA), with three taking the top honors of Ultimate Experience Winners. Sitecore selected winners from each of the four 2021 SEA categories, including Best Digital Experience Transformation, Most Intelligent Content Optimization, Best Innovation with Emerging Technologies, and Leading the Way for the 'Phygital' Future. The 2021 Ultimate Experience Award recipients are: Aston Martin , in partnership with WPP and Wunderman Thompson UK, for developing a platform that brings together Aston Martin real estate on one platform and provides a consistent, flexible and transparent customer experience. The digital team at Aston Martin utilized Sitecore to improve three key areas: customer-first innovation, data-driven decision making and to create a path for growth. Renato Bisignani, Head of Global Marketing and Communications, said: "Aston Martin is an ultra-luxury brand and at the core of our marketing initiatives is always a desire to offer the highest possible level of experiences to our customers. With Sitecore, we've been able to improve our UX and UI, and our ambition is to further enhance our platforms to provide a more personalized, considered and integrated digital journey. We are only at the beginning of our digital transformation so we are grateful to be recognized for our work in creating the best digital experience for our customers." Cracker Barrel , in partnership with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, for extending its legendary hospitality beyond its four walls through the launch of Digital Store (web, mobile web, and mobile app). Through Cracker Barrel's work with Sitecore, the company was able to replace its separate brand site, third party online food ordering site, third party catering ordering site, retail ecommerce site, and mobile app with a uniquely Cracker Barrel unified experience for web, mobile web, and mobile app called 'Digital Store.' Digital Store allows guests to seamlessly purchase to-go food, catering, and retail with a single mixed cart, account, and payment in addition to streamlining the in-store experience with waitlist, curbside check-in, and dine-in check payment, all while delivering personalized hospitality like your favorite Cracker Barrel team member. "We view digital as a new type of hospitality that, through convenience and personalization, allows us to extend our legendary hospitality consistently across more than 660 stores and allows our guests to make memorable moments anywhere life finds them," said Bryan Hooper, Vice President of Digital Experience at Cracker Barrel. "We are so honored to be recognized as a Sitecore Ultimate Award Winner for our Digital Store and our guest-first approach." UnitingCare Queensland, in partnership with Triggerfish, for providing upwards of 2,000 COVID-19 contact tracing check-ins per hour in healthcare facilities across Queensland through digitizing its existing manual, paper-based procedure. As one of the largest healthcare providers and charities in Australia, UnitingCare Queensland (UnitingCare) was directly affected by COVID-19 government contact tracing protocols and needed to demonstrate to Queensland Health that they could respond quickly and efficiently to potential second wave cases. The key factor of UnitingCare's new solution that set them apart was their ability to act with speed and at scale by building the application on their existing infrastructure. The organization is now screening people across 150 locations, with the ability to scale further to 500 when required without affecting the customer experience. "Our organization extends compassionate healthcare services to more than 430,000 people, so it was no easy feat to digitize our originally paper and manual contact tracing process for COVID-19, but with support from Triggerfish and Sitecore we were able to quickly and efficiently deliver a secure and streamlined tracing process," said Dan Shaw, Group Digital Marketing Manager, UnitingCare Queensland. "We are honored to be recognized for our efforts by Sitecore as a leader and trailblazer in the physical-digital (Phygital) future." Other winners recognized by region today include: Americas Procter and Gamble, with partner Valtech Global Project Kimberly-Clark Corporation, with partner Accenture / Avanade United Airlines, with partner Avanade EMEA Rufuge, with partner Wunderman Thompson UK Kerzner International L'Oreal APJ The 2021 Ultimate Experience Award winners were announced today by Lee Miles, Sitecore's Chief Customer Success Officer, at the Sitecore Symposium 2021. "We're seeing brick-and-mortar shopping merge with digital consumer experiences," said Miles. "From an exponential increase in e-commerce, consumers have gotten used to a low-touch experience, with no silos separating inventory and extremely personalized recommendations which will continue to drive changes in the physical retail experience. Architects of the best in digital experience, like this year's Ultimate Experience Award winners, are best positioned to provide the platform-agnostic consumer experience." For information on how you can register to view on-demand Symposium content, please click here. About Sitecore Sitecore delivers a digital experience platform that empowers the world's smartest brands to build lifelong relationships with their customers. A highly decorated industry leader, Sitecore is the only company bringing together content, commerce, and data into one connected platform that delivers millions of digital experiences every day. Leading companies including American Express, ASOS, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal, and Volvo Cars rely on Sitecore to provide more engaging, personalized experiences for their customers. Learn more at Sitecore.com. Contact Shannon Lyman Sr. Director, Communications [email protected] Sitecore is a registered trademark of Sitecore Corporation A/S in the USA and other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. SOURCE Sitecore Related Links http://www.sitecore.net GOTEBORG, Sweden, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SKF is supporting the development of fossil-free bearing steel through a collaboration with Lulea University of Technology's CH2ESS initiative. As part of the collaboration, SKF will participate in and fund research within hydrogen use in industrial processes and energy systems, speeding up the development of fossil-free bearing steel. Victoria Van Camp, President, SKF Technology, says: "Mechanical components are very important to ensure the function and operation in future hydrogen systems. Together with CH2ESS and its partners, we can contribute in designing robust, reliable hydrogen systems, with the lowest possible impact on the environment and on total cost of operation. This will not only benefit Swedish industry, but also global technology development for the future hydrogen economy." Research areas will include hybrid ceramic bearings, EVs and other applications, and the development and commercialization of fossil-free bearing steel production. SKF's expertise in fluid machinery, material science, production technology and IoT solutions will actively contribute to the work. Rikard Gebart, Program manager CH2ESS and professor in Energy Engineering at Lulea University of Technology, says: "We are very happy that SKF has decided to join our competence centre CH2ESS. The large expertise of SKF in many strategically important areas is a welcome addition to the existing knowledge base in CH2ESS. We are looking forward to an exciting collaboration where we together address the many important problems that are connected to the hydrogen technology." Hydrogen is the key to a fossil-free energy system and CH2ESS (Center for Hydrogen Energy Systems Sweden), a newly established research and knowledge initiative at Lulea University of Technology, is focusing on hydrogen use in industrial processes and energy systems, in close collaboration with Swedish industry. For further information, please contact: PRESS: Carl Bjernstam, Corporate Communication tel: 46 31-337 2517; mobile: 46 722-201 893; e-mail: [email protected] INVESTOR RELATIONS: Patrik Stenberg, Head of Investor Relations tel: 46 31-337 2104; mobile: 46 705-472 104; [email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/skf/r/skf-in-collaboration-to-speed-up-development-of-fossil-free-bearing-steel,c3426908 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/637/3426908/1476922.pdf 20211005 SKF in collaboration to speed up development of fossil-free bearing steel https://news.cision.com/skf/i/skf-bearing-steel,c2963580 SKF bearing steel https://news.cision.com/skf/i/skfledn-victoria-van-camp,c2963581 SKFledn-Victoria Van Camp SOURCE SKF LAS VEGAS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SWX) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC, its subsidiaries and certain associated affiliates, including Overthrust Pipeline, White River Hub and Questar Field Services ("Questar Pipelines") from Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE: D). Questar Pipelines is an essential Rocky Mountain energy hub with 2,160-miles of highly contracted, FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipelines providing transportation and underground storage services in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Under the terms of the transaction, Southwest Gas Holdings will acquire 100% of Questar Pipelines for $1.545 billion in cash. Southwest Gas Holdings will also assume $430 million of Questar Pipelines' debt. The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings per share in 2022 (first full year after close). John P. Hester, Southwest Gas Holdings' President and CEO, said, "The acquisition of Questar Pipelines is a milestone moment for the Company that we believe will provide significant financial and strategic benefits to our company, shareholders, employees and partners, as we continue to significantly increase our role in the transitioning energy landscape. In particular, this transaction further enhances our earnings metrics, further diversifies our business with FERC-regulated infrastructure, secures consistent rate-regulated cash flow, supports dividend growth, and increases our business flexibility for funding our capital needs, thereby creating significant near- and long-term value for shareholders. Further, Questar Pipelines' exceptional re-contracting record, its high-quality, long-standing customer base and our shared culture of safety, makes it an attractive addition to our regulated business platform. This acquisition accelerates our energy transition strategy by strengthening our ability to provide affordable, low carbon energy to customers while positioning us to transport renewable natural gas, responsibly sourced gas, and eventually, hydrogen and CO2." Donald R. Raikes, President of Gas Distribution for Dominion Energy, said, "We are pleased to see this valuable business join forces with Southwest Gas Holdings, a company that shares our culture of safety, reliability and operational excellence and commitment to delivering essential services to customers. Together, these companies will continue to build upon an impressive legacy of delivering quality, essential service to customers in the Rocky Mountain Region, to the benefit of all stakeholders." The transaction is expected to close on or about December 31, 2021, subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino approval and other customary closing conditions. Following the close of the transaction, Questar Pipelines will operate as a standalone subsidiary of Southwest Gas Holdings. Southwest Gas Holdings will host a conference call with analysts today at 6:00 p.m. EDT / 3:00 p.m. PDT. To listen to the conference call via the Internet, please visit the investor relations section of Southwest Gas Holdings' website. To listen to the conference call via telephone, please call (877) 419-3678 (domestic) or (614) 610-1910 (international), Conference ID: 7376221. A replay of the call will be available from 9:30 p.m. EDT on October 5, 2021 through 9:30 p.m. on October 12, 2021. To listen to the replay of the conference call via telephone, please call (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international), Conference ID: 7376221. Lazard Freres & Co. LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Southwest Gas Holdings, while Morrison & Foerster LLP served as legal advisor to the Company. Barclays Capital Inc. served as financial advisor to Dominion Energy and McGuireWoods LLP as legal counsel. About Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the business of purchasing, distributing and transporting natural gas, and providing comprehensive utility infrastructure services across North America. Southwest Gas Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary, safely and reliably delivers natural gas to over two million customers in Arizona, California and Nevada. Centuri Group, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, is a comprehensive utility infrastructure services enterprise dedicated to delivering a diverse array of solutions to North America's gas and electric providers. About Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC is an interstate natural gas pipeline company that provides transportation and underground storage services in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC owns and operates the Clay Basin storage facility located on the Wyoming-Utah border. Clay Basin is the largest underground storage reservoir in the Rocky Mountain Region. Through wholly-owned subsidiaries, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC owns and operates the Dominion Energy Overthrust Pipeline, LLC in southwestern Wyoming. Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline also operates and owns 50% of the White River Hub providing transportation and hub services through interconnections with six interstate pipeline systems and a major processing plant near Meeker, Colorado. 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. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about, among others, the industry, markets in which Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (the "Company," "Southwest Gas Holdings," "SWX," or "we") operates, and the transaction described in this press release. While the Company's management believes the assumptions underlying its forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, such information is necessarily subject to uncertainties and may involve certain risks, many of which are difficult to predict and are beyond the control of the Company's management. These risks include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Sale and Purchase Agreement by and between Dominion Energy Questar Corporation and the Company (the "Purchase Agreement"); (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company and others following announcement of the Purchase Agreement; (3) risks that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans and operations; (4) the risks related to the ability of the Company to integrate Questar Pipelines; (5) the amount of the costs, fees, expenses and charges related to the transaction and the actual terms of certain financings that will be obtained for the transaction; (6) potential negative impacts to the Company's credit ratings as a result of the transaction; and (7) other risks that are set forth under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 and in future filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or any person acting on its behalf are qualified by the cautionary statements in this section. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release. Contacts For Shareholders information, contact: Ken Kenny (702) 876-7237 [email protected] For media information, contact: Sean Corbett (702) 876-7219 [email protected] SOURCE Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At ArtMedica, a new concierge, or membership medicine practice in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, Katarzyna Strycharz Skura, MD offers a uniquely individualized approach to long-term health and wellness. "We are privileged to work with Dr. Skura and welcome her to our network of outstanding doctors making a difference in every community they serve," says Terry Bauer, CEO, Specialdocs, a leader in concierge medicine transitions. "More than ever before, patients recognize the irreplaceable value of a long-term, personal relationship with their physician." With board certification and experience in internal medicine, privileges at nationally renowned Northwestern Medicine, and a passion for personalized care, Dr. Skura brings numerous benefits to members of her practice. "Changing to a concierge model has dramatically altered the patient experience with time to go well beyond simply treating symptoms," says Dr. Skura. "I educate and guide my patients towards their best health with an individual treatment plan focused on prevention and their unique needs. It isn't possible to provide this level of care in a busy, traditional fee-for-service practice." The ongoing pandemic has underscored patients' ongoing need for prompt, personalized attention to their physical and emotional health, according to Dr. Skura. "I'm able to check in regularly with all my patients," she says, "in person at the office or via telemedicine for those who prefer to remain at home. Most importantly, we are connected constantly between visits, which can be the most important time of all to identify issues early, when they are most treatable." At the core of concierge medicine is a patient panel intentionally kept small, making a significant difference at every point of care. Same-day appointments for acute illness are readily available. Visits are extended and unhurried, with time to manage complex issues and focus on wellness. "I look for three things in my primary care doctor: thoroughness, being a good listener, and caring. Dr Skura has all these qualities and I'm happy to have found her," says Chicago patient D.G. Dr. Skura's patients receive her personal cell phone number and email for direct contact after hours, a benefit shown to reduce emergency room visits and hospital admissions, and allow the patient-doctor relationship to flourish. "I encourage patients to reach out to me anytime with a call, text, or email. My patients are treated like members of my own family, which is exactly how I think of them," she says. About Dr. Skura Board certified in internal medicine Internship and Residency: St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago Medical School: Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland Undergraduate: BA, Biology, University of Illinois, Chicago Taught at University of Pennsylvania Medical School Specialty treatments at ArtMedica include: Vitamin B12 and B-complex injections Injections for trigger point and migraine headaches Platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment for hair loss and skin rejuvenation Neuromodulator injections for forehead and eye wrinkles and facial fillers ArtMedica: 680 N. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 118, Chicago, IL; 312-530-9460. SOURCE Specialdocs Consultants Related Links specialdocs.com The new program launched in June 2021 with two interns: Arvie Cabal and John Paul Minimo, former Sweetwater High School students now attending San Diego State University. After providing interns with exposure to a broad view of IT-related career choices, the program allows students to choose one area of interest to focus on. While Cabal has worked on developing a "honeypot," a controlled environment created to lure in cyber attacks as part of a data center's constant check for any security weaknesses, Minimo chose to build a server that allows NFINIT to perform speed tests within their network. Cabal and Minimo also learned the ins and outs of managing a Network Operations Center (NOC), including the deployment of virtual servers, remote hands tasks, creation and resolution of customer trouble tickets, cable construction, fiber cabling, and more. Both interns are learning skills critical for any company requiring help with core systems, operating center, and help desk services. "By combining a computer science education and practical training in growing tech fields, we're empowering underserved students with boundless opportunities," explains Art Lopez, Sweetwater's District TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment) for Computer Science. Eleven years ago, Art Lopez (and other district leaders), in collaboration with the San Diego Supercomputer Center and UC San Diego CREATE, launched a computer science program at Sweetwater, which has grown to span 65 courses throughout the District. "When it comes to the computing and tech fields, far too few women and people of color are represented, and we're working to change that. Sweetwater students have access to many internship opportunities, but this is the first of its kind in computer science, with a focus on underserved populations." According to Code.org , only about 22 percent of participation in the Computer Science Advanced Placement (AP) exam in U.S. high schools is by young women; 13 percent is by students from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. While diversity in computer science continues to lack, computer and information technology jobs are expected to grow by 11% between 2019 and 2029, earning a median annual salary of $88,240, ComputerScience.org reports . "Though we serve global clients at NFINIT, we're very focused on giving back to our local community, and we're in a unique position to do so," says Denis Savage , Vice President of Operations for NFINIT, who is managing the program on NFINIT's side along with Phil Kenney , CEO of NFINIT. "I can't think of a better way to do that than by providing opportunities for Sweetwater students to boost their STEM education in a practical setting, learning skills that will empower themselves and their communities for years to come." "It's at the heart of our promise to Sweetwater students that we'll provide equitable access to opportunities that will help them succeed," says Dr. Ana Maria Alvarez, Assistant Superintendent at Sweetwater Union High School District. "To that end, careers powering the digital economy are the future. We've seen throughout the pandemic the incredible relevance and necessity of internet connectivity and data security. By teaching Sweetwater students applicable, marketable skills using a world-class data center that happens to be right in their community, we're empowering their future." NFINIT will welcome at least two more interns in June 2022; the application process is scheduled to kick off in April. About Sweetwater Union High School District Founded in 1920, the Sweetwater District has grown to more than 40,000 students in grades 7 through 12 and more than 22,000 adult learners. The district's 30 campuses are located in the cities of Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego, including the communities of Bonita, Eastlake, Otay Mesa, San Ysidro and South San Diego. For more information, visit www.sweetwaterschools.org . About NFINIT NFINIT provides full stack technology services, including connectivity, colocation, and enterprise-class cloud. Every workload has unique challenges, and NFINIT's consultative approach and focus on innovation ensures that we deliver the best customized environment, every time. Serving thousands of clients worldwide from our home base in San Diego, NFINIT aims to fulfill our clients' technology roadmap with best-in-breed solutions and expert support. For more, visit www.nfinit.com . For media inquiries, please contact: JSA for NFINIT +1 866.695.3629 ext. 19 [email protected] SOURCE NFINIT Related Links https://www.nfinit.com/ LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tangram, a curator of highly creative commercial interior environments headquartered in Southern California, is pleased to announce its acquisition of BKM Total Office of Texas, expanding into the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex, which will become Tangram's regional headquarters. The newly acquired headquarters office is located at 9755 Clifford Drive, Suite 100 in Dallas, Texas. Photo download: http://www.kcomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tangram3.jpg Photo download: http://www.kcomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tangram2.jpg Photo download: http://www.kcomm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Tangram1.jpg BKM Total Office, a Steelcase Premier Partner in 2017, has been a market leader in curated office furniture creations in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area for over two decades. BKM currently operates within four facilities with the headquarter office spanning over 44k sq. ft and three main warehouse spaces totaling 120k sq. feet. The business currently has 48 employees who have received rollover contracts via Tangram. For the past 20 years Tangram has been a leader in workplace solutions dedicated to creating spaces that empower people to work, learn and heal. Tangram's successful industry partnerships and completed projects have been led by implementing best in class sales, marketing, and technology practices. Tangram is best known for delivering innovative, adaptable designs and cost-effective solutions that help partners and clients drive growth and innovation. Tangram will bring their expertise in healthcare, education, and commercial spaces to the DFW market and will be led by Tangram Chief Executive Officer, Joe Lozowski, Vice President of Sales, Amber Jones and Chief Financial Officer, Nick Greenko. Steelcase's long-standing partnership with Tangram will also act as a backbone to the evolution and growth in the DFW market. "DFW represents one the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the world," said Joe Lozowksi, Chief Executive Officer and President of Tangram. "We are eager to work with the local commercial real estate and design community to develop amazing workplaces." "BKM Total Office of Texas has been a market leader and prominent voice in the Steelcase dealership network since 2002," shared Paul Smith, Chief Marketing Officer of Tangram. "We look forward to building on the relationships and partnerships they have developed to continue to build a lasting brand and organization. "The contract furniture industry is innovating quickly, requiring scalability, access to modern tools and resources," said Jones. "Over the past 20+ years we have built a strong marketing and sales organization in Southern California, we are excited to implement what we have learned to better serve the DFW region." The company looks forward to expanding its reach throughout the DFW metroplex in the years to come through ongoing investment and recruiting of strong regional talent. For information on Tangram Interiors and its full capabilities, go to www.tangraminteriors.com. About Tangram Tangram is a flagship dealer for Steelcase, Inc., and the leading commercial interior solutions provider in Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas and Southern California with offices in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern and Fresno counties. The company has nurtured a collaborative and people-focused culture in the belief that people fuel innovation. That culture has led to the organic growth of multiple business units complementing the firm's core contract furniture offering: custom furniture, ancillary furniture, flooring and light construction, audio-visual integration, architectural walls, on-site furniture reconditioning, asset management and storage, delivery and installation, and corporate moves. SOURCE Tangram Related Links http://www.tangraminteriors.com Reiterates Need for Board and CEO Change at CN Emphasizes Qualifications of Four Independent, Highly-skilled Director Candidates Sets the Record Straight on Inaccurate Claims from CN Board LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Long-term shareholders CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, acting by their investment manager TCI Fund Management Limited (CIFF Capital UK LP, The Children's Investment Master Fund and TCI Fund Management Limited, together, "TCI"), confirmed it will nominate four independent Directors to the Canadian National Railway Company (TSX:CNR)(NYSE:CNI) ("CN" or the "Company") Board of Directors (the "Board") at the Company's special meeting of shareholders (the "Special Meeting") scheduled for March 22, 2022. As a long-term CN shareholder, TCI is fully committed to the future health and performance of the Company and is acting to enhance value for all CN shareholders. "With the meeting date now set, CN shareholders have a clear and certain path to exercise their rights as shareholders and hold the Company's underperforming Board accountable," said Chris Hohn, TCI Founder and Managing Partner. "We look forward to CN shareholders having the opportunity to make the right choice for CN by electing the four independent, highly-skilled director candidates that we have nominated." "A new, high-quality Board with extensive railroad experience and expertise will help ensure CN is put on the right track to the benefit of the Canadian and US economies, shippers, employees and shareholders. CN can do better, and with a new Board, it will." The Board Candidates Gilbert Lamphere : One of the most experienced railroad executives in North America , with 40 years of experience in the railroad industry. Mr. Lamphere has been a board member of several public and private railroad companies. One of the most experienced railroad executives in , with 40 years of experience in the railroad industry. Mr. Lamphere has been a board member of several public and private railroad companies. Allison Landry : Currently an independent director on the board of XPO Logistics, Inc., a leading North American transportation company. Ms. Landry previously spent 16 years as a highly respected equity research analyst at Credit Suisse specializing in the railroad, trucking, airfreight and logistics industries. Currently an independent director on the board of XPO Logistics, Inc., a leading North American transportation company. Ms. Landry previously spent 16 years as a highly respected equity research analyst at Credit Suisse specializing in the railroad, trucking, airfreight and logistics industries. Rob Knight : Former Chief Financial Officer of Union Pacific, a position he held for 15-years. During Mr Knight's 40-year tenure at Union Pacific, he held a variety of senior executive positions, including General Manager of the company's energy and automotive businesses. Former Chief Financial Officer of Union Pacific, a position he held for 15-years. During Mr Knight's 40-year tenure at Union Pacific, he held a variety of senior executive positions, including General Manager of the company's energy and automotive businesses. Paul Miller : An expert in transportation, logistics, safety management and regulatory affairs and a former executive at CN from 1978-2011. During his 33-year career at the Company, Mr. Miller held leadership roles in operations, marketing and planning. He retired as CN's Vice President of Safety, Sustainability and Network Transportation in 2011. The quality of the Board candidates is clear and indisputable. It is therefore notable that the Board has said nothing negative about the nominees but has instead chosen to attack TCI in an attempt to divert attention from the excellence of the candidates. Gilbert Lamphere, Allison Landry, Rob Knight and Paul Miller represent a significant upgrade to the current Board and this has not been denied by the Board or the Company's CEO, Jean-Jacques Ruest. The Board has also not questioned the qualifications or ability of Jim Vena to be CEO. Instead, the Board has chosen to disparage TCI and question its motives when TCI only wants what is best for CN: a high-quality, experienced Board, a world-class railroader as CEO and a long-term plan for sustainable growth. Setting the Record Straight CN shareholders deserve the truth. In its October 4, 2021 press release announcing the date of the Special Meeting, CN included inaccurate and misleading information about TCI and its motives: CN Claim: TCI is a "dissident shareholder" that only recently acquired its stake and is seeking to assert effective control over the Company. TCI is a "dissident shareholder" that only recently acquired its stake and is seeking to assert effective control over the Company. Fact: TCI has been a CN shareholder since 2018 and increased its stake in the Company due to the huge success and growth that will be achieved once CN has a strong Board and world-class CEO. TCI's actions are guided by and aligned with the interests of all shareholders, to re-establish CN as an efficient, fast-growing and well-governed railroad. TCI is a long-term shareholder with a compelling track record of advocating for strong corporate governance and is committed to the long-term success of CN. TCI invests in high-quality companies with deep and sustainable moats and believes strongly in the power of long-term compounding. TCI is not seeking to assert effective control over the Company. Gilbert Lamphere , Allison Landry , Rob Knight and Paul Miller are independent of TCI and no member of TCI is up for election. TCI has been a CN shareholder since 2018 and increased its stake in the Company due to the huge success and growth that will be achieved once CN has a strong Board and world-class CEO. TCI's actions are guided by and aligned with the interests of all shareholders, to re-establish CN as an efficient, fast-growing and well-governed railroad. TCI is a long-term shareholder with a compelling track record of advocating for strong corporate governance and is committed to the long-term success of CN. TCI invests in high-quality companies with deep and sustainable moats and believes strongly in the power of long-term compounding. TCI is not seeking to assert effective control over the Company. , , and are independent of TCI and no member of TCI is up for election. CN Claim: TCI's stake in Canadian Pacific ("CP") demonstrates a conflict of interest between TCI and other CN shareholders. TCI's stake in Canadian Pacific ("CP") demonstrates a conflict of interest between TCI and other CN shareholders. Fact: Like many other CN shareholders, TCI is a firm believer in the long-term success and growth of the Canadian railroad industry and therefore owns both CN and CP, with a larger stake in CN. This is in no way unusual in the sector or in other industries. For years, CN has been losing market share. TCI believes that, with a strong Board and world-class CEO, CN will regain its dominant market position and be the fastest growing and most profitable Class 1 railroad once again. TCI's conviction in the future success and growth of CN under a new Board is reflected in the size of its investment in the Company, which is valued at US$4.3 billion , substantially greater than its investment in Canadian Pacific ( US$3.7 billion ) and Union Pacific ( US$1.2 billion ). Like many other CN shareholders, TCI is a firm believer in the long-term success and growth of the Canadian railroad industry and therefore owns both CN and CP, with a larger stake in CN. This is in no way unusual in the sector or in other industries. For years, CN has been losing market share. TCI believes that, with a strong Board and world-class CEO, CN will regain its dominant market position and be the fastest growing and most profitable Class 1 railroad once again. TCI's conviction in the future success and growth of CN under a new Board is reflected in the size of its investment in the Company, which is valued at , substantially greater than its investment in Canadian Pacific ( ) and Union Pacific ( ). CN Claim: CN's pursuit of Kansas City Southern ("KCS") resulted in "significant benefits for CN's shareholders" and "was demonstrably positive for CN." CN's pursuit of Kansas City Southern ("KCS") resulted in "significant benefits for CN's shareholders" and "was demonstrably positive for CN." Fact: It is disingenuous for the Board and CEO to claim the bid was positive for CN when the positive outcomes were due solely to luck because the Surface Transportation Board ("STB") unexpectedly delayed its ruling on the voting trust by four weeks. In fact, CN's failed attempt to acquire KCS was reckless and exposed a basic misunderstanding of the railroad industry and regulatory environment. The bid put C$2 billion of termination fees at risk and if the STB had issued its negative ruling in July (as CN expected), the outcome would have been very different. It is dishonest and misleading for Mr. Ruest to claim credit for the entirely fortuitous outcomes and to fail to acknowledge the serious negative outcomes of the bid, specifically, damaging the reputation of CN, its Board and management team, antagonizing the STB and distracting management from running the network. It is disingenuous for the Board and CEO to claim the bid was positive for CN when the positive outcomes were due solely to luck because the Surface Transportation Board ("STB") unexpectedly delayed its ruling on the voting trust by four weeks. In fact, CN's failed attempt to acquire KCS was reckless and exposed a basic misunderstanding of the railroad industry and regulatory environment. The bid put of termination fees at risk and if the STB had issued its negative ruling in July (as CN expected), the outcome would have been very different. It is dishonest and misleading for Mr. Ruest to claim credit for the entirely fortuitous outcomes and to fail to acknowledge the serious negative outcomes of the bid, specifically, damaging the reputation of CN, its Board and management team, antagonizing the STB and distracting management from running the network. CN Claim: TCI has been "attacking the Company publicly." TCI has been "attacking the Company publicly." Fact: TCI has been critical of only the Board and CEO, not the Company. TCI has not attacked the Company; quite the opposite. TCI has said many times CN is a great company, and owns a unique asset the best rail network in North America . However, the Board is inadequate, and has been responsible for multiple corporate governance failures, while the CEO lacks the operational expertise to run a railroad. TCI is a long-term CN shareholder because it believes the Company owns a tremendous asset, but the Board and CEO have been underperforming for too long. Change is required to make CN the most efficient and fastest growing railroad in the industry once again. TCI cautions shareholders to expect the Board to continue to allege TCI's campaign is against the Company rather than against the Board. To be clear, this is an attempt to distract attention from the failings of the Board and CEO and to escape accountability. The Board may also attempt to turn the special meeting into a vote on TCI, rather than conduct an objective and informed debate on the merits of the four nominees. Gilbert Lamphere, Allison Landry, Rob Knight and Paul Miller are independent of TCI and represent a clear and significant upgrade to the current Board. No member of TCI is up for election. Shareholders deserve to know what the current Board thinks of the candidates. A campaign against TCI is not productive, does not inform shareholders and will not put CN back on track. The truth is that CN's Board and CEO lack the necessary operating and railway expertise to improve the performance of the Company. Gilbert Lamphere, Allison Landry, Rob Knight and Paul Miller have significant operational experience and analytical capabilities in the railroad industry, and their election, together with a new CEO, will provide the essential expertise required for CN to reach its full potential. The CN Board is Responsible for Multiple Corporate Governance Failures Since 2016 (when Jim Vena left CN), CN's operating and financial performance has lagged the other Class 1 railroads. The Board has also presided over multiple corporate governance failures: The Board has assembled a slate of directors with no meaningful railroad operational experience or expertise. The Board has permitted a brain drain of high-quality operators to leave CN while not addressing the cause of their departures. A failure, twice, to appoint a world class CEO, instead first appointing Luc Jobin who held the post for less than two years and now Mr. Ruest. who held the post for less than two years and now Mr. Ruest. The Board has not held Mr. Ruest accountable for the deterioration in CN's relative financial and operational performance; instead, the Board has increased his compensation. The Board approved an abrupt about-turn in strategy, involving large headcount reductions, share buybacks, asset sales, capital expenditure reductions and short-term financial targets, rather than acknowledge and address the fundamental issue of a lack of a culture of operational excellence. The new plan is being implemented without a credible succession plan in place for a CEO who does not have the operational expertise or credibility to execute it and who is unlikely to remain with the Company beyond 2022. If leadership could execute on this plan it should have happened years ago. Management's performance has been poor, and there is no evidence to suggest the same management team has the capabilities to achieve the targets it has set. execute on this plan it should have happened years ago. Management's performance has been poor, and there is no evidence to suggest the same management team has the capabilities to achieve the targets it has set. The Board failed to disclose material developments to shareholders in an appropriate and timely manner. The resignation of Julie Godin , CN's youngest female director, the day before the announcement of CN's new strategic plan, was not publicly disclosed. This exposed a deliberate lack of transparency and a selective approach to disclosure with respect to governance matters. , CN's youngest female director, the day before the announcement of CN's new strategic plan, was not publicly disclosed. This exposed a deliberate lack of transparency and a selective approach to disclosure with respect to governance matters. Despite many offers to do so, the Board has failed to engage with TCI, CN's second largest shareholder, when requisitioning a meeting to elect credible, independent, highly-skilled Board nominees supported by many shareholders. The CN share price has massively underperformed the North American railroad sector. CN Can Do Better With a new Board and world-class CEO, TCI is confident CN can get back on track and regain market share in the extremely attractive Canadian railway industry. With the right Board and CEO, CN's operations, service and efficiency will enable and enhance sustainable volume growth. Gilbert Lamphere , Allison Landry , Rob Knight and Paul Miller are independent, highly-skilled and well-qualified individuals who have considerable operational and analytical experience in the railroad industry and will bring more balance and diversity to the Board. , , and are independent, highly-skilled and well-qualified individuals who have considerable operational and analytical experience in the railroad industry and will bring more balance and diversity to the Board. Once elected, the independent Board members would work to select a new CEO. TCI has identified Jim Vena as the outstanding candidate. Mr. Vena has a proven, 40+ year track record as an exceptional railroad operator. He spent 40 years at CN, where he started as a unionized employee in 1976 and worked his way up to become Chief Operating Officer from 2013 until his retirement in 2016. Most recently, during his two years as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Advisor to the Chairman at Union Pacific, he drove remarkable improvement in Union Pacific's operations, service, efficiency and profitability, resulting in a 650bps improvement in operating ratio, US$1.4 billion in efficiency savings and the best service production in Union Pacific's history. CN Shareholders Should Demand Change CN's recent performance is the result of a railroad being run by a CEO without operational experience. Shareholders of CN can take steps to help get CN back on track by: Voting for Gilbert Lamphere , Allison Landry , Rob Knight and Paul Miller . They have all had long and distinguished careers operating in and analysing the railroad industry. They bring vast railroad experience and knowledge, and they share a common and very achievable goal: to create a much-needed culture of operational excellence at CN, which is essential if the Company is to reach its full potential. , , and . They have all had long and distinguished careers operating in and analysing the railroad industry. They bring vast railroad experience and knowledge, and they share a common and very achievable goal: to create a much-needed culture of operational excellence at CN, which is essential if the Company is to reach its full potential. Demanding CN delay any unilateral appointment of three new Board members until after the Special Meeting where all shareholders will have a say on Gilbert Lamphere , Allison Landry , Rob Knight , Paul Miller and the current Board. Given the time between now and the Special Meeting, TCI is concerned that the Board will attempt to identify and install management-selected replacement directors, a common tactic for underperforming Boards and evidenced by the resignation of Julie Godin in September 2021. Allowing the current Board to handpick successors will not result in the significant change that CN needs. , , , and the current Board. Given the time between now and the Special Meeting, TCI is concerned that the Board will attempt to identify and install management-selected replacement directors, a common tactic for underperforming Boards and evidenced by the resignation of in September 2021. Allowing the current Board to handpick successors will not result in the significant change that CN needs. Asking the Board not to commence a CEO search until after the shareholder vote at the Special Meeting to ensure Jim Vena is fully considered. is fully considered. Insisting change needs to occur because, once the KCS deal closes, CP will be a much stronger competitor so CN needs to raise its game now to prepare for a tougher competitive environment. Advisors Kingsdale Advisors is acting as strategic shareholder and communications advisor to TCI. ASC Advisors is acting as communications advisor to TCI. Allen McDonald Swartz LLP, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP are acting as legal counsel to TCI. About TCI Fund Management Founded in 2003 by Sir Christopher Hohn, TCI Fund Management Limited, the investment manager of CIFF Capital UK LP and The Children's Investment Master Fund, is a value orientated, fundamental investor which invests globally in strong businesses with sustainable competitive advantages. Using a private equity approach, TCI Fund Management Limited conducts deep fundamental research, constructively engages with management and adopts a long-term investment horizon. For more information on TCI Fund Management Limited and its ESG policy, visit www.tcifund.com/ESG Disclosures TCI has been a CN shareholder since 2018. TCI currently owns more than 5% of the shares outstanding (valued at US$4.3 billion) and is committed to the long-term success of CN. Contacts Kingsdale Advisors: Ian Robertson President, Canada Direct: 416-867-2333 Cell: 647-621-2646 Email: [email protected] Hyunjoo Kim Director, Communications, Marketing & Digital Strategy Direct: 416-867-2357 Cell: 416-899-6463 Email: [email protected] TCI Media Contacts: ASC Advisors, New York Steve Bruce: [email protected] Taylor Ingraham: [email protected] 203-992-1230 Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation The information contained in this press release does not and is not meant to constitute a solicitation of a proxy within the meaning of applicable corporate and securities laws. Although TCI requisitioned the Special Meeting for the purposes of refreshing the current Board by adding four nominees, shareholders are not being asked at this time to execute a proxy in favour of TCI's nominees for election to the Board or any other resolutions set forth in the requisition. In connection with the Special Meeting, TCI has filed a preliminary information circular dated September 27, 2021 (the "Circular") and expects to issue a supplement thereto or amendment and restatement thereof (the "Final TCI Circular") containing further disclosure concerning TCI's proposals, together with additional details concerning the completion and return of forms of proxy and voting information forms ("VIFs") to be provided by TCI for use at the Special Meeting. Notwithstanding the foregoing, TCI is voluntarily providing the disclosure required in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations. This press release and any solicitation made by TCI in advance of the Special Meeting is, or will be, as applicable, made by TCI and not by or on behalf of the management of CN. Shareholders of CN are not being asked at this time to execute proxies in favour of TCI's nominees (in respect of the Special Meeting) or any other resolution set forth in the requisition. TCI intends to make its solicitation primarily by mail, but proxies may also be solicited personally by telephone, email or other electronic means, as well as by newspaper or other media advertising or in person, by TCI, certain of its members, partners, directors, officers and employees, TCI's nominees or TCI's agents, including Kingsdale Advisors, who has been retained by TCI as its strategic shareholder advisor and proxy solicitation agent. Pursuant to the agreement between Kingsdale Advisors and TCI Fund Management Limited, Kingsdale Advisors would receive a fee of up to $3.5 million, plus customary fees for each call to or from shareholders of CN, and would be reimbursed for certain out-of-pocket expenses, with all such costs to be borne by TCI. In addition, TCI may solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, by way of public broadcast, including press release, speech or publication, and in any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian laws. Any members, partners, directors, officers or employees of TCI and their affiliates or other persons who solicit proxies on behalf of TCI will do so for no additional compensation. The costs incurred in the preparation and mailing of the Circular and the Final TCI Circular, and the solicitation of proxies by TCI will be borne by TCI, provided that, subject to applicable law, TCI may seek reimbursement from CN of TCI's out-of-pocket expenses, including proxy solicitation expenses and legal fees, incurred in connection with a successful reconstitution of the Board. A registered shareholder of CN who has given a proxy may revoke the proxy at any time prior to use by: (a) depositing an instrument or act in writing revoking the proxy, executed or, in Quebec, signed by such registered shareholder or by his, her or its personal representative authorized in writing or by electronic signature or, if the registered shareholder is a corporation, by an officer or attorney thereof properly authorized, either: (i) at the registered office of CN at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day of the Special Meeting or any postponement(s) or adjournment(s) thereof, at 935, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3B 2M9; or (ii) with the chairman of the Special Meeting prior to commencement of the Special Meeting on the day of the Special Meeting or any postponement(s) or adjournment(s) thereof; or (b) revoking the proxy in any other manner permitted by law. A non-registered shareholder may revoke a form of proxy or VIF given to an intermediary or Broadridge Investor Communications (or any such other service company) at any time by submitting another properly completed form of proxy or VIF, as the latest form of proxy or VIF will automatically revoke any previous one already submitted, or by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the non-registered shareholder by its intermediary. Based on information provided to TCI by each respective nominee, none of TCI's nominees, nor any of their associates or affiliates, has had any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the commencement of CN's most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction which has materially affected or would materially affect CN or any of its subsidiaries. Based on information provided to TCI by each respective nominee, none of TCI nor any member, partner, director or officer of TCI, nor any of TCI's nominees, nor any associates or affiliates of the foregoing, has any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in the matters currently known to be acted upon at the Special Meeting, other than in respect of TCI's ownership, control or direction of an aggregate of 36,699,825 common shares of CN, and the removal of certain incumbent directors and the election of the nominees as directors of CN. CN's registered office address is 935, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3B 2M9. A copy of the Circular which contains the information required in respect of each of TCI's nominees may be obtained on CN's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. SOURCE TCI Fund Management Limited PHOENIX, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tesis Labs, a leader in targeted genetic sequencing, announced $20 million of growth equity financing at a post-money valuation of $520 million. The round was led by Xcellerant 1 TLC, LLC, an investment group headed by John Shufeldt, M.D., This is the first external financing for Tesis Labs since it initiated operations in early 2020. Prior to this funding, the Company raised approximately $15 million. Tesis Labs offers healthcare providers and physicians access to unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases individually and across generations. The Tesis mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with treatment tools to help patients overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer through advanced genetic testing. "Tesis has formed several partnerships within the medical community to focus on genetic testing and research, while enabling a collaborative and unique approach for somatic and hereditary cancer diagnostic and treatment techniques," stated Ron King, Tesis Labs CEO and Managing Director. "Focusing on the underlying science of genetic research and testing within the chronic disease area, Tesis looks to make a significant impact in the quality of life of patients while partnering with multiple companies focused on preventative medicine and population health." "As a physician and entrepreneur, I am continually evaluating new ways of addressing healthcare challenges, and I believe looking at our genetic makeup is the next step," added Dr. Shufeldt. "I believe it is companies like Tesis that will unlock the value of personalized medicine and make achieving the Quadruple Aim a reality in this decade." This new round of funding enables Tesis to increase production capability and clinical support to meet its clinical joint venture partners' increasing demand for Tesis services. The investment also allows Tesis to move ahead with several clinical initiatives for its proprietary products currently going through clinical validation. "Through our participation with clinical trials of our partners, we are helping to validate the clinical effectiveness and to potentially assist in early non-symptomatic recognition of the potential application of their therapies," said King. "By utilizing our unique diagnostic panels to assist with their clinical validation and data gathering, we are also able to streamline workflow and enhance go-to-market completion timelines." Tesis Lab's in-house research and development team continually work to broaden the scope of what is possible with next-generation sequencing (NGS) testingbringing forward new targeted molecular panels. Precision medicine is the path forward, and Tesis Labs has the clinical expertise, scientific acumen, and leading-edge technology to help pave the way. To learn more about Tesis Labs, visit tesislabs.com. About Tesis Labs Tesis Labs' genetically integrated medical platform has revolutionized targeted genetic sequencing. Our mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with the tools to help patients treat and overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer through advanced genetic testing. Tesis offers healthcare providers and physicians access to our unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases individually and across generations. We also enable medical device companies and pharmaceuticals to bring new products to market and create a robust repository of genetic data and research. Visit tesislabs.com to learn more. About John Shufeldt, M.D./Xcellerant Xcellerant TLC 1, LLC is an investment vehicle managed by John Shufeldt, M.D. Dr. Shufeldt is an emergency physician by avocation, as well as an MBA and lawyer. He has published 11 books, is a licensed pilot and multidisciplinary entrepreneur who has founded and operated several multi-million-dollar businesses. At present, John leads a large emergency medicine staffing and management company, Tribal Health , and continues to practice emergency medicine and health law. In 1993 Dr. Shufeldt started NextCare, which he built and staffed, and grew to over 60 urgent and primary care centers. In 2010 Dr. Shufeldt started a national virtual healthcare platform, MeMD, which grew to service patients in 50 states with more than 400 practitioners and more than 5 million subscribers. MeMD was sold to Walmart in 2021. For more information on Dr. Shufeldt, visit johnshufeldtmd.com Media Contact: Kim Warth, Amendola Communications, [email protected] SOURCE Tesis Labs Related Links https://tesislabs.com LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The 8th instalment of the CoinGeek Conference series, themed 'It's About Time' takes place at the Sheraton Hotel, Times Square on October 5-7, to showcase the latest developments on the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain. The BSV blockchain can handle almost limitless amounts of data, all immutably stored and at a very low cost and it's about time big business took notice of what BSV technology can do for them. Returning to the world's financial capital, the 8th CoinGeek Conference will welcome, in person and virtually, a diverse spread of speakers both in terms of area of expertise and geographically. BSV Blockchain is the world's largest public blockchain by all major utility metrics; data storage and daily transaction volume, scaling ability and average block size, recently breaking all records by mining 2GB blocks. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE Day 1 Tuesday Oct 5th HACKATHON FINALIST PRESENTATIONS: Judges - Donny Deutsch , TV Personality, Host of CNBC's The Big Idea, Former CEO and Chairman of Deutsch Inc . ; Dr Craig Wright , Chief Scientist, nChain; Paul Rajchgod , Managing Director, Private Equity, Ayre Ventures; Steve Shadders , CTO, nChain Dr , Chief Scientist, nChain; , Managing Director, Private Equity, Ayre Ventures; , CTO, nChain "Blockchain technology has huge potential to continue to transform the business landscape and create new business models that have never existed before. I'm looking forward to serving on the BSV Hackathon Finalist Judging panel at this year's CoinGeek Conference and evaluating not only what revolutionary projects can be built utilizing the technology, but their saleability, their scalability, and greater potential to disrupt industries." Donny Deutsch , Former CEO and Chairman of Deutsch. Inc. Presentations from the BSV Hackathon finalists, who will be judged in 'Shark Tank' style on their ideas. The theme of the Hackathon is Peer-to-peer applications not just payments, but any type of application that involves direct interaction between participants on the Bitcoin network. Entrants were tasked with leveraging the recently released SPV Channels service as part of their application to facilitate communication across the network, as well as interacting with the Bitcoin network directly via the Merchant API (mAPI). not just payments, but any type of application that involves direct interaction between participants on the Bitcoin network. Entrants were tasked with leveraging the recently released SPV Channels service as part of their application to facilitate communication across the network, as well as interacting with the Bitcoin network directly via the Merchant API (mAPI). Following the presentations, the judges will participate in a panel discussion on How to Build Real Value with Blockchain Projects The audience vote will count as the 5th Judges vote and viewers are encouraged to vote on the blockchain at Omniscape Omniscape Google Play Omniscape Apple KEYNOTE ADDRESS - THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY BUILDING ON ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PAST Featuring Scott Stornetta and Stuart Haber . Recognized as the creators of blockchain technology and even cited in the footnotes of the original Bitcoin Whitepaper Stuart and Scott are a powerful addition to CoinGeek's 'Future of Technology' panel where they will be joined by renowned Cryptographer Ian Grigg. This panel will take place on Day 1 of the Conference at 5.10pm EST . NFT CHARITY AUCTION Live for the duration of the entire conference featuring celebrity NFTs and a Franck Muller limited edition "The Nakamoto" watch, with event proceeds going to American Heart Association. The auction details can be found at FabriikX.com Day 2 Wednesday Oct 6th THE NEW WORLD OF NFTS The second day has a significant focus on NFTs, featuring new NFT platform launches and discussion with Professional Fighters League Mixed Martial Artist Rory MacDonald on The New World of NFTs on Also, on the panel are Francesco Morello from Bullish Art; Shawn Ryan of SmartLedger; and Victor Tang from NiftyCo HOW TO ACHIEVE GREEN BITCOIN: ENERGY CONSUMPTION & ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY The environmental impacts of blockchain comes under the spotlight where experts will debate cryptocurrency mining energy use and costs. We'll hear from UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador and Co-Founder of Lonely Whale & DuContra, Adrien Grenier ; Dave Perrill CEO, Compute North mining facility; and Dr. Dhirendra Shukla President & Chair, Gray Wolf Analytics Inc. as they discuss the value of blockchain and ways in which cryptocurrency mining can be perceived more eco-friendly. Goodwill Ambassador and Co-Founder of Lonely Whale & DuContra, ; Dave Perrill CEO, Compute North mining facility; and Dr. & Chair, Gray Wolf Analytics Inc. as they discuss the value of blockchain and ways in which cryptocurrency mining can be perceived more eco-friendly. Partners and Senior Consultants at MNP Consulting Firm will present their findings on a Blockchain Energy Consumption research project. The day will be closed off with a keynote speech by bestselling author and economist George Gilder . Day 3 Thursday Oct 7th Real use cases of BSV form the focus of the final day of the conference which features speeches and panels about business applications running on BSV. These include: BETTER SUPPLY CHAIN & SUSTAINABILITY The panel on supply chain features Brian Choi , CEO of The Food Institute, and Stephanie Benedetto, CEO & Co-Founder of Queen of Raw, who will discuss how blockchain can be utilised in a sustainable supply chain. INVESTIGATING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY ON THE BLOCKCHAIN Delving into this challenging topic will be Richard G. Reinhardt , Special Agent, IRS Criminal Investigation, and members from Blockchain Intelligence Group, BlockTrace and Merkle Science. GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC SECTOR APPLICATIONS ON BLOCKCHAIN Jimmy Nguyen will be joined by Saeed Mohammed Ali Alhebsi of UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation; Muhammad Salman Anjum , Head of BSV Hub - Middle East & South Asia and Chief Mate, InvoiceMate; Mohammed Ibrahim Jega , Co-Founder & Chief Business Development Officer, Domineum Blockchain Solutions Ltd.; and Ahmed Yousif , Middle East Lead, BSV Blockchain for Government Initiative & Co-Founder, Black Stone Data Solutions. BITCOIN & BLOCKCHAIN CAN REAL VALUE COME FROM REAL UTILITY? The event will close with the final keynote panel discussing where real blockchain value and utility can come featuring Dr Craig Wright , Cornell Professor Eswar Prasad and George Gilder . Before the event comes to a close the grand prize winner of the BSV Hackathon will be announced and there will be a final word from the Hackathon judges on who they chose and why. And lastly the venue for the next CoinGeek conference will be announced. As always the three-day CoinGeek Conference will be broadcast live to world and free to watch virtually at CoinGeekConference.com SOURCE CoinGeek LOS ALTOS, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation for Climate Restoration (F4CR) applauds the convening of global faith leaders who met on October 4 at the Vatican to address the ongoing climate emergency. This unprecedented collaboration brought together 40 faith leaders from the world's major religions, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism. This was the first time in history that all major religious leaders unified to urge collective action in response to an existential threat like climate change. The Foundation for Climate Restoration (F4CR) is a nonprofit whose mission is to catalyze action to restore the climate by 2050. We are honored to have the call for climate restoration amplified by prominent faith leaders from around the world. As the Joint Appeal signed by the faith leaders said, "We must think long-term for the sake of the whole of humanity, now and in the future...Scientists have warned us that there might be only one decade left to restore the planet. We plead with the international community, gathered at COP26, to take speedy, responsible and shared action to safeguard, restore and heal our wounded humanity and the home entrusted to our stewardship." Climate restoration, the safe and permanent removal of excess CO2 from our atmosphere to return us to pre-industrial levels and ensure a habitable planet for future generations, should be a significant part of our climate action plan going forward. It is imperative that we respond to the climate emergency by returning to pre-industrial levels of CO2 because these are the levels at which humanity has been proven to thrive. We join Pope Francis and global faith leaders in calling on governments, policymakers, faith communities, and citizen-activists to prioritize investment in climate restoration initiatives because all of us, no matter our creed, have a duty to protect our planet for future generations. About the Foundation for Climate Restoration The Foundation for Climate Restoration (F4CR) is a nonprofit whose mission is to catalyze action to restore the climate by 2050. It uses global dialogue and initiatives to unite the public, policy-makers, and technical and business experts behind the common goal of reversing global warming and restoring a healthy climate for future generations. The F4CR encourages and spotlights achievable solutions to permanently remove excess carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. For more information visit www.f4cr.org. Media Contact: Alexandra Pony 250.858.0656 [email protected] SOURCE The Foundation for Climate Restoration BOX, Sweden , Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Laureates share this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of chaotic and apparently random phenomena. Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth's climate and how humanity influences it. Giorgio Parisi is rewarded for his revolutionary contributions to the theory of disordered materials and random processes. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 "for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems" with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Princeton University, USA and Klaus Hasselmann, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming" and the other half to Giorgio Parisi, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales" Complex systems are characterised by randomness and disorder and are difficult to understand. This year's Prize recognises new methods for describing them and predicting their long-term behaviour. One complex system of vital importance to humankind is Earth's climate. Syukuro Manabe demonstrated how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lead to increased temperatures at the surface of the Earth. In the 1960s, he led the development of physical models of the Earth's climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models. About ten years later, Klaus Hasselmann created a model that links together weather and climate, thus answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic. He also developed methods for identifying specific signals, fingerprints, that both natural phenomena and human activities imprint in the climate. His methods have been used to prove that the increased temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide. Around 1980, Giorgio Parisi discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena, not only in physics but also in other, very different areas, such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. "The discoveries being recognised this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations. This year's Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems," says Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. Syukuro Manabe, born 1931 in Shingu, Japan. Ph.D. 1957 from University of Tokyo, Japan. Senior Meteorologist at Princeton University, USA. Klaus Hasselmann, born 1931 in Hamburg, Germany. Ph.D. 1957 from University of Gottingen, Germany. Professor, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany. Giorgio Parisi, born 1948 in Rome. Italy. Ph.D. 1970 from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Prize amount: 10 million Swedish kronor, with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi. Contact Press contact Eva Nevelius, Press Secretary, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +46 70 878 67 63, [email protected] Experts Thors Hans Hansson, the Nobel Committee for Physics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +46 70 376 89 63, [email protected] Anders Irback, the Nobel Committee for Physics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +46 73 362 29 60, [email protected] John Wettlaufer, the Nobel Committee for Physics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +46 73 244 74 59, [email protected] More information The Laureates Syukuro Manabe, Princeton University Klaus Hasselmann, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Giorgio Parisi, Sapienza University of Rome Read more at www.kva.se This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/kungl--vetenskapsakademien/r/the-nobel-prize-in-physics-2021--physics-for-climate-and-other-complex-phenomena,c3426031 SOURCE Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien Unlike other testing methods, which require nasal swabs or saliva samples, wastewater testing can assess infection rates among a general population up to two weeks earlier than individual or pooled testing. The MagMAX Wastewater Ultra Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit offers a flexible, easy-to-implement solution for labs setting up new surveillance programs or incorporating SARS-CoV-2 testing into existing ones. Combined with Thermo Fisher's comprehensive portfolio of products to support the entire workflow, such as KingFisher purification systems and QuantStudio qPCR platforms, the kit provides an end-to-end solution for detecting SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater. "As COVID-19 perseveres as a global health threat, wastewater surveillance has become increasingly prevalent," said Ellie Mahjubi, vice president/general manager, Sample Preparation at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "Labs need reliable, fast and scalable methods for monitoring viruses and other infectious agents in our communities. The MagMAX wastewater kits offer a flexible, easy-to-use solution that works seamlessly with existing protocols." The MagMAX Wastewater Ultra Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit is compatible with a range of input volumes ranging from 200 l to 500 mL, and works with various upfront concentration methods, including ultracentrifugation, precipitation, and filtration. For labs in need of an automated viral enrichment method, the MagMAX Wastewater Ultra Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit with virus enrichment uses Dynabeads technology to automate and streamline sample concentration. To learn more about the MagMAX Wastewater Ultra Nucleic Acid Isolation Kits, visit www.thermofisher.com/magmaxwastewater. For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. 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: Mauricio Minotta Phone: 760-805-5266 Email: [email protected] Joanne Stanway Phone: 978-273-1473 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific "We are beyond honored to receive this recognition from Conde Nast Traveler readers from all over the world," says Michiaki Yamada, Executive Director of the New York Office of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). "After a turbulent year due to the pandemic, the results of this year's Readers' Choice Awards show the anticipation and excitement that travelers have to return to the 'Land of the Rising Sun." Japan was also recognized as the #3 country in the world in this year's Readers' Choice Awards. These two recognitions come on the heels of Japan hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In July, UNESCO registered multiple legendary locations in Japan, bringing the country's total Heritage Sites to 25. 2021 also saw a few iconic new hotel openings in the country such as Wanoi Kakunodate, Treeful Treehouse Sustainable Resort, NIPPONIA Shirataka and many more. The 2021 Readers' Choice Awards are published on Conde Nast Traveler's website at cntraveler.com/rca and celebrated in the November issue. For press inquiries, please contact: [email protected]. ABOUT JAPAN NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION (JNTO) As the official tourism board of Japan, JNTO is involved in a wide range of promotional activities to encourage international travelers to visit Japan. Through a variety of campaigns and initiatives, JNTO is inspiring more American travelers to visit Tokyo, Kyoto and beyond. For more information about travel to Japan, visit JNTO on its Website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitte r . To contact the New York office of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) directly, please e-mail [email protected]. SOURCE Japan National Tourism Organization Related Links us.jnto.go.jp Thoma Bravo Plans to Make a New Equity Investment in the Company and Maintain a Significant Minority Interest. TPG and Thoma Bravo Expect to Work Together to Accelerate the Company's Digital Process Automation Success. BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nintex, the global standard for process management and automation, today announced a definitive agreement to sell a majority stake in the company to TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset firm TPG. Across its platforms, TPG has invested in leading software companies including C3 AI, Planview, ThycoticCentrify, WellSky, and Zscaler. Nintex's current majority investor, Thoma Bravo, a leading software investment firm, plans to make a new equity investment in the company and maintain a significant minority interest. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Nintex is a strong, growing business that offers the most powerful, easy-to-use, and complete platform in the digital process automation industry. The company expanded its process solution capabilities from digital forms and workflow to its next-generation cloud platform with intelligent forms, advanced workflows, digital document generation, eSignatures, and robotic process automation (RPA). Nintex also provides the industry's most powerful process management solution through Nintex Promapp, its collaborative solution for intuitively capturing, mapping, documenting and supporting all kinds of organizational work processes. "It is a mission-critical time to be a part of the worldwide automation movement..." -Nintex CEO Eric Johnson Tweet this "In today's landscape, digital process automation and management are critical to any company's ability to work effectively and efficiently," said Nehal Raj, Co-Managing Partner of TPG Capital. "The automation of the enterprise is a core investment theme for our software team, and we believe Nintex is at the forefront of enabling this transformation. While the company serves thousands of organizations today, we believe they are only scratching the surface in terms of the breadth of departmental and industry process solutions needed. We look forward to working with the teams at Nintex and Thoma Bravo to accelerate the company's growth." "It is an exciting day for every member of the Nintex global community," said Nintex CEO Eric Johnson. "Our mission continues to focus on improving the way people work through process management and automation, and with the support of leading software investors like TPG Capital and Thoma Bravo, the future of Nintex is extraordinarily bright. It is a mission-critical time to be a part of the worldwide automation movement and we can't wait to further delight our customers and partners with continued product innovation and valuable programs that fuel their ongoing success." An Unwavering Commitment to Customer Success Today, hundreds of partners and more than 10,000 organizations across state, local and federal governments, and major industries like healthcare, financial services, technology, and manufacturing turn to Nintex Process Platform to accelerate digital transformation and business outcomes. The platform's complete process mapping and automation capabilities help thousands of IT teams, operations professionals, business analysts and app developers manage, automate, and optimize business processes across departments and industries in faster and more fluid ways. During the nearly four years of Thoma Bravo's majority sponsorship, Nintex delivered strong organic innovation and completed four strategic acquisitions that significantly expanded the breadth and depth of its digital process solutions. It acquired a visual cloud-based process mapping and management solution offered today as Nintex Promapp, which includes easy, one-click generation of workflows through the Nintex Workflow Cloud; a robotic process automation (RPA) tool known as Nintex RPA featured in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for RPA; complementary workflow and process automation technologies including sophisticated app development tools known as Nintex K2 Five and Nintex K2 Cloud; and, most recently, a secure electronic signature solution offered today as Nintex AssureSign. "We are thrilled with the pace of innovation, operational rigor, and financial results delivered by Nintex over the last few years," said Hudson Smith, a Partner at Thoma Bravo. "From product engineering to marketing, sales, and customer success, Nintex has been laser focused on what matters most ensuring the success of everyone leveraging Nintex software to improve and automate business. We're very optimistic about Nintex's future and look forward to our continued partnership with the company." The Nintex Process Platform has been recognized by several independent research firms, including Forrester Research1, Aragon Research2, 451 Research3 and IDC,4 as a leader in the following categories: digital process automation (DPA), digital transaction management (DTM), workflow and content automation (WCA), intelligent process automation (IPA), digital business platform (DBP), and digital automation platform (DAP). Companies like Zoom Video Communications, Inc., Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC, AstraZeneca, and Nationwide leverage Nintex's solutions to turn manual and repetitive work processes typically done over paper or email into streamlined, strategic digital workflows, with intelligent forms, RPA and eSignatures. In partnership with TPG Capital, Nintex will invest more R&D resources in its market-leading automation solutions, expand its go-to-market programs, and continue adding complementary process technologies to support demand for its software platform. Nintex is hiring additional talent in engineering, product management, marketing, sales, and customer success. Today, the company has more than 850 team members around the world who have embraced remote and hybrid work models and are committed to ensuring Nintex continues to be a great place to work. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to TPG Capital. BofA Securities is serving as lead financial advisor and Macquarie Capital is serving as co-financial advisor to Nintex. Debt financing for the transaction is being provided by Blackstone and Thoma Bravo Credit. Ropes and Gray is serving as legal counsel to TPG Capital, Kirkland & Ellis is serving as legal counsel to Thoma Bravo, and Wilson Sonsini as legal counsel to Nintex. 1 The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation for Wide Deployments, Q1 2019 2 The Aragon Research Globe for Digital Transaction Management, 2021; The Aragon Research Globe for Digital Business Platforms, 2021; The Aragon Research Globe for Workflow and Content Automation, 2021 3 451 Research Pathfinder Report: Process Discovery, Automation & Intelligence, Essential Technologies for Digital Business, 2019 4 IDC: Worldwide Intelligent Process Automation Software Forecast, 2021-2025 Doc # US48015622 About Nintex Nintex is the global standard for process management and automation. Today more than 10,000 public and private sector organizations across 90 countries turn to the Nintex Platform to accelerate progress on their digital transformation journeys by quickly and easily managing, automating and optimizing business processes. Learn more by visiting www.nintex.com and experience how Nintex and its global partner network are shaping the future of Intelligent Process Automation (IPA). About TPG TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in San Francisco in 1992 with $108 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams in 12 offices globally. TPG invests across five multi-product platforms: Capital, Growth, Impact, Real Estate, and Market Solutions. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its clients while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across the investment strategy and performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com or @TPG on Twitter. About Thoma Bravo Thoma Bravo is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, with more than $83 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2021. The firm invests in growth-oriented, innovative companies operating in the software and technology sectors. Leveraging the firm's deep sector expertise and proven strategic and operational capabilities, Thoma Bravo collaborates with its portfolio companies to implement operating best practices, drive growth initiatives and make accretive acquisitions intended to accelerate revenue and earnings. Over the past 20 years, the firm has acquired more than 325 companies representing over $100 billion in enterprise value. For more information, visit thomabravo.com. Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE Nintex Related Links http://www.nintex.com GLASTONBURY, Conn., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Travel Insured International has launched its new, cruise-specific travel protection product, Cruise Trip Protector. As part of Travel Insured's Tour Protector series, this product is designed to meet the needs of today's cruise passenger. Along with pre-departure benefits like Trip Cancellation and optional Cancel for Any Reason, this plan offers post-departure coverages like Single Supplement, Missed Tour or Cruise Connection, and Trip Delay. Cruise Trip Protector also includes additional benefits for recent requirements by some cruise providers for extra coverage related to Accident & Sickness Medical Expense and coverage for Medical Evacuations. Recent Cruise Requirements: Medical Expense and Evacuation Coverage As the travel industry continues to adapt, it's important for travelers to understand the safety requirements of each cruise line. Some cruise providers are mandating travel insurance for unvaccinated passengers setting sail from Florida and requiring each unvaccinated guest to provide proof of insurance with Accident and Sickness Medical Expense coverage and Emergency Medical Evacuation coverage that meets certain minimum standards. Travel Insured's Cruise Trip Protector provides travelers with up to $50,000 in Accident & Sickness Medical Expense coverage and up to $250,000 in Medical Evacuation coverage. Other Cruise-Specific Benefits As a niche travel product, Cruise Trip Protector includes valuable, relevant insurance benefits just for cruisers. Missing a cruise connection, facing delays or diversions, and issues related to single supplement pricing are all unique challenges for which the plan benefits can provide assistance. Cruise Trip Protector also features the optional Travel Inconvenience benefit which pays a stated amount per stated inconvenience. Missed Tour or Cruise Connection: Applies if you miss your cruise departure because your arrival at your trip destination is delayed for at least three hours. This benefit reimburses up to $500 in certain unplanned losses and expenses, including the additional transportation cost to join your trip if your delay is caused by a covered reason. Applies if you miss your cruise departure because your arrival at your trip destination is delayed for at least three hours. This benefit reimburses up to in certain unplanned losses and expenses, including the additional transportation cost to join your trip if your delay is caused by a covered reason. Single Supplement: This benefit may apply if you experience a change in the per person occupancy rate for your pre-paid, non-refundable lodging. If a person booked to share accommodations with you cancels or interrupts his/her trip due to any of the covered reasons applicable to Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption and you do not cancel or interrupt your trip, you could be eligible for reimbursement up to the stated maximum benefit amount. This benefit may apply if you experience a change in the per person occupancy rate for your pre-paid, non-refundable lodging. If a person booked to share accommodations with you cancels or interrupts his/her trip due to any of the covered reasons applicable to Trip Cancellation or Trip Interruption and you do not cancel or interrupt your trip, you could be eligible for reimbursement up to the stated maximum benefit amount. Optional Travel Inconvenience: This optional benefit upgrade includes 15 covered reasons. This pays a fixed amount per stated inconvenience up to a benefit maximum. Some of the reasons include: This optional benefit upgrade includes 15 covered reasons. This pays a fixed amount per stated inconvenience up to a benefit maximum. Some of the reasons include: Cruise Disablement: Applies if you are confined for more than 6 hours on the cruise ship without one or more of the following essential provisions: power, food, water, or restroom facilities or due to a crime that occurs on the cruise while on a Trip. Applies if you are confined for more than 6 hours on the cruise ship without one or more of the following essential provisions: power, food, water, or restroom facilities or due to a crime that occurs on the cruise while on a Trip. Cruise Diversion: Applies if your cruise does not stop at a scheduled port of call due to inclement weather, a natural disaster, a hijacking, an unannounced strike, a civil disorder or riot, a Terrorist Incident, a mechanical breakdown or a medical incident involving another passenger on the ship. "Travel insurance is no longer one-size-fits-all," says Travel Insured's VP of Strategic Partnerships, Isaac Cymrot. "Consumers want to pair their trip with the right coverage, not necessarily a product designed as a catch-all with benefits that may not apply to them. We created this product to provide cruisers with a combination of our core travel protection products and new benefits that are relevant to their specific trip type." Cancellation Coverage for the Unexpected Travelers can plan their cruises with confidence knowing there are 25 covered reasons for Trip Cancellation included under the Cruise Trip Protector plan. This includes a Trip Cancellation peril for insufficient or excessive water levels regarding river cruises. This product also features Cancel for Any Reason coverage as an optional benefit upgrade. Each cancellation benefit has different requirements and reimbursement amounts. Trip Cancellation: The Trip Cancellation benefit is included in the base Cruise Trip Protector coverage. Cancelling your trip for a covered reason any time prior to the scheduled departure date can reimburse up to 100% of your pre-paid, non-refundable trip cost. The Trip Cancellation benefit is included in the base Cruise Trip Protector coverage. Cancelling your trip for a covered reason any time prior to the scheduled departure date can reimburse up to 100% of your pre-paid, non-refundable trip cost. Water Level Cancellation Peril: This peril may apply if your river cruise is unable to operate or complete its scheduled itinerary due to insufficient or excessive water levels along the scheduled cruise itinerary route. Proof of the river cruise diversion must be documented by the Travel Supplier This peril may apply if your river cruise is unable to operate or complete its scheduled itinerary due to insufficient or excessive water levels along the scheduled cruise itinerary route. Proof of the river cruise diversion must be documented by the Travel Supplier Optional Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR): CFAR can be added to the Cruise Trip Protector at an additional cost to cover cancellations outside of what is covered under the Trip Cancellation benefit. CFAR can reimburse up to 75% of prepaid, non-refundable trip cost if you cancel your trip for any reason at least 48 hours prior to your scheduled departure date. CFAR must be purchased within 21 days of the date your initial deposit made toward your trip is received. Additional terms apply. For Travel Advisors For more information on how you can begin offering Cruise Trip Protector to your clients, please contact Travel Insured's Sales Support team at [email protected] or 877-778-0978. An additional cost applies if optional coverages are added to a plan. In addition, to add CFAR and certain optional coverages, customers must meet eligibility criteria. This plan is not currently available to residents of the following states: MO, MT, NY, OR, PA and WA. About Travel Insured International Founded in 1994, Travel Insured International (TII) is a leading travel insurance provider, offering quality worldwide travel insurance protection for more than 25 years. Products include Emergency Assistance and Evacuation, Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption Protection, Baggage Insurance, Airline Ticket Protection, and plans that include medical benefits. TII is part of the Crum & Forster Accident & Health Division. Rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best (2020), Crum & Forster is a national property and casualty group of insurance companies owned by parent company Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Since 2000, Crum & Forster Accident & Health has offered a robust portfolio of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, including medical stop loss and excess, specialty risk, pet, travel and other voluntary and affinity benefits. Media Contact: Sherry Sutton, VP, Marketing [email protected] SOURCE Crum & Forster NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CB Insights today named Treasury Prime, the leading Banking as a Service (BaaS) company, to the fourth annual Fintech 250, a prestigious list of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology. This year's list was unveiled on stage at CB Insights' Future of Fintech conference in New York City. Treasury Prime connects banks and fintechs through an API so developers can start building in minutes and launch in days. Fintech companies have transformed the financial services landscape and this has created an opportunity for chartered banks to reposition themselves in order to play a new and crucial role in this market: providing fintech and embedded finance companies with access to their infrastructure and unlocking new sources of revenue. Treasury Prime sits at this intersection: connecting banks and fintech companies. With Treasury Prime, fintech companies can get to market fast because they have a direct relationship with both their bank partner and with Treasury Prime who are fully committed to the success of their business. "This is the fourth class of the Fintech 250, and it's also the most international, representing 26 countries. These 250 fintech startups are attacking an incredibly diverse array of financial services opportunities across 19 sectors, including digital banking, insurance, payroll, retail investing, and more," said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. "After being named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 last year, the 2020 class saw 17 companies go public and 25 get acquired. They also went on to raise over $25B in additional financing and forged more than 380 new partnerships after being recognized. The Fintech 250 has a history of spotlighting the very best fintech companies, and this year is no different. We're excited to see how these fintech startups disrupt and transform financial services in the years ahead." "Being named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 List is a testament to the dedication and passion of the Treasury Prime team to reimagine the banking and fintech ecosystem," said Chris Dean, CEO, Treasury Prime. "Since Jim Brusstar and I founded Treasury Prime four years ago, we've seen incredible momentum with our bank and fintech clients, and what's been the most satisfying is to see the innovation they are bringing to the American banking system together. We're building a network, and this is what success looks like." Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights Intelligence Unit selected the Fintech 250 from a pool of over 17,000 companies, including applicants and nominees.They were chosen based on several factors, including data submitted by the companies, company business models and momentum in the market, and Mosaic scores, CB Insights' proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. Treasury Prime's Achievements: Founded in 2017, Treasury Prime's mission is to connect banks with fintech companies and bring Banking as a Service (BaaS) to new levels. In 2021, the company raised $20M as part of its Series B co-led by Deciens Capital and QED Investors and with participation from SaaStr Fund, and Susa Ventures. as part of its Series B co-led by Deciens Capital and QED Investors and with participation from SaaStr Fund, and Susa Ventures. Earlier this year, Treasury Prime announced a partnership with Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, that enables fintechs to manage the entire card lifecycle using the same Treasury Prime API they use for every other banking service, and to use Treasury Prime for program management services including network agreements, BIN management, fraud detection tools, and custom card design, printing, packaging, and shipping services. Clients include over 50 leading fintech customers, as well as prominent banks such as BankProv, Lending Club and Piermont . Fintech 250 2021: Investment Highlights Unicorns : 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above $1B as of their latest funding round : 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above as of their latest funding round Funding trends : In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised $40.3B in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21) : In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21) Mega-rounds : Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year's Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD : Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this year's Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD Global representation : 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by India (12). This year's winners are based in 26 countries, including France , Brazil , Germany , Indonesia , and Nigeria . : 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by (12). This year's winners are based in 26 countries, including , , , , and . Top VC investor : Ribbit Capital is the most active investor in this year's Fintech 250 companies, having invested in 62 deals since 2016. Since 2019, Ribbit has participated in 41 deals with this cohort of companies, including to Nubank, Uala, Brex, Vouch, Razorpay, and BharatPe. Tiger Global Management and Accel were close behind with 57 and 55 deals, respectively. About CB Insights CB Insights builds software that enables the world's best companies to discover, understand, and make technology decisions with confidence. By marrying data, expert insights, and work management tools, clients manage their end-to-end technology decision-making process on CB Insights. To learn more, please visit www.cbinsights.com. About Treasury Prime Treasury Prime is the leading Banking as a Service (BaaS) company that connects banks and fintechs through an API so developers can start building in minutes and launch in days. Treasury Prime's full integration into core banking systems gives developers access to a wide range of banking services from opening accounts to making payments to issuing cards. Treasury Prime is backed by Deciens Capital, Nyca Partners, Pacific Western Bank, QED Investors, SaaStr Fund, Susa Ventures, and Y Combinator. Developers can start building today at https://developers.sandbox.treasuryprime.com/. For more information, visit www.treasuryprime.com. SOURCE Treasury Prime Related Links treasuryprime.com BEACHWOOD, Ohio, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tremco Roofing, its service subsidiary WTI (Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc.) and the Missouri Department of Corrections (MODOC) are proud to launch ELEVATE, a new vocational training program piloted in a state prison that prepares Missourians for careers as commercial roofing technicians after release. Besides providing productive employment to program graduates, ELEVATE is designed to address the chronic construction labor shortage. In early 2020, the Missouri Department of Corrections and Tremco/WTI began a partnership focused on delivering roofing and building maintenance training to incarcerated individuals. The Western Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center (WRDCC) in St. Joseph was chosen for the two-phase pilot training program integrating live stream instruction, selfpaced learning, and onsite handson training. The inmates were interviewed, then officially invited to begin training and offered employment with WTI upon release. The course work began with OSHA 10-hour safety certification training. Once safety training was completed, courses on roofing systems, roof maintenance, and roof restoration and repair were completed. To complete phases one and two, the inmates participated in an on-site event attended by Missouri's Governor Parson, Tremco/WTI leadership teams, and members of the Missouri Department of Corrections. The inmates were presented with their earned OSHA 10 certificates and safety equipment before heading outside to complete hands-on repairs and material installation. It was a chance for the inmates to show off some of the new skills learned during the training. "We developed this program because of our commitment to elevating the roofing industry people, students, professionals, and people who need a hand up, not a handout," said Tremco's Executive Vice President Mardee Billingsley, who attended the on-site event. While Tremco Roofing/WTI has offered training and support to job seekers involved in the criminal justice system elsewhere, the MODOC partnership marks the first time it has provided training inside a prison, before release. The Missouri program graduates have access to a wide range of support and services, which can include help with everything from work clothes to transportation. "You're now part of our family, and we're going to make sure we take care of you," says Tremco/WTI Quality Resource Coordinator Maleah Evans, a facilitator for the ELEVATE program. "We've always been a secondchance company. We always want to give people the opportunity to change their lives and do better." WTI President Tom Cummings strongly reinforces this. "The foundation of the ELEVATE program rests on three pillars. To restore hope, that can be turned into opportunity. To restore confidence, through commitment, learning new skills and creating new value for the individual. And to restore support, by working together as a team to overcome obstacles we may face on the roof or in our lives." The partnership creates a winwinwin situation. During today's nationwide skilledlabor shortage, Tremco/WTI gains welltrained employees who are eager to work. Students gain the opportunity to walk out of a prison and into a job, overcoming one of the most challenging barriers to success that people face after incarceration. Missouri gains because the program can save taxpayer money while increasing post-incarceration employment, which helps reduce recidivism and makes the state safer. ELEVATE is just one program of Tremco Roofing/WTI's RISE (Roofing Individuals Succeed through Education) initiative, which also offers an online bachelor's degree in Construction Management at no cost to the employee; a collaboration with SkillsUSA, a national organization working with middle school and high school students, to provide curricula for our nation's future skilled work force; and a federally sanctioned, non-union roofing apprenticeship program. About the Tremco Construction Products Group Tremco Roofing & Building Maintenance and WTI are part of the Tremco Construction Products Group, the new master brand representing the combined forces of Tremco Incorporated companies, which also include the Tremco Commercial Sealants & Waterproofing and Tremco Barrier Solutions operating divisions; Dryvit Systems, Inc.; Nudura Inc; Willseal; and Weatherproofing Technologies, Inc. Altogether, Tremco CPG companies operate 14 manufacturing facilities, six distribution sites, and three technology sites and employ more than 2,600 people across North America. For more information, visit us at www.tremcoinc.com. SOURCE Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance Related Links http://www.tremcoinc.com MORRISVILLE, N.C., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TrialCard Incorporated ("TrialCard" or the "Company"), a full-service life sciences commercialization partner, announced today that Scott Dulitz has been promoted to President & Chief Strategy Officer, and will lead the Company in partnership with the existing management team. In addition, Joe Abdalla has been named President & Chief Commercial Officer, Mark Droke has been named General Manager & Chief Revenue Officer, and Karen Russell will continue as Chief Financial Officer. Mark Bouck has resigned as President & Chief Executive Officer after a period of exceptional company growth. Mr. Dulitz commented, "TrialCard is well positioned to build on our recent success by continuing to expand and strengthen the services we provide our clients. I am thrilled to partner with Joe, Mark, and Karen as we continue to operate on the fundamental principle that patients are central to everything we do, and that we will always support our clients in their efforts to ensure that patients can obtain and remain on vital medications. At the same time, we are focused on building on our growth trajectory of recent years through a wide range of exciting initiatives. Our team is grateful to Mark Bouck for his extraordinary contributions to TrialCard over the years and for his confidence in our ongoing leadership as we move forward." Tug Fisher, Principal of Odyssey Investment Partners, TrialCard's majority shareholder, said, "We are pleased with the successful transformation of TrialCard into a life sciences commercialization partner of choice, well positioned for future success. The executive team in place has a proven track record of delivering strong operating performance and we are confident in their ability to continue to execute TrialCard's strategic growth plans under Scott's leadership. We thank Mark Bouck for his dedication and contributions and wish him continued success in his future endeavors." Mr. Bouck added, "I would like to thank all employees of TrialCard for their commitment and dedication over the last nine years. At this time, I have made the decision to step aside and consider the next chapter of my career while giving my outstanding colleagues the opportunity to take TrialCard to the next level. This team is seasoned and well prepared to capitalize on TrialCard's many attractive growth opportunities." Mr. Bouck has overseen continued diversification and expansion of TrialCard's services for its biopharmaceutical clients, and several strategic acquisitions. In 2020, TrialCard was recognized as the second fastest growing company in the Triangle Business Journal's Fast 50, having reported a third consecutive year of double-digit growth. Learn more about the TrialCard executive team online here. About TrialCard TrialCard Incorporated is a fullservice commercialization partner to the life sciences industry that provides comprehensive solutions that span the entire value chain. In addition to a foundation of fully integrated, digitally enabled patient support services, its broader offerings include everything from late stage clinical trial supply management to postmarketing HCP engagement services and proprietary data as aservice payer intelligence and insights. Founded in 2000, TrialCard provides commercialization solutions for more than 250 life science customers and has connected over 35 million patients with more than $18 billion in branded drug savings to date. The company is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina. For more information about TrialCard, please visit www.trialcard.com. Contact: Landy Townsend VP, Marketing & Communications TrialCard Incorporated [email protected] 919-415-5401 SOURCE TrialCard Incorporated VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Trilogy Metals Inc. (TSX: TMQ) (NYSE American: TMQ) ("Trilogy Metals", "Trilogy" or "the Company") announces its financial results for the third quarter ended August 31, 2021. Details of the Company's financial results are contained in the interim unaudited consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis which will be available on the Company's website at www.trilogymetals.com, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. All amounts are in United States dollars unless otherwise stated. Highlights Strong working capital position and cash on hand of $6.8 million . . Summer exploration program at the Upper Kobuk Mineral Projects ("UKMP") completed by Ambler Metals LLC ("Ambler Metals"), our 50-50 joint venture with South32 Limited. Staked new State of Alaska mining claims and executed a 10 day preliminary reconnaisance program. Joint Venture Project Activities The exploration camp opened in May in preparation for the start-up of drilling in June at the Arctic Project. The drilling program planned for 7,600 meters of drilling at Arctic with most of the drilling targeting infill areas to improve the confidence of the mineral resources, and geotechnical and metallurgical drill holes to further de-risk the project. An additional 7,000 meters of exploration drilling was planned at targets near the Arctic deposit and elsewhere in the Ambler Mining District. Drilling productivity at the project was behind schedule during the quarter due to adverse weather conditions in the district and challenges with the contractor staffing the drill rigs. As a result, a total of 7,325 metres of the originally planned drill program were completed. Despite the lower-than-expected drill productivity, all planned geotechnical drilling at the Arctic Project was completed and sufficient mineralized material was recovered to complete the planned metallurgical program. The summer 2021 drill program was completed on September 22, 2021. Arctic Project Technical activities at the Arctic Project commenced in early June with initial work focused on infill drilling to further improve the confidence of the mineral resources from the "indicated" to "measured" category. In addition, metallurgical drilling was conducted at the project. Most of this drilling has consisted of large diameter PQ-size (96-mm diameter) core which allows for the extraction of large sample-sized material. During the field season a total of 18 holes were completed at Arctic comprising 4,131 meters of core. All the core has been logged and sampled with results expected to be announced later this year. Regional Exploration Project During the quarter, two drill rigs were relocated from the Arctic Project to the Regional drilling program. Regional drilling was focused on near Arctic ("Arctic Hub") exploration targets, with the goal of discovering nearby copper-rich satellite deposits within a 3-to-5-kilometer radius of the Arctic deposit. Drilling was completed at the Arctic East and Southeast Arctic targets before moving drills to investigate other targets within the UKMP, including Snow and the Ambler Lowlands. During the field season a total of 8 holes were completed totalling 3,194 meters. Core samples are being logged and sent for assaying with results expected later this year. In addition to the regional drill program, regional geological mapping and soil chemistry surverys within the Ambler volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") belt and Cosmos Hills was carried out during the quarter. The goal of this program has been to follow-up on previous anomalous geochemical results and to investigate geophysical anomalies that were identified during the 2019 airborne versatile time domain electromagnetic survey survey. Early Stage Exploration Trilogy has acquired, through staking, mineral claims located in Alaska, USA outside of the UKMP. During the quarter ended August 31, 2021, the Company executed a 10 day preliminary reconnaissance program of the claims to confirm government-mapped geology and to collect rock and stream sediment samples. Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project ("AMDIAP" or "Ambler Access Project") During the summer of 2020, the United States Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") issued the Joint Record of Decision ("JROD") for the AMDIAP. Lawsuits were filed shortly thereafter by a coalition of national and Alaska environmental non-government organizations in response to the BLM's issuance of the JROD for the Ambler Access Project. On January 6, 2021, BLM, the National Park Service and AIDEA signed Right-of-Way agreements giving AIDEA the ability to cross federally owned and managed lands along the route for the Ambler Access Project approved in the JROD. The authorizing documents with the two agencies are the final federal permits required for the Ambler Access Project. In April 2021, AIDEA signed a land access agreement with Doyon, Limited to conduct feasibility and permitting activities to advance the Ambler Access Project and in September 2021 AIDEA signed a land access agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc. to conduct similar activities. On September 28, 2021, the Department of Justice ("DOJ") requested a 60-day stay with respect to each of the above referenced lawsuits. Trilogy Metals is aware that the United States Department of Interior ("DOI") has requested the 60-day stay of all legal proceedings as they relate to the lawsuits concerning the Ambler Access Project to allow the DOI to consult with concerned parties. Trilogy Metals, through its joint venture, Ambler Metals, will continue to work with other intervenor defendants and the DOJ as the DOI undergoes its review. Selected Results The following selected financial information is prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. in thousands of dollars, except for per share amounts Three months ended Nine months ended Selected expenses August 31, 2021 $ August 31, 2020 $ August 31, 2021 $ August 31, 2020 $ Exploration expense 130 - 130 - Mineral properties and feasibility study expenses - 232 440 2,519 General and administrative 425 265 1,188 1,349 Professional fees 123 165 627 1,031 Salaries 365 170 1,210 620 Salaries stock-based compensation 409 1,064 3,081 3,030 Investor relations 170 156 440 383 Gain on derecognition of assets contributed to the joint venture - - - (175,770) Equity in investee 6,072 1,094 8,892 1,833 Comprehensive earnings (loss) for the period (7,664) (3,184) (15,593) 164,993 Basic earnings (loss) per common share (0.05) (0.02) (0.11) 1.17 Diluted earnings (loss) per common share (0.05) (0.02) (0.11) 1.12 For the three-month period ended August 31, 2021, overall cash costs related to general and administrative expenses, investor relations, professional fees and salaries were primarily tracking to budget. Trilogy reported a net loss of $7.7 million (or $0.05 basic and diluted loss per common share). For the comparable period in 2020, we reported a net loss of $3.2 million (or $0.02 basic and diluted loss per common share). This third quarter difference is primarily due to a $5.0 million increase in our 50% pro rata share of Ambler Metals' comprehensive loss. This was offset by a one-time charge of $0.2 million in feasibility study costs incurred during the third quarter of 2020. The share of loss in equity investment is higher versus the comparative period as the current quarter includes mineral property expenses that Ambler Metals incurred during the quarter for the 2021 summer drill program. These costs were not incurred in the comparative period as the 2020 field season had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other variances noted for the comparable period were: i) an increase in general and administrative expenses of $0.2 million primarily due to an increase in insurance premiums and additional stock exchange fees incurred for updates to the Company's equity incentive plans; ii) exploration costs of $0.1 million incurred during the current period for geological review work for which there is no comparative; iii) an increase of $0.2 million in salaries as the current period cost reflects additions to the executive team in September 2020; and iv) a decrease of $0.7 million in stock-based compensation as the Company did not award any new grants during the current period, compared to 1.8 million options that were awarded during the comparative quarter in the prior year. For the nine-month period ended August 31, 2021, overall cash costs related to general and administrative expenses, investor relations, professional fees and salaries were primarily tracking to budget. Trilogy reported a net loss of $15.6 million (or $0.11 basic and diluted loss per common share). For the comparable period in 2020, we reported net earnings of $165 million (or $1.17 basic and $1.12 diluted earnings per common share). The difference for the nine-month period ended August 31, 2021, when compared to the same period in 2020, is primarily due to the $176 million gain on derecognition of mineral property assets contributed to Ambler Metals upon formation of the joint venture on February 11, 2020. This variance is offset by $1.5 million of mineral property expenses and $1.0 million of feasibility study costs incurred during the comparable prior period for which there are no current period comparatives. Furthermore, our share of loss on the equity investment in Ambler Metals was $7.1 million higher for the nine-month period ended August 31, 2021, and reflects costs incurred by Ambler Metals for the 2021 summer drill program. Other variances noted for the comparative nine-month period ended August 31, 2021 consist of: i) a decrease of $0.2 million in general and administrative expenses, primarily due to $0.2 million in recruiting fees incurred in the comparative prior year period, offset by an increase in insurance costs and stock exchange fees during the current period; ii) a decrease of $0.4 million in professional fees as the comparative period includes one-time charges for the implementation of new accounting standards and legal and accounting fees in relation to the formation of the joint venture; and iii) an increase of $0.6 million in salaries reflecting additions to the executive team in September 2020. Liquidity and Capital Resources At August 31, 2021, we had $6.8 million in cash and working capital of $6.8 million, which is sufficient to fund our ongoing operations for at least the next 12 months. The UKMP Projects are fully funded by Ambler Metals and we do not anticipate needing to fund our 50% share of future expenditures to advance the UKMP until the subscription price paid by South32 into Ambler Metals of $145 million is spent. Qualified Persons Richard Gosse, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration for Trilogy Metals Inc., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Gosse has reviewed the technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein. About Trilogy Metals Trilogy Metals Inc. is a metals exploration and development company which holds a 50 percent interest in Ambler Metals LLC which has a 100 percent interest in the UKMP in northwestern Alaska. On December 19, 2019 South32, which is a globally diversified mining and metals company, exercised its option to form a 50/50 joint venture with Trilogy. The UKMP is located within the Ambler Mining District which is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic VMS deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high-grade copper and cobalt mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler mining district - the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within land package that spans approximately 172,636 hectares. Ambler Metals LLC has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a Regional Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler mining district in cooperation with local communities. Our vision is to develop the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to the anticipated timing of drill results, the Company's ability to fund its operations, our continued work with the DOJ and other intervenor defendants in the lawsuits concerning the Ambler Access Project, the requirement for additional funding at Ambler Metals and the perceived merit of the Company's properties are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the uncertainties involving success of exploration activities, permitting timelines, requirements for additional capital, risks pertaining to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests, unexpected cost increases and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2020 filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and in other Company reports and documents filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The Company's forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law. SOURCE Trilogy Metals Inc. Related Links www.trilogymetals.com TD SYNNEX Expands Security Portfolio with Tugboat Logic's Leading Security Compliance and Assurance SaaS Platform BURLINGAME, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tugboat Logic by OneTrust, a leading security assurance company, today announced it has joined forces with TD SYNNEX to accelerate the adoption of Tugboat Logic's leading security compliance and assurance SaaS platform. The distribution agreement covering North America represents an expansion of the TD SYNNEX security portfolio. Click to Tweet: @tugboatlogic and @TDSYNNEX Team Up in First-Time Distribution Agreement: link #SecurityAssurance #compliance https://tugboatlogic.com/partners/ TD SYNNEX is the first distributor signed on by Tugboat Logic. Together, Tugboat Logic will help TD SYNNEX expand its security portfolio and distribution business into the security compliance readiness and automation SaaS market, and TD SYNNEX is well-positioned to accelerate Tugboat Logic's growth of productive channel partners in North America. Reyna Thompson, senior vice president, Security, Networking at TD SYNNEX, said: "Tugboat Logic's AI-powered solution automates infosec policy creation and speeds the audit process. This innovative solution comes at a critical time as security breaches are increasing each year and will be a valuable addition to the portfolio of solutions and services TD SYNNEX offers its customers." Chee Tan, vice president of Business Development and Channels, Tugboat Logic, said: "New records are set each year in terms of the number of data lost to breaches, ransomware and various cybersecurity attacksthe main contributing factors to revenue and reputation loss. With the most competitive reseller margin, the TD SYNNEX-Tugboat Logic partnership will deliver the leading security assurance and compliance automation solutions through the Tugboat Logic SaaS platform to the North America customers through the TD SYNNEX vast network of reseller communities." For more information, email [email protected]. About Tugboat Logic by OneTrust Tugboat Logic by OneTrust is the Security Assurance Platform that provides continuous compliance. Tugboat Logic provides automated technology to demystify the process of creating and managing an InfoSec program. With Tugboat Logic, companies can quickly get secure and prove it to customers. Powered by AI, Tugboat Logic's patented technology automates InfoSec policy creation, audit readiness, and security questionnaire response so companies can gain trust with customers and sell more. Tugboat Logic helps businesses prepare for audits in half the time and at a fraction of the cost, ensures they can respond to security questionnaires in minutes (not hours), and builds and scales their InfoSec plan in minutes. In 2021, OneTrust acquired Tugboat Logic to give growing companies a platform they can grow into as security programs mature. Website: https://www.tugboatlogic.com/ About TD SYNNEX TD SYNNEX (NYSE: SNX) is a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the IT ecosystem. We're an innovative partner helping more than 150,000 customers in 100+ countries to maximize the value of technology investments, demonstrate business outcomes and unlock growth opportunities. Headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, and Fremont, California, TD SYNNEX' 22,000 co-workers are dedicated to uniting compelling IT products, services and solutions from 1,500+ best-in-class technology vendors. Our edge-to-cloud portfolio is anchored in some of the highest-growth technology segments including cloud, cybersecurity, big data/analytics, IoT, mobility and everything as a service. TD SYNNEX is committed to serving customers and communities, and we believe we can have a positive impact on our people and our planet, intentionally acting as a respected corporate citizen. We aspire to be a diverse and inclusive employer of choice for talent across the IT ecosystem. For more information, visit www.TDSYNNEX.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. TD SYNNEX, the TD SYNNEX Logo, and all other TD SYNNEX company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNNEX Corporation. TD SYNNEX, the TD SYNNEX Logo, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners. PR Contact: Shannon Van Every Nadel Phelan, Inc. 408-313-9974 [email protected] SOURCE Tugboat Logic Related Links https://tugboatlogic.com SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Uber and GetSetUp have announced a partnership to help ensure older adults seeking to use the rideshare app feel confident and comfortable navigating Uber. Throughout the pandemic, older adults have taught other older adults on GetSetUp's live interactive learning platform how to use apps like Zoom, Google, and more. These classes have helped many people master new technological skills. Older adults are interested in utilizing many apps to help them live more independent, healthier lives. But it can be challenging for non-digital natives to navigate the latest technology. GetSetUp's service has shown that when older adults teach other older adults, it helps reduce any fear, hesitation, or intimidation around learning new tech. GetSetUp is now applying its proven methodology of training older adults through peer-led classes to help older adults interested in accessing the Uber app. Classes will assure that new Uber users and those already familiar with the platform will learn more about Uber's products and features. The classes will be available for free several times a week during the pilot and will teach how to navigate the Uber app. The "silver economy," driven by the spending power of older adults, is expected to grow faster than any other segment of the global population . The number of people worldwide who are 65 and older is expected to grow from 524 million in 2010 to 1.5 billion in 2050. Plus, today's older adults are going to live longer than previous generations of seniors. They have more money than millennials and are determined to live active, meaningful lives that are rich in experience including using the latest technology and apps. That is why GetSetUp is excited to partner with Uber to launch these co-created classes . GetSetUp has already partnered with the states of Michigan and New York, Orange County, and dozens of other government and community organizations to offer a catalog of over 1,800 classes providing technology training and mental enrichment to their older adult residents. "We're thrilled to partner with GetSetUp to expand access to our platform," said Niraj Patel, Director of Rider Operations at Uber. "With these classes, we hope new customers will learn more about our product offerings and feel comfortable navigating our app for the first time, so they can enjoy the freedom that comes with having seamless mobility services just a tap away." GetSetUp's live interactive classestaught in bite-sized hour sessionsoffer learners a chance to engage live with peers and ask questions. Peer classes boost confidence, foster shared knowledge, and allow for common references to facilitate learning. "The 60+ demographic wants to live healthy, more independent lives and can better do that when they are able to take advantage of important services like Uber," says GetSetUp co-founder, Lawrence Kosick. "To date, older adults have been unsure how to safely and comfortably learn and navigate new apps, websites, and technology. GetSetUp's mission is to be the safe, secure place where older adults can come and learn how to use their smart devices, apps, and other important services to live happy, healthy, more independent lives. We are excited to partner with Uber to empower older adults to use Uber to live and travel more independently." To learn more about GetSetUp, please visit https://www.getsetup.org/ About GetSetUp GetSetUp is a live, interactive learning platform for older adults who want to learn new skills, connect with others, and unlock new life experiences. Classes are taught by older adults on a highly interactive, custom-built video platform where older adults can connect during and in between classes. The platform helps over 3 million older adults in 160 countries stay mentally and physically fit, creates economic opportunities through jobs and reskilling, and provides a community where people find meaning and purpose by helping each other and forming new connections. To learn more, visit https://www.getsetup.org/ About Uber Uber's mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 15 billion trips later, we're building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities. Media Contact: Liz Miller 1-(888)-559-1614 [email protected] SOURCE GetSetUp Related Links https://www.getsetup.io/ PLANO, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- United Energy (OTCMKTS: UNRG) -- United Energy announces it has signed a purchase agreement for a 140-mile natural gas pipeline in Wagoner County, Oklahoma, formerly owned by Red Fork Energy. This asset has 140+ miles of 3" to 16" transmission lines, including a 12" steel pipeline capacity up to 20,000 MCFGD and comprises 5,000+ acres leasehold, and 89 company-owned wells with substantial Woodford Shale development opportunities. Closing is expected in October pending final due diligence. "Natural Gas midstream assets are true gems in the current environment. Acquisition of the Wagoner Pipeline also opens numerous opportunities for stranded gas that hasn't been able to capitalize on current commodity prices." Brian Guinn, CEO of United Energy Corporation United Energy announces it has signed a purchase agreement for a 140-mile natural gas pipeline in Wagoner County, OK. Tweet this August 2021 UNRG announced the acquisition of a strategic asset combination in the Cherokee Basin, located in Northeastern Oklahoma and Southeastern Kansas. The Company purchased Entransco Energy, LLC, serving as the Company's licensed Operator in Oklahoma and Kansas, adding 250+ Coalbed Methane Gas (CBM) wells, 32,000 acres, 118 miles of pipeline and related oil and gas assets to its portfolio. In addition, UNRG acquired 80 wells and 10,000 acres of CBM-producing wells from Montclair Energy a project formerly known as ROCCS, the Rogers County Coal Seam Project. The Entransco acquisition also included 49% ownership in an additional 200,000 acres of non-operated oil and gas leases, 2,200+ wells and 1,000+ miles of natural gas pipelines formerly owned by Constellation Energy Partners and Newfield Exploration. UNRG forecasts 2,500+ MCFGD within Q4 and another 2,000+ MCFGD with the reactivation of the Wagoner Pipeline. UNRG will soon be rolling out a proprietary well-pumping solution for the production of CBM wells. This innovative pump dramatically reduces operating costs of water-producing wells, eliminating the surface pump jack and many high-maintenance pumping expenses that have burdened previous operators. "We're on a mission. We'll be one of the top 3 largest operators in the Cherokee Basin before year-end." Brian Guinn Forward-Thinking Disclaimer https://twitter.com/UNRGCorp Media Contact: Kimberly Stillwagon [email protected] 214-901-5453 Investor Contact: Brian Guinn [email protected] 469-209-5829 SOURCE United Energy Corporation "We are taking a dramatic leap forward in our commitment to providing a transformational four-dimensional experience for our studentsone that emphasizes advancing intellectual growth, exploring character, promoting well-being, and pursuing careers and lives of purpose," says Haefner. "By the time they graduate, every DU undergraduate and graduate student will have had the opportunity to learn and grow at this remarkable place." Purchase of the $11.25 million property was made possible by a $26 million gift from DU alumnus James C. Kennedy (BSBA '70). Mr. Kennedy is an avid outdoorsman with a long-held commitment to conservation, sustainability and education. DU's Board of Trustees named the campus after him to honor his enthusiasm for and commitment to outdoor education and DU's shared vision about the impact the experiences of a mountain campus will bring to DU's students. The Kennedy Mountain Campus will be funded entirely through philanthropy and will not add additional fees or costs to students and their families. At an elevation of 8,000 feet, the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus was formerly the Magic Sky Ranch, a property owned and used by the Girl Scouts of Colorado (GSCO) primarily as a summer camp. GSCO will continue to lease a portion of the site for its camps for six weeks each summer. In addition to dramatic rock formations and a pristine lake, its amenities include a cafeteria with full kitchen; facilities for outdoor leadership training; an indoor gymnasium; and access to public lands for wilderness and end-of-road experiences. At the Kennedy Mountain Campus, students will learn, reflect, recreate, connect with others, and reconnect with themselves and their values. Programming is expected to span all four seasons and will encompass everything from orientation experiences for first-year students to immersive leadership experiences and alternative break opportunities. The site also lends itself to faculty-led research projects for students interested in sustainability, the environmental sciences and geography, as well as those focusing on ethics and diversity, equity and inclusion. "It's a different kind of classroom being outdoors, especially for students who haven't spent much time experiencing nature. The hope is that they will develop a deeper commitment to preserving our environment," Kennedy says. "It will be a unique experience and differentiator for the University of Denver. DU will create wonderful programs there and I'm excited to see them get going." Students will begin enjoying short opportunities to visit the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus as early as this fall. Longer stays involving structured programming will begin next fall and will be guided by both faculty leadership on curricular opportunities, and staff input on co-curricular options. To learn more information about the James C. Kennedy Mountain campus and to view pictures and videos of the area, please click here or visit: https://bit.ly/DUAnnouncement. About the University of Denver: The University of Denver: Founded in 1864, the University of Denver is committed to engaging with students in advancing scholarly inquiry, cultivating critical and creative thought, and generating knowledge. The University strives to educate the 21st-century citizens and leaders needed in its organizations and communities. For additional information, visit the University's newsroom or follow the University on Facebook and Twitter. SOURCE University of Denver Related Links www.du.edu DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UpHealth, Inc. (NYSE: UPH) ("UpHealth" or the "Company") today announced the pricing of its previously announced underwritten public offering (the "Offering") of 23,000,000 shares of its common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the "Common Stock"), at a public offering price of $1.75 per share. In addition, the underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to 3,450,000 additional shares of Common Stock from the Company at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The gross proceeds to the Company from this Offering, prior to deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $40.25 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds that it will receive from the Offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including licenses acquisitions or other strategic growth activities, as well as to repay certain of its current obligations related to its June 2021 business combination, inclusive of debt repayments and forward purchase obligations. The Offering is expected to close on October 7, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. is acting as sole book-running manager, and Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC and Northland Capital Markets are acting as co-lead managers for the Offering. A registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-259143) relating to the Offering was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on October 4, 2021. The Offering is being made only by means of a prospectus forming a part of the effective registration statement. Copies of the final prospectus related to the Offering, when available, may be obtained for free from the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov , or alternatively from: Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Attention: Syndicate Prospectus Department, 85 Broad Street, 26th Floor, New York, NY, 10004, by telephone at (212) 6678055, or by email at [email protected]. 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. About UpHealth, Inc. UpHealth, Inc. (NYSE:UPH) is a global digital health company that delivers digital-first technology, infrastructure and services to dramatically improve how healthcare is delivered and managed. The UpHealth platform creates digitally enabled "care communities" that improve access and achieve better patient outcomes at lower cost, through digital health solutions and interoperability tools that serve patients wherever they are, in their native language. UpHealth's clients include global governments, health plans, healthcare providers and community-based organizations. 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, including statements regarding the Offering and regarding our management team's expectations, intentions, plans, prospects or strategies regarding the future. Any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intends," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on our management team's current expectations and beliefs. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting UpHealth will be those that we have anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, including regulatory approvals, the ability of UpHealth to continue to meet the NYSE listing standards, product and service acceptance, and that UpHealth will have sufficient capital to operate as anticipated. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and in other sections of UpHealth's filings with the SEC, and in UpHealth's current and periodic reports filed or furnished from time to time with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to UpHealth as of the date hereof, and UpHealth assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. SOURCE UpHealth, Inc. Agreement to provide framework to participating jurisdictions in support of provincial public listings and reimbursements of both drugs Private payer health plan coverage exceeds 85% across Canada Scientific community demonstrates growing interest in both products MONTREAL, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Valeo Pharma Inc. (CSE: VPH) (OTCQB: VPHIF) (FSE: VP2) ("Valeo" or the "Company"), a Canadian pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has completed its negotiations and entered into a letter of intent ("LOI") with the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) regarding Enerzair Breezhaler and Atectura Breezhaler, its two innovative asthma therapies. "The successfull conclusion of our negotiations with pCPA regarding Enerzair and Atectura is a key milestone for our respiratory commercial program. We now look forward to working diligently with all participating jurisdictions to secure coverage from publicly funded drug plans across Canada. In addition, private payer health plan coverage currently stands in excess of 85% of privately insured lives in Canada", said Frederic Fasano, Valeo's President and Chief Operating Officer. "As expected, the feedback gathered by our commercial team from healthcare professionals since launching these two innovative asthma drugs is very positive. The large phase III PLATINUM program is continuously delivering further endpoint analyses which are strengthening the clinical profile of both products. We are convinced that the clinical value propositions of Enerzair Breezhaler and Atectura Breezhaler will help expedite provincial public coverage to the benefits of asthma sufferers across Canada". Established in August 2010, the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) conducts joint provincial/territorial/federal negotiations for brand name and generic drugs in Canada to achieve greater value for publicly funded drug programs and patients through the use of the combined negotiating power of participating jurisdictions. About Enerzair Breezhaler Enerzair Breezhaler is indicated as a maintenance treatment of asthma in adult patients not adequately controlled with a maintenance combination of a long-acting beta 2 -agonist and a medium or high dose of an inhaled corticosteroid who experienced one or more asthma exacerbations in the previous 12 months. This formulation combines the bronchodilation of indacaterol acetate (a LABA) and the glycopyrronium bromide (a LAMA) with mometasone furoate (an ICS) in a precise once-daily formulation, delivered via the dose-confirming Breezhaler device. About Atectura Breezhaler Atectura Breezhaler is indicated as a once-daily maintenance treatment of asthma in adults and adolescents 12 years of age and older with reversible obstructive airways disease. Atectura Breezhaler should be prescribed for patients not adequately controlled on a long-term asthma control medication, such as ICS or whose disease severity clearly warrants treatment with both a LABA and an ICS. Atectura Breezhaler combines the bronchodilation of indacaterol acetate (a LABA) with the anti-inflammatory mometasone furoate (an ICS) in a precise once-daily formulation, delivered via the dose-confirming Breezhaler device. About Valeo Pharma About Valeo Pharma Valeo Pharma is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the commercialization of innovative prescription products in Canada with a focus on Respirology, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Oncology and other specialty products. Headquartered in Kirkland, Quebec, Valeo Pharma has the full capability and complete infrastructure to register and properly manage its growing product portfolio through all stages of commercialization. For more information, please visit www.valeopharma.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements about Valeo's objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are "forward-looking" because they are based on our current expectations about the markets we operate in and on various estimates and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. SOURCE Valeo Pharma Inc. Related Links https://www.valeopharma.com/ FACTS AT A GLANCE Edition: 16; Released: April 2021 Executive Pool: 1381 Companies: 82 - Players covered include AGCO Corporation; Bernard Krone Holding GmbH & Co. KG; Buhler Industries Inc. ; CLAAS KGaA mbH; CNH Industrial N.V.; Deere & Company (John Deere); Kubota Corp.; Kuhn Group; Kverneland Group; Vermeer Corporation and Others. Coverage: All major geographies and key segments Segments: Segment (Haying Machinery) 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 Haying Machinery Market to Reach $10 Billion by 2026 Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Haying Machinery estimated at US$8.2 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$10 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.2% over the analysis period. The U.S. Market is Estimated at $2.3 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $2 Billion by 2026 The Haying Machinery market in the U.S. is estimated at US$2.3 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world`s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$2 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 5.8% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 0.9% and 2.4% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 1.6% 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 https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-industry-analysts-inc./ Follow Us on Twitter https://twitter.com/marketbytes Journalists & Media [email protected] SOURCE Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Related Links http://www.strategyr.com FRISCO, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Velex, one of the largest technical field services companies in the U.S., has announced its expansion into the Florida market. Founded in 2013, Velex is dedicated to deploying next-generation networks efficiently while exceeding industry quality and safety standards. The company is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and currently operates nationwide. Velex will open two new facilities in Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa, and create hundreds of jobs to boost the job market. Tweet this Velex Florida expansion To meet the growing demands for highspeed wireless networks and consumers' thirst for data, Velex will build, upgrade, and power the networks that Florida residents rely on to stay connected. The work will help to ease congestion significantly, smooth the transition to 5G and other next-generation networks, and help Floridians roll out a variety of network innovations over time. Velex is focused on deploying and upgrading thousands of sites in the Florida market, with Allios, its sister supply chain company, providing the end-to-end material management. Velex will open two new facilities in Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa, Fla., and create hundreds of jobs to boost the Florida job market. "Our expansion into the Florida market is the right step for Florida residents and for our business growth strategy," said Gaby Saliby Chief Executive Office at Velex. "Our unique end-to-end integrated approach to deployment will help speed up improved connections through our telecom services and supply chain management capabilities. Our presence in the state provides us the opportunity to expand our service to current and future markets across the Southeast region." Velex is already experiencing massive growth in the Southeast region and is building teams of tower, small cell, and civil technicians to meet demand. From world-class training to daily support from quality and safety instructors, Velex will now provide career development and growth opportunities to entry-level and experienced technicians in the Florida area. State-of-the-art industry training will allow employees to build lasting careers, deploying 5G and beyond for the smart economy. Interested in joining the team? Visit our careers page to learn more about our open positions and how we're powering progress. About Velex Velex is one of the largest technical field services companies for telecom deployment in the U.S. With in-house crews nationwide, they deliver wireless infrastructure deployment services, including macro deployments, new site builds, small cell, microwave, DAS, fiber (G-PON), electrical, and other services. Velex is headquartered in Frisco, Texas. www.velex.com Contact: Jessica Esparza [email protected] SOURCE Velex BRISTOL, United Kingdom, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vertical Aerospace ("Vertical"), the aerospace and technology company that is pioneering electric aviation, announces the appointment of Harry Holt as Chief Operating Officer. The announcement further strengthens Vertical's senior leadership team which is well-balanced and draws from industry leaders in the aviation, energy, engineering and technology sectors. Vertical has already received conditional pre-orders for a total of up to 1,350 aircraft from American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow and Iberojet, which includes pre-order options from Virgin Atlantic and Marubeni, and in doing so, is creating multiple potential near term and actionable routes to market. In June 2021, Vertical announced a SPAC merger with Broadstone Acquisition Corp (NYSE: BSN). Harry is joining Vertical from his current role as Chief People Officer at Rolls-Royce, one of the world's leading industrial technology companies and which has decades of experience in powering the global aviation sector. Harry served as a member of the Rolls-Royce executive team managing its people strategy and with responsibility for over 50,000 employees globally. Previously, he led Rolls-Royce's Nuclear Business in support of the Royal Navy's Submarine Programme and the Civil Nuclear power markets worldwide, as well as previously being Group Operations Strategy Director. Harry began his career in the British Army, fulfilling some of the most demanding roles both as a commander on combat operations and as a strategic planner in the UK Ministry of Defence. As COO, Harry will focus on implementing Vertical's operational and manufacturing strategy, establishing its governance, control, and assurance framework, and leading the business' government relations efforts. This will be a crucial role as Vertical continues to deliver on key operational milestones in the production of the VA-X4, Vertical's market leading, zero operating emissions eVTOL. Rolls-Royce is a strategic partner for Vertical and is supplying the electrical technology that will power the VA-X4. The announcement today strengthens the relationship between the two companies and highlights their coordination and sharing of world-class expertise as they develop industry-leading technologies that will pioneer electric aviation. Stephen Fitzpatrick said, "Harry brings extensive expertise of managing organisations operating at scale and speed, and is an outstanding addition to our team as we enter the next phase of growth. We are delighted to add Harry to our experienced team which we have carefully assembled to commercialise the VA-X4, the eVTOL that will transform travel in the coming decade." Harry Holt said, "It is an exciting time to join the high calibre team that Vertical has assembled. It is clear that the VA-X4 is going to revolutionise short-haul air travel. I am proud have the opportunity to play a part in transforming aviation while also delivering on our objective to achieve a net zero economy." About Vertical Aerospace Vertical Aerospace is pioneering electric aviation. The company was founded in 2016 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, an established entrepreneur best known as the founder of the Ovo Group, a leading energy group and Europe's largest independent energy retailer. Over the past five years, Vertical has focused on building the most experienced and senior team in the eVTOL industry, who have over 1,700 combined years of experience, and have certified and supported over 30 different civil and military aircraft and propulsion systems. Vertical's unrivalled top-tier partner ecosystem is expected to de-risk operational execution and its pathway to certification, allow for a lean cost structure and enable production at scale. Vertical has received conditional pre-orders for a total of up to 1,350 aircraft from American Airlines, Avolon, Bristow and Iberojet, which includes pre-order options from Virgin Atlantic and Marubeni, and in doing so, is creating multiple potential near term and actionable routes to market. In June 2021, Vertical announced a SPAC merger with Broadstone Acquisition Corp (NYSE: BSN). About VA-X4 eVTOL Aircraft The four passenger, one pilot VA-X4 is projected to have speeds up to 200mph, a range over 100 miles, near silent when in flight, zero operating emissions and low cost per passenger mile. The VA-X4 is expected to open up advanced air mobility to a whole new range of passengers and transform how we travel. Find out more: www.vertical-aerospace.com About Broadstone Acquisition Corp. Broadstone Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BSN) was set up by serial entrepreneurs, operators and investors, Hugh Osmond, Edward Hawkes and Marc Jonas. It was established to combine with a UK/European business with a strong management team, significant growth prospects, and the opportunity to become a market leader in its sector. Broadstone's executive team has an extensive track record in value creation. The combination of a strong internal team, a network of external resources and the experience of the management team enables us to support rapid, substantial, and lasting growth. For more information Vertical Aerospace UK/Europe - Nepean Gavin Davis - [email protected] Samuel Emden - [email protected] / +447816 459 904 Vertical Aerospace USA - FTI Hamm Hooper & Kayt Pitts [email protected] / +1 773 786 7286 Broadstone - Edelman Iain Dey - [email protected] / +44 7976 295906 SOURCE Vertical Aerospace BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Viking Pest Control is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Dallas, PA. The company currently covers a four-state region that includes parts of Pennsylvania. This office in Dallas enables the company to widely increase its present service area in the state, expanding service to: Cumberland, Franklin, York, Lackawanna, Snyder, and Luzerne Counties. This will also service the following cities: Carlisle, Chambersburg, Hanover, Dickson City, Selinsgrove, Whitehall, White Haven, Wyomissing, Dallas, Tamaqua, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Mountaintop, Pittston, Hazleton, Bloomsburg, and Tunkhannock. Viking is the modern pest control company who prides itself in offering the most effective and efficient pest control management solution to residents and business owners. With our expansion comes growth; if you are looking to join an environmentally friendly and innovative company that provides extensive training for our technicians, click here to apply. "We are delighted to be able to widely extend our current services in Pennsylvania," says Pest Management Professional, Eric Gunner, "Viking Pest Control has been a household name in other parts of Pennsylvania for over 40 years, providing top-quality pest control that is customized to both residential and commercial customers." Pennsylvania's diverse landscape is home to many ecosystems. With the changing seasons and temperatures, pests will always find opportune times to reproduce and invade homes and business premises. Having a professional exterminator trained to control these kinds of infestations within specific areas of the state ensures that treatment is customized and effective. The company focuses on controlling pest concerns from the source, minimizing impact on human health, pets or the environment. Call 800-618-2847 or visit their website for more information on Viking's extended coverage in Pennsylvania. Press Contact: Eric Gunner, Pest Management Professional Phone: 800-618-2847 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vikingpest.com SOURCE Viking Pest Control Related Links www.vikingpest.com WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vita Inclinata (Vita), developer and producer of helicopter and crane load stabilization and precision hardware, today announced the ESGR committee, a Department of Defense program, selected Mark Hennessey as the new ESGR Chair for Colorado . With more than one-third of the United States' military force serving in the Guard or Reserve, Hennessey will have a direct impact on these men and women, and their civilian employers. He joins 53 other chairs who oversee the ESGR mission in the 50 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia. Vita Inclinata's Director of HR, Mark Hennessey, Selected As The New ESGR Chair for Colorado ESGR develops and promotes supportive work environments for service members in the National Guard and Reserve through outreach, recognition, and educational opportunities that increase awareness of applicable laws. Colorado Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (COESGR) is a Department of Defense office, led and operated by dedicated volunteers and staff. Their mission is to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), resolving conflicts through mediation, and developing initiatives to increase employment opportunities for military service members and veterans. "I have a deep respect for our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coast Guard, and Guardians in our Guard and Reserve units," Hennessey said. "Vita's mission is building technology that helps ensure their safe return home and my position as ESGR Chair of Colorado is to make sure they don't have to worry about their civilian job while they are on duty." The State Chair has a three-year term of service, renewable one time. More information about ESGR employer outreach programs and volunteer opportunities is available at www.esgr.mil . About Vita Inclinata A friend's death during a rescue operationwith a helicopter close but unable to stabilize due to weather and terrainwas the genesis of Vita Inclinata. Founded in 2015 as a way to solve a real problem, Vita today controls chaotic swinging and spin and adds safety and precision for rotor-wing and fixed-wing aircraft and cranes. With the mission of "Bring them home, every time," Vita's technology changes the narrative while saving lives, time, and money across industries, including search and rescue, military, firefighting, public safety, construction, wind energy, and oil and gas. The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, with offices in Washington, DC, and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.vitatech.co . For more information, contact: Betsey Rogers BridgeView Marketing 603-821-0809 [email protected] SOURCE Vita Inclinata SAN DIEGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder rights law firm Johnson Fistel, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Veoneer, Inc. (NYSE: VNE) ("Veoneer" or the "Company") breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to Qualcomm Incorporated and SSW Partners. On October 4, 2021, Veoneer announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Qualcomm Incorporated and SSW Partners. Under the terms of the deal, Veoneer stockholders will receive $37.00 per share in cash. The investigation concerns whether the Veoneer board failed to satisfy its duties to the Company shareholders, including whether the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and whether the board obtained the best price possible for Veoneer shares of common stock. Nationally recognized Johnson Fistel is investigating whether the proposed deal represents adequate consideration. The 52-week high for Veoneer was $40.46. If you are a shareholder of Veoneer, Inc. and believe the proposed buyout price is too low or you're interested in learning more about the investigation, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ([email protected]) at 619-814-4471. If emailing, please include a phone number. Additionally, you can [ Click here to join this action ]. There is no cost or obligation to you. About Johnson Fistel, LLP: Johnson Fistel, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York, and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit https://www.johnsonfistel.com . Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Contact: Johnson Fistel, LLP Jim Baker, 619-814-4471 [email protected] [ Click here to join this action ] SOURCE Johnson Fistel, LLP Related Links http://www.johnsonfistel.com PLANO, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebrating nonprofits and volunteering just got a whole lot easier. VOMO, a cloud-based volunteer management tool, serving more than 1,100 organizations globally, recently acquired Super Service Challenge, a nonprofit fundraising and volunteer engagement platform, marking yet another way for VOMO to champion nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. While Super Service Challenge looked at various companies during acquisition negotiations, VOMO felt like the right fit. Tweet this VOMO's mission is to power a movement for good by connecting people to existing needs in their community and around the world. Founded in 2011, Super Service Challenge is a free nationwide program built to transform organizations through service. As a fundraising platform, Super Service Challenge has awarded up to $13 million in grants to nonprofits featured in videos on their website. Operating under the belief that people and teams become stronger when they join forces to serve and encourages volunteerism, the platform allows users to share stories of service, raise awareness, and reward nonprofits. While Super Service Challenge looked at various companies during acquisition negotiations, VOMO felt like the right fit. They found that VOMO had the best alignment for its mission and was best positioned to take the platform to new heights. VOMO is anticipating to relaunch Super Service Challenge in 2022, further innovating the platform, integrating it with VOMO's volunteer engagement suite and enabling users to create even more awareness around their organizations. The strategic moves in place aim to better serve nonprofits allowing for them to amplify their community impacts. "Super Service Challenge has been a great platform over the years, helping introduce the great work done across organizations of all sizes to those across the globe. We're ready to help it grow to the next stage and amplify its impact while inspiring many more to give of their time, talents and treasure," stated Rob Peabody, VOMO Co-founder and CEO. VOMO has been mobilizing people to impact their communities since 2016. It also powers a global volunteer movement by providing organizations and networks with the necessary tools to discover and initiate service projects. These solutions allow users to connect to community causes, as well as amplify the impact of volunteers. VOMO leverages technology to empower a generation to change the world for good. Volunteers can find serving opportunities and track their impact at app.vomo.org or through the VOMO app, available on the App Store and Google Play. To learn more about VOMO, visit www.vomo.org and follow them on social media to stay up to date on their movement for good. Contact Name: Ben Taylor Phone: 817.233.2295 Email: [email protected] Website: www.vomo.org SOURCE VOMO Related Links https://vomo.org/ NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wheels Up (NYSE:UP), the leading brand in private aviation, today, announced the appointment of Vinayak Hegde as President. The move comes during a time of historic demand and revenue growth and on the heels of its public listing in July 2021. Since May 2021, Hegde has served as Chief Marketplace Officer, responsible for leveraging innovative and proprietary technology to both grow and expand its customer base beyond the traditional membership model. With its next-generation technology-driven platform, the Wheels Up Marketplace is expanding the addressable market and increasing the accessibility of private air travel from hundreds of thousands to millions of consumers. Hegde will continue to report directly to Wheels Up Chairman and CEO Kenny Dichter. "I am excited to announce the promotion of Vinayak Hegde to President," said Kenny Dichter, "Since joining our team in May, Vinayak has successfully leveraged his proven, successful track record with Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Data, and Operations to deliver substantial value to the enterprise. Over the last five months, Vinayak has immersed himself in our business, and has rapidly implemented several system enhancements, driving disciplined reporting rooted in transparency and accountability, and hired key leaders which enables us to take Wheels Up to the next level, at an accelerated pace." Hegde has spent over two decades leading the technology, marketing, and product development sectors within world-class organizations, including Amazon and Airbnb. He has been recognized as one of the early innovators to combine data, product, engineering, marketing, and revenue management to help companies scale their consumer internet offerings, all of which perfectly position him to lead the team and harmonize all functions of the organization. In his expanded role, Vinayak will focus on developing and implementing a seamless and holistic approach to the customer, from sales to the management of our Members' and customers' experience and loyalty. Vinayak will drive world-class execution through ownership of enterprise-wide KPI's across Sales, Revenue, Product, and Operations that measure our performance and drive accountability. Additionally, he will also lead key strategic initiatives across the enterprise. "I am incredibly fortunate to be a part of Wheels Up and humbled for the opportunity to work with this extraordinary team who are delivering exceptional service to our Members and customers in the air and on the ground each and every day. I look forward continuing to make Wheels Up a great place to work and the preferred private aviation and lifestyle company for our Members and operating partners," said Hegde. About Wheels Up Wheels Up Experience Inc. ("Wheels Up"), a leading demand generator in private aviation, offers a total private aviation solution that includes world-class safety, service, and flexibility through on-demand flights, membership programs, corporate solutions, aircraft management, whole aircraft sales, and commercial travel benefits through a strategic partnership with Delta Air Lines. Wheels Up is uniquely positioned to offer its customers and Members access to over 1,500 safety-vetted and verified aircraft. Through the Wheels Up App anyone can search, book, and fly. Wheels Up Connect, Core, and Business memberships provide enhancements, such as flight sharing, empty-leg Hot Flights, Shuttle Flights, Shared Flights, signature Wheels Down events, and exclusive Member benefits from preeminent lifestyle brands. The Company's ongoing Wheels Up Cares program aligns with philanthropic organizations and initiatives that affect and matter to the Company and its customers, Members, stakeholders, families, and friends. The Wheels Up Cares fleet is comprised of five custom painted Beechcraft King Air 350i aircraft; each plane serves as a flying symbol for a specific cause. All Wheels Up flights are operated by the Company's DOT/FAA-authorized air carrier subsidiaries (Wheels Up Private Jets LLC, Gama Aviation LLC, Mountain Aviation LLC, Sterling Aviation LLC, and TWC Aviation LLC) or by an approved vendor air carrier that has undergone a comprehensive safety assessment. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Wheels Up's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future including, without limitation, statements regarding: (i) the size, demands and growth potential of the markets for Wheels Up's products and services and Wheels Up's ability to serve those markets, (ii) the degree of market acceptance and adoption of Wheels Up's products and services, (iii) Wheels Up's ability to develop innovative products and services and compete with other companies engaged in the private aviation industry and (iv) Wheels Up's ability to attract and retain customers. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate," "believe," continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "might," "plan," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "strive," "would" and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside Wheels Up's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements can be found in the registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, filed by Wheels Up, which was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on August 24, 2021, and other documents filed by Wheels Up from time to time with the SEC. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and Wheels Up undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in expectations, future events or otherwise. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. We do not give any assurance that Wheels Up will achieve its expectations. Wheels Up Media Contact: JONESWORKS [email protected] SOURCE Wheels Up LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- White label streaming service OTTera has hired Vanessa Delgado as President of Growth and Ad Sales for OTTera LATAM, to keep up with exponential growth in usage across Latin America. U.S.-based OTTera operates both on-demand streaming video applications and linear channels worldwide. "OTTera has seen an amazing increase in demand for streaming programming in Brazil and Latin America overall. To meet these high levels of consumption, we have focused on bringing new local publishers into the OTT industry by delivering their content across a wide variety of devices," said Stephen L. Hodge, Chairman and co-CEO of OTTera Inc. "To this end, we have welcomed Vanessa Delgado as our new President of Growth and Ad Sales for OTTera LATAM. Her passion for OTT and executive-level experience in business development and ad sales will allow us to fully capitalize on the major opportunities available throughout Latin America." Delgado will continue to expand OTTera's presence in Brazil through connections with advertising partners and local content providers, who will be able to quickly expand to devices such as Samsung, LG, Philco, Roku and TCL with the support of OTTera. As President of Growth and Ad Sales OTTera LATAM, she will lead a team dedicated to the region. Delgado, with 25 years' experience in the advertising and marketing industry, has held executive roles in top 4A companies, including Interbrand, Omnicom and McCann, and headed development teams for DAS-Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omincom Group in Latin America. After her role as a Senior Development VP at MetaX CTV Ads, Delgado became a reference in OTT, and has been fiercely educating and promoting the industry in the Brazilian market for agencies, brands and partners. About OTTera OTTera is a professional white label service that allows companies to quickly launch highly customized, affordable OTT services. Based in Los Angeles, OTTera manages 55+ OTT services and 120+ channels with more than 100 million users worldwide. The OTTera White Label Service offers companies the latest OTT technologies with one of the widest distribution reaches on the market. For over 10 years OTTera has maintained strong partnerships with the world's largest CE manufacturers including Samsung, Vizio, Sony and Hisense. The OTTera White Label Service is a fully managed scalable OTT service with native distribution across all major platforms including iOS, tvOS, Android, Android TV, Roku, HTML5, Chromecast and Web. The service offers linear distribution to cable/satellite services and vMVPDs (Samsung, LG, Sling, Xumo, Pluto, etc.), as well as diverse monetization including subscription, advertising via OTTera's AdNet+ service and transactions. Media Contact Katie Cahall 747-263-0123 [email protected] SOURCE OTTera, Inc DUBLIN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Automotive Robotics Market 2021-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report on the global automotive robotics market estimates the industry to grow with a CAGR of 11.63% in the forecast years from 2021 to 2028. Factors such as the need for more safety features at workplace and a rapid shift towards automation & robotics in automobiles are primarily driving the growth of this market. Autonomous mobile robots can be easily integrated into the workspace to work collaboratively with humans, thus creating an optimal working environment. Whereas, in automobiles, automation has proven to be a boon as it takes over the dangerous work. This enables consistent quality, while increasing the production rate. On the other hand, the high prices of industrial robots and a lack of skilled personnel to operate them are creating hurdles in the growth path. However, with the increasing demand, a rise in automobile production is expected. This will create multiple opportunities for growth in the near future. The global market for automotive robotics covers the regions of the Middle East and Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Asia-Pacific. The Asia-Pacific is estimated to showcase the fastest development rate in the global market over the forecast period. This growth is being supported by the presence of countries like China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan evolving as the leaders in the APAC. Also, leading vendors, such as KUKA and ABB, are instituting the APAC as their operating base. Further, supportive government regulations and funding have empowered projects to develop the infrastructure here. These factors have made the Asia-Pacific a favored hub for automotive manufacturing, which is expected to drive the growth of its automotive robotics market. Yaskawa Electric Corporation, Fanuc Corporation, Harmonic Drive AG, ABB Ltd, Comau SPA, Denso Wave Incorporated, Kuka AG, Yamaha Robotics, Nachi-Fujikoshi Corporation, Kawasaki Robotics Inc, Universal Robots AS, Durr AG, Honda Motor Co Ltd, Seiko Epson Corporation, and Omron Corporation are some of the established names operating in the automotive robotics market. Established in 1896, Durr Systems AG is a mechanical and plant engineering firm. The company offers application technology, measuring and process, woodworking machinery, paint & final assembly, and clean technology systems. It offers automotive robots under the EcoRP product range. The company serves end-users in a diverse range of industries, such as vehicle manufacturing, aircraft industry, energy & environment, chemical & pharmaceutical industry, food & animal feed industry, etc. Durr Systems serves customers worldwide, and is spread across countries like Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, UK, etc. Key Topics Covered: 1. Global Automotive Robotics Market - Summary 2. Industry Outlook 2.1. Impact of Covid-19 on the Automotive Robotics Industry 2.2. Key Insights 2.2.1. Asia-Pacific Secures the Fastest-Growing Market Share 2.2.2. Rising Need for Robots Majorly in Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles 2.2.3. Technological Trends 2.3. Porter's Five Forces Analysis 2.3.1. Threat of New Entrants 2.3.2. Threat of Substitute 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. Key Impact Analysis 2.6.1. Number of Axes 2.6.2. Applications 2.6.3. Dimensions 2.7. Key Market Strategies 2.7.1. Product Launches 2.7.2. Contracts & Partnerships 2.7.3. Business Expansions & Divestitures 2.8. Market Drivers 2.8.1. Requirement for More Safety Features at Workplace 2.8.2. Rapid Shift Towards Automation & Robotics in Automobiles 2.9. Market Challenges 2.9.1. Upward Trend in Prices of Industrial Robots 2.9.2. Lack of Skilled Personnel 2.10. Market Opportunities 2.10.1. Rising Production of Automobiles Due to Increasing Demand 2.10.2. Growing Demand for Collaborative Robots 3. Global Automotive Robotics Market Outlook - by Type of Robot 3.1. Articulated Robots 3.2. Cartesian Robots 3.3. Cylindrical Robots 3.4. Scara Robots 3.5. Other Type of Robots (Polar/Spherical Robots) 4. Global Automotive Robotics Market Outlook - by Components 4.1. Controller 4.2. Robotic Arm 4.3. End Effector 4.4. Sensors 4.5. Drive 4.6. Other Components 5. Global Automotive Robotics Market Outlook - by End-Use 5.1. Assembly 5.2. Cutting & Milling 5.3. Material Handling 5.3.1. Agvs 5.3.2. Others 5.4. Welding 5.4.1. Arc 5.4.2. Spot 5.4.3. Laser 5.4.4. Other Welding 5.5. Painting 5.5.1. Coating 5.5.2. Dispensing 5.5.3. Sealing 5.5.4. Spraying 5.5.5. Polishing 5.6. Other End-Use 6. Global Automotive Robotics Market - Regional Outlook 7. Competitive Landscape 7.1. Abb Ltd 7.2. Comau Spa 7.3. Denso Wave Incorporated 7.4. Durr AG 7.5. Fanuc Corporation 7.6. Harmonic Drive AG 7.7. Honda Motor Company 7.8. Kawasaki Robotics Inc 7.9. Kuka AG 7.10. Nachi Fujikoshi Corporation 7.11. Omron Corporation 7.12. Seiko Epson Corporation 7.13. Universal Robots As 7.14. Yamaha Robotics 7.15. Yaskawa Electric Corporation 8. Research Methodology & Scope For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/g1tnp6 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com DUBLIN, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Tunnel Lighting Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Design, Installation, Type, and Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. According to this report the market is expected to reach US$ 2,955.7 million by 2028, registering a CAGR of 5.4% from 2021 to 2028. Railways play a pivotal role in any economy as the progress of trade activities, and the growth of industrial and commercial sectors are largely dependent on the development of transportation infrastructure. The railways are a cost-effective and reliable mode of transport. Railways allow the transportation of large goods quantities and passengers over long distances with minimum possibilities of failures or delays compared to roadways. Moreover, load capability of trains is elastic as the number of wagons can be increased or decreased. Furthermore, trains are among the environmentally friendly means of transport as modern rail engines are electrically powered, unlike conventional diesel-powered engines. Owing to these benefits governments worldwide are increasingly focusing on the development of their railway network. For instance, the Malaysia's new East Coast Rail Line, the project that commenced in 2019, involves the construction of 30-40 tunnels over the 640-Km-long railway line. In February 2018, Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PKP), a Polish railway company, won a contract worth 966 million for the development of an 18-km section of the Brenner Base Tunnel in Austria. In 2019, Finest Bay Area Development company along with China Railway Engineering Company, China Railway International Group, China Communications Construction Company were jointly awarded Euro 15 billion for the construction of a 100-km-long tunnel between Finland and Estonia. Thus, the emphasis on developing railway networks across the world is boosting the tunnel lighting market growth. The tunnel lighting market is segmented on the bases of design, installation, type, and application. Based on design, the market is segmented into standard and customized; the standard segment dominated the market in 2020. Based on installation, the tunnel lighting market is segmented into surface mounted, hanging, and recessed/side wall mounted; the surface mounted segment led the market in 2020. By type, the tunnel lighting market is segmented into LED lighting, incandescent lighting, fluorescent lighting, and others; the LED lighting segment led the market in 2020. Based on application, the tunnel lighting market is segmented into mining tunnels, roadway tunnels, railway tunnels, and others. The roadway tunnels segment led the market in 2020. The tunnel lighting market in Europe and APAC is expected to exhibit significant growth in the coming years. In Europe, growing construction projects and strict government regulations pertaining to environmental protection contribute to the growth of the tunnel lighting market. On the basis of region, North America dominated the tunnel lighting market in 2020. North America is one of the leading regions in terms of the development and adoption of new technologies; this is mainly attributed to favorable government policies that boost innovation and strengthen the infrastructure capabilities. Owing to the favorable government policies and ever-increasing investments by North American countries in infrastructure development, North America poses a large demand for tunnel lights. Any impact on the growth of industrial sector hampers the economic growth of the region. Presently, the US is the world's worst-affected country due to COVID-19 outbreak. Reasons to Buy Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global tunnel lighting market. Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies. The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the global tunnel lighting market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long-term strategies. Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets. Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it. Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution. Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Key Takeaways 3. Research Methodology 4. Tunnel Lighting Market Landscape 4.1 Market Overview 4.2 PEST Analysis 4.2.1 North America 4.2.2 Europe 4.2.3 APAC 4.2.4 MEA 4.2.5 SAM 4.3 Ecosystem Analysis 4.4 Expert Opinion 5. Tunnel Lightning Market - Key Market Dynamics 5.1 Key Market Drivers 5.1.1 Growing Railway Infrastructure 5.1.2 Increasing Need for Road Safety 5.2 Key Market Restraints 5.2.1 High Cost of Tunnel Lighting System 5.3 Key Market Opportunities 5.3.1 Growing Mining Industry 5.4 Future Trends 5.4.1 Increase in Use of LEDs 5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints 6. Tunnel Lighting Market - Global Analysis 6.1 Global Tunnel Lighting Market Overview 6.2 Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 6.3 Market Positioning - Five Key Players 7. Tunnel Lighting Market Analysis by Design 7.1 Overview 7.2 Tunnel Lighting Market Breakdown, by Design, 2020 and 2028 7.3 Standard 7.3.1 Overview 7.3.2 Standard: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 7.4 Customized 7.4.1 Overview 7.4.2 Customized: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 8. Tunnel Lighting Market Analysis by Installation 8.1 Overview 8.2 Tunnel Lighting Market, by Installation (2020 and 2028) 8.3 Surface Mounted 8.3.1 Overview 8.3.2 Surface Mounted: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 8.4 Hanging 8.4.1 Overview 8.4.2 Hanging: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 8.5 Recessed/Side Wall Mounted 8.5.1 Overview 8.5.2 Recessed/Side Wall Mounted: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 9. Tunnel Lighting Market Analysis by Type 9.1 Overview 9.2 Tunnel Lighting Market, by Type (2020 and 2028) 9.3 LED Lighting 9.3.1 Overview 9.3.2 LED Lighting: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 9.4 Incandescent Lighting 9.4.1 Overview 9.4.2 Incandescent Lighting: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 9.5 Fluorescent lighting 9.5.1 Overview 9.5.2 Fluorescent lighting: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 9.6 Others 9.6.1 Overview 9.6.2 Others: Tunnel Lighting Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 10. Tunnel Lighting Market Analysis by Application 10.1 Overview 10.2 Tunnel Lighting Market Breakdown, by Application, 2020 and 2028 10.3 Mining Tunnels 10.3.1 Overview 10.3.2 Mining Tunnels: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 10.4 Roadway Tunnels 10.4.1 Overview 10.4.2 Roadway Tunnels: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 10.5 Railway Tunnels 10.5.1 Overview 10.5.2 Railway Tunnels: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 10.6 Others 10.6.1 Overview 10.6.2 Others: Tunnel Lighting Market Revenue and Forecast to 2028 (US$ Million) 11. Tunnel Lighting Market - Geographic Analysis 12. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Tunnel Lighting Market 12.1 Overview 12.2 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic 12.3 Europe: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic 12.4 Asia Pacific: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic 12.5 Middle East and Africa: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic 12.6 South America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic 13. Industry Landscape 13.1 Overview 13.2 Market Initiative 13.3 New Product Development 14. Company Profiles 14.1 Acuity Brands, Inc. 14.1.1 Key Facts 14.1.2 Business Description 14.1.3 Products and Services 14.1.4 Financial Overview 14.1.5 SWOT Analysis 14.1.6 Key Developments 14.2 Kenall Manufacturing 14.2.1 Key Facts 14.2.2 Business Description 14.2.3 Products and Services 14.2.4 Financial Overview 14.2.5 SWOT Analysis 14.2.6 Key Developments 14.3 Aeon Lighting Technology Inc. 14.3.1 Key Facts 14.3.2 Business Description 14.3.3 Products and Services 14.3.4 Financial Overview 14.3.5 SWOT Analysis 14.3.6 Key Developments 14.4 Signify Holding (Philips) 14.4.1 Key Facts 14.4.2 Business Description 14.4.3 Products and Services 14.4.4 Financial Overview 14.4.5 SWOT Analysis 14.4.6 Key Developments 14.5 Schreder 14.5.1 Key Facts 14.5.2 Business Description 14.5.3 Products and Services 14.5.4 Financial Overview 14.5.5 SWOT Analysis 14.5.6 Key Developments 14.6 Thorlux Lighting 14.6.1 Key Facts 14.6.2 Business Description 14.6.3 Products and Services 14.6.4 Financial Overview 14.6.5 SWOT Analysis 14.6.6 Key Developments 14.7 Tungsram 14.7.1 Key Facts 14.7.2 Business Description 14.7.3 Products and Services 14.7.4 Financial Overview 14.7.5 SWOT Analysis 14.7.6 Key Developments 14.8 Cree Lighting 14.8.1 Key Facts 14.8.2 Business Description 14.8.3 Products and Services 14.8.4 Financial Overview 14.8.5 SWOT Analysis 14.8.6 Key Developments 14.9 Siteco GmbH 14.9.1 Key Facts 14.9.2 Business Description 14.9.3 Products and Services 14.9.4 Financial Overview 14.9.5 SWOT Analysis 14.9.6 Key Developments 14.10 GE Lighting 14.10.1 Key Facts 14.10.2 Business Description 14.10.3 Products and Services 14.10.4 Financial Overview 14.10.5 SWOT Analysis 14.10.6 Key Developments 14.11 C. & G. Carandini, S.A.U. 14.11.1 Key Facts 14.11.2 Business Description 14.11.3 Products and Services 14.11.4 Financial Overview 14.11.5 SWOT Analysis 14.11.6 Key Developments 14.12 Eastar Lighting 14.12.1 Key Facts 14.12.2 Business Description 14.12.3 Products and Services 14.12.4 Financial Overview 14.12.5 SWOT Analysis 14.12.6 Key Developments 15. Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/a5fnfn Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com SEATTLE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a robust, equity-centered technology sector that empowers thriving communities, today announced it has appointed April House as President of its subsidiary, HR Benefits, Inc. (HRBI). HRBI provides over 500 businesses and their employees with access to medical, 401K programs, business insurance, personal insurance and business consulting. With over 15 years experience in the healthcare industry, April brings a wealth of expertise and passion to her role. "WTIA is a highly dynamic organization with a strong focus on diversity, equity and inclusion across all facets of its business," said April House. "Throughout my career I've observed first-hand how prioritizing DEI in healthcare positively impacts health outcomes. Joining WTIA as the President of HRBI provides a promising opportunity to serve small businesses and improve the quality of life for their employees." April joins WTIA from San Diego Workforce Partnership where she served as Chief Administrative Officer responsible for strategic planning, P&L management, operations oversight, and the DEI strategy. Leading through a new growth strategy, April astutely built teams and delivered operational efficiencies to achieve organizational priorities and a sustainable growth trajectory. Prior to this, April served as the Vice President of Population Health and Performance Excellence at San Ysidro Health. April has also supported the advancement of population health and clinical quality objectives for Health Net, United Healthcare, and Sharp HealthCare. She is a licensed nurse and U.S. Navy veteran. "April is a transformational change agent. Her in-depth knowledge of the healthcare and insurance ecosystems will bring immediate value to companies and employees participating in WTIA programs," said Michael Schutzer, CEO of WTIA. "The combination of April's leadership and operating experience in high-performance organizations will ensure our offerings are of high value and accessible to all." April earned her Bachelor's degree in Health Education from Trident University, and her Master's in Healthcare Administration from the University of Southern California. About WTIA The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) is a consortium that includes a not-for-profit member trade association, a not-for-profit tech apprenticeship intermediary (Apprenti), and a for profit corporation providing business services (HRBI). The organization's mission is to foster a robust, equity-centered technology sector that empowers thriving communities. We recruit technology companies and allies that view diversity as a competitive advantage, value collaboration as essential to sustainable growth, and fully embrace the opportunity to partner with and empower the communities in which we operate. SOURCE Washington Technology Industry Association Amman, Oct 5 : King Abdullah II of Jordan has said that attempts to create internal discord in Jordan are still ongoing and there was a campaign against the country to undermine progress, according to a Royal Court statement. During a meeting with representatives and leading figures from Central Badia tribes of Jordan, the king said that Jordan is greatly respected and supported among neighboring and friendly countries, and has a strong and influential role in the regional and international stages, Xinhua news agency reported. Stressing that there is nothing being secreted, he said that Jordan will remain strong as this is not the first time it has been targeted. Earlier in the day, Jordan's Royal Hashemite Court rejected media reports about overseas properties owned by Abdullah II, saying they "included inaccuracies and distorted and exaggerated the facts." Seoul, Oct 5 : South and North Korea held daily phone calls via their liaison and military hotlines on Tuesday, officials said, a day after Pyongyang restored the inter-Korean communication channels. On Monday, the two Koreas reopened the cross-border communication lines following a near two-month suspension, Yonhap news agency reported. The move came hours after the North's state media announced that the lines would be back in normal operation as of 9 a.m. on the day. "South and North Korea's daily call at 9 a.m. took place normally via the inter-Korean liaison office," a unification ministry official said. The defence ministry also said both of their direct military communication lines -- the eastern and western hotlines -- as well as their call via ship-to-ship radio links that use the global merchant marine communication network operated normally. The resumption of daily calls came 55 days after the North began refusing to answer South Korea's calls in protest of an annual combined military exercise between the South and the US. The North has long denounced the allies' annual military exercise as a rehearsal for invasion. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Services of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp started coming back online on Tuesday after an outage that lasted almost six hours. The services went down at about 16:00 GMT with users beginning to gain access to the sites at around 22:00. "Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about," CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed on Facebook. According to DownDetector, a website that tracks WhatsApp outages, 40 per cent users were unable to download the app, 30 per cent had trouble in sending messages and 22 per cent had problems with the web version. Taking to Twitter early on Tuesday, WhatsApp said: "Apologies to everyone who hasn't been able to use WhatsApp today. We're starting to slowly and carefully get WhatsApp working again. Thank you so much for your patience. We will continue to keep you updated when we have more information to share." The company said in a post on Monday, "The largest outage we've ever seen on Downdetector with over 10.6 million problem reports from all over the globe." In April, Facebook and Instagram went down for millions of users for a couple of hours in various parts of the world. The outage was the second in less than a month for the social networking giant. People took to DownDetector as they were welcomed with "sorry something went wrong" error message from Facebook and Instagram. The outage appeared to affect Facebook's internal websites as well, famed developer Jane Wong noted in a tweet. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Lucknow, Oct 5 : Uttar Pradesh has become the first state to have administered over 11 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took to social media to congratulate the health team engaged at various levels of the Covid-19 immunisation programme. As per data updated till 9 p.m. on Monday, the total number of doses administered in the state was 11.07 crore. The nearest contender is Maharashtra where the total number of doses extended is 8.41 crore followed by Madhya Pradesh (6.43 crore), Gujarat (6.20 crore) and West Bengal (5.93 crore). Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lauded the health workers for putting in their best foot forward and creating new milestones one after another. "This achievement is dedicated to committed health workers and disciplined citizens. Every eligible person must get their 'Teeka Jeet Ka," the chief minister said. He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for ensuring the sustained delivery of the vaccine to Uttar Pradesh. In terms of people, 8.85 crore persons have taken the first dose while 2.2 crore persons have taken both the doses. This speaks for an achievement of 59 per cent and 15 per cent respectively against a target of 15.04 crore. In all, 32 districts of the state have been able to administer more than 15 lakh doses. Lucknow leads with over 39.42 lakh doses followed by Prayagraj (28.77 lakh), Ghaziabad (28.68), Gorakhpur (27.74 lakh) and Kanpur Nagar (26.17 lakh) in the top five. Experts said that the state needs to work on pushing for the second dose. Meanwhile, 16 new cases and 17 recoveries were reported in the past 24 hours. The state's recovery rate has reached 98.7 per cent while the death rate hovers around 1.3. Lucknow, Oct 5 : Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who remains in police custody without being formally arrested even after 28 hours, has tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about her detention. "Modi ji, your government has detained me for 28 hours without any order or FIR. But those who crushed farmers have not yet been arrested. Why?" she tweeted in Hindi. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was taken into police custody early on Monday morning in the Hargaon area in Sitapur while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet families of the deceased farmers. After a brief spat with the policemen, Priyanka was taken to the PAC guest house and remains there till now. Hundreds of Congress workers have been sitting outside the guest house, waiting for their leader's release. Priyanka has said that as soon as she is released, she will proceed to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the bereaved families. In a related development, a senior official said that the government has taken note of the fact that Priyanka spoke to some news channels on phone while she was in custody. "We are investigating the matter and will soon take action against the channels and those responsible for arranging the interactions," the official said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Los Angeles, Oct 5 : A group of US House representatives and senators from California have called for the end of offshore drilling, two days after a major oil spill incident near Orange County led to dead marine animals, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contamination. Nanette D. Barragan, Congresswoman from California's 44th Congressional District, and Mike Levin, ongressman from the state's 49th Congressional District, made the remarks on Monday after inspecting the incident, reports Xinhua news agency. "The devastation of the oil spill continues to spread off the coast of Orange County. @RepMikeLevin and I are joining the @USCG on an overflight to view the impacts of the damage," Barragan tweeted on Monday afternoon, noting that "we must end offshore oil drilling". "This disaster is exactly why I'm leading the bill in Congress that would end all new offshore drilling along our Southern California coast. We need to get this done," Levin also said in a tweet. "If you agree it's time to pass my American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act." The spill, first reported on October 2, originated from a pipeline running from the Port of Long Beach to an offshore oil platform known as Elly. The failure till Monday caused roughly 126,000 gallons of oil to gush into the ocean, creating a slick spanning about 8,320 acres. The spill has left oil along long stretches of sand in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach, killing fish and birds and threatening wetlands. Oil from the spill, called by local officials as an environmental catastrophe, was moving south toward the sensitive coves around Laguna Beach on Monday. The two Congress members who called on an end to offshore drilling are Democrats, while Michelle Steel, the representative from the 48th Congressional District, is a Republican. She sent a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden requesting a major disaster declaration for Orange County, which would free up federal funds to help with the clean-up efforts. In Washington D.C., many California Democrats called for limiting or halting offshore drilling in the wake of the incident, as the overall impact is hard to assess at this point. "The oil spill off the coast of Orange County reiterates the perils of offshore drilling," Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. "We've seen time and time again how damaging offshore oil spills are to our coastal ecosystems as well as to our economy. We have the power to prevent future spills - that's why I'm committed to ending offshore oil drilling," Alex Padilla, another senator from the Golden State, wrote. Offshore drilling was restricted in California after a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, 150 km north of the Los Angeles downtown, that spewed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, creating a slick 35 miles long along California's coast and killing thousands of birds, fish and sea mammals. The Santa Barbara spill was the worst in the nation's history - until 20 years later, when the Exxon Valdez dumped 11 million gallons of crude off the coast of Alaska on March 24, 1989. In Orange County, the latest mass oil spill incidents occurred on February 7, 1990, when the oil tanker American Trader ran over its anchor in shallow water just about 2,200 meters off Huntington Beach. It spilled nearly 417,000 gallons of crude, killing many fish and about 3,400 birds. Oil production off California's coast declined sharply since its peak in the 1990s, after isome strict environmental rules were passed, such as the the California Coastal Sanctuary Act passed by the state legislature in 1994, which prohibited the state from entering into any new leases within state tidelands. In 2017, the California Senate passed a resolution opposing new oil or gas drilling in federal waters located offshore California. In 2019, when the former Donald Trump administration planned to lease sales along the country's coast and vastly expand offshore oil drilling from coast to coast, California passed a law prohibiting new leases for new construction of oil and gas-related infrastructure, such as pipelines, within state waters if the federal government authorises any new offshore oil leases. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would like to end oil drilling in the state by 2045. New York, Oct 5 : Pramila Jayapal, the Indian-American leader of the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, has emerged as a powerful force in US politics pushing President Joe Biden leftward after holding his signature multi-trillion-dollar programmes hostage. In Congress, where the Democratic Party holds a slim majority, she shot down a plan carefully crafted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to get moderates' support by sequentially getting voted in the House of Representatives Biden's $1 trillion plan for the nation's infrastructure and then another plan for over $2 trillion for wide-ranging social and climate change programmes. Jayapal heads the leftist Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), a group of 95 within the 220 Democratic Party in the House of Representatives where the party has a slim edge of only eight over the Republicans giving her a potential veto. In addition, the CPC has one senator. Biden, who was expected to support Pelosi, instead came to Congress last week and agreed with Jayapal sending the legislations to a limbo where party leaders are now trying to work out a compromise. The imbroglio arises because of the factionalism in the Democratic Party and the deep suspicions the left and the moderates have for each other. In August, the Senate had passed the $1 trillion infrastructure programme known as the 'American Jobs Plan (AJP)' which had the support of Democrats and some Republicans, but hasn't taken up the $2 trillion social programme called the 'American Family Plan (AFP)' because of the opposition from the moderates over its cost and the range of programmes from free community college education to care for children and seniors. The AFP would also raise taxes on the rich, whom Biden said would be those earning over $400,000 per year. The CPC has refused to back the AJP in the House unless it first passes the AFP because Jayapal and other Caucus leaders fear that the moderates would not back it. The CPC wants to capitalise on the fact that Biden, Pelosi and many leaders from both sides desperately want to get the AJP passed. It is less controversial and has wide voter support among the voters of both parties because it deals with matters like roads, bridges. public transportation, electric vehicles and internet broadband. They can't get it unless Jayapal and the CPC get behind it. "It's not about trusting the speaker, it's not about trusting the president, it's really about the vote as an ironclad assurance from the Senate" that the AFP would be passed, Jayapal said. Although Biden's spokesperson said on September 30 when Pelosi had set the AJP vote, "we are working towards winning a vote tonight", the House Speaker had to back down and drop it. At a closed-door meeting with his party members on October 1, Biden switched sides and said that the two plans would have to be taken up together. He later told reporters that although the AJP vote was off, "it doesn't matter whether it's in six minutes, six days or six weeks. We're going to get it done". Moderates blamed Jayapal and the CPC for the failure to pass the AJP. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat member of the House who worked on finding a compromise, blamed Jayapal and her supporter whom he described as "a small far-left faction" for blocking the "president's historic bipartisan infrastructure bill". Mid-term elections are scheduled next year covering all members of the House of Representatives and some in the Senate making it imperative for the Democrats to have the programmes in place when they face the voters. But the elections are also the reason the CPC wants the AFC passed now as the Democrats risk losing House majority if the historic pattern of mid-term election outcomes holds. Since the Democrats do not have the 60-vote majority in the Senate that is required to pass such legislation independently, they manoeuvred to have the AJP and the AFP treated as amendments to the budget, called "reconciliation measures", requiring only a simple majority. The two sides are deadlocked in the Senate with 50 votes each and Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tie-breaker as the President of the chamber. While all Republicans oppose the AFC in the Senate, two Democrats from states dominated by Republicans have also opposed the plan because of its size and scope and without their votes, it cannot pass. As the two sides stake their positions, Democrat Senator Joe Machin has offered to back a total package costing $1.5 trillion. But Jayapal has rejected the Manchin proposal as too small and told CNN the compromise could be between $1.5 trillion and $3.5 trillion. Biden is pressing the two sides to make a compromise. "Even a smaller bill can make historic investments, historic investments in child care, day care, clean energy. You get a whole hell of a lot of things done," Politico news quoted the President as saying. The CPC describes itself as "standing up for progressive ideals" and Ro Khanna, another Indian-American House Representative, is its deputy whip. Jayapal, 56, who describes herself as "South Asian" on her official website concedes she was born in India, is on her third term as a House member. She had introduced a bill in 2019 demanding that India restore Kashmir's special constitutional status that the Indian government had rescinded. She has also made statements critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar refused to meet with a House Foreign Affairs Committee that year because Jayapal was to be included in the meeting even though she is not a member of the panel. Harris involved herself in the controversy on her behalf criticising Jaishankar's decision. Jayapal, whose family is Malayalee, was born in Chennai and grew up in India, Indonesia and Singapore before leaving for the US to study when she was 16. She is the founder of OneAmerica, an immigration advocacy organisation. Jayapal's spokesperson Chris Evans told Politico: "She has a unique story as an immigrant, but also coming at 16, and to be sitting at the White House delivering what would be a transformational investment in social programs, it will be a moment she will remember forever." Politico said she broke into tears at a meeting with Biden when demanding that those working on farms, essential workers and those who came illegally to the US as children should get a chance to become citizens. Armed with an MBA, she worked in the private and public sectors before switching to global health and development for the international nonprofit organisation, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). After spending two years in India on a fellowship she published her first book in 2000, "Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland". Opposing legislation in Texas and proposals in others to limit access to abortions, Jayapal testified at a Congressional committee hearing that she had had an abortion but had not discussed it till two years ago because "because as an immigrant from a culture that deeply values children and in a society that still stigmatises abortion, suicide and mental health needs, I felt shame that I should never have felt". (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Lucknow, Oct 5 : In a landmark verdict, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has stayed the eviction of an abandoned old couple from an old-age home. The home is run by the management of Gayatri Parivar Trust by the name of Samarpan in Adilnagar, on land leased out to it by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. The court ruled that the couple would not be evicted from the old-age home till disposal of a suit pending before the court of civil judge (junior division), with regard to the controversy. A bench of Justice Jaspreet Singh passed the directives on a writ petition filed by the couple against the order issued by an additional district judge (ADJ) on October 20, 2020, whereby he had set aside the order of the court of civil judge (junior judge), which had given protection to the old couple from eviction. Allowing the petition filed against the order of ADJ, the bench said that the order issued by the court of civil judge is restored with the condition that the petitioners (couple) shall pay the monthly charges for their occupation in the old-age home, inclusive of the charges for the meals and electricity at a tentative rate of Rs 12,000 per month. The amount would be payable at the end of every month by cheque for which the management shall issue a receipt. According to reports, the couple was abandoned by their own children in 2016. They had approached the Samarpan old-age home for shelter. As per requirement, they had deposited Rs 75,000 as security money and agreed to pay monthly charges against their stay in the home. Later, in 2019, the couple moved the civil court pleading that the management of the home was adamant to evict them illegally. The management, however, pleaded the bad behaviour of the old couple, especially the woman, as the reason it wanted to evict them. The management further stated that the couple had three daughters residing in the city itself and as such they can live with them. The civil judge had granted protection to the parents, but in appeal, the ADJ set aside the civil judge's order. Now, the high court has restored the order of the civil judge with certain additional directions for the civil judge. Lucknow, Oct 5 : A multisystem inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children (MIS-C) after recovery from Covid in Uttar Pradesh. The residual effect of the virus is posing a challenge with rising MIS-C cases. According to medical experts, MIS-C is a serious condition in which organs such as heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes or gastrointestinal organs get inflamed leading to malfunction. It can happen due to several reasons, but at present, most cases are associated with Covid. It has been seen that antibodies created in children and teenagers during Covid continue to operate even after recovery. At times, these antibodies go out of control and start attacking healthy cells of the organs which results in inflammation. About 50 cases of MIS-C, including five from Lucknow, have been reported in the past three months in the state capital. The patients were mainly aged between four and 18 years and had recovered from Covid but developed MIS-C a month after recovery. King George's Medical University (KGMU) has received 30 such cases from across the state, including five from Lucknow, while 20 patients from eastern Uttar Pradesh have been reported at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS). Some of these patients also died due to multiple organ failure, but data has not been maintained because it is not a "notifiable disease". Medical superintendent at KGMU, Prof D. Himanshu, said that although the exact reason behind this is not yet known, initial findings suggest that it happens when the immune system goes haywire and starts damaging healthy cells. If not addressed in time, it can lead to multi-organ failure. Common symptoms of such patients are fever for three to five days, severe abdominal pain, bloodshot eyes, skin rashes, sudden drop in blood pressure and loose motions, he added. Paediatric surgery head and medical superintendent of Covid hospital at RMLIMS, Prof Srikesh Singh, said that emergency symptoms of the disease include amnesia, loss of alertness, disorientation, unusual or strange behaviour and disruptions in perception, breathing trouble and persistent pain or pressure in the chest, besides change in colour of skin, lips or nails to grey or blue. "Any of these symptoms should be taken seriously and patients should be rushed to hospital," he said. Mumbai, Oct 5 : The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Tuesday opened on a negative note during the morning session of the trade. The Sensex of the BSE opened at 59,320.14 which was also the high point. The Sensex touched a low of 59,127.04 points. On Monday the Sensex closed at 59,299.32 points. The Sensex is trading at 59,243.22 down by 56.1 points or 0.09 per cent. The broader 50-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened on a lower note at 17,661.35 points after closing at 17,691.25 points. The Nifty is trading at 17,668.35 points in the morning. Los Angeles, Oct 5 : Actor Guy Pearce shot to fame on the Australian soap 'Neighbours' and after making the switch to Hollywood, he struggled to cope with his own fame and success. He shared: "I went to America still carrying this baggage of not believing in myself or the value of my work, so I was extremely picky. I had people around me saying I should do a superhero film, but I was only interested in films that felt heavy and psychological." Pearce added: "I'd done five films back-to-back and was pretty spent, turning up to work every morning and growling at people. I was battling with myself all the time over whether it's just ridiculous and childish, faking stuff for a living." The actor, whose film credits include 'L.A. Confidential', 'The Hurt Locker' and 'The King's Speech', decided to take some time off because he was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the stresses of the industry, reports femalefirst.co.uk. He told The Independent: "I was about ready to kill somebody, to be honest, so I took 18 months off, had a big old think about it and a bit of a lie-down and came back thinking actually, this is something that will keep me young. It's a wonderful, youthful perspective on life. It was the decision of a 30-something man, not an eight-year-old boy." Pearce played the part of Mike Young on 'Neighbours' in the 1980s and he struggled to "make sense" of his own fame at the time. He said: "I hated the fame thing, really struggled with it. I knew 'Neighbours' wasn't Shakespeare, but I was doing my best while knowing that I wasn't doing a great job - and yet, screaming girls chased us down the street. Trying to make sense of that was quite a test." Bengaluru, Oct 5 : In a major breakthrough, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested a former Bahrain police officer turned international drug cartel kingpin, a native of Kerala in Bengaluru, sources said on Tuesday. The NCB has launched a hunt for other drug peddlers in the case. The accused former police officer has been nabbed in connection with the case of detection of 3.5 kilograms of Hashish oil worth Rs 1 crore at the Kochi airport on September 12 in which one person had been held. Since then the kingpin was eluding investigating officers. The accused had packed the drug consignments into boxes as a 'prasad' (a food or dish offering to a deity, which is later shared with worshippers) and also as Ayurveda medicines. Upon investigation of the arrested person in the case of detection of 3.5 kilograms of Hashish oil, the role of a 52-year kingpin who worked as a police officer in Bahrain has emerged. The NCB also got to know about the international drug peddling network run by the former police officer. After the arrest of his associate, the kingpin had escaped to Bengaluru. The accused smuggled Hashish oil to the Gulf on cargo planes. He procured drugs from Manali in Himachal Pradesh and managed to transport them to Kochi in Kerala from Bengaluru, sources said. The accused has been running a drug peddling mafia for three years. He served as a police officer in Bahrain for 20 years and after settling down in Kerala in 2014 he started the drug racket. He supplied Hashish oil packed as 'prasad boxes' and 'Ayurveda medicines' to Bahrain, according to sources. The Kerala NCB sleuths came to know about the drug cartel run by the main accused and managed to intercept courier consignment to Bahrain in Kerala and arrested a person who spilled the beans during the investigation. Though NCB tried to nab the kingpin, he managed to give a slip. Finally, he was caught on September 29 while returning from Manali by train. The sleuths have also recovered 11.6 kilograms of drugs in Kerala's Ernakulam and arrested another accomplice, sources said. Investigations are ongoing and the NCB has not revealed the name so far. October 05 : Twinkle Khanna got obsessed with a gift son Aarav gave to his sister Nitara. Its a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle, which the mother-son duo solved after making a lot of mess around. Twinkle had recently accompanied husband Akshay Kumar along with Aarav and Nitara to London. It seems that while Akshay has returned to Mumbai and got busy in shootings for his upcoming film Raksha Bandhan in Delhi, Twinkle and Nitara stayed back in London with Aarav. The mother-son duo got together to solve a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle on Monday. The actor-turned-author took to her Instagram handle today and shared a video. Wherein the pieces of the puzzle can be seen spread across the dining table while she and Aarav are at it to put them together. Twinkle also shared a picture, where the semi-finished puzzle can be seen lying on the table. Image Source: Instagram/twinklerkhanna Twinkle Khanna gets obsessed with son Aarav's gift for his sister Nitara In her post, Twinkle revealed that Aarav had originally bought the puzzle for his sister Nitara. But she got obsessed with it and started solving it with Aarav. He gets a 1000 piece Frida Kahlo jigsaw puzzle for his little sister but guess who cant leave it alone! My hair is a mess, the dining table is a bigger mess but I am obsessed. #puzzled, Twinkle captioned the post. Earlier, on Sunday, Twinkle took to Instagram and shared a picture of Aarav planting a kiss on her forehead while she rested her head on his shoulder. Sunday morning is truly special because I get to steal my son from his beloved campus and we can have breakfast together, she captioned the picture. In the picture, Aarav can be seen wearing a pearl necklace, and received a lot of appreciation. Rhea Kapoor took to the comments section and wrote, Adore the pearls. Twinkle and Akshay Kumar, along with their son and daughter flew to London in August, where Akshay was filming Cindrella. October 05 : Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, who was Shah Rukh Khans co-star in a film, extended her support to the actor after his son Aryan Khan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug-related case in Mumbai. Suchitra believes that Shah Rukh is being targeted. On Saturday, Aryan Khan was detained after an NCB raid at a rave party on a cruise ship. Later, on Sunday, he was arrested and sent to NCB custody. On Monday, Aryan and two of his friends bail plea was rejected and they were remanded in NCB custody till October 7. After Aryans arrest, a few Bollywood celebs came forward in support of Shah Rukh and Aryan. Besides Hansal Mehta, Pooja Bhatt, Suniel Shetty, and Salman Khan, Shah Rukh's Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa co-star Suchitra also came out openly in SRKs support. In a recent interview, Suchitra said she thinks Shah Rukh has been targeted. She thinks there was a lapse of security on the cruise. A family member of mine owns a cruise, so I've been on several cruises. I know that there are several rounds of security checks, metal detectors that one has to go through, their luggage is also checked. So, I don't understand how this breach of security even happened. Which is why I feel it's some kind of targeting, there's malice. It can't be just this bunch of eight kids, she said. Except Salman Khan, no other Bollywood stars have come out openly in Shah Rukhs support. Speaking about Bollywoods silence, Suchitra told India Today, There's a sense of toxic positivity in Bollywood, where they want to associate with only the good and happy stuff, and stay away from the rest. I cannot stay quiet, if something bothers me, I will speak up. It takes a lot of guts to take a stand. On Sunday, Suchitra took to Twitter and wrote, Nothing harder for a parent than seeing their child in distress. Prayers to all. In another tweet, she further wrote, For all those targeting #Bollywood remember all the #NCB raids on film stars? Yes nothing was found and nothing was proved. #Bollywood gawking is a tamasha. It's the price of fame. Hansal Mehta also tweeted and said, It is painful for a parent having to deal with a child getting into trouble. It gets compounded when people begin to arrive at judgements before the law takes its course. It is disrespectful and unfair to the parent and to the parent-child relationship. With you @iamsrk. Salman Khans sister Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Maheep Kapoor, and Seema Khan also visited Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan's home in Mumbai. Chandigarh, Oct 5 : Punjab-origin British and Canadian MPs have called the violence in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh at a farmers' protest as "disturbing" and "devastating", while seeking justice for the victims. "Devastating to learn about the trampling to death of peaceful #FarmersProtest activists and others in #LakhimpurKheri India," the UK's Labour Party MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi tweeted. "My heartfelt condolences to the families for their immense loss. Hope the authorities and media will treat them fairly, because they deserve justice now," the politician added. Canadian MP Tim S. Uppal said he was shocked to learn about the brazen attack on protesting farmers. "Those responsible must be brought to justice," he said in a tweet. Another Canadian MP Ruby Sahota said she was heartbroken to learn about the violence directed at protesting farmers. "My heartfelt condolences to the families of those who were killed or injured, I add my voice to the growing calls for justice and accountability," she tweeted. Meanwhile, Canadian MP Preet Kaur Gill added: "This is deeply disturbing and there must be an investigation into the deaths of the four farmers who were peacefully protesting." New Delhi, Oct 5 : Facebook reported a 47 per cent (year-over-year) increase in ad revenue amounting to $28 billion in the second quarter (Q2) this year. The massive outage that left the entire family of Facebook apps down for several hours on a busy Monday produced a cascading effect on the global ad empire that is dependent upon the social networking giant to reach billions of consumers. The global outage brought millions of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger users to Twitter, which saw tremendous traffic (and did not suffer another downtime), leaving advertisers on Facebook and its family of apps flummoxed. According to global market research firm Forrester, Facebook's core app continues to rank as the top-used social media platform weekly among global audiences except China, including 76 per cent in 'Metro India', 66 per cent in the US, and 64 per cent in five European countries (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain). Other apps within the Facebook ecosystem (Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp) also dominate globally over non-Facebook social media platforms. According to Forrester VP, Research Director, Mike Proulx, although many brands had a "real-time marketing" moment on Twitter, this outage has widespread implications to the advertising ecosystem "given the fact that ads weren't being served for over six hours across Facebook and Instagram, which command the lion's share of social media ad revenue". "This not only affects Facebook's revenue (and stock price) but also brands' bottom lines," he said in a statement. The October 4 Facebook outage occurred on the heels of a whistleblower -- data scientist Frances Haugen -- condemning the social media giant for its business practices. Facebook later explained why the outage occurred. "Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centres caused issues that interrupted this communication. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centres communicate, bringing our services to a halt," Facebook said in a statement. The social network said it has no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of this downtime. "Our services are now back online and we're actively working to fully return them to regular operations. We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change," the company said. Over the past two years, Facebook has consolidated its disparate app ecosystem onto one back-end infrastructure. According to Forrester senior analyst Jessica Liu, it is a move that creates some operational efficiencies for the company and insulation from a potential breakup by regulators. "But it also exposes Facebook to concentration risk: A single risk event that produces a cascading effect -- like old school Christmas lights where one goes out, they all go out. This strategy comes at the expense of redundancy and impairs the company's resilience. It also irritates consumers who don't want a unified social media profile across Facebook's family of apps," Liu stressed. This Facebook outage wasn't the first and it won't be the last. It is a reminder to advertisers to have proactive mitigation plans in place to avoid the scramble of trying to figure out what to do in the moment. The brands need to diversify media spend within and outside of social media. "Brands should use this incident to (re)assess how much of their ad spend is concentrated in a single media platform and determine a go-forward diversification strategy that still reaches their target audiences while reducing concentration risk," said principal analyst Jeff Pollard. When the next outage occurs, brands should position themselves to pivot quickly to lessen the blow to their demand generation efforts. This involves creating "what if" scenarios with specific actions to take as risk triggers occur. "Marketers would be wise to pressure Facebook to quickly adjust for the outage to normalise brands' silo-ed Facebook ad performance dashboards," added senior analyst Alla Valente. (Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in) Seoul, Oct 5 : North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs despite worsening economic conditions exacerbated by UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions, a report released by the world body said. The report issued on Monday by a panel of experts on North Korean sanctions also said the North continues to evade sanctions by ever sophisticating means, reports Yonhap News Agency. "During the reporting period, despite the country's focus on its worsening economic travails, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea continued to maintain and develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs," said the report, referring to North Korea by its official name. The semestral report noted the North did not conduct any intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear tests over the reporting period, but that it staged a short-range ballistic missile test "combining ballistic and guidance technologies". Pyongyang launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea in late March. North Korea is prohibited from developing or testing any ballistic missiles under UNSC resolutions. The panel of experts said the North also continued to seek materials and technologies for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs from overseas. The latest report comes after a series of North Korean missile launches in recent days that North Korea says included the test launch of a new "hypersonic missile". Pyongyang also test launched a short-range ballistic missile in mid-September. The report noted the North's exports of prohibited items, such as coal, continued at a "much reduced level", while its imports of oil products, which are also subject to strict limits under UNSC sanctions, fell substantially in the first half of the year. The North, however, continued to evade sanctions by sophisticating the management and ownership structures of its vessels used in illicit dealings, according to the report. "Access by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to international financial institutions continued, as did the presence overseas of its workers earning revenue for use in State programs," it said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Yadgir : , Oct 5 (IANS) In a shocking incident, a married 23-year-old woman was burnt alive for resisting a rape attempt in Karnataka's Yadgir district and police have launched a hunt for the accused. The incident took place in a village near Shahapur town on Monday morning and the woman, identified as Balamma, succumbed to her injuries in the Kalburgi hospital. The accused is identified as Gangeppa, a resident of Chowdeshwarihala village. Surapura police have registered the case after recording the statement of the victim in the hospital before she succumbed, and have formed special teams to nab the accused who is absconding. According to police, Gangeppa had his eye on Balamma for a long time and forced her to have affair with him multiple times. When she resisted, he had even assaulted her. However, she did not lodge a police complaint. However, the matter was brought to the notice of village elders and they called a meeting, where Gangeppa was warned not to trouble the married woman. But, he barged inside her house early in the morning when her husband had gone out and attempted to rape the victim when she was asleep. When she resisted, he assaulted her, poured petrol on her and set her alight. Neighbours rushed to the spot, extinguished the flames, and shifted her to the hospital, sources said. Last month, another shocking incident of another victim being stripped, assaulted, and sexually abused came to light in Yadgir. The victim was waiting near Rastapura road when she was kidnapped and taken to a farm near Kanyakollur road and gang-raped. The accused had also taken a video, showing the woman being attacked by four to five men with sugarcane sticks after being stripped. The men beat her up in the pitch darkness even as she begged them to let her off. The video also showed the assailants also clicking selfies with the victim during the assault. The police arrested all accused in this case. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Back in the 1960s, the national capital was a "quiet and safe place" where women were not harmed and you could sleep on your terrace "without locking the main house door". Then, "a nouveau riche class prospered" and outwardly, New Delhi today "is a beautiful city" but "beneath lies hunger, filth and diseases". Still, Malayalam author M. Mukundan is nostalgic about a city where he lived for 40 long years before moving back to his hometown of Mahe and this prompted him to write "Delhi - A Soliloquy", translated by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar K (Westland/Eka) that has been shortlisted for the Rs 25 lakh JCB Prize for Literature, India's richest literary award. "When I was in Delhi, I felt nostalgic about Mahe. Now it is the other way round - I'm nostalgic about Delhi. There's no ideal place to live in, where you are that is your home," Mukundan, four of whose works have been adapted for the big screen, told IANS in an interview. "In the early 60s when I arrived in Delhi, it was a quiet and safe place. There were villages within the city. After seeing a late night movie at the Race Course theatre, women and children would walk down to Lodhi Colony past midnight. No woman was harmed. "In summer, we used to sleep on the charpoys spread out on the terraces of our houses without locking the main house door down below. It was a city anybody will dream of living. And then Delhi changed all of a sudden - a brutal, grotesque change. "Factories and commercial establishments came up, attracting unemployed poor people from other states. Building mafias destroyed villages and fields and built ugly high-rise buildings. Poor people were pushed away to filthy slums where they led a wretched life of deprivation. Throwing away all values, a nouveau riche class prospered. Outwardly, Delhi is a beautiful city. But beneath lies hunger, filth and diseases," Mukundan elaborated. "The book is a rambling, intimate epic. It captures what it means to be a small person in a big capital. How the relentless wave of history impacts these marginal people who have come to Delhi in search for a better life. Mukundan has brought to life the very real characters in this book with great sincerity? All through the novel you are looking at the small things and through them understanding the big," the JCB Jury said of the book. Narrated by Sahadevan, a Keralite who moves to Delhi in his twenties, "Delhi: A Soliloquy" is the story of the changes and growth of the city with Sahadevan's life as the backdrop. Journeying through life, he comes across immigrants scattered across the capital city, all struggling in their own ways. The book is about forging friendships, and finding his own people in a city he comes to call home. "I lived in Delhi for nearly 40 years. For 36 years I worked in a Diplomatic Mission while the remaining four years I spent on wandering. My wanderlust always helps me in my creative pursuits. When I have a sense of belonging to a place, I feel like writing about it. "I developed strong bonds with Delhi. That's why I wanted very much to write about what I've experienced, I've seen or I've heard of in this city. Long ago I told myself that I should one day write a novel about this hypnotic city. And I wrote it, though many years later," Mukundan elaborated. Being a witness to the events he's described in the book, "everything I had experienced I wove into the novel. Of course to avoid factual errors and anachronisms I had to check dates and names of places. That was a process that lingered all through the writing of the novel". It's been almost 20 years since he moved back to Mahe. What has the transition been like? After retiring in 2004 from the French Embassy, where he worked in the cultural section and for which he was honored by the French government, he said he didn't want to leave Delhi immediately but the Kerala government nominated him as the president of its Sahitya Akademi. "So I came back home, back on the banks of my beloved Mayyazhi river. Life here is exhilarating. But I miss a lot - Delhi's Press Club, IIC and India Habitat Centre," Mukundan said. Speaking about his work in the French Embassy, he said he thoroughly enjoyed it. "I was part of the French team that brought to India Picasso's original works. I could meet and interact with a large number of French intellectuals such as the legendary Regis Debray and Jacques Derrida. I used to write speeches for the Ambassadors. At a time when there wasn't Internet or Google, it was a tough job. "Want to know what parting gift the Embassy gave me? Twenty-four bottles of wine, neatly packed in two cartons; all sorts of wine some costing a fortune," Mukundum said. There is also the insignia of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters awarded to him in 1998. As for his books that have been adapted for the big screen, Mukundan said only one came out very well - "God's Mischief". "This was adapted from the novel by the same name. The director of the film Lenin Rajendran (a die-hard communist as his name suggests) and I wrote the scenario together. 'God's Mischief' won the State Award for the best feature film. The worst was 'Savithri's Girdle'. I didn't write the scenario for this. I only gave the producer the film rights. I could watch the film only for about 15 minutes and then I walked out of the theatre. To date, I haven't seen the remaining part of the film. It was unbearable. Now I give film rights of my stories only if I could write the scenario myself. Such a film is now in the making - 'The Autorikshaw Driver's Wife', based on my story by the same name. Shooting will begin next month," Mukundan concluded. (Vishnu Makhijani can be reached at vishnu.makhijani@ians.in) Johannesburg, Oct 5 : Scientists have found the first evidence of overload of various inflammatory molecules, literally "trapped" inside insoluble microscopic blood clots (micro clots), that might be the cause of some of the lingering symptoms experienced by individuals with long Covid, new study has shown. A team from the Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa, analysing the blood samples from individuals with Long Covid unexpectedly found the micro clots and their molecular content. Their findings are published in the peer-reviewed journal Cardiovascular Diabetology. "We found high levels of various inflammatory molecules trapped in micro clots present in the blood of individuals with Long Covid. Some of the trapped molecules contain clotting proteins such as fibrinogen, as well as alpha(2)-antiplasmin," explained Resia Pretorius, a researcher in the Department of Physiological Science at SU. Alpha(2)-antiplasmin is a molecule that prevents the breakdown of blood clots, while fibrinogen is the main clotting protein. Under normal conditions the body's plasmin-antiplasmin system maintains a fine balance between blood clotting (the process by which blood thickens and coagulate to prevent blood loss after an injury) and fibrinolysis (the process of breaking down the fibrin in the coagulated blood to prevent blood clots from forming). With high levels of alpha(2)-antiplasmin in the blood of Covid-19 patients and individuals suffering from long Covid, the body's ability to break down the clots are significantly inhibited. The insolubility of the micro clots became apparent as researchers noted that the blood plasma samples from individuals with acute Covid and long Covid continued to deposit insoluble pellets at the bottom of the tubes after dilution (a process called trypsinisation). They team made the finding using fluorescence microscopy and proteomics analysis, thereby solving yet another puzzle associated with the disease. "Of particular interest is the simultaneous presence of persistent anomalous micro clots and a pathological fibrinolytic system," they wrote in the research paper. This implies that the plasmin and antiplasmin balance may be central to pathologies in long Covid. The findings provide further evidence that Covid, and even Long Covid, have significant cardiovascular and clotting pathologies. Further research is needed to understand clotting and fibrinolytic system function in individuals with lingering long Covid symptoms, the team said. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Chennai, Oct 5 : US-based insurer Metlife Inc, through its group company, will acquire the combined 15.27 per cent stakes of I.G.E. (India) Private Ltd (IGE) and Elpro International Ltd (Elpro) in the PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Ltd (PNB MetLife) for about Rs 1,906 crore cash. According to Elpro, it will receive a sum of about Rs 1,424.69 crore while I.G.E. (India) will get about Rs 481.32 crore. MetLife International Holdings LLC has entered into a share purchase agreement with I.G.E. (India) and Elpro for the purpose. Elpro said the tentative date for completion of the transaction is November 30, 2021 subject to regulatory approvals. With the purchase of the additional stake, MetLife's stake in PNB MetLife will go up to 47.325 per cent. "MetLife's joint venture in India has all of the hallmarks we look for in deploying capital to create long term shareholder value: a track record of consistent execution, an extensive distribution network, strong growth and an advantaged position in one of the world's most attractive life insurance markets," MetLife Asia Regional President, Kishore Ponnavolu, said. "I am pleased that this transaction supports MetLife's continued growth in India and will enable us to deliver even more value for our customers, partners and shareholders. The Dabriwala family has been a strong supporter of PNB MetLife and valued members of its board, and we thank them for their contribution to the company." Elpro Director Surbhit Dabriwala said: "We have enjoyed a strong relationship with MetLife for close to 20 years and seen PNB MetLife grow. Our involvement in PNB MetLife is part of a long tradition at Elpro of working with leading multinational partners in India, including in past ventures with GE and FANUC." On Tuesday morning, Elpro's shares shot up to Rs 72.65 after closing at Rs 60.55 on Monday. Srinagar, Oct 5 : There was a time, when people used to stand in long queues outside the Civil Secretariats in Srinagar and Jammu cities to reach the helmsmen. The visiting hours were fixed and the lucky ones only could somehow get a chance to get heard. Many people had to return disappointed as the time used to run out. Ineffective and weak grievance redressal system in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State was one of the major reasons for disconnect between the government and the people. For elected representatives governance was never a priority. They remained busy in raking up the issues which did not fall in their domain and harping about the validity of Kashmir's accession with India. A common man, who lives for his survival, found it very difficult to reach the men or women, whom he had voted for. Issues like proper roads, sanitation, electricity, water, education and other basic amenities were the least discussed problems. However, after August 5, 2019 -- when the Centre announced its decision to scrap J&K's special status and divided it into two union territories -- the government emphasized on making the grievance redressal system effective in the newly carved out union territory. Within two years change is clearly visible in 'Naya Jammu and Kashmir' as people no longer have to wait with applications in long queues outside the civil secretariats in Srinagar and Jammu, nor do they have to be lucky enough to be heard. The government has set up help lines and online grievance redressalportals for a common man to drop his complaint and check the status about the action taken either online or over the phone. The officials are just a phone call away. The system which used to remain inaccessible has become accessible. Background Just a few months after J&K's transition into a Union Territory, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) organized two conferences in J&K on good governance on November 15-16, 2019 and conference on Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat with focus on Jal Shakti and Disaster Management on November 30- December 1, 2019. The aim of these events was to drive home a point that the system has changed and redressing the grievances of a common man has to be a priority. On August 16, 2020, the Government of India assigned the task of improving the grievance redressal system in Jammu and Kashmir to the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The DARPG was asked to enhance the collaboration with the Jammu & Kashmir Government to revamp the "Awam-ki-Awaz" portal with mapping of last mile grievance officers for improved quality of grievance redressal and reduced timelines in effective disposal of cases (1). Since then there has been no looking back as the administration is no longer inaccessible. The online portals are working round the clock and the genuine grievances of the people are being redressed in the shortest possible time. This initiative has helped to create a transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly effective administration in line with the vision to bridge the gap between the government and the people. Jammu & Kashmir is the first Union Territory in the country to have district-level grievance offices with the central grievance portal to ensure prompt action. The grievance office has been integrated with the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal. New grievance redress system On September 11, 2020, J&K Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, launched the Jammu and Kashmir Integrated Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (JK-IGRAMS). The purpose of the new system was to create an interface with the public and focus on governance issues in J&K. Idea behind the initiative was to tell the people that the government cares for them and it's always ready to hear and help them. The officials, who were asked to handle the system, were told in clear terms that a common man wants a sympathetic, courteous, responsive, and helpful administrative set-up. The JK-IGRAMS provides minute by minute status updates of the grievances on the portal. District Collectors and Deputy Commissioners are the primary nodes for receiving, disposing and monitoring grievances (2). On October 22, 2020, another step was taken to make the grievance redressal system more effective, LG Manoj Sinha held the first run of "LG's Mulaqaat"- Live Public Grievance in Srinagar. It was altogether a different experience for the participants who interacted face to face with the LG and top officers through video conferencing and put across their problems. In the very first round of the live mulaqaat with people, the LG heard nineteen grievances out of which fifteen were addressed on the spot (3). Talking to the Indian Express, Secretary, Public Grievances, J&K, Simrandeep Singh had stated that the grievance redress systems generally work only when top leadership directly monitors or takes interest. Explaining the mechanism Singh had stated that the LG Mulaqaat is an interactive platform wherein the LG and Chief Secretary directly review the performance with all administrative secretaries, Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police and senior officials from various departments. Till date LG Sinha has held seven rounds of live mulaqaats. His advisors meet the people in Srinagar, Jammu and other places every week on a rotational basis. The message is clear that people are supreme, they are the fountain head of the power and no one can ignore them. They have to be heard and accommodated. Stay in touch with people After the outbreak of Covid-19 second wave in the union territory in April-May this year the grievance redressal system had become a bit slow, but soon after the number of cases declined the J&K government in June this year directed the administrative secretaries to regularly hold meetings with the public. An order issued by the General Administrative Department stated: "It has been observed that due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, the government-public interaction has been affected in recent weeks. Due to limited mobility, the general public having grievances in various departments could not visit the civil secretariat for their redressal therefore it has been decided that all Administrative Secretaries shall be available for attending public grievances on daily basis (except on days of tour) between 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. in person or on notified telephone numbers or on video conferencing facility for redressal of public grievances." In a follow up action the J&K Government on September 30 this year directed all the Administrative Secretaries and Deputy Commissioners to submit weekly appraisal of public interactions and the grievances redressed by them during fixed daily hearings. In a nutshell addressing the public grievances has been the priority. The initiative to reach out to the people and stay in touch with them has filled in the void which used to exist prior to August 5, 2019. In 'Naya J&K' common man is the priority In 'Naya J&K' addressing public grievances is not only about how many complaints have been received and how many have been disposed of, it's about talking to the people directly and reaching out to them. The deadlines have been fixed to ensure that complaints don't remain lingering. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, NAtyanand Rai, who recently visited frontier district of Kupwara in connection with the Centre's outreach programme lauded the people of Kashmir for showing interest in peace and development and assured them that the grievance of every Kashmiri would be resolved in a time bound manner (4). To ensure that no one is left out from the ambit of grievance redressal system a portal was launched for Kashmiri migrants in August this year with the aim to address the issues and concerns related to the land and properties of the migrants. The portal www.jkmigrantrelief.nic.in deals with the subject matter of the grievances that ranges from correction of encroachments, trespassing and alienation by way of fraud or distress, etc. (5) Downgrading J&K from a State into a Union Territory has proved to be a blessing in a disguise for a common man. His pleas are being heard and every possible effort is being made to ensure that no one misses the opportunity to become a part of development and prosperity. New Delhi seems keen on addressing all the issues which were the main causes of discontent and resentment. The mantra is simply to make a common man part of everything and develop a society which includes all. 1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1646293 2. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/new-grievance-redress-system-unveiled-in-jk/article32584413.ece 3. https://www.greaterkashmir.com/srinagar/first-run-of-lgs-mulaqaat-held 4. https://kashmirobserver.net/2021/09/30/grievance-of-every-kashmiri-will-be-resolved-mos-home/ 5. https://newsonair.com/2021/08/23/jammu-kashmir-first-ut-to-have-a-grievance-redressal-portal-to-aid-kashmiri-migrants/ Patna, Oct 5 : Over 40 villagers, including children, are reported to be suffering from diarrhoea in the Nathu Bigha village in Bihar's Aurangabad district. The state health department claimed that a medical team was sent to the village, but the residents said that no team had visited them so far. The department said the villagers claimed that they were being treated by Registered Medical Practitioners (RMP). "The villagers are under serious grip of diarrhoea for the last one week. Many of them are unable to walk. The rural RMPs assist them with medicines and many of them have been given saline and glucose," said R.P. Manjhi, a panchayat member of Nathu Bigha. "Since the situation in the village is reported to be bad and the condition of some of the patients very serious, we have met with Dr Yatindra Kumar, the in-charge of the Community Health Centre (CHC) of Madanpur block. "Some villagers informed us about the serious situation of Nathupur Bigha village. We are sending a team, ambulances and medicines. The serious patients will be taken to CHC Madanpur and Sadar hospital Aurangabad," Kumar said. Niti Aayog on October 1 published a report which said that the health infrastructure of Bihar is on top from the bottom with only six beds available for every one lakh people. Mumbai, Oct 5 : Bollywood actress Richa Chada loved shooting for the series 'Candy' in the mountains so much that she's planning to shoot her first production 'Girls Will Be Girls' in Uttarakhand. Directed by Shuchi Talati and produced through the banner Pushing Button Studios, the story is set in a Himalayan boarding school in a hill station in northern India. Richa said: "I loved shooting for 'Candy' and not only because it's a gripping narrative but because of the location in which we were shooting. It was so peaceful and serene that I found it easier to focus than in the city." The plot of the film revolves around the coming of age of a 16-year-old girl and her relationship with her mother. The actress added: "Since 'Girls Will Be Girls' is set in a hill station boarding school, I think Uttarakhand will be a perfect location. Fingers crossed." Details about the cast for the film are still under wraps. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text October 05 : A Mumbai court today denied bail to Shah Rukh Khans son Aryan Khan. The 23-year-old was arrested during a drugs raid by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday along with his friend Arbaaz Merchant, fashion designer Munmun Dhamecha and five others by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). They were detained from a party onboard a cruise ship off the coast of Mumbai. After first round of questioning, Aryan along with Arbaaz and Munmun were arrested by the NCB on Sunday. While NCB sought custody till October 13, the court gave orders till October 7. Today, Aryan and his friends were produced before a local court in Mumbai after they spent one day in NCB custody. Before the custody, they were sent for a medical checkup at Mumbai's JJ Hospital. During the court hearing today, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said that the WhatsApp chats found in Aryan's phone by the NCB, clearly shows the nexus. It is necessary to confront all accused in the custodial remand, Anil Singh said as the chats consisted of code words that need to be decoded. However, Aryan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde said that only Arbaaz Merchant has been named as an accused in the case as drugs were recovered from inside his shoes. Maneshinde also pointed out that NCB cannot seek extension of the custody based on WhatsApp chats only. Maneshinde also conveyed Aryans statement to the court. I was arrested by the NCB before and not on the cruiseI was invited as a guestI don't have any contacts with the organisers, dealers or any other people on the cruise. Nothing has been found in my bag during search, Aryan informed the court through his lawyer. They've interrogated me for the last 48 hours and have found nothing. I [have]no criminal antecedents. I have cooperated with them (NCB) so any prayer for further custody should be rejected, Aryan added in her statement. According to NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the Goa-bound cruise ship was raided after NCB officials disguised themselves as passengers, and busted the party where drugs were being used. A Delhi based company had teportedly organised the party. The ship was slated to reach Goa on Saturday night, and return to Mumbai by Monday. New Delhi, Oct 5 : BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Tuesday shared a purported video of the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, that left nine people dead, as he demanded swift action against the perpetrators. Sharing the video on his Twitter handle, Varun Gandhi, the MP from Pilibhit, adjacent to Lakhimpur Kheri, said that the visuals of the vehicles "deliberately running" over farmers are enough to "shake one's soul". Tagging the Uttar Pradesh Police chief in his tweet, he demanded that those behind the incident be arrested immediately. "This video of vehicles deliberately running over farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri is enough to shake one's soul. Police must take cognisance of these videos, and immediately arrest the owners of these vehicles, those sitting in them, and others involved," he said in his tweet in Hindi. On Monday, Varun Gandhi had written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking a Supreme Court-monitored CBI probe into the matter, and that the accused be charged with murder, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The Lakhimpur Kheri violence has fast acquired political overtones. While the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party and other opposition outfits have trained guns over the BJP and the Adityanath government, the BJP is terming it a conspiracy and alleging that violent elements have infiltrated the farmers' protests. The RSS-affiiliated Bharatiya Kisan Union, meanwhile, alleged that left and Maoist elements were behind the violence. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi/Sitapur, Oct 5 : Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday released a video of her statement, questioning the Prime Minister that why the Union minister has not been sacked and his son arrested, who is allegedly being involved in mowing down the farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. In the video in Hindi she says, "Modiji, Namaskar... Maine suna hai ki azadi ka amrit mahotsav manane aap Lucknow aa rahe hain, mein aap se pooch na chahti hun ki aapne ye video dekha hai, aapki sarkar ke ek mantri ke bete ne kisano ko kuchal diya, is video ko dekhiye aur desh ko bataiye ke is mantri ko barkhast kyun nahi kiya gya aur is ladke ko giraftar kyun nahi kia gya. (I have heard that you are coming to Lucknow to celebrate 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' I want to ask you that have you seen the video. The son of one your cabinet ministers has mauled the farmers. Watch this video and tell the country why hasn't the minister been dismissed and why hasn't this boy been arrested." She also said in the two minute video that while the minister's son has not been arrested, the opposition leaders are in custody. Priyanka further said it was the farmers who have sacrificed their lives for the country's Independence. The Congress has posted a video of the incident which sparked violence in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday. The video was posted on the official Twitter handle of the Congress at 11.33 p.m. on Monday. The Congress claimed that the video was of the incident in Lakhimpur Kheri. The police, however, did not comment on the video. The video shows a farmer, seen wearing a white shirt and a green turban, landing on a jeep's bonnet as others jump aside on the side to save themselves. The jeep moves on, followed by a black SUV. At least half a dozen individuals can be seen lying on the side of the road as the two vehicles make their way ahead. "The silence from the Modi govt makes them complicit?" read the tweet. Priyanka has been in custody for more than a day now as she was taken in custody early on Monday morning in the Hargaon area in Sitapur . After a brief spat with the policemen, Priyanka was taken to the PAC guest house and remains there till now. Hundreds of Congress workers have been sitting outside the guest house, waiting for their leader's release. Priyanka has said that as soon as she is released, she will proceed to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the bereaved families. In a related development, a senior official said that the government has taken note of the fact that Priyanka spoke to some news channels on phone while she was in custody. "We are investigating the matter and will soon take action against the channels and those responsible for arranging the interactions," the official said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Bengaluru, Oct 5 : Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon Chief has issued a notification to Stock Exchanges in connection with her husband John Shaw's Offshore Trust. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw on Tuesday shared details on social media platform in this regard. "Sharing my Notification to Stock Exchange with facts on my husband John Shaw's offshore trust. Both John and I are law-abiding citizens and have always been in compliance with all the applicable regulations," she said. The notification has been issued to the Secretary, BSE limited and the Secretary, National Stock Exchange of India Limited on September 4. "I would like to explain the situation relating to certain media reports on Pandora Papers which have referred to my husband John Shaw's offshore trust. I would like to state that these stories have grossly misrepresented the facts," she said. "I would therefore like to present the facts. My husband, John Shaw is a UK national who from his foreign currency earnings set up an investment company, Glentec International in 1999 to acquire the shares that Unilever Plc. held in Biocon (long before it became a publicly listed company) and for various other investments in real estate and public markets," she said. Glentec is a registered entity in Mauritius disclosed to both RBI and SEBI. When Biocon went public in 2004, Glentec's shareholding in Biocon was disclosed and this information continues to be in the public domain, she maintained. "Glentec holds 19.76 per cent of Biocon Ltd as per the latest disclosures to the stock exchanges. Glentec is a bonafide offshore company (99 per cent owned by John Shaw) whose income from India largely consists of tax paid dividends received from Biocon Ltd. John Shaw's tax returns filed in India reports his shareholding and directorship in Glentec. "Glentec is audited as per statutes and full disclosure of its dividend income from Indian companies is made," she said. "In 2015, the Deanstone Trust was set up by Glentec to enable philanthropic endowments and for the purpose of estate planning for both John Shaw' and my family members. This is a bonafide offshore trust managed by Independent Trustees who are foreign nationals, not residents in India. "Glentec is the sole settlor of the Deanstone Trust. Both John Shaw and I are neither trustees, nor settlors, nor beneficiaries of this trust. Beneficiaries of this trust, who are family members are foreign nationals and non-resident Indians. Philanthropic beneficiaries of the trust are mainly academic institutions and contributions/ endowments made to them are all in the public domain," she elaborated. "Kunal Kashyap is an advisor to John Shaw and Glentec. In his capacity as an advisor, he is in no position nor has the legal authority to either control or influence the trust. He is neither a settlor, trustee, beneficiary nor a protector of the trust. His role reported as a protector of the trust, in media reports is factually incorrect," she said. "The Overseas Properties mentioned in the reports are mainly owned by Glentec as a part of its real estate investments," she maintained. "I would like to assure you that no Indian resident holds 'the key' to this offshore trust as alleged in these stories. These are completely baseless accusations. Both John Shaw and I are law-abiding citizens and have always been in compliance with all the applicable regulations," she clarified. Reacting to media reports in this regard, she stated, "The media stories reporting on Pandora Papers wrongly implicate my husband's offshore trust, which is a bonafide, legitimate trust and is managed by Independent Trustees. No Indian resident holds "the key" to the trust as alleged in these stories." Seema Ahuja, SVP and Global Head of Communications and Corporate Brand of Biocon Group and Biocon Biologics said, "Maintaining the highest level of transparency and disclosures, we are sharing statements to the stock exchange on John Shaw's offshore trust. "Hope people will understand the facts and will not further indulge in speculation and misleading conversations," she noted. The media report alleged that the Biocon Chief's husband had set up a trust with keys to a person who has been banned by the SEBI for insider trading. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Cab-hailing platform Ola on Tuesday said it has acquired GeoSpoc, a leading provider of geospatial services in the country, for an undisclosed sum. Ola Founder anc CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said that GeoSpoc scientists and engineers will join Ola to develop technologies which will make mobility universally accessible, sustainable and convenient, across shared and personal vehicles. "As shared and personal mobility penetrate deeper to cover 50-100 per cent of India's population in the coming years, Maps will need to improve in a variety of ways," he said. Accurate and rich maps with high user context should be available to the population beyond the first 100 million users, he added. Led by CEO Dhruva Rajan, GeoSpoc incubated as an idea at a Barista coffee shop in Pune in the summer of 2014. Today, it continues to double its growth and moved in to a larger facility in Pune. The start-up now has permanent staff based out of the UK and have expanded geospatial services to more customers. In the US, it launched its platform based on Geoblockchain. Autonomous driving will need HD and 3D maps which will offer superior visualisation, dynamic real time updates based on road, traffic and weather conditions. "Enhanced geo-spatial services will also go a long way in improving urban planning including road networks, better public transportation and pre-empt congestion spots," said Aggarwal. Ola said that it has the data and the expertise, as well as a massive network of 2,3 and 4Ws that provide unprecedented geo-spatial details. "We can layer this data with new sources such as satellite imagery and visual feeds from our network on-ground to build 'Living Maps' that embody the changing landscape of our world," the company said. Last month, EV manufacturer Ola Electric raised over $200 million led by Falcon Edge, Softbank and others, at a valuation of $3 billion. Ola said it will accelerate development of other vehicle platforms including electric motorbike, mass market scooter, and its electric car. Berlin, Oct 5 : After Germany's Saarland was the first state to ease health regulations in schools last week, Bavaria and Berlin followed suit and have relaxed face mask requirements. Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek expressed understanding for the end of mandatory masks in schools, reports Xinhua news agency. "Wearing masks interferes with normal teaching and is stressful for students," she told the Rheinische Post newspaper. Berlin is lifting the mask requirement for younger classes up to sixth grade, while Bavaria generally no longer requires masks to be worn in class. Other states such as Baden-Wuerttemberg and Saxony are considering similar steps. "However, if the mask requirement is relaxed, testing must continue or even increase in schools," Karliczek demanded, with a view to possibly further increasing infection figures after the fall vacations. Germany's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate remained stable and increased only slightly on Monday to 64.7 cases per 100,000 people, from 64.2 cases on the previous day and 61.7 a week ago, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control and prevention. The number of daily cases in Germany was also only slightly above the level a week ago as 3,088 new cases were registered within one day, only 66 more than last week, according to the RKI. The repeal of mandatory masks in schools has been the subject of controversy in Germany for days. While doctors' representatives welcomed it, virologists considered it premature because distance rules do not apply in classrooms and children under 12 cannot be vaccinated. New York, Oct 5 : Less than a week after a judge granted Britney Spears' request to have her father Jamie Spears removed as a conservator of her estate, the pop star has taken to Twitter to thank her activist fans for changing her life, reports Billboard.com. "#FreeBritney movement...I have no words," Spears tweeted Monday. "Because of you guys and your constant resilience in freeing me from my conservatorship...my life is now in that direction !!!!! I cried last night for two hours cause my fans are the best and I know it..." Spears tweeted the message alongside a video of her vibing to Kanye West's 2016 song 'Fade'. 'The Life of Pablo' song peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went top 10 at Rhythmic Airplay. Last Wednesday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny granted Spears' petition to immediately suspend her dad as conservator of her estate, saying that having him in the role no longer served the star's best interests. Shortly after the decision was made public, Britney shared a video of herself flying a plane for the first time, noting on the Instagram post that she was "on cloud 9." New Delhi, Oct 5 : The heads of the local Radio Khyber Nawekht in Afghanistan's Laghman province have claimed that a local commander affiliated with the Taliban stormed into the station's compound and took control of it after the fall of the former Ashraf Ghani government. "On the first day the Taliban came to power, a local commander took custody of the compound," TOLO News quoted Hamid Khyber, head of the radio station, as saying. "In addition, the Taliban threatened the journalists to death and the operation has halted." Salahuddin Ahmadzai, who works at the radio station, said: "The broadcasting has stopped and our colleagues are facing a lot of challenges." The Khyber Nawekht Radio has broadcast for a very long time. The radio station could also be heard in some parts of Nangarhar, a neighbouring province. The local commander has yet to provide details, but the Taliban's Interior Ministry said that an investigation is underway. "Our request from the people is that if the Mujahideen station themselves in their houses or offices, contact the nearby officials. They will pass on the case to us," said Saeed Khosti, a spokesman for the Ministry. This comes as over 150 media outlets have stopped operating within the past two months across Afghanistan. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Oct 5: Between Friday and Monday, a total of 145 Chinese air force planes flew into Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) in a flagrant violation of its sovereignty. China has been regularly, and increasingly, trespassing into Taiwan's marine and air spaces over the last two years. It has been intimidating its eastern democratic neighbour in the hope of annexing it into the mainland one day. But the 145 aircraft over four days was setting a new record of intimidation. In response, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) scrambled combat patrol aircraft and issued radio warnings to the Chinese aircraft. It also alerted its air defence missile systems to monitor Chinese fighters. October 1 is Chinese national day while October 10 is Taiwanese National Day--anathema to Beijing as it cuts at the heart of its One China Policy (OCP). The Chinese air force, known as the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) flew 38 planes on Friday--the Chinese National Day, followed by 39 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday and 52 on Monday into Taiwan's ADIZ. China is not only testing the waters by flexing its muscles, it is also trying to demoralise Taiwan. According to China experts, Beijing is reacting to the increased, and successful, mobilisation by the US, Japan, Taiwan, Australia in the Indo-Pacific in response to China's aggression against its neighbours and also the South China Sea (SCS). The recent AUKUS (Australia, the UK and the US) military pact on equipping Australia with nuclear-power submarines to take on China has also rattled the latter. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) quotes Wen-Ti Sung, an expert on China's foreign policy at the Australian National University, as saying that Beijing's show of force against Taiwan was for international and domestic audiences. Sung said: "It (AUKUS) is a big deal that signals Australia's greater willingness to be engaged with security [issues] in Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. It will be increasing deterrence against China, and China does not look upon [that] very favourably." China has publicly said that it plans to merge Taiwan to the mainland even if it has to annex it militarily. On the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on July 1, 2021, President Xi Jinping had said: "No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity," in reference to Taiwan. The US took note of the air space harassment. In a statement Washington said: "The United States is very concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan." The US, which is a strong ally to a democratic Taiwan, reinforced that it will "continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability". Washington added that American commitment to Taiwan is "rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region". (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chennai, Oct 5 : The Tamil Nadu Health Department will increase fogging and other methods to control mosquito breeding as dengue cases are on the rise in the state, officials said on Tuesday. Health Minister Ma Subramanian had on Monday chaired a meeting of Health Department officials and directed them to take measures for the control of mosquitoes ahead of the northeast monsoon which is slated to arrive in the state from October 15. Subramanian told IANS that his department as well as the health authorities of Chennai and Madurai corporations are on alert, and urged people to take steps to curb mosquito breeding at standing/stagnant water in and around their homes. Tamil Nadu has reported 2,930 dengue cases so far in 2021 and of this, 337 are active. There also been two deaths. Around 20 cases are reported per day in the state. In 2020, on the other hand, the state witnessed 2,410 cases. Health Department officials said that the state has tested more than 80,000 samples in 2021 which is four times more than the general average testing. They have, however, warned the public that the disease may go up in October-November as these months are considered as the dengue season and the increased number of cases beforehand is a matter of worry. Children under 15 years of age are most vulnerable to the disease in Chennai city and Tondiarpet, Ambattur, Teynampet, Kodambakkam, and Adayar zones are the hotspots, according to Greater Chennai Corporation's health officials. Health authorities have asked people to clear water-logging as well as to prevent water from being collected in pots and other utensils as the possibility of the larvae multiplying in such places are high. Hyderabad, Oct 5 : Telangana Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday said he was shocked to see the "ruthless and cold blooded murde"r of farmers in Uttar Pradesh. "Shocked & Horrified to see the ruthless & cold blooded murder of farmers in #Lakhimpur_Kheri of Uttar Pradesh," tweeted Rama Rao, who is also the Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). KTR, as the minister is popularly known, strongly condemned the barbaric incident, and expressed hope the perpetrators will be brought to justice soonest. This is the first reaction by the TRS to Sunday's incident in Lakhimpur Kheri. KTR reacted after a purported video of the incident went viral over social media. The video shows a group of protesters moving forward on a road next to farm fields being mowed down by a SUV that speeds up from behind. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Hundreds of police officers armed with rifles went house to house in Uyghur communities in China's Xinjiang region, pulling people from their homes, handcuffing and hooding them, and threatening to shoot them if they resisted, CNN reported. "We took (them) all forcibly overnight," a former Chinese police detective told CNN. "If there were hundreds of people in one county in this area, then you had to arrest these hundreds of people." The former detective turned whistleblower asked to be identified only as Jiang, to protect his family members who remain in China. In a three-hour interview with CNN, conducted in Europe where he is now in exile, Jiang revealed rare details on what he described as a systematic campaign of torture against ethnic Uyghurs in the region's detention camp system, claims China has denied for years. "Kick them, beat them (until they're) bruised and swollen," Jiang said, recalling how he and his colleagues used to interrogate detainees in police detention centres. "Until they kneel on the floor crying." During his time in Xinjiang, Jiang said every new detainee was beaten during the interrogation process, including men, women and children as young as 14. The methods included shackling people to a metal or wooden "tiger chair" -- chairs designed to immobilise suspects -- hanging people from the ceiling, sexual violence, electrocutions, and waterboarding, according to the former detective. Inmates were often forced to stay awake for days, and denied food and water, CNN quoted Jiang as saying. "Everyone uses different methods. Some even use a wrecking bar, or iron chains with locks," Jiang said. "Police would step on the suspect's face and tell him to confess." The suspects were accused of terror offenses, said Jiang, but he believes that "none" of the hundreds of prisoners he was involved in arresting had committed a crime. "They are ordinary people," he said. CNN cannot independently confirm Jiang's claims, but multiple details of his recollections echo the experiences of two Uyghur victims it interviewed for this report. More than 50 former inmates of the camp system also provided testimony to Amnesty International for a 160-page report released in June, titled "'Like We Were Enemies in a War': China's Mass Internment, Torture, and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang". The US State Department estimates that up to 2 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been detained in internment camps in Xinjiang since 2017. China says the camps are vocational, aimed at combating terrorism and separatism, and has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses in the region, the report said. Jiang said even before his time in Xinjiang, he had become "disappointed" with the Chinese Communist Party due to increasing levels of corruption. "They were pretending to serve the people, but they were a bunch of people who wanted to achieve a dictatorship," he said. In fleeing China and exposing his experience there, he said he wanted to "stand on the side of the people". Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 5 : The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday witnessed trading of charges between the ruling and treasury benches over the now arrested fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stating that no one will be spared. Vijayan added that the Archaeological Survey of India and DRDO have been asked to probe the validity of the antiques which are in possession of Mavunkal. Vijayan was replying to an adjournment motion moved by Congress legislator P.T. Thomas, who linked the role of recently retired State Police chief Loknath Behra and a Kerala woman (Anita Pullalyil) hailing from Trissur, now settled in Italy in the fake antique case. Thomas asked in the House, "How come this lady was present in key conferences of the Kerala Police and also of the Kerala government." He alleged that she was the link between Mavunkal and the government. Replying to this Vijayan took a dig and without naming anyone, said, "All in Kerala know who was the one who had gone and stayed there for treatment. I am not going into all such details now. Everything is now being probed by the police," said Vijayan. Vijayan was referring to State Congress president K. Sudhakaran, who had approached Mavunkal for some skin ailment. Though Vijayan did not name Sudhakaran, it's known to all, as Sudhakaran himself had admitted that he had visited Mavunkal. Vijayan informed that four different cases and a criminal case have also been registered against Mavunkal and none will escape the law. Thomas pointed out that Behra went to the extent of providing police security to the antique museum of the fraudster antique dealer. "All have seen the pictures of top police officials (Behra and now serving additional director general of police Manoj Abraham) visiting Mavunkal's museum and it's surprising that even after suspicion was raised and a letter was there from the police, it took two years for the police to probe the case. It's really surprising that you (Vijayan) said you came to know of this fraud only recently, which means you did not see the police report filed two years back," said Thomas and pointed out that the authenticity of a copper plate inscription on Sabarimala in Mavunkal's possession has also now come up. Vijayan, however, pointed out that since the entire case is being probed which includes the issue on Sabarimala also, at the moment he will not be able to reveal any more details. With Vijayan's reply, Speaker M.B. Rajesh was satisfied and he denied leave for the adjournment motion and soon Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan got up and said it was natural that public personalities like politicians will be photographed at various places. "The Intelligence had given a very detailed report in 2019 about Mavunkal and his deeds, but nothing was done. It was the police which gave credibility to this fraudster by providing security and top police officials visited him. We will cooperate with any agency and no need to h target anyone and if anyone is targeted, we will surely hit back," said Satheesan and added that even film stars had gone for beauty treatment. Satheesan later walked out with other opposition legislators, after permission was denied to discuss this issue. 54-year-old Mavunkal took all his high profile guests into his fold by showcasing antiques in his collection, which he claimed included the "staff of Moses" and "two of the 30 silver coins that were taken by Judas to cheat Jesus Christ". Police said he had showcased these "rare" items -- a throne said to be used by Tipu Sultan, as well as a huge collection of old Qurans, Bibles (Old Testament and New Testament), and old handwritten copies of Bhagavad Gita. Mavunkal used to bring several VIPs to his palatial residence, a part of which was converted into a museum to house his 'precious' antiques. Last month he was arrested by the Crime Branch after six people complained of getting cheated by Mavunkal. Lakhimpur Kheri : , Oct 5 (IANS) The family of a 19-year-old farmer, who died in Sunday's violence here, has refused to cremate the body until they are provided the autopsy report. Lovepreet Singh and three other farmers were among the nine killed in Sunday's violence during a protest against Union Minister Ajay Mishra's visit. Four farmers were allegedly run over by a car in the minister's convoy. "My son was crushed under a car. There has been no action against the person responsible. The administration is trying to cover up," said Lovepreet's father and added, "He had left home saying he was heading out for a good cause." Lovepreet's body has been kept in a casket and the entire family is waiting for the autopsy report. "When he was taken to the hospital, he called and said, 'Please come quickly'. When we reached the hospital, he was no more, said his distraught father. Farmers allege that the car which mowed down Lovepreet was being driven by the minister's son, Ashish Mishra. The Uttar Pradesh Police have filed a case against Mishra, but no arrests have yet been made. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Oct 5 : The government has resumed the blocking of E-way bill (EWB) generation facility for all the taxpayers who fail to file their monthly or quarterly GST return for two successive periods. E-way bill is a permit needed for inter-state and intra-state transportation of goods. If this permit is blocked, the business of traders dealing sale of goods or service across multiple locations in the country would come to a standstill. As per an advisory issued by The Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN), a non-profit, non-government organisation which manages the entire IT system of the GST portal, the government has resumed blocking of EWB facility -- suspended earlier due to the pandemic -- for all taxpayers. From the tax period August 2021 onwards, the system will periodically check the status of returns filed in Form GSTR-3B or the statements filed in Form GST CMP-08 as per the regular procedure followed before the pandemic, and block the generation of EWBs as per rules, it said. So, taxpayers, traders, and businesses requiring to move their goods or render services in different states would require to be up to date on filing their monthly and quarterly GST filing or else their EWB will be temporarily suspended by tax authorities, it added. "To avail EWB generation facility on EWB Portal on continuous basis, you are, therefore, advised to file your pending GSTR 3B returns/ CMP-08 Statement on regular basis," the GSTN advisory said. GSTR-3B is a self-declared summary GST return filed every month (quarterly for QRMP or quarterly return filing and monthly payment of tax scheme). Form CMP-08 is a special statement-cum-challan used by composition dealers to declare the details or summary of his/her self-assessed tax payable for a given quarter. It also acts as a challan for making payment of tax. These two forms provide valuable information about taxpayers and is part of compliance measures put in place to keep the GST system working without discrepancies. Due to the pandemic, the government had given some relaxation on compliance measures to taxpayers. With economy and businesses fast returning to normal after Covid second wave, the government is trying to restore measures announced earlier. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Seoul, Oct 5 : Samsung is planning to launch its next premium flagship, the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ as well as the Galaxy S22 Ultra and now a new report has claimed that the company is planning on producing 20 million units of the latest flagship phones. According to The Elec, around 50 per cent or more of the production and shipping will be for the base Galaxy S22. This model will reportedly sport a smaller 6.1-inch display compared to the 6.2 inch on its predecessor, the Galaxy S21. The Plus version would account for 20 percent of the total units of the entire series being produced and shipped while the Galaxy S22 Ultra will make up for the remaining 20 to 30 percent. The upcoming series will enter mass production in November this year. The smartphones in the lineup will be available for purchase from January 2022 and all the models in the series are expected to come powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 898 chipset. In terms of specifications, the upcoming series may feature a new 10MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom capabilities as opposed to a high-resolution sensor with poor optical zoom. Samsung is planning to take a different approach on the Galaxy S22/S22+ models that will arrive early next year. The Galaxy S22 series smartphones will pack a 10MP telephoto lens that supports 3x optical zoom rather than the hybrid zoom of the Galaxy S20/S21 era. Previous rumours suggested that the Galaxy S22 Ultra is expected to continue the dual 10-megapixel telephoto camera setup on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. One of the lenses will be a periscope lens that will offer 10x optical zoom. Galaxy S22+ is expected to be equipped with a 4500 mAh battery. In terms of software, Galaxy S22 will be pre-installed with OneUI 4.x based on Android 12. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Taliban forces have unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Afghanistans Daykundi province after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed. The killings took place in Kahor village of Khidir district on August 30. Eleven of the victims were former members of the Afghan National Defence Security Forces (ANDSF), and two were civilians. According to witness testimony gathered by Amnesty International, the Taliban extra-judicially executed nine of the ANDSF members after they had surrendered, killings that appear to be war crimes. Two civilians were killed as they attempted to flee, including a 17-year-old girl was shot when the Taliban opened fire on a crowd of people. Amnesty International verified photographs and video evidence taken in the aftermath of the killings, and identified the location of Kahor village, where they happened. "These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General. "They repeatedly violate the rights of those they perceive as their adversaries, even killing those who have already surrendered. The Taliban say they are not targeting former employees of the previous government, but these killings contradict such claims. "The Taliban must immediately cease these cruel acts of revenge, and ensure employees of the former government and their families can live safely in Afghanistan. The new government must make clear that such grave violations will not be tolerated, and that those responsible will be prosecuted." Verifying human rights abuses committed by the Taliban since they took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 has proven difficult, as the group have cut mobile phone service in many regions. Shortly after the fall of Kabul, Amnesty International documented how Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Ghazni province. The Taliban took control of Daykundi province on August 14. An estimated 34 former ANDSF members initially sought safety in Khidir district, and had government military equipment and weaponry with them. They then agreed to surrender to the Taliban as the group established its authority over vast swathes of the region. Mohammad Azim Sedaqat, who was leading the surrender, arranged to decommission the group's weapons in the presence of the Taliban. On August 29, the men negotiated to surrender fully to the Taliban. On August 30, an estimated 300 Taliban fighters arrived in convoy close to Dahani Qul village, where the ANDSF members were staying, some with family members. As the ANDSF members attempted to leave the area with their families, one vehicle remained stuck close to Kahor village. When the Taliban fighters caught up with them, they opened fire on the crowd and killed the 17-year-old girl, called Masuma. One of the ANDSF members then fired back, killing one Taliban fighter and wounding another. The Taliban continued to shoot as the families fled, killing two ANDSF members caught in crossfire as they were fleeing the scene. After nine more ANDSF members surrendered, the Taliban promptly took them to a nearby river basin and executed them. On August 31, the day after the killings, villagers took the bodies to Dahani Qul, where they were then brought to family plots for burial. Amnesty International reviewed and verified information confirming the locations of two of the graves, and the identities of the people buried there. The Taliban then told remaining family members that anyone who had fled should return, and surrender within three days. Interviewees told Amnesty International that one senior Taliban official warned: "I have killed people for the past 20 years. Killing is easy for me. I can kill again." On September 1, Sadiqullah Abed, the Taliban-appointed chief of police for Daykundi province, denied any killings had happened and instead only confirmed that a member of the Taliban had been wounded in an attack in the province. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Afghan merchants said that carpet exports to several countries, including India, have been significantly reduced due to the closure of air corridors, adding that there was also a decrease in domestic sales. "We have products, but exports have stopped," TOLO News quoted Mohibullah Kohi, a merchant, as saying. "The air-corridor existed before, the ports were opened, and we exported products to Europe, the US, the UAE, and to India," he added. The domestic market has also been affected, according to Mohammad Ayoub, another trader. "During the past 40 to 50 days, our business has been severed. We had customers outside (Afghanistan ... We sell the carpets but can't transfer the money." Samira, who has been working in the carpet industry for more than four years, said: "The situation has changed more than ever because earlier the price of the carpets was good and the work we were doing was worth the money, but since the Islamic Emirate came, the carpets we are weaving are not being exported to foreign countries and the price has dropped." This comes as the chamber of commerce and investment said that if a substantial market is not found for the carpets, the industry will collapse. "The air corridor has been closed for the last month and beyond one month," said Khan Jan Alokozai, a member of the chamber of commerce and investment. "This has caused big damage to our exports, our exports have not only been reduced, but have completely stopped." Afghan carpets recently comprised a billion-dollar-per-year industry. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Television actor Karan Kundrra, who is one of the 15 contestants in the latest edition of 'Bigg Boss', does not worry about controversies created in the show as he says he is not a person who shies away from letting people know about his life. Talking about contestants getting into controversies in the reality show, Karan told IANS: "I am not a person who shies away from letting people know about my life because I chose this life. Everything is out there." He added: "Yes, it is a different level of exposure where people will be watching us 24x7 but at the same time it has got its on perks and as long as I know I am not duping anybody or being irrational or injustice happening because of me I am good. I am not scared of that part." Karan is a known personality as he has worked in popular shows such as 'Kitani Mohabbat Hai', 'Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai' and even movies including 'Mubarakan' and 'Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare'. Does being a known figure give him an edge over other contestants in the show, which airs on Colors? "It's a perspective. There are a lot of people who already know me and associate with me. But that gives an edge to other people because they have seen me on other shows and they have a perception about me." He added: "This is a very stressful and challenging situation and people will get to know the exact real person I am. It could go anyway." What according to him are the pros and cons of being a part of a reality show? Karan, who has judged, participated and even hosted in the genre, said: "I have been a participant before in 'Zara Nachke Dikha' as well. I have been on the other side, which is the judging side and the hosting side." He added: "For the first time I am crossing that line after a long time so there are advantages and disadvantages of both the things because I like to over analyse things because I would put myself in the hosts' shoes. It might be difficult or easy for me. I am ready for both." Latest updates on Bigg Boss Season 15 -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Srinagar, Oct 5 : Congress workers led by G.A. Mir, state Congress committee president staged a protest in Srinagar on Tuesday against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's arrest in Uttar Pradesh. Protesting Congress leaders and workers started from the party headquarters on the Maulana Azad Road in Srinagar and later took to the road when police intervened to disperse them. The protesters shouted slogans against Priyanka's arrest and demanded the resignation of the Yogi government. Addressing the media, at the party headquarters, Mir said that the police highhandedness against Priyanka was condemnable and it reflected the lawlessness in the state. "Priyankaji wanted to sympathise with the farmers and was alone. Her arrest is condemnable," Mir said. Priyanka is presently party general secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Congress. Mir said all the Congress workers had gathered at the party headquarters to send out the message that they all were in solidarity with the farmers of the country. "The police is not allowing us to move outside of our office. We are here to register our protest," he said. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Consumer electronics brand AIWA is going to add new product verticals apart from just audio products in India, ranging from video products to lifestyle goods to achieve a billion-dollar business, a top executive said on Tuesday. Speaking to IANS, Ajay Mehta, MD, AIWA India. said that they are happy to announce the new standard in luxury acoustics from AIWA Japan with the range of MI-X Series and SB-X series. "The series will deliver an amazing experience with an enhanced sound and luxurious quality. Additionally, with the range, we expect to increase our market share significantly. The India market has always been very special to AIWA and with these devices, we hope to soon see AIWA as the 'brand of choice' in the country," Mehta said. The company unveiled MI -X450 PRO ENIGMA and MI -X 150 Retro Plus X speakers as part of MI-X Series. They are priced at Rs 59,990 and Rs 24,990 respectively. Meanwhile, SB-X350A, SB-X350J and SB-X30 are priced at Rs 19,990, Rs 17,990 and Rs 2,799, respectively. The new Hi-Fi range will be available at Reliance Digital Stores, Amazon and key retail partners across the country. MI -X450 PRO ENIGMA comes with a triple-driver set-up, Bluetooth version 5.0 and built-in Lithium-ion battery. It supports a frequency response of 50 Hz to 15 KHz. Additionally, it has a custom engineered audio limiter which helps in delivering distortion free sound at the maximum volume. MI-X 150 Retro Plus X reflects AIWA's best sound-first philosophy. Built with best in-class technology and the highest quality audio components, MI -X 150 Retro Plus X delivers the best-in-class audio performance. It is also equipped with high efficiency amplifiers - class H & AB and Dual-link Technology that significantly improve the quality of audio. SB-X350A, SB-X350J and SB-X30 are from SB-X350 series. The series is known for serious audio performance and is fast becoming the reference for audiophiles across the world. Both SB-X350A and SB-X350J have TWS Multi-Link Technology to give synced audio playback from multiple speakers, the company said. Founded in 1951, Japan-based Aiwa has established itself as a pioneer in the consumer electronics space and is considered one of the most recognisable brands in the personal audio segment. The brand has returned in various key markets across the world, including India. New Delhi, Oct 5 : V Ramesh's current body of work, a series on still life at Gallery Threshold, carry strong emotional resonance and are much more than the physical objects they represent as either memento mori or vanitas genres. Ramesh loves to juxtapose that which is alive in contrast to something which is deteriorated showing the impermanence of the body. The process of painting engaged him over the pandemic period in an intensive yet spontaneous quest to retrace his journey afresh by using watercolours and gouache. Ramesh looks for that transparency of being able to look through a membrane of a vessel and see whole world in its interior. Rather like the Doha of Kabir which invokes the image of transformed worlds in the inner space contained in the water pot. Ramesh's watercolours have that same quality -- of allowing the viewer to be able to look through something that is impermeable and instilling or imbuing these images with poetic metaphors. This has been liberating for him as, besides re-looking at simple objects, he has succeeded in the grounding of imagery in time and place by re-imagining and even creating a memory. The various stations of his quest reappear transformed into a fuller experience. One of the themes that have occupied V Ramesh is the connectedness of mankind through the oneness of human experience or existence. He constantly questions the physicality of the body and tries to go beneath the skin to develop a plural idiom in his art practice. The idea of the sacred runs through his works as a muted melody, however, this coexists in a dynamic diversity of images from disparate origins, through sustained connections. Ramesh speaks of suffusing his subjects with feelings and strong emotional resonances. This makes the ordinary mundane daily objects become extraordinary. Guwahati, Oct 5 : Assam CID has registered a case against 36 teachers who managed jobs with fake Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) certificates and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe the scam, officials said on Tuesday. An Assam Police spokesman said that 36 teachers got government jobs on the basis of forged and fabricated documents in the state's Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) comprising Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri, and Kokrajhar districts. "The 36 teachers have generated forged TET certificates as if they have qualified the examination and submitted them to the Director of Education, Kokrajhar and got appointment in the schools of BTR," he said. A preliminary enquiry was conducted to verify the genuineness of the allegations against the teachers and it found the accusations to be true. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed the CID to register a case and investigate. The spokesman said that after registering the case on Sunday, operations were launched in various districts to trace the accused and few accused have been brought to CID Headquarters, while several others remained absconding. The TET qualification, according to the guidelines of the National Council for Teacher Education, is mandatory criteria required for a person to be eligible for an appointment as a teacher in government schools. Ramallah, Oct 5 : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a visiting US official that he is ready to go for a peace process with Israel based on international resolutions. The official Palestinian news agency (WAFA) reported that Abbas made the remarks during a meeting held in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Hady Amr, the U.S Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs. Abbas told Amr that it is necessary to hold an international conference for peace in the Middle East under an international framework to end the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday citing WAFA as saying. "The current situation is unacceptable," Abbas told Amr, calling for exerting pressure on Israel "to stop its practices against the Palestinians and stop settlement activities and annexation of the Palestinian land". The WAFA report said that Abbas explained to Amr the meaning of the online speech he (Abbas) addressed last week before the UN General Assembly, which included initiatives aimed at ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. On October 2, Abbas said that if Israel doesn't accept the principle of the two-state solution, the Palestinians will go for other options, including the implementation of the UN Security Council's resolution passed in 1947, or choose to establish a democratic state. Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which were backed by the United States for nine months, had stopped in 2014 due to deep disagreements on Israeli settlement and the recognition of establishing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are claimed by the Palestinians, in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since. The Palestinians want to establish an independent Palestinian state on the territories that Israel occupied in 1967, including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Gandhinagar, Oct 5 : Crushing the opposition by bagging 41 ward seats in the civic polls, the BJP ensured that it will rule the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC), polling for which was held on Sunday. This thumping victory gives the ruling party in Gujarat much more confidence for the assembly elections slated next year. The BJP scored over arch rival Congress, bagging 41 ward seats out of the total 44 seats. Two seats were claimed by the Congress with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) debuting in the political arena here with one seat. The GMC saw approximately over 56 percent polling in eleven wards of the state's capital. This was higher than in the last elections held in 2016, which was 52.02 percent. Polling went off peacefully with no untoward incident reported anywhere. With the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party in the political scenario of Gujarat, the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections saw a three pronged battle on Sunday. The Gujarat SEC held the GMC elections at 284 polling booths. Out of the total booths, four were marked as extremely sensitive, 144 sensitive and 136 normal booths. Out of the total 2.30 lakh registered voters in the state capital Gandhinagar, approximately over 56 percent exercised their democratic right to elect 44 councillors from 162 candidates across 11 wards of the GMC. Of the 2,81,897 voters, 1,58,354 exercised their franchise on Sunday, with 86,046 male voters and 72,308 female voters. The least polling was registered in the Panchdev temple ward, in the heart of the city, with approximate 37.41 percent and the maximum was registered in the Kolawada-Vavol ward with approximate 66.93 percent polling. After the delimitation, newer areas of the adjoining villages have been added to the Municipal Corporation area. The majority of the wards comprised of rural areas, barring a few with only city areas. Both the BJP and the Congress had fielded 44 candidates each, while 40 candidates were from the AAP, 14 from the Bahujan Samaj Party, 2 from the Nationalist Congress Party, 6 from other parties and 11 independent candidates. "I am glad that the responsibility entrusted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to us, was successfully achieved. Although, our state president was disappointed with not winning the remaining three seats. We will continue to work towards development," said Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Gandhinagar is the state capital and a significant number of residents are government employees. Considering this the municipal corporation elections assume a special significance. Besides that, this is the first major election after Bhupendra Patel took charge as Gujarat chief minister. The GMC elections also hold significance, as this was the last major election before the Assembly elections scheduled in December 2022. This result clearly gives a glimpse of public response to the Congress and also the new kid on the block, the AAP, and it seems that they have rejected both of them. In the previous 2016 elections, the BJP and the Congress had both won 16 seats each out of the total 32 seats. However, within days, two Congress councillors defected to the BJP, paving the way for the saffron party to form the ruling body in the GMC. Pravin Patel, "one of the defectors", was then elected mayor. The GMC polls were earlier scheduled for April 10, 2021, but were postponed due to the pandemic. Seoul, Oct 5 : Nine out of 10 South Korean adults have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, helping the country to get closer to a goal of creating herd immunity, health authorities said on Tuesday. A total of 39.7 million people have received their first dose till date, accounting for 77.4 per cent of the country's 51.3 million population or 90 per cent of those aged over 18, Yonhap News Agency quoted the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) as saying. The number of fully vaccinated people stood at 27.2 million, or 53 per cent of the total or 61.6 percent of the adult population, the KDCA said. Health authorities expressed optimism that the country will be able to fully inoculate over 70 per cent of the population by the end of October thanks to people's willingness to get vaccinations and smooth vaccine supplies "The high vaccination rate is expected to help people get back to normal in phases," Hong Jung-ik, who is in charge of the vaccination program, said. The vaccination rate among those aged 60 and over was higher than those in their 20s, 30s and 40s as the elderly populations were given the priority in the early stage of the vaccination campaign, which began in late February, according to the KDCA. Nine out of 10 people aged 70 and over were fully vaccinated, far surpassing 38.3 percent of inoculation rate for those aged between 18 and 29. South Korea is reviewing when to shift the anti-virus strategy into a scheme that focuses on treating seriously ill coronavirus patients from the current one designed to curb virus cases when it completes vaccinations of more than 80 per cent eligible population. To speed up the inoculation drive, the government said it aims to provide further perks for vaccinated people, such as increasing the number of people for private gatherings. On Tuesday, the country added 1,575 more Covid-19 cases, raising the total infection tally to 321,352, the KDCA said. The overall death toll stood at 2,524. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) October 05 : Kareena Kapoor Khan has started posting pictures of her second son Jehangir Ali Khan. On Tuesday, the Good Newwz actor took to her Instagram handle and shared an unseen throwback picture of her bundle of joy. Sharing a picture of Jeh lying down in his crib, wearing a T-shirt and short, Kareena wrote in her caption, My life, your cheeks and cuddles complete me, adding a couple of heart emojis. Kareena didn't reveal his entire face although she has been stepping out with Jeh now, and allowing the paparazzi to click his photos. Image Source: Instagram/kareenakapoorkhan Kareena Kapoor posts cute pic of Jeh Kareena also shared pictures from her recent vacations to the Maldives, which also included Jeh. She along with Saif Ali Khan and elder son Taimur celebrated as the little one turned six months old. The actress took to Instagram and shared a picture with the caption, "Love, happiness, and courage to you always. Happy 6 months my life." The picture showed Kareena holding Jeh in her arms, wearing a swimsuit. Kareena also attended niece Inaaya's birthday recently with Taimur and Jeh. Paparazzi clicked Kareena carrying Jeh in her hands. Kareena and Saif welcomed Jeh in February this year. Recently, Saifs sister, Saba Ali Khan also shared a couple of pictures of Jeh that oodled cuteness. Sharing the pictures on her Instagram stories, Saba wrote, My Jeh Jaan. Love you. Now and always," In the picture, Jeh can be seen curled up in her arms. On the work front, Kareena will be seen in Laal Singh Chaddha along with Aamir Khan. The film is an official remake of Tom Hanks Forrest Gump. Also starring Naga Chaitanya and Mona Singh, the film is scheduled for Christmas release this year. Kareena has turned a producer and has signed a new film with Hansal Mehta, and will co-produce the venture with Ekta Kapoor. The actress has also released her book Kareena Kapoor Khan's Pregnancy Bible, after welcoming Jeh in February. New Delhi, Oct 5 : To address environmental issues in the national capital, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday launched an advanced Green War Room and Green App that will look into the problems pertaining to 10 kinds of pollution throughout the winter season. "People of Delhi can register complaints regarding 10 kinds of pollution via Green Delhi App throughout this winter season (ie from October to February). Our 21 member team will work actively during this time," he said, while launching the 24X7 Green War Room. The room is permanent which will look into the problem related to waste, bio-mass burning, industrial pollution, construction or demolition related pollution, waste on roads, pollution emitting vehicles, noise pollution, among others, Rai added. "Green War Room is a joint platform of 27 departments of Delhi and Central government and the Municipal Corporation. Complaints received via Green Delhi App are resolved with the help of the joint action plan of these departments. Every department will have a nodal point and nearly 2,500 people have been trained in batches for the proper implementation of the plan," he said. The Green Delhi App was launched in 2020 to enable Delhi residents register complaints about violation of anti-pollution guidelines. However, the app was only available on Android phones then. "From now on, the app is also available for ios users," Rai said, adding that the Delhi government had received 27,000 complaints, out of which over 23,000 have already been resolved. "The 150 pollution hotspots that we have come to know about via the app will be continuously monitored in this room," he said. A team of 70 Green Marshals have been set up who will work as a task force to ensure whether the registered complaints have actually been solved or not. The minister also said that the process for recruitment of 50 engineers have already been started by Delhi Pollution Control Committee to fill vacancies. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Gurugram, Oct 5 : A 67-year-old former army man, who was arrested for allegedly murdering his daughter-in-law and three members of his tenant's family including a child, has committed suicide by hanging himself with a towel in Gurugram's Bhondsi jail on Tuesday morning, the police said. Singh was lodged in Bhondsi jail on August 27 after he committed the crime on August 25. As per the preliminary information, he was found dead at 6.40 a.m. in the washroom. The jail staff could not locate him during the routine attendance, said the police. The police said further proceedings have been initiated and a magistrate is conducting a judicial enquiry. "The incident took place between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Tuesday. No suicide note has been recovered so far. We are probing the matter," Jagbir Singh, station house officer (SHO), Bhondsi police station, said. On August 25, the former army man had surrendered before the police station with a machete in his hand after confessing that he killed his daughter-in-law and three members of his tenant's family, including their nine-year-old daughter. However, the tenant's second daughter, aged 6, had survived the incident. The accused's wife was also arrested by the police for allegedly accompanying him while he hacked the four to death and for being part of the conspiracy. During the probe, the police had said the accused had disclosed that he suspected that his daughter-in-law had an extra-marital affair with his tenant, and he committed the crime. The tenant's family, however, dismissed the illicit relationship story and alleged that they had a rent-related dispute with the accused. The family of the accused's daughter-in-law had also alleged that Singh and his son were eyeing a plot in her name and killed her to grab it. In connection with the incident, a case of murder and other relevant sections of the IPC were registered against the accused and his wife on the complaint of the tenant's family at Rajendra Park police station. Sydney, Oct 5 : Dominic Perrottet has elected as the 46th premier of Australia's most populous state of New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday after his predecessor Gladys Berejiklian resigned on October 1 in the wake of a corruption probe. The 39-year-old former NSW Treasurer won in a landslide internal vote by the state's ruling Liberal party with 39 to five ballots against NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes, reports Xinhua news agency. "It is an honour and absolute privilege to be elected as the parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and premier of NSW," Perrottet told the media here after he was elected. Berejiklian's resignation came after it was revealed that she was under investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), regarding a conflict of interest around grant funding she oversaw. The ICAC will probe whether she breached the public trust and was liable to encourage the corruption of her former partner, former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire. The former Premier had been the face of NSW's fight against the pandemic throughout 2020, and has navigated the state's course through the 2021 Delta variant outbreak that has seen lockdowns drag on in Sydney and surrounding areas for over 14 weeks. Perrottet is taking the reins of leadership at what is a critical juncture as NSW is scheduled to begin easing restrictions from October 11 as the 70 per cent vaccination rate is reached. During Tuesday's press conference, Perrottet acknowledged Berejiklian's "tireless dedication" to the state's fight against the pandemic. "It is my hope that I continue the strong leadership that Gladys has shown throughout this pandemic," he said. Second in command was handed to NSW's Minister for Jobs, Investment, and Tourism Stuart Ayres after former Deputy Premier John Barilaro also announced his surprise resignation on Monday. Lucknow, Oct 5 : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has said that it would legally fight the case of four deceased farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra announced setting up a team of senior lawyers for fighting the case of farmers on a pro bono basis, to ensure that the guilty do not get away. The BSP had earlier announced that it would provide legal assistance to Khushi Dubey, a minor Bikru widow who has been languishing in jail since July last year without any apparent charges against her. The decision comes after BSP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra was put under house arrest late on Sunday night in Lucknow which prevented him from going to Lakhimpur Kheri. The MP's house arrest continued till Monday night. BSP chief Mayawati condemned the state government's high handedness. "BSP general secretary SC Mishra was put under house arrest on Sunday so that a party delegation could not go to Lakhimpur Kheri and understand what had actually happened there. I condemn this action. Since a BJP minister is involved, a fair investigation does not seem possible. Therefore, a judicial enquiry is must to ensure fair probe and justice for the victims in this incident in which nine people have died," she said. Meanwhile, a letter petition has been moved before the Allahabad High Court seeking CBI probe or judicial inquiry into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which several persons, including farmers, died on Sunday. In a letter moved by the Prayagraj Legal Aid Clinic, a request has been made that in case of CBI probe, the entire investigation be monitored by the high court. The petitioner has sought strict action against the guilty. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Canberra, Oct 5 : The Australian government has secured access to 300,000 courses of the "promising" treatment for Covid-19 as the country continues to battle the third wave of the pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Tuesday. In a joint statement, Morrison and Hunt said that the government has ordered 300,000 courses of oral antiviral treatment Molnupiravir, which is currently in late stage clinical trials, reports Xinhua news agency. The makers of Molnupiravir, US pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, have recently announced that Molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19 by 50 per cent at a planned interim analysis of the Phase 3 trial. Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, MSD will supply Molnupiravir pills to Australia if it is approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which Morrison and Hunt said could occur early in 2022. Molnupiravir is a capsule that is taken twice a day for five days by adult patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 symptoms and does not need to be refrigerated, allowing it to be used in the community or as a targeted intervention at high-risk locations and in rural areas. On Tuesday morning, Australia reported more than 2,400 new locally-acquired Covid-19 infections, including 1,763 in Victoria, the highest daily tally in any state since the start of the pandemic. The country's total infection tally and death toll have now spiked to 115,800 and 1,357. According to the latest data released by the Department of Health, 79.9 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and 57.4 per cent are fully vaccinated. Mumbai, Oct 5 : Disney India on Tuesday announced a line-up of theatrical titles, commencing with the multi-starrer 'Eternals', releasing this Diwali in six languages - English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. The slate will bring in high-octane action adventures which will take the audience on a journey to the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with 'Eternals', 'Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness', 'Thor: Love and Thunder', 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever', 'Blade', 'The Marvels'. The line-up also includes the much-awaited sequel to 'Avatar', and animation movies including 'Encanto', 'Lightyear', and 'Turning Red'. "In the coming months we will have an exciting slate that includes many Super Hero spectacles ushering in the new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe starting with the release of Eternals this Diwali," said Bikram Duggal, Vice President and Head of Studios, Star and Disney India. Duggal added: "Cinema has always been a key medium that brings people together for memorable experiences, and we are looking forward to creating magic on the big screen once again with our diverse and exciting content," Disney India's forthcoming line-up includes 'The Last Duel' which will hit the screens on October 22. Following that, 'Ron's Gone Wrong' will release on October 29. 'Eternals' will light up the screens on Diwali on November 5 and the animated film 'Encanto' will release on November 26. 'West Side Story' and 'The King's Man' will release on December 10 and 24 respectively. That's not it. In 2022, the first movie to release is 'Death on the Nile' on February 11. Following it is 'Turning Red' in March. Marvel Studios' 'Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness' is slated to hit the screens on March 25. 'Thor: Love and Thunder' is slated for May 6 release. Disney Pixar's 'Lightyear' is set for June 17. 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever', 'Blade' and 'The Marvels' will be released on July 8, October 7 and November 11, 2022, respectively. The sequel to 'Avatar' is scheduled for December 16, 2022. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chennai, Oct 5 : Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner S. Palanikumar is conducting virtual meeting of officials of all the nine districts where the first phase of rural local body polls will be held on Wednesday. The second phase will be held on October 9. The AIADMK had filed a petition in the Madras High Court, alleging that the ruling DMK and its allies was indulging in activities like spending money, distributing liquor, and other freebies for the voters and the court ordered the State Election Commission to conduct strict monitoring to prevent any unhealthy and corrupt practices. Heavy police deployment has been made in all the nine districts - Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Ranipet, Vellore, Kallakurichi, Villupuram, Tiruppatur, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi - and the police have rounded up history-sheeters and anti-social elements who were earlier charge sheeted and now out on bail. The recent killings and beheadings at Tirunelveli have led to DGP C. Sylendra Babu holding high-level meetings at Madurai and Dindigul and directing checks on sale of knives, machetes, and other such deadly metallic objects for purposes other than domestic and agricultural uses. State police have also been directed to strictly monitor the circulation of liquor and money among the voters. There are reports that in districts like Kallakurichi and Tenkasi a panchayat president candidate is spending more than Rs 1 crore. The money is spent for liquor, food, and gifts, and cash was also distributed. Some people allege that money is being freely circulated and some families have even received money to the tune of Rs 10,000 per family. Subramanian S., a farmer in Tenkasi told IANS, " Money is being circulated... I am an AIADMK worker and we have already pointed out to the district and block level officers on money spent by the candidates including on cash gifts and liquor for the voters." However, police officers said that the money circulation is curtailed. "Money was spent in large amounts during all the elections in this part of the world but this time, there has been strict monitoring by the police and the State Election Commission and we have cut the supply to a large extent... there could be cases wherein it has happened but by and large, money circulation is reduced," a senior police officer told IANS. New Delhi, Oct 5 : US President Joe Biden's administration is warning China over its increasing provocations against Taiwan, a critical flashpoint amid the ongoing poor relations between Washington and Beijing, The Hill reported. Taiwan raised the alarm after Chinese warplanes violated its airspace nearly 150 times over the course of about four days, leaving top Taiwanese, and some American, officials worried about a military confrontation. "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan, and we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. That's why we will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The US has a unique relationship with the island, providing military and other types of support since China's Nationalist government fled there in 1949 following the Chinese Civil War. But the US has held back from creating official ties with the Taipei as part of agreements with Beijing, The Hill news report said. Taiwan considers itself the legitimate government of the Chinese people, while Beijing criticizes it as a rogue territory. Taipei and Beijing have gone through periods of rapprochement, but the Chinese Communist Party has increasingly threatened reunification through military intervention, the report added. Beijing also takes exception with Washington's support of Taipei, accusing the US of meddling in internal Chinese affairs. "Taiwan belongs to China and the US is in no position to make irresponsible remarks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday, reacting to warnings issued by the Biden administration. Psaki described the US' commitment to Taiwan as "rock solid" on Monday and said American officials have been clear "privately and publicly" about the administration's concerns related to China's behaviour toward Taiwan. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Veer Savarkar: The man who could have prevented Partition by Uday Mahurkar and Chirayu Pandit is a candid, self-professed effort to set the record straight on the rightwing icon. Such an attempt would need to pitch Savarkar against the leading lights of the time, and it does so. The book, expected out later this month, suggests a retelling of history and makes two essential points - the missed opportunities during the national movement that Savarkar views might have helped avoid, and the times that he seemed prescient in identifying key problems, primarily on national security. The preface by Mahurkar says: The epilogue in this book deals with how the absence of Savarkarian vision has affected our national psyche and prevents us from realizing our true potential. It illustrates with examples how the lack of Savarkarian vision has led to distortions in history which, in turn, have affected our national vision and left our mind fractured in many other areas. It further analyses what today's India would have been like had Savarkarian vision been implemented soon after Independence. A reading of the preface suggests a link between nationalism and militarization. At this point, Savarkar is positioned against Gandhi, Congress and non-violence. Mahurkar describes how he tries to analyse Savarkar's belief vis-a-vis the Congress that complete non-violence against an 'unprincipled enemy' is a perversion of virtue. It goes on to suggest that the Balakot strike was based on this belief. Mahurkar, in fact, draws a causal link between the basis of Pakistan and the 'Muslim-appeasement policy of the Congress'. It is natural, therefore, that such a line of thinking should lead to the diminution of Gandhi - even Sardar Patel does not appear as the great unifier as he was a signatory to the resolution to give provinces the right to self-determination. The book recalls a story, now increasingly in the public domain, of the meeting between Britain's post-War prime minister Clement Attlee and West Bengal's then acting governor P.B. Chakraborty where the former noted that Gandhi's influence on Britain's decision to grant independence to India was 'minimal'. It refers instead to the role of the Azad Hind Fauj and the threat of Indian soldiers returning from Europe at the end of WWII as more notable reasons. This fits in neatly with the Savarkarian postulate. Any interpretation of history, especially, one that carries a political message, would be selective in approach. The role of the Azad Hind Fauj, the naval uprising and the threat of returning Indian soldiers notwithstanding, there were other factors that were just about as important - like Britain's own diminished position in the post-War global power equations, America's role in leaning on Britain on the issue of India's independence. And of course, Gandhi's unquestioned role since he came on the scene to organise the Indian masses, his great skills as a communicator that facilitated this, and giving them a moral compass to be guided by. The tepid presentation of Gandhi is perhaps natural for a book on Savarkar, who had been a critic of the Mahatma. Mahurkar and Pandit capture the essence of Savarkar's Hindutva when they cite his call to Hindus to join the British Indian forces in 1939. They say that two years ago, in 1937, he had suspected that separatist Muslims would demand India's partition. His call to Hindus was aimed at making sure they got arms training in view of the "future threat to the unity and integrity of India". Mahurkar notes Savarkar had marked that Hindus were fewer in number in the army on the basis of population-ratio. And that had he not given the call for militarization of Hindus, Pakistan would have "tried to swallow more areas of partitioned India apart from Kashmir". There is a view that Savarkar has been under represented in the national movement, that he is an unsung hero of Indian history, and that his Hindutva -- for which he has been reviled by ideological opponents -- was both pragmatic and modernist. This book could provide the space and the argument to fill that gap. One of the attractions of the book is a foreword by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who says, "Savarkar did not get his due even in free India". He also says how the Hindutva icon could rightly anticipate the future, especially on issues of national security. Lucknow, Oct 5 : The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Tuesday conducted a series of raids across Delhi and UP in the illegal conversion case. Several residences of prime accused Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui and his associates have been raided in connection with the probe. According to ATS sources, incriminating evidence has been seized in the raids which are currently underway at several locations across the national capital and UP. The latest series of raids come after the ATS arrested one more person in the illegal conversion case on October 2. According to the details provided by the ATS, the accused propagated religious hatred in WhatsApp groups by sharing radical messages. So far, it has arrested over 14 people so far in the illegal conversion racket including Siddiqui. The 64-year-old Islamic scholar was arrested on September 22. The Uttar Pradesh Police in June arrested Umar Gautam, along with eight others, for allegedly running a religious conversion racket. During the course of the investigation, it was found that the racket involved the conversion of deaf children and women to Islam and more than 1,000 people were converted. The ATS statement further said that more than a dozen deaf and dumb children in Noida were also converted. The arrested accused have confessed to converting nearly 250 to 300 people every year. Siddiqui was arrested in Meerut after being on the radar of security agencies due to suspicious activities for months. Addressing a press conference, Uttar Pradesh Police's ADG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar revealed that the cleric had received vast amounts of foreign funding in the case. "Investigation shows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui runs Jamia Imam Waliullah trust that funds several madrassas for which he received huge foreign funding. Investigation shows Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui's trust received Rs 3 crore in foreign funding, including Rs 1.5 crore from Bahrain. Six teams of ATS have been formed to investigate this case," he said. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Taiwan has warned of "catastrophic consequences for regional peace" if China takes over the island after days of incursions by Beijing's warplanes, Daily Mail reported. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen vowed to "do whatever it takes" to guard Taiwan against invasion as she indicated that without help from the country's allies "authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy." Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes have breached Taiwan's airspace since Friday, including 56 jets on Monday in a dramatic increase in aggression. Chinese President Xi Jinping has described the seizure of the self-governed democracy as "inevitable" and Beijing has ratcheted up pressure on Tsai since she was elected in 2016 on a mandate of an "independent" Taiwan, the report said. Chinese state media has issued chilling warnings in recent days, including asking "whether Australia is willing to accompany Taiwan... to become cannon fodder" after its foreign minister reached out for help preparing his defences. Australia has been on the receiving end of Chinese wrath over the last few weeks after it signed a new security pact with the UK and the US. As part of the deal, Washington and London agreed to share nuclear submarine technology with Canberra. This has infuriated Beijing as it will dramatically shift the power balance in the South China Sea. In an article published on Tuesday, Taiwan's president Tsai said: "They should remember that if Taiwan were to fall, the consequences would be catastrophic for regional peace and the democratic alliance system." "It would signal that in today's global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy." New Delhi, Oct 5 : As per statements on Twitter, some Pakistan Army soldiers have surrendered to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed militia in Waziristan. "Keeping up 'parampara' (tradition) of surrender... Surrendered Pakistani Army soldiers paraded by terrorist org Tahrik-e-Taliban TTP in Mirali, Waziristan," Pakistani human rights activist Arif Aajakia said on Twitter along with an image. Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had said the government is in talks with some groups of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), seeking a reconciliation, the Dawn had 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 had said during an interview with the TRT World. When asked if the government was asking them to lay down arms, the PM had responded: "Yes, we forgive them and they become normal citizens." When the interviewer asked why the TTP was conducting attacks on Pakistani security forces when they were in talks with the government, Khan said that 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, the premier said: "Since the talks were taking place in Afghanistan, so in that sense, yes," the report added. Jalaun : , Oct 5 (IANS) Three molecular biologists-cum-junior scientists in a UP medical college have landed in trouble for faking a number of RT-PCR test results by deliberately showing them positive when they were negative. So far, 15 such reports have been found. The junior scientists include two women working on ad-hoc basis in the microbiology lab in Government Medical College in Orai in Jalaun. Medical College Principal, Dr D. Nath said it was found during routine observation that while cases in the rest of the places were declining, they were on the rise in Jalaun. When the matter was discussed with District Magistrate Jalaun, Priyanka Niranjan, it was decided that the reports should be cross-checked. All the samples were then simultaneously and sent to the Jhansi Medical College, the King George's Medical University, and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lucknow, where the samples turned out to be negative. The administration has recommended appropriate departmental action. The report also alleges that the trio, in order to cover up the matter, went to local media with false claims in an attempt to mislead everyone. "On the basis of recommendations given by head, Microbiology Lab, Dr Gopal, and after consultation with the District Magistrate Jalaun and Chief Medical Officer (CMO), I have sent details to my seniors recommending stern action. Meanwhile, we are initiating departmental action here at the college level," said Dr Nath. Amaravati, Oct 5 : In a bid to ensure access to menstrual hygiene for adolescent girls and young women, the Andhra Pradesh government has launched a program under which branded sanitary napkins will be provided free of cost to girl students of government educational institutions. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday launched 'Swechha' program to tackle the stigma attached to menstruation, prioritize female personal hygiene, and encourage a healthy dialogue of information. "One should not shy away from talking about menstruation. We need to create more awareness among female students and educate them on safe practices," the Chief Minister observed on the occasion. Under the initiative, the state government will provide quality branded sanitary napkins to female students at government educational institutions, free of cost. Ten sanitary napkins will be given every month to about 10 lakh adolescent girls studying from 7-12 grades in all government schools and intermediate colleges across the state at a financial outlay of Rs 32 crore. A total of 120 napkins per year is allotted to every female student. Even during summer vacations, the students will be supplied with their quota before they leave school. "We are a government that strongly believes that the power to change history lies with the women in our state, let us help them move forward," the Chief Minister said. The branded free sanitary products being supplied are a result of the state government entering MOUs with corporate conglomerates like P&G and Niine Pvt Ltd. Additionally through the MOUs signed, sanitary napkins will be sold at YSR Cheyutha retail stores at lowered prices to around 1 crore women residing in both rural and urban areas. Each school will have a female educator appointed as a nodal officer to help female students with sanitary napkins supply, safe methods of disposal, and any assistance the students may require. Further for a safer and environment-friendly way of disposal, the state government has set up 6,417 incinerators across the state through the Clean Andhra Pradesh (CLAP) initiative. Lucknow, Oct 5 : Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel returned to Raipur on Tuesday evening after he was not allowed to come out of the Lucknow airport to go and meet Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been arrested after being detained. Before returning, Baghel addressed a virtual press conference and said that it was unprecedented that a Chief Minister should be prevented from visiting a city. "I told them that I am not going to Lakhimpur but will go to Sitapur to meet my leader. Yet they have not allowed me. This is certainly not how a democracy functions," he said. The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said that he had been told that Section 144 was in place and hence, he could not be allowed to go out. "If Section 144 is in place, how come the Prime Minister is holding a programme in Lucknow today?" asked Baghel, who is also the Congress observer for Uttar Pradesh. Senior Congress leaders Pramod Tiwari and P.L. Punia, who had gone to the airport to receive him, were denied entry. Earlier, Baghel, squatting on the floor at the airport, had said that he would not go back without meeting Priyanka Gandhi, who was detained early on Monday as she was going to Lakhimpur Kheri, where nine people had died in violence at a farmers' protest on Sunday. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chennai, Oct 5 : The AIADMK's campaign in the rural local body polls mainly revolved around late former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa with the belief that her charisma and administrative prowess would drive the party towards victory in the electoral hustings. In Tenkasi, Kannappan, 43, who is a candidate of the AIADMK in the rural local body polls, while speaking to IANS, said: "Amma is a major source of inspiration in these areas and the people don't know me, OPS or EPS but only Amma and hence my campaign was revolving around Amma and her administrative success. The DMK does not have an answer to Amma and I think I will win this election." In many other districts also including Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu, Jayalalithaa is a major vote catcher. Muthulingam, 74, a farmer in Chengalpattu told IANS that Jayalalithaa is the most effective vote catcher for AIADMK and the DMK does not have an answer to her. He said that he had asked the AIADMK local functionaries to exhibit the movies in which Jayalalithaa and MGR had acted together. "Jayalalithaa is still a towering personality in the hearts of millions of people of Tamil Nadu and the AIADMK must use her popularity in the election arena for an easy victory. Following my suggestion, AIADMK local leaders have exhibited some movies in which both Jayalalithaa and MGR had acted together," he told IANS. The DMK has not used the image and popularity of the late Chief Minister, Kalaignar Karunanidhi instead the main vote catcher for the party is the Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin. While Stalin has not gone to any constituency for direct campaign he had recorded a voice message which was played across all the districts. Kovil Pandi, a businessman and a DMK supporter from Kancheepuram, while interacting with IANS, said: "The AIADMK has proved that it doesn't have any face in this elections except its late leader, J. Jayalalithaa but the DMK has a robust and vibrant leader in M.K. Stalin who is leading the polls from the front." He also said that even though the Chief Minister did not come personally for the campaign, his voice message was played out across the state. With the first phase of the rural local body polls to be held on October 6, Wednesday, the political parties are on silent campaign in all the constituencies. Bijnor : , Oct 5 (IANS) A Special Task Force (STF) jawan from Bihar and 14 others have been arrested by UP Police in Bijnor for allegedly smuggling a rare pangolin. The accused planned to sell it for Rs one crore in the black market. For "security and safe passage" of the pangolin, the suspects "hired" the STF jawan for Rs 10 lakh. Bijnor SP Dharamveer Singh said the pangolin was caught from the forest area of Najibabad division four days ago. Eighteen individuals from UP, Haryana and Bihar were involved in the purchase at Banowali village under Nagina Dehat police limits when the police raided the hideout. Three smugglers from Najibabad and one from Bihar are absconding. The SP said, "A case has been registered against the 18 individuals under various sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The poachers were planning to sell it for Rs 1 crore. Three cars, 11 high-end cell phones and three keypads used in wildlife smuggling were also seized on Monday." Listed as endangered species under the Schedule-I of the Wildlife Act, the pangolin is poached for its meat and used as traditional medicine. It is nocturnal and feeds on ants and termites. Srinagar, Oct 5 : A girl was injured in an acid attack on Tuesday in J&K's Shopian district, police said. Police sources said a girl in Kral Check village of Shopian was attacked with acid by unknown persons in the afternoon. "The girl suffered injuries on her left shoulder and was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment where from she has been referred to Srinagar," a source said. Police reached the spot and an FIR has been registered in the crime. Chandigarh, Oct 5 : The activists of Punjab Congress will walk towards Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh if Priyanka Gandhi is not released and the Union Minister's son accused of murder not arrested, said state party President Navjot Sidhu on Tuesday. "If, by tomorrow, the Union Minister's son behind the brutal murder of farmers is not arrested, and our leader @PriyankaGandhi being unlawfully arrested, fighting for farmers is not released, the Punjab Congress will march towards Lakhimpur Kheri!" Sidhu tweeted. In another tweet, Sidhu said: "When in doubt walk the path of truth, never compromise on moral values!! 'Moral Authority' thy name is @priyankagandhi." New Delhi, Oct 5 : Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari on Tuesday said that no "two-finger test" was done on a female officer who had accused a colleague of rape. Addressing the annual conference ahead of the IAF Day on October 8, he said: "No two-finger test was done. The information regarding the two-finger test is misreported. Air force law is very strict. Actual fact is this test was not done... disciplinary action will be taken based on report of inquiry." The rape victim had alleged that she was subjected to the banned test and questioned about her sexual history in the rape case against a fellow colleague. The woman officer had registered an FIR on September 20 in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore alleging that she was raped by a Flight Lieutenant under the influence of alcohol on September 10. She alleged that she suffered an ankle injury on September 10, for which she had taken a painkiller. Later that night, she had two drinks with a group of friends when the accused had served her one of the glasses. The woman officer claimed that even as she was in a subconscious state, she saw the accused enter the room and sexually assault her. She told the National Commission for Women that she was subjected to a two-finger test at the Air Force Hospital later. In a press note, the NCW said it has taken cognisance of the woman Air Force officer being subjugated to the two-finger test, and "strongly condemned" the action of Indian Air Force doctors. "The NCW expressed utter disappointment and strongly condemned the action of Indian Air Force doctors for violating the right to privacy and dignity of the victim," it said. NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma had also written to the IAF chief to look into the matter and "impart necessary knowledge to the Indian Air Force doctors". -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Kolkata, Oct 5 : In a significant development, the West Bengal finance department has sanctioned Rs 109 crore to the education department for the renovation of 6,468 state government schools in the state, indicative enough the government is keen to open the schools after Durga Puja. Though the notification doesn't mention anything about the reopening of the schools but it is indicative enough the state has moved another step closer to the opening of the schools in the state. "The opening of the schools is subject to other factors but as of now the third wave of Corona has not made much effect in the state and in that case if the schools are to be opened then we will have to keep the buildings ready. For one year and nine months there has been no activity in the schools and naturally the buildings are in a very bad shape. The opening of the schools will depend on the final nod of the chief minister," a senior official of the state education department said. On August 5 this year after her meeting with the Global advisory body Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that her government was considering reopening of schools and colleges that have been shut since March due to the second wave of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Banerjee had said that educational institutes might reopen in West Bengal on alternate days after the Durga Puja vacation in November. However, the education department officials indicated that the schools might not open in a full-fledged manner. "There might be an alternative arrangement like the students might be divided into two groups and will be asked to attend the schools three days a week. The number of students in a particular class will be reduced so that a safe distance is maintained. The department is presently working on the modalities," the official added. Schools have started opening up in different states. Schools in Tripura have started operating and recently the Maharashtra government has announced the opening of the schools. The Central government has also asked the state governments to think of opening schools provided the respective state governments think that the pandemic situation is under control. Keeping in line with the other states, the West Bengal government is also thinking of opening up the schools. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Delhi government on Tuesday sent the doorsteps delivery scheme file for ration distribution again to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal after the High Court allowed the scheme to be implemented conditionally in the national capital. The Delhi High Court last week allowed the Delhi government to conditionally implement the doorstep delivery scheme of ration in the city. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has requested the LG to give nod to the scheme as the High Court has given permission to implement the scheme. He said that the LG should approve the Delhi Cabinet's decision to bring the ration to the doorstep of the people in Delhi. Hearing a writ petition on September 27, the High Court allowed the Delhi government to implement the doorstep delivery scheme of ration and deduct the supply being given to FPS in proportion to the beneficiaries opting for doorstep delivery. The court, in its order, also said that the doorstep delivery model was optional for the beneficiaries and they can choose to go back to the ration distribution system through FPS. "I sincerely hope that you (Lt Governor) will review your earlier decision so that the orders of the High Court can be implemented and doorstep delivery of ration can be made possible for the people of Delhi," Kejriwal said. The Kejriwal government and the Lieutenant Governor are at loggerheads at the implementation of doorstep ration delivery scheme in Delhi. The LG has opposed the scheme several times in the past. Under doorstep delivery, the company delivering ration at home will have the thumb target of the ration card holder. The ration packet will be delivered as soon as the thumb impression is matched. This will eliminate the possibility of any kind of fraud, said the statement released by the Delhi Government. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Hyderabad, Oct 5 : Actor Nandamuri Balakrishna has finished the shooting of his much awaited film 'Akhanda'. The team called it a wrap on Tuesday. Director Boyapati Srinu finished the shooting here at Annapurna Studios. The film's post-production work is also happening simultaneously and the makers will soon announce the release date. The film's last song was shot on Tuesday. Balakrishna who plays a double role, will be seen as an Aghori sadhu in one of the roles. Actress Pragya Jaiswal is the leading lady opposite Balakrishna in the film, which is touted as a mass action entertainer. Miryala Ravinder Reddy is producing 'Akhanda' under Dwaraka Creations. Actors Jagapathi Babu and Srikanth will be seen in crucial roles. S Thaman renders soundtracks, while C Ram Prasad cranks the camera. Kotagiri Venkateshwara Rao is the editor. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chandigarh, Oct 5 : Strongly condemning the tragic incident at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Channi on Tuesday dared the BJP to respect democratic ethics and values rather than stifle the voice of people. Staging a silent protest in front of the bust of Mahatma Gandhi here, the Chief Minister accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, MLAs and party workers resolved not to succumb to the excesses of the BJP-led government at the Centre and in the states to intimidate the people by unleashing a reign of terror. Equating the barbarous incident at Lakhimpur Kheri with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Chief Minister said this recent incident was pre-planned to intentionally crush the innocent farmers who were peacefully protesting against the farm laws. Channi said the BJP would not succeed in its nefarious designs to demoralise the farmers, thus diverting them from their path of peaceful agitation. Later, talking to the media, the Chief Minister slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for arresting Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi who had planned to meet the victims' families at Lakhimpur Kheri to express solidarity with them in this hour of grief. He said with such acts the Congress would emerge far stronger to eventually oust the BJP government not only at the Centre but in the states also. The Chief Minister cautioned the Centre not to force the youth to follow a revolutionary path in the wake of such unfortunate incidents, who would ultimately draw inspiration from legendary martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and Udham Singh to seek justice. Channi appealed to the Centre to repeal the farm laws and maintain peace, harmony and brotherhood at all costs. Earlier, the Chief Minister paid floral tributes at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi and resolved to seek inspiration from the Father of the Nation to protect democratic rights. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of convicts languishing in jail due to pendency of their appeals in the Allahabad High Court and said it will examine laying down guidelines to release such prisoners on bail. A bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and M.M. Sundresh noted that the high court has filed an affidavit, where it accepted the government's suggestions. The bench, however, added that it appears these suggestions could make process of grant of bail more cumbersome, and emphasised that a mechanism should be developed, where accused bail applications are listed without delay for hearing. It said the high court must explore those cases where convicts have already gone a sentence of eight years, and consider such matter for grant of bail. The bench said the convict must first move the concerned high court first so that the Supreme Court is not unnecessarily burdened with such matters. It reiterated that when an accused moves the high court, then the matter should be listed promptly. The top court pointed out that in life sentence matters, when a convict has undergone 50 percent of the sentence, then it may be considered as basis for bail. The bench said: "We grant four weeks to the high court to place before us their policy in this regard." "A separate suo motu case can be registered before the court for further directions. We direct the registry to register suo motu proceedings in this regard and place it before the court on November 16," it said. Earlier, the high court had made a slew of suggestions to the top court, including that the rights of the victim and his family should be considered before granting bail to an accused in serious and grave offences. The top court had asked the high court and the UP government to jointly discuss the regulation of bail matters during the pendency of the appeals of the convicted persons. The apex court was hearing 18 criminal appeals filed by convicts in heinous offences seeking bail on the ground that they have spent seven or more years in jail. The petitioners had pointed out that their appeals against the convictions have not listed before the high court due to pendency. Mumbai, Oct 5 : National Award-winning filmmaker Shalini Shah is set to release her feature film 'Samosa And Sons' on OTT platform. The film stars actor Sanjay Mishra and actors like Brijendra Kala, Neha Garg, Jeetu Shashtri, Meera Suyal, Rachna Bisht, Minal Sah among others. The film has been shot during the pandemic, keeping all the COVID protocols in mind. Speaking about the film, Sanjay Mishra said, "Last year we were all amid a pandemic and situation was very grave at that time, we didn't know what will happen in the future, slowly and steadily things started to streamline. With God's grace we shot a beautiful film called 'Samosa & Sons', not only is the film beautifully woven but all of us have worked extremely hard on it. 'Samosa and Sons' call for an average Indian man's irrepressible longing for a son and the age-old patriarchal conditioning that informs it. The film highlights the issues faced by Indian society and puts forth a thoughtful message that however modern you are in your thoughts there are certain things that bind you. Speaking about the film director Shalini Shah said, "Light and entertaining in its tone, 'Samosa and Sons' is a satire on the hypocrisy of our society that tries to conceal the desire for a son, but fails." The film is written by Deepak Tiruwa. Shalini has won the National Award for her documentary 'From The Land Of Buddhism To The Land Of Buddha'. "The situational comedy becomes the apt tone to talk about the deep patriarchal conditioning in all of us," she added. Talking about Sanjay Mishra's acting prowess, she said, "The ghost part is comical and no better choice than Sanjay Mishra." Set in a scenic hill town of Uttarakhand, the film traces the life of a submissive samosa shop owner Chandan Koranga (Chandan Bisht). Chandan sees his dead father's ghost (Sanjay Mishra) every night who brainwashes him into desperately wanting a son. Father to a seven-year-old girl, Chandan is scared to share the wishes of his dad's ghost with his way more progressive wife Dhwani. Will Chandan realise that it's no ghost but his own subconscious conditioned by years of patriarchy that is dominating his thoughts and actions? Chennai, Oct 5 : Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said that the fifth mega vaccination drive against Covid-19 will be held on October 10, and a target of 15 lakh vaccinations has been set. Speaking to reporters here, he underlined that the previous mega vaccination camps have been a major success and that in the first three, there was higher participation then expected. In the first camp on September 12, the target was 20 lakh but 28.91 lakh people were inoculated. The state government had 40,000 centres for administering the jab and this led to 10 per cent of people of the state getting vaccinated. In the second on September 19, the targeted population was 15 lakh but the state vaccinated 16,43,879. Subramanian said that his department was relentlessly pursuing the demand for more vaccines with the Central government and Chief Minister M.K.Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction 50 lakh vaccines per week as the state has the capacity to inoculate 6 lakh people a day. The third mega vaccination drive was held on September 26 and 24.85 lakh people got the jabs, against the projected 15 lakh. Of these, 14.90 lakh got the first shot while 9.95 lakh were administered the second dose. In the fourth mega vaccine drive held on October 3, vaccines were administered to 17.19 lakh people in 24,882 camps. The state, according to Health Department officials, is to receive 1.23 crore vaccine doses as the October allocation, and expects to administer at least one dose to all by the year end. "The state has administered vaccines according to the plan we have chalked out and we are getting a regular supply of vaccines from the Centre following the Chief Minister directly writing to the Prime Minister regarding the state's requirements," Subramanian told IANS. Jabalpur : , Oct 5 (IANS) In a shocking incident, the bodies of a woman and her daughter were exhumed from some bushes in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. A team of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been asked to assist the police in the investigation of the case. According to information, mother Babli Jharia, 40, and her daughter Nisha Jharia, 15, living in ward number 15 under Barela police station area of Jabalpur, were missing for the past few days. A case of missing person was registered and the police was searching for them. On Tuesday, the police came to know about bodies buried in the bushes on the banks of a canal in Kashi Mahgwan area of the city. On the basis of the information, the police exhumed the bodies with the help of the FSL team and sent them for post mortem. According to the police, the two bodies that have been exhumed are of Babli Jharia and her daughter Nisha Jharia. "It appears both of them were brutally murdered over a love affair," police said after a preliminary investigation. Jabalpur Superintendent of Police Siddharth Bahuguna told reporters that the matter is being investigated. More details will be shared later. Hyderabad, Oct 5 : Actor Allu Arjun's upcoming film 'Pushpa: The Rise' will soon release its second track. The song will be an eponymous ode to lead actress Rashmika Mandanna's character Srivalli. Director Sukumar's film released the first track 'Jaago Jaago Bakre' in five languages few months back. The second track named after Rashmika's character will be out on October 13. The song is sung by Javed Ali in Hindi and by Sid Sriram in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam and composed by Devi Sri Prasad. Producers Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers jointly say: "We're delighted to announce that 'Srivalli' will hit the music scene on the 13th of October. Srivalli, the character essayed by Rashmika Mandanna is Pushpa's soul. The second song that we will be releasing is a musical description of the character sung by Javed Ali and Sid Sriram and brilliantly composed by Devi Sri Prasad. We're looking forward to treating the listeners with music created by the best in the industry." 'Pushpa: The Rise' stars Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna and Fahadh Faasil. The film's first part will release on December 17, 2021. The second part of the film will be released in 2022. Kochi, Oct 5 : Hours after the Congress-led opposition took on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the Kerala Assembly over the way the Kerala Police handled the case related to now arrested fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal for the past two years, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday slammed the police for the way they have managed the case so far. Hearing a petition filed by Ajith, the former driver of Mavunkal who's seeking police protection, Justice Devan Ramachandran slammed the way the police have handled the case and expressed doubts if the present probe will reach any conclusion as even the serving police officers are under cloud. It is now known that the Kerala Police for a while provided security to the residence of Mavunkal in Cherthala, which is more like an antique museum, as well as in Kochi. Ramachandran said the whole world is laughing after hearing the claims about his possessions. Mavunkal (54) used to showcase to his high-profile guests the antiques in his collection, which he claimed included the 'staff of Moses' and "two of the 30 silver coins that were taken by Judas to cheat Jesus Christ". The police said that he had showcased some "rare" items, including a throne said to be used by Tipu Sultan, a huge collection of old Qurans, Bibles (Old Testament and New Testament), and old handwritten copies of Bhagavad Gita. Mavunkal used to bring several VIPs to his palatial residence, a part of which was converted into a museum to house his 'precious' antiques. Last month, Mavunkal was arrested by the Crime Branch after six people accused him of cheating to the tune of over Rs 6 crore. He continues to be in the custody of the Crime Branch. Ramachandran said it's really surprising that the police, who had seen his possessions, especially an elephant tusk, never even cared to find out the legality behind the possessions. Incidentally, the tusk has now been found to be fake. Ramachandran slammed the police and pointed out that Mavunkal appears to have got credibility due to the wrong acts of the police. The court has now asked state police chief Anil Kant to submit a detailed report on the matter and posted the case for hearing on October 26. With the court now intervening in a big way, Vijayan, who also holds the home portfolio, is going to be in a spot of bother as the presence of a Kerala lady, who is settled in Italy, and her links with Mavunkal are now being cited as the reason why recently-retired state police chief Loknath Behra, along with serving ADGP Manoj Abraham, visited the museum of Mavunkal. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Calling the Lakhimpur Kheri violence unfortunate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday said the opposition parties are politicising the incident. The BJP Kisan Morcha National President, Rajkumar Chahar told IANS that when an investigation is underway, he failed to understand why opposition leaders are in a hurry to visit Lakhimpur Kheri. A Lok Sabha member from Fatehpur Sikri, Chahar said, "An unfortunate incident happened and when the state government is taking action, why they (opposition leaders) are so adamant to visit. First let the state government take action and allow families of the deceased victims to hold their last rites after completing the post-mortem. They can visit the area later." Referring to police action against protesting farmers in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the BJP leader said, "Congress leaders who are very keen to visit Lakhimpur Kheri have not uttered a single word against police lathicharge on farmers in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan." Chahar criticised Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's visit to Uttar Pradesh after the violence and said the Congress is starting a new practice against set norms. "What Congress Chief Minister Baghel is doing is not correct and it will start new practice against the democratic norms. Will they like and allow the Chief Minister of a non-Congress ruled state to visit a Congress-ruled state after any unfortunate incident concerning law and order. It is a dangerous practice started by the Congress Chief Minister and I condemn the interference of a Chief Minister in the matters of another state," he said. Chahar said the state government has already announced financial assistance to the families of the deceased and a judicial inquiry to find the cause behind the violence as well as provide a job to one member from the families of the deceased. Nine persons were killed during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri which turned violent on Sunday. The Uttar Pradesh government has announced a financial compensation of Rs 45 lakh to the kin of the deceased farmers while assistance of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the injured persons. A judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge has been ordered into the entire sequence of events which led to the violence. Panaji, Oct 5 : Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee perhaps also believes that her road to prime ministership begins from Goa, which is why her party is investing so much in the 2022 state assembly polls, Goa's Ports Minister Michael Lobo said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters here, Lobo also said that TMC's banners and hoardings were lined all across Goa's roads indicating how seriously the party is taking the Goa poll campaign. "Goa has been very lucky to BJP and PM Narendra Modi. Mamata Banerjee feels the same way. She is in the race of the future PM of this country. She is trying to set up a base in Goa and from here to launch a wave. She feels like that," Lobo told reporters. In 2013, at the party's national executive meeting in Panaji, Modi was appointed the BJP's election in-charge for the 2014 polls, a development which paved the way for the then Gujarat Chief Minister to becoming Prime Minister. Lobo also said that TMC has put up hoardings and banners all across Goa in the hope of starting a wave of support for the West Bengal-based party. "That is why all hoardings, boards are being booked by TMC. Right from North entry to South entry on the highway or on major district roads they have hoardings," Lobo said. When asked if he was contacted by TMC party leaders to join the Mamata Banerjee-led outfit, Lobo said: "They have not approached me yet, but I have heard that they want to meet me. They will meet everyone who will win seats". He also said that there was no harm in meeting leaders from other political parties to learn more about them. "You have to hear everyeone and learn about their road map," Lobo said. TMC made a splash last week by signing on former Chief Minister Luizuinho Faleiro, who is expected to lead the party's campaign in Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls. TMC had contested the 2012 state assembly polls as well as the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but fared poorly in both the elections. New Delhi, Oct 5 : India may be staring at an acute power crisis this festive season with half of the country's thermal power reducing generation, as coal inventories hit critically low levels while surge in power demand post the Covid-induced lockdowns is not being supported by record global prices of fuel that has shot up more than three times in just over a couple of months. Over half of the country's 135 coal-fired plants are sitting on coal stocks of less than three days, while in others as well, fuel inventories are well below the stipulated 22-day stock, data from the Central Electricity Authority showed. The situation is critical for state-run power generation units where poor financial condition of utilities has prevented them from proper stocking of coal. "Global developments are now having a play in the Indian markets too. Sharp uptick in economic activity with the easing of the Covid pandemic has pushed up power demand with major industrial states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu seeing demand rising between 14 per cent and 20 per cent in the last three months," said a power sector analyst from one of the four big audit firms. "To meet this demand, additional coal is required. The production from Coal India is low now, as monsoons have just ended when the production is typically low. Imports are not an option, as global prices have touched historic high levels," he added. The development in the Indian market is a reflection of what is happening globally. Like in India, increased vaccinations and lowering ring of Covid scare have scaled up industrial activities, taking economies from Europe to Asia to a situation where demand has outpaced supply, resulting in energy shortages. For India, the competition in the global coal market is coming from China, the world's largest coal consumer. Large scale shortage in China has meant that it is going on a coal hunt worldwide to address the energy crisis at home. This has pushed up coal prices from all major suppliers, with the price of Indonesian coal (5,500 Kcal) shooting up to over $100 per tonne from just about $50-60 per tonne a few months ago, while Australian non-coking coal has touched a price of over $200 per tonne. What the high global coal prices has done is that it has prevented domestic generation companies from buying coal abroad to meet the local rise in demand. In fact, several of the country's imported coal-based power projects have also reduced generation rather than supporting production through expensive buys. As per a Crisil study, in April-July, non-coking coal imports by the power segment were at the same level as in fiscal 2021, and down 37 per cent compared to fiscal 2020. The situation of fuel is particularly grim for non-power sector users, leaving players with stocks for 4-5 days only. Dispatches from CIL and SCCL were down 1.5 pert cent at 64 MT compared to 65 MT dispatched in April-August of fiscal 2020. As the demand rose, spot e-auction premiums for August 2021 increased to 74 per cent compared to 30 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal and 25 per cent in fiscal 2021. "In the near term, the supply crunch is expected to persist with the non-power sector facing the heat as imports remain the only option to meet the demand, but at rising costs," Crisil said. "Coal inventory at thermal plants will improve only gradually by March mext year. For this fiscal, it will hover around 10 days compared to the two-year average of around 18 days," it added. This would mean that the crisis would continue through the festive season with Coal India scrambling to meet the rising demand for fuel in the absence of support from imports. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Congress leader and former Union minister P. Chidambaram has slammed the Uttar Pradesh police following party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's arrest on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri, saying the force is burying itself in ignorance and ineptitude. "The sections of law under which Priyanka Vadra has been reportedly charged are laughable. S.151 CrPC contains no offence at all. It is a provision for arrest for a period not exceeding 24 hours. No person can be 'charged' under S. 151,S. 107 & 116 of IPC related to abetment. You must say who she abetted. You must say what crime she abetted. Abetment cannot be in the vacuum," Chidambaram said. "When she was arrested at 4.30 a.m. on Monday, she was abetting nobody and she was abetting no crime. In fact, the arresting police officer mentioned only S.151 CrPC and no other provision of law and no other crime. The Uttar Pradesh police is burying itself under ignorance and ineptitude," he added. Priyanka Gandhi has been formally arrested after a case was registered against her at the Hargaon police station in Sitapur under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including disobeying prohibitory orders and abetment. The PAC guest house where she has been under detention since Monday, has been notified as a temporary jail. The case, according to official sources, has been filed under Sections 151, 107 and 116, on a report given by the station house officer of Hargaon to the magistrate. Earlier on Tuesday morning, Priyanka Gandhi tweeted a viral video of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and asked why the person behind the killing of four farmers has not been arrested while she has been under detention without an FIR. Her party alleged that drones were being used to monitor the movement of Priyanka Gandhi at the PAC guest house. New Delhi, Oct 5: The foreign ministers of Russia and Iran will "synchronize their watches" on a number of topical issues, including Afghanistan and Tehran's nuclear deal, when they hold talks in Moscow on . The outcome of the meeting between Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdollahian will be followed keenly by Washington as the Russian-Iranian relations continue to actively develop and the "intensity of the political dialogue" continues after the victory of Ebrahim Raisi in the presidential elections in Iran. Both Putin and Raisi have already spoken over phone twice on August 18 and September 14, to reaffirm their commitment to strengthen "mutually beneficial" Russian-Iranian relations in various fields. "The positions of Russia and Iran on many international issues are close or coincide. The ministers will pay special attention to the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. The only way out of this situation is the earliest possible resumption of the negotiation process to restore the full-fledged functioning of the nuclear deal," said the Russian Foreign Ministry. It added that the state of affairs in Afghanistan will be "substantively discussed" in the context of the fundamental importance of an effective response to emerging challenges, including the relief of terrorist and drug threats, as well as international assistance to the post-conflict reconstruction of the country. "On the Syrian settlement, the principled position of Moscow and Tehran is to support unconditional respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the SAR , the legal right of the Syrians to independently determine the future of their country. Effective interaction within the Astana format will continue," the statement mentioned. During the dialogue, both ministers will also have other topics of regional agenda to discuss, including the situation in the Caspian Sea, in the Transcaucasus, in the Persian Gulf zone, Yemen , Lebanon and the Middle East settlement. Russia said that it supports the decision to start the procedure for admitting Iran to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), made during the recent summit in Dushanbe. Moscow reiterated that it has always advocated the full-fledged participation of Iran, which will help to increase the international authority of the organisation. Intensive bilateral contacts have been maintained at various levels between both the countries, including through the foreign affairs, parliaments, and other state structures and organisations. On October 1, another round of Russian-Iranian interagency consultations on international information security (IIB) had taken place in Moscow. Reza Najafi, the acting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Law and International Affairs, who is also the Director General of the General Directorate of the Iranian Foreign Ministry for Peace and International Security, held discussions with Andrei Kroteskikh, the Russian president's special envoy for international cooperation in information security. Both top officials exchanged views on the strategic approaches of Russia and Iran in the area of cyber issues based on the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of information security signed earlier this year. Moscow and Tehran also continue to expand cooperation in the field of countering the spread of Covid-19. While the deliveries of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V to Iran continues, the Iranian authorities have also approved the use of the Sputnik Light single-component vaccine in the country, which will accelerate the vaccination of the population and form population immunity. "We intend to further expand mutually beneficial ties with Iran and continue cooperation in the interests of regional stability and international security. We count on the strengthening of positive trends in all spheres of Russian-Iranian cooperation," says the Russian MFA. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Mumbai, Oct 5 : Actor Pankaj Tripathi is encouraging people to grow trees by endorsing 'Daan Utsav', a mission of planting more trees by Grow-Trees.com. Daan Utsav, formerly known as The Joy of Giving Week is an annual festival that is celebrated from October 2 to October 8. Talking about the initiative Pankaj Tripathi said, "Nature is not just a beautiful backdrop to click a selfie, a resource, a tool, an Instagrammable picture. Organisations like Grow-Trees.com help us to understand and respect ecosystems and I hope millions more get drawn to a massive mass afforestation movement and plant trees not just during Daan Utsav but even afterwards" "Pankaj is not just a very gifted and intuitive actor, he has great empathy for the environment and for all living beings sharing this planet with us. I am happy that he is speaking out for nature and asking people to plant trees because his voice will for sure galvanise a large number of people to do so," said Bikrant Tiwary, CEO Grow-Trees.com. The 'Mirzapur' actor added, "If even half of 1,392,700,000 Indians planted trees, imagine the green impact it would make. If you don't have land of your own where you can plant a tree, get in touch with Grow-Trees.com. Donate a tree instead of gifting bouquets on special occasions." Pankaj added, "Oxygen and water are not free and rains do not come automatically. They are results of healthy ecosystems. Nature is a living, breathing system that sustains us and we must do what we can to make it healthier." Grow-Trees.com is a social organisation that has globally facilitated the planting of millions of trees and initiated massive afforestation efforts. It also creates low-skill jobs, has a direct impact on carbon reduction, on the upgradation of water catchment areas, the wellbeing of local communities, and all living creatures. Patna, Oct 5 : The police in Bihar's Buxar have arrested four persons in connection with the murder of a Congress leader's son, an official said on Tuesday. The body of the deceased, Bipin Bihari Ojha was recovered from Dharmawati river. Buxar Superintendent of Police (SP) Neeraj Kumar Singh claimed that it was a case of love affair and the crime was executed in cold blood. "Bipin was in an affair with a distant relative girl for the last five years. The girl was the niece of Bipin's aunt. When the father and brothers of the girl learnt about their affair, they arranged the marriage of the girl with a person named Ravi Kumar Mishra. The accused revealed that despite the fact that the girl was married, Bipin was forcing her for physical relation," the SP said. "The girl was miffed with the torture of Bipin. As per the plan, she called Bipin to come for a meeting near Dharmawati river. When he came, Ravi Mishra, her brother Ajay Chaubey and Vijay Chaubey overpowered him. They have stabbed him multiple times until death. After the murder, the accused dumped the body near Dharmwati river and also disposed off his bike," the officer said. "Bipin was missing for the last 6 days. His mobile phone was also switched off. We have scanned the call details of Bipin and reached the girl who was having the last call detail on his mobile phone," Kumar said. After Bipin's murder, Vijay fled from Buxar and he was hiding at a relative's house in Naubatpur, Patna. "We conducted a raid in Naubatpur and arrested him. Initially, Vijay tried to mislead us and denied any role in the murder of Bipin. When we strictly interrogated him, he broke down and confessed to the crime," he said. "Following his revelation, we have recovered the body and bike of the deceased from the place near Dharmawati river. We have also arrested four persons including Vijay Chaubey. The other three persons are Ajay Chaubey, his brother, mother and aunt. They are part of the conspiracy," Kumar said. "Vijay's father Kanhaiya Chaubey, the woman and her husband Ravi Mishra are still absconding," he said. New Delhi, Oct 5: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan hopes that the bad Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which has been attacking Pakistani forces will surrender their arms to the Pakistan government and turn a new leaf. However, for this to happen, he is taking the help of the "good" Afghan Taliban. When Khan was asked specifically asked in a TV interview whether the TTP was talking to the Pakistani government, he said, "There are a few groups who want to talk." "Some TTP groups want to talk to us for reconciliation and we are in talks with these groups. The TTP is made up of different groups and we are in talks with some of them to surrender and reconcile," he told TRT World. While Imran Khan claimed the beginning of talks, the TTP announced the killing of seven Pakistani soldiers and capturing four on Sunday. It has followed this up with further attacks this week on the Pakistan army. According to Pakistani sources, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Interior Minister of Afghanistan and Chief of the terror outfit Haqqani Network is putting pressure on small groups of TTP to accept the amnesty offer of the Pakistani government. One of such group's commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur of Shura Mujahideen of North Waziristan has announced a ceasefire for 20 days. Pakistani sources say the group headed by Bahadur is a very small outfit with 150-200 militans and works for the Haqqani network. But the main group TTP headed by Noor Wali Mehsud has said in a statement, "The TTP has not declared a ceasefire anywhere. Therefore, the Mujahideen of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) should continue their operations. Our policy regarding meaningful talks is clear." A Pakistani journalist told India Narrative that the Bahadur-led group had a peace pact with the previous government but never implemented it. The TTP will never talk with the Pakistani government. They have a very strong base across the Durand Line also in eastern Afghanistan. There are intelligence reports that the group has activated its sleeper cells inside Pakistan. This is not the first time the Pakistani government has been trying to extend an olive branch to the banned terror group. Interestingly in 2014, the former TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah had nominated five persons, including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan and Maulana Samiul Haq, former chief cleric of the Lal Masjid to talk to the Nawaz Sharif government. But just after ten months, in December the militants of the group attacked a Pakistani army school and killed more than 150 students. Mullah Faziullah and his deputy Mullah Sheikh Khalid Haqqani were among the 16 accused responsible for the massacre. Faziullak was killed in Afghanistan in 2018 in a drone attack and Noor Wali Mehsud became the Chief of the TTP. Pakistani journalist Khalid Munir told indianarrative.com, "The TTP has two main conditions for negotiations: Shariah's implementation and the release of TTP prisoners but it is highly unlikely that the Pakistani army will accept this." Also, unlike the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) does not have support among Pakistani people. The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are separate entities, although their ideologies overlap, as does their training, in religious seminaries in Pakistan's tribal areas. While Pakistan's military has been fighting the Pakistani Taliban, it has long been accused of nurturing the Afghan Taliban. "We know who is good and who is bad," claims Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative Kolkata/Agartala, Oct 5 : A day after praising West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dissident BPP MLA from Tripura, Ashis Das, claimed on Tuesday that political anarchy and chaos are prevailing in the saffron party ruled state, further fuelling speculation of him joining the Trinamool Congress. Das, after shaving his head and performing a 'yagna' at the Kalight temple in Kolkata, said that political anarchy and chaos are prevailing in BJP-ruled Tripura where people are unhappy with the performance of the state government. Refusing to disclose whether he would join the Trinamool Congress, the 43-year-old BHJ MLA told the media: "You will find out everything soon." Reacting to the remarks of Das, Tripura BJP chief Manik Saha said that they are observing everything and appropriate steps would be taken in due course of time. "His (Das') activities have not been normal for sometime now. The party would take action against him after examining the steps he took," Saha told IANS in Agartala. On Monday, talking to the media in Kolkata, Das, an MLA from the Surma Assembly seat in northern Tripura, also criticised the Prime Minister for "selling most the government properties to private parties". "Once Modi's messages stirred the minds of people from all sections across the country. Modi had once said that 'Na khaunga, na khane dunga', but now it has become a popular jumla (joke) in the country," he said. He had also said that both at the Centre and the states, the BJP has been running governments in an "autocratic style". Praising Banerjee for winning the bypoll in Bhabanipur by a record margin, the BJP MLA had said that many people and organisations want Banerjee as the Prime Minister and her elevation to the post is very crucial as she is a Bengali. Das, who is in Kolkata for the past three days, is likely to meet Trinamool Congress leaders in the city. Das and four other BJP MLAs -- Sudip Roy Barman, Ashis Kumar Saha, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl and Burba Mohan Tripura -- recently held a big gathering in Agartala which was attended ny many local BJP leaders and workers. To plug the rebellion in the organisation and to set the governance right, several central party leaders led by BJP's North East Zonal Secretary (Organisation), Ajay Jamwal, have rushed to the state several times. In another recent political development, Tripura Assembly Speaker Rebati Mohan Das resigned from his post citing "personal reasons" and Congress-turned-BJP legislator Ratan Chakraborty was chosen for the post on September 24. The open dissent and internal dispute in the ruling BJP began after Barman, who was holding the Health and Information Technology portfolios, was sacked from the council of ministers in May 2019 following differences with Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. Moscow, Oct 5 : A Russian cosmonaut, actress, and film producer on Tuesday have reached the International Space Station to film segments for a movie. Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko lifted aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4.55 a.m. EDT (2.25 p.m. Tuesday, India time). The Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft made a fast-track, two-orbit journey to dock to the station's Rassvet module and docked at about 8.12 a.m. EDT (5.42 p.m. on Tuesday, India time). "Contact confirmed, capture confirmed! The #SoyuzMS19 crewed spacecraft has docked to the Russian segment of the International Space Station after just two orbits around the Earth! Welcome to the ISS, @Anton_Astrey, Klim and Yulia!" Roscosmos- the Russian space agency posted on Twitter. The launch marks the expansion of commercial space opportunities to include feature filmmaking, NASA said in a statement. 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. 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, NASA said. Peresild and Shipenko will return to the Earth with Novitskiy on October 16 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. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday said if a student is simply reprimanded by a teacher for an act of indiscipline and when the same conveyed to the parents to discipline the child, which results in child committing suicide, then teacher cannot be charged and tried for the offence of abetment of suicide under section 306 of the IPC. In a judgment, a bench comprising justices S. Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari said, it is not uncommon that teachers reprimand a student for not being attentive or not being up to the mark in studies or for bunking classes or not attending the school. "The disciplinary measures adopted by a teacher, reprimanding a student for his indiscipline, in our considered opinion, would not tantamount to provoking a student to commit suicide, unless there are repeated specific allegations of harassment and insult deliberately without any justifiable cause or reason", said the bench, adding that it is a solemn duty of a teacher to instill discipline in the students. The bench noted that a simple act of reprimand of a student for his behaviour by a teacher, who is under moral obligations to inculcate the good qualities in a student, would definitely not amount to instigation or intentionally aid to the commission of a suicide by a student. The top court made these observations while quashing an FIR filed against a physical training teacher of a school on charges of abetment to suicide. A grade 9 student had died by suicide and left a note blaming the teacher. The mother lodged an FIR alleging that her son committed suicide due to mental harassment meted out by the teacher. "Insofar as, the suicide note is concerned, despite our minute examination of the same, all we can say is that suicide note is rhetoric document, penned down by an immature mind", noted the bench. The bench said a criminal trial is not exactly a pleasant experience and the appellant who is a teacher would certainly suffer great prejudice, if he has to face prosecution on absurd allegations of irrelevant nature. The teacher had found the boy regularly bunking classes, initially he reprimanded him but on account of repeated acts, brought this fact to the knowledge of the principal, who called the parents on telephone to come to the school. "No further overt act has been attributed to the appellant either in the First Information Report or in the statement of the complainant, nor anything in this regard has been stated in the alleged suicide note", the bench noted, setting aside the Rajasthan High Court judgment, which refused to quash the FIR against the teacher. Bangalore, Oct 5 : Actor Dhananjay's upcoming Kannada film 'Rathnan Prapancha' will release globally through OTT platform Amazon Prime Video. Director Rohit Padaki's film, which also stars Reba Monica John will stream on October 22. 'Rathnan Prapancha' is a travel comedy-drama that revolves around the life and journey of Ratnakara, a man on a quest to find his roots while paving his way through the perils of his current life. Talking about the film, Rohit says: "I love experimenting with different genres, but I particularly love the whole journey of self-discovery, 'Rathnan Prapancha' is one such story of a man in pursuit of something he believes will bring him joy, but life has different plans for him." Emphasising on the relatability the film will have on audience in India and abroad, the film's producer Karthik Gowda is glad to have associated with a brand like Amazon. "'Rathnan Prapancha' is one of those rare films that has a bit of comedy weaved into the drama coupled with travel as a theme. A film like this has a universal appeal, and will resonate with audiences, Indian and global. One of the main reasons why we decided to associate with Amazon Prime Video." Adding to this, Sushant Sreeram, Director - Marketing, Amazon Prime Video India said: "Great stories have no borders...at Amazon Prime Video, it's our constant endeavour to nurture creative and compelling stories and storytellers, to bring some of the best stories to our audiences worldwide. And 'Rathnan Prapancha' is one such story that not only has universal appeal, but also showcases the amazing local talent in our country." The film also stars Umashree, Ravishankar, Anu Prabhakar, Pramod, Vainidhi Jagadeesh, Achyuth Kumar and Shruthi Krishna in pivotal roles. New Delhi, Oct 5 : All Central government ministries have been advised to avoid jumbo delegations to the World Expo being held in Dubai. In a set of guidelines issued to all the ministries, the Union Commerce Ministry has said that the delegations to the event should not consist of more than 5-6 officials, and jumbo delegations should be avoided. It has also said in the guidelines that the visit by a secretary or a minister should only be made if there is a substantive engagement befitting such senior level participation and involves similar level participation from the other side as well. The Commerce Ministry has said that all the delegations, including those to be led by secretary/minister, will require appropriate clearances following the due process. The Commerce Ministry has also advised the concerned departments that the scheduling of the travel of the delegation should not be bunched together and they should be suitably spread out to cover the duration of participation. The World Expo in Dubai, which was inaugurated on October 1, will continue till March 31, 2022. India is one of the prominent participants in the event, where it is showcasing its investment opportunities. Bengaluru, Oct 5 : The Karnataka Congress unit which has been already badly hit by the cold war between Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and state President D.K. Shivakumar, just added one more woe after the Punjab experiment. Party sources say that, in spite of the cold war between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, the Congress party has been able to gain the momentum against the ruling BJP in Karnataka. They fear that BJP will take advantage in case Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar stop their pro activeness. Prominent JD(S) leader H.D. Revanna has challenged the Congress party to prove its commitment to the oppressed classes by announcing a Dalit candidate for the post of Chief Minister. "No use of giving lip service on this issue," he chided. One of the prominent Dalit leader from the state, former deputy chief minister G. Parameshwara had said that the Congress party would consider a Dalit candidate for the post of the Chief Minister if party came to power in the next assembly elections on the lines of elevation of Charajit Singh Channi in Punjab. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, who are vying with each other for the top post were stunned by the sudden statement of Parameshwar, saying that the Congress high command will take an appropriate decision when the time comes. Siddaramaiah, known as the champion of backward classes, is in a fix over the issue. His supporters who were openly stating about Siddaramaiah taking the reins are also hesitant to make any statement as they fear that the followers of Parameshwara might openly demand a Dalit leader for the top job. On the other hand, Shivakumar, also considers himself in contention for the CM's post. The debate generated on Dalit CM has equally upset him, sources in the party said. The party leaders reveal that Parameshwara is not a mass leader and he can pitch in his candidature in opposition to tall leaders like Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. However, this debate is likely to benefit veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. Kharge, who hates to be branded as a Dalit leader has a mass appeal and he is an unquestionable leader of backward classes in the state. If the party decides on him in event of Congress attaining majority, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar will not be in a position to oppose the party's stand either within the party and outside as well. Kharge narrowly missed an opportunity to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2004 when JD (S), the coalition partner, preferred Dharam Singh over Kharge. After the independence, no Dalit leader has been able to occupy the top post in the state so far. If Congress decides to go with the Punjab model, it will create a history in the state. New Delhi, Oct 5 : A day after an agreement with the administration over the issue of death of four farmers among nine killed at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Tuesday said the agreement was only to pave way for the last rites of those deceased farmers, but the agitation will continue. "The agreement with the administration on Monday was only to pave way for the last rites to be performed. Our demands remain the same. The morality or lack of it, of the present government already stands fully exposed. SKM will soon announce a programme of action for getting these main demands met, and the agitation will not be called off until then," the SKM said in a release here. The SKM has demanded the immediate arrest of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ashish Mishra Teni, who belongs to BJP, and his accomplices. The SKM also demanded dismissal of Teni and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar from their posts immediately. Farmers are protesting Teni's alleged comments, followed by his son Ashish Mishra allegedly mowing down four farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri while Khattar's video instigating violence against farmers had gone viral, both on Sunday. "It was only a matter of time that the true narrative of the reality of the incidents in Lakhimpur Kheri had to emerge," the SKM said, referring to a video about the Lakhimpur Kheri incident that too has gone viral on social media platforms. The SKM had immediately called an emergency Panchayat and announced an agitation at that village. On Monday, for several hours together, the farmers had blocked the roads leading to the place where the incident had taken place and kept the four dead farmers' bodies in a glass-topped enclosures. They had claimed they would neither move from there, nor allow last rites of the farmers till their demands in connection with Teni and Mishra were met. Several hours later, around noon, farmers' leader Rakesh Tikait from the Bhartiya Kisan Union visited the place and held a meeting with the Uttar Pradesh administration. Announcing that the issues are resolved, he requested the agitating farmers to make way and asked the families of the deceased and the victims to go home. "SKM leader Tajinder Virk, who was grievously injured in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre was operated upon, with a neuro-surgery procedure, after being shifted to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram. He is reported to be out of danger now, and SKM wishes him and all other injured persons a full and speedy recovery," a release from the SKM said. The SKM also said, it condemned the arrest and detention of Gurnam Singh Chaduni, SKM leader by the Uttar Pradesh government for many hours since Monday evening. "The undemocratic and authoritarian behaviour of the Uttar Pradesh government is illegal and challenged by SKM. It is clear that the Yogi government is wary of the truth of Lakhimpur Kheri massacre emerging fully in front of the world and is protecting its own," the release said. The SKM condemned the attempts of the Uttar Pradesh government to prevent people from Punjab to come to Lakhimpur Kheri. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has permitted Zydus Cadila to conduct Phase III trials of ZyCoV-D, the two-dose regimen of its needle-free Covid vaccine. The company has "got the permission to conduct Phase III trials for its two-dose Covid vaccine", Cadila Healthcare said in a regulatory filing. Zydus Cadila had started testing the two-dose regime of the vaccine with 3 mg in each dose soon after being granted an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). The Ahmedabad-based healthcare manufacturer's three-dose RNA vaccine, apart from two-dose one, will soon be introduced under India's mass vaccination drive. The talks with the government are underway on pricing issues for the three-dose RNA vaccine which is supposed to be rolled out this month. The company is said to have proposed a price of Rs 1,900 for its three-dose jab, but the Union government is negotiating for a reduction in price. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had said earlier, "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 needleless delivery system, it would have a differential pricing than the existing vaccines that are being used in the Covid vaccination programme." The ZyCov-D vaccine was approved by the DCGI on August 20. The RNA built ZyCoV-D vaccine will be administered in three doses -- the second dose will be administered on day 28 from the first dose and the third one 56 days from the first dose. Sitapur : , Oct 5 (IANS) After the Uttar Pradesh Police formally arrested Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, she alleged that she has been "illegally confined and not allowed to meet her lawyers". Narrating her arrest Priyanka Gandhi said, "I have been placed under arrest as verbally informed to me by the arresting officer DCP Piyush Kumar Singh, CO City, Sitapur, under section 151 at 4.30 a.m. on October 4, 2021. At the time I was arrested I was traveling within the district of Sitapur, approximately 20 km from the border of Lakhimpur Kheri which was under section 144, however to my knowledge section 144 was not imposed in Sitapur." She said she was traveling in a single vehicle with four other persons, two local Congress workers and Deepender Hooda and Sandeep Singh. There was no security car or no other Congress workers there, she said. "I was then driven to the PAC compound, Sitapur accompanied by 2 female and 2 male constables. Having been brought to the PAC compound, no further communication regarding the circumstances or the reasons, or the sections under which I have been charged have been communicated to me by the UP Police or administration until now, 38 hours later at 6.30 p.m. on October 5." She alleged in her statement that she has not been served with any order or notice. "Nor have they shown me an FIR," she alleged. "I have myself seen a paper on social media in which they have named 11 people, 8 of whom were not even present at the time I was arrested. In fact, they have even named the two persons who brought my clothes from Lucknow on the afternoon of October 4," she claimed. "I have not been produced in front of a magistrate or any other judicial officer either. I have also not been allowed to meet my legal counsel who has been standing at the gate since morning. Presently I am not going into the details of the completely illegal physical force used on my colleagues and me at the time of my arrest as this statement serves merely to clarify the continuing illegality of my confinement at the PAC compound in Sitapur, UP." she added. Patna, Oct 5 : Ahead of the by-election, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday sharply attacked RJD chief Lalu Prasad. He said that Lalu Prasad used to do election campaigns from jail in the past. Nitish Kumar, after completing the aerial survey of flood affected districts of North Bihar, came back to Patna in the evening. When he was asked by the reporters that Lalu Prasad is coming to Bihar for election campaign, Nitish Kumar said: "Who has stopped him from coming to Bihar for election campaign? He would address the gathering or not, only he would know. He was doing the same in the past from jail." "JDU is contesting from Kusheshwar Sthan in Darbhanga and Tarapur in Munger in support of our alliance partners. The NDA is united," Kumar said. He further said that every party has a different working style. "I believe voters are the king in democracy. They will make their decision," he added. JDU candidate Aman Bhushan Hajari and Rajiv Kumar Singh filed the nominations from Kusheshwar Sthan and Tarapur respectively on Tuesday. The voting for these two seats will be held on October 30 and the result will be out on November 2. Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad addressed the workers of the RJD through video conferencing from Delhi and asked them to establish contact with common people of Bihar. "RJD members should fight for the people who are being victimized by the system or powerful persons of society. The path of justice is not smooth. You have to struggle for success. You may face the consequences like going into jail but don't get afraid of it. Those who are afraid of going into jail, cannot do Satyagrah," Lalu Prasad said. While attacking NDA especially BJP, he said that the saffron leaders are creating differences among followers of Ram and Rahim to rule the country. "They (BJP) came into power by following the ideology of dividing the society but it has a limit. The limit has crossed now and people are watching them closely. The Congress and other parties should get united. Due to lack of unity, the saffron party is taking advantage of the situation," Lalu Prasad said. Lakhimpur Kheri : , Oct 5 (IANS) The UP Police have apparently not found time to arrest Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni, because they were 'busy -- first with the negotiations and then with post-mortems and cremations. The FIR against Ashish Mishra was filed 24 hours ago and he has been charged with murder and causing death by negligence. The police inaction is fuelling the anger of the farmers as well as opposition leaders over the incident. Additional Director General Police (Lucknow Zone), S.N. Sabat, said, "We were first busy with the negotiations with the farmers and then with the post-mortems and then with getting the cremations done. We follow a due process in every case and we will investigate this case thoroughly and then initiate necessary action." Sabat denied that the police are taking time because the accused are high-profile people. "The attitude of the police is towards the victim, and not the accused," he said. The farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, who were protesting against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya on Sunday, said the minister's son was at the wheels of an SUV that mowed down a group of people, killing four and injuring several others. The violence it triggered led to four other deaths. A video of the horrifying moment circulating on social media shows an SUV driving into a group of protesters from behind, crushing many of them. Ajay Mishra, the Union Minister of State for Home, has claimed that the vehicle overturned, crushing the protesters who were throwing stones at the cavalcade. He also claimed that his son was not present at the site of the incident on Sunday. The farmers have also alleged that one of the four people died of bullet wounds, demanding that a second post-mortem be conducted at a hospital in Delhi. Ashish Mishra, meanwhile, said, "I was not in the car. I was at my paternal home in Banwirpur village where a wrestling event was organised. I was there from the morning till the end of the event." Guwahati, Oct 5 : Assam Police Deputy Inspector General (Border) Rounak Ali Hazarika, who travelled abroad 9 times without permission, was arrested on Tuesday by the Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell in connection with a disproportionate assets case. Police said that Hazarika, an IPS officer, was suspended in July for his 'numerous' foreign visits since 2011 without obtaining prior permission from the government. A team led by Superintendent of Police, Special Vigilance Cell Rosy Kalita arrested Hazarika from his residence at Hengrabari in Guwahati. An official statement said that Hazarika, who had joined the Assam Police Service in 1992, had possessed immovable and movable assets which are disproportionate to his known sources of income during the period from 1992 to 2021. It was also found that the police officer had incurred expenditure to the tune of over Rs 1.74 crore as educational expenses of his two children. "International travel history of Hazarika has been collected and it reveals that he had left the country and travelled abroad 9 times without permission from the competent authority. Apart from a salary account in State Bank of India, the officer and his family members have bank accounts in Axis Bank, Yes Bank and huge amounts are found to be deposited in cash while he was posted in Bongaigaon district during the period of 2019-2021," the statement said. Violence in UP's Lakhimpur-Kheri after farmers run over by vehicle. Image Source: IANS News Lucknow, Oct 5 : The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Lakhimpur-Kheri incident, in which nine persons were killed on Sunday. The six-member SIT will be headed by Additional SP Arun Kumar and will include Deputy SP Sandeep Singh and three inspectors. Violence broke out in Lakhimpur-Kheri on Sunday when some people mowed down protesting farmers with their vehicle, triggering a violent backlash. Nine persons were killed in the incident. New Delhi, Oct 5 : A new research from the Hot or Cool Institute released on Tuesday found that all G20 countries analysed exceed the lifestyle carbon footprint for 2050, requiring rapid and radical reductions. The report explores policies the governments can implement to pave the way for greener lifestyles, rather than focusing on individual behaviour changes, which will not be sufficient to achieve these reductions. The latest edition of the Institute's 1.5-Degree Lifestyles report analyses lifestyle carbon footprints from nine G20 countries around the world -- Canada, the UK, Japan, China, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, India and Indonesia as well as Finland -- and identifies where changes can be made to meet the Paris Agreement 1.5 degrees C climate target. By analysing lifestyle habits in six domains -- food, housing, personal transport, goods, leisure, and services -- this report presents the current per capita lifestyle carbon footprints for each country, and delivers options for shrinking lifestyle footprints in line with a 1.5 degrees C world. In order to meet the 2050 ambitious Paris target, high-income countries' lifestyle footprints need to be reduced by over 90 per cent (91-95 per cent), upper-middle income countries need to reduce their footprints by 68-86 per cent, and lower-middle income countries like India need to reduce footprints by 76 per cent. The study also highlights the huge inequalities and differences in lifestyle-related greenhouse gas emissions among the world's major economies. An average person in Canada, the country with the highest per-capita emissions among the economies studied, has a lifestyle footprint six times larger than a person in Indonesia. Going beyond individual behaviour change, the report looks at how a lack of enabling policies might be preventing people from making 1.5-aligned lifestyle choices. From making specific recommendations for how countries can make changes to their public transport and housing infrastructure to calling for bans of high-carbon intensive consumerism like the use of mega yachts, this report outlines policies and market interventions that can be implemented at a domestic and international level to curb lifestyle carbon footprints. Lewis Akenji, the lead author of the report, says: "Talking about lifestyle changes is a hot-potato issue to policymakers who are afraid to threaten the lifestyles of voters. This report brings a science-based approach and shows that without addressing lifestyles we will not be able to address climate change." Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, co-president of the Club of Rome says: "The solutions advocated in this report acknowledge that behaviour change can only do so much without a full turnaround from our pro-growth politics, financial and economic models towards a more holistic wellbeing economy. This report is an essential companion for policymakers working at the intersection of society and climate change." Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan based think tank, says: "This report highlights the importance of why countries such as Japan, which have made net-zero commitments, need to show how changes in lifestyles can contribute to this goal, and also how the goal itself will shape societies in the future. Further collaboration among stakeholders, citizens, and the business and the public sectors, to realise lifestyle changes is crucial to fulfil the net-zero commitments." Srinagar, Oct 5 : A non-local vendor was shot dead here on Tuesday by the militants, the police said. Police said the vendor, who was selling Bhelpuri in Lal Bazar area of Srinagar city, was shot dead by militants in the evening. "The deceased has been identified as Virender Paswan, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar. He was residing at Alamgari Bazar in Zadibal. Search in the area is in progress," the police said. Earlier on Tuesday, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Makhan Lal Bindroo, the owner of Bindroo Medicate near Iqbal Park in Srinagar. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday queried the Centre on the nature of the exercise it undertook to determine the adequacy of representation for granting reservation in promotion to SC/ST employees. A bench headed by justice L. Nageswara Rao said it would decide the contentious issue whether reservation should be there on the basis of proportion or adequacy of representation, as ordered in Nagraj case in 2006, for granting reservations in promotion for SC/ST employees. The bench queried the Centre's counsel, what is the exercise done after Nagaraj to find out the inadequacies of representation? The bench reckoned if determination of adequacy of reservation were to be based on population, then it may be exposed to flaws. "The Centre should have applied mind as to what is meant by adequacy", it added. Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh, representing the Centre, submitted that is why adequacy of representation was stated in the Nagaraj Judgment, and not the proportionality test. Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan and advocate Kumar Parimal, representing one of the parties, submitted the reservation in promotion can't be indefinite, and emphasized that after adequate representation was achieved, then why continue with it. The bench sought to know figures to justify the continuity in reservation. Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, also representing the Centre, agreed to bring on record statistics and reasons for continuing reservations. Another senior counsel submitted that state governments claim they haven't undertaken the exercise as mandated in the Nagaraj case -- collection of quantifiable data, adequacy of representation, and overall impact on efficiency of administration, in the backdrop of quota. Venugopal contended that the number of posts in the cadre should be in proportion to the percentage of population and added that Article 16(1) requires equality in representation. He said: "So far as SC/STs are concerned, they may not be at disadvantage, people will not say why are you giving because that is what their population is, whether it is 17 per cent or 18 per cent". The apex court had said the issues connected with reservation in promotion have already been decided in Nagraj and Jarnail Singh (2018) cases and they need no further reconsideration. The Centre submitted that nearly 1,000 odd posts were lying vacant. The bench said, "Let us find out whether there is adequacy cadre wise. We should have the data with us". The top court is hearing a clutch of petitions in connection with reservation in promotion for SC and STs in public employment. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday evening met Union Home Minister Amit Shah here and demanded strict action against the accused who trampled on the farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. Talking to the media after the meeting, he said, "I raised the issue of Lakhimpur Kheri violence with the Home Minister and said that such incidents cannot be tolerated." I also demanded that the Congress leaders should be allowed to visit Lakhimpur Kheri where the violent incident happened on October 4, he added. During the 45-minute long meeting with the Home Minister, Channi also discussed the security situation of the state and demanded that the border must be sealed properly to effectively prevent the smuggling of weapons from Pakistan. The newly elected CM also said that he discussed the reopening of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and the Home Minister assured him that a decision on this issue will be taken soon. Talking about the farmers' protest against the three farm laws, he said that he requested Shah that the Centre should take back these laws. This was his second visit to the national capital and first meeting with Amit Shah after he became the Chief Minister. Earlier, Channi came to Delhi after taking the command of the state to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 1 and raised the three major issues of Punjab farmers with the Prime Minister in his first official meeting. During the meeting with the PM, he raised the issue of the delay in procurement of Paddy in Punjab and also raised the three contentious farm laws as the prolonged agitation was damaging the agriculture driven economy of Punjab whose people had fought and died for the country. Chennai, Oct 5 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday called for a high-level and impartial inquiry into the farmers' protest at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh which turned violent and claimed the lives of nine persons including a journalist. Stalin also condemned the arrest of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri following the incident. "The attack on the farmers protesting against the farm laws is highly condemnable and I demand an impartial, high-level investigation into the death of farmers. Perpetrators of this cruel act must be punished legally," the Chief Minister said in a tweet. BJP leader Kushbu Sundar also protested the "tragic incident" at Lakhimpur Kheri. VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan also aired his protest against the incident, and the arrest of Priyanka Gandhi. Srinagar, Oct 5 : Continuing their civilian murder spree on Tuesday, the militants killed one more civilian in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district. Police sources said the militants shot and killed Muhammad Shafi Lone, a civilian in Naidkhai area of Bandipora district. This is the third civilian killing by militants in Kashmir on Tuesday. Earlier, Makhan Lal Bindroo, owner of Bindroo Medicate was killed by militants at his shop near Iqbal Park in Srinagar city. Bindroo had sustained four bullet wounds and doctors at the SMHS hospital in Srinagar said he was dead on arrival. A non-local vendor -- Virender Paswan, a resident of Bhagalpur in Bihar, who was selling Bhelpuri in Lal Bazar area of Srinagar, was also killed by militants. Following a spate of civilian killings by the militants, tension was palpable in Srinagar city as people rushed home. Srinagar, Oct 5 : Political leaders in Kashmir have strongly condemned the killing of the owner of Bindroo Medicate by terrorists on Tuesday evening. Terrorists fired upon owner of Bindroo Medicate, Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park in Srinagar on Tuesday evening. He was shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. J&K LG Manoj Sinha said the perpetrators will be brought to justice. "Deeply anguished to hear about the terror attack on Shri Makhan Lal Bindroo, owner of Bindroo Medicate. I strongly condemn this cowardly act. My deepest condolences to the bereaved family. Perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice very soon," office of LG J&K tweeted. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the killing. "What terrible news! He was a very kind man. I've been told he never left during the height of militancy and remained with his shop open. I condemn this killing in the strongest possible terms & convey my heartfelt condolences to his family. God bless his soul," Omar tweeted. Former Chief Minister and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the terrorist attack and said violence has no place in our society. "Condemn the killing of Shri M.L. Bindroo who chose to stay back in Kashmir even during peak insurgency. Such acts of violence have no place in our society. May his family find the strength to deal with this loss," Mehbooba tweeted. People Conference Chief Sajad Lone said the owner of Bindroo Medicate never left the Valley and terrorists made him pay for that. "The fatal attack against the owner of Bindroo medicate is outrageous and unacceptable. I knew the gentleman personally. He never left the Valley. And terrorists made him pay for that. May he live in peace," Lone tweeted. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The joint military exercise between India and Sri Lanka -- Mitra Shakti started on Thursday at the Combat Training School, in Ampara in Sri Lanka. The exercise would be conducted from October 5 to October 15. The Indian Army contingent comprising 120 personnel of Infantry Battalion Group and a similar strength from a Battalion of the Sri Lankan Army are participating in the bilateral exercise. "Over the next few days, troops will train, share and rehearse tactical drills to undertake joint counter-terrorism operations in a semi urban/rural environment under United Nations mandate," the Indian Army said in a statement. Senior military observers and dignitaries of the Indian and the Sri Lankan armies will be witnessing the validation phase of the exercise. The exercise provides an ideal platform for both contingents to share their operational experience and expertise while also being instrumental in broadening the inter-operability and co-operation between the armies of India and Sri Lanka. Last month, India and Nepal carried out joint military training at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand from September 20. The exercise named as Surya Kiran was held between Indian Army and Nepali Army. During this exercise, an Infantry Battalion from Indian Army and an equivalent strength from the Nepali Army shared their experiences gained during the conduct of various counter-insurgency operations over a prolonged period in their respective countries. Amaravati, Oct 5 : The emergence of a Vijayawada angle to the massive drug bust by the DRI in Gujarat recently has developed into a political battle between the ruling YSRCP and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. In the latest development on Tuesday, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, advisor to the Andhra Pradesh government, accused the TDP and some regional media houses of peddling fake news. "Based on the information that some person named Sudhakar had given either his or his in-laws' address, they are going to the extent of saying 'AP has become a safe haven for drug suppliers'. This is absolutely false, there is no truth in these allegations. The TDP, its leaders and allied sectors are merely spreading fake news to meet their political agenda," Sajjala said while speaking to the media. In September, the DRI had seized 2,988.22 kg of heroin with an estimated street value of Rs 2,000 crore from the Mundra Port in Gujarat. The consignment originated from Afghanistan, and was shipped to Gujarat from the Bandar Abbas Port in Iran. The GST number used for the consignment allegedly belonged to a company registered in Vijayawada. Ever since, the TDP has been targeting the ruling YSRCP on the issue. Sajjala also stated that the YSRCP and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, like all other Indians, want the investigating agency to take the case to its logical conclusion and punish those responsible for such a serious offence as severely as possible. He also pointed out at the huge quantities of ganja or marijuana siezed by the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) as a proof of the state government's resolve to fight the drug menace. "Since its inception, a total of 2.5 lakh kgs of ganja has been seized by the SEB. The reason it is seen in the news more often is because the state government is taking action. The previous government either slept over it or was hand-in-glove with the perpetrators, because of which there was never any chatter on such issues," he said. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi here on Tuesday and discussed various issues concerning the political situation in the state. Sources said, Sonia Gandhi discussed about internal rift in the state and asked the former Chief Minister to take everyone along in the state. The Karnataka leader was called to the national capital by the Congress high command to discuss further strategy regarding state politics. However, Siddaramaiah when asked said he is not interested in national politics. Sources say he is being offered a national role at the AICC level and the Congress wants to bring a backward leader to Delhi to counter BJP and make inroads in the section. The Congress leadership is in overdrive to resolve all the internal issues in the states specially those going for polls to stop exodus and strengthen the party, which is key to the Congress success. Sonia Gandhi on Monday had met ex-Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma to iron out differences with the state president, the Congress is easy of its leaders joining TMC. The Congress has two backward Chief Ministers -- Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, but elevating someone from the South will have impact in the southern region, though Mallikarjun Kharge is from the same state and from Scheduled Caste and is also in the national politics and currently leader of opposition in the upper house. Party sources say, Congress wants to resolve the issues between Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, the party leaders claim that Congress has been able to gain the momentum against the ruling BJP in the state. They fear that BJP will take advantage in case Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar stop their pro activeness. Apart from Siddaramaiah, Kharge too has a mass appeal who narrowly missed an opportunity to become the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2004 when JD(S), the coalition partner, preferred Dharam Singh over Kharge. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday asserted that the government's decision to make major interventions in the northeastern states for oil palm promotion will turn them into oil palm hubs of the country. Emphasising on equal role for the development of the crop (oil palm) and making major investments for seed nursery, drip irrigation, technical back-up, setting up of mills, purchase centres and training of farmers, Tomar said, "The special package and assistance for NE states will change the socio-economic status of the farmers and open employment opportunities in the established oil palm mills along with infrastructure development." Tomar was speaking at the 'National Mission on Edible Oil - Oil Palm Business Summit for North-Eastern States' in Guwahati. The Union minister also informed that the business summit has been aimed at exploring the target of area expansion, seedling requirement fixed for different states through processors, details of viability gap payment, interventions, and assistance under the mission, a release from the ministry said. The mission with a total outlay of Rs 11,040 crore will bring additional area of 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm plantation with 3.28 lakh hectares in northeastern states and 3.22 hectares in rest of India in the next five years, Tomar said. The Agriculture Minister stated that the government is committed to protect the oil palm farmers through price assurance, adding that under the mission, oil palm farmers will be provided all the assistance needed. Union Minister for Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), G. Kishan Reddy, appreciated the vision of the government of India for coming up with "a very well-planned edible palm oil scheme, which is a win-win for the farmers as well as for the development of the region". The DoNER Minister appealed to the investors and industrialists to invest in the northeastern region, which has immense potential for agricultural sector, especially palm oil. The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, said that it is time for the investors to come and invest in northeast in a big way to develop the agriculture sector, and take advantage of the fertile lands and climate. "Palm oil holds special significance as its cultivation can open up untapped avenues of earning for the farmers in the northeast," he said. Assam's Agriculture Minister Atul Bora informed that presently, farmers in two districts of Assam - Goalpara and Kamrup - are engaged in oil palm cultivation while there is a plan of bringing 1,500 hectares of land in 17 other districts under palm oil cultivation. An MoU was signed on the occasion between the Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited (ABRPL) and the Numaligarh Refinery to establish a first-of-its-kind bio refinery in India to produce renewable green fuel bio ethanol. Paris, Oct 5 : French President Emmanuel Macron held talks here with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, three weeks after an unprecedented crisis between the two countries sparked by Australia's decision to scrap a submarine deal with France. The "at length, face-to-face meeting" between Macron and Blinken, which lasted about 40 minutes according to French media, should "help restore confidence" between the two countries, the Elysee said in a statement, Xinhua News Agency reported. Earlier on Tuesday, Blinken also met with his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian. They chose not to hold a joint press conference. The objective of their "in-depth exchange" was to "identify the steps that may allow a return of confidence between our two countries," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. France is "still angry" and "reserved," its reception for Blinken has been "distant," while Washington, "which publicly made amends after the Australian submarine crisis, said nothing more and promised to seek 'concrete action' to seal reconciliation," Agence-France Presse reported. France was infuriated when Australia, the US and Britain announced a security partnership known as AUKUS on September 15, whose first initiative is the delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine fleet to Australia by the latter two countries despite the Australian government's multibillion-dollar 2016 contract to buy diesel-electric submarines from France. Le Drian condemned the trilateral move with harsh words, such as "lying," "betrayal" and "backstabbing." Macron recalled France's ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. France has never been consulted or notified in advance of the AUKUS deal, Le Drian told a Senate hearing last Wednesday. The crisis "has not ended only because the dialogue has resumed," he said. "It will continue. And in order to get out of it, serious actions will be needed, not words." New Delhi, Oct 5 : The World Health Organization (WHO) will meet next week with an independent group of experts to take a final decision on whether to grant Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to Covaxin. The WHO will carry out the risk and benefit assessments next week with the experts and take a final call on granting the much-awaited EUL to Covid vaccine Covaxin. The global health body said, "WHO and an independent group of experts are scheduled to meet next week to carry out the risk/benefit assessments and come to a final decision whether to grant Emergency Use Listing to Covaxin." It added that the EUL process of WHO and the technical advisory group of independent experts is centred on determining if a manufactured vaccine is quality-assured, safe and effective. Indigenous vaccine Covaxin, which has been developed by Bharat Biotech, has not received emergency use approval from the WHO. The Strategic Advisory Group of Expert on Immunization (SAGE) met earlier on Tuesday to decide on Covaxin getting EUL authorisation. However, as no decision could be reached, the global health body will meet again next week to decide on the same. The expert panel started its four-day meet on Monday to decide on policy guidance. The SAGE and the technical advisory group are supposed to go through all the vaccine dossiers submitted to the WHO before deciding on granting EUL to Covaxin. "Covaxin manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, has submitting data to the WHO on a rolling basis. It also submitted additional info at WHO's request on 27 September. WHO experts are currently reviewing this information & if it addresses all questions raised, WHO assessment will be finalized next week". The WHO has so far included only six Covid vaccines in its EUL list that includes the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured as Covishield by the Serum Institute of India. New Delhi, Oct 5 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who met Sonia Gandhi here on Tuesday said that he will only focus on state politics and all speculation about him being offered a role in national politics is speculative. In a tweet he said, "It was a courtesy call from @INCIndia President Smt Sonia Gandhi. We discussed about strengthening our party at State & National levels. The news of me being offered a position in central Congress team is speculative & far from the truth". "I am more interested in State politics. I will be confined to State politics till the end of my career. I had conveyed this to @INCIndia leader Shri @RahulGandhi when I was invited before," he added. Sources said, Sonia Gandhi discussed about internal rift in the state and asked the former Chief Minister to take everyone along in the state. The Karnataka leader was called to the national capital by the Congress high command to discuss further strategy regarding state politics. However, Siddaramaiah when asked said he is not interested in national politics. Sources say he is being offered a national role at the AICC level and the Congress wants to bring a backward leader to Delhi to counter BJP and make inroads in the section. The Congress leadership is in overdrive to resolve all the internal issues in the states specially those going for polls to stop exodus and strengthen the party, which is key to the Congress success. Sonia Gandhi on Monday had met ex-Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma to iron out differences with the state president, the Congress is easy of its leaders joining TMC. The Congress has two backward Chief Ministers -- Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, but elevating someone from the South will have impact in the southern region, though Mallikarjun Kharge is from the same state and from Scheduled Caste and is also in the national politics and currently leader of opposition in the upper house. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the only organisation in the country today which has rejected the politics of caste, nepotism, appeasement and corruption, party chief J.P. Nadda said on Tuesday. Addressing the national executive meeting of the party's youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), here, Nadda said, "BJP is the only organisation in the country today which has rejected politics of caste, nepotism, appeasement and corruption. The policies and welfare schemes of the Central government reflect the concept of inclusive development for all sections of the society under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It becomes the duty of every BJYM karyakarta (worker) to ensure that each of these schemes are being implemented efficiently at the ground level." BJP's national general secretaries, Tarun Chugh and B.L. Santhosh, were also present at the meeting. Lauding the tasks undertaken by the BJYM workers throughout country during the Covid-19 pandemic, Nadda said, "While other political organisations went under isolation during the time of crisis, our BJYM workers were on the streets helping people in this hour of crisis." He also asked the youth members to understand the importance of staying politically and socially relevant. "In BJP, every leader is a worker and every worker is a leader. We do not order or dictate, rather we involve our workers to work for the organisation and serve Bharatmata. We are determined to extend the benefits of numerous welfare schemes launched by the PM Modi-led government and ensure last mile delivery," the BJP chief said. BJYM national president Tejasvi Surya said, "The BJYM is today at the forefront of all important youth-centric political issues in the country, promoting the message of the BJP." Bengaluru, Oct 5 : The Karnataka government relaxed rules of promotion of police constables to sub-inspectors by approving the State Police Cadre Rules, 2021 in the cabinet meeting held here on Tuesday. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs J.C. Madhuswamy said, a decision has been taken in this regard in the state cabinet. The decision will benefit police constables who will become sub inspectors after four years of service. Earlier it was five and eight years. Based on the direction of the High Court, the government has also decided to form a cabinet sub-committee regarding appointment of priests to the controversial Dattapeetha under the chairmanship of Law minister Madhuswamy. Ministers R. Ashok, Sunil Kumar, Shashikala Jolle will be the members. The committee will discuss the future process and submit a report. Dattapeetha, known as Ayodhya of Karnataka, remained a flash point between Hindus and Muslims for decades. Recently, High Court has given a ruling for fresh appointment of priest setting aside the order of earlier Congress government appointing a Muslim priest at Dattapeetha. Madhuswamy explained that the new legislation enacted by the ruling BJP in Karnataka to stop demolition of temples is yet to be signed by Basavaraj Horatti, the Chairman of Legislative Council. It will become an Act after the assent by the Governor. The state government will keep the Supreme Court in loop about the new legislation, he said. The cabinet also approved the creation of a new Hebri Hobli in Hebri taluk of Udupi district. The monthly pension under Sandhya Suraksha Scheme for the 36 lakh beneficiaries aged above 65 years has been increased to Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200. New Delhi, Oct 5 : The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 48.12 crore for procurement, distribution and transportation of food grains for non-PDS beneficiaries that will benefit about 40 lakh people residing in the capital. A detailed guidelines were issued by the Delhi Food and Supplies Department for the distribution of the above ration in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in May this year. It will benefit migrant workers, unorganised workers, building and construction workers, domestic helpers who do not have ration cards. According to an official communique, the Cabinet has decided to continue to provide free ration to this population. Since then food grains were procured from the Food Corporation of India and are distributed to the needy people from June 5, 2021 through 282 identified distribution centres in Delhi, schools of the Education Department, all the three municipal corporations and NDMC. The school authorities entrusted with the task of distributing ration to the beneficiaries have been provided with a login ID and password for a software link called Delhi Relief. However, in the wake of the opening of schools in Delhi-NCR, some alternate arrangements are being made. It is estimated that around 100 distribution centres will be required. One centre per circle with the provision of 30 additional centres will be opened in areas where migrant labourers live. These additional 30 centres will be made operational as per the demand of the people. In Delhi, under the Public Distribution System (PDS) of the National Food Security Act 2013, NFS beneficiaries in the PR and PRS categories are provided five kg of food grains every month, which includes 4 kg of wheat and 1 kg of rice. Under the AAY category, there is regular 25 kg wheat, 10 kg rice and one kg sugar per household. Under the NFS scheme, wheat is given at Rs 2 per kg, rice at Rs 3 per kg and sugar at Rs 13.50 per kg. Silchar, Oct 5 : At least 24 school students were injured, three of them seriously, after a hanging bridge collapsed in southern Assams Karimganj district when the students were on their way home after school, officials said on Tuesday. A district administration official said that the four-year-old hanging bridge over river Singla collapsed at Cheragi area when around 100 girls and boys of Cheragi Vidyapith High School were crossing it on Monday afternoon, with all of them falling into the river. On hearing the noise, local people jumped into the river and rescued them. Three critically injured students have been shifted to the hospital after a doctor, staying nearby, rushed to the spot and started treatment on the bank of the river. Villagers said that a major tragedy was averted as there was not much water in the small river. Students and villagers regularly used this bridge to reach their destinations as it is the only bridge in the area. With the collapse of the bridge, many villages under the Ratabari Assembly constituency have now been cut off. Hyderabad, Oct 5 : Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Tuesday that the state government will launch a Dalit Bandhu-like scheme for the poor families of Muslims, backward classes and other communities in the state. He gave the assurance on the floor of the Assembly when Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi demanded that the government should implement a Dalit Bandhu-like scheme for Muslims. Replying to a debate on Dalit Bandhu, under which every Dalit family is given a grant of Rs 10 lakh to start any economic activity, the Chief Minister said that his government is committed to uplift the poor of all sections of the society. "The Dalit Bandhu scheme will definitely be launched for Muslims, and not just Muslims, but for the poor in all the communities, but it will take time. Telangana is a new state. We have made a beginning with Dalit Bandhu," he said. KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, assured Owaisi that his government will take all steps to remove backwardness of Muslims. The Chief Minister reiterated that all Dalit families in the state will be covered under Dalit Bandhu in a phased manner. He said the state has nearly 18 lakh Dalit families and it requires Rs 1.80 lakh crore to implement the scheme for all the Dalit families. He said the scheme will be implemented in saturation mode in the Huzurabad constituency, where it was launched on pilot basis. It will also be implemented in saturation in four mandals identified in different parts of the state. KCR said the government is now spending Rs 3,000 crore on the scheme. Before March next year, 100 Dalit families in every Assembly constituency will be covered by the scheme. He also announced that Rs 20,000 crore will be allocated in next year's budget for Dalit Bandhu. With this amount, 2,000 Dalit families will be covered in each Assembly constituency. The government will not only provide the grant to the beneficiaries, but will also create a special fund to financially help them in case of any emergency. He dismissed the allegation of the opposition parties that the Dalit Bandhu scheme was launched with an eye on the by-election in Huzurabad. "It's a minor election for us. Will there be no TRS government after Huzurabad election," he asked. KCR also exuded confidence that TRS will again form the government in Telangana in 2023 as it enjoys people's support. "There is no doubt that we will come to power again," he said amid thumping of desks by the ruling party legislators. The Chief Minister said that he came out with the 'revolutionary' scheme for Dalits as all studies show that they are the most backward in the society and suffered discrimination for centuries. He said that there has been no change in the lives of the Dalits even after 75 years of Independence. He also urged the Centre to replicate Dalit Bandhu for economic and social empowerment of Dalits across the country. He reiterated that Dalit government employees will also be covered under Dalit Bandhu and assured the members that the scheme will be implemented irrespective of the political affiliation of the beneficiaries. The Chief Minister said the beneficiaries are free to chose any business they want to do, adding that two or more beneficiaries can come together to set up a large unit. On the criticism by the opposition parties for allegedly going back on the promise to provide 3 acres of land to every Dalit family, KCR clarified that he did not make the promise. He pointed out that in the past, the governments assigned lands to Dalits but it was not uniform. "Some families were given one acre land each, while others got two acres. We had promised that we will ensure that all these Dalit families own 3 acres of land each," he said. The Chief Minister said that since there is no government land available now and the government itself is forced to acquire lands for public purposes, there is no question of land distribution. New Delhi, Oct 5 : A 5-member Congress delegation of the Congress Party led by senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday. Former Rajasthan state party president Sachin Pilot will also be the part of the delegation which will reach Lucknow at 12 noon. Earlier Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut after meeting with Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening said that a delegation of opposition parties is also being considered for visiting Lakhimpur. On behalf of the Congress party, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel are already present in Uttar Pradesh. Sanjay Raut after meeting with Rahul Gandhi said, "Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested in UP. If the law is the same for all, then why is Priyanka Gandhi in jail and other ministers are roaming free?" The farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri, who were protesting against the visit of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya on Sunday, said the minister's son was at the wheels of an SUV that mowed down a group of people, killing four and injuring several others. The violence it triggered led to four other deaths. A video of the horrifying moment circulating on social media shows an SUV driving into a group of protesters from behind, crushing many of them. Ajay Mishra, the Union Minister of State for Home, has claimed that the vehicle overturned, crushing the protesters who were throwing stones at the cavalcade. He also claimed that his son was not present at the site of the incident on Sunday. The farmers have also alleged that one of the four people died of bullet wounds, demanding that a second post-mortem be conducted at a hospital in Delhi. Ashish Mishra, meanwhile, said, "I was not in the car. I was at my paternal home in Banwirpur village where a wrestling event was organised. I was there from the morning till the end of the event." Colombo, Oct 6 : The President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, assured India on Tuesday that he will not allow Sri Lanka to be used to inflict any threat on India's security. Issuing a statement following the meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the President's media unit said that Rajapaksa made the assurance on India's security describing the importance of the geographical positioning of India and Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa also explained his country's relationship with China and assured that India should not have any doubt about it. During the meeting, discussion was also held on enhancing the opportunities for the Sri Lankan military to train in India. The Sri Lankan President also reiterated the need to reintroduce former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike's 1971 proposal to declare Indian Ocean as a Peace Zone and urged India's support for this endeavour. The President stressed the need to reintroduce the strong ties between the two countries, similar to what it was during 1960s and 70s. Rajapaksa also told the Indian Foreign Secretary that his government is taking measures to create an environment for all the Tamil people who left the country to return to the island nation and said that at the recently-concluded United Nations summit, he extended an open invitation to the Tamil diaspora and all Tamil people living around the world. Rajapaksa has also stated that 90 per cent of the lands in the North and East acquired for security reasons during the war has been returned and compensation has been paid to the families of the disappeared. While inviting Indian investors to Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa said that the subject minister has been vested with the responsibility to resolve the issue relating to the Trincomalee Oil Tanks in the East in a way that would benefit both countries. Rajapaksa assured that the long-dragging issue relating to fishermen in the two countries could be resolved, providing benefits to the fishing communities in both parties. Rajapaksa also extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Sri Lanka. During the meeting with the President, the Indian Foreign Secretary underscored the importance India attaches to expeditiously taking forward mutually beneficial projects, including proposals to enhance air and sea connectivity between India and Sri Lanka. He reiterated India's position on the complete implementation of the provisions under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, including devolution of power and the holding of provincial council elections at the earliest. Shringla later left Sri Lanka after completing his three-day visit. During his first-ever visit, the Foreign Secretary met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, Lankan Foreign Secretary Admiral (Retd) Jayanath Colombage and some Tamil political leaders. He also visited the historical Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, the India-run oil tanks in Trincomalee and the former war-torn Northern city of Jaffna. During his meeting with Prime Minster Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday, Shringla stated that India-Sri Lanka relations are underpinned by vibrant people-to-people ties which would be further strengthened with the signing of the inter-governmental MoU for the $15 million Buddhism grant. As a mark of goodwill and to bolster cultural links between the two countries, he said India will welcome the inaugural flight from Sri Lanka to Kushinagar, a religiously important place for Buddhists. Visakhapatnam, Oct 6 : Thirteen live bullets of 0.32 bore revolver were recovered from a woman passenger at Visakhapatnam Airport on Tuesday, police said. The bullets were found in the baggage of a 73-year-old woman when she was leaving for Hyderabad. During the baggage scanning, security personnel found 13 bullets. This sent the security staff of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the airport into a tizzy. The woman, a resident of Visakhapatnam, was not having any license or valid documents. A case under Arms Act was registered against her. She, however, claimed that she was not aware of the presence of bullets in her bag. She told police that she was carrying the bag of a relative who recently passed away. She was going to her relatives in Hyderabad. She told police that the deceased had a pistol license. She said he must have kept the bullets in the bag but she was not aware of this when she packed her baggage. New Delhi, Oct 6 : The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya was awarded with a PhD degree from Bhavnagar University in Gujarat on Tuesday. The Maharaja Krishnakumar Singh Ji Bhavnagar university conferred him PhD degree on the 'Role of Gram Vidyapith in community development and future challenge'. He commenced his PhD education on December 18, 2017 and completed on October 01, 2021. The minister is learnt to have appeared for viva on October 1 at the university. The Bhavnagar university in a tweet said, "We are happy to announce that our student and union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has got PhD on a 'Role of Gram Vidyapiths in Community Development and Future Challenges'. The university said further that we are hopeful that his mastery over the subject will benefit the rural higher education." The minister tagged the university in his tweet and said: "I thank the university, my guide and everyone who supported me in my research journey. This PhD journey has taken me from gross knowledge to subtle knowledge. This is a very important milestone in my life." The Union Health Minister Mandaviya also holds the charge of Chemicals and Fertilizers ministry. Washington, Oct 6 : Francis S. Collins has announced his decision to end his tenure as the director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) by the end of the year. "It has been an incredible privilege to lead this great agency for more than a decade," said Collins in a statement. "I love this agency and its people so deeply that the decision to step down was a difficult one," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying. "I fundamentally believe, however, that no single person should serve in the position too long, and that it's time to bring in a new scientist to lead the NIH into the future," Collins said. A physician-geneticist, Collins took office as the 16th NIH director on Aug. 17, 2009, after being appointed by then President Barack Obama and confirmed by the US Senate. In 2017, he was asked to continue in his role by then President Donald Trump, and in 2021, by President Joe Biden. NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centres and is a component of the US Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text This year Affirmative Technologies will process over $500 billion in electronic payments for leading financial institutions and FinTechs, more than doubling last years volume. As a result of record growth in transactions and new client signings, we are pleased to announce key additions to our executive team. Scott Brown has been promoted to Chief Information Officer. Scott joined Affirmative in 2013, serving as Director of Software Development. In addition to leading successful implementation projects with the nations largest financial institutions, Scott championed key platform enhancements including business intelligence and risk analytics. Prior to joining Affirmative, Scott distinguished himself in the United States Marine Corps as Crew Chief of an amphibious assault vehicle in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Scott has been a lynchpin of our success in providing mission critical systems to our clients. commented George Bassous, CEO. In Scotts expanded role he will oversee software development, implementations, technology and infrastructure. In addition, Aaron Calipari is joining our team as President. Aaron is a 20-year veteran of the payments risk space, most recently serving as Chief Strategy Officer for Valid Systems where he led the company's strategy, product innovation, sales and strategic partnerships. He has also held senior management roles across product management, sales, and business development for Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS). I couldnt be happier that Aaron is joining our team. Bassous continued, He is a payments innovator and natural team leader. His deep experience with data-driven strategies will be a strong compliment for our organization. About Affirmative Technologies Affirmative Technologies provides SaaS-based electronic payment solutions for risk-management, regulatory compliance, and transaction processing. We serve top financial institutions, regional banks, credit unions, community banks and FinTechs. Measure, Monitor, Manage. Weve provided direction to a number of different financial services organizations as theyve worked to select, configure, and deploy their SPM systems to help manage their sales compensation programs. OpenSymmetry is proud to announce their Thought Leader sponsorship of the 2021 U.S. Fintech Symposium, on a virtual platform, October 4-22, 2021. The U.S. Fintech Symposium is a virtual conference that will focus on the practical uses of advanced enterprise technologies within the finance and financial services industries. Attendees will have access to presentations and panel discussions with industry experts discussing a wide variety of technologies available and how they can leverage these systems with their organization. Sessions stretch across 3 weeks giving flexibility to all attendees to attend sessions without the pressures of other condensed virtual events. To learn more about the event, please visit: https://www.fintechsymposium.com One of our goals for the U.S. Fintech Symposium is to foster meaningful fintech conversations that drive industry innovation, said Dan Carmody, President of TreaSolution. Sales Performance Management is a strategic function within many fintech and financial services organizations. Therefore I am really looking forward to OpenSymmetrys involvement and Robert Blohms presentation at this years conference. During the virtual conference, Robert Blohm, a Senior Partner at OpenSymmetry will present Common Mistakes and Pitfalls When Automating Incentive Compensation Programs for Fintechs and Financial Services. Robert brings over 20 years of experience in sales effectiveness, performance management, and technology, and he has managed consulting projects for SMBs to Fortune 100 companies. Robert is a recognized as a Thought Leader in Sales Performance Management (SPM) and Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) and has been a featured speaker or panelist on 200+ topics including SPM best practices, emerging trends, changes in the vendor landscape, and customer success stories. On October 20, 2021, Roberts thought leader session will take a closer look at the more frequent, or common, missteps companies make when selecting and deploying sales performance management solutions. Firms considering SPM platforms often find it difficult to understand the features, capabilities, and usefulness of these packages, which are sometimes marketed with vague descriptions and confusing jargon. Weve provided direction to a number of different financial services organizations as theyve worked to select, configure, and deploy their SPM systems to help manage their sales compensation programs, said Robert Blohm, Senior Partner at OpenSymmetry. During our discussion we will review specific challenges that often occur during these efforts that are specific to these industries. We understand that this can be a significant investment for any organization, we look forward to sharing feedback and lessons learned from our clients. Key take-a-ways from OpenSymmetrys Thought Leader session include: How are companies defining Sales Performance Management (SPM) Overview of SPM Solution providers (and their capabilities) supporting the FinServ and FinTech industries SPM selection/deployment missteps and strategies to avoid making them Financial Services SPM case study of U.S. Bank About OpenSymmetry OpenSymmetry enables clients to achieve greater operational efficiency and get better sales results. OpenSymmetry is a global consulting company specializing in the planning, implementation, and optimization of industry leading technology suppliers of sales performance management solutions. OpenSymmetry has completed projects for more than 2,500 companies around the world. OpenSymmetrys global headquarters is in Austin, Texas, with offices in the United Kingdom and India. Media Contact Christina Mennen Marketing Director christina.mennen@opensymmetry.com About TreaSolution, Inc. TreaSolution, Inc. is an event production and treasury management consulting company. TreaSolution produces the semi-annual U.S. Fintech Symposium and a treasury management training course titled the Treasury Boot Camp. TreaSolutions consulting services assists organizations in developing world-class treasury management strategies, processes and services. Media Contact Dan Carmody President dan@treasolution.com As policies have shifted across colleges and universities, particularly with COVID changing how institutions operate, were thrilled to partner with CollegeSource in offering this much-needed, timely policy resource to our members, said Melanie Gottlieb, Interim Executive Director, AACRAO. Following their joint announcement to build the higher education industrys first-ever higher education policy portal, CollegeSource and AACRAO today announced that the Higher Education Policy Central website is now live. The portal was created by CollegeSource, the higher education industrys trusted provider of transfer and degree achievement solutions, to help administrators, researchers, policy analysts, faculty and staff easily access and compare official policies from institutions across the U.S. ranging from academia and campus health and safety to legal, disability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and others. As policies have shifted significantly across colleges and universities, particularly with COVID changing how institutions operate across the board, were thrilled to partner with CollegeSource in offering this much-needed, timely policy resource to our members in the higher education community, said Melanie Gottlieb, Interim Executive Director, AACRAO. Weve received positive initial feedback from members who are involved in developing new or improving existing policies, as the resource opens up a whole new world to campus policy analysts and other staff to elevate and apply innovative best practices across their institutions. Higher Education Policy Central is available as a complimentary benefit to all AACRAO members and is now available at https://www.aacrao.org/resources/higher-ed-policy-central-database. Weve supported the important work that AACRAO and their members do to help students progress toward a degree for more than 40 years, so when they approached us with this idea to build a policy repository, I knew we had to do it," said Kerry Cooper, CEO of CollegeSource. "Were better positioned than anyone to collect policy data and are excited to underwrite this valuable resource and offer it to institutions that need access to update policies to reflect todays most pressing issues whether its refining health and safety procedures during the pandemic, promoting learning accessibility measures, or reevaluating policies to ensure alignment with overall campus and student-centric priorities. About AACRAO AACRAO is a non-profit, voluntary, professional association of more than 11,000 higher education professionals representing approximately 2,600 institutions in more than 40 countries. Its commitment to the professional development of its members includes best practice guidance on admissions strategies to meet institutional diversity objectives, delivery of academic programs in innovative ways to meet the needs of a changing student body, and exemplary approaches to student retention and completion. About CollegeSource CollegeSource is the higher education industrys trusted provider of transfer and degree achievement solutions. For 50 years, CollegeSource has led market-changing transformation by inventing and investing in technology solutions that aid the staff and students of higher education in their quest to plan and complete academic careers. As the archiver of the nations extensive higher education course catalogs, CollegeSources degree audit, academic planning, and transfer credit evaluation solutions are depended on by more than 2,000 institutions and millions of individuals worldwide. Founded and led by higher education and technology veterans, CollegeSource is a privately-held company based in San Diego with offices in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, please visit collegesource.com. We are thrilled to have Frank and Jorg join ArangoDBs executive team. Frank has an amazing track record helping startups scale and generate revenue, and Jorg has done an outstanding job guiding our product development to be the most scalable open source graph database. ArangoDB, the most scalable open source graph database, today announced it has appointed Frank Swain as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), as well as promoted Jorg Schad, Ph.D., to Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Swain will serve as the leader of ArangoDBs global field organization, while Schad will continue to lead ArangoDBs product development efforts. Swain is an accomplished go-to-market executive specializing in early stage startups. He served as the first head of sales at Splunk, growing the companys annual global bookings to $30 million in three years. He went on to do the same at AppDynamics, where he served as the SVP of Worldwide Sales. Most recently, Swain served as Instanas CRO, which was acquired by IBM in December 2020. While there, Swain oversaw all pre- and post-sale revenue functions, ensuring all aspects of the organization scaled to meet Instanas business objectives and align to revenue growth. Schad joined ArangoDB two years ago as its Head of Engineering and Machine Learning after having worked on building database and large scale data infrastructure at SAP and Mesosphere. During his time at ArangoDB, Schad has grown the engineering team, helped shape the product, and built ArangoML, ArangoDBs solution for large scale Graph Analytics and Machine Learning. We are thrilled to have Frank and Jorg join ArangoDBs executive team, said Claudius Weinberger, ArangoDB co-founder and CEO. Frank has an amazing track record helping startups at a similar phase as ArangoDB scale and generate revenue, and Jorg has done an outstanding job guiding our product development to be the most scalable open source graph database on the market. Having spent the past decade in the application performance management space, I know firsthand how complex an organization's infrastructure can be. I see great potential for ArangoDB and its unique approach to delivering graph analytics, for any data format, at enterprise scale, said Frank Swain, CRO at ArangoDB. I look forward to helping ArangoDB scale its go-to-market strategy and teams and help organizations of all sizes leverage the power of graph and beyond. Its been an honor working with the ArangoDB engineering team to build an amazing scalable graph database over the past couple years, said Jorg Schad, Ph.D., ArangoDB CTO. Furthermore, we are all excited to continue taking our vision to the next level with advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities. ArangoDB is currently hiring across engineering, marketing, product management, sales, and recruiting, and most roles are fully-remote. To view open positions, visit careers.arangodb.com. About ArangoDB ArangoDB is the most scalable open source graph database, with more than 11,000 stargazers on GitHub. Building on the concept of graph and beyond, ArangoDB combines the analytical power of graphs with JSON documents, a key-value store, and a full-text search engine, enabling developers to access and combine all of these data models with a single, elegant, declarative query language. It serves as the scalable backbone for graph analytics and complex data architectures across many different industries. Founded in 2015, ArangoDB Inc. is a privately-held company backed by Bow Capital and Target Partners. It is headquartered in San Francisco and Cologne, Germany with offices and employees around the world. Learn more at http://www.arangodb.com. Arruda Real Estate Merges With William Pitt Sothebys International Realty; Pictured: Brokerage Manager Heather Gagnon and Jon Arruda William Pitt Sothebys International Realty today announced that the firm has expanded its reach in New London County in a merge with local real estate boutique firm Arruda Real Estate. Jon Arruda and 13 more Arruda sales associates, as well as four additional agents for a total of 18 agents, will now work with William Pitt Sothebys International Realty in Mystic, operating out of Arrudas former offices at 41 Williams Avenue. The company will host a special grand opening celebratory event at the new brokerage location on October 7, 2021. Agents will have the opportunity to mingle and network with the companys senior leadership as well as members of the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce and local dignitaries who will also be in attendance. William Pitt Sothebys International Realty said the merger was part of a larger strategic move to grow its presence in New London County and along the Connecticut Shoreline. In May, the firm opened a new highly visible office location in Niantic. The Mystic brokerage now joins the firms Niantic and Old Lyme brokerages to become its third New London County location, and its 27th brokerage overall. William Pitt Sothebys International Realty is now the No. 1 luxury real estate brand in New London County according to SmartMLS, with top brokerage market share for all residential property sales over $600,000 in the last 12 months. The company said the merger provides it with an even stronger ability to serve all Shoreline communities including Mystic, Stonington, New London and surrounding areas, as well as Rhode Island shore communities up to Naragansett. The Mystic brokerage manager will be Heather Gagnon, who also serves as the manager for the companys Old Lyme and Niantic brokerages. We are excited to join forces with such an esteemed Connecticut Shoreline firm and are thrilled to welcome so many highly skilled agents to our company, Gagnon said. We know we will greatly benefit from their real estate expertise, talent and rich local knowledge, while they in turn will benefit from the prestigious and far-reaching platform offered through our international brand. A Mystic resident, Jon Arruda founded Arruda Real Estate in 2011 and quickly became a top producer in the community, specializing in residential and commercial sales, investment properties, second homes, waterfront estates, beach homes and luxury condos. Prior, he worked with the Boston Real Estate Group, one of Bostons top-ranked real estate offices, and was a managing partner with the New England Company, growing that firm into one of the top producing residential contractors in Eastern Connecticut. After leading Arruda Real Estate for 10 years, he will focus on sales with William Pitt Sothebys International Realty. Additional agents moving to William Pitt Sothebys International Realty from Arruda include Josee Rockwell, Heather Sawyer, Kathy Pupa, Jennifer Cady, Lindsey Conroy, Michaela Bean, Tony Arruda, Craig Arruda, Carl Bardy Jr., Judd Fertman, Renee Rossi, Todd Przbysz and Nikki Bonano. Three agents already affiliated with William Pitt Sothebys International RealtyBonnie Nault, Dave Thomas and Liz Squillacotewill now base themselves out of Mystic, while Cheryl Christopher, previously associated with Compass, will also join the company. This association brings us a new and higher level of marketing and networking reach, Arruda said. The international exposure with connections to real estate experts all over the world, extraordinary marketing both nationally and globally, cutting-edge technology, preeminent branding and incredible referral opportunities are just a few of the advantages that will now enhance our business. About William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty Founded in 1949, William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty manages a $5.9 billion portfolio with more than 1,100 sales associates in 27 brokerages spanning Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York. William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty is one of the largest Sotheby's International Realty(R) affiliates globally and the 37th-largest real estate company by sales volume in the United States. For more information, visit the website at williampitt.com. Sotheby's International Realty's worldwide network includes 1,000 offices throughout 75 countries and territories on six continents. Bodo charges and organizes all devices with a snap. Thanks to Bodo, people no longer have to struggle to find a place to optimally use or charge their devices or live with a mess of wires. Bodo, the worlds first all-in-one charging organizer designed for mobile devices, allowing users to better manage their professional and home office and be more productive, has launched on Indiegogo. Bodo was conceived by Eric Chan, a design entrepreneur who has worked with top global companies, including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Lenovo. Bodo was an idea born out of real need while the WFH (work-from-home) market was growing exponentially during the pandemic. Bodo charges and organizes all devices with a snap. Because weve become so reliant on our mobile devices, working with co-founder Michael Morath, we saw a need to create an organizing system that is multifunctional and easy to use, said Chan, Thanks to Bodo, people no longer have to struggle to find a place to optimally use or charge their devices or live with a mess of wires. The power is distributed via one USB-C cord to the entire board which provides multiple charging spots. Simply snap a power module with Bodos patented electromagnetic connection technology to the board wherever needed and start charging any combination of devices. From earbuds, smartphones and tablets to your laptop, video conferencing light and IoT devices. Bodo is much more than just a charging station it organizes and elevates the WFH setup by keeping clutter at bay to make way for seamless workflow. Whether on a video conference call or digital brainstorming, Bodo makes any activity easier so users can focus on the interaction that matters. Bodo can also be easily adjusted for the optimum ergonomic experience using the detachable stand add-on. With the snap-on modules, you can seamlessly switch activities from a productive workplace to enjoying home life (e.g., workouts, yoga, and even cooking). Bodo is the only WFH system you need, and can be used for: Work from home activities Video conferencing Digital brainstorming Remote learning Fitness & wellness Following video guides Cooking/browsing recipes Tik Toking or Facetiming with friends Visit Bodos Indiegogo page to discover all the ways you can customize your Bodo board to meet your needs, when choosing from different modules and size options. Bodos Indiegogo campaign is offering special early bird discounts during the launch period only. The team is working with manufacturers now and it will be shipped to the backers shortly after the Indiegogo campaign. About Bodo Bodo: means Bound to Do anything. Bodo creates compelling products that solve everyday problems so you can enjoy productive work and play. Bodosnap: Charge and organize all your devices with a Snap. Bodo was created by Eric Chan, Co-founder & CEO, Michael Morath, Co-founder & CTO, and Co-founder Raymond Shao. Eric Chan has years of international experience in design and product innovation, as President of ECCO Design. He has designed hundreds of products for global tech companies and start-ups including LG, Herman Miller, Panasonic, Samsung, GE, Lenovo, Audi, and Toyota - from consumer electronics, office products, and IoT devices, to smart appliances. Eric is an inventor with over 40 patents under his name, and author of the popular 1,000 Product Designs book. He has served as a judge for multiple international design competitions including the CES Innovation, Red-Dot, Industrial Design Excellence Awards, and IF Awards. Michael Morath has worked for Ecco Design, TULU, P&G, and Bosch Germany. With a focus on smart IoT products, smart appliances, and innovative sensor technology. His recent projects include a last-mile transportation charging station and a Tele-control video camera system. Raymond Shao is an industrial designer at ECCO Design, and a 3D enthusiast focusing on product visualization and animation. His engineering background and previous working experience helped him combine engineering fundamentals with Bodos design ideas. Bodosnap Website Ecco Design Website Bodosnap Indiegogo Page We are so grateful to Liberty Mutual for its investment in our comprehensive approach to helping vulnerable young people experiencing homelessness, said Elisabeth Jackson, chief executive officer of Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Bridge Over Troubled Waters (Bridge) today announced that it has received a $2.5 million grant from Liberty Mutual Foundation to address the challenges and outcome-based solutions of youth experiencing homelessness. The donation, which will be provided over a five-year period, is the largest the organization has ever received. We are so grateful to Liberty Mutual for its investment in our comprehensive approach to helping vulnerable young people experiencing homelessness, said Elisabeth Jackson, chief executive officer of Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Liberty Mutual has been a decades-long partner in this work and we are extremely grateful for their continued leadership and commitment as we strengthen the agency, expand our programs and deepen the scope of our services. Research shows that Black and African American youth have an 83 percent higher risk of becoming homeless while LGBTQ+ youth are 120 percent more likely to experience homelessness. Even more concerning, 50 percent of youth who are homeless are unsheltered. The prevalence of homelessness among people between the ages of 14 and 24 is growing, and many of the young people who become homeless are being both physically and sexually abused or exploited. Between 70 and 80 percent of the youth that Bridge works with have experienced trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Bridge Over Troubled Waters provides both housing and support services to young people who have become homeless. Bridges key services include prevention and intervention programs, such as its Mobile Medical Van and Street Outreach programs, and its Safe Place sites; as well as self-sufficiency initiatives, including its Transitional Day Program and educational and career support programs. Bridge also provides housing access and stability services, including its innovative Liberty House co-op model that was purchased with a $1.1 million gift from the Liberty Mutual Foundation in 2018. This new $2.5 million grant will support Bridges efforts to further reach and support youth experiencing homelessness. Were honored to expand our long-term partnership with Bridge Over Troubled Waters, said Melissa MacDonnell, president of Liberty Mutual Foundation. They have proven themselves to be a best-in-class organization, providing the vital wraparound care necessary to help homeless, runaway and at-risk youth reach their full potential. The scale of the investment, our largest to date, indicates our deep commitment to addressing youth homelessness in Boston, and our belief that Bridges efforts serve as an effective model to help alleviate this hidden epidemic. The donation will help Bridge address some of its pre-existing infrastructure needs and organizational capacity, as the agency scales to meet the increasing needs of youth. Additionally, it will help the organization expand its co-operative supportive housing model that allows young people an opportunity to live independently while assisting them in building the financial resources to find an apartment in the region. Finally, it will support Bridges efforts to raise awareness of the challenges faced by youth experiencing homelessness and the need for additional service support. The challenges vulnerable youth and young adults face are complex and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, said Jackson. For over 50 years, our model has incorporated a comprehensive and individualized approach to our work with youth experiencing homelessness, understanding that young people are best served when all aspects of youth development are addressed. We thank Liberty Mutual for this significant, five-year investment in this shared vision. About Bridge Over Troubled Waters Bridge Over Troubled Waters, founded in 1970, is the largest agency in Greater Boston providing a full continuum of care to homeless, runaway and at-risk youth. Each year, Bridge serves more than 2,000 youth through a comprehensive range of survival, health, educational, career and housing programs in order to encourage the formation of a healthy, productive and fulfilling adulthood. For more information, visit http://www.BridgeOTW.org About Liberty Mutual Insurance At Liberty Mutual, we believe progress happens when people feel secure. By providing protection for the unexpected and delivering it with care, we help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow. In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, today we are the sixth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2020 gross written premium. We also rank 71st on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2020 revenue. As of December 31, 2020, we had $43.8 billion in annual consolidated revenue. We employ over 45,000 people in 29 countries and economies around the world. We offer a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, specialty lines, reinsurance, commercial multiple-peril, workers compensation, commercial automobile, general liability, surety, and commercial property. For more information, visit http://www.libertymutualinsurance.com. Samsung including Canela.TV as a featured channel is a testament to the success we have had penetrating the Latin America market and further proof that this audience craves great content. Canela.TV, one of the first AVOD streaming services for U.S. Hispanics, will be featured on Samsung TV Plus in Mexico from September 22 to October 26. Canela.TVs Canela Clasicos channel has experienced high performance in the region, and therefore was selected to be featured for Samsung TV Plus viewers to enjoy access to their favorite telenovelas, reality and adventure shows, and modern dramas. Canela.TV has had a tremendous amount of success in Latin America which will continue to grow as we add new content and attract new audiences, said Isabel Rafferty, CEO and Founder of Canela Media. Samsung including Canela.TV as a featured channel is a testament to the success we have had penetrating the Latin America market and further proof that this audience craves great content. We are so thrilled to be able to continue to provide this audience with great, free content from every genre. Canela.TV viewers on Samsung TV Plus will have access to classic and historical movies such as: Santo contra Cerebro del Mal (Cast: El Santo,Norma Suarez Joaquin Cordero, Fernando Oses): An undercover police officer is kidnapped by Dr. Campos, who brainwashes him into becoming a gang member. Campos, posing as a prestigious scientist, uses his inventions to force others to commit crimes. Los Alegres Aguilares (Cast: Antonio Aguilar, Maria Duval, Elsa Cardenas): A ranch musical comedy with the hilarious adventures of two identical twins. One is a wealthy farmer and the other a gambler cheater. El Circo De Capulina (Cast: Gaspar Henaine, Alicia Encinas, Rosa Gloria Chagoyan): Capulina helps a circus owner to build a tent with his elephants. Taking part in all the acts, they save the circus from ruin. Vagabundo y Millonario (Cast: German Valdes, Marcelo Chavez, Sonia Furio, Clara Castejon): A millionaire, an important businessman, is kidnapped. By coincidence Tin-Tan commits a small infraction and is arrested by the police. Nobody imagines how similar they are. For additional information on Canela.TV please visit: https://www.canela.tv/ About Canela Media Canela Media is a leading digital media technology company offering brands a complete ecosystem to connect with multicultural audiences starting with its free streaming service, Canela.TV, which enriches the new generation of U.S. Latinos with free access to unique, culturally relevant content. Additionally, Canela Media reaches more than 22 million unique Hispanics across its 180+ premium Spanish-language sites and influencer database. Combined with the company's proprietary data, Canela Media possesses in-depth knowledge and understanding of how to establish meaningful and culturally relevant connections with the new mainstream U.S. Hispanics. Headquartered in New York, Canela Media is ranked as the third largest Hispanic ad-focused company and the only female- and minority-owned certified digital company. For more information please visit http://www.CanelaMedia.com. Creative Educational Concepts and its CEC Oncology business unit offer extensive experience in both live and online continuing medical education activities across diverse therapeutic areas. "The success of this first annual NFYIF underscores just how far and fast research in neurofibromatosis is advancing. Its important for us as medical education providers to support learners at all stages of their careers." CE Concepts, (CEC or the Company) an accredited provider of interprofessional continuing medical education and division of KnowFully Learning Group, hosted its first annual Neurofibromatosis Young Investigators Forum (@NFYIForum) held live virtually on September 23rd-24th, 2021. The Neurofibromatosis Young Investigators Forum (NFYIF) is a highly competitive research and professional development forum that strives to encourage, promote and empower Young Investigators to forge collegial connections and acquire the necessary skills and relationships to increase their research productivity and catalyze their career trajectory in neurofibromatosis. Young Investigators include North American-based junior faculty, fellows and postdoctoral researchers (MDs, DOs and PhDs) involved in neurofibromatosis research. The goal of the NFYIF is to foster the careers of many young physician scientists and PhD-trained scientists. The innovative research presented included a wide array of topics, ranging from novel diagnostic strategies to evolving tumor control methodologies. Predicated on educational core competencies set forth by the ACGME, the NFYIF was specifically designed to fulfill the scholarly activities fellowship requirement for graduate medical education by equipping Young Investigators with resources and expert guidance to help them effectively present, publish and communicate their work to the larger scientific community. The success of this first annual NFYIF underscores just how far and fast research in neurofibromatosis is advancing. Its important for us as medical education providers to support learners at all stages of their careers. Educating and enabling these early-in-career junior faculty, fellows and researchers with their transitions to the next phases of their careers is at the heart of CECs mission to enhance healthcare through engaging learner opportunities for the entire interprofessional healthcare team, said Rebecca Weaver, CHCP, senior account director at CE Concepts. The program included six expert faculty judges, 18 Young Investigators, along with one patient and one patient/caregiver. To aid in professional development, time was set aside for Mentoring Moments, wherein the Young Investigators were able to receive direct 1-on-1 feedback from some of the distinguished faculty members. The attendees also had the opportunity to hear from Bill Riter and Lilly Ann Brooks, who graciously shared their patient and caregiver stories during the event. The expert faculty judges included Bruce Korf, MD, PhD (Activity Co-Chair), Andrea Gross, MD (Activity Co-Chair), D. Wade Clapp, MD, Michael J. Fisher, MD, AeRang Kim, MD, PhD and Nancy Ratner, PhD. Seven research grant awards were provided to clinical fellows and PhD postdoctoral fellows, along with clinician scientists and research scientists. These grants are awarded with the purpose of furthering neurofibromatosis research. Winners and projects were announced on Twitter @NFYIForum and on LinkedIn using #NFYIF. This forum was made possible through an independent educational grant from AstraZeneca and an educational partnership with the Childrens Tumor Foundation (CTF) which is working to end neurofibromatosis through research. You can learn more about CTFs mission and efforts at ctf.org and via #EndNF on Twitter and Linkedin. The wins from the day include: Clinician Scientist and Research Scientist Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award Melissa Perrino, MD from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Title: Complementing MEK Inhibition in NF1: C5aR-antagonism in Combination with MEK Inhibition Reduces Plexiform Fibroma Growth, Demonstrating the Importance and Targetability of the Tumor Micro-environment First Runner-Up Ina Ly, MD from Massachusetts General Hospital Title: A Multi-center Radiomics-based Model to Differentiate between Neurofibromatosis Type 1-associated Plexiform Neurofibromas and Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors Second Runner-Up Daochun Sun, PhD from the Medical College of Wisconsin Title: MPNST Cancer Stem Cells Promote the Metastatic Progression Clinical Fellows First Place R. Taylor Sundby, MD from the National Cancer Institute, Pediatric Oncology Branch Title: Cell-free DNA Ultra-low-pass Whole Genome Sequencing to Distinguish Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor (MPNST) Second Place Stephanie Brosius, MD, PhD from The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia Title: Characteristics of Moyamoya Syndrome in Pediatric Patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 PhD Postdoctoral Fellows First Place Xiyuan Zhang, PhD from the National Cancer Institute Title: Single-cell Omics Reveals Diverse Epigenetics and Transcriptomic Reprogramming of NF1-deficient Cells through the Loss of PRC2 in MPNST Second Place Kevin Bruemmer, PhD from Stanford University Title: Chemoproteomic Approaches for Identifying the Roles of Glycosylation in Neurofibromatosis 1 To view the winners photos with a summary, view the attached PDF. "On behalf of all the NFYIF Faculty Judges, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Young Investigators on their accomplishments and wish them the very best in their future research and career endeavors. The presentations and wealth of knowledge shared makes me hopeful for the future of NF1-related research," said Bruce Korf, MD, PhD the activity co-chair. Though we had initially planned on holding this event in-person, the myriad challenges presented by COVID-19 and the recent upsurge of the delta variant necessitated that this event be held virtually. Our team was able to quickly and effectively pivot to a dynamic virtual format in which Young Investigators were able to network, share presentations and experiences, establish collegiality and, of course, learn from one another, said Bryan C. Taylor, PharmD, vice president of client relations at CE Concepts. CEC hosts a variety of other Young Investigator Forums, including the EGFR Young Investigators Research Summit (EGFR RS), the Immuno-Oncology Young Investigators Forum (IOYIF), and the Northwestern Cardiovascular Young Investigators' Forum (NCYIF). For more information on any of CECs activities, visit ceconcepts.com or send an email to info@ceconcepts.com. About CE Concepts CE Concepts designs, develops and delivers responsive continuing medical education initiatives for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and related members of the interprofessional healthcare team. CEC educational modalities include live symposia, grand rounds, chapter series, young investigator forums, resident immersion programs, interactive webinars, webcasts and on-demand web-based enduring activities, all with the concerted purpose of promoting clinician knowledge, improving clinical practice and optimizing outcomes for patients. For more information, please visit http://www.ceconcepts.com. About KnowFully Learning Group KnowFully Learning Group is a leading provider of end-to-end professional education in the accounting, finance and health care sectors. KnowFullys brands enable students and professionals to more efficiently prepare for and pass professional licensure exams, satisfy required credit hours to maintain credentials and leverage the comprehensive, practical, in-depth continuing education they need to remain at the forefront of their professions thereafter. KnowFully is backed by NexPhase Capital, LP, a thematic and operationally-focused private equity firm. For more information, please visit http://www.knowfully.com. For Britain Loves Baking, this ClearAngel investment is reshaping the way we bake." - Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco Clearco, the worlds largest e-commerce investor revolutionizing the way founders grow their businesses, today announced that its industry-leading ClearAngel program is funding Britain Loves Baking, a baking kit delivery service. ClearAngel gives early-stage companies access to revenue share capital, data-driven advice, and an extensive network of apps, agencies, and investors powered by Clearco. Founded in 2020, Britain Loves Baking started as the COVID-19 pandemic became a global focus and, as it does during many crises, baking took center stage in the lives of families across Great Britain. Britain Loves Bakings innovative range of baking boxes take all the fuss, friction & unnecessary cost out of baking by giving United Kingdom, Irish and American consumers just the right amount of everything they need in a box to bake the perfect recipe. Britain Loves Baking has attracted over 10,000 customers, including some celebrity buyers, but is ready to further expand and become the preferred baking boxes manufacturer. ClearAngels support will help them do just that. ClearAngel is among just a few equity-free, flexible capital options for early-stage founders who lack the network to raise an angel round or join exclusive accelerators. Since its February 2021 launch, the program has already funded over 350 companies. We have just moved into wholesale and private label, and we are about to unveil the Christmas Collection. Weve also been named the headline sponsor of the Celebrity Lunch, Laughs and Live Tour, hosted by 6 of the UKs most famous daytime TV presenters. ClearAngel will help us invest in new growth channels for our coming Ready To Retail Range, as well as our test kitchen to drive faster innovation. said The Baking Brothers, Britain Loves Baking. We are also going to utilize the ClearAngel network to grow our employee wellness programmes. In addition to $10,000 of flexible capital, Britain Loves Baking will also get access to a network of more than 500 investors, growth teams, agencies, apps, lawyers, and buyers; and data-driven advice designed to help scale and hit new revenue milestones. With ClearAngels funding, Britain Loves Baking will be able to invest in new growth channels, research and development, and automated production. Were proud to fund Britain Loves Baking in its efforts to bring joy into homes in the midst of chaos, said Andrew DSouza, CEO and co-founder, Clearco. For Britain Loves Baking, this ClearAngel investment is reshaping the way we bake." To learn more about Britain Loves Baking and experience unmatched, perfect baking for yourself, visit britainlovesbaking.com. ClearAngel is currently onboarding E-commerce and product companies. The program has limited spots available for SaaS, Apps, marketplace and stealth companies. To learn more about applying, visit angel.clearbanc.com. About Clearco: Co-founded as Clearbanc in 2015 by Michele Romanow from Canadas Shark Tank (Dragons Den), Andrew DSouza, Ivan Gritsiniak, Charlie Feng, and Tanay Delima, Clearco offers the most founder-friendly capital solutions for e-commerce, mobile apps, and SaaS founders as well as a full suite of products and access to a powerful global network, insights and data, and recommendations. Clearco has invested over $2 Billion in over 4,500 companies to date, including Leesa Sleep, fashion-rental service Le Tote, home goods company Public Goods, shirtmaker UNTUCKit, online speech therapy practice Expressible, and digital real estate marketplace SetSchedule. For more information visit clear.co and @getClearco. Press Contacts: Krista Tietjen Clearco krista.tietjen@clear.co 610-213-2824 Dave Lee Britain Loves Baking Marketing@britainlovesbaking.com "The team is proud to add another specialization to our roster. It shows how committed we are to providing our customers the greatest value from their cloud investment." Chris Resch, General Manager, Google Cloud Platform Practice at Cloudbakers | Qwinix. Cloudbakers | Qwinix, a Google Cloud Premier Partner, announced today it has achieved the Cloud Migration Specialization in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program. Specializations from the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program are the highest technical designation a partner can achieve. The program provides Google Cloud customers with qualified partners who have demonstrated technical proficiency and proven success in specialized solutions and service areas. Partners with the Cloud Migration Specialization have successfully built foundational architectures and then migrated a significant number of customer workloads from either on-premises or other spot providers to Google Cloud. "The team is proud to add another specialization to our roster," said Chris Resch, General Manager, Google Cloud Platform Practice at Cloudbakers | Qwinix. "It shows how committed we are to providing our customers the greatest value from their cloud investment." Cloudbakers | Qwinix has also earned Data Analytics, Infrastructure, Workplace Transformation Enterprise, and Application Development specializations. About Cloudbakers | Qwinix In 2021, Cloudbakers and Qwinix joined forces to build one of the largest professional service-focused Google Cloud Premier Partners. With a dedication to engineering excellence and Managed Services distinction, we offer an end-to-end experience for both Google Workspace and Google Cloud Platform. The Coastal Spritz Premium Canned Wine Product Line Grown in the Columbia Valley of Washington State, Coastal is a pioneer of premium light wine. Coastal Spritzs goal is to provide consumers with the highest quality wine spritz in a ready-to-drink option. Coastal Spritz, a pioneer of premium light wine, continues their national retail expansion with a roll out into Wawa stores throughout Florida, via the Breakthru Beverage Group. Wawa is the all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services, and more, and Coastal will now be in all Florida doors of Wawa. Coastal is pioneering premium light wine in 12 oz. cans. Initially having launched in 2017, Coastal Spritzs goal is to provide consumers with the highest quality wine spritz in ready-to-drink options, for an on-the-go lifestyle, easy entertaining, and as an accessible product in eco-friendly cans. The brand uses only premium wine that is sourced from the best vineyards in The Columbia Valley of Washington State, giving it a delicious and lighter take on canned wines without sacrificing the quality of the grapes that go into it. Currently offering 6 exceptional skus: Pineapple Rose Spritz, Watermelon Rose Spritz, and Classic Rose Spritz, Sauvignon Blanc Spritz, Pinot Noir Spritz, and Oaked Chardonnay Spritz 6% abv. Coastal is also available on the brands website: https://coastalspritz.com. They are currently available in their innovative 12 oz cans at retailers in 15 states with a specific regional focus for the SE, NE, MW and CA, and will continue to add on consumer markets such as Florida via Wawa as they strategically expand and dominate markets. Unlike other products in the category, Coastal Spritz does not use any artificial ingredients or sweeteners, instead, it uses a splash of real fruit juice and a hint of monk fruit as a sweetener in the pineapple & watermelon rose skus. Introducing the first of its kind are the pure varietal 6% abv spritz collection. Coastal Spritz products contain less than 100 calories with 1-5 grams of sugar per each 12 oz. serving. They are all natural, gluten-free, Non-GMO and plant based. Simply stated, Coastal Spritz product is a convenient guilt-free pleasure for the premium wine drinker. Being able to partner with the top convenience store chain in the nation as part of our Florida roll out is an unbelievable opportunity. It is an ideal brand synergy and we are thrilled to bring our product to the Wawa consumer. We are dedicating significant resources to the success of this Wawa partnership, which is extremely exciting for Coastal. - BJ McCaslin, Brand Founder Coastal proudly donates a portion of proceeds to support the Ocean Foundation. Their mission is to support, strengthen, and promote those organizations dedicated to reversing the trend of destruction of ocean environments around the world. For more information, visit https://coastalspritz.com and follow on IG @DrinkCoastalSpritz About Coastal Grown in the Columbia Valley of Washington State, Coastal is a pioneer of premium light wine. Coastal Spritzs goal is to provide consumers with the highest quality wine spritz in a ready-to-drink option. We believe the premium wine drinker has been searching for a low abv option that holds the true varietal characteristics of the wine grown in the region. Being sourced from the best vineyards in The Columbia Valley of Washington State, giving it a delicious and lighter take on canned wines without sacrificing the quality of the grapes that go into it. Founder BJ McCaslin has been a lifelong beverage and hospitality entrepreneur. After selling his last brand Vita Coco Cafe he dove right back into wine and spirits his true passion behind innovating with liquid to lips. http://www.coastalspritz.com | @DrinkCoastalSpritz About Wawa, Inc. Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, began in 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th Century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family began a small processing plant in Wawa, PA in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and certified process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, Georges grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for dairy products. Today, Wawa is your all day, every day stop for freshly prepared foods, beverages, coffee, fuel services and surcharge-free ATMs. Wawa stores are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C. The stores offer a large fresh foodservice selection, including Wawa brands such as custom prepared hoagies, freshly-brewed coffee, hot breakfast sandwiches, specialty beverages and an assortment of soups, sides and snacks. Forbes.com Ranks Wawa as #23 of Americas Largest Private Companies in 2020. For more information, visit us on http://www.wawa.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at @wawa. For Sales Inquiries: BJ McCaslin - bj@coastalspritz.com For Media + All Other Inquiries: Alexandra Lasky - ali@theinfluence.com These enhancements to our Matching Grant Program are one more example of CollegeInvests deep commitment to making higher education more affordable for Colorados hard-working families. Angela Baier CollegeInvest, Colorados self-sustaining not-for-profit college savings resource, has enhanced longstanding support to the states low to middle-income families with major improvements to its Matching Grant Program. Beginning with this 2021 application period, CollegeInvest has broadened the impact of the program with both an increase in the amount available to qualifying families, and raising income guidelines to allow even more families to boost their college savings. CollegeInvests Matching Grants will be doubled from $500 per year to up to $1,000 per year for qualified families, up to five years. An income-qualified Colorado family working to save $5,000 over a five-year span, could see their savings doubled to $10,000. Applications for the program are open now through December 31, 2021. The Matching Grant Program has been providing substantial assistance to Colorados low to middle-income families for 17 years, with a dollar-for-dollar match for college savings. These enhancements to our Matching Grant Program are one more example of CollegeInvests deep commitment to making higher education more affordable for Colorados hard-working families, said Angela Baier, CollegeInvests chief executive officer. Now more than ever, as Colorado recovers from the economic strains of the pandemic, we are determined to help Colorado families get more out of their hard-earned savings to make college, technical training, even online learning, more affordable. Another new enhancement to the Matching Grant Program this year connects it to First Step, CollegeInvests college savings jump start program. First Step provides a free, $100 contribution to the CollegeInvest account of a child born or adopted in the State of Colorado on or after January 1, 2020. Now, these families will be automatically enrolled in the Matching Grant Program, giving them the potential of earning up to $5,000 in matching savings dollars over their five years of eligibility. CollegeInvests Matching Grant Program, First Step, and the 529 Scholarship Program combined to provide $1.3 million in additional college savings for Colorados low to middle-income families last year. Since 2004, these programs have helped Colorado families reduce the cost of college with $6.6 million directly added to the education savings of families for whom cost is often a barrier to higher education. These three programs are projected to provide an additional $27 million to eligible Colorado families over the next 10 years. These essential programs are operated independent of administrative fees charged, and without any tax dollars. For more information, visit collegeinvest.org. About CollegeInvest CollegeInvest is Colorados foremost resource designed specifically to help break down the financial barriers to attaining a higher education or vocational training. By providing expert information, easy-to-use planning tools, and an exceptionally diverse menu of tax advantaged college savings plans, CollegeInvest works to help Coloradans maximize their potential to save for college. CollegeInvest currently represents $11 billion in savings and 383,000 accounts, the majority of which are held by Colorado residents. Money saved in a CollegeInvest 529 savings plan can be used at any public or private college, university, community college or vocational school, anywhere in the country. For more information, visit collegeinvest.org or call 1-800-448-2424, or contact your financial advisor. Important Considerations To learn about CollegeInvests 529 programs, its objectives, risks, charges, expenses, limitations, restrictions and qualifications regarding the Plans benefits and potential tax advantages, please read and consider carefully the Program Disclosure Statements (PDS) available at collegeinvest.org before investing. Also, check with your or your beneficiarys home state to learn if it offers tax or other benefits for investing in its own plan. Administered and issued by CollegeInvest. CollegeInvest and the CollegeInvest logo are registered trademarks of CollegeInvest. Copyright 2021 CollegeInvest. Investment returns are not guaranteed and you could lose money, including principal. The EDI summit creates opportunities for the advancement of legal technology, legal disruption, and legal partnership. Its my privilege to share my experience and be able to offer insights on how to work towards a target state while honoring all partys mandates. Compliance, an integrated eDiscovery services and contract analytics provider, today announced that Marla Crawford is speaking at the Electronic Discovery Institute (EDI) in two sessions focused on balancing stakeholder priorities and reshaping the eDiscovery landscape. Known for her expertise in legal technology and eDiscovery, Crawford is a prominent attorney and noted speaker on the intersection of law and technology. Crawford will be joined by other distinguished faculty members at EDI on October 13-15, at the Ritz-Carlton, Bacara, Santa Barbara, California. Crawfords first session, Balancing Act: How Privacy, Litigation, Discovery & RIM Professionals Work Together for Success, will be held on Thursday, October 14, at 2 p.m. She will be joined by Ellen Blanchard, director of discovery and information governance at T-Mobile, Mike Burg, senior counsel, privacy and data security at Zillow Group, Constance Mockaitis, director, eDiscovery operations at AbbVie, Tom Mullane, eDiscovery process manager at Raytheon Technologies, and Erin Pope, chief compliance and privacy officer at Golden LivingCenters. The session dialogue will offer perspectives from privacy, eDiscovery, and records and information management professionals as they discuss how to successfully partner and enact plans that balance regulatory mandates with discovery requirements while successfully achieving a balance of all partys priorities. In the closing session, The Evolution of Discovery Reshapes the Service Landscape, held on Thursday, October 14 at 4:30 p.m., Crawford will be joined by Julia Hasenzahl, founder and chief executive officer at ProSearch, Chip Delany, strategy director at Lineal, Adam Rubinger, chief client experience officer at Haystack and moderating the panel will be Dan Kinney, vice president at ProSearch. The panel dialogue will discuss what eDiscovery means in 2021, and the short and long-term future. . Panelists will share how changes in data, technology, security, and privacy are reshaping discovery services. Its an honor to return to EDI along with my peers, said Crawford. The EDI summit creates opportunities for the advancement of legal technology, legal disruption, and legal partnership. Its my privilege to share my experience and be able to offer insights on how to work towards a target state while honoring all partys mandates. Crawford brings over 30 years of expertise in the practice of law and regularly speaks on legal technology, electronic discovery, and information governance issues. Crawford spent 22 years practicing law at the prestigious international firm Jones Day before serving as associate general counsel for Goldman Sachs for 11 years where she led the firms global eDiscovery practice and focused on complex commercial and securities litigation and regulatory investigations. Crawford earned a bachelors degree in public policy from Duke University and graduated magna cum laude from Boston University, where she earned her Juris Doctor. She also founded and serves as chairperson of the Compliance diversity and inclusion committee. About Compliance Compliance is a leading integrated legal services provider, leveraging technology and expertise to simplify the experience of eDiscovery and contract analytics for law firms and legal departments. Cimplifi, our client-centric ecosystem and experience, offers a curated portfolio of technology-enabled solutions that integrates proprietary tools and automated workflows with market-leading software to deliver an easy-to-use, end-to-end system that streamlines processes, unifies reporting, and empowers users. For more than two decades, clients have relied on our expertise and ingenuity to solve complex challenges, bring innovative solutions, and deliver intelligence and insight to help them manage risk, control costs, and get more done, more effectively, and with far less effort and stress. Compliance is ISO 27001 certified and is a division of System One. Learn more at http://www.complianceds.com. Contact Toyota of Santa Maria to schedule an appointment and avail of their services during the Covid-19 pandemic. To support the customers and staff of Toyota of Santa Maria in Santa Maria, CA, the dealership has suspended operations at all automobile and components plants in North America and is vigorously monitoring the Covid-19 situation. The dealership has adopted all the precautionary measures recommended by the Government to curb the spread of the virus. Toyota has also donated a sum of $500,000 to a non-profit organization called the United Way, which will provide food, water, childcare, and other critical amenities to those in need. The R&D and Engineering teams at Toyota are also working towards assembling face shields and visors for the frontline workers so that they may have the necessary gear while caring for patients. Toyota is also offering payment relief to those who have been affected by the pandemic and are current Toyota owners with a lease or finance contract via Toyota Financial Services. During this pandemic, the Toyota Service centers are open wherever possible by following the government-mandated guidelines. Customers can now schedule their service appointment and maintain social distancing at all times while at the dealership. Visit the dealerships website http://www.toyotaofsantamaria.com for more information regarding the available services at Toyota of Santa Maria. Interested customers can contact the dealership by calling 805-928-3881 or by driving to 1643 S. Bradley. The resiliency science Mark is leading is a game-changer for the conservation community. The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America, today presented Dr. Mark Anderson the distinguished Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award. The award, presented virtually during Rally 2021: The National Land Conservation Conference, honors people who have enriched the conservation community with their outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in land conservation. Named after the conservationist who inspired the Alliances founding in 1982, the award ranks among the organizations highest honors. Anderson directs The Nature Conservancys Center for Resilient Conservation Science, which provides science leadership, ecological analysis and landscape assessments for conservation efforts across all 50 states. For the last decade, he led the effort to identify and map climate resilient lands and waters across the continental United States. Andrew Bowman, the Alliances president and CEO, said Andersons work is now used by land trusts throughout the nation to help them identify and secure lands that are and will continue to be resilient to the impacts of climate change. For years, Mark has been at the forefront of climate science and how to combine it effectively with ecology, Bowman said. For his visionary climate work and his longstanding commitment to the land trust community, we are honored to name Mark this years Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award winner. Anderson will serve as the Kingsbury Browne Fellow for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for 2021-2022. Kingsbury Browne fellows engage in research, writing and mentoring, and facilitate a project that builds upon and shares their experience with the broader community. Jim Levitt, director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute, enthusiastically praised the choice of Anderson as the 2021 Kingsbury Browne honoree. Mark is a global leader in applying the science of Geographic Information Systems to the art of land conservation, Levitt said. His insight has been invaluable in lighting the path forward. Jan Glendening, The Nature Conservancys Regional Managing Director for North America, also applauded Anderson. The resiliency science Mark is leading is a game-changer for the conservation community, Glendening said. We now have a roadmap that shows how nature can thrive in the face of climate change. The Alliance has awarded the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award annually since 2006. It is presented during Rally, the nations largest annual gathering of land conservation professionals. More information about Rally, which continues through Oct. 7, is available at alliancerally.org. About the Land Trust Alliance Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org. About the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy seeks to improve quality of life through the effective use, taxation, and stewardship of land. A nonprofit private operating foundation whose origins date to 1946, the Lincoln Institute researches and recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges. Through education, training, publications, and events, we integrate theory and practice to inform public policy decisions worldwide. # # # CARSTAR Automotive Collision Services team with Coolidge High School teacher Christi Jones We are proud to celebrate International Teachers Day by giving back to a deserving teacher in the Phoenix community In honor of International Teachers Day, CARSTAR surprised six teachers from across North America with a free auto body repair. Communities from across North America were encouraged to share why their trailblazing teacher deserved a free auto body repair. Educators also had the opportunity to nominate themselves. Submissions poured in from across North America, spanning from Calgary, Alberta to Springdale, Arkansas. We are proud to celebrate International Teachers Day by giving back to a deserving teacher in the Phoenix community, said Addison Gamo, owner, CARSTAR Automotive Collision Services. These are uncertain and stressful times for everyone, especially teachers. The last thing educators should have to worry about right now is their cars. Nominated by Jenna Beavers, Phoenix, Arizona winner, Christi Jones, is a teacher at Coolidge High School. Beavers nomination highlighted how generous, kind, and dedicated Ms. Jones is to her students. Ms. Jones is always putting her students needs before her own. Unfortunately, this means she spends her money on school supplies rather than a repair she needs on her 11-year-old Honda. She often works late into the evening and buys supplies for her art classes. Most recently, she purchased items to set up a cart so that students can take personal products and snacks if needed so that their needs are met without feeling embarrassed to ask for help. She definitely deserves some help with her own needs and will be very grateful if chosen. This recognition of International Teachers Day continues the brands longstanding reputation of giving back to the regions it serves. CARSTAR facilities have helped raise over $4 million for cystic fibrosis research, care and advocacy while also continuing to support causes close to their communities. CARSTAR is North Americas leader in collision repair excellence, visit CARSTAR.com to find a location near you. ### About CARSTAR CARSTAR is North Americas largest franchise network of independently owned and operated collision repair facilities with more than 700 locations in 35 states and 10 Canadian provinces. A part of the Driven Brands family of automotive aftermarket franchise brands, CARSTAR delivers national scale, premier vehicle repairs, repeatable outcomes and the industrys highest customer satisfaction ratings. CARSTAR has maintained its commitment to give back to the communities it serves through a variety of fundraising initiatives, including raising over $4 million for cystic fibrosis research, care and advocacy across North America. CARSTAR is actively seeking new franchise partners and interested parties should contact 844-906-9764 or visit CARSTARfranchise.com. About Driven Brands Driven Brands, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is the largest automotive services company in North America, providing a range of consumer and commercial automotive needs, including paint, collision, glass, vehicle repair, oil change, maintenance and car wash. Driven Brands is the parent company of some of North Americas leading automotive service businesses including Take 5 Oil Change, Meineke Car Care Centers, Maaco, 1-800-Radiator & A/C, and CARSTAR. Driven Brands has more than 4,300 centers across 15 countries, and services over 50 million vehicles annually. Driven Brands network generates approximately $1 billion in revenue from more than $3 billion in system-wide sales. Media Inquiries: Melissa Kwiatkowski Melissa.kwiatkowski@drivenbrands.com 416-455-0338 Today, Egnyte, a leader in cloud content security and governance, announced new offerings designed to enable companies of all sizes to defend against the increasing threats of ransomware attacks. These solutions add to Egnytes growing list of security and governance capabilities that equip companies of all sizes to manage the multitude of data risks associated with their digital content. Ransomware attacks, which prey on companies digital files, have been increasing in scale, sophistication, and frequency since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, according to Egnytes latest Data Governance Trends Report, mid-sized businesses with 100 to 1,000 employees are struggling with ransomware the most: 66% of them reported being underprepared for an attack, as compared to 31% of larger enterprises (1,000+ employees). The combination of remote work scenarios, rogue cryptocurrency exchanges, and the growing sophistication of ransomware gangs have unleashed a perfect storm for ransomware threats that are wreaking havoc on small- and mid-sized businesses, said Rajesh Ram, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Egnyte. In this new environment, standalone file storage solutions are a dangerous lightning rod. Thats why Egnyte is now making ransomware protection standard with every one of its platform plan offerings starting today. Egnytes Ransomware Protection solution can detect more than 2,000 ransomware signatures, block attacks immediately, and automatically alert admins of the infected endpoint. New signatures are crowdsourced daily, ensuring the most up-to-date protections are available. Previously reserved only for Enterprise plan customers, Ransomware Protection is now also part of Egnytes entry-level Business Plan (which starts at only $20 per user per month). Additionally, because no ransomware prevention method can prevent every possible attack, Egnyte is also announcing the addition of a Ransomware Recovery solution as part of its Enterprise package. The recovery capability allows customers to look back at previous file snapshots to determine at which point ransomware infected a file and restore data to that point with a single click. Even if you dont pay the ransom, the typical attack costs companies 21 days of downtime while you seek to isolate the infected files, determine the type of attack, and ultimately recover your content, said Kris Lahiri, Co-Founder and Chief Security Officer, Egnyte. Egnytes snapshot-based recovery means you can recover in a matter of hours, not weeks, and avoid the significant reputational and financial losses often associated with longer recovery times. The digitally-enabled workforce has fundamentally changed how we manage and secure content, said Holly Muscolino, Research Vice President, Content Strategies and the Future of Work, IDC. Organizations may need more from vendors, including ransomware protection, integrations to third-party repositories, both on-premises and in the cloud, for unified data management, as well as ways to share confidential information securely without the fear of data leakage or manipulation. Egnytes new product enhancements position them as a top choice for organizations with multicloud environments and a decentralized workforce. These platform enhancements were among several product announcements made today at the Egnyte Exchange Global Summit during the opening keynote session. About Egnyte Egnyte provides a unified cloud content governance solution for collaboration, data security, compliance, and threat detection for multicloud businesses. More than 16,000 organizations trust Egnyte to reduce risks and IT complexity, prevent ransomware and IP theft, and boost employee productivity on any app, any cloud, anywhere. Investors include GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Goldman Sachs. For more information, visit http://www.egnyte.com I am excited about the incredible synergy between our two companies and the greater value we offer global organizations by joining forces. FADEL, innovator of brand compliance, rights management and royalty billing software, today announced the acquisition of Image Data Systems (IDS). IDS brings over 30 years experience in image and video management providing production agencies and media publishers with a fast and scalable cloud-based content services platform. Our combined solutions will broaden our cloud platform offerings to deliver content services, licensing and rights management, digital content tracking and sophisticated AI powered image and video search and recognition. Our end-to-end brand management and compliance solutions deliver significant advantages to global marketing departments at major brands worldwide. Additionally, IDS PictureDesk service arms content consumers, brand managers and editors with a photo marketplace featuring over 100 million licensable images. I am excited about the incredible synergy between our two companies and the greater value we offer global organizations by joining forces, said Tarek Fadel, Founder and CEO of FADEL. IDS has always stayed on the forefront of image and video technology trends with their strong R&D team and innovative solutions. We see tremendous potential in integrating our teams and software. We also share a common set of values with an entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to customer and employee satisfaction. And finally, with presence and employees in London, the acquisition furthers FADELs international expansion strategy. Both IDS and FADEL also have a strong focus in the publishing sector, delivering tailored solutions to many of the leading educational, trade, magazine and news publishers. By combining our portfolio of offerings, we continue to hold a leadership position as a licensing technology provider in the publishing market. This transaction is an important next step in IDS evolution as a provider of cloud based content services and AI powered visual search software. FADEL will immediately start to invest in accelerated development of the IDS platform and the integrated product offerings, as well as put the force of their sales, marketing and partner network behind us to bring these solutions to market, said Matthew Carse, CEO of IDS. Working with FADEL, previously as a partner, it is clear that they share the same passion for bringing innovative products to market while taking a customer-centric approach. All of the products from IDS and FADEL will continue to be offered standalone while working to create an integrated set of product offerings. About FADEL FADEL, innovator of rights and royalty management software, has worked with some of the biggest names in media, life sciences, fast-moving consumer goods, publishing, high-tech and advertising. By automating talent and content rights management across videos, photos, ads, music, products and brands, and streamlining the processing of licensing royalties, FADELs cloud-based solutions have empowered businesses to significantly maximize revenues and increase process efficiencies. Founded in 2003, FADEL is headquartered in New York City, and also operates offices in Los Angeles, Montreal, London, Paris and Lebanon. For more information, visit fadel.com. About IDS Founded in 1992 and based in London, Image Data Systems UK Ltd (IDS) are renowned for delivering essential SaaS solutions to major media publishers and brands for nearly 30 years. IDS are experts in digital image and video management, providing content services, a content aggregator and powerful search technology to customers across media publishing, luxury and retail brands, as well as over 100 photo agencies. For more information, visit the IDS website. Dr. Sarah Mohtadi is the first UMHS graduate to match info a California residency program "It feels surreal that I am the first UMHS graduate to Match in California. This was my first choice in the Match, and I say this as motivation for others who are interested in applying for residency in California." The University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS), a mission-driven medical school with a commitment to student support and a legacy of successful residency placements in the United States and Canada, today announced its first student to match into a residency program in California. Dr. Sarah Mohtadi graduated from UMHS in 2019, and applied to the California-based residency in 2020, the same year that UMHS earned California recognition. Dr. Mohtadi matched into a psychiatry residency at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science in Los Angeles, which treats medically underserved communities, and following the first few months of her residency, she will soon begin her Emergency Medicine Psychiatry block at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. It feels surreal that I am the first UMHS graduate to Match in California, said Dr.Mohtadi.I remember how my graduating class would talk about the possibility of having residency options in California in the future, but I had no idea I would become part of that reality. This was my first choice in the Match, and I say this as motivation for others who are interested in applying for residency in California. A California native, Dr. Mohtadi is the daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants and is the first in her family to attend college. She graduated from Cal State Northridge with a biology degree and completed her masters degree in psychology. Since returning to her native California, Dr. Mohtadi has worked tirelessly on the frontlines to support the Long Beach Health Department in their COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts. Dr. Mohtadi made an appearance in the news when she vaccinated the Mayor of Long Beach, Robert Garcia. Once Dr. Mohtadis residency program began in June, she continued to actively support vaccination efforts - balancing long hours of training with her volunteer efforts. She recently volunteered on-site at the Long Beach Grand Prix as part of the mobile vaccination team, and is looking forward to working as part of the initiative to provide COVID booster shots even as her residency program intensifies. I hope that I can continue to be of service with the vaccination and testing efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, said Dr. Mohtadi. To learn more about Dr. Mohtadi and her journey to matching in California, please visit https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/umhs-grad-dr.-sarah-mohtadi-1st-to-match-in-california-serves-to-vaccinate-her-community About UMHS The University of Medicine and Health Sciences (UMHS), is a small, mission-driven medical school with a commitment to student support and a legacy of successful residency placements in the United States and Canada. UMHS was founded in 2007 by medical education pioneers Warren and Robert Ross to deliver a highly personalized school experience. Graduates of UMHS earn a Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) and qualify to practice medicine throughout the United States and Canada. Students begin their Basic Science studies in St. Kitts, West Indies, and complete their clinical training in the United States. With an unprecedented 96% student retention rate, the vast majority of students that begin their medical studies at UMHS go on to obtain residencies. For more information visit https://www.umhs-sk.org/. The Standards Council of Canada recently accredited FM Approvals to be an ISASecure certification body (CB). FM Approvals is now authorized to issue certificates of conformance for the ISA/IEC 62443-based ISASecure automation and control systems cybersecurity certification scheme upon successful completion of the required testing. FM Approvals joins the growing list of highly specialized and internationally recognized ISASecure CBs that assess and certify automation and control system products to the ISA/IEC 62443 family of standards. We thank our collaborators at the Standards Council of Canada and the energetic team at FM Approvals, LLC, stated Andre Ristaino, ISCI Managing Director. These two organizations were well prepared, a pleasure to work with, and completed the accreditation in record time. The addition of these two organizations elevates the credibility of the ISASecure ISA/IEC 62443 cybersecurity certification program. FM Approvals has developed a new cyber security laboratory, located in Norwood, Massachusetts and is staffed with a dedicated team of cyber security and industrial control experts, is a fully virtualized security test environment, hosting its own servers and specially designed cyber security test stations. Jim Marquedant, VP of Electrical Systems at FM Approvals, states, "The lab is configured to efficiently evaluate multiple ICS products in parallel for compliance with the applicable cyber security standards. ICS products that successfully complete FM Approvals' ISASecure evaluation program will bear the FM Diamond along with a specific security level which signifies that the ICS product is robust against cyber-attacks and free from known vulnerabilities." The ISASecure scheme is a standards-based certification scheme that assesses the cybersecurity of automation and control systems to the ISA/IEC 62443-4-2 and ISA/IEC 62443-3-3 standards and certifies that the supplier/manufacturers development processes are conformant to the eight practice areas in ISA/IEC 62443-4-1 international standard. ISASecure CBs are independently assessed by ISO/IEC 17011 (EN 45011) accreditation bodies (ABs) such as the Standards Council of Canada for conformance to ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 17065 and, ISASecure technical readiness specifications. ISASecure CBs are audited annually by the AB to ensure they maintain current and updated ISASecure accreditation requirements for participation in the ISASecure scheme. About FM Approvals FM Approvals is an international leader in third-party testing and certification services. FM Approvals tests property loss prevention products and servicesfor use in commercial and industrial facilitiesto verify they meet rigorous loss prevention standards of quality, technical integrity, and performance. FM Approvals employs a worldwide certification process thats backed by scientific research and testing, and over a century of experience. About the ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI) Founded in 2007, the ISA Security Compliance Institutes mission is to provide the highest level of assurance possible for the cybersecurity of automation control systems. The Institute was established by thought leaders from major organizations in the automation and controls community seeking to improve the cybersecurity posture of critical Infrastructure for generations to come. Founders and key supporters of ISASecure include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Yokogawa, Siemens, exida, TUV Rheinland, CSSC, FM Approvals, Synopsys, DNV, Applied Risk, Trust CB, Security Compass, SGS Espanola de Control, BYHON, TUV SUD, WisePlant HQ, and Bureau Veritas. The Institutes goals are realized through industry standards compliance programs, education, technical support, and improvements in suppliers development processes and users life cycle management practices. The ISASecure designation ensures that automation and control system products conform to industry consensus cybersecurity standards such as ISA/IEC 62443, providing confidence to users of ISASecure products and systems and creating product differentiation for suppliers conforming to the ISASecure specification. http://www.isasecure.org ISASecure is a registered trademark of the ISA Security Compliance Institute. Press contacts: Andre Ristaino 919-990-9222 aristaino@isa.org Michael Brazda mbrazda@isa.org Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Adam L. Braverman has joined the firm as a partner in its Investigations + White Collar Defense Group in San Diego. Mr. Braverman brings to the firm more than two decades of litigation, white collar, and internal investigations experience, most recently in senior level leadership positions within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Mr. Braverman has served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General in multiple administrations. Since 2019, he has advised three Deputy Attorneys General on litigation and policy matters involving some of the most important priorities for the DOJ. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was designated by the Deputy Attorney General to coordinate the Departments efforts to investigate and prosecute fraud connected to COVID-19 and CARES Act relief funds; this included creating and spearheading a task force of federal agencies combatting COVID-19-related fraud schemes. As an Associate Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Braverman worked closely with the Departments law enforcement agencies (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Marshals Service), INTERPOL, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, as well as state and local law enforcement. He also led a task force to examine the safety of federal judges, prosecutors, agents, and elected officials, as well as the Departments efforts to design and implement a body-worn camera program for federal agents and task force officers. Mr. Braverman also built an outstanding record at the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of California between 2008 and 2019, first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney & Deputy Chief of the Criminal Enterprises Section, and later as U.S. Attorney. As U.S. Attorney between 2017 and 2019, Mr. Braverman oversaw one of the largest and busiest U.S. Attorneys Offices in the nation, composed of approximately 300 staff members. Under his leadership, the Office prosecuted a number of significant domestic and international cases. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he litigated numerous cases and used cutting-edge techniques to investigate transnational criminal organizations, including a groundbreaking, four-year investigation of the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. Throughout his career at the DOJ, Adam has built a stellar reputation. His early career experience clerking in trial and appellate courts, and working in private practice adds to his impressive DOJ credentials and courtroom experience, said Morrison & Foersters Global Litigation Department Co-Chair Bradley Wine. Adams joining further solidifies the firms strength across investigations, white collar defense, and crisis management, at a time when our clients see increasing government enforcement. His experience prosecuting COVID-19 relief fraud will also enable us to offer unmatched insider enforcement perspectives to our clients in this novel area. Mr. Braverman adds to the deep bench of senior government officials that Morrison & Foerster has assembled in recent years. He is the ninth former senior government official to join the firm this year, and the fifth to join the Investigations + White Collar Defense Group, following in the footsteps of Brian K. Kidd, Brandon Van Grack, Katherine (Kate) Driscoll, and Nathan Reilly. I am excited to join a firm of Morrison & Foersters caliber, whose strong global reputation, significant investment in its white collar practice, and deep roots in California set it apart, said Mr. Braverman. I am impressed by the firms ability to successfully integrate former government officials, by its culture and its commitment to our communities and diversity in the profession. Having spent my career in both California and Washington, D.C., I look forward to working closely with this incredible group of litigators and to put my long-standing enforcement experience to work to assist the firms clients with their most complex legal and compliance matters. Mr. Braverman clerked for the Honorable Consuelo Callahan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Honorable Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Honorable Ann ORegan Keary of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. Between 2004 and 2007, Mr. Braverman was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of another leading international law firm. Mr. Braverman earned his B.A., cum laude, from The George Washington University and his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. He has received multiple awards in recent years, including the prestigious J. Michael Bradford Award from the National Association of Former United States Attorneys for most outstanding performance by an Assistant U.S. Attorney (2016), a DOJ honor for superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (2017), and an award for exceptional service from the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division (2019). Mr. Braverman is admitted to the bar in California. ABOUT MOFO Morrison & Foerster is a global firm of exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, consulting and accounting firms, investment banks, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firms commitment to client service and leadership in impact litigation and market-changing deals, MoFo was recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyers 2021 A-List. Year after year, the firm and the lawyers in its Investigations + White Collar Defense Group receive significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500, including Global, USA, Asia-Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. MoFo has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education for poor children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, winning asylum for the persecuted, and safeguarding the environment. Over 20 Years of Expertise - 1,200 Global Sites - 160,000 Active Users Worldwide This particular project was an outstanding example of C3s technology, resources and best practices." - Audrey Lessard, Business Analyst at C3 Solutions C3 Solutions - the industry leader in configurable Yard and Dock Management solutions - has published a case study discussing how its appointment scheduling tool has helped a US automotive distributor increase operational visibility and better manage labour resources. C3 Reservations - the tech companys dock scheduling system - was the chosen solution by this wholesaler thanks to the systems highly configurable nature, ease of use, training resources, and ability to onboard 100% remotely. The study expands on the clients three main pain points: lack of visibility, resource management, and business expansion during the pandemic; and how the C3 Team configured C3 Reservations to provide solutions to the clients operational inefficiencies. Click here to read, Automotive Distributor Ups Visibility and Reduces Labor Cost by Onboarding C3 Reservations 100% Remotely. C3 Reservations, C3s Online Dock Scheduling System, streamlines the scheduling process by improving dock productivity, expanding visibility on scheduled appointments and measuring vendor compliance. C3 Yard, C3s Web-based Yard Management Solution, empowers yard managers by providing visibility on yard assets, optimizing the flow of trailers from gate to gate and automating yard driver task assignment. About C3 Solutions C3 Solutions is an information technology company specialized in yard management (YMS) and dock scheduling (DSS) systems. Since its founding in 2000, C3 has gained clients confidence worldwide and across many industries, including retail, grocery, distribution, manufacturing, and parcel post. C3 is proud to continue providing paperless, automated, and touch-free business solutions to aid in the growing need for global environmental sustainability; and the overall health of our communities, clients, and employees. Headquartered in Montreal (QC), Canada and privately owned, C3 develops, implements, and supports the most complete yard management and dock scheduling products on the market today. http://www.c3solutions.com For the second year in a row, HomeLight is honored to be recognized by CB Insights on their Fintech 250 List as a leader building the future of real estate, said Drew Uher, Founder and CEO of HomeLight CB Insights today named HomeLight to the fourth annual Fintech 250, a prestigious list of emerging private companies working on groundbreaking financial technology, for the second year in a row. This years list was unveiled on stage at CB Insights Future of Fintech conference in New York City. This is the fourth class of the Fintech 250, and its also the most international, representing 26 countries. These 250 fintech startups are attacking an incredibly diverse array of financial services opportunities across 19 sectors, including digital banking, insurance, payroll, retail investing, and more, said CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. After being named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 last year, the 2020 class saw 17 companies go public and 25 get acquired. They also went on to raise over $25B in additional financing and forged more than 380 new partnerships after being recognized. The Fintech 250 has a history of spotlighting the very best fintech companies, and this year is no different. We're excited to see how these fintech startups disrupt and transform financial services in the years ahead." For the second year in a row, HomeLight is honored to be recognized by CB Insights on the Fintech 250 List as a leader building the future of real estate, said Drew Uher, Founder and CEO of HomeLight. We partner with over 28,000 of the top agents across the United States to give them the tools and technology to deliver better outcomes to homebuyers and sellers during every step of the real estate journey, and were proud this approach continues to set us apart as the company transforming how real estate is bought and sold in the United States. Through an evidence-based approach, the CB Insights Intelligence Unit selected the Fintech 250 from a pool of over 17,000 companies, including applicants and nominees. They were chosen based on several factors, including data submitted by the companies, company business models and momentum in the market, and Mosaic scores, CB Insights proprietary algorithm that measures the overall health and growth potential of private companies. HomeLight recently announced it reached a $1.6 billion valuation after raising $363 million in new funding to fuel expansion. The round includes $100 million of Series D equity and $263 million in debt financing to power HomeLight Cash Offer and HomeLight Trade-In operations, bringing HomeLights total funding to approximately $530 million to date. Since the companys Series C raise in October 2019, HomeLight has: Experienced sustained growth at approximately 3x year-over-year, with annual revenue set to triple to more than $300 million in 2021. Doubled down on its flagship financial products, HomeLight Trade-In and HomeLight Cash Offer, growing the products by more than 700% since their launch in January 2020. Grown the team by more than 180% year-over-year and expanded local operations to Texas, Florida, and Colorado. Appointed Sean Aggarwal, the Chairman of Lyft, Inc. and former Chief Financial Officer of Trulia, to its board. Fintech 250 2021 Investment Highlights: Unicorns: 118 of the 250 companies (47%) are valued at or above $1B as of their latest funding round Funding trends: In 2021 year-to-date (YTD), these 250 private companies have raised $40.3B in equity funding across 275 deals (as of 9/14/21) Mega-rounds: Since 2020, there have been 178 mega-round ($100M+) equity investments to this years Fintech 250, with 138 of them in 2021 YTD Global representation: 36% of the 2021 Fintech 250 are based outside the US. After the US, the UK is home to the most Fintech 250 companies (25), followed by India (12). This years winners are based in 26 countries, including France, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, and Nigeria. Top VC investor: Ribbit Capital is the most active investor in this years Fintech 250 companies, having invested in 62 deals since 2016. Since 2019, Ribbit has participated in 41 deals with this cohort of companies, including to Nubank, Uala, Brex, Vouch, Razorpay, and BharatPe. Tiger Global Management and Accel were close behind with 57 and 55 deals, respectively. About CB Insights CB Insights builds software that enables the world's best companies to discover, understand, and make technology decisions with confidence. By marrying data, expert insights, and work management tools, clients manage their end-to-end technology decision-making process on CB Insights. To learn more, please visit cbinsights.com. About HomeLight HomeLight is building the future of real estate today. Our vision is a world where every real estate transaction is simple, certain, and satisfying for all. The best real estate agents rely on HomeLights platform to deliver better outcomes to homebuyers and sellers during every step of the real estate journey, whether that's enabling an all-cash offer, unlocking liquidity of their existing home to buy a new one, or creating certainty through a modern closing process. Each year, HomeLight facilitates billions of dollars of residential real estate business on its platform for thousands of agents. Founded in 2012, HomeLight is a privately held company with offices in Scottsdale, San Francisco, New York, Tampa, and Seattle, with backing from prominent investors including Zeev Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Group 11, Crosslink Capital, Bullpen Capital, Montage Ventures, STCAP, Citi Ventures, Google Ventures, and others. For additional information and images: homelight.com/press Adapt2 Solutions, a leading provider of AI-enabled multi-market operations and power settlement software, today announced establishing a partnership with Hydro-Quebec. The new partnership enables complete market participation and functionality for streamlined settlements in seven North American ISOs, including seamless integrations with ETRM systems. Hydro-Quebec recognizes the need for advanced, forward-thinking technology, and will leverage Adapt2s cloud-native platform, with access to the AI-driven data in Adapt2s Tahoe Data Lake, to help optimize multi-market, cross border settlements in the United States and Canada. Adapt2 is known and trusted as a leader in multi-market power settlements, says Benoit Labonte, Team Leader of Coordination and Performance at Hydro-Quebec. With a core focus on energy markets, Adapt2s leading edge technology and A.I. backed data lake provide us with a value proposition that other solutions in the marketplace could not. Being heavily involved in multiple markets, Hydro-Quebec required a single market integration platform. By selecting Adapt2, Hydro-Quebec will be provided with all settlement, award, invoice, energy accounting, and ISO interfaces needed to make their operations more efficient in the North American energy markets. All operational and market related data will flow through Adapt2 Tahoe, an A.I. enabled data lake, to further enhance Hydro-Quebecs ability to automate processes, perform settlement forensics and manage data. With Hydro-Quebecs market participation depth in markets and trading activity, the ability to leverage current technology in a multi-market environment will be a significant advantage, said Adapt2 Solutions Executive Vice President, Jason Kram. Adapt2 believes that back-office settlements operations implementation and capabilities have changed and is excited to work with one of Canadas leading energy organizations to automate and streamline their multi-market operations. Adapt2s proven track record of success helping energy market participants access and utilize market data at the speed of change, will help Hydro-Quebec pass on value to their customers by being able to more accurately and efficiently produce invoice and settlement statements. To learn more about how Adapt2 is accelerating cross border and international power and gas market operations, visit https://www.adapt2solutions.com/solutions/ or follow Adapt2 on Linkedin (@Adapt2Solutions) for more information on upcoming energy market operations and management webinars. About Adapt2 Solutions: Adapt2 Solutions (Adapt2) is the leading provider of AI enabled multi-market operations software designed to help market participants streamline all of their front and back office operations. Founded in 2008, Adapt2 delivers market-based solutions on the latest and most current technologies providing customers with fast, intuitive and stable user experience and performance. With over 170 market implementations representing over 2500 market participants, Adapt2 is a leading solution provider in the energy industry. Adapt2 Solutions is a privately held company based in Houston, Texas. To learn more about Adapt2, please visit http://www.adapt2solutions.com. About Hydro-Quebec: Hydro-Quebec delivers reliable electric power and high-quality services. By developing clean, renewable energy sources, Hydro-Quebec makes a strong contribution to Quebecs collective wealth and plays a central role in the emergence of a low-carbon economy. As recognized leaders in hydropower and large transmission systems, Hydro-Quebec exports clean, renewable power and leverage their expertise and innovations within Quebec and around the world. For more information about Hydro-Quebec, please visit: http://www.hydroquebec.com Intellectsoft Announced Receiving Honorable Awards by Clutch and The Manifest We're extremely honored to have received such distinguished awards it's been an incredible journey so far, and we can't be more thankful for the amount of support we've received from the clients that have positioned us to achieve such success. Intellectsoft, a digital transformation consultancy and engineering company delivering cutting-edge solutions for Fortune 500 organizations, is proud to announce its inclusion in the reputable lists by Clutch and The Manifest, two of the most recognized IT review and rating platforms worldwide. Clutch based its meticulous and broad-spectrum analysis of the company's brand image, reputation, client reviews and social media prominence to determine their overall industry dominance and authority, as well as their ability to deliver streamlined solutions. Clutch's latest evaluations define captains of the software industry in 2021, hailing Intellectsoft as one of Miami's Leading B2B Companies for 2021. Additionally, The Manifest critically evaluated hard data, such as pricing, project management, quality, and overall client relationships to name Intellectsoft as Ukraine's Top Recommended Staff Augmentation Company. The latest recognitions only add to the impressive list of Intellectsoft's illustrious track record and achievements, which include the prestigious annual Inc. Magazine's List of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the New York City Metro Region, the list of Top 15 Mobile App Development Companies in San Francisco in 2021 by Digital.com and the list of Top Cross-Platform App Development Companies in 2021 by ITfirms. Earlier this year, Clutch also included Intellectsoft in their list of Highly-Rated Software Development B2B Companies. Intellectsoft has been providing state-of-the-art digital and technology solutions to some of the world's biggest brands, including EY, Jaguar, Harley Davidson, Nestle, Eurostar, Land Rover, Guinness and others for more than 14 years. Intellectsoft has been a vital part of the brands' digital transformation journey by developing precision-based, sustainable and cutting-edge software solutions. Intellectsoft has R&D labs in the U.S., U.K., Norway and Ukraine, and works with companies in the healthcare, fintech, hospitality, construction and insurance industries. "We're extremely honored to have received such distinguished awards it's been an incredible journey so far, and we can't be more thankful for the amount of support we've received from the clients that have positioned us to achieve such success," said Vlad Vahromovs, CEO of Intellectsoft. "Since Miami is fast becoming the next tech hub, we've strived to set even higher standards and will continue to focus on delivering cutting-edge solutions and top-notch customer service in Florida and beyond." About Intellectsoft Founded in 2007, Intellectsoft is a digital transformation consultancy and engineering company that delivers cutting-edge solutions for global organizations. For more than 14 years, Intellectsoft has been helping Fortune 500 companies and established brands in building solid software foundations for their businesses. Intellectsoft delivered innovative software solutions to companies like Guinness, EY, Land Rover, Jaguar and Disney. The company was named one of the most highly-rated software development B2B companies in 2021 by Clutch, and ranked No. 244 on Inc. Magazine's list of the fastest-growing private companies in the New York City Metro Region. InterLinc saw revenue growth of nearly $80MM. Volume-wise, the company went from reaching its first billion in 2016 to surpassing $2.5B by the end of 2020. InterLinc Mortgage is honored to have been ranked 36 on the Houston Business Journals 2021 Fast 100 list, recognizing Houston-area private companies with the fastest revenue growth over a two-year period. "Houston is our home, says InterLinc President and CEO Gene F. Thompson, and were proud to be ranked among other exemplary companies in our local area. From 2018-2020, InterLinc saw revenue growth of nearly $80MM. Volume-wise, the company went from reaching its first billion in 2016 to surpassing $2.5B by the end of 2020. Starting with just 4 employees in 2004, InterLinc is now closing in on 500 employees companywide and has no plans to slow down. Recruiting efforts are always underway to find the next branch or individual that aligns with our corporate values and culture, a key to our ongoing growth and success. The vision statement set out by Thompson states, InterLinc Mortgage will be a top 100 national mortgage lender by 2025 with $7B in annual production through aggressive yet sustainable growth. To carry out this vision, InterLinc has prioritized new investments in advanced systems, processes, marketing and technology, setting the foundation for these short- and long-term goals.' To create this sustainable growth, we must have the people, resources and programs in place to attract the talented production team members were aiming for, says Thompson. Other critical rollouts and initiatives have been created in order to support the quickly evolving needs of our constituents, including a relaunch of our renovation products and a new release of One Time Close, a streamlined onboarding process for new hires inclusive of cross-department communications and programs and planning and preparation for InterLincs Annual Employee Rally, set to take place in January 2022. Were looking forward to breaking more records in Q4 of this year and cant wait to start the new year off strong by gathering our whole company together for a renewed focus on achieving our goals and vision, says Thompson. Being headquartered in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, InterLinc considers it an honor to be ranked among the fastest-growing private companies when there are so many distinguished businesses in the Houston area. As a company, they are proud of their associates and how far they have come as an organization. About InterLinc InterLinc Mortgage Services, LLC is a Houston-based full-service mortgage banking firm with approvals from the three largest issuers of mortgage-backed securities: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. The Company affords clients access to enhanced mortgage product offerings, pricing competitiveness, loan efficiency, and servicing. InterLinc is licensed in 21 states throughout the Midwest and Southeast. More information is available online at https://interlincmortgage.com. Jacksonville-based technology provider specializing in loan originations, LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS (Launcher), announces the integration of their appTRAKER Loan Origination System with CarletonCalcs from Carleton, Inc. CarletonCalcs is a suite of compliant loan calculation components that provides assurances to Launcher Solutions clients that their loan products are calculated accurately and in compliance with state and federal consumer lending laws. Carleton, Inc., the U.S. leader in compliant lending calculation software, supports Launchers ability to generate contract-ready disclosures and compute the full array of finance options for both direct and indirect finance operations. Launchers appTRAKER LOS supports all asset-type financing, ranging from mattresses to automobiles, as well as uncollateralized loans. The CarletonCalcs Loan Origination, Compliance, and Amortization components help maximize workflow efficiency within Launchers products. Launcher uses its extensive lending industry expertise to arrive with the best technology solution for their clients individual lending needs. The CarletonCalcs Suite of compliant consumer lending APIs is a great example of an integrated solution which gives clients of LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS the knowledge that their quotes, contracts, and underwriting are all accurate and compliant. It is an increasingly challenging task to ensure that payments, fees, and ancillary products are all precisely computed and in alignment with state and federal regulations, the lenders contract language, and the lenders loan servicing system. The CarletonCalcs solution combines cutting edge, cloud-based APIs with critical expert support services to ensure that Launchers clients have the tools they need to maintain compliance requirements with their individual underwriting rules and frequently changing state and federal laws. After a longstanding relationship with Carleton, it was only natural to rely on their expertise as we continue to expand our relationships with credit unions, banks, finance companies and other direct lending operations, said Nikh Nath, President of Launcher. They have a history of excellence with their calculation engine and loan origination compliance expertise and their experience is immediately apparent when working through their seamless integration process. In the lending space, a customer relies on the credibility of the loan calculations and Carleton provides that validity. Nikh continued on to say, Integrating with our partners shouldnt be difficult. We are able to quickly and easily adapt the Carleton integration to the customers use case, ensuring that compliant loan and payment disclosure data is returned wherever they need it in their workflow. Launchers core methodology is to provide access to technology tools that align their platform to each lender, rather than the other way around. Matt Ruszkowski, President and COO of Carleton said, Launcher provides their clients the solutions needed to improve their efficiencies throughout the lending lifecycle as well as the flexibility to adapt quickly. Its an approach that most digital platforms are striving for these days, and we believe their product capabilities put them ahead of the curve. About LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS: LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS is a technology products and services company built on the foundation of care, understanding, innovation, and speed. It specializes in loan origination for subprime/nearprime automotive lending institutions, regional banks, and credit unions. Its product offerings include appTRAKERTM LOS for indirect automotive lending as well as consumer direct lending and leasing, myDEALER.CARE dealer relationship management system, and myACCOUNT.CARE customer self-service and communication solution. LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS has service offerings aimed at helping its clients with projects related to data analytics, data integration, telephony, and custom web development. Learn more at http://www.launcher.solutions or call 877.5LNCHER. Follow LAUNCHER.SOLUTIONS on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/launcher.solutions. About Carleton, Inc.: Carleton is the country's leading provider of financial calculation software, loan origination compliance support, and document generation software. Based in South Bend, Indiana, Carleton possesses over 50 years of leadership in this rapidly changing regulatory industry. Carleton guarantees accuracy in all their calculations and disclosures enabling their partners to fulfill compliance requirements today and well into the future. To learn more about Carleton Lending Solutions, please visit http://www.carletoninc.com, or contact Joe McTigue, Client Engagement Executive at 800-433-0090 Ext. 239 or jmctigue@carletoninc.com. Attorney Russ Alan Baker has been recognized for his dedication to his clients in Llano, Texas and the surrounding areas. I am honored to receive this recognition from my colleagues throughout the legal community. Being named an Elite Lawyer demonstrates my continued dedication to providing top-tier legal assistance and guidance to our Texas clients. The Law Office of Russ Alan Baker, PLLC is honored to announce that its founding attorney, Russ Alan Baker, has been named an Elite Lawyer for the state of Texas. Elite Lawyer, a rating service and directory of attorneys, is a peer-nominated award that recognizes lawyers across the nation who continue to demonstrate their commitment to their clients and the legal profession. Attorney Russ Alan Baker has been recognized for his dedication to his clients in Llano, Texas and the surrounding areas. Equipped with an extensive background in litigation, Mr. Baker is fearless in the courtroom and capable of assisting his clients through some of the most complicated legal proceedings. He has a strong passion for protecting his clients rights, and he consistently provides his clients with personalized legal services. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, Attorney Russ Baker is uniquely qualified to take on criminal cases which involve scientific evidence such as assault, theft, DWI, and drug cases. "I am honored to receive this recognition from my colleagues throughout the legal community. Being named an Elite Lawyer demonstrates my continued dedication to providing top-tier legal assistance and guidance to our Texas clients," Mr. Baker commented. Attorney Baker is also skilled in handling family law cases including matters such as divorce, child custody and support, paternity, and prenuptial agreements. He holds certifications in advanced mediation and arbitration. Additionally, he is equipped to help clients that are pursuing personal injury claims involving car, truck, and motorcycle accidents, as well as slip and fall accidents. Attorney Russ Alan Baker was admitted to the Texas State Bar in 2004. About The Law Office of Russ Alan Baker, PLLC Attorney Baker founded his firm, the Law Office of Russ Alan Baker, PLLC, in 2009. Ready to aid those in need, Attorney Russ Alan Baker and his team extend their compassionate and proficient legal services to Texas residents in any way they can. The firm assists clients facing family law, criminal defense, and personal injury matters throughout Texas, including Blanco County, Burnet County, Llano County, Gillespie County, Saba Saba County, Texas Hill County, and Mason County. To learn more about this firm, visit https://www.russbakerlawfirm.com/ or call 325-216-2006. To learn more about Elite Lawyer, visit https://www.elitelawyer.com/ or call 833-403-5483. With many of our clients already based in Arlington County, we are thrilled to make a further commitment to this additional office location so we can serve them better, said Steve Blair, President of Lyceum Insurance Services. Lyceum Insurance Services announced that it is opening a new office location in Arlington, Virginia. Lyceum offers employee benefits, human resources consulting, and business insurance to corporate and nonprofit organizations of all sizes. The Arlington office will be located in the Clarendon neighborhood, and conveniently Metro-accessible. It will be Lyceums second office location in the Washington DC metro area, complementing their current headquarters in Montgomery County, Maryland. Businesses move to Arlington County and stay here because we continually strive to provide the highest level of amenities, services, and support for organizations of all sizes, said Tara Palacios, Director of BizLaunch, Arlington Economic Developments small business and entrepreneurial network. Having companies like Lyceum Insurance Services in Arlington mean that our businesses will have the support for their employees, and their operations need in order to thrive, grow, and protect themselves in a continually changing economic environment. Lyceums new Arlington office will also offer a location to provide educational events and other in-person events as those opportunities arise. With many of our clients already based in Arlington County, we are thrilled to make a further commitment to this additional office location so we can serve them better, said Steve Blair, President of Lyceum Insurance Services. This new Arlington location will give us a presence to support our employee benefits, human resources consulting, and business insurance customers in a location that is convenient to them. About Lyceum Insurance Services More than 40 years ago Lyceum Insurance Services was founded with a single goal: to maximize health while minimizing risk, for our employer clients as well as for their employees and dependents. Since that time, hundreds of clients have chosen to partner with Lyceum Insurance Services, and new clients are added every year. Lyceum is proud of all of its client relationships clients that have worked with them for months or years, and clients that weve been privileged to serve for decades. Lyceum serves businesses headquarters in the Mid-Atlantic that have employees around the country and around the world. From its dual offices in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Arlington County, Virginia, it helps corporate and nonprofit clients achieve better employee retention, optimal HR compliance, and minimal business risk. Milam & Greene Whiskey Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey We make our Distillery Edition Straight Bourbon Whiskey as a Certified Texas Whiskey, so people get to taste the personality of a whiskey mashed, fermented, distilled, and aged in Texas. Milam & Greene Whiskey is releasing its extremely limited-edition Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey, a Certified Texas Whiskey produced in Blanco, Texas. This second annual Distillery Edition is pot-distilled by master distiller, Marlene Holmes, in a 300-gallon copper still, is non-chill filtered, and bottled at barrel proof. Only nine barrels were blended to create this stunner. The Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey is now available exclusively at the Milam & Greene Whiskey distillery and select retailers in Illinois and Texas while supplies last. We make our Distillery Edition Straight Bourbon Whiskey as a Certified Texas Whiskey, so people get to taste the personality of a whiskey mashed, fermented, distilled, and aged in Texas, says Marlene Holmes, master distiller, Milam & Greene Whiskey. The distinct lively character that we achieve in our whiskey distilled in Blanco is as much of a reflection of our distilling techniques using a classic bourbon mash bill for sweetness and spice, as it is a reflection of the unique environment in Texas. The Milam & Greene Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey is crafted completely onsite in the heart of Texas Hill Country with a mash bill of 70 percent corn, 22 percent malted rye, and eight percent malted barley. The mash bill and proprietary yeast recipe combined with barrel aging for three to three and a half years in the Texan terroir make this the most robust, spicy, and feisty spirit of the Milam & Greene range of whiskies. It is hand-bottled at barrel proof (57.5% ABV / 115 Proof) to showcase all of the complexities that the distilling team meticulously cultivated along the whiskey-making process. This bourbon is not for the faint of heart. We create a variety of whiskey styles to enjoy, says Milam & Greene Whiskey CEO and blender Heather Greene. To do that, we embrace both traditional and innovative ways to make beautiful spirits that will appeal to different palates. We not only distill bourbon in our copper pot still in Texas, like this Distillery Edition Batch 2, but for other whiskies in our portfolio, our team also distills on classic column stills in Bardstown, Kentucky. Different stills produce whiskies with distinct personalities. We age and batch whiskies from various states together with our own Texas whiskey to showcase layers of flavor. We source bourbon barrel gems for our limited, sought-after Single Barrel range. And finally, we mature and finish in multiple barrel types in Blanco, where the unique Texas terroir enables us to play with timing and tastes. The result is a full portfolio of award-winning whiskies that rival the best Bourbons and Ryes available today." Milam & Greene Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey Tasting Notes Whiskey lovers will relish the incredible notes of caramel, cherry, and honey wrapped in a whisper of grain and the warmth of Texas sunshine. As with all our whiskies, this bottle is non-chill filtered for rich texture. It has radiant colors of amber brown, honey, and topaz with vibrant, sweet aromas of caramel, cherry, honey, and vanilla that fade to resplendent scents of banana nut bread, and allspice. This bold bourbon has flavors of Smores with dark chocolate, oak, sweet leather, toffee, heath bar, and cinnamon. It finishes dry and warm like a blanket by the fireplace. We recommend enjoying Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon in a rocks glass over ice because of its high proof. Pricing and Availability Milam & Greene Distillery Edition Batch 2 Straight Bourbon Whiskey is available at the distillery in Blanco, Texas, and at select retailers in Illinois and Texas for $119.99. Retailers can be found on Milamandgreenewhiskey.com. This whiskey is extremely limited. Please call your local retailer to determine availability. About Milam & Greene The award-winning Milam & Greene Whiskey brand is named for the partnership formed between Texas Entrepreneur Marsha Milam and Whiskey Expert Heather Greene. Each bottles flavor is created under the direction of both Heather Greene and veteran Kentucky Master Distiller Marlene Holmes. The brands team distills in both Blanco, Texas, and Marlene Holmess home state of Kentucky. Together Holmes and Greene also blend, batch, source, and finish wherever suits the whiskey best, usually under a big blue sky in Blanco or in an old Castle in Austin amongst the angels who look after them. For more information visit: http://www.milamandgreenewhiskey.com. Connect with Milam & Greene Whiskey on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Richard Chandler I am delighted to join Morae and look forward to working closely with the executive leadership team and our board as we undertake a number of exciting acquisitions and other initiatives. Morae Global Corporation, the global leader in digital and business transformation for the legal industry, today announced the appointment of Richard E. Chandler, Jr. as its Chief Legal Officer (CLO). Based in Houston, Chandler will be responsible for the legal affairs of the entire company, including providing legal counsel to the board of directors, chairman and chief executive officer, and other senior management as well as managing a global legal and risk management team. I am pleased to welcome Rich to our executive leadership team as our CLO, said Shahzad Bashir, Chairman and CEO at Morae. Rich brings a wealth of experience and know-how to help us facilitate new acquisitions and other legal initiatives in support of our strategic growth plans for the business. Chandler commented: I am delighted to join Morae and look forward to working closely with the executive leadership team and our board as we undertake a number of exciting acquisitions and other initiatives. An attorney with decades of in-house experience, Chandler has previously served in CLO and General Counsel roles at Sterling Construction, Inc., Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CB&I) and Smith International, Inc., along with having been a partner at a major international law firm. He also brings strong expertise in complex business transactions, human resource, legal compliance and corporate governance matters. Chandler graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in anthropology, then attended law school at Loyola University New Orleans, where he earned his Juris Doctor. He is a member of multiple state bars and professional associations. About Morae Global Corporation Morae Global Corporation is trusted worldwide by leading law firms, legal departments, and compliance executives for the delivery of digital and business transformation solutions. Founded in 2015 by pioneers in the legal operations field, our vision is to execute legal + business strategies, resulting in lasting change, value and protection. Moraes clients regularly refer us to their peers, our people stay with us, and our services keep clients ahead of whats next. Morae offers the right people and technology needed by legal professionals across globe, from our offices on four continents. Learn more at moraeglobal.com. NAPCO, Ltd. Its an exciting time to be in the refinishing industry. Not only do we get to help others find new careers, but we also help recycle kitchens and bathrooms that dont need a complete rehaul but could be improved with a refinishing touch. According to a recent NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) survey, a majority of builders reported a shortage in cabinets, ceramic tiles, plumbing fixtures and fittings, and more than 90% reported a shortage in plywood, oriented strand board (OSB) and plywood. And, according to Pew Research, with 71% of people currently working from home, many want to upgrade their homes as they spend more time in it. Refinishing solutions, like those offered by NAPCO, Ltd., are an ideal alternative to update kitchens and bathrooms as resurfacing requires zero raw materials for rebuilding. Builders dont have to pass on remodeling jobs. Many have chosen to increase their skills during the past year by learning how to refinish bathrooms and kitchens at NAPCOs professional refinishing training classes. Refinishing provides an alternative remodeling method to help satisfy homeowners needs. Expanding your skills and services to include bathroom and kitchen refinishing is an excellent way to continuously provide options to homeowners so they can improve their surroundings, without worrying about material shortages. Our 3-day refinishing class has been sold out months in advance as more people see the opportunity, not to mention profitability, by adding refinishing to their business and skillset, said Steve Zamborsky, R&D and Technical Manager and Trainer at NAPCO, Ltd. Its an exciting time to be in the refinishing industry. Not only do we get to help others find new careers, but we also help recycle kitchens and bathrooms that dont need a complete rehaul but could be improved with a refinishing touch. While COVID restrictions and telework has required people to spend more time in their homes, the enjoyment of an upgraded kitchen or bath is not the only upside. Kitchen and bath remodels also tend to bring higher return rates for homeowners. According to House Beautiful, minor kitchen upgrades recoup 77.6 percent of what you spend. And according to Remodeling magazine, a midrange bathroom upgrade recoups 64% of what you spend. For more than 42 years, NAPCO has been a leader in both manufacturing innovation, as well as hands-on training. The company, with international distributors on four continents, and trainees around the world, manufactures and distributes hundreds of products at its headquarters in suburban Chicago. Products made by NAPCO, are 100% guaranteed when used properly to refinish tubs, tiles, countertops, and cabinets. NAPCO leaders continue to innovate by developing new solutions and improving on the application, sustainability and longevity of refinishing products. For more information visit http://www.NAPCOltd.com # # # # # About NAPCO Since 1979, NAPCO, Ltd. (North American Polymer Company) has provided products, supplies, and training to professional bathroom and kitchen refinishers. NAPCO is headquartered just outside of Chicago, in Skokie, IL and services all 50 states and 5 foreign countries. If you are interested in becoming a refinisher or refinishing your tub, tile, or countertop instead of replacing, call 1-800-888-1081 or visit http://www.napcoltd.com today. The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB), the premier organization advocating strategic board leadership in higher education, today published Higher Education Business Models Under Stress: Achieving Graceful Transitions in the Academy. The book details the necessary considerations that boards and senior leaders must make to ensure institutional financial health, and suggestions for evaluating what the authors call an academic transitionmerger, affiliation, strategic partnership, or closure. The publication lays out the myriad factors leading to a disruption in the traditional higher education space, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuating demographic trends, the rise of educational alternatives, and other challenges. To address these issues, the authors argue that higher education leaders must respond with strategic agility, focusing on three primary objectives: student success, the financial well-being of the institution, and the education of stakeholders. The book was written by experts Melody Rose, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and Larry D. Large, a higher education consultant in Oregon. Both worked together to close Marylhurst University in 2018. Rose served as president and hired Large to provide outside perspective. The determination to go through an affiliation or other transition, including the difficult decision to close an institutions doors, is one of the hardest decisions a board will ever make, said Rose. Some may think that considering these choices is admitting failure. That is farthest from the truth. I hope that exploring these ideas and sharing our experience at Marylhurst will give boards and senior leaders the courage and foresight to discuss their options and make the right decisions. The book dives into metrics and indicators that help college leaders monitor the health of their institutionsand encourages boards to hold conversations about partnership opportunities such as mergers, affiliations, or building consortia before financial exigency forecloses these options. When confronted with poorly trending metrics, and after exhausting these partnership opportunities, the final option boards need to consider is closure. Boards and campus leaders must avoid optimism bias and the kind of unforeseen, catastrophic closures that can inflict lasting damage on students, faculty, and higher education as a whole. The book leads readers through the stages of closure, beginning with planning and ending with the dissolution of the corporate entity. Perhaps the most striking recommendation from Rose and Large is the suggested level of transparency and communication between leadership and other stakeholders. While governing boards have the ultimate authority for all institutional decisions, many different groups inside and outside the institution contribute to its success. Regularly communicating with faculty through the prism of shared governance about the institutions health can result in much greater campus support for any controversial but necessary decisions. More broadly, while some data are confidential, many accreditors as well as state or federal regulators can request reports that could trigger unease or even panic. Institutional leaders must be able to explain the details of these reports, contextualize them, and ultimately educate stakeholders on their significance. Doing so also offers senior leaders the chance to communicate thoughtfully and candidly rather than via knee-jerk responses to unexpected inquiries. The authors use their experience closing Marylhurst University as a case study for what closure can look like. The book includes detailed examples of communications, the boards closure resolution, the teach-out plan, and other details. The final chapter outlines advice for leaders who want to understand the actions and attitudes necessary for an institution to close with grace. Recent articles in the media highlighted new data from the U.S. Department of Educations Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) that show a decline in the number of colleges and universities eligible to award federal financial aida proxy for determining the number of higher education institutions in the country. The data demonstrate that these academic transitions were growing in prevalence for several years prior to 2020, and that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the sectors challenges. AGB Consulting offers support in multiple practice areas to assist members with mergers and affiliations as well as other forms of strategic transformation. Many board members and chief executives recognize the disruption facing their institutions, said Henry Stoever, AGB president and CEO. AGB is focused on empowering board members to serve as strategic thought partners for campus leaders who need to be discussing challenging topics from multiple perspectives, including options to acquire, merge, affiliate, or close. A complimentary e-book version of Higher Education Business Models Under Stress is available for AGB members on the website. A hard copy is also available for purchase with a membership discount. About AGB The Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB) is the premier membership organization that strengthens higher education governing boards and the strategic roles they serve within their organizations. Through our vast library of resources, educational events, and consulting services, and with 100 years of experience, we empower 40,000 AGB members from more than 2,000 institutions and foundations to navigate complex issues, implement leading practices, streamline operations, and govern with confidence. AGB is the trusted resource for board members, chief executives, and key administrators on higher education governance and leadership. Cybereason, the leader in operation-centric attack protection, today announced the creation of a U.S. Government subsidiary, Cybereason Government Inc., dedicated to prevention, detection and response to malicious operations targeting U.S. Government agencies. Cybereason is committed to supporting government defenders by providing multi-layered protection for continuous monitoring, proactive threat hunting, automated containment and remediation, and immediate incident response capabilities. The announcement follows an Executive Order issued in May which specifies that all Federal Agencies deploy an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution. The directive speaks to the tremendous value Cybereason EDR delivers through early detection of unknown threats based on chains of potentially malicious behavior--an approach that produces an industry-leading 1:200,000 analyst-to-endpoint ratio to provide a true force-multiplier for resource-constrained federal agencies. The efficacy of this operation-centric approach was recently validated by a superior performance in the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations where Cybereason delivered 100 percent prevention coverage for Windows and Linux-based threats, as well as unparalleled visibility and detections across the 54 advanced attack techniques applied in testing. The comprehensive visibility of the Cybereason Defense Platform and the ability to quickly understand the entire malicious operation from root cause kept Cybereason customers safe from the SolarWinds and HAFNIUM attacks as well as being 100 percent effective in preventing ransomware attacks. Cybereason EDR supports all major operating systems including current and legacy versions that are still in use across many government agencies. Delivered as a SaaS model or via options designed for private or hybrid cloud deployments as well as critical on-premises or air-gapped networks, Cybereason EDR fits the requirements of government agencies. The subsidiary is moving aggressively to make it easy for government agencies to acquire its innovative solutions. This includes adding its solutions to government wide acquisition contracts. Cybereasons co-managed partner Coalfire, a leading cybersecurity and compliance advisor is assisting the company in attaining FedRAMP authorization for its cloud products, and assisting Cybereason as it seeks security certification and accreditation for its on-premises solutions. Cybereason support for the government is championed by new Regional Vice President for the business unit, Nate Russ who will work alongside Cybereason CSO and subsidiary President Sam Curry and a team of advisors that includes former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford (ret.), former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and security industry leaders, Dave DeWalt, David Kris, Patrick Ennis, Peter Sherlock, Bob Bigman and Ari Schwartz. The mission-critical security requirements for government agencies can vary significantly, as do the specific requirements for the delivery of those solutions and services, which is why the Cybereason Defense Platform is an ideal solution to meet the diverse range of requirements across the government, said Lior Div, CEO and co-founder of Cybereason. The proactive Cybereason approach to prevention and active threat hunting for early detection means that government security teams can shift their limited resources away from lengthy investigations to focus more closely on further maturing their security operations. To learn more visit https://www.cybereason.com/industries/government About Cybereason Cybereason is the champion for todays cyber defenders, providing operation-centric attack protection that unifies security from the endpoint, to the enterprise, to everywhere the battle moves. The Cybereason Defense Platform combines the industrys top-rated AI-powered detection and response (EDR and XDR), next-gen antivirus (NGAV), Anti-Ransomware Protection and Proactive Threat Hunting to deliver context-rich analysis of every stage of a MalOp (malicious operation). Cybereason is a privately held, international company headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 50 countries. Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/ Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook Media Contacts: Bill Keeler Senior Director, Global Public Relations Cybereason bill.keeler@cybereason.com (929) 259-3261 Northern Virginia Technology Council Announces Sixth Annual NVTC Capital Cybersecurity Summit to be held on Friday, October 22, 2021. Virginia is home to more cybersecurity companies per capita than any other state in our nation. Our Cyber Summit is a moment to celebrate our regions leading position as a cyber hub and learn about the latest security practices, said Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of NVTC. The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), the trade association representing the national capital regions technology community, today announced the keynote speakers for its sixth annual NVTC Capital Cybersecurity Summit to be held on Friday, October 22, 2021 at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner. The event will cover the latest cybersecurity policies and serve as a gathering for the best and brightest minds in the cyber and national security sectors. Virginia is home to more cybersecurity companies per capita than any other state in our nation. Our Cyber Summit is a moment to celebrate our regions leading position as a cyber hub and learn about the latest security practices, said Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of NVTC. Today, cybersecurity is at the forefront of business leaders minds, as they implement safeguards to protect their data and propriety information to mitigate risks of cyberattacks. This year's summit will bring together a diverse group of industry leaders to discuss the challenges, risks and opportunities when setting and implementing federal cybersecurity policies; as well as the practicalities of defending the nations critical cyber infrastructure and mitigating new and emerging threats. The keynote speakers are Jen Easterly, director of the Department of Homeland Securitys Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Amit Yoran, chairman and CEO, Tenable. The summit will include speakers from globally-recognized organizations including Adobe, Accenture Security, Childrens National Hospital, Cognizant, Corsha, Dell Technologies, Dominion Energy, Fortalice Solutions, Global Cyber Risk LLC, MITRE, Sonatype, The Linux Foundation and Tracepoint. Panel discussions will cover the following topics: National Policies to Help Defend Our Nation The Practical Realities of Defending our Nations Critical Infrastructure from Known and Unknown Threats How Cybersecurity Innovation Bridges the Gap between Policy and Practice Finalists for the 3rd annual NVTC Capital Cybersecurity Awards include: Cyber CEO of the Year Grant Elliot, Ostendio Linda LaRoche, Computer Systems Center Incorporated (CSCI) Gilman Louie, LookingGlass Cyber Solutions Michael Volk, GuidePoint Security John Wood, Telos Cyber Company of the Year Cybrary GuidePoint Security IronNet Two Six Technologies Cyber Deal of the Year IronNet Tracepoint Two Six Technologies Cyber Executive of the Year Rob Palmer, ShorePoint Anubhav Raj, Aligned Cyber Government Contractor of the Year 22nd Century Technologies Intelligent Waves MITRE ShorePoint Cyber Startup of the Year Cynalytica Shift5 Tracepoint The NVTC Capital Cyber Awards honor the regions best cyber companies and leaders. This year, NVTC received nearly 40 nominations from esteemed companies, organizations and individuals working to advance cybersecurity. The panel of judges included Lenard Marcus, general partner, Edison Partners; Tony Moraco, former CEO, SAIC and Dr. John Zangardi, president, Redhorse Corporation. Award recipients will be announced throughout the summit. For more information on the event and to register, please visit http://www.capitalcybersummit.com. Use promo code CyberSummit21 to save 25% off your ticket. About the Northern Virginia Technology Council The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the trade association representing the national capital regions technology community. As one of the nations largest technology councils, NVTC serves companies from all sectors of the industry, from small businesses and startups to Fortune 100 technology companies, as well as service providers, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. Nearly 500 entities make up the NVTC membership and look to the organization as a resource for networking and educational opportunities, peer-to-peer communities, policy advocacy, industry promotion, fostering of strategic relationships, and branding of the region as a major global technology center. Visit NVTC at http://www.nvtc.org. Wireless Fall Prevention System by Parasol Medical Parasol Medical announced today that the company is witnessing a rapid market shift as hospitals are converting from wired fall monitoring systems to wireless systems. Each year, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people in the United States fall while they are hospital patients, with 30-50% resulting in injury. Research shows that close to one-third of all of these falls can be prevented. Human error has been identified as one primary factor in falls prevention. In many of these cases, the wired monitoring system is unplugged when the patient is moved by a nurse, housekeeping or transportation staff. When the patient is returned to bed the staff forgets to plug the pressure pads and monitoring hub back together. As a result, the entire monitoring systema critical falls prevention elementbecomes non-functional. The physical environment is another leading factor of falls. Accounting to The Joint Commission, of a total of 538 hospitals falls resulting in severe injury or death, 209 of them (39%) identified the physical environment as part of the root cause. Wired monitoring systems can introduce new tripping hazards from the cords themselves, which unfortunately can have an adverse outcome on the very problem being addressed. With the average hospital cost for a fall injury coming in at more than $30,000and often much highertheres a strong financial incentive for hospitals to improve their fall prevention systems. Mike Kilcran, CEO of Parasol, said, With a wireless solution like Parasols total-room Fall Prevention System, there is nothing to unplug, nothing to reset, and nothing to forget. Plus, by eliminating cords, we not only give our customers the ability to configure rooms in a way that is unrestricted by cord lengths or nurse call outlets, but they also eliminate a significant environmental factora tripping hazardthat could contribute to a fall. Its all about maximizing patient safety and protection and its encouraging to see this rapid market shift. About Parasol Medical: Parasol Medical is a premier developer of innovative solutions such as the Parasol Fall Prevention System, as well as other specialty medical devices designed to serve the ever-changing healthcare industry. Our greatest priority is making the lives of healthcare workers easier and improving patient outcomes. At the forefront of new and emerging technologies, Parasol Medical is rapidly expanding its footprint throughout the healthcare market to include products in our four main divisions: Patient Safety, Life Science, Diagnostic and Advanced Wound Care. Parasol Medical complies with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) and maintains an ISO 13485 quality system. To learn more about the Parasol Wireless Fall Prevention System, visit fallpreventionsystem.com. Offering our customers a fully integrated distribution solution, is something we are excited about. RLS also brings transportation expertise and other needed value added services that we look forward to extending to our customers. RLS Logistics, a leading third party cold chain 3PL, through its affiliate RLS Partners, recently welcomed Partners Alliance Cold Storage, Ontario, CA, as a warehouse partner and member of the RLS network of cold chain solutions providers. The company will be known as RLS Alliance. Frozen and refrigerated food manufacturers in the Southern California region will gain access to the RLS network with the addition of RLS Alliances strategic location in Ontario, CA, and Riverside, CA, near the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles. RLS Alliance provides cold storage warehousing, including bulk storage, value added services, intermodal dock solutions, and transportation services. With the addition of RLS Alliance, the RLS network adds 275,000 square feet of temperature controlled warehousing capacity. Customers can expect a personal experience when they partner with RLS Alliance. They [customers] get to know the customer service team on a first name basis, said RJ Neu, President, and Regional Partner, RLS Alliance. Additionally, our way of operating is more flexible compared to the big box companies; we can make decisions quickly to assist customers needs. RJ continues, Offering our customers a fully integrated distribution solution, is something we are excited about. RLS also brings transportation expertise and other needed value added services that we look forward to extending to our customers. With over 20 years of experience, Neu has extensive experience working firsthand in the cold chain industry in quality control and manufacturing positions. Im excited that we found a partner aligned with our thought process and that wants to grow our team, he continued. RLS Alliance joins the fast growing network of top tier regional leading, family owned, temperature controlled warehouse providers. As a family run business, RLS Alliance has similar values in operating: personalized customer experience, strong customer foundations, loyalty, and entrepreneurialism. RLS network is a refreshing alternative for expansion minded food manufacturers who prefer the personalized approach that family run providers offer that gets diluted with the larger cold storage competitors. Customer centricity is a business strategy that RLS has led in our operations for as long as I can remember. RLS Alliance follows a similar strategy; their customer partnerships are a testament to it. This makes them a natural fit for our network of top cold storage providers. We look forward to a fruitful partnership, and we welcome the west coast team to our family, said Russell Leo, Chief Executive Officer, RLS Logistics. ABOUT RLS PARTNERS: Headquartered in Mt. Laurel, NJ, RLS Partners is a joint venture formed by seasoned industry professionals and an industry leading, family owned cold chain 3PL, RLS Logistics. By creating a network of best in class cold chain operators, RLS will offer its customers a top tier regional platform with a national scale supported by service levels only a family operated company can provide. PetDesk, a leading veterinary client engagement technology company, is excited to announce that they will be honoring the entire month of October as National Veterinary Technician Month. In celebration of vet techs nationwide, PetDesk hosted a confessional-like story competition aimed at helping unify the voices of such a crucial group of professionals who deserve additional support and recognition for the pivotal role they play in delivering care to pets. PetDesk will also be joined by industry experts for a special webinar all about empowering vet techs to reach their full potential while strengthening their confidence and passion for the industry. As with all other professionals in the healthcare space, vet techs work tirelessly to provide the best care for their patients, but dont often receive the same level of appreciation shared by medical professionals in other industries, said Taylor Cavanah, CEO of PetDesk. The vet industry is experiencing a staffing crisis and vet techs are the key to alleviating staff burnout, while improving the volume and quality of care. PetDesk hosted Vet Tech Confessions, its first-ever story competition, which served as an opportunity for industry professionals to unleash their best and worst stories to amplify the tales of real staff in real situations. This week, PetDesk will begin reviewing story submissions and choose its top five stories. The judging process will then open up to a wider community voting poll via PetDesks social media platforms. The winners will be announced during PetDesks webinar later this month. To wrap up the month-long celebration, PetDesk will host a free webinar on October 28 featuring some of the leading vet techs in the industry. Titled Maximize Your Vet Techs: The Industrys Answer to a Happy Practice, the panelists will speak from their own experiences and tackle important topics, such as the day-to-day issues vet techs face, navigating the Practice Acts, and how to best utilize their abilities in the hospital in order to not only feel empowered, but to optimize their skill sets. Panelists include: David Liss, MBA, CVPM, RVT: Chief Operating Officer at Los Angeles Animal Specialty Emergency and Rehabilitation (LAASER) Stephen Cital, RVT, RLAT, SRA, CVPP, VTS-LAM: Lab Manager at Stanford University, Executive Director at the Academy of Laboratory Veterinary Technicians and Nurses, Chief Operating Officer of the Veterinary Anesthesia Nerds, and co-founder of the Veterinary Cannabis Academy Liza Rudolph, BAS, RVT, VTS (CP-CF, SAIM): Veterinary Technician Specialist Consultant and Educator at East Coast Veterinary Education, LLC Kenichiro Yagi, MS, RVT, VTS (ECC), (SAIM): Chief Veterinary Nursing Officer at Veterinary Emergency Group, NAVTA Immediate Past President Paige Allen, MS, RVT of Purdue Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine and Board President, NAVC Megan L. Brashear, RVT, VTS (ECC) of Purdue Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine To attend the free webinar, visit this link to register: https://petdesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/7616294006762/WN_hXi4X2tlQ3yrHWBQa47abg. About PetDesk Since 2013, PetDesk has been leading the veterinary industry and empowering over 2,700 practices and hospitals with simple yet powerful software solutions that streamline front office processes and build better relationships with clients and their pets. With the 5-star rated mobile app and 3 million users, PetDesk is committed to connecting pet owners with their pet care providers to stay current with their pets health so that they can live longer, happier, and healthier lives. Learn more about PetDesk by visiting http://www.petdesk.com. Roland Garcia, as co-chair of the Houston Mayors Hispanic Advisory Board (MHAB), will be the co-host for the MHABs Houston Hispanic Heritage Virtual Awards Ceremony airing on Oct. 14. Garcia is a shareholder in the Global Litigation Practice at law firm Greenberg Traurig, where he practices from the Houston office. The annual awards recognize Hispanics who have made exemplary contributions toward improving the quality of life within the City of Houstons Hispanic community. The on-line awards ceremony begins at 6 p.m. CDT. For information on access to the virtual program, click here. Being intentional is critical when it comes to your efforts to build diversity, equity, and inclusion, and to recognize those leading the way, Garcia, said. Serving on the MHAB is an honor, as is having the opportunity to celebrate the Hispanic leaders in our community during National Hispanic Heritage Month. As co-chair of the MHAB, Garcia serves as a liaison between the Hispanic community and the mayor of the city of Houston. His responsibilities include providing viable recommendations on policies that will advance the social, political, and economic issues of all Hispanics and citizens citywide. Garcia is an experienced litigator who has tried lawsuits in state and federal trial courts and has argued appeals in state and federal appellate courts. He has handled many high-profile cases and has been quoted regarding these cases by The National Law Journal, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Austin-American Statesman, Corpus Christi Caller Times, Texas Lawyer, Law360, and others. About Greenberg Traurigs Diversity Initiative: From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. Through its Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan, the firm has committed $5 million over five years to help combat systemic racism and support impoverished communities. Given these and other related efforts, the firm has achieved Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certification Plus from The Diversity Lab, and has been recognized by local, national, and global publications and organizations including Chambers and Partners. Web: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/general/our-firm/diversity Twitter: @GT_Drive About Greenberg Traurig, LLP Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig, LLP and part of its history. With approximately 130 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports. About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,300 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 25 on the Am Law Global 200. The firm is net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage and Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com The pandemic transformed the way stakeholders think about space in senior housing facilities, Senior Housing News (SHN), an Aging Media publication, will host its annual, in-person BUILD Conference this fall, where experts in senior housing will convene to explore the future of senior living development from a variety of perspectives. Event participants will join senior living architecture, design and development professionals in exploring the latest trends and projections in middle-market, urban luxury, COVID recovery, development financing, infection control, and more. BUILD is the premier event for senior living owners, architects, investors, builders, developers and interior designers involved in the next generation of senior housing development. Virtual tickets are available for those who are unable to attend in person. The event will take place on November 17-18, 2021, at VenueSix10, 610 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605. It will run from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, providing attendees with two full days of networking, learning and discussion. BUILD will incorporate a variety of group presentations and networking opportunities, along with the SHN Architecture & Design Awards Presentation on Nov. 18 at the start of Day 2. The pandemic transformed the way stakeholders think about space in senior housing facilities, said Aging Media Co-Founder George Yedinak. As we move toward a post-COVID landscape, it is important to explore how those lessons will manifest in the design and construction process, which is the entire goal of BUILD Conference. Joined by experts from a wide range of disciplines, BUILD will offer a full spectrum of perspectives on senior housing development. To reserve your spot for this years BUILD Conference, please visit build.seniorhousingnews.com BUILD presents a variety of opportunities for tabletop exhibitions, private meeting rooms and experiential marketing. For SHN BUILD sponsorship opportunities, please contact events@agingmedia.com. About Aging Media Network and Senior Housing News Aging Media Network is an innovative publishing company based in Chicago, Illinois, and is the publisher of Senior Housing News, Home Health Care News, Skilled Nursing News, Hospice News, and Behavioral Health Business. Senior Housing News (SHN) is the leading source for news and information covering the senior housing industry. Culinary Services Groups willingness to spend the time getting to know my team and our residents is impressive and we are very excited to start working with them. Culinary Services Group has been contracted to provide food service at Silver Bluff Village, a sprawling senior living community on the scenic banks of the Pigeon River in Western, NC. The community has outsourced its dining services to other companies in the past, but hopes this new partnership will bring an elevated dining experience and an added level of resident engagement to the campus. "Culinary Services Groups willingness to spend the time getting to know my team and our residents is impressive and we are very excited to start working with them." - Lisa Leatherwood, MSN, RN, G-CNS, BC, NHA, Administrator The leadership for both organizations have built a relationship through their memberships in the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association (NCHCFA). Their shared values of home-style food, selective menus and service in a homelike setting made the partnership a natural fit. One of the elevated touches Culinary Services Group will bring to the residents at Arrowhead Cove Assisted Living is point-of-service dining. Steam tables will be set up throughout the dining area with different meal options and residents will be able to choose the selections they like. "I have known Lisa for years through the NCHCFA, and she lives and breathes the same values and culture as Culinary Services Group. Silver Bluff Village will be an outstanding business partner!" - Scott Alme, VP of Business Development, Culinary Services Group Culinary Services Group has a strong footprint in the North Carolina area, including another location in the western part of the state, Murphy Rehabilitation and Nursing. They recognize the need for quality healthcare dining services in the surrounding area which includes Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia and South Carolina. Declining census numbers in skilled nursing facilities have been an ongoing trend in the industry nationwide, especially in rural areas. Culinary Services Group hopes its real food approach, home-style cooking, and elevated dining services will help these communities stand out and rebuild. Halfpricesoft.com Introduces Updates To Assist Start Up Businesses In ezCheckprinting Check Writer Customers looking at processing business checks for a startup company are happy to find ezCheckprinting business check writer as a less expensive and more intuitive application than others on the market. ezCheckprinting business check writer from Halfpricesoft.com has been updated in an effort to assist start up companies save time and money . Lets face it, starting a business is very time consuming and expensive and by giving these companies many features and updates to spend time on more important business matters. Customers looking at processing business checks for the startup are happy to find ezCheckprinting business check writer as a less expensive and more intuitive application than others on the market. said Halfpricesoft.com Founder, Dr. Ge. As a bonus to the already incredible benefits of using ezcheckprinting software, start up companies get the added bonus of getting their business name out to customers, vendors, and suppliers. With the new check design feature inside ezCheckPrinting software, companies can easily design and print customized bank checks to set their business apart from the others. Writing a check is simple and quick with ezCheckPrinting! Customers simply enter the date, payees name and amount payable to the payee. This check writer will automatically convert numbers to words. Customers can write and print a check with just a few clicks. As always, this newest version is available for a free test drive before purchasing at halfpricesoft.com. Known for affordability and ease-of-use, ezCheckPrinting software is extremely popular with small to mid-sized corporations, government agencies, non-profits and financial institutions. Test it today at https://www.halfpricesoft.com/product_ezCheck.asp. 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Starting at just $39 for a single user installation, ezCheckprinting is affordable for any size business and is compatible with all popular brands of laser printers (most of which can print bank-accepted MICR numbers) and specialized MICR printers. To learn more about ezCheckPrinting check writing software and the incredible benefits, customers can visit https://www.halfpricesoft.com/product_ezCheck.asp and try it out for size before purchasing. About halfpricesoft.com Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of small business software, including online and desktop payroll software, online employee attendance tracking software, accounting software, in-house business and personal check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, Accounting software, 1095 form software and ezACH direct deposit software. Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of customers and will help small Business owners simplify payroll processing and streamline business management. Taft Communications today announced that Lydia Blandon, a veteran of more than 20 years in global corporate communications, has joined the firm as senior director. This latest hire follows several others in recent months as the strategic communications consultancy continues to grow. Blandon is supporting Taft clients such as AbbVie, Bristol Myers Squibb, and ISPOR in developing communication plans and prepping for and executing events. With experience in all aspects of corporate communications, she will serve as the focus area lead for Tafts employee engagement work. Were excited to continue adding top notch talent to Tafts expanding team, said Ted Deutsch, CEO of Taft. Lydias extensive experience with regulated industries and her work in driving purpose through high impact employee communications initiatives, makes her a great match for Taft. Before joining Taft, Blandon most recently led the development, approval, and release of global marketing and internal communications plans and tactics within Global Brand Strategy for Oncology (KEYTRUDA + LENVIMA) as a consultant at Merck. Her career includes positions within agencies and companies serving such brands as Prudential Financial, Janssen, CIT Group, and AT&T. Blandon earned her bachelors degree in communication from Rutgers University. About Taft Communications Taft is a communications consultancy with more than 35 years of experience. Through strategic communications and leadership development, Taft guides clients to meaningful expressions of purpose to drive positive impact for all stakeholders, including customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the earth and environment. Taft ClearPointSM, the firms practice in leadership communications, is the go-to source for leaders and aspiring leaders to acquire the skills needed to master todays constant conversation. Learn more at http://taftcommunications.com and follow @TaftComms on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. # # # Here at Tallgrass, weve built the best freight brokerage in the country. With our independent freight agents, we really have the best of the best here, and we couldnt be prouder of our accomplishments and our people. Tallgrass Freight Co. (TGF) proudly announces another prosperous year of industry-leading growth, resulting in several key accolades for 2021. The company reports that the awards serve as a testament to the companys dedicated team members and driven freight brokers who allow Tallgrass to thrive. Although the company is fueled by ambition and innovation, leadership credits their team-based atmosphere for its flourishing success. The companys 2021 awards include: Ingrams Top 100, #7 Inc. 5000, #678 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest, #37 Kansas City Business Journals Best Places to Work Kansas City Business Journals Fast 50, #11 Kansas City Business Journals Top Logistics, Trucking & Transportation Companies, #25 lists. Tallgrass is especially grateful to have received the Kansas City Business Journals coveted and competitive Best Places to Work Award for the third time. This award puts Tallgrass among a group of Kansas City businesses that are contributing to economic success, while remaining committed to company culture. We give our agents a culture thats a stark contrast to any other company or program, says co-owner and CEO Damon Anderson, who founded the company in 2012. The agent program that Tallgrass prides itself on is now used as an industry-wide standard, though none pull it off quite like we do at Tallgrass. Tallgrasss distinctives include its agent career development program, competitive compensation and benefits, unparalleled back-office support and sales incentive programs. The companys latest innovation is its first-to-market freight CRM system, unlike any other in the freight ecosystem. Co-owner and COO David Barnes points to the companys team of independent freight agents as key catalysts for their 2021 successes. Here at Tallgrass, weve built the best freight brokerage in the country, Barnes says. With our independent freight agents, we really have the best of the best here, and we couldnt be prouder of our accomplishments and our people. About Tallgrass Freight Co.: A full-service logistics solution provider since 2012, Tallgrass Freight Co. is the best freight brokerage in the nation. TGF offers a wide range of transportation and logistics services. Services include less than truckload (LTL) shipping, full truckload (FTL) shipping, flatbed services, intermodal services and temperature-controlled shipping. Powered by our best-in-class back office support, and with our innovative freight CRM, our freight agents focus on what they love most about being a freight broker. A destination network for top-tier independent freight agents, Tallgrass agents are empowered to thrive and equipped for limitless success. Aiming to supercharge Black tech-led startups, Black Business Ventures Association (BBVA) announced their first-ever Black Seed Accelerator Program for Black tech founders in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Black Seed Accelerator Program amplifies and supports the best Black-led tech startups for Black founders by Black industry experts. BBVA believes Black-led startups and tech-enabled businesses in Canada have the potential to present massive market impact and opportunities in an industry where only 2.6 percent of the tech workforce in Canada are Black (Brookfield Institute: 2019). This can be seen as a representation and diversity problem, but BBVA sees it as the most significant opportunity to invest in underrepresented Black tech founders. Canada is vastly becoming home to a growing and diverse network of tech ecosystems vital for the nations economic growth. However, there are gaps in the participation of underrepresented Black tech founders, startups and tech-enabled businesses. Black Business Ventures Association is on a mission to support Black tech founders and startups with opportunities to engage with and contribute to their local innovation ecosystem fully and, in the process, capture target market opportunities. Much of the interest in the accelerator program has been triggered by Canadian governments at all levels betting on technology to propel our economy forward. BBVAs accelerator program is dedicated to being a catalyst in setting up Black-led tech founders. There is no cost for participation once applicants qualify, and they do not have to give up any equity to participate. In addition, the program is fully flexible and remote, making it easy for participants to gain accessibility and be part of a community. Learn more about The Black Seed Accelerator: https://bit.ly/BlackSeedAccelerator About Black Business Ventures Association (BBVA) BBVA is on a mission to help establish 1000 successful Black-led tech and tech-enabled businesses in Canada by 2030. The Black Seed Accelerator Program will be a catalyst in ensuring that Black tech founders are at the forefront of that growth and acceleration. Guests who visit The Hermitage Hotel are met with elevated, approachable luxury deeply rooted in Southern hospitality, said Molly Hardie, owner of The Hermitage Hotel. Our partnership with Draper James is a natural extension of this spirit..." The Hermitage Hotel, Nashvilles celebrated gathering place for more than 111 years, today announced its partnership with Draper James, an American lifestyle brand founded by Reese Witherspoon and inspired by her Southern roots. This collaboration marries two brands beloved by the Nashville community by introducing a new staff wardrobe custom-designed by Draper James exclusively for The Hermitage Hotel. The partnership will be celebrated with a new Afternoon Tea service named Spillin Tea with Draper James. Guests who visit The Hermitage Hotel are met with elevated, approachable luxury deeply rooted in Southern hospitality, said Molly Hardie, owner of The Hermitage Hotel. Our partnership with Draper James is a natural extension of this spirit. It was a pleasure to work side-by-side with this quintessentially Southern, female-founded brand to create a wardrobe for our hotel team and a signature print that seamlessly adds a modern, fresh edge to the hotels timeless elegance. Featuring a new print named The Hermitage Ditsy Floral, the new Draper James staff wardrobe was inspired by The Hermitage Hotels Southern splendor and color palette, with yellow accents emblematic of the Women's Suffrage Movement and the hotels special role in the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Female staff members will be outfitted in a special edition of Draper James beloved Loretta dress in The Hermitage Ditsy Floral print, along with tops inspired by the gathered details and neckline of the Loretta dress. For this partnership, Draper James paired the brands signature blazer with a custom pencil skirt and trousers that were designed specifically for the hotel. Guests of The Hermitage Hotel will be greeted by bellmen dressed in Draper James suits tailored in a seasonless twill in the brands signature Draper James Navy with Ditsy Floral accents such as ties and pocket squares. Crafted from luxurious, personally selected silk twill, the mens accessories and womens scarves feature The Hermitage Hotels monogram and will be available for purchase at the hotel. The Hermitage Loretta Dress will be available for purchase at The Hermitage Hotel, at the Draper James flagship store in Nashville, and online at draperjames.com. We are honored to partner with The Hermitage Hotel and play a part in the latest chapter of this iconic Nashville hotels story, said Kathryn Sukey, Head of Design at Draper James. We worked closely with the team at The Hermitage Hotel on a color palette that speaks to the evolution of the hotels interiors and on a staff wardrobe that represent the perfect mix of new Nashville and heritage Nashville. I know when any employee wears them, they will embody the confidence we always set out to inspire. To celebrate the launch of their partnership, The Hermitage Hotel and Draper James are introducing a new, limited-time Afternoon Tea: Spillin Tea with Draper James. This toast to gracious living will feature a menu of classic Southern delights inspired by recipes from Witherspoons cookbook, Whiskey in a Teacup. Guests can expect delicious tea sandwiches, tarts, scones and desserts, and even Whiskey in a Teacup, a nod to the hotels infamous Prohibition-era secret. Steeped in Southern charm, the tablescapes will incorporate custom linens from the Draper James tabletop collection in The Hermitage Ditsy Floral print. Guests of the tea service will also receive a special Draper James gift. Spillin Tea with Draper James will be offered Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2:00pm 4:00pm beginning Saturday, October 16. Reservations can be made online via Open Table Experiences or at TheHermitageHotel.com/afternoon-tea. We look forward to welcoming guests and locals alike to this special edition of our Afternoon Tea service and showing our Southern Hospitality to all who visit, said Dee Patel, Managing Director of The Hermitage Hotel. We were delighted to work with Draper James to tailor the perfect wardrobe that reflects the soul of the hotel and will allow our team to look great and feel great when they take care of our guests with The Hermitage Hotels warm and gracious hospitality. Known as Nashvilles original million-dollar property, The Hermitage Hotel is currently undergoing a top-to-bottom design refresh seamlessly blending the past with the present. The elevated design perspective is illustrated by the renovated restaurant and bar, refreshed guest rooms, lobby and common spaces. Named a National Historic Landmark in 2020, the hotel is committed to honoring its heritage and meticulously preserving its cherished architecture while introducing a fresh, new color palette, updated furnishings and more. To learn more about The Hermitage Hotel, please visit TheHermitageHotel.com or follow the hotel on Instagram and Facebook. About The Hermitage Hotel Set in the heart of Downtown Nashville, The Hermitage Hotel is the citys original million-dollar property, home to a rich history deeply rooted in the spirit of the region. Named a National Historic Landmark in 2020, The Hermitage Hotel stands as a timeless icon of refined Southern hospitality offering unparalleled service, luxurious comfort, and modern amenities. The hotel features 122 oversized guest rooms and suites and distinctive Beaux Arts architecture, including an original stained-glass ceiling that serves as a striking centerpiece for the hotel lobby. The grand ballroom, adorned with Circassian walnut paneling, continues to host memorable gatherings since the hotels grand opening in 1910. Debuting in late 2021, The Hermitage Hotel is home to destination restaurant, Drusie & Darr, and cafe, The Pink Hermit, marking internationally acclaimed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichtens first presence in the South. In addition, the hotel offers an iconic Afternoon Tea service and two spa treatment rooms. The Hermitage Hotel is committed to the preservation of local heritage and is proud to partner with The Land Trust for Tennessee, raising over $1M to support the conservation of over 85,000 acres since 2008. For reservations and additional information, please call 615-244-3121 or visit TheHermitageHotel.com. About Draper James Draper James is a classic, American lifestyle brand founded by Reese Witherspoon, inspired by her Southern roots. Reese named the brand after her grandparents who taught her everything she knows about gracious Southern living. Launched in May 2015, the collection consists of ready-to-wear, accessories and home accents offering classic grace and charm, no matter where you live. The collection is available at the flagship store in Nashville, as well as the brick-and-mortar locations in Lexington, Kentucky; Atlanta, Georgia and at draperjames.com. From Left to Right: Ted Takounseun (Director, TI Foods), Piyush Kunnapallil (CEO, TI Foods) & Darren Chung (Director, TI Foods) Nova Vidas investment and operational resources will further support TI Foods plans for continued growth and expansion Nova Vida GP Inc, an Ontario-based investment firm, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Thai Indochine Trading Inc (dba TI Foods), a leading provider of Asian food products to mainstream and ethnic grocery stores across Canada. For more than 35 years, TI Foods has been catering to the growing demand for Asian food in Canada. It imports, distributes, and markets essential products such as rice, coconut milk & noodles, health products such as herbal tea & cough syrup, and lifestyle products such as snacks & beverages. With a portfolio consisting of market-leading brands such as Rose, Aroy-D, Coco Tree, Mama, Pacific Gold, KYJ, TaoKaeNoi, Mr. Brown and many others TI Foods is recognized as a reliable and customer-focused supplier to hundreds of stores across Canada. Nova Vidas investment and operational resources will further support TI Foods plans for continued growth and expansion. Piyush Kunnapallil, President at Nova Vida GP Inc will assume the role of CEO at TI Foods. The current management team of Darren Chung and Ted Takounseun will continue to be integral parts of TI Foods. On this new journey, TI Foods CEO Piyush Kunnapallil commented, TI Foods has a wonderful team of professionals that has driven much of the companys success over the years. It is a profitable company with an established presence, reputed brands, and diverse customer base. I am thrilled to be a part of this tight-knit organization and will further accelerate its growth in partnership with Ted & Darren and my equity investor Sage Capital Partners. TI Foods Director, Ted Takounseun, adds, Its a great time in TI Foods history to take on new partners and leadership. There are tremendous market opportunities in the ethnic food industry as the population of ethnic consumers grows and more & more non-ethnic consumers seek out Asian cuisines. With the renewed investment and focus, TI Foods is poised to strengthen its current operations in Canada as well as maintain its leadership team, brand equity and culture. About TI Foods TI Foods began in the 1980s and initially serviced the Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese communities with canned goods, rice, and noodles. In the 1990s, the company capitalized on its expertise in sourcing authentic products and started to target other Asian demographics outside of their core consumers. The 2000s saw the expansion of the company to target new customers through mainstream retailers and the company soon outgrew its previous warehouse. Today, TI Foods is a trusted distributor for several reputed brands and caters to hundreds of grocery stores across Canada from its upsized 40,000+ square feet warehouse in Markham, Ontario. Learn more at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ti-foodscanada/ About Nova Vida GP Inc. Nova Vida GP Inc. is a private investment firm that was formed to identify, acquire, and operate private food manufacturing or distribution companies in Canada. By leveraging its owner-operator model, experience of managing CAD 250M+ businesses and access to captive capital, Nova Vida aims to grow the acquired companies to create long-term value for the company's employees, customers & investors. Learn more at https://www.novavidacapital.com/. About Sage Capital Partners Sage is a $40 million Canadian focused private equity fund which partners with entrepreneurs to invest in lower middle market companies in support of their growth initiatives. Learn more at https://sagecapfund.com/ Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains how drivers should compare multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/how-to-compare-multiple-car-insurance-offers-online/ Drivers that are looking for car insurance policies that are suitable for their needs, should know that the old method of going from one insurance agency to another in order to obtain quotes is no longer the preferred method to obtain quotes. Now, with the help of the internet, drivers can easily obtain car insurance quotes in a fast manner. To obtain better car insurance deals, drivers should follow the next tips when they are comparing multiple quotes: Compare the same insurance policies. Drivers should select the same coverage levels, options, add-ons, and the same limits when they are comparing multiple insurance quotes from different websites. Provide the same details on all quotes. Most online forms will ask the same data about the car make, type, model, year of production, installed safety devices, etc. Also, drivers will be required to complete personal data about themselves and their driving history. Be honest. Many persons will try to hide the negative aspects of their profiles in order to pay less on their insurance. Negative aspects like traffic tickets, at-fault accidents, and even drunk driving incidents will increase the costs of insurance. But lying about them can have severe consequences. In many cases, insurance companies decided to cancel the policies of the lying drivers Look for different discounts. It is known that insurance companies offer many different discounts. Drivers can contact their insurers and ask them to provide a list of available discounts. Some of the most common discounts are the low-mileage discount, good driver discount, installed safety devices discount, bundled policies discount, and loyalty discount. Compare multiple online quotes. Drivers should compare several quotes in order to have a better view of how their car insurance policy might look like. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/ Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. Hotel Valencia Santana Row During another challenging year in the hospitality industry, these awards reaffirm our highest commitment to providing some of the best accommodations in the business." said Doyle A. Graham, Jr., President and CEO. Conde Nast Traveler today announced the results of its annual Readers Choice Awards. Valencia Hotel Groups luxury and court hotels were named in the magazines 2021 Readers Choice Awards list. Hotel Valencia Santana Row was #1 in San Jose and #5 among top 20 hotels in Northern California. Additional hotels in the collection that made the top 20 list for Texas include Hotel Valencia Riverwalk, claiming the #1 spot in San Antonio and #15 in Texas and Lone Star Court, which made its debut as #5 in Austin and #20 in Texas. The Conde Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious recognition of excellence in the travel industry and are commonly known as the best of the best of travel. The full list of winners can be found here. We are honored to see our hotels recognized by discerning travelers for their remarkable service and memorable guest experiences, said Doyle A. Graham, Jr., President and CEO. During another challenging year in the hospitality industry, these awards reaffirm our highest commitment to providing some of the best accommodations in the business. We are extremely proud to add our Lone Star Court hotel in Austin to this prestigious list for 2021. Graham is the visionary and thought leader behind building the Valencia Hotel Group collection and attributes much of the companys success to its unique management approach and efficient cost structure; these have made the Valencia Hotel Group a leading market performer with consistent customer satisfaction ratings above the 90th percentile. The 2021 Readers' Choice Awards are published on Conde Nast Traveler's website, http://www.cntraveler.com/rca and celebrated in the November issue of Conde Nast Traveler US and UK print editions. About Valencia Hotel Group Houston-based Valencia Hotel Group is a fully integrated hospitality company that provides management, development, branding and repositioning services for independent, full-service hotels owned by the company, in addition to third parties. Exceptional service, style and location have become brand trademarks. Earning both national and international recognition for their distinctive designs, amenities and settings, Valencia Hotel Group properties are destinations and gathering places within their respective communities, some further benefitting from and enriching their space within the cultural heart of a city. The company continues to forge a niche with hotels that anchor and add value to urban, mixed-use environments, which further support or enhance the guest experience with superior residential, restaurant, retail and office components. The Valencia Hotel Group portfolio currently includes Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose, CA, Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX, and The George in College Station, TX. The Court concept brands include Lone Star Court in Austin, TX, Cavalry Court in College Station, TX, Texican Court in Irving, TX and Cotton Court in Lubbock, TX. For more information, please visit http://www.valenciahotelgroup.com About Conde Nast Traveler Conde Nast Traveler is the worlds most distinguished travel title providing inspiration and advice for discerning travelers. Authoritative and influential, Conde Nast Traveler is a multi-platform, transatlantic brand. Publishing US and UK print editions under Editor-in-Chief Melinda Stevens, Conde Nast Traveler offers award-winning expertise in luxury travel from around the world. For more, visit http://www.cntraveler.com. For press inquiries, please contact: awards@condenasttraveler.com Third Quarter Market Watch, by William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty A report detailing market results for the third quarter of 2021 in Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, New London, Litchfield and Hartford Counties, Connecticut, the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York, has just been released by William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realty, the company announced today. The report found that residential real estate sales started to decline versus the third quarter in 2020, a sharp reversal after so many quarters of enormous increases, but still outperformed historical norms. The company made its analysis in the context of concluding a historic 12-month cycle where sales eclipsed the prior year by record levels, and then entering a period of competing with that same historic timeframe. The company took the additional step of supplying comparisons not just to 2020s third quarter, but to that of 2019 as well, a more normal sales period. Whereas most markets underperformed versus last years highly active third quarter, all territories surpassed the third quarter from two years ago. Inventory remains tight, an additional factor in the quarterly sales decline. With fewer homes on the market, unit sales have decreased, even as heavy competition for homes and multiple bids have led to soaring median sale prices and properties selling for well over asking. This increase in prices is reflected in a consistent double-digit percentage spread between unit sales and dollar volume. The middle to upper end sectors are faring well in Westchester and Fairfield Counties, with sales rising in the $1.2+ and $2+ million segments, respectively. As more properties transact at higher price points, lower priced sales are trending downward. Fairfield County, Conn., encapsulated each of these trends. Unit sales and dollar volume across the region were down quarter over quarterby 24% and 11%, respectivelybut increased dramatically versus the third quarter of 2019 by 18% and 75%. The 12-month median sale price was also up over this time last year by 21%. Elsewhere in Connecticut, New Haven County unit sales were down by 14% and dollar volume a slight 1% compared to the third quarter last year, but units rose by 4% and volume by 33% over 2019s third quarter. Middlesex County saw unit sales and dollar volume decline by 21% and 11%, respectively, versus last years third quarter, but increase over the same quarter in 2019 by 6% and 35%. New London County unit sales decreased by 14% and volume by 7% compared to the third quarter in 2020, while units were up by 9% and volume by 42% over the third quarter in 2019. In Litchfield County, units and volume dropped by 28% and 31%, respectively, from last years third quarter, as they increased by 1% and 48% from 2019s third quarter. Hartford County unit sales decreased quarter over quarter by 10% as volume increased by 2%, while units and volume both increased over 2019s third quarter by 11% and 37%, respectively. In Massachusetts, Berkshire County saw quarterly unit sales decline by 30% and volume by 22%, while a comparison with this quarter two years ago shows unit sales down by 10% with volume climbing ahead by 35%. Median sale prices in each of these regions rose by double digit percentages from 2020 to 2021. Only Westchester County, N.Y., defied the same pattern of quarterly sales declines, but the report noted that Westchesters period of market growth started several weeks later than other markets last year, coinciding with that countys later reopening from COVID-related shutdowns. As a result, the region continued to experience sales growth in the third quarter compared to the same period last year, with unit sales increasing by 6% and dollar volume by 16%, and the 12-month median sale price up by 10%. Sales also increased over the third quarter of 2019 by 19% in units and 47% in volume. Pending property sales reveal that Westchester should perform similarly to Connecticut by next quarter. Contracts are off by roughly 25-35% across all markets compared to this time last year. Bolstered by the performance of the first two quarters, year to date nearly every market is still ahead of last year. Even if the fever pace of the market has cooled compared to the last several quarters, property sales and demand for housing remain at historic highs, especially considering the pre-pandemic 2019 market as a baseline of comparison, said Paul Breunich, President and Chief Executive Officer of William Pitt-Julia B. Fee Sothebys International Realty. Our positive outlook for the months ahead is also supported by the economic picture at the national level, signaling continued momentum in real estate for some time to come. The Third Quarter 2021 Market Watch is available on the firms website at williampitt.com. ### About William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty Founded in 1949, William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty manages a $5.9 billion portfolio with more than 1,100 sales associates in 27 brokerages spanning Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York. William Pitt - Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty is one of the largest Sotheby's International Realty(R) affiliates globally and the 37th-largest real estate company by sales volume in the United States. For more information, visit the website at williampitt.com. Sotheby's International Realty's worldwide network includes 1,000 offices throughout 75 countries and territories on six continents. Conceptual rendering of new Wisconsin History Museum, provided by the Wisconsin Historical Foundation "The new history museum will highlight stories that connect individuals and communities to our region, the nation and the world, said Christian Overland, Ruth and Hartley Barker director & CEO of the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) is excited to announce a new history museum of state and national history will open in 2026. This comes after the WHS recently announced the final siting for the new Wisconsin history museum which keeps the building on the Capitol Square adjacent to the State Capitol building in Madison. Through the leadership and vision of Fred and Mary Mohs and the Mohs family, the Wisconsin Historical Foundation will acquire the 20-22 North Carroll Street properties adjacent to the current Wisconsin Historical Museum on the Capitol Square for the development of the new museum. The new history museum will highlight stories that connect individuals and communities to our region, the nation and the world, said Christian Overland, Ruth and Hartley Barker director & CEO of the Wisconsin Historical Society. We are ecstatic to be able to keep our commitment to our residents and we are grateful for the support and enthusiasm from the State, donors, and communities throughout Wisconsin and the nation to open a new museum in 2026. New commitments from Madison, Wisconsin philanthropists Jerry Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland, founder of American Girl, bring their combined gifts to $16.6 million and total private funds raised for the Campaign for a New Wisconsin History Museum to $34.9 million. This exceeds the required match of $30 million to release the State's $70 million enumeration for design, construction, and site acquisition. Thanks to the generosity of Pleasant and Jerry, we are once again indebted to them for their incredible support of Wisconsins history museum project, said Julie Lussier, Wisconsin Historical Foundation executive director. Through exhibitions and programs curated for guests of all ages, the museum will share wide ranging perspectives from the past and present, and bring historical context to an expansive and ever-growing American history collection of national significance. It will house permanent and temporary galleries which will allow WHS to present stories for local, regional and national audiences. Visitors will enter spaces that engage every sense through rotating art, objects and images, soundscapes from state and national musicians, and regional food and beverage tastings. It will be a regional learning hub, emerging as a leading history experience in the Midwest. With plans to welcome over 200,000 guests annually, the new $100 million, 100,000 square-foot Wisconsin history museum will more than double exhibition space, include state-of-the-art technology that will provide greater access to the Societys collection and give them unparalleled access to history. The new museum will be the heart of a network to reach and connect people across the state through distance learning technology and exciting, modern exhibitions. By expanding our current space, we will be able to build a new history museum that will exhibit and connect our stories with all 72 counties in Wisconsin and allow the Society to provide greater access to our treasured Wisconsin and American history collections, continued Overland. The larger future museum will serve more than double the number of students and families who currently visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum. The Wisconsin Historical Society will immediately start the search for both exhibit and architectural design firms. For more information visit https://wisconsinhistory.org/newmuseum. About Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit http://www.wisconsinhistory.org. About the Wisconsin Historical Foundation The Wisconsin Historical Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, receives grants and private contributions benefitting the Society and administers the membership program. Visit wisconsinhistory.org for more information. World Amenities Owner and Managing Director Paul Hodge recognized as a winner in the 22nd Annual SD METRO 40 Under 40 Awards. The awards program recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their leadership and accomplishments. San Diego is a vibrant community. The talent, drive, and ambition of this years honorees are outstanding, said Paul Hodge Past News Releases RSS World Amenities Makes Inc. 5000... World Amenities Moves Manufacturing... Paul Hodge, owner and managing director of World Amenities, Inc., was named one of SD METRO's award-winning business professionals in its 22nd Annual 40 Under 40 Class of 2021. World Amenities is a trusted global supplier of signature skincare brands and custom amenities. In its 22nd year, the 40 Under 40 awards program acknowledges the contributions of San Diego's young business leaders. According to SD METRO, These young men and women shape the region's destiny and help drive the local economy. In Hodge's case, with World Amenities' reach, his leadership contributes to the worldwide economy. Honorees are selected based on their personal and business achievements and community involvement. In addition to the 40 Under 40, Hodge was recently honored as a finalist in the San Diego Business Journals 40 NEXT Top Business Leaders Under Forty 2021; and World Amenities ranked on the 2021 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in America list Founded in 2015 and incorporated in 2018, World Amenities is on track to continue to experience 150% YOY-managed growth. With the onset of the pandemic, Hodge pivoted World Amenities into FDA-approved PPE products. While dealing with COVID himself, he continued to move the company forward, launching the following products: Refreshing Towelette, beCLEAN, and a full range of plastic-free necessity items, including non-plastic slippers, straw plastic, cornstarch-based, and bamboo-based amenities. I believe Paul is an outstanding young business executive and corporate citizen. He is a visionary and hands-on leaderwell deserving of the 40 Under 40 honor, said nominator Sage Executive Group CEO Jerry Rollins. As a member of Sage, he shares his professional enthusiasm and experience with his peers. Its a distinct privilege and honor to be recognized by the SD METRO as an under 40 award-winner, said owner Paul Hodge. The awards program recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their leadership and accomplishments. San Diego is a vibrant community. The talent, drive, and ambition of this years honorees are outstanding. To learn more about World Amenities, Inc., visit its website at https://www.worldamenities.com. About World Amenities, Inc. Founded in 2015, World Amenities is a trusted leading global supplier of quality luxe skincare-based brands and custom amenities, necessities, and accessories. The company brings a wealth of 20 years of experience in the innovation, production, and distribution of advanced skincare and cosmetic brands to more than 70 global markets in 40,000 plus hotels, salons, spas, medical and educational sites. World Amenities is an influencer on the hospitality industrys standards and expectations. It uniquely designs, formulates, customizes, and manufactures each personal care guest room amenity, with artisanal skills and cosmetic-quality ingredients. In addition, World Amenities products are environmentally friendly, recyclable, and biodegradable. For more information, go to http://www.worldamenities.com. There was a brief, shining moment in early summer when the decisions around Covid and my family felt manageable. My husband and I were vaccinated and had returned to some of our favorite indoor activities, like stand-up comedy shows and the gym. Our kids were at a mostly outdoor day camp with procedures we trusted, and the local case rate was low. But as July bled into August, and the threat of the Delta variant increased and news about breakthrough infections emerged, my understanding of the risk of a given activity for any of us but especially my 8- and 5-year-olds, who are too young to be vaccinated went completely haywire. A mundane question we faced was: Should we let our kid go to a play date with a new friend? Well, let me just check the case rate in this ZIP code and multiply it by the number of pediatric hospitalizations, then subtract the loss of joy and normal socialization my child will undergo by missing out on yet another typical childhood experience. As Paul Slovic, the president of Decision Research, a nonprofit institute that studies decision-making, and a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, explained: Assessing new information is difficult mental work, and the brain is lazy. It is particularly hard for people to assess risk and act with compassion when we are bombarded with numbers, or as Dr. Slovic put it: Our feelings dont do arithmetic very well. Read the whole story: The New York Times WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Purdue University Global has renewed its partnership with UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids to offer broad-based educational opportunities with tuition reduction. Purdue University Global School of Nursing is thrilled to renew our partnership with UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids and excited to support its mission around continuing education and the pursuit of academic achievement, said Melissa Burdi, Purdue Global vice president and dean of the School of Nursing. The Purdue Global School of Nursing offers an associate degree program, RN-BSN, six Master of Science in Nursing specialties and Doctor of Nursing programs. Additional Purdue Global offerings include business, criminal justice, human services and psychology, among others. The partnership does not include Concord Law School or aviation programs. UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids staff and immediate family members (spouse, domestic partner, children, siblings and parents) will continue to be afforded 20% tuition reduction for undergraduate programs, 14% reduction for graduate programs and 10% reduction for doctoral programs. UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids is pleased to partner with Purdue University Global in an effort to not only provide greater means and flexibility for our team members and their families in pursuing their educational career goals, but also to support filling the increasing workforce demands over a broad range of professions and disciplines, said Carmen Kleinsmith, senior vice president and chief nurse executive. The flexibility that Purdue Global offers its students has great appeal to our teams at UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids as they pursue educational options that best meet their work-life demands. Purdue Global has similar partnerships with Columbus (Nebraska) Community Hospital, Continuum Pediatric Nursing Services and York (Nebraska) General. About Purdue University Global Purdue University Global delivers personalized online education tailored to the unique needs of adults who have work or life experience beyond the classroom, enabling them to develop essential academic and professional skills with the support and flexibility they need to achieve their career goals. It offers personalized paths for students to earn an associate, bachelors, masters or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, desired pace, military service, previous college credits and other considerations no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It is affiliated with Purdue Universitys flagship institution, a highly ranked public research university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue University also operates regional campuses in Fort Wayne and Northwest Indiana, as well as serving science, engineering and technology students at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus. For more information, visit purdueglobal.edu. About UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids is a senior member of one of the nations most integrated health systems in the Midwest, UnityPoint Health. UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids consists of St. Lukes Hospital, which has been nationally recognized eight times as a 100 Top Hospital, has formed partnerships with more than 194 health care providers, 33 physician clinics and 4,000 associates. UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids is committed to providing programs and services to improve the health of individuals throughout Cedar Rapids and surrounding communities and works toward innovative advancements to deliver the Best Outcome for Every Patient Every Time. Its centers of excellence include cardiac care, robotic surgery, obstetrics, neonatology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, behavioral health, surgery, and trauma care. Media Contact, Purdue Global: Tom Schott, 765-427-1721, tschott@purdue.edu Media Contact, UnityPoint Health Cedar Rapids: Sarah Corizzo, 319-369-8372, Sarah.Corizzo@unitypoint.org Sources: Melissa Burdi Carmen Kleinsmith There are surely more ridiculous policy notions (about money in particular), but the one from President Biden about his $3.5 trillion economic plan being paid for is right up there. Nothing is paid for when it comes to government spending. Its all cost. To see why, please ask yourself why Congress can spend trillions every year, but the political class in Honduras consumes $5 billion or so. The answer to this riddle isnt challenging, but economists and politicians are plainly in the dark. Hondurass spending is a microscopic fraction of Congresss precisely because Congress has arrogated to itself a portion of the production of the worlds most productive people. That would be the American people. No offense to the Honduran people, but theyre not as productive as their northern neighbors. Government spending in Honduras is indicative of this truth. The above truth is inconvenient, or should be for U.S. politicians. Its a reminder that their consumption of precious wealth doesnt instigate economic growth; rather its a consequence of it. Its loud evidence of the ferocious stupidity of a number routinely cited by politicians and economists: GDP. GDP would go down a lot if government spending were slashed, which just goes to show how bankrupt the calculation is. Growth happens, or is expected to happen, and politicians spend its fruits. Theres no new growth to speak of from this political consumption. To say otherwise is to engage in double counting. So, the Biden administration claims the trillions he would like spent are paid for. No, theyre not. The trillions spent are a cost. Theyre an economic somnolent. Instead of trillions of precious wealth being directed to its perceived highest use in the marketplace, it will instead be allocated by people like Marco Rubio and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Are Rubio and AOC as skillful at investing as Warren Buffett and Peter Thiel? Please dont answer. It would be a waste of words. The simple truth is that government spending is a burdensome tax. And its felt right away as businesses and entrepreneurs get by with less so that politicians can spend more. And no, theres no short-term sugar high as even some on the Austrian School right presume. The burden of government consumption is immediate, and it saps growth immediately. To believe otherwise is to believe that unspent private wealth sits in coffee cans. Dont worry, it gets sillier. And it mocks both sides. But for now, this write-up will stick with Biden. Part of why Biden and his people believe their spending visions are paid for is because they plan tax increases on the average and well-to-do that will allegedly pay for their waste. Its a nice try, but people are the drivers of all economic growth. Government merely consumes the fruits of their production. Applied to Biden, tax increases that will penalize work and investment are billed as the revenue generators to pay for waste. No, economic growth pays for waste. Tax increases are a barrier to economic growth. To be clear, this doesnt mean the economy wont grow despite tax increases, but it does mean that the Biden administration will pay for its waste with funds extracted from an economic pie that would otherwise be larger. None of whats in the above paragraph should be construed as a call for tax cuts meant to maximize federal revenues. Instead, its a call for levels of taxation so low, so local (cities and states), or both that revenues into Treasury drop. If economic growth pays for government waste, and it does, the goal should be to limit taxation of the growth as much as possible. Which brings us to the other side of the debate. The alleged pro-growth, limited government side of the economic discussion. These are the deficit hawks. They wrap their calls for limited government inside their rants about deficits. Somewhat like Biden, they too want all government spending paid for. No borrowing. The thinking here is similarly dense. To see why, understand that whats paid for now without borrowing almost as a rule takes on a life of its own. Medicaid began as a $3 billion program, but it will pass $1 trillion annually in a few years. Translated for those who need it, whats paid for now generally doesnt account for costs down the line. Government grows. Always. Its a long or short way of saying that ALL government spending is deficit spending. Government has no resources. Its only resource is yet again access to the fruits of actual economic growth. In that case, to focus on how government gets the money it wastes (whether all taxed, or part taxed and part borrowed) is to wholly miss the point. The tax is government spending, not the way the funds are accessed. Whats paid for with a budget in balance or with borrowed money is a distinction without a difference. Programs hatched by government invariably grow and grow, only for the tax that is government spending to grow. Please keep all of this in mind as President Biden says his spending proposals are paid for. No, thats not serious. At the same time, its similarly not serious for limited government types to pretend that government spending is less problematic solely because the money isnt borrowed. Last year, I was asked by Hillsdale College to participate in their online symposium Race in America: History and Controversies. I prepared a talk about the black family that gave me the opportunity to outline the complex relationship between what goes on in black families and the larger social fabric in which those families are embedded. My ideas about these matters go all the way back to the economic theories I outlined in my doctoral dissertation at MIT, particularly the notion of social capital. The White House is once again at odds with the senior senator from West Virginia. Joe Manchin has made clear for months that the administrations sprawling $3.5 trillion social spending package is too large, and just as progressives seemed to agree that the top-line number could be whittled down somewhat, the moderate Democrat drew another line in the sand, this one underscoring the Hyde Amendment. The amendment represents a decades-long agreement by both parties that prohibits federal dollars from funding abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. Manchin wants it included in the spending bill. The White House does not. Thus has emerged another obstacle to passing the presidents legislative agenda. When asked Monday about federal funding for abortion, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the president opposes the Hyde Amendment. That has not changed. Manchin was just as adamant last week in an interview with National Review. As hopes for the bipartisan physical infrastructure bills passage crumbled, he insisted on the steps of the Capitol that we are not taking the Hyde amendment off. Hyde is going to be part of the larger human infrastructure measure. Knowing that his party can't afford to lose a single vote, Manchin was insistent that Hyde be included in the reconciliation package, saying, Thats dead on arrival if thats gone. The senator took that hard line on Wednesday. By Sunday, progressives were countering on the weekend shows with their own ultimatums. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, asked by CNNs Dana Bash if she would support a bill that included the abortion-funding prohibition, replied that she would not. Let's just wait. This is a negotiation and we've got to continue to move this forward, but the Hyde Amendment is something that the majority of the country does not support," added Jayapal, whose caucus had flexed its muscles to stifle a vote last week on the bipartisan package when there wasnt an agreement on the costlier bill. Democrats recognize the danger posed by the divide. This includes the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, who told CNN before Jayapal came on air that he has supported legislation with and without the amendment previously. He will support including it again in the spending package, Durbin indicated, because I don't want to let the package break down over that issue. Republicans are more than happy to let Democrats to fight among themselves over the issue. Conservatives uniformly oppose the reconciliation package and seem content to fan any flames in hopes of keeping the fire going. Heritage Action, for instance, stirred the pot by noting that Biden has, in fact and recently, changed his position. Biden is a flip-flopping politician who supported Hyde for decades before pandering to progressives in 2019 by coming out in support of taxpayer funding for abortion, the group said in a tweet that linked to an article detailing how Biden went from backing the amendment to opposing it ahead of the 2020 presidential primary. Manchin, meanwhile, has enjoyed the support of the pro-life lobby throughout negotiations. The Susan B. Anthony List has launched a months-long, six-figure ad campaign on West Virginia airwaves encouraging voters there to thank Manchin for not forcing us to pay for abortions. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of that anti-abortion group, told RealClearPolitics that there has long been consensus among the American people regardless of party that taxpayers should never be forced to pay for abortions. We thank Senator Manchin for standing up for this consensus and for the pro-life values of his West Virginia constituents. This is not the first time Manchin has bucked his party on the issue. During the 2019 State of the Union address, he was the only Democrat to join Republicans in a standing ovation for then-President Trump when he called for a 20-week abortion ban, a moment that earned him an icy rebuke from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was seated in the row behind him. Photographers captured that moment, and while Trumps proposed ban never materialized, Manchins position has not changed. Unless the senator or Democrats give in, the disagreement over federal funding of abortion could end up tanking a centerpiece of Bidens domestic agenda. Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal has been all over TV trying to look reasonable with her ingratiating smile and syrupy references to the left's interest in "negotiations." At issue is the Democrats' final number on its social spending bill. Sen. Bernie Sanders was playing the sleazy salesman, inflating his original price to offer a discount. This took the form of noting that his $3.5 trillion figure was a markdown from the $6 trillion he previously wanted. New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, meanwhile, says he has a problem with people applying the term "moderate" to Democrats not on board with the left's social spending goals. He apparently thinks that progressives threatening to torpedo the wildly popular infrastructure bill if their demands aren't met should henceforth be called "the moderates." What is it about the left that constantly wants to police language? It would seem part of an unconvincing charm offensive in a party whose majority increasingly resents the left's serial extortion demands -- often delivered in words that hurt the very Democrats who have given them the ability to influence anything. That ability shrunk in the 2020 election, as an electorate that preferred President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes also punished several House Democrats who held hard-won seats in purple districts. Much of the blame goes to the far left's incontinent radical talk about "defunding the police." Jayapal, for one, said she would "redirect law enforcement funding to other community programs." Translation: Take money from police. This was propitiously timed during a spike in crime rates. Public safety had become a concern among Americans of all races, but the left-wing gentry had posturing to do. All this created a politically stupid diversion from calls to reform law enforcement practices, a response to serious incidents of abusive policing. Democrat Max Rose from Staten Island had voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, as did other swing-district Democrats, such as Abby Finkenauer of northeast Iowa and Anthony Brindisi from upstate New York. Rose, Finkenauer and Brindisi all lost in November. (Finkenauer is now running in Iowa for the Senate.) A few months before the 2020 presidential election, while the Democratic primaries were still going on, "60 Minutes" did a feature in which Sanders renewed past praise of Fidel Castro for his literacy program and for expanding health care. The former Cuban dictator also tortured and murdered dissidents, it was pointed out. Pressed on the matter, Sanders said he didn't approve of the torture part, but that wasn't enough to save Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. She lost her Miami-area district, home to many Cuban Americans. The left can complain all it wants about West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and his insistence that the price for the social spending come down. But he and (the incomprehensible) Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema have so much power, as Biden has noted, because the Senate is evenly divided. Democrats might have held more Senate seats were it not for the left's habit of scaring moderate voters. Manchin did offer to accept $1.5 trillion in increased social spending. That is not a small sum, and perhaps he'd go higher. The left indicates it may go lower, but it's already weakened the Democrats' reputation as the party that can govern. It doesn't understand -- or care -- that the future of the country is also at stake as leaders of the opposite party work to destabilize democratic institutions. The left is a minority within the Democratic Party. Its champions lost recent primaries in New York, Virginia, Louisiana and Ohio. The radical fringe seems larger than it is because it gets media attention, especially when it flames other Democrats. Only Democratic voters can exact a price for sabotaging the team. COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 10/05/2021 ADVERTISEMENT [ Spoiler Warning: This report contains spoilers revealing 7 finale details and if Joe and Serena are together now and maybe even engaged.] ADVERTISEMENT Joe and Serena stay together on Abigail Heringer seemed to give away that Serena and Joe are still together ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. couple Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt seem to be Season 7's strongest couple, so do Joe and Serena go all the way to the Final Rose Ceremony and get engaged on the finale? And what do spoilers reveal about the couple's relationship now -- are they still together?Serena, who famously broke up Matt James on The Bachelor's 25th season after her hometown date, said on it's rare for her to want to be around someone all the time.But Serena came to find out that she loved being around the former grocery-store owner from Chicago, IL, all the time.Serena and Joe's relationship was a little awkward and "uncomfortable" once Joe's ex-girlfriend of nearly two years, Kendall Long , arrived in Mexico to seek closure with Joe and start a new romance.But Serena and Joe stayed strong through it all, and Serena said she was willing to risk getting her heartbroken if it meant possibly ending up with Joe.Kendall, clearly trying to move on from her January 2020 breakup from Joe, attempted to focus her attention on The Bachelorette 16 suitor Ivan Hall , but she couldn't help lasering in on her past and watching Joe's new romance blossom on the beach.Kendall seemed wrapped up in what she had lost, especially since Joe and Kendall only appeared to split because they couldn't agree on a city in which to live long-term. Kendall could never see herself moving away from her family in Los Angeles, but Joe wanted to return to Chicago, where his own family and friends reside.Kendall -- who initially appeared on Arie Luyendyk Jr. 's season of The Bachelor -- felt extremely vulnerable and bothered in Paradise.And one night, Joe surprised Serena with a blanket on the beach covered in lit candles and rose petals. Joe felt like their relationship was "real and comfortable," and he considered Serena to be his girlfriend by that point.After some playful and flirtatious banter on the blanket, Serena shared with Joe, "I'm falling in love with you.""I think I'm falling in love with you," Joe replied."Really?! No way?! Oh my God!" Serena yelled.Serena was "giddy" about her romance with Joe, but Kendall was starting to fall apart.As Joe and Serena kissed in each other's arms and danced on the beach while embracing, Kendall felt upset and "stressed out."It hurt Kendall too much, apparently, to watch Joe fall in love with someone else on the same beach where they had fallen in love before on 's fifth season."I just feel really detached from everyone... I just don't know how much longer I can do this, for Joe to be thriving and him seeing that I'm not. I'm just painfully vulnerable and I never used to be," Kendall lamented.When Kendall sat down with Joe to discuss her lingering feelings, he confessed that he truly thought it was "over" between them.Joe said his relationship with Kendall was "real" and it "worked," but he told the cameras, "If she really wanted me back, she should have told me before I got here and before I started this. Because I really, really loved her."Joe said he was seriously invested in Serena and what they were building, and so he chose to let Kendall go."This is just, like, devastating. It really is. Joe is my person, like, I need a second," Kendall said in her final words, bawling her eyes out."I was in a real relationship with Joe and I came back where it all started, and what that did to me, I just feel absolutely broken. This is the hardest thing I've ever been through and it just keeps going. I've never experienced anything like this."Once Kendall left, Joe and Serena no longer had anything or anyone holding them back.Joe announced to the whole group before a Rose Ceremony, "My first time on Paradise meant a lot to me, and I'm realizing this time might mean a little more."Serena and Joe proceeded to enjoy "Paradise Prom" together and danced the night away, and the cast voted them as "King and Queen" of the event. It seemed everyone viewed them as being the strongest couple on the show.So what happens between Joe and Serena on the upcoming finale?Do Serena and Joe break up or stay together -- and did they get engaged?Joe and Serena decided to take their relationship to the next level in Mexico by entering a Fantasy Suite and enjoying an overnight date together.The couple then made it to the Final Rose Ceremony -- along with two other couples -- and Carbone reported earlier this summer that Joe popped the question and the couple got engaged!Joe and Serena will therefore be shown making a commitment to each other on 's seventh-season finale next week.Carbone said eyewitnesses had spotted Joe and Serena together in Chicago at a rooftop pool in early July."These people are gonna find a way to see each other and not hide it. They do it every season," Carbone wrote in a July 6 blog post.Abigail later seemingly low-key spoiled Serena and Joe's relationship status in August, Cosmopolitan reported.Serena posted a photo of herself poolside in a black-and-white bikini on Instagram and captioned it, "Feeling beachy tonight, I wonder why."Abigail commented, "I'm stealing you away from @joeamabile1."Viewers immediately noticed the potential spoiler, so it seems Joe and Serena are still engaged.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group William Peterson said upon his return to the CSI franchise in CSI: Vegas, premiering Wednesday, that he's become more like the character he portrays. ADVERTISEMENT Petersen originated the role of Gil Grissom in 2000 in the original CSI, which he left in 2008. "I've become more like Grissom, in that I appreciate the things that he appreciates," Petersen said during a recent Television Critics Association Zoom panel. "Grissom's a little like me, in that I'd like to be off on a boat somewhere, which is where Grissom ended up for a long time until this point." On CSI, Grissom and his team of crime scene investigators solved a different mystery in Las Vegas each week. The flagship series spun off CSI: Miami, CSI: New York and CSI: Cyber. Laurence Fishburne and Ted Danson stepped in as new characters before CSI ended in 2015. CSI: Vegas picks up with Grissom and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox) leading a new team. "The idea of being able to come back into the land of science, I thought, was really a great opportunity," Peterson said. "It's different because it's 20 years later, and it's different because it's all new people, too." Petersen said that employing forensics on CSI made him appreciate science. "I learned so much just through the process of dealing daily with tech advisers and the real scientists that we get to interact with," he said. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Petersen, 68, began acting in movies with a role as a bartender in Michael Mann 's 1981 film Thief. After William Friedkin 's 1985 police thriller To Live and Die in L.A., Petersen played a lot of cops. Petersen played Will Graham, the first detective to team up with Hannibal Lecter in Mann's 1986 adaptation, Manhunter. He played Wild West lawman Pat Garrett in Young Guns II, as well. Petersen said the original appeal of CSI was to highlight science and intelligence. "I didn't want to carry a gun at all," Petersen said. "The idea of being able to work with just the mind, as an actor, was a challenge and a great opportunity to grow as a performer." Fox was on CSI for eight seasons, then guest-starred on the show, and returned as a regular for the final five seasons. Since 2015, Fox has only appeared in two movies -- 3022 and The Map of Tiny Perfect Things -- and a 2018 pilot for Chiefs that did not become a series. Fox, 53, said she had to relearn CSI science, noting that being away from sets for years dulled her instincts. "I was a little rusty, for sure, on all things science," Fox said. "Even with this pandemic, just being on a set and hitting my mark, I was a little rusty at really simple actor stuff." Sidle and Grissom were married in the show's universe. They divorced and reunited in the series finale. CSI: Vegas confirms they remarried. "It was great to sort of be grounded with William Petersen and come back as Sara Grissom," Fox said. New cast members include Paula Newsome as Maxine Roby, the head of a new crime lab. Roby has the job because Sidle turned down a promotion to focus on her marriage. Newsome said she has enjoyed learning from technical adviser Daniel Holstein. "The science is like Disneyland," Newsome said. Roby's team includes Joshua Folsom (Matt Lauria), Allie Rajan (Mandeep Dhillon) and Hugo Ramirez (Mel Rodriguez). Lauria said the actors had lessons in crime lab protocols during breaks from shooting. "We'd go into our trailer at lunchtime and have a fingerprint-capturing lesson or learn how some of the different gizmos worked," he said. "This has sort of been a learn-on-the-job type of thing." CSI: Vegas airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on CBS. Comedian and voice-over actor Alan Kalter, who is best known for his many years as the Late Show with David Letterman announcer, has died at the age of 78. ADVERTISEMENT Kalter was part of the Late Show from 1995 until 2015 when Letterman left the program and Stephen Colbert took it over. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth El in Stamford, Conn., told Variety Monday that Kalter died at Stamford Hospital, with his wife, Peggy, and his daughters, Lauren Hass and Diana Binger, at his side. Peggy also confirmed her husband's death to The Hollywood Reporter. No cause was disclosed. "When our announcer of 15 years Bill Wendell retired, producer Robert Morton came to my office with an audio tape containing auditions for several announcers," Letterman said in a statement. "Alan's was the first and only voice we listened to. We knew he would be our choice," Letterman added. "Whatever else, we always had the best announcer in television. Wonderful voice and eagerness to play a goofy character of himself. Did I mention he could sing? Yes, he could. He enthusiastically did it all. A very sad day, but many great memories." Kalter's voice was heard in hundreds of national radio and television commercials and he also served as the announcer for game shows like To Tell the Truth, The $25,000 Pyramid, The Money Maze and The $100,000 Question. Actors and Go Campaign global ambassadors Robert Pattinson, Lily Collins and Ewan McGregor will co-host the organization's 15th anniversary gala this month. ADVERTISEMENT Go Campaign, a non-profit that raises awareness and funds for vulnerable children around the world, announced Tuesday that Pattinson, Collins and McGregor will host Go Gala on Oct. 23. The virtual event will support Go Campaign's efforts for COVID-19 relief across the globe and racial justice for young Americans. The funds will also support at-risk children in Africa and Latin America, as well as girls in Afghanistan. "Go Campaign has a proven track record of making real, meaningful change in communities around the world," Pattinson said in a statement. "The funds raised at the Go Gala bring opportunities and resources to some of the most vulnerable children that may otherwise be left behind. Every dollar donated to Go Campaign is a dollar invested wisely in the future generation." Go Campaign has provided PPE, oximeters, food, daily health checks and access to vaccinations to children and families throughout the pandemic, including 1.7 million meals and more than 46,000 masks. "As part of the Go Campaign family, I've watched the organization grow and expand since the very beginning," McGregor said. "I've seen first-hand the lives that have been radically changed because of Go... it's truly amazing." The Go Gala will stream for free. Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. As the weather cools and leaves begin to fall in Athens between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, local Hispanic and Latinx people take time to celebrate their histories, cultures and contributions to the society of the United States. Children from Hinsdale, N.H., Elementary School put on a dance performance on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, after the New Hampshire Dance Institute held a two-week dance school for the students. The goal is to bring a dance program to children who might not be able to get a chance to participate in Jason Antos, an Advanced EMT for Rescue Inc., puts a COVID-19 testing swab up the nasal passage of Anya Wolfe, of Wardsboro, Vt., during a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic at the Brattleboro Union High Schools parking lot, in Brattleboro, Vt., on Thursday, May 14, 2020. Former Windham Northeast Supervisory Union superintendent Christopher Pratt, seen here in a photo from 2011, has started a new job for the Greenfield, Mass., school district. Heather Norris, a middle school English teacher at Leland & Gray Union Middle and High School, in Townshend, Vt., hands sanitizer wipes to Madyson Lake and other students during the first day of having in-person classes for the year on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. The school was closed to students as work was done to update the air filters to be able to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. STAMFORD Point72 Ventures, the venture capital firm founded by billionaire hedge fund investor Steven Cohen, has announced it is leading a $35 million Series C funding round in financial-technology firm Zero Hash. Zero Hash has developed a unique platform to help fintechs and financial institutions seamlessly embed crypto(currency) products and experiences into their applications in a flexible and compliant way, Point72 Ventures partner Adam Carson said in a statement. We believe embedded finance solutions, like Zero Hashs crypto API platform, will help play an important role in enabling broader adoption of digital assets by allowing consumers to access crypto through the fintech apps and financial services brands they already use and trust. The new funding which also includes contributions from a number of other investors will help Chicago-based Zero Hash to keep expanding its product offerings, which extend to the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) markets, according to company officials. Those funds will also help the firm grow its team across compliance, marketing, product and engineering divisions. The company has nearly doubled its number of employees since the beginning of 2021 and recently reached profitability. In addition, the company said it plans on expanding its global licensing framework and making acquisitions. Zero Hash said that it powers some of the largest neo-banks including MoneyLion and Wirex and broker-dealers including tastyworks and TradeStation. Zero Hash also said that it is working with some of the largest brands across the fintech and financial services ecosystem to deliver upcoming cryptocurrency offerings. Zero Hash is defining an entire new fintech vertical of digital-assets as a service, Edward Woodford, the companys founder and CEO, said in a statement. Zero Hash is a pure-play B2B embedded infrastructure platform that allows any platform to integrate digital assets natively into their own customer experience quickly and easily. Among other transactions in 2021, Point72 Ventures announced in February that it was leading a $90 million investment in Shield AI, a self-driving software company. In January, it disclosed it was leading a nearly $19 million investment in financial-technology firm Trade Ledger. Also in January, Ventures said that it was coleading a $7 million investment in Swapp, a construction-planning technology firm. Ventures was founded in May 2016, about two-and-a-half years after Greenwich resident Cohen founded the main investment firm that he runs today, Stamford-based hedge fund Point72. Ventures launch responded to the large volume of deals pitched to Cohen. In total, Ventures has invested in more than 70 companies. Ventures has offices at Point72s headquarters at 72 Cummings Point Road in Stamfords Waterside section, as well as others in New York City and Palo Alto, Calif. It operates separately from the hedge fund, but its insights are shared with the latter. pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott NEWTOWN A third parent of a slain Sandy Hook child has won a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy extremist and Infowars host Alex Jones in Texas. Neil Heslin will have his case heard by a jury to determine damages along with the Sandy Hook parents in two other cases Scarlett Lewis and Lenny Pozner who won their defamation suits against Jones last week . Bill Ogden, one of the attorneys who represents the Sandy Hook parents in their separate cases against Jones in Texas, said the default judgment in favor of Heslin brings him and the other parents a major step closer to bringing ... closure to this horrific experience. Alex Jones and Infowars no longer have the ability to make excuses or defend their actions, Ogden said on Tuesday. My clients can finally say What you did was wrong. You defamed me. You intentionally inflicted emotional distress on me, and for that, you will be held accountable. Olivier Douliery / TNS Heslin, Lewis and Pozner sued Jones for calling the 2012 fatal shooting of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook School staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax and completely fake with actors. Jones in court documents argued that he no longer believes the worst crime in Connecticut history was a hoax, and that he has a right under the First Amendment to be wrong. Heslin and the parents in the other two Texas defamation cases asked a Travis County District Court judge to find Jones in default for failing to turn over pretrial documents, known in the legal world as discovery. The judge agreed, ruling last week that Jones had shown flagrant bad faith and callous disregard for the responsibilities of discovery under the rules. In reaching this decision, this court has considered lesser remedies ... and determined they would be inadequate in light of the history of (Jones) conduct in this court, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble wrote in the latest default judgment in favor of Heslin. [A]n escalating series of judicial admonishments, monetary penalties, and non-dispositive sanctions have all been ineffective in deterring the abuse. The defamation cases in Texas are separate from two defamation lawsuits filed against Jones and Infowars 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. After the default judgments against him in Texas last week, Jones and his attorney Norm Pattis said in a statement, the First Amendment was crucified today. The next step in Texas is for a jury to award damages, Ogden said. We look forward to completing discovery on the damages that were caused by Alex Jones and Infowars five-year campaign of spreading harassing misinformation, Ogden said. rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342 SALEM, Ore. (AP) A 53-year-old man convicted of multiple murders and rape in the 90s has died in prison after 21 years there, officials said. The Oregon Department of Corrections said Monday that Sebastian Shaw died in Oregon State Penitentiary custody on Saturday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation is awarding $55,000 worth of critical grants this year. The nonprofit covers 20 towns in the northwest corner of the state, including Litchfield, Goshen, New Hartford and Torrington. Nicole Carlson Easley, the foundations vice president of communications and digital media, said theyre looking to distribute the grants to public charities and faith-based organizations in that area. Our community foundation has about 280 funds, which are philanthropic funds, Easley said. Some of these are established by living donors who created donor-advised funds. They are people who want to make a difference in their community. They have resources and want to make northwest Connecticut a better place to live. This round of grants, she said, come out of two funds: the Draper Foundation Fund and the Marion Wm. and Alice Edwards Fund. This funding, Easley explained, is intended to cover what they describe as critical grants. That is money that is specifically set aside for basic needs organizations who have year-end needs. They get the resources they need at the end of the year, Easley said. The critical needs grants go towards nonprofits that work in the space of immediate basic needs. Were talking about hunger, shelter, access to medications. These are things people need immediately. They are connected to the vulnerable population of northwest Connecticut. In previous years, critical grants have gone to a variety of places, including child care centers, food banks, social services and youth service bureaus. There might be a grant to stock the food pantry or buy grocery store gift cards, Easley said. It might support things needed for a homeless shelter. Its those types of things. Grant applications are due Oct. 22. They expect to distribute the grants in December. Its a special application, Easley said. Nonprofits that work in the area can apply for grants for this program. Outside of these special grants, Easley said the foundation does cycle grants three times a year that organizations can apply for as well. She also wants to let people know that anyone who wants to give can use the foundation to set up a planned giving process. We want our nonprofits to know were here, Easley said. The folks who make those possible are the philanthropic people who establish the funds. We couldnt do what we do without them. Im always happy when we have more visibility around planned giving. Easley said its those people who make these kinds of grants possible. Theres an amazing impact that local philanthropy has on northwest Connecticut, Easley said. Its these philanthropic folks who set up discretionary funds or who give through estate planning...they make so much possible within our communities. I always want to encourage and increase visibility around the fact that you can make a huge impact in your community by looking to give locally. PARIS (AP) French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he wants the Group of 20 major economic powers to set conditions for recognizing the Taliban, including ensuring womens and girls rights. So far under the Taliban, young Afghan girls have been allowed to return to primary school but older girls have been barred from going to high school and most women have not been allowed to return to work. TORRINGTON Ten years ago, New Opportunities President and CEO Dr. James H. Gatling wanted to fund his organization in a sustainable way, with less dependence on grants and donations, which were dropping off. His first brainstorm was to build a fish farm. That idea evolved into a hydroponic farm for herbs and greenhouse vegetables. Finding the right location took time, and brought the agency to Torrington where Gatling set his sights on a plot of land on Technology Park Drive. Gatling worked closely with state Rep. Michelle Cook, Torrington Mayor Elinor Carbone and other officials who used their knowledge to make his dream come true. He retired in 2020, but pledged to stay involved in the project until it was finished. New Opportunities, a nonprofit community action agency in Waterbury with offices throughout Connecticut including in Torrington, welcomed about 100 guests to the farm at 360 Technology Park Drive Tuesday morning to unveil the Patricia H. Mayfield Hydroponic Center. After its groundbreaking in 2020, the opening of the greenhouse represents the initial round of a multimillion-dollar program that will create new funding streams for New Opportunities and new jobs for northwest Connecticut residents. New Opportunities served more than 67,000 clients last year. The Technology Park Drive property has the capacity to accommodate more than 35 greenhouses and a distribution center, as markets expand. It didnt start out that way, however. The whole purpose of our idea was to generate revenue, Gatling said. Our funding was cut back, and we needed to keep funding our programs. When we started with a fish farm, we learned a lot; we found out wed make more money with plants, so thats what we did. We first tried to do it in an old factory building, but we realized it wasnt big enough, he said. Then we came to this spacious, beautiful place. I was so excited. Torrington helped us when everyone said we were crazy. They helped us develop a business plan so we could make this a reality. Mayor Carbone and the city gave us the red carpet treatment, he said. We got the best help here in this city. We also had an angel, Michelle Cook, who helped us get support from the Department of Economic Development. And this building is dedicated to Patricia Mayfield. After she passed, her family was here. ... They have been involved with New Opportunities since day one, her sisters, her mother. She meant so much to us. Mayfield, the agencys former board chairman, had a 35-year career with the state Department of Labor and was named labor commissioner by then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell in 2006. She died in 2010. New Opportunities Director Bill Rybczyk, who replaced Gatling when he retired, led tours of the greenhouse. Jenny Harris, CEO of American Hydroponics, also spoke to guests about what the greenhouse will do. Its going to create many jobs, she said. Were very pleased to be part of this program. Cook reminded the crowd that cities like Torrington are still facing food insecurity, and that places like New Opportunities farm will make a difference to them. During the pandemic, we handed out food week after week after week, she said, recalling Friendly Hands Food Banks weekly drive-through food distribution days, using programs that brought fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy to the homes of families in need. New Opportunities, she said, will be part of the ongoing effort to provide healthful food to families. We are still in a time of crisis and need, Cook said. Theres nothing better than being able to feed a community, and nothing sadder than people in need of food. To learn more about New Opportunities, visit www.newoppinc.org . RIDGEFIELD Lianie Ochoa has lived in military communities her entire life. So when she and her family moved to Ridgefield three years ago, she felt a certain void. Wanting to change that, Ochoa, 16, launched an initiative to paint the town yellow. The project involves displaying yellow ribbons in support of Connecticuts 600 National Guard members who are currently deployed overseas. The latest class the largest in years includes Ochoas father, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Ochoa. He was deployed to Africa in March 2021 and is slated to return home in January 2022. Ochoa was inspired to hang ribbons around Ridgefield after seeing them in nearby Carmel, N.Y. Resident Nicole Cautillo launched the same initiative in her community earlier this year in honor of her husband, U.S. Staff Sgt. Alfonso Cautillo. He is also a member of Connecticuts National Guard. A yellow ribbon symbolizes military members who are away its a sign to show support, Ochoa said. Its very important to remember our troops who are deployed because theyre sacrificing their lives for our everyday freedoms. Ochoa is using social media to find residents who may be interested in displaying a yellow ribbon on their property. She will hang them up around town with the help of her younger brother, Joshua. Although the ribbons are completely free, Ochoa is also accepting donations to benefit Project Sanctuary. The organization provides retreats to service members and their families to help them readjust to life after deployment. We went on a retreat with them after my father came home when I was 6 or 7, Ochoa said. They believe in the power of healing (to help soldiers readjust) to being back. Its not as easy as it sounds. So far, Ochoas initiative has been welcomed in Ridgefield with open arms, she said. Its amazing how much support Ive received. Cautillo said the ribbons will serve an even greater significance once the soldiers return home. When you start seeing those ribbons around your own community, you feel backed up, she said. We hope that it spreads like wildfire. Ochoa said her father is beyond proud to know his community has his back. Deployment, as hard as it can be, does a lot of good, she added. Residents can message Ochoa on Facebook to request a ribbon. alyssa.seidman@hearstmediact.com LA CENTER, Wash. (AP) A Republican state senator announced Monday that she will resign from the Legislature for a job in southwestern Washington. Sen. Ann Rivers of La Center said she will be community development director for the city of Longview and will begin the job this week, The Columbian reported. Rivers said she has not yet decided when her final day as a senator will be, but she expects it will come before January. I wasnt looking for a job this one found me, Rivers said in a news release. The more I was drawn to this opportunity, the more it seemed clear there would be a choice to make. Being a senator is officially a part-time position, but it becomes full-time every January when a new session begins. Two full-time jobs would be a lot to handle, even if only for a matter of months each year. Senate Republican Leader John Braun, of Centralia, said Rivers tireless work will be missed. I was very much looking forward to another year with Sen. Rivers as the chair of our caucus, because of the experience and the energy shes brought to that position. At the same time, this is a great opportunity for her to take on an important local leadership role in our region, Braun said. In a tweet Monday, Democratic Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said, Sen. Ann Rivers has been a powerful voice for Clark County in Olympia, and she will be greatly missed in the Senate. Rivers said serving the people of the 18th District has been among the great privileges of her life. Rivers was first elected in 2010, serving two terms in the House of Representatives before her appointment to the Senate in June 2012. She won a four-year Senate term in 2012 and was reelected in 2016 and 2020. She has also served on the Senate Republican Caucus senior leadership team during a majority of her time in the Senate. The Republican central committee from Clark County will nominate three candidates to replace Rivers, and the Clark County Council will choose who will serve until the November 2022 election. The candidate who wins during that election will serve the remainder of Rivers term. COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) Missouri lawmakers on Tuesday grilled state officials over a federal investigation that found nearly 1,000 foster children went missing in 2019, and at least one was sex-trafficked. Federal authorities helped Missouri search for the missing 978 children in 2019. During the search, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general agents raised red flags about how the state handles missing foster kids, prompting the review. The inspector general report found that one of 59 missing children examined as part of the review was sex-trafficked in at least four states while out of state custody. Its just disturbing, Republican state Rep. Dottie Bailey, of Eureka, said of the report. I don't know where we go from here. According to the report, Missouri's Social Services Department did not do enough to identify foster children at risk of leaving their foster homes, nor did it take steps to prevent kids from running away, find missing children or check on the children after they were found. Acting Social Services Director Jennifer Tidball told the House Children and Families Committee on Tuesday that there have been varying policies over the years dictating how thoroughly social workers should document their actions. So state workers might have done more to help missing children, she said, but their actions just weren't recorded. She added that the agency doesn't have nuanced reporting on missing children, meaning it's unclear how many of the 978 missing kids from 2019 were staying with friends or family in an unapproved placement, kidnapped by a parent or actually ran away. Missouri Child Advocate Office Director Kelly Schultz said shes not surprised by the federal findings. Schultz's office is responsible for reviewing complaints over how the state handles cases of child abuse and neglect. She said that more than 15 years ago, one of her foster children ran away on the same night she came to stay with her. Shultz said the state ultimately dropped its jurisdiction over the childs case because she was a chronic runner. Fast forward two short years later, she was picked up and charged with prostitution alongside the very person who foster care (was) protecting her from, Schultz said. We treated her as a criminal when she was a victim. Many children leave their foster homes to visit relatives, friends or boyfriends or girlfriends, according to the inspector general report. Missouri policy requires the state to set up a visitation plan so foster children can safely maintain important relationships. This also helps reduce their risk of running away from foster homes. The Inspector General's Office found that many of the missing foster children from 2019 didn't have documented visitation plans. Tidball said the agency recently implemented a statewide program to help older foster children find jobs and transition to independence, which she said could help prevent them from running away. She also said the agency is trying to crack down on paperwork and documentation, better track the status of missing children and conduct a review to determine how to rearrange and beef up staffing to more effectively help foster children. Star Trek fame star William Shatner is all set to join the crew of Blue Origins next space flight on October 12. The actor, who is 90, will become the oldest person to travel space. Amazon founder and multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos's aerospace company Blue Origin confirmed the same on Monday, leaving the actors fans amazed and excited to hear the news. Netizens stormed the social media with their quirky messages and reactions to the announcement while there were others who expressed their concerns about the safety of the veteran actor. Jeff Bezos space travel company, Blue Origin, announced on October 4 that William Shatner will blast off to space from West Texas on October 12. At the age of 90, Shatner will become the oldest person in space. Hell join three other crew members and two of them are paying customers. It will be the companys second launch with a crew. Shatner in a statement given to AP said, "Ive heard about space for a long time now. Im taking the opportunity to see it for myself. What a miracle." Netizens send hilarious requests to William Shatner as he announces his travel to the space Now with the news surfacing all across the social media platforms, the actors fans and followers could not remain calm as they sent in their unique requests to the actor before he jets off to space. One of the users suggested the actor click pictures and share them with his fans once he returns. Sir, its about time! Of all people WHO should be going into space, its you. Congrats! Make sure you take lots of pics and share them with your Twitter fans!! Another netizen issued a hilarious warning and wrote, just remember breaking wind out a window in space could launch your ship into warp. A third follower showed his curiosity towards the actors spec travel and wrote, @WilliamShatner on your journey to the undiscovered country of space tourism I guess you will be taking up Star Trek goodies to sign in space? Also, will you be beaming anyone up? Another user asked the procedure to go to space. So William Shatner is going to be launched into space. Is this something you can nominate people for? I have a list, she opined. Sir, its about time! Of all people WHO should be going into space, its you. Congrats!Make sure you take lots of pics and share it with your Twitter fans!! Patrice H. Davis (@Davis23Patrice) October 5, 2021 just remember breaking wind out a window in space could launch your ship into warp. nomad (@nohomenoplace) October 5, 2021 @WilliamShatner on your journey to the undiscovered country of space tourism I guess you will be taking up Star Trek goodies to sign in space? Also, will you be beaming anyone up? taz (@tazzzer646) October 5, 2021 So William Shatner is going to be launched into space. Is this something you can nominate people for? I have a list. Helen Frances Carr (@helenfcarr) October 5, 2021 At the age of 90, the actor, known for his role a Captain Kirk will be the oldest person to fly off into space. Shatner also took to his Twitter and expressed his excitement. Shatner will be joining crew members Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Earth observation company Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries vice-chairperson for life sciences and healthcare at French software company Dassault Systemes and co-founder of Medidata. IMAGE: AP South Korean drama Squid Game has taken the online streaming giant, Netflix by storm. The K-drama is receiving rave reviews and terrific responses on the streamer and has transcended cultures and language barriers to reach No. 1 in 90 countries in 10 days, from Qatar and Oman to Ecuador and Bolivia. The series originally premiered on September 17 on the OTT platform. While the series has received positive reviews, a Korean speaker has called out the series for 'botched' English subtitles that alter the nuances of certain characters. A Korean User criticises Squid Game's English subtitles A Twitter user named handle Youngmi Mayer has said that the English subtitles in several episodes of Squid Game do not accurately represent the actual Korean lines. She tweeted, "Not to sound snobby but Im fluent in Korean and I watched squid game with English subtitles, and if you dont understand Korean you didnt really watch the same show. Translation was so bad. The dialogue was written so well and zero of it was preserved[si]." i want to do a scene breakdown on tiktok to show you what they couldve translated to i might work on it today just so you can see what i mean and see what you missed. such a shame. translation is extremely important. youngmi mayer (@ymmayer) September 30, 2021 The user also dropped a video on TikTok and Twitter, pointing several errors and the right meaning behind the lines. Referring to one of the episodes on the K-drama, the user highlights the lines said by Han Mi- nyeo (played by Kim Joo-ryung), are 'very sterilised.' ok i made this really fast so its not very good but these are the small examples i could find in ten mins pic.twitter.com/5kIsrlWDjq youngmi mayer (@ymmayer) September 30, 2021 also i want to point out that the reason this happens is because translation work is not respected and also the sheer volume of content. translators are underpaid and overworked and its not their fault. its the fault of producers who dont appreciate the art youngmi mayer (@ymmayer) September 30, 2021 She pointed out, "She says what are you looking at, it's turned into go away which might seem arbitrary but everything she says is not really aligning and you're missing a lot of this character and what she stands for." The user referring to a scene where Mi-nyeo tries to convince people to play with her. She said that while the subtitle read, 'Oh, Im not a genius but I can work it out,' the actual translation is 'I am very smart, I just never got a chance to study.' She added, "Almost everything she says is being botched, translation-wise," and further noted that the concept of Gganbu was not translated properly, misrepresenting the purpose of the episode. The streamer is yet to respond to the claims. Earlier, Netflix has been accused of similar practices even in India. Earlier this year, numerous viewers pointed out the inaccurate subtitles in the Malayalam film titled Nayattu. (Image: Instagram/@squidgame) In a shocking development from Jammu and Kashmir, a Kashmiri pandit was shot dead outside his pharmacy in Srinagar, near Iqbal Park. Makhan Lal Bindroo, the owner of Bindroo medicate, was immediately shifted to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The entire area has been cordoned off and a search operation has been initiated to nab the terrorists. "Terrorists fired upon Owner of Bindroo Medicate namely Shri Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park Srinagar. He was shifted to hospital where he #succumbed to his injuries. Area cordoned off & search to nab the terrorists is going on," Kashmir police tweeted. #Terrorists fired upon Owner of Bindroo Medicate namely Shri Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park #Srinagar. He was shifted to hospital where he #succumbed to his injuries. Area cordoned off & search to nab the terrorists is going on. @JmuKmrPolice Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) October 5, 2021 The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack. Last week, the Special Operations Group of J&K Police had arrested an active terrorist of TRF. The terrorist was identified as Sheikh Sunain Yousuf alias Raja, a resident of the Shopian district. 'Outrageous and unacceptable' People's Conference (PC) chairperson Sajad Lone has condemned the attack and called it unacceptable. "The fatal attack against the owner of Bindroo medicates is outrageous and unacceptable. I knew the gentleman personally. He never left the valley. And terrorists made him pay for that. May he live in peace, (sic.)" he tweeted. The fatal attack against the owner of Bindroo medicates is outrageous and unacceptable. I knew the gentleman personally. He never left the valley. And terrorists made him pay for that. May he live in peace. Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) October 5, 2021 Former IAS officer Shah Faesal said that he is horrified to know about the targeted killing of ML Bindroo in Srinagar. "Totally shocking and unacceptable. Heartfelt sympathies with the family," he tweeted. India launched an unsparing attack against Pakistan for 'glorying terrorists as martyrs' at the First Committee General Debate of the 76th UN General Assembly session on Monday. Exercising its Right of Reply, Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, A Amarnath hit out at the nation's representatives for talking about peace at global forums, while indulging in cross-border terrorism against its neighbours back at home. In Right of Reply, A Amarnath said: "As the epicentre of global terrorism, Pakistan has repeatedly indulged in cross-border terrorism against its neighbours, with no regard for UN principles." He added, "Pakistan permanent representative talks about peace, security here, while their PM Imran Khan glorifies global terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as martyrs." Pakistan permanent representative talks about peace, security here, while his PM glorifies global terrorists like Osama Bin Laden as martyrs: India in its Right of Reply at the 1st committee (Disarmament and International Security issues) General Debate pic.twitter.com/Z2Pn6X16t3 ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2021 India asks Pakistan to end illegal occupation India also busted Pakistan's claims on Jammu and Kashmir at the UNGA session and demanded that the country vacate areas under its illegal occupation. Moreover, A Amarnath called out Islamabad's 'desperate attempts' to peddle falsehoods at multilateral forums, and said that such acts deserve collective contempt. "Pakistan has made a number of unsubstantiated allegations against India including in relation to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. These do not merit a response as they pertain to matters internal to India," he said. "Let me reiterate here that the entire territory of Jammu and Kashmir, was, is and always will be an integral and inalienable part of India. This includes the area that is under illegal occupation of Pakistan," he added. "We call upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all these areas under its illegal occupation," Amarnath said. The scathing remarks by the Indian representative came at UNGA's First Committee General Debate. The forum deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. It attempts to arrive at solutions to the challenges in the international security regime. (With Agency Inputs) Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti condemned the murder of Kashmiri Pandit Makhan Lal Bindroo on Tuesday who was shot dead by terrorists. Condoling the unfortunate event, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti wrote in a tweet that she condemned the terror attack on Bindroo, who played a significant role in Kashmir by choosing to stay in the territory, even during the peak of insurgency when most of the Kashmiri pandits left the valley in a mass exodus. She further expressed anguish on the terror incident and said that such violent crimes had no place in our society. Condemn the killing of Shri M L Bindroo who chose to stay back in Kashmir even during peak insurgency. Such acts of violence have no place in our society. May his family find the strength to deal with this loss. Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) October 5, 2021 The terror incident took place on Tuesday night when reportedly some terrorists had shot one of the most famous names in the valley. Bindroo was reportedly killed inside his business premises in Iqbal Park region. The initial reports suggest that he was shot at point-blank and died before reaching the hospital. The police have started the investigation in the matter and the Iqbal Park area has been cordoned off to nab the terrorists. "Terrorists fired upon Owner of Bindroo Medicate namely Shri Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park Srinagar. He was shifted to hospital where he #succumbed to his injuries. Area cordoned off & search to nab the terrorists is going on," Kashmir police tweeted. #Terrorists fired upon Owner of Bindroo Medicate namely Shri Makhan Lal Bindroo near Iqbal Park #Srinagar. He was shifted to hospital where he #succumbed to his injuries. Area cordoned off & search to nab the terrorists is going on. @JmuKmrPolice Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) October 5, 2021 Pak based terror group behind the attack, terrorist identified As of now, Republic Media Network has learnt that the Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack. Last week, the Special Operations Group of J&K Police had arrested an active terrorist of the slain terror organization TRF. As per sources, the terrorist behind the murder has been identified as Sheikh Sunain Yousuf alias Raja, a resident of the Shopian district. Image: Twitter/ PTI One of the most popular OTT platforms around the world, Netflix is adding new features for its Android users. The 'Play Something' feature is being tested since earlier this year and will now be available to Netflix users with the Android operating system. The feature will help users who do not have a particular preference or wish to watch something new, as it plays content based on a user's watching history. The new feature is how Netflix implements the popular shuffle feature available on other content streaming platforms. Previously, the Play Something feature was only available for Netflix users viewing content on the desktop. The feature was officially launched for Android devices on October 4, 2021. However, it is yet not available on iOS devices. According to a report by The Verge, Netflix will be testing the shuffle function on iOS in the coming months. Netflix 'Play Something' and 'Fast Laughs' features now available for Android users In addition to the Play Something feature on Netflix, the OTT platform is also launching another feature called 'Fast Laughs.' Previously, this feature was available on iOS devices. The Fast Laughs was launched on October 4, 2021, and will showcase funny clips from popular Netflix series and movies. It is very similar to Instagram reels and TikTok's short video format content. Netflix also announced that it would be bringing the 'Download for You' feature to iOS in the coming month. Previously, this feature was only available for Android users. The tool is optional and automatically downloads content based on users' watching preferences and saves it offline. The feature will benefit people who have limited access to the internet in public cafes or offices and wish to watch content while they are at their homes. Back in July 2021, former Electronic Arts and Facebook executive Mike Verdu was hired by Netflix as the Vice President of its Game Development division. According to a report by Bloomberg, Netflix is looking to enter into the video gaming industry by next year. Currently, Netflix runs on a subscription-based model wherein users are charged for streaming content across multiple devices. The report also adds that Netflix might launch the gaming services as a separate programming genre and initially keep it charge-free. Image: UNSPLASH Starlink will be live in India soon and will focus on ten rural Lok Sabha constituencies. The satellite-based internet service provider is considering India among its potential markets and might increase the scale of operations in the country soon. The SpaceX-owned company Starlink is aiming to provide high-speed internet in remote areas of the country through a group of satellites. Keep reading to know more about the announcement. The Starlink Country Director India at SpaceX, Sanjay Bhargava says in the LinkedIn post that "we will probably focus on ten rural Lok Sabha constituencies for 80% of the Starlink terminals shipped to India." He also mentions that the number of preorders from constituencies will help Starlink India to determine the focus constituencies. In the comments section of his post, the Starlink India Director has also asked people to ask their constituencies' representatives to contact him for a short conversation. He has also shown interest in discussing the benefits of 100% broadband connections with ministers, legislators and bureaucrats. Starlink was launched back in 2018 and the company currently has over 1,600 satellites that can provide high-speed satellite broadband services. The SpaceX-owned company is also testing its services in regions including the US, UK, Portugal, Chile, Canada and Australia. Another LinkedIn post by Sanjay Bhargava also reveals that Starlinks target in India "is to have 200,000 terminals active" by December 2022, out of which over 5,000 terminals have been pre-ordered. These Starlink terminals are designed to communicate with a satellite in the low orbit around the Earth. The design works in such a way that the receiver on the ground does not need to have a fixed wireline connection. It is how the company plans to provide broadband-level stable internet connection in rural areas in India, where wired broadband service providers might not be able to reach. For being the first in the country to experience the satellite-based broadband internet service, customers in India have to pay $99, which roughly translates to Rs. 7,400. The internet connection is said to have a latency between 20 to 40 milliseconds and speeds might range between 50-Mbps to 150Mbps. Image: UNSPLASH In a first, Russia is set to launch an actor and a film director into the space for a feature film shooting on the International Space Station (ISS) in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the Associated Press reported, Monday. Moscows space chief hailed the space movie project as a chance to raise the prestige of Russias space program. Russian actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will be launched into space on Tuesday, October 5 with Anton Shkaplerov, a space veteran cosmonaut who has been on three missions. The Russian crew plans to film segments of the new movie titled Challenge based on a surgeon who rescues a member on ISS that suffers a heart condition. Peresild told a news conference at the Russian launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, that the training for the mission was challenging but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was worth giving the hard work. Its a miracle, an incredible chance, actor Peresild said about the movie, according to Associated Press. We worked really hard and we are really tired, even though we stay in good spirits and smile, the 37-year-old actor further stated. It was psychologically, physically and morally hard. But I think that once we achieve the goal, all that will seem not so difficult and we will remember it with a smile, she further adds. [n this handout photo released by Roscosmos, actress Yulia Peresild, left, director Klim Shipenko, right, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, members of the prime crew of Soyuz MS-19 spaceship attend a news conference at the Russian launch facility in the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Credit: AP] Strict discipline and rigorous training done by film crew Speaking about the strict discipline and rigorous demands that were needed in the training, the Russian actor continued that on Baikonur, the crew became friends with everyone and all people warmed up. But it was quite difficult in the beginning when you arent given much choice: Just go, run, go faster, hold on, carry on. It wasnt easy for us and it was quite unexpected, but we have gone through it, she said, according to Associated Press. The film actor continued that the crew had to learn about the design of the spacecraft and handling it, adding that preparation for the flight was the hardest part. It didnt come easy for me, to be honest, Peresild was quoted saying by AP. For the first two weeks, I was learning it until 4 in the morning every night. There are so many acronyms, and if you dont learn them all you wont understand anything else further on, she continued. The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) is less spacious than the US segment, according to the Associated Press. And hence, that would leave very little space for the film crews accommodation. In July, although, the facility was expanded after the new lab module Nauka arrived and was fully integrated into the ISS orbit. The film crew is expected to join Thomas Pesquet of the 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. The diplomatic rift between France and Algeria deepened further on Sunday after the latter banned airspace to French military planes. The spat escalated after French President Emmanuel Macron, during an interview with the Le Monde newspaper made, "inadmissible interference" in internal affairs of Algeria, Sky News reported. The Algeria-French ties were already under strain owing to the slash in the number of visas to citizens of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. According to Le Monde as reported by France24, Macron said, "You can see that the Algerian system is tired, it has been weakened by the Hirak (the political-military system that forced late Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down in 2019)...the official history, which was based on a discourse of hatred towards France and not on truths...has been totally re-written." While several political analysts have said that the inaccessibility of airspace through Algeria will impact the French position in the anti-jihadist battle in Mali's Sahel region, the government has rebuffed potential consequences. It is to be noted, France has deployed over 5,000 troops in Mali as a part of Operation Barkhane to "fight against armed terrorist groups." Meanwhile, French terms have also remained sensitive with other North African (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) nations over the latter's refusal to grant consular passes to accept some of their own nationals. France slashes visa allotment for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia On September 28, President of France, Emmanuel Macron announced the federal decision to slash the visa allotment by half for Algerian and Morrocan nationals, and 30% for Tunisians. According to French Foreign Minister Gabriel Attal, as told to Europe Radio, the "drastic" and "unprecedented" decision was deemed necessary to counter the North African nations' failure to comply with the migration policies. France accused the three countries of diverting acceptance of nationals who were expelled from France for "committing crimes or lack of resident permit." The decision, as expected, was not welcomed by the North African counterparts. The Algerian authorities summoned the French ambassador Francois Goyette 'to notify him of a formal protest following the unilateral decision of the French Government," BBC reported. As a protest, Algerian Foreign Minister Amar Belani also dubbed the move as 'disproportionate.' His call was echoed by Morrocan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, who called Paris' pledge "unjustified" adding that "his country has always acted responsibly on the issue of illegal migration." Image: Unsplash (representative) On Monday, October 4, the death toll from gunmen attacks in northwest Nigeria's Kaduna state has reached 50 after some more bodies were recovered, reported news agency Xinhua citing a local official. The deadly attacks were carried out last week by some unidentified gunmen. The death toll from the attack on September 26 in Madamai village has reached 38 after four more bodies were recovered, according to Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs in Kaduna. He further stated that a village in the state's Zango Kataf district was also attacked by gunmen a day after the Madamai village attack, where at least 12 bodies have been discovered so far, reported Xinhua. Aruwan informed that troops of 'Operation Safe Haven' discovered dead bodies while conducting search-and-rescue operations in the region. He also stated that security patrols in the general area were ongoing, and that investigations into the attacks has been initiated, according to Xinhua. In recent months, armed groups have launched a series of attacks in northern Nigeria. The region has witnessed several recurring incidents of livestock rustling and armed banditry in the recent past. It should be mentioned here that at least Nigerian security personnel were killed in a separate incident at a remote northeastern Sokoto army station on September 26. According to a report by Al Jazeera, the deceased include police officers and members of the civil defence services. Meanwhile, in a similar suspected jihadist attack, as many as 59 people were killed in northeastern Nigeria in the month of June. According to the BBC, the gunmen stormed into a rural village in Gubio area and opened fire on the occupants. Apart from these incidents, insurgents had also attacked and killed at least 47 Nigerian soldiers in March. Northern and central regions marred with violent attacks It is worth mentioning here that violent attacks by assailants, known locally as, bandits are widespread in Nigeria's northern and central regions, particularly in rural areas with inadequate security. Meanwhile, authorities claim that special military operations aimed at restoring peace in the problematic states have been showing good results, as dozens of assailants have been killed when their hideouts in abandoned forest reserves were attacked in the recent past, reported The Associated Press (AP). However, Nigerian security forces, particularly those working in high-crime areas, are often outnumbered by gangs of gunmen who raid communities in large numbers. Security analysts say the attackers are largely young men from the Fulani ethnic group, who have traditionally worked as nomadic cattle herders and are embroiled in a decades-long struggle with Hausa farming communities over access to water and grazing area," reported AP. Image: Twitter/@Samuel Aruwan/@ kiddee La baller Investigators commissioned by the United Nations' top human rights body said Monday they had evidence of possible crimes against humanity and war crimes in Libya. Many of the alleged crimes, they say, were committed against civilians and migrants detained in the country while trying to get to Europe. Their findings come amid an unprecedented crackdown in Libya in recent days has led to the detention of more than 5,000 migrants, including hundreds of children and women. Violence during the raids left at least one migrant dead, according to a U.N. tally obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. The Libyan government had no immediate comment on the U.N. findings and has said the arrest campaign is a security operation against illegal migration and drug trafficking. The report is the first from a "fact-finding mission" commissioned by the Human Rights Council. It includes accounts of murder, torture, enslavement, extrajudicial killings and rape. Its release could be a signal to international powers, like Russia and the European Union, to reassess their policies and support for some of the war's parties. The report also comes at a sensitive time for Libya, where a transitional unity government is set to hold national elections by late this year, amid pressure from the U.N. and other world powers. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Taiwan's Defence Minister on Tuesday said that military pressure from Beijing was an opportunity to enhance the island nation's military combat readiness. Taiwan's Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng noted that Chinese military manoeuvres near Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) put much pressure on Taipei military forces. "This pressure is also a boost, urging us to be prepared for combat." said Kuo-cheng His response comes as Taiwan prepares for its National Day celebration which will be held on October 10. On Monday, Beijing deployed 56 military aircraft in the largest show of force to date which went on for three days. In response, the Taiwanese Air Force scrambled its fighter planes and monitored the movement of the Chinese warplanes on its air defence system, the ministry said. US slams China over 'provocative' military activity near Taiwan The United States on Monday has said that Chinese military activity near Taiwan is provocative. During her briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Washington remains concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan. She added that the Chinese military activity is destabilising risk miscalculations and undermines regional peace and stability. The US response comes after China sent a record number of warplanes that flew over Taiwan Straits. "We urge Beijing to seize its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan, and we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," said Psaki. "That's why we will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defence capability. We maintain our commitments, as outlined in the three communiques, Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances," she said. Psaki added that the United States' commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region. She also informed that the US would monitor the situation very closely. "We have been clear, privately and publicly, about our concern about the PRC's pressure and coercion toward Taiwan, and we will continue to watch the situation very closely," she said. China sends 56 warplanes towards Taiwan In one of its most aggressive stances against Taiwan, Beijing deployed a record 56 military planes towards Taiwans sovereign airspace. Taiwans defence ministry on October 4 said that the first sortie consisted of 52 jets, including 34 J-16 fighter aircraft and 12 H-6 bombers that flew near the islands air corridor. After that, at least four Chinese J-16s entered a southwestern part of Taiwan's air defence identification zone, Taiwans defence ministry stated in a document on Twitter. Taiwanese Air Force scrambled to intercept the jets out of the island, flagging Chinas attempts of incursions, Taiwans defence ministry further stated. With inputs from agencies Image: AP In a bid to fix ruptured diplomatic ties with France over the AUKUS deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached France on Monday. The visit has followed the announcement of the trilateral security pact between the US, UK and Australia, which has impacted billion dollars worth of Paris defence sales, thus affecting ties with Washington. Calling the deal "brutal", France has denounced the Biden administration's move against his pledge to priortise Allies, CNN reported. Thus, since the unveiling of the AUKUS pact in mid-September, the US has been instrumental in repairing the frayed ties with France. However, French officials in Washington and Paris asserted that there is no quick repair to the diplomatic rift. On the sidelines of meeting his French counterparts, Blinken will also attend the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) Forum, he wrote on Twitter. On my way to Paris to participate in the @OECD Ministerial. Im looking forward to meeting with French counterparts to continue discussions on further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues. pic.twitter.com/j0shiJce59 Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 4, 2021 Rift over nuclear deal The AUKUS pact has led France to incur a loss of $65 billion on its defence deal, under which it sold conventional diesel-powered submarines to Australia. Additionally, France was appraised about the deal just hours ahead of its official announcement. It is noteworthy that France has remained outspoken on its expectations from the US regarding the restoration of US and France ties. On September 22, US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron jointly opted for "open consultations" for a way forward, BBC reported. Both the country leaders are scheduled to meet by the end of this month. Notably, while Paris has asserted that only "time and action" will heal the tattered ties, Biden's officials have expressed will to commit to the approach. The AUKUS deal On September 15, Australia, the US and UK announced a trilateral security partnership to ensure strategic up-gradation of maritime security in Southeastern international waters. The "historic step" is said to be a joint effort of the three nations and is seen as a move to counter China-administered aggression in the South-East China Sea. As unveiled by the leaders, the submarines will hold nuclear power and not nuclear weapons. It is noteworthy that Australia is a vital part of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). According to US President Joe Biden, the deal was signed between the leaders over a joint video conference as an "imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term," he told during the conference. Image: AP The recent investigative report of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), dubbed as the Pandora Papers, has revealed Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has re-routed an offshore company to purchase a lavish chateau for $22 million, news agency Sputnik reported on Monday. According to the reports of ICIJ, the self-styled "man of the people", the Czech Prime Minister had purchased a lavish five-bedroom Chateau Bigaud spread over 9.4 acres on the French Riviera and kept his ownership a "top secret". Citing public records, the report alleged that the Czech Prime Minister purchased the chateau that belonged to a subsidiary of one of the Czech companies indirectly owned by Babis. "The findings by ICIJ and its media partners spotlight how deeply secretive finance has infiltrated global politics and offer insights into why governments and global organisations have made little headway in ending offshore financial abuses, noted the investigative report. Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, Babis who has promoted himself as a business administrator anxious to fix the countrys economy, refuted the ICIJ investigative reports and said that the purchase was made "within the legal framework". "Well, it's here. I was waiting for what they would pull on me just before the elections so that they would harm me and influence the Czech elections", wrote the Czech Republic Prime Minister on the micro-blogging site late at night. "I have never done anything illegal or wrong, but that does not prevent them from trying to denigrate me again and influence the Czech parliamentary elections," further wrote the Prime Minister. EU had earlier red-flagged issues regarding Andrej Babis business Notably, the 2021 Czech legislative election will be held on 8 and 9 October this year. According to Sputnik, the latest poll confer the centrist ruling party ANO, supervised by incumbent PM Babis, coming out on top, with 28-32% of promised electors supporting it. Earlier in September this year, the billionaire politician, a populist face of the country, who voiced against elites and the business, was threatened by the European Commission for indirectly controlling various companies which have been funded by the EU. The executive branch, responsible for proposing legislation, enforcing EU laws and directing the union's administrative operations, had warned Prague of barring allowances allotted for the landlocked nation over a dispute of interests with the Prime Minister. With inputs from PTI Image: AP Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont walked out of court as a free man after Italian Court ruled to extend the date of further hearing on his extradition to Spain. Puigdemont's lawyer informed the press that the court would further decide whether he could have immunity as a current member of the European Parliament or not. This came after Puigdemont urged Spanish judicial authorities to stop attempts to extradite him from other European countries. Before the decision was passed by the Italian Court, the court officials reviewed the request from the Spanish authorities to extradite Puigdemont. Notably, Puigdemont has been escaping from Spanish authorities since October 2017, after he was charged with involvement in the referendum and unilateral declaration of Catalonia as an independent region, which was considered illegal by the government of Spain. Meanwhile, after the court's decision on Monday, the separatist leader of Catalan took to Twitter and expressed his happiness, he wrote, "only a fair decision could come out of a courtroom bearing that name." D'una sala d'audiencia que porta aquest nom nomes en podia sortir una decisio justa. Aquesta tarda podre seguir el ple del @Europarl_CAT de manera telematica des de l'Alguer, perque la justicia sarda ha suspes el procediment d'extradicio. pic.twitter.com/Jzl4qnHyNL Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) October 4, 2021 Since 2017, the exiled politician has been living in Belgium after a failed independence push. In the last four years, he has appeared before courts in Germany, Italy, and Belgium after the Spanish Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant. However, he has managed to remain free from punishment, as the Spanish government claims that he faces severe charges such as sedition and rebellion. Earlier on September 23, he was arrested in Sardinia, where he appeared to participate in a Catalan cultural event but was soon released for the hearing in an Italian court over the extradition issue. Although Puigdemont is free now, the European Court of Justice has yet to decide what will happen to his immunity as a European Parliament member. Meanwhile, two of his fellow separatist leaders, Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin, are also facing the same charges. Earlier in 2019, Puigdemont was elected as a member of the European Parliament, which granted him immunity from prosecution. However, in March, the MEPs voted to revoke his immunity, and his appeal was also denied. His lawyers urged the European Court of Justice to restore his immunity, citing the threat of arrest after he was arrested in Sardinia. Notably, Puigdemont's temporary victory in the Sardinia court was celebrated by separatist leaders of Catalan, including the current President of Catalan, Pere Aragones, and other politicians. Image: AP Four French MPs have brought the worsening human rights scenario of Bahrain to the notice of France's Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian. In recent months, France MPs have increased pressure on the French administration to stand against the ongoing human rights crimes in Bahrain. As per the website Americans for Democracy and human rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), Gerard Leseul, Jean-Chistophe Lagarde, Isabelle Rauch, and Dominique Potier were among the four French MPs who called attention to the issue. Gerard Leseul had drawn focus to the protection of human rights in Bahrain, especially the imprisonment of political opponents. Four French MPs talks about the human rights violations in Bahrain After the violent closure of the 2011 Arab Spring, Leseul pointed out that the Bahrain regime has increasingly oppressed human rights violations, as well as the ongoing repression experienced by individuals who speak out against human rights violations in Bahrain. He went on to say that hundreds of Shiite civilian, religious, and political personalities remain imprisoned, many of whom have been held since 2011 for their involvement in the pro-democracy movement. Further Leseul highlighted the cases of Ali Salman, leader of Bahrain's main legal political movement from 2006 to 2011, is still serving life imprisonment for a false accusation of "spying" for Qatar. While, another is Abduljalil Al-Singace, one of the 13 opposition activists detained and eventually convicted by a military court in 2011. Dr. Al-Singace was subjected to harsh torture and inhumane treatment, as per the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. Leseul has also mentioned the ongoing refusal of human rights monitors entry to its country which comprises the refusal entry of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UN human rights agencies in the year 2020. While, Chistophe Lagarde showed concerned particularly about the jail's circumstances of the detainees who are arrested as they raised voices against human rights violation, citing insufficient sanitation facilities, ill-treatment, and acts of brutality, as well as a scabies outbreak that broke out in Jau Prison, adding to further worsening of prison situation. Despite the fact that prison personnel and inmates were infected, Lagarde mentioned that there was an absence of protective equipment supplied to detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas, Isabelle Rauch has talked about the arbitrary detention in Bahrain of civil rights of opposition leaders, journalists, as well as trade unionists. Further, Dominique Potier has addressed the mistreatment and torture of political prisoners, as well as a resolution that was passed by the European Parliament on March 11, 2021, concerning the death row of inmates and human rights advocates. As per the ADHRB website, amidst the growing international criticism, Bahraini security personnel have continued to imprison and torture government dissidents, reporters, activists, as well as religious leaders on a daily basis, exposing them to police violence, lengthy jail sentences, and arbitrary indefinite detainment. As a consequence, the government presently jails over 4,000 political dissidents and continues to imprison people purely for exercising their right to free speech, assembly, and association. (Image: AP) Greek counterterrorism police on Monday arrested an asylum-seeker in central Athens who is suspected of membership in the Islamic State group, authorities said. A police statement said the 34-year-old man's arrest followed cooperation with Greece's EYP intelligence agency and information provided by foreign agencies. The suspect was due to appear before an Athens prosecutor Tuesday. The police statement provided no further detail on the man's identity or precise alleged links with IS. Greek media reports said the suspect was an Iraqi national who had crossed from Turkey to an eastern Aegean Sea island more than three years ago with other migrants, and whose asylum bid in Greece had been rejected. They said he was detained Monday for acts allegedly committed in the Middle East, before he migrated to Europe. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) The connection of a 450-mile subsea power cable between Norway and England has finally begun operations on October 4, Monday. According to the statement released by Statnett - a Norwegian state-owned organisation responsible for operating and constructing the stem power grid in Norway - the two countries can now exchange electricity using a green corridor. It said the ambitious project would contribute to the green shift by facilitating more renewable energy production on both sides of the connection. Though the company has not inaugurated the project, it said the three-month trial period would revolutionise the 720 km long international link. According to Statnett, the North Sea Link can generate a total of 1,400 MW of energy. It also informed that the current trial accounts for only half of the capacity and added the rest would be started gradually in a phased manner. "The connection between Norway and England will contribute to the green shift on both sides through Norwegian hydropower being able to be connected to British wind power. When the wind is not blowing, Norwegian hydropower can contribute with flexibility and secure parts of the British's electricity consumption. When there is a lot of wind, and the British have a surplus of power, we can buy affordable wind power and save our hydropower," Statnett said in a statement released on Monday. "Exchanges with the British also contribute to value creation in that Norway gets paid better for the electricity when there is a profit here," it added. Project will help the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 23 million tonnes by 2030 Further, the National Grid said when it is at full capacity, it will provide sufficient clean electricity to power 1.4m houses. Also, it added that the joint venture would help the UK to reduce carbon emissions by 23 million tonnes by 2030. Notably, this was the second international link in less than a year that Statnett would start power delivery on, after the NordLink connection between Norway and Germany came into operation this winter. "This is an important milestone. The world's longest submarine power cable begins trial operation and connects the British and Norwegian power systems directly for the first time," Statnett CEO Hilde Tonne said. Image: Twitter/Statnett/NSL Pakistan police on October 4 baton-charged and fired tear gas at the protesting doctors outside the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) in Islamabad, opposing National Licensing Exam made mandatory by the Imran Khan government. Scores of young doctors from several states across the country gathered to demonstrate against the government mandate that made the National Licensing Exam compulsory after 5 years of education, ANI reported, citing Samaa TV. Pakistan police forces and the doctors clashed during the protests. At least 10 doctors were arrested by the police. Meanwhile, several medics were also reportedly injured. The police brutality in Pakistan has become a major problem in the Islamic country, the local Pakistan news outlets reported, adding that the protest had turned violent when the police resorted to baton-charge the doctors. A statement issued later by the Young Doctors Association (YDA) revealed that the Islamabad police had detained over 20 medics on the spot. The officers used coercion and force on the protesting doctor in order to disperse them. YDA also called an emergency meeting, presided by its president Dr. Haider Abbasi at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). Those gathered at the meeting issued an ultimatum to the Imran Khan government to order the release of the arrested doctors, Dawn reported. YDA members threatened to go on a countrywide strike if the police kept the doctors under detention, sources told the Islambad's newspaper. Islamabad police say doctors 'attempted to break into PMC building' Islamabad Police meanwhile told reporters that the doctors attempted to break into the PMC building and vandalize the property. They added that among the protesting mob some "miscreants" had resort to pelting stones at the officers on duty, resulting in the injury of the SP Saddar Zone. Doctors meanwhile alleged that the police used the tear gas to disperse protesters, which the cops argued was used to protect the government property from the damage, reported Dawn. Earlier the Pakistani military had detained dozens of doctors for taking to the streets in southwestern Baluchistan province and protesting against the lack of protective equipment (PPE) for the treatment of coronavirus at the time the country was hit by the first wave. Several doctors were also booked for demonstrations against the Pakistan Medical Council (PMC) in Balochistan earlier in September. Reflecting on growing extremism in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, the Brussels Conference conducted under the aegis of United Kashmir Peoples National Party ( UKPNP) and EU Today unanimously passed resolutions and called for the Imran Khan-led government to abide by its "international obligations" in PoK. According to EU Today, the resolution emphasised the need for Pakistan to allow freedom of the press and "curb malicious propaganda" against journalists, academics, civil society activists and human rights defenders in PoK. Jamil Maqsood, a human rights activist and senior official of the UKPNP, chaired the conference held at the Brussels Press Club. During the conference, the leaders urged the Pakistan government to impose appropriate restrictions on human rights violators, who openly preach terrorism and extremism. They also directed the government to make arrangements for democratic local body elections in the so-called Azad Kashmir. The leaders further pressed Pakistan to allow women candidates to fill 33 per cent of the allocated seats in all policy-making positions, including in state affairs. Additionally, "The speakers jointly stressed the need for Pakistan to provide education to students in the administered areas of Jammu Kashmir...their own language," the EU Today reported. Lastly, the leaders also highlighted the surge in instances of harassment, intimidation and humiliation of travellers from PoK to Pakistan. On the sidelines of the criticism regarding the inhumane treatment of PoK residents, the Pakistan government was also lambasted for its repeated call for recognising the Taliban's legitimacy in Afghanistan. 'Pakistan as big a threat as Taliban': Belgian Senator Speaking at the event, Belgian Senator Filip Dewinter called Pakistan a terrorist state for backing international terrorism, which is as big as a threat as the Taliban". The Senator also pointed out that the "re-emergence" of the Islamist extremist group not only disrupts peace but also threatens "worldwide" security. While calls for denouncing the Taliban-led government are plentiful, Senator Dewinter urged the international community to ban Pakistan as well. "Taliban take over with the help of Pakistans big military is a security threat to the world. Pakistan supports international terrorism. It has happened before...and will happen again. We need to completely boycott Pakistan as it is a terrorist state and tries to destabilise the whole region," ANI quoted Dewinter, citing EU Today. After the defeat of US-led forces in the region, we now have new possibilities of radical Muslims travelling from Europe to Syria. This will fuel international terrorism. The Taliban has money, experience, and the means to organise these kinds of people," Senator Filip Dewinter said at the Press Club. The Press Conference comes a day after Pakistan PM Imran Khan appealed to the international community, including the US, the UK and Russia to "recognise" the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. (With inputs from ANI) (Image: @EUToday_Twitter) Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations TS Tirumurti on Tuesday expressed the countrys support to Haiti. Addressing the United Nations Security Council briefing on Haiti, he said that India has been long associated with the Caribbean country and will continue to support it in times of crisis. Haiti has been battered by the gruelling coronavirus crisis, stalled election and surge in abduction and criminal activities. Speaking at the international platform, the Indian diplomat called for negotiations between all the stakeholders. He expressed hope that the countrys leaders will engage constructively on pivotal matters including the drafting of a new constitution. Earlier in July, Haiti slipped into turmoil after the countrys President Jovenel Moise was murdered and his wife Martine Moise was wounded in a well-coordinated attack at their residence in the country's capital. In his address, Tirumurti also demanded support for Haiti from the UN and other international organisations. Haiti asks for help Tirumurti's remarks came hours after the Haitian envoy implored the UNSC to help to tackle gang violence and crime in the country. Its vital to take account of the new realities that the country is facing and that the mandate is adjusted accordingly, Foreign Minister Claude Joseph told the council. Apart from gang violence, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake killed over 2,200 people and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes in August. US delegation visits Haiti Earlier, US National Security Council (NSC) informed that Brian Nichols, assistant US Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, led an American team to Haiti, where officials discussed the country's security situation and the issue of repatriating migrants. According to NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne, the delegation arrived in Haiti on September 30 and met with representatives from Haitian civil society and political stakeholders, according to news agency Sputnik. He further stated that the delegation also met with Prime Minister Ariel Henry and foreign minister Claude Joseph to reaffirm US commitment to humane migrant repatriation, a desire for a complete and transparent investigation into President Moise's assassination, and a recognition that improving Haiti's security situation is critical to both Haiti and the US. Image: AP/ambtstirumurti/Twitter Iran and Armenia have jointly mapped out projects to implement land transit routes that would facilitate their bilateral trade transactions, as per the Islamic Republic's Minister of Foreign Affairs. On Monday, Hossein Amir Abdollahian addressed a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan wherein he said that both the countries have decided to enhance their bilateral cooperation. "Today, we agreed to cooperate well in the economic, political, cultural and tourism fields," he said. "We consider our borders with Armenia as borders for interaction and cooperation, including in connection with the Eurasian Economic Union, Amirabdollahian was quoted as saying by Iran's MFA. Iran and Armenia enjoy warm relations and cooperation on their 44-kilometre long border despite ideological and religious differences. Addressing media reporters, Abdollahian reiterated the same and touted their bilateral relations as solid, constructive and growing. He also appreciated Mirzoyans visit to the Islamic Republic, saying he held "useful and constructive" talks with him. On the other hand, the Armenian lawmaker enumerated his country's efforts to " facilitate trade between the two countries, and stressed the government's interest in the activities of Iranian businessmen and technical experts in Armenia's market", as per an official statement by Iranian MFA. October 4, FM of #Armenia @AraratMirzoyan will pay working visit to Islamic Republic of #Iran. Within the framework of the visit, a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein @Amirabdolahian is scheduled, which will be followed by joint press statement of Ministers. pic.twitter.com/GAjg4RsOQW Spokesperson of MFA of Armenia (@ArmSpoxMFA) October 4, 2021 It is pertinent to note that the visit came amidst escalating tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan. Last year, Baku bought high-grade weapons, including UAVs from the zionists, leading to a diplomatic flare-up and heightened tensions on its border with Iran. More recently, the Iranian National Army, on October 1, commenced military exercises near the countrys border with Azerbaijan, marking an apparent display of power as regional conflict continues to escalate. Mirzoyan lauds Iran's stance on the Armenian-Azeri conflict Meanwhile, a bloody war ensued between Azerbaijan and Armenia last September and continued for 44 days. As attacks and ambushes escalated, it drew involvement from Turkey and Russia. The dispute claimed over 6,500 lives, mostly civilians from the warring sides, before a Russia brokered peace pact, led to Armenia ceding areas it had controlled for decades. The conflict also raised international concern about stability in the South Caucasus, a region zig-zagged with pipelines that Azeri oil and gas to world markets. It is worth mentioning that during the talks Mirzoyan praised Iran's stance that changing international borders is unacceptable, and described it as "very important". Image: Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Islamic Republic of Iran foresees talks with world powers aimed at reviving its nuclear deal resuming by early November, Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for the country's foreign ministry said. Negotiations on the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) first hit a snag in June and since then, it has been a limbo. Interestingly, Israel recently touted a Plan B to put a stop to Irans nuclear operations in case talks fail. On Monday, Khatibzadeh reckoned that he believes it would not take Iran the same amount of time that it took the Biden administration to join the Vienna talks. In an unlikely statement, he further said that he expects the talks to resume by the second week of November. It is imperative to note that although Biden had vowed to use diplomacy as a way to stop Iranian nuclear programmes, he recently warned of action in case the Nuclear deal continues to be in a deadlock. The government of [President] Ebrahim Raisi has been in power for less than 55 days I dont think that the [return to talks] will take as much as 90 days, the spokesperson told media reporters on Monday. 'Rotten deal' The deal, signed in 2015 between Iran and other major world powers, including the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany (P5+1), saw Washington lifting economic sanctions against Tehran and in return, the Islamic Republic agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment programme. However, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, calling the structure of the deal "rotten". The Islamic Republic then retaliated by ending its compliance with the deal. As of now, six talks have been held in an attempt to revive the controversial nuclear pact, but despite US President Joe Biden vowing to resume the pact at the earliest, negotiations continue to be in limbo. In October, security officials from both Israel and America held US-Israel Strategic Consultative Group talks on the course of action to be followed should Tehran refuse to revive the deal, Times of Israel reported sans revealing the details of the discussions. As per the publication, while Israel pressed forward for an alternate course of options, the US touted the imposition of more sanctions on Iran. It is worth mentioning that under Donald Trump, the White House slapped multiple sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which subsequently cripped the currency as well as its oil trade. Upon resuming office, Biden softened the stance by lifting some bans. Image: AP/Representative Image Israel, on Monday, accused its regional adversary Iran of plotting to kill Israelis in Cyprus after police there arrested a man suspected of carrying out terror attacks. In a statement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts office said an act of terror was orchestrated by Iran against Israeli businesspeople living on the island. However, it stopped short of admitting that the attack was targeted on Teddy Sagi. Previously, Israels Channel 12 had reported that Sagi, who owes a giant debt to Russians, was the target of the attack but had fled the country after being tipped off. Interestingly, the now detained suspect was reported to be an Azeri, holding a Russian passport. Meanwhile, addressing media reporters Cypriot police chief Stelios Papatheodorou said that the suspect was arrested on September 27 in the country capital Nicosia when he was trying to cross from Turkish controlled North to south. He further revealed that one pistol and cartridges were found in the unnamed suspects possession. In the aftermath, he has been presented before a magistrates court which approved an eight-day remand request from police last week. Notably, any request to increase his remand would need the law enforcers to appeal in the court. Addressing the media regarding the same, the countrys foreign minister Yair Lapid indirectly credited Israeli Intelligence for the capture. There are security threats but there was the Shin Bet, the Mossad and other security forces that know how to handle them, he said.The fact is that were there. Were minding matters. Israel-Iran shadow war Ever since its establishment, the state of Israel has been involved in a shadow war with Iran. For years, both have traded barbs in international summits and blamed each other for killing officials by launching explosions. Israel has accused Iran of perpetuating terrorism and flouting nuclear guidelines to alter the status quo in the middle east in its favour. Meanwhile, Tehran has accused the Jewish leadership of being the regional bully and killing its top nuclear scientist. Additionally, the Islamic leadership has also accused the zionist intelligence and security forces of conspiring and executing secret operations on Iranian territory. Image: AP Jerusalem, Oct 4 (AP) Jordan's King Abdullah II was meeting with the World Bank president, asking for more financial support for his country's battered economy, just around the time the news broke: A trove of leaked documents revealed the king had secretly bought more than a dozen luxury homes in the US and Britain for over USD 100 million in the past decade. Abdullah was one of scores of public figures identified as holders of hidden offshore accounts. But perhaps nowhere was there a more evident contradiction between the public man and the private one, for the king has carefully cultivated an image as a caring father of a struggling nation, and it turns out he has amassed a private empire of luxury real estate. Nobody's going to turn a blind eye to this, said Dave Harden, a former senior official at the US Agency for International Development who is now running for Congress as a Democrat in Maryland. He said even a perception of misspending could lead to calls for greater oversight of future American assistance to Jordan. Abdullah was on a long list of world leaders, politicians, billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers who have been hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets for the past quarter-century, according to a report Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The report, based on a review of nearly 12 million files obtained from 14 firms around the world, was dubbed the Pandora Papers. There were no allegations of illegal activity or misuse of international aid money. Still, the report came at a delicate time for Abdullah. The country's economy has struggled in recent years, and his leadership came under scrutiny earlier this year when his half-brother accused the ruling class of corruption. Seen by the West as a force of moderation and stability in the volatile Middle East, Abdullah relies on billions of dollars of international aid a flow that could be disrupted if donors believe their assistance is being squandered. Abdullah angrily denied any wrongdoing, saying the homes had been kept secret because of security concerns and were purchased with personal funds. Any allegations that link these private properties to public funds or assistance are baseless and deliberate attempts to distort facts, a statement from the Royal Hashemite Court said Monday. It called any such suggestions defamatory and designed to target Jordan's reputation as well as his majesty's credibility. In the short term, Abdullah does not appear to face any threat at home. When his half-brother, Crown Prince Hamzah, leveled his accusations of corruption and incompetence last April, he was quickly placed under house arrest. Hamzah has been seen in public just once since then and remains incommunicado. Two former top aides, meanwhile, have been sentenced to 15-year prison terms for incitement and sedition over their roles in an alleged plot with Hamzah. In an apparent sign of concern, the Jordanian media, most of which is directly or indirectly controlled by the palace, made no mention of the Pandora Papers affair. Even independent Jordanian media outlets engage in self-censorship, avoiding criticism of the royal family and security forces. Jordan's economy has fallen onto hard times over the past decade, hit by an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in neighbouring Syria and, more recently, by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the World Bank, Jordan's economy contracted slightly last year, while unemployment spiked to 25 per cent. The country of 10 million is divided between a small middle and upper class with close ties to the government, and impoverished masses living in city slums, outlying villages and refugee camps. When anyone lives in hardship, difficult conditions and extreme poverty, it is difficult to see their rulers living in prosperous conditions, said Maisara Malas, a union activist who has joined antigovernment protests seeking lower taxes and an end to corruption. Abdullah, who took power in 1999 after the death of his father, King Hussein, has sought to straddle these worlds by portraying himself as father figure. He is careful not to flaunt his wealth. Though he spends lengthy periods overseas, he does so quietly, often at undisclosed locations. He meets with powerful tribal leaders in Jordan's hinterlands to underscore his local roots. Posters in government offices and on billboards often show the king wearing a red Arab headdress or military uniform. Last year, his then-prime minister, Omar Razzaz, launched an effort to crack down on tax evasion, corruption and smuggling money into tax havens. On Monday, the king paid a visit to tribal leaders and other dignitaries in Badia, a region south of the capital Amman, where he said Jordan was being threatened by destabilizing forces. There is a campaign against Jordan, and there are still those who want to sabotage and build suspicions, he said. There is nothing to hide. Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian analyst, said that given the media blackout and lack of internet use among the poorest, he did not see any immediate threat to the king. But he said that as word of the scandal spread, it could be very damaging domestically. But perhaps more troubling, he said, is that it could anger donor nations. According to Jordan's official Petra News Agency, the country received some USD 5 billion in foreign aid last year, both in unrestricted budget assistance and specially earmarked grants. More than a quarter of that money came from the US alone. It is bound to affect the ability of Jordan to solicit aid easily, Kamhawi said. As a strategic Western ally and with a peace agreement with Israel, Jordan remains too important to be abandoned by the international community. President Joe Biden this year called Abdullah a loyal and decent friend. Harden, the former US aid official, said it is a common concern in the profession that assistance ends up being misused. He said to avoid that, money is often earmarked for specific development projects and tightly supervised. He predicted a serious review of any unrestricted aid to Jordan but said he expects money to continue to flow to programs with tight safeguards. Even so, he said the revelations in the Pandora Papers look bad for the king. It cuts against the core of what we are trying to achieve, he said.(AP) RUP RUP (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Lebanon and Iraq have inked a deal on October 4 in order to enhance the collaboration between their chambers of commerce, industry, and agriculture. According to a statement from the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut, the deal ties both the nations to promote business and information exchange for their business people while supporting the expansion of bilateral commercial operations. The deal was signed on the occasion of the Iraqi-Lebanese Business Conference, which took place at Beirut's headquarter chambers of commerce in which representatives from both nations has attended. Mohamed Choucair, the chamber's head, has stressed the relevance of the meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic's economic downturn. Lebanon-Iraq cooperation agreement The head of Chamber Choucair stated that at this time, the private sector had a significant amount of responsibility, and substantial work is necessary to make progress in the bilateral economic relations of the countries. While, Haidar Al-Barrak, Iraq's ambassador, further proposed to conduct this conference on an annual basis, with the hope that this conference would be hosted in one of the two nations' provinces when any one of the countries are in desperate need of rebuilding projects. According to Lebanese Industry Minister George Boujikian, the new government is intended to activate economic and commercial relations by signing deals with Iraq, as well as to reduce tariffs on Lebanese industrial items shipped to Iraq. Lebanon-Iraq deal for 1mn tons of Iraqi fuel Meanwhile, a few months back on July 24y, Lebanon had inked an agreement with Iraq to secure 1 million tons of Iraqi fuel, as the Mediterranean country was suffering from a debilitating energy shortage. As per Lebanon's Energy Minister Raymond Ghajjar, the agreement stated that Iraq would receive access to services from Lebanon in exchange. Further, the agreement reveals that Iraq would gain benefits from Lebanon's health services and agricultural consulting, AP reported citing local media. This exchange agreement was estimated to be worth $300-400 million by Ghajjar. As per the agreement, it was stated that it would provide a temporary reprieve to Lebanon's rising blackouts. Since the conclusion of Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990, blackouts have been a regular occurrence, and the country has relied on essential fuels, either via power barges or generators. The situation had worsened as the government deals with historic financial difficulties and considers reducing gasoline subsidies. (Image: AP/ Unsplash) The Sputnik V vaccine, developed by Gamaleya Research Institute, against COVID is on track to get approval from the World Health Organisation by the end of the year. Vladimir Gushchin, a senior researcher at the institute on Tuesday, stated that the Sputnik V vaccine will get approval from the WHO by the end of 2021, according to ANI. He stressed that approval from WHO was the priority of the Gamaleya Research Institute. Sputnik V Vaccine to get approval from WHO Furthermore, Vladimir Gushchi stated that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was working on the production, clinical research, and registration of Sputnik V with relevant authorities. Moreover, he suggested that he had expected the approval of WHO in September but it did not happen. Guschin, at the OPENBIO biotechnology forum, asserted that approval would happen in the coming months. "I believe it will happen in the coming months, October or November. I think we will end this year with the vaccine being finally recognized by the WHO," ANI reported Gushchin as saying at the OPENBIO biotechnology forum. It is pertinent to mention here that the Russia-developed SputnikV vaccine is already recognised in 70 countries that have a population of more than 4 billion people. Russias Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on October 2 said that its Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 is on its way to being approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Murashko told the reporters in Geneva that "all barriers have been lifted as of today" for Sputnik Vs approval by WHO, according to ANI. He said, "We do not see any obstacles to continuing our work. This was confirmed by the WHO director-general", ANI quoted Murashko as saying. Russian Health Minister Murashko met WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for the procedure to include Sputnik V in the list of vaccines listed by the WHO in combating COVID. It is worth mentioning that the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine showed 97.2 per cent efficiency against COVID, Russia's Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) informed on Twitter. The efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine was demonstrated during a vaccination drive held in Belarus. BREAKING: Sputnik V demonstrates 97.2% efficacy and high safety profile against COVID during the vaccination campaign in Belarus. The efficacy of Sputnik V was measured based on data from more than 860,000 people vaccinated between January and July 2021.https://t.co/p0XIYXInJO Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) September 15, 2021 BREAKING | Russias Health Minister Mikhail Murashko on #SputnikV @WHO authorization: All barriers for SputnikV authorization by WHO have been removed, only minor administrative procedures need to be sorted. It has been confirmed by @WHO Director-General @DrTedros. Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) October 2, 2021 RDIF: #SputnikV is already registered in 70 countries with a population of over 4 billion people (half of the worlds population). Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) October 2, 2021 Image: PTI Inputs from ANI The Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group bombarded Syrias Idlib de-escalation zone at least 13 times in the last 24 hours, said the deputy head of the Russian Defence Ministrys Centre for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit. As per the Sputnik report on October 5, Kulit said at a briefing that 13 shelling attacks from the positions of the terrorist group were registered in the past day in the de-escalation zone in provinces. He added that five attacks took place in Idlib, six in Aleppo and one each in Latakia and Hama. The official said that the number of attacks according to Syrias sides data amounted to five. Kulit also said that the efforts to stabilise the situation in Syrias Daraa province were ongoing. The report added that due to the mediation of the Russian reconciliation centre, at least 347 people settled their status. Furthermore, 83 pieces of weapons and over 3,500 rounds of ammunition were also given up over the last day in a range of locations. The Russian Defence Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic, as per the report, was set up back in February 2016. The bodys task includes the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime, along with the coordination of humanitarian aid delivery. UN raises concerns over the situation in Syria The shelling in Syria came just a couple of weeks after the United Nations (UN) flagged concerns over the economic crisis and worsening situation of COVID-19 which are further deteriorating the situation of civilians in northwest Syria. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has noted the escalation in violence which it said was reported across the northwestern region of Syria especially during September. It also said that there was an increase in airstrikes and battles in southern Idlib. More specifically, the UN is concerned with the COVID-19 crisis in the Middle Eastern nation with over 1,000 people testing positive for Coronavirus in northwest Syria. IMAGE: AP/representative Coca farmers clashed with police in the Bolivian capital La Paz on Monday, the latest in a series of violent confrontations that have been going on for almost a fortnight. Police dispersed the farmers by firing tear gas canisters after demonstrators threw highly explosive firecrackers. Several coca farmers' unions have been fighting for months over the leadership of the farmer's association in La Paz, effectively seeking permits to sell coca leaves in the local market. The conflict turned violent in September, when one of the various groups fighting for the leadership took over a building that hosts their association. There are an estimated 100,000 legal coca farms in Bolivia, and the buying and selling of coca leaves is a legal business in designated markets managed by the coca unions. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) The recent investigative report of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), dubbed as the Pandora Papers, has revealed the connection of offshores business with Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso. According to the report of ICIJ, Lasso has established business with 10 offshore corporations and trusts in Panama, Delaware and South Dakota. According to the reports of Sputnik, in a letter dated September 27 to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Ecuador President had informed the journalist organisation that he had no relationship, control or any kind of association with the trusts mentioned in the Pandora Papers. Read the official tweet of Fernando Villavicencio here: En vista de que ningun legislador ha solicitado a @FiscalizacionAN que se inicie una investigacion sobre #PandoraPapers, hoy he pedido a @LassoGuillermo que remita la informacion del caso. No solo investigare #PandoraPapers, sino la vinculacion de exfuncionarios en #PanamaPapers pic.twitter.com/f5w6hBD0PN Fernando Villavicencio Valencia (@VillaFernando_) October 4, 2021 According to Sputnik, the Political Oversight and Control Commission of the National Assembly of Ecuador has directed Lasso to submit documents and information related to the companies, trusts and investments mentioned in the Pandora Papers. Taking to Twitter, Political Oversight and Control Commission of the National Assembly head Fernando Villavicencio said, "In view of the fact that no representative has demanded the National Assembly Inspection to initiate an inquiry into the Pandora Papers, today, I have asked Lasso Guillermo to furnish report on the case. I will examine not only the Pandora Papers but also the links of previous directors listed on in the Panama Papers." Ecuador President accepts connection but declares properties 'legal' Further, in a letter attached to the Twitter post, he appealed to the Ecuador President to contribute documented data on whether Lasso had any company, financial or professional connection with the organisations discussed in the Pandora Papers. According to ICIJ, it alleged Ecuador President that the offshore companies related to Lasso were dismissed in 2017 before he became a presidential candidate. On the other hand, Lasso also confirmed his role in the company mentioned in the Pandora Papers and added that any past use of the global companies on his part was legal, reported Sputnik. Further, Lasso reiterated that none of the foreign entities was connected with his government service. What is Pandora Papers The stunning leak of Pandora Papers has uncovered the secret owners of over 1,500 properties in the UK, bought using foreign companies. The details featured in the leak of offshore financial documents list the property with an estimated value in excess of 4 billion. As per the reports, the secret owners of British properties include high-profile foreign politicians, other people accused of corruption and the UKs political donors. Image: Twitter/@LassoGuillermo Venezuela is to reopen a key border crossing with Colombia, Venezuela's vice-president Delcy Rodriguez said Monday. In preparation for the move, authorities have removed containers used to block the crossing, on a bridge between Tachira in Venezuela and Santander in Colombia. Rodriguez said trade there would resume on Tuesday. The border crossing was blocked in February 2019 after the Venezuelan opposition tried to use it to transport humanitarian aid from Colombia. Other crossings remained open. Venezuela and Colombia share a border that stretches 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles). Venezuelans frequently cross the frontier illegally to seek food, supplies or services at lower prices in Colombia. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) Canada invoked a treaty with the United States and asked a judge Monday to suspend litigation over Michigan's effort to shut down an oil pipeline that ends in Ontario. Canada said it requested negotiations with the U.S. about the pipeline. It cited a provision in the 1977 treaty that says no public authority in either country can take steps to interfere with the flow of hydrocarbons. With the triggering of the treatys dispute settlement process, the court should hold proceedings relating to Michigans Line 5 shutdown order in abeyance, Gordon Giffin, an attorney for Canada, told U.S. District Judge Janet Neff. Line 5 is operated by Calgary-based Enbridge. It moves about 23 million gallons (87 million liters) of oil and natural gas liquids daily between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, traversing parts of northern Michigan and Wisconsin. A section of the pipeline runs on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, which connects lakes Huron and Michigan at the top of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, say Line 5 is a grave threat to the Great Lakes and should be closed to prevent spills. Whitmer said she was disappointed by Canadas decision. We greatly appreciate the efforts of 'Team Canada, from the government of Canada to the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan, for their commitments and efforts to keep Line 5 open, Enbridge said. Before Whitmer took office in 2019, Enbridge had reached a deal with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to protect the pipeline by building a tunnel by 2024. (Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com) A Texas Parole Board on Monday authorised George Floyd's plea for a posthumous pardon after it was discovered that his 2004 arrest in Houston involved a police officer who was later charged with murder and tampering with a government record. The unanimous recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles will now be transferred to Governor Greg Abbott for his final decision. George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died in May 2020 after Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin knelt for more than nine minutes on his neck. The event was caught on camera, sparking worldwide protests against racial injustice. Derek Chauvin, the cop who killed Floyd, was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in jail in June. Officer Gerald Goines arrested Floyd in February 2004 and accused him of selling $10 worth of crack in a police operation. Floyd eventually pled guilty to a drug conviction and received a 10-month sentence in state prison. Gerald Goines, the Houston police officer at the time was charged with criminal murder and tampering with a government document after being part in a deadly 2019 raid that was subsequently discovered to be based on false assertions he made under oath. The top authorities in Harris County, which includes Houston, unanimously endorsed a resolution in May to support Floyd's pardon request. Abbott expressed his commitment to pushing policing changes during a public visitation in Houston in June 2020, just before Floyd's funeral. However, in the regular Texas legislative session earlier this year, a broad reform package named after Floyd failed to gain traction. Whereas, Abbott has only issued a few pardons every year since becoming office in 2015. Image: AP Republican Senate candidate and retired US Army Capt. Sam Brown hit out at Twitter after he found out on Monday morning that his account was suspended. The Purple Heart recipient, who is competing in the Republican primary in Nevada to oust Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in the 2022 midterm elections, lambasted the microblogging site for censorship without warning or cause. "Big Tech is launching a full-fledged attack on conservative voices, employing unequally applied 'rules' to suppress or suspend anyone with whom they disagree. They blocked my tweets as 'possibly sensitive information' during summer, then they suspended my account without explanation this morning," he was quoted as saying by Fox News. He vowed to take decisive action against Twitter stating it has messed with the wrong soldier. Brown also filed an appeal against the suspension of his account, to which an automatic notification from Twitter informed him that his appeal request had been received. Meanwhile, the account was later restored, with Twitter apologising for the error. Brown's account was mistakenly labelled as spam, according to Twitter, which has a system in place to discover and remove multiple automated spam accounts in bulk. It also indicated that follower and following numbers could take up to an hour to return to normal, reported Fox News. Twitter suspended my account today & later claimed it was a mistake. This is not the first time theyve censored me as I run for the Senate. Im a Purple Heart Veteran who fought for our free speech yet Twitter denies me mine. RT this & follow me so we come back even stronger! Sam Brown (@CaptainSamBrown) October 4, 2021 Brown's feud with Twitter began in the month of July, when he claimed that his tweet featuring him saluting in uniform had been flagged as "possibly sensitive content." The candidate attacked Twitter, claiming that his post was flagged as "possibly sensitive" because of his face, which was severely burnt by an IED explosion during his posting in Afghanistan in 2008. A similar warning label was placed on his campaign launch video that was posted on the platform. However, a Twitter spokesperson pushed back against the censorship allegations, telling Fox News that such warnings can be activated or removed based on the account settings of each individual user. Donald Trump wants Twitter to reinstate his suspended account Meanwhile, in a separate incident, former US President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter and Facebook following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, has now sought a federal judge in Florida to order Twitter and Facebook to reinstate his account. Trump sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google, as well as their CEOs, in the month of July, arguing that the companies are illegally censoring conservative voices. On October 1, the former US President filed a preliminary injunction in Miami against the microblogging site. Image: Twitter/@ Sam Brown/ Pixabay More than 57,000 people have been held for six months, sometimes longer, under residential surveillance at a designated location, or RSDL. The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) locks up thousands of people annually as part of a system of state-sanctioned kidnapping targeting peaceful dissidents, a rights group said on Tuesday. Safeguard Defenders said in a report on "residential surveillance at a designated location" (RSDL) that the authorities have detained more than 57,000 people under the system since its inception in 2013, detailing a system of grueling interrogations and torture used to elicit "confessions" from detainees, who can be held for up to six months without access to a lawyer. The report cited the case of human rights lawyer Chang Weiping, who was tortured during six months of RSDL between October 2020 and April 2021. Chang, who was only allowed to meet with a lawyer after nearly a year in detention, was strapped immobile into a "tiger chair" torture device for six days straight, and deprived of food and sleep, his lawyer said in September. Chinese security forces have also used RSDL to hold and interrogate dissident artist Ai Weiwei, human rights lawyers Wang Yu, and Wang Quanzhang, as well as recently released Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, the report said. However, the system is highly secretive, taking place at hidden locations with the victim in isolation and incommunicado, and in facilities other t Safeguard Defenders researcher Chen Yanting told RFA that RSDL is tantamount to being "disappeared." "They give the police huge powers to detain people in secret facilities and cut them off from any contact with the outside world, and don't tell anyone where they are," Chen said. "It's the same as disappearing." "The stipulated limit to such detentions is six months, but actually we have records of some cases where it lasted as long as four years," Chen said. "Basically, Chinese police and state security police are arbitrarily disappearing and detaining people without supervision, during which time victims are tortured for 'confessions,' so it's a black jail system." Chen called on the international community to condemn the CCP's use of RSDL and other human rights violations. Monitored around the clock Lam Wing-kei, a bookseller who fled to Taiwan after being detained in mainland China for selling banned political books in Hong Kong, said he was held in a similar facility for six months in the eastern city of Ningbo. He said the facilities were carefully designed to prevent prisoners from committing suicide or self-harming. "The toothbrush is very small and is attached to a rope to stop you swallowing it, while the walls and the corners of the tables and chairs are all padded," Lam told RFA. "They're afraid people will try to commit suicide by hitting their head against the corner of the table or the wall." "In other words, they have a lot of experience, and all of the facilities have this kind of protection," Lam said. "The CCP knows the psychological state of these people." "You can't hang anything on the wall, and you can't hang yourself, either," he said. "The windows are all barred and the detainees can't go anywhere." "There is round-the-clock monitoring, and they never turn the lights off, even if someone is asleep." He said the facilities seem to vary depending on their location and circumstances, however. "Sometimes they're not a whole complex of buildings; sometimes it happens in a hotel; it's based on what they need," Lam said. "The five of us from Causeway Bay Books who were detained were all kept in the same place, at a large complex of buildings in Ningbo, which were more convenient for them to get 'confessions'," he said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Haiyang Dizhi 10 appears to be carrying out unlawful research in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, a researcher says. The Chinese survey ship that had been criss-crossing the North Natuna Sea is back in Indonesias exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after a weeks retreat, ship tracking data shows. Indonesia played down the presence of the Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 10, like it did when the vessel was operating in the area for almost the whole month of September. But the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was seen being escorted by a Chinese coastguard ship and appeared to be carrying out unlawful research activity in Jakartas EEZ, said Imam Prakoso, a researcher at the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative (IOJI). Its unlikely it was not conducting research activities, especially since theyve been in and out of the area for a month. If you look at the pattern, they are likely to be active for a whole month, Imam told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires governments to seek permission in advance for marine scientific research in another states EEZ, a requirement China often ignores. There must be firm action. Do they have permission or not? If not, its clearly illegal because we have clear rules regarding scientific research activities at sea, Imam said. The Chinese research vessel committed no violations, according to Lt. Col. Laode Muhammad, spokesman for the Indonesian Naval Fleet Command 1. The North Natuna Sea is the entrance to the ALKI [Indonesian Archipelagic Lanes] and the Singapore Strait. All foreign ships are allowed to pass, not only Chinese ones, Laode told BenarNews. As far as international relations are concerned, we must avoid conflict and exercise restraint. If we insist on boarding their ship, they wont accept it and there will be tremendous consequences, Laode said. On Monday, the Haiyang Dizhi 10 was spotted reentering the area near the Tuna Block, an important oil and gas field where a submersible rig contracted by Indonesias exploration partners is drilling appraisal wells. By midday on Tuesday, the vessel was firmly back in the lawn-mowing grid it created last month while surveying the North Natuna Sea. This area lies within Indonesias EEZ but overlaps with the so-called nine-dash line that China draws to claim most of the South China Sea but is not recognized by international law and is disputed by Chinas neighbors. The Haiyang Dizhi was operating in the area for almost the whole of September but left for resupply at Fiery Cross Reef, which China has reclaimed and developed into a flagship outpost. Chinese ship didnt just pass Adm. Dato Rusman, commander of the Marine Combat Group, told President Joko Jokowi Widodo in a video conference that Chinese and U.S. ships were detected in Indonesian waters but they were conducting innocent passage. Everything is safe and under control, he added. Indonesian authorities have constantly played down the presence of the Chinese ship, analysts say, prioritizing a diplomatic approach and behind-the-scenes negotiations. For instance. Indonesia said last month that the Haiyang Dizhi 10 had not violated shipping rules. But, analysts had said, the Chinese vessels movement in a grid pattern showed that it was clearly engaged in research activities. Similarly, IOJIs Imam didnt seem convinced by Rusmans explanation on Tuesday about the latest Chinese incursion. The ship [Haiyang Dizhi 10] didnt just pass [by], Imam noted. It formed a grid pattern that covers part of the North Natuna Sea, which is within the nine-dash line that they [China] claim. The Haiyang Dizhi 10s activities last month brought media and public attention, prompting Indonesian officials to send warships as well as conduct an air patrol. On Tuesday, Indonesias Armed Forces Day, the navy held a combat readiness exercise in the North Natuna Sea. Six naval vessels, a maritime patrol aircraft, and a helicopter took part in the event. Indonesia has also deployed a hydro-oceanographic research vessel, the KRI Rigel, to the area. President Jokowi reportedly quizzed his staff about the presence of foreign ships off the Natunas and called on the armed forces (TNI) to be ready to deal with a range of threats. I call on the TNI to be constantly prepared for a wider spectrum of threats, including violations of sovereignty, theft of natural resources at sea, radicalism and terrorism, as well as cyber, biological threats, Jokowi said. Governments in countries bordering the South China Sea are facing growing domestic pressure to defend national interests amid Chinas assertive activities. On Monday, Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to convey its position and protest against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysias EEZ off the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are continuing to buy assets in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world, commentators say. Former Hong Kong leaders Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying were named among hundreds of public officials in 91 jurisdictions around the world known to be concealing assets in a worldwide web of secret financial dealings by the global elite. According to the Pandora Papers leak by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Leung didn't declare his income from the sale of shares of a Japanese company while still chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China from 2012-2017. Billionaire shipping magnate Tung Chee-hwa, who held the job from 1997-2005, was found to have set up offshore companies after leaving office, the papers showed. Both remain part of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s political system for governing Hong Kong, which has seen a rapid and widening erosion of its promised freedoms amid a citywide crackdown on dissent and political opposition under a draconian security law imposed by Beijing. The Pandora Papers investigation saw 600 journalists from 150 news organizations in 117 countries comb through nearly 12 million files from more than a dozen financial institutions. They found paper trails linking world political and business leaders to trillions of dollars in offshore wealth. "The leaked records reveal that many of the power players who could help bring an end to the offshore system instead benefit from it stashing assets in covert companies and trusts while their governments do little to slow a global stream of illicit money that enriches criminals and impoverishes nations," the ICIJ said in an Oct. 4 report on the findings. While offshore accounts and companies aren't illegal, and can have legitimate purposes, they have frequently been linked both to legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion, as well as money-laundering and the avoidance of international economic sanctions. Leung failed to declare the 2015 sale of an estimated H.K.$2.3 million (U.S.$295,000) in shares in DTZ Japan Ltd, ICIJ found during a collaborative investigation with Hong Kongs Stand News. Leung held 30 percent of shares in the company through two offshore firms, Stand News said, and continued to serve as director of three offshore companies for weeks after taking office, without declaring them as interests. 'Misleading reporting' Leung hit back at the news site via social media for "misleading" reporting, saying: Possession and transactions of share in subsidiaries need not be declared." "I activated all resignation procedures before I took office as the chief executive," Leung said. In 2014, Leung faced allegations in the Sydney Morning Herald that he had received a multimillion dollar payout in connection with bidding for property firm DTZ that he did not declare. Hong Kong's justice department said there was insufficient evidence to support the claim in 2018, and investigations into that allegation and two others of conflict of interest and tax evasion were dropped. Leung and Tung were also clients of Trident Trust, an international company that manages trusts and funds, according to Stand News, which said they had set up offshore accounts and shell companies around the world to act as a tax haven for themselves and their families. It said Tung and his family members also opened around 70 offshore company accounts. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam declined to comment on individual cases when asked about the reports on Tuesday. "The government has a very stable declaration of interest system," Lam told reporters. But she said the government trusts its officials, and never carries out spot checks on public office-holders. Chung Kim-wah, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), said that the Hong Kong government's lack of response to the Pandora Papers suggests it won't be pursuing any of the ICIJ's findings, but also suggest it isn't throwing its support behind Leung, either. "I think that the lack of response is in itself a kind of response," Chung told RFA. "I don't think there are many people in the [Hong Kong] establishment who would want Leung to be chief executive again." "I don't think there's much chance of that given the current situation." Offshore companies created The Pandora Papers also revealed that Joseph Tsai, executive vice chairman of the board of directors at Alibaba, set up more than 10 offshore companies for the disposal of assets ahead of the company's listing in the United States. Tsai, who hails from Taiwan but holds Canadian nationality, helped Alibaba set up a complex offshore business network using companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bahamas, the papers show. While the use of multiple offshore companies has often been associated with tax avoidance and secret wealth management, there are also legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. "We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly," the ICIJ said in a disclaimer on the Pandora Papers website. Meanwhile, Hong Kong media reports said that the family members of current and former CCP leaders hold an estimated U.S.$77 million in Hong Kong real estate. Hong Kong Land Registry information revealed that the owner of a detached and heavily secured mansion in the resort district of Repulse Bay is registered to one Zhang Yannan, who holds a Hong Kong permanent identity card. The name matches that of the niece of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping. According to the Companies Registry, a Zhang Yannan is also registered as the owner of a company called Jinyi, with a registered address in Convention Plaza Apartments in downtown Hong Kong. A source close to a wealthy Chinese businessman said many of China's financial and political elite prefer to hold property and other assets in Hong Kong, for fear of political upheavals in mainland China. 'Paradise for corruption' Beijing-based political commentator Zha Jianguo said Hong Kong had become a "paradise" for corrupt CCP officials to launder money and hide their wealth. "Firstly, the financial sector is highly developed, with a lot of private ownership, and companies are run differently from mainland China," Zha told RFA. "Secondly, there are still plenty of connections with mainland China, so it's always easy to find someone to help out with money laundering or property purchases." A visiting scholar surnamed Zhang, who studies Chinese economic activity in Hong Kong, said Chinese money continues to pour into Hong Kong, sometimes en route to somewhere else. "More and more Chinese people have been buying property and transferring funds overseas in recent years ... even some red capitalists and corporate groups with state backing," Zhang said. "One of the reasons is the transfer of assets." Zhang said the assets being transferred overseas are often the result of illicit gains in China, but also come from an incipient sense of insecurity among the Chinese elite. "Everyone, the red capitalists, the princelings of revolutionary families, and ordinary people, is transferring assets overseas," he said. "There is no certainty, either about the political situation or about the basic ability to make a living, and that applies both to regular citizens and to high-ranking officials." Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. North Korean women hold umbrellas near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong in this file photo. Authorities in North Korea are naming and shaming merchants accused of profiteering from scarce goods to get them to volunteer to donate large amounts of money to the government, sources in the country told RFA. In a country whose chronic shortages of food and other essentials were made worse with the closure of the border and suspension of all trade with China since January 2020 on coronavirus concerns, merchants have been able to buy up supplies of scarce and expensive goods and jack their prices even higher. The local branch of the Socialist Womens Union of Korea hosted a meeting where they criticized their members for stocking up on goods and selling them at a higher price, a resident of Yongchon county in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFAs Korean Service Sept. 26. Some of the members are not happy enough to sell a packet of imported seasoning with a profit of 5,000 won (U.S. $0.82). They need to sell it for at least 10,000 won in profit. Such greed is an example of antisocialist culture, according to the union, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons. Nearly all merchants in the local marketplaces are women, working to bring in income for their families while men report to their low-paying government-assigned jobs. With no official jobs, they are officially classified as housewives, with automatic membership in the womens union. The authorities are suddenly getting into the Socialist Womens Union members business because the union itself is not small and they all make money at the local market, the source said. But even though the authorities are using the sessions to criticize hoarding, stopping the practice is not their actual goal, according to the source. At the end of the lecture they appeal to the union members sense of patriotism, asking them to volunteer to donate money because the country is in dire need due to the current economic situation, said the source. Residents are criticizing the authorities, saying that they cunningly used the carrot-and-stick approach to extract large amounts of money from union members, added the source. Market manipulation Although the border has been closed since last year, smugglers have been sneaking goods from China to North Korea by ship after maritime trade partially resumed in May of this year, according to the source. The source said that Chinese seasonings and cooking oil are in extremely high demand because imports were unavailable for so long. This has created an opportunity for merchants in the border city of Sinuiju, who buy an entire ships cargo of seasonings, making them artificially scarce. According to the source, a 480-gram (17-ounce) box of seasoning costs about 7,000 or 8,000 won at the port in Sinuiju, but it it sells for 15,000 to 20,000 won on the market. Wheat flour, meanwhile, costs 8,000 to 9,000 won at port, but 13,000 to 15,000 on the market. In South Pyongan province, the local womens union gathered members and showed video footage of a local market secretly filmed by the authorities, said a resident of Unsan county. There were scenes of merchants buying up all the daily necessities, which have become scarce due to the pandemic, and selling them back at a high price, the second source said. All the merchants in the video are members of the Socialist Womens Union of Korea, the second source said. The government lecturer compared the profiteering traders to capitalists who dont mind taking advantage of people their parents age to make money, then urged the union members to adhere to socialist principles of helping and guiding one another even when doing business, according to the second source. The members laughed at the lecture, saying, Business is the act of buying and selling things to make money. What do they mean by helping and guiding one another? Are they helping and guiding us when they collect taxes from us? The cash-strapped North Korean government often finds ways to siphon money out of the peoples pockets. RFA reported last month that rural households in some parts of the country were made to pay about 20,000 won for the construction of propaganda murals, while in August citizens who had been mobilized for flood relief work could buy their way out of it for about 30,000 won. Reported by Hyemin Son for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jinha Shin. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Villagers have waited for two years for compensation, with the rail line set to open in December. A section of the Lao-China high-speed railway crosses rice fields in a suburb of the Lao capital Vientiane in a photo taken in 2021. Lao villagers who lost land for a high-speed railway connecting their country with China are still waiting for compensation to be paid, with operations on the China-backed line set to begin later this year, sources said. Nearly 100 families living in Dong Phosy and Dong Phonhae villages in the Hatxayphong district of the capital Vientiane were promised two years ago they would be paid for their land, one affected villager told RFA on Oct. 1. They said they were going to pay, but they havent paid anything yet, the villager said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The villagers are enduring hardships, and some cant grow rice because of local floods, she said. A top district official told villagers they would be paid in September, but now it is October, and still no money has come in, the villager said, adding that the 105,000 kip (U.S.$10.59) per square meter promised to villagers for the land taken from them is below the lands real value. The villagers need 207,000 kip [U.S.$20.88] per square meter, because the land taken for the railway line was so economically productive, she said. Also speaking to RFA, another villager said that he and other villagers were told by authorities they would be arrested if they came down too often to ask about when their payments might come in. Most of us have not yet received compensation for our land, but the project will be finished soon, he said. And when we came to ask about our money, an official told us not to ask so often, and that we would be arrested if we persist, he said. The villagers have waited for many years to be paid since work started on the rail line, and this year we were asked about five or six times to go to meetings to discuss this, but nothing was done, said another villager also waiting to be paid. When we telephone the office, no one picks up the phone. And if they do pick up, they only tell us to talk to that official or this official, he said. Reached for comment, an official at one Hatxayphong district office who declined to give his name said, At present, there are no orders from higher authorities to pay the villagers compensation, and we dont know anything more than this. He was also unsure how many families were still waiting to be paid, he said. Waiting for titles to their land At the same time, villagers in Vientianes Naxaythong district have been denied compensation because they held no title to the land that developers took from them for the railway, a resident of the district said. Villagers had applied two years ago for new titles to their land, but so far with no result, he said. When we went down to ask officials from another office in the district about our titles, we were told they werent finished yet, and that we should talk to the committee that was working on them, he said. Reached by RFA, an official in the relevant district office declined to comment. Foreign-invested farming, mining, and development projects in Laos have sparked friction over cases of environmental pollution and land taken without proper compensation, and Lao villagers affected by land grabs often fear to speak out publicly because of concerns over official retaliation. Work on the $5.9 billion Lao-China railway link began in December 2016, with the project expected to lower the cost of exports and consumer goods in Laos and boost socioeconomic development in the landlocked nation of nearly 7 million people. The 260-mile railway connecting Luang Namtha province on the Lao-China border to the capital Vientiane is part of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative of infrastructure lending and construction to support trade with China. The rail line is now almost 94 percent complete, and is scheduled to open Dec. 2. China is Laos largest foreign investor and aid provider, and its second-largest trade partner after Thailand. Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Richard Finney. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun was the spokesman for Myanmars military before it overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1 on unproven claims of electoral fraud, and he serves as the spokesman for the junta that controls the Southeast Asian country of 54 million people. He spoke to RFAs Myanmar Service on Tuesday about an expected visit to the country by an envoy for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and laid out strict limits on whom the emissary would be allowed to meet. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. RFA: You have said ASEAN special envoy Erywon Yusof will not be allowed to see State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi as she is currently facing corruption charges. Has it been confirmed? Is this Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaings stance on this issue? Zaw Min Tun: This case is nothing unusual. You can see former presidents or prime ministers or politicians in other countries face legal prosecution under corruption charges. Or serving prison terms. I want to ask you here: Have you ever heard about these people being allowed by respective governments to meet international mediators or teams when asked? Aung San Suu Kyi is right now facing several charges. I don't need to elaborate. You asked me if it was because of Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaings stance. Everything is carried out in the country under the State Administration Councils (SACs) leadership. The decisions are made by the SAC. RFA: Among the five points agreed between Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and ASEAN, one point recommends talks between all concerned parties. Mr. Yusof, on his appointment as special envoy, also said he would bring positive results. What kind of results can we expect from his visit if he is not allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi? Zaw Min Tun: We had explained to ASEAN leaders at the summit attended by our Prime Minister all events that had taken place. The 54th ASEAN ministers meeting was held on Aug. 2, and Bruneis deputy foreign minister proposed three candidates for the special envoy post. Myanmar submitted a former Thai deputy foreign minister as a candidate, but there were objections. And we reached an agreement on Aug. 4 to appoint the Brunei foreign minister as ASEAN mediator with three conditions. We requested the special envoy to carry out his work in line with the five recommendations and not to make new requests, to respect our sovereignty and equality, and not to interfere in our internal affairs. For our part, we will allow the envoy to meet with those concerned in the legal field. I have never heard of any governments allowing foreign delegates to meet with a person under trial or a person or representatives of illegal organizations, except in very special circumstances. We have been working in accord with standard procedures. RFA: So what can our people expect from his mission? Zaw Min Tun: ASEAN is a group of Southeast Asian nations. It is a nations association or a group of nations, not governments. Like I said at previous news conferences, its not a government association. It doesnt need to have a certain government in Myanmar to be a member. You can be a member nation with any government in power. ASEAN has worked in cooperation and has reached a level recognized by the world because of its principles and policies. Because all ASEAN decisions are based on consensus. There are differences on certain issues among member nations but the group works on issues that all could agree on. Issues that could be beneficial for the development of the members. Thats why we have respect for ASEAN. Myanmars people have also benefited from our membership. RFA: So Mr. Yusof will not be seeing Aung San Suu Kyi because shes under trial, as you said. Yesterday the Malaysian foreign minister said Myanmar will not be allowed to attend the forthcoming meeting if its envoy is not allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi. So will you make any changes to your decision? Zaw Min Tun: This is just his personal remark. Its not ASEANs stance, because it would need a consensus. Myanmar became a member of ASEAN in 1997 after overcoming various obstacles. Not only us. Some member nations also had to face some kind of opposition. Thats because of political reasons. ASEAN is a group of nations with different political systems that work for trade, cultural and peace in the region. So the remarks you mentioned have to be taken as just personal remarks. RFA: How would it affect our country if Myanmar is not allowed to attend the meeting? Zaw Min Tun: Apart from some criticisms in the international community, there wont be any. There might be more or less, some repercussions on certain ASEAN projects or meetings or work being carried out in conjunction with other countries. RFA: ASEAN is pushing for dialogue to find a solution. Do you still have a path to dialogue open? Zaw Min Tun: The dialogue they are talking about has certain limitations that were meant to pressure Myanmar by some countries and organizations. By limitations I mean personal, organization and time. The dialogue we need for our country is far deeper than what they are saying. What they want is to meet persons under trial, to meet with representatives of National Unity Government and Peoples Defense Force, both of which we have declared illegal organizations. These are personal limitations. What we mainly need is a dialogue to find a solution to peace issues which is still elusive since independence in 1948. We are now working on a path to a dialogue aimed for the 75th anniversary of Armed Forces Day in 2022. It would be very difficult for us to hold talks with those from groups we have declared illegal. We will only have a dialogue with them after they drop all acts of terror and speech they are currently committing. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Monks and nuns must also speak to each other in Chinese instead of their native language, government authorities say. Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and study centers must begin to translate classroom texts from Tibetan into Mandarin Chinese, Chinas common language, according to instructions given at a conference held last month in Qinghai, Tibetan sources said. Monks and nuns must also learn and speak to each other in Chinese instead of their native language, government authorities said at the three-day conference launched on Sept. 27 at the Tso-Ngon Buddhist University in Qinghais capital city Xining. Attended by more than 500 religious figures and students from Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist universities and other educational organizations, including more than 300 students from Tso-Ngon University, the campaign looks set to advance Chinese President Xi Jinpings call to Sinicize religion across the country. It was unclear if the policy will also include the gradual translation into Chinese of the thousands of classical Buddhist scriptures also written in Tibetan, many of which were translated from Sanskrit many hundreds of years ago. The Chinese language is not able to communicate the full range of meaning of Buddhist doctrine, though, said Geshe Lhakdor, Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India, the seat of Tibets exile government the Central Tibetan Administration. This policy is just an ignorant power play by the Chinese government, said the Geshe, an honorific title granted to Buddhist scholars after years of rigorous study and other academic work. The question now is: who will translate these Buddhist texts, and what kind of job will they be able to do? There is no good intention behind this plan, the Geshe said. Rather, it is aimed at Chinas Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism, and even though a few Tibetan scholars and researchers participated in this meeting, they were forced to do so in spite of their reluctance, he said. Phentok, a researcher at the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Policy Institute, said the meeting held at Tso-Ngon Buddhist University was intended only to further the destruction of Tibetan religion and culture, and to force Tibetan Buddhist scholars and religious teachers to obey Chinas government. Tibetans [must now] show their loyalty to the communist government and consider themselves Chinese, he said. Chinese Communist Parry efforts to supplant local language education with teaching in Chinese has raised anger not only among Tibetans, but also in the Turkic-language-speaking Uyghur community of Xinjiang and the Mongolians of Inner Mongolia. Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago. Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed illegal associations and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say. Reported by Sangyal Kunchok for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney. Huseyin Celil has been held for 15 years for speaking out for Uyghur rights in Canada. Dilibar Yusuf (C), a Uyghur from Kashgar in northwestern China's Xinjiang region who now lives in Canada, protests China's treatment of Uyghurs outside a court appearance for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver, Canada, May 8, 2019. Human rights advocates are pressing for the release of an ethnic Uyghur-Canadian citizen held in a Chinese prison since 2005, following Beijings freeing of two Canadians last month after Ottawa ended the house arrest of Huawei tech executive Meng Wanzhou. Huseyin Celil, now 52, moved to Canada in 2001 as a refugee with U.N. status, and received Canadian citizenship in 2005, the year he was detained in Uzbekistan and handed over to China. Chinese authorities sentenced him to life in prison on terrorism charges. Active in Uyghur human rights advocacy, Huseyins Canadian citizenship was not recognized by China, and his wife says she has not had any contact with him in more than four years. Rights advocates sounded the alarm about Huseyin after the Canadian government released Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinas Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., on Sept. 25. The tech executive was detained for nearly three years under house arrest in Canada while fighting extradition to the United States to face fraud charges fraud for allegedly misleading banks into processing transactions for Huawei that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. Following Mengs release, the Chinese government released two Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor held in prison in China since 2018 on espionage charges widely viewed as hostage diplomacy in retaliation for Mengs detention, allowing them to return home. The resolution of the two Michaels case sparked a resurgence of calls among Canadian activists on social media for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to pay similar attention to Huseyins case. Huseyin Celils case, because hes Canadian, should be raised at every level, both publicly and in private, at high-level meetings, at every opportunity, so that he remains on all Canadians minds until hes released, Yonah Diamond, a legal advisor to the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights in Canada, told RFA. The reason I say the unjust imprisonment and disappearance of Celil is a threat to all Canadians is because China captured Celil in Uzbekistan as a result of his involvement in Uyghur rights advocacy in Canada, and so his illegal abduction poses a threat to all Canadians fundamental rights to freedom of expression, he said. Conservative MP Garnett Genuis said that Canadian lawmakers have continually called on the government to prioritize seeking Celils release. However, indications are that the Canadian government has not raised this case to the same degree or at the same level with Chinese authorities and has not raised it with the Biden administration, he told The Globe and Mail in late September. Pressure on the government Memet Tohti, executive director of the Canada-based Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, said Canadians have criticized their government, suggesting there is discrimination in Huseyins case because he is Muslim. People are wondering why there is no justice for Huseyin Celil, he said. The Canadian government cant explain why this is, Tohti said. Even a piece in the Toronto Star asked if its because Huseyin Celil is Muslim and a Uyghur. Writers are asking questions like this, so theres very significant pressure on the government right now. Tohti and Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, who is currently visiting Canada, met with an advisor to the Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau on Sept. 28 to discuss Huseyins case. The ministry representative told them that the Canadian government has raised the issue in meetings with the Chinese and would continue to do so, Tohti said. He said that the Canadian government will put the Huseyin Celil issue in a significant place at the same time as they continue working on the Uyghur, Tibet, and Hong Kong issues, Tohti said. Huseyins wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, told RFA that she has not been in touch with her husband or received any information about his condition since 2016 or 2017, when China began operating its network of detention camps in Xinjiang. As many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have been cycled through internment camps that the government calls vocational training centers meant to prevent religious extremism and terrorism. But Uyghurs who have been through detention describe being detained against their will and facing harsh living conditions, intense monitoring, and heavy-handed indoctrination sessions. Telendibaeva called on the Canadian government to renew its focus on her husbands case. So, now that the Canadian government has proved they can deal with China, they can bring their citizens [home] from Chinese prisons, she said. Hopefully, the next step is going to be my husband. Hopefully theyre going to deal with Chinese [leader] Xi Jinping or theyre going to deal with Chinese authorities to bring my husband back. In February, the Canadian parliament passed a unanimous nonbinding motion declaring China's treatment of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang a genocide, becoming the second country after the U.S. to make that determination. Lawmakers also included an amendment to the motion, calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Winter Olympics from Beijing if the Chinese government continued the abusive practices. At the time, China strongly condemned the move, saying the country had lodged stern representations with Canada. Canada needs to maintain the advocacy for Celil, especially now, because the government cant just settle for accepting the two Michaels, said Diamond of the Raoul Wallenberg Center. We need to continue bringing up Celils case at every level and every opportunity. Reported by Adile Ablet for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by the Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Turkey has been one of the most hospitable countries to Uyghurs, with whom Turks share ethnic, religious, and linguistic connections. Turkeys government has offered Uyghurs a safe place to live outside northwestern Chinas Xinjiang region. About 50,000 Uyghurs are believed to live in Turkey the largest Uyghur diaspora outside Central Asia. In March, hundreds of Uyghurs living in Turkey and their supporters protested in Istanbul against alleged abuses of the minority in Xinjiang during a state visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. They called on China to stop the alleged genocide of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, where an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have been detained in an extensive network of internment camps. But as Ankaras economic ties to Beijing have grown, the Turkish government has subdued its criticism of China. On Sept. 18, the Turkish government for the third time refused to allow Dolkun Isa, president of the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress, to enter the country on the pretext that he posed a threat to national security, even though a court in Ankara earlier this year lifted a ban on his entry. Three days later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cautiously mentioned the Uyghur human rights situation in China during a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. RFAs Uyghur Service recently interviewed Yalcn Topcu, Erdogans chief adviser since 2016, at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Turkeys policy on the Uyghurs and why the country has been silent of late on their situation. RFA: The human rights situation of the Uyghurs is very concerning, and some countries around the world have declared that Chinas treatment of the Uyghurs is a genocide. Why has Turkey remained silent on this topic? Topcu: Our Uyghur brothers and sisters should never worry. First God is always with them, then the Turkish state and the Turkish people. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a few days ago at the U.N. General Assembly that the rights of the Uyghurs should be protected. He made the remarks in front of leaders of countries around the world. Uyghurs should not worry about Turkey not supporting them or not being on their side. The Turkish government has always talked about the situation of Uyghurs to China in accordance with international law and will continue to do so. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always stressed that Chinese leaders should always respect the rights of the Uyghurs and that China should give the Uyghurs real autonomy. RFA: Why did the Turkish government forbid World Uyghur Congress president Dolkun Isa from entering the country after he arrived at Ankaras Esenboga Airport on Sept. 18, even though a Turkish court had lifted a ban on his entry? Topcu: There may have been some legal and administrative misconduct. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we [the Turkish government] became aware of the situation that arose when Dolkun Isa came to Turkey to visit Erkin Alptekin [a Uyghur activist from Germany]. We are observing and trying to solve this problem. We have all the documents about the lifting of Dolkun Isas entry ban into Turkey, and if this is due to some personal mistakes, we will fix it as soon as possible. RFA: You said that the Turkish government is trying to protect the human rights of the Uyghurs, and you also said that the President Erdogan has twice responded strongly to China. Meanwhile, the Uyghurs in Turkey are fleeing to other countries. What should Turkey do to address this? Topcu: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Foreign Ministry, and the Turkish Embassy in China have always called on China to respect the human rights of the Uyghurs. We respect Chinas territorial integrity which might be a sensitive topic to them. But we have always said the following to China: China is a big country, and we want relations between Turkey and China to be good. This relationship will also bring peace to our region. Because it is called the Uyghur Autonomous Region, it must exercise its autonomy, and if you give to our Uyghur brothers and sisters their rights, it will also benefit China's relations with other countries. China is a big country; big countries should give their people the rights. These words continue to be uttered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, our Foreign Ministry, and our ambassadors to Beijing. If peace is built in the world, it will be good for all of us. Controversy, lawlessness, [and] injustice are of no use to anyone, nor are they to the countries that claim to be a powerful state. Human rights must be respected in order to make peace in the world. No matter what anyone says, the Turkish government supports the Uyghurs, and the 84 million Turkish people support the Uyghurs. Let the Uyghurs be calm and be a little patient. We know that the current situation of the Uyghurs is very serious and there are people who are being harmed by Chinas harsh policies. We are watching all this. We are a country, and we are concerned about this issue in accordance with international law. Our countrys supreme leader is speaking about the plight of Uyghurs to Chinas top leader. I would like to remind you that we will meet the demand of our Uyghur brothers and sisters in Turkey to become Turkish citizens as soon as possible. Reported by Erkin Emet for RFAs Uyghur Service. Translated by the Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Acrimony between Britain and France has been stoked by the newly announced AUKUS (Australia-U.K.-U.S) security pact that led to Australia cancelling a big submarine contract with France. The British frigate HMS Richmond at Cam Ranh port in Vietnam at the start of a four-day visit, Oct. 1, 2021. A British frigate on Monday completed a visit to Vietnam and left some turbulence in its wake an unlikely spat on social media between Britain and France. Acrimony between Britain and France has been stoked by Brexit and the newly announced AUKUS (Australia-U.K.-U.S) security pact that led to Australia cancelling a big submarine contract with France in favor of the U.S. and the U.K. technologies. Those tensions bubbled to the surface when HMS Richmond, part of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group, arrived in central Vietnam last Friday on a four-day visit. The British Embassy in Vietnam posted a picture of the frigate docked at Cam Ranh Bay in its Twitter page saying the visit demonstrates the U.K.'s commitment to a persistent & reliable presence in the Indo-Pacific. Several hours later, the official account of the French Embassy in Vietnam (@FranceauVietnam) replied in the same post: Nice ship @UKinVietnam (British Embassys account)! Ours seems a little bit larger though. It was in Cam Ranh as well last spring. It also retweeted some photos from April when the French Navys helicopter carrier Tonnerre and frigate Surcouf visited Cam Ranh. The two ships were taking part in the navys Jeanne Darc 2021 mission aimed at reaffirming Frances commitment and interest in the Indo-Pacific. The Tonnerre (Thunder) is a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship with a displacement of 21,500 tons and can carry 16 heavy helicopters. The HMS Richmond carries one helicopter, a Wildcat HMA.2 and has a displacement if 4,900 tons. The French Embassys post caused quite a bit of a stir on social media with hundreds of Twitter users chiming in, some calling it silly and infantile. One comment reads in French: Nous, on en a une plus grosse! Et nananere (We have a bigger one! Nah nah nah) Another comment, presumably by a British user: How sweet, someone who still thinks that size matters. Another commenter, who calls himself Danny Smith: Our aircraft carriers are a little larger than yours. Sorry no; they are a lot larger and we have 2! But the bonhomie exchange seemed getting more intense with remarks such as: I expect better from the embassy of a country that gave us Descartes, Voltaire and Sartre, besides many other great thinkers. Hannah Neumann, a German member of European Parliament, or MEP, was obviously disapproving: Were it about plastic boats in the swimming pool, it would be funny. And an American reader summed it up: As an American I have to say its entertaining to watch you guys go at it. Last month, Canberra cancelled a $27.5 billion submarine contract with France and announced that Australia would build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with technologies provided by the U.S. and U.K. Paris called this decision a stab in the back and recalled its ambassadors from the U.S. and Australia but resent the French envoy to Washington two weeks later. Frances defense minister Florence Parly also cancelled talks with her British counterpart. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stepped in by telling France to get a grip and give Britains allies a break. His schoolboy Frenglish was reportedly not received very well in French media. Johnson is also the leader who navigated the U.K.s acrimonious exit from the European Union in 2020. A round of trade talks between Australia and the European Union, scheduled to start on 12 October, have been postponed until next month. The HMS Richmond was completing its visit to Vietnam on Monday with a PASSEX (passing exercise) drill with Vietnamese partners on the way out. The visit occurred amid the largest-ever reshuffling of Vietnams coastguard leadership, with the forces commander, Lt General Nguyen Van Song, getting sacked for mismanagement and corruption. Eight other high-ranking officials also got dismissed from the Communist Party and were disciplined. Before HMS Richmond had arrived in Vietnam, the frigate angered China when it passed through the Taiwan Strait, prompting Beijing to condemn what it called the U.K.s insidious intention. Videos of security forces in Vietnam using violence against citizens go viral on social media. 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. A Vietnamese woman violently forced by authorities to take a coronavirus test in an encounter that went viral on social media will file a lawsuit against the government, she said Tuesday. Police in the city of Thuan An, in the southern province of Binh Duong, last week cut a lock on the door of Hoang Thi Phuong Lans apartment and dragged her out to a testing site in front of the building. Lan had told them that she had already tested negative for COVID-19 and was in the middle of teaching an online yoga class at the time of the incident. She also said she was afraid of getting infected at a crowded testing site. I have the right not to let anyone touch my body, and what they did was absolutely wrong from a legal standpoint, and it also went against the regulations on pandemic prevention and control, Lan said in a livestreamed Facebook video. It was wrong that they decided to give me a fine even after they were able to get my specimen. Therefore, I am taking legal action, she said. Lawyers told local media and RFAs Vietnamese Service that the police broke the law and violated Lans human rights. State media reported after the incident 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 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 in this weeks video that she received the local governments decision to fine her two million dong (U.S. $88) for health law violations. She also said that she was afforded no opportunity to contest the fine with local authorities. Authorities were in the wrong for forcing Lan to be tested, Bui Quang Thang, a lawyer, told RFA. According to the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, Ms. Lan was not suspected of having a transmissible disease as there was no information about her close contact with an infected case or about her own infection, said Thang. Therefore, she cannot be subject to a forced test. As a result, fining Ms. Lan for not taking a test as requested by heath authorities is unreasonable If the trial is fair, Ms. Lan has a good chance of winning this case, he said. Thuan Ans Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control issued a decision to reprimand Quan, for his role in directing the police to break into Lans home and force her to get tested, but according to the authorities, the administrative fine against Lan is meant as a deterrent to would-be offenders. Lans case is only one example of many incidents where authorities are caught on video committing violence against citizens. In the city of Bien Hoa in neighboring Dong Nai province, authorities Monday said they were investigating a case of beatings perpetrated by a group of people wearing militia uniforms. The incident occurred near Market K860 in Bien Hoas Long Binh Ward, when the group in militia uniforms detained two young men. One person was subdued on the ground by the group, while the other was repeatedly beaten on his back and legs with police batons. Video footage of the incident shows that the men in militia uniforms kept striking the two men even after a police officer arrived, state media reported. In an interview with the local Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper, a representative from Bien Hoa Citys Police confirmed the incident and said that they had summoned those involved for an investigation. Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Azerbaijan has closed a mosque and an office linked to Iran's supreme leader in Baku just days after Tehran held military maneuvers close to the two countries' common border. "The [Husseiniyya] mosque and the office of Seyyed Ali Akbar Ojaghnejad, representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Baku, were sealed and closed today by order of the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Iran's Tasnim agency said on October 5. Azerbaijan's Interior Ministry said in a statement that the cause for the closure, which also affected other indoor spaces, was a surge in coronavirus infections. "Husseiniyya Mosque is one of the places where the coronavirus has been spreading in recent days. Appropriate measures are being taken by the epidemiological service," the ministry's press service said in a statement on October 5. Ojaghnejad has been Khamenei's representative in Azerbaijan since 1996, according to the website of his office, which is located on the premises of the mosque. Iran's embassy in Baku said in a statement on the evening of October 5 that it had followed up on the matter through diplomatic channels, adding that there had been no advance warning of the move. Tensions have been high recently between the two neighbors, who share a 700-kilometer border. Iranian ground forces began maneuvers near the frontier on October 1, a move criticized by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. "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 Turkish news agency Anadolu. "There were no such incidents in the 30 years of Azerbaijan's independence." Iranian officials have dismissed Azerbaijan's criticism, saying it is their sovereign right to conduct military exercises on their territory. They also claimed that third-party forces -- a reference to Iran's arch-foe Israel -- are playing a provocative role in the deterioration of Azerbaijani-Iranian relations. "Iran will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near our borders," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said. On October 5, Azerbaijan denied Tehran's allegations of an Israeli military presence in the Caucasus country after the Iranian Army launched the exercises. Israel is a main arms supplier to Azerbaijan, which last year won a six-week war with its neighbor Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva said on October 4 that Iran's claims of a third-party presence near the Azerbaijani-Iranian border were "totally baseless." Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahiann last week told Azerbaijan's ambassador that his country would not tolerate Israel's presence or activity "next to our borders" and vowed to take any necessary action. Azerbaijan and Iran have long been at loggerheads over Tehran's backing of Armenia in the decades-long Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Also fueling tensions between the two neighbors is Baku's move to slap customs taxes on Iranian truckers transiting to Armenia. There are some 10 million ethnic Azerbaijanis among Iran's 83 million people, and Tehran has always been uneasy about separatist feelings among them. With reporting by AFP A Belarusian journalist who has been behind bars for four days is facing charges over an article he wrote about a deadly raid by officers of the Committee of State Security (KGB) on a Minsk apartment a week ago. Henadz Mazheyka, a correspondent for the Belarusian edition of the Moscow-based Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, was indicted for insulting a government official or inciting social hatred, the Interior Ministry said on October 4. The charges carry sentences of up to 12 years in prison. The authorities have detained nearly 120 people across Belarus on similar charges since a September 28 shooting in the capital in which an IT worker and a KGB officer died, according to the Minsk-based human rights group Vyasna. The group says the arrests are connected to comments on social media about the incident. The Interior Ministry said that Mazheyka was arrested on October 1 upon arriving in Minsk from Russia, where he tried to travel to an unspecified third country. Russian authorities ordered him to return back to Belarus as he had been labeled an undesirable person in Russia, the ministry said. Komsomolskaya Pravda in Moscow quoted Mazheyka's relatives as saying on October 5 that the journalist has been transferred to a detention facility in the town of Zhodina, near Minsk. Belarusian authorities blocked Komsomolskaya Pravda's website last week after Mazheyka's article was published about Andrey Zeltsar, an employee of the U.S.-based EPAM Systems IT company who was shot dead during last month's shooting incident. In the article, a classmate of Zeltsar remembers him as a decent person. The Union of Journalists of Russia urged Belarusian authorities to immediately release the journalist, describing his arrest as "pressure on independent journalism" in Belarus. Belarus was engulfed by protests last year after a presidential election in August -- which the opposition and the West say was rigged -- gave authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth consecutive term. In response, the government has cracked down hard on the pro-democracy movement and independent media, arresting thousands of people and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country. The opposition and the West have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the countrys legitimate leader and called for a new, independently monitored vote. With reporting by TASS and Komsomolskaya Pravda The European Commission is looking into complaints that Gazprom is using its position as a major supplier to propel gas prices, the European Union's energy policy chief said. The Russian supplier has been fulfilling its sales obligations under long-term contracts but is not adding more. That has drawn accusations by EU lawmakers that it is pushing up gas prices in Europe, which have surged to record highs. "We are looking into this claim, together with Executive Vice President (Margrethe) Vestager, who is responsible for competition rules, because it is of course a very serious matter," European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told Reuters. Gazprom and the Kremlin have repeatedly said Russia has been supplying its customers with gas in accordance with existing contracts. Moscow is awaiting regulatory approval for its Nord Stream 2 pipeline to start pumping gas to Germany. Nord Stream 2 AG, a Switzerland-based company owned by a subsidiary of Gazprom, said in a statement on October 4 that it has begun filling the pipeline with gas. Opponents of the controversial pipeline say Russia has applied pressure to try to speed up the project's approval by not supplying extra gas to Europe as prices have surged. Brussels will next week publish a "toolbox" outlining countries' options to respond to energy price spikes, such as consumer subsidies and energy tax breaks. Some governments have already rolled out such measures. Countries including Spain, France, and Poland have said the price crunch should be met with a coordinated EU response, such as reforms to EU energy market regulations, or common gas purchasing by member states. Simson said a faster transition to green energy would be the most effective way to protect Europe against fuel price spikes. The EU is preparing to implement a raft of measures to cut emissions faster this decade, including taxes on polluting fuels, a new carbon market for buildings and transport, and a multibillion-euro fund to help low-income consumers invest in green options. Russian President Vladimir Putin told a government meeting on October 5 that green energy and low investment in the extraction industries were to blame for what he said were "hysteria and some confusion" in Europe's energy market. "Some people are speculating on climate change issues, some people are underestimating some things, some are starting to cut back on investments in the extractive industries. There needs to be a smooth transition" to green energy, he said. He also called for the sustainable development of the oil, gas, and coal sectors and said it was important that this was not neglected. With reporting by Reuters The crowd was probably smaller than Mikheil Saakashvili would have hoped. On the evening of October 4, hundreds, not thousands, of people gathered outside a prison in Georgia to demand the release of the country's controversial former president. Three days earlier, on October 1, Saakashvili had returned from Ukraine hoping to make a political comeback in his homeland by leading the opposition movement to victory in crucial elections. It didn't work. Just hours after he posted videos on Facebook saying he had returned to the country, Saakashvili was arrested and incarcerated in Rustavi, a small city 25 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tbilisi. And in nationwide local elections held the next day, the United National Movement (ENM), the party Saakashvili founded, was outpolled decisively by the ruling Georgian Dream party. The relatively small crowd outside the prison in Rustavi suggests that Saakashvili's popularity in his homeland is not what it once was, analysts say. "Saakashvili underestimates how much Georgia has moved on since he left. He has 20 or 30 percent support, but a larger percentage of people opposes him or are indifferent," said Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, in an interview with RFE/RL. "He thinks of himself as a savior who can trigger another Rose Revolution but I don't think the Georgian public is interested in that, to be honest," de Waal said, referring to the 2003 protest movement that swept aside the corrupt Soviet-era elite and brought Saakashvili to power. As president, Saakashvili was first credited with pushing through much-needed reforms, triggering praise in the West, but rumblings of discontent grew among those Georgians impacted by his changes. Over time, the charismatic and polarizing Saakashvili accumulated many critics, who faulted him for his increasingly autocratic style of rule. Saakashvili left Georgia in 2014 and became a Ukrainian citizen, where he served as governor of the Odesa region before falling out with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017, and, after a series of standoffs with the authorities, was finally deported to Poland in 2018. In 2018, a court in Georgia sentenced Saakashvili to six years in prison for abuse of power, after he was accused of trying to cover up evidence relating to the beating of an opposition lawmaker. He also faces several other charges stemming from his 2004-13 presidency, including the violent dispersal of a protest and a raid on a television station started by a political rival. While Saakashvili's motivations for returning are unclear, some observers have speculated that the former president sensed his chances of a political comeback were greater than ever. The October 2 elections were viewed as a referendum on the ruling Georgian Dream party, whose popularity has dipped recently. Georgia was plunged into political turmoil last year after opposition parties said elections won by the ruling party were rigged. The country has recently been rocked by a wiretapping scandal, which appears to show the widescale and long-running state surveillance of prominent journalists, clergymen, and public officials. Ahead of the latest poll, Saakashvili issued a video appeal for Georgians to not only vote but to take to the streets a day after the polls closed. "Georgia hasn't had a weaker government in the nine years since Saakashvili left power," said Egor Kuroptev, director of the Free Russia Foundation in the South Caucasus. "[The government is] the weakest, and, in principle, not very legitimate -- not in terms of elections, but their own record of action. It's been nothing but scandal and chaos, unfortunately," he told Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA. And while the ruling party appears to have scored a convincing victory, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said that Saakashvili's arrival had helped the opposition and accounted for Georgian Dream losing support. The ruling party's mayoral candidates failed to surpass the required 50 percent threshold in the key cities of Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti, and Rustavi and runoffs are scheduled for October 30. Jail Time Georgia's ruling authorities have so far given little indication that Saakashvili will be treated leniently. Gharibashvili said on October 3 that Saakashvili, who dismisses the charges against him as politically motivated, would serve his full term of six years in prison. President Salome Zurabishvili, a former ally who was Saakashvili's first foreign minister, has said that she will not consider offering him a pardon. How much jail time Saakashvili will actually serve is unclear, but Kuroptev says that he will, at the latest, be freed when parliamentary elections are held in 2024. "Of course, he has no guarantees when he will be released from prison. Will it be in two days or two years?" Kuroptev told Current Time. "I would, however, argue with those who contend he will serve the full six years because there will anyhow be a change of power in 2024," he said. "But that is the maximum [time he will serve] as the situation in the country is far from simple." Supporters outside the prison in Rustavi have said they will continue their protests in the coming days, while Saakashvili himself has vowed to continue a hunger strike he reportedly started after his arrest. But if those tactics prove to be ineffective, Saakashvili may be reliant on outside actors to secure his freedom. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who restored his Ukrainian citizenship back in 2019, has vowed to work for the release of Saakashvili, who since May 2020 has headed the president's executive committee of the National Reforms Council, a body tasked with overseeing reforms in the corruption-ridden country. What exactly Zelenskiy will be able to achieve, though, is unclear, argues Kornely Kakachia, director of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Politics. Ultimately, Zelenskiy, will be careful not to harm ties with Tbilisi, a key backer for Kyiv, he said. The U.S. State Department said on October 4 that Washington was paying close attention to developments in Georgia and urged the government in Tbilisi to ensure Saakashvili is treated fairly. Kakachia said that there will likely be more red flags for the West after statements by the Georgian prime minister that "more articles," or criminal charges, will be added to Saakashvili's case if "he does not behave." "These types of statements should not be coming from the prime minister but the judiciary," Kakachia told RFE/RL. The options Western countries may have are likely limited, de Waal says. "This is a nightmare for Georgia's Western partners. They are doing everything they can to get Georgia out of this bizarre political polarization and move on to a pragmatic, real political agenda, but it's gotten a whole lot worse," de Waal said, adding that Gharibashvili was likely to ignore Western appeals. "Georgian Dream doesn't listen to the West in its war on Saakashvili," de Waal said, noting that earlier this year Tbilisi refused an $89 million EU loan that was conditioned on judicial reform and upholding a power-sharing agreement that Brussels had brokered. Despite a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 56,000 Iranians, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned Western coronavirus vaccines, claiming theyre untrustworthy. The import of American and British vaccines is banned, Khamenei said on January 8. The surprise announcement was met with anger by Iranians who have in past weeks called on their government to purchase safe vaccines as soon as possible. Analysts and experts accused Khamenei of politicizing the issue and endangering the well-being of Iranian citizens, who are faced with the Middle Easts deadliest outbreak. Why Did Iran Ban Western Coronavirus Vaccines? The decision appears to be the result of the worldview of Khamenei, Irans highest political and religious authority. Khamenei is deeply mistrustful of the United States and other Western countries and has cited unfounded conspiracy theories about the coronavirus's origins since the early weeks of the outbreak in Iran. The ban also highlights Tehrans tense ties with Washington, which have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump left the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed crippling sanctions. Speaking on January 8, Khamenei claimed that Western companies want to test their vaccines on Iranians. If their Pfizer company can produce vaccines, why dont they use it themselves so that they dont have so many dead? The same applies to Britain," Khamenei said. He meanwhile failed to acknowledge that such vaccines had already been deployed in Western countries, where a number of national leaders have been among the first to receive them in an effort to instill public confidence. "Our people will not be a testing device for vaccine manufacturing companies," the Iranian leader said. His country will purchase safe foreign vaccines, he said, without providing details. Meanwhile, Iranian health authorities have promoted the possible import of vaccines from India, China, or Russia, and reportedly even agreed to allow a Cuban vaccine candidate to be tested on Iranians. Ali Vaez, director of the International Crisis Group's (ICG) Iran Project, says the ban is the triumph of ideology over common sense. Its not just a reckless politicization of the Iranian peoples well-being, but an ill-advised political move, Vaez told RFE/RL. Early in the outbreak, in March, Khamenei dismissed an offer of assistance by the Trump administration, which has refused to ease sanctions despite the pandemic and calls for such a move from UN officials, some U.S. lawmakers, and others. Khamenei also went so far as to suggest -- without citing evidence -- that the coronavirus that has now killed nearly 400,000 Americans might have been manufactured by the United States. Iranian officials have complained that the sanctions have hampered their efforts to contain the crisis. Khameneis ban followed a December 28 announcement by the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) that a group of U.S.-based philanthropists had donated 150,000 doses of a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that were supposed to be transferred to Iran within three weeks. Following Khameneis ban, an IRCS spokesman said the plan had been dropped. Saeid Golkar, a senior fellow on Iran policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, called the ban another example of [Khamenei's] micromanagement and intervention in the everyday lives of citizens. Ayatollah Khamenei makes this inefficient and ultimately authoritarian regime more ineffective, Golkar told RFE/RL. What Are Supporters Of The Ban Saying? Since Khameneis public announcement of the ban, government officials have fallen in line by criticizing Western vaccines. President Hassan Rohani said on January 9 that some companies wanted to test their products on our people, without getting into specifics. The hard-line parliament on January 11 echoed support for a ban on Western-made vaccines. In doing so, it appeared to fabricate evidence for such a move. "Due to evidence of shock, side effects, and even deaths in some cases after injecting the vaccines, including those from Pfizer, the government should ban the import of vaccines produced by American, British, and French companies," 200 of the 290 parliament members said in a statement. Iranian officials had previously suggested that the country did not have the required infrastructure to handle the Pfizer vaccine, which must be stored at extremely low temperatures, and also suggested it was too expensive. Hard-liners have made similarly unfounded claims that Western vaccines can cause serious health issues such as cancer and infertility, or even turn Iranians into robots. An official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed, inexplicably, that companies that produce COVID-19 vaccines are working to reduce the worlds population by 20 percent. There is evidence that these institutions have themselves manipulated and infected the virus, deputy IRGC coordinator Mohammad Reza Naghdi said. A former IRGC commander claimed this week that some Western companies inject global-positioning technology into peoples bodies via vaccines to control them. They want to control us to the point that we become Ironmen, Hossein Kanani Moghadam was quoted by Iranian media as saying. What Are Opponents Of The Ban Saying? Medical experts have said that there is no basis for the anti-Western vaccine claims and warned that Iran's ban could complicate its peoples timely access to COVID-19 preventatives. Its an ideological decision. Its not based on science, Tehran-based psychiatrist Hessam Firouzi told RFE/RLs Radio Farda. We shouldnt ban medicine from some countries because were having problems with them, Firouzi said, adding that Western medicine and vaccines are routinely used in Iran. In a letter to Rohani, Irans Medical Council called for the purchase of effective vaccines based on a scientific approach and free from political issues to inoculate vulnerable groups as quickly as possible. The council said separately that 200 Iranian doctors have died of COVID-19 and that more than 3,000 have emigrated since the outbreak in Iran began. Many Iranians took to Twitter to criticize the ban. Former Interior Ministry official Mostafa Tajzadeh said that no official, not even the supreme leader, has the right to make unprofessional comments about how to deal with the coronavirus or make decisions contrary to the recommendations of experts. To highlight the perceived absurdity of the ban, some people have posted a photo in which Khameneis doctor -- U.S.-educated Alireza Marandi -- is seen next to German scientist Ugur Sahin, who helped create the Pfizer vaccine. Sahin was the 2019 recipient of Irans biennial Mustafa Prize for leading Muslim scientists. What Are Iranians' Options? Some Health Ministry officials have recently promoted COVID-19 vaccines developed by China that are already being rolled out in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and the Seychelles. The head of Irans Medical Council, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, said on January 12 that the country will import 2 million coronavirus vaccines before the Iranian New Year on March 21 from India, China, or Russia. Zafarghandi also suggested that Iran could still purchase British-Swiss pharmaceutical AstraZeneca's vaccine, which was developed with the University of Oxford. I dont understand why it is called a British vaccine. It has been manufactured by Sweden and its scientific research has been done in Oxford, he said. He added that its purchase from various sources is on the agenda. Iran has also said that it is collaborating on a coronavirus vaccine with a Cuban research institute, despite international questions about its testing methods. Last month, officials in Tehran said they had launched a clinical trial of Iran's first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine. Those tests are presumably ongoing but, even if they are effective, it could take months before the vaccine could be deployed and it might run into the kind of public distrust that has accompanied Iranian officials' dubious infection statistics since the first days of the crisis. Ive been a physician for 20 years, [and] I can say that 70 percent of my patients ask me whether they should buy the Iranian or foreign version of medications I prescribe. Isnt the Western-made one better?" Firouzi quoted them as saying. Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Zarghami contributed to this report. Iran's Guardians Council will review its decision to exclude several prominent candidates for this months presidential election after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized the electoral vetting body. "In the vetting process some candidates were wronged. They were accused of untrue things, Khamenei said on national television on June 4. Protecting peoples honor is one of the most important issues. I call on the responsible bodies to restore their honor, he said. Iran's ultra-conservative election watchdog, the Guardians Council, approved only seven candidates from a field of nearly 600 applicants, with the hard-line judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi considered the establishments shoo-in figure for the June 18 vote. The Guardians Council came under criticism for barring a number of prominent candidates, including more moderate figures close to outgoing President Hassan Rohani that may have a chance against Raisi. Rohani, who cannot seek a third term, said during a weekly cabinet meeting on May 26 that he wished the Guardians Council would select more candidates to ensure greater "competition" in the June vote. Among those barred from the election are former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, and Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Former president Mahmud Ahmadinejad was also barred and said he would boycott the election. Following the criticism from Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran's affairs, the Guardians Council said it will revise some of its decisions. "The orders of the supreme leader are final and his ruling must be obeyed. The Guardians Council will soon announce its opinion, acknowledging that it is not immune to error," Guardians Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei tweeted. Khameneis statement amounts to a reversal of opinion, after he expressed support last month for the Guardians Council's decision. Analysts say Khameneis criticism may reflect concern about low voter turnout and boycotts, which could be read as a no-confidence vote in the entire establishment. In his address, Khamenei urged voters to turn out, warning that staying away would mean doing the work of the "enemies of Islam." "Some want to give up the duty to participate in the election with absurd reasons," Khamenei said in the televised speech. Khamenei last week made similar calls urging people not to heed calls to boycott the poll. A record 57 percent of Iranians did not vote in parliamentary elections in February last year in which thousands of candidates, many of them moderates and reformists, were barred from running. With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters Suspicions of election irregularities that marred two previous parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan triggered revolutions that ousted two separate presidents. The Central Asian country will go to the polls again on November 28, and there are already accusations of misuse of funds and gerrymandering, the practice of redrawing electoral districts in a way that gives one political party or candidate an advantage. New electoral laws have reduced the number of seats in parliament -- the Jogorku Kenesh, or Supreme Council -- from 120 to 90 seats. Of these, 54 seats will be elected through national party lists and the remaining 36 will be decided in single-mandate districts, also referred to as single-winner voting. The new rules mean voting districts need to be redrawn, a contentious issue that has led to claims of foul play. There are nearly 3.7 million eligible voters in Kyrgyzstan, according to the Central Election Commission (BShK), which decided each voting district should have around 100,000 voters. The BShK finished redrawing the voting districts on September 5. But in a move that raised eyebrows, it then redrew several districts just days later. "One of the main requirements of the districts is that the number of voters must be the same," Abdyjapar Bekmatov, a member of the BShK, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service last month. But Bekmatov, speaking after the first round of redistricting, said it had emerged "that in some districts there were 80,000 voters and in others 120,000 voters." Because of this, he said, "it was necessary to change the boundaries." Not everyone was convinced by the official reasoning. "The map of the districts approved by the BShK has no logic," lawmaker Anvar Artykov told RFE/RL. Artykov said the redrawing of voting districts looked like "a group of people made decisions and created [favorable] conditions for four or five candidates." Artykov is not alone in suspecting that some districts had been "tailor-made" for certain candidates. "I was elected as a deputy in Bazar-Korgon," said lawmaker Saydulla Nyshanov, referring to a district in the southern region of Jalal-Abad. "Now it is being joined to Toguz-Torou [district]. These districts are not even directly connected by road." Nyshanov added that Bazar-Korgon, which he said had 97,000 voters, should be a separate voting district. The 36 seats that will be decided through single-mandate districts is the lowest in Kyrgyzstan's history. In the 1995 and 2000 elections, Kyrgyzstan had a bicameral parliament. In 1995, parliament had 105 seats -- 35 in the Legislative Assembly and 70 in the Assembly of People's Representatives. All the seats were filled through voting in single-mandate districts. The parliament elected in 2000 also had 105 seats -- 60 in the Legislative Assembly, 45 of which were filled by voting in single-mandate districts and 15 from party lists. Another 45 seats in the Assembly of People's Representatives were elected through voting in single-mandate districts. In 2005, after constitutional changes restored a unicameral parliament, the number of seats was reduced to 75, all of them by voting in single-mandate districts. Party Lists New electoral laws, coming into effect on August 27, have also changed the national party-list system. One of the biggest complaints about the party-list system was a perception that candidates needed to buy their way onto the list. The view was that the more money a candidate offered, the higher their position on a party's list. Rumors had suggested that candidates had to fork out up to $1 million to occupy the top places on a party's list. If a party won five seats, the top five people on its list became parliamentary deputies. Sometimes, parties had more candidates on their list than there were seats in parliament. That has changed. No party list can have more than 54 candidates, the number of seats available through party lists. Previously, parties contesting parliamentary elections were assigned numbers on the ballots. The Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, for example, might be assigned number "6" on ballot papers. If voters want to cast ballots for Ata-Meken then they needed to check the box next to the number 6. But under the new system, people can select a specific candidate from the party. That candidate also has a number on his or her party list, a move that observers say will create confusion on election day. Lawmaker Janar Akaev says the changes to the party list system will not eliminate candidates from buying their way to the top of lists. "Now the most influential officials are recruiting rich people to the party," he told RFE/RL. Vote-buying has been a problem in many of Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary elections. While Akaev did not name any specific parties, he suggests that these practices are still threatening the conduct of November's elections. So far, about 75 parties have declared their intention to contest the vote, though that is likely to decrease to 20 or less before the elections. The electoral changes could further taint the legitimacy of current President Sadyr Japarov, who was the architect of the reforms. Japarov's government has been under growing scrutiny since his meteoric rise from prisoner to prime minister and then president in October 2020. Kyrgyzstan's parliamentary elections have sparked unrest before 2020. In 2005, parliamentary elections that saw numerous irregularities led to the ouster of the president and government. A fairer election would help Japarov, who is increasingly unpopular for failing to make good on the many promises he made. But already there are questions and suspicions about the conduct of these next elections. Gulaiym Ashekeeva and Kubat Kasymbekov of RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service contributed to this report The number of new coronavirus infections in Romania -- the EU member state with the second-lowest vaccination rate -- rose by a record 15,037 in the past 24 hours, authorities announced on October 5. The previous record -- 12,590 infections -- had been registered on October 2. A total of 1,289,156 cases have been registered in Romania since the start of the pandemic. RFE/RL's Coronavirus Coverage Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the countries in our region. There were 252 fatalities over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 to 37,929. Health officials said no intensive-care beds were available as of October 5 in Romania, a country of some 19.5 million. Only a little more than one-third of Romania's adult population has been vaccinated amid distrust in state institutions and misinformation campaigns. Only its neighbor and fellow EU member Bulgaria has vaccinated fewer people. About 40 percent of medical staff in Romania are not vaccinated. The government is considering making digital EU COVID-19 passports mandatory for them. On October 2, 12,000 people demonstrated in Bucharest against vaccines, mask wearing, and new measures by the authorities to curb the alarming surge in infections. Similar protests were held in other cities across the country. The Bucharest rally was organized by the far-right nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), a party that entered parliament following general elections in December. Complicating the situation, Romania's center-right government is expected to fall following a no-confidence vote on October 5. With reporting by G4media.ro and digi24.ro CHARANJIT SINGH CHANNI STAGED SILENT PROTEST AT GANDHI SAMARK TO EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH VICTIM FAMILIES OF LAKHIMPUR KHERI INCIDENT Chandigarh: Strongly condemning the tragic incident of Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday dared the BJP to respect the democratic ethics and values rather than perpetuating the rule of coercion (danda raj) to stifle the voice of people. Advertisement Staging a silent protest in front of the bust of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi at the Gandhi Samark Bhawan, the Chief Minister accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues, MLAs, and party workers resolved not to succumb to the excesses of the BJP led government in Centre and states to intimidate the people by unleashing a reign of terror. Advertisement Equating the barbarous incident of Lakhimpur Kheri with the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Chief Minister said that this recent incident was pre-planned to intentionally crush the innocent farmers who were peacefully protesting against the farm laws. Channi said that BJP would not succeed in its nefarious designs to indulge in such atrocious activities to demoralize the farmers, thus diverting them from their path of peaceful agitation. Later talking to the media persons, the Chief Minister slammed the UP government to arrest the national Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi who had planned to meet the victim families at Lakhimpur Kheri to express their solidarity with them in this hour of grief. He said that with such acts, the Congress would emerge far stronger to eventually oust the BJP government not only in Centre but in other states also. Advertisement The Chief Minister cautioned the Centre not to force our youth to follow the revolutionary path in wake of such unfortunate incidents of Lakhimpur Kheri who would ultimately draw inspiration from the legendary martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, and Udham Singh to seek justice. Channi appealed to the Centre to immediately repeal these farm laws not to let the peaceful atmosphere vitiate and should maintain peace, harmony, and brotherhood at all costs realizing its prime duty. Advertisement Earlier, the Chief Minister paid floral tributes at the bust of Mahatma Gandhi and firmly resolved to seek inspiration from the father of the nation to protect democratic rights. On the occasion, the Chief Minister also joined the dharna staged by the youth Congress workers of Chandigarh and raised slogans Bharat Mata ki Jai, Vande Mataram. Prominent amongst others who joined the protest included Cabinet Ministers Manpreet Singh Badal, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh, Pargat Singh, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Gurkirat Singh Kotli besides several MLAs and party leaders and workers. THE AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT ISSUED 147 APPOINTMENT LETTERS TO THE KINS OF DECEASED FARMERS CHANDIGARH: Accentuating its commitment to stand with farmers and their families in the hour of crisis, the Department of Agriculture today issued 147 appointment letters to the family members of farmers, who sacrificed their lives during the ongoing farmer agitation. Advertisement Randeep Nabha Stating this Randeep Nabha, Agriculture Minister Punjab said that under the dynamic leadership of Charanjit Singh Channi, Chief Minister Punjab these letters were handed over to the concerned ministers who would further take them to every household and personally hand it over to the concerned families. It was the firm promise of the State Government to give the job to the family members of the farmers who lost their precious lives in the ongoing agitation. The Department of Agriculture has issued appointment letters in tandem with the Department of Revenue, Education, and Health. The Government of Punjab strongly stands by the cause of farmers. ''One cannot compensate for the precious lives which have been lost but still, the dependents of the deceased must be compensated'', he stated. Charanjit Singh Channi Advertisement Nabha added that since Punjab is an agrarian state, which is feeding the poor of the nation with a contribution to the National Food Grain Pool @ 30-40% wheat and @ 25-30% rice and having a land area of 1.5 percent of the total land area of India. From the last one year, our farmers are sitting on the borders of the national capital protesting against the three black farm laws which were imposed by the Union Government. They only desired that these three laws passed by the Parliament be repealed and the Punjab Government already passed a resolution against these laws in assembly. Advertisement Farmers Protest Further, the Cabinet Minister said that strict instructions have been issued to all the deputy commissioners to expedite the pending claims at the earliest. AIR INDIA'S 'MAHARAJA' BACK TO ITS FOUNDER TATA! New Delhi: In a country where the gap between rich and poor is all-time high and trade is viewed with skepticism, the fact that Tata has won the Air India auction is surprising, yes or no. The Modi government does not seem ready to accept this victory. But if Ambani or Adani had won, there would have been a huge difference in the attitude of the government and public opinion. The difference in thinking between Ratan Tata and Mukesh Ambani is indicative of the difference in people's thinking. Advertisement Narendra Modi Today's situation of Air India is that if it does not find a buyer, it will close. It would be a real tragedy as Air India was the first flight in India to be flown by an Indian pilot. The pilot was Jahangir Ratan Damodar Tata, who dreamed of setting up his airline in India after a flight. He was the first Indian to get a pilot's license with no. 1. Ratan Damodar Tata Advertisement Launched in 1932 with an airplane, the company was once one of the world's leading airlines. In 1960, J.R.D. Tata company has been made government and gradually the best company in the hands of politicians has come to an end today. If the company returns to Tata's house today after 90 years, there are many reasons to celebrate its return home. First of all, who could be better than the family whose dream and hard work started this airline to make it Neil Gagan's 'Maharaja' again? The second reason is that for the Tata Group, whether it is Air India or the Taj Hotel, they have always put their patriotism first. Ratan Tata had studied abroad. His work is in the United States. Their roots are firmly rooted in India and they will work to save Air India not just as an industry but as a way to sustain the dream of an independent India. But the main reason is the thinking of Ratan Tata which is reflected in the entire Tata group. People working in the Tata Group are part of this group where they grow along with the industry. Advertisement Today, Mukesh Ambani and Adani are the richest people in India, but even though Ratan Tata has a much higher status. It is also believed that if Ratan had not donated to Tata Charity, he would have been one of the richest people in the world. About 68 percent of the Tata group's family wealth is spent on welfare, which reduces their wealth. Ratan Tata contributes to charitable causes not only in India but also in the United States, which makes him an international figure. Mukesh Ambani Advertisement Their thinking is that in the society in which they are working, from which they have become rich, if they do not become part of its welfare, then what is the use of this wealth? But they do not preach about their good deeds, nor do they stop moving forward. If more such entrepreneurs came, the dreams of the country's youth can be taken to new heights by joining hands with the governments in India. If Tatas wanted to enter agriculture, it would not be the turn of farmers to sit on the streets. We hope that the government will send Air India back to the Tata family to give a chance to a Maharaja of India to become the pride of the country forever. - Nimrat Kaur TALIBAN KILLED 13 ETHNIC HAZARAS, INCLUDING AFGHAN SOLDIERS Afghanistan: Reports claimed that the Taliban have killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including members of the Afghan national security forces who had surrendered to the insurgents. According to an investigation by Amnesty, the killings of the 11 Afghan national security forces and two civilians, among them a 17-year-old girl, took place in the village of Kahor in Daykundi province in central Afghanistan on August 30, a fortnight after the Taliban recaptured the country. These cold-blooded executions (of the Hazaras) are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan, Amnesty's secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, said. Advertisement Amnesty said Sadiqullah Abed, the Taliban-appointed chief of police for Daykundi, denied the killings and said that a member of the Taliban had been wounded in an attack in the province. Hazaras make up around 9 percent of Afghanistan's 36 million people and are often targeted because they are Shiite Muslims in a Sunni-majority country. Advertisement According to the Amnesty report, the Taliban took over the control of the Daykundi province dated August 14, and that an estimated 34 former soldiers sought the safety measures in Khidir district. Agreeing to surrender, the soldiers who had the government military equipment with them had to surrender. Mohammad Azim Sedaqat, who led the group's surrender, arranged to decommission the weapons in the presence of Taliban members. Nearly 300 Taliban fighters arrived in a convoy on August 30, close to Dahani Qul village, where the Afghan soldiers were staying, some with family members, according to Amnesty's report. After the fighters were caught with the leaving security force members and their families, the fire shots were made in the crowd that killed a 17-year-old girl named Masuma. It was even claimed that one soldier also fired back that killed a Taliban fighter and wounded another. The Taliban's continued to shoot as the families fled killing the two soldiers according to the claimed report. The report added that after nine soldiers surrendered, the Taliban took them to a nearby river basin and killed them. Amnesty said it verified photographs and video evidence taken in the aftermath of the killings. Fierce defender of personal property rights, vilified by environmental groups and long supported by developers, County Supervisor Bill Horn is on his way out. After 24 years representing District Five in the North County, the controversial and conservative supervisor, age 75, has been termed out of office and will soon return to his ranch in Valley Center to continue his business career. During Horns recent retirement party held at a Shelter Island restaurant, former County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard, who has been skewering county officials for years in song parody during similar occasions, said never before had he had so much material to work with. A few lines, to the tune of California, Here I Come: Advertisement Bill has always been a big supporter of our troops; Although I cant say the same for community planning groups; The chances of his taking their advice is pretty slim; Except for the rare occasion when they actually agree with him; Environmental groups are definitely not his fave; Endangered species hed rather eat than save; There isnt a piece of ground he doesnt want to pave Bill Horn is leaving government. Horn said if he had his druthers he would have liked to serve one more four-year term on the board, his seventh, because he enjoys the job and likes campaigning. But term limits enacted by voters earlier this decade, primarily to end the lock the supervisors have had on their seats for so long, have forced his hand. He will be replaced by San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond come January who will be charged with representing the interests of the district which includes major cities like Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista and San Marcos But Horn said there is a special place in his heart for the dozens of communities in the vast unincorporated parts of the 1,860 square-mile district like Fallbrook and Valley Center. You have a huge unincorporated population that needs to be serviced, he said. The supervisor is the mayor and city council for all the unincorporated area There are a lot of constituents to deal with. I really have enjoyed the people and the personalities in the communities. Linda Haddock, the executive director of the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce, has been a big Horn fan for years. Hes been our champion, Haddock said. He could spell RURAL. He understood the needs. Jims going to have big shoes to fill. One of the countless trips Horn has made to Borrego Springs over the years almost cost him his life. In 2006 he was heading out of the Borrego Valley up Montezuma Valley Road. I was doing 35 mph heading up the mountain and some Korean tourists were going down the mountain at 85 mph, he said. They had lost control of their car, got into my lane, and thank God at the last minute I decided to go left into their lane because they hit the right side of my car and and it put my engine in my passenger seat. A woman in the other car was killed in the accident and two men were severely injured. Horn broke his knee caps and ankle, but survived. Horn was a Marine captain in Vietnam, something he is not only very proud of but refers to frequently in his choice of battle-like phrasing. He is also a man of faith and once got in trouble for sending an email, in violation of county policy, to employees at work inviting them to join him in prayer. When he leaves office in a few weeks, Horn will concentrate on his businesses. Hes owned lower-end apartment buildings in Escondido and San Marcos, in some case, for more than 40 years, and hes currently involved in a project to expand a hotel in Solvang that he owns. He has always spoken his mind and it has occasionally landed him in trouble. His website once, he said mistakenly, listed the Silver Star among his honors and he once was quoted about gays in the military: I want the people defending me to be the best there is. I dont want any other ancillary kind of problems, whether or not they use their pinky finger. He is straightforward and rarely minces words. It isnt tough to figure out how he will vote. It is nice to know where Bill comes from. Its not too hard to imagine where hell stand on an issue, said Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, the newest member of the board who has served with Horn the past two years. Greg Cox, who was appointed supervisor just a few weeks after Horn and Ron Roberts took office and who himself will be termed out in 2020, called Horn a free spirit. He speaks his mind which on the one hand I admire and the other I would think maybe I wouldnt put it that way. But Bill is authentic and it has been an honor and a pleasure to work with him. Horn is both loved in some circles and despised in others. Horn said his time at war was not dissimilar to his tenure on the board. My goal the past 24 years was to make where I live the best I could make it, Horn said. Im a Marine so it was my watch. I wanted to do the best that I could with the skills that I had. I learned to delegate when I was in the Marine Corps. I was 25 years old and in charge of 274 young men for a year and a half. That was a lot of responsibility. Running the county is very similar to that. You have to delegate. You let people run with what they know they can do. If they cant do it you get rid of them and put somebody else in there. Horn said one of the things he is most proud of is the fiscal responsibility he helped bring to the county. When he took office in 1995 the county was on the verge of bankruptcy but now it boasts great financial health, an excellent bond rating, and large monetary reserves tucked away for emergencies, he said. Over the years hes been able to give money from the discretionary accounts each supervisor gets to distribute each year to Boys and Girls Clubs and veterans programs throughout his North County district. The ability to do that has come from the fact that we are fiscally solvent, he said. Other accomplishments Horn lists are the construction of eight new libraries in the county and five new sheriffs stations. The libraries I think are a huge legacy for the communities. Whether they know I built them or not, I think literacy is extremely important. He says he has been committed to improving roads throughout the district. When I became supervisor I asked how much was being spent in my district and it was about 9 percent, he said. I think we get about 30 percent of the road money now. These arent sexy things but theyre important. He also hopes the board continues to work toward the creation of a regional park along the San Luis Rey River Horn has championed. The county has been acquiring property for years for the park on both sides of state Route 76 from Interstate 15 west to Oceanside. Horn has been long known for his acerbic, controversial one-liners. One of his most famous was told to a reporter in 2005 when the supervisors were contemplating given themselves a $28,000 raise. It is true that we are elected, but nobody who got elected took a vow of poverty, Horn told a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter. Were not Franciscans. I never was a Franciscan, Horn said the other day. Im happy with the Good Lord but Abraham wasnt in poverty and neither am I. In 2007 he was fined more than $12,000 by the states Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to report rental income he received from his then-chief of Staff, Joan Wonsley, with whom he had helped buy a Carlsbad house three years earlier. Horn claimed it was a bookkeeping error, nothing more, and that he didnt realize he needed to report the income on state forms. Horns appreciation for money has long been a source of jokes. During his retirement gathering, one of his sons, Geoff Horn, told about a time his father and a friend were asked to leave an all-you-can-eat buffet. They were given their money back just so they would stop going back, over and over, for more bacon. He said his dad loves to save money. We thought wed try to develop the Bill Horn brake pad, Horn said. Not only does it stop on a dime but it also bends over and picks it up! During his many campaigns for reelection, Horn said he would always go around after his victories and collect his campaign signs, as well as those of other politicians who hadnt bothered to remove them. Id strip them down and save the parts. That way I wouldnt have to buy the wires the next time. As noted in Ekards song, Horn has always been a proponent of development which has incurred the wrath of many in the environmental community. Often community planning groups in the backcountry would recommend against housing or commercial projects, recommendations that usually fell on Horns deaf ears. In 2012 he cast the lone no vote to update the countys General Plan, a blueprint for the way development should take place with emphasis on building near established urbanized areas while keeping the unincorporated open spaces and agricultural areas free of large-scale housing. Now, Horn said it appears he has been right all along about the need for housing as the county finds itself in a housing shortage that is driving up the cost of homes and rents. Of course I was right all along. Have I ever been wrong? he said with a smile. I think you have to make a provision for growth. Either that or your kids arent going to be able to live here, period. Theyre going to go away and youll have to go visit them in Texas and Florida. He said the commute he has been making from Valley Center to the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego for years now takes him an hour and a half because of the traffic congestion on Interstate 15 caused by all the Inland Empire commuters leaving their less-expensive homes to go to jobs in San Diego. I will not miss that drive, to be very honest with you. One of Horns harshest critics has been Dan Silver, chief executive officer of the Endangered Habitats League, who has been on opposite sides of issues with the supervisor countless times. Silver said however he too was impressed by how Horn always speaks clearly and doesnt couch his thoughts in rhetoric. Hes never been known as a friend of the environment, yet he has supported many conservation projects in his district, Silver said. When you get down to the local level and get out of the abstract policy discussion property rights, whatever hes actually been constructive on many conservation projects that have benefited his constituents. Horn was at odds again with the Fair Political Practices Commission in 2015 which ruled he must recuse himself from discussions surrounding the Lilac Hills Ranch proposed development which would have been built within a few miles of his 36-acre Valley Center Ranch. With Horn unable to vote on the project, it appeared the board would have been split 2-2 on the issue. The project never went before the board as the developers instead tried to have it approved by voters in 2016. That effort failed and a new version of Lilac Hills Ranch is currently in limbo but could go before a new board next year. Horn is also pleased with the countys efforts to beef up fire protection. He helped lead the charge to buy firefighting helicopters and to create a county fire department following the firestorms of 2003 and 2007. Bills been great, said Tony Mecham, the chief of the countys Fire Authority and the local head of Cal Fire. The whole time hes been on the board hes been a huge supporter of the fire department. I recall fondly him coming out to the fires not to get in the media but because he wanted to talk to our firefighters. That really left an impression on me. Horn will spend some of his retirement in Uganda, where in 2015 he built a Christian school that feeds and educates 750 elementary students. A high school recently was erected as well and will be expanded in the coming years. I was moved in my heart when I heard about these orphans (in Uganda), Horn said. I felt obligated to do something. I basically dedicate my county salary toward running the school. Horn has three children and eight grandchildren. I dont have any regrets, he said. My grandkids are happy that Im retiring from this job so I can go back to making money. jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones The first home to be designated historic in Chula Vista and built by one of the citys founders is up for sale for nearly $1 million. The 5,900-square-foot house at 616 Second Ave., on the citys west side, was constructed by banker and civic leader Greg Rogers in 1910. The Greg Rogers house before it was moved at 699 E Street. (Courtesy photo) Called Bay Breeze, the craftsman-style home has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, roof-top decks, a full basement with a bank-style steel door, four-car garage, an elevator and a lot of nooks and crannies. Advertisement Originally at 699 E St., (near Interstate 5), it was one of the most modern homes of the time with electricity, baths with indoor plumbing, and four fireplaces. Its current owner, former Chula Vista Councilwoman Pamela Bensoussan, said she is selling the home to move closer to family. The home is expected to be listed later this week as a residence and a bed and breakfast. Bensoussan moved into the Rogers home 20 years ago when her two kids were in high school. She said she stumbled along the property while looking for another home. At the time I wasnt yet convinced to sell my house, she said. But when I saw that house on Second Avenue I had this (instant) attraction...I just fell in love with it. When she moved in, she inherited from the previous owner the Rogers family photo album with copies of newspaper clippings that date back decades and tells the Rogers story. Rogers moved his family from Cleveland to Chula Vista in 1909. He became one of the citys first council members in 1911, the same year the city was incorporated. Shortly after he co-founded the communitys first financial institution called the Peoples State Bank, which is known today as Bank of America. Rogers was the first commodore of the original Chula Vista Yacht Club, a member of the chamber of commerce and rotary club and served on the Chula Vista School Board. A city school and adjacent community park were later named in his honor. In the late 70s, because of Rogers significance to the city, Chula Vista Mayor Will Hyde embarked to identify the home as a historical landmark in the city. Other historic designations for houses and buildings followed. The Greg Rogers House holds a dual designation: Historic Site No. 1 (1977), for its original location on E Street, and Historic Site No. 42, for its post-1985 home on Second Avenue. In addition to being listed on the historic register, it also carries the historic permit, a higher level of designation. Chula Vista realtor Richard Zogob purchased the house and land for just under $400,000 from Porter Yarbourgh, according to a May 22, 1977 article in The Star-News. The mayor and City Council acquired title to the Greg Rogers House in 1984, saving it from impending demolition do to an incoming motel. The 140-ton house was maneuvered one block down the street and into the city public works yard. The same year the city transferred ownership of the home to Lee and Sonny Burch, who were issued a permit to move the house to a lot behind their craftsman-era Bungalow at 614 Second Ave. Later that year the city issued a bill of sale to the Burches and contracted to have them restore the Rogers house, opening it once a year to benefit of the citys heritage program. Bensoussan bought the home in 1996, and a year later a class from the Greg Rogers School began making annual field trips to tour the house as part of their introduction to civic history. In 2001, Bensoussan began leading local historic homeowners in organizing the first Historic Home Tour, sponsored by Chula Vistas Heritage Museum. She later hosted a series of annual workshops to educate the public about the benefits of historic designation and the Mills Act, a program that offers tax incentive legislation for owners of historic properties. Bensoussan said the most interesting aspect of the house is the history of it. I was not involved in city government until I owned that house, it just kind of drew me in ... Its a responsibility-you have to be able to be a steward of a house like that. You dont own it, it owns you. Bev Ryan tours the home she used to play at as a young girl (John Gibbins) Bev Ryan, granddaughter of Edwin Olie Olson who bought the Rogers home in 1942, recently toured the property for the first time in decades. Ryan, 61, said she often visited the home that belonged to her grandparents as a little girl, traveling from Texas to Chula Vista with her parents. Today she lives in Point Loma with her husband. Ryan was 6 or 7 years old when shed play with about a dozen of her cousins there. She recalled it used to be surrounded by lemon orchards and railroad tracks, two of the cities mainstays. During a typical family gathering, about 20 people would be at the house. While the adults socialized and played poker, Ryan said the kids would run around and play hide-and-seek. We played up and down the staircase and had fashion shows. Bensoussan said selling the home and moving to Houston is bittersweet. It becomes part of you, a house like that. The governments decisions about whether or how to bring criminal charges against participants in the WikiLeaks disclosures are complicated by the very newness of Julian Assanges Internet-based outfit: Is it journalism or espionage or something in between? Justice, State and Defense Department lawyers are discussing whether it might be possible to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder and others under the Espionage Act, a senior defense official said Tuesday. They are debating whether the Espionage Act applies, and to whom, according to this official, who spoke anonymously to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. Other charges also might be possible, including theft of government property or receipt of stolen government property. Rep. Peter King of New York called for Assange to be charged under the Espionage Act and asked whether WikiLeaks can be designated a terrorist organization. Advertisement But Assange has portrayed himself as a crusading journalist: He told ABC News by e-mail that his latest batch of State Department documents would expose lying, corrupt and murderous leadership from Bahrain to Brazil. He told Time magazine he targets only organizations that use secrecy to conceal unjust behavior. Longtime Washington lawyer Plato Cacheris, who represented CIA official Aldrich Ames and other espionage defendants, said Tuesday that Assange could argue he is protected by the First Amendment, a freedom of the press defense. That would be one, certainly, Cacheris said. Constrained by the First Amendments free press guarantees, the Justice Department has steered clear of prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked secrets. Leakers have occasionally been prosecuted, usually government workers charged under easier-to-prove statutes criminalizing the mishandling of classified documents. But two leakers faced Espionage Act charges, with mixed results. The last leak that approached the size of the WikiLeaks releases was the Pentagon Papers during the Nixon administration. The Supreme Court slapped down President Richard Nixons effort to stop newspapers from publishing those papers. But the leaker, ex-Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, was charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized possession and theft of the papers. A federal judge threw out the charges because of government misconduct including burglary of Ellsbergs psychiatrists files by the White House plumbers unit. The Reagan administration had more success against Samuel Loring Morison, a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy and grandson of a famous U.S. historian. Morison was convicted under the Espionage Act and of theft of government property for supplying a British publication, Janes Defence Weekly, with a U.S. satellite photo of a Russian aircraft carrier under construction in a Black Sea port. Dozens of news organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting Morison because he was a $5,000-a-year part-time editor with Janes sister publication and thus arguably a journalist. But WikiLeaks has entered a space where no journalist has gone before. News organizations have often sought information, including government secrets, for specific stories and printed secrets that government workers delivered to them, but none has matched Assanges open worldwide invitation to send him any secret or confidential information a source can lay hands on. Is WikiLeaks the leaker or merely the publisher? The courts have been somewhat reluctant to draw a line of demarcation between what we call mainstream media and everyone else, said Washington attorney Stan Brand. If these people are publishing and exercising First Amendment rights, I dont know why theyre less entitled to their First Amendment rights to publish. But at a news conference Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder contrasted WikiLeaks with traditional news organizations, which he said acted responsibly in the matter even though several posted some classified material. Some news organizations consulted with the government in advance to avoid printing harmful material; Assange has claimed his efforts to do likewise were rebuffed. One can compare the way in which the various news organizations that have been involved in this have acted as opposed to the way in which WikiLeaks has, said Holder. Some see openings for the government. Assange has gone a long way down the road of talking himself into a possible violation of the Espionage Act, First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams said on National Public Radio, noting that Assange has said leaks could bring down a U.S. administration. Washington lawyer Bob Bittman expressed surprise the Justice Department has not already charged Assange under the Espionage Act and with theft of government property over his earlier release of classified documents about U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bittman said it was widely believed those disclosures harmed U.S. national security, in particular U.S. intelligence sources and methods, meeting the requirement in several sections of the act that there be either intent or reason to believe disclosure could injure the United States. These are not easy questions, said Washington lawyer Stephen Ryan, a former assistant U.S. attorney and former Senate Government Affairs Committee general counsel. Ryan said it would be legally respectable to argue Assange is a journalist protected by the First Amendment and never had a duty to protect U.S. secrets. But Ryan added, The flip side is whether he could be charged with aiding and abetting or conspiracy with an individual who did have a duty to protect those secrets. On the question of conspiracy theres a legal difference between being a passive recipient of leaked material and being a prime mover egging on a prospective leaker, legal experts say. Much could depend on what the investigation uncovers. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is being held in a maximum-security military brig at Quantico, Va., charged with leaking video of a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed a Reuters news photographer and his driver. WikiLeaks posted the video on its website in April. Military investigators say Manning is a person of interest in the leak of nearly 77,000 Afghan war records WikiLeaks published online in July. Though Manning has not been charged in the latest release of internal U.S. government documents, WikiLeaks has hailed him as a hero. Another obstacle would be getting Assange to the United States. His whereabouts are not publicly known. In France, Interpol placed Assange on its most-wanted list Tuesday after Sweden issued an arrest warrant against him as part of a drawn-out rape probe - involving allegations he has denied. The Interpol red notice is likely to make international travel more difficult for him. But even if Assange were charged and arrested in a country that has an extradition treaty with the United States, there could be problems getting him here. The Espionage Act carries a maximum penalty of death, and nations with no death penalty often refuse to send defendants here if they face possible execution. One renowned First Amendment and national security lawyer, Duke law professor emeritus Michael Tigar urged caution. The U.S. reaction to all of this is rather overblown, Tigar said. One should hesitate a long time before bringing a prosecution in a case like this. The First Amendment means that sometimes public expression makes the government squirm. ... That diplomats collect information, and are sometimes brutally candid, comes as no surprise to anybody. (This version corrects grammar in 1st paragraph, changing is to are.) Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Whether you are about to enter the professional world for the first time or have years of experience, knowing what kind of salary to expect for your skills and particular position will give you an advantage. For those who are in the process of moving to the Constitution State and those who already live there and are considering a career change, it also pays to know which fields are the most lucrative. If a high salary is a primary motivator for you, here are the best paying jobs in Connecticut. The 10 Best Paying Jobs in Connecticut Data for the top salaries in each state are readily available online. Sites like Zippia collect and publish these statistics which they gather from the Bureau of Labor. Similarly, Salary.com collects and compiles data from several reporting agencies to determine the median salary for each position for all 50 states. With this information, they have made a list of the best paying jobs in Connecticut. So, if youre looking to start a new career, here are the jobs that will land you the biggest salaries. Chief Executives Although most of the careers on this list are in the medical field, many high-paying jobs dont require a medical degree. For example, when you reach the pinnacle of the business world, there is a handsome salary that accompanies it. Chief executives are well-compensated for their role in overseeing the operations and policies of their company. In fact, some CEOs of large corporations make well over $1 million each year. However, the average CEO earns closer to $841,179 in Connecticut. Surgeons, Except Ophthalmologists Of all the medical specialties, surgeons garner the biggest salary in the Constitution state. When you see the years of training and high-stress environments they work in, its easy to see why. They specialize in surgical techniques and methods to treat illness. This can include both invasive and non-invasive procedures. They treat any medical condition, injury, or illness that needs removal or physical correction. Due to the intricacy of their work and the years of education it requires to become one, surgeons earn a median salary of $438,289. Obstetricians and Gynecologists Without a doubt, physicians consistently remain one of the best paying jobs no matter which state you live in. But, physicians choosing to specialize in womens healthcare earn one of the highest salaries of any job in Connecticut. While obstetricians focus more on pregnancy and childbirth and gynecologists deal with other issues and reproductive concerns, both make an average of $318, 701 a year. Psychiatrists Psychiatrists are another type of specialized physician who focus on mental health. In addition to treating and diagnosing a range of mental disorders, they also offer support to those who are learning to cope with them or want to prevent them. Psychiatrists use a combination of counseling and medical treatments to help their patients. On average, they make $254,215 annually. General Internal Medicine Physicians Another one of the highest-earning specialties for physicians in Connecticut is for general internal medicine. These doctors deal with the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment options for any condition, injury, or disease afflicting the internal organs. Although there are exceptions, they typically work with patients as adults. Internists must have an in-depth knowledge of every system in the human body which requires years of study and practice. Because of their expertise, they net an average of $244,488 a year. Family Medicine Physicians These practitioners tend to work outside the hospital and concentrate on maladies that affect the broader public. They see people from all age groups and often treat members of the same family. It isnt unheard of for family medicine physicians to treat individual patients throughout their entire life. In addition to treating common sicknesses and injuries, family medicine physicians also provide referrals to specialists. Physicians in this field can expect to earn $229,265. Pediatricians, General These physicians deal specifically with childrens health issues. Whether you are seeking treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of childhood illnesses and diseases, chances are you will work with a pediatrician. Although many people might think they only see young kids, pediatricians will often treat adolescents well into their late teens and early twenties. For those interested in this specialty, pediatricians earn approximately $224,725. Physicians, All Others; and Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric While this one seems oddly specific, it includes several different specialties such as neurology, cardiology, radiology, oncology, pathology, dermatology, and ophthalmology, just to name a few. Basically, this is the catch-all category for every other specialty that was not already listed as one of the best paying jobs in Connecticut. Since this job category is so diverse, the average salary is hard to pinpoint. It varies a lot depending on the exact training and skills required and where you choose to practice medicine. However, a physician in Connecticut can expect to bring home a ballpark figure of approximately $223,494 per year. Dentists, General Dentists specialize in oral health and any issues affecting your gums and teeth. Besides regular examinations and cleanings, they also address issues affecting the health of your entire mouth. Dentists play a key role in identifying early signs and helping you receive proper treatment. Although dentists dont earn as much as other physicians, it is still one of the best paying jobs in Connecticut at $185,596 each year. Optometrists Optometry is another medical specialty that brings a good salary. Optometrists are the primary healthcare provider for the examination, diagnosis, and treatment of all eye-related issues. However, they do not perform medical or surgical treatments like ophthalmologists. These types of eye doctors take home $140,017 annually, but this can vary greatly depending on where you live in Connecticut. Keep in mind the information gathered here only represents the median salaries for these particular fields. Not only do these figures change from year to year, but are also affected by other factors such as location and whether you choose to work in the private sector. If you are qualified for any one of these positions, you could land a job that pays a salary far above average. Read More If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started. Check out these helpful tools to help you save more. For investing advice, visit The Motley Fool. Alameda County officials on Monday rebuked the countys contracted ambulance provider, Falck, for failing to meet performance requirements in August and demanded that Falck implement a plan to correct its shortfalls. In a letter to local Falck administrators Monday, Lauri McFadden, director of the Alameda County Emergency Medical Services Agency, which coordinates first responder and ambulance service, said a review of Falcks performance in August showed that the contractor responded to incidents on time less than 90% of the time a violation of Falcks contract with the county. Mondays letter comes about two weeks after Oakland Fire Chief Reginald Freeman asked county officials to start an investigation into Falcks response times, citing more than 450 instances in which Falck ambulances were allegedly delayed during emergencies. Falcks on-time performance throughout Alameda Countys three ambulance deployment zones ranged from 83.42% to 85.40% in August. Falck had previously missed performance targets in 2019, the year it started providing services in Alameda County, according to the letter. These performance shortfalls represent an unacceptable progression of Falcks poor response-time trends, which the EMS Agency has been raising with Falck with increasing alarm and to which Falck has responded with a disappointing lack of urgency, McFadden wrote. As the EMS Agency has discussed with Falck over the past several months, it is clear there are significant problems with Falcks operational plan. Jeff Lucia, a Falck spokesperson, said ambulance providers across the country, including Falck, were experiencing delays because of staffing shortages at hospitals, creating a chain reaction that has resulted in ambulances spending time grounded at hospital ambulance bays until the patient in the ambulance can be admitted. A spokesperson for Alameda County EMS did not respond to questions about that claim. Unfortunately, our heroic paramedics and EMTs are spending more than 30% of their time stuck at hospitals and unable to respond to emergencies, Lucia said in a statement. And equally unfortunate, no number of additional ambulances, paramedics or EMTs will free a single hospital bed or add a single nurse to a short-staffed emergency department. 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. In order to try to cut down on delays, Falck has recruited new employees, mandated overtime and offered signing bonuses of up to $7,500, Lucia said. Under the terms of Falcks contract with the county, the ambulance provider is required to implement a corrective action plan within the next 15 days. The plan must be approved by McFadden and Karl Sporer, the Alameda County EMS medical director. If the delays are not resolved within 30 days of the plans implementation, Falck can face fines starting at $30,000. It makes no sense, and helps nobody, to blame ambulance services for delays outside their control and certainly not to penalize them for doing the best they can within the law, Lucia said in a statement. Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday by trucking companies seeking to exempt tens of thousands of truckers from California labor law, a potential first step though not the final step toward classifying them as employees rather than independent contractors. At issue is whether drivers who own their trucks, and contract with companies to carry cargo, are employees with the right to minimum wages, overtime pay and other benefits under state law, or independent contractors whose rights are limited by their contracts. Voter approval last November of Proposition 22, sponsored by ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, allowed those companies to classify their drivers as contractors, but did not apply to the truckers. The Supreme Court, without comment, denied review Monday of trucking companies appeal of a November 2020 ruling by a California appellate court that said state law, not federal law, determines the employment status of about 70,000 truck owner-operators. Under California law, workers in the same business as the company that hired them are considered employees rather than contractors. The courts refusal to take up the case provided a possible window into how the high court might view ongoing battles in the hotly debated field of worker classification. The companies argued that the state law was overridden by a federal law prohibiting states from regulating operations related to the price, route or service of any motor carrier that transports property. But the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said Californias regulation of truckers status has little relationship to, or impact on, the companies prices, routes or service. Quoting a 2014 state Supreme Court ruling in another trucking case, the appeals court in Los Angeles said there was no evidence that Congress, in the 1994 federal law cited by the truck companies, intended to preempt states ability ... to enforce labor and wage standards. The appellate ruling is now final but has no direct impact, because a federal judge in San Diego, in a similar suit by trucking companies, reached the opposite conclusion in a January 2020 decision. That decision barred the state from enforcing its law against the trucking companies. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the judges decision this April but allowed it to remain in effect while the companies appealed to the Supreme Court, an appeal that is still pending. Stacey Leyton, a San Francisco attorney representing the Teamsters Union in the federal case, said the California law can still be enforced by private parties and non-state officials like Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, whose office argued the case before the state appellate court. 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. After Mondays high-court rejection of the companies appeal in the state case, Leyton said, our expectation is that the Supreme Court will deny certiorari, or review, in the federal case as well. Joshua Lipshutz, a lawyer for the trucking companies, declined to comment. In a filing with the Supreme Court, he argued that the 1994 federal law was enacted to prevent states from undermining federal deregulation of the trucking industry with regulations of their own, like Californias. The case is Cal Cartage Transportation Express vs. California, 20-1453. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Oakland officials and community members issued an urgent plea Monday for the citys residents to become more involved in helping to stem a surge in violent crime amid the police departments ongoing staffing issues. The call for increased support from community members came after a weekend marred by two homicides, including the killing of Dirk Tillotson, an Oakland education equity activist who police said was the victim of a violent and apparently targeted home invasion Friday night. We need family and friends and loved ones to grab their loved ones and give them the support that they need to to draw on city resources, community-based organizations resources ... so that they dont have to engage in violence, Oakland police chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a news conference, surrounded by city residents who have been affected by gun violence. We cant arrest our way out of this problem, Armstrong said. It is a collaborative partnership that its going to take to address gun violence in the city of Oakland and we are a part of that partnership. Armstrongs appeal for a more preventative approach to Oaklands rising crime levels comes as the police department becomes increasingly hamstrung by staffing shortages. In the first four days of October, 10 police officers resigned, shrinking the police force to a total of about 695 officers, Armstrong said. These numbers are dwindling fast, he said, declining to say why the officers had quit. This is very concerning for us. Meanwhile, Oakland is experiencing a level of violent crime that has not been seen in years. In September, police investigated 17 homicides the most of any month this year. There have been 106 homicides in Oakland in 2021 compared with 80 at this point last year, Armstrong said. Loren Taylor, councilmember for District 6, said the importance of addressing violent crime and stopping it before it happens was highlighted by the death of Tillotson, an Oakland community member who for years led efforts to make education more equitable for students of color. As Dirks councilmember, I feel a responsibility to get to the bottom of this and ensure that we are able to not just hold the perpetrator of this crime accountable, but fulfill the legacy and the mission that Dirk stood for, Taylor said. Tillotson was killed, and his wife, Amina Assefa, 44, was injured when an intruder broke into their home in the 2600 block of Monticello Avenue and shot the couple after being confronted by Tillotson. Armstrong said police believe the intruder targeted their home specifically. Police did not have suspects as of Monday and asked that anyone with information on the shooting call the departments homicide unit at 510-238-3821. 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. I stand here committed to furthering our work of reimagining public safety, of implementing real violence prevention programs, pulling our community together, partnering with our law enforcement officers, our violence prevention professionals, our community members, our faith organizations and others, Taylor said. It will take all of us to continue to address the crime and the violence thats happening in our community, both in responding to it as well as addressing the root causes that allow it to occur in the first place. Brenda Grisham, executive director of the Christpher LaVell Jones Foundation a local community organization called for Oaklands residents to intervene when loved ones show signs of distress, and to connect them to support networks that can help them before they resort to gun violence. Its a whole community that needs to come together to make a difference, said Grisham, whose son was killed on New Years Eve in 2010. The police cant do it alone. We need to step in where we can and make a difference so that we can see tomorrow. The Oakland Police Department will hold a community meeting next week where community members and police officials will discuss the wave of violent crime and efforts to stop it, Armstrong said. Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon California cannot use its new law against private prisons to shut down privately owned immigrant detention centers because that would interfere with the government's authority over immigration, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. AB32, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019, barred housing inmates in private detention facilities when the companies current contracts expire, in 2028 at the latest. Ruling on a lawsuit by the federal government and prison contractor GEO Group, a federal judge upheld the ban on private prisons for immigrants last October, saying the state was exercising its authority to protect the health and safety of California residents, including inmates. But in a 2-1 ruling Tuesday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said AB32 targeted privately owned federal immigration facilities and violated the U.S. governments sole authority, under federal law, to regulate immigration. The suit was initially filed by President Donald Trumps administration and continued by the Biden administration. California is not simply exercising its traditional police powers, but rather impeding federal immigration policy, said Judge Kenneth Lee in the majority opinion. He said federal law gives the secretary of homeland security, who enforces immigration law, broad power and discretion to arrange for appropriate places of detention, including the right to contract with private companies to operate detention facilities. The detainees are held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting hearings on their possible deportations, applications for asylum or criminal charges. Because the number of immigrants in detention varies widely from year to year, ICE does not operate prisons on its own in California, but relies heavily on contractors like GEO, which runs detention centers in Adelanto (San Bernardino County) and Mesa Verde (Kern County). Their current government contracts expire at the end of 2023. Those two facilities have a total capacity of about 2,400 but their population is far less. ICE also has a contract to hold immigrants at the Yuba County Jail. Immigrant advocates have complained about unsafe conditions and a lack of safeguards against COVID-19 at the private facilities. As Judge Mary Murguia observed in her dissenting opinion Tuesday, AB32 was prompted by reports of substandard conditions, inadequate medical care, sexual assaults and deaths in for-profit facilities, including ICE detention centers. She said the law was similar to restrictions or bans on private prisons in Illinois, New York, Nevada and Washington and did not discriminate against the federal government because it banned all privately owned detention centers. But Lee, joined by Judge Bridget Bade, said the California law offers an exemption to some private prisons that does not apply to private immigration facilities: The prisons can stay open, even after their current contracts expire, if the state prison system needs them to house overflows of inmates and comply with the U.S. Supreme Courts limit on Californias state prison population. That limit was imposed because of substandard prison health care. The state is now in compliance with the limit, 137.5% of the prisons capacity, but that could change. California is showing more concern for federal immigration detainees than its own prisoners with that exemption, Lee wrote. Both Lee and Bade were appointed to the court by Trump, while Murguia was appointed by President Barack Obama. Lee also rejected Murguias contention that the federal law on privately run prisons, which did not expressly refer to immigration or ICE, did not authorize the government to contract with private companies to hold immigrants. More than 70% of all immigrants detained nationwide are held in private facilities, said Hamid Yazdan Panah of Immigration Defense Advocates, which filed arguments in the case. We believe all immigrant detention is unnecessary, Panah said. He said ICE, in response to the pandemic, had released about 70% of immigrants from detention without any harmful consequences. 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. California Attorney General Rob Bonta the author of AB32 when he was a state Assembly member said the state would continue its defense of the law. His office could ask the full appeals court for a new hearing before a larger panel. Prisons and detention centers shouldnt be places of profit, Bonta said in a statement. As a Filipino American who was brought to this country as an infant, this fight is personal to me. ICE declined to comment. Michael Kirk, a lawyer for GEO Group, praised the ruling. We hope and trust that California will now cease its efforts to frustrate the activities of the federal immigration agencies and their private contractors, he said. San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Deepa Fernandez contributed to this article. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the name of an attorney with Immigration Defense Advocates. The individuals name is Hamid Yazdan Panah. Bay Area health officials are finalizing criteria for lifting indoor mask mandates, and plan to release details by the end of the week signaling the region could soon see the beginning of the end of indoor mask rules. The criteria would be a shared set of metrics that counties would have to hit in order to ease restrictions, and will include local case rates, hospitalizations and vaccination rates, health officials for Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties said Tuesday. Were finalizing that now, Contra Costa County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said during a COVID-19 update to county supervisors. At least seven Bay Area counties San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, Marin and San Mateo in addition to Contra Costa and Santa Clara are expected to be part of the announcement. Alameda County did not immediately respond to a question about its plans. Each county could meet the metrics at different times, which means some counties could lift indoor mask mandates sooner than others. Currently, every Bay Area county except for Solano requires everyone vaccinated as well as unvaccinated to wear masks in indoor settings like gyms, grocery stores and restaurants except when people are eating and drinking. The policy took effect in early August to try to quell the delta surge. Solano requires only unvaccinated people to wear masks in those settings. The Bay Area as a whole has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. In the six core Bay Area counties San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Marin between 81% and 87% of eligible residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated. Case rates and hospitalizations have been declining the past few weeks following the delta surge that peaked in late summer. In Contra Costa County, for instance, case rates and hospitalizations have dropped 35% and 27%, respectively, in the past two weeks. We have been discussing this among the health officers in the region, and our intention and plan is to develop a set of metrics we all share that are common across the region as to when to lift indoor masking, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody told county supervisors Tuesday. And were getting very close and are hoping to have an announcement with details by the end of the week. Tzvieli noted that even when indoor mask mandates are lifted, health officials will still recommend that people continue the practice as an added precaution. They wont have to once we lift the order, but its still a good idea, he said. Regional action would not affect indoor masking at hospitals and schools, which are required by the state. The state also requires unvaccinated people to wear masks in indoor settings, but that has never really been enforced since its hard to tell who is vaccinated and who is not. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Tuesday that she is hopeful the city will ease its indoor mask mandate soon, at least in some settings like offices. Many people are still working from home, where they dont have to wear masks, and lifting indoor mask requirements would encourage them to go back to the office, she said. 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. Hopefully, we will make some adjustments because I think its overdue, Breed said. I respect and follow the advice of my public health experts, but I think that especially in light of so many people being vaccinated and the decline in the numbers, I think that its appropriate and well see what happens. Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman said at the board meeting that the No. 1 question he gets asked is when people will be able to go maskless. Im very much looking forward to the metrics you come out with because my guess is Santa Clara County will be within all of those metrics, he said. I think as soon as those metrics are established that we will qualify and we can finally go maskless. I hope that situation is something that occurs in the next couple of weeks. Chronicle staff writers Trisha Thadani and Erin Allday contributed to this report. Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho Contra Costa County prosecutors asked jurors to sympathize with a clearly troubled man whose only crime was refusing to stop for police. Defense attorneys asked them to feel compassion for a police officer with a dangerous job, whose life may unravel from one split-second decision. A jury will weigh these competing narratives in the trial of Danville Police Officer Andrew Hall, whos charged with two felony counts, of voluntary manslaughter among other charges, for shooting and killing a motorist who was trying to flee police on Nov. 3, 2018. Halls trial, which kicked off with opening statements Monday, is one in a string of Bay Area prosecutions of law enforcement to come at a moment of growing calls for police accountability particularly for their treatment of mentally ill people. In this case, the slain man, 33-year-old Laudemer Arboleda, had a history of delusional and paranoid episodes. Neighbors at his apartment complex in Newark told investigators that he had tampered with locks on their doors, and that he locked his mother out of the apartment they shared. Authorities placed him on a 5150 psychiatric hold months before his encounter with Hall. Colleen Gleason, senior deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County, homed in on that image of Arboleda during her opening remarks in a packed Martinez courtroom on Tuesday. Ten shots, Gleason said, pausing to stare at the 12 jurors, some of whom held notebooks with pens poised. The defendant fired 10 shots into the slow-moving vehicle of a mentally ill man, Gleason said, before presenting dashboard and body camera footage of the incident, which she slowed down so that jurors could hear each shot. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Halls defense attorney, Nicole Pifari, presented a different version of events, one in which Hall was the victim, rather than the aggressor. I know a guy who keeps having a recurring nightmare, she said. He goes to work, to a dangerous job hes wanted since he was a little kid, which requires him to go into dangerous and unpredictable situations. Among them: a 3,700 pound chunk of metal coming at him, she said, referring to Arboledas Honda. The incident began when a resident called 911 to report a man, later identified as Arboleda, knocking on doors and lingering outside homes in a Danville cul de sac. When officers arrived, they saw Arboleda climbing into his silver Honda and decided to follow him. During the meandering, 7-minute chase, Arboleda allegedly committed minor traffic violations and ignored officers commands to stop, even when they held him at gunpoint. Although Hall was not one of the officers responding to the original 911 call, he decided to intervene after hearing the pursuit over his dispatch radio. He and a supervisor, Sgt. Christopher Martin, arrived at the same moment to intercept the Honda at Front Street and Diablo Road, blocking off the intersection with Halls cruiser and Martins SUV, but leaving a gap just wide enough for a car to squeeze through. Hall got out of his vehicle, drew his gun and stepped in the path of Arboledas Honda just as he was trying to maneuver between the cars, firing 10 rounds through the windshield and passenger-side window. He shot Arboleda nine times, leaving him unconscious at the wheel with his foot pressed into the accelerator. The car plowed into the intersection and crashed into another car. Both the prosecution and defense played video footage of the incident from different angles Monday, as well as a recorded radio dispatch. Lead prosecutor Christopher Walpole called Martin, now retired, as the first witness and had him meticulously dissect the radio dialogue and the officers actions leading up to the shooting, translating police jargon into laypeoples terms. Martin noted that at first he didnt pay particular attention to the call about a suspicious man hanging around homes in Danville a fairly common complaint. Yet as he listened to the officers in their pursuit of Arboleda, the hairs on the back of Martins neck stood up, he said. It sounded weird. The former sergeant also recalled a moment of terror when he heard Halls volley of shots, worried he might get hit by a stray bullet. Walpole played snippets of dashboard and body camera footage to highlight key moments, usually stopping right after the bullets hit Arboleda. 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. Watching the scene over and over, Arboledas mother, Jeannie Atienza, bowed her head and dabbed tears with a tissue. Defense attorney Harry Stern told reporters outside the courthouse that he expected to rely on evidence while prosecutors make emotional appeals. Gleason and Walpole said they plan to put Arboledas brother, Randy Arboleda, on the stand, most likely to discuss the slain mans struggle with mental illness and paint a more complete picture for the jury. On Tuesday, both teams legal strategies centered on competing interpretations of video evidence, often broken into frames that showed fraction-of-a-second movements. Pifari, for instance, zoomed in on Arboledas right front tire in the moments before the shooting, to show it was pointing toward Hall. Really this comes down to about a two-second window, Stern told reporters. Thats what the case is all about. Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton spent 2 years reviewing the case, during which time Hall fatally shot another 33 year-old man, Tyrell Wilson, who brandished a knife when the officer confronted him in a busy roadway. Like Arboleda, Wilson had a history of mental illness and was behaving erratically at the time he met Hall. Originally, Becton had charged the officer with a more severe gun felony, but at the preliminary hearing the prosecutor failed to demonstrate that Hall had fired a semiautomatic pistol even though nobody disputes that he did. Prosecutors dropped the semiautomatic gun charge and replaced it with a lesser count, an early stumble in what could be a difficult case. The shooting of Wilson remains under investigation. Hall is still employed by the Contra Costa Sheriffs Office, which has a contract to provide police services in Danville. Since the second shooting, he has been on paid administrative leave. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan A woman died in a house fire in East Oakland early Tuesday, officials said. Firefighters were dispatched to a two-story home on the 3400 block of Pearson Street at 5:18 a.m. and were told that there was a person stuck inside, said Christopher Landry, battalion chief of the Oakland Fire Department. Crews removed the woman from the home and declared her dead at the scene, said Landry. The womans age and name were not available. The fire extended from the homes second floor to the attic and was contained at 6:26 a.m. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was under investigation Tuesday morning. Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores San Francisco will conduct its next formal count of homeless people in January 2022, an effort that will finally give officials a sense of how the pandemic has affected the number of people living on the streets. California landlords and tenants face uncertainty now that the states 18-month-old eviction moratorium has expired, including questions about whos benefiting from pandemic aid programs and who may still be left behind. Rising requests for religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccination requirements in workplaces is raising questions about how to accommodate workers once the requests are granted. 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: Kaiser suspends 2,200 unvaccinated employees: Kaiser Permanente has placed 2,200 employees on unpaid administrative leave for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19 by the health systems Sept. 30 deadline, a Kaiser spokesman said Tuesday. Kaiser did not specify how many of the 2,200 workers are in California, but most of the health systems employees are in the state. The number represents about 1% of Kaisers 216,000 U.S. employees. They have until Dec. 1 to get vaccinated in order to return to work. We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we wont know with certainty until then, said Kaiser spokesman Karl Sonkin. We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about the vaccines, their benefits, and risks. Top FDA official says shots for kids 5 to 11 could get OK by Oct. 26: The Pfizer vaccine could receive FDA emergency use authorization for children ages 5 to 11 shortly after the federal agencys advisory committee meets on Oct. 26, according to Dr. Peter Marks. The FDAs vaccine chief made the comments Tuesday during a town hall hosted by the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project. When we did the adult approval, we felt the weight of the world, Marks said. Here, we feel like the weight of the world, plus the weight of Mars, on top of us, or some other planet as well. This is clearly one of the most important issues to get done so were not going to be wasting any time. Pfizer presented data to FDA last month showing the vaccine is safe and effective for younger children. Marks also told the webinar he has seen data that everyone 18 and older should be eligible for booster shots but was waiting for independent advisors confirmation before making an official recommendation. U.S. charges 4 in scheme to sell hotel rooms intended for COVID quarantine: The Justice Department on Tuesday charged four people with participating in a scheme that defrauded New York Citys COVID-19 hotel room isolation program of more than $400,000. One was also charged with a second pandemic scheme involving unemployment benefits. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, New York City designed a program to provide hotel rooms, free of cost, for qualifying individuals who could not safely self-isolate in their own homes, such as health care workers and individuals infected with COVID-19, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. As alleged, the defendants abused this program by falsely claiming to be health care workers and by selling hotel rooms to non-qualifying individuals. Workers failure to get shots could curtail S.F. transit: With less than a month before the citys vaccine deadline, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency agency on Tuesday said its sagging vaccination rates, if they dont improve, could impact service by Halloween weekend, when the Outside Lands music festival is scheduled. If several hundred of our employees are still unvaccinated as of Nov. 1 and are terminated, it will significantly impact transit operations and parking control in San Francisco, the agency said in a Tuesday email alert. Roughly 640 SFMTA employees were unvaccinated as of Sept. 30 about 11% of its workforce. Read the story here. Live Nation enacts vaccination policy for concerts: As of Monday, promoter Live Nation requires anyone attending a concert at any venue it owns and operates, or any of its festivals, to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative coronavirus test for entry. In the Bay Area, that includes popular venues such as the Fillmore, Masonic, Cobbs, Concord Pavilion, Punchline and Shoreline Amphitheatre. Beyond October 4th, all of our employees will also need to be vaccinated in order to visit one of our events, venues, or offices, the promoter said on its website. Vaccination for kids ages 5-11 likely available early November, officials says: Children ages 5 to 11 are likely to become eligible for vaccination around Nov. 1, Contra Costa Health Services Deputy Director Erika Jenssen told county supervisors Tuesday. The estimate is based on the FDA vaccine advisory groups plans to meet on the matter Oct. 26, which will likely lead to the agency granting emergency use authorization for the younger age group shortly afterward. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would likely issue a decision a few days after that. We are incredibly pleased and hopeful about this, Jenssen said. It will mean kids in that age group could receive the first dose by Thanksgiving and be fully vaccinated in time for the winter holidays. ... We know that people have really been thinking about how to celebrate the holidays this year so we are very excited about that news. Bay Area health officials finalizing criteria for easing COVID restrictions: Bay Area county health officials are working to establish criteria to ease some health order restrictions, including indoor masking, and expect to release details by the end of the week, Contra Costa County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Ori Tzvieli said Tuesday during a COVID update to county supervisors. In the past, six Bay Area counties have joined together on pandemic-related health requirements, including San Francisco. Tzvieli said the criteria will include local vaccination rates, case rates and hospitalizations. We will have more details on that by the end of the week, he said. Were finalizing that now. Even though people wont have to wear masks indoors if and when the order is lifted, its still a good idea to do so as an extra precaution, he said. Read the full story about the efforts around restrictions here. Huge drop in COVID case rates, hospitalizations: COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations in Contra Costa County have dropped 35% and 27%, respectively, during the last two weeks, county health officials said Tuesday. We are happy about these numbers but also cautious, county Health Services Deputy Director Erika Jenssen said during a COVID update to county supervisors. Berkeley reaches 93% vaccination rate: Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin announced Tuesday that 93% of city residents 12 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID. We still have work to do, but Berkeley continues to stand out in its response to COVID-19, Arreguin said in a statement. What these statistics show is that Berkeley residents believe vaccines are safe and effective, and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated today who hasnt yet. City employees are required to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15. Facebook incapable of stopping the spread of vaccine misinformation, says whistleblower: A former Facebook data scientist told lawmakers Tuesday that the social media company does not have an effective system to stop spread of false medical information about COVID-19 and vaccines. I do not believe Facebook currently structured has the capability to stop vaccine misinformation because they are overly reliant on artificial reliant systems, Frances Haugen told a Senate subcommittee. She accused the company of being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation, and of knowing Instagram apparently harms some teens. Facebooks products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy, Haugen said. The companys leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but wont make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Breed says mask-rule changes may be coming: Mayor London Breed said Tuesday that changes to San Franciscos indoor mask mandate are overdue and she indicated that change may be coming: Hopefully we will make some adjustments because I think its overdue, she said.Especially in light of so many people being vaccinated and the decline in numbers, I think thats its appropriate, she told The Chronicle. Any changes would be the purview of the citys department of public health. The citys strict indoor mask mandate could ease in the near future, a top San Francisco health official recently said, though the nature of the changes and the timing were unclear. FDA warns of false-positives with popular rapid test: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an alert on potential false-positive results with certain lots of the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test, due to a recently identified manufacturing issue. The company said the affected kits indicate that a person has the virus when they are not actually infected. Negative results do not appear to be affected by the manufacturing issue. Let parents decide on kids shots, says Central California County superintendent: Stanislaus County Superintendent Scott Kuykendall says it should be up to parents and pediatricians, not the state, to decide whether to vaccinate kids, the Modesto Bee reports, citing an email from the superintendent. Kuykendall said the state should pump the brakes on Gov. Gavin Newsoms mandate that school children get COVID-19 inoculations once vaccines are approved for the younger ones. State officials should wait until there are long-term studies and better answers to questions, including appropriate vaccine dosage for younger children and the effectiveness of natural immunity, Kuykendall said in an email after Newsoms Friday announcement, the Bee reported. Vaccine makers have been conducting numerous trials involving children in different age groups, with results indicating effectiveness and safety and federal approvals now in place for vaccination of people as young as 12. Southwest Airlines issues vaccination deadline for employees: Southwest announced Monday that in compliance with President Bidens COVID Action Plan it will require all its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8. Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal governments COVID-19 vaccination directive, said Gary Kelly, chairman and CEO. I encourage all Southwest employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all. 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. Johnson & Johnson submits booster shot request to FDA: The pharmaceutical company on Tuesday applied to the Food and Drug Administration for a go-ahead to offer a supplemental COVID-19 shot to recipients of the J&J vaccine. Its data reports show that the second vaccine dose will raise protection to 94% against moderate to severe COVID, compared to 72% in those who received a single dose. The FDAs advisory group has scheduled a public hearing on J&Js request on Oct. 15 .If the FDA approves, a recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could follow. AstraZeneca asks FDA for emergency approval of preventative COVID treatment: The drugmaker said Tuesday that it asked the Food and Drug Administration to grant an emergency use authorization for an antibody treatment intended to prevent COVID-19 for people at high-risk of serious illness or death if they contract the disease. AstraZenecasaid the treatment, called Provent, reduced symptomatic COVID-19 by 77%. Flu shots and COVID: Do you need to worry about vaccine timing? What about a twindemic? Flu vaccinations are rolling out in the Bay Area and nationwide, with experts warning of a potentially strong comeback for an illness that virtually disappeared last year during the coronavirus pandemic. But with intense focus still on COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters, this will be the first time that many people will be juggling inoculations for both respiratory diseases leading to new questions about the effects, duration and timing of the flu shot. Read the full story here. The supply chain crisis has hit the Bay Area: Pandemic disruptions and labor shortages are exacerbating issues with the complex way products are sourced from components made all over the world. A single choke point such as carmakers current struggles to get key computer chips can create a significant bottleneck for an entire industry. Read the full story here. I guess you dont own your body Warriors Wiggins on finally getting vaccinated: When he spoke to reporters Monday night for the first time since getting vaccinated, Andrew Wiggins was still frustrated that he had to get vaccinated to do his job. San Francisco will begin requiring full COVID-19 vaccination Oct. 13 for anyone age 12 and older who attends large indoor events. Had Wiggins remained unvaccinated, he would have lost more than $350,000 for each home game he missed. Read the full story here. How many more people became homeless in S.F. during the pandemic? New count will reveal data: San Francisco will conduct its next formal count of homeless people in January 2022, a citywide effort that will finally give officials a sense of how the pandemic has affected the number of people living on the streets. Read the full story here. Oaklands vaccine mandate for city staff goes into effect : Oakland will require all employees to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 29 as a condition of employment, unless theyve applied for an exemption, according to the city administrators office. The new policy went into effect Monday. Employees have until Nov. 15 to report and verify their vaccination statuses. The new mandate applies to all city staff, volunteers and interns. The city is hosting three free vaccination clinics at City Hall and workers are given two hours paid time to get their shots. Vaccinations are safe and effective and, at this point, essential; they are free and easy to get. I firmly believe the most responsible action for us to take as an employer particularly a public employer is to require our employees to be vaccinated, said City Administrator Ed Reiskin. First Santa Cruz County COVID deaths among vaccinated people: Two vaccinated women with underlying medical conditions have died from COVID-19, the first deaths from the disease among Santa Cruz County residents who had received shots against the coronavirus, officials reported Monday. Previously, 213 county residents had died from COVID, all unvaccinated. One of the women, in her mid-60s, died Sept. 3. The other, in her early 70s, died Sept. 24. County officials urged everyone with underlying medical conditions to get a booster shot against the coronavirus, and unvaccinated people age 12 and older to get vaccinated immediately. When it comes to vaccines in schools, COVID should not be different, Newsom says: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday doubled down on his insistence that California school kids get vaccinated against COVID-19 once the vaccines are approved for younger age groups. CA will require our students to be vaccinated. Why? Because its the right thing to do. It will keep our kids safe, Newsom tweeted Monday. We already require vaccines for the measles, mumps, and more. COVID shouldnt be any different. National Guard helping hard-hit hospitals in parts of California: The California National Guard has dispatched medical teams to hospitals straining under COVID-19 pressure in Northern California and the Central Valley, media accounts report. Surges of COVID-19 cases and deaths led to activation of teams of 16 Guard members to help health care staffs at Memorial Hospital and Mercy Hospital Southwest in Bakersfield and Mercy Medical Center Redding, the reports said. Adventist Health in Bakersfield said it anticipated Guard help also. Northern Californias largest school district requires staff to be vaccinated or test weekly: Elk Grove Unified School District, outside of Sacramento, as of Monday requires employees to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or register for weekly coronavirus testing, according to a memo from Superintendent Christopher R. Hoffman. FORT MORGAN, Ala. (AP) The Coast Guard said one of its crews has rescued a swimmer who was caught in a rip current near Fort Morgan, Alabama. The Baldwin County Sheriffs Office reported at about 12:30 p.m. Monday that four swimmers were caught in the current just offshore. The Coast Guard Station at Dauphin Island sent a crew, and members rescued one swimmer. The other three swimmers returned to shore safely. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) Republican Gov. Mike Parson's administration has enacted more rules on Missouri abortion clinics. The new emergency regulations, which take effect Oct. 13, require abortion providers to cooperate with state health department investigators and ensure physicians perform pelvic exams 72 hours before abortions, if medically necessary. The regulations also require the health department to refer rule violations to the state's Medicaid Audit and Compliance Unit, which reviews whether medical providers meet requirements to receive Medicaid funding. Other rules require abortion providers to make sure all employees participate in annual fire drills and properly date records. A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood in Missouri told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the new regulations might violate federal Medicaid rules by singling out the organization. The new rules come after Missouri Republicans have tried for years to block all Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, which is already prohibited from using Medicaid funds for abortion except when the mothers life is in danger or in the cases of rape and incest. State senators last week recommended that Missouri cancel abortion providers Medicaid contracts based on behavior in other states deemed illegal or unethical. Lawmakers also recommended that the health department and Medicaid auditors share inspection information, similar to the new agency rules. STOCKHOLM (AP) Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change. Syukuro Manabe, originally from Japan, and Klaus Hasselmann of Germany were cited for their work in developing forecast models of Earths climate and "reliably predicting global warming. The second half of the prize went to Giorgio Parisi of Italy for explaining disorder in physical systems, ranging from those as small as the insides of atoms to the planet-sized. Hasselmann told The Associated Press that he would rather have no global warming and no Nobel Prize. Manabe said that figuring out the physics behind climate change was 1,000 times easier than getting the world to do something about it. He said the intricacies of policy and society are far harder to fathom than the complexities of carbon dioxide interacting with the atmosphere, which then changes conditions in the ocean and on the land, which then alters the air again in a constant cycle. He called climate change a major crisis. The prize comes less than four weeks before the start of high-level climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders will be asked to ramp up their commitments to curb global warming. The Nobel-winning scientists used their moment in the limelight to urge action. Its very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace in tackling global warming, Parisi said. He made the appeal even though his share of the prize was for work in a different area of physics. All three scientists work on what are known as complex systems, of which climate is just one example. But the prize went to two fields of study that are opposite in many ways, though they share the goal of making sense of what seems random and chaotic so that it can be predicted. Parisis research largely centers around subatomic particles, predicting how they move in seemingly chaotic ways and why, and is somewhat esoteric, while the work by Manabe and Hasselmann is about large-scale global forces that shape our daily lives. The judges said Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how human actions influence it." Starting in the 1960s, Manabe, now based at Princeton University, created the first climate models that forecast what would happen as carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere. Scientists for decades had shown that carbon dioxide traps heat, but Manabe's work offered specifics. It allowed scientists to eventually show how climate change will worsen and how fast, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed. Manabe is such a pioneer that other climate scientists called his 1967 paper with the late Richard Wetherald the most influential climate paper ever, said NASA chief climate modeler Gavin Schmidt. Manabe's Princeton colleague Tom Delworth called Manabe the Michael Jordan of climate. Suki set the stage for today's climate science, not just the tool but also how to use it, said fellow Princeton climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi. I can't count the times that I thought I came up with something new, and it's in one of his papers. Manabe's models from 50 years ago accurately predicted the warming that actually occurred in the following decades," said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the Breakthrough Institute. Manabe's work serves as a warning to us all that we should take their projections of a much warmer future if we keep emitting carbon dioxide quite seriously. I never imagined that this thing I would begin to study has such a huge consequence, Manabe said at a Princeton news conference. "I was doing it just because of my curiosity. About a decade after Manabe's initial work, Hasselmann, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, helped explain why climate models can be reliable despite the seemingly chaotic nature of the weather. He also developed ways to look for specific signs of human influence on the climate. Meanwhile, Parisi, of Sapienza University of Rome, built a deep physical and mathematical model that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. His work originally focused on so-called spin glass, a type of metal alloy whose behavior long baffled scientists. Parisi, 73, discovered hidden patterns that explained the way it acted, creating theories that could be applied to other fields of research, too. All three physicists used complex mathematics to explain and predict what seemed like chaotic forces of nature. That is known as modeling. Physics-based climate models made it possible to predict the amount and pace of global warming, including some of the consequences like rising seas, increased extreme rainfall events and stronger hurricanes, decades before they could be observed, said German climate scientist and modeler Stefan Rahmstorf. He called Hasselmann and Manabe pioneers in this field. 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. When climate scientists with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, some who deny global warming dismissed it as a political move. Perhaps anticipating controversy, members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, emphasized that Tuesday's was a science prize. What we are saying is that the modeling of climate is solidly based on physical theory and well-known physics, Swedish physicist Thors Hans Hansson said at the announcement. For a scientist who trades in predictions, Hasselmann said the prize caught him off guard. I was quite surprised when they called, he said. I mean, this is something I did many years ago. But Parisi said: I knew there was a non-negligible possibility of winning. The award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The money comes from a bequest left by the prizes creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. On Monday, the Nobel in medicine was awarded to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch. Over the coming days prizes will be awarded in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace and economics. ___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland. Associated Press journalists Frank Jordans and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, Ted Shaffrey in Princeton, New Jersey, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes. WARSAW, Poland (AP) The government of Poland is working to warn potential migrants that the country's border with Belarus is sealed and is not a passage into the European Union, a deputy foreign minister said Tuesday. Poland's diplomats in Middle Eastern and African countries are talking to local media and posting messages on the most popular communication channels to stop people from trying to illegally enter the EU through Belarus, Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said. A number of migrants, mostly from Iraq, have recently died from exhaustion as they tried to get from Belarus to Poland across an area of forests and swamps. The Polish diplomats are also speaking with government officials in certain countries to raise their awareness and to urge them to warn and protect their citizens, Przydacz said. We want to help these people; hence, our diplomatic activity in these countries ... and our warnings that they may fall victim to deception, he said. EU members Poland and Lithuania have faced recent migration pressure from their borders with Belarus. They have accused the Belarusian government of offering free tourist visas and intentionally misinforming people they can find refuge in the EU by illegally crossing into the neighboring nations. Alleging that Belarus is acting in retaliation for Western sanctions, the Polish and Lithuanian governments have insulated their borders with more guards, military troops and razor wire fences. The executive director of Europe's border security agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, visited Poland's border with Belarus and was impressed by the means deployed to secure the border, Frontex said. It said Leggeri thanked Poland for cooperating with Frontex since the beginning of the crisis" for Poland's border with Belarus is also the bloc's eastern border. Przydacz said this assessment showed that Poland's border guards were doing their job properly and no Frontex reinforcements were needed, as has been suggested by the EU's Executive Commission. 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. Humanitarian organizations and Poland's influential Roman Catholic Church have criticized the Polish government for turning back groups of migrants that include families with children. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Belarus have voted to suspend an agreement with the EU obliging the ex-Soviet nation to take back migrants that crossed its territory and illegally got into the bloc. ___ Follow AP's coverage of migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency did not renege on its deal with the San Francisco Federal Credit Union to make loans to taxi drivers so they could buy medallions, the pieces of tin that allow one to operate a cab, a San Francisco Superior Court jury ruled Monday afternoon. The verdict by the 12-member jury after less than a full day of deliberation rebuffs a multiyear quest by the credit union to get millions in compensation for medallion loans that plunged in value once Uber and Lyft decimated the taxi business. Scores of medallions have gone into foreclosure, but no one has wanted to buy one at the $250,000 purchase price. The last medallion sold was in April 2016. The credit union made loans to more than 700 cabdrivers for the $250,000 medallions starting in 2010. But soon thereafter, upstarts Uber and Lyft caused the taxi market to collapse, and drivers struggled to make their payments, with scores going into default. The credit union sued the SFMTA in March 2018, alleging that the agency had promised to buy back the medallions if the program collapsed and blaming it for letting Uber and Lyft kill the taxi market. (The ride-hailing companies are regulated by the state, not individual cities.) The case originally sought $28 million in damages plus $125 million to repurchase all the loans. The three-week trial was presided over by Judge Harold Kahn. The jury ruled that both sides had abided by the contract. It rejected the credit unions claims that SFMTA was obliged to reduce the medallion loans price, that SFMTA had failed to try hard enough to resell foreclosed medallions, and that SFMTA should have formally declared an end to the medallion sales program. This case was always about a bank bailout, plain and simple, said City Attorney Dennis Herrera in a statement. The City and the credit union have a contract. The City has not broken that contract, so taxpayers should not have been forced to bail out this bank. The credit union did not immediately return requests for comment. The citys taxi drivers, who avidly followed the case, were disappointed with the verdict. Both sides and the judge made clear that no matter which party prevailed, taxi drivers would not receive any compensation. Still many drivers hoped that a credit union victory might result in the SFMTA buying back their medallions, and might prompt an attorney to represent them on contingency in a class-action lawsuit against the agency. Drivers hoped for validation of their long-standing grievances with the city, which started to sell the medallions for a quarter of a million dollars each in 2010 after decades during which the coveted permits were available free, but only after drivers spent years on a waiting list. 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. The credit union loss is our loss, said Marcelo Fonseca, a long-time cab driver. During the trial, he said, a box of 285 foreclosed medallions was shown to the jury; they are 285 ruined lives ... a cab drivers mass grave. He fears that there will be more foreclosures ahead. Drivers, who are largely working-class immigrants, eagerly bought medallions, seeing them as a ticket to owning their own small businesses and fulfilling the American dream. Now many feel that the city and SFMTA made millions off their $250,000 loans and then compounded the injustice by allowing Uber and Lyft to flourish unregulated. Many drivers say they are desperate to be relieved of the crushing burden of their medallion loans. Pre-pandemic, some drivers even worked for Uber in their spare time because driving a cab didnt bring in enough money to afford the payments. Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid San Francisco supervisors are expected to soon approve buying three properties to house more than 300 homeless people across the city but officials havent committed to purchasing a fourth controversial property, and the delay could cost the city a chance to get state money to buy the affordable housing this year. An Outer Mission motel was approved Tuesday, while a student apartment building in SoMa and a single-room-occupancy hotel in the Mission will be voted in two weeks. After the final green light from the mayor, the city plans to apply for time-sensitive state funding for at least one, and possibly all three properties, that, if awarded, could cover around half of each purchase. Officials and advocates hail the state program as a golden opportunity to stretch local dollars and buy existing properties a quicker and more cost-effective way to make a dent in the homelessness crisis than building new. There were about 8,000 homeless people, more than 5,100 of them unsheltered, in San Francisco during the citys last count in 2019. This is the moral obligation of our time to move as aggressively as we can to house people that need supportive housing, Supervisor Ahsha Safai said during Tuesdays Board meeting before the unanimous vote on the property in his district. But the fourth property is stuck in limbo after officials pulled the brakes last month on buying a Japantown hotel after fierce opposition. Residents and businesses worry that the loss of one of two tourist hotels in the neighborhood would be economically devastating to a community thats been ignored and discriminated against by officials in the past. In this case its not a NIMBY situation, Shireen McSpadden, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing told The Chronicle last week. On many fronts, its a very exciting prospect, but there are some other things that we need to examine, because what we dont want to do is rip at the fabric of the community if theres a business there thats really helping hold that community together. McSpadden said the department was committed to a longer process on the Kimpton Buchanan Hotel, but didnt give a timeline for when the city will decide whether to buy it. Delays mean applying for state funds for the property may not be an option in the citys initial application, she said. If the city doesnt apply in this years funding round, it could apply in next years round. The city could also buy the building any time using its own funds, but that would mean less money to create other affordable housing. McSpadden said the city remains committed to applying for other properties this year, although officials are still deciding which ones. How much will new housing cost? Mission Inn at 5630-5638 Mission St.: $17.3 million, $333,461 per unit The Eula at 3055-61 16th St.: $5.7 million, $228,600 per unit The Panoramic at 1321 Mission St.: $86.7 million, $360,417 per bedroom (including studios and three-bedrooms) See More Collapse Were going to be looking at a lot more hotels in the future, she added. The delay comes as San Francisco faces a crisis with thousands still homeless. The city is investing more than $1 billion over two years in addressing homelessness, pouring money into supportive housing and trying to spread homeless services across the city instead of concentrating them downtown. The state funding program, Project Homekey, is a promising piece of the effort. Last year, the city got two hotels through the program and within months moved in homeless people. Some advocates dislike the longer timeline for the states program this year, which reviews applications on a rolling basis but doesnt close until next May. The usual opposition forces who really dont want to be part of the solution have had time to mobilize and thats going to be a problem not just in San Francisco, but other cities, said Dr. Margot Kushel, who directs the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF. Tomiquia Moss, founder and CEO of Bay Area homelessnesss nonprofit All Home, said that if neighborhoods are resisting supportive housing in their communities, then were never going to get enough housing for everyone who needs it. Thats not okay when we have a housing shortage in San Francisco, she said. The city shouldnt stop challenging the community to accept housing in Japantown. Japantown leaders and most San Francisco officials said the neighborhoods concerns are valid. Mayor London Breed met with leaders a couple of weeks ago and said the city would look at economic data as one factor to decide about acquisition. Leaders have commissioned their own economic impact study. Paul Osaki, executive director at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, said he felt the choice to pick the Buchanan was poorly vetted. It doesnt make sense to purchase hotels that were bringing in revenue and were an anchor business for neighborhoods, in particular neighborhoods that have been and are culturally historic, he said. 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. Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents Japantown, last month urged McSpadden in a letter to slow down the process on the Buchanan and consider two other tourist hotels in his district. He said Monday that Japantown residents and hotel workers who didnt immediately accept the proposal shouldnt be labeled anti-homeless. Im completely committed to as much affordable housing as possible in my district and around the city, and I think it is unfortunate how this one site was rolled out in a way it didnt have to be, he said. Other communities are watching. Recently at Candlestick Point, neighbors called out historic discrimination against the primarily Black Bayview as one reason to oppose the city setting up a lot for homeless people to park vehicles, arguing homeless services dont end up in wealthier, white areas. Opponents also pointed to Japantown as a precedent. Preston sent another letter to McSpadden Monday accusing the city of taking little action to investigate the two other hotels with willing sellers in his district. McSpadden said last week the city is still working through that process. One bonus of the Buchanan was that its already being used to temporarily house homeless individuals, and the city soon needs to find them a permanent place to live. Meanwhile, the city is pushing forward with buying the three other properties, but its not yet clear whether theyll apply for state funding for all of them. Without Homekey funds, the city could use money from voter-approved tax measure Proposition C to still buy the buildings but that will mean fewer units in the end citywide. Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness and a member of the committee overseeing Prop. C, said it was very frightening the city might not get all the state funds it was counting on to meet its housing goals. The city needs to be very aggressive with getting state funding, she said. Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench As San Francisco struggles with an exploding drug epidemic that killed more than 700 people last year, a new city-run response team hit the streets Monday to try to help people who survive an overdose. The hope is to prevent a future, potentially fatal overdose by directing people to resources and treatment. The influx of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has exacerbated the citys drug crisis over the past few years, with fatal overdoses rising from 441 in 2019 and 259 in 2018. We know that overdose deaths are preventable and every person who dies is someones son, daughter, friend, or neighbor. It is urgent that we save lives by doing what we know will work best, Mayor London Breed said in a statement. The Street Overdose Response Team is focused on helping people who are most at risk get the help they need to start their recovery. The new team comes as pressure increases on Breed and the Board of Supervisors to deal with the citys drug crisis. Many advocates say that the city isnt doing enough to directly address the tragedies on the streets, as well as systemic problems like homelessness and mental health issues that fuel the crisis. While the SORT team did its first run in the morning, by the afternoon, at least one person had died of an apparent overdose. Around 3 p.m., a yellow body bag flapped in the wind at the corner of Jones Street and Golden Gate Avenue with a vial of Narcan on the ground. One man walking by said he called the paramedics when he saw someone laying motionless on the sidewalk, with drool coming down the side of his cheek. The paramedics were unable to save the man with more Narcan, he said. When they left, the police stood guard over the body for about an hour until the Medical Examiner finally came. The Street Overdose Response Team (SORT) is one of several street crisis teams rolled out recently as officials try to address San Franciscos twin behavioral health crises: addiction and mental illness. San Francisco also recently hired a new head of behavioral health, who will lead the citys attempt to reform its system of care: Mental Health SF, a $100 million-a-year initiative. SORT initially made up of a paramedic and public health specialist will reach out within 72 hours of an overdose and can offer a range of services, including buprenorphine, which helps ease withdrawal; rescue kits that include the overdose reversal drug Narcan; and help getting into substance use treatment facilities or housing or shelter. San Francisco has limited long-term care options like residential treatment, housing and case managers for those who want help. Its unclear how the team will navigate the shortage. The city recently announced plans to add 400 mental health and addiction treatment beds, but the timeline to open some of the beds is uncertain. Housing and shelter is particularly important because the unhoused are among those most at risk of an overdose. The rate of overdose deaths among homeless people doubled in San Francisco over the past year, accounting for at least one-quarter of all overdose deaths, according to city data. SORT will start by responding to calls 12 hours a day and ramp up to 24/7 by early 2022. The idea is to make sure patients who are referred by hospitals, the 911 system and community partners get follow-up care. The team hopes to be able to work with approximately 700 individuals within the first year. Once its up and fully running, SORT will cost about $5 million a year to operate, according to the health department. At full expansion, SORT will consist of medical specialists such as doctors and nurses; behavioral health specialists including counselors and psychotherapists; and peer counselors with related, lived experience. Peer counselors who are from the community, who have the same life experience as the people were outreaching to are crucial in helping those who might be resistant to treatment, said Dr. Barry Zevin, the medical director of street medicine at the health department. SORT is a response to emergency-room doctors and paramedics observing that people are more likely to accept treatment immediately after an overdose, Zevin said, although theres no data to prove that. He added that there is data that show people with addiction disorders are responsive to low-barrier treatment. Sometimes having a near-catastrophic life event is a time when people reflect on what theyre doing, said Kevin Lagor, a nurse practitioner with the health departments street medicine team. Ultimately all were trying to do is connect people to help if theyre ready for it. We cant force anything on anyone. Officials said other efforts to stem fatal overdoses include opening a methamphetamine sobering center this fall with 20 temporary beds to connect to care, and expanding access to buprenorphine through telemedicine and by delivering it to high risk housing sites and other locations. Those overdose interventions including SORT will cost around $13 million a year, a fraction of the citys $13.2 billion budget. But the health department will spend a total of $606 million on all behavioral health initiatives this fiscal year, according to a spokesperson, up approximately $70 million from last year. In addition, the citys budget will add more than $1 billion to tackle homelessness over the next two years, on top of the $600 million existing two-year spending. Kristen Marshall, director of the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project, which manages the citys overdose response, said that while she deeply respects the people who are part of the SORT team, officials are simply responding to pressure and the new initiative is not a long-term solution. Actual solutions would involve addressing systemic issues including inadequate access to food, housing and water that lead to people overdosing, Marshall said. I dont care how many times you check on them after an overdose, Marshall said. They need dignified housing. Supervisor Matt Haney said SORT will bring overdose survivors into a larger system of care that may help them access basic needs including housing, food and water. Haneys district includes the Tenderloin and SoMa, where 40% of all overdoses occurred in 2020. 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. I mean this is not the whole solution. This is a part of the solution, Haney said. If someone has experienced an overdose, the right thing to do, including to address the broader needs that person has, is to have trained public health first responders. Haney added that funding for 400 new treatment beds, increased street outreach and more counseling services also made it into the budget. The city is also ramping up the availability of Narcan, expanding to settings such as primary care clinics, housing sites, food pantries and dining halls. Already, the city is seeing a spike in the use of Narcan, which was administered more than 4,200 times in the first six months of 2021 versus 4,300 times in all of 2020. That sharp rise in Narcan reversals is related to the rise of fentanyl, Zevin said. Two years ago, I saw virtually no one using fentanyl on purpose in San Francisco, Zevin said. Now, essentially all of my patients are using fentanyl. While the pace of overdose deaths dipped slightly this year, the share that involved fentanyl held steady at about 75%. Activists have said one way to cut down on overdoses would be to open a safe drug use site where users are supervised and can access treatment. San Francisco officials have expressed support for such a site, but are waiting on state legislation to permit the sites, which has been delayed. In the meantime, SORT will try to help save lives. The effort will complement the Street Crisis Response Teams, which began working last year. Those teams have mental health professionals who respond to some 911 calls in place of police, with the goal of helping those who are mentally ill, high on drugs, homeless or all three. Chronicle staff writer Trisha Thadani contributed to this report. Omar Shaikh Rashad is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: omar.rashad@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @omarsrashad San Francisco Mayor London Breed is not done criticizing the indoor mask mandate in effect in her city. Two weeks after being seen in violation of the mandate at a Tenderloin nightclub and bemoaning the "fun police," Breed told the San Francisco Chronicle that changes to the rules which require all individuals regardless of vaccination status to mask in all indoor spaces unless "actively eating or drinking" are "overdue." (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another.) More for you Get KN95 masks in multiple sizes for $1.50 each "Especially in light of so many people being vaccinated and the decline in numbers," Breed said she thought changes to the mask mandate would be "appropriate." The Chronicle reported that Breed "indicated that change may be coming," but the mayor did not provide a timeline nor any clues on the nature of the "change." As mayor, Breed has no control over COVID-19 restrictions. Under California law, county health officers, who are not elected, are given expansive powers during "health emergencies" and can issue public health orders without receiving permission from elected officials. The San Francisco Department of Public Health previously told SFGATE it was "increasingly" looking at softening the mask mandate, and would perhaps remove the mandate in some spaces before others. Specifically, the department said health officials are scrutinizing the mask mandate for office spaces, which is delaying many return-to-office plans and taking a toll on Financial District and SoMa bars and restaurants. SFGATE reached out to the health department Tuesday for an update on plans to soften the mandate in light of Breed's most recent remarks, and the department offered nothing new. "SFDPH is considering where there may be some flexibility in lowering mask requirements, beginning with settings where there is lower risk, low contact rates, and where people are fully vaccinated," the department said in a statement. "While our masking requirements remain in effect, we continue to monitor the data and discussions are ongoing with our regional and state partners on next steps. As it has been the case since the outset of the pandemic, we will be guided by science and, to the extent possible, will take a regional approach on virus mitigation strategies." Breed was previously critical of the mandate's requirement that she mask indoors at all times even while taking pictures given her vaccination status. "When I took a picture, as I do in any case or do an interview, yes I take my mask off when I take a picture," she said. "I'm vaccinated. I don't need to wear a mask to take a picture every single time. I don't want to." Fisheries biologist Pat Higgins said he was shocked when he discovered on Sept. 17 a section of the largest tributary in California's third-largest watershed was dry. Higgins explained there was no water flowing above ground in the section of the South Fork Eel River where it meets the main stem in Dyerville below Highway 101 in Humboldt County. The riverbed was exposed and the water just stopped, ending in a still pool. The south fork and the main stem were no longer connected. He believes this is unprecedented based on his observations going back to 1995 and historic data from the U.S. Geological Survey's gauges measuring river flow. "When I was standing there, I thought, 'This is historic,'" said Higgins, managing director of the Eel River Recovery Project. "I hope its the worst I ever see." Luckily, a week after his observation, Higgins was astounded and relieved when he saw the South Fork was flowing after a cold front delivered a couple inches of rain to the farthest reaches of Northern California. He believes the river was dry for more than a week based on USGS data. California's rivers have struggled throughout modern-day history with increasing demands from urban and agriculture water users in the state's climate marked by periods of natural drought. But the South Fork running dry may be a symbol of a new extreme, signaling escalating environmental neglect, increased agricultural demands, changing weather patterns and droughts that are more extreme than they were in the past. It's an example of what unfolds when the balance of Mother Nature is disrupted. Scientists are trying to understand the threats to this unique river with a future that's clouded by climate change. Eel River Recovery Project The 196-mile Eel River flows northward from Mendocino County to Humboldt County, winding over coastal mountains and through towering forests and narrow canyons, before emptying into the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles downstream from Fortuna, a town known as the gateway to California's redwoods. The South Fork is 105 miles long, stretching from Laytonville to Dyerville, before joining with the main stem. With no major dams, it stands as a remote and stunningly beautiful waterway more untouched than many of the states other rivers. There are several other tributaries in the Eel watershed including the Middle Fork, North Fork and Van Duzen River. More than 350 miles of the watershed's waterways have both state and federal Wild and Scenic River designations. "It's more than 3,300 miles of watershed," said Scott McBain, who has fished the Eel River and worked on the main stem and North Fork. "Its like one of the largest rivers in California and historically it had one of the largest salmon and steelhead runs. There used to be a million anadromous fish that went up it. It used to be one of the biggest salmon producers in the state, and it still could be. Its ability to recover is high." After two consecutive dry winters, the tributaries and the main stem of the river are running at levels below historic averages and in some cases have reached all-time lows. The flow on the South Fork is significantly lower than some of the other tributaries, a non-peer-reviewed report from the Eel River Recovery Project revealed. A river's flow is determined by measuring the number of cubic feet that passes by a fixed point per second (cfs). At one point on the South Fork, for example, the flow was recently measured at 6.98 cfs. The previous historic low was 8.86 cfs in 2002, the report said. Researchers are trying to understand and quantify the factors contributing to the river's low flow including climate change, water diversions and the health of the surrounding forests. Climate change undoubtedly impacts the South Fork and all rivers across the state. In California, warming temperatures are reducing the size of the snowpack that feeds rivers in spring and summer, and research also suggests the state's droughts are becoming more common while rain is more sporadic and intense. "It's not entirely surprising the South Fork is so low because its one of the driest years weve had in 100 years," said Eli Asarian, a hydrologist and aquatic ecologist with Riverbend Sciences. "It was a very low rainfall year and the flows were very low. Its not surprising its at or below historic lows. As far as whats causing it, its a combination of many different factors." Another of those factors is an increase in water diversions. "As the population has increased, as the cannabis cultivation has been increased, there has been more water used over time," said Asarian, who has researched the Eel River watershed. "There are not great numbers for that but its self-evident there has been an increase." Asarian explained the impact of diversions can vary depending on the time of year. "In March when it has been raining, the amount of water being diverted can be 1,000 times less than the river flow," he said. "Then you get to now, and the amount of water being used on the South Fork Eel could be quite a bit greater than the total river flow. The effects are most intense in the late summer to early fall and in drought years and especially this year in what may be the worst drought ever." Gabriel Rossi, a coastal rivers ecologist with CalTrout, said these diversions in dry summers such as 2020 and 2021 have the potential to compound the effect of climate change on habitat and make the drought that much worse for native species. Rossi noted that juvenile salmon migration and rearing in the mainstem South Fork Eel was severely truncated this year. "Thats depressing because we had a stronger than average Coho salmon run in the South Fork Eel this winter," he wrote in an email. "Juvenile Coho were abundant in the upper South Fork and several tributaries throughout the early summer. While some of these juvenile Coho were able to find cool water refugia upstream, the survival of this years cohort would have really benefited from a wetter and cooler spring and summer." Eel River Recovery Project Poor forest management may have also exacerbated 2021's paltry water flow on the South Fork, the recovery project's report said. A significant portion of the South Fork watershed, the land that drains water into the river, was clear-cut in the 1950s and 1960s before it became part of Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The land was then "replaced with thousands of trees" and has become overgrown, Higgins explained. The result? "The overstocked trees are sucking up the moisture that should be going into the river," Higgins said. "The moisture transpires back into the atmosphere ... its like the trees are breathing." The technical term used to describe this process is evapotranspiration, which generally means "the water lost to the atmosphere from the ground surface." This hypothesis is compelling, but David Dralle, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said more research is needed. "I'm hesitant to say that flows are low in certain watersheds due to an overgrowth of trees," Dralle wrote in an email. "This is still a surprisingly unsettled area of hydrological research." Dralle pointed to another tributary in the watershed, Elder Creek, that did "a bit better than other watersheds this summer" yet saw less rainfall than other tributaries and has a watershed with "very large, productive old-growth forest that was never logged and has not burned anytime recently." Asarian countered that Elder Creek's higher flow may actually be in part due to the old-growth forest. He said some research has shown the structure and composition of a forest the size of trees and the species can impact the amount of water that runs across the landscape and makes it into the river. A healthy old-growth forest with larger trees spaced farther apart may require less rain than a young, overstocked forest. "When a forest is harvested, you temporarily have no trees there," he said. "Any rain that falls goes straight into the river or into the ground. Theres an after-the-harvest when generally theres an increase in flow. There are fewer trees there and less water being used. As the forest grows back, assuming theres been good regeneration, what you end up with is a lot of smaller trees closer together ... the effects of the vegetation on the flow, it will flip." Higgins noted that compared to the South Fork, other tributaries of the watershed have seen more significant flow this year. The Middle Fork Eel River flow at Dos Rios, for example, recorded a flow of 7.4 cfs, "which is more than four times the all-time low of 1.64 set in 2014," the report showed. Why would there be so much flow in 2021 when the rainfall years were similar or worse? The recovery project said the Middle Fork may have a decent flow because the watershed around it recently burned in the 2020 August Fire that thinned the forest. A similar situation unfolded on the North Fork Eel River with the surrounding land burned by last year's fire, according to the project. "The middle fork and the north fork had the million-acre August fire, and their flow is much better than 2013 and 2014 after similar flow years," Higgins hypothesized. This may also need more research. "The flow values on the Middle Fork are high given the amount of precip that fell this year, but they are not so anomalously high (in my opinion) as to definitively point toward the August Fire," Dalle wrote in an email. A number of factors are clearly at play, leading to the river going temporarily dry. It's also clear the river ecology is suffering and this began long before the river bed was exposed. "The sight of a dry channel in the lower South Fork Eel River is certainly startling but I think it speaks more to the ecological effects of drought that the river has already experienced this year than the immediate effect of drying in September," Rossi wrote in an email. "A coastal river doesnt dry up overnight and a lot of ecological 'tipping points' actually occur in the weeks or even months before the channel dries completely. A dry channel in September means that the spring and summer flow conditions were already critically low. So, by the time this localized section of the river dried up, a lot of the damage was already done." The Pandora Papers files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveal two secret offshore trusts that an indicted art dealer, Douglas Latchford, used to hold money and ancient relics, including some believed to be looted. Prompted by the revelation, a cross-newsroom reporting team from the ICIJ, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Spotify and Australian Broadcasting Corporation embarked on a hunt for items that had passed through Latchford's hands or had traveled through other means into the collections of museums and private individuals. Using public sources - including museum websites, Latchford's art books and gallery catalogues - and helped by several experts in Southeast Asian art, the team identified 43 relics with ownership histories tied to Latchford or three of his associates who U.S. authorities said worked with Latchford in the collections of 10 museums: the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the British Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and the National Gallery of Australia. Of these relics, 27 passed through Latchford's hands, according to provenance information provided by the museums. The remaining 16 were sold by an art dealer that prosecutors identified as an associate of Latchford's who helped sell looted art. The reporting team also traced Latchford-linked items to another three private collectors and galleries. The reporting team asked all museums about the relics tied to Latchford, and here are their responses: - Asian Art Museum of San Francisco - Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture "As curiosity about provenance and the story behind our collection formation increased, we have sought to provide as much context as we can given our resources and the information available," the museum said. About pieces in its collection that were associated with either Spink & Son, one of Latchford's collaborators, or art dealer Doris Wiener, also a Latchford associate, the museum said: "Our presumption decades ago, when these objects were donated to our collection or acquired by dedicated funds for their purchase, was that they had left their places of origin in a legal manner. Today, and especially following the 2008 stance taken by the Association of Art Museum Directors towards objects and artworks with unclear provenance, our response is categorically different - now we would not accept any artwork without thorough documentation of the path it took from its place of origin to the museum." - British Museum "Research into the history of the collection as a whole, and of individual objects, is ongoing," the British Museum said. "Many objects have been a part of the collection for decades or even centuries, so it's not always possible to know their full history. The process of acquisition and record keeping has developed significantly in recent times. Some ways in which objects entered the British Museum are no longer current or acceptable, though others remain familiar and inform best practice. We also reiterated that we take this issue of provenance very seriously." - Brooklyn Museum "The Brooklyn Museum has recently enhanced its efforts to research and document provenance, but that move was not motivated by the Latchford indictment," the museum said. "Research on the Cambodian collection was already underway and remains one of many focal points for provenance work at the museum." - Cleveland Museum of Art "The Cleveland Museum of Art has never acquired an object directly from Douglas Latchford," the museum said. The museum does own "three Southeast Asian works of art" with the name Douglas Latchford in provenance records, it said. It added: "It may be worth noting that the Cleveland Museum of Art has a strong, collaborative relationship with Cambodia and a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh." - Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum said it is "in ongoing discussions with both U.S. and Cambodian governments" about items in the museum's collection connected with Latchford. The museum "will reserve further comment until the conclusion of those conversations," it said. "As stewards of a global collection, the museum gathers facts prior to deaccessioning and repatriating an object." - Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art did not comment and declined to answer reporters' questions. - Metropolitan Museum of Art "The Museum has followed the case against Douglas Latchford and has reviewed the indictment against him that references a Hari-Hara," the museum said. "The Museum did acquire a Hari-Hara in 1977 from Spink & Son. It is unknown whether the Hari-Hara, a relatively common depiction of Vishnu and Shiva, are one and the same. The Met continues to have a long-standing collaborative relationship with the Cambodian government, with many ongoing loans and partnerships. With the return of the two Koh Ker statutes in 2013, considered 'historic' by Cambodian officials, the Museum led the way to other repatriations to Cambodia and cemented this relationship. The Museum remains committed to pursuing further research - and sharing findings widely - on this and all archaeological objects in the Museum's collection. "More broadly, Met is committed to the responsible acquisition of archaeological art and applies rigorous provenance standards both to new acquisitions and the study of works long in its collection in an ongoing effort to learn as much as possible about ownership history. The Museum also has a long and well documented history of responding to claims regarding works of art, restituting objects where appropriate, being transparent about the provenance of works in the collection, and supporting further research and scholarship by sharing all known ownership history on metmuseum.org." - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston "We scrutinize the provenance of every ancient work of art proposed for acquisition or incoming loan, documenting the country of origin and country of modern discovery, the legislation of those source countries, the object's ownership and sales history, as well as international shipments to ensure we are not accepting anything illegally imported or exported," the museum said. "Our records online are as complete and transparent as possible, so if law enforcement authorities or a representative of a foreign nation wishes to make a claim, they can easily do so." - Walters Art Museum The museum confirmed that a piece in its collection was provenanced to Spink & Son, but that "according to WAM's records there is no indication that [the piece] went through Latchford's hands." - National Gallery of Australia "Over the past seven years the National Gallery has undertaken significant work in provenance research which has led to the deaccessioning of 24 works," the museum said. "We have also undertaken the development of a comprehensive Provenance and Due Diligence Policy and Provenance Decision-Making Framework." The museum said that the piece tied to Latchford was "the subject of a significant live investigation," the results of which weren't available at the time of publication. - - - The Pandora Papers is an investigation based on more than 11.9 million documents revealing the flows of money, property and other assets concealed in the offshore financial system. The Washington Post and other news organizations exposed the involvement of political leaders, examined the growth of the industry within the United States and demonstrated how secrecy shields assets from governments, creditors and those abused or exploited by the wealthy and powerful. The trove of confidential information, the largest of its kind, was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which organized the investigation. This article, Facebook whistleblower urges US lawmakers to take action, originally appeared on CNET.com. Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen, the whistleblower behind a major leak of internal company documents, urged US lawmakers on Tuesday to provide more oversight over the social media giant. "Congress can change the rules that Facebook plays by and stop the many harms it is now causing," Haugen told the Senate subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, and data security. Haugen said she joined Facebook because she thinks the social media giant has the potential to bring out the best in people but she believes that "Facebook's products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy." Haugen publicly revealed herself to be the Facebook whistleblower during an interview that the CBS television program 60 Minutes aired on Sunday. The 37-year-old gathered thousands of pages of documents and communications, some of which The Wall Street Journal used to publish a series of stories about how Facebook is aware of the harm the company's platform can inflict, including on the mental health of teenagers. While Haugen said she understands how complex these problems are, she noted the choices being made within the company are "disastrous." "During my time at Facebook, I came to realize a devastating truth. Almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside of Facebook," Haugen said. Tuesday's hearing underscored how the world's largest social network continues to face more scrutiny over the potential harms of its platforms. Facebook, which suffered a massive outage on Monday, has been plagued by numerous scandals including about data privacy. US lawmakers from both parties are trying to learn more from Haugen about what type of regulation could help keep social networks such as Facebook more accountable. Last week, Facebook's head of safety, Antigone Davis, appeared before Congress. Facebook says The Wall Street Journal mischaracterized its research, noting that its platform also has benefits such as helping people keep in touch with family and friends. The company has also paused the development of a children's version of Instagram, a photo and video sharing app it owns. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the Senate subcommittee hosting the hearing, told Haugen he was grateful for the documents she gathered. "You have a compelling credible voice, which we've heard already. But you are not here alone. You're armed with documents and evidence and you speak volumes, as they do, about how Facebook has put profits ahead of people," he said. Blumenthal, who compared tech platforms to tobacco companies, also called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to come before the committee. "Rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing." Blumenthal, along with Democrats Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida, reintroduced the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act. The bill would ban features such as "likes" and follower counts for users under the age of 16 years old. The legislation also addresses other issues such as manipulative marketing and the amplification of harmful content. Lawmakers have also explored revising Section 230, a key federal law that shields internet companies from liability for user-generated content. Haugen said if lawmakers reformed Section 230 to make Facebook responsible for how they rank content, she thinks the company would get rid of engagement-based ranking. "Facebook knows that when they pick out the content that we focus on using computers, we spend more time on their platform. They make more money," she said. Evan Vucci/AP WASHINGTON (AP) President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced his picks to head the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts, tapping a Harvard University scholar and an Arizona State University professor to oversee the federal agencies. If confirmed by the Senate, Shelly Lowe, who is the executive director of Harvard University's Native American program, will be the nations first Native American to serve as chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. Chris Pizzello/Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP LOS ANGELES (AP) A federal jury in Los Angeles awarded $6.3 million to actor Shannen Doherty on Monday in a lawsuit alleging that State Farm failed to pay sufficiently for damage to her house in a 2018 California wildfire. The jury found that the insurance giant's failure to pay policy benefits for Doherty's Malibu home were unreasonable and without proper cause. The Bay Area is back. At least, its traffic jams are. Traffic in the Bay Area's most-traveled throughways, notably the Bay Bridge and Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, has returned to near pre-pandemic levels, as first reported by KCBS. Traffic on the Bay Bridge and several of our other bridges is routinely topping 90% of pre-pandemic levels, Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman John Goodwin told SFGATE in an interview. At least one bridge the Antioch Bridge has returned to full 2019 levels of traffic, he added. The popularity of these vital Bay Area arteries may signal a larger return to in-person work. But this has been happening for months after California reopened its economy in June, he added. Weve been very, very stable in the daily bridge counts since middle to late June, so all through the summer and through September there have just been very minor variations from day-to-day, nothing that signals a new trend, Goodwin added. He also added that traffic on Fridays and Saturdays is, on average, higher than that on weekdays, perhaps an indicator that people really value getting to explore the Bay Area on their days off. These rates are lower on the South Bay bridges, namely the San Mateo and Dumbarton Bridges, Goodwin said. Only 70% of pre-COVID-19 traffic has returned to these throughways, while other bridges are approaching full 2019 levels of traffic. He did note that those two bridges were the first to see drastic reductions in traffic when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Bay Area. Without diving too deeply into it, Goodman said, they were going to large employers that are particularly well-suited for remote work. They were prepared for remote work early and sufficiently prepared to stay remote. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Sixteen of the 49 Louisiana hospitals that regularly deliver babies have met new standards aimed at improving the states poor performance involving deaths resulting from pregnancy. The Louisiana Department of Health said Monday that 11 hospitals in the state are Birth Ready and five others met the higher designation of Birth Ready+ under standards set by the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative. That's a network of public health experts, advocates, doctors and other care providers. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports the classifications grade hospitals on whether they meet certain benchmarks around maternal blood loss, cesarean sections, staff education and other factors that contribute to improved outcomes during pregnancy. These 16 hospitals went above and beyond, said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, director of the collaborative. Thirty of the 42 participating hospitals in the states collaborative applied for one of the two tiers of recognition. Seven of the states 49 hospitals were not eligible because they haven't joined the collaborative. The effort seeks to make births safer using metrics to judge whether a hospital is doing everything possible to ensure births dont end in death or serious complications. Louisiana's rate of pregnancy-related deaths in 2018 was 25.2 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to the national rate of 17.4. Among the requirements to meet the Birth Ready designation, fewer than 5% of deliveries can occur before 39 weeks, except in cases where it was medically necessary, according to the newspaper. At least half of the patients at Birth Ready hospitals must be assessed for excessive bleeding risk, early blood loss and receive timely treatment for dangerously high blood pressure, all of which can be fatal if untreated. At Birth Ready+ hospitals, the requirement jumps to 80% for those measures. The eleven hospitals receiving the Birth Ready designation are: Baton Rouge General, Womans Hospital, Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Jennings American Legion Hospital, Lane Regional Medical Center, Willis-Knighton South and the Center for Womens Health, Christus Ochsner Lake Area Hospital, Ochsner LSU Health Monroe, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport St. Mary Medical Center and Ochsner Medical Center Kenner. The five Birth Ready+ hospitals include: North Oaks Medical Center, Ochsner Baptist Medical Center, Ochsner Medical Center Baton Rouge, Our Lady of the Angels Hospital and Tulane Lakeside Hospital for Women and Children. Hospitals must reapply for the designation each year. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Two Florida sheriff's deputies fatally shot a domestic violence suspect who refused their orders to drop his gun, officials said Tuesday. Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call Monday night about a domestic dispute between a woman and her ex-boyfriend, according to St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway. According to an incident report, the ex-boyfriend hit the woman and her teenage son as the boy attempted to stop the attack. The child came to his moms rescue, but he also hit the child, Holloway said during a news conference on Tuesday. The deputies took information about the incident and went to the man's home some 90 minutes later to arrest him on charges of domestic violence and child abuse. The man got into his car as deputies approached, Holloway said. They tried to confront him, but saw he had a gun. They asked him to drop the weapon but he refused. They then fired several rounds into the car, the chief said. The man, whose name was not immediately released, died at the scene, Holloway said. He added that he does not believe the man returned fire. Holloway identified the deputies as Cpl. Hunter and Deputy Lansford. He did not mention the races of those involved. According to Holloway, footage from a doorbell camera at the ex-girlfriend's home showed the man making suicidal comments. He added that deputies had developed a plan to approach him, but that changed when they saw him holding the gun. The woman and her son suffered minor injuries in the attack at her home, the chief said. The shooting is being investigated by the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force, which was formed in 2020 and is designed to keep law enforcement agencies from investigating use-of-force incidents by their own officers. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Two Rhode Island men authorities say touched off a needless and expensive ocean search-and-rescue effort when they fired maritime distress flares to celebrate a friend's wedding have agreed to pay $5,000 each to settle the case, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The Coast Guard and the town of New Shoreham spent more than $100,000 combined responding to the flares off Block Island on June 6, 2020, when there was no one in distress, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Providence. LAWRENCE, Mass. (AP) Authorities in Massachusetts have arrested eight people they say were involved in a major fentanyl trafficking operation based in the Merrimack Valley. Authorities also seized large quantities of fentanyl during the course of the investigation, according to a statement Monday from the office of Attorney General Maura Healey. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Back in Raleigh after over a dozen redistricting public hearings last month, the General Assembly is ready to begin drawing new boundaries for the North Carolina legislature and the state's U.S. House delegation for the next decade. The House and Senate remapping committee leaders said Tuesday that lawmakers could begin drawing boundaries Wednesday in committee rooms that will be open to the public, with activity and maps drawn by computer streamed online. It'll likely be at least two weeks before plans are debated and voted upon, giving members time to experiment and build consensus with colleagues. While a 2019 court ruling mandated a more open mapmaking process that year, it wasnt required going forward. "We are taking the unprecedented step of being as transparent as I believe we possibly can," said Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican and House Redistricting Committee chairman. Only maps drawn in the committee rooms will be accepted. Like other states, North Carolina is redrawing House and Senate boundaries and those for Congress based on 2020 census figures released earlier this year. Unless judges declare otherwise, the lines approved by the full House and Senate would be used starting with next year's elections through 2030. Candidate filing for next year begins in December, so approved lines are needed several weeks beforehand. Population changes since 2010 mean areas around Charlotte and Raleigh will benefit from increased representation at the expense of rural areas where population has leveled. And North Carolina's overall population growth soared enough for the state to earn a 14th congressional seat. The committees already decided upon the criteria that must be used to draw maps before the hearings began in early September. Many such rules are based on a mosaic of federal and state court rulings over the decades and that Republican leaders say are designed to comply with constitutions and the federal Voting Rights Act. Some include ensuring districts within the same statewide map are equal in population, aiming to keep districts compact and considering where current lawmakers live. But GOP committee members agreed that data identifying the race of individuals or voters and partisan information such as election results can't be used in drawing boundaries. This is largely a response to court rulings during the 2010s that declared lawmakers conducted both racial and partisan gerrymandering during the last redistricting cycle. Those rulings led to the editing of maps. Still, with Republicans in charge of both chambers and redistricting legislation not subject to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's vetoes, the GOP is expected to be politically no worse off, if not in a better situation, with new plans. Litigation challenging any enacted maps, however, is extremely likely. On Tuesday, each committee reviewed the groupings of counties that outside experts calculated so state House and Senate maps comply with a state Constitution requirement to minimize the number of districts that cross county lines. But some county clusters in areas of the state that will comprise roughly a dozen House and Senate districts aren't yet set in stone under these proposals. Legislative Democrats questioned why race-based statistics aren't being provided to ensure that Black voting-age residents are no worse off in being able to elect their favored candidates. Exceptions to the county cluster rules are permitted in order to comply with the Voting Rights Act, but the county groupings discussed Tuesday don't contain such adjustments. "How can we comply with federal law and and all this without looking at any racial data? Democratic Sen. Wiley Nickel of Wake County asked. Sen. Ralph Hise, co-chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee, said there are no plans to commission a formal study of whether voting is racially polarized in North Carolina a potential prerequisite to make boundary changes based on race. That's because judges told lawmakers in the 2010s that there wasn't sufficient evidence for such polarization, he said. We believe that constitutionally compliant maps can be presented under the Voting Rights Act under these county clusters, said Hise, a Mitchell County Republican. But Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue of Wake County warned that lawmakers are setting themselves up for more litigation that strikes down boundaries by avoiding sufficient analysis based on race. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) A Minnesota appeals court has ruled in favor of a retired botany and physics professor whose unmanicured yard was declared a public nuisance. Ed Borchardt wanted a natural yard, filled with native plants and flowers that would attract birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. The city of North Mankato disagreed with his vision and said the yard doesn't meet the standards of a new local ordinance that encourages naturally managed lawns. SRINAGAR, India (AP) Assailants shot and killed three men in Indian-controlled Kashmir in separate attacks blamed by police on militants fighting against Indian rule in the disputed region. In the first incident Tuesday, police said militants fired at a prominent pharmacist, Makhan Lal Bindroo, at his drug store in the regions main city of Srinagar. Bindroo, a Kashmiri Hindu, was taken to a hospital where he died, police said. Within an hour, a street food vendor from Indias eastern state of Bihar was shot point blank in another neighborhood in Srinagar, killing him on the spot, police said. In the third incident on Tuesday night, gunmen fatally shot a taxi driver in the northern Hajin area. Police called the killings terror incidents. Investigation is in progress and officers continue to work to establish the full circumstances of these terror crimes, police said in a statement. Last week, assailants fatally shot two men in Srinagar in targeted killings. The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. Both archrivals claim it in its entirety. Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhis rule over the region since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Optimism for transformational funding for the nations historically Black colleges was running high after the Biden administration included $45 billion for the schools in its massive multitrillion dollar spending plan. That outlook quickly soured as the funding became ensnared in Democratic infighting over the size of the economic package and what it should cover. The latest iteration of the bill includes just $2 billion that can go toward educational programs and infrastructure for Black colleges, and even that amount would be reduced to competitive grant funding rather than direct allocations. That's especially disappointing for many smaller, private historically Black colleges that don't have the endowments as their larger and more well-known peers. They often struggle to upgrade their campuses and programs, hurting their ability to attract students. The Biden administration's original $3.5 trillion proposal called for sending at least $45 billion to Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions to update their research programs, create incubators to help students innovate and help traditionally underserved populations. Getting a slice of that would have been a boon to Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, a private historically Black college. President Roderick L. Smothers said federal coronavirus relief money was instrumental in helping the university survive the pandemic with technology upgrades and student support, but he said Biden's original proposal provided the kind of money that would have had a long-term impact. We used the funds that we received to serve the students that we have, and now were asking for additional funds to make sure that when we are on the other side of this global pandemic our institutions will be bigger and better and more resilient, Smothers said. The college increased its enrollment by 43% between 2010 and 2019, the latest data available, but saw its endowment drop 18% during the same timeframe, according to federal data analyzed by The Associated Press. Overall, enrollment at the nation's roughly 102 Black colleges has been declining from 326,827 in 2010 to 289,507 in 2019. Beyond building upgrades, Smothers said Philander Smith College would have used the long-term federal funding to expand programs for its students, 81% of which are low income. That might include launching a public health school that would train students to tackle health disparities affecting racial minorities and help address the state's nursing shortage. Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, who leads the U.S. House education committee, said historically Black colleges have received unprecedented levels of federal funding over the past two years, more than they have in the past decade combined. That includes $1.6 billion under the Democrats' American Rescue Plan passed earlier this year. The money has allowed them to pursue initiatives such as cancelling student debt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scott, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the draft bill also includes $27 billion for student aid at Black colleges and other institutions serving racial minorities. Still, he acknowledged the need for more funding. Wed like to do as much as we can, Scott said. Im not satisfied. Im not satisfied with anything in the budget thats within our jurisdiction." Scott said the Department of Education had committed to ensuring the grant program contained in the current bill would be structured so similar colleges would be competing with each other. It's a way to prevent larger ones with robust grant-writing departments from edging out smaller schools. That's important to address vast differences between the colleges. The Associated Press analysis of enrollment and endowment data found wide disparities among the 102 historically Black colleges and universities, and a further divide between private and public institutions. Federal data, for example, showed that 11 HBCUs had endowments worth less than $1,000 per pupil in the 2018-19 school year while nine had endowments worth more than $50,000 per pupil. In general, Black colleges have lacked the fundraising ability of other universities. The cumulative endowment for all historical Black colleges through 2019 was a little more than $3.9 billion, about the same as the endowment for just the University of Minnesota. Advocates said the funding struggles and the role the colleges have played historically is why long-term federal assistance is needed. Harry L. Williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents public HBCUs, was surprised and disappointed by the reduced allocation for Black colleges in the latest Democratic economic plan, which likely will be trimmed to around $2 trillion. He also said they should not be lumped in with other institutions serving racial minorities, which he said can include many large state universities. Black colleges have a unique history, needs and financial challenges, Williams said. Kevin Cosby, president of Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville, agrees. To mix them with minority-serving institutions, which are are not historic institutions that do not have the legacy of historic discrimination, is not right, he said. Historically Black colleges and universities should be separated as a protected class of institutions because, like the Black community, our experience in the United States of America is a unique experience. Because of historical underfunding, Black colleges often have built up years of deferred maintenance, leaving buildings out of compliance with local codes or otherwise unable to accommodate students. Money from endowment returns is directed to annual operating costs, making it harder to invest in new programs and buildings a number one issue for attracting students, Cosby said. Last spring, Kentuckys general assembly passed long-awaited legislation that made it possible for his school to have a certified teacher program. The initiative is especially meaningful to Simmons because of the state's persistent teacher shortage and the school's founding mission to train formerly enslaved Kentuckians as teachers. But Cosby said not having longer-term funding from the federal government will make it more difficult for Simmons to get the program off the ground quickly. We need facility space, we need infrastructure, we need capital improvements, we need resources to hire teachers, he said. We can only thrive as institutions to the degree that we have the resources. ___ Hudspeth Blackburn 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. ___ Ma covers education and equity for APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15 ___ The Associated Press reporting around issues of race and ethnicity is supported in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Tesla Inc. must pay nearly $137 million to a Black former worker who said he suffered racial abuse at the electric carmakers San Francisco Bay Area factory. The jury in San Francisco agreed that Owen Diaz was subjected to racial harassment and a hostile work environment. Diaz alleged in a lawsuit that he was harassed and faced daily racist epithets, including the N-word, while working at Teslas Fremont plant in 2015 and 2016 before quitting. Diaz was a contracted elevator operator. Diaz alleged that employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the plant. He contended that supervisors failed to stop the abuse. Teslas progressive image was a facade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees, the lawsuit said. Diaz was awarded $6.9 in damages for emotional distress and $130 million in punitive damages, his attorney, Lawrence A. Organ, told the Washington Post. It took four long years to get to this point, Diaz told the New York Times. Its like a big weight has been pulled off my shoulders. Its a great thing when one of the richest corporations in America has to have a reckoning of the abhorrent conditions at its factory for Black people, Organ, of the California Civil Rights Law Group, told the Times. It wasnt immediately clear whether Tesla would appeal the decision. An email from The Associated Press seeking comment from Tesla wasnt immediately returned Monday night. However, Tesla previously denied any knowledge of the alleged racist conduct at the plant, which has about 10,000 workers. If upheld, the award would be a blow to a company that has been subject to various allegations of workplace problems but requires employees to resolve disputes through mandatory arbitration, which the firm has rarely lost. In May, an arbitrator ordered Tesla to pay more than $1 million over similar allegations by another former Fremont factory worker. That employee alleged that co-workers called him a racial slur and supervisors ignored his complaints. Diaz, who was contracted through a staffing agency, didnt have to sign an arbitration agreement. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Ohio Supreme Court denied a request Tuesday by attorneys in two of three lawsuits brought against the state's newly drawn legislative maps to appoint a master commissioner to oversee the disputes. Lawyers for voters represented by the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and the Ohio Organizing Collaborative had told the high court in a filing Monday that the special oversight was needed to resolve discovery disputes between three legal teams that have sued and lawyers for Republicans on the Ohio Redistricting Commission. MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) An in-school COVID-19 testing program designed to keep children in school after coming into contact with someone who has the disease should be ready within the next couple of weeks, officials said Tuesday. Education Secretary Daniel French said during the state's weekly COVID-19 briefing that the logistics of the Test to Stay rapid testing program are being worked out. Once it is in place, after an unvaccinated person who is showing no symptoms has come into close contact of someone with COVID-19 who is showing no symptoms can take a rapid antigen test before school. If the test comes back negative they can attend school. They would be required to be tested until seven days after their last exposure to the positive case. Currently, close contacts of people with COVID-19 with must quarantine out of school. The child misses a day of education, and it creates challenges for the parents who must care for their children. Every antigen test that comes back negative is a quarantine day prevented, French said. The Agency of Education is also working on a program to supply schools with the PCR test kits that can be kept in schools and sent home for people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19. French says he expects different schools will implement the programs differently. Our challenge will be to support schools to enact testing programs while theyre doing everything else at the same time, French said. The major bottleneck for implementing testing will be staffing. Most sectors of the Vermont economy are already facing a labor shortage. French said that school nurses are going to be able to see students' vaccination records, which should speed up decisions by schools around tracing cases. State guidance allows schools to stop contact tracing once the school has a student vaccination rate about 80%. Currently only students ages 12 and over are eligible for the vaccine. We have a lot of logistical issues to solve, whether it be staffing supply and so forth, French said. But I cant help but think this is going to be the solution that really strikes the appropriate balance between keeping kids safe but also keeping kids in school and their education progressing so we have to we have to work hard to figure these things out. ___ CASE DECLINE Statistics collected by the state show that over the past seven days the number of new COVID-19 cases in the state have declined by 15%. Over the past 14 days they have declined by 23%. The Vermont statistics mirror reduced case numbers in many parts of the country. Were also fortunately starting to see some improvement in the region, and most importantly here in Vermont, said Michael Pieciak, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, who has overseen COVID-19 statistics for the state. Hospitalizations for those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who are not both declined in the past week. Over the past week, 69% of hospitalizations have been among the unvaccinated. But over that same period 100% of the people being treated for COVID-19 in the state's intensive care units have not been fully vaccinated. ___ NUMBERS On Tuesday, the Vermont Department of Health reported 91 new cases of the virus, bringing the statewide total since the pandemic began to more than 34,500. There were 37 people hospitalized, including 13 in intensive care. The state has reported a total of 323 deaths from COVID-19. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 214.29 on Sept. 19 to 168.57 on Oct. 3. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Vermont has risen over the past two weeks from 1.43 on Sept. 19 to 1.86 on Oct. 3. The Associated Press is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the United States. WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (AP) A suburban Detroit crematorium owner who had already lost his mortuary science and mortuary science establishment licenses has been charged with improper disposal of bodies. ONeil Swanson was arraigned Monday in Washtenaw County district court, the Michigan Attorney Generals office said Tuesday. A cease and desist order was issued in June against Tri-County Cremation Services in Ypsilanti Township. Swanson was listed as an owner, according to the state. Authorities began investigating the company after the state received an anonymous complaint of heavy smoke issuing from the chimney, bodies stored improperly while awaiting cremation, and bodily fluids leaking onto the facilitys floor. The company was accused of operating a crematory without a registration under the Cemetery Regulation Act, according Michigans Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. His Swanson Funeral Home in Flint was closed in 2017 after maggots were found in a garage where unrefrigerated bodies were being stored. Officials later determined prepaid funeral contracts were sold without a proper license. Swanson, of West Bloomfield, pleaded no contest to two felonies in 2019. A no-contest plea isnt an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing. His mortuary science and mortuary science establishment licenses were revoked, meaning he is ineligible to hold a controlling interest in a cemetery or crematory, according to Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Swanson is completely innocent of the charge. No crime has been committed," said Klint Kesto, his attorney. The attorney general is coming after him and they didnt have the accurate facts and look at the actual law." Kesto also said the state licensing agency also is making a point to go after this guy, ruin his reputation and his name, and take his livelihood. Swanson faces up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine in connection with the Ypsilanti Township case. He was released on a personal bond. An Oct. 14 probable cause conference has been scheduled. RENO, Nev. (AP) A popular, annual fall fish festival at Lake Tahoe scheduled later this month has been canceled because low water levels are expected to keep Kokanee salmon from spawning in Taylor Creek due to lingering drought. The U.S. Forest Service said the landlocked cousins of the sea-going Sockeye salmon have been known to find other creeks to swim up and spawn and return to Taylor Creek the following year when conditions allow. HONOLULU (AP) U.S. Geological Survey officials have lowered the alert level for a Hawaii volcano, saying they expect its latest eruption to remain confined to the summit. The eruption began last week in Kilauea volcano's Halemaumau crater at the summit on the Big Island. Officials with the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory had raised Kilauea's alert level to warning and its aviation code to red as they assessed the intensity of lava fountains covering the floor of the crater and billowing clouds of volcanic smoke. But over the past several days, a thick layer of molten lava has accumulated at the base of the crater, lessening fears that it could spread. Observatory officials on Monday afternoon lowered the alert level to watch and the aviation code to orange, reflecting the less-hazardous nature of the ongoing eruption. The eruption remains confined to the crater in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It's not in an area where there are any homes. Kilauea had a major eruption in 2018 that destroyed more than 700 homes and displaced thousands of residents. Before that eruption, the volcano had been slowly erupting for decades, but mostly not in densely populated residential areas. Ron Hanatani, who has a pottery studio in Volcano Village near the entrance to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, said residents and tourists have been flocking to the park for a glimpse. As a former geologist at the observatory, he has seen more spectacular eruptions than this one over the years. Most of the people I know who live here are very excited, so theyll go multiple times, even at night or early morning, take pictures and all that," he said. "Im in a minority. Village businesses are grateful for the attention during a normally slower time of year for tourists, said Ira Ono, owner of Volcano Garden Arts and Cafe Ono. This one happened very quickly," he said of the eruption. A lot of local people are coming up to see the caldera. Even though he has lived in the area for decades, he's still mesmerized by Kilauea. We see the glow at night, he said. It's pretty dramatic and beautiful." BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union removed Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles from its tax haven blacklist Tuesday amid criticism that the trade bloc is letting countries off the hook, particularly in light of the recent Pandora Papers revelations. Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles were placed on the list because they did not meet tax transparency criteria. EU finance ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, endorsed a decision to move them to a grey list after the three agreed to a review of their tax systems. The EU blacklist was set up in 2017 to tackle rampant tax evasion and is regularly updated. Nine jurisdictions remain listed as non-cooperative: American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Vanuatu. Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles are now listed as places that do not yet comply with all international tax standards but have committed to the principles of good tax governance. Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Malaysia, North Macedonia, Qatar and Uruguay were also added to this grey list. Australia, Eswantini and Maldives were removed from it after reforming their tax systems. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media partners recently published a massive leak of offshore data dubbed the Pandora Papers. The cache of almost 12 million files sheds light on the financial activities of many members of the global elite. French EU lawmaker Aurore Lalucq, who authored a report on harmful tax practices, said she hopes the disclosures will finally be a loud enough wake-up call for EU leaders and the European Commission to urgently reform the blocs code of conduct for business taxation. Some of the worlds most notorious tax havens are not even listed by the EU, Lalucq said in a statement. Sadly, the countries that remain black-listed do not represent the most important financial flows, she said. Chiara Putaturo, the tax expert at charity group Oxfam, described the EU blacklist as a joke" and said it should should penalize tax havens. Instead, it lets them off the hook. She alleged that Anguilla and Seychelles are at the heart of the latest tax scandal. While the Pandora Papers investigation blew the lid on how the super-rich continue to use tax havens to avoid paying their taxes, ordinary people are asked to foot the COVID-19 recovery bill, Putaturo said. BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union unveiled Tuesday a new strategy to combat growing antisemitism in Europe with plans to better tackle hate speech, raise awareness about Jewish life, protect places of worship and ensure that the Holocaust isn't forgotten. According to Europes Fundamental Rights Agency, nine out of 10 Jews consider that antisemitism has increased in their country and is a serious problem. More than one in three people have considered emigrating to escape the abuse. The EUs executive branch, the European Commission, said it was presenting what amounts to the first strategy of its kind given the persistence and a significant increase of anti-Semitic incidents around the 27-country bloc. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the strategy we are presenting today is a step change in how we respond to antisemitism. Europe can only prosper when its Jewish communities feel safe and prosper. Under the plan, which will be rolled out over this decade, the commission will use EU funds to support member countries as they develop their own national strategies and complement their actions. The aim is to set up a Europe-wide network of trusted flaggers along with Jewish organizations to help remove illegal online hate speech. Brussels will also work with industry and IT companies to prevent the illegal display and sale of Nazi-related symbols, memorabilia and literature online. Funding will be provided to better protect public spaces and places of worship to help Jewish people feel safer, with 24 million euros ($28 million) available already next year. Other steps will be taken to safeguard Jewish heritage, and raise awareness about Jewish culture, life and traditions. One in 20 Europeans has never heard of the Holocaust, so the commission also wants to try to keep memory of the genocide alive by creating a network of sites where the Holocaust happened in cooperation with local communities. About 6 million European Jews and millions of other people were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. Another focus of the plan is to ensure that EU aid and development funds that go abroad cannot be used for activities that might incite hatred and violence against the Jewish people. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Florida is the last state to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education that's required before more than $2.3 billion in federal aid for Florida schools can be released, according to a letter sent to the state Monday. The letter sent to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said the state Department of Education missed the deadline to release American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) money. The Department released the first two-thirds of each States allocation in March and required each State to submit its plan for spending its ARP ESSER funds by June. FDOE did not meet this deadline, nor did it meet the July and August submission timelines that were anticipated following conversations with your staff, wrote Ian Rosenblum, the federal department's deputy assistant secretary for policy and programs. Rosenblum said the delay makes it harder for school districts to plan. We have heard repeatedly from parents, teachers, and superintendents from school districts in Florida that FDOE has not yet awarded ARP ESSER funds to local educational agencies, he wrote. In response to the letter, Gov. Ron DeSantis' office said school districts still havent spent all of the first round of aid. Some district plans are being reviewed for the second round of funding and a few havent submitted them. It also said that the final third of the money is supposed to last through September 2024. If you are willing to identify any of the specific school districts that have complained, we would be happy to provide you the specifics for those districts. We will continue to ensure their needs are met, DeSantis office said. Asked for comment on Rosenblum's letter, a Florida Department of Education spokesperson referred to the statement from DeSantis' office. Democrats were quick to criticize the Republican governor's administration for failing to submit a plan for the third round of funding. Its embarrassing, Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon said in a statement released by her office. "The uncertainty this creates for schools and families is absurd. All of Floridas children, no matter who they are or where they live, deserve everything available in order to survive and thrive in this unimaginably difficult time. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's former chief of staff has been indicted on charges that he defrauded a state agency he led by inducing it to pay him nearly $280,000 in mostly severance pay before he moved to his post in the governor's office, the Maryland U.S. attorney announced Tuesday. Roy McGrath also used funds from the Maryland Environmental Service to pay a personal pledge to a museum and got the agency to pay tuition expenses for a class after he left his job as executive director, according to the indictment. He also recorded conversations with senior state officials without their consent and faces state charges, it said. Our federal and state law enforcement team in Maryland will always hold accountable public officials who betray the public trust for their personal gain, Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner said in a statement. Maryland residents should always demand honesty and integrity from those in government." McGrath of Naples, Florida, fraudulently obtained $276,731 from the environmental service, according to the indictment. He is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and a state court appearance in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, but no dates have been set. The Baltimore Sun, which first reported the story, said McGrath characterized the case as political persecution. His attorney, Bruce Marcus, wrote in an email to The Associated Press that his client vigorously and categorically denies the allegations. He looks forward to clearing his good name and reputation at a trial on the merits, Marcus said. McGrath resigned in August 2020 when he was just 11 weeks into the job as Hogan's top aide, after the payments became public. Michael Ricci, Hogan's spokesman, described the charges Tuesday as very serious and deeply troubling. Over the last year, our office has actively assisted law enforcement in these ongoing investigations, Ricci said in a statement. We commend both federal and state prosecutors for their diligence and professionalism. As this case moves to the courts, we are confident that the justice system will uphold the public trust. McGrath was appointed by Hogan to serve as executive director of the environmental agency in December 2016. The corporation owned by the state provides environmental services such as water and wastewater management and other services to state and local government agencies, federal government entities, and private clients. The federal and state charges allege that from March 2019 through December 2020, McGrath personally enriched himself by using his positions of trust as the director and the chief of staff for the governor to get the agency to make payments to McGrath. The indictment alleges that McGrath got the agency's board to approve paying him a $233,647 severance payment equal to one years salary upon his departure by falsely telling them the governor was aware of and approved the payment. When Hogan learned about the severance package and questioned McGrath about it, McGrath falsely told him that the board of directors had offered him the severance payment in accordance with its usual practice, the indictment said. If convicted of the federal charges, McGrath faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of four counts of wire fraud; and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each of two counts of embezzling funds from an organization receiving more than $10,000 in federal benefits. PARIS (AP) The old music box factory had been abandoned for years on the outskirts of the Swiss mountain town. It was the perfect hiding place for the young French mother and her 8-year-old daughter at the heart of Operation Lima, an international child abduction plot planned and funded by a French group with echoes of the far-right extremist movement QAnon. Lola Montemaggi had lost custody of her daughter, Mia, to her own mother months earlier because French government child protective services feared the young woman was unstable. But Montemaggi found people online who shared the QAnon belief that the government workers themselves were running a child trafficking ring. She turned to them to do what she needed to do: Extract Mia. The April 13 kidnapping of the girl marked what is believed to be the first time that conspiracy theorists in Europe have committed a crime linked to the QAnon-style web of false beliefs that sent hundreds to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. QAnon influence has now been tracked to 85 countries. Part of its loose collection of beliefs is specific to the United States, where the conspiracy theory began. But the conviction that there is a deep state conspiracy and cabals of government-sponsored child traffickers crosses borders, as does anti-vaccine rhetoric since the start of the pandemic. Europol, the European policing agency, adding QAnon to its list of threats in June. Mia's abduction was inspired by a former politician who promised to save trafficking victims and lead France back to greatness. Two men charged in the abduction are also charged and two others were arrested Tuesday in an unrelated far-right plot against vaccine centers and government ministries, a judicial official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the fast-moving investigation. Montemaggi was freed Monday after nearly six months in jail, but will remain under judicial supervision. If someone is trying to get back their child and says theyre with this cabal, theres now a support network where before QAnon it would not have existed, said Mia Bloom, who documented abductions for her book on QAnon. By the time the mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 this year, QAnon already had a foothold in Europe, especially in anti-lockdown protests in Britain and Germany. In France, Montemaggis world was growing darker. She concluded that her government was illegitimate and its laws no longer applied to her, beliefs central to what is known as the sovereign citizen movement. She said she was going to empty her apartment, sell her furniture and go under the radar with her daughter. Montemaggi had been losing weight for months, arguing so violently with her boyfriend that her family feared for Mia. Soon after, Montemaggi lost custody. It was around this time that the name Remy Daillet-Wiedemann started circulating in French QAnon chats on Telegram. The former politician, in self-imposed exile in Malaysia, was finding new audiences for his previously obscure calls to overthrow Frances government, resist the medical dictatorship of coronavirus restrictions and protect children from government-linked pedophiles. The more Daillet-Wiedemanns theories aligned with QAnon, the larger his audience. In early spring, a group of his supporters fell under surveillance by French antiterrorism investigators. Around the same time, one of Montemaggis Telegram friends advised her to contact Daillet-Wiedemann about her custody troubles. Daillet-Wiedemann had a network of a few hundred followers, with a much smaller hard core, according to Francois Perain, the prosecutor in the regions main city of Nancy. He instructed one of his supporters to make a plan for Mia and for another child in a similar situation, and wired 3,000 euros for transportation and equipment, Perain said. Five men, ages 23 to 60, came together in the plot they dubbed Operation Lima an anagram of Lola and Mias names. A sixth man, a retired military officer, forged government paperwork. The main planner went by the nickname Bouga and was an educator, according to his lawyer, Randall Schwerdorffer. He vetted Montemaggi with an online questionnaire before organizing what he considered a legitimate intervention, the lawyer said. On April 13, a gray van pulled into Les Poulieres. Flashing official-looking paperwork, the two men inside claimed to be carrying out a welfare check on Mia. The girls grandmother allowed them to take her briefly for an interview. By the time she realized her mistake, Mia was on her way to a neighboring village. There, Montemaggi waited with the other men. They caravaned to the Swiss border, then hiked east into the woods over several hours, taking turns carrying Mia. When they reached Switzerland, another member of the network met them. He took them not to a safehouse as expected but to a hotel. The next day, Daillet-Wiedemann sent out a call for shelter that only one person answered, and only for one night, Perain said. By then, antiterrorism investigators had connected the van from Les Poulieres with the clique of Daillet-Wiedemann supporters under surveillance. Most of the men were arrested in France soon after. None bothered to hide their role or their conviction that the kidnapping was actually a restitution. They passed from conspiratorial beliefs to very serious acts, and those who went into action didnt necessarily realize that they were on the wrong side of the law, Perain said. On April 15, Montemaggi and Mia were driven to the decommissioned music box factory. It lacked electricity, running water and beds, but had something the young mother turned kidnapper needed more isolation. It took three nights for investigators to find them. Montemaggi was taken into custody on kidnapping charges. Her family declined comment, as did her lawyer. Mia was reunited with her grandmother. Daillet-Wiedemann posted a video praising the kidnappers. These are heroes. They are re-establishing the law. I congratulate them and will do everything to free them, he said in a YouTube video viewed 30,000 times. Malaysia expelled him a month later. Now he is jailed on charges of conspiring in the organized abduction of a child. At his first hearing, Daillet-Wiedemann declared himself a candidate for president, maintaining that the charges against him are political. Montemaggi was freed Monday after months of insistence from her family and lawyer that she poses no danger to her daughter or anyone else. ___ Bram Janssen in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, and Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Paris contributed to this report. CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) A Gary woman whose 51-year sentence was thrown out in an apartment fire that killed two of her children after she left them and a sibling home alone has been resentenced to 41 years in prison. A Lake County judge sentenced Kristen Gober, 37, on Monday in the 2018 fire which killed Kailani Gober, 2, and her brother, Khristopher Gober, 4. A 6-year-old sibling survived the blaze. BERLIN (AP) Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right bloc sought to win over the environmentalist Greens for a possible coalition Tuesday as the parties that hope for a share of power in Germany wrapped up their first talks on forming a new government. The Union bloc's candidate for chancellor, state governor Armin Laschet, led it to its worst-ever result in Germany's Sept. 26 parliamentary election. The bloc's only hope of keeping the top job is a coalition with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, who came in third and fourth in that vote. The Greens and the Free Democrats held separate exploratory meetings Sunday with the center-left Social Democrats and their candidate, outgoing Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who narrowly won the election and appears to have the best chances of succeeding Merkel. The Union met with the Free Democrats on Sunday. Laschet said Tuesday his delegation has now had a good exchange with the Greens. We think such an alliance has a breadth in society that really makes it possible to modernize and move forward the country in the coming years," he said, adding that differences are not insurmountable. Negotiators have said little of substance about the talks, with all vowing to keep their conversations confidential after Merkel's attempt four years ago to form a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens bogged down in details and leaks. Still, apparent details of the Union's meetings with the Free Democrats and Greens were reported by the Bild newspaper, and senior officials in both parties made clear their displeasure with the Union. The Free Democrats eventually pulled the plug on the 2017 talks. That paved the way for a rerun of the grand coalition" of the Union and the Social Democrats, Germany's two traditional big parties, which has run the country for 12 of Merkel's 16 years in power. Another repeat of that often bad-tempered alliance, this time under Scholz, is mathematically possible this time but no one wants it. Either the Greens, who traditionally lean left, or the Free Democrats, who have tended to ally with the Union, face a decision on whether to help a party from another ideological camp take Germany's top job. Merkel will remain as a caretaker leader until a new government is formed and her successor is sworn in. Questions have been raised about whether the Union is in any state to lead a new government, given that the election result weakened Laschet badly. The Greens' leaders were tightlipped on the Union's hopes of further talks. Co-leader Robert Habeck said the Greens and the Free Democrats would each mull the results of the first meetings today and tomorrow. He refused to comment on rumors that the Union might replace Laschet. It's always the case that a government works particularly well when authority within a party is clear and set, but that's a general statement, Habeck said. Laschet, the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia state since 2017, said before the election that he would go into federal politics whatever the outcome. On Tuesday, he said he plans to remain as governor until Oct. 26, when the new federal parliament holds its first meeting, the dpa news agency reported. He proposed as his successor the state's transport minister, Hendrik Wuest. Wuest faces a state election on May 15 in which North Rhine-Westphalia's governing coalition of conservatives and Free Democrats will defend a one-seat majority. In a tweet, he thanked Laschet and his party for their broad support for his candidacy. ___ For more AP coverage on Germany's election: https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election ___ Read all AP stories about climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change. NEW YORK (AP) Haiti's top diplomat implored the U.N. Security Council on Monday for help tackling gang violence and crime, saying the existing U.N. political mission needs to pivot toward strengthening security and law enforcement institutions in the crisis-wracked country. Its vital to take account of the new realities that the country is facing and that the mandate is adjusted accordingly, Foreign Minister Claude Joseph told the council after a summer of calamities in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July. A magnitude 7.2 earthquake killed over 2,200 people and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes in August. U.S. border patrol agents' treatment of Haitian migrants massed at the southern U.S. border sparked outrage last month. Meanwhile, Haiti has been contending with escalating gang-related killings, kidnappings and turf wars. The U.N. says gang violence has forced 19,000 Haitians from their homes in recent months, with many living in makeshift shelters and unsanitary conditions. Haiti's National Police have been working to follow recommendations that U.N. policing experts made this summer, the U.N.'s Haiti envoy, Helen La Lime, told the council. But she said the force is over-stretched and under-resourced. Haiti's government must implement a more holistic approach to addressing gang violence, La Lime said. Joseph, in turn, said officials need the U.N.'s Haiti mission to focus on supporting the government's efforts in security stabilization and the protection of civilians. He didn't list specifics. The mission's mandate, which is up for renewal this month, currently includes promoting police professionalism and supporting a national strategy to reduce violence. It also has a number of other goals, such as advancing electoral reforms. The Security Council deployed a full-fledged peacekeeping mission in Haiti after a devastating 2010 earthquake. It was replaced in 2017 by a police mission, which was then replaced by the smaller political mission in 2019. Joseph also appealed for the international community's support on technical, financial and other matters. Council members said Haiti needs continued support to find its way forward, though some also emphasized the country's own role in doing so. It is ultimately up to the Haitian people themselves to bring the country out of his plight, Chinese deputy Ambassador Geng Shuang said. He compared years of international aid efforts to giving someone a blood transfusion or oxygen that has proven to be neither markedly effective nor sustainable. He and Russian deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy also criticized the expulsion of more than 2,300 Haitian asylum-seekers along the U.S. border. Thousands of others were allowed into the U.S. temporarily to pursue their claims to stay. Images of U.S. border patrol agents on horseback corralling the migrants stirred an outcry, the resignation of Washington's special envoy to Haiti, an investigation, and a visit to Haiti and apology last week from a top American official. We are dismayed by the decision to forcibly return to Haiti those who cobbled together the totality of their means to leave Haiti in search of better lives for their children, Polyanskiy said. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield didn't mention migrants or the border during her remarks to the council. Joseph, the Haitian foreign minister, called the images from the border horrific and called for the migrants to be treated "with dignity and humanity. He went on to note the U.S. apologies, praise President Joe Biden's response and thank Mexico for its efforts to address migration issues. WASHINGTON (AP) Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to allow extra shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward expanding its booster campaign to millions more vaccinated Americans. J&J said it filed a request with the FDA to authorize boosters for people 18 and older who previously received the company's one-shot vaccine. While the company said it submitted data on several different booster intervals, ranging from two to six months, it did not formally recommend one to regulators. Last month, the FDA authorized booster shots of Pfizers vaccine for older Americans and other groups with heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. Its part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to shore up protection amid the delta variant and potential waning vaccine immunity. Government advisers backed the extra Pfizer shots, but they also worried about creating confusion for tens of millions of other Americans who received the Moderna and J&J shots. U.S. officials don't recommend mixing and matching different vaccine brands. The FDA is convening its outside panel of advisers next week to review booster data from both J&J and Moderna. Its the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. J&J previously released data suggesting its vaccine remains highly effective against COVID-19 at least five months after vaccination, demonstrating 81% effectiveness against hospitalizations in the U.S. But company research shows a booster dose at either two or six months revved up immunity even further. Data released last month showed giving a booster at two months provided 94% protection against moderate-to-severe COVID-19 infection. The company has not yet released clinical data on a six-month booster shot. FDA's advisers will review studies from the company and other researchers next Friday and vote on whether to recommend boosters. The timing of the J&J filing was unusual given that the FDA had already scheduled its meeting on the company's data. Companies normally submit their requests well in advance of meeting announcements. A J&J executive said the company has been working with FDA on the review. Both J&J and FDA have a sense of urgency because its COVID and we want good data out there converted into action as soon as possible, said Dr. Mathai Mammen, head of research for J&J's Janssen unit. The vaccine from the New Brunswick, New Jersey, company was considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it requires only one shot. But its rollout was hurt by a series of troubles, including manufacturing problems at a Baltimore factory that forced J&J to import millions of doses from overseas. Additionally, regulators have added warnings of several rare side effects to the shot, including a blood clot disorder and a neurological reaction called Guillain-Barre syndrome. In both cases, regulators decided the benefits of the shot still outweighed those uncommon risks. Rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of U.S. COVID-19 vaccines. More than 170 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the companies two-dose shots while less than 15 million Americans got the J&J shot. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) A jury in West Virginia on Tuesday convicted a man charged in the 2019 killing of his girlfriend's teenage daughter, recommending that he face a sentence of life in prison without parole. Jurors in Morgan County Circuit Court deliberated for more than four hours over two days before reaching the verdict in the trial of Andy McCauley Jr. of Berkeley Springs, news outlets reported. The jury recommended no mercy. Sentencing was set for Nov. 4. McCauley showed no emotion as the verdicts were read finding him guilty of first-degree murder, death of a child by a custodian by child abuse and concealment of a body in the slaying of Riley Crossman. Morgan County Prosecutor Dan James said in opening arguments that Crossman had sent her boyfriend a text message the night of May 7, 2019. Andys in my room and Im scared, James said. The boyfriend had fallen asleep when the message was sent. Division of Natural Resources officers found the 15-year-old Crossmans decomposed body along the side of a road in Berkeley County in May 2019. Berkeley Springs High School had contacted her mother a week earlier about her absence from school. James and the girl's father, Lance Crossman, asked the jury to reject the defense's recommendation to allow McCauley to go free after 15 years. She will be forever 15 years old to us," Lance Crossman said. Counsel mentions 15 years. In 15 years he will be eligible for parole. She only got 15 years. Thats all she had. James said Lance Crossman and the girl's mother, Chantal Oakley, were holding out hope that maybe Riley would walk back in that door, that maybe theyd see their daughter again. When you think of mercy, what mercy did Andy McCauley show to Riley Coffman when he came back and disposed of her like a piece of trash? In asking for a lenient sentence recommendation, defense attorney Andy Arnold said there was no likelihood of parole for McCauley unless something extraordinary happened, such as atonement reconciliation, redemption. The case went to the jury Monday after the defense called no witnesses before resting. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was only midway through his sentence when the crowd began shouting over him. "If you haven't had the vaccine you ought to think about getting it because if you're my age - " "No!" attendees at a Republican event held Saturday responded as others booed. Graham was speaking at a country club in Summerville, S.C., about 25 miles outside of Charleston. Bowing his head and holding up a hand, the 66-year-old - who got his coronavirus vaccine in December - responded to the crowd, telling them, "I didn't tell you to get it. You ought to think about it." "No!" they yelled again, prompting Graham to defend his choice to get immunized. After experiencing a breakthrough coronavirus infection this summer, he credited the vaccine with keeping his symptoms at bay. "I'm glad I got it," Graham said at the event on Saturday, adding that a high percentage of the people hospitalized with covid in South Carolina are unvaccinated. The crowd again responded quickly, yelling: "False!" and "Not true!" Video of the event was posted by the Daily Beast. Graham is the latest Republican to face backlash from his own party's supporters when promoting coronavirus vaccines or talking about their safety and efficacy. Former president Donald Trump was booed in August when he told supporters in Alabama he recommends taking the vaccines. About three weeks earlier, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson faced pushback from a crowd when he said coronavirus vaccines do not cause infertility - a claim health officials have also debunked. As the highly contagious delta variant started to spread over the summer, officials in South Carolina said most of the new covid-19 cases and deaths were among unvaccinated patients. In June, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 86 percent of covid-related hospitalizations. In August, state health officials referred to the spiking coronavirus cases as a "pandemic of the unvaccinated." Graham is among the roughly 2.4 million people in South Carolina who are fully vaccinated, according to The Washington Post's vaccine tracker. That accounts for nearly 48 percent of the population there - a rate that falls below the national average. About 56 percent of people across the country are fully vaccinated. Mistrust about the vaccines is especially high among some Republicans. The partisan gap in coronavirus vaccination rates has grown over time, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. As of Sept. 13, the foundation found that more than 52 percent of people in counties that favored President Biden in the 2020 election are fully vaccinated, compared to less than 40 percent in counties that favored Trump. While vaccination rates are slowing in both groups, the organization noted that "the gap has widened over time." Graham told his supporters on Saturday that he was standing by what he believed about the vaccines being effective in fighting covid. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When Graham asked event attendees on Saturday to raise their hands if they had taken a vaccine for the measles, several responded "it's not the same," with one calling coronavirus vaccines "experimental," which is untrue. The available coronavirus vaccines have completed clinical trials. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots have been authorized for emergency use. Graham told the Republican supporters that while he views the vaccines as safe and effective, he shares their concerns about vaccine mandates, calling into question their constitutionality. A lawsuit has already been filed to stop vaccination mandates for the federal workforce, including the military, which announced in August upcoming immunization requirements for all active-duty and reserve personnel. A man at Saturday's event at the South Carolina country club told Graham he was 60 days away from losing his job as a Navy civilian because of the vaccine mandate. "You have got to stop it now," the man said to the senator. Graham told him doing so will require the Republicans taking back control of Congress during the 2022 midterms. LONDON (AP) London's fire brigade says an incident at Westminster subway station, which saw smoke billowing out from an electrical room in the basement, has been brought under control. In a statement Tuesday, the London Fire Brigade said six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were involved at the incident at the subway station nearest to Britain's Parliament and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's residence at 10, Downing Street. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) A commercial airline pilot and military veteran announced Tuesday that he'll try to unseat U.S. Sen. John Kennedy in Louisiana's 2022 election. Luke Mixon, a 42-year-old Democrat who lives in Baton Rouge, said he's trying to keep Kennedy from a second six-year term because he doesn't believe the Republican senator has been representing Louisiana's interests in Washington. BELFAST, Maine (AP) An upcoming trial of a man accused of killing three people last year is being moved from Washington County to Belfast after the defendant's lawyers raised concerns the jury could be tainted by publicity. Thomas Bonfanti, 64, was charged with murder in February 2020 in the shooting deaths of three people, The Bangor Daily News reported Monday. TACOMA, Wash. (AP) A female Sumatran tiger from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma has died after another tiger attacked her during a breeding introduction, officials said. Six-year-old tiger Kirana, who was born at the zoo, died Monday, The News Tribune reported. Dr. Karen Wolf, the zoos head veterinarian, said in a news release that a necropsy completed Monday confirmed Kirana died from substantial trauma from injuries and a bacterial infection. Zoo staff had slowly introduced Kirana and Raja, the zoos 2-year-old male Sumatran tiger as part of a plan to help save the endangered species. The two were closely monitored and separated by a mesh door, staff said. When zoo keepers removed the barrier to allow the tigers to meet physically Friday, Kirana was attacked and staff moved quickly to separate them, officials said. Were devastated by the loss of a very special tiger and by the loss to the tiger population as a whole, said zoo general curator Dr. Karen Goodrowe, who is also coordinator of Species Survival Plan programs for Sumatran, Malayan and Amur tigers, said some aggression is natural in tiger breeding but this level was far beyond expectations. The Tacoma zoo has introduced four Sumatran tiger pairs since 2010 and none has resulted in a tiger death or serious injury, according to Goodrowe. There are only about 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Fewer than 80 Sumatran tigers live in North American zoos. A suburban Chicago man charged last month with a hate crime after allegedly hurling racial slurs and spitting at a Black woman has quit his job as a college professor, according to the school. Alberto Friedmann, 53, of Oak Park, resigned as a neurokinesiology teacher at the National University of Health Sciences in nearby Lombard before the school completed its investigation of incident, Ron Mensching, the school's vice president for business services, said. DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) A judge on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in prison for strangling a 74-year-old Davenport man to death in 2020. Judge Mark Fowler sentenced Charlie Gary, 20, of Davenport, to the life term for the January 2020 death of Robert Long. Gary was convicted in August of first-degree murder as well as burglary, robbery and abuse of corpse, according to the Quad-City Times. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) A Maryland panel on congressional redistricting will try to have some draft proposals of maps made public next month, the chairman of the commission said Tuesday. Karl Aro, who chairs the General Assemblys Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, said at a hearing he hopes to have draft proposals for the states eight congressional districts made public by Nov. 15. The last of 12 scheduled hearings of the panel is Nov. 18. BILOXI, Miss. (AP) A TV news anchor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast says she left her job rather than follow a corporate mandate to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Meggan Gray had worked at WLOX-TV for 18 years and has been co-host of Good Morning Mississippi. The Sun Herald reported she stepped down Sept. 30, the day before the station's parent company, Gray Television, started requiring all employees, guests, contractors and tenants to be fully vaccinated against the virus. Meggan Gray said on Facebook that she faced termination if she ignored the mandate, and her employers rejected her offer to get tested weekly for COVID. I may have lost my job, but I preserved my integrity, she wrote. Meggan Gray said she already had COVID and decided against getting vaccinated before the corporate policy was set. WLOX General Manager Rick Williams told the Sun Herald he could not comment on a personnel matter. His email included a statement from Gray Television saying its vaccination policy is meant to ensure a safe work environment. The statement said exceptions to the mandate were limited to certain medical conditions and or religious objections that can be accommodated. Gray Television also said employees could reapply for jobs if they later decide to get fully vaccinated. PARIS Clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church in France sexually abused more than 200,000 minors over the past seven decades, according to an estimate published Tuesday by an independent commission that concluded the problem was far more pervasive and systematic than previously known. The much-anticipated 2,500-page report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church laid out in detail how the church hierarchy had repeatedly silenced the victims and failed to report or discipline the clergy members involved. The church failed to see or hear, failed to pick up on the weak signals, failed to take the rigorous measures that were necessary, Jean-Marc Sauve, the commission president, said at a news conference in Paris on Tuesday. For years, the church showed a deep, total and even cruel indifference toward victims, he added. There has been a growing reckoning with sexual abuse in the church in France after a series of high-profile scandals. The investigative commission was set up in 2018 at the request of the Catholic Church in France in response to growing criticism of its handling of such scandals. Meticulously compiled over the past three years by independent experts, the findings were the most extensive account to date of the scope of sexual abuse by clergy in the country, especially of children and other vulnerable people. This followed similar efforts in recent years to disclose or document sexual abuse allegations against Roman Catholic clergy members in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Poland, the United States and other countries as the church continues to grapple with the devastation wrought by decades of sexual abuse scandals. About 216,000 minors have been abused by clergy members in France since 1950, according to an estimate by the commission a figure that it said reached 330,000 after including perpetrators who either worked for the church or were affiliated with it as laypersons, such as Boy Scout organizers or Catholic school staff. The commission also estimated that there had been at least 2,900 perpetrators of sexual abuse among clergy members over the past 70 years. Sauve said that those numbers, while estimates, were damning and reflected a systemic failing by the church. Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the archbishop of Reims and the president of the Bishops Conference of France, called the commissions findings alarming and expressed his shame, adding that he was determined to act. Their voice moves us deeply. Their number overwhelms us, he said of the victims. It goes beyond what we might have imagined, he added. Today, I want to ask for your forgiveness. Victims and experts welcomed the report but noted that it was too early to tell whether the church would act on the commissions recommendations. You are a disgrace to humanity, Francois Devaux, co-founder of a victims association, said at the news conference Tuesday, directly addressing the many Catholic officials in the auditorium. Devaux founded La Parole Liberee, an association of victims of Bernard Preynat, a former priest who was accused of sexually assaulting dozens of Boy Scouts from the 1970s to the 1990s and who was convicted in a high-profile case last year. You must pay for all of these crimes, Devaux said, emphasizing each word. Sauve selected 21 experts, including sociologists, historians, jurists, psychologists and theologians, who dug through church, state and news archives; held more than 250 hearings with witnesses and experts; and worked with demographic, polling and research institutes. Crucially, they worked in close tandem with victims. Nearly 6,500 people, victims or those close to them, submitted oral or written testimony. Many victims praised the commission for its thoroughness and hailed the report as a much-needed corrective after years of denial or minimizing from the church. Victims were worried that it might tone things down, Devaux said of the report. Instead, he said, they did not skip a single question. Not only did they give a quantitative and qualitative account of the scope of sexual violence, they tried to understand where it came from the institutional mechanisms, he added. Among the high-profile scandals that drew attention to the problem, the Preynat affair in particular stood out. It embroiled a cardinal in the French city of Lyon who was accused of failing to report the abuse. The case became a symbol of the churchs failings and its secretive approach to dealing with abuse, but it also signaled a shift in the willingness of victims to speak out and challenge church authorities. Before that, things were handled with shame, said Isabelle de Gaulmyn, a top editor at La Croix, Frances leading Catholic newspaper, who wrote a book about the Preynat case. And they said, No, we were abused, we are going to hold people accountable, and we are going to do so openly, she added, referring to Preynats accusers. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. BANGKOK (AP) Myanmars ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi this month will give courtroom testimony for the first time in one of the several cases against her since the military took power in February, her lawyers said Tuesday. She and two co-defendants charged with incitement will testify in their own defense but will not call any other witnesses, said lawyer Khin Maung Zaw. Suu Kyis testimony is scheduled to begin Oct. 26. The prosecution has finished presenting its witnesses in the case being heard in a special court in the capital Naypyitaw. Suu Kyi's supporters and independent analysts say the charges against her are contrived and an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the militarys seizure of power. Suu Kyi is being tried by the same court on two counts of breaking COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, illegally importing walkie-talkies, and unlicensed use of the radios. Incitement, defined as spreading false or inflammatory information that could disturb public order, is sometimes referred to as sedition and punishable by up to three years imprisonment. The case involves statements posted on a Facebook page of her National League for Democracy party after she and other party leaders had already been detained. All the proceedings against Suu Kyi are closed to the public and press. She is being held by the military at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw. Her co-defendants on the incitement charge are former Vice President Win Myint and the former Mayor of Naypyitaw, Myo Aung. All have denied the charges. Win Myint is scheduled to testify on Oct. 12, and Myo Aung on Nov. 2. Faced with additional cases as well, the 76-year-old Suu Kyi on Tuesday applied to the court to hold its Monday and Tuesday sessions only every two weeks for health reasons. The court is expected to rule on her request on Oct. 12. At a separate trial of Suu Kyi on Friday on corruption charges, a former political ally testified he had handed to her large amounts of cash and gold. Suu Kyi faces four corruption charges in those proceedings, 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. Preparations have also begun to try her for breaching the official secrets law, which carried a maximum prison term of 14 years. The military seized power just before Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy would have begun a second five-year term in office. It said it acted because last Novembers election was marred by widespread fraud, an assertion that is widely doubted. Protests over the army takeover are continuing, and have left over 1,000 civilians dead, along with growing armed resistance. Alfredo Zuniga/AP MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) Nicaraguas increasingly isolated President Daniel Ortega called Roman Catholic bishops terrorists Monday and said many countries would have arrested them. Ortega claims widespread protests that erupted in April 2018 were an attempted coup with foreign backing. And he has feuded with bishops who participated as mediators then in the short-lived first round of dialogue between the government and opposition, after which the government brutally put down the protests. MOUNT AIRY, N.C. (AP) Former President Donald Trump's endorsement has Rep. Ted Budd playing defense in North Carolina's GOP Senate primary, as opponents accuse him of benefiting from a bankruptcy that cost farmers millions and being beholden to a conservative political action committee. Ex-Gov. Pat McCrory and former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker have targeted Budd for criticism in the race to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Richard Burr. McCrory argues Democrats would have ample lines of attack on an opponent he views as less electable. Walker, meanwhile, is competing for the Trump base and positioning himself as the candidate least subject to the demands of outside interest groups. Some of the criticism leveled at Budd centers on the 2000 bankruptcy of an agricultural company led by his father that, according to federal documents, led to hundreds of farmers around the country not receiving the full amount they were owed for millions of dollars in seed. A document Budd's campaign provided to The Associated Press shows Budd was listed among several family members as a borrower on a $10 million short-term loan Budd's father provided to the company, AgriBioTech. Months after the company paid the loan back to Budd's father, it declared bankruptcy, leaving many farmers unable to recoup all their losses. In his most extensive comments yet on the bankruptcy, the congressman told the AP in an interview at a Mount Airy event that he did not have an operational role within AgriBioTech and did not personally receive any assets that would have otherwise gone to farmers. I was on the outside looking in and just wanted to help the family at the time, Budd said. We took the best legal advice we could at the time. Its a tough situation when you try to help others. Its kind of a good Samaritan case where you help and make it better, but its not as good as it should have been. You never want anybody to go through what anybody did in that case. It was a tough deal all around. Jonathan Felts, a senior advisor to the Budd campaign, said that while the congressman unloaded delivery trucks as late as 1994 for Budd Seed, one of 34 companies that AgriBioTech bought four years later, he never worked at AgriBioTech. In a separate one-on-one interview at the same Mount Airy event, McCrory attacked Budd over the loan he helped his father secure, which was first reported by The Washington Post. McCrory said Budd and his father "ripped off a lot of farmers in tens of millions of dollars. They tried to hide money. Thats called fraud. Richard Budd, Ted's father, responded in a statement saying that his family lost money they invested in the company. Im not sure what the former governor is referring to, he wrote, adding, "The bank made some money off that deal, but I did not. I did my best to save ABT, but, in this case, my best was not enough. Walker, a former Greensboro-area congressman also aligned with Trump, accused Budd of being too cozy with Club for Growth Action, a Washington, D.C. political action committee that plans to spend at least $10 million to boost Budd. The group has already put in $3 million to attack McCrory and make Republicans aware of Trumps endorsement. Unlike one of my other candidates, I dont have a D.C. Super PAC underwriting my campaign, Walker said. Ted Budd said Club for Growth's spending reflects how his policy views resonate with people. Look, I cant coordinate with them legally, so thats up to them, Budd said. They interviewed me in 2016. They asked me a lot of hard questions. They wanted to know what I believed in. Its not me working to get the donations. Its me being who I am, and, outside groups, some folks like that. Doug Heye, a North Carolina native and former Republican National Committee communications director who considers the primary wide open, said any of the candidates would have gladly accepted the money. Any candidate who doesnt get that kind of support is going to be critical of it, but theyd all take it, Heye said. Thats just the political reality. Marjorie K. Eastman, a military veteran and Cary mother of one who entered the GOP primary Tuesday, plans to distinguish herself as a political outsider. Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and state Sen. Jeff Jackson are the leading Democratic candidates. Budd called Trump's endorsement hugely helpful" and urged voters to look past any personality concerns they might have about the former president. People have got to figure out what they want (and) if they like those America-strong policies," Budd said. "If they like America weak and chaotic, well, theyve got other choices. ___ Follow Anderson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BryanRAnderson. ___ Anderson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) The parents of a 3-year-old boy who died after being infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that was found at a Texas splash pad he'd visited sued the city that operated it for negligence on Monday. Tariq Williams and Kayla Mitchell filed the lawsuit against the city of Arlington in Tarrant County District Court in Fort Worth. Their son, Bakari Williams, died Sept. 11 after being hospitalized with primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and typically fatal infection caused by the naegleria fowleri amoeba. The city announced his death last week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the amoeba in water samples collected from the splash pad Bakari had visited. A city official also said that a review had found gaps in their daily inspection program that resulted in maintenance standards not being met at the city's splash pads. The lawsuit said city employees failed to adequately monitor and chlorinate the citys splash pad water, making the splash pad unreasonably dangerous. Shortly after their last visit to the splash pad at Don Misenhimer Park, Mitchell said her son developed a fever of more than 102 degrees, felt weak and could not eat or drink anything. A little more chlorine, and this child would be here today, said Stephen Stewart, one of the familys attorneys. A city spokeswoman declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday because city officials had not yet seen it. All of the city's four splash pads have been closed for the rest of the year. The CDC says naegleria fowleri infections are rare, with just 34 reported in the U.S. from 2010 to 2019. People are infected when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose, usually when people go swimming or diving in lakes and rivers. RIVERVIEW, Mich. (AP) Southeastern Michigans Riverview never will be confused with the Florida Everglades, but it sure looked like home to a baby alligator found roaming through one of its neighborhoods. Police responded Sunday night to a report of the reptile and found the 2-foot-long (.6-meter-long) alligator walking in a street. Officers later placed the alligator with a local expert on reptiles. NEWARK, Del. (AP) A Delaware school bus driver fell asleep behind the wheel just before a crash that injured 18 students, police said Wednesday. Newark police said the crash happened as the bus pulled into Newark Charter Schools campus on Tuesday, news outlets reported. The bus with 37 elementary and middle school students on board hit three parked cars, then left the road and hit a pole, police said. The driver fell asleep at the wheel, police said, but speed or impairment werent factors in the crash. The driver wasnt hurt, police said. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will travel to Texas to join nine other Republican governors for a Wednesday tour of the border with Mexico. The cost of the trip will be shared between Iowa taxpayers and a nonprofit Republican governor's group. PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) An ethnic Serb was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Kosovo on Tuesday after being convicted of war crimes, including involvement in a massacre during the 1998-1999 war. The court in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, handed down the ruling against the man, who was arrested in 2019 and was identified only by his initials G.S. On April 15-16, 1999, Serb army, police and paramilitary forces attacked the villages of Sllovi and Terbovc of the Lipjan commune, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Pristina and G.S. was part of the Serb paramilitary troops. G.S. was among those who executed 12 Albanian men in three separate cases after forcefully entering their houses and pushing women and children away. In one case, they forced the wife and daughter of one of the executed Albanians to watch the killing. In other instances, they shot ethnic Albanians inside their courtyards or while they were moving away to hide in the nearby mountains. With these crimes he has committed war crimes against the population in cooperation with others, said the verdict. It wasn't immediately clear whether G.S. has appealed the verdict. There were many massacres of Kosovar Albanians during the war between their pro-independence fighters and the forces of then Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic. Kosovo was a Serb province until a 1998-1999 insurrection by ethnic Albanian rebels sparked a bloody Serbian crackdown. That pushed NATO to carry out a 78-day bombing campaign to force Serbian troops out of Kosovo. The war left more than 10,000 people dead. Kosovo declared independence in 2008. but Serbia hasn't recognized it. DOZIER, Ala. (AP) A 95-year-old south Alabama man who heard someone breaking into his home reportedly grabbed a weapon and ran off an intruder who was later captured and charged with burglary. A senior citizen who lives in the Dozier community of Covington County was napping in his living room on Friday evening when he was awakened by the sound of shattering glass, Sheriff Blake Turman told news outlets. BERLIN (AP) A major shipping industry group said Tuesday that its members will aim for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, following a commitment to the same goal by the world's airline industry a day earlier. The current target set by the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations body, is to reduce emissions from international shipping by 50% by 2050. The International Chamber of Shipping said it has submitted a proposal to the U.N. for the industry to stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere by mid-century. Talk is cheap, and action is difficult," International Chamber of Shipping Chairman Esben Poulsson said in a statement, adding that the group's proposal sets out the how as well as the what for decarbonizing shipping by 2050. A net-zero carbon ambition is achievable by 2050," Poulsson said. "But only provided governments take the unglamorous but urgent decisions needed to manage this process within a global regulatory framework. The U.N.'s annual climate change conference starts Oct. 31 in Glasgow, Scotland. The ICS previously called for a global surcharge on carbon emissions from shipping to help fund the sectors shift toward climate-friendly fuels. Environmental activists gave Tuesday's announcement a cautious welcome but noted that the proposal only covers carbon dioxide, not other greenhouse gas emissions. Like the airline industry, which this week declared a target of net-zero carbon emissions in 30 years, shipping companies are counting heavily on the idea that any carbon emissions remaining by 2050 could be offset with natural or artificial means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Real progress will come when they support the ambitious carbon price that island nations have already proposed and ensure shipping emissions immediately start on a downward trajectory, Aoife OLeary, director of global transportation at the Environmental Defense Fund, said. To meet the pace of climate action that science demands, we must hold the shipping industry accountable to real, near-term progress toward decarbonization, she said. ___ Follow all of AP's climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) Police fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Slovenias capital Tuesday, the eve of a major European Union summit. Hundreds of protesters showed up to oppose the Slovenian governments pandemic restrictions, and the confrontation was the third such incident in Ljubljana within a month. EU leaders have been gathering for a summit with Balkan officials on how to keep engaging with Western Balkans neighbors that hope to join the 27-nation bloc, whose once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse. The protest was not directly linked with the EU summit, but protest leaders apparently sought the opportunity to get more media attention from foreign reporters covering the event. Slovenian police set up checkpoints and limited traffic and movement in Ljubljana and at the venue a few miles away from the capital where Wednesday's summit will take place . Tensions remained high deep into the evening, with police repeatedly firing tear gas during running battles with soccer hooligans, most of them young. A leader of the protest has reportedly been detained and police stopped about 30 buses from bringing in the protesters from other Slovenian cities. Before he was reportedly arrested, protest leader Zoran Stevanovic demanded the suspension of all anti-coronavirus measures, the government's resignation, an early election and "a new electoral system that would not allow rotation of old political zombies. Slovenia's right-wing prime minister, Janez Jansa, has been in power off and on since the small Alpine state proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1990. A police helicopter hovered over the capitals downtown as police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters tried to march through downtown Ljubljana. Police sirens wailed throughout the city. Slovenian authorities have introduced tough requirements for the use of COVID-19 passes, including for going to work in all state-run firms. People must show that they are either fully vaccinated or that they have taken an expensive PCR test. The protesters carried banners reading Stop Corona Fascism and demanded equal rights for both those who are vaccinated and those who are not. Like much of Central and Eastern Europe, Slovenia in recent weeks has seen a rise in new coronavirus infections. The country of 2 million people has fully vaccinated nearly 48% of its population, a smaller share than in many other EU nations. Slovenia currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. MANILA, Philippines (AP) The son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was toppled in a 1986 revolt, announced Tuesday that he would seek the presidency in next years elections in what activists say is an attempt to whitewash a dark period in the countrys history marked by plunder and human rights atrocities. Former senator Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. said in a brief Facebook video that he would unite Filipinos to be able to overcome the coronavirus pandemic that has destroyed lives, battered the economy and brought widespread misery. Issues surrounding the Marcoses, however, continue to stoke political divisions more than three decades after the dictator's downfall. We must face the challenge as one as one country, as one people, Marcos Jr. said. I will bring that form of unifying leadership back to our country. Loretta Ann Rosales, a former chairwoman of the Commission on Human Rights and a political detainee who was tortured and molested during the Marcos era, said his presidential bid "seeks to institutionalize the dark, corrupt and tyrannical legacy of his father and sabotage our efforts to exact full accountability from his family. We must not allow him to use his family's ill-gotten wealth to fund his presidential ambition, whitewash their crimes against the people and complete their quest for historical distortions," Rosales said. Marcos was ousted in a 1986 army-backed people power uprising and died in exile in Hawaii three years later without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he and his family amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power. Marcos placed the Philippines under martial rule in 1972, a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress, ordered the arrest of political rivals and left-wing activists and ruled by decree. A Hawaii court found Marcos liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Marcos Jr., 64, is the latest to express his intention to succeed President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses who has been in the crosshairs of human rights groups himself. Marcos Jr. is one of at least eight politicians and celebrities who said they'll run for president or lower posts, including Vice President Leni Robredo, who leads the opposition. Marcos Jr. narrowly lost to Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race and then unsuccessfully contested alleged elections irregularities. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A former Tennessee corrections officer was arrested on Tuesday after he was accused of beating an inmate and falsifying a report. An indictment unsealed on Tuesday alleges that on Aug. 30, 2019, Kenan Lister punched an inmate in the head, knocking him to the ground, and then repeatedly kicked and punched him. Lister then failed to seek medical care for the inmate and falsified a report on the incident, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Nashville. SAN ANTONIO (AP) A trial to assess damages owed to families of the victims of the Sutherland Springs church massacre began with vivid witness accounts of the shooting. John Porter Holcombe testified for several hours Monday about the horrors of Devin Patrick Kelley's Nov. 5, 2017, attack on the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio. Holcombe said he was videotaping the service that Sunday when the front door opened and Kelley, dressed in black and with a rifle, stood in the entryway and declared, "First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, today you are all going to die! He said the next thing he heard was gunshots. Holcombe said he was shot a few times but that he laid still. When he felt it was safe enough, he looked around for his family and friends but only saw lifeless bodies. Among the 26 dead were Holcombe's pregnant wife, Crystal, his two stepchildren, his parents, his brother Marc Danny Holcombe and an infant niece. Twenty-two people were wounded but survived. U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ordered the trial to determine how much the U.S. Air Force should pay to compensate survivors and the families of those killed. He ruled in July that the Air Force was 60% liable for the attack because it failed to submit Kelley's assault conviction during his time in the Air Force to a national database, which might have prevented him from buying the guns he used in the mass shooting. Kelley, who was discharged from the Air Force in 2014 for bad conduct, exchanged fire with an armed resident while leaving the church. The armed resident then got in the truck of another man and they followed Kelley as he drove away. Kelley, who lost control of his vehicle and crashed, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Rodriguez began to hear testimony Monday in the damages phase of the case, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Dingivan, representing the Air Force, told the court Monday that the government has no intention ... to denigrate or dismiss the claims of these plaintiffs, who we can all agree endured a horrific tragedy. He said the government has already stipulated reasonable compensation and reasonable treatment for some of these plaintiffs in suggested payments ranging from "$400 to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more." As to future medical expenses, we have presented life-care plans covering future (treatment/needs) recommending millions of dollars in future medical care, Dingivan said. We have proposed PTSD treatment, backed by research, for those individuals who use it. We have proposed home health care, medicine, surgery ... for those plaintiffs who need them. This phase of the trial is expected to last two weeks. ANDREWS, N.C. (AP) Searchers found Tuesday the wreckage of a small plane in North Carolina in which two people were killed. a sheriff's office said. In a news release, the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office said a single-engine Beechcraft B35 left Western Carolina Regional Airport around 8 p.m. on Sunday. The sheriffs office said that minutes later, air control in Atlanta received a signal from the aircrafts emergency location transmitter. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The president of the University of Southern Maine is going to step down at the end of the academic year. Glenn Cummings, who has led the university with campuses in Portland and Gorham since 2015, announced the decision on Tuesday. DETROIT (AP) Volvo is recalling nearly 260,000 older cars in the U.S. because the front drivers air bag can explode and send shrapnel into the cabin. The recall is in addition to one from November of 2020, which was done after an unidentified U.S. driver was killed. The latest recall covers S80 sedans from 2001 to 2006 and S60s from 2001 through 2009. The problem is similar to widespread trouble with air bag inflators made by bankrupt Japanese air bag maker Takata. The company used ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate the air bags. But the chemical can deteriorate over time when exposed to high heat and humidity and burn too fast, blowing apart a metal canister. At least 19 people in the U.S. and 28 worldwide have been killed by exploding Takata inflators. More than 400 have been injured in the U.S. The Volvo inflators, made by ZF/TRW, do not use ammonium nitrate, but the propellant can still deteriorate when exposed to high heat and humidity, according to documents posted Tuesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Volvo said in the documents that the fatality is the only inflator rupture case that it knows of. Tony Sapienza, spokesman for ZF/TRW, said the inflators were not sold to any other automakers in the U.S. The company's U.S. headquarters is in Livonia, Michigan, near Detroit. Dealers will replace the inflators with new ones with a modern state-of-the-art propellant/inflator, the Volvo documents say. Owners will be notified by letter starting Nov. 29. The original recall only covered cars from the 2001 through 2003 model years in southern states and territories with persistent high heat and humidity. Volvo said in a statement Tuesday that it expanded the recall from Southern states to the entire nation in an abundance of caution. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Gov. Tim Walz called on lawmakers Tuesday to approve a series of new measures to respond to the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccine and testing requirements for teachers and school staff, and for long-term care workers. The Democratic governor detailed his proposal in a letter to lawmakers that he released after meeting privately with legislative leaders. He urged lawmakers to approve the measures during a special session that was originally envisioned for last month to approve a $250 million bonus package for frontline workers who risked their lives in the pandemic. CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (AP) A West Virginia man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for possessing more than 400 grams of methamphetamine. Michael Anthony Parkinson, of Ranson, was sentenced on Monday. He pleaded guilty in May to possession with intent to distribute 50 or more grams of methamphetamine. Al Drago/AP WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Tuesday that Oct. 18 remains the date she is likely to run out of resources to stave off an unprecedented default on the nation's debt without congressional action to raise the debt limit. She rejected the idea of minting a $1 trillion coin to avoid a default. Appearing on CNBC Yellen said that if a default were to occur I fully expect it would cause a recession as well along with preventing the government from paying benefits to 50 million Social Security recipients and meeting the government's other bills. Just one major American airline is letting unvaccinated employees continue to work and travel. Delta Airlines is the remaining holdout after Southwest announced Monday that it would mandate vaccines for its 54,000 employees following "a thorough review of President Biden's COVID Action Plan," which requires that companies with more than 100 employees have vaccine mandates or weekly testing. More for you Your guide to purchasing KN95 and NIOSH-approved N95 masks All Southwest employees, the airline said in a Monday press release, must receive the COVID-19 vaccine by Dec. 8 in order to stay employed. Workers can also be approved for a religious, medical or disability exemption, though it remains unclear how this process works. Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination directive, said Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines' chairman and CEO, in a company press release. I encourage all Southwest Employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all. A Delta spokesperson told SFGATE that the airline has no plan to mandate vaccines, noting that 84% of its staff is vaccinated without any mandate. "While we continue to examine the Administrations executive order, Delta people who remain unvaccinated can continue their careers while undergoing mandatory masking, weekly testing and beginning in November assessment of a $200 healthcare surcharge," the spokesperson told SFGATE in an email. Southwest's mandate follows a companywide financial incentive 16 hours, or two days' worth, of extra pay for nonflight staff and 13 "trip segments" for flight staff, reports CNBC to convince workers to get fully vaccinated. It is unclear whether this requirement will replace the current bonuses. The decision comes just days after both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines announced similar vaccine mandates. United Airlines became the first major airline to announce a vaccine mandate for all its employees in late September. Page Content The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and state insurance regulators are stepping up enforcement actions relating to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which prevents group health plans that provide mental health or substance abuse benefits from imposing stricter limits on those benefits than on medical/surgical benefits. The recent actions have focused on what the law, which took effect in 2008, terms non-quantitative treatment limitations (NQTLs), as opposed to quantitative limits such as paying for the same number of visits whether for mental or physical health treatment. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, also amended the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act to require group health plans and issuers to complete an analysis that explains whether the factors used to justify NQTLs for mental health coverage differ from limits imposed for medical and surgical benefits. The analysis must be provided to the DOL on the agency's request. Among recent NQTL actions, in August the DOL announced a $15.6 million settlement in a case involving United Healthcare and its affiliates. The insurers, served with separate enforcement lawsuits by the DOL and the New York Attorney General, were charged with reducing reimbursements for certain out-of-network mental health treatments depending on the type of license held by the service provider, but not doing so for those providing medical services. The settlement included $13.6 million to affected participants and beneficiaries and $2.08 million in penalties. "Plans and insurance companies cannot place special hurdles in the paths of workers and their families when they seek mental health and substance use disorder benefits," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Ali Khawar. "The law requires parity between these benefits and medical benefits. We are committed to vigorously enforcing the law's requirement and making sure workers in need of help are treated fairly." The DOL created a self-compliance tool that plans can use to meet the law's requirements, Khawar noted. The stepped-up enforcement actions "highlight the continued scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement on issues relating to mental health parity" according to a Sept. 14 post by Los Angeles and San Francisco-based attorneys at law firm Manatt. While the recent actions have been brought against insurance companies, "it is possible that regulators and law enforcement may target other payers that engage in similar practices" such as employers that sponsor mental health benefits. These payers "should carefully examine their practices relating to out-of-network reimbursement for compliance with parity requirements," the firm advised. Bloomberg Law similarly reported on Sept. 22 that "health insurance companies are now in the crosshairs of the Department of Labor's aggressive enforcement of mental health parity, but it's unlikely to mean employers will escape scrutiny." New Penalties Proposed The Biden administration also "has made mental health parity enforcement a high priority, going so far as to ask Congress for additional authority to fine violators, including employers," Bloomberg reported. In the Democrats' 2022 budget reconciliation measure, for instance, the House Education and Labor Committee "included a provision to allow the Labor Department to impose civil monetary penalties on plan sponsors, insurers, and plan administrators." The new analysis required from group health plans "coupled with the prospect of penalties, has only made employers more worried about being caught violating the law," Bloomberg reported. Speaking at an event to donate funds for the residential colonies for the members of the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), actor Vijay Sethupathi said: "I know the hardship of paying rent and being in a rental house. A few house owners will give us a terrible experience as if we live in Pakistan. I came to the film industry to build my own house and also to clear the debts of my dad. When I worked in Dubai, was able to only pay interest for the debts". The project of FEFSI is huge, they are planning to build houses worth 800 crores and I'm only donating one crore. "Whatever I earn in cinema only goes to the money lenders so, I couldn't help much. But this time, I donated one crore which I earned through advertisements to FEFSI. I will continue helping them as much as I can", he added. Von der Leyen said on Monday that the Commission applauded Finland's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035, noting that the country has devoted 50 per cent of its plan to Green Transition, Xinhua news agency reported. Helsinki, Oct 5 (IANS) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has backed Finland's recovery and resilience plan, which comes as part of the European Union's (EU) multi-billion pandemic recovery fund. It will also devote 27 per cent of its plan to supporting digital transition, helping it remain a leader in this field. At a press conference at the VTT Technical research center outside Helsinki, both Von der Leyen and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin underlined the importance of the EU recovery plans for the future. Marin noted that the plan is about rebuilding economies from the bottom up, adding: "It is much more than just a stimulus package." Earlier that day, the Commission President had seen Finnish quantum computing, which is included in two investment priorities of Finland's recovery plan. The Council of the European Union will decide on whether to approve Finland's plan in about four weeks' time. If it gets the green light, Finland will receive 13 per cent of the EU funding reserved for the plan as an advance payment. All EU countries are required to present a national recovery and resilience plan if they are to receive funding from the stimulus package, which consists of 806.9 billion euros under the NextGenerationEU Recovery Fund, combined with the EU's long-term budget. Finland submitted its plan in May, and should receive its first tranche of funding, 272 million euros, at the end of the year -- as long as the member states give their backing. ($1 euro = 1.16) --IANS int/shs The outcome of the meeting between Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdollahian will be followed keenly by Washington as the Russian-Iranian relations continue to actively develop and the "intensity of the political dialogue" continues after the victory of Ebrahim Raisi in the presidential elections in Iran. Both Putin and Raisi have already spoken over phone twice on August 18 and September 14, to reaffirm their commitment to strengthen "mutually beneficial" Russian-Iranian relations in various fields. "The positions of Russia and Iran on many international issues are close or coincide. The ministers will pay special attention to the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program. The only way out of this situation is the earliest possible resumption of the negotiation process to restore the full-fledged functioning of the nuclear deal," said the Russian Foreign Ministry. It added that the state of affairs in Afghanistan will be "substantively discussed" in the context of the fundamental importance of an effective response to emerging challenges, including the relief of terrorist and drug threats, as well as international assistance to the post-conflict reconstruction of the country. "On the Syrian settlement, the principled position of Moscow and Tehran is to support unconditional respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the SAR , the legal right of the Syrians to independently determine the future of their country. Effective interaction within the Astana format will continue," the statement mentioned. During the dialogue, both ministers will also have other topics of regional agenda to discuss, including the situation in the Caspian Sea, in the Transcaucasus, in the Persian Gulf zone, Yemen , Lebanon and the Middle East settlement. Russia said that it supports the decision to start the procedure for admitting Iran to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), made during the recent summit in Dushanbe. Moscow reiterated that it has always advocated the full-fledged participation of Iran, which will help to increase the international authority of the organisation. Intensive bilateral contacts have been maintained at various levels between both the countries, including through the foreign affairs, parliaments, and other state structures and organisations. On October 1, another round of Russian-Iranian interagency consultations on international information security (IIB) had taken place in Moscow. Reza Najafi, the acting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Law and International Affairs, who is also the Director General of the General Directorate of the Iranian Foreign Ministry for Peace and International Security, held discussions with Andrei Kroteskikh, the Russian president's special envoy for international cooperation in information security. Both top officials exchanged views on the strategic approaches of Russia and Iran in the area of cyber issues based on the Russian-Iranian intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of information security signed earlier this year. Moscow and Tehran also continue to expand cooperation in the field of countering the spread of Covid-19. While the deliveries of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V to Iran continues, the Iranian authorities have also approved the use of the Sputnik Light single-component vaccine in the country, which will accelerate the vaccination of the population and form population immunity. "We intend to further expand mutually beneficial ties with Iran and continue cooperation in the interests of regional stability and international security. We count on the strengthening of positive trends in all spheres of Russian-Iranian cooperation," says the Russian MFA. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative The fishermen - Albert Ravi, Dynas, Godwin Jon Weldon, Arockia Ligin, joseph Beski, Jesudas, Sahaya Vijay, Michael Adimai, and Wellington - were working for a Kuwait-based fishing group and while fishing, had been arrested by the Iranian Coast Guard for entering its territorial waters. Chennai, Oct 5 (IANS) Nine fishermen from Tamil Nadu's Nagercoil, who were in an Iranian jail for the past 19 months, have been brought back to Chennai. The fishermen had started from Fahaheel in Kuwait in three boats in the morning and were caught by the Iranian Coast Guard by evening. "It has been 19 months that my brother is in an Iranian jail. We thank the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu government for having taken extra efforts to bring them back to India. They had gone to Kuwait for a better living... Anyway, we are thankful to God that they are back to our country," Mary Mariam, a relative of one of the fishermen, told IANS from Nagercoil. --IANS aal/vd To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The fate of investors in the groups bonds and the wealth management products that have provided much of its $US305 billion of liabilities has been left hanging. The list of missed interest payments on Evergrandes bond issues is lengthening, almost on a daily basis. Beijing has pumped $US120 billion into its financial system in less than a fortnight while urging state-owned banks to lend more to property buyers and support the property sector but is yet to become directly involved in any attempt to rescue Evergrande. Credit:AP While it came to some form of non-cash settlement with investors in a tranche of onshore bonds last month, it has missed interest payments of $US83.53 million and $US45.2 million on two offshore bond issues and, according to Bloomberg, failed on Monday to honour a guarantee on a $US260 million note issued by a related entity. While there are 30-day grace periods on the bond issues that would push a default out to the end of this month, the loan to Jumbo Fortune Enterprises has none. The potential for a formal default that could trigger cross-defaults in other Evergrande bond issues is real. Within a week the group also has interest payments totalling about $US148 million due on three more series of dollar bonds and more than $US1 billion of interest payments due by early January next year. It has also missed payments on some of the high-yielding wealth management products it relied on heavily as a source of short-term funding, which has sparked protests from investors. It has tried to satisfy some of them by making token payments and offering them heavily discounted apartments in lieu of cash. Loading Chinas authorities appear to be trying to prevent Evergrandes implosion from developing into a property market crash and social unrest, with the local government authorities being directed to do what they can to take over and complete the groups unfinished developments and to prepare for mass incidents, or large-scale demonstrations. Preventing contagion wont be easy. The shares in other property developers have been diving and their access to the bank and wealth management channels for funding is being curtailed. Other developers are missing interest and principal payments Fantasia Holdings missed a Monday deadline for repayment of a $US205 million bond and Sinic Holdings has missed two interest payments and property prices are sliding. The combination of over-leveraged developers, reduced access to funding and large-scale uncompleted developments can be combustible. Australia experienced a very destructive property development and property finance-related crisis in the early 1990s. Beijing, apart from directing local governments to intervene, has pumped more than $US120 billion of liquidity into its financial system in less than a fortnight while urging state-owned banks to lend more to property buyers and support the property sector, the core of Chinas economy. Chinas authorities appear to be trying to prevent Evergrandes implosion from developing into a property crash and social unrest, with the local government authorities being directed to do what they can to take over and complete the groups unfinished developments and to prepare for mass incidents, or large-scale demonstrations. It has yet, however, to become directly involved in any attempt to rescue Evergrande, instead trying to influence the rate of its collapse and contain, to some degree, the fallout. The authorities want to reduce the degree of leverage in the sector it was their own deleveraging policies that cut off Evergrandes access to funding and ignited the crisis and rid themselves of the moral hazard associated with previous bailouts of stated-owned enterprises or companies deemed too big to fail. Theyll have no sympathy for foreign banks or bondholders. The impact of Evergrandes woes on Chinas shadow banking system may represent a challenge for the authorities. The sprawling non-bank finance system was the major source of funding for Chinas property boom and bubble over the past several decades but especially since the global financial crisis in 2008. If Evergrande were to spark a run within that system, the authorities might have no alternative but to intervene more directly. Evergrandes asset sales will generate some cash and liquidity and enable it to meet some of the authorities priorities but the sheer scale and nature of its liabilities and the crisis-induced diminishing value of its assets means it wont meet all of its obligations or contain the wider fallout. The challenge for the authorities will be to confine the losses to foreign bondholders and wealthy local investors while avoiding systemic problems and a broader collapse in property values and among key industry participants. Teslas vice president of people, Valerie Capers Workman, sent an internal email late on Monday that the company subsequently published in a blog post on its website titled Regarding Todays Jury Verdict. I believe thats the largest verdict in an individual race discrimination in employment case, said David Oppenheimer, a clinical professor of law at Berkeley Law. Class actions are of course in a different category. The electric carmaker was accused of turning a blind eye to racial taunts and offensive graffiti the man endured at its auto plant in Fremont, California. Credit:Bloomberg Owen Diaz, a former contract worker who was hired in 2015 via a staffing agency, was subjected to a racially hostile work environment, a federal jury in San Francisco decided on Monday (US time). The award is among the most significant verdicts of its kind. Tesla lost a case against a black former elevator operator and must pay an unprecedented $US137 million ($188 million) in damages for having turned a blind eye to racial taunts and offensive graffiti the man endured at the electric carmakers auto plant in Fremont, California. Workman wrote she was at the defence table for Tesla every day during the trial because I wanted to hear firsthand what Mr. Diaz said happened to him. The post said that the Tesla of 2015 and 2016 (when Mr. Diaz worked in the Fremont factory) is not the same as the Tesla of today. Diazs case marks a rare instance in which Tesla, which typically uses mandatory arbitration to resolve employee disputes, had to defend itself in a public trial. The company almost never loses workplace arbitrations, though it was hit with a $USUS1 million award in May in a case brought by another ex-contract worker that was similar to Diazs. The trial could embolden shareholder activists who have pushed Teslas board, so far without success, to adopt more transparency about its diversity goals and use of arbitration to resolve complaints regarding sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Teslas annual meeting is scheduled for October 7. In court, Tesla argued that it never intended to disregard the rights and safety of African-American workers placed by the staffing agency at the plant and that all incidents reported by Mr Diaz were investigated and resolved. In her closing arguments to the jury, Tesla attorney Tracey Kennedy said Mr. Diazs story simply doesnt make sense in light of his encouragement to his son and daughter to take up jobs at the company. She also said Diazs claims werent supported by the evidence. Its too easy to miss brilliant streaming shows, movies and documentaries. Here are the ones to hit play on or skip. Foundation Apple TV+ It seems strange that this is the first screen adaptation of Isaac Asimovs celebrated Foundation stories the first of which went to press way back in the 1940s. But perhaps its best that we had to wait until modern visual-effects technology could really do them justice. And thats the first thing youll notice about Foundation how good it looks. Whether its a vast, silent vista of stars and planets, a sprawling futuristic cityscape or the moving pigments in the propaganda murals of a galactic empire on the brink of collapse, its all very striking. Maths whiz Gaal Dornick played by Lou Llobell in Foundation, on Apple TV+. But series creators David S. Goyer (Da Vincis Demons) and Josh Friedman (who developed Snowpiercer for TV) know that you need texture at all levels, and even the fabrics and designs of the most utilitarian childrens wear look just as gorgeous in their own way. And while Asimov might initially have been inspired by the fall of Rome, the resonances for contemporary viewers are abundant, to say the least. Motorists are at risk of leaving themselves seriously out of pocket if they are involved in a road accident after they failed to provide their insurer with accurate information when they took out their policy. Many are unaware that their comprehensive motor vehicle insurance will not cover them if they have inadequately disclosed their driving or claims histories. Australians are being denied insurance claims for not fully disclosing their driving, insurance claims records or other relevant information Credit:iStock Comprehensive insurance policies can be difficult for consumers to understand. Ambiguously worded questions mean it is easy to supply inaccurate answers when buying insurance, even if a driver has every intention of answering truthfully. News Corp high flyer Damian Eales has officially taken his seat inside the media giants Manhattan headquarters in his new role as global chief transformation officer. Readers will recall in July last year News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson promoted Eales then News Corp Australias chief operating officer to the Murdoch big leagues and the role inside News Corps Avenue of the Americas HQ. Of course, the global pandemic put a giant brake on the transition plans. But the departure delay also represented an unexpected boon for Eales considering other matters on the homefront requiring attention. Going ape in NYC. Credit:Shakespeare Since November 2018, Eales has been overseeing a near $5 million renovation at his harbourfront home in Birchgrove. The original plans for the 1881 heritage home proposed to demolish a newer portion of the heritage home, while adding a more sympathetic three-storey extension, pool and garden. Eales tinkered with the plans late last year and again in September, when he applied to add a lift. The Inner West Council is still considering that inclusion, but has given the green light to the rest of the grand design. Well, sort of. This graph shows vaccine effectiveness over time by age. Everybodys antibodies wane at a similar pace, but people over 65 start from a lower base. Importantly, this is just effectiveness against infection. The second graph shows vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation and death by variant the real outcomes we should care about. The good news is that no waning was detected in any age group. Effectiveness holds at about 93 per cent. The third graph shows vaccine effectiveness over time by variant. Red is Delta, the only variant that really matters at the moment. After four months, effectiveness dropped from 93 per cent to 53 per cent. You can see the same results from an American study in nursing homes (remember, nursing home residents had their jabs first, and we want to protect them the most), which showed waning effectiveness of vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer over time. In March, vaccine effectiveness was 74.3 per cent, in May it was 65.8 per cent, and in June, when Delta was dominant, it fell to 52.8 per cent. (The study couldnt differentiate between the effect of waning immunity and the effect of Delta turning up both probably played a role.) The biggest data source comes from Israel, which began its mass vaccination campaign with Pfizer in December 2020. In the countrys July wave, people who were aged over 60 and vaccinated in March were almost twice as well protected from serious illness as those who were vaccinated in January. Early data shows Israels booster vaccine campaign could be slowing serious illness. Credit:AP Do all vaccines wane at the same rate? In August, Victorian Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton noted some early data suggesting AstraZenecas protection might wane more slowly than Pfizers. He was probably referring to UK data, which did indeed show that. However, that claim did not reach statistical significance, and other studies have not substantiated it since. Dr Cromer is also sceptical. How uncertain is the data? Remember randomised controlled trials, which were first used to estimate the effectiveness of the vaccines? They are the best-quality evidence but they are hard to do now, as you can no longer give people placebo COVID-19 vaccines. Instead, scientists turn to test-negative trials. They use a complicated design but generally are considered fairly high quality. High quality, but not ultimate quality, as vaccine expert Professor Robert Booy puts it. His advice? Consider them less reliable than randomised controlled trials, until you have a bunch saying the same thing which we now do. Representative microscopy image of SARS-CoV-2 infected cells stained with antibodies in convalescent plasma. Credit:Dr Michael Joyce, University of Alberta Why is vaccine efficacy waning? Probably because antibody levels are waning, but we dont really know. Antibodies provide initial protection from infection. Nearly all vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccines, lead to a big rise in antibody levels, which gradually wane over time. That is probably why they provide strong protection from infection soon after being administered as antibody levels fall, the chance of a breakthrough infection rises. The model by Dr Cromers team suggests the relationship between antibody levels is not a straight line but a curve with plateaus at the top and bottom. If your vaccine generates a very high level of antibody like Modernas you can stand to lose many antibodies before you see a decline in vaccine effectiveness. A vaccine that produces fewer antibodies will lose effectiveness faster as antibody levels decline. What about protection against severe disease? Importantly, the vaccines provide protection against both infection and serious illness. That is, even if you do get infected, you are protected from getting really sick. It is not completely clear why, but it may be that antibodies protect you from infection. So far, protection against severe disease and death looks very robust and does not seem to be declining. There are two theories, says Dr Cromer. You get protection from severe disease and death from your cell-mediated immune system, not your antibodies. This is a second, much more powerful and long-lasting immune system. You get protection against severe disease from your antibodies, but they have to decline to a low level before you start losing that protection. In which case, we should start seeing a signal in the data in the next few months in severe illness and death. We think severe disease has a slightly different curve, and all [of] them are probably on the flat bit of the curve, says Dr Cromer. But eventually, you will hit this slope. Will we all need boosters? This is a question of public health policy. Theres evidence from Israel, the first country to really deal with this problem, that a third dose substantially reduces a persons chances of falling sick or developing severe disease. The country is now offering boosters to everyone aged 12 and over. Loading But remember, vaccines are not an infinite resource at the moment. Each booster you give a wealthy person in a rich country is one fewer vaccine shot for, say, a healthcare worker in a poor country. At this stage, the data does not yet suggest protection against falling seriously ill and dying has waned. That means a booster is essentially a vaccination against a mild illness, and thats hard to stomach in a world where just eight in every 100 people in Africa have had a first dose. A lawyer for Hillsong Church co-founder Brian Houston has told a Sydney court he will plead not guilty to charges of concealing child sexual abuse by his late father, Frank Houston. The senior global pastor of the evangelical mega-church was in the United States when he was served with a court attendance notice in August, following a two-year investigation into allegations he failed to report the alleged abuse of a boy in the 1970s. Hillsong pastor Brian Houston has professed his innocence after being charged by NSW Police. Credit:Getty Mr Houston returned to Australia from the US last month to face the charge of concealing a serious indictable offence, with NSW Police alleging he knew information relating to the sexual abuse of a young male in the 1970s and failed to bring that information to the attention of police. He was released from hotel quarantine last week but did not appear in person at Downing Centre Local Court in central Sydney on Tuesday for the matters first mention. An Orchard Hills couple whose property is being acquired for the Sydney Metro project say the government authority deducted $120,000 from the value of their land because of three trees. Sam and Therese Grima were among several residents who told a parliamentary inquiry they were being short-changed by Sydney Metro in its acquisition of land for the $11 billion Western Sydney Airport line, with multiple people saying their offers increased by about 70 per cent from their original valuations. Sam and Therese Grima on their Orchard Hill block on Tuesday, with their trees in the background. Credit:Rhett Wyman Their first, initial valuation, was dismal. The offer was so low, we think it was a negotiation ploy to beat us down and make us accept with no regard to the true value of our property, Mrs Grima told the upper house inquiry on Tuesday, adding the land was to be their forever home. The couple said Sydney Metro discounted the value of compensation they were entitled to as a result of a biodiversity assessment mainly concerning three trees on their property. Italian POWs for farms More than 1000 Italian prisoners of war, captured by the British in the Middle East, have arrived in Australia to relieve the man-power shortage in rural industry. They presented a motley appearance in their various types of military uniform, carrying their belongings in roughly tied bundles and neatly made wooden boxes. Some of the men carried guitars and mandolins as they boarded the train for country camps. Gable awarded US Air Medal The film actor, Captain Clark Gable, has been awarded the US Air Medal for exceptionally meritorious achievement while participating in the five bomber combat missions over enemy-occupied territory. The citation says the courage, coolness and skill Gable displayed on these occasions reflect great credit upon him and the US armed forces. Gables last raid was on Nantes, France in a Flying Fortress. Typists threaten strike NSW has reported 608 new local coronavirus cases, as well as seven additional deaths from the virus. There were 85,642 tests reported to 8pm Monday. Were seeing a decline in case numbers in recent days, but weve also seen a slight decline in testing, NSW Healths Dr Jeremy McAnulty said, while encouraging people to continue to look out for respiratory symptoms even as vaccination rates increased. NSW Healths Dr Jeremy McAnulty says there has been a slight decline in testing. Credit:Anna Kucera According to NSW Health, 67.5 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated and 88.5 per cent have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday morning. Three times Danielle Smyth took her five-year-old daughter Halle Kiehne to see doctors in Taree, asking if her little girls severe headaches were something serious. Danielle Smyth with her daughter Halle Kiehne. I said, I am worried about a brain tumour. They all said, No, no, no, and told me a brain tumour started with vomiting, said Ms Smyth, a high school maths teacher. An MRI - ordered by the local hospital - confirmed that Halle had anaplastic ependymoma, a kind of brain cancer with tumours that recur frequently. In the nearly three years since then, the Smyth family has been at the pointy end of what the Cancer Council NSWs chief executive Jeff Mitchell described as a postcode lottery. Elham Naaman is facing two separate lots of charges. Credit:Facebook A woman who allegedly set fire to a hotel room near Newcastle to destroy evidence has also been charged with kidnapping and assaulting a 14-year-old girl in an unrelated incident almost two months earlier in Sydneys west. Elham Naaman, 24, allegedly set fire to a hotel room in Hamilton, near Newcastle, on August 14, 2021 in the company of others to destroy evidence relating to a possible stabbing, causing about $30,000 worth of damage. On Tuesday, Magistrate Gareth Christofi told Bankstown Local Court there was CCTV footage as well as an alleged admission via text from Ms Naaman pertaining to her involvement. He told the court it was the prosecutions case that Ms Naaman texted another person something along the lines of: I lit a hotel on fire to cover your ass. The motive for a man allegedly pouring drain cleaner on another man on an inner-Brisbane street was retribution for a rape in Logan last week, a court was told on Tuesday morning. The alleged attack occurred at the junction of Boundary and Mollison streets in West End just after 7am on Monday. The alleged victim suffered significant burns. Credit:Queensland Police The 24-year-old victim was taken to the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in a serious but stable condition with significant burns to his upper body, neck and parts of his face. Edward Arthur Robinson, 41, applied for bail on Tuesday in Brisbane Arrests Court, where he was charged with acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm. Close friends of murdered Brisbane doctor Luping Zeng say the jail sentences meted out to two men involved in his death were too soft and that the familys lives have been turned upside down. Dr Zeng, 56, was gunned down in the driveway of his Macgregor home, in Brisbanes south, after a confrontation with an intruder in April 2019. Luping Zeng was a well-respected doctor in the Brisbane community. Credit:Facebook His wife, also a doctor, and both of his daughters, who were medical students, rushed to Dr Zengs aid after hearing a single gunshot. Paramedics arrived but he died shortly after. Dr Zeng, a former plastic surgeon who worked as a GP at Waterford 7 Day Medical Centre, had been in his garage packing his car for work the next day. A Melbourne childcare provider was ordered by a court to donate $10,000 to a local hospital after two children escaped from one of its suburban centres through a gate and ran onto a busy road. Footage first published by The Age showed the toddlers running across two lanes of traffic on Ballan Road after they left the Werribee West Family Centre the morning of March 12, 2019. Shocked motorists came to a standstill on the 70 km/h-speed limit road as the children wandered across the lanes before childcare staff collected them. The centre operator, Early Childhood Management Services, was charged six months later by the Department of Education and Training. It will be up to, particularly the private, agencies. But we would want to make sure that rapid antigen testing is as freely and as widely available to different parts of industry and community settings, he said. Red zones in NSW, ACT downgraded Areas in NSW and the ACT that are not in lockdown will be downgraded from red to orange zones under Victorias travel permit system from midnight Wednesday. That means travel between those areas and Victoria will be allowed. Those travelling to Victoria from those areas will be required to have a COVID-19 test within 72 hours of crossing the border and isolate until they receive a negative test result. Extreme risk zones in NSW and the ACT, which are locked-down areas, will be changed to red zones, meaning returning Victorians must quarantine at home for 14 days. As we are confident the risks continued to be mitigated in NSW, we want to make sure that we continue to keep a close eye on that, Mr Foley said on Wednesday. And if there are further changes to be made in due course, we will, of course, let everybody know. Victoria recorded 1420 new local coronavirus cases and 11 deaths on Wednesday, the highest daily number of coronavirus deaths this year. The latest deaths included three women from the Whittlesea area, one aged in her 70s and two in their 90s; two women and a man aged in their 70s and a man aged in his 80s, all from the Hume area; two men aged in their 70s from the areas of Moreland and Hobsons Bay; a woman aged in her 60s from Darebin; and a man aged in his 50s from Casey. Mr Foley said 525 people were in Victorian hospitals with COVID-19. Of those, 94 were in intensive care and 53 on a ventilator. Rapid antigen testing will form an important part of Victorias COVID-19 response tool kit in the coming months, authorities say. Credit:Nick Moir Mr Foley said 66 per cent of those in hospital were unvaccinated, 28 per cent were partially vaccinated, and six per cent were fully vaccinated. More than 36,542 people got a COVID-19 jab on Tuesday, and 71,451 test results were processed. There are now 14,410 active cases across the state. A breakdown of the states latest cases 377 in Melbournes western suburbs, including Tarneit, Truganina and Point Cook 562 in the northern suburbs, including Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park and Broadmeadows 89 in the eastern suburbs, including Doncaster and Templestowe 307 in the south-eastern suburbs, including Pakenham, Dandenong and Noble Park 80 in regional Victoria, including 15 in Shepparton, eight in Ballarat, eight in Latrobe, and four in Mildura Five cases elsewhere Mr Weimar said there were now 611 active coronavirus cases in regional Victoria. Cases linked to violent CFMEU protests soar Dozens of Victorians infected with COVID-19 were linked to the violent protests outside the CFMEUs Melbourne headquarters last month. Victorian CFMEU state secretary John Setka, who copped some vitriol, said on Wednesday morning it was absolutely unforgivable that protesters had caused a coronavirus superspreader event. CFMEU secretary John Setka outside the unions Melbourne headquarters before the protest turned violent. Credit:AAP Personally, I think [the protesters] dont care, he said. I mean, its a pretty tragic set of circumstances where dozens of kids and families have now been infected because of their reckless, moronic actions, he told the Today show. Mr Setka said he tested negative for the virus, and was relieved he didnt spread it to his elderly parents. Union officials were still reviewing footage from the protests, but Mr Setka said some people who caused damage to the headquarters were members, and would have to front the executive. Theyll have to answer for their actions, and, in some cases, in some of the footage that Ive seen, theyll probably be expelled ... from the union, he said. Mr Setka said objects thrown during the protests could have taken someones eye out. Its a bit sad. For these misguided individuals to be sucked in by some of these other morons is even more disturbing, Mr Setka said. VCE students test positive for COVID-19 after sitting GAT Mr Foley said health authorities were not surprised that at least four VCE students who sat the General Achievement Test in Melbourne on Tuesday had now tested positive for coronavirus. Loading Roxburgh College in Roxburgh Park, Point Cook Senior Secondary College, Glenroy College and William Ruthven Secondary College in Reservoir all confirmed one of their students tested positive. Aquinas College at Ringwood also told its families that one of the students at its GAT sitting had a household member test positive for the virus Tuesday night. The school was closed as the student awaited the results of a COVID test. In a proportionate sense, surprise is not a word Id readily describe for this, Mr Foley said. Its a regret, and Im sure its a big blow for those young people and their families. But, in regards to the amounts of community transmission that is apparent at the moment, but overlaid with the increasingly strong levels of vaccinations, we think that [a COVID-19 testing blitz prior to exams] is a sensible path through to mitigate those risks while delivering the VCE to those year 12 and year 11 students. The Victorian government said 85,000 students completed the GAT on Tuesday. A COVID-19 testing blitz prior to the test picked up an additional 33 positive cases. Mr Foley said he understood the testing was all done with PCR. Restrictions ease across Latrobe Valley Residents of the Latrobe Valley returned to the same coronavirus restrictions as the rest of regional Victoria on Wednesday after their seven-day lockdown lifted at 11.59pm on Tuesday. The region recorded nine new coronavirus cases on Tuesday. However, Premier Daniel Andrews said, we feel that we have a good understanding of that outbreak. Loading Im very grateful to everybody across Latrobe city for the contribution theyve made, Mr Andrews said. Its never easy to be forced into a lockdown, but the strategy has worked. While the area recorded the additional cases on Wednesday, Mr Weimar said four of those were known household primary close contacts. Two are from another household thats been part of our ongoing investigations. Were just nailing down their acquisition source, he said. Police patrolled Melbournes CBD on Tuesday morning as thousands of construction workers returned to their jobs after a two-week building hiatus sparked violent protests in Melbourne. Groups of officers roamed the city in teams of four to six, looking for signs of renewed protests, as construction workers put up traffic barriers and tradies huddled and sipped coffee in the city on a cold morning. Construction work returns to Melbournes CBD on ABeckett Street. Credit:Simon Schluter At 9am, there was no sign of further demonstrations. A small security team was stationed outside the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union headquarters in Carlton, where union employees watched traffic enter the city from a balcony atop the building. Protests involving hundreds of people erupted at the unions offices on September 20, with protesters accusing the union of not pushing back hard enough against mandatory vaccinations for construction workers. Grieving family and friends have described a 36-year-old nurse found dead in a home in Perths northern suburbs as a doting mother and a role model within WAs African diaspora. Janet Dweh, 36, was eight months pregnant when she was found dead inside her home in Dayton, near Caversham, on Monday night, sending shockwaves through the close-knit Liberian community. Her body was discovered by her older brother in a pool of blood about 6pm after she failed to attend a family commitment. Ms Dweh had just gone on maternity leave ahead of the birth of her fourth child. The 36-year-old came to Australia as a teenager after fleeing the civil war in her native Liberia and living in a Nigerian refugee camp. WA mine workers must be fully vaccinated by January 1 to keep their jobs after WA Premier Mark McGowan on Tuesday extended compulsory vaccination to the exploration, mining, and oil and gas sectors. Resource workers have now joined police, health, transport, and aged care workers in having vaccination as a requirement of their employment. Mr McGowan said other industries would be dealt with progressively. The government made its decision on the advice of Chief Health Officer Dr Andy Robertson. BHP employees at Newman airport in the Pilbara Credit: Tony McDonough The move comes after Health Minister Roger Cook on Monday said there would be consequences for those who chose not to be vaccinated. Coral reefs are at risk of further destruction due to increasing global warming, according to a four-year survey by the United Nations, highlighting the international pressure on Australia to increase its emissions reduction targets at next months global climate summit in Glasgow. The United Nations Environment Programs coral reef survey is the latest in a string of environmental reports to be released by the United Nations leading into its summit. UNESCOs global survey found coral cover on tropical reefs around the world had declined, on average, over the past decade. Credit:Jason South Since 2010, almost all regions exhibited a decline in average coral cover. Projections of increased sea surface temperatures (which are driven by global warming) in the future suggest coral reefs will experience further declines in the coming decades, the UNESCO report found. British Minister of State Alok Sharma, also president of the UN climate summit, on Monday called on Australia to nearly double its 2030 emissions reduction target and urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend the talks in person. Australias offshore processing of asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea will be terminated at the end of the year under an agreement between the two nations. The arrangement has been in place since 2013 and at its peak 1353 asylum seekers were housed on Manus Island in 2014. The Manus Island processing centres were closed in 2017. Credit:Andrew Meares Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced on Wednesday that processing in PNG will end on December 31. The federal government is crediting its resettlement arrangement with the United States as a key reason for being able to end the arrangement with PNG. New Premier Dominic Perrottet plans to divert tens of millions of dollars from a CBD stimulus fund to the citys west, cementing his governments focus on western Sydney as the key battleground for the 2023 election. The 39-year-old Mr Perrottet, sworn in on Tuesday as the youngest Premier in the states history after winning a secret Liberal party room ballot against Planning Minister Rob Stokes 39-5, vowed to shift the Coalitions focus from the pandemic to families and cost of living pressures. Dominic Perrottet at his first press conference as NSW Liberal leader. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Penrith MP and Jobs Minister Stuart Ayres was appointed Mr Perrottets deputy leader, a deal struck to send a message to western Sydney that the Coalition was committed to the citys fast-growing region. In April, the government announced funding to increase its CBD revitalisation fund to $40 million to target events and attractions to bring more people back to the Sydney CBD. New Premier Dominic Perrottet has promised to elevate more women to the NSW ministry, conceding he needed to do more on gender diversity in his cabinet. Mr Perrottet will choose from a handful of female MPs when he looks to name his new cabinet later this year, with only two Liberal women now in cabinet after Gladys Berejiklians shock departure last week. Liberal MP Tanya Davies says tradies should not be forced to be vaccinated. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Among the favourites for a promotion are Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies, who is a former minister for women, mental health and ageing between 2017 and April 2019. She entered Parliament in 2011. Ms Davies has been a vocal opponent of mandatory vaccination for workers and vaccine passports during Sydneys Delta outbreak, but has maintained she is not an anti-vaxxer. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused the Palaszczuk government of attempting to hold the federal government to ransom over calls for more hospital funding while keeping the borders shut. On Friday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said surges of cases in NSW and Victoria showed hospitals would struggle once cases reached a certain number, ahead of planned reopenings. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has accused the Palaszczuk government of a shakedown. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen [We need] to make sure that the hospitals can deal with the capacity because when Delta comes in, it will spread like wildfire, she said. But Mr Morrison hit back, arguing he would not respond to shakedown politics in a pandemic. After weeks of evading questions about whether Queenslands borders would reopen when the states vaccination rate hit 80 per cent, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has given her clearest indication yet. Not necessarily. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the states borders will not necessarily reopen when 80 per cent of people aged over 16 have been double vaccinated. Credit:Matt Dennien The Queensland Premier has repeatedly cast doubt over whether the states borders will reopen once the vaccination target is hit expected to be early December while more than 11,000 Queenslanders remain stranded in NSW or Victoria, some living in tents. The national reopening plan, agreed to by state and territory leaders in July, states that at 80 per cent, there should only be highly targeted lockdowns, and vaccinated residents should be exempt from all domestic restrictions. POINTE BLANCHE:--- Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alexander Gumbs recently announced the promotion of longtime maritime management professional Rosina Romeo as the interim Terminal Operations Manager, as of September 1st, 2021. Gumbs said that the discussion in terms of merging the cruise and cargo operations was in the pipeline for some time now and with internal shifts and preparation for growth within the organization. Romeo was promoted as one of the only local females with a skill set of a maritime degree. PSG CEO Gumbs further said that his focus is on growing and instilling organizational citizenship while creating opportunities for staff to enhance their skills. Staff is seen as an invaluable asset to the group of companies. Our business depends on being the best we can be and by all means, we should try and encourage growth. I look back at myself starting as an intern in the company and was given the opportunity to learn and grow, without those opportunities I would not have been the CEO today. Ive seen the growth of Rosina Romeo over the years and the will to be a part of the strategic initiatives moving ahead. Romeos responsibilities include managing the daily operations and logistics flow within the cruise and cargo facilities such as container handling, passenger flow, and guest experience, provisioning, and fueling, and assuring operational excellence along with data provision to senior management for strategic purposes. Rosina Romeo in her function will be reporting directly to the Chief Operations Officer of PSG, Gumbs said on Monday. Formerly working in Marketing & Sales, Cruise & Yachting Operations at PSG, Romeo has over 10 years of experience at the port. She worked as an Assistant in Terminal Operations, a position of responsibility, prior to her promotion to her current position. Before graduation, Romeo started her first internship at the port in 2006, and every summer she worked in various departments learning the functions and processes of overall port operations. Upon graduation, Rosina was hired in April 2010. Shipping is perceived as a male-dominated industry and women are very much the minority. It is daunting entering what many see as a male-dominated area. With that being said, my experience at Port St. Maarten Group of Companies has been nothing short of challenging, but I have learned to adapt quickly. From an intern to being employed in the field of my study and having the experience of working amongst professionals for over a decade, the success of my performance, in current and previous roles has required me to develop excellent interpersonal and decision-making skills. Being the first female to manage the Cargo Operations, I am thrilled by this promotion. It is fulfilling to me both personally and professionally to finally get here. I believe that my drive, professional background, and experience make me the ideal person for this position. I would like to thank Port St. Maarten for helping me achieve this, as I will work hard to show the confidence and trust you have in me is not misplaced, Rosina Romeo said regarding her appointment. In 2006 Rosina Romeo attended the Caribbean Maritime University in Jamaica where she obtained her Associate's Degree in Shipping & Logistics and Bsc of Science Degree in Port Management. Rosina Romeo is the first female on St. Maarten to receive a degree in Port Management. 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. Only Murders in the Building delivers its best episode yet, revealing that the key to Tim Konos murder has been sitting under our noses this whole time - we just didn't know it yet. If you thought this show had given us all the things we needed to solve its central mystery, this weeks episode proved you woefully wrong, as we meet Theo, Teddys deaf son who lived with his father at the same time that Mabels Hardy Boys traipsed the building. Theo has a proclivity for reading lips, and as we quickly discover, he has been spying on the podcast crew for some time, making the investigators into investigatees. He knows that the threesome are onto his and his fathers shady dealings - but what he doesnt know is that Mabel and Charles have already snuck into Teddys apartment, discovering a secret room of urns that were filled with black market jewels. Next, we flash back; as mentioned in earlier episodes, the Hardy Boys used to use Zoe's master keys to break into the apartments of other Arconia residents. One night, their unsuspecting victim happened to be Teddy - although the gang didn't realize that Theo was watching them from a peephole in the secret room. While in the apartment, Zoe finds and takes the emerald ring she was wearing on the night of the party - and then notices Theo spying, but doesnt tell any of the others. She knows ASL, it turns out, and flirtatiously acknowledges his presence. Shocked and charmed, Theo lets her steal the ring without interfering. As Charles goes on another date with Jan (and they play possibly the sexiest game of Scrabble ever recorded), Mabel and Oliver go to investigate the funeral home that Teddys urns supposedly came from. While there, Oliver and Mabel find another secret door. However, while they are still exploring this room, Theo catches them in the act - and suddenly there's nowhere to run. In another flashback, we see that Theo was genuinely sweet for Zoe, and she seemed to return the affection. After one encounter in the Arconia elevator, Teddy notices that Zoe is wearing the ring, and tells Theo to get it back from her. Through this, we learn that Theo was also at the rooftop party the night Zoe died. In fact, he witnessed Oscar and Zoe fight on the roof, and watched Oscar leave in a huff. Seeing his chance, Theo approaches Zoe, they talk, and Theo gets the ring back. But when he tries to flirt with her - offering to get her a real ring one day - she laughs it off like the thought was ridiculous. With Theo embarrassed, Zoe doubles down on her insult, and the two spar in ASL, the fight escalating without either person making a sound (explaining why no one heard anything go down after Oscar left Zoe). It's then when things begin to get physical and Theo accidentally knocks Zoe off the roof...And as he turns around, he realizes that Tim saw the whole thing. Teddy immediately goes to work to cover for Theos crime. The first thing he does is threaten Tim and (when that doesnt work) Mabel, convincing Tim to attest that Oscar was responsible for Zoes death. In the present, Theo takes Mabel and Oliver captive, letting Teddy know that "They know everything," but the duo manage to get a message to Charles saying to try THEO as Tims password, which works. If youve read my reviews for Mythic Quest, you know that Im a sucker for a special episode, done well. When a show goes out of its comfort zone to delve into a new perspective, it can often feel gimmicky. However, if its executed smartly enough, it can usher in a new appreciation for the show as a whole. Only Murders was already a fun ride, but this episode has truly leveled up my trust in its storytelling ability. A near-soundless episode was an extremely effective way to warm us to the POV of a character we hadnt encountered before. However, on top of that, it also made the rest of the show so far stand out, as all the pieces set up in previous episodes fell into place with this new introduction. And in a show all about a podcast - where audio is the beginning and end of storytelling - having an episode without it just peels back the layers on how much deeper this story is than you might think. Only Murders, I think, is shaping up to be my favorite kind of show - one that never stops surprising. As soon as I have it pegged for one thing or the other, it veers off into a different direction, and yet, it stays grounded; sane. Fast, quiet, dire, fun, zany, levelheaded - Its keeping me guessing, albeit moreso on its tone than its mystery, but I think thats still a good thing. What did you think of The Boy from 6B? What did you think of Theos introduction? Now that we know who killed Zoe, any theories on who killed Tim (and why)? Stop by the comments and let me know! Rio Ferdinand expects Arsenal and Barcelona-linked Raheem Sterling to leave Manchester City if his playing situation does not improve. The 26-year-old has struggled to displace Jack Grealish on the left-hand side this term, starting just two of his side's seven Premier League games so far in the 2021-22 campaign. Barcelona and Arsenal have both been tipped to move for Sterling - whose deal is up in 2023 - and Ferdinand does not expect his compatriot to remain at the Etihad - or in the Premier League - for much longer. Speaking on his FIVE YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: "I will say it now. If he continues like this, Raheem will not be there next season. He can't sit on the bench, he is not that type of guy. "He is a winner, he wants to win. Tottenham can't get in the mix, Arsenal can't get in the mix with a Sterling right now." Sterling has only claimed one goal and one assist from 10 appearances in all competitions this season, and cash-strapped Barcelona supposedly do have the money to sign the ex-Liverpool starlet should he become available. Real Madrid join Manchester City and Liverpool in the race for Red Bull Salzburg teenager Benjamin Sesko, according to a report. The 18-year-old has already established himself as a key player at the tip of the Austrian champions' attack, registering seven goals and three assists from 16 games in all competitions this season. Sesko's bright start to the campaign has earned him links with both Man City and Liverpool, but according to AS, Real Madrid are also in the hunt for the Slovenia international. The report claims that Los Blancos view Sesko as an ideal successor for Karim Benzema, with the Frenchman turning 35 next year and due to become a free agent in 2023. However, Real are still thought to be plotting moves for both Erling Braut Haaland and Kylian Mbappe, with the latter confirming that he asked to leave Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer. Sesko is under contract at Salzburg until 2026 and has already earned five caps for the Slovenian national side. New York, 4 October 2021 (SPS) - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres deplored the ongoing human rights violations in Western Sahara by the forces of the Moroccan occupation which mainly targets the human rights defenders and the Sahrawi journalists. In a preliminary draft of the report on the situation in Western Sahara, Guterres noted that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is concerned about the information on restrictions imposed by Morocco to the rights to the freedom of expression and peaceful gatherings and association in Western Sahara, particularly after the events of November 2020. He also cites in the document information stating a useless and disproportionate use of force by the Moroccan security forces to disperse demonstrations and searches of houses without authorization, arbitrary and illegal detentions and arrests, harassment, intimidation and destruction of property in the occupied territories. UN Secretary General broaches, in the same document, the deplorable conditions of the Sahrawi prisoners detained by the forces of the Moroccan occupation. Guterres said, in the latest report, he is deeply concerned about the deterioration of the situation in the Sahrawi territories, calling for the urgent relaunch of the peace process to reach a fair, lasting and mutually acceptable solution to the Sahrawi conflict. 062/700 Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are suffering the longest of their service interruptions on record, a drop that would be affecting millions of users around the world. It's not uncommon for Facebook to have localized outages, but with nearly 3 billion monthly users, it is strange that it has global "blackouts." According to the Ars Technica site, significant DNS flaws were found on Facebook. The Domain Name System is the service that translates human-readable host names (like Entrepreneur.com) to raw numeric IP addresses (like 19.223.456.245). Without a functional DNS, a computer basically does not know how to reach the servers that host the website it is looking for. However, the site mentions, Instagram also went down and its DNS services, which are hosted on Amazon. So at the moment we only have many theories and few answers. This is what we know so far: + Since 11 in the morning in the American continent, WhatsApp users on both iPhone and Android have not been able to communicate through messages, calls or video conferences. + The technology reporter of the New York Times , Sheera Frenkel, reported that some Facebook employees have not been able to enter the buildings of the social network due to an interruption in internal services. Was just on phone with someone who works for FB who described employees unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges weren't working to access doors. - Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) October 4, 2021 + When trying to access Facebook through the browser, users receive a domain error message, while Instagram and WhatsApp do not load new posts or allow new searches. + Facebook posted a message to users using another social media platform, Twitter, at 12:22 p.m. on Monday. "We are aware that some people have problems accessing our applications and products," the company wrote from its official account. "We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience." We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. - Facebook (@Facebook) October 4, 2021 + The Instagram PR team posted a similar message on the official Instagram Comms Twitter account. "Instagram and your friends are having a bit of a difficult time right now, and you may have trouble using them," the tweet read. "Bear with us, we're on it! #Instagramdown." Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it! #instagramdown - Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) October 4, 2021 + The site for detecting service interruptions in web pages Downdetector.com detected interruptions in densely populated areas such as Mexico City, Los Angeles, London and Paris. Image: Downdetector.com + According to Euronews , Internet users who use their Facebook credentials to access third-party services, such as Pokemon Go, have also not been able to access due to lack of connection. + On September 13, the Wall Street Journal published a series of stories in which it revealed that Facebook was 'aware' of the problems that its products caused, such as the damage of Instagram to the mental health of adolescents and misinformation on topics such as the Covid-19 or the riots presented in the United States Capitol in early 2021. + Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product engineer, came out this morning as the insider leaked numerous internal documents last week. He accused the company of "choosing profit over safety." + On Wall Street, Facebook's stock price fell nearly 6 percent to cut its value by $ 50 billion. For this reason, in just a few hours, Mark Zuckerberg's personal wealth was reduced by almost $ 7 billion . In a moment more information ... Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved STAMFORD Plans to reinvigorate whats left over from Stamfords corporate heyday its aging corporate parks have reignited longstanding and fiery debates over the future of the city. For the second consecutive meeting, city board members and the Land Use Bureau fielded comments from the public on the newest "omnibus text change" aimed at finding new uses for former corporate headquarters. For two years, the city's professional planning staff has reorganized and clarified Stamford's zoning guidebook, sporadically presenting updated versions of the current regulations to the zoning board. The newest collection of changes fall into two categories: proposed fixes to Stamford's Designed Commercial, or C-D, districts; and requirements for general development plans across the city. Its the C-D fixes that have drawn ire from impassioned community members. Residents queued up virtually last week to unequivocally oppose updates to the C-D district, and took particular aim at provisions that would permit some residential construction in former office parks without explicit approval. The current regulations allow for low-density multifamily development with special permission from the zoning board. Under new rules, only the plans for the building would need to get the green light, not the buildings themselves. "It is actually less intensive," Land Use Bureau Chief Ralph Blessing said of the residential construction the text change would allow. "An office building that would be currently allowed as of right would produce more traffic than a residential building that would be permitted under the proposed regulations." Board member Rosanne McManus echoed that same sentiment later in the meeting. "I just want to remind people, 15 years ago, when those office parks were full, there was a lot more traffic than there's probably going to be with any of these changes," she said. "If for some reason things changed again, and they went back to full office parks, that's still a lot of traffic. And it's currently zoned for that." There are five tracts of land zoned C-D across Stamford. All are above Interstate 95 but below the Merritt Parkway, and all are at least 15 acres. By statute, the behemoth offices on them cannot take up more than 12 percent of the property and cannot be taller than three and a half stories. The backlash against redeveloping the C-D district in part goes back to a 2017 proposal to build a gym at High Ridge Park, one of the city's northernmost office parks. Developer George Comfort and Sons sought to build a high-end gym Life Time Fitness on the site of an empty building. The proposal incensed residents across the city who fought the development tooth and nail with a petition and at public hearings. The matter's fate remains tied up in state Supreme Court, where justices are poised to decide whether or not the Board of Representatives had the right to affirm the petition, and the saga's pending resolution loomed large over the public comment period last week. "Please ask the city to pull the application until a ruling is made by the Supreme Court in the matter of Life Time fitness so comprehensive discussions can be conducted with communities surrounding these parks," Jeanette Bilicznianski asked board members. Hank Cuthbertson, who led the charge against the Life Time Fitness proposal, also spoke out before the board. Cuthbertson argued that zoning protects existing residents' interests and their expectations for the community. "When you buy a property, there's something in zoning that protects your rights and makes you assured that what you buy is what you're going to have years down the road," he said. "And we just simply ask that you don't approve this and that you protect the promises that you made to the residents when they purchased their property." Though the High Ridge Park debate was the most recent office park argument to galvanize locals, it isn't the first. Stamford has spent two decades managing the consequences of empty office space. When companies stopped clamoring for workspace, the city along with developers and brokers started courting alternative tenants to fill the space. Even when the commercial real estate market reached soaring heights in the early 2000s, office space developers struggled to find businesses willing to occupy new buildings, according to a New York Times article from 2000. During those years, the former Conair Cuisinart headquarters at 77 Havermeyer Lane was redeveloped through a special permit. The Palmer Hill townhouses replaced that sprawling office park eventually, but some community members then leveraged the same concerns the zoning board is hearing now, according to a 2001 Stamford Advocate article. They warned of traffic jams, overcrowding at Stamford Public Schools and increased pedestrian traffic on an already busy street. Echoes of those same concerns emerged during last weeks meeting. "Anyone who lives above the Merritt and comes down High Ridge knows that it's a hell of a choke point in the mornings and in the afternoons," said North Stamford resident Sven Erlandson. "Now you're going to add how many more homes, and potentially multifamily dwellings, to an area where we haven't fixed the infrastructure." Data from the city's Department of Economic Development shows that Stamford has almost 2 million square feet of Class A office space, defined as high quality, according to the Building Owners and Managers Association. About 36 percent of that office space is currently unoccupied, and at least four office buildings are empty, including the entire office park that once housed GE Capital. Despite the criticisms, the omnibus change did have supporters at the meeting. "This proactive approach to outlining appropriate uses for the zoning of these parcels... is such an important part of our economic growth and development within the city," Josh Fedeli, founder of economic development nonprofit Catalyst for CT, told the board. Fedeli, who also leads Stamford's Democratic City Committee, later wrote in an opinion piece that large swaths of city residents support this kind of development, according to a poll of "611 registered voters between June 30 and July 3." The board is set to revisit the proposed C-D updates at its Oct. 18 meeting, which residents can attend virtually via Zoom. veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media MIDDLETOWN A free program on indigenous people of Connecticut will be hosted virtually by the Humanists and Freethinkers of Fairfield County Monday in recognition of Indigenous Peoples/Columbus Day. The event will feature Central Connecticut State University history professor, department chairwoman, and historian Katherine Hermes of Middletown, who will discuss the topic: Indigenous Connecticut: Wangunk Family Stories 1600-2021, according to a press release. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday advanced the nomination of longtime federal prosecutor Darcie McElwee to serve as U.S. attorney for Maine. The nomination will likely be acted on by the full Senate this week or next week, officials said. McElwee has been a federal prosecutor since 2002. PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Gov. Janet Mills on Monday attended the departure of about 120 Maine National Guard soldiers to the southern border, wishing them a safe deployment. The soldiers from the 488th Military Police Company departed from the Portland International Jetport. They'll be assisting the U.S. Customs and Border Protection for about a year but won't serve in a law enforcement capacity, officials said. WASHINGTON (AP) The son of an Iranian-American man who has been detained in Iran for more than five years called for his father's immediate release on Monday so that he can receive emergency and potentially life-saving surgery. Baquer Namazi, 84, requires an operation within days to clear up a severe blockage in the main artery that supplies blood to his brain, according to his son, Babak, and the family's lawyer, Jared Genser. My father has already lost so much precious time. I'm begging Iran to let him spend whatever small amount of time he has left with his family, Babak Namazi told reporters Monday in urging Iran to lift a travel ban that has kept his father inside the country. The elder Namazi, a former UNICEF representative and dual Iranian-American national, was detained in 2016 when he traveled to Tehran to see his son Siamak Namazi, a businessman arrested in Iran months earlier. Both Namazis were sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on what the United States and United Nations say were trumped-up spying charges. Baquer Namazi was granted medical furlough in 2018 and his sentence was subsequently commuted to time served, but Iranian authorities have not permitted him to leave the country. Siamak Namazi remains jailed in Iran's notorious Evin prison, and Babak Namazi reiterated Monday his demands for his brother's release as well. Baquer Namazi's doctors have said that he needs surgery within seven to 10 days to avoid a potentially catastrophic stroke, his son said. Namazi's supporters have made their demands known to Iran, but are also seeking direct intervention from President Joe Biden's White House. The legal team appealed for help Monday from the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, writing in a detailed document that due to the severity of his medical problems, Baquer especially faces high risk of mortality unless Iran rapidly reverses course. The time for best efforts is over, Genser told reporters. The time for action is now. Later in the day, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration repeatedly raises with Iran its concerns about Americans and other foreign nationals who are unjustly held against their will. And Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted that Iran should allow Namazi to seek the medical attention necessary to save his life. Blinken added: Its been almost six years since hes seen his children. At a time like this, he should be surrounded by his entire family." Advocates for the elder Namazi say they're desperate that he be treated outside of Iran given how overwhelmed hospitals there have been with treating COVID-19 patients and the risk that poses to his health. If he is not permitted to leave within days, Babak Namazi said, his father will have to undergo the operation in Iran a less than ideal scenario. If it's between him dying and not dying, of course it's an option, Babak Namazi said. ___ Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. 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"It's late now that Mr. Orban called us to the microphone, because we have no more to say, we can't allot a single second on this destructive Prime Minister, who is history starting today, so we won't waste a single second on Florin Citu," said Simion, at the debate of the censure motion initiated by the PSD. MPs are debating, on Tuesday, in joint session, the censure motion titled "Stop poverty, price increases and criminals. Down with the Citu Government!". Prime Minister Florin Citu stated on Tuesday that he does not agree with the variant of a technocratic government or of a national union. "We saw what the technocratic government was like in 2016, government 0. Romania no longer needs such an experience," he said in a press statement at the Parliament Palace. Asked if early elections could be reached, Citu replied that "all the scenarios are on the table." He also disapproved of the idea of a national union government, mentioning that the PNL will not form a government with extremists. "The National Liberal Party goes further and will find the best solution for Romanians and for Romania, but, in the end, today we have a decision from those from USR, PSD and AUR. We want to see their plan as well, because today together they brought down the Government and we want to see their plan, although we saw that they were arguing in the hall," he said. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) has only one decision to make right now - early elections, while it looks to create a political majority, a government of specialists until the eventual election, PSD lader Marcel Ciolacu said on Tuesday. "The ball is in the president's hands. The Constitution also says so," the Social Democrat leader said after the censure motion against the government led by Florin Citu has been adopted by Parliament. Asked about possible consultations at Cotroceni with President Klaus Iohannis, Ciolacu replied: "We are going to wait for the invitation from the President of Romania and then, in the forums of the Social Democratic Party, we are going to decide whether to go or not."He underscored the need to overcome the "moment of political hysteria" and enter "a responsible and constitutional area." Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Ludovic Orban said on Tuesday, after Parliament voted for a motion of censure against the incumbent government, that his 30 years of work in the National Liberal Party (PNL) "has gone to waste." "Do you think I am happy after my 30-year work is going to waste because of some adventurers who do not understand anything about politics and public interest?" Orban said at the Parliament House when asked if he was happy that the motion tabled by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) succeeded. He denied rumors that he would have offered himself to be nominated by PNL for the position of prime minister. Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Tuesday, in the joint plenary sitting of Parliament, that the Romanians were betrayed by the Save Romania Union (USR) which allied itself with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the "extremists" (AUR, Alliance for the Union of Romanians, ed.n.) and chose to support and vote on the censure motion of the Social-Democrats and to bring down the government which he belongs to. "Today morality died. The motion of the PSD, your greatest enemy and ours, is supported and voted by the USR. The so-called reformists have allied themselves with the PSD and the extremists. Dear Romanians, you have been betrayed! USR, the party you voted to do good, wants to take down the government to which it belongs, the government they have reached because of your trust. Can the leaders of this party be more despicable than that?! They became brothers with PSD and with neo-fascist extremists to remove the only man who put them to work and who prevented them from playing with the Romanians' lives. I showed them very clearly - with me prime minister, the government is not a game of spoiled children," Florin Citu said at the debate on the no confidence vote initiated by PSD. He voiced his disappointment, adding that the USR is playing "a shell game" with the government. "After plotting to take down the government, it wants to return to government, but with a more indulgent boss, someone imposed by them, who will close his eyes, when instead of the right path they choose the left," he said. National Liberal Party (PNL) First Deputy Chairman Lucian Bode said on Tuesday that the Liberals are determined to go to consultations with President Iohannis with the proposal that Florin Citu be prime minister again. "We will go to consultations as announced by the President of Romania, Mr Klaus Iohannis. PNL has a very clear decision: the Executive Bureau proposes to the National Bureau that the national chairman of PNL, Florin Citu, be our pick for prime minister and we do not have options some throw around. We are determined to go to Cotroceni with this proposal," Bode told Antena 3 private broadcaster. He added that it was not normal for the parties that voted for the motion of censure not to come up with a solution. Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Tuesday, in connection with audio recording presented by the opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), that he wants to see evidence of the veracity of the accusations first, because "there are many recordings popping up." The statement was made after Monday AUR national leader George Simion alleged that National Liberal Party (PNL) lawmakers tried to "bribe" the AUR lawmakers to skip the debate and vote on a motion against the Citu government by offering them decent public positions. He announced that his party would file a corruption complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) and that he had audio-video evidence of the allegations. "Now, let's be serious, a recording has popped up that extremists claim to be of one of our MPs. I want to see first that there is evidence and so on. There are a lot of recordings popping up everywhere (...)," Citu told a news briefing at the Parliament House. President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the political situation in Romania is complicated and was generated by the motion of censure, which he says was passed through Parliament by "cynical politicians." "A lot of things have been said in politics in recent months, most of them ugly. Politicians have become accustomed to pointing fingers at each other, accusing each other of things, including within parties. People don't know what to do. It's a complicated situation, a situation that was generated by this motion and its passing through Parliament by cynical politicians, some wearing the mask of reformism, others claiming concern for Romanians and so on. USR was part of the ruling coalition, USR (Save Romania Union) left the Government and voted, together with PSD (Social Democratic Party) and AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), today's motion of censure," the head of state said in a statement at the Cotroceni Palace. He said some politicians were thinking of "adding another crisis" to the existing ones."Sad, but true. The word that best characterizes today's Romania is the word crisis. We are in a crisis of the public health system, we are in full pandemic. The fourth wave has hit us and hit us badly. We are in a crisis of energy prices, a crisis that is both European and global. Working would be enough for politicians to solve the problem of the pandemic, to solve the problem of the price of electricity, but instead, some of our politicians have added one more criu crisis, a crisis of government. That's how, today, in the Romanian Parliament, a motion of censure has been voted against the Government, which was successful. And the Government fell," said Iohannis.He also announced that he would convene political parties for consultations next week.The motion of censure initiated by PSD against the Citu Government has been adopted, on Tuesday, by the Parliament. President Klaus Iohannis will attend the informal meeting of the European Council and the European Union - Western Balkans Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brdo, Slovenia, the Presidential Administration informs. The main topic of discussion on the agenda of the European Council meeting is the role of the EU at global level. In this context, the situation in Afghanistan, the security agreement between the USA, the United Kingdom and Australia (AUKUS), as well as the relations with China will be addressed. The EU-Western Balkans Summit will discuss issues related to reaffirming the European perspective for the countries in the region, cooperation with the latter to manage the effects of the socio-economic health crisis, strengthening dialogue and cooperation in the political and security field. President Klaus Iohannis welcomes the adoption by the European Commission of the first EU Strategy on Combating anti-Semitism and promoting Jewish life, which aims to prevent and combat all forms of anti-Semitism, protect and promote Jewish culture in Europe, preserving the memory of Holocaust victims and promoting Holocaust education, according to a statement from the Presidential Administration. According to the quoted source, the head of state considers that the adoption of the strategy represents an important step for the protection and promotion of European values, fundamental rights and freedoms. At the same time, the strategy contributes to the strengthening of international efforts and to the diversification of instruments for combating anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and hate speech, the quoted source states.The current context, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, has favored, especially in the online environment, an exacerbation of denialism, extremism and populism, according to the Presidential Administration."A concerted effort on the part of the international community is needed so that appropriate tools can be implemented to counteract these currents that endanger democratic societies," the Presidential Administration said.It also shows that Romania is a successful model at the regional level in terms of assuming the traumatic past and preserving the memory of the Holocaust."The Romanian state has made significant progress, and the adoption, this year, of the National Strategy for preventing and combating anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech, related to the period 2021-2023, is an important step in this direction. This strategy aims to provide the necessary tools for sanctioning the acts associated with anti-Semitism, xenophobia, radicalization and hate speech and can be considered a complementary document to the strategy adopted today at European level", mentions the Presidential Administration. The chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Marcel Ciolacu, reiterated on Monday evening, at private broadcaster Romania TV, that his party will not support a minority government, believing the solution to be a technocratic government until early elections. He added that, in his opinion, early elections are the solution at this time and, until those occur, a technocratic government should be seated. "At this time, the head of state, President Iohannis, must intervene and realize, admit the stupid things done, realize that we have an immense vulnerability, as a state, in regards to sovereignty and to everything. This government cannot continue. It must fall tomorrow," Marcel Ciolacu said. Asked if he was sought by President Iohannis, Ciolacu denied it. "No. We haven't heard each other in a long time. I assume he'll invite us to consultations," the PSD leader said. He mentioned that the meeting of the National Standing Bureau of the PSD saw discussions on whether or not to attend the consultations at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. Given that opinions were divided, a decision will be made after the vote on the censure motion, Ciolacu said. According to him, the measures that the government installed after the motion should implement are: capping the price for energy, compensating bills paid by SMEs and consumers at the level of December 2020, subsidizing the price of thermal energy for consumers in the centralized system at the level of December 2020, applying the law of the vulnerable consumer, raising allowances for children, raising the minimum wage, raising pensions, managing the pandemic, and in regards to the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR) - adoption of the implementation system and allotment of funds at the local level. The Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party ( USR PLUS) alliance, minor at rule, will participate "responsibly" in consultations for the appointment of the future prime minister, USR PLUS Deputy Chairman Dan Barna said on Tuesday, adding that talks will be held with the National Liberal Party (PNL), major at rule, if they come up with another proposal for prime minister than incumbent Florin Citu. He pointed out that a joint government with the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) is out of the question. "As the party's elected chairman has announced, we are responsibly participating in the consultations. We also have a prime ministerial pick: my colleague Dacian Ciolos. He is validated by the party, he is newly elected, so we are talking about highest legitimacy. If the President decided such a scenario, we could discuss such a scenario. Based on what has been signed and on the coalition agreement, obviously, the prime minister pick belongs to PNL, and we respect that. If another prime minister is put forth, we will join the conversation (...) We join the consultations. We are open to all options by which we can get out of the crisis as soon as possible," Barna said at the Parliament House.According to him, USR PLUS will discuss with PNL national chairman Florin Citu whether or not PNL comes up with another prime minister."Being the result of the PNL Congress convention, we understand that Florin Citu represents the liberal character, values and principles. He is the chairman of PNL; we are discussing with him if it is the case and if indeed PNL comes up with another prime minister. (...) This issue of the prime minister was settled today by Parliament in a natural way, as the motion of censure succeeded by a large majority," said Barna. Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. The component parts alone for Global Aquaduct represent a potential $90,000,000 addressable market opportunity for Solar Integrated Roofing NEW YORK, NY AND EL CAJON, CA / ACCESSWIRE / October 5, 2021 / Healixa, Inc. (OTC PINK:EMOR) ("Healixa", or the "EMOR"), a technology company focusing on building and acquiring innovative and disruptive technologies in the health-tech, clean water, and green-tech industries, and Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK:SIRC) ("SIRC" or "Solar Integrated"), an integrated, single-source solar power and roofing systems installation company, have signed a strategic component supply agreement Letter of Intent ("LOI") whereby Solar Integrated will supply solar panels and components for the Global Aquaduct device utilizing Healixa's Atmospheric Water Harvesting ("AWH"") with an expected near-term potential addressable opportunity to SIRC of $90 million. AWH" is a game-changing clean water technology that can harvest potable water directly from the atmosphere almost anywhere on earth with minimal energy using a solar panel. AWH is not reliant on relative humidity and can be operated sustainably to provide up to 600L of potable water a day with the Global Aquaduct device. Under the agreement, Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. will provide solar and other component parts for Healixa's Global Aquaduct. "As we move toward finalizing prototype and as we progress in our conversations with groups such as UNICEF and other government agencies, we are finalizing supply chain partners for mass production of the Global Aquaduct," said Ian Parker, CEO of Healixa. "We chose to align with SIRC for the supply of solar panels to power the Global Aquaduct because of their significant expertise in solar products and services, U.S. based operations and broad network of industry relationships. Utilizing SIRC will allow us to quickly build a solar energy equipment supply chain that can scale with demand. "It is important that we source supply chains that are USA based as we build out our Department of Defense ("DoD") and Special Operation Forces ("SOF") distribution channels. Solar Integrated Roofing provides us with a multitude of options for the power components that will meet the supply chain requirements of DoD and SOF. Providing safe and easily deployed turnkey water solutions to our armed forces anywhere in the world is one of our priorities. We continue to make significant progress in the health-tech space with our partnership with a tech-enabled global ride share company to offer last-mile delivery services of prescription medications directly to any customer's doorstep, and we expect to make the same impact with our AWH technology," concluded Parker. David Massey, CEO of Solar Integrated added, "Given the uniqueness of the Healixa's AWH technology to harvest unlimited water from the air, we believe that we can help enable the energy to power the unit with our clean solar "off-the-grid" components. Given that the expected near-term addressable market for the Global Aquaduct is greater than 300,000 units, this gives us a potential $90 million revenue stream or more with full penetration." Healixa estimates the final sales price of units to be under $12,000 of which the solar panel components will make up approximately $300 per unit. About Healixa Inc. Healixa is a technology company focusing on building and acquiring innovative and disruptive technologies in the health-tech, clean water generation and green-tech industries. Healixa embraces innovation by combining its intellectual properties, patents, strategic collaborations, and partnerships to create a "LaunchPad" of disruptive sustainable products. For more information please visit www.healixa.com . About Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. Solar Integrated Roofing Corp. (OTC PINK:SIRC), is an integrated, single-source solar power and roofing systems installation platform company specializing in commercial and residential properties throughout the United States. The Company serves communities by delivering the best experience through constant innovation & legacy-focused leadership. The Company's broad array of solutions include sales and installation of solar energy systems, battery backup and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to roofing, HVAC and related electrical contracting work. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.solarintegratedroofing.com . Forward-Looking Statements Any statements made in this press release which are not historical facts contain certain forward-looking statements; as such term is defined in the Private Security Litigation Reform Act of 1995, concerning potential developments affecting the business, prospects, financial condition and other aspects of the company to which this release pertains. The actual results of the specific items described in this release, and the company's operations generally, may differ materially from what is projected in such forward-looking statements. Although such statements are based upon the best judgments of management of the company as of the date of this release, significant deviations in magnitude, timing and other factors may result from business risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the company's dependence on third parties, general market and economic conditions, technical factors, the availability of outside capital, receipt of revenues and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the company. The company disclaims any obligation to update the information contained in any forward-looking statement. This press release shall not be deemed a general solicitation. Healixa Contact Bret Hedges SVP 833-432-5492 invest@healixa.com Solar Integrated Roofing Corp Contact Lucas A. Zimmerman Director MZ North America Main: 949-259-4987 SIRC@mzgroup.us www.mzgroup.us SOURCE: Solar Integrated Roof Corp. View source version on accesswire.com: CALGARY, AB, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust - (TSX: BEI.UN) Boardwalk REIT would like to announce that its financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2021, will be released after the market closes on Thursday November 11, 2021. We invite you to participate in the teleconference to be held to discuss these results the following morning (Friday November 12, 2021) at 9:00 am (Mountain),11:00 am (Eastern). Senior Management will speak to the results and provide a financial and operational update. Presentation and supplemental materials will be made available on our website prior to the call (please visit: www.bwalk.com/investors). Teleconference: The telephone numbers for the conference are toll-free 1-888-664-6383 (within North America) and 416-764-8650 (International). Note: Please provide the operator with the below Conference Call ID or Topic when dialing in to the call. Conference ID: 12312360Topic: Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust, 2021 Third Quarter Results. Webcast: Investors will also be able to listen to the call and view the slide presentation by visiting www.bwalk.com/investors on the morning of the call. An information page will be provided for any software and system requirements. The live webcast will also be available by clicking below: Boardwalk REIT Q3 2021 Earnings Call Link Corporate Profile: Boardwalk REIT strives to be Canada's friendliest community provider and is a leading owner/operator of multi-family rental communities. Providing homes in more than 200 communities, with over 33,000 residential units totaling over 28 million net rentable square feet, Boardwalk has a proven long-term track record of building better communities, where love always livestm. Our three-tiered and distinct brands: Boardwalk Living, Boardwalk Communities and Boardwalk Lifestyle, cater to a large and diverse demographic and has evolved to capture the life cycle of all Resident Members. Boardwalk's disciplined approach to capital allocation, acquisition, development, purposeful re-positioning, and management of apartment communities allows the Trust to provide its brand of community across Canada creating exceptional Resident Member experiences. Differentiated by its peak performance culture, Boardwalk is committed to delivering exceptional service, product quality and experience to our Resident Members who reward us with high retention and market leading operating results, which in turn, lead to higher free cash flow and investment returns, stable monthly distributions, and value creation for all our stakeholders. Boardwalk REIT's Trust units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol BEI.UN. Additional information about Boardwalk REIT can be found on the Trust's website at www.bwalk.com/investors. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boardwalk-reit-announces-timing-of-release-of-its-2021-third-quarter-financial-results-301392270.html SOURCE Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Media accreditation is open for the upcoming launch of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, an evaluation of technologies for preventing a hazardous asteroid from striking Earth. DART is targeted to launch at 10:20 p.m. PST, Nov. 23, 2021, (1:20 a.m. EST, Nov. 24), aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Live coverage of the launch will air on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website. DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique, which involves sending one or more large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an asteroid in space to change its motion. Its target is the binary near-Earth asteroid Didymos and its moonlet. Credentialing deadlines are as follows: International media residing in the U.S. must apply by Friday, Oct. 8, 2021. U.S. media must apply by Sunday, Oct. 15, 2021. NASA's media accreditation policy is available online. Requests must be submitted online at: https://media.ksc.nasa.gov NASA's COVID-19 policies are updated as necessary and to remain consistent with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and White House Safer Federal Workforce Taskforce. COVID-19 safety protocols for this event will be communicated closer to the date of the event. The agency also will communicate any updates that may impact mission planning or media access as necessary. DART is directed by NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office to the Applied Physics Laboratory with support from several NASA centers: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. To learn more about the DART mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/dart Para obtener informacion sobre cobertura en espanol en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en espanol, comuniquese con Antonia Jaramillo 321-501-8425. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasa-invites-media-to-launch-of-double-asteroid-redirection-test-301392267.html SOURCE NASA A Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail, based at RAAF Base Williamtown, Australia, approaches for a landing April 20, 2021, at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. (John Linzmeier/U.S. Air National Guard) (Tribune News Service) Hawaii didnt get 18 Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime aircraft a number of years ago as planned, but it would be a great location for another 737 derivative, the E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control platform, according to one missile defense expert. Riki Ellison, chairman of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said Air Force Wedgetails could soon be ordered to help guard against rapidly advancing Chinese and Russian cruise missile threats across the Pacific and as a gap-filler until space-based sensors gain greater maturity. The aircraft would be a replacement for older E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, jets with a 30-foot rotating radar dome atop the fuselage. You ( Hawaii) are in the center of the Pacific, Ellison said in a phone interview. You dont have overhead (space) surveillance for cruise missiles. You are going to put (Wedgetails) right there, and you are going to fly to wherever you want from there. They can go anywhere. Ellison said the long-range aircraft the top unfunded requirement for Pacific Air Forces would be a huge asset for the region as an air battle-space management platform capable of detecting hostile aircraft and cruise missiles. The Boeing 737-700 airframe comes mated with a more powerful Northrop Grumman fixed radar that has 360-degree capability with a range of 200-plus nautical miles in all weather conditions, the missile defense advocacy group said. The E-7 provides significantly longer detection range and vastly better discrimination and combat identification, according to the group. The Wedgetail takes the whole integrated air and missile defense picture, Ellison said. Although the E-7 can provide defense for all of the Pacific, it would have a Hawaii defense role in that the state will get picked on a little bit by submarines and other platforms that can present a 360-degree threat. So this (the Wedgetail ) picks up 360, compared with the $2 billion proposed Homeland Defense Radar Hawaii, which is facing one direction, Ellison said. That direction is North Korea. Over the past year, Pacific Air Forces commander Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, who is based on Oahu, and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles CQ Brown, who had Wilsbachs job in Hawaii before him, have talked up the Boeing-built Wedgetail as a replacement for the aging E-3 Sentry AWACS. Based on the Boeing 707, the E-3 was manufactured between 1971 and 1984. A late-2020 U.S. Government Accountability Office report said from fiscal years 2011 through 2019, the E-3 fleet did not meet any of its annual aircraft availability goals. The E-3 faces sustainment challenges related to supply of needed parts and maintenance of the aging aircraft, the GAO report said. The fact is, we actually need something relatively quick because of the reliability of the E-3. It gets harder and harder to get airborne, Wilsbach was quoted by Air Force Magazine as saying. BreakingDefense.com reported the Pacific air chief as saying that given its already a proven capability, and having seen it in action, I think its something we do want to use. Wilsbach flew an Australian Wedgetail in mid-April in Hawaii. Brown, the Air Force chief of staff, said, We are doing internal analysis, according to Breaking Defense. The E-7 is a good platform. Its flown by the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal Air Force is getting ready to procure some as well. Pacific Air Forces at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam referred questions about potential Hawaii basing to the secretary of the Air Force public affairs office. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance said the Air Force has an inventory of 31 older E-3s assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, as well as overseas at Kadena Air Base in Japan and al- Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. In 2008 the Navy said it planned to base 18 P-8A maritime surveillance and sub-hunting jets at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base. The aircraft is a military version of the Boeing 737 with 800 and 900 series features. Four years later the Navy indicated it was reconsidering the basing to save $300 million by consolidating all of the aircraft in Washington state and Florida. In 2014 that plan became a done deal, with periodic rotations of P-8s to Hawaii instead of the permanent basing. (c)2021 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com An F-35A Lightning II takes off to complete the final test exercise of the nuclear design certification process at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 21, 2021. (Zachary Rufus/U.S. Air Force) An Air Force fighter jet slated to debut later this year in Europe passed a milestone when it dropped mock nuclear bombs during training flights designed to ensure its ability to fulfill NATOs nuclear deterrence mission, the military said Monday. The successful test of the F-35A Lightning II came as the 48th Fighter Wing, based at Britains RAF Lakenheath, reactivated the 495th Fighter Squadron last week for a new mission in Europe. Ahead of the fighter models arrival at Lakenheath, two F-35As that took off from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., completed a full weapon system demonstration, regarded as a graduation flight test for achieving nuclear certification, the F-35 Joint Program Office said. Pilots from the Air Forces 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron twice dropped high-fidelity, non-nuclear mock B61-12s, with each drop at a different altitude and speed, the office said. An F-35A Lighting II carrying a non-nuclear mock B61-12 bomb sits on the flight line at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Sept. 21, 2021. Two F-35A jets dropped the mock bombs in a demonstration that keeps the aircraft on track to be certified for nuclear deterrence missions, Air Force officials said. (Zachary Rufus/U.S. Air Force) The completion of this demonstration event keeps the F-35A on track to meet specific need dates for deploying the capability overseas, it said. The flights were the last of 10 guided releases of B61-12 test bombs performed by the F-35A. The next step toward certification for real-world nuclear operations is technical analysis of test data to ensure that the bombs perform reliably and safely on the plane in all phases, the F-35 Joint Program Office said. The new F-35 squadron at Lakenheath will consist of 27 aircraft and roughly 60 personnel, the Air Force said. The 495th has a proud history, and were excited to take the guidon forward to start building the foundation for the first USAF F-35As stationed in Europe, Lt. Col. Ian D. McLaughlin, the squadron commander, said in a statement. Anthony Munoz died on Sept. 7, 2021, on his first day of boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. A funeral and burial at St. Marys Cemetery in Lawrence, Mass., with full military honors were held on Sept. 25. (Facebook) (Tribune News Service) The investigation is still ongoing for a Marine recruit who died on his first day of training on Parris Island after falling from a balcony. Pvt. Anthony Munoz, 21, of Lawrence, Mass., died Sept. 7 in an apparent suicide on his first day of training, according to Marine Corps Recruit Station spokesperson Capt. Philip Kulczewski. Munoz was found dead at 7:30 a.m. after falling from a balcony at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Beaufort County Coroner David Ott told the Island Packet at the time. Munoz was assigned to Lima Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion. Lima Company currently has a total of 437 recruits training, Kulczewski said. Munoz was buried in his hometown at St. Mary Immaculate Conception Cemetery on Sept. 25, his obituary said. Munoz graduated from Lawrence High School in Massachusetts in 2018, Parris Island said in a statement released Sept. 9. He and his friends called themselves the golden dragons, several of them wrote in a Facebook memorial post. One friend, and Munozs roommate, said he will remember him mostly for his great advice and even the stupid ones too. They called him little bit Italy, a private joke while they played video games, another friend wrote. Another recruit, Pfc. Dalton Beals, died in June from heat injuries when participating in the final Marine training exercise known as the Crucible. 911 calls obtained by the Island Packet at the time of Beals death show that help was called for at least two other recruits who were also suffering from heat exhaustion that day. The investigation into Beals death is also ongoing. Munoz is at least the eighth trainee to die since 2000. Both the Naval Criminal Investigation Service and Command Line of Duty Investigations are looking into Munozs death, Kulczewski said. NCIS investigates any death or remains found on Parris Island, according to Kulczewski. Command Line of Duty investigates all other actions, functions, and/or details concerning an incident or military-specific crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Kulczewski said. The Marine Corps takes all investigations extremely seriously and strictly adheres to the process for both the good of the individual and the institution, Kulczewski said. (c)2021 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.) Visit The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.) at www.islandpacket.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC . A Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter makes a vertical landing aboard the JS Izumo, a Japanese helicopter carrier, in the Philippine Sea, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) TOKYO A pair of Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth aircraft became the first fighters to fly from a Japanese carrier since World War II after landing and taking off from the JS Izumo on Sunday. News about the successful test of the newly upgraded warships ability to support the short-takeoff, vertical-landing jets was tweeted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Tuesday. The message, which included video footage of the operation, said the JMSDF will continue to steadily carry out the necessary modifications to the Izumo class to acquire the capability to operate the F-35B. The announcement was retweeted Tuesday by 1st Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman Maj. Ken Kunze. Our F-35s are the first fighter aircraft to fly from a Japanese carrier since WWII, he wrote in a follow-up tweet. Plans to land and launch F-35Bs from the Izumo were announced Thursday by Japans Defense Ministry, although theyd been signaled by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger during a security dialogue last month. The aircraft tapped to land on the Izumo were from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, about 50 miles south of Hiroshima, Kunze said in a telephone interview Friday. The Izumo, commissioned in 2015 as a helicopter carrier, had heat-resistant coating added to its deck this year, enabling it to support the F-35Bs vertical landings. 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. Air Force 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 expands 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 USS Gerald R. Ford, is under construction in Shanghai, Naval News reported April. 15. The JS Izumo, a Japanese helicopter carrier, conducts training with Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth jets in the Philippine Sea, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) A Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter takes off from the JS Izumo, a Japanese helicopter carrier, in the Philippine Sea, Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) The fact that Marine Corps F-35Bs could take off and land from the JS Izumo improves the ability of U.S. and Japanese forces to work together, strengthening the deterrence and adaptability of the U.S.-Japan alliance, according to the ministry. We will further conduct improvements of Izumo-class destroyers and improve our operability in air and sea, the statement said. Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller was released from pretrial confinement at Camp Lejeune, N.C., the service announced Oct. 5, 2021. Scheller was relieved of his command in August after posting a video critiquing military and civilian leaders for failures in Afghanistan hours after a terrorist attack killed 13 service members at Kabuls international airport. (U.S. Marine Corps) A Marine lieutenant colonel jailed last month after Corps officials said he violated a gag order for issuing social media videos disparaging top American officials and generals has been released from the brig, the service announced. Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller Jr. was released Tuesday from confinement at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where hed been held since Sept. 27 after he and his attorneys forged an agreement with Marine Maj. Gen. Julian D. Alford, who leads Marine Training Command, said Capt. Sam Stephenson, a spokesman for the command. Scheller was ordered held in pretrial confinement last month after posting several videos on Facebook and LinkedIn that were highly critical of top officials over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Scheller, a 17-year infantry officer who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was fired from his job as the commander of an infantry training battalion at Camp Lejeune on Aug. 27, after posting a video demanding accountability for top military officers and U.S. officials in the hours after a bombing killed 13 U.S. troops in Kabul amid the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan. In the video that garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Scheller expressed his growing discontent and contempt for perceived ineptitude at the foreign policy level. In follow-up videos, he accused Marine Gen. Kenneth Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, of dereliction of duty, promised to resign his commission and help bring the whole (expletive) system down. Marine officials had previously said Scheller would be held in confinement until the results of an Article 32 hearing, a pre-trial military hearing similar to grand jury proceedings in civilian courts. Before Tuesday, Scheller had not been charged with a specific violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Marine officials previously said the hearing would examine whether he had committed offenses including contempt toward officials, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, failure to obey lawful general orders, and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. But the Marine officer might now be facing charges, according to the Pipe Hitter Foundation, an organization run by former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher and his wife. Gallagher was court-martialed in 2019 on allegations of war crimes, but he was acquitted of most of the charges. He was allowed to retire as SEAL chief petty officer, after former President Donald Trump intervened in his case because the Navy sought to remove him from the elite ranks of the SEALs and demote him. The foundation has been supportive of Scheller and has been raising money for him. In a statement that the group issued Tuesday, the foundation said charges had been filed, and Scheller would face them at a court-martial. The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for further details about the charges. The Marine Corps also did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for additional information about the case. In its statement, the Pipe Hitter Foundation said Scheller remained subject to a gag order after his release from the brig. The group described that order as unlawful. Lt. Col. Scheller has submitted a request for redress regarding the unlawful order, the statement reads. The command has not yet replied to the request. Scheller also submitted a request to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro to resign his commission instead of facing a trial, according to the foundation. Last week, 27 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Gen. David Berger, the Marine Corps commandant, demanding Schellers removal from the brig, writing the move appeared to be simply for messaging, retribution and convenience. In this March 2, 2021, file photo, Hollie Maloney, a pharmacy technician, loads a syringe with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at the Portland Expo in Portland, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP) WASHINGTON Federal employees can be fired for refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but as their disciplinary cases wind through the system, they will report to work alongside vaccinated colleagues, according to Biden administration guidance issued this week. The new guidance to implement a vaccine mandate for the government, which President Joe Biden announced last week, represents a reversal of the strategy the White House coronavirus task force pushed in August for those employees without shots who refused under an earlier plan to get regular testing for covid-19. Then, agencies were told they could place employees on administrative leave, a paid suspension used widely for short-term absences but also when a manager proposes removing an employee. They seem like they decided to go with a harder approach, said Jeff Friday, general counsel for the National Federation of Federal Employees, which has about 100,000 members at the Defense Department, U.S. Forest Service and other agencies. Youre still going to have to work until youre let go, Friday said. Paid leave is certainly a disincentive to getting vaccinated. The rules on how to enforce the mandate were among several new details of what will be a complex, potentially messy process that will likely stretch deep into winter if not longer, given the governments sprawling size and presence in every state. The details will leave multiple groups of people following different rules in the same workplace. In most agencies, for example, civil servants work side-by-side with employees who work for federal contractors. But under the policy announced by the president last week, contractors who are not vaccinated must provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within three days before entering a federal facility - or enroll in a regular testing program. Contractors, federal workers and visitors who show they are vaccinated are required to wear masks indoors in federal buildings located in areas of high or substantial viral transmission, but not in areas where transmission is lower. Visitors must attest to their status before entering a federal building although not if they are coming to receive benefits. Unvaccinated visitors or those who decline to provide their status also must provide proof of a negative test taken three days or sooner before coming into the building. Most of the 2.1 million federal employees must receive their last dose of their vaccine no later than Nov. 8 to meet a Nov. 22 deadline to be fully vaccinated. The timing between the first and second shots will depend on which vaccine they take. Teleworking employees must get shots, too, and proof of vaccination can be transmitted electronically, according to the new rules. Those who are not fully vaccinated or decline to tell their bosses their status must wear masks in the office, physically distance from colleagues and comply with restrictions for work travel. New hires who are scheduled to start work after Nov. 22 must be fully vaccinated, except in limited circumstances where the government must make a reasonable accommodation to exempt them, the guidance says. Exceptions can be made for urgent, mission-critical hires, but those employees must be vaccinated within 60 days. The task force said it is preparing additional guidance on how agencies should consider requests for religious and medical exemptions to the vaccine, a provision of the mandate that has stirred concern the offices will establish wildly varying standards. To many set to be involved in the process, enforcement of the mandate remains the most worrisome provision. Union officials and attorneys who represent federal employees say they are concerned that managers could move to dismiss workers with exemplary records if they dont want a vaccine. They also said firing large swaths of employees would be unrealistic in parts of the country with low overall vaccination rates. Are some agencies just going to look the other way? asked Debra DAgostino, a founding partner of the Federal Practice Group in Washington. In some places they would be losing a huge chunk of the workforce if they moved to fire people. It cant be that black and white. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough acknowledged the possibility this week as he contemplated the repercussions for some 45,000 employees of the Veterans Health Administration the agencys largest department who, operating under the separate mandate announced this summer, have not completed paperwork attesting that they have gotten shots or that they intend to. McDonough said his staff is working with union officials and reaching out to these employees with a public awareness campaign. The employees have until Oct. 8 to either get fully vaccinated or request a medical or religious accommodation. Those who fail to comply will be subject to the progressive discipline process, he said. But he added that the last thing we want to do is have to fire trained personnel. Union officials said they do not believe any discipline for the broader workforce would begin before the November deadline. An agency should first use a carrot approach, explaining the benefits of the vaccine and ways to get a shot, the guidance says. If someone still refuses to comply, managers should follow the disciplinary process laid out in their collective bargaining agreements with employees. These often start with warnings, a letter of reprimand or suspensions before dismissal. Under federal personnel law, an agency generally must first propose a disciplinary action, which must take effect after at least 30 days, during which the employee has the opportunity to respond. The agency must consider the response before taking a final action. There is no deadline for the agency to make a final decision after receiving that response and in many cases the process takes much longer than 30 days. Guidance for the first coronavirus plan, issued in late July, explicitly called for administrative leave - paid by the government for some who declined to be tested. Administrative leave has been part of the disciplinary process for federal employees, but it has been abused by managers who used it to sideline troublesome workers while misconduct or poor performance reports were adjudicated, and managers were often slow to move the disciplinary process forward. The Trump administration sought to speed up the dismissal process as part of a controversial series of executive orders that tried to weaken the unions that represent more than half the federal workforce. But Biden reversed the policies within days of taking office. The new guidance anticipates that before moving to fire an employee, an agency generally would use progressive discipline, said Michael Kator, of Kator, Parks, Weiser & Harris, a District of Columbia law firm specializing in federal employment law. For example, an agency could say If you dont do this, were going to suspend you. After suspension, if you havent gotten vaccinated, youre going to be disciplined again, he said in a phone interview. It can go through multiple iterations until they finally get to the point where they say OK, we get it, you dont want to comply, youre fired. He said one possible basis for firing would be a charge of insubordination. They will get a directive from their agency head or their supervisor to do this and if they dont do it, just like any other direction from the supervisor, if its lawful theyre pretty much obligated to comply, he said. Bats from Carlsbad Caverns National Park that were turned into bat bombs almost helped the U.S. Marine Corps in fighting World War II. (U.S. Army/TNS) Before the first atomic bomb test at Trinity Site, in July 1945, another secret weapon was being tested in the New Mexico desert. Project X-Ray, a classified weapons system using the Mexican freetail bat from Carlsbad Caverns and some Texas caves aimed to produce bat bombs. This Carlsbad Current-Argus article from Nov. 11, 1968, gives the details of the experiment: Carlsbad Caverns bats almost drafted in WWII Bats at Carlsbad Caverns National Park almost assisted the U.S. Marine Corp in fighting World War II. But they didnt quite make it. Sex, ice-cube tray hibernation and incorrect earth landings stood in the bats way of bringing historical recognition to their group. How did they almost assist? A month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a Pennsylvania dental surgeon, Dr. Lytle S. Adams, proposed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt a plan that would destroy the flimsily built, wooden cities of Japan with swarms of bomb-carrying bats. Adams believed that bats in the Carlsbad Caverns and from other American caves could be fitted with incendiary (fire-producing) bombs and dropped on Japan. Containers of bats parachuted out of bombers Large containers full of bats would be parachuted out of high-flying bombers. When the containers reached low altitudes (1,000 feet) they would open and release the bats. The bats would then fly down and crawl into nooks and crannies of buildings where their incendiary bombs would explode. Thousands of fires would then break out simultaneously and the bat-beleaguered town would burn to the ground. In search of bats, Adams found that Carlsbad Caverns had a bat population of about nine million, with 500,000 in one chamber alone. But, in Ney Caverns, Texas, Adams found the largest bat colony in the country 20 million bats. Chemical Warfare Service and National Defense Research Committee developed two bombs, burning four to six minutes each. Bombs were to be attached to the loose skin on a bats chest by a surgical clip and string. According to theory, the bat was to land, gnaw through the string, fly away and leave the bomb behind. A bat house, full of bats for Project X-Ray. (U.S. Army/TNS) Bats cooled to 40 degrees To ship bats, they had to be cooled in ice-cube trays at 40 degrees to induce hibernation. Unfortunately artificial cooling was a tricky business and in early attempts the bats didnt wake up. Other problems included having the bats fly off and not descend properly or just fall to earth. During one test run, the bats set fire to a hanger and the staff car of a general who had come to see the show. (Another article says the generals car was set afire in a test in California,) The ultimate problem was when female bats became pregnant and the disconsolate males wouldnt eat properly while this state of affairs lasted. Usefulness of the bats was therefore limited to the last five months of the year. Full-scale tests were then planned for August 1944 and the use of bat-bombs against Japan, if all went well. Project X-Ray canceled The government canceled the bat-bomb operation because bats couldnt be available immediately. A Current-Argus article from March 23, 1982, added the following details: The bombs each weighed one ounce and were capable of giving off a 22-inch flame for a period of 8 minutes. Adams had visited Carlsbad Caverns just before the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Thats where the idea was born. Strong, powerful flyers The bat is a strong and powerful flyer, capable of carrying twice its weight. Adams also learned from a park naturalist that the Mexican freetail often inhabit houses, other buildings and bridges as well as caves. Adams came to Carlsbad. He set up his laboratory and office in an auxiliary hangar at the airport, which was a military airfield during the war. Project X-Ray was given top priority by the military, which termed the bat bomb concept the greatest weapon ever dropped from an airplane. The Army sent a team of photographers to the Carlsbad airfield where field tests were being conducted. Several dormant bats the bat battalion was kept cold with dry ice until they were ready for action were removed from a cold storage room, armed with real bombs, and placed in the sun to be photographed. Fiery blaze There were two problems: the bats warmed up and flew away, and the Army forgot to disarm the bombs. Despite the best efforts of the military, the bats were gone. Meanwhile, a portion of the Carlsbad base and the building housing Adams records were destroyed in a fiery blaze from the errant bat bombers. In October 1944, Project X-Ray was officially terminated by military brass in Washington. Adams speculated that Project X-Ray was killed because the atomic bomb had been developed before the bats could be used against an enemy city or fortification. tlong@elpasotimes.com 2021 The El Paso (Texas) Times. Visit elpasotimes.com . If you want to know why nearly 40 million leaked documents on the salting away of assets in offshore financial centers have failed to result in comprehensive change since the revelations started eight years ago, Billie Holiday provides a clue: Them thats got shall get; them thats not shall lose. So the Bible said, and it still is news. The latest set of leaks to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is the largest yet. After sifting the data, media organizations have named King Abdullah II of Jordan, associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, and Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta in connection with assets stashed offshore. For all the remarkable revelations about the shadow global financial system for wealthy individuals and businesses since the ICIJs first revelations in 2013, though, its striking how little has changed. Measures to wind back this system seem ineffectual at best. Eight years have passed since governments promised coordinated action to crack down on the use of offshore structures to minimize corporate taxes and starve states of revenue, but if anything the movement has been in the opposite direction. So much money now moves through the worlds offshore financial centers that such paper transactions now account for a greater flow of capital than any country receives from genuine foreign investments. The royalties and licensing fees that underpin these structures are growing faster than trade in physical goods and conventional services. Far from taking a larger share, most developed nations have coped with the leakage of taxable profits over the past decade by cutting their own corporate tax rates a tacit admission that enforcement has failed. Mandatory disclosure rules introduced in 2014 to prevent European banks use of tax havens seem to have made no real difference, according to a report last month by the EU Tax Observatory. Why have all these worthy efforts achieved so little? One explanation suggested by the list of powerful figures named in the latest leaks, dubbed the Pandora Papers, is simply that the people in charge of writing the laws and treaties that underpin international capital flows have much to gain from the current setup. For as long as an unreasonable amount of wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals and businesses, theyll seek ways to move assets to whichever places promise to treat them most leniently. Consultants will aim to profit from assisting this trade and, in the process, become experts at finding loopholes, further accelerating the concentration of wealth and the erosion of tax bases. In the U.S. theres a revolving door between senior roles in major legal and accounting firms and government jobs, as The New York Times reported last month, with a similar situation around secondments in the U.K. As a result, firms with an interest in minimizing their clients tax bills often have a role in developing the policies that will decide how much the same clients will have to pay. Theres a deeper issue, however. Those tax laws and treaties are, by their nature, long and complex. When divided up between the worlds 320 national and subnational jurisdictions crossing as many as five different countries, as with the famed double Irish Dutch sandwich tax avoidance structure, the possibilities for loopholes are almost limitless. Any attempts to restrain them are like a game of whack-a-mole. That applies even to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments attempts to reset the worlds tax rules via an accord between 130 jurisdictions due to be finalized this month. The centerpiece of the proposal, a 15% global minimum tax rate that can be applied unilaterally by governments that feel theyre losing out, is over time as likely to end up as a global maximum tax. The Biden administrations attempts to restore rates cut to 21% under Donald Trump will stop at 26%, rather than the 28% originally sought or the 35% that existed previously. Theres little sign the race to the bottom thats been going on for four decades is about to end. Ultimately, the problem lies with the unrestrained capital flows that have moved around the globe since the decline of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s. While capital can move across borders without restraint, a small portion of that money will always be available to those who want to keep their wealth out of the hands of legal or tax authorities. The worlds financial architecture is only tentatively starting to contemplate whether the opening of capital accounts and the loss of monetary independence or exchange-rate stability that inevitably results has been a good deal, or a devils bargain. If governments want to address the cause of tax avoidance rather than apply endless Band-Aids to the symptoms, that decision must ultimately be revisited. David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies. He has been a reporter for Bloomberg News, Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Guardian. An Afghanistan flag is raised over Helmand province in 2010. (U.S. Marine Corps) TOKYO Ten Afghans who left their country after the Taliban took control in August arrived in Japan this week, according to the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Four arrived on Sunday night and another six on Monday via commercial flights to Narita International Airport outside Tokyo, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs news releases on Monday and Tuesday. They are the first Afghans to arrive in Japan after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, according to Kyodo News. The group was composed of Afghan employees of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and their family members, who traveled overland from Afghanistan to a neighboring country on their own, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said during a news conference Monday. He did not identify the neighboring country citing security concerns. JICA is a governmental agency that provides aid to promote economic and social development in developing countries. The Japanese government issued the Afghans short-term visas and bought them airplane tickets after they expressed their wish to evacuate to Japan, Kato said. He said they received health checkups at Narita and will be quarantined as part of Japans requirements for international arrivals to curb the coronavirus spread. Kato said Japan will support the evacuees whether they wish to travel to a third country or stay in Japan. He said the government would consider asylum applications from any of the Afghans in a routine fashion. Although they have not applied for refugee status, if they wish to apply, the Japanese government will examine each case based on the latest situation in Afghanistan and will give appropriate authorization to those who qualify, Kato said. Late last month, Japan sent Self-Defense Force aircraft to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese and Afghans who worked at the Japanese Embassy and for JICA, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Monday. However, the aircraft were able to evacuate only one Japanese and 14 Afghans to Pakistan on behalf of the United States, Kyodo News reported. The Japanese and Afghans the Self-Defense Force expected to fly out were delayed by the Aug. 26 terrorist bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members, according to Japanese media reports at the time. Kato said Japan will continue to secure the safety of those Japanese and local workers remaining in Afghanistan and assist any wishing to evacuate through diplomatic efforts, including negotiations with the Taliban, and by cooperating with related countries such as the United States and Qatar. About 500 Japanese and Afghans who worked for the Japanese government remain in Afghanistan, with their families, according to the Mainichi report. Fumio Kishida, seen here at the Pentagon in 2015, was sworn in as Japan's prime minister, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. (Department of Defense) TOKYO President Joe Biden repeated his promise that the United States would step in to defend the disputed Senkaku Islands, during his first call with new prime minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday. The leaders spoke a day after Kishida, 64, was sworn in to replace Yoshihide Suga, who resigned after a year in office due to plunging support over his administrations handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden told Suga last year that he could count on the U.S. military to help in case of an attack on the Senkakus, a small group of East China Sea islets that are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. China regularly irks Japan by sending vessels near the uninhabited islands. Tokyo filed a protest with Beijing last month after seven Chinese coast guard ships four outfitted with cannons appeared there. Kishida told reporters Tuesday that Biden conveyed a strong commitment to the defense of Japan, including the Senkakus. The pair agreed to work together on the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea and on global problems such as the pandemic, climate change and nuclear weapons, he said. The Japan Coast Guard responds to a Chinese vessel near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, in this undated photo. (Japan Coast Guard) We also agreed to call each other by Joe and Fumio during the talk and to meet in person as early as possible, Kishida said. This was my first phone conversation with a foreign leader since assuming the leadership and the fact that I was able to speak with the U.S. president first was an important step forward toward taking Japan-U.S. alliance to an even higher level. The White House, in a statement about Tuesdays talk, said the leaders affirmed their alliances strength, calling it the cornerstone of peace, security, and stability in the Indo-Pacific and around the word. President Biden noted that he looks forward to strengthening the relationship in the years ahead given the critical role our countries play in advancing our common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, including through the Quad, the statement said. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a series of strategic talks between the U.S., Japan, India and Australia that have been happening since 2007. Warships from the four nations, along with a French amphibious vessel and frigate, trained together in the Bay of Bengal in April. Kishida, a moderate who served in recent years as foreign affairs and defense minister, was elected with the backing of his conservative partys political veterans. Japans leadership change includes a new cabinet, though Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi have kept their jobs tackling the rise of China and tensions over sea territory disputes and the status of Taiwan. Seth Robson Hana Kusumoto Dozens of Chinese Shenyang J-16 fighters, like the one in this file photo, entered Taiwan's air defense zone over a four-day period starting Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. (Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Taiwan says it is preparing to defend itself from its neighbor to the west after four days of record-breaking Chinese incursions into its airspace. The comments were made Monday by Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Television program China Tonight. Nearly 150 Chinese military aircraft buzzed through Taiwans air defense zone between Friday and Monday, the islands Ministry of National Defense said in a series of press statements. China has been threatening Taiwan, and the threat seems to be more serious than before, Wu said. We are very concerned that China is going to launch a war against Taiwan at some point. Beijing considers Taiwan, which has its own democratic government, a renegade province that must, at some point, be unified politically with the mainland. The threat may not be imminent, Wu added, but the island is preparing to defend itself nonetheless. Taipei is carefully monitoring domestic discontent in China and any signs of an economic slowdown that could be used as a precursor for invasion, he said. Taiwan might become a target of this authoritarianism to divert its domestic attention, Wu said. On Monday, 56 Chinese army aircraft, including dozens of fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwans southwest air defense zone, the Taiwanese defense ministry wrote in a statement that evening. They traveled southeast off the islands southwest coast before turning around and heading back toward China. Four of the flights happened at night. This followed 16 similar sorties on Sunday, 39 on Saturday and 38 on Friday, the ministry said in previous statements. In response, Taiwan dispatched air patrols, issued radio warnings and readied air defense missile systems. Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council strongly protested the incursions and demanded that they stop, Bloomberg news reported Tuesday. The sorties coincided with Chinas National Day celebrations that mark the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic. The Biden administration is watching the situation very closely, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during her daily press conference Monday. We remain concerned by the Peoples Republic of Chinas provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability, she said. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan, and we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Psaki said the U.S. would continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining its ability to defend itself. Beijing was quick to fire back with a response from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. Taiwan belongs to China and the US is in no position to make irresponsible remarks, she said in a statement. For quite some time, the US has been making negative moves by selling arms to Taiwan and strengthening official and military ties, including the launch of a $750 million arms sale plan to Taiwan, the landing of US military aircraft in Taiwan and frequent sailing of US warships across the Taiwan Strait. China vowed to resolutely crush any move toward independence for Taiwan, Hua said. She chided the U.S. to correct its mistakes and stop supporting and emboldening separatist forces. Petty Officer 3rd Class Racquel Amanda Johnson and Seaman Darica Shunte Lashae Slaughter, stationed at Naval Air Station Sigonella, were killed in a single-vehicle crash, Sept. 12, 2021, in Sicily. In response to the crash and two other traffic-related deaths in the last 14 months, Sigonella is putting renewed focus on making sure driving regulations are enforced, Navy officials said. (U.S. Navy) NAPLES, Italy The traffic-related deaths of four sailors has spurred a U.S. naval base in Sicily to heighten scrutiny of dangerous driving and rules violations, service officials said. The added focus will include more base security and local law enforcement traffic patrols on and near the three main operational areas of Naval Air Station Sigonella, said Capt. Kevin Pickard, the bases commanding officer. Capt. Kevin Pickard Jr., commander of Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy. In response to four traffic-related deaths over the past 14 months, Sigonella is putting renewed focus on making sure driving regulations are enforced, Pickard and Navy officials said. (U.S. Navy) A comprehensive review of NAS Sigonellas driving program also is underway, said Pickard, who made the announcement in a Sept. 30 column in the base magazine The Signature. While there is no specific causal factor that directly links all of these mishaps, it is clear to me that we are operating far too close to the edge with respect to driving safely here at Sigonella, Pickard said. Last month, Petty Officer 3rd Class Racquel Amanda Johnson and Seaman Darica Shunte Lashae Slaughter were killed in a single-vehicle crash on the outskirts of Catania. In December, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Darrick Conger died in a single-vehicle crash near Misterbianco in Catania. Seaman Arturo Rivera was killed in a July 2020 hit-and-run crash on a Sicilian coastal road. Pickard referred to those four fatalities and the January death of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Gastrich, who died while paddleboarding, as five too many in a span of 14 months. Base personnel or dependents also have been in several vehicle accidents requiring hospitalization, he said. A bird's-eye view of NAS I, one of two sites of Naval Air Station Sigonella in eastern Sicily. In response to four traffic-related deaths in the last 14 months, Sigonella is upping traffic patrols and putting renewed focus on making sure driving regulations are enforced. (U.S. Navy) In their review, officials already have discovered some disturbing trends, including lapsed vehicle registrations and driving without insurance, Pickard said. Speeding and dangerous or illegal passing off base are the most frequent bad driving behaviors, said NAS Sigonella spokesman Lt. Drake Greer. The rural farm road and congested urban road conditions found around Sigonella pose a risk by increasing the lethality of accidents and shortening reaction times, Greer said. NAS Sigonella already has set up its traffic court, and violators risk losing their driving privileges for serious or repeat offenses, according to Pickard. The base also will increase scrutiny on initial drivers licensing, such as requiring prospective drivers to take a class and pass an exam before being granted a license. The change brings NAS Sigonella in line with other overseas bases, Pickard said. Driving and road conditions in Sicily differ significantly from what most service members are used to coming from the U.S., Pickard said in a statement to Stars and Stripes. These differences present significant challenges to new and experienced drivers. Officials will look for a decrease in traffic accidents, moving violations and mishaps as part of ongoing evaluations. Our goal is to reduce and eliminate avoidable dangerous driving behavior by U.S. personnel at Sigonella, Pickard said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (Patrick Semansky/AP) PARIS France and the United States edged closer Tuesday toward rapprochement after the Biden administration's exclusion of Washington's oldest ally from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative ignited French anger. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met in Paris to explore ways to overcome the rift over the deal, which scuttled a multibillion-dollar French submarine contract with Australia and led Macron's government to take the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to the U.S. Macron and Blinken explored potential U.S.-French cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and other areas in the roughly 40-minute one-on-one session, according to a senior U.S. State Department official. Shortly after their engagement, the White House announced in a statement that President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Bonne, in Paris later this week "as part of our ongoing consultations on shared bilateral and regional interests." Macron and Blinken's meeting was the highest-level in-person contact between the two countries since the controversary erupted last month with the Sept. 15 announcement of a three-way agreement between Australia, Britain and the U.S., known as AUKUS, that pointedly left out France and other European nations. The State Department official said the two discussed possible joint projects that could be announced by Macron and President Joe Biden when they meet this month at a specific date and venue that has yet to be decided. Macron and Biden agreed to try to repair the damage in a Sept. 22 phone call. The White House statement said Sullivan and Bonne would further explore those projects in "preparations for the meeting of President Biden and President Macron in Europe later this month." The State Department official didn't elaborate on what those projects might be, but said they would likely involve the Indo-Pacific and Western efforts to blunt China's growing there and elsewhere, NATO and other trans-Atlantic objectives involving the European Union, and counterterrorism cooperation in Africa's Sahel region. The official said Macron and Blinken had agreed to use the spat as an opportunity to "deepen and strengthen coordination" and characterized the talks as "very productive," while allowing that "a lot of hard work remains ahead." The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks between Macron and Blinken at the Elysee Palace that hadn't appeared on Blinken's official schedule for the day. The roughly meeting came amid repeated French demands for the U.S. to restore trust that was ruptured with the announcement of a the AUKUS deal. A French official, speaking under customary anonymity, said the "at length, face-to-face meeting" came immediately after Blinken had seen Bonne. Bonne, the official said, saw Blinken "in order to study the ways of reengaging the relationship following the recall of the French ambassador, and to help restore confidence between France and the United States." U.S. officials have acknowledged that the AUKUS announcement was handled poorly and could have benefitted from coordination with France and other members of the European Union, all of which were left out. They have also signaled a desire to make amends, although they have suggested France's rage is an overreaction. France responded with fury and briefly recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra in an unprecedented display of pique. French officials called it "a stab in the back" by allies and expressed disappointment that it had happened after Biden had proclaimed "America is back" and pledged to restore and value trans-Atlantic relations that had soured during the Trump administration. The French have said repeatedly it will take much time and work to overcome the rift and that the incident underscores the need for Europe to develop its own security and defense plans as well as adopting a European strategy to counter growing challenges from China. Blinken is in the French capital for a two-day international economic conference that has been overshadowed by the AUKUS controversy that erupted with the announcement of the project. Blinken's first meeting in Paris was with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, whom he counts as a personal friend. Ahead of his visit, his second to France as secretary of state but first since the rupture, Blinken met Friday with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by Macron. Blinken, a fluent French speaker who grew up and went to high school in Paris, has expressed disappointment that the France has reacted so harshly to AUKUS. He and others have suggested some degree of French anger is related to domestic French politics and the shifting dynamics within the EU, which will soon see Angela Merkel depart as the leader of Germany after 16 years in power. 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 is also attending the OECD talks, which are taking place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland. Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report. previous coverage France and Greece sign defense pact after AUKUS submarine deal FILE- In this June 23, 2016 file photo, a worker on a lift adjusts the EU flags in front of EU headquarters in Brussels. The European Unions enlargement policy is at an impasse as its leaders gather for a summit focused on how to deal with Western Balkans neighbors that have been trying to enter the club for two decades. Meanwhile, the region is increasingly getting support from China and Russia instead. (Virginia Mayo/AP) BRUSSELS European Union leaders are meeting for the first time since the messy Western troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and France's loss of a multi-billion dollar submarine deal with Australia, events that they argue have exposed Europe's need for more autonomy on defense. The leaders will have plenty to discuss during their dinner at Brdo Castle in Slovenia on Tuesday, the eve of a summit with leaders from neighboring Balkans countries. The 27-nation trade bloc's tense relationship with China and rising energy prices will also be on agenda. The informal talks are not expected to deliver concrete results but intended to prepare the ground for a scheduled two-day EU summit later this month in Brussels. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has for years pushed for a greater strategic autonomy for the bloc, is expected to lead the dinner discussion on AUKUS, the Indo-Pacific defense deal between the U.S., Australia and Britain that led Australia to cancel the contract for diesel-electric French submarines. "The dinner will focus on the role of the European Union on the international scene - a vast program - but more specifically in light of recent developments in Afghanistan, the AUKUS episode, and more generally, what this says about the trans-Atlantic relationship," an EU official involved in the meeting preparations said. The official spoke anonymously in accordance with EU practice. Australia is acquiring U.S. nuclear-powered vessels instead of the French submarines. The Australian government's move has infuriated France, which is seeking clarification from Washington about its commitment to European allies. Several EU member countries have expressed solidarity with France. Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden have discussed the rift over the phone to ease tensions, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Paris to try to restore the French government's trust. The chief of the EU's executive branch, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Biden by phone on the eve of the summit. Von der Leyen said they discussed climate change, defense, trade, the Western Balkans and other geopolitical issues. Macron is now calling on France's EU allies to use the bloc's shortcomings in Afghanistan and the fallout of AUKUS as a springboard for developing European defense capabilities while at the same time strengthening ties with the U.S. EU Council President Charles Michel also advocates more strategic autonomy through a partnership between the European Union and NATO. The 27 leaders are also expected to reassess their relation with China, a theme they have not discussed as a group for over a year. Since their last talks, the bloc adopted a massive investment deal with Beijing but also approved sanctions against Chinese officials over human rights abuses in the far western Xinjiang region. "After one year, in this global world, when we see tensions between the U.S. and China, we will clarify our position," said another EU official who spoke anonymously. The meeting is set to take place with heightened security as opponents of COVID-19 passes planned to hold demonstrations. previous coverage US tries to make nice with France after Australia sub snub A Taliban fighter lays his AK-47 rifle down during Friday prayers at a Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (Felipe Dana/AP) KABUL, Afghanistan Afghanistan's Taliban leaders met with Iranian officials in an effort to boost trade relations key to filling the country's cash-starved coffers as it teeters on the brink of economic collapse, a spokesman said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Taliban said they arrested 11 members of the rival Islamic State group. The Taliban met Monday with a delegation from neighboring Iran to regulate trade between the countries, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said. They agreed to increase trading hours at the Islam Qala border crossing from eight hours per day to 24 and to better regulate the collection of tariffs and improve roadworks. Customs are a key source of domestic revenue for Afghanistan. The United Kingdom separately sent two envoys to meet with top Taliban officials Tuesday, the U.K. prime minister's spokesperson said. No additional details were provided. Afghanistan, an aid-dependent country, is grappling with a liquidity crisis as assets remain frozen in the U.S. and disbursements from international organizations that once accounted for 75% of state spending have been paused. Taliban officials said Tuesday they arrested 11 members of the Islamic State group, a rival and bitter enemy of the insurgents, in Kabul. The IS affiliate based in eastern Nangarhar province has claimed responsibility for a spate of recent attacks targeting Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan and elsewhere. Karimi posted on Twitter that the raid was carried out Sunday night in the Afghan capital's Fifth Police District. He provided no further details. The raid came just hours after a bombing that targeted the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul, killing at least five people. IS claimed responsibility for the mosque attack late Monday, saying in a posting by its Amaq news agency that one of its suicide bombers targeted senior Taliban figures following a mourning service. Sunday's bombing was the deadliest attack in Kabul since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with the chaotic departure of the last U.S. troops on Aug. 31. IS had also claimed responsibility for the horrific bombing on Aug. 26 that killed more than 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military personnel outside the Kabul airport, where thousands of people were trying to reach the airport to escape Taliban rule. The world has been watching whether the Taliban will live up to their initial promises of tolerance and inclusiveness toward women and ethnic minorities. However, Taliban actions so far, such as renewed restrictions on women and the appointment of an all-male government, have been met with dismay by the international community. Protests against the Taliban's policies toward women continued Tuesday, with a demonstration in a Kabul private school by female teachers and students who held up signs saying "Education is a right." The protest was held indoors to avoid backlash from the Taliban, who have recently outlawed demonstrations held without permission from the government. The U.N. continued to sound the alarm about the country's dire economic situation, saying a humanitarian crisis is imminent. The world body's children's agency warned that half of Afghanistan's children under age 5 are expected to suffer from severe malnutrition as hunger takes root amid serious food shortages. "There are millions of people who are going to starve and there is winter coming, COVID raging, and the whole social system collapsed," said Omar Adbi, UNICEF's deputy executive director for programs, during a visit to a Kabul children's hospital. At the hospital, a woman named Nargis sat with her 3-year-old child, who was suffering from severe malnutrition. She had come from Kunar province in the northeast, where fighting between the Taliban and the Islamic State group has deprived communities of accessing basic needs, including food. Nargis declined to give her full name. Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Istanbul and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report. In this Dec. 12, 2018 file photo, Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, the prime minister of Yemens internationally recognized government that the Saudi-led coalition backs, is interviewed by foreign journalists in Aden, Yemen. The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, met Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, with Saeed in the port city of Aden, officials said. (Jon Gambrell/AP) SANAA, Yemen The U.N. special envoy for Yemen met Tuesday with the prime minister of the country's internationally recognized government in the port city of Aden, officials said. Hans Grundberg landed in Aden in his first visit to the war-scarred country since taking up his post last month, according to the U.N. mission in Yemen. He met with Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed in Mashiq Palace, the mission said in a tweet. Aden serves as interim capital since the civil war erupted seven years ago. They discussed the latest political developments, and the U.N. envoy reiterated the importance of the Riyadh Agreement, which ended the fighting between government forces and United Arab Emirates-backed southern separatists, the mission said. Grundberg also met with Aydarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the separatists' Southern Transitional Council, according to the council. Saeed said the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi "supports ... any political settlement ending the suffering of Yemenis," according to Yemen's official SABA news agency. The Prime Minister accused the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of undermining a political settlement with "military escalation and targeting civilians and displaced people," SABA reported. Grundberg met last month with Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam in Oman's capital, Muscat. "It is imperative that all efforts are directed towards revitalizing a political process that can produce lasting solutions that meet the aspirations of Yemeni women and men," Grundberg said at the time. The U.N. envoy's efforts come amid an escalation in fighting around the crucial city of Marib, which the Houthi rebels have been trying for months to capture from government forces. Yemen has been convulsed by civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels took control of the capital of Sanaa and much of the northern part of the country, forcing Hadi's government to flee to the south, then to Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 backed by the United States to try to restore Hadi to power and threw its support behind his internationally backed government. The war has killed more than 130,000 people and spawned the world's worst humanitarian crisis. previous coverage In Yemen, a battle for the badlands President Joe Biden holds his face mask and waves as he exits Air Force One at Capital Region International Airport, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, in Lansing, Mich. (Evan Vucci/AP) HOWELL, Mich. Biden went to Michigan to promote the proposal for expanded safety net, health and environmental programs, but after his speech he acknowledged the inevitable as Democrats focus on a now-$2 trillion top-line for the package to win support. I want to make sure that we have a package that everyone can agree on, Biden told reporters. Its not going to be $3.5 trillion. Its going to be less than that. Were going to get it done. On Capitol Hill, strong signs emerged that Democrats were coalescing around Bidens push for a package in the $2 trillion range, a figure that seemed potentially acceptable to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and other centrists with reservations. With all Republicans opposed, Biden cant spare the support of a single Democratic senator. At the same time, new battle lines are being formed as Democrats decide which of the many programs they want to expand health, education, childcare, climate change will remain in the final proposal or be reduced or left behind. And in a signal of how much still may change before the bill makes it to his desk, Biden later suggested hed sign a bill that includes the so-called Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used for abortions in most cases. Manchin wants it in the final bill, while progressive Democrats oppose it. Id sign it either way, Biden told reporters. In his speech at a union training facility, Biden called opponents of his plan complicit in Americas decline, as he argued his spending plan is critical to Americas global competitiveness. He said he wanted to set some things straight about his agenda and cut through what he dismissed as noise in Washington. Americas still the largest economy in the world, we still have the most productive workers and the most innovative minds in the world, but were at risk of losing our edge as a nation, he said. The president went on to spell out his plans in greater detail than he has in some time, after spending the past week deep in the details of negotiations on Capitol Hill. He highlighted popular individual parts of the plan, including funding for early childhood education and investments to combat climate change, rather than the expensive topline. And he emphasized that the trillions in spending would be drawn out over a decade and paid for by tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Polling suggests that elements in the social spending bill and a related $1 trillion infrastructure bill such as expanded child care opportunities and roads-and-bridges infrastructure projects are popular with large parts of the public. But even some of the White Houses closest allies have worried that the West Wing has not done enough to sell the spending. That brought Biden back on the road Tuesday, hitting the red-leaning district of Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin to sell his policies. These bills are not about left versus right or moderate vs progressive, Biden said. These bills are about competitiveness versus complacency. Back in Washington, a more immediate problem was mounting as Senate Republicans are putting up hurdles to raising the nations debt limit, a routine vote thats needed to allow more borrowing and prevent a devastating credit default. Biden said Democrats are considering changing the chambers filibuster rules, which would lower the typical 60-vote threshold to 50, to do it. Its a real possibility, Biden told reporters at the White House. Meanwhile, negotiations continued on the pair of bills to boost spending on safety net, health and environmental programs and infrastructure projects. The $3.5 trillion price tag on the social services portion of Bidens agenda has long been the sticking point, with progressives demanding the funding for their priorities and moderates balking at the eye-popping number. But there was growing consensus which Biden has expressed privately to lawmakers, and acknowledged publicly Tuesday that the topline number will eventually shrink. In multiple private meetings, Biden has now floated $2 trillion as a figure for his signature package, including in a call late Monday with progressive House lawmakers, who still advocated for a higher amount, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Next to Biden, the Democrats with the most on the line over the shape and success of his spending plans are House members from swing districts whose reelections are essential if his party is to retain control of Congress. Many of those targeted moderates including Arizona Rep. Tom OHalleran, Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and nine other vulnerable Democrats joined Biden for a virtual meeting Tuesday. He held a similar session the previous day with a dozen progressives. And his Tuesday visit to Slotkins district, which President Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020, was aimed at giving moderates like her cover to support his spending package. While Slotkin backs the smaller, bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill that has passed the Senate, she prefers passing it in the House before negotiating the broader package of social programs. To be honest, it was hard for me to understand why leadership decided in the first place to tie the two bills together, Slotkin recently told The Detroit News. Thats not how we normally operate. Its not my preference. Washington was gripped with the drama last week as lawmakers grappled with the massive Democrats-only social spending bill that has been linked with the infrastructure bill. Progressives have balked at voting for the infrastructure bill if the other bill shrinks. Yet even as talk of that shrinkage increased, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a leader of the progressives, said Tuesday, Theres a lot of discussion going on, but Im confident at the end of the day its going to be a good agreement. This cannot ultimately be a bill that does 18 new things, but it could do four or five or six big bold new things, said Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, an ally of the president. Lawmakers are considering cutting back some programs or limiting others to only people who qualify based on need. Bidens team huddled with the Democratic leaders late Monday at the Capitol as they rush to finish the latest draft in days, not weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. One senator was moved to compare it all to dancing. The best image I know is a square dance: You come together, but then you go apart; you come together, but then you go apart, said Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, describing his fellow Democrats. Theres a rhythm there, we just got to make sure we stay in rhythm. Thats the challenge. ___ Associated Press writers Mike Householder in Howell, Michigan, and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. The Pentagon in Arlington County, Va. (Dreamstime/TNS) WASHINGTON All Defense Department clearance holders are now under continuous vetting as part of a reform to the personnel security process that determines who should have access to classified information and secure facilities, the director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency said Tuesday. The automated system constantly checks criminal records, credit ratings and other pertinent information for those with security clearances to ensure the trustworthiness of the national security workforce and identify and address factors that may lead to insider threat incidents, DCSA director William Lietzau told reporters at the Pentagon. Continuous vetting replaces the prior process of periodic reinvestigations for clearance holders every five to 10 years. The idea is that the new program will identify potential security threats as they occur in real time, allowing risks to surface sooner to enable earlier intervention. If you get [charged with driving under the influence], thatll come in the next day, Lietzau said, explaining how fast the new system works. Once the automated system alerts of a risk factor, staff at the agency then initiate an investigation to analyze whether the issue should be further analyzed or considered an active threat, he said. In addition to criminal conduct, the system also analyzes suspicious financial transactions, domestic and foreign travel records, terrorism and counterterrorism databases and other public records for indicators of insider threats, Lietzau said. The initiative is part of the director of National Intelligences Trusted Workforce 2.0, an interagency effort launched in 2018 to modernize the security clearance system to deliver stronger security, faster processing and better information sharing, the agency said in a statement issued Tuesday. It replaces a suite of outdated legacy IT systems that no longer meet the needs of the U.S. government, DCSA said in the statement. While all troops, Defense Department civilians and defense contractors with clearances are now in the system, Lietzau said 29 other federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, are also vetting their clearance holders this way. The system is already working, Lietzau said. In January, it detected a federal employee was under an active investigation by another agency for potential terrorism activities, including a plan targeting United States facilities and ties to know or suspected terrorists, he said. In another case, the system alerted the DCSA that an arrest warrant was issued for a federal employee accused of attempted murder and felonious assault, Lietzau said. The agency then contacted law enforcement to validate the employee was the wanted person and provided information that helped police apprehend the suspect. The key is that the alert information developed through the DCSA continuous vetting system was received and validated five and a half years before the subjects next periodic reinvestigation, Lietzau said. The DCSA is continuing to enroll other federal agencies in the program and working to expand data sources from which the vetting system can pull information, Lietzau said. The agency is now running pilot programs to test how social media information could be included, Lietzau said. One day, biometrics beyond standard fingerprint analysis could be used, as well. Whether or not that kind of information will be used, though, will be up to policymakers, he said. Were building into the IT systems -- with a view toward the future the ability to collect biometric data, Lietzau said. But there are all of the concerns that you can imagine that we work through and policymakers are working through. Army Sgt. Kayla Sampson pulls on a medical glove while training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, July 30, 2020. (Sydney Mariette/U.S. Army) The Defense Department is spending millions to keep its health care professionals supplied with disposable gloves during the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent contract awards. Demand for medical gloves has meant more than $400 million in contracts for five companies, paid for under a second coronavirus relief package passed by Congress in December. For example, DOD awarded a Dutch-based multinational firm, Showa Group Inc., more than $81 million in two orders this year to produce nitrile gloves for the Air Force through 2024. Showa produces gloves at U.S. facilities in Alabama and Georgia. In June, DOD ordered $37 million worth of gloves from Showa Best Gloves of Fayette, Ala. A second, $43 million contract in September called for nearly 67 million gloves per month from the Showa facility in Menlo, Ga., through September 2024, according to the official defense.gov website. The DOD Assisted Acquisition Cell at Robins Air Force Base, Ga., which ordered the Showa gloves in September, did not respond to requests for further information submitted through its website on Sept. 23. Nitrile gloves, commonly used by first responders and medical specialists during the COVID-19 pandemic, are made of a synthetic rubber compound that is non-allergenic. According to the Showa Best Gloves website, its nitrile gloves will fully biodegrade in landfills within five years. The largest contract, worth $123.1 million, went to Blue Star NBR LLC of Berlin, Conn, in May. The second largest contract, for $96.1 million, went to United Safety Technology Inc., of Los Angeles, founded in April 2020 for re-shoring PPE [personal protective equipment] manufacturing back to the USA, according to the companys website. On May 28, another contract worth $35 million went to Renco Corp./America Performance Polymers of Texas and New Hampshire according to defense.gov. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, of New Hampshire, in a news release May 28, said that contract meant $13.1 million for the portion of the polymer company in her state. The contract paid manufacturers to ramp up production of lifesaving supplies and ensure were prepared when disaster strikes, according to her statement. Throughout this pandemic, weve seen how important it is to ensure that our health care workers, first responders and essential employees have access to the personal protective equipment they need to stay safe on the job, according to Shaheens statement. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, June 7, 2021. President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Switzerland on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. (Evan Vucci/AP) WASHINGTON President Joe Biden is dispatching White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan for talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Switzerland as the two countries find themselves at odds on a variety of issues, including Taiwan and trade. The meeting, set for Wednesday in Zurich, comes after the White House on Monday criticized Beijing over several days of sustained military harassment against the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The talks are to be a follow-up on Biden's call with President Xi Jinping last month as the administration continues "to seek to responsibly manage the competition" between the two countries, White House National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement. The White House this week raised concerns that Beijing was undermining regional peace and stability with its "provocative" action. In recent days, China has sent dozens of fighter planes toward Taiwan including a record 56 on Monday. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a speech on Monday she plans frank conversations with officials in Beijing about an interim trade deal aimed at resolving a tariff war. Tai said she did not want to "inflame trade tensions with China." But her comments suggested that Biden will continue enforcing tough tariffs against China adopted by his predecessor, Donald Trump. The latest incursions occurred after Taiwan applied to join a major regional trade pact. Beijing vehemently opposes efforts by the West that offer Taiwan the appearance of sovereign nation status and has expressed its opposition to the application. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. It refuses to recognize the island's government and has increasingly sought to isolate the independence-leaning administration of President Tsai Ing-wen. Biden has repeatedly called out China for what the administration sees as Beijing's coercive trade practices, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and its handling of the coronavirus pandemic that originated from the country's Wuhan province. At the same time, the administration has expressed hope that the two sides can work together on issues of mutual concern including climate change and preventing a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula despite the differences. Administration officials have expressed frustration that interactions with high-level Chinese officials in the early going of the administration have been less than constructive. In June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yang had a tense call, with Beijing saying it told the U.S. to cease interfering in its internal affairs and accusing Washington of politicizing the search for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sullivan and Blinken also had heated exchanges with Yang when they met in March with top Chinese officials in Anchorage. At that meeting, Yang accused the U.S. of failing to deal with its own human rights problems and took issue with what he said was American hypocrisy. The South China Morning Post first reported plans for the meeting between Sullivan and Yang. Sullivan will also travel this week to Brussels and Paris for talks with allies. Kyle Rittenhouse, right, accused of shooting three people during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin last year, speaks with one of his attorneys, Natalie Wisco, during a motion hearing, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, in Kenosha, Wis. (Sean Krajacic, The Kenosha News, pool/AP) MADISON, Wis. A judge refused to dismiss a weapons charge Tuesday against an Illinois man accused of shooting three people during a protest against police brutality in Wisconsin last year. Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz during the protest in Kenosha. Prosecutors charged Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the protest, with multiple counts, including homicide and being a minor in possession of a firearm. His trial is set to begin Nov. 1. Rittenhouse's attorneys have argued that he fired in self-defense after Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz attacked him. They asked Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder to dismiss the weapon possession charge during a hearing Tuesday. Corey Chirafisi, one of Rittenhouse's attorneys, argued that the statute only prohibits minors from possessing short-barreled rifles. Rittenhouse used an AR-style semiautomatic rifle with a 16-inch barrel the night of the shootings, according to Chirafisi. The only other prohibitions on minors possessing firearms lie in the state's hunting statutes, which state that children under 12 can't hunt with guns. That doesn't apply to Rittenhouse because he was 17 on the night of the shootings, Chirafisi said. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger countered that the Legislature clearly intended to bar anyone under 18 from "running around with a dangerous weapon" and that the hunting statutes don't apply because Rittenhouse wasn't hunting Kenosha's streets on the night of the protest. Schroeder sided with Binger, but he said he might revisit the question later because the statutes aren't clear. Binger also asked Schroeder to order reporters not to broadcast witnesses' images during what will be a high-profile trial, saying at least some of them are afraid for their safety. He didn't say which witnesses feel unsafe or whether they've actually been threatened. Rittenhouse attorney Mark Richards said he didn't know which fearful witnesses the prosecution was referring to, but that one prosecution witness has boasted about being subpoenaed on his social media accounts. Schroeder said he wasn't sure if he has the authority to censor the media and that he's presided over other cases that he described as more "tense" than the Rittenhouse proceedings. The attorneys also sparred over whether to allow John Black, an expert on the use of force by police, testify for the defense at the trial. Binger maintained that it wasn't necessary and that jurors could decide for themselves whether Rittenhouse's actions were reasonable. Richards argued that Black could help jurors get to the facts. Schroeder allowed Black to testify during the hearing to get an idea of what he would present at the trial. Black asserted that Rittenhouse maintained control of his gun at all times, tried to move away from Rosenbaum, Huber and Grosskreutz, and only fired when he was attacked. He noted that Huber hit Rittenhouse with a skateboard and Grosskreutz approached him with a pistol in his hand. Schroeder took a lunch break before allowing Binger to cross-examine Black. Prosecutors also were looking for permission to introduce a video showing Rittenhouse saying he'd like to shoot some men he thought were shoplifting from a pharmacy 15 days before the protest. Schroeder said last month that he was leaning toward excluding it. It wasn't clear if he would rule on that request Tuesday. Schroeder last month denied both sides' request to send questionnaires to potential jurors to probe biases. The judge wrote in a letter to the attorneys that he's afraid people won't fill them out and recipients would discuss the case with family members, friends and co-workers. "That may trigger even more conversations about the case, with consequent opinion formation," Schroeder said. Kenosha was in the throes of several nights of chaotic protests in August 2020 after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, during a domestic disturbance, leaving Blake paralyzed from the waist down. Rittenhouse, now 18, traveled to the city in response to social media posts asking for help defending city businesses. Many conservatives flocked to support Rittenhouse, calling him a patriot for seeking to stop violent protests, making him a symbol for gun rights and raising $2 million for his bail. Others, including some liberals and activists, portrayed him as a domestic terrorist and said he made a volatile situation worse by bringing a rifle to the streets of Kenosha. Richmond reported from Madison, Wis. The injured Marines were among the survivors of an ISIS-K attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the final days of the U.S. militarys withdrawal from Afghanistan. Along with the 13 troops killed, more than 20 others were injured when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated an explosive vest and gunmen fired into the crowds near the airports Abbey gate. () All but one Marine injured in the attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber at Kabuls airport in August that killed 13 U.S. service members have been released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a Marine Corps spokesman said Tuesday. The remaining Marine is in serious but stable condition, Capt. Johnny Henderson said. The update shows steady improvement. On Sept. 22, the service reported four Marines were still at Walter Reed one in very serious condition and three in serious condition. On Sept. 7, 15 wounded Marines were being treated at Walter Reed, one of whom was in critical condition, three were in serious condition and 11 were in stable condition, Henderson said at the time. The service did not provide further details on their injuries or the names of those injured, which is Marine Corps policy to protect their privacy. The injured Marines were among the survivors of an ISIS-K attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the final days of the U.S. militarys withdrawal from Afghanistan. Along with the 13 troops killed, more than 20 others were injured when an ISIS-K terrorist detonated an explosive vest and gunmen fired into the crowds near the airports Abbey gate. ISIS-K, an abbreviation for ISIS-Khorasan, is the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State terrorist group. Seventeen Marines were wounded in the attack, and all the troops killed were awarded Purple Hearts and approved this month for combat action ribbons, according to the Marine Corps. Of the 13 troops killed in the attack, 11 were Marines, one was a soldier and another was a sailor. While no longer receiving in-patient treatment, the other 16 Marines are now on the West Coast in the vicinity of their parent units receiving follow-on care, Henderson said. Their recoveries are being monitored and assisted by the Marine Corps wounded warrior regiment, he said. The service members were screening hopeful evacuees at the airports entrance when the attack happened after nearly two weeks of an evacuation mission to remove Americans and allies, including Afghans, from the country after it fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15. More than 124,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan before the last U.S. troops left Kabul on Aug. 30. Caitlin Doornbos This story has been corrected Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., questions Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona as they testify before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Shawn Thew/AP) WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) Two members of the U.S. Senate are proposing bipartisan legislation to reduce the risk of veteran suicides by requiring federal officials to reach out to them within three weeks of ending their military service. The measure would compel the Department of Veterans Affairs to send a veterans information to the local VA center within a week of a veterans departure from the military. The local VA officials then have to reach out to the veteran within two weeks of getting that information. U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H,. and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., have coauthored the measure that both pursued after research has shown the suicide risk for veterans increases dramatically during the first three months of separation from the military. Challenges for our service members dont end when they take off the uniform. We must support veterans when they get home and transition to civilian life, including promoting access to mental health care, Hassan said. It is imperative that we cut down on red tape and more quickly connect veterans to VA services, to make sure that they can get the care that they need, when they need. Im pleased to join Senator Cramer in introducing this bipartisan bill and look forward to continuing to work with New Hampshires veterans to support them. Hassans bipartisan Vet Center Outreach Act would require the VA to send an alert to a local VA Vet Center nearest to where a veteran resides within seven days of that veteran separating from the military, along with information that can help the VA Vet Center engage in personalized outreach to the veteran. Transitioning from active-duty service to civilian life can be a difficult time with its own set of unique challenges. By ensuring that local VA Vet Centers have the tools to reach out to newly separated veterans within seven days of separation, transitioning service members will have more immediate access to the high-quality readjustment counseling they need and have earned, Chanin Nuntavong, executive director of government affairs for the American Legion, said in a statement. We applaud Senators Hassan and Cramer for introducing this common-sense legislation which will make VAs efforts to support transitioning service members more timely, efficient, and accessible. (c)2021 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.) Visit The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.) at www.unionleader.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The number of suspected suicide deaths in recent months have decreased, according to the latest figures from the Chief Coroner. In the year to June 30, 2021, 607 people died by suspected suicide, compared to 628 the year before a decrease of 21 deaths, and a drop in the suspected suicide rate from 11.8 deaths per 100,000 to 11.6. For the first time, the Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ministry of Health will make available combined suicide statistics via a new interactive web tool providing a single comprehensive source of information on deaths by suicide in Aotearoa New Zealand. Developed by the Ministry of Health in consultation with the Office of the Chief Coroner, the web tool provides detailed information from the Chief Coroner on the provisional suspected self-inflicted death statistics, and the latest confirmed suicide data from the Ministry of Health. Information is presented by both calendar and financial year, and can be filtered by gender, age group, ethnicity and District Health Board. This web tool provides an easily navigable platform to access accurate, detailed information on deaths in these tragic circumstances. It also provides the ability to compare provisional and confirmed figures over time for people to better understand how these numbers are shifting, says Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall. She says there have been 21 fewer deaths this year when compared to the previous year. Understanding what a change in numbers and rates from one year to the next means is difficult because these numbers and rates can fluctuate considerably, says Judge Marshall. But it is heartening to see that the years figures show fewer deaths overall. Among Maori populations there was a decrease in suspected suicides from 19.8 per 100,000 people to 15.8, but for Pacific populations there was an increase in the suspected suicide rate from 7.2 to 9.6. More broadly, there was a decrease in suspected suicides for females and males in the 15-24 age range, from 12.6 to 11.4 among females and 22.7 to 22.2 in males. The suspected suicide rate and number has declined, which is encouraging. But its important to remember the many families who have lost someone, and I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who died by suspected suicide in the past year, says Judge Marshall. Director of the Suicide Prevention Office, Carla na Nagara, also acknowledges the tragedy reflected in the data and says it will take more than two years of decreases to establish a trend. While it is encouraging that the numbers of suspected suicides are lower than last year, there are still far too many whanau, families and communities who have lost loved ones, and I extend my deepest sympathies to them, says na Nagara. It is the second consecutive year numbers have decreased, but na Nagara says the evidence shows there is a need to see a decline over at least a five-year period before a meaningful downward trend in suicide numbers and rates can be established. The Suicide Prevention Office will continue its efforts, alongside the Chief Coroner and communities all around Aotearoa, to address the complex issues that contribute to our suicide rates. We all have a part to play to prevent similar deaths from occurring. Nationals Mental Health and Suicide Prevention spokesperson Matt Doocey says with the release of the Chief Coroners Annual Suicide Statistics, we remember the 607 people who lost their lives to suicide over the past year. For those who have lost a loved one to suicide, my heart goes out to you and your family. My thoughts are with you. Our suicide statistics are confronting. As a country we need to do better. As a founding member of the Cross-Party Mental Health Group I was proud to be part of producing and debating in Parliament our first report Zero Suicide Aotearoa. By adopting a Zero Suicide strategy and taking a bi-partisan approach to suicide prevention, Parliament can play its part in reducing New Zealands high suicide numbers. There is no reason why New Zealand cant have one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, there is no reason why we cant have one of the lowest rates of mental illness in the world, and there is no reason why as a country we cant have one of the highest rates of mental wellbeing. Explore the interactive web tool here: https://minhealthnz.shinyapps.io/suicide-web-tool/ The government is looking at different approaches to modernise electoral laws in New Zealand. Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi has announced the Government will review New Zealands electoral laws to ensure the rules remain fit for purpose and meet the needs of the next generation of voters. While we have a world-class electoral system, times are changing and the Electoral Act needs to continue to move with them. Much has changed since the 1950s but most of our electoral rules havent. We want to make election rules clearer and fairer to build more trust in the system and better support people to exercise their right to vote. The Electoral Act has had mostly piecemeal tweaks over the years. We now have an opportunity to take a proper look at how we run our elections. We will work with parties across Parliament on broad, non-partisan support for any changes and I have written to other party leaders expressing that intention. The Government is taking two approaches; an Independent Review of New Zealands electoral law and targeted changes to support the delivery of, and participation in the 2023 General Election. Independent Review of electoral laws The Independent Review will look at election rules such as: -voting age and overseas voting -funding of political parties -the length of the parliamentary term -the Electoral Commissions recommendations on MMP: -changes to the party vote threshold -one seat electorate rule -ratio of electorate seats to list seats -the overhang rule The Independent Review will not look at: -online voting -a return to First Past the Post or alternatives to New Zealands MMP system -the future of Maori electorate seats -local electoral law -fundamental constitutional change; such as becoming a republic or having an upper House This is a chance to make important changes in how elections are run for this generation and the next so that: -voters can continue to participate in elections easily -the Electoral Commission can continue to run elections effectively -political parties and others have clear rules to follow and are held to account if those rules are broken. The next step with the Independent Review is to put together a review panel. The panel will report back by late 2023 with recommendations for change, says Faafoi. I will be consulting with all parliamentary party leaders and Parliaments Justice Committee on the Terms of Reference for the review before they are finalised. I am also writing to these and other groups, such as Maori organisations, youth organisations, universities and the New Zealand Law Society to seek nominations for potential panel members. Targeted changes Some rules could be improved before the General Election in 2023. For example, were looking at improving the transparency of political donations to make it easier to see where the money is coming from, says Faafoi. Another focus is looking at when people can move between the Maori Electoral Roll and the General Roll. At the moment Maori voters wont be able move rolls before the 2023 General Election. This work is a commitment signalled in Labours 2020 Manifesto to protect the integrity of New Zealand elections, and it is also part of the Cooperation Agreement between the New Zealand Labour Party and the Green Party of Aotearoa. We are looking to make progress on the work before the end of the year. This years Bay of Plenty Home Show has been cancelled due to current Covid-19 restrictions across the nation. In a statement Bay Events, the organisers of the annual show, say it is simply not possible to go ahead whilst lockdown restrictions are in place across Auckland and much of Waikato. The event was scheduled to take place at the Trustpower Arena from Friday, October 29 to Sunday, October 31. It is with great regret that Bay Events announces the cancellation of the 2021 Bay of Plenty Home Show, says Dana McCurdy, managing director at Bay Events. We now look to the future with our next exhibition being the Tauranga Home Show in May 2022. The next Bay of Plenty Home Show is now penciled in for the final weekend of October in 2022. After our initial hopes of putting on a successful and viable event, with so many exhibitors and suppliers from Auckland and the Waikato and current lockdown levels, we are no longer able to move forward, says Dana. An exhibition requires significant forward investment from both us as organisers and our exhibitors, and we cannot proceed with confidence and in good faith while the situation remains so changeable. The Bay of Plenty Home Show was set to have over 200 exhibitors highlighting builders, beds, barbecues and more. Cancelling a show is not something we take lightly, says Dana. We encourage you to continue to support your local suppliers and we look forward to bringing them back to you in our iconic exhibitions in 2022. With the school holidays now under way, StemWana Trust is welcoming in members of the community for a set of workshops involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics. October 3rd was due to be the day Durham Street in Taurangas CBD would shut down and become a place of learning, fun and inspiration for young people all over the Bay of Plenty. However, with the current Covid-19 outbreak, the annual StemFest has been postponed for the second year in a row. This new event, being held in separate locations around the Bay of Plenty, is part of STEM in the Community where the trust is partnering up with local venues and inviting local content providers and children from all over to attend. STEMWana Trust project coordinator Ewa Saar says STEM in the Community was a side project that they have now moved to the school holidays. Due to STEMFest being postponed we decided we would run the project in the school holidays, but because of this, weve had to change the format of the event. We were originally planning on inviting schools to attend the workshops but now it is going to be individual families, parents and children. Everything is aimed at school aged children, from 8 to 12 years old, but of course were expecting some variety to those numbers. Overall, were aiming to reach around 400 young participants. Everything will be completely free and we also have Zespri who is partnering up with us and will provide a little kiwifruit snack for the attendees. We still have spots left for the Te Puke Science at home, Rotorua Science at home, Whakatane Precious plastic project and Tauranga Pumps, pipes and wipes workshops as well as for our morning tea. The first of the workshops was held on Saturday at Taurangas Base Station and was considered a great success by attendees. Seven other workshops will soon follow which include: Whakatane "Precious plastic project" workshop by Envirohub Bay of Plenty on Wednesday 6th October: https://events.humanitix.com/stem-in-the-community-whakatane-precious-plastic-project-workshop-by-envirohub-bay-of-plenty Rotorua "Science at home" workshop on Thursday 7th October: https://events.humanitix.com/stem-in-the-community-rotorua-science-at-home-workshop Tauranga library: "Create art using robotics" on Friday 8th October: https://events.humanitix.com/robotics-at-tauranga-library-k5htkdiq Te Puke "Science at home" workshop on Monday 11th October: https://events.humanitix.com/stem-in-the-community-te-puke-science-at-home-workshop Katikati - Coding/robotics workshop by Cucumber and "Egg drop challenge" by STEM Wana Trust on Friday 15th October: https://events.humanitix.com/stem-in-the-community-katikati-cucumber-workshop Tauranga on Saturday 16th October - "Astronomy 101" workshop by Tauranga Astronomical Society https://events.humanitix.com/stem-in-the-community-tauranga-astronomy-101-workshop-by-tauranga-astronomical-society and "Pumps, pipes and wipes" water education workshop by Tauranga City Council: https://events.humanitix.com/water-education-tauranga-council-xbhdix26 Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. Actionable insights with Signal Ocean | Three case studies We would like to invite you to a tanker market webinar hosted by Signal Ocean. Collapse of the tanker market and a detailed look at supply and demand Deep dive analysis of port delays in China The varying impact of the current crisis on clean products vs crude Free, 30 min webinar discussion hosted by Signal Ocean Tuesday, 3 November | 0900 London | 1100 Athens | 1600 Singapore Speakers Semiramis Assimakopoulou VP of Sales and Chartering Officer | Signal Dimitris Tsapoulis Chief Operating Officer| Signal No smart lighting solution is as elegant as having smart light switches and dimmers embedded in your walls. Sure, you could screw smart bulbs into your fixtures, or plug a couple of lamps into smart plugs and call it a day, but if the light fixture in question is controlled by a dumb switch, youll never be able to control that smart bulb if the switch is in the off position. While they can be a pain to installhire an electrician if you not comfortable doing it yourselfonce its installed, a smart light switch lets you turn your lights on and off according to a schedule, with a smartphone app, andwith the installation of accessoriesin response to voice commands, motion, or even your location (provided you have your smartphone with you). Updated on July 29, 2021 with our review of the second-gen Philips Hue Dimmer Switch from Signify. Not only does the new Dimmer Switch look more contemporary than its predecessor, it also adds a new Hue button and a time-based light scene mode, along with a larger wall plate that allows for both peel-and-stick as well as screw mounting. Where a smart switch simply turns a connected light bulb or fixture on and off, a smart dimmer can also adjust the brightness of the bulbs in the fixtures it controls. Since a dimmer is essentially a switch with an added function, well use the terms interchangeably here, but our reviews focus primarily on dimmers. Well discuss the difference in more detail in the buyers guide on the next page. The prices of smart switches and dimmers have come down a lot in the past year or two, although the fanciest and most powerful examples remain expensive. Youll encounter products from familiar names such as Leviton and Lutron, as well as a host of newcomers to this space, including Noon and Hogar. In most cases, replacing a dumb switch with a smart one is a relatively simple DIY project; but again, theres no shame in hiring an electrician to do the job. Here are our top picks in smart dimmers, followed by a guide to the features and terminology youll encounter when you shop for one. You can also go straight to a list of our most recent smart-switch reviews. Best smart dimmer overall Lutrons Caseta ecosystem is much less open than the other big three smart lighting platforms: Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee. Lutron is the only source of dimmers and switches, but the company is great about supporting other classes of third-party products within the Caseta ecosystem. In addition to its own line of motorized smart shades, ceiling fan controllers, plug-in devices, occupancy sensors, and remote controls, you can also create time- and location-based smart home scenes incorporating any Caseta or Serena product along with Sonos speakers, several brands of smart thermostats, and Hunter ceiling fans. The Caseta Smart Bridge is Apple HomeKit compatible, too, and it can be integrated with a Samsung SmartThings hub. The dimmer switches in the Lutron Caseta Smart Lighting Dimmer Switch Kit are elegantly designed with four plate-style buttons: On at the top, off at the bottom, and triangular brighten and dim buttons in the middle. A stack of LEDs on the left-hand side indicates the brightness level. The kit also comes with Lutrons Pico wireless remote controls, for those situations where you dont want to bark at a smart speaker to dim the lights. The Caseta dimmer is also ideal for installations where there is no neutral wire in the boxits one of the few smart switches that doesnt require one. Best Wi-Fi smart dimmer GE doesnt build the prettiest dimmer on the market, but its C-Start Smart Switch Motion Sensing+Dimmer switch sure packs the features. And if you happen to own C by GE smart bulbs, the switch can also control them even if theyre not wired to the dimmer. Being a Wi-Fi device, this dimmer switch doesnt require the presence of a smart home hub or any other bridge to your home network. An onboard motion sensor can turn the light switch on when the room is occupied, and an ambient light sensor will stop that from happening if theres enough daylight that the extra light isnt needed. Theres also night light in the form of a ring around the on/off button, but that can be turned off in the app if you find that adds to your indoor light pollution. Theres now also a 3-wire version of this product that doesnt require a neutral wire Best Zigbee smart dimmer If youve settled on Zigbee as your smart lighting protocol of choiceand its certainly not a bad one, considering the only other thing youll need is an Amazon Echo Plus smart speakerallow us to recommend Jascos Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer. This in-wall dimmer not only has a slimline design that isnt tough to shove back into the box when you install it, it has enough onboard intelligence to distinguish the line wire from the load wire, so you dont need to worry about mixing them up if youre doing the work for yourself. This smart dimmer is affordably priced, too. Best Z-Wave smart dimmer Leviton Decora Z-Wave Plus dimmer (model DZ6HD) See it Putting this roundup together exposed a hole in our editorial coverage. Ive had Levitons Decora Smart Z-Wave switches and dimmers (along with other brands of Z-Wave switches) installed in my own smart home for many years (we built the house in 2007), but weve never officially reviewed them. That said, Levitons Z-Wave lighting controls are among my favorites; so, while TechHive hasnt officially reviewed Levitons product, I have deep personal experience with it and recommend it strongly. Most sophisticated smart dimmer Unfortunately, our current favorite smart lighting system of all time is not only very expensive, its also now available only through professional installers after the company was acquired by Racepoint Energy. But if you can afford it, this is the most sophisticatedand the most beautifulin-wall lighting on the market. The system consists of a Room Director dimmer with a color OLED touchscreen display that replaces a primary switch in a room, and up to 10 slightly more ordinary-looking (they dont have displays) Extension switches. You can build multiple lighting scenes with this system that can turn on every light in the room at a preset brightness level based on the mood you wish to set. Read our in-depth review to learn more about this ultra-sophisticated home lighting solution. Runner-up Brilliant predated Noon in integrating a touch panel with a smart switch, and this smart dimmer has some very cool tricks up its sleeve, ranging from being able to stream video from a doorbell camera to controlling a Sonos multi-room audio system. Unlike Noon, a DIYer can buy Brilliants products direct, though we experienced a few installation headaches during our review (which, to be fair to Brilliant, involved pre-release hardware). Best multi-function smart dimmer Just how many features can you cram in a single-gang light switch? Leviton squeezes a Wi-Fi radio, a dimmer switch, and an entire Amazon Alexa-compatible smart speaker into its Decora Smart Voice Wi-Fi Dimmer with Alexa. Yes, Ecobee pulled off a similar trick earlier, but with an on/off switch, not a dimmer. Leviton also has deeper catalog of other Wi-Fi componentsswitches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, multi-button controllers, and moreto go with it. Best budget-priced smart dimmer Best known for building inexpensive routers, TP-Link has steadily increased its footprint in the smart home space with its Kasa Smart product line. Its model HS-220 in-wall smart dimmer connects directly to your Wi-Fi network, so you dont need a hub, and its currently street priced less than $20. One of the biggest downsides? You cant use it in a three-way configuration. On the next page, well provide you with helpful tips to keep in mind when you shop for smart lighting controls. Or can you click here to see our latest smart dimmer reviews. Smart dimmer shopping tips Youll need to make a raft of decisions before you choose which smart switches to install in your home, and your choices will be influenced by everything from the type of wiring in your walls to what flavor of smart home system you have now or plan to install later. Heres what you need to know in roughly the order youll need to decide. Neutral wire requirement: The vast majority of smart switches and dimmers require the presence of a neutral wirein addition to line (power from the circuit-breaker panel), load (power to the light to be controlled), and ground wiresin the electrical box inside the wall. Smart switches have radios that must be constantly powered, and the neutral wire is what supplies that juice. While all homes have neutral wires, many older homes dont have a neutral wire in every box. If youre not sure if theres a neutral wire at the location you want to install a smart switch, we have a how-to story here that will help you figure it out. If you dont have a neutral wire, Lutrons Caseta smart dimmer is one of the few that does not require one. Ben Patterson/IDG Most smart switches depend on the presence of a neutral wire to supply energy to their radios, but many homes built prior to the 1980s dont have a neutral wire in every box. C by GE and Lutron Caseta are among the few smart switches that dont depend a neutral wire. Single- or multi-pole: If the light you wish to control is connected to just one switch, then youll need to replace it with a single-pole smart switch. If more than one switch controls that loadswitches on opposite sides of a room, for examplethen youll need to replace it with a multi-pole smart switch. This typically means that youll also need to buy a companion switch or switches for the other end(s) of the circuit. There are a few exceptions to this rule, so check the documentation accompanying whichever smart switch you decide to buy before you install it. Control protocol: Youll undoubtedly want to control your smart lighting with your smartphone or tablet, and most people will also want to turn lights on and off with voice commands spoken to a smart speaker, such as an Amazon Echo or a Google Home. But to do that, the smart switch you buy must have some way of connecting to your home network (which explains why Bluetooth smart switches cant talk to smart speakers). Some smart switches connect directly to your Wi-Fi network, while others require a bridge to your router. If youve invested in a smart home systemSamsung SmartThings, Hubitat Elevation, Vivint Smart Home, or any other ecosystemyoull want to make sure that the smart switch you buy is compatible with it. These are the most common communication protocols youll encounter. Bluetooth SIG Bluetooth This type of smart switch is controlled directly by an app on your smartphone or tablet. Bluetooth smart lighting is simple, because you dont need a hub or a connection to your home network. That isolation also makes it secure, because you must be within about 30 feet of the switch to pair with it. On the other hand, authorized users also must be within 30 feet of a Bluetooth switch to control it, and you cant control the switch when youre away from home (although most Bluetooth switches can be controlled according to a pre-programmed schedule). The other major limitation of Bluetooth switches is that they cant be controlled by smart speakers or smart home hubs, which generally rely on one of the other wireless protocols described here. Lutron Lutron Clear Connect This is a proprietary wireless protocol used by Lutron Caseta Wireless smart home devices, including switches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, occupancy sensors, motorized shades, and battery-powered remote controls. You can also control a limited number of third-party devices with Lutrons appranging from thermostats to Wi-Fi speakersand incorporate them into smart home scenes. Clear Connect operates independently of your Wi-Fi network, but you must hardwire a Lutron Smart Bridge to your router to use it. You can control Lutron Caseta devices via Lutrons app, with voice commands spoken to smart speakers, and from mobile devices anywhere you have broadband access. Some smart home systems, including Samsung SmartThings, can also incorporate Lutrons smart home products. Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi This is a relatively recent trend in smart switches, probably because Wi-Fi hasnt always been the best means of blanketing a home with connectivity. Mesh Wi-Fi routers, however, have gone a long way to remedying that problem. The attraction of Wi-Fi smart switches is that they dont require a hub or a bridge to connect to your router. Once installed, they can be controlled with smart speakers, the manufacturers own app, and many smart home systems (check compatibility before you buy). Z-Wave Alliance Z-Wave This is a wireless mesh network technology in which each node on the network is also a repeater that can forward commands on to other Z-Wave devices nearby. It operates in the unlicensed 800- to 900MHz radio spectrum (specifically, 908.42MHz in North America). Its low power requirement means it can be incorporated into battery-operated devices that cannot be plugged directly into an electrical circuit, including door/window sensors, smart locks, water leak detectors, and motion sensors in addition to smart dimmers and switches. Youll need a smart home hub, such as a Samsung SmartThings, to act as a bridge to your Wi-Fi network. Z-Wave is supported by a raft of smart home product developers, including Leviton, Jasco, Aeotec, and others. Zigbee Alliance Zigbee This wireless mesh network technology is very similar to Z-Wave, but it operates in the unlicensed 2.4GHz radio spectrum (same as single-band Wi-Fi). Like Z-Wave, Zigbee has a lower power requirement and can be incorporated into both battery and line-powered devices, ranging from sensors to smart switches. And as with Z-Wave, youll need a smart home hub or some other kind of bridge to connect Zigbee devices to your home network. This could be something as simple as an Amazon Echo Plus, which has an integrated Zigbee radio, or it could be on the order of a Samsung SmartThings hub, which has both Zigbee and Z-Wave radios onboard. Lutron As you can see in this illustration, its not necessary to remove the cover plate to install the Aurora on the switch, but it only works with toggle switches. Signifys Philips Hue bridge is another solution, but its generally limited to supporting Philips Hue smart bulbs and accessories. Zigbee is widely support among smart dimmer manufacturers, including Jasco, Sinope, and Sengled. Lutron also makes an ingenious Zigbee gadget for Philips Hue smart bulbsthe Lutron Aurorathat attaches to an old-fashioned toggle light switch and not only prevents the switch from being turned off (instantly rendering a Philips Hue smart bulb dumb), but it wirelessly controls all the Hub bulbs connected to that switchcomplete with a rotary knob for dimming and brightening those bulbs and turning them on or off. Switch mechanism: Since most people control smart switches and dimmers with voice commands, they soon discover that they rarely physically interact with the devices in their walls. But youll want to consider the type of mechanism the smart switch uses if for no other reason than to ensure its aesthetic matches the rest of your home. These are the most common types youll encounter. Michael Brown / IDG Relatively few manufacturers make smart switches that look like this type of old-fashioned toggle switch. Rocker (aka paddle) This type of switch has a wide plastic panel that rocks back and forth when pressed to turn the controlled load on and off (one side of the switch raises when the other is depressed). These modern-looking switches hug the wall and are very easy to operate. Since a command issued over the air will override whatever physical state the switch is otherwise in, smart rocker switches typically dont physically flip, so theres no confusion when you see a lit bulb when the switch is ostensibly in the off position. A smart dimmer switch might have a secondary controla vertical slider or a horizontal rockerfor adjusting brightness This type of switch has a wide plastic panel that rocks back and forth when pressed to turn the controlled load on and off (one side of the switch raises when the other is depressed). These modern-looking switches hug the wall and are very easy to operate. Since a command issued over the air will override whatever physical state the switch is otherwise in, smart rocker switches typically dont physically flip, so theres no confusion when you see a lit bulb when the switch is ostensibly in the off position. A smart dimmer switch might have a secondary controla vertical slider or a horizontal rockerfor adjusting brightness Toggle A toggle switch operates by moving a lever up and down (flipping the lever up turns the controlled light on, and flipping it down turns it off). These types of switches tend to look more old-fashioned than rocker switches, but you can find smart versions of them if you want something that looks like the other switches you have in your walls. As with smart rocker switches, they generally dont completely change physical appearance when switched on or off. A toggle switch operates by moving a lever up and down (flipping the lever up turns the controlled light on, and flipping it down turns it off). These types of switches tend to look more old-fashioned than rocker switches, but you can find smart versions of them if you want something that looks like the other switches you have in your walls. As with smart rocker switches, they generally dont completely change physical appearance when switched on or off. Touch High-end smart switches and dimmers feature touch-sensitive surfaces. Typically made of glass, touch-sensitive smart switches and dimmers are typically backlit by one or more LEDs that can be multiple colors. The touch sensitivity can be as simple as touch to turn the switch on and touch again to turn it off, or they can be as complex as displaying a user interface that supports finger swipes for calling up different lighting scenes or control elements. Needless to say, these types of smart switches and dimmers cost considerably more than simple plastic devices. Christopher Null Brilliants touchscreen panel lets you see and talk with a person at your door when a visitor activates your Ring Video Doorbell. Wiring connections: Smart switches and dimmers tend to be larger than their dumb counterparts, so you should consider how the new switch will fit in your existing electrical box. This is particularly important if youre installing multiple smart switches next to each other in a single box. Remember that there will be at least four wires to deal withline, load, neutral, and groundand that there will also be a traveler wire if youre dealing with a multi-pole circuit. It can be challenging to stuff all those wires and the new switch back into the box. These are the most common types of electrical connections youll encounter in smart switches. Backstabs These are holes in the back of the switch into which youll push (stab) the appropriate solid copper wires coming out of the wall. These are holes in the back of the switch into which youll push (stab) the appropriate solid copper wires coming out of the wall. Pigtails Some switches have short electrical wires emerging from the back of the switch that youll attach to the wires coming out of the wall, using wire nuts to secure them. This is generally the easiest technique, but if the switch is deep, it can be a challenge to pack the extra wires and the wire nuts tightly enough into the box so that the switch mounts flush against the wall. It can be particularly difficult if the box has other devices in it. Some switches have short electrical wires emerging from the back of the switch that youll attach to the wires coming out of the wall, using wire nuts to secure them. This is generally the easiest technique, but if the switch is deep, it can be a challenge to pack the extra wires and the wire nuts tightly enough into the box so that the switch mounts flush against the wall. It can be particularly difficult if the box has other devices in it. Terminals With this type of switch, youll wind the wires coming out of the wall around flat screws on the sides of the switch and then tighten the screws down. This technique presents less of a challenge when it comes to pushing the wires and the switch back into the box, but the wires can be stiff and youll need to be careful to ensure the stripped wire doesnt come into contact with stripped wires connected to adjacent switches in the box. Christopher Null / IDG Pigtails and wire nuts are one common way to connect a smart switch to your existing in-wall wiring. Our latest smart switch reviews As featured in: HandBrake is a free and open source tool for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs. HandBrake is a cross-platform application, available for Windows, Mac and Linux. One of HandBrakes strengths is its ability to open a wide variety of video formats. HandBrake uses FFmpeg under the hood and generally can open whatever FFmpeg will, in addition to disc-based formats like DVD and Blu-ray. HandBrake does not defeat or circumvent copy protection of any kind. It does not work with video files employing Digital Rights Management (DRM). HandBrakes software video encoders, video filters, audio encoders, and other processes benefit from fast CPU and memory. HandBrakes hardware video encoders also benefit from modern GPU hardware. Built-in Device Presets Get started with HandBrake in seconds by choosing a profile optimised for your device, or choose a universal profile for standard or high quality conversions. Simple, easy, fast. For those that want more choice, tweak many basic and advanced options to improve your encodes. Supported Input Sources Handbrake can process most common multimedia files and any DVD or Blu Ray sources that do not contain any kind of copy protection. Outputs File Containers: .MP4(.M4V) and .MKV Video Encoders: H.265 (x265 and QuickSync), H.264(x264 and QuickSync), H.265 MPEG-4 and MPEG-2, VP8, VP9 and Theora Audio Encoders: AAC / HE-AAC, MP3, Flac, AC3, or Vorbis Audio Pass-thru: AC-3, E-AC3, DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD, AAC and MP3 tracks Even more features Title / chapter and range selection Batch Scan and Queueing of encodes Chapter Markers Subtitles (VobSub, Closed Captions CEA-608, SSA, SRT) Constant Quality or Average Bitrate Video Encoding Support for VFR and CFR Video Filters: Deinterlacing, Decomb, Denoise, Detelecine, Deblock, Grayscale, Cropping and scaling Live Static and Video Preview What's New: Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing. The programming language used to create Paint.NET is C#, with a small amount of C++ for installation and shell-integration related functionality. Features: Performance in many areas has been substantially improved, and overall memory usage has also been greatly reduced (especially when more than 1 image is open). The user interface has been refreshed with new icons, and visual styling has been enhanced for Aero Glass (Windows 7 / Vista only). Upgraded to use the latest .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, which has many built-in performance improvements. New effect: Blurs -> Surface Blur, by Ed Harvey New effect: Distort -> Dents, by Ed Harvey New effect: Distort -> Crystalize, by Ed Harvey The font manager for the Text Tool has been completely rewritten, resulting in increased performance and better reliability. On Windows 7, the quality of text is much better as a result of using DirectWrite (this also works on Windows Vista if you have installed DirectX 11). The built-in updater now has the ability to download updates in the background, and will wait until you exit Paint.NET to install them. In previous versions, the download happened in the foreground, and you had to wait for the entire process to complete before you could use Paint.NET again. Now includes a Russian translation. What's New: Fixed a hang at app startup on systems using certain locales, such as Thai (th-TH) Improved performance of Settings -> Tools, which used to take 6-7 seconds to open. Now it takes about 1 second, thanks to @Bruce Bowyer-Smyth Fixed ReadOnlyBoundToNameValuesRule for IndirectUI-based plugins. It was not initializing correctly, although it would work correctly afterward. This version has been migrated from .NET Framework to .NET 5, includes major performance optimizations across the entire app, and adds native support for ARM64 devices such as the Microsoft Surface Pro X. The JDK is the Java Development Kit, the full-featured SDK for Java. It has everything the JRE has, but also the compiler (javac) and tools (like javadoc and jdb). It is capable of creating and compiling programs. The new Oracle Technology Network License Agreement for Oracle Java SE is substantially different from prior Oracle JDK licenses. The new license permits certain uses, such as personal use and development use, at no cost -- but other uses authorized under prior Oracle JDK licenses may no longer be available. Sometimes, even if you are not planning to do any Java development on a computer, you still need the JDK installed. For example, if you are deploying a web application with JSP, you are technically just running Java programs inside the application server. Why would you need the JDK then? Because the application server will convert JSP into Java servlets and needs to use the JDK to compile the servlets. What's New: The full version string for this update release is 16.0.2+7 (where "+" means "build"). The version number is 16.0.2. This section describes some of the enhancements in Java SE 16 and JDK 16. In some cases, the descriptions provide links to additional detailed information about an issue or a change. The APIs described here are those that are provided with the Oracle JDK. It includes a complete implementation of the Java SE 16 Platform and additional Java APIs to support developing, debugging, and monitoring Java applications. Another source of information about important enhancements and new features in Java SE 16 and JDK 16 is the Java SE 16 ( JSR 391) Platform Specification, which documents the changes to the specification made between Java SE 15 and Java SE 16. This document includes descriptions of those new features and enhancements that are also changes to the specification. The descriptions also identify potential compatibility issues that you might encounter when migrating to JDK 16. IANA TZ Data 2021a JDK 16.0.2 contains IANA time zone data 2021a. JEP 389: Foreign Linker API (Incubator) Introduce an API that offers statically-typed, pure-Java access to native code. This API, together with the Foreign-Memory API (JEP 393), will considerably simplify the otherwise error-prone process of binding to a native library. JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default Strongly encapsulate all internal elements of the JDK by default, except for critical internal APIs such as sun.misc.Unsafe. Allow end users to choose the relaxed strong encapsulation that has been the default since JDK 9. With this change, the default value of the launcher option --illegal-access is now deny rather than permit. As a consequence, existing code that uses most internal classes, methods, or fields of the JDK will fail to run. Such code can be made to run on JDK 16 by specifying --illegal-access=permit. That option will, however, be removed in a future release. JEP 393: Foreign-Memory Access API (Third Incubator) Introduce an API to allow Java programs to safely and efficiently access foreign memory outside of the Java heap. JEP 390: Warnings for Value-based Classes Users of the value-based classes provided by the standard librariesnotably including users of the primitive wrapper classesshould avoid relying on the identity of class instances. Programmers are strongly discouraged from calling the wrapper class constructors, which are now deprecated for removal. New javac warnings discourage synchronization on value-based class instances. Runtime warnings about synchronization can also be activated, using command-line option -XX:DiagnoseSyncOnValueBasedClasses. Complete release notes here. Something to look forward to: An upgrade for Android's aesthetic has long been overdue, and you won't have to wait much longer to see it. Google's upcoming update to its operating system has officially exited its beta phase, with a release finally due in the "next few weeks." On Monday, Google uploaded the source code for Android 12 to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Pixel devices will be the first to receive it sometime in the next few weeks. Other OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus will release the latest iteration for their devices later this year. More than 225,000 people tested the various beta releases of Android 12, culminating in nearly 50,000 issue reports that helped the company improve the final build. Android 12 features "the biggest design change in Android's history," and Google certainly put weight behind that statement by developing a slew of features for its new user interface. They include Material Youa new design languageredesigned widgets, notification UI updates, stretch overscroll, and App launch splash screens. "Material You seeks to create designs that are personal for every style, accessible for every need, alive and adaptive for every screen," said Google. Ambitious, no doubt, but as the flagship feature of the UI overhaul, it had no other option but to be innovative. The company said, "[It's a] multiyear journey that will evolve all of Google's products and ecosystems." With Material You, Google sought to mix color science with years of investment in the disciplines of interaction design and engineering to make it possible to tailor any appnot just Googlesto the users unique Material palette in real-time. A users wallpaper will directly influence various segments of the UI like the notification center and apps, essentially allowing itself to change colors. Beyond the new design features, performance enhancements include more responsive notifications, optimized foreground services, and faster, more efficient system performance. Google has reduced the CPU time used by core system services by 22%, while big core usage has decreased by 15%. Android 12 will also improve app startup times, accompanied by optimized I/O for loading applications faster. On the privacy front, Android 12 incorporates 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." Users have more control over their location data, too. New indicators in the status bar will allow users to see when an app is using the device's camera or microphone in real-time. A good call as malware threats continue to increase. Improved user experience tools aim to increase productivity with rich content insertion, new APIs to support rounded screen corners, new camera effects, sensor capabilities, and enhanced haptic experiences. Compatible media transcoding, AVIF image support, and better debugging for native crashes have also been added. With the Pixel 6 most likely launching on October 19, Android 12 could see a simultaneous release. Either way, Google added that Android 12 would be further detailed at the Android Dev Summit on October 27. What just happened? In a classic case of never thinking things can get any worse, under-pressure Facebook and its suite of apps have just had their worst outage since 2019. It took almost six hours for the issues to be resolved, during which time the internet was flooded with memes, and Mark Zuckerberg lost over $6 billion. The problems started on Monday just before noon ET when people began reporting that they couldn't access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsAppeven the Oculus app and website were impacted. It would be almost six hours before regular service resumed. When Instagram & Facebook are down. pic.twitter.com/mVFlVOOCOC Netflix (@netflix) October 4, 2021 The problems didn't only affect Facebook's apps. The company said it also impacted many of its internal tools and communication systems. There were reports of employees unable to get into Facebook's offices because their passcards weren't working. Several told The Verge that they had to resort to using their Outlook email accounts to communicate with colleagues. Those who tried to log into work tools such as Google Docs using their email addresses also found they were locked out. The problems meant diagnosing and fixing the problem took even longer. Congratulations, you made it to the next round pic.twitter.com/hviCZfG8q9 drey (@Dreymwangi) October 4, 2021 Facebook has now apologized for the outage and explained what went wrong. It says a configuration change to the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between the company's data centers was to blame. Cloudflare senior vice president Dane Knecht tweeted that Facebook's border gateway protocol (BGP) routes, which find the best path to deliver traffic, were suddenly "withdrawn from the internet." . @Facebook DNS and other services are down. It appears their BGP routes have been withdrawn from the internet. @Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 started seeing high failure in last 20mins. Dane Knecht (@dok2001) October 4, 2021 Security reporter Brian Krebs described it as "a routine BGP update gone wrong." "By not having BGP announcements for your DNS name servers, DNS falls apart = nobody can find you on the internet. Same with WhatsApp btw. Facebook have basically deplatformed themselves from their own platform," tweeted Kevin Beaumont, Microsoft's former Head of Security Operations Centre. Facebook has apologized for the outage and said there is no evidence user data was impacted. The outage couldn't have come at a worse time for Facebook. It is currently dealing with the fallout from a Wall Street Journal report that revealed the company knows how damaging Instagram is to the mental health of teenage girls. There's also the whistleblower set to testify to US senators that Facebook prioritizes making money over doing what is good for the public. According to Bloomberg, the (latest) bad publicity and outage led to a Facebook stock selloff that dropped its price 4.9% on Monday, wiping more than $6 billion off Mark Zuckerberg's personal wealth and sending him below fourth-place Bill Gates on the Billionaires Index. In brief: Xbox has teamed up with the makers of Rockstar energy drink to create five collectors edition cans inspired by Halo Infinite. Each can was designed by a different artist, who was given free rein to come up with their own interpretation of Master Chief. Theyll be available in five flavors including original, sugar free, blackberry goji, fruit punch and silver ice. The artists responsible for the can designs are as follows: Matt Taylor (Original): Based in Brighton in the United Kingdom, Matt Taylor specializes in illustration and comics. Throughout his successful 10-year illustration career, Taylor has turned to Americana and classic comic books from the 1950s and 1960s for inspiration. Oliver Barrett (Sugar Free): Oliver is an artist and designer from Cleveland, Ohio, now residing in Austin, Texas. He spent nearly a decade at branding and marketing agencies as a designer before forging his own path as an artist, serving clients like 20th Century Fox, A24, Amazon, DC Comics, Disney, Variety and Vice. Hydro74 (Blackberry Goji): Joshua M. Smith, also known as Hydro74, works in Orlando, Florida as a designer and artist. Through his 20 years of published work, he has been known for pushing the boundaries of contemporary art. Hes passionate about breaking new ground and expanding his artistic influences with the peers and brands in which he collaborates. Dan Mumford (Fruit Punch): Dan Mumford is a freelance illustrator working in central London, UK, where he runs Studio Dan Mumford Limited. Over the past 13 years, Mumford has worked within the pop culture and music scene, creating everything from album covers, branding and screen-prints to new interpretations of classic film posters and albums. Yuko Shimizu (Silver Ice): Yuko Shimizu is a Japanese illustrator based in New York City whose work combines Japanese heritage with contemporary reference points. Works by Shimizu address a range of serious issues but can also be light and whimsical. From October 1 through December 31, gamers will also have the opportunity to unlock exclusive in-game content and win prizes using codes located under the tab of each Halo Infinite series can. One prize bundle consists of an Xbox Series X console, a digital copy of Halo Infinite, a Razer Raptor 27-inch gaming monitor and a Razer Kaira Pro Halo Infinite headset. The grand prize, which will be awarded to one lucky winner in the US, includes a custom Jeep Gladiator featuring massive 43-inch tires, performance upgrades and pro-level suspension. Participants and interested parties can enter their codes and read the full contest rules over on Rockstars website. Halo Infinite launches on Xbox One, Xbox Series and Microsoft Windows on December 8, 2021. Bottom line: Sony doesn't seem to be preparing to remove the ability to buy legacy digital content for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PSP again (not yet anyway). It is, however, adding another hurdle to go through for those who are still buying things through those systems. On October 27th, Sony will remove the ability to add funds to wallets on the PlayStation Store via a PS3 or Vita. Customers will no longer be able use payment methods like credit cards or PayPal directly on those systems. Users will still be able to buy and download things on those stores like PS3 games, Vita games, PSP games, digital original PlayStation games, or digital PlayStation 2 games. They'll just have to add funds through either a web browser, the mobile PlayStation app, a PlayStation 4, a PlayStation 5, or gift cards, before buying items for older systems. This also applies to buying things in in-game stores. Vouchers for products and subscriptions will also still work like this. In March, Sony announced it would completely shut down the digital PS3, Vita, and PSP stores due to the challenges of keeping those stores running on aging hardware. After a lot of criticism from users who still wanted to buy older games from those stores, Sony stepped back from closing the PS3 and Vita stores, but still closed the PSP store in July. Customers can still buy PSP content through the PS3 and Vita stores, then download it on a PSP or transfer them to a PSP from a PS3. Late last year, Sony stopped selling PS3, Vita, and PSP games through the web browser and mobile stores. Sony hasn't said anything about how much longer it plans to keep selling those games through PS3 and Vita. It goes without saying that technology has gone a long, long way since 1993, the year Jensen Huang co-founded NVIDIA. His company has since been at the forefront of the design and manufacture of graphics processing units (GPUs). NVIDIA has also ventured into creating chips that are geared towards non-graphics tasks. Those chips have eventually opened doors as far as artificial intelligence (AI) is concerned and have already been used for self-driving cars and robots. Despite all the success of NVIDIA and a net worth Forbes has valued, as of writing, at $19.4 billion, Jensen Huang has not forgotten to give back to those who have helped him be who he is today. Here is everything you should know about NVIDIA CEO, president, and co-founder Jensen Huang: Jensen Huang: A Journey Involving Three Countries Jensen Huang was born in Taiwan on February 17, 1963. According to the Forbes profile on the NVIDIA CEO, he eventually moved to Thailand as a child, but he and his brother were then sent to the United States due to the civil unrest in the Southeast Asian country. Per Forbes, Huang's aunt and uncle ended up sending him to a boarding school for troubled youth in Kentucky after mistaking it for a prep school. He was tasked to clean the boys' bathroom every day after class while in the boarding school. His family eventually moved from Kentucky to Oregon, where Huang graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University. Jensen Huang eventually pursued higher education and earned his Master of Science in Engineering from Stanford University. Co-Founder, President, and CEO of NVIDIA Jensen Huang co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has since been the company's president and CEO. He is also a member of NVIDIA's board of directors. Prior to founding NVIDIA, he worked for LSI Logic and Advanced Micro Devices. Per Forbes, NVIDIA went public six years after the company was founded. Huang currently owns 3.6% of NVIDIA. According to the NVIDIA website, the "company's invention of the GPU in 1999 made possible real-time programmable shading, which defines modern computer graphics, and later revolutionized parallel computing." NVIDIA has since ventured into GPU deep learning, which in turn ignited AI. NVIDIA's GPU has then become "the brain of computers, robots and self-driving cars that can perceive and understand the world." Related Article: Graphics Card Tech Specs Explained: What Do They Mean, And Which Ones Matter the Most? Huang's Awards, Accolades, and Charity Work Jensen Huang was recently named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2021. He joined the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who have also been included in the prestigious list. NVIDIA's website also lists the following awards and accolades that Jensen Huang has received: Robert N. Noyce Award (the award is considered as the highest honor of the Semiconductor Industry Association) IEEE Founder's Medal Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award No. 1 rank in Harvard Business Review's 100 Best-Performing CEOs in 2019 Fortune's Businessperson of the Year for 2017 Despite the massive success of NVIDIA and the many awards, accolades, and even honorary doctorates that came with it, Jensen Huang has not forgotten to give back to the institutions and people who have helped him reach success. According to Forbes, Huang gave Stanford University $30 million to put up an engineering center. He also gave Oregon Health & Science University $5 million to fund its cancer research labs. Also Read: NVIDIA CEO Earns Spot in TIME Magazine 100 Most Influential List; But Why? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isabella James 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Tesla has also experienced the chip shortage issue but was not a problem for the clean energy company as the engineering team has found a way around it, which focused on its manufacturing. Elon Musk has yet again commended the engineering team of the company, which has done a tremendous job of delivering units, this third quarter. From the effortless purchase of an EV online, down to the arrival of the FSD beta for the public users and having a safety score for their use, Tesla's great performance comes to bring success for the company. That being said, Tesla's performance has not faltered for this year. And this is not yet having a full blast on Gigafactories for now. Elon Musk Comments Tesla Engineering Team Tesla is yet again noticed by its CEO, and it was commended by Elon Musk for a job well done this Q3 2021, especially as it did not falter despite the rising problems with regards to manufacturing. It was known that the third quarter's chip shortage problem was widespread and has affected the production of rivals, including that of General Motors. Musk took his congratulatory commendation to the Tesla engineering team on Twitter, where here, the CEO said that they had done a great job for the third quarter of the year. Musk also mentioned that the past Q3 was an "extremely" difficult situation for them, especially as the chip shortage was a real problem that needed addressing. This was *extremely* difficult. Huge props to Tesla engineering, supply chain, production & key suppliers. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2021 That being said, the engineering team were not the only people that Musk commended, but also its supply chain, production, and its key suppliers with regards to this matter. Read Also: Elon Musk: Tesla FSD Beta v10.2 to Add More Users Instead of Initial Weekly Plan This Friday Tesla Chip Shortage: Not a Problem According to Morgan Stanley's investor notes (as analyzed by Adam Jonas), the clean energy company had no problems concerning chip shortages because it sourced it in-house. That being said, Tesla has focused on its microcontrollers which it can produce, something that they have assembled and combined for its vehicles. With these, the company need not source the chips from an external source, and this was something that the vehicle manufacturer has focused on for a long time now. Tesla's Self Sufficiency The self-sufficiency of Tesla has given them a chance to prevail during these hard times, especially as it is the time of the global pandemic, as well as chip shortage issues. This is an important factor now because certain companies cannot provide for themselves, and even manufacturers are facing hardships now. With Tesla's take on certain business practices, it would be benefiting from the experience, and it would enjoy having continuous production, which means it would be able to push its products into the market. Related Article: Elon Musk Commends AMD for Efforts Amidst Chip Shortage, ROI in Tesla Rising Despite Factories Not at Full Capacity This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Isaiah Richard 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. (Photo : Image from Unsplash Website) Man Married Rice Cooker, Fell Out of Love, and Divorced It After 4 Days A certain man from Indonesia has experienced a brief but peculiar stint at married life not with a fellow human but rather with his electrical "bride." The Indonesian man reportedly married his rice cooker and, with a "heavy heart," decided to divorce it after just four days of marriage. Anam Marries Rice Cooker Khoirul Anam from Magelang Java, had just recently announced his wedding on Facebook by posting the official pictures of the said nuptial ceremony. The pictures showed Anam wearing the traditional white wedding attire while his "bride" was also dressed for the occasion. Anam's now ex-wife, the rice cooker, was reportedly dressed in a traditional white veil for the official signing of the documents. In the post's caption, Khoirul expressed his affection and sentiments towards the rice cooker he decided to marry, according to a story by 9gag. Man Marries and Divorces Rice Cooker Anam shared his sentiments, noting the rice cooker was white, loving, and also obedient. The statement also included the obvious benefits of having a rice cooker as a wife, noting that "without you, my rice is not cooked." With an estimate of 25% of millennials possibly not getting married, Anam has married and gotten divorced in a span of four days. Although the news was humorously celebrated around the internet, the story turned even more interesting as just four days after the wedding, Anam then decided to divorce his ex-wife, the rice cooker. After four days, Anam took it to Facebook yet again to announce that he had divorced the rice cooker due to it only being able to do one thing, cook rice. Who is Khoirul Anam A report by India Today shared that Khoirul Anam is actually well known for pulling quite eccentric antics on his social media account in order to entertain his followers. This might not be the first time his antics were noticed on social media, but it definitely is the first time that his antics blew up to the extent of popularity it has received now. The initial Facebook post of Anam's marriage to his rice cooker saw a whopping 8K reactions along with 1.3K comments and 9.9K shares. The story was met with much humor as the reactions it mostly received were a like button and a laughing reaction. Read Also: TikTok NFTs: TikTok Top Moments to Feature Lil Nas X, Grimes, Bella Poarch, and MORE Was His Divorce Popular? The reactions reportedly included 4.8K likes, 2.9K laughing emojis, 62 sad emojis, and 40 wow emojis. The second post, however, was not able to meet as much popularity as the first story when the news of his unorthodox marriage broke out. The Facebook post announcing Anam's divorce with his ex-wife rice cooker received 4.4K reactions, 585 comments, and 831 shares all in all. This comprised 2.5K likes, 1.8K laughing emojis, 77 sad emojis, and 16 wow emojis. The latest post of Anam as of the writing of this article translated on Facebook to "at least can entertain" while sharing photos of the headlines that his antics have received. While online couples are said to be less likely to marry, Anam tells a different story of a relationship with an appliance. Related Article: [Viral Culture] Best TikTok Accounts To Get Inspiration For Room Design Ideas This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Urian B. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SpaceX Inspiration4's Jared Isaacman, the crew mission commander, flaunted an image of the Earth that he took from his iPhone while in orbit during their monumental spaceflight. After the successful space mission of the SpaceX Inspiration4 crew last month, mission commander and billionaire Isaacman shared another photo of the view from the first-ever all-civilian spaceflight. Aside from achieving the milestone for being the first crew mission without any professional astronauts, Inspiration4 also carried out medical research studying humans during spaceflights. It is worth noting that the all-civilian crew used Apple products, such as iPad, iPhone, and even Apple Watch to collect data for the health study. The smart wearable was tasked to collect numerous data from the civilian space crew, including their blood oxygen level saturation, heart rate, and rhythm, movement, ECG activity, and sleep. SpaceX Inspiration4's Jared Isaacman Flaunts Stunning Earth Image And now, Apple's iPhone took another spotlight after the Inspiration4 crew commander shared their amazing view from the orbit on his Twitter account, as per NDTV. Isaacman, who is also the CEO of Shift4 Payments, praised the Apple device in his post, saying: "Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this." The billionaire went on to mention that he "loves the nosecone in the picture." The stunning photo of the Earth was taken from the massive glass dome feature of the Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX that goes by the name "cupola." Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this. I really love the nosecone in the picture. pic.twitter.com/sz1UVx3pUE Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) October 3, 2021 SpaceX Inspiration4 Earth Images It is worth noting that Isaacman is not the only one from the all-civilian crew that took some time to photos and videos of the impressive views from outer space. According to News18, one of the crews of Inspiration4, Arceneaux, also posted a 360-degree view of the Earth during their spaceflight, calling it "absolutely life-changing." On top of that, Isaacman previously also shared a 17-second video featuring the view of Brazil from space during their first day in orbit. The billionaire and commander of the mission further noted that he took the stunning video from his iPhone. However, he also said that images taken by his Nikon camera will also be out soon. A video over Brazil from first day on orbit. Shot w/iPhone but hopefully we can get some of @inspiration4x Nikon shots out soon. Such a privilege to see our from this perspective. We need to take far better care of our home planet and also reaching for the stars. pic.twitter.com/mAQw6eK8Ui Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) September 25, 2021 Read Also: Jared Isaacman Thanks SpaceX for Bringing Inspiration4 Back Safely, Elon Musk for $50 Million Donation SpaceX Inspiration4 The Inspiration4 all-civilian crew composed of Isaacman, Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor, launched into orbit for their monumental spaceflight and came back to Earth after three days. Aside from making history and conducting medical research, the space mission also raised $250 million to aid the ongoing study of childhood cancer in the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. The CEO and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, capped out the fundraising after donating the remaining $50 million for the charitable project. Related Article: SpaceX's Inspiration4 is Launching Next Week Aboard the Dragon, And the Mission is a Go This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Teejay Boris 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ransomware Gang hackers in Ukraine have been arrested for hundreds of cyberattacks targeting hundreds of European and North American firms. The operation that arrested the two "prolific ransomware" hackers was a joint mission by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI, the French National Gendarmerie, and the Ukrainian National Police, as per The Hacker News. The joint operation of law enforcement agencies from multiple nations is also assisted by INTERPOL's Cyber Fusion Centre and Europol's European Cybercrime Centre. Ransomware Gang Hackers Arrested in Ukraine According to Yahoo News, Europol announced on Oct. 4 that the two ransomware gang members were arrested by the law enforcement agencies last Sept. 28. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation further noted that the ransomware gang is suspected to be behind targeted cyberattacks on large industrial firms from April 2020 up to the present. The agency explained the scheme of the prominent ransomware gang, revealing that the criminal minds steal data by planting a virus on their systems. After which, the ransomware group will encrypt sensitive files and demand ransom that skyrockets to $81 million. The payment would enable the victim to decrypt their files again to continue with their operations. However, if the hefty demands are not fulfilled, the attackers usually resort to leaking sensitive data on the dark web. Read Also: Ransomware Gang, Ragnar Locker, Issues Threat to Victims that will Contact FBI or Authorities Police Seized Luxury Cars, Crypto, and Cash The joint operation did not only arrest two of the ransomware gang members. It also seized $375,000, along with $250,000 worth of luxury cars. On top of that, the law enforcement agencies also froze cryptocurrencies to the tune of $1.3 million. Coindesk said that ransomware hackers commonly demand the ransom payment to be in cryptocurrencies, which could be due to two reasons: security and speed. The Ukrainian National Police also disclosed that the numerous attacks that the arrested ransomware gang members have already caused its victims a whopping $150 million worth of damages. The police in Ukraine posted a video of the operation on YouTube wherein the officers fully armed and high-powered guns were seen entering an apartment filled with computers, MacBooks, and cash. It is worth noting that the authorities have yet to unveil which ransomware gang the arrested members belong to. However, the police agency noted that one of the two arrested individuals is a 25-year-old citizen of Ukraine, who is suspected to be behind the deployment of the virus into remote working programs. The latest arrest comes after the previous operation against several members of the ransomware gang that goes by the moniker Clop last June 23. Aside from the Clop members' arrests, the law enforcement also seized computers and cars with Tesla and Mercedes badges. Related Article: REvil Ransomware Gang Cheats Affiliates to Keep 100% of Ransom Payment-Here's How This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Teejay Boris 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Facebook outage that recently happened did not only affect social media users. The company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has reportedly suffered from a massive drop in his net worth as well. According to recent reports, the tech boss saw over $6 billion loss after the social media blackout that occurred for several hours. Facebook Outage Hits Mark Zuckerberg's Net Worth According to a report by Bloomberg, The social media giant suffered from a nearly 5% drop in stocks on Monday, Oct.4. Before this decline happened, there was another 15% plunge that was recorded in mid-September. After the massive Facebook outage, the net worth of one of the earth's billionaires has hit $121.6 billion. There was a staggering loss of more than $6 billion in his worth. The latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index noted that Zuckerberg has stumbled to 5th place in the list. He is now behind Microsoft founder Bill Gates who has a current net worth of $124 billion. Facebook-Owned Companies Experience Sudden 'Lights Off' Facebook is not the only platform that was hit by the recent social media blackout. Other apps owned by the company, such as Instagram and WhatsApp, were also affected by the outage. From a story written by 9to5Mac, the social media users began to feel that there's something wrong on the social media plaforms at around 8:40 AM PT. At the time, other users noticed that it was not the internet that was causing a problem on the app, but the downtime instead. Many users ended up using other available social media networks such as Twitter to voice out the problem. The outage has reportedly persisted for over six hours. As of the moment, the problems behind the Facebook outage were not still determined, but it was most likely a case of a DNS issue. It has impacted social media's domains. What's worse with the downtime is the inclusion of the internal network in the outage. This made the outage longer than usual. 9to5Mac also reported that the system for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp has been restored by 6 PM ET. Read Also: Facebook Misinformation Generates More Clicks Than Factual News [STUDY] Upcoming Facebook Boycott Last September, we reported that there are certain groups of people who want to boycott the world's largest social media app. The action is expected to be staged next month. The social advocates encouraged all the Facebook users to join the movement of logging out their accounts on the app. The participants will start the trend on Nov. 10. In line with the boycott, another research proved Facebook-owned Instagram was toxic to teenage girls. After the company heard this, the VP for global affairs dismissed the allegations. The study noted that many users are still unprotected from harassment on social media. While Instagram aims to showcase many meaningful events in the lives of the people, the recent findings revealed that it was not suitable for younger users. Related Article: Facebook Whistleblower Goes Public, Says Facebook Prioritizes Profits Over Safety This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Joseph Henry 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple's A15 Bionic chip on the new iPhone 13 series smartphones is reportedly faster than the earlier claims of the company. According to the latest source, the Cupertino giant's own processor has an impressive set of improvements based on the recent review. A15 Bionic Processor is Even Faster Than 50% According to a review written by AnandTech on Monday, Oct.4, Apple's newest chip was in fact 62% faster compared to what the firm claimed previously. The earlier claim was 50% in performance. The source said that the A15 chip has two CPU microarchitectures intended for the efficiency cores (4) and performance cores (2). It also features N5P, which is regarded to be an improved version of the 5nm process. This component is what makes the chip more viable for its high-frequency capacity. The media outlet added that the system cache of Apple's A15 comes with a 32MB boost. This size was twice better compared to its predecessor A14. The report also noted that this is one of the key factors when it comes to processor's power efficiency. Furthermore, the 55% improvement on the Bionic iGPU put it in the place with the likes of the prestigious chips in the market. However, AnandTech highlighted that compared to the Snapdragon 888, its L2 size is larger. "Apple here instead has managed to reduce power whilst increasing performance, meaning energy efficiency is improved by 17% on the peak performance states versus the A14," AnandTech stated. The Downside of A15 GPU From Macrumors' recent report, the criticism for the A15 chip could be attributed to the latest PCB design. AnandTech criticized the amount of throttling present in the iPhone 13 Pro. The thermal design of Apple's smartphone is something that needs to be addressed. Many users are still complaining about overheating issues when using their iPhones. Despite this problem, it seems that the iPhone 13 series products are still impressive in speed and efficiency in phone competition. The tech website further said that the significant improvements in the A15 chip would pave the way for iPhone 13's longer battery span. So far, it surpassed A14 in overall performance. Read Also: [LOOK] iPhone 13 Screen Can be Replaced Without Losing Face ID, UK Shop Reveals How A15 is Better Than A14 in CPU Benchmark Last month, a report showed that the Apple A15 chip presented a 21% CPU performance over the previous model. At the time of writing, the Bionic processor was reported to be arriving for the iPhone 13 lineup. A massive bump in performance was possible through the multiple cores of the chip. Compared to iPhone 12's SoC score of 3832, A15 posed a stellar 4621 edge. At the time of publication, Macrumors wrote on its old report that the Geekbench results yielded a 10608 metal score for iPhone 13. This was still deemed to be lower compared to iPhone 13 Pro's score of 14216. Related Article: Apple A15 Bionic Chip Reportedly Just Entered Mass Production; Will It Come On Time For The iPhone 13? This article is owned by Tech Times Written by Joseph Henry 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Apple is commemorating the 10th death anniversary of the company's most popular tech icon, Steve Jobs. The official website of the Cupertino giant paid a tribute to the iPhone inventor through a short film about his early life and contributions. Apple Creates a Memorable Tribute For Steve Jobs According to a report by Macrumors on Tuesday, Oct. 5, the tech titan made a touching tribute for the late founder Steve Jobs through a short film. The family of the Apple computer creator also shared some words about the inventor. Jobs' family penned a statement about the Apple pioneer and described him as an inspiration. Moreover, it was mentioned there that their association with Steve was "one of the greatest sources of consolation." The family member said that even in Jobs' last years, he did not lose his faith in the "beauty" of existence. "Memory is inadequate for what is in our hearts: we miss him profoundly. We were blessed to have him as husband and father," the last line in the statement reads. Besides a special tribute from his family, the 10th death anniversary of the tech mastermind was highlighted by a short clip entitled "Celebrating Steve." If you want to watch this film, you can visit the official website of Apple. It has a total run time of 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Former Product Designer Remembers Steve Jobs Jony Ive, one of Job's closest friends, cherished his last moments with him through his latest piece published in WSJ Magazine. The former design chief of Apple wrote a touching letter to Steve. Last year, Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple remembered Jobs' legacy in the company. At that time, he said that Steve was still connected to their memory as their daily inspiration. Jobs founded Apple with another engineer Steve Wozniak in 1976. Years later, the latter decided to leave the company for good in 1985. However, it was not the last time that he will work with Jobs. In 1997, Wozniak decided to return to Cupertino to help the developers and other inventors on product and design development. He was also responsible for the creation of famous gadgets, such as the iPhone and Mac, according to iMore. In August 2011, he granted the leadership to now-CEO Tim Cook. Two months later, Jobs passed away on Oct.5, 2011, at the age of 56. The cause of his death was pancreatic cancer. Read Also: iPhone Nano Already in Development? Steve Jobs Email Includes Tiny Apple Handset-Possibly Smaller Than iPhone 4 How Steve Jobs Arrived With iPhone Up to date, the iPhone is considered to be the most influential gadget that Jobs developed. Apparently, the reason behind its creation stemmed from his hate for a Microsoft employee. According to iPhone co-maker, Scott Forstall, it all started during a weekend party where a Microsoft employee joined. At that time, the man bragged that the tablet PCs that they made were more convenient compared to the computers. What sparked Jobs to persevere in surpassing Microsoft is his hate over the tablet PCs. Steve said that they are only good because they have a stylus. This drove him to devise a product that would be "better" than the tablet. Around 2004, Jobs improved his tablet. When he learned that many people preferred mobile phones, he immediately shifted to moving the multi-touch displays to the modern gadget. Last March, the handwritten job application of the ex-Apple CEO was sold in an auction. The interesting finding on his resume confirmed that he had no phone in 1973. Back in August, we reported that the signed Apple II manual of the iPhone pioneer was sold for nearly $800,000. It has 196 pages, and is well-known because of its "Julian" inscription. Related Article: Was Steve Jobs Really That Important to the Success of Apple? This article is ownd by Tech Times Written by Joseph Henry 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Five reasons why the Asia Pacific is at the heart of the UKs Digital Trade ambition Guest Blog: Tanya Williams, Head of the Digital Trade Network in Australia and New Zealand, explores the importance of the APAC region to UKs international agenda and digital trade policy At London Tech Week this year, the UKs International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan highlighted the UK governments vision to be a global leader in digital trade. The context for this ambition is clear: In the UK, international digital trade is already a key driver of productivity and business growth, contributing 150.6 billion to the economy in 2019 and employing 4.6% of the national workforce. Globally, some estimates suggest that digital transformation investments could total US$6.8 trillion between 2020 and 2023, creating enormous opportunities for the most talented and innovative tech companies. creating enormous opportunities for the most talented and innovative tech companies. The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of the online world to businesses and consumers , with a recent study highlighting how the ability to connect remotely has mitigated the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the cost of supplying services. , with a recent study highlighting how the ability to connect remotely has mitigated the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the cost of supplying services. However the existing and emerging barriers to growth in the global digital economy are considerable, given the varied levels of openness to digital trade and creeping restrictions e.g. on data or requirements to access source code. to growth in the global digital economy are considerable, given the varied levels of openness to digital trade and creeping restrictions e.g. on data or requirements to access source code. In addition, diverging technical and regulatory standards can make it more difficult to connect different digital markets. This is particularly relevant to issues related to data, cybersecurity and new and emerging technologies, such as AI. Overcoming emerging barriers and keeping digital markets open will require effective international cooperation. As home to some of the fastest growing digital tech ecosystems in the world, the Asia Pacific is at the heart of the UKs digital trade ambition. Here are five reasons why: 1. The Indo-Pacific Tilt The UK governments Integrated Review highlights the importance of the region to the UKs economic and security interests and commits to strengthening strategic partnerships - particularly in digital, data and cybersecurity realms - and to establish the UK as a Science and Technology hub. As global economic power shifts eastwards, the UKs goal is to be the European partner with the broadest and most integrated presence in the region: committed for the long term, with closer and deeper partnerships, bilaterally and multilaterally. 2. A Booming Digital Economy According to estimates, the Asia Pacific will be among the fastest regions to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic due to strong investment in digital transformation, with spending on digitalisation set to reach US1.2 trillion by 2022. Tech adoption is comparable to the US market, with over 400m internet users across South East Asia and population growth remains strong: by 2030, 65% of the worlds middle classes and 12% of the global working age population will live in the Asia Pacific, compared to 13% in Europe and North America. A number of UK tech companies already have a presence here, including Babylon, Ovo, Darktrace, Wise, Revolut, Deliveroo. Our aim is to help more digital tech SMEs from all regions in the UK access the growing opportunities in the Asia Pacific through the Digital Trade Networks International Growth Programme. 3. APACs Leadership in Digital Trade Rules As the global architecture that governs digital trade continues to develop, Asia Pacific countries have been breaking new ground in digital rules by launching plurilateral discussions at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), developing or upgrading digital provisions in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and creating bespoke digital agreements such as DEPA. These approaches seek to streamline e-commerce and address the most pressing governance issues concerning digital trade, including cross-border data flows, the protection personal data and the regulation of the internet and new technologies. The UK government is actively engaged with partners in this space. It is close to finalising cutting edge FTAs with Australia and New Zealand , is the first European country to launch negotiations towards a DEA with Singapore and is active at the WTO s joint initiative on e-commerce . Beyond FTAs, the UK has prioritised Australia, Singapore and South Korea as future destinations for UK adequacy and will adopt the G7s Digital Trade Principles at the G7 Trade Ministers Meeting this month. 4. The Home of CPTPP The Asia pacific is home to seven out of 11 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which has a combined GDP of 9trn and an e-commerce chapter that sets modern rules for digital trade across all sectors of the economy. CPTPP provides UK businesses with a number of opportunities: it will make business travel easier between member countries, allows the UK to go further in addressing barriers on trade facilitation and data with a wide range of partners and provides a strong platform for the UK to help shape the emerging digital trading rulebook. 5. The UKs flagship Digital Trade Network All of the above explains why the UK government chose to launch the first Digital Trade Network in the Asia Pacific region. The Digital Trade Network increases the UKs digital tech capability in Asia Pacific, enabling us to create new collaborations and partnerships; support our businesses to increase trade and investment; and maximise the benefits of digital tech innovation to improve peoples lives and make businesses more productive. So far we have championed new initiatives, such as our partnership with TechUKs UK-APAC Tech Forum and the ASEAN-UK Digital Innovation Partnership. More widely, the DTN is addressing digital barriers by researching market challenges, piloting ways to support the interoperability of digital markets and helping businesses and investors navigate the diverse opportunities between the UK and Asia Pacific. To find out more about our work, or to take part in our programmes, please get in touch. The Digital Trade Network is a UK government initiative, launched by the Secretary of State for International Trade and overseen by Her Majestys Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific. It increases the UKs digital tech capability in Asia Pacific by enabling new collaborations, supporting businesses to increase trade and investment and fostering digital innovation to improve peoples lives and make businesses more productive. How can UK tech assist in grassroots climate projects Corporate social responsibility, green governance and sustainability are fashionable concepts, but is there a way that tech companies can go above and beyond, leaving a permanent legacy with their choice of engagement? Introduction Grassroots engagement is one way in which companies in the global north can have a measurable impact on the climate, and a permanent impact on the lives of communities in the global south. They are a way of delivering diverse social goods relating to climate change, wildlife conservation and poverty alleviation, in a manner that becomes self sufficient over time. By focussing funding locally, engaging with real people, the impacts of firms become more tangible and transparent. Tech is uniquely positioned to fill large gaps in the capacity of grassroots action on climate. The relative lack of digital infrastructure in parts of the developing world means that small donations of tech, or funding for tech skills, can have a disproportionately large impact. To explore this techUK attended the Wildlife Works webinar focussing on the community-led REDD+ project in Kenyas Kasigau Corridor. Case Study Kasigau Corridor The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project is a part of a UNFCCC initiative with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. The plan promotes the sustainable management of forest stocks in developing countries. It is aligned with principles of wildlife conservation, poverty alleviation, female empowerment, and the land rights of indigenous peoples. The carbon sequestered in REDD+ projects result in the acquisition of carbon credits, which are sold to pay costs of forest protection and to fund social programmes. The Kasigau project covers over 200,000 hectares of dryland forest and has directly avoided 13,900,000+ tonnes of CO2 emissions to date, approximately 1,700,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. It provides funding for social programmes affecting over 116,000 people in the local communities. These programmes often relate to providing long-term alternative livelihoods to unsustainable forms of income such as poaching, subsistence agriculture and illegal deforestation for timber and charcoal. Womens education is another successful outcome of this project, emphasised by the panel. Governance Governance is organised to optimise transparency, democratic engagement, and inclusivity. Decisions are made by committees, one for each community in the project area. Each committee has between 7 and 9 members. There are also subcommittees within these, such as bursary committees who handle educational bursaries. Individual villages make applications to their local committees for funding for REDD+ projects, the results of which are made publicly visible on notice boards to ensure communities understand the reasons for project approval or rejection. Impacts The role of women has changed dramatically from the inception of this project. From traditional livelihoods gathering water and other natural resources, women are now becoming educated with the help of bursaries and gaining employment in the project and elsewhere. This has empowered women in the community and help to curtail some unsustainable livelihood practices. Locally employed rangers carry out wildlife monitoring, community education, human wildlife conflict resolution, livestock recovery and general security for the protected area. The rangers have made the decision to remain unarmed to avoid distancing themselves from the communities which they rely on for intelligence gathering and cooperation. The Chief Ranger acknowledged the increased risks to life of carrying arms. In a region where the poachers are likely to be heavily armed, it is safer to avoid escalating this threat. The project carries out scientific research in the form wildlife monitoring to gauge the impact of the protection that the forest is now receiving. This has indicated significant reduction in forest degradation and deforestation. Water conservation is also a high priority for community members, so soil moisture levels are regularly measured to ensure that the higher ground is not becoming dried out. This is particularly important in the context of recent high temperatures and unseasonable heat waves, likely the result of climate change. Role of Digital Technology The panel kindly responded to my query on the role of digital technology in the project. Due to current capacity, the only digital technology that is being deployed in the project relates to the water conservation activities and some elements of poacher surveillance. Camera traps and specialised sampling equipment are suitable for the operations as they stand, however, there is undoubtably potential for improving the digital infrastructure in the project area to assist the communities actions. Tech companies, in donating their expertise and capital, would be extending their influence on climate change mitigation globally and REDD+ initiatives locally. There is potential for tech in important areas, such as education, female empowerment, forest cover monitoring, poacher identification, elephant tracking, weather forecasting and many more. There are, however, questions relating to the automation of work though the introduction of digital tech. If companies are to engage, it must not be in the enhancement of one aspect of REDD+ at the expense of another. Digital ethics are a consideration for community led projects such as this to avoid accidental harm to the project viability or integrity. Stepping up the tech used in projects like this may be drive the wider viability and adoption of similar projects, leading to poverty alleviation, wildlife conservation and climate wins elsewhere. Conclusions I propose an examination of the ways that UK tech can assist in successful projects as part of practical CSR endeavours in a future discussion among techUK members. There is also capacity for UK firms to offset their carbon footprint though engagement with community led projects like this. This would ensure that the impact of the money spent on the carbon credit would be felt by those best placed to protect the natural areas we all depend on. The Future is Bright for Quantum in the UK Quantum Computing was centre stage at the hybrid London Tech Week. You can read techUK's round-up below London Tech Week has catapulted quantum technologies to the forefront of the tech community. For those who have been advocating for quantum by boosting academic research; spinning new startups out of seminar rooms and academic labs; and bolstering Government support its emergence at the center stage is somewhat anticipated. Indeed, its the result of years of dedicated, hard work starting to come to fruition. Yet, for those unfamiliar with the quantum ecosystem that has been steadily growing since 2014, London Tech Week has helped paint clearly perhaps for the first time why now is the time to envision a future in the UK powered by quantum. Government support at the heart of UK quantum Chaired by techUK, the two-day Quantum Computing Summit championed the ongoing investment into the UKs quantum ecosystem. Gemma Peck, Director Business Growth at Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, opened the session by emphasising the Governments commitment to the development and deployment of quantum technologies, with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) which officially broke ground just this week at the forefront of discussion. Peck highlighted both academic and industry success, with special mention of the groundbreaking startups building a strong base in the UK, including ORCA Computing which is leading the development of photonic quantum information processing in the UK. Dr. Michael Cuthbert, newly appointed Director of the National Quantum Computing Centre went on to outline the intent of his organisation. Its core role will be to support and scale a quantum ecosystem in the UK and help develop a quantum-enabled economy. This includes strategic investment into skills, resources and industry backing needed for sustainable growth. UK investment into quantum Despite the challenging conditions brought about by the pandemic, Dr. Cuthbert highlighted that over 10 billion has been committed internationally to quantum technologies. The UK Government itself has invested over 1 billion into the UKs quantum ecosystem since 2014, part of which has helped create the NQCC Furthermore, the profound consequence of quantum across the UK economy has been recognised outside of Government and goes some way to explain the high valuation of quantum startups entering the market. Over 40 startups in the UK have raised over 135 million in VC investment so far. This investment which is being used to test and develop previously theoretical use cases; streamline and improve quantum hardware; and invest and nurture talent will ultimately facilitate the commercialisation of quantum. With Fujitsu, Airbus, Natwest and many more established organisations in the UK also advocating for quantum at this years conference, its clear that the wider technology sector is betting on quantum. Partnerships between Government, larger businesses and startups will be key to building a successful quantum ecosystem, and these partnerships should be actively sought out. One example given by startup Quantum.Amsterdam highlighted their work with techUK member Atos to develop courses on quantum skills to help attract talent to the growing quantum ecosystem. Commercialisation is crucial, but we are not there yet techUKs Director of Technology and Innovation Sue Daley led the discussion around quantum commercialisation alongside Roger McKinley, Challenge Director Quantum Technologies at UK Research and Innovation; Ilyas Khan, Co-Founder of Cambridge Quantum; and Richard Murray, Co-Founder and CEO of ORCA Computing. Funding and investment quickly emerged as a core challenge for commercialisation. Despite the abundance of capital emerging in the UK quantum ecosystem, no quantum company has the revenue currently to cover business costs. Therefore, the future success of commercialisation relies on the backing of quantum by key stakeholders in Government and industry, both as customers and advocates of the technology. Education was highlighted as a crucial part of this advocacy, and stakeholders should understand the key issues and challenges facing the UKs quantum industry. A lack of skills and talent is also a considerable barrier to the UKs quantum success. Over 30 UK universities have delivered 400 PhDs in Quantum, but the exponential growth in demand of quantum skills as the UK edges closer to commercialisation means that the talent resource is barely covering demand. Encouraging careers in STEM is one part of the complex challenge around skills, however, attracting and retaining talent in the UK against competing nations such as the United States, Germany and China, means that the UK is also at risk of brain drain. Government, industry and academia need to work together to create and nurture quantum talent in the UK. techUK was delighted to help showcase the UKs quantum ecosystem through London Tech Week; and chose this week to launch our Quantum Commercialisation campaign as part of the Technology & Innovation Programme. This member-led campaign will help the technology sector drive forward the commercialisation of quantum technologies; create a thriving quantum market for new products and services; and support the development of a world-leading quantum industry. Please do get in contact if you would like to find out more information Thank you to the Informa Tech team for the invitation to chair the Quantum Computing Summit this year. Laura Foster Laura is techUKs Programme Manager for Technology and Innovation. She supports the application and expansion of emerging technologies across business, including Geospatial Data, Quantum Computing, AR/VR/XR and Edge technologies. Before joining techUK, Laura worked internationally in London, Singapore and across the United States as a conference researcher and producer covering enterprise adoption of emerging technologies. This included being part of the strategic team at London Tech Week. Laura has a degree in History (BA Hons) from Durham University, focussing on regional social history. Outside of work she loves reading, travelling and supporting rugby team St. Helens, where she is from. Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lauraalicefoster Read lessmore Sue Daley Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work. This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy. She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards. Prior to joining techUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for Symantec's Government Relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN IGF and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety. Before joining Symantec, Sue was senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sue has an BA degree on History and American Studies from Leeds University and a Masters Degree on International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. Sue is a keen sportswoman and in 2016 achieved a lifelong ambition to swim the English Channel. Email: [email protected] Phone: 020 7331 2055 Twitter: @ChannelSwimSue Read lessmore The launch of the UK-APAC Tech Forum To support UK tech business in taking full advantage of commercial opportunities in Asia Pacific, techUK in partnership with the Digital Trade Network officially launched techUKs new UK APAC Tech Forum. This year at London Tech Week, techUK in partnership with the Digital Trade Network held the kick-off event titled UK-APAC Digital Trade to mark the launch of techUKs new UK APAC Tech forum, which aims to be one of the platforms that policymakers and businesses can leverage to discuss opportunities and mitigate problems associated with digital transformation in both the UK and across Asia. Focused on Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the ASEAN countries, the forum provides engagement opportunities with key stakeholders in government and business to drive new digital economy partnerships, address barriers to digital market access and expand commercial networks in the region. Natalie Black, Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, Department for International Trade, delivered opening remarks and formally launched the UK-APAC Tech Forum. As she highlighted, with 65% of the world's middle class set to be in the Asia Pacific by 2030, a quarter of top R&D spending companies based in APAC, and the Southeast Asian economy to reach $300 billion by 2025, the APAC region offers growing commercial opportunities for UK tech businesses. The UK selected Asia Pacific as the launch site of our now fully operational 8m Digital Trade Network. The joint DCMS/DIT initiative seeks to bolster collaboration in the region, by supporting UK businesses to internationalise in Asia, by attracting capital and talent to the UK and by helping shape digital trade and technology policy in the region and throughout the world. In the last six months alone the Digital Trade Network supported over 120 UK tech scale ups including Seed Labs, Immersive Labs and Circulor. Asia Pacific, just like the UK, is embracing this digital revolution. In 2020, the region saw 40 million new internet users in South-east Asia alone, bringing the total number to 400 million. APAC is also a hot-bed of digital technology innovation, with South Korea and Singapore ranking first and second in the Bloomberg Innovation Index in 2021. Richard Graham ,MP and Trade Envoy to the ASEAN Economic Community, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, pointed out how important is to have these conversations hand-in-hand with our partners in Asia-Pacific to tackle the challenges brought by digital technology and to capture the opportunities. Since the UK and APAC regions are united by a passion for innovation, there is a real opportunity for us to work together towards greater shared prosperity. This new tech forum will support techUK members: in shaping the development of digital chapters in FTAs and driving new UK digital economy agreements/partnerships in the region. in engaging with governments to address barriers to digital market access. in raising understanding of export opportunities in the region. in growing commercial in-market networks and building relevant connections with potential customers, partners and suppliers. in exploring emerging tech opportunities for growth and jointly develop practical steps that industry can take to make it easier for business to trade and collaborate across tech corridors. in amplifying the strength of the UK digital tech sector to drive APAC capital investment in the UK. Should you wish to join the UK-APAC Tech Forum, please login to the techUK website and sign up here by clicking the 'Join Group' button on the page. If you would like to learn more bout how to get involved, please contact [email protected] The Baton Rouge metro area is forecasted to reach 415,300 jobs by the end of 2023, up from 393,400 jobs in 2021 as the region recovers from an economic downturn spurred by the coronavirus pandemic. By the end of the year, the Baton Rouge region is expected to recover 81% of the jobs lost during the economic downturn in 2020, according to the Louisiana Economic Outlook. The annual report is penned by long-time economist and LSU professor emeritus Loren Scott who presented the information at the Baton Rouge Business Report's Top 100 private companies luncheon Tuesday. The report relies on state and national data in combination with interviews of industry executives about their plans. HOW MANY JOBS WERE LOST? The Baton Rouge metro had lost 61,300 jobs by the end of April 2020, about one month after the March 2020 restrictions began. Across Louisiana, there were 286,800 jobs lost since April 2020, sinking statewide employment to 1.73 million jobs. +2 Economist: Lafayette recovery better than other areas, still slowed by oil and gas industry The Lafayette area's recovery from the pandemic shutdown last year is outpacing other markets in Louisiana but continues to lag due to the str HOW MANY JOBS MAY COME BACK? By the end of this year, the region is projected to gain 9,700 jobs, which is a growth rate of 2.5%. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up In 2022, the metro area is expected to add another 16,600 jobs, for a growth rate of 4.2%. Then in 2023, the region would add another 5,300 jobs or a growth rate of 1.3%. Statewide, there would be 1.99 million jobs by the end of 2023. Hospitality jobs leading economic recovery in major Louisiana metro areas The Baton Rouge metro area added back 6,500 jobs over a 12 month period ending in August to reach 384,600 total nonfarm jobs. WHICH INDUSTRIES SHOULD BE WATCHED? The construction sector was hard hit during the coronavirus pandemic because many petrochemical companies decided to postpone development and maintenance projects. But this year some have loosened up the purse strings, such as work restarting at the third Methanex plant in Gonzales. In the coming years, Amazon is expected to add thousands of jobs in Baton Rouge from its fulfillment center and sorting warehouse. There's $6 billion of work underway and another $7.9 billion in potential industrial projects which have not yet reached a final investment decision which may happen in the coming years. For example, Shintech is working on a $1.5 billion plant in Plaquemine and expects to hire 30 more workers. ExxonMobil looks to spend about $410 million during a refinery modernization effort in Baton Rouge. Future projects may include a $1.2 billion expansion of Shell Chemical's plant in Ascension Parish. Mitsubishi looks to build a $1 billion methacrylate manufacturing complex in Geismar and Gron Fuels could spend up to $9.4 billion for a renewable fuels complex at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. A divided federal appellate court panel refused to revive a Baton Rouge woman's lawsuit against a local prosecutor for allegedly failing to adequately pursue her claims that an Angola deputy warden raped her several times in 2016. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday acknowledged, however, that the allegations of sexual assault and prosecutorial misconduct are horrifying. The case has drawn national attention, particularly after three retired federal judges took the highly unusual step of intervening in the case in March, saying a three-judge 5th Circuit panel made a "mistake" in February when it unanimously dismissed Priscilla Lefebure's lawsuit against 20th Judicial District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla. +4 Three ex-judges say West Feliciana DA bungled rape case, make unusual appeal to court Three retired federal judges have taken the highly unusual step of intervening in the case of a Baton Rouge woman who claims a local prosecuto Lefebure, her attorney and the retired judges asked the entire 5th Circuit to rehear the case. The request is called a petition for rehearing en banc. The original three-judge panel voted 2-1 on Tuesday not to rehear it. Circuit Judge James Ho, a member of that panel, noted that no member of the panel nor judge in regular active service of the court requested that the court be polled on the en banc rehearing petition. So he said the en banc request was denied as well. Lefebure's attorney, Jack Rutherford, said they will take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. "While we are disappointed with the ruling, we are not done," Rutherford said. Asked if he cared to make a statement, D'Aquilla emailed: "Yes good news but no need to comment at this time." Circuit Judge James Graves Jr., who cast one of the three votes against Lefebure earlier this year, changed course and offered the lone dissent Tuesday. +3 Woman appeals dismissal of lawsuit claiming West Feliciana DA mishandled her rape case A lawyer for a Baton Rouge woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by an Angola deputy warden several times in 2016 is asking an appellate "Lefebure raises that prototypical equal protection claim, centered on the injuries she alleges resulted from a discriminatory failure to enforce the law when it comes to rape cases," Graves wrote. "A right to be free from discriminatory law enforcement policies that enable crime is distinct from an affirmative right to prosecution. "As the injury Lefebure asserts is one caused by a policy of discrimination, it implicates the chief original concern of equal protection," he stated. "This is an injury she has standing to vindicate." Graves added that failure-to-protect claims such as Lefebure's "guard against the dangerous and discriminatory underenforcement of the law based on a victim's status." "Although it might be difficult for Lefebure to ultimately prove on the merits that the district attorney's policy, custom, or practice played a role in her assault, she does have standing to pursue such a claim," he wrote. The two-judge majority on the panel disagreed, however, saying both Lefebure and the three retired federal judges "suggest that we should collapse this distinction between the failure to prosecute and the failure to protect between the failure of police to protect the plaintiff from future crime and the failure of prosecutors to put a third party in jail for past crime." "To be sure, their reasoning is certainly understandable: If word were to get out that a district attorney categorically refuses to prosecute a certain type of crime, or will not prosecute crimes committed against a certain victim demographic, that would surely lead to greater criminal activity of that kind," wrote Ho, who was joined by 5th Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Owen. "So we do not doubt the underlying premise: Less police, more crime. Likewise, less prosecution, more crime. Unquestionably, the denial of prosecution may very well be tantamount to a denial of protection," he added. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up But Ho said the appeals court has "no authority to take Lefebure's premise where she wants it to go" because the U.S. Supreme Court has "made clear that any connection between a non-prosecution policy and subsequent criminal activity is too 'speculative' to support standing." "We are horrified by the allegations in this case the repeated acts of rape and sexual assault, followed by grotesque acts of prosecutorial misconduct. But we have no authority to overturn Supreme Court precedent," he wrote. "If we are to take seriously our obligation to follow Supreme Court precedent, whether we like it or not, then we must conclude that Lefebure lacks standing to sue D'Aquilla. As the adage goes, a principle is not a principle until it costs you." +3 She sued a prosecutor for mishandling her rape case. She lost, but a judge called it 'sickening' A reluctant federal appellate court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman who claimed an Angola deputy warden raped her several times in 20 Lefebure alleges D'Aquilla failed to adequately pursue rape charges against then-Angola assistant warden Barrett Boeker. Lefebure had sought refuge at Boeker's home after the 2016 floods forced her from her Baton Rouge home. She is a cousin of Boeker's wife and children. The retired federal judges who had asked the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit to rehear the case are former 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski and ex-U.S. District Judges F.A. Little Jr., of Louisiana, and Michael Mukasey, of New York. Mukasey was the nation's attorney general during the last 14 months of President George W. Bush's term. Following the 5th Circuit panel's February ruling against Lefebure, the former judges said the ruling eliminated "an entire class of law enforcement-related equal protection claims, just as our national dialogue over discriminatory law enforcement has begun." "Like the panel judges, we are sickened by the conduct of local law enforcement in this case," they wrote in March. "It shocks any semblance of a decent sensibility that there are places left in America where a sheriff and district attorney routinely fail to collect and process rape kits, where an assailant's 'we got a little rough' is accepted at face value by law enforcement, where the victim is the one investigated, and where the well-connected can avoid spending even a night in jail after being arrested on suspicion of the most depraved conduct," the ex-judges said. A West Feliciana Parish grand jury looked at evidence in 2017, but D'Aquilla didn't give the jurors access to a "rape kit" or a report compiled by a hospital nurse. D'Aquilla has said the grand jury didn't need to examine results of Lefebure's sexual assault examination because both the victim and the perpetrator said sexual intercourse had occurred. He said the pertinent question in the case was consent, which could not be determined by the rape kit evidence. Boeker and Lefebure each testified before the grand jury, and the lawsuit says Boeker is the only one who claimed Lefebure consented. Rutherford told the 5th Circuit that the encounters were not consensual. Lefebure's lawsuit, filed in late 2017, alleges that neither D'Aquilla nor anyone from his office ever met or spoke with her about the alleged rape, and that the district attorney told reporters he was "uncomfortable" speaking with her. +3 Woman accuses DA, sheriff of colluding in rape case to protect Angola assistant warden A woman whose sexual assault examination was not presented to a West Feliciana Parish grand jury that cleared an Angola assistant warden of ra Boeker's attorney, Cy D'Aquila, a distant relative of the district attorney, has said previously that Boeker insists the sex was consensual, and he passed a privately administered polygraph examination on that point. Lefebure has claims pending against Boeker in federal district court. The Advocate typically does not name people who report they are victims of sexual assault, but Lefebure said previously she wants to use her name. Boeker was placed on administrative leave following the rape allegation but later returned to work at the prison. He was fired last year after spraying an inmate with a fire extinguisher. He is facing felony criminal charges stemming from that incident. A Baton Rouge man convicted of robbing a Chase Bank on Monterrey Boulevard at gunpoint in 2018 has been granted a new trial because the verdicts were not unanimous. An East Baton Rouge Parish jury, by votes of 11-1, found Kevin Maurice Williams guilty in October 2019 on two counts of armed robbery with a firearm. Baton Rouge man arrested in armed robbery at Chase Bank last week Baton Rouge police on Wednesday arrested a 52-year-old man in last week's armed robbery at a Chase Bank. Williams, now 56, was sentenced two months later by state District Judge Beau Higginbotham to consecutive 80-year prison terms, for a total sentence of 160 years. The judge noted that Williams was a fifth felony offender. But last year the U.S. Supreme Court used a New Orleans case to outlaw non-unanimous jury verdicts, and on Monday the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal cited that ruling in throwing out Williams' convictions and sentences and ordering a new trial. Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up The state conceded that Williams was entitled to a new trial on both armed robbery counts. In the Chase Bank robbery, Williams is accused of entering the bank at 2828 Monterrey Blvd. on Jan. 16, 2018, and demanding money. He allegedly grabbed money from the cash registers and ran away. Williams, who allegedly wore sunglasses and a bandanna to cover his face, left the bank with $12,580 after pointing his gun at employees and demanding money from the cash registers, an arrest report says. Armed man robs Chase bank on Monterrey Boulevard Tuesday morning, Baton Rouge police say A man wearing sunglasses and a bandanna to cover his face robbed a Chase Bank at gunpoint Tuesday morning, said Baton Rouge police spokesman S He was previously arrested in 2000 in connection with an armed robbery of Hibernia National Bank in Baton Rouge. A number of regional locations due to come out of lockdown will now remain under stay-at-home orders until Monday. In a statement, NSW Health said Oberon and Snowy Monaro local government areas, as well as Menindee and Sunset Strip in the Central Darling Shire, would stay in lockdown until October 11 due to the transmission of COVID-19. NSW Health will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation with COVID-19 and will not hesitate to update its advice to protect the health and wellbeing of the people of NSW, the statement said. All of NSW is due to exit lockdown on October 11 after the state today reached the 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target of people aged 16 and older. Incoming Queensland Chief Health Officer Krispin Hajkowicz has been hailed as the perfect person to help steer the state through the next stage of the pandemic, where hospitals are set to see a surge in cases. On Tuesday Dr Hajkowicz was named as the successor to Jeannette Young, who would stand down in November to take up the role of Queensland Governor, after steering the state through the past 18 months of the pandemic. Incoming Queensland Chief Health Officer Krispin Hajkowicz at the announcement of his appointment in Brisbane. Credit:Matt Dennien The state was facing the prospect of more cases eventually being seen in Queensland, either from incursions or when the borders were reopened once vaccine targets were met. Concerns were raised that Queenslands hospitals would struggle to cope under the increased demand, as part of a broader stoush between the Queensland government and the Commonwealth over hospital funding. The Queensland Treasurer has taken to the witness stand as the spectre of a trial hangs over former Moreton Bay mayor Allan Sutherland on misconduct charges. Mr Sutherland was charged with two counts of misconduct in relation to public office in December 2019 by the Crime and Corruption Commission. Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick. Credit:Matt Dennien The CCC alleged Mr Sutherland influenced the council to change the scope of a road upgrade as part of a sports complex development. The allegation specified that the upgrade ensured the roadwork included the stretch of Paradise Road in Burpengary in front of a piece of land Mr Sutherland owned. The note read: Delivery will be arranged. Will contact Lindsay Thompson (Education Minister) at police headquarters at 7.25 p.m. Will not waste time making threats, but any attempt to apprehend will result in annihilation of hostages. The note demanded that $500,00 in $20 notes be put into three separate suitcases. The kidnapper also demanded the other half million be put into six suitcases in $10 notes. The kidnapped girls are: Lynda Conn, 9; Helen Conn, 6; Robyn Howarth, 10; Jillian Howarth, 8; Denise Howarth, 5; Christine Ellery, 10. Also kidnapped: Miss Mary Gibbs, 19, teacher. The Deputy Premier and Education Minister (Mr Thompson) said early this morning the State Government would unconditionally pay the kidnappers $1 million ransom top save the lives of the teacher and the six children. Mr Thompson said the lives of the kidnapped people were of paramount importance. Everything would be done to see them safely returned to their families. Note in letterbox The kidnapper rang the Sun, in Melbourne, saying: I have kidnapped the children from the Faraday State School and left a note in the letterbox. The Premier (Mr Hamer) was immediately notified. The Chief Commissioner of Police (Mr Jackson) at once left for Castlemaine to take command of the search and investigation. Mr Hamer said: The safety of the children and teacher is the first consideration. The ransom note left by the kidnappers at the school. So far there is no indication of where they may be, but no effort is being spared to find them. Mr Hamer, who spent more than an hour at police headquarters, said: My only reaction is one of disgust, I suppose because of the inhumanity of it all. Faraday is on the Calder Highway and has a population of about 50. It has one school, one church and a few scattered houses. Ten pupils attend the one-teacher school. Four children were away with the flu yesterday. Road blocks were thrown up around Castlemaine in an effort to head off the kidnappers. Hundreds of police from major and small towns within a radius of 50 miles, plus search and rescue units from Melbourne and off-duty police officers were thrown into the search. Radio jam The country around Faraday is heavily timbered. Rivers and streams provide great cover for anybody wishing to hide. Lake Eppalock is only 20 miles away to the north-east. The Cairn Curran Reservoir is less than 15 miles to the south-west. Police had difficulty in making two-way radio communication with Melbourne. There were suspicions that a jamming device may have been used, indicating skilled organisation in the kidnap attempt. Local communication was unaffected. Police told locals they thought the radio was being jammed. The kidnap is the biggest in Australian history. It is the first since the Graeme Thorne kidnap in Sydney in July, 1960. They say the kidnapping seemed to have been planned in such detail that a team of men would probably be needed to carry it out. 3 families Loading The children are from three families. Their parents are all farmers. The teacher is Miss Mary Gibbs, 19, dark-haired, attractive and smart, on her first year out of teachers college. Her family lives in Cook Street, Bendigo. Police last night in Bendigo were questioning a man following reports that a man aged in his middle 20s was seen near the school in the early hours of last Wednesday. A passing police car noticed the school lights on about 2.20 a.m. on Wednesday. There are concerns Victorias prisons are becoming COVID-19 tinderboxes as the number of inmates with the virus climbs to 39 across five jails. Corrections Victoria said in an update on Tuesday that 19 prisoners had tested positive at the Melbourne Assessment Prison, 11 at the Metropolitan Remand Centre, five at Ravenhall Correctional Centre, three at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and one at Port Phillip Prison. The Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Melbournes west. Credit:Joe Armao All five of the cases in the general prison population are at Ravenhall Correctional Centre and those individuals have been moved to isolation units. All the other 34 cases have been contained to quarantine and isolation units across the prison system since their arrival and do not pose a threat to the general prison population or staff, Corrections Victoria said. This reluctance to set up a commission makes me hope that if and when this ICAC is finally up and running, it will have very big teeth and strong resolve if it is to root out the corruption that all too often, and too late, is revealed in government. We members of the public operate by a set of rules and understand that there are penalties if we dont do the right thing. Politicians seem to think that they have their own set of rules that enables them to make decisions that they know are unacceptable and, in some cases, corrupt. People who complain the loudest at times like these are quite often those who have something to hide. Peter Dodds, Montmorency The commission is not the problem How alarming it is to hear Australias Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, and almost every member of the Liberal and National parties interviewed about Gladys Berejiklians decision to resign as premier and from politics, criticise the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, as though that body is the problem. Their statements demonstrate no understanding of ICACs crucial role for a democratic society. Such ignorance seems to stem from a position of self-interest and/or entitlement exactly why an ICAC as strong as that of NSW is needed for all state and federal governments. If Ms Berejiklian is found guilty, the responses from these people will be illuminating. Jennifer Gerrand, Carlton North Move along, nothing to see here ... The citizenry is often advised that if it has nothing to hide then it has nothing to fear. Yet politicians are very concerned that an independent anti-corruption body may overstep the mark if given powers to investigate them. Move along, nothing to see here ... Andrew Moloney, Frankston THE FORUM Governing for themselves The two major parties, three if you include the Greens, have a few grassroots branch members in each electorate. These members meet and pay their dues, but when the time comes for a change of the sitting member the parties almost invariably parachute in their preferred candidate. Thats someone who usually has served their time in student politics or union politics (or both), progressed through the party ranks and has arrived duly trained, indoctrinated and newly minted as a local representative. The candidate preferences of local members are usually ignored, but voting preference deals are made, how to vote cards are printed and party representatives hand them out to the sheep as they file in to be shorn of their votes. We call the process democracy. We have all learnt and hoped that democracy would deliver government of the people, by the people, for the people, but this version of democracy has delivered a steadily diminishing pool of talent, a steadily diminishing level of talent and pork-barrelling (corruption) on a nuclear scale in lieu of well-constructed vote-winning policies. We now have government of the people, by the parties, for the parties. Gary Sayer, Warrnambool Disturbing news Its tough growing up in todays world, and misinformation via social media is adding to the challenge and raising anxiety (Misinformation fuels hesitancy, The Age, 5/10) and the finding by Plan International that 67 per cent of Australian girls surveyed said they had never been taught how to identify misinformation at school is disturbing. Clearly, there is a need for more emphasis on digital literacy, scientific literacy and critical thinking in the school curriculum. Relevant contexts are the pandemic, climate change and Australian history. However, to put any curriculum reform into practice, we must fund professional learning and attract, retain and reward good teachers. If the treatment of our universities during the pandemic is anything to go by, the future looks bleak. For voters looking for a way to differentiate between the political parties, take a look at their education policies. Ray Peck, Hawthorn The silence is deafening It has often been said that a good opposition is essential for good government. In the midst of the massive incompetence of the federal Coalition government, what do we hear from the Labor opposition? Nothing but a deafening silence. April Baragwanath, Geelong This is good to hear What great news that Matthew Guy has threatened to expel Bernie Finn from the party room (Matthew Guy threatens Bernie Finn and other Liberal MPs over social media comments, The Age, online, 5/10). In fact, voters in the Western Metropolitan Region should have done that at the last election; do they really want an out-of-touch dinosaur to represent them in Parliament? If you look at his voting record, on behalf of his constituents, he is opposed to the views of the vast majority of Australians, of any political persuasion. He strongly opposed womens rights to choose abortion of an unwanted pregnancy, even after rape, he opposed safe access zones, dignity of death legislation, the Safe Schools Program, banning gay conversion therapy and more. How could any person consider he is suitable to represent them? Pieter Mourik, Wooragee Its no big deal Ive done anaesthetic locums in many Australian rural hospitals. Part of credentialling has been demonstrating my vaccination status for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, tuberculosis, herpes zoster, and now COVID. It never seemed a big deal or an unreasonable requirement, to protect me, patients and colleagues. Im not sure why some people are getting their knickers in a knot about being asked to be vaccinated against just one of these diseases; its no big deal, each of the two jabs takes about two seconds. Johnny Hackett, Wonthaggi The rules must be adapted GPs are spot on to complain about COVID isolation rules closing their clinics (GPs warn of risks in COVID closures, The Age, 5/10). The days of COVID-zero are over, contact tracers cannot keep up with case numbers and now its all about vaccination as the main protective tool as we start opening up again. Rules need to be adapted quickly to a rapidly changing environment to avoid unnecessary harm and cost. Paul Kertes, Park Orchards Just get on with it For 20 years the scientists have been saying that climate change is real, immediate and catastrophic if ignored, but that the worst effects can be averted if we act urgently. A succession of recent Australian governments has chosen to ignore these warnings and now Australia is held hostage by a handful of National Party politicians, who insist that changes can only be made if they dont hurt their constituents. Our rural and regional communities could be real winners if this urgent change was well managed, and conversely miners and farmers will be seriously disadvantaged if this inevitable transition is badly managed, as it is at present. Coalition politicians, please, just get on with it. Now. Peter Moore, Clifton Hill Clear examples of ... Peter Hartcher gives a number of examples of how, historically, market dominated economies, and their conservative/neoliberal/laissez-faire government enablers have created economic and social disasters that have been followed by state-led salvation (Springtime for the centre-left, Comment, 5/10). It is pointed out that this invariably and universally has involved the election of political parties prepared to take an active and interventionist role in providing economic and wellbeing security and hope for most citizens, in other words left-wing ones. Now we have an environmental disaster to deal with as well. To paraphrase Robin Archers quote, you cant have a market strategy to deal with global warming. Hopefully in the lead-up to the election we will continue to see such clear-sighted analyses as Hartchers. Bill King, Camberwell ... market-led failures Thank you, Peter Hartcher, for reminding us neoliberal strategies prove thin when it comes to crises. It is not surprising centre-left parties around the world are gaining traction around the world. COVID has exposed the deep cracks in the social landscape that neoliberal strategies have been unable to adequately address. The heroism of, and total reliance on, essential workers has shown the importance of funding healthcare, raising minimum wages and providing a financial safety net for all who have lost income. These have always been the mainstays of left-leaning governments. For populist governments to be seen squandering millions of dollars of taxpayers money to enhance the wealth of the wealthy at this time is self-defeating and criminal. Hartcher highlights the pattern that history has taught us market-made disasters are followed by state-led salvation. Globally and nationally, its time for a social revolution led by the centre-left to put the essential needs of people first. Marisa Spiller, Harrietville Angry rebukes wont help Unvaccinated people and those who breach public safety orders are becoming more angrily targeted as selfish and not considering society as a whole (the unvaccinated) and preferring the quick fix of immediate, self-justifying gratification (breachers of public safety orders). Wherever unhelpful minority human behaviour threatens the wellbeing of the majority, workable solutions are rarely arrived at simply via angry rebuke and punishment, and quite often, causes for behaviours that are unhelpful to others are more complex than they appear. How to help people who are still not intending to be vaccinated, each for their own individual reasons, to get past their individual obstacles to vaccination, both for their own sake, and for everyone elses, is another unavoidable pandemic challenge that will need work, discernment and new strategies. Ruth Farr, Blackburn South Give the man a fair go Stephanie Dowrick, these days we dont criticise people for their religious beliefs (Power and preaching dont mix, Comment, 4/10). In a democracy, parties, not individuals, determine policies to be put to the electorate. Give Dominic Perrottet a fair go. He was selected with party support. We didnt hear about the religious beliefs of Gladys Berejiklian when she was premier, so let the new Premier get on with the job. Teresa Grace, Leopold Primary schools need this Premier Daniel Andrews has just announced that every government secondary school will have a qualified mental health practitioner. Its about time and will make a huge difference to many young people. As a primary school teacher, I see many young children suffering with depleted wellbeing and various mental health issues. Teachers can only do so much to help when they have a whole class of children that they need to teach and look out for. Tragically the children who are most at need are often the ones who have difficult and scary home lives and parents who are unwilling or unable to organise help for them. We need mental practitioners in our primary schools, too, now more than ever. Children need psychological support early and teaching them coping strategies can prevent escalation of issues as they get older. It should not be underestimated. Premier, please extend your funding to primary schools. These children are our future. Megan Woolfe, Warragul It doesnt go away I must have missed something (Santos seeks credits for underground carbon storage facility, Business, 4/10). Burying CO2 does not mean its gone it sits in the ground and one day it will either leak or be exposed so what changed? Surely the answer is a) reduce the amount either at the source or forever, and/or b) produce innovation that uses or converts CO2. That is why a price on carbon will provide the economic stimulus to reduce CO2 and innovate better and sustainable solutions. Andrew Stewart, Ringwood AND ANOTHER THING Politics A tribunal whose proceedings are secret is disturbing, as your correspondent says (Echoes of a Star Chamber, Letters, 5/10). Politicians not being held to account is even more disturbing. Bill Pimm, Mentone Credit: Would the Prime Minister be as critical of NSWs Independent Commission Against Corruption if it were a Labor politician being investigated? Elizabeth Douglas, Melbourne Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says the Independent Commission Against Corruption is out of control. It would be a concern if the opposite was the case an ICAC that was under the control of politicians such as himself. Garry Meller, Bentleigh The pandemic Your story asks Can a pandemic kill off the right to protest (The Age, 4/10). Answer: not if you comply with COVID restrictions? Hans Paas, Castlemaine Its not all bad, Melbourne. At least well be in the Guinness World Records. Ed Veber, Malvern East Fully vaxxed yet fully vexxed. Ralph Bohmer, St Kilda West Perhaps our number plates should read: Come to Victoria, its infectious. Jon ONeill, Waurn Ponds Furthermore Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were down for six hours; for six hours, people got their lives back. Alan Williams, Port Melbourne The governments contentious fire services reform was its longest and most bruising battle, with a fight that began in 2015 as an industrial dispute then dragged on for more than four years, ultimately ensnaring the Premier as he personally dealt with the union to resolve the saga. The dispute centred on a new pay deal for paid firefighters. The union, which critics say had put boots on the ground to help Mr Andrews win the 2014 election, sought additional conditions and protections. United Firefighters Union chief Peter Marshall. Credit:Eddie Jim The agreement was seen to be handing too much control over the fire services to the union, whose secretary, Peter Marshall, became a key player in the dispute, and to be incompatible with equal opportunity laws. Amid the long industrial fight, the Andrews government also sought to reform the fire services, making the CFA into a volunteer-only organisation and creating a new professionals-only agency called Fire Rescue Victoria to replace the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. It also changed the states fire services boundaries to bring Melbournes outer suburbs under the control of the new agency. Washington: A Facebook whistleblower has accused the social media giant of putting astronomical profits before people and called for politicians to rein in the power of big tech in damning testimony to the US Congress. I am here today because I believe Facebooks products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy, Frances Haugen told the Senate Commerce Committee. The companys leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but wont make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed. They wont solve this crisis without your help. Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen provided damning testimony about the social media giant. Credit:Getty Images Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, recently shared a trove of thousands of pages of internal company documents with The Wall Street Journal, including research showing Facebook knew its sister site Instagram was intensifying body image and mental health issues among young girls. Nearly two years to the day after making its Broadway debut, Freestyle Love Supreme, the hip-hop improv show conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is returning to the Booth Theatre October 7-January 12, 2022 to join in the celebration of Broadway's reawakening. Just like last time, the production's regulars will welcome guest performers at each show, and Wayne Brady, once again, was more than happy to nab some of those slots. The multi-hyphenate performer has plenty to keep him busy without a Broadway schedule, but, in his own words, "How could I not want to have fun with my friends and bring improv to Broadway?" Freestyle Love Supreme is a one-of-a-kind Broadway experience, and to enjoy it to its fullest extent, here are a few pieces of information Brady thinks audiences should know from the start. Wayne Brady will be a guest performer with Broadway's Freestyle Love Supreme at the Booth Theatre. ( Tricia Baron) 1. Improv is improv. If you're an improv aficionado who's used to consuming your comedy fare in scrappy basement theaters at haphazard late-night hours, do not fret. Freestyle Love Supreme is the same dish, just served at a cozier establishment. "If you're in the Groundlings, Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade, Who's Line, my own touring show the art is the art. What makes it different is the format. This format is something unlike Broadway has ever used." When you remember that the production slated to take over the Booth Theatre after Freestyle Love Supreme's first Broadway run was a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, that point is put into stark relief. If anything, this could be your one chance to do as much shouting in a Broadway theater as Martha and George. 2. Don't be shy! When a show calls for participation, audiences tend to tread lightly. After all, if you've ever been heckled by a comedian, or mocked by a magician, or molested by a Cabaret Emcee, you know the risks. Brady, however, would like you to shed all your past participatory traumas and arrive willing to share your personal stories without reservation. "Come with an open mind," he says. "Come with an open mind and just know, especially in a show like Freestyle Love Supreme, 'love' is there in the title for a reason. We love doing the show. We love the audience. We are never there to make the audience feel bad or stupid." Brady performing with Aneesa Folds, Arthur Lewis, and Daveed Diggs in Freestyle Love Supreme. ( Joan Marcus) 3. Brady's work for the Broadway community does not end when the curtain comes down. Freestyle Love Supreme marks Brady's third Broadway credit, following his 2004 turn as Billy Flynn in Chicago and his 2015 and 2018 runs as Lola in Kinky Boots. He of course also performed the role of Aaron Burr in the Chicago run of Hamilton in 2017, and you may have seen him sing the role of Django in the viral TikTok musical Ratatouille last winter. Though he considers himself a relative Broadway newcomer, the Drama League acknowledged his contributions to the community with an invitation to join its National Advisory Council, and it plans to honor him at the organization's annual fall benefit on October 18. As a member of the Advisory Council, as well as the Broadway community at large, Brady says he hopes to move the needle in terms of inclusive, representative, and fresh storytelling. "I don't need to see another Oklahoma! Nothing against Oklahoma!," says Brady, commenting on the fears of those who would rather resist moving away from old traditions. But that very project is how he characterizes his work. "That's all I've ever wanted since I was a kid to see stories of people who looked like me. All of our stories." Brady (right) onstage with Chris Sullivan and Daveed Diggs. ( Joan Marcus) 4. Phoning it in is not an option. There are no lines to memorize or character traits to sculpt for a performance of Freestyle Love Supreme. But that doesn't mean Brady can simply roll out of bed and hop onstage. "At the end of doing any type of improvisational show, especially an improvisational musical, I find that I am weary because of all the mental expenditure," Brady explains. "You always have to be listening. In any improvisational piece, you have to be completely ready at a moment's notice to change." He acknowledges that listening is key to any scripted show as well and gives a special nod to the physical challenges Aaron Burr and Lola uniquely presented ("Doing Kinky Bootsoh my God, I couldn't even think about going out. I had to ice my feet and sleep.") However, there is no wiggle room in terms of not being present and 100 percent engaged during a Freestyle Love Supreme show. "You can't check out during an improv show," he says. What happens when you press him to think if there has been even a single moment in his improv career when he may have let his mind wander? He misses no beats before declaring, "Absolutely not. Absolutely not." 5. He's having a blast. Brady was inducted into the Freestyle family several years ago when he played Lin-Manuel Miranda's boss in a sitcom pilot that centered around the improv group. "It has never been seen by the general public, but it's great," says Brady. So performing with the members of FLS is more like a reunion than a job to him. "Doing something with those guys, it's just having fun with your friends. The fun that you're having just happens to be a great show." The last missing piece, Brady says, is the audience. "You can do all the press and rehearsal but it's not real until you can hear the audience. That's when we'll know we're back." 10-Year-Old Afghan Boy Makes Harrowing Journey to New Home in America, Starts School Amidst the chaos and scandal of the U.S.s Afghanistan evacuationas thousands flee the country, with many still strandeda young Afghan boy successfully made the journey state side, to his new home in Florida. After the collapse of the Afghan government in August, the process of adopting 10-year-old Noman, then caught between two very different systems, got even more complicated. Afghan-born Bahaudin Mujtaba, 54, now a 20-year Davie, Florida resident, was lecturing at a university in Afghanistan around 2015 when he first met Noman, whose mother had passed away from cancer a few years prior. The boy was ill and on chronic medication, and Bahaudin started looking into the adoption process, which in 2017, was granted by the Afghan government at the time in the form of guardianship. (Courtesy of Bahaudin Mujtaba) In countries like Afghanistan, where its Islamic their process is very different, Bahaudin told The Epoch Times. It was very, very bureaucratic and sometimes very corrupt, in terms of people asking for enormous amounts of ransom money for paperwork to be processed. He added, Once we agreed to pull out our soldiers as of 2020, I knew that it was just a matter of time that the Afghan government might eventually transition to Taliban. Thereby, everything that weve done since 2016 might become obsolete or null. With the hiring of a number of Florida-based adoption agencies, and help from Senator Marco Rubios office, the State Department was contacted; and Noman was paired up with another adoptive father from Indiana in Afghanistan, who was bringing his own son home. U.S. Air Force servicemembers load passengers aboard a C-17 Globemaster III in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA) on August 24, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa via Getty Images) While en route to the airport in Kabul, however, they ran into trouble at a Taliban checkpoint, where chaos ensued. My son tells me that there was shooting, and often times the Taliban would be shooting in the air to disperse the crowd, Bahaudin said. Unfortunately, he did witness one man being shot, and then his wife grabbed him into her arms. He added, The Taliban told them to come back the next day. Thankfully, the would-be travelers passed the checkpoint and reached Hamid Karzai International Airport, where they caught a military transport first to Qatar, then to Germany, before arriving in Dallas Airport on Aug. 26. There, Noman reunited with Bahaudin and met his adoptive mother for the fist time. (Courtesy of Bahaudin Mujtaba) (Courtesy of Bahaudin Mujtaba) It was a happy and joyous moment, Bahaudin recalled with laughs. I had tears in my eyes, and he was very joyful. We hugged and I think the hug lasted about a minute, he wouldnt let go and I wouldnt let go. Arriving at their home in Davie, the family are adapting to a new lifeboth Bahaudin and his wife of 33 years never had children of their own, and are caring for their son around the clock; Noman, who once spoke no English, was apprehensive about attending school, fearful that other kids would pick on him, but those fears were soon swept aside. His life has so far been very good, Bahaudin said. Luckily, that fear went away after he actually was in school. When we picked him up, he said it was fun, it was good, he was looking forward to next day. And then each day has been better than the previous day, so Im thankful to his teachers and classmates who have welcomed him. His English is getting better, so I think itll take a few months for him to fully, or at least partially, understand his teachers. But hes more confident now. Bahaudin expressed his thanks to all those involved in rescuing Noman, I pray for all those who we lost, and I pray for a quick recovery for all those who are injured, and Im thankful for all of the military servicemembers who helped evacuate thousands of Afghans, including my son. (Courtesy of Bahaudin Mujtaba) Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter Russian and U.S. state flags fly near a factory in Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region, Russia, on March 27, 2019. (Anton Vaganov/Reuters) 300 Russian Diplomats Should be Expelled by Biden Administration Over Embassy Ban: Senators More than a dozen senators, including the top Democrats and Republicans on two committees, are calling on President Joe Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats if the Kremlin doesnt issue more visas for Americans to represent the United States in Russia. Leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committeesSens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)along with 13 other senators, signed the letter. In August, Russia banned the U.S. embassy in Moscow from contracting, retaining, or hiring third-country or Russian staff members, except for security guards. As a result, the mission was forced to fire 182 employees and more contractors, said the Department of State in a statement at the time. Russia must issue enough visas to approach parity between the number of American diplomats serving in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats serving in the United States, said their letter, which was dated on Monday. They said that there is disproportionality in the two countries diplomatic representation. If such action is not taken, we urge you to begin expelling Russian diplomats, to bring the U.S. diplomatic presence to parity. We believe such a step would be reasonable and reciprocal, the senators added, noting that as many as 300 Russian diplomats could be sent back to their home country. The letters message would mark a sharp escalation in an ongoing dispute over embassy staffing amid tension between Washington and Moscow. Others who signed the document include Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). We ask that your national security team take immediate, concrete steps to provide U.S. Embassy Moscow with the staffing and support it needs by taking responsible, proportional, and immediate actions in response to the provocations undertaken by the Russian Government, they wrote. Earlier this year, the Biden administration expelled 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions against several dozen individuals and companies due to alleged Russian interference in previous elections and hacking campaigns. Department of State said late August that the United States will impose another round of sanctions after the Kremlin allegedly used the infamous novichok nerve agent to poison a dissident figure, which includes restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms and ammunition. The move drew condemnation from the National Rifle Association (NRA), which said that Russian-manufactured ammunition makes up a large part of the American ammunition supply and suggested the latest sanctions would worsen the current ammunition supply shortage in the United States. Activist Groups in Favor of Reparations Dominate the Discussion in California A number of activist groups in California are calling for more government involvement and community engagement in discussions regarding reparations, while those willing to publicly criticize the idea appear to be few and far between. Tiffany Quarles of the National Assembly of American Slavery Descendants (NAASD) said the organization sent a letter to the states Reparations Task Force requesting it push for President Joe Biden to sign an executive order establishing a presidential reparations commission. NAASD has already had the opportunity to sit down with the Biden administration to request this executive order and we would appreciate your assistance with calling on the president to move on this for the purpose of helping the African American community, Quarles said at a recent hearing. The Reparations Task Force, which held its first meeting on June 1, has been given 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 California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121 into law. Then Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) authored the bill. She is now Secretary of State in Newsoms administration. The latest virtual public hearings were held on Sept. 23 and 24, where nine appointed members of the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans fielded questions and concerns from groups and individuals about reparations and racial disparities. There was no discernible pushback during the hearings about the idea of reparations itself, even during public comments. Khansa Jones-Muhammad, a.k.a. Friday Jones, a commissioner on the L.A. Reparations Advisory Commission and co-chair of NAASDs L.A. chapter, urged the state task force to help increase awareness of the reparations discussion. NAASD Los Angeles has drafted proposals to city council members for discretionary funds to be allocated for marketing campaigns for future hearings to increase community engagement, she said. There is an opportunity to create a wide variety of benefits in addition to compensation for generations to come. The creation of whiteness and the dehumanization of blackness has cost this nation its humanity and greater GDP by stifling ingenuity and economic growth, Jones-Muhammad said. Equality Debate Pierre Wilson, national director of the Blexit Foundation, told The Epoch Times that the organization, including its founders Candace Owens and Brandon Tatum, are opposed to idea of reparations for slavery. Weve always been about being treated as equals. But thats itequals. Weve never advocated for special treatment. We do not believe special treatment is helpful, he said. If you start giving us special treatment and more, and built-in head starts and all these other things, you are now technically oppressing another group. Youre now penalizing another group because of their skin color. So, it is going backwards. Its just reversing the roles, Wilson said. Civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the past spoke about equality, not about keeping us separate, he said. If reparations are really about helping people, then its about getting them on their feet, not keeping them dependent, he said. Handouts keep people dependent. This is not going to be a long-term solution for minority Americans. Meanwhile, Tasha Henneman, chief of policy and government affairs for PRC (formerly the Positive Resource Center) in San Francisco said her group supports the goals of the task force. I know Im preaching to the choir here, Henneman said, but, while some policy improvements have led the way to addressing the many disparities that blacks and African American individuals face in their daily lives, theres still a long way to go as we seek to apply equity and parity across all communities, ultimately creating a more just society. Henneman, who directs PRCs Black Leadership Council, called for sweeping policies that address the historical legacy of slavery and systemic racism. Darris Young of the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), a group known for transforming public health practice to advance health equity, according to its website, said 35 African American-led organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area in May are developing a black housing strategy. Young said that health disparities and inequities which were ever so present during COVID-19 pandemic, should be addressed with monies from the states surplus budget and federal COVID relief funds. In contrast, Wilson said he believes a focus on reparations is harmful to the black community. I think its a joke. Its a sham. Its a way to continue the victim narrative of black America. We do not need reparations. Nothing happened to us, so we dont need to make people to pay who had nothing to do with slavery. Its ridiculous, in my opinion, he said. To me, its just another way to treat us like we cant figure things out on our own. Its just embarrassing. When do we stop? History is full of people who have been done wrong at one point, so who are we paying? Whats the next thing? Who else are we giving reparations to? he added. A passenger plane passes in front of the moon as it makes its final landing approach to Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, on Sept. 12, 2019. (Toby Melville/Reuters) Airlines See Sharply Lower Losses in 2022, Recovery in Sight BOSTONGlobal airlines on Monday projected a sharp reduction in industry losses next year as a multi-speed recovery from the coronavirus crisis gets under way, but revised up the financial toll inflicted by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. The International Air Transport Association, the industrys main trade body, predicted that net losses at airlines would narrow to $11.6 billion in 2022 from $51.8 billion this year. The losses for 2021 were revised up from $47.7 billion estimated in April. IATA also revised up losses for 2020 to $137.7 billion from $126.4 billion estimated earlier. While airlines across all regions are expected to perform better, those in North America are forecast to return to profit next year. We are past the deepest point of the crisis, IATA Director General Willie Walsh told the groups annual meeting. While serious issues remain, the path to recovery is coming into view. Yet IATA urged governments to keep wage support measures and slot wavers in place until international traffic recovers. It expects international travel demand to double next year and reach 44 percent of the 2019 levels. However, the vaccination rate as well as the lifting of government-imposed border restrictions will determine the pace of recovery. People are being held back from international travel by restrictions, uncertainty and complexity, said Walsh. As governments are viewing inoculations as a way out of the health crisis, Walsh said vaccines need to be made available to anybody who wants them. Domestic travel demand is estimated to reach 93 percent of the pre-pandemic level in 2022an improvement of 20 percentage points from this year. Total passenger numbers are expected to increase to 3.4 billion next year from 2.3 billion in 2021, IATA estimates, but will be below 4.5 billion in 2019. Passenger revenue in 2022 is expected to jump about 67 percent year-on-year to $378 billion. Air cargo is forecast to remain a bright spot, with demand seen rising 13.2 percent above the 2019 levels, IATA said. By Rajesh Kumar Singh The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington on Sept. 4, 2018. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters) Analysis: World Bank, IMF Face Long-Term Damage After Data Rigging Scandal WASHINGTONRegardless of whether International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Kristalina Georgieva was to blame for changes to World Bank data in 2017 that benefited China, the scandal has dented the research reputations of both institutions, former staff, government officials and outside experts say. The damage from the data-rigging scandal that forced the World Bank to discontinue its Doing Business investment climate rankings may be difficult to repair and has raised questions over whether the institutions influential research is subject to shareholder influence. Georgieva has strongly denied accusations in a World Bank external investigation report that she applied undue pressure on staff for changes that boosted Chinas business climate ranking to 78th from 85th in the 2018 report on business climate rankings at a time when the bank was seeking Beijings support for a major capital increase. A higher ranking in the influential World Bank publication can mean increased inflows of foreign investment funds, boosting countries economies and financial markets, as fund managers have built the Doing Business rankings into their analytical models. Current and former bank officials say countries are always pressing their case for a higher ranking. Georgieva has blamed the office of former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim for ordering changes that were outside of the reports established methodology. The changes, first identified in a December 2020 review, included removal of metrics for the amount of time it took to open a bank account and obtain invoices, which reduced the amount of time estimated to start a business in Beijing and Shanghai. Given how critical it is that this data be seen as unimpeachable, these allegations are deeply disturbing, wrote seSens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and James Risch (R-Idaho) in a letter to President Joe Biden asking for full accountability in the matter. The impact these allegations could have on the strength and reputation of our international financial institutions and the Bretton Woods system are still unknownbut surely they will not be good. Prominent economists and women leaders are rallying to Georgievas defense with published opinion pieces and tweets, including former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz, who has labeled the allegations a coup attempt at the IMF. Shanta Devarajan, the former World Bank official in charge of the Doing Business report in 2017, says he was never pressured by Georgieva to alter the report. He later told Reuters that changes were made without his consultation, but he does not know by whom. Georgieva and lawyers from WilmerHale, the law firm hired by the World Banks Executive Board that produced the investigation report, are to be interviewed early this week by the IMFs executive board as the probe intensifies, Reuters reported on Sunday. Withholding Judgment Finance ministers of major economies, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have so far refrained from public judgment on the matter, and the topic did not come up during a Group of Seven (G-7) finance leaders meeting last week. A statement from Britains finance ministry emphasized only the need for good governance at the World Bank. We support transparency and are considering the publication of the independent investigation findings on irregularities in data reporting regarding the World Bank Doing Business Report, a UK finance ministry spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters. A U.S. Treasury spokeswoman said the WilmerHale findings are serious and have warranted a full review by the IMF of the managing directors role in the Doing Business Report. With an investigation by law firm continuing, the controversy may overshadow the IMF and World Bank annual meetings Oct. 1117. The scandal has fueled longstanding criticisms about the inherently political nature of both Bretton Woods institutions, set up in July 1944 to rebuild the war-torn global economy. In the decades since then, the two have grown to encompass around 190 countries, with combined lending power of more than $1 trillion and research that guides government policy choices and hundreds of billions of dollars in annual private sector investment flows that exceed their annual lending. Timothy Ash, senior sovereign strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said the accusations suggest that some of these investment flows have been based on compromised, even corrupted Doing Business rankings. The report is deeply troubling in terms of what it suggests as to the damage inflicted on the credibility and ethical culture and standing of the World Bank and IMF, Ash wrote in a letter to the Financial Times. Structural Crisis Past leadership controversies at the institutions have often involved improprieties among individual leaders. But the World Bank data-rigging crisis goes beyond the actions of a few individuals to deeper structural issues in the governance of both the Bank and the Fund, said Luiz Vieira, coordinator of the London-based Bretton Woods Project, a nonprofit watchdog group. It highlights the degree to which the World Bank and the IMF can really be trusted to provide advice based on solid research, he said. It raises questions about whose interests are being served, how robust is their analysis, and how subject to geopolitical and shareholder pressure are they? Former bank officials say they are not surprised. Harry Broadman, managing director at Berkeley Research Group, who worked at the World Bank from 19942008, said he had warned about the risks of manipulation when the bank set up a predecessor to the Doing Business report in the 1990s. But he said those problems did not necessarily spill over to other bank research. It would be naive to think that big, large shareholders who sit on the board, including the U.S., the UK, the Germans and so forth, dont carry a lot of influence, Broadman said. What is more of a surprise is that management of the institution would consider changing certain things, based on someone voicing opposition to the way they came out. By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder A lab technician holds the COVID-19 treatment drug "Remdesivir" at Eva Pharma Facility in Cairo, Egypt, on June 25, 2020. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters) Australia Secures New Drug For Fighting COVID-19 Australia has closed a deal for 300,000 courses of an antiviral pill showing promising signs of slashing COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations. Molnupiravir is still being trialled in the US and is yet to gain regulatory authorisation. But the federal government has reached an agreement with pharmaceutical companies Merck Sharp and Dohme to supply 300,000 courses should the pill be given the green light by Australias medicines regulator. It could be made available as early as the first quarter of 2022. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the drug would join other COVID-19 treatments including sotrovimab and remdesivir already available in Australia. While our vaccination rate continues to climb, weve been investing in and closely monitoring research into COVID-19 treatments and we are securing supply of promising treatments, he said. Molnupiravir is taken twice a day for five days by adults with mild or moderate disease. It does not need to be refrigerated. The Therapeutic Goods Administration in August gave the pill provisional determination, the first step to apply to register the pill for use in Australia. A final application is expected to be submitted shortly. It follows trials announced by Merck showing molnupiravir reduced hospitalisations and deaths by around 50 per cent. Australia has also received 15,000 additional doses of sotrovimab, an antibody treatment used to stop the virus from replicating. The national stockpile of the drug, administered by intravenous infusion within five days of patients developing symptoms, is expected to exceed 30,000 doses this year. It has been shown to reduce hospitalisation or death in patients with mild or moderate infections and who are at high risk of severe illness. Vaccines remain Australias first port of call for battling coronavirus, with the country expected to hit an 80 per cent first-dose rate for over-16s this week. Currently, 56.9 per cent are double-dosed, with 79.6 per cent having received their first dose. University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman emphasised the importance of new treatments. There has been not much emphasis placed on research into treatment since the start of this pandemic, he told AAP. Even with 100 per cent of the population fully vaccinated, there will still be virus circulating because none of the vaccines is 100 per cent effective against transmission. Victoria recorded new 1377 local cases and four deaths as Melbourne became the worlds most locked-down city following 246 cumulative days of stay-at-home orders. NSW recorded 623 new cases and six people died ahead of the planned end of lockdown for fully vaccinated residents in a week. That state has double-dosed 67.5 per cent of its population aged 16 and older, while Victoria has a 52.6 per cent full vaccination rate. The ACT recorded 28 new cases and two more deaths, taking Canberras death toll since the start of the pandemic to eight. Queensland recorded one new infection in the community. Its full vaccination rate of 48.7 per cent is the second-lowest in the country ahead of Western Australia (48.5 per cent). Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Aug. 10, 2021. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) Australian PM Criticises Premier for Holding State Hostage to Extort Hospital Funding The Australian Prime Minister said the state of Queensland should take responsibility for their state health system rather than hold the federal government to ransom for money over domestic borders. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would not respond to shakedown politics during a pandemic and criticised Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for threatening to keep borders shut unless they received more public health funding. She has to take that up with the Queensland people then. I mean, to go down this point and say, Im going to hold the federal government to ransom and seek to extort from their money on the basis of COVID; I just dont think that is the right way to go, Morrison told Nines Today show this morning. Were not going to respond to those sorts of, give me the money or else type demands, and thats what this is. Palaszczuk said on Oct. 1 that her borders would not necessarily open once the state hits 80 percent vaccination due to concerns of whether hospitals can cope with a surge in COVID-19 cases. The hospitals need increased capacity, and that requires additional federal government funding for the growth in the (case) numbers that we will see, Palaszczuk told the press. This will be unprecedented So we need to be prepared. But Morrison said the federal government had already increased Queensland hospital funding by nearly 100 percent, double what the state government had. He also quoted Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young, who said, in contradiction to Palaszczuk, that the QLD hospital system would be able to deal with a surge in cases. So they need to get on and run their public hospital system and not seek to make excuses about it, get on and do their jobs, and be responsible, Morrison said. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (R) looks on as Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young (L) speaks during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia, on Aug. 9, 2021. (AAP Image/Darren England) Morrison said other states like New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT were getting on with it, so Queensland needed to face the challenges and responsibility for their own health system. On Monday, Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said that every state had requested additional support from the federal government for their hospitals, meaning their request was not out of line. Our hospitals are jointly run and funded, Miles said. They are funded under a national partnership agreementpartnership is the keyword there. He said the federal government had artificially capped funding growth at 6.5 percent before the pandemic began, which would reduce hospitals ability to cope with demand once the state reopens. Given that our hospitals are funded as a partnership, we would like the federal government to increase their contribution to that partnership. Queensland is the only eastern state that has yet to produce a concrete reopening roadmap, with Palaszczuk backtracking on her commitment to the national reopening plan. In September, Palaszczuk indicated that state borders would remain closed to its southern neighbour, New South Wales, until children under 12 are also vaccinated. An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Feb. 20, 2016. (U.S. Air Force via AP) Biden Admin Declassifies US Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Numbers The Biden administration on Tuesday declassified the U.S. nuclear stockpile numbers, according to the State Department, revealing the United States had about 3,750 nuclear warheads in its arsenal as of September of last year. The United States is releasing newly declassified information on the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile to update the information previously released in September 2017, said the State Department in a statement. The 3,750 nuclear warheads is an approximate 88 percent reduction in the stockpile since 1967 when it reached its maximum of more than 31,255 warheads. Its also an 83 percent reduction from its level when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989. Increasing the transparency of states nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and non-deployed, and strategic and non-strategic, said the State Department. Between 1994 and 2020, the U.S. dismantled about 11,683 nuclear warheads, and since September 2017, about 700 nuclear warheads have been dismantled, according to the agency. Now, about 2,000 additional nuclear warheads are currently retired and will be dismantled. According to the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative, Russia currently has more than 6,300 nuclear warheads, including those waiting for dismantling, and the Heritage Foundation noted that Moscow relies heavily on nuclear weapons to offset the perceived inferiority of its conventional military forces. Earlier this month, a senior Russian official said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is no longer considering a joint U.S.Moscow freeze on nuclear weapons production. No, it was a one-time offer, and it was said so to the U.S. They missed the opportunity, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Geneva Center for Security Policy, according to state-run Russian media. They didnt want a freeze on all warheadsthey wanted an extremely intrusive verification and control at all our nuclear-related facilities. And in 2019, both Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The only U.S.Russia nuclear arms control agreement still standing is the New START treaty, which was signed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The pact limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. As for China, the Nuclear Threat Initiative says the Chinese regime only has about 320 nuclear warheads in its arsenal. Although, because the regime closely guards information about its nuclear arsenal, its unclear what the actual number is, the nonprofit notes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Biden Reverses Trump Ban on Federal Funds for Clinics Referring Women for Abortion The Biden administration on Monday rolled back a Trump-era rule that bans clinics that receive federal family planning funding from referring women for abortions. Beginning Nov. 8, clinics receiving federal funds will be allowed to refer pregnant women for abortions. It revokes former President Donald Trumps February 2019 regulation that required organizations that perform abortions and make referrals do so in clinics that dont receive Title X federal funds. Title X is a half-century old federal family planning program that offers around $286 million in grants each year for clinics serving primarily low-income individuals. Today more than ever, we are making clear that access to quality family planning care includes accurate information and referralsbased on a patients needs and direction, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement of the updated rule, adding that it is a step forward for family planning care. HHS originally proposed the regulation change in April, but it was required to undergo a notice-and-comment period and additional review before the rule could be finalized. A federal appeals court in California in 2019 ruled in favor of the Trump administration and its expressed action to ensure that taxpayers do not indirectly fund abortions, despite legal challenges from more than 20 states. Upon taking office in January, President Joe Biden criticized his predecessors rule, saying in a memo that it puts womens health at risk by making it harder for women to receive complete medical information. The Biden administration estimated that annually, the program served about 1.5 million fewer women as a result of his predecessors regulation. According to the Guttmacher Institute, about one in four clinics that previously operated on Title X funds closed in 2019 in response to the Trump-era policy, reported The Washington Post. Planned Parenthoods acting president at the time called it a unethical rule that will limit what providers can tell our patients, although the Trump administration argued its rules did not include the so-called gag rule on counseling about abortion that was part of the Reagan Administrations Title X rule. According to The Post, affiliates of the organization serve roughly four in 10 patients funded by Title X. The end of the Title X gag rule is a major victory, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement on Monday. Title X is a critical piece of our social safety net that can, and should, ensure that people with low incomes can access essential health care without forcing providers to withhold referrals for all of the options available to them. Given the attacks on abortion in Texas and across the country, its more important than ever that patients can access their choice of birth control and other health care through Title Xand that it is easily available, Johnson added. She said it was disappointing that the government didnt rule against contentious objections, allowing for doctors to refuse to counsel or refer patients for abortions procedures according to their religious or personal convictions. Connor Semelsberger, a director of federal affairs at the Family Research Council, told The Post that it comes as no surprise that the Biden administration moved at lightning speed to send millions of taxpayer dollars to Americas largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood. Bidenomics Is Failing in the Competition With China News Analysis The Biden administration embodies the weakness of anemic diplomacy against Beijings continued predatory trade practices. Biden has been treading water on Beijings predatory trade practices, as illustrated by his trade representatives recent public comments. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai recently said, across several meetings, that she does not want to inflame the competition with China, is looking forward to engaging with her Chinese counterparts, and that American concessions, in the form of more tariff exclusions, are on the table. In other words, Biden is holding out the carrot of appeasement to get Beijing back to the bargaining table, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is strongest. The CCP is so strong, in fact, that it hasnt even deigned to agree to a meeting yet, despite that it typically welcomes the take-and-talk game, where American politicians appear to make progress through talks, while Beijing changes facts on the ground to its advantage. Thats a win-win solution for Beijing and its hangers-on. The mainstream media is not making it easy on the Biden administration, given that it bought, hook, line, and sinker, the mainstream economists story that tariffs are a tax on Americans instead of an impost on Beijing. Sure, the tariffs are directly imposed on American importers from China (not the consumer) and only mediately against the Chinese exporter. They should be switched to a tariff against the Chinese exporter directly. And sure, some of those tariffs can get passed on to the consumer. But in many cases, Chinese firms may have reacted to American tariffs by dropping their prices to keep their market share by holding the cost to American importers steady. In other cases, American middlemen, like distributors and wholesalers, may absorb the costs before they reach the consumer. CME Group modeling assumes that fully half of the tariff costs are absorbed before reaching the consumer. According to CME, a 25 percent tariff on $500 billion of goods, which is more than what former President Donald Trump imposed, would only increase consumer prices by 0.32 percent on average. In other words, instead of spending $100, the American consumer spends $100.32. No big deal. More American jobs, stronger communities, a stronger nation, healthier government finances, and more bargaining power against China is well worth that 32 cents. But U.S. corporate profits lose about the same amount, and their blinkered bean counters ignore anything that doesnt improve their profit margins. They scream loudly about the 32 cents, and they have the economic power to get the attention of corrupt politicians in Washington. The biggest American corporations that China accepts into its market are pushing for a withdrawal of the tariffs, which protect small- and medium-sized businesses from Chinese competition. Corrupt politicians care less about small businesses that dont pay legalized bribes, in the form of campaign donations and revolving-door careers. Its hard for small business to compete against unscrupulous corporate behemoths in Washington, as well as slave wages and a lack of environmental regulations in China. Yes, small business can be hit by higher input prices on the order of 32 cents, but over time as the economy readjusts to buying American, wages and profits increase to compensate for those higher prices. Paying good wages doesnt come free. Prices go up a little, but they are for a good cause. Mainstream economists, who typically pander to the largest corporations, take the corporate side in the fight over tariffs, urging more unmitigated trade liberalization with China. These economists talk loosely about tariffs as a tax on the American consumer without discussing the complexities of other actors absorbing half the cost, the minuscule 32 cent effect on prices, or the negative environmental, national security, and labor externalities that result from reliance on China for consumer goods and strategic imports. Of course, Chinas prices are cheaper. Considering all the externalities, that doesnt make Chinese goods better for American consumers, who also depend on U.S. national security. That dogma was exploded by Trumps economic adviser, Peter Navarro, who to this day is an outcast economist even as Biden maintains the tariffs that Navarro masterminded. Peter Navarro, then-director of the White House National Trade Council, at the CPAC convention in National Harbor, Md., on March 1, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times) The Biden Administration understands that President Trumps trade policies appealed to a large domestic constituency that has watched the decline of the U.S. manufacturing and industrial base across multiple Presidents of both parties, wrote Alex Gray, former chief of staff at the National Security Council and senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, in an email. Domestic politics and the shifting national consensus on trade requires the current Administration to pay lip service to the Trump trade doctrine, while preserving their negotiating leverage with China on the Democratic Partys highest priority, addressing climate change through a global pact that includes China, Gray continued. The reality is that President Biden cannot have it both ways: China remains an economic aggressor against the United States and many of its allies and partners, and is fundamentally unserious about tackling climate change. The sooner the Administration recognizes this reality and acts to counter Chinas economic predation with serious, comprehensive trade and investment policies, the better for U.S. economic and national security. The incremental changes that Biden is slowly pursuing have yielded little. Over a year into his presidency, he and his vaunted ally-focused strategies have done almost nothing to move the needle on China trade issues. France and Germany are not playing ball. Beijing isnt even meeting with Bidens trade representative, much less living up to its commitments to Trump. The truth is that Trumps tariffs started to divert U.S. trade, in a few halting but effective steps, away from China. In 2017, the U.S. trade balance with China was $375 billion, in Chinas favor. In March 2018, Trump announced the imposition of major new tariffs, to which American importers immediately responded through preemptive stockpiling to avoid paying tariffs when they took effect. That actually increased the trade imbalance, which the mainstream media made a big deal about, but only in the short-term. The tariffs started taking effect in July 2018 and were met with equal Chinese counter-tariffs for the first two months, after which Beijings tariffs amounted to just 30 percent of additional American tariffs. Trump had called Xi Jinpings bluff that he would match American tariffs, dollar-for-dollar. The first year of the tariffs saw a deterioration of the trade balance to $418 billion due to stockpiling. Major new tariffs ceased in June 2019 after Trump imposed total tariffs, across two years, on over $360 billion worth of Chinese goods, and China retaliated with tariffs on over $110 billion of American goods. In 2019, the intended trade effect of the tariffs finally matured. Americas negative trade balance dropped from the pre-tariff 2017 level of $375 billion to a post-tariff $344 billion. The difference of $31 billion will likely have been made up by increased American purchases from U.S. businesses and other countries. That may well have reshuffled global trade flows so that other countries will have purchased about that same $31 billion from China, but likely at slightly lower prices than we had paid. Forcing American trade away from China may have increased our prices slightly, but it also likely put upward pressure on wages and taxable income in the U.S. and countries from which we newly imported, not to mention improved U.S. government revenues that could be used to lower taxes or the budget deficit. And shifting trade away from China, if that trade was in strategic goods like steel and ventilators, makes us less dependent upon Beijing in the next emergency, and decreases the revenues that Beijing can use against us or our allies if they were ever to carry through with their many threats of war, including against the United States, Australia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. In 2020, the trade deficit dropped yet further to $310 billion. This, along with increasing concerns among Western investors about Chinas economy, may have hit China hard enough to cause structural cracks in its economy that are now leading to major debt defaults such as the Evergrande crisis and energy blackouts, both in the past few weeks. A worker walks in front of the Evergrande headquarters in Shenzhen, southeastern China on Sept. 26, 2021. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images) An economic downturn in China could help force the CCP to the bargaining table, but it could also be contagious for U.S. and European companies invested substantially in the country. Those companies, and Western companies with extensive exports to China, are lobbying in Washington to withdraw the tariffs before they can have even greater effects. To Bidens credit, he has not, thus far, removed Trumps tariffs. But neither has he innovated on Trumps strategies, for example, through successful lobbying of European capitals to join the United States in globalizing our China tariffs, and thus closing off Beijings economic escape routes. Instead, Biden appears to be using the tariffs as a bargaining chip, which proves that they are a thorn in the side of Beijing and not just a tax on American consumers. That thorn would be much more effective were China to experience the coordinated closure of its market access in the United States, Europe, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, and Britain, its biggest export destinations. This coalition of countries would then have real bargaining leverage over Beijing on a host of issues, including its military expansionism in the South China Sea, threats of a Taiwan invasion, planned increase in greenhouse gas emissions until 2030, and of course its failure to abide by its trade agreement with Trump. At that point, it would be Xi Jinping begging for trade talks, not Katherine Tai. But that Biden strategy, if it even existed, is clearly failing. So far, Beijing is reneging and continuing its predatory practices. In response, Biden should be increasing tariffs. But not having achieved a united alliance on trade, Biden is instead signaling defeat by asking for trade talks. Hes holding out the carrot of tariff relief in order to achieve trade talks with Beijing that will likely only yield symbolic concessions, if any. And Biden is planning to spend $2 trillion on infrastructure, which may be a needed shot in the arm of the U.S. economy. But Beijing could also benefit, for example, through the sale of state-subsidized steel and concrete to American builders. So far, Bidenomics has been ineffective and threatens to undo the progress made by the Trump administration against the CCP. There is no end in sight as Beijing continues its predatory trade policies and state-led economic growth. Small- and medium-sized American businesses, which have been progressively destroyed by exposure to subsidized China trade since the 1970s, need to act quickly to save what little market share they retain. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Illegal immigrants take supplies back and forth between Acuna, Mexico, and the United States (far side) across the Rio Grande, the international boundary with Mexico, in Acuna, Mexico, on Sept. 20, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Bidens New Child Tax Credit Would Give $25 Billion to Legal and Illegal Immigrants: Analysis Among the dozens of new benefit programs in President Joe Bidens $3.5 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation spending plan is a new Child Tax Credit (CTC) that would send more than $25 billion to legal and illegal immigrants with children born in the United States, according to an analysis made public on Oct. 5. The stalled budget reconciliation bill replaces the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which paid cash to low-income workers with children, with a program that is part of the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC), according to Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), in the analysis. The program resembles traditional cash welfare because it entirely drops the old ACTCs work requirement. It also significantly increases payment size. The new program was authorized in the [$1.9 trilllion] stimulus for one year, Carmarota writes. As was true of the old ACTC, any illegal immigrant with a U.S.-born child is eligible for the new program. We estimate that illegal immigrants will receive $8.2 billion in payments from the new program annuallymore than triple what they were eligible for under the old ACTCwhile legal immigrants will receive $17.2 billion. The 10-year cost just for illegal immigrants would total roughly $80 billion, Camarota estimates. Biden said in March when Congress approved his $1.9 trillion stimulus program that established the CTC that he wanted to make it permanent, but it wasnt clear then that legal and illegal immigrants with children born in the United States would be added to those eligible for the credit. The mammoth reconciliation plan now before Congress retains the CTC as approved earlier this year, but expands its availability and makes it a permanent entitlement. The maximum cash payment under the new program for those without federal income tax liability is the same as the reduction in tax liability$3,600 for children under age six and $3,000 for children 6 to 17, Camarota writes. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the new cash grants, excluding the refunds, will cost the federal treasury $66.2 billion above the $28.9 billion that the old grants cost, for a total cost of about $95 billion annually. If it becomes law, the new CTC doubles the refundable credit per child, which, Camarota describes as potentially revolutionary because the payments are so large that proponents hope it will substantially reduce child poverty. The credit is deducted from a familys taxes due, or paid in cash to those who have no federal tax liability. Camarota calculated the average benefit likely to be available under the CTC if its approved by Congress and signed into law by Biden. Illegal immigrants would receive $5,134, compared to $4,757 for legal immigrants and $4,557 for regular citizens. Camarota additionally points out in his analysis that by dropping any work requirement as a condition of receiving the credit, the CTC effectively repeals a key tenet of the landmark 1996 welfare reform approved by a Republican Congress and President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. That reform also linked the amount of assistance an individual could receive to how much they earned working. For low-income people, the link to earnings in the old program meant that the more someone earned, the larger the payment they received from the program, at least up to a point, Camarota said of the previous program. The new program has no such incentive, as the full value of the cash benefit is available to any low-income person with a child, including those who do not work at all, making it like traditional cash welfare. The new cash grants from the CTC are paid in monthly installments that total half of what the beneficiary can expect to receive from the program once they file their taxes. This, too, makes it even more like traditional cash welfare, as beneficiaries do not have to wait until they file their taxes to get a check each month. The only other requirement besides having a child born in the United States is for the dependent to have a valid Social Security number (SSN). That requirement isnt significant, however, because all persons born in the United States are automatically eligible to receive a SSN. But Camarota adds that the parent does not need a valid SSN. This means that anyonelegal permanent residents, long-term temporary visitors (e.g., guestworkers and foreign students), and illegal immigrants who have at least one U.S.-born childcan receive cash payments from the program if their income is low enough. Bidens New China Trade Plan Echoes Trumps Former President Donald Trumps China tariffs will stay in place for now. And the U.S. trade representative says there could be even more ahead, if her upcoming talks with Beijing dont go well. Within just two months, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized 1.8 million fentanyl-laced pillsmost of them made in China. Beijing breaks its own record. It sent a whopping 52 Chinese aircraft toward Taiwanthe highest reported number on record. Freedom in Hong Kong takes another hit. The citys largest independent trade union has disbanded, citing that political uncertainty made it too difficult to continue. Reports say Taiwans pandemic numbers are shrinking, with no new virus cases found locally in five days. As the situation improves, officials are tweaking some of the islands prevention measures. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more first-hand news from China. For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter. Blinken Meets Macron in Paris as US Tries to Ease Tensions Over AUKUS Pact French President Emanuel Macron on Tuesday met with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Paris as he seeks to repair damages between the two G-7 nations after the Biden administration excluded France from a new Indo-Pacific security initiative. France was angered over the new deal after Australia abandoned a multi-billion dollar defense deal, which provided the latter with diesel-powered submarines. Instead, Australia chose to enter into an agreement with the United States and the UK for nuclear-powered vessels. The trilateral agreement between the United States, Australia, and the UKwhich is known as AUKUSprompted President Joe Biden to request a call with Macron in September in an attempt to cool down the dispute. Blinken and President Macron discussed steps forward in U.S.-French relations, the U.S. State Department said in a statement, noting that U.S. officials look forward to Macron meeting with Biden later this month at a date and specific venue that has yet to be decided. Blinken also met with Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to Macron, who said the Sept. 22 phone call between Biden and Macron was productive, but a lot of hard work remains to mend the relationship rocked by the Biden administrations new defense partnership. Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to the French president, is pictured in the courtyard of the Elysee presidential Palace in Paris, on July 22, 2019. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images) The two officials also had talks on cooperating key strategic security areas that include the Indo-Pacific, the Sahel region, and Afghanistan. They didnt elaborate on what those projects might be, but a senior State Department official said they would likely involve the Indo-Pacific and Western efforts to blunt Chinas growing, NATO and other trans-Atlantic objectives involving the European Union, and counterterrorism cooperation in Africas Sahel region. The one-on-one meeting came amid French demands for the United States to restore trust. American officials have acknowledged that AUKUS could be handled better and have benefitted from coordination with France and other members of the European Union, all of which were excluded. And, while they have also signaled a desire to make amends, they have suggested Frances rage was an overreaction. Amidst Frances rage, officials briefly recalled its ambassadors from the United States and Australia in protest over the new national security partnership. The French government accused Australia and the United States of stabbing it in the back and said that it would take time for the wounds to heal. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters in Washington on Sept. 22, speaking in both French and English, that French officials should get a grip, calling AUKUS a fundamentally great step forward for global security. Blinken is in Paris for two days where he will attend international meetings of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, while also putting a focus on repairing the rift with France. Antonio Graceffo and The Associated Press contributed to this report. From NTD News A worker is reflected in the water of an estuary after a major oil spill off the coast of California came ashore in Huntington Beach, Calif., U.S. on Oct. 4, 2021. (Mike Blake/Reuters) California Oil Spill Cause Probed; Storm Threatens Cleanup HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.Federal and state investigators on Monday were focusing on a 41-year-old pipeline as the likely source of an oil spill that killed wildlife and fouled the coast of southern California, and an approaching storm threatened cleanup efforts. The weekend spill sent 3,000 barrels of crude oil (126,000 gallons) into the Pacific Ocean. Authorities identified the line as the San Pedro Bay Pipeline that connects an offshore oil production platform to a site in Eureka, California. Huntington Beach, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Los Angeles, was hit hardest with some 13 square miles (34 square km) of ocean and portions of its coastline covered in oil, said Mayor Kim Carr. Cleanup crews dressed in white coveralls and helmets worked along a beach and wetlands running inland from the ocean on the eastern side of the coastal highway. Birds covered in oil washed up on shore, along with dead fish. The inlet feeds the Magnolia Marsh, a wetlands that was rehabilitated after the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy bought the land in 2008. Up to 90 bird species use the area each year, including eight to 10 that are either endangered or threatened, official have said. Officials identified the platform and pipeline operator as Beta Offshore, a California subsidiary of Houston-based offshore crude oil producer Amplify Energy Corp. Clean-up crews work to mitigate the damage in an ecological estuary after a major oil spill off the coast of California came ashore in Huntington Beach, Calif., U.S. on Oct. 4, 2021. (Mike Blake/Reuters) Amplify on Monday did not return a call seeking information. On Sunday, Amplify executive Martyn Willsher said a pipeline carrying oil from the Elly offshore platform had been shut off and its remaining oil suctioned out. Accuweather reported that a coming storm in the Los Angeles area could bring higher swells into the area beginning late in the day and continuing through Tuesday. This could hamper cleanup efforts. Federal officials have stepped up scrutiny of aging and idled offshore energy pipelines. Energy companies have built 40,000 miles (64,000 km) of oil and gas pipelines in federal offshore waters since the 1940s. Regulators have failed to address the risks from idled pipelines, platforms and other infrastructure on the seafloor, the watchdog U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said this year. As pipelines age, they are more susceptible to damage from corrosion, mudslides, and seafloor erosion, GAO said. Twenty-three oil and gas production facilities operate in federal waters off the coast of California, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Beta Offshore has three platforms, including Elly. Officials deployed 2,050 feet (625 meters) of protective booms, which help contain and slow the oil flows, and about 3,150 gallons had been recovered on Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. By Jonathan Allen, Gene Blevins, and Jessica Resnick Ault OTTAWACanada is formally invoking a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States in a bid to prevent Michigan from turning off the taps to Enbridges Line 5 pipeline. Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau said in a statement Monday that the transit pipeline treaty guarantees the uninterrupted transit of light crude oil and natural gas liquids between the two countries. Line 5 carries 540,000 barrels of light crude and natural gas liquids between Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ont., which the company and other proponents say are a critical energy source in the U.S. Midwest, as well as Ontario and Quebec. But almost a year ago, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked an easement granted to the pipeline in 1953 which had allowed it to run through the Straits of Mackinac, a water body connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Citing potential catastrophic environmental consequences if the aging pipeline ruptures, Whitmer gave Enbridge six months to shut off the flow. Enbridge challenged the order in court, and the two sides have been engaged in court-ordered mediation talks for months. Those talks are now at a standstill, with Michigan indicating last month it had no desire to continue. Canada had already argued in a brief submitted to the court last spring that the case should be set aside to allow Canada and the United States to negotiate a solution under the transit pipeline treaty. With the mediation talks now not moving, Canada has formally requested the dispute process of the treaty to begin, and its lawyer asked the U.S. federal judge to halt further court proceedings pending the outcome of the treaty talks. In response to Michigans efforts to shut down Line 5, Canada has raised its significance for Canadian economic and energy security at the highest levels of the U.S. federal government, Garneau said. We have also stressed the importance of fully respecting and implementing the international agreements that are in place between our two countries. The dispute mechanism first calls for negotiations between the two federal governments. If those fail, either side can request binding arbitration, a process that could take six months just to get the arbitrators in place. Whitmer said in a statement she was profoundly disappointed by Canadas move, and asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reverse the decision. She said she expected more from Canada, a nation that prides itself on its commitment to environmental protection and accused it of bowing to the bidding of the company responsible for the 2010 oil spill in the Kalamazoo River. That rupture of Enbridges Line 6B spilled more than 3.8 million litres of diluted bitumen into the river in one of the largest inland oil spills ever seen in the U.S. I remain confident that Michigan will prevail in its legal efforts with respect to Line 5, regardless of todays action, and I will continue to fight to get the pipelines out of the water, said Whitmer. Canadian environmental groups were on Whitmers side. Michelle Woodhouse, the water program manager at Environmental Defence, said the pipeline poses an unacceptable threat to the Great Lakes, including to the way of life of Indigenous Peoples in the region. She also said Canada has not done the research to prove the true importance of the pipeline to Ontario and Quebec. Yet Canada seems to be accepting Enbridges claims about this dangerous pipeline unequivocally, while downplaying the risks posed to the Great Lakes and to climate, she said. We know alternatives existan independent analysis shows the existing pipeline system has capacity to meet most of the regions energy needs without Line 5. Ontario Premier Doug Ford backed the Canadian move, as did Enbridge. In a statement the company said the pipeline has operated safely for 68 years and provided a much needed source of energy. To have that threatened by a single governmental entity creates concerns about energy security as winter approaches and the economy as the region looks to re-emerge from the pandemic, the company said. By Mia Robson Five kinds of SPF 50 aerosol Coppertone sunscreens (not pictured here) have been recalled for containing a cancer-causing chemical. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Carcinogen Found in Coppertone Sunscreens Benzene continues to trigger recalls in products people apply to their skin Coppertone, which is owned by the German multinational skin care company Beiersdorf and headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey, has recalled five aerosol sunscreen sprays, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Sept. 30. These products have all been found to be tainted with benzene, a known carcinogen. According to the FDA, 12 lots of aerosol spray products, all manufactured between Jan. 10 and June 15 are being voluntarily recalled. The specific products under recall are: Coppertone Pure & Simple SPF 50 5.0 ounce aerosol sunscreen spray: Lot TNOOCJ4 and Lot TNOOBR2 Coppertone Pure & Simple Baby SPF 50 5.0 ounce aerosol sunscreen spray: Lot TN00857, Lot TN00CJV, Lot TN00854, and Lot TN00855 Coppertone Pure & Simple Baby SPF 50 5.0 ounce aerosol sunscreen spray: Lot TN009GH, Lot TN0083K, Lot TN0083J Coppertone Sport Mineral SPF 50 5.0 oz aerosol sunscreen spray: Lot TN008KU and Lot TN008KV Travel-size Coppertone Sport Spray SPF 50 1.6 ounce aerosol sunscreen spray: Lot TN00BU3 Coppertone will issue refunds for these sunscreens via an online request form, which will be available only until Oct. 6. But Coppertone isnt the only company that has been inadvertently selling contaminated sunscreen. This past July, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., a New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company, voluntarily recalled all lots of four Neutrogena products and one Aveeno aerosol sunscreen product after their own internal testing identified benzene in the products. The Bad News About Benzene Benzene is a colorless sweet-smelling liquid that evaporates quickly when exposed to air. Its present in naturefrom forest fires and volcanic activityand is also a natural part of cigarette smoke, crude oil, and gasoline. However, the most human exposure to benzene comes from human activities. In fact, benzene is among the most widely used chemicals in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Benzene is used to make other chemicals, including detergents, drugs, dyes, lubricants, pesticides, and plastics. One of the main ways humans are exposed to benzene is through breathing contaminated air. Its harmful to breathe benzene-tainted fumes from art supplies, gasoline, glues, and paints, which is why good ventilation is important. Benzene can also be absorbed through the skin via consumer products. Benzene is a known carcinogen, according to peer-reviewed scientific studies done in both animals and humans. Benzene exposure is known to damage bone marrow and cause anemia and has also been found to increase your risk of getting leukemia, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other cancers. Laura Orlando, who has been teaching classes on environmental health at Boston University for almost 20 years, argues that carcinogens such as benzene may play a role in triggering many different cancers. Im exposed to benzenes because I live in a city, from car exhaust and cigarette smoke, she said. Orlando, 58, was diagnosed with breast cancer that had traveled into her lymphatic system six years ago. Exposure to benzene can occur through inhalation, oral, and skin and it could, depending on the level and extent of exposure, result in an increased risk of cancers including leukemia, and blood cancer of the bone marrow and other blood disorders which can be life-threatening, the FDAs Coppertone recall information reads. Daily exposure to benzene at the levels detected in these affected Coppertone aerosol sunscreen spray products would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences based on generally accepted exposure modeling by numerous regulatory agencies. Children Most Vulnerable While the overall risk of exposure to benzene from these contaminated sun sprays may be small, the fact that two of the Coppertone products are specifically designed for babies may be cause for concern. According to scientists from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III in Madrid, Spain, writing in the journal Environmental Toxicology, Children are uniquely susceptible to chemicals. Infants and small children are at greater risk than adults because their bodies and brains are still developing, and they arent able to metabolize toxic compounds as effectively as adults. The skin surface area of children relative to body weight is greater for children than for adults, the scientists said, resulting in a higher potential dose absorbed through the skin of about three times greater for infants than for adults. Another Benzene-Tainted Product Recall In March 2020, New Haven, Connecticut-based product testing company Valisure added benzene to the list of compounds they regularly tested for. Unfortunately, the company found detectable quantities of benzene in hand sanitizers. Valisure, which then filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA, found that 17 percent of the 260 bottles of hand sanitizer that they had tested contained benzene. The benzene content in 21 of the bottles was above the FDAs safety limits for alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Its shocking and frustrating to be detecting any levels of benzene is such a broadly used consumer product, David Light, CEO of Valisure and father of five, told a reporter for Health.com. Benzenes toxicity in humans has been well known in the scientific community for over 120 years. It is arguably one of the most, if not most, known chemicals that can cause cancer in humans even at trace levels, Light said. About a month after Valisure filed the Citizen Petition, the FDA announced that one sanitizer manufacturer, Scentsational Soaps & Candles, was issuing a voluntary national recall of its scented hand sanitizer because of the presence of benzene, as well as two other chemicals: methanol and acetaldehyde. The FDAs updated list of hand sanitizers consumers should avoid can be found on their website: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use. Do We Really Need Sunscreen? Go to any beach in the United States and youll see parents slathering or spraying a sun-protective product on their childrens skin from head to toe. Thats because weve been told that we must protect ourselves and our children from the suns dangerous UV light. Too much sun exposure has long been linked to skin cancer, so much so that the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) has asserted that any sun exposure is harmful. All sunscreens should be reapplied approximately every two hours when outdoors, even on cloudy days, the AAD stated in a downloadable PDF on their website, recommending that every child older than the age of 6 months use a broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen with a protection factor of 30 or higher. But a growing number of scientists and medical doctors, including Dr. Richard Weller, a dermatologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, believe that our global fear of direct sun exposure is doing more harm than good. Wellers research has found that sun exposure may actually lower blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and overall mortality. According to an article in Outside Magazine, Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?, skin cancer kills fewer than three people per 100,000 in the United States each year and for every person who dies of skin cancer, more than a hundred people will die of cardiovascular diseases that sun exposure may help prevent. Sun Better Than Supplements Tons of people are taking vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D is a huge protector from COVID-19. But getting vitamin D through sunlight exposure is much better than taking a supplement, said Stephanie Seneff, author of the book Toxic Legacy and senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. We need a lot more sun than were getting. Seneff recommended more outside time for both children and adults, which will help the body build up its natural resistance to sunburns. If children are exposed to the sun in the spring, they develop a nice tan that will protect them from the summer sun, Seneff said. So then kids can handle the summer sun without burning. If youre out of doors all the time, youll naturally get tan and the summer sun will be safe because of that tan. The tan provides protection. Seneff insists that many sunscreens, even if they arent tainted with benzene, are toxic. Aluminum is one of the intentional ingredients in many sunscreens, she said. And aluminum gets absorbed through the skin and is very toxic. The safest sunscreens dont contain aluminum, according to Seneff. You dont want to burn, she said. But the way to avoid it is to get a tan or just be careful. But there are better ways to protect against burns than sunscreen. Seneff recommended staying in the shade, limiting exposure to the sun until your skin has naturally tanned, and wearing sun-protective clothing as alternatives to using sunscreen. Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., an award-winning writer and book author, is a frequent contributor to the Epoch Times. Find out more and sign up for her free weekly email at www.JenniferMargulis.net. The title screen of a program called "How Xi Jinping Pursues Happiness For People," from the Chinese regime's state-owned broadcaster CGTN is seen in London, England, on Feb. 4, 2021. (Leon Neal/Getty Images) CCP Propaganda Focused on Overseas Chinese: Part 2 News Analysis The Chinese regime does not recognize dual-citizenship, claiming full sovereignty over anyone holding a Chinese passport. At the same time, much of the rhetoric of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its leader Xi Jinping is about Chinese blood and the blood of the ancestors, which translates to the CCP believing that it controls or should control foreign citizens of Chinese descent, no matter how far back their ties to China go. The CCP has always seen the Chinese diaspora as a source of revenue and investment. In more recent decades, it has regarded them as sources of technology transfer, taking part in Chinese-led multinational technology development initiatives. The diaspora have also been crucial in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road), facilitating and smoothing Chinese engagement with the various countries of the BRI. Since 2016, the CCP has held an annual business conference for overseas Chinese involved in the BRI. Since 1999, China has offered two-week long birthright tours, which are largely free for those with Chinese ancestry. Over 400,000 foreign-born Chinese have taken advantage of this opportunity. The Strategic Research Institute of Frances Military College (IRSEM) released a lengthy report on the CCPs propaganda campaign, including influence and control of overseas Chinese. The IRSEM has uncovered that CCP propaganda programs function through Western think tanks, Confucius Institutes, and the media. The report shows that CCP operations are not limited to the United States, but are also taking place in Taiwan, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, and other countries. This propaganda push runs parallel to the wolf warrior diplomatic style adopted by the CCP last year, whereby individual Chinese ambassadors would attack, through letters to local media or interviews on TV stations, the countries where they are posted. One of the more egregious examples was former Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, who openly supported Chinas business interests in the country, while attending events held by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government. This is a clear example of the CCP working through the embassy not only to win the support of the diaspora for Beijings economic interests, but also to support political candidates and parties that may later be in a position to champion Beijings interests. The CCPs three-pronged attack consists of psychological warfare, public opinion warfare, and legal warfare, much of which is enacted through the Chinese diaspora. Psychological and public opinion warfare was evident at the Conference for Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations and the China Overseas Friendship Association, where Xi reminded the diaspora that the blood of the nation ran through their veins. His message was clear: He and the CCP expect overseas Chinese to be both patriotic and obedient, aiding Beijing in carrying out its objectives. A group of 16-year-old youths try to distribute Chinese Communist Party propaganda in Flushing, New York, on Aug. 10, 2013. (Milene Fernandez/Epoch Times) Another organization, the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), has its goal aimed to enhance peoples friendship, further international cooperation on behalf of the Chinese people, makes friends and deepens friendship in the international while carrying out all-directional, multi-level and broad-area people-to-people friendship work to serve the great cause of Chinas peaceful development and reunification. Western governments need to ask themselves whether they should allow such organizations that serve the great cause of the CCP to operate freely in their countries. Additionally, it is unclear whether the term reunification means a Chinese takeover of Taiwan, or China annexing the Chinese diaspora living in foreign countries. In addition to trying to influence overseas Chinese through direct contact and overseas trips and conferences, the CCP has sought to control diaspora media, as well as to recruit students studying abroad to spy on one another. These goals are often achieved through threats and other strong-arm tactics, frequently coming from the Chinese embassy or consulate. In other initiatives, bot-armies are used in online attacks against the Chinese diaspora who criticize the CCP. The Partys overseas activities include suppressing dissident movements in diaspora communities, cultivating a cooperative international environment, smoothing the way for a takeover of Taiwan, gathering intelligence, stealing foreign technology, and encouraging investment in China. According to the IRSEM, there is also evidence of China trying to alter the messaging about the Hong Kong protests, as well as spreading disinformation that the United States was the origin of COVID-19. In decades past, the vast majority of Chinese who have left China never returned. But in recent years, 80 percent of those who went to study abroad have come back to China. This shows that the CCPs vastly propagandized message that the regime can provide a better life to citizens than can Western nations is succeeding. To promote this, and other messages, the CCP has been building a massive global media network. One of the largest diaspora media is the website Wenxuecity, which caters to those living in the United States. Founded by Chinese exchange students in 1998, Wenxuecity has been accused of having ties to the CCP, which analysts have largely confirmed. An investigation discovered that about 16 percent of Wenxuecitys general articles and 25 percent of stories about Hong Kong, the CCP, or Xi Jinping came from Chinese state-run media or those media outlets friendly with the regime. In addition to influencing diaspora media, the CCP has spent billions of dollars building a global television network that can compete with the BBC and CNN. Meanwhile, Beijing has stepped up its efforts to bring overseas Chinese media under its control. At a meeting of Chinese-language media from over 60 countries, a senior official said that the duty of overseas Chinese media was to retransmit news from CCP state-owned media at important times. Read part 1 here. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Taiwan air force pilots stand next to French-made Mirage fighter jets during an annual exercise at the Hsinchu air force base on Jan. 16, 2019. (Sam Yeh / AFP via Getty Images) China Sends Record 56 Warplanes Near Taiwan, Continuing 4 Days of Incursions Beijing sent 56 fighter jets into Taiwans air defense zone on Oct. 4 in its largest show of strength on record toward the self-ruled island that it claims as its own. The move also marked the fourth day of sustained military harassment against Taiwan that has seen nearly 150 warplanes fly into the zone. The latest incursion included 34 J-16 fighters and 12 H-6 bombers, according to Taiwans Ministry of National Defense. An additional four Chinese J-16s appeared in the southwestern part of Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zonethe buffer area outside the islands airspace. For more than a year, tensions across the Taiwan Strait have been intensifying as Beijing heightened its military and diplomatic pressure on the island. The regimes air force has made over 500 military incursions over the nine months this year, compared to 380 in 2020, according to Taiwanese authorities. The latest cluster of maneuvers began on Oct. 1the 72nd anniversary of the regimes founding. Since then, 149 Chinese warplanes have flown over the territory. With such activity, Beijing is asserting its military prowess while signaling its resolve to lay claim on Taiwan, experts have said. Chang Yen-ting, a retired air force lieutenant general from Taiwan, believes that the actions are in part a response to the growing international attention on the democratic island. The United States, Australia, Britain, and Japan have increasingly called out Chinas military aggression in the Indo-Pacific region. Taiwan has also applied to join the 12-nation trade pact known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, which China also seeks to enter. Australia and Japan, meanwhile, have expressed reluctance over the prospect of having Beijing in the trade bloc over its use of economic coercion on countries it has disputes with. Both countries, along with Canada and the United States, have expressed support for Taiwans bid. J15 fighter jets on Chinas sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, during a drill at sea in April 2018. (AFP/Getty Images) Taiwans fight for greater international space is likely stepping on the CCPs [Chinese Communist Partys] red lines, Chang told The Epoch Times, referring to Beijings position that international support for Taiwan constitutes a red line that cannot be crossed by other countries. Wu Ming-chieh, a Taiwan-based military analyst, said the regime may further dial up the temperature in the coming days. As Chinese leader Xi Jinping seeks to secure his third term as the Partys paramount leader next year, he is likely to present a tougher front to ease domestic pressure, he said. However, this strategy is not without risk. The bigger their moves, the more it could backfire, he said. Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki urged Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. Chinas provocative military activity is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability, she said. Psaki later added that U.S. officials are also in touch privately, conveying clear messages through diplomatic channels. Faced with U.S. criticism, the Chinese foreign ministry on Monday put the blame on Washington, warning that the arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. warships sailing through the Taiwan Strait would undermine bilateral relations. Taiwans foreign ministry said Beijings actions have been inflaming tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. In the face of Chinas challenges, our countrys government has always committed itself to improving our self-defense capabilities and resolutely safeguarding Taiwans democracy, freedom, peace, and prosperity, it said in a statement on Oct. 3. Chang Chun contributed to this report. J-10 fighter jets of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force Ba Yi aerobatics team perform an aerial display during the Singapore Airshow media preview in Singapore on Feb. 9, 2020. (Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images) China Undermining Regional Peace and Stability: White House Comments come as Beijing flies 56 fighter jets near Taiwan The White House has expressed concern over Chinas provocative military behavior towards Taiwan after Beijing sent 56 fighter jets into its air defense zone on Oct. 4, marking the fourth day of sustained military harassment against the self-ruled island. Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki urged China to put an end to its goading behavior which officials say threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and could lead to all-out military confrontation. We remain concerned by the Peoples Republic of Chinas provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing risk miscalculations and undermines regional peace and stability, Psaki told reporters. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. And we have an abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Thats why well continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability. We maintain our commitments, as outlined in the Three Communiques, Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances, she added. Psaki also doubled down on the U.S.s support for Taiwan, noting that its commitment to the island was rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region. The United States has had a long relationship with Taiwan and has provided it with military and other types of support since 1949 when the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China relocated there following the Chinese Civil War. While the United States and Taiwan enjoy a close unofficial relationship it is yet to create official ties with the island, due to its multiple agreements with Beijing. We have been clear privately and publicly about our concern about the PRCs pressure and coercion toward Taiwan, and we will continue to watch the situation very closely, Psaki said. The White Houses comments come after Beijing sent 56 fighter jets into Taiwans air defense zone on Monday, including 34 J-16 fighters and 12 H-6 bombers, according to Taiwans Ministry of National Defense. An additional four Chinese J-16s appeared in the southwestern part of Taiwans Air Defense Identification Zonethe buffer area outside the islands airspace. Taiwan said it had scrambled jets and deployed missiles to warn off the mainland military aircraft. Two Chinese SU-30 fighter jets take off from an unspecified location to fly a patrol over the South China Sea in a file photo. (Jin Danhua/Xinhua via AP) Tensions have been worsening between Taiwan and China for more than a year as Beijing has drastically increased both its military and diplomatic pressure in an attempt to intimidate the self-governed island, which it sees as its territory that must be taken under its control. The regimes air force has made over 500 military incursions over the nine months this year, compared to 380 in 2020, according to Taiwanese authorities. The latest provocative displays began on Oct. 1, which marks the 72nd anniversary of the regimes founding. Since then, 149 Chinese warplanes have flown over the territory and have included both daytime and nighttime incursions with fighter jets, bombers, and anti-submarine aircraft. The Australian government also weighed in on Monday on the Chinese incursions, declaring that it wanted an Indo-Pacific region that is secure, prosperous and based on the rule of law. Australia is concerned by Chinas increased air incursions into Taiwans air defense zone over the past week, an Australian foreign affairs spokesperson told The Guardian. Resolution of differences over Taiwan and other regional issues must be achieved peacefully through dialogue and without the threat or use of force or coercion, the spokesperson said. Faced with mounting criticism, Beijing on Monday placed blame on Washington, accusing it of being irresponsible with its public comments and warning that its arms sales to Taiwan and U.S. warships sailing through the Taiwan Strait would affect bilateral relations. Eva Fu contributed to this report. Congressional Hearing Grapples With Risks to American Science From Chinese Espionage At a hearing on Oct. 5, members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology questioned witnesses on the risks to U.S. science from foreign espionage, theft, and other actions, particularly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the hearing, held jointly by the Subcommittee on Research and Technology and the Subcommittee on Oversight, lawmakers also highlighted the need to avoid actions that curtailed scientific advancement or that racially profiled Chinese scientists. Representatives heard from four witnesses: Dr. Maria Zuber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and co-chair of the National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable; Candice Wright, director of Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); Allison Lerner, inspector general of the National Science Foundation (NSF); and Xiaoxing Xi, professor of physics at Temple University. International problems require international solutions, and there are real costs to closing off your research to the rest of the world, said Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a doctorate-level physicist and chair of the Oversight Subcommittee, who cited Chinas unwillingness to conduct an open investigation on the origins of COVID-19 and the CCP virus as an example of how a lack of openness impedes progress. As we will hear from our panelists, openness does come with risks, Foster later added. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), a California Institute of Technology graduate and video game developer who serves as ranking member on the Oversight Subcommittee said: We certainly want to continue to be the kind of atmosphere that welcomes students from foreign universities here to the great American melting potand I think that the integrity of the research thats done in the United States is vitally dependent on this rich tapestry that weve created, of researchers from all over the globe. But also, we need to be aware and to be vigilant about the fact that this transparency, the transparency of our research system, also opens us up to the possibility that the research could be manipulated or used in ways that are contrary to our national security. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), ranking member of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, said: Chinese communist leadership is targeting American scientists as a matter of state policy. That is clear. But of course, that does not mean that any type of racial profiling should ever be utilized to address this threat. Waltz cited his own recent work directing the NSF to develop online security modules for scientists working on international collaborations, which he claimed will help scientists meet disclosure requirements and avoid conflicts of interest or commitment. Frankly, in my view, it will help eliminate any excuses of, I didnt know or I didnt understand, Waltz said. Zuber, of the security roundtable, said the United States must seek to end at least three types of activities in addition to direct espionage and theft: First of all, China should not be allowed to pay U.S. faculty, especially not surreptitiously, to transfer work that was funded by federal grants, or to recruit researchers for China, or to spend time in China that conflicts with commitments to U.S. institutions. Second, research collaborations with China should be structured so that they are transparent and reciprocal, where each party has clear, legitimate benefits from their work. Third, universities should not enter into collaborations that would harm U.S. national or economic security or threaten human rights. NSF IG Lerner said that her office needs additional resources to handle the volume of accusations she receives, telling Obernolte that doubling her offices staff would still leave them hard-pressed to keep up with the number of allegations that are coming in. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), chair of the Research and Technology Subcommittee, noted that six of eight universities interviewed by the GAO didnt understand or know how to identify Chinese national talent programs. It used to be that these foreign talent programs were considered prestigious in the same way that some U.S. fellowships are, and now were starting to find out that there are requirements associated with them, Zuber said. Xi, of Temple University, told lawmakers about his experience after being accused of sharing a pocket heater with colleagues in ChinaArmed FBI agents [raided] our house and took me away in handcuffs. Almost four months later, after leading experts in my research field provided affidavits saying that emails I had sent were not about the pocket heater at all, but my own widely published research, the government dropped the casebut my life had been wrecked, Xi said. The problem is that law enforcement officials consider Chinese professors, scientists, and students non-traditional collectors, or spies, for China, he said. We are presumed guilty until proven innocent. Waltz responded, describing the armed raid on Xi and his family as jaw-droppingly unacceptable. I want you to hear from me that I am deeply sorry for what has happened to your family, what happened to you, what happened to your reputation, he said. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) voiced concerns that security concerns could [scare] away international scholars and undermine the United States scientific leadership. Dr. Zuber, you discussed the importance of encouraging and enabling Chinese students to stay in the U.S. after graduating. Are you concerned that this unwelcoming perception of the U.S. might reduce our ability to retain these students, or fail to attract them to come in the first place? Tonko asked. Yes I am, congressman, said Zuber. Witnesses didnt all see eye-to-eye on the appropriate response to some actions. Our researchers are desperately afraid that if they fill out a form wrong, the FBIs going to show up on their doorstepand thats not a winning strategy for us, Zuber told Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.). With all due respect, I want to counter the idea that failure to disclose is simply a paperwork error, Lerner told Meijer. Xi interjected: I think its definitely important to have a clear rule about disclosure. However, overemphasis of disclosure sends the message, Dont collaborate with foreign scientists. Cleanup efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Crews Work to Clean Massive Oil Spill Off Huntington Beach HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.Efforts to clean up the contaminants from a massive oil spill in Orange County proceed as wildlife is threatened and visitors are forbidden from entering the waters until further notice, officials said Oct. 4. The U.S. Coast Guard told The Epoch Times at a news conference on Oct. 4 in Huntington Beach that it was unclear when the ocean would be fully cleaned and visitors would be welcomed back. Its a process of continual assessment, Coast Guard Capt. Rebecca Ore said. It would be unfair to promise a timeline on beach opening and beach closures. Were really relying on our public health professionals to continuously make that evaluation, but I would say for the time being, as we continue to see oil come onshore, that the beaches that are closed are probably going to remain closed. Clean-up efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) The spill was likely caused by a pipeline leak from a facility operated by Amplify Energy about five miles off the coast, officials saida spillage that released around 127,000 gallons of oil into the ocean resulting in three seabirds in critical condition and one euthanized. According to Martyn Willsher, president and CEO of Amplify Energy, his company is sending down scuba divers to investigate the pipeline using remotely operated vehicles to assess the cause of the leak. The investigation began on the afternoon of Oct. 3, resulting in more than 8,000 feet of pipe being examined with an insight into the potential culprit. Weve isolated one specific area of significant interest, Willsher said. I wanted the divers to go down there to the area before we commented further. They will be down there this afternoon. Willsher acknowledged there has been speculation regarding a ship anchor as the possible cause of the pipe leak but refused to comment until more answers were released through the investigation. Clean-up efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Amid Willshers taking responsibility for the leakage, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer questioned the legitimacy of allowing the responsible party to conduct the private investigation. He indicated today that his divers are going to go down and try to determine the location of the rupture to the pipeline, Spitzer said during an Oct. 4 press conference. The company should not be responsible for leading its own investigation with respect to the hundreds of millions of dollars of devastation that it did to our environment and our economy. We are going to feel the impacts of this oil spill for generations. They shouldnt be able to go anywhere near that pipeline. They are biased. Theyre self-interested, and theyre going to do everything they can to try to reduce their damages. On Oct. 2, around 12 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard received the first notice of the spill that would result in the cancellation of the Pacific Airshows last day in Huntington Beach on Oct. 3. Cleanup efforts are underway for an oil spill on the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) The spill started from the Elly Platform, which currently continues to draw oil from the Beta Field, with Amplify Energy Corp being a parent company. Elly is one of Southern Californias 23 oil and gas platforms on the coast and receives oil from two other platforms nearby, accounting for 70 oil wells in total. The potential source of the leak is about 4.5 miles offshore, along a 17-mile pipeline where oil is transported to a refinery. As of Oct. 4, the spill spread to Dana Point and is foreseen to continue moving south, Ore said. To contain the spill, a fleet of boats have been sent out along the coast with shoreline assessment teams. Orange County Chief Health Officer Dr. Clayton Chau released an advisory following the leakage urging residents who were in contact with the oil spill to seek medical assistance. The effects of oil spills on humans may be direct and indirect, depending on the type of contact with the oil spill, Chau said in a statement. People may come in direct contact with oil and/or oil products while walking in a contaminated area (e.g., beach). An initial irritation will be obvious. Please contact your family physician or call 911 if you are experiencing adverse symptoms. Cleanup efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, appears before a Senate hearing to discuss vaccines, in Washington, on Sept. 9, 2020. (Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images) Dr. Francis Collins Stepping Down as Head of NIH The head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is stepping down amid lingering questions regarding his agencys funding of research in China. Dr. Francis Collins has served as NIH director for over 12 years in a tenure that has spanned three administrations. It has been an incredible privilege to lead this great agency for more than a decade, Collins said in a statement on Tuesday. I love this agency and its people so deeply that the decision to step down was a difficult one, done in close counsel with my wife, Diane Baker, and my family. Collins was appointed by then-President Barack Obama on Aug. 17, 2009. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden asked him to remain in the position. Before that, he directed the National Human Genome Research Institute. After stepping down from NIH, he plans to work at the research institute. NIH includes a number of offices, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of that office, has become one of the most prominent public health voices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Collins has backed Fauci on a number of occasions. But both officials have come under scrutiny for statements regarding the origins of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus and funding given to Chinese researchers. The officials deny the funding was for a type of research called gain of function, but some scientists, including Dr. Richard Ebright, have said documents made public this year undermine those claims. The P4 laboratory on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen in Wuhan, Chinas central Hubei Province, on May 13, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) Collins and Fauci were untruthful when they claimed before Congress that the NIH did not support gain of function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at the Wuhan lab, Ebright said last month. Fauci and Collins have broken trust with the American people, three Republicans said around the same time. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has referred Fauci, but not Collins, to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation. The department has not answered questions on the matter and the White House has continued to stand by Fauci and others. Dr. Collins has had a great career as a scientist and public servant, and I hope being caught between our investigation and an administration that does not want to answer questions did not hasten his departure. NIH, like the rest of the executive branch, has not been forthcoming in our investigation, and more transparency in this matter should be demanded of its next director, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) told The Epoch Times in an email. Collins announcement made no mention of the controversy. I am proud of all weve accomplished. I fundamentally believe, however, that no single person should serve in the position too long, and that its time to bring in a new scientist to lead the NIH into the future, he said. Im most grateful and proud of the NIH staff and the scientific community, whose extraordinary commitment to lifesaving research delivers hope to the American people and the world every day. Biden praised Collins, calling him one of the most important scientists of our time. Collins has made immense contributions to biomedicine, added Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. I am saddened to see him stepping down, want to express the deepest appreciation for decades of leadership. A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is seen in this illustration picture taken on March 19, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters) Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines Effectiveness Falls Below 50 Percent After 5 Months: Study The effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine falls below 50 percent after five months, according to a new study published in The Lancet medical journal on Oct. 4. The study (pdf), which was funded by Pfizer, aimed to evaluate the overall variant-specific effectiveness of the companies vaccine against CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus infections and COVID-19-related hospital admissions over time. Researchers analyzed electronic health records of more than 3.4 million men and women who were members of the health care organization Kaiser Permanente Southern California between Dec. 14, 2020, and Aug. 8, and assessed the vaccine effectiveness up to six months after they were inoculated. They found that the Pfizer vaccine was 88 percent effective in the first month after full vaccination, but dropped to 47 percent effectiveness after five months. The vaccine was also found to be highly effective against the Delta variant, providing 93 percent effectiveness in the first month after full vaccination but declining to 53 percent after four months. By comparison, effectiveness against other non-Delta variants was 97 percent after a month and declined to 67 percent after four to five months, according to the study. Effectiveness against Delta-related hospital admission remained high at 93 percent for up to six months, the researchers said. Researchers said that the reduction in effectiveness was likely because of waning immunity over the period of time since the individual was given the second shot as opposed to the Delta strain. Our results provide support for high effectiveness of BNT162b2 against hospital admissions up until around six months after being fully vaccinated, even in the face of widespread dissemination of the Delta variant, the researchers wrote. Reduction in vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infections over time is probably primarily due to waning immunity with time rather than the Delta variant escaping vaccine protection. Our results reiterate in a real-world U.S. setting that vaccination with [the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine] remains an essential tool for preventing COVID-19, especially COVID-19-associated hospital admissions, caused by all current variants of concern, they added. The latest Pfizer-funded study comes one day after a separate BioRxiv study published on Oct. 4 that found that antibody levels generated by two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can undergo up to a 10-fold decrease seven months following the second vaccination. The research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, noted that the drop in antibody levels would compromise the bodys ability to defend itself against COVID-19 if an individual becomes infected. The study focused on 56 healthy participants who had received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The participants blood was tested once after receiving the second vaccination and once again after six months. Researchers suggested administering a third booster shot as a measure to improve vaccine efficacy. Both studies reiterate findings from Pfizer and BioNTech that were released in July showing that vaccine effectiveness dropped from 96 percent to 84 percent over six months. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the most widely used in the United States. More than 226 million doses have been administered as of Sept. 30, compared with 151 million Moderna shots and 15 million of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Tammy Hung contributed to this report. The founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on Feb. 15, 2020. (Christof Stache/AFP) Facebook Says Major Outage Due to Configuration Changes Facebook on Monday blamed the widespread outage across a suite of its social media and messaging services on faulty configuration changes on its routers. Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication, Facebook said in a blog post of the global outage on Monday. The Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp apps, all owned by Facebook, went offline for nearly six hours before some of them were restored. According to an outside trafficking firm, the outage appears to have been the most widespread in the companys history, the Wall Street Journal reported. Facebook apologized in its statement on Monday, saying that the underlying cause of the outage impacted many of the internal tools and systems it uses in its day-to-day operations, complicating our attempts to quickly diagnose and resolve the problem. This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt, it said in a statement. Our services are now back online and were actively working to fully return them to regular operations, the company said. We want to make clear at this time we believe the root cause of this outage was a faulty configuration change. The company added that there is no evidence that user data was compromised as a result of the outage. We apologize to all those affected, and were working to understand more about what happened today so we can continue to make our infrastructure more resilient, the blog post said. The outages came shortly after a Facebook whistleblower during an appearance on CBS News 60 Minutes program accused the Big Tech company of repeatedly putting profit before doing what was good for the public by not acting on knowledge that its algorithm facilitates hate. Frances Haugen, who told CBS News 60 Minutes program that she was recruited by Facebook as a product manager on the civic misinformation team in 2019, claimed that she saw during her time with the company conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money, Haugen said during her appearance on the television program broadcasted on Oct. 3. She also accused Facebook of lying to the public about the progress it made to rein in hate speech on the social media platform. She further accused the company of fueling division and violence in the United States and worldwide. Haugen is expected to testify at a Senate hearing, titled Protecting Kids Online, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The Epoch Times is not suggesting that the outage is linked to Haugens testimony. Facebook officials didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for additional comment. A sign for the Food and Drug Administration is seen outside of the headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, on July 20, 2020. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images) FDA Authorizes New At-Home Rapid COVID-19 Test, Expects Capacity to Double in US The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Monday it authorized a new over-the-counter COVID-19 rapid antigen test that is expected to double rapid at-home testing capacity in the U.S. over the next several weeks. The FDAs emergency use authorization is for the ACON Laboratories Flowflex COVID-19 Home Test, which can be used at home without a prescription. ACON, a San Diego-based company, plans to produce more than 100 million tests per month, and 200 per month by February 2022, the FDA said in a statement. The test involves collecting nasal swabs and yields results within about 15 minutesmuch shorter than PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, which take 1-5 days to do so. White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients acknowledged on Oct. 1 that at-home rapid test is under a lot of demand but that manufacturing would scale up and double across the next several months. Were just going to keep at it to encourage those manufacturers to increase capacity and to drive down the cost of those tests, he added. So, we will continue to pull every lever we can to increase the convenience of rapid at-home testing. It comes as the Department of Defense the same day announced that its logistics agency awarded six contracts with a combined value of over $2.78 billion for 150 million at home and 400 million point-of-care test COVID-19 test kits. The move is in support of the Biden administrations efforts to combat COVID-19. Fed Watchdog to Probe Trades by Central Bank Officials The Federal Reserve said Monday that its internal watchdog will probe whether trading activity by some of the central banks senior officials was legal and in line with the Feds ethics rules. The Fed announced in a statement that it was engaged in talks with its Office of Inspector General (OIG) about the review, which comes after disclosure of transactions in 2020 by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren prompted a public outcry. Kaplan and Rosengren have both resigned in the wake of the controversy, which involved revelations that the two bought and sold securities in 2020, a year that the Fed took extraordinary measures that boosted the economy and buoyed financial markets. While the Fed found their actions didnt break any rules, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ordered a review of ethics regulations around holdings and other financial activities by senior central bank employees. Powell told reporters on Sept. 22 that the Feds review would be comprehensive and thorough, while suggesting it would lead to tightening of standards. Involvement of the Feds OIG appears to be a further step in that process. As part of our comprehensive review, we began discussions last week with the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Board to initiate an independent review of whether trading activity by certain senior officials was in compliance with both the relevant ethics rules and the law, the Fed said in an Oct. 4 statement. We welcome this review and will accept and take appropriate actions based on its findings. The statement came hours after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter (pdf) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urging them to investigate what she called ethically questionable transactions by Kaplan, Rosengren, and Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida. Clarida moved between $1 million$5 million out of a bond fund and into stocks one day before Powell announced potential policy action due to the worsening of the COVID-19 situation, Bloomberg reported last week. Claridas transactions, like those of Kaplan and Rosengren, were featured on 2020 financial disclosure forms. A spokesperson said Claridas actions were part of a pre-planned rebalancing to his accounts and had been cleared with the Feds ethics official. Fed officials are subject to specific restrictions, such as not trading during the so-called blackout period around each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), when policy-sensitive information is distributed. They also arent permitted to hold stocks in banks or mutual funds concentrated in the financial sector and are prohibited from reselling securities within 30 days of purchase. But the Feds code of conduct has broader language as well, stipulating that employees should avoid any situation that might give rise to an actual conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Students, some wearing protective masks, arrive for the first day of school at Sessums Elementary School in Riverview, Fla., on Aug. 10, 2021. (Chris O'Meara/AP Photo) Florida Education Commissioner Seeks Additional Penalty for School Districts Imposing Mask Mandates Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is recommending that the states board of education impose stricter financial sanctions on school districts that are acting in violation of state rules about mask requirements. According to memos posted Tuesday, Corcoran has found at least 10 school districts to be non-compliant with Floridas mask policies, which give parents the final say on whether their children wear masks at school. Among them are the largest three districts in the state, serving a total of 840,000 students in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Hillsborough counties. Having disagreements with the states mask policies does not provide a school district with a basis to violate them by imposing stricter mask rules, Corcoran wrote, adding that school districts that do not allow students to opt-out of mask mandates through parental requests will be facing new punishments. So far, the state has withheld school board members salaries in Alachua and Broward counties. In support of those districts, the Biden administration started a new grant program, allowing district officials to use the grant money to restore funding withheld by state leaders related to mask and other COVID-19 restrictions they put in place. That new punishment will specifically target this Biden administration initiative, Corcoran said in the memo. Should the State Board adopt my recommendation, I request that it consider the sanction of withholding state funds in an amount equal to 1/12 of all school board members salaries, as well as withholding state funds in an amount equal to any federal grant funds awarded to the [school district] for its noncompliance with [state mask rules], the memo reads. The Alachua County Public Schools was the first district to receive funds from the new federal grant known as Project SAFE (Supporting Americas Families and Educators). In late September, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Alachua would be awarded $147,719 to cover the penalties. With these grants, were making sure schools and communities across the country that are committed to safely returning to in-person learning know that we have their backs, the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said when announcing the award. I commend Alachua for protecting its students and educators, and I look forward to working with them to provide students their best year yet. Broward County Public Schools in South Florida has also been awarded $420,957 in Project SAFE money. According to the districts website, the Florida Department of Education has been withholding $35,080 each month from the districts funding allocation since August. This amount represents 1/12 of all nine Broward school board members annual salaries. The Florida Board of Education will meet and weigh on Corcorans recommendations on Oct. 7. Left: Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Screenshot/Google Maps) Right: Photo taken on an unknown date of Dr. Patti Giebink. (Courtesy of Dr. Patti Giebink) Former Planned Parenthood Abortion Doctor Led to Pro-Life Perspective by Hand of God A former abortion doctor who worked for Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s had an unexpected realization that shed made a huge mistakeand this change of heart set her on a journey to the side of being pro-life. She believes God was instrumental in guiding her on that journey. Dr. Patti Giebink from Chamberlain, South Dakota, entered the medical profession as a liberal in the 80s, as someone devoted to womens health with a view that abortion was vital to womens health carethat it was saving womens lives. All the history, pre-Roe v. Wade, women dying or becoming physically injured by illegal abortion, thats what was so prevalent among these womens groups when I was in medical school, she told Focus on the Family. As for the baby, she wrote in an article for CMDA, I was told, Its just tissue, making it easier to settle my conscience. Initially, when early ultrasound pictures were more like a snowstorm than the detailed images we see today, fetuses seemed less human. Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Screenshot/Google Maps) Planned Parenthood is about money. In 1995, Dr. Patti got a job with Planned Parenthood and spent two years working part time, before becoming a full time abortion doctor for a third and final year. Her part time stint was mentally schizophrenic, she saidterminating pregnancies once a week at Planned Parenthood, while slaving to save the lives of mothers and babies other days of the week. As a full time abortion doctor, Dr. Patti was blown away by just how busy they werePlanned Parenthood seemed more like an industry than a health service, she said, adding, Theyre about money, and abortion is their top moneymaker. The clinic was supposed to offer counseling to patients who came, but there was almost none. She only had a brief two-minute consultation in the room with her patient, before the suction machine was turned on and verbal communication became impossible. Nor was she supposed to counsel, as the Planned Parent protocol enumerated in a big binder. It was very clear to me that I was a technician, she said, adding that Planned Parenthood had counselors, but they just read a script and told patients where to sign. To boot, the condition of the facility really wasnt all that clean and had no provisions to handle complications, Dr. Patti said. In the three years that I was involved with Planned Parenthood there, I never saw anybody from the Health Department, never. (Courtesy of Dr. Patti Giebink) She broke protocol by counseling patients who seemed conflicted, and later recalled one of her interactions: She was really ambivalent, she was clearly undecided, and I said, You seem to be struggling. And she said she really didnt want to do this, but she already paid her money, and she traveled to get there, so she might as well just go through with it. Dr. Patti continued, You know, you can reschedule. If youre unsure, reschedule. She was so afraid that she wasnt going to get her money back, and I said, You will get your money back. This wasnt received well by Dr. Pattis superiors. She was terminated from her position in September 1997which elicited an immediate sense of relief in her. Though it would take more than the loss of her stable job to upend her stubborn human will. The foundation for doing what I was doing was gone. Looking back, Dr. Patti described feeling the hand of God protecting and leading her on the path to Him. Among other things, facts dispelling her previous beliefs were revealed. I studied Roe v. Wade, read a lot of books on it, and the interesting thing is, I didnt know that the numbers were inflated, the number of women dying every year from illegal abortion, she said, crediting Dr. Bernhard Nathanson for setting the record straight. They had to really rally support for Roe v. Wade. She added, And so they really inflated the numbers, and it really just stopped me in my tracks, and I thought, Okay, the foundation for doing what I was doing was gone. (Courtesy of Dr. Patti Giebink) On a deeper level, Dr. Pattis spiritual journey began with a church invitation, where a new young pastor helped reorient her perspective on abortion and life. Captivated, she plunged into reading the Bible for over a year. And at some point it became so clear to me that God is the God of life, she said. It dawned that God was involved in the lives of her patients as much as He was hers. She described crossing paths with one Baby Sam, whose mother came to her, pregnant and suffering complications. She was like 24 weeks and she had some chronic bleeding, Dr. Patti told Focus on the Family. The second time she came in, she was like 25-plus weeks, and still having some bleeding. But the baby on the monitor really looked bad. Dr. Patti advised an immediate C-section for any shot at a good result, but admittedly painted a pretty grim picture of what a pre-term baby at 25-weeks would potentially face: eyesight, bowel, or lung problems, possibly having to be put on a ventilator, etc. But the mom went forwardand Dr. Patti marveled when her own woes were shattered. The baby was feisty and breathing, and its almost like the baby was saying, Wow, finally you get me out of there! she recalled. Fifteen years later, that same mom approached her at a pro-life rally and announced that her child was perfectno eyeglasses, no nothingwhich was a revelation that life isnt how science understands it to be. God plays a role in every step. Are we reaching out to them? Bridging the stark, impenetrable divide between pro-choice and pro-life, Dr. Pattis unique perspective attests that tolerance and kindness are vital healing agents. Churches and pro-lifers, she said, ought to deliver safe passage to those who would venture to cross the void. Were not going to make progress if we just stand on opposite sides of the street, calling each other names, she said. Are we reaching out to them? Or are we just in our own little world where were surrounded by people who look and act like us? Dr. Patti Giebink tells the story of how she bridged the divide, from working at Planned Parenthood to becoming a pro-life advocate, in her stirring new book, Unexpected Choice: An Abortion Doctors Journey to Pro-Life, available for purchase here. Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter Fossil Fuels Are BackEverywhere Except in the USA Commentary While the greens in America, including their champion zealot, President Joe Biden, howl their primal screams over climate change, the rest of the world is turning to coal. The dark stuff. The satanic fuel. But its back big-time across the globe. So is old-fashioned petroleum. Bloomberg reported last week that because of high natural gas prices due to a reduced supply from the United States, Europe is snapping up coal. Its cheaper now, and compared to wind and solar its a much more reliable source of power. Euroland is also starting to give up on the green energy dreams that are still alive and well in the minds of American pols in Washington, D.C. Great Britain and Germany have experienced soaring energy prices at the gas pump and in electric utility costs for homes, factories, and businesses. Some relief will come from natural gas that will eventually be supplied to Europe via a gas pipeline from Siberia. Dont forget, Biden greenlighted that pipeline just a few weeks after killing the Keystone XL pipeline and thousands of jobs here at home. Meanwhile, the nation with three times the population of the United States and the worlds largest energy consumer, China, is all-in on coal. The Daily Mail reported that Chinas 1,000 coal plants make a mockery of any promises by Beijing that China will move to renewable energy. Coal is by far the largest source of energy in China, and new plants are being built every week. This is, as the Telegraph put it, Beijings dirtiest little secret. Despite those solemn pledges for China to clean up its air, the Chinese emit three to four times more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year than does the United States. Then there is the situation with oil. The price has been rising as demand remains steady. The Wall Street Journal reported that OPEC nations predict that demand for their oil will at least double over the coming decades. That doesnt sound like a fuel source that is going out of fashion. This is all happening just at the very moment that Democrats in Congress are about to pass green energy bills that will cripple our fossil fuel industry. These fuels could make America the energy powerhouse of the 21st century. Its hard to see how dismantling U.S. oil, gas, and coal will stop the rise of the oceans when the rest of the worlds addiction seems incurable. Last month, Biden went to the United Nations and lectured the world about an international partnership to combat climate change. You could almost hear the snickering in the audience of foreign diplomats. It is a foreign and economic policy driven not by realism, but by fantasy. Biden sees the world as he wants it to be, not as it is. He reminds me of Britains Neville Chamberlain circa 1939, who believed Hitlers promises of peace in our time, up to the moment the bombs started falling like rain on London. The shame of all this is that when Trump left office, America was all but energy self-sufficient and even an energy exporter. Thanks to the shale oil and gas revolution, the United States has access to more oil and gas (and coal) than any other nation. We have many hundreds of years of energy supply. Now that the rest of the world is thirsting for U.S. oil, gas, and coal, the Left wants to shut down all domestic production by 2035, even though our fossil fuels are the cleanest. So, instead of the worlds energy coming from the United States, it will come from Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the OPEC nations. To borrow a Trumpism: Those nations are now laughing behind our backs. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A Taiwanese flag flaps in the wind in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on June 30, 2021. (Ann Wang/Reuters) French Senators to Visit Taiwan Amid Soaring China Tensions TAIPEIA group of French senators, including a former defence minister, will visit Taiwan this week, the islands foreign ministry said on Tuesday, with the visit coming at a time of soaring tensions between Taipei and Beijing, and despite Chinas opposition. Their trip comes after China flew almost 150 warplanes into Taiwans air defence zone over a four-day period beginning Oct. 1, Chinas National Day holiday. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory and is always angered by any trips to the island by foreign officials. Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the delegation will be led by Alain Richard, head of the French Senates Taiwan Friendship Group and the countrys defence minister from 1997 to 2002 under President Jacques Chirac. Richard has visited Taiwan twice before, in 2015 and 2018. Ou said Richard and his group would be coming despite pressure from China. We are very moved by this and admire it, she added. Taiwans foreign ministry later said that three other senators would join the trip, which would last from Wednesday to Sunday and that they would have meetings with senior officials, including President Tsai Ing-wen. France, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but has previously sold weapons to the islandsix frigates in 1991, and 60 Mirage 2000 fighter jets the following year. In March, the Chinese embassy in Paris warned against lawmakers meeting Taiwanese officials, prompting a rebuff from the French foreign ministry, which said French senators are free to meet whomever they wish when they travel. Taiwans government has denounced Chinas pressure toward it, and says it will defend the islands freedom and democracy, and that only Taiwans people can decide their future. By Ben Blanchard Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28, 2021. (Patrick Semansky/Pool/Getty Images) Gen. Milley Should Go Commentary The recent actions of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley may constitute the greatest acts of insubordination by a very senior officer in U.S. military history, given the revelations of his conduct. Milley appears overstuffed in his uniform, which is more laden with decorations than those worn by Gens. George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and Douglas MacArthur combined. Milleys shoulders identify him as both a Ranger and a paratrooper. If it hadnt been in the midst of an election campaign, he would have been fired for his participation in an outrageous denunciation of the walk of the president and many other senior officials to St. Johns Episcopal Church near the White House a day after an effort by peaceful protesters to burn it down. His telephone call to his analog in the Peoples Republic of China promising to warn them if the president whom Milley was serving attacked China, his chatter with the rabidly partisan House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which both of them referred to the president as crazy, and the attempted interposition of himself in the chain of command regarding nuclear weapons: these were all gross acts of insubordination that merited summary dismissal. Despite kissing the undercarriage of the new administration, in testimony to Congress last week, Milley and others claimed to have warned President Joe Biden of the consequences of his proposed withdrawal from Afghanistan. Milley is grossly indiscreet in endlessly self-promoting with scurrilous political gossip-writers such as Bob Woodward, while unctuously claiming to Congress that he didnt read the books in which he was so heavily cited. He must either accept some responsibility for the debacle in Afghanistan or resign in protest against being overruled by the president. He and the other service chiefs should also be called to account for why the United States is lagging behind China and Russia in hypersonic missiles and why theyve moved so slowly to reduce the vulnerability of the Nimitz class aircraft carriers and far eastern military bases, especially Guam, to sophisticated missile fire. Nor should he and others responsible be excused for the promotion of critical race theory in the Armed Forces. Its a disgraceful development. Nonpolitical and Professional Next to the principal authorship of the Declaration of Independence, the achievement of Thomas Jefferson for which he deserves the greatest gratitude, but rarely receives it, is the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This was intended to provide the country with a nonpolitical and highly professional officer corps, and in general, it has succeeded in both objectives. This was never intended to ban senior officers from political life in the United States, but only to ensure that serving officers didnt become involved in politics. Jefferson would have known from the example of former President George Washington that successful senior officers were apt to be highly desirable political candidates, though Washington was obviously exceptionally meritorious. Of course, the greatest U.S. military-political controversy was between MacArthur and then-President Harry Truman in 1950, after one of the greatest military operations in the 20th centuryMacArthur had landed nearly 100,000 men behind North Korean lines at Inchon in less than an hour and the North Korean invasion of South Korea collapsed in 10 days. MacArthurs orders from the president and from the U.N., which provided the forces he was commanding, were to proceed across the 38th parallel and up through North Korea with the presumed intention of reuniting the country. In the midst of this operation, the Peoples Liberation Army, essentially a guerrilla army that had won the nearly 30-year China Civil War the year before, intervened heavily. MacArthur had been assured by his military intelligence that such penetration by China would be impossible. The U.N. forces, (more than 90 percent South Korean and American), were forced back briefly beyond Seoul, the South Korean capital, but MacArthur recaptured that city and stabilized the line at the original demarcation between North and South Korea. Having been given the mission of reuniting Korea, he didnt see why his mission should be changed, although the president and other Allied leaders were waffling at the thought of conducting a war against China. In military terms, MacArthur was undoubtedly correct. A little further effort in the West would have unified Korea. Then-Chinese Premier Chou En-lai confirmed to President Richard Nixon in 1972 that Stalin wouldnt have lifted a finger to help the Chinese. MacArthur was also basically correct when he told Congress, after Truman had fired him, that a conscript army couldnt be sent to the ends of the earth at the risk of their lives for any purpose less than a victory clearly in the national interest. He famously said to Congress, In war there is no substitute for victory. However, it wasnt acceptable for him to criticize the presidents policies publicly as he did, and Truman had little alternative but to remove him, though he could have done so more elegantly, given MacArthurs distinction (which made his dismissal an act of political suicide by Truman). Officers in Politics There have been nine presidents who had been generals prior to taking office: Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Dwight Eisenhower, and two senior officers, Capt. William McKinley and Col. Theodore Roosevelt. There have also been vice presidents, including Col. Richard M. Johnson, Gen. Charles Gates Dawes; secretaries of state, including Col. Henry L. Stimson and Gens. George C. Marshall, Alexander M. Haig, and Colin L. Powell; and unsuccessful presidential candidates, including Gens. Lewis Cass (1848), Winfield Scott (1852), George B. McClelland (1864), Winfield Hancock (1880), and the first Republican presidential candidate, Col. Charles Fremont (1856). Traditionally, U.S. generals who have rendered conspicuous service are deemed to be above party, demonstrable patriots, people of integrity endowed with high qualities of leadership, trustworthy, and incorruptible. The only modern occasion when there was a trace of an active senior officer participating in partisan politics was in 1944, when MacArthur responded to a question from a Nebraska congressman, and then to Republican Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, that he was available for the Republican presidential nomination, but that, of course, because of his official and geographic position, he couldnt conduct an active campaign. He would, however, yield to a spontaneous expression of national will that he become the president. The idea that MacArthur imagined that he could retain his command in the Southwest Pacific while running as the absentee candidate against the incumbent commander-in-chief is illustrative of how superior the generals military judgment was to his political judgment. Former President Franklin Roosevelt considered MacArthur to be a potential man on horseback and not a fully committed believer in democracy. But he esteemed MacAurthur as a military commander and believed that the general was so out of touch with a popular electorate that he would be an ideal opponent. Roosevelt, running for his fourth term, was unbeatable. Milley, unlike all the others mentioned above, hasnt really been a combat general, though he puts on the airs of one: I wasnt born a four-star general, he said to assure senators that he had once been in war zones. When asked why he hadnt resigned when the president rejected his advice on Afghanistan, he replied, My father didnt resign in the middle of the action at Iwo Jima. Combat in Iwo Jima required great heroism and resigning in the face of the enemy would have been desertion. He shouldnt be clinging to the furniture in his office after commanding a disaster as he did, and when his president denies that Milley gave him the advice that he had claimed to have given, they should both go. But Biden can make it happen for Milley. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Gov. Whitmer Vetoes GOP Election Bills Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed several GOP voting bills Sunday she says aimed to suppress the right to vote. Republicans backing the bills assert the legislation would have protected election integrity. Republicans say the bills aimed to solidify election day training, protect machines from being hacked, and would have created more voting locations. This is just the latest example of Gretchen Whitmers politics getting in the way of actually governing, Executive Director for Michigan Rising Action Eric Ventimiglia said in a statement. This veto shows that Whitmer is more concerned with politics than the people they represent. If this package had four Democrat sponsors, she would hold a press conference calling it an achievement in voters rights. Tori Sachs, Michigan Freedom Fund executive director, concurred with Ventimiglia. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed common sense bills that would have made it easier to vote and harder to cheat, Sachs said in a statement. She blocked reforms that would have helped senior citizens cast their ballots, and legislation that would have protected both the states voter file and voters ballots on Election Day. Whitmers vetoes are a chilling attack on election integrity in Michigan. The Michigan Bureau of Elections released its report on the 250 post-election audits conducted across the state, affirming the accuracy and integrity of Michigans November 2020 election. Officials also conducted a statewide audit exercise, by hand-counting votes cast for president on more than 18,000 ballots randomly selected across the state, which affirmed the outcome of the presidential election. And judges appointed by both Republicans and Democrats rejected more than 60 lawsuits challenging the outcome. Whitmers veto letter says House Bill (HB) 4492 would have complicated locating polling locations in senior living facilities and large apartment complexes. The letter said HB 4837 incorrectly implies that third parties have access to the Qualified Voter File (QVF), while HB 4838 claims to prohibit the electronic poll book at each election precinct or absent voter (AV) counting board from internet connection after the polls open on election day and until the results have been tabulated for that precinct and transmitted to the appropriate clerk. Some people, including former Sen. Patrick Colbeck, have claimed the electronic poll book was connected to the internet in some Michigan precincts in the 2020 presidential election. Whitmer says no such defect exists and the bills address a non-existent problem. Whitmer vetoed HB 4528 about election challenger training. She said it is worth further consideration but was an unfunded mandate. I will always protect our civil rights and stand up for our democracy that countless Americans have fought to preserve, Whitmer said in a statement. Thats why I vetoed legislation that would have perpetuated the Big Lie or made it harder for Michiganders to vote. Right now, Michigan Republicans are participating in a coordinated, national attack on voting rights that is designed to undermine confidence in our election system and systematically disenfranchise Black voters, communities of color, older voters, and college students. I will have no part in any effort that grants an ounce of credence to this deception, so harmful to our democracy. By Scott McClallen Rep. Michael McCaul speaks as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on The Biden Administration's Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 10, 2021. (Ken Cedeno-Pool/Getty Images) House GOP Members Demand Documents From Biden Administration Related to Afghanistan Exit The ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), is demanding answers from the Biden administration about the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. McCaul rallied a group of GOP representatives to send a Resolution of Inquiry (ROI) to the White House, demanding that the administration, including the State Department, turn over all documents, communication, intelligence, and assessments related to ending the war and withdrawing from Afghanistan. The ROI is one of the ways House members can get information from the executive branch within a two-week period. There should be no delay in the investigation into the disastrous events in Afghanistan, McCaul said. I and my Republican colleagues are hopeful that this Resolution of Inquiry will be supported by Democrat Leadership in order to hold this administration accountable for the actions that led to the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan and the deadly aftermath. During the committees hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal on Tuesday, McCaul criticized the Biden administrations reason for the deadly withdrawal. President Biden and officials in his administration have continued to push the notion that only two options were available in Afghanistan: one, to fully withdraw in this chaotic and bloody way; or two, to keep tens of thousands of troops on the ground indefinitely, said McCaul, adding, But I believe this is a false premise. McCaul said Biden could have listened to the advice of U.S. military leaders who advised him to retain troops in Afghanistan until after the evacuation of Americans and allies. We have abandoned hundreds of American citizens and lawful permanent residents behind enemy lines. And we have left thousands of our Afghan partners behindall with a bullseye on their backs and all at the mercy of the Taliban. If they are caught, they will surely be executed, said McCaul. In other words, as General Milley said recently, our withdrawal from Afghanistan was a, quote, strategic failure, McCaul continued. So much is left to be uncovered and there are many lessons to be learned from this debacle. Chairman of the committee Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said the hearing on the Afghanistan withdrawal is for the purpose of preventing such a mistake in the future. This committees oversight effort isnt simply to determine whether we should blame the Bush or Obama or Trump or Biden administrations. This committee seeks to understand and learn what went right, what went wrong over the course of 20 years, so that we dont again repeat the mistakes of the past, said Meeks. The White House did not respond to the request to comment on McCauls request. How the Chinese Regime Plans to Destroy Our Civil Liberties Commentary The Hong Kong of just a decade ago is unrecognizable from the Hong Kong of today. With the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) busy revising university curriculums, collective patriotism has replaced individual freedom; loyalty to Beijing is not just expected, its compulsory. Refusal to comply, more often than not, results in punishment. To date, the CCPs crackdown in Hong Kong has been as brutal as it has been all-encompassing. In July, five speech therapists were arrested over an alleged conspiracy to distribute seditious materials. In reality, the five individuals, all members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, published a number of childrens picture books. According to the CCP, the therapists were attempting to stir hatred among children. Dont think that these are simple story books, Hong Kong Police Senior Superintendent Steve Li told members of the press. These three books have a lot of seditious materials inside, he said. They didnt. The five therapists simply painted an accurate picture of Hong Kong. Authoritarian regimes, as we all know, have little regard for truth. Hong Kong, a place once celebrated for tolerance and open-mindedness, is fast becoming a place of intolerance and parochial, partisan politics. On Sept. 19, it spiraled further into the undemocratic abyss. In accordance with the CCPs patriots only system, the political elite, little more than puppet showmen for those in Beijing, began selecting a new committee that will eventually select Hong Kongs new, CCP-backed leader. Once Beijing passed the Hong Kong law, the territory began to morph into a society approaching the Orwellian descriptions attributed to mainland China, where dissent is promptly extinguished and penalized, according to Kevin Drew, assistant managing editor at U.S. News. In other words, Hong Kong is no different from anywhere else in mainland China. Drew spoke with Dennis Kwok, a fellow at Harvards Kennedy School of Government and former lawmaker in Hong Kong. When asked about the territorys demise, Kwok said, I think the international community obviously sees Hong Kong as a warning about international agreements that you signed with China and the implications of that. He continued: Im not sure we should be looking at Hong Kong in isolation. We should look at the whole situation regarding Chinas policy domestically, whether in Xinjiang, in Hong Kong, or its policy to Taiwan and the South China Sea. Pro-democracy activists hold a banner with political prisoners photos during a protest in the Wan Chai district in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2021 (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images) Kwok also discussed the CCPs antagonism toward Australia, as well as the arbitrary detention of two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor (last month, the two men were allowed to return to their homeland). I think all of those need to be looked at in the full context in order to understand what China is doing, he added. Kwok is, of course, correct. What happens in Hong Kong no longer stays in Hong Kong. The CCPs desire for global dominance is not a figment of our imagination. Its a reality. With its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road), China has a number of countries eating out of its sizable hand. According to a report issued by the Green BRI Center, over the past 18 months, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of BRI clients, have seen their sovereign debt become unsustainable. Countries like Congo, Djibouti, and Angola are heavily indebted to Beijing. Theyre not alone: Pakistan owes $20 billion to Beijing; Kenya owes 7.5 billion; Ethiopia owes $6.5 billion; and Lao PDR, with a GDP of $18 billion, now owes $5 billion. To paraphrase the French writer Francois Rabelais, debts and lies are often two sides of the same coin. With its BRI, China has sold a number of countries expensive lies. The victims have no option but to foot the bill. Then again, like Evergrande, they could opt to default on their payments. Lets hope they do. Either way, whether or not the aforementioned countries repay their enormous debts, Beijings influence is undeniable. In fact, the CCPs presence can be felt in almost every country around the world. To make matters worse, as the journalist John Xie noted, Beijing now controls more shipping ports than any other country. With 100 ports in at least 60 nations, the CCP is busy seeking out more. The importance of these transportation hubs cannot be emphasized enough. As research shows, ports play an essential role in a countrys economic stability. After all, he who controls the water controls the world. The CCPs vice-like grip over society knows no bounds. Not only does it control a number of powerful nations, but the CCP also exerts a nefarious influence over some of the worlds most powerful organizations. As the Observer Research Foundation has shown, the World Health Organization (WHO) and China are intimate partners in crime, with the former helping the latter to cover up the origins of COVID-19. Last year, China, one of the worst offenders of human rights on the planet, was awarded a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Fiction simply cant compete with reality. Granting China a place on the council is the equivalent of giving Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator, a Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, according to a number of highly credible reports, staff members at the World Bank changed data to improve Chinas ranking. Were told the changes were made at the behest of Jim Yong Kim, then-World Bank President, and Kristalina Georgieva, then-Chief Executive. One assumes that Beijing applied a great degree of pressure on both Kim and Georgieva. This brings us back to the deteriorating state of affairs in Hong Kongevents there shouldnt be viewed in isolation. In fact, nothing the CCP does should ever be viewed in isolation. People who doubt the Chinese regimes growing international clout would do well to remove their heads from the sand. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. A participant stands near an IMF logo at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, on Oct.12, 2018. (Johannes P. Christo/Reuters) IMF Says Board Met With WilmerHale Lawyers on World Bank Data Probe WASHINGTONThe International Monetary Funds (IMF) executive board met on Monday with officials from the WilmerHale law firm about its probe of the World Banks Doing Business 2018 report, and will meet soon with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, a spokesperson said. The WilmerHale report alleged that Georgieva, as the World Banks CEO in 2017, applied undue pressure on staff to alter data in the flagship Doing Business report to benefit China. The IMF board remains committed to a thorough, objective, and timely review of the matter, the spokesperson said. By Andrea Shalal and David Lawder Inquiry to Examine Police Failures Exposed by Sarah Everard Murder A new inquiry has been launched to identify systemic failures that allowed Sarah Everards murderer to be employed as a police officer, the Home Office announced on Tuesday. Wayne Couzens, 48, was jailed for life on Thursday for the kidnap, rape, and murder of the 33-year-old marketing executive. Couzens was a serving Metropolitan Police officer when he abducted his victim by making a fake arrest on March 3. Announcing the inquiry, Home Secretary Priti Patel said the tragic events have exposed unimaginable failures in policing. It is abhorrent that a serving police officer was able to abuse his position of power, authority, and trust to commit such a horrific crime, Patel said in a statement. The public have a right to know what failures enabled his continued employment as a police officer and an inquiry will give the independent oversight needed to ensure something like this can never happen again, she added. The first part of the inquiry will draw on investigations by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) to trace Couzenss steps leading up to his conviction, establishing a definitive account of his conduct and missed opportunities to detect signs leading to his crimes. The IOPC is currently conducting a number of investigations related to Couzens, including how Kent Police and the Met handled allegations of indecent exposure now linked to Couzens. The second part of the new inquiry will examine any specific issues raised by the first part of the inquiry, which could include wider issues across policingincluding vetting practices, professional standards and discipline, and workplace behaviour. To further inform the inquiry, Patel is also expected to write to Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, asking the independent body to conduct a thematic inspection of vetting and counter-corruption procedures in policing across England and Wales, including forces ability to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour. The Home Office said the inquiry will be non-statutory at this time to make sure its conducted as swiftly as possible, adding that it can be converted to a statutory inquiry if required. Meanwhile, Patel will also chair a new task force to drive cross-government action on tackling violence against women and girls to help maintain public confidence in policing, with its first meeting expected this autumn, the Home Office said. The task force will report to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who chairs the Crime and Justice Task Force. Labours Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs committee, wrote on Twitter that the inquiry was very welcome and it was important that it looks more widely at handling of allegations of violence against women and girls by police officers and staff. But the plans came under fire from shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, after Johnson initially dodged calls to back a public inquiry. Labour has been calling for a full independent inquiry for days, yet the prime minister refused to support one. Now the home secretary has half-heartedly announced one, but not put it on a robust, statutory footing to ensure there are no barriers in the way to getting answers, he said. PA contributed to this report. Workers are seen on a construction site in Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images) Iran Cannot Set New Conditions for Resuming Nuclear Talks: Germany BERLINGermany would reject any Iranian demands for the United States to release frozen Iranian assets as a condition for nuclear talks to resume, Germanys foreign ministry said on Monday. If here new conditions are being set by Iran for talks to be resumed, then we reject that, a German foreign ministry spokesman said after Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahians demand for assets worth 10 billion dollars to be released as a goodwill gesture. Under President Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 agreement with Iran, Britain, France, China, Russia, and Germany aimed at stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. President Joe Biden aims to restore the deal, but the sides disagree on which steps need to be taken and when, with the key issues being what constraints Tehran will accept and what sanctions Washington will remove. We call on Iran to resume talks as soon as possible, the German foreign ministry spokesman said, adding he expects an agreement on a specific date. By Andreas Rinke Is Chivalry Dead? Though the name and concept seem antiquated, it persists to this day in different forms Chivalry. The word summons up different images and meanings for us. Some imagine King Arthur, Sir Galahad, and the other Knights of the Round Table. Some may envision a Victorian gentleman defending a ladys honor against the insults of a cad. Others may find themselves thinking of men holding a door open for women or drawing out her chair in a restaurant. In some ways, the word and the concept seem antique, contraptions from the past now covered in spider webs and dust sitting in some corner of the attic. Some women regard chivalric gestures by men such as holding open a door or paying for a bill in a restaurant as insults, demeaning signals of oppression and male chauvinism, and are happy to see chivalry vanquished by our modern age. But what exactly do we mean by chivalry? Should we celebrate or mourn its loss? And is it really dead or is it disguised in different attire? Lets take a look. The Meaning of Chivalry My online dictionary partially defines chivalry as the combination of qualities expected of an ideal knight, especially courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak. Inclusion of the word knight in this definition shows chivalrys links to the Middle Ages and to men. In fact, the word itself derives from the French chevalier, meaning a horseman or a knight, and the code of chivalry is a product of the late medieval period. In 1883, Leon Gautier published La Chevalerie in which he summed up these ideals of the medieval knight as The Ten Commandments of Chivalry. A few of these would be dated today, but overall Gautiers commandments undergird the above definition. Vocabulary.com includes this short, stand-alone definition: courtesy toward women, a meaning thats perhaps closer in spirit to our modern conception of chivalry. Lets ask ourselves a few questions. When we look at that first definition, would any man argue that these qualities are ridiculous or unfashionable? Wouldnt a decent father seek to raise his sons with these as guidons for living an honorable life? And wouldnt a woman seeking marriage treasure a man marching beneath these banners? And what womanor man, for that matterwouldnt wish to be treated with courtesy? Men Without Chests While I know many young men who fit the dictionarys definition of chivalry, others come nowhere close. I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Across the way, a construction crew was recently remodeling the basement of a house. At one point, a member of this crew strode up and down the street for almost a quarter of an hour, bellowing obscenities into his phone, curses, it soon became apparent, delivered to a womanand anyone within earshot. A New York friend tells me that young men on the buses and subways rarely offer their seats to female passengers. Some are undoubtedly afraid of having their heads snapped off by an angry feminist, while others are simply oblivious to this once-common courtesy. On the radio in the coffee shop I visit, Ill occasionally hear rap music denigrating women and filled with obscenities. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer described a verray, parfit gentil knyght. Were that knight to rise from his grave and stride the streets of some of our cities today, he might wonder whether his chivalric code was as obsolete as Chaucers spelling. Our crude, profane, and sexualized culture has bred what C.S. Lewis described in The Abolition of Man: We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful. Ladies and Gentlemen Women often deplore the lack of courtesy and chivalry among men, yet they, too, must bear some responsibility for this decline. In her online article, Low Standards, Apathy to Blame for the Death of Chivalry, 19-year-old TeKayla Pittman wrote: This generation of women have become independent and headstrong, and nothing is wrong with that. However, the problem comes when women want to be independent to the point that they dont want men to do anything for them. Pittman then cited author Suzanne Venker. Men only changed because women did. Thats because men are born to please women. Modern women dont know this, for theyve been conditioned to think of men as oppressors, she wrote. Pittman concluded that both genders share responsibility for the decline of chivalry. Both genders are at fault for the demise of chivalry. Nothing is wrong with being an independent woman, but feeling as though you dont need a man to be a gentleman can be a curse, she wrote. Radical feminism accounts for a part of this decline in male chivalry. A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle was a popular maxim 50 years ago. When a man feels unneeded, hes not apt to go out of his way to meet someones standards. Women who lack decorum and respect for themselves have also abetted the waning of male courtesy. In a book of history I read long ago with a title and author Ive forgotten, the writer made the point that in the Old West, respectable women, known in those days as ladies, could travel cross-country without fear for their honor or their lives. Women who want a man to be a gentleman must themselves be ladies. Whats in a Name? Some words become extinct with time. For instance, anyone who opens Chaucers Canterbury Tales may feel as if theyre reading a foreign language. Perhaps its time to let chivalry rest its bones in this linguistic cemetery. But were making a grave mistake if we plant the ideals of chivalry into that same grave. Courage, honor, justice, courtesy, and a willingness to defend the weak or to help the impoverished: Surely these are the blood, sinew, and nerve of true civilization, and theyre virtues that belong to males and females alike. We canwe mustkeep these ideals of chivalry alive, even if we mutter our prayers over her headstone. Becoming Gallant So how do we perform that resurrection? When I was a child, my parents subscribed to Highlights, a childrens magazine that featured a monthly comic strip, Goofus and Gallant. Goofus was a self-centered, mean-spirited kid, while Gallant was polite, helpful, and kind. Gallant was a knight, Goofus the varlet. It was always perfectly clear which was which. If we want to raise our children with these same ideals, and if we ourselves want to practice them, we must bring to bear this same clear distinction. A year ago, I wrote a piece for The Epoch Times on men keeping chivalry alive. This time, I write for both men and women. If we want to preserve chivalrynot the word, perhaps, but the idealthen the best way to do so is to adopt its principles and to live by them. No one can resuscitate the ideals of chivalry, except us. And if we want to revive Gallant, we must say goodbye to Goofus. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Ministry of foreign affairs offices in Jerusalem, Israel, on Sept. 12, 2021. (Abir Sultan/Pool via Reuters) Israel Accuses Iran of Cyprus Attack Plot After Suspect Arrested JERUSALEM/NICOSIAIsrael accused Iran on Monday of orchestrating an attempted attack against Israelis in Cyprus after police on the Mediterranean island said an armed individual had been arrested. Iran swiftly denied the accusation. This was a terrorist incident directed by Iran against Israeli businesspeople living in Cyprus, Matan Sidi, spokesman for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, said in a statement. Asked to comment, the embassy of Iran in the Cypriot capital Nicosia said in an emailed statement: This regime is always making such a baseless allegation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, referring to Israel. Earlier on Monday, Cypriot police chief Stelios Papatheodorou told reporters: A person has been arrested, in whose possession a pistol and cartridges were found. It is a sensitive case, which is why a remand request was held behind closed doors, Papatheodorou added. Cypriot media, citing a police source, have reported that the suspect, who has not been charged, was arrested on Sept. 27 in the capital Nicosia, just after crossing by car from a checkpoint linking the Turkish-controlled north and the southern parts of the ethnically divided island. A silencer was also found in his vehicle, the reports said. He was widely reported as an Azeri holding a Russian passport, aged either 38 or 39. The suspect was taken before a magistrates court which approved an eight-day remand request from police last week. By law, police need to petition the court for any extension of his remand. Israel appeared to hint that its intelligence services had contributed to Cyprus foiling of the suspected attack plot. There are security threats. As you can see, the Shin Bet, the Mossad, all of the security forces know how to handle them, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told reporters when asked about the incident. The fact is that were there. Were minding matters. Cypriot media have also reported that the suspect was on the island for about 20 days prior to his arrest and rented two cars in succession. They said he used an electric scooter to travel frequently to the north side of the island via a pedestrian crossing. In his statement, Sidi denied local media reports on Sunday that described the arrest as having thwarted a criminally motivated assassination attempt against Teddy Sagi, an Israeli magnate. By Dan Williams and Michele Kambas Vials of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Denver, Colo., in a file photograph. (David Zalubowski/AP Photo) Johnson & Johnson Asks US Regulators to Authorize COVID-19 Booster Shot Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize a second shot of its COVID-19 vaccine. The New Jersey-based company officially asked for an expansion of the emergency use authorization that U.S. regulators granted in late February for the single-shot vaccine. Johnson & Johnson says analysis of U.S. insurance claims show the vaccine proved effective in preventing infection and hospitalization but that clinical trial data revealed a second shot boosted that protection. The vaccine was 81 percent effective in preventing infections, according to the claims analysis, while a second shot increased protection against moderate to severe disease to 94 percent, according to the trial data. Our clinical program has found that a booster of our COVID-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent. We look forward to our discussions with the FDA and other health authorities to support their decisions regarding boosters, Dr. Mathai Mammen, global head for research and development at Johnson & Johnsons subsidiary Janssen, said in a statement. At the same time, we continue to recognize that a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that provides strong and long-lasting protection remains a crucial component to vaccinating the global population, he added. The Johnson & Johnson shot was hailed when it was first authorized because the only two other vaccines that are legally allowed to be administered in the United States require two doses. But a pause due to concerns of blood clotting and low blood platelet levels stymied the momentum. Regulators later said the vaccine likely leads to an increased risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia but lifted the pause because they believe the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks. Still, only 15 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been administered through Sunday, compared to 229 million Pfizer doses and 152 million Moderna ones. Regulators authorized and recommended a booster of Pfizers vaccine for millions of Americans last month after two lengthy advisory panel meetings. But government scientists said the booster shouldnt be used unless people received Pfizers initial regimen. A decision on Johnson & Johnsons submission likely wont come until later this month. The FDAs vaccine advisory panel is set to meet on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15 to consider data on boosters for the vaccine as well as Modernas jab. Panel members will also hear from the National Institute of Healths National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases regarding a proposal to let people mix and match boosters, or get a booster thats different from their initial series. LA Man Suffers Depression After Losing Right LegUntil Dog Who Lost His, Too, Brings New Joy A Los Angeles man became mired in depression and anxiety after he lost his right leg to an infection in 2016but he recently found solace in a three-legged kindred spirit. Dane Orozco, 42, has struggled with life ever since becoming an amputee; hoping for a comfort, in mid-July, he made a trip to an animal shelter in search of friendship. He recalled fonder days when he used to own dogs. Ive had dogs before, and it was my only passion and the only thing that made me happy, Dane told The Epoch Times. Inland Valley Humane Society in Pomona was where Dane met German shepherd Kanewho happens to be missing his right leg, too. In a video taken during the meetup, the duo show off matching injuries. They formed a bond thats difficult to put into words. (Courtesy of Dane Orozco) I used to be a lot more physically active, and I cant do the things that I used to do before, Dane said. It created a lot of depression and anxiety. I thought [getting a dog] would help. It was just a spur of the moment; I immediately felt a connection with him. It was very positive, it was almost as if it was meant to be, he was so calm, and gentle, and loving, Dane added. We immediately bonded. One month later, Dane returned to the shelter to bring Kane to his new home in Walnut. The shepherd seems to know that they share something in common; he sees Dane put on his leg, and when theyre out, he loyally slows his pace, knowing his owners impediment. Hell take a few steps, and then hell stop and wait for me, Dane said. He knows. Kane, on the other hand, after healing from surgery, seems just as active as any other dog, despite having only three legs. The owner added, At first, it was a fairly new thing to him, but now, he doesnt seem to realize that he has only one front leg. He jumps into my truck, and he runs around the property. After adopting his dog, Dane started video-recording their adventures and posting them on TikTokwhere the pair have garnered a following of over 16,000. He gives me comfort and the love that I knew I would get from him, and overall, its been a positive experience, Dane said. Its difficult to describe the comfort I get from him. Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter Landlords Express Frustration With LAs Eviction Moratorium as State Eviction Ban Ends Landlords in California breathed a sigh of relief when the states eviction ban ended last week; however, the city of Los Angeless moratorium will continue as long as the city is in a state of local emergency. Bans on tenant evictions were implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on federal, state, and city levels; many of those eviction bans are coming to an end as the nation sees an overall decline in the unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In August, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacked authority to impose a federal eviction ban; the Supreme Court instead said that Congress must enact such a policy. Californias eviction moratorium ended last week on Sept. 30. However, the city of Los Angeless eviction ban will likely go on for at least another year, while tenants in Los Angeles County will also have eviction protections as well under a motion passed last month. Some in favor of an extended eviction moratorium argue that Los Angeless already high rates of homelessness may skyrocket when renters who have not been able to pay rent are evicted as the moratorium ends. Though both city and state are making efforts to support both landlords and tenants under the moratorium, some landlords express frustration with the citys handling of the eviction ban. I cant believe that this has been handled as if nothing is happening to landlords, Carrie Cunningham-Holmes told The Epoch Times. Last month, the city of Los Angeles began offering rental assistance to both landlords and tenants under the Emergency Renters Assistance Program for those who have not been able to pay rent because of the pandemic. According to the citys website, the city of LA received 49,633 total rent relief applications, which amounts to over $725 million in rent relief, with the average assistance being about $15,220 per application. The city has paid out over $31 million as of Sept. 27. In August, Councilman Kevin de Leon introduced a motion to shorten the timeline for landlords to receive back rent for tenants who couldnt pay their rent. The motion called on the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department to pay all landlords outstanding applications by Oct. 1. In a previous interview, Cunningham-Holmes told The Epoch Times that she filed for renters relief funds at the beginning of July. On Oct. 4, however, she said that she still hadnt received any relief funds. I dont think they realize the [bind] theyre putting us in, Cunningham-Holmes said. You know, you cant go a year and a half and not do [maintenance] things around your building. The water bill in one of her buildings has more than doubled in cost, she said, due to people working from home because of the pandemic. My bill has gone up since people have been home and moving in extra people that we cannot evict. These extra tenants are creating excessive expenses, excessive water uses, Cunningham-Holmes said in the previous interview. The Housing and Community Investment Department didnt respond to a request for comment by press time. Lt. Col. Stuart Schellerthe U.S. Marine jailed for criticizing senior military officialshas been released from detention but could still face charges, The Epoch Times has learned. (screenshot from Scheller's Sept. 16 video/The Epoch Times) Lt. Col. Scheller Freed, but Charges Loom Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller has been freed from pretrial detention, but could still face charges for criticizing senior military officials over the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan, The Epoch Times has learned. Scheller was scheduled for a pretrial confinement initial review hearing Tuesday. Military officials planned to conduct the hearing in secret, sparking anger from some media outlets and members of the public. But prior to the hearing, the Marine Corps agreed to free Scheller, cancelling the pretrial review as a result, according to a source familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Scheller has submitted a request for resignation of his commission in lieu of trial to the Secretary of the Navy, the source said, speaking under the condition of anonymity to avoid backlash from the military. Scheller could still face trial by court martial, the source said. 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. His family has expressed dismay about how the veteran is being treated by his country. He is an American war hero. He has fought for his men and women that follow him. Hes fought on the battlefield for them. I believe he has risked his life for his fellow service people and Americans. He is now risking his livelihood for them. He saw a misjustice happening at the top and he felt that they should be held accountable for it, Cathy Scheller, Stuart Schellers mother, said on NTDs The Nation Speaks. Stuart Schellers father, Stu Scheller Sr., said support from fellow Americans will greatly help his son. The Marine Corps will win the battle, he said. But America is going to help Stuart win the war. Making Misogyny Hate Crime Will Increase the Problem: Boris Johnson Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday dismissed the suggestion that misogyny should be made a hate crime. The sentencing of Wayne Couzens, who abducted, raped, and murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard in March when he was a serving police officer, has reignited calls to add women into the protective categories listed in the hate crime law in England and Wales. Asked if misogyny should be a hate crime, the prime minister told BBC Breakfast hes focusing on making sure the criminal justice system prosecutes people for existing crimes. To be perfectly frank, if you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, youll just increase the problem, Johnson said. What you need to do is get the police to focus on the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel. The prime minister said what needs to be focused on is that the abundant statutes on domestic violence, rape, and harassment have not been properly enforced. That is what the police need to be doing, and they need to be taking womens complaints seriously, and we need to be contracting that period between a woman reporting her complaint and the disposal in court because its taking far too long, Johnson added. Commenting on the dwindling number of successful rape convictions, Johnson said there are immense complications with evidence from mobile phones with defendants too often being able to produce spurious or otherwise reasons why they might have thought consent was given. The way the police in the whole criminal justice system handles crimes of violence against women, its just not working, and there are an awful lot of things that you need to do. And so I think that the anger over Sarah Everards murder is a symptom of that wider frustration that people feel, he added. Johnson said he believes the best way to induce a change in culture is to have more female officers, adding that its a good thing that 40 percent of the Metropolitan Police force is female. There are currently five hate crime categoriesrace, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identityin England and Wales, but no separate hate crime offences. Any suspect of a crime motivated by or demonstrating hostility based on these categories can be prosecuted as a hate crime, for which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) can request an increased sentence. According to the CPS, more than half of its requests led to offenders having their sentence increased last year. Nottinghamshire Police has been recording misogynist incidents against women since 2016, with a handful of forces following suit. The Law Commission, the statutory independent body that reviews laws in England and Wales and advises the government on law reform, announced a review of the hate crime laws. In its interim proposals, published in September last year, the commission recommended the government to add sex or gender to the protected characteristics, as well as to consult on adding a range of other characteristics, notably age.' The commission ran a consultation on its recommendations until December 2020, and its final recommendations are due to be published this autumn. On March 17, in the wake of Everards murder on March 3, Home Office minister Baroness Williams argued against a Labour amendment to the governments Domestic Abuse Bill to mandate the recording of sex- or gender-motivated crimes. Williams instead announced the government would ask police forces to record, on an experimental basis, crimes that are perceived by the victims to have been motivated by hostility based on their sex. Vessels of China's South Sea Fleet taking part in a logistics supply drill near the James Shoal area on South China Sea on May 10, 2016. The Chinese regime claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea, pitting it against several neighbors in the region. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Malaysia Summons Chinese Envoy to Protest Presence of Beijing Vessels in Its Waters Malaysia on Monday summoned the Chinese ambassador for the second time since June to protest the presence of Chinese vessels in the countrys exclusive economic zone, the foreign ministry said. The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it called in ambassador Ouyang Yujing to convey Malaysias position and protest against the presence and activities of Beijings vessels, including a survey vessel, in Malaysias Exclusive Economic Zone off the coasts of the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. It isnt clear when the Chinese ships were detected in Malaysian waters, or how many vessels were involved. The presence and activities of these vessels are inconsistent with Malaysias Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, as well as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), the statement said. Malaysias consistent position and actions are based on international law, in defence of our sovereignty and sovereign rights in our waters, the foreign ministry added. The Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A day earlier, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had asserted that the government would not compromise in terms of our sovereignty if there is a threat in the South China Sea. He added that he had raised the same point with national representatives multiple times when he was formerly the Minister of Defence. In determining Malaysias position and course of action with regard to the South China Sea issue, which is complex and involves inter-state relations, Malaysias national interests will remain of paramount importance, the ministry said. Last week, media reported that a Chinese survey vessel was in Malaysian waters off the coast of Sabah, near a vessel commissioned by Malaysian state energy firm Petronas. Last year, another Chinese survey ship held a month-long standoff with an oil exploration vessel contracted by Petronas within Malaysias exclusive economic zone. China had then said the vessel was conducting normal activities. Malaysias foreign ministry added on Monday that all matters related to the South China Sea must be resolved peacefully and constructively. Malaysia in June summoned the Chinese ambassador after the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) detected military aircraft near Malaysian airspace. The RMAF confirms the detection of 16 Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft entering the Malaysia Maritime Zone (ZMM) airspace, and that they were flying close to our national airspace, it said in a statement at the time. Beijing said that it was part of routine training. China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which about $3 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes annually. Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam have overlapping claims. The Philippines and Vietnam have accused China of harassing fishermen and energy activities in South China Sea waters. Reuters contributed to this report. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) speaks to a reporter outside the Senate Chamber in Washington on Feb. 13, 2021. (Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Manchin Says Democrats Should Use Reconciliation to Raise Debt Limit, Countering Biden Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) on Monday went against party leadership and suggested that Democrats should use the reconciliation process to raise the debt limit as Republicans double down on their commitment to vote against any increase to government spending. Republicans, upset with Democrats partisan bills, have demanded that Democrats use the partisan reconciliation process to raise the debt ceiling as well. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained this position in a Monday letter to President Joe Biden, writing since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well. Republicans have since re-upped this challenge, saying that they will filibuster any non-reconciliation bill that raises the debt ceiling. This route has long been rejected by Democratic leadership in both chambers of Congress. In early September, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected calls to include a debt limit increase in the Democrats partisan $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill. The route is not the Democratic leaderships preference, with some polls showing that such debt limit increases are unpopular with the American people (pdf). But if the debt limit is not raised, the country will quickly face its first default in history due to expanding government expenditure, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned would be catastrophic. Biden said in a White House live stream, Defaulting on the debt would lead to a self-inflicted wound that takes our economy over a cliff. On Sept. 27, Republicans stood by their threats, voting unanimously against opening debate on a continuing resolution that included a raise to the debt ceiling. Manchin: We Cant Let the Debt Ceiling Lapse After that vote, leaders rushed to craft legislation to avoid a government shutdown, but continued rejecting use of the reconciliation process to be able to raise the debt ceiling with no Republican votes. At a press conference the day after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, Going through reconciliation is risky to the country and is a non-starter, adding that using reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling is very, very risky. Were not pursuing that, he declared. In a speech on the debt limits facing his government, Biden echoed this sentiment, saying that the reconciliation path is fraught with all kinds of potential danger of miscalculation. But on Monday, Manchin broke with party leaders, emphasizing the importance of raising the debt ceiling by any means necessary. The West Virginia Democrat told reporters We shouldnt rule out anything [including reconciliation]. We just cant let the debt ceiling lapse, we just cant. Manchin, who has long promised that he supports the filibuster and will vote to defend it, was asked by reporters whether he would consider getting rid of the rule to allow Democrats to push through a debt ceiling increase. The filibuster has nothing to do with the debt ceiling, Manchin snapped back. We have other tools that we can use, he explained, ruling, If we have to use them, we should use them. During times of unified party governments, the minority party has often used the debt ceiling to play political hardball. During the second term of President George W. Bush, then-Senator Biden joined his party in voting unanimously against raising the debt ceiling, forcing Republicans to raise the limit on their own. Schumer also voted against raising the debt limit at the time. Despite Blaming Republicans, Schumer Indicates Reconciliation May Be Used Schumer blamed the crisis on Republican stupidity, saying that the minority party had become the party of default. Schumer and others have continued to insist that any default will be entirely of Republicans making. Biden also blamed Republicans, saying they are obstructing a vote with the use of the filibuster and playing Russian Roulette with the U.S. economy. He didnt address Republican criticism that his $3.5 trillion budget bill has been partisan in nature, with little room for negotiation to win Republican support. But after Manchins brief statement to reporters emphasizing the importance of raising the debt ceiling by any means necessary, party leaders have also shown signs they may be rallying behind this view despite their long opposition to using reconciliation. In a Monday letter to Senate Democrats, Schumer wrote, Let me be clear about the task ahead of us: we must get a bill to the Presidents desk dealing with the debt limit by the end of the week. Period. Despite his previous opposition to using reconciliation, Schumer here indicates that leadership may be open to the option. Sen. Dick Durbin said of using reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling, Im not going to say anythings impossible. The clock is ticking for action by Congress, as the United States will default on its existing debts by Oct. 18 if action is not taken. Under the terms of the Republican threat, which the party has shown to be willing to act on, Democratic leaders have little choice but to use reconciliation or face default. Nick Ciolono contributed to this report. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki calls on reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington on Oct. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Media No Longer Capable of Catching Some Lies Commentary Joe Biden just got caught in a lie about Afghanistan, headlined the Washington Examiner on Sept. 29. I know, I know. So this is news? What the paper was referring to was of course the testimony of two top-ranking generals and President Bidens own Secretary of Defense to the effect that they had all recommended to the President leaving 2500 troops in Afghanistan after the American withdrawal. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Biden had denied that he had received any such recommendation. No. No one said that to me that I can recall, he said. Under normal circumstances, that would certainly seem to amount to being caught in a lieat least if you disregard the perjurers life-preserver: that I can recall. But even allowing for the possibility of a sudden onset of dementia, I dont think he can really have forgotten anything as important as that. Perhaps recognizing that his having forgotten might actually look worse for him than his having lied, the White House press spokesperson, Jen Psaki, tried to explain away the lie by averring that the generals advising the President had been split on the question of leaving a residual force behind, and that he had gone with the recommendation of the unnamed and now absent ones who had supposedly advised against leaving such a force. Why, then, did he not say that to George Stephanopoulos instead of saying that no one had given him such advice? Someonethree someones, as a matter of factdefinitely had. No, it was unmistakably a lie. And then Psaki told another lie to cover it up. But I think we have a problem with that little word caughtas in caught in a lie. Way back in 1987 when Mr. Biden first rose to national prominence, that was because he was caught in a lie. He had appropriated a self-related episode from the life story of the then-leader of the British Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, also known as the Welsh Windbag, and represented it as his own experience. Having been caught in the lie, the then-Senator Biden still had enough of a sense of shame to have dropped out of contention in the following years Democratic presidential primaries. Not that he would have stood more than the slimmest of chances of winning any of them anyway. Thats what we mean when we say that someone has been caught in a lie. It implies some punishment to follow, or at least some shame felt by the liar on account of his exposure as one. Does anyone believe that either punishment or shame will follow this lie? If a tree falls in the forest when no one is there, does it make a sound? The national (and international) press was certainly there for the big lie of 1987. As the media were then constituted, it would have been impossible for them not to have covered extensively what became known as the Biden plagiarism scandal and, therefore, for everyone not to have known about itand, therefore, for the plagiarist not to have felt sorry, if only for himself. Thats what it meant to be caught in a lie. That was then. Its my belief that the media culture of today, a third of a century later, and the virtual disappearance of shame from our public lifecertainly of any shame for being caught in a lieare closely related phenomena. Just look at the lie on which Joe Biden last year claimed to have based his whole campaignthe reason, he said, why he ran for president: the lie that Donald Trump had called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, very fine people. That lie had already been exposed as a lie numerous times. It was an even more obvious lie than the one about a residual American force in Afghanistan, since there was documentary evidence in a transcript of the interview in which Trump had explicitly excluded the Nazis from his designation of the very fine people wishing to preserve a statue of Robert E. Leeas well as those wishing to take it down. But that tree fell in a part of the new media forest where there was no one around to hear it. The big media, the legacy media, the mainstream media have found that their readers, watchers, and listeners dont care if they simply ignore news from the right-wing media ghetto that they dont want to hear. In other words, theyre never going to catch Joe Biden in a lie. And that means that even when a publication like The Washington Examiner or The Epoch Times does catch him in a lie, it will not resonate with the public at large who, unless they are readers of those publications, will never hear of it. Its as if he had never lied at all! Theres nothing for him to be ashamed of, even if he were any longer capable of shame. Small wonder then that, having gotten away with it for so long, Bidens lies have now become so shameless that he hardly even bothers to pretend that they arent lies. My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars, he tweeted last week. Not, that is, that it would cost the $3.5 trillion that the media were reporting at the time and that the Democrats in Congress were desperately trying to keep at that figure in spite of the doubts of a few moderates. Let alone the $5.5 trillion that the Wall Street Journal thought it would cost. But $0. If ever there were a lie to catch a man ina lie that a child could catch a man init was that lie. And yet the mainstream media were ready to accommodate him. Even famed Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler only gave him two Pinocchioson the grounds that he must have been communicating with fellow budget-wonks in a language that only they could understand. Im afraid we have to accept that, since there is no more any penalty accruing to being caught in a lie, nor even any shame in it, theres no more catching people in lies eitherand, therefore, no more lying in our public life, at least as reported by the media. Or, to put it another way, its all lies. Every word. Including and and the. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Eliza Moody with her son, Tobias Lugo, who was born with Moebius syndrome. (Courtesy of Daliela Photography via Eliza Moody) Mom Whose Son With Rare Disorder Cant Smile Hopes to Raise Him With Confidence and Kindness 'I stay patient. All of these struggles are temporary.' The mother of a little boy with a rare disorder that renders him unable to smile wants the world to see his inner spark. Her son, she says, is happy, energetic, and the funniest kid shes ever met. Today, Tobias Lugo is 3 years old, and mom Eliza Moody of Yuma, Arizona, is an awareness champion for both her son and his community. Tobias was born with Moebius syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that affects cranial facial nerves. Specifically the sixth and seventh, Eliza told The Epoch Times. It is characterized by little or no facial expression, so they cannot smile, frown, or move their face. They also have no lateral eye movement and cant blink. There is no cure. Eliza Moody with her son, Tobias Lugo, who was born with Moebius syndrome. (Courtesy of Daliela Photography via Eliza Moody) Fourth grade teacher Eliza, who has two sonsTobias, and toddler Zekewith her fiance, bartender Adrian Lugo, experienced a high-risk first pregnancy. An ultrasound alerted the couple to their babys limb abnormalities, but they never knew Moebius syndrome was the cause. All of our genetic testing came back normal, so we were really surprised to find he had an underlying syndrome, she said. We were shocked to learn about Tobiass diagnoses. Tobias was born with a small recessed jaw, clubbed feet, and a small webbed hand. He needed weekly casts to slowly turn his feet out for the first three months of his life, and two hand surgeries to separate his fingers. At 2 months, Tobiass plastic surgeon first speculated that he may have Moebius syndrome. Eliza was devastated, mourning the smile she would never see on her first borns face. Adrian Lugo and Eliza Moody holding the ultrasound picture. (Courtesy of Eliza Moody) Adrian accepted the diagnosis right away. He is great with handling his emotion, Eliza said. I, on the other hand, did not. I cried for about a week. I was just so scared for his future and what this meant for him. Yet quickly, something clicked for Eliza. Tobias was so happy and sweet, she said. I realized his syndrome wasnt affecting him one bit. It helped me see that he was going to be just fine, and I just needed to be there for him as his loving mom. Tobias has had speech and feeding therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy for three years and counting. Eliza said he loves hugs and says Hi to every person he meets, he loves the outdoors, the water, sea life and dinosaurs, and moves to the beat of his own drum. Eliza and Adrian with their newborn son, Tobias. (Courtesy of Eliza Moody) Eliza with Tobias. (Courtesy of Eliza Moody) Eliza conceded that getting Tobias out of his diaper stage is proving difficult. He just isnt ready for it. He doesnt understand when I put him on the toilet, she said. It seems as though he might be a little cognitively delayed. He also doesnt understand when I have some conversations with him, but his comprehension is getting better. Tobias also struggles to keep his medical shoes on for the recommended 14 hours a day, which makes it hard getting him into shopping carts and taking him along on errands in those shoes. However, Eliza said that she knows that these challenges are just a part of who he is. I stay patient. All of these struggles are temporary, she added. Baby Tobias has to wear his medical shoes for 14 hours a day. (Courtesy of Eliza Moody) Tobias sitting next to his weekly casts that he wore for the first three months of his life to slowly turn his feet out. (Courtesy of Eliza Moody) But, while behind on his milestones, Tobias is constantly striving to reach new goals. He speaks more and more, delights his mom by singing to himself, and has been walking since the age of 20 months. Recounting the best moments of being his mom, Eliza said it is when she sees him thriving while just being himself. She recalled the first time Tobias used his left hand to try to hold a ball. He tried and tried for a couple minutes and couldnt grip it. It made me so sad, she said. Then he got it, he gripped the ball! His actions always remind me not to doubt his abilities. I see him improving daily. Eliza believes God gave her Tobias for a reason. She feels blessed to have the ongoing love and support of family and community, and hopes to raise her son in an open household, knowing he was born different so that he can advocate for himself in the future. He makes me so proud. I hope that I can raise him with enough confidence and kindness that he knows how to handle any situation that might come his way, she said. I feel like if we shield him from reality, thats what will really bring on those shocking moments. I do not want a classmate to point out that he cant smile. I want him to know that he is special, and unique, but just as important as any other person in todays society. I am very hopeful for his future. No matter what obstacles he faces, he always conquers them in his own way. Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Epoch Inspired newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter Protesters fight with riot police outside the Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images) Mother and Son Arrested After Allegedly Helping in Theft of Pelosis Laptop on Jan. 6: DOJ A New York mother and son were arrested and charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly helping in the theft of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) laptop during the Jan. 6 Capitol incident. Maryann Mooney-Rondon and Raphael Rondon, both of Watertown, face charges related to the Jan. 6 breach, appearing in a federal court in Syracuse, according to a news release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Raphael Rondon also faces charges of possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, the agency said. The pair appeared in front of a federal court in Syracuse, where a judge ordered them stay out of Washington D.C. unless for Court, Pretrial, or consultation with attorney. They were released pending further proceedings, said the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York. Its not clear if either Maryann Mooney-Rondon and Raphael Rondon have attorneys. The mother and were both charged with one felonyObstruction of an Official Proceedingand six misdemeanors related to their entering the Capitol and entering Pelosis office. For the weapons possession charge, Raphael Rondon could face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A tip to the FBI led agents to the mother and son, according to a statement of facts from an FBI special agent in court documents. Mooney-Rondon allegedly admitted to being in both the Capitol the day of the riots and inside Pelosis conference room, the documents said. She allegedly provided gloves or a scarf to a man to steal Pelosis laptop without leaving fingerprints. The #FBI is still seeking information about the people involved in the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. If you know this individual, visit https://t.co/iL7sD4WEy3 to submit a tip that references photo 225. pic.twitter.com/5wz0fdZ6fe FBI (@FBI) February 15, 2021 He asked, he said, give meI dont know if it was gloves or a scarf I was wearingand like I said he scared me, she was quoted as saying in the court documents. If I recall, the guy was going to yank it out. Im like, dude, dont do that, I mean thats, I mean just the computer, you cant pull the cables out, itll ruin everything, Mooney-Rondon said, according to the document. Mooney-Rondon then said she believes she saw the man put the computer in his backpack. Her son told investigators that be thinks he might have pushed the computer in his bag a little bit using a glove cause he didnt want to get his fingerprints on it, the document stated. So I assisted him a little bit, and that was probably stupid of me, the son said, according to the document. Several months ago, the FBI raided a business in Homer, Alaska, owned by Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who said they attended a demonstration at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. The couple said they didnt partake in the breach, while Marilyn Hueper told news outlets that the FBI was mistaken. The FBI had attempted to explain that the raid was conducted based in part on evidence showing that residents (a married couple) trespassed on the ground of the U.S. Capitol. But court documents filed last week state there was probable cause to believe it was Rondon and Mooney-Rondon instead. On Feb. 15, the FBI wrote on Twitter it was looking for two people in connection to the Jan. 6 incident and posted photos of the pair. Rondon and Mooney-Rondon confirmed they were the people in the February photo, according to the court documents. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Navy SEALs Told Theyre Undeployable, Take Legal Stand Against Vaccine Mandates: Military Lawyer R. Davis Younts Navy SEALs have been told by their superiors that theyre undeployable if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine even with a religious or medical exemption. These SEALs, along with other members of the U.S. armed forces, are now looking into a legal case to uphold their rights. To learn more about this, we sat down for an interview with the military lawyer representing them, R. Davis Younts. Were being heavily censored by Big Tech. Our solution? Create our own independent platform free of censorship. Join us today on EpochTV. Weve got a country to save: http://epochtv.com/Crossroads Follow EpochTV on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochTVus Twitter: https://twitter.com/EpochTVus Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/EpochTV Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/epochtv Gab: https://gab.com/EpochTV Telegram: https://t.me/EpochTV Parler: https://parler.com/#/user/EpochTV New South Wales Loses Yet Another Leader to Anti-Corruption Body Commentary The resignation of the New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian seems to have triggered two fellow ministers to call time on Parliament. Minister for Transport Andrew Constance says he will quit state politics for federal preselection in the marginal seat of Gilmore. At the same time, Deputy Premier and Nationals leader John Barilaro announced his resignation altogether. This will lead to three by-elections for the next leader to deal with. Berejiklian announced her resignation both as premier and from Parliament on Oct. 1, after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) announced that it was conducting a probity investigation arising from her relationship with former lover and ex-member of Parliament Daryl Maguire. It has been long apparent that the Liberal Party (Australias major right-leaning political party) made a significant error not with establishing the ICAC body but in the powers it enjoys. After ICACs attempt to take down the formidable Crown Prosecutor Margaret Cuneen S.C. was scuttled by the High Court, I wrote in a column in Spectator Australia in 2016 arguing that the NSW Parliament should abolish the agency. I cited the words of Commissioner Megan Latham, who admitted that ICACs process is fantastic a great lot of fun like pulling wings off butterflies. The two powers that ICAC should never have had and, in my view, should have been removed were to hold public hearings as if they were a criminal trial and to make findings without a trial before a judge and jury. These offend both the rule of law and the separation of powers. ICAC is not a court and should therefore not exercise the judicial power to make a finding of guilt. The trouble has been that it looked like a court and was too often reported as if it were a court. But rather than removing ICACs powers in 2016, the state Parliament rushed through bipartisan laws to validate ICACs excesses. Putting aside the resignation of former Premier Barry OFarrell over receiving a gift of a bottle of Grange wine, had the political class forgotten that the first of many innocents the monster devoured was its unsuspecting parent, former Premier Nick Greiner? The fact is that our ancient legal system provides tried and tested machinery to deal with corruption allegations. This is the grand jury. Unlike most of the western world, grand juries have mainly survived in the United States probably because they are constitutionally entrenched under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger. So if ICAC is to continue, Parliament, in my view, should abolish its powers to hold highly publicised, inquisitorial-like, show trials and declare guilt. If, after investigating allegations of corruption, a reformed ICAC believed it had evidence to support such claims, a grand jury, chosen at random, would, under this proposal, be empanelled to consider the accusation. After hearing the evidence, the grand jury would decide by majority whether there was probable cause to believe a crime had been committed. If so, the foreman would mark the indictment as a true bill, and the case would be heard openly by a judge and jury. If probable cause were found, the indictment would be marked no bill, with the process forever remaining confidential. If, instead of strengthening ICAC in 2016, Parliament had accepted my advice, the first we would have heard of the allegations against the recent Premier Gladys Berejiklian would have been if the grand jury had marked the indictment as an actual true bill and the case had gone to a judge and jury. As to the future of the NSW government, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet from the conservative faction has become premier with Stuart Ayres, his deputy leader. Ayress partner is federal Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and is from the Moderate faction in Liberal Party. The first role of the new premier will be to wind up the extended lockdown Greater Sydney and NSW are currently under because of the CCP virus and then to bring the government more to the centre. On the governments role in confronting the CCP virus, former Premier Berejiklian has been much praised. But whatever she did, the claim she saved Australia from the virus cannot be sustained. With the National Cabinet, she rejected the worlds best practice and chose instead the solution preferred by the Chinese Communist Party, the unnecessarily cruel and wasteful lockdown. As a moderate, she supported all of the left-wing programmes advanced by her faction. The next NSW state election will be held on March, 25, 2023. What will be interesting is how NSW will fare under a strong conservative premier, which has not occurred for many years in Australias most populous state. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 12, 2021. (Pete Marovich/Pool via Reuters) New US-China Trade Plan Leaves Industry Hungry for Specifics WASHINGTONHaving waited eight months for U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tais promised top-to-bottom policy review of trade with China, some U.S. industries and experts were complaining about the plans lack of specifics on negotiations or timing. Unveiling her plan on Monday, Tai, President Joe Bidens top trade official, pledged to hold talks with Chinese officials over their failure to meet the terms of former President Donald Trumps Phase 1 trade deal, and to revive a process to grant exclusions from tariffs on Chinese imports. Shes going to re-engage with China and thats a good thing, said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University trade economist who attended Tais speech in Washington. But her whole plan seems to be, Im going to have a conversation.' Tai will leave in place most of Trumps controversial tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods as she launches discussions with her counterpart, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He. She will raise U.S. concerns about Chinas industrial subsidies, but did not outline specific plans to tackle Beijings policies that the United States believes undermine free trade. What happens next depends on how the conversation goes, said Tai, the former top trade lawyer on the House Ways and Means Committee, who has promised to center the Biden trade policy around workers. She was unsparing in her criticism of Beijing on this front, accusing Chinas Communist Party government of continuing to shape its economy to the will of the state, hurting the interests of workers here in the U.S. and around the world. Tais speech, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, won support from Democratic lawmakers, unions, and a former Trump administration trade official. What you saw today is more evidence that theres strong bipartisan concern about the direction of our economic relationship with China, Stephen Vaughn, a former top USTR official under Trump who helped to develop the original Section 301 investigation that led to U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. New Tariff Worries However, industries that have suffered through more than three years of U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports that cost billions of dollars, were hoping for details on which products might win tariff relief. Instead, Mondays speech left lingering concerns that Tai could launch new tariff actions after saying she will keep further Section 301 investigations as options. The US-China Business Council said it feared tariffs might become permanent, given the lack of any clear road map. The National Foreign Trade Council called for a robust tariff exclusion process to provide some relief for companies hammered by the U.S.-China trade war. Todays long-awaited announcement proved the Biden administrations trade strategy on China to be lackluster at most, and will further inflict unnecessary damage to the American economy and retail supply chains, said David French, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation. Tai said she would refrain from Trumps plans for a separate formal Phase 2 negotiation with Beijing over structural issues such as Chinas massive subsidies to state enterprises, citing a disinclination to use the Trump administrations labels. How those discussions unfold depends in part on how much traction we get with China and to what degree we have to take our own measures to defend our interests, Tai said. The United States pursued regular high-level economic dialogues with China for more than a decade, until 2017, that produced little change in Beijings policies. The Trump administrations Phase One deal was heralded as a breakthrough, but Beijing has fallen far short of commitments to buy U.S. goods. Tais speech didnt give us new goals, or new tools, said Derek Scissors, a China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. You say we have to have a worker-centric trade policy, and we cant tolerate the Chinese behaving like this anymore because it harms America, but were going to talk to them about it, Scissors said. When has that ever worked? By David Lawder and Andrea Shalal People march as they protest against NYC's COVID-19 vaccine mandate that went into effect today for public school employees in New York City, on Oct. 4, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) New Yorkers Chant Save Australia in Protest Against Vaccine Mandates Protesters in New York City on Monday waved the Australian flag and chanted save Australia in a demonstration against mandatory vaccinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Protesters had gathered in Brooklyn outside the headquarters of the citys Department of Education for a rally after a COVID-19 vaccine mandate took effect Monday for New York City public school employees. Hundreds of people chanted save Australia as they marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and ultimately congregated outside the Australian consulate in midtown Manhattan. They also chanted other slogans against lockdowns and vaccine mandates, including freedom, and we will not comply. People march as they protest against NYCs COVID-19 vaccine mandate that went into effect today for public school employees in New York City on Oct. 4, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) During the march, two people flipped over a mobile COVID-19 testing site tent that was set up in Union Square. According to video footage taken by independent reporter Brendan Gutenschwager, people held signs that read Australia is the example of the new world order, and What is happening in Melbourne? Melbourne, an Australian city in the state of Victoria, has seen the longest lockdown in the world. The city has also gained global media attention after multiple videos emerged showing police attacking unarmed protesters amid local protests in recent weeks against COVID-19 vaccine mandates, passports, and lockdowns. Whats going on in Australia is not just going to be Australia, and when it shows up on our doorsteps, were gonna punch it right in the [expletive] teeth it is only freedom that we will accept, period! a man holding a microphone said at the Australian consulate in Manhattan on Monday. A crowd cheered and whistled in support. At one point, the crowd also chanted, Were holding the line for Australia, we support Australia! Australia has seen some of the lowest infection and death rates from COVID-19 by global standards. In turn, this has seen popular support surge for state and territory leaders who have readily used strict measures to combat the virus, including border closures and snap lockdownssometimes across entire cities over a single case of COVID-19. Australians last week held a nationwide peaceful protest across dozens of cities in multiple states in resistance to government mandatory vaccination policies. 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. 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) Draconian COVID-19 lockdown restrictions continue across metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne and parts of regional New South Wales and Victoria. The state governments have suggested it would ease restrictions once about 80 percent of people are fully vaccinated. Efforts among Australians to resist lockdowns and vaccine mandates continue among organizations such as National Education United and Reignite Democracy Australia. Telegram groups have become a hub for Australians to coordinate and share their efforts to challenge current vaccine mandates and lockdowns in multiple ways, including by sending letters, signing petitions, launching lawsuits, and organizing peaceful demonstrations. Daniel Y. Teng contributed to this report. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addresses a post-Cabinet press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Oct. 4, 2021. (Mark Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP) New Zealand Gives up Zero COVID Approach After implementing one of the most strict COVID-19 policies for over one and a half years, New Zealand decided to give up its zero COVID-19 strategy and try to live with the CCP virus, also known as the novel coronavirus. On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a plan to ease lockdown restrictions in Auckland, shifting her governments focus to vaccination. As you can see, with this outbreak and with Delta, the return to zero is incredibly difficult. Our restrictions alone are not enough to achieve it quickly, Ardern said during a press conference. In fact, for this outbreak, its clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has [sic] not got us to zero cases. In March 2020, Ardern ordered everyone arriving in the country to be self-quarantined for 14 days. She said at the time that the country had the widest-ranging and toughest border restrictions of any country in the world, ITV reported. A few days later, Ardern closed the borders entirely to almost all non-citizens or residents. In August, Ardern put New Zealand under the strictest lockdown after the countrys first CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus case in six months was reported in Auckland. Under New Zealands alert level fourthe highest levelrestrictions, people are instructed to stay at home, schools closed, and businesses closed except for essential services (such as supermarkets, pharmacies, and clinics) and lifeline utilities. Travels are severely limited. Rationing of supplies and requisitioning of facilities are implemented. But that is okay. Elimination was important because we didnt have vaccines, Ardern defended her strict policies. Now we do. So we can begin to change the way we do things. Currently, about 65 percent of New Zealanders have had at least one dose, and 40 percent are fully vaccinated. Among people age 12 and older, about 79 percent have had at least a single jab. Ardern said in September that she is aiming for a 90 percent vaccination rate before she will move away from lockdown orders. Under Arderns plan that starts Wednesday, Aucklanders will be able to meet another household, but the gathering has to be outdoors and no more than 10 people. Early learning centers can welcome more children back. People will be able to go to the beach, play ball, and attend other recreational activities but have to be outside and have fewer than 10 people together. The governments zero-tolerance approach had been widely supported by New Zealanders. The country of 5 million has reported only 27 virus deaths until recently. But Ardern has been facing increasing criticism. Over the weekend, thousands of people protested the lockdown in Auckland and multiple locations across the nation. Protestors claimed they had been locked up in homes for the past six weeks, How many more lockdowns before they take away all of our freedoms? A procession of motorbikes travels along the Southern Motorway towards the Auckland Domain for a peaceful protest against government tyranny in Auckland, New Zealand, on Oct. 2, 2021. (Phil Walter/Getty Images) The nations economy loomed due to the Delta variant and the continued lockdowns. According to Reuters, a net 11 percent of firms surveyed expected general business conditions to deteriorate. Compared with a net 7.0 percent positive reading in the previous quarter, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Researchs quarterly survey of business opinion showed. Uncertainty over how the latest outbreak will evolve and how much longer containment restrictions will remain in place looks to have dented confidence and led to more caution amongst businesses towards investment, the report said. Ardern said during Mondays briefing that most measures would remain in place, including exhaustive contact tracing and isolating those infected people. Mimi Nguyen Ly and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Newport Beach Residents Question Proposed Change to Elect Mayor NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.Some residents are questioning an Elect Our Mayor city charter amendment measure by former mayor and current city councilman Will ONeill that would make the mayor a resident-elected position instead of a rotated position within the council. The city currently operates under a council-manager system whereby voters choose each of their seven district council members in a citywide election, and the council members then rotate the mayor and mayor pro tem positions each year, usually for a one-year term though several have been chosen to hold the seat for more than one term. It was interesting, last year, when I was mayor, and I was running for reelection to the city council, a number of people were surprised to find out that they werent voting for the mayor, they were voting for a city council member, ONeill said. A number of people asked why, and the answer because its always been that way is not a good answer. So, offering to give back power thats right now in the hands of the city council is something that we ought to think about from time to time, ONeill said. The move would also extend the mayors term limit to four years instead of one and put the power of setting council agendas in the mayors hands instead of the city manager. In addition, the amendment would also trigger a redistricting of the city down from seven districts to six. If passed, Newport Beach would switch to a mayor-council systemas opposed to the council-manager structure the city has used for the better part of its history. Mayoral Debate Former Mayor Evelyn Hart, who served two terms as mayor during her tenure on the city council, told The Epoch Times, I dont personally feel that we need that [proposed] type of government. I think our city runs very well. Former City Councilman Jeff Herdman agreed. Things have changed, but are they big enough to warrant a dramatic change in our city charter? When it comes to our form of representative government, our city fathers wrote a city charter that divided our city into equitable districts, each that have an elected individual charged with the responsibility of representing the constituents within their respective district, he told The Epoch Times. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our current structure. I think supporters of this idea dont understand the true ramifications. Instead of introducing the measure to the city council, which would allow for public comment, ONeill launched the campaign via social media and has organized a group of volunteers to collect the required 9,000 resident signatures that would place the measure on the 2022 ballot. Thats the beauty of representative democracy, is having to go out and sell your vision to the voters and ultimately letting them make that choice for themselves, ONeill said. The whole process here requires a vote of the people. Its not an easy process and one that requires a lot of time [and] effort, but I obviously think that its worth it, and so do a whole bunch of people volunteering right now to collect signatures on this process, and I appreciate that. Newport Beach resident Susie McKibben told The Epoch Times she supported the move. If the Mayor is directly elected and the districts are redrawn from seven to six, I understand that the six council members and the mayor would have to run city-wide, she said via text. In effect, all of the city council members and the mayor would continue to represent and be accountable to every resident in our city. I like that system now and would like it after the voters approve the change. However, a community leader who asked to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times, Under our current system, city council members are elected and are part of the organization for one four-year term or up to eight years max if they are reelected for a second term. A city manager can easily be in place for a decade or longer, and what people may not realize is that it is the city managers job to understand the entire internal workings of the city. Mayors do not. To take away the agenda-setting responsibility from the city manager, in my opinion, is a very bad idea. A city official who also wished to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times, This feels like a solution looking for a problem. Theres no problem right now, right? Were not in debt. Were not bankrupt. Were not COVID-ridden. Even given the past two years, were doing just great. So, its kind of suspect as to why you would have to change things. One reason that you could say is its because one person wants the power of another two terms. Newport Beach resident and vocal community advocate, Dr. Susan Skinner, has launched a campaign to defeat ONeills proposed measure. This might sound like an innocuous change, but it is not. This initiative allows a council person to finish 8 years in office and have another 8 years as mayor, Skinner said in an email blast to residents last week. It will create an immensely powerful mayor and it removes substantial authority from other decision makers. It is worthwhile noting that his council colleagues dont support this change, Skinner said. Perhaps they are annoyed that the initiative excludes the mayor from the term limits approved by the voters in 1992, allowing for up to 16 consecutive years in office, but maintains term limits for them. Maybe they dont like having one man decide how the government should run, especially if that one man is positioning himself to become that powerful mayor. A Better System? Earlier this year, Newport Beachs city council approved a $309.1-million budget for fiscal year 2021, and it has $55.3-million in reserve funds. In 2020, Moodys gave the city its highest Aaa rating, stating, The credit position for Newport Beach is extremely strong. Its Aaa rating is significantly above the median rating of Aa3 for US cities. Notable credit factors include an extensive tax base, a very strong wealth and income profile and a robust financial position. It also reflects a negligible debt burden and a significant pension liability. The systems not broken, its just fine, ONeill told The Epoch Times. We can do better, and that has always been something that Newport Beach is known for, its not sitting back on just being fine and is always looking for something better. As we see more and more cities, moving to the directly-elected mayor system, including Tustin, which just recently voted to do that, Huntington Beach is talking about doing it, then we need to be in a position where were not finding ourselves behind the curve, ONeill said. According to the International City/County Managers Association, the mayor or board chairperson in a council-manager community is a voting member of the governing body [city council] who may be either directly elected, as in 69 percent of council-manager communities, or who is selected by and from among their colleagues on the governing body. The council-manager form of city governance was established in 1915 by The National Civic League as part of an effort to battle corruption and partisanship in local government. The model recommends that cities be managed by a city manager, hired by the mayor and city council according to their abilities, not their political allegiances. Under the council-manager structure, the mayor is the public face of the community who presides at meetings, assigns agenda items to committees, facilitates communication and understanding between elected and appointed officials, and assists the governing body in setting goals and advocating policy decisions, according to the organization. This is very clearly not about me. I know some people would like it to be but that would be a silly reason to try to do any kind of institutional change, ONeill stated. Im planning on living here for the long haul, and given the record that I have on city council, its abundantly clear that Im looking way past my own service. I also am pretty excited about serving the community in other ways down the road as well so theres a lot of opportunity here, but the point is that this system is a better system than we have right now. ONeill terms out in 2024, and when asked if he would run again, he said he would consider it. Under this [new] system, any person in the city can run for mayor, so I would be one of the 85,000 people who could potentially run for it, he said. Vials with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine labels are seen in this illustration picture taken on March 19, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters) Norway, Portugal to Offer COVID-19 Boosters to People Aged 65 and Older Norwegian and Portuguese authorities confirmed COVID-19 vaccine booster shots will soon become available for people aged 65 and older. A third dose will start being offered in late October or early November to Norwegians who received their second dose at least six months prior, Health Minister Bent Hoeie said on Tuesday. Hoeie emphasizes that this third shot is a refresher dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was approved for this purpose by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) earlier this week. Portugals health secretary, Antonio Sales, said late on Monday the government is extending COVID-19 booster shots to everyone aged 65 and older from mid-October. He noted that the booster could only be administered six months after people received their second dose. The third dose will first be administered to the nations most vulnerable groups of people, such as care home residents and those over the age of 80. The southern European nation, which has the worlds highest vaccination rate with 85 percent of its total population fully jabbed, started last month to give an extra COVID-19 shot to those aged over 16 with weakened immune systems. In Norway, more than 90 percent of citizens aged 18 and above have now received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and some 85 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, according to the Institute of Public Health. The Nordic country used vaccines made by BioNTech, Pfizer, and Moderna in its national rollout, which since September includes everyone aged 12 and over. The booster shot recommendations come as EMA on Monday gave the approval to administer boosters of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine dubbed Comirnaty to people aged 18 and older. The health agency also confirmed it backs giving a third dose of either Comirnaty or Modernas Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine to people with severely weakened immune systems at least 28 days after their second shot, but left it to member states to decide if the wider population should have a booster. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also urged wealthy nations not to use booster doses this year, saying there is no scientific data that proves the shots are necessary. An international group of vaccine experts, including officials from the Food and Drug Administration and WHO, also previously said theres no evidence to suggest that the general population needs COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. Reuters contributed to this report. From NTD News Clean up efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) California Oil Pipeline May Have Been Hooked By Ships Anchor, Apparently Dragged HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.The pipeline that leaked tens of thousands of gallons of oil into the water off Southern California may have been caught by a ships anchor and torn as it was apparently dragged along the ocean floor, authorities said Oct. 5. Federal transportation investigators said preliminary reports suggest the failure may have been caused by an anchor that hooked the pipeline, causing a partial tear. The break in the line occurred about 5 miles offshore at a depth of about 98 feet (30 meters) beneath the surface, the investigators said, again citing preliminary findings. Those findings were included in a Tuesday order from the Department of Transportations Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The order blocks the company from restarting the pipeline until it carries out extensive inspections and testing to make sure the line is sound. The order did not identify the source of the investigators information, and agency officials did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. Clean up efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Coast Guard Capt. Rebecca Ore said divers determined about 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) of the pipeline was laterally displaced by about 105 feet (32 meters). She did not say what might have caused it to move. In addition, the pipeline had a 13-inch (33-centimeters) gash in it, Ore said. The head of the company that operates the line said the pipe was displaced into almost a semicircle. The pipeline has essentially been pulled like a bow string. And so at its widest point, it is 105 feet away from where it was, Amplify CEO Martyn Willsher said at a news conference. Officials said Monday that they were considering whether a ships anchor might have caused the oil spill that has fouled beaches in Orange County. There was no confirmation Tuesday that the leak was caused by an anchor. The Coast Guard did not investigate initial reports of an oil spill for nearly 12 hours because it did not have enough corroborating evidence and was hindered by darkness and a lack of technology, an official told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday. Rear Admiral Brian Penoyer acknowledged that the Coast Guard was alerted Friday night by a good Samaritan that there was a sheen on the water. Penoyer initially said the Coast Guard put out a broadcast to the many cargo and tanker ships anchored off the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, along with oil rigs, seeking more information but did not receive any response. Cleanup efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) At a news conference later, Ore disputed that and said the Coast Guard did not broadcast any information to ships or oil platforms. Penoyer said it was common to get reports of a sheen near a busy seaport. It would take more than 12 hours before an oil pipeline company reported a spill that could be up to 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude. In hindsight, it seems obvious, but they didnt know that at that time, Penoyer said. So putting yourself in the position of what they did know, this is a very normal process. Two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response. The first was from an anchored ship that noticed a sheen on the water. The second came six hours later from a federal agency that said a possible oil slick was spotted on satellite imagery, according to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services. The spill sent up to 126,000 gallons (572,807 liters) of heavy crude into the ocean off Huntington Beach, and it then washed onto miles of beaches and a protected marshland. The beaches could remain closed for weeks or longer, a major hit to the local economy. Coastal fisheries in the area are closed to commercial and recreational fishing. Federal and state authorities require rapid reporting of a spill. Failure to do so has led to criminal prosecutions of companies, including Plains All American Pipeline, which caused a coastal spill near Santa Barbara in 2015, and Southern California Gas Co. for a massive well blowout later that year. Cleanup efforts are underway for an oil spill of the coastline of Orange County in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley expressed concern that the company could withhold evidence. But the countys emergency manager, Michelle Anderson, reassured the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the Coast Guard was on the scene as well to make sure the probe is independent. It is an investigation with objective parties involved, so that we will eventually know the outcome, Anderson said. Cargo ships entering the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach routinely pass through the area. Backlogs have plagued the ports in recent months, and several dozen or more of the giant vessels have regularly been anchored as they wait to enter the ports and unload. A 2016 spill response plan for the Amplify platforms submitted to federal regulators called for immediate notification of federal officials when more than one barrel of oil is released into the water. Releases greater than five barrelsor that threaten state waters or the shorelinerequire immediate notification of the state fire marshal and California wildlife officials. The pipeline was supposed to be monitored under an automated leak detection system that would report problems to a control room staffed around the clock on the oil platform known as Elly. The system was designed to trigger an alarm whenever a change in the flow of oil is detected. But how fast it can pick up on those changes was expected to vary according to the size of the leak. For a large leak10 percent or more of the amount of oil flowing through the pipelinethe detection time was estimated at five minutes. Smaller leaks were expected to take up to 50 minutes to detect, according to the response plan. The spill plan warned that a break in the pipeline could cause substantial harm to the environment and that in a worst-case scenario 3,111 barrels (131,000 gallons) of oil could be released from the pipeline. Willsher said required agencies were notified instantly when the company recognized the leak was from its pipe. Records show the spill was not reported by Amplify Energy, but by Witt OBriens, a crisis and emergency management firm listed on the spill response plan as the point of contact to notify the NRC. The report said the leaking pipe had been shut off, but containment was not confirmed. Potential criminal investigations were being pursued by the Orange County district attorney, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said. Safety advocates have pushed for years for federal rules that would strengthen oil spill detection requirements and force companies to install valves that can automatically shut down the flow of crude in case of a leak. The oil and pipeline industries have resisted such requirements because of the high cost. By Brian Melley, Matthew Brown, and Stefanie Dazio Leader of the Opposition Erin OToole arrives for the first Conservative Party caucus since the federal election, in Ottawa on Oct. 5, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld) OToole Welcomes Campaign Review, as Caucus Votes to Give MPs the Power to Oust Him Tory leader says caucus is 'united as a team' Conservative Leader Erin OToole says he will learn from his defeat in the 2021 federal election, and will accept an election campaign review, after the Conservative caucus voted to give MPs the power to potentially replace him in its first post-election meeting. OToole said his partys caucus remains fully united, after Conservative MPs met in Ottawa on Oct. 5 to vote on a series of issues that could give them the power to oust him and launch another leadership race. As leader, I am accountable; accountable for what went well, and accountable for where we fell short. Im also accountable for where we failed in executing on our plan for Canadians, OToole said in a press conference after the caucus meeting. I take that responsibility very seriously. Im resolutely committed to reviewing every element of our campaign, he said, adding that the caucus is united as a team. This is about having a fair and transparent process that a team must have when it respects one another. OToole announced that James Cumming, the former Conservative MP for the Albertas Edmond Centre riding, will chair the election campaign review. He said the review will ideally conclude before the end of the year. Meanwhile, OToole also said he will ask the House of Commons to bring back motions lapsed in the last parliamentary session, particularly several motions put forth by the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, regarding a health committee order that requested the release of documents on the governments COVID-19 pandemic management, and the firing of two scientists from Winnipegs National Microbiology Lab. Our team will be asking to bring back the most important issues facing Canadians, particularly in economic recovery, but also serious questions about coverups the Trudeau government committed before the last election. The National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg [is] one example, pandemic documents that they refused to release. The Trudeau government was willing to take Parliament to court rather than to be accountable, OToole told reporters. OToole attributed the Conservatives failure to win the election to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus use of the COVID-19 pandemic to divide Canadians. I had a plan for us to win the confidence of more Canadians. We fell short. The simple reason for why that happened is Mr. Trudeau used the pandemic to divide Canadians, OToole said. We did not. Did we pay a price for it? Perhaps we did. When asked by a reporter about criticism that he has been taking the party towards the centre and whether he plans to continue with that approach, OToole said he wants to make sure we speak for suburban and urban families, many of whom were considering voting for us midway through this election. I want to say were going to continue to talk about economic recovery, were going to continue to talk about transparency and government trust, and I think we will win more seats, he said. I think the pandemic prevented us from securing the vote of enough Canadians, but Im proud that we are drawing men and women from all backgrounds in all parts of the country. Prior to Tuesdays Conservative caucus, at least one member had openly called for a leadership review. Under legislation passed in 2015, each partys caucus is required to decide after an election whether it wants to empower its members to trigger a leadership review, which requires a written notice backed by at least 20 percent of the caucus. Shannon Stubbs, the Conservative MP for the Lakeland riding in Alberta, who said she had won 15 percent less votes in the 2021 election compared with 2019, called on OToole to give a full accounting of how he plans to win back Conservative supporters. I believe there needs to be an accounting on how it is that we are going to maintain Conservative voters, maintain confidence among Conservative voters and supporters, Stubbs said before entering the caucus meeting. The reality is that today, after the 2021 election, Conservatives are more rural, more homogeneous than weve ever been before. And we lost great, strong, necessary colleagues in big cities in every part of this country, she said. With files from The Canadian Press Poland Summons UK Ambassador After Right-Wing Writer Refused Entry WARSAWPoland will summon the British ambassador to explain why a journalist accused of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and the justification of rape was refused entry to Britain, a deputy foreign minister said on Monday. Rafal Ziemkiewicz was detained at Londons Heathrow airport on Saturday after travelling to Britain with his wife and daughter, who is starting a course at Oxford University. He was subsequently denied entry and flew back to Warsaw. In a letter posted on social media by a British lawmaker, the UK border force attributed the decision to conduct and views which are at odds with British values and likely to cause offence. This week I will invite British Ambassador Anna Clunes to the Foreign Ministry to make sure that freedom of speech is included in the catalogue of British values and to ask how this corresponds to the attitude of British services to Rafal Ziemkiewicz, Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek said on Twitter. The British embassy could not immediately be reached for comment. Slander Polands Human Rights Ombudsman has accused Ziemkiewicz of anti-Semitism after he said on Polish public television last year that some Jews had cooperated with Germans in the Holocaust. In 2014 he was accused of justifying rape after a tweet in which he said whoever has never taken advantage of a drunk person, let him throw the first stone. In a telephone conversation with Reuters, Ziemkiewicz denied allegations of prejudice and said the decision of British authorities was based on misrepresentations of his statements. I have been called a racist. I have been called an Islamophobe and anti-Semite , and I have been called, which is the most painful for me, a Holocaust denier. This is a huge slander, he said. Ziemkiewicz, who writes for right-wing weekly Do Rzeczy and is the author of several books, cancelled a trip to Britain in 2018 after lawmakers raised concerns with the police over his views. By Alan Charlish Protesters Around the World Condemn CCP on Anniversary of Its Takeover of China The Chinese communist regime celebrates Oct. 1 as its national day. However, protesters around the world mark the day as a National Day of Mourning, lamenting the loss of basic human rights and freedoms for mainland Chinese people for more than seven decades. The United States Nearly 100 Chinese people rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Oct. 1 to protest the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) tyranny. They warned the public about its influence in the United States. Protesters held anti-CCP signs and carried grass-stuffed figures of current and past Chinese communist leaders to the front of the consulate. Four of them carried a black coffin to the site, wishing an early end to the CCP. At the rally, they burned the CCPs red five-star flag and acted out a short play, titled The Siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The play was to honor pro-democracy Hong Kong students who were victims of an armed police occupation of their campus in November 2019. Protesters burn down the CCPs five-star flag in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Xu Xiuhui/The Epoch Times) Fu Hanling, the deputy director of the Los Angeles branch of the Chinese Democratic Party, called on more Americans to awaken to the CCPs oppression of its people. He also pointed out the CCPs responsibility for the ongoing global pandemic due to its cover-up and delay in COVID-19 response. We must stand up to remind all nations and ethnic groups that those are all innocent lives claimed by the evil CCP, said Fu. The CCP should pay its price for the calamities. Another participant, Jie Lijian, flew a hydrogen balloon symbolizing the CCP virus, cautioning that the CCP was approaching and eroding everyones life exactly like the pandemic. On the East Coast, in Boston, an argument broke out between CCP followers raising the five-star flag and protesters in front of city hall on Sept. 30. Yet, the rising CCP flag got stuck when the lifting device broke. Thats Gods will, retired U.S. infantry soldier David Berard spoke of the flag-raising failure. I live right here, and this is my backyard, he vented his anger via a loudspeaker. I dislike the CCPs flag being raised in my backyard. Especially more than 100 angry veterans live nearby, and were going to pull this flag down! Retired U.S. infantry soldier David Berard protests the CCPs tyranny at the city hall Boston, on Sept. 30, 2021. (Mai Lei/The Epoch Times) The CCP wants to subvert us through bribery and infiltration, Berard continued. But our government has not resisted. CCP supporters canceled their scheduled speeches and withdrew amid slogans like Free Hong Kong, Free Tibet, No Chinese communist in U.S. Chungchi Che, a representative of Friends of Hong Kong & Macau in Boston, said he comes to protest every year. The CCP is a mafia group, a criminal organization, the senior citizen said. The United States should reject it. A lady surnamed Lu also participated in the event. She complained to The Epoch Times that the Boston government allowed the CCP to raise its flag every year and that the ceremony triggered resentment and protests, including from Americans. That [flag-raising] doesnt represent public opinion, Lu told The Epoch Times. Thats why we must come over to protest. Ms. Lu protests raising the CCPs national flag at the city hall of Boston, on Sept. 30. (Mai Lei/The Epoch Times) In addition, protesters reminded those from mainland China who had come to celebrate Oct. 1 and the raising of the five-star flag, not to betray the United States, which had provided them with freedom and benefits on its soil. Instead, they said, they should be grateful to this country and oppose communist China. Canada Eight community groups gathered in front of the Chinese consulate in Toronto on Oct. 1, accusing the CCP of employing hostage diplomacy and meddling in Canadian affairs. The organizations included the Toronto Association for Democracy in China, the Canada-Hong Kong Link, the Canadian Committee of the Democratic Party of China, and the Federation for a Democratic China (FDC). Eight community groups rally to protest the CCPs tyranny in front of the Chinese consulate in Toronto, Canada. on Oct. 1, 2021. (Yin Ling/The Epoch Times) The 72-year despotic rule of the CCP has brought endless disasters and misfortunes to the Chinese people and beyond, said author and FDC vice president Sheng Xue. The Chinese communist regime is the worst in committing crimes against humanity in history. She chastised the CCP for imposing genocide policies on the Tibetan and Uyghur populations, persecuting Hongkongers, and killing Falun Gong practitioners for their organs. Sheng stressed that although the two detained Canadians returned home from China, the CCPs hostage diplomacy had set a dangerous precedent, which the CCP will reuse in the future. Gloria Fung, president of Canada-Hong Kong Link, noted that behind Chinas economic growth was a dark side of oppression and absolute social control by the CCP. In this context, political dissidents disappeared or were declared mentally ill. Fung also warned of the CCP posing a major threat to Canada through its omnipresent spying, manipulation, and intimidation as well as hostage diplomacy. Its time for Canada to show its leadership on the global stage, including responding strongly to China, banning Huawei, and boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Fung stressed. England Human rights groups consisting of Hongkongers, Tibetans, and Uyghurs rallied in London on Oct. 1 and launched Resist the CCP Day to protest atrocities that the CCP had committed to ethnic populations. Dr. Stephen Ng, who has lived in the United Kingdom for 30 years, is a co-founder of the Chinese for Labour and a winner of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Dr. Stephen Ng stands up for Hongkongers at Piccadilly Circus, London, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Zhan Na/The Epoch Times) What the CCP has done in Hong Kong defies logic and common sense, he said. He grieved at the reality in Hong Kong that young students were detained, campus groups were disbanded, media outlets were silenced, and pro-democracy groups and industry associations were forced to close. Its crucially important for Hongkongers to preserve their lives, their power, and energy, he added. This authoritarian regime and its unjust control wont last long. Tsering Passang, founder and convener of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, called Oct. 1 a sad day for Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers, Taiwanese, and Inner Mongolians. On Oct. 1, 1949, then-CCP leader Mao Zedong claimed Tibet was liberated, he said. However, that liberation turned out to be bloodbaths, claiming the lives of millions of Tibetans and Uyghurs. Yet, Passang was optimistic about the global anti-CCP situation. Its incredibly encouraging that countless mainland Chinese join the movement of quitting the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and that more nations stand up against communist Chinas global outreach, he said. Lets unite and fight our common enemythe CCP, the Tibetan protester said. Another participant surnamed Zhou, a Mandarin speaker, told The Epoch Times how he had changed from a pro-CCP stalwart to an anti-CCP activist. When I first came to Britain, I was supportive of the CCP due to my fathers influence, Zhou said. While in my secondary school, one of my classmates told me Mao Zedong, Stalin, and Hitler were all devils. I was so furious that I protested, Youre insulting our leaders.' Protester surnamed Zhou at Piccadilly Circus, London, on Oct. 1, 2021. (Zhan Na/The Epoch Times) While he was seeking evidence to defend himself, Zhou found alarming sources to challenge his previous viewpoints. It was through 10 years grappling in my mind that I began to believe, as President Ronald Reagan put it, that the CCP is a devil, an anti-God villain, the protester said. Australia Two days ahead of Oct. 1, an online seminar was organized to focus on the CCPs persecution of Hongkongers and demand an end to the CCPs tyranny. New Zealand-based Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, former professor of the University of Hong Kong, said that the first year of the national security law had seen Hong Kongs human rights, freedoms, and rule of law eroded. He said that within the framework of the national security law, few Hongkongers accused of incitement or subversion were granted bail. They were likely to face long-term detention, along with frozen assets and property before court hearings. He believed the CCPs national security law eviscerated Hong Kongs rule of law and freedom of information, which ran counter to the interests of the whole business sector. The CCP would sacrifice the rule of law and the freedom of information to secure its political power, Cheng emphasized. Ted Hui Chi-fung, a former Hong Kong legislator, who is currently in exile in Australia, said that with the national security law, the CCP had completely transformed the local social system, turning a free, open, and semi-democratic Hong Kong into an authoritarian society. Hongkongers will no longer trust the idea of one country, two systems,' he said. Nor will they trust any other promises the CCP makes. China Hong Kong authorities placed 8,000 police on the streets to curb any protests on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, according to Bloomberg. However, footage by the League of Social Democrats showed four of its members, including its chairperson Chan Po-ying, risked taking to the streets and protest on Oct. 1. They were stopped, searched, and questioned by police before they set off. Their activity was fully monitored. Along the way, the demonstrators shouted slogans like Release all political prisoners, and Carry out universal suffrage for the whole country. Police intercepted them when they reached Central Plaza. There, the chairperson delivered a 7-minute statement before the group dispersed. Xu Xiuhui, Huang Qin, and Mai Lei contributed to this report. An ambulance enters the port of Palma de Mallorca as Spanish rescuers pulled 14 people to safety, in the sea off the Island of Cabrera, on Mallorca Island on Oct. 4, 2021. (Jaime Reine/AFP via Getty Images) Responders Rescue 14 From Waters Off Spains Mallorca, 3 Missing MADRIDSpains rescue service and the crew of a yacht rescued 14 people off the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca on Monday while three other people were missing, the government said after it had originally said two people were dead. Those rescued appeared to be African migrants and were travelling on a rickety boat, said a spokeswoman for the Spanish governments delegation on the island, who added that no bodies had been recovered. The rescued people told authorities there were 17 aboard the boat, triggering a search for three other people. Migrants from North Africa often attempt the dangerous crossing using dinghy boats in search of a better life in Europe. Sea-borne migration to Spain has surged this year, with more than 27,000 people having made the crossing as of the end of September, up more than 50 percent from the same period last year. Traffic along the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands accounts for the bulk of the increase, but arrivals to the Balearic Islands have also risen around 20 percent. By Nathan Allen and Joan Faus Rochester Mayor Lovely A. Warren addresses members of the media during a press conference related to the ongoing protest in the city in Rochester, New York, on Sept. 6, 2020. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren to Resign as Part of Plea Deal Over Alleged Campaign Finance Violations Rochester, New York, Mayor Lovely Warren will resign from office by Dec. 1 after accepting the terms of a plea deal in court on Monday where she faced charges over alleged campaign finance violations, Rochester First reported. Warren, along with two assistants, Albert Jones Jr., her campaign treasurer, and Rosiland Brooks-Harris, political action committee treasurer and Rochester finance director, were each accused of violating election laws when they accepted campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits. Warren faced two felony counts, including scheme to defraud in the first degree, and violation of election law 14-126 related to the alleged campaign finance violations during her 2017 mayoral reelection efforts. According to 2017 expenditures of Warrens political action committee, Warren for a Stronger Rochester PAC, $30,000 was transferred from the PAC to her committee, Friends of Lovely Warren. The mayor had previously denied allegations that she violated campaign finance rules, and claimed the money was accidentally placed in the PAC through a PayPal error, or bookkeeping mistake. As part of the deal offered to Warren by the prosecution on Monday, the mayor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge. Both Jones Jr. and Brooks-Harris have also pleaded guilty in the case. Warrens attorney Mike Schiano said prosecutors were adamant she resign from office as part of the deal. We talked about it over the weekend, but they approached us with that offer and we hammered it through, defense attorney Schiano said, according to Spectrum News. They wanted a resignation, Schiano said. That was what the sticking point of the DAs office was. They wanted that done. Warrens plea deal will also settle a weapons and child endangerment charge Warren faces relating to a place search on the home she shared with her now estranged husband Timothy Granison in May. State police conducted a search of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warrens house in Rochester, N.Y., on May 19, 2021. (Jamie Germano/Democrat & Chronicle via AP) State police conducted a search of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warrens house in Rochester, N.Y., on May 19, 2021. (Jamie Germano/Democrat & Chronicle via AP) New York State Police executed a search warrant at the home as part of an ongoing investigation into Granison who authorities say is part of a drug trafficking ring in Rochester. Police allegedly recovered a rifle and pistol inside, and found Warrens 10-year-old daughter alone. Both Warren and her husband were charged with criminal possession of a firearm, endangering the welfare of a child, and failure to secure the firearm. At the time, Warren said she had no knowledge of her husbands alleged illegal activity and that they had been separated for some time. Both Warren and Granison later pleaded not guilty to the charges. Warren was set to leave office in January after losing in Junes primary to current City Councilmember Malik Evans, who is the next presumptive mayor of Rochester. Deputy Mayor James Smith will become mayor of Rochester for a month now that Warren is stepping down from the role. Following Mondays guilty plea, Warren took to Facebook to post: Leaving the past behind and looking forward to a brighter future. Thank you, Rochester. Weve accomplished a lot together, but in the end, I thank God that Im able to choose family over everything. Her defense attorney Joe Damelio also told reporters that the mayor is not a drug dealer or irresponsible gun-toting person who is incapable of looking after her child. Moreover, she is that person who looks after her child and is concerned for her child and thats part of the reason she entered a plea today, he added. Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Jacob Ark also urged the community to move on from the case and put the past behind them. I think its time for our community and our city to put this past us, Ark said. And the mayor was willing and the co-defendants were willing to take responsibility and did so today. We found it to be an equitable resolution. Rumors Swirl About Source of Pandora Papers The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its affiliates on Oct. 3 began publishing stories about the Pandora Papersa trove of 2.94 terabytes of data made up of about 11.9 million records, reportedly exposing the finances of the worlds wealthy elite. The Pandora Papers follow the ICIJs 2016 Panama Papers and 2017 Paradise Papers investigations. The earlier reports were largely based on leaked data from single firmsthe Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in the first instance and the offshore service provider Appleby in the second case. But this time, the data undergirding the Pandora Papers reportedly comes from 14 major financial service providers across numerous jurisdictions. Thats fueled speculation that the data was derived from a sophisticated hacking operation, possibly with the backing of Western intelligence agencies. The idea that there are 14 trust companies around the world whose data was simultaneously handed over to the ICIJ or members of the same network, suggests to me a government intelligence agency with a lot of resources behind this, or a group of high-net-worth individuals who have it in their mind that the 1 percent need to pay their share, Martin Kenney, an attorney in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), told The Epoch Times. With the BVI being one of the main subjects of numerous ICIJ investigations, Kenney and his colleagues have frequently criticized those reporters over the years. When it comes to criticizing the Pandora Papers, the BVI and other tax-haven attorneys are joined by unlikely allies from the progressive left. On Twitter, numerous left-leaning pundits and reporters have questioned why the ICIJs reporting has mostly focused on leaders from developing countries, while leaving the Western power elite unscathed. What a coincidence that there are zero U.S. politicians included in the Pandora Papers list of offshore bank accounts. I guess theyre all pure and free from corruption! said Ben Norton, an assistant editor at The Gray Zone, poking fun at the ICIJs reporting. The relatively centrist Brookings Institution has also questioned the source of ICIJs data. After the Panama Papers revelations in 2016, a writer for Brookings suggested that the reports could be part of an information war between Russia and the United States. Early last year, circles in the West sought to use the media to respond to what they described as Russias hybrid warfare, especially information war, in the wake of the Russian annexation of Crimea and related activities. They identified corruption as an issue where Putin was quite vulnerable, Brookings Clifford Gaddy wrote in April 2016. Its worth looking at the Panama Papers in that context. Representatives of the ICIJ didnt respond by press time to a request for comment about the intelligence and hacking speculation. Kenney, for his part, has reservations about the theory that the Pandora Papers are based on a Western-backed intelligence operation. He suggests that there could be a simpler explanation: U.S. taxpayers are more hesitant to use tax havens, given that the IRS is perhaps the harshest tax authority in the world. Some countries like France, they have a chuckle about it. No one seems to go to prison for a long time for impeding the French taxman, he said. America has more people in prison than anyone else in the world, and one reason is that they have a lot of police and a lot of prosecutors and judges willing to enforce the laws seriously. I think that has an impact on human behavior. Kenney stated that many offshore banks wont do business with Americans due to the risk of running afoul of U.S. regulators. Regardless of whether the Pandora Papers are a product of hacking or whistleblowing, Kenney and others have been unimpressed with the journalism stemming from the data. While Pandora Papers stories will likely continue to be published for weeks, early headlines include How we tracked ancient Cambodian antiquities to leading museums and private galleries, and Sri Lankan power couple piled up luxury homes, artworks, and cash offshore as ruling family rose and rose. The Guardian and other outlets reporting on the papers have repeated qualifications that the activity theyre exposing isnt necessarily illegal. Kenney says that so far, the stories from the data have failed to live up to the Pandoran moniker, as though a collection of illegal or immoral activity had been exposed in opening a new Pandoras box. Wheres the meat? he asked. Kenney argued that the privacy violations involved in such a massive data breach outweigh the public benefits that the reportingat least to datehas brought. Of course there are some examples here where theres public interest, but I think thats in the minority of casesmost of its sensationalist, he said. Why is it that the ownership of the offshore company is somehow less private than a persons home or their bank account or their bedroom? As an asset-recovery attorney, Kenney often represents victims of fraud and abuse. He isnt shy about calling out the criminality that exists within the murky offshore financial sector. His investigations have ranged from two-bit charlatans in the BVI to massively complex cases dating back to the Liberian civil war. But he said transparency for transparencys sakeorganizations such as Oxfam and Global Witness call for the owners of all offshore firms to be publicwont help fight crime. Can you imagine a world where an Al Caponeyou tell him, Now we have a beneficial ownership registry. And Al would be invited to fill out forms for the companies he formed, identifying his ownership so the Guardian can say, Yes, we know which companies Al owns, Kenney said. Are you that serious and naive to think the aims of these campaigners will actually stop crime, fraud, and corruption? Single-Family Rentals on the Rise While homeownership has always been the American dream, there are millions of families in the United States who believe home leasing is equally dreamy. In fact, the National Rental Home Council (NRHC) indicates that there are more single-family homes for rent23 millionthan there are apartment units, at 20 million. Recent statistics from the nonprofit, which represents the interests of the single-family rental industry, show a total of 140 million housing units throughout the nation, of which 100 million are single-family homes. The remainder include apartments, condos, co-ops, or multi-family homes. Of the 23 million rental homes, approximately 1.5 percent are owned by single-family home rental companies, while the vast majority are owned by individual property owners. The NRHCs roster includes hundreds of large firms as well as mom and pop owners with one or two properties. Single-family home rentals have existed for many years, particularly in the Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest, but lately weve seen an uptick in the market driven by millennials without children, David Howard, NRHC executive director, told The Epoch Times. This generation tends to put off having children or buying a home until later in life. With todays skyrocketing home prices throughout the country, many people have become more comfortable with renting. Generally, renting a home is less expensive than buying and having to come up with a hefty down payment, Howard says. Renting is also becoming more the norm. People can rent cars, furnishings, and even clothes, so the trend seems to be spilling over into the housing market. While apartment rentals in or near major cities tend to be more costly, single-family homes in suburban areas are usually less expensive. It used to be that you rented because you couldnt afford to buy, and while thats true in some cases, many people are renting by choice, Howard said. Theyre either priced out of the market, or theyre deciding to wait until prices come down, or maybe they dont intend to stay in one location for a long period of time. As a continued result of COVID-19, Howard noted, many people are still working from home, and renting allows them to have that extra bedroom or a backyard. A September report by the National Association of Realtors indicates the median existing-home sales price was $356,700, an increase of 14.9 percent from August. This also marks 114 straight months of year-over-year gains. The housing inventory remains low, with 1.29 million units nationwide at the end of August, down 1.5 percent from July, and down 13.4 percent from one year ago. The trend toward single-family home rentals has also ignited new business opportunities for investors. Were starting to see more corporate ownership in certain parts of the country, particularly where theres been a lot of job growth and migration such as Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, and Phoenix, Howard said. One of the main benefits of the emergence of corporate ownership is providing property management services to renters. This can include everything from landscaping to appliance repair, to roof maintenance. One of the leading asset managers for institutional owners of single-family homes is Atlanta-based RESICAP. Founded in 2010, RESICAP now has more than 500 employees throughout the country. We started to see an increase in single-family home investments in 2008 during the first housing crisis, Andy Wu, director of acquisitions at RESICAP, told The Epoch Times. A lot of Wall Street firms began buying properties at foreclosure auctions, and this was a new experience for some who had never before entered the single-family home market. Since that time, weve seen a lot of other investors and private equity firms purchasing large numbers of homes as rental properties. RESICAP works directly with these investors to focus on the areas for purchase, renovate the homes with its own construction firm, then prepare the homes for the rental market. The firm markets the properties on its own website, as well as others, such as Zillow. We help our property owners build a portfolio that will generate a return on investment for the next five years or more, he said. They provide tenant screening services as well. Currently the company operates in 15 markets, with a concentration in Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. We typically deal with long-term renters, Wu said. Most of them are actually able to afford to purchase a home, but they dont want to be tied down to something and have to worry about constant home upkeep and repair. The company forms partnerships with investors on both the lower endwith up to 100 home purchases at a timeor the higher end, with 10,000 or more acquisitions at a time. Weve definitely seen an upswing in business. Typically, we had been averaging 200 to 300 transactions a month, but now were up to 500 or 600, he said. Echoing Howards comments, Wu believes renters appreciate the flexibility of having a newly renovated, single-family home that they dont have to maintain themselves. Its basically hassle-free living, he said. Renters typically spend three to five years in these homes before moving to another location or making a purchase. I think we will see this trend continue, Howard said. But I dont think home rentals will ever outnumber home purchases. Pope Francis appears on a balcony of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, where he is recovering from intestinal surgery, for the traditional Sunday blessing and Angelus prayer, on July 11, 2021. (Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo) Some of the Popes Swiss Guards Resign Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Three Swiss Guards who protect the Pope and Vatican have returned to Switzerland after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, said a spokesman for the Guard. Three members of the Guard have chosen not to adhere to that request, voluntarily leaving the corps, Lt. Urs Breitenmoser told The Associated Press, saying the Vatican asked the Swiss Guards to receive the vaccine to protect their health and that of the others they come into contact with as part of their service. Several other Swiss Guardsmen were temporarily suspended from duty while they await their vaccination, he said. For centuries, the Swiss Guardswho perform a mostly ceremonial functionhave served as the de facto military of the Vatican. Since the early 1980s, after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, more emphasis has been placed on the Guards nonceremonial role, and are now trained in small arms and unarmed combat. Recruits to the guards have to be unmarried Swiss Catholic males between the ages of 19 and 30 years who have basic training in the Swiss Armed Forces. Pope Francis, who said he has been vaccinated for COVID-19, has often stressed that people should receive the vaccine. Swiss guards stand in front of St Peters Basilica before the appearance of Pope Francis at the balcony for the traditional Urbi et Orbi Christmas message to the city and the world, at St Peters square in the Vatican, on December 25, 2019. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images) Breitenmoser also told AP that last month, the head of the Pontifical Commission of Vatican City State issued a mandate that requires people who enter Vatican City have to receive the vaccine or display a recent negative test for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. That includes people who want to see Vatican treasures such as Rennaisance painter Michelangelos Sistine Chapel. In Italy, the government passed a sweeping decreeconsidered among the most restrictive in the worldthat orders private companies and public agencies withhold pay from workers who wont take a CCP virus vaccine. Those who are found to be working without a vaccine passport can face fines of hundreds of dollars. The new rules will come into force on Oct. 15 in the latest effort by Prime Minister Mario Draghis broad coalition to persuade people to get inoculated. People who ignore the decree and go to work regardless will face a fine of between 6001,500 euros ($705$1,175). The sanction for employers will be 4001000 euros ($464$1,160). Nothing like this has been done in Europe we are putting ourselves in the forefront internationally, said Public Administration Minister Renato Brunetta, reported Reuters. Reuters contributed to this report. A group of Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sit on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 13, 2019. (Ralph Freso/Getty Images) Southwest Airlines Requires Its US Employees Get COVID-19 Vaccine, Citing Federal Mandate Southwest Airlines will require all of its U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. U.S.-based employees of the major carrier have to be fully vaccinated or have an approved religious, medical, or disability accommodation by Dec. 8 to keep their jobs. The Dallas-based airline said in a press release on Monday that it had conducted a thorough review of the new rules from the Biden administration, and determined that its contracts with the U.S. government require full compliance with the federal vaccination directive. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in early September requiring all federal contractors to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Contractors that dont comply may lose out on government contracts. Southwest, a major airline, is a federal contractor since its work involves flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal governments COVID-19 vaccination directive, Southwest Airlines Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said in a statement. I encourage all Southwest Employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all. Southwest has more than 54,000 employees. Last week, rivals American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue announced similar vaccine mandates for their domestic staff. United Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to mandate vaccines for its domestic employees, having announced its mandate in August. It confirmed on Sept. 29 that it was going to terminate 593 of its employees who have chosen to not comply with the companys vaccine mandate. Delta Air Lines remains a major U.S. carrier that has chosen not to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for all its employees. It does require all new U.S. employees to be vaccinated, and requires that all unvaccinated Delta staff enrolled in its health care plan pay a $200 surcharge. On Monday, Deltas chief executive Ed Bastian said that even without a mandate, he expects well over 90 percent of employees will be fully vaccinated by Nov. 1. Currently, 84 percent are fully vaccinated. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) speaks during a press conference on the House vote on D.C. statehood, in Washington on April 21, 2021. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images) Supreme Court Upholds Constitutional Ban on DC Voting Rights District of Columbia residents arent entitled to voting representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Supreme Court ruled, affirming a lower court decision. The ruling came after the House approved legislation in April to make D.C. the 51st state; the bill stalled in the Senate. Democrats support the measure, arguing that all U.S. citizens should be represented in Congress, while Republicans oppose it because they believe the framers of the Constitution didnt want D.C. to become a state, and because the new states two senators would almost certainly be Democrats in the Democratic Party stronghold. The case is Castanon v. United States, court file 20-1279. The ruling, which summarily affirmed a lower court decision, came on Oct. 4. There were no oral arguments. In the brief unsigned order, Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch indicated they would dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. They didnt elaborate. In the order, the high court referenced Adams v. Clinton, a decision it handed down in 2000. In that previous decision, the court held the District of Columbia wasnt a state and therefore wasnt entitled to representation in Congress under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution. Referring to the nations capital that at the time the Constitution was ratified in 1788 had yet to be created, that provision gave Congress the power To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States. Although President Joe Biden supports D.C. statehood, his administration urged the Supreme Court that the appeal be dismissed or, in the alternative, that the district courts order be affirmed. The petitioners, a group of Washington residents led by Angelica Castanon, previously argued in their complaint before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the continuing denial of the right to vote, which is fundamental under our Constitution, violates the constitutional guarantees of equal protection, due process, and the constitutional right of association. In March 2020, a three-judge panel of the District Court ruled against the residents. We recognize that District residents lack of the congressional franchise is viewed by many, even most, as deeply unjust, and we have given each aspect of Plaintiffs claims most serious consideration, but our ruling today is compelled by precedent and by the Constitution itself, the opinion stated. However, Washington residents arent completely shut out of self-governance. There is an elected District Council that takes care of day-to-day local government matters, subject to the possibility of a joint resolution of disapproval being passed by both houses of Congress, something that rarely happens. The 23rd Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1961, gave the District three votes in the electoral college in presidential elections. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who is a nonvoting member of the House, said she was disappointed by the Supreme Court ruling. But she said in a statement that the ruling has no bearing on the constitutionality of D.C. statehood, which would give D.C. residents voting representation in the House and Senate and full control over their local affairs. In fact, the three-judge panel expressly referred to statehood as a remedy for D.C. residents. In 2016, D.C. residents voted overwhelmingly for statehood, and the House has passed my D.C. statehood bill twice since June 2020. We have record support for D.C. statehood in the Senate, and we have never been closer to statehood. Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen speaks in front of a domestically-produced F-CK-1 indigenous defence fighter jet (IDF) during her visit to Penghu Air Force Base on Magong island in the Penghu islands, on Sept. 22, 2020. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) Taiwanese President Warns of Catastrophic Consequences If It Falls to China If democratic Taiwan fell to the communist Chinese regime, there would be catastrophic consequences for regional peace and democracy, President Tsai Ing-wen warned amid a dramatic escalation in tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is on the frontlines of the global contest between liberal democracy and authoritarianism, Tsai wrote in an essay for Foreign Affairs published on Oct. 5. Her comments come a day after a record number of China planes entered its air defense zone. On Oct. 4, the Ministry of National Defense spotted 56 Chinese air force planes, pushing the total to 149 in four straight days. The stepped-up incursion by Chinese aircraft began on Oct. 1, the anniversary to mark the Chinese Communist Partys rule. The communist regime claims Taiwan as its province and has vowed to take it by force if necessary. However, democratic Taiwan, a de facto independent country, has its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution. If Taiwan were to fall, it would signal that in todays global contest of values, authoritarianism has the upper hand over democracy, Tsai wrote. She added that Taiwan does not seek military confrontation and expects peaceful, stable, predictable, and mutually beneficial coexistence with its neighbors. But if its democracy and way of life are threatened, Taiwan will do whatever it takes to defend itself, Tsai noted. Meanwhile, Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Tuesday that Taiwan needs to strengthen itself. Only then will countries that want to annex Taiwan not dare to easily resort to force, Su told reporters when asked about recent intrusions by the Peoples Liberation Army. Only when we help ourselves can others help us. In the face of severe threats coming from the communist regime, Taiwan proposed an extra $8.7 billion for national defense over the next five years, which the parliament will review on Wednesday. So far this year, Taiwan recorded more than 600 Chinese military aircraft in its air defense zone, compared to last years 380 incursions, according to the submitted report. In September, Taiwan had agreed to boost its 2022 defense budget to a record high of $13.4 billion in response to Beijings rising military expenditure, which climbed to $209 billion. An August defense report warned that Chinas air force could both paralyze the self-ruled islands defenses and fully monitor its deployment. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a Monday statement that the Chinese Communist Partys aggressive behavior is intended to intimidate Taiwan and send a message to the rest of the free world. If Beijings recklessness is not met with international condemnation, Xi Jinping will think he has a green light for further aggression, Rubio said. President Joe Biden must work with our allies to ensure the Peoples Republic of China respects the status quo and the sovereign territory of Taiwan and its neighbors. In this image from police body camera video George Floyd responds to police after they approached his car outside Cup Foods in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 25, 2020, as shown in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn., on April 19, 2021. (Court TV via AP/Pool) Texas Parole Board Recommends Pardon of Drug Conviction for George Floyd The parole board for Texas on Monday voted to recommend a posthumous pardon for George Floyd, the black man who died at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis last year. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 70 to recommend a full pardon of a drug charge Floyd pleaded guilty to in 2004, according to minutes of a meeting obtained by The Epoch Times. We lament the loss of former Houstonian George Floyd and hope that his family finds comfort in Mondays decision, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat, said in a statement. Ogg earlier this year asked the board to recommend a pardon. She cited the involvement of Gerald Goines, a former police officer who made the arrest of Floyd with crack. Goines is currently facing two murder charges. A dozen officers connected to a Houston Police Department narcotics unitof which Goines was a memberare having their work reviewed after a 2019 drug raid resulted in the deaths of two innocent people, according to The Associated Press. Thousands of cases handled by the unit are being reviewed by prosecutors, and more than 160 of Goiness drug convictions have been dismissed. Ogg sent a letter to the board on April 28 that said, We do not support the integrity of Mr. Floyds conviction and agree these circumstances warrant a posthumous pardon. A spokesperson for the board told The Epoch Times in an email that they do not comment on individual clemency recommendations. A recommendation is rendered on each case after the totality of information is considered, she said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, now has to decide whether to take up the recommendation. His office did not respond to a request for comment. A convenience store clerk in Minneapolis, the largest city in Minnesota, called police on Floyd on Memorial Day 2020 because he believed the man had used a fake $20 bill. Officers found Floyd and placed him under arrest. After he resisted, officers held him on the ground for approximately nine minutes. He stopped breathing. A coroner concluded that the officers actions led to his death and former officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in April of second-degree murder and other charges. Floyd was convicted of multiple crimes during his life. The 2004 charge would be the first hed receive a pardon for if Abbott follows the recommendation. An experimental COVID-19 treatment pill called molnupiravir being developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, is seen in this undated handout photo released by Merck & Co Inc., on May 17, 2021. (Merck & Co Inc/Reuters) Thailand Joins Asian Nations in Rush to Buy Mercks COVID-19 Pill BANGKOKThailands government is in talks with Merck & Co to buy 200,000 courses of its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 treatment, the latest Asian nation to scramble for supplies of the drug after lagging behind Western countries for vaccines. Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, told Reuters that Thailand is currently working on a purchasing agreement for the antiviral drug, known as molnupiravir. South Korea, Taiwan, and Malaysia said they are also in talks to buy the potential treatment, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes its domestic study would allow access to the treatment. They all declined to provide details on purchase negotiations. The molnupiravir pills, designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19. Many Asian countries want to lock in supplies early after they were hit by tight supplies in their vaccine roll-outs this year, putting them behind wealthier countries, which bought hundreds of millions of doses. We are now working on a purchasing agreement with Merck that is expected to be completed by this weekwe have pre-booked 200,000 courses, Somsak said He said the pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Thai regulator. Representatives at Mercks Thailand office were not immediately reachable. Daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Thailand fell below 10,000 on Monday for the first time since mid-July. The country has administered 55.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far, fully inoculating about 31 percent of the population. Merck has said it expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021. It has a U.S. government contract to supply 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir at a price of $700 per course. The company has said it plans a tiered pricing approach based on country income criteria. In the Philippines, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a regular news conference on Monday that, We see we can have more access to this medicine because we have this clinical trial counterpart. A spokesman for the European Commission said Brussels may launch a joint procurement of the therapy for the bloc, a similar strategy used to buy COVID-19 vaccines, but there was no particular information on Mercks drug. A German health ministry spokesperson said the government monitors the development of new therapies, but declined to comment on whether Germany plans to order Mercks pill. Reuters contributed to this report. A teacher prepares a stove to furnish heat for a classroom at Xingzhi Primary School, one of the largest migrant children's schools in Beijing, China, on Dec. 28, 2004. (Cancan Chu/Getty Images) The CCPs Hidden Agenda Behind Chinas Sudden Power Cuts Commentary The growing power shortage in China has spread to Beijing and Shanghai, while residents in northeastern Chinathe hardest-hit areaare stockpiling candles. I still remember the bitterly cold winters during the 1960s in Liaoning, a coastal province bordering North Korea. In local elementary schools, the classrooms were freezing cold and students took turns lighting the wood-burning stove. Who would have thought that power rationing would happen in China today? Its easy to see North Korea in that situation because its very much like what China used to be in the 1960s. But its hard to believe that the worlds second superpower would need to ration electricity. Northeastern China, the coldest part of the country, needs coal or electricity for heat and candles just wont do the job. Many analysts believe the reasons behind Chinas power cuts are the following: boycotting Australia and its coal imports, rising coal prices, reducing carbon and environmental protection, saving energy, and deficit from low electricity prices. Few experts have talked about the regimes infighting involving power sectors, paving the way for price increases, the SinoU.S. competition, among other things. I believe there are two reasons that compel the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to ration electricity, even to the point that it would sacrifice economic and social stability: to maintain Xi Jinpings power and to support the regimes preparation for war. Xi wants to hold onto power for as long as he can, and to secure his international privilege. The COP 26 U.N. Climate Change Conference, hosted by the United Kingdom in partnership with Italy, will take place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland. Xi hasnt stepped outside China for more than 600 days. I believe hes ready for it. By addressing the climate issue, Xi hopes that it will boost Chinas international image and get Europes support. Thus, Xi would look good in front of other world leaders if he made a promise that China would slash carbon emissions, power consumption, and pollution levels within a month, at all costs. This is the most superficial reason for the CCPs current power cuts. But the other reason is more profound. The Hidden Agenda Currently, the power cuts have affected 20 provinces, mostly in the coastal, eastern, and northeastern regions. In other words, they are all first-tier cities and provinces. It seems that the CCP is willing to sacrifice the richest and most economically developed areas. But why? A Chinese woman carries coal in the hills above the Chishui River, in Maotai, Guizhou province, China, on Sept. 21, 2016. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Frankly, the shortage of electricity itself is a lie. According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS): In August, the rate of raw coal production in industries above designated size changed from declining to increasing; the growth rate of crude oil production was steady; the production rate of natural gas increased; and electric power production increase was relatively narrowing. Compared with the August 2019 level, the two-year average growth rate of raw coal production turned from negative to positive, crude oil production remained stable, and natural gas and electricity production grew rather rapidly. According to official data, in August, 738.3 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated, a year-on-year increase of 0.2 percent; from January to August, power generation was 5,399.4 billion kWh, an increase of 11.3 percent year-on-year, or an increase of 11.6 percent when compared to the same period in 2019that equates to an average growth rate of 5.7 percent per year over the last two years. The data also clearly show that the growth rate of most individual energy sectorsthermal, nuclear, wind, and solar powerhas slowed, but the total amount of power generation has been increasing! Judging from the figures between August 2020 and August 2021, the average daily power generation in October 2020 was 19.7 billion kWh, the lowest in 12 months, and more than 4 billion kWh lower than the latest figure: 23.8 billion kWh in August 2021. Its interesting that in October 2020, when the monthly average daily power generation dipped to the lowest level in the past 12 months, Beijing didnt impose such power curbs. But now, why is it necessary to do so after the power output, by the same measure, has increased by more than 20 percent from its lowest point? It makes no sense. According to the NBS, Chinas electricity production in the third quarter actually continued to rise, only at a slower pace. But factories and businesses in these first-tier cities and provinces didnt benefit from the power production. So where did Chinas mass electricity go after Beijings power cuts? Is the CCP hiding something from the public? Chinas third-tier military-industrial enterprises are the most likely candidates for the large consumption of mass electricity. For reasons known to all, China moved its main arms production to the mountainous areas in central China. Its similar to how the United States chose Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as the site for the pilot plutonium plant and the uranium enrichment plant, under the Manhattan Project in 1942, because of its hidden and secure power supply along a river in an undeveloped area. The large-scale and abnormal distribution of power outages has avoided areas with dense military industries, as the expanded production of nuclear weapons, new weapons, and other military products would require a huge amount of electricity. Therefore, why does the regime have to ration power at this time? The CCP wants to boost its international status and also to prepare for warthis shows the CCP is desperate to hold onto power. Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Logos of social networks Facebook and Instagram on the screens of a tablet and a mobile phone. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images) The Fall of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp: What We Know so Far The latest on the massive social media failure Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger on Monday suffered the longest of their service interruptions on record, a drop that affected millions of users around the world. Why Did Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger Go Down? Its not uncommon for Facebook to have localized outages, but with nearly 3 billion monthly users, it is unusual that it has global blackouts. According to the Ars Technica site, significant DNS flaws were found on Facebook. The Domain Name System is the service that translates human-readable host names (like Entrepreneur.com) to raw numeric IP addresses (like 19.223.456.245). Without a functional DNS, a computer basically does not know how to reach the servers that host the website it is looking for. However, the site mentions that Instagram also went down and its DNS services, which are hosted on Amazon, were functional. So at the moment we only have many theories and few answers. This is what we know so far: Starting around 11 a.m. Eastern time, WhatsApp users on both iPhone and Android were able to communicate through messages, calls, or video conferences. The technology reporter of The New York Times, Sheera Frenkel, reported that some Facebook employees were not able to enter the buildings of the social network due to an interruption in internal services. When trying to access Facebook through the browser, users received a domain error message, while Instagram and WhatsApp did not load new posts or allow new searches. Facebook posted a message to users using another social media platform, Twitter, at 12:22 p.m. on Monday. We are aware that some people have problems accessing our applications and products, the company wrote from its official account. We are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible and we apologize for any inconvenience. The Instagram PR team posted a similar message on the official Instagram Comms Twitter account. Instagram and your friends are having a bit of a difficult time right now, and you may have trouble using them, the tweet read. Bear with us, were on it! #Instagramdown. The site for detecting service interruptions in web pages Downdetector.com detected interruptions in densely populated areas such as Mexico City, Los Angeles, London, and Paris. According to Euronews, Internet users who use their Facebook credentials to access third-party services, such as Pokemon Go, have also not been able to access due to lack of connection. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product engineer, came out Monday morning as the insider leaked numerous internal documents last week. She accused the company of choosing profit over safety. On Wall Street, Facebooks stock price fell nearly 6 percent to cut its value by $50 billion. For this reason, in just a few hours, Mark Zuckerbergs personal wealth was reduced by almost $7 billion. Toy Donation, Other Relief Efforts Help Victims of Caldor Fire Ashlee Smith started her nonprofit organization, Ashlees Toy Closet, when she was 8 years old, after she lost her house to the Angora Fire in 2007. Now, at age 22, shes still giving out toys, this time to children affected by the Caldor Fire in the town of Grizzly Flats, California. Smith participated in a relief effort for fire victims on Sept. 26. That big pink truck out there was full of toys. So, we estimate between 10 to 15 thousand toys, and it was all for them, Smith told NTD News regarding the event. Her organization has been covering every West Coast fire. We do donate toys to kids to single house fires, Christmas, birthdays. We kind of do it all, so I kind of have a stockpile of toys, I like to call it, Smith said. In the future, she hopes to have an East Coast chapter of Ashlees Toy Closet to help children affected by hurricanes. A play area charred by the Caldor Fire in Grizzly Flats, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Jacquelin Mullinax/NTD News) One resident who was helping the organization distribute toys said she had lost her home to the fire. But she was still present to help her community. Im another one. I love helping people, 84-year-old Maxine Tyler told NTD News. Tyler has lived in Grizzly Flats since 1955 when she married Walt Tyler. Her husband, who passed away 10 years ago, had an elementary school named after himWalt Tyler Elementary Schoolbut it was destroyed by the fire. He was big into community, doing things for the community. And I think thats why [the school was named after him]. Because he was in the fire safe council, he was in the fire department you name it, he was in it, Tyler said. A broken sign amid the remains of Walt Tyler Elementary School in Grizzly Flats, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2021. (Jacquelin Mullinax/NTD News) Three organizations, Global Empowerment Mission (GEM), Gleaners, and E&Js Kitchen, serve as sponsors for the Caldor Fire relief effort. Today, we were able to do everything from children and baby needs, clothing, shoes, hygiene, household necessities, Elizabeth Jernberg, owner of E&Js Kitchen, told NTD News. The GEM and Be Strong department has family necessity boxes, which is also [an accumulation] of Liquid IV, sanitizers, socks, towels, and little blankets. Theyre also offering camping gear and groceries to those in need, in an effort to help people get through the first phase of recovery until FEMA steps in. And then well work on our phase two, which will be stuff to help people rebuild their homes and hopefully do tool drives, Jernberg said. We dont promise anything like that. We just try to step into that category and work toward it. And usually, it happens, and sometimes its great and sometimes its not. Jernberg said they plan to go to the Fawn Fire in Shasta County next to help the evacuees. With reporting by Jacquelin Mullinax. UK Government Proposes New Law Targeting Eco-Warriors Climate protesters blocking roads and buildings could face prison terms and unlimited fines, the British government said on Tuesday. The announcement came after the activist group Insulate Britain (IB) blocked a number of motorways in the past three weeks, disregarding injunctions against their tactics; and after Extinction Rebellion (XR) blockaded a private airport on Saturday. The apologetic yet adamant activists ran in front of moving traffic and glued themselves to motorways, demanding the government to insulate homes across the UK to help cut carbon emissions. The Home Office said it plans to introduce a suite of amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts (PCSC) Bill, which went through its process in the House of Commons and is currently in committee stage in the House of Lords. The government will propose a new offence of interfering with the operation of key infrastructureincluding motorways, railways, and airportswhere the impact will affect the distribution of essential goods, such as fuel and medicine, the Home Office said in a statement. The new offence is expected to carry a maximum sentence of an unlimited fine, a year imprisonment, or both. The Home Office said the offence will also cover media printing premises, in light of the significant disruption caused by Extinction Rebellion protesters to newspaper deliveries last year. New offences will also be introduced to target the obstruction of construction and the act of locking-on and going equipped to lock-oncommon tactics of both groupscarrying a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine, six months imprisonment, or both. The same maximum penalty will apply to those obstructing highways. The government said the current maximum penalty of 1,000 ($1,367) fine doesnt reflect the serious disruption caused by these dangerous actions. Activists from IB and XR have often attached themselves to roads, trains, buildings, other objects, or each other to frustrate police effort to remove them, with glues and increasingly sophisticated locking-on devices. The government also plans to give police new stop and search powers allowing officers to seize such devices, and to give courts new powers to target individuals with a history of disruption. This isnt the first time the government introduces new legislation targeting the climate activists. While introducing the PCSC Bill, the government included new measures limiting the noise level of those protesting, in response to disruptive protests by XR and Black Lives Matter activists. Police and fire services at the scene, outside Broxbourne news printers as protesters continue to block the road, in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, on Sept. 5, 2020. (Yui Mok/PA via AP) Announcing the new measures on Tuesday, ministers said the activists had crossed the line. Speaking on Sky News, policing minister Kit Malthouse said, While we obviously all value the right to protest, there is a difference between causing disruption and causing damage. We believe that these protesters and some of the others that weve seen in the last couple of years have crossed the line between exercising their right but also their responsibility towards the rest of us, and something needs to be done. Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Home Secretary Priti Patel told party members, It is because of our commitment to putting the needs of the hard-working, often silent, majority first that I will not tolerate so called eco-warriors trampling over our way of life and draining police resources. Prime Minister Boris Johnson branded the activists irresponsible crusties, and said they have been doing considerable damage to the economy. In a statement emailed to The Epoch Times, IB said they remain more fearful of losing the country than they do of the Home Secretary. The law can be changed, punishments increased, our savings raided, we face being imprisoned. But shooting the messenger can never destroy the message: our country is facing the greatest risk ever and our government is failing us, the statement reads, adding they believe we will face economic chaos and the breakdown of law and order in a matter of years. IB said government ministers will go down in history as cowards and traitors, and that the group is not going anywhere because there is nowhere else to go. Extinction Rebellion didnt respond to The Epoch Times request for comment at the time of publishing. PA contributed to this report. US State With Highest Vaccination Rate Hit by Virus Surge Vermont, the state with the highest vaccination rate in the United States, is experiencing a CCP virus surge at levels not seen since the pandemics peak last winter. The number of cases in Vermont is at a record level, hospitalizations are close to the records made last winter, and the state recorded the deadliest day and the second deadliest month of the pandemic in September. I think its clearly frustrating for all of us, said Michael Pieciak, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation who monitors CCP virus statistics for the state. More than 69 percent of Vermonts population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Sept. 24, according to the CDC, far above the national rate of 56 percent. The state recorded the highest rate of hospitalizations per 100,000 residents on Sept. 30, breaching a record set on Jan. 31, 2020. Eight people reportedly died of the CCP virus in Vermont on Sept. 13, the highest total recorded in the state so far. In late August, four of ten cases of COVID-19 in Vermont were among vaccinated people, according to a letter signed by 90 employees of the Vermont Health Department, including state Epidemiologist Patsy Kelso. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, lifted the state of emergency in Vermont in June when 80 percent of the population had received at least one shot of the vaccine. He has since indicated hes wary of reimposing the state of emergency. We cant be in a perpetual state of emergency, Scott said this week. The four states that follow Vermont in terms of the highest vaccination rates in the nation are also experiencing alarming signs. The head of UMass Memorial Health, the largest health system in central Massachusetts, said recently that regional hospitals were seeing nearly 20 times more COVID-19 patients than in June, and there isnt an ICU bed to spare. Massachusetts has the fifth-highest vaccination rate in the nation. In Connecticut, the second-most-vaccinated state, the legislature recently extended the governors emergency powers to make it easier to cope with the latest wave of the pandemic. On Sept. 22, Maine, the third-most-vaccinated U.S. state, had nearly 90 people in intensive care units, a pandemic peak for the state. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, is the pathogen that causes COVID-19. The Associated Press contributed to this report. US Trade Deficit Hits Record High as Consumer Goods Imports See Sharp Rise The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services rose to a record high in August, largely on the back of a rise in imports as businesses continued to build up inventories in response to strong consumer demand. The Commerce Department said in an Oct. 5 statement (pdf) that the trade deficitthe difference between exports and imports of goods and servicesrose by 4.2 percent in August, hitting an all-time high of $73.3 billion. Imports rose 1.4 percent to $287 billion, while exports edged up 0.5 percent to $213.7 billion. Consumer goods imports saw a relatively sharp rise of $2.7 billion in August, led by pharmaceutical preparations, industrial supplies and materials, organic chemicals, toys, games, and sporting goods. Nicole Wolter, President and CEO of HM Manufacturing, which makes parts for power transmission and precision mechanical components, told NTD in an interview that robust demand has left many companies scrambling to fill orders amid shortages of materials and labor. Its rough. If its not workforce, its material. And if its not material, its your sub-components. And it just keeps trickling down, she said, adding that her firm has been forced to pass on some costs to customers. Wolter said the supply crunch has exposed the vulnerability of globalized just-in-time supply chains. Weve had to actually machine components that we dont normally do, just to get our customers out of a bind. Its crazy, she said, adding that she would like to see more reshoring of supply chain components to alleviate what she called a very vicious cycle. The Commerce Department report also showed that the politically sensitive goods deficit with Chinathe largest the United States runs with any countryrose by $3.1 billion in August to $28.1 billion. Former President Donald Trump was deeply critical of the U.S.China trade deficit, which he sought to whittle down by negotiating a deal built around a pledge by Beijing to buy $200 billion more in U.S. goods and services over 2020 and 2021. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a nonpartisan research organization that tracks the status of Chinas purchases from the United States relative to its commitments, Beijing is well behind on this pledge. For 2020, Chinas total import shortfall was $73.2 billion, or 58 percent of the target, according to PIIE, while through August 2021, Beijing was on track to end the year more than 30 percent short of its buying commitment. U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai, the Biden administrations top trade negotiator, said Monday that the United States plans to launch new trade talks with China, while maintaining Trump-era tariffs and pushing Beijing to fulfill the import pledges. Tai also vowed to press the Chinese regime for frank talks in a bid to end Beijings unfair trade practices, speaking of the need to take all steps necessary to protect ourselves against the waves of damage inflicted over the years through unfair competition. She also said Washington would start a targeted tariff exclusion process to exempt some Chinese imports from punitive U.S. tariffs, with potential additional exclusion processes in the future. Illegal immigrants take supplies back and forth between Acuna, Mexico, and the United States (far side) across the Rio Grande, the international boundary with Mexico, in Acuna, Mexico, on Sept. 20, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) White House Confirms Its Working With Texas Officials to Prepare for Another Wave of Haitian Illegal Immigrants An estimated 60,000 Haitians are heading to the border The White House confirmed it is helping Texas authorities prepare for a surge of tens of thousands of Haitians who are heading to the U.S.Mexico border. As you can imagine, were working with the leaders in the region on this issue of migrants coming to the border, but we do have a system in place that were going to continue to follow, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to a question during a briefing on Tuesday. We continue to have the push factors in telling folks, This is not the time to come, and were going to continue to do what weve been doing in the past. Several officials in Central American countries recently warned that an estimated 60,000 Haitians are heading to the U.S. border. We have seen the growing phenomenon of irregular migration and have gained the attention of key actors, Panama Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes said in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry on Sept. 30. Weve engaged with every single authority that we can think of, that we can come across, to say, Please, lets pay attention to this, Mouynes told Axios. The Biden administration, she added, needs to come up with a plan. Thousands of illegal immigrants, mostly Haitians, live in a primitive, makeshift camp under the international bridge that spans the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico while waiting to be detained and processed by Border Patrol, in Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 21, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) On Tuesday, Jean-Pierre stated that the Biden administration will use Title 42 to expel certain individuals who cross into the U.S. illegally, noting that families and single adults are expelled under the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] directive when possible. The determination of who can be expelled or not is determined by a number of factors, including the makeup of the specific family unit and agreements with the country of origin or last residence, she added. As we have stated, those who cannot be expelled are placed into removal proceedings. In anticipation of the wave of Haitian illegal immigrants, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote Tuesday that his state will continue to add more and more National Guard members and Texas Department of Public Safety personnel to the border. Thousands of Haitian illegal immigrants created a makeshift encampment underneath a bridge in Del Rio, Texas, before the federal government moved them out of the area late last month. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that around 12,000 of 17,000 Haitians were sent to areas inside the United States. As thousands of Haitians resided in the bridge shantytown, some public health experts expressed concerns that COVID-19 or other transmissible diseases including measles could spread. NEW YORK (AP) Former President Donald Trump now has a Dec. 23 deadline to undergo questioning in a former Apprentice contestant's defamation lawsuit over what he said in denying her sexual assault allegations, a court said Monday. The new deadline for Trump's deposition a legal term for out-of-court, pretrial questioning under oath comes as Summer Zervos' 2017 lawsuit emerges from a more than yearlong freeze. The defendant is now a private citizen, and he just cannot delay this litigation any longer, Zervos attorney Moira Penza told a Manhattan judge's law clerk during the teleconference. Then-President Trump was weeks away from a January 2020 deposition deadline when he won a delay to ask the New York's top court to consider holding off the case entirely until he was out of office. He argued that sitting presidents couldn't be sued in state courts. After he left office this year, the state high court called the Court of Appeals said the question was moot. The case returned to a Manhattan trial court for both sides to continue gathering evidence. Depositions of both Trump and Zervos are now due by Dec. 23. Their lawyers have two weeks to try to nail down specific dates, or the court will set them. Zervos, a California restaurateur, appeared on The Apprentice in 2006. Trump was then the host. A decade later, he was the Republican presidential nominee, and she was among a series of women who publicly accused him of sexual assaults or harassment years before. Zervos said he subjected her to unwanted kissing and groping during what she thought would be career-advice meetings in 2007 at his New York office and at a California hotel where he was staying. He denied her allegations, retweeted a message that called her claims a hoax and described the women who accused him of sexual assault and harassment as liars trying to hurt his 2016 campaigns chances. Zervos then sued, saying he hurt her reputation. She is seeking a retraction, an apology and unspecified damages. Former Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz called Zervos claims meritless and said Trump's statements were true and protected by free speech rights. Trump's new lawyer, Alina Habba, said Monday she plans to expand the former president's response to the case. She said she planned to draw on a 2020 New York law meant to protect people from frivolous lawsuits launched by the powerful to squelch criticism. The law expanded an existing statute, making it easier to fight defamation claims when they center on communication in public in connection with an issue of public interest, defined as "any subject other than a purely private matter. Trump previously raised a somewhat similar California law among his defenses in Zervos' suit. Still, Habba said drawing on the New York statute would make a difference. With the new law in place, I think this case will be wrapped up very quickly, she said after court. When the measure was making its way through the state Legislature last year, a sponsor pointed to Trump himself as a rationale. For decades, Donald Trump, his billionaire friends, large corporations and other powerful forces have abused our legal system by attempting to harass, intimidate and impoverish their critics with strategic lawsuits against public participation, Democratic state Sen. Brad Hoylman said in a July 2020 statement. Trump and his campaign have sued a number of media outlets over their coverage of him, including a lawsuit he filed last month against his estranged niece and The New York Times over a 2018 story about his familys wealth and tax practices. The lawsuit accused the defendants of an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records in violation of a Trump family settlement agreement. Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoads Ha called the suit an attempt to silence independent news organizations." The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they come forward publicly, as Zervos has. The three angles with which to corner an audiences attention sex, violence and madness make for an equilateral plot in Norwalk author Kat Rosenfields fourth novel, No One Will Miss Her. The mystery increases as the pages turn in this almost-true-crime story, with fictional characters fleshed out enough to evoke sympathy, loathing and recognition in people we may know or know of in the real world. The connection between imagining and knowing is thematic with both the book and its inspiration, both set in Maine. I have a long connection to Maine and Piscataquis County, Rosenfield tells us. My dads parents lived on the coast, and my moms family had a house in Piscataquis County, so I had always wondered what people do there in the middle of Maine, what they do for a living. When I was looking for a beautiful, remote place, I went back to that setting. No One Will Miss Her is a departure for Rosenfield, whose previous titles include the young-adult titles Inland and the Edgar-nominated Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone, along with co-authoring New York Times bestseller Alliances: A Trick Of Light with Marvel comics titan Stan Lee. Shes a witty, prolific culture writer with bylines in Wired, Vulture and Playboy. Avoiding the small town girl with big dreams trope, the central character of No One Will Miss Her is Lizzie Oullette, a small-town pariah whose life story unfolds as the narrator of chapters interspersed with the plot, a murder at the Airbnb on which she has fixed her modest hopes. Into the fixed and predetermined life of lakeside Copper Falls arrive the Richards, a wealthy, beautiful couple who rent Lizzies property and present a glamorous counterpoint to the raw scrape of her marriage. The imperious Richards, Instagram-obsessed influencer Adrienne especially, quickly fall into a master/servant relationship with Lizzie and her husband, Dwayne. The couples backgrounds the Oullettes dead-end poverty versus the Richards suspicious flight from opulence is left for another out-of-towner, Detective Ian Bird, as well as readers, to parse and untangle. Theres this song by The Mountain Goats called No Children about this horrible, toxic marriage, and in the chorus he describes himself as drowning with his wife and holding hands as they pull each other down. I had this idea about how you take that concept and build something from it, Rosenfield says. We have these relationships with people we hire to drive cars, rent Airbnbs ... youre buying the service, but youre also buying this transactional intimacay. Its a story about who these couples are, and how theyre perfect for each other in that theyre so imperfect for each other, and how the relationship between the two women worked out as a result. The novel is as thrilling as it is curious. Easily definable characters and roles dodge in and out of focus, keeping both readers and Detective Bird guessing to the last page. Asked about her motivation with the book, Rosenfield says, Im more interested in pointing at things than making points. I just wanted to make a story that captivates people and immerses them in a world. This article appears in the October 2021 issue of Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe to Connecticut Magazine here, or find the current issue on sale here. Follow on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag. ROME (AP) Italys center-left forces, spearheaded by the Democrats, were sweeping to victory Monday in Milan and other big city mayoral races while clinching a runoff berth in Rome, where the populist 5-Star Movement's Mayor Virginia Raggi faced a stinging defeat, according to partial vote counts and projections. The 5-Stars, currently Parliament's largest party, also failed to clinch a mayoral runoff slot in Turin, where one of their own had been mayor since 2016, with nearly 40% of the ballots counted. In both Rome and Turin, 5-Star leaders had rebuffed Democrat Party overtures to join in an election alliance to battle right-wing forces and chose to run solo. Where the two forces did team up, the candidates backed by Democrats and the 5-Stars appeared headed to resounding victories. "You win where you broaden the coalition,'' said Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, citing the joint ticket's first-round outright victories in Naples and Bologna. Letta has been trying to convince the 5-Stars to embrace campaign alliances with an eye to national voting for Parliament in early 2023. He is determined to shut out of Italys next government the right-wing forces that in past years have been gaining in popularity, especially in gubernatorial races and especially the anti-migrant League party led by Matteo Salvini. Separately, Letta, a former premier, won a seat in the lower Chamber of Deputies in a by-election in Siena to fill a vacancy. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, a center-left leader as well as a Europe Greens party proponent, claimed a decisive win for a second term based on partial returns indicating he would take 56% of the vote in Italy's financial and fashion capital. Trailing badly, with 33.4% was Luca Bernardo, a Milan pediatrician who was Salvini's candidate. Salvini has ambitions to win the premiership of a center-right government he hopes will be formed after Italy's next parliamentary election. But with wins in Milan, Naples and Bologna and spots in mayoral runoffs in Rome and Turin, we showed that the center-right is beatable, Letta told supporters. If projections hold, Rome's mayoral runoff will pit Democrat Roberto Gualtieri, a former finance minister, against Enrico Michetti, a radio commentator selected by Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party. Meloni and Salvini are unofficial rivals for the next premiership. Premier Mario Draghi, an economist who formerly headed the European Central Bank, is currently heading a pandemic-unity government that includes Letta's Democratic Party, Salvini's League as well as the 5-Stars and smaller parties. A key to winning the Rome mayoral runoff will be wooing support from Raggi's disappointed backers. The 5-Star Movement has been squabbling for months, including among left-leaning and right-leaning factions. With ballots counted in 23% of precincts, Michetti was leading with nearly 31% of the vote and Gualtieri had nearly 27%. Raggi was shut out of the runoff with just under 20%, along with Carlo Calenda, a centrist former minister who won 17.3%. Projections suggested a similar final finish. Yet six hours after polls closed, Raggi wasn't conceding. I'd say this: let's wait for definitive data,'' Raggi was quoted as saying by LaPresse, an Italian news agency. When Raggi won in 2016, she inherited Romes entrenched problems unreliable trash collection, mass transit woes and streets in dire need of repair. Those woes largely persisted during her tenure. The 5-Star Movements new leader, former Premier Giuseppe Conte, campaigned heavily for her. Rome can be reborn and well-governed, Gualtieri told supporters Monday night. Michetti expressed satisfaction that he was leading. Today the city is immobile when it comes to potholes, caring for green spaces and other problems, he said, referring to Rome's many poorly paved streets and waist-high weeds in parks. In all, 12 million of Italy's 60 million population were eligible to vote in 1,000 cities and towns nationwide, but turnout, at just under 55%, was down 7% compared to the last mayoral elections in 2016. How Salvini's League fares in races in Italy's south was being closely watched as a litmus test of whether he can convincingly expand his north-based political power into a nationwide force. His candidate in Naples, the south's largest city, polled about 20%, badly trailing the winning candidate backed by the Democrats and 5-Stars who was taking 65.5% of the vote, according to partial returns. But a center-right candidate backed by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi triumphed in the sole governor's race in the southern region of Calabria. Roberto Occhiuto, a businessman who is the Chamber of Deputies whip for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, was winning 54.7% of the votes, compared to the center-left challenger's 28.4%, with ballots counted from 40% of the polling places. HONOLULU (AP) Honolulus bikeshare service stopped losing money after tourists returned in large numbers this summer. Even so, Biki still faces challenges because residents changed their bike riding patterns during the coronavirus pandemic and tourism remains below pre-COVID-19 levels, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Were stabilized, said Bikeshare Hawaii Executive Director Todd Boulanger. The summer boost in ride revenue basically ended the 12 months of losses. It doesnt make us whole but we are no longer bleeding." Last year Bikeshare Hawaii, the nonprofit that manages Biki, experienced a 50% drop in trips due to the pandemic. To deal with losses, it decommissioned seven stations and reduced services. Bikeshare faces an uphill battle given visitor numbers have waned again after the delta variant fueled a spike in COVID-19 cases. Also, additional bikes and bike parts are a challenge to obtain due to ongoing global supply chain issues. Demand from residents has declined somewhat, too. Workers who used to drive into town and then ride a Biki to meetings have not returned fully and are not necessarily meeting in person anymore. Also, university crowds have not returned to the same level and are not using Biki at previously top stations, for instance, by Pucks Alley in Moiliili. Bikeshare also lost one of its business sponsors, All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline. Stations in Waikiki, Ala Moana and the Kakaako area are still popular, since many residents there still opt to get around by biking instead of driving. Bikeshare Hawaii manages Biki. Secure Bike Share Hawaii, a for-profit entity, made the initial investment in the bikes and runs day-to-day operations. Boulanger said Bikeshare will definitely make it to next year. Then it plans to continue discussions with the city and state about Bikis long-term viability and what kind of financing would be available to keep it going. The organization said Biki rides diverted over 9.5 million pounds of carbon emissions over the past four years. Thats equivalent of 637,000 gallons of gasoline. Boulanger said from the beginning, one of Bikeshare Hawaiis primary objectives was to reduce the communitys dependence on fossil fuels by reducing or eliminating the need to drive for short, frequent trips in town. Offering these alternatives is part of Honolulus Climate Action Plan. JERUSALEM (AP) Israel's military chief on Tuesday vowed to step up actions, including covert operations, against Iran and its nuclear program. Speaking at a ceremony, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said Israel and its intelligence community is working against Iranian regional entrenchment throughout the Middle East. Operations to destroy Iranian capabilities will continue in various arenas and at any time, he told the ceremony, in which the army appointed Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva as its new intelligence chief. The operational plans against Irans nuclear program will continue to evolve and improve," he added. Whatever developments there may be, it is our duty to provide an effective and timely military response. Israel considers Iran its greatest threat, citing its military presence in neighboring Syria, its support for hostile militant groups and its development of long-range missiles capable of striking Israel. Israel accuses Iran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb a charge Iran denies and has vowed to prevent that from happening. Israel has been suspected in a string of attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists and facilities over the past decade, but does not confirm or deny involvement. Kohavi spoke as Israel's national security adviser, Eyal Hulata, was in Washington for discussions with his American counterpart, Jake Sullivan. Israel has opposed U.S. efforts to renew an international nuclear pact with Iran that unraveled after then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018. According to a U.S. statement, Sullivan said the U.S. believes diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, but is prepared to turn to other options if that fails. NEW YORK (AP) A potential plea deal that would have averted a criminal trial for an associate of Rudy Giuliani never materialized despite talks, lawyers said Tuesday. A prosecutor told U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken at a final pretrial hearing to discuss trial ground rules that the talks with lawyers for Lev Parnas never reached the stage where a formal plea offer was put in writing. Jury selection at a trial for Parnas, a Soviet-born Florida businessman, and Ukraine-born investor Andrey Kukushkin, is scheduled to begin Tuesday. The men are charged with making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. politicians. Parnas and Igor Fruman, another Soviet-born Florida businessman, worked with Giuliani to try to convince Ukraine to open an investigation into President Joe Bidens son, Hunter, over his connection to a Ukrainian energy company. Giuliani has said he had no knowledge of illegal campaign contributions but acknowledged working extensively with Fruman and Parnas as he sought damaging information on Biden. Fruman, recently pleaded guilty to soliciting $1 million in contributions from a foreign national. Parnas was in court Tuesday while Kukushkin appeared remotely from San Francisco. Both pleaded not guilty to the latest version of the indictment, which was little changed from the previous one. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said plea discussions with lawyers for Parnas mostly occurred in the last nine months. While those conversations were ongoing for a period, they've ended, Roos said. He described the discussions as tentative and said there were talks at one point about a plea that would not involve every count in the indictment, but prosecutors decided that any plea close to trial would be to all counts. Attorney Joseph Bondy, representing Parnas, said his defense team was open to attempting to resolve this matter" and even engaged in a 10-hour proffer session in which Parnas discussed evidence with prosecutors. But he said the door that was open a few months ago where we might have been able to reap the benefits of a plea was shut when prosecutors more recently insisted we should eat every count of the indictment. Do you now choose to go to trial on the remaining charges? the judge asked Parnas. Absolutely your honor, Parnas responded. Attorney Gerald Lefcourt, representing Kukushkin, said he had sought a deferred prosecution agreement from prosecutors that would have likely spared his client from a conviction and possible prison time. That was not acceptable to the government. And there's been nothing else, Lefcourt said. Lefcourt and Bondy also urged the judge to question every potential juror to ensure they did not have reactions to ex-President Donald Trump and Giuliani, among others, that would affect their impartiality. Giuliani worked for Trump as a personal attorney when some alleged crimes occurred. Prosecutors said mention of Trump and Giuliani will primarily arise at trial when the government tries to show jurors that Parnus and Fruman touted their connections with the men by sending photographs of themselves with Trump and Giuliani to others. The judge rejected a request by Bondy to tell jurors that Parnas was brought to the United States when he was 4. Bondy said he wanted to counter the mistaken impression, enhanced by a skit on Saturday Night Live, that portrayed his client as a man with a foreign accent. I think of him as a guy from Brooklyn, Bondy said. BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu of the governing National Liberal Party was ousted Tuesday after a no-confidence motion in his government passed overwhelmingly, deepening an ongoing political crisis. The motion censure was filed by the opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD) and supported by former coalition partner USR-Plus and the far-right AUR party. The motion passed with 281 votes; only 234 were needed. The fall of the government caps a political crisis that began a month ago when Citu fired Justice Minister Stelian Ion of USR-Plus for not signing off on a regional development program. USR-Plus called the move an abusive revocation and quit the three-party cabinet. During the debates in parliament Tuesday ahead of the vote, Citu lashed out at USR-Plus, saying he had tolerated a team of incompetents. President Klaus Iohannis will now consult with lawmakers on appointing a new prime minister, while Citu may remain at the governments helm as a caretaker for 45 days. Citu could be reappointed if lawmakers fail twice to agree on a new premier. In a press conference after Tuesdays vote, Iohannis said it was a crisis generated by cynical politicians and that he will convene Romania's political parties next week. We are in the midst of a pandemic, wave four has hit us hard, he said. We are in an energy prices crisis but what did some politicians think? To add another crisis! Claudiu Tufis, an associate professor of political science at the University of Bucharest, told The Associated Press that he expects politicians to create a Liberal cabinet with support from the Social Democrats in parliament, but not in the cabinet. USR-Plus have expressed a wish to restore the governing coalition with a different prime minister. The Liberal-led government came to power following a parliamentary election last December. The ongoing crisis could hamper Romanias efforts to tackle an alarming surge of COVID-19 infections in the European Union nation of 19 million, which is currently putting the countrys hospitals under serious strain. On Tuesday, Romania recorded its highest number of daily COVID-19 infections 15,037 cases since the pandemic started. The number of state employees not in compliance with mandatory vaccinations or weekly testing dropped sharply Tuesday, low enough that it now appears no state workers will face suspension for at least another few days. A total of 1,200 state employees, or 4 percent of the 30,300 in regular state executive branch agencies, had failed to either document that they had received COVID-19 vaccinations or agree to start weekly testing, as of Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Ned Lamonts office said. That was down from 2,200 as of late Monday, ahead of the midnight deadline. Those workers could be suspended without pay immediately under Lamonts vaccination-or-testing order, and no later than Oct. 11. State employee unions support the mandate but reiterated their call Tuesday for a 3-week delay in any suspensions because, they said, staff levels are so short and needs are so great that critical services are going unmet and workers face health crises. Lamont rejected that call for a delay in the suspensions. But spokesman Max Reiss said the administration is going case-by-case through the dwindling list of non-compliant employees. Suspensions would most likely happen only after that step. Were just trying to do everything we can on an individual basis to get our people compliant, Reiss said. You wouldnt expect anything until all this is done. Were still working actively across all of our agencies to get all our people in compliance. Were moving pretty well. It isnt likely that all of the 1,200 non-compliant state workers are refusing to be vaccinated or submit to testing. Some may have simply missed the deadline to report. Some may have had trouble with the reporting system, which unions and some workers have called balky. As of noon on Tuesday 23,600 workers, or 78 percent of the 30,300 at departments such as correction, social services, children and family services and transportation, had shown they are fully vaccinated. Another 5,500, or 18 percent, have agreed to weekly COVID testing, leaving the 4 percent who have not submitted documentation. Neither the administration nor the unions has provided a breakdown of vaccination and compliance numbers by state agency. Other branches of government, including the court system, the public colleges and universities and the legislature, face similar mandates and have reported similarly low numbers of non-compliant employees. The Department of Public Health on Tuesday reported a daily COVID positive test rate of 2.52 percent, and a net decrease of four hospitalized patients, bringing that total to 237. The 7-day positivity rate was at 1.9 percent. While Lamont seems reticent to push workers into a corner on compliance, unionized state employees and union leaders stepped-up their war of words with the governor over the COVID vaccine requirements. In a video call with reporters, they charged that there are already massive staffing shortages resulting in mandatory overtime shifts, particularly in state-owned medical facilities where patient safety could be further compromised. They underscored what the workers say are sometimes dangerous staffing levels dating as far back as the 2008 recession. Former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, facing a series of annual budget crises, eliminated or declined to fill several thousand state employee positions. Carl Chisem, president of the Connecticut Employees Union Independent SEIU Local 511, said that while union leaders dont know how many state employees in the executive branch might risk unpaid suspensions by refusing both vaccinations and weekly testing, the unsafe staffing levels put many people at risk. Prior to COVID, state agencies were under-funded, under-staffed and will now be at greater risk because of the administrations implementation of its vaccination and testing mandates, said Chisem, whose bargaining unit represents about 3,600 employees, including 1,500 road maintenance workers in the Department of Transportation. Putting this on the members just burdens the safety of our staff and clients in various areas as well. State workers across all agencies showed up every day during the global pandemic, Chisem told reporters during an hour-long online news conference. Services, education, mental health, custodial or the countless lives our nurses and aides saved during the pandemic. They continued to work and provide vital services to people of Connecticut. They did this when there was no [personal protective equipment] or vaccinations. They did this even without pandemic hazard pay. Damien Nuzzo, a nurse-clinical instructor at the Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH), said the staffing shortages are chronic across a variety of the states social service agencies, including the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. He said that CVH workers are routinely ordered to work double shifts. Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199 New England, the largest health care workers union, said the workforce is more than 20 percent smaller than it was at the start of the Great Recession. Theres been a 32-percent reduction in the states public-sector health care work force, he said. The addiction program at CVH is running at 30 percent because of a staffing shortage, Baril said. Union leaders and the umbrella State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition, which is negotiating with the Lamont administration over issues related to the vaccine rules, are encouraging workers to get inoculated. But Baril and Chisem said workers are discouraged, which explains how they can support the mandate while opposing suspensions. They are burned-out, Baril said. They are exhausted. They are frustrated. They understand that their own health has been compromised; that the outcomes for their patients and clients have been compromised. These are the folks whove made the sacrifice to stay on the front lines...So even the idea of folks who have not been vaccinated being removed from the workforce at a time when staffing is already at crisis levels, is an idea that can lead to disastrous outcomes for workers and patients. Lamont admitted Monday that he considers suspending workers without pay a difficult step he doesnt want to take. So although the deadline to file worker status was midnight Monday, hes not pushing the issue. Chisem said he has seen firsthand some of the problems encountered by workers trying to report their status. Brian Williams, a certified addiction counselor at CVH, said some workers say they have tried to reply via email and fax, only to be told they are out of compliance. There is also a system to upload proof of vaccination. In response to charges about the staff shortages, Reiss, the governors communications director, said about 1,500 employees have been hired by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services over the last three years. The administration has taken aggressive steps to expedite hiring at agencies, especially those who work directly with patients, Reiss said. As a matter of fact, our administration has hired more people at DMHAS in a single year than any other administration on record. Additionally, fingerprinting and background checks have been accelerated for these roles, as we work to get people on the job sooner. kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT PARIS (AP) Governments must pour more money and resources into preserving the mental well-being of children and adolescents, the U.N.'s child protection agency urged in a report Tuesday that sounded alarms about blows to mental health from the COVID-19 pandemic that hit poor and vulnerable children particularly hard. The United Nations Childrens Fund said its State of the Worlds Children study is its most comprehensive look so far this century at the mental health of children and adolescents globally. The coronavirus crisis, forcing school closures that upended the lives of children and adolescents, has thrust the issue of their mental well-being to the fore. UNICEF said it may take years to fully measure the extent of the pandemic's impact on young people's mental health. Psychiatrists quickly saw signs of distress, with children and adolescents seeking help for suicidal thoughts, anxiety, eating disorders and other difficulties as lockdowns and switching to remote learning severed them from friends and routines and as COVID-19 killed parents and grandparents. With nationwide lockdowns and pandemic-related movement restrictions, children have spent indelible years of their lives away from family, friends, classrooms, play key elements of childhood itself, said UNICEF's executive director, Henrietta Fore. The impact is significant, and it is just the tip of the iceberg, Fore said. Even before the pandemic, far too many children were burdened under the weight of unaddressed mental health issues. Too little investment is being made by governments to address these critical needs. Pediatric psychiatrists say they were already short of resources before the pandemic brought a surge in caseloads. UNICEF said spending on promoting and protecting mental health is extremely low yet the needs are pressing. Citing pre-pandemic figures from 2019, UNICEF estimated nearly 46,000 children and adolescents ages 10 to 19 end their own lives every year. The scale of pandemic-related distress among children and adolescents has jolted some governments into action. France, which is hosting a two-day global summit on mental health this week, has offered free therapy sessions for children and young people and pledged to extend that help from next year to everyone with a doctors prescription. Elsewhere, counseling hotlines some newly opened to help people struggling with their mental health during the pandemics saw surging demand. UNICEF said multiple worries affect the mental health of children and adolescents, including anxieties over possible illness, lockdowns, school closures and other upheavals in their lives. Lockdowns also fueled behavior problems, and were particularly hard-felt by kids with autism and attention and hyperactivity disorders, UNICEF said. Remote learning was beyond the reach of hundreds of millions of young people. One in three schoolchildren couldnt take part because they had no internet access or television, UNICEF said. Children in the poorest families were most affected. It estimated that two out of five children in eastern and southern Africa were still out of school as recently as July. Even when they haven't been forced to drop out of school and work to help make ends meet, children also are being hit by the pandemics destructive repercussions for jobs and economies. UNICEF said the crisis has triggered a sharp uptick in numbers of children in poverty, with an additional 142 million children thought to have slipped into poverty last year. Financial hardship and school closures could also put more girls at risk of being forced into early marriage as child brides, UNICEF warned. Although children and adolescents have been less likely to die from COVID-19 than older and more vulnerable people, UNICEF cautioned that the pandemic has clouded their long-term future and upended their lives, and created real concern for their mental health and well-being." It will hang over the aspirations and lifetime earnings of a generation whose education has been disrupted, it said. The risk is that the aftershocks of this pandemic will chip away at the happiness and well-being of children, adolescents and caregivers for years to come. ___ Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. GENEVA (AP) The World Health Organization is still reviewing data about Russias Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved by the U.N. health agency for emergency use against coronavirus, but said Tuesday that no decision is imminent. The clarification comes after Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days said that administrative issues were among the main holdups in WHO's decision-making process about whether to grant an emergency use listing to Sputnik V, as it has for a half-dozen other vaccines. Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the vaccine after a rigorous review process, and could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program organized by WHO and key partners that is shipping COVID-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need. As with other candidate vaccines, WHO continues to assess Sputnik V vaccines from different manufacturing sites and will publish decisions on their EUL (emergency use listing) status when all the data are available and the review is concluded, WHO said in a statement. The EUL assessment process aims to speed up equitable access to vaccines in order to save lives and bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control. The vaccines WHO has approved are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinovac and Sinopharm. After a meeting with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Murashko on Saturday said all barriers have been removed for further review of Sputnik V, as quoted by Russian news agencies and the official Twitter page of the Sputnik V vaccine. Today we see no obstacles to further work, and this was confirmed by Tedros, Murashko said. Some administrative procedures remained to be completed but the issues were not about the vaccine itself, he said. On Monday, Murashko added that disagreements with WHO had been resolved, and the production sites and registering company in Russia should submit the entire package of documents within a week or a week and a half, and the further process will begin. In a phone interview, WHO spokeswoman Daniela Bagozzi said Tuesday that only the WHOs technical advisory group on emergency use listings not the WHO director-general himself has final say about whether a vaccine obtains emergency approval. Once WHO receives the full amount of data that it needs, when production sites have been inspected, and when the data is deemed to meet WHO criteria, the group can schedule a meeting to validate a candidate vaccine for an emergency use listing. No such meeting has been set for Sputnik V. The next vaccine on the groups agenda is one from Indias Bharat Biotech, which is expected to be discussed this month. ___ Daria Litvinova in Moscow contributed to this report. ___ Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. EDWARDSVILLE Numerous challenges remain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Arts & Issues series at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is returning to in-person events for the 2021-22 school year. The series, which kicked off on Friday and runs at least through April 2022, has four events confirmed so far with more on the way. We were pretty much shut down from doing live events during the 2020-21 school year, Arts & Issues Director Grant Andree said. We had our season totally booked and we had to cancel all of that. Obviously, everybody was doing online events and we wanted to continue doing something. Like everyone else in the performing arts industry, we had to learn how to do that. Our whole reason for existing is live performances and live speakers, so it was a challenge, just like what every employee or employer was dealing with. Changing COVID requirements, plus venues that are being used as classrooms and unavailable for presentations, made planning for the 2021-22 series equally unpredictable. The university had to wait and see what kind of situation we were facing for this year, Andree said. There were questions about whether we were opening up the venues totally or partially and what kind of social distancing we would have to do. We had to wait until the start of the school year to what venues were going to be available. For instance, our first event was in our Dunham Hall Theater with restrictions, and we could only put 120 people in there. But we are back to live events, so thats a good thing. Dr. Marina Bluvshtein, Director of the Center for Adlerian Practice and Scholarship at Adler University in Chicago, spoke on Belongingness as a Goal of Personality Development and Social Evolution Friday evening at Dunham Hall Theater. The lecture was free, but tickets were required. The next Arts & Issues event is slated for Saturday, Dec. 18, when Opera Edwardsville will play a holiday concert from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Its exciting because they are the first local group to ever be part of Arts & Issues, Andree said. The series brings in world-class performers and speakers, but Opera Edwardsville has made quite a splash over the past couple of years. Were also going to broadcast that concert on our campus radio station, WSIE (88.7 FM). Thats also something weve never done before. The remaining events in the series are tentatively scheduled for Morris University. That includes: J. Drew Lanham speaking on Forever Gone - Extinction and the Case for Ecological Reparations at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Lanham is the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Mans Love Affair with Nature, which received the Reed Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Book Prize and was a finalist for the John Burroughs Medal. An Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher at Clemson University, Lanham and his family live in the upstate of South Carolina. The event is sponsored by the Audubon Society and Audubon Center at Riverlands. There will be a book signing in the Goshen Lounge after the event and the Cougar Store will also have Dr. Lanhams books available for purchase. Brian Greene speaking on Revealing the Universe - A Journey to the Frontier of Understanding at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14, 2022. Dr. Brian Greene is one of the worlds leading theoretical physicists and a brilliant, entertaining communicator of cutting-edge scientific concepts. A Professor of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University, Greene has been described by The Washington Post as the single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world today. Greene is the author of three acclaimed books The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and The Hidden Reality which have collectively sold more than 2 million copies, been translated into more than 40 languages, and spent 65 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List. The event is sponsored by the SIUE Graduate School and the Dr. William Shaw Lectureship Endowment. There will be a book signing in the Goshen Lounge after the event. Andree expects to add two more events to the 2021-22 schedule, with an announcement expected in the next few months. The Arts & Issues series started during the 1985-86 school year and has been part of campus life ever since. The series was created 36 years ago, and the idea was to bring a broad cross-section of cultural and educational experiences, Andree said. Its very diverse and I often use the word eclectic. Well do a classical group and then well do a jazz group. Or well do a theater company, and we might have a speaker who is a politician or an astronaut. It runs the whole gamut, and it makes for a very interesting season. Until further notice, guests for all Arts & Issues events must wear a mask when they arrive on campus. Ticket information will be coming soon on the Arts & Issues website at Arts & Issues (siue.edu). Tickets for SIUE students are free. EDWARDSVILLE The trial of Timothy Banowetz in the murder of prominent attorney Randy L. Gori took an unexpected twist Tuesday morning when Banowetz pleaded guilty. Hours before the trial was supposed to begin, Banowetz accepted a deal from Madison County prosecutors and changed his plea to guilty. Before opening statements began Tuesday morning at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center, Banowetzs attorney, Madison County Public Defender Mary Copeland, told the court her client wanted to plead guilty to first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery. Judge Kyle Napp asked Banowetz if he understood what he was pleading guilty to, and Banowetz said he did. When asked if he was forced or threatened into making the plea, Banowetz shook his head to indicate he was not. Eight members of the Gori family were in the courtroom after Napp accepted the plea. They sobbed and hugged as members of the prosecution team shook their hands and told them to begin preparing victim impact statements for a sentencing hearing expected within 30 days. Assistant Madison County States Attorney Jacob Harlow said the state agreed to the plea negotiation and will ask that Banowetzs sentence be capped at 60 years, including six to 10-year terms on each of the two robbery charges which would be served concurrent to the murder sentence per Illinois statute. If the court finds aggravated circumstances, it could extend the sentence to 100 years or make the sentence life in prison. A sentencing judge is not bound by a plea bargain. After Banowetzs guilty plea Tuesday morning, Harlow listed the evidence the state would have presented during the trial. He stated a truck registered to Banowetz was found abandoned about 2,900 feet from the Gori home in the 4500 block of Mooney Creek Lane. The owner of the property where the truck was found did not know Banowetz, Harlow said. The evening of Jan. 4, 2020, investigators found Gori dead after he had been stabbed multiple times in his home. Harlow said Goris hands had been tied behind his back and his throat had been slit with multiple stab wounds. Two children, ages 15 and 13, had been held captive. They were found tied up and said their cellphones and a 2020 Rolls-Royce SUV Cullinan had been stolen. Harlow said the children told investigators the family had returned home from dinner on Jan. 4 and parked in the driveway outside of the garage, at which time Banowetz ran up on them with what appeared to be a gun and forced them first to the ground and then into the garage. Banowetz Zip-tied their hands and demanded money before searching the home. According to Harlow, Banowetz took between $4,000 and $5,000 from the home. The children told investigators the gun could have been fake. Harlow said video surveillance showed the suspect matching Banowetzs description with what appeared to be a gun as well as a knife. According to Harlow, Goris Rolls Royce was found abandoned in the woods about 1,000 feet from where Banowetzs truck had been found. When Banowetz was captured in the woods, there was blood on his clothing, and the blood was later confirmed to be Goris. Banowetz was found wearing clothes that matched the description of the suspect in the video. Harlow said a paper in Banowetzs truck detailed his preparation and planning for an armed robbery and murder. A handwritten to-do list included watch with binoculars, use gun and knife to subdue, zip tie hands and duct tape mouth, withdraw money, kill all of them and burn their bodies. Withdraw money on the list was a demand for Gori to withdraw $4 million to $6 million in cash. Harlow said Banowetz used a computer to research Gori on the internet. In the courtroom on Tuesday morning, Banowetz had no handcuffs and was wearing a gray button-down shirt, black pants and a paper face mask. He made brief responses to Napps questions, certifying he was not under the influence of drugs or some mental incapacity. BOISE, Idaho (AP) U.S. officials on Tuesday approved a long-lasting fire retardant that could significantly aid in fighting increasingly destructive wildfires by stopping them before they ever start. The U.S. Forest Service approved Perimeter Solutions fire retardant that is intended to be used as a preventative measure and can last for months. Its similar to the companys red-dyed retardant dropped from aircraft while fighting active wildfires, but its clear and sprayed by ground-based workers and equipment. The real game-changer here is once you treat it, you can forget it, said Edward Goldberg, chief executive officer of St. Louis, Missouri-based Perimeter Solutions. Its there for the whole year. The company said its primary use will be by industrial customers such as utility companies and railroads, but it can also be used to protect residential and commercial properties. Its intended to be sprayed on vegetation, not homes themselves, but can be sprayed on such things as wood fences. The companys existing retardant is also used for that purpose, but can be problematic because its only effective until rain washes it away. Goldberg said the new product will remain effective even after a couple inches of rain, making the one-and-done application less expensive. Cost, Goldberg said, depends on the topography and ranges from $7,000 to $15,000 per mile (1.6 kilometers) covering a 20-foot (6-meter) -wide strip. Goldberg said the product will likely be most effective in the drier climate of the U.S. West, and could be applied in the spring to offer fire protection throughout the wildfire season. In July, it was applied to the grounds at former President Ronald Reagans coastal mountain ranch in the Santa Ynez mountains in California near Santa Barbara. The company also said the new fire retardant had been applied at the start of the wildfire season along a fire-prone, 4-mile (6.5-kilometer) stretch of Californias Route 118. That resulted in no fires that season, the company said, after the previous fire season saw 37 fires start along the same stretch of road. Stanton Florea, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service based at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, said the agency had no comment about its approval of the Perimeter Solutions fire retardant. Goldberg said the new retardant has the potential to reduce the overall number of wildfires, freeing up firefighters that have been in short supply in recent years. The fire center on its website said that so far this year, about 46,500 wildfires have burned 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers). Those numbers are at roughly the 10-year average for number of wildfires and area burned. Currenlty, there are 52 large wildfires, 18 of them in Idaho, nine in California and nine more in Montana. The center is currently at National Preparedness Level 3, having dropped down from the maximum level 5 earlier this year when resources for fighting wildfires were hard to come by. The center said that cooler, more favorable weather will pass through much of the Western U.S. in the next several days, but that drought conditions still leave the region open for continued wildfire potential. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) An alligator attacked and injured a homeless woman after she fell into a Florida canal on Monday, authorities said. The woman was resting on a sea wall when she fell into the canal, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue said in a news release. Someone heard the woman's cries for help and called 911. Submitted GCS Credit Union employees became a part of the giving family by donating $735 to OFallon Township High Schools (OTHS) Family for Families Fund through their Growing Community Schools Jean Program. The Growing Community Schools Program is funded by GCS employees who make monthly, monetary donations out of their own pockets to a local school organization. By donating $15 or more to a specific organization, GCS employees are able to wear jeans on Fridays and Saturdays during that month. A dedication to students, a passion for teaching, and a wealth of experience are what made Early Childhood Education instructors Carolyn Beal and Jessica Day the obvious choices for the Southwestern Illinois College full- and part-time Faculty Members of the Year Awards, respectively. Beal, of Belleville, is an ECE professor and the ECE and Education program coordinator, who has been with the program for 30 years. Not only does Beal care about her college students, but she cares deeply about improving the profession. Watching the enthusiasm when a student realizes they have found their calling in this profession is amazing, Beal said. Graduation is one of my favorite things about teaching at SWIC. Witnessing students and their families celebrate either persistence in finally completing a degree or being the first in the family with a college degree. Beal has led the initiative for SWIC to become a Gateways Entitled Institution, which provides community college students opportunities to earn credentials while completing coursework. She also co-authored and was awarded a $25,000 ICCB Competency-Based Education Grant. As a result, Beal and her ECE adjunct instructors created modules with avatars in classroom simulations. They also created self-paced, competency-based modules for those who are currently working in ECE centers. In addition to her duties as program coordinator, she teaches Intro to Early Childhood Education, Child Growth and Development, Child Health Maintenance, Early Childhood Practicum, and Child Family and Community. Carolyn Beal is the ideal educator. She is a known commodity state wide with her ECE colleagues, said Chief Academic Officer Gina Segobiano, Ed.D. She is someone who is not only well educated herself but is also compassionate and understanding, and elevates everyone around her through her commitment to the program. Her representation of SWIC and advocacy for the ECE program is commended. Beal earned her Associate in Arts in Psychology from SWIC, then known as Belleville Area College, in 1984, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from McKendree University in 1986, and Master of Science in Psychology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1993. Previously she worked with the Belleville Area Special Services Cooperative as a school psychologist and at My Friends House, child care center in Mascoutah as a teacher/director. She and her husband, Jim, have one son, Elijah, and one daughter, Annika. Day, of Trenton, has been with SWIC since 2012, first with the Culinary Arts and Food Management program, then as an adjunct ECE instructor, and served as a dual credit instructor since 2016, first at OFallon Township High School from 2009 to 2020, then at Triad High School from 2020 to the present. After changing school districts, she developed additional dual credit opportunities at her new school. She, along with Beal, participated in the $25,000 ICCB grant project which created online, self-paced modules and virtual reality scenarios, plus an institutional grant for increased technology in assessment. Education is what remains after students have left the classroom, which is why every class needs to be informational, relevant, and impactful, Day said. My job as a teacher is to connect students to content so that they can focus on its implementation in their own unique way. At SWIC, Day teaches Growth and Development of Children, Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Intro to Educational Technology, Child Health Maintenance, and Safety and Sanitation. Day also incorporates service learning into her dual credit courses. While teaching at OTHS, Day sponsored the OTHS Interact Club, which was also sponsored by the local Rotary Club. The student group conducted research to learn more about the needs of those in Malawi, Africa. Days students collected and sent more than 3,500 books to Mawali and raised more than $500 for shipping and other costs associated with the project. By keeping the students engaged in course content, they are more likely to experience success, said SWIC Dean of Arts and Sciences Mary Ruettgers, Ed.D. She is very approachable, well liked, and respected by the dual credit students. These qualities enhance student achievement. Day earned her Bachelor of Science in Workforce Education from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 2008 and her Master of Public Administration and Policy Analysis from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in 2019. She would love to pursue a doctorate in organizational leadership in the future and use that knowledge to help continue program growth not only at the collegiate level but also within our local schools. In addition, she works as a corporate trainer at the Corporate Training Center since 2012 and previously worked as an assistant teacher at the Southern Illinois University Child Development Laboratory from 2006 to 2008. Day and her husband, Michael, have three daughters, Maddie, Makenna and Hallie, and one son, Beau. Beal and Day were also nominated by the college for the Illinois Community College Trustee Associations Outstanding Full-time and Part-time Faculty Member of the Year honors. For more information about SWIC, visit swic.edu/ece. EDWARDSVILLE The highly anticipated trial of Timothy M. Banowetz, who is accused of murdering prominent Edwardsville attorney Randy L. Gori, began Monday with jury selection. Opening statements and the presentation of evidence are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Circuit Judge Kyle Napp will preside over the trial. Gori was found dead Jan. 4, 2020, in his Edwardsville home after police received a 911 call at about 9 p.m. Banowetz and Goris 2020 Rolls Royce were located between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 5, near a wooded area about 1,200 feet from the home. Investigators have called the murder a heinous and senseless crime. 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 being held without bond. The theft and unlawful restraint charges involve two children 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. On Monday, Banowetz was seated next to his defense team in plain clothes and without shackles. During the jury selection process, he appeared to be talking to his attorneys and paying attention to how potential jurors answered questions. After questioning potential jurors, attorneys for the prosecution and defense agreed on seven men and five women to be seated. Two men were chosen to be alternate jurors. Judge Kyle Napp ordered the jurors to avoid watching the news, not tell anyone they are jurors in the trial and not to do any research on the case. Charges against Banowetz allege he robbed Gori and stabbed him with a knife. Charges also allege Banowetz ordered Gori and two juveniles to the floor and bound their hands. He allegedly took cash and cell phones before leaving and hiding in a wooded area near the victims home, where he was arrested. Chief Judge William Mudge on Friday told the Madison County Boards Judiciary Committee the trial could last more than a week and that he is seeing unprecedented media interest in the trial. Madison County Public Defender Mary Copeland is representing Banowetz, working with Assistant Public Defender Delani Hemmer. The case is being prosecuted by the Madison County Assistant States Attorney Jacob Harlow as the lead prosecutor. He is working with Assistant States Attorney Lauren Maricle, chief of the offices violent crimes unit. The trial is taking place at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center in Edwardsville. Attendance will be limited to court staff, the defendant, his attorneys, prosecutors, two members of Goris family, two members of Banowetzs family and designated media representatives. The public can watch the trial on closed-circuit TV in one or two courtrooms set aside in the Madison County Courthouse. Government in talks for COVID pill BANGKOK: The government is in talks with US drugmaker Merck & Co to purchase 200,000 courses of the companys experimental COVID-19 pill, an official said yesterday (Oct 4). CoronavirusCOVID-19healthVaccine By Bangkok Post Tuesday 5 October 2021, 10:15AM The Merck laboratory in New Jersey, USA. Photo: AFP Many Asian countries are scrambling to lock in supplies of molnupiravir, the name of the oral anti-viral drug, after lagging behind Western nations during initial rollouts of vaccines, reports the Bangkok Post. South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia have said they are already in preliminary purchase discussions with Merck, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes that its domestic study will help it secure favourable procurement terms with the company. Somsak Akksilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services (DMS), told Reuters that Thailand is currently working on a purchase agreement for the drug which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, and would be the first oral antiviral medication for COVID-19. Interim clinical trials have indicated it has the potential to halve both hospitalisations and deaths from the virus. We are now working on a purchasing agreement with Merck that is expected to be completed by this week... we have pre-booked 200,000 courses, Dr Somsak said. He said the pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills approval by both the United States Food and Drug Administration and its Thai equivalent. The US company expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021 and has agreed a deal with the US government to supply 1.7mn courses at a price of US$700 (about B23,600) per course. However, officials have also said there will be tiered approach to pricing based on country income criteria. According to a report in The New York Times, the Merck anti-viral drug is meant to be taken as four capsules twice a day for five days - a total of 40 pills over the course of treatment. After such promising early trials, Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP said on Friday that it would now, in conjunction with the US Food and Drug Administration and foreign regulatory bodies, begin the process of gaining worldwide clearance for its use. Meanwhile, Thailand logged 9,930 new COVID-19 cases and 97 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours, the Public Health Ministry announced yesterday. There were 9,568 cases in the general population and 362 among prison inmates. Although new cases in the country dropped below 10,000 again and deaths numbered fewer than 100, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reiterated concerns about the situation in southern provinces. While the capital led new infections with 1,137, Yala again came second with 764, a slight decrease from the 783 announced on Sunday, and five of the top 10 provinces in the list were in the southern region, including 484 in Songkhla, 406 in Pattani, 314 in Narathiwat and 313 in Nakhon Si Thammarat. CCSA assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirungson said the virus had spread from factory clusters to into workers homes. Those infected in factories have started to take the virus to their families, she said. Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Monday that the first batch of 2 million antigen test kit sets would go on sale at eight Government Pharmaceutical Organization pharmacies in in the capital starting from Oct 18. PM Touts Phuket Transformation initiative to stimulate economy BANGKOK: The Thai government is gearing up to promote Phuket as a world-class tourist destination, hoping to welcome 1 million foreign visitors over the next six months and to generate at least B60 billion in revenue. tourismCOVID-19economics By National News Bureau of Thailand Tuesday 5 October 2021, 09:45AM Photo: NNT Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha explained the Phuket transformation initiative on his Facebook page on Friday (Oct 1), saying that this program aims to attract up to a million high-quality foreign travelers as well as those who are on a workation during the 4th quarter of this year all the way to the 1st quarter of 2022. That is an average of 5,000 visitors per day, reported state news agency NNT. The PM said he expects around 500,000 tourists to travel via chartered flights to Thailand from England, Russia, Germany and Nordic countries from October 2021 to March 2022. Gen Prayut said the government will develop online registration systems including health screening and vaccination certificates to make their travel more convenient. The premier also hailed the sandbox programs as a success, saying they helped stimulate the economy and had not led to any setback in the countrys COVID-19 containment measures. The Phuket Sandbox gave life to two other programmes Samui Plus and Phuket Extension. Together, they contributed B2.33 billion to the economy as of Sept 27. Under the schemes, SMEs are provided with a subsidy to help them retain employees, said the report. The PM noted now that new cases have been on a decline and more businesses have resumed, the government can shift its focus to economic recovery. Tourism push targets visa on arrival tourists PHUKET: Phuket officials have announced that people wanting to enter Thailand under the Phuket Sandbox scheme may now do so under Visa on Arrival (VOA). tourismCOVID-19economics By The Phuket News Tuesday 5 October 2021, 10:36AM Click to enlarge: The notice posted by Phuket officials last night (Oct 4). Image: PR Phuket The notice posted by Phuket officials last night (Oct 4). Image: PR Phuket The announcement was posted online last night (Oct 4), but with no extra details released. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has yet to announce the move through its formal channels. The notice posted online last night was titled, Arrival Requirements for Phuket Sandbox visitors who wish to apply for a Visa on Arrival (VOA). The conditions and process of entering Thailand under the Phuket Sandbox scheme on a VOA was explained as follows: 1. Ensure that you have an approved Certificate of Entry (COE) before flying to Thailand (printed version required). You can apply for the COE for Visa on Arrivals via https://coethailand.mfa.go.th 2. Download the mobile application on arrival (which app was not specified) 3. Be prepared to have documents checked at the Port Health and Quarantine at Phuket International Airport 4. When applying for the Visa on Arrival you will need to: - Fill out the application form provided - Ensure that your passport is valid for at least 30 days - Have a confirmed return flight ticket - Hava SHABA confirmation of a SHA Plus hotel for a minimum of 7 days - Show that you are carrying 10,000 baht (20,000 for a family) in any currency - 2,000 baht for the Visa Application Fee 5. Clear the Immigration process 6. Proceed to the baggage hall and collect luggages 7. Proceed to Customs 8. Proceed outside the terminal to the compulsory RT-PCR Covid-19 test station 9. Depart to your SHA Plus hotel with a SHA Plus prebooked transportation (directly with no enroute stops) Of special note, the notice was marked in red, Please note that the VOA will be granted for only 15 days, and it cannot be extended. Southern Pines, NC (28387) Today Periods of rain. Thunder possible. High 68F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.. Tonight Rain ending early. Remaining cloudy. Low 62F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Media Content Creator Ian Ostroff is a writer/reporter who resides in Montreal. He is passionate about getting to know the people and places that make his hometown so great. In his spare time, you can find him at the gym, eating ice cream, or working on his novel(s). Shaena Gillard, center, owner of Healthy Minds Education & Community Center, accepts a check for $10,000 from Kevin Brower, vice president, small business lending at HarborOne Bank. Also shown is Gillards daughter, Ava Smith. EDWARDSVILLE An Edwardsville man faces drug and weapons charges relating to possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Steven W. Cobb Jr., 43, of Edwardsville, was charged Oct. 4 with unlawful possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, a Class X felony, and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of weapons by a felon, both Class 3 felonies. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. According to court documents, on Oct. 3 Cobb allegedly had 15-100 grams of methamphetamine with intent to deliver; Alprazolam and a .357 Magnum revolver. He has a 2020 St. Clair County conviction for unlawful delivery of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $100,000. Other drug-related felony charges filed Oct. 4 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office includes: Ryan L. Wallace, 33, of Grafton, 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 Oct. 2 Wallace allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine and less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $30,000. Matthew E. Bandy, 42, of Moro, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 3 Bandy allegedly was found have less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $25,000. Bandy has been charged multiple times for drug-related crimes in the past year. Zackary L. Emerson, 26, of Issaquah, Washington, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 3 Emerson allegedly was found have less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $25,000. Kevin D. Stewart, 55, of Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. On Oct. 1 Stewart allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine. No bail information was noted. Wade A. Burkemper, 48, of St. Peters, Missouri, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 4 Burkemper allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $25,000. Raymond E. Hatcher, 45, of Cottage Hills, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 4 Hatcher allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $25,000. Casey L. Wiley, 34, of Brighton, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and offenses relating to possession of titles and registration, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 2 Wiley allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of Oxycodone; and was also in possession of a certificate of title for a Toyota Celica without complete assignment. Bail was set at $10,000. Clint Tucker, 56, of East St. Louis, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 3 Tucker allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of cocaine. Bail was set at $15,000. Keith E. Allen, 47, of Granite City, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On Oct. 3 Tucker allegedly was found to have less than 15 grams of cocaine. Bail was set at $15,000. William C. Beiser, 37, 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 Oct. 4 Beiser was found to have less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000. EDWARDSVILLE A Granite City man faces felony charges after leaving the scene of an injury accident, and possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Gary W. Phelps, 40, of the 2900 block of Emzee, Granite City, was charged Sept. 28 with unlawful possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, a Class X felony; failure to report an accident involving personal injury or death, a Class 2 felony; and driving while license revoked, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department. According to court documents, on Sept. 22 Phelps was found to be in possession of between 15-100 grams of methamphetamine with intent to deliver; had been involved in an accident at Illinois 203 and Ferguson, Granite City, in which another person had been injured, and had left the scene and failed to report it; and had been driving on a revoked license. It was noted his license had been revoked following a 2005 conviction for DUI, and he has prior convictions for driving while revoked in 2004, 2008,2010, and 2013. Bail was set at $200,000. Other drug-related felony charges filed Oct. 1 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include: Patrick A. Singleton, 40, of the 3000 block of Warren Avenue, Granite City, was charged with unlawful possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, an enhanced Class X felony. The case was presented by the Granite City Police Department. According to court documents, on Sept. 29 Singleton was found to be in possession of between 100-400 grams of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Bail was set at $150,000. Valerie N. Hartkopf, 29, of the 200 block of E. Penning, Wood River, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 2 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. According to court documents, on April 9 Hartkopf was found to be in possession of more than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $50,000. Kyla N. Simmons, 29, of the 600 block of N. Third Street, Wood River, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. According to court documents, on Sept. 30 Simmons was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000. Jonathan A. Burris, 31, listed as homeless out of Bunker Hill, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on May 21 Burris was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000. Shawn M. Fulton, 33, of the 400 block of Mense Drive, Bethalto, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on Sept. 29 Fulton was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000. Anthony W. Murphy, 34, of the 1300 block of Lee Avenue, Cottage Hills, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. According to court documents, on April 9 Murphy was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000. EDWARDSVILLE Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine and his staff were prepared for a weeklong trial to prove the guilt of Timothy Banowetz in the murder of prominent attorney Randy Gori. That changed Tuesday morning when Banowetz pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and two counts of armed robbery. Haine said he was informed of Banowetzs guilty plea just minutes before opening statements were to begin. Nothing can heal the terror and loss Timothy Banowetz has caused to the Gori family and this entire community, Haine said. But at least today, we have some measure of justice, and some measure of closure. He said Banowetz has shown no remorse for Goris death. A pre-sentencing investigation and sentencing hearing are expected within 30 days. This week, our team was prepared and ready to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Timothy Banowetz is a cold-blooded murderer and a terrorizer of children, Haine said. We werent prepared to give him much, because the evidence is overwhelming. But to save the family the trauma of reliving that terrifying night almost two years ago, with their full agreement, we agreed to a plea bargain on the murder charge and the armed robberies of the children, Haine said. We dismissed the other counts. Banowetz is now facing up to 70 years in prison, and we will be arguing for that maximum number, Haine said. For all practical purposes, he will never see the light of day as a free man again. Haine said he wasnt surprised that Banowetz changed his plea at the last minute. Nothing focuses the mind like having to face a jury of your peers, he said. But its hard to understand the mentality of someone who commits this kind of crime. Haine said the evidence against Banowetz provided overwhelming proof of his guilt. Banowetz is on video the night of the murder at Randy Goris house meeting Randy Gori and his children as they arrived home from dinner, with a fake gun and forcing them to the ground and Zip-tying them all, Haine said. He stole thousands of dollars from the home, and he was interrupted in his attempts to find more money in the house, which Randy insisted was not there, when another brave witness showed up. We believe at that point, Banowetz became enraged because his plan was falling apart, Haine said. He stabbed Randy Gori in the basement of his home, but his children were not present for that, thank God. In fact, we believe Randys final act was to intentionally lead Banowetz away from his children to a distant part of the house to distract Banowetz and protect them. Haine said Banowetz also attacked the witness who had just arrived and was getting out of her car. Fortunately, she had two German shepherds with her, and he retreated into the woods near the house, Haine said. The witness then called 911 and the investigation began. Haine said Banowetz had driven his truck to the Gori property, about 1,000 yards from the house, and left it there where it was seized by police. The investigators on this case were fantastic, and they went to that spot the next morning, Haine said. Banowetz walked right out of the woods with Randy Goris blood on his shirt saying he was looking for his truck. Timothy Banowetz was taken into custody and the Rolls Royce was found nearby in the woods with Randy Goris blood and Banowetzs DNA on the steering wheel, Haine said. Banowetz told the investigators, I dont think you need me to admit to anything because you already have what you need, Haine said. That statement was probably the only true thing he said until he pleaded guilty today. Haine said A to-do list that fell out of his pocket spelled out Banowetzs plans for armed robbery and murder. The bottom line is nothing indicates that anyone else was involved in this terrible crime, or that Timothy Banowetz had any personal relationship with Randy Gori, Haine said. The evidence in this case tells a simpler tale greed and envy in a warped mind, which caused the terrible cold-blooded murder of Randy Gori. Haine said more evidence came from a search of Banowetzs computer found in a study room at his school, St. Louis College of Pharmacy. It showed that Banowetz started searching for Randy Gori around September 2019, Haine said. On Jan. 13, Banowetz had a tuition payment of over $10,000 money which he did not have and he would be kicked out of pharmacy school if he didnt pay it. And that date was quickly approaching. On Dec. 27, at 4:03 a.m., Banowetzs search history shows him looking at pictures of Randy Goris children on Instagram, Haine said. That same morning, 40 minutes later, he was looking for binoculars online from Walmart. The next evening, he was seen on video at Walmart buying the binoculars. Haine said that on Dec. 30 Banowetz Googled What does $1 million look like? He added that Gori was not the only rich person that (Banowetz) searched for. That same morning, at 2:05 a.m., hes looking at Zip-ties online and the next evening hes looking at a photo on Randy Goris Instagram of Randy and his children, Haine said. Two minutes later, hes looking at a fake gun online and three minutes after that, hes looking at Randys home on Google Maps. Haine thanked prosecutors and investigators for their work on the case. Im especially appreciative of the hard work of Assistant States Attorneys Lauren Maricle and Jacob Harlow, as well as the members of the Madison County Sheriffs Office, Edwardsville Police Department and Major Case Squad for their efforts, providing invaluable evidence proving Banowetzs guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Haine said. And finally, we appreciate the jurors who did not get to hear this case but were prepared to do their duty, and Judge (Kyle) Napp for her typically fair, impartial, and professional proceeding. Additional evidence will be provided at the sentencing hearing, Haine said. We had over 200 exhibits prepared for this trial and it was a tour de force on what proper criminal investigation is like, Haine said. WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is accepting nominations for U.S. service academies. One of the greatest honors I have as a member of Congress is to nominate young men and women from the 15th Congressional District to one of our countrys four military service academies, she said. I look forward to reviewing some impressive applications this year, and I offer my best wishes to the young patriotic students pursuing their goal of attending a military academy and serving our great nation! Members of Congress can nominate young men and women from their respective districts to one of our countrys four service academies: Air Force, Army, Merchant Marine, or Navy. More information on these service academies can be found below. Miller may nominate up to 10 individuals for each vacant academy slot allotted to our district. The U. S. Coast Guard does not accept Congressional nominations; applications must be submitted directly to the Director of Admissions. High school juniors and seniors wishing to apply for the U.S. Military Academies must have application forms in Millers Effingham office by Oct. 22. For more details visit https://marymiller.house.gov/. EAST ALTON The October 19 Neighbor Nights at the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) will present research findings on grassland birds and how they respond to different management practices. The information will be presented by Conservation Program Manager Dr. Justin Shew, who has recently published grassland bird research findings associated with NGRRECs Land Conservation Specialist program, which supports private lands conservation in Illinois agricultural landscape. According to Shew, North American and Illinois grassland birds have been in severe decline for decades. Agency and landowner decisions should be guided by research associated with popular conservation programs on private lands. Although attendees will have a choice whether to attend Shews presentation in person or virtually, those who attend in person will have the opportunity to participate in a sunset bird walk and field station tour. We are excited to start offering more regular tours and bird walks for the public led by our staff, Shew said. I am especially excited to share highlights of our applied research, which combines many years of hard work that can also direct conservation research. The event is planned Oct. 19. The sunset bird walk and field station tour will take place at 5:45 p.m. Those attending the bird walk are asked to bring their own binoculars. Shews presentation will follow at 6:30 p.m. Registration is required for the virtual event and can be done at https://conta.cc/3m5Zalg. The Zoom link will be emailed to registrants prior to the presentation. Masks will be required by all participants indoors at all times and outdoors when social distancing is not possible, regardless of vaccination status. For more information, please contact Director of Environmental Education Sarah Fisher at (618) 468-2900 or safisher@lc.edu. JERSEYVILLE An Otterville man faces felony theft and burglary charges after allegedly breaking into a neighbors home and taking items. David A. Pace, of Otterville, was charged Sept. 29 with residential burglary, a Class 1 felony; theft, a Class 4 felony; and criminal trespass to real property, a Class B misdemeanor. According to court documents, on Sept. 28 Pace allegedly entered a home in the same block as his residence and took numerous items valued at less than $500. Bail was set at $75,000. Pace has had several felony theft and burglary charges filed against him in the past several months. Other felony charges filed recently by the Jersey County States Attorneys Office include: David A. Hallstead, 34, of Godfrey, was charged Sept. 29 with unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, a Class 2 felony; possession of burglary tools and driving while drivers license is revoked, both Class 4 felonies; and obstructing a peace officer, a Class A misdemeanor. On Sept. 28 Hallstead allegedly was found to be in possession of a stolen 2021 Kawasaki and multiple burglary tools, including wire cutters, a homemade slim-jim, pry bar, pliers and screwdrivers suitable for breaking into buildings and vehicles, with the intent to enter any such place to commit theft. He allegedly was driving the 2021 Kawasaki in the 17900 block of U.S. 67 on a revoked drivers license. Hallstead has prior convictions for related crimes out of Jersey and Macoupin counties in 2008, February 2009 in Jersey County, and December 2019 in Madison County. He allegedly fled after wrecking a stolen motorcycle. Bail was set at $50,000. Crystal M. Young, 34, of Alton, was charged Sept. 30 with unlawful possession of stolen vehicle, a Class 2 felony. On Sept. 23 Young allegedly was found to be in possession of a stolen 2003 Dodge pickup truck. Bail was set at $25,000. Jimmy J. Clark, no age given, of Jerseyville, was charged Sept. 30 with unlawful possession of methamphetamine and possession of firearm with FOID revoked, both Class 3 felonies. On Sept. 8 Clark allegedly was found to have less than five grams of methamphetamine and a Hi-Point 9 mm carbine. His Firearm Owners Identification Card had been revoked, making him ineligible to possess firearms. No bail was noted. CAIRO (AP) Sudan's security forces killed four suspected Islamic State group militants in lengthy raids on their hideouts Monday in the capital, in an operation that also left one military officer dead, officials said. The raids took place in the same Gabra neighborhood in southern Khartoum where five intelligence officers were killed in a shootout with suspected IS militants last week. The General Intelligence Agency said in a statement that forces detained four other suspected militants in two hideouts. The militants opened fire on forces using Kalashnikov rifles, RPGs and grenades, it said. The statement said the clashes also wounded three other offices, including two from the GIA and one from police. The GIA said its forces also raided a hideout Sunday in Khartoums twin city of Omdurman, arresting eight suspected foreign militants. The agency did not reveal the nationalities of suspects arrested or killed in the raids. Militant attacks have been rare in Sudan, which hosted Osama bin Laden in the early years of his jihadi movement that led to the creation of al-Qaida. The latest incidents, however, underscore the fragility of Sudans path to democracy, more than two years after the militarys overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir amid a public uprising against his three-decade rule. Authorities said last month they foiled a coup attempt that has since increased tensions between the generals and civilians in the joint transitional government. 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. Vote View Results Japan has a new Prime Minister after the ruling Liberal Democratic partys leadership was secured by Fumio Kishida, who having suceeded Yoshihide Suga will be tasked with reviving an economy badly damaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Japans stock market has had a year of ups and downs, to add to many years of soap opera, but some investors believe it continues to look cheap versus global peers, such as the US, and potentially offers a lucrative opportunity over the longer term. Recent figures show Japanese GDP grew more quickly than expected in the second quarter of 2021, but slow progress on Covid-19 vaccinations and ongoing pandemic restrictions mean the countrys economic recovery remains fragile. Japanese stocks have have had a mixed year, but analysts believe the market continues to look cheap Japanese stock markets have had a volatile year. The Nikkei 225 hit the 30,000 mark in February, the indexs highest level in 30 years, buoyed by the Bank of Japans pandemic-driven monetary stimulus and asset purchase programmes. But a series of Covid-related setbacks pared back gains for the index, which is up less than 6 per cent year-to-date. Index provider MSCI's data shows Japanese stock markets have fared reasonably but not spectacularly in previous years, having delivered average annualised returns of 7.6 per cent over five years, compared to a world average of 11.9 per cent. To put that in context, the UK has managed just 0.6 per cent on the same basis, while the US and China have delivered 15.4 per cent and 7 per cent respectively. Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida will succeed Yoshihide Suga on Monday as Japan's PM What's important to investors who back Japan is that its corporations have undergone a steady process of reform in recent years, hiring independent directors and putting a greater emphasis on providing value to shareholders. The desire is to make the nation a more shareholder-friendly place and Japan was one of the best dividend performers globally through 2020, when companies all over the world were forced to cut investor pay outs. Ben Conway, head of fund management at Hawksmoor, says the arrival of a new PM is unlikely to shift the Japanese markets long-term outlook. He said: Japan is certainly still cheap versus other markets. We do not place too much importance on the political situation as we think the reasons for investing in Japan: cheap valuation and a clear improvement in corporate governance, wont be - or havent been - affected by a new PM. Is Japan's stock market cheap? The gap between the Japanese and US stock markets on valuation using the Cape ratio has widened substantially Japan's stock market is often referred to as cheap but investors should weigh that assertion carefully. Duncan Lamont, of Schroders, cautions that no global stock market really looks cheap right now but says: 'In relative value terms, Japan, looks to offer better value, but it has been a perennial underperformer so is not without risk. The same goes for the UK.' That is in contrast to the US, which looks particularly expensive across a variety of metrics. Yet US shares have been in that position for some time and continued to deliever high returns. Certainly the gap between Japan and the US in valuation terms using the popular cyclically adjusted price to earnings ratio has widened substantially. Schroders' analysis shows that while the US is trading at well above long-term averages across Cape, forward and trailing price-to-earnings, price-to-book and dividend yield measures. Japan is relatively speaking cheaper that the US but only trading in line with its own long-term averages. How major markets stack up on valuation across different measures The potential value in Japan has not gone unnoticed in the UK, with personal investors pouring a total of 223million into Japan funds from the start of the year to the end of July, according to data from the Investment Association. But the average IA Japan fund has returned just 18.7 per cent, 48.8, per cent, and 134.9 per cent over one, five and 10 years respectively. This reflects underperformance for these active funds versus the Nikkei 225s 27.9 per cent one-year return, 74.7 per cent five-year return and 238.5 per cent 10-year return. The key opportunities remain in investing with managers who can access the very cheapest parts of the Japanese market, combined with a willingness to engage with corporate management to unlock value, says Conway. It also lies with investing with managers who can take advantage of the high valuation dispersion within the market. He highlighted Jupiter Japan Income, Polar Capital Japan Value and M&G Japan Smaller Companies as good examples of funds set to benefit from the value on offer in Japanese stocks. Investment research analyst at Square Mile Investment Consulting and Research Ajay Vaid also selected Jupiter Japan Income as a fund to watch for investors seeking a rising income as well as capital growth. He says: It focuses on identifying typically large and medium-sized businesses that are financially stable, with high quality and committed management teams, and net cash on their balance sheet. As an income orientated strategy, it also aims to own businesses that can ably grow their earnings and cash flows to enable them to pay rising dividends. Vaid also highlighted the highly-regarded fund management team behind Baillie Gifford Japanese, which seeks out attractively valued growth companies of all sizes with investment decisions based on detailed analysis of a company's individual merits and longer-term potential for growth The high-conviction BG Japanese fund counts a number of well-known global brands among its holdings, with Nintendo, Sony and Softbank all among its 10 biggest positions, with a relatively low ongoing charges figure of 0.61 per cent. All of the investment trusts in the Japan sector are currently trading ata discount (AIC) But there are cheaper ways of buying exposure to Japanese equity markets, via passively managed exchange-traded funds. The average total expense ratio of MSCI Japan ETFs is between 0.12 per cent per annum and 0.59 per cent, according to justETF. The website lists HSBC MSCI Japan UCITS ETF (USD), Lyxor Core MSCI Japan UCITS ETF and Xtrackers MSCI Japan UCITS ETF as the best options, based on one-year performance to the end of August. There are also a number of potential bargains to be had currently in the world of UK-listed, investment trusts investing in Japan, which are on average currently trading on a 6.7 per cent discount to net asset value, according to Association of Investment Companies data. A similar, but less severe, situation is true of the Japanese Smaller Companies investment trust sector, which is currently sitting on an average discount to NAV of 1.8 per cent. In fact, every investment trust in the Japan sector is currently available at a discount, ranging from 13.64 per cent to NAV for CC Japan Income & Growth to a 2 per cent discount to NAV for Baillie Gifford Japan. JPMorgan Japanese is currently trading at a 7 per cent discount to net asset value of 748million, which analysts at Kepler said reflects a good opportunity for investors to buy the dip. The London-listed investment trust has returned 56.6 per cent and 121.2 per cent over three and five years, respectively, outperforming the average of its Japan-focused peers over those periods. It has also outperformed on a NAV total return basis. However, JPJ has had a more difficult 12 months, having underperformed its peers and the broader index. Kepler analysts said: We think JFJ is an attractive strategy for a growth-focussed investor. This is not just because of its impressive track record, but because of how its managers are focussed on capitalising on the secular trends driving Japan. These trends often have long runways of growth, given the amount of time it takes for them to be realised. Two examples of multi-year trends are corporate governance reforms and Japans ageing population, with major progress still being made to resolve these issues. > Watch a video interview with JP Morgan Japanese's manager from summer 2020 Greggs' shares climbed the most of any FTSE 350 firm today after it released upbeat third-quarter results showing trade surpassed pre-Covid levels. Shares in the bakery chain ended trading 11.1 per cent higher at 31.92 on Tuesday, meaning they have leapt by more than three-quarters so far this year and are up by over 136 per cent over the last 12 months. The group said staycations and an expanding vegan range helped summer sales in its company-managed shops rise by 3.5 per cent on the same period two years ago, despite hiring and supply chain problems. Tasty: Greggs said trade was 'particularly strong' in August when millions more Britons were taking domestic holidays due to travel restrictions and covid-related uncertainty It said trade was 'particularly strong' in August when millions more Britons were taking domestic holidays due to travel restrictions and Covid-related uncertainty, but business remained very healthy right into the start of October. The Newcastle-based firm further attributed its strong performance to the mounting popularity of its new vegan-friendly food offerings, such as its vegan breakfast sausage and vegan ham and cheese baguette. Thanks to the uptick in sales, the group anticipates full-year results to be ahead of previous expectations even though it admits food costs are rising and are forecast to continue growing into 2022. Greggs still plans to expand its store estate by 100 this year, having already opened 68 net new outlets since the start of 2021, including its first shop in London's Canary Wharf district. Further ahead, it declared that it wants to increase the number of its retail outlets to at least 3,000 by adding around 150 extra shops per year from 2022 - with about a third of them predicted to involve tie-ups with franchisees. 'Our plans are based on the further opportunities that we see for Greggs in the UK market,' said the sausage roll maker, which has over 2,100 stores across the country. 'In the long term,' it added, 'we think there could also be potential for Greggs internationally; we are conducting some very early analysis to help better understand the possible opportunity.' Growth plans: Greggs plans to expand its store estate by 100 this year, having already opened 68 net new outlets since the start of 2021, including its first shop in London's Canary Wharf Alongside this, it aims to double turnover to about 2.4billion by 2026 through bolstering evening trading, app-based sales and deliveries, and expanding capacity. Greggs recently began operating a new automated cold storage facility in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which it observed was 'performing well' and will help reduce carbon emissions and logistics costs. The company intends to boost capital spending by over 100million to 169million next year, with investment on its supply chain more than tripling to 69million and more than doubling at its retail outlets. Julie Palmer, a partner at corporate restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor, said: 'Like many businesses, Greggs now faces the harsh bite of the supply chain crises. High performer: Shares in bakery chain Greggs have risen by 78 per cent this year and by around double that figure over the last 12 months 'However, the baker may have been more prepared than most competitors as it reportedly stockpiled ingredients and equipment from 2019; its early actions may have seemed extreme at the time but will now help it shake off some supply chain challenges others are facing. 'Nevertheless, the business will still feel the penny pinching as its reputation for being the home of an affordable lunch becomes more challenging in the face of rising costs.' Greggs' results come as Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC's Today Programme that Britain was not facing a supply chain 'crisis,' but was witnessing challenges deriving from the economy 'coming back into life.' A shortage of lorry drivers is partly behind the country's supply chain issues. But Johnson admitted to BBC Breakfast that only 127 emergency temporary visas had been issued to foreign HGV drivers instead of the planned 5,000. China blamed the United States on Monday for increased tensions over Taiwan, as the island fingered Beijing as the chief culprit after reporting the largest ever incursion by Chinas air force into its air defence zone at 56 aircraft. Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by Chinas air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defence zone close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. But since Friday, when China marked its national day, the country has embarked upon a massive ramping up of its missions, with almost 150 aircraft flying into the defence zone over the space of four days. The latest mission included 34 J-16 fighters and 12 nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, which all flew in an area in the vicinity of the Pratas Islands, according to a map provided by the ministry. A further four Chinese fighters were spotted on Monday night, taking the total to the day to 56 aircraft. Taiwanese fighter jets scrambled to warn away the Chinese planes, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them, it added. The United States on Sunday urged China to stop its provocative military activities near Taiwan, while the islands government has also condemned Beijing. Chinas Foreign Ministry, responding to the U.S. statement, said it was the United States which was being provocative and harming regional peace, with its arms sales to Taiwan and warships sailing regularly through the Taiwan Strait. China is resolutely opposed to this and takes necessary countermeasures, it added. Engaging in Taiwan independence is a dead end. China will take all steps needed and firmly smash any Taiwan independence plots, the ministry said. Chinas determination and will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering. The United States should stop supporting and inflating Taiwan separatist forces, it added. CHIEF CULPRIT Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council demanded China immediately stop its irresponsible provocations as the chief culprit behind the recent tensions. We sternly tell the Chinese Communists, the Republic of China on Taiwan is determined to firmly defend national sovereignty and dignity and peace across the Taiwan Strait, it said, referring to Taiwans formal name. We have a full grasp of the communist militarys movements and have made appropriate responses. We have also been actively communicating and cooperating with friendly countries to jointly contain the Chinese communists malicious provocations. China has stepped up military and political pressure to try to force Taiwan to accept Chinese rule. Taiwan says it is an independent country and will defend its freedom and democracy. The government said on Monday it was actively communicating with friendly countries to jointly contain Beijings malicious provocations. Taiwan has termed Chinas activities as grey zone warfare, designed to wear down Taiwanese forces and test their abilities. A Taiwan-based source familiar with security matters in the region told Reuters earlier on Monday the Chinese planes were possibly conducting simulated attacks on U.S. carrier fleets, drills the source said that China has repeatedly carried out near Taiwan in the past few months. The U.S. Department of Defense said Chinas increasing military activities near Taiwan were destabilising and increase the risk of miscalculation. Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region, it added. The carrier the USS Ronald Reagan entered the South China Sea late last month. On Monday Japans defence ministry said that ship, along with another carrier the USS Carl Vinson, had carried out multinational joint exercises in waters southwest of Okinawa, though it gave no exact location. Along with U.S. and Japanese ships, vessels from Britain, the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand took part in those exercises, the ministry said. The Taiwan-based source said Mondays flights by the Chinese aircraft were aimed at conducting simulated attacks on that fleet. Okinawa is home to a major U.S. military base and lies just to the northeast of Taiwan. SOURCE: REUTERS ALBANY Firefighters from across the state gathered Tuesday at the Empire Plaza Convention Center in downtown Albany to honor 45 fallen firefighters who perished in the line of duty. Their names have been etched in stone at the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial, which now pays tribute to almost 3,000 service members. The memorial was dedicated in 1998. A firefighter from 1811 was the first name added to the monument. The firefighters honored include volunteer Kevin Landau, 19, from Rockland County, who hoped to join the New York City Fire Department, just as his father had. He died in an accident in 1975, while trying to join his brothers on their way to an emergency. Jared C. Lloyd, 35, a member of the Spring Valley Fire Department, died after he saved numerous residents from an adult home in March during a structure fire. He went back into the burning building, searching for victims. After calling for help, the building collapsed. Lloyd leaves behind two children. William T. Gibbons died in 1901 after responding to a fire at a hotel in Rockland County. His name is being added to the wall this year. Michael G. Miles from Albany County and Donald G. Thomas from Saratoga County have also been added to the list. Thomas died in 1961 and Miles passed away in 2019. In the past two years, 45 names have been carved into the wall. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Elected officials attending the memorial service Tuesday included Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-Rockland County, and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan. It is so powerful and so humbling to me to lead a state that is filled with people like the person that you're coming here to honor today, Hochul said at the service. "These are not the circumstances that any of us would desire to be here, yet you come." A ceremonial pipes and drums band brought the service to a close. In the 1954 childrens book, Beyond the Pawpaw Trees, main character Anna Lavinia dares to venture into a fantasy world, one that exists beyond the stone walls of a pawpaw garden. She encounters strange and unusual botanicals, but for modern readers, the most unusual among them might be the pawpaw trees in the place Anna calls home. The pawpaw colloquially known as the American custard apple or Hoosier banana is the largest indigenous fruit in North America but has become largely forgotten by most Americans. Green on the exterior like a papaya or mango and yellow as egg yolks on the inside, the pawpaw has lost favor in the U.S. as other tree fruits have popularized. Flavors of mango, banana and caramel are revealed in the creamy, pudding-like flesh of the fruit; eating a pawpaw involves cutting it in half, removing large seeds that resemble raw cacao beans and scooping the flesh out with a spoon. Pawpaw grows in clusters on tropical-looking trees (similar to its closest known relative, the papaya) and is found in wild patches and cultivated orchards in 26 states in the U.S. Eric Stroud took a cue from the fictitious Anna and grows his own pawpaw patches on his properties in Canajoharie, Montgomery County. Outside the former Our Lady of Hope church on Cliff Street, Stroud tends to 13 pawpaw trees that he started as seedlings six years ago. For years, they didnt really grow, but then in the last two years, they exploded. They really have to set their roots, Stroud said. Stroud and his wife, Jeannie, bought the church as a second residence and retreat from their homes and careers (he, a chemist and organist; she, an educator) in northern New Jersey. Across the street, Stroud owns and runs Mohawk Spirits, a small farm distillery specializing in fruit liqueurs, including strawberry, aronia berry and pawpaw varieties. The distillery is located on the rumored foundation of the first Black African Methodist Episcopal church in Canajoharie. I wanted to grow a weird fruit. I thought there had to be a weird fruit that no one is growing, Stroud said of his foray into pawpaw growing. In the churchyard, his pawpaw trees provide plenty of fruit for individual consumption, but for distilling purposes, he has expanded to a four-acre farm on the outskirts of town, where he has an additional 60 trees. The trees in the churchyard are the most prolific growers, however, and Stroud said he surmises that is due to the rich limestone characteristics of the soil. The block of Canajoharie on which both churches sit is formerly part of the Shaper Quarry, the limestone cache where the stone for the Brooklyn Bridge was retrieved. Pawpaws require acidic soil, plenty of water and calcium (rampant in limestone) to successfully produce fruit. Stroud has to add gypsum to the soil at his pawpaw farm in order to provide enough calcium for the trees to fruit. Stroud said that pawpaws are complementary to apples in growing needs, and that, they cohabitate really well. While apple trees flower in pastel pinks and soft whites, pawpaw trees offer a trillium-shaped flower that errs on the brown side of purple. The flowers emit the scent of rotting flesh to attract the blowflies and carrion beetles that feast on dead animals and roadkill to pollinate the trees. Apples are found throughout the U.S., but Strouds patch of pawpaws might be the most northern crop to be cultivated. Once you get to Central New York, pawpaws kind of disappear, Stroud said. Wild pawpaw forests are found in Western New York and along the shores of Lake Erie. They become more prominent in the Ohio, Susquehanna and Potomac river valleys, an area of the country that writer Andrew Moore calls the pawpaw belt in his book, Pawpaw: In Search of Americas Forgotten Fruit. Moore said that pawpaw was the sustenance of indigenous peoples, European settlers, enslaved Africans and popular among American presidents. (Lewis and Clark mention the enjoyment of wild pawpaw on their excursion through the western frontier.) They thrive in temperate climates, repel insects due to chemical compounds in their leaves and have multiple anticancer properties that researchers (especially at Kentucky State Universitys pawpaw research center) are just starting to explore, Moore said in his book. Marvin Pritts, professor of horticulture at Cornell University, also studies pawpaw and said it was most likely brought to what is now the U.S. by mastodons migrating north from South America. The potato-sized fruit and inch-long seeds are too big for other prehistoric herbivores to consume and is one of the few native foods available to indigenous peoples and European colonists. (Pritts cites pawpaw, cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, sunflowers, some nuts and the domesticated turkey as the crux of cultivated food in pre-European America.) Pritts said that farmers and orchardists as well as growers with deep ties to pawpaw, like the Seneca Nation are exploring the cultivation of pawpaw as American interest in the fruit and other new and unfamiliar products expands. At a recent pawpaw growers and enthusiasts conference, only three people from New York were present. The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, presented by the USDA, offers no data on pawpaw exports or financial viability on its website. The rich, syrupy pawpaw liqueur that Stroud produces at Mohawk Spirits has the lush, honeyed texture and ochre appearance of Sauternes but maintains the bananas Foster flavor of the pawpaw. The creamy banana and burnished caramel notes of the liqueur earned Stroud many accolades, including recent gold and double-gold ratings at the Microliquor Spirit Awards and Denver International Spirits Competition. Stroud said half of his pawpaw crop will be used in his spirits, the other half will be sold for commercial use, primarily by other distillers and breweries. Fermented beverages made with pawpaw are better-known in the pawpaw belt: Upland Brewing Company in Indiana is making a barrel-aged pawpaw sour ale, Jackie Os Pub and Brewery in Ohio is making a pawpaw wheat ale and Paw Paw Brewing Company in Paw Paw, Michigan makes a pawpaw session beer. Vitae Spirits in Virginia makes pawpaw liquor, Jeptha Creed in Kentucky makes pawpaw brandy and Appalachian Distillery West Virginia flavors moonshine with pawpaw juice. Twenty-five miles south of Strouds churches, Wayward Lane Brewing in Schoharie is experimenting with growing and producing beer with pawpaw. The problem with putting pawpaw in commercial grocery stores is that it emits high levels of ethylene, causing pawpaws and all other produce near it to ripen and rot quickly. Fresh pawpaw doesnt keep. Three weeks and you are done, said Pritts. Stroud gives an even shorter window for peak enjoyment. The optimal ripeness is right when they fall off the tree and before they hit the ground, he said. Perfectly ripe pawpaw should also feel malleable and mushy, Stroud said, and educating consumers on accepting this characteristic is a challenge with soft and squishy seems antithetical to how most fruits are selected for eating. Few recipes are available digitally for pawpaw, though some like for quickbreads, puddings, ice cream and custards can be found on the New York Times cooking website and through Purdue University. Despite the challenges of marketing pawpaw, Stroud is undeterred from its cultivation and harvest. Its a patience process, he said, and one that he has already spent the majority of a decade engaged with. In Beyond the Pawpaw Trees, Annas mother tells her, never believe what you see. Her father, however, said, Believe only what you see, and Stroud believes that the pawpaws he collects from his trees in late September and early October will prove popular and profitable in time. Deanna Fox is a food and agriculture journalist. Her work and newsletter are available at www.foxonfood.com and she can be found on social media @DeannaNFox. One bike, 200 miles, three flats, two Airbnbs. That was the tale of the tape from avid bicyclist Bob Van Voriss recent bike ride from New York City to Albany via the Hudson Valley Greenway Trail section of the Empire State Trail. His two-wheel journey which can be approached in either direction for those who want to start in Albany and head south underscores the accessibility of the massive 750-mile Empire State Trail. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about it, said Van Voris, 58, a Bloomberg News reporter who has been biking for years. It was an amazing experience. I got to see a lot of the state and Im hoping to do the Albany to Buffalo leg in summers to come. Van Voris planned his 200-mile journey to unfold over two and a half days. With the right planning and gear on hand, he said, it can be great a weekend adventure for anyone up to the challenge. Heres how. Overview: What to know Bob Van Voris The Empire State Trail connects New York City to Canada and Albany to Buffalo, creating the nations longest multi-use trail. The Hudson Valley Greenway Trail passage creates a thoroughfare between Albany and New York and spans both sides of the Hudson River, giving riders an ideal vantage point to see some of the region's most picturesque towns and cities, including Pawling, New Paltz, Tivoli, Hudson and more. About 75 percent of the Empire State Trail routes bicyclists and pedestrians off of public roads and onto a network of private trails, making this bike-riding challenge approachable for those who may be a bit skittish about biking in traffic. The trail is very safe, said Van Voris. Some of it is off road, but those sections are on quiet roads for the most part. Amtrak and Metro-North trains service cities between Albany and New York City, creating an effortless way to return to your starting point after the 200-mile ride, or from points in between if you need to cut the ride short. Itinerary: Where to go Courtesy of the Empire State Trail Tackling a double-century ride is daunting for anyone. Breaking up the ride into smaller pieces keeps the daily mileage more manageable. While Van Voris stretched his trip across three days riding 80 miles on both Friday and Saturday and the last 40 on Sunday morning a four- or five-day itinerary may be more your speed for this bucket-list trek. And be sure to allow time to explore. There are a lot of towns I hadnt been in before, said Van Voris, who spent time in the Capital Region after his journey before returning home. Option 1: 2 big days and 1 shorter ride (the Van Voris route) Day 1 Northbound: NYC to Pawling (80 miles) Southbound: Albany to Olana (40 miles - potential lodging in Catskill) Day 2 Northbound: Pawling to Olana (80 miles - potential lodging in Catskill) Southbound: Olana to Pawling (80 miles) Day 3 Northbound: Catskill to Albany (40 miles) Southbound: Pawling to NYC (80 miles) Option 2: Evenly-spread mileage each day Day 1 Northbound: NYC to Brewster (65 miles) Southbound: Albany to Tivoli (58 miles) Day 2 Northbound: Brewster to Tivoli (77 miles) Southbound: Tivoli to Brewster (77 miles) Day 3 Northbound: Tivoli to Albany (58 miles) Southbound: Brewster to NYC (65 miles) Return for all routes: Amtrak and Metro-North both service several cities along, and near, the Empire State Trail. Plan your itinerary around which Amtrak stations allow passengers to board with bicycles. For Van Voris, his girlfriend drove to Albany to meet him there and then they drove back to the city. Tricky parts to keep in mind Navigating Kingston The one section where Van Voris encountered difficulties was in Kingston, where some parts of the Empire State Trail are poorly marked, he said. Tom Polk, bicycle educator at YMCA of Kingston & Ulster County, explained that the Empire State Trail goes onto public roads in Kingston, where there is currently construction work. Once construction is complete, he believes the signage will be clearer. For now, he suggests keeping a GPS handy. Lodging Plan ahead on where to stay and know that you may need to do some research vs winging it. It was harder than I anticipated to find either hotels or Airbnbs that were reasonably close to the trail, said Van Voris, who eventually found Airbnbs in Pawling and Catskill, both around four to five miles off the trail. I think there is an opportunity for Airbnbs, hotels and motels that are kind of close to make the information more readily available, said Van Voris. Ive heard that complaint from people that its hard to find places. Although he wasnt interested in camping himself, searching for a nearby camping facility is another option some riders may want to consider. Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter. Preparation and packing Bob Van Voris Training Van Voris started training in January to prepare for his double century ride to Albany in September. His regimen essentially consisted of riding his bike whenever he could to build up endurance. He did take one long ride up to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and back down to Brooklyn, more than 60 miles total. That let me know I could do 80 miles, which I hadnt done since I was a lot younger, he said. With age comes wisdom, some might say. When I was maybe 30, I got on my bike with the idea of heading up to Albany, mostly on 9W, but without a specific plan. I got about 100 miles north, spent the night in a roadside motel, then when I woke up I couldnt stand up straight and had to abandon the effort. So I planned a little better this time! Refueling on the trail One of the perks of the Empire State Trail is that bikers and hikers are never too far from a town with water or food. Van Voris kept a handful of Clif bars and water with him on the bike for quick replenishment, and he supplemented those snacks with stops at restaurants in towns along the trail. Gear You will want to make sure to pack bicycle repair gear and get familiar with how to use it. I knew I might get a flat. I didnt expect three, said Van Voris. Like with food stops, because the Empire State Trail threads through so many towns, riders are never at risk of being totally stranded if you do run into gear problems. Im not in the middle of nowhere, said Voris. Youre still in the Hudson Valley, so there are lots of good bike shops if you really get into a bad fix. Van Voris also packed three days worth of clothing and portable charging gear for his electronics. Plan your trip Courtesy of Empire State Trail The Empire State Trail site breaks down each portion of the trail via an interactive map that details the length of each trail section, how long it will likely take to bike, the type of road surface to expect, and whether there is nearby public parking (good to note if a friend is meeting you part way). They look like little flying armored bugs, hiding in the folds of blankets and sweaters or plain as day on walls, emitting a foul odor if you try to crush them. Yes, were talking about the brown marmorated stink bug. More than just an ugly, smelly, unwanted pest to homeowners who, chances are, are seeing more of them right now as the bugs look for a place to stay warm for the winter stink bugs are highly invasive and can decimate crops. They eat corn, tomatoes, peppers, and fruit, and theyre causing a great deal of trouble for apple growers nationwide and here in the Hudson Valley. Now, stink bugs are top of mind for apple growers and scientists who are searching for biological solutions to control the apple-loving appetite of a pest that has become an ubiquitous presence in orchards and homes. Stink bugs were first discovered in the U.S. in 1998, when one found its way to Pennsylvania, likely via a wood shipping pallet from Asia, where its from. In places like China, Japan and Korea, the brown marmorated stink bug just one of many types of stink bugs that exist on earth has natural predators. But here, those predators are scant, enabling the pest to flourish. According to the EPA, theyre now in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Pest can cost orchard owners hundreds of thousands of dollars In New York, this species of stink bug was first known to have spread here by 2008, when homes in Saratoga and Ulster counties began reporting infestations. The bugs were spotted in orchards, nibbling on one of New Yorks key crops: apples. According to the Cornell University Hudson Valley Research Laboratory, in 2012, more than 20 percent of season fruit blocks in Ulster, Orange, and Duchess counties were impacted by stink bugs. That spurred a lot of attention, and a lot of research, into a bug that can cost apple growers hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages if theyre not mitigated. What happens when stink bugs run wild in an apple orchard? They use a straw-like protrusion to sip the juice of the apple itself. This causes damage to the apple that results in dimpling, browning, and, sometimes, a change in the flavor of the fruit. According to Daniel Donahue, tree fruit specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ulster County, if an apple orchard is to get an infestation and it isnt caught early, between 4 and 5 percent of its revenue can be lost for the year. Donahue says on average, a more popular and, therefore, higher-priced apple like the honey crisp can be worth up to $30,000 per acre. A large operation that grows apples for wholesale distribution can be as large as 800 acres, meaning a 5 percent loss could spell upwards of $1.2 million in evaporated revenue. Donahue says currently, local growers are encouraged to monitor the possible presence of stink bugs by setting traps at the perimeter of orchards, since the bugs work from the outside in. How scientists are working to keep stink bugs at bay Peter Jentsch has been studying ways to mitigate the impact of stink bugs for more than a decade. Previously an entomologist at Cornell University Hudson Valley Research Laboratory in Ulster County, Jentsch is now director of research and entomology for Poma Tech, where hes exploring the impacts of a fungus called Venerate that works to dispel the stink bugs appetite. It keeps them from feeding, says Jentsch. Theyre on the apple and sitting there, a week, two weeks go by and they still havent fed on the apple. That Venerate is a biological application that is non-toxic to humans could be a boon for management of the pests. Stink bugs tend to be most problematic toward the end of the growing season, when apples are ripe and ready to be picked not an ideal time to apply a pesticide, given how close the fruit is to harvest and human consumption. This product, however, doesnt pose that problem, says Jentsch. If you cant control them biologically, solely through the use of a biological control, then the use of a biological insecticide would be a great choice because its non-toxic, he says. By biological control, Jentsch means using nature to control nature. Downtime is the best time Make the most of your Hudson Valley weekend, every week with our newsletter. Shortly after stink bugs emergence in the region, a tiny wasp called the Samurai wasp was being studied as a potential control for stink bugs. These wasps are a natural predator they lay eggs inside the eggs of the stink bug, and when the wasps eggs hatch, they effectively kill the host eggs of the stink bug. Samurai wasps were being studied in a lab, in a controlled laboratory environment, when, in 2016, Jentsch put some brown marmorated stink bug eggs out in the orchard field to study them. He certainly wasnt expecting to find Samurai wasps in them, and yet: Lo and behold, the wasp emerges, says Jentsch. He says this led to some hand wringing as far as anyone knew, the only Samurai wasps in the United States were in a lab, not yet released into the wild. Jentsch says the wasps were sent to a lab in France where a scientist named Marie-Claude Bon was able to parse out their DNA and find that they were not the same as the quarantined ones in the lab theyd likely been in the region for a while. So, no lab escapees, but, yes, they were a natural predator to the stink bug. Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images In 2017, Jentsch and his research team reared more Samurai wasps and released them into fruit-tree-heavy regions of New York with stink bug infestations. Whether that effort was a success, Jentsch says, is hard to quantify. Indeed, stink bug populations are down in the region, but he says that could be due to a variety of factors, such as weather and other natural mitigators like fungus. Hes not taking credit for any strides made in current conditions. If I said, Oh yeah, the Samurai wasp is working really well, theres no stinkbugs out there, and all the while, thats because the fungi are doing their job, why arent I giving credit to these little spores? posits Jentsch. Now, Jentsch is turning to local residents for help with his scientific study. He continues to helm a long-running citizen science project whereby people are asked to report any stink bugs they encounter in the home. He says if theyre showing up in high numbers in homes, theyre likely prevalent in nearby orchards as well. No one measures in peoples homes to show success of a biological study, he says. Well, thats what Im doing. Donahue likewise emphasizes the importance of citizen science in discovering and tracking all invasive species, including the brown marmorated stink bug. Having citizens interested in the concept of keeping one eye open for things and reporting it back really helps, says Donahue. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the correct years of Peter Jentsch's research, which are 2016 and 2017, not 2006 and 2007 as originally stated. We regret the error. WINDSOR, Ontario (AP) The busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S. fully reopened late Monday afternoon following a police investigation into possible explosives found in a vehicle. Police said they detained one person in connection with the probe that for nearly seven hours significantly hampered traffic across the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit. A senior government official said federal police were not treating the incident as terrorism or a national security issue. The official spoke on condition of anonymity. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Integrated National Security Enforcement Team would be involved if terrorism was suspected. ``No other persons are believed to be involved in this incident, Windsor police wrote on Twitter. ``This is believed to be an isolated incident. The Canada Border Services Agency said normal operations resumed just before 5 p.m. Windsor police said the border agency had alerted them Monday morning after possible explosives were found in a vehicle in the secondary inspection area of the bridge complex on the Canadian side. Canada-bound traffic was suspended around 10 a.m. Police said at no time was traffic completely closed from Canada to the U.S. Police said the driver of the vehicle was detained and was in border services custody. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. The force also said no direct threats were made to places or people in connection with the possible explosives found. Vehicles seeking to enter Canada were rerouted to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel and the Blue Water Bridge that leads to Sarnia, Ontario. The privately owned Ambassador Bridge is critical to trade between the two countries. ___ Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. ALBANY The five newly selected members of the oversight board governing New Yorks developing cannabis industry are scheduled to conduct their first public meeting on Tuesday afternoon. The meeting comes two weeks after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her final appointments to the five-person board, which will be led by attorney and former Assemblywoman Tremaine S. Wright. A live webcast is scheduled to be available to the public starting at 1:30pm. The state-issued meeting notice specified that the Cannabis Control Board is charged with approving a comprehensive regulatory framework for New York's cannabis industry. The board will oversee licensing of cannabis businesses. The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, passed just over six months ago, establishes the framework for a rotating board and the agency it will oversee: the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). Lawmakers who spearheaded the laws passage have criticized significant delays in its implementation, attributing the slow roll out to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Hochul has committed to taking a more active approach to the industry but the laws detailed timeline was already behind schedule. Last week, the state missed a six-month deadline written into the legislation by failing to advance regulations governing the ability for certified medical cannabis patients to grow marijuana plants at home. The Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management obviously got a late start, however even before this historic first board meeting, the work has already started to develop regulations and establish this new industry, Wright said in a statement. "At Tuesdays meeting, we will build on the momentum started when Gov. Hochul and the Legislature acted swiftly to appoint the board and executive director." While the board is ready, key positions in the OCM have yet to be filled. Wright said meeting participants will consider candidates for agency positions who will keep the industry focused on economic justice, safety and public health. Other items on Tuesday's agenda include a report from the agencys new Executive Director Christopher Alexander, an ethics discussion and an update on education and outreach. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Wright said board members will also consider a candidate for chief equity officer. The position had to be filled by the control board, a restriction which delayed the selection process until after its final members were nominated on Sept. 22. The law specifies that the chief equity officers appointment requires an affirmative vote from at least four members of the board. Once in place, the officer will develop, implement and monitor a social and economic equity plan for the industry. The plan is set to prioritize applicants for cannabis licenses who are from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition or who qualify as a minority- or women-owned business, distressed farmers, or service-disabled veterans. It will include the issuance of low- or zero-interest loans for qualified social and economic equity applicants to encourage their participation. STOCKHOLM (AP) Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for work that found order in seeming disorder, helping to explain and predict complex forces of nature, including expanding our understanding of climate change. Syukuro Manabe, originally from Japan, and Klaus Hasselmann of Germany were cited for their work in developing forecast models of Earths climate and "reliably predicting global warming. The second half of the prize went to Giorgio Parisi of Italy for explaining disorder in physical systems, ranging from those as small as the insides of atoms to the planet-sized. Hasselmann told The Associated Press that he would rather have no global warming and no Nobel Prize. Manabe said that figuring out the physics behind climate change was 1,000 times easier than getting the world to do something about it. He said the intricacies of policy and society are far harder to fathom than the complexities of carbon dioxide interacting with the atmosphere, which then changes conditions in the ocean and on the land, which then alters the air again in a constant cycle. He called climate change a major crisis. The prize comes less than four weeks before the start of high-level climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, where world leaders will be asked to ramp up their commitments to curb global warming. The Nobel-winning scientists used their moment in the limelight to urge action. Its very urgent that we take very strong decisions and move at a very strong pace in tackling global warming, Parisi said. He made the appeal even though his share of the prize was for work in a different area of physics. All three scientists work on what are known as complex systems, of which climate is just one example. But the prize went to two fields of study that are opposite in many ways, though they share the goal of making sense of what seems random and chaotic so that it can be predicted. Parisis research largely centers around subatomic particles, predicting how they move in seemingly chaotic ways and why, and is somewhat esoteric, while the work by Manabe and Hasselmann is about large-scale global forces that shape our daily lives. The judges said Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earths climate and how human actions influence it." Starting in the 1960s, Manabe, now based at Princeton University, created the first climate models that forecast what would happen as carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere. Scientists for decades had shown that carbon dioxide traps heat, but Manabe's work offered specifics. It allowed scientists to eventually show how climate change will worsen and how fast, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed. Manabe is such a pioneer that other climate scientists called his 1967 paper with the late Richard Wetherald the most influential climate paper ever, said NASA chief climate modeler Gavin Schmidt. Manabe's Princeton colleague Tom Delworth called Manabe the Michael Jordan of climate. Suki set the stage for today's climate science, not just the tool but also how to use it, said fellow Princeton climate scientist Gabriel Vecchi. I can't count the times that I thought I came up with something new, and it's in one of his papers. Manabe's models from 50 years ago accurately predicted the warming that actually occurred in the following decades," said climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of the Breakthrough Institute. Manabe's work serves as a warning to us all that we should take their projections of a much warmer future if we keep emitting carbon dioxide quite seriously. I never imagined that this thing I would begin to study has such a huge consequence, Manabe said at a Princeton news conference. "I was doing it just because of my curiosity. About a decade after Manabe's initial work, Hasselmann, of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, helped explain why climate models can be reliable despite the seemingly chaotic nature of the weather. He also developed ways to look for specific signs of human influence on the climate. Meanwhile, Parisi, of Sapienza University of Rome, built a deep physical and mathematical model that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning. His work originally focused on so-called spin glass, a type of metal alloy whose behavior long baffled scientists. Parisi, 73, discovered hidden patterns that explained the way it acted, creating theories that could be applied to other fields of research, too. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. All three physicists used complex mathematics to explain and predict what seemed like chaotic forces of nature. That is known as modeling. Physics-based climate models made it possible to predict the amount and pace of global warming, including some of the consequences like rising seas, increased extreme rainfall events and stronger hurricanes, decades before they could be observed, said German climate scientist and modeler Stefan Rahmstorf. He called Hasselmann and Manabe pioneers in this field. When climate scientists with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, some who deny global warming dismissed it as a political move. Perhaps anticipating controversy, members of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel, emphasized that Tuesday's was a science prize. What we are saying is that the modeling of climate is solidly based on physical theory and well-known physics, Swedish physicist Thors Hans Hansson said at the announcement. For a scientist who trades in predictions, Hasselmann said the prize caught him off guard. I was quite surprised when they called, he said. I mean, this is something I did many years ago. But Parisi said: I knew there was a non-negligible possibility of winning. The award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The money comes from a bequest left by the prizes creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895. On Monday, the Nobel in medicine was awarded to Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries into how the human body perceives temperature and touch. Over the coming days prizes will be awarded in the fields of chemistry, literature, peace and economics. ___ Borenstein reported from Kensington, Maryland. Associated Press journalists Frank Jordans and Kerstin Sopke in Berlin, Ted Shaffrey in Princeton, New Jersey, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report. ___ Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes. ALBANY Trainer Bob Baffert's fight to continue racing thoroughbreds in New York hit a setback Tuesday when a federal judge ruled that the New York Racing Association could proceed with administrative hearings to suspend him. Baffert is facing discipline after he trained Medina Spirit, the thoroughbred who tested positive for drug use after placing first in the Kentucky Derby in May. One of the nation's most successful trainers, Baffert has been cited for at least 29 failed drug tests over four decades. Shortly after the Derby, NYRA which operates the Saratoga Race Course, Aqueduct Racetrack and Belmont Park barred Baffert from entering Medina Spirit in the Belmont Stakes and from racing any of his horses on their tracks. Baffert countered by filing an action in U.S. District Court in June against NYRA, and he won a preliminary injunction because the association did not give the trainer a hearing before suspending him or immediately thereafter. That decision allowed him to keep racing in New York over the summer. While racing at Saratoga and Belmont this summer and into the fall, Baffert has won $2.2 million in purses or 21 percent of his total winnings for the year to date, according to data from Equibase Company. But now that NYRA has laid out an administrative hearing process to settle Baffert's suspension, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon ruled Tuesday that the association can move ahead with the process of barring him from its tracks. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. NYRA is expected to hold the first administrative hearing in Baffert's case next week. Retired judge and former New York Solicitor General Peter Sherwood will oversee the administrative case. "We are gratified by the court's decision allowing NYRA to move forward," said NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna. " ... The court found that NYRA's actions were consistent with both the letter and spirit of the July 14 order. NYRA's focus in this matter is protecting the integrity of the sport of thoroughbred racing in accordance with the requirements of due process." Baffert's attorney, Craig Robertson, said he was disappointed in the court's ruling against their effort to hold NYRA in contempt. "Contempt is a difficult remedy to obtain, (but) the injunction remains in place and Mr. Baffert is still able to race in New York," Robertson said. "We will review the courts ruling and determine next steps." A well-known medical examiners refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccination has left Rensselaer County without a hospital where autopsies can be performed and possibility left county prosecutors murder cases vulnerable to defense questioning. Rensselaer County thought it had found a solution to the problem of its chief medical examiner, Dr. Michael Sikirica, not being vaccinated. He became shut out of most Capital Region hospitals, such as Albany Medical Center Hospital, because they require anyone working in their buildings to be vaccinated. Sikirica advised the county last week that he would be doing autopsies now at Glens Falls Hospital. There was one problem Glens Falls also requires vaccination for all workers. Glens Falls Hospital confirmed to the Times Union Monday that it wont let Sikirica, a pathologist, inside to work since hes unvaccinated and it doesnt have a contract with Rensselaer County to have autopsies done there, said Ray Agnew, a hospital spokesman. The bottom line is our policy is you have to be vaccinated to do work here, Agnew said Monday. Sikirica is not a member of the hospital staff, Agnew said. Glens Falls Hospital only has contracts with Warren and Washington counties for autopsies, Agnew said. Albany Medical Center Hospital stopped Sikirica from performing Rensselaer County autopsies after he didnt get vaccinated. Rensselaer County was left with the option of sending its homicide victims, fatal drug overdoses and other people who died more than 50 miles north to Glens Falls instead of less than ten miles down the road to Albany Med. Rensselaer County is scrambling to provide alternatives for the autopsies it is required by law to provide. Homicide investigations often count on autopsies being performed immediately, but its unknown what Rensselaer County will do if theres a killing. The county sends about 100 to 120 bodies to be autopsied annually. Albany and Schenectady counties currently dont use Sikirica for autopsies, relying on other pathologists. The two counties use Ellis Hospital for autopsies. Ellis Hospital also requires anyone working there to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Sikiricas situation comes during a time when the Capital Region and the rest of the country find it more difficult to find pathologists and forensic pathologists to handle autopsies. "We just learned this afternoon our contract with Glens Falls Hospital was being canceled by the hospital. We believe the cancellation relates to the doctor's refusal to be vaccinated, Richard Crist, county director of operations, said in a statement issued in response to Times Union questions. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. As we did several days ago, we are reacting and making adjustments to ensure our legal responsibility is fulfilled. We expect to be able to make an announcement in the near future," Crist said. Sikirica couldnt be reached for comment Monday through his Waterford office. Sikirica referred questions Friday to the county. Sikirica is employed by the county as chief medical examiner at a salary of $78,773 plus benefits, according to the county budget. Sikirica is the pathologist Capital Region district attorneys count on to testify when they are prosecuting homicides. The doctors decision to skip the vaccination has left defense attorneys considering the possibility that prosecution cases may be open to broad attacks. Thats unbelievable. Thats madness in that a doctor whos supposed to be following the science refuses to do so, said Shane Hug, a Troy-based defense attorney who has worked with Sikirica in homicide cases when he worked as an assistant district attorney. Hug said he anticipates defense attorneys will go after Sikirica during cross-examination on questions of scientific and medical knowledge due to the doctor being shut out of conducting autopsies due to not getting a COVID-19 shot. The Rensselaer County District Attorneys Office said it is waiting to hear from the county administration to understand what the options are based on the contract. Sikirica has testified at murder trials across the region. In addition to Rensselaer County, hes done autopsies for Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties helping to obtain evidence for the successful prosecution of homicides in which the cause of death has to be presented to juries for consideration. PHOENIX (AP) A federal agent who was shot and killed by an Amtrak train passenger concealing large amounts of marijuana in Arizona was a revered leader whose career spanned almost two decades, the agency said Tuesday. Michael Garbo, who also went by Mike, was a group supervisor with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He possessed expertise and a manner that were legendary, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. Garbo was loved and respected throughout the agency "for his leadership and for his unrelenting passion to protect the safety of the American people, she said. Above all else, he was a devoted and loving father and husband. Garbo joined the DEA in 2005. As a special agent and supervisor, he pursued criminal drug traffickers at the U.S.-Mexico border and in Afghanistan. Members of the law enforcement community took to social media to describe Garbo as an excellent police officer who started out in Nashville, Tennessee. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said someone with the same name worked there between 1993 and 2005 but could not confirm he was the deceased agent. Gov. Doug Ducey ordered flags at state buildings remain at half-staff until sunset Wednesday in Garbo's honor. Garbo was killed Monday after gunfire erupted while a regional task force of DEA agents and Tucson police officers were doing an inspection of passengers luggage for illegal money, weapons or drugs. The inspection was prompted by tips from Amtrak, according to a federal criminal complaint released Tuesday that revealed more details about the events leading to the shooting. A second agent and a Tucson officer also were shot several times, and a suspect was killed. The agent and officer remained in stable condition Tuesday, the DEA said. Authorities have not released their identities. The Sunset Limited, Train 2, was carrying 137 passengers and 11 crew members traveling from Los Angeles to New Orleans, and arrived at the downtown Tucson station at 7:40 am, said Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesman. The shooting occurred about 20 minutes later and sent panicked passengers running. According to the complaint, an officer noticed a man in his 20s on the upper level of one of the double-decker train's cars leave a backpack and two bags a few rows away. When asked, the man, identified in the complaint as Devonte Okeith Mathis, denied they were his. The officer moved them to the train platform for further inspection. At the same time, Garbo and another DEA agent spoke with a second man in the same row as Mathis. They all went to the platform where the agents were given permission to use a drug-sniffing dog on several other bags. The man then returned to the car. That's when the officer questioning Mathis discovered two large bulk packages of marijuana in the backpack, the complaint said. He alerted Garbo and the other agent. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. According to the complaint, Garbo and his fellow agent went back into the car to talk to the second suspect again and were ambushed by gunfire. Garbo was pronounced dead. The second agent was rushed to the hospital in the back of a Tucson police car. That's also when gunfire hit a Tucson police officer. Several additional officers then responded to the scene. The armed suspect was shot and killed after firing on them, the complaint said. He was found dead inside a train restroom, according to Tucson police. His identity has not been released. Mathis was arrested and faces federal charges of knowingly and intentionally possessing with the intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of marijuana, according to the complaint. It was not immediately known Tuesday if he had an attorney. A search warrant for the bags belonging to him revealed 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) of raw marijuana, 50 packages containing 3.5 grams (0.12 ounces) each of marijuana edibles and other marijuana and cannabis products. The FBI is overseeing investigation. There were no other injuries among the train's passengers or crew. ___ Associated Press writer Mike Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. COVID-19 test kit maker Ellume is recalling some at-home tests after learning that they were reporting a higher-than-expected rate of false positive results indicating someone has the virus when they do not. The Australian company has said the tests were shipped to U.S. retailers and other distributors from April through August. It published a list on its website of the lot numbers on test packages affected by the recall. The company said about 427,000 tests are in the lots identified in the recall, and nearly 200,000 are unused. Ellume said tests from those lots may provide false positive results at a rate higher than researchers saw during clinical testing. Ellume said it will email customers who used one of those test kits and received a positive result in the last two weeks. It recommended that people who have not scheduled another test to confirm the result should immediately do so. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a separate statement that people who got a positive result from one of the tests should contact a care provider or urgent care location and ask for a molecular diagnostic test. The problem was tied to a manufacturing issue, and it does not appear to affect negative results from the tests. Ellume said about 42,000 affected tests have been used and produced positive results, both accurate and false. That represents about 1% of the 3.5 million tests the company has shipped to the U.S. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: J&J seeks US clearance for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses Washington woman dies after rare blood clot complication AstraZeneca asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 antibody treatment Vaccines are here. Schools open. Some parents still agonize about virus ___ See all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: ___ COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina districts can continue to require face coverings in the states schools under an appellate courts decision. On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied state Attorney General Alan Wilsons request that South Carolinas law prohibiting school mask mandates be allowed to take effect while a lawsuit over the measure goes forward. Last month, a federal judge suspended the state from enforcing its rule banning school districts from requiring masks for students. Wilson and Gov. Henry McMaster, both Republicans, had appealed that temporary restraining order, asking the 4th Circuit to restore the ban to avoid changing mask policies across the state now that students are back at school. The back-and-forth stems from a lawsuit filed by parents of disabled children, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing that South Carolinas ban discriminated against medically vulnerable students by keeping them out of public schools as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to state health data, about 75,000 students, teachers and school staff have been infected with COVID-19 this school year, and nearly 200,000 have had to quarantine because of close exposure. ___ PHOENIX The coronavirus pandemic is a cause for concern for families who face various policies at schools and day care centers. The spread of the more infectious delta variant, particularly among people who refuse vaccinations, has caused an increase in infections in children. The coronavirus exposures and illnesses at schools and day cares can mean children get sent home, forcing parents to scramble for childcare. Theres evidence that masks in schools help reduce virus spread, and most Americans support requiring masks for students and teachers. District policies on masks, testing and quarantines vary widely. Soon after schools reopened in August, the rate of coronavirus infections forced dozens of districts to back off in-person learning. More than 5.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 20% of all child cases coming since this school year began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death, but at least 498 have died. Vaccines have been available for children as young as 12 since May, but vaccination rates trail adults. Federal data show about half of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated, while 43% of 12- to 15-year-olds are vaccinated; two-thirds of adults are vaccinated. ___ SEATTLE Washington state health authorities say a woman in her late 30s has died from a rare blood-clotting syndrome after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. Public Health Seattle & King County said Tuesday the woman was the fourth person in the United States to die from possible blood clotting issues following the J&J vaccine. Three deaths were reported before federal authorities temporarily halted J&J vaccinations in April. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the agency is aware of, and is looking into, additional reported clot deaths since then, including the one in Washington state. The King County woman received her shot on Aug. 26. She died on Sept. 7. Blood clots are a very rare complication associated with J&Js vaccine. According to King County authorities, 12.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered by July 8, 2021, with 38 people having confirmed cases of the unusual type of blood clot. The majority recovered from the issue. ___ OKLAHOMA CITY A report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says coronavirus vaccinations have helped reduce infections by 7,500 and deaths by 1,100 among Oklahomans age 65 and older. The study of Medicare recipients released Tuesday found each 10% increase in vaccination rates resulted in an 11-12% decline in weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries. Last week, 91% of Oklahomans 65 or older had received at least one vaccination and 80% were fully vaccinated, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. ___ OMAHA, Neb. The number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the Nebraska appear to be leveling out. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the state reported 4,775 new cases for the week that ended Friday. That was just above the 4,676 cases reported the previous week but significantly below the roughly 5,300 cases per week the state tallied during the three previous weeks. The number of virus hospitalizations averaged 415 daily in the past week, which was down slightly from 421 the previous week. Nebraska has registered a total of 2,840 deaths, according to the CDC. ___ BATON ROUGE, La. About 150 people were exposed to the coronavirus at a recent wedding, and those not vaccinated should quarantine, the Louisiana Department of Health said Tuesday. The department said it has confirmed an outbreak among several people attending the wedding. It says those without symptoms and those fully vaccinated who attended the wedding in Abbeville on Sept. 25 should be tested for the virus. Unvaccinated people should watch for symptoms while in quarantine, the department said. Those include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congested or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The department says exposed unvaccinated people who test negative during the quarantine period still need to stay in quarantine through Saturday, 14 days after the wedding. ___ WASHINGTON The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the states federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates. In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department says the grant programs are not a permissible use of the funding. The Treasury Department says the conditions undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August. He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. Education advocates have filed a lawsuit over Arizonas mask ban and several other state laws that restrict the power of local governments and school districts to impose COVID-19 requirements. Those policies conflict with guidance from the CDC, which recommends universal mask wearing for students and teachers in the classroom. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo asked Arizona officials to explain how it will remedy the problem within 30 days. ___ GENEVA The World Health Organization says its still reviewing data about Russias Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved for emergency use against the coronavirus, but no decision is imminent. The clarification comes after Russias Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days said administrative issues were the main holdup in the WHO decision-making process about whether to give an emergency use listing to Sputnik V as it has for about a half-dozen other COVID-19 vaccines. WHO spokeswoman Daniela Bagozzi said Tuesday only the WHOs technical advisory group on emergency use listings -- not the WHO director-general -- has final say about whether a vaccine obtains emergency approval. Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the Russian vaccine after a rigorous review process. It could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program organized by WHO and key partners shipping COVID-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need. The vaccines WHO has approved are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinovac and Sinopharm. ___ DALLAS Southwest Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 to continue working at the airline. Employees can seek exemptions due to medical or religious reasons. Southwest says it will mandate vaccines because of new rules from the Biden administration that companies with federal contracts must have a vaccinated staff. Southwests work for the government includes flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Southwest has 54,000 employees. ___ LISBON, Portugal -- Portugal will start administering booster shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to people ages 65 and older starting next week. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Thats according to the Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Antonio Sales. The move follows a recommendation by the European Unions drug regulator to use booster shots in adults, a decision the European Medicine Agency says it based on evidence that antibody levels rise in people aged 18 or older once they are given an extra dose at least six months after their last one. The World Health Organizations chief had urged wealthy nations not to use booster doses this year in a widespread way, calling for vaccines available in developing countries first. But some of the 27 EU member nations had already begun administering booster shots. With 85% of Portugals 10 million residents fully vaccinated, it is leading the worlds vaccination charts. ___ NEW YORK New York states largest health care provider has announced 1,400 employees have been terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Northwell Health officials says the terminations represent less than 2% of its total workforce. They say they regret losing any employees and their goal was to comply with the New York state mandate to get people vaccinated. A statewide vaccination mandate for all hospital and nursing home workers took effect on Sept. 27. It will be expanded to include home care, hospice and adult care facility workers on Thursday. ___ MOSCOW Coronavirus deaths in Russia have hit a record for the third time this month, and cases have exceeded 25,000 a day as vaccination rates in the country remain low. Russias state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 cases on Tuesday and 895 deaths. Officials have blamed low vaccine uptake. Only 33% of Russias population of 146 million have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine and just 27% have been fully vaccinated. Russias vast, yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak. Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg, the nations second-largest city. The Kremlin has said its not considering a nationwide lockdown or any other nationwide measures despite the surge. Some Russian regions have limited attendance of mass events and restricted access to some public places, such as theaters, cinemas, restaurants and bars, to those who are vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or recently tested negative. Critics argue these measures arent enough to slow the surge. ___ NEW YORK A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for teachers and other staff members has taken effect in New York Citys million-plus-student public school system. Mayor Bill de Blasio says 95% of the citys roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday. The nations largest school system is one of the first in the country to require inoculations for all its staffers. A similar mandate is set to go into effect in Los Angeles on Oct. 15. Some 43,000 doses have been administered since the mandate was announced Aug. 23, de Blasio says. Vaccination rates rose in every school job category after the mandate was announced. District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 20,000 city Department of Education employees, says 93% of those workers had provided proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of Sunday, up from 68% at the start of September. Roxanne Rizzi, who teaches at an elementary school in Queens, waited until Friday to get her first shot. The 55-year-old had resisted the vaccine because she contracted the coronavirus in November and believed natural immunity would protect her. She says she got the shot for the finances of my family. The CDC says people should get vaccinated even if they have already been infected by the virus. The agency says COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity and help prevent getting infected again. ___ BUCHAREST, Romania Romania hit a record of more than 15,000 daily coronavirus cases as the countrys intensive care units reach capacity. Last month, Romania had 1,000 daily cases. But it registered 15,037 new infections Tuesday, almost 3,000 cases more than its previous high. The surge prompted authorities Monday to suspend non-emergency medical treatments for 30 days to try to ease pressure on hospitals. Raed Arafat, the head of Romanias Department for Emergency Situation, says, We do not yet see a trend of capping or falling. Romania is the second-least vaccinated nation in the European Union, with only 33% of adults fully vaccinated. It has registered more than 37,000 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. ___ COPENHAGEN, Denmark The Norwegian government recommended elderly over the age 85 and nursing home residents should get a third shot six months after having received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Health Minister Bent Hoeie says the Pfizer vaccine should be given, and those ages 75 to 84 and 65 to 74 should be next in line. The announcement came after the Scandinavian country had said it would offer people with severe weakened immune systems a third dose of the vaccine. That group includes patients with immune deficiency diseases, organ transplants and cancer patients. ___ WASHINGTON Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J says it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between two to six months after vaccination. The U.S. government last month authorized booster doses of Pfizers vaccine in vulnerable groups. A panel of FDA advisers meets next week to consider boosters for both J&J and Moderna vaccines. Its part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to boost protection amid the delta variant and potential waning of vaccine strength. The FDA is convening its outside panel of advisers next week to review booster data from both J&J and Moderna. Its the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. ___ ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Joel Greenberg, the friend of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz who pleaded guilty earlier this year to sex trafficking, asked a judge on Tuesday to postpone his sentencing until next year so he can continue cooperating with federal authorities. Greenberg asked the federal judge in a court filing to move his sentencing date from mid-November to next March. The extra time will give the former local tax collector from an Orlando suburb more time to sit for interviews with federal investigators, the filing said. Indeed, Mr. Greenbergs ongoing cooperation, which will not be completed prior to his current sentencing date, could have an impact on his final sentence," according to the court filing, which said the extension was unopposed by federal prosecutors. Greenberg is facing up to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty last May to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a child, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official. Greenberg's plea agreement with prosecutors requires continued cooperation with an ongoing probe into sex trafficking. Gaetz, a Republican who represents much of the Florida Panhandle, was not mentioned in Greenbergs plea agreement. But Greenbergs cooperation could play a role in an ongoing investigation into whether Gaetz paid a 17-year-old girl for sex. Gaetz has denied the allegations and previously said they were part of an extortion plot. Orlando criminal defense attorney David Hill, who has no connection to the case, said extra time is sometimes needed in federal probes so that investigators have time to chase leads and verify what a cooperating defendant is telling them. If this is potentially going to take down a big fish, and the government thinks there is something to it, they want time to get as much information and verify it as well, Hill said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Meanwhile, in Pensacola, a man accused of orchestrating the extortion plot linked to Gaetz's federal sex investigation pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court. The trial of Stephen Alford, 62, is now scheduled for Dec. 6. Authorities said Alford was part of a scheme to get $25 million from a person identified in court records as D.G." In exchange, Alford said he could secure a pardon from then-President Donald Trump for a family member or get the Department of Justice to drop an investigation into the family member, as well as fund the release of a someone identified as R.L. Matt Gaetz's father is Don Gaetz, a former president of the Florida Senate. Others who approached Don Gaetz have said in news reports that they wanted to free Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran more than a decade ago. An attorney for Alford did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment. According to court records, Alford has previous fraud convictions, including a 2006 judgment where he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. While our esteemed congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Stillwater, purports to faithfully represent the interests of her North Country constituents, it has been abundantly apparent that, in fact, she unfailingly addresses the priorities of a single constituent: Stefanik herself. As an avowed mini-me of former President Donald Trumpian,Stefanik (I call her "E-lies") has shamelessly embraced the Trumpian, all-consuming delusion that the 2020 election was rigged and subsequently stolen. Despite characterizing herself as a bipartisan moderate, our representative has taken a hard-right turn in the company of firebrands House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. KINDERHOOK A new listing in Columbia County is not only impressive because of its age and architecture, but it has been decorated by its owners to celebrate its 18th century origins. The mansion at 24 Broad St. was built in 1765 for David Van Schaack, a member of a powerful Dutch family with deep ties in Kinderhook and Columbia County. The Georgian manor home has 5,796 square feet of living space, four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms. ALBANY New Yorks ethics commission is hiring outside counsel to conduct an inquiry into its own staffs approval of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos $5.1 million book deal last year. The new chairman of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Jose Nieves, announced after a closed-door session on Tuesday that outside counsel would be be retained to examine "the legal and procedural operations of the commission." But the meeting was conducted to discuss whether to conduct an inquiry into JCOPE's approval of the book deal, a person with knowledge of the matter told the Times Union last week. It was the first JCOPE meeting chaired by Nieves, who was appointed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday. It's unclear what law firm will be retained. The firm Hogan Lovells is currently assisting JCOPE in response to a subpoena the commission received from Attorney General Letitia James office as part of a criminal inquiry into Cuomo's book deal. I cannot fathom, given the low esteem that the commission is held in, why the commission persists in making these elliptical statements about what were doing, Commissioner Gary Lavine, a Senate Republican appointee to the body, said after the meeting. Lavine was also steamed by the brief public session at the meetings outset, when Nieves immediately put forward a motion to go into executive session. When it was his turn to vote, Commissioner David McNamara tried to enumerate the reasons why hed wanted the special meeting, and the motion he intended to introduce. McNamara said he wanted an examination of the circumstances, policies and practices that led to JCOPE approving Cuomos book deal. Commissioner McNamara, Nieves said, interrupting, Ill just say that I appreciate your statement ... is there a second on the motion to go into executive session? Lavine objected, stating that McNamara should be allowed to finish his statement. Still, the commission voted overwhelmingly to go into executive session, with Lavine the lone dissenter. Last week, the Times Union reported the internal review would likely focus on how JCOPE's deputy general counsel, Martin Levine, approved Cuomo's book deal 15 months ago. The book, "American Crisis," focused on the Cuomo administration's early response to the pandemic. In 2012, JCOPE's commissioners had passed a resolution allowing JCOPE staff to unilaterally take certain actions between JCOPE's meetings. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. In the summer of 2020, JCOPE held regular meetings scheduled in June and August. 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 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. There are other possible questions for a review. Former JCOPE chairman Michael Rozen has said he was privy to 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. Cuomo 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. The state Assembly's Judiciary Committee is also examining the circumstances of the book deal. ALBANY Two new initiatives announced Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul would provide funding to purchase prepared meals from restaurants for vulnerable populations including the elderly and the homeless. The first, called the Restaurant Meals Program, is part of the the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Under it, following approval by the federal government, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance would allow homeless, elderly and disabled SNAP recipients to use their benefits to buy prepared or hot food at reduced prices from participating restaurants. Currently, SNAP funds cannot be put toward prepared food. Hochul also announced the launch of the Restaurant Resiliency Program, which provides $25 million to 10 food banks across the state to buy hot meals from restaurants and deliver them to families in need. The program would aid an industry that continues to suffer from a pandemic-related reduction in business and is intended build on Nourish New York, Hochul said. The latter initiative, launched earlier this year, provides funds to food banks and other emergency food providers to buy surplus products from New York's farmers and dairy producers for distribution to those experiencing food insecurity. "It's unconscionable that in a state as prosperous as New York, many residents still struggle to get enough food to feed their families," Hochul said in a statement. "The vital actions we're taking establishing two restaurant programs to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers feed themselves and help restaurants recover from this terrible pandemic will work in tandem to put food on the table in homes across the state." "The legislation ... will ultimately result in more hot meal options for elderly, disabled or homeless New Yorkers who either lack basic cooking facilities or are physically unable to prepare food," state Sen. Roxanne Persaud, chair of the Senate Social Services Committee, said in a statement. The Restaurant Resiliency Program was passed as part of the 2021-22 state budget. Its $25 million in awards range from almost $800,000 to each of two Long Island food banks to about $10 million to the Food Bank for New York City; the Latham-based Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York will get $4.3 million. Restaurants approved for the program by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets will provide meals that meet MyPlate.gov standards and be encouraged to use New York-sourced products whenever possible. "The Nourish New York program has been a resounding success in its ability to address the needs of families who have found themselves in need of food assistance during the pandemic and to provide relief to our farmers who are struggling with the loss of key markets," Richard Ball, New York's agriculture commissioner, said in a statement. "By using the Nourish New York as a model to now help our restaurants, we will be able to reach even more New Yorkers and provide a steady customer base for our restaurants to help them get through these continued challenging times," Ball said. Tire manufacturer Nokian Tyres has announced the signing of a 10-year agreement with Gasum, a Nordic energy company, for the supply of renewable wind energy. The wind energy will be produced by a new wind farm in North Ostrobothnia and will provide sustainable electricity for Nokians Finnish factory and for Vianor operations in Finland, starting in 2023. ') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> ') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write(' ') } // --> ') } else if (width >= 425) { console.log ('largescreen'); document.write('') } else { console.log ('nompuad'); document.write('') } // --> The Finnish factory has been using electricity from renewable energy sources since 2019, and the agreement with Gasum was signed to ensure a continuous supply of green electricity would be available for factory use in the future. This is another step on our way to cut CO 2 emissions according to our ambitious Science Based Targets and our commitment to renewable energy, commented Teppo Huovila, vice president, quality and sustainability, Nokian Tyres. We have already installed solar panels on the rooftop of our warehouse in Nokia, Finland, above the parking lot of our factory in Dayton, USA, and in our new testing center in Spain. The Finnish Wind Power Association states that the share of wind-powered electricity is 20 times greater than 10 years ago, and during 2020, nearly 10% of electricity used in Finland was generated by wind. Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms are back online after a massive global outage plunged the services and the businesses and people who rely on them into chaos for hours Las Vegas police say officers fatally shot a man who had fired at them and that a woman who was with the man also was wounded Sinch AB Buys Email Delivery Solutions Provider Pathwire for $1.9 Billion Email is the most-used communications channel in business today. Companies use it to communicate internally and with partners, and to open two-way communications channels with customers. Its a valuable marketing and sales tool and remains highly effective when it comes to response rates. Businesses turn to cloud-based email service providers to avoid costly in-house solutions and to ensure that each message reaches its recipient as intended. Swedish cloud communications company Sinch AB has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire cloud email delivery solutions provider Pathwire. The purchase includes Pathwires popular Mailgun, Mailjet and Email on Acid products for developers and marketers. Sinch will pay the sellers a cash consideration of $925 million and 51 million new shares in Sinch. At current share prices and exchange rates, the value of the transaction is approximately U.S. $1.9 billion, or SEK 16.6 billion. Pathwire offers an email deliverability platform for transactional and marketing email. The platform, according to Pathwire, was built to remove the complexities of the worlds most-used digital communications channel, helping ensure that the right messages are delivered to the right person at the right time. Currently, more than 100,000 businesses use Pathwires products to engage with their customers, including major brands such as Lyft, Kajabi, Microsoft, Iterable, and DHL. With the acquisition, Sinch is slated to become one of the few global communications platform as a service (CPaaS) providers that can deliver high quality at scale across all the main digital communications channels that businesses use to engage with their customers, said the company. 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, said Oscar Werner, CEO of Sinch, in a statement. 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. Please enable JavaScript to view the Edited by Luke Bellos [October 05, 2021] 3D-Micromac Introduces New Laser System for Half- and Shingled-Cell Cutting in Photovoltaic Manufacturing CHEMNITZ, Germany, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 3D-Micromac AG, the industry leader in laser micromachining and roll-to-roll laser systems for the semiconductor, photovoltaic (PV), medical device and electronics markets, today introduced an advanced laser cutting system for half- and shingled solar cells the microCELL MCS. The new microCELL MCS advanced laser system has been designed to meet the PV market's demands for boosting module power output and service life by minimizing power losses and providing for an exceptionally high mechanical strength of cut cells. It enables the highest throughputs for cutting cell sizes up to M12/G12 into half-cells or shingled cells. Heckert Solar GmbH, one of the largest and leading German manufacturers of high-performance PV modules, has purchased two microCELL MCS systems for its plants in Thuringia (LWD Solar GmbH) and Chemnitz. Cell cutting fueling recent advances in PV manufacturing In recent years, cutting solar cells into half-cells has become a key strategy for PV manufacturing by enabling remarkable gains in power output and mechanical strength at the module level. This trend has been accompanied by the switch to larger full-cell formats and the related increase in module power ratings1. Cutting cells into half- and third-cells or even shingles compensates for the increased power loss associated with the higher cell currents from larger wafer areas ensuring that cell cutting remains at the heart of PV manufacturing for the foreseeable future. The microCELL MS system takes advantage of 3D-Micromac's patented thermal laser separation (TLS) process for cell separation. The ablation-free technique guarantees an excellent edge quality. As a result, the separated cells have up to 30 percent higher mechanical strength compared to ablative laser processes and enable a lower power degradation over the solar module's life cycle. By significantly reducing edge recombination losses and setting the stage for cutting edge passivation, TLS has been shown to achieve a module power gain of at least 2W. Key benefits of the microCELL MCS include: One-pass contactless dicing process, which provides for a significantly higher mechanical stability than conventionally processed solar cells 2 Unsurpassed flexibility on number of cell cuts in standard configuration, the laser system cuts half-cells. Depending on the number of laser sources, the system is able to cut up to sixth-cut cells without decreasing the throughput Superior productivity of more than 6,000 wafers per hour Outstanding upgradeability easy integration of additional laser modules to increase the number of cell cuts Future proofed by accommodating wafer sizes up to M12/G12 Suitable for solar cells with temperature-sensitive coatings or depositions such as heterojunction technology (HJT) cells "The use of half- and shingled cells in PV modules will have an enormous impact on industry growth in the coming years. With our new microCELL MCS laser system, we provide a future-proof production solution to module manufacturers that perfectly fits into an intelligent and scalable cell production line. The system can be upgraded with additional lasers with minimal effort to enable a higher number of cuts per wafer without compromising on throughput," stated Uwe Wagner, CEO of 3D-Micromac. 3D-Micromac will showcase the microCELL MCS advanced laser system at Intersolar Europe Restart, being held this week from October 6-8 in Munich, Germany. Event attendees can visit 3D-Micromac at booth A5.338 in Hall A to learn more. For more information on the microCELL laser systems, please visit: https://3d-micromac.com/laser-micromachining/products/microcell/. References 1 SolarPower Europe Global Market Outlook for Solar Power, 2021 2025 / International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV), 2020 2 Felix Kaule, Fraunhofer CSP: "Mechanical Damage of Half-Cell Cutting Technologies in Solar Cells and Module Laminates" in AIP Conference Proceedings 1999 About 3D-Micromac Founded in 2002, 3D-Micromac AG is the industry leader in laser micromachining, delivering powerful, user-friendly and leading-edge processes with superior production efficiency. We develop processes, machines and turnkey solutions at the highest technical and technological level. 3D-Micromac systems and services have been successfully implemented in various high-tech industries worldwide including photovoltaic, semiconductor, glass and display industries, micro diagnostics, and medical technology. For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.3d-micromac.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/3d-micromac-introduces-new-laser-system-for-half--and-shingled-cell-cutting-in-photovoltaic-manufacturing-301392858.html SOURCE 3D-Micromac [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Accurate Group Strengthens Leadership Team with New Director of Valuation Operations and Chief Appraiser Accurate Group, a leading provider of technology-driven real estate appraisal, title data, analytics, and e-closing solutions, today announced Tony Pistilli will join the company as Director of Valuation Operations and Chief Appraiser. In this new role, Tony will join the company's leadership team and report to Steve Baczkowski, COO of Accurate Group. Pistilli will lead Accurate Group's valuation operations, compliance, valuation strategy and product innovation functions, including Traditional Appraisal, BPO, Inspections, Data and Analytics and ValueNet. "As a market leader in appraisal management technology, title information and e-closing solutions, Accurate Group has been successful in attracting top industry talent and I'm pleased to welcome Tony to the team," stated Steve Baczkowski. "I'm extremely impressed with Tony's track record as an industry leader, and I am very excited to see what the combination of Tony's talents and our highly skilled valuation team can achieve as they drive the company's vision forward." Pistilli most recently held the role of SVP, General Manager of Valuation Services and Chief Appraiser for Computershare Valuation Services, LLC and has over 30 years of executive level real estate appraising and lending experience with national banks, mortgage companies, fedral agencies, and major appraisal management companies. "Accurate Group's latest influx of capital has perfectly positioned the company in the real estate technology industry and I'm excited for the opportunity to work with management to accelerate the company's growth through continued use of innovative technology and state-of-the-art appraisal products," Pistilli stated. Tony is a member of several appraisal industry organizations and is a subject matter expert for the Appraisal Foundation in the area of declining markets. He currently serves as vice-chair of the Colorado Real Estate Appraiser Board and is an AQB Certified USPAP Instructor. About Accurate Group Accurate Group is a real estate technology and services leader delivering technology-driven property appraisal, title data, analytics and digital closing solutions to banks, credit unions, servicers, non-banks, and capital market firms. By combining modern process automation, accurate data and innovative SaaS (News - Alert) and mobile technologies, Accurate Group provides its clients with the best combination of speed, quality, regulatory compliance, and price. With Accurate Group, the real estate finance community and consumers benefit from market-leading solutions that enable modern digital frameworks, improve accuracy, lower costs, and improve compliance across all types of real estate loans, mortgage-related assets, and real estate portfolios. Visit www.accurategroup.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005184/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Adi Jayaraman Joins Evercore as Senior Managing Director in its FinTech Advisory Practice Evercore (NYSE: EVR) announced today that Adi Jayaraman has joined the Firm's Investment Banking business as a Senior Managing Director in its Technology Advisory practice. He will be based in New York and will be a leader in the Firm's FinTech efforts globally. Mr. Jayaraman has almost two decades of FinTech industry experience and has been a trusted advisor to clients in the FinTech and Information Services Industry for more than a decade. Mr. Jayaraman joins from Citi, where he was a Managing Director in the Fintech & Information Services Investment Banking Division. Ralph Schlosstein, Evercore's Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, said, "Digital disruption of Financial Services is occurring at an unprecedented pace, and it has been a strategic priority of ours to build a leading franchise in the FinTech sector. We are extremely pleased that Adi has chosen to join our Firm. Adi's deep industry knowledge and extensive experience in this fast growing sector will enable us to provide best-in-class service to our clients in the converging Technology, Financial Institutions and Information Services industries." John S. Weinberg, Evercore's Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, added, "We see substantial growth opportunities inFinTech. Adi is well known for the objectivity, creativity and deep thought that he brings to his clients' most complex strategic and financial challenges. We are thrilled he has agreed to join Evercore and to help us build and be a leader for us in this important sector." Mr. Jayaraman added, "Evercore has advised on some of the most high-profile situations in recent years. Their focus on providing high quality, differentiated and independent advice is highly valued by clients. I am excited about the opportunity to join the Evercore team and to help the Firm enhance its already well-established Technology, Financial Institutions and Information Services practices." Mr. Jayaraman holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Computer Science from Baruch College, CUNY, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Delhi. About Evercore Evercore (NYSE: EVR) is a premier global independent investment banking advisory firm. We are dedicated to helping our clients achieve superior results through trusted independent and innovative advice on matters of strategic significance to boards of directors, management teams and shareholders, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic shareholder advisory, restructurings, and capital structure. Evercore also assists clients in raising public and private capital and delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors. Founded in 1995, the Firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices and affiliate offices in major financial centers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. For more information, please visit www.evercore.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005393/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Amionx Secures Series B Funding to Accelerate Technology Transfer CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Amionx today announced it has secured the initial tranche of its Series B financing round with participation from existing investor Qualcomm Ventures LLC, as well as Hongkou Management and Inherent Group as new investors. The primary purpose for the funds will be to add resources to accelerate the transfer of its patented SafeCore technology to lithium-ion battery manufacturers. "We are delighted to have the continued support of Qualcomm," said Jenna King, CEO of Amionx. "We welcome our new investors Hongkou Management and Inherent Group, and we are deeply appreciative of their belief in our technology. We have worked diligently to demonstrate the effectiveness of SafeCore in multiple chemistries across numerous applications. This additional capital will be very helpful as we look to manage multiple transfers of our technology into scale battery manufacturers." "Our investment in Amionx fits well with our investment thesis in supporting enabling technology for decarbonization," said Nikhil Mirchandani, Portfolio Manager at Inherent Group. "We conducted significant diligence during the investment process and believe Amionx has a solution that is differentiated and more easily deployed than other safety solutions for the lithium-ion battery market. With the increased number of recent incidents in the EV market like the Chevrolet Bolt recall and the Tesla Megapack fire in Australia, there is clearly a need for a safety solution that can easily integrate into the battery manufacturing process without compromising performance and we think SafeCore is the best candidate." "Amionx has a simple, yet elegant solution for helping reduce the number of fires and explosions in lithium-ion batteries," said Peter Zhou, Founder & Managing Partner of Hongkou. "The Company has demonstrated the effectiveness of SafeCore for electric vehicles, cosumer electronics, and other applications, and SafeCore is easily integrated into existing manufacturing processes. We are excited to see the technology commercialized across end-markets and play an important role in ensuring confidence in battery safety." SafeCore helps address the major events associate with thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries which are overcharge and internal short as well as certain high temperature situations. The key benefits of SafeCore are: Virtually no increase to the bill of materials for lithium-ion batteries No incremental capital cost Longer lifetime of battery Longer shelf life of battery Allows for design of smaller and lighter battery systems Applicable to other chemistries such as nano-silicon and lithium metal as well as solid state About Amionx Amionx is a leader in safe battery technology with headquarters in Carlsbad, CA. Our patented and proprietary SafeCore technology helps prevent batteries from being the source of explosion or fire. This technology is transforming the current use of lithium-ion batteries and opening new market opportunities where lithium batteries have been excluded primarily due to safety concerns. More information can be found on the Amionx website at www.amionx.com . Amionx Contact: Bill Davidson (888) 473-8500 info@amionx.com About Qualcomm Ventures Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us. For more information please visit: www.qualcommventures.com. About Hongkou Management Hongkou Management is a registered investment advisor based in New York. Hongkou focuses on the impact of technology and invests globally in public and private companies. Hongkou employs a selective approach to early-stage investments, focusing on emerging innovations that have the potential to disrupt large markets. About Inherent Group Inherent Group's mission is to drive increased investment in sustainability-linked strategies by demonstrating superior risk-adjusted returns in its funds. We aim to show businesses that they can create revenue growth opportunities and lower their costs of capital by leading on material sustainability issues. Through our engagement, we encourage business owners and managers to incorporate sustainability into their decision-making. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/amionx-secures-series-b-funding-to-accelerate-technology-transfer-301392280.html SOURCE Amionx [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Application Whitelisting by PC Matic Available in Australia to Prevent Ransomware's Global Spread MYRTLE BEACH, S.C., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As ransomware attacks surge globally, Australians are choosing PC Matic's application whitelisting to proactively stop ransomware. PC Matic announced technical and sales support for its business product line, PC Matic Pro and PC Matic MSP, during Australian business hours. "Our mission is to protect the world from ransomware, and Australians understand that application whitelisting is a critical element in any security stack to proactively stop ransomware," aid Rob Cheng, CEO and Founder of PC Matic. In direct response to the spread of ransomware, the Australian Signals Directorate, issued the Essential Eight Maturity Model with four maturity levels (0-3). Levels 1, 2, and 3, require application whitelisting also called application control. "PC Matic's global whitelist makes it easy to deploy and maintain application whitelisting and to meet the application whitelisting requirements given in Essential Eight," said Mani Padisetti, Chief Operating Officer at Digital Armour Corporation in New South Wales, Australia. PC Matic initially plans to support the Australian market from the far western American state of Hawaii. PC Matic Pro uses the company's patented global whitelisting technology to proactively block cyber threats such as ransomware. PC Matic Pro is engineered to seamlessly stack on top of other traditional endpoint solutions and serves as an additional preventative layer for infrastructure, industry, and all levels of government. To learn more about PC Matic, click here . About PC Matic: Founded in 1999, PC Matic is an American cybersecurity company focused on affordable preventative solutions to today's cyber threats. PC Matic pioneered the cloud-based whitelist of applications, making application whitelisting affordable and easy to use. In 2021, the National Institute of Standards and Technology appointed PC Matic as its application whitelisting partner in the world renowned Zero Trust Center of Excellence. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/application-whitelisting-by-pc-matic-available-in-australia-to-prevent-ransomwares-global-spread-301392361.html SOURCE PC Matic [October 05, 2021] BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Reports Strong Q3 2021 Results on all of the Company's Activities VANCOUVER, BC and REHOVOT, Israel, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- BioHarvest Sciences Inc. ("BioHarvest" or the "Company") (CSE: BHSC) today announced another strong quarter, fueled by strong growth of VINIA sales in Israel and the U.S. Q3 VINIA pilot sales revenues were USD 688K representing 44% growth over Q2 2021 and 1,198% growth over Q3 2020. In Israel, the Company reports record sales orders of USD 452K during Q3 2021 for its flagship VINIA product. 10% growth over Q2 2021 and 768% growth over Q3 2020. The continued adoption of VINIA in Israel and the high percentage (55%) of revenue in Q3 from returning customers demonstrate the health benefits, efficacy, and overall loyalty to the product. Sales orders in the ongoing U.S. pilot program, which launched in May 2021, were USD 236K, representing 251% growth over Q2 2021, with sales orders in September 2021 exceeding USD 100K. With 90% of sales being subscription packages generating monthly recurring revenue, $80 average transaction spend and with 48% of customers being "repeat" customers, we are confident that we can build a scalable, sustainable, and profitable business. The metrics are a good predictor of future demand in the U.S. for VINIA. Supplying the anticipated demand growth requires our new manufacturing facility to be up and running before we add additional marketing layers and increase spending levels as part of the scaling of our U.S. business. To support the projected strong demand, primarily in the U.S., the Company made major progress towards the commissioning of a new 20 Tons/year VINIA manufacturing facility in Israel. The Company also made substantial progress on its Cannabis vertical in Q3. This includes the successful development of the Amalgamated Trichome Coral Structure (News Release dated August 19, 2021) and the scaling of the production to mid-size bioreactors (News Release dated eptember 1, 2021) This continues to pave the road for the first commercial availability of our Cannabis product by the end of H1 2022. With regards to the Company's financing activities, BioHarvest announced in its October 4, 2021, press release that it raised net proceeds USD 3,484,849 via private placement financing and received USD 4,407,455 through the exercise of warrants. This has provided the financing to support the Company's immediate goals. Ilan Sobel, CEO, said "I am very proud of our Q3 results fueled by strong growth in VINIA sales in Israel and the U.S. This increased demand, especially in our VINIA 'pilot phase' gives us confidence in building a scalable business in the U.S. This quarter's strong results and accomplishments, further validates our vision, strategy and leadership position in plant-based bio-technology." Q3 Shareholder Update We invite all interested investors and media to our next Shareholder Update, to be held at 11am PST, October 14, 2021. The online meeting will be hosted by the CEO, Ilan Sobel, and will feature a live Question and Answer session. If you are not available to attend live, please register and we can send you the session recording after the event. Register at: https://app.livestorm.co/st-financial/october-2021-bhsc-shareholder-update?type=detailed About BioHarvest Sciences Inc. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) is a fast-growing Biotech firm listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. BioHarvest has developed a patented bio-cell growth platform technology capable of growing the active and beneficial ingredients in fruit and plants, at industrial scale, without the need to grow the plant itself. This technology is economical, ensures consistency, and avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional agriculture. BioHarvest is currently focused on nutraceuticals and the medicinal cannabis markets. Visit: www.bioharvest.com. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Ilan Sobel, Chief Executive Officer About BioHarvest Sciences Inc. Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release includes forward-looking statements that are based on management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance that the Israeli market results will translate directly into the U.S. markets which may depend on different consumer preferences and more substantial marketing expenditures and resources. There is no assurance that strong sales metrics experienced to date will result in future demand or that proposed additional marketing expenditures will result in increased sales. Markets for nutraceuticals are unpredictable and subject to changes in consumer tastes and trends as well as economic factors beyond our control. Delays and cost overruns may result in delays achieving our objectives obtaining market acceptance, and regulatory approvals for geographic expansion is subject to risk and cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance of commercial availability of our Cannabis product by H1 2022. There is no assurance of the imminent commissioning of the superfruit facility or the conversion of the two tons VINIA facility to Cannabis production in the first half of 2022. These things are subject to construction and approval delays and uncertainties that may be beyond the control of BioHarvest. Projected sales of Cannabis will require the Company to obtain production and/or export licensing which cannot be assured. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and actual results may be affected by a number of material factors beyond our control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BHSC does not intend to update forward-looking statement disclosures other than through our regular management discussion and analysis disclosures. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1558310/BioHarvest_Sciences_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bioharvest-sciences-inc-reports-strong-q3-2021-results-on-all-of-the-companys-activities-301392851.html SOURCE BioHarvest Sciences Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Blue Wolf Capital Named in Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC ("Blue Wolf"), a New York-based private equity firm, today announced it was named to Inc.'s third annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track record of success backing entrepreneurs. "Entrepreneurship is at the heart of Blue Wolf and we are proud to partner with innovative leaders to transform their businesses, bring key stakeholders together and generate value," Adam Blumenthal, Managing Partner of Blue Wolf. "We are honored to be recognized and believe it is a reflection of our outstanding team and their ability to work collaboratively with founders and management teams across our portfolio companies." "Supporting an entrepreneur's vision and driving growth is more than just a financial investment. It's about building a relationship and supporting the founders beyond that initial year. These private equity firms treat the founders like partners," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. media. Since Blue Wolf's founding 15 years ago, it has established a distinctive catalyst-driven approach to building stronger businesses, focused on combining financial and operational discipline with environmental, social, and governance principles. Working hand-in-hand with management teams, Blue Wolf takes a collaborative investment approach that is both value-generating and values-driven, which has translated to its proven track record of transforming businesses to create sustainable value for stakeholders and investors. Blue Wolf demonstrated its ability to drive value for founder-owned businesses with the formation and ultimate successful sale of the Mulch and Soil Company earlier this year. Blue Wolf formed the Mulch and Soil Company in 2018 through a merger of Forestry Resources and later K&B Landscapes - two founder-owned businesses based on Florida - with the mulch division from Suwannee Lumber Company. Under Blue Wolf's leadership prior to the sale, the Mulch and Soil Company became one of the Southeast region's leading manufacturers of premium mulch and soil products. According to Inc., the final Founder-Friendly Investors list recognizes firms that entrepreneurs can trust and collaborate with while receiving the financial support they need to hep accelerate growth. The firms selected have a successful track record of remaining actively involved in the businesses after their investment. To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships. To see the complete list, go to: http://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2021. The October 2021 issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and will be on newsstands beginning October 5, 2021. About Blue Wolf Capital Partners Blue Wolf Capital Partners LLC is a private equity firm that specializes in control investments in middle market companies. Leading by experience, and with a commitment to excellence, Blue Wolf transforms companies strategically, operationally and collaboratively. Blue Wolf manages challenging situations and complex relationships between business, customers, employees, unions, and regulators to build value for stakeholders. For additional information, please visit www.bluewolfcapital.com. About Inc. The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com. The Founder-Friendly Investors list of 2021 recognition presented herein is awarded by Inc., a third-party that is not affiliated with Blue Wolf, requested nominees provide them with a certain number of entrepreneur references, and Inc. independently assessed the nominees based on responses to a questionnaire by such entrepreneur references. The number of nominees reviewed for this recognition was not disclosed to Blue Wolf, and therefore, it and the percentage of nominees receiving the recognition, cannot be disclosed herein. Inc.'s recognition is not indicative of Blue Wolf's future performance and does not reflect the experience of, or any rating by, Blue Wolf's investors. Blue Wolf paid an application fee to participate in this process. For more information regarding this recognition, please see the linked publication. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005639/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Central Logic Integrates Offering and Rebrands to ABOUT, Signaling Move to Maximize a Connected Network of Care ST. PAUL, Minn., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Central Logic announced the integration of two earlier acquisitions with their core solution today. The integration of Ensocare (which automates the inpatient referral process to post-acute care [PAC]) and Acuity Link (a leading provider of transportation communications and logistics management software) into the Central Logic portfolio creates an end-to-end solution for orchestrating patient access across the healthcare continuum. The integration, combined with Central Logic's existing proven technology and consulting solutions, empowers hospitals to operate as a Real Time Health System (RTHS) and a connected network of care. The integration is part of CEO Angie Franks' broader strategic vision for an end-to-end solution. Franks joined the board of directors in 2014 and was named CEO in 2017. She quickly recognized gaps in how health systems were addressing patient access, the expansion of care settings, and health equity. Additionally, Franks identified an increase of hospital mergers and acquisitions that lead to diversified geographical regions and disparate electronic health record (EHR) systems and processes. Tis further complicated a systemic approach to care. Franks realized that in order to solve these systemic challenges, looking holistically outside the hospital walls is necessary. She set a new vision for the company, and the creation of an end-to-end solution is one step toward bringing Franks' vision to life. Another step on that trajectory is rebranding the company to reflect its market-leading position more accurately in the access and orchestration space, and its holistic approach to patient care. Today Central Logic also introduced its rebranded company: ABOUT Healthcare, Inc. For more details about the rebrand, please see the video on the ABOUT homepage at www.abouthealthcare.com . "Our new brand is more than a new name and logo. It's opening a conversation about what access and orchestrationand healthcarecan be about," Franks said. "We're creating a paradigm shift to more proactiveand less reactivecare by orchestrating the decision-making process." She added: "Powered by real-time data and best practices, the technology, processes and expertise from ABOUT help move patients into, out of, and through various care settings; as well as coordinating their transportation. We're bringing health and care closer together and connecting the disconnected by providing health systems with the necessary controls and insights needed to grow with resilience, drive clinician effectiveness, and improve patient outcomes." The pandemic as proof The ability to operate as one system of care is exemplified by the role ABOUT played in the creation and execution of the Arizona Surge Line, which ensures all COVID-19 patients across the state receive appropriate access to care. More than 100 hospitals with varying ownerships, affiliations and EHRs participate in the Surge Line. The ABOUT solution enables the Surge Line to provide referring hospitals anywhere in Arizona with one phone number to navigate patients to the appropriate level of care, including transport coordination and real-time patient tracking. The Surge Line does not supplant the transfer and access centers operated by participating health systems. It sits on top of, and is the front door to, all of the individual transfer centers for COVID-19 referrals. Using the ABOUT solution, the Arizona Surge Line integrates data from dozens of EHRs and other information systems and delivers real-time visibility into available intensive care unit (ICU) beds, specialists, ventilators and other sometimes scarce resourcesguaranteeing faster access to care for patients. "We were able to successfully power the Arizona Surge Line on this massive scale due to our many years of experience working at the health system level," Franks said. "The pandemic has awoken the healthcare industry to how we can address chronic, deep-rooted issuesin particular the fragmented, reactionary, and inefficient use of resources." She added: "This is a bold, innovative change for hospitals and health systems. By focusing on eliminating traditional silos of information and communication to reduce time to care, providers can create greater predictability throughout the patient journey and ensure consistent optimal clinical outcomes. ABOUT is leading that change nowand will continue to lead in the future." About the Company ABOUT offers a flexible, purpose-built solution that empowers hospitals and health systems to operate as one connected network of care. We enable easy access for clinicians to move patients into and out of the acute care settinggetting them to the next, best care setting faster and easier. Complemented by our clinical experts and best practices, we provide health systems the necessary controls and insights to grow with resilience, drive clinician effectiveness, and improve patient outcomes. For more information, visit www.abouthealthcare.com. Media Contact Tara Stultz Amendola Communications for ABOUT 440-225-9595 tstultz@acmarketingpr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/central-logic-integrates-offering-and-rebrands-to-about-signaling-move-to-maximize-a-connected-network-of-care-301392690.html SOURCE ABOUT [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] eFileCabinet Expands Document Management and Workflow Automation Footprint with Launch of New Point of Presence in Canada eFileCabinet today announced a new regional point of presence (PoP) in Canada. Today's announcement is a part of eFileCabinet's global expansion of PoPs to additional geographic locations to meet growing customer demand for its powerful document management and workflow automation platform. This new PoP in Canada will help better serve the needs of select customers in Canada with more stringent Canadian data residency and data processing requirements. "At eFileCabinet, we help our customers automate and secure repetitive, document-centric processes so they can focus on the work that matters most," said Jesse Wood, eFileCabinet CEO. "We are very excited to be able to better serve our Canadian customers by offering our powerful digital transformation benefits to more customers in Canada." With the adoption of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), some companies and government agencies are now specifically required t limit sensitive data from crossing Canadian borders. The company's new Canada PoP follows previous expansions with PoPs in the UK and in the US for GovCloud customers. With its continued expansion into additional regions, including Canada, eFileCabinet continues to provide high-value cloud-based document management and workflow automation solutions, including Rubex, the company's award-winning flagship platform. Availability eFileCabinet is now available in Canada. Please contact SalesRequest@eFileCabinet.com for additional product and service availability information. About eFileCabinet Since 2001, eFileCabinet has been perfecting its approach to intelligent organization to create one of the most advanced document management systems on the market. As a leader in document management, workflow automation, and secure file-sharing, eFileCabinet has been helping businesses increase profitability and growth by revolutionizing their outdated business processes. For more, visit efilecabinet.com or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005194/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Eutelsat's Konnect Africa Selected by Globacom to Bring Satellite Broadband to Underserved Regions of Nigeria Regulatory News: In the presence of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, Eutelsat (News - Alert) Communications (Paris:ETL) (Euronext Paris: ETL) and Globacom have signed at the Elysee Palace in Paris, a multi-year, multi-Gbps wholesale capacity contract, enabling Globacom to extend its coverage beyond the reach of its terrestrial infrastructure, leveraging the EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite. The service will be used to deliver high-speed broadband via satellite to businesses and communities in unconnected and underserved areas throughout Nigeria. Globacom, trading under the name Glo, is a multinational telecommunications company and the second largest operator in Nigeria, with a market share of circa 28% and over 51 million subscribers. In service since early 2021, EUTELSAT KONNECT is a new-generation High Throughput Satellite offering unprecedented operational flexibility. Delivering significant resources for broadband services with quasi-complete coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa, it adresses direct-to-user consumer and enterprise broadband services, with a comprehensive range of packages from bite-sized "pay as you go" vouchers through to monthly and annual contracts. Commenting on the agreement, Rodolphe Belmer, Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat, said: "We are honoured to have been selected by Globacom, one of the leading telecommunications operators in Africa's most populous market, to extend the reach of its services. This agreement illustrates the unparalled resources of our powerful EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite to satisfy the strong demand for connectivity in underserved regions throughout the African continent." Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., Chairman of Globacom Limited, added: "We are delighted to add satellite services to our portfolio, leveraging the state-of-the art EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite to extend connectivity to even far-flung areas in Nigeria, in lne with our mission to build Africa's biggest and best telecommunications network. The infrastructure will complement our Glo 1 submarine cable and extensive fibre optic layout across the country." About Eutelsat Communications Founded in 1977, Eutelsat Communications is one of the world's leading satellite operators. With a global fleet of satellites and associated ground infrastructure, Eutelsat enables clients across Video, Data, Government, Fixed and Mobile Broadband markets to communicate effectively to their customers, irrespective of their location. Around 7,000 television channels operated by leading media groups are broadcast by Eutelsat to one billion viewers equipped for DTH reception or connected to terrestrial networks. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat assembles 1,200 men and women from 50 countries who are dedicated to delivering the highest quality of service. For more about Eutelsat go to www.eutelsat.com ABOUT GLOBACOM Globacom is West Africa's leading digital solutions provider. The company started operations in 2003 as Nigeria's national telecommunications operator. It currently has a subscriber-base of over 51 million, and is credited with driving Nigeria's telephone penetration by forcing down the cost of voice and data services. It is also leading the broadband penetration with its nationwide fibre optic cable and 4G LTE (News - Alert) network. Under its founder and Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Jr. (GCON), Globacom is today the largest integrated technology service provider in Nigeria, servicing Enterprises, SMEs, mid-size corporates, public sector organizations and millions of individuals all over Nigeria and Ghana. The company in 2010 singlehandedly constructed an independently owned submarine cable, Glo 1, from the United Kingdom to Nigeria, with branching units in several African countries. The facility has addressed West Africa's bandwidth requirement and offered governments, individuals and businesses the benefits of reliable and affordable internet. For more about Globacom, visit go to www.gloworld.com www.eutelsat.com - Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @Eutelsat_SA View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005551/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Illinois HIV Care Connect Launches HIV Innovation Campaign Illinois HIV Care Connect today launched its HIV Innovation web and social media campaign, showcasing several Illinois HIV initiatives that are helping to prevent or treat HIV more effectively. Articles about five initiatives so far are located on the HIV Innovation page of hivcareconnect.com. The page features the Getting to Zero Illinois HIV Dashboard, the Central Illinois Friends organization, the Transgender Women Involved in Strategies for Transformation (TWIST) intervention being implemented by the Community Wellness Project in E. St. Louis, RuralHarmony's outreach and research effort, and Cicero's Corazon Community Services. More articles will be added in the coming months. The #HIVInnovation campaign will be visible on Illinois HIV Care Connect's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media platforms. A quiz relating to the five initiatives offers an easy way to understand how innovative programs are improving the lives of persons living with HIV in Illinois. The HIV Innovation campaign is Illinois HIV Care Connect's eighth annual quality improvement initiative, following programs on HIV stigma, HIV and youth, social determinants of health, HIV treatment as prevention, viral suppression, staying in HIV care, and HIV and mental health. "We chose HIV Innovation to celebrate the important role Illinois continues to play in the HIV arena," said Jeffery Erdman, the associate executive director of the Illinois Public Health Association, which administers the Illinois HIV Care Connect program. "Illinois is a hub for leading HIV research, legislation, outreach and communication. Throughout the state, we continue to see remarkable innovations in virtually all aspects of HIV prevention and treatment." Illinois HIV Care Connect is funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health. About Illinois HIV Care Connect Illinois HIV Care Connect is a statewide network providing medical case management, health care and support services to people living with HIV. Illinois HIV Care Connect's eight lead agency offices serve people living with HIV in all of Illinois' 102 counties. https://hivcareconnect.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005089/en/ [October 05, 2021] Innodem Neurosciences Signs a Strategic Partnership with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. MONTREAL, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - Innodem Neurosciences announced today that it has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. (Novartis) to conduct a breakthrough clinical trial to help people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). Innodem's AI-powered, patented, eye tracking software technology is embodied in a mobile application that turns a tablet into a device capable of capturing and analyzing Eye Movement Biomarkers (EMBs) and Gaze Mapping Biomarkers (GMBs) to assist a clinician's diagnosis and monitor MS disease progression. Digital EMB and GMB tests are non-invasive and can be completed in minutes in the clinic's waiting room or by the patient at home. Remote self-testing is a major advantage during a pandemic and for people living with MS residing in rural areas who cannot easily access a neurologist. "The financing from Novartis will fund a carefully designed cross-sectional and longitudinal MS study that will last until 2027. As a practicing neurologist, I'm hopeful that the study will validate just how Innodem's technology can assist clinicians in monitoring disease progression as early as possible to improve MS treatment and patient outcomes," said Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, cognitive neurologist, main founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innodem. "This partnership is the result of an ongoing collaboration that was architected over the past two years. It embodies our common goal and commitment to improving quality of care for people living with MS globally," added Marc Reeves, co-founder and Chief Business Officer of Innodem. "At Novartis, we are committed to innovation and becoming the leaders in the health tech space. After reviewing existing solutions, we selected Innodem's proprietary eye trackng technology and believe it to be the most promising and one that can easily scale due to its ease-of-use. We anticipate that the trial will confirm its relevancy so that more people living with MS and treating clinicians can have access to it in Canada and across the world," commented Andrea Marazzi, Country Pharma Organization Head, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. Over the course of the trial, people living with MS will test twice a month and the data will be correlated with the current gold standard Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) and Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) scores to assist clinicians in detecting subtle changes indicative of disease progression and that may not show up using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Innodem management believes that the multi-year trial will demonstrate that novel digital EMBs and GMBs can measure these changes accurately, easily and cost-effectively. "A clinician whose patient shows objective signs of progressive MS may recommend a better adapted treatment which could, if detected early, prevent this individual from developing further disability. No practical companion diagnostic test currently exists to detect progressive MS, and I believe EMBs and GMBs can fill that important gap," added Dr. de Villers-Sidani. About INNODEM NEUROSCIENCES Founded in 2016, Innodem Neurosciences has developed patented mobile digital biomarking technology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and related disorders, Frontotemporal Dementia and related disorders and Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment ("chemo brain"). This novel eye-tracking and cognition testing technology is embodied in a HIPAA/PIPEDA compliant system consisting of an intuitive tablet application connected to a cloud-based AI infrastructure. The app is made up of a series of tasks that are completed in minutes, where a user's eye movement is recorded in data sets called Eye Movement Biomarkers (EMBs) and Gaze Mapping Biomarkers (GMBs). Innodem's core team, led by cognitive neurologist & CEO Dr. Etienne de Villers-Sidani, is composed of an intersectional group of neuroscientists, software engineers, data scientists, healthcare professionals and serial entrepreneurs. The company's mission is to provide easier ways to do remote testing for all stages of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer-related cognitive impairment to improve quality of care and patient outcomes, at unseen levels of user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness for the global health system. For further information, please consult www.innodemneurosciences.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innodem-neurosciences-signs-a-strategic-partnership-with-novartis-pharmaceuticals-canada-inc-301392586.html SOURCE Innodem Neurosciences [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] JobKred Launches AI-powered Lithium, A Skills Intelligence Platform with Embedded Analytics Tools SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- JobKred, a skills intelligence company, announced today the launch of its latest AI-powered platform Lithium. Lithium provides enhanced visibility and analytics into the skills ecosystem of an enterprise. As companies seek to enhance their agility during these volatile times, JobKred enables companies to make data-driven decisions about their people and business with real-time skills and labour market intelligence. Digital technologies are great enablers of change across business processes. Despite rapid adoption of technologies, research has revealed that 82% of ASEAN CEOs are still concerned about the availability of the right skills in the market, which would in turn constrain business growth and hinder companies' ability to tackle the challenges and demands of an ever-evolving world. Although more companies are turning to technology to build a sustainable workforce, many do not know how to identify the skills they need to acquire or develop. Make better decisions with Skills Intelligence Understanding the difficulties companies face in evaluating the skills and capability of their workforce, Lithium provides a structured approach to analyse and review their talent pool. It serves as a central hub for skills data with an integrated skills ecosystem connecting internal and external labour market data. The platform provides real-time skills intelligence with embedded analytics tools. Companies can analyse, monitor, and track key metrics about their talent withinteractive dashboards, understand the current supply of skills, gaps and proficiency and undertake initiatives to address the gaps or plan for skill development. Companies can expect to save more than 60% in cost as Lithium helps to reduce labour-intensive processes through automation and AI. They can build competency frameworks, customize language of skills, create skills classification, and conduct skills validation within weeks instead of years. JobKred will work with companies in the manufacturing sector, to support their industry 4.0 transformation through partnership with the Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA), a national platform to lead the fore sighting of emerging skills and knowledge required for Industry 4.0, and chart and facilitate development of relevant in-demand advanced manufacturing training programmes to upskill and transform the workforce for Singapore's manufacturing industry. Gary Gan, CEO of JobKred said: "As we move towards an increasingly skills-based economy, it is important for companies to have dynamic skills strategies in place to adapt to the changing world of work. With Lithium, businesses can draw upon the real-time skills intelligence to build their workforce for the future of work, ensure business continuity with ready talent and mitigate skills obsolescence." Dr. Zeng Xianting, Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA) Programme Office said: "We are delighted to work with JobKred as we can draw upon their expertise in skills intelligence to identify the specific skills and training needs, and facilitate development of contextualized training programmes to address the skills gaps and training needs for advanced manufacturing companies, so as to meet the evolving industry needs and strengthen Singapore's manufacturing competitiveness. For enquiries on Lithium, please contact: June Lee Chief Customer Officer, JobKred (65) 9622 4519 june@jobkred.com About JobKred JobKred is a skills intelligence company. It harnesses AI and Big Data to provide real-time skills intelligence which companies can use to support their strategic decision making about their people and business. Since its establishment in 2014, JobKred has worked with clients from Fortune 500 enterprises, top-ranked universities, government agencies and international aid agencies like the World Bank, UNESCO, and Asian Development Bank. To learn more about JobKred's AI-powered platform, Lithium, please visit https://www.jobkred.com/lithium-overview/. Stay connected and updated with JobKred on LinkedIn and Facebook . SOURCE JobKred [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Kaleidoscope's Growing Marketplace Adds $24M in Award Opportunities with Five New Partners Additional 1,000 scholarship, grant and mentorship programs offer real solutions and increased access to personal advancement MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kaleidoscope , the leading education awards management platform, today announced five organizations hosting generous award opportunities on Kaleidoscopes marketplace. That list includes: The Taco Bell Foundation, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Land OLakes, TB12 Foundation and the University of Alaska. Combined, these five sponsors are offering over 1,000 award programs totaling over $24 million in scholarship and grant disbursements. To date, Kaleidoscope and its program sponsors have given out over $150 million in awards, empowering applicants to select the undergraduate school of their dreams, as well as pursue graduate studies, professional development and passion projects. Kaleidoscope shares our goal of supporting scholars in their educational endeavors, said Amy Moroney, Senior Director of Educational Programs at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Thanks to their platform, weve also been able to make our scholarship management program completely paperless. Each award program on Kaleidoscope is unique and is configured to meet the needs of that individual sponsor. For example, the University of Alaska offers over 900 scholarships across three separate universities and 15 community campuses. Our foundations program is not cookie cutter. The Kaleidoscope team leapt into action to help us streamline our efforts, better showcasing and managing each of our individual awads throughout our University of Alaska system, said Dory Straight, Scholarship Officer for the University of Alaska Foundation. Niche awards can leverage Kaleidoscopes two-sided marketplace to attract applicants who are an ideal match for their programs. Land OLakes, Inc. is doing exactly that, creating a pipeline of students interested in AgTech through their WinField Careers in Agriculture Scholarship. We knew not enough students were pursuing careers in agriculture to support the critical needs of our food and ag industry, so we brought our program online with Kaleidoscope. This expanded our applicant pool and enabled us to grow our twenty-five-year-old program, through which weve already awarded $500,000 dollars in scholarships, said Megan Wolle, Community Relations and Foundation Manager. While scholarship and grant dollars are vital for unlocking access to higher and ongoing education, organizations using Kaleidoscope provide so much more than just tuition assistance. The platform is the birthplace of meaningful relationships between applicants and their sponsors. Lisa Borges, Executive Director of TB12 Foundation , shared, We support underprivileged high school and college athletes who have experienced an injury, as well as military personnel and individuals who have suffered a tragic event requiring long term recovery. With Kaleidoscope, were able to increase access to innovative health and wellness resources for so many more individuals in need. Kaleidoscope scholars often develop long-lasting bonds with their sponsor organizations that open doors to new opportunities for years to come. Jennifer Bradbury, Executive Director of the Taco Bell Foundation , described, Kaleidoscope enables us to uncover applicants who truly embody the Live Mas spirit - our mantra. Our foundation focuses on individuals who are not only pursuing higher education, but also giving back to their local communities. These five programs are just a sampling of what is actively available on Kaleidoscopes marketplace, with more award opportunities introduced daily. Kaleidoscope believes there can be a future without crippling student loan debt and a world in which sponsors and applicants work together to close the skills gap and enrich our workforce for generations to come. To learn more about using Kaleidoscope for your scholarship, grant, mentorship or award program, visit mykaledioscope.com . About Kaleidoscope Kaleidoscope is a cloud-based awards management platform enabling organizations to fund, design, administer, and host branded scholarship and grant programs. The platform uses leading technologies to deliver an end-to-end solution for sponsors, organizations, and those they support. Kaleidoscope is building a future where financial aid and funding solutions are smart, cost-effective, and as unique as the applicants they serve. Contact Information LaunchSquad for Kaleidoscope kaleidoscope@launchsquad.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] LTC Global Names Steven Hensley Chief Administrative Officer LTC Global, Inc. announced today that Steven A. Hensley has become the company's first Chief Administrative Officer. Hensley joined the company in 2008 and has served in a number of financial, compliance and management roles for LTC Global and its subsidiaries. "Steven has supported the company's growth from a few dozen employees to more than 250 during his tenure," said Daniel G. Schmedlen, Jr., chief executive officer of LTC Global. "His ability to solve problems and willingness to take on new responsibilities have contriuted greatly to the company's success. Steven's work ethic is unmatched," said Schmedlen. About LTC Global LTC Global is the leading provider of capital to insurance agents and agencies through lead and marketing finance programs, commission advance programs and renewal commission purchases. Through its agency subsidiaries, LTC Global is a leading national distributor of life and health insurance products and the largest independent distributor of Long Term Care insurance. LTC Global is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida. For more information about LTC Global, visit ltcglobal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005175/en/ [October 05, 2021] Many small businesses vulnerable to cyber attacks New survey finds businesses spend little on protection despite rising concerns about cybercrime TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Despite the increased threat of cyber attacks during the pandemic, almost half (47%) of Canadian small businesses surveyed say they do not allocate any portion of their annual operating budget to cyber security. This marks an increase of 14% from 2019, when one-third (33%) said they do not allocate any budget to cyber security, according to a new Leger survey, commissioned by Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). In 2021, 41% of small businesses that ever suffered a cyber attack reported that it cost them at least $100,000, up from 37% in 2019. However, fewer than half of the businesses surveyed (46%) said they have implemented defences against possible cyber attacks, and only a quarter (24%) say they plan to purchase cyber insurance within the next year. "The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many small businesses to adopt digital processes and move some of their traditional business online," said Jordan Brennan, Vice-President, Policy Development, IBC. "Unfortunately, this has created increased opportunities for cybercrime. While cyber attacks on larger businesses receive more media attention, small businesses are also a target for online criminals." In the first half of 2021, insurers paid out over $106 million in cyber liability claims, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions. Incidents of cybercrime particularly ransomware attacks have increased drastically since 2020, as criminals began to prey on people working from home due to the pandemic. A report by law firm McCarthy Tetrault found that ransoms and the resulting lost productivity cost Canadian organizations an estimated $5.1 billion in 2020 alone. "Cyber insurance can help victims pay for many expenses related to cyber attacks, such as civil fines, legal damages, forensic investigations, data restoration costs and other expenses to restore their business operations," explained Mr. Brennan. "Before looking for cyber insurance quotes, business owners should take preventive actions to demonstrate to their insurance representative that they are a lower risk." Mr. Brennan recommends that business owners follow these steps to help secure their data: Enforce multi-factor authentication on login and network access; Focus on email security: enable attachment scanning, use external sender banners and train staff (or develop protocol) on spotting and containing malicious phishing attempts; and Run regular data backups and make sure the backups have unique credentials. IBC conducted a similar survey in 2019 and has compared those results with the results of this most recent survey to look for trends in how small businesses (sole proprietors and those with up to 499 employees) are managing cyber security. The 2021 report has been published to coincide with Cyber Security Awareness and Small Business Month in October, and to help educate small business owners on the risk of cyber attacks and ways they can protect themselves. About the Study These are some of the findings of a recent Leger poll, conducted on behalf of Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). An online survey of 300 small businesses (sole proprietors and those with up to 499 employees) was completed between July 28 and August 5, 2021, using Leger's online panel. Results have been tracked against an online survey of 300 small businesses completed in 2019, also using Leger's online panel. No margin of error can be associated with a non-probability sample (i.e. a web panel in this case). For comparative purposes, though, a probability sample of 300 respondents would have a margin of error of 5.7%, 19 times out of 20. About Insurance Bureau of Canada Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. For more than 50 years, IBC has worked with governments across the country to help make affordable home, auto and business insurance available for all Canadians. IBC supports the vision of consumers and governments trusting, valuing and supporting the private P&C insurance industry. It champions key issues and helps educate consumers on how best to protect their homes, cars, businesses and properties. For media releases and more information, visit IBC's Media Centre at www.ibc.ca. Follow us on Twitter @InsuranceBureau or like us on Facebook. If you have a question about home, auto or business insurance, contact IBC's Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC. SOURCE Insurance Bureau of Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Matrixport's Cactus Custody (TM) Partners with ConsenSys' MetaMask Institutional to Offer Institution-Compliant Custodian Services The partnership allows investors and organisations with heightened institutional-grade requirements to tap into opportunities in the burgeoning Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space in a compliant and secure manner SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Matrixport has announced that its custodian solution Cactus Custody is now supporting ConsenSys' MetaMask Institutional (MMI), a version of Metamask that integrates institution-compliant custody, operational, risk, and compliance features. Under the partnership, MMI is integrated with Cactus Custody's DeFi Connector feature, which creates an audit trail that ticks the box when it comes to regulatory compliance requirements that institutional investors, such as crypto funds, market-makers, and trading desks often need to abide by. The DeFi Connector will generate a secure, encrypted wallet address, stored in a hardware security module, and allow all decentralised application (DApp) interactions and wallet transactions on MMI to be recorded and downloaded by investors. This service offering will be available from next month. Cynthia Wu, Head of Sales and Business Development, Matrixport said: "The DeFi ecosystem has surpassed US$79 billion in total value locked, from only US$20 billion at the beginning of this year. Institutional investors have started to recognise the tremendous opportunities that DeFi offers. The partnership with MMI helps us focus on providing unrivaled institutional access to these opportunities." MetaMask, the world's leading decentralized finance (DeFi) wallet, serves over 10M monthly active users. In December 2020, MetaMask launched MetaMask Institutional (MMI) to address large numbers of leading crypto funds, market-makers, and trading desks seeking to increase exposure to DeFi. The integration with Cactus Custody comes as MMI also announces integrations with other custodians to provide small and large organizations with accss to DeFi that fulfills institution-required security, operational efficiency, and compliance needs. "MetaMask Institutional's focus is to provide unrivaled access to DeFi even in the face of rigorous institutional requirements," said Johann Bornman, Product Lead for MMI. "Qualified custodians and custody technology play a fundamental part in these requirements. We could not be more delighted to partner with these three great firms all offering world class capabilities for different segments of the market." "Cactus Custody currently supports the Ethereum chain. With MMI integration, our clients are assured smooth access to all Ethereum-based DeFi protocols from their custody account. As the DeFi ecosystem blooms, we are working hard to strengthen the infrastructure and accessibility to the entire DeFi ecosystem, including support for other chains, such as Polygon, BSC, Solana, etc.," added Wu. Cactus Custody is the third-party institutional custody service provided by Matrixport -- one of the fastest growing crypto financial services platforms in Asia -- with over USD10 billion client assets for miners, funds, projects and corporations under custody. Cactus Custody is the third-party institutional custody service provided by Matrixport employs a system security design that follows the industry's best practice, bringing increased security, transparency, and efficiency to the market while empowering its clients' growth. About Matrixport Matrixport is one of Asia's fastest growing digital asset financial services platforms. With $10 billion in assets under management and custody, it provides one-stop crypto financial services with over $5 billion in average monthly trading volumes. The offerings include Cactus Custody, spot OTC, fixed income, structured products, lending as well as asset management. Cactus Custody is a qualified custodian and a Hong Kong trust company that meets the capital reserve requirement and acts within regulatory and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) guidelines. We provide services to the world's largest and most renowned mining company, mining pools, cloud mining platforms, exchanges, funds and OTC dealers, supporting our clients to grow and scale in a secure way. Headquartered in Singapore, Matrixport's mission is to make crypto easy for everyone and its motto is "Get More From Your Crypto". The company holds licenses in Hong Kong and Switzerland with over 220 employees serving both institutions and retail customers across Asia and Europe. For more information, visit www.matrixport.com. Instagram: @matrixport_ Twitter: @realMatrixport LinkedIn: @Matrixport About ConsenSys ConsenSys is the leading Ethereum software company. We enable developers, enterprises, and people worldwide to build next-generation applications, launch modern financial infrastructure, and access the decentralized web. Our product suite, composed of Infura, Quorum, Codefi, MetaMask, Truffle and Diligence, serves millions of users, supports billions of blockchain-based queries for our clients, and has handled billions of dollars in digital assets. Ethereum is the largest programmable blockchain in the world, leading in business adoption, developer community, and DeFi activity. On this trusted, open source foundation, we are building the digital economy of tomorrow. To explore our products and solutions, visit http://consensys.net/. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1652941/211004_Cobranded_Metamask_ConsenSys_D4_03__1.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1560145/matrixport_logo_blue_white_Logo.jpg [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Momentum builds for IFS as major companies opt for IFS Cloud CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global cloud enterprise applications company, has announced strong momentum of major North American companies deciding to upgrade to IFS Cloud since the solution was launched in March 2021. IFS has seen a fast adoption rate of IFS Cloud across all its core industries. Two standout companies that are upgrading to IFS Cloud are GED Integrated Solutions Inc and Monarch Landscape Companies. The two companies, who have been utilizing a previous version of IFS's enterprise software, explain the expanded business benefits that upgrading to IFS Cloud will bring to their businesses. GED is a leader in the North American window and door manufacturing sector, pioneering the use of robotics, automation, and software technology in the manufacturing of windows, doors, and insulated glass. GED, whose advanced insulated glass, software, and vinyl fabrication equipment is used by 22 of the top 25 window and door manufacturers was previously using IFS Applications version 9. Now, with the company's recent decision to upgrade to IFS Cloud, the ability to use the open API functionality to integrate applications, including GED's own software process solution, the company will experience all the benefits of IFS in one seamless solution. Upgrading to IFS Cloud will further cut GED's time to value and help the company even better organize its field service technicians and support staff across every department. "It was a lot easier to justify going to IFS Cloud knowing that it's evergreen and therefore no more recurring full upgrades," explained Brett Erway, IT Manager at GED Integrated Solutions. "Using the software's open API functionality will be big for GED and will help us stay current in our service agreements. Our employees can customize their own dashboards and workflows to access crucial data on any device, such as the status of their machine or parts order, allowing us to translate these efficiencies into delivering better services to our customers. Getting everyone to use the same data will be a game changer and we are excited to see how this will develop." Monarch delivers its services to commercial property owners and managers, general contractors, homeowners associations, and municipal customers up and down the West Coast, Colorado, and Texas. It is a strong advocate for making sustainability and water management part of its landscaping services. The company wanted to further push its efficiency in capturing and analyzing data to drive decisions, hence the choice to upgrade. The security offered by IFS Cloud means end users can input and access information in a new Monarch data lake, thereby giving the company opportunities to pair the IFS solution with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Steve Pomush, Director of IT at Monarch, commented, "We want to drive tomorrow's decision using historical data. IFS Cloud will provide a direct feed into the data lake we're building out. Long term, the data will feed analytics, which can help us understand key market trends from overtime developments to the long-term price of fertilizer. This will influence our timely reporting and ancillary quoting, which will help us make faster and more effective decisions that directly improve our workflows and customer experience." Cindy Jaudon, Regional President of Americas explains the growing momentum for IFS Cloud, "Our customers can see that IFS Cloud will reshape their service experience - by helping bring a better moment of service to the consumers they serve. Built on 100 percent open APIs, IFS Cloud will provide GED with the configurability they require and empower Monarch to make business decisions even more efficiently. These are just two examples of how IFS Cloud delivers the full spectrum of IFS capabilities in a single product with solutions tailored to specific industries and businesses." CONTACT: IFS North America Press Contact: Solomiya Kavyuk, Marketing Communications Specialist, IFS North America. Phone: 1 (262) 717 6696, solomiya.kavyuk@ifs.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/ifs/r/momentum-builds-for-ifs-as-major-companies-opt-for-ifs-cloud,c3422392 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/ifs/i/open-and-enabled-suite,c2962972 Open and Enabled Suite View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/momentum-builds-for-ifs-as-major-companies-opt-for-ifs-cloud-301392987.html SOURCE IFS [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] OMNIQ's QShield AI-Based Vehicle Recognition Technology Selected in Adrian, Georgia to Crack Down on Crime and Enforce Traffic Violations Business model based on recurring revenue share with the city 3 year agreement executed with the city Solution will assist city to identify and issue citations for traffic violation enforcement and to issue timely information and alerts to local Police departments for vehicles on a law enforcement wanted list or involved in criminal activity Solution part of the Safe City force multiplier initiative by omniQ SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OMNIQ Corp. (OTCQB: OMQS) (OMNIQ or the Company), a provider of Supply Chain and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions, today announced that the Company has been selected by the City of Adrian Georgia to deploy its QShield vehicle recognition systems (VRS) technology and its cloud based citation management platform to identify any vehicle driving through the city which is on a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) data base or the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Database (GBI Database) and issue citations to scofflaws driving through the city with outstanding traffic violations. QShield, OMNIQs AI-based machine vision VRS solution uses patented Neural Network algorithms that imitate human brains for pattern recognition and decision-making. More than 17,000 OMNIQ AI based machine vision sensors are installed worldwide, including approximately 7,000 in the U.S. Based on superior accuracy and patented features like identification of make and color combined with superior accuracy based on the sophisticated algorithm and machine learning that largely depends on accumulated data provided by thousands of sensors already deployed. When a vehicle associated with a criminal investigation and on a National Crime Information Center data base or a scofflaw vehicle with outstanding traffic violations or expired, suspended or revoked registration passes QShields sensors that are deployed throughout the city, OMNIQs QShield system automatically triggers a real time alert to the Adrian Police Department. Additionally, scofflaws when captured by the sensors are issued, on behalf of the city, citations via the QShield citation platform. Citations are then mailed to the vehicles registered owner and payments are processed through the QShield online payment platform - said Shai Lustgarten CEO of OMNIQ. QShield, OMNIQs VRS solution will be installed in several key intersections throughout the city to efficiently and accurately capture vehicle data, including license plate number, color, make, and model. QShields technology will also be used to provide local law enforcement with timely alerts for any vehicle on a federal, state, and local law enforcement wanted list in addition to enforcing the traffic violations above. We are excited to provide our machine vision VRS technology to benefit the citizens of the city of Adrian, Georgia and assist the citys local Police Department said Shai Lustgarten,CEO of OMNIQ. Despite their usefulness in helping police solve crimes, automatic license plate and vehicle recognition (VRS) solutions are often beyond the reach of many smaller municipalities. The cost of such systems, can often exceed budgetary limits of a smaller city like Adrian, Georgia. With QShield by omniQ, we are able to offset these costs through our revenue share business model. We are proud to partner with omniQ in deploying QShield in our city. QShield provides us with a force multiplier, now available and affordable to protect the citizens of our community, said Chief of Police, Kyle Strickland. About OMNIQ Corp. OMNIQ Corp. (OTCQB: OMQS) provides computerized and machine vision image processing solutions that use patented and proprietary AI technology to deliver data collection, real-time surveillance and monitoring for supply chain management, homeland security, public safety, traffic & parking management, and access control applications. The technology and services provided by the Company help clients move people, assets, and data safely and securely through airports, warehouses, schools, national borders, and many other applications and environments. OMNIQs customers include government agencies and leading Fortune 500 companies from several sectors, including manufacturing, retail, distribution, food and beverage, transportation and logistics, healthcare, and oil, gas, and chemicals. Since 2014, annual revenues have grown to more than $50 million from clients in the USA and abroad. The Company currently addresses several billion-dollar markets, including the Global Safe City market, forecast to grow to $29 billion by 2022, and the Ticketless Safe Parking market, forecast to grow to $5.2 billion by 2023. For more information, visit www.omniq.com. Information about Forward-Looking Statements Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends, projections of results of specific activities or investments, and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This release contains forward-looking statements that include information relating to future events and future financial and operating performance. The words anticipate, may, would, will, expect, estimate, can, believe, potential and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which that performance or those results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time they are made and/or managements good faith belief as of that time with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in demand for the Companys products particularly during the current health crisis , the introduction of new products, the Companys ability to maintain customer and strategic business relationships, the impact of competitive products and pricing, growth in targeted markets, the adequacy of the Companys liquidity and financial strength to support its growth, the Companys ability to manage credit and debt structures from vendors, debt holders and secured lenders, the Companys ability to successfully integrate its acquisitions, and other information that may be detailed from time-to-time in OMNIQ Corp.s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Examples of such forward looking statements in this release include, among others, statements regarding revenue growth, driving sales, operational and financial initiatives, cost reduction and profitability, and simplification of operations. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting OMNIQ Corp., please refer to the Companys recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which are available at https://www.sec.gov. OMNIQ Corp. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by law. Investor Contact: 888-309-9994 IR@omniq.com James Carbonara Hayden IR (646)-755-7412 james@haydenir.com Brett Maas Hayden IR (646) 536-7331 brett@haydenir.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Opel Vauxhall Finance Goes Live in Spain With Nucleus Software's Flagship Lending Product, FinnOne Opel Vauxhall Finance announces the going live in Spain of Nucleus Software's flagship lending product, FinnOne. Nucleus Software is the leading provider of lending and transaction banking products and solutions to the global financial industry. Spain becomes the ninth European country for Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF) to go live with FinnOne. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005757/en/ OVF is the automotive finance captive organization of Opel and Vauxhall, supported by Stellantis and BNP Paribas. OVF trades under strong local brands such as Opel Bank, Opel Financial Services and Vauxhall Finance. OVF has multiple operational branches across Europe, each operating under local bank licence or Financial Institution. While FinnOne has been supporting businesses for Opel Vauxhall Finance in Europe since 2006, Spain is the latest country that will run OVF business using FinnOne. The OVF FinnOne partnership began in Italy and then moved on to Belgium, Netherlands, UK, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The OVF portfolio includes a wide range of auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts. Opel Vauxhall Finance wanted to utilize its core applications to achieve economies of scale. Nucleus Software FinnOne SRS (Strategic Retail Solution) is helping OVF in leveraging existing functionalities and aligning Spanish business processes to the OVF strategic applications rather than customizing and increasing scope & cost. "With FinnOne going live in Spain, Opel Vauxhall Finance will be able to improve operational efficiency and align with the corporate strategic technology frmework. With enhanced digitization, we will also be able to strengthen the collaboration framework with Opel/Vauxhall to increase the volume of financed/leased vehicles while at the same time raising retail margins across Europe," says Alexandre Sorel, CEO of Opel Vauxhall Finance. "We are proud to continue to bring value to our long-term partnership with Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF). Spain is the ninth European country where FinnOne is supporting OVF in running their complex business. Having a common solution running across nine countries provides a competitive edge to OVF in terms of operational efficiency, uniform rollouts and standardization. We were able to go live despite the pandemic by meeting business commitments thanks to the coming together of OVF and Nucleus teams using our deep expertise in off-shore implementation methodology," says Parag Bhise, CEO, Nucleus Software. About Opel Vauxhall Finance: OVF (Opel Vauxhall Finance) is the automotive finance captive organization of Opel and Vauxhall, supported by Stellantis and BNP Paribas, taken over from GM Financial in 2017. OVF trades under strong local brands such as Opel Bank, Opel Financial Services and Vauxhall Finance. OVF has multiple operational branches across Europe, each operating under local bank licence or Financial Institution. For IT Operations, everything is controlled from UK under the name Opel Vauxhall Finance. Its portfolio includes a wide range of auto financing products, including consumer loans, leasing, insurance and service contracts as well as dealer financing. In Germany, OVF also offer money market accounts and fixed-term deposits directly to end-consumers, complementing our traditional automotive finance business. OVF's primary goal is to meet the mobility needs of customers across Europe, while sustaining and developing the Opel and Vauxhall brands through competitive and attractive automotive finance solutions. Financing Opel and Vauxhall Brands dates back to 1920 when it opened its first office in London, helping people in the UK to finance their vehicles. In 1929 Opel Finanzierungsgesellschaft mbH was founded in Russelsheim, Germany, as the strategic finance partner for Opel. About Nucleus Software: Nucleus Software Exports Ltd. is a publicly traded (BSE: 531209, NSE: NUCLEUS) software product company that provides lending and transaction banking products to global financial leaders. Nucleus Software powers the operations of more than 200 Financial Institutions in over 50 countries, supporting retail lending, corporate banking, cash management, mobile and internet banking, automotive finance and other business areas. Its products facilitate more than 26 million transactions each day, managing over US $200 billion of loans and enabling more than 200,000 users logging in daily. For more information, please visit: www.nucleussoftware.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005757/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Oracle Cloud Helps K-12 Schools Better Support Students and Staff AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- K-12 school systems across the U.S. are adopting Oracle Cloud to simplify business processes, maximize resources, and better manage and support students and staff. With fluctuating budgets and federal and state-wide guidelines, institutions are seeking ways to do more with less without jeopardizing the quality of their educational offerings. By streamlining finance, HR, and data management processes in the cloud, K-12 school systems are improving efficiencies and reducing costs. "As schools return to in-person learning or hybrid environments, administrators face difficult questions around staffing, scheduling, and most importantly, how to promote the safety, well-being, and academic achievement of students," said Keith Rajecki, vice president, Industry Strategy Group - Public Sector, Education, Research, Oracle. "Oracle helps address some of these important issues by equipping administrators with the data, insights, and planning capabilities necessary to help schools adapt in real-time." Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) solutions implemented include Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Oracle Analytics Cloud, and Oracle Fusion Analytics Warehouse. K-12 institutions embracing Oracle Cloud: Allegheny Intermediate Unit Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) is a regional education agency that provides specialized services to 42 suburban school districts as well as non-public, charter, and vocational-technical schools in Homestead, Pennsylvania. AIU adopted Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) and Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to modernize its back-office processes. Since implementation, employees have been thrilled with the ease of use and newfound ability to perform multiple tasks within a single system from payroll to benefits and beyond improving time and efficiency. Bucks County Intermediate Unit Bucks County Intermediate Unit is a regional education services agency located in Bucks County, PA, that provides support to more than 96,000 students from birth through adult in public and private schools across the county. Bucks IU implemented Oracle Cloud HCM and has since seen improvements in recruiting, operational efficiencies, and employee engagement. With the help of this offering, Bucks IU is able to hire, onboard, manage, and engage workers in accordance with legal and organizational practices with ease. Bucks IU's HR team can automate previously manual processes from employee relations and reporting to simple HR inquiries freeing up their team to focus on more strategic projects. The Bucks IU is in the process of decommissioning disparate systems and will have its data, workflows, and processes in one place with Oracle Cloud HCM. "Since we began using Oracle, we've had the ability to leverage workflows and automate processes that we did not have the capability to do with our old systems," said Karen Sandone, Director of Human Resources at the Bucks IU. "The reporting, the data we now have access to all of that is a huge improvement from what we had before." Cherry Creek School District Cherry Creek School District serves more than 55,000 students in eight municipalities in Arapahoe County, Colorado. To improve operations, Cherry Creek School District implemented Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Resources, part of Oracle Cloud HCM, with a goal to go live on Oracle Fusion Cloud Payroll, also a part of Oracle Cloud HCM, in late 2021. Now, its core financials are centralized and easily accessible, improving transparency around budgeting and funding. Processes that were previously manual are now automated, improving workflow efficiency. "We examined the processes that were taking too much time, were inefficient, or were just bad for our employees. Then we looked at our pain points and considered how we could make things better," says Jason Koenig, CIO at Cherry Creek School District. "Oracle checked the boxes. It was also clear that the Oracle team 'got it.' They were open to discussion and they were willing to push us to think differently based on what they brought from their private sector experience." Montgomery County Intermediate Unit Montgomery County Intermediate Unit (MCIU) offers innovative, responsive, and cost-effective programs to 22 school districts, more than 170 non-public schools, four career and technical schools, and three charter schools in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. With recent changes to federal safety guidelines and funding, MCIU needed a way to analyze changes in their schools over time, while reducing costs and increasing the impact of funds. After evaluating several solutions, MCIU selected Oracle Analytics Cloud and Oracle Fusion Analytics Warehouse. With the offerings, MCIU can source, break out, and analyze data in dashboards to improve mapping of resources, budget analysis, and hiring processes. Wichita Public Schools Wichita Public Schools is the largest school district in Kansas, encompassing 95 schools in Sedgwick County. To modernize and simplify its finance and operations, and in turn, free up time to focus on serving their student population, Wichita Public Schools implemented Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). "We believe Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Cloud EPM offer the efficiency, cost savings and security needed for our schools to succeed today, and 10 years from now," said Rob Dickson, CIO, Wichita Public Schools. In addition to these schools, Aurora Public Schools and the Hawaii Department of Education have also adopted Oracle solutions to support their success. About Oracle Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com. Trademarks Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oracle-cloud-helps-k-12-schools-better-support-students-and-staff-301392453.html SOURCE Oracle [October 05, 2021] Parsable Hires Ex-Coupa Software Veteran Navin Vardya as Senior Vice President of Customer Success SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Parsable, provider of Connected Worker, the leading platform for frontline industrial work, today announced the hiring of its first Senior Vice President of Customer Success, Navin Vardya. In this role, Vardya will lead the company's global customer success organization to the next level of growth and maturity. Vardya previously was at Coupa Software, where he served in various customer-facing functions, and was part of the executive team. At Coupa Software, Vardya was able to scale the customer success function leading up to and following its IPO in 2016. "Navin brings years of deep industry experience in leading and building customer success and professional services programs at high-growth enterprise software companies," said Lawrence Whittle, Parsable CEO. "His ability to successfully develop, validate and operationalize client frameworks that focus on value, and customer KPIs that drive client actions, is precisely what Parsable needs as we enter an accelerated phase of global growth. We couldn't be more excited to have Navin join the Parsable family and know he will be an incredible trategic leader and team supporter." Vardya also served as Vice President and Global Head of Customer Success at Ivalua, a leading supply chain platform for various industries including manufacturing and energy. He also held Executive and Executive Director positions at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. Prior to joining the private sector, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps as part of their infantry division. Vardya holds a degree in computer science from Eastern Michigan University. "I've been incredibly impressed throughout the process of getting to know the Parsable team and its customers," Vardya said. "It's clear Parsable is deeply committed to helping industrial companies modernize its frontline workforce, and its customers are equally enthusiastic about what they've achieved together and what's on the horizon. I am energized at the potential Parsable has in improving the lives of industrial workers all over the world, and I look forward to being part of such an exciting time of growth and opportunity for the company." About Parsable Parsable ( www.parsable.com ) helps the world's largest industrial firms get jobs done right every time. Connected Worker from Parsable enables employees to collaboratively execute their work using paperless, digital work instructions on mobile devices. In addition to measuring every step and action, workers can raise issues and provide feedback in real time so that every process is quickly analyzed and improved. With Parsable, companies gain unprecedented visibility into their operations, uncover detailed data about their work processes for continuous improvement, and attract new tech-savvy talent. A member of the World Economic Forum, Parsable is headquartered in San Francisco with offices throughout North America and Europe. Follow the company on LinkedIn , Twitter ( @ParsableHQ ) and the Parsable blog . Contact: Connie Sung Moyle pr@parsable.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parsable-hires-ex-coupa-software-veteran-navin-vardya-as-senior-vice-president-of-customer-success-301392580.html SOURCE Parsable, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Peraton Expands European Presence with U.S. Army Contract CHANTILLY, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Peraton has been awarded a contract to deliver software development, information assurance, and other IT services to multiple U.S. Army garrisons in four European countries. The single award contract, valued at $22.5 million, represents new work for the company and will continue through 2026. Under the agreement from U.S. Army Installation Management Command Europe (IMCOM-E), Peraton will provide IT support services to IMCOM-E personnel in Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. Peraton, through its Perspecta Enterprise Solutions LLC legal entities in Germany (GmbH) and Belgium (SRL), will support the contract using non-Technical Expert Status (non-TESA) personnel, as well as TESA personnel in Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands. "With more than three decades of supporting the U.S. Department of Defense in the Europeantheater, Peraton has the institutional knowledge to effectively deploy technology and personnel to accomplish complex in-theater mission challenges," said Jeff Bohling, president, Defense Solutions sector. "With this task order, IMCOM-E will have the tools needed to maintain the garrisons' readiness." Peraton customers in the European theatre include U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, U.S. Africa Command, the Defense Manpower Data Center, and the U.S. Navy. About Peraton Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, civilian, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit Peraton.com/News and follow Peraton on LinkedIn for news and updates. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/peraton-expands-european-presence-with-us-army-contract-301392702.html SOURCE Peraton [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] PVcase Closes Oversubscribed Series A Round with $23M PVcase, a Lithuanian-based solar software provider, announced today that it raised more than $23 million USD in Series A funding, making this the largest solar software company fundraising round in Europe. Elephant led the funding round, along with existing investors Contrarian Ventures and Practica Capital. Founded in 2018, PVcase helps companies design, estimate, and optimize commercial and utility scale solar assets. PVcase allows its customers to deliver market-leading projects faster than their competitors by transforming complex engineering processes with a simple and intuitive interface. "Because PVcase runs on AutoCAD and can export to PVSYST, our engineering team is able to quickly and accurately complete site layouts and energy models," said Patrick Canning, Vice President of Engineering at Nexamp. "We have been very satisfied with PVcase's software, customer service, and the continued improvement of their product." "Securing one of the biggest clean technology funding rounds on the heels of achieving 4x ARR growth over the last year further validates the innovation PVcase is bringing to the entire value chain," said David Trainavicius, founder and CEO of PVcase. "PVcase is proud to be leading the way as copanies look for engineering solutions to help streamline the end-to-end processes of PV design." PVcase will use this new funding to further the development of its products, support expansion in the U.S., and accelerate hiring remotely and at its offices in Lithuania, Spain and Germany. Scaling out the company's product portfolio will include key investments in building a data-driven solar technology platform for all solar engineering needs. This includes a product pipeline to cover the entire solar project lifecycle - from sales and development to construction, operation, and maintenance. "On a mission to fight climate change with software, PVcase has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting solar technology companies in the world," said Peter Fallon, general partner at Elephant VC. "These are solutions built by solar engineers for solar engineers and provide an opportunity to begin a new era of accelerated solar innovation." As a result of the investment, Elephant's Peter Fallon will be added to the PVcase Board. To learn more about PVcase products or to schedule a demo, please visit pvcase.com. About Elephant VC Elephant is a venture capital firm focused on the enterprise software, consumer internet and mobile markets. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. About Contrarian Ventures Contrarian Ventures is a hands-on, community-focused and founders vetted early-stage sustainable energy transition focused VC in Europe & Israel Aside from the core activity of the Fund - investing, Contrarian Ventures has also founded several initiatives that are contributing to the fostering of the energy community in Europe incl. Climate50, Energy Tech Summit, and Energy Tech Challengers. About Practica Capital Practica Capital is a dedicated Baltic VC focusing on investments in the Baltic (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and Baltic-origin (e.g. Baltic diaspora) ventures in Europe. Practica Capital invests in ventures backing great teams behind the tech-driven businesses from the region and partnering with them as company builders. About PVcase PVcase is a solar technology company that develops software solutions for commercial and utility scale solar asset owners. To date, PVcase has delivered service to customers in more than 50 countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia. Some of their clients include: BayWa r.e., Borrego, Statkraft, and Atwell Group. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005362/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Scanco and CoreChain Announce Integrated B2B Payments and Supply Chain Finance Solution Scanco Software, the leader in warehouse, manufacturing and supply-chain management solutions for Sage, and CoreChain Technologies, the digital B2B payments network built on blockchain, today announce that they are partnering to co-develop an integration of the CoreChain payments network with Scanco's software products. The co-developed solutions, including an enhanced version of Scanco Purchase Agent, will enable Scanco customers to streamline their B2B payments process and unlock new supply chain financing opportunities. Leveraging enterprise blockchain technology to power digital B2B payments, users can streamline the manual processes and painful reconciliation that can slow warehouse and manufacturing business, while also mitigating fraud. Additionally, Scanco customers can use the integrated technology to finance the working capital being held in unpaid invoices that age towards settlement due dates, frequently 30 to 120 days in arrears. "The very nature of today's warehousing and manufacturing business has changed, becoming much more virtual and integrated from end-to-end," said Andrew Nunez, CEO of Scanco. "Scanco Purchase Agent will empower our customers to tightly align procurement with payments and financing functions, enabling the entire enterprise to work more efficiently and securely." Since its launch in September 2020, CoreChain has processed over $500 million in B2B payments for enterprise buyers including channel customer transactions. Available as a white label platform, CoreChain allows any ERP or Business Process Automation software company, or even banks and other payment networks, to offer a digital B2B payments solution to its enterprise clients. "The CoreChain network is platform agnostic, which allows us to engage the entire supply-chain ecosystem, and ultimately, better serve our customers," Nunez said. "While we are still focused on the Sage platform, our solutions cannot be confined by the boundaries of a single ERP. Our customers work within ecosystems, not applications. The CoreChain partnership is strategically important to our continued focus on expanding our business. " "Automating the payment process with blockchain technology will not only help Scanco customers function more efficiently and securely, but it will also equip them for the future shifts in enterprise payments," said Chris Aguas, Founder and CEO of CoreChain. "Innovation in the enterprise payments and finance space is moving at a break-neck pace and warehousing and manufacturing businesses will need to adapt. Scanco clients are going to be well ahead of the curve and ready for any sea changes that may occur." "Both CoreChain and Scanco share a deep focus on building an exceptional user experience that also delivers more security and cost savings for our customers," said Tom Romary, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer for CoreChain. "The integration of digital payments with working capital solutions, available through an industry-leading software solution in Scanco, is a welcome innovation in the manufacturing and warehouse industry." General availability of the enhanced Scanco Purchase Agent product is expected in early 2022. About Scanco Since 1989, Scanco has been at the forefront of developing mobile warehouse and manufacturing automation solutions. Since its inception, Scanco has focused on innovative warehouse management solutions with a unique technology-driven approach. Scanco's solutions deliver unequaled efficiency and visibility for distribution and manufacturing companies around the globe. About CoreChain Launched in September 2020 and led by proven FinTech and blockchain entrepreneurs, CoreChain is the first digital B2B payments network built on blockchain, and is building a network of networks, which enables businesses to pay other businesses securely, quickly, and efficiently compared to legacy methods, while unlocking lending opportunities for suppliers to finance working capital tied up in approved, but unpaid invoices. CoreChain uses enterprise blockchain technology to automate the exchange of transaction data and funds within a secure environment, using a trust network-of-networks, empowering B2B Marketplaces and B2B Software Platforms with $5 to $50 billion per year in existing commerce volume to offer payments and financing services to their buyers and suppliers via our API-centric, white-label platform. The company has raised $1.25 million in pre-seed funding from investors that include Ulu Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, Bloccelerate VC and New Form Capital. For more information, visit: http://www.CoreChain.tech View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005082/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Schneider Electric calls for students to share their passion for bold and sustainable ideas MISSISSAUGA, ON, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ - Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation and named the World's Most Sustainable Corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights, is looking for game changers around the world. In collaboration with software partner, AVEVA, Schneider Electric announces the launch of Schneider Go Green 2022, their annual student competition to find the latest bold ideas in digital and sustainable innovation. With Schneider Electric committing to providing two times the number of opportunities for interns, apprentices and fresh graduate hires by 2025 as part of its Schneider Sustainability Impact Q2 2021 Report, Go Green provides students with the chance to present their ideas to top industry leaders and receive mentorship from experts and professionals, along with considerations for job opportunities and the chance of a winning prize worth up to 10,000 Euros. "At Schneider Electric, being empowered is part of our DNA as we strongly believe freedom breeds innovation," says Charise Le, Chief Human Resources Officer at Schneider Electric. "Through Schneider Go Green, we look for empowered and passionate students with bold and sustainable ideas. We believe access to energyis a basic human right and this global competition provides new ways to do that." "Challenge yourself, challenge us and bring your best sustainability ideas to the Go Green 2022 competition" said Lisa Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer at AVEVA. "Together, let's build the pathway to more sustainable industries. AVEVA is proud to be part of the Schneider Go Green competition and we are looking forward to seeing your innovative ideas in action." Sustainability and Technology working together Schneider Go Green is a major event for Business, Engineering, Marketing and Innovation students worldwide. The 2021 competition saw a record number of 25,000 young innovators from more than 3,000 universities in 130 countries taking part. This year's competition should attract even more interest thanks to the five specific topics covering "Access to Energy", "Homes of the Future", "Supply Chain of the Future", "Grids of the Future" and "De[coding] the Future". 2021's winning idea came from two students from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Spain who presented their sustainable and purpose driven solution known as the "Light Pill": an artificial light source and ultraviolet water purifier shaped like a bottle cap designed to help communities without access to energy and safe water. This year, all participating teams of two to four students are expected to identify as gender diverse in line with Schneider Electric's policy of promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with deadlines for submissions expected by November 30 in North America and February to March in the rest of the world. Schneider Go Green is open to Bachelor's or Master's students worldwide and team members must be studying in the same country for the duration of the competition. About Schneider Electric Schneider's purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On. Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency. We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries. We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values. https://www.se.com/ca/en/ Follow us on: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Blog Hashtags: #GoGreen #LifeIsOn SOURCE Schneider Electric Canada Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Standard AI Invests in Convenience Store Operators with First-of-its-Kind Initiative to Shape the Future of Retail Standard AI, the world's leading computer vision platform for retail, today announced that it is partnering with retail technology leaders to launch the Autonomous Retail Initiative (A.R.I.), a first of its kind initiative aimed at investing in convenience store operators to help shape the future of retail - together. Through the A.R.I., Standard AI will select up to ten convenience stores and chains across North America to attend a three-day workshop and program in San Francisco. Participants will dig in on the latest innovations in retail technology and learn how automation can be used to reimagine retail operations and offer a better customer experience. Standard AI will select one operator to receive a full buildout of one existing store into a checkout free experience, at no cost. "Computer vision and autonomous retail can unlock enormous value for convenience store operators excited to use technology to transform what's possible in convenience. We believe every one of these operators deserves to benefit from this innovation - not just multi-billion-dollar giants," said Jordan Fisher, co-founder and CEO of Standard AI. "Standard AI and our retail tech partners are looking for forward-thinking convenience store operators eager to drive the future of the industry. We can't wait to partner up with one or more of these companies and kick-start their journey to autonomous retail with a full Standard AI autonomous checkout retrofit." a rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow" href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FQ8Wr4mffMKzN1ZZr5&esheet=52503629&newsitemid=20211005005424&lan=en-US&anchor=Register+here&index=1&md5=b6b3a96b64e00c9748d3db4dc17606f5" shape="rect">Register here to apply for the A.R.I. The winners will be announced by the end of the year. About Standard AI Standard AI has transformed retail as we know it. With the first checkout free solution that works in any existing store, the Standard platform allows customers to walk in, grab what they need, and walk out - without waiting in line or stopping to scan or pay. The company's machine vision and AI-powered solution is the only one that can be quickly and easily installed in retailers' existing stores, representing a giant leap forward for retail tech and enabling retailers to rapidly deliver an amazing new shopping experience to customers. The first and best-funded startup in this space, Standard has launched multiple operational stores with customers, and is working with retailers around the world. Learn more at https://standard.ai/. Social: Twitter (News - Alert) : @standardAI Instagram: @standardcognition Facebook View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005424/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] TomoChain Lab announces the launch of TomoMasterDAO and its IDO plan on LuaStarter Singapore, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TomoChain Lab is excited to announce the launch of the TomoMasterDAO governance platform. The company has been hard at work to create a product that benefits users and projects looking to build on the TomoChain network. TomoMasterDAO aims to balance security with ease of use to provide the optimal user experience. The DAO is taking a new approach to blockchain governance focusing on user engagement to build new technology in the ecosystem and run community initiatives. TomoMasterDAO is planting the seeds to grow a strong community with consistent development in the new areas of interest in the cryptocurrency space. Governance in the cryptocurrency space has typically been incassesable for a large portion of cryptocurrency users. This is due to a multitude of reasons including lack of education or interest, being unwilling to pay the gas fees required for voting on-chain, or lack of a suitable reward scheme. As it stands, there is little incentive for small stakeholders to participate in governance. TomoMasterDAO addresses these issues and gives motivation for users to participate. With the launch of the tDAO token, users will be able to vote without paying gas and receive rewards for voting on proposals. Users will stay on the cutting edge of new technology and discover hidden gems in their early stages. With TomoMasterDAO, move beyond speculation into action. TomoMasterDAO gives a helping hand for up and coming projects that need assistance. The TomoMasterDAO ecosystem has been allocated more than $2 million for the TomoMasterDAO ecosystem. Projects can apply for funding for launching a project, building new software, running community initiatives and marketing campaigns. Proposals are submitted to the TomoMasterDAO Board for review. This Board is made up of internal TomoChain Lab Pte. Ltd. members and external members elected by the TomoChain community. The purpose of the Board is to evaluate the legiimacy of the team applying and keep track of projects that have received funding. Its important to make sure that funds allocated are not misappropriated. If the Board determines a proposal is valid, the proposal is posted on the voting portal with a Board recommended outcome in the case that the vote does not reach quorum. Note that the quorum is the minimum number of votes needed to make a proposal valid. The Board recommended outcome is used as a fail safe mechanism to ensure that great projects still receive funds if quorum isnt met. Voting on proposals is simple as connecting your wallet to the governance portal, choosing an active proposal, and casting your vote. At the conclusion of the proposal, the rewards pool will be split evenly between each voting member regardless of vote size. A community driven developer bounties program will be implemented on TomoMasterDAO. Users will be able to propose bounties for technologies they would like to see using tDAO tokens during bounty grant rounds. The most popular bounties will be selected and posted on the website for developers to apply. The users who created the winning proposals will receive special prizes. The tDAO token will form the foundation of TomoMasterDAO. This token will be used for voting, proposing bounties, and supplementing funds for the TomoMasterDAO ecosystem. The total supply is 100,000,00 tDAO. The launch will take place on LuaStarter through an Initial DEX Offering (IDO). LuaStarter is a multi-chain IDO platform on the LuaSwap decentralised exchange. There will be 4,000,000 tDAO tokens available at the IDO. The token model for TomoMasterDAO includes a community governance treasury. This will be used to supplement funds for projects, pay additional rewards, yield farming incentives and funds for community elected Board members. The best part is community treasury funds allocated for each year are governed by community members through voting on proposals. TomoMasterDAO takes a community first approach to grow the TomoChain ecosystem. The DAOs helping new projects get off the ground and giving cause for the everyday investor to have their say on where the TomoChain public blockchain is going. We build together, we grow together as they said. About TomoMasterDAO TomoMasterDAO is TomoChains Governance platform to offer fundings for projects built on TomoChain blockchain and community initiatives About LuaStarter LuaStarter is the first multi-chain fundraising and Initial Distribution Offering (IDO) platform based on LuaSwap exchange. Website: https://starter.luaswap.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuaSwap Telegram: https://t.me/LuaSwap About TomoChain TomoChain is a scalable blockchain-powered via Proof-of-Stake voting consensus and used commercially by companies globally. TomoChains mission is to accelerate the onboarding of millions of users by empowering todays applications with technology that masks the friction of Blockchain, all while retaining its underlying benefits. Media Contact - Website: https://tomochain.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomoChainANN Telegram: https://t.me/tomochain Contact Name: Anh Nguyen Email: anh@tomochain.com Source Link [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] UiPath to Launch New Innovations for Faster, More Secure Automations and Deeper Integration within Enterprise Environments #UIPATHFORWARD--UiPath (NYSE: PATH), a leading enterprise automation software company, today at its user conference, FORWARD IV, previewed new features arriving in its next platform update. The capabilities in UiPath 2021.10 help customers tackle some of the most common issues in the enterprise such as sprawling and disparate applications; applying artificial intelligence (AI) to every facet of work; helping IT with scaling, maintaining, and securing automation; and making it easier for developers to build automations. "UiPath has unprecedented knowledge of how work gets done. We know how people interact with user interfaces and documents and we know what processes look like and how they map to business outcomes," said UiPath co-founder and CEO Daniel Dines, addressing attendees at FORWARD IV in Las Vegas. "This release is both the most comprehensive automation platform for today and the right automation foundation for the future. We're delivering on making automations easier to build, expanding automation use cases, and ensuring we provide reliability, security, and governance to support enterprise-level, mission-critical processes. We are also laying the groundwork for semantic automation, in which robots understand how to use applications without being programmed by humans." This UiPath platform release powers new orchestration and integrations in the enterprise technology stack and strengthens core cloud native robotic process automation (RPA) in the industry's only end-to-end automation platform. New innovations, generally available beginning October 25, include: UiPath Integration Service : Enterprises typically use 175 apps or more across cloud and on-premises environments. Modern tech can struggle to co-exist with legacy tech; rather than improve productivity, this fragmentation slows it down. New features make UiPath the first automation provider to offer best-in-class and enterprise-grade UI- and API-based automation capabilities that can be seamlessly used together - all in a single platform. UiPath is a leader in UI automation, which gives robots the ability to read and understand screens so they can emulate the ways that people interact with user interfaces. UiPath Integration Service delivers API automation to help companies optimize the technology they already have. Developers ca now use APIs just like they employ UI automation-simply and easily from within UiPath Studio. They can quickly build automations requiring both API and UI automation, as processes often intersect with both types in modern and legacy technologies. The service will include more than 70 pre-built connectors out of the box by year end, so customers can automate faster and with greater resiliency. : Enterprises typically use 175 apps or more across cloud and on-premises environments. Modern tech can struggle to co-exist with legacy tech; rather than improve productivity, this fragmentation slows it down. New features make UiPath the first automation provider to offer best-in-class and enterprise-grade UI- and API-based automation capabilities that can be seamlessly used together - all in a single platform. UiPath is a leader in UI automation, which gives robots the ability to read and understand screens so they can emulate the ways that people interact with user interfaces. UiPath Integration Service delivers API automation to help companies optimize the technology they already have. Developers ca now use APIs just like they employ UI automation-simply and easily from within UiPath Studio. They can quickly build automations requiring both API and UI automation, as processes often intersect with both types in modern and legacy technologies. The service will include more than 70 pre-built connectors out of the box by year end, so customers can automate faster and with greater resiliency. Powering the Mission-Critical Role of Automation in the Enterprise: UiPath enables the largest-scale automation implementations in the world and automation is mission critical for its customers. This release features more capabilities that give IT confidence in automation, specifically Endpoint Protection Integration and the introduction of Robot Auto-healing. Robot Auto-healing is powered by the platform's built-in IT automation capabilities and assesses robots' runtime environments to detect and remediate issues without requiring human intervention. With its Endpoint Protection Integration with CrowdStrike, UiPath is the first in the industry to offer endpoint security for RPA. Joint UiPath and CrowdStrike customers now can enjoy the same level of endpoint protection for robots as they have for people. In addition, UiPath will now offer runtime governance to ensure workflows meet corporate quality and security standards. UiPath enables the largest-scale automation implementations in the world and automation is mission critical for its customers. This release features more capabilities that give IT confidence in automation, specifically Endpoint Protection Integration and the introduction of Robot Auto-healing. Robot Auto-healing is powered by the platform's built-in IT automation capabilities and assesses robots' runtime environments to detect and remediate issues without requiring human intervention. With its Endpoint Protection Integration with CrowdStrike, UiPath is the first in the industry to offer endpoint security for RPA. Joint UiPath and CrowdStrike customers now can enjoy the same level of endpoint protection for robots as they have for people. In addition, UiPath will now offer runtime governance to ensure workflows meet corporate quality and security standards. Leading with Cloud Native Automation: UiPath is continuing to lead the market with an expansive range of cloud native services to help customers start automation instantly and scale easily. With 2021.10, all UiPath customers can get the benefits of a cloud native architecture, however they choose to take delivery of the UiPath platform. Those who prefer on-prem, public cloud, or third-party hosted options can go cloud native with the new UiPath Automation Suite, which offers all the UiPath servers containerized with portal and infrastructure management tools included. Automation Suite offers a single install on Linux, and UiPath also continues to offer updated individual server product installations on Windows. The SaaS (News - Alert) offering, UiPath Automation Cloud, is also being enhanced to include a host of new cloud services such as Process Mining, Test Manager, and pre-packaged direct buy online services. UiPath is continuing to lead the market with an expansive range of cloud native services to help customers start automation instantly and scale easily. With 2021.10, all UiPath customers can get the benefits of a cloud native architecture, however they choose to take delivery of the UiPath platform. Those who prefer on-prem, public cloud, or third-party hosted options can go cloud native with the new UiPath Automation Suite, which offers all the UiPath servers containerized with portal and infrastructure management tools included. Automation Suite offers a single install on Linux, and UiPath also continues to offer updated individual server product installations on Windows. The SaaS (News - Alert) offering, UiPath Automation Cloud, is also being enhanced to include a host of new cloud services such as Process Mining, Test Manager, and pre-packaged direct buy online services. Accelerating Development and Use of Automation: 2021.10 features a host of new features that make UiPath simpler, faster, and more gratifying for developers and end users alike. It empowers developers to build more innovative automations for an expanded set of use cases with features like a new framework for easier Process Mining customization. New AI Solution Templates and a preview of Forms AI make it easier for developers to incorporate AI into their automations. Other developer-centric highlights include new Windows and Office experiences; Studio improvements including an AI-powered citizen developer experience; and UiPath Apps expressions, controls, and lifecycle packaging. While UiPath robots have always supported automation on Windows environments, with this release, UiPath will add cross-platform support with Linux-based robots which can run API automations that execute quickly with a low level of resources. For end users, a new integration between Assistant and UiPath Marketplace now makes it simpler to take advantage of the rich-and rapidly growing-array of ready-to-go, simple-to-use Marketplace automations. This new "choose and use" capability brings our partners' innovations to end users' desktops and makes it easier for end users to find solutions for their everyday needs. Along with these new features, UiPath partners and customers can monetize their reusable RPA components within our Marketplace. These items can be accessed and purchased by UiPath users and the 1.5 million members of the UiPath Community. The offering represents new revenue stream possibilities for organizations that want to share their expertise with the largest global network of RPA professionals. Initial partners include: Ashling Partners; Boundaryless; CampTek Software; Element Blue; Green Light Consulting Solutions Inc.; Peraton; qBotica Inc.; rapidMATION; Roboyo; Smartbridge; SYKES Digital Services; and WonderBotz LLC. About UiPath UiPath has a vision to deliver the fully automated enterprise, one where companies use automation to unlock their greatest potential. UiPath offers an end-to-end platform for automation, combining the leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities that enable every organization to rapidly scale digital business operations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005294/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] University of Phoenix Nursing Faculty Participates in Arizona Public Health Association Health Equity Panel University of Phoenix College of Nursing faculty Sun Jones, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, who serves as the Systematic Plan for Evaluation and Curriculum leader, will join the first in a two-part panel series on Covid-19 and health equity hosted by Arizona Public Health Association (AZPHA) this Friday, October 8, 2021, 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. PST. The panel events, "Covid-19 & Health Equity in Arizona," will be held in a virtual panel discussion format, in two parts: "Part I: How Are We Reaching Communities" on Friday, October 8, and "Part II: Where Is The Data Leading Us?" on Friday, October 22. Dr. Jones works closely in support of the Phoenix area community to ensure vaccine and treatment access to its citizens. "As a family nurse practitioner, I have noticed the challenges my Korean community members experienced in accesing healthcare, especially with the COVID-19 vaccination in the early months of this year. So, I have led and organized COVID-19 vaccination events for my Korean community members, as well as all Asian American Pacific Islander community members," Sun Jones, DNP, RN, FNP-BC shares. "We had several very successful events in the valley and are still planning to continue our efforts. I look forward to sharing my experience and perspective on this panel." The series focuses on identifying equitable Covid testing and vaccination strategies, discussing vaccine hesitancy, and how to reach underserved populations and build relationships with priority populations. The events are virtual and open to the public, and registration is available in the Upcoming Events section of the AZPHA website. About University of Phoenix University of Phoenix is continually innovating to help working adults enhance their careers in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, and Career Services for Life help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005856/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] VMware Helps Customers Move to the Cloud With Flexibility and Speed Organizations today are driven by the urgency to go fast and digitize. Multi-cloud is now the model for digital businesses seeking to achieve rapid transformation. VMware enables digital innovation with enterprise control in this multi-cloud environment (read story here). Today, VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is announcing new advancements for VMware Cloud, the industry's first and only multi-cloud computing infrastructure that enables customers to move their enterprise apps to the cloud in nearly half the time and less than half the cost. These new innovations include: This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005497/en/ The economic and operational value of VMware Cloud. (Graphic: Business Wire) A new portfolio of managed Kubernetes services to modernize apps on VMware Cloud; Capabilities that will make it simpler and safer to run enterprise apps in VMware Cloud; A new initiative supporting the need for customers to run their business in sovereign clouds; and, Tech previews that showcase the future of VMware Cloud. Together, these innovations will give VMware Cloud customers even more tools to accelerate modernization of their enterprise apps, increase business agility and resiliency, and significantly reduce costs compared to existing approaches. "VMware has established a unique position in the world of multi-cloud computing by meeting customers where they are to help them achieve their cloud objectives," said Mark Lohmeyer, senior vice president and general manager, Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, VMware. "VMware helps to eliminate the false choice between business innovation and IT control. Our latest innovations help customers modernize apps, infrastructure, and operations with better economics and less risk, and boost developer productivity. And with Project Arctic, the next evolution of VMware vSphere, we will unleash the hybrid cloud for every enterprise." Delivering Kubernetes-based Containers and Infrastructure as a Service VMware Cloud with Tanzu services is a new portfolio of managed Kubernetes services that will be available at no additional charge as part of VMware Cloud on AWS. Tanzu services will make app modernization with Kubernetes faster, easier, and less expensive on VMware Cloud than alternative managed Kubernetes solutions. IT admins will be able to use the VMware vCenter interface to unify VM and container management on a common platform and provision Kubernetes clusters within minutes. Platform operators or SREs will be able to manage Kubernetes clusters consistently across clouds using Tanzu services as a multi-cloud Kubernetes management plane. VMware Cloud is Simpler and Safer for Enterprise Apps VMware Cloud makes running enterprise vSphere apps in any cloud environment simpler and safer. Research shows VMware Cloud customers can achieve 300% faster Kubernetes deployment(1), 46% faster cloud migration(2), and 57% reduction in TCO(2). SIMPLER: VMware Cloud gives customers the flexibility to move to the cloud on their timelines and run vSphere workloads on the cloud of their choice. Only VMware Cloud runs as a native service in 100+ regions spanning all public clouds-Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle (News - Alert) Cloud- as well as 4,000+ partner clouds, in private data centers, and at the edge. With VMware Cloud Universal, customers can flexibly purchase and consume VMware Cloud from VMware or reseller partners, while benefitting from the economic value of existing VMware perpetual licenses. VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts will be available for purchase via the VMware Cloud Service Portal in VMware's Q3FY22 and will enable customers to benefit from a cloud operating model for VMware Cloud infrastructure running in their own data center or thick edge locations. This fully-managed offering will enable greater control over data and apps with simple, scalable, and more secure on-prem VMware Cloud infrastructure delivered as a service with optimized access to 200+ native AWS services. Dell (News - Alert) Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud is a Dell-managed service that brings the VMware Cloud experience to the APEX ecosystem. In private preview now with planned availability in VMware's Q4 FY22, the infrastructure-as-a-service offering allows organizations to deploy pre-configured cloud instances in their data center or at an edge location or co-location facility. VMware vRealize Cloud Management enhancements deliver cloud-agnostic provisioning, proactive mnitoring, capacity and cost optimization, app-aware troubleshooting, and end-to-end network visibility across all cloud environments. The new VMware Skyline Advisor Pro proactively prevents issues before they occur to help customers avoid costly unplanned IT downtime. VMware Marketplace adds capabilities that enable faster app development and delivery through a private service catalog that includes open source software (Bitnami), VMware and ISV solutions. Customers can now lower procurement cycles and deployment times by purchasing VMware and ISV solutions on the industry's only multi-cloud marketplace. Project Arctic, a tech preview, will bring VMware Cross-Cloud services to the fingertips of millions of IT Admins. Project Arctic natively integrates cloud connectivity into vSphere and establishes hybrid cloud as the default operating model. Customers will be able to take advantage of unlimited cloud capacity on-demand and instantly access VMware Cross-Cloud services through vCenter. SAFER: VMware uses the power of software, a scale-out distributed architecture, and a cloud delivery model for better security and data protection that's easier to use. VMware Cloud customers benefit from consistent security policy and features across all environments. VMware NSX tapless NDR, Secure Workload Access, and Elastic Application Security Edge are new innovations that are advancing security inside and across VMware Cloud environments. VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery enhancements accelerate ransomware recovery and help restore services and data faster. VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload, VMware NSX Advanced Firewall, and VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer help VMware Cloud on AWS customers reduce attack surface, improve application availability and uptime, and make security operations more effective. Stretched Cluster support for environments as small as two hosts improve resiliency for VMware Cloud on AWS customers of all sizes. Supporting Customers' Requirements for Sovereign Clouds Data security is not just a corporate or organizational issue; research shows 50-60% of organizations surveyed believe there is a national mandate to improve data security, privacy, and innovation (3). The new VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative helps customers engage with trusted national cloud service providers to meet geo-specific requirements around data sovereignty and jurisdictional control; data access and integrity; data security and compliance; data independence and mobility; and data analytics and innovation. The first VMware Sovereign Cloud designated partners are UKCloud, OVHcloud, AUCloud, Datacom, NxtGen, Noovle, Telefonica, TietoEvry, Telmex (News - Alert) and ThinkOn. Hear from partners about the value of the new VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative. A Look into the Future of VMware Cloud VMware is showcasing additional R&D investments and innovations currently underway for VMware Cloud with the following tech previews: Project Capitola: a software-defined memory implementation that will provide the best price-performance ratio for current and next-gen applications by aggregating memory tiers across DRAM, PMEM, NVMe and other future technologies. Read more about the partners supporting Project Capitola here. a software-defined memory implementation that will provide the best price-performance ratio for current and next-gen applications by aggregating memory tiers across DRAM, PMEM, NVMe and other future technologies. Read more about the partners supporting Project Capitola here. Project Cascade: this tech preview will address the needs of developers and DevOps professionals with an industry-standard programmatic interface powered by Kubernetes that provides a common declarative consumption interface for both infrastructures (IaaS) and containers (CaaS). this tech preview will address the needs of developers and DevOps professionals with an industry-standard programmatic interface powered by Kubernetes that provides a common declarative consumption interface for both infrastructures (IaaS) and containers (CaaS). Project Ensemble: designed as a unified control plane for VMware Cloud, Project Ensemble will further improve operations by delivering a unified view across vRealize Cloud Management services. VMware Cloud Customers Share Their Stories "Carrefour is working with Google Cloud and VMware to accelerate the company's digital-first mission by responding to business opportunities faster while reducing our IT operations cost and environmental footprint," said Damien Cazenave, chief technology officer and chief information officer, Carrefour France. "With Google Cloud VMware Engine, we were able to quickly and seamlessly move our VMware workloads to Google Cloud in less time than originally expected. We now have the opportunity to modernize our IT infrastructure through better automation and resilience on Google Cloud." "Working with VMware and Deloitte, Sterling National Bank was able to exit two data centers and migrate to VMware Cloud on AWS within a year," adds Vesko Pehlivanov, senior managing director, solution strategy and architecture, Sterling National Bank. "Even with the limitations posed by the pandemic, our migration was so seamless that our users and application owners were unaware any changes took place. There was no downtime at all. The strong alliance between Sterling, VMware, and Deloitte helped us move faster and more effectively than we could have done alone." "Tower Health has a large investment in on-premises VMware Cloud infrastructure that works well for our business. However, we saw the opportunity to move IT management and operations to a SaaS (News - Alert) model," said Brian Weigle, lead system engineer, Tower Health. "With vRealize Cloud Universal, we gained the flexibility to move almost all our production cloud management capabilities to SaaS. We get all the capabilities of vRealize Operations, Log Insight and Automation, with additional benefits like scalability, faster access to innovation, and operational efficiency that come with SaaS. And with VMware Skyline, we've gone from reactive to proactive support." "By migrating our VMware environment to Azure VMware Solution, we estimate that we are realizing six figures in hardware savings, averting more than five months of processing and supply chain delays, and gaining greater agility to support our spike in virtual desktop as a result of the ongoing pandemic," said Mari Lovo, director of cloud infrastructure services, University of Miami. "Taking advantage of Microsoft's Azure Hybrid Benefit allows the University of Miami to use its existing on-premises Windows Server licenses for VMs in its Azure VMware Solution environment, at no additional cost." VMware Helps Customers Navigate the Multi-Cloud Era At VMworld 2021, VMware is unveiling its strategy to help customers navigate the multi-cloud era and accelerate innovation with freedom, flexibility, and security. For the latest news on how VMware is delivering a smarter path to cloud for digital businesses, visit the VMworld 2021 media kit. About VMworld 2021 VMworld 2021 is the world's premier cloud computing and digital infrastructure event. VMworld features 600+ unique sessions and labs, more than 75 sponsors, and several networking events to accelerate the journey to becoming a software-defined business - from mobile devices to the data center and the cloud. VMworld attendees will have unparalleled access to the knowledge and tools they need to master the new cloud landscape and transform their business. To learn more about VMworld, please visit: www.vmworld.com. About VMware VMware is a leading provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. As a trusted foundation to accelerate innovation, VMware software gives businesses the flexibility and choice they need to build the future. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, VMware is committed to building a better future through the company's 2030 Agenda. For more information, please visit www.vmware.com/company. Citations 1. ESG Economic Validation - Analyzing the Economic Benefits of Operationalizing Kubernetes with VMware Tanzu Standard, January 2021 2. IDC White Paper (News - Alert) , sponsored by VMware, "The Business Value of Running Applications on VMware Cloud on AWS in VMware Hybrid Cloud Environments," IDC #US46919520, October 2020 3. IDC Whitepaper, "Deploying the Right Data to the Right Cloud in Regulated Industries, #US47726321, June 2021 VMware, vSphere, Tanzu, vRealize, vCenter, Skyline, Bitnami, NSX, Black Cloud, and VMworld are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other jurisdictions. VMware makes no guarantee that services announced in preview or beta will become available at a future date. The information in this press release is for informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract. This article may contain hyperlinks to non-VMware websites that are created and maintained by third parties who are solely responsible for the content on such websites. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005497/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 04, 2021] LatinFinance reveals winners of 2021 Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards MIAMI, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LatinFinance has announced the winners of its 2021 Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards. Every year, the Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards recognize the most impressive transactions and institutions in an area that is crucial to the economic progress of Latin America and the Caribbean. The winners are determined by LatinFinance's editorial staff based on an exhaustive selection process. The full list of winners can be found in the Q3/Q4 2021 edition of LatinFinance magazine. For more information about the selection process, visit www.latinfinance.com/pifawards. Winning transactions and institutions Click a winning transaction or institution to read more about it. Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Andes Autopista Del Norte Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Brazil Eixo SP Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Caribbean Enadom LNG Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Central America CMI Energy's Green Financing Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Latin America and Power Financing of the Year EnfraGen Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Mexico Tierra Mojada Refinancing Infrastructure Financing of the Year - Southern Cone Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE) Airport Financing of the Year Lima Airport Expansion Digital Infrastructure/Telecoms Financing of the Year ATP Groups LatAm Bond Regional Debut Puerto de Hierro Chile's Latin America Mexico Brazil Central America Caribbean Mexico Ritch Mueller Brazil Pinheiro Neto Central America Latin America Upcoming award nominations Nominations for the 2021 Deals of the Year Awards will be open October 417, 2021. Learn more at www.latinfinance.com/dealsoftheyear. Sign up to be notified when information on LatinFinance's 2022 awards series is available at www.latinfinance.com/awardalerts. About LatinFinance LatinFinance is the leading global platform providing intelligence on the financial markets and economies of Latin America and the Caribbean. Drawing on more than 30 years of editorial excellence, its English-language publications deliver high-value information to an international readership of companies, governments, financiers and investors, while its events convene those communities for high-level networking forums focused on the dynamics of those markets, by geography and sector. Media contact: Richard Iurilli, richard.iurilli@latinfinance.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latinfinance-reveals-winners-of-2021-project--infrastructure-finance-awards-301392343.html SOURCE LatinFinance [October 04, 2021] Large file transfers: French platform TransferNow launches a new version of its solution PARIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TransferNow offers a secure solution for sharing large files, such as photos, videos or professional documents. Today the platform is launching a new version to meet its users' needs more effectively. Over 150 million files transferred since its creation Transferring files securely has become a daily requirement for many individuals and companies. The health crisis and more widespread remote working practices have accentuated this need. Private individuals are looking for simple ways to share photos and videos with family and friends. Companies of all sizes need to manage their file transfer flow to ensure that it is secure and reliable. TransferNow offers a free version to private individuals and paid options for professionals to send and receive bulky files. Since its creation in 2013, over 150 million files have been transferred via the platform. The service is used in over 150 countries, with customers expressing high levels of satisfaction, attributing an average score of 4.7/5 following file transfer (over 300,000 votes collected to date via the platform). A new, more secure version with data hosting in France Offering a more reliable and secure service - this is the ambition that TransferNow has set itself to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding customers. Today, all of its user files are hosted in France, distinguishing it from other file transfer services available on the market. The new version of the file sharing solution is more ergonomic and faster, providing an improved user experience. TransferNow has made the most of its service redesign to refresh its graphic identity: a more modern appearance that is easier to remember and better reflects the company's identity. Driving internationalisation and other future developments Over the coming months, TransferNow will continue to develop its solution further by offering an optimised antivirus analysis system, as well as a more intuitive and collaborative multi-user offer. TransferNow has had exciting international ambitions since the very beginning of the adventure. Today the platform is available in 19 languages with the recent addition of Arabic and Russian versions. In order to stay close to users and further its international development, TransferNow will soon be offering two new storage regions, in Asia as well as on the American continent. Contact: Florent press@transfernow.net SOURCE TransferNow.net [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 04, 2021] UnionBank's UBX opens Singapore HQ SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UBX, UnionBank of the Philippines' fintech venture studio and fund, expands its operations in Singapore to further its vision of invisible banking in Asia. Since its launch in 2018, UBX has pioneered financial services solutions integrated into everyday activities of people and businesses. The new Singapore headquarters is the bridge for startups who would like to enter the Philippine market by partnering with UBX's award-winning ventures. "Expanding reach within Asia continues to be an important focus for UBX," Cyrus Cruz, who joined UBX Singapore as Country Head, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to further extend our presence in the region, starting with Singapore - known as the main regional fintech hub of upcoming start-ups and great talents in Asia. UBX has strategically set up an office here to contribute to, and benefit from the established ecosystem. This will not only expand our network, it'll also help us learn from different companies in the country," he added. UBX is fast-tracking its expansion because of the rapid growth of fintech with 2 out of 3 financial transactions being made online today. In 2020, $1.6 billion was invested in fintech startups in Southeast Asia according to a study by Dealrooom. UBX ventures are experiencing significant growth fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, SeekCap - UBX's digital lending platform in the Philippines - processed over USD 60 million worth of business loans for MSMEs just one year after its launch. While i2i , UBX's banking-as-a-service platform, had a 3000% monthly volume increase for its portable Mobile ATM services in 2020. For its impact on fintech and financial inclusion, UBX was recognized as the Fastest Growing Fintech Company in Souh East Asia 2021 by the Global Banking and Finance Review. As a leading venture studio in the region, it was only natural to open its 2nd headquarters in Singapore where the growth trajectory of the fintech industry has been steady and impressive. John Januszczak, the Chief Executive Officer of UBX reiterates "We aim to support companies who would like to enter the Philippine market through strategic partnerships leveraging both UBX's technological expertise and open finance footprint in the Philippines." UBX is the gateway to fintech in the Philippines UBX invests in early-stage startups that add strategic value to the UBX and UnionBank network. UBX's portfolio focuses on various in-demand solutions ranging from banking and payments to lending and eCommerce categories created for individuals and businesses. UBX's i2i is the Philippines' fastest-growing Open Finance and banking-as-a-service solution, bringing financial services to underserved communities through its network of financial services providers. To date, i2i connects hundreds of financial institutions and financial service providers, in addition to over 1,800 banking agents on the platform. SeekCap is the Philippines' first same-day approval, digital lending marketplace made especially for micro, small, medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) who need access to credit to run and scale their businesses. SeekCap has registered over 48,000 MSMEs and has processed over USD 60 million worth of business loans. SeekCap has partnered with digital communities such as Lazada and Foodpanda to further expand its MSME reach. Bux is an end-to-end payment gateway for businesses of all sizes. MSMEs can accept payment methods from over 50,000 over-the-counter locations including 7-Eleven and LBC, debit and credit card payments as well as wallet payments via GrabPay and GCash. With over 100,000 sign ups since its launch in 2019, Bux continues to make payments simple and easy with features like payment links, Universal QR code and Buy Now Pay Later. Sentro , a free eCommerce shop builder with pre-integrated payment gateway and delivery services, powers over 30,000 registered local merchants since its launch in 2019. UBX recently launched Sentro Build - the first multi-merchant marketplace builder in the Philippines bringing buyers and sellers together in one reliable site. QLABS is UBX's technology solutions venture that brings a business' digital initiatives to scale with its team of experts and industry leaders. QLABs developed PHX, the Philippine's 1st Central Bank approved Stable Coin that currently powers the i2i network. QLABS has helped "tech up" multiple businesses, such as developing PERA HUB's mobile application with features that allow customers to connect with, and pay, thousands of merchants. Assured , the Philippines' first and revolutionary embeddable insurance platform, is the latest venture of UBX. Assured recently partnered with insurtech Coherent and insurance giant Chubb to increase insurance penetration rate through embedded insurance, a protection cover presented as a value-added feature in everyday experiences like paying a bill or shopping online. Assured is led out of the Singapore office, paving the way for regional expansion. About UBX UBX is the financial technology venture studio and fund of UnionBank of the Philippines. UBX is predicated on a future where financial services are invisible: seamlessly embedded into the experiences and activities that truly matter to businesses and people. For more information about the company and this article, please visit UBX or contact agnescasal@ubx.ph . Media Contact Mr. Cyrus Cruz cyrus@ubx.ph +65 90688224 SOURCE UBX [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 04, 2021] BrainChip Presents at Investment Forums Throughout October BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN), (OTCQX: BRCHF), a leading provider of ultra-low power high performance artificial intelligence technology, today announced that company executives have been invited to give presentations at several leading financial conferences throughout the month of October. Attending these shows represents excellent opportunities to educate investment communities about how AI will impact markets into the future as well as evangelize BrainChip's unique vision and capabilities in the technology space. Among the featured events are: MicroCap Rodeo Fall Harvest Best Ideas Conference - a virtual conference that brings together the Top 35 ideas from the buy side October 5. Rob Telson, VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing, and Ken Scarince, CFO, will co-present during a 25-minute session about how BrainChip is delivering the next generation of artificial intelligence at the Edge. BrainChip's session has been changed to October 5 at 1:30 p.m. PDT, October 6 at 4:30 a.m. AWST, October 6 at 7:30 a.m. AEDT. The presentation will be available for viewing at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/2800/43019 LD Micro Main Event - a three-day investor conference for the most-powerful people in the small-cap world held at the Luxe Sunset Bel-Air in Los Angeles October 12-14. The 14th annual Main Event targets those interested in finding the next generation of great companies. Telson will present live to an audience of analysts and investors October 12 at 8 a.m. PDT, October 12 at 11 p.m. AWST, October 13 at 2 a.m. AEDT. Those unable to attend in person can join the presentation virtually. To sign-up, interested parties can visit https://me21.mysequire.com/ Iternational Investment Forum - a live virtual conference from Germany October 14 for small- and mid-cap investors, value investors, portfolio and fund managers, bankers, investment advisors, journalists and media representatives. Scarince will present to the global audience at October 14 at 1:45 a.m. PDT, October 14 at 4:45 p.m. AWST, October 14 at 7:45 p.m. AEDT. Attendees can join the presentation at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87623460821?pwd=L00xR09GWnAvN1U0aEhWdjRhNmdlUT09 "These investor conferences represent an ideal avenue towards directly addressing the financial sector about who we are, what our technology does and why it matters in both the near term and in the future," said Telson. "We have found that having the opportunity to speak with people about our Akida technology helps them better understand what might otherwise be a nebulous idea. This approach works at many of the technical shows that we attend as well as investor conferences. I look forward to having the chance to discuss it with would-be investors attending these forums throughout October and beyond." BrainChip's Akida brings artificial intelligence to the edge in a way that existing technologies are not capable. The solution is high-performance, small, ultra-low power and enables a wide array of edge capabilities. The Akida (NSoC) and intellectual property can be used in applications including Smart Home, Smart Health, Smart City and Smart Transportation. These applications include but are not limited to home automation and remote controls, industrial IoT, robotics, security cameras, sensors, unmanned aircraft, autonomous vehicles, medical instruments, object detection, sound detection, odor and taste detection, gesture control and cybersecurity. BrainChip publishes a list of events where company executives are presenting at https://brainchipinc.com/events/ About BrainChip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN, OTCQX: BRCHF) BrainChip is a global technology company that is producing a groundbreaking neuromorphic processor that brings artificial intelligence to the edge in a way that is beyond the capabilities of other products. The chip is high performance, small, ultra-low power and enables a wide array of edge capabilities that include on-chip training, learning and inference. The event-based neural network processor is inspired by the spiking nature of the human brain and is implemented in an industry standard digital process. By mimicking brain processing BrainChip has pioneered a processing architecture, called Akida, which is both scalable and flexible to address the requirements in edge devices. At the edge, sensor inputs are analyzed at the point of acquisition rather than through transmission via the cloud to a data center. Akida is designed to provide a complete ultra-low power and fast AI Edge Network for vision, audio, olfactory and smart transducer applications. The reduction in system latency provides faster response and a more power efficient system that can reduce the large carbon footprint of data centers. Additional information is available at https://www.brainchipinc.com Follow BrainChip on Twitter (News - Alert) : https://www.twitter.com/BrainChip_inc Follow BrainChip on LinkedIn (News - Alert) : https://www.linkedin.com/company/7792006 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211004006022/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 04, 2021] China Life Singapore Releases the Very First Full Version Corporate Branding Video SINGAPORE, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This October, China Life Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd ("China Life Singapore" or "the Company") releases our very first full version corporate branding video ("corporate video"). This corporate video brings together the heartwarming stories between China Life agents and customers, the Company's development milestones, and the interview highlights of its' employees, presenting the corporate vision of "Success for you, Success by me" from different angles and levels. The Main Theme of "Sincere Services for Eternity Despite the Changes of Years" In the corporate video, China Life Singapore uses the most refined shots to interpret the true story of China Life agents, from initial acquaintance to signing of policies, from commitments to witnesses, accompanies customers in every important moment of his/her life. This is China Life's corporate spirit of "Lifelong Promise Lifelong Partner". It is through one story after another that China Life Singapore connects the agents' career and the life of our policyholders. The interaction between these two connections makesinsurance embedded with sincere connotations and conveys the warmth of mutual achievement between agents and customers. Interpretation of Insurance, Commitment to Responsibility, and Expectation for a Better Future Meanwhile, the corporate video specially features an extended employee interview. The interview highlights of China Life Singapore's senior management, principal-in-charge of the departments, and employee representatives. The interview video is content rich, which includes the senior management's view on the Company's development vision and prospects, the principal-in-charge of the departments' interpretation of insurance, and employees' sharing on their views of China Life Singapore. It displays comprehensively the Company's philosophy and outlook to the public. Mr. Lin Xiangyang, Chief Executive, said that China Life Singapore strives to practice the core corporate vision of "Success for you, Success by me", and contribute its due strength in the journey of building a leading global financial and insurance group. Mr. Gao Feng, Assistant General Manager, who oversees the three major distribution channels, raised that we are committed to building the distribution channel and agency force for our Chinese customers, and we believe that only with professionalism, we can achieve customer respect. Mr. Cai Wei, Chief Actuary, shared that we commit to persist on high quality, focus on value, explore the new business model of sustainable development. Five principal-in-charge of the departments narrated "what is insurance" from the function and true meaning of insurance. It is the responsibility towards family, the inheritance of love, a peace of mind, offering help in the snow, adding icing on the cake, the nip it in the bud and etc. What is China Life Singapore through the eyes of employees? A young company full of energy and opportunities, a hard working team, a big caring family, international workforce, localized business operations, encourage learning and innovation, the Company hope that employees will work towards the same direction with the same goal. Same as the warmth and glory spread by the corporate video, looking forward to the future, this will also encourage China Life Singapore to forge ahead, continue to provide customers with customized comprehensive financial planning solutions and high-quality service experience, to achieve customers loyalty with branding and services, assist to realize the development vision of China Life as a leading global financial and insurance group. SOURCE China Life Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Nomination Committee for the ASSA ABLOY Annual General Meeting 2022 STOCKHOLM, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The following representatives of ASSA ABLOY AB's shareholders will be members of the Nomination Committee for the Annual General Meeting 2022: Johan Hjertonsson, Investment AB Latour, Chairman of the Nomination Committee Mikael Ekdahl , Melker Schorling AB , Melker Schorling AB Marianne Nilsson , Swedbank Robur Fonder , Swedbank Robur Fonder Liselott Ledin , Alecta , Alecta Yvonne Sorberg, Handelsbanken Fonder The Chairman of the Board, Lars Renstrom, shall convene the Nomination Committee to its first meeting and shall also be co-opted to the Nomination Committee. The Nomination Committee shall prepare proposals for the Annual General Meeting in 2022 regarding the election of Chairman of the General Meeting, members of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board, Vice Chairman of the Board, auditor, fees for the members of the Board including division between the Chairman, the Vice Chairman and the other Board members as well as fees for committee work, fees to the company's auditor and, if necessary, changes to the instructions for the Nomination Committee. The Annual General Meeting will be held on April 27, 2022, in Stockholm, Sweden. Shareholders who wish to submit proposals to the Nomination Committee should send an email to nominationcommittee@assaabloy.com. For more information, please contact: Nico Delvaux, President and CEO, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 82 Erik Pieder, CFO and Executive Vice President, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 72 Bjorn Tibell, Head of Investor Relations, tel. no: +46 70 275 67 68 About ASSA ABLOY The ASSA ABLOY Group is the global leader in access solutions. The Group operates worldwide with 48,000 employees and sales of SEK 88 billion. The Group has leading positions in areas such as efficient door openings, trusted identities and entrance automation. ASSA ABLOY's innovations enable safe, secure and convenient access to physical and digital places. Every day, we help billions of people experience a more open world. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/r/nomination-committee-for-the-assa-abloy-annual-general-meeting-2022,c3426815 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/7333/3426815/1476828.pdf Press release (PDF) View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nomination-committee-for-the-assa-abloy-annual-general-meeting-2022-301392544.html SOURCE ASSA ABLOY [October 05, 2021] MAG collaborates with UN environment initiative Playing For The Planet - In October, MAG launches environment-focused events through the UN gaming initiative Playing For The Planet to draw attention to the preservation of the world's ocean and coral reefs. STOCKHOLM, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today MAG Interactive announces that special ocean-themed gaming events will run in six of MAG's games during October. The goal of these events is to help preserve the world's ocean and coral reefs. MAG developed the events during this year's Green Game Jam, a workshop where game companies develop gaming ideas that support the global environmental agenda. This workshop is held by Playing For The Planet Alliance, an initiative under the UN Environment Programme that brings together game companies worldwide with the common goal of improving the world's climate and environment through play. MAG developed these environmental events based on the UN-led campaign Glowing Glowing Gone which works to curb the threat that coral reefs - also known as "rainforests of the ocean" - face as a result of climate change. Reefs are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change due to die-off from ocean heat waves. Special ocean events will be launched in Wordzee, Ruzzle, Word Domination, WordBrain, WordBrain 2 and New QuizDuel which will also run a special ocean quiz. In each event, players are encouraged to either add their name to the petition for the preservation of coral reefs via the Glowing Glowing Gone website and/or to donate any amount to projects that are working to protect ocean health. "Last year's Green Game Jam inspired us all and this year it was a given to involve most of our live games in this initiative. Our goal is to create engaging content for our players while spreading an important message, that they have the power to help preserve the marine ecosystem", says Daniel Hasselberg, CEO of MAG Interactive. "We couldn't be more excited to join hands with MAG to help raise awareness and resources for the planet's precious coral reefs that are on the front line of climate change. Many people have no idea of their value to humanity, and gaming can be transformational in inspiring this learning and action journey", says Leticia Carvalho, Head of Marine and Freshwater at the UN Environment Programme. MAG's events coincide with the launch of the report the "Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020", an extensive report of the status of the ocean's coral reefs that is the first of its kind in over a decade. About Playing For The Planet Alliance The Playing for the Planet Alliance, launched in 2019 during the Climate Summit in New York, has a collective monthly active player base of more than 1.5 billion. In joining the Alliance, members have made commitments ranging from integrating green activations in games, reducing their emissions, and supporting the global environmental agenda through initiatives ranging from planting millions of trees to reducing plastic in their products. Read more here: https://playing4theplanet.org/ About Glowing Glowing Gone The Glowing Glowing Gone Campaign was launched in June 2019 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and The Ocean Agency. The Campaign focuses on building public support for ocean and coral reef protection and climate action towards net zero emissions by 2050 by using creativity and creative brand partnerships to mainstream knowledge on the importance of coral reefs and the threats the climate crisis and other human-induced impacts pose to the ecological, economic, social, and cultural value of coral reefs and their associated ecosystems. Read more here: https://www.glowing.org/playing4theplanet For additional information, please contact: Tove Bengtsson / Marketing Communications Manager / +46 (0)72-220 73 22 / tove.bengtsson@maginteractive.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/mag-interactive/r/mag-collaborates-with-un-environment-initiative-playing-for-the-planet,c3420533 The following files are available for download: https://news.cision.com/mag-interactive/i/mag-playingfortheplanet,c2958797 MAG_PlayingforthePlanet [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Overbond Adds Pre-trade Streaming API for AI Optimised TCA into its EMS Automation Suite Overbond, a provider of AI analytics and trade automation for the global fixed income markets, announced today the addition of real-time pre-trade and post-trade transaction cost analysis (TCA) to its execution management system (EMS) automation suite of AI fixed income trading tools. This new Overbond TCA draws on the unmatched data aggregation, exceptional API interoperability and industry-leading refresh rate that Overbond clients have come to rely upon. Overbond COBI-Pricing LIVE is one of the few trading suites that features a multi-source data input and the only fixed income analytics suite that allows for cross-venue, cross-trading-protocol liquidity discovery and optimisation. The full interoperability of COBI-Pricing LIVE via bilateral REST APIs allows AI algorithms to ingest, aggregate and process data from live and historical vendor feeds, internal historical records of executed trades, post-trade volume and liquidity data and voice/chat OTC transactions translation data. Overbond AI achieves an industry-leading refresh rate using cloud computing and parallelization. Harnessing Overbond interoperability with the internal order management systems (OMS) and client databases of the trading desk, the TCA looks back through OMS records nd blotters from past transactions for similar bonds (ISIN/CUSIP), looking at multiple variables including risk, liquidity, size, counterparty, RFQ competitiveness and dealer quotes and inventories. Overbond AI aggregates the data, determines best executable pricing and liquidity and powers TCA pre-trade LIVE recommendations and post-trade reports. "TCA has traditionally been a post-trade exercise, but Overbond has brought it to pre-trade LIVE. Overbond AI refreshes the entire TCA look-back every two seconds for client books that can have tens of thousands of trades, so traders can be confident that they have the most complete real-time information available on best-executable pricing, liquidity risk and transaction cost, and can smart order route in the price-size chunks necessary. No other TCA tool available combines the breadth of data aggregation, API interoperability and speed like Overbond AI," said Vuk Magdelinic, CEO of Overbond. About Overbond Overbond is a developer of process-redefining, AI-driven data and analytics and trade automation solutions for the global fixed income markets. Overbond performs market surveillance, data aggregation and normalization, and deep AI quantitative observation on more than 100,000 corporate bonds and fixed income ETFs. Applying proprietary artificial intelligence to pricing, curve visualization, market liquidity, issuance propensity, new issuance spreads, default risk and automated reporting, Overbond enables trade automation and enhances trade performance and portfolio returns. Clients of Toronto-based Overbond include global investment banks, broker dealers, institutional investors, corporations and governments across the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.overbond.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211004005997/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] ICMM makes landmark climate commitment to net zero by 2050 or sooner LONDON, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- Today, members of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) have committed to a goal of net zero scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. This landmark commitment was made in an open letter signed by the CEOs of ICMM's company members. Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO, ICMM, said: "As the suppliers of the minerals and metals that are critical to decarbonisation and sustainable development, we have a particular responsibility to minimise the impact of our operations on the environment. ICMM members' collective commitment to net zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 is a pivotal moment in our history. We are speaking with one voice, representing approximately one third of the global mining and metals industry including more than 650 sites in over 50 countries so that we drive emissions reduction at a significant scale. "ICMM members have and will continue to set meaningful short and/or medium-term targets to build clear pathways to achieving this goal, while also accelerating action on addressing scope 3 emissions and enhancing disclosure. We encourage other mining and metals companies, suppliers and customers to join us in decarbonising commodity value chains so that we collectively accelerate climate action in our wider industry." Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion, said: "I welcome the leadership and joint ambition of ICMM members to commit to a goal of net-zero scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, and I strongly encourage companies to set scope 3 GHG emissions reduction targets by the end of 2023. The High-Level Climate Action Champions encourage members to strive to set the most ambitious science-based targets possible in line with the criteria of the Race to Zero campaign." Although we have individual decarbonisation targets which in some cases go beyond ICMM's collective commitment, this represents a joint ambition. The rate and nature of the ultimate decline in emissions will vary across the different commodities and geographies represented by our diverse membership. Yet our approach to individually setting and meeting targets will be consistent and include the following, no later than the end of 2023 where these do not already exist: Setting Scope 1 and 2 targets: we will build clear pathways to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, through meaningful short and/or medium-term targets. we will build clear pathways to achieving net zero Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2050 or sooner, through meaningful short and/or medium-term targets. Accelerating action on Scope 3 GHG emissions: we recognise that Scope 3 is critical to minimising our overall impact and we will set Scope targets, if not by the end of 2023, as soon as possible. Although all Scope 3 action depends on the combined efforts of producers, suppliers and customers, some commodities face greater technological and collaborative barriers than others. We will play a leading role in overcoming these barriers and advancing partnerships that enable credible target setting and emission reductions across value chains. we recognise that Scope 3 is critical to minimising our overall impact and we will set Scope targets, if not by the end of 2023, as soon as possible. Although all Scope 3 action depends on the combined efforts of producers, suppliers and customers, some commodities face greater technological and collaborative barriers than others. We will play a leading role in overcoming these barriers and advancing partnerships that enable credible target setting and emission reductions across value chains. Covering all material sources: our targets will cover all material sources of emissions, aligning to the GHG Protocol definition of organisational boundaries and materiality. our targets will cover all material sources of emissions, aligning to the GHG Protocol definition of organisational boundaries and materiality. Focussing on absolute reductions: for some operations, intensity rather than absolute targets may be more appropriate in the short and medium term. Where intensity targets are used, we will disclose the corresponding absolute increase or decrease in GHG emissions. for some operations, intensity rather than absolute targets may be more appropriate in the short and medium term. Where intensity targets are used, we will disclose the corresponding absolute increase or decrease in GHG emissions. Applying robust methodologies: we will use target-setting methodologies that are aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and disclose in detail the assumptions we use. we will use target-setting methodologies that are aligned with the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and disclose in detail the assumptions we use. Disclosing openly and transparently: we will report our progress on Scopes 1, 2 and 3 annually, obtain external verification over our performance, and report in alignment with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Mining Principles, representing the comprehensive commitment to a responsible mining and metals industry. Notes to editors This release has been translated from English by a third party. ICMM is not liable for any inaccuracies in this translation. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, French and Chinese versions of the open letter and ICMM's Climate Change Position Statement will be available on our website: The open letter is available here. is available here. ICMM's updated Climate Change Position Statement is available here. ICMM's CEO Rohitesh Dhawan will moderate a session at Reuters IMPACT with Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto, Hilde Aasheim, President & CEO of Hydro, Gonzalo Munoz, UNFCCC High Level Climate Action Champion and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Leader of Climate & Energy at WWF on 5 October at 16.30 BST to discuss how the mining and metals industry is making progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and how we can go further. Supporting assets are available to download from ICMM's media briefing pack (including quotes from several ICMM member CEOs and high res images from some of our company members that are available for publication with the piece please credit the source company). About ICMM ICMM is an international organisation dedicated to a safe, fair and sustainable mining and metals industry. Bringing together?28 mining and metals companies?and?over 35 regional and commodities associations, it strengthens environmental and social performance and serves as a catalyst for change, enhancing mining's contribution to society. Every ICMM company member adheres to its?Mining Principles?which incorporates comprehensive environmental, social and governance requirements, robust site-level validation of Performance Expectations and credible assurance of corporate sustainability reports. ICMM's 28 company members are: African Rainbow Minerals, Alcoa, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Antofagasta Minerals, Barrick, BHP, Boliden, Codelco, Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore, Gold Fields, Hydro, JX Nippon Mining & Metals, Minera San Cristobal, Minsur, Mitsubishi Materials, MMG, Newcrest, Newmont, Orano, Polyus, Rio Tinto, Sibanye Stillwater, South32, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Teck and Vale. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651343/ICMM_solar_panels.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1651344/ICMM_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icmm-makes-landmark-climate-commitment-to-net-zero-by-2050-or-sooner-301391764.html SOURCE International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Safer gambling in focus at the Sustainable Gambling Conference VALLETTA, Malta, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kindred Group hosts the Sustainable Gambling Conference for the sixth consecutive year, bringing together experts from inside and outside of the industry to share ideas on how operators can offer a thrilling gambling experience that is also safe and responsible. Aspects that are crucial for a sustainable gambling industry. The theme of the 2021 conference is "Safer gambling: a shared responsibility". Kindred Group will host the Sustainable Gambling Conference for the sixth time, this year as an online event. Internationally renowned speakers such as Nurit Nobel, Researcher in Economic Psychology and co-founder Impactually, Dr. Mark D. Griffiths, Distinguished Professor of Behavioural Addiction at Nottingham Trent University, UK and Janne Elvelid, Head of Public Policy, Sweden & Finland Facebook, will share their knowledge. Regulators from Sweden, Malta, France and Denmark will participate in a panel discussion about the role of the regulator, and Ryan Pitcher and Christopher Gilham, co-hosts of the gambling addiction podcast All Bets Are Off will moderate one of the panel discussions on "Coming together to provide a more sustainable industry". "This year's lineup of speakers is extraordinary. We have a very wide spectra of experts from inside and outside the industry. It is truly important that we all take learnings from other's sectors to better ensure consumer protection," says Maris Catania, Head of Responsible Gaming and Research, Kindred Group. Crucial questions will be discussed during this year's conference: Sustainable Gambling - myth or reality? How can we work closer inside and outside the industry? How can we learn from other industries? These will be discussed among representatives from Trustly, TIN Fonder, EFDN, Bonnier News and NOGA. In addition, there will be speakers from Kindred Group, Bournemouth University, TalkBanStop, EPIC Risk Management and EGBA. "The Sustainable Gambling Conference started six years ago, when we joined forces with the local treatment centre in Malta, FSWS. The aim has always been to have a unique set of speakers and discuss the very important topics that at times, are left ignored. This conference is a platform to give a voice to all involved in gambling, and allows a collaborative framework for future work. Having experts by experience, PhD students, leading researchers, affected others, and industry representatives in our arena is both beneficial and needed," concludes Catania. Kindred Group organises the Sustainable Gambling Conference with the purpose of connecting the industry and stakeholders to discuss how we all can work together to secure a more sustainable gambling industry. Follow the Sustainable Gambling Conference here. For more information: Maria Angell Dupont, External Communications Manager, Kindred Group +46 72 165 15 17 press@kindredgroup.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/r/safer-gambling-in-focus-at-the-sustainable-gambling-conference,c3427034 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/824/3427034/1476982.pdf Safer gambling in focus at Sustainable Gambling Conference https://news.cision.com/kindred-group/i/sgc-,c2963661 SGC View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/safer-gambling-in-focus-at-the-sustainable-gambling-conference-301392573.html SOURCE Kindred Group [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] New Appointments and Fundraising at Stamp Free Stamp Free Limited, the digital postage company, today announced a series of new hires and appointments to strengthen its internal management team. Michelle De Pasquale will be joining the organisation as Commercial Director, having previously worked at Uniserve Group as e-Commerce Growth Director. She brings over 25 years of senior supply chain, retail-led logistics experience and a background in SaaS (News - Alert) -based technology solutions. She has worked with the likes of Hermes, Yodel, Post Office and more. De Pasquale will be joined by Gavin Macrae, who has been appointed Business Development Director. Coming from Shippo, where he worked as a Senior Manager within the EMEA Carrier Partnerships team, Macrae has operated at board level in organisations such as Royal Mail, Jersey Post Group, TNT, Ofcom, Digital Europe, PostEurope and the Universal Postal Union. The final addition to the team is Jessica Hice, coming on board as Marketing Manager and bringing with her over seven years of public relations and communications experience. Hugh Craigie Halkett, Managing Director of Stamp Free, said: "We are delighted by these appointments, which will bring a wealth of abilities and experience to the Stamp Free team. Each of our new members is well-versed in the areas of the logistics sector, such as client-facing e-commerce carriers, 3PL, postal, and final mile customer innovation; making them ideal for our current direction as an organisation." These appointments come on the heels of Stamp Free recently closing its Seed One round on 7 September, raising 425,000 at a pre-investment valuation of 2m, and following a pre-see round in February earlier this year. Investment was led by existing investor Dr Ronjon Nag and the R42 Group, with co-investors including SyndicateRoom's Super Angel fund, Cambridge Angels, and several technology angel investors from across the UK and the US. Further grant funding was secured from Scottish Enterprise's High Growth Ventures programme who have supported Stamp Free over the past 15 months. The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution allows businesses and consumers to use the Stamp Free or white-labelled app to send parcels and letters, as well as return consumer goods without the need for a postage stamp or carrier label. Utilising machine handwriting recognition as a core part of its technology. Stamp Free also benefits postal carriers by removing issues associated with postage stamps such as fraud, liabilities and the cost of printing. Hugh Craigie Halkett added: "The postage industry is undergoing tectonic shifts in recent years as digitalisation is becoming core logistics technology. Stamp Free is at the epicentre of this revolution. With the new investment, we will continue to create disruptive solutions as well as penetrate new customer segments." *** For high resolution imagery and logos, please click here About Stamp Free The Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution ("The Solution") is targeted at postal and logistics sectors. The Solution is the first in the world to be offered by a company independent of postal services. The Company has filed a patent application for its Stamp Free Digital Postage Solution. Product information can be found at www.stampfree.co.uk About Scottish Enterprise Scottish Enterprise is Scotland's national economic development agency. They're committed to growing the Scottish economy for the benefit of all, helping create more quality jobs and a brighter future for every region. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005093/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Uber partners with GetSetUp to teach older adults to use Uber's services and apps SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Uber and GetSetUp have announced a partnership to help ensure older adults seeking to use the rideshare app feel confident and comfortable navigating Uber. Throughout the pandemic, older adults have taught other older adults on GetSetUp's live interactive learning platform how to use apps like Zoom, Google, and more. These classes have helped many people master new technological skills. Older adults are interested in utilizing many apps to help them live more independent, healthier lives. But it can be challenging for non-digital natives to navigate the latest technology. GetSetUp's service has shown that when older adults teach other older adults, it helps reduce any fear, hesitation, or intimidation around learning new tech. GetSetUp is now applying its proven methodology of training older adults through peer-led classes to help older adults interested in accessing the Uber app. Classes will assure that new Uber users and those already familiar with the platform will learn more about Uber's products and features. The classes will be available for free several times a week during the pilot and will teach how to navigate the Uber app. The "silver economy," driven by the spending power of older adults, is expected to grow faster than any other segment of the global population . The number of people worldwide who are 65 and older is expected to grow from 524 million in 2010 to 1.5 billion in 2050. Plus, today's older adults are going to live longer than previous generations of seniors. They have more money than millennials and are determined to live active, meaningful lives that are rich in experience including using the latest technology and apps. That is why GetSetUp is excited to partner with Uber to launch these co-created classes . GetSetUp has already partnered with the states of Michigan and New York, Orange County, and dozens of other government and community organizations to offer a catalog of over 1,800 classes providing technology training and mental enrichment to their older adult residents. "We're thrilled to partner with GetSetUp to expand access to our platform," said Niraj Patel, Director of Rider Operations at Uber. "With these classes, we hope new customers will learn more about our product offerings and feel comfortable navigating our app for the first time, so they can enjoy the freedom that comes with having seamless mobility services just a tap away." GetSetUp's live interactive classestaught in bite-sized hour sessionsoffer learners a chance to engage live with peers and ask questions. Peer classes boost confidence, foster shared knowledge, and allow for common references to facilitate learning. "The 60+ demographic wants to live healthy, more independent lives and can better do that when they are able to take advantage of important services like Uber," says GetSetUp co-founder, Lawrence Kosick. "To date, older adults have been unsure how to safely and comfortably learn and navigate new apps, websites, and technology. GetSetUp's mission is to be the safe, secure place where older adults can come and learn how to use their smart devices, apps, and other important services to live happy, healthy, more independent lives. We are excited to partner with Uber to empower older adults to use Uber to live and travel more independently." To learn more about GetSetUp, please visit https://www.getsetup.org/ About GetSetUp GetSetUp is a live, interactive learning platform for older adults who want to learn new skills, connect with others, and unlock new life experiences. Classes are taught by older adults on a highly interactive, custom-built video platform where older adults can connect during and in between classes. The platform helps over 3 million older adults in 160 countries stay mentally and physically fit, creates economic opportunities through jobs and reskilling, and provides a community where people find meaning and purpose by helping each other and forming new connections. To learn more, visit https://www.getsetup.org/ About Uber Uber's mission is to create opportunity through movement. We started in 2010 to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? More than 15 billion trips later, we're building products to get people closer to where they want to be. By changing how people, food, and things move through cities, Uber is a platform that opens up the world to new possibilities. Media Contact: Liz Miller 1-(888)-559-1614 press@getsetup.io View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uber-partners-with-getsetup-to-teach-older-adults-to-use-ubers-services-and-apps-301392429.html SOURCE GetSetUp [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Horace Jones Named President of CyberPoint BALTIMORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberPoint International announced today that Horace Jones, Jr. assumed the role of President of CyberPoint. Jones, with over 20 years of experience as a business executive in information systems, systems engineering, cyber security, and telecommunications, brings a wealth of leadership experience, commitment and energy to the position. In his previous role as the Senior Program Director at CyberPoint, Jones managed Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence business programs and led business development. He has a proven track record of success in fueling business growth based on ethics, vision, strategy, team building, customer relationship and mission execution. Horace Jones has worked at all levels and led business units in small and large, service and technology, companies across both commercial and federal markets. He has supported customers providing technical expertise in Cloud Computing, Visualization, Computer Network Operations, Enterprise IT, Information Operations, Satellite Communications, and Signal Intelligence. Jones holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technolog and an MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "I couldn't be more pleased to accept the position of President to this well-established company that consists of so many talented individuals," says Jones. "My goal in leading CyberPoint is to build on the achievements of the past 12 years and continue to expand our impact." "It was immediately evident to me that Horace's experience, abilities, and business acumen would align very well with our goals for CyberPoint," says Karl Gumtow, CEO of CyberPoint. "As we look to the future, we're confident that Horace is the right person to lead CyberPoint and carry on our commitment to providing the highest level of service and support to our customers." Horace assumed the role of President on October 1, 2021. About CyberPoint CyberPoint provides mission-critical, cybersecurity engineering services & software products to federal agencies and commercial enterprises, including threat analysis & digital forensics, risk assessment & planning, offensive cyber services, and AI / ML cyber solution development. CyberPoint works to create a future where individuals and organizations from across the globe can operate safely and securely in cyberspace and benefit from the technological innovations that increasingly connect our world. CyberPoint discovers the threats and vulnerabilities that expose data, systems, and infrastructure to compromise, quantifies risks, and designs defenses that provide critical protection. Learn more: www.cyberpoint.com. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/horace-jones-named-president-of-cyberpoint-301392418.html SOURCE CyberPoint International [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Relativity Announces Expanded Cloud Capabilities in India at Relativity Fest CHICAGO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Relativity, a global legal and compliance technology company, today announced at its annual user conference Relativity Fest that its secure, end-to-end SaaS product RelativityOne, is now hosted in its 14th geography - India. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (DTTILLP) and Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) are the first in the region to offer RelativityOne to their clients, demonstrating their commitment to expanding cloud capabilities and ensuring premium security and scalability. Relativity customers in India can now innovate faster and control their data in-country with a flexible extensive cloud product. RelativityOne provides an intuitive user experience to streamline e-discovery and internal investigations, helps manage large volumes of complex unstructured data and reduces risk through early and reliable detection of non-compliant behaviour. RelativityOne allows for enhanced collaboration across RelativityOne ecosystems, providing 24/7 monitoring and automated, robust security precautions. "Our customers in India are constantly innovating and discovering alternative use cases for RelativityOne, and we are delighted to now host our trusted SaaS solution locally," said Georgia Foster, Managing Director, APAC at Relativity. "This new offering will allow our customers in India to meet the growing needs of their clients brought on by the increase of cloud adoption in the region and the evolving nature of Indian data protection regulations and compliance monitoring." The availability of RelativityOne will give DTTILLP customers the ability to leverage a more powerful cloud platform, minimise the cost related to maintenance, while maximising productivity with minimal downtime. RelativityOne will reduce risk for DTTILLP customers with proactive threat prevention, automated security processes and leading compliance certifications. With data regulations in India evolving, RelativityOne hosted on an Indian cloud instance will ensure compliance with local regulations and future-proof a processor's obligation to keep the data locally preserved. DTTILLP will be able to provide their clients with faster service, while ensuring the precision and quality of deliverables. "Data is one of the most valuable assets of organisations today, enabling deep insights into opportunities and risk. However, the immense volume and diverse sources of unstructured data, such as emails and user-created files that do not follow pre-defined formats present challenges, particularly when it comes to investigations, litigation, or even making actionable sense of the data retained by companies," said Jayant Sarn, Partner, Financial Advisory, at DTTILLP. "Through RelativityOne's scalability and cutting-edge technology, we will help organisations to draw insight-driven strategy by demystifying the complexity and volume issues of data. The e-discovery solution will help in attaining full control over the data securely and uncover key facts to respond to multinational litigation, investigation, arbitration and regulatory compliance matters." A&M clients will now be able to use RelativityOne's industry-leading secure product, supporting enhanced end-to-end technology solutions involving e-discovery and internal investigations. RelativityOne will enable A&M to facilitate rapid deployments in India, offer extensive data storage without processing capabilities limitations and expedite conversion of foreign language documents. RelativityOne's transformative impact on the technology assisted review landscape in India, coupled with A&M's extensive e-discovery expertise, offers customers a scalable, highly adaptive, secure and cost-effective offering. "With RelativityOne, A&M enhances its e-discovery services in India, bringing in a cloud-based, robust and highly reliable platform that provides innovative, adaptable, best-in-class e-discovery solutions for multiple client requirements," said Dhruv Phophalia, Managing Director and leader of Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations in India. "We see a clear, demonstrated need for rapid deployment, in addition to an increase of 'in-flight' data size and localisation of data with globally secure accessibility. A&M, together with RelativityOne, will help clients address these challenges with unmatched litigations, disputes, investigations and managed reviews experience," added Gagan Puri, Managing Director and leader of the Risk and Regulatory services of Alvarez & Marsal Disputes and Investigations in India. Deloitte, A&M and Relativity announced the decision to bring RelativityOne to India at the 12th annual Relativity Fest, a virtual event taking place from October 4-6. Register for the free event here. About Relativity Relativity makes software to help users organize data, discover the truth and act on it. Its SaaS product RelativityOne manages large volumes of data and quickly identifies key issues during litigation and internal investigations. The AI-powered communication surveillance product, Relativity Trace proactively detects regulatory misconduct like insider trading, collusion and other non-compliant behavior. Relativity has more than 300,000 users in approximately 40 countries serving thousands of organizations globally primarily in legal, financial services and government sectors. Please contact Relativity at sales@relativity.com or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information. About Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90 percent of the Fortune 500 and more than 5,000 private and middle market companies. Our people work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace to make an impact that matters delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way towards a stronger economy and a healthy society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. About Alvarez and Marsal Companies, investors and government entities around the world turn to Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) for leadership, action and results. Privately held since its founding in 1983, A&M is a leading global professional services firm that provides advisory, business performance improvement and turnaround management services. When conventional approaches are not enough to create transformation and drive change, clients seek our deep expertise and ability to deliver practical solutions to their unique problems. With over 5,000 people across four continents, we deliver tangible results for corporates, boards, private equity firms, law firms and government agencies facing complex challenges. Our senior leaders, and their teams, leverage A&M's restructuring heritage to help companies act decisively, catapult growth and accelerate results. We are experienced operators, world-class consultants, former regulators and industry authorities with a shared commitment to telling clients what's really needed for turning change into a strategic business asset, managing risk and unlocking value at every stage of growth. To learn more visit: AlvarezandMarsal.com . Follow A&M on LinkedIn , Twitter , and Facebook . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/relativity-announces-expanded-cloud-capabilities-in-india-at-relativity-fest-301392381.html SOURCE Relativity [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] MasterPeace Solutions Acquires Full Suite Solutions (FSS), Brings Proven Business Model and Expertise to Northern Virginia MasterPeace Solutions, provider of critical government cyber and intelligence services and commercial IT security needs, today announced the acquisition of Northern, Va.-based Full Suite Solutions (FSS), a provider of software and services to Northern Virginia intelligence community clients. FSS Co-Founders, Paul and Cait von Schnetlage, will remain with the company in a leadership capacity and will support the integration of these two people-centric businesses. MasterPeace's expansion into Northern Virginia will address critical workforce skills gap with an innovative platform that focuses on providing engineers unmatched opportunities to develop their skills and remain on the cutting edge of the technology curve. For the last decade, FSS has been committed to the defense and security of our nation's most high-risk organizations. Together, MasterPeace and FSS will continue to do great work for their contracts, while also providing all engineers with personal and professional enrichment. Engineers will have the opportunity and leadership support to follow their dreams, nurture their creativity, and even create their own technology companies through the MasterPeace LaunchPad accelerator. Engineers will be presented with opportunities to do the work they want, in the environment they want and develop the skills they want, while supporting missions and customers they believe in. To ensure a smooth transition, MasterPeace Solutions has hired Jeanine Callahan as the Senior Vice President of MasterPeace Technology Services to lead the FSS integration and MasterPeace expansion to Northern Virginia. Callahan has supported the Intelligence Community for over 30 years and has extensive experience maturing and scaling small and mid-sized businesses. Most recently as Vice President of Corporate Operations at Plus3 IT Systems and previously Chief Growth Officer at Eagle Ray, Callahan is also a board member on the Intelligence National Security Alliance (INSA). "We are not the typical government services company. Our success stems from putting our people first and focusing on being a great partner to our primes," said Drew Cohen, President and CEO of MasterPeace Solutions. "We are excited to work with Paul, Cait, and the entire FSS team and offer their engineers access to more assignment mobility and choices for career development. With the addition of Jeanine, we will have the leadership bandwidth to integrate FSS and MasterPeace and realize synergies for our clients and employees." MasterPeace will include FSS in its technology-focused capability teams, including: Machine Learning/Big Data Analytics; Full Spectrum (News - Alert) Cyber and Network Operations; User Experience and Design; and Cloud DevOps. This will extend and enhance MasterPeace's current capabilities while simultaneously making their integrated competencies available to a broader set of clients and missions. Customers will benefit greatly as the combination of these industry luminary filled companies join forces. "Working with the MasterPeace team is an exciting opportunity for us at FSS," said Cait von Schnetlage, Co-Founder of FSS. "MasterPeace doesn't just say their people are their number one priority, they demonstrate it, by attracting the best and most innovative minds in the area, allowing them to have the freedom to do what they are most passionate about while also supporting government services projects. MasterPeace has the scalable infrastructure for important contributions to the betterment of National Security from both public and private sectors, while embracing every employee for the unique skills and abilities they bring to the table. We look forward to leveraging their expertise in this fast-paced and growing industry." For more information on MasterPeace Solutions, please visit: https://www.masterpeaceltd.com/. About MasterPeace Solutions MasterPeace and our technology artisans make a difference by focusing on the increasing convergence between critical government cyber and intelligence missions & commercial IT security needs. Our services business supports the most important agencies and organizations and their most critical programs and projects. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005443/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Carbon Streaming Adds New Management to Execute on Growing Pipeline and U.S. Listing Strategy Carbon Streaming Corporation (NEO:NETZ) (FSE:M2QA) ("Carbon Streaming" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the addition of two strategic leadership roles which will greatly assist the Company in developing and executing on its growing investment pipeline as well as pursuing its potential U.S. listing in the first half of 2022. Carbon Streaming's CEO Justin Cochrane said: "On behalf of the entire organization I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Mr. Geoff Smith and Mr. Derek Sawkins. I look forward to working with each of them as we endeavor to realize our ambitious growth plans in the months and years ahead." Mr. Cochrane continued, "These appointments represent roles critical to advancing and executing our unique business strategy, and we are very fortunate to have such talent and experience coming onboard with Geoff and Derek." Geoff Smith (President and Chief Operating Officer) brings the benefit of over 15 years of M&A and corporate finance experience having advised on or financed many of the largest and most complex and innovative streaming transactions in the past 10 years. Geoff joins Carbon Streaming from his role as Managing Director for Scotiabank's Investment Banking Division; his team was critical to both structuring and financing billions of dollars of royalties and streams in the natural resource sector. The addition of Mr. Smith to the team comes at a key time as management prepares for a potential U.S. listing and looks to execute on its growing investment pipeline. Mr. Smith holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University (Canada) and is a CFA charterholder. Derek Sawkins (EVP, Investments & Strategy) has over 15 years of experience in business development, M&A, corporate finance and principal investing in the technology, resource, and private market sectors. Most recently, Derek served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at INVIDI Technologies Corporation. Derek spent six years in the investment banking group at National Bank of Canada where he advised on mergers, acquisitions and financings across diversified industries including resource, forestry, clean tech and energy technology. He is the former Executive Producer and Chief Curator of TEDxVancouver, and a founder of Energy Aware (News - Alert) , a clean energy technology company that was acquired by Generac Power Systems in 2019. Mr. Sawkins holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Finance from the University of British Columbia (Canada). With these appointments, Mr. Smith becomes Pesident and COO and is responsible for overseeing strategic financing initiatives and global operations for the Company. Mr. Sawkins will be a key member of Carbon Streaming's investment team and will be responsible for implementing the Company's strategy in sourcing carbon projects for development and executing on the Company's investment pipeline. Mr. Cochrane will continue to lead Carbon Streaming through the execution of its strategy to become the premiere source of financing for developers of carbon offset projects, and the monetization of those credits to assist corporations in their pursuit of a net-zero carbon economy. These additions will also allow Mr. Cochrane to remain focused on the outreach to investors and new markets. About Carbon Streaming Corporation Carbon Streaming is a unique ESG principled investment vehicle offering investors exposure to carbon credits, a key instrument used by both governments and corporations to achieve their carbon neutral and net-zero climate goals. Our business model is focused on acquiring, managing and growing a high-quality and diversified portfolio of investments in projects and/or companies that generate or are actively involved, directly or indirectly, with voluntary and/or compliance carbon credits. The Company invests capital through carbon credit streaming arrangements with project developers and owners to accelerate the creation of carbon offset projects by bringing capital to projects that might not otherwise be developed. Many of these projects will have significant social and economic co-benefits in addition to their carbon reduction or removal potential. If you would like to receive corporate updates via e-mail as soon as they are published, please subscribe here. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements with respect to the potential listing of the Company on a U.S. exchange and the timing thereof) are forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking information is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: general economic, market and business conditions and the other risks disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's AIF dated as of September 27, 2021 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005398/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] PSG Named to Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors PSG, a leading growth equity firm partnering with middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies, today announced that it was named to Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors. The list honors a select number of private equity and venture capital firms which have experience successfully backing founder-led businesses. Through conversations with founders of some of PSG's portfolio companies, Inc. identified PSG as a firm that entrepreneurs can trust and collaborate with while receiving the financial support they need to help accelerate growth. "A primary focus at PSG has and will always be serving as a partner to the founders and management teams across our portfolio," said Mark Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of PSG. "We're grateful to have the opportunity to work alongside hardworking, bootstrapped entrepreneurs every day who share our view that maintaining a strong company culture is critical to success." Through its founding 'buy and build' strategy, PSG is focused on helping middle-market software companies grow through strategic value creation initiatives in addition to sourcing and facilitating add-on acquisitions. The firm has backed more than 85 companies and faciliated over 325 add-on acquisitions. "At PSG, we're firm believers in building strong relationships with the companies we partner with and taking a 'pull, not push' approach to working with them," said Peter Wilde, Co-Founder and Chairman of PSG. "We don't tell entrepreneurs how to run the businesses they built, but we're always available to extend our firm's collective experience, expertise and network to support their growth." PSG recently closed PSG V, its fifth U.S. flagship fund, at $4.5 billion, bringing the firm's total capital commitments to over $10 billion. Earlier this year, the firm closed its debut European fund, PSG Europe, at 1.25 billion. For further details about the methodologies used in determining this list, please click here. About PSG PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities and build strong teams. Having backed more than 85 companies and facilitated over 325 add-on acquisitions, PSG brings extensive investment experience, deep expertise in software and technology and a firm commitment to collaborating with management teams. Founded in 2014, PSG operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City and London. To learn more about PSG, visit www.psgequity.com. About the Inc. Founder-Friendly List Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms list quickly established itself as one of Inc.'s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake. View the full article at https://www.inc.com/private-equity. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005410/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Multiple NEW Veeam Updates Extend Advanced Support for Cloud Adoption and Modern Data Protection Veeam Software, the leader in backup, recovery and data management solutions that deliver Modern Data Protection, today announced the new update to its flagship product, Veeam Backup & Replication, as well as multiple updates to its product portfolio that deliver enhanced cloud-native capabilities. Veeam Backup & Replication v11a follows the release of V11 in Q1'21. The most advanced data protection solution for Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS (News - Alert) and Kubernetes workloads has been downloaded more than 300,000 times since its initial release. Veeam continues to innovate and expand with the focus on furthering its ecosystem of integrations with Veeam Backup & Replication v11a. Veeam extends its platform increasing value for customers as they move to the cloud, including expanded native protection for AWS, Microsoft (News - Alert) Azure and Google Cloud Platform, Veeam backup repository integration for Kubernetes, and centralized management for IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris protection. Veeam Backup & Replication v11a provides even greater platform support, including Microsoft Windows Server 2022, as well as broader capabilities that help ensure that data is protected, no matter where it's located. Finally, enhanced Continuous Data Protection (CDP) provides enhanced support for VMware VSAN and VMware Virtual Volumes (vVOLs), enabling alignment to RPO, RTO and SLA goals with one integrated solution regardless of primary storage technology used. "The cloud is not 'new' for most organizations," said Danny Allan, CTO & SVP, Product Strategy at Veeam. "According to our recent Veeam Cloud Protection Trends Reporti, more than 40% of organizations have been using production services in the cloud for more than 24 months. Data is moving, IT platforms are changing, and Veeam continues to evolve to support these moves and deliver the most simple, flexible, reliable and powerful backup solutions. These latest product updates and enhancements will further enable our 400,000+ customers to protect, recover and manage their data wherever it resides." Cloud-native capabilities for AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google (News - Alert) Cloud Platform Veeam provides cloud-native support for the leading hyperscale public clouds - AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud - under a single platform for hybrid-/multi-cloud environments, providing unparalleled choice and simplicity when utilizing one or more providers. New features and capabilities in Veeam Backup & Replication v11a (and each standalone, cloud-specific offering) enable organizations to accelerate cloud adoption by ensuring data is reliably secured, protected and managed from a single console. Native protection of additional services : Expand native backup and recovery to Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) systems and Microsoft Azure SQL Databases. Policy-based automation eases management and eliminates scripts, while fast and flexible recoveries keep organizations operational 24/7. : Expand native backup and recovery to Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) systems and Microsoft Azure SQL Databases. Policy-based automation eases management and eliminates scripts, while fast and flexible recoveries keep organizations operational 24/7. Lowest cost archive storage: Achieve long-term retention goals for cloud-native backups within budgets. New support for Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Glacier, S3 Glacier Deep Archive, Microsoft Azure Archive Storage and Google Cloud Archive storage cuts data archival costs by as much as 50X. Achieve long-term retention goals for cloud-native backups within budgets. New support for Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) Glacier, S3 Glacier Deep Archive, Microsoft Azure Archive Storage and Google Cloud Archive storage cuts data archival costs by as much as 50X. Increased security and control: Safeguard encrypted backup data from ransomware and other cyberthreats. Integrations with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Azure Key Vault, as well as new RBAC functionality, increases security with streamlined control over access authorizations. Safeguard encrypted backup data from ransomware and other cyberthreats. Integrations with AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and Azure Key Vault, as well as new RBAC functionality, increases security with streamlined control over access authorizations. One platform with unlimited options: Centralize AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform backup and recovery under a single, eas-to-use console. Directly restore ANY Veeam backup to AWS, Azure and now also to Google Cloud for unlimited Cloud Mobility. Kasten by Veeam K10 integration with Veeam backup repositories Enterprise customers are taking advantage of the flexibility and power of containers but providing backup, recovery and visibility into container backups is often a challenge due to fragmented solutions. With the new integration released as part of Veeam Backup & Replication v11a, K10 and Veeam customers will be able to leverage existing investments in backup infrastructure. Kasten K10 V4.5 will be able to direct backups of Kubernetes clusters that leverage VMware persistent volumes to a Veeam Backup & Replication repository where its lifecycle can be managed and additional Veeam features and capabilities leveraged. Support for Red Hat (News - Alert) Virtualization (RHV) backup Now with support for a fourth hypervisor in a supported public beta, Veeam Backup & Replication v11a offers reliable integrated backup for Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) so customers can create efficient backups of RHV VMs utilizing native change block tracking and be prepared for any disaster. With fast recovery for RHV VMs, Veeam customers can meet recovery objectives with confidence using a flexible solution natively integrated with RHV. Instant Recovery to Nutanix AHV With new Veeam Backup for Nutanix AHV v3, Veeam expands its patented instant recovery functionality to additional hypervisors. Customers can now instantly recover image-level backups created by ANY Veeam product to a Nutanix AHV VM for instant disaster recovery of any workload - cloud, virtual and physical. This functionality requires Nutanix AHV 6.0 or later. Veeam Agents for Microsoft Windows, IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris Veeam continues to make large strides in server backup with additional platform support and capabilities that reduce deployment and management operations. Now with support for Windows 10 21H1 and Windows Server 2022, customers can embrace the latest versions of Microsoft's server and client operating systems with confidence that their data can be both backed up and recovered. New automated protection groups enable customers to avoid data loss scenarios for new IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris assets added to the data center. Veeam ONE v11a capabilities As the premier monitoring and analytics solution for Veeam Backup & Replication, Veeam ONE v11a now provides deeper insights into data protection with a distinct focus on cloud, security and enterprise capabilities. New support for Veeam Backup for Google Cloud Platform provides alarms and reports to help track and measure the efficacy of cloud backups, as well as a new view into immutability, further helping mitigate against malicious activity from cyberthreats. Enterprise customers can now take full advantage of enhanced reporting for advanced views and comprehensive monitoring and reporting with Veeam Agents for IBM AIX and Oracle Solaris, which can now be managed centrally with Veeam Backup & Replication v11a. Veeam Service Provider Console v6 Founded on a freemium model, Veeam has continued to offer free products to its customers and partners for the past 15 years. New Veeam Service Provider Console v6 continues that streak as a FREE product that provides cloud and managed service providers the ability to offer Veeam-powered BaaS and DRaaS to their customers from a centralized, web-based console. V6 now offers service providers deeper integrations to accelerate productivity, including VCSP Pulse integration for dramatically simplified license management and customer onboarding, as well as support for Veeam ONE and upcoming support for Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365. Registration is now open for VeeamON 2021 Update on Oct. 13 (AMERS) and Oct. 14 (APJ / EMEA). The FREE two-hour event will include sessions, demos and customer highlights on new product releases since VeeamON 2021. An additional two hours of bonus sessions dedicated to the Veeam partner community will follow. Register here for FREE: https://www.veeam.com/veeamon/register. Veeam Backup & Replication v11a is in early availability now, and will be generally available to download by the end of October. For more information, please visit www.veeam.com. Supporting Quotes "Many enterprises, either in the cloud or building a cloud adoption plan, realize they can't fully rely on their cloud vendor to keep their data safe. What these enterprises need is a backup solution configurable to their specific data protection requirements, is flexible across multiple clouds and environments simultaneously, and that doesn't break the bank! With the recent product releases/enhancements included in the V11a release, Veeam continues to demonstrate its commitment to enabling organizations to accelerate their cloud adoption securely and efficiently through policy-based automation, ransomware protection and low storage cloud costs." - John Annand, Research Director, Infrastructure & Operations, Info-Tech Research Group "At Unilin Group, part of Mohawk Industries, we are always looking at ways to further optimize modern data protection. With this in mind, we look forward to the additional features in Veeam Backup & Replication v11a and how this could accelerate our DR strategy to Microsoft Azure. Veeam's latest technology can help achieve long-term retention goals for cloud-native backups, whilst lowering archival storage costs and provide increased security and control of our environment." - Jo Desplenter, Infrastructure Solutions Manager, Global IS, Unilin Group/ Mohawk Industries, Inc. "My favorite Veeam V11 feature is the expanded integration with Veeam Backup for AWS/Azure and coming in v11a, GCP. It's time saving and enables new protection dataflows such as cloud to tape and cloud to Veeam Cloud Connect, ensuring 3-2-1 backup compliance." - Michael Paul, Technical Consultant, Nexus Open Systems (News - Alert) Ltd. About Veeam Software Veeam is the leader in backup, recovery and data management solutions that deliver Modern Data Protection. The company provides a single platform for Cloud, Virtual, Physical, SaaS and Kubernetes environments. Veeam customers are confident their apps and data are protected and always available with the most simple, flexible, reliable and powerful platform in the industry. Veeam protects over 400,000 customers worldwide, including 82% of the Fortune 500 and 69% of the Global 2,000. Veeam's global ecosystem includes 35,000+ technology partners, resellers and service providers, and alliance partners and has offices in more than 30 countries. To learn more, visit www.veeam.com or follow Veeam on LinkedIn @veeam-software and Twitter @veeam. i Veeam Cloud Protection Trends Report, August 2021; Veeam Software. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005614/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Francisco Partners Named in Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses, today announced that it was named to Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors list. This recognition was due to Francisco Partners' twenty-year track record as one of the best partners backing entrepreneurs and management teams looking to scale their companies. "Working with founders is one of the most rewarding things we do," said Dipanjan "DJ" Deb, Co-Founder and CEO of Francisco Partners. "Over the last two decades, one of the reasons so many of our investments have been with founders is because we act as true partners and we care deeply about their vision. We collaborate closely with founders and their teams and take the time to learn their priorities and understand the business and its history so that we can best help them achieve their goals for growth. We are honored to be recognized by Inc. as one of the most founder-friendly investors, and we want to thank all of our founder partners for allowing us to help them advance the long-term visions of their businesses." Over the last two decades, Francisco Partners has invested in more than 150 founder-led businesses including GoodRx, Qgenda, Dynamo, MyHeritage, Edifecs, Availity, Prometheus Group, Landmark Health, iBoss, Eventbrite, Capsilon, Click Software, Metaswitch, CoverMyMeds, Corsair (News - Alert) , Betterment, NextCapital and many others. As a majority or minority investor, Francisco Partners provides flexible capital to help founders achieve their long-term goals. In addition to providing financial support, the firm helps founders to execute on strategy, scaling operations, and financing and integrating acquisitions. "Supporting an entrepreneur's vision and driving growth is more than just a financial investment. It's about building a relationship and supporting the founders beyond tht initial year. These private equity firms treat the founders like partners," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. media. To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships. To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2021 Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms list quickly established itself as one of Inc.'s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake. About Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in more than 300 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. With more than $25 billion in assets under management, the firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit www.franciscopartners.com. About Inc. The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005647/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Life Clips Subsidiary Cognitive Apps To Benefit From Apple's iPhone Features to Help Detect Depression, Cognitive Decline AVENTURA, Fla., Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Life Clips, Inc. (OTC Pink: LCLP) (the Company), believes that Apples recently announced partnerships with Biogen and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to use iPhone data to assess mental health parallels the work of Life Clips Cognitive Apps Software solutions. Dr. Manideep Gopishetty, CEO and Co-founder of Cognitive Apps, said, "Just as Apple is working to develop algorithms which will allow the iPhone to assess mental health status, Cognitive Apps is currently working on AI technologies to identify early warning signs of mental health conditions. Cognitive Apps has developed revolutionary voice biomarkers that will allow for early intervention with preventive care to determine underlying causes for stress, anxiety and burnout and to suggest an appropriate treatment plan for cases that require attention." Dr. Gopishetty continued, "Even though all of this is currently under research, the prospect of such advances happening towards mental health is very exciting. Apples initiation provides a tremendous boost to the mental health industry market that is beneficial for each market player. We feel like we are all on the same side here." A recent report from The Wall Street Journal discussed Apples development of algorithms which will allow the iPhone to assess mental health status using sensor-gathered activity, sleep and phone use data.i Cognitive Apps expects this research to add additional validity to its speech-based, AI-powered mental health analytics platform. Apple's Biogen study includes the iPhones and Apple Watches of about 20,000 participants to establish data points which can be used to track brain function over time. The ultimate goal is to identify signs of mild cognitive impairment, which may eventually advance into Alzheimers disease while it is in its early stages. Meanwhile, Apples study with UCLA will engage 3,000 participants and focus on detecting conditions like stress, anxiety and depression by analyzing physical qualities, as well as mental health indicators like emotions, concentration, energy level and state of mind. Biogen makes the Alzheimers drug Aduhelm. In 2019 Apple conducted a study with Eli Lilly which found that patients already diagnosed with mild dementia or cognitive impairment typed more slowly on their smartphones than those in the control group. The study also found those individuals sent fewer text messages and used helper apps like the clock more often. Cognitive Apps solution is not limited to the single platform. The product is available on Apple and Android devices. In an effort to make its diagnostic tool more accurate, Cognitive Apps uses voice biomarkers and analyses context to detect emotions and overall mental state. Cognitive Apps technology, which is already on the market, offers a powerful diagnostic spectrum tool for a wide spectrum of mental health issues, from stress and burnout to depression, aniety, PTSD, postpartum depression and Alzheimer's disease. Similar to the indicators that Apple is studying, Mindstrong Health has raised more than $150 million for the development of an app that looks for deviations in users swipes, taps and keystrokes to identify changes in cognitive behavior and function. In August Altoida was granted FDA breakthrough device status for its Alzheimers-predicting app which claims its AI powered analyses of cognitive test results can detect if a case of mild cognitive impairment will escalate into Alzheimers within one year. Robert Grinberg, CEO and President of Life Clips, Inc. said, "Apple sees the opportunity we see in mental health monitoring and hopes to be able to use its iPhones to detect conditions such as depression, anxiety and cognitive decline. We see big tech entering the mental health sector and using their huge resources to tackle social anxiety and depression as a big win for both Cognitive Apps and Life Clips. We believe this offers tremendous proof of concept for Cognitive Apps speech-based, AI-powered mental health analytics platform. About Us Life Clips is the parent company of Belfrics Global and Cognitive Apps Software Solutions Inc. Belfrics Global is a Malaysian based blockchain provider and cryptocurrency exchange and platform that is licensed and regulated by Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA), Malaysia. With 10 operational offices in 8 countries, Belfrics multi-feature trading platform offers digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and crypto derivative contracts to its clients. Belfrics blockchain has been recognized by Gartner as being a top 10 blockchain in terms of real-world projects and has received a patent for its Belrium KYC verification System (BKVS) by the Nigerian patent authority. Cognitive Apps is disrupting the space of mental health with its speech-based, AI-powered mental health analytics platform that empowers businesses to measure, understand, and improve the mental well-being of their employees, patients, and customers. Aiki delivers CBT and IPT therapies using a chatbot which and includes the Yuru voice analysis solution that takes in other health data from Apple and Google HealthKit to make a more accurate analysis of ones mental health. Aiki was developed to capitalize on the trend towards artificial intelligence platforms utilized by employers to raise awareness of employees mental health. Cognitive Apps Yuru is a 3-in-1 tool developed by a team of licensed psychotherapists that makes use of vocal biomarkers to screen for early signs of mental health conditions, such as stress and depression. Yuru is available on Apples App Store. For more information on Life Clips visit www.lifeclips.com For more information on Belfrics Global visit www.belfricsgroup.com For more information on Cognitive Apps Software Solutions visit https://cogapps.com Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be preceded by the words intends, may, will, plans, expects, anticipates, projects, predicts, estimates, aims, believes, hopes, potential or similar words. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: (i) the initiation, timing, progress and results of the Companys research, manufacturing and other development efforts; (ii) the Companys ability to advance its products to successfully complete development and commercialization; (iii) the manufacturing, development, commercialization, and market acceptance of the Companys products; (iv) the lack of sufficient funding to finance the product development and business operations; (v) competitive companies and technologies within the Companys industry and introduction of competing products; (vi) the Companys ability to establish and maintain corporate collaborations; (vii) loss of key management personnel; (viii) the scope of protection the Company is able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering its products and its ability to operate its business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; (ix) potential failure to comply with applicable health information privacy and security laws and other state and federal privacy and security laws; and (x) the difficulty of predicting actions of the government and its regulations. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any written or oral forward-looking statement unless required by law. For Media and Investor Relations, please contact: David L. Kugelman (866) 692-6847 Toll Free - U.S. & Canada (404) 281-8556 Mobile and WhatsApp dk@atlcp.com Skype: kugsusa https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkugelman/ i https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-wants-iphones-to-help-detect-depression-cognitive-decline-sources-say-11632216601 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Berry Global CEO Appointed as an Officer for the Alliance to End Plastic Waste Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY) today announced its Chairman and CEO, Tom Salmon, has accepted the appointment as an Officer of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance), a global non-profit organization. As a founding member and first converter to join the Alliance, Berry continues its leadership role to help convene a global network of over 80 member companies and partners in the mission to end plastic waste in the environment. Salmon continues to stand behind the power of plastics, known for its versatility, innovation, and lower overall environmental impact than other packaging alternatives*. Through his leadership, he will help guide the Alliance's decision-making on global projects that are sustainable, circular, and scalable businesses. "The selection of representatives across the sectors signifies the necessary collaboration across the plastics value chain," said Salmon. "Ending plasticwaste is only achievable when organizations partner to increase infrastructure, educate, and provide circular solutions to give plastic multiple lives." The Alliance aims to advance a circular economy for plastic waste by developing, deploying, and scaling solutions across four strategic pillars - infrastructure, innovation, education and engagement, and cleanup. "Tom has been a clear voice on how the plastics value chain can transform to become more sustainable and circular, which are essential shifts if we are to tackle the challenge of plastic waste holistically. I look forward to the work we can accomplish together to advance a circular economy for plastic waste," said Jacob Duer, President and CEO of the Alliance. * Source (News - Alert) : LIFE CYCLE IMPACTS OF PLASTIC PACKAGING COMPARED TO SUBSTITUTES IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA: Theoretical Substitution Analysis. Prepared by Franklin Associates About Berry At Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE:BERY), we create innovative packaging and engineered products that we believe make life better for people and the planet. We do this every day by leveraging our unmatched global capabilities, sustainability leadership, and deep innovation expertise to serve customers of all sizes around the world. Harnessing the strength in our diversity and industry leading talent of 47,000 global employees across more than 285 locations we partner with customers to develop, design, and manufacture innovative products with an eye toward the circular economy. The challenges we solve and the innovations we pioneer benefit our customers at every stage of their journey. For more information, visit our website, or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005305/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Newmont Provides Update on Boddington Mine Today, Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM, TSX: NGT) delivered the gold industry's first Autonomous Haulage System (AHS) fleet at Boddington, Western Australia's largest gold mine. With the transition to a fully autonomous haulage fleet of 36 trucks, the Company will improve mine safety and productivity, while extending mine life. "Newmont is proud to deliver the gold industry's first autonomous haul truck fleet at Boddington, an important milestone for the Company and the industry as a whole," said Newmont President and CEO Tom Palmer. "Delivering this project on time and on budget during a global pandemic is an enormous accomplishment. I am grateful for our team and our partners at Caterpillar for their ongoing dedication and drive. The scale and long life of our operations enables Newmont to implement leading technologies to promote both safety and productivity. We look forward to leveraging this project and our commissioning experience at our other operations and projects around the globe." Boddington is Western Australia's largest gold producer, delivering 670,000 ounces and 56 million pounds of copper in 2020. Newmont has invested $150 million in Boddington's AHS project which will create a safer, more efficient mine. Following completion of the industry's fastest AHS commissioning program, Boddington continues to ramp up the truck fleet to full productivity as the site fine tunes the technology for operation in a deep open pit mine. During commissioning the project faced several challenges, including unusually severe weather and heavy rainfall, shovel reliability and operational delays associated with managing bench hygiene as mining moves into deeper sections of the pit. As a result, Boddington delivered lower ex-pit tons than expected, with full-year 2021 gold production anticipated to be approximately 140 thousand ounces below original guidance estimates of 830 thousand ounces. "The record implementation of this project is a tremendos example of Newmont's trademark ability to set and achieve ambitious goals. Throughout our 100-year history, our industry-leading position has been built on deep operational knowledge and technical expertise. Today's AHS commissioning is another moment to add to our proud history of achievements," said Mr. Palmer. About Newmont Newmont is the world's leading gold company and a producer of copper, silver, zinc and lead. The Company's world-class portfolio of assets, prospects and talent is anchored in favorable mining jurisdictions in North America, South America, Australia and Africa. Newmont is the only gold producer listed in the S&P 500 Index and is widely recognized for its principled environmental, social and governance practices. The Company is an industry leader in value creation, supported by robust safety standards, superior execution and technical expertise. Newmont was founded in 1921 and has been publicly traded since 1925. Cautionary Statement: This 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections and other applicable laws. Such forward-looking statements may include, without limitation: expectations of future production and operating results at Boddington (including full-year 2021 guidance estimates and related impacts), expectations regarding AHS related improvements to mine safety and productivity, expectations regarding mine life, expectations regarding future improvements and implementation of technologies at other sites, expectations regarding ability to reach higher grades and associated timing, and expectations regarding future program efficiencies and impacts on production. Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. However, estimates or expectations of future events or results are based upon certain assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Such assumptions include, but are not limited to: (i) there being no significant change to expected geotechnical, metallurgical, hydrological and other physical conditions; (ii) permitting, development, operations being consistent with current expectations and mine plans; (iii) certain price assumptions for gold, copper and oil; (iv) prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current expectations; (v) the accuracy of our current mineral reserve and resource estimates; and (vi) other assumptions. Other risks relating to forward-looking statements include, without limitation, community relations risks, governmental regulation, political and judicial outcomes, and impacts of Covid-19, variations of Covid and related restrictions. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors, see the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2020 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ending June 30, 2021, both of which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC (News - Alert) ), and available at www.newmont.com , as well as the Company's other SEC filings. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly release revisions to any "forward-looking statement" to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Investors should not assume that any lack of update to a previously issued "forward-looking statement" constitutes a reaffirmation of that statement. Continued reliance on "forward-looking statements" is at investors' own risk. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005458/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Ric Ford, FSA, CFA, EA, Joins Callan to Bolster Capital Markets Research Group SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Callan, a leading institutional investment consulting firm, announced today that Richard "Ric" Ford, FSA, CFA, EA, joined the firm as a senior vice president in the Capital Markets Research group, which is responsible for the strategic planning efforts of Callan's clients. Mr. Ford brings more than three decades of experience providing actuarial guidance to large institutional investors. He will report to Capital Markets Research group co-leaders Jay Kloepfer, executive vice president, and Julia Moriarty, senior vice president, and will be based in Callan's Atlanta office. "I have known Callan for many years and have always been impressed by their people, first and foremost," said Mr. Ford. "Callan's research specialists and consultants put their clients' needs ahead of everything else. I'm thrilled for this opportunity to work with such a great team and stable, dynamic organization." Mr. Ford most recently focused on growing the actuarial, administration, and investment consulting offerings as a principal for Buck Global, an investment consulting firm. Before that, he was both the head of Pension Finance and Investments and the Pension Committee vice chair for Voya Financial. He also previously worked at the global consulting firm Mercer, where he performed over 200 asset-liability projects. Ric attended the master's in actuarial science program at Georgia State University and received a BS in chemistry from Oglethorpe University. "We're excited to bring Ric on board to work with our clients, especially those who have a complex set of considerations," said Mr. Kloepfer and Ms. Moriarty. "Ric's experience working with clients like ours will be hugely beneficial." About Callan Callan was founded as an employee-owned investment consulting firm in 1973. Ever since, we have empowered institutional clients with creative, customized investment solutions backed by proprietary research, exclusive data, and ongoing education. Today, Callan advises on more than $3 trillion in total fund sponsor assets, which makes it among the largest independently owned investment consulting firms in the U.S. Callan uses a client-focused consulting model to serve pension and defined contribution plan sponsors, endowments, foundations, independent investment advisers, investment managers, and other asset owners. Callan has six offices throughout the U.S. Learn more at callan.com. Media Contact: Elizabeth Anathan mediarelations@callan.com 415-274-3020 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ric-ford-fsa-cfa-ea-joins-callan-to-bolster-capital-markets-research-group-301389941.html SOURCE Callan LLC [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Open Systems Adds New C-Level Executives as Security Services and Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Adoption Grows Open Systems (News - Alert) , the cybersecurity service innovator for future-ready enterprises, today announced the expansion of its executive team with the additions of Michael Davis and Chris Raniere as the company's Chief Architect and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), respectively. These industry veterans have a deep understanding of the needs of mid-maturity organizations and how to deliver world-class managed security services. They are joining as adoption of the company's Microsoft (News - Alert) Cloud-native MDR service has grown 200 percent over the last year and continues to gain traction. "Michael and Chris bring the depth of experience in their respective fields to help us expand our share of the approximately $13 billion market for managed security services," said Geoff Haydon, Open Systems' CEO. "Mid-size companies face the same threats as their larger counterparts, yet they lack the resources, skills and technology to sufficiently bolster their security postures. This is driving the rapid demand for security services as enterprises turn away from the old model of deploying more point security products, which increases complexity but not security efficacy." A recognized authority on cybersecurity and author of Hacking Exposed, Davis is a prolific industry speaker, writer and consultant whose clients include AT&T (News - Alert) , Exelon, Sears and the U.S. Department of Defense. His extensive experience also includes serving as a senior leader in the Global Threats group at McAfee (News - Alert) and more recently as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of GoSecure, a specialist in endpoint security. As Chief Architect, Davis will work closely with the product development teams to ensure the underlying platform of Open Systems' MDR service can support future services. Raniere jons Open Systems from Secureworks, where he was responsible for driving revenue growth for a portfolio of security services as Vice President of Customer Acquisition Sales. An accomplished sales executive, Chris has extensive experience in driving cybersecurity growth in the mid-market. His responsibilities as Open Systems' CRO will be to align the global salesforce for greater success, and to increase the company's share of the growing market for MDR services with mid-market enterprises. These impressive additions to the leadership team come at a time of strong momentum for Open Systems; fueled by demand for its MDR service which delivers outcomes - not alerts - by detecting and containing threats early in the cyber kill chain. A key advantage of the service is its tight integration with the entire Microsoft security stack, which combined with the company's expertise with the full range of Microsoft products, enables enterprises to maximize their existing investments. Open Systems recently received one of Microsoft's Advanced Specialization certifications for Threat Protection for demonstrating deep knowledge, experience and success in deploying Microsoft 365 Defender, Azure Defender, Microsoft Cloud App Security and Azure Sentinel workloads. The compelling benefits of the MDR service have been quantified in a commissioned Total Economic Impact (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting. These benefits include an improved security posture, faster threat detection and remediation, improved productivity of cybersecurity and IT staff, and reduced time and effort in conducting audits - all while achieving a 174% return on investment (ROI) in three years and payback in less than six months. About Open Systems We deliver a cybersecurity experience way beyond expectations. Our award-winning Managed Detection and Response (MDR+) service unlocks the value of enterprises' investments in Microsoft security tools and accelerates their security maturity. Managed 24x7 by the security experts staffing our integrated SOC and NOC (News - Alert) , our security operating platform has been deployed in approximately 10,000 enterprise locations in 184 countries, and receives an NPS score of 70. No wonder we call it crazy good cybersecurity. Discover more at open-systems.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005494/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Butterfly Network Releases iQ+ Vet Ultrasound, the Next Big Shift in Veterinary Medicine, with International Expansion and New Partners Butterfly Network, Inc. (NYSE: BFLY) ("Butterfly"), an innovative digital health company that is working to democratize medical imaging and improve global health equity, is ushering in the next big shift in veterinary medicine with the launch of the new Butterfly iQ+ Vet. The second-generation device brings sharper imaging, a new procedural guidance tool, and hardware improvements that make the solution more powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005313/en/ New iQ+ Vet Ultrasound (Photo: Business Wire) "Veterinarians provide incredible care and face the unique challenge of serving patients that cannot speak," said Todd Fruchterman, MD, PhD, Butterfly's President and Chief Executive Officer. "They need clinical information at their fingertips to help them make more informed decisions and efficiently deliver positive patient outcomes. This is where Butterfly iQ+ Vet comes in - we're creating a new shift in care centered around acquiring crucial information from inside the body that our system allows to be utilized in real-time." iQ+ Vet has been thoughtfully designed to powerfully serve veterinarians in a variety of care settings. Sharp (News - Alert) imaging, fast answers Over 800 hours of engineering work dedicated to optimizing veterinary-specific clinical presets have resulted in vastly improved imaging across applications. iQ+ Vet comes equipped with a suite of powerful new capabilities like color-doppler sensitivity and increased max depth, helping veterinarians collect the image they need to provide more informed care. Procedural guidance The innovative Needle Viz tool is now available to veterinarians within five clinical presets (Bladder, MSK, MSK Equine, Small Organ, and Vascular). The ability to visualize needles in-plane will help veterinarians perform more confident fine needle aspirates, and quickly place lines and injections with greater certainty in emergency care situations. Ease of use Improvements throughout hardware and software now make it easier for veterinarians to take full advantage of iQ+ Vet's diagnostic power. A 15% smaller probe face and 10% shorter probe allows easier maneuvering during a wide variety of scans. Up to 20% increase in battery life and improved continuous run time before thermal shut-off ensures that iQ+ Vet functions even longer in the clinic or in the field. Butterfly's veterinary software now includes customizable worksheets, which help users capture the precise information needed for each individual patient. Compatibility and pricing flexibility Now with Android (News - Alert) compatibility, and the option for either a USB-C or Lightning cable, iQ+ Vet introduces an entire new group of veterinarians and practices to the diagnostic power of handheld ultrasound. Additionally, Butterfly has introduced flexible pricing options to meet the needs of veterinary customers across different care settings, including rental and outright purchase options. Global expansion and partnerships With the new value the device provides, and growing global demand, Butterfly has now made iQ+ Vet available for purchase in 19 new international markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The international expansion has enabled exciting new partnerships. Butterfly is expanding its collaboration with MWI Animal Health, a leading distributor of animal health products and services. MWI UK will support the distribution of Butterfly iQ+ Vet to veterinary practices in the United Kingdom. Butterfly is also launching a new partnership in Australia and New Zealand with REM SYSTEMS, part of the Paragon Care Group, an established veterinary distributor. These are important first steps in the growth of Butterfly's veterinary presence outside of the United States. Within the United States, Butterfly is growing its impact with the announcement of a large-scale innovation partnership with Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, a strategic partner that grows and supports veterinary clinics across the Eastern US. Rarebreed will deploy iQ+ Vet system-wide across their innovative community of veterinary practices. "Rarebreed is excited to partner with Butterfly to make ultrasound accessible to more patients," said Dan Espinal, Rarebreed co-founder and CEO. "Rarebreed exists to enhance the standard of care across the profession and bring innovation to our partner practices. Ultrasound should be an integral part of almost any diagnostic workup." "Our partnership with Rarebreed to deploy iQ+ Vet system-wide is a great example of the recognition of iQ+ Vet's potential and impact for leading veterinary practices to improve the care they deliver," said Darius Shahida, Butterfly Network's Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer. "Not only will Rarebreed's veterinarians incorporate this powerful diagnostic tool across their practices to deliver new and quicker insights, but this deployment will also further strengthen the bond these veterinarians have with their pet-owners who seek the best care for their pets." By establishing partnerships like these, and by increasing access to this diagnostic solution, Butterfly has the potential to shift veterinary medicine. The powerful, multi-species, and easy-to-use imaging solution will help veterinarians around the world capitalize on diagnostic opportunities and provide more effective care. Butterfly will be hosting a virtual launch event on October 5, 2021 at 5 p.m. EDT to share more details. Reserve your seat today on Butterfly's veterinary website. Butterfly iQ+ Vet will be available for sale online in the geographies where the product is commercially available by the end of the day. About Butterfly Network Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in 2011 and recently listed on the NYSE through a merger with Longview Acquisition Corp (NYSE: BFLY), Butterfly Network is the creator of the world's most advanced handheld, single-probe, whole-body veterinary ultrasound system, Butterfly iQ+ Vet. Butterfly's mission is to enable universal access to superior medical imaging, and part of that mission is to enable the scanning of every animal at each veterinary visit. Through its proprietary Ultrasound-on-ChipTM technology, Butterfly is paving the way for earlier detection and remote management of health conditions around the world. The Butterfly iQ+ Vet can be purchased online by veterinary practitioners in approved countries at the store or by contacting sales at vetsupport@butterflynetwork.com. About Rarebreed Rarebreed Veterinary Partners is a thriving community of veterinary hospitals that goes the extra mile to create exceptional work experiences, one partnership or team member at a time. We pride ourselves on building trusted, lasting relationships with our partner hospitals, with a goal to provide exceptional patient care, outstanding client service and an amazing work experience. We continue to build a broad network of practices that values healthcare teams by offering them the innovation and tools necessary to grow, improve and reimagine the veterinary experience. For more information, visit www.rarebreedvet.com. Forward Looking Statements This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company's actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's expectations with respect to future performance and development of products and services. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside the Company's control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business; the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination; the Company's ability to grow and manage growth profitably; the success, cost and timing of the Company's product and service development activities; the potential attributes and benefits of the Company's products and services; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for its products, and any related restrictions and limitations of any approved product; the Company's ability to identify, in-license or acquire additional technology; the Company's ability to maintain its existing license, manufacture, supply and distribution agreements; the Company's ability to compete with other companies currently marketing or engaged in the development of products and services that the Company is currently marketing or developing; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the size and growth potential of the markets for the Company's products and services, and its ability to serve those markets, either alone or in partnership with others; the pricing of the Company's products and services and reimbursement for medical procedures conducted using its products and services; the Company's estimates regarding expenses, revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; the Company's financial performance; the Company's ability to raise financing in the future; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertake to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in the Company's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005313/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] BlackSky Appoints Susan M. Gordon to Board of Directors BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) welcomes Susan M. (Sue) Gordon to its Board of Directors. Ms. Gordon is the former principal deputy director of national intelligence, the nation's highest-ranking career intelligence officer. In that capacity, Ms. Gordon managed the operations of the intelligence community and was a key advisor to the President and National Security Council. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005280/en/ BlackSky Board Member Susan M. Gordon (Photo: Business Wire) "Sue is a highly respected intelligence professional, and we're thrilled to welcome her to BlackSky's Board of Directors," said Brian E. O'Toole, CEO of BlackSky. "Sue is a visionary leader, and we are looking forward to her strategic counsel and broa expertise as BlackSky transitions into its next phase of growth and a new era of real-time global intelligence." Prior to her role as principal deputy director of national intelligence, Ms. Gordon served as deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). In this position, she provided leadership to the agency and managed the National System of Geospatial Intelligence. Prior to the NGA, she served 27 years at the CIA. At the CIA, Ms. Gordon rose to senior executive positions in each of the CIA's four directorates: operations, analysis, science and technology, and support; led the establishment of CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel (News - Alert) ; and served as the senior advisor to the director of central intelligence on cyber issues. Ms. Gordon currently serves on the boards of directors of CACI International, Avantus Federal, and the National Intelligence University Foundation. She also serves on several technology advisory boards and consults with Microsoft (News - Alert) corporation. Ms. Gordon is a fellow at Duke and Harvard Universities, and she continues to support academic activities for the Department of Defense Department and intelligence community. "I'm excited to join BlackSky's Board of Directors," said Ms. Gordon. "Real-time information on emerging global events is essential for decision makers and leaders in government and enterprises worldwide. BlackSky's real-time intelligence capabilities offer a competitive advantage for critical decision making. I look forward to helping the company develop new technologies and solutions to serve its global customer base and reach new heights capitalizing on today's new commercial space economy." About BlackSky Technology Inc. BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) is a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence. BlackSky monitors activities and facilities worldwide by harnessing the world's emerging sensor networks and leveraging its own satellite constellation. BlackSky processes millions of data elements daily from its constellation as well as a variety of space, IoT, and terrestrial-based sensors and data feeds. BlackSky's on-demand constellation of satellites can image a location multiple times throughout the day. BlackSky monitors for pattern-of-life anomalies to produce alerts and enhance situational awareness. BlackSky's monitoring service, Spectra AI, is powered by cutting-edge compute techniques including machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and natural language processing. BlackSky's global monitoring solution is available via a simple subscription and requires no IT infrastructure or setup. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005280/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] StayLinked Recognized by Zebra Technologies for Supporting Front-Line Workers IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- StayLinked, the leader in modern Terminal Emulation solutions, today announced recognition from Zebra Technologies for supporting front-line workers during the pandemic. Zebra has awarded StayLinked with a $5,000 charitable donation which will be contributed to Team Rubicon, an organization that serves communities by mobilizing veterans to continue their service by helping people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. Stay Linked Provided 3D Printed Face Shields for Front-line Pandemic Workers In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, StayLinked employees explored what was possible in trying to help meet some of the challenges facing front-line workers in fighting the disease. The effort focused on organizations who were crowdsourcing incredibly scarce medical personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies for healthcare workers. StayLinked's team was able to repurpose and scale up the 3D printing equipment within the innovative StayLinked Labs facilities to produce durable face shields that could be repeatedly sanitized for multiple uses. "It's incredible the impact a small, focused team can make," said Justin Griffith, CTO, StayLinked. Senior developers at StayLinked, Mark McGary and Dwayne Miller, joined Justin in printing the reusable face shields. "It was a very inspiring and educational experience," Justin continued. We collaborated with people all over the world on safer, more efficient designs for the shields. The whole industry banded together to help us distribute shields where they were most needed. And the outpouring of support for the effort from customers, partners, and even competitors helped drive home what people, companies, and industries can do when working toward a common goal." StayLinked + Zebra "We are deeply indebted to the workers on the front lines of the pandemic who continue to risk their own safety in the midst of this crisis," said Justin. "And we are thankful to Zebra Technologies for their contribution on our behalf to Team Rubicon. We are incredibly honored to receive this recognition from Zebra." StayLinked relied on its partnerships throughout the industry, including its partnership with Zebra, to improve designs, refine manufacturing processes, source raw materials, and perhaps most importantly to distribute the items to those on the front lines most in need. "We even used Zebra Windows tablets to help us manage the configuration and operation of the 3D printing equipment," says Justin Griffith, CTO at StayLinked. "Once the protective equipment was manufactured using the 3D printers, many contacts in Zebra and its partner community reached out to request needed items for their contacts in the medical field and essential worker industries. Zebra Sales Engineer, John Wolf, was responsible for ourfirst interstate delivery of PPE." Zebra PartnerConnect Zebra Technologies is an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge. In celebration of its 30th anniversary as a public company and the 5th anniversary of the award-winning Zebra PartnerConnect program, Zebra invited its members to share their stories about how they are restoring front-line heroes. StayLinked was one of six winners selected this month by a panel of judges. "We are proud to recognize StayLinked for its commitment to empowering front-line workers with technology to help them deliver a performance edge," said Rob Armstrong, Senior Vice President, Global Integrated Marketing and Channels for Zebra Technologies. "We also thank all those on the front line who are working hard to keep us healthy and secure." To view the complete list of winners and their selected charities, visit the Zebra newsroom. ABOUT STAYLINKED StayLinked is the proven market leader in Terminal Emulation for the supply chain industry and continues to drive innovation with the most advanced software solutions available for the warehouse. StayLinked enables our customers to easily migrate to state-of-the-art devices, measure and optimize productivity with cutting-edge business intelligence, and interface with ground-breaking technologies in the areas of automation, robotics, augmented reality, and location-based services. For nearly two decades, StayLinked has continued to deliver revolutionary software products with unparalleled customer satisfaction and world-class support to hundreds of partners and thousands of customers around the globe. For more information, visit www.staylinked.com, or call +1-714-918-7700. ABOUT ZEBRA?TECHNOLOGIES Zebra empowers?the front line in retail/ecommerce, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare, public sector and other industries to achieve a performance edge. With more than 10,000 partners across 100 countries, Zebra delivers industry-tailored, end-to-end solutions to enable every asset and worker to be visible, connected and fully optimized. The company's market-leading solutions elevate the shopping experience, track and manage inventory as well as improve supply chain efficiency and patient care. In 2020, Zebra made Forbes Global 2000 list for the second consecutive year and was listed among Fast Company's Best Companies for Innovators.?For more information, visit? www.zebra.com or sign up for news alerts. Participate in Zebra's Your Edge blog, follow the company on? LinkedIn ,? Twitter ?and? Facebook , and check out our Story Hub: Zebra Perspectives . Press Contact: Jay Cichosz StayLinked Corporation 714-918-7709 320230@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/staylinked-recognized-by-zebra-technologies-for-supporting-front-line-workers-301391944.html SOURCE StayLinked [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] FileTrail Names Harold Westervelt Chief Executive Officer AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FileTrail, the leader in modern information governance and records management software for law firms and highly regulated industries, announces Harold Westervelt has joined the company as its chief executive officer. FileTrail co-founder and president Darrell Mervau, who remains with the company in a strategic role, identified Westervelt for the newly created CEO position to lead FileTrail through its current high-growth phase. As a veteran business executive, Westervelt brings to FileTrail extensive experience in corporate strategy and expansion. His leadership includes building strong management teams while overseeing the growth and development of multiple companies, most recently as CEO of Sapiens Decision. Prior to that Westervelt was president of INVeSHARE, where he elevated the firms competitive position and was instrumental in fueling the companys expansion, ultimately selling the firm to Broadridge Financial Solutions. FileTrail has experienced record growth in recent years, with increasing new sales and implementations of its popular FileTrail GPS (Governance Policy Suite) for both U.S.-based and global law firms and significant expansion among key corporate clients. The company is actiely building its leadership teams to further strengthen its foundation and support continued growth, which includes the addition of the new CEO position. At this point in FileTrails evolution we saw a need to bring in additional leadership to help us navigate and execute on our product and market strategies. We are excited to have someone of Harolds caliber join us, says Mervau. Taking care of our global clients and developing our product suite to meet the markets changing needs are paramount to FileTrails continued success, and Harold brings the expertise required to move us forward. Having known FileTrails co-founders for decades, Ive followed the companys incredible growth since its inception, watching it become the legal industrys leading provider of modern information governance and records management solutions, shares Westervelt. I am excited to be a part of this exceptional team and working to advance the companys vision to continue providing industry-leading solutions to our markets. FileTrail GPS offers three core modules that work in concert to advance IG, helping to save money, reduce risk and address increasingly stringent client and regulatory compliance obligations. Those modules include: Policy Manager to implement retention, holds and outside counsel guidelines for documents and records Records Manager to create, locate, track and audit physical records Matter Mobility Manager to automate file transfers associated with lateral moves and client requests About FileTrail FileTrail is reshaping the information risk management landscape, enabling firms to meet urgent client demands, pass audits and address new compliance rules with a modern approach to records management, data retention and information governance. FileTrail centralizes, simplifies and automates the IG life cycle, including policy management, document review and dispositionintegrating across physical records and electronic repositoriesso firms can address OCGs, lateral intake, matter mobility and client audit response. For more information about FileTrail records management and information governance software, visit www.filetrail.com. Media Contact Vicki LaBrosse Edge Marketing for FileTrail 651-552-7753 vlabrosse@edgemarketinginc.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/763b1af8-c2ef-4ba5-927e-5f15c8435db4 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] ezeep Secures Mac Printing for the Hybrid Workplace BERLIN and DENVER, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Print management expert ThinPrint completes its cloud printing solution ezeep Blue with a Mac app for integrating Apple computers into the corporate print infrastructure. This enables Macs to print to corporate printers with ease and from any location. For many companies and their employees, hybrid working has become the norm. More and more frequently, Apple computers are used for work in the office, in the home office or while on the move. This situation causes headaches for IT administrators, especially when Apple users want to print. Network segments, print servers or even the distribution of printer drivers on Apple computers are just some of the challenges facing the IT department. The Mac Print App from ezeep Blue offers a simple solution. As it does not matter which end device is being used for printing with the ezeep Blue cloud printing solution, Mac devices can also be integrated into the printing infrastructure in just a few steps. In no time at all, printers can be assigned and used, even if no Mac drivers are available for the printer model. Devices do not need to be connected to the Active Directory to enable printing. Printing can be done straight from applications to virtual drivers, eliminating the need to install printer drivers. The Mac devices do not have to be in the same network as the printer, enabling the ability to print from the home office just as securely as during a train journey. In addition to Macs, ezeep also supports PCs, smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks and more. "The growing popularity in Mac computers is clear by the significant increase in sales by one-third in the first quarter of this year," said Henning Volkmer, President and CEO of ThinPrint Inc. "It was, an is, all the more important for us to support IT departments with the integration of Apple devices. With ezeep Blue and our new Mac app, we were able to simplify the processes dramatically. And ultimately, we support current hybrid working concepts with it." Info on setting up the print function can be found in the ezeep knowledge base article "How to print with ezeep on MacOS". About ezeep: The future of printing is ezeep. With ezeep, printing is dramatically simplified, enabling any device to print to any printer whether with the ezeep printer driver from PC or Mac, via app for smartphones and tablets or even by web-based drag & drop for the occasional user. Consumers print unlimited and naturally free-of-charge to their own printers and, depending on the provider, free or at a cost to external printers. This makes printing as easy as making a phone call, eliminating the need for any user support. Companies can lower the infrastructure demands on their printer setups in branch offices worldwide, thanks to ezeep, drastically simplifying their administration. With this, the total costs for deploying printers are significantly reduced. Coworking spaces, universities, exhibition grounds, train stations, airports and kiosks can not only make their printers publicly available with just a single click, but also charge for printing with ease. The same applies to private users or cafes which want to share their printers with others. Printers are thereby transformed into sources of income, not costs. Open interfaces enable integrations with existing solutions, such as for user and resource management, cost control or compliance monitoring for maximum cost savings via automation. A constantly growing ecosystem of standard integrations by development partners makes these benefits also available to non-technical users. By reducing costs and removing all technical requirements, whilst providing the ability to use third-party printers at any time, ezeep ensures that in the future people will be able to print from almost every location quickly and easily, for whatever reason they might have. ezeep is committed to minimizing the CO2 footprint of printing and ensuring that printed paper can be a meaningful, productive and responsible alternative to screen-based information consumption. For more information, please visit: www.ezeep.com . Media Contacts: North America: Kendra Westerkamp, VisiTech PR Phone: +1-303-752-3552, email: CT@visitechpr.com Rest of World: Silke Kluckert, Public Relations Manager Phone: +49 30 39493166, email: press@cortado.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/33193e01-d931-47b9-808f-cb326cd7c7e0 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Domino Data Lab Secures $100 Million Funding to Help Every Company Become Model-Driven with Enterprise MLOps SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Domino Data Lab, provider of the leading Enterprise MLOps platform trusted by over 20% of the Fortune 100, today announced a $100 million funding round led by Great Hill Partners and an expanded partnership with NVIDIA, which is also participating in the round. Domino and NVIDIA will also further integrate products and expand joint sales efforts to support customers' efforts to build model-driven businesses. The Series F round includes additional participation from existing investors Coatue Management, Highland Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital, and brings the company's total funding to $228 million. "Our mission is to help our customers unleash the power of data science," said Nick Elprin, CEO and co-founder of Domino Data Lab. "We're thrilled to have the support of Great Hill Partners and NVIDIA to accelerate our growth and innovation, which in turn will help our customers address the world's most important challenges." Forrester expects the AI Maker Platform market to reach $13B by 20251. Domino's growth is a testament to increased demand in this market, particularly for Enterprise MLOps platforms. In the past two years, Domino has doubled both its Annual Recurring Revenue as well as the number of Global 2000 companies using its platform. "As enterprises advance their adoption of machine learning, they increasingly require an enterprise-grade, open platform to orchestrate and manage these workloads and Domino perfectly meets this growing market need," said Derek Schoettle, growth partner at Great Hill Partners. "Speaking with Domino's impressive roster of customers completely validated our great conviction in the company, and we have been particularly impressed by their stories about the massive ROI Domino has driven for them. We are thrilled to partner with Nick and the rest of the Domino team to help drive their next phase of growth." Expanded Partnership with NVIDIA Since 2020, Domino has offered certified Enterprise MLOps software for NVIDIA DGX systems as a charter member of the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Software program. Building on that collaboration, Domino is working with NVIDIA to develop product functionality to expand the accelerated computing capabilities in its platform. This includes validating the Domino platform for NVIDIA AI Enterprise so that Domino can run seamlessly on mainstream, NVIDIA-Certified Systems from OEM hardware providers. NVIDIA and Domino will bring these poducts to market together as part of their partnership. "AI and data science are new workloads that demand a full-stack solution one with tools that simplify development and deployment for customers," said Manuvir Das, head of Enterprise Computing at NVIDIA. "Our partnership with Domino Data Lab reflects our commitment to Enterprise MLOps. With NVIDIA AI Enterprise integration into the Domino platform, customers will be able to easily integrate advanced AI tools into their traditional data center infrastructure." While both the promise of and need for data science are great, becoming model-driven is difficult. Companies scaling data science efforts beyond a few experts quickly find that lack of access to infrastructure, tools and data stands in the way of building competitive advantage. To compensate, companies develop siloed pockets of data science that inhibit knowledge sharing and complicate model operationalization. Domino Data Lab's Enterprise MLOps Platform breaks down those silos and increases governance to help companies generate data science breakthroughs at greater velocity and scale, free from ties to one form of infrastructure or tool. Adding New Leadership to Drive Growth Domino also announced that it has appointed Tom Gleason as Chief Financial Officer. Gleason, who previously held several financial leadership roles during a nine-year tenure at data analytics leader Tableau, will help drive Domino's continued growth as it helps every company become model-driven. "As important as data is, it's clear that model-driven business is the next evolution in leveraging information about pricing, products, teams, and markets," said Gleason. "Domino's vision to improve the velocity of data science matches how companies are building a competitive edge. I'm ecstatic to join this team of humble and smart people, and to help play a part to build the next great data company." Additional Resources Visit the Domino website to learn more, and to conduct an immediate data science lifecycle assessment with Domino's Model Velocity Assessment . to learn more, and to conduct an immediate data science lifecycle assessment with Domino's . Learn more about the Domino Enterprise MLOps Platform in the Domino Data Lab Blog Follow Domino Data Lab on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook About Domino Data Lab Domino Data Lab powers model-driven businesses with its leading Enterprise MLOps platform that accelerates the development and deployment of data science work while increasing collaboration and governance. More than 20 percent of the Fortune 100 count on Domino to help scale data science, turning it into a competitive advantage. Founded in 2013, Domino is backed by Sequoia Capital and other leading investors. For more information, visit dominodatalab.com . About Great Hill Partners Great Hill Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm targeting investments of $25 million to $500 million in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. Over the past two decades, Great Hill has raised nearly $8 billion of commitments and invested in more than 75 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit www.greathillpartners.com . 1 "The AI Software Market Will Grow To $37 Billion Globally By 2025," Forrester Research, Inc., December 10, 2020. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/domino-data-lab-secures-100-million-funding-to-help-every-company-become-model-driven-with-enterprise-mlops-301392467.html SOURCE Domino Data Lab [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Wolters Kluwer Targets Health Equity With Best Care Everywhere Wolters Kluwer, Health today announced the launch of Best Care Everywhere, a mission-driven movement to build and strengthen health equity globally. Wolters Kluwer is committed to the belief that all people-everywhere-should receive the best care possible. "Delivering more equity and access to healthcare is very difficult, but it must be done," said Stacey Caywood, Chief Executive Officer, Wolters Kluwer, Health. "Fortunately, we see new opportunities to bring together innovative thinking and digital health solutions as levers to advance the best care everywhere, with more equitable and inclusive approaches to achieve better outcomes for all." Wolters Kluwer is tackling challenges head-on in an array of healthcare settings to help reduce inequities in learning, research, decision support and care. For example, Wolters Kluwer is donating technologies, solutions, and journals to resource-limited communities and areas affected by disasters and crises, as well as driving changes that reduce systemic data silos and biases. By transforming the language of care across product content and introducing a diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) terminology style guide, Wolters Kluwer is helping to reduce unconscious bias and cultivating sensitivity for students, clinicians and researchers who are the forefront of advancing healthcare equity. Four Key Health Equity Tenets Wolters Kluwer is focusing on four tenets necessary to make the best care everywhere available to everyone, and at any time: Decision-making using the best evidence: Consistent and trusted evidence must be available across the care continuum, from research and discovery, to clinical training, to those valuable minutes during an encounter as a clinician or a patient. Consistent and trusted evidence must be available across the care continuum, from research and discovery, to clinical training, to those valuable minutes during an encounter as a clinician or a patient. Make care more accessible: People shold be able to access quality healthcare-as well as their health data-no matter where they live, the different health systems involved or the data exchanges necessary. This means overcoming barriers to receiving in-person care or across separate healthcare organizations. Telemedicine will play a major role in making care more accessible, particularly to resource-limited areas. People shold be able to access quality healthcare-as well as their health data-no matter where they live, the different health systems involved or the data exchanges necessary. This means overcoming barriers to receiving in-person care or across separate healthcare organizations. Telemedicine will play a major role in making care more accessible, particularly to resource-limited areas. Fair & equitable health opportunities: Eliminate institutional barriers standing in the way of equitable care by building bias-free standards in research as well as medical and nursing education. For future clinicians, artificial intelligence (AI), adaptive learning and visual learning help overcome testing-related barriers to entry. To secure rapid, effective impacts in care, sophisticated health data analytics using social determinants of health (SDOH) help payers identify communities most in need. Eliminate institutional barriers standing in the way of equitable care by building bias-free standards in research as well as medical and nursing education. For future clinicians, artificial intelligence (AI), adaptive learning and visual learning help overcome testing-related barriers to entry. To secure rapid, effective impacts in care, sophisticated health data analytics using social determinants of health (SDOH) help payers identify communities most in need. Tailor care to individual needs: Whole person care must be considered to optimize outcomes for more diverse communities. Care models must be designed for inclusion and leverage smarter tech to help personalize outreach for more individualized patient care. Clinical education can start training tomorrow's clinicians for more inclusive approaches to care today. Learn more about Best Care Everywhere. About Wolters Kluwer Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of 4.6 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,200 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Wolters Kluwer provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter (News - Alert) @WKHealth. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005332/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Nymbus Relocates Corporate Headquarters to Jacksonville NYMBUS, a leading provider of banking technology solutions, today announced it will open a new corporate headquarters office located in Jacksonville, Florida. Nymbus has established a local staff presence in the Florida city owing to its collaboration with Jacksonville-based VyStar Credit Union. The landmark partnership began earlier this year with VyStar's $20 million investment in the newly formed Nymbus CUSO, and was recently extended with VyStar choosing Nymbus as its new online and mobile banking solution provider. Located in one of the fastest growing areas of Jacksonville, the new physical office brings together a unique local workforce of Nymbus talent and partners. "The relocation of our headquarters from South Florida to Jacksonville represents a new partnership model that takes an excitingly progressive approach to vendor collaboration and accountability," said Anne Miela, Chief Operations Officer at Nymbus. "Our teams are now afforded the pportunity to truly innovate alongside one another in a region that is experiencing substantial growth as a financial services and fintech hub." Approved by the Jacksonville City Council in August as Project End Game, the Nymbus headquarters shift adds over six hundred jobs to the area in the coming years. "Jacksonville continues to grow as a hub for the financial technology industry," said Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. "The relocation of this new corporate headquarters will bring hundreds more jobs to downtown Jacksonville, contributing to the growing momentum in our urban core. I am grateful to Nymbus and their partners at VyStar Credit Union for the confidence and investment in the Jacksonville community." "Nymbus has proven to be an effective, valuable partner in our efforts to improve the member experience at VyStar and strengthen the credit union industry as a whole," said Joe Colca, Senior Vice President of Digital Experience at VyStar. "We are thrilled to welcome them to Jacksonville and look forward to further collaboration that benefits our employees, members, and the communities we serve." "Nymbus choosing Jacksonville for its new corporate headquarters is incredible news for our city and further cements Jacksonville as a destination for fintech growth," JAXUSA Partnership President Aundra Wallace said. "We appreciate Nymbus investing in Jacksonville and VyStar for helping attract another important corporate partner to our region." About Nymbus Nymbus enables banks and credit unions of any size to accelerate growth through new routes to market. This includes a full suite of banking technology applications available to modernize and optimize existing channels, as well as the operational resources to get to market quickly with a full-scale digital bank immediately positioned at capturing new niche customer segments. Whichever growth path you choose, Nymbus buys back decades of lost time and accelerates your ability to engage and support the entire customer journey. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005399/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Pacsun Is The First Youth Fashion Retailer To Accept Crypto Currency Through Bitpay LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, Pacsun will be the first major brand in the fashion and retail space to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies using leading blockchain payment provider, BitPay. Cryptocurrency is a seamless way for consumers to pay online and is a popular form of payment for those who grew up in the digital age. Celebrity endorsements are pushing crypto adoption making it easy for those who have it to spend, and Pacsun is offering a new place for those with crypto to enjoy youth fashion. "With digital sales doubling since last year, we understand the continued importance of creating an exceptional online shopping experience for our customers," said Brie Olson, President of Pacsun. "It's incredible to pave the way for the fashion and retail industry, being the first to offer cryptocurrency payments through BitPay, and we anticipate many other companies following suit considering the ease it brings to the checkout process." "The Gen Z audience, our primary consumer, is very tech oriented, and we dedicate a lot of our efforts towards social media and ecommerce to align with their lifestyles and resonate with them on a more personal level," said Michael (Mike) Relich, Co-CEO at Pacsun. "Seeing their increasing desire towards cryptocurrency, it was clear that we needed to adjust and offer BitPay as another payment option, to further instill their confidence in us as one of their go-to retailers that truly listens." "We are very excited that Pacsun has decided to adopt BitPay and add cryptocurrency as a form of payment," said Stephen Pair, Co-Founder and CEO of BitPay. "As one of the first major apparel retailers to accept cryptocurrency, and a leading digital Gen Z fashion brand, Pacsun shares our goal to let everyone live life on crypto making them a natural addition to our growing list of top brands adopting cryptocurrency." Pacsun prides itself on learning from its core consumer of Gen Z. With cryptocurrency being one of the major trends currently among that audience, according to < rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3312581-1&h=1912506172&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gobankingrates.com%2Finvesting%2Fstrategy%2Fcrypto-groundbreaking-investing-trends-for-gen-z%2F&a=GOBankingRate.com" rel="nofollow">GOBankingRate.com , offering BitPay is helping bring adoption mainstream to Gen Z and provides Pacsun shoppers with another payment touchpoint in a form of currency that they are progressively using. A recent study by pymnts.com sighted more than 54% of current or former crypto owners are Gen Z. BitPay and Pacsun both have robust social media followings, and to amplify the newest payment feature, the companies will roll out special content across platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Pacsun will also work with influencers to create TikTok and Instagram content around BitPay and Pacsun. They will also host a branded livestream event with a guest influencer and a Pacsun executive. It is just as critical for Pacsun to keep up with the fashion trends of their audience to offer the best styles as it is for them to keep up with lifestyle trends to really give customers what they want. This can be seen through a number of firsts this year by the brand, including the launch of its kids category, Pacsun Kids, gender-neutral line, Colour Range, as well as its place in the metaverse through its collaboration with ROBLOX, and in the digital and technology space through dedicated Livestream Shopping events, initiatives on TikTok, shoppable ads on Instagram, and much more. BitPay makes cryptocurrency payments easy, any time, anywhere, and is one of the safest and most secure ways to pay online. Once a customer selects the Pay with BitPay button, the payment process begins - 1. Select crypto wallet, 2. Select the currency and 3. Scan the QR code to complete payment. Pacsun will support 11 cryptocurrencies under BitPay, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC), and 5 USD-pegged stablecoins (GUSD, USDC, USDP, DAI, and BUSD), along with the following Crypto Wallets and Exchanges: Coinbase Exodus Wallet Metamask Blockchain Wallet Electrum Wallet Trust Wallet Ledger Wallet BRD Wallet Gemini Kraken Binance About Pacsun Pacsun is a leading specialty retailer offering a cross section of emerging brands and trending fashion through the lens of youth culture. Throughout the contemporary, streetwear and active lifestyle markets, Pacsun partners with the best brands to offer curated collections, rare and exclusive products, and creative collaborations on every level. Founded in 1980, Newport, CA. Curated in Los Angeles. Follow @pacsun on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. About BitPay Founded in 2011, BitPay celebrates its 10th birthday this year as one of the oldest cryptocurrency companies. As a pioneer in blockchain payment processing, the company's mission is to transform how businesses and people send, receive, and store money. Its business solutions eliminate fraud chargebacks, reduce the cost of payment processing, and enable borderless payments in cryptocurrency, among other services. BitPay offers consumers a complete digital asset management solution that includes the BitPay Wallet and BitPay Prepaid Card, enabling them to turn digital assets into dollars for spending at tens of thousands of businesses. The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America and has raised more than $70 million in funding from leading investment firms including Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Virgin Group, and Aquiline Technology Growth. For more information visit bitpay.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pacsun-is-the-first-youth-fashion-retailer-to-accept-crypto-currency-through-bitpay-301392478.html SOURCE PacSun [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Rendered.ai Raises $6M, Expanding First-ever Developer Framework for Synthetic Data BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Rendered.ai, the leading platform provider for physics-based synthetic data, today announced the closing of a $6M seed round led by Space Capital. Participating investors include Tectonic Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Union Labs, and Uncorrelated Ventures. The funding will help expand staffing and operations to scale up the Rendered.ai Platform as a Service that supports data scientists, engineers, and business innovators who want to use synthetic data to investigate, validate, and expand AI-based technology and business opportunities. AI solutions require large datasets for training, which is often a limiting factor when building AI capabilities. Real-world datasets based on physical sensor-based collection can be expensive, have bias and gaps, or even simply be impossible to obtain. Simulated or synthetic datasets can power AI applications for industries such as satellite reconnaissance, robotics, medical imaging, and security applications where real world data is limited. "Synthetic data is an answer to themost pressing problems in AI. Many users focus only on generating static datasets," said Nathan Kundtz, founder and CEO, Rendered.ai. "By offering access to a PaaS for iterative collaboration and data generation, we can help customers and partners adopt synthetic data as an innovative, cost-effective business capability." Rendered.ai provides the first-ever developer framework for synthetic data. The platform integrates scenario generation, 3D model libraries, asset management, compute management, annotation, metadata management, and analytics in a single offering for generating content to train machine learning systems, for data labeling and annotation, and to validate and improve AI accuracy. "The utility of synthetic data is already obvious to customers, however most existing solutions are highly bespoke and unscalable," said Chad Anderson, managing partner, Space Capital. "By providing an open platform, Rendered's approach will enable the broad adoption of synthetic data into existing enterprise workflows." The Rendered.ai platform is a cloud-native experience including a no-code configuration tool, imagery generation using high-performance compute, and microservices and APIs to characterize, integrate, and access data with enterprise systems. Rendered.ai enables teams of data scientists and data engineers to work together to configure sophisticated pipelines for data generation to fit their business needs. "We have seen the capability and potential of Rendered's platform demonstrated with customers and we believe that it will become the gold-standard for synthetic data generation," Anderson added. "We are thrilled to join the efforts of Nathan and the team at Rendered and look forward to continuing to support their growth into geospatial intelligence markets, which are hungry for their services." Rendered.ai's users include leading commercial and governmental organizations, academic partnerships, and CV analytics firms. About Rendered.ai Rendered.ai is a Platform as a Service for synthetic data generation that puts physically accurate sensor modelling and a closed loop data engineering workflow in the hands of data scientists and innovators. Founded by physicist Nathan Kundtz, Rendered.ai has created and powers the first-ever developer framework for synthetic data, turning simulation tools into synthetic data capabilities which includes scenario generation, 3D model libraries, asset management, compute management, annotation, metadata management and more. Rendered.ai is a privately held company based in Bellevue, Washington. For more information on the company, please visit: www.rendered.ai. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/renderedai-raises-6m-expanding-first-ever-developer-framework-for-synthetic-data-301393031.html SOURCE Rendered.ai [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] BitTitan Names Joseph Nguyen Director of Information Security BitTitan, a global leader in migrations and managed services automation with a family of solutions including MigrationWiz, Voleer and Perspectium, today announced Joseph Nguyen as the company's first director of information security. In this role, Nguyen will oversee security operations across all BitTitan products and departments. He will spearhead additional security governance initiatives to monitor and enforce company-wide security policies and procedures, which will further mitigate risk for BitTitan and every one of their customers as the company continues to grow. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005416/en/ Joseph Nguyen, Director of Information Security at BitTitan. (Photo: Business Wire) "Joseph brings to BitTitan extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of global security, compliance, DevOps and IT management," said Geeman Yip, BitTitan founder and CEO. "Ensuring the highest levels of security for our customers and team has always been a top priority at BitTitan. As we expand our solutions across diverse markets, we're focused on enhancing and strengthening our approach to security and establishing a unified vision for our company. We couldn't be more excited to welcome a dedicated security expert like Joseph into this role to help bring this vision to life." Joseph will take the helm of BitTitan's well-managed security program, which outlines highly structured security controls guiding the company's product development efforts, quality assurance and deployments. H'll also assume leadership over the company's security and compliance awareness training programs. Most recently, Nguyen served as Perspectium's director of DevOps, overseeing security and compliance certifications for the company in San Diego, where he'll continue to work. BitTitan acquired Perspectium in April 2021. Before joining Perspectium, Nguyen was the director of software engineering at NBC Universal (News - Alert) in Los Angeles, where his responsibilities included managing the cybersecurity and compliance for domestic and international filmed programming. "I am thrilled to move into this new role at BitTitan, which is truly an innovative and industry-leading cloud enablement company," said Nguyen. "BitTitan has established its reputation as a market leader with unique products such as MigrationWiz, Voleer and Perspectium. Our company has proven its capabilities in securely migrating data for companies across the globe and in industries where data protection is of the utmost importance, including health care, finance, education and government. I am committed to delivering the highest level of security to our customers, partners and employees." Nguyen holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto and a master's degree in physics from Princeton University. For the latest news and information on BitTitan, like and follow the social media channels below and visit the BitTitan blog. Twitter (News - Alert) : @BitTitan Facebook: www.facebook.com/BitTitan LinkedIn (News - Alert) : www.linkedin.com/company/bittitan About BitTitan BitTitan empowers IT service professionals to successfully deploy and manage cloud technologies through its family of software solutions. MigrationWiz is the industry-leading SaaS solution for mailbox, document, public-folder, and Microsoft Teams migrations between a wide range of sources and destinations. Voleer centralizes and automates IT tasks to optimize IT environments, enabling IT service professionals to effectively manage resources, security, data governance, and more. Perspectium eliminates data and process silos with integration solutions for ServiceNow (News - Alert) , automating data transfers for analytics, backup and restoration, migrations, archiving, and extending ServiceNow workflows to other vital applications or external service providers. Since 2009, BitTitan has moved over 25 million users to the cloud for 46,000 customers in 188 countries and supports leading cloud ecosystems including Microsoft, Amazon, Google (News - Alert) and ServiceNow, with Perspectium enabling more than 75 billion ServiceNow transactions. The global company has offices in Seattle, San Diego and Singapore. To learn more, visit www.BitTitan.com or the BitTitan blog. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005416/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Prime Capital Investment Advisors Recapitalizes as Advisor Owned Prime Capital Investment Advisors (PCIA) announces that it has recapitalized, becoming a predominantly advisor-owned firm. On October 1st, the company completed its offering welcoming 88 new advisors to join four founding advisors as owners. In total, advisors own over 65% of the equity in PCIA and the new equity-holders ownership represents a significant investment. Finally, ninety eight percent of advisors that were offered ownership accepted. Since the firm's launch as PCIA in 2017, the company has grown tremendously and has always had a goal to become an advisor-owned and led organization. PCIA believes that it is the only significant, national financial advisory firm to have broad advisor ownership. The leadership team knows that this unique business model, with complete alignment between investors and advisors, will prove beneficial to all its stakeholders (clients, advisors, employees, investors and other business partners). Moving forward, PCIA will continue to incorporate broad equity ownership opportunities for its people. Every advisor will have a path towards ownership and equity will be a crtical tool in advisor recruiting as well as acquisition discussions. "We are proud to have built a firm where every advisor can earn ownership. We believe that PCIA is the only significant, national financial advisory firm to have broad ownership amongst our advisors," says Glenn Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of PCIA. "By providing our advisors with meaningful equity, we are igniting a fire in them to think and act like owners. The level of commitment and the standards of excellence people set as owners is simply higher. We know that our new owners will push us to even greater heights as an organization," added Mr. Spencer. "In addition to the qualitative benefits of broad ownership, this is a terrific investment opportunity for our people," said Scott Colangelo, Chairman of PCIA. "Since 2018, we have grown assets under management by nearly five-fold, our revenues have quadrupled, and our profitability is industry leading. The fact that 98% of our advisors accepted our offer of equity demonstrates their belief in the company they work for," added Colangelo. "Unlike so many firms where there are one or two majority owners preaching culture, we have a special culture, with advisors who care deeply about their clients, within a firm where all our interests are truly aligned," concluded Mr. Colangelo. About Prime Capital Investment Advisors Prime Capital Investment Advisors provides a client-centric team approach to full-service financial planning, including fee-based asset management and wealth management through its Prime Capital Wealth Management brand. Through its Qualified Plan Advisors brand, the firm also provides retirement plan advisory services, as well as plan participant education. PCIA currently has 27 locations throughout the United States, with investment advisor representatives serving clients across the nation. Advisory services offered through Prime Capital Investment Advisors, LLC. ("PCIA"), a Registered Investment Adviser. PCIA doing business as Qualified Plan Advisors ("QPA") and Prime Capital Wealth Management ("PCWM"). For more information, visit www.pciawealth.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005797/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Accenture Acquires Advoco, Scaling Capabilities for Intelligent Asset Management Solutions Accenture (News - Alert) (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Advoco, one of the largest systems integrators for Infor EAM, a leading software-as-a-service suite for enterprise asset management (EAM). The acquisition expands Accenture's capabilities to help clients in the consumer goods & services, industrial, life sciences, transit and other industries make their operations and supply chains safer, more sustainable, productive and cost-efficient. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005031/en/ Accenture has acquired Advoco, one of the largest systems integrators for Infor EAM, to scale its capabilities for intelligent asset management solutions (Graphic: Business Wire) Advoco's mission is to form trusted advisor partnerships with clients across industries. It specializes in configuring and integrating Infor EAM software with companies' existing enterprise and operational systems, and EAM training programs. The solutions and services Advoco provides are designed to help clients enhance the reliability and extend the overall lifecycle of their critical assets. Founded in 2002, Advoco has been repeatedly named Infor EAM Partner of the Year. Most of its over 100 asset management professionals are based in Greenville, SC, close to the Infor EAM product development team. Accenture plans to establish Advoco's Greenville office as a center of excellence for Infor EAM delivery, industry use cases and intelligent asset management. The entire Advoco team joins Accenture's Industry X group in the United States, strengthening its suite of services for digitizing clients' engineering and maintenance functions, factory floors and plant operations. "Many of our clients are looking to leverage Infor EAM when embedding more intelligence in their asset management to drive the performance of their most critical assets," said Nigel Stacey, global lead for Accenture Industry X. "Advoco is highly respected for its talent, expertise and training program in this space. Together, we will bring Infor EAM capabilities to clients at scale to take advantage of a growing market opportunity." Marty Osborn, partner at Advoco, said: "Becoming part of the Accenture Industry X family is an incredible opportunity for our clients and our employees. Accenture's capabilities and expertise enable us to bring more cutting-edge, innovative work to our clients and grow as a team and as individuals. We're excited to deliver outstanding expertise in the design, consultation and implementation of Infor EAM to even more companies and markets." Advoco is the latest in a series of 24 acquisitions Accenture has made since 2017 to build its Industry X capabilities. Recently completed acquisitions include international engineering consulting and services firm umlaut, operations technology provider Electro 80 (Australia), industrial robotics and automation services provider Pollux (Brazil), operations consultancy Myrtle (US) and technology consultancy SALT Solutions (Germany). About Accenture Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services - all powered by the world's largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 624,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com. Accenture Industry X embeds intelligence in how clients run factories and plants, as well as design and engineer connected products and services-making manufacturing and operations more efficient, effective and safe; enabling companies to transform how they make things, and the things they make, for sustainable growth. Forward-Looking Statements Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "positioned," "outlook" and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Many of the following risks, uncertainties and other factors identified below are, and will be, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture's results of operations have been significantly adversely affected and could in the future be materially adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; Accenture's results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company's clients' businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture's business depends on generating and maintaining ongoing, profitable client demand for the company's services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company's results of operations; if Accenture is unable to keep its supply of skills and resources in balance with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company's business, the utilization rate of the company's professionals and the company's results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture could face legal, reputational and financial risks if the company fails to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture's profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture's level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company's effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture's ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; as a result of Accenture's geographically diverse operations and its growth strategy to continue to expand in its key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; Accenture's business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture's work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; Accenture's results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key alliance partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company's results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture's services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture's results of operations and share price could be adversely affected if it is unable to maintain effective internal controls; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; Accenture might be unable to access additional capital on favorable terms or at all and if the company raises equity capital, it may dilute its shareholders' ownership interest in the company; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the "Risk Factors" heading in Accenture plc's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture's expectations. Copyright 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and its logo are registered trademarks of Accenture. This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks. No sponsorship, endorsement, or approval of this content by the owners of such trademarks is intended, expressed, or implied. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005031/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] The Presidio Group Advises on the Acquisition of Classic BMW in Texas The Presidio Group LLC ("Presidio"), an independent merchant banking firm focused on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and investments in the automotive retail and consumer mobility sectors, exclusively advised Carl Sewell and his family on the historic acquisition of Classic BMW. The transaction included a BMW dealership franchise and a MINI dealership franchise at the same location in Plano, Texas. "Since the opening of our first BMW store in Grapevine, Texas in 2017, we have been honored to be a BMW dealer," said Carl Sewell III, president of Sewell Automotive Companies. "With the help of Brodie Cobb, George Karolis, and their incredible team at The Presidio Group, we are thrilled to add Classic BMW, one of the finest BMW dealerships in the country, to our group. We are also grateful to Eric Maas and the Maas family for this opportunity." "Our family has focused our expansion on the highest quality businesses, and Classic BMW is at the top of that list," said Jacquelin Sewell, president of Sewell Automotive Companies. "We welcome Classic BMW and MINI to the Sewell family and look forward to continuing the dealership's 50-year legacy of outstanding service to the Plano community and the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area." Classic BMW was founded in 1971 by Lee Maas, who worked as a manager at local Cadillac and Chevrolet stores. Classic BMW began in a 3,000-square-foot building, where Mr. Maas employed his family to help in all aspects of their burgeoning business. Fifty years later, Classic BMW has grown to be the largest BMW dealership by footprint in the U.S. with a 160,000-sf building on 24 acres in Plano, Texas. "This dealership is a testament to my family's passion for cars and customers," said Eric Maas, president of Classic BMW and director of racing operations at Fast Track Racing LLC. "My family wouldn't consider selling unless we were assured that our legacy of caring for our customers and employees would be continued at the same high standard. The Presidio Group understood that when they approached me about selling to the Sewell family, who literally wrote the book on customer service. We are certain that the Sewell Family will carry on our tradition of treating each customer in the showroom and service drive as if they are part of our own family." "Presidio was privileged to work with the Sewell family in helping them strategically grow their portfolio of high-performing luxur dealership franchises in Texas," said Brodie Cobb, founder and CEO of The Presidio Group. "Rarely in the M&A world do we find parties to a transaction that align philosophically more than the Sewell and Maas families. We were privileged to work so closely with both on this historic Dallas transaction." "Classic BMW is the perfect complement to Sewell's extraordinarily successful Grapevine BMW dealership," said George Karolis, president of The Presidio Group. "The Texas market is one of the most active in the country in what is a very healthy dealership acquisition environment across the country." Sewell's General Counsel, Jeff Hamilton, served as legal counsel to the buyer. Winston & Strawn LLP served as legal counsel to the seller. The Presidio Group provided exclusive M&A advisory services to Sewell through its wholly owned investment bank, Presidio Merchant Partners LLC. About Classic BMW Classic BMW was founded in 1971 by Lee Maas, who worked as a General Manager at Rodger Meier Cadillac and later at Friendly Chevrolet in Dallas. Classic BMW began in a small, 3000-square-foot building in Richardson (News - Alert) , where Mr. Maas opened the first BMW dealership in North Texas and spent a large part of this time educating Texans as to what BMW meant. He launched the Bavarian Motor Works in Texas. He chose the flag of the great state of Texas as the symbol to be placed on each car near the license plate. Fifty years later, Classic BMW has grown to be the largest BMW dealership by footprint in the U.S. with a campus that resides on 24 acres in Plano, Texas. Eric Maas became the president of Classic BMW in 2003 and helped develop the reputation as a company dedicated to customer care that Classic BMW is known for today. Sheryl Maas, the president of Maas Modern LLC, has been leading the development of the campus in Plano with the creation of the main building in 2007, the new Mini of Plano facility, and the soon-to-be-opened Certified Pre-Owned building. About Sewell Automotive Companies Sewell Automotive Companies is a private, family owned and operated dealership group founded in 1911. Today, Sewell represents 12 automotive manufacturer brands across its 18 dealerships in the state of Texas. Sewell represents Audi (3), BMW (2), Buick, Cadillac (4), GMC, INFINITI (3), Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus (2), Mercedes-Benz, MINI, and Subaru, with locations in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Grapevine, Houston, McKinney, Plano, San Antonio, and Sugar Land. The company is committed to giving back and improving the communities it serves and partners with organizations that benefit education, the arts, children's charities, and related causes. For more information on Sewell, visit sewell.com. The Presidio Group LLC was founded in 1998 with the simple mission to relentlessly put the interests of our clients first. By steadfastly adhering to this philosophy, the firm has earned the trust of clients throughout the United States. During their careers, the professionals at Presidio have collectively closed more than 205 transactions for over $13.7 billion. It also publishes Presidio's Where the Rubber Meets the Road, a leading source of information about the automotive retail landscape and the automotive retail M&A environment. The Presidio Group has offices in Denver and Atlanta. Presidio Merchant Partners LLC is a subsidiary of The Presidio Group LLC and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information on Presidio, visit www.thepresidiogroup.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005840/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Shore Capital Partners Named to Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors Shore Capital Partners, ("Shore" or "the firm"), a strategic private equity firm focused on microcap investing in the healthcare, food and beverage, business services and real estate industries, with offices in Chicago and Nashville, was named as one of Inc.'s 2021 founder-friendly investors, for the second year in a row. For the first time, this year's list included venture capital firms in addition to private equity and was changed from the original title of Inc.'s Private Equity 50. The final list recognizes the firms that entrepreneurs can trust and collaborate with while receiving the financial support they need to help accelerate growth. All the recognized firms have a successful track record of remaining actively involved in the businesses after their investment. "Supporting an entrepreneur's vision and driving growth is more than just a financial investment," said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. media. "It's about building a relationship and supporting the founders beyond that initial year. These private equity firms treat the founders like partners." "We are honored to be recognized as a founder-friendly investor again by Inc.," said Justin Ishbia, Managing Partner. "It is a proof point that we are delivering on our vision to be the first choice for founders and executives seeking a partner for growth. At Shore, we work with great small businesses to become regional and national powerhouses by providing oversized investment, operational and network resources that de-risk the investment while accelerating success. We are proud of this award and that 35 microcap platforms have chosen us as their partner." To compile te list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships. To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2021. The list will also be featured in the October 2021 issue of Inc. magazine, available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and on newsstands beginning October 5, 2021. About Shore Capital Partners Shore Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm with offices in Nashville, is focused on microcap investments within the Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Business Services, and Real Estate industries. Shore supports management partners with capital, business development expertise, and industry knowledge to accelerate growth, fund acquisitions, and generate value for shareholders. Shore targets investments in proven, successful private companies with superior management teams, stable cash flow, and significant growth potential, including organic growth and growth through industry consolidation. Shore has $2 billion of equity capital under management through various investment vehicles. For more information, please visit: www.shorecp.com. About Inc. The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005835/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Legislative Outlook For Biden Administration's Agenda On Tap At Bloomberg Government's Fall Hill Watch Event WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Government today announced its Fall Hill Watch event will be held live and webcast on Thursday, October 14 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The event follows on the heels of the semiannual Hill Watch report, which provides in-depth analysis of the legislative landscape in Congress and the key policy areas that will be front and center the remainder of the year. Bloomberg Government's Hill Watch lays out what to expect from Capitol Hill, the administration & the federal agencies. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh will open the event and discuss the integral role the Department of Labor will play in fulfilling President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. Other topics to be covered include vaccine mandates, paid leave unemployment benefits, and union organizing. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) will discuss legislative priorities on Capitol Hill and the outlook for the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, for which he was one of the lead Republican legislators. Hill Watch will conclude with a panel of Bloomberg Government legislative analysts who will explore a range of issues including tax, foreign policy, defense, and energy. For more information and to register for the event, visit http://onb-gov.com/Ohed50Gm7Jn. "Policy professionals who need to stay ahead in Washington, D.C. can rely on Bloomberg Government and Hill Watch to set the agenda for what's on tap on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and across the federal agencies," said Heather Rothman, news director, Bloomberg Government. "From infrastructure to the debt ceiling to reconciliation, Hill Watch will cover the issues that will be shaping the coming months." A complimentary copy of BGOV's fall Hill Watch report is available for download at https://about.bgov.com/hill-watch/. About Bloomberg Government Bloomberg Government is a premium, subscription-based service that provides comprehensive information and analytics for professionals who interact with or are affected by the government. Delivering news, analytics, and data-driven decision tools, Bloomberg Government's digital workspace gives an intelligent edge to government affairs and contracting professionals. For more information or a demo, visit Bloomberg Government. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/legislative-outlook-for-biden-administrations-agenda-on-tap-at-bloomberg-governments-fall-hill-watch-event-301393105.html SOURCE Bloomberg Government [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Ortelius Sends Letter to Stockholders Regarding its Vehement Opposition to Capital Senior Living's Amended Transactions with Conversant Capital Ortelius Advisors, L.P. (together with its affiliates, "Ortelius" or "we") today sent the below letter to stockholders of Capital Senior Living Corporation (NYSE: CSU) ("Capital Senior Living" or the "Company") regarding its opposition to the Company's amended financing transactions (the "Amended Transactions") with Conversant Capital LLC ("Conversant"). The Amended Transactions are also supported by Arbiter Partners QP, LP ("Arbiter") and Silk Partners, LP ("Silk"). Stockholders can view the accompanying presentation that we have released with today's letter by visiting www.SaveCSU.com. We urge Capital Senior Living's stockholders to vote AGAINST the Amended Transactions recommended by the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") at the upcoming meeting of stockholders (the "Special Meeting") on October 22, 2021. *** Fellow Stockholder, Ortelius, a 12.7% stockholder of Capital Senior Living, is squarely aligned with you. This is why we plan to vote AGAINST the Amended Transactions announced by Capital Senior Living and Conversant after the close of the market on Friday, October 1st. We cannot support an exceedingly costly and highly-dilutive deal that was clearly restructured to gain the support of a subset of large investors, Arbiter and Silk, at the direct expense of other common stockholders. We also cannot support a deal that hands control of a majority of the Company's Board to Conversant and Silk, whose collective actions cause us to doubt their alignment with fellow stockholders and willingness to uphold the tenets of sound corporate governance. We see no justification for stockholders to support a deal that includes the litany of drawbacks and disincentives detailed in this letter. Despite the Board's claims that Capital Senior Living may face financial ruin without the Amended Transactions, we firmly believe the facts indicate otherwise: The Company's occupancy rates have steadily improved throughout the year and are now nearing pre-pandemic levels. The Company is in a much stronger financial position after recently extending its $40.5 million bridge loan with BBVA USA Bancshares, Inc. until year-end 2022 on similar terms. The Company has less than $50 million of debt coming due in the next 6 months. The Company's debt is overcollateralized by the value of its substantial real estate holdings. Invictus Global Management LLC ("Invictus"), which is backed by a $9 billion credit institution, has publicly announced a willingness to provide up to $150 million in capital on superior terms. Ortelius and other investors have conveyed their willingness to immediately infuse significant capital into the Company through a solution that includes a stockholder-friendly rights offering. Based on our extensive analysis of the Amended Transactions, we can confidently state that this re-cut is great for Conversant, Arbiter, Silk and Capital Senior Living's management while being terrible for the rest of the Company's common stockholders: Conversant would win big at the expense of existing common stockholders. Conversant is now positioned to obtain significantly more equity at a much lower cost basis thanks to a new PIPE at $25 per share and a commitment to backstop a new equity rights offering at $30 per share, which represent a 47% discount and 37% discount, respectively, to Capital Senior Living's 30-day volume-weighted average price prior to the July 22 nd deal announcement. Conversant is now positioned to receive a staggering 8% of the Company's common stock in the form of 174,675 premium shares as a backstopping fee. We deem this to be an unjustifiably lavish fee for backstopping a potentially successful equity rights offering. Conversant is now positioned to receive an excessive 6% of the Company's common stock in the form of 132,175 premium shares as a de facto break-up fee linked to its backstopping commitment. Notably, this material information was not called out in the Company's post-market press release on Friday, October 1 st , raising questions about the Board and Conversant's commitment to robust and transparent disclosures. Conversant is now positioned to receive more than a million warrants at $40 per share, which can be exercised on a cashless basis, meaning stockholders may suffer more dilution without the Company receiving additional capital. Arbiter would win big at the expense of its fellow common stockholders. In addition to being able to fully participate in the Company's equity rights offering t $30 per share, Arbiter is now positioned to receive a de facto break-up fee equal to 1% of the Company's common stock in the form of 17,292 premium shares linked to its backstopping commitment. Arbiter would receive these 17,292 premium shares even if the Amended Transactions are voted down. Arbiter stands to receive its premium shares in exchange for a backstopping commitment, but it does not appear to be subscribing to its full pro rata share in the equity rights offering. Arbiter has committed to purchasing at least $5 million of common stock in the rights offering, yet its pro rata share would be approximately $10 million of common stock. We are forced to question whether receiving premium shares at no cost disincentivized Arbiter from subscribing to its full pro rata share. Silk would win big at the expense of its fellow common stockholders. For merely agreeing to fully subscribe to its pro rata share in the equity rights offering, Silk stands to receive two designees on the Company's nine-member Board. Combined with Conversant's four designees, Silk and Conversant would collectively have effective boardroom control. Management would win big at the expense of existing common stockholders. The Board's proposed increase in the amount of common stock that Capital Senior Living may issue under its 2019 Stock and Incentive Plan would not only insulate management from dilution experienced by other stockholders, but the move would astoundingly give management an even greater pro forma share of the Company. Rather than being held accountable for the years of costly mistakes that led the Company into the arms of Conversant, management stands to benefit from a $4.2 million cash retention pool in the event the Amended Transactions are approved. Chief Executive Officer Kimberly S. Lody, who has overseen tremendous value destruction, stands to receive a $1.6 million cash bonus in the event the Amended Transactions are approved. While the Amended Transactions are much improved for Conversant and its allies, the terms would inflict even greater dilution upon existing common stockholders. Under the Amended Transactions, the Series A Preferred Stock, Common Stock and Warrants to be sold to Conversant will initially represent between 2,855,925 and 6,195,806 shares of Common Stock on an as-converted basis, which would imply between approximately 38.2% and 67.9% of Common Stock on an as-converted basis. Under the previous deal, the Series A Preferred Stock to be sold to Conversant would be initially convertible into between 2,062,500 and 3,750,000 shares of Common Stock, which would imply between approximately 32.01% and 63.12% of Common Stock immediately after the issuance of such Series A Preferred Stock on an as-converted basis. Stockholders continue to be shackled to a potential deal that includes no fiduciary out for the Board, a coercive debt payment premium and expenses payable to Conversant even if the Amended Transactions do not close, and now the issuance of about 7% of the Company's common stock to Conversant and Arbiter as a de facto break-up fee if the Amended Transactions are rejected. Stockholders should not be forced to suffer through the Amended Transactions simply because the Board signed away its right to expeditiously run a post-announcement market check and negotiate with other viable capital providers. WE URGE OUR FELLOW STOCKHOLDERS TO CLOSELY EXAMINE THE REVISED DEAL'S ONEROUS DETAILS AND TERMS It is important to remember that when the Board agreed to its original deal on July 22nd, the onerous terms sent the stock price plummeting. The Board has now struck a re-cut deal that sells even more of the Company to Conversant at even lower prices. In our view, the Board is either tone deaf to the market or more focused on Conversant's desires than stockholders' best interests. It appears that Conversant was able to use the pressure placed on the original deal by Ortelius and other stockholders, which should have increased Capital Senior Living's leverage to obtain better terms, as an opportunity to further exploit the current Board's apparent incompetence, financial illiteracy and seemingly unscrupulous behavior. Nothing has fundamentally changed since July 22nd to justify allowing Conversant to buy more stock at materially lower prices. To the contrary, the Company's monthly occupancy reports indicate rates have climbed precipitously since the trough in February. It is important to also recall that Arbiter publicly supported the original deal with no strings attached. However, Arbiter has now signed a voting agreement and committed to backstopping a piece of the Amended Transaction's equity rights offering. What has changed since July 22nd to compel Arbiter to embrace the even more egregious Amended Transactions? The answer is obvious to us: Arbiter is getting a generous backstop commitment fee that will limit its dilution relative to other common stockholders. We hope stockholders also scrutinize Silk's willingness to partner with Conversant. In its September 13th 13D filing, Silk noted that the firm believed an underwritten equity rights offering could be a superior alternative to the original deal. What has changed since July 22nd to compel Silk to embrace the even more egregious Amended Transactions? The answer is once again obvious to us: Silk negotiated itself the right to designate two directors for agreeing to support the Amended Transactions and merely invest its pro rata share in an equity rights offering. It seems Conversant and Silk were able to buy majority control of the Board and, in turn, the Company at a take-under price - one materially lower than what was accounted for within the July 22nd deal. WE URGE OUR FELLOW STOCKHOLDERS TO CLOSELY EXAMINE CONVERSANT'S QUESTIONABLE TACTICS AND MORGAN STANLEY'S INCENTIVES We believe there is a consistent and growing pattern of Conversant's essentially trying to bribe those who stand in the way of the firm gaining control of Capital Senior Living at a take-under price. After apparently securing the support of Arbiter and Silk, Conversant reached out to Ortelius last week in an apparent attempt to induce us to support a deal. Ortelius had no interest in entering into a highly-questionable deal that benefited a small group of supporters at the expense of a majority of common stockholders and other stakeholders. We are now forced to question whether the firm had been peddling other quid pro quo offers to Arbiter, Silk and the Company's Board and management. Why would the Board agree to a new break-up fee in the Amended Transactions without negotiating an accompanying "go shop" period? Further, why would the Board request Ortelius to engage under a non-disclosure agreement (which we agreed to), only to share the revised terms with us the same evening the Board approved the Amended Transactions? Either the Board has no concept of its fiduciary duties, or Conversant wanted to trample those duties. Both scenarios are alarming. Since the original deal was announced on July 22nd, we have also been concerned about the misalignment between the Board and its bankers at Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC ("Morgan Stanley"). We suspect that Morgan Stanley's fees could be approximately $13 million or more if the Amended Transactions go through. It is not lost on us that Morgan Stanley would not earn nearly as much if the Company would have simply negotiated with its banks or pursued a simpler financing transaction this past summer. If the Amended Transactions are voted down, we believe the Board owes it to stockholders to cut ties with Morgan Stanley and retain a banker with fresh perspectives and no links to the past Conversant deal. WE URGE OUR FELLOW STOCKHOLDERS TO SEE THROUGH THE BOARD'S SMOKESCREEN AND RECOGNIZE THAT REAL FINANCING ALTERNATIVES EXIST Ortelius does not believe that Capital Senior Living faces an immediate need for the Amended Transactions. If the Company were in such dire straits, the Board and Conversant would have been compelled to put forth a new, reasonable deal structure that could quickly attract broad stockholder support. Instead, the Board and Conversant appear to have bought Silk's support and doubled down on a deal that is full of self-enriching and self-serving terms. We encourage stockholders to join us in voting AGAINST the Amended Transactions at the upcoming Special Meeting. This will provide the Board an opportunity to negotiate with other potential capital providers, such as Invictus. The structure outlined by Invictus this morning appears far less dilutive and inherently viable, and would provide all stockholders the opportunity to participate in a fair rights offering. Ortelius is very interested - and believes other established and well-capitalized investors will be similarly interested - in participating in an equitable and minimally-dilutive financing alternative that does not provide a subset of investors special incentives and outsized influence over the Board. In the weeks to come, we hope the Amended Transactions are voted down and that stockholders can align on a financing solution that positions Capital Senior Living for long-term value creation. We are confident that there are constructive, pragmatic parties ready to step up and provide the Company with affordable capital. BOTTOM LINE: THE BOARD'S DEALS WITH CONVERSANT HAVE BEEN FLAWED FROM DAY 1 - IT IS TIME TO REJECT THE AMENDED TRANSACTIONS AND NEGOTIATE WITH REASONABLE PARTIES. Sincerely, Peter DeSorcy Managing Member Ortelius Advisors, L.P. *** About Ortelius Advisors, L.P. Ortelius is a research-intensive, fundamental-based, activist-oriented alternative investment management firm focused on event-driven opportunities. Founded in 2015 by Peter DeSorcy and H.R.H. Prince Pavlos, the asset manager is based in New York City. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005871/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Prescryptive Health Launches Comprehensive Pharmacy Management Platform to Expand the Scope of Community Pharmacists REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthcare technology company Prescryptive Health today announced that MyRx PRO is now operational nationwide. The pharmacy management platform allows pharmacists to digitize their business with new revenue opportunities through profitable clinical services and a deeper patient engagement experience. "Today we change the course of the community pharmacist," said Chris Blackley, CEO of Prescryptive Health, "by empowering them to expand their business and meet new customers through new services, all on our secure platform. Pharmacists are central to community health, and we are proud to offer a system to help them transform for the digital age." At the core of MyRx PRO are turn-key clinical services, which build in patient engagement, inventory management, reporting, and billing all on one platform. This includes critical COVID-19 caretesting, vaccinations, and monoclonal antibody treatmentand flu services for the ongoing public health crisis. MyRx PRO pharmacists already on the platform had a lift in annual revnue up to 25%; by offering relevant services, pharmacists can grow their business while providing the healthcare needed in their local communities. New patients find these services through Prescryptive's patient-friendly mobile solution, MyRx.io. "I'm getting new patients at my counter every day thanks to Prescryptive," said Vincent Chiffy, owner of Parkway Drugs in Utica, NY. "MyRx PRO allows me to offer more services efficiently so I can focus on what matters most: patient care." Theresa Tolle, Lead Luminary for CPESN Florida, said: "With MyRx PRO, Prescryptive has proven to be a true partner in helping independent pharmacists improve workflow, scheduling, and reporting. It's critical support for pharmacists facing the need to maintain profitability while serving their communities." MyRx PRO also features SmartPRICE with AI-driven intelligent pricing capabilities and a solution for cash-paying customers. Unlike popular cash discount cards, SmartPRICE saves patients up to 80% on prescriptions without exorbitant fees charged to local pharmacies by third parties. MyRx PRO is available nationwide today, with new clinical services added continually. Learn more about the platform at Prescryptive.com/myrx-pro. About Prescryptive Health Prescryptive Health is a healthcare technology company delivering solutions that empower consumers. Prescryptive's secure, mobile-first products connect consumers, pharmacists, and employers, ultimately providing people with the information they need to make informed decisions and take control of their health. To learn more about Prescryptive Health, visit www.prescryptive.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prescryptive-health-launches-comprehensive-pharmacy-management-platform-to-expand-the-scope-of-community-pharmacists-301392423.html SOURCE Prescryptive Health [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Now with a Single GraphQL API Call, Developers Can Query Multiple Relational and NoSQL Databases DataStax today announced new capabilities of the open-source GraphQL API, enabling developers to more rapidly develop applications with Apache Cassandra and manage multimodel data with Apollo to reduce operational complexity. The API is available in Stargate, the open-source data gateway, built to make Cassandra developer-ready and for interacting with data at scale. GraphQL and Apollo remain top choices1 for application developers who are seeking an agnostic way of interacting with data in their applications. The flexibility offered by JSON-based storage allows developers to be more responsive to business needs - iterating and deploying faster, as changes to the application data model do not require changes to database schema. "Getting Stargate up and running locally with GraphQL and connected to my React app was very painless and took me less than 30 mins to get developing," said Brandon Landfried, Technical Lead, Ippon Technologies USA "Every infrastructure decision a developer needs to contemplate slows development. With the new capabilities in Stargate's GraphQL API, DataStax is bridging the gap between database choice and rapid implementation so developers can benefit from the powerful Apache Cassandra database," said Ed Anuff, chief product officer, DataStax. "We are committed to empowering app developers to work with a modern, familiar, document-oriented API without having to know specific query language while presenting all of an organization's data sources in a single interface." The Stargate GraphQL API now enables developers to create tables and define schemas in Apache Cassandra without the need to work directly with Cassandra Query Language (CQL). Additionally, developers who are accustomed to structuring data in JSON will immediately benefit from Stargate's ability to manage multimodel data and reduce data silos with new support for data federation. Stargate integrates with the Apollo Gateway to read from Cassandra and other databases that support GraphQL including MongoDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL, and data stores from AWS, Google (News - Alert) Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. GraphQL API Key Benefits Leverage Apache Cassandra while still expressing schema definition in GraphQL Reduce operational burden through a standard-based, open-source API layer Unlock data federation by querying multiple relational and NoSQL databases Work on-premises, hybrid cloud or multi-cloud The GraphQL API is availale as a standard feature of Stargate API Gateway (News - Alert) within Astra DB, and as an open-source download for Apache Cassandra and DataStax Enterprise users at Stargate.io. Resources About Stargate The modern applications we build need data APIs that integrate with our toolset and work with native data shapes like JSON, REST, GraphQL and others. With Stargate, an open-source API framework for data, application developers can work with any shape of data to accelerate deployment in support of new business requirements. Whatever a developer's preferred API for data interactions, Stargate offers a single gateway to support that API. About DataStax DataStax delivers an open, multi-cloud data stack built on Apache Cassandra, the world's most scalable database. The company's marquee offering is Astra DB, the industry's first open, multi-cloud serverless database. Built on a modern, Kubernetes-based architecture, Astra DB provides an unprecedented combination of pay-as-you-go data, simplified operations, and the freedom of multi-cloud and open-source. DataStax also offers Astra Streaming, a multi-cloud messaging and event streaming platform built on Apache Pulsar. With DataStax, any developer or enterprise can now deploy data at massive scale, with 100 percent uptime, for lower cost. Today, nearly 500 of the world's most demanding enterprises and half of the Fortune 100 rely on DataStax to power modern data apps, including The Home Depot, T-Mobile, and Intuit (News - Alert) . 2021 DataStax, All Rights Reserved. DataStax is a registered trademark of DataStax, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Apache, Apache Cassandra, Cassandra, Apache Pulsar, Pulsar and Apache Kafka are either registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation or its subsidiaries in Canada, the United States, and/or other countries. 1The State of JavaScript Report 2020 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005252/en/ [October 05, 2021] Learnfully Launches Innovative Executive Functioning Simulations Learnfully, a first of its kind personalized learning platform, today announced the launch of its Executive Functioning Challenge series, a hands-on simulation designed to put students in the shoes of those with Executive Functioning challenges. The goal of the series, which is designed for educators, is to allow participants to gain perspective about learners of varied backgrounds and abilities. The series provides a window into the frustrations that learners who struggle with Executive Functioning experience every day. This provides educators with the resources and perspective to better serve students with a diverse set of skills and challenges. This simulation series comes at a key moment: today, according to the Journal of Attention Disorders, an estimated 30% of school-age children with ADHD also have executive functioning issues. Meanwhile, the COVD-19 pandemic has disrupted routines and transformed the educational experience for millions of children. "Executive Functioning issues are a challenge for many students, and after a year of remote learning, key routines and habits have been disrupted and these challenges are exacerbated," said Jess Corinne, Head of Educational Services, Learnfully. "We're proud to offer this cutting-edge series at this critical juncture to educators and work closely with them to develop holistic, comprehensive ways to address this important area of learning." The simulations, which take place both in-person and virtually, walk educators through different stations of Executive Functioning-related tasks that could be encountered in a classroom: working memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, organization, planning and prioritization, and sustained attention. Learning simulations have proven to be an effective teaching tool in schools across the country, increasing the awareness of learners who think differently. The first simulation was held last month at Los Altos Christian School in the Bay Area. "The Learnfully EF simulations are filling a key void in the educational marketplace: providing a firsthand sensory experience for educators -- so they can better support the challenges their students face," said Dr. Sheila Murphy, an educational expert. "The result is that educators are equipped to meet the needs of a range of diverse students and work with them in a manner that best suits their strengths." Learnfully plans to conduct more than several simulations through the end of 2021 in partnership with schools, educator networks, and parent organizations, and expects more than a hundred participants. Educators that would like to try a simulation to better understand the experience of children with executive function challenges, please visit our website or email contact@learnfully.com. About Learnfully Learnfully is on a mission to ignite learning and unlock the potential of every learner. Based in San Francisco, Learnfully is a tech-enabled personalized learning service, empowering all individuals to gain access to insights into the most effective learning approach and build a programming plan based on the expertise of educators. Through its groundbreaking tech platform, best-in-class learning assessment, and expert educator network, Learnfully delivers true engagement and tangible results for every learner. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005282/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT Program Returns to Houston to Create 300 Homeowners As the pandemic continues to put a strain on Houstonians, Wells Fargo (News - Alert) will bring the NeighborhoodLIFT program back to Houston for a third time to help more than 300 low- and moderate-income individuals get on a path to homeownership with $15,000 down payment assistance grants. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005906/en/ Warren Fikes purchased his home after receiving down payment assistance through the Houston LIFT program in 2019. (Photo: Wells Fargo) "Saving for a down payment is one of the biggest barriers to homeownership for many first-time home buyers, and the pandemic has made saving for it even more challenging," said Bill Daley, vice chairman of Wells Fargo Public Affairs. "The LIFT initiative will help put more than 300 Houston families on a pathway toward housing stability and building generational wealth." In collaboration with NeighborWorks America and its network member Avenue, Daley announced the NeighborhoodLIFT program today in front of the Houston home of Amanda Bridgewater, a single mother who previously received down payment assistance through NeighborhoodLIFT. "Houston is a special place to call home, and this investment will help our local community of hardworking Houstonians with big dreams for the future," said Mayor Sylvester Turner. "We appreciate the efforts of Wells Fargo, NeighborWorks America and its local affiliates to bring the NeighborhoodLIFT program to Houston again and help put homeownership within reach for hundreds of households." LIFT programs have created more than 25,000 homeowners Today's expansion of the NeighborhoodLIFT program celebrates more than 25,100 homeowners created through 82 LIFT launches nationwide since 2012. The $5 million commitment from Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. follows LIFT programs in 2012 and 2019 in Houston, which created more than 700 local homeowners. In addition to $15,000 home down payment assistance grants, the program includes $250,000 for 500 Houstonians to receive homeownership counseling so they can learn how to navigate the home purchasing process and determine how to best budget for ongoing homeownership costs. Nurse Amanda Bridgewater purchased a home through Houston NeighborhoodLIFT in 2019 and learned valuable lessons about homeownership through the program. "As a first-time homebuyer, learning all the mortgage terms was like learning a different language," said Bridgewater. "Through the program I learned all about the homebuying process and, without LIFT, I may never have been able to buy a home. I've recommended the program to a few of my coworkers." "We're ready to help more people like Ms. Bridgewater become homeowners with the support of NeighborhoodLIFT homebuyer education and down payment assistance," said Mary Lawler, executive director of Avenue. "Through homeownership, she has been able to provide a safe home that's close to school for her children, gotten a family dog and avoided the anxiety that can come with rising rental costs. NeighborhoodLIFT is a tremendous program and we are thrilled to have it back in our community for a third time to help people achieve homeownership." Applications for down payment assistance begin Nv. 8 "This important collaboration will assist more than 300 homeowners while maintaining social distancing guidelines via a virtual platform," said Lisa Hasegawa, regional vice president, western region, NeighborWorks America. "In addition, the required homebuyer education provided by trained professionals will help homebuyers better understand financial commitments of homeownership, from differences in mortgage loans, to property taxes, and more." Homebuyers can view a list of participating lenders, learn about the steps to apply for down payment assistance, and sign-up for homebuyer education with a HUD-approved provider at www.wellsfargo.com/lift or www.avenuecdc.org/lift. The material is also available in Spanish at www.avenuecdc.org/lift/espanol. Applications for down payment assistance may be submitted beginning Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, at 9 a.m. Central Time. Committed to housing affordability Since 2012, Wells Fargo has invested $521 million in NeighborhoodLIFT and other LIFT programs. While the LIFT program is focused on serving low- and moderate-income families regardless of race or ethnicity, the majority of LIFT homeowners represent people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, with 25% of all LIFT down payment assistance recipients self-identifying as Black homeowners and 29% representing Hispanic households. These grants are part of Wells Fargo's housing affordability philanthropic commitment to address community needs in response to COVID-19. Since March of last year, Wells Fargo has provided more than $25 million in grant funding to national nonprofit housing and legal assistance organizations in support of housing counseling, renter stabilization, and eviction avoidance. About NeighborWorks America and Avenue Avenue is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, a national organization that creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities. NeighborWorks America supports a network of nearly 250 nonprofits, located in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Visit www.avenuecdc.org or www.neighborworks.org to learn more. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment, and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune's 2021 rankings of America's largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter (News - Alert): @WellsFargo. Video News Release: https://newsroom.wf.com/English/press-room/default.aspx#module-videos News Release Category: WF-PESG View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005906/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Align's Vinod Paul Accepted Into Forbes Technology Council Vinod Paul, Chief Operating Officer at Align, the premier global provider of technology infrastructure solutions, has been accepted into Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005209/en/ Vinod Paul, Align's Chief Operating Officer, is accepted into the Forbes Technology Council. (Photo: Business Wire) Paul was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors. "We are honored to welcome Vinod into the community," said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. "Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world." As an accepted member of the Council, Paul has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak profssional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Paul will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts. "It is a tremendous opportunity to join the esteemed technology leaders in the Forbes Technology Council," Paul said. "Align's approach to Managed Services has kept us at the forefront of technology providers in the alternative investment market. The Forbes platform will continue to allow us to address all of the technological, cybersecurity, governance, and compliance needs across the financial services and alternative investment management industry and beyond." About Forbes Councils Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive. For more information about Forbes Technology Council, visit forbestechcouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com. About Align Align is a premier global provider of infrastructure technology solutions. For over 30 years, leading firms worldwide have relied on Align to guide them through IT challenges, delivering complete, secure solutions for business change and growth. Align is headquartered in New York City and has offices in London, Chicago, San Francisco, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia. Learn more at www.align.com and www.aligncybersecurity.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005209/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] AOTMP Opens Enterprise Registration for Telecom, Mobility, and IT Management Conference INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers of AOTMP Engage 2022 announced today that enterprise individuals and teams interested in learning and advancing technology management best practices may now register for AOTMP's annual conference. The event will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld from Sunday April 24 to Wednesday April 27 with the association's member meeting on April 28. Highlights of the event include: 9 general sessions covering industry topics and advancing the industry 15 breakout sessions exploring operational and strategic subjects affecting all organizations 2 panels providing insight into enterprise case studies and real-world examples 18 enterprise-only roundtables enabling knowledge sharing with peers on hot topics 8 technology showcases highlighting some of the most innovaive industry solutions Industry awards ceremony recognizing outstanding individuals and teams in our industry 30 sponsors and exhibitors with the latest solutions on the market Telecom, mobility and technology management professionals coming together in Orlando April 24 - 27 . Register today. View the complete agenda at AOTMP Engage 2022 Agenda. Enterprises may register under the launch special of $795 until October 31 and the early bird special of $995 until December 31. Standard registration is $1,495. Vendors may attend only as exhibitors or sponsors. Timothy C. Cowell, AOTMP EVP, says, "It's exciting to organize an event that will allow industry professionals to get back together face-to-face and safely collaborate, learn, and share experiences and lessons learned over the past 24 months. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time." About AOTMP AOTMP, the Association of Telecom, Mobility, and IT Management Professionals, is a membership organization dedicated to serving the more than 10 million professionals around the globe who support the $4.3 trillion dollar industry. The association's mission is to bring these professionals together to help advance the industry while contributing more value and impact to their respective organizations. AOTMP supports the industry and its professionals with memberships, training and certifications, events, industry publications, industry standards and professional development to optimize individual and business performance. Learn more at www.aotmp.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aotmp-opens-enterprise-registration-for-telecom-mobility-and-it-management-conference-301386524.html SOURCE AOTMP [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Former Manhattan DA's Office Cybercrime Prosecutor Joins Cipriani & Werner's Prestigious Cyber Team PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cybercrime and Identity theft are global problems that affect all organizations and individuals. As a veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office Cybercrime & Identity Theft Bureau, Daniel Haier led many cutting-edge, award-winning investigations with national impact, and he is ready to help protect Cipriani & Werner's clients and guide them through the complex steps necessary to prevent and recover from data breach incidents. From dark web drug trafficking to cryptocurrency money laundering, Haier secured precedent-setting indictments and helped recover hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of high-tech frauds, scams, and data theft. In 2018, he was recognized as the "Law Enforcement Partner of the Year" by the National Retail Federation, and in 2019 the Federal Drug Agents Foundation named him a "True American Hero." Haier brings to Cipriani & Werner a deep understanding of how sophisticated criminals exploit security weaknesses to steal data from critical systems at a wide variety of businesses including hospitals, retailers, and financial institutions. Throughout his career, Daniel has been dedicated to helping individual victims and businesses recover after major losses and the lingering effects of identity theft. John Loyal, co-chair of Cipriani & Werner's Cyber team, could not be more thrilled that Daniel is joining the firm: "Dan is one of the top Cybercrime prosecutors in the country, and his joining the firm shows the caliber of Cyber talent Cipriani & Werner has and continues to add at a rapid rate." "As a cybercrime prosecutor, I saw the havoc that criminals can wreak on businesses and on the victims of identity theft," said Daniel. "I'm excited to join Cipriani & Werner's expanding Cyber and Data Privacy team to help protect our clients and their customers' personal data as cyber attacks continue to grow in scale and sophistication." Cipriani & Werner's cyber team helps clients with all aspects of data breach preparation and response. Contact our Cyber Team 24/7 at 1-833-63-CYBER or cwcyber@c-wlaw.com. About Cipriani & Werner Cipriani & Werner is a multidisciplinary law firm with more than 150 professionals in 15 offices covering 8 states and the District of Columbia. With its reach Cipriani & Werner is able to support the needs of clients on both a regional and national basis. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-manhattan-das-office-cybercrime-prosecutor-joins-cipriani--werners-prestigious-cyber-team-301393145.html SOURCE Cipriani & Werner [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Lincoln International Announces the Appointment of Global and U.S. Leadership Lincoln International, a global investment banking advisory firm, announced today that it has appointed two of its long-time leaders into new roles, effective immediately. Rob Brown (News - Alert) has been named Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the firm and Eric Malchow becomes CEO North America. "This long-planned transition of both global and North American leadership comes at an exciting time for Lincoln," stated Jim Lawson, Chairman and General Partner of Lincoln International. "In 2021, we celebrate our 25th anniversary having grown from one office with four people to 22 offices in 16 countries with over 700 professionals. Rob and Eric have been instrumental to the successes we have achieved since our earliest days and are well-positioned to lead the firm's vision, strategy and culture. They are committed to driving aggressive growth for the foreseeable future." Rob Brown joined the firm in 1998 and has been a key leader in driving the firm's geographic and business growth, including strengthening the firm's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) capabilities broadly and specifically fueling the growth of the business services, technology, media and telecom and healthcare industries. He is also a steward of the firm's people and culture strategies and lead recruiter for lateral Managing Director and senior talent. Most recently, as General Partner, and since he became the North American CEO for Lincoln in 2017, the firm attracted talent to increase employee count over 60% and revenue grew by over 155%. The firm is expecting another record year from the U.S. with forecasted growth of over 50% in 2021. "I am honored to lead Lincoln's next stage of growth and success," said Rob Brown. "Our people, platform and culture are truly unique in the industry and there is tremendous excitement internally and among our clients aout the work we are doing. I am looking forward to continuing to invest in ideas, solutions and talent while inspiring our people to make a positive impact on each other, our clients and our communities." Eric Malchow joined the firm at its founding in 1996 and has been at the forefront of adding new and complementary services and products to the firm's portfolio. His foresight about the vast opportunity to advise private equity investors has led to an increase of 40% in private equity-backed transactions at Lincoln over the past five years and the formation of a robust financial sponsors coverage model and group. In addition to growing and leading the Global Industrials Group, he provides strategic guidance for Lincoln's Capital Advisory Group, comprised of debt advisory and special situations advisory services. Most recently, Eric served as the President of Lincoln North America. "Lincoln's North American business has been on an impressive trajectory and I am looking forward to our future, collective achievements," said Eric Malchow. "Our U.S. team of more than 400 talented individuals is an industry-leading group of insightful, committed and collaborative professionals who prioritize client outcomes and excellence. The key to the continued success of our North American operations and the firm overall is our people's access to development and career opportunities that support their own professional goals." Jim Lawson and Rob Barr, the firm's founders and Global Co-CEOs for the last 25 years, will continue at the firm providing strategic oversight and leadership of various global growth and internal initiatives. Jim remains Chairman and General Partner and Rob is Managing Director and General Partner. Rob Barr stated, "Lincoln's great momentum in recent years and very promising future makes now the appropriate time for the transition to new leadership to occur. We have great confidence in both Rob and Eric's capabilities and dedication to Lincoln, its people and clients. Jim and I look forward to continuing to contribute to the very bright future of the firm." About Lincoln International We are trusted investment banking advisors to business owners and senior executives of leading private equity firms and public and privately held companies around the world. Our advisory services include mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advisory for the mid-market. We also provide valuations and fairness opinions and joint ventures advisory services. As one tightly integrated team of more than 700 professionals across 16 countries, we offer an unobstructed perspective, backed by superb execution and a deep commitment to client success. With extensive industry knowledge and relationships, timely market intelligence and strategic insights, we forge deep, productive client relationships that endure for decades. Connect with us to learn more at www.lincolninternational.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005217/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Damon Motors to Manufacture HyperSport Motorcycles in Vancouver, BC Damon Motors today announced it will build a cleantech manufacturing and R&D plant in Surrey B.C. The state-of-the-art, 110,000 square foot facility, being developed in partnership with Bosa Properties, will serve as ground zero for production of Damon's flagship HyperSport, the world's smartest, safest, fully electric motorcycle. Details will be revealed at a special kickoff ceremony on October 5, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Surrey City Hall Atrium. Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and Bruce Ralston, British Columbia Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, will be among the dignitaries in attendance. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005884/en/ Damon Motors to Manufacture HyperSport Motorcycles in Vancouver, BC (Photo: Business Wire) "As Damon accelerates a clean energy future with our electric vehicles, we're also introducing a cleaner, industry-leading manufacturing process," said Jay Giraud, co-founder and CEO, Damon Motors. "We're excited to produce our highly anticipated HyperSport motorcycles here in Surrey, British Columbia and look forward to this world-class facility delivering the safest and cleanest premium, high-technology motorcycles on the market." "We, at Bosa Family Companies, are proud to partner with such an exciting, new company to bring this site to life and drive new green jobs in our region," added John Martin, Vice President at Bosa Commercial. "This local start-up success story is a source of great pride for British Columbians, and we're pleased to be part of the strategy to keep Damon Motors thriving here at home." The new Damon manufacturing plant is expected to stimulate Surrey's local economy with several hundred jobs. Projections suggest that by 2025,the plant will create more than 300 high-tech manufacturing jobs and more than 500 high-tech office jobs. "British Columbia is quickly becoming an EV hotspot and the arrival of the Damon Motors manufacturing facility puts Surrey right in the middle of it," said Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum. We're honored Damon has selected Surrey for its production headquarters and are proud to welcome this dynamic and innovative young company to our city." "B.C. is home to many innovative clean-tech companies that are helping us grow as a leader in the electric vehicle sector," said Bruce Ralston, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation. "We're proud to support Damon Motors who will help us meet our Clean BC goals and create new good-paying jobs in the province. The strength of the innovative approach Damon Motors exhibits will propel the company toward being a global leader." Damon's manufacturing plant announcement comes as the company has surpassed $40M in orders for the award-winning HyperSport. The electric superbike offers unparalleled safety, comfort, and performance with groundbreaking technology and zero tailpipe emissions. It features the CoPilot advanced warning system, Shift, which transforms the riding position between sport and commuter modes while in motion, and HyperDrive, the world's first monocoque constructed, 100 percent electric, multi-variant powertrain platform. To reserve your HyperSport and to learn more about Damon Motors, visit www.damon.com. About Damon Motors Inc. Damon is unleashing the full potential of personal mobility for the world's commuters. With its HyperDrive proprietary electric powertrain, the company has developed the world's safest, smartest, fully connected electric motorcycles employing sensor fusion, robotics and AI. Designed as a platform for worldwide line extension, Damon motorcycles will ship direct to customers on subscription plans to drive scale. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Damon is founded by serial entrepreneurs Jay Giraud and Dom Kwong. Learn more at damon.com and follow us on Instagram @damonmotorcycles. About Bosa Commercial Bosa Family Companies is a wholly-integrated, family-run company, with a 50 year history of innovation and excellence in construction, real estate development, asset management and real estate services, making it one of Canada's most respected privately-owned brands. With roots in construction excellence, subsidiaries Bosa Properties, Bosa Commercial and BlueSky (News - Alert) Properties benefit from the highest level of craftsmanship and precision in every detail from the in-house construction teams. Based in Vancouver, B.C., Bosa Commercial is full-service property management firm, providing management, operations and facilities services to a diverse portfolio of over 70 retail, office, industrial and mixed-use properties across the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island, Northern BC and Interior BC. Our team of qualified property managers, administrators, operations managers and service providers come with years of experience in the industry, with a focused commitment of building customers for life. For more information, visit www.bosacommercial.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005884/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Akridata Launches World's First Edge Data Platform for Data-Centric AI SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Akridata, a category-maker and pioneer in Data-Centric AI, today announced the launch of the Akridata Edge Data Platform, which creates and manages smart data pipelines and AI workflows spanning Edge-Core-Cloud resources an industry first. The Akridata software solves the problems that emerge when streams of rich data from physically scattered Edge devices create an avalanche of data that is impossible to organize, filter, access, and process. It is now common for organizations to collect tens of Terabytes of data per day from a single autonomous device. With the first AI infrastructure platform in the Data-Centric AI category, Akridata provides a decentralized structure and scalable process to deliver curated, consistent, and relevant AI data sets. Akridata was formed in 2018 to solve AI's data problem. Solving this Exascale-class problem is a requirement to move AI out of experimentation and into real-world production. From automotive and transportation, to retail and healthcare, this need is a major obstacle that prevents AI-enabled products from making it to the marketplace. "The diverse requirements of ADAS/AV (Advanced Driver Assisted Systems/Autonomous Vehicle) necessitate many elements including deep learning, cloud deployment and in-vehicle services, among others. What ties all these together is data and a massive data challenge," said Kishore Jonnalagedda, Director of Engineering, Toyota Motor Company North America. "Akridata brings us a comprehensive and novel solution that drives efficiencies, lowers the cost, and accelerates our team's work toward our objectives. We will gain immediate leverage by automating data pipelines from edge locations to the cloud, allowing our data science and product development teams to focus on what matters most: delivering best-in-class ADAS/AV solutions and providing mobility for all." The Akridata solution is optimized for advanced AI workloads, providing built-in capabilities for AI-oriented data organization, transformation, and filtering tasks. It allows tracing and tracking of data from inception to inference, it enables traceable AI and broadly complements industry efforts towards explainable AI (XAI). This makes it possible to track the evolution of AI models and link the behavior of AI models in the field to the data sets that contributed to the specific model used by a specific device or service. "Akridata is making the autonomous world possible by providing the last piece of the puzzle: an integrated Edge-Core-Cloud Data Platform that solves the data problem at the heart of all real-world AI systems," said Kumar Ganapathy, co-founder and CEO of Akridata. "The future of AI is all about data, and our focus on AI ata since inception gives Akridata a first-mover advantage. We are pleased to launch the first infrastructure product in the Data-Centric AI Category, and to be working with a range of customers including industry leaders like Toyota Motor Company North America." "To thrive in the emerging global IT infrastructure, companies and other organizations will need to exploit heterogeneous data from highly distributed sources ranging from edge devices to powerful computers in clouds and data centers," said Steve Conway, Senior Advisor at Hyperion Research. "Akridata is well positioned to benefit from the strong growth Hyperion Research expects in this emerging data-centric market." Akridata's innovative new solution enables the integration of Deep Learning with Inference, Edge Commerce, Data Governance, and enterprise applications. It was specifically developed to address the Exascale-class data challenges that come with delivering advanced AI, autonomous devices, and unattended services. "Advanced AI models are increasingly created and run on the cloud, but need good quality data from edge devices," said Jon Jones, Director Go-to-Market for AI/ML, EC2, and Autonomous Vehicles, AWS. "The high volume and complex nature of this data has created a new exascale-class problem. Akridata is addressing the problem by managing smart pipelines for ingesting, filtering, curating, tracking, and staging of AI data." AI Data Complexities The autonomous world depends on continuous Deep Learning using large volumes of complex AI data sets. Streams of rich data such as video and lidar data generated by fixed or mobile edge devices must be organized, filtered, tracked and processed across the Edge-Core-Cloud resources. Massive amounts of data are being generated at the Edge by these devices. For example, a self-driving car in its test phase can generate multiple Terabytes of data in a single day. By 2025, 75 percent of the 175 Zettabytes of new data generated will come from the Edge, according to industry experts. "Especially for newer workloads like AD/ADAS development, HPC/AI workflows are increasingly grappling with an Exascale-class data challenge. The continuous flow of data from intelligent edge devices into the cloud creates significant demand for data curation as it's absolutely required for subsequent AI & software development and validation pipelines," said Kurt Niebuhr, Principal Program Manager, HPC/AI Ecosystem and Workload Incubation, at Microsoft Azure. "Data-Centric AI solutions such as Akridata's Edge Data Platform fill that need and help customers to match the sophistication of their analytics and models with high-quality and relevant data." The smart Akridata Edge Data Platform is distributed and helps optimize the processing, storage, and movement of data across the Edge, the Core, and the Cloud. The Akridata platform is available today and has been shown to deliver ten times faster time-to-access the right data, four times more efficient usage of compute and storage, and two times better productivity for data scientists and Machine Learning engineers. With Akridata's solution, real-world AI-enabled products can be brought to life. Learn more from these videos: The Autonomous World and Why Akridata? Also today, Akridata announced that it has raised $15 million in Series A led by TeleSoft Partners, Accel, and Mobile Foundation Ventures (MFV) Partners. The Silicon Valley-based company has 50-plus team members and is actively hiring for a range of engineering and customer success roles. Learn more at Akridata's career site. Click to Tweet: Category-maker @Akridata Launches World's First Edge Data Platform for Data-Centric AI. Solves Exascale Data Problem at the Edge-Core-Cloud, Drives AI Innovations. https://www.akridata.com/akridata-launches-worlds-first-edge-data-platform-for-data-centric-ai Akridata will celebrate the National Exascale Day coming up on Oct. 18. About Akridata Akridata enables Data-Centric AI by solving AI's Exascale-class data problem. The Akridata Edge Data Platform is the first solution spanning Edge-Core-Cloud resources. It provides a decentralized structure and scalable process to deliver curated, consistent, and relevant AI data sets. Akridata was founded in 2018 by some of Silicon Valley's most respected entrepreneurs, data scientists, and product engineers, who collectively hold nearly 200 patents and have a history of solving some of the world's most perplexing data challenges. Akri means "Edge" in Greek. Learn more at akridata.com. Media Contact: media@OrionX.net View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/akridata-launches-worlds-first-edge-data-platform-for-data-centric-ai-301393212.html SOURCE Akridata, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Rasmussen University Offers Accelerated BSN Program With New Hybrid Schedule Option Rasmussen University, a private university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission1, today announced its CCNE-accredited2, accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program now offers a new hybrid schedule option for qualified students enrolling in Rasmussen's North Dakota and Wisconsin campuses. The new scheduling increases options for students and individuals interested in a nursing degree by incorporating greater flexibility and lessening geographic barriers. "The current nursing shortage has been amplified since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses are retiring early, and many are feeling burnout from long shifts and the overall effects of the ongoing pandemic-creating a barrier for many who are considering continuing their education," said Dr. Joan Rich, vice president of the Rasmussen University School of Nursing. "The intent of our new hybrid schedule option is to offer a quality, innovative BSN program to students who need more flexibility or may reside farther away from our campus. The immersive experience requires limited on-campus days resulting in less commuting time and more flexibility to balance work and family obligations." Rasmussen University's CCNE-accredited BSN program offers two entry tracks: Standard Degree : For students who haven'tyet earned a nursing diploma or degree; finish in as few as 33 months. 3 : For students who haven'tyet earned a nursing diploma or degree; finish in as few as 33 months. Second Degree: For students who already hold a non-nursing bachelor's degree; finish in as few as 18 months.3 Campus-based or Hybrid. Both of these options provide the same innovative quality BSN, CCNE-accredited program. Campus-Based : The campus-based schedule includes on-campus and online courses with weekly on-campus visits. This gives students the flexibility of some online learning paired with consistent visits to a Rasmussen University campus. : The campus-based schedule includes on-campus and online courses with weekly on-campus visits. This gives students the flexibility of some online learning paired with consistent visits to a Rasmussen University campus. Hybrid Schedule: The hybrid schedule includes online didactic courses and less commuting to campus. Instead of weekly campus requirements, students will conduct courses online and have on-campus labs and simulations scheduled one to four weekends per quarter, allowing students to plan in advance and schedule around them. Students in the accelerated BSN program will experience: No wait list for qualified students Up to eight start dates per year Experienced faculty and peer collaboration in small classes Dedicated support services, including tutoring assistance and career services Accelerated Master's pathway opportunity For more information on the Rasmussen University accelerated BSN program and its new hybrid scheduling option, please visit Rasmussen.edu/bsnhybrid. 1Higher Learning Commission / hlcommission.org / 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500, Chicago, Illinois 60604-1411 / 800-621-7440 2Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education / 655 K Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington DC 20001 / 202-887-6791 3Completion time is dependent on transfer credits accepted and the number of courses completed each term. ABOUT RASMUSSEN UNIVERSITY: Rasmussen University, a private university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, is dedicated to changing lives and the communities it serves through high-demand and flexible educational programs. As a pioneer in career-focused education since 1900, the University is defining a new generation of higher education that focuses on competency-based education, technology and transferrable skills. Rasmussen offers undergraduate and graduate programs online and in person at 23 campuses around the country. The University is designed to lift and support its students every step of the way, from each student's first credential to their last. Rasmussen is dedicated to global enrichment, serving the underserved and meeting the evolving needs of diverse students, communities and economies. Rasmussen encourages its students, faculty and staff to strive for academic excellence, community enrichment and service to the public good. For more information about Rasmussen University, please visit www.rasmussen.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006013/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] OTC: ILUS, ILUS International (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc) Announces the UK Patent Acceptance for Its Revolutionary Mongoose External Firefighting Lance NEW YORK, NY, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS) is a M&A company focused on acquiring and developing technology-based companies globally. ILUS has already completed four acquisitions during this year and is in the final stages of completing 3 further acquisitions during the 4thquarter of 2021. The companys first acquisition, FireBug, a firefighting equipment and emergency services vehicle manufacturer, which holds its own patented water mist firefighting nozzle technology, has now received the United Kingdom patent acceptance for its Mongoose external firefighting lance. This is the first successful step towards wider patent approval in the US and other key global markets for the groundbreaking technology. ILUS Managing Director, John-Paul Backwell, said the following: October is an incredibly busy acquisition month for ILUS as we close out our current phase of US acquisitions and go through the final administrative procedures for our major European deal, but it is important for our Shareholders to be aware that we are still pushing forward with product development, partnerships and sales growth. This UK patent acceptance for the Mongoose may seem like it pales in comparison to the recent and upcoming news, but it is crucial to the protection of our IP and our continued sales momentum. The Mongoose is a truly disruptive product for the firefighting industry, providing the safest, most cost-effective and practical method for tackling compartment fires. As the Mongoose was developed in the UK, the first step has been to obtain the UK patent approval and now we can shift attention to patent approval in the US and other key markets. Nick Link, CEO of ILUS, also commented with the following: We have seen Mongoose sales steadily increase since acquiring FireBug in January. The third quarter saw several orders from India, the UK, and the Gulf Region, with orders coming from distributors selling onwards to fire services, airports, energy companies and global petrochemical giants. The UK patent acceptance for the Mongoose adds to our credibility in the markets where we are already selling, and it is a major step towards having the product patented globally. Although many have tried to copy our technology and failed dismally without the technical drawings and understanding of the manufacturing process, this patent still provides added comfort for our distributors and OEM partners, and it serves as a stamp of approval for our innovation. Following record breaking third quarter results alongside a strong deal flow, its great to see that the momentum we have with our acquisitions and sales progress is also evident within our product development. About FireBug and the Mongoose: The manufacturer of the Mongoose external firefighting lance, FireBug, was acquired by ILUS in January 2021 and since then, the company has ramped up the development of its innovative and disruptive technology. The extensive FireBug product range is sold globally through a network of distributors and includes firefighting and rescue vehicles from small to large, a range of customized lightweight fire vehicle bodies built to order, UTV firefighting vehicles including electric UTV vehicle solutions, MistMax firefighting skid units, floating pumps and strainers, BacPac portable water mist fire suppression kits, MistNozzle water mist firefighting nozzles and finally, the Mongoose external firefighting lance, which is used primarily for the cooling and extinguishing of compartment fires. Due to increased urbanisation and technological advancements, there has been a sharp increase in the occurrence of compartment fires in urban areas. A compartment fire is typically a fire that takes place in a room or enclosed structure but could also take place under the hood of a vehicle, a battery compartment, or aircraft fuselage. Firefighting in compartment fires carries a much greater risk than most typical fires. Placing firefighters in compartments at the height of the fire puts stresses on their bodies due to the extreme heat and associated physical exertion. Firefighters and victims could face temperatures of up to 1,300 F, which means the optimal solution for tackling compartment fires is to do so remotely. Traditionally, firefighters have often resorted to tactical venting actions to relieve any build-up of superheated fire gases. The breaking of windows near or ahead of the fire or the opening of roofs is often successful in achieving some relief from heat for crews working the interior of a structure. However, such a strategy may also lead to an event of extremefire behaviour or rapid-fire development such as flashover or even an explosion when additional air feeds into the fire area. This sudden intensification of the fire may again overpower the hose line use and the firefighters or victims within a structure. When fighting compartment fires with conventional firefighting nozzles, a technique has been developed which is aimed at cooling the super-heated fire gases in a compartment fire. This technique entails placing small amounts of water droplets into the overhead area of the fire using brief nozzle pulsations. This pulsing technique offers distinct advantages over traditional methods of directing a straight stream of water at the ceiling, but the amount of pulsing required is dependent on the room geometry and fire conditions. Whilst the pulsing technique is significantly more effective than traditional methods, it requires significant training and understanding to use this method effectively and safely. The risk of getting this technique wrong can be fatal too little water will allow the fire to develop further and too much can be even more dangerous as it can increase the temperature drastically when the water converts to steam. The increased training requirement makes it difficult for volunteer fire brigades or less experienced firefighters to tackle compartment fires in a safe and effective manner using existing conventional technology. As ILUS continues to disrupt the emergency services and rescue industry with innovative, game changing technology, it has developed a highly effective, safe and cost-effective approach to suppressing and extinguishing compartment fires. Using its revolutionary water mist technology, ILUS Mongoose external firefighting lance can be used to fight interior compartment fires from the exterior of the structure or room by piercing the firefighting lance through a small hole created in a door, window, wall, or ceiling using a drill or compartment entry tools (halligan tool, axe etc.). This allows firefighters to suppress the fire from a safer position whilst using thermal camera technology to monitor the heat within the compartment and enter once sufficiently cooled. FireBugs patented low-pressure water mist technology is injected into the compartment through the external firefighting lance and delivers the compartment cooling capability without the risk of injecting too much water into the compartment which would otherwise cause the heat to rapidly increase. The Mongoose can cool a compartment fire from 1,300 F to 200F within 60 seconds. The Mongoose delivers 4050 micron water mist droplets covering a large surface area into a compartment, which rapidly cools the area, scrubs the smoke and suppresses the fire. The flow rate for the Mongoose is 13 GPM meaning that it has the potential to cool and suppress compartment fires with only 13 gallons of water. The Mongoose is completely unique in that it can operate on an existing fire truck on existing hose lines, without requiring a separate pump and hose reel. It can however also be deployed with FireBugs MistMax pump solution on existing vehicles such as ILUS E-Raptor Electric Utility Vehicle, or smaller vehicles such as Pickup Trucks or other Utility Vehicles. Other industry solutions require a separate high-pressure pump, hose reel and often a dedicated vehicle whilst also requiring a chemical additive or agent to be added to the water in order for it to be effective in firefighting. The Mongoose delivers significant advantages to firefighters globally. The Mongooses easy plug and play functionality enables quick fitting and use without the need for any additional engineering. Minimal training is required for Mongoose deployment with less crew required meaning that crew can focus on other urgent requirements simultaneously. In addition to the technology being deployed on existing vehicles with standard hose lines, it can even be deployed from a fire hydrant in certain scenarios. Unlike its competitors, the Mongoose can also be deployed on aerial ladders, making it possible for firefighters to use it for safe suppression of high-rise compartment fires. The Mongoose can be used with fresh or salt water, also making it ideal for marine environments and shipping container fires, which currently present a major challenge for the shipping industry. Finally, the lightweight and compact Mongoose can be stored on existing firefighting vehicles or on FireBugs compact rapid response firefighting vehicles. The Mongoose is the only product of its type globally. FireBug is currently promoting and selling the Mongoose primarily through distributors in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, South America and Africa. The Mongoose will soon be on sale in the US through the distributor which ILUS has recently acquired. FireBug currently manufactures the Mongoose in the UK where capacity is currently being scaled up from 150 units to 400 units per month. For further information on the ILUS group of companies, please see their respective communication channels. Website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter : OTC_ILUS Twitter : ILUS_Coin Contact: Ir@Ilus-group.com Source: ILUS Related Links https://ilus-group.com https://ilus-coin.com Forward-Looking Information 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 on our corporate website, www.ilus-group.com , in addition to SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. 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 U.S. social media channels: Twitter OTC_ILUS. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Inszone Insurance Services Acquires Yuma Foothills Insurance Inszone Insurance Services: a rapidly growing, national provider of benefits, personal and commercial lines insurance, announced today the acquisition of Yuma Foothills Insurance, located in Yuma, Arizona. Yuma Foothills Insurance has provided insurance services to both businesses and residents of Yuma, AZ and surrounding areas for over 25 years. Owned by Ruby Personett, the team at Yuma Foothills Insurance prides itself on a customer service focused approach, offering prompt, courteous service, with the ultimate goal to create lasting relationships with each client. Following the transition, Yuma Foothills Insurance employees will continue operating out of their current location and serving clients under Inszone Insurance with no interruptions. "Yuma Foothills Insurance is our 6th acquisition in the state of Arizona and gives our company our 5th location in he state, a big milestone for Inszone," said Norm Hudson, Chief Executive Officer of Inszone Insurance Services. "Arizona continues to be an important and growing market for our company; having an increasing local presence is important to us, we are excited for the growth an addition of our new office in Yuma, AZ." Inszone Insurance is expected to announce a number of important acquisitions in the upcoming months as it continues to build its national presence. About Inszone: Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, Inszone is a full-service insurance brokerage firm which provides a broad array of property & casualty along with employee benefits solutions. With a strong, experienced management team, Inszone continues to organically grow, as well as through acquisitions. With 20 locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Missouri, the company is looking to further expand throughout the United States. For more information about Inszone, please visit www.inszoneinsurance.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005271/en/ [October 05, 2021] Former Samsung Executive Pranav Mistry Joins D. One Vision Management (DOV) as Senior Advisor for Metaverse & AI Investing D. One Vision Management (DOV) today announced the appointment of Former CEO and President of Samsung (News - Alert) Technology and Advanced Research, Pranav Mistry as a Senior Advisor for AI & Metaverse investing. Pranav will bring his deep knowledge of the AI & Metaverse sector, machine learning and Robotics to advise across the firm's frontier tech and metaverse businesses. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006045/en/ Former Samsung Executive Pranav Mistry Joins D. One Vision Management (DOV) as Senior Advisor for Metaverse & AI Investing (Photo: Business Wire) David You, Founder & CEO of DOV said, "We are standing at an inflection point. To shape a more sustainable and livable future and empower the paradigm shifts towards technological singularity era, as we raise the $500 million DOV Singularity Fund III (DOVSF III), we strive to find, support, and invest in industry game-changers in the areas of cleantech, energy transition, metaverse & AI." "The metaverse & AI market is expected to grow exponentially in the long term at the global level. Pranav brings a long history of success in tech idustry. We look forward to benefiting from Pranav's deep insights and expertise, which will better the firm and improve our portfolio for our investors." Pranav Mistry commented: "I'm delighted to join DOV as senior advisor. Dedicating capital to support human-centered technological developments that make the maximum positive impact for human society and accelerate human flourishing, DOV with its affiliated DOV Singularity Funds (DOVSFs) is well positioned to make technology more accessible to more people while delivering outsized growth and return for investors in the process of building a new era." Pranav is a renowned scientist and inventor. His contribution to the fields of AR/VR, Machine Learning, AI and Robotics puts Pranav in the elite list of pioneers and inventors that shape the future of our technological world. As the youngest top-level executive ever in the tech industry, Pranav worked as CEO and President of Samsung Star Labs, where he led innovation for Samsung Mobile Division and as the head of Think Tank Team, led R&D for Samsung's several innovating products. Before joining Samsung Electronics, Pranav has been part of organizations such as Microsoft (News - Alert) , Google, NASA, UNESCO, MIT, IIT Bombay, CMU, Japan Science and Technology. Previously Pranav also serves as advisor and sits on board of several technology start-ups. In 2010, Pranav was invited to Golden Triangle Initiative of US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) by President Obama's Administration. Pranav is best known for his innovations such as SixthSense, Samsung Gear, Galaxy Watch, Gear 360 and project NEON. Pranav's contribution to the field of technology has been honored with many international recognitions. He was awarded the "Inventor of the Year 2009" by Popular Science. Next year, he was also named to the MIT (News - Alert) TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. Pranav has been called "one of ten, best inventors in the world" by Chris Anderson. World Economic Forum honored Pranav as the Young Global Leader in 2013. About D. One Vision Management D. One Vision Management (DOV) is a New York-based firm focused on frontier technologies and disruptive solutions. With its flagship funds, DOV Singularity Funds (DOVSFs), DOV aims to create an investment ecosystem. We strive to create value by investing in great businesses where DOV's capital, strategic insights, global relationships and operational support can drive transformation. By leveraging the contrarian culture and willingness to embrace complexity, we will identify different paths to value across economic cycles. For more information, visit www.dreamonevision.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006045/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] 40 Local Students Across Northern and Central California to Receive Annual Better Together STEM Scholarships Pacific Gas and Electric Company ( PG&E (News - Alert) ) today announced that 40 students from hometowns across its service area will receive scholarships totaling $250,000 from the 2021 Better Together STEM Scholarship Program. The PG&E Corporation Foundation (The Foundation) funds the scholarships. This year, The Foundation is funding 20 scholarships of $10,000 each and 20 scholarships of $2,500 each. The scholarships are given to students pursuing a degree in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines. STEM education fosters ingenuity, creativity, and experimentation, leading to new ideas, innovations, and technological advancements that can have global impact. Jose Ochoa of Mendota is attending the University of California, Berkeley. "I am extremely honored to have been selected as the recipient of the PG&E STEM Scholarship. Receiving this award encourages me to keep on persevering, making my family proud, and breaking boundaries. Your generosity is greatly appreciated and inspiring to me. I hope to one day be able to do the same for the youth of the next generation," said Ochoa. Scholarship winner Amirlan "Amy" Erdenedalai of Alameda is a sophomore at the University of California, Irvine, pursing a degree in environmental engineering. Erdenedalai hopes to work in the hydrology field to improve universal water quality and promote sustainability. "When I first saw the email declaring that I was one of the scholarship recipients, I was beyond thrilled and filled with joy. I was practically dancing in line for my school ID. Thanks to PG&E's extremely generous scholarship, I will be the first in my family to be studying and graduating from a college in the United States. This scholarship has further motivated me to value my college education and granted me the power to make my dreams and oals a reality," said Erdenedalai. Scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, demonstrated participation and leadership in school and community activities, and financial need. "All of us at PG&E and The Foundation are focused on California's future and supporting inclusive programs that assist the next generation of creators and innovators in STEM-based fields," said Robert Kenney, PG&E Senior Vice President, Regulatory and External Affairs, and Chair of The PG&E Corporation Foundation Board of Directors. Winners must plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study for the entire 2021-2022 academic year and be seeking their first undergraduate degree at an accredited four-year institution in California. Supporting Local Scholars Since 2012, the Better Together STEM Scholarship Program has awarded more than $6.5 million to accomplished students based on a combined demonstration of community leadership, personal triumph, financial need and academic achievement. These charitable donations will come from PG&E shareholders, not PG&E customers. In addition to the Better Together STEM Scholarship Program, PG&E's 10 employee resource groups (ERGs) and two engineering networking groups (ENGs) award scholarships to help offset the cost of higher education. The funds are raised totally through employee donations, employee fundraising events and Campaign for the Community, the company's employee giving program. Since 1989, more than $5 million ERG scholarships have been received by thousands of recipients. About PG&E Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005960/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] FBFK Law Firm Grows Into Austin, Taps Lauded Intellectual Property Attorney Kirby Cronin to Lead Market Leadership from Dallas-based FBFK law firm today announced that the firm will be opening an Austin office and bringing on board well-known Intellectual Property (IP) attorney Kirby Cronin of Cronin PLLC to lead market efforts and bolster FBFK's strong IP practice. Also joining FBFK from Cronin PLLC are long-standing IP attorneys Allison Copeland and Jill Cronin. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005005/en/ Kirby Cronin, IP Attorney/Shareholder, FBFK (Photo: Business Wire) "We've been looking for the right Austin-based partner to expand our already strong IP and technology practice and found that partner in Kirby," said FBFK CEO and Founder Kyle Ferguson. "He's the whole package - well-respected, entrepreneurial, and committed to relationships and service, which is evident in his strong relationships with corporate leaders and the attorney team he brings with him." Cronin, a 25-year attorney with expertise in intellectual property transactions, litigation, and counseling as well as extensive experience representing financial institutions' technology-related matters, will join FBFK as a shareholder. He brings with him long-term IP clients Whataburger, Frost Bank, C.H. Guenther & Son, and many others. He also maintains an active trademark practice and has expertise with a variety of copyright, trade secret, domain name, social media, and other intellectual property needs. Cronin also has significant legal experience in a variety of other areas, such as commercial litigation, commercial and business transactions, and employment matters. "Coupling Cronin PLLC's highly successfu intellectual property and technology transaction specialties with FBFK's full-service capabilities will allow us to ensure that our clients continue to receive the highest quality representation possible and with lawyers that they trust as much as their own in-house team," said Cronin. "I look forward to growing FBFK's IP practice and enhancing the services provided to my existing clients." Cronin's legal background includes both private law firm and in-house counsel experience, most notably serving as in-house counsel for Computer Sciences (News - Alert) Corporation. He also has led - and routinely leads - in negotiations opposite Fortune 100 U.S. companies, such as ExxonMobil, AT&T, Dell, HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, J.P. Morgan Chase, IBM, Capital One, Microsoft (News - Alert) and Dow Chemical. Cronin has both bachelor's and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Texas and continues to teach Transactional Drafting within the University of Texas School of Law. Austin IP Attorney Team Also joining Cronin as part of the new FBFK Austin team are fellow IP attorneys Allison Copeland and Jill Cronin. They will collaborate with FBFK's existing IP team in Dallas and Houston. Allison Copeland Copeland, a veteran intellectual property attorney with more than 20 years of experience in private law firms and as in-house corporate counsel, focuses on intellectual property transactions and counseling, including software licensing, open-source compliance, joint marketing, reseller and OEM agreements, and other intellectual property needs. Copeland received her bachelor's and juris doctorate degrees from the University of Texas. Jill Cronin Cronin, who is also a tenured commercial litigation and insurance coverage law attorney, brings a wide range of IP experience to FBFK - from trademark prosecution, clearance, and enforcement matters to social media issues and matters involving contests and promotions. She also touts extensive experience with insurance coverage law and assists clients with crisis response and insurance coverage reviews. Cronin has served on the governing council of the Insurance Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and as a Co-Chair of both the Ethics and Advertising Injury/Intellectual Property Subcommittees of the ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Section. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Texas and juris doctorate degree (with honors) from the University of Houston Law Center. FBFK's current intellectual property and technology practice is comprised of 14 attorneys in Dallas, Houston and Silicon Valley with deep expertise in patent infringement, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition, technology contract disputes, domain name disputes, e-commerce disputes and license disputes. With the new additions, the team will now total 17 attorneys. "We're thrilled to increase our existing IP bench strength with Kirby, Allison and Jill and to bring our expertise to Austin," added Ferguson. The FBFK Austin office will be located at: 4301 Westbank Drive, Building B, Ste. 270, Austin, TX 78746. Phone (News - Alert) : 512.703.1400. About FBFK Celebrating 20 years of legal expertise and success across Texas and the U.S., Dallas-based FBFK is an entrepreneurial-minded, full-service business law firm with offices in Plano, Houston and Austin, Texas, as well as in Silicon Valley. Driven by a commitment to creating lasting client relationships grounded in high-quality representation and client service, FBFK represents clients nationwide in nearly 40 practice areas related to business structures and transactions, intellectual property protection and dispute resolution. www.fbfk.law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005005/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Coinllectibles? Fusion NFT? Bronze Series 2 sold out with strong demand SINGAPORE, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaverse Blockchain Fusion NFT? company, Coinllectibles?, a fully owned subsidiary of Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. (OTC: COSG), is pleased to conclude the successful sale of Coinllectibles? Bronze Series 2 where all items were snapped up by buyers on the OKEx NFT marketplace. The Bronze Series 2 consists of 5 exquisite ceramic art pieces and was priced at US$820,000. Collectively, its inaugural 2 launches of Fusion NFT? generated revenue of more than US$1.07mil for the company. Commenting on the results, Toby O'Connor, the CEO of Coinllectibles? said, "We are encouraged by how well the Bronze Series 2 sold. We launched on Tuesday with two of the pieces sold in minutes and the remainder on Tuesday. As well as seeing that collectors recognise the quality and value of the pieces, we were also pleased to add some enhancements to the Series 2 Fusion NFT? which will add to the owners' enjoyment." The Bronze 2 launch included works of art steeped in Chinese mythology and symbolism. "To illustrate, one of the pieces had a painting of a phoenix. Phoenix or "Feng Huang" in Chinese is recognised as the king of birds in Chinese culture. The male is the "Huang" phoenix, while the female is the "Feng" phoenix. In ancient times,?"Feng Huang" represents harmony and auspiciousness. When the "Feng" and "Huang" meet with each other, it means the world is peaceful and wealthy. It is such cultural uniqueness that adds to the value and enjoyment of these pieces and differentiates them within the collectible market." added Toby.? The 5 Fusion NFTs? are currently listed on OKEx NFT marketplace for resale. Heritage Piece Qing Dynasty (19th Century) Wucai Mouth Plate: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383428 Heritage Piece Qing Dynasty (19th century) Red Lacquer Vase: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383431 Meiping with a Phoenix and Flower Pattern: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383429 and Flower Pattern: A Modern Meiping Vase in Fa-Lang-Tsai Enamels: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383427 A Wucai Solitary Vase designed with Window, Flower: https://www.okex.com/defi/nft/markets/detail?id=3383426 www.Coinllectibles.Art or join the Coinllectibles? Telegram Channel at https://t.me/Coinllectibles . About Cosmos?Group Holdings Inc Cosmos is?a business group?that?operates in two business segments: Arts and Collectibles Financing Through CoinllectiblesTM, the group?provides?authentication, valuation and certification (AVC) service, sale and purchase, hire purchase, financing,?custody, security and exhibition (CSE)?services to art buyers through traditional channels, as well as through leveraging blockchain?technology?through the?creation?of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With subsidiaries licensed under Hong Kong's Money Lenders Ordinance, the group currently primarily provides unsecured personal loan to private individuals, with a small portfolio of mortgage loans. The group is integrating the two business segments by offering secured financing services to prospective art and collectibles purchasers to provide a one-stop arts and collectibles purchasing and financing experience. About the Company Coinllectibles? Coinllectibles? is an ACT (Arts and Collectibles Technology) company, which is redefining how the world thinks about art and collectible ownership in the digital age.? Their minted curated Fusion NFTs?, capture all the rights and independent valuation and ownership of physical arts and collectibles securely underpinned by smart contracts stored on the blockchain. Coinllectibles? Fusion NFTs? bridge the physical and virtual dimensions of the arts and collectibles market, providing a pleasurable, transparent, and frictionless experience to customers from all walks of life. Website: www.coinllectibles.art Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Coinllectibles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coinllectibles/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/coinllectibles LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coinllectibles Telegram: https://t.me/Coinllectibles About Coinllectibles? Fusion NFT? Coinllectibles? prides the Fusion NFT? as the industry "Gold Standard". Being a Gold Standard, a Fusion NFT contains the following on the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) (1) a sale and purchase agreement reflecting the purchase, by the person minting the Fusion NFT?, of the underlying asset at a fair value with all rights and restrictions clearly detailed, (2) bailment terms governing the rights to possession whilst the underlying asset remains with Coinllectibles?, (3) a transfer deed reflecting the transfer of the ownership of the underlying asset (together with all rights and restrictions) by the transferor to the holder of the Fusion NFT?, (4) ownership title deed written into the description of the Fusion NFT? and (5) the unequivocal identification file of the underlying asset, whose ownership is reflected in the title deed represented by the Fusion NFT?. Contact: Ms Rachel Lim Director of Sales and Marketing +852-28398100 Rachel.Lim@coinllectibles.art View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coinllectibles-fusion-nft-bronze-series-2-sold-out-with-strong-demand-301393340.html SOURCE Cosmos Group Holdings Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] ImpactNFT Alliance Bridges Traditional Asian Art Collectors to the Metaverse with Hybrid Exhibition HONG KONG, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ImpactNFT Alliance announces today the launch of Asia's first art exhibition that demonstrates how non-fungible tokens (NFTs) can be a force for good, revolutionizing the way corporations meet sustainability goals and transforming the lives of people in marginalized communities across the world. The ImpactNFT Exhibition, curated by the Alliance in partnership with Project Ark and Sovereign Art Foundation , will be held at the Soho House Hong Kong from October 15-24, 2021. It is also accessible online at OpenSea.io , Project-Ark.co and ImpactNFT.org , and in the Metaverse . This hybrid model makes the exhibition accessible to Metaverse natives while including traditional investors and art collectors looking to mint, and purchase at auction, their very first NFTs. Supported by DeFi platform MANTRA DAO , the initiative invites both NFT newcomers and seasoned collectors to experience this unique opportunity and purchase artworks made for global impact projects built around the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals , which include climate actions as well as social targets such as access to education and gender equality. "We want to show the world the power of NFTs for social and environmental impact by creating a win-win for artists, charities, and our partners," says Roy Weissbach, Business Development Advisor at Project Ark and its parent company Carbonbase. "The ImpactNFT Exhibition is spotlighting projects merging art and technology to change the face of sustainability forever." The exhibition showcases Impact NFTs from Sovereign Art Foundation, Earth.Org , and Project Ark's Genesis Drop , as well as SnarkySharkz and Purple Penguin . Also on display are stunning artworks by VintageMozart in support of the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy in East Africa, and by DOT, an art collective presenting NFTs by eight Mexican artists minted for charity. "We are proud to present a selection of shortlisted artworks from the 2021 Sovereign Asian Art Prize in digital form," says Tiffany Pinkstone, Sovereign Art Foundation Executive Director. "For our first NFT project, it is an honor to be exhibiting alongside a host of important local and international charitable projects, and to harness this new artistic medium for a worthwhile cause." Anti-wildlife trafficking group Break The Chain will provide augmented reality (AR) experiences onsite with a parallel Metaverse demonstration hosted by The Nemesis . Each night of the exhibition will feature curated programs and talks to shed light on NFTs as an emerging technology at the intersection of code, community and conservation that can help society pave the way towards achieving carbon neutrality. To RSVP, register by October 11. About ImpactNFT Alliance's mission is to ignite and accelerate impact creation by galvanizing web3 projects around the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals using NFTs. Bringing together a vibrant community of all those interested in Impact, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and blockchain, the ImpactNFT.org platform aims to catalyse a cross-industry alliance that can promote, explore and discuss ideas where NFTs can be used to drive positive SDG impact. Project Ark, created in partnership between Carbonbase and World Wildlife Fund Panda Labs, is an international team offering solutions to creators, collectors, and corporates who want to realize the promise of ImpactNFTs. As a founding member of the ImpactNFT Alliance, Project Ark works with global NGOs to create the standards and mechanisms of ImpactNFTs for the community to adopt and use. Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) is a charitable organization founded in 2003 to recognize, support and promote contemporary art talent, and to bring the therapeutic benefits of art to disadvantaged children. They administer contemporary art prizes for professional artists and students of art, the most established being The Sovereign Asian Art Prize. SAF also fund and run programs that use expressive arts to support children from low-income backgrounds and for children with special educational needs. For more information Contact: connect@impactNFT.org / Telegram: @tomjmaxwell Please follow us on Social Media: #ImpactNFT2021 Project Ark Twitter Discord Instagram Linktree View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/impactnft-alliance-bridges-traditional-asian-art-collectors-to-the-metaverse-with-hybrid-exhibition-301393349.html SOURCE ImpactNFT Alliance [October 05, 2021] Maine-based UBS Team Joins Apollon Wealth Management Apollon Wealth Management, LLC, a collaborative and transparent financial planning firm with offices nationwide, brings its services into the Portland, Maine market. William "Torey" Carr leads a team of five financial professionals, transitioning to Apollon's full-service wealth management platform. Most recently, with UBS Financial Services managing $530 million in assets, Carr and the team sought a partner to help them deliver fiduciary service with more comprehensive and tailored solutions and greater access to growth capital, technology, and alternative investments. "Being able to practice in a true fiduciary capacity was the driving factor in our decision to move to an independent model. In surveying the ecosystem of the independent space, we found a trusted partner in Apollon Wealth Management," said Carr. "Their leadership team, intellectual capital, strategic partnerships, and first-in-class technology will allow us to deliver a superior client experience. Coupled with our team's breadth and depth of expertise in holistic financial planning, we are excited about the future and what we can now deliver for our clients." Carr and his team join a firm that has grown rapidly since its inception in 2017, rising from a team of seven in a single office to more than 50 professionals offering their services in 14 states. Backed byMerchant Investment Management, Apollon has doubled in size to $3 billion in assets in 2021 through strategic expansion and guidance to clients in a time of rapidly changing priorities and financial goals. "Torey and the team's commitment to holistic financial planning and client service are directly aligned with our firm's core values, and we are very excited about the opportunity ahead," said Michael Dolberg, founding partner and CEO of Apollon Wealth Management. "With their background and geographic location, we feel that this partnership will help drive tremendous value to their current and future clients and will also help create a new opportunity for Apollon to work with the team to expand our growing network of advisors." About Apollon Wealth Management Apollon Wealth Management, LLC is a collaborative and transparent financial planning firm focused on aligning clients' goals of growing and preserving their hard-earned wealth. Apollon set out to change the model for investments away from a focus on product to one that is client-directed driven by a comprehensive financial plan. With exceptional white-glove service, Apollon has created an independent organization with the sole mission of enriching the lives of others through concerted financial planning and guidance. With passion and purpose, Apollon has created a platform for advisor independence built with a seamless transition process for clients. Driven to expand the firm's footprint, Apollon possesses an open architecture environment and a centralized operations team that unifies advisor integration, onboarding and acquisition. Apollon has offices in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Connecticut, Maine, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Montana, Colorado, Tennessee and Oregon and continues to look for strategic partners nationwide. To learn more about Apollon, visit their website at www.apollonwealthmanagement.com. About Merchant Investment Management, LLC Merchant is a private partnership providing growth capital, management resources, strategic opportunities and direction to independent financial services companies, particularly those focused on wealth and asset management. For additional information, please visit www.merchantim.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006103/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to Host Third Quarter 2021 Results Conference Call BROOKFIELD, NEWS, Oct. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will hold its third quarter 2021 conference call and webcast on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. ET. Results will be released on November 3, 2021 at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET and will also be available following the release on our website at https://bip.brookfield.com/bip. To participate in the conference call, please dial +1-866-688-9459 toll-free in North America, or for overseas calls please dial +1-409-216-0834 at approximately 8:50 a.m. (Conference ID: 6329445). The conference call will be webcast live at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/xa7d38tg and will be archived for future reference. For those unable to participate in the Conference Call, a rebroadcast will also be available until midnight on November 10, 2021 To access this rebroadcast, please call +1-855-859-2056 or if outside Canada and the U.S., please call +1-404-537-3406 (Conference ID: 6329445). Brookfield Infrastructure is a leading global infrastructure company that owns and operates high-quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, midstream and data sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. We are focused on assets that have contracted and regulated revenues that generate predictable and stable cash flows. Investors can access its portfolio either through Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP; TSX: BIP.UN), a Bermuda-based limited partnership, or Brookfield Infrastructure Corporation (NYSE, TSX: BIPC), a Canadian corporation. Further information is available at https://bip.brookfield.com/bip . Brookfield Infrastructure Partners is the flagship listed infrastructure company of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over US$625 billion of assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com . Media: Sebastien Bouchard Vice President, Communications Tel: (416) 943-7937 Email: sebastien.bouchard@brookfield.com Investors: Kate White Manager, Investor Relations Tel: (416) 956-5183 Email: kate.white@brookfield.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Silverton Partners Named in Inc.'s 2021 List of Founder-Friendly Investors Inc. today announced its third annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track record of success backing entrepreneurs. In being named to the Inc. Founder-Friendly Investors List, Silverton Partners is recognized as a firm that entrepreneurs can trust to partner with on new strategies and operational best practices. As the longest running early-stage venture capital fund in Texas, Silverton Partners has long been an investment partner of choice for founders looking to grow and scale their companies in Texas and beyond. "While the Texas ecosystem was boosted by a strong net migration of entrepreneurs, the returns Silverton is seeing this year are fruits of the last decade of labor," says Morgan Flager, Managing Partner of Silverton Partners. "Our firm's guiding principal is to do what is best for founders. We roll up our sleeves and truly collaborate with our founders to build enduring businesses, through both good times and bad. This includes fostering communities that benefit early-stage businesses." Silverton's portfolio of more than 75 technology-enabled companies spans almost every sector of the economy, ranging from consumer products to enterprise software. Silverton's investment approach centers on putting the founder first - and its investment model is designed to align the fund's interests with the entrepreneurs it backs. "Silverton has partnered with me across two companies now," says Rob Taylor, CEO of Convey, a last-mile delivery company that was acquired by project44 for $255M. "Building an enterprise SaaS (News - Alert) business is hard work that requires alignment and unwavering support, both of which I've found in Silverton." The success of companies like TurnKey Vacation Rentals, which sold earlier this year to Vacasa, is another example of Silverton's partnership model: "Silverton was the first institutional investor in Turnkey and has been instrumental to our success. arly-stage investors walk a fine line between giving founders the latitude to run their business the way they envisioned, and giving them guidance and feedback to help them succeed," says John Banczak, Co-founder and Chairman of TurnKey. "Silverton understands that line better than anyone we've met, trusting founders immensely, while also being present and engaged enough to give honest and valuable advice." Vacasa plans to go public later this year at $4.5B valuation. While Silverton celebrates multi-billion-dollar exits, its fund size and strategy enables the fund to capitalize companies such that all stakeholders can succeed across a broad range of outcomes. "Over the past ten years, Silverton portfolio companies have created $6 billion in market value, and we expect the portfolio to create more than $10 billion over the next two years," says Flager. "We're seeing change and growth at an exponential pace here in Texas, and it has lifted the limit of what's possible in our ecosystem." To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have raised capital from the private equity or venture funds being considering for the award. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences working with various firms and shared data on how they have grown during these partnerships. To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2021 About Silverton Partners Silverton Partners is focused on funding and mentoring early-stage businesses led by founders who share in its commitment to disrupt growth markets and build enduring companies. Founded in 2006, the firm brings the benefits of its vast network and decades of rich experience to each partnership. Austin-based Silverton is the most active venture capital investor in Texas and has been the initial investor behind visionary companies including WP Engine, Storable, SailPoint, Silicon Labs (News - Alert) , TurnKey Vacation Rentals, The Zebra, AlertMedia, Aceable, Self Financial, Wheel, and Billie. For more information, visit www.silvertonpartners.com. About Inc. The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Inc. introduced the Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms list in 2019 and it quickly established itself as one of Inc.'s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake. For more information, visit www.inc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006117/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Broward MPO Is 1 Of Just 7 Winners Of 2021 National Roadway Safety Award WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (Broward MPO) was honored today with a 2021 National Roadway Safety Award for its innovative Complete Streets Master Plan and Wilton Drive improvements. The biennial awards program is sponsored jointly by the Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaking about Broward and the other award winners, said: "Congratulations to today's seven honorees for the remarkable work they've done to protect the traveling public. They are proof that we have no shortage of willpower or good ideas for improving roadway safety." With the single highest number of pedestrian fatalities in the entire nation (1,675 between 2010 and 2019), Broward MPO developed the Broward Complete Streets Master Plan (CSMP). The safety-minded MPO's approach is showcased by its reinvention of Wilton Drive, a bustling stretch of roadway that chronically suffered a higher-than-average number of crashes, particularly those involving pedestrians and cyclists. Broward MPO worked with the City of Wilton Manors and other stakeholders to redesign the corridor by eliminating a vehicular travel lane in each direction to install buffered bike lanes, mid-block crossing medians, wider sidewalks, better lighting and other improvements. The improvements are making travel demonstrably safer for everyone: Wilton Drive saw a 66 percent decrease in bicycle and pedestrian crashes and a 75 percent reduction in severe-injury and fatal crashes, as well as a 30 to 50 percent improvement in corridor travel times during peak hours. As a resul of the Drive's success, Broward MPO is moving forward with similar improvements for 20 additional projects from the Complete Streets Masterplan. "We are proud to be recognized for the important work we consistently do to improve safety and impact the quality of life for local residents," said Greg Stuart, Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director. "The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization is committed to working with city, county, state and national partners to plan and direct projects that have positive outcomes like Wilton Drive." Initial data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Highway Administration show that 38,680 people died nationwide in traffic crashes in 2020, despite a 13.2 percent decrease in vehicle miles traveled due to the pandemic. Fatalities increased 7.2 percent from 2019 to the highest number since 2007. An estimated one-third of U.S. highway fatalities are related to deficient roadway conditions. "Broward MPO's Wilton Drive and overall Complete Streets Master Plan are saving lives by slowing down drivers, decreasing risky driving behavior and protecting our most vulnerable roadway users: pedestrians and cyclists," said Greg Cohen, Roadway Safety Foundation Executive Director. "Future travelers in South Florida, whose lives and limbs will be spared by these improvements, will owe an unknowing debt of gratitude to Broward's traffic planners and engineers. We urge DOTs across the nation to look at Broward's and other awardees' innovations and replicate them wherever possible." First presented in 1999, the National Roadway Safety Awards recognize roadway safety achievements that move the nation toward zero deaths and serious injuries on U.S. roadways. The program honors outstanding projects involving infrastructure, operational or program-related innovations and evaluates projects on three criteria: Effectiveness, Innovation, and Efficient Use of Resources. The winning entries were selected from a nationwide pool of applicants and the additional winners are: City of Bellevue, WA for its video analytics traffic safety program; for its video analytics traffic safety program; North Carolina Dept. of Transportation for its long-life pavement markings safety effort; Village of Whitefish Bay, WI for its community-wide roadway safety improvements; for its community-wide roadway safety improvements; California Dept. of Transportation for its 2020-2024 Strategic Highway Safety Plan update; Texas Dept. of Transportation's tool to assess the safety of rural highway design elements; and Florida Dept. of Transportation for its use of smart work zone safety technologies. Winners were selected by an expert panel of judges from a variety of disciplines. For complete details on each of the winners, and for more information on the national awards program, visit http://www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards/ . The Roadway Safety Foundation is a 501(c) (3) charitable and educational organization. Our mission is to reduce the frequency and severity of motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and fatalities through improvements to roadway systems and their environment. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broward-mpo-is-1-of-just-7-winners-of-2021-national-roadway-safety-award-301393412.html SOURCE Roadway Safety Foundation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] T.Y Lin International Welcomes Michael Bramhall, P.E., and T.J. Labore, P.E., to Aviation Sector Team, East Region T.Y. Lin International (TYLI), a globally recognized full-service infrastructure consulting firm, announces two additions to the firm's Aviation Sector team in the East Region. Michael Bramhall, P.E., has been hired as Airfield Technical Director. In addition, T.J. Labore, P.E., has been hired as a Senior Aviation Engineer. Bramhall and Labore bring their extensive experience to support the firm's ever-expanding professional Aviation practice in the region. Bramhall joins TYLI with a 22-year career in airport engineering, which includes consulting, civil design, and administering airport improvement projects for general aviation and commercial, international, and military airports throughout the northeast region, as well as nationally and globally. Labore comes to TYLI with more than 14 years of technical airside and landside engineering experience in support of the aviation sector. He has served as the lead design engineer responsible for scheduling, design, and quality control and assurance for numerous airport improvement projects throughout the East Coast and beyond. "There is no substitute for a great team," saidGerard Salernitano, TYLI Associate Vice President, Aviation Sector, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regions. "We are excited for the opportunity to work with such talented colleagues and look forward to many successful future endeavors across T.Y Lin International's East Region." A registered Professional Engineer in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and New Jersey, Bramhall received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Technology from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of industry organizations such as the New York Aviation Management Association, the American Association of Airport Executives, and the Massachusetts Airport Managers Association. Labore is a registered Professional Engineer in New Hampshire. He also earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering Technology from the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. About T.Y. Lin International: Founded in 1954, T.Y. Lin International is a globally recognized, full-service infrastructure consulting firm committed to providing innovative, cost-effective, constructible designs for the global infrastructure market. With 3,200 employees working in 65 offices throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe, the firm provides support on projects of varying size and complexity. T.Y. Lin International is a member of Dar Group, a global, privately-owned professional services group, and its industry-leading family of Global Infrastructure companies. For more information about the company, please visit www.tylin.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006140/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Boston Properties to Release Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results on October 26, 2021 Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, announced that it will release financial results for the third quarter on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, after the close of trading. The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time to discuss the financial results for the third quarter and provide a Company update. The conference call can be accessed by dialing (877) 796-3880 (Domestic) or (443) 961-9013 (International) and entering the passcode 1484189. There will also be a live audio, listen-only webcast of the call, which may be accessed in the Investors section of the Company's website at http://investors.bxp.com on the events and webcasts page. Shortly after the call, a phone replay will be available by dialing (855) 859-2056 (Domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (International) and entering the passcode 1484189. A replay of the webcast will be also available in the Investors section of the Company's website for up to twelve months following the call. ABOUT BOSTON PROPERTIES Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) is the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, concentrated in six markets - Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. The Company is a fully integrated real estate company, organized as a real estate investment trust (REIT), that develops, manages, operates, acquires, and owns a diverse portfolio of primarily Class A office space. Including properties owned by unconsolidated joint ventures, as of June 30, 2021, the Company's portfolio, totaled 51.5 million square feet and 197 properties, including nine properties under construction/redevelopment. For more information about Boston Properties, please visit our website at www.bxp.com or follow us on LinkedIn (News - Alert) or Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005005957/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Banks Award $78K to 10 Nonprofits in Three States BancorpSouth Bank (NYSE: BXS) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) awarded $78,222 in Partnership Grant Program ( PGP (News - Alert) ) matching-grant funding to 10 nonprofits in Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. PGP grants help qualified nonprofit organizations fund a variety of operational and administrative activities that are critical to serving their communities. The following organizations, listed in alphabetical order, received funding: Coalition of African American Communities, Gulfport, Mississippi, $6,000, offers youth development, financial literacy and small business training to minority and low-income residents of Gulfport, Mississippi. Hernando Desoto Habitat for Humanity, Hernando, Mississippi, $10,000, builds homes with volunteers, including future Habitat for Humanity homeowners, who are offered a no-interest affordable mortgage to buy the home they help build. Hope Downtown Network, Hope, Arkansas, $4,000, makes and promotes improvements to the downtown area of Hope, Arkansas. IN Affordable Housing, Little Rock, Arkansas, $1,117, creates and preserves affordable housing opportunities in targeted neighborhoods for families with limited incomes through training, financial education and advocacy. Mercy Housing and Human Development, Gulfport, Mississippi, $14,105, provides homeownership opportunities to families with low- or moderate-income. NOVA Work Institute of Northeast Louisiana, Monroe, Louisiana, $12,000, works as a job intermediary to identify and connect the workforce needs of employers with training entities and with the residents of Northeast Louisiana seeking employment. Restoration Home, Jackson, Mississippi, $10,000, offers transitional housing for men recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. Sacred Heart Southern Missions, Walls, Mississippi, $10,000, operates two Catholic elementary schools and related social services, including the area's only ministry to people with HIV/AIDS and their families. Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity, Starkville, Mississippi, $6,000, builds new homes with volunteers and provides no-interestmortgages to low-income homeowners Christmas in April Grenada Inc., Grenada, Mississippi, $5,000, makes home repairs for the needy and elderly. "With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the added impact of Hurricane Ida on many of these organizations, these funds will offer a safety net to address administrative and operational expenses that many grants often exclude from coverage," said BancorpSouth Northeast Mississippi Division President Mark Burleson. "We are pleased to join with FHLB Dallas in distributing this funding." For 2021, FHLB Dallas awarded $400,000 in PGP grants, and its members provided an additional $200,250 for an impact of more than $600,000 in its five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. "Donations to 10 nonprofits spanning three states demonstrates BancorpSouth's strong commitment to improving the communities where it does business," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "Our partnership with BancorpSouth and the matching-grant nature of the PGP has enabled both banks to make a lasting impact on these nonprofits, some of which have received multiple rounds of PGP funding over the years." See the complete list of the 2021 PGP grant recipients. For more information about the 2021 PGP grants and other FHLB Dallas community investment products and programs, please visit fhlb.com/pgp. About BancorpSouth Bank BancorpSouth Bank (NYSE: BXS) is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, with approximately $28 billion in assets. BancorpSouth operates approximately 315 full-service branch locations as well as additional mortgage, insurance, and loan production offices in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in Illinois. BancorpSouth is committed to a culture of respect, diversity, and inclusion in both its workplace and communities. To learn more, visit our Community Commitment page at https://www.bancorpsouth.com; "Like" us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @MyBXS; or connect with us through LinkedIn. About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $58.6 billion as of June 30, 2021, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit our website at fhlb.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006170/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] CRS Data's MLS Tax Suite Launches Inclusion Enhancements: ADA Functionality + Bilingual Reporting (Spanish) CRS Data's MLS Tax Suite, a leading provider of property tax data, has recently made critical enhancements to expand reach and nurture inclusion. These upgrades include ADA functionality across its flagship platform, and offering Spanish reporting options so that users can better assist their Spanish-speaking clients. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006186/en/ "Our team embarked on an important journey with various experts and partners to help ensure that these upgrades are thorough and effective," said Matt Casey, CRS Data's CEO and President. "These improvements are one part of our ongoing commitment to consistently enhancing and improving our platform so that all users can benefit from our expansive property tax data, maps and reports." ADA improvements will help the company service those with disabilities by meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accesible Design. These changes include deepening and adjusting colors in some areas, and enriching visual design to ensure optimization for viewers and readers. On the bilingual front, the team selected to offer reports throughout the platform in Spanish to support an expanding Spanish-speaking clientele across the U.S. and Canada. CRS Data's MLS Tax Suite reports are extensive, including neighborhood data, facts & figures, and charts and graphs that show area statistics and deep area insights. The information is leveraged by users to help them best counsel clients who are making critical home listing and purchasing decisions. A video is available about the improvement process and the new functionality. Viewers can click on the "CC" tab at the bottom of the video player to select English or Spanish captions. CRS Data's MLS Tax Suite team continuously looks to its growing customer base for feedback and critical insights that directly impact new upgrades and enhancement designs. The insightful feedback from members of MLSs and associations helps ensure that the platform serves all types of people - from various walks of life and diverse backgrounds. The CRS Data team works in partnership with MLSs and associations across North America to offer their flexible, robust MLS Tax Suite. Real estate professionals and executives can learn more by visiting https://www.crsdata.com/mls-tax-suite/. About CRS Data: Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., CRS Data is a leading provider of public record information servicing bankers, MLSs, appraisers, investors, and other specialty financial customers across the U.S. CRS Data is focused on providing accurate and timely property data, quality products and unparalleled customer satisfaction. Visit www.crsdata.com to learn more. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006186/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Bank of Hawaii Corporation Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Board Declares Quarterly Dividend for Preferred Stock Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE: BOH) will release third quarter 2021 financial results on Monday, October 25, 2021 before the market opens and hold its quarterly conference call at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Hawaii Time) on the same day. The live call, including a slide presentation, will be accessible on the investor relations link of Bank of Hawaii Corporation's website, www.boh.com. The webcast link is https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/3r3nw6ad. The toll-free number for the teleconference is 1 (844) 543-5235 in te United States and Canada and 1 (703) 318-2209 for other international callers. Use the pass code "Bank of Hawaii" to access the call. A replay of the conference call will be available for one week beginning approximately 11:00 a.m. Hawaii Time on Monday, October 25, 2021. The replay number is 1 (855) 859-2056 in the United States and Canada and 1 (404) 537-3406 from other international locations. Enter the conference ID 6897518 when prompted. In addition, the replay will be available on the Company's website, www.boh.com. Additionally, the Board of Directors declared the quarterly dividend payment of its Fixed Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A, of $10.94 per share, equivalent to $0.2735 per depositary share. The depositary shares representing the Series A Preferred Stock are traded on the NYSE under the symbol "BOH.PRA." The dividend will be payable on November 1, 2021 to shareholders of record of the preferred stock as of October 18, 2021. Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional financial services company serving businesses, consumers and governments in Hawaii and the West Pacific. The Company's principal subsidiary, Bank of Hawaii, was founded in 1897. For more information about Bank of Hawaii Corporation, see the Company's web site, www.boh.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211005006204/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] American Campus Communities, Inc. Announces Pricing of $400 Million 2.250 Percent Senior Unsecured Notes Due 2029 American Campus Communities, Inc. (NYSE:ACC), the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing properties in the U.S., today announced that its operating partnership, American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP, priced a $400 million offering of senior unsecured notes under its existing shelf registration. These seven-year notes were issued at 99.928 percent of par value with a coupon of 2.250 percent and are fully and unconditionally guaranteed by American Campus Communities, Inc. Interest on the notes is payable semi-annually on January 15 and July 15, with the first payment due and payable on January 15, 2022. The notes will mature on January 15, 2029. American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP expects to use the net proceeds (after expenses) of approximately $394.4 million to repay borrowings under its revolving credit facility and for general business purposes. Settlement is scheduled for October 7, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. BofA Securities, Inc., Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, PNC (News - Alert) Capital Markets LLC and U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc. are the Joint Book-Running Managers for the offering and Capital One Securities, Inc., KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., Piper Sandler & Co. and Regions Securities LLC are the Co-Managers. American Campus Communities, Inc. and American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP have filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (" SEC (News - Alert) ") for the offering to which this press release relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents that American Campus Communities, Inc. and American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP have filed with the SEC, including the prspectus supplement, for more complete information about American Campus Communities, Inc., American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, American Campus Communities, Inc., American Campus Communities Operating Partnership LP or any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you the prospectus and the accompanying prospectus supplement if you request it by contacting BofA Securities, Inc., toll free at 1-800-294-1322, or Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Securities, LLC, toll free at 1-800-645-3751. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these notes 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 state or other jurisdiction. About American Campus Communities American Campus Communities, Inc. is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the United States. The company is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered equity real estate investment trust (REIT) with expertise in the design, finance, development, construction management and operational management of student housing properties. As of June 30, 2021, American Campus Communities owned 166 student housing properties containing approximately 111,900 beds. Including its owned and third-party managed properties, ACC's total managed portfolio consisted of 205 properties with approximately 141,300 beds. Forward-Looking Statements In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements under the applicable federal securities law. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions regarding markets in which American Campus Communities, Inc. (the "Company") operates, operational strategies, anticipated events and trends, the economy, and other future conditions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. These risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking-statements include those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, about which there are still many unknowns, including the duration of the pandemic and the extent of its impact, and those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and under the heading "Business - Forward-looking Statements" and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to publicly update 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/20211005006210/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) Awards CALNET, Inc. Prime Contract for Joint Analysis of Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) and Order of Battle (JACOB-II) RESTON, Va., Oct. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CALNET announced today that it has won an award to provide services for software, application, system enhancements and maintenance for the NGIC Joint Analysis of Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) and Order of Battle (JACOB) for the Information Technology Directorate for the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) in Charlottesville, VA. NGIC Joint Analysis of Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4) and Order of Battle (JACOB) requirement is for CALNET's IT services to provide a mechanism for producing Order of Battle (OB) data to Army, DoD, and IC projects that support and enable intelligence analysts. The mapping tools within JACOB provide OB analysis and visualization tool for use in creating doctrinal and tactical templates and situational overlays. Kaleem Shah CALNET President and CEO, said, "CALNET is honored to support NGIC in this vital mission. We will use innovative methodologies (DevSecOps [DSO]) and tools to enhance productivity, improve usability, and efficiency of the JACOBS system." About CALNET, Inc. CALNET is a privately held company in the Intelligence Analysis, Language Services, and IT Consulting services arena. Since 1989, CALNET has helped Federal, State, and Commercial organizations to remain agile by obtaining explicit business results through the rapid application and delivery of Advanced Information Technology solutions. Additionally, CALNET provides Intelligence Analysis and Language Services solutions to the U.S. Armed Forces and the Intelligence Community (IC) globally. CALNET's success as a company depends solely upon providing our clients with the people and solutions they need in a timely and cost-effective manner. Our value proposition is based on the talent and experience that CALNET, along with its partners, brings forward to every engagement. Our company slogan: "Partnership for Success" signifies our commitment to win customers one project at a time. CALNET is headquartered in Reston, VA. 12359 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 270 Reston, VA 20191 Telephone: (703) 547-6800 Toll Free: (877) 322-5638 Fax: (703) 547-6806 Website: www.calnet.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-ground-intelligence-center-ngic-awards-calnet-inc-prime-contract-for-joint-analysis-of-command-control-communications-and-computers-c4-and-order-of-battle-jacob-ii-301393555.html SOURCE CALNET Inc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] mabl Expands Leadership Team in Japan Fueled by Rapid Growth Customers and revenue grew over 300% in the region this year BOSTON, Oct. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- mabl, the leading intelligent test automation company for quality engineering, today announced the appointment of Jun Fujita as the company's new Enterprise Sales Executive in Japan. Mr. Fujita will draw on his two decades of experience in the technology industry as former country manager at prominent companies like Auth0, Elastic and GitHub to drive continued expansion in the region. Respected digital transformation and Agile consultant Dai Fujihara will continue to lead mabl in Japan as their dedicated Customer Success Manager. "We are thrilled with the momentum and support of our local community, partners and users in Japan this year," says mabl co-founder Izzy Azeri. "The enthusiasm for low-code test automation showcases the value that mabl brings to one of the most advanced technology hubs in the world." Rapid adoption of mabl in Japan has continued to fuel expansion in the region. The mabl community in Japan has more than doubled in the past six months - reaching nearl 1500 members. The mabl customer base has also increased by 322% and revenue has increased by over 300% in the past year, now representing 10% of the company's total global revenue. Recognizing the importance of local representation, the company recently established a new Japanese subsidiary, mabl, K.K. and formed reseller partnerships with industry leaders including DIGITAL HEARTS - the experts in QA and software testing - and TechVan - a respected IT solutions provider. In 2020, mabl welcomed Presidio SCSK Digital Fund, the corporate venture capital arm jointly established by Sumitomo Corporation and SCSK Corporation , as a strategic investor. That partnership has continued to grow in 2021 with VeriServe , a SCSK Group company, becoming an official mabl partner, and the recent addition of SCSK as a mabl customer. Other new and notable customers in Japan include: Tokio Marine & Nichido Systems, M3, Inc., Money Forward, Inc., Ubie, Inc., and Relic, Inc. To learn more about mabl's low-code test automation solution, visit www.mabl.com/japan . Contact: Bridget Hughes mabl hughes@mabl.com 203-502-3417 Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1653519/mabl_Logo.jpg SOURCE mabl Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [October 05, 2021] Gore Mutual Insurance Company Becomes First Canadian Insurer to Rollout Solera Qapter Estimating Platform New Technology Enables Advanced Estimating and Total Loss Workflows WESTLAKE, Texas and TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- Solera | Audatex (Canada), a global provider of risk and asset management software and services to the automotive, fleet, and property ecosystems, announced that Gore Mutual Insurance Company (Gore Mutual) is the first Canadian insurer to rollout Qapter Estimating, Solera's revolutionary AI-based estimating platform. Joining insurance companies around the world, Gore Mutual is the first Canadian insurer to utilize Qapter to assess vehicle damage for improved customer service. Qapter is the Solera | Audatex (Canada) next-generation browser-agnostic estimating and total loss workflow platform for staff, repair shops, and independent appraisers. At its core, Qapter allows stakeholders to perform their jobs more efficiently, with an intuitive user-interface designed for the needs of modern repair and claims operations. "Qapter drives huge efficiency gains for our customers already using it around the world," said Michel Caron, vice president of sales, Solera | Audatex (Canada). "Those efficiency gains are mostly due to the accuracy of the estimate from quality data. Like other companies using Qapter, we know Gore Mutual and its collision repair partners are keenly focused on and desire both accuracy and efficiency. We are delighted to deliver them both. "As we continue to evolve our ClaimCareTM program, the customer has to be at the center of every decision we make. Qapter has allowed us to quickly and accurately assess the damage and communicate with our network of auto repair shops, brokers, and customers," said Neil Weir, vice president of claims, Gore Mutual. "Ultimately, we want to make the claims process as smooth as possible and get the customer back in their vehicle quickly. Qapter allows for that, particularly because the data flows seamlessly into our Guidewire Cloud system." "Qapter has world's most comprehensive database in the industry," added Caron. "It's no secret that Gore Mutual has big plans to grow its book of business and Qapter will allow Gore to manage that growth in claims volume for years to come." About Gore Mutual Built on a foundation of financial strength for more than 180 years, Gore Mutual Insurance Company is one of Canada's first property and casualty insurance companies. Based in Cambridge, Ontario, we are a Canadian mutual company, with more than 500 employees focused on delivering outstanding insurance products and services to customers. In 2019, we launched our Next Horizon strategya 10-year planto transform Gore Mutual from a mid-size regional carrier to a national-scale insurer with over $20 million invested in talent and technology. We continue to strengthen Canadian communities through the Gore Mutual Foundation. Over the past 22 years, we have donated more than $10 million to over 790 charities. For more information, visit goremutual.ca or Gore Mutual's Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages. About Solera Solera is a leading global data intelligence and technology solutions provider serving the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem. Through four lines of business - vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle solutions and fleet - Solera is home to many leading brands in the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, Dealersocket, Omnitracs, eDriving, Explore, cap hpi, Autodata, and others. Solera's innovative solutions empower smarter decision-making through software, enriched data, proprietary algorithms, and artificial intelligence that come together to deliver insights to our customers and accelerate business outcomes. Solera serves over 235,000 global customers and partners in 100+ countries. For more information, visit www.solera.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gore-mutual-insurance-company-becomes-first-canadian-insurer-to-rollout-solera-qapter-estimating-platform-301393591.html SOURCE Solera Holdings, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Thankfully, in Kansas City homicides have declined from record breaking numbers in 2020. HOWEVER . . . Overall violent crime is trending upward across the nation. Even worse, attacks have been politicized: Violent crime surged across America despite liberal attempt to rewrite narrative In 2020, America saw videos of widespread looting, arson and violence in cities across the country. Despite that, a new narrative claims that crime actually fell last year. "'Overall crime decreased in 2020' ... report finds," reads a headline from NBC News. But that's misleading, crime statistics experts told Fox News. More importantly . . . A trend that's mostly unspoken in our cowtown: Violence typically rises during the holiday season. Accordingly, www.TonysKansasCity.com shares this collection of Kansas City news involving street life, ALLEGED misdeeds, police action and calls for justice . . . KCMO situation tonight . . . KCPD working armed barricade situation near 11800 block of N Bellefontaine KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Kansas City police are currently working a standoff involving an armed barricaded party in the 11800 block of N Bellefontaine. Police were called to the scene just after 3:30 p.m. in regard to a disturbance involving a weapon. They also got calls for the same location of shots fired. No escape from crime in the suburbs . . . Prairie Village police investigate assault early Monday in Mission Hills KMBC file image SOURCE: KMBC file image Prairie Village police said they are investigating after shots were fired early Monday in Mission Hills during a fight.Authorities said police officers were called at 6:04 a.m. Healthcare Crime Allegations . . . KCMO nurse indicted for tampering with fentanyl at two Johnson County hospitals KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -- A nurse from Kansas City, Missouri, has been indicted for tampering with two Johnson County hospitals' fentanyl. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas, 41-year-old Faith Naccarato has been charged with two counts of tampering with a consumer product and tow counts of possession of fentanyl by deception and subterfuge. Tragic Family Drama . . . KCK man facing murder charges in shooting death of his brother KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A KCK man is facing charges in connection to the August shooting death of his brother. Ricky Salazar, 34, is charged with second-degree murder and domestic battery in connection to a domestic disturbance that led to the shooting death of his brother, Ricardo Salazar. Hard Time For Hot Mess . . . KC man sentenced for 2020 church arson KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A Kansas City man was sentenced in federal court Monday for the arson fire at Beyond Thee Four Walls Ministries Church. Christopher Durant, 39, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison without parole. Durant must also pay over $143,000 in restitution to the church, insurance company and building owner. Hope For Justice . . . 'That was a massacre': Activists and victim's family urge witnesses to call police after triple homicide KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The search continues to find the shooter in a triple homicide in Kansas City, Missouri Saturday. Police have identified the victims as 24-year-old Kanen Wheaton, 23-year-old Johnnai Owens, and 24-year-old Devon Key. Officers were called near East 27th Street and Spruce Avenue for shots in the area. NextGen Under Threat . . . Authorities urge vigilance, communication following gun threat at a Park Hill middle school KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police thwarted a potential threat at Lakeview Middle School after word spread on social media Sunday that a student planned to bring a gun to school. FOX4 talked with a spokesman for the Platte County Sheriff's Office Monday, who said three additional units were on campus Monday to provide extra security. Internets Threat Scares Community . . . 'Hit list' circulating at Blue Springs High, offering cash to beat students up BLUE SPRINGS, Mo - Parents of children on a so-called "hit list" at Blue Springs High School are demanding the school district protect their children. The hit list contains names and bounties for over two dozen freshmen students. One of the versions of the hit list circulating on social media lists the names of the targeted students on the left side. KCPD Need Community Help . . . Police Ask For Your Help Finding Missing KCMO Woman Kansas City Missouri police put out a missing, endangered person alert for 73-year-old Mae White. She was last contacted by phone on September 22nd, 2021. She is homeless and recently abandoned her vehicle. She suffers from dementia and currently uses a walker. Kansas City Missouri police put out a missing, endangered person alert for 73-year-old Mae White. Kansas City Home Protection Advice . . . Kansas City police remind homeowners of simple things to deter burglars Kansas City police said officers have handled more than 1,600 residential burglaries in the past year. Criminals are using all kinds of ways to break in.Police said there are some easy things people can do to avoid being a target."The first thing I notice is the garage. Council Demands Crime Scene Happy Talk . . . Organizations working to prevent violence say focus should be on positivity within neighborhoods KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Over the weekend, 13 people were shot in Kansas City. KSHB 41 News created a map pointing to every location where violence broke out. Kansas City, Missouri, City Council member Ryana Parks-Shaw spoke out, referring to a city initiative to prevent violence, KC Blueprint. Developing . . . A landmark decision today proves that a former university lecturer turned Mayor doesn't know the law as well as he claimed. The deets . . . "In his ruling, Judge Patrick Campbell said Kansas City cannot change the police department's spending after appropriations without approval from the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. "Campbell issued a writ of mandamus that will require the city to put $42.2 million back in the police department's budget for this fiscal year." Even better, we share the reaction from both sides . . . Check the word from KCPD: Statement on Ruling of Lawsuit KCPD engages in the budget process six months ahead of when the budget year begins. The police department puts a great deal of effort into this process as does the city. This budget process directly affects not only the police department and the city, but the members in our community. We appreciate the court recognized the validity of the 2020-2021 budget process. ### In return, Mayor Q offers voters a HUGE helping of word salad defended by Twitter bots . . . All things considered so far . . . THIS IS AN EPIC DEFEAT FOR MAYOR Q AND THE 'DEFUND THE POLICE' CROWD!!! What's worse is that the support for this movement was minimal and overplayed by social media. TKC fun fact that was always lost in this discussion . . . Neither Mayor nor council offered BUDGET DEETS about what they planned to do with that money. (Hint: It was always going to be just another slush fund.) There was simply a promise to spend it on "community outreach" without any specific line items. Sadly, drilling down the the specifics of any budget is discouraged by most people who hold power in Kansas City. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news links . . . Judge rules against Kansas City in police funding lawsuit, says changes violated state law by: Makenzie Koch Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Jackson County judge has ruled the Kansas City Council's changes to the police department's funding violate state law. Judge Patrick Campbell issued the judgment on Tuesday. In his ruling, Campbell said Kansas City cannot change the police department's spending after appropriations without approval from the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. Judge rules KCMO violated state law in altering KCPD budget KANSAS CITY, Mo - A Jackson County judge ruled Tuesday that Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas and the KCMO City Council violated Missouri state law in passing two ordinances last spring that changed appropriations for the city's police budget. Judge Patrick W. Judge sides with police board, says KCMO cannot redirect money from police budget KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- There has been a decision in the lawsuit over the Kansas City Police Department's budget. This afternoon, a judge sided with the police board. That means the city cannot redirect money from the department. Judge rules Kansas City's reallocation of police funds violated state law A Jackson County judge ruled Tuesday that Kansas City violated state law when it shifted more than $42 million from the Kansas City Police Department's budget to other crime prevention efforts.In May, the City Council passed two ordinances taking $42.3 million directly out of the police department's budget. Court Deals Blow To Kansas City Mayor Lucas In Fight Over Control Of Police Department Budget In a blow to the city's efforts to assert a measure of control over the Kansas City Police Department, a judge on Tuesday ruled that Mayor Quinton Lucas and the city council acted illegally when they sought to transfer $42.3 million of the police department's $239 million budget to "community services and prevention." Developing . . . A quick glimpse at a long fight for Missouri voters who desperately earned the right for better healthcare. Check the money line . . . Missouri was required to expand Medicaid after voters approved it in August 2020 by a vote of 53% to 47% -- becoming the sixth state to accept the Affordable Care Act provision at the ballot box. It was supposed to take effect on July 1 but was halted by Parson, who said in May that the state could not proceed because lawmakers had not appropriated funding. A legal battle ensued, with plaintiffs arguing that the state's Medicaid program has been funded by the General Assembly and that lawmakers do not need to set aside specific money for expansion enrollees. A lower court found that the 2020 ballot measure approving expansion had violated state law, but that decision was overturned in July by the state Supreme Court, which declared in a unanimous ruling that the ballot initiative was constitutional. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com news link . . . World Best Cities with National Parks nearby (TRAVPR.COM) KENYA - October 5th, 2021 The best and most popular areas in Africa for safaris are East Africa precisely Kenya which offers vast plains and roaming packs of extraordinary beasts. Many travelers come to Africa in search of the big five: buffalo, lions, leopards, elephants and rhinoceroses. The chance to get close to these animals in their natural habitats is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but your trip to the Africa is anything but a trip to the zoo. Safaris can be physically taxing and strenuous, and you may not see all the animals you expected. Since most safari destinations are in developing sub-Saharan nations, travelers must take certain safety and health precautions. If youre planning a safari (or just dreaming about it), be as prepared as possible. Get some good guidebooks, talk to friends whove been to Africa and research, research, research. Weve outlined some important safari basics, from choosing a destination to getting vaccinated, to help you start planning a successful African adventure such as short trip to the Nairobi National Park which can be booked online through https://www.cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-national-park Cruzeiro Safaris Limited is a tours and travel company based in Nairobi, Kenya. Its mandated to provide tours and safaris to everyone willing to be enlightened about travel destinations priority being Kenya then other countries. It also provides Affordable Air tickets worldwide. Contact-Details: Claudia Kabui, Sales and Marketing Cruzeiro Safaris Kenya | URL: www.cruzeiro-safaris.com | Email| info@cruzeiro-safaris.com Direct Booking Link https://www.cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-national-park Tel: +254-722-370833 or +254-710-729021 Mumias South Road, Buru Buru Shopping Center, Visions Place If you like city breaks then 2-3 days might be enough in Athens. Other people would say a week wasnt long enough but youll be wanting to get to Crete. Santorini is interesting and if you really want to see it for a couple of days and probably wont see it otherwise then yes, the quieter part of the season might be the time to do it. Dont expect it to be significantly cheaper though. Itll still be very busy in Fira and Oia. Just bear in mind that ferrying to Santorini from Piraeus takes several hours, or you could fly taking much less time. Moving on to Crete will need planning as the ferry to Heraklion wont be every day by then and finishes at the end of this month. Flying to Crete is via Athens but you could opt for either Chania or Heraklion. For your interests I think youd be better spending the majority of you time in Crete. The specific forums for Santorini and Crete would give you advice if you want further info on anything. Edited: 05 October 2021, 05:55 Re # 2 - which part are you reading regarding the 72 hours? The only part that's subject to the 72 hour time constraint is for the PCR test, where the passenger is required to have one (which is for children, if pregnant etc.) There's no given time constraint for completing the dPLF form - if you have all the details and accommodation etc. is all arranged. Obviously there's no point in completing it too far in advance as things such as accommodation may change (you may decide to get a different hotel for example) but there's no problem doing it 5 days before. Edited: 06 October 2021, 18:30 We are booked to travel from Scotland (via Gatwick) to Maldives in January, I know rules may change before then but at the moment we need a PCR within 72 hours to get into Doha and also to get into Male. At the moment, with flights booked, we are staying 2 nights in Doha which means there isn't 72 hours in UK before arriving in Male to get the test here. We are wondering how easy it would be to arrange a PCR test on our first full day in Doha. Can anyone help? The alternative would be to leave UK a day later then test done in UK would cover both places, if we can change flights. Hope I have explained this correctly! Image of a lake in a volcanic crater in the Azores Islands. Photo: Alberto Saez (UB) Sample extraction in a UWITEC floating platform. Photo: Alberto Saez (UB) 05/10/2021 Recerca The first settlers in the Azores Islands arrived seven hundred years ago before the first Portuguese arrived there in the 15th century as stated in the official historiography. This is one of the main conclusions of a study carried out by an international and multidisciplinary team in which the experts Alberto Saez and Olga Margalef, from the Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the UB, have taken part. The study, published in the journal PNAS, reconstructs how, when and under which climate conditions the Azores were inhabited for the first time and the impact these first human settlements had on the ecosystems using the analysis and dating of the sediments taken from the lakes of the islands. The research team suggests that these early settlers came from northern Europe and that they would have taken benefit of favourable climate conditions to sail to these volcanic islands, located 1,450 kilometres away from the European coasts. To date, the consensus had been that the Azores had been uncolonized until the arrival of the Portuguese. According to the available historical sources, the Portuguese arrived in the island of Santa Maria in 1427 and the Flores and Corvo islands in 1452 looking for new routes to India. The now published paper puts the arrival of the first colonizers of the island at the end of the Early Middle Ages, between 700 and 850 of our era. According to Alberto Saez, professor of Stratigraphy of the UB and one of the authors of the article, the study highlights that we need to foster and complement the historical information with interdisciplinary research among humanities and natural sciences in order to find and have a very accurate picture of our history. The team dated and analysed using geological, chemical, physical and biological techniques five sediment cores recovered from the lakes of the islands of Sao Miguel, Pico, Terceira, Flores and Corvo. They detected the presence of sterols, a fraction of the organic matter abundant in the mammal faeces, and coprophilous fungal spores, which they considered indicators of human presence. Bowels of mammals produce faecal sterols and stanols in abundance and these are well-preserved in lacustrine sediments, and they are a unique and clear indicator of the presence of large mammals in certain periods of past time intervals, note Santiago Giralt (GEO3BCN-CSIC), Roberto Bao (University of La Corunya) and Timothy Shanahang (University of Texas at Austin), co-authors of the study. Moreover, the compounds produced by human guts (rich in coprostanol) and farming (rich in stigmastanol) are different, which allows us to distinguish one from the other. Due to its geographical location, in the centre of the Atlantic Ocean, the Azores Islands were not populated by large mammals. Therefore, the appearance of coprostanol in sediments can be related to human presence, and finding stigmastranol can be attributed to ruminants, such as cows, goats or sheep. Analysis of pollen, fossils and carbon particles The team has characterized the impact of the first human populations on the ecosystems of the islands with the study of pollen, fossil fragments of plants and carbon particles present in the sediments. As shown in this study, the early human occupation of the islands brought an ecological and environmental alteration. Although historical sources describe the Azores as deeply forested and pristine, the study highlights the difficulty of relying on the historical records to identify certain states of alteration of the ecosystem and landscape, notes Pere Raposeiro, researcher at the University of the Azores and first author of the article. The authors of the study carried out several simulations of atmospheric and oceanic conditions to determine the winds that were predominant in the past and under which the early colonization of the archipelago took place. According to these simulations, and to previous other archaeological and genetic studies, they suggest that the first inhabitants came from northen European and north-eastern European areas. These peoples found during the end of the Early Middle Age favourable climate conditions to travel to the Azores, due to the prevalence of northern-eastern winds and weakened western winds. Due to the rotation of the Earth, westerly winds dominate the Atlantic Ocean, and these are stronger or weaker depending on the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the main climate mode that controls the atmospheric circulation in the northern hemisphere. NAO is modulated by the East Atlantic pattern (EA), which controls the intensity of northerly winds, notes Saez. Apart from counting on the participation of the experts of the UB and other institutions, the study counts on the collaboration of scientists from other national and international research institutions such as the Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (CREAF), experts from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ, the Netherlands), Brown University (United States), the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (Portugal), the Institute Dom Luiz of the University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), University of Bern (Switzerland) and the Edith Cowan University (Australia). Reference article: Pedro M. Raposeiro et al. Climate change facilitated the early colonization of the Azores Archipelago during medieval times. PNAS, October 2021. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.2108236118 By Jeff Murphy, October 4, 2021 WARRENSBURG, MO A designation assuring students that their education meets critical standards to prepare them for the STEM global workforce, the University of Central Missouris Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering recently received ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accreditation. It is the first program of its kind in Missouri to receive this designation. The B.S in Software Engineeering is an academic program housed in the universitys School of Computer Science and Mathematics. ABET authorized the programs accreditation after an intensive review process that took 18 months. The university will seek reaccreditation in six years, according to School Chair Xiaodong Yue, Ph.D., who also stressed the importance of this designation. Generally speaking, it enhances students marketability and value of their degree, Yue said. Some engineering firms and government agencies prefer students graduating from ABET-accredited programs. UCM previously earned ABET accreditation in two other technology areas within the School of Computer Science and Mathematics. Having this most recent designation further solidifies the universitys efforts to ensure the quality of its STEM-related offerings. As we had achieved ABET accreditation in both the Computer Science and Cybersecurity programs in the last few years, and had witnessed the value of ABET's rigorous standards and our own introspection on the quality of those programs, we knew from its inception that our Software Engineering program would benefit from early engagement in the ABET process, said Belinda Copus, Ph.D., undergraduate program coordinator for computer science and software engineering. The accreditation of our program underscores the quality of its academics, the value we are delivering to students, and the commitment of our faculty to continuous improvement. She added, Accredited programs are trusted for a reason. Software Engineering at UCM transforms students into competent software engineers who are ready for careers in industry or graduate studies in software engineering and related disciplines. The ABET website notes advantages of accreditation such as: Providing verification that a students educational experience meets the global standard for technical education in their profession; Enhancing employment opportunities, particularly among multinational corporations that require graduation from an accredited program; Offering support for a graduates entry to a technical profession through licensure, registration and certification all which often require as a minimum qualification graduation from an ABET-accredited program; Establishing a students eligibility for many federal loans, grants and scholarships; and Paving the way for students to work globally as ABET accreditation is recognized worldwide, and many countries national accrediting systems are based on the ABET model. Yue said an academic program must meet at least eight criteria to become ABET accredited. Theses focus areas cover students, program educational objectives, student outcomes, continuous improvement, curriculum, faculty, facilities, and institutional support. He noted that to be considered for ABET accreditation, the program curriculum must include computing fundamentals, software design and construction, requirements analysis, security, verification, and validation; software engineering processes and tools appropriate for the development of complex software systems; and discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, with applications appropriate to software engineering. Yue also added, The program must demonstrate that faculty members teaching core software engineering topics have an understanding of professional practice in software engineering and are current in their areas of professional or scholarly specialization. With a significant shortage of software engineers nationwide, the job prospects for students pursuing a degree in software engineering particularly from an ABET institution are excellent. Individuals who want to learn more about UCMs B.S. in Software Engineering are encouraged to visit the program website . They can also contact Copus at 660-543-4354 or copus@ucmo.edu. Learn More About our Software Engineering Program The occupation of part of Ukraines territory by the Russian Federation leads to systemic human rights violations. Almost 14,000 Ukrainians have died over eight years of this occupation in eastern Ukraine. Violations of the right to life and security in eastern Ukraine have already killed almost 14,000 Ukrainian citizens, including 4,000 civilians and 152 children among them. Thirty-four thousand people have been wounded. This continues every day, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova posted on Facebook after participation in the Meeting & General Assembly of the Association of the Mediterranean Ombudsmen, Ukrinform reports. As noted, 121 Ukrainian citizens, including 86 Crimean Tatars, are held in prisons in the temporarily occupied Crimea and the Russian Federation on politically and religiously motivated charges. Seventy-one people have already been sentenced to long prison terms. "Moreover, 296 citizens of Ukraine are imprisoned in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including 252 civilians (four volunteers among them), 44 service members," Denisova added. ol NATO should support not only the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia but also the two countries' desire to join the alliance, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. According to an Ukrinform correspondent, he said this at the Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday, October 5. "Of course, we need to continue to support the two Black Sea countries - Ukraine and Georgia. We should support not only their territorial integrity. We should also support them, strengthen their capabilities, including in terms of better relations with NATO, including their aspirations. We are well aware of these aspirations. Poland and Turkey are, unfortunately, only the few NATO allies that raise this issue at every ministerial meeting and every summit," Cavusoglu said. Separately, in his speech, the Turkish foreign minister recalled that Crimea is Ukrainian. "We do not and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea. And I reiterated this commitment, in particular, at the Crimea Platform," Cavusoglu said. He stressed that the Black Sea region is one of the key regions for Euro-Atlantic security, and therefore the military expansion of forces in the Black Sea region needs constant attention from NATO. op As of October 5, Ukraine registered 25,718 agreements on the purchase and sale of agricultural land, Ukrinform reports. According to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, 5,001 notaries submitted applications for access to the State Land Cadastre. The total number of applications is 5,729. Of these, 5,061 applications were approved, whereas 660 were rejected. Between July 1 and October 4, 63,477 hectares of agricultural land were sold throughout Ukraine. The largest areas of farmland were sold in Kirovohrad region (9,340.4 ha), Kharkiv region (7,950.1 ha) and Poltava region (5,542.6 ha). As reported, Ukraine officially launched the land market on July 1. Until 2024, only Ukrainian citizens will be able to buy agricultural land - up to 100 hectares per person. The issue of selling land to citizens without Ukrainian citizenship and foreigners will be decided only in a nationwide referendum. iy Ukraine is not planning to start direct talks with Russia on gas supplies, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said in an interview with LB.ua. "Such talks are not being planned," Shmyhal said when asked by journalists about possible direct talks with Moscow on additional gas purchases. He noted that there are more than 18.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas in underground gas storage facilities. At the same time, the first offer for the sale of gas that does not belong to NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine is always made within the state, Shmyhal said. "Now we feel quite confident in terms of going through the heating season with gas. In principle, as of the end of last week, Ukraine is 90% ready for the heating season," Shmyhal commented. According to him, part of the fuel in underground storage facilities was purchased at a price of UAH 3-4 per cubic meter, part was pumped at a price of UAH 18, and there is also gas of domestic production. Shmyhal believes that such a combination will keep the price of natural gas low for the population until the end of the heating season. op Ukraine will insist on maintaining the current level of gas transit for at least 15 years. We still hope that our partners, in particular the United States, will extend the sanctions. We believe that we are reckoned with when the launch and certification of Nord Stream 2 are discussed. Of course, we will insist on maintaining the current level of transit for at least 15 years, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with LB.ua. According to him, Gazprom reserved the capacities of the Ukrainian GTS for transit to Hungary until September 30, 2022, and must pay for them. In addition, Ukraine is currently negotiating gas transit with Romania, Moldova, and other countries. Transit goes not only through Ukraine, it continues in a number of European countries. They are also our neighbors and transit partners. Accordingly, we are not alone in the fight to defend our interests, the Prime Minister said. According to him, the decision to maintain gas transit will not depend on Russia because fuel consumers are in Europe. As reported, from October 1, 2021, the natural gas transit through the territory of Ukraine towards Hungary was stopped. Hungary signed a contract with Russia for gas supplies bypassing Ukraine and will receive 3.5 billion cubic meters per year through Serbia via the TurkStream gas pipeline and its overland section and 1 billion cubic meters more through Austria. The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine called such actions a continuation of the Kremlin's aggressive policy aimed at depriving our country of gas transit completely. The current gas transit contract with Gazprom is due to expire in 2024 but provides for a possibility of extending the transit for another 10 years. ol Ukraine awaits Israeli investors and guarantees the protection of their investments. "I am sure that the current volume of Israeli direct investment in Ukraine does not correspond to our potential. Advanced technologies, new innovations, cybersecurity, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, space programs, banking and finance, construction, agriculture these are just a few promising areas for the development of investment cooperation between Ukraine and Israel," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said at a joint press conference with President of Israel Isaac Herzog in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Zelensky stressed that Ukraine was waiting for Israeli investors, "and the Government and I personally guarantee the protection of all their investments." In addition, Ukraine is interested in studying and using Israel's significant experience in the field of innovation, Zelensky noted. "In turn, Israeli companies can take advantage of Ukraine's enormous potential Europe's new technology hub," Zelensky said. As reported, President of Israel Isaac Herzog is on a state visit to Ukraine. ol Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that mutual trade in goods between Ukraine and Israel has been gradually growing after the two countries launched a free trade area. He said this at a joint meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and the media in Kyiv on Tuesday, October 5, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "On December 26, Ukraine and Israel will mark 30 years since the establishment of our diplomatic relations. Much has been achieved over the times of close cooperation. I am glad that we have managed to build such warm relations that are developing on the basis of interstate mutual understanding and trust and a warm, friendly atmosphere between the two nations. Israel is our friend, our great friend, our partner in the Middle East region from a political, security, trade, economic and humanitarian point of view," Zelensky said. At the same time, he said that the potential for cooperation between the two countries has not been exhausted, and the entry into force of the free trade agreement opens up new opportunities for bilateral cooperation. "We already see that the agreement is working, and mutual trade in goods is gradually growing. For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, it gives us confidence in the full resumption of trade and exceeding these pre-pandemic indicators," Zelensky said. The free trade agreement between Ukraine and Israel entered into force on January 1, 2021. op Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said he has never announced his intention to participate in Ukraine's presidential election. Klitschko said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Ukrinform reports. "Firstly, about the presidential election it's all talk. Secondly, I've never voiced such intentions. Media outlets, by asking such questions, automatically inspire nervousness in people who monitor and analyze as to who could potentially participate in the next presidential election," Klitschko said when asked if he was running for president. Klitschko said that he "has a huge number of tasks in the city of Kyiv today." He also noted that his party UDAR - plans to participate in the next parliamentary elections to be held in 2023. "I am confident that our political force - the UDAR party - will run in the next parliamentary elections," Klitschko said. "We are currently developing our branches, regional organizations in Ukraine. And I am sure that the presence of our deputies in the Verkhovna Rada is a tool for influencing political processes and changes in Ukraine," Klitschko said. At the same time, the President's Office said that parliamentary elections could be held after presidential elections, i.e. in the fall of 2024. When asked if Klitschko would participate in the presidential election in the spring of 2024 in this case, he replied: "There is a good saying: if you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans. Let's wait and see. It doesn't make sense to promise something to someone, to tell about your plans. [...] If need be, I don't rule it out. But, again, I don't have such plans today. And I have never voiced them." op Ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili thanked President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who earlier said that the Ukrainian government and embassy in Georgia would all be involved in dealing with his case. Saakashvili wrote this in a letter posted on his Facebook page, according to Ukrinform. I am deeply touched by your statement which is a response of the first-rate political leader to my illegal detention and imprisonment in Georgia based on the falsified charges that no one recognizes in the world, except Russia, he wrote. Saakashvili stressed that he highly appreciates Zelensky's principled position on the protection of Ukraine and all Kremlin prisoners. Georgia is the love of my life, but I adore Ukraine as well - my second homeland, where I have spent many years of my life, where I have family and friends, and I highly value being a citizen of Ukraine. All my life I will be proud of having the opportunity to modestly contribute to the current historical changes and reforms in Ukraine with your leadership. Since, in fact, I am a personal prisoner of Putin, I highly appreciate your fundamental stance to protect Ukraine, the entire region, and all prisoners of the empire, he wrote. As Ukrinform reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he would facilitate the release of Mikheil Saakashvili, who was arrested in Georgia. "Saakashvili is a citizen of Ukraine. Therefore, this also applies to him. All institutions - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our embassy operating in Georgia, at the level of the Georgian ambassador working in Ukraine, at the level of talks between our Cabinets of Ministers, and at the level of talks between the prime ministers - we will all be dealing with this issue, Zelensky said. On Friday morning, October 1, Saakashvili said in a video on Facebook that he was in Batumi. In the evening of the same day, Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili announced about the detention of Mikheil Saakashvili. In turn, the former president went on a hunger strike, saying he considered himself a political prisoner. Saakashvili served as president of Georgia from 2004 to 2013. He left the country after loosing the 2013 election. After that, a number of criminal cases were initiated against the politician. On some of the charges, he was convicted in absentia. In 2015, Saakashvili was deprived of Georgian citizenship. He has been a citizen of Ukraine for almost six years. He currently heads the Executive Committee of Ukraine's National Reform Council. iy Ukrainian MPs have suspended Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from holding plenary parliament sittings. Some 240 MPs voted for such a decision at a parliament meeting on Tuesday, October 5, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. The proposal was initiated by members of the Servant of the People faction and the Dovira (Trust) and For the Future Party parliamentary groups. They said that Razumkov had allegedly violated the parliament's rules of procedure. Servant of the People MPs at a two-day field meeting in Truskavets on October 2 collected the 150 signatures needed to initiate the removal of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Dmytro Razumkov from office. According to Yuliia Paliichuk, spokeswoman for the Servant of the People faction, some 197 signatures of MPs were collected to remove Razumkov from the post of parliament speaker. Oleksandr Korniienko, head of the party and first deputy chairman of the Servant of the People faction, said that a vote to remove Razumkov from office could take place during the current plenary week (October 5-8). Razumkov said at a briefing on October 4 that he would not delay the process of considering this issue, but stressed that it is impossible to do so in the week of October 5-8 in accordance with the deadlines set by the rules of procedure. The main candidate for the post of head of the Ukrainian parliament is Ruslan Stefanchuk, the incumbent first deputy speaker of parliament. op Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Zbigniew Rau discussed Poland's 2022 OSCE Chairmanship and the threats posed by Nord Stream 2 to Europe's energy security. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports, the chief diplomats discussed these issues during Kulebas working visit to Poland. Nord Stream 2 undermines the security not only of Ukraine and Poland but of the whole of Europe. Russia already deliberately destabilizes gas supplies to European consumers and creates chaos in the market by rising gas prices. Ukraine and Poland are ready to jointly counter threats to the energy security and stability of the European continent," Kuleba stressed. The ministers underscored the importance of the planned integration of the Ukrainian energy system into the European ENTSO-E. The foreign ministers paid special attention to Poland's 2022 OSCE Chairmanship. Zbigniew Rau assured that the cessation of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict and the de-occupation of Crimea would remain key priorities for Poland's OSCE chairmanship. He expressed readiness to actively promote the implementation of the Crimea Platform objectives. Kuleba invited his Polish counterpart as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to visit the demarcation line with the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in early 2022. The diplomats also discussed topical issues of bilateral relations, in particular the implementation of the agreements reached following the visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal to Poland on September 9. Kuleba also raised the issue of the death of Ukrainian citizen Dmytro Nykyforenko in Wroclaw. In response, Rau reaffirmed the Polish side's commitment to conduct an impartial investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. In July, Polands OSCE Chairmanship stated it would pay great attention to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine on the basis of the Minsk agreements and full respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. Poland will take over the OSCE Chairmanship from Sweden on 1 January 2022. ol Israeli President Isaac Herzog has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Israel. He said this at a joint meeting with Zelensky and media representatives in Kyiv on Tuesday, October 5, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. "Mr. President, if you have such an opportunity, I would be very happy to receive you on your visit to Israel," Herzog said. He also praised Ukraine's efforts to preserve the memory, history and cultural space of the Jewish community. "Today, it is important to praise that Ukraine feels responsible for the memory, history and cultural space of the Jewish community, which has lived here for many years, more than a thousand years. From the preservation of Jewish cemeteries, which are so necessary, to the creation of memorial centers in memory of the killed Ukrainian Jews," he said. Herzog noted that such efforts are necessary and valuable, because, according to him, they are the basis for a bold partnership in the fight against anti-Semitism, wherever it manifests itself, as well as for building a common, fruitful, successful and promising future. In addition, Herzog thanked Zelensky and the Verkhovna Rada for adopting the Law "On Preventing and Combating Anti-Semitism in Ukraine." He also thanked for the help provided to many Jews during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. "Mr. President, I believe that the past and the present lead us to a wonderful, common future between Ukraine and Israel and that we are now at a significant point in time for everything related to the partnership between our countries," Herzog said. op UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi delivers a speech at the 72nd annual Executive Committee meeting at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. UNHCR/Mark Henley GENEVA The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide will top 100 million without greater international cooperation to address multiple crises that erupt or worsen every day around the world, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned at a high-level meeting today. Any one of us can see that we are heading in the wrong direction, Filippo Grandi told UNHCRs annual Executive Committee gathering in Geneva. All indicators are telling us to cooperate to prevent it. And yet we seem unable or unwilling to step off the paths we are currently on. All indicators are telling us to cooperate. Grandi highlighted how a failure to equitably distribute vaccines to curb the COVID-19 pandemic has created a world divided between inoculated and exposed, with disastrous consequences for people on the margins of society, among them refugees working in the informal sector who were the first to lose their jobs as poverty rates skyrocketed. At the same time, decades of global inaction to address the climate emergency has had dramatic consequences for refugees, 90 per cent of whom are from countries most vulnerable to its impacts. Meanwhile, unchecked and unresolved conflicts across the world have led to a doubling in the last decade of the numbers of forcibly displaced, which reached a record 82.4 million at the end of last year. If these trends are not reversed by robust conflict resolution efforts, I fear the question will not be if we will reach 100 million forcibly displaced; but rather when, he told the opening session of the 72nd session of the Executive Committee, which runs through Friday. Grandi singled out the plight of millions of Afghan refugees who have been uprooted for more than 40 years and others inside the country who now face fresh uncertainty. He stressed that large-scale, unconditional humanitarian assistance must be mobilized now to prevent an aggravation of the crisis and the implosion of public services and the economy. And though I am always very prudent in making predictions regarding population movements, I believe that such a deterioration will almost inevitably cause large internal and possibly external displacement, he said. Turning to other situations of unresolved conflict, Grandi warned that if the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia do not abandon a useless, devastating military confrontation in favour of political negotiations, the humanitarian crisis in Tigray and other regions will spiral out of control, with more forced displacement occurring inside and outside the country. He noted a context in which aid personnel face increasing obstacles and unacceptable difficulties, as proven by the recent expulsion of humanitarian staff from the country. Amid rising forced displacement, the High Commissioner also called out powerful nations in some parts of the world who, instead of giving refuge to those fleeing wars caused by no fault of their own, have kept them out with walls and violent pushbacks, by refusing to rescue people at sea, and through increasingly restrictive laws. Grandi said proposals to externalize or outsource asylum obligations to other countries were in fundamental breach of basic responsibility-sharing commitments. He also highlighted a worrying trend where States encourage refugees and migrants to move to other countries through dangerous means for purely political purposes, unrelated to their need for protection. Well-managed borders and access to asylum are not incompatible quite the contrary, he said. Good management does not preclude asylum claims from being heard in a fair and fast system; or those in need of international protection from being admitted and helped. Despite a challenging global outlook, Grandi highlighted progress in supporting peace efforts in South Sudan and Sudan, under the leadership of the two governments and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD. With World Bank support, solutions are being sought for more than seven million refugees and internally displaced people from the two countries. Cooperative efforts have also created temporary solutions for millions of forcibly displaced Venezuelans. Grandi highlighted the exemplary role of Colombia in granting temporary protection status to over 1.7 million Venezuelans, allowing them to stay, work, and access social services like education and health. The move, which also allows displaced people to contribute to the country hosting them, is being taken up by other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, he said. If we work together with courage and humility, and in a true spirit of solidarity then we have a chance to succeed. The High Commissioner also highlighted progress stemming from the Global Compact on Refugees and the follow-up Global Refugee Forum in December 2019, where more than 1,400 pledges have led to policies and investments from public and private sources. These investments, in turn, have lifted the living conditions not just of refugees, especially in protracted crises, but also of host communities, often helping develop remote areas and invest in infrastructure that will remain once refugees return home, Grandi said. While the world faces terrifying challenges, Grandi urged delegates not to lose heart, but to take inspiration from the courage and resilience which uprooted people continue to show. The refugee athletes who triumphed over every adversity at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in August are living examples of why we must not give up. Of why we must address the challenge of forced displacement and all other global challenges patiently, persistently, systematically. None of us can do this alone. But if we work together together! with courage and humility, and in a true spirit of solidarity, putting the common good before individual and national considerations, then we have a chance to succeed. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Geneva Today, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, co-hosted a special high-level information sharing session of the IGAD Support Platform on the Solutions Initiative for the displacement situation in South Sudan and Sudan. Held on the margins of the 72nd session of UNHCRs Executive Committee (ExCom) proceedings, the high-level session reviewed progress made since the launch of the Solutions Initiative a year ago, and explored ways to mobilize political, technical and financial support as the process moves forward. Over the past year, under the leadership of the governments of South Sudan and Sudan, national strategies and accompanying action plans have been developed, validated by a wide range of stakeholders. Refugees, internally displaced people, returnees and host communities were extensively included in national dialogues, ensuring that their needs and interests are included in the planning and management of these national processes. The result is significant progress on an inclusive regional strategy and action plan that is expected to inform the deliberations at the IGAD Special Summit of Heads of States and Governments scheduled for early 2022. The high-level information sharing session also provided guidance for the implementation period that will follow for the national and regional strategies and plans of action. Launched in October 2020 as a flagship activity of the IGAD Support Platform, the Solutions Initiative seeks to galvanize international support towards the early recovery and longer-term peacebuilding and resilience needs of over seven million internally displaced people, refugees and returnees as well as their host communities in the two countries. This effort aligns with the aims of the IGAD Nairobi Declaration, an agreement by IGAD member countries to pursue comprehensive regional approaches to deliver durable solutions for refugees while also maintaining protection and promoting self-reliance in countries of asylum. Humanitarian and development partners, donors and the private sector also have a significant role in supporting the two countries to sustain current aid efforts, consolidate development gains and support governments in addressing the socioeconomic dimensions of displacement including returns and reintegration in a sustainable manner. The participants welcomed the various types of support provided to the Initiative by partners including the European Union, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Germany and the World Bank and invited other humanitarian and development partners to join the effort. There are over 2.2 million refugees from South Sudan hosted in the region, and another 1.7 million displaced in the country. There are more than 1.8 million Sudanese internally displaced, mainly in the Darfur region, and over 700,000 Sudanese refugees located in neighbouring countries. The IGAD member states are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. Two refugee girls outside their shelters in Um Rakuba refugee camp in eastern Sudan. UNHCR/Samuel Otieno Today, I welcome the progress made by the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to find long-term solutions for 7 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in and from both countries. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, brought together member states and other stakeholders at an event, co-hosted on the margins of the 72nd Annual Session of UNHCRs Executive Committee, to advance discussions and articulate a common vision for investing in solutions for the forcibly displaced across the two countries and the region. I am greatly encouraged by the exemplary leadership shown by the governments of South Sudan and Sudan in steering the collective pursuit of solutions to help millions of South Sudanese and Sudanese refugees and IDPs, and other refugees in the two countries, to find long-term solutions. It was especially important that refugees, IDPs, and returnees were part of the processes and consultations on the initiative that took place through the past year, which will continue as it moves forward. For people to finally find hope and home, whether through inclusion in communities where they have found refuge, or through voluntary return to countries and areas of origin, they must be assured that solutions reflect their lived experiences and their needs. To find out more about Sudan and South Sudan Solutions Initiative please see the joint statement here. by the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan, IGAD, UNHCR, the World Bank, the US, and the EU. For more information please contact: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi delivers a speech at the 72nd annual Executive Committee meeting at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. UNHCR/Mark Henley GENEVA The number of forcibly displaced people worldwide will top 100 million without greater international cooperation to address multiple crises that erupt or worsen every day around the world, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned at a high-level meeting today. Any one of us can see that we are heading in the wrong direction, Filippo Grandi told UNHCRs annual Executive Committee gathering in Geneva. All indicators are telling us to cooperate to prevent it. And yet we seem unable or unwilling to step off the paths we are currently on. All indicators are telling us to cooperate. Grandi highlighted how a failure to equitably distribute vaccines to curb the COVID-19 pandemic has created a world divided between inoculated and exposed, with disastrous consequences for people on the margins of society, among them refugees working in the informal sector who were the first to lose their jobs as poverty rates skyrocketed. At the same time, decades of global inaction to address the climate emergency has had dramatic consequences for refugees, 90 per cent of whom are from countries most vulnerable to its impacts. Meanwhile, unchecked and unresolved conflicts across the world have led to a doubling in the last decade of the numbers of forcibly displaced, which reached a record 82.4 million at the end of last year. If these trends are not reversed by robust conflict resolution efforts, I fear the question will not be if we will reach 100 million forcibly displaced; but rather when, he told the opening session of the 72nd session of the Executive Committee, which runs through Friday. Grandi singled out the plight of millions of Afghan refugees who have been uprooted for more than 40 years and others inside the country who now face fresh uncertainty. He stressed that large-scale, unconditional humanitarian assistance must be mobilized now to prevent an aggravation of the crisis and the implosion of public services and the economy. And though I am always very prudent in making predictions regarding population movements, I believe that such a deterioration will almost inevitably cause large internal and possibly external displacement, he said. Turning to other situations of unresolved conflict, Grandi warned that if the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia do not abandon a useless, devastating military confrontation in favour of political negotiations, the humanitarian crisis in Tigray and other regions will spiral out of control, with more forced displacement occurring inside and outside the country. He noted a context in which aid personnel face increasing obstacles and unacceptable difficulties, as proven by the recent expulsion of humanitarian staff from the country. Amid rising forced displacement, the High Commissioner also called out powerful nations in some parts of the world who, instead of giving refuge to those fleeing wars caused by no fault of their own, have kept them out with walls and violent pushbacks, by refusing to rescue people at sea, and through increasingly restrictive laws. Grandi said proposals to externalize or outsource asylum obligations to other countries were in fundamental breach of basic responsibility-sharing commitments. He also highlighted a worrying trend where States encourage refugees and migrants to move to other countries through dangerous means for purely political purposes, unrelated to their need for protection. Well-managed borders and access to asylum are not incompatible quite the contrary, he said. Good management does not preclude asylum claims from being heard in a fair and fast system; or those in need of international protection from being admitted and helped. Despite a challenging global outlook, Grandi highlighted progress in supporting peace efforts in South Sudan and Sudan, under the leadership of the two governments and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD. With World Bank support, solutions are being sought for more than seven million refugees and internally displaced people from the two countries. Cooperative efforts have also created temporary solutions for millions of forcibly displaced Venezuelans. Grandi highlighted the exemplary role of Colombia in granting temporary protection status to over 1.7 million Venezuelans, allowing them to stay, work, and access social services like education and health. The move, which also allows displaced people to contribute to the country hosting them, is being taken up by other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, he said. If we work together with courage and humility, and in a true spirit of solidarity then we have a chance to succeed. The High Commissioner also highlighted progress stemming from the Global Compact on Refugees and the follow-up Global Refugee Forum in December 2019, where more than 1,400 pledges have led to policies and investments from public and private sources. These investments, in turn, have lifted the living conditions not just of refugees, especially in protracted crises, but also of host communities, often helping develop remote areas and invest in infrastructure that will remain once refugees return home, Grandi said. While the world faces terrifying challenges, Grandi urged delegates not to lose heart, but to take inspiration from the courage and resilience which uprooted people continue to show. The refugee athletes who triumphed over every adversity at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in August are living examples of why we must not give up. Of why we must address the challenge of forced displacement and all other global challenges patiently, persistently, systematically. None of us can do this alone. But if we work together together! with courage and humility, and in a true spirit of solidarity, putting the common good before individual and national considerations, then we have a chance to succeed. See also: Refugee Paralympians leave legacy of hope as Tokyo Games conclude Share on Facebook Share on Twitter La Paz, Oct 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :Thousands of Bolivian coca leaf growers on Monday stormed the country's main coca market in La Paz following violent clashes with security forces. The Adepcoca market has been the center of a dispute between two groups of coca growers -- one loyal to the government, the other opponents -- since last week. Some 90 percent of Bolivia's legal coca leaf business worth $173 million a year passes through the Adepcoca market, according to UN figures. The dispute centers around who should control the market. Last week, the group loyal to and supported by the government ousted an opposition figure to take control of the premises. Armin Lluta claimed he was held hostage for hours and beaten up by the government-backed group before they took control of the market. Clashes between coca leaf growers and security forces began at midday on Monday, AFP reporters said. Dozens of riot police were stationed in front of the market but despite firing off numerous rounds of tear gas, they were forced to retreat by protesters, who threw stones, posts and fireworks at officers. Two protesters and two members of the security forces were injured in the clashes. "Yungas together, we'll never be defeated," chanted the coca leaf growers as they took control of the market. The Las Yungas region has been a major coca leaf producer since before the region was ruled by the Inca Empire in the 15th century. It's people have a long-standing gripe with the governing Movement for Socialism (MAS) party that commands much of its support amongst other indigenous people. Las Yungas enjoyed a monopoly on legal coca leaf growing until 2017 when then-president Evo Morales of MAS legalized coca production in his home Cochabamba region. Coca leaf is the main ingredient used to produce cocaine but it has been used for other purposes -- such as in religious practices, to make a herbal infusion, or to chew -- for hundreds of years. Washington, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :A Facebook whistleblower goes before US lawmakers Tuesday to urge regulation of the social media giant, after an outage impacted potentially billions of users and highlighted global dependence on its services. Ex-employee Frances Haugen is set to testify on Capitol Hill after she leaked reams of internal research to authorities and the Wall Street Journal, which detailed how Facebook knew its sites were potentially harmful to young people's mental health. She will speak before senators less than a day after Facebook, its photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp went offline for roughly seven hours, with "billions of users" impacted, according to tracker Downdetector. In excerpts of Haugen's testimony leaked to US media, she argues for regulation of the closely scrutinized company that is woven into the daily lives of so many people. "When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action," the excerpts said. "I implore you to do the same here."Facebook has pushed back hard against the outrage regarding its practices and their impact, but this is just the latest crisis to hit the Silicon Valley giant. Paris, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Oct, 2021 ) :French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday a deal on a minimum tax rate of 15 percent for multinational firms is possible, days before an international meeting on the issue. A breakthrough in efforts to stem multinationals' ability to slash taxes by shifting revenues through nations with low rates came in July, when more than 130 states agreed to a minimum 15-percent rate. But a number of countries, including in particular Ireland, have held up the reaching of a consensus and fuelled speculation that the minimum rate could be lowered to reach a deal. "A compromise might be reached around a 15 percent effective tax rate," Le Maire said in a conference call. That "would eliminate attractive effective tax rates on the order of two, five or six percent that are offered by certain countries, including in the European Union," he added. The July breakthrough envisaged the minimum 15 percent tax rate would apply to multinationals with at least 750 million Euros in sales, which in practice means many big tech firms would be hit. Ireland, which has attracted the European headquarters of many international firms with a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate that in practice can be lowered, has so far resisted a compromise. "It will be difficult to go above" 15 percent without losing the holdouts completely, a source close to the talks told AFP. The other pillar of the reform would give countries a share of the taxes on profits earned in their territory. The objective of the Friday meeting under the auspices of the OECD, which has been shepherding the talks, is to bring on board the holdouts that include Hungary and Estonia as well as Ireland, to allow the minimum tax rate to go into effect in 2023. A number of countries are ready to move forward with national taxes targeting tech firms if a minimum tax deal is not reached on an international level. Paris, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he hoped that relations with Algeria could become pacified after a row over visas and critical comments by Paris towards Algiers. "My wish is for a calming down because I think it's better to talk and to make progress," Macron told the France Inter broadcaster, adding that his relations with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune were "truly cordial". (@FahadShabbir) FortdeFrance, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Oct, 2021 ) :France's oldest man Jules Theobald has died at the age of 112, media reports said Tuesday quoting his family. Theobald, who hailed from the Caribbean island of Martinique, a French overseas department, died at his home in the island's main city Fort-de-France. Born on April 17, 1909 -- though family legend had it he was born two years earlier -- the father of three worked as a docker and a fisherman. In a 2019 interview with AFP he insisted feistily that "if it were down to me I could live until I'm 200!" As recently as March, residents had voted him honorary president of his Pointe des Negres home district. With Theobald's death, the oldest man in the world is now Spain's Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia, aged 112 years and 236 days as of Tuesday. France was also home to the oldest person ever whose age has been independently verified -- Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122 years and 164 days. The oldest known living person is now Japanese woman Kane Tanaka of Japan, aged 118 years, 276 days. French nun Lucile Randon -- who survived Covid earlier this year -- is meanwhile the oldest known living European aged 117 and 236 days. Japan's Jiroemon Kimura, who died in 2013 aged 116 years and 54 days, was the oldest man ever whose age has been verified. Washington, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Tuesday that a US debt default could trigger another recession, as an October 18 deadline approaches. "I totally expect it would cause a recession," Yellen said on CNBC, referring to what would be an unprecedented US default as lawmakers fight over raising the debt ceiling. Yellen has warned previously that after October 18, the United States will not have the funds to meet its obligations to creditors if Congress does not relax the legal debt ceiling. Congress has done this dozens of times over the decades since setting borrowing limits, and the votes are usually bipartisan and drama-free. This year, reflecting the extraordinary acrimony in Washington, Republicans are refusing to vote for lifting the ceiling and vow even to block Democrats from passing a simple vote by themselves along party lines. Instead, Senate Republicans are attempting to force Democrats to use a complex maneuver called reconciliation to take sole responsibility for the debt hike. Democrats so far are refusing, accusing the Republicans of taking the nation's financial standing hostage. President Joe Biden on Monday called Republican opponents "reckless and dangerous" for refusing to join Democrats in raising the debt limit. ISLAMABAD, Oct 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood Monday while highlighting the monumental changes that have occurred in the region recently, called for the need of close cooperation and concerted efforts among Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states to counter challenges to peace and security. The foreign secretary hosted the participants of SCO member states following the closing ceremony of Joint Anti-Terrorism Exercise (JATE) Pabbi Anti Terror 2021. In his remarks, the foreign secretary said that SCO-RATS was the only regional platform for dealing with the threat of terrorism and extremism. He also highlighted the enormous sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in human and economic terms in the fight against terrorism. The participants included the Executive Committee of SCO-RATS, led by its Director, Major General Ghiyosov Jamakhon and high-level delegations from counter-terrorism and national security authorities of all SCO member states, a press release said. The participants were also given a comprehensive briefing on Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts and its role in promoting regional security. JATE is an annual counter-terrorism exercise held under the framework of SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS). This year, Pakistan hosted this exercise at its National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) at Pabbi, Punjab. 'Pabbi-2021' was the first ever exercise with physical participation of counter-terrorism forces from two SCO member states Pakistan and China. Hosting the Joint Anti-Terrorism Exercise projected Pakistan's counter-terrorism capabilities and reinforced the leading role it is playing for regional peace and security. Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that Afghanistan required immediate provision of humanitarian assistance and that the international community should fully support the Afghan people at this critical juncture ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that Afghanistan required immediate provision of humanitarian assistance and that the international community should fully support the Afghan people at this critical juncture. Foreign Minister Qureshi said this as he received Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Dr. Ali Bagheri Kani here. Sharing Pakistan's perspective on the latest situation in Afghanistan, the Foreign Minister underscored the need for close coordination for the mutual advantage of the two countries and the region. He stressed the importance of continued economic engagement with Afghanistan to avert economic collapse, which could lead to refugee influx and regional instability. Recalling fraternal relations between the two countries, the Foreign Minister remarked that the recent high-level exchanges had further reinforced existing ties. He emphasized early implementation of the steps, agreed during Prime Minister's meeting with President Raisi on the margins of SCO Summit in Dushanbe. Foreign Minister Qureshi underlined the need for regular convening of institutional frameworks to boost trade and economic relations. He said that the upcoming session of Joint Trade Committee would provide further impetus to efforts for strengthening economic linkages. Foreign Minister Qureshi thanked Iran for its steadfast support on Jammu and Kashmir, especially at the Supreme Leader level. He underlined that Iran's support was reassuring to the oppressed people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for the right to self-determination. The Deputy Foreign Minister thanked Foreign Minister Qureshi for receiving him. He reaffirmed Iran's commitment to enhance bilateral cooperation and advance shared objectives in the region. He said that Foreign Minister Dr. Amir Abdollahian looked forward to his visit to Pakistan. (@FahadShabbir) ISLAMABAD, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday urged the world developed countries including America and European countries to work for peace and security of the Afghan region. "Peace and security is imperative for regional countries including Pakistan," he said in an interview with a private television channel. World food Programme and other international organizations have also expressed concerns over the situation in Afghanistan, he observed. Commenting on American's role for Afghanistan, he said European countries and United States should take immediate steps for resolving issues in Afghanistan. He warned that any unrest or delaying tactics could invite terrorism in this part of the region. (@FahadShabbir) Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Tuesday reminded Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Zardari of the humiliation faced by his party after losing elections in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib on Tuesday reminded Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Zardari of the humiliation faced by his party after losing elections in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. PPP would face worst ever defeat in the upcoming by-polls in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), he said in news statement while reacting to Bilawal's claim of victory of the candidate fielded by his party in LA-12 Charhoi, AJK. The minister said it was part of the history that whenever Bilawal run election campaign for any candidate, he met with crushing defeat. He mocked Bilawal Zardari for day dreaming about formation of his party governments in all the federating units and centre in the general and by elections. Farrukh said the lies of PPP chairman could be gauged through his claim of having popularity in the AJK despite facing embarrassing defeat in its recent elections. The minister said it was his father Asif Ali Zardari who invented new ways to commit corruption. Fake accounts and money laundering with help of Ayan Ali were inventions of Zardari, he added. The minister said there was worst form of bad governance in Sindh where poverty, lawlessness and employment had touched new heights. On the other hand, people of Karachi had been devoid of basic facilities such as clean drinking water, he added. The entire Karachi was submerged even if there was only a light shower in the city, the minister said. He said corruption, illegal recruitments and bribery were the hallmark of the PPP's government. The minister asked Bilawal as to who brokered a deal with former President Pervaz Musharraf for concession. The leaders who called for supremacy of Parliament should also bother to come to the Parliament, he said while chiding Bilawal over his absence from the National Assembly sessions. It was Prime Minister Imran Khan who had ensured distribution of resources on equal grounds, besides provision of low-cost houses and jobs to the marginalized segments of the society, he added. Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland developed a smartphone app that could provide a new way to aid stroke survivors on their path to recovery SYDNEY, Oct. 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) --:Researchers from Australia's University of Queensland developed a smartphone app that could provide a new way to aid stroke survivors on their path to recovery. The app called LifeCHAT would put world-leading research and treatment methods at the fingertips of thousands of stroke victims, their carers and medical professionals. The project has almost 400,000 Australian Dollars (about 290,000 U.S. dollars) in funding from the Medical Research Future Fund, a program announced by the Federal government in June that funds "ground-breaking medical research projects around Australia. "Co-investigator on the project Gopal Sihn first had the idea for the app while he was recovering from a stroke and had no way to track his recovery and recognize his progress. "LifeCHAT will allow stroke survivors to set goals, receive engaging therapy and monitor their own progress -- a bit like having a fitness tracker for communication," said Sihn. (@FahadShabbir) WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2021) US President Joe Biden on Monday met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss global security and Transatlantic defense, the White House said. "President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). They discussed the international security environment and NATO's ongoing efforts to safeguard Transatlantic defense," the White House said in a statement. The US president expressed full support for the NATO agenda as agreed by the military alliance's leaders during the summit in June, the statement added. During his stay in Washington, Stoltenberg had separate discussions with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as well as US Secretaries of State and Defense, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin. (@ChaudhryMAli88) LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2021) A fire at the Westminster underground station in central London has been put under control and the cause of the smoke that triggered the alarm will be investigated, the London Fire Brigade said on Tuesday. "The Brigade was called at 1129 and the incident was under control by 1249. Fire crews from Lambeth, Euston, Old Kent Road and Soho fire stations attended the scene," the fire department said in a statement. Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters were called after an electrical room within the basement of the station spewed a large amount of smoke in close proximity to the Houses of Parliament and Prime Minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street, and other government buildings. Around 100 passengers left the station before the firefighters arrived, the London Fire Brigade added. NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th October, 2021) The Indian air force (IAF) is fully prepared to counter China's increasing military presence at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the disputed border territories, IAF Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari said on Tuesday. The tensions between the two countries have been on the rise over the past few weeks as both accuse each other of increasing military presence in eastern Ladakh. "There is deployment of PLA (Chinese armed forces) at the LAC. China has increased its infrastructure there. We are fully prepared. Their forward deployment might be bigger but Indian Airforce is well prepared," Chaudhari said at a press conference. Chaudhari further noted that the IAF has been actively modernizing its equipment and purchasing new vehicles. "The recent deployment of Rafale, Apache aircraft has enhanced our capability. IAF's offensive strike capability has become even more potent with the induction of modern edge weapons. With the upcoming deployment of Tejas MK 1A and S400 the IAF will become even stronger," Chaudhari stated. In 2015, the IAF signed a contract with the United States on the purchase of 22 Apache Guardian attack helicopters, and the first aircraft was officially handed over to the IAF in May 2019. In 2016, India contracted 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France. The first batch of five fighter jets arrived in India in last July, and the rest are expected to be delivered before the end of 2021. Tejas MK 1A Light Combat Aircraft are produced domestically by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and Russia's S-400 air defense systems are expected to be shipped to India and put into service in 2021, according to Chaudhari. The tensions in Ladakh between China and India resumed last May. Following several conflicts between both countries' military units in the area of Pangong Lake, Beijing and New Delhi increased their military presence on the border. The sides agreed to withdraw troops from the LAC in February, but the situation once again escalated as both countries resumed deployment of troops near the line in September. China has several times since then accused India of provocative behavior on the border, while New Delhi has rejected all such claims as groundless. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The seven United Nations staff who were declared persona non grata by the Ethiopian government and ordered to leave the country last week have been relocated over concerns about their safety, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Monday UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2021) The seven United Nations staff who were declared persona non grata by the Ethiopian government and ordered to leave the country last week have been relocated over concerns about their safety, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said on Monday. "None of the seven UN staff named by the Ethiopian government is in the country at present. They have been moved from the country to ensure their safety," Haq said during a press briefing. Haq declined to comment on whether a particular threat has been received over the weekend that prompted the United Nations to evacuate its staff, but said the world body is evaluating the next steps and intends to continue to go about its work in Ethiopia. Uzbekistan has continued supplying electricity to Afghanistan without disruptions, the Uzbek Energy Ministry's press service said Tuesday TASHKENT, Oct. 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) --:Uzbekistan has continued supplying electricity to Afghanistan without disruptions, the Uzbek Energy Ministry's press service said Tuesday. Afghanistan may face energy problems due to unpaid debts to electricity exporting countries, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, local Afghan media reported, saying Afghanistan's energy officials asked the power-exporting countries not to cut electricity and pledged to pay debts. The Uzbek side was fulfilling all its obligations to export electricity to neighboring Afghanistan, said the Uzbek Energy Ministry's press service, without mentioning any payment issues. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said last month that his country was ready for a dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan and would participate in projects that would strengthen peace in the country. In the spirit of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato si' and following the teachings of the Poor man of Assisi, the Franciscan nuns serving in Indias Tamil Nadu state are spearheading an activity to help young Indian women without work, with particular attention to those with disabilities. "Assisi Garments" is a textile company that combines tradition, innovation and environmental protection, focusing on 100% organic cotton. By Igor Traboni It was 1994 when some Franciscan nuns in India, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which alone has more inhabitants than Italy, thought of starting an activity to help young girls without work, with particular attention to those affected by various disabilities, especially people who are deaf. The nuns decided that the proceeds would then be used not only to expand that business, but also to support other charitable works. And, they reckoned, what in India could be better than working with cotton to provide work? No sooner said than done: the sisters set up a company, which today employs about 300 girls compared to the initial one-hundred. The business name is inextricably linked to its Franciscan origins: "Assisi Apparel" is in fact the name of the company, which three years later became "Assisi Garments", specializing in handmade cotton garments. These products coming from Tamil Nadu, and are all of excellent workmanship. Slowly, the business/charity managed to carve out a larger and larger niche in the fair trade of Italian stores, thanks in particular to "Altromercato" and "altraQualita", which distribute them. File photo of Catholic women at Mass To the young women who work with "Assisi Garments" and who also hail from the nearby state of Kerala, where there exists a sizable Catholic population, the Franciscan nuns provide room and board, as well as a good monthly salary, social security coverage, and continuing education courses. The overall goal is to improve the products, always with the utmost attention to remaining organic, but also to make them more attractive on international markets, ranging from the Americas to various European countries. The profits from sales are used for various charitable works, in particular for a clinic for cancer patients (locally caused mainly by the use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture), but also for a hospice, an orphanage, a center for AIDS patients, assistance to lepers, and education, including a school for the blind. However, all this would not be possible without the final link in the chain that starts from those warehouses in southern India: fair trade. Many of the young women hail from Kerala In these nearly 30 years of activity, "Assisi Garments" has also succeeded in the further enterprise of combining tradition, innovation, and environmental protection, creating a 100% organic cotton chain. Today, it finds its method reflected in the teachings of Pope Francis' Laudato si', from responding to the cry of the earth and the poor to pushing for alternate ways of understanding the economy; and, from adopting an alternative lifestyle to education and creating an ecological awareness and new job opportunities. "Assisi Garments" represents something unique in the field of the textile industry, with an integrated supply chain that goes from the cotton seedling to the finished product. The result is 100% organic cotton, therefore, with all the necessary certifications, so as to contribute in a responsible way to the preservation of the environment, a not-insignificant element even in India. On the other hand, GOTS, The Global Organic Textile Standard, the body that issues the certifications, takes into account a whole series of parameters: obviously the ecological ones, but also the purely productive and social ones of the entire supply chain. These include cotton harvesting, spinning, cutting, dyeing, along with the regulation of materials and processes that can be used in the transformation of cotton or other organic fibers. "Assisi Garments", for example, does not use dyes in which heavy metals or formaldehyde are present, so as not to arouse allergies in buyers. An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2020 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam.... A new undercover video sting on a trio of Pfizer scientists speaking in a personal setting has not only shed light on the organizations profit-driven, surveillance-based corporate culture, but showed that Big Pharmas scientists are personally aware that natural immunity trumps the synthetic immunity generated by their companys products. On Oct. 4, investigative journalist team Project Veritas published Part Four of its COVID-19 Vaccine Exposed series, showing candid comments made by three Pfizer scientists in a restaurant setting to a female undercover operative. In the first part of the series, Veritas featured undercover video taken by a nurse working at a Department of Health and Human Services hospital that showed doctors at her facility concerned about underreporting of vaccine adverse reactions. Part Two showed an FDA Economist advocating for forcibly vaccinating blacks and low IQ whites with blow darts in order to return to normal. Part Three showed candid conversation from two scientists who worked for Johnson & Johnson, one who was happy to advocate for creating a class of second grade citizens through vaccine passports, and another who showed they still had a conscience. Part Four is composed of undercover video clips taken by what appears to be the same female journalist with three Pfizer scientists in a personal setting on separate occasions. The first, Rahul Khandke, who Project Veritas says is a scientist for the company, appears in the expose only briefly. However, Khandke complains about the extensive education seminars he has been made to attend pushing a narrative that Pfizers vaccine provides superior protection to natural immunity. Were bred and taught to be like vaccine is safer than actually getting COVID. And thats like, honestly We have to do so many seminars on this. Like, you have no idea. We have to sit there for hours and hours and listen to, like, You cannot talk about this. Its not in public, he said. Khandke dissented from his training when he shared his opinion that natural immunity was sufficient protection, Logically though, if you have antibodies built up, like, you should be able to prove you have those built upmaybe potentially that doesnt seem that crazy. His opinion appears to be backed by some data. In a recent examination of more than 20 million Medicare patients aged 65+ by a Department of Defense-backed artificial intelligence platform, in a subset of 5.6 million vaccinated individuals the data showed that previous COVID-19 infection had the lowest odds ratio for breakthrough hospitalization among all risk factors. Specifically, in August, a large preprint study from Israel that analyzed anonymized health records from one of the countrys four mandatory health care providers showed that Pfizer vaccine recipients were at 27 times greater risk of symptomatic breakthrough infection compared to those who were unvaccinated but had previously been diagnosed with COVID-19. Khandkes opinion on natural immunity was backed by his peers. In another clip, the Veritas operative tells Chris Croce, who the Project says is a Senior Associate Scientist for the firm, that a recent antibody test showed she has monster immunity after suffering from COVID as far back as eight months ago. Croce replied, I mean, thats no worries. Same thing with my brother. The journalist then asked the scientist, So should I get the vaccine? Croce paused, and said, Wait. If your immunity starts to wane, then get vaccinated. Croce told the woman she was probably more protected than what could be gained from accepting Pfizers COVID-19 injection. He went into detail, So, when we came out with so right now were seeing an increase in the Delta Variant. Mostly not because of the variant, mostly because of immune their, basically their antibodies are waning. So theyre still protected, but not have that 95 percent efficacy. Its more like 70 percent. So youre being youre protected most likely for longer since there was a natural response. Croce also showed he was conscious about the push for vaccine passports being used to coerce more people to accept injection, So basically theyre trying to keep track of everyone thats been vaccinated versus the census of how many people are actually reportedTheyre trying to get their numbers, but still, you shouldnt have to show anything, which is basically, in my opinion, a violation of HIPAA. The scientist dissented from the establishments talking points, No one has the right to ask you if youve been vaccinated. Its an invasion of privacy. I dont agree with it. You have multiple companies that were basically given a crap ton of money to produce vaccines, and theyre pushing them. When the journalist asked why monoclonal antibody treatments were being downplayed and restricted by the Biden administration, Croces reply was simple: Money. Its disgusting. I mean, I still feel like I work for an evil corporation cause it comes down to profits in the end, and I mean, Im there to help people, not to make millions and millions of dollars. So I mean, thats the moral dilemma. Basically our organization is run on COVID money now. It netted like, over $15 billion last year. Asked if myocarditis was a concern as a vaccine adverse reaction, he said that Pfizer was actually investigating the disease internally, Yeah. More so for younger people. Thats what were looking into right now. We just sent like, 3,000 patients samples to get [externally] tested for, like, elevated troponin levels to see if its vaccine based. Croce also expressed reservation over the culture of surveillance and compliance he works under at Pfizer, Theres ears and eyes everywhereat Pfizer, like, in the building. So its kind of just, like, you dont talk about anything that can implicate you or Big Pharma. Even if you shut the door to the office, its kind of like, whos listening? The third man identified by Veritas as a Pfizer scientist, Nick Karl, was asked by the journalist the million dollar question: How do we get the unvaccinated vaccinated? Karls reply was analogous to the one given by Justin Durrant of Johnson & Johnson in Part Three of the series, except unlike Durrant, who smiled and laughed throughout his answer, Karl treated vaccine coercion in a serious fashion, speaking with a solemn tone, I feel like what theyre doing like for instance the city needs, like, vaxx cards and everything. Its just like about making it so inconvenient for, like, unvaccinated people, to the point where theyre just like f*ck it, Ill get it, you know? Like, if you are restricting people that are unvaccinated from doing anything, and then, like, vaccinated people are allowed to do anything they want, eventually theyre just going to be like f*ck, let me just get vaccinated. And just like his comrades, Karl acknowledged the virtues of natural immunity, going into detail about how the mechanism of gene therapy vaccines work compared to the bodys intrinsic immune system response, When somebody is naturally immune, like, they got COVID, they probably have better Like, not better, but probably more antibodies against the virus. Because what the vaccine is, is like I said that [spike] protein, thats just on the outside [of a coronavirus]. Karl continued, So its just one antibody against one specific part of the virus. When you actually get the virus, youre going to start producing antibodies against, like, multiple pieces of virus, and not only just like that outside portion, like the inside portion. The actual virus. So your antibodies at that point are probably better at that point than the vaccination. On Sept. 30, in a continuation of its draconian censorship and internet control policies, authorities in Beijing blocked access to a website constructed to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre. No one from Hong Kong or the mainland can access the site without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (The Alliance) launched the website, 8964museum.com, in early August, and its been operated independently by an offshore team led by Chang Ping, a Chinese journalist in exile in Germany, ever since. The online museum aims to share stories and events concerning the Tiananmen Square massacre that occurred on June 4, 1989. The site details the events up to and including the massacre. The museum consists of six pages titled Time, Space, Personage, Hong Kong, Media, and Literature and Arts, each filled with files, images, descriptions and even animations concerning the events that transpired. It was initially funded by The Alliance, but the group had to cease financial support to avoid complications from officials. Before its launch, developers secured approximately HK$1.68 million (US$215,735) by crowdfunding to develop the website and physical museum just before the national security law (NSL) in Hong Kong was passed into law in June 2020. The blocking of the online museum came after a raid by Hong Kong police on a physical museum the June 4th Museum commemorating the same events two weeks prior. Officers were caught on scene carrying exhibits out of the June 4th Museum, while four members of the Hong Kong Alliance were arrested. Users in Hong Kong, as well as reporters from Nikkei in the city, are unable to access the website through the network providers PCCW, Smartone and China Mobile Hong Kong since Thursday. Using a VPN or a change in the domain name system (DNS) would be the only reliable methods to access the website. The PCCW have declined to comment about the restricted access, while Smartone and China Mobile Hong Kong provided no response to inquiries. Chang Ping said, If the website is blocked, the right to freedom of information of Hong Kong people and all other people related to the museum will be violated. We believe that this is a disgraceful act to erase historical memory. According to The Alliances liquidator, Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, he was asked to sign a document provided by the police, which said that there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the museum area was an offense related property. The Alliances assets in several banks, including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Hang Seng Bank and Bank of East Asia, were frozen. Hong Kong police had no comment on the cases, but they maintained that police may require service providers to take actions to prohibit electronic messages posted on electronic platforms that are likely to endanger national security. Hong Kong National Security Law In June, 2020, the communist government in Beijing enacted The National Security Law (NSL) for the city of Hong Kong, which was signed by the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, and adopted by Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam. The law was enacted following a series of pro-democracy demonstrations that stormed the city in 2019, resulting in extreme police action against the citizens and those suspected of conspiracy against Beijing. Hong Kong authorities have continued to deny curbing human rights and freedoms, claiming that the law was used based on evidence and not the background, profession or political beliefs of the supposed offenders. Among those arrested included Alliance leaders Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan, who are now incarcerated over their involvement in the protests and are facing national security charges. The NSL was also used to block another website, HKChronicles, in January. The website contained information on anti-government protests, as well as data on the police force and its supporters. Tiananmen Square massacre Years before the British handed control of Hong Kong over to the CCP, mass protests erupted in Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989. The protests were inspired after the death of politician Hu Yaobang, who oversaw economic and political change on the mainland. The protests were brutally crushed by the CCPs army when martial law was declared in Beijing, resulting in mass arrests and deaths among the people. The famous scene of an unnamed man carrying two shopping bags while facing down a line of Chinese tanks cemented itself in world history as a glimpse into the communist partys destructive response to the protests. To this day, the man has never been identified. While the death toll of the Tiananmen Square massacre has never been officially confirmed, it is estimated by rights groups and witnesses that thousands may have perished in the crackdown. Documents revealing a diplomatic cable from the former British Ambassador to China in 2017 estimated that around 10,000 had died. In yet another display of aggression, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) sent a record number of warplanes into Taiwans air defense identification zone (ADIZ) during the first three days of October. The incursions coincided with Beijing celebrating its National Day holiday on Oct. 1 that celebrated the founding of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). A total of 93 PLA aircraft planes have flown near the territory of the Republic of China as Taiwan is officially known between Oct. 1 and 3. A total of 38 military aircraft entered the ROCs ADIZ on Oct. 1, according to the ROC defense ministry. The aircraft included 28 J-16 fighters, four SU-30 fighters, four H-6 bombers, an early warning aircraft, and an anti-submarine war plane. On Oct. 2, Beijing sent 39 aircraft, which included 10 SU-30 fighters, 26 J-16 fighters, two anti-aircraft planes, and one early-warning aircraft into the ROCs ADIZ representing a record for the number of aircraft sent. Prior to this, the highest number of planes sent by Beijing into Taiwans ADIZ was 28, recorded in June 2021. On Oct. 3, China sent 16 fighter jets. The aggressive incursions have triggered alarm bells in Taiwan and the United States. Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang accused the PRC of wantonly engag[ing] in military aggression, damaging regional peace. Threatening? Of course. Its strange the #PRC doesnt bother faking excuses anymore, Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter. Oct. 1 wasn't a good day. The #PLAAF flew 38 warplanes into #Taiwan's ADIZ, making it the largest number of daily sorties on record. Threatening? Of course. It's strange the #PRC doesn't bother faking excuses anymore. JW ( via @MoNDefense) pic.twitter.com/U2fHUwV5uK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) (@MOFA_Taiwan) October 2, 2021 U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price stated that Washington is very concerned regarding Beijings provocative military activity near Taiwan. He warned that such actions are destabilizing and undermines peace and stability in the region. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan We will continue to stand with friends and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values and deepen our ties with democratic Taiwan, Price said in a statement. He added that the U.S. will continue to help Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability. Taiwans Foreign Ministry thanked Washington for the strong remarks, and accused Communist China of worsening tensions across the Indo-Pacific. The incursions follow a scathing verbal attack by the mainland Chinese authorities against Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu. Beijings Taiwan Affairs Office called Wus efforts to promote Taipeis international ties as shrilling and moaning. In a Sept. 27 speech at the Hoover Institution in the U.S., Wu mentioned that the threat from mainland China was unabating. Information security attacks and grey zone tactics were highlighted. He also blamed the Beijing for keeping Taiwan out of important international institutions and trying to lure its diplomatic allies. According to experts, the constant incursions of Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft were wearing down ROC pilots and aircraft. Some feel that the incursions could end up affecting the overall vigilance of the island democracy. For the first time since 2019, a warship of the British Royal Navy sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sept. 27, testing Beijings territorial claims. The HMS Richmond, a frigate of the U.K.s Carrier Strike Group, was led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. The warship was on its way to Vietnam through the Taiwan Strait, the body of water that separates mainland China from Taiwan. Military provocations Beijing has repeatedly claimed that Taiwan is under its control, but Taiwans President Tsai Ing-wen claims that Taiwan is already independent. The HMS Richmonds transit came as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been intensifying military, economic and political pressure on Taiwan, formerly known as the Republic of China (ROC). In 2021, the communist-led Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has made over 500 intrusions into Taiwans air-defence identification zone (ADIZ) so far, putting the islands defenses on alert for any possible military provocation. While the United States has become the main nation to send its ships through the Taiwan Strait, other nations are beginning to follow suit in the wake of Beijings military provocations in the South China Sea. The last Royal Navy vessel to make the passage through the strait was the British survey ship HMS Enterprise, which made it through the waterway in 2019. According to local media, this makes the HMS Richmond the first ship to move through the strait in almost a year. After a busy period working with partners and allies in the East China Sea, we are now en route through the Taiwan Strait to visit Vietnam and the Vietnam Peoples Navy, the HMS Richmond tweeted. British admiral Tony Radakin told Nikkei Asia that it was very clear that the Taiwan Strait is international waters. It is a waterway that can be used by different nations. Beijings response In a typical fashion, the CCP responded with wild allegations. It stated that the UK harbored evil intentions. When asked about the transit, Beijings Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters, We hope the relevant countries can do more to build mutual trust between countries and uphold peace and security in the region. In July 2021, Beijing warned the U.K.s Carrier Strike Group not to perform any improper acts in the South China Sea. PLA on [Monday] tracked and monitored a British frigate sailing through [the] Taiwan Strait. tweeted Peoples Daily, the state media controlled by the CCP. With ill intentions, [the] UKs move destroyed peace and stability in the area. China is on high alert and is ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time: PLA Eastern Theater Command. The CCP-run Global Times also claimed that The Peoples Liberation Army is at a high state of combat readiness. Cambodia will receive new biometric surveillance and DNA screening equipment as part of its latest deal reinforcing law enforcement cooperation with China, prompting a leading human rights group to call for the government to come clean about its plans for the technology. The deal was signed last week in an online meeting between Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng and Chinese Public Security Minister Zhao Kezhi. It also includes funds for the new National Police headquarters. The Chinese side shall provide security regulatory equipment, crime-scene probing tools, DNA screening equipment, and autopsy tools, as well as speeding up the process of constructing the facilities of Cambodian National Polices central commanding headquarters, reads the deal seen by VOA Khmer. Chinas domestic use of high-tech tools to monitor its citizens, including biometric identification and DNA collection in restive province of Xinjiang, have raised concerns about privacy, discrimination, and potential targeting of dissidents along with legitimate criminals. As China expands its economic reach abroad, observers have warned that these invasive technologies would follow. Chinese-funded ports and railways will not necessarily undermine democracy in host countries, wrote Hiroyuki Akita, a foreign affairs analyst for Nikkei Asia, in 2019. But sophisticated systems that let authorities to keep tabs on people could see countries with immature democratic institutions morph into dictatorships. Chak Sopheap, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, expressed concern that Chinas next-generation technology could affect the rights to privacy of both Cambodian and Chinese people living in the Kingdom especially those who do not support the governments. The government must execute the plan in a transparent manner by disclosing the goals and the objectives of this kind of cooperation, Chak Sopheap said. Chinese diplomats have recently expressed concern about illegal activities such as online scams being carried out by Chinese criminals living in Cambodia. Interior Ministry spokesman Gen. Khieu Sopheak said human rights and privacy is not a higher priority than security, noting that the United States also equips law enforcement with surveillance and data collection tools. In ruling a state, if we focus merely on human rights, the state will be unstable and prone to terrorism, Khieu Sopheak told VOA Khmer. For that, ruling a state, same for the U.S., must have this to ensure those who wish to overthrow the government or to plant a bomb are caught beforehand. China has also installed more than 1,000 CCTV cameras in Phnom Penh since 2015, when it provided $3 million for a new surveillance system in the capital city. And earlier this year, Cambodias National Police announced that China would "assist on installing security cameras nationwide, according to FreshNews. Under the deal signed Sept. 28, law enforcement agencies in both countries will also provide mutual support for the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022, Cambodias ASEAN chairmanship in 2022, and the Southeast Asian Games 2023 in Phnom Penh, according to Khieu Sopheak. He added the deal also includes the cooperation to combat narcotic trafficking, terrorism, illicit armed trade, human trafficking, transboundary organized crimes, online gambling, and internet scams. Cambodia is seen as Beijings closest ally in Southeast Asia. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, earlier in September to officially hand over a $150-million stadium, a $270-million grant, and three million COVID-19 jabs. During a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, Wang Yi also urged Cambodia to stem the impacts of online gambling and crime involving Chinese nationals, so that it does not damage relations between the countries. Cambodia announced a ban on online gambling in 2019, under pressure from China to reign in related criminal activity among Chinese nationals living in Cambodia. However, recent media reports suggest continued internet ransom and scamming rings involving Chinese nationals, including illegal confinement of victims, often operating out of the coastal city of Sihanoukville. Two investigative reports this year accused the Burkina Faso representative of tobacco giant Philip Morris of funding terrorism through tobacco smuggling. In an exclusive interview with VOA, Apollinaire Compaore rejects those findings. Selling cigarettes to smugglers who pay jihadists to protect their convoys. Thats the accusation leveled against the Burkina Faso representative of Phillip Morris International by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP. In a February report, the Sarajevo-based group cited officials, rivals and former colleagues of Apollinaire Compaore who accused him of indirectly funding terrorism by working with smugglers who carry not only cigarettes, but drugs and people into Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Libya. It also accused Burkina Faso authorities and the Swiss American tobacco giant of being complicit in a vast smuggling operation centered around a warehouse in the northern town of Markoye. Indeed, we think Phillip Morris was aware of what he was doing," Aisha Kehoe Down, OCCRP Investigative Journalist told VOA. "Theres also clear indications that parts of the Burkinabe state, including customs, were involved in the warehouse at Markoye. In fact, the customs officer we interviewed characterized it as a mafia at the top of the state. Burkina Fasos customs department was not available to comment on the accusations against the agency or against Compaore, who also owns a major bank and telecom company. In a written response, Phillip Morris said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the company and no information indicating their products shipped to Burkina Faso were smuggled into neighboring countries. But a 2019 U.N. report also found that a company owned by Compaore supplied regional smugglers, says one of the reports authors. He knowingly supplies those that traffic, and he must be aware of this because theres no legal market for those cigarettes once he brings them to northern Burkina Faso, said Ruben de Koning, United Nations Finance Expert. In an exclusive interview for VOA, Compaore refuted all these accusations. He says the United Nations lied and that those who worked on the report for the U.N. are no longer employed by them. One of the richest men in Burkina Faso, Compaore also dismissed claims in the OCCRP report that two of his companies have never paid taxes. Are they the director general of taxes? he asked. He said they are all lying to harm him. They are lies, he insisted. When asked if there is any evidence of Compaore being involved in cigarette smuggling, Moumouni Lougue, the general manager of Burkina Fasos tax department, cited confidentiality laws. What is known, he said, is that the tax administration is very vigorous, very rigorous, and does not in any case let this type of fact pass it by without it going unpunished. Whether or not authorities take action, the allegation that cigarette smuggling supports Sahel terrorism is not expected to go away any time soon. With two years left in his term, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio told Voice of America that expanding political freedoms, improving education, holding past leaders accountable for corruption, and promoting gender equality are his administration's priorities. His platform comes amid record-setting government debt, soaring consumer prices and continued high employment. Political critics are questioning the government's borrowing strategy which has indebtedness hovering around $3 billion. VOA's Peter Clottey spoke with Bio about his agenda and how he plans to move the country forward. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. VOA: You've been quite vocal about human capital development. What are you doing about it? Bio: I started talking about human capital development even before I was elected. I think it was actually on that basis that Sierra Leoneans chose me instead of any other person. I have stated to them that in as much as Sierra Leone can boast of many natural minerals like gold, diamond, bauxite, the most important or the most precious of those for me is the human being. If we can invest appropriately in the human being, it will be the basis for development. And it was on that basis that I actually used it as the flagship program in my campaign. And quite apart from what other people think about human capital development, I have defined it to be good health, good education and food security. I realized that not everybody had access to education because of the level of poverty in our country. So, I decided to do the heavy lifting. The government decided to pay for every child for free primary school to the end of high school. VOA: How are you funding this project and how sustainable will it be? Bio: That is a very good question because it is quite expensive. But I have always said that it is not as expensive as ignorance when the population in not educated. For me, in the 21st century and with the fourth industrial revolution looming, education is an existential thing. We must have it or perish as a nation. It is expensive. But what have we done? We have been able to close most of the loopholes, you know, for corruption in the country. And that is how we've been able to first get the seed money. And once we got going, we have been able to attract a lot of allies. The Global Partnership for Education, the World Bank, a lot of institutions are supportive. VOA: Would you say that your administration has implemented measures to ensure that you meet the standards of good governance that Sierra Leoneans expect from you? Bio: Talking about good governance definitely reminds me about transparency, accountability and making sure that we free up the political space so that all the political parties can freely partake in elections and the elections are credible. We have done quite a lot in that direction in the past three years. Today, we have removed the death penalty. It has been hanging in the law books and it's been used by several governments to take away the opposition, to threaten them, to silence them. For me, I have decided that that is a thing of the past. And I took that to the parliament of Sierra Leone, and it's off the law books today. The seditious libel law this is a law that has been used to threaten journalists and a lot of them have been locked up. As I speak to you, that is also the thing of the past. If you check in our prisons today, there is no journalist in prison for practicing journalism. VOA: What is your government doing about gender equity and empowerment? Bio: When I took over, women were definitely at the edge. They did not have the necessary space. They did not have the necessary support. What I have done, apart from bringing a lot of women into governance, is to make sure that they feel a part of our development process, they feel a part of being Sierra Leonean. Rape was rampant. I declared a national emergency, and we have amended the Sexual Offenses Act. And now, the punitive measures are stricter. We've set up special courts for that. We have a special, one stop sentence to deal with rape and other issues. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet in Switzerland this week with a ranking Chinese diplomat, the White House said Tuesday. Sullivan's meeting with Yang Jiechi on Wednesday in Zurich comes amid heightened tension between the two superpowers over trade, Taiwan and other issues. The meeting is aimed at fulfilling an earlier pledge by both countries to improve communications. "They will follow up on President Biden's September 9 call with President Xi (Jinping) as we continue to seek to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China," the White House said in a statement. The meeting will be Sullivan's first in-person meeting with Yang, a former ambassador to the U.S., since the two traded scathing remarks during a March meeting in Alaska. The silence between the leaders of the world's largest economies had been approaching seven months until Biden spoke with Xi September 9. During that call, the presidents discussed the importance of not allowing competition between the two countries to escalate into conflict. Some information for this report came from Reuters. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed potential areas of cooperation Tuesday, as Blinken visited Paris to try to improve relations between the two allies following a dispute about a security partnership among the United States, Britain and Australia. A U.S. official told reporters the meeting, which was not on Blinkens public schedule, lasted about 40 minutes, and included discussion of joint projects the two sides could announce during a meeting later this month between Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden. Blinken held earlier talks Tuesday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French National Security Adviser Emmanuel Bonne. The top U.S. diplomat also chaired the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and made remarks on climate change, inequities faced by underserved populations, and global threats to democracy. The principles at the heart of this organization and our democracies are being challenged by authoritarian governments that argue their model is better at meeting peoples basic needs. Some of these same governments are actively seeking to undermine the rules-based order that has been fundamental to security and prosperity of our countries for generations, Blinken said, without naming specific nations. Blinken said member nations must prove that our approach can make a better life for people in all countries and in a way thats more equitable than in the past while holding ourselves accountable. Tensions over AUKUS deal U.S. President Joe Bidens administration announced on September 15 a new security pact with Australia and Britain. Under the deal, Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built domestically using American technology. The agreement came after Australia pulled out of an earlier deal with France for diesel-electric submarines, angering Paris. France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and to Australia within two days following the announcement. Le Drian declared there is a crisis of trust in the United States. After a phone call between President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on September 22 that sought to ease tensions over the submarine deal, both leaders decided to open a process of in-depth consultations to ensure confidence. Macron also decided that French Ambassador Philippe Etienne would return to Washington the following week. Thursday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Etienne at the White House to continue advancing shared agenda, in advance of Bidens meeting with Macron in Europe at the end of October. Both are scheduled to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rome at that time. We need to make sure trust is there, said Karen Donfried, the newly confirmed assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, in a phone briefing on Friday. While the U.S.-France relationship remains an important one for both sides, James Goldgeier, who is a senior visiting fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said the Biden administration seems to have been a bit taken aback by the angry French reaction to the AUKUS deal. Its good that the two presidents are looking for ways to move forward. There is no question that the Biden administration sees the Indo-Pacific as its main focus. U.S. policy toward regions like Europe are seen through that lens, Goldgeier told VOA. The State Department said in a statement that the U.S. delegation to OECDs October ministerial also includes Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. OECD & China The OECD gathering will discuss the climate crisis, promoting the transition to net-zero emissions, as well as market-economy principles while continuing its commitment on shared values such as democracy, rule of law, and human rights. A senior State Department official said another focus during the OECD meeting is the Blue Dot Network, a mechanism to certify infrastructure projects that meet robust international quality standards. The United States, Japan and Australia launched the Blue Dot Network in 2019. Named for the view of Earth from space as a mere blue dot, it encourages development by certifying public-private investments in global infrastructure that are market-driven, transparent, and environmentally sustainable. The administration is very interested in engaging like-minded partners and allies to talk about the behaviors of non-market economies, including China, said Matt Murray, a senior official from the State Departments Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, during a phone briefing on Friday. Murray told VOA that China will participate in the OECD meeting as an observer. Separate from the ministerial council meeting, and more generally, the U.S. government has undertaken a comprehensive review of the U.S.-China trade relationship because the United States welcomes healthy, fair competition with our trading partners. And economic competition with the P.R.C. should be fair, added Murray. Blinken heads to Mexico Blinkens weeklong trip also includes a stop at Stanford University, as well as meetings in Mexico City from October 7-8 for the U.S.-Mexico High Level Security Dialogue. He will join U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss security issues, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week. The high-level meeting comes amid a recent migration crisis as tens of thousands of Haitian migrants gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border last month. The Biden administration confirmed on September 24 that a makeshift camp where 15,000 Haitian migrants braved desperate conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border was now vacant. In late September, Mexico also began flying Haitian migrants back to their homeland. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters Chinas global market share of arms exports is falling as its weapons remain largely untested in combat and come with hidden costs, including political ones, experts say. Arms sales from the worlds No. 2 economy during 2016-2020 were 7.8% lower than during the previous five-year span, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In market share terms, Chinas arms exports shrank from 5.6% to 5.2%, the data show. Exports from China normally total $3 billion to $4 billion a year, said Richard Bitzinger, a U.S.-based visiting senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. The school is part of Nanyang Technological University. After-sales service support for Chinese hardware often costs a lot against original sales prices that are lower than arms from other exporters, said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at the university, said Chinese arms are often cheaper than comparable products from other exporters, but after-sale service support can be costly. Koh said political friction with China also stops some foreign buyers, especially if the imports require integration with non-Chinese systems. Lack of combat testing for most Chinese hardware leaves some buyers wondering how well it works, he added. Many types of American-made gear have weathered combat and enjoy more name recognition among importers. Ultimately the issue here does come with the made-in-China label, that is not very much positive, said Koh. These are those real concerns, so therefore I think the stigma of made-in-China, this certainly goes beyond military equipment. Buildup of exports China ranked as the worlds fourth biggest arms exporter in 2019-2020, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States was first, Russia second and France third. About 60% of Chinas exports went to Algeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan from 2016-2020, according to figures from the Stockholm institute, a widely cited source for armed conflict information. The institute says Pakistan, a Chinese ally that periodically spars with India, took 38% of all exports from China during that period. Backed by a mature manufacturing base, China has perfected drone technology especially for civilian use and learned other weapons-making techniques from Russia, analysts believe. China has opportunities now in shipbuilding, Koh said. The analysts say poor countries and those at odds politically with the United States typically buy from China, giving it a steady clientele over the past two decades. Buyers are concentrated in Africa, the Middle East, southern Asia and Latin America. China is seeking clients everywhere in the world and it has made some big progress in terms of the technology of its weapons, said Alexander Vuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii, a U.S. Department of Defense institute. It also has the ability to upgrade a little bit and at the same time to proffer at a lower price, so it makes the Chinese weapons attractive to many, many countries, he said. Signs of occasional stress Countries that buy Chinese weapons seldom complain and experts say many never use the equipment because theyre not at war. But signs of stress occasionally appear after a sale. Two years ago, aviation news websites reported that the Royal Jordanian Air Force had put six Chinese-made CH-4B Pterosaur drones up for resale. Statements before the resale indicate the Jordanians may be disappointed with its performance, Overt Defense said. In Thailand, the navy accepted three Chinese-made tanks this year for $11.77 million despite questions from opposition lawmakers about why they took priority over COVID-19 vaccines. The two countries boosted military cooperation in 2016. Malaysia ordered four Chinese littoral mission ships in late 2016 and saved money by having them made in China, said Shariman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia. Two have arrived already. Littoral mission ships are relatively small vessels designed in the past for stealth combat near coastlines, sometimes against bigger enemies. Malaysia disputes sovereignty over part of the South China Sea with Beijing, which periodically sends ships into the contested waters. On Monday, Malaysia protested diplomatically over Chinese vessels, including a survey ship, that had entered its exclusive economic zone in the disputed sea near Borneo. I think you have to spread the risks a bit and not put out ourselves in a position of dependence and you have to really consider the security consequence of buying from a country with which we have overlapping territorial claims, Lockman said. Chinese weaponry generally works well enough but not as well as arms from the United States, Bitzinger said. State-run media in China report few hitches. The official Xinhua News Agency said in 2006 it had followed international rules in a reasonable, legal and unimpeachable manner despite accusations then of fostering human rights violations abroad. The domestically produced Chengdu J-10 starred at Airshow China, a biennial aerospace technology exhibition that took place from Tuesday through Sunday, Xinhua said. These aircraft have not sold abroad so far, Bitzinger said. China stands ready now to export one of its mightiest weapons, a submarine-launched supersonic cruise missile system, China Daily online said last week. With time ticking down on his term as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell's reappointment to the post looks less certain than it did just a few weeks ago, as left-leaning Democrats hammer away at a series of scandals involving senior Fed personnel. On Monday, Powell's chief antagonist in Congress, Senator Elizabeth Warren, released a letter to the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission asking the agency to investigate "ethically questionable" securities transactions by the presidents of two of the Federal Reserve's district banks, and the Fed Board's vice chairman. The letter came less than a week after Warren castigated Powell during a Senate Banking Committee hearing over what she sees as his lax regulatory approach toward large financial institutions. "Your record gives me grave concerns," Warren said, addressing Powell directly at the hearing. "Over and over, you have acted to make our banking system less safe, and that makes you a dangerous man to head up the Fed. And it's why I will oppose your renomination." Renomination still likely Powell's four-year term as leader of the U.S. central bank will expire in February, and it has been broadly assumed that President Joe Biden would renominate him to another term. Experts say they still expect Powell to be renominated but feel less certain of that outcome than they did a few weeks ago. "I think he's much more likely than not (to be renominated)," David Wessel, director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution, told VOA. "But it did move the needle a little bit, and not in his direction." "I still think it's reasonable to assume that Powell is renominated, because he has enjoyed, for the most part, bipartisan support," Mark Hamrick, senior analyst and Washington bureau chief for Bankrate.com, told VOA. "The Federal Reserve was relatively quick in responding to the dire financial conditions that were created by the pandemic lockdowns, and it fairly effectively and fairly quickly restored order to markets," he said. However, the questionable investing by Fed officials on his watch may be eroding what had been substantial support for Powell, even among generally progressive Democrats. In a note to clients last week, Karen Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, wrote, "One of Mr. Powell's strengths in the renomination battle has been divisions among Democratic progressives, making this resonant scandal particularly costly to his otherwise-strong position within the Biden Administration." Questionable trading Last month, the Fed announced an investigation of the central bank's ethics policies after reports surfaced that the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and Dallas had been actively trading in the stock market and in real estate at the same time that they were helping to set the nation's monetary policies. Both said their investment activities complied with all applicable laws and Fed guidelines, and both announced their retirement on September 27. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Richard Clarida bought between $1 million and $5 million in stock the day before Powell made a major speech on efforts to help the U.S. economy recover from the pandemic. When Bloomberg reported Clarida's trading activity, the Fed issued a statement sayingthe transactions were part of a "a pre-planned rebalancing to his accounts" that were pre-cleared by the Fed's ethics officials, and that the timing was coincidental. Powell addressed the trading activity of the two bank presidents during congressional hearings last week, noting that while the trading activity was technically within the rules established by the Fed, the appearance of the activity was "just obviously unacceptable." "[T]he problem is that the rules, the practices and the disclosure needs to be improved," Powell said during congressional testimony, adding, "We will rise to this moment." Investigation demanded In her letter to the SEC, Warren called out Powell by name. "It is not clear why Chair Powell did not stop these activities, which corrode the trust and effectiveness of the Fed. The Fed officials' trades clearly run afoul of Fed guidelines stating that officials should 'avoid any dealings or other conduct that might convey even an appearance of conflict between their personal interests, the interests of the System, and the public interest,'" she said. While Warren may not ultimately succeed in derailing a renomination of Powell, a Republican who was appointed to his first term by former President Donald Trump, her efforts may still have a major impact on the Fed. The Biden administration has a number of important central bank appointments to make, in addition to the chair. 'Personnel is policy' "She's clearly using this as a way to make it difficult for the administration to reappoint Powell," Wesel said, adding, "It's pretty clear that the Biden White House cares a lot about what Elizabeth Warren thinks. And it's pretty clear that Elizabeth Warren has figured out that personnel is policy." The Federal Reserve Board is made up of seven governors who are appointed by the president and serve overlapping terms of 14 years each. From among the sitting board members, the president also appoints the Fed's chair, vice chair, and vice chair for supervision to four-year terms. There is currently one empty board seat, and another will open up when Clarida's term expires in January. The four-year-term of the current vice chair for supervision will end October 13. Warren and others on the left have made it clear that they would prefer to see sitting Fed Governor Lael Brainard replace Powell as Fed chair. But if Biden were to make her the vice chair for supervision and promise to add more left-leaning members to the board, that might help assuage their concerns about a Powell reappointment, according to analysts. "There's going to be some horse trading around this," said Jesse Van Tol, president of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. "I can still see a scenario where the administration decides it's in their interest to trade to get a few other Fed governors confirmed and leave Powell in place, if they believe they can trust him and work with him." Cuban authorities on Friday launched a national campaign to vaccinate children ages 2-18 against COVID-19, a prerequisite set by the communist government for schools to reopen amid a spike in infections. Children 12 and older will be the first to receive one of the two domestically produced vaccines, Abdala and Soberana, followed by younger kids. Schools have mostly been closed in Cuba since March 2020, and students have been following lessons on television. With the school year starting Monday, they will continue learning remotely until all eligible children are vaccinated. Laura Lantigua, 17, got the first of three injections at Saul Delgado high school in the Cuban capital, Havana. "I always wanted to be vaccinated," Lantigua told AFP. She said that doctors measured her blood pressure and temperature before giving her the shot, then told her to wait for an hour to ensure she didn't have any side effects. "I felt normal, fine," Lantigua said. Late Friday, the Medicines Regulatory Agency (Cecmed) announced that it authorized the emergency use of the Soberana 2 vaccine for minors between the ages of 2 and 18. The composition of Cuban vaccines, which are not recognized by the World Health Organization, is based on a recombinant protein, the same technique used by the U.S. company Novavax. With the delta variant spreading across the island of 11.2 million, the country's health care system has been pushed to the brink. Of the 5,300 novel coronavirus deaths recorded since the outbreak started, nearly half were in August, as were almost a third of all reported cases. The government said it plans to gradually reopen schools for in-person instruction in October after the vaccination campaign among children is completed. Journalist Tesfalem Waldyes, the founder and editor-in-chief of Ethiopia Insider, an Ethiopian news and analysis website, was released Tuesday after spending three days in police custody. I just talked to him, said Eshete Bekele, a journalist with Deutsche Welles Amharic service and Tesfalems former colleague. He just got out, he told VOA. Prior to his release, Tesfalems colleagues and friends said his whereabouts hadnt been known since Saturday, but federal police confirmed his detention to BBCs Amharic service, saying there was nothing to be concerned about. The police didnt give an explanation for the arrest or provide additional details. Tesfalem, however, had access to a lawyer and was held for questioning at the Federal Police Commission, near Mexico Square, according to media reports. Befeqadu Hailu, the executive director of the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy, said Tesfalem went missing after covering the Irreecha festival in Addis Ababa, Ethiopias capital. Irreecha is a cultural event celebrated by Ethiopias ethnic Oromo community. Befeqadu said via Twitter that Tesfalems plan for Sunday was to report on the festival, which also took place at a second location, Bishoftu. The annual event is traditionally held in Bishoftu, a town located in the Oromia region, about 40 kilometers south of Addis Ababa. After covering the event in Addis Ababa, Tesfalem posted a video on Ethiopia Insiders Facebook page that showed attendees expressing their criticism of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds administration. Attendees also demanded the release of political prisoners, chanting, Jawar, Jawar! Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo activist and opposition leader, has been imprisoned, charged with terrorism and other crimes alongside other prominent Oromo politicians. In 2014, Tesfalem was among three journalists and six bloggers, who became known as the Zone 9 Bloggers and were arrested for inciting violence among other charges, including terrorism. He spent more than one year in prison and was later released. Zone 9 Bloggers were recipients of the Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom Award in 2015. The CPJ Monday condemned Tesfalems recent arrest. This is the latest in a string of attacks on the press that expose a government keen to stifle, rather than nurture, independent or dissenting coverage, the advocacy group said in a statement posted on Twitter. The nonprofit has documented several arbitrary arrests, attacks and the expulsion of at least one journalist in recent months. Is filming anti-government protesters now forbidden in the country? asked Reporters Without Borders, another advocacy group that called for Tesfalems release while he was being held. He did nothing but his job, RSF said in a Twitter post that also said Tesfalem was arrested while filming a demonstration. There was no response to the latest arrest from the Abiy government. Separately, Prime Minister Abiy was sworn in for a second term on Monday. The event comes as the national government remains engaged in a nearly year-old armed conflict with forces in Ethiopias northern Tigray region. The European Union announced a comprehensive plan Tuesday to fight the growing problem of antisemitism on the continent, using a three-pronged strategy that includes combating hate speech and crimes, protecting Jewish culture, and educating the public about Judaism. The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, introduced the plan at a news conference in Strasbourg, France. In a statement, the commission said antisemitism is worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond. Citing statistics from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, 90% of Jews said antisemitism has increased in their country and it is a serious problem, and 38% of Jews have considered emigrating because they do not feel safe in the EU. Under the newly unveiled plan, which will be rolled out over a decade, the commission will use EU funds to support member countries as they develop their own national strategies to fight hate speech online and elsewhere and to promote fundamental rights. Discussing the strategy with reporters, EU Commission Vice-President for Promoting European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas said, "Antisemitism is not the problem of the Jews, but the problem of antisemites, and fighting it is the responsibility for all of us. I want to be very clear: antisemitism is incompatible with everything that the European Union stands for." The aim is to set up a Europe-wide network of "trusted flaggers" along with Jewish organizations to help remove illegal online hate speech. EU leaders will also work with industry and IT companies to prevent the illegal display and sale of Nazi-related symbols, memorabilia and literature online. Funding will be provided to better protect public spaces and places of worship to help Jewish people feel safer, with $28 million available next year. Other steps will be taken to safeguard Jewish heritage and raise awareness about Jewish culture, life and traditions. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press. The World Food Program warns food insecurity and hunger are rising in northern Ethiopia as the conflict in Tigray spills over into neighboring regions. The U.N. food agency reports it has completed the first round of food distributions in northern Ethiopias Amhara and Afar provinces. The operation, which began in mid-August, has reached an estimated 300,000 people affected by the spread of the conflict in Tigray into their territories. However, the World Food Program reports distributions in Tigray are lagging. It says trucks continue to be stuck in the Afar region and are unable to deliver enough crucial supplies for millions of Tigrayan civilians living under dire conditions. A U.N. analysis of the severity of food insecurity in June estimates up to 400,000 people in Tigray are on the verge of famine. WFP Spokesman Tomson Phiri says anecdotal reports from all three conflict-affected regions suggest food shortages are on the rise. "In Afar and Amhara, our teams have seen hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes, Phiri said. "It is absolutely vital that we have the full cooperation and support of all parties to the conflict so that we can reach all affected populations with urgently needed food assistance before we have a humanitarian catastrophe on our hands across all of northern Ethiopia. The United Nations reports thousands of people have been killed and millions forcibly displaced from their homes since November, when the conflict between the Ethiopian military and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front began. The U.N. says an estimated 5.2 million people or 90 percent of Tigrays population needs humanitarian aid. Phiri says WFP aims to reach nearly 3.5 million people across all three regions in the next round of food distributions. However, he acknowledges several obstacles stand in the way of reaching that goal. "The food pipeline in Tigray remains hand-to-mouth, with a multitude of issues affecting the free movement of convoysAdditionally, the vast majority of commercial trucks are not able to return from Tigray which is one of the major impediments to the delivery of cargo as we struggle to convene convoys, Phiri said. Phiri notes a total of 637 trucks have managed to reach Tigray, carrying only 11 percent of the humanitarian aid needed in the region. He says to adequately feed the population, 100 trucks loaded with lifesaving supplies must arrive every day into the beleaguered province. French Catholic clergy sexually abused more than 200,000 children over the past 70 years, according to an investigation by an independent commission. The panels report, released Tuesday, said the Catholic Church covered up a massive phenomenon with decades of a veil of silence. Until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims, the report said. The commissions report, released after a two-and-a-half-year investigation, said Catholic clergy in France sexually abused about 216,000 minors since 1950. Jean-Marc Sauve, head of the commission that compiled the report, said at a Paris news conference that most victims were boys between ages 10 and 13. The report said the number of child abuse victims increased to 330,000 when including claims against church lay members such as teachers at Catholic schools. Catholic bishops in France established the commission in 2018 to uncover abuses and restore confidence in the church as congregations declined. The probe was triggered by an increasing number of abuse claims and prosecutions of church officials worldwide. Bishops Conference of France Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, among those who requested the report, expressed shame and horror at the findings during the news conference. My wish today is to ask forgiveness from each of you, he said. Along with 45 recommendations to stop child abuse by clergy, Sauve urged the church Tuesday to pay reparations to the victims. The church announced a plan last spring to provide financial contributions to the victims. Six victims associations said, We expect clear and concrete responses by the church. Abuse victim Francois Devaux, a founder of victims' association La Parole Liberee, told church representatives at the report's unveiling that You are a disgrace to our humanity. Earlier this year, Pope Francis issued the most extensive revision to Catholic Church law in four decades, insisting that bishops act against clerics who abuse minors and vulnerable adults. Some information in this report was provided by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters. Show more Show less As the U.S. and its partners warn that time is running out for a new nuclear deal with Iran, Israeli officials and analysts warn Tehran is very close to becoming a threshold nuclear power. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in a VOA interview, says that Israel must reassess its response. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen For journalist Wilih Narvaez, the uncertainty from the risk of arrest or attack is what makes his job difficult in Nicaragua. On the day that he spoke with VOA, authorities had prevented Mauricio Madrigal, one of Narvaez's colleagues at independent broadcaster Canal 10, from leaving the country. Narvaez himself has come under attack. Unidentified assailants threatened him and his family and threw stones at his house in Nicaragua's capital, Managua, in February. "It was an attack on my security," said Narvaez. The 37-year-old said the attack was typical of the daily threats faced by reporters working for media not aligned with the Nicaraguan government. He believes it was the result of hostile rhetoric and attitudes that police and officials direct at the media. "The police say things about us on social media. There is the threat of being arrested, or they could take legal action or just close down our channel. The uncertainty is difficult to deal with," he told VOA in a telephone interview. As for Madrigal, the editor of Canal 10 show Accion 10, which has one of the biggest audiences in the country, is one of 140 journalists and opposition politicians indicted by the state prosecutor in the past two months. None have been charged. With just over a month until Nicaragua's presidential and parliamentary elections, the threat of arrest and harassment are affecting coverage of the vote. Raids and lawsuits brought by President Daniel Ortega's government have made it hard for the press to function, journalists say, while long-running economic hardship has made importing supplies including paper, difficult. The Ortega administration has been condemned internationally including by the United States and the European Union for its crackdowns on opposition parties and critical media. The government refutes these claims, saying it is protecting the country of 6.6 million from media backed by foreign interests, mainly the U.S. VOA attempted to contact the Nicaraguan government, but none of its requests were answered. Climate of fear Nicaragua shares a rare distinction with China, Cuba and a few other countries in the world: Many of its journalists do not want a byline for fear of what the attention may bring. One of those journalists, a 29-year-old reporter who works at a news website, said media work under a climate of fear. "We did a story which was about how the COVID numbers in Nicaragua were a lie. It was well received and showed the truth about what was happening," she said. "But I did not want my name on the story. They would start to notice I was writing, and it is not worth the trouble," said the journalist, who asked VOA not to use her name or any details that might hint at her identity for fear of harassment. "There is an atmosphere of fear for journalists who work for independent media," said the journalist. "The police come to the newsrooms and seize equipment or intimidate and imprison journalists. They say they (the media) are working for coup plotters." She cited the case of the country's oldest newspaper, La Prensa, which in August announced it would cease printing because the government was withholding paper supplies. The front-page headline of its last edition read "The dictatorship is holding our paper, but it cannot hide the truth." Ortega accused the paper of lying, saying on the day of the raid that police and the prosecutor's office had found paper. "When you lie in that way, when you slander the state, you are committing a crime," he said in a speech that same day. The unnamed reporter, who has knowledge of the incident, said, however, that images of paper taken by police were not accurate and instead showed supplies for magazines and books. The independent La Prensa is owned by the Chamorros, a prominent Nicaraguan family. Several members planned to run in the elections, Reuters reported, including Cristiana Chamorro, the paper's vice president and the daughter of the late leader Violeta Chamorro, who ended Ortega's first stint in power. 'Numerous attacks' The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has described the past two years in Nicaragua as "marked by numerous attacks towards independent journalists and media." Its March 2021 report cited "recurrent stigmatizing speeches by senior authorities, numerous criminal cases against journalists, harassment of journalists and media, raids, threats, physical attacks, among others." But Nicaragua's Sandinista government has refuted claims of media repression. "I think freedom of expression exists (in Nicaragua). There is no control over journalists," Wilfredo Navarro, a deputy for the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, told VOA. "Go to the U.S, or Europe or Spain. They beat journalists or send them to prison." In late June, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo who is married to Ortega and has been sanctioned by the European Union for human rights violations described the media as "chattering magpies" in televised remarks. "Our people know how evil, hypocritical, destructive, criminal and terrorist they are," she said. VOA attempted to contact journalists working for government-aligned media but received no response. The pressure and risk of lawsuits has prompted dozens of journalists to go into exile. Julio Lopez, a radio reporter for Onda Local, and the unnamed digital reporter both told VOA they were aware of several colleagues who have left. Lopez says he went into exile in Costa Rica after it had become impossible to do his job in Nicaragua. "They were threatening journalists with court action. When I got to the border with Costa Rica in June, two civil servants were waiting for me. They told me I could not leave Nicaragua," he said. "I decided to leave anyway, and I have been working from Costa Rica since." Lopez said no arrest warrant or legal action had been filed against him, but authorities still tried to block his travel. Despite the Nicaraguan government's efforts to exercise greater control over the media, and large numbers of journalists working from exile, Lopez insists that the population can gauge what is really happening through reports on digital media and social media. "They have tried to silence us, but they have not been successful. It may be harder for people in rural areas to access the internet, but there are some local media there," he said. VOA's Spanish language division and Houston Castillo contributed to this report. Some information for this report came from Reuters. Many Nigerians are optimistic as Africa's largest economy gears up to launch the continent's first central bank-backed digital currency, the eNaira. Authorities hope to tap into the popularity of cryptocurrency so it can better monitor digital currency transactions, curb black market trading in the paper naira and also help integrate millions of Nigerians into banking. But critics say the digital currency will also give Nigeria's central bank more control. The launch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, or the eNaira, was initially scheduled for October 1 as part of activities to mark Nigeria's Independence Day but was postponed by authorities. The CBNs communications director, Osita Nwanisobi, did not disclose the new launch date in a statement released on the bank's social media handle. But local reports say the eNaira website recorded more than one million hits in the hours ahead of the initial launch - what blockchain experts like Janet Kaatyo say is a welcome development. "It is going to make cross border payments easier and it is going to make it easier for the naira to be widely used and accepted," said Kaatyo. "So, Nigeria is gradually getting to the point where cryptocurrency is seen as an unstoppable force." Kaatyo believes the eNaira will promote blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency, which Central Bank authorities banned in back in February, citing its volatility and investment risk for citizens. The CBN then promised to provide a safer alternative - the eNaira. Authorities and experts say the eNaira will ease monetary transactions and improve long-term value for Nigeria's currency, compared to its paper counterpart, which has hit its lowest value since 2003. The CBN also says the eNaira saves on printing and distribution costs for cash. Digital strategist, Daniel Yerimah says the eNaira will also help address money laundering and corruption. "Everything built on blockchain is very safe and secure. Another thing again is it's universal, parts of the benefits they intend to achieve with the eNaira is it will be used for both international and local trade and also it's going to be to fight corruption," Yerimah said. But some experts warn the emergence of the eNaira will cut off roles played by intermediary banks and give the central bank more control over citizens financial rights. However, blockchain analyst Jadel Chidi disagrees. "There's a direct link between the Central Bank and the individual who uses the eNaira but that will not put the other banks out of business," Chidi said. "What I see is that the CBN will eventually create a portal where each eNaira user will be able to access their e-wallet through the database they already have with their bank." In recent years Nigeria has seen a move toward cryptocurrencies as citizens looked for alternatives to the weakening naira. Now millions are waiting to see if they can benefit from Nigeria's digital currency. After nearly two years of international isolation worsened by a severe pandemic lockdown, North Korea is hinting it may finally be ready for dialogue just not with the United States. North Korea this week took initial steps toward improving ties with South Korea, restoring hotlines meant to manage inter-Korean tensions. North Korean officials have also signaled bigger moves may be coming, including another summit between the countries top leaders and talks on ending their formal state of war. The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war, since their 1950s conflict ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. South Koreas left-leaning government, which for two years has tried to coax North Korea back to talks, is cautiously optimistic. Seouls Ministry of Unification, which handles ties with the North, said it believes Pyongyangs decision to reopen the hotlines will lay the foundation for an extended period of friendlier cross-border relations. But even as it reaches out to South Korea, the North has given no indication it wants to restart talks with the United States. North Korea has rejected or ignored near-daily U.S. offers to hold talks without preconditions. In a speech last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dismissed the U.S. invitations as a cunning distraction meant to disguise U.S. hostility. The North Korean strategy appears designed to pressure South Korea to break with the United States, its treaty ally, according to many analysts. The North has long wanted South Korea to provide economic help through the resumption of inter-Korean projects, such as the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex. The facility based in the North provided South Korean companies with cheap labor from North Korea. But with such projects made more difficult by the coronavirus pandemic, the North has recently pushed for other concessions, such as a permanent end to U.S.-South Korea military exercises. From North Koreas perspective, now may be the perfect time to maximize pressure on South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who is in the final months of his single term in office. Pyongyang is taking advantage of Moons desperation to leave behind a Korean peace legacy before March, said Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based Korea specialist at the Center for a New American Security. Moon held three summits with Kim Jong Un in 2018. The meetings helped pave the way for Kims summits with then-U.S. President Donald Trump. When U.S.-North Korea talks broke down in 2019, the North also grew angry with Seoul, essentially freezing Moons peace ambitions. Although Moon has since said he is open to reviving cross-border economic projects, his government has been restrained from doing so by U.S. and international sanctions, which were put in place because of North Koreas illicit nuclear weapons program. By dangling the prospect of renewed inter-Korean talks, North Korea hopes to make Seoul work harder to satisfy the (North Korean) regime and break from Washington, said Duyeon Kim. North Korea may also be trying to influence South Korean politics. Opinion polls suggest Moons peace efforts, though stalled, are broadly popular among South Koreans which could help his ruling Democratic Party at the polls. One last Moon-Kim summit could also give justification for Moons ruling party to ratify a 2018 North-South agreement in the countrys National Assembly in an attempt to lock the next administration into continuing pro-engagement policies, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. Of course, theres no guarantee North Korea will allow talks to progress that far. The North also reopened inter-Korean hotlines in July, before severing them about two weeks later when South Korea and the United States went ahead with annual joint military exercises that Pyongyang sees as a provocation. That kind of behavior has led some U.S. analysts to conclude North Korea may not want better relations with the South at all. Instead, the North appears to use periodic diplomatic engagement to buy time to advance its nuclear program, according to Sydney Seiler, the top U.S. intelligence officer on North Korea. There has not been a period of engagement that has led to sustained reduction of tensions, Seiler said at an online forum last month hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research organization based in Washington D.C. Im always interested to see an introduction of a new piece of intelligence or information that would overturn my assessment, but you just have to conclude strategically North Korea does not seek sustained, improved relations with South Korea. From the perspective of South Koreas current government, doing nothing isnt an option, either. In an interview last week with the Washington Post newspaper, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong publicly urged the United States to detail more specific incentives it may offer to North Korea during negotiations. If we let the status quo continue, it will lead to the strengthening of North Korean missile capabilities...we are very concerned about it, Chung said. South Korea isnt the only one pushing for the administration of President Joe Biden to do more to entice North Korea. Jessica Lee, a senior research fellow at the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said the Biden administration seems reluctant to address the underlying issues causing tension on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang has determined that the only way to change the United States mindset is to go through Seoul. But Seoul should not want progress more than Washington or Pyongyang, Lee says. Rather than fixate on the long-term goal of denuclearization, Washington should find short-term wins that will build trust and create the atmosphere for negotiations. For Pyongyangs part, it needs to stop playing hard to get and be more explicit about what it wants and what its willing to do to get them, she adds. A growing number of analysts in Washington and Seoul see similarities between Bidens North Korea policy and the strategic patience approach of former President Barack Obama. During Obamas presidency, North Korea conducted four nuclear tests and more than 50 missile and rocket launches. U.S. officials push back against those critiques. At an online event hosted last month by the Institute for Corean-American Studies, Mark Lambert, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan and Korea, said the ultimate blame for the impasse lies with North Korea. If we could sit down with the North and get a sense of what it is they want and stop guessing, I think we can make some progress. But again, speaking personally, its a mistake to negotiate with yourself, Lambert said. Asked whether the Biden administration had shown enough urgency on the North Korea issue, Lambert replied: We are serious about this. Its just, what would you have us do? Catapult [U.S. envoy Sung Kim] into North Korea and say, Im here to negotiate? You cant do that. Youve got to have the other side willing to meet with you. Officials investigating one of California's biggest oil spills were trying to determine whether the undersea pipeline that spewed 572,807 liters (126,000 gallons) of heavy crude into the Pacific Ocean had been damaged by a ship's anchor. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two busiest container ports in the United States, according to their websites. Together, they see more than 100 cargo ships a day, and those ships pass through and anchor in the area where the pipeline runs. "We're looking into if it could have been an anchor from a ship, but that's in the assessment phase right now," said Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Jeannie Shaye. Meanwhile, residents of Huntington Beach, California, said authorities were slow to react to the large oil spill off the coast. The spill, which has sullied the beaches and poses a threat to wildlife, is believed to come from a leak in an underwater pipeline. Residents said that they noticed oil and the smell of petroleum Friday evening, but that there was no response until Saturday afternoon. They said it wasn't until Saturday night that Amplify Energy Corp., the oil company that owns the pipeline, shut it down. In a press release Monday, Amplify Energy said that it spotted the oil spill Saturday and immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard and initiated its oil spill response. The company shut down the pipeline and sent a remotely operated vehicle to help find the source. Garry Brown, president of the environmental group Orange County Coastkeeper and a Huntington Beach resident, said, "By the time (the oil) comes to the beach, it's done tremendous damage. Our frustration is, it could have been averted if there was a quick response." More than 572,000 liters of crude have reportedly leaked, some of it washing up in coastal Orange County. Several beaches in the area are closed and could remain so for weeks or months, according to Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr. In response to the spill, crews led by the U.S. Coast Guard have deployed skimmers and booms to try to contain the damage. Of particular concern is the Talbert Marsh, a 10-hectare wetland. U.S. Representative Michelle Steel, a Republican representing the affected area, has asked President Joe Biden to declare the spill a disaster so that federal money can be allocated toward the cleanup. "This is a really serious disaster," she told CNN. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to a reporter's question Monday about the spill. "We're working collaboratively with state and local partners to address efforts to find the leak, contain the spill and assess impact, and address potential causes," she said. Amplify Energy operates the pipeline and three offshore oil platforms, all installed in the early 1980s. The 16-inch pipeline carries crude oil to a storage facility in Long Beach. Beta Operating Company, the Amplify subsidiary that operates the field, has been cited 125 times for safety and environmental violations since 1980, according to a database from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the federal agency that regulates the offshore oil and gas industry, The Associated Press reported. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters. Add U.S. military officials to the crescendo of voices warning Mali's interim government against brokering any deal to use mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group to help with security and counterterrorism. For weeks, U.S. and French officials have publicly tried to dissuade Malian leaders from moving forward with a reported deal that would pay Wagner $10.8 million a month for 1,000 mercenaries to train Mali's military and provide security for senior officials. Now, the Pentagon says such a deal could cost Mali in multiple ways. "Given the Wagner Group's record, if these reports are true, any role for Russian mercenaries in Mali will likely exacerbate an already fragile and unstable situation," U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Cindi King told VOA. King also warned a deal between Mali and the Wagner Group "would complicate the international response in support of the transition government." The U.S. had been providing training and other support to Mali as it tries to confront the threat from various terrorist groups, including the Islamic State affiliate IS-Greater Sahara and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also known as JNIM. But that support was suspended following the August 2020 coup that saw elements of the Malian military depose the country's elected leaders. More recently, France announced this past June that it would bring home some 2,000 counterterrorism forces it had stationed in Mali and neighboring countries. Mali's interim government has so far denied a deal with Russia's Wagner Group is in the offing, but the country's prime minister told VOA last week that the actions of the U.S., France and others have left the interim government with few choices. "The security situation keeps deteriorating by the day," Choguel Maiga told VOA in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. "We have to find new partners who can help," he said. "We can seek partnership either with Russia or with any other country." Some Western officials with knowledge of the potential deal between Mali and the Wagner Group have called the potential deployment of the Russian mercenaries "a real concern." The officials point to what they describe as a destabilizing impact of about 2,000 Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic, where allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation have been rampant. Russia has denied any abuses by contractors there and has welcomed talk of the potential deal between Mali's interim government and Wagner. "They are combating terrorism," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a news conference at the U.N. last week. "And they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component." "We don't have anything to do with that," Lavrov said, adding, "at the government level, we are also contributing to providing for military and defense capacities of Mali." Many Western governments, though, insist that there is little practical difference between the Kremlin and the exploits of the Wagner Group, run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin, sometimes called "Putin's cook" because of his catering company's work for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is thought to have extensive ties to Russia's political and military establishments, according to U.S. intelligence officials. The U.S. State Department sanctioned Prigozhin and Wagner back in July 2020, as well as several front companies for the group's operations in Sudan. The crew of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft was welcomed aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, though a communications glitch during their final approach delayed their eventual boarding. The Soyuz spacecraft was launched Tuesday from the Russian spaceport in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The ship was carrying a history-making crew, as it included film director Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild, who will be filming a feature film during their stay at the station. After the spacecraft orbited the earth twice and made a final approach to the ISS, mission control reported the Soyuz craft experienced some communication issues. Those issues resulted in the crew abandoning automated docking procedures. Veteran Cosmonaut Shkaplerov, the other crew member on the Soyuz craft, manually guided the spacecraft into place without a problem. The manual docking set back the scheduled opening of the hatch between the spacecraft and the station by an hour. Once they were welcomed on board the ISS, Shipenko and Peresild will spend the next 12 days filming segments of a new feature film called Challenge the first to actually be shot in outer space. NASA says filming will begin almost immediately. Pereslid will play a doctor who is launched to the orbital outpost to save an ailing cosmonaut. Shkaplerov and two fellow cosmonauts already on board the ISS, Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, will all have speaking roles in the film. Shipenko and Pereslid will return to Earth on October 17 with Novitskiy. The historic mission beats out a similar plan announced last year by Hollywood superstar actor Tom Cruise, the U.S. space agency NASA and Elon Musks privately-owned SpaceX company, which ferries crews and cargo to the ISS. Russian space officials are hoping the film will restore some luster to the program, which has fallen from its glory days of the 1950s and `60s, when it launched the first man-made satellite as well as the first man and woman, into orbit, but has been plagued by delays, accidents and corruption scandals in recent years. Tuesdays launch comes nearly a month after four Americans became the first all-civilian crew to orbit the Earth, spending three days in space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press. At least 36 people were killed in clashes between four communities in South Sudan over the weekend, according to Warrap state officials. Warrap Governor Aleu Ayieny Aleu called the latest wave of fighting in in Tonj East and Tonj North counties devastating. He told VOAs South Sudan in Focus radio program that the clashes were linked to cattle raids and revenge attacks. Thousands have fled the region and at least 36 others were injured, Aleu said. Many could not be transported to medical care due to flooding and the poor condition of roads. The bigger problem is how we can transport the wounded civilians to hospital, Aleu said. Here I appealed to humanitarian partners to quickly step in, since the situation is normalizing, to transport these victims to hospital. Due to the flooding which destroyed several roads, government forces were unable to reach areas of the fighting. Tonj East County Commissioner John Deng Kook told South Sudan in Focus that armed young men from two communities in the area continue to engage in deadly clashes, but he declined to name the individuals involved. The fighting was linked to a cattle theft, that some youth from Rek community stole cows from Luanyjang and when the youth perused the [area], then fighting erupted there on Saturday and on Sunday, Tonj East County Commissioner John Deng Kook told VOA. The other communities came for revenge. The clashes displaced thousands of local residents, said Father Ajaknei Aguer, who works with a Roman Catholic church mission in Romic, Tonj East county. We have relocated ourselves to another place due to heavy fighting in the area that was approaching the town of Romic, Aguer said. Personally, I have seen people wounded being carried out by their relatives and some died immediately due to a lack of health service. State officials sponsored a peace conference between residents of Tonj East and Tonj North counties in Romic, where resolutions were drafted that called for uniform disarmament, compensation for victims and victims families, and the return of looted property to rightful owners. Commissioner Kook said the only way to end the clashes is to carry out a thorough disarmament campaign and establish a strong justice system. South Sudan media rights groups condemned comments by a key parliament member who said that news organizations could have their licenses revoked if they report on parliamentary expenditures including lawmaker salaries without prior authorization from the speaker. Paul Youane Bonju, who is the chairperson-designate of the information committee in South Sudan's reconstituted National Legislative Assembly, said journalists risk being sued if they do not follow what he termed the proper procedure for reporting on lawmakers' financial transactions. "Some [reporters] are new in the field and I need to bring them on board by trying to tell them the right procedures if they visit the parliament, because the parliament is a body that enacts laws," he said in a news conference last week. "If you are coming to engage with such a body, you must also be conversant of how to go about it," Bonju said. "In some instances, some of the media, instead of coming to me or going to the office of the clerk, sometimes they contact either the staffs, or they get the information from sources that are not authorized to release some of the information." Bonju cited media reports five years ago about $40,000 that was allotted to lawmakers by President Salva Kiir for allowances and car loans. The reports about the allotment caused a widespread backlash in the world's newest country, where the government owes many workers back salaries and the average teacher makes less than $400 per year. Media groups say Bonju's comments are an attempt to conceal information from the public as South Sudan attempts for forge a shaky democracy. Micheal Duku, executive director of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan, said parliamentary members cannot stop the media from reporting on their work which is in the public interest. "The media is regulated by law and when it comes to information that is categorized, there are classified information and unclassified information," Duku told VOA's South Sudan in Focus. "So long as this falls under unclassified information, the public has the right to know." Bonju's comments come as South Sudan journalists are facing increasing pressures on their reporting. Three journalists recently were detained, and a radio station was closed as the government clamped down on efforts by activists to stage what they called a peaceful public uprising. Agents also detained a government broadcaster after he allegedly declined to report news about recent presidential decrees on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation airwaves. South Sudan ranks 139th out of 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, in which 1 is the freest. The reconstituted legislature was inaugurated in August this year by Kiir under the leadership of Jemma Nunu Kumba as speaker of the house. In an interview with South Sudan in Focus, Bonju said his comments were aimed at clarifying parliamentary procedures for press coverage. "I was telling them, 'Look, I am not warning you, but I am rather cautioning you to be sure that if you want anything to do with emolument of the MPs, please contact the relevant offices, the relevant departments,'" he said. Geologists monitoring the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish Island of La Palma say an eruption Tuesday has been louder and more explosive than in previous days, with thicker lava flowing from the volcanos main vent. From its Twitter account, the Canary Islands Volcanology Institute, Involcan, called the eruption explosive with falling pyroclasts [fragments of molten rock] and bombs. The institute released a video from Monday night, showing a block of molten rock it said had hit a wall more than a kilometer away from the vent, as an example of the volcanos explosive activity. Meanwhile, the Spanish government Tuesday approved a second aid package for the island and its residents. At news conference in Madrid, the minister for parliamentary affairs, Felix Bolanos, announced the package worth nearly $250 million. He said that was an estimate, as it is difficult at this time to accurately assess the damage done by the volcano. He also announced a package worth more than $23 million to compensate the islands fishing and agriculture industries. Bolanos said much of the money would go to repair damage to irrigation infrastructure and rural roads. He said public land will be exchanged so that agricultural businesses can continue with their work away from the areas that have been razed by the lava. The volcanic eruption that started September 19 has forced the evacuation of more than 6,000 of La Palmas roughly 85,000 residents. The island is part of the Canary Islands archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. The international rights advocacy group Amnesty International has accused Afghanistans ruling Taliban of unlawfully killing 13 members of the ethnic Hazara minority community on August 30, two weeks after the Islamist group seized control of the war-ravaged country. Eleven surrendering troops from the ousted Afghan government and two civilians, including a 17-year-old girl, were among the victims, the watchdog said in a new report released Tuesday. The extrajudicial executions happened in Kahor village of the Khidir district in central Daykundi province, the report said, citing eyewitness testimony. Amnesty has verified photographs and video evidence taken in the aftermath of the killings, demanding these cruel acts of revenge must immediately be ceased by the Taliban. These cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule of Afghanistan, Amnesty Internationals Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said in the report. VOA has contacted the Taliban for their reaction in response to Amnestys findings but could not get a response immediately. Hazaras, Shi'ite Muslims, account for 9% of Afghanistans 36 million population, making them a target in a Sunni-majority country. The Taliban Islamist group is often accused of persecuting ethnic and religious minorities during the time it was previously in control of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Women were also barred from public life and work while girls were prevented from receiving an education. But since returning to power in mid-August, the radical group has assured the international community the rights of all Afghans will be protected, announcing a blanket amnesty for all those who served in the Western-backed ousted government. The Taliban say they are not targeting former employees of the previous government, but these killings contradict such claims, lamented Amnesty in its report. The international community has ignored Taliban calls for granting legitimacy to their rule, saying they are waiting to see if the group lives up to its commitments of protecting human rights, especially the rights of women, and run the country through an inclusive political government. Humanitarian situation Meanwhile, the U.N. International Childrens Emergency Fund and the World Health Organization expressed concern Tuesday about the dire state of malnutrition and food insecurity sweeping across Afghanistan. With winter fast approaching, it is now a race against time to assist Afghan families lacking access to clean drinking water and health and nutrition services, the relief agencies said in a news release. Fourteen million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by the end of the year, the U.N. statement warned. At least one million of these children are at risk of dying due to severe acute malnutrition without immediate treatment. War crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of child soldiers, have been committed in Libya since 2016, a United Nations investigation revealed on Monday. The Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council, said Europe-bound migrants face abuse in detention centers and at the hands of traffickers, while detainees languishing in horrific conditions are tortured. "There are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes have been committed in Libya, while violence perpetrated in prisons and against migrants there may amount to crimes against humanity," the mission said in a statement. Their report documents the recruitment and direct participation of children in hostilities as well as the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings of prominent women. The mission established that from late 2019, Turkey facilitated the recruitment of Syrian child mercenaries aged 15 to 18 to fight alongside the Government of National Accord's forces. The unrest in the North African country has had a dramatic impact on Libyans' economic, social and cultural rights, said the mission. "All parties to the conflicts, including third states, foreign fighters and mercenaries, have violated international humanitarian law, in particular the principles of proportionality and distinction, and some have also committed war crimes," said Mohamed Auajjar, who chaired the three-person mission. The mission said it had identified groups and individuals both Libyan and foreign who may bear responsibility for the violations, abuses and crimes. The list will remain confidential until it can be shared with appropriate accountability mechanisms. Fact-finding mission In June 2020, the Human Rights Council, the U.N.'s top rights body, adopted a resolution calling for sending a fact-finding mission to Libya. The move had Tripoli's support. The experts were charged with investigating alleged violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law in Libya since 2016. Auajjar was joined by fellow human rights experts Chaloka Beyani and Tracy Robinson. The experts said more time is needed to probe further allegations of the direct participation of children in hostilities. Libya has been torn by conflict since the 2011 toppling and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with rival administrations vying for power. The mission said civilians had paid a heavy price, notably because of attacks on schools and hospitals, while anti-personnel mines left by mercenaries in residential areas have killed and maimed civilians. The report said reliable information indicated that people from the Russian private security firm Wagner were operating as mercenaries. There are "reasonable grounds to believe that Wagner personnel may have committed the war crime of murder" in the shooting of detainees south of Tripoli in September 2019. The investigation established that hundreds of mostly Russian-made landmines had been planted next to houses in April-May 2020. Migrants abused Meanwhile, migrants seeking passage across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe are subjected to a litany of abuses in detention centers and at the hands of traffickers, said Beyani. In jails, some prisoners are tortured daily, the report said. "Arbitrary detention in secret prisons and unbearable conditions of detention are widely used by the state and militias," Robinson said. The mission said there were allegations of "widespread abductions, systematic torture and mass murders" in the town of Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli. The report included images of several potential mass grave sites. "The scale of the atrocities in Tarhuna demands far more focused attention," Robinson told a press conference. Authorities in Libya on Monday announced the discovery of 10 bodies in a new mass grave in Tarhuna, the latest morbid find after years of rule by the notorious al-Kaniyat militia. "Two sites were discovered. Four unidentified bodies were extracted from the first, and six from the second," the department charged with searching for remains said, adding that it expected to unearth more bodies. The fact-finders' report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. The experts want the council to extend their mandate for a further year. The U.N. Children's Fund says children are likely to suffer most from the monthslong COVID-related restrictions, school closures, and separation from family and friends. The latest estimates show more than one in seven adolescents aged 10 to 19 suffer from mental health disorders globally, while nearly 46,000 adolescents commit suicide every year. UNICEF spokesman James Elder told VOA most of these conditions are not being addressed because of the stigma attached to mental illness and the lack of government investment. Only about two percent of government health budgets are allocated to mental health spending globally, he said. "Twenty percent ... of young people are saying that they are feeling depressed and have very little interest in things," he said. "That again is a clear indication of the impact COVID's been having. There is a whole range of mental disorders anxiety and depression and bipolar that young people are suffering from." UNICEF reports more than 1.6 billion children have suffered some loss of education because of pandemic lockdowns. Elder said children's mental health often deteriorates when there is a disruption to their daily routines, such as not attending school, not engaging in recreational activities, and not socializing with friends. These problems, he said, affect children all over the world, in rich and poor countries alike. "Of course, if you are from a country where you do not have connectivity, you do not have a laptop or one of your parents is on $200 a month, then, of course, those stresses, that anxiety, that risk of slipping into a mental health disorder is much greater," he said. "And in some of the world's poorest countries, governments are spending less than a dollar per person treating mental health conditions." The cost of ignoring mental disorders is enormous, UNICEF warned. It cited a new analysis by the London School of Economics, which indicates nearly $390 billion in human capital is lost every year due to mental disorders among young people. The United States is sending nearly 900,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Mongolia. They are scheduled to arrive Wednesday, a White House official told VOA. Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries have worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine lots to Mongolia, the official said. The 899,730 doses, sent through COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative co-led by Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the WHO (World Health Organization) and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), are in addition to 188,370 doses of the Pfizer vaccine shipped to Mongolia in September. The U.S. has also provided more than $4 million to support the countrys pandemic response. A low-income country bordered by vaccine-producing neighbors, China and Russia, Mongolia has been able to secure millions of vaccine doses largely through deals with Moscow and Beijing. It has administered at least 4,383,409 doses of COVID vaccines so far, according to its Ministry of Health. Thats enough for about 68% of the countrys population, assuming each person receives two doses. The number of infections is decreasing, with 2,230 new cases reported on average each day. That is 60% of the peak reported on September 6. There have been 312,376 infections and 1,347 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus. Vaccine inequality Humanitarian organizations say wealthy nations still need to do more to address global vaccine inequality. When it comes to vaccine access around the world, you have 80% of the doses that have been administered have gone to rich countries, while only 0.5% have gone to low-income countries, said Robbie Silverman, Oxfam America's senior advocacy manager. The U.S. has been criticized for announcing plans to provide booster shots for certain demographic groups while many at-risk populations around the world have yet to receive a single shot. The Biden administration says they can help vaccinate the world at the same time as they protect Americans. As the president has said, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19, the White House official told VOA Tuesday. At the virtual COVID-19 summit on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in September, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional donation of 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to low-income and lower-middle-income countries, bringing total U.S. pledged donations to 1.1 billion shots. The U.S. is the global leader in both pledged and shipped doses, according to data compiled by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center. As of October 1, however, the U.S. had shipped only 15% of the 1.1 billion doses it has promised. It is lagging behind other areas with less ambitious donation goals, including China (46%), Japan (30%) and the European Union (25%). Some information from this report comes from Reuters. The top United States trade negotiator said China is failing to live up to its trade commitments from last year and that Washington would soon have frank conversations with Beijing. In a speech Monday in Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, China made commitments intended to benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, that we must enforce. China committed to adding an extra $200 billion in purchases of U.S. exports as part of the Phase One trade deal negotiated during former President Donald Trumps administration. Tai said China has fallen short of its purchase promises and said she would seek a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, to review the matter. Above all else, we must defend to the hilt our economic interests, Tai said at Mondays event, hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Continuing Trumps approach William Adams, a senior vice president and senior economist with PNC Financial Services Group, characterized the overall message of Tais speech as one of continuity with the Trump administrations approach to U.S.-China trade relations. U.S. President Joe Biden has kept the tariffs imposed by Trump in place while Tai conducted a months-long review of U.S. trade policy with China. Tai said Monday that going forward, the Biden administration would exclude some Chinese imports from tariffs imposed by Trump. Most previous tariff exclusions expired at the end of last year. While she rejected the idea of Phase Two talks, as envisioned by Trump, to discuss Chinas domestic subsidies and other matters, she said such issues would still be part of U.S. talks with China going forward. U.S. trade groups, which had been pushing the Biden administration to move quickly in laying out its China trade policy, largely welcomed Tais remarks. We applaud her readiness to engage in discussions with her Chinese counterparts on trade issues, and we agree with Ambassador Tai that China must be held accountable for their commitments under the Phase One agreement, Doug Barry, spokesman for US-China Business Council, told VOA. However, Barry said that his organization was still concerned about the possibility of more tariffs and that exclusions to tariffs were particularly important for farmers in the Midwest. Tai did not rule out opening new investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which could lead to new sanctions against China. 'Zero-Sum Dynamic' One source of tension is the subsidies China gives to industries including steel, solar and semiconductors which make it harder for U.S. companies to compete on the global market. Tai described the situation as a zero-sum dynamic where Chinas growth and prosperity come at the expense of workers and economic opportunity here in the U.S. and other market-based democratic economies. In the past, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said it is important to the countrys national security to make Chinese goods essential to global supply chains. The dependence of the international industrial chain on our country has formed a powerful countermeasure and deterrent capability for foreign parties to artificially cut off supply, Xi said in a speech in 2020. In recent weeks as China has cracked down on its tech sector, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He sought to reassure business leaders that government support for industry will continue. Guidelines and policies for supporting the private economy have not changed and will not change in the future, Liu said according to a report from Xinhua news agency. 'May Not Change' Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA in an interview that Tai was very critical of Chinese subsidies and that her zero-sum view of China is very much in the thinking of the Trump administration. Tais speech also highlighted the Bidens administrations goal of working closer with allies to confront China, a difference from the Trump administrations approach. The core of our strategy is a commitment to ensuring we work with our allies to create fair and open markets, Tai said. Tai said the United States would also focus on investing in U.S. workers and infrastructure across the country to give American workers and businesses the boost needed to embrace their global competitiveness. She described the U.S.-China trade relationship as one of profound consequence" and said the objective of engaging with China is "not to inflame trade tensions. As the two largest economies in the world, how we relate to each other does not just affect our two countries. It impacts the entire world and billions of workers, she said. A senior Biden administration official told reporters Monday that China is increasingly explicit that it is doubling down on its authoritarian, state-centric approach and is resistant to addressing our structural concerns. The official said, We recognize that China simply may not change, and that we have to have a strategy that deals with China as it is rather than as we might wish it to be. Yinan Wang, Lin Yang and Forest Cong of the Mandarin Service contributed to this report. With less than one month to go until the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, world religious leaders are calling for strong action to protect the environment. The leaders gathered at a meeting hosted by the Vatican this week. Religious leaders attending the one-day meeting Faith and Science: Towards COP26 Monday made a powerful appeal ahead of the U.N. Climate Change conference which opens October 31 in Glasgow, Scotland, and which Pope Francis is also planning to attend. For two weeks at this years COP-26 summit in Britain, participants will discuss the measures that are needed to avoid what some are calling an unprecedented ecological crisis. The appeal said, "We plead with the international community, gathered at COP26, to take speedy, responsible and shared action to safeguard, restore and heal our wounded humanity and the home entrusted to our stewardship. It was handed to Alok Sharma, president of COP26 in Glasgow and to the Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio. Sharma spoke with reporters in Rome after the meeting. We are at a very dangerous point. The window is closing on tackling climate change and keeping that 1.5-degree critical temperature limit within reach. But the door is still open, we still have time to act, he said. Forty faith leaders from about 20 countries attended the Vatican gathering. They included the Grand Imam of Egypts Al-Azhar mosque, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, the Church of England's Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Representatives of several other religions including Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism were also present. Missing from those invited to the conference was the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists, who China does not recognize. The decision to not invite the Dalai Lama reflects the popes efforts to improve relations with China. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States, told the Reuters news agency that the Vatican's relations with Beijing now are difficult but he noted that the Dalai Lama is well-respected by the pope. Sharna said the Pope and religious representatives who took part in the Vatican meeting cover about 75 percent of the worlds population. That is by any measure a significant percentage of people across the globe and that's why their voice matters so much," he said. Pope Francis has made concern for Earth, which he has described as our common home, a hallmark of his papacy. The Constitutional Court has dismissed an appeal by Gift Konjana of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, who was seeking an order for the court to declare him the winner of the Chegutu West parliamentary seat instead of Dexter Nduna of the ruling party. Justices Paddington Garwe, Ben Hlatswayo and Anne Mary Gowora made the ruling today after they reserved judgment on the matter sometime in May this year, following submission by all the parties. Court documents indicate that the appeal emanated from an election petition lodged with the Electoral Court to nullify the election of Nduna and to declare Konjana duly elected as the Member of Parliament for Chegutu West. The disputed election was held on 30 July, 2018. The court documents read in part, After the relevant election forms were collated and compiled, the respondent was declared duly elected by 10,932 votes as opposed to 10,828 votes attributed to the appellant. The appellant asserted that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) officials made mistakes in capturing data from the ward centres. He lodged a complaint with the ZEC District Elections Officer after the discovery of the mistake which was then admitted by ZEC. Before the Electoral Court, the appellant sought the correction of the erroneous declaration In a tweet, Konjanas attorneys, who are affiliated to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said, Konjana is aggrieved by the election result swap which he equates to electoral fraud & blames it on ZEC. Some Zimbabweans followed the lawyers twitter thread with some of them questioning the courts decision. Cliff Shumba said, What boggles the mind is to hear the likes of Malaba, Mnangagwa and the Mangwanas claiming that the courts are independent. I think their meaning of independence means that ZANU PF and its surrogates are free to manipulate them. No independence comes without fighting for it. Ivan Chigwada said, The law is very clear! By not objecting and appealling against the decision made within the prescribed period, he is deemed to have accepted the initial decision! Facebook is back online after an outage left millions of people around the world Monday unable to use it, along with its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, to connect with friends, family and others. Facebook users said Monday evening that they have begun to regain partial access to the site, about six hours after it went down. It later confirmed it had "reconnected to the global internet." The outage began shortly before noon Eastern time. Thirty minutes later, Facebook tweeted: "We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience." Facebook officials have not said what caused the problem. Mike Schroepfer, the company's chief technology officer, tweeted earlier Monday, "We are experiencing networking issues, and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible." Reuters news agency reported that users could not access Facebook because they were not being directed to the correct place by the Domain Name System. It said Facebook controls that system, suggesting the problem was an internal one. Facebook employees reported they lost access to some of their own tools Monday, making the company's response more difficult. Instagram head Adam Mosseri tweeted that it "feels like a snow day." Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that internal Facebook documents showed the company knows about the negative effects of its products yet does little to counter potentially harmful consequences. CBS News' "60 Minutes" program broadcast an interview Sunday with a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, who aired her grievances about the social media giant. Haugen is expected to testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. Facebook said her allegations are misleading. Facebook's vice president of policy and global affairs Nick Clegg pushed back against several of Haugen's assertions, including that its platforms are toxic for teens and suggestions it contributed to the January 6 riot. "I think the assertion (that) January 6th can be explained because of social media, I just think that's ludicrous," Clegg told CNN. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters. Patricia Pat A. Baustian age 93, of Alexandria died on Thursday, October 7, 2021, at Knute Nelson. A Celebration of Life Service will be held 10:30 AM on Saturday, October 16, 2021, at United Methodist Church in Alexandria. Visitation will be held for one prior to the service at the church. Funeral Announcements A daily list of current funeral annoucements as heard on KXRA 1490 AM/100.3 FM News Updates The daily news, sports, and events delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Sports Update This current sports headlines delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Upcoming Events This email is the events of the area delivered daily from Voice of Alexandria. Breaking News The big news. Sent only as it happens. User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Translate 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 / 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 (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. Ulaanbaatar (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 (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. 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. 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 Ulaanbaatar (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : That earthquake made me woke up erdenet (156.3 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : surprised Ulaanbaatar (100.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Light shaking 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 (99.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Really scaried worried for kids Ulaanbaatar (99.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s Ulaanbaatar (105.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : Hanging objecs swing Ulaanbaatar (102.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s Ulaanbaatar (101 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : damn that was scary Ulaanbaatar (103.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : hanging objects swinging around 2-5 seconds 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) Ulaanbaatar (103.1 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : bed was shakin 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 (99.5 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : That earthquake made me woke up 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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s Ulaanbaatar / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : I heard an earthquake sound. It was howling Ulaanbaatar / Light shaking (MMI IV) 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 Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Translate Sleeping in bed, Misawa air base tower (114.3 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : We live on 9th floor of tower so we feel it more than on ground level but you could feel the floor swaying back and forth, our long blinds were rattling hitting each other, walls were creaking some. It was definitely scary, very similar but not exact to f | 12 users found this interesting. Misawa, Aomori (114.3 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 minutes : I'm in an apartment on rollers. I have never felt such large swaying motions before. | 9 users found this interesting. Oirase, Japan (88 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 minutes : Light shaking, but long | 4 users found this interesting. Misawa, Aomori (107.9 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 minutes : Woke me up in the middle of the night with moderate shaking. Knocked some items off of shelves. | 3 users found this interesting. Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan (555.9 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : It was enough to wake me and my wife out of our sleep. It wasn't strong but you can still tell it made our building sway. | 3 users found this interesting. Tono City, Iwate / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s Shindo 4 felt. | 2 users found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s Misawa (114.7 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : My bed was shacking like crazy and it felt like the earthquake was right underneath my room | 2 users found this interesting. Misawa (112.2 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : It woke me out of my sleep and I wobbled as I walked to my kids rooms. I was on the second floor of a townhouse. | 2 users found this interesting. morioka,iwate japan / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : strong shaking | 2 users found this interesting. Hachinohe, Japan / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / complex motion difficult to describe / 15-20 s : My wife and I woke up to sudden violent and loud shaking for about 30 seconds. It was pretty intense | One user found this interesting. Yokote, Akita (162.8 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s Misawa / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 15-20 s Morioka,Iwate / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 20-30 s (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 20-30 s Misawa, japan (114.2 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s Misawa Shi / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 20-30 s Misawa, Aomori / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s Misawa / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / complex motion difficult to describe / 10-15 s Oriase Japan (107.6 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s Uzurakubo (107.9 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s Hachimantai Shi iwate Japan / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 2-5 s Aomori / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 minutes Tokyo Machida (547.5 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt The Taliban gave foreign journalists in Afghanistan a tour of the CIAs secret base [1]. Before fleeing, the intelligence agents incinerated all their vehicles and detonated their ammunition depot. The base comprised the replica of an Afghan village used for training the local Agency staff, especially to carry out night raids. It also included the partly destroyed Dark Prison of Salt Pit, renowned for meting out torture much more egregious than in Guantanamo [satellite photo]. The prisoners were held there for months, naked, in absolute darkness, sometimes broken under the blows of the guards own lamps. The prison was not heated. The CIA had relaxed detention conditions after the Miami Herald reported that several inmates had frozen to death, chained to a wall for two weeks. CIA collaboratos fled Afghanistan with their families. Theyre the ones we have seen scrambling to climb on a plane at Kabul airport. The United States and Russia are competing to make a space adventure film. Russia is expected to overtake its rival. NASA and Elon Musk are poised to send actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman to space in a few weeks. But the first film to be shot outside of the Earth is one likely to star actress Yulia Peresild (pictured) and be directed by Klim Shipenko who are slated to take off from Kazakhstan and spend 12 days in the international orbital station. Photo: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images If you believe the internet, Adeles long-awaited new album could drop any day now. (Weve heard there could be music as soon as next week.) But whenever it arrives, theres a good chance said album will be followed shortly by something almost as exciting: Vulture hears Adeles camp has approached multiple networks and platforms about the idea of staging a TV special tied to the new release. No deals are in place, and talks are still in the exploratory stage. But if it happens, sources say the televised event would likely debut before the end of the year just in time for the holiday shopping season. While our music and TV industry spies are certain Adele is strongly considering a TV event to hype her new music, whats less certain is the form a special will take and where it will land. Adele promoted her 2015 album 25 with relatively intimate, pretaped televised concerts on the BBC and NBC in November and December of 2015, respectively. She could go with a similar format this time around, or perhaps shoot for something more ambitious, such as a live outdoor spectacle. As for where any special might be seen, if history is a guide, it is likely Adeles team is looking for a platform that can deliver a massive audience in a short time. On the streaming side, Netflix would certainly offer that not just in the U.S. but on a global scale. The short turnaround time for this project, however, might not make it the ideal candidate, since Netflix music specials have tended to be long-in-the-works, almost-cinematic specials (think Beyonces Homecoming). Its unclear if the streamer is currently in talks for the prospective special; the platform doesnt typically comment on projects before deals have been signed. Amazon Prime Video could also be a contender: It has a long history of working with musicians on big projects, such as Rihannas fashion-forward Savage X Fenty Show, Kacey Musgravess Christmas show, and the Prime Day concert specials. Amazon also obviously has the ability to sell things, like CDs and digital downloads. It could put an Adele special on its free ad-supported streamer IMDb TV, ensuring an even wider audience. HBO too has a long history of music specials, and now it is looking to sign up subscribers around the world for HBO Max. And, of course, Apple, with its access to hundreds of millions of consumer accounts, could be home for an Adele event, most likely with some combination of coverage by Apple TV+ and Apple Music. As for traditional broadcast TV, Vulture hears Adeles reps have once again approached American networks about a special, indicating she hasnt settled on a streaming-only strategy this time around. Whats more, all the U.S. broadcasters now have streaming partners, so in theory, Adele could do a deal to have her special run on multiple platforms owned by the same company, though likely with the broadcast network taking the lead. NBC obviously has to be considered a candidate, given its past association with Adele as well as the presence of Lorne Michaels, who produced her 2015 special and holds the keys to SNL, which is an obvious promotional platform for the album. But Michaels can still have Adele host or perform on SNL in December even if she doesnt do a special for NBC. As for the other U.S. networks, ABCs Disney ownership would allow it to share any special with either Disney+ or Hulu, with the former being a more likely candidate given its broader international distribution. Disney+ could also pursue an Adele special on its own. But CBS has a strong case to make: The Eye regularly delivers some the biggest weekly average audience numbers of any American broadcaster, and Adeles target demo of People Who Still Buy Music overlaps with CBSs core demographic of adults between the ages of 25 and 54 (yes, that includes you, millennials). CBS also has ties to fellow ViacomCBS-owned MTV and streamer Paramount+, both of which could be enlisted to get more eyes on Adele. The network has a demonstrated and most important, recent track record with aggregating big numbers for specials (Oprahs royal chat with Meghan and Harry, with over 17 million viewers, is one of this years biggest broadcasts). And it probably doesnt hurt that CBS is closely tied with James Corden and producer Ben Winston: The duo engineered the instantly iconic Carpool Karaoke with Adele and were also involved with the Emmy-nominated Friends reunion special for HBO Max earlier this year. That doesnt mean theyd be involved in the event, but there would be obvious cross-promotional possibilities. As noted above, Vulture has only heard chatter of Adeles reps broaching the idea of a big fourth-quarter TV event to promote the new album. As far as we know, there is no closed deal, and its possible her team decides to go another way and opt against a televised concert. But special or not, count on this: Adele, like fellow famous Brit Roy Kent, will soon be here, there, and every-f***ing-where. Reps for Adele and Sony Music did not return calls and emails seeking comment. The Colbert County community showed support for their hero, Sheffield Police Sgt. Nick Risner. Law enforcement across the state joined Sheffield Police Department in a procession from Huntsville to Florence this week. Risner's cousins lined the road early in the afternoon to get a spot to watch their beloved family member come home for one final time. "We're just here to pay our respects to Nick," said one of the cousins. "Our entire family has come together. He was in the army; my dad was also in the army, Billy Risner. He's a cousin that we all loved very close, very respected and he's going to be really missed." Friends of Risner's daughter said he was always smiling and a kid at heart. "It definitely shows what kind of person he was and how he was kind to everyone around him and how much he meant to everyone as a whole," said Kenzlie Liles. "Whether or not he knew them or just met them, he was special to everybody." As people honor and remember Sheffield Police Sgt. Nick Risner, one Florence teenager is using her loss to help the Risner family. Handmade T-shirts may seem like a simple way to remember Risner, but there's more behind the idea. Sgt. Nick Risner t-shirt Sgt. Nick Risner t-shirt "I posted on Facebook, and everyone was like, 'Can you make me a shirt like this?' And I was like, 'OK, I will,' and it just kind of blew up from there," Alexandria Indelicato said. When Indelicato posted a picture she designed of Risner with angel wings and his K-9, Wiske, she never expected such a great response. Now, she said, "I have like 200, 300 people who, like, want shirts." But the idea wasn't entirely her own. She was inspired by a shirt someone made her after she lost her niece and nephew in March. "Someone kind of made me a shirt like this," Indelicato explained through tears. She knows the feeling of loss and is grateful to be able to help the Risner family through theirs. "It feels amazing, because they did it for us when we were at that hard time, too," explained Indelicato. The money from her niece and nephew's T-shirt sales helped Indelicato's family, which is what they hope to do for the Risner family. "All the proceeds are going to his family," said Monica Indelicato, Alexandria's mother. Monica Indelicato has always been close with the Risner family. She said she was best friends with his cousin in school. She said Risner has always been a proud member of the law enforcement community. "If you knew Nick, you knew who he was. He loved his job," she said. They have already raised more than $400 for the family, and it's not just people in North Alabama ordering shirts. Alexandria has orders from multiple states that she's preparing to ship out. T-shirts are $20 each and can be purchased by contacting Alexandria Indelicato through Facebook. Gov. Kay Ivey is responding to the criticism brought forth by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall but said she had not read the piece. Marshall released his opinion piece Monday afternoon, unleashing his anger over the death of Sheffield Police Sgt. Nick Risner and the process that allowed his accused killer to be free. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Credit: @GovernorKayIvey Twitter Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey Credit: @GovernorKayIvey Twitter "I have not read Steve Marshalls editorial but I do have a high regard for the attorney general," Ivey said. "He does good work, and I trust him. The bottom line is, youve got to have incentives for prisoners, have a good behavior, so its just unfortunate that fellow messed up bad, and hell pay the penalty for it. Marshall's article took issue with the changes being made that allow prisoners to be released early for good behavior behind bars. The policymaking in this state is completely and utterly detached from what law enforcement and prosecutors see day in and day out, Marshall wrote. The piece also revealed Brian Martins rap sheet during the time he spent behind bars for a manslaughter charge related to his father's death. Marshall said Martin got into a fight and seriously injured another inmate, and that he was caught with drugs twice. Despite that, he was awarded "good time" and served little more than three years after entering prison for pleading guilty tothe manslaughter charge. Marshall said if Martin had served his entire 10-year sentence, he would have been behind bars instead of in the Walmart parking lot Friday where Risner was shot. Ivey said her thoughts and prayers go out to the Risner family and that he is a true hero. She also said the need to complete the newly approved prisons in our state is the key to fixing the broken system. The bottom line is, we need more prison criminal justice reform measures, but weve got to build a building so we can put the prisoners in a safe place and have space to teach them and deal with mental health and medical issues and teach them a skill," Ivey said. "We will be working on more criminal justice reform, it is going to take two and a half to three years to build, so weve got time to put more reforms in place. Heres Marshalls full piece: With the death of Sergeant Nick Risner this weekend, our state has lost ten law enforcement officers in ten months and twenty-four officers in five years. Sergeant Nick Risner was killed by a man whose name isnt worth mentioning. That man had killed beforein fact, he killed his own father. In 2013, the man was sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter. A mere two-and-a-half years after entering prison, he was given the benefit of a parole hearing. His parole was denied. While in prison, the man racked up a lengthy rap sheet. Records indicate that he got into a fight and seriously injured another inmate. He was disciplined for disobeying a correctional officer. He got caught with drugs in his possession, twice. Naturally, the man was awarded good time, provided for in statute, for this stellar behavior while incarcerated. As a result, the man served three years, two months, and fifteen days of his ten-year sentence. He was released from prison in May of 2016. Had he served the full length of his sentence, he would have been in prison, not in the Walmart parking lot, last Friday afternoon when Sergeant Risner was shot. When the news of Sergeant Risner hit the wires over the weekend, politician after politician tweeted their support for law enforcement and their sympathy for the victims. But only days before, at the end of a five-day legislative session, a new law was enacted mandating that all inmatesincluding violent ones with histories just like this shootersbe let out of prison up to one year early to be supervised before the formal end of their sentence. Twenty-three house members and only six senators thought this was a bad idea. Had this law been in effect when Sergeant Risners killer was initially sentenced, his ten-year sentence would have been reduced to a little over three years with automatic good time, and his paltry three years behind bars wouldve been further reduced to only two. Consider, too, that just six months ago, the legislature enacted yet another law that would reduce time served in prison under the Education Incentive Time Act. As introduced and passed unanimously by the Alabama Senate, rapists and murderers were to be considered for parole up to twelve months early for taking advantage of educational programming while in prison. Despite being publicly chided by a Republican member of the legislature for getting involved, my Office successfully fought to have most violent offenders removed from this legislation. Each time, the same tired rhetoric is used as justification for passage: our prisons are overcrowded and the inmates are eventually going to get out anyway. The current population of Alabamas prisons is 81 percent violent. The population that is non-violent does not serve any appreciable time inside the prison walls. As evidenced by the reforms pushed last week, we are at a point where any further reforms will benefit primarily violent offendersthere is simply nobody else to reform. Im glad weve all agreed that we need to build prisons, but strangely, I seem to be alone in the view that most of our current prison population ought to stay locked up. The policymaking in this state is completely and utterly detached from what law enforcement and prosecutors see day in and day out. There must be a reckoning for the real-life consequences of these decisions. It is time that the Alabama public speak up and speak out about this dangerous, and seemingly endless, trajectory of criminal justice reform. Your state leaders are not listening. Sheffield Police Chief Ricky Terry is calling for change after Sgt. Nick Risner's death in the line of duty. Risner is said to have saved many lives by doing a PIT maneuver to stop suspect Brian Lansing Martin from getting into a crowded Walmart parking lot in Muscle Shoals. Risner was shot by Martin on Friday, dying from his injuries Saturday. Sheffield Police Chief Ricky Terry Sheffield Police Chief Ricky Terry WAAY 31s Breken Terry spoke with the police chief about the anger his department feels about Martin being out of prison after serving three years and two months in custody on a manslaughter charge. That charge dealt with Martin killing his father. Martin had taken a plea deal that reduced his charge from murder to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but he got six years and 10 months knocked off his sentence as part of Alabama's Good Time law. That law allows inmates to collect 75 days off their sentence for every 30 days they serve with good behavior. I've got to bury one of my officers this week because the system has failed us, Terry said. Hes demanding change to the good time law. "This has been an emotional week for me," Terry said. "I've been frustrated. I've been heartbroken, and I've been angry. Something has got to change. The Alabama Department of Corrections allowed Martin to be released without supervision when his sentence ended May 1, 2016, because he accrued enough "good time" to end his sentence. But Martin was not good while in prison, according to the state attorney general's office. The attorney generals office said he had several infractions, including drugs, fights and disobeying corrections officers. It doesn't make any sense at all, Terry said. He should have had more charges while he was in prison. It seems like to me that the Alabama Department of Corrections did not want to deal with (Martin) because he was a problem. Alabama law also says if an inmate gets good time but then gets infractions like Martin had all of that good time can be forfeited. WAAY 31 reached out to the ADOC if it followed the law and if it added time back to Martins sentence for his infractions. A spokesperson for the department confirmed Martin's "Good Time classification was proper" and that it followed the law when determining how much time to remove or add to his sentence. As a result of "several minor infractions" on his disciplinary record, "approximately six months of his Good Time was revoked in accordance with state law and ADOC Regulations," ADOC Interim Departmental Spokesperson Kristi Simpson said. However, Martin was eligible for restoration of Good Time due to the nature of the infractions, and either way, he would have been released sometime in 2016, according to ADOC. "To be clear, the ADOC does not make arbitrary decisions about releasing inmates or when inmates are scheduled to be released," Simpson said. "Brian Martin's sentence was computed in compliance with state law." Terry is calling on Shoals lawmakers to draft a bill in Risners honor that will make changes to the Good Time law or prevent people originally charged with murder from getting full Good Time law benefits. I don't understand, Terry said. Yes, he was charged with murder and pleaded it down to manslaughter. He was charged with murder. He is a violent person. He is a coward. So, the Department of Corrections, a coward murdered my police officer. The American University of Rome is looking for an instructor to teach the course Geographic Information Systems for Food and Agriculture for the U.S. accredited Master in Food Studies. Policies for Sustainable Production and Consumption. The course involves 45 contact hours during the period end January to mid-May 2021. The learning objectives are: 1. evaluate the objectives, strengths and weaknesses of different remote sensing methods or platforms in food and agricultural contexts; 2. identify and describe standard practices during a GIS survey; 3. design and implement spatial databases using industry-standard GIS software, recognizing the principles of a range of spatial technologies; 4. map and analyze food and agricultural data with GIS and grasp the socio-economic and environmental implications of new sources of spatial data; 5. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how GIS has been applied in Food Studies and Agriculture, and how it has contributed to theoretical and methodological development of the field. Required qualifications: - Excellent knowledge of English - Relevant academic education, preferably at Ph.D. level - Previous teaching experience of GIS Desirable qualifications - Previous teaching experience with North American programs - Professional experience with GIS Please send your motivation letter and CV in English to applications@aur.edu (quote re: GIS FS/2021) AUR is an equal opportunity employer. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy In the memo, Koh urged the administration to consider more lawful and more humane policy options, including determining whether recent Haitian migrants may have legal status and family ties in other countries where they could be sent, such as Brazil or Chile, instead of returning them to Haiti. He also calls for the immediate suspension of all Title 42 flights, but especially to Haiti. Wall Street surged on Tuesday (US time), as Microsoft and Apple spearheaded a rebound in growth stocks and investors awaited monthly payrolls data later in the week that could influence the Feds decision on when to scale back massive monetary stimulus. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, Wall Streets most valuable companies, each jumped more than 2 per cent following a selloff in growth stocks the day before. Tech giants have led a Wall Street rally. Credit:Bloomberg Facebook Inc rose 2.2 per cent the day after it took a beating when its app and its photo-sharing platform Instagram went offline for hours before being restored late in the evening. The S&P 500 closed 1.1 per cent higher, the Dow Jones added 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped by 1.3 per cent. The Australian sharemarket is poised to open higher, with futures at 5.17am AEST pointing to a rise of 39 points, or 0.5 per cent, at the open. More than 100 young artists, teachers and their relatives affiliated with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, a celebrated school that became a target of the Taliban in part for its efforts to promote the education of girls, fled the country on Sunday, the schools leaders said. The musicians, many of whom have been trying to leave for more than a month, boarded a flight from Kabuls main airport and have arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, according to Melbourne-based Ahmad Naser Sarmast. In coming days, they plan to resettle in Portugal, where the government has agreed to grant them visas. Fighters from the Haqqani network inside a room of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul. Credit:AP Photo/Bernat Armangue Its already a big step and a very, very big achievement on the way of rescuing Afghan musicians from the cruelty of the Taliban, Sarmast, who opened the school in 2010, said in a statement. You cannot imagine how happy I am. The musicians join a growing number of Afghans who have fled the country since August, when the Taliban consolidated their control of the country amid the withdrawal of US forces. Among figures in the arts and sports worlds who have escaped are members of a female soccer team who resettled in Portugal and Italy. After speaking to Ms Jones, she seemed a lot calmer and the centre worker planned to testify that JC did not appear to be under the influence of any substance, Ms Forester told the court. It was while staying with friend Michael Little that she foreshadowed she was going to die that day. JC later left Mr Littles house and was spotted walking along Geraldtons suburban streets in Rangeway carrying a large knife and a small pair of scissors just after 6pm. Three marked police vehicles, with two officers each, went to JCs location, including an officer who knew JC and tried talking her around with no weapon brandished. A second officer from another vehicle followed JC on foot and drew their Taser but did not arm it. Ms Forrester said the officers said she seemed agitated. At one point when other officers arrived, JC was told she would be Tasered if she doesnt put down the knife, the court heard. It was 33 seconds later and when more police officers had arrived that the next radio call from the scene was that one shot had been fired and an ambulance was needed. Less than three seconds after she stopped walking the accused shot her in the abdomen, Ms Forrester said. She showed the court CCTV footage of the shooting that she said proved JC did not take a step or move towards the officer when he shot her. The vision was captured on a home security camera that was triggered by movement and the incident was a significant distance away. Ms Forrester said the eight officers and four cars had loaded firearms, batons, Tasers, and handcuffs. JC. This photo has been published with the permission of her family. Credit:Facebook She said given the accuseds training as with all the officers present, who were armed with and had access to a number of other options shooting JC on this day was wholly unnecessary. He cannot have believed what he did was necessary, Ms Forrester said. JC was taken to hospital and bled to death internally, she said. A blood test showed methamphetamine was in JCs system, but she hadnt used on the day she died. The accused policemans defence barrister, Linda Black, said her client was heartbroken by what happened, and it was preposterous he had the intention to murder JC. She said he had followed WA Police policy and procedure to protect his colleagues and the public. It is not the case the accused woke up that day and thought I hope I kill someone today, she said. Instead, he was the man brave enough to risk his own career, his own life by being the person on the frontline to pull a gun to protect his fellow officers. Ms Black said the court would hear the correct thing to do when an officer was confronted by an armed offender with a knife was to draw their firearm to overpower the situation. Police training requires a police officer to have a weapon higher than what the person has, she said. You dont bring a fist to a knife fight you bring a gun to a knife fight. Ms Black said officers were trained to respond proactively because it took just 1.5 seconds for an armed offender to move about 6.4 metres and stab whoever was in the area. Ms Black said JC had raised the knife and pointed it at the accused, which triggered his response. This is the woman who told her own family members Im going to die today and I dont want yous (sic) coming to my funeral, she said. Ms Black said JC had been ordered several times to drop the weapons, drop the f-----g knife but she refused despite having a police firearm pointed at her. The deceased was never ever going to drop the weapons she needed to be taken down she was never going to surrender, she said. Ms Black said police officers were trained to treat an armed suspect as a lethal threat and to respond to lethal threats with lethal force. The location where JC had been shot in her stomach followed standard police training, she said. Australia is a major world economy, Sharma said. And if you compare to where other major world economies are, I hope that we could get to 45 to 50 per cent from Australia. That would mean theyd be comparable with other major economies in the world. Labor took a 45 per cent target by 2030 to the 2019 federal election a policy the government claimed would take a wrecking ball to the economy. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has since called Labors pledge a mistake. But the NSW Liberal government last week promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, building on the same policy unveiled by the Victorian Labor government earlier this year. Sharma said he has had candid conversations with the Australian government over the need to make much deeper cuts before the end of the decade. I say to them basically what I say to everyone, which is that we need to do more. If we want to ensure that we are at a point of net zero by the middle of the century, then we have to have ambitious 2030 emission-reduction targets which align with that goal. Loading A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in August found a 45 per cent cut by 2030 was essential to meeting the Paris Agreements goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. But on the current trajectory, we will see an increase of 16 per cent in emissions by 2030 rather than a reduction, Sharma said. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said Australia would take part in the COP26 summit and had a strong record of meeting and beating its emissions reduction commitments. We are working closely with the UK on the technology advances that will be needed for the world to transition to a net zero economy. Technology not taxes is the way to tackle climate change, keep the lights on and keep people in jobs. This will continue to be at the heart of Australias response. The government has promised to release an updated 2030 projection and its long-term strategy ahead of the Glasgow meeting. The more ambitious action from NSW and Victoria could help the government lift its 2030 target of a 26 to 28 per cent cut to something approaching 35 per cent, but the politics within the Coalition is fraught and most cabinet ministers still do not know what Morrison is planning just three weeks out from the Glasgow summit. Sharma said the urgency of the climate crisis warranted bold decisions from Australia. Australia is a great friend, and I really want one of my closest mates to come to my party and I want them to sing the same songs, he said. And that in a climate context means more ambition on cutting emissions and it means more support in terms of financing for developing countries. Asked whether it was possible to achieve net-zero emissions without a price on carbon which Morrison and Albanese are opposed to Sharma stressed the international landscape was shifting rapidly. I mean, even China now has an emissions trading scheme, he said. It is internationally acknowledged that countries are going to have to domestically and internationally address the whole issue of carbon pricing and carbon leakage every country will have to get there. And so my advice to any country is to start to think about this now. Sharma also thanked the Morrison government and Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor for assisting Pacific islands attendees with travel to the Glasgow event. More than 20,000 people are expected to arrive in the Scottish city during the first two weeks of November. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made climate change a key plank of his leadership. Credit:Getty Johnson recently said the gathering would be held in the full glare of the global spotlight. And when the summit ends, when most of the world has committed to decisive, game-changing action, it will be clear to all which of us has lacked the courage to step up, he said. The world will see, and your people will remember, and history will judge. NORWALK For some of the more than 300 Afghan refugees arriving in Connecticut in recent and upcoming weeks, Norwalk is expected to become home to some seeking asylum. While we do not have an exact number, we would expect a portion of those refugees to be resettled in Fairfield County and in Norwalk, city spokesperson Josh Morgan said Monday. To prepare for the refugees, Norwalk paired up with a Bridgeport-based resettlement agency, the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, over the last couple weeks to ensure needs and resources are ready. The citys Community Services Department and the Family Navigator Program will likely be at the frontlines of any resettlement effort, but it will be a community endeavor, Morgan said. In the days following Gov. Ned Lamonts announcement of Connecticut receiving Afghan refugees, Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling pulled together more than 20 community providers and nonprofit organizations to discuss potential refugee resettlement. The message from this amazing group was clear: This is what we do, this is who we are, and we have the resources available to support our new neighbors, Morgan said. Lamont announced on Sept. 15 he received word from the White House that Connecticut will welcome about 310 Afghan refugees fleeing the country after the Taliban regained control. The Department of Homeland security ensured all individuals arriving from Afghanistan were vetted and received the appropriate vaccinations, including the vaccine for COVID-19, Lamont said. The governor called on the states Department of Social Services to round up local, state and federal groups and providers to prepare for the refugees arrival. Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, a nonprofit resettlement agency based in New Haven, will receive at least 200 refugees and possibly another 100 later on, according to Ann OBrien, the director of community engagement at IRIS. Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants will take in 100 refugees, according to CIRIs director of external affairs, Ashley Gaudiano. Lately, CIRI receives 24- to 48-hour notice when refugees arrive in their jurisdiction and need shelter, Gaudiano said. Prior to being resettled, the refugees are housed in eight military bases across the country. We settled a family a week and a half ago and we are anticipating some more, but dont know when we will receive them, Gaudiano said. Weve been told we could receive about 100 refugees in the next three to four months. The family settled over a week ago was placed in Bridgeport, where CIRI is headquartered and traditionally many of their clients were placed, Gaudiano said. Bridgeport is really easy for people to walk to locations, its more pedestrian and walkable friendly, she said. Whats different now is a much larger volume of people from Afghanistan or beyond. In 2020, we resettled about 34 refugees. This year, were looking at upwards of 300. As a result, we need to find housing and set up services downtown. Were looking at Norwalk and Stamford. Gaudiano said CIRIs positive relationship with Norwalk and its public schools led the organization to the city. CIRI is seeking funds and donations of both supplies and monetary support for the Afghan refugees in the area. Those interested can learn about the various forms of contribution at cirict.org/donate. abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com NORWICH A local hospital reached a settlement in response to a complaint that alleged disability discrimination, according to federal officials. Backus Hospital entered into a voluntary resolution agreement to resolve a compliant filed with the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of an individual who is deaf and alleged that the hospital failed to provide timely auxiliary aids and services to allow the individual to communicate during an in-patient stay at the facility, officials said. The complaint alleged that Backus Hospital did not provide the patient with an interpreter or video remote interpreting service at points of care during his in-patient stay. The complaint claimed that the individual had to rely on handwritten notes to communicate with doctors and staff during the stay. The Office for Civil Rights investigated the complaint, reviewing the hospitals policies and procedures for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. As a result of the investigation, federal officials said, Backus Hospital voluntarily entered into an agreement and affirmed it would comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The hospital also agreed to pay the complainant $7,500 in compensatory relief. Health care providers have a responsibility to provide effective communication, which is a key component to ensuring patients receive quality care, said OCR Director Lisa Pino in a statement. This agreement sends an important message about the importance of eliminating unnecessary barriers to equal treatment for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Anyone who wants to file a complaint alleging any other place of public accommodation or public entity in the state is not accessible to individuals with disabilities can contact the U.S. Attorneys Office at 203-821-3700. Melissa Phillip/AP CHICAGO (AP) Opponents of a new Texas ban on most abortions filed a lawsuit in Illinois on Tuesday after weeks of being thwarted by courts elsewhere in their efforts to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law. The latest legal challenge came as the Biden administration waited for a federal judge in Austin, Texas, to rule on a request to halt the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions in Texas once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. A hearing was held Friday but there was no timetable on a decision. Reading, PA (19601) Today Mainly cloudy, brisk, and not as warm with a shower or two or some patchy drizzle. . Tonight Mostly cloudy and breezy with a few showers or a bit of drizzle, especially late. Allentown, PA (18103) Today Mainly cloudy, brisk, and not as warm with a shower or two or some patchy drizzle. . Tonight Mostly cloudy and breezy with a few showers or a bit of drizzle, especially late. Partnerships Officer (Family Farming), Rome, Italy Organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Country: Italy City: Rome Office: FAO Rome Closing date: Tuesday, 19 October 2021 2102641 Partnerships Officer (Family Farming) Job Posting: 28/Sep/2021 Closure Date: 19/Oct/2021, 9:59:00 PM Organizational Unit : PSU Job Type: Staff position Type of Requisition : Professional Grade Level : P-3 Primary Location: Italy-Rome Duration : Fixed term: 2 years with possibility of extension Post Number : 2001098 CCOG Code : 1A10 FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented member nations and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold our values. FAO has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and FAO, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization. Organizational Setting The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supports the transformation to More efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems, for Better production, Better nutrition, a Better environment and a Better life, leaving no one behind. The Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division (PSU) is responsible for coordinating and overseeing the identification, strengthening and stewardship of strategic partnerships with UN agencies and non-state actors (NSAs) including civil society, academia and research institutions, family farmers and indigenous peoples organizations and parliamentarians. The Division leads FAOs engagement in the UN Development System repositioning, develops capacities, fosters dialogues, scales up programmes and advocates for FAOs corporate positions in support of FAOs new Strategic Framework and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It ensures that multi-stakeholder processes and strategic interventions globally and locally are an integral part of FAOs work and provides targeted support for successful collaboration with NSAs and UN agencies. The Division has the lead responsibility for the promotion of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS RAI) and the implementation of the Food Coalition, the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028) and the FAO Policy on Indigenous Peoples. It is also in charge of FAOs e-learning programmes and access to scientific and technical data through knowledge platforms and enhanced information policies and standards, promotes and facilitates knowledge sharing on sustainable food security and nutrition among various stakeholders. Reporting Lines The Partnerships Officer reports to the senior Partnerships Officer, Coordinator under guidance of the PSU Director. Technical Focus Contribution of Family Farming to FAOs Four Betters and to the SDGs. Key Results Support the development of partnerships in Headquarters and Decentralized Offices in support of the strategic objectives of the Organization. Key Functions Identifies, assess and develops, with the appropriate technical divisions, possible collaborations and partnerships with private sector entities for the fulfilment of the Strategic Objectives, both at Headquarters (HQ) and decentralized levels; Provides guidance and support to staff at Headquarters (HQ) and in Decentralized Offices (DOs) on the use of corporate requirements related to partnerships with the private sector; Elaborates an annual work plan with the priorities and main activities of private sector entities, which will be aligned with FAOs Strategic Objectives and programmes; Coordinates and monitors all operations and activities related to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund in support of mobilization of resources from the private sector; Establishes links with different FAO entities and governing bodies, including the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and other relevant regional and national fora on policy discussions to strengthen partnerships with private sector entities; Identifies and develops fundraising proposals in collaboration with key stakeholders both at HQ and decentralized offices in support of FAOs strategic objectives and country programming frameworks; Develops tools for capacity building among staff in HQ and DO to strengthen FAOs capacity of partnering with the private sector; Contributes to the elaboration and execution of the Monitoring and Evaluation system of FAOs partnerships; Participates on multi-disciplinary teams, and/or leads working groups/teams collaborates with other divisions and agencies on work groups and committees and promotes best practices. Specific Functions Contributes to structuring and conducting policy dialogues, trainings, and seminars on inclusive, integrated and innovative public policy processes for the support of family farming; Participates in multi-disciplinary, inter-divisional and inter-regional teams and collaborates with other UN agencies to promote the exchange of knowledge and policy solutions for the support of family farming; Supports technical and institutional innovations to strengthen family farming through the engagement of FAO staff and other actors; Engages and promotes partnerships with family farmers organizations; Supports continuous liaison with global and regional family farmers organizations to ensure their involvement and continuous participation in the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF); Carries out capacity development activities (online and offline) to strengthen producer organizations, CSOs, and other relevant actors, with a focus on young farmers and womens needs; Supports project planning and implementation in the framework of the UNDFF; prepares relevant documents and reports; and liaises with donors and other relevant parties; Drafts various written outputs, e.g. background papers, analyses, substantial sections of reports, inputs to publications; training/learning programs, including the management of e-consultations; Contributes to the organization and delivery of UNDFF-related consultations, meetings, conferences at global, regional and national levels, including proposals for agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations; Prepares documents and background materials related to the UNDFF International Steering Committee meetings, and supports organizational matters as needed; Supports continuous liaison with IFAD to assist the implementation of the UNDFF, to develop fundraising proposals and to support processes leading to the UN General Assembly; Supports Senior Managements outreach and advocacy efforts related to the UNDFF; Represents the Unit at external and interagency meetings as required. CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING Minimum Requirements Advanced university degree in international relations, economics, agricultural sciences, social sciences, or any other discipline relevant to the work of the Organization; Five years of relevant experience in strategic partnerships, engagement with state and non-state actors, facilitation of multi-actor collaboration, quantitative and qualitative analysis of data and information of family farming, food and agricultural and food systems-relevant issues; Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) Competencies cuUp925-Dh7qKS Results Focus Teamwork Communication Building Effective Relationships Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement Technical/Functional Skills Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is desirable Extensive knowledge of food systems, food security and nutrition, sustainable development, and generational sustainability of family farming; Extent and relevance of experience in building alliances, partnerships and networks for sustainable food systems; Deep understanding of the governance of the UN Decade of Family Farming and related UN Procedures; Extent and relevance of experience in drafting reports and strategic plans and in evidence based agri-food policy assessments; Experience in organizing meetings, seminars and capacity development activities. FAO staff are expected to adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency. GENERAL INFORMATION Extension of fixed term appointments is based on certification of performance and availability of funds FAO reserves the right not to make an appointment. CONDITIONS OF SERVICE A competitive compensation and benefits package is offered. For information on UN salaries, allowances and benefits, click on the following link: http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries allowances/salary.htm Other benefits, subject to eligibility, include: Dependency allowances Rental subsidy Education grant for children Home leave travel 30 working days of annual leave per year Pension fund entitlements under the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund International health insurance; optional life insurance Disability protection FAO encourages a positive workplace culture to increase inclusivity and diversity within its workforce. FAO applies measures in which all staff members contribute equally and in full to the work and development of the Organization. This includes: elements of family-friendly policies flexible working arrangements standards of conduct. HOW TO APPLY To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications and language skills. Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile; Once your profile is completed, please apply and submit your application; Your application will be screened based on the information provided on your online profile; Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/ Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications; Incomplete applications will not be considered; Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered; We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date. If you need help, or have queries, please contact: Careers@fao.org Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1632854242681 Specialist - Immunization, New York Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Childrens Fund Country: United States City: New York Office: UNICEF New York Grade: P-4 Closing date: Saturday, 16 October 2021 Health Specialist - Immunization (P-4), # 00117721, Health Section, PG - New York HQ (Temporary Appointment 364days) Job no: 545086 Position type: Temporary Appointment Location: United States Division/Equivalent: Programme School/Unit: Programme Division Department/Office: Health Section, UNICEF NYHQ Categories: Health UNICEF works in some of the worlds toughest places, to reach the worlds most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. And we never give up. UNICEF Program Group is currently undergoing organizational changes; therefore, the exact location of the post has yet to be determined. Selected candidates may be required to commence duties remotely until the location is confirmed. If reassigned or relocated to New York, candidates may be expected to relocate to a new location again during the initial contract or assignment period. When working remotely, candidate will be expecting to fulfill their functions during NYHQ core working hours (10AM-4PM) unless agreed otherwise by Hiring Office UNICEF is a key implementing partner of COVAX, the Vaccines Pillar within The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). ACT-A was launched in April 2020 at an event co-hosted by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, the President of France, the President of the European Commission, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. ACT-A brings together governments, scientists, businesses, civil society, philanthropists and global health organizations with the aim of accelerating development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. UNICEF is a delivery partner for COVAX, procuring and supplying COVID-19 vaccines, and is using its existing infrastructure to help facilitate the logistically demanding delivery. Some of the most important support provided by UNICEF relates to cold chain expansion, supply chain management, social mobilization and implementing digital innovations for COVID-19 vaccine monitoring. For every child, good health.... UNICEF is managing a grant of $44 million for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Support (CDS) to 30 non-Gavi eligible Advanced Market Commitment (AMC) countries. This US$ 44 million grant is part of a larger investment from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ, to support in-country COVID-19 vaccine delivery and is being carried out in partnership with Gavi. The 30 countries are middle-income countries that are not receiving Gavi financial support, but are now eligible for external support through the COVAX mechanism. As part of the CDS support, UNICEF aims to increase its capacity on immunization in middle-income countries. You will be responsible for implementing and monitoring the CDS grant to the 30 non-Gavi AMC countries and undertake strategic actions for enhancing UNICEFs work on immunization in middle-income countries. The overall aim is to leverage the CDS support for childhood vaccine delivery in the longer term. How can you make a difference? Project and process management - UNICEF-managed review of COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Support (CDS) proposals Facilitate the preparation of proposals from Country Office and Regional Office (COs and ROs), ensuring compliance with agreed format (narrative and budget) Co-ordinate internally and externally with other financial support and technical assistance for COVID-19 vaccine delivery to ensure complementarity and alignment between CDS and other initiatives Manage review of submissions and provide quality assurance to ensure that proposals meet defined eligibility criteria before sharing with review committee Coordinate the review process to ensure the timely review of submissions, feedback, and follow-up on agreements and decisions Develop knowledge management systems to make relevant information and documents available Grant management - COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Support (CDS) Coordinate between multiple internal and external stakeholders at global, regional and country-level to facilitate grant administration Oversee and coordinate technical narrative reporting and tracking of progress towards programmatic milestones. Provide inputs to requests from senior management and others on grant implementation, e.g. powerpoint slides, briefing notes etc. Have oversight over financial utilization and flag issues as appropriate, and support efforts to fill financial gaps related to vaccine delivery. Work proactively with other team members to upload all relevant documents to a SharePoint site within the Grants Management system. Technical assistance to regions and countries during CDS implementation Proactively follow up with regions and countries on activity implementation and provide technical assistance if needed Assess potentials for evaluation studies alongside CDS activity implementation Design and manage implementation research/evaluation studies of CDS funded activities cuyQBzO Dh7qKS Ensure CDS funded activities are well aligned with other initiatives on COVID-19 vaccine delivery Develop and implement strategy for expanding UNICEFs engagement on immunization in middle-income countries Building on the recently completed Concept Note on UNICEFs role on immunization in MICs and in consultation with health and immunization teams at global and regional level develop an implementation workplan, a funding and advocacy strategy. Disseminate, coordinate and monitor the implementation of the MIC strategy, including advocacy and resource mobilization, for increasing UNICEFs capacity on health and immunization in MICs. To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have... Advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in public health, international health, health management, social sciences and/or in relevant field is required. A minimum of eight (8) years of solid professional work experience at the national and international levels in programme management, planning, monitoring and evaluation within the health sector is required. Excellent communication skills, results orientation and ability to manage competing priorities. Experience working in low and middle income countries is considered as an asset. Developing country work experience or field work experience is desired. Background/familiarity with Emergency is an asset. Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset. For every Child, you demonstrate... UNICEFs values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. To view our competency framework, please visit here and Click here to learn more about UNICEFs values and competencies. UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEFs Entitlements page. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online Salary Estimate Calculator "UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/" Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. Advertised: Oct 01 2021 Eastern Daylight Time Application close: Oct 15 2021 Eastern Daylight Time Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1633291343692 During the Navaratri festival that begins later this week, members of Winnipegs Hindu community will have to show proof of immunization before entering one of their two temples. During the Navaratri festival that begins later this week, members of Winnipegs Hindu community will have to show proof of immunization before entering one of their two temples. "We decided to check out vaccine cards and a piece of identification for prayer services," said Jay Jeyanthan, chair of the Hindu Temple on St. Annes Road. Members of Winnipegs Hindu community will have to show proof of immunization before entering one of their two temples in support of a new public-health order that aims to limit the impact of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Manitoba. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press) More than 1,000 Hindus were notified by email of the policy, which comes on the heels of a new public-health order that goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The order allows fully vaccinated people and those under 12 not yet eligible for the vaccine to gather for religious services without capacity limits. Indoor religious gatherings that include eligible but unvaccinated people are limited to 25 people or 33 per cent capacity, whichever is greater. People attending religious services in Manitoba are still expected to wear masks indoors and maintain physical distances of two metres between household groups. Jeyanthan expects members of his community to comply with this new order for the nine days of prayers, which begin Thursday, or stay home to follow the services online. "God welcomes all of us on the basis of grace and, therefore, to say one kind of person is welcome and the other can worship at home doesnt follow that grace." Rev. David Funk of Niverville Community Fellowship, part of the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church This latest health order marks the first time religious groups have to decide whether they will distinguish between people who are vaccinated and unvaccinated. The change is being welcomed by some and met by discomfort from others, who dont want to limit who is allowed inside their building, both for practical and theological reasons. "God welcomes all of us on the basis of grace and, therefore, to say one kind of person is welcome and the other can worship at home doesnt follow that grace," said Rev. David Funk of Niverville Community Fellowship, part of the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Church. Congregants will not be asked for proof of vaccination next Sunday, he said, adding in-person attendance has averaged about 121 people, well below one-third of the church's maximum capacity of 482. Winklers Pathway Community Church has also chosen to follow the one-third capacity guideline rather than ask for proof of vaccine in a community where tempers are already heated over wearing masks or getting the vaccine against COVID-19. Winkler has a double-vaccination rate of 38.5 per cent and the surrounding RM of Stanley sits at 21.8 per cent, the lowest in Manitoba. Provincially, 81.1 per cent of eligible people had received two shots as of Monday. "We dont feel good about asking people whether or not theyre vaccinated," said Pathway's Rev. Rob Haslam, whose congregation belongs to the Evangelical Free Church denomination. "Its a step further than we want to go while still respecting this mandate coming down." His congregation meets twice on Sunday mornings in a rented church gym, where one-third capacity means 250 people could attend. Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface will not be asked for proof of vaccination, a decision made more than a month ago by Archbishop Albert LeGatt. "We dont feel good about asking people whether or not theyre vaccinated. Its a step further than we want to go while still respecting this mandate coming down." Rev. Rob Haslam, Winklers Pathway Community Church (an Evangelical Free Church denomination) Winnipegs Muslim community will need to show their vaccine cards and photo ID before entering mosques for prayers or programs, said Tasneem Vali, vice-president of the Manitoba Islamic Association. "Yes, we will be an organization that will be checking for (proof of) vaccination as per provincial guideline, to ensure the safety or people using our facilities and to accommodate as many people as possible," she said. People attending Friday prayers at either the Grand Mosque on Waverley Street or Pioneer Mosque on Hazelwood Avenue might face a wait to enter as volunteers check vaccine cards and ID. Vali said MIA board members had a lengthy discussion about whether to ask congregants to reveal their vaccination status before entering, since mosques are traditionally open to all. "I wish (the province) has said, "This is what you have to do, because making a choice is a moral dilemma," said Vali. "We havent required (proof) for prayers and now to require it, that was the debate." The United Church in Meadowood had already implemented a policy asking for proof of vaccine before the public-health orders changed this week, partly influenced by the example of the Jewish community, said Rev. Caryn Douglas. "I made the theological argument that we have a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable and we were offering the maximum protection to our children if we were all vaccinated," said Douglas, who estimated about 90 per cent of church members have received two shots. "It gives people a sense of safety." In August, Winnipeg rabbis urged the Jewish community to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because saving or preserving a life is central to Jewish ethics and values. Most of the citys synagogues also required proof of vaccination to attend their High Holiday services last month. Members of Temple Shalom, a Reform Jewish congregation, have fully embraced the decision to restrict live participation to those who are fully vaccinated and masked, said Rabbi Allan Finkel. People show their vaccine card and photo ID when they arrive and are added to a master list so they only have to show proof that first time, he said. Do you appreciate the extensive faith coverage by the Free Press? Become a supporter of the Religion in the News project! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more can help us keep offering trusted coverage of faith in Manitoba. Become a supporter Click here to learn more about the project. "While it doesnt directly apply to us, I appreciate that there is a positive incentive for faith groups and spiritual leaders to encourage healthier communities by encouraging vaccinations," he said of the new provincial order. River East Church requests that worshipers are vaccinated, if eligible but does not plan to ask for evidence. "We are communicating strongly, 'Please be vaccinated if you come into the building for worship services,' but (were) not demanding proof," said pastor Mary Anne Isaak. One-third capacity of River East's building would accommodate 100 people, said Isaak. "The number of people who want to come (to worship) wont be near 33 per cent," she said. brenda.suderman@freepress.mb.ca OTTAWA - A group representing thousands of small businesses says uncertainty over the fate of federal pandemic supports is causing its members to lose confidence in their financial prospects, and pushing the Liberals to provide more life support for ailing companies. The sign on a store window indicates they are closed due to COVID-19, Wednesday April 22, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - A group representing thousands of small businesses says uncertainty over the fate of federal pandemic supports is causing its members to lose confidence in their financial prospects, and pushing the Liberals to provide more life support for ailing companies. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said sentiment in its monthly barometer from September showed the largest one-month drops since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. The group said there has been a tumble in the short-term expectations for companies in the hospitality and construction industries, while retail and agriculture saw the deepest dive on their outlook for the next year. With the majority of small businesses still not back to normal sales levels, the organization is asking the federal government to extend wage and rent supplements set to expire near the end of the month. The federal budget bill passed at the end of June includes a provision that cabinet can extend benefits until Nov. 20. The Liberals would need to gain parliamentary approval for any more weeks of life. CFIB president Dan Kelly said small business owners are "at near panic levels" about the impending end of supports, and are looking for a signal from the federal Liberals. "I want the subsidy programs to end too they're super expensive but if we do that before full COVID restrictions are lifted, we will see thousands and thousands of businesses flushed down the toilet," he said. The ask to keep those benefits moving comes with a corresponding request to reshape the "recovery" benefits for out-of-work Canadians that will test the federal government. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in conversations has pressed stakeholders about how the government could extend business benefits, but not the same for workers. The Liberals might err on the side of being more generous, but should let the pandemic relief programs end unless there is a really good economic reason, said Christopher Ragan, director of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. "I do not envy any government that is currently in this, but I do think you want to be careful about providing too many relief payments because that is going to stand in the way of a recovery," he said. In late July, the Liberals announced an extension of the aid package and put off a planned drop in benefit values citing a slower than expected recovery. The wage subsidy and rent relief programs have paid out almost $94 billion and $6.6 billion, respectively, and federal data show the number of claims for each has fallen over the course of 2021. The benefits are calculated on business losses, and phase out as revenues rebound; the CFIB survey noted the share of firms barely making it by has dropped to the lowest level since the pandemic began. The Canada Recovery Benefit has seen a similar drop in claims, and has paid out about $26.4 billion to unemployed workers who don't qualify for employment insurance, with weekly benefits set at $300. The drop is also in line with rising job numbers that as of August put the country 0.8 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, even though businesses are reporting labour shortages. An economic outlook from Deloitte Canada on Tuesday noted how this tale of two labour markets is playing out: Industries with jobs that can easily be done remotely have grown and now face problems attracting skilled workers, while job shortages in high-contact sectors like accommodation and food services may reflect ongoing health concerns or the effect of income support programs. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Chief economist Craig Alexander said the link between benefits and labour shortages is largely anecdotal. He added that some industries could also be facing labour shortages from declines in immigration. "There's so much disruption coming from health risks and barriers to the movement of workers, combined with the economic narrative that the story in the labour market is a complex one," he said. As the worst of the pandemic appears, for the moment, to be in the rear-view mirror, Alexander said policy-makers are going to need to start thinking about how to unwind emergency support programs. "They're going to need to start thinking about how governments gradually wean the economy off of fiscal stimulus," he said. "But let's also still be clear that we're still in the crisis, the crisis hasn't passed, and so the notion of not wanting to apply fiscal austerity in the near-term is entirely warranted." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. LOS ANGELES (AP) An aspiring actor pleaded guilty Monday to running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised at least $650 million from investors in phony Hollywood film licensing deals. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. LOS ANGELES (AP) An aspiring actor pleaded guilty Monday to running a massive Ponzi scheme that raised at least $650 million from investors in phony Hollywood film licensing deals. Zachary Joseph Horwitz, 34, of Los Angeles, entered a plea to a federal charge of securities fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison when he's sentenced in January, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. Prosecutors alleged that from 2014 to 2019, Horwitz secured hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for his film company, 1inMM Capital LLC, by falsely claiming the money would be used to buy distribution rights to movies that would then be licensed for distribution to streaming platforms such as Netflix and HBO. Instead, Horwitz used some of the money to repay earlier investors in a classic Ponzi scheme and to support a lifestyle that included buying a $6 million home, prosecutors said. More than 200 investors, including three of Horwitzs closest college friends and their family members, lost about $230 million, authorities said. Horwitz had appeared in a number of movies, usually in small roles, under the name Zach Avery. CLEVELAND (AP) There is no evidence that retail pharmacy chains contributed to the opioid crisis that is raging in two Ohio counties outside Cleveland, attorneys for three of the companies said during opening statements on Tuesday. Attorneys and staff associated with a federal trial of pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens, Giant Eagle and Walmart leave the Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The pharmacies are being sued by Ohio counties Lake and Trumbull for their part in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Phil Long) CLEVELAND (AP) There is no evidence that retail pharmacy chains contributed to the opioid crisis that is raging in two Ohio counties outside Cleveland, attorneys for three of the companies said during opening statements on Tuesday. Lake and Trumbull counties have sued CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle in federal court in Cleveland claiming the companies created a public nuisance by dispensing pain pills that were diverted for illegal use. The cost of abating the crisis for each county is around $1 billion, their attorneys contend. Attorneys for CVS, Walmart and Giant Eagle gave their opening statements Tuesday. Attorneys for Walgreens and the counties gave theirs on Monday. CVS attorney Eric Delinsky told the jury the counties are not claiming that someone has been hurt in the counties, but that the companies' pharmacies engaged in conduct so widespread that they are interfering with the rights of the entire public at large. Attorneys and staff associated with a federal trial of pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens, Giant Eagle and Walmart, leave the Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The pharmacies are being sued by Ohio counties Lake and Trumbull for their part in the opioid crisis. (AP Photo/Phil Long) Absolutely not, Delinsky said. This case is about today. The public nuisance has to exist today, not something CVS did seven years ago." CVS is in the business of filling prescriptions written by physicians for legitimate medical needs, Delinsky and the other company attorneys have argued. The big pictures is: CVS is not the substantial cause of a public nuisance, Delinsky said. Diane Sullivan, an attorney for the Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle grocery chain, said the allegations made by the companies are causing reputational harm to the company and its pharmacists. These are very personal attacks, Sullivan said. In this country its easy to file lawsuits, to say all kinds of things, to make all kinds of allegations, to throw mud to win a lawsuit. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Sullivan referred to Monday's opening statement by one of the counties' attorneys, Mark Lanier, which included props such as a gumball machine. Lanier spent little time laying out how the counties have been harmed during that statement. Where was the evidence?" Sullivan asked. "Where did he talk about any evidence these pharmacists dispensed medicine that is on the street? Theres going to be a shocking lack of proof in this case." This is the first time pharmacy companies have gone to trial to defend themselves. The trial, which is expected to last around six weeks, could set the tone for similar claims against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over the trial. Close to 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal courts have been consolidated under Polsters supervision. Rite-Aid settled with the Lake and Trumbull counties in August. The company paid Trumbull County $1.5 million. The amount paid to Lake County has not been disclosed. The trial will be the fourth in the U.S. this year to test claims brought by governments against part of the drug industry over the toll of prescription painkillers. Verdicts or judgments have not been reached in the others thus far. WASHINGTON (AP) Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to allow extra shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward expanding its booster campaign to millions more vaccinated Americans. FILE - This Saturday, March 6, 2021, file photo shows vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy in Denver. Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J said Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021, it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between two to six months after vaccination. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) WASHINGTON (AP) Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to allow extra shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward expanding its booster campaign to millions more vaccinated Americans. J&J said it filed a request with the FDA to authorize boosters for people 18 and older who previously received the company's one-shot vaccine. While the company said it submitted data on several different booster intervals, ranging from two to six months, it did not formally recommend one to regulators. Last month, the FDA authorized booster shots of Pfizers vaccine for older Americans and other groups with heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. Its part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to shore up protection amid the delta variant and potential waning vaccine immunity. Government advisers backed the extra Pfizer shots, but they also worried about creating confusion for tens of millions of other Americans who received the Moderna and J&J shots. U.S. officials don't recommend mixing and matching different vaccine brands. The FDA is convening its outside panel of advisers next week to review booster data from both J&J and Moderna. Its the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. J&J previously released data suggesting its vaccine remains highly effective against COVID-19 at least five months after vaccination, demonstrating 81% effectiveness against hospitalizations in the U.S. But company research shows a booster dose at either two or six months revved up immunity even further. Data released last month showed giving a booster at two months provided 94% protection against moderate-to-severe COVID-19 infection. The company has not yet released clinical data on a six-month booster shot. FDA's advisers will review studies from the company and other researchers next Friday and vote on whether to recommend boosters. The timing of the J&J filing was unusual given that the FDA had already scheduled its meeting on the company's data. Companies normally submit their requests well in advance of meeting announcements. A J&J executive said the company has been working with FDA on the review. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Both J&J and FDA have a sense of urgency because its COVID and we want good data out there converted into action as soon as possible, said Dr. Mathai Mammen, head of research for J&J's Janssen unit. The vaccine from the New Brunswick, New Jersey, company was considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it requires only one shot. But its rollout was hurt by a series of troubles, including manufacturing problems at a Baltimore factory that forced J&J to import millions of doses from overseas. Additionally, regulators have added warnings of several rare side effects to the shot, including a blood clot disorder and a neurological reaction called Guillain-Barre syndrome. In both cases, regulators decided the benefits of the shot still outweighed those uncommon risks. Rival drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of U.S. COVID-19 vaccines. More than 170 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the companies two-dose shots while less than 15 million Americans got the J&J shot. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) New Mexicos Democratic governor is seeking legislation to help jump-start hydrogen production from natural gas in her state, a process that generates harmful greenhouse gases but could one day be harnessed to provide environmental benefits. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham addresses energy executives at the New Mexico Oil And Gas Association meeting on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Lujan Grisham has moved to crack down on pollution from gas extraction while also trying to shield the state's producers from a drilling moratorium by the Biden administration. New Mexico relies on oil and gas royalties for around one third of its budget. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio) SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) New Mexicos Democratic governor is seeking legislation to help jump-start hydrogen production from natural gas in her state, a process that generates harmful greenhouse gases but could one day be harnessed to provide environmental benefits. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham outlined the effort briefly at a convention of oil executives Monday in a speech that acknowledged the states reliance on industry tax revenue while pledging to enforce pro-environment regulations. Its the latest tightrope walk for the governor who has promised action on climate change while also working to shield the states oil and gas producers from a federal drilling moratorium on public lands issued by fellow Democrat President Joe Biden. Lujan Grisham's first message to the executives was to put on their masks, citing her own emergency regulations issued weeks ago in response to the surge of the delta variant of the coronavirus. She paused while some 300 attendees complied, before launching into a 20-minute speech thanking oil and gas producers for their contributions to the economy and tax revenues that form the backbone of state education funding. She pledged to kick-start the hydrogen fuel industry in New Mexico with legislation in February. We are working on that as we speak, Lujan Grisham said, adding that its part of an effort to turn New Mexico into a hydrogen fuel hub. The bill could include taxes and incentives for energy producers to produce hydrogen, legal frameworks to facilitate production and storage, refueling corridors for truck traffic and training programs for workers in the industry. An attendee at the annual meeting of the New Mexico Oil And Gas Association reaches for a mask after the crowd was reminded to wear them by the state's governor, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham addressed the crowd while moving to crack down on pollution from gas extraction. She's also trying to shield producers from a drilling moratorium by the Biden administration. New Mexico relies on oil and gas royalties for around one third of its budget. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio) The Hydrogen Hub Act will continue (to) help us reach our ambitious climate goal of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 45% by 2030 and boost our economy in the process, said New Mexico Environment Department spokeswoman Kaitlyn OBrien. Like electric car batteries, hydrogen fuel cells emit no carbon dioxide when used. But electric cars, like the growing number of hydrogen vehicles including forklifts, are only as green as the energy used to power them. Most energy used to produce hydrogen currently comes from natural gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and directly contributes to the pollution that causes. But supporters of the technology, including Biden, see it as a pathway to reducing carbon emissions as it becomes more environmentally safe. New Mexicos first large-scale hydrogen project describes itself as blue harnessing natural gas to divide water to create hydrogen. A recent study by Cornell and Stanford found the process generates 20% more carbon emissions than burning natural gas or coal for heat. In what could have been an applause line for an industry with few friends in the White House, Lujan Grisham said shes advocating for them at the highest level. We continue to have conversations with the Biden administration to make sure that they understand the critical importance of this industry in our state, the governor said. But like most of the speech, it was met with a silent buzz of ceiling lights and an occasional cough. In March, Lujan Grisham wrote Biden asking to exempt New Mexico from an executive order halting gas and oil production on federal land. She argued the move would push hydrocarbon mining to Texas, which shares a border above ground and the oil-rich Permian Basin beneath it. But Lujan Grisham describes herself as a stakeholder of the industry, not necessarily a friend. She pledged to restrict methane emissions at drilling sites and continue enforcing regulations requiring reduced use of freshwater and thorough cleanups of environmental spills. The speech made no mention of an oil spill currently coating the coast of California, or the record fires made worse this summer by global warming. Producers say methane rules will cost billions. The governor will have to walk another tightrope in February when pro-environment legislators from the states growing progressive wing will have a chance to weigh in on the hydrogen legislation, and New Mexico Oil and Gas representatives will too. For many environmentalists, the governors methane rules and support for hydrogen dont go far enough, fast enough, to curb global warming. Student protesters have started to picket the governors events and office. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. A handful of student climate activists blocked hotel doors after the governor left Monday's event. They sang and held a sign that read Whose side are you on? Back in the convention hall, most of the oil and gas executives took off their masks immediately after the governor left. ___ This story has been corrected to say that the governors regulation of methane production sites in her state covers drilling sites, not mining sites. __ Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter. NEW YORK (AP) New York City's public libraries will no longer charge late fees and will waive existing fines for overdue books and other materials, city officials announced Tuesday. FILE - In this June 1, 2021, file photo, Zoe Slavin and her mother, Julie, browse for books in the children's section of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in New York. New York City's public libraries will no longer charge late fees and will waive existing fines for overdue books and other materials, city officials announced Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) NEW YORK (AP) New York City's public libraries will no longer charge late fees and will waive existing fines for overdue books and other materials, city officials announced Tuesday. Late fees had already been suspended since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and will now be permanently eliminated, elected officials and leaders of the city's three library systems said in a news release. "This announcement is another major step towards making our public libraries, the heart of so many communities, accessible to all, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Eliminating fines will let us serve even more New Yorkers, allowing them to enjoy all of the resources and programs that public libraries offer to grow and succeed. 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. In 2019, the citys libraries collected about $3.2 million in late fees. No late fees were collected in 2020 because of the pandemic and libraries made up the lost revenue in other fines. New Yorkers will still need to pay replacement fees if they lose books or other materials, the library officials said. A book is considered lost after it is overdue for a month, though if it is returned, there would be no fee. The new policy covers the New York Public Library, with branches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, as well as the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library. The three library systems join libraries in cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia that no longer charge overdue fines. More than half of the 400,000 New Yorkers whose library cards had been blocked because they owed at least $15 in fines live in high-needs communities, the officials said. Those patrons will now be able to check books out. "Public libraries strive to be the most democratic institutions in our society, providing all people access to the resources they need to enrich their minds and improve their lives, Brooklyn Public Library CEO Linda E. Johnson said. Eliminating late fines means providing truly equitable access to everything the library has to offer. The corporate developer of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline system that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia was charged criminally on Tuesday after a grand jury concluded that it flouted Pennsylvania environmental laws and fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, center left, meets with members of the public and the press after a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Shapiro filed criminal charges Tuesday against the developer of a problem-plagued pipeline that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The corporate developer of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline system that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia was charged criminally on Tuesday after a grand jury concluded that it flouted Pennsylvania environmental laws and fouled waterways and residential water supplies across hundreds of miles. Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the sprawling case at a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown, where Sunoco Pipeline LP spilled thousands of gallons of drilling fluid last year. The spill, during construction of the troubled Mariner East 2 pipeline, contaminated wetlands, a stream and part of a 535-acre lake. Energy Transfer, Sunoco's owner, faces 48 criminal charges, most of them for illegally releasing industrial waste at 22 sites in 11 counties across the state. A felony count accuses the operator of willfully failing to report spills to state environmental regulators. Shapiro said Energy Transfer ruined the drinking water of at least 150 families statewide. He released a grand jury report that includes testimony from numerous residents who accused Energy Transfer of denying responsibility for the contamination and then refusing to help. The Texas-based pipeline giant was charged for illegal behavior that related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline that polluted our lakes, our rivers and our water wells and put Pennsylvanias safety at risk, said Shapiro, speaking with Marsh Creek Lake behind him. Messages were sent to Energy Transfer seeking comment. The company has previously said it intends to defend itself. The company faces a fine if convicted, which Shapiro said was not a sufficient punishment. He called on state lawmakers to toughen penalties on corporate violators, and said the state Department of Environmental Protection which spent freely on outside lawyers for its own employees during the attorney general's investigation had failed to conduct appropriate oversight. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at Marsh Creek State Park in Downingtown, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Shapiro filed criminal charges Tuesday against the developer of a problem-plagued pipeline that takes natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale gas field to an export terminal near Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) In a statement, DEP said it has been consistent in enforcing the permit conditions and regulations and has held Sunoco LP accountable. The agency said it would review the charges and determine if any additional actions are appropriate at this time. Residents who live near the pipeline and some state lawmakers said Mariner East should be shut down entirely in light of the criminal charges, but the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has long ignored such calls to pull the plug. The August 2020 spill at Marsh Creek was among a series of mishaps that has plagued Mariner East since construction began in 2017. Early reports put the spill at 8,100 gallons, but the grand jury heard evidence the actual loss was up to 28,000 gallons. Parts of the lake are still off-limits. This was a major incident, but understand, it wasnt an isolated one. This happened all across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said Shapiro, a Democrat who plans to run for governor next year. He said that spills of drilling fluid were frequent and damaging and largely unreported. The pipeline developer continued to rack up civil violations even after Mariner East became one of the most penalized projects in state history. To date, DEP said Energy Transfer has paid more than $20 million in fines for polluting waterways and drinking water wells, including a $12.6 million fine in 2018 that was one of the largest ever imposed by the agency. State regulators have periodically shut down construction. But environmental activists and homeowners who assert their water has been fouled say that fines and shutdown orders have not forced Sunoco to clean up its act. They have been demanding revocation of Mariner Easts permits. Carrie Gross, who has been living with the roar of Mariner East construction in her densely packed Exton neighborhood all day, six days a week, for much of the last four years, fears that criminal charges will be just as ineffectual as DEP's civil penalties. I would say this is just another example of Energy Transfer paying to pollute, and thats part of their cost of doing business. Until somebody permanently halts this project, our environment and our lives continue to be in danger, Gross said. The dental hygienist lives about 100 feet from the pipelines and works about 50 feet from them. She said she worries about the persistent threat of sinkholes, a catastrophic rupture or an explosion even after construction is over. Shapiros news conference was originally rescheduled for Monday, but was abruptly postponed after the state environmental agency provided last-minute information to the attorney generals office. The new information led to the filing of two additional charges, Shapiro said. Energy Transfer acknowledged in a recent earnings report that the attorney general has been looking at alleged criminal misconduct involving Mariner East. The company said in the document it was cooperating but that it intends to vigorously defend itself. The various criminal probes into Mariner East have also consumed DEP, which has spent about $1.57 million on outside criminal defense lawyers for its employees between 2019 and 2021, according to invoices obtained by The Associated Press. 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 money was paid to five separate law firms representing dozens of DEP employees who dealt with Mariner East. Together, the firms submitted more than 130 invoices related to Mariner East investigations, performing legal work such as reviewing subpoenas and preparing clients to testify, the documents show. When Mariner East construction permits were approved in 2017, environmental advocacy groups accused the Wolf administration of violating the law and warned pipeline construction would unleash massive and irreparable damage to Pennsylvanias environment and residents. If we have a system where ... the punishment, the fines, are basically seen as just a price of doing business, then well continue to have violations in the commonwealth, said David Masur, executive director of Philadelphia-based PennEnvironment. State officials have a huge stick they could wield," he added. Maybe they just have to stop hesitating and use it. The Mariner East pipeline system transports propane, ethane and butane from the enormous Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale gas fields in western Pennsylvania to a refinery processing center and export terminal in Marcus Hook, outside Philadelphia. Energy Transfer also operates the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which went into service in 2017 after months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and others during its construction. The proxy battle between Canadian National Railway Co. and a leading shareholder has heated up with TCI Fund Management Ltd. defending itself from what it calls "inaccurate and misleading information" about its efforts. A CN Rail locomotive moves through the rail yard in Dartmouth, N.S. on Thursday, March 29, 2018. The proxy battle between Canadian National Railway Co. and a leading shareholder has heated up with TCF Fund Management Ltd. defending itself from accusations of conflict of interest. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan The proxy battle between Canadian National Railway Co. and a leading shareholder has heated up with TCI Fund Management Ltd. defending itself from what it calls "inaccurate and misleading information" about its efforts. The British-based activist investor says its request for a special meeting of shareholders in March to push a slate of four new directors and seek a change in CEO is to hold CN's board accountable. "A new, high-quality board with extensive railroad experience and expertise will help ensure CN is put on the right track to the benefit of the Canadian and U.S. economies, shippers, employees and shareholders. CN can do better, and with a new board, it will," Chris Hohn, TCI founder and managing partner, said in a news release. TCI's statement came days after CN fired back at TCI for its own allegedly "false and misleading claims." CN chief executive Jean-Jacques Ruest stated at the time that it would not "indulge unfounded and bad-faith arguments that serve the interests of one shareholder over others.'' Ruest added that the Montreal-based railway maintains an open and constructive dialogue with its shareholders, and is open to discussions about improvements, but that he wouldn't serve the interests of CN's competitors. On Tuesday, TCI denied the railway's claim that it is in a conflict of interest by being the largest shareholder of rival Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. in addition to being the second-largest CN investor. It said its CN investment is valued at US$4.3 billion, larger than its US$3.7-billion investment in CP and US$1.2-billion investment in Union Pacific. Like many other CN shareholders, TCI said its ownership in both Canadian railways is due its belief in the long-term success and growth in the railroad industry. TCI said it is not a "dissident shareholder" that only recently acquired its stake to assert effective control of the railway. It said it has owned CN shares since 2018 and is seeking to enhance the value for all shareholders by pushing for changes. TCI has nominated four industry executives to the board: railway board member Gilbert Lamphere, former Credit Suisse analyst Alison Landry, former Union Pacific CFO Rob Knight and Paul Miller, a former CN vice-president. "The quality of the board candidates is clear and indisputable. It is therefore notable that the board has said nothing negative about the nominees but has instead chosen to attack TCI in an attempt to divert attention from the excellence of the candidates." The investor has also proposed former CN chief operating officer Jim Vena as a replacement for Ruest. TCI launched its efforts in response to CN's US$33.6-billion takeover bid for Kansas City Southern. It says CN's claim that the bid was positive, with it netting a US$700-million break fee when KCS determined CP's bid was superior, was "due solely to luck" that the U.S. railway regulator delayed its ruling that ultimately rejected its request for a voting trust. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "In fact, CN's failed attempt to acquire KCS was reckless and exposed a basic misunderstanding of the railroad industry and regulatory environment," TCI stated, noting that it could have been on the hook for $2 billion in termination fees. It also says that CN's operating and financial performance has lagged other large railroads, it directors have no meaningful railroad operational expertise, the railway has endured a brain drain and the board twice failed to appoint a world-class CEO. Its share price has also underperformed the North American railroad sector. "With a new board and world-class CEO, TCI is confident CN can get back on track and regain market share in the extremely attractive Canadian railway industry." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR, TSX:CP) TANACROSS, Alaska (AP) One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic the Spanish flu. Joyce Johnson-Albert receives an antibody infusion while lying on a bed in a trauma room at the Upper Tanana Health Center Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021, in Tok, Alaska. Johnson-Albert was optimistic but also realistic. "I just hope the next few days I'll be getting a little better than now," Johnson-Albert told a reporter on the other side of a closed, sliding glass door to the treatment room two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and while receiving an antibody infusion. "It's just hard to say. You can go either way." (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) TANACROSS, Alaska (AP) One Alaska Native village knew what to do to keep out COVID-19. They put up a gate on the only road into town and guarded it round the clock. It was the same idea used a century ago in some isolated Indigenous villages to protect people from outsiders during another deadly pandemic the Spanish flu. It largely worked. Only one person died of COVID-19 and 20 people got sick in Tanacross, an Athabascan village of 140 whose rustic wood cabins and other homes are nestled between the Alaska Highway and Tanana River. But the battle against the coronavirus isn't over. The highly contagious delta variant is spreading across Alaska, driving one of the nations sharpest upticks in infections and posing risks for remote outposts like Tanacross where the closest hospital is hours away. The COVID-19 surge is worsened by Alaska's limited health care system that largely relies on hospitals in Anchorage, the biggest city. It's where the states largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, is overwhelmed with patients and was the first weeks ago to declare crisis-of-care protocols, meaning doctors are sometimes prioritizing care based on who has the best odds of survival. Since then, 19 other health care facilities in Alaska, including Anchorage's two other hospitals and Fairbanks Memorial, have also entered crisis care mode, something overtaxed facilities in other states have had to do, including Idaho and Wyoming. Even though we live here, were concerned about Anchorage and Fairbanks, said Alfred Jonathan, a Tanacross elder. If somebody gets sick around there, theres no place to take them. While Alaska has contracted with nearly 500 medical professionals to help over the next few months, the ramifications are dire for those in rural Alaska if they need higher levels of care for COVID-19 or otherwise but no beds are available. Sometimes those patients get lucky and get transferred to Fairbanks or Anchorage. Other times, health care staff are on the phones in some cases, for hours looking for a bed or facility that can provide specialty treatments like dialysis. One patient who couldn't get dialysis at Providence died, hospital spokesperson Mikal Canfield said. Dr. Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, the hospitals chief of staff, said she knew a patient in an outlying community who needed cardiac catheterization and died waiting. Options in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, also are being overloaded. One rural clinic finally found a spot for a patient from interior Alaska in Colorado. Health officials blame the hospital crunch on limited staffing, rising COVID-19 infections and low vaccination rates in Alaska, where about 60% of eligible residents in the conservative state are fully vaccinated. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, one in every 84 people in Alaska was diagnosed with COVID-19 from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29, the nation's worst diagnosis rate in recent days. Homes are shown Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Tanacross, Alaska. Tanacross, a village of about 140 residents, has recorded only one death, and only about 20 residents contracted the virus during the pandemic. Alaska is experiencing one of the sharpest rises in COVID-19 cases in the country, coupled with a limited statewide healthcare system that is almost entirely reliant on Anchorage hospitals. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Officials say medical workers are exhausted and frustrated with what feels like a no-win effort to combat misinformation about COVID-19 being overblown and vaccines being unsafe. Some say it could have long-term effects further shaking confidence in vaccines and treatments for other illnesses and making the longstanding pre-pandemic challenge of recruiting health care workers to the remote state more difficult. Medical workers describe the emotions of: You hear a code is happening, someone is passing away," said Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association. "That is devastating. You never want to lose a patient. But in the back of your mind, youre thinking, OK, another bed is now available that is critically needed. And how do you balance those emotions? Its gut-wrenching. In Tanacross, elders are encouraging people to get vaccinated, especially with facilities strained. The village is in a sprawling, sparsely populated region of eastern Alaska where the vaccination rate is under 50%. Jonathan, 78, tells villagers that COVID-19 is here, and like the delta variant, is going to develop in other ways. Those who didnt get vaccinated? Gosh, were afraid for them, said Jonathan, who recently led a crew clearing dead and dying trees to reduce wildfire fuel and provide wood to heat homes. His wife, Mildred, helped guard the gate into the community this year. Those restrictions ended this summer as the pandemic seemed to be improving. Now, she says she's tired of outsiders calling their friends in Tanacross to scare them, claiming there are problems with the vaccines. I got both my shots, Im alive and nothings wrong with me, she said before piling bags of sanitizer, masks and nitrile gloves into her Prius to deliver throughout town. Alaska, hailed early in the pandemic for working with tribal health organizations to distribute vaccines widely and quickly, was 25th in the U.S. for the percentage of its total population inoculated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. At hospitals, care has shifted, said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer. The same standard of care that was previously there is no longer able to be given on a regular basis, she said. This has been happening for weeks. In rural Alaska, six Indigenous villages, including Tanacross, rely on the new Upper Tanana Health Center in the hub community of Tok, about a two-hour drive from the Canadian border. The staff treats who they can and moves those with more serious needs to Anchorage or Fairbanks, said Jacoline Bergstrom, executive director of health services for the Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan villages spread over an area of interior Alaska nearly the size of Texas. Emergency plans are in place to house people overnight if hospital beds aren't available right away, clinic director Joni Young said. They're usually flown because its a three-hour drive from Tok to Fairbanks and about seven to Anchorage. If for some reason, we cant medevac out, weve been preparing since the beginning to help our patients if we need to, Young said. Weve got cots before, stored here, and we have another building that we lease that we could use to separate COVID patients. The staff is putting in overtime, with nurses taking COVID-19 questions from callers and working weekends. They need to hire two urgent care registered nurses, but few have applied. Joyce Johnson-Albert lay on a bed at the health center with an IV in her arm. She was vaccinated but got a breakthrough infection, she suspects from a hunting camp. I just hope the next few days, Ill be getting a little better than now, Johnson-Albert said as she received a monoclonal antibody infusion, given at the onset of COVID-19 to lessen symptoms. Its just hard to say. You can go either way. Registered nurse Angie Cleary is grateful the clinic offers the infusion treatment. However, I feel worried some days where were not sure when well get more," Cleary said. For example, were down to, I think, five doses right now, and we could get more tomorrow or it might not be until next week. Thats one of the concerns we have living out here, is like, when are we going to get our next shipment? They're also battling misinformation about the pandemic. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has faced criticism for not mandating masks and not endorsing vaccines as fully as some would like. He has encouraged people to get shots but said it is a personal choice. Others have accused him of pushing vaccines and peddling fear. Providence hospital employees are having a hard time with the harsh rhetoric, Solana Walkinshaw said. One staffer got spit at leaving work, the chief of staff said. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. We still have people who are COVID-denying as theyre being intubated, or family members who are COVID-denying as theyre saying on an iPad, saying goodbye to their loved one," she said. Daisy Northway of the Tok Native Association knows how hard it is to advocate for vaccinations, saying shes talked till Im blue in the face trying to convince one of her sons. The Athabascan elder said she urges people to get the shots but in a way that lowers the political fervor. We need to say, Get vaccinated in such a manner that its helpful and not being criticizing for their beliefs, she said. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau. Data journalists Justin Myers and Jasen Lo in Chicago contributed to this report. LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) Police fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Slovenias capital Tuesday, the eve of a major European Union summit. A demonstrator runs from tear gas canisters during a protest against vaccinations and coronavirus measures in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. EU leaders are meeting Tuesday evening in nearby Kranj, Slovenia, to discuss increasingly tense relations with China and the security implications of the chaotic U.S.-led exit from Afghanistan, before taking part in a summit with Balkans leaders on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) Police fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Slovenias capital Tuesday, the eve of a major European Union summit. Hundreds of protesters showed up to oppose the Slovenian governments pandemic restrictions, and the confrontation was the third such incident in Ljubljana within a month. EU leaders have been gathering for a summit with Balkan officials on how to keep engaging with Western Balkans neighbors that hope to join the 27-nation bloc, whose once-successful enlargement policy faces an impasse. A demonstrator stomps on a smoke canister during a protest against vaccinations and coronavirus measures in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. EU leaders are meeting Tuesday evening in nearby Kranj, Slovenia, to discuss increasingly tense relations with China and the security implications of the chaotic U.S.-led exit from Afghanistan, before taking part in a summit with Balkans leaders on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) The protest was not directly linked with the EU summit, but protest leaders apparently sought the opportunity to get more media attention from foreign reporters covering the event. Slovenian police set up checkpoints and limited traffic and movement in Ljubljana and at the venue a few miles away from the capital where Wednesday's summit will take place . Tensions remained high deep into the evening, with police repeatedly firing tear gas during running battles with soccer hooligans, most of them young. A leader of the protest has reportedly been detained and police stopped about 30 buses from bringing in the protesters from other Slovenian cities. Before he was reportedly arrested, protest leader Zoran Stevanovic demanded the suspension of all anti-coronavirus measures, the government's resignation, an early election and "a new electoral system that would not allow rotation of old political zombies. 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. Slovenia's right-wing prime minister, Janez Jansa, has been in power off and on since the small Alpine state proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1990. A police helicopter hovered over the capitals downtown as police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters tried to march through downtown Ljubljana. Police sirens wailed throughout the city. Slovenian authorities have introduced tough requirements for the use of COVID-19 passes, including for going to work in all state-run firms. People must show that they are either fully vaccinated or that they have taken an expensive PCR test. The protesters carried banners reading Stop Corona Fascism and demanded equal rights for both those who are vaccinated and those who are not. Like much of Central and Eastern Europe, Slovenia in recent weeks has seen a rise in new coronavirus infections. The country of 2 million people has fully vaccinated nearly 48% of its population, a smaller share than in many other EU nations. Slovenia currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. DALLAS (AP) Southwest Airlines on Monday became the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. DALLAS (AP) Southwest Airlines on Monday became the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 in order to remain at the airline. Employees can seek approval to skip the shots due to medical or religious reasons. Southwest said it has to mandate vaccines because of new rules from the Biden administration requiring companies with federal contracts to have vaccinated staffs. Southwest's work for the government includes flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Last week, rivals American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and JetBlue told their staff they needed to be vaccinated. United Airlines in August was the first major airline to do so and has since said that more than 97% of its workers have been vaccinated. United also said it would put staff who couldn't get the shots due to medical or religious reasons on unpaid leave until COVID-19 rates go down. Southwest has 54,000 employees. OTTAWA - Canada's merchandise trade surplus more than doubled to $1.9 billion in August as exports of energy products climbed to their highest level since March 2014, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Statistics Canada building and signs are pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA - Canada's merchandise trade surplus more than doubled to $1.9 billion in August as exports of energy products climbed to their highest level since March 2014, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The result compared with a trade surplus of $736 million in July. Statistics Canada said total exports rose 0.8 per cent in August to $54.4 billion as exports of energy products climbed 5.1 per cent to $12.0 billion. Exports of crude oil rose 2.1 per cent on the strength of increased volumes, while coal exports gained 42.9 per cent due to higher prices and higher exported quantities to China and South Korea. Exports of natural gas climbed 13.6 per cent, mostly due to higher prices. Meanwhile, total imports fell 1.4 per cent to $52.5 billion in August after hitting a record high in July. Imports of motor vehicles and parts fell 11.1 per cent, while imports of aircraft and other transportation equipment and parts dropped 28.8 per cent. In volume terms, total exports rose 2.3 per cent in August, while imports fell 3.2 per cent. TD Bank economist Omar Abdelrahman said the trade report was positive, but the trade outlook rested on shaky ground. "Commodity exports should receive well-timed support from rising energy prices and demand. At the same time, manufacturing sentiment in Canada's largest trading partner remains robust, as signalled by the strong ISM manufacturing survey release last week," Abdelrahman wrote in a report. "That said, global trade will likely be susceptible to downside risks stemming from supply chain disruptions that are taking place in several regions, which have been exacerbated by emerging energy/power shortages." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The increase in the overall trade surplus came as Canada posted its largest monthly trade surplus with the United States in 13 years. Statistics Canada said the country's trade surplus with its largest trading partner rose to $8.6 billion in August compared with $6.8 billion in July as imports from the U.S. fell 6.2 per cent and exports moved down 0.7 per cent. Canada's trade deficit with countries other than the United States increased to $6.7 billion in August compared with $6.0 billion in July. In a separate release, Statistics Canada said the international trade in services deficit widened to $361 million in August compared with $119 million in July. Imports of services rose 3.7 per cent to $10.1 billion, while and exports gained 1.3 per cent to $9.7 billion. Canada's trade surplus with the world for goods and services combined rose to $1.6 billion in August compared with $617 million in July. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. COVID-19 test kit maker Ellume is recalling some at-home tests after learning that they were reporting a higher-than-expected rate of false positive results indicating someone has the virus when they do not. FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2021, an elderly man wearing a face mask and gloves to protect against the coronavirus rides a subway car in Moscow, Russia. When Russians discuss the coronavirus -- from ordinary conversations to remarks even by President Vladimir Putin -- the talk often turns to antitela. That's the Russian word for antibodies the proteins produced by the body to fight infection. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) COVID-19 test kit maker Ellume is recalling some at-home tests after learning that they were reporting a higher-than-expected rate of false positive results indicating someone has the virus when they do not. The Australian company has said the tests were shipped to U.S. retailers and other distributors from April through August. It published a list on its website of the lot numbers on test packages affected by the recall. The company said about 427,000 tests are in the lots identified in the recall, and nearly 200,000 are unused. Ellume said tests from those lots may provide false positive results at a rate higher than researchers saw during clinical testing. Ellume said it will email customers who used one of those test kits and received a positive result in the last two weeks. It recommended that people who have not scheduled another test to confirm the result should immediately do so. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a separate statement that people who got a positive result from one of the tests should contact a care provider or urgent care location and ask for a molecular diagnostic test. The problem was tied to a manufacturing issue, and it does not appear to affect negative results from the tests. Ellume said about 42,000 affected tests have been used and produced positive results, both accurate and false. That represents about 1% of the 3.5 million tests the company has shipped to the U.S. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: J&J seeks US clearance for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses Washington woman dies after rare blood clot complication AstraZeneca asks FDA to authorize COVID-19 antibody treatment Vaccines are here. Schools open. Some parents still agonize about virus Used vials of Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine for coronavirus vaccine sit at St. Mary's Hospital Lacor in Gulu, Uganda Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. Repeated and sudden power failures plague the vaccine storage unit, adding to the logistical challenges facing efforts to ramp up vaccination across the country. (AP Photo/Nicholas Bamulanzeki) ___ See all of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: ___ COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina districts can continue to require face coverings in the states schools under an appellate courts decision. On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied state Attorney General Alan Wilsons request that South Carolinas law prohibiting school mask mandates be allowed to take effect while a lawsuit over the measure goes forward. Last month, a federal judge suspended the state from enforcing its rule banning school districts from requiring masks for students. Wilson and Gov. Henry McMaster, both Republicans, had appealed that temporary restraining order, asking the 4th Circuit to restore the ban to avoid changing mask policies across the state now that students are back at school. The back-and-forth stems from a lawsuit filed by parents of disabled children, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, arguing that South Carolinas ban discriminated against medically vulnerable students by keeping them out of public schools as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. According to state health data, about 75,000 students, teachers and school staff have been infected with COVID-19 this school year, and nearly 200,000 have had to quarantine because of close exposure. ___ PHOENIX The coronavirus pandemic is a cause for concern for families who face various policies at schools and day care centers. The spread of the more infectious delta variant, particularly among people who refuse vaccinations, has caused an increase in infections in children. The coronavirus exposures and illnesses at schools and day cares can mean children get sent home, forcing parents to scramble for childcare. Theres evidence that masks in schools help reduce virus spread, and most Americans support requiring masks for students and teachers. District policies on masks, testing and quarantines vary widely. Soon after schools reopened in August, the rate of coronavirus infections forced dozens of districts to back off in-person learning. A man receives a shot of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine for coronavirus at Aywee health center in the Gulu district of Uganda Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. Repeated and sudden power failures plague the vaccine storage unit, adding to the logistical challenges facing efforts to ramp up vaccination across the country. (AP Photo/Nicholas Bamulanzeki) More than 5.5 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 20% of all child cases coming since this school year began, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Kids are at lower risk of severe illness or death, but at least 498 have died. Vaccines have been available for children as young as 12 since May, but vaccination rates trail adults. Federal data show about half of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated, while 43% of 12- to 15-year-olds are vaccinated; two-thirds of adults are vaccinated. ___ SEATTLE Washington state health authorities say a woman in her late 30s has died from a rare blood-clotting syndrome after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. Public Health Seattle & King County said Tuesday the woman was the fourth person in the United States to die from possible blood clotting issues following the J&J vaccine. Three deaths were reported before federal authorities temporarily halted J&J vaccinations in April. A spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the agency is aware of, and is looking into, additional reported clot deaths since then, including the one in Washington state. The King County woman received her shot on Aug. 26. She died on Sept. 7. Blood clots are a very rare complication associated with J&Js vaccine. According to King County authorities, 12.5 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered by July 8, 2021, with 38 people having confirmed cases of the unusual type of blood clot. The majority recovered from the issue. ___ OKLAHOMA CITY A report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says coronavirus vaccinations have helped reduce infections by 7,500 and deaths by 1,100 among Oklahomans age 65 and older. The study of Medicare recipients released Tuesday found each 10% increase in vaccination rates resulted in an 11-12% decline in weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries. Last week, 91% of Oklahomans 65 or older had received at least one vaccination and 80% were fully vaccinated, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. ___ OMAHA, Neb. The number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the Nebraska appear to be leveling out. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the state reported 4,775 new cases for the week that ended Friday. That was just above the 4,676 cases reported the previous week but significantly below the roughly 5,300 cases per week the state tallied during the three previous weeks. The number of virus hospitalizations averaged 415 daily in the past week, which was down slightly from 421 the previous week. Buddhist monks walk to receive donations from devotees during the celebration of Pchum Ben, or Ancestors' Day, at Phnom Praseth pagoda on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Cambodians on Tuesday continued the celebration of the traditional 15-day Pchum Ben festival, while less number of villagers attended the ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) Nebraska has registered a total of 2,840 deaths, according to the CDC. ___ BATON ROUGE, La. About 150 people were exposed to the coronavirus at a recent wedding, and those not vaccinated should quarantine, the Louisiana Department of Health said Tuesday. The department said it has confirmed an outbreak among several people attending the wedding. It says those without symptoms and those fully vaccinated who attended the wedding in Abbeville on Sept. 25 should be tested for the virus. Unvaccinated people should watch for symptoms while in quarantine, the department said. Those include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congested or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea. The department says exposed unvaccinated people who test negative during the quarantine period still need to stay in quarantine through Saturday, 14 days after the wedding. ___ WASHINGTON The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the states federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates. In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department says the grant programs are not a permissible use of the funding. The Treasury Department says the conditions undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August. He launched a $163 million grant program using federal funding he controls, but he made it available only to schools without mask mandates. Education advocates have filed a lawsuit over Arizonas mask ban and several other state laws that restrict the power of local governments and school districts to impose COVID-19 requirements. Those policies conflict with guidance from the CDC, which recommends universal mask wearing for students and teachers in the classroom. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo asked Arizona officials to explain how it will remedy the problem within 30 days. ___ GENEVA The World Health Organization says its still reviewing data about Russias Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved for emergency use against the coronavirus, but no decision is imminent. FILE - In this July 12, 2021, file photo, a medical worker administers a shot of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in Gostinny Dvor, a huge exhibition place in Moscow, Russia. In Russia, it's common to get an antibody test and share the results. The tests are cheap, widely available and actively marketed by private clinics nationwide, and their use appears to be a factor in the country's low vaccination rate even as daily deaths and infections are rising again. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File) The clarification comes after Russias Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days said administrative issues were the main holdup in the WHO decision-making process about whether to give an emergency use listing to Sputnik V as it has for about a half-dozen other COVID-19 vaccines. WHO spokeswoman Daniela Bagozzi said Tuesday only the WHOs technical advisory group on emergency use listings -- not the WHO director-general -- has final say about whether a vaccine obtains emergency approval. Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the Russian vaccine after a rigorous review process. It could pave the way for its inclusion into the COVAX program organized by WHO and key partners shipping COVID-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need. The vaccines WHO has approved are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinovac and Sinopharm. ___ DALLAS Southwest Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Dallas-based company said its workers must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 to continue working at the airline. Employees can seek exemptions due to medical or religious reasons. Southwest says it will mandate vaccines because of new rules from the Biden administration that companies with federal contracts must have a vaccinated staff. Southwests work for the government includes flying the military in emergencies and carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service. Southwest has 54,000 employees. ___ LISBON, Portugal -- Portugal will start administering booster shots of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to people ages 65 and older starting next week. Thats according to the Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Antonio Sales. The move follows a recommendation by the European Unions drug regulator to use booster shots in adults, a decision the European Medicine Agency says it based on evidence that antibody levels rise in people aged 18 or older once they are given an extra dose at least six months after their last one. The World Health Organizations chief had urged wealthy nations not to use booster doses this year in a widespread way, calling for vaccines available in developing countries first. But some of the 27 EU member nations had already begun administering booster shots. With 85% of Portugals 10 million residents fully vaccinated, it is leading the worlds vaccination charts. FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2020, file photo, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a press conference in Phoenix. In the summer of 2021 Ducey signed into law several measures that restricted the power of local governments to enact COVID-19 protection measures. On Monday, Sept. 27 a judge struck down Arizona laws prohibiting public school districts from imposing mask requirements, colleges from requiring vaccinations for students and communities from establishing vaccine passports for people to show they were vaccinated. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File) ___ NEW YORK New York states largest health care provider has announced 1,400 employees have been terminated for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Northwell Health officials says the terminations represent less than 2% of its total workforce. They say they regret losing any employees and their goal was to comply with the New York state mandate to get people vaccinated. A statewide vaccination mandate for all hospital and nursing home workers took effect on Sept. 27. It will be expanded to include home care, hospice and adult care facility workers on Thursday. ___ MOSCOW Coronavirus deaths in Russia have hit a record for the third time this month, and cases have exceeded 25,000 a day as vaccination rates in the country remain low. Russias state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 cases on Tuesday and 895 deaths. Officials have blamed low vaccine uptake. Only 33% of Russias population of 146 million have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine and just 27% have been fully vaccinated. Russias vast, yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak. Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg, the nations second-largest city. The Kremlin has said its not considering a nationwide lockdown or any other nationwide measures despite the surge. Some Russian regions have limited attendance of mass events and restricted access to some public places, such as theaters, cinemas, restaurants and bars, to those who are vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or recently tested negative. Critics argue these measures arent enough to slow the surge. ___ NEW YORK A COVID-19 vaccine requirement for teachers and other staff members has taken effect in New York Citys million-plus-student public school system. Mayor Bill de Blasio says 95% of the citys roughly 148,000 public school staffers had received at least one vaccine dose as of Monday. The nations largest school system is one of the first in the country to require inoculations for all its staffers. A similar mandate is set to go into effect in Los Angeles on Oct. 15. Some 43,000 doses have been administered since the mandate was announced Aug. 23, de Blasio says. Vaccination rates rose in every school job category after the mandate was announced. District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents some 20,000 city Department of Education employees, says 93% of those workers had provided proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of Sunday, up from 68% at the start of September. Roxanne Rizzi, who teaches at an elementary school in Queens, waited until Friday to get her first shot. The 55-year-old had resisted the vaccine because she contracted the coronavirus in November and believed natural immunity would protect her. She says she got the shot for the finances of my family. The CDC says people should get vaccinated even if they have already been infected by the virus. The agency says COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity and help prevent getting infected again. ___ BUCHAREST, Romania Romania hit a record of more than 15,000 daily coronavirus cases as the countrys intensive care units reach capacity. Last month, Romania had 1,000 daily cases. But it registered 15,037 new infections Tuesday, almost 3,000 cases more than its previous high. The surge prompted authorities Monday to suspend non-emergency medical treatments for 30 days to try to ease pressure on hospitals. Raed Arafat, the head of Romanias Department for Emergency Situation, says, We do not yet see a trend of capping or falling. Romania is the second-least vaccinated nation in the European Union, with only 33% of adults fully vaccinated. It has registered more than 37,000 confirmed deaths since the start of the pandemic. ___ COPENHAGEN, Denmark The Norwegian government recommended elderly over the age 85 and nursing home residents should get a third shot six months after having received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Health Minister Bent Hoeie says the Pfizer vaccine should be given, and those ages 75 to 84 and 65 to 74 should be next in line. The announcement came after the Scandinavian country had said it would offer people with severe weakened immune systems a third dose of the vaccine. That group includes patients with immune deficiency diseases, organ transplants and cancer patients. Doug Speirs | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. ___ WASHINGTON Johnson & Johnson has asked U.S. regulators to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine as the U.S. government moves toward shoring up protection in more vaccinated Americans. J&J says it filed data with the Food and Drug Administration on giving a booster dose between two to six months after vaccination. The U.S. government last month authorized booster doses of Pfizers vaccine in vulnerable groups. A panel of FDA advisers meets next week to consider boosters for both J&J and Moderna vaccines. Its part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to boost protection amid the delta variant and potential waning of vaccine strength. The FDA is convening its outside panel of advisers next week to review booster data from both J&J and Moderna. Its the first step in a review process that also includes sign-off from the leadership of both the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If both agencies give the go-ahead, Americans could begin getting J&J and Moderna boosters later this month. ___ MOSCOW (AP) Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the third time this month on Tuesday, and daily new infections once again exceeded 25,000 a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnantly low and the government shuns imposing tough restrictions to stem the spread. FILE - In this Monday, July 12, 2021 filer, a medical worker wearing protective gear escorts a man, suspected of having coronavirus, at a hospital in Kommunarka, outside Moscow, Russia. Russia has reported a record daily death toll from COVID-19. It's the fifth time in a week that deaths have hit a new high in the country. The national coronavirus task force said Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021 that 890 deaths were recorded over the past day. That exceeds the 887 reported on Friday. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File) MOSCOW (AP) Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record for the third time this month on Tuesday, and daily new infections once again exceeded 25,000 a surge that comes as vaccination rates in the country remain stagnantly low and the government shuns imposing tough restrictions to stem the spread. Russia's state coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new confirmed cases on Tuesday and 895 new deaths the country's highest daily death toll in the pandemic. The previous record, of 890 deaths, was registered on Sunday, and the one before that, of 887 deaths, occurred on Friday. The Kremlin has said that the situation elicits concern, but still it is not considering a countrywide lockdown or any other nationwide measures. Deputy Prime Minister and head of the countrys coronavirus task force Tatyana Golikova said Tuesday that Russia is close to registering 30,000 coronavirus infections a day. There are three times more confirmed coronavirus cases this fall compared with last fall, she said. Golikova added that the government has discussed a number of measures with authorities in the regions that would allow the avoidance of a lockdown. She didn't offer details about what these measures would entail, saying only that they imply a stage-by-stage approach depending on the epidemiological situation in the specific region. A number of Russian regions have limited attendance of mass events and restricted access to some public places, such as theaters, cinemas, restaurants and bars, only to those who have been vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or tested negative over the past 72 hours. But critics question whether these measures are enough to slow down the surge. Golikova on Tuesday promised grants to regions if they declare themselves free of COVID-19. In some areas of the country, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, life remains largely normal, with businesses operating as usual and mask mandates loosely enforced. In the meantime, Russia's vast, yet severely underfunded health care system has started to show signs of being overwhelmed by the outbreak. Russian media have reported long lines of ambulances once again forming in front of hospitals in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city, and a desperate ambulance crew in the city of Vladimir 180 kilometers (about 110 miles) east of Moscow driving a COVID-19 patient to a local government building after failing to find a hospital bed for her. Officials have blamed low vaccine uptake. Commenting on the record deaths reported on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the main cause of the surge in fatalities was the insufficient level of vaccination." The virus is becoming angrier, and the level of vaccination is insufficient. And as a rule, those who haven't been vaccinated get seriously ill and, unfortunately, die, Peskov told reporters Tuesday. Golikova said on Tuesday that nearly 33% of Russias 146 million people had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and just 29% have been fully vaccinated. According to Gogov.ru, a independent website that tracks vaccinations in Russia, immunization rates are down to the level of April, after spiking between June and August, when dozens of Russian regions made shots mandatory for certain groups of people. The website estimates that about 129,000 people a day get their first shots, and a total of some 244,000 first and second shots a day is being administered in Russia at the moment. Peskov has attributed the slow pace of the immunization drive to an insufficiently active campaign explaining that there are no alternatives to vaccination. Experts have pointed to several other factors, such as mistrust prompted by the approval and rollout of the dominating domestic vaccine, Sputnik V, even though at the time it hadn't completed large-scale trials necessary to establish its safety and effectiveness, and lack of motivation to get the shots at a time when few restrictions are in place amid mixed signals from the authorities about the outbreak. Despite the soaring infections, officials in Moscow on Monday announced the closure of the largest vaccination point in the Russian capital in Gostiny Dvor, a huge exhibition space, in order to be able to hold cultural events there. 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. At the same time, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin promised to start offering free rapid coronavirus tests in malls and government services centers. Daily new infections in the Russian capital nearly quadrupled over the past month, rising from about 1,100 in early September to about 4,000 this week. In another confusing message, some Russian news outlets reported Monday that the head of country's public health agency, Anna Popova, banned all mass events in light of the surge, only to correct themselves later to say that Popova in fact didn't announce any new restrictions, but was rather talking about the ones already in place that prohibit public events for more than 3,000 people. In all, Russias coronavirus task force has reported over 7.6 million confirmed cases and nearly 212,000 deaths. However, reports by Russias state statistical service Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality numbers. To boost vaccine uptake, officials in Moscow announced bringing back lotteries for those who decide to get their shots. Deputy Prime Minister Golikova on Tuesday recommended carrying out such lotteries monthly until the end of the year. ___ Follow APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he's confident his 118 elected MPs have his back, despite voting to give themselves the power to review his leadership and potentially give him the boot. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole walks on stage as he prepares to speak in Ottawa on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he's confident his 118 elected MPs have his back, despite voting to give themselves the power to review his leadership and potentially give him the boot. Conservative MPs gathered Tuesday for the first time in person since the party's election defeat two weeks ago that saw them win two fewer seats than under former leader Andrew Scheer. The party suffered losses of incumbent MPs including five elected people of colour and failed to make crucial gains needed in the Greater Toronto Area, Quebec and Metro Vancouver. Despite that, O'Toole has spent the time since the election highlighting the positives, including how the party increased its share of the vote in Ontario and won new seats in Atlantic Canada. Conservative MPs met for roughly six hours Tuesday and during that time voted for a provision that gives them the power to trigger a review of OTooles leadership. "This is not about a sword of Damocles hanging over my head," O'Toole told reporters after the meeting. "We're united as a team. This is about having a fair and transparent process that a team must have when it respects one another." Under the Reform Act passed in 2015, each party's caucus is required to decide after an election whether it wants to empower its members to trigger a leadership review. Conservative Leader Erin OToole gives a thumbs up as he enters the building for the first Conservative caucus since the federal election, Tuesday, Oct.5, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld For a leadership review to happen, an MP must submit a written notice to the national caucus chair, which has to be signed by at least 20 per cent of the party's elected members. A vote would then be held by secret ballot. O'Toole said he's always been a supporter of the Reform Act measures, which also empower MPs to elect their own caucus chair and decide whether to expel or admit MPs. He said he encouraged elected members to vote in favour of all of the provisions, but he didn't directly say whether he would ask the party's grassroots to vote on his leadership in the next six months. Re-elected Alberta MP Shannon Stubbs believes members should be able to have a say about O'Toole's leadership within the next six months instead of having to wait two years for a scheduled review in 2023. Many of the MPs who attended the caucus meeting voiced their support for O'Toole remaining on as leader. Among them was Leslyn Lewis, a former leadership rival and favourite among the party's social conservative voting base, as well as Pierre Poilievre, who answered "no" when asked whether he had any leadership ambitions. Poilievre briefly mounted a leadership campaign in 2020, but never formally entered the race. Stubbs was the most publiclycritical of the Conservatives' election performance, saying she lost a 15-percentage-point share of the vote in her riding still winning with more than 60 per cent support and wants to see O'Toole outline a plan to win back Conservative supporters who disagreed with the direction he's taken the party. O'Toole promised billions in spending during the campaign and caused some confusion when he added a footnote to his platform promise to repeal a Liberal ban on some 1,500 types of firearms. His footnote stated the ban would remain in place pending a review. Overall, he tried to pitch Conservatives as appearing more centrist and progressive on social issues, despite running as a "true blue" Tory to win over the base during last year's leadership race. Stubbs said before the meeting she wanted to hear from O'Toole on how he would "maintain confidence among Conservative voters" and what he meant on election night when he said the party needs to have the confidence to change. "If now what we're talking about is changes of our policies, our values, our principles, then for me, that means it's even more important for the members to be able to have a direct say," she said. O'Toole said his entire caucus is disappointed with the election outcome, no one more so than him, and that's why he announced that defeated Edmonton Centre MP James Cumming will conduct a review of the Tory campaign. He promised it would be a "360" review, involving caucus, national council, the Conservative party and its fundraising arm to ensure a thorough probe of where the party fell short, as well as what it did right, so that it can win an election that O'Toole predicted could arrive in the next 18 months under the current minority Parliament. Ontario MP Michael Barrett, who served as one of O'Toole's critics in the last Parliament, said caucus also heard from the national campaign manager and there were some "mixed emotions" in the room. Eric Duncan, a fellow MP from Ontario, described the discussions as being "constructive" and "productive." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The mood of Tuesday's meeting differed greatly from when caucus gathered after losing under Scheer, according to one MP. "In 2019, it was a lot more aggressive, there was a lot more anger. As of now, there was disappointment, we were defeated, but at the same time, we're looking forward and striving to change what we need to change," Pierre Paul-Hus, a Quebec MP, said in French. O'Toole said he accepts responsibility for the election outcome, noting he had a plan to win the confidence of Canadians and "we fell short." But he added he believes the simple reason for the loss was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau using the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to "divide Canadians." "We did not. Did we pay a price for it? Perhaps we did." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. QUEBEC - A fringe Quebec City municipal party's platform describes Islam as a cancer," and the province's elections commission says it doesn't have the power to do anything about it. QUEBEC - A fringe Quebec City municipal party's platform describes Islam as a cancer," and the province's elections commission says it doesn't have the power to do anything about it. Quebec will hold provincewide municipal elections on Nov. 7. Elections Quebec, the agency that is overseeing the campaigns across the province, said Monday there is no Quebec law that addresses the content of political platforms. The office doesn't have the power to ban a party or candidate over alleged hate speech, spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud said in an interview. A voter casts their ballot for the Quebec provincial election, in L'Assomption, Que., Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz "We do not look at the ideas of the parties; we act impartially," St-Arnaud said. "There is nothing in our laws that says if a person makes statements of such nature, his candidacy is withdrawn. It is up to the voters to make their choices when the time comes on the ballot." Alongside policy on drinking water and transportation, the political platform of Alliance Citoyenne de Quebec calls Islam a "cancer that is slowly growing inside Quebec society" and a religion that is "contrary to the fundamental values of Quebec." Party head Alain Giasson said Monday there is no place for a law in Quebec that would censure such comments. His predecessor, Daniel Brisson, received 0.61 per cent of the vote for mayor in the 2018 Quebec City municipal election. "It's a legitimate debate but unfortunately, people are afraid to talk about it," Giasson said about Islam. Benoit Charette, the Quebec minister responsible for fighting racism, said Tuesday through a spokesperson, "We cannot tolerate this type of speech, especially when it comes from a political party." Andree Laforest, Quebec municipal affairs minister, said through a spokesperson that the comments about Islam in Giasson's platform "don't have a place in our society." Giasson said he added a section on Islam to his platform after he learned a major party in the election is running Boufeldja Benabdallah, the co-founder of the city's Islamic cultural centre, for city councillor. Benabdallah is with the team of Marie-Josee Savard, who is a front-runner in the race and has described outgoing Mayor Regis Labeaume as her mentor. Benabdallah has been an important figure in the Muslim community in Quebec City, where four years have passed since a gunman stormed his mosque on Jan. 29, 2017, shooting dead six men and seriously injuring 19 people. In an interview Monday, Benabdallah said Giasson should take down the offensive section of the platform and apologize. But, he said, he wasn't planning on exerting too much effort to make that happen. "They insulted me and my religion," he said. "I asked them to issue an apology and to remove the section but if they dont want, thats how far I will go." Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "We need to create programs to live together," he added. "Concrete actions that will bring people together. Cultural, intellectual activities, sports, conferences. But it wont happen by itself. I agree that we need to regulate and slow down hate speech, but we need funding for people to work together and listen to each other. It cannot just be laws, we need concrete actions." Lara Emond, spokeswoman for Savard's party, said Monday the fact people are accusing Benabdallah of imposing his religion shows there is still work to be done to make the province's capital more inclusive. "Mr. Boufeldja Benabdallah does not intend to turn his back on his religion, but neither will he impose his point of view," Emond said in a statement. By Virginie Ann in Montreal. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 5, 2021. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version stated that Elections Quebec had confirmed it received a complaint against the party platform. OTTAWA - A former diplomat and cabinet minister is denouncing the anti-Asian racism directed at a Canadian senator he's called a mouthpiece for China, while still condemning his views. Senator Yuen Pau Woo speaks with the media in the foyer of the Senate in Ottawa on Thursday November 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld OTTAWA - A former diplomat and cabinet minister is denouncing the anti-Asian racism directed at a Canadian senator he's called a mouthpiece for China, while still condemning his views. Chris Alexander told The Canadian Press he has serious concerns that Sen. Yuen Pau Woo retweeted a Toronto Star column that suggested Canada assisted the United States in taking Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou "hostage" as part of the American trade and technology war with China. That parrots the line propagated by the Chinese Communist regime that Meng's arrest was politically motivated, he said. In Alexander's view, Canada, acting on an extradition request from the U.S., acted strictly in accordance with the rule of law which is what the Canadian government has always maintained. However, he said Woo does not deserve the torrent of abuse he received on social media after Alexander last week tweeted his disapproval of the senator posting a link to the Star column. In that tweet, Alexander called on Woo to resign because "mouthpieces for foreign propaganda should have no place in Canada's Parliament." That triggered responses that, among other things, said Woo should be sent back to China. "I stand in solidarity with Sen. Woo and anyone else who's in public life in saying that there should be more robust protections from this kind of abuse," Alexander, who served as immigration minister under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, said in an interview Monday. "He, of all people, does not deserve to endure even a syllable of that kind of commentary." Asked if he regrets using the word "mouthpiece" to describe Woo, Alexander said: "I'm comfortable with most of what I've said in the past. I think there are other ways of saying it, yeah, I don't think it needs to be repeated and branded that way." That said, he added: "I still want to hear from Sen. Woo a commitment to the view that the rule of law had a primary role to play in what happened to Meng Wanzhou in Canada." Meng was released and returned to China on Sept. 24, hours after agreeing to a deferred prosecution deal with the U.S. Two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who had been detained by China in retaliation for Meng's arrest, were simultaneously released and returned to Canada. "My concern is that our parliamentarians know the difference between judicial and police action under the rule of law, on the one hand, and politically inspired arbitrary actions that take place in countries that don't have the rule of law," Alexander said. In an email later, he added: "It would be wrong to imply that any Canadian parliamentarian is willingly making him- or herself a spokesperson for another country. I for one have no evidence of this. " We can all agree it is possible to be an unwitting mouthpiece for disinformation and propaganda depending on the bubble of news and opinion in which we choose to seclude ourselves." For his part, Woo said Monday: I appreciate Alexanders reflection on his (Twitter) post but continue to worry about the stigmatization of immigrants (and) visible minorities who hold views on foreign policy that do not conform to the beliefs of a privileged individual such as the former minister of immigration. Woo, who was born in Malaysia and raised in Singapore before coming to Canada as a teenager, told The Canadian Press last week he's worried that he and other Canadians of Chinese descent are being stigmatized as stooges or agents of China. He noted that the same accusation is not levelled against other prominent Canadians, including former foreign affairs minister John Manley, who have echoed the view that Meng was used by former U.S. president Donald Trump as a bargaining chip in trade talks with China. Nor have other senators endured the same kind of "go home" abuse that Woo did after they voted down a motion last June labelling China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims a "genocide." Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Alexander said he thinks Woo is caught up in "a bubble of thinking about China" that is shared by many in Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, one that is "generally defensive of China's rhetoric and of Chinese actions at a time when reality is marching in a very different direction." But he said he felt Woo needed to be "called out" on it because, as the facilitator for the Independent Senators Group, the largest caucus in the Senate, he is "the highest ranking, serving member of Parliament or government that I can find who's come as close to repeating the arguments of the Chinese government in his current role." Alexander also stood by his call for Woo to resign. "In my view, any Canadian parliamentarian should resign if they consider a lawful action made by independent Canadian institutions of justice and law enforcement (operating) under the rule of law to be a hostage-taking,'" he said. "The oath we take as parliamentarians requires us to uphold a democratic system of government under the crown that includes the rule of law." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021. GJOA HAVEN, Nunavut - The RCMP officer who shot and killed an armed Inuk man says he pulled the trigger because he feared for his own safety, his partner and those living in the remote Nunavut community. The RCMP station in the hamlet of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, is seen on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. One of two RCMP officers who confronted Charles Qirngnirq, 21, of Gjoa Haven the morning he was shot and killed by police says she feared for her life that day. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Emma Tranter GJOA HAVEN, Nunavut - The RCMP officer who shot and killed an armed Inuk man says he pulled the trigger because he feared for his own safety, his partner and those living in the remote Nunavut community. Cpl. Ian Crowe testified Tuesday at a coroner's inquest into the death of Charles Qirngnirq in Gjoa Haven on Dec. 19, 2016. RCMP had received a call about a suicidal man with a rifle at the hamlet's airport. Crowe said he and his partner, the only officers working that day, arrived near the airport but Qirngnirq didn't seem to acknowledge their presence. He also said the 21-year-old, who was standing about 150 metres away, had yelled that he wanted to die. Former corporal Tanya Kellogg testified earlier in the day that Qirngnirq had aimed his rifle at the officers. And Crowe fired his gun. "I knew it was very likely that if I pulled the trigger I would end the life of Charles," Crowe said. Kellogg told the inquest that she had also heard Qirngnirq yelling before the shooting, but couldn't make out what he was saying. It was about -33 C, but conditions were clear, she said. Kellogg had been working relief in Gjoa Haven for about a week when the shooting happened. Crowe had been there for about 18 months. Kellogg, who is now retired, said she and Crowe went to the airport with a carbine a high-powered rifle equipped with a telescopic sight. When they drove down the road to the airport, they spotted Qirngnirq outside the terminal building and stopped. Kellogg said she didn't initially see Qirngnirq holding a rifle, but then spotted it when he turned away from the airport to walk toward town. She said he was "pumping" the rifle and yelling. Crowe got out of the police vehicle and positioned himself behind the hood on the driver's side with the carbine, Kellogg testified. She said she sat on the passenger side on the edge of her seat and yelled over the vehicle's loud hailer for Qirngnirq to stop and put the gun down, but he did not. She said she feared for her life as only the vehicle door was between herself and Qirngnirq. Kellogg said Qirngnirq was not facing the officers, but then seemed to turn and aim his rifle at them. She said she heard "a loud bang" which was Crowe firing the carbine seconds after Qirngnirq turned to face them. "He pointed it to us and in seconds he was shot," Kellogg said. Officers are trained that when a gun is pointed at them and they fear for their life, the proper police response is to shoot, both Crowe and Kellogg told the inquest. Kellogg said when they reached Qirngnirq, he told the officers, "Why do you shoot?" while they were handcuffing him. Qirngnirq had been hit in the right hip and was taken to the health centre. Like 24 of Nunavut's 25 communities, there is no hospital in Gjoa Haven. Nurses tended to Qirngnirq, who was still alive. At one point, Kellogg held the gauze over the bullet wound, she said. "He looked up at me and said, 'You shot me.'" Qirngnirq died before a medevac plane could leave the community. Crowe is to continue testifying Wednesday. Witnesses have already told the inquest that Qirngnirq went to the airport after fighting with his girlfriend, who is also the mother of his son. Qirngnirq did not want his girlfriend to fly to the nearby community of Kugaaruk that day and was very upset. Eva Qirngnirq told the inquest that she called the RCMP when her grandson left the house that morning with the gun. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. I knew he was not going to use that rifle on anyone," she said. I was worried he would do something to himself. She described her grandson as a helpful, caring young man. "He would help me with whatever Im doing. He would get ice, hunt for me, hunt for his mom, hunt for his family in Kugaaruk. He tried to make us happy ... I really love him," Eva said through tears. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2021. ___ This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship Manitoba is now climbing a severe pandemic curve capable of undermining the hospital system, as the provinces top doctor appeals to the unvaccinated to get on board with new public health measures. Manitoba is now climbing a severe pandemic curve capable of undermining the hospital system, as the provinces top doctor appeals to the unvaccinated to get on board with new public health measures. "We are seeing case numbers go up, we are seeing significant increases in hospitalization and (intensive care unit admissions), and certainly some regions are contributing more to that than others," chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday at a noon-hour news conference. "Were in a trajectory right now that could take us to a place where well see quite a significant amount of strain on our health-care system unless we change it." On Monday, the province reported 83 new cases of COVID-19, and a total of 324 new cases since Oct. 1. Two men in their 70s, both from Southern Health, died of COVID-19 over the weekend. Both were linked to unspecified variants of concern. Of the new cases detected since Oct. 1, 122 cases were flagged in Southern Health, 87 in Winnipeg, 48 in Northern Health, 42 in Prairie Mountain, and 25 in Interlake-Eastern. On Monday alone, 71 per cent of infections were in people who werent fully vaccinated. Roussin said current infection and hospital admission trends placed the province firmly in a "severe" growth scenario, based on pandemic modelling released six weeks ago. The modelling projected the spread of the delta variant in the community and included three trajectories: controlled, severe and extreme. Up until recently, the province had been following a "controlled" scenario, according to the models. Under the severe scenario, Manitoba can expect to hit as many as 350 cases a day by the end of December. Roussin said the new public health order coming into force today which reduces capacity for faith-based services that have unvaccinated people in attendance and limits private gatherings involving unvaccinated people is just one strategy public health is relying on to turn the viral trend. The new measures are meant to target areas of high community spread and low vaccination rates, such as Southern Health. "These orders are not going to have much of an effect unless theres adherence to them and part of adherence may have to be enforcement," Roussin said. "I think thats what were counting on: Manitobans seeing the trajectory were on, seeing the increase in ICU, seeing the toll that this is taking on both COVID and non-COVID patients, and to change." The province did not provide the test-positivity rate for Southern Health on Monday, but Roussin said it was significantly higher than the provincial average of 3.7 per cent. The proportion of cases connected to community spread in the region which is a good measure of how well outbreaks are being controlled was also unavailable Monday. The top doctor left open the possibility for targeted, temporary workplace closures, and increased use of health hazard declarations in light of the ongoing transmission in Southern Health. "Were going to utilize that where we feel it is necessary," he said. Roussin said he was aware of a few outbreaks in the region but did not go into specifics. Public health has also deployed targeted testing campaigns in such settings, he said. However, most transmission has occurred in households and in the community, Roussin noted. He did not say whether public health would consider a widespread, mass rapid testing blitz as part of a regional response. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. As of Monday morning, there were 85 people receiving critical care in Manitoba, including 18 COVID-19 patients (10 of whom were unvaccinated). The provinces pre-pandemic ICU capacity was 72 patients. A total of 98 patients were in hospital Monday receiving treatment for COVID-19, a 27 per cent increase over the past week, a spokesman for Shared Health said. Eighty per cent of hospitalized, infectious COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated, according to the province. There are now 814 known active COVID-19 cases in Manitoba, with 61 per cent of infections among unvaccinated people, including children. Manitoba has vaccinated 85.2 per cent of its eligible population with at least one dose as of Monday, an increase of 1,438 more first doses since Oct. 1; 81.1 per cent are fully immunized. danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca BRANDON The last man to be sentenced in the 2018 shooting of a Manitoba RCMP officer has been rearrested after missing his sentencing hearing last year. BRANDON The last man to be sentenced in the 2018 shooting of a Manitoba RCMP officer has been rearrested after missing his sentencing hearing last year. Delaney Houle was scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty to possession of a weapon obtained by crime, unauthorized possession of a firearm in a vehicle and two counts of break and enter in November 2020, but he did not show up. He has since been wanted under a warrant. Houle made a brief court appearance by video in Brandon provincial court Monday morning. Crown attorney Grant Hughes said the court would need to find a new date for Houle to be sentenced in front of Judge Donovan Dvorak, who heard the arguments in the case in Minnedosa. No details on how Houle was arrested were presented in court Monday. Houle is the only person yet to be sentenced for their role in the shooting of RCMP Cpl. Graeme Kingdon near Onanole. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. He was part of a series of events Aug. 29, 2018, when four co-accused broke into two properties and stole firearms and ammunition. The day ended with Kingdon shot in the back of the head with a 12-gauge shotgun. During a sentencing hearing in August, Crown attorney Daniel Chaput asked the judge to sentence Houle to three years in prison or two years in jail followed by a lengthy period of probation. Defence lawyer Tara Walker asked the judge to sentence Houle to one year in jail on each charge to be served concurrently, which would amount to a total sentence of one year. Shane Beaulieu, one of the co-accused, was sent to jail for two years for his role in the crime in late August. Tommy Beaulieu was sentenced to 13 years. Therae Racette-Beaulieu, who pulled the trigger, was sentenced to 18 years. Brandon Sun After the province's top doctor warned Manitoba is about to get hit by a "severe" fourth wave of COVID-19, imposed new restrictions targeting the unvaccinated and the health minister almost begged people to get vaccinated, the government had nothing to say about two caucus members who are unvaccinated. After the province's top doctor warned Manitoba is about to get hit by a "severe" fourth wave of COVID-19, imposed new restrictions targeting the unvaccinated and the health minister almost begged people to get vaccinated, the government had nothing to say about two caucus members who are unvaccinated. Of the 57 elected members of the Manitoba legislature, all but two have declared they're fully vaccinated: Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler and Tory MLA Janice Morley-Lecomte, both of whom have refused to comment, describing vaccination status as a personal matter. When the house resumes sitting Wednesday, Speaker Myrna Driedger said it's believed only the fully vaccinated will attend in person; with 38 of 57 members in the chamber and 19 taking part virtually online to maintain social distancing. "The government has outlined requirements for all provincial employees who work with vulnerable populations, including members of the legislative assembly, to be fully immunized for COVID-19 or undergo regular testing," Progressive Conservative caucus spokesperson Delaney Hoeppner said in an email Monday. "These measures will help protect those at risk and ensure the Manitoba legislature continues to be a safe place to work and visit." However, no one at the legislature Monday could say who is checking MLA vaccine status or what the protocol is for testing those who aren't vaccinated. When asked how unvaccinated PC MLAs including a cabinet minister will attend caucus or cabinet meetings, the spokesperson for the PC caucus didn't provide an answer. Other provincial governments have taken a tougher stance on vaccine requirements. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford demanded all members of his cabinet be vaccinated or face ejection. In Saskatchewan, government employees in ministries, Crown corporations and agencies were required to provide proof of vaccination by Oct. 1 or provide consistent negative tests. One Saskatchewan Party MLA was forced to resign from Premier Scott Moe's caucus for misrepresenting her vaccination status. In Manitoba, where nearly a third of MLAs will be required to participate in house proceedings remotely, unvaccinated MLAs are being accommodated without drawing attention to their vaccine status. One Winnipeg business owner says it's not right it's business-as-usual for Schuler and Morley-Lecomte online while he's had to let go of hands-on front-line workers who won't get vaccinated. The head of Arctic Buying Company Inc. (a supply chain to Inuit and First Nation communities vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes), Cliff Caners, said he is "disgusted" the government is allowing Schuler and Morley-Lecomte to remain in caucus without being vaccinated or justifying it. "How dare the government set rules for front-line workers and essential services and yet feel they can change the standard for their own," Caners said in a letter to the editor. In response to questions from the Free Press, the Winnipeg-based business owner said he couldn't take a chance with unvaccinated employees and is not prepared to oversee their regular testing for COVID-19 in the long term. "Ultimately, I have to protect my vaccinated staff, the public, my business, and my customers from the few that do not want to get vaccinated," Caners said. "While I respect their choice, I disagree; and as an owner, I have the right to make hard decisions like letting them go because ultimately they will continue to refuse vaccination and live a lifestyle that could ultimately endanger my business." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. On Oct. 1, Health Minister Audrey Gordon held out hope the unvaccinated would get the jab. "What I hope is that Manitobans will see the urgency of getting vaccinated and doing the right thing," she said at a news conference announcing upcoming COVDI-19 pandemic restrictions. The same day, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced "a very significant lockdown on the unvaccinated." On Monday, Roussin warned COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are following "severe"-level projections. "We're at a point in the pandemic where vaccine hesitancy is threatening to make the fourth wave worse," NDP Leader Wab Kinew said last week. "Every MLA should get a COVID-19 vaccination to show leadership and to help combat vaccine hesitancy. "If the government of Manitoba is saying that every forward-facing public servant needs to get the shot, then certainly every MLA should." carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca In 2015, Pope Francis delivered a powerful apology in Bolivia, humbly begging forgiveness for the sins and crimes committed by the Roman Catholic Church against Indigenous peoples. In 2015, Pope Francis delivered a powerful apology in Bolivia, humbly begging forgiveness for the sins and crimes committed by the Roman Catholic Church against Indigenous peoples. "I would also say, and here I wish to be quite clear, as was St. John Paul II: I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offences of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America," historys first Latin American pope told a summit of Indigenous groups and activists. In 2018, the pontiff issued a sweeping apology at Dublins Phoenix Park, to children who were forcibly taken at birth from their homes. Ireland has thousands of now-adult adoptees who were seized from their mothers, women who after becoming pregnant out of wedlock had been forced to live and work in laundries and other workhouses for "fallen women." Pope Francis speaks in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in 2015. (Eduardo Verdugo / The Associated Press files) "May the Lord keep this state of shame and compunction and give us strength so this never happens again, and that there is justice," the pope told a mass attended by 130,000 in the first papal visit to Ireland in almost 40 years. Clearly, there is ample precedent for Pope Francis to do exactly what Indigenous leaders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been seeking for years deliver a full-throated apology on Canadian soil for the atrocities committed at church-run residential schools. In the same year as the pontiffs Bolivia visit, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 calls to action, with No. 58 demanding the Pope apologize to survivors, their families and their communities for the churchs role "in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis children in Catholic-run residential schools." The TRCs position is that an apology in Rome is not sufficient; it has to be made in Canada, where the harm was done. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In 2017, the prime minister met privately with the Pope at the Vatican and afterward stated, "I then told him about how important it is for Canadians that we move forward on a real reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and highlighted how he could help by issuing an apology." The bishops apology is an important first step, but it falls far short of what is needed, and what has been requested. Calls for a papal apology have intensified since revelations regarding unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools earlier this year beginning in May when ground-penetrating radar identified what is believed to be the remains of 215 children buried at the former Catholic-run residential school in Kamloops, B.C. Late last month, days ahead of the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Canadas Roman Catholic bishops took a bold step by "unequivocally" apologizing to Indigenous people for the horrors of Canadas residential school system. Along with acknowledging "the grave abuses that were committed by some members of our Catholic community; physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, cultural, and sexual," the bishops pledged to work with Indigenous people toward arranging a long-sought papal visit. The bishops apology is an important first step, but it falls far short of what is needed, and what has been requested. Their action does not free the Pope from an obligation to apologize; in fact, it heightens the pressure because it makes clear the church understands, and accepts, the anguish it inflicted on Indigenous people. It is long past time for an apology from the man who is the head of the worldwide Catholic church and the Vatican City State. History shows the pope has been willing to do the right thing in the past; if there is to be true reconciliation in this country, he must find the grace to do it again. Now that we are officially in the fourth wave here in Manitoba, what exactly does that mean? Of course, I know it means more cases, more deaths, more heartache. But the more pressing question is how long before we can wave goodbye to the fourth wave? The answer to that critical question might be staring at us in the rearview mirror. If you look at the ebb and flow of the pandemic in Manitoba, what you'll see is a pattern of a two-month surge in cases, followed by a two-month retreat. I first heard about this mysterious two-month cycle in the New York Times, a pattern observed not only in the United States but also globally. With apologies to Sir Isaac Newton, what goes up with COVID must come down, too. I asked Michael Pereira, our data journalist who oversees the graphs and charts you see in this newsletter each night, to crunch the numbers here with an eye to the monthly rise and fall of cases. According to the following chart Michael created, our second and third waves have followed that same two-month trajectory. While the reasons for COVID's ebb and flow remain a mystery, its history provides a roadmap for what's coming our way as cases climb. In theory, October and November will not be kind to us, while December and January will give us reason to begin to breathe easier again. My hope is the province's vaccine uptake will ensure the two-month ride to the top of the fourth wave won't be near as steep or white-knuckled as we've seen in the two previous waves. Paul Samyn, Winnipeg Free Press editor THE LATEST NUMBERS To see a larger selection of charts showing the state of COVID-19 provincially and nationally, visit COVID-19 by the numbers. THE LATEST IN MANITOBA Manitoba public health officials reported 83 new cases of COVID-19 and two new deaths Monday. The new deaths are two men in their 70s from the Southern Health region, both linked to unspecified variants of concern. Of the 83 new cases, 57 are unvaccinated, three are partially vaccinated and 24 are fully vaccinated. There are 814 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Of those, there are 64 people in hospital, 13 of whom are in intensive care. The test positivity rate is 3.7 per cent provincewide. For the latest information on current public health orders, restrictions and other guidance, visit the provincial government's website. All Manitobans born on or before Dec. 31, 2009 are eligible to schedule a first-dose vaccine appointment. Anyone who has received a first dose of any vaccine can now book their second-dose appointment. There must be a minimum of 28 days between receiving the first and second shots. For the latest information on vaccination, visit the provincial government's website. Manitobans who have received all required doses of a vaccine at least 14 days ago can request an immunization card to prove complete vaccination. To request a digital or physical card, visit the provincial government's website. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. THE LATEST ELSEWHERE The Association of Canadian Travel Industries is urging the federal government to press wary countries on allowing entry to Canadians with mixed vaccines. While Ottawa is expected to announce details of its vaccine passport in the coming weeks, even that document will be of little help to Canadians who were immunized with different vaccines for their two shots. Several countries, among them the United States, require incoming travellers be double-dosed with the same vaccination. In addition, Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine is not on the list of approved vaccines for many nations. There are approximately 3.88 million Canadians who received two different kinds of shots, not including Quebec, where such data are unavailable. Some popular European destinations already recognize mixed doses because they followed a similar approach to Canada, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, said at a Sept. 24 news conference. "We still have to advise travellers that they must check in with the specific country requirements prior to travel because it is a bit of a varied landscape out there but were doing everything we can to facilitate that recognition," she said. All civilian employees of the U.S. defence department and military services must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 22, according to new guidelines announced Monday. Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks stated in a memo the rule is in line with President Joe Biden's directive last month requiring federal agencies to mandate vaccination against the virus. Earlier this year, enlisted members of the military were required to get vaccinated, and each branch of the U.S. military implemented its own schedules for the active duty and reserves to comply. The European Medicines Agency, which acts as the drug regulator for the European Union, gave its backing on Monday to COVID-19 booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to people 18 and older. The agency said the boosters can be considered for people at least six months after their second dose. The agency said its decision came after studies showed that an extra dose of the vaccines increased people's ability to produce antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19 in organ transplant patients with weakened immune systems. The EMA's recommendations will go to the European Commission for approval, and then on to the health authorities in the 27 EU nations, whose officials decide health matters for their respective countries. Some EU countries have already begun administering COVID-19 booster shots. QUOTE, UNQUOTE "I am like, No, no, no, no, no. I shake my head, No, no. That is not right, no, no. Stop, stop, just stop looking at Facebook." Baton Rouge, La. family physician Dr. Vincent Shaw on his increasing frustration with COVID-19 denial and misinformation among his patients. LOCAL NEWS Manitoba COVID-19 numbers on 'severe' trajectory Manitoba's COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are following "severe"-level projections and driving tightened public health restrictions, the province's top doctor says. Read More NATIONAL NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVID-19 BASICS Support for compulsory COVID-19 vaccines for eligible students and once immunizations are approved and available to them, learners of all ages to attend in-person classes in Manitoba is striking, new research suggests. Support for compulsory COVID-19 vaccines for eligible students and once immunizations are approved and available to them, learners of all ages to attend in-person classes in Manitoba is "striking," new research suggests. A recent Probe Research/Free Press poll indicates seven in 10 Manitobans would welcome making two jabs a requirement for pupils to study in the same building with peers and teachers. One-half of respondents expressed strong support for the measure. One in five, however, strongly oppose it. "I actually was surprised at just how high support is for a vaccine mandate, in both elementary and secondary schools," said Mary Agnes Welch, a principal at Probe. "Theres quite striking support for such a move, if we ever had to get to that point." Welch said it is remarkable how broad and strong support is when K-12 attendance is mandatory and there is widespread understanding education should be as accessible for all. A total of 71 per cent of respondents are in support of requiring students in grades 7-12 to have received two doses for in-person schooling. Of that group, 56 per cent said they felt strongly about it. While those surveyed were slightly more likely to favour a mandate for older pupils, two-thirds reported support for mandatory shots for children under age 12, once vaccines are made available to this age cohort. A majority of parents polled were in favour of the measure across all age groups, though in smaller numbers than the total averages. Welch's hunch is parents are cautious about the possibility of excluding children and want to be extra vigilant when making health-related decisions for their children. Meantime, she noted the data show there is clear opposition in the southeastern and south-central corners of the province in which vaccine uptake is lagging and there is extensive anti-government sentiment. Around 60 per cent of residents from those areas are against implementing school immunization requirements. "I would go so far as to say that if there was a vaccine mandate in schools in the south, you would see very intense public opposition... because those are parts of the province where family is incredibly important and kids are hugely important, but also parental rights," said Welch, noting the religious and conservative values in the region. Winnipeggers were much more likely to be supportive of the measure than those who live beyond the Perimeter Highway. Respondents aged 55 and older, and residents with higher levels of education were also most supportive of mandates. As far as bioethicist Arthur Schafer is concerned, mandates should be "a policy of last resort" especially in schools, given the risks associated with contracting the virus are far lesser for youth than they are for older populations. It is noteworthy children cannot exercise their own autonomy with respect to health-care decisions and weighing benefits and harms, said the founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. Schafer is in favour of focusing on school ventilation, small classes, physical distancing, masking, and funding initiatives to boost uptake among adults. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "Keeping schools open has to be a top priority. Is it necessary or will it become necessary in order to keep schools open for younger children that we have a vaccine mandate? I hope it wont be," he added. "If schools were closing left, right and centre and younger children were faced with another year of lost education, then I think that would be an important consideration." Probe surveyed a random and representative sampling of 1,000 adults between Sept. 7 and 20. According to the research firm, the surveys margin of error is within 3.1 percentage points of what it could have been if the entire adult population of Manitoba had been surveyed. maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @macintoshmaggie Top matriculants prepare for the Wits experience The top applicants are set to join Wits as it turns 100 in 2022. Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Zeblon Vilakazi has invited the best of the class of 2021 matriculants who applied to study at Wits University to prepare for an epic journey and become part of the future. Wits illustrious history in moving South Africa and society in general speaks for itself. However, the future will be even better as we push the boundaries of knowledge in how we teach and prepare students across all our faculties for the rapidly changing world. We are a research-intensive University and that means that we are at the cutting edge of ideas. Wits is where you want to be as the University goes into the next 100 years, says Vilakazi. The Vice-Chancellor was among Wits leaders and students speaking at the Top Applicants event, a gathering of the best of the class of 2021 matriculants who have been accepted to study at Wits next year. This annual event is aimed at matriculants with an admission score of 53 to 56 points calculated using final Grade 11 results. During the event learners engaged with Faculty leaders and staff who helped to answer individual questions from the top achievers and parents. Learners were also treated to talks on the quantum leap by physicist Professor Andrew Forbes and on the topic of Covid-19 by Shabir Madhi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology. The talks struck a chord with the visitors whose interests are predominantly in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The guests also had a chance to tour the campus and visited laboratories, residences and key facilities essential to holistic student development. Durban matriculant Kyra-Leigh Naidoo, who is interested in science and commerce-based careers, said her plan is to be leader, whichever route she chooses. The Star College learner wants to pursue the business side of science and believes that Wits will get her there. The matriculant was accompanied by her father Roddy Naidoo. Choosing an academic home for 2022 is a family affair driven by important indicators. We are very supportive of her academic future. We want a place that is stable in terms of its academics and will not derail her academic progress. Reliability of qualified teaching staff and a world-class education are also important, said Mr Naidoo. The event on Saturday 2 October was a hybrid event with others joining the event remotely. Some of the questions related to the format of teaching and learning in 2022; flexibility and the ability to carry credits between programmes should one change courses; plans for the Wits School of Oral Sciences, while other questions were very career specific. Vilakazi and Madhi agreed that 2022 will see the University return to contact classes. They encouraged learners to vaccinate. Wits alumna Morag Rees hoped that her son Gareth Rees would enjoy the full university experience and education beyond the classroom. What matters for her is that he finds himself and his passions at university. Temilolowa Aina from Hoerskool Drie Riviere in Vereeniging said he was eager to meet like-minded people when he starts university. The Top Applicants programme also featured first-hand accounts from students. Lesego Mathapo a fifth-year medical student tackled a dilemma that often students often confront. Mathapo asked the top applicants: What do you do if you get into the university of your dreams, but not the degree of your dreams? a situation that she experienced when she was not accepted into Medicine the first time around. Wits University has placements for 250 medical students and demand outstrips the number of spaces available. Mabilanyana Mandlazi, a masters candidate in Mining Engineering, delivered a thrilling talk about the world of engineering that awaits students which, according to him, is the ultimate career as all life revolves around engineering. The Top Applicants' event is organised by the Wits Schools Liaisons Office which is responsible for recruiting student talent. A look at new abortion guidelines International Safe Abortion Day celebrated every year on 28 September marks a womans fundamental reproductive right to access safe, legal abortion. The Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion has its origin in Latin America and the Caribbean where womens groups have been mobilising to demand their governments decriminalise abortion, provide access to safe and affordable abortion services, and end stigma and discrimination towards women who choose to have an abortion. The date 28 September was chosen in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Brazil which is now remembered as the day of the free womb demanding safe and legal abortion for all women. Every year opinion pieces are trotted out to mark this day and to serve as a reminder to readers. This happens as those opposed to vaccination in 2021, are co-opting the reproductive rights slogan my body my choice. Liberal laws, limited access South African policies articulate comprehensive sexual and reproductive services with an equitable and rights-based approach. Unsafe abortion, however, remains one of the major causes of maternal morbidity and mortality. The Department of Health estimated that unsafe abortions directly resulted in 23% of maternal deaths from septic miscarriages in public health facilities between 2008 and 2010. Additionally, the 2014-2016 Saving Mothers Report indicated unsafe abortion as an avoidable factor in 25% of maternal deaths due to miscarriage. Maternal mortality due to abortion-related complications in South Africa is likely underreported due to an overlap in how causes of maternal death are classified. For example, HIV accounts for 32% of maternal deaths and women living with HIV who die from septic abortions are likely to be recorded as HIV deaths, rather than TOP-related deaths. Even though most public healthcare facilities in South Africa could provide the service, currently it is estimated that only 7% of health facilities provide abortion services while some 50% of abortions take place outside the formal health setting. The estimated number of women admitted with incomplete abortions was 44 686 in 1994 and 49 653 in 2000. This indicated a substantial strain on South African public hospitals. Currently, researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand are repeating this study to quantify the burden of admissions from incomplete abortions. This work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and is under-resourced with limited funding as donors tend to fund international researchers and not locally-driven projects. Yet, we have learnt recently of endemic sexual violence experienced by teenagers with poor access to reproductive health services who endure unsupported pregnancies, which demonstrates the lack of intergovernmental department programming and investment for sexual and reproductive health. There has however been some progress with the release of the National Clinical Guideline for the Implementation of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act finalised in 2019 and currently being programmed with the training of health workers. These comprehensive guidelines address the option of medical abortion with pills. They also address two additional areas that have needed urgent attention to address the lack of access to abortion services obstructing access and counselling. Obstructing access One challenge to implementation has been the obstruction of access to services for those seeking abortion care. The guidelines provide a practical remedy for this and those who are refused access can report those who obstruct their right to access. It is important to note that these mechanisms are now more patient-centred. According to the guidelines: Obstruction to access refers to any person or act which prevents an individual from accessing any part of a quality and lawful TOP service, in a timely manner. This includes any person in or around a health facility, clinical or non-clinical, ranging from facility support personnel to illegal providers. In terms of the guidelines when a direct provider refuses care, the following standard protocol should be exercised: Section 10 of the CTOP Act notes that it is a crime for anyone to prevent a legal abortion or obstruct access to an abortion facility. The penalty is a fine or imprisonment for up to ten years. A register of TOP services refused should be kept in each facility, noting the clinical details of the individual, the referral process, and the name of the clinician who refused services. A health care professionals refusal to care cannot violate the right of other health care professionals who are willing to provide TOP services. Healthcare professionals who are not willing to provide TOP services must inform their facility manager in writing when applying for a position in the facility. Facility managers must confirm whether a staff member is fit to provide TOP services when appointing staff. Each staff member who exercises a refusal to treat must be handled individually. TOP service provision should never be handled in a group, or as a group action. Refusal to treat only applies to individual trained healthcare professionals and not to groups, institutions, support personnel, or complementary services. In non-emergency cases, healthcare professionals who refuse to provide a TOP service must still explain their refusal to the individual in a manner that is non-judgemental and does not stigmatise, they must explain to the individual their right to request a safe TOP, refer the individual to a facility/provider who will conduct the TOP, and update the facility register to note the refusal to treat. Ancillary staff (e.g. reception, ward clerks, janitorial, catering, etc.) and other healthcare professionals involved in the general care of a patient (e.g. pharmacist) may not refuse to provide general or standard care to an individual under any circumstances. South Africa urgently needs to update its mental health policy Mental Health: How are we doing? What do we need to do? As a proud South African, I am always conscious of our resilience, our ingenuity, and how we come together in adversity. But things are falling apart. Plagued by bereavement and job losses, betrayed by politicians and heads of institutions, and an ever-present fear of crime, trauma, and violence; our centre cannot hold. Mental health awareness fills our radio talk shows and magazines. However, ignorance, discrimination, and outright abuse of people with mental illness prevail. Think of the Tembisa 10 story. Only Social Development staff protected Ms Sitholes right to privacy and referred her for mental healthcare. Healthcare providers were seemingly unaware of her need. Nandos continues the abuse, with a mocking advert inferring she deliberately scammed others. That she has mental health issues is public knowledge. How lacking are we in insight and judgment? Gross inhumanity towards people with mental illness occurs in our country at the institutional and individual levels. At institutional level, the most obvious is the Life Esidimeni Tragedy. At individual level, remember Jostina Sangweni, accused of witchcraft and brutally murdered earlier this year. Our mental health awareness clearly fails to protect people with psychosocial disability (psychosocial disability is used here to include people with mental and/or intellectual disability). Population wellbeing and psychosocial disability In 2020, South Africa ranked 103 out of 149 countries on the happiness index, a measure of population wellbeing derived from six factors: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, personal freedom, the good will of others, and trust in government. While demographic and other inequities are not reflected, it is likely that people with psychosocial disability fare the worst. Mental health conditions negatively impact wellbeing; they increase the risk of unemployment, social exclusion, poor physical health, shortened life expectancy, loss of autonomy and liberty, being a victim of violence, and government neglect. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on mental health and the happiness index of many countries worsened. High-risk groups are those with greater mental health problems, including women, youth, and poorer people. While social cohesion is protective, people with pre-existing mental health conditions are the loneliest, and at highest risk for severe symptoms and poor recovery. In their concluding observations on South Africa of 2018, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) expressed grave concern regarding the rights of people with psychosocial disabilities. Our medical model of disability and mental health legislation were criticised. The needs of women and children were emphasised. We need to change the way we live so that people with psychosocial disability may also experience wellbeing. Societal change Every citizen contributes to an environment that enables others to flourish. Mental health literacy is imperative, not only awareness of emotional pain, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, but understanding the range of conditions. We need to comprehend what life is like for people with intellectual disability, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar, and psychotic disorders. We need to learn about personality (as in how we perceive ourselves and the world around us) and inter-generational trauma. Our knowledge of substance use disorders is particularly poor; people with harmful or dependent substance use are so often shunned, even as we advertise alcohol and some of us extol the virtues of cannabis. Social cohesion strengthens psychological resilience. Conscious, positive social interactions with inclusion of those with psychosocial disability are needed. To mitigate stress, safety and security are fundamental. Trustworthy government is pivotal. Abusiveness, crime, illicit substance trade, and violence thrive on the back of corruption and mismanagement. While we all suffer, those with psychosocial disabilities are often rendered helpless and homeless. To prevent disability, early recognition of mental health conditions, support in accessing care, and assistance in recovery are essential. Family, neighbours, employers, colleagues, educators, police, lawyers, prison wardens, religious, healthcare providers everyone in contact with the person must play their part. For those with severe psychosocial disability, structured support is often required. Protected employment and supported living are two ways of enabling their participation in society. Throughout all, kindness, empathy, compassion, and altruism pervade. This does not mean self-pity is indulged or harmful behaviour excused. It means we stand by those who struggle as they experience the consequences of their choices and actions, practice prosocial behaviour, and gain self-efficacy. Health system change While society supports the person with psychosocial disability in utilising healthcare, quality care must be accessible. Quality care implies that it impacts positively on the persons life. Accessible implies that the services are known to the user, acceptable, available, affordable, and appropriate to their need. Our current system is inaccessible, even in provinces that use more than 5% of public health expenditure on mental healthcare. Around 90% of people who need care do not access it. Of those who do receive care, most are male, many access it through involuntary admissions (a process at odds with the UNCRPD), and almost a quarter are re-hospitalised within three months of discharge, implying therapeutic failure. We have no idea how many are better off for accessing care. What must we do? We need to see major shifts in mindset and structure at micro (individual), meso (system), and macro (national) levels. None of them are novel. Items to consider include: 1. At micro-level: a shift from disorder- to person-centred mental healthcare, with shared decision making in the therapeutic process; patient satisfaction; meaningful outcome measures which reflect improvement in social and occupational functioning, mental health symptoms and distress, physical health, and wellbeing. 2. At meso-level: a shift in treatment setting from psychiatric hospital to community, with a focus on rehabilitation, recovery, and prevention of disability. Infrastructure at community level is needed to facilitate effective therapeutic assessment and process; every healthcare practitioner, from lay health workers to sub-specialists, to understand their patients mental health and be able to intervene appropriately; collaboration between mental health, general health, social care, and non-health stakeholders. Infrastructure which facilitates collaborative care is required, including internet and data availability, confidentiality agreements, and the physical space for face-to-face group meetings at district or community level; and access to general hospital psychiatric care before symptoms or behaviour is unmanageable; hospitals to see themselves as serving the community. 3. At macro-level: a shift towards prioritisation of mental health, with a change in mindset in health system planners and funders to facilitate employment of specialists at district level, i.e., to allow for community psychiatry. While primary care practitioners must be trained and capacitated to provide primary mental healthcare to people with any mental health condition, there is no evidence that they can assess and effectively manage severe mental illness. Expecting them to do so will increase healthcare provider stress, as responsibility and patient need outweigh expertise; recognition of psychosocial therapeutic interventions as health technologies. Health technology assessments of specific occupational therapy, psychotherapy, physiotherapy, counselling, and social work interventions to allow incorporation into healthcare packages and insurance funding; feasible, detailed implementation plans, with appropriate budgetary allocation to enable equitable, accessible services at each level of care, and good governance, with transparent, rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the system, its financing, and its effectiveness in achieving wellbeing among people with mental health conditions. Finally, our mental health policy needs updating, and the UNCRPD has recommended our mental health legislation is repealed as it allows for substitute decision-making (when others decide on behalf of a person deemed to lack mental capacity, such as with involuntary or assisted hospital admissions). Legislation which endorses supported decision-making (whereby a person nominated by the individual with psychosocial disability supports them in coming to their own decision) is recommended by the UNCRPD. While this recommendation is controversial globally, we have not yet begun to discuss it in South Africa. Nevertheless, our national mental health policy was not implemented, and our legislation has not resulted in accessible, person-centred care close to peoples homes. The UNCRPD and the WHO have outlined a way forward, adaptable to local conditions. We need to have the right conversations and a willingness to learn and change. Professor Lesley Robertson is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Witwatersrand and leads the Sedibeng District Specialist Mental Health Team in Gauteng. She writes in her personal capacity. This article was first published in Spotlight - A print and online publication monitoring South Africa's response to TB and HIV, the state of our health systems and the people that use it and keep it going. NOTE: This is the first instalment in Spotlights new month-long series on mental health. ** Read Curiosity 10: Mood for the latest research from Wits University into mental health and emotional wellbeing. The FBI confirmed Tuesday the remains found Sunday in an area of Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest were those of 22-year-old Gabby Petito, whose parents reported her missing more than a week earlier. The coroner's initial determination for Petito's manner of death is homicide, the FBI said in a tweet. Petito had been traveling with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, prior to her disappearance. Laundrie returned to the pair's North Port, Florida, home earlier this month without Petito and refused to talk to authorities, police said. His parents later told police he left home with a backpack on September 14. A source close to Laundrie's family told CNN's Chris Cuomo Laundrie left their home without his cell phone and wallet. Local and federal authorities have been searching for Laundrie in a 25,000-acre Florida nature reserve. In late September, the FBI announced a federal arrest warrant was issued for Laundrie for his activities after Petito's death. Here's what we know about the timeline in Petito's case. June 2021 Petito and Laundrie embark on a cross-country trip, according to North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison, who refers to Laundrie as Petito's fiance. They planned to travel in Petito's white Ford van to the West Coast and visit state and national parks across the western United States, Garrison says at a news briefing. She had been excited to share her journey with her family and others on social media, he says. "She maintained regular contact with her family members during her travels; however, that communication abruptly stopped around the end of August," the police chief adds. August 12, 2021 Moab, Utah, police have an encounter with the couple on August 12, where officers describe them as having "engaged in some sort of altercation." Although the two are described as getting into a physical fight following an argument, "both the male and female reported they are in love and engaged to be married and desperately didn't wish to see anyone charged with a crime," a report from officer Eric Pratt says. At officers' suggestion, the couple separated for the night, according to the report, which describes Petito as "confused and emotional." "After evaluating the totality of the circumstances, I do not believe the situation escalated to the level of a domestic assault as much as that of a mental health crisis," officer Daniel Robbins writes in the report. No charges are filed. The couple each had their own cell phones in case of emergency, the report adds. In a 911 audio recording from that day provided by the Grand County Sheriff's Office, a caller tells dispatch he wanted to report a domestic dispute and described a white van with a Florida license plate. The caller said as they were driving by, "the gentleman was slapping the girl." "Then we stopped," the caller added. "They ran up and down the sidewalk. He proceeded to hit her, hopped in the car and they drove off." August 17 Laundrie flew to Tampa, Florida, from Salt Lake City on August 17, according to Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino. Laundrie "flew home to obtain some items and empty and close the storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip," Bertolino told CNN. On August 23, Laundrie returned to Salt Lake City to rejoin Petito, the attorney said, adding, "To my knowledge Brian and Gabby paid for the flights as they were sharing expenses. August 27 On August 27, a Louisiana couple vacationing in Jackson, Wyoming, said they saw Petito and Laundrie involved in a "commotion" as they were leaving The Merry Piglets Tex-Mex restaurant. Nina Angelo, who was at the restaurant with her boyfriend, said Petito was in tears and Laundrie was visibly angry, going in and out of the restaurant several times and showing anger toward the staff around the hostess stand. A restaurant manager told CNN she saw "an incident" at the restaurant August 27 but declined to give her name or describe what happened, and said the restaurant did not have surveillance video of the incident. Last week of August Petito's family told police they were last in contact with her during the last week of August, North Port police say. Before that last communication, Petito is believed to have been in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, police say. In a news conference in September, Petito family attorney Richard Stafford says the family's last communication with Petito was August 30, but they do not believe the message they received was from her. Stafford shares a timeline of events on September 17, as the family knows it: On August 24, Petito FaceTimes with her mother and tells her she is leaving Utah and heading to the Teton range in Wyoming. On August 25, there are multiple texts between Petito and her mother. The young woman's family believes she is in the Tetons on this date. On August 27, there were more texts between Petito and her mother, during which her family believes she remains in the Tetons. On August 30, her family receives their last text from Petito. They doubt she wrote that text. According to Stafford, the message read, "No service in Yosemite." Also in September, a woman publicly claimed she and her boyfriend gave Laundrie a ride on August 29 in Wyoming -- and Laundrie claimed he'd been camping by himself for multiple days while Petito was at their van working on social media posts. In a series of videos posted on TikTok, Miranda Baker said she and her boyfriend picked up Laundrie that evening while he was hitchhiking in Colter Bay, Wyoming. Laundrie told them he had been camping at a site outside the Grand Teton National Park, near the Snake River, she said. Once Laundrie found out Baker and her boyfriend were going to Jackson Hole instead of Jackson, he got agitated, asked that the vehicle stop, and got out near the Jackson Dam, according to Baker. Baker said she spoke to law enforcement about the interaction. North Port police confirmed to CNN Baker spoke with the department before posting the videos on TikTok. "Her account is plausible, it appears," North Port police spokesperson Josh Taylor said. CNN has not been able to independently verify Baker's claims. Additionally, Norma Jean Jalovec, a seasonal Wyoming resident, told CNN she picked up Laundrie not far from Jackson Lake Dam on August 29 and gave him a ride to the Spread Creek dispersed camping area, where Petito's remains were later found. According to Jalovec, Laundrie told her he and his fiancee had a travel blog, she was in their van at the camping area working on the blog, and he had been hiking along the Snake River embankment for a few days. Jalovec said she later provided the FBI with that information. Jalovec said when they arrived at Spread Creek, she dropped Laundrie off before the gate at the entrance of the camping area. She said she offered once or twice to take him farther, but he was insistent that he be dropped off at the entrance. Laundrie then offered her gas money, but she declined, she said. Jalovec said she picked him up around 6:15 p.m., which was just a few minutes after Baker had said Laundrie had departed her vehicle. September 1 Laundrie returns to the couple's North Port home, where his parents also live, on September 1, according to police. According to an affidavit attached to a search warrant request, a license plate reader shows the vehicle exited Interstate 75 into North Port at 10:26 a.m. ET. The white vehicle Petito and Laundrie had been traveling in was later recovered by police at the home. It was processed and "there was some material in there" authorities will be going through, Taylor, the police spokesperson, says at a news briefing. September 6 The Laundrie family goes to a campground about 75 miles away from their home in early September, according to county officials. Roberta Laundrie, Brian Laundrie's mother, was checked in at a waterfront site at the Fort De Soto Campground from September 6 through September 8, according to a Pinellas County Parks campground check-in report provided to CNN. The Laundries were at the campground from September 6 to September 7 and left altogether, Bertolino later told CNN. September 11 After not being able to get in touch with her, Petito's family -- who lives in New York -- reports her missing to police in Suffolk County, New York. North Port authorities go to Laundrie's home that night and ask to speak to him and his family, but "we were essentially handed the information for their attorney," Taylor, the police spokesperson, says. "That is the extent of our conversation with them," Taylor says. September 16 In a letter read by the Petito family attorney at a news briefing held by police, the missing woman's family begs for Laundrie's family to help in the investigation. "Please, if you or your family have any decency left, please, tell us where Gabby is located," Stafford says. "Tell us if we are even looking in the right place. All we want is for Gabby to come home. Please help us make that happen." He says Petito's family reached out to Laundrie's family earlier in the month for information on Petito's whereabouts, but his family refused to answer. "We haven't been able to sleep or eat, and our lives are falling apart," the Petito family's letter adds. September 17 After several days of both Petito's family and police pleading with Laundrie's family to cooperate in the investigation, Laundrie's family requests the police come to their home, where they share they haven't seen Brian since September 14, according to Taylor, the police spokesperson. "We've been trying all week to talk to his family, to talk to Brian, and now they've called us here on Friday, we've gone to the home, and they're saying now they have not seen their son," Taylor tells CNN's Chris Cuomo. "It is another twist in this story." Bertolino, the Laundrie family attorney, tells CNN "the whereabouts of Brian Laundrie are currently unknown. The FBI is currently at the Laundrie residence removing property to assist in locating Brian. As of now the FBI is now looking for both Gabby and Brian." Local and federal authorities kick off a search for the 23-year-old man. September 18 North Port police say authorities are conducting a search for Laundrie at the Carlton Reserve, a nature area with more than 80 miles of hiking trails in Venice, Florida. Roughly 50 law enforcement officers from five local agencies and the FBI are searching for Laundrie, Taylor, the police spokesperson, says at a news conference, adding Laundrie has an "enormous amount of pressure" on him to provide answers to what's going on. Meanwhile, the FBI announces the agency and its partners are also conducting ground surveys in Grand Teton National Park relevant to Petito's disappearance. The national park is where Petito is believed to have been before her last communication with her family, police have previously said. September 19 Human remains discovered in Teton County, Wyoming, are "consistent with the description of" Petito, FBI officials say in a news conference. "Full forensic identification has not been completed to confirm 100% that we found Gabby, but her family has been notified of this discovery," Charles Jones, FBI Denver's supervisory senior resident agent in Wyoming, says. September 20 The parents of Brian Laundrie are questioned at their home by the FBI. Christopher and Roberta Laundrie are escorted from their home and return after federal agents executed a search warrant, according to Taylor, the North Port police spokesperson. Authorities search the home for hours. Police say they have exhausted search avenues at the nature reserve and the search area has shifted. September 21 The Teton County coroner confirms the human remains found Sunday in the Bridger-Teton National Forest were those of Petito, according to the FBI. "The cause of death remains pending final autopsy results," the FBI says. September 23 While authorities continue their search for Laundrie at the Carlton Reserve, the FBI announces the US District Court of Wyoming issued a federal arrest warrant for him. The warrant was issued pursuant to a federal grand jury indictment for the "use of unauthorized devices" related to Laundrie's activities after Petito's death, the FBI says. "While this warrant allows law enforcement to arrest Mr. Laundrie, the FBI and our partners across the country continue to investigate the facts and circumstances of Ms. Petito's homicide," Special Agent in Charge Michael Schneider says in a statement. "We urge individuals with knowledge of Mr. Laundrie's role in this matter or his current whereabouts to contact the FBI." Laundrie is suspected of using a debit card and PIN for accounts that do not belong to him for charges of more than $1,000 sometime between August 30 and September 1, according to the indictment. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. ROME, NY -Congresswoman Claudia Tenney hosted a candlelight vigil Monday evening to honor fallen service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice while serving in Afghanistan. This includes those who served in Operation Enduring Freedom, as well as the 13 recently killed evacuating American citizens and their Afghan partners. The vigil was originally scheduled to be held at Ft. Stanwix, but due to the weather was moved indoors to one of the hangers at Griffiss Business Park. Tenney was joined by members of the public, other elected officials, and local gold star families in honoring the fallen. "Each of these brave heroes left behind family, said the congresswoman. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, sons and daughters. Here tonight we come together as a community to pay tribute to their stories, remember their service, honor their sacrifice, and give thanks to the families they left behind." Congresswoman Tenney also paid tribute to the 13 local service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, along with their families. WALTON, N.Y. -- An investigation has been launched into an officer-involved shooting in Delaware County. New York State Police say a Walton village police officer shot 66-year-old Paul J. Weeden while responding to a mental health call on Griswold Street in Walton around 3:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 4. According to police, the officer made contact with Weeden inside the residence. While they were speaking, Weeden pointed what was thought to be a gun at the officer. The officer asked Weeden to drop the weapon, but he pointed the suspected gun at the officer again, so the officer shot him. The officer called emergency responders and tried to render aid to Weeden, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. State police and the New York State Attorney Generals Office are investigating the shooting. Redacted lines from letters between Marie-Antoinette and her alleged lover have been revealed for the first time, using advanced scientific techniques. The letters, exchanged by the doomed French queen and Count Axel von Fersen of Sweden during the French Revolution, were analyzed by a team of scientists from the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation (CRC) in France, who published their findings in the journal Science Advances on Friday. "Whether state secrets, escape plans, or evidence of a royal love affair, this presumably sensitive content has been puzzling historians for almost 150 years," reads the study, which also details how von Fersen helped organize a failed attempt to smuggle the royal family out of France. Some of the letters between the pair, sent from June 1791 to August 1792, are held in the French national archives. Certain words in the letters had been written over with random letters designed to obscure them. The team analyzed sections of 15 different letters, and found consistent differences in the copper-to-iron and zinc-to-iron ratios of inks in eight of them. The scientists used x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, which is used to determine the elemental composition of materials, and data processing techniques to reveal the hidden words, such as "beloved," "tender friend," "adore," and "madly." Analysis showed that some of the letters thought to have been written by Marie-Antoinette were in fact copies of originals sent by von Fersen. This was common practice at the time, when "copies of important letters could be made for political or administrative reasons," according to the study. In addition, all of von Fersen's letters had similar ratios of ink elements, which matched with some of the ink used to redact words. This points to the possibility that von Fersen was responsible for censoring the letters between himself and the wife of King Louis XVI, "suggesting that they were important to him either for sentimental or political reasons," CRC said in a press release. The researchers hope their techniques can be used to unveil more redacted historical content. Marie-Antoinette is famed as the last queen of France before the revolution. In March 1791, her jewelry was wrapped and placed in a wooden chest and smuggled out of France to Vienna by a loyal retainer for safekeeping. Both Marie-Antoinette, an Austrian archduchess by birth, and her husband, Louis XVI, were executed by guillotine in October 1793. Their son died in captivity shortly afterward at the age of 10. In November 2018, a pearl and diamond pendant from the queen's private collection fetched more than $36 million at auction, smashing pre-sale estimates that had valued it between $1 million and $2 million. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) Andrew Alcorns has pled guilty to the killing of a Lafayette man in April 2019. According to court documents, Alcorns entered a guilty plea to Count I, Murder, Class Felony, and Count III, Aggravated Battery, Level Felony. Any other charges will be dismissed at the sentencing. As we previously reported, Alcorns was accused of breaking into Ronald Whiles' South 31st Street home on April 7, 2019, when he robbed Whiles, shot him to death several times, stabbed his roommate, set fire to the home and then ran away. Whiles' roommate, Thomas Day, survived the stabbing. On April 11, 2019, Lafayette investigators were called to Dayton, Ohio where Alcorns led officers on a 9-hour standoff. He eventually was taken into custody after he shot himself in the head. Alcorns survived the self-inflicted shooting. MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to review its decision that a dairy farm built in northwest Indiana to house more than 4,000 cows is not subject to the Clean Water Act. Environmental groups and several residents sued Texas-based Natural Prairie Dairy and the Army Corps of Engineers in 2019, accusing Natural Prairie Dairy of violating the Clean Water Act when it installed drainage tiles and filled ditches during the Newton County farm's construction. The Hoosier Environmental Council and the Indiana Audubon Society said Natural Prairie Dairy did not contact the Army Corps to determine if the land and ditches were subject to federal regulation until nearly two years after the work was completed. Kim Ferraro, senior staff attorney for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the Army Corps summarily concluded that the land is not a wetland, and the ditches were not jurisdictional waters effectively legitimizing Natural Prairies activities after-the-fact and eliminating the need for Natural Prairie to obtain a federal permit to build" the concentrated animal-feeding operation. In last week's ruling, U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty in South Bend found that the Army Corps administrative jurisdictional determination was arbitrary and capricious, because it was not supported by facts in the administrative record. He sent back the decision to the Army Corps for further consideration, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. The dairy farm, which includes 4,350 cows and a 9-acre waste lagoon, was built in the Kankakee River basin in one of the most ecologically sensitive and historically significant areas in the state," the environmental groups said. That area was part of the Grand Kankakee Marsh, which once stretched nearly a million acres across parts of northern Indiana and Illinois before it was drained for agriculture. The vanished wetland is often referred to as the Everglades of the North. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) West Lafayette will no longer celebrate Columbus Day. Instead, the city will refer to the Holiday as Indigenous People's Day. The measure was sponsored by council-women Shannon Kang and Kathy Parker. It passed unanimously. According to the sponsors of the resolution, around 185 cities across the country, including Bloomington, Indiana, have made similar declarations. The council feels honoring Christopher Columbus is disrespectful to indigenous people in our country. West Lafayette Mayor Johns Dennis says he supports the council making this change. "It was basically genocide of the indigenous people of America," Dennis told News 18. "To celebrate that individual who was responsible for it seems to be disrespectful those whose relatives suffered." The City Council hopes that the West Lafayette Community School Corporation, Purdue University, and the state Government will also make this change in the future. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)The West Lafayette Community School Corporation board of trustees said they hope to have a permanent superintendent by the first of the year. However the board said they hope to have the new superintendent named by November 8th but it could be much later. The update on the corporation's superintendent search was given during Monday night's school board meeting. According to the corporation's website 7 applicants have been interviewed. That was between September 13 and September 22nd. Board President Alan Karpick said they will have another round of interviews soon. "We are pleased so far with our candidate pool and like any search it's an on-going process and we are happy with where we are," said Karpick. Right now Michael Pettibone serves as the interim superintendent. West Lafayette's school board of trustees also discussed bringing a health clinic to the corporation. It's an adopted idea. Other corporations such as TSC and LSC have similar health clinics for its employees. The clinic would be in coordination with the corporation's health insurance provider. Board member Steve Ohlhaut said the corporation will use a facility through a provider in West Lafayette. Board members said the goal is to provide a med-clinic style option for employees and their families. "It is really meant to accomplish two things," said Ohlhaut. "One is to increase access to routine health care, providing a clinic that is free of charge to the staff and family up front and ultimately to reduce costs to our health care plan," said Ohlhaut. Ohlhaut said this effort will be made possible through government funding. The corporation plans to have the facility open by the first of the year. (From left to right) Brookhaven Lab researchers Ping Liu, Jose Rodriguez and Xuelong Wang with Wenjie Liao from Stony Brook University in front of Brookhaven's Chemistry building. Scientists used a three-part catalyst of cesium, copper and zinc oxide to transform excess CO2 into ethanol. An international collaboration of scientists has taken a significant step toward the realization of a nearly green zero-net-carbon technology that will efficiently convert carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, and hydrogen into ethanol, which is useful as a fuel and has many other chemical applications. The study reports a roadmap for successfully navigating this challenging reaction and provides a picture of the full reaction sequence using theoretical modeling and experimental characterization. Led by the US Department of Energys (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the group determined that bringing cesium, copper, and zinc oxide together into a close-contact configuration catalyzes a reaction pathway that transforms carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into ethanol (C 2 H 6 O). They also discovered why this three-part interface is successful. The study, which is described in a paper in the online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and is featured on the publications cover, will drive further research into how to develop a practical industrial catalyst for selectively converting CO 2 into ethanol. Such processes will lead to technologies that are able to recycle CO 2 emitted from combustion and convert it into usable chemicals or fuels. None of the three components examined in the study is able to individually catalyze the CO 2 -to-ethanol conversion, nor can they in pairs. But when the trio is brought together in a certain configuration, the region where they meet opens a new route for the carbon-carbon bond formation that makes the conversion of CO 2 to ethanol possible. The key to this is the well-tuned interplay between the cesium, copper, and zinc oxide sites. There has been much work on carbon dioxide conversion to methanol, yet ethanol has many advantages over methanol. As a fuel, ethanol is safer and more potent. But its synthesis is very challenging due to the complexity of the reaction and the difficulty of controlling C-C bond formation, said the studys corresponding researcher, Brookhaven chemist Ping Liu. We now know what kind of configuration is necessary to make the transformation, and the roles that each component plays during the reaction. It is a big breakthrough. One of the things they learned from the modeling is that the cesium is a vital component of the active system. Without its presence, ethanol cannot be made. In addition, good coordination with copper and zinc oxide is also important. But there is much more to learn. There are many challenges to overcome before arriving at an industrial process that can turn carbon dioxide into usable ethanol, said Brookhaven chemist Jose Rodriguez, who participated in the work. For example, there needs to be a clear way to improve the selectivity towards ethanol production. A key issue is to understand the link between the nature of the catalyst and the reaction mechanism; this study is on the front lines of that effort. We are aiming for a fundamental understanding of the process. Another goal of this area of research is to find an ideal catalyst for CO 2 conversion to higher alcohols, which have two or more carbon atoms (ethanol has two) and are, therefore, more useful and desirable for industrial applications and the production of commodity goods. The catalyst studied in this work is advantageous because copper and zinc oxide-based catalysts are already widespread in the chemical industry and utilized in catalytic processes such as methanol synthesis from CO 2 . This study was performed by scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory (Xuelong Wang, Jose Rodriguez, Ping Liu), the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Pedro Ramirez), and Stony Brook University (Wenjie Liao). Chemical Today Magazine Know the latest in chemical industry, download the Chemical Today app. For Android - https://bit.ly/3iCkY4z For iPhone - https://apple.co/2D1HMvy Neste's storage facility in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Representative Image/File Photo) ESPOO, FINLAND: Kinder Morgan Inc, one of North Americas largest energy infrastructure companies, is partnering with Neste, to create a premier domestic raw material storage and logistics hub in the United States, supporting increased production of renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals. The project is expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2023. At Nestes option, the facility can be further expanded. Kinder Morgans Harvey, Louisiana facility will serve as the primary hub where Neste will store a variety of raw materials including, for example, the used cooking oil it collects from more than 40,000 restaurants across the US. As part of the initial, committed phases of the project, Kinder Morgan will modify existing tanks and piping to enable segregated storage for a variety of raw material across 30 tanks. The scope of work also includes the installation of a new boiler for heating tanks and railcars and infrastructure improvements for rail, truck and marine movements. This clearly shows the positive role Americas existing energy infrastructure can play in creating a sustainable future and fighting climate change, said Jeremy Baines, president of Neste US. Neste and Kinder Morgan are transforming existing terminal assets into what can be considered green infrastructure, which will ultimately enable more American businesses and cities to power their fleets and supply chains with renewable fuels and other products. The commitment is one of Nestes largest to date in the US, supporting a more resilient, flexible and sustainable supply chain that can keep pace with the company's growing production capacity and increasing global demand for lower-emission products. In the long term, the project could also help improve the lifecycle climate benefits and competitiveness of Nestes renewable products through more efficient and less carbon intensive supply chain operations. Renewable fuels offer an immediate way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation and heavy duty road transport in the US. Nestes renewable feedstock for polymers and chemicals manufacturing can also significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the end products. Kinder Morgan is a trusted partner for Neste, with a strong history of collaboration between the two companies. In 2020, Neste began supplying sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) directly to San Francisco International (SFO) airport via a Kinder Morgan pipeline. More than 1 million gallons of SAF have been supplied into SFO to date. We are thrilled to partner with Neste, a global leader in renewable fuels, on this important logistics project. As North Americas largest terminal operator with existing infrastructure including 80 million barrels of storage, 266 docks, 462 truck bays and 6,800 rail car spots, Kinder Morgan Terminals is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the transition to renewable fuels, said John Schlosser, president of Kinder Morgan Terminals. Because renewable products work with existing energy infrastructure, the USs vast network of pipelines, storage tanks, and distribution sites can be used to rapidly scale their availability. This is a major advantage, enabling renewable products to replace fossil products faster and more affordably. Worldofchemicals News Neste's deal with Chevron agrees for a long-term offtake for Neste's base oils supply from Porvoo, Finland. Neste will also exit its base oils joint venture with Bahrain Petroleum Company and Nogaholding. (Representative Image) ESPOO, FINLAND: Neste Corporation said it has signed an agreement to sell its existing base oils business to Chevron Corporation, one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. The agreement covers a combination of share and asset deals forming Neste's entire global base oils business. Completion of the divestment is estimated by the end of Q1/2022. The companies have agreed that the transaction price shall remain confidential. As part of the divestment, the parties have also agreed on a long-term offtake for Neste's base oils supply from Porvoo, Finland. With the same date, Neste has signed an agreement to exit its base oils joint venture with Bahrain Petroleum Company and Nogaholding. "I want to thank our people in the base oils business who have been known for their pioneering spirit throughout the years. They have built the foundation for Neste to become one of the world's leading producers of Group III base oils. Chevron being a leading manufacturer of base oil products is therefore an excellent company to nurture and develop the NEXBASE base oils business further, said Neste's president and CEO Peter Vanacker. Neste's base oils have been produced in Porvoo, Finland and by a base oils joint venture with Bapco and Nogaholding in Bahrain. The agreement with Chevron will cover Neste's Porvoo base oils production volumes, its premium brand NEXBASE, all formulation coverage associated with the brand, as well as a global marketing and distribution platform. In connection with the divestment, Neste is exiting the joint venture with Bapco and Nogaholding, and will no longer have presence in Bahrain. Worldofchemicals News Shell Enterprises LLC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has agreed to sell its Permian business to ConocoPhillips, a leading shale developer in the basin, for $9.5 billion in cash. Shown here is the Permian general seismicity. (Representative Image/File Photo) THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS: Shell Enterprises LLC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said it has reached an agreement for the sale of its Permian business to ConocoPhillips, a leading shales developer in the basin, for $9.5 billion in cash. The effective date of the transaction is 1 July, with closing expected in Q4 2021. The transaction will transfer all of Shells interest in the Permian to ConocoPhillips. The cash proceeds from this transaction will be used to fund $7 billion in additional shareholder distributions after closing, with the remainder used for further strengthening of the balance sheet. These distributions will be in addition to the shareholder distributions in the range of 20-30 percent of cash flow from operations. "After reviewing multiple strategies and portfolio options for our Permian assets, this transaction with ConocoPhillips emerged as a very compelling value proposition," said Wael Sawan, upstream director. "This decision once again reflects our focus on value over volumes as well as disciplined stewardship of capital. This transaction, made possible by the Permian teams outstanding operational performance, provides excellent value to our shareholders through accelerating cash delivery and additional distributions." Shells Upstream business plays a critical role in the Powering Progress strategy through a more focused, competitive and resilient portfolio that provides the energy the world needs today whilst funding shareholder distributions as well as the energy transition. Worldofchemicals News Solvay has completed installing its new line of thermoplastic composites manufacturing at the Greenville, South Carolina site. At full production capacity, the new line will add more than 30 positions at the 27,000-square-foot facility. GREENVILLE, US: Solvay announced the installation completion of its new thermoplastic composites (TPC) manufacturing facility at its Greenville, South Carolina site. At full production capacity, the new line will add more than 30 positions at the 27,000-square-foot facility. The project represents a major milestone in Solvays efforts to industrialize its TPC capacity. A key driver for the world-class facility is growing demand from energy companies, supported by increasing aerospace and automotive demand. The new product line will have the ability to manufacture unidirectional composite tape from a range of high-performance polymers including PVDF, PPS and PEEK. Upon commercialization of the Greenville facility, Solvay will be uniquely positioned with proprietary technologies enabling the company to position the right product for the right application. Solvays TPC portfolio includes Evolite, which offers reliability and lower total cost of ownership in markets such as energy and automotive, and APC tapes, which offer significant weight and cost advantages in aerospace and urban air mobility applications. The TPC solutions that will be manufactured in our Greenville facility will help our energy, aerospace and automotive customers achieve better environmental responsibility by making cars and planes lighter, thereby reducing emissions, said Mike Finelli, president of Solvays growth platforms. Our new capacity and differentiated technologies will allow us to expand with our customers as TPCs gain momentum in a growing number of applications and play an important role in the energy transition. The Greenville facility is part of a series of recent strategic investments in line with the groups commitment to build the infrastructure required for the growing TPC market. Solvays expansion is yet another example of the unparalleled success companies are finding in South Carolina. We thank Solvay for their continued partnership with our state and look forward to their future growth in Greenville County and beyond, said South Carolina governor Henry McMaster. Worldofchemicals News One of Yara's site in Norway having an ammonia plant. (Representative Image/File Photo) OSLO, NORWAY: Record high natural gas prices in Europe are impacting ammonia production margins, and as a result Yara is curtailing production at a number of its plants. Including optimization of on-going maintenance, Yara will by next week have curtailed around 40 percent of its European ammonia production capacity. Yara will continue to monitor the situation, with the objective to keep supplying customers but curtailing production where necessary, it said. Worldofchemicals News President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi walk out after a meeting with House Democrats on Capitol Hill on Friday. Facebook whistleblower to tell Congress social network is 'accountable to no one' A view from Wrexhams Member of the Senedd Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here). Wrexham MS Lesley Griffiths writes For many of us, the coronavirus pandemic has severely affected our working lives. One element of my job that has been hampered over the past 18 months is the ability to get out and about in the constituency, visiting people and groups in person and discovering the positive stories that often go unnoticed. Thankfully, with restrictions relaxed, this has started to change in recent weeks I recently visited the Development Bank of Wales, which was set up by the Welsh Government to support businesses, making it easier for them to get the finance needed to start up, strengthen and grow. The Bank could have been located anywhere in the country but I am proud its headquarters are in Wrexham. According to their latest figures, the Bank paid out almost 200m in loans in the last financial year, helping safeguard 16,000 jobs, and theyve supported over 130 start-up companies. The Development Bank is overseeing the Welsh Governments Town Centre Entrepreneurship Fund. This pilot scheme is specifically aimed at helping people who are looking to start and grow a business in one of four North Wales town centres Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Wrexham. I was pleased to hear a significant number of applications have come from Wrexham and with the fund open until June 2022, I hope even more local entrepreneurs will benefit. Ken Skates MS and I visited the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF) headquarters based on the Wrexham Industrial Estate to hear more about their life-changing work. The DAF is a Welsh Government initiative that provides urgent grants to people who have nowhere else to turn. The nationwide service is administered by the team in Wrexham, who work with more than 600 partner organisations. After speaking with staff, it is clear there is a need for an emergency welfare fund. Throughout the pandemic, more people have been forced to turn to the DAF as they face increased financial pressures. An ever-increasing number of clients contacting the service are in work so I am pleased the Welsh Government responded by outlining an additional 25.4m of support. The Funds efficiency and flexibility often makes all the difference. The speed in which the team in Wrexham can respond is remarkable and can help turn peoples lives around. Despite the clear need for support mechanisms like the Discretionary Assistance Fund, it is extremely disappointing the UK Government looks set to remove the Universal Credit uplift at a time when all other bills are rising and in spite of widespread opposition from charities, organisations and politicians from all parties. Cutting 20 a week might not sound like much but it is a valuable lifeline to so many and I believe governments need to do all they can to support people as we start to rebuild post pandemic. It is difficult to over-state how hard this will hit families in Wrexham and I urge MPs to stand up and be counted, and to do all the can to fight against this short-sighted decision. Leaders of the UKs devolved nations, including @fmwales, have written to PM urging him to reverse the planned cut in Universal Credit.#Wrexham residents are facing an unprecedented squeeze on their household budgets & this move, if it goes ahead, will only create more turmoil. pic.twitter.com/YtNsr5D5PY Lesley Griffiths (@lesley4wrexham) October 4, 2021 As a proud patron of The Venture in Caia Park, I was honoured to attend the celebration of the switch on of Virgin Medias ultrafast broadband service. Access to fast, reliable broadband is essential in this day and age. The Venture has helped countless children over the past four decades and I know improving connectivity will have a major, positive impact not just on the children who will use the services in the coming years, but also to the families and the wider community. Proud to be patron of The Venture and really pleased the Centre will benefit from free ultrafast broadband thanks to @virginmedia. It was lovely spending time with the children last week at the big switch-on! pic.twitter.com/0YTIhKpVW6 Lesley Griffiths (@lesley4wrexham) September 30, 2021 I recently met up with the team at Empower Be the Change. The Wrexham-based social enterprise has been shortlisted for two prestigious national awards and after supporting Jo and her team since 2016, I am so pleased they are getting the recognition they deserve. Good to see you all. Good luck! https://t.co/Nzt8VA3oJA Lesley Griffiths (@lesley4wrexham) September 24, 2021 If there is an issue I could help you with, please do not hesitate to contact me email: lesley.griffiths@senedd.wales or call my office: 01978 355743. You can also sign up to my regular e-newsletter by clicking here . Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here). Army of volunteers needed to collect food donations for the local community this Christmas Wrexham residents are being urged to sign up and join an army of volunteers needed to collect food for charities feeding people in their local community this Christmas. The Trussell Trust, which provides emergency food parcels to people in crisis, and FareShare, which provides food to thousands of frontline charities and community groups, are seeking volunteers to help during this years Tesco Food Collection. The collection will take place in every Tesco store in the UK from November 18 to 20, and with many people facing a particularly difficult winter, the need to collect food for the charities is greater than ever. Tesco will be topping up the donations made during the collection with a 20% cash donation to help the charities in their work. The presence of volunteers at the collection has a big impact on the amount of food donated and Sarah Germain, Manager at FareShare Cymru, encouraged people to get involved, warning charities would be under extra pressure this winter. With many people still feeling the effects of the pandemic, and, with the huge increase in heating bills and living costs coming in the lead up to the cold winter months, we know that there will be many people turning to their local grassroots organisations for support with food this Christmas, she said. We would be hugely grateful to anyone who is able to volunteer at the Tesco Food Collection this year to encourage more shoppers to donate much-needed food to FareShare, so we can continue to support those who need it most. Emma Revie, Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust, said people could make a real difference to their local foodbank by volunteering at a nearby Tesco store. Christmas can be an extremely difficult time for many people but especially for families facing crisis, she said. We know that in Wales too many people will be forced to use a food bank over the festive period because they are unable to afford the essentials. Supporting the Tesco Food Collection this November by volunteering could make all the difference to your local food bank during this busy period. You could donate a couple of hours of time and volunteer during the collection or alternatively, you could donate food to your local Tescos donation point. Please do get in touch to hear about volunteering opportunities. The Tesco Food Collection is the biggest collection of its kind in the UK, and a vital source of food for the two charities. To date Tesco customers have donated more than 40 million meals during the in-store collections to support their work. To volunteer for the collection please sign up via FareShare or the Trussell Trust. Changes to testing guidelines for secondary school and college students living in same household as someone with Covid Secondary school and college students living with someone who has contracted coronavirus will be asked to take a lateral flow test every day before they go to school for a week. Education minister Jeremy Miles confirmed the new advice for those under the age of 18 at a press conference this afternoon. This would be alongside the existing day two and day eight PCR tests that close contacts either double vaccinated or under the age of 18 have to do. He said the new guidance aimed to provide further reassurance to those living with someone who has caught the virus. The changes will formally come into effect from Monday 11 October. In a statement the minister said: Since the start of September we have seen unprecedented levels of lateral flow and PCR testing, particularly amongst school aged children, enabling us to find more cases. By finding and isolating positive cases we can help to stop onward transmission of COVID-19. Thanks to the effective roll out of the vaccine the current high rates of COVID-19 cases that we are seeing are not resulting in high levels of more serious illness. I want to do all I can to minimise disruption to education and childcare. I recognise that some schools and parents have been confused and concerned that pupils can attend school or college if they are a household contact as long as they are asymptomatic. I have listened to these concerns and considered what additional assurance can be provided while also enabling learners to continue to attend school. I am amending our advice and guidance to learners in secondary schools and colleges who are under 18 and have a household member who has tested positive for COVID-19. It will be recommended that in addition to PCR tests on day two and day eight they should undertake daily lateral flow every day for seven days. This should start on the day a household contact is confirmed positive from a lateral flow or PCR test result. Where appropriate we want to reduce the testing of children without symptoms but due to the increase in prevalence and the concerns expressed about household contacts it is vital that we do all we can to keep children in school. The education minister also announced that from next week children under the age of five without symptoms will no longer be tested for covid. Vaccinated staff working in special educational provision who are identified as a contact, household or otherwise, will, subject to a risk assessment, be required to receive a negative PCR test before attending work and then undertake daily lateral flow tests. Wrexham Eats app celebrates first birthday local startup helps save local businesses 500k in commissions A local company is celebrating their first birthday with a special offer for Wrexham. It is the 1 year anniversary of the launch of Wrexham Eats, an app that allows online ordering from over 70 local takeaways and restaurants for both takeaways and collections, with menus viewable in-app. The local connections to the businesses means the app founders estimate it has helped save local takeaways and restaurants around half a million pounds in twelve months compared to similar larger UK and international apps. App creator and Wrexham Eats founder Scott Beckman explained, Over the past 12 months we estimate that we have saved local businesses (Takeaways & Restaurants) a minimum of 500k in commissions by the orders coming through Wrexham Eats as oppose to the national chains. These savings not only hugely benefit the local businesses but in turn due to their saving they often offer special offers & discounts for customers they cant get on the national chains. We have over 70 takeaways of all varieties on Wrexham Eats, which is more than any other app that is operating in Wrexham. Scott explained why he thinks the app has taken off over the last year, There are a number of reasons we believe why we have been successful in taking on multi billion pound companies. We charge less than half what the national chains charge owners, 3-4x less in some circumstances, we offer a very personal service, the owners of the takeaways can speak directly to us and we have become great friends with many of them. Any problems, errors, menu updates, or help with other aspects of their business are solved right away, we answer the phone morning, noon and night, calls, emails, whats apps. We go in and speak to them owners on a regular basis and we are very much a partnership working in tandem to provide a great service for our customers. We also offer an advertising platform for them where we will post on our social media about their great food and service. There are large numbers of takeaways that ONLY use Wrexham Eats, this ranges from businesses who have been around for many years to brand new businesses who we have helped open and remain open through the pandemic. As readers can see Wrexham Eats have decided to offer a 20% discount on all orders for the entire week, Scott said it is a thanks for the huge support we have had over the past year. The offer will run from today through to October 10th, and Scott said, We estimate these discounts to cost us around 5000 but are extremely appreciative of everyone who uses us instead of the national chains. Looking forward Scott said, In our first year we have processed around 250,000 orders and will soon be looking to add some staff members and offer jobs to people from the local community. You can check out Wrexham Eats via https://www.wrexham-eats.co.uk or click on the massive banner we are running in partnership with them this week! Mass protests in support of the right to an abortion took place over the weekend. An estimated 250,000 people gathered at more than 600 rallies and marches across the country on Saturday to oppose the Texas abortion ban and the refusal of the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade. The scale of the protests demonstrates the broad support for abortion rights in the United States. There were an estimated 10,000 or more at protests in Austin and Houston, Texas, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and New York City, while thousands more gathered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Boston and dozens of other large cities. There were protests in hundreds of smaller cities and towns, ranging from college towns to regional centers. A portion of Saturday's protest at the state capitol in Austin, Texas (WSWS) While the overwhelming majority of those participating were women, there were substantial numbers of men as well, gathered to voice their support for abortion rights. College students and other young people made up a huge proportion of those attending, but there were marchers of all ages, from children to the elderly. The marchers took COVID-19 more seriously than the corporate media and political establishment. Most were masked and many observed a six-foot social distancing, and appeals to keep masks on and maintain distance were regularly issued by speakers and march organizers. Many marchers targeted the Texas state government and Governor Greg Abbott for stinging attacks. One hand-printed sign which hit its target denounced Abbott for combining the abortion ban and a let it rip policy on the COVID-19 pandemic. The sign read: Texas: Where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman doesnt. There were numerous attacks (from marchers, not the interminable pro-Democratic Party speakers) on the role of organized religion in the attack on reproductive rights. One mocking sign, hand-lettered in the style of a Bible verse, read: Thou shalt not mess with womens reproductive rights: Fallopians 10:2. The spirited nature and wide scope of the demonstrations are reflective of the broad support for abortion rights that exists in the general population. According to polling data gathered by Pew Research earlier this year, 59 percent of people in the United States believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Despite this popular support, the size of the protests was considerably smaller than the millions who showed up for the inaugural Womens Marches in 2017, the day after Trumps inauguration. This must be attributed to a number of factors, including a justifiable concern over COVID-19, and an equally justifiable sentiment, after years of such protests, that pleading with corporate-controlled politicians to protect democratic rights is a dead end. There are likely to be, as well, illusions that with the end of the Trump administration, the threat to democratic rights, including abortion rights, has receded. However, the Guttmacher Institute, which carries out systematic studies on the issue, reported that more state laws were introduced to restrict abortion rights in the six months since Biden was inaugurated than in any previous six-month period. The severity of the attack in Texas, combined with the upcoming Supreme Court hearing on a Mississippi law which could provide the vehicle for a decision to overturn Roe v. Wade outright, might be expected to garner a larger response. That this was not the case is the result of the feckless politics of the Democratic Party and its supporters who organized the rallies. One particularly disoriented aspect of the rallies were signs proclaiming that men in general, not right-wing or bigoted men (and women), were the primary threat to abortion rights. This presents abortion rights as a gender issue rather than a class issue, in keeping with the Democratic Partys advocacy of identity politics. But restrictions on abortion overwhelmingly impact the working class and poor. Wealthy women will always have access to safe abortions. Regardless of the legal status of abortion services, women from the ruling class may simply use their wealth and power to slip past the law and avoid the crushing penalties. The focus on gender ignores the reality that female governors like Kristi Noem in South Dakota and Kay Ivey in Alabama are just as fervent in their opposition to abortion rights as Greg Abbott in Texas. Pew Research demonstrates that 56 percent of men support abortion rights, compared to 62 percent of women. Much more influential than gender are factors such as religious and political sentiments. Many rallies were addressed by local and state Democratic officials, along with a host of Democratic-aligned celebrities, peddling the same electoral posturing that has achieved nothing for abortion rights in decades. At the rally in Austin, Texas, was a slate of Texas Democratic Party politicians, including US Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Texas State Senator Sarah Eckhardt, and other local officials. They were joined by a slate of speakers who doused themselves in identity politics, introducing themselves as a woman of color, a Latina woman, and an Asian-American ally of the transgender community. Following the rollout of their identity credentials, these speakers proceeded to do little more than promote the Democratic Party and offer meaningless displays of disapproval of the fascistic Republican Party. One speaker stated, The Republicans are coming to take away your rights and only we can stop them. Another encouraged attendees to blow your whistles on three to show the GOP our voices will be heard. The Democratic Party exploits mass opposition to attacks on abortion rights to further its own electoral fortunes, but once in office, the Democrats do nothing to defend or expand this democratic right, accepting such atrocities as the Hyde Amendment, which bars most federal funding for abortion services. As recently as 2018, Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi denied that there was any litmus test on abortion rights for Democratic Party candidates. In other words, Democratic congressmen who are anti-choice can still expect the full support of the party apparatus, as well as anti-choice candidates who win a party primary. The ruling on Roe v. Wade was issued in 1973, nearly 50 years ago. Since then, the Democratic Party has made no serious effort to codify abortion rights in federal law. When it has had majorities in the House and Senate, the Democratic Party failed to pass any federal legislation that would prevent what is occurring in Texas today. Currently, there is more federal legislation restricting abortion access than expanding it. Along with the appeals to electoral politics were frequent references to late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. News reports show signs and posters urging the Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of abortion rights. A Supreme Court with a 6-3 ultra-right majority can hardly be entrusted with the defense of fundamental democratic rights. The fight to protect abortion rights must be taken out of the hands of the Democratic Party. It has done nothing to mobilize any meaningful effort to protect abortion rights beyond using the threat to Roe v. Wade to promote its electoral interests. But now there is a Democratic-controlled House, a Democratic-controlled Senate, and a Democrat in the White House. Yet the Democratic Party has proven incapable of passing its own voting rights bills, not just because there is Republican opposition, but because representatives and senators of its own party do not wish to protect democratic rights. A party that is abandoning the most fundamental democratic right of them all, the right to vote, cannot be relied upon to protect the right of a woman to get an abortion. Working people must break with this dead-end political orientation. The Democratic Party is offering nothing to defend womens rights or democratic rights in general. The only social force capable of defending abortion rights is the working class itself. It must not put faith in the confused, disoriented and reactionary political conceptions promoted by the Democratic Party. The capitalist system is clawing back every concession made over the past century of working class struggle. Only through the fight for socialism can these gains, including the right to an abortion, be protected from the right-wing politics of the two major capitalist parties. As the Delta variant spreads amid the largest reopening of schools and businesses in Brazil since the pandemic began, there has been a clear decelerating trend in the decrease of COVID-19 deaths. Two weeks ago, Brazil registered the first increase in deaths in three months. Since then, the country has supposedly stabilized in terms of COVID deaths, with an average of 498 per day over the past seven days. On Monday, October 4, the country registered 199 deaths and 11,149 cases, figures that are a gross underestimate of the real toll. Brazil ranks 126th in the world in testing, with experts pointing out that the number of cases and deaths can be up to 10 and two times higher, respectively. In total, there have been 598,000 recorded deaths, second only to the US, and 21.5 million cases. Seven of the 26 Brazilian states have had an increase in COVID-19 deaths in the last two weeks. One of the highest increases was registered in the Federal District (FD), which includes the Brazilian capital, Brasilia. It has seen a 17 percent rise in COVID-19 deaths. ICU bed occupancy has also been rising rapidly. From August 31 to September 28, the ICU occupancy rate increased from 52.5 percent to 75 percent. The occupancy rate of pediatric ICU beds is at 90 percent. Empty classroom at a Brazilian school (Credit: Brazilian Senate) After schools reopened at the beginning of August, 14 percent of the cases registered in the FD last month were among children, the highest rate since the beginning of the pandemic. From mid-August to the beginning of September, the number of schools with confirmed cases increased from 14 to 61. By September 16, according to the teachers union SINPRO, there were 101 schools with registered cases. Karla, a mother whose son is enrolled in elementary school in the FD public school system, told the WSWS, The FD Secretary of Education said that they would take all measures so that the schools would follow all the required protocols. However, since the beginning of classes, there have been daily cases of infection in several schools. The classes with cases were dismissed, but the dismissed students were not tested, nor were the teachers who came in contact with those infected. They had to go get the test. In the public schools of the FD, the return to school took place on a rotation system, with half of the students going one week and half going the next. Karla denounced the lack of structure for remote learning, Most students in the public system have few or no means to follow the classes on the online platform. ... Governments should have given tablets to each child and Wi-Fi so they could study at home. In addition to the lack of technological support, she said, There are students who only have one mask, and the government didnt even help with that. Although the return to school is mandatory, Karla said, We are not sending the little ones to in-person classes. We learned about the real situation from inside the schools in groups on social media, through reports from parents who are sending their children to schools. Many are scared to death. She continued, Some schools made threats to families who were not sending their children to in-person classes, denying online classes on weeks that were supposed to be in-person. In others, the school forced families to fill out a term sheet as an excuse and disclaiming responsibility for the student not attending class. Only students with comorbidities are not required to go to school, but they are required to provide a medical report. Karla, who is an educator, also denounced SINPRO. I never liked the teachers union ... there are many promises and no action in favor of the teachers. With the reopening of schools, she said, There was a promise that the union would be intensively involved in the inspection of the schools, but they do not even report transparent data. She highlighted the unions role in isolating teachers in different schools, a role being played by the unions everywhere in the world and with all sections of the working class. One thing I observe is that schools dont talk to each other, she said. I pass on information from other schools to teacher friends who had no idea it was even happening. This led her to join a group of parents against in-person classes in FD when I saw a report in the local daily that there was a movement of parents against the opening of the schools and that they were uniting in order to seek legal action. Karla explained, however, that she is against the reopening of the schools, as well as the mandatory in-person classes ... [B]ut not because we are denying the right to education, but according to the Constitution, we are fighting in favor of life, protecting our children and young people. On September 14, the first COVID-19 death of a teacher in FD was confirmed. Joseli Gomes de Farias, 53, was a teacher at the Stella dos Cherubins Educational Center in the administrative region of Planaltina in the Federal District. Teacher Joseli Gomes de Farias, 53, victim of COVID-19 (Credit: SINPRO) In a powerful denunciation of the situation in the schools in the FD that went viral on social media, Luiza Oliveira, Joselis colleague, wrote, We are going through an unimaginable reality in our school. When we returned to in-person classes, I warned our staff many times that we couldnt guarantee a safe return. This would require proper ventilation of the classrooms, safe masks (N95) made available to everyone, and an efficient isolation and testing protocol. We have none of these conditions at our school. Since the in-person return began, she continued, suspected and confirmed cases began to appear among colleagues and students. ... However, the Health and Education Secretarys monitoring of these cases is ineffective. Until the beginning of this week [September 13], even with the emergence of these suspected and confirmed cases, no class had been suspended. Without testing in schools and public hospitals, Oliveira wrote, the vast majority are testing in the private health care system, taking the money out of their own pockets. It is so sad and revolting to see that it took the death of a school teacher for something to happen, Oliveira declared. Measures that should have been taken a long time ago, like suspending classes and sanitizing the school, have only been taken now. Yesterday, the Secretary of Education, Helvia Paranagua, phoned our school to express her feelings to the school community. What we expect from the Secretary of Education and from the FD government is that they stop being irresponsible and inhumane with students, employees and their families. What is happening is absurd. Our colleagues who have not yet completed the immunization cycle and are waiting for the second shot were forced to return to work amid this outbreak of COVID. Oliveira concluded saying, We can no longer see this genocidal policy of the FD government [of Ibaneiz Rocha] happening. Our colleagues are getting sick and dying, and nothing is being done. About the governor, Karla also told the WSWS, At first, I thought he was a conscientious human being. But in addition to being a politician, he is a businessman. He wants to move the money and the economy, he pretends he cares, but we know he doesnt. Far from being isolated cases, the situations reported by Karla and Luiza Oliveira are to be found in every school in the world amid a global pandemic. Children, teachers and school staff are being pushed into unsafe schools to secure the profits of the worlds ruling elite. However, the international working class is fighting back against this politics of death. Significantly, last week, Lisa Diaz called on parents in Britain to keep their children home on October 1 in a one-day strike, as a protest against the irresponsible reopening of schools. It was met with worldwide support. In Brazil and many other countries, rank-and-file committees have been formed to advance a program to eradicate the novel coronavirus through the independent mobilization of the working class. We call on all those looking for a way to fight back against school reopenings to contact us and follow the Facebook page of the Rank-and-File Committee for Safe Education in Brazil. The Communication Workers of America (CWA) is isolating the 2,200 nurses, aides, technicians and staff who walked off the job on Friday and are fighting for increased staffing, better pay and working conditions at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, New York. Hundreds of striking workers walked the picket lines outside Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo over the weekend. Workers state that they will continue the strike until they win their demands. Striking Mercy Hospital healthcare workers (Credit: Facebook/Ginny Homewood) Mercy Hospital is one of five hospitals as well as a number of clients, nursing homes and labs that are part of the Catholic Health system, a nonprofit providing health care services in Western New York. However, nurses, aides, technicians and other health care staff have been kept on the job at Catholic Healths other hospitals and facilities. In an agreement made with Catholic Health during their previous contract, the CWA agreed to strike only Mercy Hospital if a contract could not be reached. CWA has kept its members on the job at two of the systems other hospitals, Kenmore Mercy Hospital and St. Joseph, whose contract has also expired. In addition, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199, which also represents workers in the Catholic Health system, also signed a four-year contract in August for workers at St. Joseph and one-year contracts at two nursing homes. Taking advantage of the CWAs agreement to isolate the workers at Mercy, Catholic Health presented untenable demands, including cuts to health care and pensions which would have amounted to a 6 to 10 percent pay cut depending upon years of service. The health care system has also taken extensive measures to break the strike. Last week Catholic Health cancelled elective surgeries, emergency room services and all labor and deliveries of newborns. The hospital also instructed ambulance services not to bring patients to the hospital. Last week it was confirmed that Catholic Health has spent millions contracting with Huffmaster, a firm that specializes in hiring scabs to work at hospitals and nursing homes during strikes. Job posts show that the firm is paying as much as $150 an hour for registered nurses who will cross the picket line. Company officials claim that they have hired 52 scabs who along with management are keeping the hospital open. Workers on the picket line have described horrendous conditions they face of short staffing and overwork. This burden has only increased during the pandemic as many staff left for other jobs and the hospital was swamped with COVID-19 patients. What were fighting for is to have better staffing and Catholic Health to come forward and work harder to actually staff their facilities, Tina Knop told the Guardian. Theyre not providing us with support, emotionally or physically, and all they want to do is cut our pay, take away the pension targets and charge more for our health insurance. Short staffing is the major concern of nurses and others on the picket line. Our hospital right now is broken and our administration does not care, a registered nurse with 38 years at the hospital told More Perfect Union. Ive never seen conditions in the hospital as bad as they are now. In my unit its a 40-bed cardiothoracic unit. It is supposed to be staffed with 11 nurses every day and 5 aids. Lately weve been lucky if weve been staffed with 5 nurses and 2 aids for 40 patients. Cheryl Darling, an immediate treatment assistant at Mercy Hospital, described chaotic working conditions at the hospital, with workers being sent from one department to another. Im afraid to go into work, because I dont know what my day is going to be like, Cheryl told the Guardian. I go to bed the night before work and Im a bundle of nerves, because I dont know where theyre going to put me or what my work conditions are going to be. Catholic Health offered a wage increase of just 1 percent while demanding workers pay more for their own health benefits and pensions. On Friday morning, Catholic Health increased the offer to 3 percent the first year and 2 percent in each of the following years. Catholic Health, a nonprofit, was set up in 1998 to combine several hospitals and services run by different Catholic charities in Western New York. Mercy in Buffalo, a 468-bed hospital, originally opened in 1904 as a 30-bed hospital to serve the South Buffalo community. Kenmore Mercy, a 344-bed hospital, opened on October 7, 1951. Saint Joseph Hospital, with 119 beds, opened in 1960. Two hospitals not organized by the CWA include Sisters of Charity Hospital with 476 beds, originally chartered as the first regional hospital in October 1848, and Mount St. Marys Hospital & Health Center, a 155-bed hospital originally opened in 1907 in Niagara Falls. In addition, Catholic Health runs a series of nursing homes, laboratory services and health care centers. While classified as a nonprofit, Catholic Health in 2019 had total revenue of $181,097,796 and net assets of $109,404,791. The health systems president and CEO, Mark Sullivan, earned $1,290,346 in 2019. Catholic Healths top six executives earned a combined income over $5 million. The nurses, aids and staff at Mercy Hospital are fighting not only for themselves, but for health care workers in hospitals, clinics and nursing throughout the country who are vastly underpaid and understaffed. Conditions for health care workers have only gotten worse during the pandemic, which has led to the deaths of thousands of health care workers and added untold burdens on remaining workers. Twenty-four thousand nurses and other health care workers at Kaiser Permanente in California are currently voting on strike authorization after the company offered a 1 percent pay raise and demanded benefit cuts. However, to win these struggles requires the building of new workers organizations. Nurses and other health care workers should look closely at the experience of nurses on strike against St. Vincent Hospital in Massachusetts. The 700 nurses have now been on strike for more than 6 months. Run by for-profit Tenet Healthcare, the hospital has hired permanent replacements for striking nurses who have been isolated by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The union has refused to mobilize the thousands of health care workers across the state in their support. Workers at Mercy Hospital and throughout the health care industry need to follow the example that has been set by educators, auto workers and steelworkers who have built rank-and-file committees independent of the unions to organize their fight. These committees will work immediately to expand the strike to the other Catholic Health hospitals and facilities. These committees will formulate a set of demands based upon what workers need and to ensure high quality care for all the communities they serve and not what Catholic Health says they can afford. These demands will include: Staffing levels to be set by industry standards to ensure high quality and safe services to be overseen by the workers themselves. Substantial pay increases for all workers, especially the lowest paid. Full health and pension benefits for all employees. For more information, visit wsws.org/workers. Workers and youth across Sri Lanka have spoken in support of the Socialist Equality Partys campaign against President Rajapakses declaration on August 30 of a state of emergency. The SEP is the only organisation fighting to independently mobilise the working class against the emergency laws and other repressive measures by the Rajapakse government. As part of its fight against the anti-democratic state of the emergency the party is holding an online meeting on Sunday, October 10 at 4 p.m., Sri Lankan time. Plantation workers from Mocha estate at Up-Cot in Maskeliya picketing demanding 1,000 rupees daily wage in October 2018 (Photo: WSWS media) Early last month, the SEP issued a powerful statement entitled Oppose Sri Lankan presidents repressive state of emergency! It explained that the real target of these measures is the working class and rural poor now coming into struggle against the governments intensified attacks on social and democratic rights. One month after declaring a state of emergency, the pretext used by the governmentto ensure public security and well-being, and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the communityhas been widely exposed as fraud. Last week the Rajapakse government cancelled a September 2 gazette notification imposing a maximum price on rice. While Rajapakses state of emergency needs to be extended by the parliament in the coming days, the government has not yet commented publicly on it. Rajapakse desperately needs the extension in order to try and suppress rising opposition in the working class which has intensified over the last month as reflected in last weeks five-hour strike of 90,000 health workers. School teachers are also continuing their more than three-month online learning strike to demand higher salaries. Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara has responded by threatening teachers, and the rest of the working class, declaring that the teachers action should be suppressed, like the governments defeat of terrorisma chilling reference to Colombos bloody war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The SEPs campaign against the state of emergency is receiving significant support from workers in various sectors, including from the education, health services and plantations action committees established under the partys guidance. Last week the SEP statement was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the Glenugie Estate Plantation Workers Action Committee in the islands major plantation district. During the meeting workers explained the harsh working conditions they now face as companies and estate managers cut workers salaries and push daily workload targets to unbearable back-breaking levels. One worker said: We have faced severe difficulties during the pandemic but the meagre salaries we earn are not enough to survive on. The companies have continuously refused to increase our wages. When workers have entered into struggle with a determination to change this situation, he continued, management, with support from the police, have unleashed severe repression against us. The police have threatened us, claiming that we dont have a right to protest during the pandemic. This kind of repression will be intensified under the emergency laws. I think they already have the power to arrest us now, he said and emphasised the urgent need to fight these laws. Another worker said that the government had falsely claimed the emergency laws were necessary in order to provide essential food items to the people, many of whom are facing starvation during this COVID-19 pandemic and with the price of essentials doubling. He also explained how emergency laws imposed during Colombos war against the LTTE were used to repress Tamil-speaking workers from the plantations. Many plantation youth were arrested in Colombo during that time. Even if they were able to show their identity cards, they were still arrested. I think that dangerous situation is coming again and we have to oppose this law, he said. When plantation workers took national strike action and protested for higher wages, management at the Alton Estate responded by sacking 38 workers. Police and management framed up 24 of these workers and two youth, on bogus charges of violence. The sackings and frame-ups are part of ongoing witch hunts against militant workers by management and police in collaboration the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the main plantation trade union. The plantation action committees, under the political initiative and guidance of the SEP, are leading the struggle to protect plantation workers from these attacks. We publish below comments by workers from other sectors about the SEPs campaign against the state of emergency laws by workers and youth from other sectors. A Kandy hospital worker spoke about the divisive role of the trade unions which are covering up the dangerous implication of the governments emergency measures. The trade unions are not ready to organise a widespread struggle of the working class against the emergency rule and essential service orders [banning strikes in the public sector]. They dont even want to let workers know about these brutal laws, he said. The hospital worker explained that he only found out about the state of emergency through the SEP-led Health Workers Action Committee. He said his father had worked at the Building Materials Corporation but was sacked under emergency rule during the 1980 July general strike. None of the unions, he added, fought the victimisations. A teacher from Chilaw in the Northwestern Province said: Various repressive measures can already be unleashed under emergency rule. Thats signalled in the threats by Minister Weerasekara that the government will crush our struggle like they did to the LTTE. All over the world, the ruling classes have no solutions for the issues confronting the people. Their only solution is to unleash repression. Edwin Amarasinghe, a clerk, said that the government already had laws to lower the price of essential goods. Prices are skyrocketing on a daily basis, but the real reason for emergency rule is to ban popular demonstrations and strikes, arrest and sack workers, and to censor freedom of writing and speech, he said. The police have the power to detain and question anyone for more than 24 hours and were already suppressing protests. The police recently intervened to stop a demonstration by self-employed people outside the Fort Railway Station [under the pretext of coronavirus quarantine laws]. Nothing like this was done when the liquor bars were opened, Amarasinghe said. Rajapakse has proclaimed emergency rule because he fears the developing class struggles will become a broader movement against the government, he added. People are suffering from the impact of the pandemic on the one hand and wage cuts and price hiking. They cannot live. This will bring them onto the street and general strikes may emerge, Amarasinghe said. A three-wheeler driver in Colombo said life had become extremely difficult for his family and that he would participate in the SEPs online meeting. The pandemic quarantine regulations meant he had no income and he had not received any government support, he explained. My wife works at a tea factory and we live a hand-to-mouth existence with that income. The workers are highly exploited in these small factories and some people in this area on some days do not have any income. The government fears that the people in the slums will begin demonstrating. The emergency laws are being imposed to suppress these protests, he said. Directed by Nia Dacosta; co-written by Dacosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfield Candyman (2021), directed by Nia Dacosta and co-written by Dacosta, Jordan Peele, and Win Rosenfield, was released in theaters on August 27 after several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the title and marketing present it as a reboot of the 1992 horror film of the same title directed by Bernard Rose, the 2021 film is in fact a sequel. A short story, The Forbidden (1985), by Clive Barker (author of the horror novel The Hellbound Heart and director of its film adaptation, Hellraiser) inspired the original film. The story provided Roses Candyman with both its titular villain and whatever artistic strengths it had. The opening scenes of Barkers story present a harsh picture of life for the residents of British public housing estates: Doubtless fortunes and reputations had been built upon Spector Street, and at its opening fine words had been spoken of its being a yardstick by which all future developments would be measured. But the plannerstears wept, words spokenhad left the estate to its own devices; the architects occupied restored Georgian houses at the other end of the city, and probably never set foot here. The hallways of the housing estate were now piled high with refuse bags, several maisonettes stood gutted by past fires and graffiti covered every surface: the colorful scars of poverty and capitalist reality. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Candyman While the 1992 film trades the UK setting for the impoverished Cabrini-Green public housing project in Chicago, the conditions faced by residents appear similar. The Barker short story and the film follow Helen (Virginia Madsen), a university student, through an industrial wasteland as she stumbles upon a horrific legend haunting the projects. In her naivete, Helen initially doubts the truth of the stories of murder and mutilation. Eventually, the Candyman, a demonic figure with a hook for a hand and a decaying torso covered in bees, appears to Helen. In both versions, the Candyman embodies the violence and fear dominating the life of the urban poor and workers. He has been made immortal by the frightful legend living on graffiti-covered walls and the lips of every project resident. The Candymans calling card sweets to the sweeta reference to Shakespeares Hamletis an ironic jab at the miserable conditions in what was supposed to be an urban promised land. Two sequels to the 1992 film were released in the 90s (Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, directed by Bill Condon, and Candyman: Day of the Dead, directed by Turi Meyer), the second even more impoverished artistically and dramatically than the first. While Dacostas film ignores these entries, it nonetheless, in its own way, generally parallels their turn away from social reality and toward the sado-pornographic slasher genre. The new Candyman makes only superficial reference to Cabrini-Green, the concrete core of the original film. The overriding social reality, that the American ruling elite only built public housing in the postwar period under duress and has allowed it to decay or set about destroying it over the past several decades, is presumably of no interest to the filmmakers. The Clinton administrations Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, for example, had a sharp impact on the ability of the poor and elderly to obtain housing assistance. The measure removed requirements that authorities grant first choice of public housing to those in urgent need. This soon resulted in low-income families receiving only about a half of available housing assistance. Teyonah Parris in Candyman Now in place of projects like Cabrini-Green often stand mixed-income neighborhoods that are home to expensive condominiums. Working class families have been shunted or priced out of countless neighborhoods, resulting in a financial killing for real estate developers, speculators, financial institutions and others. In fact, aside from a laundromat supposedly set somewhere near Cabrini-Green and a series of abandoned buildings, Dacostas Candyman never shows any working class community in Chicago. Tellingly, the focus of the new film has been relocated to the aspiring middle class in their high-priced condominiums. The central characters of this version of Candyman, in stark contrast to the struggling residents of Cabrini-Green, are artist Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his partner and gallery director Brianna (Teyonah Parris), whose primary struggle is to climb the rungs of the apparently race-obsessed Chicago arts scene ladder. Before one even digs into the films racialist themes, one has to consider its large (and related) artistic problems. The narrative shifts disjointedly from scene to scene, with characters carrying out actions largely designed to move the plot forward. Certain characters act one way at a given moment only to change behavior at another for no apparent reason. William Billy Burke (Colman Domingo), for instance, transforms from an expositor of Candyman lore into a central villain for roughly five minutes, before getting killed off. Anthony and his unremarkable art fulfill the role of a catalyst for Candymans return. As the legend spreads, the killings multiply in full pornographic intensity. No horror arises from this horror movie. We are left with a few scenes of computer-generated gore and bees, and a gratuitous body-horror theme involving Anthonys character. With the element of historical reality removed from this Candyman, its flawed execution and sadismunhappily akin to that of the Saw or Hostel franchisesstand out. While flawed writing and direction contribute to these failings, the films racialist and careerist perspective undoubtedly also plays a role. Since the characters largely amount to the fleshing out of various identities, to paper cut-outs, their actions and psychology have a formulaic and claustrophobic feel. Brianna most revealingly manifests some of the films retrograde tendencies. At a crucial moment, she discovers her motivation when a senior curator explains that her story and relationship with Anthony will prove professionally useful. Without meaning to, this Candyman lays itself relatively bare here, appearing to argue that one shouldnt care about the slaughter of flawed but ultimately innocent individuals unless it furthers ones career. The same shallowness occurs in Anthonys case. He isnt so much a character as a means to an end, slowly transforming into Candyman with negligible emotional alterations en route. His dramatic functions are reduced to carrying out a murder spree and dying at the hands of white police, an episode that borders on the unintentionally humorous due to its contrived and choreographed nature. Furthermore, the Candyman persona, now no longer an individual with a painful, concrete social history but the embodiment of generic black victimhood at the hands of racist whites, goes through a similar transformation, losing the seductive character that he had in both Todds original performance and in Barkers The Forbidden. He has become another African-American superhero (a la Black Panther ), unceremoniously polishing off the police responsible for Anthonys death, and inadvertently arousing a certain sympathy for the cops as they are brutally ripped apart. The perspective here is a banal and bleak (and self-serving) one, of American society as hopelessly divided along racial lines. This is a central aspect of the films farewell to reality. The World Socialist Web Site interviewed Caroline Lea, a parent who has spoken out on social media about the threats being used to force her into sending her child into school while the pandemic rages. She is a founding member of campaign group SafeEdForAll (Safe Education for All). Caroline has severe asthma, for which she takes medication which has an immunosuppressive effect and is classified as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV). She has three children and is a teacher, previously teaching Spanish at a secondary school. In March 2020, with COVID-19 taking hold in the UK, Caroline decided to remove her children from school and educate them at home. Caroline Lea with her children She was told by consultants very early on: your outcome from this [COVID] will be very, very bad if you catch it. Its likely to be fatal, youre very likely to be severely hospitalised. Im a lone parent, its only me for my kids. Whats going to happened to my kids if Im hospitalised? Caroline was initially supported in this decision by her school, until the government-mandated return to the classrooms in September 2020. She explained, I said, look, I want to see how things unfold. Id like to give it a month and see whether kids going back to school makes the cases increase, which I suspected it would and, obviously, it did. The headteacher got straight back in touch and said, No, I cant authorise that anymore. Weve been told that we have to mandate attendance. Were not allowed to give authorised absence. If you dont send them in it will be unauthorised and you will be open to sanctions and punitive measures. The threat of legal action was especially worrying for her since, if one day in future I want to be able to go back to my job [as a teacher], if Im prosecuted, Im going to lose my entire career. Come October-November, the school warned that they were going to refer me to the attendance legal panel Its a nasty escalation, because most schools normally, for non-attendance, just go straight to a fine, which is bad enough. But obviously theyre quite challengeable. Describing the pressure placed on her, Caroline said, Its really hard to stand your ground against a school. One parent against the machinery of the school which has the backing of the local authority and then the government. She added, I kept saying, which part of my life being on the line here is not considered an exceptional circumstance for absence? Caroline was told, Youre destroying your childrens life chances by keeping them home. How dare they? I said to them, I think their mental health is going to be more damaged if I die. Thats going to have a far worse and more long-term effect, losing their mother. Because theyre not actually losing any education at all. So, this is just about them not being in the school building. The school gave us no learning at all, she continued. The headteacher said she wasnt allowed to provide remote learning. The week of the attendance legal panel, Caroline found out the school were sharing my personal medical data that I had submitted to them I had submitted a consultants letter that proves that Im very vulnerable. By mistake, Caroline had received a letter from the consultant which was not addressed to her, but which concerned her and her children. She discovered the person on the letter was with an agency the local authority used to investigate whether that letter could be used in my case. She explained, So, the school had shared that letter, without my consent, with the local authority, who without consent shared it with this guy. And hed then gone to the general hospital, senior management, director level, and it then cascaded down to my consultants level, who got completely reprimanded for this and was made to retract it in writing formally. Caroline was then told she could not attend the upcoming attendance legal panel. By December, with COVID cases in schools skyrocketing across the country, Hampshire implemented new guidance authorising absences for children with CEV family members. With the reopening of schools in March 2021, however, it was back to the same hymn sheet. Caroline was told, COVIDs going to be here a long time so youve got to learn to live with it. So the nightmare began again. After she insisted on waiting until two weeks after receiving her second vaccine jab, and to see that cases were staying low, things got really nasty they started to contact my sons father, who lives 300 miles away. The school started to contact him about, Your son is not in school and what do you think about that? Causing tension between a couple who arent together anymore. All of a sudden I had a phone call from social services who said, Weve had a safeguarding referral for youone of the worst moments Ive ever been through. Id do anything for my kids. The reason theyre not in school is for safeguarding reasons. It was outrageous. Two weeks after her second vaccine dose, Caroline sent her son back to school, but pulled him out again when cases were reported among the pupils. She continued,Within a couple of weeks, the entire primary school was savaged by COVID so badly that they had to close. In September 2021, with her son due to start secondary school, Caroline was told by the new headteacher, Shieldings gone now, and has again been referred to an attendance legal panel for keeping her child at home. Caroline stressed that she was not just screaming from the rooftops about this because Im vulnerable. Everybody should be allowed this choice right now. Were in a pandemic Remote learning should be available for whoever wants it. I dont think anybody should be forced into attendance at the moment. There are people saying, I am not CV or CEV, but I dont want to catch this and I dont want my children to catch it. Fair enough, you shouldnt have to. I didnt sign anything when my children were born which said, at whichever point the government decides to expose them to a potentially fatal disease, youve got to say okay. Thats not something I signed up for and never will. Describing the governments handling of the pandemic, Caroline said, The vaccines, as wonderful as they are, anyone whos sensible knows theyre not a magic bullet. I am so thankful to everybody involved in their creation and rolling them out, but theyre not going to stop everybody from getting sick, weve not rolled them out to everybody. And also everybody in the scientific and medical community is insisting youve also got to protect as well! This is unacceptable whats going on here. Deliberately, recklessly infecting children every single day Who would let that happen in a wealthy country? I feel so disappointed that life is being valued so cheaply. I think its about the bottom line. That whole whiteboard scandal months ago [government pandemic planning revealed by Dominic Cummings], about who do we not save, really resonated, because obviously Im one of the people not worth saving. Shes 43, shes had half her life, oh well never mind. Thats what we are to these people. Caroline condemned the dismissal of deaths among those with underlying health conditions, asking, Why does that make any difference? Are their lives worth less because theyre vulnerable? It makes me so angry. She raised the example of a friend who was told, youve had your life now, so, basically, youve got to sacrifice that for your children to attend school. You cant get much more cold-hearted than that Weve all had similar comments. Its just horrific. Asked why she thought the government had insisted on the reopening of schools with no vaccines or safety measures in place, Caroline answered, I wonder whether this is about money, and its cheaper to infect the child population than it is to do anything about that And I do wonder how much of that whole herd immunity argument is still standing. Thats what they wanted from the second this started. And despite all the evidence coming out that its not going to work, because of the nature of the virus. Referring to the hundreds of people still dying in Britain every week, Caroline said, Those people mean something to someone, and should never have lost their life to something thats entirely preventable. And I would love to achieve Zero Covid, but Im under no illusions that this government has any intention of doing that. Fundamentally to me, life shouldnt be valued cheaply. People have a right to life. That shouldnt need to be written in any act, that people are allowed to live. Against the backdrop of a deepening military standoff over Taiwan, the Biden administration doubled down on Trumps trade war policies against China on Monday. HMAS Parramatta, left, sails with USS America, USS Bunker Hill and USS Barry in the South China Sea. (Image Credit: U.S. Navy/MC3 Nicholas Huynh) In a belligerent and warmongering speech, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the Biden administration would continue Trumps tariffs against China, pledging that the Biden Administration will defend US economic interests to the hilt. In all substantive points, Tais speech continued and developed the themes of US Vice President Mike Pences 2018 China speech, which was hailed as launching a new cold war between the US and China, and advocated the decoupling of the two largest economies in the world. For too long, Chinas lack of adherence to global trading norms has undercut the prosperity of Americans and others around the world, Tai said Monday. Pences speech accused China of trying to seize the commanding heights of the world economy, a theme that Tai echoed. In 2014, China issued an industrial plan to announce the goal of establishing a world-leading semiconductor industry by 2030, Tai said. Reportedly, China has already spent at least $150 billion on this effort, with more on the way. Its intentions are clear, just as they were with steel and solar. In response to this new peril, Tai pledged, We must defend to the hilt our economic interests. Asked if she supported decoupling from China, Tai replied that US trade with China would be permitted to the extent that we are occupying strong and robust positions within the supply chain. She then added, This administration will engage from a position of strength. The bullying and aggressive statements took place against the backdrop of simmering military tensions. In response to a series of US moves undermining the one China policywhich Chinese officials say would lead to warChina has dramatically stepped-up air patrols over Taiwan in recent days. Since Friday, nearly 150 Chinese aircraft have flown into Taiwans air defense zonethe largest number in living memory. Engaging in Taiwan independence is a dead end. China will take all steps needed and firmly smash any Taiwan independence plots, the ministry said. Chinas determination and will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering. In response, Taiwan scrambled aircraft and tracked Chinese jets with its missile systems. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese military exercises over Taiwan were aimed at simulating an attack on a US fleet currently carrying out exercises in Okinawa, just north of Taiwan. The FT wrote: According to Japans Maritime Self Defense Force, the navies of the US, Japan, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand conducted a large exercise, involving three aircraft carriers and 14 other warships, on Saturday and Sunday south-west of Okinawa. Two people familiar with the situation said the Chinese aircraft were simulating attacks on some of the naval vessels that had participated in the joint drill, and were on their way home or to new missions. This is getting close to the brink of conflict, a senior Taiwanese official told the FT. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki declared, We will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self-defense capability, adding, We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. The US military exercises near Taiwan are only the latest in a series of threatening moves by the United States targeting China. Last week, the United States tested a new Raytheon hypersonic missile, as part of a deepening arms race with Russia and China. As a nation, weve taken a substantive early lead and turned that into a national effort to get back catch up and drive forward across the industrial base and the services, Gen. John M. Olson, the Air Forces acting Chief Technology and Innovation officer, told Defense One. Olson added, The Chinese and the Russians both have invested significant amounts and made significant progress in this arena. On Monday, Lockheed Martin opened a new hypersonic weapons manufacturing site in Northern Alabama to build weapons for the US military, in the third major factory opened by the weapons maker this year. Last month, the United States shocked its allies by announcing a new military alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom, targeting China, involving the production by Australia of nuclear-powered submarines. The White House plans to double US spending in the Asia/Pacific region, and is, behind the scenes, in discussions with the governments of Taiwan and Japan about stationing offensive missiles, previously banned under the INF treaty, on their shores. Behind the backs of the American public, the United States is carrying out a series of actions with potentially lethal consequences for millions of people, not only in the Asia/Pacific region, but in North America. On Monday, September 20, 31-year-old construction worker Bryan Phillips died on the scene at the Washington State Convention Center project site in Seattle. Bryan, a member of Cement Masons Local 528, was a plasterer and was fatally injured when his lift equipment fell from the second level of the construction site. The Seattle Fire Department was called to the 9th Avenue scene to perform a rescue extrication but was unable to save the workers life. Bryan Phillips (left) (GoFundMe) The $1.9 billion Summit Addition to the Washington State Convention Center broke ground in 2018 and building has continued despite the spread of coronavirus and concerns that the pandemic would dampen travel and tourism, undermining the financial viability of the Convention Center. The incident triggered an outpouring of support, with over 700 individuals donating a total of $68,816 on a GoFundMe page for the Phillips family. Workers from a wide range of building trades and other occupations posted comments with their donations, offering condolences to the family and remembering Bryan as a dear friend and coworker. At the time of the young workers death, 2,000 carpenters throughout Western Washington were entering their fourth day of striking over wages, benefits and paid parking. Rank-and-file carpenters fought to shut down job sites around the Seattle area as part of their strike, since without their labor none of the other building trades can complete their work. The Washington State Convention Center site should have been shut down as part of the strike, but the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Union (NWCU) and other building trades unions pledged not to strike the construction site, under the terms of a so-called Project Labor Agreements (PLA). These sweetheart deals negotiated by the unions and state and local Democratic Party officials at largely government-funded projects have been used to keep 10,000 of the 12,000 area carpenters on the job during the strike. Executive Secretary-Treasurer Evelyn Shapiro of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters and other union officials issued perfunctory statements about their shock and grief over the young workers death. But the NWCU and other building trades union executives have long collaborated with the giant construction firms and corporate-controlled politicians to increase the exploitation of construction workers and undermine their health and safety of workers. Rank-and-file carpenters, who have been on strike since September 16, have rejected four concession contracts pushed by Shapiro and the NWCU. Workers have sought to expand their strike in the teeth of the bitter resistance of the union bureaucracy, which has red-baited them and threatened legal action against workers involved in unsanctioned picketing. With negotiations resuming Tuesday, the union is rushing to push through another sellout deal and shut down the strike even before workers get to vote on it. Severe injuries and deaths are common in the industry, as construction workers use extremely heavy equipment, physically labor on their feet all day long and work on high-rise structures. In April 2019, two ironworkers, Travis Corbet, 33, and Andrew Yoder, 31, were killed, when a crane they were dismantling at Googles downtown Seattle campus collapsed. Two bystanders were also killed in their crushed vehicles. In January 2018, a worker died by falling down an elevator shaft while building a new dormitory at Seattle University. Also in 2018, construction worker Ducas Aucoin, 59, was crushed to death when a forklift unloading materials flipped on a sloped pavement at a Madison Valley construction site. In May of 2015, a construction worker in his 40s was injured in a 20-foot fall from construction equipment at a site near Capitol Hill Station. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 5,333 US workers died on the job in 2019, averaging more than 100 per week or 15 deaths every day. One out of five (1,061) of these deaths were in the construction industry. Falls are the number one cause of construction worker deaths, comprising more than one-third (36.4 percent) of the total fatalities in the industry. Struck-by incidents (15.4 percent), electrocutions (7.2 percent), and caught-in/between incidents (5.4 percent) make up the next most likely fatal hazards in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Between 2003 and 2017, construction workers ranked number three in non-fatal falls behind retail workers and health care workers. In response to the growing anger of workers, OSHA began their Fall Prevention Training and the National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction along with the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA), Construction Sector Council, the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Despite this training and sharing of information, the rate of construction worker falls and fatalities has remained relatively constant. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new dangers to the construction trades. Labeled essential by state officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties, construction workers were forced to continue full speed ahead on construction projects. The physical, hands-on and collaborative nature of the job means many workers are close proximity to each other in enclosed spaces, so minimal mitigation measures implemented by the employers and the unions have done little to stop the spread of infections and death. Details on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths among construction workers are difficult to find, due to lack of mass testing and transparent reporting across the United States. However, the data that does exist reveals that construction workers have been hit hard by the pandemic. In Washington state, construction is the sixth-highest source of COVID-19 workplace outbreaks. A study conducted by University of California, Los Angeles, from August to October 2020 revealed that construction workers had the highest case rate of infections out of any other industry, higher than even health care workers. In Colorado, construction workers made up the highest portion of COVID-19 deaths out of all industries, accounting for 111 deaths or 12 percent of the total 5,921 working-age deaths reported by the state. A bulletin disseminated by the CPWR determined that almost 60 percent of construction workers are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 because of age, medical conditions and other risk factors such as a high rate of smoking. According to data from 2018, 20 percent of construction workers have a kind of respiratory disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma, which increase the risk of serious complications from COVID-19. One-quarter of building trades workers have a risk condition such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease or liver disease. These likely conditions put construction workers at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19 and of having severe symptoms if infected. Construction workers also have a high incidence of chronic pain, substance abuse and suicide. Due to a high risk of injury, many construction workers fall into substance abuse like opioids to keep up at a job site that will not wait for them to recover. In 2020, the CDC did a study that found that men working in construction have one of the highest rates of suicide. In 2016, the suicide rate for men in construction and extraction occupations was 49.4 out of 100,000, which is almost double the total suicide rate for civilian men (16-64 years old) working in 32 states (27.4/100,000), and is five times greater than the rate for all fatal work-related injuries in the construction industry in 2018 (9.5 out of 100,000). Job strain, long work hours, limited family time, social isolation and employment uncertainty between projects all contribute toward the depression and stress that cause construction workers to turn toward these acts of despair. The tragedies that follow no doubt leave lifelong scars on workers families, coworkers and loved ones. These egregious statistics expose the role of the building trades unions, which have negotiated and enforced the dangerous worksite conditions and broader environment that have left hundreds of thousands of workers to suffer, get sick and die. This includes bogus joint labor-management safety schemes, which always bow to the demands of productivity and profit. In April, Executive Secretary-Treasurer Shapiro welcomed the rushed reopening of the economy even as the pandemic continued to take its deadly toll. Today, I have renewed hope, she said. Many are choosing to get vaccinated; children are returning to school, small businesses and restaurants are welcoming more patrons. The reckless reopening of the economy by Governor Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and all the unions has enriched pandemic profiteers like Jeff Bezos and Washington state companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing. For workers it has been a catastrophe. The state, which saw the first confirmed COVID-19 death in the nation in February 2020, has had 664,000 cases and 7,824 official deaths. The completion of multi-million construction projects for Amazon and Microsoft is not more important than the safety and lives of workers. At the heart of the current strike and the growing struggles of health care workers, educators and other sections of workers across the US and the world is the struggle to halt the relentless sacrifice of life and livelihoods for the profits of the super-rich. In fighting to take the control of the struggle into their own hands, carpenters and all construction workers must form a network of rank-and-file committees independent of the unions. These committees will allow workers to advance demands in their interests for better pay, benefits and workplace conditions, fighting on the principle that workers lives and livelihoods must be prioritized above private profit. This means fighting for the immediate closure of non-essential work sites with full compensation for workers, strict mitigation measures to minimize COVID-19 infections on essential sites, and improving general work conditions with higher pay, reduced hours and improved safety conditions. In opposition to the collusion of the NWCU and other unions with the construction bosses, rank-and-file committees will fight for workers control over the pace of the job, working conditions and health and safety. For more information about building rank-and-file committees, carpenters and other construction workers should contact the World Socialist Web Site. A United Steelworkers (USW) memo obtained by the World Socialist Web Site shows that the union is planning on imposing a concessionary deal on Dana workers as local talks between the USW in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Dana Inc. management resumed Monday. Dana plant at Ft. Wayne (WSWS Media) Since the expiration of the national agreement between the USW, the United Auto Workers and Dana management six weeks ago, the unions have kept workers on the job and refused to set a strike deadline for about 3,500 workers, after the 9-1 rank-and-file rejection of the sellout contract which the unions put to a vote last month. Meanwhile, Dana workers continue to face forced overtime, as the company stockpiles critical parts for the auto industry. According to a document published by the bargaining committee for USW Local 903 at the Fort Wayne Dana plant and leaked to workers, the union is proposing that the number of Saturdays which management can mandate overtime be increased from the current 12 to 24 per year. Six Sundays per year will also be mandatory. The exposure of this major concession by the USW ahead of the scheduled October 7 restart of global talks between the UAW/USW and Dana gives a taste of what to expect in any new agreement hatched by the union bureaucracy. The UAW/USW already targeted October 10 as the date for the conclusion of the talks, demonstrating that the outcome of the talks was already decided well in advance. Workers at the Fort Wayne plant reacted in anger to the proposed concessions by the local bargaining committee. Excessive, in fact, virtually unlimited, mandatory weekend work is a major issue at all Dana factories. Even though the current limit is 12 mandatory Saturdays, the USW allows the misuse of contract language permitting weekend work due to a plants critical status to enforce consecutive 7-day work schedules stretching for months at a time. One of the ways which Dana, with the collusion of the unions, gets around contractual language on overtime is by declaring that overtime is necessary to meet the companys obligations to its customers. Management, however, has expanded the term customer to mean other divisions and facilities within Dana itself, essentially writing itself a blank check for unlimited overtime. Despite an overwhelming vote by Dana workers at Fort Wayne and other plants in the US to reject the companys last contract proposal, USW Local 903 has refused to schedule an official strike vote. At the Local 903 monthly meeting on September 25 workers took a strike vote from the floor after local officials refused to entertain a motion to hold a strike. The motion for strike action passed unanimously. A Dana worker from Fort Wayne who had seen the bargaining memo told the World Socialist Web Site that workers were outraged that the USW would raise the number of mandated Saturdays to 24. Everyone is opposed to it. The language of the contract has been abused. They have mandated every weekend for over 4 years. Sundays and holidays were supposed to be for critical Big 3 shutdowns. They have abused the language without any resistance from the union. We make gears and heat treat them and then we take the cases and make them ready for the bearing caps, and they go to Dry Ridge, Kentucky. They say that [Dry Ridge] is now our customer. The language of the contract doesnt define internal/external, but I have seen a letter from the personnel manager to the president of our union, he considers everyone an external customer. That was not the intent of the language. He added, They want a 5-year contract. Everyone here wants a 3-year contract. Our reps on the national level are not giving us information. I dont like that. Their purpose seems to be to defeat us. I have never seen anything like it. With the annual model changeover approaching at the major carmakers and major supply chain disruptions, Dana workers are in a powerful position to strike. However, strike action is being blocked by the USW/UAW, who are enforcing a brutal work regime to keep parts flowing to the Detroit auto companies. The Fort Wayne worker said, We do heavy duty truck axles; the market is strong. We are in a great position. In 2008 we took concessions with the understanding when things got better, they would come back to us. They are taking from us, not giving. The contract we turned down was a junk contract. We are in a great position, but I dont think our union wants us to go on strike. The steelworkers did not even do a strike vote before negotiations. What kind of message does that send? He noted that in the last 10 years, the USW at Fort Wayne had not taken a single grievance to arbitration. There should be multiple arbitrations a year, he said. That tells me no representation is going on. Workers face oppressive conditions in the Dana plants, reinforced with the active collaboration of the unions. They find that they are not eligible for paid sick time even from COVID-19. Instead, they must file for unemployment compensation, which only replaces a fraction of lost wages. This only encourages workers to report to work sick and infect others. Meanwhile, the endless overtime leads to accidents. On September 27 a worker at the Dana Toledo Driveline plant was severely injured in an accident involving a forklift. The worker reportedly had his foot crushed and was rushed to the hospital. Just prior to that another worker had to go to the hospital to receive stitches after suffering a head gash. The accident follows the September 16 firing of Dana Toledo worker Keaira Marsenburg, who was victimized with the collaboration of the UAW. Her own union steward provided information to management to help get her fired. She was also removed without cause from the local UAW Facebook page. The victimization of Marsenburg has called forth an outpouring of opposition from Dana workers and autoworkers more broadly. Workers see this attack as an effort to intimidate and silence opposition as the UAW/USW seek to ram through yet another sellout agreement that will maintain conditions of virtual industrial slavery at Dana and at other parts plants. The fight to defend Marsenburg, a well known militant at the Dana Toledo plant, must be linked to a broader fight to defeat the company/management dictatorship at Dana. As Dana workers are battling the use of critical plant status to impose unlimited overtime, workers at the Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant outside Detroit face the same issue, with management dictating continuous, 7-day, 24-hour production at the facility through December 24. The plant builds the companys highly profitable Dodge Ram light trucks. Earlier this year Stellantis, with the collaboration of the UAW, imposed a 12-hour, 7-day schedule on skilled trades workers, using obscure contract language related to alternative work schedules included in the 2019 national contract. The World Socialist Web Site encourages Dana workers to get involved, join and help build a rank-and-file committee at your plant. The Socialist Equality Partys campaign against Australias anti-democratic electoral laws continues to receive strong support. The new measures, which were rushed through parliament on August 26, are designed to deregister minor parties if they cannot provide a list of 1,500 members to the Australian Electoral Commission by December 2. The comments by electoral members belowone from an Egyptology PhD student and another by a television producerpoint to growing social inequality, attacks on democratic rights and the necessity for a genuine socialist working-class party to be on the ballot in coming federal elections. They urge workers and young people to become SEP electoral members and take forward its campaign. Suzanne Suzanne, 63, is studying Egyptology at Macquarie University in Sydney. A teacher and experienced university tutor in education and history, she became an SEP electoral member in 2020. We need more young people to join and fight, Suzanne said. We need people to stand up. The SEP represents the workers of Australia. We have seen this before, where the people rise up and push out what is corrupt Im seeing a lot of support going to the very wealthy with ordinary people missing out altogether. The same is happening with older people. Their living conditions are being eroded. We certainly dont have an even-handed society. We have an elite while the majority are being left behind. That terrifies me, she said. Smaller parties are being squeezed out. Those in the fight against corporate interests and media and industry interests are being silenced, she continued. The two main parties are becoming even more similar. They both represent large corporations. The Labor Party claims it represent workers, but they dont. They are just Liberals with a different coloured tie We need a party that pushes us to the front, rather than behind, which is what political leaders are doing now. They have proven themselves to be unworthy. We need leaders for the working population. George is a Sydney-based television worker and producer. He began supporting the SEP in 200304, during the second Gulf War in Iraq. At that time, I was desperately clinging to illusions that the Labor Party might take Australia out of the war. I spoke to a member of the partythe late Barry Jobsonwho was campaigning at a rally in Belmore Park in Sydney. A former railway worker, Barry was able to make me think, for the first time in my life, outside of the dead-end framework of parliamentary politics and persuade me to attend my first ever meeting of the SEP. Ive been an electoral member ever since, he said. George denounced Australias new electoral laws and pointed out that they are part of an escalating government assault. Ive lost count of the number of pieces of anti-democratic legislation that have been passed, most of them in the name of national security, he stated. One event in 2005, however, sticks out. That year the Greens joined the ALP in rushing through a Howard government bill, criminalising conduct in preparation for a rather than the terrorist act. That small change meant that the Greens endorsed a law allowing an individual to be imprisoned without any evidence of any actual plan, time or place. It represented a fundamental attack on basic legal rights, he said. Both sides of politics, who have been in bipartisan lockstep throughout the pandemic via the national cabinet, are all too aware of the hostility of the working class to their pro-business plans to end lockdowns. They are terrified that this opposition will erupt outside the current political framework. Above all, the laws are aimed at suppressing opposition to the plans being made for war with Australia, on the frontline in a war between China and the US, two nuclear-armed powers. These plans are bipartisan, having begun a decade ago with the announcement of the pivot to Asia by Barack Obama, and demonstrates that preventing mass murder requires a break with the parties of the political establishment and the building the SEP, George said. The entire network of services and apps owned by Facebook was shut down for hours worldwide on Monday beginning at approximately 11:40 a.m. Eastern time. Users reported that the companys platforms Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus initially displayed error messages and then became inoperable. In the case of Facebook, which has nearly 3 billion monthly active users internationally, the platform was reported to have disappeared from the internet. The Facebook logo is displayed on an iPad (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The impact of the shutdown was felt around the world where, in some countries like Myanmar and India, Facebook is synonymous with the internet. Some of the apps, such as WhatsApp and Messenger, are the primary means through which billions of people communicate with family and friends each day. Some businesses that rely upon Facebook for marketing and sales promotion were unable to operate. Meanwhile, due to its dominance in the social media marketplace, Facebook is used by people to sign into other apps and services and manage their accounts, such as shopping websites, business software, news sites, smart TVs and other internet-of-things connected home appliances and electronic devices. The shutdown also paralyzed nearly all of Facebooks internal business and employee communications systems and left the staff in the position of having to use text messaging and other alternatives in order to work on a solution to the problem. New York Times tech reporter Sheera Frenkel tweeted that a Facebook staff person told her over the phone that employees were unable to enter buildings this morning to begin to evaluate extent of outage because their badges werent working to access doors. Associated Press (AP) reporter Phillip Crowther tweeted, Source at Facebook: its mayhem over here, all internal systems are down too. Tells me employees are communicating amongst each other by text and by Outlook email. At 12:22 p.m., Facebook tweeted a message that downplayed the extent of the outage: Were aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. Were working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience. At 6:33 p.m., the company followed up with another tweet: To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: were sorry. Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us. As of this writing, all of the primary appsFacebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messengerwere back online. While Facebook has yet to report the cause of the outage, no evidence has been presented indicating that the failure was the product of malicious activity. The AP reported that Facebooks outgoing chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, tweeted sincere apologies to everyone impacted by the outage and placed the blame on networking issues. The news agency also interviewed Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for Kentik Inc, a network monitoring and intelligence company, who said the cause of the outage appears to be related to the deletion of basic data that tells the rest of the internet how to communicate with its properties. Such data is part of the internets Domain Name System, a central component that directs its traffic. Without Facebook broadcasting its location on the public internet, apps and web addresses simple could not locate it. The Verge reported that Cloudflare senior vice president Dane Knecht notes that Facebooks border gateway protocol routes BGP helps networks pick the best path to deliver internet trafficwere suddenly withdrawn from the internet. J. Eckert, VP of Ecosystem at blockchain platform Chia, tweeted, This Facebook outage is a WAY bigger issue than I think some realize, or they are willing to admit. Their entire DNS record has been wiped from the internet across all root servers. Either the most sophisticated & coordinated hack of all time, OR the biggest human error ever. Forbes reported late Monday afternoon that the Facebook outage played a role in the decline in the value of company shares of 4.8 percent or a wipeout of approximately $117 billion. The decline also translates into a drop in the personal fortune of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of $5.9 billion. A lost day for Facebook also means a loss of $330 million in its marketing services revenue. There was also pressure building against the value of Facebook stock from a whistleblower leak of internal company information and criticism by former employee Frances Haugen who said during a 60 Minutes interview broadcast Sunday that there is a corporate culture of putting profits over people. The whistleblower story, called The Facebook Files, was broken by the Wall Street Journala publication that has devoted all 132 years of its existence to putting profits over peopleand exposed that company executives were focused on growth at the expense of the public good. Haugen provided internal Facebook documents including ones that show the companys own research demonstrated the platform magnified hate and misinformation and was harmful to mental health. The shutdown of Facebook and all of its associated platforms on Monday has revealed the dependence of billions of people on the stability of online social networks for critical daily tasks of a personal, social and professional character. Whatever the cause of the outage, it raises the necessity for the expropriation of these advanced technologies from the private ownership of a handful of billionaires and their conversion into public property operated on a socialist basis to serve the needs of the international working class. Four protesting farmers and a local journalist were killed Sunday in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after a convoy of SUVsincluding one owned by Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, the minister of state for Home Affairs in Narendra Modis far-right BJP governmentdeliberately ploughed into them. Toyota workers and Karnataka farmers stage joint procession in Bengaluru (Credit: WSWS) The driver of one of the SUVs and three BJP workers were killed when farmers outraged by the wanton attack set upon them and beat them to death. Two SUVs were also set alight. The deadly altercation occurred near Lakhimpur Kheri on the Tikonia-Banbirpur road about 130 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow. According to farmers who witnessed the attack, one of the four farmers was shot dead by BJP Minister Ajay Mishras son, Ashish Mishra. The latter, however, claims he was not part of the convoy. The dead farmersGurwinder Singh, 19; Lovepreet Singh, 20; Daljeet Singh, 35; and Nachattar Singh, 60were among a crowd that had gathered to protest the BJPs pro-agribusiness farm laws. Ajay Mishra, the local MP, was a particular target of the protest because he had recently made threatening statements against the now nearly year-long agitation against the BJPs farm reform laws. The speeding SUVs also injured 12 farmers, and a further 50 sustained injuries, some serious, when the Uttar Pradesh police intervened with their customary savagery. Sundays murderous attack on the farmers has prompted an outcry across India and fury in the Lakhimpur Kheri district. The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government, which is led by close Modi ally Yogi Adityanath, has placed the district under the draconian Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Code, outlawing all gatherings of more than four people. It has also deployed paramilitaries, and, without any public announcement, suspended Lakhimpur Kheris internet and cellphone service. Opposition leaders who have attempted to visit the area to speak with the farmers, including the Congress Partys Priyanka Gandhi, have been barred from doing so and detained. Such tacticswhich have long been employed by Indian governments, whether led by the Congress or BJP, in Indian-held Kashmirare increasingly being used to suppress social opposition across India. The Lucknow Journalists Association has sent a letter to the UP government demanding a judicial inquiry into the death of local television journalist Raman Kashyap and the laying of murder charges against those responsible. It is also seeking financial compensation for his family. There are conflicting reports as to how Kashyap died. According to some accounts, he was beaten to death by BJP goons for having filmed the SUVs deliberately mowing protesters down. Media reports say the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has announced a 4.5 million rupee (about $61,000) compensation package for the families of the dead farmers. The exact details of the attack are unclear, but there is no question it arises out of the increasingly violent atmosphere being whipped up against the protesting farmers by the BJP government at the centre and in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state. Chief Minister Adityanath is a virulent Hindu supremacist who routinely runs roughshod over basic democratic rights and unleashes state violence to terrorize government opponents, Muslims and other minorities. He has denounced the farmers protestsan agitation that has galvanized farmers especially in the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab and won the sympathy of working people across Indiaas a conspiracy to destabilize the country. In a tweet, the UP chief minister vowed Sundays events will be thoroughly investigated and the involvement of antisocial elements brought to light. Antisocial elements is a phrase Adityanath and other BJP leaders often use to smear those opposing their pro-big business and Hindu supremacist agenda. Relatives of the deceased farmers and their supporters remained at the site of Sundays murderous attack, with their battered corpses on display, for much of Monday. While the UP government mobilized state security forces, it ultimately relied on the leaders of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKUIndian Peasants Union) to help defuse the situation. They urged farmers to maintain the peace and not descend on Lakhimpur Kheri. After meeting with top UP officials, BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait convinced those at the attack site to disperse. He told them they had won a major victory as murder charges have been laid against Ashish Mishra, and the state government has agreed to appoint a retired state judge to investigate Sundays events. Criminal charges have also been laid against Minister of State Ajay Kumar Mishra. Neither Modi nor Home Minister Amit Shah have made any comment on the affair, let alone asked Mishra to resign while he is under criminal investigation. In September, Mishra threatened local farmers when they displayed black flags during a previous appearance in his home constituency. Fix yourselves or face me, declared Mishra. I will fix you in a matter of minutes. Boasting about his thuggish past, he continued. I am not just a minister or an MLA (state assemblyman) or an MP. Those who know me from before I became a legislator would also know I never retreat from challenges. Since late November, tens of thousands of farmers have camped out on the outskirts of Indias capital Delhi to press their demand for the repeal of the three pro-corporate farm laws the BJP rushed through parliament in September 2020. Indias agriculture sector has been in crisis for the past two decades or more with wide swaths of the rural masses, both small farmers and agricultural labours, living in grinding poverty. Although about half of the countrys 1.39 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, it produces just 15 percent of the countrys $2.9 trillion dollar GDP. The governments greatest fear is that the farmers agitation will intersect with growing popular anger over the Indian ruling elites criminal mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and a wave of worker struggles against the BJP governments pro-investor policiesausterity, privatization, the gutting of environmental and labour standards and the promotion of precarious contract labour employment. Sundays murderous attack is indicative of a Modi government and BJP that are increasingly angered and frightened by the mounting popular opposition. To their dismay, they have failed in their attempts to wear down the farmers or to engineer a significant split in their ranks through offers of token amendments to the three farm bills. Increasingly, Modi and his BJP are seeking a way out through violence. In the state of Haryana, one of the hotbeds of the farmer agitation, the BJP state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar ordered police to violently attack a farmers protest in late August. A 55-year-old farmer named Sushil Kaja died after being savagely beaten by the police and scores of other farmers were injured. In a recent video-speech to BJP members, Khattar urged them to form goon squads armed with lathis (wooden truncheons) to go around the state to beat up protesting farmers. He was quoted as saying: In every district, particularly the northern and northwestern districts, we will have to raise groups of 500-700 kisan (farmer) volunteers and then [mount] Sathe Shathyam Samacharet (tit-for-tat). In the video the audience of BJP members are heard laughing at this open call for violence. From the get-go, the BJP central, UP and Haryana state governments sought to repress the farmers agitation. They succeeded in preventing the farmers from entering Delhi at the start of their agitation last November, but they could not prevent hundreds of thousands from making it to the citys outskirts. And as the protest stretched into weeks and became a rallying point for broader popular opposition, the BJP government was visibly thrown into crisis. True to their authoritarian instincts, Modi and Home Minister Shah laid the groundwork for violently dispersing the protesting farmers, mobilizing tens of thousands of security forces and mounting a propaganda campaign to smear them as anti-national. The Supreme Court has sanctioned one anti-democratic and communalist action of the BJP government after another. However, due to fears among broad sections of the ruling class that a violent crackdown could backfire and serve to galvanize the working class to intervene in the mounting political crisis, the court balked at greenlighting the BJPs plans to suppress the farmers protests by declaring them illegal. Later, it sought to provide the government with a mechanism to defuse the situation, by ruling that application of the three farm laws should be suspended while the farmers and government negotiated. However, like the BJP and clearly reflecting mounting pressure from big business for speedier implementation of its pro-investor policies, the Supreme Courts attitude towards the farmers is hardening. When farm protest leaders recently approached the court for permission to enter the capital to stage a rally, a panel of Supreme Court justices denounced the farmers agitation. You have strangulated Delhi, the court declared, by holding sit-in protests on highways ... even blocked movement of armed forces and jeered them. Now you want to come inside the city and create chaos? On Monday, just hours after the BJPs violent provocation against the Lakhimpur Kheri farrners, another Supreme Court bench openly questioned the legitimacy of the farmers agitation. It chastised the farmers for mounting protests when the farm laws are stayed and for protesting, while challenging the laws constitutionality in the courts. When farmers are in court challenging the laws, why protest in the street? asked the judges. Ominously, Indias highest court announced that on October 20 it will rule on whether there is an absolute right to protestall but announcing that it intends to provide the government with a legal fig leaf for employing state violence to end the farmers agitation. On October 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in coordination with 600 journalists from 117 countries, began publishing the Pandora Papers a series of articles based off of 11.9 million leaked financial services filestotaling nearly three terabytes of datafrom 14 companies that provide tax evasion and money laundering services to the financial oligarchy. A view of the entrance of the Chateau Bigaud, in Mougins, southern France, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole) The ICIJ claims to have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers. Included in this list are 130 Forbes billionaires, as well as celebrities, athletes and royalty. Just 100 of the billionaires identified in the Pandora Papers had a combined fortune of more than $600 billion in 2021. Some 150 news outlets participated in the investigation, including the Washington Post, the BBC, the Guardian, Radio France Moroccos Le Desk and Ecuadors Diario El Universo. The ICIJ analysis identified 956 companies specializing in offshore tax havens with ties to 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and others. The ICIJ found that more than two-thirds of the companies identified were set up in the British Virgin Islands. This is the third major expose on the dealings of the international bourgeoisie published by the ICIJ. In 2016 the ICIJ published the Panama Papers and in 2017 the Paradise Papers. The latter actually contained more files, 13.4 million compared to 11.9 million, however the amount of data contained in the Pandora Papers is more than the Panama or Paradise leaks. Whereas the Panama Papers dealt primarily with with Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, the Pandora Papers encompass records from 14 financial-services companies operating throughout the world, including in Switzerland, Belize and the United Kingdom. The leak also demonstrates the key role US states such as South Dakota, Florida, Nevada and Delaware have assumed in the global tax avoidance scheme. The files were analyzed for nearly two years, and include private emails, secret contracts, bank statements, passports and confidential spreadsheets exposing the intricate money laundering schemes employed by princes, kings, prime ministers and presidents the world over employ in order to protect their ill-gotten wealth and pass it on to their heirs. Among the tools examined by the ICIJ were the use of trusts by the bourgeoisie to ensure that their property remains in their family, tax free, for generations. However, like the previous exposures by the ICIJ, there is a startling gap between the financial details revealed concerning those who are official enemies of US imperialism, compared to Americans. Of the 336 politicians identified in the leaks, none are from the United States, while 19 Russian politicians and 38 Ukrainian politicians were identified. The lack of US politicians named is even more noticeable considering the ICIJ found over $1 billion held in US-based trusts, integral tools for tax avoidance and money laundering. The ICIJ worked with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in producing the report. According to ICIJ, more than 75 journalists from OCCRPs network helped comb through the data. The OCCRP is supported by grants from the United States Agency for International Development, the US State Department, Google Ideas as well as George Soross Open Society Foundations. In a comment from Russias RT, Kit Klarenberg asked, Could the CIA be behind the leak of the Pandora Papers, given their curious lack of focus on US nationals? Likewise, the editor of the Chinese-based Global Times, Hu Zijin, suggested that US and Western intelligence agencies were involved in the leaks, writing on Twitter that They are creating new tools for their political intervention in developing counties. Seemingly backing Zijins perspective, in a statement on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki reiterated President Joe Bidens commitment to fighting corruption as a core national security interest. Psaki also reiterated Bidens pledge to work with partners and allies to address issues such as the abuse of shell companies and money laundering Coming from the former senator from Delaware, one of the most corporate friendly and opaque states in the nation when it comes to shielding financial records of the wealthy as it provides every loophole and benefit to credit card companies while eliminating bankruptcy protections for credit card and student loan defaulters, this statement is more than just a little hypocritical. While the ICIJ failed to find any corrupt politicians in the US, it did uncover large numbers of trusts established within the US that have been used by the bourgeoisie to shield their assets from tax liabilities. In South Dakota, where Republicans have controlled the state government since the 1970s, trust companies have been allowed to flourish, allowing the financial oligarchy to stash almost $360 billion in assets through secretive trusts. Amid ever-widening levels of inequality and more open forms of financial parasitism, the use of trusts, popular in the Middle Ages for English aristocrats, has skyrocketed in recent years, especially in the United States, where several states have passed laws eliminating rules against perpetuities, allowing for the creation of dynasty trusts. Of the trusts identified in the papers, South Dakota had the most, with 81, followed by Florida, 37, Delaware 35, Texas, 24 and Nevada, 14. Politicians named so far in the investigation include: King Abdullah II, 59, has ruled Jordan since 1999 and is a close ally of the US. The papers reveal that Abdullah II owned 36 front companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands. These companies were used to disguise the purchase of at least 14 luxury homes in the United Kingdom in the U.S. These holdings included the hidden purchase of a $33.5 million mansion in Malibu, California in 2014, along with properties in London and Washington D.C., totaling more than $106 million from 2003 to 2017. Nirupama Rajapaksa was a former member of parliament and deputy minister of water supply and drainage from 2010 to 2015. She is the cousin of current Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapakse. Nirupama, along with her husband Thirukumar Nadesan, controls a shell company that was used to buy luxury apartments in London and Sydney, while another company, Pacific Commodities, was used to transfer 31 paintings and other art pieces to the Geneva Freeport, a warehouse complex in Geneva Switzerland where the bourgeoisie stores their assets to avoid taxes. According to the specialist art journal Connaissances des Arts, in 2013 the Geneva Freeport held around 1.2 million artworks. Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister from 1997 through 2007. Blair, along with his wife Cherie, registered a UK company named Harcourt Ventures Ltd. to buy a British Virgin Islands entity named Romanstone International Ltd., which owned a building in London valued at $8.8 million. The Romanstone property was a subsidiary of a real estate firm owned by the family of Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani, Bahrains industry and tourism minister. By simply purchasing the company that owns the property, the Blairs were not obligated to pay property taxes, saving them more than $400,000 according to the Guardian. Around 60,000 production workers in the movie and television industry voted to authorize strike action, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) announced on Tuesday. Over 90 percent of the membership turned out to vote, with 98.6 percent voting in favor of a strike. IATSE workers picket (IATSE Local 700 Organizing Department) As if on cue, within hours of the announcement of the results of the strike vote, both IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announced they would be resuming negotiations on Tuesday, October 4, after a two-month hiatus brought on by the renegotiation of the COVID-19 protocols just as the Delta variant was surging across California and the country as a whole. Those loosened protocols, which were set to expire on September 30, were further extended until the end of October, according to management, though the union leadership stated that there was merely a tacit agreement to extend them. When the studios wanted to make it easier to carry out production work by loosening the restrictions in place to keep workers safe during a global pandemic, IATSE not only agreed, but they put the contract negotiations on hold to do so, and gave the AMPTP a two-month extension. During that time, IATSE claims that AMPTP refused their last offer and refused to come back to the table, yet they waited. IATSE President Matthew Loeb and the rest of the leadership waited to hold a strike authorization vote until over two weeks after the extension of the original contract expired. This delay took place even after the AMPTP said that they wanted to more than double the number of hours required yearly before IATSE members can qualify for the pension. After the announcement of the results of the strike vote, the AMPTP said that it remains committed to reaching an agreement that will keep the industry working. We deeply value our IATSE crew members and are committed to working with them to avoid shutting down the industry at such a pivotal time, particularly since the industry is still recovering from the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. A deal can be made at the bargaining table, but it will require both parties working together in good faith with a willingness to compromise and to explore new solutions to resolve the open issues. In response to this statement, one worker had this to say: We deeply value our IATSE crew membersjust not enough to guarantee a humane lunch hour. Or humane working hours. Or to admit that streaming services arent new media and havent been for a really long time. But yeah, we deeply value you all! But pity the poor Hollywood producers. Its been a rough year for them with covid. Theyre only pulling in billions of dollars of profit. How dare IATSE ask for humane conditions! Nows not the right time. Next time. Next time. Next time. Say it with us now, Next time. Pity these poor Hollywood producers, most of whom identify as liberals. Who like posts on Facebook from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Who virtue signal with a retweeted AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] story. Pity them for they know in their hearts of hearts that theyre corporate shills, doing the bidding of their overlords to drain the life out of the middle and working classes. Immediately after the vote, Loeb stated: The ball is in their court. If they want to avoid a strike, they will return to the bargaining table and make us a reasonable offer. Asking for a reasonable offer from the AMPTP is an open signal that the IATSE leadership is more than willing sacrifice workers demands, which include an end to excessively unsafe and harmful working hours, a livable wage for the lowest paid workers, reasonable rest during meal breaks, between workdays and on weekends, and equitable pay and conditions for those working on new media or streaming projects. IATSE workers voted to strike for the first time in its 128-year history because the conditions to which they are subjected are untenable, including constant 12-16 hour days, no rest, no sleep and poverty wages. One worker, commenting on a statement from someone in management, replied: Im sure that 2nd (walking) meal of cold pizza that you approved from your tower office sounds delicious. Its not. Neither is the cereal Im going to have for dinner when I get home from my 17 hour day. Cereal because I only have an 8 hour turn around and I dont have to time to cook. Also because I havent had time to shop for groceries since its my 4th 17 hour day in a row. After the resumption of negotiations was announced, Loeb said: The members have spoken loud and clear. This vote is about the quality of life as well as the health and safety of those who work in the film and television industry. Our people have basic human needs like time for meal breaks, adequate sleep, and a weekend. For those at the bottom of the pay scale, they deserve nothing less than a living wage. If Loeb and the rest of the IATSE leadership were truly interested or if they truly cared about the health and safety of their membership, they would not have agreed to a loosening of the COVID-19 protocols as the Delta variant was surging, nor would they tacitly agree to extend those loosened protocols while they were attempting to negotiate a new contract. Nor would they have recommended the membership to vote yes on the previous contract, or the one before, the conditions under which the leadership now admits are intolerable. Loeb, who takes home a yearly compensation package of more than $500,000, has been sitting atop the union and every negotiation since 2008. The pandemic and the associated slowing down of production that it entailed left IATSE workers with more bargaining power than ever. However, each day that production is allowed to continue squanders this opportunity weakens the effects of any future strike activity by giving the producers breathing space to wait out any possible strike. Workers are angry, united and determined to fight for livable working conditions and wages; the resounding, nearly unanimous vote in favor of a strike points to their resiliency. However, if the struggle against Hollywood and the streaming studios is to be successful, the struggle needs to be taken out of the hands of the IATSE leadership and put under the democratic control of workers organized in a rank-and-file committee. Experiences in the Asia-Pacific are demonstrating that the eradication of COVID depends on the development of an independent movement of the international working class, fighting for a scientific program that prioritises health and safety, not capitalist profit. With extraordinary rapidity, countries held up as pandemic success stories are dispensing with earlier safety measures and adopting the let it rip policies that have created a disaster internationally. Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern (Source: Scott Morrison Facebook) In Australia, where the virus has repeatedly been eliminated, governments are rushing to reopen the economy amid the countrys worst COVID outbreak. In New Zealand, one of the few countries to have pursued an elimination strategy throughout the pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday that her government would be transitioning to a new way of doing things, based on the fact that the Delta variant is a game-changer. The New York Times, speaking on behalf of the Wall Street banks and corporations, immediately reported the announcement, declaring that: For a year and a half, New Zealand has pursued a strategy of Covid zero, closing its borders and quickly enforcing lockdowns to keep the coronavirus in check, a policy it maintained even as other Asia-Pacific countries transitioned to coexisting with the viral threat. On Monday, New Zealand gave in. This was part of a broader shift, the Times noted, referencing the drive to end lockdowns in Australia, and the situation in Singapore, where an end to a government strategy of suppressing the virus has resulted in a major outbreak. The change in strategy by Singapore and other countries in the region has left China as perhaps the last major country to pursue a Covid-zero approach, it declared. With a clear air of triumphalism, the Times was championing the fact that those countries were adopting the same profit-driven policies that have resulted in mass infection and death around the world. Infections have soared in Britain since all mitigation efforts were dispensed with on freedom day last July, with current fatality rates matching Prime Minister Boris Johnsons declaration that 50,000 annual deaths from the virus would be acceptable. In the US, thousands of people are dying every few days, while hospital paediatric units are being overwhelmed as 200,000 or more children are infected each week, many of them having contracted the virus in schools that are functioning as lethal Petri dishes. Case numbers vary in the Asia-Pacific countries that have recently shifted their policy. In Australia and Singapore there are thousands of active infections, in New Zealand, only several hundred. The trajectory, however, once the live with the virus policy has been adopted is the same: mass transmission, hospitalisations and fatalities. This has already been demonstrated by developments in Australia. The countrys governments never sought eradication, rejecting it in the earliest stages of the pandemic as being too costly. Nevertheless, over the past 18 months, they have repeatedly been compelled to institute lockdowns and other safety restrictions. This has largely been a result of demands from teachers, health staff and other sections of the working class, and because the underfunded hospital system is in such a parlous position that it cannot cope with even a limited COVID-19 outbreak. The country was also insulated to a certain extent by its geographical isolation and stringent border restrictions. Transmission of the virus was repeatedly eliminated, as millions of working people adhered to social distancing and made sacrifices to ensure public health. Within a very short period of time, the situation has been reversed. The country went from having no cases of community transmission in early June, to more than 84,000 in the three-and-a-half months since, along with 447 deaths. More than a quarter of all fatalities since the pandemic began have occurred since the end of August. The surge has been the outcome of governments, especially in the state of New South Wales (NSW), resisting calls from epidemiologists for timely lockdowns, instead preparing for a reopening. Even once restrictions were imposed, most workplaces remained open, leading to infections and deaths being concentrated in the working class suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne. In previous outbreaks, governments have stated that it is not safe to end lockdowns before community transmission is reduced to zero or close to it. Now, the opposite is the case. The higher the case numbers, the more stridently they insist that lockdowns and other restrictions be overturned as quickly as possible, based on the same inoculation levels that have failed to halt surges in countries such as Singapore and Israel. Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that international travel would resume in November, earlier than planned, as the spearhead of a far broader reopening. The announcement was made days after an article in the British Financial Times (FT) declared that Australia is making big mistakes in failing to reopen to the world, with business leaders accusing the government of putting politics before science ahead of a looming general election. The preeminent mouthpiece of finance capital highlighted statements by business chiefs, who were Increasingly fed up with COVID-19 lockdown policies and have said the nation will have to learn to live with the virus, as many other countries have done. It is these profit interests that are determining government policy. In NSW, the limited lockdown is to be ended next Monday, despite infections continuing to approach one thousand a day. A full reopening is planned for November-December. The Labor government in Victoria has adopted an almost identical roadmap, even though infections in the state have reached a record of more than 1,700 per day, including a jump of 50 percent in a 24-hour period last week. With the healthcare system already in an unprecedented crisis, official modelling from the NSW and Victorian governments predicts that the reopening will likely overwhelm their hospitals. They are preparing to implement a triage system, under which some critically-ill patients would be denied care. Medical experts have warned that the protocols would lead to people with an eighty percent chance of survival, if they were treated, being left to die. In-person teaching is resuming en masse in both states this month, even though 30 percent of all cases in NSW have been among children and teenagers and thousands more young people have been infected in Victoria, during a period when most learning has been conducted online. As is the case internationally, this program is provoking widespread opposition. Thousands of teachers and students have taken to social media and issued petitions, condemning the reopening of the schools. Healthcare workers have written open letters, denouncing the official policies as creating the conditions for mass death. It is these sentiments that the various business chiefs are railing against. In countless editorials over the past months, the financial press has insisted that governments must take on the opposition among workers and young people. As one comment in the Australian declared, it was necessary to change the Australian mindset and force an end to the popular addiction to lockdown. In this, the trade unions have played a central role. They have joined with the corporations to ensure workplaces have remained open throughout the pandemic, have lobbied for their industries to be exempted from lockdown measures, and are seeking to suppress any mobilisation against the official pandemic policies. Critical lessons must be drawn. In one form or other, all of the capitalist governments are turning towards the policies of herd immunity and death. The developments in the Asia-Pacific are providing a graphic demonstration of the bankruptcy of official strategies aimed at mitigating the impacts of the virus, without seeking its eradication, and the impossibility of maintaining a program of elimination, within the framework of the capitalist system. The fight to eradicate the virus, which epidemiologists have explained is both possible and necessary, depends on the development of an independent movement of the working class that asserts the social rights of the population, including to health and life, above private profit. The October 1 school strike in Britain, which won support from thousands of teachers, parents, students and workers around the world, points the way forward. On October 24, the WSWS is holding an international online webinar featuring leading scientists and workers involved in this struggle, to explain the case for eradication and provide the public with the critical knowledge necessary to develop a broad-based and international movement to end the pandemic and reclaim the future. On Friday morning, Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, announced significant positive results for their antiviral drug Molnupiravir (EIDD-2801) to treat people infected with early COVID-19 experiencing mild to moderate symptoms. According to the press release, their oral antiviral drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by around 50 percent. In fact, the phase three trial was stopped early on the recommendation by the independent data monitoring committee, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on these significant findings. The oversight committees are responsible for the conduct and integrity of such trials. If during a planned interim analysis of the data the review committee finds the drug to be efficacious, it can recommend stopping the trial, as not to further delay using these drugs that can benefit patients. Molnupiravir, an antiviral pill (shown) made by Merck to treat COVID-19 may keep newly diagnosed people out of the hospital and prevent deaths. (Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp) The analysis showed that the COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and death down from 14 percent in the group taking a placebo to 7 percent in those that were given the active ingredient. When the interim data was broken down further, the reduction in hospitalizations was only 39 percent. But more impressive was the reduction in deaths, from eight in the placebo group to zero taking the actual medication. The final analysis of all the data is anticipated shortly and peer-reviewed publication of the report will be important to ensure confidence in the process. But such a development is welcome news and an urgently-needed addition to the fight against the coronavirus. It is only an addition, however, and no substitute for an aggressive campaign to eradicate the virus using every possible public health measure, including lockdowns. Merck has indicated they have already proceeded with an application to the FDA to obtain emergency use authorization (EUA). Pending this approval, the positive findings mean that there is now, for the first time in the course of the pandemic, a COVID-19 treatment that can be administered by mouth. The pharmaceutical company expects to produce 10 million treatment courses by the end of the year and many more doses in 2022. In June 2021, the Biden administration signed an agreement with Merck for 1.7 million courses of treatment (one pill twice a day for five days) for a total price tag of $1.2 billion, or $700 for each course. The drug is expected to generate revenues up to $7 billion by years end. The company has said it has agreements with several governments but has not shared these details. As it stands, Molnupiravir will be catapulted into the profit stratosphere as one of the most lucrative drugs ever made. An effective oral antiviral treatment is a game-changer. Ease of delivery and storage makes it ideal in a situation when there can be considerable delay in symptom onset and confirmatory testing of COVID-19. Both Remdesivir (a broad-spectrum antiviral drug) and Regeneron (a monoclonal antibody) must be administered intravenously, requiring skilled health care workers and additional supplies. Remdesivirs data has also been criticized for tepid results in three trials that suggest it only modestly improves time to recovery by a few days. In brief, the phase three MOVe-OUT trial was an international randomized, blinded study that compared Molnupiravir to a placebo in non-hospitalized adults diagnosed with mild to moderate COVID-19. Patients had to have one or more risk factors associated with poor outcomes. Symptom onset could not have lasted for more than five days to participate in the trial. The primary endpoint was the percentage of participants who were hospitalized and/or died through 29 days after being randomized into the study. The main risk factors for severe disease among subjects were obesity, age at or over 60, diabetes, and heart disease. The Delta, gamma, and Mu variants accounted for 80 percent of sequenced infections. With more than 170 sites involved, 55 percent of participants were from Latin America, 23 percent from Europe, and 15 percent from Africa. The adverse effects of the medication were comparable to the placebo arm of the trial. Fewer people discontinued their treatment in the Molnupiravir arm than in the placebo group. In the early stages of the pandemic, in the effort to find anything that could work to treat infected patients, many older drugs sitting on laboratory shelves and benches were resurrected and tested for their response against SARS-CoV-2. In this regard, Molnupiravir, a broad-based antiviral drug, was as likely a candidate as any. It proved to provide impressive results against the coronavirus in human lung cell cultures. Molnupiravir (EIDD-2081) has, like many chemical compounds, a convoluted history. Several years before the pandemic, Emory University was awarded a $10 million contract through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to develop new drugs to treat infections caused by emerging and fabricated viral threatsin other words, it originates as a byproduct of the Pentagons germ warfare program. According to an article published in Chemical & Engineering News on May 5, 2020, Dr. George Painter, director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development, and his team screened molecules that were analogues to those used in antiviral drugs, seeking a compound that had a high barrier to resistance, which means that despite a viruss ability to mutate, the drug would remain effective. Also, the molecule had to penetrate the blood-brain barrier because these viral threats attacked the brain. Their efforts zeroed in on an obscure molecule called N4-Hydroxyctidine (NHC), which they dubbed EIDD-1931, which had broad and intriguing antiviral properties that seemed to fulfill each of their requirements. It had first been looked at in the 1970s by Russian and Polish scientists working on treatment against smallpox infection. Subsequently, many laboratories had used the compound in their experiments on elucidating viral replication mechanisms. Once the molecule is incorporated into the RNA by the viruss replicating enzyme, NHC is recognized as either Cytidine or Uracil (two of four nucleotides in the building blocks of RNA). In other words, NHC can exist, through a chemical reaction called tautomerization, as two forms rapidly flipping back and forth from one to the other. When the virus attempts to replicate again, multiple errors are incorporated as a result of the change in forms in NHC during RNA strand replication, leading to a lethal mutation that leaves the virus unable to infect or reproduce. The researchers also found the drug had tremendous activity against coronaviruses, including SARS and MERS in mice and dog animal models. However, testing in monkeys revealed it was getting trapped in the cells that line their guts and unable to fight the infection, making its potential use in humans problematic. This then led to the current prodrug formulation, EIDD-2081, that allows the drug to reach the bloodstream before metabolizing to its active form. It was in early 2020, when the team from Emory University was considering a new drug application with the FDA for EIDD-2081 as a treatment for influenza, that the outbreak in Wuhan, China, began making the front pages of every news channel across the globe. In early March 2020, EIDD-2081was tested in human cell cultures infected with SARS-CoV-2 and proved exceptionally adept at stopping viral replication. It was also effective at killing the viruses that became resistant to Remdesivir. Virologist Juliet Morrison of the University of California, Riverside, commented at the time that the cell culture studies had been very promising. Still, if these drugs are to work in people, they would need to be administered early in the course of an infection. The team moved quickly to get EIDD-2081 into clinical studies. On March 19, 2020, Miami-based Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, founded in 2016 as a company focused on developing therapies against emerging infectious diseases, licensed EIDD-2081 from Emory for an undisclosed amount, according to the Washington Post. The Post wrote on June 25, 2020, But what the tiny Miami company did have was a growing team with experience in pharmaceutical development and research and a willingness from its wealthy ownerschief executive Wendy Holman and her husband, hedge fund manager Wayne Holmanto place a bet on the treatment in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. That wager paid off with extraordinary speed in May when, just two months after acquiring the antiviral therapy called EIDD-2081 from Emory, Ridgeback sold exclusive worldwide rights to drug giant Merck. As Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a physician at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and specialist in drug development, noted at the time, I would think that universities would not normally transfer products to basically a house flipper. I wouldnt think they would have to engage with speculators, like it appears that Ridgeback Biotherapeutic is. As significant as the positive data released on Mercks COVID pill is, it begs the question why it has taken so long to initiate and conduct these trials? Clearly there had been little hope placed in pharmaceuticals for the treatment of COVID. Additionally, the vaccines were at the front and center of the response to the pandemic. It is certain more information will be forthcoming in the weeks and months ahead, but it would be safe to assume that financial deliberations were behind these maneuverings. In this competition, much is currently in advanced development. Pfizer has recently commenced a large phase 2/3 trial testing their investigational oral antiviral agent, a novel protease inhibitor (PF-07321332). Meanwhile, Roche reported in mid-August that they were making amendments to their phase two trial with their experimental drug AT-527, which has been shown to reduce viral replication in hospitalized patients. However, caution needs to be raised that the antiviral pill and the next generation of therapeutics are not a panacea and do not obviate the need for a global eradication strategy. The ruling elites will now further mobilize their efforts to push to make the virus endemic. Meanwhile, all federal and state public health measures are being abandoned and privatized. The COVID pandemic has provided the impetus for the complete abrogation of all responsibility by the government for the safety and well-being of its population. The former Facebook employee whose leaks triggered some of the most intense scrutiny in the company's history revealed her identity Sunday night. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager with stints at several other big tech companies, went public with an appearance on "60 Minutes." Haugen is set to testify in front of a US Senate subcommittee on Tuesday. Here's what we know about her so far. Background Haugen grew up attending the Iowa caucuses with her parents, according to her personal website. That experience instilled "a strong sense of pride in democracy and responsibility for civic participation," the website added. After studying electrical and computer engineering, followed by an MBA, Haugen worked at several tech firms starting in 2006, including Google, Pinterest and Yelp. She specializes in "algorithmic product management," and has worked on several ranking algorithms similar to the one Facebook uses to organize its main newsfeed, according to her prepared testimony obtained by CNN on Monday. She is scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Senate subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. "Working at four major tech companies that operate different types of social networks, I have been able to compare and contrast how each company approaches and deals with different challenges," she wrote in her prepared testimony. Disillusioned at Facebook Haugen, 37, joined Facebook in 2019 to work on civic integrity, including "issues related to democracy and misinformation," according to her website. Those issues have been front and center for critics of Facebook and other social media companies, particularly around the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 US Presidential Election. Haugen took the job at Facebook to work on addressing misinformation, she said in her "60 Minutes" interview. But she said her feelings about the company started to change when it decided to dissolve its civic integrity team shortly after the election. She suggested that this decision, in part, allowed the platform to be used to help organize the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. Facebook says the civic integrity team's work was distributed to other units when it was dissolved, and the company's executives have pushed back against accusations it was responsible for the Capitol Hill riot. Haugen's revelations are also important because they come as lawmakers, regulators and activists around the world have repeatedly slammed the company for not doing enough to protect its hundreds of millions of users. "I joined Facebook ... because someone close to me was radicalized online," she said in her comments to the Senate subcommittee. "I felt compelled to take an active role in creating a better, less toxic Facebook." But over the better part of two years, she said she began to feel that Facebook wasn't as committed to ensuring its products furthered the public good. "The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook, and Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money," she told "60 Minutes." In her statement to the Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, Haugen slammed Facebook's creation of a "system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization" around the world. "Facebook became a $1 trillion company by paying for its profits with our safety, including the safety of our children," she wrote. "And that is unacceptable." What she did About a month ago, Haugen filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the company is hiding research about its shortcomings from investors and the public. Haugen also shared the documents with the Wall Street Journal, which published a multi-part investigation showing that Facebook was aware of problems with its apps, including the negative effects of misinformation and the harm caused, especially to young girls, by Instagram. "Every day our teams have to balance protecting the ability of billions of people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place," Facebook spokesperson Lena Pietsch said in a statement to CNN Business following Sunday's "60 Minutes" interview. "We continue to make significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content. To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true." Haugen resigned from Facebook in April this year and left the company in May after handing off some projects, according to a profile in the Journal, but not before collecting the documents that would form the basis for the publication's investigation. "If people just hate Facebook more because of what I've done, then I've failed," she told the Journal. "I believe in truth and reconciliation we need to admit reality. The first step of that is documentation." What happens next On Tuesday, Haugen will testify in front of the Senate subcommittee chaired by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. The subcomittee last week questioned Facebook's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, about the impact its apps have on younger users. Davis sought to paint the company's services, particularly Instagram, as more helpful than harmful to teenagers. "Now that doesn't mean that the ones that aren't [finding it helpful] aren't important to us. In fact, that's why we do this research," she said. Those lawmakers will now hear from Haugen firsthand and have the opportunity to question her about what she experienced inside Facebook. The company has strongly pushed back against its former employee's claims, including a more than 700-word statement late Sunday laying out what it called "missing facts" from the "60 Minutes" segment and saying the interview "used select company materials to tell a misleading story about the research we do to improve our products." But her revelations appear likely to cause more than just a ripple for Facebook. The company has faced scrutiny from regulators and governments around the world for years, and the pressure on it continues to mount with each week. Even as it dealt with the continued fallout from Haugen's revelations as well as a widespread outage of its main services for several hours on Monday, Facebook sought to dismiss an antitrust complaint by the Federal Trade Commission accusing it of being a monopoly. Haugen says the only way to hold Facebook accountable is to reveal its inner workings in the way she did. "I came forward because I recognized a frightening truth: almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook," she wrote to the Senate committee on Monday. "As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good." - CNN Business' Clare Duffy and Donie O'Sullivan contributed to this report. The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - A group of local students had the opportunity to meet with state leaders and government officials. It was all to help these students become strong leaders within their schools. The Team Vigo Leadership Group traveled to the state capitol in Indianapolis to learn from several leaders. The leaders included State Senator Jon Ford, State Representative Tonya Pfaff, and Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch. Students told us the trip was very impactful and meaningful. "I feel like I really learned the characteristics I need to carry on and be a leader and use it in my community and school," Terre Haute North Junior Lilly Jensen said. Now, these students will help lead the charge among their classmates for completing 50,000 service hours in the community. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- Homelessness continues to be an issue across the country. Although cities suffer greatly with homelessness, rural areas are often overlooked when they are struggling with the same issues. One local rural area facing this issue is Greene County. There are at least 51 people including 27 children who are suffering from homelessness in Greene County. A clinical associate professor at Indiana Univerisity, Laura Littlepage, explains the issue of homelessness in Greene County in a recent report. Littlepage explains the disparities between homeless populations in urban and rural environments. Instead of occupying the streets, people in rural areas sleep in vehicles or on campgrounds. This makes it hard for them to be seen and counted for. Littlepage says recognition of homelessness in rural areas is an important step in tackling the issue. There are currently no homeless shelters in Greene County. This leaves people with no choice but to sleep in their cars or in an unlivable house. "They might be housed, but the house has holes in it or broken windows, or it doesn't have any utilities," says Littlepage. Littlepage emphasizes the importance of implementing preventive measures to reduce homelessness. One solution is for people to help repair houses so people can stay and not be forced to leave due to the conditions. "If they have a hole in their roof, patch their roof. If they have a hole in their window, replace their windows. If they have utility problems, help them pay their utility bills. That's much more cost-effective and better for other people to keep them in their housing situations" says Littlepage. Littlepage also recommends Greene County create a task force of community members to address homelessness and come up with solutions. Another suggestion is to create a preventative volunteer program to repair homes and make them liveable For a list of helpful resources for people suffering from homelessness click here. COLES COUNTY, Ill. (WTHI) - Police think speed was a factor after a Paris, Illinois man was killed in a motorcycle crash. It happened on Madison Avenue in Charleston. The Coles County Sheriff's Office says 43-year-old Paul Rosser was driving at a high rate of speed on his motorcycle when he lost control of it on a curve. Rosser hit two parking blocks, went back onto the road, and then hit a parked vehicle. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died. Police say the crash remains under investigation. VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County Health Department released its latest COVID-19 graphs, and it shows cases in the county are starting to trend down. According to the health department's latest information, Vigo County has seen two weeks in a row of positive case numbers going lower. Get your COVID-19 vaccine In Indiana, click here In Illinois, click here By the numbers During the late spike attributed to the Delta variant of the virus, Vigo County saw its highest positive numbers the week of September 12 to September 18, with 638 new cases. In the two weeks since then, cases have dropped. From September 19 to September 25, the county reported 498 positive cases. From September 26 to October 2, 329 cases were reported. Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, Vigo County has reported 16,859 total positive COVID-19 cases, with 264,259 people tested. By Age New positive cases of COVID-19 in Vigo County continue to impact younger people. The largest age group with new positive cases are 10 to 19-year-olds. The next highest age group is 20-29-year-olds, accounting for 69 cases. COVID-19 deaths Since the Delta surge started, deaths in Vigo County have remained consistent, with a spike for one of the weeks. On the week of August 29 to September 4, five people in Vigo County died from COVID-19. From September 5 to September 11, one person died from the virus. Starting September 12 through September 18, two people died. Two more people also died from COVID-19 from September 19 to September 25. Since the start of COVID-19, 295 residents of Vigo County have died with the virus. Vaccination rates in Vigo County Vigo County recently surpassed a 50 percent vaccination rate amongst residents. According to the Indiana Department of Health, Vigo County has 92,487 residents over 12-years-old. Of those people, 50.3 percent, or 46,500 people are fully vaccinated. Across the entire state of Indiana, 56 percent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated. GRENADA, Miss. (WTVA) - Grenada police continue to seek answers about two shootings. Someone shot a woman in the abdomen on Tuesday, Sept. 28. It happened on Gerard Street. As of Monday, Oct. 4, there have been no arrests, Police Chief George Douglas said. The woman is expected to recover. The second incident happened on Saturday, Oct. 2. in the 400 block of Margin Street. Grenada Chief of Detectives Kenith Sanders said two children played with a gun and the weapon accidentally fired. One of the children was shot in the leg. TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - A group of parents in Lee County are trying to keep kratom out of reach of children. Kratom is a recreational drug that anyone can find at convenience stores or smoke shops. Open this link to learn more about kratom. Chris Hussey spoke on behalf of the group during Monday morning's Lee County Board of Supervisors meeting. Hussey said his 15-year-old son wasn't the same person after he started taking kratom. A few months ago, his son disappeared in the middle of the night. Hussey and his wife found him running on the side of the road. Hussey said he had to stop using kratom for about a week. Sheriff Jim Johnson said he asked supervisors to ban the drug over a year ago, but they decided not to. According to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, eight counties in north Mississippi have banned the drug. Johnson said four people have died from kratom overdoses so far. Supervisors did not vote on banning kratom on Monday. They will discuss the issue and hold a public hearing by November. HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) Alabama wildlife officials are on the lookout for reports of sick deer after reports of an increase in sickness in neighboring Mississippi. Employees of the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries are monitoring a potential hemorrhagic disease outbreak among deer in northern Alabama. Officials say that in recent weeks theyve heard reports of people finding emaciated deer and seeing evidence of it on game cameras. Hemorrhagic disease is caused by a virus and transmitted by tiny biting insects, WHNT-TV reported. The virus causes internal hemorrhaging and hurts the deers ability to eat and digest food, Alabama Deer Program Coordinator Chris cook said. Wildlife officials are more concerned about Chronic Wasting Disease in deer, which does impact humans if the harvested meat is eaten, Cook said. Related - Sick deer reports in Mississippi on rise Disney Concerts has canceled the fall dates for its Disney Princess The Concert tour due to concerns over Covid, with plans to reschedule the shows next year. The national concert tour had been set to launch in Macon, Georgia, on Nov. 1, but all performances originally planned through Dec. 12 will be rescheduled for 2022, Disney Concerts announced in a tweet. The fall tour dates included stops in Red Bank, NJ; Brookville, NY; Pensacola, FL; Evans, GA; Louisville, KY; and Oshkosh, WI. More from Deadline The news follows the cancellation last week of performances of Disneys Aladdin on Broadway through Oct. 10 after breakthrough Covid cases were detected within the production company. The popular musical is scheduled to resume performances at The New Amsterdam Theatre on Tuesday, October 12. In a statement tweeted today by Disney Concerts, the company said the dates are being rescheduled out of the best interests for the health and safety of our ticket buyers and their families. The statement did not specifically cite Covid or known cases of the illness, but a spokesperson for the tour confirmed to Deadline that Covid concerns prompted the announcement. Disneys Princess tour made headlines in August when the production confirmed that star Laura Osnes, Broadways former Cinderella, had been replaced by Christy Altomare, star of Broadways Anastasia, due to Osnes refusal to get a Covid vaccination. (Osnes disputed initial reports that she had been fired, saying she chose to leave rather than abide by the productions vaccine requirement.) The 85-city U.S. tour was announced in May, with the first leg of the tour then set to star Osnes alongside Susan Egan (Belle from Broadways Beauty and the Beast), Courtney Reed (Jasmine in Broadways Aladdin), and Aisha Jackson (Anna in Broadways Frozen). Altomare had been scheduled to join the tour next year before being asked to take over for Osnes on the fall dates. Story continues Princess tour dates originally set for Feb. 1 through April 16, 2022, remain as planned. An important announcement regarding fall dates for the #DisneyPrincessConcert. pic.twitter.com/PYZ4XosUa4 Disney Concerts (@Disneyconcerts) October 5, 2021 Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The prodigal porn star son has returned whether his hometown can stand him or not. The official trailer for the festival breakout Red Rocket is here, and in addition to a great NSYNC needle drop, it introduces us to Simon Rex's Mikey, a washed-up porn star who retreats back to his small Texas roots begging, broke, and beaten down. The town and in particular his estranged wife doesn't seem to want him back, though. The audacious new film hails from writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine), and is being touted as "a darkly funny and humane portrait of a uniquely American hustler and a hometown that barely tolerates him." Rex himself starred in some solo adult film releases before becoming an MTV VJ and actor (best known for the Scary Movie franchise). Red Rocket A24 Simon Rex in 'Red Rocket' Red Rocket debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in July, where it earned rave reviews, and it has garnered awards buzz ever since. Of particular note is Rex's turn in the lead role, which is being hailed as a "magnetic, live-wire performance." The film was written by David Lowery and produced by Baker, Samantha Quan, Alex Saks, Alex Coco, and Shih-Ching Tsou. In addition to Rex, it also features a cast of unknowns including newcomer Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone, Brittney Rodriguez, and Judy Hill. Red Rocket hits theaters Dec. 3. Watch the new trailer above. Related content: Stephen Currys Unanimous Media is coming on board a harrowing new documentary from director Brian Tetsuro Ivie, titled Cancer Alley. Grappling with themes of racial and environmental justice, the film tells the story of a small working-class community living in the shadow of an estimated 150 petrochemical facilities in Southern Louisiana. The area, known to locals as cancer alley, contains seven of the 10 most carcinogen-ridden census tracts in America and has been called a modern-day plantation by activists. The nickname cancer alley has also been disputed by some corporate leaders as a misnomer, citing below-average cancer rates in many districts. The feature will explore this controversy in depth. More from Variety I heard about the story through a friend and then literally jumped on a plane because I had to see it for myself, director Ivie said. I had never seen so much death and so much life together in the same place. Curry, Erick Peyton and Jenelle Lindsay will executive produce for Unanimous Media, alongside Gregory Daniel King. The film is being produced by Ivie, as well as Jens Jacob and Jason Pamer of Sypher Studios. Jacob added that when he heard about what Sharon Lavigne and the people of St. James parish were up against, it broke my heart. Its the dark underbelly of capitalism, where dollars matter more than people. Ivie is best known for directing Emanuel, which he produced with Oscar winner Viola Davis, Curry and Mariska Hargitay. That took an inside look at the tragic events at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., where nine innocent churchgoers were killed. While Unanimous and Sypher Studios develop Cancer Alley, they will release a short film under the same name for free at Currys YouTube Channel and Nowness. Story continues Last month, Curry and Unanimous signed a massive overall deal with Comcast NBCUniversal. The deal marked the media giants first-ever global talent partnership and encompasses a dizzying amount of first-look development opportunities across the company, including: Universal Studio Group for scripted and unscripted TV projects; DreamWorks Animation for kids and family content; creative and on-camera contributions at NBC Sports; opportunities at NBC News Studios, MSNBC and CNBC; Universal Parks and Resorts; and Comcasts Xfinity brand. Best of Variety Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Hurricane Ida made landfall as a powerful and destructive category 4 storm on August 29. More than a month later, much of Louisiana is still suffering. The damage to homes and businesses alike was severe and widespread. There are still so many of our Louisiana neighbors without power or basic necessities. They will need our help for quite some time to come. And fortunately, there are plenty of helpers on the ground already. Often when tragedy strikes, we also see the very best examples of neighbors helping neighbors. Samuel Mamou Convoy of Hope New Wine Christian Fellowship One such example is special education teacher, Samuel Mamou. The father of five's home in LaPlace, Louisiana, was damaged by the storm but that didn't stop him from stepping up to lend a hand. He, along with his church community at New Wine Christian Fellowship Church, began distributing water, cleaning supplies, and food to their neighbors. Mamou led the way, as his father-in-law and the founder of New Wine Christian Fellowship Church, Neil Bernard told Good Morning America. "Sam is the one getting it all out, making sure that families get water, get food, get cleaning supplies and everything they need to get back on their feet." Mamou's wife, Kristen, added, "It's just something that he does because he loves to give back." Word got around about Mamou's good deeds and on Thursday morning, GMA showed up to celebrate him in grand style. Anchors Robin Roberts, Rob Marciano, and TJ Holmes as well as special guest, former New Orleans Saints, Benjamin Watson were on hand to shower Mamou with praise and surprise after surprise, after surprise! First, two truckloads of cleaning supplies from Clorox, as well as a $20,000 check for New Wine Christian Fellowship Church's efforts to get the people of LaPlace back on their feet. Then, Sheex gave another check for $10,000 to the Mamou family to help them rebuild their home, as well as new linens and a new mattress. And then, as Robin Roberts says, "but wait there's more." Former Saint, Benjamin Watson then presented Mamou with tickets for the entire family to attend a game. And to top off the day of honors, Grammy-winning Gospel singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard then serenaded the family with a beautiful performance of "Gotta Believe." Watch the whole segment below: In response to all of the recognition, Mamou humbly replied, "this moment here just shows me once again that if you take care of God's business, he'll handle us as well I'm just humbled and grateful." Jill Biden made a case for wearing this summer shoe trend in fall as she arrived back at the White House this week. Returning to Washington D.C. after a weekend spent in Delaware with President Joe Biden, Dr. Biden herself got dressed up for the day of travel in a statement look. The outfit included a midi-length dress complete with a unique print and pleated skirt, all layered under a navy zip-up moto jacket. More from Footwear News President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden return to the White House in Washington, DC on Oct. 4, after spending the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. - Credit: Tasos Katopodis/MEGA Tasos Katopodis/MEGA President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden return to the White House in Washington, DC on Oct. 4, after spending the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. - Credit: Tasos Katopodis/MEGA Tasos Katopodis/MEGA When it came down to footwear, the first lady opted for a warm-weather shoe choice in lifted wedge sandals. The espadrille-style silhouette is popular for its rope-coated sole and canvas uppers with Dr. Bidens pair, in particular, featuring a buzzy ankle-wrap finish. With similar designs spotted on the likes of everyone from Sofia Vergara to Kate Middleton, the easygoing heel is a perfect transitional shoe between seasons. President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden return to the White House in Washington, DC on Oct. 4, after spending the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware. - Credit: Tasos Katopodis/MEGA Tasos Katopodis/MEGA A closer view of Jill Bidens heels. - Credit: Tasos Katopodis/MEGA Tasos Katopodis/MEGA When it comes to footwear, Jill Biden has a varied taste in shoes. Her go-to brands include Dior, Jimmy Choo, Valentino and Stuart Weitzman in addition to Prada. She is also known for her love of running and in the past has preferred workout-ready footwear from Swiss running brand On. When it comes to apparel, the first ladys official style taps a mix of well-known labels like Brandon Maxwell and Oscar de la Renta as well as supports smaller American brands like Jonathan Cohen and Markarian to name a few. Include espadrille heels in your footwear rotation with these pairs inspired by Jill Biden. Credit: Courtesy of Matches Courtesy of Matches Buy Now: Castaner Carina Wedge, $103. Credit: Courtesy of Nordstrom Courtesy of Nordstrom Buy Now: Soldos Lace-Up Sandal, $95. Credit: Courtesy of DSW Courtesy of DSW Buy Now: Marc Fisher Sakti Wedges, $60 (was $70). Story continues Click through the gallery for more of Jill Bidens shoe style over the years. Launch Gallery: Jill Biden's Style Through the Years Best of Footwear News Sign up for FN's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. A US district court judge sentenced a Texas man, who was part of the 6 January Capitol riots, to 45 days in prison stating that she could not let the protester get away with just a slap on the wrist. The punishment for Matthew Mazzocco was over and above the prosecutors suggestion of three-month home arrest. This is the first Capitol riots case where the judge ordered a jail term even though prosecutors did not seek it. Because the country is watching to see what the consequences are for something that has not ever happened in this country before, for actions and crimes that undermine the rule of law and our democracy, judge Tanya Chutkan said while ordering the prison term, reported The Washington Post. The judge also criticised the comparisons between the Capitol riots and anti-racism Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. Comparing the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights to that of the Capitol riots mob that was trying to overthrow the government is false equivalence, the judge said. It ignored the very real danger that the 6 January riots pose to the foundation of our democracy, Ms Chutkan added. Her remarks came days after another judge in Washington asked why federal prosecutors had not brought more cases against those who had participated in protests condemning the killing of George Floyd by a police officer last year. The US Justice Department would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in this city, judge Trevor McFadden had said last week. On Monday, Judge Chutkan acknowledged that some Floyd protests had turned violent but flatly disagreed with the suggestion that the Capital riots protesters were being treated unfairly. In fact, she said that she believed the pro-Trump mob that attacked the prestigious administrative building in Washington was being treated leniently. Most protestors like Mazzocco were allowed to return home and charged with misdemeanours despite participating in a premeditated decision to come to the district to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power, Judge Chutkan added. Story continues About 90 Capitol riots protesters have pleaded guilty. Mazzocco is the tenth to be sentenced for misdemeanour and the fourth sentenced to prison. The FBI has arrested more than 600 people in connection with the riot. On 6 January, Mazzocco spent 12 minutes inside the Capitol building and shared a selfie captioned the capital is ours on Facebook. Describing his act to enter the building as one of the most foolish and impulsive decisions of his life, Mazzocco said he was truly sorry for his action and said that it had taken a toll on him and led led to countless death threats. In a letter to the judge, Mazzocco said: Since that day, Ive lived with the feeling of shame, sorrow and remorse, not because Im going through legal troubles, but because Im seeing the country I love so dearly divided like never before. Even though he did not steal, destroy anything or hurt anyone on 6 January, his participation warrants time behind bars, the judge said. She added that the rioters who committed violence that day did so because they had the safety of numbers thanks to those like Mazzocco. The judge also accused the Texan of participating in the protest to support former US President Donald Trump who he viewed had the election taken from him, adding that he did not go there out of love or support for the country. On 6 January, a pro-Trump mob laid siege to the Capitol to stop the certification of president Joe Bidens election victory. The attack followed an incendiary speech by Mr Trump, as part of his stop the steal campaign, in which he repeated his false claim that the 2020 election had been rigged. Judge McFaddens views are shared by several Capitol Hill protesters and their Republican allies. They believe that the top US federal law body is treating rioters harshly for their political views but letting off those involved in BLM protests. Read More Son of ousted Philippine dictator to seek presidency Senior cardinal at Vatican says Joe Biden should not be denied communion Journalists axed under Trump admin sue US broadcasting arm for breach of contract Wrongly anchored ship eyed as cause of massive California oil spill Blinken, in Paris, seeking to heal AUKUS rift with France Mother blames selfish parents sending sick kids to school as daughter dies of Covid This undated photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Ernest Johnson (The Missouri Department of Corrections) Missouri governor Mike Parson has refused to stop the execution of an intellectually disabled man even as frantic mercy pleas poured in from the Pope, two federal lawmakers and thousands of petitioners. On death row, 61-year-old Ernest Lee Johnson is slated to be executed by lethal injection at 6 pm on Tuesday in Bonne Terres state prison in Missouri city. Mr Johnson was convicted of killing three people on 12 February 1994 at a convenience store during the closing hours. Announcing the execution order of Mr Johnson, Republican governor Parson said: The state is prepared to deliver justice and carry out the lawful sentence Mr Johnson received in accordance with the Missouri Supreme Courts order. Mr Johnsons lawyer Jeremy Weis, disappointed by the courts decision, said that the defendant side made a very compelling case as it was the right moral decision to halt the execution. I guess he (Mr Parson) disagreed, Mr Weis said. Multiple Intelligent Quotient (IQ) tests and other exams have proved that Mr Johnson has the intellectual capacity of a child, Mr Weis argued to prevent the execution bid. Mr Johnson was also born with defects due to foetal alcohol syndrome a condition that directly impacts a child in womb due to mothers increased exposure to alcohol during pregnancy. In 2008, Mr Johnson further suffered trauma after he lost 20 per cent of his brain tissue due to removal of a benign tumour, his lawyer said. All these combined to prove that Mr Johnsons execution despite intellectual disability would violate the US Constitutions Eighth Amendment which bans execution of intellectually disabled people. The execution order comes a week after Pope Franciss representative sought mercy for Mr Johnson and to value human life. The Pope wishes to place before you the simple fact of Mr Johnsons humanity and the sacredness of all human life, he requested. Staunchly opposed to capital punishment, Pope Francis had changed the church teaching to state that capital punishment is an attack on human dignity and can never be sanctioned. This was echoed by several catholic leaders who have denounced death penalty orders in many states. Story continues The case has faced flak for its racial bias towards Mr Johnson who is Black. This has been voiced by two Congress members and racial justice activists from Missouri calling on the governor to show mercy to the intellectually disabled Mr Johnson. Democratic US representatives Cori Bush of St Louis and Emmanuel Cleaver from Kansas City are hoping that the governor will note that executing Mr Johnson would be a crime against humanity. Black and Latino men are disproportionally more likely to face the death penalty but the mental condition of the man on trial makes it even worse, said Ms Bush. Mr Johnsons case has travelled for nearly 28 years in the courts and seen at least three death sentences in trials - in 2003 and 2006. The courts have noted Mr Johnsons admission to the crime of killing three store employees, including 46-year-old manager Mary Bratcher and employees Mabel Cruggs (57) and Fred Jones (58) by shooting and attacking the three with a claw hammer. The manager was also stabbed with a screwdriver by Mr Johnson. The court had previously refused to stop the execution in August and declined again to take the case up on Friday. Mr Weis, Johnsons lawyer, had moved the US Supreme Court seeking intervention in the case and halt the death penalty. "This is not a close case - Mr Johnson is intellectually disabled," he told the court. If carried out, Mr Johnson will be the seventh person in the US in 2021 to be executed. (With additional reporting from agencies) Read More Missouri preparing for execution of Ernest Johnson Prosecutors seek death penalty against doomsday cultist charged with killing his wifes two children The defacing of NYCs George Floyd statue shows disregard for Black bodies is as American as burgers and beer Facebook's day-long outage is by far its longest and most extreme in years. At around 9 a.m. PDT on the U.S. West Coast -- where the social giant is headquartered -- Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger seemed to vanish from the internet. The outage continued through market close, with the company's stock dropping around 5% below its opening price on Monday. By midafternoon, services were beginning to resume after Facebook reportedly dispatched a team to its Santa Clara data center to "manually reset" the company's servers. But what makes the outage unique is just how extremely offline Facebook was. In the morning, Facebook sent a brief tweet to apologize that "some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products." Then, reports emerged that the outage was affecting not just its users, but the company itself. Employees were reportedly unable to enter their office buildings, and staff called it a "snow day" -- they couldn't get any work done because the outage also affected internal collaboration apps. Facebook hasn't commented on the cause of the outage, though security experts said evidence pointed to a problem with the company's network that cut off Facebook from the wider internet and also itself. The first signs of trouble were around 8:50 a.m. PDT in California, according to John Graham-Cumming, CTO at networking giant Cloudflare, who said Facebook "disappeared from the internet in a flurry of BGP updates" over a two-minute window, referring to BGP, or Border Gateway Protocol, the system that networks use to figure out the fastest way to send data over the internet to another network. The updates were specifically BGP route withdrawals. Essentially, Facebook had sent a message to the internet that it was closed for business, like closing the drawbridge of its castle. Without any routes into the network, Facebook was basically isolated from the rest of the internet, and because of the way Facebook's network is structured, the route withdrawals also took out WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and everything inside its digital walls. Story continues A few minutes after the BGP routes were withdrawn, users began to notice issues. Internet traffic that should have gone to Facebook essentially got lost on the internet and went nowhere, Rob Graham, founder of Errata Security, said in a tweet thread. Users began to notice that their Facebook apps had stopped working and the websites weren't loading and reported experiencing issues with DNS, or the domain name system, which is another critical part of how the internet works. DNS converts human-readable web addresses into machine-readable IP addresses to find where a web page is located on the internet. Without a way into Facebook's servers, apps and browsers would keep kicking back what looked like DNS errors. It's not known exactly why the BGP routes were withdrawn. BGP, which has been around since the advent of the internet, can be manipulated and maliciously exploited in ways that can lead to massive outages. What's more likely is that a Facebook configuration update went terribly wrong and its failure cascaded throughout the internet. A now-deleted Reddit thread from a Facebook engineer described a BGP configuration error long before it was widely known. But while the fix might be simple, the recovery may stretch from the next few hours into the following days because of how the internet works. Internet providers usually update their DNS records every few hours, but they can take several days to fully propagate. "To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry," Facebook tweeted around 3:30 p.m. local time. "Weve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us." Members of the Taliban at the former CIA Eagle Base in Kabul on Sept. 6, 2021. (Victor J. Blue/The New York Times) WASHINGTON Top American counterintelligence officials warned every CIA station and base around the world last week about troubling numbers of informants recruited from other countries to spy for the United States being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter said. The message, in an unusual top-secret cable, said that the CIAs counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables. The cable highlighted the struggle the spy agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world in difficult operating environments. In recent years, adversarial intelligence services in countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan have been hunting down the CIAs sources and in some cases turning them into double agents. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Acknowledging that recruiting spies is a high-risk business, the cable raised issues that have plagued the agency in recent years, including poor tradecraft, being too trusting of sources, underestimating foreign intelligence agencies and moving too quickly to recruit informants while not paying enough attention to potential counterintelligence risks a problem the cable called placing mission over security. The large number of compromised informants in recent years also demonstrated the growing prowess of other countries in employing innovations like biometric scans, facial recognition, artificial intelligence and hacking tools to track the movements of CIA officers in order to discover their sources. While the CIA has many ways to collect intelligence for its analysts to craft into briefings for policymakers, networks of trusted human informants around the world remain the centerpiece of its efforts, the kind of intelligence that the agency is supposed to be the best in the world at collecting and analyzing. Story continues Recruiting new informants, former officials said, is how the CIAs case officers its front-line spies earn promotions. Case officers are not typically promoted for running good counterintelligence operations, such as figuring out if an informant is really working for another country. The agency has devoted much of its attention for the last two decades to terrorist threats and the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but improving intelligence collection on adversarial powers both great and small is once again a centerpiece of the CIAs agenda, particularly as policymakers demand more insight into China and Russia. The loss of informants, former officials said, is not a new problem. But the cable demonstrated the issue is more urgent than is publicly understood. The warning, according to those who have read it, was primarily aimed at front-line agency officers, the people involved most directly in the recruiting and vetting of sources. The cable reminded CIA case officers to focus not just on recruiting sources but also on security issues including vetting informants and evading adversarial intelligence services. Among the reasons for the cable, according to people familiar with the document, was to prod CIA case officers to think about steps they can take on their own do a better job managing informants. Former officials said that there has to be more focus on security and counterintelligence, among both senior leaders and front-line personnel, especially when it comes to recruiting informants, which CIA officers call agents. No one at the end of the day is being held responsible when things go south with an agent, said Douglas London, a former agency operative. Sometimes there are things beyond our control, but there are also occasions of sloppiness and neglect, and people in senior positions are never held responsible. London said he was unaware of the cable. But his new book, The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence, argues that the CIAs shift toward covert action and paramilitary operations undermined traditional espionage that relies on securely recruiting and handling agents. Worldwide messages to CIA stations and bases that note troubling trends or problems, or even warnings about counterintelligence problems, are not unheard-of, according to former officials. Still, the memo outlining a specific number of informants arrested or killed by adversarial powers is an unusual level of detail, one that signals the importance of the current problems. Former officials said that counterintelligence officials typically like to keep such details secret even from the broad CIA workforce. Asked about the memo, a CIA spokesperson declined to comment. Sheetal T. Patel, who last year became the CIAs assistant director for counterintelligence and leads that mission center, has not been reluctant to send out broad warnings to the CIA community of current and former officers. In January, Patel sent a letter to retired CIA officers warning against working for foreign governments who are trying to build up spying capabilities by hiring retired intelligence officials. (The letter, promptly leaked, also included warnings about talking to journalists.) Former officials say the broadsides are a way of pushing CIA officers to become more serious about counterintelligence. The memo sent last week suggested that the agency underestimated its adversaries the belief that its officers and tradecraft were better than other intelligence services. But the results of the study showed that countries being targeted by the U.S. are also skilled at hunting down informants. Some former officials believe that the agencys skills at thwarting adversarial intelligence services have grown rusty after decades of focusing on terrorism threats and relying on risky covert communications. Developing, training and directing informants spying on foreign governments differs in some ways from developing sources inside terrorist networks. While the memo identified specific numbers of informants that were arrested or killed, it said the number turned against the United States was not fully known. Sometimes, informants who are discovered by adversarial intelligence services are not arrested but instead are turned into double agents who feed disinformation to the CIA, which can have devastating effects on intelligence collection and analysis. Pakistanis have been particularly effective in this sphere, former officials said. The collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan means that learning more about Pakistans ties to the Taliban government and extremist organizations in the region is going to become ever more important. As a result, the pressure is once again on the CIA to build and maintain networks of informants in Pakistan, a country with a record of discovering and breaking those networks. Similarly, the focus by successive administrations on great power competition and the challenges of China and Russia has meant that building up spy networks and protecting those sources are more important than ever. In those countries, technology has also become a problem, former officials said. Artificial intelligence, biometric scans, facial recognition and other technology has made it far easier for governments to track American intelligence officers operating in their country. That has made meeting and communicating with sources far more difficult. A breach of the classified communications system, or covcom, used by the CIA helped to expose the agencys networks in China and in Iran, according to former officials. In both cases informants were executed. Others had to be extracted and resettled by the agency. In Iran and China, some intelligence officials believe that Americans provided information to the adversarial agencies that could have helped expose informants. Monica Elfriede Witt, a former Air Force sergeant who defected to Iran, was indicted on a charge of providing information to Iran in 2019. The Iranians leveraged her knowledge only after determining she could be trusted. Later that year, Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former CIA officer, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for providing secrets to the Chinese government. Former officials say there is no shortage of examples of where the agency has been so focused on the mission that security measures were not given proper consideration. And in some cases a turned agent can have deadly consequences. The 2009 bombing at a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven agency employees was a good example of mission over security, London said. In that suicide attack, a Jordanian doctor the CIA thought it had persuaded to penetrate al-Qaida had in fact been turned against the United States. We were in such a rush to make such a big score, London said. Those were tradecraft mistakes. He added it is important to remind the CIAs workforce of the damage that can happen when tradecraft lapses. Do your job and dont be lazy, he said. Its a willingness to say we are not as perfect as we think we are. Thats a positive thing. 2021 The New York Times Company Priti Patel will announce new powers for courts to prevent people attending protests, in her speech to the Conservative conference. The Home Secretarys announcement comes after a string of attempts by Insulate Britain climate activists to block roads including the M1 and M25. Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab it to promise to increase the electronic tagging of offenders as well as pledge to do more to tackle violence against women and girls. Mr Raab will promise 183m to double the number of offenders in England and Wales on electronic tags by 2025, in a bid to cut reoffending rates. He will also pledge 90m to pay for more hours of community payback by offenders. Ms Patel will also use her Conservative Party conference address to announce a 15 million expansion in testing suspects for drugs on arrest, which could lead them to being given treatment for their addictions. Mr Raab who was demoted to Justice Secretary in Septembers reshuffle will use his speech to say that more than 25,000 criminals will be fitted with ankle tags as part of a 183 million plan to expand the use of electronic monitoring to cut crime. (PA Wire) It will include 10,000 prolific thieves, burglars and robbers being fitted with GPS tags as they come out of prison and around 3,500 high-risk domestic abusers also having their whereabouts monitored in this way. More than 12,000 offenders will be subjected to wearing sobriety tags to watch their alcohol consumption. The funding will see the number of people tagged at any one time rise from around 13,500 this year to around 25,000 by 2025. Mr Raab will also set out a 90 million plan to increase community work carried out by criminals to around eight million hours a year which will look to recruit 500 more unpaid supervisors and focus on cleaning up streets and other open spaces. The Justice Secretary is expected to say: This major increase in high-tech GPS tagging will see us leading the world in using technology to fight crime and keep victims safe. Story continues From tackling alcohol-fuelled violence and burglary to protecting domestic abuse victims, we are developing tags to make our streets and communities safer. The GPS tagging project started in April and was expanded to half of England and Wales last week. The pilot could be rolled out nationwide, if it is found to be successful at cutting crime and helping police catch offenders. Criminals in England who commit drink-fuelled crimes can be required to wear ankle tags that monitor their sweat for alcohol every 30 minutes. They have been ordered for more than 1,500 offenders serving community sentences since they were rolled out a year ago. Mr Raab is also expected to use his conference speech to reiterate that his number one priority is to protect women and girls, as well as to outline his vision for reforming the Human Rights Act. In the wake of the murder of Ms Everard at the hands of police officer Wayne Couzens and the death of Sabina Nessa, he is expected to promise to transform the way the justice system treats violence against women and make the streets safer so that women can walk home at night, without having to look over their shoulder. Meanwhile the Home Secretary will say those targeting women and girls will feel the full force of the law upon them. She is scheduled to say: Such unconscionable crimes and acts of violence against women and girls have no place in our society. And that is why I have redoubled my efforts to ensure women and girls feel safer. She will confirm plans for tougher powers against the likes of Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion. Ms Patel is preparing to announce an increase in the maximum penalties for disrupting a motorway, while also criminalising interference with major roads, railways and the press. The Home Office will also give the police and courts new powers to deal with the small minority of offenders who are intent on travelling around the country with the aim of causing disruption and misery across our communities. Ms Patel will also tell activists there is no reason for an asylum seeker to cross the Channel from France as she renews her vow to control the flow of small boats arriving into the UK. There is an ongoing row with the French over efforts to tackle the crossings, but Ms Patel will say: We make no apology for securing our borders and exploring all possible options to save lives by ending these horrific journeys. On drugs policy, Ms Patel will set out extra funding for police in England and Wales to test suspects on arrest for crimes including narcotics offences, fraud and theft. She will also announce five pilot areas will be given extra powers to test suspects arrested on suspicion of crimes beyond the usual trigger offences. The other main speaker in the conference chamber will be Health Secretary Sajid Javid. The Times reported that he is preparing new powers to seize control of poorly performing hospitals and sack managers who fail to clear NHS backlogs. Read More Raab commits to transforming the way the justice system treats women and girls Tory conference: Watch LIVE as Priti Patel sets out new crime measures Raab to announce plans to expand tagging of offenders Big news out of night five of The Voice season 21 Blind Auditions: Ariana Grande is a fan of From Justin to Kelly. She calls it "iconic." As a human adult woman who owns From Justin to Kelly on DVD and has watched it more times than I would care to share (just like so, so many times the tie skirt, the hovercraft race, TIMELESS, I love it all), this news really made my heart grow three times as big. Kelly Clarkson tried to knock her feature film debut, but we will not allow such blasphemy here. Anyway, there are more auditions to be had and more spots on teams to be filled up. We're getting down to the wire, people. Let's sing. Ryleigh Plank / 20 / Fort Myers, Fla. "Anyone" by Demi Lovato This song choice is certainly a sign of confidence it's not an easy one to tackle. Ryleigh's voice has so much character and emotion to it; she nails the storytelling element here. By the time she hits the chorus with those big power notes, both Kelly and Ariana have pressed their buttons. Ariana tells Ryleigh that her performance "brought [her] to tears," and she could tell she was "singing from a really real place." There were some sharp notes, but nothing they couldn't work on together. John Legend notes similar "execution issues" as to why he didn't turn around. Kelly praises Ryleigh's "rad as hell" look and her "cool vibe," but Ariana's already won her over. Ryleigh Plank takes the 10th spot on Team Ariana. Jershika Maple / 24 / Killeen, Tex. "Can You Stand the Rain" by New Edition Jershika Maple a security guard who sang backup vocals on season 17's Rose Short's tour breaks out the New Edition for her Blind. She has a cool, compelling lower register, but it's not until she belts a bit that John and Kelly turn their chairs. John says that it was clear Jershika was "ready for this moment" and that she delivered a "powerful" and "electric" performance. Kelly is a fan of both Jershika's voice and her personality, calling her "a light" and "an amazing addition to the show." She thinks song choice will be super important to highlight her particular skill set. Jershika decides to join Team Kelly. Story continues Manny Keith / 31/ Miami, Fla. "Break My Heart" by Dua Lipa Manny Keith is a huge Ariana Grande fan who tells us he's performing for his late mother, who encouraged him to get into dancing and singing even though he was an introverted kid. He has a nice pop/R&B voice, but it's only the cowboy who turns his chair. He calls him an "incredible singer" and apologizes that he's now stuck with "the eight-time champion of The Voice" as his coach. Ariana, bummed to hear she missed out on someone who loves her music so much, vows to steal Manny whose tone she likens to J.C. Chasez at a later date. Blake's pretty pumped to have someone who is a real entertainer with lots of stage presence on Team Blake. He really is putting together quite the eclectic bunch. Austin Percario / 25 / Los Angeles, Calif. "This Town" by Niall Horan Wow, wow, The Voice focuses Austin's entire pre-audition package on the fact that he's had a hard time believing in himself as a musician he was once in a boy band that didn't go anywhere and about how landing The Voice would be the vote of confidence he needs to keep going AND THEN HE GETS NO CHAIR TURNS. That is really cold, The Voice. Austin is very obviously and incredibly nervous. Ariana wishes he had selected a more dynamic song because she didn't really hear what he could do until the end. John suggests raising the key in a song like that because his lower register really gave his nerves away. He thinks with a few adjustments, Austin could be great and encourages him to come back. KJ Jennings / 21 / Austin, Tex. "Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae KJ studied jazz performance at the Berklee College of Music, and you can see that jazz background come out in her vocal choices in this performance. John and Blake both turn, but with John's jazz background, this seems like a no-brainer. Blake calls out one of KJ's runs in which she went down because it was so surprising. He could sense some nerves but can tell KJ will be "killer" once she gets past those. John calls her voice "charming and inviting" and loves how she brought her "jazz sensibility to pop music." But mostly, he just enjoyed seeing how much KJ obviously enjoyed being on stage doing what she loves. Yep, KJ joins Team Legend. And based on the fact that John Legend is dragging Blake's "win cam" so well even Blake says John's selfie win cam is hilarious it seems like a great choice. I mean, his musical talents are cool, too. LiBianca / 20 / Minneapolis, Minn. "Good Days" by SZA LiBianca spent most of her life in Cameroon, where she found musical inspiration in afrobeat music and African drumming. She picks a super ambitious and intricate SZA song, and it gets the attention of both Ariana and Blake. John thought the song made it "tough" for them to get an understanding of what her voice can do, but Ariana, oh, Ariana is excited about LiBianca. She loves that she showed off her lower register for the majority of the song and then went high at the end, making a real emotional impact. "I'm obsessed," she tells her. Blake knows he isn't the obvious choice here, but he was impressed that LiBianca knew how to "pick her moment" and that she had so much control over her lower register. He also says that he simply wants to "help [her] be the best at whatever [she] want[s] to be." And that sentiment right there is what wins LiBianca over. She says she had prayed for a sign from God to help her make that choice, and Blake's offer to help her be her best is that sign. LiBianca goes with Team Blake, and Ariana is shocked. "God was speaking through our cowboy," John Legend says. Who knew! This could be a pairing to watch out for. Jared Brasher / 26 / Huntsville, Ala. "Drunk on Your Love" by Brett Eldredge Jared played baseball in the minor leagues for a few seasons and, after that ended, decided to pursue his other big dream: music. His Blind Audition will be his very first time performing in front of an audience, which truly is a bold choice. Unfortunately, it seems he needs some of that on-stage experience. He's super nervous and lacks control. No one pushes their button, but all the coaches give him props for being so brave. Blake tells him he has "a great country voice" but that he just didn't seem "comfortable" up there. He needs to learn how to control his voice on a stage like this. John thinks he needs some practice and finesse, and he'll be on his way. Sophia Bromberg / 16 / San Rafael, Calif. "Heather" by Conan Gray Sophia's in recovery from an eating disorder and suffers from anxiety but finds a lot of comfort in music. She has an insane range even hitting some whistle notes and Kelly, John, and Ariana are all interested in getting her on their teams. "You have so many people in your throat box," Ariana says, impressed by Sophia's performance, vocal control, and versatility. John calls it a "riveting performance" and wants to help Sophia find the best way to use all of her tricks. Kelly describes the whole thing as Sophia having the ability to "paint with [her] vocal cords." Sophia, who at times sounds a little like our newest coach, joins Team Ariana. "Shocking, party of none," Kelly jokes, pointing out how obvious that outcome was. Wyatt Michael / 24 / Fredericksburg, Va. "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin It's always fun when a jazz standards/big band singer is in the mix. Wyatt's voice is crisp and clear, and it is perfect for this genre. Ariana and Kelly love what Wyatt's doing, so both press their buttons. Blake is a fan of this genre but wanted more personality to come out of Wyatt's voice. John thought it was "a little too spoken sounding," and he wanted a better feel for Wyatt's full singing voice. The women on the panel, however, are into it. Ariana loves that Wyatt had such a "balance between paying an homage to that era" and doing something more modern. Kelly is excited at the chance to have someone on her team who really stands out. "No one has this vibe on the show," she tells Wyatt. Plus, she thinks they'd sound pretty great dueting in the lives, just FYI. Wyatt joins Team Kelly. Alexandra Stojack / 20 / Cincinnati, Ohio "The Way I Am" by Ingrid Michaelson Alexandra tells a very compelling story about having to stop singing and dancing at one point because of a medical condition for which she eventually had to have brain surgery. After the surgery, she was able to start singing again. It seems like she has a cool tone, but her nerves are really apparent throughout the performance. She doesn't get any coaches to push their buttons. Kelly was worried because there were a lot of pitchy moments. Ariana tells Alexandra that she can tell she has technical skills, but she was "not in the control seat" during that performance. Brittany Bree / 26 / Monroe, La. "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd This mom of two has been singing in front of large church crowds since she was 5, but this will be her first foray out of gospel into a secular song. You can tell Brittany is confident and in control by the way she lets the song build. The coaches always talk about dynamics, and this performance HAS IT. Brittany earns four-chair turns. Ariana calls her "unbelievable" and says she loves the "soul" and the "texture" in her voice, as well as the intention in her vocal choices. John understands what it means coming from singing from the church and wants to help Brittany um, navigate go ahead, clink your glasses with Ariana and Blake that transition. "You can go so far," he says. He wants her to do it with him. Kelly calls her a "storyteller" and says that if she doesn't make the finale, "something's wrong." Blake tries to woo her with his tenure on the show and says he would "be honored" to have her on Team Blake. It doesn't take too much deliberation this four-chair turn picks Team Legend. Throughout the episode, we also got a look at two one-chair turns. The first is Portuguese singer Sabrina Dias singing "Garota De Ipanema" and landing on Team Legend. John is a fan of that song and loves that Sabrina found a way to bring "some edge to it." Xavier Cornell performs a cool, stripped-down version of "Teenage Dream" and earns a spot on Team Kelly. Kelly thinks Xavier could be a "dark horse" in the competition. One more night of Blinds, people! Get ready to close out these teams. And, with any luck, a little more of the coaches bringing back the "Welcome to Team Legend" theme song. Ariana and Kelly added some welcome accompaniment, and that song DOES NOT QUIT. TEAM STANDINGS TEAM KELLY: Girl Named Tom, Kinsey Rose, Carolina Alonso, Gymani, Jeremy Rosado, Holly Forbes, The Cunningham Sisters, Jershika Maple, Xavier Cornell, Wyatt Michael TEAM LEGEND: Jonathan Mouton, Jack Rogan, Samuel Harness, Joshua Vacanti, Paris Winningham, Keilah Grace, Samara Brown, Janora Brown, KJ Jennings, Sabrina Dias, Brittany Bree TEAM ARIANA: Katie Rae, Katherine Ann Mohler, Vaughn Mugol, Chavon Rodgers, Jim and Sasha Allen, Raquel Trinidad, Hailey Mia, Bella DeNapoli, David Vogel, Ryleigh Plank, Sophia Bromberg TEAM BLAKE: Peedy Chavis, Wendy Moten, Lana Scott, Hailey Green, The Joy Reunion, Carson Peters, Kaitlyn Velez, Berritt Haynes, Clint Sherman, Manny Keith, LiBianca Related content: Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. The number of guest nights in the capital came close to 600,000 in September, quadruple the number in the same month a year earlier, business daily Vilaggazdasag said on Monday, citing the Hungarian Tourism Agency. Around 75% of those guest nights were spent by foreign visitors, up from 45% in September 2020, the agency told the paper. The number of guest nights during the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, which the capital hosted on September 5-12, averaged over 20,000 a day. That number reached almost 25,000 on Sept. 11, the day before the arrival of Pope Francis in the city. New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj on Monday held a press conference and said that his partys leaders have been stopped from going to Lakhimpur and MP Sanjay Singh has been detained by the Uttar Pradesh Police since last midnight. He said that AAP will hold protests across the country and a massive protest will be held at Jantar Mantar at 5 pm on Monday. The party demands that Minister Ajay Mishra be immediately sacked from the cabinet and his son be arrested and sent to jail. Bhardwaj said that like the Hathras Dalit girl gang rape case, the Uttar Pradesh and Central government is trying to suppress this case and the internet services have been stopped in the area. A few days ago, I heard about Ajay Mishra from some people of Lakhimpur-Kheri. It shocks me to my core that the Prime Minister appointed such a man in his cabinet. Lakhimpur Kheri and its residents are aware of Ajay Mishra's history of disrespectful behavior. His position as Minister of State - Home Affairs isn't justified because of his actions, said Saurabh Bhardwaj. Ajay Mishra had himself threatened the farmers a few days ago and said that you should find out what Ajay Mishra was before becoming a minister and MP. Now it is not possible to describe the barbarism with which the car has been mounted on the farmers. The farmers were sitting facing the other side. The car hit them in full speed due to which at least 60 to 70 people have been injured. Farmers have been trampled in a horrible manner. Now a statement of a police personnel has come to light that he also fired a pistol with his hand and a person has been shot in the head. His dead body has been kept by the farmers at the chowk, he added. Bhardwaj further said, My question is to PM Modi, how has he still not dismissed him? Why is PM Modi silent on this incident? Why are opposition leaders not being allowed to visit the site of the protest? This resembles the Hathras Model. A 19-year-old woman died in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras after reporting she'd been gang-raped. The teenager's family was made to live like prisoners in their own home. In the same way, the Uttar Pradesh Government and Central Government are attempting to hide facts from all of us. Internet services, normal calls, and other means of communication have been restricted in the area ever since. It is unfortunate to see how someone in power can be this brutal to people protesting him. Our MP, Sanjay Singh was detained by the UP government at midnight, when he left to visit the location. He hasn't left the place ever since and hopes to talk to the families of the bereaved. Aam Aadmi Party looks forward to protesting this injudicious incident by gathering at Jantar Mantar at 5 PM. We want the internet and calling services to be resumed in the area so that people can communicate with their loved ones. We strictly demand the arrest of BJP's Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra, to whom one of the vehicles belongs, said Bhardwaj. Live TV New Delhi: The BJP is the only party in the country which has rejected the politics of caste, nepotism, appeasement and corruption, its president JP Nadda said Tuesday (October 5). Addressing the first National Executive Meeting of the BJP Yuva Morcha, Nadda described youths as a catalyst of change and lauded the work done by the Yuva Morcha workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other top BJP leaders also addressed the meeting. The BJP said in a statement that Nadda lauded BJYM president Tejasvi Surya for his leadership during the difficult time of the pandemic. Nadda said while other political organisations went under isolation during the time of crisis "our BJYM workers were on the streets helping people". Nadda further said the BJP is the only organisation in the country which has rejected the politics of caste, nepotism, appeasement and corruption. Saying that every BJP worker is a carrier of its ideology, party general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh asked the young members to work for the organisation. "We all are co-travellers on the path of our ideology. When there are carriers of ideology, there is no reason why our organisation's ideology is left behind," he said. He further said it is vital to have actual youth in the Yuva Morcha, unlike other parties. Live TV Srinagar: The members of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Tuesday (October 5) staged a protest against the detention of Priyanka Gandhi by Uttar Pradesh Police and sought her immediate release. JKPCC President Ghulam Ahmad Mir, who led the protest, was detained along with other party members. Amid slogans against the UP government and Centre, Congress leaders and workers demanded stern action against the UP police for arresting Priyanka Gandhi, who was going to meet families of slain farmers. Congress leaders and workers were stopped by police at Maulana Azad Road, outside party headquarters. Prior to the detention, JKPCC President addressed hundreds of Party workers at Srinagar party headquarters. Mir said, Congress party wont be cowed down by the barbarism and illegal detentions, rather it will further strengthen our resolve to fight against BJP, which is responsible for the crisis across the country. Live TV New Delhi: An eyewitness who managed to escape the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Tuesday (October 5) said that it was the farmers who attacked the vehicles which mowed down the protesters. Sumit Jaiswal, who was himself travelling in the SUV, claimed that the protesters attacked the vehicle using sticks and stones. The vehicle was damaged, its windshield was broken in the attack, he said. He said that as soon as the SUV came to a halt on the side of the road, he opened the left door and ran off. A video has surfaced that shows Jaiswal getting out of the SUV and running away. Jaiswal said that he somehow managed to save his life. He said he was later picked up by another vehicle. He said that there were three other persons in the vehicle with him the driver, one Shubham Mishra and one other person he wasnt acquainted with. According to him, Ashish Mishra, MoS Ajay Mishras son was not with them in the vehicle. Also Read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Will quit if son found guilty, says MoS Ajay Misra as new video surfaces New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari on Tuesday (October 5, 2021) said that the Chinese Air Force is still present on three air bases on their side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and assured that the IAF is fully deployed and prepared. While addressing the media on the 89th anniversary of the force, Chaudhari said, "The situation on the Line of Actual Control is that the Chinese Air Force is still present on three air bases on their side of the LAC. We are fully deployed and prepared on our side." O He also commented on the Chinese Air Force capabilities near Ladakh and said that China's capability to launch multiple high altitude missions would remain weak. The newly-appointed IAF Chief added that the induction of Rafale and Apaches aircraft have significantly added to India's combat potential. He informed that the IAF is in the process of new combat systems to ensure that it retains an edge over its adversaries. Ready to deal with two-front war scenario involving China, Pakistan Chaudhari, who took charge as the Chief of Air Staff from Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on September 30, said that India is fully ready to deal with a "two-front" war scenario involving China and Pakistan and that the focus has been to enhance the IAF's overall combat capabilities. He said the IAF's strike capability has become more potent with the induction of Rafale jets and various weapons. ALSO READ | India slams China, says Beijing's provocative bid to alter status quo led to Galwan incident He also commented on the theaterisation programme, under which, the current 17 individual commands of the three services (Air Force, Navy, Army) will be brought under four or five joint commands, and said that the IAF is fully committed to it but added that discussions are required before new structures are put in place. "Various options are being discussed among three forces," the IAF chief said. No two-finger test in woman officer's alleged rape case IAF chief VR Chaudhari also denied reports that a two-finger test was conducted on a woman officer in an alleged Coimbatore rape case and stated that the IAF law is strict on any such incident. "IAF law is very strict on any such incident. The two-finger test conducted on a woman officer is misreported. No two-finger test was done. We are well aware of the rules and due action would be taken," he said. This is noteworthy that an Indian Air Force official in Coimbatore has been charged with sexual assault of a woman colleague on September 10. The 28-year-old female Air Force officer has levelled serious charges against IAF authorities, including subjecting her to a banned finger test and also forcing her to withdraw the complaint against the accused Flight Lieutenant. (With agency inputs) ALSO READ | Asian solidarity would depend on example set by India-China relations, S Jaishankar tells Chinese counterpart Live TV NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP has bagged 19 seats even as the counting of votes for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) elections is currently underway at a city centre on Tuesday. The Congress party which has suffered a big loss in the ongoing counting of votes for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) election, has so far managed to win just 1 seat. As per the trends available for 124 seats around 12 noon, BJP was leading on 95, while the Congress was going strong in 24. According to the Gujarati newspaper Sandesh, BJP has won 19 seats and wards 1, 5, 7, 9 and 10 in Gandhinagar. The Congress, meanwhile, has been able to win just one. Sandesh said that AAP has been able to break into the traditional vote bank of Congress. It is second only to the BJP now. Polling for the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) was held on Sunday to choose from 162 candidates in the fray across 11 wards of the GMC. This time, the elections became three-pronged after the entry of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Around 56.24 per cen voting was recorded in the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation polls in Gujarat that was held on Sunday. The voter turnout remained equally subdued in Okha and Bhanvad, both in Devbhumi Dwarka district, at 55.07 and 62.27 per cent, respectively, while Thara in Banaskantha district recorded an impressive 73.55 per cent turnout. The turnout in by-elections to three seats in two municipal corporations of Ahmedabad and Junagadh and seats in municipalities and district panchayats also remained low at 27.20, 47.99 and 57.08 per cent, respectively. By-election to seats in taluka panchayats recorded an average turnout of 72.64 percent, the state election commission said. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress fought on all 44 seats, the AAP fielded candidates in 40 seats. Apart from GMC, elections were also held in Okha, Bhanvad and Thara municipalities. Together in these three municipalities, 205 candidates were in the fray, including 78 from BJP, 72 from Congress, 52 from AAP, among others. Votes were also cast for the by-elections to seats vacated in some municipal corporations, municipalities, as well as district and taluka panchayats. In Ahmedabad, the BJP's Maulik Patel has won from Isanpur ward This was the first major election after Bhupendra Patel took charge as the chief minister of Gujarat. The GMC poll is being seen as a litmus test for the BJP's abrupt and surprising decision to change the entire government, as it had registered a thumping win in the local bodies polls held in February. Live TV New Delhi: A day after Priyanka Gandhi was detained by the Uttar Pradesh police, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the law and order situation in the state. His statement comes in the backdrop of Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which at least eight persons, including four farmers, were killed. Alleging that the UP police violated several laws, Chidambaram said that law and order seem to have a different meaning in the state. Several provisions of the law have been violated. Law and order seems to have a different meaning in Uttar Pradesh. Law means, Adityanath's law and order means Adityanath's order. It's a gross violation of her (Priyanka Gandhis) constitutional rights, said Chidambaram. The former union minister called Gandhis detention completely illegal and utterly shameful. It's completely illegal and utterly shameful. She was arrested at 4:30 am before sunrise by a male police officer. She is not been taken to a judicial magistrate so far yet, he said. Meanwhile, the Hargaon Police in UPs Sitapur district where Priyanka Gandhi was detained, booked her and 10 others for disturbing peace. An FIR has been lodged against 11 people including Priyanka, Deependra Hooda and Ajay Kumar Lallu for disturbing peace, SHO Hargaon Police Station, Sitapur district, was quoted as saying by ANI. Live TV Almost a year after Kamal Nath had set up a meeting between the Gandhis and the G-23 group, he has been roped again for the same purpose, according to sources. The sources said that Kamal Nath has met senior Congress leaders Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Bhupinder Singh Hooda and discussed the intra-party issues and also noted the concerns raised by the group. They also confirmed that the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister was first to reach Sibal's residence after the Congress workers protested and raised slogans. The G-23 wants consultation on key issues and prior discussions on the appointment on key posts apart from elections in the organisation, while the trigger this time is again the nominations in the Upper House as it was expected that Congress will demand a seat from the DMK and Azad will be sent to Rajya Sabha. The G-23 is upset with the type of action and alleged that supporters of two Delhi leaders who are former MPs created ruckus at Sibal`s residence while demanding that action should be taken against them to move forward. According to the sources, Kamal Nath also met party interim president Sonia Gandhi to brief her about the talks though it was maintained that the meeting was state centric. Although both the camps are tight lipped about the meeting, sources have said that some forward movement has taken place in the right direction. However a leader said that "this time we don`t want hollow talks but concrete actions". Kamal Nath alsp hinted that he has to do some other work in the party while replying to an allegation levelled by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. On the detention of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress Deputy leader in the Upper House Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal said they "strongly condemned the repressive manhandling and detention" of the Congress general secretary and Deepender Hooda by the Uttar Pradesh police. "Such repressive actions cannot suppress the voice of farmers and call for justice... Justice must prevail." The forward movement is likely to take pace as the party decides to call a CWC meet and discuss all the issues. The G-23 leaders said that they don`t have any grudge against the Gandhis, but the coterie including the personal staff of Rahul Gandhi and few other leaders close to him who are calling the shots without any responsibility and losing polls after polls. Live TV Amaravati: In a welcome initiative, the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government will provide free sanitary napkins to adolescent girls studying in government educational institutions. The Chief Minister will be launching the "Swechha" (freedom) programme at his camp office on Tuesday (October 5, 2021). According to officials, the state government is introducing the programme keeping in view the health and hygiene of women and adolescent girls. Under this initiative, ten sanitary napkins will be given every month to about 10 lakh adolescent girls studying between the 7th to 12th standard in all government schools and intermediate colleges across the state. This initiative is also intended to reduce the absenteeism of girl students during menstruation and prioritise their hygiene and health. Once every two months, the officials will distribute napkins to girl students studying in over 10,000 schools and colleges across the state. In addition, the government, in partnership with UNICEF, WASH and P&G, will also be conducting special awareness classes on menstruation and the importance of health and hygiene. Live TV According to the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, almost 23 per cent of girls in India drop out of school due to lack of access to sanitary napkins, lack of proper facilities in schools and colleges, including basic amenities like running water in toilets and lack of disposal facilities. Similarly, National Family Health Survey - 4 (201516) stated that only 56 per cent of women aged between 15-24 years use sanitary napkins, whereas in National Family Health Survey - 5 (201920), it was found that the number increased to 69 per cent. On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8 this year, the State government had brought the Sweccha programme under the purview of the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare to create awareness on menstrual hygiene. Quality sanitary napkins at affordable prices will also be made available in all YSR Cheyutha stores for women in urban and rural areas. Kanpur: In a surprise inspection, Kanpur District Magistrate Vishak G Iyer visited Ursala District Hospital only to find glaring mismanagement. Without informing anyone, he reached the hospital alone and filled out the consultation form to see the eye doctor. Iyer had reached the hospital at 8 am. He stood in the queue to fill out the OPD form. He sat outside the ophthalmology department for his eye checkup. To his surprise, he could not meet the doctor despite waiting for 45 minutes. The doctors had not arrived at Ursala Hospital till 8:45. Patients and relatives had started coming to the hospital since early morning. But the doctors had not reached the hospital in time. He noted during the inspection that there was a huge lack of cleanliness. He called the director of the hospital, Dr. Kiran Sachan, and apprised him about the disturbing situation. Notably, Iyers wife Apoorva Dwivedi is also an IAS officer. Both got married two years ago. Dwivedi is currently working as Fatehpur DM. Live TV New Delhi: Recentlt, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had released the result of CSE 2020 final examination, in which Devyani, who hails from Haryana, proved her talent and secured 11th rank in all of India, thus succeeding in becoming an IAS officer. Devyani had reportedly had secured 222nd rank in her fourth attempt last year. Devyani's father father is her inspiration Devyani hails from Mahendragarh in Haryana and completed her schooling from SH Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh. After this, Devyani completed her graduation in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from Goa Campus of BITS Pilani in the year 2014, reported Zee News Hindi. Devyani is the daughter of Hisar's Divisional Commissioner Vinay Singh and she had seen her father working as a civil servant from a very young age and so she also wanted to be like her father. Devyani considers her father as her inspiration. Perseverence and hard work pay The journey to become an IAS was not easy for Devyani and she got success after three failed attempts in a row. Devyani had given UPSC exam in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, but she could not crack the exam then. Reportedly, during the first and second attempt, Devyani didn't clear the pre-exam. In 2017, however, she reached the interview round, but her name did not figure in the final list. Despite this, she did not give up and was successful in the 2019 exam and managed to get the 222nd rank. After securing the 222nd rank, Devyani was selected for the Central Audit Department and started training for it, but along with it, she still kept preparing for UPSC. Due to hard work and determination, Devyani got 11th rank in all India Earlier in the year 2019, Devyani was also selected in the Rajasthan Civil Services. Number of hours not important, often studied only on weekends According to a report in DNA, Devyani never focused too much on the number of hours she studied. She tried to not get worked up and study sincerely. In fact, after she got selected in the Central Audit Department, she didn't get much time to study and would only do so over the weekends - on Saturdays and Sundays. Also read: Meet IPS officer Pooja Yadav, who left her MNC job in Germany and cracked UPSC Prepping for success According to Devyani, she had set a target to score more marks in the optional subject in this exam, and she was able to do that. Along with this, she also relied on mock interviews to prepare for the interview and it was of great benefit. Apart from this, Devyani used to read newspapers daily and concentrate on writing. Live TV New Delhi: Plans are afoot for connectivity from the Mediterranean to India via the gulf involving countries like Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and India. The foreign minister of India, Israeli, Egyptian, Cyprus, Greece and others are expected to meet in Dubai at the 12th edition of Sir Bani Yas Forum to further discuss the plan. The forum meets from 12th to 14th November. Zee Media has learned that the plans focus on building a corridor from India to the Gulf and West Asia to Eastern Mediterranean which would finally connect to Europe and will be seen as a game-changer for the region. The in-person meeting of the foreign ministers is expected to clear the counters of the connectivity project, which right now is in rudimentary mode of discussions. Important to understand, three key countries in West Asia, who will be part of the discussion for the project - Saudi Arabia, Israel and UAE have close relationships with New Delhi. In fact, India, Israel and UAE are working on trilateral projects as well. The Abraham Accords of 2020 saw normalisation of ties between Israel and UAE and since then both sides have increased engagements with each other including the presence of Israel pavilion at the Dubai Expo. India has been taking a lead in several connectivity initiatives, from the Chabahar port project in Iran that links it to Central Asia and beyond to Kaladan Multimodal project in the east that connects it to ASEAN countries. Chabahar is also key to the International north-south transport corridor connecting Mumbai to Moscow. Live TV Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be digitally handing over keys to beneficiaries of the central housing scheme to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday after inaugurating 'Azadi@75 - New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' Conference-cum-Expo at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan of Lucknow. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the conference-cum-expo at 10.30 am and unveil 75 urban development projects in Uttar Pradesh. He will digitally hand-over keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh and will also interact virtually with beneficiaries of the scheme of Uttar Pradesh. "The Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 75 Urban Development Projects of Uttar Pradesh under Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT," an official release said. He will also flag off 75 buses under FAME-II for seven cities including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, and Ghaziabad. The Prime Minister will also release a Coffee Table Book encompassing 75 projects implemented under various flagship missions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The Prime Minister will also walk through the three exhibitions being set up in the Expo and announce the setting up of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Chair in Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath will be present on the occasion. The release said that the conference-cum-expo is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) from October 5 to 7 as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. It is themed on transforming the urban landscape with a specific focus on the transformative changes brought about in Uttar Pradesh. All states/UTs will participate in the conference-cum-expo, which will help in experience sharing, commitment, and direction for further action. Three exhibitions are being set up in the Conference-cum-Expo: The exhibition titled 'New Urban India' showcasing the achievements and future projections of the transformative urban missions. It will highlight the achievements under flagship urban missions in the past seven years and how case projections for the future. Exhibition on 75 Innovative Construction Technologies, named 'Indian Housing Technology Mela' (IHTM), under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India), showcasing domestically developed indigenous and innovative construction technologies, materials, and processes.Exhibition to showcase the performance of Uttar Pradesh after 2017, under the Flagship Urban Missions and future projections with the theme UP@75: Transforming Urban Landscape in Uttar Pradesh. The release said the exhibitions will showcase the achievements so far under various Flagship Urban Missions of MoHUA.The themes of the exhibits are Clean Urban India, Water Secure Cities, Housing for All, New Construction Technologies, Smart City Development, Sustainable Mobility, and Cities Promoting Livelihood Opportunities.The Conference-cum-Expo will be open for the public for two days - on October 6 and 7. Live TV Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 'Azadi@75 -New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' conference-cum-expo on Tuesday and digitally handed over keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries. Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) houses in Uttar Pradesh, virtually pic.twitter.com/dBs6XQqFYk ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 5, 2021 After arriving at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, PM Modi, along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Governor Anandiben Patel, walked through the three exhibitions being set up in the expo. He also inquired about the Ayodhya development master plan. PM Narendra Modi digitally handed over keys of PMAY-U houses to nearly 75,000 beneficiaries of the central housing scheme in UP and interacted with them. Lucknow: PM Narendra Modi digitally handover keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. He also interacts with beneficiaries of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh, virtually pic.twitter.com/zpdnucexwr ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) October 5, 2021 He will also be inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of 75 Urban Development Projects of Uttar Pradesh under the mart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) at Lucknow`s Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. PM Modi will also flag off 75 buses under FAME-II for seven cities including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, and Ghaziabad. The Prime Minister will also release a Coffee Table Book encompassing 75 projects implemented under various flagship missions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. At the event, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated that the Centre has sanctioned 17.3 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and over 8.8 lakh beneficiaries have been given houses so far. "More will be given today by the Prime Minister," he said. "From 2004 to 2014, Rs 1.57 crore was invested in the urban development under central schemes. In the last 6 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the investment in urban development has been increased to seven-folds. Today Rs 11.83 crore has been invested," Puri said. Live TV Nashik: Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said he was planning to bring a law under which only the sound of Indian musical instruments can be used as a horn for vehicles. Speaking at a highway inauguration ceremony in Nashik, Gadkari said he was also studying the sirens used by ambulances and police vehicles and replace them with a more pleasant tune played on the All India Radio. Gadkari said he put an end to red beacons. "Now I want to put an end to these sirens as well. Now I am studying the sirens (used by) ambulances and police. "An artist composed a tune of Akashwani (All Indian Radio) and it was played early in the morning. I am thinking of using that tune for ambulances so that people feel pleasant. It is so irritating, especially after ministers pass by, the sirens are used at full volume. This also harms the ears. "I am studying this and soon planning to make a law that the horns of all vehicles should be in Indian musical instruments so that it is pleasant to hear. Flute, tabla, violin, mouth organ, harmonium," Gadkari said. Inauguration and Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of 206 KM long 12 NH Projects worth Rs. 1678 Cr. in Nashik, Maharashtra https://t.co/yAYwGvIqzr Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) October 4, 2021 The Union minister said the new Mumbai-Delhi highway worth Rs 1 lakh crore is already under construction, but it goes through Bhiwandi and reaches the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust the periphery of Mumbai. Gadkari said the ministry is already building a highway on the Vasai creek. He said as the then PWD minister of Maharashtra, he could not link Bandra-Worli to Vasai-Virar. "I plan to build a bridge in the sea and link it to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and then it should take 12 hours (to cover the distance between) Nariman Point to Delhi. This will decongest the Western Express Highway," Gadkari said. He said 5 lakh accidents take place in India every year claiming the lives of 1.5 lakh people and lakhs are injured. We lose 3 per cent of our GDP due to accidents, he added. Accidents on the Mumbai-Pune highway have come down by 50 per cent. Tamil Nadu government has brought down accidents and deaths by 50 per cent, but in Maharashtra, similar success could not be achieved, he said. Maharashtra has a high rate of people dying due to accidents, the Union minister said. Gadkari also said he had made six airbags compulsory for vehicles. Live TV Kolkata: BJP MLA from Tripuras Surma Ashis Das on Tuesday (October 5) reached Kolkata to join Mamata Banerjees TMC, but not before performing an elaborate purification ritual to cleanse himself. Das performed hawan and got his head shaved following the holy practice of mundan. He then took a holy dip in Adi Ganga at Kalighat. He said he was doing prayaschit or repentance for his association with the BJP all these years. He said by performing hawan and taking the holy dip, he will be able to cleanse himself before joining the TMC. #Watch: #BJP MLA from Tripura, Ashis Das performs hawan and will take a holy dip at Adi Ganga before joining the #TMC. He says he wants to cleanse himself before joining the party. pic.twitter.com/RdwnNrQ2IX Pooja Mehta (@pooja_news) October 5, 2021 Amid dissidence by a section of BJP MLAs and leaders in Tripura, Das on Monday praised Mamata Banerjee and congratulated her on Bhabanipur win by a record margin. The BJP MLA said that many people and organisations want Banerjee as the Prime Minister and her elevation to the post is very crucial as she is a Bengali. He went on to slam Prime Minister Narendra Modi for selling most government properties to private parties. Once Modis messages stirred the minds of people of all sections across the country. Modi had once said that Na khaunga, na khane dunga, but now it has become a popular jumla (joke) in the country, he said. He added that at the Centre and the states, the BJP has been running governments in an "autocratic style". Live TV NEW DELHI: A panel of experts of the World Health Organisation (WHO) will meet on Tuesday to decide on the issue of granting the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) authorisation to Bharat Biotechs COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin. The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker has already provided all documents required by the global health body after it reportedly granting the EUL nod to Covaxin over some technical queries. Documents detailing the WHO expert committee's agenda for the meeting show that it will discuss the assessment status of pending applications for vaccine candidates, including Covaxin. Top health experts are of the view that Covaxins approval shouldn't be delayed after reviewing the data this month. It was earlier reported that WHOs emergency use authorisation for Covaxin will most likely come in October month. The Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer had said that it is 'working diligently with the WHO to obtain EUL at the earliest.' The EUA is important because without it Covaxin will not be accepted by most countries. WHOs Strategic Advisory Group of Expert on Immunization (SAGE) is set to meet on October 5 to take a call on EUA to Covaxin. Bharat Biotech, in a statement, said that it is not appropriate to speculate or comment on the regulatory approval process and at an appropriate time it will announce the regulatory approval. It further stated that all the relevant trial data has been submitted to WHO, and all clarifications by the UN health agency have been responded to. "We have responded to any clarifications sought by WHO and are awaiting further feedback. As a responsible manufacturer with several prequalified vaccines, we do not find it appropriate to speculate or comment on the approval process and its timelines," the Hyderabad-based company said in a statement. Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog had earlier indicated in a press briefing that the WHO's EUA is expected in the last week of September. According to Bharat Biotech Phase 3 clinical trials of Covaxin demonstrated an efficacy rate of 77.8 per cent. The WHO has already approved COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer -BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Sinopharm. Live TV New Delhi: Slamming the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government for the detention of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the if the law was equal for everyone then why should Priyanka Gandhi be in jail while the "minister" roamed about free. Raut had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi earlier today as Congress leaders Priyanka Vadra and Deepender Hooda remain in preventive detention at Sitapur guesthouse near Lakhimpur Kheri. The Shiv Sena MP said there was a need for a joint opposition against the oppression meted out by the government in Uttar Pradesh. Prior to the meeting, the Shiv Sena leader told reporters: "Priyanka Gandhi is arrested so it`s necessary to meet Rahul Gandhi. If the law is equal for everyone then why is Priyanka Gandhi is in jail and the minister is roaming free." Earlier taking to Twitter, Raut had posted "#LakhimpurKheriViolence has shaken the nation,@priyankagandhi has been arrested UP govt, opposition leaders are being restricted from meeting farmers. There is need for joint opposition action against oppression by Government in UP. Meeting @RahulGandhi at 4.15 pm today". Meanwhile, Congress leader Harish Rawat also arrived at the residence of party leader Rahul Gandhi. Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday (October 5) registered an FIR against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Varda and 11 others for "disturbing the peace" in the state. According to Hargaon Police station SHO Brijesh Tripathi, a case was filed against 11 persons including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Deepender Hooda and Ajay Kumar Lallu under Section 107/16 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Earlier in the day, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had claimed that she has been detained for the last 28 hours without any order or FIR. As many as eight people died in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) had on Sunday (October 3) issued a statement regarding the incident claiming the death of four farmers and alleged that one of the four farmers was shot dead by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni`s son, while the others have been allegedly run over by the vehicles of his convoy. Meanwhile, refuting SKM`s allegations, MoS Teni said that his son was not present at the spot, adding that some miscreants merged with protesting farmers and pelted the stones on the car which lead to the `unfortunate incident`. Live TV Lucknow: Bukhara, a village located amid the rocky lands of Mauranipur tehsil about 20 kms from Jhansi, is finally ready to have easy access to drinkable water after many years. Women of the village were forced to walk miles to bring consumable water to their homes. Finally putting an end to the years of trouble, the Uttar Pradesh government under its 'Har Ghar Nal, Har Ghar Jal scheme has started laying the water pipeline across the village. Soon, under the 'Jal Jeevan Mission', the village will have a regular water supply. My half of the day is spent in the struggle to fill the water that I have to carry on my head. Due to this, I am unable to spend time with my family but the Yogi Governments this unique scheme has brought happiness in my life and other peoples lives too, said Guddi, a resident of Bukhara village. This scheme will bring a huge relief in womens lives as they will no longer have to carry water on their heads, and it will put an end to the woes of the women folks for a long period of time. Due to the non-availability of potable water, the villagers had to suffer from many water-borne diseases. We do not get healthy water to drink which leads to many types of diseases and whatever we earn goes into treatment, said Tulsi, adding, Under the Har Ghar Nal scheme of the Yogi Govt, we will get pure drinking water and our money will be also saved. ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee govt's SOPs for Durga puja: No carnival, limited pandal hopping and sindoor khela Jhansi Will Witness Unprecedented Change Pawan Sharma, the Gram Pradhan of Bukhara village, said that Jhansi will witness an unprecedented change with the Hal Ghar Jal scheme. During the period of March and July, the villagers faced a shortage of water but with this scheme, now lakhs of people will get pure drinking water. In collaboration with the Governments scheme, I am making people aware of the need to save water in every village, he added. The state government has almost completed the work of water treatment plants in various districts of Bundelkhand including Jhansi and Mahoba. The scheme will benefit lakhs of people. It is to be mentioned that a total of 467 piped drinking water schemes have been launched under 32 projects of Jal Jeevan Mission in the Bundelkhand region. ALSO READ: BJP only party which has rejected politics of caste, nepotism, appeasement: JP Nadda Live TV Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday (October 4, 2021) told the Bombay High Court that it does not see the third wave of COVID-19 hitting the city as the vaccination drive is going on smoothly. BMC informed that over 42 lakh people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and more than 82 lakh people have received the first dose of the vaccine. "The work is on. It is going on smoothly. Now, there is no shortage of vaccines too. Mumbai is safe. We do not see a third wave (of the COVID-19) coming," BMC counsel Anil Sakhare told BHC. He added that 2,586 bed-ridden people have so far been administered both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine while 3,942 such people have got the first jab. ALSO READ | Indias 70% adult population administered first dose of COVID-19 vaccine A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni was hearing public interest litigation filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari earlier this year, seeking a direction to both the Union and Maharashtra governments to start door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens aged 75 and above, specially-abled people and those who are bed-ridden. The plea said such people would not be in a position to step out of their houses to go to the vaccination centres and take the jab. The Union government had earlier said it would not be able to start a door-to-door vaccination programme but gave a go-ahead to it in September. Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Monday recorded 2,026 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest after February 2. The state also saw 26 fatalities and has so far seen 65,62,514 infections and 1,39,233 deaths. In Mumbai, there were 339 fresh coronavirus cases and two deaths. The city currently has 4,532 active cases. (With agency inputs) ALSO READ | Mass gatherings can worsen possible third COVID-19 wave, say experts, advise responsible travel Live TV New Delhi: Hrithik Roshans ex-wife and interior designer Sussanne Khan has lent support to her close friend Gauri Khan and her husband Shah Rukh Khan after their son Aryan Khan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday (October 3) in a drugs case. Sussanne calls the current situation a witch hunt on people from Bollywood and further said that Aryan Khan is a good kid and she stand by Gauri n Shahrukh. Sussanne took the comment section of an Instagram post by a journalist to share her piece of mind. The journalist in her post called Aryans arrest a wake up call for parents and declared her support for King Khan and Gauri. I think this is not about Aryan Khan, as he was unfortunately at the wrong place at the wrong time, this situation is being made an example to drive home the excitement that some people get as they have a witch hunt on people from Bollywood. Its sad n unfair as he is a good kid. I stand by Gauri n Shahrukh, Sussanne commented on her post. Earlier, superstar Salman Khan was seen visiting Shah Rukh Khans residence Mannat after Aryans arrest. A day later his sister Alvira Agnihotri also visited SRK and Gauri. Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives fame Maheep Kapoor and Seema Khan have also visited Mannat. Earlier, actor Suniel Shetty has also asked media to give Aryan Khan a breather as the investigation is still on. Aryan Khan was arrested on Sunday (October 3), a day after NCB raided a cruise party where the star kid was present. The officials recovered 13 grams of cocaine, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA and 5 grams of MD and 1.33 lakh cash from the raid. Apart from Aryan, Munmun Dhamecha, Arbaaz Merchant, Ismeet Singh, Mohak Jaswal, Gomit Chopra, Nupur Sarika, and Vikrant Chhokar have been arrested. The star kid will stay in NCB custody until October 7 for further investigation by the officials. Mumbai: The NCB on Monday claimed before a city court that "shocking and incriminating" material is recovered in WhatsApp chats of Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and two others who were among the nine people arrested in connection with the seizure of banned drugs from a cruise ship off the city coast showed international drug trafficking. The Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB), which got the remand of Aryan Khan and the other eight accused from the court till Thursday, also claimed that in the WhatsApp chats he is discussing modes of payment to be done for procurement (of drugs) and that several code names are being used. Aryan Khan's lawyer claimed no drugs were recovered from his client's possession. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R M Nerlikar while extending till October 7 the NCB remand of Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha observed that their further interrogation was required for investigation which is of prime importance. The trio was produced before the court after the end of their one-day custody given to the NCB on Sunday. Aryan Khan (23), Dhamecha and Merchant were arrested on Sunday evening and produced before a special holiday court on Sunday that remanded them to NCB custody till Monday. The NCB had arrested them after raiding the Goa-bound ship. The judge also remanded to the NCB custody till October 7, the six other accused who were arrested in the case late Sunday night and produced in the court on Monday. The court, in its order, noted that the investigation in the case was of prime importance and considering this aspect, the further presence of the accused before the NCB was necessary. The fact is that the co-accused in the case were found in possession of intermediate drugs and the three accused (Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha) were accompanying them. "Investigation is of prime importance and presence of the accused is needed for detailed investigation. It is useful for both the prosecution and the accused to prove their innocence, the court said. Six others Nupur Satija, Ishmeet Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra, Vikrant Chhokar and a drug supplier from suburban Juhu (name not disclosed) were arrested later. The court, while remanding them to the NCB custody, noted that prima facie, a case has been made out against them and hence their interrogation is required. The NCB on Monday sought further custody of Aryan Khan, Merchant and Dhamecha till October 11 on the ground the central agency had to unearth the nexus between drug consumers and suppliers, and confront all the arrested accused with each other and apprehend other suppliers of narcotics substances. However, the court extended their custody only till October 7. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the NCB, claimed before the court that incriminating material was found through WhatsApp chats of the arrested accused, including Aryan Khan, with drug peddlers and suppliers. Raids are going on now. Shocking and incriminating material recovered in WhatsApp chats of the accused shows international drug trafficking, the NCB counsel argued. Accused Aryan Khan, in the WhatsApp chats, is discussing modes of payment to be done for procurement (of drugs). Several code names are being used. All the accused persons have to be confronted with each other. The international transactions need to be investigated, he said. Singh also said the NCB has arrested a supplier from suburban Juhu and found a commercial quantity of drugs from him. Opposing extension of custody sought by the NCB, Aryan Khan's advocate Satish Maneshinde argued that his client had no criminal antecedents. Aryan Khan had shown good conduct by not running away from NCB officers when the raid was being conducted and allowed them to search him, the advocate argued. Maneshinde claimed no drugs were recovered from Aryan Khan's possession. The magistrate on Monday sought to know from the NCB how much drug seizure was made from each of the accused. To this, ASG Anil Singh said six grams of charas was seized from Merchant, while five grams of cannabis was recovered from Dhamecha. All these are considered a "small quantity" under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). From the other accused, we recovered five grams of MDMA (a stimulant drug). Ten grams of cocaine were recovered from Vikrant Chhokar, 14 MDMA pills from Ishmeet Singh, four pills of MDMA and 3 grams of cocaine from Gomit Chopra and four MDMA pills from Nupur Satija. No recovery was made from Mohak Jaiswal, but he had provided the MDMA pills to Nupur Satija, Singh told the court. Singh said while the sections under which the accused have been booked are bailable, the court has to consider the purpose of the NDPS Act which is to remove the drug menace from the society, while hearing remand applications or granting bail. One cannot say that just because he or she is found with a small quantity, they are entitled to bail. Consuming drugs has nowadays become very common with even college-going kids consuming them. The accused here are high profile persons who are considered as role models by regular persons, the NCB counsel contended. Maneshinde argued that his client Aryan Khan was invited to the cruise along with his friend Merchant and that he had not paid any money to get on the ship. Nothing incriminating was recovered from Aryan Khan except his mobile phone. His friend (Merchant) was arrested because he had six grams of charas, but that has nothing to do with my client (Aryan Khan), Maneshinde submitted. He also refuted the NCB claims that Aryan Khan had consumed drugs even when he was abroad. During the entire period of his (Aryan) stay abroad, he has not been involved in any trafficking, supply or distribution of drugs, Maneshinde said. Aryan Khan, Dhamecha and Merchant have been booked under sections 8(c) (produce, manufacture, possess, sell or purchase of drugs), 20(b) (punishment for contravention of cannabis), 27 (punishment for consumption of any narcotics or drugs) read with section 35 of the NDPS. Under the Act, possession of up to one kg is termed as 'small quantity' of cannabis, while a seizure of over 20 kg is considered as 'commercial quantity'. For charas/hashish, the Act says small quantity is up to 100 grams while commercial quantity is one kg or more. As per the arrest memo of the NCB, a seizure of 13 grams of cocaine, five grams of MDMA, 21 grams of charas and 22 pills of ecstasy and Rs 1.33 lakh in cash was made after the raid on the ship. Advocate Taraq Sayed, appearing for accused Merchant, argued there is no clarity of how much quantity of drugs was allegedly recovered from each of the accused and that the NCB was seeking custody only on the basis of some chats recovered from WhatsApp. The remand note of the NCB is misleading. If only six grams of charas was recovered from Merchant, why is he being charged for the other drugs seized. The two boys (Aryan Khan and Merchant) have been arrested only because they are high-profile persons,? Sayed contended. The NCB, in its remand note against the five others arrested on Sunday night, said it had seized 2.5 grams of ecstasy, 54.3 grams of mephedrone (MD) and two grams of charas from them. The court was informed that five of the arrested accused Ishmeet Chadha, Mohak Jaiswal, Gomit Chopra and Vikrant Chhokar were also booked under section 27A of the NDPS Act. This section pertains to punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders. Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen will urge the U.S. Congress on Tuesday to regulate the social media giant, which she plans to liken to tobacco companies that for decades denied that smoking damaged health, according to prepared testimony seen by Reuters. "When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action," said Haugen's written testimony to be delivered to a Senate Commerce subcommittee. "I implore you to do the same here." Haugen will tell the panel that Facebook executives regularly chose profits over user safety. "The company's leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer and won't make the necessary changes because they have put their immense profits before people. Congressional action is needed," she will say. "As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one. And it will continue to make choices that go against the common good." Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is on the subcommittee, said that she would ask Haugen about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. "I am also particularly interested in hearing from her about whether she thinks Facebook did enough to warn law enforcement and the public about January 6th and whether Facebook removed election misinformation safeguards because it was costing the company financially," Klobuchar said in an emailed comment. The senator also said that she wanted to discuss Facebook`s algorithms, and whether they "promote harmful and divisive content." Haugen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook's civic misinformation team, was the whistleblower who provided documents used in a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram's harm to teen girls. Facebook owns Instagram as well as WhatsApp. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Haugen added that "Facebook`s closed design means it has no oversight even from its own Oversight Board, which is as blind as the public." That makes it impossible for regulators to serve as a check, she added. "This inability to see into the actual systems of Facebook and confirm that Facebooks systems work like they say is like the Department of Transportation regulating cars by watching them drive down the highway," her testimony says. "Imagine if no regulator could ride in a car, pump up its wheels, crash test a car, or even know that seat belts could exist." The Journal's stories, based on Facebook internal presentations and emails, showed the company contributed to increased polarization online when it made changes to its content algorithm; failed to take steps to reduce vaccine hesitancy; and was aware that Instagram harmed the mental health of teenage girls. Haugen said Facebook had done too little to prevent its platform from being used by people planning violence. "The result has been a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization and undermining societies around the world. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people," she said. Facebook was used by people planning mass killings in Myanmar and in the Jan. 6 assault by Trump supporters who were determined to toss out the 2020 election results. Live TV New Delhi: 'Bigg Boss 15' house is all set to witness a high-voltage drama between Pratik Sehajpal and Jay Bhanushali. In the promo shared by the channel, Pratik and Jay are seen getting physical and coming close to blow as other contestants interfere to stop them. However, their fight with each other resulted in breaking a glass door in the house. As per the promo, Bigg Boss announces a task and 'junglewasis' are given a map, that will play an important role for them to survive in the jungle area in the next few days. Pratik Sehajpal decides to steal the map and hides it, thus ruining the chances of housemates staying in the jungle area to enter the main Bigg Boss house. This spark a major fight between Pratik and Jay Bhanushali, with the two almost coming to blows. Jay is then is seen screaming, "Collar pakda, game over wahaan pe. Uske baad koi rules nahi hai mere liye." He also warns Pratik saying, "Try using the same language with me outside the house and I will set you straight. Karan Kundrra is also seen telling Pratik that he was the only one getting physical with others, but the latter remains defiant. Other housemates - Nishant Bhatt, Ieshaan also try to control Pratik, but he doesn't stop and bangs the glass door, thus breaking it. The episode will air tonight and viewers will get to see exactly what happened inside the house. Meanwhile, neitizens seem to have noticed Pratik's 'poking' nature on the show. Actress and former Bigg Boss contestant Kashmera Shah has supported Jay Bhanushali over his spat with Pratik and tweeted, "I am so glad that #JayBhanushali put #PrateekSehajpal in his place. How can he talk to an accomplished actor and person like this. Right from the #biggbossott I have been seeing Prateek pick fights to get noticed. I think he has met his match in Jai @BiggBoss #bb15 #biggboss15." Former Bigg Boss contestant Devoleena Bhattacharya too expressed that Pratik could be annoying sometimes on the show. "#PratikSehajpal could be annoying sometimes.Ok,may be all the time. Happy? But atleast he is doing that. Baakiyon ka toh ab tak kuch samaj nahi aaya bhai.And ofcourse Vishal k camera-vaani. Shouldnt be overdosed. M sleeping. Please update me tomrw. GN." New Delhi: Actress Malaika Arora, choreographers Geeta Kapur and Terence Lewis are the latest guests on The Kapil Sharma Show. The trio went there to promote their dance reality show India's Best Dancer (IBD). Their funny banter on the show left the audience in splits - from Malika calling Geeta besharam to Terence and Geeta teasing the former for the way she walks when she takes her dog Casper out for morning walks, during which she is often photographed. During the show, Kapil teased Geeta, Don't leave any work. Catch Sony, loot the channel. To which Terence agreed and said, Correct, correct! Super Dancer to IBD, IBD to Super Dancer. Geeta hit back at the two and said, From Super Dancer to IBD is fine but after that it should be The Kapil Sharma Show," pointing a finger at Archana Puran Singhs seat. Her answer made Malaika call her besharam and made Archana stand up from her seat and point a pen at her. Looking at Archanas reaction, Geeta instantly responded, Sorry, sorry, I love you Archana ma'am, sorry. Later, Geeta and Terence teamed up to poke fun at Malaika's morning walks with Casper, during which she is usually papped. Terence also joked that no one clicks his picture though his house is near Malaikas and he also takes his dog for morning walks. Geeta, imitated Malaikas walk, whereas Kapil said that because of photographers the poor dog is unable to do his business (poop). The response cracked up the audience and left Malaika smiling in embarrassment. NEW DELHI: Congress leaders and workers will hold massive protests outside the offices of all district magistrates across the country on Tuesday to protest against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that claimed the lives of at least nine people. The Congress had on Monday said that a nationwide campaign against the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that led to the death of four farmers would be held outside all DC offices from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla also demanded the release of AICC general secretary, Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Vadra who is currently lodged at Sitapur guest house after being prevented from reaching Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the victims families. This practice of preventing political leaders from free movement is very hazardous. We never did this when we were in power. Then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had reached Oberoi hotel in Mumbai during the 26/11 terror attack. Priyanka Vadra should be released. She was stopped at Hargaon on the border of Lakhimpur Kheri and sent back to Sitapur, Shukla said accusing UP police of illegal detention of Vadra and Congress leaders. The Congress leaders protested outside UP Bhawan in the national capital on Monday and staged agitations elsewhere in the nation. The party also demanded enhanced compensation of Rs one crore for each of the farmers killed and sought immediate release of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The compensation amount should be Rs one crore to each of the farmers killed in the violence. The Union minister should be dismissed first, the manner in which he is out to protect his son. He should also be booked and the same cases should be registered against the minister as those on his son," he said. Congress also demanded the immediate dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra and the arrest of his son Ashish who has been named in an FIR by the Uttar Pradesh Police after the death of nine people, including four farmers in violent clashes in Lakhimpur Kheri. We demand that Union minister Ajay Mishra should be immediately dismissed from his post and his son arrested forthwith. We also demand that the minister should be booked for the same offence as his son as he is trying to protect him," Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told reporters. At least eight people were killed on Sunday as violence erupted during a farmers protest, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit to Lakhimpur by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. Four of the dead were people in cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the UP minister. They were allegedly thrashed to death. The four others were farmers, officials said. Farmer leaders had claimed that the Union ministers son Ashish Mishra was in one of the cars which, they alleged, knocked down some protesters who were opposing the deputy CMs visit. However, Ajay Mishra said he and his son were not present at the spot as alleged by some farmer leaders and he has photo and video evidence to prove it. The Yogi Adityanath government on Monday ordered a probe into the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 45 lakh each and jobs for the kin of the deceased farmers. Live TV NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Lucknow on Tuesday to inaugurate 'Azadi@75 - New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape' Conference-cum-Expo at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the conference-cum-expo at 10.30 AM and will unveil 75 urban development projects in Uttar Pradesh. "The Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 75 Urban Development Projects of Uttar Pradesh under Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT," an official release said. The PM will digitally hand over keys of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) houses to 75,000 beneficiaries in 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh and will also interact virtually with beneficiaries of the scheme of Uttar Pradesh. He will flag off 75 buses under FAME-II for seven cities including Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Jhansi and Ghaziabad. The Prime Minister will also release a Coffee Table Book encompassing 75 projects implemented under various flagship missions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The Prime Minister will also walk through the three exhibitions being set up in the Expo and announce the setting up of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Chair in Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), Lucknow. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Housing & Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri, along with Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath will also brace the occasion. Know more about 'Azadi@75' The conference-cum-expo is themed on transforming the urban landscape with a specific focus on the transformative changes brought about in Uttar Pradesh. All states/UTs will participate in the conference-cum-expo, which will help in experience sharing, commitment and direction for further action. The release said that the conference-cum-expo is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) from October 5 to 7 as part of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'. Three exhibitions are being set up in the Conference-cum-Expo: The exhibition titled 'New Urban India' showcasing the achievements and future projections of the transformative urban missions. It will highlight the achievements under flagship urban missions in the past seven years and howcase projections for the future. Exhibition on 75 Innovative Construction Technologies, named 'Indian Housing Technology Mela' (IHTM), under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India), showcasing domestically developed indigenous and innovative construction technologies, materials and processes. Exhibition to showcase the performance of Uttar Pradesh after 2017, under the Flagship Urban Missions and future projections with the theme UP@75: Transforming Urban Landscape in Uttar Pradesh. The release said the exhibitions will showcase the achievements so far under various Flagship Urban Missions of MoHUA. The themes of the exhibits are Clean Urban India, Water Secure Cities, Housing For All, New Construction Technologies, Smart City Development, Sustainable Mobility and Cities Promoting Livelihood Opportunities. The Conference-cum-Expo will be open for the public for two days - on October 6 and 7. Live TV Weddings are a costly affair, especially because couples dont want to leave any stones unturned in making it a memorable event for life. While some opt for luxury helicopters to enter the wedding arena, others prefer a dancing squad. But a couple in Pakistan has started a new trend by entering the venue on an excavator. Said to be from the Hunza Valley in Pakistan, the video was posted by the handle Pamir Times on Twitter. Bride and Groom arrive in their village in an excavator Unique wedding! #wedding Video by Sid Jon #hunza #gojal pic.twitter.com/LccBKtGffj PAMIR TIMES (@pamirtimes) October 1, 2021 A comment beneath the video suggests that the machine belongs to the groom and the girl wanted to honour his profession. The video has attracted many comments on social media. This is definitely a unique way to get married if the purpose is to keep the event in public memory. Here are some of the comments on Twitter: Hope they will not use the machine in their married life. Asad J Rizvi (@asadjrizvi_j) October 1, 2021 Masha allah imran jamil (@imranja29523686) October 3, 2021 Washington: Services of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were restored after several hours of disruption that impacted millions of people worldwide. While the users of the three social media platforms remained clueless as they repeatedly received error messages for the most part of the day, the stocks of Silicon Valley firm Facebook dropped by nearly five per cent as a result. To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we're sorry. We've been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us, Facebook, which owns the photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp, said on Twitter. Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer of Facebook, said on Twitter, ?Sincere apologies to everyone impacted by outages of Facebook-powered services right now. We are experiencing networking issues and teams are working as fast as possible to debug and restore as fast as possible. Facebook services are coming back online now. (It) may take some time to get to 100 per cent. To every small and large business, family, and individual who depends on us, I'm sorry, Schroepfer said in another tweet. Earlier in the day, Facebook had said, We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologise for any inconvenience. WhatsApp and Instagram too had taken to Twitter to inform their users about the outage. We're aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We're working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience! said the messaging app with more than two billion active users in the tweet. Instagram and friends are having a little bit of a hard time right now, and you may be having issues using them. Bear with us, we're on it! the photo-sharing app had tweeted. The outage of the three popular social media platforms comes a day before one of its whistleblowers was all set to testify before a Congressional committee. It was highly unusual to have so many apps go dark from the world's largest social media company at the same time. More than 3.5 billion people use Facebook and its apps to communicate with one another and conduct business, The New York Times wrote. According to The Wall Street Journal, the outage also caused widespread disruptions to Facebook's internal communication tools, including some voice calls and work apps used for calendar appointments and other functions, according to people familiar with the matter. The company told employees on Monday morning that the cause of the outage was unknown and some staff was using Zoom to remain connected. Live TV New Delhi: To restore the confidence of the Sikh community of Peshawar and prevent their migration to Sikh populated cities of the Islamic nation, the police of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan has constituted four teams to investigate and nab the assailants who had shot dead an Unani physician Satnam Singh. According to a community representative in Peshawar Baba Gurpal Singh, police had constituted Raid and Arrest Team, Intelligence Collection Team, Cellular Investigation, and Interrogation Team, and Profiling and Interview Team and have sought one week time from the community to nab the perpetrators behind the gruesome killing of Satnam Singh. Sources informed that members of all the teams including senior police officials had been asked to mingle with the people living in the vicinity of late Satnam Singhs house and clinic and collect intelligence input. Besides the terrorist angle, police were also looking into the property or monetary issues, personal enmity angle, religious motivation, etc. Manmohan Singh, younger brother of late Satnam Singh told that they were satisfied with the functioning of police and were getting full cooperation from them. We are convinced with their abrupt action and formation of high-powered teams for now but we are waiting for the results, said Manmohan Singh who runs a mobile phone business in Peshawar. He informed that the Inspector General of Police, KPK, had announced the formation of this Special Investigation Team which was comprised of four sub-teams to investigate the issue of killing of his brother. Notably, some unidentified persons had shot dead Satnam Singh in his clinic on September 30. The incident had spread shock and fear among the minority Sikh community of Peshawar. Sources informed that following the incident, many Sikh families were contemplating the idea of migration to cities and towns of Pakistan having sizeable Sikh populations like Lahore, Nankana Sahib, Hasanabdal, etc. Kalyan Singh Kalyan, a Sikh leader of Nankana Sahib informed that Sikhs of Nankana Sahib held a demonstration against the killing of Satnam Singh and urged the Pakistan government to ensure their safety and rein in the elements targeting them. Live TV In a pathbreaking development, the leak of financial records known as Pandora Papers, corroborated with an investigation of several months by involving over 150 news organisations and several journalists associated with them under the umbrella of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) - a consortium of media organisations from all over the and based out of Washington DC. The ICIJ accessed around 11.9 million secret documents from 14 different legal and financial entities, which revealed illegal transactions, tax evasions, and offshore financial assets of several top business and political leaders from all over the world. Moreover, it has also removed the veil from the faces of top legal and financial firms for their involvement in promoting black money through illegal channelisation of money and the creation of fake entities. According to the ICIJ, these papers provide a sweeping look at an industry that helps the world's ultra wealthy, powerful government officials and other elites conceal trillions of dollars from tax authorities, prosecutors and others. As far as the magnitude is concerned, the ICIJ disclosed that the volume of the confidential documents was as voluminous as 2.94 terabytes, making the leak mightier than the Panama Papers leak half a decade back. These papers have also exposed the names of several ruling elites of Pakistan, who funneled money illegally to their own pockets by possibly misappropriating the public money. The majority of these leaders come from the inner coterie of Prime Minister Imran Khan and include big names - as big as current and former cabinet ministers. Over the black money acquired by close confidantes of Imran Khan, the ICIJ reported that they secretly owned an array of companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth. Revealing big names of the ruling elites, the ICIJ reported - Among those whose holdings named are Khans finance minister, Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, and his family, and the son of Khans former adviser for finance and revenue, Waqar Masood Khan. The documents also mentioned the offshore dealings of a top PTI donor, Arif Naqvi, who is facing fraud charges in the United States. As the controversy broke out, Imran Khan tweeted - We welcome the Pandora Papers exposing the ill-gotten wealth of elites, accumulated through tax evasion & corruption & laundered out to financial "havens". The UN SG's Panel FACTI calculated a staggering $7 trillion in stolen assets parked in largely offshore tax havens. However, besides this tweet, he has failed to take any tangible decision against the leaders mentioned in Pandora Papers till this news was being written. Speculating the involvement of Imran Khan in these leaks, a spokesperson of his party, officially told the press just before the leaks that Imran Khan owned no offshore entities, however, his ministers and advisors will have to be held accountable. It is an irony that Imran Khan optimally utilised the Panama Papers leak of 2016, which had, amongst many other things, disclosed that the children of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif owned a string of luxury apartments in London. Khan, back then, tried to create a sentiment against the then ruling family of Pakistan. Campaigning on the issue, his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) organised protests all over the country and Khan himself led a sit-in protest in front of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs house. Khan demanded Sharif to resign on moral grounds over his involvement in corruption. Over the emergence of names that are close to Imran Khan, ICIJ stated - With the support of the military establishment, Khan propelled his reformist party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Pakistan Movement for Justice, past its rivals in the 2018 national elections and propelled himself into the prime ministers office in Islamabad. However, it is the Pakistani military leadership whose financial irregularities and scams have made the top headlines in Pakistan. Commenting on the sinister designs of the Pakistani military and its intelligence agency ISI, the ICIJ has tried to argue that these organisations bank on popular public sentiments by cultivating anti-India rhetoric in the country to protect themselves from being questioned on corrupt practices. Highlighting the argument, the ICIJ has commented - Over the decades, the military and its secretive spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, have repeatedly stoked anti-India animus, even at the cost of angering Pakistans Western allies Foreign policy analysts have accused the military of playing a double game, receiving billions of dollars in U.S military support while continuing to work with members of the Afghan Taliban. In one of the prominent examples of indulgence of military leadership in corruption, the Pandora Papers have revealed that former army general and former minister Raja Nadir Pervez misused his company to transfer shares to a trust controlling several offshore entities. It is pertinent to note that Pervez is a top leader of Imran Khans PTI party and illegally benefitted entities dealing with the arms trade. Similarly, ICIJ also revealed the name of ISIs former DG of counterintelligence, Major General Nusrat Naeem, who got a company registered just after his retirement along with former Pakistan Air Force Chief Abbas Khattaks sons who also own an offshore company. According to the leaked files, Pakistans former military dictator General Ayub Khans daughter Shahnaz Sajjad Ahmad owns two apartments in London. Shahnaz did not respond to ICIJs requests for comment. It can be said that currently, Imran Khan is facing the heat on two fronts. Besides the global embarrassment, he is facing a strong backlash from opposition parties, which he hasnt been able to cope with. As soon as the revelations were published, PML-N Secretary-General Ahsan Iqbal came out to the press and stated - After Imran Khans name surfaced in Pandora leaks, there is no moral justification for him to retain the post of the premier. Further, PML-N spokesperson Maryam Aurangzeb addressed a press conference and demanded, Imran Khan is bound to direct all his ministers and aides named in Pandora leaks to resign with immediate effect. Another opposition party, Pakistan Peoples Party also joined the chorus and its leaders Sherry Rehman attacked Imran Khan and questioned his shallow accountability slogans. Live TV